The Portland daily press., 1884-09-23
Agriculture in France.

The summer has been very warm and dry.
but on the whole cannot be described as
drought. And this leads me to the subject
of green manurlng, which is steadily making
way in the warm zones of France, and on
hight soils thus presenting all the conditions
OF success. A plant which borrows from
the SOIL to grow, repays when ploughed in,
capital and interest in dying aud decompos-
ing on the spot. This is the reason why
lands are laid down in grass to grow rich.
The organic manure which we bury in the
soil contains soluble and insoluble matter,
the latter predominating. The first can
serve to immediately feed the plant and be
assimilated; but for the second, they must
undergo fermentation to dissolve their parts.
or elements, and SO give place to the produc-
ton of new soluble compounds and gases.
no food can reach the plant except ia a
state of extreme division, as the absorbing
pores OF the little roots are so delcatelv fine,
as to take up only liquids or gasses 1t is
under the triple influence of hea., air aud
humidity, that the decomposition of organic
matter takes place in the soil. Green or
vegetables are evidently cold manures.
Their action is slow, their decomposition
difficult, they contain too small quantity of
saline matters. or saline matters of an iusol-
uble character, or, they may be of too
aqueous nature. The character of the sol
has good deal to do with respect to the
action OF vegetable manures. In sandy soils
the decomposition is more rapid, because the
air and the agents of decay, have freer ac-
cess; while in the case of clays, decomposi-
ton proceeds more slowly, as their tenacity
excludes air and heat. The humus in a clay
soil is fastened in its decay by tillage, which
opens it to the influences of the atmosphere.
For similar reason if sandy soil be titled
too frequently, the manures become rapidly
soluble and volatize in the air before the
plant can proftably utilize them.
The ploughing down of green crops before
arriving at maturity, is perhaps the earliest
form of manuring land, and may be also the
last. 1t is precious auxiliary in localities
where roads do not exist for cartng farm
yard manure, or are impracticable, as on
mountain slopes. Rape, aftermaths, lupins,
plants chiefly employed in green manuring.
The Germans, and they are right, p4tronize
two, mixture, as turnips and sDurry. The
more rapidly such plants grow and develop
plenty OF leaves the better. Before being
plougbed in, they are rolled or mown. When
in flower, is the best time to utilize such
plants; they are richer too in alkalis, as DR.,
SAGE points out, that is the period selected
by lubricants Of vegetable ashes for cutting.
In Belgium The weeds of the canals are cut
in spring and carted to land prepared for po-
tatoes; drills are opened four inches deep,
the seed dropped, and the green weeds
spread over it, the whole being covered with
the hoe. This manuripg does not tell in any
subsequent crops.
In Bretagne on the northwest of France,
PUSHES and heather are employed; these are
generally strewn first on road to be bruised
by the traffic. In the Upper Pyrenees, lu-
pin is sown in Autumn, aud in May, when
in flower, is ploughed in; this forms an ex-
eellenL preparation for MAIZE In Sarn-et-
Garonne, sainfoin is sown in the VINEYARDS
and ploGghed down; on light soils, vetches
and buckwheat are in favor, and seem to
be preferred of late On the cacareous lands
of Champagne. The Prussian farmers pre-
fer yellow lupin; the Belgiaus lean to spur
~, and adopt the excellent plan of spreading
little farm-yard manure and covering both
simultaneously. In the Luxembourg, the
slopes of Erere have been msde available by
green manurings five years in succession.
At best. ploughing down green plants can be
only half maturing. The plan possesses the
undoubted advantage of maintaining humid
ity 10 the soil, and when the latter is of
calcareous, sandy, granatic or schistose
character, such is not TO be overlooked.
Green manuring never affects the flavor of
products, nor removes anything from their
delicacy Beet pulp, obtained by the diffu-
sion process of sugar extraction, contains
only per cent. of dry matter, mechanical
pressure can augment this to Is per cent.
Impossible to exceed the latter figure, as the
water is retained in the celluose membrane
other than 10 mechanical form. Professor
Maercker, by ad ling per cent of solu-
ton of lime, and then pressing the pulp, has
obtained So per cent. of dry matter. The
lime does not affect either the animals or
the pulp. The Importance of this discovery
is very important in the ensilaging of beet
pulp.
German naturalist draws attention to
the fact, that all poultry kept in yards, will,
if OF dark, or sombre plumage, be better
layers than those of bright color. Black alb
serbs more heat and maintains greater vital
warmth. White ducks are not reputed good