42 Frost as a Manure. [Jan., 



of rendering pig iron malleable. It is roasted in a furnace by fire 

 heat for a very long period, until its carbon is made to unite with 

 the oxygen, to which it is exposed to form carbonic acid, which is 

 driven off. The new process accomplishes the same result without 

 the use of fuel — the carbon in the metal being made the agent to 

 decarbonize itself. 



The heat produced by this process is also stated to be so great, 

 that scrap iron placed in a small chamber near its top is smelted. — 

 By this process, steel of different qualities, it is also stated, can be 

 produced by tapping the metal, at different stages of the process, af- 

 ter it boils in the cylinder. — Scientific American. 



Art. XIII.— FKOST AS A MANURE. 



We know of no treatment so directly beneficial for almost every 

 class of soils, as that of throwing up land in narrow ridges, in the 

 fall or early winter. There are few soils worth cultivating at all, 

 tiiat do not contain more or less materials which can be made avail- 

 able to plants by the combined action of air and frost. 



Take two plots of heavy soil side by side, and let one lie unmoved 

 till spring, while the other is deepli/ plowed in autumn, and the re- 

 sult will be very visible in the spring crop. But the manner of 

 plowing is important. To secure the greatest possible advantage, a 

 single furrow should be thrown up, and another back furrow directly 

 upon it, so as to produce a high ridge ; and another ridge is to be 

 made in the same manner, with a deep dead-furrow between the two. 

 The process is to be continued thus through the field, so that, when 

 finished, it will present a surface of high ridges and deep dead fur- 

 rows, succeeding each other, about one in two, or two and a half feet. 

 If prepared in this way, the frost will penetrate far downward, loosen- 

 ing and disintegrating the soil below the furrows, while the ridges 

 will crumble down as they will not hold water, the air will circulate 

 freely though them, decomposing the mineral portions, and convey- 

 ing the ammonia and other gases. This operation will be equal to 

 ten or more loads of good manure upon clay or compact soils. 



In the spring, it will only be necessary to run a plow once or 

 twice through the center of each ridge, and then level the whole 

 down with a heavy harrow. 



