386 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



VALUE OF A LITTLE CHEMICAL KNOWL- 

 EDGE. 



The last number of the American Farmer contains 

 an interesting statement of the results of an exper- 

 iment on the farm of the Hon. Reverdy Johnson, 

 near Baltimore. The farm recently purchased by 

 Mr. Johnson was completely exhausted, and the great 

 question of the pvoprietor was this : What shall 

 be applied to it in order to bring it to a state of fer- 

 tility ? In order to answer this question, common 

 sense would dictate the Yankee rule of asking 

 another question first, viz., What is lacking in the 

 soil which causes its present barren condition ? In 

 order to ascertain this, chemistry must be called in. 

 An analysis must be made. In order to illustrate 

 the practical operation of this, we will extract from 

 the communication the following statements : The 

 land, originally good, had been impoverished by a 

 long course of bad husbandry. The soil contains a 

 very large proportion of iron. So complete was its 

 exhaustion, that when first I saw it, all the vegetable 

 matter growing upon the two hundred acres of 

 cleared land, (including the briers, sassafras, and 

 othct bushes,) carefully collected, would have been 

 insufiicient for the manufacture of one four-horse 

 load of barn- yard manure. The field selected for 

 experiment contains ten acres, embracing the slopes 

 of two hills, and a small valley intersecting it diag- 

 onally. It was at that time in corn, and did not 

 produce one peck of corn to the acre, although it had 

 been cultivated in the usual manner, and with ordi- 

 nary care, and the season had not been below the 

 average of seven years. 



An analysis of the soil was made by Dr. Stewart. 

 He found it to contain the following ingredients : — 



Sand and bases insoluble, 71.20 



Lime 0.30 



Magnesia 0.40 



Manganese, 0.10 



Potash 0.23 



Water and organic matter 10.07 



Phosphoric acid, none. 



Iron and alumine 17.70 



100.00 



The doctor remarks, that from this analysis, the 

 soil contains as much lime and magnesia as could be 

 furnished by a dressing of one hundred and fifty 

 bushels per acre — an uncommon quantity of iron. 

 As there was a lack of phosphates, he recommended 

 a preparation composed of biphosphate of lime. — 

 This is obtained by dissolving bones in sulphuric 

 acid ; bone dust is similar in its effects — a part of 

 the lime being combined with carbonic instead of 

 sulphuric acid. 



The corn was accordingly cut off and removed, the 

 field ploughed and harrowed, and laid off into six- 

 teen and one half feet lands. The preparation was 

 then scattered regularly over it, costing, all told, $10 

 per acre. One and a quarter bushels of Mediterra- 

 nean wheat was then sown upon each acre, and har- 

 rowed in. No barn-yard or other manure was used. 

 The yield was more than twenty-nine bushels per 

 acre ! 



Is not this a triumph of science, as applied practi- 

 cally to the renovation of exhausted land? — Ex- 

 change. 



POMOLOGICAL. 



The exhibition of fruits on Thursday, at the Pom- 

 ological Convention, surprised every body in the va- 

 riety and excellence of the specimens — a result due, 

 in a very great degree, to Mr, J. Battey, of the Union 



Nurseries, Keesville, N. Y., and Mr. Chauncey Good- 

 rich, of Burlington. Mr. Battey exhibited eighty- 

 one varieties of pears, seventy-five of apples, and 

 several of grapes ; among the latter, the McNeil 

 grape, which is regarded as the best for this climate, 

 being perfectly hardy. Mr. Goodrich exhibited sixty- 

 six varieties of apples, twenty-two of pears, one of 

 quinces, and one of grajjes. Among the contributors 

 were also Mr. Pinneo, of Hanover, N. H. ; Messrs. 

 Judkins and Perkins, of Weathersfield ; Mr. Chap- 

 man, of Middlebury ; Col. Green, Mr. Curtis, and 

 Mr. Atwood, of St. Albans ; Mr. Landon, of South 

 Hero ; Mi-s. E. G. Cole and Mrs. Z. Thompson, of 

 Burlington ; and Mr. Spear, of Braintree. Col. 

 Jewett, of this village, presented specimens of the 

 Fameuse apple as good as ever raised elsewhere. 



The variety of native fruits of Vermont was better, 

 altogether, than generally anticipated, and promises 

 to furnish some excellent kinds unknown elsewhere. 

 On the whole, the result was highly gratifying, and 

 doubtless gave a new impulse in the right direction. 

 Of a portion of Mr. Battey's fruit we could speak 

 authoritatively, if we had time and room ; but suffice 

 it now to remark, that whoever wishes to find either 

 old or new varieties, suited to the climate and soil of 

 Vermont, will be able to find them in Mr. B.'s nur- 

 series. Probably the nurseries of Messrs. Battey, of 

 Keesville, Pinneo, of Hanover, and Spear, of Brain- 

 tree, can furnish all the fruits now known which. 

 wlU flourish in this c\xvaa.ie.—Montpelier, {Vt.) Watch' 



SWEET POTATOES. 



Having been for some time an interested reader of 

 the agricultural department of the Dollar News- 

 paper, I have thought that it may not be unprofit- 

 able to offer, through your columns, some sugges- 

 tions, together with a little practical experience, 

 relative to the culture of the sweet potato in com- 

 paratively northern latitudes. All may not deem it 

 a matter of such importance, or think the vegetable 

 so great a luxui-y as myself; but those who do will 

 consider themselves more than compensated for th« 

 care and attention necessary for their production. — 

 Sweet potatoes can be grown in perfection as far north 

 as latitude 42°, and probably farther, by carefully 

 pursuing the following directions : One of the most 

 difficult parts of the process is preserving the seed 

 through the winter. It will not do to put them in a 

 cellar that never freezes, for the dampness of a com- 

 mon cellar is as fatal as the frosts of winter. To 

 obviate this, the smaller potatoes are selected, (be- 

 cause they are more hardy, and not so liable to rot as 

 the larger ones,) and packed perfectly dry in a box, 

 with sand also perfectly dry. If sand cannot be 

 obtained entirely free from moisture, it should be 

 rendered so by means of fire heat, and the box con- 

 taining them should be kept in a dry, warm room. 

 In the spring, we must not wait till the ground is 

 warm, and then plant the potatoes where they are to 

 be groAvn, as is done at the south ; but in the latter 

 part of March, fill a box to the depth of one and a 

 half or two feet with fresh horse stable manure, and 

 spread over it three or four inches of rich, loo9« 

 earth, and in this plant the potatoes close together, 

 for the purpose of raising plants. This bed should be 

 exposed to the sun in the daytime, and covered with 

 a cloth or blanket at night to keep off the frost. 

 About the 10th of May, the plants wUI be of suffi- 

 cient size, and, as soon as there is no more danger 

 from frost, may be transplanted to the ground where 

 we wish to grow the potatoes. The manner of pre- 

 serving the seed during winter, and preparing the 

 hotbed to furnish the plants, I give on the authority 

 of a neighbor of mine, who pays great attention to 



