1856. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



349 



benefits upon his country, by the introduction of' press speaks, a viol sings, a spade delves, or a flag 

 new varieties of plants and fruits, while another , waves, without the hammer. Without the ham- 

 will devote himself to the introduction of new mer, civilization would be imknown, and the human 

 breeds of animals, or to the improvement of those ' species only as defenceless brutes ; but in skilful 

 already existing. If our farmers would become ! hands, directed by wisdom, it is an instrument of 

 self-instructors, and study and think for themselves, 'power, of gi-eatness and of true glory. — Fanner and 



FoT the New Ensland Farmer. 



no profession would be more honorable, or have Mechanic, JVashville, Tenn. 

 more weight in society, or be more eagerly sought 

 after by the active and intelligent of all classes. — 

 Farming would cease to be mere drudgerv, and 

 those who pursue it, to be "of the earth, earthy. "PULVERIZED GRANITE AS A MANURE. 

 All farm operations would be based upon scientific w -D-nni^ t a x-a^tt 



knowledge. JNew prmciples, new processes, and 



important and valuable results would be brought Mr. Brown :— An excellent farmer from a neigh- 

 out that would confer fame and fortune on their boring town recently called on me to inquire wheth- 

 discoverers, and great benefits upon the human t er granite, reduced to a powder, would not be a 

 race. We should have farmers who would be'sood fertilizer, by reason of the alkalies contained 

 known as the authors of valuable works, farmers} in it, especially in the felspar and mica, 

 who would achieve a high rank in intellectual im- His reasoning was, that wood ashes prove an ex- 

 provement, which would fit them for the most hon- cellent manure for nearly all soils in this region ; 

 orable and dignified positions in society. R. '^"d that falspar and mica contain the very ingre- 



dients to which we ascribe their benefit, in still lar- 

 ger proportions than ashes. I told him that ex- 

 periments had been made with the fine dust of 

 stone-yards, where granite only had been ham- 

 mered, and that good results were said to have 

 followed ; but that I knew not how carefully the 



SEA WATER, AND A COTTON SHIRT ! 



Between sea-water and a cotton shirt there is a 



very close affinity ; and yet, how few men who wear 



shirts made of cotton, and how few of their wives I . ^i,, . r u ^ i_ 



^^ ^u A • t-u i • 1 *u • *•„ * 1 I experiments had been made, 1 could not say how 



clothed in the same material, see the intimate rela- j ^ , i ^ ^, -^ i ^ i ^ ■,. ^ 



tion that subsists between the various salts of the 



Most 



much was due to the granite dust, or how much to 

 extraneous matters that might have accumulated 



ocean and the great staple of the South? ^.^ucm,, . , . 



persons know that an ovster is nutritious food, and ^tt '. , j ., , ■,■ e ■, n • ^.i. ^ 



fi „t ,v „„„ • „ u „ ; u t- u *i • „ „^,-„ tie stated, that on his farm, and generally m that 



that it grows m salt water ; but why this same ovs- • ii t_ i i ^,. •' ^, ^ 



♦„_ ,.;„i^„ „ ~ lu * i * *•'„„' neighborhood, are large masses oi granite, that 



ter yields a manure worth ten or twenty times \ '^ -, , ' , ?, ^ • .• i i 



more than that of a pig fed on corn, ofa like weight, I ^""/'^ be spared as wel as not, consistmg largely 

 how few understand? Fish are the food of bh-ds'^/.^^ly^^^^- ^"d, "™^' ^^^h very little quartz; that 

 whose excrements constitute commercial g^^no ; if ^*^ ^j^ "^'^^^ "^^"^'e' ^"^ f«"l^' 1" "« oP™°"' 

 and fish themselves have been used for indefinite 1 "^^^'^^"^"^ t.° a fine powder at very htile exp_ense; 



and that he beHeved the value of it, as a fertilizer, 

 would be equal to that of wood-ashes. lie was 



ages to fertilize the ground cultivated by man. 



