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THE VALUE OF SCIENCE TO THE FARMER.

. {By "Omega” in the South Australian Chronicle .) ' la a recent paper oh this subject, I promised i'tb’explain - in this one the method of using the ■ apparatus and chemicals therein described ; • but before' proceeding to do so,' I think it "better -to still further impress upon the mind of the farmer the immense importance

of Scientific knowledge in the cultivation of the ; soil,' and I cannot better do so than by making a few ’ extracts from a quaint story by an' American writer on the subject, premising that it is over thirty years old, so that many of the errors therein pointed out have been seen and corrected in the old country ; but not, I fear, here, with very few exceptions. Sir Humphrey Davy said: “That man was a benefactor to his kind who could show them how to grow two blades of grass where only one grew before," and truly he was that man. How often do bur farmers take up' a blade of grass, an ear of wheat/ or a potatoe, and ask themselves how' did this grow, what did it eat, how did it eat it, what'does it like or dislike ; and yet all these questions have rational answers as ready to the scientific investigator as if put by d father to his child. Sir H. Davy took the soil'that the farmers and the moles had grubbed in for ages without being any'wiser, and by separating that soil into pieces he showed what it was composed of ; m like manner he took the plants, and reducing them'by chemical agency to their separate ingredients, he saw lime abundantly present in' some, in others potash, gypsum, or sand ; he watched these plants grow, hand fed them, foUn'cl their peculiarities of feed, method of feeding, and the elements necessary to prepare and compose their subsistence. He found the intimate connection subsisting between the ingredients of the soil and the ingredients of plants ; that certain plants contain component parts, and that the soil must contain those components also, or the plants

will starve for lack of food, dr in other words the crop fail. Hence was demonstrated the fact that, as the ingredients which exist in a plant must also exist in the soil to feed the plant, therefore it is the duty, the interest, and belongs to the business of the farmer, to know what the soil he tills is composed of, and to know what the plant he grows is composed of, in order that he may put the proper plant in the soil, or supply any deficiency of the required plant food by appropriate manure.' But now let us hear the story : You know very well, Science said, how your neighbor, old Peter Stubborn, went into the next State to buy a farm. The seller knew what the farm was, and advertised it in spring time, when he expected damp weather. I advised Peter to take me with him to examine the strata of rock below, and to analyse the soil on the surface ; to see how it laid for drainage, and what aspect it presented to the atmosphere. I told him I could save him my expenses many times over; but Peter scorned my advice ; ho thought he had worked more land than I had, and was as good a judge of land as any man In the State ; and he set off muttering something about not letting bookworms make money out of him; he walked carefully ove* the farm. It looked green and flourishing and not swampy, even in that damp, wet weather. He was delighted with it,*and gave 40 dollars an acre for 300 acres. He paid his 12,000. dollars and took possession. But in the summer time, as 1 passed that way, .1 found that the so much praised farm was burnt up almost with drought, and its vegetation drooping and panting for moisture, which the soil could not supply. • Peter had bought a ‘light sandy soil, lying upon what we call geologically a coal formation, with a pretty decided slope towards the 1 east. ! I took a little of the soil and analysed it, and showed him what it contained, In 100 parts there

