M-ACKENZIE'S
' I* /
TEN THOUSAND RECEIPTS,
IN ALL THE
USEFUL AND DOMESTIC '"AKTS ; :-;^'
CONSTITUTING
A COMPLETE AND PRACTICAL LIBRARY,
RELATING TO
AGBICULTUEE, ANGLING, BEES, BLEACHING, BOOK-KEEPING, BREWING, COTTOU CULTURE, CROCHETING, CARVING, CHOLERA, COOKING, CALICO PRINTING, CONFECTIONERY, CEMENTS, CHEMICAL RECEIPTS, COSMETICS, DISEASES, DAIRY, DENTISTRY, DIALYSIS, DECALCOMANIA, DYEING, DISTILLA- TION, ENAMELLING, ENGRAVING, ELECTRO-PLATING, ELEO TROTYPING, FlSH CULTURE, FARRIERY, FOOD, FLOWER GARDENING, FIREWORKS, GAS METRES, GILDING, GLASS, HEALTH, HORSEMANSHIP, INKS, JEW- ELLERS' PASTE, KNITTING, KNOTS, LITHO- GRAPHY, MERCANTILE CALCULATIONS, MEDICINE, MISCELLANEOUS EE- CEIPTS, METALLURGY,' MEZ- ZOTINTS, OIL COLORS, OILS, PAINTING,
PERFUMERY,
PASTRY, PETROLEUM, PICKLING, POISONS AND ANTIDOTES, POTICHOMANIA, PROOF-READING, POTTERY, PRESERVING, PHOTOGRAPHY, PYROTECHNICS, RURAL AND DOMESTIC ECONOMY, SUGAR RAISING, SILVERING, SCOURING, SILK AND SILK-WORMS, SORGHUM, TOBACCO CULTURE, TANNING, TREES, TELEGRAPHING, VAR- NISHES, VEGETABLE GARDENING, .WEIGHTS AND MEASURES, WINES, ETC., ETC.
BEING AN ENTIRELY NEW EDITION
CABEFULLY EEVISED AND KE-WKITTEN,
AND
Containing the Improvements and Discoveries up to last Date of Publication. JANUARY, 1867.
Again Eevised to Date of Prese^^^^Aj^4^^U^i^ll?iiAddition of Special Articles ui
REPORT AND AWARD OP THE TRIAT^&^fc&Wffl^WyjgraNTS AT THE GREAT NATIONAL FIELD TRIAL HM^g^^MgyB^^JULY, 1866.
PHIL T. ELLWOOD ZELL & COMPANY,
Nos. 17 & 19 SOUTH SIXTH STREET. .1867.
Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1867, by T. ELLWOOD ZELL,
In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States for the Eastern District of
Pennsylvania.
J. FAGAN & SON, STEBEOTYPEBS,
PHILADELPHIA.
PRINTED BY SHERMAN ft CO.
F THE
'UNIVERSITY,
PREFACE
TO THE NEW AND EEYISED EDITION OP OCTOBER, 1865.
IN preparing a new edition of this popular work, the Editors have endeavored to incorporate all the improvements in the various branches, which have been intro- duced, since the publication of the last edition. Much of the work has been entirely re-written, and new articles have been added on Photography, Pyrotech- nics, Angling, Pisciculture, etc. The matter has not been simply scissored from newspapers, but carefully digested from standard authorities, the scientific journals, and from the practical knowledge of the Editors and contributors. The Editors have to acknowledge valuable assistance from gentlemen, eminent in the depart- ments of Agriculture, Horticulture, Wine-making, Perfumery, Cements, Engraving, Photography, Angling, Tanning, etc. The work, it is believed, will be found more reliable and thorough than any one of its class now in print. The Miscel- laneous department is almost entirely new, and contains much valuable and inter- esting information. Some matters properly belonging under other heads, but received too late, have been transferred to it. The reader is especially requested io refer to the index, when seeking information.
(iii)
OPINIONS OF THE PRESS.
/
FROM THZ PHILA. NORTH AMERICAN, DEC. 22, 1865.
The vast amount of useful knowledge bearing on every-day life which constantly flits thiough the world, hnt Often led to efforts for gathering and rendering it available b.v those who want it, when they want it. Mr. Z< 11 having made a previous successful eifort in this direction, has enlarged the field of his usefulness by a new editic n of his work, which will be exceedingly useful to all, and almost indispensable to some. He has gathered the formulae and directions of all the most recent discoveries in the useful and domestic arts, and has made it as nearly complete as possible. Though the work is designed for popular rather than scientific use, it contains much that will interest scientific men, as well as general readers. Agriculture, horticulture, domestic economy, farriery, medicine, biewing, distillation, dyeing, paints and varnishes, metallurgy, photography, engraving, pottery, weights and measures— these are among the subjects treated very fully, and which are of fir^t importance. There is no effort to prepare treatises upon any of these. The kernel alone is retained, and that in the best form for use by practical men. There is a great body of what may be termed the cream of useful knowledge, under the general head of agriculture, which it were well all farmers should have for perusal at leisure moments. Manures, cropd, drainage, and the care of animals, are all treated in a condensed manner, with directions and information which cannot fail to advantage readers. The gardener, poulterer, and apiarian, are provided with excellent receipts. The half-hundred pages devoted to medicine will be useful where a physician cannot be procured ; and under the miscellaneous head there are a variety of facts on horsemanship and knitting, gunpowder and book-keeping, dogs and crocheting, which could not readily be found elsewhere. A great deal of the information hitherto published in this form has been of doubtful use, and has discredited honest efforts to aid the community. The counterfeit only proves the worth of what is genuine, and this really careful and useful vade mecum ought not to suffer from the reputation of the trash which it seeks to supplant. The index — an essential in such a compilation — has been carefully arranged, at much length. There are diagrams and illustrations where they are needed, and ihe whole forms a volume which ought to be very widely circulated, and which will repay its cost in almost any family within a year.
FROM THE PHILA. SUNDAY DISPATCH, Nov. 26, 1865.
Mackenzie's Ten Thousand Receipts, containing new discoveries and processes in use up to October, 1865. 487 pages. To describe this volume properly would require the space given to a catalogue, and the volubility of an auctioneer. We find in it almost everything that can be conceived as an object of inquiry involving the special preparation of materials or the management of processes. Agriculture, chemistry, cooking, manufactures, medicine, the decorative arts, household^management, and a thousand other things which defy classification, are embraced in this closely- printed book, which, in the way of condensation, contains enough to stock a library with volumes printed in fashion- ably large type. \Ve could not undertake to recite the whole title-page, which is of itself prodigious, affordhig but a feeble idea of what is within. Suffice it to say, that almost anything that anybody wants to know how to do will be found in this volume properly described, and illustrated in some cases by useful engravings. It has been re- written by a corps of scientific gentlemen, and is really a book which should be found in every house.
FROM THE GERMANTOWN (PA.) TELEGRAPH, Nov. 22, 1865.
The editor and publisher of this extremely well gotten-up edition, has been many months in its preparation, hay- ing employed in this time a corps of able experts, in order that the work might be brought out not only in a style hitherto unapproached, but with intrinsic claims upon the community which cannot but be acknowledged. Truth- fully, these "Ten Thousand Receipts in the Domestic Arts," constitute a "complete and practical library," relating to the hundreds of subjects treated of, connected with the indispensable every-day affairs of family life. The clear- ness of the print, the arrangement of the receipts, with the comprehensive index, render recourse to it at all times as easy almost as turning over the pages of a magazine, and obtaining from it the information sought in plain lan- guage and in condensed form, so that all can quickly see and readily understand. But this is not a work designed exclusively for domestic purposes, as the word "Domestic" is most generally understood; but it contains valuable suggestions and advice upon almost every practical pursuit. There is scarcely anything omitted in which any con- siderable number of people are interested.
FROM THE PHILA. PRESS, Nov. 24, 1865.
This is a domestic cyclopaedia, of nearly 500 pages, in new type, small but clear. We are assured that two years' labor, by very competent gentlemen, has been bestowed upon this large and improved edition, and can well believe it. There is scarcely a subject connected with the useful and domestic arts about which a seeker for information cannot find what he wants in this book. The most recent improvements and discoveries, up to October, 1865, when the work was stereotyped, have been included. The quantity of information in this volume is very great — so far ag we have tested it we can vouch for its accuracy. As a work of reference, it has been made complete by the addition of a copious index.
FROM THE PHILA. SUNDAY TRANSCRIPT, DEC. 10, 1865.
It is one of the most remarkable books of the day, containing, as it does, a reference to every conceivable subject under the sun. In itself it is a complete and practical library, so arranged as to be invaluable in the household, on the farm, and in the counting-room. Pastry and petroleum, agriculture and knitting, receive equal attention, while the entire volume presents a fund of information not accessible in any other form. The thrifty housekeeper can pick up numerous capital receipts for pies, or can learn the art of carving, which is treated as one of the exact sciences ; the merchant will find mercantile calculations; the artist will find a dissertation upon oil colors, water colors, and mez- zotints; the farmer will learn something about gardening. In fact, there is no branch of trade but can be bene- fited by a perusal of this book. Although the receipts are quoted as 10,000, judging from the book they will double that figure.
FROM THE PHILA. INQUIRER, Nov. 24, 1865.
The present issue of this useful work by Mr. Zell, is a new and improved edition, carefully revised and re-written by a corps of gentlemen eminently qualified for the peculiar task. To it has been likewise added all the improve- ments and discoveries in the useful and domestic arts up to the date of publication, October, 1865. Two years of labor have been necessary to bring the book out in the present improved shape.
FROM THE PHILA. EVENING TELEGRAPH, DEC. 23, 1865.
Mr. Zell maintains his position among the first-class houses of our land, principally through his agencies and th* few well-selected works to which he has given life. Principal among the latter is " Mackenzie's Ten Thousand Re- ceipts," a work of universal information. In it are found, in fact, all the useful knowledge of the age compressed into this universal compendium of information. If a man be familiar with all th«i contents of this book, he will bo an accomplished gentleman, a practical doctor, and in many respects a professional man. The work is one we can recommend as likely to be every day useful. We understand it is prepared by a gentleman well known in the world of science ; it bears the impress of a well-informed mind. It is specific in its directions, and illustrated by numerous wood-cuts. Too much credit cannot be given to both the compiler and publisher for the remarkable care and skill exercised in compressing into one volume, and that so carefully printed, so great an amount of useful information.
FROM THE PHILA. EVENING BULLETIN, DEC. 12, 1865.
This work has been thoroughly re-written, and comprises all manner of improvements and discoveries, brought up to October of this year. It forms a complete library of valuable knowledge upon almost every imaginable subject connected with the useful and domestic arts, and is a most important volume of reference for th» manufacturer, agriculturalist and housekeeper.
PREFACE
TO THE LATEST LONDON EDITION.
As the object of all study, and the end of all wisdom, is practical utility, so a collec- tion of the most approved Receipts, in all the arts of Domestic and Social Life, may be considered as a volume containing nearly the whole of the wisdom of man, worthy of preservation. In truth, the present volume has been compiled under the feeling, that if all other books of Science in the world were destroyed, this single volume would be found to embody the results of the useful experience, observations, and discoveries of mankind during the past ages of the world.
Theoretical reasonings and historical details have, of course, been avoided, and the object of the compiler has been to economize his space, and come at once to the point. Whatever men do, or desire to do, with the materials with which nature has supplied them, and with the powers which they possess, is here plainly taught and succinctly preserved ; whether it regard complicated manufactures, means of curing diseases, simple processes of various kinds, or the economy, happiness, and preservation of life.
The best authorities have been resorted to, and innumerable volumes consulted, and •wherever different processes of apparently equal value, for attaining the same end, have been found, they have been introduced.
Among the works consulted have been,
The Monthly Magazine, 56 vols.
The Repertory of Arts and Sciences, 60 vols.
The London Journal of Arts and Scienees.
The Transactions of the Society of Arts, 30 vols.
The Magazine of Trade and Manufactures, 6
vols.
The Gazette of Health, 9 vols. The Series of the Horticultural Society, 5 vols. The Series of the Agricultural Society, 30 vols. The Farmer's Magazine, 16 vols. YOUNG'S Farmer's Calendar. LOUDON on Gardening, 1 vol. JENNINGS'S Domestic Cyclopaedia, 2 vols. TINGREY on Varnishing. RICHARDSON on the Metallic Arts.
THOMAS'S Practice of Physic. COOPER'S Dictionary of Surgery. THORNTON'S British Herbal. WALLER'S British Herbal. IMISON'S School of Arts. Handmaid to the Arts. SMITH'S Laboratory of the Arts. HAMILTON on Drawing.
The EDITOR'S Thousand Experiments in Manu- factures and Chemistry. DAVY'S Agricultural Chemistry. HENRY'S Elements of Chemistry. CHAPTAL'S Chemistry applied to the Arts. GREGORY'S Cyclopaedia. The English and other Cyclopaedias.
Besides innumerable treatises on special subjects, minor journals, and a great variety of manuscript communications from friends and connections of the editor and publisher.
A general, rather than a scientific, arrangement has been adopted, because the object of the work is popular and universal, and, though likely to be useful to men of science, it is more especially addressed to the public at large. In like manner, as far as pos- sible, technical and scientific language has been avoided, and popular names and simple descriptions have been preferred.
Every care has been taken in the printing to avoid errors in quantities, as well as to select the best receipts of each kind ; but notices of errors, omissions, or experimental improvements, will be thankfully received by the publisher, for the use of future editions.
The Index will render it easy to refer to every article of importance.
PKEFACE
TO THE EAELY AMEEICAN EDITION",
IN fulfilling the duty of preparing for the press a new and enlarged edition of the valuable work of Mackenzie, the Editor has steadily borne in mind its evident aim at general practical utility; and consequently he has submitted both alterations and additions to its rules. While the former will be found but few — a circumstance arising from the nature of the book ; the latter are both numerous and important — amounting to about fifty pages, exclusive of those contained in the Miscellaneous Department and the Appendix.
The Medical part has been condensed, simplified, and adapted to the climate and diseases of the United States. A short, but complete manual of " Directions for rear- ing the Silk Worm, and the Culture of the White Mulberry Tree," together with an extensive article on the Diseases of the Horse, may be noticed as among the important additions. The Culinary art has not been neglected — the numerous original receipts from the best modern authorities of the " Kitchen," for preparing various delicacies of the animal and vegetable kingdom, including Pastry, Puddings, etc., will no doubt prove acceptable to American housekeepers. The man of family, the Sportsman, the Artist, the Mechanic, and the Farmer, have all been remembered. And an unusually large and correct Index gives every facility of reference that could be wished.
The attention of the Reader is called to the " Miscellaneous Receipts." In this portion, which is very copious, numerous receipts have been placed, which could not with propriety be elsewhere arranged. It has also been made the receptacle of much valuable matter obtained from several kind female friends, and the fruH of researches into many curious and rare books ; and which was prepared at too late a period for insertion in the appropriate departments. The Appendix of " Instructions in the Art of Carving," with its numerous wood cuts, will, it is hoped, prove acceptable and useful to our country readers, for whose accommodation this work was originally designed.
The Editor more especially notices the following works, as sources from which he has derived considerable assistance: The Franklin Journal; Willich's Domestic Encyclo- paedia, by Professor Cooper ; a Tract published by the Pennsylvania Society for the Rearing of Silk-Worms, etc. ;. and the curious work of Colonel Hanger, of sporting memory.
In conclusion, the publishers beg leave to state, that neither time nor expense has been considered in endeavoring to render this edition cheaper and better than any other which has been published, and at the same time worthy of the patronage which is solicited for it. They have availed themselves of the services of a gentleman aa Editor, who has been for a considerable time engaged in the preparatory researches. The type, though small, is very legible and distinct ; and in the selection of the paper, whilst regard has been had to the color, it has been deemed of main importance that it should be sufficiently durable to resist the frequent usage into which a work of this description must necessarily be called, (vi)
CONTENTS.
[FOR DETAILS, SEE INDEX, AT CLOSE OF THE VOLUME.]
AGRICULTURE 9
MANURE 11, 18
WHEAT 27
DRAINAGE 49
SUGAR 52
COTTON AND TOBACCO 53
SILK-WORM 54
HORTICULTURE 60
BUDDING AND GRAFTING 54
FRUIT 67
INSECTS AND DISEASES OP TREES ......... 76
KEEPING FRUIT 86
FLOWER GARDENING ........... 88
RURAL AND DOMESTIC ECONOMY 91
DAIRY WORK 91
MANAGEMENT OF BEES 98
FARRIERY 104
DISEASES OF HORSES 105
DOGS 115,449
HOGS 116
" SHEEP 117
CATTLE 120
MEDICINE 122
DISEASES 122
CHOLERA 162
ACCIDENTS 143
WOUNDS 144
FRACTURES ............ 146
DISLOCATIONS 148
AMPUTATIONS 150
DROWNING 151, 180
POISONS 152
MEDICINES 154
DISEASES OF FEMALES .......... 165
DISEASES OF CHILDREN 169
DOMESTIC MEDICINES . . . . . . . • • 173
HYGIENE 178
RULES FOR HEALTH 184
TEETH 186
CULINARY ARTS ' . 188
COOKING .188
CONFECTIONERY 232
PICKLING 238
PRESERVING » •• . . ... 239
CARVINQ 241
FOOD 5 .247
(Tii)
Vlll CONTENTS.
Mfl
BREWING 251
CIDER 263
WINES 265
DISTILLATION 277
ESSENTIAL OILS 289
WATERS 292
VINEGAR 296
ARTIFICIAL WATERS 300
PERFUMERY 303
BLEACHING AND SCOURING 309
DYEING 315
STAINING 325
PAINTS AND COLORS 327
VARNISHES 339
LACQUERS 345
CEMENTS 352
GLUE 355
INKS 358
METALLURGY 362
ASSAYING 363
PARTING 367
ALLOYS 368
FOILS 373
ELECTRO-PLATING 374
GILDING 376
IRON AND STEEL 381
PYROTECHNY 384
MATCHES 386
TANNING 386
ENAMELLING 390
POTTERY 394
GLASS 399
PHOTOGRAPHY 409
PHILOLITHOGRAPHY 417
ENGRAVING 419
LITHOGRAPHY 424
WEIGHTS AND MEASURES 427
SPECIFIC GRAVITY • 429
GAS METERS 430
VALUE OF COINS 431
CHEMICAL RECEIPTS 432
BOILER ENCRUSTATIONS 433
ARTIFICIAL COLD 435
ANTISEPTICS AND DISINFECTANTS ......... 435
WEATHER PROGNOSTICS 439
ANGLING 443
PISCICULTURE 445
MISCELLANEOUS 446
To TIE KNOTS 446
KNITTING ...........'.. 447
CANARY BIRDS 448
DOGS 449
INSECTS 449
PETROLEUM 451
ELECTRIC TELEGRAPH .......... 451
BOOK-KEEPING 452
PROOF-READING ........... 452
ROWING 453
DOMESTIC RECEIPTS 455-458-464
MEDICAL RECEIPTS 460-463-464
DIALYSIS 463
HORSEMANSHIP 463
DECALCOMANIA 464
GUNPOWDER ............. 466
FARM SEED 466
INDEX 467-487
MACKENZIE'S
TEN THOUSAND RECEIPTS,
THE MODERN THEORY OF AGRICUL- TURE.
Liebig and other chemists have, within the last twenty-five years, endeavored to establish a science of agriculture, based upon a knowledge of the constitution of plants and of soils, and their mutual relations. We propose to give a very condensed account of the general conclusions arrived at.
Food of Plant*.
Plants derive their food from the air as well as from the earth ; the former by their leaves, the latter by their roots. Elements most necessary to them are carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, and nitro- gen, with various mineral substances present in the soil. Carbon is the most abundant. This is to a large extent extracted from the atmosphere by the leaves of plants, during the day-time. Hydrogen and oxygen are in the water contained in the earth and air; and oxygen is in the air mixed with nitrogen. Plants do not seem able, however, to separate much nitrogen from the air as such, but more readily obtain it by the decom- position of ammonia (composed of hydrogen and nitrogen), which is formed in the atmosphere, and washed down into the earth by rain-water, so as to reach the roots. All ordinary waters, it must be remembered, contain substances dissolved in them. Irrigation of land does not act only by the water itself, but by that which is dissolved or diffused in it. Davy calculated that, supposing one part of sulphate of lime to be contained in every two thousand of river water, and every square yard of dry meadow land to absorb eight gallons of water, then, by every flooding, more than one and a half hundred weight of gypsum per acre is diffused by the water — a quantity equal to that generally used in spreading gypsum as a manure or fertilizer ; and so, if we allow only twenty-five parts of animal and vegetable remains to be present in a thousand parts of river water, we shall find that every soaking with such water will add to the meadow nearly two tons per acre of organic matter. The extraordinary fertility of the banks and delta of the river Nile is due to the natural annual overflow of the river, extended by artificial irrigation. In China also, the prin- ciple of irrigation is carried out very largely, and it is applicable, on a large or small scale, in any country. The water of lakes is usually charged with dissolved or suspended substances even more abundantly than that of rivers.
