FAIR OF THE AMERICAN INSTITUTE. 



OF Waste Land; IV. Crops and Culture; 

 iS^V. Live Stock; VI. Products of Live 

 Stock; VII. Cottages; VIII. Woods and 

 Plantations. 



Now let us note the different subjects desig- 

 nate^ by the Society, and coming under Chap. 1. 

 CLAS.S 1.— Essays and Reports on Subjects con- 

 nected with the Science and Pkactice op 

 Agriculture : 



1. Experiments on the EtTects Attending the Im- 

 mediate Application, and the Continued Results of 

 Certain .Special Manures, 



2. Feeding of Stock, 



3. Radical Excretion of Plants, 



4. Analysis of Oats, 



5. On Raising Improved Varieties of Agricultural 

 riant^s 



6. On the Cultivation of Red Clover, 



7. Influence of Plants on Dairy Produce, 



8. Reports on Irrigation, 



9. Constructiou of Tanks, 



10. Potato Blossom.^, 



11. Allotment System, 

 1-2. Kelp. 



13. Disease in Potatoes, 



14. On the Nutritive Properties of Turnips Raised 

 with ditlerent Manures, 



15. Tussac Grass, 



16. Spade and Fork Husbandry, 



17. On the Advantages of Dibbling in Sovring, 

 ) 18. Electro-Culture, 



[ 19. Wool, 



( 20. Analyses of the Ashes of Plants, 



1 21. Experiments in Deep Ploughing, 



\ 22. Vegetable Productions of India, Q^ina, and 



[ America, 



\ 23. Reports en Improved Rural Economy Abroad. 



J CLAS.S II. — -Agricultural M.ichinery. 



) 1. On the Comparative Advantages of Different 



) Descriptions of Machines for Threshing Grain, 



I 2. Invention or Improvement of Implements of 



> Husbandry. 



I When we come iu our next number to pub- 

 [ lish the explanation put forth by the Society, 

 I (which for want of room we cannot now do) the 

 ' reader can judge for himself as to the exercise 

 I of mind, the degree of intelligence, and the class 

 I of men required to be employed in, and to battle 

 ' for the.se prizes, and the usefulness, penuanent 

 , usefulness, of the information which these Prize 

 • Essays Must contain. It is in part from these 

 identical Essays and Reports that we .shall con- 

 tinue to draw for the columns of this Journal, as 

 far as they are applicable to our own country. 

 The experienced and indefatigable Editor of the 

 Cultivator aptly observes in a late numbei-, that 

 " We have as yet no cla.ss of professional writ- 

 ers in this State, or in this countrj', who have 

 given sufficient attention to the theory or prac- 

 tice of Agriculture, to enable them to furnish 

 such Essays as grace many of the pages of the 

 Journals of the Royal and Highland Societies 

 We can expect little more at present than the 

 simple details and practical observations of men 

 who have paid more attention to the labors of the 

 husbandman, than to those of the student of Na- 

 ture. From the attention now given to the sub- 

 ject, however, we may look for a gradual and a 

 rapid improvement iu our Agricultural Litera- 

 ture." 



There is much of the force of truth in these 

 remarks; but we apprehend there is more want 

 of adequate and proper inducement to our writ- 

 ers to lend to Scientific Agriculture their time 

 (505) 



and labor, than there is of the writers themselves. 

 Let prizes of twenty and fifty guineas, or plate 

 of the same value be offered ; and we shall see 

 whether on any given question we would not 

 have men fullj' equal to the demand. Look at 

 the Essay, for example, by Ruffin on calcareous 

 manures — or the one produced by Mr. Thomas, 

 with which we so gladly enriched the first nunv 

 berof the Farmers' Library, and the Essay of Pro- 

 fessor Dana, lately published in the London Ag- 

 ricultural Journals ; tke Essay of Judge Rost, 

 of Louisiana, which we have published, and 

 that on the Natural History and Uses of Cotton, 

 by Mr. Seabrook, now in course of publication, 

 not to speak of Professor Emmons' Scientific 

 disquisitions, with which his Quarterly abounds ! 

 We solicit, beforehand, the reader's attention to 

 what we shall add on this subject in the next 

 number — iu the meantime we unite our humble 

 expression of thanks to the Officers of the In- 

 stitute, for their indefatigable and impartial dis- 

 charge of their onerous duties. 



The mere " Catalogue" of the more than fif- 

 teen hundred articles exhibited, occupies, in 

 pamphlet form, thirty pages. 



Mr. Walker, ofthe Horticultural Institute from 

 Boston, well known for his taste and enterprise, 

 made rich contributions to that Department, and 

 by his obliging personal supei-vision, ensured 

 the display of them to the best advantage, under 

 the judicious and tasteful arrangements, and 

 courteous management of Mr. Bridgman. 



Peat Manure. — "A. Z.'s" inquiiy about 

 peat as a manure, is best answered by stating 

 that peat contains the elements necessars' for the 

 formation of a rich manure, when proper sub- 

 stances, such as lime, marl, &c., are added to it, 

 to decompose the tannic acid, and hasten the de- 

 cay ofthe vegetable matter. Alone, ana unpre- 

 pared, peat appears to have no fertilizing prop- 

 erty ; but when properlj- dried and burned, the 

 ashes have been found a good manure for grass 

 lands and turnips ; for turnips they are found to 

 answer best in wet seasons. Quicklime will 

 decompose vegetable substances, including peat : 

 and the following will be found good propor- 

 tions for making an excellent top-dressing for 

 clover or grass : — One cart-load of quicklime, the 

 largest lumps to be not larger than the fist, six 

 cart-loads of peat, and a quarter of a ton of salt ; 

 the whole to be mixed together, and to lie in a 

 heap six or seven months, and to be turned over 

 two or three times during that period. Another 

 capital method of converting peat into a manure, 

 is by mixing it %vith fresh hor.se dung, and ciicck- 

 Ing the escape of the ammonia during the pro- 

 cess of feiTiientation, by decomposing the carbo- 

 nate of ammonia, and converting the ammonia 

 into a sulphate by means of sulphuric acid. — 

 Prepare your heap thus : — Four loads of peat, 

 to be mixed in layers with two loads of iresh 

 horse-dung, and, if great heat is evolved during 

 the decomposition of the two bodies, cover up 

 the heap with fresh mould, amongst which has 

 been mixed a portion of sulphuric acid. 



[English paper. 



