462 



NEW ENGLAND FAHMER. 



Oct. 



release his tongue, and he will almost certainly 

 swallow the ball. Or the dose may be mixed 

 with meal and honey, or other substance that will 

 form a kind of jelly, placed upon a small wooden 

 blade made of a shinj^le, and thrust into the back 

 part of his mouth, when he will very easily swal- 

 low it. — George Beaver, in American Agricul- 

 turist. 



LEAVES AS MANURE. 



Leaf manure has long been held in high esti- 

 mation by gardeners and floriculturists, as aff'ord- 

 ing one of the best substances known as a food 

 for plants. Many, however, regard it as a purely 

 vegetable substance, whereas it is rich in mineral 

 matters which have a direct and powerful tenden- 

 cy to improve the constitutional texure and char- 

 acter of any soil to which they may be applied. 

 The alimentary substances which contribute to 

 the sustenance and growth of vegetables are, for 

 the most part, taken up in a state of solution by 

 the roots. In this condition all of the mineral 

 ingredients discovered in plants are introduced 

 into the system ; such, for instance, as silex, lime, 

 potassa, magnesia, alumina, &c. The sap, which 

 is the medium of this transmission and assimila- 

 tion, passes into the leaf, where the watery parti- 

 cles are thrown out by evaporation through the 

 minute spiracles on the upper surface of the leaf, 

 and the mineral matters retained and distributed 

 through the plant, and in part through the vas- 

 cular structure of the leaf itself. 



To illustrate more fully the truth of the posi- 

 tion assumed, we present the following analysis 

 of the leaves of the pear tree, plucked in May, 

 immediately after the falling of the blossoms : — 



Carbonic acij Il.fi60 



Silicic acid 1.750 



Phosphates 25.( 60 



Lime 4. 715 



Majrnesia 4.500 



Potash 18.9:0 



Soda 15 ISO 



Sulphuric acid, chlorine, and organic acids, not de- 

 termined 



81.715 



By comparing the results of analyses of the 

 same tree made in the spring and fall, it will be 

 found that the older the leaf is the greater will 

 be the amount of mineral matters contained in it. 

 It will also be found that the foliage of trees con- 

 tains more mineral matter than the solid wood of 

 the trunk. 



In the matured foliage of the elm, (Ulmus 

 Americana,) upwards of eleven per cent, of 

 earthy matter — ashes — may be found, while the 

 solid wood contains less than two per cent. ; he 

 leaves of the willow more than eight per cent., 

 while the wood has only 0.44 ; those of the beech, 

 6.67, the wood only 0.3u ; those of the European 

 oak, 4.06, the wood only 0.22 ; those of the pitch 

 pine, 3.13, the wood only 0.27 per cent. 



These facts demonstrate, conclusively, that the 



application of leaves as a manure must be suc- 

 ceeded by advantageous results. Every leaf ap- 

 plied in this way restores to the soil something 

 of which it has, in the process of vegetation, been 

 deprived. In this way the mineral ingredients of 

 the soil are forced through a certain routine, and 

 a constant circulation, or reciprocity of action, is 

 kept up between the soil and the vegetable be- 

 ings it supports and perfects. 



Entering the sap in solution through the 

 mouths or spongioles of the terminal rootlets, 

 they circulate through the system, and are ulti- 

 mately deposited in the substance of the leaf, 

 which, in due course of time, fulls to the earth, 

 and by its decay restores them once more to the 

 soil, and in a condition the most favorable for 

 again travelling the circuit in which they are des- 

 tined endlessly to revolve. 



The soils of our forests, it is well known, nev- 

 er run out, or are so far depreciated as not to 

 be able to supply abundant aliment to the gigan- 

 tic vegetation they are found to support. The 

 reason of this is obvious. They annually receive 

 back the greatest portion of the mineral constit- 

 uents of the trees, together with no inconsiderable 

 quantity of organized matter, derived from the 

 atmosphere. 



AVere the leaves to be removed every autumn 

 from the forest lands, the same as grain, grass, 

 and root crops, are removed from arable soils, 

 the impoverishment consequent upon such a 

 course would be no less obvious in the one case 

 than in the other ; they would "run out" — the 

 vegetation would be weak and sickly, and to sup- 

 port it, we should be under the necessity of ap- 

 plying, annually, large and increasing quantities 

 of manure. 



Leaves unquestionably afford a rich material 

 for manure, and no farmer who has a wood-lot in 

 the vicinity of his farm, should neglect to accu- 

 mulate large quantities, to be used as litter for 

 his animals during winter, or as a coating for his 

 yards and other enclosures where animals are 

 confined, and where the leaves will be in a situ- 

 ation readily to absorb the liquid voidings, and 

 thus be reduced more speedily to the condition of 

 aliment for growing crops. No compost heap 

 should be formed without them, where they can 

 be obtained, and compost made exclusively of 

 them and other decomposable vegetable matters, 

 will be found not only an economical, but efScient 

 aid of fertility on any and every soil. 



Cure for C.vtarrii. — The following simple 

 remedy has been used with great success by one 

 long and severely troubled with this annoying 

 complaint. 



Take, say one part pulverized loaf-sugar to two 

 parts pulverized camphor, and mix them thor- 

 oughly together, and use as often as the patient 



