82 



^[)t larmci's iHoiitl)!^ iDigttor. 



but no Diirliaiiis. He thought tlie milk of cows 

 which gave a very large (|iiaiitity, was not so good. 

 He had a cow whicli made fifteen and n quarter 

 pounds of hullrr per wrek in June hi.-t, and the 

 j!r<:ulest iiuantily of milk blie yuve, was Id quarts 

 a (hiy. 



Mr. Sheldon, of Wilmington, iiad paid con- 

 siilerahle attention to the rearing of cattle — had 

 owned at one time ahout 100 yoke of oxen. He 

 thought benefit had been derived from ini|>orled 

 cattle by crossing with the native. The mixed 

 breed have better feet than the native. An ox 

 should he broad between the eyes, should have 

 straight, broad, an* rather short hoofs, round 

 ribs, straight back, hips falling olF about an inch. 

 iS'iiie out of ton oxen which giie out, lail in the 

 fore )eet. The legs should be straight, and they 

 should toe straight forward. He thought it a bad 

 practice to drive oxen with a goad, (a stick with 

 a brad in one end of it,) as they did in Maine- 

 it irritates the cattle .-ind makes them either 

 crowd or haul apart. 'J'he best feed Ihi- working 

 oxen, he thinks, is chopped hay and Indian 

 meal. 



Mr. G. thought suflicient care was not taken 

 with our native cattle, to improve the breed. A 

 good milker usually has a pet calf, and it is too 

 apt to be given to the butcher. He said, our na- 

 tive cattle sell better at Brighton, than the Dm- 

 hams. [For what purpose? Are rCffZ Durliams 

 sold there? — Ed.] He bought one cow at 15righ- 

 ton that had such excellent (lualiiies that all hor 

 descendants (?) proved superior. She bad the 

 right blood. He thought cows should be stabled 

 and kept warm in winter, to afford most profit — 

 would give them chopped food. If the lodder 

 was cliop|)ed and wet they would need hut little 

 water. He preferred shorts and carrots to Indian 

 meal for cows. He thought it very injurious for 

 rows to drink ice-water — would make the water 

 for them to drink, as warm as that of brooks In 

 Slimmer. If cattle were sueded (hovel.) he gave 

 them half a pound of ground mustard seed mixed 

 with lard. 



Mr Ibooke, of Princeton, said he raised from 

 100 to ].")0 heifers annually. He buys tlie best 

 lie can find, belbrc they are weaned, and weans 

 them on porridge. They were mostly ol' the 

 native breed. He generally gels about four good 

 cows in every ten reared. He thought 'he Diir- 

 hams did not stand the winter well, and he be- 

 lieved the Mass. State Society hud acted wisely 

 in not importing Durhams, as the Ayrshires and 

 Devons were preferable. The Ayrshires, he 

 thought, winter as well as the natives, hut he 

 preferred the Devons. He sjioke of the Devons 

 imported fifty years since by Christopher Gore. 

 [Upon what authority does Mr. Brooks speak of 

 IJevoiis having been imported by (iov. Gore? 

 We are in possessimi of proof that the bull which 

 obtained such celebrity as the "Gore bull," and 

 whose numerous descendants, lo the latest gene- 

 ration, are commonly called llie '• Gore breed," 

 was presented by the late Charles V'aughan, 

 Ks(|., of Hallowell, Maine, to Girv. Gore, in the 

 year 1792. The year jirevious, 1711], Mr. V. im- 

 ported two bulls and two co«»i. While on the 

 Iiassage, one of the cows produced the calf given 

 to Gov. Gore. The cows were selecled from a 

 milk-farm in the vicinity of London, and instead 

 of being Devons, were probably Yorkshire Shorl- 

 llorn.t. — Kn.] 



Mr. Brooks mentioned a disease with which 

 milch cows in his neigborhood had been alllicted. 

 They had a propensity to cat bones— they he- 

 came weak and their bone's w<iuid sumelimes 

 break in trying to rise from the ground. He at- 

 tributed the disease to the want of plios|ihate of 

 lime in their food. He had cured the disease by 

 giving the cows bone meal. This disease is con- 

 fined to milch cows. Neither farrow cows or 

 axen arc attacked by it. 



Mr. Cole, editor of the Boston (Cultivator, ol)- 

 served that this disease had been prevalent in 

 some of the dairy districts of England. Chem- 

 ists had attributed it to the exhaustion of ihe 

 jihosphate in the soil, and had recunimended 

 lioiio manure, which had been used with suc- 

 cess. 



Mr. Davenport, of Mendon, had kept a cow in 

 the stable four or five years, she seldmu lea\ iiig 

 it. He gives her two quarts of meal per day, 

 rccuhirly, and roots and hay, with grass in the 

 season of it. He covers her with a thin covering 

 in stiiiitiier, to keep offtho fliec, and with ti thick 



blank 

 drink 

 but lil 

 sliori 

 small 

 has gi 

 ing. 

 loose. 

