No. 11. City Manures. — Comparative advantages of Farming. 339 



From the American Agriculturist. 

 City Manures. 



Glass is a silicate of potash or soda, which 

 enters into the composition of all grasses, 

 straw, grain, and corn, forming a fraction of 

 the solid portion of probably all vegetation. 

 Silicate of potash and of soda, is silicious 

 and chemically combined with those alka- 

 lies; that is, such sand as is commonly 

 found on our sea-beach. Wheat contains a 

 larger portion of silicate than any other 

 grain ; and if sown on land totally ex- 

 hausted of this material, no wheat will be 

 produced, however rich the soil may be in 

 other fertilizers. When sown on land mostly 

 exhausted of silicate, the crop will be small 

 and the grain light in weight. 



To apply glass to land, it should be ground 

 as fine as flour. I have sold about 25 barrels 

 of it to our farmers within the last six months, 

 and the coming crops will test its value. The 

 price charged, has been $1 75 per barrel, the 

 barrel included; and when our farmers know 

 that each barrel contains more than three 

 hundred pounds, and that in this quantity 

 there are from one hundred and five, to one 

 hundred and twenty pounds of potash or 

 soda, they will know it to be one of the 

 cheapest fertilizers they can purchase, inde- 

 pendent of any effect from the silex dis- 

 solved in it. It is purchasing pure potash 

 or soda, at less than one cent and three- 

 quarters per pound. I should consider one 

 barrel per acre, to be an ample supply for 

 two years' crops. 



Many hundreds of tons of broken glass, 

 are thrown away in New York and Brook- 

 lyn annually; and as every hundred tons 

 contains from 35 to 40 tons of alkali, our 

 Long Inland and Jersey farmers may judge 

 how much they lose by not employing it on 

 their land. 



I shall now call your attention to the plas- 

 ter of Paris thrown away in New York. 

 Such an assertion will no doubt surprise 

 many a farmer who uses plaster; yet it is 

 true, that scores of tons of the purest of 

 plaster have been annually thrown away in 

 our city. I last summer had carted away 

 21 barrels of it to put into a compost heap 

 at Gravesend. In making soda water, they 

 use carbonate of lime, from which they sepa- 

 rate the carbonic gas to saturate the water 

 contained in their fountains. To do this, 

 they have to use sulphuric acid ; this com- 

 bines with the lime, separating it from, and 

 liberating its carbonic gas, and the residuum 

 thrown away, is the purest of plaster. Such 

 plaster will be moist, yet sufficiently solid 

 to cart awav in flour barrels. Let those 



farmers who find plaster beneficial to their 

 land, attend to this source of supply. 



I shall now call your attention to the dock 

 mud taken out of our docks by dredging ma- 

 chines. I was quite astonished the other 

 day, to learn that this material was landed 

 in scows, then warped to the tide current, 

 and there thrown into the river! This is 

 probably one of the most valuable fertilizers 

 we have in the country, and the quantity is 

 immense. It contains the whole wash of 

 the city; and after a rain-storm, the most 

 valuable portion of our street dirt settles in 

 the docks. Chamber-lie, soap-suds, soap- 

 lees, fish-offal, blood, pot-liquor, &c, &c, 

 are the greater portion of them collected in 

 the dock-mud. The very smell from the 

 docks when foul, or the tide is low, is a 

 pungent proof of its fertilizing power. 



This material should be collected in some 

 convenient spot where it can be landed, put 

 into heaps under open sheds, mixed with 

 lime, plaster, or charcoal, and let lie until a. 

 thorough decomposition takes place, and then 

 applied to the land. There can be no doubt 

 that one cart load from such a compost heap, 

 would be more valuable to the farmer than 

 three loads of the best street dirt. 



It has been objected by some, that duck- 

 mud contains salt. This, instead of being 

 an objection, will be found to be one of its 

 most valuable properties. The celebrated 

 guano manure, taken to Europe from islands 

 in the Pacific ocean, and selling there at 

 $2 33 per 112 lbs., contains more than 30 

 per cent, of sea salt, a larger portion proba- 

 bly than would be found in our dock-mud. 

 I should consider that a compost made from 

 our dock-mud would be very little, if any, 

 inferior to the guano manure. 



Wm. Partridge. 



New York. 



For the Farmers' Cabinet. 

 Comparative advantages of Farming. 



It is a prevalent opinion amongst young 

 men — those who are engaged in agriculture, 

 as well as many who are connected with 

 commerce, that farming is less advan- 

 tageous, and subject to greater hardships, 

 than most other professions — but this arises, 

 in a great measure, from partial views of 

 the subject, and from an unacquaintedness, 

 incident to the employments of others: they 

 therefore form opinions merely from exter- 

 nal appearances, without investigating the 

 disadvantages attendant upon other occupa- 

 tions — and thus, enterprises are commenced 

 and precipitate resolutions are formed, which 

 lay the foundation of many disasters, which 

 daity take place in families and amongst in- 



