1847. 



GENESEE FARMER. 



179 



Ammonia. 



" Abimonia, Liebig maintains, is a hody no: ir.debled to 

 organism for its being ; that it is to be classed with iron 

 and potash, soda and oxygen, whose quantity within the 

 organism of plants and animals, and wiUiout, is, m general 

 terms, constant. He holds that when the required jjAywVW 

 properties have been given to a soil, and the necessary in- 

 organic ingredients, in suitable solubility, the ammonia ana 

 carbonic acid, with healthful falls of rain, will provide them- 

 selves." — Prof. Horsford. 



The plain English of the above theory is, thai 

 the organized carbon and nitrogen in manures ©f 

 a vegetable and animal origin, are of little dr. oo 

 account in the growth of good crops of grain, 

 grass, and roots. Rains and dews will yield to 

 cultivated plants all the ammonia and carbonic 

 acid that they need; leaving the farmer no great- 

 er task than to pulverize his soil, and give it 

 " the required physical properties, and necessa- 

 I ry inorganic ingredients." We are not pre- 



Remark. The extfeme drouth for six weeks this season, j pared to assert that this view of the growth and 



cut ofi' the quantity of cheese I have made this year, at Ljo^rishment of vegetables is not true ; but we 



X^Vl; what time do you commence making cheese? I can say that its soundness lacks evidence to an 



^7M. I usually begin the 15th of April, and end the 1st of I extent which should make one hesitate betore 



December. . , i he adopts the theory for the purpose of making: 



Quee.Z. Do you rear calves ? Do you keep swine 7 -^ .u l • r » r .• i • w 



Afis. I do not rear calves. I keep swine. This year kept I it the basiS of^a system of practical agriculture, 

 twenty-five, ^^ ^^ ^ ix 



Alls. Tiie quantity of cheese obtained from 100 Ibe. of 

 milk, will vary at .difierent periods in the season. I have 

 taken paias to asoertain the difference in this respect, be- 

 tween the months ef June and September. In June, 100 

 lbs. of milk made 9 ibs. 4 oz. of green cheese. In Septem- 

 ber, 100 lbs. milk wade 12 lbs. 7 oz. green cheese. 



Again, there is a difference in the quality of the milk, 

 which will greatly effect the aimoimtoi cheese obtained from 

 100 Ibe. of milk. 



I have selected isy beet milk and made curd from it sepa- 

 rately. I have done the same with my poorest milk, taking 

 an equal quantity of each. The poorest milk yields 17 per 

 cent, lefs curd tli&n the best, as I get it from my cows. I 

 have heretofore had doubt on this subject, but my experi- 

 ments have removed that doubt entirely. 



The average number of cows kept through the season is 

 40. The whole amount of milk obtained during the whole 

 reason, computing that portion of the season now unexpired, 

 ae an ordinary season, is 170,666 pounds of milk, from which 

 is produced eight looas of cheese including the butter, that is, 

 I have made 500 jjounds of butter, and that, according to 

 cuetotfflL, which I think correct, I call equal to half a ton of 

 cheese. 



The avenige quaatity of cheese to each cow, including 

 the butter, is 400 Ibe. 



9. What feed is ueed besides grass and hay ? 



Ans. None. 



Ques. 10. A particular account of the method of making 

 cheese ; the quantity of cheese, and its price in the market, 

 and place where sold ? 



Ans. For a particular account of my method of making 

 cheese, see a paper hereto annexed, on that subject. 



For the quantity made see a part of my answer to the 6th 

 question. 



I sold my cheese at my dairy this year, to H. Burrell & 

 Co., of Herkimer county, on the 18th August, at 5g cents 

 per pound. The purchaser furnishing boxes, and taking, 

 on the 1st November all the cheese th47t (on 1st Nov.) 25 

 days old — I delivering it at Cuyler, 15 miles distant — and 

 no allowance made for its greenness ; deli"vering five tons 

 1st Oct. and the balance Ist Nov. 



My last year's dairy I sold in Rochester, in May last, af- 

 ter the market had sensibly declined, at 8 cents per pound. 



Quts. 11. The number of cows milked ; the breed of the 

 cows and their ages ? 



Ans. The average number of cows milked this season is 

 40. Nearly all of the native breed. Their ages are nearly 

 all between 5 and 10 years — a few older, and one or two 

 younger. 



Ques. 12. What difference, if any h-as been observed, in 



Does Prof. Horsford find abundant evidence 

 that Ammonia exists in the atmosphere independ- 

 ent of the quantity given it by decaying organ- 

 ized bodies, which ammonia falls in rain, snow, 

 and dew to the earth in larger quantity than 

 plants and animals furnish to the air ? Is this 

 excess of available azote (nitrogen) adequate, 

 not merely to feed all vegetables growing spoi*!- 

 taneously on the earth, but to supply the much 

 larger demands of a wheat crop equal to 60 bush- 

 els per acre 1 Unless every acre on a whole 

 continent possesses this excess of ammonia, equal 

 to twice or three times the quantity famished by 

 forests and natural meadows, and required by 

 them in their organization, how can one acre 

 receive a larger supply, except by human agency^ 

 It is much to be regretted that our State Agri- 

 cultural Society does not use a small portion of 

 the thousands of dollars which it annually receives 

 the^quantity of che^re yielded from "the sara^ the public, to determine the practical value 



milk given by different cows ? | of Ammonia, both with and without the addition 



giv^en -to'Se^ueSot'^to' whl^ir; "a^" To wTi" of the phosphates, sulphates, and chlorides found 

 committee. 



Ques. 13. Has any particular kind of herbage been no- 

 ticed to have an iniUience in increasing the proportion of 



cheesey matter in a given quantity of mil 



Alls. I have made no precise experiments on which I 

 would rely in answering this question, but my observation 

 for years has led me to give a decided preference to u-hite 

 clover for a pasture. 



My answer to question 14 will be found interspersed in 

 some of my previous answers, and in the annexed paper on 

 my method of cheese making. 



Respectfully submitted. Neweurv Bro.Njov. 



Warsaw, Nov. 11, 1846. 



The Wheat Crop of Ohio, Michigan, &;c., 

 (according to statements in letters and papers 

 recently received,) proves much better than was 

 anticipated a few weeks ago. We have similar 

 information from other sections of the country. 



in the iishes of wheat and other crops. For the 

 last thousand dollars paid in premiums for cora 

 crops, in this State, by its several Agricultural 

 Societies, we can not see wherein one new fact 

 of the least value has been brought to light. — 

 Such would not be the case if premiums were 

 offered to gain information in the little explored 

 fields of the organism of cultivated plants and 

 domestic animals. Not a single dollar has ever 

 been given to encourage investigations in vege- 

 table and animal physiology. Men that devote 

 their money to the importation of expensive ap- 

 paratus, and their time to making researches into 

 these subjects, must work for nothing and find 

 themselves, if they live in the State of New 

 York. Is this wise ? Is it just ? Pure science, 



