524 



MONTHLY JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURE. 



ing to the land in a measurable degree, by the 

 use of Clover, the alkalies of which it has been 

 deprived by injurious cropping, -' as every crop 

 of Clover tamed under ■will, by the process of 

 decomposition, to which it will be subjected by 

 the action of time, generate more or less of those 

 essential elements [the alkalies] in every good 

 soiL" Surely he cannot mean to say that plas- 

 ter, clover and lime possess the power of gen- 

 erating the alkalies by the same occult and mys- 

 terious. prcces.= — by some alchemical operation ! 

 And yet such is the obvious import of his lan- 



wocd, is about the same. I prefer shell to stone 

 lime,as it contains nearly 1 \ per cent of phosphate 

 of lime, a rare and valuable salt I spread 

 12,000 bushels of shell lime in 1844, and the in- 

 creased value of the next crop, I believe, paid 

 all the moneyed expense. This is the opinion 

 of my neighbors, whose opportunities of judging 

 were better than my own. 



One word on the subject of Guano. I have 

 tried it on Com, Wheat, Tobacco, and Grass 

 — in the garden, on grape and strawberry 

 \Tnes, in ornamental flowers, and on culinary 



guage. for, in the same article, he speaks of " a | vegetables. It has applied in solutions, in 

 creation [by those agents] of a new supply of ! gliffht rains and after showers in the autumn 



potash for the plants to feed on." And again he 

 says — " Ashes, as our correspondent knows, is 

 produced by the burning of wood, and lime 

 produces in the earth a combustion — slow, to be 

 sure, but still such a combustion as, in its chem- 



and in the spring — pure and mixed with plaster 

 — in quantities varying from 1.50 lbs. to 300 lbs. 

 to the acre, but with scarcely any effect percepti- 

 ble to the eye. Some improvement, it was 

 tliousht, was observed in the Tobacco beds. 



ical effects, among other things produces pot- ■ The Guano was tised either under my own no- 

 ash, and hence it is ihat lime, clover, and plas tice or under the direction of the managers, your 

 ter act so as to keep up the supply- of potash in old acquaintances, Tucker and Purdy ; and all 

 Tobacco culture." The last quotation may serve the precautions usually recommended for its ap- 

 as a key to the whole article, the meaning of plication, were carefully observed. Why it so 

 which I take to be this, " that by the combus- signally failed with me, w-hen it has been so emi- 

 tion, decay or putrefaction of vegetable matter, i nently successful elsewhere, according to au- 

 the potash previously existing in the plants is thentic reports, I wiU not pretend to say — I cer- 



eliminated. The obscurity of meaning to which 

 I have alluded as an Ulustration of what I deem 

 to be a great evil of the present age, is owing, I 

 am sure, to the careless and unphilosophical 

 language employed ; a fault which cannot be 

 too sedulously avoided by those who write for 

 our instraction. I have also recently noticed 

 another instance of the improper use of scien- 

 tific terms, in which a writer speaks of carbonic 

 acid as "a poison." Nothing can be more in- 

 correct. It may be taken into the stomach, as 

 every one kno\\'s who has ever drank a glass of 

 soda-water, \s-ith perfect impunitj-. It is true 

 that the animal confined for a considerable 

 length of time in an atmosphere of carbonic acid 

 gas, will be deprived of life — and it is equally 

 true that immersion in water, or hanging by the 

 neck, w^ill produce the same effect; but we 

 would not say that a man who was drowned or 

 hung had been poiso7ted. 



tainly gave it a fair trial. The article vias pro- 

 cured in Baltimore, the greater portion of it 

 through the kind instrumentality of Mr. George 

 Law, and was undoubtedly, pure, unadulterated 

 Peruvian Guano. I am told that the last sea- 

 son was tmfavorable to the action of Guano, bat 

 surely if its good effects are so contingent it must 

 be too expensive except to the wealthy gentle- 

 man, who looks to farming as a fashionable re- 

 creation (for there is a fashion in all these things) 

 than as a laborious occupation from whicli he is 

 to support his family. 



The soil of the West River District has never 

 been analyzed that I am aware of, but it is ob- 

 viously rich in the silicate of Potash. The best 

 manure we can use (after carefully collecting the 

 products of the stables and barn-yards,) is un- 

 doubtedly Poudrette, properly prepared : that 

 is, with gypsum, 6ulf»hate of lime or sulphuric 

 I acid, and not with carbonate of lime which is the 



SuflBcient importance is not attached to the use ! common way. Petzholdt seems to forget that 

 of lime, as it regards the culture of Tobacco, ; human faeces are always mixed with large qaan- 

 when its principal advantage is attributed, as we i titles of urine, the carbonate of ammonia of 

 sometimes see, to its action on inert vegetable I which \\'ould be converted into a soluble sul- 

 matter and to its power of eliminating potash by | phate by the employment of gypsum or the other 

 a slow combustion ; for Tobacco is essentially a ' substances above mentioned. 

 ?me;>Zare/, requiring more of that earthy alkali as It has been my intention to prepare for you 

 a constituent, than any other cultivated plant of I a design '^r Farm Buildings adapted to Marj-, 

 which I have any knov.ledge. Lime has been | land and Virginia cultivation, as soon as I can 

 applied to our lands in very limited quantitie8,but find the leisure, and if it will answer your pur 



always with wonderful success. Oj-ster shells 

 may be otained for 1 J to 2 cents per bushel, and 

 the cost of burning (when your own force is not 

 employed) includin? the cuttinir of the neceiisarv ) 



pose you will be heartily welcome to it 

 Very respectfully, your obt. servt. 



GEO. W. HUGHES. 

 West Rirer, Md. March, 1846. 



