NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



215 



upon its hills ; God himself appears within its valleys 

 at noonday ; its groves arc instinct with life and 

 purity, and the blessed stars rise at night above the 

 celestial mountains, to keep watch over its conse- 

 crated interest. Its gorgeous forests, its broad savan- 

 nas, its levels of flood and prairie, are surrendered 

 into the hands of the wondrously favored, the new- 

 created heir of heaven ! The bird and the beast are 

 made its tributaries, and taught to obey him. The 

 fowl simimons him at morning to his labors, and the 

 evening chant of the night bird warns him to repose. 

 The ox submits his neck to the yoke ; the horse 

 moves at his bidding in the plough ; and the toils of 

 all are rendered sacred and successful by the gentle 

 showers and the genial sxuishine which descend from 

 heaven, to ripen the grain in its season, and to make 

 earth pleasant with its fruits." 



VEGETABLE NUTRIMENT IN RAIN. 



Gaseous as well as vegetable and mineral matters 

 are brought bj' rain from the atmosphere. Nitrogen 

 and hydrogen, in the form of ammonia and carbonic 

 acid, — the two last foi-ming the most essential ele- 

 ments in the food of plants, — are brought down by 

 rain. 



" The nitrogen of putrefied animals," says Liebig, 

 " is contained in the atmosphere as ammonia, in the 

 state of gas, which is capable of entering into combi- 

 nation with carbonic acid, and of forming a volatile 

 salt. Ammonia, in its gaseous form, as well as all its 

 volatile compounds, is of extreme solubility in water. 

 Ammonia, therefore, cannot remain long in the at- 

 mosphere, as every shower of rain must effect its 

 condensation, and convey it to the surface of the 

 eartli. Hence, also, rain water must at all times con- 

 tain ammonia, though not alwaj-s in equal quantity. 

 It must contain more in summer than in spring or 

 winter, because the intervals of time between the 

 showers are in sum^mer greater ; and when several 

 wet days occur, the rain of the first must contain 

 more of it than that of the second. The rain of a 

 thunder-storm, after a long protracted drought, ought 

 for tiiis i-cason to contain the greatest quantity con- 

 veyed to the earth at one time." 



As regards the quantity of ammonia thus brought 

 down by the rain, — as 1132 cubic feet of air, satu- 

 rated with aqueous vapor at 50° Fahrenheit, shauld 

 yield one pound of rain water, if the pound contain 

 only one fourth of a grain of ammonia, — a piece of 

 ground of 20,910 square feet — 43,560 square feet 

 being in an acre — must receive annually upwards of 

 80 lbs. of ammonia, or 65 lbs. of nitrogen, which is 

 much more nitrogen than is contained in the form of 

 yegetable albumen and gluten in 2650 lbs. of wood, 

 2500 lbs. of haj', or 200 cwt. of beet root, which are 

 the yearly produce of such a piece of ground ; but 

 it is less than the straw, roots, and grain of corn, 

 which might grow on the same surface, would con- 

 tain. 



Snow water yields ammonia as well as rain water, 

 and the snow which is next to the ground, and which 

 fell first, yields more than what lies above it. The 

 ammonia contained in snow and rain water possesses 

 a smell of perspii-ation and putrefying matter, a fact 

 which leaves no doubt of its origin ; for " the am- 

 monia received from the atmosphere by rain and 

 other causes is as constantly replaced by putrefaction 

 of animal and vegetable matters. A certain portion 

 of that which falls with the rain evaporates again 

 with tlie water ; but another portion is, wc suppose, 

 taken up by the roots of plants, and, entering into 

 new combinations in the different organs of assimila- 

 tion, produces, by the action of tlicse and of certain 

 other conditions, albumen, gluten, &c. The chemical 



characters of ammonia render it capable of entering 

 into such combinations, and of undergoing numerous 

 transformations." 



TREATMENT OF HORSES. 



Proper management in their feeding, exercise, and 

 dressing will promote the health and act as a most 

 salutary preventive against many disorders, and pre- 

 vent most, while they will keep unimpaired in 

 strength and vigor of constitution, this noble animal 

 in his domesticated condition. For it .must be re- 

 membered that the simplicity of the horse's diet, 

 when good in kind, and dispensed with judgment, 

 secures him from the complicated disorders \\hieh are 

 the general effects of injudicious treatment. 



Mastication does much to prepare the food of the 

 horse to undergo the digestive process ; but the evi- 

 dences which are afforded by the substances voided 

 by this animal, indisputably show that it fails to no 

 inconsiderable extent in the performance of this im- 

 portant work. Hence, we hold it as a truth, that all 

 the alimentary substances, to be profitable to the 

 stomach of the horse, and consequently conducive to 

 a healthy condition, should be not only nutritioTXS 

 and bland, but should be eaten in that state in which 

 it is best calculated to aftbrd the most nutriment, and 

 easiest of digestion. If this principle be true, the 

 plan of cutting the hay and bruising the corn and 

 oats before they are put into the manger, is decidedly 

 better than when given in a whole or uncrushcd state, 

 putting the saving out of the question, which would 

 be no small item in the account ; and besides, the 

 horses are kept in much better condition. 



No general directions can be laid down for. the 

 feeding of horses but this : horses that work regularly 

 should be fed in proportion to the amount of labor 

 performed, and not kept to certain regular feeds, 

 whether they work or not. A due degree of exercise 

 is of the utmost importance to maintain a horse in 

 vigor and a healthy condition. It is, perhaps, obvi- 

 ous to every one, and should be obser^'cd, that a 

 horse should not be put on any violent exercise when 

 he has a full belly ; move him moderately at first, 

 and he will gradually increase his action. 



Grass is often necessary, more particularly to horses 

 glutted with food, and use little exercise ; but a 

 month or two running to grass \s> proper for most, 

 those especially that have been worked hard and 

 have stiff limbs or swelled legs. Horses that have 

 been impaired by quittors, bad shoeing, or other ac- 

 cidents, are also best repaired at grass, and where the 

 muscles or tendons are contracted, require turning 

 out to pasture, for by the continual gentle exercise 

 in the field, the limb again recovers its usual tone 

 and strength. 



When horses are taken up from grass, if they 

 should become hot and costive, mix bran and chopped 

 hay with their feeds, and give alternately a feed of 

 scalded wheat bran for a week or two ; let their ex- 

 ercise and diet be moderate for some time, and in- 

 creased by degrees. It is a certain evidence of a 

 healthy condition when on exercise his sweating 

 abates, and does not turn Avhite like soap lat'icr, but 

 runs off like water : this is a sure sign that the 

 juices are in a healthy condition. — Dollar Neionpa- 

 per. 



"When old pastures are broken up, and made arable, 

 not only has the soil been enriched by the death and 

 slow decay of the jilants which liavc kit solulde mat- 

 ters in the soil, but the leaves and roots of the grasses 

 having at the time, and occupying so large a part of 

 the surface, afford saccharine matters, which become 

 immediately the food of the crop, and the gradual 

 decomposition affords a supply for successive years. 