were about % sand, 5 clay, 2 of oxide of iron, and 3 parts of organic matter and soluble salts. “ Now,” I said, “ this soil will be beautifully productive in wet weather, but will bo parched iu dry weather.” “Ah, said Stubborn “ that was how I was taken in; I saw it in wet weather. “ If,” Science rejoined, “ you had taken me with you, I would have taken a handful of this soil from various parts of the farm and would have told you exactly what it contained, as Ido now. I would have told you that the sand which predominates hero cannot easily retain moisture when the sun acts powerfully on it, as the air readily blows into it, and the moisture flies off ; nevertheless I would have told you that in certain positions this soil might be made fruitful, if it lay upon a favorable geological formation, and with a moist atmospheric aspect. I should then have examined the geological strata here, and have told you it was on a coal formation, consisting of beds of limestone and blue shale near the surface, which generally underlay the worst lands, and sloping so rapidly towards the east, the moisture would drain away through the sand down the slope, while the east wind, most dry inf and piercing of all, would blow with its keen °droughty breath into the sandy soil, driving out that moisture which had not drained away ; that in summer your crops would be poor, and in long droughts probably would not grow at all. I could have shown you all this, and you would have known that the farm was of small value, and saved your money. Your ignorance has caused you to throw away as much as you have made in many years of hard work. But,” Science continued, “ since you have bought it, I can instruct you how to improve it, but to gain this knowledge will cost you something.” “Oh, then,” says Stubborn, “ I will have nothing to do with it, for the place has cost me too much already.” I left him to his own course. Now, if Stubborn had spent a few dollars a year in buying books and attending lectures, and employed his hours spent iu patching up old harness, or iu taking a sleep over his fire on winter evenings, iu reading, study, and experiment, he would have saved some thousands of dollars in his farm,- and would have-, known how to make the best of it when he got it. But he thought me too expensive at a few dollars and a few evenings per annum ; he took his own course, and is out of pocket by it. Again, you know your neighbor, Tim Hearsay. He heard that gypsum was a fine manure, and had produced a wonderful crop of turnips for a friend of his. I saw Tim carting on to his twelve-acre field an immense quantity of gypsum. I asked him why he did so. He said a friend of his found it a good thing for turnips. I asked him if he knew what his soil was composed of, and what the crop he wished to grow was composed of. He said he did not. I pointed out to him_ the folly of using a manure, which either his soil might have in abundance already, or which the crop might not require at all. He gave me an impertinent reply, and I passed on. He sowed wheat and had a bad crop. I could have told him that if he analysed good wheat its ashes would not contain above a two hundred and fiftieth part of gypsum to the whole —scarcely a trace—and therefore in putting gypsum to wheat he put what the plant did not live on, and would not eat, so to speak. Hence his labor had been quite useless, and his gypsum, which cost him iu purchase and labor 30 dollars, was worse than money thrown away. By his not taking me for hia guide he had spent 30 dollars of hard money, and lost, as far as that field was concerned, a year of valuable time.

He looked puzzled at the result, and wondered how his friend’s turnips prospered so well with gypsum, and his wheat so badly. I took a turnip and analysed it. I showed him that the ashes of its roots contained 25 per cent, of sulphuric acid and lime, and of its leaves no less than 35 per cent., proving that nearly one-third of the whole of the incombustible matter of the plant consisted of the same substance as gypsum, which is sucked up from the soil. Thus you see, I said, a turnip, lives greatly upon this manure, while wheat scarcely touches it. A turnip grows fat on food wheat would starve upon. Ey-and-by Tim heard it reported that I had said gypsum was an excellent manure for clover. To redeem his character he bought a lot more, and applied it with the assurance of being.right- this time. - , He top dressed 12 acres of a 14-acre field with 3cwt. to the acre, and triumphantly waited the result. Excessive was his chagrin when he found the two acres undressed better than the 12 he had so expensively manured. He complained to me. I asked him as before did he know the constituent parts of the soil, did it heed gypsum, and of his crop did it require it for food. No, he said, he had heard from me that clover contained gypsum, and he thought it right to give it some, but he knew nothing about the soil. I analysed the soil, and found it contained naturally fresh and unexhausted an abundance of gypsum. Ah Tim, I said, what would you save if you would let me come and live with .you. Here is more money thrown away. He took me at once. I cost him four or five dollars a-year, but he raises, expands, and delights his mind. ’ In dark winter nights I show him the beautiful resources of nature ; we make wonderful experiments, which instruct and amuse ourselves and teach his family. He sees the glorious wisdom of our Almighty Eather, and he saves money and labor at every turn, and all the year round. . , .

Permanent link to this item
Hononga pūmau ki tēnei tūemi

https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/NZTIM18770317.2.26.12

Bibliographic details
Ngā taipitopito pukapuka

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXII, Issue 4987, 17 March 1877, Page 2 (Supplement)

Word count
Tapeke kupu
1,756

THE VALUE OF SCIENCE TO THE FARMER. New Zealand Times, Volume XXXII, Issue 4987, 17 March 1877, Page 2 (Supplement)

THE VALUE OF SCIENCE TO THE FARMER. New Zealand Times, Volume XXXII, Issue 4987, 17 March 1877, Page 2 (Supplement)

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