DOMESTIC NOTICES. 



493 



my grass land in strips ; these strips have in- 

 creased one-half in product, and without any ap- 

 parent diminution tor five years.' 



" Mr. Wilder mentioned several instances, 

 showing the beiicticial ellccts arisinij from the use 

 of fine charcoal, one of which in the slate of New- 

 York, was an extraordinary product of wheat 

 crop . 



" Says an English gardener, ' my compost con- 

 sists of nothing but loam and charcoal, without a 

 particle of manure of any sort ; and I never saw 

 the plant that did not delight in it, and every 

 plant under my care, has some charcoal used 

 about it.' 



" As a deodorant or disinfector, Mr. Wilder 

 related the following experiment, which appears 

 in a late English paper: 



" Two fluids, and charcoal from peat, were 

 prepared especially by different chemists for the 

 purpose of depriving night soil, stable, and pig- 

 stye manures of their oflensive smell — the fluids 

 both proved inefTectual, but the charcoal not only 

 entirely and instantly neutralized and destroyed 

 the offensive odor, in each of these substances, but 

 also deodorised the fluids themselves. 



" Lieut. Governor Reed, Hon. Mr. Brooks, of 

 Princeton, Hon. Mr. Leonard, of Norton, Hon. 

 J. C. Gay, Messrs. Buckminster of the Plough- 

 man, Bartlett, of the Cultivator, and other 

 gentlemen, took part in the discussion. 



" At the succeeding meeting, Mr. Teschema- 

 cher said that the vast and almost inexhaustible 

 subject of manures had always united itself in his 

 mind with three great considerations. 



" 1st. On the nature of the crops to be raised. 



"2d. On the nature of the soil from which these 

 crops were to be obtained. 



" 3d. And the most important one, — the nature 

 and application of the manure itself. He should 

 be obliged to condense into a brief form what he 

 had to say on all these heads. Every one knew 

 if clover was wanted, a large quantity of lime 

 was wanted; for tobacco, potash or soda. 



" In England, after many years cultivation of 

 wheat, all the cow-yard manure that could be 

 heaped on the ground would not raise any more 

 until bone dust was added, and with this many 

 acres hitherto considered barren, had given ex- 

 cellent crops. The ■ size and quality of turnips 

 had been found* to be much benefitted by the use 

 of the soluble phosphate of lime. 



" One question then is, what does the crop we 

 require abstract from the soil during its growth 

 and maturity? The question is answered" by the 

 various analyses of the crops which are now found 

 in every agricultural treatise. But another and 

 much more important question now arises ; it is 

 this : 



" What part of the ingredient puts more bone 

 and muscle into the animals which feed on them, 

 and can we by particular measures increase in 

 these crops the quantity of their ingredients ? The 

 first part of this question has been answered by 



Liebig's last treatise. We knew before Liebig 

 was born that the bones of animals were cliiefly 

 formed of tiic phosphate of lime, but we did not 

 know that the phosphates of other alkalies formed 

 considerable part of the muscle; this he has satis- 

 factorily proved. In the lime district of Switzei'- 

 land the cattle are much larger than where lime 

 is scarce in the soil ; and the great test of the 

 quality of a crop is by its nutritious action on the 

 animal, more than by its appearance or even 

 weight ; now it is evident that by offering as food 

 to these crops a manure abundantly supplied with 

 these ingredients, combined with others ensuring a 

 luxuriant growth, we enable them to obtain a 

 maxinmm thereof. My experience shows in the 

 same weight of grain a difference of thirty per 

 cent, in their ingredients, dependent on the differ- 

 ence of the manure ; hence the consideration in 

 the nature of the crops is of much interest. On 

 the nature of the soil, — all soils are composed 

 chiefly of sand, (silica) clay, (alumina) lime, 

 magnesia, some organic matters as sources of 

 carbonic acid, and a few oxids of the metals. 



" Sand (sihca) is chiefly of use to strengthen 

 and stilfen the stems; for this purpose it must be 

 dissolved by an alkali, (potash or soda.) This is 

 usually found in clay, which as an ingredient of 

 the soil or of the compost heap, is invaluable, al- 

 though it never enters into the organization of the 

 plant. 



" When the chemist analyzes a mineral contain- 

 ing alumina, it is almost impossible for him to 

 wash it free from the alkaline substances which 

 he has used in his analysis ; it grasps and retains 

 these with the most invincible obstinacy, as clay 

 in its natural state is always combined with small 

 portions of silica and potash or soda. 



" The president has spoken highly of charcoal, 

 but by no means too much so, as an absorbent of 

 the useful part of manure, ammonia. I have ex- 

 perimented many years with this substance, in 

 various ways, and can amply confirm all he has 

 said. Clay, however, I think if possible more 

 retentive than charcoal, certainly more so as re- 

 gards potash and soda, and may be had where 

 charcoal is hardly to be procured. Clay, then, 

 well pulverized by frost, is a most valuable addi- 

 tion to the compost heap; and a soil containing a 

 fair proportion of clay may by manuring be ren- 

 dered the most permanently rich of any. 



" A light soil allows the valuable salts of the 

 manure easily leached through by heavy rains, 

 and one with too much clay does not permit them 

 to mix freely, so that the roots of the crops can 

 get access to their nourishment. 



" The farmer, who studies the nature of his 

 soil, will, while manuring liberally, be able to 

 manure much more economically, than one who 

 knows nothing on the subject. It is probable that 

 the great differences of opinion which exist in the 

 use of lime and plaster, have arisen chiefly from 

 ignorance on this subject. 



" I have not time to dwell on the third part of 



