loL. XXIII.
INDIANAPOLIS, IND., SATURDAY, JUNE 16,1888.
NO. 24
„„.,. for the Indiana Farmer.
Oreen Manuring.—No. 2.
BT JOHN M. STAHL.
it la well known that one of  the results
, „een manuring is the  production of
.«, quantities of  carbonic acid  in the
,il. Tbis result is produced when farm
srd manures or composts are incorpora-
<i with the soil;  but the same quantity
neatly always most economically pro-
ucei by green manuring.   Many cannot
nderstand how  this carbonic acid in the
loll can be a benefit.   While I am aware
hat there are yet some who think that the
■oots of our farm  plants absorb carbonic
l-id in appreciable quantities,I cannot see
•herwlse than that the contrary has been
jLll established  by  the  experiments of
loll, DeHerain, Vesque,Lawes,and many
Ithers.  How, then, can the production of
arge quantities of  carbonic  acid in the
joU be of value, when the roots make no
f|.eof it?  I answer that carbonic acid is
powerful solvent.   Soils  that wo  call
•erile, and that certainly are  unproductive, contain  enough plant food for many
eavy crops, but unfortunately this food
in a form unavailable to the plants.   It
locked up in chemical compounds.   As
it. Atwater stated in a recent lecture:
Soils fail to furnish food for crops, not so
ach because they  have not  abundant
tores, as because  materials  are not in
rsiiable form."     In   getting  them  in
vaflab.e form, dissolving them, we have
o better agent then carbonic acid.   Wa-
Ipr impregnated with this acid is the great
lolventof our soils.   Prof.  Storer states
l»t "water that contains  carbonic acid,
Jven when the proportion of the latter is
ery small, is a far more powerful solvent
or many inorganic materials  than mere
»ter in.  Hence it happens, that through
formation of  carbonic acid in the soil
rom the decomposition of organic matter, many kinds  of plant food  are disced and made available  that would
ttierwise be worthless."
Pavese determined by the careful ex-
^ination of pebbles of granite rock deep-
7 embedded in the soil, and which had
°ng been exposed to  the action of soil
»ter more or less charged with carbonic
:ld, that silicates of  alumina  and lime
*1 been gradually changed  from the instable condition to a state  of  comparably easy solubility.   Muller digested
''fine powder of  many different min-
Y^-feldspar of different kinds,  horn-
■•ende, magnetic iron, apatite of  several
•neties, alivine  and serpentine—In cardie acid water, and as a result, all of the
nerals were more or less  decomposed.
e matters dissolved  were lime, phos-
lrioSa0id' ferric oxIde' silica- magne8ia,
lj*ftt and alumina. Beyer, by similar
, odsi got the same results. Two Ger-
■Um Cheml8ts' st°eckhardt and Peters,
' w several tall glass jars with a rather
*loamy soil,   in these jars they plant-
r4t» 6<1Ual numbfir of seeds of peas and
_,rj 8orne of the jars were merely wa-
►W throu8h  the earth of  the others
bo *"' f°rCed  daily air  charged with
rat J110 acid.   The crop  grown  in each
Ke]," thoroughly dried and carefully
I^wthY and it was found that the
=i4 ch the im> treated to the carbonic
T°*thfed alr was nearlv twlce the
°t«nhi the ^ars the soil of which v™
d ^ected t0 the action of the carbonic
'"••ei-ai ■ exainlning the contents of the
*5oVed ,-Ms after the crop had been re-
-Jg-rn Wa8foUnd that a considerably
*sitte^r°portl°n of mineral and organic
h«i&i*8t become soluble in water, in
^_     seated to the carbonic acid charged
a th8   "j66" toancl that the carbonic acid
'*% a      solves Bome carbonates dl-
I *ai6 &ndmonK these are   carbonate of
*eordin  <**rbonateof magnesia.   As at
"7 temperature of the soil it is a
more powerful acid than silica,it dissolves
out, from silicates, potash, soda, lime and
magnesia. When carbonic acid is made
to act upon phosphate of lime, it gradually removes the lime, so that finally some
soluble acid phosphate of lime is formed.
