The Portland daily press., 1882-06-20
AGRICULTURAL.
Restoring Exhausted Fertility

writer in the EGanliner says that not
unfrequently tire least productive lands are
fertile enough, but out of condition from
POOR tillage or stagnant water near the sur
face We may be quite sure that land that
plows up in large Jumps is never really poor.
these humps are the storehouses in which
fertility lies locked to save it from waste I'M
der ir1provide1t management and poor cul-
ture. We have often seen fields in which
few underdrains to remove Grrplus water,
and let in air and heat have worked wonders.
TIE clodded soil was fertile CROUCH, but
yalueless until better culture made the fer
tility available as plant food. On land not
much too wet, good tillage will in part do
this without undertaking, though II sur
plus water is not removed the good effects
of tilage will not last longer than the first
year. :.
In going to work to improve land, it
m axes a great difference whether the soil be
sand or clay, light or heavy dry or wet. AS
a rule, dry lands show for all they are worth,
while soils surcharged with moisture are Oh
ten better than they look. The best soils
are dark colored; but abundance OF runners
or vegetable matter is not sure sign OF Ter
tiity. There is probably the same difference
in muck that there is in the humus from de-
Composition of various kinds of vegetables.
The ,otting of cotton-seed or of clover hay
makes vastly better manure than the decom-
position of wheat or rye straw. The ques-
ton as to the value of muck for farm uses is
being much discussed now, and it is very
idle one, There is muck and muck-some
very valuable, much more LET'S so, ard some
almost entirely v..lue'; s. Which Of theee
classes a farmers muck-bed belongs to he
can best determine BY experiment
But the farmer who would 1o3tore activity
to partly worn out lands can hardly go aniss
oil mo in form
Decaying vegetable matter lighters heavy
soils aud solidifies sandy soils. 1t gives the
dark color TO the soil which makes 1t warm
for tie young germ in early spring time
On he..vy soils it has more than mechani-
cal effect ih making them porous. 1t disin-
tegrases them, so as to make latent fertility
available 1t is sometimes objected to the
rse of concentrated fertilizers that they
lelp the crop to exhaust the soil by taking
more from it than the fertilizer can directly
add There is perhaps no kind OF manure
to which this objection will not apply. Yet
we know that under good management and
with a liberal use of fertilizers soils will col-
tinle to grow better while being constantly
cropped. This conclusion is unavoidable
thai all manures help the soil otherwise
than by addition of the fertility they con-
tain. In other words, manures help the
soil to help itself. This is one OF the impor-
tant facts in connection with improved
farming. Good land can and should yearly
grow better Poor land unless managed
with the greatest care, is likely to grow
worse.
Probably nothing SO marks the difference
between good and poor soils as the absence
or presence of vegetable matter. This is
why a crop OF clover, or even of buckwheat
plowed under, has often so remarkable
renovating effect. The decaying mass in
the soil works chemical and other changes
on its particles, which add more to its pro-
ductiveness then chemical analysis would
warrent us in believing. Vegetable mat er
while decomposing gives off plant food which
the soil retains. 1t also probably enables
the titled soil, under some conditions, to
gather fertility from the all, rains and melt
| ing SHOWS. It would seem that lands
Astounding in vegetable matterEwould be un
affected by the addition OF more; but have
| known crop of clover to be ploWed Under
on a black, mucky soil with decidedly bele-
| fetal results. Probably in this case the fer
| mentation gave needed warmth, and without
| doubt the decaying clover gave off a larger
| pi oportion of nitrogen to the soil than the
| other vegetable matter could do. Usual
| " however, on black soils fertility can be
restored more cheaply than By lhe use OF
| clover or other vegetable matter. Potash
| and phosphate of lime or bone-eerth are US
ually most needed in black soils, and with
these and good drainage such lands may
often be proftably cropped for along series
| of years. Experiment is needed to ascer-
| tain what mineral elements are most needed.
Usually, if the subsoil be sandy, potash
will be deficient, and phosphate OF lime may
| be also. If there be some clay in the soil,
potash will rarely be needed, and the ex-
| perrin entsho lid first be tiled with phosphate
of line ale <.