&l)c farmer's ittontljln btaitor. 



125 



From the Plough, Loom and Anvil. 

 Chemistry in its relation to Agriculture. 

 Of all .sciences, chemistry is that which has 

 the nearest relation to agriculture, and lends to 

 it the greatest aid. It is a Bcience that points out 

 to us means by which we may add to the fertility 

 of the ground through .the medium of foreign 

 substances applied to it : but, in tiie case of 

 chemistry, as in that of all other sciences, a cer- 

 tain degree of caution is necessary in carrying 

 into practice the rides laid down hy the theorist, 

 when in his laboratory. Chemistry enables us 

 at once to test the real value of any given sub- 

 stance, without the uncertainty and loss of lime 

 attendant on a trial ; and when ii is considered 

 how much lime must have been lost, how unsat- 

 isfactorily the result must repeatedly have been, 

 when no such knowledge existed to certify I he 

 progress of discovery, the value of this science 

 may in some measure he estimated. It is certain 

 that the principles on which vegetables are 

 nourished depend altogether upon chemistry ; 

 and agriculture, in its modern and improved 

 state, has led, with considerable precision, to a 

 knowledge of those laws of vegetation by which 

 we are enabled to ameliorate the laud, and to in- 

 crease the quantity as well as improve the quality 

 of its productions. The farmer who applies a 

 peculiar species of manure, which has been 

 found beneficial to his ground, being himself ig- 

 norant of chemistry, only follows the practice of 

 his predecessors or neighbors; hut while he 

 sneers at the theorist who would direct his at- 

 tention to the studies of the first principles of 

 his art, both he and those whom he follows were 

 probably originally indebted for that practice to 

 the observations of men of science. No one 

 who is at all conversant with the subject of ma- 

 nure can be ignorant that, notwithstanding the 

 management of intel'igeut husbandmen, a great 

 want of knowledge prevails among the common 

 run of farmers regarding the best modes of its 

 preparation and application. I think, if we were 

 to pay a little more attention in the nature and 

 properties of manure before we apply it to the 

 soil, we may in that way sometimes reap great 

 benefit. 1 think these things ought to he more 

 seriously considered, not only lor the benefit we 

 may ourselves derive from it, hut also the com- 

 munity. I know not that more cogent argu- 

 ments for the union of chemistry with agricul- 

 ture can he adduced than already exist in the 

 stimulus all parlies possess for advancing their 

 individual interests; but of this we may feel as- 

 sured, that as the end and object of all know- 

 ledge in connection with this Bllbject is to in- 

 crease the produce of the earth, so those who 

 will not avail themselves of the. assistance chem- 

 istry affords will be left behind in the struggle 

 which is going on; and further, those who do 

 n Ij on the science for an elucidation of the 

 hitherto mysterious operations of nature, will 

 not only derive a direct and immediate benefit 

 from the application of chemistry to agriculture, 

 hut they will also proceed with less difficulty, 

 fiom being assured that the laws of nature tire 

 uniform in their operations, and that a certain 

 cause will always induce a certain result. With- 

 out a fair trial being given lo the opinions of the 

 . one or the power of the other, the hints thrown 

 out by the scientific are often overpowered and 

 put down by that concentrated mass of ignorance 

 and prejudice through which the lighi of science 

 can rarely penetrate. Every year shows us 

 more and more clearly that we must find a surer 

 way of obtaining good crops than our forefath- 



ers; we have the foreign grower to contend 

 with, and must now look to science, not leave it 

 to the ne.M generation of farmers, for the aid 

 which practice alone cannot afford us. 1 do not 

 mean to say a farmer musi he a professed chem- 

 ist and master of analysis ; on the contrary, I 

 think it would be useless for him to trouble him- 

 self with the sixly-two elementary or simple 

 bodies which the numberless forms of matter, of 

 which the crust of the globe is composed, are 

 capable of being resolved into; hut it is neces- 

 sar\ ever) farmer should have a certain amount 

 of information on scientific subjects, more espe- 

 cially with those that point out lo him the com- 

 position of the various plants he cultivates, and 

 of the manures he can ies on his land. Liebig 

 says, in his excellent work on "Chemistry in its 

 Application to Agriculture and Physiology," 

 "Now that the conditions which render the soil 

 productive and capable of affording support to 

 plants are ascertained, it cannot well he denied, 

 that from chemistry alone further progress in 

 agriculture is to be expected." 



G. S., A Young Farmer. 



For I lie Farmer's Monthly Visitor. 



Dorothy's advice to her Niece. 



My dear Harriet, 1 i Ii i-s -cloy 

 (As your brother is going away) 



Stud you a bunch of stocking-yarn — 



1 behove you can Unit and darn. 



Excuse the liberty 1 take, 



Such a trifling present to make 



Especially to you, Miss Martineau, 



Being a niece I never saw. 



While by your mother's side you sit, 



I hope this y«a will please to knit. 

 For il is thought thai no young Miss 

 Fully accomplished is, in this 

 Enlightened ago, till she is laught 



The mysteries of the '• housewife's part," 



And is skilled in the magic art 



01' making a good pie or tart. 



When you learn to do these things well. 



And ev'ry English word can spell, 



Then attend to Latin and Greek, 



And learn hoth lluenlly to apeak. 



I I for music you have an ear, 

 Let discretion be always near. 

