166 



TOE FARMER'S MONTLY VISITOR, 



By the action of alkaline matters, such as pot- 

 ash, soda, ammonia and lime, we may correct 

 this natural acidity, and at the same time convert 

 a larger proportion of the vegetable mould into a 

 soluble manure, capable of being taken up by the 

 rootlets of plants, and suitable for assimilation in 

 the vegetiiMe sap vessels. 



Animal mattei-, containing a large proportion 

 of nitrogen, gives out a great quantity of ammo 

 nia when decomposed. Hence the well known 

 value of animal excrements as manures, even on 

 soils already charged with a sufficiency of veg- 

 etable matters. 



Now we shall see that the influence of lime in 

 a compost heap, composed of vegetable and ani- 

 mal matters in a state of decay, is to eliminate 

 the ammonia from tlie putrid animal matters, so 

 as to cause it to act upon the vegetable substan- 

 ces, which are naturally acid, aud to render a 

 larger proportion of the organic matter solu- 

 ble in water. 



The influence of lime is also exerted to neu- 

 tralize acids which in their free state, are nox- 

 ious ; such, for instance, as the sulphuric and 

 phosphoric acids, and their acid salts, and the 

 resulting combinations with lime are extremely 

 favorable to vegetation. 



Gypsum, if mixed into a compost where car- 

 bonate of ammonia is eliminated, is jiartially de- 

 composed, and carbonate of lime and sulphate of 

 ammonia result, which the experiments of Mr. 

 Lecoq and others have proved to be valuable sa- 

 line manures. Carbonate of ampionia is also 

 well known to be a most powerful manure, but 

 we cannot afford to use in a large way so costly 

 a substance as the commercial article. We must, 

 therctbre, make it indirectly in our compost heaps, 

 as I have long since stateil in former Reports. 



When we compost together through the win- 

 ter peat, swamp muck, rotten wood, or any veg- 

 etable matters, with barn-yard manure, and in 

 the spring season we mix into the heap, about 

 three weeks before we intend to use the compost, 

 some recently slacked lime, (or, if that is not to 

 be had, some unleached ashes or potash will an- 

 swer,) we generate, from the decomposition of 

 the animal matters, an enormous quantity of am- 

 monia, which will be absorbed by the vegetable 

 acids, and the manure will be powerfully aug- 

 meiited in strengh and value. 



The proportions in which peat or swamp muck 

 and stable manure have been employed on a 

 large scale, successfully, are as ibllows : 



Three loads of swamj) muck or peat. 



One load of stable or barn-yard oranyanimnl 

 manure. 



These are made into a compost heap, and are 

 allowed to ferment over winter, or long enough 

 for decomposition to conunence. 



In the spring season, one cask of recently slak- 

 ed lime is to be carefully mixed in while digging 

 over the heap. The lime e.xtricates the pungent, 

 gaseous alkali ammonia which penetrates every 

 part of the compost heap and neutralizes the or- 

 ganic acids, forming valuable soluble compounds. 



Night soil and the urine of animals is also a 

 most useful addition lo a compost heap and will 

 produce more annnonia than any other animal 

 manures. Every fiu-mer shoidd provide some 

 means for saving the liquid manures which are 

 so frequently wasted, for if properly used, liquid 

 manures are of very great value. 



If peat swamp muck or rotten wood can be 

 obtained, they may be made to absorb the liquids 

 by placing them under the stable, or a trench may 

 be cut from the staple and vault, and the liquid 

 manures may he conveyed thereby into the veg- 

 etable coin])ost which in such case may be pla- 

 ced at a distance from the dwelling house, at a 

 lower level. 



Vegetable matters of the kind above stated, 

 should also be put into the hog-styes and the 

 hogs will soon convert it into a good compost. 

 Every hog, says the celebrated former Mr. Phin- 

 ney of Lexington, will make 10 loads of good 

 compost manure if you will aftbrd him the ma- 

 teiials. In the spring the compost is to be 

 thrown out from the styes, and then lime or ash- 

 es may be advantageously mixed with it, and it 

 will be ready for use in 10 days. Many intelligent 

 and enterprising farmers already practice some 

 of the rules here laid down, and it is desirable 

 tiiat all should know the theory of their opera- 

 tions. 



