32 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



nished by about 12 tons of puano. Now one sixti- 

 eth of this power would suffice for the preservation 

 of the ammonia of an outside dose of guano, conse- 

 quently he was justified in saying that the proper- 

 ty was practically of immense activity. 



Obvioasly, if there was a provision in the soil fo) 

 the retention of the salts of manure, and ft>r the am- 

 monia and other products of the decomposition ol 

 animal and vegetable matter, the soil was the proj)- 

 er place for those decompositions to go on, and nv 

 matter how remote the period when the crop would 

 be taken, it would be perfectly safe to get the ma- 

 nure into tlie land as soon as practicable after it^ 

 production. Again, the equable distribution wasn 

 point, also, which seemed of considerable import- 

 ance; for, if it was an absolute necessity thai a new 

 class of compounds was found in the soil so soon as 

 the manure reached it, it seemed to follow that those 

 compounds furnished the elements of nutrition to 

 plants; consequently we should seek to produce 

 them by every means in our power. Liquid ma- 

 nuring, wherever practicable, was an effectual way 

 of secTiring this distribution. Li the case of artifi- 

 cial manures, that is to say, manures composed of 

 chemical salts, much simplicity was introduced by 

 the new discovery. Henceforth we must regard 

 the different salts, (thoseof ammonia, for instance,) 

 as of value in relation to the price of ammonia, or 

 other bases contained in them, since they are all 

 alike when incorporated with the soil. 



Li liquid manuring it had been usual to think 

 that the application must be made to grass, or to 

 land bearing some crop; hut now that it was known 

 that the laiid, not the plant, retains the manure, no 

 theoretical difficulty could arise in the use of liquid 

 manure for arable land. — American Agrkullurisl. 



Mr. Almack considered snow as the best exem- 

 plification of the beneficial action of water contain- 

 i g ammonia, and possessincr ehcmicfil oualities 

 from other impregnation. Mr. Fisher Hobbs said 

 lie could fully confirm the views of Mr. Pusey. 



Prof. Way said, in regard to the questions affect- 

 ing the action of water in irrigation, he had only 

 to repeat his dilfidencc on the subject, although he 

 thought the criterion by which the Devonshire 

 workers of water meadows were guided, might be 

 tallaeious. He had himself formed the opinion that 

 the effects resulting from irrigation were due more 

 to the chemical qualities of tlie water, than to the 

 circumstances of its high or low temperature; but 

 he was sensible how ignorant we were on these 

 difllcult questions, and he should be most open to 

 conviction, and glad to learn all he could on these 

 interesting subjects. — Al.jOny tuUicator. 



Remarks. — We thought that the subject had beea 

 settled for some years, that soft water was best for 

 irrigation. Rain water has been found by experi- 

 ment to be much superior to hard well water for ir- 

 rigation. It contains a large amount of ammonia, 

 which constitutes important elements in plants. 



WATER FOR IRRIGATION. 



We have frequently heard it said that hard wa- 

 ter was preferable to soft for the purpose of irriga- 

 tion. But from a discussion of the subject at a late 

 meeting of the Council of the Royal Agricultural 

 Society, it appears that the question is not fully set- 

 tled. 



Mr. Pusey said he doubted whether, in the pres- 

 ent state of our knowledge, it could be admitted as 

 a general axiom that hard water was good for irri- 

 gation, and soft water on the contrary prejudicial. 

 In Devonshire, the criterion by which practical 

 workers in water meadows were guided in their 

 judginent of the quality of the water most suitable 

 for their operations, was that of a certain warm, 

 soft, and oily sensation it conmiunicated to the touch, 

 when a portion of it was held and examined in the 

 palm of the hand; the absence of such a quality in- 

 dicating, in their opinion, a water unsuitable for ir- 

 rigation. He knew, as a fact, that Avhen lime ex- 

 isted in any water in such excess as to give it pet- 

 rifying properties, such was considered by practi- 

 cal men as decidedly unfit for irrigating ]>urposes. 

 He accordingly much doubted whether hard water 

 was the only water fit for irrigation. He thought 

 water meadows would not be confined to limestone 

 districts; for in those geological districts in the 

 west of England, where irrigation had long been 

 successfully practised, lime was absent; the water 

 being consequently soft. He considered that water 

 in general became softened by remaining sometime 

 in ponds. In the hilly districts of Devonshire, the 

 water of the small streams running down the de- 

 clivities was found to iinprove its irrigating quali- 

 ties. 



A WORD TO BOYS. 



The learned blacksmith says, — "Boys, did yoa 

 ever think that this great world, with all its wealth 

 and woe, with all its mines and mountains, oceans, 

 seas, rivers, with all its shipping, steamboats, rail- 

 roads and magnetic telegraphs, with all its million 

 of darkly grouping men, and all the science and 

 progress of ages, will soon be given over to the 

 boys of the present age — boys like you, assembled 

 in your school-rooms or playing without them, on 

 both sides of the Atlantic. Believe it, and look 

 abroad on your inheritance, and get ready to enter 

 upon your possession. The kings, presidents, gov- 

 ernors, statesmen, philosophers, ministers, teachers, 

 men of the future, are boys, whose feet, like yours, 

 cannot reach the floor, when seated on the benches 

 upon which they are learning to master the mono- 

 syllables of their respective languages." 



THE COW TREE. 



On the parched side of a rock on the mountain of 

 Venezuela, grows a tree with a dry and leathery 

 foliage, its large woody roots scarcely penetrating 

 into the ground. For several months in the year, 

 its leaves are not moistened by a shower, its branch- 

 es look as if they were dead and withered; but 

 when the trunk is bored, a bland and nourishing 

 milk fiows from it. It is at sunrise that the vege- 

 table fountain flows most freely. At that time the 

 blacks and natives are seen coming from parts pro- 

 vided with large bowls to receive the milk, which 

 grows yellow and thickens at its surface. Some 

 empty their vessels on the spot, while otheis carry 

 them to their children. One imagines he sees the 

 family of a shepherd who is distributing the milk 

 of his flock It is named the falo dc vac4i, or cow 

 tree. 



{Cr" Owing to the length of the valuable article 

 from the Albany Cultivator, we have postponed 

 yaveral communications, and notices of fruits. 