 I'or 

 wiak 

 pail I'll 

 cattle 

 efiect.' 



;t ill winter to keep her waim — warms her 

 ill winter. I'nder this treatment, there is 

 lie falling olf in the quantity of milk till a 

 time bcliire calving. '.''Iioiigli she is a 

 cow, not weighing over 700 pounds, she 

 ven (ioni eight lo sixteen quarts at a iiiilk- 

 Her [hind] quarter is long and her skin 



■ swelling or hoven, Mr. D. gives a lillle 

 ley. He puis about a pint of ashes lo a 

 II "of wal(-r. He had given this to bnlli 

 and horses for other diseases with good 

 ?. — lib. Cult. 



Keeping Potatoes Sound. — We liavc had 



occasion lo comnieiid the practice of keeping 

 potatoes through the winter in heaps, out of doors, 

 by using abundance of siravv aiul hut a moderate 

 qiiaiitiiy of earth as a covering. We have re- 

 peatedly known heaps of ClO or 70 bushels, cov- 

 ered Willi a compacl layer of straw one fool thick, 

 and only a few inches of earlli outside, lo eudiiie 

 the winter and early spring witliout tlie loss of a 

 peck. In a late experiment of the writer, a heap 

 thus covered wintered ihrough with the loss of 

 not half a peck, although a large portion of the 

 same crop whi(di was removed to the cellar was 

 lost by the rot; end at the same time that ni.aiiy 

 neighbors lost lluee-quarluis td" their potalues 

 buried in the usual way, that is with only a It-'W 

 inches of straw under a foot of earth. It will be 

 perceived at a glance that tlu' mode here pro- 

 posed secures in an eminent degree, sufficient 

 protection from frost, dryness, and ventilation. 

 All potatoes ill heaps, when buried early in au- 

 tumn, should be kept constaiilly well ventilated 

 by a hole ami wisp of straw in the top. The 

 mass of rotten potatoes, so usually tiiund at the 

 apex of the heap, and usually attributed to freez- 

 ing, is more frequently the result of foul confined 

 air, rising lo the lop. 



Fioni Ilie Albiiny (.'ultivitlnr. 

 On the Use of I.eached Ashes. 



Mb. Editor: — 1 have just received your April 

 number of the Cultivator, in which you wish, lor 

 I he benefit ot one of your curies|ioiidents, H. C. 

 B., some information on the value of ashes, &c. 

 &c., and call upon "chemists to tell." Not be- 

 ing exactly a (diemist myself, yet having dug 

 into the science a little, for the purpose of assist- 

 ing me in my liirmiiig operations, 1 uiil oilier u 

 few remarks: 



Wood ashes, as you observe, generally do best 

 on rather light soils; if they are applied in large 

 quantities, either leached or unleached. they have 

 a tendency to bring in the red moss, but upon 

 gravelly soils this may not be iletriincnial, as they 

 are iisutilly dry and warm enough if there is moss. 

 But upon more moist and close soils, ashes tnay 

 uliimalely prove injurious. 



Lnleached ashes when first applied to grass, 

 or other crops, arc much more efficient than 

 leached, ou ing to the much greater amomil of 

 alkali, or potash they conlaiii, but 1 do not think 

 the sowing of unleached ashes upon land the 

 most economical way of using iliem. If a heavy 

 rain immediately follows, the potash is mostly 

 washed out ami carried oil" the land, or sinks into 

 the soil beyond the reach of the roots of plants. 

 Common potash is very readily dissolved in about 

 its weight of water. If a fiirmer wishes lo apply 

 unleaciie.l ashes to his grass or grain crops, il 

 would be the better way to mix his ashes ipiite 

 moist with ground gypsum, and let them riMiiaiii 

 lor some time in the heap. 'I'he potash of llie 

 ashes would decompose the gypsum and sulphale 

 ol' potash would III! formed. Sulphate of potash 

 is much less soluble than carbonale of pola^h, as 

 it rcipiires sixlten pounds of water (at the tein- 

 pcraiure of (JO degrees) to dissolve one (loiind of 

 siilphaK; of potash. I''roni this fact, the loss of 

 polasli by rains would be likely to be much less, 

 and tiir clover, cabbages, turnips, radishes, the 

 sulphate is decidedly better than the carbonate 

 of potash. 



But 1 think it a much more economical plan lo 

 mix ashes willi swamp muck, prat or decaying 

 vegeiablu matter liuin tlio woods. All these sub- 

 stances are acid ; (discomposing vegiMiiblc mailers 

 always produce acids.) These acids want neu- 

 tralizing before the muck, &.C., are suitable ma- 

 nures for most crops, (sorrel excepted.) Fre- 

 cpn'iilly swamp muck is saturated with sulphale 

 of iron, or idumitiu, that lias oozed out in the 



water from higher land. In such rases, the ashes 

 w ill have the direct effect to neutralize the acidiiy 

 of the imick, and inaki; il a good manure. 



