76 



^\)t irarmcr'0 ittontl)lij bisttor. 



water will have drained away ; in that case, it 

 will have run into tin; ynltfr, and lieeii collected 

 in the sinU-hnle. Sciiiipet tiie water out, as the 

 work proceeds, and thiovv it back on the dung- 

 hill. IC the hole is not large ennufih, another 

 can he made near it; — none of the drainings 

 must on any account be lost. It should have, at 

 leatil, once a week, (or a. month, a good quantity 

 of fluid thrown upon it. Pot-boilings, and soap- 

 suds, are much better than cotnmon water; but 

 mine is preferable to both. By these contrivan- 

 ces nothing is allowed to leak, but the dung-hill 

 becomes a soft mass, holding fast all which he- 

 longs to it, except what flies away. To catch 

 the latter is the purpose of the fixer. Tliere are 

 many kinds of tixers, — oil of vitriol, green vitri- 

 ol, blue vitriol, salt and lime, — not either salt or 

 lime by themselves on any account — gypsum, 

 &c., may be used ; hut some of ihein at all times, 

 and in some cases all of them, have the fault of 

 costing money. A sulistitiite which costs nothing 

 except labor, is, therefore, to he sought for. — 

 Such exists in cinder sifiings, charcoal dust, good 

 black earth, peat or bog mould, rotten saw-dust, 

 leaf-mould, black nuid from ponds, bottoms of 

 wood stacks, soot, hi ick-dust, burnt clay, &c.— 

 Some or all of these, may be had in most places." 

 Mr. H. S. Thompson, of Kirby Hall, at the late 

 meeting of the Yorkshire Agricultural Society, 

 atDoncaster, recommended the plan he adopted, 

 which was " to have a pit dug in the earth in 

 which to throw the manure, instead of having it 

 piled up on a heap. The bottom of the pit is 

 water-tight, and has a slope towards the centre, 

 where a tank is placed so as to receive the drain- 

 ings from the nianure. These drainings are fre- 

 quently poured over the manure, so as to keep 

 lip a regular, but not excessive, fermentation. — 

 He was in the habit of collecting nil the couch- 

 grass, stubble, and other vegetable refuse which 

 the farm afforded, and spreading it on the bottom 

 of the pit to the depth of six or eight inches. — 

 Tliis, when well soaked with the liquor that 

 drained from the manure which was carted upon 

 it, and fermented together with that nianure, was, 

 he believed, as good as any other portion of the 

 heap. In this way he had, last year, on a farm of 

 two liundred acres of arable land, increased his 

 nianure by two hundred single horse loads, 

 which was equivalent to four additional loads 

 per acre, fur his fallow crops. If the nianure 

 was wanted lor immediate use, it should be light- 

 ly thrown togelher, and, atier being well 

 soaked with tank liquor, have a thin covering of 

 Boil to absorb the gases which would otherwise 

 e."=cape. In this case, it must be carefully watch- 

 ed and well watered, fiom time to time, to pre- 

 vent the fermentation from becoming excessive. 

 If the manure is to kept six months or more, it 

 Blioiild be made solid by carting over it, and have 

 a thick covering of soil, which would nearly ex- 

 clude the air. In this way manure may he pre- 

 served for a year almost wiihnnt loss. In very 

 dry weather, the drainings from the manure are 

 not sufficient to keep it nioisl, and it becomes 

 necessary to saturate wilh some other liquid. If 

 the farmer has other tanks on his premises, it 

 would he heller to use their contents for this 

 purpose, hut where such are not at hand, plain 

 water may bo used, and has been ll)und to ans- 

 wer exceedingly well," — Economy of tVastt Ma- 

 nures, 



Silk Culture in Ohio. 



In a teller from G. \V. (Jill, of Mount Pleasant- 

 Ohio, to the Ohio Cultivator, under date of" Feb. 

 25th, 1815," he says: 



" We have furnished constant employment in 

 the factory alone, to fifiy persons, besides those 

 employed dining the summer in crowing co- 

 coons : have purchased cocoons and reeled silk 

 to the amount of over four thousand dollars, 

 which were procured lioiii Jeffirsou IJelmonI, 

 Guernsey, ("lawliird, Washington, rrankliii, Har- 

 rison, Carroll, Muskingimi, H.iiuilton, and several 

 oilier coiiiities in Ohio. Also, some Peiiusylva- 

 liia, Virginia, Indiana an. I Illinois, wilh consider- 

 uhle from Keiilncky anil 'I'l.'iiiiessee, — »ve have 

 used no foreign silk whatever — (iom which, with 

 our previous slock, we have uianufaclured over 

 eight Ihoiisand I'ollars worth of goods, and hiui' 

 more ih in hve thousand dollars worth in ils va- 

 rious stages of progress, from reeled silk to warp 

 in the looms, on vvhicli 10 operate until n new 

 cro|) is grown." 



