228 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



May 



Mr. Proctor, of Danvers, remarked that a 

 farmer ia his county cleared $400 from an acre 

 of onions the last season, and that was only a 

 sample of what is done in Esses county. The 

 great secret of their success lies in the prepara- 

 tion and adaptation of manures, and in keeping 

 the soil free from weeds. By attention to so- 

 curing the best plants for seed, the size and 

 quality has been greatly improved, and $2 and 

 $3 a pound is paid for seed coming from Essex- 

 county. 



Mr. Fren'ch, of Braintree, illustrated the great 

 want of information upon the various matters 

 connected with farming — as location of build- 

 ings, the preservation and application of ma- 

 nures, the feeding of cattle, and the selection of 

 stock — and argued that, from the complicated 

 nature of these questions, private individuals 

 were DOt competent to elucidate them. The 

 matter should be undertaken by the State, through 

 the agency of experimental farms. While speak- 

 ing of stock, the speaker remarked that an Eng- 

 lish gentleman had long advocated "box- feeding" 

 in fattening stock, and Ids views, it is believed, 

 will triumph in England. He did not exactly 

 understand what was meant by "bos-feeding," 

 but believed that it consisted in enclosing the 

 animal iii a stall or pen, and keeping it there on 

 a dry floor until fattened. The English butchers 

 invariably offer an advance for such beef, without 

 knowing how it is raised. The speaker ques- 

 tioned the utility of littering the floor for cattle, 

 having discarded the practice the past year, with- 

 out noticing any detriment to the cattle in conse- 

 quence. He also related the case of a ilaryland 

 farmer, who, in planting his hot, sandy soil with 

 corn, put his manure on the top of the hill, be- 

 lieving that it was the true way, in which he was 

 sustained by a farmer in the Connecticut valley. 

 It was a new idea, and he intended to try it on a 

 small scale, and would recommend others to 

 do so. 



Mr. SttELDON, of Wilmington, followed, and 

 gave it as his opinion that where litter could be 

 had cheap, bedding cattle should be kept up. 

 He thought it made a material difierence with 

 osen. It is economy to supply cows with water 

 about milk warm in Avinter ; they will give ten 

 per cent, more milk. 



Mr. Dodge, of Sutton, forcibly argued the 

 duty of the State to furnish pattern farms, for the 

 benefit of the farmers of the Commonwealth. 



Mr. Hall, of Bradford, illustrated the benefits 

 derived from study, and a perusal of the agricul- 

 tural newspapers, by those who were wise enough 

 to make use of them. 



Mr. BucKMiNSTER, of the Plouyhman, remarked 

 that there were but two ways of doing a thing — 

 the right and the wrong — and if we could induce 



j the farmers to give up their stand- still notions, 

 I and try the various methods of cultivation, ^e 

 j should soon arrive at the economy of agriculture, 

 .and, by making it more profitable, our young 

 I men would be retained upon the farm. 

 I On motion of Mr. Hall, the thanks of the 

 meeting were presented to Joseph Bird, E^q., of 

 Watertown, for his interesting lecture, last week, 

 on an improved fire system. 



The meeting then adjourned sine die. 



For the Neiv Eng-land Fanner. 



SUPERPHOSPHATE OF LIME-THE 

 BISON. 



Mr. Editor : — Will you be so good as to give 

 us some information in regard to the Superphos- 

 phate of Lime, an article of which we hear much, 

 and know but little. What does It cost? (a.) 

 How sliould it be applied to corn and potato 

 crops ? What sort of packages is it put up in ? 

 and what is its weight per bushel? (h.) We 

 wish to try it, as we have utterly failed with 

 guano, which, mixed with an equal quantity of 

 plaster, we have applied, as a top-dressing, to 

 portions of our wheat, oat and grass fields, and 

 planted under the hills of corn, without being 

 able, at any time, to perceive any difference be- 

 tween the parts so treated and the rest of the 

 fields. We do not know of a single instance in 

 which it has been applied, in this vicinity, in 

 which the cost of the article and the labor of ap- 

 plying it was not a total loss. 



Can you tell whether any attempt has ever 

 been made to domesticate the Bison or American 

 Buffalo? Ought that "Native American" race 

 to be allowed to become extinct ? Is there no 

 ascertained way of perpetuating it frofitahhj ? (c.) 



Rutland, Vt. Readers. 



Remarks. — (a.) $45,00 a ton. Manure the land 

 liberally, and apply a gill of the superphosphate 

 to the hill ; this will give the young plants a 

 vigorous start before the roots spread themselves 

 to receive the benefit of the manure. 



(b.) It is put up in bags of about 150 pounds 

 each, and probably weighs about 60 pounds to 

 the bushel. Superphosphate of lime is manu- 

 factured as follows : When burned bones are 

 digested with sulphuric acid diluted with tliree 

 times its bulk of water, gypsum (sulphate of 

 lime) is produced, and falls to the bottom of the 

 solution, while the phosphoric acid, and a por- 

 tion of the lime remain in the sour liquid above 

 it. When this liquid is boiled down or evapora- 

 ted to dryness, it leaves a white powder, which 

 is known by the name of acid or superphosphate 

 of lime. The sulphuric acid is made by burning 

 the common yellow sulphur in large leaden 

 chambers. One pound of sulphur produces about 

 three poimds of the strongest sulphuric acid. It 

 consists of sulphur and oxygen only — combined 

 with a little water. Sulphuric acid is another 

 name for oil of vitriol. 



