294 Notes and Gleanmgs. 



Manures : now and when to use them. — Tlie best method of using 

 stable or barnyard manure for corn or potatoes is to haul it fresh from the cellar 

 in the condition in which it rests in the vaults, spread it upon the ploughed field, 

 and harrow it in with a Geddes harrow. This is what is called "long manure," 

 and is a form, which, according to the opinions of many farmers, is unsuited to 

 immediate use : also it is objected, that in spreading fresh manure upon ploughed 

 fields, and covering it only superficially with earth, much of it is lost by evapora- 

 tion; or, more correctly speaking, certain volatile, gaseous constituents rise on 

 the breeze, and are wafted away. In our view, both of these notions are incor- 

 rect. The excrement of animals must undergo a kind of fermentation, or putre- 

 factive change, before it is assimilated by plants ; and it is better that this be 

 carried forward in the field, as there it is in contact with the soil, wliich is greedy 

 to absorb all the products of the chemical change. Creative power has bestowed 

 upon dry earth prodigious absorptive capabilities. If a lump of fresh manure as 

 large as a peck-measure is placed upon a ploughed field, uncovered, and allowed 

 to ferment or decay in the open air, the absorptive powers of the earth are such, 

 that it will actually attract towards it ammoniacal and other gases, and thus rob 

 the atmosphere of its natural volatile principles. A film of earth no thicker 

 than the rind of an orange, placed over a lump of manure, will effectually pre- 

 vent loss of manurial products, under all possible circumstances. It will be 

 agreed, then, that a harrow is equally as effective as a plough in protecting ma- 

 nure in the open field. It is better to have the manure near the surface, as the 

 rains can reach it, and dissolve the soluble salts, and, by percolation, carry them 

 down to the hungry roots of plants. Long manure is not lost when deeply 

 turned under by the plough : but the farmer docs not secure the whole value of 

 his dressing under this mode of treatment in any case ; and, in some soils, the 

 loss is a most serious one. In the process of soap-making, it becomes necessary 

 to set up a leach. Now, the farmer will not attempt to exhaust the tub of ashes 

 of its potash by forcing water into the bottom, and dipping the liquid off from 

 the top. The natural percolating or exhausting process is downwards, in ac- 

 cordance with the laws of gravity. The soluble alkalies and salts are driven 

 downwards; and, in the case of the leach, we must have a vessel ready to receive 

 them at the bottom ; and, in the case of the same substances leached from ma- 

 nure, we must have the manures so placed that plant-roots will be at hand to 

 absorb them before they pass beyond their reach. 



Manure is never so valuable as when it is fresh. It then holds in association 

 not only all the fixed soluble substances natural to the solid excrement, but 

 much that is of great value, found only in the liquid. It is in a condition to quickly 

 undergo chemical change ; and the gaseous, ammoniacal products secured are 

 double those resulting from that which has been weathered in a heap out of 

 doors for several months. — Journal of Chemistry. 



Structure of Fruits. — Some fruits, as they are commonly called, are not 

 fruits at all in the strict botanical sense. A strawberry, though one of the choi- 

 cest fruits in the common acceptation, is only an enlarged and pulpy recepta- 

 cle, bearing the real fruit (that is, the ripened pistils) scattered over its surface. 