Leached ashes are highly valued by the farm- 

 ers upon Long inland, but 1 su.-pect tlmt mu.-Ni 

 that are used there are from the soap-boilers, and 

 1 think they are better for agricultural purposes 

 than the leacheil ashes from the potash or pearl- 

 ash factory. In leaching ashes for making soap, 

 generally, there is about one peck of lime used 

 to each liiishel of ashes; but llicre is very little, 

 if any lime, with the leached ashes from the 

 potash. 



There is, after the usual process of leaching 

 ashes for soap or potash, a certain qiianlily of 

 pnt/i^b left in llie ashes, in cnmhiiiation with silcx. 

 Dr. Dana says, there are 50 lbs. of potash in a 

 cord of leacheil ashes. Exjiosine to the air de- 

 composes this, and then another portion of alkali 

 can lie exiiacted by water. 'I'his partially ex- 

 plains \% hat you have heard of the Long Island 

 iiirmers, w ho '• consider the leached as good as 

 the uiilcaclied ashes, provided they are not used 

 for some lime after being leached." And you 

 tarlher say, "some suppose they attract valuable 

 properties from the atmosphere after corning from 

 the leach-tub. Is it so ? and if any, what are the 

 properties acquired ?" In answer lo your ques- 

 tion, I say ye,-*, it is so, and will explain it. 



If a qiiaiility of leached ashes are piled up un- 

 der cover of a shed exposed lo the air. .another 

 portion of alkali will be setliee^ the decompo- 

 sition of the silev, as before stated, and thealkali 

 has a strong affiniiy for nitric arid. The air we 

 breallie is mostly composed of nitrogen, 7!> pans, 

 and 21 parts of oxygen; in these proportions, 

 these two gases are mechanically combined. But 

 by well known chemical laws, these two gases 

 chemically combine in several different propor- 

 tions, and form very different substances from 

 coiumou air. In one of their chemical coir.bin.a- 

 lioiis, lliey unite in the propuiiions of ]4 parts 

 nitrogen and 40 parts oxygen, and in lliesc pro- 

 portions il is called nitric acid, and mixed «ith a 

 certain quanlily of water it becomes h;jilro-\\nni: 

 acid, or acinafoitis. If common p.ot or jiearlash 

 is dissolved in diluted aquafortis, and the liquid 

 evaporated, the result will be nine, or salipelre. 

 But this is an artificial way of making saltpetre 

 — and expensive too. 



Naliire takes a somewhat different method. 

 As before staled, the alkali in the leached ashes 

 has a stroll!.' affinity lor nitric acid, and so strong 

 is that affiniiy or attraclion, that the nitrogen and 

 oxvgen of the atmosphere will rerij accommodat- 

 xnsly chemically comiiine in the riv^hl proporlions 

 to form niiric acid, uhich readily unites with the 

 alkali, and forms nilre or saltpetre — naturally, 

 and cheap too. The longer the ashes are kept, 

 and occasionally moistened and shovelled over, 

 the greater the accumulation of nilre. But if 

 the ashes are occasionally wet with urine, draiii- 

 iiigs from the manure heap, or mixed with night- 

 soil, or decayiiiii animal matter — substances all 

 rich in nitrogen — the process will be miich has- 

 tened, and the accumulation of nitre much 

 greater in a given time. Perhaps twelve nionllis 

 would be a proper time for the ashes to remain. 



A similar proces.-. is going on under all houses 

 and oilier biiihlings ; the jiotash in the felspar 

 aiul inii-a of our soils, is being slowly but con- 

 liiiually dis>olviiig, and as there is also a continual 

 ascent Of water, by evaporation, each particle of 

 water as it nscends brings with it its particle of 

 potash, which is returned in the dry surface soil, 

 which combines with the nitric acid. And there 

 are fretpienlly large accumulations of nitre un- 

 der old buildings. In some parts of the East 

 Indies, where it seldom or never rains, nitre ac- 

 cumulates (as under buildings here.) in such 

 quantities that the soil is shovelled up and lencli- 

 ed, as we do ashes, and boiled down to nitre. 

 Nitrate of lime is Ibrined in fast quantities in the 

 lime caverns of Kentucky. Aui\ the dry plains 

 in the province of .Arica, in Peru, are covered 

 with III) incrnslatinn of nitrate of soila. 



I'.vciy boily knows, or ought to know, that 

 saltpetre is a L'ood manure — though |>eiliaps they 

 do not all know why it is so. Possibly I may 

 conliiuie the subject, lint my sheet is full at this 

 time. L- B. 



Manxtr, M IT., Jlpril 20. 18-l(j. 



Indian Cokn.— In regard to the ctilttire of this 

 article by the Iroquois, or Six Nation.', there are 



