NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



41 



nighted, obstinate, bull-headed people, the English, 

 that's a fact, and always was. There is a plow 

 down in Maine that ought to be sent over to the 

 'World's Fair.' It is a dangerous nondescript, 

 though. The inventor chained it up the afternoon 

 on which he finished it, but it broke loose in the 

 night and killed two cows." 



to their dazzled senses, quit the plow and resort to 

 the counter, in the delusive dream that they have 

 found the highway to wealth -and ease. How ma- 

 ny of such are there now in this city, in the decline 

 >f life, not only without the anticipated fortune, 

 but destitute of a home ! 



PRACTICAL AGRICULTURE. 

 Agriculture is th e oldest of all the pursuits of 

 man. Abel was a keeper of sheep, and Cain a til- 

 ler of the soil. It is one of the most honorable pur- 

 suits and one of the most useful. It is the most 

 healthful, the most independent, scientific and eru- 

 dite. A thorough farmer cannot be such without 

 a knowledge of many sciences. The forecastle hand 

 on shipboard knows how to handle the sails, 

 but he knows no more of the art of navigation, than 

 the tailor on his shop-board, or the physician in his 

 laboratory. So a farmer may, by practice, learn 

 how t i handle the plow and the hoe, but a great 

 deal more knowledge than this is included in the 

 art of the husbandman. So much, that the man 

 who knows it all is truly a learned man. 



Bufibn caused on his statue to be inscribed, "a 

 genius equal ti > the majesty ofnature" — "but," says 

 a learned botanist, "a blade of grass was sufficient 

 to confound his pretensions." A farmer may find 

 a field of science in every plant on Ins broad acres, 

 whether it be raised by his sweat and skill, or by 

 the despised weed which he seeks to destroy. If 

 he will master all the science of the old oak tree 

 beside his 'tarn, or the pigweed beneath his feet, 

 he will have a stock of learning that will forever 

 afford him a fund of most agreeable contemplation, 

 and at once enable him to improve his farm as it 

 has not yet been improved. The whole vegetable 

 economy furnishes matter for mental food vastly 

 greater than its supply of corporal nutriment, and 

 not less agreeable. 



The structure and function and uses of the veg- 

 etable world, what is known, and what is unknown 

 of it, can never fail to furnish either most pleasant- 

 knowledge or curious matter for research. But the 

 science of vegetable physiology, enough in itself 

 to make a wise man, is only one of many included 

 in the thorough knowledge of agriculture. Geolo- 

 gy, botany and chemistry, all must be known, or 

 let a man boast as he may of his knowledge or skill, 

 a blade of grass is sufficient to confound Ins pre- 

 tensions. This it is that makes the farmer's pur- 

 suit honorable, and if he produces enough fox his 

 consumption, no man is so independent and happy. 

 And he is a most useful citizen to the State. No 

 man it has been said is so usefid as he who makes 

 two blades of grass grow where but one grew be- 

 fore. 



Most frequently a great error is committed by 

 young men, who, revolting from the labor of the 

 farm, and reduced by the fancied road to luxury 



SAVE THE 



For the New Ens/ami Farnu 

 MANURE HEAP. 



Every man who has kept horses knows how a 

 heap of horse manure will heat and burn. A heap 

 which woidd measure ten cords will burn away 

 some cords of its bulk, while the process of fermen- 

 tation is going on. I use the term burn, for there 

 is something more than rotting about it. 



Stable manure from oxen and cows, if so gath- 

 ered as to include the urine with the solid excre- 

 ments of cattle, upon being worked over, will com- 

 mence a rapid fermentation, and will undergo a 

 great change, becoming less in bulk and verv 

 fight. 



Many persons work over their manure heaps and 

 add quicklime to hasten their fermention, or burn- 

 ing, from the supposition that the manure is great- 

 ly benefited by such a change as it undergoes in 

 the heap. 



That the manure is so changed as to have a 

 more immediate effect upon the plants it will sup- 

 port, is not disputed. But it is contended that in 

 the course of this fermentation, as it is usually al- 

 lowed to go on, a very valuable and large portion 

 of its properties are expelled from the heap, go in- 

 to the air, and are lost. 



Such burned manure, when applied to beans, 

 peas, wheat, or other plants needing much nitro- 

 gen, and having in their constituents much gluten, 

 would have been very poorly assisted by any quan- 

 tity of such manure. 



For the formation of muscle, in man or beast, 

 food must be taken which contains a large amount 

 of gluten, in which peas, beans and wheat are un- 

 commonly rich. To produce such plants as are 

 rich in gluten, nitrogenous manures must be ap- 

 plied. The urine of animals c mtains a very large 

 amount, and we may speak of it in the form of am- 

 monia. More or less of it is in every manure 

 heap. 



During the fermentation, which I have called 

 burning, of the manure, under i ; [inary circumstan- 

 ces, the ammonia is separated and goes off in the 

 atmosphere. This is a very gi« it 1 iss. The ma- 

 nure, for ordinary purposes, lose a large portion 

 of its value; while for many crops it becomes near- 

 ly valueless. Every farmer a i -keepershould 

 know how to prevent the es ■ amonia 

 from his manure heap. 



REMEDIES. 



Plaster of Paris, (sulphate of lime) has been re- 

 commended by some, and is a certain 

 extent. I do not wish to um if a ma- 

 nure heap is covered with it i icient depth, 

 it will retain the ammonia. Bi ■' aere pow- 

 dering and whitening of the s thi heap as 

 is sometimes seen, will be of li 



What sulphuric acid there is with the lime, in 

 forming the plaster, will enter into combination 

 with the ammonia, producing 'ammonia. 



This is a valuable service. [uantity of 



and w r ealth, which each dirty street of a city seems plaster used is equal to -tl mces of the 