Inland Navigation to the West. 



The rolling flood of waters now pouring along 

 by the Ohio, and the vast distances to which 

 products are home by the numerous steamers on 

 ils bosom, remind us of the great, and, compared 

 with any other portion of the earth, most extra- 

 ordinary extent of the inland navigation of the 

 West. Let us take some particulars. It is con- 

 sidereil a great voyage from New York to Liver- 

 pool ; yet one may take a single steamboat trip 

 on the waters of Mississi|i|)i equal to that. Look 

 at this : 



Miles. 



New Orleans to Natchez 294 



Natchez to the mouth of Ohio 718 



From the Ohio to St. Louis 172 



St. Louis to Weston « .,500 



Weston to Council Bluffs 300 



Council Bluffs to Fort Mandan 824 



Fort Mandan to the Yello^v Stone.. 224 



Total voyage 3032 



This is the length of a voyage from New York 

 to Liverpool — all performed inland — the point 

 of deparinre being one hundred miles from the 

 sea! Such is one of the voyages that may be 

 performed in the great valley of the West. 



But take another: suppose a boat takes in pro- 

 duce from Pittsburg to New Orleans, and should 

 there be chartered to take stores to the Fur Com- 

 pany's Fort, at the mouth of the Yellow Stone, 

 and then returns to Pittsburg, what will be her 

 voyage : 



Miles. 



Pittsburg to Cincinnati 498 



Cincinnati to Louisville 137 



Louisville to montli of Ohio 345 



Mouth of Ohio to New Orleans. . .1012 



New Orleans to St. Louis 1184 



St. Louis to Weston 500 



Wesioii to the Yellow Slone 1348 



Yellow Slone to St. Louis 1848 



St. Louis to the Ohio 172 



The Ohio to Pittsburg 980 



Total voyage 8024 



Eight thousand mites might a steamboat run on 

 the waters of the West in a regular voyage, be- 

 fore she returned to her original port ! — Cincin- 

 nati Chronicle. 



The Penny Postage, so successful in England, 

 has given rise to another and important reform. 

 Parliament has inlrodiiced a provision in the 

 charters of railroad companies, compelling each 

 lo carry third class passengers at a rate not ex- 

 ceeding a penny a mile. Many of the leading 

 roads heretofore incorporated have taken the hint 

 and rednce<l their fire, and now thousands are in 

 the habit of visiting their friends residing at a 

 distance, seeing curiosities and new places hith- 

 erto deemed inaccessible in consequence of high 

 rates. 



Draining — Subsoil PLorGiiiNG.— Next in order 

 to the drain succeeds ihe subsoil plough. The 

 water being drawn off the land, it will hear to he 

 deeper dug, or slirred or trenched. The crops 

 wliiidi (ormerly were condemned to draw their 

 sustenance fiom six or nine inches of soil, can 

 now descend eighteen or twenty inches. A 

 double store of iijod is thus unlocked ; and he 

 who opens up, and, by draining, renders whole- 

 some the .surface of his fields lo a double ilepth, 

 does, in reality, add in eliect to the available ex- 

 lent of his possessions. He makes llieni capable 

 of yielding him larger returns, iiiid for a longer 

 period of years, w itiiout the risk of exhaustion. 

 — Edinhursh Review. 



Lame School iu Ireland* 



My next excursion was to the Aericulturni 

 School at Larne, whire 1 had the pleasure of 

 w iluessing the examiiialion of a class of hoys in 

 agricuhural chemistry and in practicnl ngricul- 

 ture. This is noi, properly speaking, an agricul- 

 tural school, but a naliuiial school, where the 

 common bniiiclies of education are lauglit; — 

 and there are ri'.miecled wilh the deparlnient or 

 (■lass of agriciillnral sluily, and a small piece of 

 land, whirfi llii> boys ciillivate, and on which, in 

 till! way ol' experiuKiil, the principles of agri- 

 ciiliuie, and ils general practice, are, within a 

 very liniiled exieiil, illuslraleil and tested. The 

 eXHiriinalinn was euiinenlly successful, and cred- 



itable alike to the l*acher and the pupils. 1 

 was from this eslablishment that a detachmen 

 of five pupils was sent for examination to tin 

 great meeling of the Agricultural Society o 

 Scotland the last autumn, where their attainment 

 created a great sensation, and produced an irn 

 pression, on the subject of the importance o 

 agricultural education, which is likely to lead t< 

 the adoption of some universal system on thi 

 subject. 



