Pulverization

“ The coherent peats which may be cut out in tough blocks, must be weathered, in order that the fibres of moss or grass-roots, which give them their consistency, may be decomposed or broken to an extent admitting of easy pulverization by the instruments of tillage.
The subjection of fresh and wet peat to frost, speedily destroys its coherence and reduces it to the proper state of pulverization. For this reason, fibrous peat should be exposed when wet to winter weather. ”

“ We cannot use liquid manures on a large scale, but thorough pulverization of that which is solid is a very near approach to the former. Immerse a compact clod in water, and the latter will require time to become discolored. But plunge an equal bulk of finely pulverized manure into water, and discoloration almost instantly occurs. Diffusion is inevitable from contact with the water. Now as rain is water, so a heavy shower falling on ground beneath which great clods of manure have been buried, produces in them no more liquefaction than it does on that which has been dropped in a bucket. ”

“ The experiments instituted for the purpose of establishing this theory, although they disproved it, showed the great value of thorough pulverization. It is manifest that a wet soil can never be pulverized. Plowing clayey, or even loamy soil, when wet, tends rather to press it together, and render it less pervious to air and water.
The first effect of under-draining is to dry the surface-soil, to draw out all the water that will run out of it, so that, in early Spring, or in Autumn, it may be worked with the plow as advantageously as undrained lands in mid-Summer. ”

“ They totally extirpate noxious plants and roots, every six or every three years, by digging all the lands on their respective farms—an operation by which they revert to the surface a stratum of fresh soil, that for three or for six years has been absorbing the salts of manure as they filtrated to the bottom of the roots: a stratum of soil which has produced no crop during the same period. They, moreover, dress their grounds to the precise point of perfect [220] pulverization. These are inestimable advantages, which cannot be obtained by any plough whatever ”

“ On the small scale, pulverisation is usually performed by means of a pestle and mortar; on the large scale, by stamping, grinding or cutting the substance in a mill. A few soft substances, as carbonate of magnesia, carbonate of lead, &c., may be pulverised by simply rubbing them through a fine sieve, placed over a sheet of paper; whilst many hard, gritty substances can only be reduced to fine powder by porphyrisation or levigation. Elutriation, or ‘washing over,’ is adopted for several substances, as chalk, antimony, &c., which are required to be reduced to fine powder on the large scale. ”

“ Smoothing and Pulverizing the Soil.—After plowing, the next important step is to smooth and pulverize the soil. If the soil be well prepared before planting, the work of caring for the crops will be very materially lessened. It is not sufficient that the land be smooth and fine on top, but the pulverizing process should extend as deep as the plowing. Some gardeners prefer to thoroughly cut the land with a disk harrow before plowing, so that when it is turned by the plow the bottom soil will be fine and mellow. ”

“ Our own observations have shown that heating soils to dryness at a temperature of 110° C. greatly increases the freedom with which plant food may be recovered from them by the solvent power of water, and the same heating doubtless improves the physical and biological conditions of the soil as well. Nitrogen combined as ammonia, and phosphorus, potash and lime are all carried with the smoke or soot, mechanically in the draft and arrested upon the inner walls of the kangs or filter into the porous brick with the smoke, and thus add plant food directly to the soil. ”

“ Prominent among these methods are the methods in which a combustion is resorted to, the substance being either burned in air or in a combustion tube with some agent supplying oxygen. The loss on ignition is no measure of the amount of organic matter present since it is practically impossible to remove all the water from the soil previous to ignition, and neither of the methods gives information regarding the extent of the decomposition of the organic matter. Pure cellulose and the black matter of a fertile soil are of very different agricultural value. ”

“ Sometimes the land is only plowed once. The clover, or sod, is plowed under deep and well, and the after-treatment consists in keeping the surface soil free from weeds, by the frequent use of the harrow, roller, cultivator or gang-plow. In other cases, especially on heavy clay land, the first plowing is done early in the spring, and when the sod is sufficiently rotted, the land is cross-plowed, and afterwards made fine and mellow by the use of the roller, harrow, and cultivator. Just before sowing the wheat, many good, old-fashioned farmers, plow the land again. ”

“ Moisture and darkness are essential to the germination of the seed, and these conditions can be secured only by making the surface compact while damp. The disintegration of the deeper lumps, and the decomposition of fertilizers, will cause the surface to grow gradually softer. The effect of plowing is to break the ground into lumps, which lie upon each other, giving free admission to the air between them. Harrowing makes finer the lumps near the surface, and mixes the fertilizer deeper than a rake can be used. ”

“ Soil or sand, to the depth of six to ten inches, is usually placed upon the tanks, and used as a plunging bed for pots containing cuttings; or the cuttings are sometimes inserted in the bed itself.
Any arrangement by which vapor from the tanks is admitted to the roots of plants is to be avoided, for however desirable a moist bottom heat may be, it is found from experience that the soil is frequently rendered a mass of puddle, in which no living roots can exist.
A portion of the covering of the tank may be made moveable to allow moisture to escape into the house when required. ”

“ And this can be readily understood, since the plowing and the digging in a soil containing the specific ferment increase the extent of surface of the ground in immediate contact with the atmosphere. This first mischievous effect is often gradually weakened by the continued cultivation, and may end by disappearing. At other times, on the contrary, it persists obstinately, and one is often forced in desperation to the resolve to level the ground again and to varnish it, so to speak, with a thick sowing of grass, if he wishes to suspend or weaken the malarial production. ”

“ The flask containing the soil and bichromate is now gradually heated in a water-bath, the contents of the flask being from time to time mixed by agitation. A brisk reaction occurs, carbon dioxid being evolved in proportion as the soil is rich in organic matter. The temperature of the water-bath is slowly raised to boiling as the action becomes weaker, and is maintained at that point till all action ceases. As bubbles of gas are slowly evolved for some time, it has been usual in these experiments to prolong the digestion for four or five hours. ”

