:no. 4. 



AND GARDENER'S JOURNAL. 



53 



NITRATE OF 80?»A. 



We ore much obliged to our gooj Iriciul for the 

 subjoined commuiiicniion. We ore glad ol the infor- 

 mation which it furnishes on n eiibject which must 

 nltimately be of groat importance in wheat growers.^ 

 We shall presently follow it up with more full infor- 

 mation on the manor. lie could not have made us a 

 promise more gratifying than that he will communi- 

 cate to us the earliest valuable agricultural inicltigcnce 

 wliich comes within his purview. His foreign cor- 

 respondence furnishes in ihia reefiect peculiar advan- 

 tages. We hope likewise to hear from him occasion- 

 ally on the subject of HorticultHre. No man is more 

 compete!; t. 



F.rlract fro^^ a private letter. 

 "Being desirous to communicate to you on the 

 subject of Nitrate of Soda, received from London by 

 the arrival ol yesterday, 1 also include the eulijoined 

 statement on the subject, on the chance of your not 

 having received it. 



Tue Gardener's Chronicle of .Tanuary, edited by 

 I.indley, contains an extract from the report made to 

 the Bath and West of England Agricultural Society, 

 by Mr. G. Webb Ilall, and of couree entitled to the 

 fullest credence. A piece of land of which the wheat 

 crop previous to 1838 was not worth gathering, was, 

 in lS:i9, 1840Gnd 1S41, manured with a new (or;ili- 

 cial or compounded) manure, and each of iheee years 

 sowed with spring wheat; the first year the crop was 

 oj saclis per acre, weight G4 lbs. to the bushel ; the 

 second year 6 sacks, apd 1841 nearly 7 sacks per 

 acre, the straw each year extremely heavy and fine. 

 The manure is cheap, averaging cost 205. sterling 

 per acre. Observe here particularly, no jolation, 

 each year wheat, and each year an increased product. 

 The manure was not named, but the man who helped 

 to make it says it was Curhunatc of Ammonia. On 

 this statement Mr. Lindley observes that he does not 

 see why Sulphate of Ammonia, which would be ob- 

 ' tained by strewing the stables with Gypsum as men- 

 tioned in the books, would not do as well. Now Mr. 

 Lindley is no chemist, and I difier from him in opin- 

 ion, for the foUpwir.g reasons : When a sulphate is 

 decomposed in any other way than by the complete 

 saturation of the sulphuric acid by another base, 

 fumes of sulphuric acid or sulphurous acid gas are prob- 

 ably created, than which gas there is nothing more 

 injurious t) vegetation, even in the smallest quantity ; 

 this has been proved by various quite recent experi- 

 ments. I have lately tried ;7Urc sulphate of ammonia 

 on Geraniums, which were nearly killed by it; but I 

 do not offer this as conclusive against the sulphate 

 formed by gypsnm, — this is an experiment I should 

 like to see tried by farmers on a large scale, and I have 

 no doubt several are now trying it. With carbonate 

 of ammonia both the carbonic acid gas and the am- 

 monia, are highly useful to vegetation. 



Now for the Nitrate ol Sodo. London, I5th Feb- 

 ruary, 1842. The sale of Nitrate of Soda for agri- 

 cultural purposes, is pretty brisk ; the price is 2is. 

 sterling to 24s. Gel. per 112 lbs., about 2000, say two 

 thousand bags were sold for this purpose during the 

 month of January, 1812. The stock of this article in 

 Lmdon and Liverpool ot the end of each year, 1840 

 and '41, averages from 21 a S.'i.OOO bags, a pretty 

 clear proof that the demand for it is pretty steady, and 

 the value of it ns an agricultural monure ascertained. 

 Saltpetre, which is used for moi^, and vastly more 

 villainous purposes than for maiW?ing the land, sells 

 at from 26s. 6d. to 28s. Sd. per 112 lbs." 



Boston, nth March, 1842. J^ E T. 