I shall transcribe the account given of the oc 

 casion : " Five boys fiom the school at Larne 

 were introduced lo the meeting, headed by thei 

 teacher. They seemed to belong to the belle 

 cla.-is of peasantry, being clad in homely garbs 

 and they appeared to be from twelve to fifieei 

 years of age. They were examined, in the fin 

 instance, by the inspector of schools, in gram 

 mar, geography, and arithmetic ; and scarcely 

 single question did they fail to answer correctly 

 They were then e.vamined by an agriculiura 

 professor in the scientific branches, and by twc 

 practical farmers in the practical department o 

 agriculture. Their acquaintance with these wa 

 alike delightful and astonishing. They detailei 

 the chemical constitution of the soil and the e( 

 feet of manures, the land best fitted for greet 

 crops, the different kinds of grain, the dairy, am 

 the system of rotation of crops, ftlany of tlies' 

 answers required considerable exercise of reflec 

 tion ; and as previous concert between them 

 selves and the gentlemen who examine<l then 

 was out of the question, their acquirement 

 seemed to take the meeting by surprise ; at tin 

 same time they afforded it the utmost salisliic 

 tion, as evincing how much could be done by i 

 proper system of training." 



I confess tlie establishment at Larne affordet 

 me, in this respect, very high gratification. Thi 

 agricultural studies are not made compulse. _, 

 hut volnniary ; and one hour per day, is devotei 

 to agricultural labor. The Boar<l of Ediicaiioi 

 in Ireland, have now under their control threi 

 thousand teachers; and it is proposed, whereve 

 it may be deemed useful, to make agriculture i 

 standard branch of common-school education 

 Tliey already have seven agricultural trainin; 

 estahlishinents ; and it is in contemplation to havi 

 twenty-five, wilh which it is proposed shall bi 

 connected small model funis, so that every 

 where, besides furnishing this most valuable in 

 strnction to the pupils of the schools, the farm 

 ers in the viciniiy may be excited and instriiclei 

 to improve their cultivation. Thus diffusive i; 

 the nature of all beneficence. A good deed, lik( 

 a slone thrown into the water, is sure to ai;iial( 

 the whole niass. Its strongest effects will be (idi 

 where tlie blow is given; but the concentric cir- 

 cles are seen exiending themselves on every side 

 and reach much farther than llie eye cun follow 

 them. In the moral ne well as physical world 

 the condition of mntiial altraciion and depend- 

 ence is universal and indissoluble. We liavc 

 reason to hope that no good seed is ever sown 

 in vain, but will sooner or later germinate and 

 yield ils proper fruils. 



These establishments Ho certainly ihe highest 

 honor and credit to the intelligence and philan- 

 thropy of Ireland, an<l their beneficent effects 

 must presently he seen in alleviating the indes- 

 cribable amount of wretchedness under which 

 this beaulifnl country and fine-spirited people 

 have been so long crushed to the earth — a 

 wretchcilness which, to be understood, must he 

 seen.— Caiman's .i(cricullural Tour. 



Corrospondence of tlie N. V. Journal of Commerce. 

 Washincto.v, May 7th. 



Our market now exhibits, among other varie- 

 ties, strawberries of uncommonly large size and 

 fine flavor. Some of Ihe strawberries measure 

 four and a half inches in circumference. They 

 are from iliir liuin of Dr. Bayne, in .Mexandria 

 couiiiy. They are n Beedling of his own produc- 

 tion, and bid liiir lo supplant every other straw- 

 berry iu the estimation of cultivators — even the 

 famous Hovey seeilling. The latter, however, so 

 far as I can judge (iom my own observation, sni ' 

 passes all the old varieties in productiveness, size, 

 and flavor. Some cullivalors say that the Hov- 

 ey seedling (a Boston variety) will not produce 

 well, unless well mixed with plants of other de- 

 scriptions. They say they are all female — that 

 they do not make pollen enough; but, as a refu- 

 tation of this theory, 1 have seen > idiU'tive beds 



