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PLASTER OF PARIS — LETTER FROM MINNESOTA, Ac. 



average quantity of vegetable matter, and has the 

 benefit of a warm aspect and favoring slope. It has 

 all the advantages, in short, which physical condition 

 and climate can give it, and yet it is unproductive, 

 because, says chemical analysis, it is destitute of sever- 

 al mineral constituents which plants require for their 

 daily food, or contains some poison that must be car- 

 ried off by a di-ain.' 



" Now that I have shown the necessity of oxygen 

 in a soil, I will state my experiment of ventilation, 

 and its results. Two years since, I purchased twenty 

 acres of low swamp land, which had been covered 

 with water for centuries ; I cut a main drain through 

 it, and lateral drains ventilated every twenty feet, 

 which carried off the water so perfectly that it be- 

 came the driest part of the farm. The whole was 

 planted with cabbages and potatoes. When they 

 came to maturity, the cabbages growing on top of 

 the drains weighed forty pounds, when those imme- 

 diately contiguous, in the next row, only weighed 

 twenty. The potatoes over the drain were far larger, 

 and twice as abundant, as those in the rows next A 

 false dry drain was then constructed between two 

 drains, with a view of observing whether the water 

 passing through had any efl'ect upon the growth of 

 vegetation above the drain, and it was found by fair 

 experiment that the result was the same above the 

 dry ventilated drain, and the growth very superior to 

 the adjoinmg rows." 



FLASTES OF FABIS. 



"The Editor of the American Agriculturist states 

 that in conversation with a Mr. Chandler, he had 

 learned how he could use green or unfermented man- 

 ure in the hills of corn. Formerly, whenever he put 

 unfermented manure in the hills, the corn, instead of 

 growing thriftily, as is the case when well rotted man- 

 ure is used in this way, would become yellow in color, 

 and seem to be injured rather than benefitted by it. 

 Having read that plaster of Paris would absorb, and 

 change the action or nature of ammonia, he tried it 

 in this way: After placing a shovel full of green 

 manure in the hill, he covered it over with soil, and 

 on this threw a large spoonful or more of plaster of 

 Paris, then dropped his corn and covered it. When 

 thus planted, the corn invariably grew rank and tilled 

 the ears as well as if the manure had been thorough- 

 ly composted and decomposed. On spring, when 

 planting his corn in this way, he had not plastered 

 enough to go over the whole field, and accordingly 

 was under the necessity of planting a portion of it, 

 with green manure in the holes, and no plaster over 

 it The result was an excellent crop as far as the 

 plaster was used, while in the remainder of the field, 

 the corn was yellow, and sickly during the whole sea- 

 son, and yielded comparatively little." 



From practical experience we have long been con- 

 vinced that plaster of Paris, might be used much 

 more freely, and generally, than it is, as a fixing agent 

 for the volatile portions of stable and yard manures. 

 Containing as it does sulphur and lime, elements 

 found in animal and vegetable tissues, the sulphur in 

 the form of enlphuric acid unites with the ammonia 



present in the decomposition of manures, and renders 

 a highly volatile gas, a stable product. 



Those who are the most careful to save the ele- 

 ments of nutrition, will very soon find that they will 

 have more to save, while those who allow the rain 

 and sun, to dissipate the active agents of fertilization, 

 and feed the soil with comparatively valueless matt- 

 ure, wi" get but little reward for their labor. 



LETTEK FEOM MINHESOTA. 



[We extract the following from an enthusiastic cor- 

 respondent in Minnesota. — Ed.] 



One of your club told me " that the Farmer was 

 worth more than $50 to him, on account of the plan 

 of a house given in the February number, of last 

 year, that he has copied, aside from the information 

 given on other topics." 



Now is it not true, that if one will only look at the 

 reason and sense of what is given in agricultural pa- 

 pers, and having examined its practical bearings, 

 practice what they have learned, farming as a study, 

 and a science would be greatly advanced ? 



I like farming and gardening above all other occu- 

 pations; for what is there more pleasant for the heart 

 of man, than to see the work of his hands, not forget- 

 ting the Almighty hand, prosper, and the wilderness 

 to blossom as the rose. 



In fact, such gardens as we can make in this coun- 

 try, and such results of farming operations as we can 

 show, would do your heart good to see, say during 

 the months of J uly, August, September, and October. 



Last summer a farmer from your own Hudson river 

 country, told me he could not raise such crops on the 

 best lands at home, and with the highest cultivation, 

 as I had on turf, broken up to the depth of five or 

 sLx inches the same spring. 0; S.,^, 



St. Paul, 1855. ,' . 



UCE ON CATTLE. 



For some time I have been a reader of agricul- 

 tural works, and have seen many remedies for various' 

 things, and many directions how to rid cattle of hce, 

 and have tried quite a number of them. I have nsedl 

 dry slaked lime, sifting it over the animal, then with 

 a card or curry-comb, working thoroughly back and 

 forth, that it may touch every part infested with the 

 vermin, taking care that not sufficient be left on to 

 loosen the hair. The lime will remain on for weeks- 

 if thoroughly done. I have tried it for several years,! 

 and always with good effect A Subscriber. 



Albion, January, 1855. 



