1 3: - 9 ID ARTMENT. . _ :riiidjiethiii,&"Coption of Mbld In Soils. '""""7 . • 7 4Few . subjects are more interesting than the natural' laws which govern the pro duction and contninptien, of • organic matter irtisoils. By the terms "organic Wetter" the wilearned reader will understand o substance which was once a part of some living vegeta: hie or animal, and was organized by vitality. ;Once alllands covered with forests or other growing- vegetation, the production and con-. sumption ,of mold are constantly in progress. NVhen production exceeds consumption there is of course an increase of vegetable *matter on the surface of the earth. On the - other hand, if from any, cause the deconiposition (*.mold is larger Ilan the addition to it, a ' diminution of the amount of organic matter ensues. The quality and agriculkinal value:of mold depend mainly on the character of the plants by the decay of which it has been formed ; and by 'the length of time which the vegeta -1 ble d debris has been' washed and leaChed by raillif., since,_ the vegetables. ceased to live.— "' Plants and forest leaves that abound .in azote or ni trogen, in sulphur, phosphorus, liMe pot asN, soda, magnesia and chlorine, yield a far ~1". richer mold than such as contain very little. of the - elementary bodies named. Onelun '': dyed pounds of wheat, oats, corn, peaS, beans clover, and cabbage, will produce in rotting, hater mold for all agricultural pnrpoSes, than a like • weight of pine wood; rye straw, .ti or other vegetable substance which is ',poor in li.bread and meat-forming elements.. Common wood and all plants lose a portion of their earthy salts,, (which appear as ashes when ' . they are burnt (if long soaked in water. —. l did and long weathered cornstalks, grass and i straw will have parted with • more or less of ' their fertilizing atoms by protracted exposure, 1 Hence, after plants cease to live and begin tO , I decompose, the sooner they are plowedtin, ! and xnngle with the earth, the less thiy lose, I and Put more valuable they are to enrjch the soil. I The °process of disorganization is gov ern by chemical Jaws as certain and uni- r -as those which regulate the re-organi zatrii of the same or similar atoms,'in de- t 4 'elonin— he germs of a new generation of 'xistences. tents of water, oxygen and hydro exist in 'all plants, separate and ter in mold than carbon and azote. or the great element of coal and that renders muck, and (mold t•ed than were the vegetables, be began to undergo any chemical Light, heat and moisture hasten position of all vegetable and ani and the consumption ef their mold on the surface of the earth. natural ag,eucies equally favor the the plants, and the re-organization /era] matter to serve as food for animals. Wage and cropping of the husbandman r purely artificial operations, are ex qy liable to destroy the balance in or nature; to the injury of the soil. 'age greatly promotes the decay of or-' elements in soils, and the solution of fore nearly insoluble salts of silica; lash, magnesia, cir,., that furnish ali to all crops. Vegetable and animal when rotting, envolve gasses, whic ,attack insoluble. compounds of flint and 'me, potash, soda and magnesia l and rend all these Minerals available to grow ing punts, which imbibe them through, their rootklandti-x them permantly in their tissues. In nothing is the wisdom of God more per ceptible, than in regulating the solubility of mold]and the minute particles of rocks, which together, form all the diversified soils on our, planet. Without this admirable adjustment, tor hOurly, daily and annually feeding plants which in turn feed animals, both would soon., cease 'to be on earth. lkiv shall we make plain the coin rehension - of a child, the sci-i ence of feedin plants—the artt of accumula- , ling blread, me and fruit in the soil ? i . t, In 100 pica of fresh, lean meat there are 77 rifts of water which may be expelledbv I drying. In 100 parts - of perfectly dry beef I there ire 4,23 of ash, 'or incombustible salts. Muscle contains about 45 per cent. of nitro -gen; ind nearly 52 of carbon. Thq other constituents are oxygen and hydrogen, or the elements of water. Lean meat, like the seeds iif cereal plants, contains sulphur, Otos , - pitons, lime, 'iron, and all the elements re quired to form bones, brain, nerves, skin, &c. Hence, i dog or other eartinorous animal can subsist on lean "meat, or on bread and water alone. A good cow extracts from the soil iryier food, some 40 or 50 lbs. Of bone.