Carbonic acid is, as we have seen,formed
in the soil by the decay of the plants
grown for green manuring. While those
plants are growing their roots, as do the
roots of all plants, give off carbonic acid
inconsiderable quantities; and this acid
cannot fail to act upon the matters in the
soil to dissolve them. Hence while the
crop is growing and again while it is de
caylng, it is putting in the soil a powerful
solvent that acts to make available to
plants the stores of food existing in unavailable form. By this means, green manuring must increase the productiveness
of the soil with no mean rapidity.
Quincy, 111.
wholesome instructive reading. A mind
well cultured is worth more than a purse
well filled. Both together are still better,
and as a rule they go together. Farmers
as a rule place too low an estimate on
reading good books and papers. What we
need, in working the soil, is to make one
acre give as much profit as is now gotten
from two or even three acres, and it can
be done with proper management and
careful work, done in the best manner.
We ought to have two or three acres of
clover for every one we have in Indiana,
until our soil is brought to a much higher
fertility than it now has, and this can be
done in a few years. I agree with M. L. W.
fully when he says it don't pay to work
poor land. Put it in clover and make it
produce paying crops and leave it in
clover until it will give paying crops.
Shelby, Co.
Written for the Indiana Farmer.
Some Practical Thoughts.
BY AN OLD FARME R.
M. L. W., in the Farmer of June 2d,
gives some very good practical ideas, to
farmers especially. I notice he advises to
rotate crops for profitable farming. That
is certainly correct, and is not done as
much as it ought to be; also, he says, he
always breaks his corn ground in the fall.
That will doon some land but not on all.
if he will try his plan on wet land, or on
heavy clay land, he will find the spring
the best time to break. However these
kinds of soils may be broken with profit
in the fall if they have stubble or much
litter of any kind on them, by breaking
just deep enough to cover the litter, and
then break deep the spring following.
Where a farmer has loose porous, light
soil his plan is a good one, but the great
mistake many farmers make is to think
all soils can be worked alike with profit.
Wet or heavy clay land will run together
if broke in the fall,so as to need to be broken again in the spring. Our friend makes
a mistake in that he says oats rests aud
enriches land. While an oats stubble is
a fine chance for a wheat crop, I have long
since learned to regard oats, flax and
buckwheat as very exhaustive on land.
Notwithstanding they all put land in good
condition for wheat. When our friend
talks of sowing clover every spring he
accounts for the best mode of resting and
improving land we have. There is no
crop that imparts such fertility to land as
does the clover crop.
I am much pleased with his ideas on
farmers needing to read more, and exchange experiences more freely with each
other. If our farmers read more and gave
each other all the information they could
through our agricultural papers it would
be of great value and would be at small
cost. What we need most on the farm is
more intelligence as to turning our labor
to good account. In short we need more
brain much worse than more muscle. It
is intelligent work that pays in anything.
The farm is no exception to the rule. We
frequently meet those that have no faith
in book "larnin" nor in book farming. I
have been sending names of subscribers
for the Indiana F.vrmer, at times since
the days of Bland as its editor, some 16 or
18 years, and have been a constant reader
of it myself, and feel that it has paid me
well. I have solicited subscribers many
times from men owning from 40 to 160
acres of land, who were not taking a paper
of any kind, and they wonld tell me they
could not afford to take a paper as times
were so hard, and yet they had a family
of 6 or 8 children, with nothing more than
an almanac to read, if Indeed they had
that. No wonder such people are called
Country Jakes. It is certainly a duty
that all fathers and mothers owe to their
children to furnish them with good, sound,
Written for the Indiana Farmer.
Experiments With Fertilizers.
BY   W.   W. STEVENS.
Station. Although late for this season,
we give the same that they may be borne
in mind for future use; they are as follows:
1. Soak the seed forty hours in a solution
of one pound of copper sulphate (blue
vitriol) in four gallons of water.
2. Soak the seed one day in a solution of
one pound of caustic potash in six gallons
of water, or a solution made by mixing
forty pounds of hard wood ashes in ten
gallons of water that has remained a day
and the water then poured off.
3. Soak one day in a solution of castile
soap in water, with enough quick lime to
color the liquid milky white.
4. Soak several hours in brine of the
strength used for pickling pork, i. e., that
in which a fresh egg will float. One gallon of solution will be sufficient forabout
four bushels of seed.
