554 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



Dec, 



■water. Superphosphate of Lime is very easily 

 dissolved. The nutriment of plants is taken up 

 only in a liquid form, and it is desirable, there- 

 fore, to apply all fertilizers in the form most 

 soluble. 



Superpliospliate of Lime is made usually of 

 hones of animals, which are mostly Phosphate of 

 Lime, and as all know, not readily dissolved in 

 ■water. 



In this form, as has been said, the phosphoric 

 acid and lime are chemically combined in the 

 proportion of two and two. 



They form a sort of equal union or marriage — 

 one hone if not one flesh. 



Now, the object is to break up this union, to 

 entice away from the Phosphoric acid its lawful 

 lord and master, the Lime, which we may regard 

 as the weaker vessel. 



Now the process is perfectly natural. All we 

 have to do is, to bring to her neighborhood and 

 notice, an object of stronger affection, an affinity, 

 as the chemists term it. Sulphuric acid and 

 lime have a stronger affinity or affection for 

 each other, than Phosphoric acid and Lime, and 

 so we make use of this fact, and by adding sul- 

 phuric acid, we at once entice away a proportion 

 of the lime, which forms a union with it as Sul- 

 phate of Lime, and leaves the remaining lime lo 

 form the only remaining connection which the 

 iaws of chemical combination allow, with the 

 ■phosphoric acid, as superphosphate of lime. 



If the question be asked lohy do chemical com- 

 binations occur only in certain fixed proportions, 

 we cannot answer. 



If asked why in one proportion, the same sub- 

 stances are more soluble than in another, we 

 cannot tell. When we have found uniform re- 

 sults from certain operations, and can divine no 

 reason, we call it a law of nature. 



Why has one substance a stronger affinity or 

 affection for another, than for a third ? 



A Yankee might answer, by asking why one 

 young gentleman and lady have a stronger aff"ec- 

 tion for each other, than all else in the world be- 

 side. The facts ai'e equally apparent, — the ex- 

 planation often extremely difficult. — Country 

 Gentleman. 



THE LAMAS. 



Apropos to the attempt to naturalize the camel 

 in the United States, eff'orts have just com 

 menced to acclimatize the lama — a native of 

 South America — the animal from which the fa 

 mous alpaca wool is obtained. Forty-two of 

 these animals recently arrived in this city, being 

 imported from Escuador by way of Aspinwall 

 They are destined, we understand, for the Eastern 

 States, in the hope that they may become inured 

 to the climate, and take the place of sheep, in 

 some cases, on account of their wool, which is 

 very valuable. In their native regions they are 

 shorn twice every year, and yield, at each slaear- 

 ing, about sixteen pounds — four times the quan 

 tity obtained from the common sheep, which are 

 shorn only once annually. They are pretty large 

 animals, weighing from 200 to 300 lbs., and are 

 used as beasts of burden in South America — they 

 are the American camel. They live on coarse 

 herbage in the region of the Andes mountains; 

 and it is believed they will prosper in the hilly 

 portions of Vermont, Maine and New Hampshire. 



If not, we think they can be acclimatized in the 

 mountainous regions of Virginia, North Carolina 

 and Tennessee. 



We really hope that this laudable eff"ort to in- 

 troduce the lama into our country will prove suc- 

 cessful, as its flesh is said to be equal to the best 

 venison, Avhile its wool is now extensively em- 

 ployed in manufacturing very beautiful fabrics. 

 We also hope that if one eff'ort fails, others will 

 be made, as it is reasonable to suppose that, with 

 our great variety of climate and soil, this useful 

 animal can be acclimated in some part of our 

 ountry. — Scientific American. 



NEW AND VALUABLE DISINFECTING 

 AGENT. 



A Dr. Angue Smith of Manchester, England, 

 lately read a paper before the Society of Arts, 

 London, England, in which he stated that he and 

 a friend named McDougall, some years ago had 

 made numerous experiments to find out a good 

 disinfecting agent, and at last found that Sul- 

 phate of Magnesia, which is procured from Mag- 

 nesian Limestone, and a certain per centage of 

 carbonic or phenic acid, which is procured from 

 coal tar, made a disinfecting powder of remark- 

 able efficacy. The mode of using this powder is 

 to first sweep the stable, then sprinkle it with 

 the powder, the quantity being about the same 

 as that of sand to sprinkle a floor. Then the 

 litter is thrown over this. This powder has been 

 found so powerful and eff'ective, that when in- 

 troduced into stables where sick and wounded 

 arcny horses were, no disagreeable odor was per- 

 ceptible either from the wounds or the foeces. A 

 stable keeper, who always kept on hand a large 

 number of horses, found that by using this pow- 

 der his horses were healthier, lung diseases had 

 disappeared or decreased, while their eyes and 

 health did not suff"er^ from the irritating effects 

 of the ammonia wHich is to be found in all 

 stables. It was also found that the stable was 

 cooler, and that the dung did not decompose, so 

 that the flies did not breed in it, and tlicie were 

 fewer of these pests to annoy the beasts. Mr. 

 Murray, the stable keeper, also found that after 

 the manure of his stable, in which he had used 

 this powder, had been used one year, he was 

 off'ered double for it next year by the market 

 gardeners who had purchased and used it. As 

 Dr. Smith was not a trading man, had no interest 

 in manufactures, and did not mean to have, his 

 statements in relation to this matter are con- 

 sidered reliable and disinterested. 



Farming on a Grand Scale. — Several men 

 of wealth in New York, Buffalo and Chicago, 

 (says the Movement, a new paper just started in 

 New York,) have it in contemplation to establish 

 somewhere in the West, a Leviathan Farm, of 

 from 100,000 to 200,000 acres. Their object is 

 to do for agriculture, by the use of combined 

 wealth and the power of machinery, what has 

 been done in the past half century, by the rail- 

 road and factory, to supercede the old stage- 

 coach and the spinning-wheel. They will organ- 

 ize the vast tract into two rival establishments, 

 with military organization of labor, gigantic ma- 

 chinery, to pibw, to plant, reap and harvest — vast 



