1853. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



407 



disposing its hydrogen at the moment of libera- 

 tion, to combine with the nitrogen of the air, and 

 form ammonia. 



The production of ammonia by either of the two 

 latter modes, takes place most abundantly when 

 the oxygen of the air does not gain very ready 

 access. Such arc open subsoils in which vegeta- 

 ble matter abounds. And thus one of the benefits 

 which follow from thorough draining and subsoil 

 plowing is, that the roots penetrate and fill the 

 subsoil with vegetable matter, which, by its 

 decay in the confined atmosphere of the subsoil, 

 gives rise to this production of ammonia. When 

 thus formed in the soil, it is at once absorbed and 

 retained by the humic and ulmic acids already 

 described, renders them soluble, and enters with 

 them into the roots of living plants. 



Ammonia is also formed naturally during the 

 chemical changes that are produced in volcanic 

 countries, through the agency of subterranean 

 fires. It escapes often in considerable quantities 

 from the hot lavas, and from crevices in the 

 heated rocks. 



It is produced artificially by the distillation of 

 animal substances, (hoofs, horns, <fec.,) and dur- 

 ing the burning, coking, and distillation of coal. 

 Soot contains much ammonia, while thousands of 

 tons of that which is present in the ammoniacal 

 liquors of the gas-works, and which might be 

 beneficially applied as a manure, are annually 

 carrisd down by the rivers, and lost in the sea. 



Of the ammonia which is given off during the 

 putrefaction of animal and vegetable substances, 

 a variable proportion rises into the air, and floats 

 into the atmosphere, till it is either decomposed 

 by natural causes, or is dissolved and washed 

 down by the rains. In the latter case it sinks 

 •into the ground, and finds its way into the roots 

 of plants. In our climate, cultivated plants 

 appear to derive a considerable proportion of 

 their nitrogen from ammonia. It is one of the 

 most valuable fertilizing substances contained in 

 farm-yard manure ; and as it is usually present 

 in greater proportion in the liquid than in the 

 solid contents of the farm-yard, much real wealth 

 is lost, and the means of raising increased crops 

 thrown away, in the quantities of liquid manure 

 which are almost everywhere permitted to run to 

 waste. 



UNWORTHY BOOKS. 



The Western Plow- Boy, published at Fort 

 Wayne, Indiana, has received ^'through the kind- 

 ness of the publisher,'' a copy in paper covers, of 

 "Lafitte, or the Pirate of the Gulf," and gives it 

 the best notice we have ever seen. We wish all 

 editors had the courage to notice all books of that 

 description in a similar manner. It shows the 

 tendency of such writings, and closes its scathing 

 criticism with the annexed paragraph : — 



''We call attention to this subject, because we 

 believe a light and corrupting literature, found 

 both in books and newspapers, to be a serious and 

 growing evil in our country ; demanding the ear- 

 nest consideration of all those who can reach and 

 control, to any extent, the public mind. Ours is 

 an excited age, and we want a literature that can 

 soothe and steady as well as instruct the minds 

 of the people." 



SUMMER 



PRUNING OF 

 VINE. 



THE GRAPE 



The cultivation of the grape is as common as 

 that of any plant that grows. 



There is scarcely any one having a garden who 

 does not consider this vine as one of the indispen- 

 sables. 



If he cannot raise one kind of grape, he can an- 

 other, and there is no one but can raise to advan- 

 tage the hardy and prolific native grape, the Isa- 

 bella, for instance. 



All native grapes are very luxuriant growers, 

 throwing out shoots in one season, of from twenty 

 to thirty feet in length, and producing a great mass 

 of foliage. 



The almost universal practice is to cut off all 

 the shoots beyond the outer bunches of grapes, 

 and to thin out a great portion of the foliage in 

 other parts of the vine. 



In fact to such a length do some operators carry 

 this practice, that to see the vines soon after this 

 "summer pruning" has taken place, one would 

 almost suppose the poor vine was in the last stage 

 of consumption, or to remind one very forcibly of a 

 singed cat. 



This operation is performed in the month of 

 August, when the grapes are about the size of a 

 pea. 



The idea entertained and acted upon by these 

 farmers is, that the growing fruit is robbed of its 

 fair proportion of food, by letting too much young 

 woodand foliage remain on the vine, and further, 

 that it is absolutely necessary for the full develop- 

 ment and maturity of the fruit, that the rays of 

 the sun should in nowise be obstructed, but that 

 each bunch should be fully exposed to its influ- 

 ence. 



Now, for one, the writer thinks that if it is so 

 necessary for the fruit to be exposed, nature would 

 not cover it up so completely as she does with fo- 

 liage. He does not believe in this assisting nature, 

 as it is called. 



It is a practice that, as men advance in knowl- 

 edge and inquire into the rationality of things, 

 will be exploded. It is already becoming every 

 year more and more unpopular. 



Dr. Findley, in a work published in 1843 on the 

 subject, starts the following proposition : 



1st. If all the leaves which a tree will natural- 

 ly form are exposed to favorable influences, and 

 receive the light of a brilliant sun, all the fruit 

 which such a plant may produce will ripen perfect- 

 ly in a summer that is long enough. 



2nd. If all the leaves of a tree are exposed to 

 such influences, all the fruit will advance as far 

 towards ripening as the length of the summer will 

 admit of; it may be sour and colorless, but that 

 condition will be perfect of its kind. 



3rd. But if all the fruit which a healthy tree 

 will show is allowed to set, and a large part of the 

 leaves are abstracted, such fruit, be the summer 

 what it may, will never ripen. 



4th. Therefore if a necessity exists for taking 

 off a part of the leaves of a tree' a part of its fruit 

 should also be destroyed. 



5th. But, although a tree may be able to ripen 

 alHhe fruit which it shows, yet such fruit will 

 neither be so large nor so sweet under equal cir- 

 cumstances, as if a part of it is removed; because 

 a tree only forms a certain aqjount of secretions, 

 and if those secretions are divided among twenty 