Now that the use of commercial ferti
lizers has become general throughout the
country, it is very important that farmers
should know how, when and where to
use them to the best advantage, or where
they would bring in the best returns upon
the investment made. Experiments are
annually made at our State Agricultural
College, and the bulletins containing these
and much other valuable information for
the farmer can be obtained simply by
asking for them, or writing the president
of Purdue, but what we all desire most,
and what would be much more practical,
would be local experiments. In addition
to the experiments carried on at the college farm there should be tests made in
different localities and on several farms
containing all the varieties of soil cultivated in the State, and upon the crops
best adapted to both soil and locality. I
think that at least one energetic, Intelligent farmer in every county ought to be
furnished a small amount of some good
fertilizer, with instructions how and
where to use it, noting and reporting results carefully, so that all farmers similarly located could profit thereby. The cost
of this sort of experiments would be very
inconsiderable considering the vast
amount of good that would be accomplished.
There is no doubt but what our farmers are throwing away thousands upon
thousands of dollars every year for commercial fertilizers because they do not
know how to use them intelligently;
neither is there any doubt about their
paying when used in proper quantities
and due proportions. If those having the
matter in hand do not think the State is
able just now to inaugurate this sort of
experiment, but are desirous of trying
it, let their wants be made known, and I
think I maybe instrumental in procuring
the necessary amount of fertilizing material free of cost to the State. Upon
much of our farming lands profitable
crops cannot be grown and the fertility of
the soil maintained or improved unless
commercial fertilizers are used. The
restoration and preservation of our soils
is the all important question for the farmer to consider, and any light that may be
shed upon this subject will be gladly
welcomed by thinking, intelligent agriculturists everywhere.
Smut ln Oate.
A greater or less loss results to farmers
in consequence of smut in oats. This
trouble has been investigated to some extent at Agricultural Experiment Stations.
In Bulletin No. 9, of the Maine Station,
are given remedies that are recommended
•nd which are to be tested further this
season. Three of these we find in New
Tork Station reports, and the last is taken
from the report of the Ottawa (Canada)
The Farm Wind Mill.
The men who have brought the farm
wind mill to its present state of high perfection deserve much gratitude from the
farmers of this country. We fear they
don't get one per cent of what they deserve.
Many are the uses to which the farm
wind mill can be put; but of these by far
the most important is pumping water for
animals.
Every new fact about diseases of farm
animals discovered emphasizes that these
diseases are owing to impure drink from
ponds and sluggish creeks, more than all
other causes combined.
Any one not a fool knows that as long
as tho water must be pumped by hand the
animals will drink from ponds and creeks
during the very busy hot weather, just
when the water from these sources is most
unwholesome.
If you haven't a wind mill pump, your
farm animals will continue to drink an
unpalatably warm dilution of microbes
and miasma.
Decent drink will lessen disease and increase thrift among your stock to an extent to pay 10 times for the wind mill
pump before it is worn out. Besides, you
save the labor of pumping.
You put the wind to work, and it works
for nothing and boards itself.
You cannot get a small boy to do the
pumping so cheap.
The average western farmer without a
farm wind mill should join the anti-poverty society. He should also receive the
attention of some society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.—Farmer's
Call.
Farming by Steam.—A novel sight in
the fields of John O. Itodgers,of this county, is a traction engine which draws eight
large plows, and breaks more ground in a
day than a dozen men and horses. This
engine is a light one thatMr. Rogers (who
is a very ingenious mechanic) has been experimenting with, and has at last perfected for farm work. On the pike it can be
seen almost daily drawing a train of six
or seven wagons loaded with walnut logs,
which are being brought to Versailles for
shipment. The engine keeps the middle
of the rend and runs with the ease of an
"iron horse" on a steel track. Mr. Rogers
says that he will attach the engine to his
thresher at harvest time, and expects to
cut all his grain by steam, and that the engine can turn corners better and will knock
down less grain than horses. Several
machine men were here last Monday to
investigate the invention, and will probably enter into some contract with Mr.
Rogers.—Courier-Journal.
 ■  «»  »	
A brick school-house in Manotlck, Ont.,
was blown down on Wednesday, the 8th,
in a cyclone and twenty children buried
in the ruins. None were killed but all
were more or less injured and some probably fatally. ,