NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



259 



^caltlj Department. 



To STOP A Fit of Coughing. — A correspondent 

 of the London Medical Gazette states that, to close 

 the nostrils Avith the thumb and linger during expi- 

 ration, leaving them free during inspiration, will re- 

 lieve a fit of coughing in a short time. In addition 

 to the above, we state, from personal knowledge, that 

 to press the tinger on the upper lip, just below the 

 nose, wiU make the severest premonitory symptoms 

 of a sneeze pass off harmless. We have found tlie 

 remedy useful many a time in creeping on game in 

 the woods. 



Love of "Water. — Some persons shrink from 

 bathing, but when they once get used to it, it is in- 

 dispensable. A medical writer says, — 



" Let a child wash himself all over every morning 

 for sixteen years, and he will as soon go without his 

 breakfast as his bath." 



fllccljanics' Department, ^rts, $^t. 



Dyeing Woods For dyeing wood a ^ne black 



color, have a ehairmakcr's copper fixed, into which 

 put six pounds of chip logwood, and as many ve- 

 neers as it will conveniently hold, without pressing 

 too tight ; fill it with water, and let it boil slowly for 

 about three hours ; then add half a pound of pow- 

 dered verdigris, half a pound of copperas, and four 

 ounces of bruised nutgalls, filling the copper up as 

 the water evaporates ; let it boil gently two hours 

 each day till you find the wood to be dyed through, 

 which, according to the kind, will be in more or less 

 time. 



Fine Blue. — Take a clean glass bottle, into which 

 put one pound of oil of vitriol ; then take four ounces 

 of the best indigo, pounded in a mortar ; put them 

 into a vial, (take care to set the bottle in a basin or 

 earthen glazed pan, as it will ferment ;) after it is 

 quite dissolved, provide an earthen or wooden vessel, 

 60 constructed that it will conveniently hold the ve- 

 neers you wish to dye ; fill it rather more than one 

 third with water, into which jiour as much of the 

 vitriol and indigo, stirring it about, as will make a 

 fine blue, which you may know by trying it with a 

 piece of white wood ; put in your veneers, and let 

 them remain till the color has struck through. 



The color will be much better if the solution of 

 indigo in vitriol is kept a few weeks before using it ; 

 also the best trough you can use, is one made of 

 stone ware. 



Fine Yellow. — Take of the root of barberry four 

 pounds, reduce it, by sawing, to dust, which put into 

 a copper or brass trough, add four ounces of turmeric, 

 to which put four gallons of water, then put in as 

 many white veneers as the liquor will cover; boil 

 them together three hours, often turning them ; 

 when cool, add two ounces of muriate of tin, and 

 you will find the dye strike through much sooner. 



Fustic and quercitron will also dye good colors, the 

 former with alum, the latter witli muriate of tin. 



Bright Green. — Proceed, as in the above recii)C, to 

 produce a yellow with fustic, and add the vitriolatcd 

 indigo, as much as will produce the desired color. 



Bright Red. — Take two pounds of genuine Brazil 

 dust, add four gallons of water, and after putting in 

 vour veneers, boil them well for at least three hours ; 

 then add two ounces of alum and a little salts of tin, 

 and keep it lukewarm until it has struck entirely 

 through. 



Purpk. — Take two pounds of chip log-wood and 

 half a pound of Brazil dust, add four gallons of wa- 

 ter, and after putting in your veneers, boil them well 

 for at least three hours, then add six ounces of pearl- 

 ash and two ounces of alum, and let them boil two 

 or three hours every day till you find the color struck 

 through. 



The Brazil dust in this recipe is perhaps superflu- 

 ous, as it only contributes to make the purple of a 

 red cast j use muriate of tin very Uttle. 



Orange. — Let the veneers be dyed, by either of 

 the methods given, of a fine deep yellow, and while 

 they are still wet and saturated with the dye, trans- 

 fer them to the bright red dye, till you find' the color 

 has penetrated equally throughout. 



NEGLECTED MANURES. 



liquid manures, tanks, &c. 



Analytical Laboratory, Yale College, 

 New Haven, Conn., June, 1850. 



Eds. Cultivator : Having now mentioned, in suc- 

 cession, a variety of manures in a number of classes, — 

 having called attention to the fact of their being al- 

 most universally neglected, and to the leading char- 

 acteristics which in the several cases constituted their 

 chief value, — I propose to leave this subject, lest your 

 readers shoiild find it becoming tedious. It is far 

 from being exhausted ; indeed, it is but begun : still, 

 enough has been said to call into exercise, on the part 

 of attentive readers, a spirit of watchfulness, that 

 nothing worth saving shall escape them in future. 



In the present letter, I shall notice the great waste 

 of liquid manure which occurs in many parts of the 

 country, and the imperfect methods of attempting to 

 preserve it, which arc often adopted. 



Chemical analysis shows the liquid manure, or 

 urine, of animals, to contain many valuable fertil- 

 izing substances. It is always particularly rich in 

 nitrogen, also in the alkalies, potash, and soda, and 

 in carbonic and sulphuric acids. The excrements of 

 birds contain both the liquid and the solid part to- 

 gether ; hence their great richness : this fact alone 

 should convince the farmer that, in losing the liquid, 

 he greatly reduces the value of his solid manures. 



The nitrogen in fresh urine exists there chiefly in 

 the form of a substance called urea : this consists in 

 a large part of nitrogen, and, if dry, may be exposed 

 to the air for a long time, before it undergoes an)- 

 perceptible change. In the presence of water, how- 

 ever, and the other substances with which it is asso- 

 ciated in urine, a species of fermentation soon 

 commences ; it is then speedily changed into carl)on- 

 ate of ammonia, which readily escapes into the at- 

 raosj)herc. In warm weather, the smell of this am- 

 monia escaping may be perceived after the lapse of a 

 very few hours. If the fermentation be allowed to 

 proceed, the whole of the nitrogen will be trans- 

 formed into carbonate of ammonia, and the larger 

 part of this will evaporate into the air. If this con- 

 stituent can all be retained, and the licpiid applied to 

 the crops, it is found to be a powerful manure. I'rof. 

 Johnston states that at Flanders the urine of each 

 cow is valued at about $10 per annum. 



Scarcely less valuable are the drainings from the 

 dung-heaps, or from barn-yards. These contain 

 large quantities of ammoniacal substances, and also 

 of useful mineral ingredients, dissolved out from the 

 solid parts of the manures. They undergo the same 

 fermentation as urine, but more slowly, and the am- 

 monia also escapes in this case. Where the manure, 

 as is to be seen in many yards, isexjjosed to constant 

 washing by rains, nearly every thing soluble in water 

 is gradually dissolved out, and it is thus rendered 

 quite inferior in (juality. 



