NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



315 



rascal stopi)ed now and then and made a survey as 

 carefully as could be done by a civil engineer. He 

 turned and tacked, and worked ship, like an old 

 sailor among the breakers ; and being careful and 

 surefooted, he came down as safe as a tortoise. But 

 we brought \ip at last against a fence — having taken 

 a different direction from that by which we ascended. 

 We rode at the fence fairlv, but Federal stopped 

 short. "You fool," said I, "can't you jump?" 

 Tried it again — no go. I stopped a moment, and 

 thinks I to myself, this horse has never leaped a 

 fence in his life. I felt sure he would have tried his 

 best for me at any time, and would liave broken his 

 neck sooner than have refused, if he had known 

 exactly what to do. I talked kindly to him — coaxed 

 him — patted his neck ; and as soon as I saw his 

 head raised about two or three inches, and his ears 

 pricked up brightly, and felt the muscles of his sides 

 swell under the saddle, I knew he had caught the 

 idea : that was all he wanted : I gave him the 

 hint to try it, and over he went like a swallow, at 

 least two feet higher than was necessary. The little 

 scamp meant to make a sure job of it. He Avas no 

 sooner down, than he wheeled about, looked at the 

 fence, and snorted, as much as to say, " What do you 

 think of that ? " and trotted off. Ever afterwards 

 during our journey. Federal was on the look-out for 

 some excuse for leaping. A log, a run of water 

 across the road, even a stone bridge, he uniformly 

 pricked up his ears at and leaped across — giving a 

 snort each time, to announce his joy at having dis- 

 covered a new feat. 



The moral of this matter has been stated at the 

 outset. Federal only needed to understand what 

 we wanted, to do all in his power for its accomplish- 

 ment. He was onlj' a hired horse, but we under- 

 stood and loved each other. He was little, but high- 

 spirited, noble, generous : no whipping on earth 

 would have managed that horse so readily as kind- 

 ness and encouragement. Pulling, jerking, whip- 

 ping and spurring, might have been tried in vain to 

 make him leap the fence : with a moment to think 

 about it, and a nice dose of flattering applause, he 

 flew over it like an experienced hunter. More about 

 this hereafter. — Boston Times. 



PATENT MANURES, ETC. 



We are daily applied to for an opinion on newly 

 invented compounds, under the significant titles of 

 Improved Guano, &c. &c., and each manufacturer of 

 course claiming that his production is superior to 

 all others, and recommending it for every crojJ and 

 on all kinds of soils. These indiscriminately useful 

 compounds, we cannot recommend, except for the 

 use of those who cultivate very small gardens, and 

 require so small a quantity of manures, as to render 

 their manufacture unprofitable to them. 



How do these philanthropic manufacturers of ma- 

 nures make a profit sufhcient to induce a continuance 

 of their business r This is a natural question for the 

 fanner to ask himself, and ho can readily answer, 

 because the material used to divid'e the more costly 

 part of the ingredients is valueless, or nearly so, and 

 the profit of the manufacturer must necessarily arise 

 from using less of the valuable or costly articles, and 

 more of the divisor or valueless portions. 



When these compounds are made in large cities 

 where labor is dear, and packed in barrels, more than 

 half the value to the farmer will be paid for labor, 

 packages, and transportation — while a very consid- 

 erable portion of the value of the other half must go 

 to the manufacturer as his profit. 



Why should the farmer pay for the handling, 

 packing, transportation, &c., of the great mass of 

 these manures, when he has the principal part of 



their constituents, so far as relates to weight and 

 bulk, at home ? If he have on his farm, or near it, 

 dried meadow, pond or other muck or mud, charcoal 

 dust, peat, turf, or indeed headlands or sandy loam, 

 he should not subject himself to the useless expense 

 of paying transportation on these nostrums. 



Let our readers supply themselves with a shed, and 

 place under it the following ingredients : — One 

 carboy of sulphuric acid, (oil of vitriol,) a cask of 

 bone dust, a few sacks of dirt, salt, ashes, saltpetre, 

 cubic petre, plaster of Paris, some night soil, thor- 

 oughly mixed with charcoal dust, a sack of real 

 Peruvian guano, and, when required, caustic shell 

 lime hot from the kiln, ashes, &c. 



Outside the shed let him have a pile of some divisor 



— charcoal dust, well decomposed muck, peat, turf, 

 or any other semi-inert matter, or even some of his 

 own soil, either of which will answer as a divisor. 

 With such a preparation for manufacture, read the 

 Working Farmer and make your own patent manures, 

 using only such of the ingredients as the crops re- 

 quiring top-dressing or stimulating may stand most 

 in need of. Such an arrangement will enable tho 

 well-read farmer to keep his crops all of an even 

 quality during summer, stimulating those which may 

 require it, &c. 



All these ingredients may be bought with one 

 twentieth the expense of transportation, and one 

 tenth the cost to the purchaser that would have to 

 be paid for them in the form of Patent Manures, and 

 then they would be compounded in a manner to suit 

 the crops, soil, &c. Thousands of dollars are annu- 

 ally wasted bj' the purchase of these nostrums, and 

 a much larger sum from their failure to produce the 

 promised effects. If farmers will not read or study, 

 and must have a stimulating manure, to be used on 

 all sorts of crops when required, let them prepare 

 such manure as recommended in our last number, 

 using a very small quantity of guano divided through 

 a large amount of charcoal dust or other pulverulent 

 matter; if the soil be subject to drought, or suffers 

 habitually from its effects, add a little salt ; if it re- 

 fuses to grow beans, peas, and onions, add a little 

 bone-dust and soot, if you have it. This mixtiu-e, 

 or similar ones, will do well to drill in with turnips, 

 carrots, parsnips, &c. Read our articles on manures 

 attentively, and no difficulty will be found in form- 

 ing the proper compound for each and every crop. 



— Wm-king Farmer. 



TO CURE A STIFLED HORSE. 



J. B. Goddard, of Norwich, Connecticut, writes to 

 the American Agriculturist, as follows : — 



Take one gallon of urine, and put therein a small 

 handful of junk tobacco ; boil down to one quart ; 

 then add two ounces of oil spike, one ounce of oil of 

 amber, two spoonfuls of spirits of turpentine, ana 

 two spoonfuls of honey. Put it into a jug, and cork 

 it tight for use. Process of application : Rub the 

 stifle-bone hard with the mixture fifteen or twentj 

 minutes ; then dry it in thoroughly with a red-hot 

 fire shovel ; then ride the horse iV^h and back one 

 hundred yards. Repeat the above two or three 

 times, and the cure will be effected. 



FALLEN FRUIT. 



Be very careful to gather all punctured or decay- 

 ing fruits, whether on your trees or on the ground, 

 and give them to your hogs. If you do not, the 

 worms which they contain, and which have been 

 the cause of their premature decay, will make their 

 escape into the ground, and you will find the evils, 

 which await their visitations, will increase upon you 

 another season. 



