THE FARMERS' REGISTER. 



707 



( am in'brniej that Isaac Bowles, est]., of thit; 

 town, tried the experiment the past season, and 

 the result was what he had ^ood reason to expeci : 

 the most perlecl growth ol wheat lie has ever 

 raised. All the heads were about ihe same size, 

 the straw even, and no pari seemed to liave the 

 advanlafje from the lime it was sowed np lo liie 

 day o!' harvest. And here 1 express a wish thai 

 Mr. Bowles will make his views and experience 

 on this sulijeci known to the public, as he ctm 

 speak from his own experience in this maiier. I 

 believe il this practice should be adopied ijreneral- 

 ly, by tlie (aimers of this slaie, the qu:diiy and 

 quanlily of the wheat crop would in a vtr}' liiw 

 years be increased one quarter by the simple pro- 

 cess ofsifiing seed in the proporiion I have liamed, 

 and no farmer need he alraid ol injuring his seed 

 by carrying the principle to loo great an extreme. 

 Any one who candidly reflecta on ihe sulject, 

 must besaiisfied,! think, oC the propriety and rea- 

 son there is in the suggestions I have made. The 

 improvement is wiihin the reach of every farmer. 

 and he can satipfy himself on this point. P. 



IVinihrop, November, 1841. 



ROTATION OF CROPS — QUKRY. 



To the Editor of the Farmer's Register. 



In the October number of your periodical is a 

 communication on the subject of the roiaiion of 

 crops, by J. S., who claims to be a practical, and 

 f have no doubt is also a successful farmer. This 

 important subject has also claimed much of my 

 attention ; and as ihe scheme of rotation of J. S., 

 in many respects, so far as I understand it, re- 

 sembles my own, 1 feel very anxious to train from 

 him a little more information, and therefore adopt 

 the only means I have of reaching him, namely, 

 through your publication, which, I am always 

 glad to see used as a medium of communication 

 between our practical farmers. 



I am myself a young farmer, and live in a sec- 

 tion where wheal and corn are ihe principal pro- 

 ducts for market. My farming career was com- 

 menced, and 1 may add has continued wiih zeal. 

 My attention was particularly given to tfie collec- 

 tion and application of manures ; but, notwith- 

 standing the most strenuous exertions, I was al- 

 ways discouraged at the very small quantity of 

 land actually manured each year, in comparison 

 to the amount required to be put into grain. 

 This difficultj'- suggested the idea of manuring 

 by green crops.^ I accordingly tried sowing and 

 turning under rye, buckwheat, peas and clover. 

 My experience teaches me that the two former 

 are worthless as crops for manure. There can 

 however be no doubt of the enriching quality of 

 peas or clover turned under. J. S. introduces the 

 peas in his rotation just after the corn. I would 

 like to know whether he sows the peas ihe year 

 succeeding the corn, thus giving up a whole year 

 in the rotation to the pea crop, or does he sow the 

 peas amongst the growing corn and turn them 

 under the same fall that the corn is removed ? If 

 the latter, at what time, and at what stale of ad- 

 vancement of the corn, does he sow the peas'? 

 What kind of pea, and at what rate per acre, 

 does he sow 1 



After trying the method of sowing peas 



amongst the growing com, at the time of layhg 

 by, wMhoui success, I have adopted the other 

 mode ; viz. : lo plough the land the spring suc- 

 ceeding the corn crop and sow the peas. The 

 peas are turned under in the fall for wheat. I 

 liave only made one crop of \*heat in this way. 

 That was reaped this year, and was a noble crop 

 lor the season and land. The crop was so much 

 better than 1 had expected, that i have engrafted 

 the pea-fallow in my regular system, at any rate 

 until I learn from ihe contributors to the Register 

 some better plan. 



The 5ih item in J. S.'s rotation which he pro- 

 nounces a valuable crop for the land is unlbrtu- 

 naiely omitted. May I ask him to supply it"? 

 His rotation resembles mine so closely, that I am 

 pleased to be supported in my practice by Ihe 

 authority of one who has nearly doubled the pro- 

 duct of his farm in the short space of seven years. 

 A Young Farmer. 



ANALYSIS OF COAL, ASHES. 



For the Farmers' Register. 

 The white inflorescence found on ihe coal from 

 the Appomalox coal pits, when it has been much 

 exposed to the atmosphere, together with the oc- 

 casional appearance of sulphuret of iron, led me 

 to look for some salt of alumina in its ashes. 

 With this view, a portion of the recent ashes 

 was lixiviated, and the solution thus obtained 

 concentrated by boiling. To a portion of this so- 

 lution liquid ammonia was added, which threw 

 down an abundant precipitate of alumina, whilst 

 the addition of muriate of baryta showed the 

 presence of sulphuric acid. The remainder of 

 ihe concentrated solution was slightly acidulated, 

 and a little potassa added, the whole was allowed 

 lo stand ten or twelve hours, when well charac- 

 terized crystals of alum were obtained from the 

 solution — leaving no doubt of the presence of 

 sulphate of alumina in the ashes. 



As the ashes were just from the fire, it was 

 evident that lime, if present, must exist in its 

 caustic state. A portion of the ashes was ac- 

 cordingly treated wilh dilute muriatic acid, and 

 from the filtered solution lime was precipitated by 

 oxalic acid. The protoxide of iron was detected, 

 and thrown down by liquid sulphuretted hydro- 

 gen. 



Thinking that ihe mntler might interest some 

 of the readers of the Register, ihe same experi- 

 ments were repealed on a known quantity of 

 ashes, with the following result, which is commu- 

 nicaied, not as an exact analysis, but as an ap- 

 proximation, believed to be sufficiently accurate 

 lor every practical purpose. 

 Alumina ---... 2.5 

 Lime - - - - - - 1.1 



Oxide of iron - . - . . 1.2 

 Cinders, earthy and silicious matter - 95.2 



100.0 

 As the ashes in towns are usually mixed with 

 animal matter, which during decomposition gives 

 out ammonia, the value of these ashes as a ma- 

 nure would, according to Liebig, depend greatly 

 on the sulphate of alumina, which is readily de- 

 composed by ammonia. The ammonia, which 



