SIG 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER, 



APRIL n, 18 48. 



SUHf=CRIPTION TO THE AGRICULTURAL 

 SOCIETY OF THE U. S. 



Patent Okficf, > 

 tl'ashinglon, March Xilh, 184'i ) 

 To the Eiliior oflhe New Enslaiid Farmer : 



Sir— The Natiomil A^'ricullural Society rcfiuest 

 an insertion of Uie following notice. 

 Refpeclfully yours, 



H. L. ELLSWORTH. 



TO POSTMASTERS. 

 The Hoard of Control of the Agricultnrul Socie- 

 ty of the United States, request that tlio several 

 Postmasters make returns to the Treasurer of tlio 

 Society, (as requested by the circular,) before the 

 first of May, of all subscriptions by them oblainet.. 

 Kililors are requested to insert llie above in their 

 respective papers, for the benefit of agriculturists 

 and planters. 



[By reference to the N. E. Farmer of Jan. 5lh, 

 it will be seen that any person may become a mem- 

 ber by paying two dollars, and one dollar annually 

 allci wards. Any one may become a life member 

 by paying ten dollars. Any Agricultural Society 

 may becJme auxiliary by paying ten dollars. 



Edward Dyer, of Washington, D. C, is Treasu- 

 rer.] 



the potato and «heat cr.p; the effect of it is par- writer in the Journal of the Roya, Agricultt 

 licularly evident on the wheat, for however sickly Society of England. He says that 



it looks in the spring, its color and the vigor of iu 

 growth is changed in a few days after it has been 

 applied." p. 4"J1. Whatever may be thought of 

 the limited and special applicability of soot, yet 

 where it dots suit, and is proved by continuoiJS 

 facta to be eminently useful, even when applied in 



quantity so small as twenlyfive bushels to the acre, . jou iu=.. — ". = 



in such places it is, to all available intents and pur- i game chemical ingredients as the guano, and 

 poses, the very compound itself which comprises ^omc cheaper. Possibly some one curious in si 

 the essentials of the vaunted, mystified, prepara- ' waiters, may try an experiment. The 530 

 tion of carbon, that now bores the imagination, would be as much as they apply to two acres 

 Soot is the purest carbonized product of mineral i Engliuid. The cost here would bo probably— 



• ■. _ __.■__ _:i.. 1 ....l..! ;i;-f.i/l raQtnnna mnt__ .. — i _i. _. 1A „•.. 4:9 fl 



315 lbs. or 7 bushels of bone dust, 

 100 lbs. o( sulphate of ammonia, 



5 lbs. of pearlash, 

 100 lbs. of common salt, 



10 lbs. of dry sulphate of soda, 



530 lbs. — will make a mixture containing 



IllU.' 



jSiiii 



'-Fi 

 Sill 

 1st 

 IVi 



lull 



coal i it contains oily and volatilized resinous mat 

 ters, and above all, a fixed neutral salt of ammonia, 

 which is perfectly soluble in watery menstrua, but 

 retentive of its ammonia till a more powerful alkali 

 displace it; then, as by mixture with liine, potass 

 or soda, the volatile ammonia is liberated, and re- 

 vealed by its pungent odor. Without asserting 

 what may or may not be the components of any 

 nostrum, we unhesitatingly offer a strong opinion 

 of the eiEcacy of soot— nn efficacy not to be rival 



Bono, 7 bush, at 40 cts., 

 Sulphate of ammonia, 100 lbs. 

 Pearlash, 5 Ihs. 

 Common salt, 100 lbs. 

 Sulphate of soda, 10 lbs. 



—Ed. N. E. F. 



$2 8( 



13 0( 



3( 



7! 



3«^ 



$17 i.r 



of the efficacy of soot— nn efficacy not to be rival- pj^QTECTION OF CORN AGAINST CRO\ 



ed or surpassed by any known preparation whose .^ 



chief component is free carbon 

 don) Express 



-Mark-lane (Lon- 



SOOT AS A MANURE. 

 Improvements in agriculture, scientific and me 

 chanical, are and will bo the staunchesl props of 

 the landed and farming interests ; it is with regret, 

 therefore, that we ever observe a want of candor 

 among those who ought to act as brethren. Much 

 has been said lately of a new and highly fertilizing 

 manure— one which will enable land to sustain 

 and bring to the highest condition successive crops 

 of the same plant. Hut why does any s<:crct at- 

 tach to discoveries of such deep import ? Why 

 are a few vague hints dropped, which tend only to 

 mistify, and excite conjecture in the minds of 

 thousands.' Is individual profit to be the final re- i 

 suit.' We are told that the basis- 'is carbon or | 

 some carbonized substance ; but the same thing 

 uiigbt be said of starch, sugar, malt-dust, or any 

 other vegetable product. While wo arc thus left 

 in the dark, and, with Macbeth, must be content 

 ■with the ([ucstion, " Can such things be .-" it is con- 

 solatory to refer to the evidence of facts, such as 

 are detailed in that estimable article by John Mor- 

 ton, Esq., in No. XLl. of the Journal of the Royal 

 Agricultural Society of England, vol. I. part iv., 

 giving an account of the mode of cultivation adopt- 

 ed on°Stinclicoiiibo Farm, by Mr Dimmery. Here- 

 in wo perceive a simple three-course rotation prac- 

 ticed for more than twentyfive years, with increase 

 rather than du iHiution of produce, and wherein 

 one of the chief .oitilizers is con! soot. " The gen- 

 eral price is (id. jicr bushel, the quantity used on 

 the farm is upwards of 3000 bushels a year, one 

 half of which is applied to the jiolalo, and the other 

 to the tcheat crop." A large llock of sheep gives 

 "toil-dress," preparatory to turnips, which follow 

 the wheat, and intervene between it and the pota- 



GUANO, THE PERUVIAN MANURE. 



