1838] 



FARMERS' REGISTER 



491 



fore its biirstiiic; at next gatheriii!^ season, but for the 

 committing the grand blunder of not charging 25 cents 

 a grain for the seed ! 



From Brewster's Jniiriial, IS.'JO. 

 VILLAGE LIGIITKD BY NATURAL GAS. 



The villnfje of Fredonia, in the western part ol 

 ■the state of New York, presents this singular phe- 

 nomenon. I was detained tjiere a day in October 

 of" h\st year, and had an opportunity otexaniinitifj 

 it at ieisnre. The village i^: Ibny inili's li-oni I'ul- 

 lalo, and about two from Laiie Erie; a small but 

 rapid stream, called the Canadoway passes 

 through it, and alter turning several mills dis- 

 charges itself into the lake below; near the month 

 is a small harbor with a light-house. While re- 

 moving an old mill which stood partly over this 

 ■stream in Fredonia, three years since, some hub- 

 Ides were observed to break frequently from the 

 water, and on trial were found to be inflammable. 

 A company was formed, and a hole an inch and 

 a-half in diameter, being bored through the rock, 

 a soft fetid limestone, the gas lelt its natural chan- 

 nel and ascended through this. A gasometer 

 was then constructed, with a small house for iis 

 protection, and pipes being laid, the gas is convey- 

 ed through the whole village. One hundred 

 lights are fed from it more or less, at an expense 

 of one dollar and a-half yearly lor each. The 

 Hame is large, but not so strong or brilliant as that 

 Irom gas in our cities; it is, however, in high fiivor 

 with the inhabitants. The gasometer, I tbund on 

 measurement, collected eighty-eight cubic feet in 

 tvvelve hours during the day; but the man who 

 has charge of it told me that more might he pro- 

 cured with a larger apparatus. About a mile 

 from the village, and in the same stream, it comes 

 up in quantities four or five times as great. The 

 contractor for the light-house purchased the right 

 to it, and laid pipes to the lake; but found it im- 

 possible to make it descend, the difierence in ele- 

 vation being very great. It preferred its own na- 

 tural channels, and bubbled up beyond the reach 

 of his gasometer. I'lie gas is carburetted hydro- 

 gen, and is supposed to come from beds of bitu- 

 minous coal; the only rock visible, however, here, 

 and to a great extent on both sides along the 

 southern shore of the lake, is iiitid limestone. 



From tlie London Farmer's Magazine, August, 1838. 



WHAT QUANTITY OF MANURE SHOULD BE 

 APPLIED TO THE ACRE? 



The answer to this question involves many con- 

 eiderations which preclude a definitive reply, such 

 as the condition of the land, the quality of the 

 manure, and the kind of crop. Too much, as 

 well as too little manure may be applied. What 

 would be beneficial for an autumn-ripening, or 

 lioed crop, would be prejudicial to a small grain, 

 or summer-ripening crop, and more particularly if 

 the manure is applied in an unfermenied state, and 

 be withal a waste of fertilizing matter. Twenty 

 tons to the acre would not be too much for corn, 

 potatoes, ruia baga, &c., if applied broadcast, 



and [ilouired in; but, if long manure, and applied 

 in the drill, or hill, and a dry season should ensue, 

 it nnght prove an injury ; and if this fjuantity of 

 long, or even short manure, were a[)plied to the 

 acre of small spring grain, it would probably 

 cause a flush ol' straw, likely to be allecied with 

 rust, at the expense of the more valuable part — 

 the grain. Dr. Coventry, late professor of agri- 

 culture in the University of Edinburgh, whose 

 business and study it was to collect data, and make 

 correct deductions in this and other agricultural 

 matters, was ol' the opinion, that from lour to five 

 tons are yearly recjuisite to keep up the fiirtility of 

 a soil of the kind usually denominated spit, or 

 tolerably rotted dug; and this supply he thinks 

 a well managed fiu'm may be made to produce. 

 To show how thisciuantily may be obtained, and 

 how it should be applied, we quote Irom Mr. 

 Youatt, the writer of Eritish Husbandry. 



"According to that calculation," says ourauthor, 

 "it must be observed, that the course of crops is 

 supposed to consist — on light soils, of the alter- 

 nate plan of corn and green crops, (see New 

 System of Husbandry,) — on clays which do not 

 admit of that system, that the holding coiitain a 

 proportionate quantity of grass land ; and that ttie 

 i quantity of manure should be supplied not in snmll 

 quantities annually, but in large ones, at interme- 

 diate distances ol lour, five and six years. Light 

 soils, in the common course of husbandry, rarely 

 require the 'application of putrescent manure of- 

 tener than once in four years, and in all cases 

 where the clover is allowed to stand two seasons, 

 it may be delbrred without disadvantage for ano- 

 other year. Heavy soils may run six years with- 

 out it, provided that the land be laid one yearin tal- 

 low, and that there be sufficient meadow to be rec- 

 koned at least one crop in the course. It being, 

 however, clearly understood, that — whether on 

 light or heavy land — nothing but grain, seed and 

 live stock is to be sold oH'the larm, unless replaced 

 with an equal portion of purchased dung; that the 

 whole of the green crops; the haum of "pulse, and 

 the straw of corn, be used in the most economical 

 manner; and that some of the live stock be either 

 soiled or fiittened upon oilcake, which plan, if care- 

 fully pursued on good soils, with capital sufficient 

 to secure an abundant working and fattening stock 

 of cattle, ought, under fair management, to lurnish 

 an adequate supply of dung for any of the usual 

 courses of culture." 



Having thus submitted to our readers all that 

 occurs to us of importance on the subject of farm- 

 yard manure, we shall here recapitulate a sum- 

 mary of the chief points which we deem particu- 

 cularly worthy of their consideration: 



1. To bottom the farm-yard with furze, fern, dry 

 haum, (stubble, &c.) or any other loose refuse that 

 takes the longest time to dissolve; and over that 

 to bed it deep with straw. 



2. To occasionally remove the cribs of store cat- 

 tle to different parts of the straw-yard, in order 

 that their dung maybe dropped, and their litter 

 trodden, equally. 



.S. To spread the dung of other animals, when 

 thrown into the yards in equal layers over every 

 part. 



4. To remove the dung from the yard at least 

 once, or oftener. during the winter, to the mixen. 



5. To turn and mix alt dung-hills, until the woody 

 fibious texture of the matter contained in them. 



