158 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER, 



NOVEMBER 83. ISie. 



^I2W JSSTKSJL^^ai' 21'^mS2l2S*a 



BOSTON, WEDNESDAY EVENING, NOV. 23, 1836. 



FARMERS' WORK. 



LiquiD Liming. — Water, in its purest state, when 

 it has been distilled or filtered Ihrough sand, slill retains 

 somewhat of the food of plants. Its component parts, 

 oxygen and iiydrogen, under certain circutustances, are 

 seized by vegetables while in their growing slate, and 

 converted into the products, wliich form the constituent 

 of all plants. But pure water forms a comparatively 

 meagre diet for plants. It may support life in vegeta- 

 bles, and some plants with no other nourishment than 

 that which is afforded by pure water and air. But when 

 water is impregnated with certain salts and gases, par- 

 ticularly such as are evolved during the fermentation ol 

 vegetable and animal substances, it becomes what is 

 called liquid manure. Urine, or the stale of animals is 

 water holding in solution certain salts and other substan- 

 ces, which constitute food for plants. 



It is therefore, very important that the floor under a 

 cow house or cattle stall sho ;ld be very kept very tight, 

 so that none of the stale may be lost, which, -when mi.\. 

 ed with other substances, is very valuable as manure. 

 A farmer, said Dr. Dcane, would be no more blame 

 worthy for throwing away the dung than tlio urine of 

 beasts, which contains abundance of fertilizing salt, and 

 oils. But if it be suffered to lun through the floor, it is 

 entirely lost." 



The stale should be conveyed'throiigh the floor into 

 the cellar, or if there be none let it pass, in constructed 

 diannels through the sides to the dung heap, or sterco- 

 rary. Few cultiv.itors appear to properly appreciata the 

 value of liquid manure, and of course the advantages 

 which result from making arrangements for saving and 

 making the most of it. We have frequently attempted 

 to impress on our readers the importance of this atten- 

 tion ; and, particularly, in the N. E. Farmer, vol. 1, p. 

 190. As many of our subscribers are not in possession 

 of that number, we will reprint a passage or two from 

 the page referred to ; — 



According to some writers and practical farmers, the 

 value of the urine of cattle, if properly preserved and 

 applied is greater than that of all the dung which the 

 same animals would yield ! A letter from Charles Al- 

 exander, near Prebles, in Scotland to Sir John Sinclair 

 contains much valuable information on this subject. 

 *' This intelligent farmer had htng been impressed with 

 the great importance of t^ie urine of cattle as a manure, 

 he set about to discover, by a long and well-conducted 

 • ories of experiments, the best method of collecting and 

 applying it. He be^an by digging a pit contiguous to 

 the feeding stall, but distinct altogether from that, which 

 was appropriated for the rei option of the dung. The di- 

 mensions of the pit, according to Iiis own account, were 

 thirtysix feet square and f^iur fuet deep, surrounded on 

 all sides by a wall ; and the solid contents were one 

 liundred and ninetytwo yards. Having selected the 

 nearest spot where he could find loamy earth, and this 

 lie always took from the surface of some field under cul- 

 tivation, he proceeded to fill it ; and found that with 

 three men and two hours he could easily accomplish 

 twentyeight cubic yards per day ; and the whole ex- 

 pense of transporting the earth did not exceed four pounds 

 sixteen shillings [about tweniytwo dollars.] When the 

 work wf^s complete, he levelled the surface of the heap 

 in a line with the sewer which conducted the urine from 

 the interior of the building, on purpose that it might be 

 distributed with regularity, and might saturate the whole 



from top to bottom. The quantity to be conveyed to it 

 he estimates at about eight,hundred gallons ; but as this 

 calculation was founded partly on conjecture, for he 

 measured not the liquor, it will be belter and more in- 

 structive to furnish and proceed on data that are cer- 

 tain and incontrovertible. The liquid manure was sup- 

 plied by fourteen cattle weighing about thirtyfour stone 

 [four hundred and seventysix pounds] each, and kept 

 there for five months on fodder and turnips. The con- 

 tents of the pit produced two hundred and eightyeight 

 loads, allowing two cubic yards to he taken out in three 

 carts ; and he spread forty of the.«e on each acre, so that 

 his urine in five months, and from fourteen cattle pro- 

 duced a compost sufficient /or the Icrtilization of seven 

 acres of land. He slates farther that he had tried the 

 experiment for ten years, and had indiscriminetely used 

 in the same field, either the rotted cowdung or the sat- 

 urated earth ; and in all stages of the crop, he had never 

 been able to find any perceptible difference. But what 

 is still more wonderful, he found his compost lasted in 

 its effects as many years as his best putrescent manures ; 

 and he therefore, boldly avers that a load of each is of 

 equivalent value." 



We hope soon to resume this subject. 



(For the New England Farmer.) 



Mr Editor — In the Farmer of 1835, you spoke of 

 the use of Potash being less expensive than ashes as a ma- 

 nure, without mentioning the quantify of water, or how 

 it is to be distributed, nor if it would be better in the 

 Autumn or Spring. You will oblige those who are igno- 

 rant by any particulars you can give. 