Humus.
Soils contain a great amount of matter which results from the decay of vegetables and animals; to a compound of which with earthy material the name of humus is given. This was once incor- rectly supposed to give the whole nutriment of the plant. Trees and plants, instead of abstract- ing carbon from the earth, really, by taking it from the air, and subsequently dying and decay- ing, annually by their leaves, and finally alto- gether, give carbon and other atmospheric elements to the soil. As above said, all plants by their leaves absorb carbonic acid from the air, and retain carbon, giving out oxygen. It is evident, therefore, that the leaves are of great importance to the plant. So are the roots, for their absorbing office. Thus it is true that the growth of a plant is always proportioned to the surface of its roots and leaves together. Vegetation, in its simplest form, consists in the abstraction of carbon from, carbonic acid, and hydrogen from water; but the taking of nitrogen also, from ammonia especially, is important to them, and most of all, to those which are most nutritious, as the wheat, rye, barley, &c., whose seeds contain gluten and other nitrogenous principles of the greatest value for food. Plants will grow well in pure charcoal, if supplied with rain-water, for rain-water contains ammonia.
Animal substances, as they putrefy, alway? evolve ammonia, which plants need and absorb. Thus is explained one of the benefits of manuring, but not the only one, as we shall see presently. Animal manure, however, acts chiefly by th» formation of ammonia. The quantity of gluten in wheat, rye, and barley is very different; and they contain nitrogen in varying proportions. Even in samples of the same seed the quantity varies ; and why ? Evidently because one variety has been better fed with its own appropriate fer- tilizer than another which has been reared on a soil less accurately adapted by artificial means for its, growth. French wheat contains 12 per cent, of gluten; Bavarian 24 per cent. Sir H. Davy obtained 19 per cent, from winter, and 24 from summer wheat; from Sicilian 21, from Bar- bary wheat 19 per cent. Such great differ- ences must be owing to some cause, and thi* we find in the different methods of cultivation. An increase of animal manure gives rise not only to an increase in the number of seeds, but also to a remarkable difference in the proper-
10
AGRICULTURE.
tion of gluten which those seeds contain. Among manures of animal origin there is great diversity. Cow dung contains but a small proportion of nitrogen. One hundred parts of wheat, grown on a soil to which this material was applied, afforded only 11 parts of gluten and 64 of starch ; while the same quantity of wheat, grown on a soil fertilized with human urine, yielded 35 per cent. of gluten, and of course a smaller proportion of less valuable ingredients. During the putrefaction of urine, ammoniacnl salts are formed in large quantity, it may be said, exclusively; for under the influence of warmth and moisture, the most prominent ^ingredient ,of .urine as! converted into carbonate, efalumonia:, ." ; ',*'*"» • 'Guano.
Guano -co.n.e1sfes" &f« the ^xcrement-s of sjea-fowl, collected durJrrg'lVn'g. periods. ^xh/CBFtaifl islands in th'e South Sea. A soil which is deficient in organic matter is made much more productive by the addition of this manure. It consists of am- monia, combined with uric, phosphoric, oxalic, and carbonic acids, with some earthy salts and impurities.
The urine of men and animals living upon flesh contains a large quantity of nitrogen, partly in the form of urea. '• Human urine is the most powerful manure for all vegetables which contain nitrogen; that of horses and horned cattle con- tains less of this element, but much more than the solid excrements of these animals. In the face of such facts as these, is it not pitiable to observe how the urine of the stable or cow-shed is often permitted to run off, to sink uselessly into the earth, or to form a pool in the middle of a farm-yard, from which, as it putrefies, the am- monia formed in it rapidly escapes into the atmos- phere ?
Cultivated plants need more nitrogen than wild ones, being of a higher and more complex organ- ization. The result of forest growth is chiefly the production of carbonaceous woody fibre; of garden or field culture, especially the addition of as much nitrogen as the plant can be made to take up.
Solid Manure.
The solid excrements of animals do not con- tain as much nitrogen as those which are voided in a liquid form, and do not constitute so power- ful a fertilizing material. In urine, moreover, ammonia loses a good deal of its volatility by being combined and dissolved in the form of Baits. In an analogous manner, one of the uses of sulphate of lime or gypsum, as a manure, is to fix the ammonia of the atmosphere. Charcoal and humus have a similar property.
Mineral Matter in Plants.
Besides the substances already mentioned, others are needed by plants as part of their food, to form their structure. The firmness of straw, for example, is due to the presence in it of silica, the principal constituent of sand and flints. Po- tassa, soda, lime, magnesia, and phosphoric acid, are contained in plants, in different proportions. All of these they must obtain from the soil. The alkalies above-named (potassa and soda) appear to be essential to the perfect development of the higher vegetable forms. Some plants require them in one mode of combination, and some in another,- and thus the soil that is very good for one, may be quite unfit for others. Firs and pines find enough to support them in barren, vandy soil.
The proportion of silicate of potash (necessary for the firmness of wheat straw) does not vary
perceptibly in the soil of grain-fields, because what is removed by the reaper, is again replaced in putrefying straw. But this is not the case with meadow-land. Hence we never find a luxuriant crop of grass on sandy and limestone soils which contain little potash, evidently because one of the constituents indispensable to the growth of the plants is wanting. If a meadow be well manure!, we remove, with the increased crop of grass, a greater quantity of potash than can, by a repe- tition of the same manure, be restored to it. So, grass-land manured with gypsum soon ceases to feel its agency. But if the meadow be strewed from time to time with wood ashes, or soap-boilers' lye made from wood ashes, then the grass thrives as luxuriantly as before. And why ? The ashes are only a means of restoring the necessary potash for the grass stalks. So oats, barley, and rye may be made for once to grow upon a sandy heath, by mixing with the scanty soil the ashes of the heath-plants that grow upon it. Those ashes contain soda and potash, conveyed to the growing furze or gorse by rain-water. The soil of one district consists of sandstone; certain trees find in it a quantity of alkaline earths sufficient for their own sustenance. When felled, and burnt, and sprinkled upon the soil, oats will grow and thrive that without such aid would not vegetate.
The most decisive proof of the absurdity of the indiscriminate use of any strong manure was ob- tained at Bingen, a town on the Rhine, where the produce and development of vines were highly increased by manuring them with animal matters, such as shavings of horn. After some years, the formation of the wood and leaves decreased per- ceptibly. Such manure had too much hastened the growth of the vines : in two or three years they had exhausted the potash in the formation of their fruit leaves and wood; so that none re- mained for the future crops, as shavings of horn contain no potash. Cow-dung would have been better, and is known to be better.
Conditions of Vegetation.
The sun's heat and light, air, water, and the common elements of the earth are necessary to the existence of plants. But a greater or less abundance of certain elements, and their existence in more or less favorable states of combination, determines the magnitude and fertility, or, in a word, the whole productiveness, of the vegetable growth.
The rules of agriculture should then, if ration- ally perfected, enable us to give to each plant what it requires for the attainment of the special object of its culture; namely, the increase of cer- tain parts which are used as food for men and animals.
One instance may illustrate this idea. The means to be resorted to for the production of fine pliable straw for hats and bonnets are the very opposite to those which would tend to produce the greatest possible amount of seed or grain from the same plant.
Sand, clay, and lime, as has been said; are the principal constituents of soils. Clay asi marl always contain potash and soda. Pure land, or pure limestone, would alone constitute absolutely barren soils. All arable land contains an admix- ture of clay, although an excess of it, in propor- tion, is of course disadvantageous.
Rotation of Crops.
The exhaustion of alkalies in a soil by succes- sive crops is the true reason why practical farmers suppose themselves compelled to suffer land to lie fallow. It is the greatest possible mistake to
FERTILIZERS.
11
think that the temporary diminution of fertility in a field is chiefly owing to the loss of the decay- ing vegetiible matter it previously contained: it is principally the consequence of the exhaustion of potash and soda, which are restored by the slow process of the more complete disintegration of the materials of the soil. It is evident that the careful tilling of fallow land must accelerate and increase this further breaking up of its mineral ingredients. Nor is this repose of the soil always necessary. A field, which has become unfitted for a certain kind of produce, may not, on that ac- count, be unsuitable for another; and upon this observation a system of agriculture has been gradually formed, the principal object of which is to obtain the greatest possible produce in a suc- cession of years, with the least outlay for manure. Because plants require for their growth different constituents of soil, changing the crop from year to year will maintain the fertility of that soil (provided it be done with judgment) quite as well as leaving it at rest or fallow. In this we but imitate nature. The oak, after thriving for long generations on a particular spot, gradually sick- ens; its entire race dies out; other trees and shrubs succeed it, till, at length, the surface be- comes so charged with an excess of dead vegetable matter, that the forest becomes a peat moss, or a surface upon which no large tree will grow. Generally long before this can occur, the opera- tion of natural causes has gradually removed from the soil substances, essential to the growth of oak, leaving others favorable and necessary to the growth of beech or pine. So, in practical farm- ing, one crop, in artificial rotation with others, ex- tracts from the soil a certain quantity of necessary materials; a second carries off, in preference, those which the former has left.
One hundred parts of wheat straw yield 15J of ashes ; the same quantity of barley straw, 8£ ; of oat straw, only 4; and the ashes of the three are, chemically, of about the same composition. Upon the same field, which will yield only one harvest of wheat, two successive crops of barley may be raised, and three of oats. We have in these facts a clear proof of what is abstracted from the soil, and the key to" the rational mode of supplying the deficiency.
Since wheat consumes a large amount of silicate of potassa from the soil, the plants which should succeed or alternate with it must be such as re- quire but little potassa, as potatoes or turnips. After three or four years the same lands may well bear wheat ; because, during the interval, the soil will have been, by the action of the atmosphere, and the solution of vegetable and nnimal sub- stances decaying upon or in it, again rendered capable of yielding what the wheat requires. Whether this process can be artificially antici- pated, by supplying the exhausted ingredient to the soil, is a further and most interesting and im- portant inquiry.
We could keep our fields in a constant state of fertility by replacing, every year, as much as is removed from them by their produce. An in- crease of fertility may be expected, of course, only when more is added of the proper material to the soil than is taken away. Any soil will partially regain its strength by lying fallow. But any soil, under cultivation, must at length (with- out help) lose those constituents which are re- moved in the seeds, roots and leaves of the plants raised upon it. To remedy this loss, and also in- crease the productiveness of the land, is the ob- ject of the use of proper manures.
Land, when not employed in raising food for animals or man, should, at least, be applied to
the purpose of raising manure for itself; and this, to a certain extent, may be effected by means of green crops, which, by their decomposition, not only add to the amount of vegetable mould con- tained in the soil, but supply the alkalies that would be found in their ashes. That the soil should become richer by this burial of a crop, than it was before the seed of that crop was sown, will be understood by recollecting that three- fourths of the whole organic matter we bury las been derived from the air : that by this process of ploughing in, the vegetable matter is more equally diffused through the whole soil, and therefore more easily and rapidly decomposed ; and that by its gradual decomposition, ammonia and nitric acid are certainly generated, though not so largely as when animal matters are em- ployed. He who neglects the green sods, and crops of weeds that flourish by his hedgerows and ditches, overlooks an important natural means of wealth. Left to themselves, they ripen their seeds, exhausting the soil, and sowing them annually in his fields : collected in compost heaps, they add materially to his yearly crops of corn.
Organic Manures.
The following conclusions may be regarded as scientifically sustained, as well as confirmed by practical experience :
1. That fresh human urine yields nitrogen in greater abundance to vegetation than any other material of easy acquisition ; and that the urine of animals is valuable for the same purpose, but not equally so.
2. That the mixed excrements of man and animals yield (if carefully preserved from further decomposition), not only nitrogen, but other in- valuable saline and earthy matters that have been already extracted in food from the soil.
3. That animal substances which, like urine, flesh, and blood, decompose rapidly, are fitted to operate immediately and powerfully on vegetation.
4. That dry animal substances, as horn, hair, or woollen rags, decompose slowly, and (weight for weight) contain a greater quantity of organized as well as unorganized materials, manifesting their influence it may be for several seasons.
5. That bones, acting like horn, in so far as their animal matter is concerned, and like it for a number of seasons more or less, according as they have been more or less finely crushed, may ameliorate the soil by their earthy matter for a long period (even if the jelly they contain have been injuriously removed by the size maker), per- manently improving the condition and adding to the natural capabilities of the land.
Uses of Guano.
This manure is a powerful stimulant to vege- table development generally; it is especially available in raising wheat, corn, potatoes, gaiien vegetables, and tobacco. If the land needs it, it may be put on as often as a crop is to be raised; though not, it is said, as a top dressing. For wheat, 150 to 200 pounds of guano may be used to the acre; for Indian corn, 300 to 400 pounds; unless it is put directly in the hills., when 100 pounds per acre will do. For potatoes, 300 to 400 pounds, in a drill, with bone dust. The addition of the latter makes the good effects of the guano more durable.
Min eral Fertilizers.
Simple lime, although an important constituent of plants, is rarely suitable as an application to them in its pure state. Carbonate of lime (rep- resented by chalk, &c.) is a natural ingredient in very many soils. The sulphate of liine (gypsum.
12
AGKICULTURE.
plaster of Paris) is often used for fertilizing pur- poses. It is less easily decomposed than the car- bonate. The precise conditions which make it most advantageous, are not positively determined yet. Phosphate of lime is a very important con- stituent of plants; and, as it exists also in the bones of animals, a double relation follows : namely, that it should be abundant in soil on which plants are raised for food of men and ani- mals ; and, on the other hand, that animal bones contribute it to the soil when they decay upon it. Wood ashes contain a large amount of car- bonate of potassa, with also the sulphate and silicate of that alkali. Peat ashes vary in different regions, but always are found useful as manure. Kelp, or the ashes of sea-weeds, are often em- ployed in the same way; they contain soda in considerable amount. Nitrate of potassa (nitre, or saltpetre) is said to quicken vegetable action when aided to the soil, and to give the leaves a deeper $<;reen. A hundred pounds to the acre of grass or young corn, have been reported to pro- duce a beneficial effect. In localities far inland, common salt, chloride of sodium, is indispensable to the soil, although a small amount of it will suffice. Animal manures contain it. An excess of salt will render land barren; as was well known to the ancients.
Conclusions,
We may take it for granted that every thinking, practical mind, will admit it as proved, that there must be an exact adaptation and fitness between the condition of any given soil and the plants intended to be raised upon it; and, further, that if this mutual fitness does not naturally exist, a know- ledge of its requirements will enable us to supply it artificially. The great difficulty is, to obtain this knowledge fully and accurately. It must be confessed that, at present, much is wanting to render it complete and directly available. Indus- trious observation and experiment may, hereafter, make it so; and thus give us a system of truly scientific agriculture.
A few statements only remain to be added to what has been said. The best natural soils are those where the materials have been derived from the breaking up and decomposition, not of one stratum or layer, but of many — divided mi- nutely by air and water, and minutely blended together: and in improving soils by artificial additions, the farmer cannot do better than imi- tate the processes of nature.
We have spoken of soils as consisting mostly of sand, lime, and clay, with certain saline and organic substances in smaller and varying pro- portions; but the examination of the ashes of plants shows that a fertile soil must of necessity contain an appreciable quantity of at least eleven different substances, which in most cases exist in greater or less relative abundance in the ash of cultivated plants; and of these the proportions are not by any means immaterial. In general, the soils which are made up of the most various materials are called alluvial ; having been formed from the depositions of floods and rivers. Many of them are extremely fertile. Soils consist of two parts; of an organic part, which can readily be burned away when the surface-soil is heated to redness ; and of an inorganic part, which re- mains fi^ed in the fire, consisting of earthy and saline substances ; from which, if carbonic acid or any elastic gas be present, it may, however, be driven by the heat. The organic part of soils is derived chiefly from the remains of vegetables and animals which have lived and died in and upon the soil, which have been spread over it by
riverg and rains, or which have been added by the industry of man for the purposes of increased fertility.
This organic part varies much in quantity, a. well as quality, in different soils. In peaty soils it is very abundant, as well as in some rich, long cultivated lands. In general, it rarely amounts to one-fourth, or 25 per cent., even in our best arable lands. Good wheat soils contain often as little as eight parts in the hundred of organic animal or vegetable matter; oats and rye will grow in a soil containing only 1£ per cent. ; and barley when only two or three parts per cent, are present.
The inorganic portion of any given soil, again, is divisible into two portions; that part which is soluble in water, and thus easily taken up by plants, and a much more bulky portion which is insoluble.
Sir Humphrey Davy found the following to be the composition of a good productive soil. In every 9 parts, 8 consisted of siliceous sand; the remaining (one-ninth) part was composed, in 100 parts, as follows :
Carbonate of lime (chalk), . . .63 grains. Pure silex, . . . " . 15 grains.
Pure alumina, or the earth of clay, . 11 grains. Oxide (rust) of iron, ... 3 grains. Vegetable and other saline matter, . 5 grains. Moisture and loss, . . . • . 3 grains.
100
Thus the whole amount of organic matter in this instance is only 1 part in 200, or one-half of one per cent.; a fact which, in itself, would demon- strate the fallacy of supposing that decomposed animal and vegetable matter in the soil form the exclusive supply to growing plants.
In another instance, soil was taken from a field in Sussex, remarkable for its growth of flourishing oak trees. It consisted of 6 parts of sand, and 1 part of clay and finely-divided matter. One hundred grains of it yielded, in chemical lan- guage— Of silica (or silex), . . . .54 grains.
Of alumina, . . . . .,28 grains.
Carbonate of lime, .... 3 grains.
Oxide of iron, ..... 5 grains.
Vegetable matter in a state of decom- position, ...... 4 grains.
Moisture and loss, .... 6 grains.
100
To wheat soilst the attention of the practical farmer will be most strongly directed. An ex- cellent wheat soil from West Dray ton, in Eng- land, yielded 3 parts in 5 of silicious sand; and the remaining two parts consisted of carbonate of lime, silex, alumina, and a minute proportion of decomposing animal and vegetable remains.
Of these soils, the last was by far the most, and the first the least, coherent in texture. In all cases, the constituent parts of the soil which give tenacity and stiffness, are the finely-divided por- tions; and they possess this quality in propr rtion to the quantity of alumina (or earth of clay) they contain.
The varying power of soils to absorb and retain water from the air, is much connected with their fertility. This absorbent power is always greatest in the most fertile lands. Their productiveness is also much influenced by the nature of the sub- soil on which they rest; for, when soils are situ- ated immediately upon a bed of rock or stone, they dry sooner by the sun's agency than when the subsoil is clay or marl.
A great deal more might be said upon other
SOILS.
13
kindred points. But, as has been already re- marked, agricultural science is, as yet, imperfect. It is a mistake for the practical farmer to contemn "book farming," as if it were something visionary or useless; while, on the other hand, the agricul- tural chemist and vegetable physiologist must submit all their inductions and conclusions to the test of careful and repeated trials. The one can seldom analyze soils, and the other can rarely attend to raising crops; so they must help each other, and, together, aid in advancing the oldest of human arts, and one of the most beautiful of the sciences — that of the earth's culture.
PRACTICAL FARMING.
Component parts of Soil.
The principal component parts of the soil, what- ever may be the color, are clay, lime, sand, water, and air. The primitive earths, argil, lime, and sand, contain each, perhaps in nearly equal de- grees, the food of plants; but in their union the purposes of vegetation are most completely an- swered. The precise quantities of each necessary to make this union perfect, and whether they ought to be equal, it is not very easy to ascertain, since that point is best determined in practice, when the soil proves to be neither too stiff nor adhesive, from the superabundance of clay, nor of too loose and weak a texture, from an over quantity of sand in its composition. The medium is undoubtedly best; but an excess towards adhe- sion is obviously most safe. A stiff or strong soil holds the water which falls upon it for a long time, and, being capable of much ploughing, is naturally well qualified for carrying the most valuable arable crops. A light sod, or one of a texture feeble and easily broken, is, on the con- trary, soon exhausted by aration, and requires renovation by grass; or otherwise it cannot be cultivated to advantage.
