The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1884-01-30
Agricultural.
Our Early Experience with Fertilizers.

OUR EARLY Experience WIFI rertihzerss
We were never before in receipt of 80
much correspondence upon the fertilizer
question az now. This fact shows that
farmers are thinking more about the mat
ter. In our long article of December IL
we gave the sum of our experience to
date In order to meet some of the in
quiries lately sent us, we will now give
some account of our first attempts to make
use Of other fertilizers besides stable ma
nure. When our farm was bought, in
1866, it had the appearance of being ex-
hausted, yet it had been cleared of
heavy maple growth only about twenty
five years before, and was of the best
physical character for productiveness,
being warm loan with just enough clay
in it to adhere somewhat to the feet when
wet, yet with good natural drainage, ex-
cept in few small basin-like spots. 1t
had unquestionably once been part of
the bottom of Lake Memphremagog, upon
the shore of which it stands, and is made
up, for depth of at least thirty feet, of
soil brought down from the hills and re
arranged by the action of the water. The
wearing down of the lakes outlet has
lowered its surface until it now stands
about forty feet below the level of this
land 1t was hearing some lectures by
Professor johnson of New Haven, Conn,
upon the difference between " fertility !"
and "condition" in land that first en-
abled us to understand that such seeming
ly "run-out" soils as ours was have not
really lost their fertility, but are only out
of condition from bad management.
When we came to Vermont we were
suffering from the effects of physical in
juries which prevented the active practice
of our profession, and our resources were
small. We had our little farm, but
scarcely any means to improve it with.
1t had been planted to potatoes, year after
year, until it would bear neither potatoes
nor grass. From factory where the ex-
tract of hemlock bark was made for tan
ming purposes and the spent bark burned
under the boilers, we obtained bark ashes
to the amount of nearly four hundred
bushels, which were spread over the land
at the rate of two.horse load to the acre.
The effect was magical. The continual
cropping of potatoes and hay, with but
little manure, had exhausted the available
potash and phosphoric acid from the soil,
which were replaced by this liberal dress
ing Of ashes, and in two years we were
growing two tons of hay and over three
hundred bushels of potatoes to the acre on
land where when we bought it, one.quar-
ter of ton of hay and seventy bushels Of
potatoes per acre was the crop. The
whole expense of this dressing was $3.50
for the ashes, and $12 for drawing and
spreading it. And we got the idea at a
free lecture by an agricultural chemist
1t is not, therefore, strange that we have
some faith in what is called book. farm
ing"
OF course this restored condition " Of
the land was not going to last forever
Yet it did keep up good sward of grass
on the seeded ground for four or five
years, and whenever this sod was turned
over a crop of fifty bushels of corn, fol
lowed the next year by from two hundred
and fifty to three hundred (and in one in
stance four hundred and sixty bushels Of
potatoes, was secured. We still kept buy
ing ashes and very little stable-manurt
when we could get it, but now the lane
began to ego back" and get messy. W.
could not grow good wheat, barley Of
oats, on account of rust, and the new catct
of grass was poor, though clover grew
well. Something more than ashes wa
needed. Ashes were not complete fer
tilizer. Of course chemistry told us tina
the lacking substance was nitrogen. W.
bought sulphate of ammonia, and, using
one hundred aud twenty-five pounds t,
the acre, got good grain, free from rust
and well filled. Finding that clover grew
very strong on the land, we seeded all GU
grain with clover, and made large crop
of clover hay, which we fed to our COW
and horse. For hoed crops or grain tn
second crop of clover plowed down in tn
fall made good seed.bed the next sea
son, and ensured good yield. We sol
no grain, except at an extra price TO
seed, and spent the money for fertilizin
material. We thus began to find that in
directly we could enrich our farm b
growing novelties which brought goo
price aud gave us cash to buy fertilizers
We were the first in our neighborhood t.
grow the Early Rose potatoes, and sol
800 worth the first spring. We intro
duced the Lost Nation wheat, which
now almost the only variety grown in thi
part of the state. We also began to gro,
small fruits, and started an orchard, grow
ing our own trees from seed, and buddin
or grating them. In fact, we were b.
coming successful farmer-on sma
scale, it is true, but enjoying it, and r.
covering health.