344 



Compost Making. — Plaster. 



Vol. VI. 



For the Farmers' Cabinet. 

 Compost Making. 



Mr. Editor, — At lengrth it would appear 

 that the making of compost is bejrinnina; to 

 command attention ; I see several experiments 

 goin^ forward around me, but what is more 

 to the purpose, I have one in projjress which 

 I attend and watch with very great interest 

 — it is, the mixing bank earth with lime, hot 

 from the kiln, the earth being the opening of 

 a deep cut through a marshy hollow, where 

 it had lain for the past age and become co- 

 vered with grass and weeds and tufts of herb- 

 age, &c., all which I turned down with the 

 plough after covering them with a coat of 

 lime, using the subsoil plough at the same 

 time; and upon this, I have again thrown 

 earth and lime in alternate layers, as directed 

 at page 316 of the last number of the Cabi- 

 net, expecting to reap a ricii harvest in re- 

 turn for my labour. And I now begin to per- 

 ceive how the making of compost operates; 

 it is, by the absorption of the gases, liberated 

 by fermentation, which always takes place on 

 bringing two substances into contact, be they 

 never so dissimilar in their nature and pro- 

 perties, particularly when they are composed 

 of putrid matter, wliether animal or vegeta- 

 ble, that, being acidulous, is immediately neu- 

 tralized by the alkali of the lime, and the 

 gases friendly to vegetation, liberated by the 

 process, are immediately absorbed by the earth 

 m composition, in which state it is carried 

 abroad on the land to be operated upon by the 

 rain and dews, which carry the carbonic acid 

 to the roots of the plants by its power of 

 density. And I perceive that the bank of 

 earth in question sends forth a smell, as has 

 elsewhere been observed, somewhat like soap- 

 boilers' ashes. 



The absorbing quality of fresh-turned earth 

 calls to notice a very wise ordination of na- 

 ture; for were it not for this arrangement, the 

 abodes in the vicinity of cemeteries would not 

 be habitable to human beings; the exhalations 

 arising from the decomposing bodies by which 

 they are so thickly tenanted, would so conta- 

 minate the air as to breed a pestilence : a 

 very slight covering of earth, however, is 

 found all-sufficient for the purpose of absorb- 

 ing all the malaria that is engendered, and 

 teaches us at the same time the mode in 

 which these putrid gases may be preserved 

 to give life to a future generation — according 

 to the " Gem" from Liebig — see page 830 of 

 the 5th vol. of the Cabinet. In confirmation 

 of this view of the subject, it is stated, that a 

 garment which has been contaminated by the 

 tilth of a skunk, may be rendered perfectly 

 inodorous in a siiort time, merely by burying 

 it in fresh earth, so that the parts defiled 

 come in immediate contact with it. 



Here then is the rationale of the whole 

 matter — the earth in our compost heaps ab- 

 sorbs the gases that arise on fermentation, 

 fixing these that are friendly to vegetation, 

 and permitting those of a contrary nature to 

 pass off" into the atmosphere, there to form 

 other combinations, by which they might be 

 prepared for other purposes! After this, may 

 it not be expected that we shall carry our 

 dung from the barn-yard during winter and 

 deposit it in the fields where it will be re- 

 quired the next spring or autumn, turning it 

 up and mixing it with muck or bank earth, 

 in the proportion of orie of the former to three 

 or four of the latter, and thus add to our re- 

 sources without the purchase in town of a 

 commodity that we can better supply at home; 

 remembering, the oftener it is turned, the 

 more it is enriched by atmospherical and 

 other influences, and rendered at last a bank 

 of gold"! I guess it might. P. 



May 2-1. 1842. 



Plaster. 



Plaster is a cheap and easily transported 

 manure, and is applied with little trouble or 

 cost. In many cases its good efl'ects are very 

 apparent, although on some soils it has but 

 little effect; yet it is well for every one to 

 try it and make experiments for himself. 

 Sometimes the increase of crop from its use 

 has paid four or five times the cost, and old 

 pastures have been improved by it, so as to 

 support twice the stock it had been accus- 

 tomed to dn; while in other cases it has had 

 no perceptible effect; it would be well, there- 

 fore, to make the experiment cautiously until 

 it is ascertained what are its real efltcts. 



In the British American Cultivator, a farm- 

 er states, that on 12 acres of land that usually 

 produced six tons of hay, by sowing four bar- 

 rels of plaster in May, 1837, he cut from it 

 the same season 15 tons. He had applied 

 plaster every year since with great success, 

 except the last, which was unfavourable to 

 grass on all soils, in consequence of the 

 drought. But he finds that plaster applied in 

 the spring to any kind of grain, although it 

 causes a good and quick growth, adds nothing 

 to the crop at harvest, nor does it ripen so 

 well and uniformly. He applies plaster to 

 grass about the first of May, and considers a 

 barrel sufficient for three acres of land. — 

 Far. Jour. 



Cabbage Culture. — "Sixteen acres of 

 cabbages planted on the farm of L. Wyckofl^, 

 in Bushwick, Kings county, produced 61,120 

 heads, which sold for .'§2,434 77. The sod 

 was turned over in the fall of the year and 

 well worked in the spring, fifty cart loads of 

 street manure being allowed per acre." 



