No. 8. Experiments with Gas Liquor. — Cultivation of Fruit. 



241 



act account of the expense of raising and 

 fattening a flock, and at the rate of ten cents 

 a pound'full dressed — we received ^T2, while 

 our cost exclusi^'e of sour milk, was less than 

 $10. If any farmer does not wish to be at 

 the special trouble of raising them, but 

 should liave a small flock to fatten, that 

 have lived " in spite of wind and weather,'' 

 let him adopt our rules of fattening, and he 

 will " save much corn." On a large farm, 

 and with a large yard and a butter dairy, 

 • with proper attention we believe it may be 

 made a leading business to great profit. 



For the Farmers' Cabinet. 



Experiments with Gas Liquor on Grass 

 Lands. 



Thk practice of publishing the results of 

 experiments only when they are successful, 

 is but too common both with agriculturists 

 and those engaged in more abstruse re- 

 searches. Now we regard an experiment 

 as designed for instruction — and for that 

 purpose, failure is sometimes as valuable as 

 success — not only to ourselves but to others, 

 in guarding against similar courses, and 

 leading by the investigation of the causes 

 of failure to the discovery of unexpected 

 truths. We shall therefore submit the fol- 

 lowing remarks and details, leaving the re- 

 sults of further researches for a subsequent 

 memoir. 



The true economy of waste manures, by 

 which is meant the application of the waste 

 products of factories, to the amelioration of 

 the soil, is confessedly one of the most im- 

 portant objects of modern agricultural sci- 

 ence. Not that the idea is novel, but the 

 extension of the practice to the including of 

 many substances hitherto thought useless, is 

 one of the immediate consequences of the 

 application of chemistry to the firm. In- 

 deed it is thought that but few of those dis 

 carded and frequently nauseous matters may 

 not be employed with marked success, and 

 accordingly the journals of Europe afford 

 us long series of experiments, in which the 

 waste of the dyer, leather-dresser, button 

 maker, sugar-refiner, and glue and gas man- 

 ufacturer have been tried with known ma- 

 nures, and their relative value thus tested. 

 Especially has this been the case with am- 

 moniacal refuse. Among these the liquor 

 which results from the distillation of coal, 

 and which flows above the gas tar in the 

 tank, would seem to merit attention, since 

 its richness has caused it to be employed in 

 the manufacture of ammoniacal salts, both 

 in Europe and this country; and Scottish 

 farmers have applied it to grass lands with 

 extraordinary results. We endeavoured to 



obtain the same wished for consummation 

 in the following manner: — On the farm of 

 Mary Lake, in Delaware county, between 

 Cobbs and Darby creeks, a portion of a field 

 of clover and timothy was selected — from 

 this about one-sixth of an acre, 26.16 rods 

 were carefully measvn-ed, and on the 6th of 

 April last, o??e half of the grass was evenly 

 sprinkled by hand, with ten gallons ammoni- 

 acal liquor from the Philadelphia gas works, 

 diluted with four times the quantity of water, 

 being about the rate of, one hundred and 

 twenty-four gallons of gas liquor, or six 

 hundred and twenty gallons of the diluted 

 liquid to the acre. The season was propi- 

 tious, and the ground favourable to the ac- 

 tion of ammoniacal manures, being suffi- 

 ciently light, with a fine natural drainage, 

 and having grown Indian corn and wheat 

 since manuring. During tfte season there 

 was no perceptible difi^erence between the 

 two portions. In the latter part of June 

 they were cut, dried, and weighed sepa- 

 rately, though at the same time; that which 

 was unliquored, gave 450 lbs.; liquored, 448 

 lbs. The difference, two pounds, may be 

 safely set down to errors in collecting and 

 weighing, when we have the result of nei- 

 ther benefit nor injury from the liquor. 



On the 18th of April a similar experiment 

 was performed on the farm of Mr. John 

 Palmer, adjoining the above, except that the 

 liquor was permitted to flov/ from a hogs- 

 head set on a cart, over a board placed for 

 the purpose somewhat in the manner of the 

 Flemings. Twelve and a half gallons were 

 diluted as before, and distributed over nine- 

 teen and nine-twenty-fifths rods — not quite 

 one-eighth of an acre. No difference was 

 perceived between the sprinkled and un- 

 sprinkled grass, either during the season, 

 or while mowing or cocking; the workmen 

 therefore thought themselves justified during 

 the absence of the writer, in saving the trou- 

 ble of weighing, by carting it into the barn. 

 The opinion that the efficacy of dung de- 

 pends mainly on the phosphates it contains, 

 derives support from the above facts. 



Alfred L. Kennedy. 



Philadelphia, Feb., 1845. 



Cultivation of Fruit. 



Soil.- — The hard gravelly soil of the east- 

 ern States, the sandy soil of New Jersey, the 

 clay soil of Pennsylvania, and the rich allu- 

 vial bottoms of the west, all produce an 

 abundance of the different varieties of fruit 

 when proper attention is given to the trees, 

 Mr. Phinney, of Lexington, Massachusetts, 

 has ditched and drained one of his swamps, 

 and has now on it a luxuriant orchard of 