To distinguish Clayey Soils.
A clayey soil, though distinguished by the color which it bears, namely black, white, yellow, and red, differs from all other soils, being tough, wet, and cold, And consequently requiring a good deal of labor from the husbandman before it can be sufficiently pulverized, or placed in a state for bearing artificial crops of corn or grass. Clay land is known by the following qualities, or pro- perties.
It holds water like a cup, and once wetted does not soon dry. In like manner, when thoroughly dry, it is not soon wetted ; if we except the varie- ties which have a thin surface, and are the worst of all to manage. In a dry summer, clay cracks and shows a surface full of small chinks, or open- ings. If ploughed in a wet state, it sticks to the plough like mortar, and in a dry summer, the plough turns it up in great clods, scarcely to be broken or separated by the heaviest roller.
To manage Sandy Soils.
Soils of this description are managed with infi- nitely less trouble, and at an expense greatly infe- rior to what clays require; but at the same time, the crops produced from them are generally of smaller value. There are many varieties of sand, however, as well as of clay; and in some parts of the country, the surface is little better than a bare barren sand, wherein artificial plants will not take root unless a dose of clay or good earth is previ- ously administered. This is not the soil meant by the farmer when he speaks of sands. To speak practically, the soil meant is one where sand is predominant, although there be several other
earths in the mixture. From containing a great quantity of sand, these soils are all loose and crumbling, and never get into a clod, even in the driest weather. This is the great article of dis- tinction betwixt sand and sandy loams. A sandy loam, owing to the clay that is in it, does not crumble down, or become loose like a real sand, but retains a degree of adhesion after wetness or j drought, notwithstanding the quantity of sand I that is mixed with it. Perhaps a true sandy loam, ' incumbent upon a sound subsoil, is the ino.«t valu- able of all soils. Upon such, every kind of grain may be raised with advantage, and no soil is better calculated for turnips and grass.
The real sands are not favorable to the growth of wheat, unless when preceded by clover, which binds the surface, and confers a temporary strength for sustaining that grain. Much of the county of Norfolk, in England, is of this description ; and it is well known that few districts of the kingdom yield a greater quantity of produce. Till Norfolk, however, was invigorated by clay and marl, nearly one-half of it was little better than waste; but by the success which accompanied the use of these auxiliaries, a new soil was in a manner created; which, by a continuation of judicious manage- ment, has given a degree of fame to the husbandry of that country, far surpassing that of other dis- tricts naturally more fertile.
Gravelly Soils.
The open porous nature of these soils disposes them to imbibe moisture, and to part with it with great facility: from the latter of which circum- stances they are subject to burn, as it is termed, in dry seasons. The main difference between gravel and sand is, that the former is chiefly com- posed of small soft stones ; though in some in- stances the stones are of a silicious or flinty na- ture, and, in others, of the calcareous or chalky. From these constitutional circumstances arises the propriety of deepening gravelly soils by coats of marl or earth, and of keeping them fresh by fre- quent returns of grass, and repeated applications of manure. Gravelly soils, from the lightness of their texture, are not expensive or difficult in the means of cultivation. All the necessary business required for gravels may be carried forward with ease and expedition; and such soils are, in gene- ral, soon brought into a proper state for the re- ception of crops.
The constitutional qualities of gravels point out the propriety of ploughing them deep, so that the surface soil may be augmented, and greater room given to the growth of the plants cultivated on them. A shallow-ploughed gravel can stand no excess of weather, however enriched by manure. It is burnt up by a day or two of drought, and it is almost equally injured by an excessive fall of rain, unless the pan or firm bottom, which such soils easily gain, be frequently broken through by deep ploughing.
Uses of different Soils.
Clayey soils, when sufficiently enriched with manures, are naturally well qualified for carrying crops of wheat, oats, beans, and clover; but are not fitted for barley, turnips, potatoes, etc., or even for being kept under for grass longer than one year. Such soils ought to be regularly summer- fallowed once in six, or at least once in eight years, even when they are comparatively in a clean state, as they contract a sourness and adhesion from wet ploughing, only to be removed by exposure to the sun and wind during the dry months of summer. Soils of this kind receive little benefit from winter ploughing, unless so far as their surface is thereby
AGRICULTURE.
presented to the frost, which mellows and reduces them in a. manner infinitely superior to what could be accomplished by all the operations of man. gtill they are not cleaned or made free of weeds by winter ploughing; and therefore this operation can only be considered as a good means for pro- curing a seed-bed, in which the seeds of the future crop may be safely deposited. Hence the neces- sity of cleansing clay soils during the summer months, and of having always a large part of every clay farm under summer fallow. All clayey soils require great industry and care, as well as a con- siderable portion of knowledge in dressing or m;mngement, to keep them in good condition; yet when their natural toughness is got the better of, they always yield the heaviest and most abundant crops. One thing requisite for a clayey soil, is to keep it rich and full of manure; a poor clay being the most ungrateful of all soils, and hardly capa- ble of repaying the expense of labor, after being worn out and exhausted. A clayey soil also re- ceives, comparatively, small benefit from grass; and when once allowed to get into a sterile con- dition, the most active endeavors will with diffi- culty restore fertility to it after the lapse of many years.
Upon light soils the case is very different. These flourish under the grass husbandry; and bare summer fallow is rarely required, because they may be cleaned and cropped in the same year, with that valuable esculent, turnip. Upon light soils, however, wheat can seldom be extensively cultivated; nor can a crop be obtained of equal value, either in respect to quantity or quality, as on clay sand loams. The best method of procur- ing wheat on light lands, is to sow upon a clover stubble, when the soil has got an artificial solidity of body and is thereby rendered capable of sus- taining the grain till it arrives at maturity. The same observation applies to soils of a gravelly na- ture; and upon both barley is generally found of as great benefit as wheat.
Thin clays and peat earths are more friendly to the growth of oats than of other grains, though in favorable seasons a heavy crop of wheat may be obtained from a thin clayey soil, when it has been completely summer-fallowed and enriched with dung. A first application of calcareous manure is generally accompanied with great advantage upon these soils; but when once the effect of this application is over, it can hardly be repeated a second time, unless the land has been very cau- tiously managed after the first dressing. Neither of these soils is friendly to grass, yet there is a necessity of exercising this husbandry with them, because they are incapable of standing the plough more than a year or two in the course of a rotation.
Wheat ought to be the predominant crop upon all the rich clays and strong loams, and light soils of every kind are well qualified for turnips, barley, etc. Upon the thin and moorish soils, oats must necessarily preserve a prominent rank, and grass seeds may be cultivated upon every one of them, though with different degrees of advantage, according to the natural and artificial richness of each soil, or to the qualities which it possesses for encouraging the growth of clover, in the first in- stance, and preserving the roots of the plant after- wards.
Operation of Tillage.
Tillage is an operation whereby the soil is either cleared from noxious weeds, or prepared for re- ceiving the seeds of plants cultivated by the hus- bandman. When this operation is neglected, or even partially executed, the soil becomes foul, barren, and unproductive; hence, upon arable j
farms, tillage forms tne prominent branch of work j and, according to the perfection or imperfection with wnich it is executed, the crops of the hus- bandman, whether of corn or grass, are in a great measure regulated.
Tillage, in the early ages, was performed by hand labor; but, in modern times, the plough has been the universal instrument used for executing this necessary and important branch of rural work. In no other way can large fields be turned over, because the expense of digging with the spade, the only other method of turning over the ground, would much exceed any profit that can be reaped.
Stones lying above or below the surface are the most formidable obstruction to perfect tillage. On stony ground, the work is not only imperfectly executed, but in many cases the implement is broken to pieces, and a considerable portion of time lost before it is repaired and put in order. The removal of stones, therefore, especially of such as are below the surface, ought to be a pri- mary object with every agriculturist; because a neglect of this kind may afterwards occasion him considerable loss and inconvenience.
To drain the ground, in other words, to lay it dry, also facilitates tillage exceedingly ; for plough- ing cannot be performed with advantage where either the surface or subsoil is wet.
Best Mode of Tillage.
The only sure and certain way by which the soil is cleaned or rendered free of weeds, is by plough- ing in the summer months, when the ground is dry, and when, by the influence of the sun and air, the weeds may be destroyed with facility. Seldom at any other period is the soil much bene- fitted by ploughing, unless so far as a seed-bed is thus procured for the succeeding crop ; and though the situation or state of the ground, when these intermediate ploughings are bestowed, is of im- portance in judging of their utility, yet the radi- cal process of summer fallow cannot, by any means, be altogether dispensed with. Though, if the win- ter and spring ploughings are executed under favorable circumstances, and plenty of manure is at hand, it may be delayed for a greater number of years than is otherwise practicable, if good husbandry is to be maintained.
Without summer fallow, or, which is the same, thing, without working the ground in the summer months, perfect husbandry is unattainable on all heavy or cold soils, and upon every variety in- cumbent on a close or retentive bottom.
To keep his land clean will always be a princi- pal object with every good farmer; for if this is neglected, in place of carrying rich crops of gram or grass, the ground will be exhausted by crops of weeds. Where land is foul, every operation of husbandry must be proportionably non-effective; and even the manures applied will, in a great measure, be lost.
The necessity of summer fallow depends greatly upon the nature and quality of the soil; as, upon some soils, a repetition of this practice is less fre- quently required than upon others. Wherever the soil is incumbent upon clay or till, it is more disposed to get foul, than when incumbent upon a dry gravelly bottom ; besides, wet soils, from be- ing ploughed in winter, contract a stiffness which lessens the pasture of artificial plants, and prevents them from receiving sufficient nourishment. When land of a day gravelly bottom gets foul, it may easily be cleaned without a plain summer fallow; since crops, such as turnips, etc., may be substi- tuted in its place, which, when drilled at proper intervals, admit of being ploughed as often as necessary ; whereas wet soils, which are naturally
IMPLEMENTS.
15
unfit for carrying such crops, must be cleaned and brought into good order by frequent plough- ings and harrowings during the summer months.
To Conduct a Fallow.
Upon all clayey soils (and upon such only is a complete summer fallow necessary) the first ploughing ought to be given during the winter months, or as early in the spring as possible; which greatly promotes the rotting of the sward and stubble. This should be done by gathering up the ridge, which both lays the ground dry and rips up the furrows. As soon as seed-time is over, the ridge should be cloven down, preparatory to cross ploughing; and after lying a proper time, should be harrowed and rolled repeatedly, and every partible of quickens that the harrovrs have brought above, should be carefully picked off with the hand. It is then proper to ridge or gather it up immediately, which both lays the land in pro- per condition- for meeting bad weather, and opens up any fast land that may have been missed in the furrows when the cross ploughing was given. After this harrow, roll, and gather the root weeds again ; and continue so doing till the field is per- fectly clean.
To Prepare the Ground.
The above object is most completely accom- plished, when the ground is ploughed deep and equal, while the bottom of the furrow immediately above the subsoil is perfectly loosened and turned equally over with the part which constitutes the surface. In many places these properties are altogether neglected, the ground being ploughed in a shallow way, while the bottom of the ploughed land remains something like the teeth of a saw, having the under part of the furrow untouched, and consequently not removed by the action of the plough. While these things are suffered, the j object of tillage is only partially gained. The food of plants can only be imperfectly procured : and the ground is drenched and injured hy wet- ness; these ridges, or pieces of land, which are not cut, preventing a descent of the moisture from above to the open furrows left for carrying it off. Where the seed-bed is prepared by one ploughing, the greatest care ought to be used in having it closely and equally performed. When two are given, they should be in opposite directions, so that any firm land left in the first may be cut up in the second ploughing. It is not profitable to plough twice one way, if it can be safely avoided.
Another important point towards procuring good tillage, is never to plough the land when in a wet state; because encouragement is thus given to the growth of weeds, while a sourness and ad- hesion is communicated to the ground, which is rarely got the better of till the operations of a summer fallow are again repeated.
All soils ought not to be wrought or ploughed in one manner. Each kind has its particular and appropriate qualities ; and, therefore, each requires a particular and appropriate mode of tillage. Ploughing, which is the capital operation of hus- bandry, ought, on these accounts, to be adminis- tered according to the nature of the soil which is to be operated upon, and not executed agreeably to one fixed and determined principle. On strong clays and loams, and on rich gravels and deep sands, the plough ought to go as deep as the cat- tle are able to work it; whereas, on thin clays and barren sands the benefit of deep ploughing is Very questionable; especially when such are in- cumbent on a till bottom, or where the subsoil is of a yellow-ochre nature; such, when turned up, being little better than poison to the surface, un-
less highly impregnated with alluvial compost, the effect of which expels the poisonous substance contained in this kind of subsoil, and gives a fer- tility to the whole mass, more decisively perma- nent than would follow a heavy application of tLa best rotten dung.
Two sets of Ploughs required for perfect Tillage.
On clayey soils, where the ridges are so that the ground may be preserved in something like a dry condition, the plough used for tillage ought to have a mould-board considerably wider set than is required for light soils, in order that the furrow may be close cut below, and only turned over. The method of constructing the plough necessarily makes a heavier draught than would be the case were the mould-board placed differently ; though if good and sufficient work be wanted, the necessity of constructing the im- plement in the way mentioned, is absolute and indispensable. The plough to be used on light soils, or on all soils that admit of what is tech- nically called crown and furrow ploughing, may be made much straighter below, and yet be capable of executing the work in a perfect manner. On every farm, consisting of mixed soils, two sets of ploughs ought to be kept, otherwise proper work cannot be performed. All land ought to be ploughed with a shoulder, and the advantages of ploughing in this way are, that, if ploughed before winter, the surface is enabled to resist the winter rains, and afterwards present a face on which the harrows can make a proper impression, when the seed process is to be executed. This deserves particular attention when old grass fields are broken up ; as, by neg- lecting it, the harrows are often unable to cover the seed. It is perfectly practicable to plough land with a tolerably broad furrow, say 10, 11, or 12 inches, and yet to plough it clean, provided the implement used is properly constructed ; but, then, care must be taken that the furrow be of proportionate deepness, otherwise it will be laid on its back, instead of being deposited at an angle proper for undergoing the harrowing process.
The use of stibsoilers is now common, to turn up the depth of the soil. In sandy earth, beneath a ten-inch furrow, a subsoiler may go ten inches deeper ; but this is not easy or possible in all soils.
Implements of Husbandry. *• No country in the world is better provided with implements for executing rural labor than Great Britain; and to this superiority may, in some measure, be attributed the increased and in- creasing perfection of agriculture over the whole island. American ingenuity has gone still further in the same direction. We have ploughs of all the different kinds that ever were constructed : as for wheel carriages, the variety is immense; whilst harrows, and other common implements, of various constructions and dimensions, are equally numerous. But it is in the articles more pmperly allied to machinery, that the superiority f A merican rural implements is most conspicuous. Drills for sowing grain and small seeds with regularity, have been constructed upon scientific principles; and machines for separating grain from straw, have been invented, and brought to a degree of perfection which few people expected when these machines were first introduced.
The double Michigan plough is an important mprovement on the old plough. Instead of a coulter it has a small plough attached to the beam in front of the other, which takes a slice from the sod, and makes cleaner work for the plough. Steam ploughs have also been invented.
16
AGRICULTURE.
The univertal Sowing Machine.
This machine, whether made to he worked hy hand, drawn by a horse, or fixed to a plough, and used with it, is extremely simple in its construc- tion, and not liable to be put out of order; as there is but one movement to direct the whole. It will sow wheat, barley, oats, rye, clover, cole- seed, hemp, flax, canary, rape, turnip ; besides a great variety of other kinds of grain and seeds, broadcast, with an accuracy hitherto unknown. It is equally useful when fixed to a plough; it •will then drill a more extensive variety of grain, pulse, and seed (through every gradation, with regard to quality), and deliver each kind with greater regularity than any drill plough whatever.
Among many other valuable and peculiar pro- perties, it will not only sow in the broadcast way with a most singular exactness, but save the ex- pense of a seedsman; the seed being sown (either over or under furrow at pleasure), and the land ploughed at the same operation.
Another advantage attending the use of this machine is, that the wind can have no effect on the falling of the seed.
The machine, when made to be used without a plough, and to be drawn by a horse, may be of different lengths. The upper part contains the hoppers, from which the grain or seed descends into the spouts. The several spouts all rest upon a bar, which hangs and plays freely by two dia- gonal supporters; a trigger, fixed to this bar, bears a catch wheel: this being fixed on the axle, occasions a regular and continued motion, or jogging of the spoute, quicker or slower in pro- portion to the space the person sowing with it drives. At the bottom of the' machine is placed an apron or shelf, in a sloping position, and the corn or seed, by falling thereon from the spouts above, is scattered about in every direction.
To sow the corn or seed in drills, there are movable spouts, which are fixed on or taken off at pleasure, to direct the seed from the upper spout to the bottom of the furrow.
Harrows.
These beneficial implements are of various sizes and dimensions; but the harrow most commonly used consists of four bulls, with cross-mortised sheaths, each bull containing five teeth, of from five to seven inches in length below the bulls, the longest being placed forwards. Harrows of this kind, drawn by one horse, are generally used on most farms for all purposes, though on others large brake-harrows, consisting of five bulls, each containing six teeth, and worked by two horses, are employed during the fallow process, and for reducing rough land. Some of these brake-har- rows are constructed with joints, so as to bend and accommodate their shape to the curvature of ridges. A small harrow, with short teeth, is also used for covering grass seeds, though we have rarely seen any detriment from putting grass seeds as deep into the ground as the teeth of ordi- nary sized harrows are capable of going.
The best methods of Harrowing. When employed to reduce a strong obdurate soil, not more than two harrows should be yoked together, because they are apt to ride and tumble upon each other, and thus impede the work, and execute it imperfectly. On rough soils, harrows ought to be driven as fast as the horses can walk ; because their effect is in the direct proportion to the degree of velocity with which they are driven. In ordinary cases, and in every case where har- rowing is meant for covering the seed, three har- rows are the best yoke, because they fill up the
ground more effectually, and leave fewer vacan- cies, than when a smaller number is employed. The harrowman's attention, at the seed process, should be constantly directed to prevent these implements from riding upon each other, and to keep them clear of every impediment from stones, lumps of earth, or clods, and quickens or grass roots; for any of these prevents the implement from working with perfection, and causes a mark or trail upon the surface, always unplensing to the eye, and generally detrimental to the vege- tation of the seed. Harrowing is usually given in different directions, first in length, then across, and finally in length as at first. Careful hus- bandmen study, in the finishing part of the pro- cess, to have the harrows drawn in a straight line, without suffering the horses to go in a zigzag manner, and are also attentive that the horses enter fairly upon the ridge, without making a curve at the outset. In some instances, an excess of harrowing has been found very prejudicial to the succeeding crop; but it is always necessary to give so much as to break the furrow, and level the surface, otherwise the operation is imperfectly performed.
Rollers.
The roller is an implement frequently used for smoothing the surface of land when in tillage, especially when the processes of summer fallow are going forward. Several kinds of rollers are used in America. Some are of stone, others of wood or iron, according to the nature of the opera- tion intended to be performed. The only material difference in rollers is their weight; but it should be attended to, when a roller is made of large diameter, that its weight ought to be the greater, for in proportion to the largeness of its diameter will be the extent of surface upon which the roller rests. The weight of a roller ought there- fore to be in proportion to its diameter, otherwise its effect will be proportionably diminished.
Rolling, however, is a modern improvement, and used for different purposes. In the first place, it is of great advantage to roll young grasses after the ground is stoned, because the scythe can then be placed nearer the surface, and the crop cut more equally than when the operation is neglected. 2dly. Land on which turnips are to be cultivated can rarely be made fine enough, without the repeated use of this implement. And 3dly. The process of summer fallow, upon strong soils, is much advanced by rolling, because without its aid the large and obdurate clods can- not be reduced or couch-grass eradicated. -From these circumstances it will readily appear, that rollers of various sizes and dimensions are re- quired on every farm, for accomplishing different purposes. Wooden rollers, drawn by one horse, answer very well for grass and turnip land; but massy stone rollers, drawn either by two or three horses, are absolutely necessary on clay soils.
It is obvious, that when a large field is to be rolled, a number of rollers ought at once to be set at work, otherwise an opportunity may be lost, never to be regained. The deficiency is most conspicuous when barley is taken after turnips in a dry season. From poaching the ground with carts, in order to carry off the crop, and even by the treading of sheep, a degree of stiffness is contracted, which requires the use of the roller before grass seeds can be sown.
