AND HORTICULTURAL REGISTER. 



PUBLISHED BT JOSEPH BRECK & CO., NO. 62 NORTH MARKET STREET, (AoBioutrnsAi. Wabehousb.) 



.XXI 



BOSTON, WEDNESDAY EVENING, MARCH 6, 1844. 



[XO. 36. 



N. E. FARMER 



GUANO, &c. 



; Editor of the New England Farmer : 

 ;end you herewith a head of corn which was 

 II last year under the influence of Guano — 

 x<T that you or 3onie of your friends will try 

 xperiMient of growinjj it again with the same 

 ment, in contrast with some on the same soil 

 )Ut Ciunno. 



•ecociiinend the hills to he placed six feet asun- 

 and the seeds at a greater distance than usual, 

 ;count of the expected hi.\iiriance of growth, 

 ;hat it be sown on poor sandy soil, without 

 other manure; but above oil, that the guano 

 dded just previous to rains, 

 seize the present moment to call your atten- 

 to this subject, because I see that the asaer- 

 I of Mr Hicke, of Germany, whicli were men- 

 id by iiie last year, at one of the agricultural 

 :ing3 at the State House, have again raised 

 ■ heads through the flood of ridicule which 

 alinoot universally poured on them. His ex- 

 nents, which have been repeated by Mr Canip- 



of Scotland, consisted in adding substances 

 le contents of the seed, by soaking it in solu- 

 3 of various 6alt.«, such as silicate, nitrate, sul- 

 e, and phosphate of soda — muriate, sulphate, 

 phosphate of ammonia, and nitrate of potash, 

 chief experiment was with wheat, which he 

 <ed 48 hours in these solutions, and the result 



that the seeds produced from seven to eleven 

 3t8, against three or four shoots from the same 

 d unsoaked, and sown on the same soil. 

 ilr Johnston, the agricultural chemist, whose 

 ent works are well known here, has also lectur- 

 on this subject, and strongly recommended this 

 raticm of soaking. 



rhe connexion between this subject and the 

 inoed seed I hand you, will he evident to most 

 ihe readers of your journal, when I refer to what 

 ave previously shown there, viz: that the analy- 

 of ,Mr Hayes has shown that this seed contains 

 re of these salts than that grown without guano, 

 d these ingredients having been acquired natu- 

 ly by the seed from the guano, which contains 

 6t of them in abundance, it seems probable that 



7 will grow with as much luxuriance as those 

 ich have acquired them artificially by soaking. 

 These recent experiments show almost to a cer- 

 nly what was before a matter of doubt, that the 

 ihty of seed depends chiefly on its ingredients: 

 i the rapid advance of scientific researches in 

 getable physiology, promises at length to bring 



8 microscopic subject under the complete domiii- 

 1 of science. 



Permit me to suggest to you, as this new ma- 

 re guano, has at length become an article of 

 gular importation into this country, that it would 

 jch increase the value of your journal if you 

 juld copy the interesting experiments with it, 

 lich are detailed in the various English agricu 



New England, and cannot fail, under judicious ap- 

 plication, to become an article of extensive use 

 and benefit. 



I will take this opportunity of stating, that the 

 celebrated German chemist, Mitscherlich, recently 

 read a paper before the Prussian academy of Sci- 

 ences, in which he mentioned that the ashes of 

 the dried sea-weed, Fucus palmntus, which is ex- 

 tensively burned on the coast of Ireland for kelp, 

 contains a considerable per cenlage of phosphate 

 of lime: hence there can be no doubt of the value 

 of sea-weed as manure, when properly mixed with 

 other substances. Also, that phosphate of lime 

 has been discovered to exist in the English chalk 

 and many of the limestones: this will also account 

 for the great value of lime in some districts, where, 

 no doubt, the phosphates are exhausted ; and 

 adds to the weight of testimony in favor of the im- 

 portance in agriculture of the phosphates generally. 

 I trust that after carefully reviewing the nume- 

 rous facts beneficial to agriculture lately brought 

 into prominent view by chemical science, but few 

 persons, in the present day, will venture to doubt 

 either the great value of its application to this pur- 

 suit, or that it is the duty of every one interested 

 therein, to promote its study and dissemination by 

 every means within their reach. 

 Yours, truly, 



J. E. TESCHEMACHER. 

 Boston, Feh. 24, 1844. 



