>!.. X.VII. NO. 43. 



AND HORTICULTURAL REGISTER. 



331 



)le and single teams. And no person sliall 

 end for citirer of (he Society's premiums, unless 

 s the owner of the oxen and plow, and acts ns 

 irman himself or some person who works on 

 farm. Single teams will plow without a dri- 



111 competitors in plowing, must enter their 

 ics with the Secretary, before eight o'clock on 

 Iday of the Show. 



Trial of U'orkiug Oxen 



yill take place immediately after the services 

 liie meeting house. 



IVll competitors in this trial most enter their 

 lies with the Secretary, before nine o'clock on 

 day of the Show. 



t is understood, that whenever, merely from 

 it of competition, any of the claimants might be 

 sidered entitled to the premiums, under a literal 

 strnction, yet if in the opinion of the judges, 

 object so offered is not deserving of any re- 

 ■d, the judges shall have a right to reject such 

 ni. No article or animal on which, to any 

 ler, one premium shall have been awarded, 

 11 ever be permitted to receive the same or a 

 ; premium. Milch heifers will not be allowed 

 ake a premium as milch cows : the same pair 

 iteers will be allowed to receive but two pre- 

 ims. The proof of agricultural experiments 

 I the manner in which they were conducted, to 

 offered at the annual meeting of the Trustees, 

 e Trustees have reserved fifty dollars to be 

 arded to such persons as shall exhibit any arti- 

 of utility for which no premium is offered above, 

 [f any competitor for any of the Society's pre- 

 ims shall be discovered to have used any disin- 

 nuous measures, by which the objects of the So- 



UANA'S PRIZK ESSAY ON MANURES. 

 Section Twei.kth. 

 Jlshes. 

 It is easy to s-^e, that salis, whatever be iheir 

 name or nature, which are likely to be of any ser- 

 vice to Iho fanner, are those only which either en- 

 ter into and form part of the plants, or which, by 



upon the sails. In spent ashes we have nearly all 

 the bone du-sl left ; and besides this, a portion of 

 what is usually considi'red the real strength, that 

 is, the [lotash. This is chemically united to cer- 

 tain of the other constituents of ashes. You can- 

 not leach it out. Upset your leach-tubs, shovel 

 over your spent ashes, mix it up with fermenting 

 manure, where a plenty of fixed air is given off. 



the action of their acid or base, act on the earthy fj,,re \g the secret of the value of spent ashes, so 

 parts of soil, or upon the mould. Salts either poi- j f^^ j^g the potash or ley strength is concerned, 

 .son or nouri.sh plants. The first, like the medi- j 'j'|,jg ^.jjpgg^pp ^^ ^ji-to carbonic acid, lets loose 

 cines wo take, are good in small doses; the second t(,g p„[jg|,jy|,jj|, ,^^8 chemically combined with 

 can hardly injure, even by iheir excess. If we t[,p „t|,^f „|„,tj,rs. Water would never have done 

 recur to the principle with which we set out early i ^^^^g Mark, now, a practical leson taught here by 

 in this essay, that the ashes of plants contain all 

 their salts, then rightly to know what salts are 



cliemiBtry, and confirmed by experience. Lenched 



ashes must never be used on wet soil, if wo want 



ikely to produce good effects as manure, we ,t8 alkali to act. The close wet soil, perhaps even 



should first study the composition of ashes. We 



iialf covered at times with water, excludes the air. 



earth, or we, losing the volatile parts of a plant, 

 its mould and ammonia, by burning, collect its sal's 

 as ashes. Let us see what these salts are made of. 

 In the first place, you know, all salts are composed 

 of an acid and a base. 



The bnses are. 

 Potash and soda, 

 liime. 

 Magnesia, 

 Clay, 

 Iron, 



Manganese, 

 Silex, or earth of flints. 



The acids are. 

 Carbonic, or carbon uni- 

 ted to oxygen. 

 Phosphoric or phosphorus 



do. do. 



Sulphuric, or Sulphur do. 

 Muriatic, essentially com- 

 posed of chlorine. 



Now if we throw nut the carbonic acid, which 



has been formed in burning, we have left in ashes, 



three acids, which are united with the bases, and 



may form the following salts in plants, namely : 



ty have been defeated, such persons shall not j Glauber's salt, Epsom salt, common table-salt. 



,y forfeit the premium which may have been 



arded to him, but rendered incapable of being 



er after the competitor for any of the Society's 



omiums. 



Members of the Society who shall have premi- 



18 awarded to them, will be entitled, by a vote of 



? Trustees, to an allowance of ten per cent, in 



dditicmtothe premiums mentioned in this bill. 



Any person having received a gratuity on any 

 tide (except live stock,) shall be debarred from 

 er receiving any premium on the same article. 



All persons (ladies excepted) not members of 

 e Society, who take a premium of $5, and up- 

 ird.<, shall receive a diploma of membership for 

 5, and the balance of said premium in cash. 



AH premiums not called for in a year, will be 

 rfeited, and added to the fund? of the Society. 

 WILLIAM PARKER, President. 



Moses Prig hard, Sec'ry. 