- I earth,,in the course of a year. Thirty pounds of this Will be given in her milk, which will i blsold, probably, in -cheese, and the balance! will be in her urine and dung. ~ In 100 lbs. of wool there are are five pounds qt pure sulphur. In 100 lbs. of, gypsum these are J _some; of sulphur. Gypsum aids in ma-i king cover, peas and beank and they make wool;'and old woolen rags will form rich ' mold. For the same reason, clover, peas, and alli 'nous plants, yield Valuable food for a.froji of wheat. But to begin # the be giani-: How is a farmer to raise large mold. For tgrass, clover or peasi on poo'r land? The ili.,g cannot be done without manure, or r_ . ,, ..-iihes to furnish the constituents, of .i . e crpp. ,wliieh nature demands and the-;soil - does not contain... It is silly to believefoikin ;- om - entiliaetWoqonsof 'timothy or chit&haY, or 20 bushels of wheat, can i be orenized out of riothing,. or from any othernaterials than such as the Creator of all thligi has appointed 'for that purpose. SQ raj as Allte snbsoil po:ssel lime, . potash, phosilikorith and sulpliur,i,deep plowing and subadi ng z will render these elements available to , cal vated plinth - . ' But on most soils, it will lie . fiiiind,good economy to apply lime, pliike. otritise ground '; hones, salt, forest leivei.l inodrar!hes, and' all the manure one nisibly. oar; .or mile on the farm. I. ,j . ust.:lis Much PiPPriOtY in laying, OP 4eo - 111f.formating• wheat,' eon? and 3, is'Aeie is la- havini 4 crib or ibire Iltof gain for making ihread. la i nde id iiirals and not inindiciously led, gro of n The bein tree gaol gani the lune, mend subs ! There i raw, .! po house thickl„ - nor mown, .. e. not robbed of theirproductl, • will gain .froi the subsoil and atanolipheve, - the organic and inorganic elements of man food and clothing% To, scarify old pastures with a sharp barrow, sow more seed, and ap-, ply a top iising of gypsum, is o ft en fol lowed with pe happiest rants. Similar' 'treatment of theadows,!!or a top dressing of ashes, or one of lime shine, will greatly in crease the product, in Most cases. • It will noVolo to be ever removing grass in the stomachs of doniestic animals from pastures, alai bay and gems-from and make no return. This is the right way to impoverish an estate, and render it cora paritively worthless. Remember thit, by improving land, you lessen the expense of raising everything of a vegetable or animal nature which it yields. Very few men make the difference large enough between the price of poor, and that of good land. Every acre should be reasonbly certain to g ive 50 bushels or corn and 25 of wheat. Aplenty of lime, of potash, and of the.mold forme d' by pea vines and clover, will achieve such a consummation. If the surface and subsoil naturally lack lime, its sulphates, phOsphates—if the earth has- a small allowance Of potdsh, inagnesia; soda and cholorine in it. composition—it is unreasonable to expect large crops annually which consume in growing, a good deal of these indispensable elements. Soils poor in alkalies and alkaline earths, must not be ex pected to yield mueh bread and meat per acre, no matter how large a quantity of swamp muck'is added, unless lime, potash, phosphorus and .sulphur : are added also: gypsum and salt, or good wood ashes, will give riis,ll mold, by the Ind of clover,peas, grass or corn ; and a mold rich in the elements of flesh and bones, will be certain to furnish the farmer with cheap potatoes, cheap bread I and meat. In raising wheat, it is not desira ble to have a soil largely' stocked with or ganic ' matter. Hence, it is often better to have the 40 per cent. of clover voided in the dung and urine of sheep, evenly spread and distributed in the soil of , a wheat field, than to plow in the whole crop without per mitting any animal to feed upon it. In the the latter `operation, more than twice as much organic matter is added to the soil, as in the former. Whenever an agriculturist has reason to believe that a field lacks mold, bo .houtri