haps the most important crop in the country-is, in fact, the national cropthe proper method of applying manure to it is a subject of great importance; but it is questionable whether any rule of universal application can be given, as different soils require different modes of application. In a heavy clayey soil it is important that the management should be such as to render the soil warm and light. To accomplish this object a large portion of the manure should be incorporated with the soil by the plough. Green manures do well on soils of this description, but as such soil, unless underdrained, is cold and does not set the crop forward early, something more is wanted. A small quantity of well composted manure in the hill meets this deficiency. This process is attended with labor and expense, but these are fully repaid by the larger crop. Indeed, in such soils the crop is uncertain without the use of some such means, unless the season is peculiarly favorable. In light, warm soils the whole of the manure may be worked into the soil with safety, and perhaps with more advantage to the soil, if the object is to prepare it for future crops. In any soil, if the chief purpose is to improve it and prepare it for grass, grain, or other crops as speedily as possible, and the present crop of corn is a secondary object, the whole amount of barn manure should be thoroughly incorporated with the soil, and a little guano, poudrette, or superphosphate put into the hill to serve as a stimulus to the corn crop. In this way, when the soil is cold and tenacious, a good corn crop may be secured, and the soil rapidly prepared for future use. The stimulant will be expended on the corn crop, and will contribute little or nothing to the permanent improvement of the land.

For this we must depend wholly, so far as manures are concerned, upon stable and compost manures. When these are not used in sufficient quantity to effect this object, artificial manures inust be annually applied. But we think the corn crop is of sufficient importance to be considered a primary crop, and that the mode of applying the manure in all cases should be such as to insure a good crop, while, at the same time, the permanent improvement of the soil is secured. These objects are by no means incompatible, and may both be attained at the same time, and by the same process. In the culture of corn, manures should be liberally applied. There is less labor and less expense in raising sixty bushels of corn on one acre than on two; and, in the former case, the land will be left in better condition than in the latter. One great necessity for applying manure in the northern portions of our country is, that plants may be forced more rapidly through all the stages of their growth, since, if left to themselves, the season is not long enough to bring them to perfection; and that system of culture which pushes them forward early, that they may get well rooted, and therefore be the better able to endure the droughts that so often occur in July and August, and thus arrive at early maturity before the frosts of September, must be the best system. Could we add another month to the summer in this climate, we could cultivate many crops with a much less amount of stimulants than are now required. Now we have to guard against the droughts of summer and the early frosts of autumn, and we do not esteem it safe practice to deposit the manure for the corn so deeply in the soil, that the growing crops cannot reach it till late in the season. When stable manure or compost, then, is ploughed in deeply, we would recommend the application of well-diluted guano, superphosphate, bone meal, or fine compost, in the hill. In this way, with a season at all favorable, the crop will seldom fail.

As a general rule, we would say that all compost should be well worked over in the early spring, before the weather becomes sufficiently warm to occasion a rapid development of the gases, and rendered as fine as possible. If the heap is too wet to work fine, a sufficient quantity of dry soil, peat, pulverized charcoal, or plaster should be added, to absorb the moisture and destroy the tenacity of All manures should be applied in as fine a state as is possible, with

the mass.

out too much exposure to the action of the atmosphere. If manures are reduced in cool weather, when they are not in a state of actual fermentation, it may be done without great loss of their gases. All manures that are to be applied to the surface should be pulverized as finely as possible. Some plants spread their roots and seek their food near the surface, as the strawberry, and the whole family of the cucurbitaceæ. These, especially, require finely reduced manure. When manures are to be buried deeply in the soil, this mode of preparation is Mess absolutely necessary. All manures, whether applied in a coarse or fine state, should be immediately covered under the soil, that as much as possible of their volatile elements may be absorbed by the soil. These elements, as we have said, permeate the soil and divide its particles, and render them light and easily traversed by the delicate radicles of plants. This mechanical effect is one of no small importance. A soil rendered light and porous by fermenting manure is as much better for this operation, as bread risen by yeast is better than a mass of dough.

It is the general practice of our farmers to apply manures but once in a season; but certain manures may be applied more than once with much profit, provided they are applied during the growing stage of the plants, and in such a form as to mingle at once with the soil, and become a constituent part of it. It must be either finely pulverized, or in a liquid state. In either form, it should be immediately worked into the soil around the plants with the hoe or rake. Many plants, including most of the small fruits, may be treated in this way with excellent results. We have already seen that liquid manures may be applied several times during the season to grasses, thus enabling us to take two or three crops or cuttings in a year. This is an important fact in soiling cattle, as it enables us to supply them with green and succulent food during the entire summer and autumn from the same ground.

Did we understand more perfectly the chemical constitution of the plants we cultivate, we might, doubtless, in many cases, supply to the soil the elements especially adapted to them; but such is the influence of the vital powers in modifying the laws of organic chemistry, that we do not anticipate any important results from the doctrine of specific manures considered by itself. Grapes appropriate a large amount of potash. Asparagus, originally a marine plaut, appropriates marine salts. But we cannot depend upon lime and ashes to give us luxuriant grapes, nor upon marine salts to give us large and succulent asparagus. They both require, in addition to these substances, a generous supply of the same elements of nutrition that other plants require. This subject is but imperfectly understood. Theories may give us indications in this direction, but they will need to be corrected by much experimental research before they can guide us to any certain results.