On all occasions it is most beneficial to roll across, because, when going in length, the imple- ment is of small benefit to the furrows, the slightest acclivation of the ridges preventing the work from being equally performed. The expe-
IMPLEMENTS.
17
dition which takes place when rollers are used, compared with the tedious and expensive process of breaking clods with malls, formerly the gene- ral custom, sufficiently proves the importance of these implements, though it deserves to be re- marked, that, when rolling is bestowed upon a »pring-sown field, harrowing it afterwards is of great advantage. By harrowing when the clods ftro reduced, the earth stands the effects of rain better afterwards, and does not consolidate so firmly as when that process is neglected.
Mowers and Reapers. *
These machines are of great value, especially to those with large farms. One machine, the mower, can be made to perform duty both with grass and grain ; but reapers are constructed especially for the latter. Weeders are also in use in some parts of the country, drawn by horse power.
The Thrashing Machine.
The thrashing machine is the most valuable implement in the farmer's possession, and one which adds more to the general produce of the country, than any invention hitherto devised. The saving of manual labor thereby obtained is almost incalculable; while the work is performed in a much more perfect manner than was formerly practicable, even when the utmost care and ex- ertion were bestowed. In fact, had not the thrashing machine been invented, it is hardly possible to conceive what would have been the rate of expense of thrashing, or even whether a sufficient number of hands could, at any rate of expense, have been obtained for thrashing the grain of the country.
Since the invention of this machine, Mr. Meikle and others have progressively introduced a variety of improvements, all tending to simplify the labor, and to augment the quantity of the work performed. When first erected, though the grain was equally well separated from the straw, yet as the whole of the straw, chaff, and grain, was indiscrimi- nately thrown into a confused heap, the work could only with propriety be considered as half executed. By the addition of rakes, or shakers, and two pairs of fanners, all driven by the same machinery, the different processes of thrashing, shaking, and winnowing are now all at once per- formed, and the grain immediately prepared for the public market. When it is added, that the quantity of grain gained from the superior powers of the machine is fully equal to a twentieth part of the crop, and that, in some cases, the expense of thrashing and cleaning the grain is considerably less than what was formerly paid for cleaning it alone, the immense saving arising from the in- Tention will at once be seen.
The expense of horse labor, from the increased value of the animal and the charge of his keep- ing, being an object of great importance, it is recommended that, upon all sizable farms, that is to say, where two hundred acres, or upwards, of grain are sown, the machine should be worked by wind, unless where local circumstances afford th<; conveniency of water.
Where coals are plenty and cheap, steam may be advantageously used for working the machine.
Method of Treading Grain.
In some countries wheat is trodden out by horses, nearly in the same way as it was formerly done in Palestine by oxen.
The treading floors are generally from sixty to 100 feet in diameter; but the larger their diameter ie, the easier is the work to the horses. The track, or path, on which the sheaves are laid, and
on which the horses walk, is from twelve to tvron- ty-four feet wide, or more. The floors are com- monly enclosed by fences; and the horses are generally driven between them promiscuously and loose, each pressing to be foremost, so that fresh air may be obtained, — biting, jostling, and kick- ing each other with the greatest fury. The labor in this way is extremely severe. Upon some small floors a centre-stick is placed, to which hangs a rope, or a pole and swivel, and four or five horses being fastened together, travel round upon the sheaves with the utmost regularity. Previously to laying down the wheat sheaves, the state of the air, and the probability of its con- tinuing dry through the day, is fully considered. If they resolve to tread, the morning is suffered to pass away till the dew is removed. A row of sheaves is first laid upon the floors with the heads and butts in a line across the track of it, as a bolster for receiving other sheaves; and these sheaves range with the path, or circle, the butts resting on the floor. Other sheaves are ranged in like manner, with the heads raised on the former, till the whole floor is filled, when it appears to be filled with nothing but ears of wheat, sloping a little upwards. Upon laying down each sheaf, the baud thereof is cut with a knife. A west wind is always desirable while treading is going on, as when wind is from the eastward dampness generally prevails.
In some instances, twenty-four horses are formed at some distance from the floor into four ranks; and when the floor is ready laid, the word is given to advance. For the sake of order and regular work, a boy mounted on one of the fore- most horses advances in a walk with the whole rank haltered or tied together, and enters upon the bed of wheat, walking the horses slowly over it; another rank is ordered to follow as soon as the first is supposed to have obtained a distance equal to a fourth part of the circumference of the bed, and in the same manner the other ranks proceed. They are forbidden to go past a walk, till they have proceeded five or six rounds, when the word is given to move at a sober trot, and to keep their ranks at a full distance from each other, regularity and deliberate movement being necessary for preventing confusion. The gentle trot is continued till it may be supposed the horses have travelled eight or nine miles, which is the extent of their first journey ; they are then led off to be foddered and watered, when the trodden light straw is taken off as deep as the place where the sheaves lie close, and are but partially bruised.
As soon as this first straw is removed, one-third of the width of the bed is turned over on the other two-thirds from the inner side or circle of the bed, which narrows the neck of the next journey. The horses are again led on, and trot out their second journey, till the straw be clear of wheat. The outer part of the bed is then turned upon the middle part, when the horses take another jour- ney. The loose straw being then taken oft', the whole remaining bed is turned up from the floor, and shaken with forks, and handles of rakes, after which the horses give another tread, which finishes the work. The grain is then shoved up from the floor with the heads of rakes turned downwards, and put into heaps of a conical form, in which situation it often remains exposed to the weather for several days. The correct American agriculturists, however, have houses adjoining the treading floor, where the grain is deposited till it is cleared from the chaff and offal ; though, as most of them continue treading, if the weathet be favorable, till the whole crop is separated from
See page 470.
18
AGRICULTURE.
the straw, it is pretty obvious that the grain stands a considerable chance of being damaged before the several processes are concluded.
Fanners.
If thrashing machines are of much advantage to the public, by separating grain completely from the straw, the introduction of fanners, or the ma- chine by which grain is cleansed from chaff, and all sorts of offal, may, with justice, be considered as of equal benefit to the practical agriculturist.
Since thrashing machines were introduced, fan- ners almost in every case are annexed to them, and in some instances, where powerful machines are used, fitted internally with suitable riddles, it i« perfectly practicable to measure and market the grain immediately as it comes from the machine.
Manure*.
The term manure is applied indiscriminately to all substances, which are known from experience either to enrich the different soils, or contribute in any other way to render them more favorable to vegetation.
In an ngricultural point of view, the subject of manures is of the first magnitude. To correct what is hurtful to vegetation in the different soils, and to restore what is lost by exhausting crops, are operations in agriculture which may be com- pared to the curing of diseases in the animal body, or supplying the waste occasioned by labor.
To manage Dung upon Light Lands.
For soils of this description, where turnips are taken as a first crop, dung can hardly be too well prepared ; because the nature of the crop to which it is applied renders a complete incorporation with the ground absolutely necessary; without which the young plants might be starved at their very entrance into life. In the best farmed Eng- lish counties, dung is often kept more than a year, In order that it may be perfectly rotted.
In general there is not much difficulty in pre- paring dung upon turnip farms; because, in the driest season, from the nature of the food used, juch a quantity of liquid passes from the animals, is to prevent burning, provincially fire-fanging, the greatest obstacle to the rotting of dung that ean be experienced. If turnip dung is regularly removed, if it is properly mixed with the horse litter and other excrementitious matter accumu- lated upon the farm, it will be found an ea?y task to prepare all that is made by the middle of April, at which time the fold-yard should be cleared. What is produced after that time should be stored up separately, receive waterings if the weather is dry, and be reserved for clover-stubbles, or other fields that are to be dunged in autumn.
The middle of April is a good time for clearing the fold-yard; but this does not prevent the work from going partially forward through the winter, when suitable opportunities occur.
When driven out of the fold-yard, the dung should be laid up in a regular heap or pile, not exceeding six quarters, or four feet and a half in height; and care should be taken not to put either horse or cart upon it, which is easily avoided by backing the cart to the pile, and laying the dung compactly together with a grape or fork. It is also useful to face up the extremities with earth, which Tteeps in the moisture, and prevents the sun and wind from doing injury. Perhaps a small quantity of ea,rth strewed upon the top might also prove useful. Dung, when managed in this man- ner, generally ferments very rapidly; but if it is discovered to be in a backward state, a complete turn over, about the 1st of May, when the weather becomes warm, wilJ quiok«n the process ; and the
better it is shaken asunder, the sooner will theob* ject in view be accomplished.
A secluded spot of ground, not much exposed to wind, and perfectly secure from being floated with water, ought always to be chosen for the site of such piles or heaps. If the field to which it is to be applied is at hand, a little after-trouble may be saved by depositing it there in the first instance. But it is found most convenient to reserve a piece of ground adjacent to the homestead for this pur- pose. There it is always under the farmer's eye, and a greater quantity can be moved in a shorter time than when the situation is more distinct. Besides, in wet weather (and this is generally the time chosen for such an operation), the roads are not only cut up by driving to a distance, but the field on which the heap is made, may be poached and injured considerably.
Upon Heavy Lands.
Upon clay soils, where wheat forms a principal part of the crop, where great quantities of beans are cultivated, and few turnips sown, unless for the use of milch cows, the rotting of dung is not only a troublesome but an expensive affair. In- dependent of what is consumed by the ordinary farm stock, the overplus of the straw must, some- how or other, be rotted, by lean cattle kept in the fold-yard, who either receive the straw in racks, or have it thrown across the yard, to be eaten and trodden down by them. According to this mode of consumption, it is evident that a still greater necessity arises for a frequent removal of this un- made dung; otherwise, from the trampling of beasts, and the usual want of moisture, it would compress so much as altogether to prevent putre- faction. TO prepare dung sufficiently upon farms of this description is at all times'an arduous task, but scarcely practicable in dry seasons; for if it once gets burnt (fire-fanged), it is almost physi- cally impossible to bring it into a suitable state of preparation afterwards; and, at all events, its virtues are thereby considerably diminished.
Straw flung out in considerable portions to the fold-yard, after being compressed by ihe tramp- ling of cattle, becomes rather like a well-packed stack, than a mass of dung in a preparatory state. The small quantity of water and dung made by the animals is barely sufficient to cause a slight fermentation ; and this slight fermentation, when the heap gets into a compressed state, is sure to bring on fire-fang, as already said, after which its original powers can rarely be restored. To prevent such an injury, no measure can be so successfully used as a frequent removal of this unmade dung, especially if the weather is wet at the time. If people can stand out to work, there cannot be too much wetness while executing this operation; for there is always such a quantity of the straw that has not passed through the en- trails of the cattle, as renders it almost impossible to do injury, in the first instance, by an ex jess of moisture.
It is therefore recommended, upon every olay- land farm, especially those of considerable size, that the fold-yard be frequently cleared; and that the greatest care be taken to mix the stable or horse-dung in a regular way with what is gathered in the fold-yard, or made by other animal?, in order that a gradual heat or fermentation may be speedily produced. Where the materials are of the sorts now described (that is, a small quantity of dung, or excrementitious matter, and a large store of unrotten straw, only partially moistened), no damage can ensue from putting horses and carts upon the heap; nay, a positive benefit will be gained from this slight compression.
MANURES.
19
The heap or pile, in the case of turnip dung, should be formed in a secluded spot, if such can be got at hand; because the less it is exposed to the influence of the sun and wind, the faster will fermentation proceed. It should be con- structed on a broad basis, which lessens the bounds of the extremities, and separate heaps are necessary, so that too much may not be de- posited at once. By shifting the scene frequently, and allowing each covering or coat to settle and ferment before laying on any more, the most happy effects will follow, and these heaps (at least all such as are completed before the first of May), may reasonably be expected to be in a fit condition for applying to the summer-fallow fields, in the end of July, or first of August. If the external parts get dry at any time during the process, it will be proper to water them thorough- ly, and in many cases to turn over the heap com- pletely. It may be added, that much benefit has been experienced from laying a thick coating of snow upon such heaps, as by the gradual melting thereof the whole moisture is absorbed, and a strong fermentation immediately follows.
Upon large farms, where the management of manure is sufficiently understood and practised, it is an important matter to have dunghills of all ages, and ready for use whenever the situation of a field calls for a restorative. No method of ap- plication to clay soils, however, is so beneficial as during the year of summer fallow, though in such a situation a greater stock of manure is often gathered than is required for the fields under this process.
As to the proper quantity of dung to be used, no greater quantity ought to be given at one time than is sufficient to fructify the grounds; in other words, to render it capable of producing good crops, before the time arrives when a fresh dose can be administered.
The Spreading of Dung.
The increased attention now bestowed, in all the cultivated districts, to the spreading of dung, originated from the measure of limiting the quan- tity applied. When forty, fifty, nay even sixty double loads were applied to an acre, it was not very difficult to cover its surface, even with an imperfect separation, though it certainly was im- practicable to bury the big lumps with a furrow of ordinary size; but when the quantity was brought down to eighteen and twenty loads, and, still more, when twelve or fourteen loads were thought sufficient, a different conduct became ab- solutely necessary. Another improvement also followed, viz., spreading dung when raw or green, that is, immediately after the carts; in which way, at least during summer, it will be separated at one-half the expense, and to much better purpose, than when it is suffered to lie in the heap for a day or two. In short, it is a sure mark of a slov- enly farmer to see dung remain unspread in a field, unless it be in the winter months, when it may happen that hands cannot be got for carry- ing on such operations with the usual regularity. At that time the injury sustained by losing a few days is not great, though as a general rule it will be found that the expense is always smallest when the carts are regularly followed up.
Application of Dung to Turnips. When turnip husbandry forms the chief branch of fallow process, dung is naturally of a superior quality, and requires little artificial management for bringing it to a proper state of preparation. In the greater part of Scotland, and even in Eng- land, where the drill and horse-hoeing system is pi fcctised, the common, and undoubtedly the most
approved way of applying dung to turnips, is by laying it in the intervals of the drills or small ridges, which are previously made up by a bout, or two furrows of the plough. These drills oe ridges are formed at a distance of from twenty- four to thirty inches from the centre of each ; and by driving the horses and cart along the middle one of the space intended to be manured, th« dung is drawn out either by the carter, or by another man specially appointed for that pur- pose, in such proportions as the poverty of the soil, or the disposition of the occupier, may rec kon necessary. If the breadth of three drills is unly taken at a time, the dung stands a better chance of being regularly administered; for it often hap- pens, that when a greater number are included in one space, the two outside drills receive a less quantity than the intervening ones. Those, therefore, who limit themselves to three drills, generally divide the spreaders; as it requires six hands, women or boys, to follow up what is usu- ally called a head of carts, the number of carts to a head being regulated by the distance of the dunghill, or the kind of road over which it is to be carried.
The quantity of dung usually given for turnips is from twelve to fifteen double cart loads, of one and a half cubic yards each, to a Scots acre. In some cases only ten loads are given ; but the land ought to be in high condition where such a small quantity is bestowed. In fact, no soil caa be made too rich for turnips or other green crops, peas excepted ; but the object to be attended to in this, and every other case, is an allotment of the manure collected on the premises, in such a way as that the greatest possible return over the whole farm, not from a particular field, may be gained by the occupier.
Application of Dung to Potatoes. The culture is in several respects similar to that of turnips, but in others it differs materially. Potatoes are planted earlier in the season than turnips: the ground rarely receives so much work; the soils upon which they are cultivated are more variable; and the dung considered to be most suitable for promoting their growth, does not require such high preparation. Many far- mers, notwithstanding these circumstances, follow out the same process as described under the head of turnips. After the ground receives three, or at most four ploughings. the drills are made up, dung deposited in the intervals, the seed planted above the dung, and the drills reversed; aftor which, say at the distance of two or three weeks, a slight harrowing is given. They avoid making up drills, but dung the ground in what may be called the broadcast way; and, entering the plough, plant the seed in every thiid furrow, into which only the dung is raked; and so on till the whole is finished. Before the young plants ap- pear, or even after they are above the surface, a complete harrowing is given, which is considered as equal to a hand-hoeing; a«d from the dung being completely covered, scarce any of it ia dragged up, while the seed, being undermost, none°of it is disturbed by the operation. Some farmers do not dung their potato fields; but, re- serving the manure till the crop is removed, find the remainder of the rotation greatly benefited. Potatoes scourge severely, and, in general cases, require a larger quantity of dung than turnips, but, as the extent of land under this culture is not great in common farming, few people grudge this extra quantity, because, except in a few favored situations, a good crop cannot otherwise be re** sonably expected.
AGRICULTURE.
To Manure Clayey Soils.
Upon all soils incumbent on a wet or close bot- tom, whether characterized as clay, loam, or moor, it may be laid down as a primary principle, that dung cannot be so profitably applied, as while the ground is under the process of summer fallow.
When the ground is under the process of sum- mer fallow, it is then the best and most appro- priate time for applying manure to clayey soils. When under this process, the soil, comparatively •peaking, is reduced into minute particles, which affords an opportunity of conveying the virtues of manure through the veins or pores of all its parts. The soil, at that time, is also freed from its aboriginal inhabitants, quickens and other root- • weeds, which claim a preferable right of support; hence the artificial plants, afterwards cultivated, possess, without a rival, such supplies as have been granted, without any deduction whatever. In short, without laying any stress upon ele- mentary effects during the procees, it does not admit of a doubt, that the same quantity of ma- nure, bestowed upon the ground when summer- fallowed, will produce a greater return to the occupier, than if it had been applied at any other stage of the rotation.
Dung should not be laid upon fallows before they are completely cleaned ; though, no doubt, in wet summers, that operation is not easily ac- complished.
To make sure work, the fallows, if possible, •hould be early stirred, and no opportunity slipped of putting them forward with the utmost expedi- tion; for it rarely happens that much good can be done towards the destruction of root-weeds after the month of July. Before that time a ju- dicious farmer will have his fallow dressed up, and in a suitable state for receiving dung. It should be well harrowed, if the weather is favor- able, previous to the dung being laid on ; and if rolled, or made smooth, the spreaders will be en- abled to perform their task with much more pre- cision.
At the proper season every other operation ought to be laid aside, so that dung may be ex- peditiously spread out. To do it in wet weather is attended with pernicious effects; the horses are oppressed, a longer time is required, the land is poached, and in some measure deprived of all benefit from the previous fallow. These circum- stances will be reflected upon by the attentive farmer; they will stimulate him not to lose a mo- ment when the weather is favorable, and prevent him from forcing on the work, when injury, rather than benefit, may be expected. After all, seasons are so perverse as to render every rule nugatory. These must, however, be taken as they come, avoiding at such times to break the land down, ac- clivating the ridges sufficiently, and keeping the water-furrows completely clear.
Quantity of Dung for Fallows. The quantity of dung usually applied to fal- lows in ordinary condition is from fourteen to twenty double loads per acre; though often good Crops are reaped when twelve loads only have been
Siven. Much, however, depends upon the con- ition of the land, upon the quality of the dung, and the way in which the carts are loaded. A decent, load may contain one cubic yard and three-fourths, and weigh a ton, or thereabouts. It also deserves notice, that less dung will serve gome lands than others, especially if they have lately been ploughed from grass ; but, at all events, sixteen such loads as are mentioned will answer for any sort of soil, unless it has been previously quite wrought out. Even if it were in this forlorn
state, it is better management to dung upon th* stubble of the first crop than to give an over-dose when under summer fallow.
Time of Spreading the Dung.
All dung laid upon summer fallow ought to be spread the moment it is pulled out of the cart. It can at no other time be done so well, or so cheaply, though on many farms, small ones espe- cially, where a full supply of hands is wanting, this beneficial practice is much neglected. Four spreaders, boys or girls, with an attentive overs- man to follow up and supply any omissions, are sufficient for one head of carts ; the number in- cluded in a head being regulated by the distance of the field from the dunghill. Some farmers employ a person on whom they can depend to draw the dung from the cart, who has judgment to proportion it according to circumstances, and is responsible for any failure in the execution; but the carter is the person usually employed, though, unless a boy is given him to drive, a regu- lar distribution can hardly be expected. To in- sure accuracy in laying down, fields are some- times thrown into a dam-broad figure; and. a heap being drawn into each square, you could have nearly ascertained the quantity required for the whole. The great object, after a regular and economical distribution, is to shake and part the whole completely; as, by minute attention to this circumstance, a, much greater effect is necessarily produced.
Intermediate Dunging.
