1860. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



501 



a pot boiling, as is said of that applied to the 

 horse under notice. For a horse having such an 

 amount of fever and heat on the surface as to 

 cause such steaming, a wet blanket might be, at 

 least, a safe application ; but in a large number 

 of cases there is no fever, and no increase of heat 

 on the surface at all, and in many cases, a ten- 

 dency to chilliness and withdrawal of the blood 

 and natural heat from the surface, and in all such 

 cases, both common sense and experience testify 

 that wet applications only increase the evil, or 

 run the risk of it, and are, therefore, neither safe 

 nor salutary. 



Suppose a case such as we had during a wet 

 summer. One horse slabbered so excessively as 

 to make several streams on the stable floor every 

 night. During this time of slabbering, the horse 

 had two or more slight attacks of colic, and at 

 last a very severe one. The cause in this case 

 was obviously the flashy, watery condition of the 

 pasture, and imperfect digestion from the loss of 

 so much saliva, with depression of all the vital 

 energies. Now, in such a case, would a man of 

 any sense apply a wet blanket, or would he not 

 rather try to relieve the colic of a horse in such 

 circumstances, by giving a drench containing car- 

 away seeds, ginger, and perhaps other stimulat- 

 ing condiments ? We leave the reader to decide 

 for himself. If he is not given to riding hydro- 

 pathic or other hobbies, we should be glad to have 

 his views upon the treatment of colic in such a 

 case as we have briefly reported. In that case, 

 half a teacupful of caraway seeds bruised, and 

 given in a strongly spiced tea of ginger, allspice 

 and pepper, and repeated in from five to ten min- 

 utes, was soon followed by entire cessations of 



*the colicy attack, which was a most severe one. 

 Page 406. — Superphosphate for Turnips. — 

 There are advantages, we have no doubt, to be 

 derived from reporting cases of failure, when some 

 particular manure, mode of management, new 

 plant, or new implement, has been experimented 

 with fairly and judiciously, and in such a way as 

 to render the results reliable, and of value for 

 either scientific, or practical purposes. But are 

 there not disadvantages also ? There are, at least, 

 dangers of disadvantage, if not carefully guarded 

 against, as is evident from this report by Mr. M. 

 Pratt. The reader is left without any means of 

 determining, with certainty, to Avhat cause the re- 

 ported failure was chiefly owing, whether to Coe's 

 superphosphate, or to superphosphates of what- 

 ever kind, or to the dryness of the season, or to 

 something else ; being thus left uncertain as to 



• the cause of the failure in the crop, he is, of course, 

 unable to decide what he must do, or avoid doing 

 in order to escape a similiar failui-e. And not on- 

 ly is the reader left in the dark as to Avhat he 

 must avoid if he would escape a similiar failure, 

 but he is left exposed to the danger of making 

 two inferences which might be of disadvantage or 

 damage to himself, or Mr. Coe. If the reader 

 should suppose the failure owing to the particu- 

 lar superphosphate used, he might thus have fall- 

 en into an injurious mistake ; and if he should 

 infer that superphosphates generally are not suit- 

 able for the turnip crop, that would also be a 

 great mistake, and one which might be of disad- 

 vantage to himself, if it should prevent him from 

 availing himself of the aid of superphosphates, 

 and other phosphates of lime, in raising turnip 



crops. A reader not acquainted with the abun- 

 dant testimony furnished by English turnip-grow- 

 ers to the great value of the various phosphates 

 of lime in the culture of that crop, might possibly 

 come to the conclusion that Mr. Pratt's failure 

 was owing to the use of the superphosphate, and 

 that superphosphates were not a suitable fertili- 

 zer for a turnip crop. This would be a great mis- 

 take, and might be of great disadvantage to any 

 one who adopted it, for it is well known to those 

 acquainted with British agriculture, that phos- 

 phate of lime, either in the form of bone meal, or 

 of a genuine superphosphate is almost universal- 

 ly used in the culture of turnips, and tliat it al- 

 ways, (that is, v/ith scarcely an exception,) causes 

 an increase of several tons of bulbs per acre over 

 and above what can be raised on the same soil in 

 the same circumstances without phosphates in 

 some form. 



As Mr. Pratt, we are sure, knows all about 

 the special adaptation of phosphates for increas- 

 ing the acreable yield of turnips, he could not 

 mean to lead his readers into doubt in regard to 

 this well established fact or truth, merely because 

 of a failure in a single crop, and that in a very 

 dry season. But it may be better, now that we 

 have indicated some of the suppositions or guesses 

 as to his meaning which readers may make, to 

 leave Mr. Pratt to make his meaning less liable 

 to misinterpretation, if he should think it of any 

 importance so to do. More Anon. 



P. S. — If Mr. Pratt or any one else coull tell 

 us how to detect fraudulent bone dust and super- 

 phosphates, he would confer a real benefit on 

 many of his brother-farmers. Prof. S. W. John- 

 son's report is good, but not enough for this pur- 

 pose. 



PULVERIZING THE SOIL. 



The efiects of pulverizing or stirring the soil 

 are numerous. 



1. It gives free scope to the roots of vegetables, 

 and they become more fibrous in a loose than in 

 a hard soil, by which the mouths or pores become 

 more numerous, and such food as is in the soil 

 has a better chance of being sought after and 

 taken up by them. 



2. It admits the atmospheric air to the spongi- 

 oles of the roots — without which no plant can 

 make a healthy growth. 



3. It increases the capillary attraction or sponge- 

 like property of soils, by which their humidity is 

 rendered more uniform : and in a hot season it 

 increases the deposit of dew, and admits it to the 

 roots. 



4. It increases the temperature of the soil in 

 the spring, by admitting the warm air and tepid 

 rain. 



5. It increases the supply of organic food. The 

 atmosphere contains carbonic acid, ammonia and 

 nitric acid — all most powerful fertilizers and sol- 

 vents. A loose soil attracts and condenses them. 

 Rain and dew, also, contain them. And when 

 these fertilizing gases are carried into the soil by 

 rain-water, they are absorbed and retained by the 

 soil for the use of plants. On the other hand, if 

 the soil is hard, the water runs off the surface, and 

 instead of leaving these gases in the soil, carries 

 off some of the best portions of the soil with it. 

 Thus, what might be a benefit becomes an injury. 



