180 



THE GENESEE FARMER. 



Muriatic Acid in Manure Heaps. — Our opinion has 

 been asked in regard to the value of muriatic acid in " fix- 

 ing" ammonia in manure heaps. Muriatic acid will con- 

 rert all the volatile carbonate of ammonia that is already 

 formed in the manure heap into the fixed salt, muriate of 

 ammonia ; and, so far, ansv/ers the purpose admirably. 

 But there is this objection to its use : tt arrests fermenta- 

 tion. It will prevent the escape of the ammonia present 

 at the time of its application, but it has a strong tendency 

 to prevent the formation of any more. If it could be 

 Bprsad over the heap in such a way that the ammonia 

 would have to pass through it as it was attempting to es- 

 eape, free muriatic acid might be useful in fixing the am- 

 monia in manure heaps. But this cannot bo done. The 

 acid is brought into direct contact with the mass of the 

 manure, and arrests fermentation, doing, as we think, (and 

 wo have had some experience in this matter,) more harm 

 than good. 



If muriatic acid can be obtained cheap enough, it might 

 pay to use it for fixing ammonia in manure heaps, by first 

 using it to convert bones into superphosphate of lime, 

 which, saturated with acid, may be scattered over the sur- 

 face of the heaps. "We are not sure, however, that this 

 would be profitable. 



Phosphate of Lime in Guano. — "A crop of wheat 

 requires more phosphate of lime than is contained in ten 

 hundi'ed pounds of Peruvian guano. — Exchange. 



Such assertions as the above are a disgrace to our agri- 

 cultural literature. The most unscrupulous vender of 

 " phosphatic guano," " improved superphosphate of lime," 

 &c., could not make a statement more utterly at variance 

 with fact ; and we are surprised to find the above in the 

 editorial columns of a respectable agricultural paper. A 

 crop of wheat of fifty bushels per acre, straw, chaff, &c., 

 does not contain more than seventy-five pounds of phos- 

 phate of lime ; while ten hundred pounds of Peruvian 

 g^ano contains upwards of two hundred pounds of phos- 

 phate of lime. 



Gbeat Cheese rACTORT. — TheLousville Courier tells 

 of a gigantic cheese dairy in operation in Trumbull county, 

 Ohio. The proprietor does not keep all the cows from 

 which his cheese is made, but contracts with all the farmers 

 within eight or ten miles to furnish the curd from their cows 

 at prices which net them a larger amount than if they man- 

 ufactured it into cheese themselves. He annually pays 

 about 4 ^ cents a pound for it. He keeps six or eight 

 teams employed in collecting the curd from the neighbor- 

 ing farmers — some two hundred in number. Two rooms 

 are occupied for curing the cheese, capable of holding 350 

 tons of cheese. In these rooms the services of three men 

 are constantly required. When ready for sale the cheese 

 is principally put up in tin boxes for the Califorr.ian and 

 Australian markets. About 200 tous of cheese have been 

 manufactured tlia past season. 



Price of Labor in England and America. — I see 

 in your Hints on Spring Work, an observation that the 

 high price of labor renders the general introduction of the 

 system of soiling adopted with such advantage in some 

 parts of England and the Continent, of questionable econo- 

 my with us. Now, as to the price of labor in England I 

 am not very minutely posted ; but, from what informadoa 

 I can get, the expenses of farming in England are higher 

 than they are in this country, for, in addition to the amoont 

 paid for hired help, the farmers have heavy rents and taxes 

 to pay besides. Their rent varies from ten shillings to 

 three pounds, English money, per acre, and their taxes are 

 to be paid besides. Now, cannot American farmers afford 

 to hire labor as well as English farmers, when the most 

 of them have no rents to pay at all, and their taxes are 

 very light ? and then, too, they have a market nearly as 

 good in many respects as the English. 1 did not write 

 this article to provoke a controversy, but merely to draw 

 out your views on this subject. I am very strong in the 

 faith that we can farm as well in this country as they di> 

 in England, and at as much profit for the labor employed. 

 I hope you will notice this subject as soon as convenient. 



Drydeii, March, 1867. W. A. Forstth. 



[We have not time or space this month to give our views 

 on this subject. The amount of rent and taxes paid by 

 English farmers does not affect the question. We pay our 

 hired help in this country about as much again per day as 

 the English farmers. Let us assume that it costs, per an- 

 num, three dollars less to feed a cow on the soiling system 

 than in the ordinary way. If the extra labor costs tvro 

 dollars per cow per annum in England, and four dollars in 

 this country, it is evident that, other things being equal, 

 the English farmer can adopt soiling with more profit thaa 

 the American farmer. Nay, it is possible, even, that the 

 system will yield the English farmer one dollar per cow 

 profit, and the American farmer one dollar per cow loss.] 

 —Eds. 



Bees. — Look to your bees at this season ; eleaa off all 

 dead bees and live moths from the board of the hive, and 

 feed any hivo that is short of honey. A few davs neglect 

 of this may cause the loss ot the hive. 



Liquid Manures. — Mr.ToRTER, in his report on "The 

 Saving and Application of the Liquid Manure of a Farm," 

 gives the following general result: — "The urine-manure 

 of the farm is easiest managed, and pays best v/hen mixed 

 with the dung ; but as there will generally be plenty to do 

 to carry the half of the dung to the fields, we must there- 

 fore dispose of the remainder some other way. The next 

 best mode I have found is to mix it with composts, as be- 

 fore described ; and this is, doubtless, the preferable plan 

 for all sorts of an inferior description. When compost, 

 however, is diffif^ult to get, ana the land of a fair average 

 nature, the urine may then be applied in the liquid form 

 to new grass or corn early in spring, and always in damp 

 rainy weather. By giving a dressing of 2^000 to 3,000 

 gallons of the diluted liquid, I have sometimes succeeded 

 in increasing the hay crop to nearly double the average 

 quantity ; but the nature of the weather affects it so much, 

 and it is so difficult to regulate its application, that I think 

 it better to dispense with the system as far as possible, and 

 to mix the urine with the dung and compost heaps." 

 ♦•■» ■ — - 



The April Premiums. — Our agents will please bear* 

 \x\ mind that the time for competing for our large premi^ 

 urns, expires on the fourteenth of April. The ccmpetitiou 

 ia very clcse, and it should be borne in mind that a sinale 

 additional name may secure a prise. 



