1862. 



NEW ENGLAND FARIHER. 



275 



date Christopher Osgood's mills, which, some time 

 in the month of September, 1722, was pulled 

 down and demolished by order of Commissions 

 of Sewers, for the relief and benefit of the mead- 

 ows and low lands above said dam ; since which 

 time, another dam hath been erected across said 

 river, in, or near, the same place, where the form- 

 er was made for the accommodation of Christopher 

 Osgood's mills, without any order or leave from 

 authority, the which dam almost wholly stops the 

 natural and common course and passage of the fish 

 up said river, which (if not obstructed as afore- 

 said by mill dam) would be of great advantage 

 and benefit, not only unto the inhabitants of Con- 

 cord, but also unto the inhabitants of several 

 neighboring towns." 



These petitions asked for "speedy relief by the 

 removal and demolishment of said obstruction." 

 In the Superior Court of Sessions, in December, 

 they were considered, together with the answer of 

 Mr. Osgood, who was notified that they had been 

 presented. "Both parties being fully heard, the 

 Court considering thereof, do declare the said dam 

 to be a common nuisance, and order that the Sher- 

 iff do demolish and pull down the same by the 

 first day of April next following." From this de- 

 cision Mr. Osgood appealed to the Superior Court 

 of Judicature, and gave bonds to prosecute his 

 appeal according to law. As the proceedings in 

 this Comt upon the appeal were both extended and 

 interesting, we shall defer an account of them till 

 another paper. 



kins, Meight 90 pounds ; 10 small ones ; 2 large 

 marrowfat squashes, weight 12 pounds, and lots of 

 green ones. 



Now, brother farmers, I am 73 years old, and if 

 any of you dare compete with me in farming, let 

 me know it. Daniel Spaulding. 



Fitzioilliam, N. H., April, 1862. 



For the New England Farmer. 

 TWO EXPERIMENTS "WITH POTATOES. 



In the spring of the year 1860, 1 had a few bush- 

 els of coarse horse manure, and about a peck of 

 small potatoes. None of the potatoes would weigh 

 more than an ounce or two, each. I own a few 

 acres of poor, sandy land, covered partly with 

 June grass, and ]iartly with shrub and white birch. 

 About the last of May I loaded the manure, pota- 

 toes, a small horse-plow, a shovel and myself and 

 an old one-horse wagon, and went about two miles 

 to the land before described, and climbed to the 

 top of the highest knoll where the sand was cov- 

 ered with a kind of woolly grass, spread the ma- 

 nure and dropped the potatoes about one foot apart, 

 till I had dropped 40 ; parallel with this row, and 

 three or four feet from it, I dropped another row, 

 and the potatoes were so small, I made five rows 40 

 potatoes long — 200 potatoes to the peck. Then I 

 took the plow and turned a thin furrow each way 

 on the potatoes, covering them under the sod 

 about three inches, leaving the grass between the 

 rows to do whatever it pleased till October. I then 

 made them a visit, and took from under the sods 

 four bushels of good-sized, good-looking and good- 

 eating potatoes. 



In 1861, I repeated the experiment with three 

 little loads of manure, one bushel of potatoes and 

 four times the quantity of ground. 



Besidt : — 10 bushels potatoes ; 3 large pump- 



For the New England Fanner. 

 GYPSUM. 



Mr. Editor : — I noticed an article upon this 

 subject under the heading of "Iletrospective 

 Notes," which appeared in the weekly issue of 

 Nov. 30th. The Avriter says that farmers are "out 

 at sea," and plaster is of no benefit in fixing am- 

 monia, (according to Liebig,) in stables, unless 

 mixed with four hundred times its weight of wa- 

 ter. Farmers will never use plaster in a soluble 

 condition, and there is no need of it, as I will soon 

 show. "We have seen the fumes of a manure 

 heap speedily arrested by sprinkling on half an 

 ounce of strong sulphuric acid diluted with a pail- 

 ful of water. Who will tell us of a better way?" 

 Study Liebig's works thoroughly ; put the practi- 

 cal part into active operation, and let the theoret- 

 ical part alone ; and work, think and study by the 

 light of practical science, and you will have the 

 right way. A part of plaster is sulphuric acid, and 

 I should think it would have the same effect as 

 when applied alone. Scatter plaster upon your 

 stable floors, and from the great amount of urine 

 voided by the cattle, much of the plaster will be 

 dissolved, and after the manure is put upon the 

 fields the plaster is being dissolved as wanted by 

 every rain. It is only on the decomposition of 

 nitrogen that ammonia is formed, and if plaster 

 is mixed with manure, the sulphuric acid combines 

 with the ammonia, and the lime with the carbonic 

 acid, forming compounds which are not volatile, 

 and consequently destitute of all smell. 



Experiments by Dr. Voelcker, upon a heap 

 of manure, showed that the ammonia remained 

 undiminished from November 3d to April 30th, 

 while during the hot summer months all the most 

 valuable matter had undergone diminution. 



Take courage, brother farmers, put plaster with 

 the manure, and when you have applied it to the 

 land, the plaster will prove a faithful servant, as 

 the rain descends. Liebig states that "the evi- 

 dent influence of gypsum upon the growth of 

 grasses, the striking fertility and luxuriance of a 

 meadow upon which it is strewed, depends only 

 upon its fixing in the soil the ammonia of the at- 

 mosphere, which would otherwise be volatilized 

 with the water which evapoi-ates." Here is a wise 

 provision of Nature ; as the water evaporates it 

 dissolves a portion of the plaster which retains 

 the ammonia for the plant. 



"In order to form a conception of the effect of 

 gypsum, it may be sufficient to remark that 110 

 lbs. of gypsum fixes as much ammonia in the soil 

 as 6880 lbs. of horse urine would yield to it. 

 AVater is absolutely necessary to effect the decom- 

 position of the gypsum, on account of its difficult 

 solubility, (one part of gypsum requu-es 400 parts 

 of water for solution,) and also to assist in the 

 absorption of the sulphate of ammonia by plants ; 

 hence it happens that the influence of gypsum is 

 not observable on dry fields and meadows. The 