“ Combined with a small portion of ligneous matter, it constitutes a fuel of greater evaporating power than coal, and, when pulverized and scattered over growing potato-plants or other vegetables, it prevents their destruction by insects or blight, and acts also as a fertiliser of the soil. Essential and viscid oils are obtained by various well-known processes from bituminous substances, but from none in such abundance and possessing such valuable properties as the oils extracted from the bitumen of the lake of Trinidad, as well as from the petroleum of springs still in activity. ”

“ The large stumps will then be torn up by the plow without difficulty. He thinks that seven or eight dollars will cover the disbursement of clearing the land by either system. The burning over the whole surface is in one aspect objectionable. The accumulation of vegetable matter, and the humus on the soil, will be consumed by the process. Although the ashes will be valuable, the ingredients themselves are far more so. I should prefer, I think, piling the bushes and rubbish in as narrow and high heaps as possible for burning. ”

“ They are all good if you balance that loss of nitrogen that is lost during the period of breakdown. Now, there comes a time, if you put a mulch on the soil and let it stay there for six or eight years and keep building it up, when you pass imperceptibly from straw into soil, and when you reach that time, your breakdown of your straw is usually done without taking nitrogen from your soil itself, and from that time on you may release nitrogen. ”

“ Paring and burning improves the texture of clay lands, particularly if draining is carried out at the same time. It tends to destroy insects and weeds, and gets rid of acidity of the soil. No operation brings old turf into cultivation so rapidly. Moreover the beneficial effects are seen in the first crop and last for many years. Many of the mineral plant food-constituents locked up in the coarse herbage and in the upper layers of the soil are made immediately available to crops. ”

“ Preparation of the Field.—Land intended to be planted with tobacco should receive several ploughings not less than 9 inches deep. As a rule, clay requires to be more 49deeply ploughed than sandy or loamy soil. It greatly conduces to success, if the land is allowed to lie fallow for several months before planting the crop, to admit of the proper preparation of the soil, by ploughing, rolling, harrowing, &c., and to allow the attainment of as fine a tilth as is usual in gardens. ”

“ Hundreds of gallons of dark crudeoil were being poured upon the grass. At least ten bystanders eagerly explained to any who would listen the purpose and value of this maneuver. Petroleum, deadly enemy of all rooted things, would unquestionably kill the weed. They might as well call off all the other silly efforts, for in a day or two, as soon as the oil soaked into the ground, the roots would die, the monster collapse and wither away. I wanted with all my heart to believe in this hope, but when I compared the feeble brown trickle to the vast green body I was gravely doubtful. ”

“ The first raking is to pulverize and level, so that rains will neither collect in ponds, nor run off, but penetrate the soil evenly. The second raking is to mix the fertilizer equally through the soil, to the depth of an inch or less, and reduce the lumps to the size of peas, which is as fine as a medium loam can be made without danger of a tough crust. Too much working destroys the healthy grain of the soil, and reduces it to a paste, which the roots of the tobacco plants can penetrate but slowly.
Making the Plant Bed in Connecticut. ”

“ Animal or vegetable substances, laid together damp in large heaps, undergo a fermentation, which often excites combustion, as in the case of hay-ricks. Woollen cloth, not freed from the oil used in dressing it, and laid up damp in large heaps, has been known to take fire; and so has painted canvass. Flowers and herbs boiled in oil, as is done by druggists, and then laid in heaps, sometimes do the same. The mixture of linseed oil and lampblack, or of linseed oil and black wad, is very liable to inflame. ”

“ Compost it with leaves, sod, earth, muck, anything that will keep it from burning up with its own heat. If you can obtain no such ingredients, have it turned over and exposed to the air so often that it will decay without passing through a process approaching combustion. When it has become so thoroughly decomposed as to resemble a fine black powder, you have a fertilizer superior to any high-priced patent compound that can be bought. ”

“ A soil which has been ignited until organic matter is destroyed gives up to the hydrochloric acid solvent about fourteen per cent more phosphoric acid than a non-ignited sample would.
(3) The mean temperature in the flask during extraction on a steam-bath is 74°.
380. Method of Hilgard. [244] —The weighed quantity of soil (usually from three to five grams) is ignited in a platinum crucible, care being taken to avoid all loss. The loss of weight after full ignition gives the amount of chemically combined water and volatile and combustible matter. ”

“ In the light soils stable-manure wastes too rapidly because, for one reason, at the extremes of high temperature, oxidation and decay proceed with great rapidity, and the volatile portions of the fertilizer are used up faster than the plant can appropriate them, so that not only are they wasted during the early periods of growth, but they are wanting at a later period when their absence may prove the failure of a crop. ”

“ The delivery-tube is then connected with the azotometer, and the combustion tube carefully heated from the front end backwards, the copper gauze and coarse copper oxid being raised to a red heat before the part containing the sample is reached. When the nitrogen begins to come off, its flow should be so regulated by means of the lamps under the tube, as to be regular and not too rapid. From half an hour to an hour should be employed in completing the combustion. Since most samples of fertilizer contain organic matter, the nitrogen will be mixed with aqueous vapor and carbon dioxid. ”

“ Also the same engine that does the pumping may be used for other work in connection with the farm, so that the irrigation pump engine, instead of lying idle ten or eleven months in the year, may be utilized to advantage and made to earn its keep. [120] Well-water contains many impurities. For this reason, it is likely to be valuable for crop growing purposes in a wider sense than merely to supply moisture. Well-water contains lime, and lime is beneficial to most soils. It has been noticed that crops grow especially well when irrigated from wells. ”