<;■;-:') 



THE GENESEE FARMER. 



Oct. 



begin to grow, then is the time to cut and cure it for 



forage. After the maturity of the seeds, the leaves 



tin only one fourth as much of the phosphates 



matfci : as they did before. This remark 



is particolarly designed for our Southern friends, 



waste valuable time in "pulling- fodder;'' when 



more and better food for stock might be had for 



half the labor. 



The change in the amount of potash, soda, mag- 

 ne: '.a, lime, sulphur, phosphorus, chlorine, fee, are 

 curious, and highly interesting to the critical student. 

 For these, we must refer the reader to the Essay 

 itself. Allowing 3 plants to a square yard, white 

 flint corn will take in round numbers 382 pounds of 

 earthy minerals from an' acre in a crop. Omitting 

 fractions, as we do, the figures stand thus: 



g ilica. - - 158 lbs. 



Phosphates of Iron and Magnesia, 72 



Potash, .-' - --- 48 



Soda, - - ---- 47 



Lime, - 12 



Magnesia, - 7 



Chlorine, - 13 



Sulphuric Acid, -- 23 



382 

 Analyses of th,e ash of the kernel at different 

 stages, of the eou, stalk, husks, sheath, roots, leaves, 

 silk, tassel, &c, are given, which we pass over to 

 notice briefly the " Proximate Organic Analyses of 

 the several parts of the plant at different stages of 

 its growth.'' It should be stated that the seed was 

 planted on the 3d of June: that the crop was ripe on 

 the 18th of October: and that the nutritive elements 

 were searched for mostly between August 2d, and 

 October 18th. On June *21st, when the plants were 

 10 or 11 inches high and made up of leaves, they 

 contained 33 per cent of sugar and extract, calcu- 

 lated on the dry matter. The sugar and extract 

 amounted to over 25 per cent on the 2d of August, 

 ^rom Align:;; 23d to October 18th, the decrease was 

 about l f J percent. The ripe sheaths are richer na 

 nitrogen than the unripe ones, but contain less sugar 

 es I i-'et and dextrine. " The plant during the j eriod 

 rig to the very large percentage of 

 sugar and extract, with the respectable quantity of 

 afcter and dextrine which the stalk, 

 leaves and - ■ mtain, must afford very pali 

 as well n;; nutri 9r." In kernels there is a 



gradual and very uniform decrease of sugar and 

 extract from their earliest growth till they mature, 

 and a corre increase of starch. Albuminous 



matter also gradually increases, as the kernels 

 advance, and at the same time casern (cheese) 

 diminishes. 



Septei iber 6tb kernels are in the early stage of 

 milk. Cob at this period is rich in albumen, casein 

 and dextrine. These bodies accumulate at tin 

 of the young seeds. As the kernels grow the albu- 

 men, casein and dextrine decrease rapidly in the 

 cob. In comparing the leaves, sheaths (which sur- 

 round the stalk,) stalk and cob with each other, if 

 we judge of the value of each by the p< r < entage of 

 matter soluble in water and alcohol, then in nutrient 

 bodies leaves rank first, sin th s second, Ik third, 

 and cob fourth. Of the latter, Mr. Salisbury speaks 

 in terms more favorable than our observations have 

 led us to believe were strictly warranted. 



We have given but a meagre synopsis of this 

 compact and val] ay to which we shall oft< a 



have occasion to turn for reliable information. 



AGEICELTURAIi CHEMISTHT. 



One of the most useful and scientific lecturers 

 on Agricultural Chemistry in England, is J. C. 

 Nesbit, Esq., P. G. S., etc. Speaking of farm 

 yard dung, feeding sheep, and plowing in green 

 crops, &c, he offers the following important sug- 

 gestions: — 



'• Let us begin with the far-famed farm-yard dung, which 

 is supposed to be so superior to all other things. Ii is that 

 which grows the crops, and which, in the estimation of the 

 former, is not surpassed by any possible combination of sub- 

 stances. Now, what is this farm-yard dung? It is formi d 

 by acting upon vegetable m itter in some way or 'other. 

 You either take a quantity of vegetable matter, and pass it 

 through the stomachs of animals, where it is acted upoiiand 

 the refuse pass out, or you ptit vegetable matter — as straw, 

 or litter — in the yards, and allow the excrements of animals 

 to he mingled with it, and a slow decomposition to take 

 place. The whole being commingled and mixed together 

 is known hy the name of farm-yard dung. Now, a very 

 little consideration will show that the whole of the material 

 which is found by you, gentlemen, to be practically so useful 

 on the farm is merely derived from vegetables; so that you 

 are, in fact, applying the remains and refuse of vegetables 

 to renovate the land. This is the whole secret of faun y;.r 1 

 dung: it is vegetable matter, which, when partially decom- 

 posed, is se-applied to the land, where it forms vegetables 

 over again; so that you are continually working as it were 

 in a circle. Thus the same particles of matter imported on 

 the farm perhaps in the shape of oil-cake, first re-appears in 

 the shape of a turnep, again as barley, now as beet-root, 

 now as wheat — the cycle of changes continues until the 

 identical particles are exported from the land as beef or mut- 

 ton, or as grain. 



Now I hope I shall be able to offer one or two ideas with 

 respect to the origin and nsturc of this farm-yard dung; and 

 let me say we can never have our ideas too near the truth 

 respecting the origin and nature of that which is so con- 

 stantly under our" notice. Some gentlemen have got an 

 idea that animals have a mysterious power — of what nature 

 it is ii.ij ossible to say. but they imagine that it really i 

 — a mysterious power, by means of which they can ( ! 

 a turnep, or a quantity of oats or greens, into a su] 

 manure for land; and thatfood must have passed thn 

 the animal before it can beVeally useful on the land. That 

 is tiie idea entertained on this subject by ninety-nine form- 

 ers out of a hundred. I must proceed this evening to dis- 

 abuse your minds of that erroneous notion; I must inform 

 you that the manure obtained from animals is alw 

 den', us regards its value on the food which the animal eats, 

 and that the excrements of animals are always less \ab il I . 

 and less powerful in manuring principles, than is the 

 consumed by those animals while producing I 

 that green food plowed into the land, will give mo 

 to tin 1 land than the same yon:' eaten by animals. Not that 

 [ would recommend you, as a rule, to plow in your v< 

 bios; but i wish yo i to remember that your shi 

 posit nothing en the land but wh it they have Grst o 

 from the food; and that ut circuit! 



'ii d w ill be less than that received. Now let us* look 

 a little at thi-: point. You know that in one of our ordi 

 (ire-places, v> hen coals are put into the grate and a li • 

 applii d to them, an action take bich makes i ! 



differ from that below ike fire: with mi n 



of the name of a single chemical element, yet; have only to 

 apply your plain common sense in order to be aware that an 

 action takes pla • between the air and the coals, produ 

 heat, and that the air above the coals (in the chimney) is 

 very different from the air below the coals, whi 



te. Now you give >u\ animal a c rtai mount of 

 that food is taken into the system; . notion 



• . i ich inspire and expire the a 

 of bringing into the system e lnrgo amount of air. This 

 oir acts upon the food which is tal i n into the system. By 

 the combustion or burning of a i erlain amount of thai f rod, 

 i lieat is produced, which keeps tip the temperature of 

 the i nimals, as that they get a higher tem] erature than the 

 surrounding atmosphere. The expired air contains the re- 

 sult of that combustion, and resembles in composition the 

 air of the chimney; another portion of food not used for 

 produi ing animal heat is laid upon the bones, forming muscle, 

 or fat; and'what the bullock itself has no use for is east oul 

 of the system. Now. you observe at once that the animal, 