But 100 pounds of dung formed exclusively of fish, ; ^^". *u <. ^^ ..• u 1 1 u n i *. *i 



/!,. , ^„- w • .„ *u 4. 4-u u 1 1 ,1 desirous that attention shou d be called to the 



dry weight, is worth two or three hundred pounds , • . , -. . . , . .. *i, .. t •* i, 



^e f-L^ ^or^^ fi u ^■ 1 e 4.U „ „ « t Isubiect, and it is at his request that 1 write, hop- 



oi the same fish for manure before they were eaten . > ,,' ^ v •.. • i- :■ *i u- J ..-u 



I,,, 1-1^ rpi- • .„ t i. <• + -^ J ti, ,.'ing rather to elicit information on the subject, than 



by bu'ds. Ihis is an important fact, and one thati * . . ■' ' 



points to the ifj^M guano is so valuable. Fish part p, .' j.™ ,, . .. ... j, 



^ith a large share'of their carbon and elements of I ^f^^^^^^ differs great y m its composition. Some 

 water in the systems of birds that digest them, so I '^P^^^^.f "« ^°"f * largelyof quartz, which is nearly 

 -T, . p„,,„ 1 -•'t 1 ^-cuj-u*' 1,1 ^ pure silica (nint sand,) and consequently would pos- 



that tour hundred pounds of hsh, dry weight, yield , ' \ e {■ -i n,A • ^ 



„ 1 u J I A '■ -, rvi ] \^ SQSS no value for ordinary sous. Others consist 



only one hundred pounds 01 dry guano, i he latter , , p/.i , i ..u ui e u 



■'.„• 1 11 1.1 -t 11 I ^ largeh of felspar, known by the resemblance or its 



contains nearly all the nitrogen and phosphates,! , ^^ •' ^ .,, ' '» ,• ^ at- /i 



„ 1 1- / . ,.s ,1 x: 1 J fracture to that of china ware. Mica (known some- 



soda, iirae and magnesia, which the fish possessed ; 



while the combustible carbon and hydrogen in the 



fish were literally burnt in the bodies of the birds 

 to keep them warm. In this way nature concen- 

 trates fertilizers, and thereby greatly facilitates their 

 cheap and extensive distribution for agricultural 

 purposes. — Dr. Lee. 



The Hammer. — The hammer is the universal 

 emblem of mechanics. With it are alike forged the 

 sword of contention and the plowshare of peaceful 

 agriculture. In ancient warfare, the hammer was 

 a powerful weapon, independent of the place which 

 it formed. The hammer is the wealth of nations. 

 By it are forged the ponderous engine and the tiny 

 needle. It is an instrument of the savage and the 

 civilized. Its merry clink points out the abode of 

 industry : it is a domestic ditty, presiding over the 

 grandeur of the most wealthy and ambitious, as wel: 

 as the humble and impoverished. Not a stick is 

 shaped, not a house is r lised, a ship floats, or a 

 carriage rolls, a wheel spins, an engine moves, a 



times as isinglass) is the third ingredient of granite. 

 In some specimens, albite, which is a silicate of 

 soda instead of potash, takes the place of felspar. — 

 In others, hornblende, containing considerable 

 amounts of lime and magnesia, takes the place of 

 mica, as the Quincy gi-anite, more properly termed 

 sienite. 



An average sample of granite might consist of 

 something like two-fifths quartz, two-fifths felspar 

 and one-fifth mica. According to Dana, (Muck Man- 

 ual, page 50, fourth edition) felspar contains 67 per 

 cent, of silica, 17^ of alumina, 12 of potash and 1^ of 

 lime. This then is a silicate of alumina and pot- 

 ash, with a little lime. Gray mica, according to 

 the same authority, contains 51 per cent, of silica, 



21 of alumina and 10 of potash, showing it to be a 

 silicate of alumina and potash without lime. He 

 makes bro\vn mica to contain 40 per cent, of silica, 



22 per cent, of alumina, and 4^ per cent, of potash 

 or soda. 



According to these figures, were many samples 

 of granite taken at random, and so mixed as tc 



