No. 14, 



'^slies as a Manure. 



235 



of earth, which had run or been thrown down 

 into the hollow. 



The seeds of a common turnep sown in 

 warm wcatlier; and on a soil sufficiently 

 moist, I have known to vegetate in about 

 48 hours ; and in only four or five days af- 

 terwards, I found the plants had sent roots to 

 the depth of four or five inches. 



For the Farmers' Cabinet, 



AsStes. 



Of all things to make grass grow ashes 

 beats ; this you may depend upon, for ] have 

 tried it often, and it has never failed yet; 

 just collect as much of it together as you 

 can, the more the better, and spread it over 

 your grass grounds, and see if I am not cor- 

 rect in my assertion. It is said by some 

 people that it is the potash which is in it, that 

 produces the effect and I strongly suspect 

 they are right in this matter; tor two years 

 ago suspecting that to be the case, I procured 

 some potash from an apothecary, which cost 

 about five cents a pound, and dissolved it in 

 water, and put it over the grass ground with 

 a watering-pot, just for an experiment, and 

 you would have been surprised to see how 

 luxuriantly the grass grew where it was put. 

 Now, I should like some of the intelligent 

 farmers who take your paper to try an experi- 

 ment with potash tliis spring, and inform 

 your readers of the result through the Cabi- 

 net. Some say it is excellent tor Indian corn; 

 this might also be tried. My object is to 

 make plenty of grass grow, for I find if we 

 can do that, we then can accomplish every 

 thing we can desire in agriculture, because 

 with that, we can feed stock, and by that 

 means make manure, and with plenty of 

 manure, what cannot be done by industrious 

 and intelligent farmers : I say industrious and 

 intelligent, because without these two quali- 

 ties, a man had better quit farming at once, 

 and try to find out some business soon, that 

 can be carried on to profit without those in- 

 dispensable qualifications to a farmer; and 

 when the discovery is made I hope it will be 

 communicated through your paper, for I 

 should like to embark in such a business as I 

 am well adapted to it by nature. 



Montgomery. 

 N. B. A person has just informed me, that 

 a plan of farming without industry has been 

 on trial for many years in some part of North 

 Carolina, but notwithstanding, they have ex- 

 erted all their ingenuity on it they have not 

 yet succeeded in their attempt. He says 

 that when he returns there, if there should 

 be any thing encouraging in the prospect, he 

 will forward you a letter on the subject, as it 

 IB a matter of much interest to many farmers, 



licaclicd or Slacked Ashes for as a Manure 



Whilst nearly all wlio have tried ashes as 

 a manure, bear testimony, in the strongest 

 terms, to their superior efficiency as an im- 

 prover of the soil; still we occasionally hear 

 the question mooted, whether they possess 

 any virtue as a manure ? This is the more 

 to be regretted, as even experience, itselfi 

 would seem to have but little, if any infltj- 

 ence in settling a question of the deepest im- 

 portance to every agriculturist living near 

 any of our large cities, or on navigable wa- 

 ter leading to them. To our mind, leached 

 ashes will bear hauling by land several miles, 

 and that, even when the first cost is added to 

 that of transportation, they will be found to 

 be a cheap manure. When they can be trans- 

 ported by water communication, in quanti- 

 ties, and at less cost, they are the more valu- 

 able ; and, therefore, those who may reside 

 on navigable rivers, convenient for their pro- 

 curement and delivery, should make it a point 

 of duty to themselves, and their country, to 

 obtain them, as there can be no doubt that 

 in addition to their efficacy in promptly re- 

 storing exhausted soils to a state of desirable 

 fertility, they are, next to lime, among the 

 most lasting manures ever applied to the 

 earth. Among their other good qualities, 

 they are equally beneficial when applied to 

 clays, as to sands, and sa7idy loams — disir>- 

 tegrating the tenacious particles of the first, 

 thus rendering them friable and easy of being 

 worked ; and imparting body and consistency 

 to the two latter, so as to give to them a great- 

 ly increased capacity for retaining manures. 

 To cold clays, they are particularly adapted 

 by their warming qualities, infusing, as they 

 do, an active and highly beneficial principle 

 into bodies, which, otherwise, might have re- 

 mained inert, if not noxious to healthful vege- 

 tation. 



As a top dressing to meadows, when ap- 

 plied at proper seasons, and in proper quanti- 

 ties, they are found productive of the happiest 

 effects! 



Applied to com, wheat, rye, oats, buck- 

 wheat, turneps, potatoes ; indeed, to almost 

 the entire vegetable family, they are emi- 

 nently useful. For turneps and cor»,we know 

 of no manure that can compare with them in 

 the degree of benefits resulting. On corn 

 they have been known, even when applied in 

 minute quantities to the hills say, a gill to 

 each, to produce the most wonderful eflfects. 

 Having spoken of the proper seasons of 

 plication, and proper quantities, it may 

 not be inopportune to remark, that on mea- 

 dows they should bespread in early fall, winter 

 or spring, when the ground is dry and firm, and 

 when there be no danger of poaching — to aH 

 grain crops they should be applied to the ear- 



