618 AGRICULTURAL REPORT. 
ceding considerations, therefore, it is inferred that sulphate of magnesia 
is quite equal to gypsum as a fertilizer, and decidedly superior fer use 
in stables. From one pound to one and a half pounds per day per head 
will suffice for the latter object, or from four to five hundred-weight per 
annum. The cost in the vicinity of Kénigsberg being less than one-half 
that of gypsum is an important point in favor of the epsom salts. 
Action of potash on fruit trees—Dr. George B. Wood, in a late com- 
munication to the American Philosophical Society, in Philadelphia, pre- 
sented the result of certain experiments made by him upon tue effect 
of salts of potassa when applied to grain and fruit-producing soils. In 
his view, the depreciation of the productiveness of apple, peach, and 
quince orchards is due to the exhaustion of potash from the soil. Sev- 
-eral such orchards, formerly very valuable, but which had within a 
few years ceased to bear much fruit, on being treated with an applica- 
tion of wood ashes to the roots of the trees, were completely revived, 
producing full erops the following year. A still more striking effect was 
seen the second year, under a renewal of the application. He cited sey- 
eral other inétances where the same results followed ; in one ease where 
an apple orchard, planted on an old orchard’s site, which had never borne 
fruit, was made to produce a good erop by the application of ashes. 
Effect of manure on plants—A communication, illustrated by diagrams, 
was lately presented to the Horticultural Society of London, in reference 
to the effect of manures upon plants in the experimental grounds at 
Chiswick. As a general rule, plants in unmanured boxes were less vig- 
orous than in those manured; and while purely mineral manures had little 
effect upon the grasses, they produced a marked improvement in the ease 
of the clovers. Experiments with solutions of ammonia salts and with 
nitrate of soda showed specific differences in the results in the case of 
almost all the different species of plants, and if was found that a plant 
affected favorably by one of these groups of salts was influenced in quite 
the opposite manner by the other. 
Manure from Indian corn.—It is said that a new manure is prepared 
in France from Indian corn, which is now largely used in French dis- 
tilleries. The graim, previously coarsely broken, is first subjected to the 
action of dilute sulphuric acid to convert its starch into sugar. After 
fermentation the refuse is placed in large tanks, and when all the solid 
matters have subsided, the clear liquid is drawn off, and the residue 
yields an excellent manure, containing about 9 per eent. of water, 68 - 
per cent. of organic matters, including nearly 5 per cent. of nitrogen, 
and about 19 per cent. of mineral matter. 
Utilizing fish offal—An ingenious method, lately proposed, for utiliz- 
ing the offal of fish, consists in first boiling it with one-tenth of its. 
weight of cheap oil, heating it from 250° to 300°F. It is then treated 
with sulphide of carbon, whereby the oil naturally contained in the 
fish, as well as that which was added, is extracted, and a mass is left, 
quite dry, and containing from 5 to 6 per cent. of nitrogen, and from 12 
to 15 per cent. of phosphate of lime. 
ECONOMIC SUGGESTIONS. 
Vinegar from wrripe fruit.—Unripe fruit, especially apples and pears, 
is much used in the manufacture of vinegar;. but the process usually 
adopted is defective in many important points. We therefore give, for 
the benefit of our readers, the substance of an article from Graeger’s 
