The Bolivar bulletin. [volume] (Bolivar, Hardeman County, Tenn.) 1865-1888, 1879-04-03
THE NEW AGRICULTURE.
DE-. ;. r. Nichols Tells "a in What
Coz e1sts.

DE-, 3. 2. Nichols Tells Us in What &c ,
Coz sEsts.
DR.. J. 3. Nichols, editor of the Boston
Journal of Chemistry, Is an authority
not only in the scientific but in toe
practical department of agriculture His
celebrated Barn Lecture" delivered
in barn) has had s wide circulation,
and hiss stirredsup ideas that were new
to many farmers. At recent meeting
of the Massachusetts, State Board of Ag>
riculture he delivered q lecture on ''Ghe
New Agriculture" We take some ex-
tracts from rtport in the New England
Farmer:
In opening, the lecturer paid q just
tribute to the memory and lebOrs OF Lie
big, the first successful practical agricul>
tural chemist, and the first to discover
that carbon comes to plants from the
air, and who, also, cleared up the mys-
terry Of the absorption of nitrogen. He
next gave g condensed history of the
progress Of agriculture in this city, quot
ing some amusing paragraphs from the
writings of Jared Elliott, who taught
that the best rules tor governing the Op
erations IF the farm were 70 be found In
the Bible, and that ashes are 8 complete
fertilizer, bat that the misery of 1t is
that they are too few for the farmers
wants.
The " New Agriculture" could count
but little more thsn thirty years, snd
bears an even date with the new chemis
try. At present, agriculture can hardly
be called a science, but rather an indus
try. There is yet too much in dispute,
but with our present light it Is time that
some things should be settled so that
they shall stay settled. Successful agri-
culture, like every other successful Occu-
patton of man, requires brains, and the
one who uses his brains best will have
the best and largest crops, and will reap
the largest profits.
The special mission of the 4" New Agri-
culture" is to teach farmers the best way
to gain the best results. The cultured
farmer will make good butter and raise
COED apples, both of which will find q
ready market at paying prices, while the
same crops grown. harvested and mar
keted in q careless manner, will bring
the ignorant and INDECENT farmer lutte
or no profit on his labor. It is the best
fruit, the best butter, the best corn, the
best vinegar, all put up in the best style,
which bring the highest prices. People,
as they become intelligent. find out that
COED food is worth paying for.
The follower of the New Agricul~
ture" finds that dirty boots in the milk
| room are out of place, that mixing poor
hay or poor apples IN lots designed for
market, injures the sale OF the good pro
duets mora than the value OF the poor.
/ A barrel of apples worth two dollars may
| be deprecated forty or fifty PER cent. by
putting in peck of interior fruit Even
the method of putting up has much tC
I do hn
/ products. Apples packed nicely viii
/ bring fifty cents per barrel more thai
! those which are tumbled IN any way.
The old agriculture did rot know the
exact comparative value of food, either
| for animal or man. Chemistry had not
| determined food values SIS it has now
| determined them. We have found Uut
| finally that the neat of the SUimal Genes
/ from the combustion OF the food We
| give, and that it Is poor economy tC
| keep our cattle out In the cold winds il
winter. He had kept his own COWS very
close during a trial of ten years, and
! found that il paid, both in flesh and
milk, to keep them under cover. Ever
/ in GUNNER COWS shrink in their mill
production q quart day by standing s
short time in a lake of cold water. Ice
cold water to drink In winter, will cause
like falling of in the yield.
Much has been learned concerning the
value OF animal manuTes, that was NO
known under the old agriculture. We
have learned now that the value o
manure varies; that manure made IRON
| good hay is worth more than that made
rom the coarse grasses OF our bog
swamps, and that ali manure is better i
/ kept under cover than il lett exposed Il
the Influences Of the weather. Chemis-
try also teaches that there is a feeding
value in corn cObs equal o-that of com,
mon straw, but they must be ground
fine, or their value is not retained by the
animal before they pass beyond the diges-
tive organs. The cobs contain q large
per cent. Of potash, and should not be
wasted or carried away from the farm
The potash taken up by the cobs OF one
years corn crop in the United States
can not amount to less than 115, 600, 000
pounds. It will be seen, therefore, that
! it is poor economy TO raise corn with 8
large percentage of cob. when va ie1y
with a smaller cob would yield Just as
much COIN. Chemistry has ais taught
| that plant food Is very abundant in
| nature, outside of animal dung. Ii also
teaches that the same food led to differ
ent animals will not return equal values
/ in the animal wastes, because the waste
| is less in certain classes of animals than
iu others Mich cows take more out oil
their food than do idle, lat cattle.
The speaker had had a large expert,
ence in the use of chemical fertilizers
and deemed word as TO their use not
out of place. All concentrated manures
must be spread very evenly, as one would
SOW grass seed. They should ALEC be
applied, especially the nitTates, in the
spring, Just as the plant begins to use W
fertility, while the more flowIy acting
/ barn manure should be applied the fall
previous, that its plant food may have
time to become developed. Nitrate o.
soda, he thought, ought never to be sp.
piled alone, but in connection with
| phosphates. just why, he could mol
| tell, further than that practice seemed
to warrant such an application. The
reason that soil analyses had been of SC
little value to the tanner is because the
chemist cannot determine in what con,
! ditions certain elements exist in the soil
1t is not enough to simply know that
! they are there, unless we know they are
in an available form.