Q^'We concur with our correspondent on the 

 importance of bringing to the attention of our far- 

 mers the results of experiments with guano, made 

 abroad. We have copied several articles showing 

 the value of this new manure, and placing its 

 worth beyond question ; and we have no doubt that 

 when it shall be more common with lis than at 

 present, our farmers will not fail to avail themselves 

 of its aid. But we cannot urge its general use at 

 present, since it is not procurable in sufticient 

 quantity nor at so low a rale, as to render its gene- 

 ral use practicable. For the benefit of those who 

 may wish to try it, we would say that a few bar- 

 rels of guano are on sale at the Agricultural Ware- 

 house, 52 North Market street. — Ep. 



For the New England Farmer. 



ERGOT. 

 Messrs. J. Breck if Co. — Gentlemen — I see in 

 your paper of Jan. 17lli, 1844, an article taken from 

 the Albany Cultivator, upon Ergot. Believing 

 there is some information of Iht right kind, in exis- 

 tence, I write to inform you, that at the time I re- 

 sided in Virginia — between the years 1816 and 

 1826 — I understood that a young physician, Chas. 

 C. Bird, of Frederick county, Virginia, had distin- 

 guished himself by an " Essay upon Ergot," which 

 he had handed in to the Faculty of the Institution, 

 in compliance with a rule, which made it impera- 

 tive upon all the .\Uimni, previously to receiving 

 furnish 



some medical work connected with ilie Pliiladol- 

 phia institution, at which Mr Bird gratuatcd. 



Mr Bird, if I recollect rightly, instituted a series 

 of experiments upon fowls, horses, and oxen, with 

 ergot. The result of these experiments, so far as 

 I recollect, was the loss of Icoofs by the horses and 

 oxen, and the loss of toe-nails (or claws) by the 

 fowls. 



The object of this communication is to call the 

 attention of those interested, to the Essay, which I 

 prefume will give them iinportant/ac/i, ascertained 

 by a series of skilful and long continued experi- 

 ments. Mr Bird, I believe, settled as a physician, 

 in Leesburg, Virginia, some few years afterwards. 

 Whether he is now living or not, I cannot say ; 

 but I presume rill the fuels (if deemed of conse- 

 quence BufficieMt,) may ho oblained by application 

 to the Focultv of the Phihidelphin Medical School. 

 I think Mr Bird graduated somewhere about the 

 year 1824. 



I have also a vague rccpllection, that some timo 

 prior to the year 1816, several children died in 

 Boston, as was supposed, from eating bread made 

 in part or in whole of rye flour — (and unless my 

 recollection fails me, they were the children of a 

 Mr Selfridge) — which rye flour was supposed to 

 contain ergot. One thing is very certain : I have 

 never eaten any thing made of rye flour since ; and 

 I am sure that the death of those children (whose 

 names I may not correctly recolleet,) was, and is, 

 the cause of my abstaining entirely from the use 

 of rye flour in every shape. 



It may not be improper here to remark, that dur- 

 ing my residence in Virginia, I know the farmers 

 were, (and I believe they now are,) in the constant 

 habit of feeding their horses upon rye, which I be- 

 lieve they called ''chop feed." I mention this, be- 

 cause the public can be interested only in facts, 

 regardless of all theories and opinions. This last 

 fact goes strongly to prove, that, notwithstanding 

 Dr. Bird's Essay upon the deleterious cff'ects of 

 ergot upon horses and oxen, the farmers of his own 

 State did not think proper to cease feeding their 

 horses upon rye: whether it made them more cir- 

 cumspect in its use, I cannot say. 



If you deem these statements of any consequence, 

 you are at liberty to make such use of them as you 

 may deem proper. 



With sentiments of respect, 



I remain, gentlemen, yours, &c. 



WM. CLOUGir. 

 St. Charles, Mo., Feb. 4, 1844. 



the degree of M. D,, to furnish an essay upon 

 ral periodicals, for you may rest assured that it some subject connected with the profession. This 

 peculiarly adapted to the poor sandy soils of [ essay, I understood at the timo, was published in 



To be intelligent operatives, we must not only 

 understand what we are about, but we should also 

 have just conceptions of the objects about us. No 

 one can be a truly enlightened agriculturist, who 

 is wholly ignorant of the nature and chemical prop- 

 erties of his soil, and of those laws of organic life 

 which aflect the well-being of domestic animals, 

 and remilate the dovulopement of those features 

 which give value to stock. I can see no good rea- 

 son why the farmer should not understand the phi- 

 losophy of h\s business as well as other artisans. — 

 Dr. Darlington. 