 Should you gold from Ophir possess, 



Do not indulge i men in dress : 



Let sacrifices lo fashion's shrine 



Be very " lew and far between." 



Some have expired willing martyrs 



On accomplishment's tine allars — 



Like bubbles on the ocean toss'd, 



To society they are lost. 



Bat 1 would banish far llie thought 



That this will ever be your lot — 



Rather may v ou ; erplex yiur brain 



In some vast philosophic train, 



Or that grand, ennobling pursuit 



Which human beings oft dispute, 



Finding how worlds on worhls are form'd, 



And how this earthly ball is warned : 



If of such subjects you c unptain, 



To cold abstractions lay no cl :..,i. 



'Tis said that word gives woman terror : 



May they have light to see their error. - 



And may you never, never know 



The whole extent of human woe. 



Neither must you expect to be 



From all sorrow entirely freej 



Such was not. in mortals given, 



May wc find it above ill heaven. 



May you ever and c ver share 



A heavenly Fathers kind care — 



As you leirn his goodness to see, 



May your adorning ever be, 



" Not outward," but a meek spirit — 



'lie- gre ii- il I n we can inherit. 



Be systematic wl encVr \ ou can, 

 Praise the character of worn. hi. 

 Acoust 14, 1819. 



JVewmode of preserving Butler. — There cannot 

 he a doubt that the cause \\ by butter is difficult 

 to preserve good, is, that some material or ingre- 

 dient of the milk combines so intimately with 

 the buttery particles, lli.it il is very difficult to 

 separate. It has been said that .Mr. E. II. Mer- 

 ryman, of Springfield, Illinois, has discovered 



that this substance is casein, or tie cheesy mat- 

 ter, and that he has contrived a mode of separat- 

 ing it by mechanical means, and thus preserves 

 butter a long time if it he exposed to the atmos- 

 phere. The Scientific American, remarking up- 

 on this subject, says thai this separation of ca- 

 sein is done, by tiie Tartars of the Crimen, by 

 melting the butter over a slow lire ami removing 

 the scum as it rises. The butter is kept in a 

 melted slate there by means of a water bath at 

 one hundred and eighty degrees, until the case- 

 ous mailer subsides to the bottom. This is a 

 slow and tedious method, .and if Mr. Merryman's 

 method is successful, it must he a very great 

 improvement. — .Maine Farmer. 



Dr. IMusseyon Brandy. 



The following remarks on the use of brandy, 

 as a prophylactic in cholera, were made dining 

 a discus-ion on cholera, in the Ohio Medical 

 Convention recently held in Columbus: 



"Upon boats on the river, the increase of 

 brandy drinking, consequent upon the approach 

 of the cholera, has been frightful, and the mor- 

 tality on hoard those has been terrible and un- 

 precedented. One boat lost forty-three, another 

 forty-seven, and a third liliy-oine of its passen- 

 gers and crew. To the temperate, ii is an active 

 exciting cause. For the thinker, it is not advisa- 

 ble to drop oft" the use suddenly ; hut the quan- 

 tity should be diminished rather than increased. 



'•In Albany, in ISS2, the cholera was very se- 

 vere and fatal. Of 336 cases, all but JO termi- 

 nated fatally. Of these 140 were intemperate, 

 55 free drinkers, 131 moderate, 5 strictly tempe- 

 rate — hut all hut one immoderate eaters, two 

 members of temperance societies, and one idiot. 

 In that city, which had a population of 26,000 

 inhabitants, 8,000 were members of temperance 

 societies, of whom only two died. Willi these 

 facts in view, who can doubt the danger of spirit 

 diin king/' 



The Jersey Crops. — The rye, wheat and oat 

 crops throughout the lower part of Jersey have, 

 by their abundance, fully come up to the expec- 

 tations of the husbandmen in thai quarter. Po- 

 tatoes ate growing finely, the rot having its yet 

 given bul luile indication of injury. The pro- 

 spect lor corn, through all the season favorable, 

 has been increased by the recent rains, which 

 carries it beyond danger. The late showers 

 have also been well-timed for buck-wheat, the 

 preparation of the ground for which is now in 

 progress. This is an important fact in which 

 all the lovers of buck-wheat cakes are deeply 

 interested. — JVetB England Farmer, dug. Ic3. 



Crriosilics of the Earth. — At the city of Mode- 

 na, in Italy, and about four miles around it, 

 wherever it is dug, whenever the workmen ar- 

 rive al the distance of sixty-three feet, they come 

 to a bed of chalk, which the) bore with an augur 

 \\\i' feet deep. They then withdraw from the 

 pit before the augur is removed, and, upon its 

 extraction, llie water hursts up from the aperture 

 wilh great violence and quickly fills this new 

 made we'll, which continues full, and is neither 

 affected hy rains nor draughts. At the depth of 

 fourteen feel are found the ruins of an ancient 

 city, paved streets, houses, floors, and pieces of 

 mosaic. Under this is found a soft oozy earth, 

 made up ol vegetables; and at twenty-six leet 

 deep, large trees entire, Stich BS walnut trees, 

 with the walnut sticking on the stem, and their 

 h-aves and blanches in perfect preservation. At 

 twenty-eight fret deep a soft chalk is found, mixed 

 with a vast quantity of shell.-., and this bed is 

 eleven feet deep. Under these, vegelahles are 

 found again w ith leaves and branches of trees as 

 before, and thus alternately chalk and vegetable 

 earth, to the depth of sixty-three feet. 



