304 



MONTHLY JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURE. 



P. S. We believe Mr. Bogardus of New- York has invented a mill that " make* 

 nothing" of grinding up stones, " trap rock," for instance. 



Query. What would tlie Legislature of Maryland say, should the farmers of 

 the State, constituting so large a portion of their constituents, call upon them to 

 establish an office of Agricultural Clieraistry and Geology, to be always open for 

 their use and benefit ? Yet, how better for the public interests could a small 

 amount of their money be better employed ? We trust, at least, that they will 

 have no scruple in instructing their Representatives and Senators in calling upon 

 Congress for money to establish a Normal School for the instruction of teachers in 

 the sciences akin to and promotive of Agriculture ; and we call respectfully on the 

 Agricultural Societies and Clubs to put a Memorial to that efi'ect in circulation. 

 Let these memorials go to an Agricultural Committee ; and, at all events, let us 

 hear whether there is such an interest to be recognized in the proceedings of the 

 States. In New-Jersey and in Virginia, in leading papers of great and de- 

 served influence, we have noticed that a sort of foreshadowing has been thrown 

 out of the prominent measures that would occupy the attention of their Legisla- 

 tures this wmter, and we remark Avith shame, but not surprise, there is no more 

 allusion to anything to be done for Agriculture, except as it is concerned in some 

 schemes of internal improvement, than if there really was no such thing to be 

 cared for. 



Agriculturists ! you have been so long ridden by other interests that is it not 

 time to pluck up courage, so far, at least, as to propose with them the game 

 of" ride and tie ? " 



TRAP ROCK AS MANURE. 



Sir : In my former letter I stated that I 

 had used a quititity of what I tenned marl, 

 but which tei-m ought to be a ti-ap rock, con- 

 taining felspar and hornblende. The con- 

 stituents of trap are silica in a soluble or dis- 

 integrated state, available tf) plants, alumina, 

 potash, soda, lime, magnesia, oxide of iron, 

 and oxide of manganese ; and this rock con- 

 tains, in addition to the constituents of trap, 

 eleven per cent, of carbon. 



Any person wishing to see its effects as a 

 manure on vegetation, may, at Cwiuguaninn 

 Clyro, Radmorshire, see three fields luider 

 wheat, that were dressed with it last year — 

 two of them with a ton per acre, and about 

 six tons of dung, and one with two tons, 

 which was veiy low^ in condition, and no 

 dnng. The result is, that tlie three fields 

 ■will average from 4^ to 5 qrs. of wheat i>er 

 acre, which is an increase in favor of the ma- 

 nm'e of l^J to 2 qrs. per acre, as th(>y never 

 exceeded three before. In 1844, I dressed 

 an acre of the poorest jiart of a field with a 

 ton of the tra]) for turnips, and the remainder 

 of the field with 25 loads ])er acre of dung for 



I)otatoes. I sowed Swedes ou the part which 

 lad the ti'ap rock, and the flies took the most 

 of them oft", and I then luiTowcd in others 



wliich the flies also destroyed ; there were 

 some few of the first sowing that escaped 

 both the fly and the harrow, which grew in 

 that dry season to a large size. I sowed 

 wheat after the potatoes at Michaelmas, and 

 tlie tuniips were gathered off in the spring 

 and the ground sown with wheat. This year, 

 without any other manure, I sowed the 

 whole field with wheat in March, to see 

 what proportion the one ton of trap would 

 have to the twenty-five of dung, and the dif^ 

 ference is in favor of the trap rock. In the 

 second crop I have dressed three meadows 

 with it, and the increase in crop is more thsin 

 a third, as well as a better and more nutri- 

 tious herbage. 



Any person washing for infonnation re- 

 specting trap rock as a manure, if he will look 

 at Professor .Johnston's Elements of Agricul- 

 tural Cheinishy and Geology, will see it 

 stated by him that it contains every nutriment 

 vegetation requires. If it was pulverized to 

 a fine powder, five cwt. per acre would be 

 sufficient. 



1 \\'ish to have it viewed by agiiculturista, 

 that they may see its effects on vegetation, 

 corn, and grass, before 1 offer it for side. 



JOHN \V. LLOYD. 



Haij, Jtilij 20. 



r^ The Memorial in behalf of the riow, })ubli.<hed bi the last number of Thk Farm- 

 ers' Library, is receiving warm supiiort in Delaware. Surely there will be friends enough 

 of the cause ui all the States to force it on the attention of their Legislatiu-cs, and to extort 

 from Committees some indication of what is to bo expected for AijricuUure while the pubhc 



tueans are so lavishly bestowed on other concerns. 

 ((540) 