Nature works out from a few simple elements, variously combined, the wonderful variety of products exhibited by vegetable life. If left to herself she always obtains a supply of these elements; but when disturbed in her operations. by man, who removes from the soil its productions for his own use, instead of leaving them to decay where they grew, the soil becomes exhausted of necessary clements, and, unless they are returned to it in the form of manures, she soon becomes unable to complete the process which she commences, for want of material. The plant is not perfect; its framework is not fully developed, or its seed does not reach a perfect form, or does not arrive at maturity, because the needful elements are annually diminishing. The Fellahs, in Egypt, raise wheat a few inches high, with heads not more than two inches long, upon soil that was once the granary of the world. But Ishmael is teaching them a better style of farmng, by showing them upon his plantations wheat standing four feet high upon the soil. In the older western States we are told that the wheat crops have diminished from one-fourth to one-third in quantity per acre, and, unless the elements that have been removed from the soil are returned to it, the crops will

continue to diminish in a still more rapid ratio, until it ceases to be a remunerative crop. In eastern Virginia and Maryland, the soils that formerly yielded thirty bushels of wheat now yield five or six, and are being deserted because their produce will not sustain their cultivators. Guano has been applied to such soils; the nitrogen, and phosphates, and alkalies which it contains, render soluble certain elements still left in the soils, and one or two crops of ten or twelve bushels have been obtained. But this process will soon cease, and the soil be left more completely exhausted than before. Portions of this exhausted soil are being treated in a different way by cultivators of market vegetables, who are applying muck, stable manure, lime, leached ashes, green crops, and whatever will restore to the soil, in the most permanent form, the elements required by such vegetables. Hundreds of acres may now be found covered by thrifty crops of strawberries, gooseberries, currants, celery, radishes, turnips, beets, onions, melons, and similar crops, which a few years ago did not repay the labor of cultivation. The favorable climate and convenient markets render such crops highly remunerative. The neighboring cities furnish the means of restoring to the soil the elements needed to sustain the large draught made upon it. The outlay for manures in this case is large, and for grain culture probably would not pay. But it shows in a convincing manner what manures may accomplish. There is a vast amount of manurial substance produced in all cities, the largest part of which is annually wasted. If it could be carefully collected and judiciously applied to the soils in their vicinity, their productiveness would be wonderfully increased. But the transportation of manures to the soil to be cultivated is an expensive operation, and will prove economical only within certain limits, and for certain purposes. The true system of farming is undoubtedly to consume upon the farm so much vegetable matter that the solid and liquid animal excrement resulting, applied either simply or composted with other suitable substances, shall enable the farmer steadily to increase his crops, while, at the same time, his soil shall be as steadily growing richer and more productive. Every acre cultivated should be left in better condition after the crop is taken off, than it was when it was put on. To attain this point, no more land should be cultivated than can be done without exhausting it. The good teamster will keep his horses or oxen at work steadily, without diminishing their flesh or strength. Every one who has had experience will affirm that it is the most profitable to keep his team in high condition. The same is true of the soil. If the good teamster has food for only two horses, he will not attempt to keep three. So the judicious farmer will cultivate no more acres than he can feed well. In most instances it is better and more profitable, and attended with less expense and labor, to raise a large crop from one acre, than to raise the same amount from two. The soil of the one acre is left in a better condition, and in a better state for any succeeding crop, than is the soil of the two acres.

We think that, in general, the farmers must rely upon their own farms for their permanent supply of manures. Imported manures and artificial manures may be resorted to occasionally as temporary expedients; but unless the produce can be sold at a near market and at a high price, their use will not be found economical in the long run. Although we think every farmer should rely upon his own farm, he may with propriety avail himself of such natural sources of supply as his own neighborhood affords. The cultivator upon the sea-shore may and ought to use the materials thrown at his feet by the waves. It would be very unwise for him not to do so. Fish and fish offal are a resource of great value to those within its reach. If combined with peat as a deodorizer during its putrefaction, it may be used without inconvenience. Marl-beds are so many mines of wealth to cultivators in their neighborhoods. In the vicinity of soapworks every one will be eager to avail himself of the leached ashes. Woollen factories afford wool-waste and the washings of the wool, articles of great value as fertilizers. Various manufacturing establishments, as glue-making, tanning

gas-making, &c., furnish waste materials that may be obtained by farmers in their vicinity at a remunerative price. Every opportunity to obtain these and similar materials to add to the manure of the farm will be improved by the enterprising farmer.

