802 Transactions of the American Institute. 



and wliicli is the best. He slioiild be able to make a sqnash wei^li 

 as mnch as he does. Of course Mr. Reed will see that such an array 

 of talents eannot be employed for a dollar and a-half a day. 



Manuke Cellars. 



Mr. II. F. Goodban, a young farmer in Franklin Center, Erie county, 

 Penn., thinks he wants a water-tight manure cellar, and asks what 

 cement to use. 



Mr. Alfred B. Crandell. — The best farmers whose places I visit 

 wouldn't have a water-tight manure cellar if it were made for them. 

 They plan in another way. One gentleman I remember in Massa- 

 chusetts, dug one of those vaults back of his cows, and every day the 

 liquids were spooned up with a big wooden shovel and thrown into 

 it. In April there were two days of slavery and filth in getting it 

 out where it could be reshoveled into a cart. The best way is to 

 compost it with so much of dry muck or straw, or saw-dust that the 

 liquids are all made solids. This he can do by having tight floors, 

 and for tight floors he can use tar cement. He should grade 

 the earth below the stable floor so the fluids will rua into a shallow 

 gutter just back of the animals, cover the earth with an inch or two 

 of stones of the bigness of an egg^ that have been rolled in tar, that 

 is, shoveled over while tar is poured on them ; ram these down and 

 cover with sand and tar, using sand enough to absorb the tar and 

 make all stifl:'. If asphalt is mixed with the last tar used, a harder 

 crust wiU be the result. The work should be done in August, and 

 stand two or three months before it is much trod. The best results 

 may not be expected without much ramming and rolling. But once 

 laid, such a floor will last while water runs, and if he saves all that 

 such a floor receives, he may count on as many well manured half 

 acres each year, as he keeps head of stock. 



Plant-Food — Ashes. 



Mr. "W. W. Adams, O'Bannon, Ky. — I desire to learn something of 

 of land in East Tennessee, its character, climate, &c. Also, if ashes 

 made from wood grown on limestone land contain all the elements 

 necessary for the nourishment of plants except ammonia. 



Prof. J. A. Whitney. — Ashes made from hard woods contain all 

 the elements of plant food, except phosphoric acid. If wheat is sown 

 on land deficient in phosphoric acid, it jwould not seed out well. 

 Ammonia would also be needed. No manure pays the farmer as well 

 -as those containing phosphoric acid. 



