42 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



case, it will do all that is required. But that will was used for the purpose of distention, whilst the 

 not often be the case. j beans was a highly concentrated nutrition, Avhich 



Plaster is exceedingly valuable, when sown among alone, would so contract the bowels of the animal 

 wheat or peas, or beans, or clover, as a top dress-, as to produce disease— hence the great value of a 

 ing. It takes into combination with it the nitro- ! combination of the straw with the beans, 

 gen of the air, and absorbs the ammonia of the ! He thought the same principle of feeding might 

 fallin g rain. I he practised in this country, and that successfully, 



To meet the wants of the manure heap, I think! both in a physiological and pecuniary view." 

 that sulphuric acid (oil of vitriol) directly applied the plow. 



with water, will be found much cheaper and more _,,_,, . 

 valuable Doctor s observation extended to every 



Mix with ten gallons of water one pint of the thing that was to be seen. From the following 

 acid, and saturate the manure heap with it, pro- . extract we suspect he has something of an agricul- 

 viding of course, according to the size of the heap tura j turnj ^^ a n i us otne r gifts. He observes, 

 and its disposition to heat. The sulphuric acid _,, , , , . , , n 



with the ammonia will form sulphate of ammonia, The . land was cultivated here under a very 

 and both of these properties enter into the compo- S reat disadvantage— using the same instruments 

 sition of our most valuable plants or products of,? T 0W > * hat were used two thousand years ago. 

 the soil Here they saw a great tomb cut out ot solid stone ; 



The cost of a few gallons of sulphuric acid for on c ? ther s n ide of the spacious entrance niches were 

 such a purpose would be money at a very large ! cut in > and the . whole workmanship within evinced 



per cent, interest. But let it be handled cautious 

 ly, by the inexperienced, lest injuries be the con- 

 sequence of carelessness. Put the water into a 

 wooden vessel, and then put the acid to it. 



There is nothing lost, in this application. The 

 sulphuric acid would enter into the plants, if ap- 

 plied to the soil separate from the manure. 



There is a great profit in it. The most valuable 

 properties of the manure heap are kept from 

 waste. c. 



Mason, N. H., Dec. 10, 1851. 



THE HORSE. 



Because the farmer is located upon his own land, 

 and finds plenty of employment there, it is no 

 reason why he should not look out occasionally 

 from the "loop hole of his retreat" upon the wide 

 world, and himself add something to its pleasures 

 and also gain by its teachings. Nor must we for- 

 get to notice how the world wags around us, be- 

 cause we are an agricultural editor, and "find it in 

 the bond" that we must discuss cattle and cucum- 

 bers, pigs and potatoes, plows, pumpkins and pars- 

 nips. 



"No pent up Utica contracts our powers, 

 But the whole boundless world is ours," 



and we shall appropriate such portion of it as will 

 seem to us to be acceptable to the reader in what- 

 ever realm it may chance to be. 



Here, then, we find a lecture delivered at Man- 

 chester, N. II., by Dr. J. V. C. Smith, of Bos- 

 ton, a gentleman who has visited a goodly portion 

 of the world, and has a pleasant way of imparting 

 the information he has gained. 



Well, what has all this to do with the horse? 

 asks the reader. Why, surely this, that Doctor 

 Smith visited Palestine, or the Holy Land, a spot 

 crowded with interesting associations for us all, 

 and among other matters spoke of the Horses there. 

 He says, 



"They were mostly of a dapple grey color. Had 

 no barns — no hay — their caravansaries were rath- 

 er like barn yards; he had slept in them — horses 

 were generally fed on chopped straw and beans ; 

 about two quarts of the latter to a feed — the straw 



great skill and experience. This tomb was built 

 4000 years ago. Herodotus visited it two thousand 

 years ago, and speaks of it as having been then 

 two thousand years old. In its finished Avails were 

 wrought a splendid figure of a young girl dancing ; 

 also the plow was there, a fac simile of the plow 

 used by the inhabitants now. This people are very 

 tenacious in their habits. They are very remarka- 

 ble at horsemanship — train their horses to perform 

 wonders — ride with great speed over rocky crags, 

 and among rolling peb bles . It would , in his opinion , 

 be a hopeless task for an army of 100,000 men to 

 conquer 500 of the meandering horsemen." 



A HORN. 



It must be interesting to all to observe through 

 what an immense period a single custom will be 

 preserved ; simple, yet pregnant with meaning to 

 those who observe it. It is supposed that a por- 

 tion of the Psalms was written as remotely as the 

 time of Moses. If so, that portion must have been 

 composed over three thousand years ago. In the 

 92d Psalm, the writer says : — "But my horn shalt 

 thou exalt like the horn of an unicorn ;" and in the 

 148th, "He also exalteth the horn of his people, 

 the praise of all his saints." The term frequently 

 occurs in Scripture as a symbol of power and exal- 

 tation, as Hannah's declaration in 1st of Samuel, 

 chap. 2, verse 1, "Mine horn is exalted in the 

 Lord," and the prophet Zedekiah "made him horns 

 of iron," and told Aliab that with them he should 

 push the Assyrians, until he had consumed them. 

 Bruce, the celebrated African traveller, states that 

 the Abyssinian chiefs and governors of provinces 

 wear them. They are made of different forms and 

 substances ; and sometimes, as Dr. Smith says, the 

 cow's horn itself. It is a custom with us on the 

 loss of friends to "wear mourning" and a downcast 

 demeanor; so that the erection of the "horn" in 

 gladness, or depressing it in sorrow, is not much 

 unlike our custom after all, curious as it may seem. 

 The horn was attached to a broad fillet passing 

 round the forehead and tied behind, from the cen- 

 tro of which it projected, and could be raised or 

 depressed at pleasure. 



