1847. 



GENESEE FARMER. 



37 



Muck and Lime. 



At a recent meeting ol" the New York Farm- 

 er's Club, the following remarks were made on 

 Muck and Lime : 



Mr. Haggerty said he was an old man, but a young far- 

 mer, and had come there to hear what vahiable suggestions 

 might be made by those present. But he wished to rehite 

 an experiment he had made with muck, drawn from a pond 

 which was drained for the purpose. The muck was laid 

 in winnows after being drawn out on the fields, and a com- 

 post heap was formed by layering from six to eight inches 

 of the muck, two or three inches of lime, then stable ma- 

 nure, and so on until a lieap of from C to 7 feet in height 

 was formed — no particular measurement being used. 'I'his 

 compost was applied to a 10 acre field, and from it Mr. H. 

 raised more than .300 bushels of wheat, 29(; bushels ol which 

 were of excellent quality and sold to the miller at a good 

 price, but we did not catch the figures. 



A gentleman who declined giving his name, stated that 

 he had some experience with muck, and must dissent from 

 any idea previously expressed that a mixture of lime with 

 muck i.s injurious. He had drawn out upon his land 4,000 

 loads of muck, made it up in ranges, F^nglish fashion. 

 and afterward mixed it witli one bushel of lime to the load, 

 while the lime was in a Itol state, each range being then 

 turned over. Now, if lime is not mixed with the muck un- 

 til it has become carbonaceous, it will not answer the pur- 

 pose nearly so well. The gentleman went on to state his 

 reasons for this opinion, and said he would prefer one load 

 of muck thus prepared to two of common stable manure. — 

 By its use he had been enabled to commence digging pota- 

 toes and sending them to market on the 1.5lh of .June, and 

 by the last of July a five-acre field was entirely dug over, 

 the product amounting to $380 clear of all expenses. By 

 the use of bone dissolved in sulphuric acid he obtained from 

 the same field 1,200 bushels of turnips, after the potatoes — 

 thus forming the second crop. He related several experi- 

 ments made ; we have not room for more, but the foregoing 

 will show the manner of proceeding, all the fields yielding 

 abundant crops. 



Dr. FiEi.ii disapproved, from his own experience, of using 

 Plaster of Paris in stables, as had previously been recom- 

 mended. 



In regard to the use of gypsum in horse sta- 

 bles for the purpose of fixing the ammonia evol- 

 ved from the urine and dung of the animals, 

 there is no doubt that the oil of vitriol some how 

 comes in contact with the stable floor, in passing 

 from the lime in the gypsum, to the ammonia so 

 as 10 corrode and rot it. Squire M, Brown, 

 late President of the Onondaga Agricultural So- 

 ciety, and others who have tried the use of plas- 

 ter lor the purpose indicated have informed us 

 that their stable floors have been speedily rotted 

 by the application of gypsum to the moist places 

 where the horses stand. Gypsum should be ap- 

 plied to the dung heap. — Ed. 



ANALYSIS OF THE OAT : By Joh.\ P. Norton, Far- 

 mington, Connecticut. 



This is the Essay for which the Highland Ag- 

 ricultural Society awarded a premium of fifty 

 sovereigns. We have perused it with care, and 

 think i1 reflects much credit on the professional 

 skill and industry of the author. Mr. N. has re- 

 ceived the honor of a Professorship in Yale Col- 

 lege, and has gone to Holland to fit himself for 

 the station. 



He who acts without thought or design, acts 

 foolishly, and he who aims at an unlawful end, 

 acts wickedly. 



Bone Mil!. 



Dr. Lee : — The subject of ma lures has been 

 often presented in the Genesee Farmer, and its 

 paramount importance urged by the most cogent 

 reasoning ; yet the fact can hardly be too often 

 reiterated, that success in agricultural pursuits 

 depends in a great measure upon economy in 

 the manufacture and application of manures. I 

 wish to call the attention of the friends of agri- 

 cultural improvement, and tnanufacturing indus- 

 try, to the mutual advantage which would arise 

 from the erection of a bone mill in the midst of 

 this grain-growing region, to increase the pro- 

 ductiveness of our extensive and beautiful fields. 

 The repeated croppings to which the soil is sub- 

 jected on many farms, will be productive of ru- 

 inous consequences, unless the most strenuous 

 exertions are made to render available all the 

 means of fertility that can be commanded. 



Rochester is perhaps more favorably located 

 for such an establishment than any other place 

 in Western New York, and the productiveness 

 of the investment I think could not be a matter 

 of doubt. Will not some man possessing the 

 requisite enterprise and capital, by engaging in 

 this undertaking, arrest the extravagant waste of 

 this invaluable manure, one bushel of which is 

 estimated to be equal to three loads of barn-yard 

 manure ? About one-half of the substance of 

 bones is phosphate of lime — a compound indis- 

 pensably necessary to the production of a crop 

 of wheat — yet very sparingly found in other fer- 

 tilizers. Manure may well be termed the Phi- 

 lo.sopher's stone ; for it produces results far more 

 important to the human species, than would have 

 been the success of the wildest day dreams of 

 the Alcbymists. Every resource within the 

 reach of the farmer should be brought into requi- 

 sition, to restore the wasting aliment of the wheat 

 plant ; for on its successful cultivation depends, 

 in a great measure, the continuance of the un- 

 paralleled prosperity of Western New York. 



The foregoing is respectfully submitted for 

 publication, if you consider it of sufficient impor- 

 tance to jLiftify the appropriation of the space it 

 will occupy. Yours with respect, 



Peoria, N. Y. J. «., 1347. A. Blake. 



Breaking Steers. — Not long since I siw 

 a lad of some ten or twelve summers, driving a 

 pair of spring calves yoked to a little cart. (This 

 was in Autumn.) They were perfecly orderly, 

 and did not appear to have suffered, even in 

 their growth, from having been early trained to 

 habits of obedience. " Just as the twig is bent, 

 the tree 's inclined," is true of animal nature 

 generally, whether it be found in the shape of 

 children, or of calves and colts. Try it, ye, 

 who have occasion. H. 



The bar of the tavern leads to the bar of the 

 bench, and the prison bar speedily follows. 



