VOL. XVI. NO. 53. I 



AND HORTICULTURAL REGISTER 



411 



Certain saline mattera are necessary to tlio 

 healtliy groivth of plants. Pliospliatcs arc re(iuireJ 

 by nearly all the known nutritious grains, and form 

 an essential part of lliein. .Mkalie.^, either vola- 

 tile or fixed, operate on plants partly as contribiita- 

 ries to form the saline ingredients, and partly by 

 conveying organic manures into the sap vessels. 



Gypsum dues not act, as was supposed by Lie- 

 big, only by forming sulphate of ammonia from the 

 carbonate of ammonia of atmospheric origin, for it 

 operates very differently in ditTercnt regions where 

 the rain water is of the same nature. Sulphate of 

 ammonia has never yet been proved to be so good 

 n manure as carbonate of ammonia, and we have 

 every reason to consider the latter salt more valu- 

 able than the former. 



Ashes, being the mineral basis of plants, forms 

 |one of the best saline manures, and is especially 

 applicable to light or sandy soils which are poor 

 in potash and lime salts, and are full of acid organ- 

 ic matters of vegetable origm. 



Carbonate of ammonia acts very powerfully on 

 plants. In the proportion of 10 grains to the gal- 

 lon of water, it very much increases the growth of 

 the foliage, but it must not be applied too often or 

 any stronger, for it acts like a " too hot manure" 

 if it is too abundant. Tliis explains the influence 

 of excess of animal manure ; for the plants are 

 laasily destroyed by it, being, as it was supposed 

 Iby the farmer, burnt. This is due to too much 

 ummonis. Ground bones, in very large quantities, 

 iict in the same manner if put directly in a hill of 

 :orn. Guano, if used in too large quantities, has 

 .he same effect. So has pigeon's dung, and all 

 ijther highly nitrogenixed manures. The farmer, 

 l.herefore, must exercise his skill and discrimina- 

 ion in the application of saline manures. By 

 :areful trials, he will soon learn the best propor- 

 ions for liis various crops. 



Peat and swamp muck should be made the basis 

 jf all composts into which saline manures enter, 

 io that they be properly divided and have a basis 

 .0 act upon. 



Peat is an excellent material to absorb the liquid 

 Tianures which drain from the stables and stalls, 

 it should always be put in the barn-yard or into 

 he barn cellar. In the spring, a bushel of recent- 

 y slacked lime should be mixed wilh every load 

 )f peat compost, and the value of the manure thus 

 ormed, will be much increased. During the ac- 

 I ion of the lime, ammonia is generated, and may be 

 1 ibsorbed by fresh peat or by ground gypsum. 



This brief abstract gives only a rough outline 



' )f the report submitted to the Association. The 



vhole essay will probably appear in the transac- 



I ions, which will be printed some time during the 



jresent summer. — Albany Evt. Jour. 



.Making Cows milk easy ivilh a penknife, (saya a 

 orrespondent of the Albany Cultivator,) seemed 

 bout as strange to me when I first heard of it, as 

 urn:ng lard in a common lamp, (which I have 

 net! successfully.) However, experience proved 

 lilt a penknife blade of a proper shape, or a har- 

 lesi awl, which is better, inserted in the hole of 

 he teat that milks hard, improves the milking pro- 

 pess very much. Fill the teat full of milk, and 

 out in the instrument the proper length, without 

 :ouching the sides of it, and most cows, I think, 

 will not flinch, if the knife be sharp. All that is 

 :ut is a thin skin, and the pain is trifling. If the 

 ;nt is not too large, the cow will not leak her milk. 



TO COLOR RED AND Yf.LLOW. 

 To color red and yellow, wo give the following 

 receipts, which wo arc assured by lliose most com. 

 potent to judge, will produce superior colors. The 

 receipt is for dyeing wool or woollen clolh. 



To dye one pound of yarn or flannel, requires 

 the following articles : 



r? ounces of alum, 

 1 " creaui of tartar, 



8 " madder, 



1-2 " stone lime. 



J. Prepare a brass or copper kettle with about 

 five gallons of water, bring it to a scalding heat, 

 then add throe ounces of alum pounded lino, and 

 one ounce of cream of tartar ; then bring the li(pior 

 to a boil, and put in the woollen and boil it for 

 two hours. It is then to bo taken out, aired and 

 rinsed, and the liquor thrown away. 



2. Prepare the kettle with as much water as be- 

 fore, and add to it eight ounces of good madder 

 pounded fine, and well mixed in the water before 

 you put in the woollen. When the dye is as hot 

 as you can bear your hand in, then put in the wool- 

 len, and let it remain in the dye for one hour, dur- 

 ing which time the dye must not boil, but only re- 

 main at a scalding heat, observing to stir about the 

 woollen constantly when in the dve. 



3. When the woollen has been in one hour, it 

 is to be taken out, aired and rinsed. 



4. Add to the dye one-half pint of clear lime 

 water, which is made by slaking half an ounce of 

 lime to powder, then add water to it, and when 

 settled, pour the clear part into the dye, and mix 

 it well. Now put in your woollen, and stir it 

 about for ten minutes, the dye being only at a 

 scalding heat. It is then to be taken out and rins- 

 ed immediately. 



