1857. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



81 



The external dimensions of the building may be 

 judged from the plan ; and in examining the illus- 

 tration of the exterior, let the reader remark, that 

 the plan shows the building to a larger scale, in 

 proportion, than preceding designes. 



The finish of the exterior is in the simple and 

 somewhat elegant character of Italian design. The 

 porch is of wood, and the details of its construction 

 are contrived to show congruity with that material 

 — all unnecessary casing out and false pretence be- 

 ing avoided. 



The roof is represented as covered with boarding, 

 over which roofing-paper, cloth, or tin, is laid with 

 raised rolls, at regular intervals nailed upon the 

 boarding, and covered with the material employed. 

 The chimney-shafts and caps are of bricks, pannell- 

 ed at the side and ornamented by dentils of the 

 same material. The cost of this little cottage will 

 be from tliirteen to fourteen hundred dollars. The 

 plan is varied somewhat from one shown in page 

 161 of Rural Homes, which was erected in Con- 

 necticut, five years ago, for eleven hundred dollars. 



For the New England Farmer. 



MUKIATE OE LIME. 



Mr. Editor : — I have read attentively an arti- 

 cle concerning my Muriate of Lime, published in 

 your paper of 20th inst., and signed by 1). W. Loth- 

 rop, and while I cannot object to his fairly stating 

 his ex])erience in the use of this manure, I must 

 require of him more full explanation of the facts 

 alleged, for they are so inconsistent with the re- 

 sults of so many others who are good experienced 

 and practical farmers as to require me to consider 

 his case "a rare exception rather than the rule." 

 Perhaps his soil may not have required this ma- 

 nure, and may be already supplied with the mate- 

 rials it would introduce, or perhaps he employed it 

 in an improper manner or in too limited quanti- 

 ties, and did not sufficiently mix it with the soil. 

 Every one knows how similar fliilures attended the 

 first introduction of that now universally approved 

 and powerful manure, the Peruvian Guano, but now 

 the causes of those failures are known, and guano 

 in skilful hands is usually successful. 



So far as regards the evidence cited by Mr. 

 Lothrop, it appears by his own showing, that the 

 witnesses are two to one in favor of "Gould's Muri- 

 ate," namely : L. V. Page, of Bedford, and L W. 

 Brooks, of Somerville, in favor, and D. W. Loth- 

 rop against it ; but I shall take occasion to bring 

 forth a "cloud of witnesses" to sustain the evi- 

 dence which I have already published, and hope to 

 be able to scatter Mr. Lothrop's "bi-ick-dust and 

 ashes'^ to the wind, and to induce him to try the 

 experiment with my muriate once more, and trust 

 that he may yet get a good crop of marrowfats, 

 and a plentiful harvest of corn, with a good clean 

 and aliundant yield of potatoes. 



To insure these results, however, he must follow 

 the same methods of operating that have proved 

 so eminently successful in the hands of other prac- 

 tical farmers. These methods will soon be fully 

 set forth in an able report on the subject, in which 

 the gnmt value of my fertilizer will be satisfactori- 

 ly proved. 



I cannot pass over ^Ir. Lothrop's article, without 

 expressing my surprise at his not distinguishing 

 the difference between quick-lime and semi-hy- 



drate of lime, and the compound which makes up 

 the composition of my fertilizer. 



He justly condemns the application of quick- 

 lime to barn-yard manure, since it would discharge 

 the ammonia ; but he overlooks the fact that my 

 manure has no such effect ; but on the contrary it 

 contains ammonia, and will absorb even more from 

 the barn-yard manure, with M'hich it is mixed. I 

 concur with his authority that ammonia and nitro- 

 genous compounds are "the very treasures of the 

 dung heap," but they are not the only treasures 

 which it contains. The writer, certainly, does not 

 intend to disregard the j)hosphates, the very bones 

 of the grain crops, nor the lime salts, and the car- 

 bonaceous matters which by their decay furnish 

 carbonic acid gas, the pabulum of the foliage, and a 

 powerful decomposer of alkaline silicates in the soil. 



If he will look again at the analysis of my muri- 

 ate, some items of which he quotes, he will see 

 how it differs from "quick-lime, or semi-hydrate of 

 lime." He will find carbonate of lime, chloride of 

 sodium, phosphate of lime, muriate of lime, muri- 

 ate of magnesia, ammonia and organic matter. It 

 contains but little organic matter, and therefore I 

 recommend the admixture of it with barn-yard 

 compost, which is too rich in organic and needs sa- 

 line matters, which my manure furnishes. It is un- 

 necessary for me "to send coals to Newcastle," and 

 since the farm-yard always produces a sufficient 

 supply of vegetable composted matter, it is desira- 

 ble to omit adding matters which would increase 

 the bulk of my fertilizer, and add to the expenses 

 of its transportation, without any material benefit 

 to the farmer, who has an abundance of such mat- 

 ters at hand. It was the omission of the use of 

 such a mixture, that probably caused the failure of 

 which Mr. Lothrop complains, for his soil may be 

 poor in organic matters. 



I do not suppose that any panacea has yet been 

 discovered for the cure of the potato disease, which, 

 as I am informed, is the efiect of parasitic fungus, 

 whose speres or seeds are transferred by the at- 

 mosphere, and attack the above ground stems of 

 the plant first, and penetrate under the bark to the 

 tubers beneath the soil ; but I suppose that what- 

 ever invigorates the potato plant, enables it better 

 to resist the encroachment of this insidious enemy, 

 and I have abundant evidence of the fact, that 

 much benefit has thus been produced by the em- 

 ployment of the muriate of lime. 



I would request Mr. Lothrop to repeat his ex- 

 periments with this manure, mixing it first with 

 barn-yard compost, and in order to learn the rela- 

 tive effects of the unmixed and mixed composts, let 

 him try the two separately, and note the results, 

 which I am confident will prove most satisfactorily 

 the great value of the muriate of lime. 



Mr. Lothrop intimates that I purchase poor lime 

 for the manufacture of the muriate. To show how 

 much mistaken he is, I will state that my busi- 

 ness is to manufacture Rockland lime, which is sold 

 at $1,00 per bbl., oyster shell lime, at 50c perbbl. 

 The muriate is manufactured of shell lime inasmuch 

 as it contains by analysis 94 per cent, of carbonate 

 of lime, while the Rockland lime contains only 

 about 64 to 70 per cent, of carbonate, and instead 

 of making "two barrels out of one" in the manu- 

 f^icture of the muriate, one barrel of unslaked shell 

 lime will make four barrels of muriate, with the ad- 

 dition of the other materials of which it is com- 

 posed. 