After the fallows are dunged, the remainder in hand is reserved for what may be called the inter- mediate dunging, generally bestowed either upon clover stubbles, upon wheat stubbles previously to taking beans, or upon bean stubbles before the seed furrow is given for wheat. It is obvious, that the farmer must be regulated, in this inter- mediate dunging, by the weather at the time, though it rarely happens but that dung may be got out upon clover stubbles at one time of the winter or other. When applied to beans, a bene- ficial practice, the dung, as we said above, is by some people laid upon the wheat stubble, and ploughed down before winter; hence it is in full action in the spring, when the seed furrow is given. Others make up drills at seed time, de- positing the dung in the intervals, as for turnips or potatoes ; but it seldom occurs that weather can then be got, at least on real bean soils, for executing this management.
Many arable farms, under the strictest economy, are unable to furnish supplies for an intermediate dunging, at least to its full extent; but persons so circumstanced have it always in their power to overcome the defect, and preserve a regular rota- tion, by keeping certain fields longer in grass, which of course will yield weightier crops when broken up, and stand less in need of manure du- ring the after rotation. As, for instance, in a rotation of six, and it is here that the greatest shortcoming is felt, grass seeds to a certain ex- tent, say a half, may be thrown in with the crop of wheat taken after fallow, which is the second year of the rotation ; this part may be pastured for three years, and broken up in the sixth for oats, which concludes the course. Again, in a rotation of eight, grass seeds, in like manner, may be sown with a part of the fallow wheat, which part can be pastured for three years, then broken up for oats, succeeded by beans and wheat. By such arrangements, made according to circum- stances, it is an easy matter to preserve a regulai rotation, and to proportion the corn crops to th« quantity of manure collected upon the premises.
MANURES.
21
To increase the Quantity of Dung by Soiling.
The practice of soiling, or feeding horses or eattle in the house or farm yard, is eminently calculated to increase the quantity of manure up- on every farm, and improve its quality.
The soiling of horses, in the summer months, on green clover and rye-grass, is a practice which prevails in many grain districts where farm labor is regularly executed. The utility of the practice does not need the support of argument, for it is not only economical to the farmer, but saves much fatigue to the poor animal; besides, the quantity of dung thereby gathered is considerable.
Oxen and cows of all sorts, might be supported and fed in like manner, during the whole of the grass season. It is well known that milch-cows have, in several instances, been so kept; but it has rarely happened that other descriptions of cattle have been fed for the butcher according to this mode, though it is perfectly practicable.
The chief benefit of soiling may be considered as arising from the immense quantity of fine dung which would thus be accumulated, and which can be returned to the ground in the succeeding sea- son, alter being properly fermented and prepared. In all grain-farms, at least those of clayey soils, it is a work of great difficulty to rot the straw pro- duced upon it; and much of it is misapplied, in consequence of such soils being naturally unfit for raising green winter-crops.
If a numerous stock of cattle were kept either in the house or in separate divisions of the fold yard, all the straw threshed in the summer months might be immediately converted into dung, the quality of which would be equal, if not superior, to what is made from turnips consumed at the stake.
Dung is the mother of good crops ; and it appears that no plan can be devised by which a large quan- tity can be so easily and cheaply gathered, or by which straw can be so effectually rotted and ren- dered beneficial to the occupier of a clay-land farm, as the soiling of grass in the summer season. In a word, the dung of animals fed upon green clover, may justly be reckoned the richest of all dung. It may, from the circumstances of the season, be ra- pidly prepared, and may be applied to the ground at a very early period, much earlier than any other sort of dung can be used with advantage.
To make Composts,
The use of manure, in the shape of compost, or ingredients of various qualities, mixed together in certain proportions, has long been a favorite prac- tice with many farmers; though it is only in par- ticular situations that the practice can be exten- sively or profitably executed. The ingredients used in these composts are chiefly earth and lime, sometimes dung, where the earth is poor; but lime may be regarded as the main agent of the process, acting as a stimulus for bringing the powers of the heap into action. Lime, in this view, may be considered as a kind of yeast, operating upon a heap of earth as yeast does upon flour or rneal. It is obvious, therefore, that unless a sufficient quantity is given, the heap may remain unfer- raented, in which case little benefit will be derived from it as a manure.
The best kind of earth for compost is that of the alluvial sort, which is always of a rich greasy substance, often mixed with marl, and in every respect calculated to enrich and invigorate barren soils, especially if they are of a light and open texture. Old yards, deep headlands, and scourings cf ditches, offer themselves as the basis of corn- lost middens; but it is proper to summer-fallow them before hand, so that they may be entirely free Df weeds. When the lime is mixed with the soil
of these middens, repeated turnings are necessary, that the whole may be suitably fermented, and some care is required to apply the fermented mass at a proper time to the field on which it is to be used. The benefit of such a compost in nourishing soils is even greater than what is gained by dress- ing them with dung.
Lord Meadowbank' 8 Directions for making Conk- posts of Peat-mots.
Let the peat-moss, of which compost is to bo formed, be thrown out of the pit for some weeks or months, in order to lose its redundant moisture. By this means, it is rendered the lighter to carry, and less compact and weighty when made up with fresh dung for fermentation; and, accordingly, less dung is required for the purpose, than if the preparation is made with peat taken recently from the pit. The peat taken from near the surface, or at a considerable depth, answers equally well.
Take the peat-moss to a dry spot convenient for constructing a dunghill to serve the field to be manured. Lay the cart-loads of it in two rows, a«d of the dung in a row betwixt them. The dung thus lies nearly on an area of the future compost dunghill, and the rows of peat should be near enough each other, that worCTnen, in making up the compost, may be able to throw them together by the spade. In making up, let the workmen b< .gin at one end, and, at the extremity of the row of dung (which should not extend quite so far at th&.t end as the rows of peats on each side of it do), let them lay a bottom of peat, six inches deep and fifteen feet wide, if the grounds admit of it, then throw forward, and lay on, about ten inches of dung above the bottom of peat; then add from the side rows about six inches of peat; then four or five of dung, and then six more of peat; then another thin layer of dung; and then cover it over with peat at the end where it was begun, at the two sides, and above. The compost should not be raised above four feet, or four feet and a half high ; otherwise it is apt to press too heavily on the under parts, and check the fermentation. When a beginning is thus made, the workmen will proceed working backwards, and adding to the columns of compost, as they are furnished with the three rows of ma- terials directed to be laid down for them. They must take care not to tread on the compost, or render it too compact ; and. in proportion as the peat is wet, it should be made up in lumps, and not much broken.
In mild weather, seven cart-loads of common farm-dung, tolerably fresh made, is sufficient for twenty-one cart-loads of peat-moss; but in cold weather, a larger proportion of dung is desirable. To every twenty-eight carts of the compost, when made up, it is of use to throw on, above it, a cart- load of ashes, either made from coal, peat, or wood ; half the quantity of slacked lime, the more finely powdered the better.
The compost, after it is made up, get;* into a general heat, sooner or later, according to the weather, and the condition of the dung. In sum- mer, in ten days or sooner; in winter, not perhaps for many weeks, if the cold is severe. In the for- mer season, a stick should be kept in it in different parts, to pull out and feel now and then ; for, if it approaches blood-heat, it should either be watered or turned over; and, on such an occasion, advantage may be taken to mix with it a little fresh moss. The heat subsides after a time, and with great variety, according to the weather, the dung, and the perfection of the compost ; which should then be allowed to be untouched, till within three weeks of using, when it should be turned over upside down, and outside in, and all lumps broken ; thua
22
AGRICULTURE.
it comes into a second heat, but soon cools, and ehruld be taken out for use. In this state the whole, except bits of the old decayed wood, ap- pears a black free mass, and spreads like garden mould. Use it weight for weight, as farm-yard dung; and it will be found, in a course of crop- ping, fully to stand the comparison.
Peat, nearly as dry as garden-mould in seed- time, may be mixed with the dung, so as to double the volume. Workmen must begin with using layers ; but, when accustomed to the just pix portions, if they are furnished with peat mod- erately dry, and dung not lost in litter, they throw it up together as a mixed mass, and make a less proportion of dung serve for the preparation.
The rich coarse earth, which is frequently found en the surface of peat, is too heavy to be admit- ted into this compost; but it makes an excellent top-dressing, if previously mixed and turned over with lime.
Dr. Hennie's Method of Converting Moss into Ma- nure.
The importance of moss as a manure is now generally admitted by all who have had an op- portunity of making experiments on that subject. The Rev. Dr. Rennie, of Kilsyth, having proved the utility of filtration, has recommended, in pri- vate letters, to water the collected heap of moss for about ten days, once each day, very copiously ; and when that is done, to trim it up to a compact body, allow it to dry, and to receive a gentle de- gree of heat. The degree of heat necessary for accomplishing that end, is sufficient, though not discoverable by the hand. If it only affects the thermometer a little, it is declared to be a ma- nure. The doctor also declares, that moss can be converted by filtering steam through it; and more expeditiously still, by exposing it to a run- ning stream of water. If the water penetrates the moss, it expels its poisonous qualities sooner and more effectually than any other mode ever devised. When it is sufficiently purified by any of these means, it must be laid up to dry, and is in a short time ready for applying to the land.
Use of Lime as Manure.
This mineral, after undergoing the process of calcination, has long been applied by husband- men as a stimulus to the soil, and, in consequence of such an application, luxuriant crops have been produced, even upon soils apparently of inferior quality, and which would have yielded crops of trifling value had this auxiliary been withheld. In fact, the majority of soils cannot be cultivated with advantage till they are dressed with lime ; and whether this beneficial effect shall be consid- ered as an alterative, or as a stimulant, or as a manure, it will be found to be the basis of good husbandry, and of more use than all other ma- nures put together. Wherever lirne has been prcperly applied, it has constantly been found to piove as much superior to dung, as dung is to the rakings of roads, or the produce of peat-mire. _ In respect of operation, it is immaterial whether lime be used upon grass land or summer-fallow. Upon old grass land, it is perhaps best to plough first, and to summer-fallow in the second year, when lime can be applied. On new and clean grass land, it may be limed at the outset, that is before the plough is admitted.
To lime moorish soils is a hazardous business, unless dung is likewise bestowed: but to repeat the application upon such soils, especially if they have been severely cropped, is almost a certain loss ; a compost of lime and rich earth is, in such cases, the only substitute.
Strong loams and clays require a full dose to bring them into action ; such soils being capable of absorbing a greater quantity of calcareous matter. Lighter soils, however, require less lime to stimulate them, and may be injured by admin- istering a quantity that would prove moderately beneficial to those of a heavy nature.
Upon fresh land, or land in a proper state for a calcareous application, lime is much superior to dung. Its effects continue fora longer period; while the crops produced are of a superior kind and less susceptible of injury from the excesses of drought and moisture. Finally, the ground, particularly what is of a strong nature, is much easier wrought; and, in many instances, the saving of labor would almost tempt a judicious farmer to lime his land, were no greater benefit de- rived from the application than the opportunity thereby gained of working it in a perfect manner.
It may be added, that though strong soils re- quire to be animated with a strong dose of lime, those of a light texture will do well with little more than half the quantity requisite on the others, especially if they are fresh, ^r have not already received an application of calcareous matter.
Application of Marl.
In many places the value of land has been much augmented by the application of marl. Treating of this article in a practical way, it may be divided into shell-marl and earth-marl. Shell- marl is composed of animal shells dissolved; earth-marl is also fossil. The color of the latter is various ; its hardness being sometimes soft and ductile, like clay; sometimes hard and solid, like stone; and sometimes it is extended into thin beds, like slate. Shell-marl is easily distin- guished by the shells, which always appear in it j but the similarity betwixt earth-marl and many other fossil substances, renders it difficult to dis- tinguish them.
Shell-marl is very different in its nature from clayey and stone marls, and, from its effects upon the soil, is commonly classed among the animal manures : it does not dissolve with water as the other marls do. It sucks it up, and swells with it like a sponge. Dr. Home says, that it takes six times more of acids to saturate it than any of the other marls which he had met with. But the greatest difference betwixt the shell-marl and the other marls consists in this, the shell-marl con- tains oils.
This marl, it would seem from the qualities which it possesses, promotes vegetation in all the different ways. It increases the food of plants; it communicates to the soil a power of attracting this food from the air; it enlarges the pasture of plants; and it prepares the vegetable food for entering their roots.
Shelly Sand.
The shelly sand, often found deposited in beds in the crevices and level parts of the sea-coasts, is another substance capable of being employed, both as a manure and stimulant, not only on ac- count of its containing calcareous matter, in greater or less proportions, but also from the mixture of animal and vegetable substances that are found in it. The portion of calcareous matter contained in these substances must vary accord- ing to circumstances; but, when the quantity is any way large, and in a reduced or attenuated state, the quality is so much the more valuable. On that account the quantity which ought to be applied to the soil, must be regulated by the ex- tent of calcareous matter, supposed, or found, upon trial, to be contained in the article.
MANURES.
23
Clayey and Stone Marls.
The clayey and stone marls are distinguished by their colors, viz., white, black, blue, and red. The white, being of a soft, crumbly nature, is considered to be the best for pasture land ; and the blue, which is more compact and firm, for grain land. In the districts where marl is much used, these distinctions of management nre at- tended with advantage, if the following rules are adhered to :
If marl is of the blue kind, or of any kind that is compact or firm, lay it upon the land early in the season, so as the weather may mellow it down before the last plough ; and, if on pasture land, let it also be early laid on, and spread very thin, breaking any lumps afterwards which are not completely separated by the first spreading. If marl is of the white, or any of the loose or crum- bling sorts, it need not be laid on so early; be- cause these varieties break and dissolve almost as soon as exposed to the weather. Sea-weed.
Sea- weed is driven ashore afteV storms, and is found to be an excellent article for manuring light and dry soils, though of little advantage to those of a clayey description. This article may be applied on the proper soil with advantage to any crop, and its effects are immediate, though rarely of long continuance. As the coast-side lands of Great Britain are, in every case, of superior fertility to those that are inland, we may attribute this su- perior fertility to the great quantity of manure found upon their shores after every storm or high tide, whereby the resources of the ocean are in a manner brought forward for the enrichment of tta lands locally situated for participating in such benefits. The utmost attention has long been paid to the gathering and laying on of this valu- able manure.
Application of Sea-weed.
Sea-weed is applied at all seasons to the surface, and sometimes, though not so profitably, it is mixed with untrodden dung, that the process of putrefaction may be hastened. Generally speak- ing, it is at once applied to the soil, which saves labor, and prevents that degree of waste which otherwise would necessarily happen. Sea-weed is, in one respect, preferable to the richest dung, because it does not produce such a quantity of weeds. The salt contained in sea-weed, and ap- plied with it, is the real cause of the after-clean- liness. This may be inferred from the general state of coast-side lands, where sea-weed is used. These lands are almost constantly kept in tillage, and yet are cleaner and freer from weeds than those in the inland situations, where grain crops are not so often taken.
When a coast-side farm contains mixed soils, the best management is exercised, by applying sea-weed to dry, and dung to clay-land. In this way, the full advantage of manure may be ob- tained, and a form so circumstanced is of infi- nitely greater value, with respect to manuring atd laboring, than the one which contains no such variety.
Burning the Surface.
The practice of burning the surface, and apply- ing the ashes as manure to the soil that remains, has been long prevalent in Britain; and is con- sidered as the most advantageous way of bring- ing in and improving all soils, where the surface carried a coarse sward, and was composed of peat- earth, or other inactive substances. The burning of this surface has been viewed as the best way of bringing such soils into action ; the ashes, fur- nUhed by the burning, serving as a stimulant to
raise up their dormant powers, thereby rendering them fertile and productive in a superior degree to what could otherwise be accomplished.
Mr. Curwen's Method of Burning Surface Soil and Clay.
Mounds of seven yards in length, and three and a half in breadth, are kindled with seventy-two Winchester bushels of lime. First, a layer of dry sods or parings, on which a quantity of lime is spread, mixing sods with it, then a covering of eight inches of sods, on which the other half of the lime is spread, and covered a foot thick, the height of the mound being about a yard.
In twenty-four hours it will take fire. The lime should be immediately from the kiln. It is better to suffer it to ignite itself, than to effect it by the operation of water. When the fire is fairly kin- dled, fresh sods must be applied. I should re- commend obtaining a sufficient body of ashes be- fore any clay is put on the mounds. The fire naturally rises to the top. It takes less time, and does more work to draw down the ashes from the top, and not to suffer it to rise above six feet. The former practice of burning in kilns was more ex- pensive; did much less work; and, in many in- stances, calcined the ashes.
I think it may fairly be supposed that the lime adds full its worth to the quality of the ashes. Where limestone can be had, I should advise the burning of a small quantity in the mounds, which would be a great improvement to the ashes, and, at the same time, help to keep the fire in.
The general adopting of the system of surface and soil clay-burning, is likely to be an important discovery for the interests of agriculture.
To burn Moss with the Ashes.
The following directions for burning mops along with the ashes are of considerable importance: Begin the fire with dry faggots, furze, or straw, then put on dried moss finely minced and well beaten with a clapper; and when that is nearly burnt down, put on moss less dry, but well minced and clapped, making holes with a prong to carry on the fire, and so adding more moss till a hill of ashes, something of the size of a wagon load, is accumulated, which, when cold, carry to the bins, or store heaps, before the ashes get wet.
Mr. Roscoe's Method of Improving Moss Land.
The best method of improving moss land is by the application of a calcareous substance in a suf- ficient quantity to convert the moss into a soil, and by the occasional use of animal or other ex- traneous manures, such as the course of cultiva- tion and the nature of the crops may be found to require.
After setting fire to the heap and herbage on the moss, and ploughing it down as far as practi- cable, Mr. Roscoe ploughs a thin sod or furrow with a very sharp horse- plough, which he burns in small heaps and dissipates; considering it of little use but to destroy the tough woods of the ediophorus, narclus stricta, and other plants, whose matted roots are almost imperishable. The moss being thus brought to a tolerably dry and level substance, then plough it in a regular furrow six inches deep, and as soon as possible after it is turned up, set upon it the necessary quantity of marl, not less than 200 cubic yaris to the acre. As the marl begins to crumble and fall with the sun or frost, it is spread over the land with considerable exactness, after which put in a crop as early as possible, sometimes by the plough, and at others with the horse-scuffle, or scarifier, according to the nature of the crop, a quantity of manure, setting on about twenty tons to the »cr».
24
AGRICULTURE.
Moss-land, thus treated, may not only be ad- rantageously cropped the first year with green crops, as potatoes, turnips, etc., but with any kind •f grain.
Peat and Peat Ashes used as Manure.
In the county of Bedford, England, peat ashes are sold as manure, and are used as a top dressing for clovers, and sometimes for barley, at the rate of from forty to sixty bushels per acre. They are usually spread during the month of March, on elover, and on the surface of the barley-lands after the seed is sown. Peat ashes are also admir- ably useful as manure for turnips, and are easily drilled with or over the seed, by means of a drill- box connected with a loaded cart.
After the quantity required has been cast, a por- tion sufficient to kindle a large heap (suppose two cart-loads), is dried as much as if intended for winter's use. A conical pile is then built and fired, and as soon as the flame or smoke makes its appearance at any of the crevices, it is kept back by fresh peat, just sufficiently dry to be free from water; and thus the pile is continually increased, until it has burnt thirty or forty loads, or as much more as may be required. The slower the process the better; but, in case of too languid a consump- tion, the heap should be stirred by a stick, when- ever the danger of extinction seems probable.
In case of rain, the workmen should be prepared with some coarse thick turf, with which to cover the surface of the cone.
Coal Ashes used as Manure. Coal ashes may likewise be made a most useful article of manure, by mixing with every cart-load of them one bushel of lime in its hottest state, covering it up in the middle of the heap for about twelve hours, till the lime be entirely slacked, and incorporating them well together ; and, by turn- ing the whole over two or three times, the cinders, or half-burnt parts of the coal, will be reduced to as fine a powder as the lime itself. The coal-ashes should, however, be carefully kept dry ; this mix- ture will be found one of the best improvers of moorish and benty land.
Method of Burning Lime without Kilns.
The practice of lime-burners in Wales has for- merly been to burn lime in broad shallow kilns, but lately they have begun to manufacture that article without any kiln at all.
They place the limestone in large bodies, which are called coats, the stones not being broken small as in the ordinary method, and calcine these heaps in the way used for preparing charcoal. To pre- vent the flame from bursting out at the top and Bides of these heaps, turfs and earth are placed against them, and the aperture partially closed; and the heat is regulated and transfused through the whole mass, that notwithstanding the increased size of the stones, the whole becomes thoroughly calcined. As a proof of the superior advantage that lime burnt in these clamps or coaks has over lime burnt in the old method, where farmers have «*an option of taking either lime at the same price, a preference is invariably given to that burned in heaps. This practice has long prevailed in York- shire and Shropshire, and is also familiar in Scot- land.
