rOI.. X\U. NO. 89. 



AND HORTICULTURAL REGISTER 



229 



ly, deadly air, which arises from burning char- 

 , has all the properties of an acid. And now 

 js see what these properties are. 

 .11 acids unite or combine with the alkalies, ni- 

 ne earths, and the metals. When acids and 

 lies do thus unite, they each lose thi^ir distin- 

 hing properties. They form a new siibelnnce, 

 sd a salt. It is very important you should fix 



in your mind tins definition of a salt. You 



not to confine your idea <if a salt to coinnmn 



That is a capital example of the whole class. 



soda, an alkali, united to an acid, or chlorine, 



speak in the terms the most intelligible, to 

 iatic acid. So saltpetre is a salt. It is pot- 

 united to aquafortis. Yet in saltpetre you 



eive neither potash nor aquafortis. These 

 ) united — their characters are neutralized by 



1 other. They have formed a neutral salt, 

 list of substances found in plants, is thus re- 



3d from thiiiijs which you did not know, to 

 gs which you do know ; and so we have saved 

 trouble of learning more of their chemistry, 

 ^^e have reduced the airy or volatile into wa- 

 forined of oxygen and hydrogen; of volatile 

 li, formed of nitrogen and hydrogen ; or into 

 s, as the carbonic, formed of oxygen and car- 

 — as the sulphuric, formed of oxygen and sul- 

 r — as the phosphoric, formed of oxygen and 

 iphorus ; and having thus got water and acids, 

 e unite with all the alkaline, earthy, and me- 

 c bodies, and form salts. To give you new ex- 

 iles of these, I may mention Ghiuber's salts and 

 om salts. Glauber's salt is formed of soda and 

 hnric acid ; Epsom salts, of magnesia and sul- 

 ric acid ; alum, of alumina or clay, and sulphu- 

 icid I green vitriol, of iron and sulphuric acid ; 

 le vitriol, ef zinc and sulphuric acid ; plaster 

 Paris, of lime and sulphuric acid ; bones, of 

 1 and phosphoric acid ; chalk and limestone, of 

 ! and carbonic acid. These are all e.vainples 

 alls — that is, an acid, or a substance acting the 



of an acid, united to an alkali, metal, or earth. 

 Ve have thus gone over, in a very general way, 

 jgli iif chemistry for any one to understand the 

 mical nature of manure. You see, reader, that 

 I common attention, bestowed for an evening's 

 ling, one may learn these chemical terms and 

 r meaning. And now, having learned this first 

 on, let us review the ground gone over, and fix 

 B and for all these first principles in our minds. 



us do this by a practical application of the 

 wledge we have gained. 



(To be coniinued.) 



jfreen and Dry Wond A cord of wood whilst 



en, is said to contain IJ-ITJ pounds of water, or 

 hogshead and two barrels. Let every farmer 

 ) hauls wood to market, remember that when he 

 isports it green, he is carrying that weight and 

 ntity of water on his load, which, if he had snf- 

 id his wood to remain after it was cut till it 

 I suitably sea.soned, he might save from the 

 Jen of his oxen or horses, or pile upon the top 

 t three-fourths of a cord of seasoned pine, and 

 have no heavier load than the green cord alone 

 ghed. — Maine Cult. 



To Extract Oil or other Grease. — Take some 

 imon magnesia — not the calcined — scrape off a 

 ill portion, nnd rub it on the grease spot. Let 

 est half an hour, then brush it lightly off and 

 on some fresh magnesia. Repeat this several 

 es till the grease disappears entirely. 



MUTTON. 



Hon. Daniel Webster keeps at his farm in 

 Marshfield, from sixty to an hundred sheep, chiefly 

 for their moat. His selection embraces the South- 

 downs and the Leicesters. 



On a recent occasion, Mr Webster remarked, 

 how little the great mass of Americans cared for 

 mutton as fond, while in Kngland the people gen- 

 erally esteem it the very best of butcher's meats. 

 He said he believed one reason to be, that the 

 Knglish mutton in general was bettor than ours. 

 "You may occasionally," he said, "find good mut- 

 ton in Albany, New Y'ork and Philadelphia — but 

 in England you find no bad mutton." 



A sheep, according to Mr V^^ebster, should nev- 

 er be killed for the table before it is three years 

 old. A lamb, indeed, may get nearly its full 

 growth at a- year and a half, or twenty months, and 

 become very fat, and this is the age at which they 

 are usually sold for the shambles; but such early 

 mutton is not delicately mixed, the lean with the 

 fat. It shrinks in boiling, and when cut upon the 

 table, it fills the di.'ih with white gravy. Mutton 

 two years older, though no fatter, will hove a much 

 higher flavor, the muscle and the fat being mixed, 

 and when thoroughly cooked will fill the dish with 

 red gravy. 



It is gratifying to find these views maintained by 

 one whose authority will secure for them the influ- 

 ence to which they are entitled. The attempt in 

 some circles to exclude mutton from the list of 

 delicacies, is here well and deservedly rebuked. 

