The Elements of Agriculture A Book for Young Farmers, with Questions Prepared for the Use of Schools, George E. Waring [read aloud books TXT] 📗

leather, is such as to render it difficult to be rotted by the ordinary means, but, by the use of the lime and salt mixture it may be reduced to the finest condition, and becomes a most excellent manure. It probably contains small quantities of nitrogen (obtained from the leather), which adds to its value. Unless tan bark be composted with lime, or some other alkali, it may produce injurious effects from the tannic acid which it is liable to contain. Alkaline substances will neutralize this acid, and prevent it from being injurious.

One great benefit resulting from the use of spent tan bark, is due to its power of absorbing moisture from the atmosphere. For this reason it is very valuable for mulching[AD] young trees and plants when first set out.

SAWDUST.

[Why is sawdust a good addition to the pig-stye?

What is the peculiarity of sawdust from the beech, etc.?

What is a peculiarity of soot?

Why may soot be used as a top dressing without losing its ammonia?]

Sawdust in its natural state is of very little value to the land, but when decomposed, as may be done by the same method as was described for tan bark, it is of some importance, as it contains a large quantity of carbon. Its ash, too, which becomes available, contains soluble inorganic matter, and in this way it acts as a direct manure.

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So far as concerns the value of the ash, however, the bark is superior to sawdust. Sawdust may be partially rotted by mixing it with strong manure (as hog manure), while it acts as a divisor, and prevents the too rapid action of this when applied to the soil. Some kinds of sawdust, such as that from beech wood, form acetic acid on their decomposition, and these should be treated with, at least, a sufficient quantity of lime to correct the acid.

Soot is a good manure. It contains much carbon, and has, thus far, all of the beneficial effects of charcoal dust. The sulphur, which is one of its constituents, not only serves as food for plants, but, from its odor, is a good protection against some insects. By throwing a handful of soot on a melon vine, or young cabbage plant, it will keep away many insects.

Soot contains some ammonia, and as this is in the form of a sulphate, it is not volatile, and consequently does not evaporate when the soot is applied as a top dressing, which is the almost universal custom.

GREEN CROPS.

[What plants are most used as green crops?

What office is performed by the roots of green crops?

How do such manures increase the organic matter of soils?]

Green crops, to plow under, are in many places largely raised, and are always beneficial. The plants most used for this purpose, in our country, are clover, buckwheat, and peas.

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These plants have very long roots, which they send deep in the soil, to draw up mineral matter for their support. This mineral matter is deposited in the plant. The leaves and roots receive carbonic acid and ammonia from the air, and from water. In this manner they obtain their carbon. When the crop is turned under the soil, it decomposes, and the carbon, as well as the mineral ingredients obtained from the subsoil, are deposited in the surface soil, and become of use to succeeding crops. The hollow stalks of the buckwheat and pea, serve as tubes, in the soil, for the passage of air, and thus, in heavy soils, give a much needed circulation of atmospheric fertilizers.

[What office is performed by the straw of the buckwheat and pea?

What treatment may be substituted for the use of green crops?

Which course should be adopted in high farming?

Why is the use of green crops preferable in ordinary cultivation?

Name some other valuable manures.]

Although green crops are of great benefit, and are managed with little labor, there is no doubt but the same results may be more economically produced. A few loads of prepared muck will do more towards increasing the organic matter in the soil, than a very heavy crop of clover, while it would be ready for immediate cultivation, instead of having to lie idle during the year required in the production and decomposition of the green crop.

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The effect of the roots penetrating the subsoil is, as we have seen, to draw up inorganic matter, to be deposited within reach of the roots of future crops. In the next section we shall show that this end may be much more efficiently attained by the use of the sub-soil plow, which makes a passage for the roots into the subsoil, where they can obtain for themselves what would, in the other case, be brought up for them by the roots of the green crop.

The offices of the hollow straws may be performed by a system of ridging and back furrowing, having previously covered the soil with leaves, or other refuse organic material.

In high farming, where the object of the cultivator is to make a profitable investment of labor, these last named methods will be found most expedient; but, if the farmer have a large quantity of land, and can afford but a limited amount of labor, the raising of green crops, to be plowed under in the fall, will probably be adopted.

Before closing this chapter, it may be well to remark that there are various other fertilizers, such as the ammoniacal liquor of gas-houses, soapers' wastes, bleachers' lye, lees of old oil casks, etc., which we have not space to consider at length, but which are all valuable as additions to the compost heap, or as applications, in a liquid form, to the soil.

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[What are the advantages arising from burying manure in its green state?

Which is generally preferable, this course, or composting? Why?]

In many cases (when heavy manuring is practised), it may be well to apply organic manures to the soil in a green state, turn them under, and allow them to undergo decomposition in the ground. The advantages of this system are, that the heat, resulting from the chemical changes, will hasten the growth of plants, by making the soil warmer; the carbonic acid formed will be presented to the roots instead of escaping into the atmosphere; and if the soil be heavy, the rising of the gases will tend to loosen it, and the leaving vacant of the spaces occupied by the solid matters will, on their being resolved into gases, render the soil of a more porous character. As a general rule, however, in ordinary farming, where the amount of manure applied is only sufficient for the supply of food to the crop, it is undoubtedly better to have it previously decomposed--cooked as it were, for the uses of the plants--as they can then obtain the required amount of nutriment as fast as needed.

ABSORPTION OF MOISTURE.

It is often convenient to know the relative power of different manures to absorb moisture from the atmosphere, especially when we wish to manure lands that suffer from drought. The following results are given by C. W. Johnson, in his essay on salt, (pp. 8 and 19). In these experiments the animal manures were employed without any admixture of straw.

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PARTS 1000 parts of horse dung, dried in a temperature of 100°, absorbed by exposure for three hours, to air saturated with moisture, of the temperature of 62° 145 1000 parts of cow dung, under the same circumstances, absorbed 130 1000 parts pig dung 120 1000 " sheep " 81 1000 " pigeon " 50 1000 " rich alluvial soil 14 1000 " fresh tanner's bark 115 1000 " putrified " 145 1000 " refuse marine salt sold as manure 49½ 1000 " soot 36 1000 " burnt clay 29 1000 " coal ashes 14 1000 " lime 11 1000 " sediment from salt pans 10 1000 " crushed rock salt 10 1000 " gypsum 9 1000 " salt 4[AE]

Muck is a most excellent absorbent of moisture, when thoroughly decomposed.

DISTRIBUTION OF MANURES.

The following table from