In drawing this Annual Report to a close, I 



would most respectfully invite the farmers ol 

 New Hampshire to keep records of their txpi 

 ence, and if they will communicate them to 

 before the 1st of January next, I shall be happy 

 to lay the results of their observations before tin 

 agricultural coiiinuuiily in my future reports ti 

 the Legislature, and 1 earnestly hope that whoev 

 er has discovered any thing which he deems use 

 ful ill the improvement of agriciiiture, « ill not 

 (ail to allow others the bcntliis wliii'ji m^iv result 

 therefrom. So far as I olifrivnl, a riic.?i liberal 

 spirit prevails among agriculiurisis, and i doubt 

 not that many useful suggestions will be com 

 nicated. Individual experience may often lead 

 into error, if not comjiared with the experience of 

 others, and it is an ancient and generally true 

 maxim, that " in a multitude of counsellors tli 

 is wisdom." 



The foregoing Report is most respectfully sub- 

 mitted by your Excellency's obedient servant 

 CHARLES 1. JACKSON. 



State Geologii 



Boston, June Ut, 1841, 

 To His Excellency John Page, 



Governor of "the State of New Hampshire. 



Tahdar View of the Proximate Analysis of .Xtw 



Hampshire Soils. 



By J. D. Whitney and M. B.Williams. 



" S ~ sr "• ."ii ^ — o 





o c r p: n Q O 



;■ ? 2. 



2; 2. 





fe gg85588ag85"g o S \ 



Analysis of Peats, Marls and Clays. 





For the Farmers Monthly Visitor. 



Surry, Maine, J\ov. 5, 1841. 



Sir: — In your lOtli iiumbet- of the Visitor I 

 have read a communication dated Morris Flats, 

 Springfield, Vt., signed J. K. Colhurn ; and as 

 some of his estimates are in my opinion incor- 

 rect, I shall take the liberty to make a few re- 

 marks upon them with the view of preventing 

 those who are not practical farmers from enga- 

 ging in a business with the expectation of a hand- 

 some profit, when the inevitable result must be a 

 decided loss. Mr. Colburn says the average price 

 for these eight years of wool has been 48i cents 

 per pound ; average weight per fleece, 3 pounds, 

 giving $1 44g per head for the fleeces: in addi- 

 tion to which he says every flock of the ordinary 

 proportion of ewes well provided lor will pro- 

 duce one-third as many lambs as there are sheep 

 in the flock, vvortli one dollar per heail, giving in 

 lambs and wool an income per head of $1 78. 

 He then asserts (and it is this part of his calcula- 

 tion to which I object) that our best farmers al- 

 low the cost of wiutering a sheep to be but 75, 

 cents, and the summer keep 35 cent.s. Now, sirt 

 1 believe it impossible to keep sheep for tha. 

 sum, and that without allowing anything, as Mr 

 Colburn has done, for washing, shearing and fur- 

 nishing with salt — interest on capital invested in 

 stocks, and escapes from pasture, &.C., the income 

 will, estimated as he has done it, be found not 

 to exceed if it equals the winter and summer 

 keep. 



Daubenton, an enlightened, practical and sci- 

 entific French agriculturist, found, on actual ex- 

 periment, that a sheep actually consumed two 

 pounds of hay per day. To ascertain this, fie 

 weighed the hay given, and deducted from that 

 weight the weight of what was left in or pulled 

 out of the rack. The winter cannot be estima- 

 ted at less than one hundred and eighty days, 

 which at two pounds per day would give three 

 hundred and sixty lbs. for the winter, being a little 

 n.ore than 5i sheep to a ton. Nowadmitthe less 

 or waste to be one eleventh part, and you will 

 have but five shee|)to the ton, wliich is the calcu- 

 lation that I remember to have heard always 

 made by farmers in old times. 



From the income as given by Mr. Colburn, 

 $<1 78, deduct his summer keeping 35 cents, and 

 you have $1 43, which inulti|ily fjy five, the num- 

 ber of sheep it is found a ton of hay will keep, 

 and you get but seven dollars and fifteen cents 

 per ton for your hay, which is not more than the 

 hay is worth to feed to cows, or for the raising of 