Mr. Craig's Improved Method of Burning Clay. Make an oblong enclosure, of the dimensions of a small house — say fifteen feet by ten- of green turf-seeds, raised to the height of three and a half or four feet. In the inside of this enclosure air-pipes are drawn diagonally, which communi- eate with holes left at each corner of the exterior
wall. These pipes are formed of sods put on edge, and the space between so wide only as another sod can easily cover. In each of the four spacos left between the air-pipes and the outer wall, a fire is kindled with wood and dry turf, and then the whole of the inside of the enclosure or kiln filled with dry turf, which is very soon on fire; and, on the top of that, when well kindled, is thrown on the clay, in small quantities at a time, and repeated as often as .necessary, which must be regulated by the intensity of the burning. The air-pipes are of use only 'It first, because if the fire burns with tolerable keenness, the sods lorm- ing the pipes will soon be reduced to ashes. The pipe on the weather side of the kiln only is left open, the mouths of the other three being stopped up, and not opened except the wind should veer about. As the inside of the enclosure or kiln begins to be filled up with clay, the outer wall must be raised in height, at least fifteen inches higher than the top of the clay, for the purpose of keeping the wind from acting on the fire. When the fire burns through the outer wall, which it often does, and particularly when the top is over-loaded with clay, the breach must be stopped up immediately, which can only be effec- tually done by building another sod wall from the foundation opposite to it, and the sods that formed that part of the first wall are soon re- duced to ashes. The wall can be raised as high as may be convenient to throw on the clay, and the kiln may be increased to any size by forming a new wall when the previous one is burnt through. The principal art in burning consists in having the outer wall made quite close and impervious to the external air, and taking care to have the top always lightly, but completely, covered with clay; because if the external air should come in contact with the fire, either on the top of the kiln or by means of its bursting through the sides, the fire will be very soon extinguished. In short, the kilns require to be well attended, nearly as closely as charcoal-pits. Clay is much easier burnt than either moss or loam — it does not undergo any alteration in its shape, and on that account allows the fire and smoke to get up easily between the lumps — whereas moss and loam, by crumbling down, are very apt to smother the fire, unless care- fully attended to. No rule can be laid down for regulating the size of the lumps of clay thrown on the kiln, as that must depend on the state of the fire. After a kiln is fairly set going, no coal or wood, or any sort of combustible, is necessary, the wet clay burning of itself, and it can only be ex- tinguished by intention, or the carelessness of the operator, the vicissitudes of the weather having hardly any effect on the fires, if propei-ly attended to. When the kiln is burning with great keenness, a stranger to the operation may be apt to think that the fire is extinguished. If, therefore, any person, either through impatience or too great curiosity, should insist on looking into the interior of the kiln, he will certainly retard, and may possibly extinguish, the fire; the chief secret consisting, as before-mentioned, in keeping out the external air. The above .method of burning clay may be con- sidered as an essential service rendered to agri- culture; as it shows farmers how to convert, at a moderate expense, the most worthless barren sub- soil into excellent manure.
To decompose Green Vegetables for Manure.
The following process for the decomposition of green vegetables, for manure, has been practised with great success in the counties of Norfolk and Suffolk, England: —
Place a layer of vegetable matter a foot thick.
MANURES.
25
then a thin layer of lime, alternately ; in a few hours the decomposition will begin, and, unless prevented by sods, or a fork full of vegetables, will break out into a blaze ; this must be guarded against; in twenty-four hours the process will be completed. Weeds of every description will an- swer for vegetables ; two pounds' worth of lime will produce manure for four acres. Use the vegetables as soon after cutting as possible, and the lime fresh from the kiln, as distance will allow.
Bone Manure.
Mills are constructed for the purpose of bruis- ing (not pounding) bones; and the dust riddled therefrom is reckoned a still stronger manure. The same person selects the best bones, which are sawn into pieces, for button-moulds and knife-handles: and the saw-dust from this ope- ration is particularly useful in gardens and hot- beds. It suits every vegetable, hot-house, or green-house plant.
Bone manure is best adapted for cold and light sandy land. The usual quantity per acre is seventy bushels, when used alone; but when mixed with ashes, or common manure of any sort, thirty bushels per acre is thought quite enough. It is applied at the same periods as other manure, and has been found in this way to remain seven years in the ground. The rough part of this manure, after being five years in the ground, has been gathered off one field and thrown upon another of a different soil, and has proved, even then, good manure.
The bones which are best filled with oil and marrow are certainly the best manure; and the parts generally used for buttons and knife-hafts are the thigh and shank bones. The powdered bones are dearer, and generally used for hot-beds in gardens, being too expensive for the field, and not so durable as bruised bones, yet, for a short time, more productive.
A dry, light, or gentle soil, is best adapted for the use of bone-manure; as it is supposed that, in land which retains wet, the nutritive part of the bone washes to the surface of it and does not incorporate sufficiently with the soil.
Bruised bones are better when mixed with ashes or any other manure, as the juice of the bone is then more equally spread over the field. Bone manure ought to be ploughed into the land in tillage. On the grass the powder should be sown in the hand.
Super -Phosphate of Lime.
To Liebig is due the greatest credit for the theory that the organic matter of plants is supplied abund- antly by nature from air and water; that the ashes of plants exhibit the mineral matters most needed for a fertile soil ; that the ashes of the most valu- able parts, such as the husk of wheat, especially show what matters are required for the most abundant production of those parts ; that soils are most frequently deficient in phosphoric acid, which should be supplied in the form of bones, guano, and more especially as a more or less soluble phos- phate of lime. Long and extensive experience has proved the great value of a fertilizer which contains a portion of so-called super-pho.sphate of lime ; that is, a bone-phosphate of lime, which is treated with sulphuric acid, so that more or less of the phosphate will dissolve in water. Of course a true chemical super-phosphate would wholly dis- lolve, but such a one is impracticable in use; moreover it is found by practice that a few per cent, of phosphoric acid in a fertilizer is sufficient to insure its promotion of fertility. Hence some fertilizers in commerce consist almost wholly of a
phosphate of lime mixed with a little sulphate of lime (plaster), resulting from the action of the sulphuric acid, so that it contains 15 to 20 per cent, phosphoric acid, one-third or one-fourth of which readily dissolves in water. These fertilizers are found to yield excellent results when applied to the soil.
The superiority of these nitrogenous superphcs- phated fertilizers over all others may be summed up in a few words. They surpass stable manure in their extremely small bulk and weight for the same fertilizing effect, and consequently in the greater ease and less expense of their handling, hauling and spreading, and yet further in their never fouling land by the seeds of weeds and noxious plants. They excel bones and phosphatio guano in their more rapid action and their yield- ing a quicker return. They excel Peruvian guano in continuing their fertilizing effects for a longer period of time, in their being less violent at first, and yet sufficiently energetic to yield a return the first season of their application. Most of our land is either poor by nature or through exhaust- ive cropping, and there is nothing that will more rapidly restore and increase their fertility than the ammoniated super-phosphates. It may be yet further observed, that there is scarcely any soil to which their application will not prove a decided benefit, and scarcely a crop which they will not improve, whether grain, vegetables, cot- ton, tobacco, fruits, etc.
Various Substances used as Manure.
J. B. Bailey, Esq., presented to tho Agricul- tural Society of Manchester, the following enu- meration of substances which may be applied usefully as manures instead of stable dung, viz., mud, sweepings of the streets, and coal-ashes, night-soil, bones, refuse matters, as sweepingg and rubbish of houses, etc., sea-weeds, sea-shells, and sea-gravel, river-weeds, sweepings of roads, and spent tanner's bark to mix with lime. Peat or moss, decayed vegetables, putrid water, the ashes of weeds, etc., the refuse of bleacher's ashes, soap suds, or lye, peat ashes, water in- floating, refuse salt.
The use of liquid manure, so long common in China and Japan, is gaining in favor with agri- culturists everywhere. Peruvian guano is one of the important discoveries of modern times ; with its use ground almost barren may be made produc- tive; it is available for almost all kinds of crops.
Plaster of Paris used as Manure.
Plaster of Paris is used as a manure in Pennsyl- vania and elsewhere. The best kind is imported from hills in the vicinity of Paris: it is brought down the Seine, and exported from Havre de Grace. The lumps composed of flat shining spicula are pre- ferred to those which are formed of round parti- cles like sand; the simple method of finding out the quality is to pulverize some, and put it dry into an iron pot over the fire, when that which is good, will soon boil, and great "quantities of the fixed air escape by ebullition. It is pulverized by first putting it in a stamping-mill. The finer its pulverization the better, as it will thereby be more generally diffused.
It is best to sow it on a wet day. The most approved quantity for grass is six bushels per acre. No art is required in sowing it more than making the distribution as equal as possible en the sward of grass. It operates altogether as a top manure, and therefore should not be put on in the spring until the principal frosts are over and vegetation has begun. The general time for sowing in America is in April, May, June, July,
26
AGRICULTUKE.
August, and even as late as September. Its effects will generally appear in ten or fifteen days ; after which the growth of the grass will be so great as to produce a large burden at the end of gix weeks after sowing.
It must be sown on dry land, not subject to be overflown. It has been sown on sand, loam, and clay, and it is difficult to say on which it has best answered, although the effect is sooner visible on eand. It has been used as a manure in this state for twelve years; for, like other manure, its con- tinuance very much depends on the nature of the soil on which it is placed.
Mode of Applying Blubber as a Manure.
This is a very rich ingredient, as well for ara- ble as pasture lands, when mixed at the rate of one ton of blubber to twenty loads of mould, and one chaldron of lime, per acre. It must be turned over and pulverized ; and when it has lain in this state three or four months, it will become fit for use, and may be put upon the land in such quantities as the quality of the land to be ma- nured requires. It is a very strong manure, and very excellent.
Application of Manures to Land.
Early in autumn, after the hay crop is removed, is the most convenient and least objectionable pe- riod for the purpose. The common practice is to apply manures during the frost, in the winter. But the elastic fluids being the greatest supports of vegetation, manures should be applied under circumstances that favor their generation. These will occur in spring, after the grass has, in some degree, covered the ground, the dung being then shaded from the sun. After a frost much of the virtues of the dung will be washed away by the thaw, and its soluble parts destroyed, and in a frosty state the ground is incapable of absorbing liquids.
Management of Arable Land.
Alternate husbandry, or the system of having leguminous and culmiferous crops to follow each other, with some modifications, is practicable on every soil. According to its rules, the land would rarely get into a foul and exhausted state ; at least, if foul and exhausted under alternate hus- bandry, matters would be much worse were any other system followed. The rotation may be long or short, as is consistent with the richness of the soil, on which it is executed, and other local cir- cumstances. The crops cultivated may be any of the varieties which compose either of the two tribes, according to the nature of soil and climate of the district where the rotation is exercised, and where circumstances render ploughing not so advanta- geous as pasturing, the land may remain in gra^s, till those circumstances are obviated, care being always taken, when it is broken up, to follow alternate husbandry during the time it is under tillage.
In this way we think it perfectly practicable to follow the alternate system in every situation ; nor do we consider the land being in grass for two, three, or four years, as a departure from, that sys- tem, if called for by a scarcity of manure, poverty of soil, want of markets for corn, or other acci- dental circumstances. The basis of every rotation wo hold to be either ,a bare summer fallow, or a fallow on which drill turnips are cultivated, and its conclusion to be with the crop taken in the year preceding a return of fallow or drilled tur- nips, when, of course, a new rotation commences. First Rotation of Crops.
According to this rotation, wheat and drilled beans are th« crops to be cultivated, though clover
and rye-grass may be taken for one year, in place of beans, should such a variety be viewed as mor« eligible. The rotation begins with summer fallow, because it is only on strong deep lands that it can be profitably practised; and it may go on lor any length of time, or so long as the land can be kept clean, though it ought to stop the moment that the land gets into a contrary condition. A con- I siderable quantity of manure is required to go on successfully ; dung should be given to each bean crop; and if this crop is drilled and attentively horse-hoed, the rotation may turn out to be one of the most profitable that can be exercised. Second Rotation.
Upon loams nnd clays, where it may not be ad- visable to carrj the first rotation into execution, a different one can be practised, according to which labor will be more divided, and the usual grains more generally cultivated; as, for instance:
1. Fallow, with dung. 2. Wheat. 3. Beans, drilled and horse- hoed. 4. Barley. 5. Clover and rye-grass. 6. Oats, or wheat. 7. Beans, drilled and horse-hoed. 8. Wheat.
This rotation is excellently calculated to insure an abundant return through the whole of it, pro- vided dung is administered upon the clover stub- ble. Without this supply the rotation would be crippled, and inferior crops of course produced in the concluding years.
Third Rotation.
This rotation is calculated for clays and loama of an inferior description to those already treated of:
1. Fallow, with dung. 2. Wheat. 3. Clover and rye-grass. 4. Oats. 5. Beans, drilled and horse-hoed. 6. Wheat.
According to this rotation, the rules of good husbandry are studiously practised, while the se- quence is obviously calculated to keep the land in good order, and in such a condition as to insure crops of the greatest value. If manure is be- stowed either upon the clover stubble or before the beans are sown, the rotation is one of the best that can be devised for the soils mentioned. Fourth Rotation.
On thin clays gentle husbandry is indispensably necessary, otherwise the soil may be exhausted, and the produce unequal to the expense of culti- vation. Soils of this description will not improve much while under grass, but unless an additional stock of manure can be procured, there is a neces- sity of refreshing them in that way, even though the produce should, in the meantime, be compara- tively of small value. The following rotation is an excellent one:
1. Fallow, with dung. 2. Wheat. 3. Grass, pastured, but not too early eaten. 4. Grass. 5. Grass. 6. Oats.
This rotation may be shortened or lengthened, according to circumstances, but should never ex- tend further in point of ploughing, than when dung can be given to the fallow break. This is the keystone of the whole, and if it is neglected the rotation is rendered useless. Fifth Rotation.
Peat-earth soils are not friendly to wheat unless aided by a quantity of calcareous matter. Taking them in a general point of view, it is not advi- sable to cultivate wheat, but a crop of oats may almost be depended upon, provided the previous management has been judiciously executed. If the sub-soil of peat-earth lands be retentive of moisture, the process ought to commence with a bare summer fallow; but if such are incumbent on free and open bottoms, a crop of turnips may
WHEAT.
27
b« substituted for follow, according to which method the surface will get a body which natu- rally it did not possess. Grass, on such soils, must always occupy a great space of every rotation, be- cause physical circumstances render regular crop- ping utterly impracticable.
1. Fallow, or turnips, with dung. 2. Oats, of an early variety. 3. Clover, and a considerable quantity of perennial rye-grass. 4. Pasture for several years, till circumstances permit the land to be broken up, when oats are to be repeated.
Sixth Hotation.
Light soils are easily managed, though to pro- cure a full return of the profits which they are capable of yielding, requires generally as much attention as is necessary in the management of those of a stronger description. Upon light soils a bare summer fallow is seldom called for, as cleanliness may be preserved by growing turnips and other leguminous articles. Grass also is of eminent advantage upon such soils, often yielding a greater profit than what is afforded by culmifer- ous crops.
1. Turnip?. 2. Spring wheat, or barley. 3. Clover and rye-grass. 4. Oats, or wheat.
This rotation would be greatly improved, were it extended to eight years, whilst the ground by such an extension, would be kept fresh, and con- stantly in good condition. As for instance, were seeds for pasture sown in the second year, the ground kept three years under grass, then broken up for oats in the sixth year, drilled with beans and peas in the seventh, and sown with wheat in the eighth, the rotation would be complete; be- cause it included every branch of husbandry, and admitted a variety in management generally agreeable to the soil, and always favorable to the interest of cultivators. The rotation may also consist of six crops, were the land kept only one year in grass, though few situations admit of so much cropping, unless additional manure is within reach.
Seventh Rotation.
Sandy soils, when properly manured, are well adapted to turnip?, though it rarely happens that wheat can be cultivated on them with advantage, unless they are dressed with alluvial compost, marl, clay, or some such substance, as will give a body or strength to them which they do not natu- rally possess. Barley, oats, and rye, the latter especially, are, however, sure crops on sands ; and, in favorable seasons, will return greater profit than can be obtained from wheat.
1. Turnips, consumed on the ground. 2. Bar- ley. 3. Grass. 4. Rye or oats.
By keeping the land three years in grass, the rotation would be extended to six years, a mea- sure highly advisable.
From what has been stated, every person capa- ble of judging will at once perceive the facility of arranging husbandry upon correct principles, and of cropping the ground in such a way as to make it produce abundant returns to the occupier, whilst at the same time it is preserved in good condition, and never impoverished or exhausted. All these things are perfectly practicable under the all ornate system, though it is doubtful whether they can bs gained under any other.
It may be added, that winter-sown crops, or crops sown on the winter furrow, are most eligible on all clayey soils.
Ploughing, with a view to clean soils of the de- scription under consideration, has little effect un- less given in the summer months. This renders summer fallow indispensably necessary; and, without this radical process, none of the heavy
and wet soils can be suitably managed, ir pre. served in u good condition.
To adopt a judicious rotation of chopping for every soil, requires a degree of judgment in the farmer, which can only be gathered from obser- vation and experience. The old rotations were calculated to wear out the soil, and to render it unproductive; but the modern rotations, such as thos<e which we have described, are founded on principles which insure a full return from the soil, withi.ut lessening its value, or impoverishing its condition. Much depends, however, up»;n the manner in which the different processes are exe- cuted; for the best-arranged rotation may be of no avail, if the processes belonging to it are im- perfectly and unreasonably executed.
To cultivate Wheat.
On soils really calculated for wheat, though in different degrees, summer fallow is the first and leading step to gain a good crop or crops of that grain. The first furrow should be given before winter, or as early as the other operations of the farm will admit; and every attention should be used to go as deep as possible; for it rarely hap- pens that any of the succeeding furrows exceed the first one in that respect. The number of after-ploughings must be regulated by the condi- tion of the ground and the state of the weather; but, in general, it may be observed, that plough- ing in length and across, alternately, is the way by which the ground will be most completely cut, and the intention of fallowing accomplished. Varieties of Seed.
Wheat may be classed under two principal di- visions, though each of these "admits of several subdivisions. The first is composed of all the varieties of red wheat. The second division com- prehends the whole varieties of white wheat, which again may be arranged under two distinct heads, namely, thick-chaffed and thin-chaffed.
The thick-chaffed varieties were formerly in greatest repute, generally yielding the whitest and finest flour, and, in dry seasons, not inferior in produce to the other; but since 1799, when the disease culled mildew, to which they are consti- tutionally predisposed, raged so extensively, they have gradually been going out of fashion.
The thin-chaffed wheats are a hardy class, and seldom mildewed, unless the weather be particu- larly inimical during the stages of blossoming, filling, and ripening, though some of them are • rather better qualified to resist that destructive disorder than others. In 1799, thin chaffed wheats were seriously injured; and instances were not wanting to show, that an acre of them, with respect to value, exceeded an acre of thick- chaffed wheat, quantity and quality considered, not less than fifty per cent. Since that time, therefore, their culture has rapidly increased ; and to this circumstance may, in a great measure, be attributed the high character which thin-chaffed wheats now bear.
Method of Sowing.
Sowing in the broadcast way may be said to be the mode universally practised. Upon well pre- pared lands, if the seed be distributed equally, it can scarcely be sown too thin ; perhaps two bushels per acre are sufficient; for the heaviest crops at autumn are rarely those which show the most vigorous appearance through the winter months. Bean stubbles require more seed than summer fallows, because the roughness of their surface prevents such an equal distribution ; and clover leas ought to be still thicker sown than bean stubbles. Thin sowing in spring ought not
28
AGRICULTURE.
to hft practised, otherwise the crop will be late, and imperfectly ripened. No more harrowing should be given to fields that have been fallowed, than what is necessary to cover the seed, and level the surface sufficiently. Ground, which is to lie in a broken-down state through the winter, suffers severely when an excessive harrowing is given, especially if it is incumbent on a close bottom; though, as to the quantity necessary, none can give an opinion, except those who are personally present.
To sow Grain by JZibbing.