Remedy for Hard Milking. — Mr Kniskern, of 

 nox, says that he has tried the plan of opening 

 18 teats of cows that milk hard, with a harness 

 !r\, or a small penknife, as recommended in a for- 

 er number of the Cultivator, by Mr Durand , and 

 is by this means made a very good milking cow 

 om one which could scarcely be milked before. 

 -^Ib. Cull. 



Scotch Guano. — A plentiful deposite of tliis rich 

 lanurc, it is reported, is found on some of the 

 orthern islands of Scotland, which, probably, will 

 upersede that hitherto brought from the islands in 

 le }'acific. 



have in ashes a great variety of substances. They , -pi^g carbonic acid of air, that which alone extracts 

 come from the soil. They form a part of plants. | (|,g ^||.j|| |yo,„ gpe^t^ghes, cannot here act.. There 

 The dead plant returns them again to their mother j ^^ jj,,, other lesson to be learned from these facts, 



that It is chiefly the alkaline action which is want- 

 ed frcmi spent ashes. Hence, no one who thus un- 

 derstands the source, and the true value of ashes, 

 will allow the alkaline portion to be first leached 

 out, unless he can find a more economical use for 

 it than its application as a fertilizer. Perhaps no 

 fact speaks louder, that the great action of spent 

 ashes is that of its potash, than this, that where 

 we prevent that from being extracted, the spent 

 ashes ate of little value. If, then, spent ashes de- 

 rive iheir groat value from the potash, much more 

 will unleached ashes derive their value from their 

 potash. 



Now, reader, the point to which I have led you 

 in these remarks, is this: that the more alkaline 

 any salt is, the better is it for manure. Hence, aa 

 a general rule about the use of salts, it may be 

 laid down that the alkaline salts, that is, potash, 

 pearlash, coniinon ashes, barilla ashes, white, or 

 soda ash, are the best. And as these, in all their 

 various shapes, are the cheapest and most common 

 articles, so you need not run after a long list of 

 other salts. Next in value to the real alkalies, are 

 spent ashes, used in a light, porous, open, sandy 

 soil, if you would derive the greatest benefit from 

 them. Next to these comes peat ashes. You well 

 know these are of no value to the soapmaker. But 

 not so to you. They show only traces of alkaline 

 power. 15ut treat them as you did spent ashes. 

 Their power, independent of their bone-dust, which 

 is by no means small, and their plaster, which is 

 still greater, and their lime, which is perhaps the 

 greatest, lies in the alkali, which is locked up, as 

 it is in spent ashes. Treat them, therefore, as 

 you did spent nshes, and then peat ashes will, and 

 do afford, alkali. So too coal ashes, even your 

 hard anthracite ashes, yield all the substances 

 which spent ashes do. It is easily seen, therefore, 

 when, how, and where, spent ashes, peal ashes, 

 coal ashes, are most likely to do good. Perhaps 

 we may not have a belter place to state the fact, 

 that a cord of soapboiler's spent ashes contain 

 about ,50 lbs. of potash. When we add to this, 

 1 17 lbs. of bone-dust, and about a ton and a half of 

 chalk, or carbonate of lime, which acts chiefly on 

 the soil, and so comes not now under considera- 

 tion. It IS seen that there is no cheaper source of 

 alkali and salts, to one within reasonable carting 

 distance of a soapboiler, than spent ashes. 'I'hey 

 are marl, bone-dust, plaster, and alkali combin- 

 ed. 



(To be coniioued.) 



bone-dust, a salt of lime, and what we may term a 

 bone-dust salt of iron, or phosphate of iron, plaster 

 of Paris, or gypsum, copperas, alum, and some olli- 

 er salts, which need not be enumerated. Our list 

 comprises the principal, and those most likely to 

 be used in farming. Well, now, the lesson to be 

 drawn from this composition of ashes is tlii.s, that 

 there is scarcely any salt occurring in commerce, 

 which may not be used in agriculture, instead of 

 those found in ashes. In fact, almost all sails 

 which occur in a large way, as refuse materials 

 from manufactures or olher sources, have been 

 used, and all wilji greater or less success, as ma- 

 nures. And if you cast your eye over the acids 

 and bases of common ashes, this seems quite rea- 

 sonable. It is not expected that a plain farmer, 

 possessing little or no chemical know;^,^ge, should 

 be able to tell beforehand, what th? effect of a salt 

 would be, applied ti> his land ; but if he under- 

 stands what the composition of ashes is, he may be 

 sure that in any quantity in which the salt is likely 

 to occur, it cannot be injurious, provided il is mixed 

 up with plenty of mould, and a little ashes, or al- 

 kali, which will kill or neutralize any excess of 

 the poisonous acid. 



In ashes, we have one part which may be leached 

 out, and a part which remains after leaching, 

 called spent ashes. Let us see then in leachin<;, 

 what parts we take away. First, we take away all 

 ihe acids, except the phosphoric. Secondly, we 

 take away nearly all the potash and soda. What 

 is left ? The phosphoric acid, and all the bases. 

 It is evident, therefore, that the strength of ashes 

 can never be wholly leached out, if that depends! 



