298 



Top- Dressing — Moisture on Vlants. 



Vol. U 



fowls, give tliem conirortable accommodations, 

 and at tiie setting season, select almost exclu- 

 sively the sharp pointed eggs, as they inva- 

 riably produce the male ; these when at pii- 

 lertij should be emasculated, which will con- 

 vert tham at once into Capons. 



This alteration will in about a twelvemonth 

 nearly double the size of the bird, and propor- 

 tionably increase its value as an article of 

 sale. 



This knowledge may be readily acquired, 

 by performing a few experiments upon the 

 dead subject. In France and Italy among the 

 peasaatry, this work is almost exclusively al- 

 lotted to children, who manage it with de.\- 

 tei'ity. 



In a general view of this subject, a great 

 deal might be said; but the foregoing is quite 

 sufficient, to such who are adepts in taking a 

 hint, on matters at any rate relating to their 

 own pockets. Civis, 



4th Month, 1838. 



Tor thf Fanner's Cabinet. 



Top-S>ressiEig. 



A communication in the Cabinet of last 

 month on the subject of manures, particular- 

 ly recommends tlie practice of top-dressing 

 with all mineral substances used for the pur- 

 pose of promoting the growth of plants; for 

 instance, gypsum, lime, ashes and marl. — 

 This, so far as my experience or observation 

 e.^tends, is undoubtedly correct, and several 

 intelligent and successful farmers with whom 

 I have conferred on the subject, concur in 

 the soundness of the practice as justitied by 

 the results of their own experience. The 

 most beneficial and permanent effect I have 

 ever witnessed from the application of any 

 substance to the soil, was that of mortar from 

 an old building which was taken down about 

 forty years ago; this was hauled out and 

 spread over several acres of land, as I thought 

 at the time to little purpose, but in this I was 

 much mistaken, for its effects were truly as- 

 tonishing-, and tlie ground where it was pla- 

 ced can be discerned by its superior fertility 

 at this remote time. It is much to be regret- 

 ted that so much mortar from old buildings 

 is lost to agriculture by culpable neglect or 

 ignorance; tor with a little attention and in- 

 dustry in the neighborhood of our large cities, 

 where the spirit of pulling down prevails so 

 extensively, enough of this valuable article 

 might annually be obtained to fertilize some 

 hundreds of acres, and more than double their 

 products. As respects top-dressing with sta- 

 ble manure, there are some facts within my 

 knowledge which seem to recommend it to 

 the favorable regard of farmers. During the 

 autumn of 1836 a friend of mine prepared his 

 ground for wheat in the usual manner by 

 hauling out his manure and ploughing it in, 



excepting a portion of the field where the- 

 manure was not applied till after it was 

 sowed, when it was spread evenly over the 

 surface as a top-dressing and Ictl without fur-_ 

 ther care. On the arrival of harvest the suc- 

 ceeding summer, when it will be recollected 

 there was a general failure of the wheat crop^ 

 the part which was top-dressed furnished a 

 j full crop, and that portion of the field which 

 ! was managed in the usual way by ploughing 

 \ in the dung, partook of the general failure of 

 j the country. The land was of the same qua- 

 lity, being part of the same field and treated 

 in every respect in the same way, excepting 

 that the successful part was top-dressed, and 

 the manure put on the other part was plough- 

 ed in as usual. The soil was that which is 

 esteemed of the best quality for wheat, and 

 j the general treatment of the most perfect 

 j character. Facts are said to be stubborn 

 I things, and I throw these into the common 

 I fund that your numerous readers may test 

 jthem by their own experience, and furnish 

 the results so that we may obtain additional 

 I light on so important a subject as that of the 

 !best mode of applying manure to the soil, for 

 i there is always a reason why one way ofdo-- 

 ing a thing is preferable to another. 



Montgomery. 



Fur the Furmtrs' Cabinet, 

 Oil tlic tlcposite of Moistui-c oii Plants» 



Where plaster of paris, ashes, lime or marl 

 has been applied on alternate ridges or lands 

 of clover or other grass, the vegetation will be 

 found in the early part of the day to be covered 

 with moisture or dew, and itsometimesappears 

 as though a smart shower of rain had fallen 

 j upon it, even in clear weather, when the parts 

 of the field where its application was omitted 

 are quite free from sensible moisture. Those 

 farmers who have been in the practice of 

 top-dressing', cannot have failed to have no- 

 ticed this apparently extraordinary circum- 

 stance. 



The usual method of accounting- for this 

 accumulation of moisture, where the dressing 

 has been resorted to, is the attraction on the 

 part of the substance applied for the humidity 

 of the atmosphere, and that where its applica- 

 tion has been omitted there is nothing to at- 

 tract, and consequently the grass remains 

 comparatively dry under the same state of 

 the air. 



This theory I take to be entirely errone- 

 ous, and calculated to lead us astray in regard 

 to the mode of action of those substances, in 

 promoting the growth of plants. I shall there-, 

 fore state what I suppose to be the true cause 

 of tne accumulation of moisture under the 

 circumstances alluded to, without resort to 

 attraction, which, I apprehend,, has uptljjnv 

 to do with the affair whatever. 