By THE Editor. — The article alluded to was taken 

 from the New York Farmer, and contains the (ollowin» 

 particulars, which we wish had been somewhat more 

 definite: 



"I had a lot of meadow lands containing about three 

 acres, which had been reduced to poverty by severe 

 cropping. On this piece of ground I made the follow- 

 ing experiment. Having broken up the swan), and har- 

 rowed it repeatedly until quite mellow, I spread leached 

 ashes over one acre, and potash dissolved in water on 

 two other acres; sowed millet seed, clover and timothy 

 all mixed together in the proportion of one part ol each 

 of the latter to five of the former, and one bushel of the 

 mixture to an acre ; harrowed all in together on or about 

 the first of the sixth month 



The ashes cost fifteen do.lara, the potash five dollars 

 the acre ; the expense and trouble of dressing with pot- 

 ash about in the same proportion. And now it was a 

 matter of no small interest to me, a novice of farming, 

 to observe the result of experiment, which when made 

 I supposed to be entirely original. The crop of millet 

 was fine, and as nearly alike as could have been expect- 

 ed, if the land had all been covered wilh the sa.me kind 

 of manure. The clover, also, all over the lot, was lux 

 uriant, and gave the strongest evidence, to my mind, 

 that potash is the principal agent in leached ashes, which 

 causes the fertility. I made trial of potash in a lot of 

 feur acres, which was considered the poorest on my farm, 

 on which I sowed millet wilh the potash. I sowed at 

 the same time four other acres without any manure, on 

 ground consideied much better than the last above men- 

 tioned. 



I cut double ihe quantity of hay from that dressed wilh 

 potash, and of a better quality. Thus far my little expe- 

 rience goes in favor of potash as manure ; but I much 

 desire that some of ihy subscribers, of longer experience, 

 and abler pen would favor us with light on this interest- 

 esting subject. T. D, 



We would unite with the writer of the foregoing, in 

 soliciting farther experiments on the topic, and are the 

 more desirous that such trials should bi}_^made, as we do 

 not find in our agricultural books, any mention of potash 

 as a manure. 



(For the Nuw England Farmer.) 

 Apple Pomace for Hog^a. 



Mr Editor. — One of mp neighbors has made use of 

 pomace to great advantage in feeding Swine. It is boil- 

 ed in the same way as you boil potatoes — after which 

 is added a little meal and plenty of salt — his pigs eat it 

 most greedily and thrive quite as well as they would on 

 potatoes. As this is the season of the year to secure 

 pomace and put it in cellars or secure it from freezing. 

 I would invite all who can obtain apple pomace to make 

 tile trial, as I am confident that the pomace annually 

 wasted is worth thousands of dollars. 



Yours respectfully, E. H. 



Slow, Nov. 21, 1836. 



fFor the New England Farmer ) 

 Among the specimens of fruit at the Horticultural 

 Exhibition on the ] 9th inst. were two fine Dix pears from 

 the original tree ; which drew from one of the visiters 

 the following impromptu. 



Madam, this fruit, so choice and fair. 

 May with the honored age compare. 

 Which, tliough the harvest months are past, 

 Improves and ripens to the last. 



The Premiun List of the Massachusetts Society for 

 Promoting .Agriculture is received and shall be publish- 

 ed in our next. 



A mechanician of Paris, has lately invented a machine 

 which he calls vnituremoulin, destined to follow armies, 

 and grind and bolt all kinds of corn. It is with two 

 wheels, one horse, and is driven by a man who sits like 

 a coachman, aad can stop the mechanism at pleasure. 

 The impelling force is the movement of the wheels. 

 When it slops, however, it may be worked by the hand 

 or by water. In action the whole d.iy, it can grind two 

 hectolitres and a half, wilh one man; five with two; and 

 nine with a horse. 



Important. — A Mr Gabriel Winter has succeeded in 

 extinguishing all sparks from the chimney of the steam 

 engine by passing the escopc steam into it at a proper 

 distance above the boiler. The vapor entirely extin- 

 guishes the sparks. 



The New Silk Factory is to commer.ee operations in 

 Dedham this week. When in full operation it will run 

 11)00 spindles, and employ 100 females. 



Preserving Winter .'\rPLES. — Winter Apples may 

 he preserved for summer use in a green state by putlinir 

 them up as gathered frmi the tree, in barrels, filled wilh 

 groimd plaster, care being taken to prevent the apples 

 from touching each other, because the plaster excludes 

 the air and absorbs the moisture. This will not injure 

 the fertilizing properties of the gypsum. 



Valcaele Recipe. — Jlr A. Bronson, of Meadville, 

 Pa, says, from fifteen years experience, he finds that an 

 Indian meal poultice, covered over with young hyson 

 tea, si/fiened with hot water, and laid over burns and 

 frozen flesh, as hot as it can be borne, will remove the 

 pain in five minutes ; that if blisters have not arisen be- 

 fore they will not after it is put on, and that one poultice 

 is generally sufficient to effect a cure. 



