lSli). 



rin: civm:si:k farmer. 



113 



PLASTER. -PLOWING UNDER CLOVER. 



Messrs. Editors: — It is well known that the 

 fanners in this part of the State use plaster quite 

 ively, and value it very highly. The effect of 

 c upon olover, corn, potatoes, he., on gra 

 soil, considering the amount applied, is truly w< 

 ful and surprising. The incr< ase in the yield of 

 and other crops. h\ I ation of a bushel 



of plaster per acre, is oftentimes doubled, and 

 trebled. Notwithstanding the greal and extraordi- 

 nary incn :>• it produces, many farmer 



tical as to the utility or oi applying 



pla.-t, r to the soil, believing it will have the effe 

 id of destroying and rendering utterly wort! 

 their farms. And my object in penning these lines 

 is to inquire your opinion upon this point — Whether 

 r does injure the soil ? and if so, does the injury 

 result from the application of plaster to the soil? — or 

 does it exhaust the soil merely from the great inci 

 it produces in crops ? 



There is another inquiry upon which I should like 

 your opinion. Is it for the interest of farmers who 

 own small farms, and who wish to keep up, and 

 enhance their productiveness by plowing under clover 

 for sowing winter grain, to plow it twice — once just 

 before the clover is fit for mowing, and again before 

 sowing, or mow it once and then plow in the second 

 cr>>p just before sowing ? If you will answer these 

 inquiries, it will be satisfactory and conclusive to all 

 concerned. A Subscriber. — Aurora. JY. Y., 1 849. 



Remarks. — That the use of plaster has a tendency 

 to deteriorate and exhaust the soil, is a most ridicu- 

 lous assumption. Its action is to fix and retain the 

 ammonia of the air, rains, and snows — which in 

 itself is an important assimilating agent of all plants. 



:im is composed of sulphuric acid and lime, 

 ammonia of nitrogen, (which composes four-fifths of 

 the atmosphere, and combined with plaster is nitre or 

 salt petre,) and hydrogen, one of the constituents of 

 water. In the mutual action and decomposition of 

 gypsum and ammonia, results are produced and agents 

 developed, important to the process of vegetation, and 

 in which the value of plaster is supposed to reside. 

 Bnt if the farmer wholly depends upon the applica- 

 tion of plaster to keep up the fertility of his land, 

 without rotation, rest, and the requisite green or stable 

 manure, his lands will run down and become sterile 

 and barren. 



For a clean clover and timothy ley, devoid of foul 

 grasses, it is our opinion that once plowing on or 

 before the first of September, turning under about five 

 inches in depth a good second crop of clover, is the 

 best and cheapest method that ever wheat was culti- 

 vated — while a saving of one crop of hay and two 

 plowtngs is made. It will not show as luxuriant in 

 the fall as the regular summer fallowing, but when 

 fermentation of the buried vegetable fibre commences 

 in the spring, it brings up with a rush. t 



To Drive AWAr Rats. — Mr. Charles Pierce, 

 of Milton, pounded up potash and strewed it around 

 their holes and rubbed some on the sides of the boards, 

 and under parts where they came through. The 

 next night he heard squeaking among them, which 

 he supposed was from the caustic nature of the pot- 

 ash which got among their hair and on their bare 

 feet. They disappeared, and he has not been troubled 

 with them since that time, which was nearly a year 

 ago. — Boston Cultivator. 



BLACK LEG AMONG CATTLE. 



Messrs. Editors: We has > a disease among our 



in tlii • \ icinity, u hich o atal. 



We can nei nor do thing 



whirh will give relii 

 Murra others the Bla 



July, 

 •ally,) in th 



. 



sed. i think that 



. 



nothing in tl 

 work v. hich ; lion on t] 



ips the clisi is not. a uni Sut if 



you will give ns some information, or enlist th 

 vestigations o of your corn 



ficial resull received by one, and 1 trust 



by many o rons. John Watson. — East 



Java, JY. Y., 1849. 



Remarks. — This disease is known as the black 

 leg, quarter evil, black '|ii;irter, and blood striki 

 and our correspondent describes it correctly. It is 

 an endemic and very local. Its cause is very obscure, 

 and not very rationally accounted for. It i 

 confined to young cattle, with, occasional e: 

 and to those confined to low marshes and wood! 

 Very high feed, alter getting lean in flesh, producing 

 a redundancy of blood and a tendency to infian 

 tion, are supposed to be the predisposing ca 

 mephitic atmosphere or poisonous plants may also he 

 an accelerating cause. Th 



muzzle, extension of the head, heaving of the flanks, 

 and every symptom of fever, with low means, and 



ering of the limb:?. Bleed freely and only on 

 the first symptoms, and physic immediately; if it will 

 not operate, give injed sd lightly with scald- 



ed bran or shorts. Foment the parts and put in se- 

 tons. The great object is to reduce the system, and 

 allay fever and inflammation. Cattle poor in flesh 

 and milch cows are said to be almost exempt. It is 

 contagious, and cattle affected should be removed 

 from contact with the healthy. — Ed. 



The Art of Health. — Walking is the best pos- 

 sible exercise. Habituate yourself to walk very far. 

 The Europeans value themselves on having subdued 

 the horse to the use of man; but I doubt whether 

 we have not lost more than we have gained by this 

 animal — for no one thing has caused such degeneracy 

 of the human body. An Indian goes on foot nearly 

 as far in a day as an enfeebled white does on his 

 horse, and will tire the best horses. A little walk 

 of half an hour in the morning, when you first rise, 

 is advisable. It shakes off sleep, and produces other 

 good effects in the animal economy. — Jcffi-rsoits 

 .Memoirs. 



An Ohio Cheese in London. — The London 

 papers mention the arrival there of an enormous 

 cheese. The milk of seven hundred cows was used 

 in making it, and it weighs 1174 pounds. It is 

 thirteen feet in circumference, four feet and a quarter 

 in diameter, and eighteen inches in thickness. It 

 was offered for and obtained a prize at the Fair of 

 the American Institute in New York city. 



The best way to get help is to help yourself. 