N. B. If you wish the red very bright, add quar- 

 ter of an ounce, or nearly half a table spoonful of 

 what dyers call aquafortis composition, at the time 

 of putting in the madder. 



For yellow dye the same proportions as for red, 

 excepting that for the eight ounces of madder, one 

 pound of fustic is to be substituted. The woollen 

 must be boiled in the alum and tartar water an 

 hour and a hall, then taken out, cooled and rinsed 

 slightly. 



In a new liquor put in your fustic, secured in a 

 thin, coarse bag, and boil it for two hours ; then 

 take out the fustic and put in the woollen, and stir 

 it while boiling for one your. Then to be taken 

 out, cooled and rinsed. — Alb. Cult. 



Potato Bread. — The potato makes a pleasant, 

 palatable bread with wheat, in the proportion of 

 one-third, but if one-fourth, it is still lighter and 

 better. Specimens of bread made of barley and 

 potatoes, and also of oats and potatoes, were sub- 

 mitted to the Board of Agriculture, which promised 

 well. In some cases the potato was not boiled, 

 but merely grated down into a pulp and mixed 

 with wheaten flour, in which mode it made excel- 

 lent bread. It has been found by other trials, that 

 good bread may be made from equal quantities of 

 flour and potato meal, which has been greatly the 

 practice in those countries most remarkable for the 

 plentiful culture of the potato. The most ready 

 method of making potatoes into bread is, after 

 boiling, steaming (the best.) or baking them, to re- 

 duce them to a moderately fine powder. If made 

 up with milk, the quality of the bread will be much 

 improved. — Farmers' Emyclnp. 



ANl.MAL POISONS. 



The venom ui the bee and the wasp is a liquid 

 contained in a small vcsticle, forced through tho 

 hollow tube of the sting into tho wound inflicted 

 by that instrument. From the experiments of Fon- 

 tana, we learn that it bears a etrjking reseinblanco 

 to the poison of tho viper. That of the bee is 

 much longer in drying when exposed to tho air 

 than the venom of the wasp. Tho bting of tho 

 bee should be inunediately extracted ; and iho best 

 application is opniin and olive oil : one drachm of 

 the former finely powdered, rubbed down with an 

 ounce of the latter, and applied to the part afloctcd 

 by means of lint, which shnuld be frequently re- 

 newed. No exjierimcnts upon which we can rely 

 have been made upon tho poison of tho spider 

 tribe. From the rapidity with which these ani. 

 mals destroy their prey, and even one another, wa 

 cannot doubt that their poison is sufficiently viru- 

 lent. 



Soft poultices of fresh flesh, bread and milk, or 

 in the absence of these, even mud, arc excellent 

 applications to stings of insects, and even the bites 

 of the most venomous snakes. The specifics re- 

 commended in such cases for internal use, are not 

 to be compared in efficacy with the timely applica- 

 tion of a poultice of the flesh of a chicken or other 

 animal recently killed. The flesh of tho rattle- 

 snake itself is in some parts of America reckoned 

 to possess specific virtues, and doubtless will an- 

 swer nearly, if not quite as well, as any other good 

 soft and moist poultice, which will seldom fad to 

 effect a cure when promptly applied and frequently 

 renewed. In this way the irritation and inflamma- 

 tion induced by the poison in the part bitten, \a 

 often arrested at once, and prevented from extend- 

 ing to vital parts. Thpse conclusions are the re- 

 sults of experiments nir.de with the poison of the 

 rattle-snake, in which U'je most celebrated Indian 

 and other specifics were, used with little if any ad- 

 vantage. — Farmer's Encifclop. 



A SUCCESSFUL SURGICAL opEiiATio.v was per- 

 formed on a woman in this city yesterday, while 

 she was in the magnetic sleep. Tho subject, the 

 wife of Mr. Ebenezer Davis, of Jarvis Gore, was 

 thrown into the mesmeric state, when a tumor was 

 removed from her shoulder by Dr. Rich of this 

 place. While he was performing the operation. 

 Mrs. Davis exhibited no other symptom of suffer- 

 ing, we are informed, than a slight twitching of the 

 muscles and compression of the lips. When awak- 

 ened she was unconscious that any thing unusual 

 had taken place in regard to herself — she did not 

 know that the tumour had been removed until in- 

 formed by others. All of the parties are most re- 

 spectable people, and tho facts we have given ap. 

 pear to be indisputable. This case of mesmerism 

 applied to surgical science is wor;hy of the serious 

 consideration of the gentlemen of the medical pro- 

 fession Bangor Dan. 



Effttts of Culture Celery, so agreeable to 



most palates, is a modification of the apium graveo- 

 lens, the taste of which is so acrid and bitter that 

 it cannot be eaten. Our cauliflowers and cabba- 

 ges, are largely developed coleworts, that grow 

 wild on the sea-shore, and do not weigh more than 

 half an ounce each. The rose has been produced 

 by cultivation, from the common wild briar; the 

 luscious plum from the acrid sloe, and the golden 

 pippin from the harsh, bitter crab. — Far. Cab. 



