is I!). 



THE GENESEE PARMER. 



in 



PEAT MUCK, LIME. PLASTER, AND ASHES. 

 Bl S. B LRRI I I. 



Messrs. ElsrroBfi : — Having a little snow, and 

 wishing to improve the "sleighing," (though rather 

 out of season,) I have commenced hauling muck, 

 for the purpose of increasing the manure heap. — 

 1 think I have a pretty good supplj of the raw mate- 

 rial. Some twenty rods from my barn I have a pit 

 of muck. It covers about three-fourths of an acre oi 

 Burface, and is from two to six feet in depth. It is 

 o[' a dark brown, when thrown up, but most oi" it 

 turns black on exposure to the air. 



1 had a man from the "land of bogs" to throw it 

 up for me. He cut a large ditch across two sides of 

 it. which answers the double purpose of bringing up 

 the muck and draining the water off, so that the 

 remainder will bear good grass. Some of it, he said, 

 looked very much like the peat they burn in the "ould 

 counthry." At the bottom, it appears to be composed 

 mostly of leaves ; their form is very distinctly to be 

 seen, but is very rotten. How long these substances 

 have lain there it would be difficult to conjecture. 

 Trees of two feet over or more have grown upon the 

 ground. 



The properties of this muck, I suppose, could not 

 be ascertained without a chemical analysis ; but its 

 effects on lands I intend to test in various ways, and 

 after a careful series of experiments, you may expect 

 to hear from me again. To-day I have thrown some 

 in my hog-pen and put some by my horse stable ; 

 and when our winter gets a little bigger, and I have 

 a little more leisure, I shall put a larger quantity in my 

 barn yards, and let the cattle, sheep and hogs have 

 the pleasure of mixing it well with straw and litter. 



And now I want to put in an inquiry or two, which 

 is the object of this communication. It is about the 

 use of lime, plaster, and ashes. I know not when 

 nor how to use lime ; my land I think evidently needs 

 it. especially for the production of wheat. But I 

 have seen some statements of lime being used in 

 compost, where it was a positive injury. As for 

 plaster, is it better to put it into the heap, or to sow 

 it on the land ? And leached ashes, whether a farmer 

 can, with profit, draw them four or five miles ? — and 

 if so, w T hether he had better put them in the yard, 

 and then load and haul them out again ? As for 

 lime, which would be economy, in drawing it eight 

 or ten miles, to buy that which is air-slaked and pay 

 some five cents per bushel, or take the real article 

 fresh from the kiln and pay double that price ? If 

 you will give us some light on these subjects, you 

 will not only oblige the writer, but, as he thinks, 

 confer a favor on many of your readers. 



Ridgeway, JY. Y., Nov., 1848. 



Remarks. — The description our correspondent 

 gives of his ''muck,'' shews it to be pure decayed 

 vegetable matter, having undergone the last stages 

 of decomposition, and is the material known as peat. 

 It possesses none of the properties of manure alone, 

 and can not be stimulated into fermentation by any 

 of the mineral salts or earths. If charred it becomes 

 a kind of charcoal or coke, and is highly carbona- 

 ceous and a capital absorbent of ammonia and the 

 other gasses and salts of animal manure. In a raw 

 state, it is valuable to distribute in manure heaps, 

 and in sheds and among composts. In open barn 

 yards it is objectionable, as it produces a very unctious 

 and disagreeable black mud. 



Mixed with clayey heavy soils it has a good effect 



mically, it uot ohemii ally, in rendering il - 

 light, and pervious to water and air. It is entu 



different from the Bediment of | . thii 



recent vegetable and some animal matter, lime. 

 and . arths in a very line and conunin 



and is a strong stimulating mam soil. 



If the soil needs lime, apply it by spr< 

 sowing on the surface; m i il withrecentor 



fermentable manure . Air Blaked i- just as valuable 



■fore it 

 can act; if one bushel of quick lime will make two 

 when slaked, it is of course worth twice a- much. 



Plaster for wheat should be dragged in, in the fall 

 at sowing, and for all other en atop 



dressing. Ashes may be used in any and all ways : 

 it never comes amiss. As well as plaster, it may be 

 mixed in the manure heaps, in stables and sheds ; or 

 used as a top dressing. If you can buy in your own 

 neighborhood fresh ashes lor eight or ten cents, don't 

 think of drawing the leached article four or five n 

 They are worth more than plaster, for any crop — 

 particularly en sandy or loamy soils — although its 



! are not as lasting. A bushel of plaster w i 

 about 100 lbs., for which we pay at the mills 12 j 

 per hundred, and good house ashes can be purchased 

 at 6 to 10 cts. If our readers think as we do of the 

 value of ashes, the question is easily settled as to 

 their relative value. * 



COLLIN'S AND STONE'S PATE'NT CHEESE PRESS. 



The annexed figure and description of this very 

 valuable implement, we copy from the Catalogue of 

 the Albany Agricultural Warehouse : 



"This cut is a correct view of the press in actual 

 use. It is constructed by means of double or com- 

 pound levers, which are so arranged that the weight 

 of the cheese or curd is the power which pr< 

 itself, and as they are usually made, press in a ten or 

 twelve fold ratio. This is found enough for the 

 commencement of the process, but when more is 

 required, it is added by simply placing on the plat- 

 form an extra weight, as a brick weighing four 

 pounds would give forty to forty-eight pounds of 

 extra pressure. It is sufficiently strong to hold a 

 cheese of 150 or 200 pounds weight. The press is 

 loosened in an instant by a small lever, about four or 

 five feet long, and a child can loosen it. P>y hooking 

 down the lever, the press answers every purpose 

 table to turn and trim the cheese upon. The \ 

 weighs from thirty to fifty pounds complete, and 

 occupies a space of about two feet square. There 

 are three sizes now made : No. 1, smallest, $>5,00 ; 

 No. 2, second, §6,50 ; No. 3, largest, $6,00." 



