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GENESEE FARMER. 



Mar. 



Preserving Timber. 



Messrs. Editors : — I learn by the " Rail 

 Road Journal," that some spruce cross ties on 

 one of the Massachusetts Railroads, composed of 

 sticks 7 feet long and 6X6 inches square, had 

 recently been impregnateil through the pores 

 with sulphate of copper, by way of experiment, 

 to try the effect as to preserving it. 



Basswood is very light, soft wood, and noted 

 for its decaying qualities, it is not used for timber 

 in any kind of out door work for this i-eason, we 

 have no timber that rots in a shorter time than 

 basswood. 



In 1834, I impregnated some basswood with a 

 atrong solution of blue-vitriol, (sulphate of cop- 

 per,) it was seven feet long, ten inches wide, 

 and three inches tliick, green, with the bark on, 

 cut in June. This stick lay six years partly 

 buried in the ground. I tlien took it up and 

 made a thorough examination, and was surprised 

 to find it so wonderfully preserved, in every 

 part, even the bark was solid, and adhered to- 

 gether as firmly as when first cut. I then ex- 

 amined the remaining portion of the tree, and 

 found it almost wholly decayed, having been left 

 on a side hill, rooky land, where it had fallen. 



This stick has since been exposed in the same 

 way to wet and dry, heat and cold. Last sum- 

 mer I made another examination, and found it to 

 all appearance, as sound as when first cut, every 

 portion of it was examined also, by cutting and 

 splitting off a piece. 



Whether I am the first that has discovered the 

 wonderful preservative ([ualities of blue-vitriol 

 applied to green timber, I know not. 



The woody part of most kinds of timber in full 

 Tegetation is only one-third, the other t.vo thirds 

 is composed of sap and air, about equal quantities. 

 I think the above solution miglit be freely infused 

 into living timber by capillary attraction. 



S. W. Jewett. 

 Wayhridge, Vt., 184G. [Boston Cult. 



Remarks. — Our friend Mr. J. will find it dif- 

 ficult to prove that the air in green wood weighs 

 half as much a.s the water and solid matter, found 

 in " green timber." Perhaps when he says tliat 

 one third of green timber is "air," he means in 

 bulk, and not in weight. Most of the air that 

 circulates in the trunks of trees is contained in 

 their sap, and the percentage is small. 100 

 parts of green walnut dried at 212, lost 37.5 per 

 cent of moisture ; 100 parts of white oak lost 41 

 per cent ; 100 of white maple, 48 per cent. — 

 Boussingault estimates the average of water in 

 green timber at 40 per cent; one half of which 

 only is dissipated by seasoning in common air. — 

 100 lbs. of dry wood, whetlier pine, basswood, or 

 hickory, evolve equal ([uantities of heat on burn- 

 ing. Mr. Jewetl's exp(M-iment is alike valuable 

 and interesting, altliough the same process had 

 been practiced many years ago. — Ed. Gen. Far. 



Mineral vs. Barnyard Manure. 



Prof. Henry D. Rogkrs, in his report on 

 the Geology of New Jersey as copied by Prof. 

 Hitchcock, (Geology of Massachusetts, page 94,) 

 says : 



"Mr. Woolley manufactured apiece of land 

 in the proportions of 200 loads of good stable 

 manure to the acre, applying upon an adjacent 

 tract of the same soil, his marl (green sand of 

 N. J.,) in the ratio of about 20 loads per acre. 

 The crops (timothy and clover,) were much the 

 heavier on the marled land, with this additional 

 advantage, that the plot fertilized with the fossil 

 manure was entirely free from weeds, while the 

 stable manure had rendered its crop very foul." 



This marl, according to Prof Roger's analy- 

 sis, contains 10 per cent of potash. 



Why, we ask, was one load of this " fossil 

 manure" worth a good deal more than 200 loads 

 of "good stable manure?" 



Answer, — Because the former contained more 

 of the essential mineral elements of timothy and 

 clover than the latter. There was more potash, 

 lime and phosphoric acid in the 20 loads of marl, 

 than in the 200 loads of stable manure. Hence 

 it often happens that a farmer might be the gai- 

 ner by exchanging 2000 lbs. of barnyard manure 

 for 100 lbs. of pure guano. 



For the Genesee Farmer. 



Ashes as a Manure. 



Mr. Editor: — I like your views on the sub- 

 ject of ashes as a manure. It is nearer to the 

 true fertilizer of the soil than any otlier within 

 the reach of the farmer. From my experience 

 I think a bushel of unleached ashes worth more 

 than two bushels of plaster, on any crop — par- 

 ticularly if applied as a top dressing, and not on 

 too low and wet land. Its operation is quick, and 

 not perhaps as lasting, on the the grasses as plas- 

 ter — but, for summer crops, altogether preferable. 

 So convinced am I of this fact, that I get the dogs 

 out as soon as I see an ash pedlar come within 

 sight of the house! 



Its effect is better on loamy and sandy soils, 

 than on clays. Mixed with plaster it operates 

 well on corn — and, witli plaster and common 

 soot, on wlieat and grasses, sown the first dry 

 days in the spring. It is the solvent for the silex 

 or flint, that is the glazing and one of the com- 

 ponents of straw, hay stalks, and the frame of 

 every kind of grain that is cultivated. 



Plaster costs al)out one shilling per bushel, and 

 the ash men only pay 8 to 10 cents for ashes; 

 and it must be very bad economy to sell ashes to 

 buy plaster with. A mixiure of plaster with 

 ashes, sown broad-cast on corn before the first 

 hoeing, operates just as well as a})plying it to the 

 hills — at leivst such is my experience. 



Feb., 1846. L t. 



Mineral — Any natural substance of a metalic, 

 earthy, or saline nature. 