The ribbing of grain crops was introduced into Great Britain in the year 1810. The process is as follows: Suppose the land in fallow, or tur- nips eat off, let it be gathered into ridges of twelve feet each; then harrow it well, particularly the furrows of the ridges: after which take a narrow- bottomed swing plough, five inches and a half broad at the heel, with a narrow-winged sock, drawn by one horse; begin in the furrow, as if you intended to gather two ridges together, which will make, a rib exactly in the middle of the fur- row; then turn back up the same furrow you came down, keeping close to the rib made; pursue the same mode on the other side, and take a little of the soil which is thrown over by the mould- board from the back of each rib, and so on till you come near the furrow, when you must pursue the same mode as at first. In water furrowing you will then have a rib on each side of the furrow, distance between the rib, ten or twelve inches. The seed to be sown from the hand, and, from the narrowness or sharpness of the top of the ridges, the grain will fall regu-'i'-'v r1<MVn thon put on a light harrow to cover the oeea. in wet soils the ridges ought to be twice gathered, as ribbing re- duces them.
It will answer all kinds of crops, but not all soils. Strong clayey soils cannot be pulverized sufficiently for that purpose ; nor can it be effected in clover-lea, unless it be twice ploughed and well harrowed. Ribbing is here esteemed preferable to drilling, as you have the same opportunity of keeping the land clean, and the grain does not fall so close together as by drilling.
The farmer may hand or horse-hoe his crops, and also hoe in his clover-seed, which is consider- ed very advantageous. It is more productive of grain, especially when it is apt to lodge, and, in all cases, of as much straw; and ribbing is often the means of preventing the corn lodging.
In a wet season ribbing is more favorable to harvesting, because the space between the ribs admits the air freely, and the corn dries much sooner. The reapers also, when accustomed to it, cut more and take it up cleaner.
Improved Method of Drilling Wheat. The drill contains three coulters, placed in a triangular form, and worked by brushes, with cast-iron nuts, sufficient for one horse to draw, and one man to attend to. It will drill three acres 'i>er day of wheat, barley or oa.ts, at five inches asunder; and five acres per day of beans, peas, etc., at twelve inches asunder. The general prac- tice is to drill crossways, and to set the rows five or six inches, and never exceeding seven inches, apart, it being found that if the distance is greater they are too long filling up in the spring, that Miey afford a greater breadth for the growth of Weeds, are more expensive to hoe, and more liable to be laid in the summer. In drilling wheat never harrow after the drill if it can be avoided, the drill generally leaving the corn sufficiently cover- ed ; and by this plan the vegetation is quickened, and the ridges of soil between each two rows pre-
serve the plants in winter, and render 1 he operation of harrowing in the spring much more efficacious. The spring harrowing is performed the contrary way to that of the drilling, as the harrow working upon the ridges does not pull up the plants, and leaves the ground mouldy for the hoe. This point should be particularly attended to. The harrow- ing after the drill evidently leaves the ground in a better state to the eye, but the advantages in the produce of the crop are decidedly in favcr of the plan of heaving the land in the rough staf-a already described, as the operation of the winte/ upon the clods causes them to pulverize, and tur- nishes an abundant nutrition to the plants in the spring; and followed by the hoe about the tiiuo the head or ear is forming, it makes the growtn. of th-j plant more vigorous, and greatly improves the size of the head or ear. The drilling for wheat should generally commence about the latter end of September, at which time the farmer may drill about two bushels per acre. As the season ad- vances, keep increasing the quantity to three bushels per acre, being guided by the quality of the soil and other circumstances. A great loss has frequently arisen through drilling too small a quantity of seed, as there can be none spared in that case for the rooks and grubs: and a thick, well-planted crop will always yield more abun- dantly than a thin stooling crop, and ripen sooner.
The drill system would have been in more gene- ral practice, if its friends had also recommended the use of a larger quantity of seed to the acre, and the rows to be planted nearer together. It is impossible to obtain so great a produce per acre by the broadcast system as by the drill system at the same expense, be the land ever so free from weeds. Fifty bushels per acre may be raised by the drill, but never more than forty bushels by sowing broadcast. The wheat crops should gene- rally be top dressed in winter with manure com- post, or some other dressing in frost, or when you can cart upon the land; but if that operation ia rendered impracticable, sooting in March, or any other dressing of that description, hoed in at the spring, is preferable to a dressing laid on in the autumn and ploughed in.
The advantages of the drill over the broadcast system, are numerous and decisive, as it enables the farmer to grow corn without weeds, is sooner ready for stacking after the scythe or sickle, pro- duces a cleaner and more regular sample for the market, and hence obtains a better price, leaves the land in a better state for a succeeding crop, and materially increases the quantity of food for human consumption.
To Pickle the Seed.
This process is indispensably necessary on every soil, otherwise smut, to a greater or less exterit, will, in nine cases out of ten, assuredly follow. Stale urine may be considered as the safest and surest pickle, and where it can be obtained in a sufficient quantity, is commonly resorted to. TL« mode of using it does not however seem to be agreed upon, for while one party contends that the grain ought to be steeped in the urine, another party considers it sufficient to sprinkle the urine upon it. But whatever difference of opinion there may be as to the kind of pickle that ought to be used, and the mode of using it, all admit the utility of mixing the wetted seed with hot lime fresh slaked; and this, in one point of view, is abso- lutely necessary, so that the seed 'may be equally distributed. It may be remarked that experience justifies the utility of all these modes, provided they are attentively carried into execution. There is dome danger from the first, for if the seed steep-
INDIAN CORN, SORGHUM.
29
•d in urine is not immediately sown, it will infal- libly lose its vegetative power. The second, viz., sprinkling the urine on the seed, seems to be the safest if performed by an attentive hand, whilst the last may do equally well, if such a quantity of •alt be incorporated with the water as to render it of sufficient strength. It may also be remarked, that this last mode is often uccumpanied with smut, owing no doubt to a deficiency of strength in the pickle; whereas a single head with smut is rarely discovered when urine has been used.
To cultivate Indian Corn,
The land should be a loamy sand, very rich. In April the grains should be set like hops, at three to four feet distance, three to six grains in a hill, each grain about an inch deep in the ground. The seed from New England is the best. In May the alleys should be hoed and the hills weed- ed and earthed up higher; many good farmers plough three times after planting. At the latter end of that month all the superfluous stalks should be taken away, and only three steins of corn left in each hill. By the middle of June, it will cover the alley. It grows much like bulrushes, the lower leaves being like broad flags, three or four inches wide, and as many feet in length ; the steins shooting upwards, from seven to ten feet in height, with many joints, casting off flag-leaves at every joint. Under these leaves and close to the stem grows the corn, covered over by many coats of sedgy leaves, and so closed in by them to the stem, that it does not show itself easily till there bursts out at the end of the ear a number of strings that look like tufts of horse-hair, at first of a beautiful green, and afterwards red or yellow, the stem ending in a flower. The corn will ripen in October or early November; but the sun at that season not having strength enough to dry it, it must be laid upon racks or thin open floors in dry rooms, and frequently turned, to avoid mould- ing; the grains are about as big as peas, and adhere in regular rows round a white pithy sub- stance, which forms the ear. An ear contains from two to four hundred grains, and is from six to ten inches in length. They are of various colors, blue, red, white and yellow. The manner of gathering them is by cutting down the stems and breaking off the ears. The stems are as big as a man's wrist, and look like bamboo cane; the pith is full of a juice that tastes as sweet as sugar, and the joints are about a foot and a half distant. The increase is upwards of five hundred fold. Upon a large scale the seed may be drilled in alleys like peas, and to save digging, the ground may be ploughed and harrowed, which will answer very well. It will grow upon all kinds of land. The ears which grow upon dry sandy land are smaller, but harder and riper. The grain is taken from the husk by hand, and when ground upon •tones, makes an excellent flour, of which it yields much more, with much less bran, than wheat does, and exceeds it in crust, pancakes, puddings, and all other uses except bread ; but a sweetness peculiar to it, which in all other cases makes it agreeable, is here less so. It is excellent for feeding horses, poultry and hogs, and fattens them much better and sooner than peas or barley. The stems make better hedges for kitchen garden than reeds do. It clears the ground from weeds, and makes a good season for any other kind of grain. It was the only bread-grain known in America when first discovered by the Spaniards, and is there called maize.
Sorghum. This, also called Chinese sugar-cane, is now
attracting attention, especially in the West. It uuiy be cultivated almost precisely like in ^?e, and is more profitable. It is cut off when it is ripa and beginning to fade slightly, or sometimes ear- lier than this. It may then be ground like sugar- cane. This is often done in a mill like a cider- press. The syrup is then boiled at once, in largo shallow kettles. It is said that soighuui should be grown on a sandy soil, not too rich; if tho earth is rich, it grows too strong and fibrous, with less sugar in the stem.
Diseases of Wheat.
Wheat is subject to more diseases than other grains, and, in some seasons, especialiy in wet ones, heavier losses are sustained from those dis- eases than are felt in the culture of any other cut- miferous crop with which we are acquainted. Wheat may suffer from the attack of insects at the root; from blight, which primarily affects the leaf or straw, and ultimately deprives the grain of sufficient nourishment; from mildew on the car, which operates thereon with the force of an apoplectic stroke ; and from gum of different shades, which lodges on the chaff or cups in which the grain is deposited.
Slight.
Blight originates from moist or foggy weather, and from hoar-frost, the effects of which, when ex- pelled by a hot sun, are first discernible on the straw, and afterwards on the ear, in a greater or less degree, according to local circumstances. Let a field be examined in a day or two alter such weather, and a careful observer will soon be satis- fied that the fibres and leaves of plants are con- tracted and enfeebled, in consequence of what may be called a stoppage of perspiration. This disorder may take place either earlier or later, but is most fatal when it appears at the time the grain is forming in the ear. It may appear at an earlier stage; and though the productive powers of the plant will thereby be lessened, yet, if cir- cumstances are afterwards favorable, the quality of the grain produced may not be much impaired; or it may appear, after the grain is fully formed, and then very little damage will be sustained, except by the straw.
Mildew.
Mildew may be ranked as a disease which af- fects the ear, and is brought on by causes some- what similar to those which occasion blight, though at a more advanced period of the season. If this disorder comes on immediately after the first appearance of the ear the straw will also be affected, but if the grain is nearly or fully formed then injury on the straw is not much discernible. We have seen a crop that carried wheat that was mildewed where the straw was perfectly fresh, though, indeed, this rarely happens. A severe mildew, however, effectually prevents both grain and straw from making any further progress, the whole plant apparently going backward every day till existence in a manner ceases altogether. Something akin to mildew is the gum which, in all warm moist seasons, attaches itself to the ear, and often occasions considerable damage. All these different disorders are generally accompa- nied by insects, and by minute parasitic vege- table growths, considered by many to be the authors of the mischief that follow?. Their ap- pearance, however, may justly be attributed to the diseased state of the plant; for wherevet putrefaction takes place, either in animal or vege- table substances, the presence of these parasites will never be wanting.
80
AGRICULTURE.
Rust. •
.Another disorder which affects wheat and is by several people denominated the real rust, is brought or/ by excessive heat, which occasions the plants to Buffer from a privation of nourishment, and become sickly and feeble. In this atrophic state a kind of dust gathers on the stalks and leaves, which increases with the disease, till the plant is in a great measure worn out and ex- hausted. The only remedy in this case, and it is one that cannot easily be administered by the hand of man, is a plentiful supply of moisture, by •which, if it is received before consumption is too far advanced, the crop is benefited in a degree proportional to the extent of nourishment re- ceived, and the stage at which the disease has arrived.
Impropriety of Sowing Xfildewed Wheat. Some people have recommended the sowing of blighted and mildewed wheat, because it will vegetate; though certainly the recommendation, if carried into practice, would be attended with imminent danger to those who attempted it. That light or defective wheat will vegetate and
Sroduce a plant we are not disposed to contra- ict, but that it will vegetate as briskly, or put out a stem of equal strength, and capable of with- standing the severe winter blasts as those pro- duced from sound seed we must be excused for not believing. Let it only be considered that a plant of young wheat, unless when very early sown, lives three or four months, in a great measure, upon the nourishment which it derives from the parent seed ; and that such nourishment can, in no view of the subject, be so great when the parent is lean and enmciated as when sound, healthy and vigorous. Let it also be remem- bered that a plant produced from the best and weightiest seed must, in every case, under a parity of other circumstances, have a stronger con- stitution at the outset, which necessarily qualifies it to push on with greater energy when the sea- son of growth arrives. Indeed, the economy of na- ture would be ove'rturned should any other result follow. A breeder of cattle or sheep would not act more foolishly, who trusted that a deformed diminutive bull or ram would produce him good stock, than the corn farmer does who uses unsound or imperfect seed.
To remove the Mildew on Wheat. A solution of common salt in water, in the pro- portion of a pound to a gallon, is an excellent remedy for the mildew on grain. After sprinkling three or four days, the mildew will disappear, leaving only a discoloration on the straw where it was destroyed. The best and most expeditious way of applying the mixture is with a flat brush, such as is used by whitewashes. The operator having a pail of the mixture in one hand, with the other he dips the brush into it, and makes his regular casts as when sowing grain broadcast; in this way he will readily get over ten acres in the day, and with an assistant a great deal more. About two hogsheads of the mixture will suffice for an acre. Wherever the mixture touches the mildew immediately dies.
To prevent Mildew in Wheat. Dissolve three ounces and two drachms of sul- phate of copper, copperas, or blue vitriol, in three gallons and three quarts, wine measure, of cold water, for every three bushels of grain that is to be prepared. Into another vessel capable of con- taining from fifty-three to seventy -nine wine gallons, throw from three to four bushels of
wheat, into which the prepared liquid is poured, until it rises five or six inches above the grain. Stir it thoroughly; and carefully remove all that swims on the surface. After it has remained half an hour in the preparation, throw the wheat into a basket that will allow the water to escape, but not the grain. It ought then to be immediately washed in rain, or pure water, which will prevent any risk of its injuring the germ, and afterwards the seed ought to be dried before it is sown. It may be preserved in this shape for months. Ano- ther method, which has been tried in Russia, 13 to expose the seed for one or two weeks to a dry heat of about 80° or 90°.
To prevent the Smut in Wheat.
Liming the seed by immersion is recommended by a French writer, as the only preventive war- ranted by science and sanctioned by experience, and the following is given as the method in which the process is best performed :
To destroy the germs of the blight in four and a half bushels or 256 pounds of grain, about six or seven gallons of water must be used, as grain may be more or less dry, and from thirty-five to forty-two ounces avoirdupois of quick-lime, ac- cording as it may be more or less caustic, and according as the seed may have more or less of the blight. Boil part of the water, black the lime with it, and then add the rest. When joined the heat of the water should be such that the hand can with difficulty bear it. Pour the lime water upon the corn placed in a tub, stirring it incessantly, first with a stick, and afterwards with a shovel. The liquid should, at first, cover the wheat, three or four fingers' breadth ; it will soon be absorbed by the grain. In this state let it remain covered over for twenty-four hours, but turn it over five or six times during the day. Such parts of the liquor as will drain off may then be separated, when the corn, after standing a few hours, in order that it may run freely out of the hand, may be sown. If not intended to be used immediately, the limed wheat should be put in a heap, and moved once or twice a day till dry. Experience has proved that limed grain germi- nates sooner than unlimed ; and, as it carries with it moisture sufficient to develop the embryo, the seed will not suffer for want of rain ; insects will not attack it, the acrid, taste of the lime being offensive to them ; and, as every grain germinates, a less quantity is requisite. In fact, the grain being swelled, the sower filling his hand as usual, will, when he has sown sixty-five handsful of limed corn, have in reality only used fifty-two. As blighted grains preserve for a long time the power of germinating, the careful farmer, whose grain has been touched, should carefully sweep out the crevices in the walls and cracks in the floors of his barn, and take great pains to clean them thoroughly. Dry heat, as above spoken of, may be worth trying.
Another Method.
A tub is used that has a hole at bottom for ft spigot and faucet, fixed in a wisp of straw, to prevent any small pieces of lime passing (as in brewing). To seventy gallons of water add a bushel of unslaked lime, stir it well till the whole is mixed, let it stand thirty hours, run it off into another tub (as practised in beer) ; add forty-two pounds of salt, which, with stirring, will soon dissolve; this is a proper pickle for brining and liming seed wheat without any ob- stacle, and greatly facilitates the drilling.
Steep the wheat in a broad-bottomed basket^ twenty -four inches in diameter and twenty inchei
BARLEY.
3l
deep, running in the grain gradually in small quantities, from ten to twelve gallons; stirring the same. What floats skim off, and do not sow ; then draw up the basket, to drain the pickle for a few minutes ; this may be performed in half an hour, and when sufficiently pickled proceed as before. The wheat will be fit for sowing in twenty-four hours, if required; but for drilling two hours pickled will be best, and prepared four or five days before.
Mr. Henderson's Method of preventing Smut in Wheat.
Take of best soft green soap, made from fish- oil, one pound, and of scalding water four gallons. Put the soap into a glazed vessel with a small portion of the water; continue stirring it, and add the water as it dissolves, till the whole is a perfect lye. It should be used at about ninety de- grees of Fahrenheit's thermometer or new-milk warm. Put the wheat into a tub, and pour on it a quantity of the liquor sufficient to cover it com- pletely, and throw a blanket over it to preserve the heat. Stir it every ten minutes, and take off the scum. When it has remained in this manner for an hour, drain the liquor from the wheat through a sieve, or let the tub be furnished with a drain-bottom like a brewing vat. Let the liquor which was drawn off stand a few minutes to subside, and then pour it off the sediment. Repeat the operation till the whole quantity is steeped, only observe to add each time as much hot lye as was observed by the former steeping. Dry the wheat with quick-lime, and sow as soon as convenient. It will keep ten days after steep- ing; but should be spread thin on a dry floor.
If a tub with a drain-bottom is used, such as a hogshead with a spigot to draw off the lye, four ounces of soap and one gallon of water, scalding hot, will preserve a stock of warm lyo euffieient for any quantity of wheat. The ope- ration should be performed in a clean place, at a distance from barns and granaries, the roofs of which may be observed hanging full of smut. The refuse of smutted wheat should be buried deep in the earth, and not thrown to the dunghill, from which it would be conveyed to the field.
Advantages of Reaping. Grain before being Per- fectly Ripe.
M. Cadet de Vaux has recommended, as an im- portant and useful innovation, the reaping of grain before it is perfectly ripe. This practice originated with M. Sajles, of the Agricultural Society of Beziers : grain thus reaped (say eight days before it is ripe) is fuller, larger, and finer, and is never attacked by the weevil. This was proved by reaping one half of a field as recom- mended, and leaving the other till the usual time. The early-reaped portion gave a hecto- litre (about three bushels) of grain more for an acre of land than the later-reaped. An equal quantity of flour from each was made into bread ; that made from the grain reaped green gave seven pounds of bread more than the other in two bushels. The weevil attacked the ripe grain but not the green. The proper time for reaping is when the grain, pressed between the fingers, has a doughy appearance, like bread just hot from the oven when pressed in the .same way. To Manage the Wheat Harvest.
It is advantageous to cut wheat before it is fully ripe; but, in ascertaining the proper state, it is necessary to discriminate between the ripeness of the straw and the ripeness of the grain ; for, in lome seasons, the straw dies upwards, under whict
circumstance a field, to the eye, may appear to be completely ffl for the sickle, when, in reality, the grain is imperfectly consolidated, and perhaps nofc much removed from a milky state. Though it in obvious that under such circumstances no further benefit can be conveyed from the root, and that nourishment is withheld the moment that the roots die, yet it does not follow that grain so circum- stanced should be immediately cut, because, after that operation is performed it is in a great mea- sure necessarily deprived of every benefit from the sun and air, both of which have greater influence in bringing it to maturity so long as it remains on. foot than when cut down, whether laid on the ground or bound up in sheaves. The' state of weather at the time also deserves notice, for as in moist or even variable weather every kind of grain, when cut prematurely, is more exposed to damage than when completely ripened. All these things will be studied by the skilful husbandman, who will also take into consideration the danger! vhich may follow were he to permit his wheat crop to remain uncut till completely ripened. Th« danger from wind will not be lost sight of, espe- cially if the season of the equinox approaches; even the quantity dropped in the field and in th< stack-yard, when wheat is over ripe, is an objecl of consideration. Taking all these things inta view, it seems prudent to have wheat cut before it is fully ripe, as less damage will be sustained from acting in this way than by adopting a contrary practice.
If the weather be dry and the straw clean, wheat may be carted to the stack-yard in a few diiys ; indeed, if quite ripe it may be stacked im- . mediately from the sickle, especially when not meant for early threshing. So long, however, as any moisture remains in the straw, the field will be found to be the best stack-yard; and where grass or weeds of any kind are mixed with the crop, patience must be exerted till they are de- cayed and dried, lest heating be occasioned.
