530 



THE FARMERS* REGISTER. 



down an oat crop, allowed it to waste on the sur- 

 face, which I much desire to see repeated here. 

 This experiment much better accords with the 

 theory of surface manuring, which seems rapidly 

 to be gaining ground every where. 



SALT LIE, OR SPENT LIE. 



From the New England Farmer. 



In (he manufacture of hard or bar soap, much 

 lie is run off. Ashes, lime, salt and grease are 

 put into the boiler, and the lie contains a portion 

 of each of these ingredients. Each of these may 

 be a fertilizer. And may not the lie be servicea- 

 ble on the land? We were told last winter, that 

 Hon. Wm. Jackson, of Newton, had used the 

 lie from his factory for several years upon grass 

 lands, and that he had furnished his neighbors 

 with the article for use upon their fields. Upon 

 inquiry, we learned that several farmers who have 

 tried it, continue to put it upon their grounds. In 

 past years they have used it only upon the grass; 

 but this season it has been applied where corn, 

 potatoes, carrots, and the like have been planted. 

 We have recently visited some fields where it 

 has been used, and the result of our observation 

 18, that crops upon it, excepting where the land 

 is quite dry, grow very well ; but since other ma- 

 nures were used with this it is not easy to say 

 precisely how far the lie is beneficial. More 

 good would result from its application in wet times, 

 than in dry : lor its influences apparently resem- 

 ble those of the urine from the cattle when in the 

 pasture. Every farmer knows that in a hot and 

 dry time, the grass perishes, where the urine is 

 voided ; and he knows equally well that the urine 

 in wet weather increases the growth of grass. 

 So it is apparently with this lie. Generally no 

 harm has resulted, even in the drought of the 

 last month, to the crops in Newton, which are 

 upon land that had the lie applied to it in May. 

 There need be little apprehension of harm, unless 

 the lie be put in the hill, or directly under the 

 seed. Where it has been spread upon corn land 

 and harrowed in, the corn grows well — but in 

 one place in Wenham, where /odder corn in drills 

 was put upon the lie in June, the corn failed to 

 vegetate well, and much of what came up wither- 

 ed and perished ; though the stalks which sur- 

 vived are now doinfj well. 



We are using this article. Having procured 

 a tight box, made of pine plank, 10 ft. long, 4 It, 

 wide, and 2 ft. deep, and fixed it upon the wagon 

 axletrees, we procure loads of about 600 galls. 

 each. This we cart 5 miles. In one side of the 

 box is a plug filling a two-inch auger hole. For 

 the purpose of unloading, this plug is taken out, 

 and the lie is run into heaps of soil or of muck. 

 The load of 600 gallons will saturate li-om 1 1-2 

 to 2 1-2 cords. This is thrown over once or 

 twice, and at any convenient time is spread upon 

 the land. We have not yet had opportunity to 

 ascertain its eflects. but are so well persuaded 

 that it will be beneficial, that we shall continue 

 through this season to haul all that is run into the 

 cistern from which we draw. The manufac- 

 turer of soap put down a cistern which holds 2400 

 gallons, and put into it a pump, placed so high 

 that the liquid is pumped directly into the wagon 



or box. On the top of the box is a slide, about 

 one foot square, through which the lie is admit- 

 ted. We pay for the article at present, $2 per 

 load of 600 gallons. Whether this article is 

 worth iie cost, we do not yet know ; and we 

 should have made no mention of it at present, 

 but (or our wish that attention may be drawn 

 to whatever promises to be serviceable as a ma- 

 nure, and that its virtues should be proved by 

 all who are willing to make experiments. 



EXTRACTS FROM REPORTS OF THE EXECU- 

 TIVE COMMITTEE OF THE " ASSOCIATION 

 FOR PROMOTING CURRENCY AND BANKING 

 REFORM." 



Published by order of the Association. 

 Earliest effects of the forming of the Association. 



* * As short as has been the time since this 

 Association was commenced, its establishment 

 has already produced some novel and excellent ef- 

 fects, in inducing inquiry, and eliciting information 

 from sources before dark or hidden. Before our 

 movement to sustain the operation of the existing 

 suspension law in its requisition /or the resumption 

 of bank payments next January, who among the 

 apologists lor, and advocates of the banks, had 

 uttered a word to complain of the shortness of the 

 limit of suspension, as fixed by that law? Who 

 among them had even whispered the opinion that 

 the banks ought not and could not pay specie next 

 January, as required by that law? Who had 

 dared to confess, or permit the necessary inference 

 from other assumptions, that this law, like its se- 

 veral similar annual predecessors since 1837, had 

 been passed but to deceive and to cheat the ex- 

 pectations of the people of Virginia founded there- 

 on, and was designed to be re-enacted, and its 

 operation postponed, before next January, and af- 

 terwards again and again ? Not one. All who 

 held any of these opinions were as silent as the 

 grave in regard to them, until the petition of our 

 Association, (or the observance of the limit of the 

 existing law, provoked opposition, and (breed the 

 opposers either to utter their objections, or, other- 

 wise, by their silence, seem to admit the justice 

 and propriety of our declared purpose. But now, 

 many persons are ready to advocate the object 

 that before was kept so effectually, if not design- 

 edly, concealed. Now, nearly every apologist 

 for the recent and present procedure of the banks, 

 and who therefore is opposed to the object of our 

 petition, assumes as premises, that the limit of 

 bank suspension, fixeil by the last law of in- 

 dulsence, is too near at hand — that the banks will 

 not be then ready to pay specie — and that to com- 

 pel ihem will be ruinous to the banks, and greatly 

 injurious to all debtors, and the public interests. 

 We will not now stop to consider and oppose 

 these objections ; but will merely remark that, if 

 they were as sound and deserving of respect and 

 submission, as in (act we deem them otherwise, 

 those persons who now assert these opinions 

 ought to have been the first to speak, for the purpose 

 of calling attention to and condemning the limit 

 of the existing law, and to urge the people to 

 unite to petition for (uriher extension of the limit, 

 although (as it is understood) the law was pro- 



