106 



NEW ENGLAND FAEMER. 



March 



ganism, until its texture has been broken and mod- 

 ilied by the solvent action of water. 



Thus it will be seen that there is an immediate re- 

 lationship and constant interchange between the an 

 imal, vegetable and mineral kingdoms, and the more 

 perfectly we comprehend the laws of this union, and 

 its phenomena, the more able shall we be to aA'ail 

 ourselves of the riches which nature so prodigally 

 holds forth as an encouragement to enlightened 

 toil. We should ever l)ear in mind the important 

 fact that manures are endued with degrees of energj-, 

 partly from their innate richness, and partly from 

 the facility and promptness Avith which they part 

 with their fecundating particles to the soil, and to 

 the roots of plants. These are given off only in 

 solution, or in the form of solution or serified bodies, 

 (gas,) the first taking the name of liquid manure, 

 which penetrates the soil and is absorbed by it to 

 feed the roots of the crop, and the other as air, 

 which, if not absorbed and fixed by some substance 

 for which it possesses a strong affinity, will pass 

 into the atmosphere and be lost. It will hence be 

 seen that the art of manuring consists, not so much 

 in the liberality of our benefactions to the soil, as 

 in the competency of the measures we adopt to 

 prevent the escape of the soluble and gaseous pro- 

 ducts of the matters applied. It has been estimat 

 ed by a late writer, that more than one-half of all 

 the active nutrimental matter, formed by the con 

 sumption and decay of organic substances, is whol- 

 ly lost in consequence of the impei-fect and thrift 

 less habits which regulate the conduct of our farm- 

 ers in applying them. This is, indeed, an important 

 consideration, and no one who contemplates it 

 philosophically, will find cause to question the verity 

 of the remark above quoted. 



Fur the New Englund Farmer. 



DOCTORING A HORSE. 



Mr. Editor : — There has been, and perhaps now 

 is, prevalent among horses, a disease which in ma- 

 ny cases has proved fatal. Perhaps Avhat I am 

 about to relate has no relation to that disease ; it 

 it has, well — if it has not, the facts in the case I re- 

 late will not be altered. 



I have a valuable brood mare which has done no 

 work during the winter. She has lived on natural 

 mowing hay, without any extra feed, till within the 

 last few days, and is in good condition. About two 

 weeks since, I noticed that she appeared weak — 

 staggered as she left the stall for water, and would 

 stand with her feet unusually wide apart, bracing 

 in the stall, and to move quick would all but bring 

 her to the floor. Her hmbs swelled and I feared 

 the result. 



During a few days, I gave her potatoes and row- 

 en, not that she was "fioi/nc? up" but for a change 

 of food. I did not perceive that this produced anv 

 fiFect whatever. Then for three days in succession, 

 I gave her, say four quarts of oats, wet with water, 

 imong which I mixed a pint to a pint and a half 

 >f good hard wood ashes, which, with a few dry | 



oats on top, she ate very readily. After eating the 

 second mess, there was a decided improvement, and 

 after the third mess, the mare appeared very like 

 herself again. 



This was all I did to her in the way of doctoring, 

 but I gave her good attention by rubbing and feed- 

 ing, during her illness. She is now bright and 

 hearty as ever. 



I am inclined to the opinion that she had a dis- 

 ordered stomach, and that the ashes served to pu- 

 rify it and set it right. Pot or pearlash might 

 have produced the same effect, but would have re- 

 quired more care in their use. 



Shrewsbury, Jan. 23, 1856. Tiios. W. Ward. 



For the Neic England Farmer. 



LIftUID MANURING. 



BY PROF. J. A. NASH. 



All gardeners, and most farmers, know well that 

 a handful of guano, a pound of super-phosphate, 

 or a shovelful of barn manure, stirred into a bar- 

 rel of water, and a])plied after standing a few days 

 to growing plants, mIU produce effects entirely be- 

 yond what would be expected from so small 

 amounts of fertilizing matter. 



Facts show that manures, dissolved and greatly 

 diluted, possess astonishing power on the grasses 

 and on growing crops generally, if the land be well 

 underdraincd, or naturally porous. Nature has 

 drained most of our land quite enough, some of it 

 too much, owing to wliich we should be the more 

 willing to drain the rest. Now the gardener, ex- 

 pecting a large income from a small surfaced, can 

 aflbrd to apply diluted, liquid manure, from a wa- 

 tering pot or a hand engine. The shades would 

 overtake the farmer, before he would have gone 

 over a large field in this way. Can he apply it by 

 means of a water-cart, say with facilities for jiump- 

 ing it into the cart, and then letting it flow upon 

 the land, as in watering streets ? I think not pro- 

 fitably. An effort of this kind would be Ukely to 

 result, either in applying it too strong, or in such an 

 increase of labor, as would overbalance the advan- 

 tages gained. On small farms, and under the most 

 favorable circumstances, it might succeed, but could 

 not generally. The manure might be applied in a 

 less diluted form, if it were to be distributed in a 

 hard rain, as the falling rain would reduce the too 

 great strength of the manure, and cause it to per- 

 colate the soil, instead of lying on the surface to be 

 dried and evaporated by the next da) 's sun ; but 

 this could not be done always, and it ought to be 

 done never, for the farmer has no right to expose 

 his own or his men's health. 



I see not, therefore, how liquid manuring can be 

 adapted to any considerable extent among us, un- 

 less it be either in the very expensive way employ- 

 ed by some distinguished Enghsh farmers, or in one 

 or the' other of the two following, which are not 

 recommended, for to my knowledge, neither has 

 ever been tried, but simply suggested for the con- 

 sideration of practical men. 



The first suggestion applies only to mow land ; 

 and it could taiic effect only in cases where the 

 mowing is a slope of land below and near the barn, 

 and where a brook, or copious spring of water, could 

 at pleasure be turned into the yard. It proposes 

 to let a stream of water into a tank in tlie yard, 

 the tank to receive the liquid and a portion of the 



