424 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



Sept. 



tive beans, and then found a quick sale at a high 

 price for the remainder. 



These sifters are made and sold by Mr. San- 

 FOED Adams, Lincoln Street, Boston, who is a 

 hard-working, ingenious man, and who has prob- 

 ably never eaten a pound of bread or meat since 

 he was six years old, before he had earned it. We 

 wish he had eight or ten platoons of young gen- 

 tlemen and ladies under his charge, who think 

 they have a right to eat and drink without first 

 having earned what they eat or drink. 



FuT the New England Farmer. 

 AWAIiYSIS OF B01IiS-..MANUBES. 



You hear, everywhere, from men learned, per- 

 haps, in some branches of knowledge, but who 

 never have experimented in agricultural chemis- 

 try, that agricultural science is merely this : — 

 Analyze the plant and see what are its elements; 

 analyze the soil, and see if the ingredients of 

 the plant are there, and if not, supply them. 

 This is seemingly easy to comprehend, and 

 seemingly easy to execute ; and many farmers 

 have thought that their sons could learn to 

 be their own practical chemists in one, or at 

 most, tv.'o terms at an academy. I think that 

 the establishment of nominal agricultural de- 

 partments in our little academies have encour- 

 aged the idea ; though in the end it must have 

 the reverse eifect. Agriculturists should be dis- 

 abused of this false notion, and know that it re- 

 quires as much time to learn to make reliable 

 analyses, as it does to acquire the legal knowl 

 edge necessary for a lawyer, or the medical knowl- 

 edge necessary for the trusty physician. 



When the student of agricultural science is able 

 to make reliable analyses, and hardly till then, 

 can he understand the difficulties of the task he 

 has undertaken. He will find that chemical anal- 

 ysis alone cannot enable him to direct with any 

 considerable certainty, the best method of treat- 

 ing a particular soil — no man can do it. The 

 chemical reactions in the soil are so complicated, 

 and so little is known of the manner in which 

 plants grow, that science, in its present state, 

 cannot positively decide the matter. We quote 

 upon this point, Prof. G. W. Johnson, of Yale 

 College, and Consulting Chemist to the Connect- 

 icut State Agricultural Society. "He says : — 

 "We are every day drifting further from what 

 but a few years ago was considered one of the 

 most fixed and beneficial principles of agricultu- 

 ral science, viz. : that a substance is chiefiy a fer- 

 tilizer because it directly feeds the plant, and are 

 learning from the numerous recent and carefully 

 conducted experiments with manures, that in 

 very many cases we cannot safely venture to pre- 

 dict what will be the influence of a given appli- 

 cation ; but find in practice the strangest and 

 most discordant results, it being literally possible 

 to show from the experience of the farm that al- 

 most every fertilizer in use has in some instances 

 proved beneficial to every cultivated crop, and 

 m other cases has been indifferent or even detri- 

 mental." "We are, therefore, compelled more 

 and more to regard the indirect action of ma- 

 nures." This indirect action refers to the changes 



that take place between the elements of the fer- 

 tilizer and the elements of the soil. To illus- 

 trate, we quote an example which he has given: 

 " Wolflf found that the ashes of the straw of buck- 

 wheat, grown with a large supply of common salt, 

 (chlorine and sodium,) compared with the ashes 

 of the same part of that plant grown on the same 

 soil, minus this addition, contained less chloride 

 of sodium, but much more chloride of potassium ; 

 there having occurred an exchange of basis in 

 the soil." The chlorine had changed from the 

 sodium of the salt to the potassium of the soil. 

 This may explain the various effects of gypsum. 

 If it is put upon a soil in which an ammonia salt 

 will be decomposed and the ammonia set free, it 

 is beneficial ; but if it enters into other combina- 

 tions, or remains inactive, it will be, as it very 

 frequently is, of no value. 



We would not, then, have the agriculturist ex- 

 pect too much, on easy terms, from science, nor 

 would we have him expect too little. Do not 

 think that because science blunders, and is not 

 sure-footed, that it is worth nothing. It is young 

 and not perfected ; but already, it has taught 

 much that is valuable to every man that has a 

 rod of land, and there is hardly a man in New 

 England but has been more or less instructed, 

 though unwittingly. 



Do not think because your sons cannot be- 

 come masters of chemistry in a term or tv/o, it 

 does them no good to study at all. They need 

 a knowledge of chemistry to understand fully the 

 article we have written, and so much can be giv- 

 en at an academy or high school. There is much 

 knowledge that can be given by a competent 

 teacher, in a single term, to a class in agriculture. 

 To have it valuable, the teacher should not be a 

 mere book man, a theorist, but one who has ap- 

 plied his science. o. M. 



Wilbraham, Mass., July 21, 1859. 



Clean Milking. — It is sometimes forgotten 

 that the last gill of milk drawn from the cow's 

 udder is the best part of every milking. Careful 

 experiments made in England show (according 

 to a report lately published,) that "the quantity 

 of cream obtained from the last drawn cup from 

 most cows, exceeds that of the first in the pro- 

 portion of twelve to one." The difference in the 

 quality also is considerable. Hence, a person 

 who carelessly leaves but half a pint of milk un- 

 drawn, loses in reality as much cream as would 

 be aft'orOed by six or eight pints at the begin- 

 ning ; and loses, too, that part of the cream 

 which gives the richness and high flavor to his 

 butter. 



Paints. — Pure paint is always better than adul- 

 terated ; most of the grinders of white lead and 

 white zinc grind these pigments with sulphate 

 of baryta ; avoid such paints. The baryta cannot 

 hold the oil and soon rubs off. In painting wag- 

 ons, plows and other implements, use no spirits 

 of turpentine. Wait a little longer for the paint 

 to dry, and it will last longer when dry. Use 

 pure linseed oil, and none of the patent rosin oil 

 mixtures. For many utensils, common shellac 

 varnish answers as well as paint, and maintains 

 the original color of the wood. — Working Farmer. 