The rocky coast and inlets that exist in the des 

 ert district between Peru and Chili, are the great 

 resort of millions of sea-birds, gulls, &c., and their 

 manure which has been accumulating for ages, 

 now forms masses of great thickness, and which is 

 constantly increasing. As these birds feed princi- 

 pally on lish, and other marine matters, the ^iiano, 

 as the manure of these deposits is called, contains 

 large quantities of phosphates of lime, ammonia, 

 and other products of animal matter, and as it rare- 

 ly rains on this coast, the masses have not under- 

 gone the bleaching or draining they would have 

 done in other places. Thus constituted, this sub- 

 stance is one of the most active of manures; and 

 has for a long time been used by the Peruvians in 

 the culture of corn. A writer in a foreign journal 

 says, in parsing on horseback along the coast, he 

 frequently saw the natives driving an ass or two 

 into the interior, with a package of this guano on 

 each side, and when asked how they used it, they 

 said they put a pinch of it in each hill of corn at 

 the lime of planting. A number of ship loads of 

 this native pouilrcftc have been carried to England 



Mr O. M. Whipple, of Lowell, Mass., says in 

 statement to the Agriculluial Commissioner 

 Massachusetts, that lor 15 years he has preser 

 his corn from the depredations of crows,-by sow 

 on his field a quart of corn soaked in a strong 

 lution of saltpetre. We can believe this, as 

 [crow which might have eaten half a dozen gr; 

 of corn well saturated with saltpetre, would 

 Ion"- enough to beiiueath his estate to his inter 

 ing°progeny, though a scrivener were at ham 

 the tiuie of his making his meal, to draw his ' 

 Saltpetre judiciously used, possesses medicinal 

 tues, but when taken in excess, is destructiv 

 life, and hence the protection it affords to e 

 corn soaked in a solution of it, against worroi 

 well as crows. 



The best scare-croics we have ever used, v 

 bright sheets of tin suspended from poles by w 



Ihe poles of sufficient height, and in suffic 



numbers to be seen all over the field. Fou 

 six, if judiciously placed, will effectually ans 

 for a field <if .lO acres. Our mode of fixing t 

 was this : we cut a pole of sufficient hei 

 trimmed off all the limbs but the upper one 

 the end of this limb we attached, by a strong fi 

 ble wire, a sheet of tin, and planted the pole 

 provided, firmly in the ground, on the dest 

 spot. The limb left at the lop, should project I 



tins native pouurtiic nave oeen carricu lo i.ni^mi.u, | ^^^^^ y|,p ,|„,|, ^^f^ ^^ i,,^ ,(,p^ snouia project 

 where it commands a high price as a fertilizer, and | ^^^j^Hy far enough to allow full play to th 

 present indications denote that the importation of | ^i^^^ ^mj^j^^jjiig giighicst breeze gives ino 



portat 

 the article will hereafter bo extensive. 



The English farmer understands his true inte- 

 rests, when he extends his expenses for manures. 

 From the U. States he collects ashes, bones, &c. ; 

 from the Mediterranean crude nitre, soda, &c., and 



to the tin, and consequently causes a refiectio 

 sudden as to eflectually frighten off crowi, or o 

 birds addicted to picking up the corn. Tl 

 years successful ose of such scare-crows, justifj 



— I in recommending them to our brethren. — .Imen 



now he has oi>ennd the mines of guano, o" I''* If'amitr. 



shores of the far Pacific, all of which are used for | 



fertilizing the soil, while the same substances, not 



less needed where procured, are mostly neglected. 



— Jlmericon Farmer 



O'Guano has of late been used in England as 



The following is from the Mark-lano Expree 



Sib — In your paper of the 14th inst, a cor 



pondent inquires the best method of eradicai 



the wheat, and intervene between it and the pota- O-Guano has of late been used in bng anil as y^^^^ ^^^^^^ ^^^^ meadows. I beg to state 

 toes. 'It is not the present object to enter into any a manure, audits efiects have been wonilerlul y ; information, that a sprinkling of wood-a« 

 .. .1 1 ._:i _r .!._ •:... .It... .....,,,.... !.,,» ,,inrolv .Trxnt i n nroinni i PIT vpirctatlon. But as the article .. , _._„„ f, 



toes. It IS i'OL IIIU pilSW^ni. v/..j^.\.w t.yj ,,1.^... ,..v" J - -, - - - 11 



further detail of the particular routine, but merely great in promoting vegetation. But as the ""'^^'"^ ■;;i',,'"g;igrn;inale mosses "and co^arsc grass fi 



to make use of the preceding quotation as a pre- probably will never be much used in this country-, ^^^^^j^^^g 



lude to the question of soot as a manure. " We it is hardly a.'.visable for us to fill our pages with ^ 



have not," says Mr Morton, "been able to obtain extended extracts, in which its ctVects are dcscrib- 



from Mr Dimmery any idea of how soot nets in cd. Our objee.t in noticing the article, is to copy 



producing such effects, as it evidently docs both on 1 a recipe for making an artificial guano, given by a 



Your obedient servant, 

 A liar is not believed when he speaks the tr 



