No. 2. 



Poudrette as a Manure for Wheat and Rye. 



49 



principles formerly known, and if the ex- 

 pected results follow, it matters not if the 

 reasoning be unsound, and the data, which 

 form the premises, be hastily put together 

 and insufficient. The inquirer may have 

 hit upon the truth by accident. 



" It is a good proof, therefore, of the value 

 of such works, that the sale of them is con- 

 tinued and extensive. Tried by this rule, 

 the two publications before us must possess 

 considerable merit. Dr. Dana's Manual has 

 passed to a second edition, and the trustees 

 of the ' Massachusetts Society for promoting 

 Agriculture,' have purchased one hundred 

 copies of it for immediate distribution. Mr. 

 Ruffin's Essay, an octavo of three hundred 

 closely printed pages, has reached the third 

 edition. These facts afford a strong pre- 

 sumption in favour of the two books; for 

 they are purchased, of course, only by prac 

 tical men, who have found it to their advan- 

 tage to apply the principles contained in 

 them to the details of agriculture. ' In the 

 few years,' says Mr. Ruffin, ' which have 

 passed since the issue of the preceding edi- 

 tion, it is believed that the use of marl and 

 lime in lower Virginia, has been extended 

 over thrice as much land as had been previ- 

 ously thus improved ; and the previous clear 

 income of the farmers thus fertilizing their 

 lands, has been already increased' — to an 

 amount that we dare not mention, lest we 

 should be suspected of practising on the 

 credulity of our readers." 



For the Farmers' Cabinet. 



Poudrette as a Manure for Wheat and 

 Rye. 



Mr. Editor, — Perhaps the readers of the 

 Cabinet may desire to know the result of 

 the application of Poudrette as a fertilizer 

 on wheat and rye, when applied in the fall 

 at sowing. If so, the following statemenis, 

 made by practical farmers, who have used 

 it for several years in large quantities ; and 

 on wheat in comparison with other manures, 

 may be interesting to them. 



Mr. Lemuel Soper, of Huntington, L. I., 

 says: "I also used poudrette on wheat, at 

 the rate of forty, sixty, and even seventy 

 bushels to the acre. Where I used forty 

 bushels to the acre, I got as good wheal as 

 where I used forty wagon loads of barn-yard 

 manure, and equally as good as where I 

 used sixty or seventy bushels of poudrette to 

 ) the acre." 



Mr. Edward Condict, of Morristown, N. .1., 

 says, that " early in October last, I used the 

 poudrette on a loamy soil, somewhat inclin- 

 ing to clay, which I had prepared for wheat. 

 There was no difference in the soil, nor in 

 its preparation, except that on about one 



fourth part of it, after the wheat was sown, 

 about twenty bushels of the poudrette to 

 the acre, were also sown, broadcast ; and the 

 result is, that on harvesting that part where 

 the poudrette was put, is much the heaviest 

 grain, and but very litle injured with the 

 rust or mildew, while the other part of the 

 field is considerably injured." 



Mr. Samuel Fleet, of Hastings, West- 

 chester county, says that he " finds it very 

 efficient, if applied when seeding down. 

 The seed took much better, in the same 

 field, where poudrette was applied at seed- 

 ing, than where other manure was used, 

 the whole being put down at the same 

 time." 



Mr. Win. Wickham Mills, of Smithtown, 

 L. I., says that "where the poudrette was 

 used, the wheat came in well. It stood the 

 winter well, and the berry was fair; but 

 where bone was used, about the same cost 

 to the acre, in the same field, it was winter- 

 killed, and very much shrunk, and the pro- 

 duce was only about one holf the number of 

 bushels to the acre." 



Captain R. B. Coleman, of New York, 

 used 125 bushels of poudrette on his farm, 

 near Poughkeepsie, in the fall of 1839, on 

 wheat, at the rate of 25 bushels to the acre. 

 His object was to lay it down to grass, and 

 he desired to ensure good crops. June 5th, 

 1842, he says, " The ground on which the 

 poudrette was put, can be distinctly marked 

 out, by the luxuriant growth of grass on it 

 being superior to that adjoining." 



Numerous other similar statements might 

 be given, but these are selected because 

 made by farmers who have used poudrette 

 in large quantities for several years, and 

 the best evidence of the estimation in which 

 it is held by those who have used it in the 

 largest quantities for the longest period, is 

 that they have purchased more the present 

 year, than ever before. 



The value of poudrette, however, does 

 not rest upon the experiments made in this 

 country alone, as will be seen by the follow- 

 ing extracts from that valuable work — now 

 in course of publication, by Messrs. Carey 

 & Hart, and re-edited by an American gen- 

 tleman, of much practical skill and exten- 

 sive observation abroad, as well as a tho- 

 rough knowledge of the science of agriculture 

 — the Farmer^s Encyclopedia. Professor 

 Johnson, the author, says, p. 778 — 781 : 



" My attention, however, will, in this 

 place, be principally confined to fertilizers 

 of an organic nature, and more especially 

 to night-soil. Night-soil has not, in any 

 form, been employed by the farmers of Eng- 

 land to the same extent as on the Continent, 

 although it is certainly by far the most pow* 