 No man who possesses a cultivated taste in these 

 matters, -will fail to respond to the discriminating 

 remarks of Mr Webster. — Worcester JEsis. 



ERGOT. 



Writing of the investigation which has been go- 

 ing on in the Cultivator as to the causes of abor- 

 tion in cows, a correspondent says — "I perceive 

 that some attribute this difficulty to ergot. Now 

 many of your readers do not know what ergot is, 

 or where produced. Will you be so good as to 

 tell us what is meant by the article, and on what 

 plants we are to look for it?" 



Tlie substance called ergot, is also known by 

 the name of Secide cornutum, spurred rye, &c., and 

 is occasionally found on many of the cereal grains 

 and grasses, but most commonly on rye. There 

 appears to be no little discordance among botan- 

 ists and vegetable physiologists as to the cause of 

 this disease of seeds. Some attribute it to the 

 puncture of insects, some to an altered condition 

 of the pistil, and some consider it a fungus. De 

 Candolle calls it a fungus ; Endlicher does not 

 admit it as a real fungus, but considers it a dis- 

 eased state of the seeds, generated by a particular 

 combination of external influences. During the 

 formation of the seed of rye, in which it most com- 

 monly appears, some of the ears will be found to 

 contain seeds greatly enlarged and elongated, 

 gradually protruding from the chaff, with a whitish 

 or greenish color at first, but becoming brown or 

 black on exposure to the air. The interior is a 

 light gray. It sometimes grows to the length of 

 two inches, warps and curves like a horn ; henoe 

 the name of cornu/!(m. When fresh, these horns 

 are tough, but become hard and brittle by drying, 

 and in lime it loses the nauseous, acrid taste and 

 peculiar smell which indicates its fungous origin. 

 Wildenow asserts that ergot may be produced on 

 rye at any time, by sowing it in a rich, damp soil, 

 and watering the plants freely in warm weather. 



Ergot is found on some of the grasses, and per- 

 haps occasionally appears on all. We have seen 

 meadows in which June grass (Poa prntensis.) 

 aboiindod, which were sensibly discolored, wfien 

 the grass stood until ripe, by the immense number 

 of black horns that covered almost every head ; 

 and when such hay was threshed on a floor, (a pre- 

 caution deemed necessary to prevent its apprehend- 

 ed effoct on the young cattle to which it was to bo 

 fed,) the ergot might be scraped up by quarts. We 

 have also found it occasionally, but rarely, on cat's 

 tail or timothy, and last season we fir the first 

 time saw it growing <m spring wheal. Thi.s spring 

 wheat had been sown where winter wheat had 

 been killed out, and among it occasional stalks of 

 rye were to be found loaded with most magnificent 

 horns or spurs of ergot. When the spurs are 

 large, there are but few to the car, but sometimes 

 the character of nearly every kernel will be chang- 

 ed, and the seeds, though but little enlarged, pos- 

 sess all the nature or properties of true ergot. It 

 is when it assumes this form, that it produces the 

 dreadful effects described by medical writers as at 

 times exhibited in Germany and Hungary on the 

 poor, who are driven by want to use rye containing 

 more or less of this fungus, for bread. The mild- 

 est form of these effects is a nervous derangement 

 of the system; the most severe nausea, vomiting 

 convulsions, frequently terminating in death ,of 

 when not immediately fatal, ending in dry gan- 

 grene or mortification, during which the feel and 

 fingers swell and fall off by a slow but certain de- 

 cay. 



If eaten by cattle, we have no doubt it would 

 exhibit its effects in some marked form. That it 

 has produced hoof-ail or gangrene in cattle, we 

 have not the slightest doubt ; the evidence we 

 have had on the subject, forbids it. That it may 

 produce abortion in cows, we also think probable; 

 but in some of the cases mentioned in the Cultiva- 

 tor, it could not have been the active cause, as 

 none of this substance could be detected in the 

 hay used or in the fields. If, as is asserted by 

 Wiggers, the white dust or bloom sometimes found 

 on the surface of the spurs, will produce it on other 

 plants, if sprinkled on them or sown on the earth 

 about their roots, it would be well to avoid the use 

 of grain for seed in which this fungus is found, as 

 its poisonous qualities render it a substance much 

 to be dreaded, whether in grain or grass. — Albany 

 Cult. 



Indulge the Curiosity of Children Suppress not 



their curiosity or inquisitiveness. It is no falling 

 in and of itself. It is rather one of the strongest 

 incentives and the most prominent means to be- 

 come learned and wise. It is generally from ig- 

 norance, indifference, or a peevish disposition, that 

 a man commands his children to be silent, or re- 

 proaches them for an improper and reprehensible 

 curiosity, when they inquire about something, and 

 are not satisfied with the first answer given them. 

 They must indeed learn and use prudence and dis- 

 cretion in the company of strangers. But parents 

 and teachers would neglect the best opportunity 

 of their instruction if they continually require of 

 them to be only mute hearers. No — it is their 

 duty, and if they love their children or pupils, it 

 will be a pleasure to answer their questions, not 

 with a dry yes or no, but in such a manner as will 

 convey the information they desire. — Exchange 

 pap. 