Barley.
Next to wheat the most valuable grain is bar- ley, especially on light and sharp soils.
It is a tender grain and easily hurf in any of the stages of its growth, particularly at seed time; a heavy shower of rain will then almost ruin a crop on the best prepared land; and in all the after processes greater pains and attention are required to insure success than in the case of other grains. The harvest process is difficult, and often attended with danger; even the threshing of it is not easily executed with machines, because the awn generally adheres to the grain, and renders separation from the straw a troublesome task. Barley, in fact, is raised at greater expense than wheat, and generally speaking is a more hazard- ous crop. Except upon rich and genial soils, where climate will allow wheat to be perfectly reared, it ought not to be cultivated.
Varieties of Barley.
Barley may be divided into two sorts, fall and spring; to which may be added a bastard variety, called bear or bigg, which affords similar nutri- ment or substance, though of inferior quality. The spring is cultivated like oats ; the fall, like fall wheat. Early barley, under various names, was formerly sown in Britain upon lands that had been previously summer-fallowed, or were in high condition.
The most proper seed season for spring barley is any time in March or April, though we have seen good crops produced, the seed of which waa sown at a much later period.
32
AGKICULTUKE.
To prepare the Ground.
Barley is chiefly taken after turnips, sometimes after peas and beans, but rarely by good farmers either after wheat or oats, unless under special circumstances. When sown after turnips it is generally taken with one furrow, which is given as fast as the turnips are consumed, the ground thus receiving much benefit from the spring frosts. But often two or more furrows are necessary for the fields last consumed, because when a spring drought sets in the surface from being poached by the removal or consumption of the crop, gets so hardened as to render a greater quantity of ploughing, harrowing and rolling necessary than would otherwise be called for. When sown after beans and peas, one winter and one spring plough- ing are usually bestowed: but when after wheat or oats, three ploughings are necessary, so that the ground may be put in proper condition. These operations are very ticklish in a wet and backward season, and rarely in that case is the grower paid for the expense of his labor. Where land is in such a situation as to require three ploughings before it can be seeded with barley, it is better to summer-fallow it at once than to run the risks which seldom fail to accompany a quan- tity of spring labor. If the weather be dry, mois- ture is lost during the different processes, and an imperfect braird necessarily follows ; if it be wet, the benefit of ploughing is lost, and all the evils of a wet seed time are sustained by the future crop.
Quantity of Seed.
The quantity sown, is different in different cases, according to the quality of the soil and other cir- cumstances. Upon very rich lands eight pecks per acre are sometimes sown ; twelve is very com- mon, and upon poor land more is sometimes given.
By good judges a quantity of seed is sown suf- ficient to insure a full crop, without depending on its sending out offsets ; indeed, where that is done few offsets are produced, the crop grows and ripens equally > and the grain is uniformly good,
M'Cai-tney's Invention for Hummelling Barley.
This invention is extremely simple, and the cost small. It is a bit of notched stick or bar, lined on one side with a thin plate of iron, and just the length of the rollers, fixed by a screw- bolt at each end to the inside of the cover of the drum, about the middle of it, so that the edge of the said notched stick is about one-eighth of an inch from the arms of the drum as it goes round. Two minutes are sufficient to put it on, when its opera- tion is wanted, which is when putting through the second time, and it is easily taken off. It rubs off the awns or spikes to admiration, and by putting the grain another time through the mill, it will rub the husk off the ends of the pickle so entirely, that it is unnecessary to sow it afterwards.
To harvest Barley.
More care is required in the harvesting of barley than of any of the other white crops,, even in the best of seasons ; and in bad years it is often found very difficult to save it. Owing to the brittleness of the straw after it has reached a certain period, it must be cut down, as when it is suffered to stand longer much loss is sustained by the breaking of the heads. On that account it is cut at a time when the grain is soft, and the straw retains a great proportion of its natural juices, consequently requires a long time in the field before either the grain is hardened or the straw sufficiently dry. When put into the stack too soon it is apt to heat,
and much loss is frequently sustained. It Ih 4 custom with many farmers to have an opening in the middle of their barley stacks, from top to boU torn. This opening is generally made by placing a large bundle of straw in the centre of the stack when the building commences, and in proportion as it rises, the straw is drawn upwards, leaving a hollow behind, which, if one or two openings are left in the side of the stack near the bottom, in- sures so complete a circulation of air as not only to prevent heating, but to preserve the grain from becoming musty.
Varieties of Oats.
Of this grain the varieties are more numerous than of any other of the culmiferous tribe. These varieties consist of what is called the common oat, the Angus oat, which is considered as an improved variety of the other, the Poland oat, the Friesland oat, the red oat, the dun oat, the Tartar or Sibe- rian oat, and the potato oat. The Poland and potato varieties are best adapted to rich soils; the red oat for late climates ; and the other va- rieties for the generality of soils of which the British isles are composed. The Tartar or Sibe- rian kind, though very hardy and prolific, is much out of use, being of a coarse substance, and un- productive of meal. The dun oat has never been much cultivated, and the use of Poland and Friesland is now much circumscribed, since potato oats were introduced; the latter being considered, by the most discerning agriculturists, as of superior value in every respect where the soil is rich and properly cultivated.
To prepare the Ground.
Oats are chiefly sown after grass; sometimes upon land not rich enough for wheat, that has been previously summer-fallowed, or has carried turnips; often after barley, and rarely after wheat, unless cross-cropping, from particular circunv stances, becomes a necessary evil. One ploughing is generally given to the grass lands, usually in the month of January, so that the benefit of frost may be gained, and the land sufficiently mellowed for receiving the harrow. In some cases a spring furrow is given, when oats succeed wheat or barley, especially when grass seeds are to accompany the crop. The best oats, both in quantity and quality, are always those which succeed grass; indeed, no kind of grain seems better qualified by nature for foraging upon grass land than oats; as a full crop is usually obtained in the first instance, and the land left in good order for succeeding crop^.
Quantity of Seed.
From twelve to eighteen pecks of seed are generally allowed to the acre of ground, accord- ing to the richness of the soil and the variety that is cultivated. Here it may be remarked that land sown with potato oats requires much less seed, in point of measure,, than when any of the other sorts are used ; because potato oats both tiller well, much better than Poland, and have not an awn or tail like the ordinary varieties. On that account, a measure contains many more seeds of them than of any other kind. If land is equally well cultivated, there is little doubt but that the like quantity of seed given when barley is cultivated, may be safely trusted to when po- tato oats are to be raised.
To harvest Oats.
Oats are a hardy grain, and rarely get much damage when under the harvest process, except from high winds or from shedding, when opened out after being thoroughly wetted. Tho early
OATS, RYE.
TjBjg
rarieties are much more liable to these losses than the late ones, because the grain parts more easily from the straw, an evil to which the best of grain is at all times subject. Early oats, however, may be cut a little quick, which, to a certain extent, lessens the danger to which they are exposed from high winds; and if the sheaves be made small the danger from shedding after rains is considerably lessened, because they are thus sooner ready for the stack. Under every management, however, a greater quantity of early oats will be lost during the harvest process than of late ones; because the latter adhere firmly to the straw, and conse- quently do not drop so easily as the former.
To cultivate Rye.
Bye ought never to be sown upon wet soils, nor even upon sandy soils where the subsoil is of a retentive nature. Upon downs, links, and all soft lands which have received manure, this grain thrives in perfection, and, if once covered in, will stand a drought afterwards that would consume any other of the culmiferous tribe. The several processes may be regarded as nearly the same with those recommended for wheat, with the single ex- ception of pickling, which rye does not require. Rye may be sown either in winter or spring, though the winter-seeded fields are generally bulkiest and most productive. It may succeed either summer fallow, clover or turnips: even after oats good crops have been raised, and where such crops are raised the land will always be found in good condition.
To cultivate Bean*.
Beans naturally succeed a culmiferous crop, and we believe it is not of much importance which of the varieties is followed, provided the ground be in decent order, and not worn out by the previous crop. The furrow ought to be given early in winter, and as deep as possible, that the earth may be sufficiently loosened, and room afforded for the roots of the plant to search for the requi- site nourishment. The first furrow is usually given across the field, which is the best method when only one spring furrow is intended; but as it is now ascertained that two spring furrows are highly advantageous, the one in winter ought to be given in length, which lays the ground in a better situation for resisting the rains, and ren- ders it sooner dry in spring than can be the case when ploughed across. On the supposition that three furrows are to be given, one in winter and two in spring, the following is the most eligible preparation :
Approved Modes of Drilling.
The land being ploughed in length as early in winter as is practicable, and the gaw and head- land furrows sufficiently digged out, take the second furrow across the first as soon as the ground is dry enough in spring to undergo the operation ; water-furrow it immediately,, and dig again the gaw and headland furrows, otherwise the benefit of the second furrow may be lost. This being done, leave the field for some days, till it is sufficiently dry, when a cast of the har- rows becomes necessary, so that the surface may be levelled. Then enter with the ploughs and form the drills, which are generally made up with an interval of twenty- seven inches. In the hollow of this interval deposit the seed by a drill-barrow, and reverse or slit out the drills to cover the seed, which finishes the process for the time. In ten or twelve days afterwards, according to the state of the weather, cross-harrow the drills, thereby levelling the field for the hoeing process. Water- furrow the whole in a neat manner, and spade
JJIFIVEEST
and shovel the gnw and tKe. headland furrows, which concludes the whole process.
This is the most approved way of drilling beans. The next best is to give only one spring furrow, and to run the drill-barrow after every third plough, in which way the intervals are nearly of the same extent as already mentioned. Harrowing is afterwards required before the young plants reach the surface, and water-furrowing, etc., aa above described.
Dung is often given to beans, especially when they succeed wheat which has not received ma- . nure. The best way is to apply the dung on the stubble before the winter furrow is given, which greatly facilitates the after process. Used in thig way, a fore stock must be in hand ; but where the farmer is not so well provided spring dunging be- comes necessary, though evidently of less advan- tage. At that season it may either be put into the drills before the seed is sown or spread upon the surface and ploughed down, according to the na- ture of the drilling process which is meant to be adopted. Land dunged to beans, if duly hoed, is always in high order for carrying a crop of wheat in succession. Perhaps better wheat, both in re- spect to quantity and quality, may be cultivated in this way than in any other mode of sowing.
Drilling Machines.
Different machines have been invented for drill- ing beans, but the most common and handy is one of the narrow form. This hand drill is pushed forward by a man or woman, and will, according as the brush or director is lowered or heightened, sow thicker or thinner, as may be expedient and necessary. Another machine, drawn by a horse, and sowing three drills at a time, has been con- structed, and upon flat lands will certainly dis- tribute the seed with the most minute exactness. Upon unequal fields, and even on those laid out in high ridges, the use of this machine is attended with a degree of inconvenience sufficient to bal- ance its advantages. The hand-drill, thepefore, in all probability, will be retained for general use, though the other is capable of performing the work with minuter regularity.
Quantity of Seed.
Less than four bushels ought not to be hazarded if a full crop is expected. We seldom have seen thin beans turn out well, unless . the soil is par- ticularly rich; nay, unless the rows close, weeds will get away after the cleaning process is fin- ished, thereby disappointing the object of drill- ing and rendering the system of little avail to- wards keeping the ground in good condition.
Hoeing Process.
Beans are cleaned in various ways : 1st. By the hand-hoe. 2d. By the scraper, or Dutch hoe. 3d. By a plough of small dimensions, but con- structed upon the principles of the approved swing plough. Ploughs with double mould-boards are likewise used to earth them up, and with all good managers the weeds in the drills which cannot be touched by the hoe are pulled out by the hand; otherwise no field can be considered as duly cleaned.
In treating of the cleaning process we shall confine ourselves to the one most suited to the generality of bean soils. About ten or twelve days after the young plants have appeared above the surface, enter with the scraper, and loosen any weeds that may have vegetated. At this time the wings or cutters of the implement ought to be particularly sharp, so that the scraper may not run too deep and throw the earth upon the plants.
AGRICULTURE.
In about ten days after the ground is scraped, ac- cording to the state of the weather, and other cir- cumstances, use the small swing plough to lay the earth away from the sides of the rows, and in doing so go as near to the plants as possible, taking care at the same time not to loosen their roots. If any weeds stand in the rows pull them out with the hand, afterwards earth-up the plants with the small swing plough, or run the scraper in the intervals, as may seem expedient.
To manage the Harvest.
Before beans are cut the grain ought to be tol- erably well ripened, otherwise the quality is im- paired, whilst a long time is required to put the straw in such a condition as to be preserved in the stack. In an early harvest, or where the crop is not weighty, it is an easy matter to get beans sufficiently ripened ; but, in a late harvest, and in every one where the crop takes on a second growth, it is scarcely practicable to get them thor- oughly ripened for the sickle. Under these circum- stances it is unnecessary to let beans stand uncut after the end of September or the first of October, because nny benefit that can be gained afterwards is not to be compared with the disadvantages that accompany a late wheat seed time. Beans are usually cut with the sickle and tied in sheaves, either with straw ropes or with ropes made from peas sown along with them. It is proper to let the sheaves lie untied several days, so that the wind- ing process may be hastened, and, when tied, to set them up on end, in order that full benefit from air may be obtained and the grain kept off the ground. In building bean stacks it is a useful measure for preserving both grain and straw from injury, to keep an opening in the centre, and to convey air from the extremity by a hole or funnel. Beans, on the whole, are a troublesome crop to the farmer, though of great utility in other respects. Without them heavy soils can scarcely be man- aged with advantage, unless summer fallow is re- sorted to once in four years, but by the aid de- rived from drilled beans summer fallow may be avoided for eight years, whilst the ground at that period will be found in equal, if not superior condition.
To cultivate Peas.
Peas are partially sown with beans to great ad- vantage, and when cultivated in this way the same system of preparation, etc., described under the head of beans is to be adopted. Indeed, upon many soils not deep enough for beans, a mixture of peas to the extent of one-third of the seed sown proves highly advantageous. The beans serve as props to the peas, and the latter being thus kept off the ground and furnished with air and other atmospheric nutriment, blossom and pod with much greater effect than when sown ac- cording to the broadcast system.
Peas agree well with lime and other analogous stimulants, and can hardly be reaped in perfection where these are wanting. The varieties cultiva- ted are numerous, but those adapted to field cul- ture may be divided into two kinds, namely, early and late, though these branch out again into sev- eral varieties. We have white peas both early and late, and likewise gray peas, possessed of similar properties. The nomenclature is entirely arbitrary, and therefore not to be illustrated. As a general rule the best seed time for late peas is in the «arly spring, though early ones, such as the Extra Early and Blue Imperial pea, may be sown successfully later in the season.
Peas ought to be sown tolerably thick, so that tho ground may be covered as early as possible.
To cultivate Taret.
The tare is a plant of a hardy growth, and when sown upon rich land will return a large supply of green fodder for the consumption of horses or for fattening cattle. When intended for this use, the seed ought to be sown tolerably thick, perhaps to the extent of four bushels per acre, though when intended to stand for seed a less quantity is required, because otherwise the thickness of the crop will prevent the plants from blossoming and podding in a sufficient way. When meant for seed early sowing ought to be studied, otherwise the return will be imperfect ; but when for green food any time betwixt the first of April and the latter end of May will answer well, provided crops in succession from the first to the last men- tioned period be regularly cultivated. Instances are not wanting of a full crop being obtained even when the seed was sown so late as the mid- dle of June, though sowing so late is a practice not to be recommended. After the seed is sown and the land carefully harrowed, a light roller ought to be drawn across, so that the surface may be smoothed, and the scythe permitted to work without interruption. It is proper also to guard the field for several days against the depredations of pigeons, who are remajkably fond of tares, and will pick up a great part of the seed unless con- stantly watched.
Horses thrive very well upon tares, even better than they do upon clover and rye-grass ; and the same remark is applicable to fattening cattle, who feed faster upon this article of green fodder than upon any kind of grass or esculent with which we are acquainted. Danger often arises from their eating too many, especially when podded; as colics and other stomach disorders are apt to be produced by the excessive loads which they devour.
Potatoes.
Potatoes, as an article of human food, are, next to wheat, of the greatest importance in the eye of a political economist. From no other crop that can be cultivated will the public derive so much food as from this valuable esculent; and it ad- mits of demonstration that an acre of potatoes will feed double the number of people that can be fed from an acre of wheat. Very good varieties are the Gleason, Calico, and Early Goodrich.
To prepare the Ground.
To reduce the ground till it is completely free from root-weeds, may be considered as a desi- deratum in potato husbandry; though in many seasons these operations cannot be perfectly exe- cuted, without losing the proper time for planting, which never ought to be beyond the first of May, if circumstances do not absolutely interdict it. Three ploughings, with frequent harrowings and rollings, are necessary in most cases before the land is in suitable condition. When this is accom- plished form the drills as if they were for turnips; cart the manure, which ought not to be sparingly applied, plant the seed above the manure, reverse the drills for covering it and the seed, then harrow the drills in length, which completes the prepa- ration and seed process.
Quantity of Seed.
It is not advantageous to cut the seed into small slips, for the strength of the stem at the outset depends in direct proportion upon the vigor and power of the seed-plant. The seed- plant, therefore, ought to be large, rarely smaller than the fourth-part of the potato; and if the seed is of small size, one-half of the potato may be profitably used. At all events, rather err in
POTATOES.
35
giving over large seed than in making it too email • because, by the first error, no great loss can ever be sustained; whereas, by the other, a feeole and late crop may be the consequence. When the seed is properly cut, it requires from ten to twelve hundredweight of potatoes to plant an acre of ground, where the rows are twenty- seven inches apart; but this quantity depends greatly upon the size of the potatoes used; if they are large, a greater weight may be required, but the extra quantity will be abundantly repaid by the superiority of crop which large seed usually produces.
Advantageous Method of raising them.
The earth should be dug twelve inches deep, if the soil will allow it; after this, a hole should be opened about six inches deep, and horse-dung or long litter should be put therein, about three inches thick ; this hole should not be more than twelve inches in diameter. Upon this dung or lit- ter a potato should be planted whole, upon which a little more dung should be shaken, and then the earth should be put thereon. In like manner the whole plot of ground must be planted, taking care that the potatoes be at least sixteen inches apart. When the young shoots make their appearance they should have fresh mould drawn around them with a hoe; and if the tender shoots are covered, it will prevent the frost from injuring them; they should again be earthed when the shoots make a second appearance, but not covered, as in all pro- bability the season will be less severe.
A plentiful supply of mould should be given them, and the person who performs this business should never tread upon the plant, or the hillock that is raised round it, as the lighter the earth is, the more room the potato will have to expand.
A gentleman obtained from a single root, thus planted, very nearly forty pounds weight of large potatoes; and from almost every other root upon the same plot of ground from fifteen to twenty pounds weight; and, except the soil be stony or gravelly, ten pounds or half a peck of potatoes may generally be obtained from each root by pur- suing the foregoing method.
But note — cuttings or small sets will not do for this purpose.
Mode of Taking up and Storing the Crop. Potatoes are generally dug up with a three- prong grape or fork, but at other times, when the weather is dry, the plough is used, which is the most expeditious implement. After gathering the interval, the furrow taken by the plough is broken and separated, in which way the crop may be more completely gathered than when taken up by the grape. The potatoes are then stored up for winter and spring use; and as it is of importance to keep them as long through summer as possible, every endeavor ought to be made to preserve them from frost, and from sprouting in the spring months. The former is accomplished by covering them well with straw when lodged in a house, and by a thick coat of earth when deposited in a pit, and the latter, by picking them carefully at different times, when they begin to sprout, drying them sufficiently by exposure to the sun, or by a gentle toast of a kiln.
Method of Cultivating Potatoes in Ireland. The drill system, in the cultivation of pota- toes in Ireland, is particularly recommended by Lord Farnham, in a letter to Sir John Sinclair. The small farmers and laborers plant them in lazy -beds, eight feet wide. This mode is prac- tised on account of the want of necessary imple-
ments for practising the drill system, together with a want of horses for the same purpose.
They are cut into sets, three from a large potato j and each set to contain at least one eye. The sets are planted at the distance of seven inches asunder, six and a quarter cwt. are considered sufficient seed for an English acre. Lord Farnham recom- mends rotten dung in preference to any fresh dung. If not to be procured, horse-dung, hot from the dunghill. In any soil he would recom* ' mend the dung below the seed.
When the potatoes are vegetated ten inches above the surface, the scuffier must be introduced, and cast