1851. 



THE GEiNESEE FARMER. 



131 



as distinctly alkaline as the original fluid, indicating 

 that no rapid, or abundant absorption had taken 

 place." 



In the second experiment, putrid urine, which liad a 

 distinctly alkaline reaction, was used, and the first drop 

 was distinctly alkaline. The liquid, however, lost 

 both its smeli and color in passing through the coal. 



In the third experiment, a small quantity oT am- 

 monia, in solution, was poured over 1000 grains of 

 charcoal and carefully stirred in. The smell of am- 

 monia did not disappear, even after it had been cov- 

 ered up some time, and a test paper suspended in the 

 upper part of the vessel was strongly affected. An 

 additional quantity of ammonia was added, until, in 

 all, 1.7 cubic inches had been used. This quantity 

 of the solution contained 4.11 grains of ammonia, and 

 it was consequently obvious that peat charcoal can- 

 not absorb one-fourth of one per cent of ammonia — 4 

 parts in 1000. 



Without pursuing these experiments farther at this 

 time, suffice it to say, that they contradict and seem 

 to overthrow all previously conceived notions of the 

 relations that subsist between ammonia and charcoal ; 

 but if these notions are really erroneous, the sooner 

 they are overthrown the better. The truth is what 

 is wanted — not error, however plausible. 



1000 grains of surface peat — not charred, but dried 

 at a temperature of 212^ — took up 8.3 cubic inches 

 of a solution of ammonia, equal to 20.0S grains of the 

 alkali, or 2 per cent of the peat. 1000 grains of peat, 

 dried to the same degree, taken 4 J feet below the sur- 

 face, took up 21.78 grains of ammonia, or over 2 per 

 cent. These experiments prove that thoroughly 

 dried peat imbibes some eight times more ammonia 

 than the too open peat charcoal. Hence, dried peat 

 is one of the best substances known to mix with ma- 

 nure of all kinds, and for bedding for horses, cattle, 

 sheep and hogs, to absorb their urine. 



Dr. A. experimented to determine the relative power 

 of "a good wheat soil" and dry peat to absorb and 

 retain ammonia. The soil was found to contain G.186 

 per cent of nitrogen, (the fertilizing base of ammo- 

 nia) and only 0.203 per cent when fully saturated ; 

 indicating the absorption of only 0.017 per cent un- 

 der the circumstances. As peat absorbs about 2 per 

 cent, the difference is greatly in favor of the latter. 



The readers of the Farmer in 1845 and 1846, will 

 remember our urging the importance of digging and 

 drying swamp muck for bedding for domestic animals 

 and to absorb all liquid and semi-fluid manure. 

 When applied alone, the experiments made by Mr. 

 McVean, and others in Wheatland, did not indicate 

 so high a value in muck or peat as Prof. Norton 

 suggests in his excellent letter in our last. 



PARING AND BURNING. 



At a late meeting of the Staindrop Farmer's Club, 

 Mr. Heavisiue said that he would " break up all the 

 old, tough, matted pasture land, and secure the im- 

 provement of its herbage, if subsequently it should be 

 laid away [seeded again] ; but he would pare and 

 hum, and not plow in the sod. He had tried both 

 plans, and if he might judge from the crops, he had 

 100 lbs., in one case, by adopting the plan of paring 

 and burning instead of plowing in the turf. 



This quite common practice in England, of paring 

 off a part of the turf in old pastures and meadows, 

 drying and burning it, is seldom, if ever, resorted to 

 in this country. The advantages of the operation 



may be thus briefly stated : — The soil in such cases, 

 contains an excess of vegetable matter, and, usually, 

 an excess of acids which need to be neutralized. By 

 paring or cutting oflT a part of the turf, and drying 

 and burning it, a considerable quantity of ashes is 

 produceJ, which, having aa alkaline reaction, cor- 

 rects any acidity that the organic matter below may 

 exhibit when turned up by the plow, and decomposed 

 preparatory to seed with wheat or other grain. 

 Lands of this character are apt to be too wet for the 

 production of the most nutritious grass and heavy 

 crops of wheat. Draining, in such cases, should pre- 

 cede tillage. In England and Scotland, little beside 

 burnt clay pipe or tile is used to remove any excess 

 of water from the subsoil. Land treated in the way 

 indicated, has, when re-seeded for pasture or meadow, 

 produced three times more grass and hay than be- 

 fore. 



Mr. Bell said, (at the meeting above referred to) 

 "Farmers do not want an herbage which stock 

 would eat rather than starve, that will not pay ; they 

 want an herbage which stock relish, and which fat- 

 ten them and add to their weight." Grass that grows 

 on wet ground, is always of an inferior quality. 



Mr. B. said "there was another kind of land which 

 he would plow out, land with a thin soil and a wet 

 bottom. lie would begin by draining such land 

 thoroughly ; plow it, it needs no paring ; take a crop 

 of oats, give it a covering of lime; fallow it again, 

 ■iow in wheat, and afterwards lay it away in grass.'' 



We regard the above as excellent advice. In this 

 connection it is proper to inform the reader that Mr. 

 Harrison said that " he had great experience in 

 plowing out land, and he had always observed his 

 crop weaker where he had pared and burnt than 

 where he had plov/ed in the turf. " 



The condition of soils is so unlike, even where 

 externally they resemble each other most perfectly, 

 that one man's experience flatly contradicts the ex- 

 perience of another. 



S. W.'S NOTES FOR THE MONTH. 



Potato Rot. — Doct. Lee, in the last Farmer, says 

 that to his mind, " There is no more mystery about 

 the potato rot, than there is about an unripe frost-bit- 

 ten pumpkin." It is humiliating to me to be obliged 

 to dissent from the opinion of a man from whom I 

 have already learned so much ; and the simple fact 

 that he is at issue on the subject of the potato dis- 

 ease, with most other practical and scientific men, 

 would hardly suffice to shake my faith in his posi- 

 tion, did not the sober lessons of both experiment and 

 experience prove that he must be in error. If, as he 

 asserts, the rot is owing to the constitutional strength 

 of the plant being impaired by the exhaustion of the 

 soil — bad treatment — why is it that the malady has 

 been so universally prevalent, at the same time, in 

 the old world and the new, on highly manured land 

 and on poor land, in the new states, on new lands, 

 and on the worn land ? Because the potato seed ta- 

 ken from our diseased region to the alkaline, volcanic 

 soil west of the Rocky mountains has there produced 

 sound tubers, the Doctor infers that on any soil in 

 like condition, sound potatoes may be grown. But 

 facts show that salt, plaster, unleached ashes, and the 

 most liberal application of well-rotted animal manures, 

 with the best of tillage,have failed to arrest the disease. 

 Oa Flickinger farm, in Fayette, potatoes were plan- 

 ted last year on a ridge of pebbly clay loam, which 