There is one other means of reclaiming and fertilizing an exhausted soil, to which we have barely alluded, that is worthy of more attention than it has received in this country, especially on light, sandy soils, at a distance from the farm or from extra sources of supply; we mean the ploughing in of green crops. As a means of recuperating exhausted lands in sections of country where stable manures cannot be obtained, as old prairie lands or cotton fields, this must ultimately come to be a matter of the highest importance. Instead of leaving such lands to lie fallow, to recover by the slow processes of nature, and to be filled with the seeds of weeds, which it requires great labor, to eradicate, buckwheat, clover, or other crops, ploughed into the soil, will become the means of rapidly restoring their fertility. But this whole subject of green manuring has been treated so expansively by Mr. Wolfinger, in the last Report, that we will abstain from its further discussion.

We have now spoken of the elements which enter into the composition of the principal manures in use, of the sources from which they are derived, and the principles which should guide us in their preparation and application. The quantities of the several kinds which may be most profitably applied, must depend upon the circumstances of each case. The nature and condition of the soil, the kind of crop, and the character of the manure, must all be taken into consideration. When manures are carbonaceous, and not volatile, they may be applied in large quantities at a time, and their effects will be permanent. When manures consist largely of volatile elements it is a better rule to apply annually, or oftener, in such quantities as are needed for immediate effect. Such manures cannot be depended on for the permanent improvement of soils, for their active properties are soon converted into gases and lost; their power is expended in the growth of the present crop; hence they should be applied with reference only to the present crop, and in such quantities as its wants require. The quantity of any kind of manure must be determined by observation and experience; the judgment and skill of the farmer must be his guides in this matter. There is undoubtedly a disposition to cultivate too much land, to spread manure over too large a surface. We do not yet understand the capacity of land. A etable keeper in Massachusetts kept fifteen horses, and spread all their manure on one acre and a half of land for several years in succession, and took off at three crops seven and a half tons of good hay in a year, as much as he would have got had the manure been spread on three or four acres.

Spreading manure over a large surface answered tolerably well when the soil was new, and good crops were obtained for a time; but in this way many farms have become exhausted. As the soil becomes exhausted of the fertilizing elements stored up in it, by repeated croppings, the injurious effects of this treatment become more and more apparent. Men are slow to renounce the usages that were established in former times and under different circumstances. They hesiLite to give up allegiance to custom, in agriculture as in other things, and pursue practices of ruinous tendency merely because they are sanctioned by authority. Needed reformations are seldom inaugurated until they are compelled by necessity. But many of our most intelligent cultivators have commenced the work of reform; and when we shall all so cultivate our lands that they shall become more fertile and more productive after every successive crop, we shall have learned the only true and economical method of applying manures.

CUTTING AND COOKING FOOD FOR ANIMALS.

BY E. W. STEWART, NORTH EVANS, NEW YORK.

A cursory survey of the business of agriculture will at once reveal the fact that the great effort of the farmer is to supply food for his animals, and that it requires more food to supply the animals kept in the United States than to feed its whole population. It becomes, then, one of the most important inquiries, how to economize this, food so as to yield the greatest return. A saving of even ten per centum would amount to millions of dollars annually.

The discussion of the topics embraced in this article at State fairs, and by individuals, shows that farmers are anxiously inquiring upon this subject. Care ful experiment is, no doubt, more satisfactory, and more convincing to the practical farmer, than any theory, however plausible, and he generally wishes to know, first of all, what the facts are. If they are upon the right side, he cares little for the reasons upon which the facts are founded. But there is no doubt, also, that a clear theory, or the justification of a process, increases confidence in its utility. The writer must, therefore, beg the indulgence of the reader, while he goes somewhat into the theory and reasons for cutting the dry food of

animals.

be

Much has been said for and against this practice. One affirms that teeth are given to animals expressly to masticate their food, and that all attempts to grind or pulp it artificially, are impeachments of the wisdom of the Creator. The same line of argument would abolish all shelter and care of animals by man; would return man himself to the savage state, and feed him on wild fruits and nuts. Those who talk so reverently of nature, and fear so much to improve upon her, forget that cattle in their wild state crop only green, succulent grasses, and do not dry and lay up a supply for winter use. As soon as the grass comes ripe and tough in the north, they migrate toward the south, where they find green herbage. Thus it will be seen that man, in domesticating animals and keeping them in a cold climate, changed their mode of living, substituting dry for green food in winter, and that it thus becomes necessary to compensate for this by assisting the animals in mastication. Man has produced from the wild crab-apple the splendid modern pippin; and from the lank wild bull and cow, the magnificent proportions of the Durham and the rounded beauty of the Devon. This, too, has all been done in opposition to the natural habits of tree and animal, and man is quite likely to continue his efforts so long as he is rewarded by such splendid results.

WHY FODDER SHOULD BE CUT.

The object of mastication of food is to comminute it, to break down its struceture, and to render it more easily acted upon by the gastric juice, thus enabling the animal to appropriate its nutriment. Now, the more finely divided food is. when subjected to the gastric juice, the more rapidly and easily it is digested. For when finely divided it presents many hundred times more surface to the action of the digesting fluid. This is simply represented in cooking fine meal or whole grain. We know it takes but a few minutes to cook the meal, while hours are required to soften the whole grain.