For the Neic Genesee Farmer. 

 Gypsum--Infonnation Wanted. 

 Liebig considers urine as the richest of all excre- 

 mentitious manures. 

 " Human urine is the most powerful :— that of 



horses and horned cattle contains less [ammonia,] 

 but infinitely more than the solid excrements of these 

 animals." * \Ylien it is considered that with every 

 pound of ammonia which evaporates, a loss ol 00 

 poiinds of, c6rn> is ^sustained ; and that icilh ccenj 

 pound of nrine, a pound of wheat might be produced, 

 die indifference with which thpse liquid excrements 

 are regarded, is quite incomprehensible." t 



"In dung reservoi s well constructed and protected 

 Irom evaporation, [the ammonia] is retained in the 

 state of solution ; and when the putrefied urine is 

 spread over the land, a part of the ammonia wiU 

 escape with the water which evaporotes ; but another 

 portion will be absorbed by the soil, if it contains 

 either alumina or iren ; but in general only the muri- 

 ate, phosphate, and lactate of ammonia remain in the 

 pround.— The loss suffered [by the escape of carbon- 

 ate of ammonia] is nearly equal to one half of the 

 weight of the urine employed, so that if we fix it 

 [one half will be saved.]t" 



To fix it, he proposes to strew gypsum over the field, 

 and then the pntrcfied urineor drainings of dung hills, 

 60 that all the caibonate of ammonia may be changed 

 into sulphate of ammonia which cannot fly away, but 

 will remain in the soil. 



He adds however, "there are still simpler means 

 of effecting this purpose :— Gypsum, Chloride of 

 lime, sulphuric or muriatic acid, and super- phosphate 

 of lime, are all substances of very low price, and 

 completely neutralize the urine, converting its am- 

 monia into salts that possess no volatility."^ 



But I have not found any further directions in re- 

 gard to the application of these substances. He in- 

 forms us indeed, that 100 pounds of burned gypsum 

 would fix as much ammonia in the soil as 6,250 

 pounds of horse's urine would yield to it ; or that 

 I pound of gypsum would fix the aminonia in 62J 

 pounds of urine. But62j pounds of water (1000 

 ounces) would only dissolve 2J ounces of gypsum, at 

 the rate of 400 parts of water to 1 of gypsum ; and 

 therefore we want a barrel of water in addition to 

 dissolve gypsum enough to fix the ammonia in 621 

 pounds of urine. In other words : the urine would 

 not dissolve one sixth of the gypsum necessary to fix 

 the ammonia. 



How theit can gypsum strewed in stables (accord- 

 ing to Liebig's directions) which must he dissolved, 

 to save all the ammonia that forms there ? 



My object in making this question is to acquire in- 

 formation. I have tried to undersmnd the subject, 

 but may have much yet to learn ; and if I am wrong, 

 I should feel grateful for being set right. / xoant 

 some cheap reservoir or method, to save urine from 

 icaslc; but if I must add a barrel of water to every 

 six gallons of urine, it must be b troublesome concern, 

 and°I should prefer marl, or old lime, or even pulve- 

 rized charcoal. I have no fancy for distributiiig 



liouid manures. 

 ^ , AN ENQUIRER, 



Editorial Remarks.— Liquid Manure and Urinaries. 



We are not certain that we quite tinderstand the 



difficulties of our respected ccrre pondent, as we do 



not understand that the gypsum must be dissolved in 



water in order to absorb the urine, and so fix the ora- 



proving their pcraonol atlriictions. Detestable indeed 

 must be such practices. But better methods have been 

 adopted, where, as 1 have seen, troughs or channels 

 have been laid behind the cattle stalls ; and all the 

 urine conducted to a covered cistern or receptacle, 

 from whence it was pumped out at intervals into a 

 machine drawn by one or more horses, like what is 

 used for watering the streets of Cities, and distri- 

 buted over the fields. The beneficial cfTects in such 

 cases have amply compensated the cxpences. When 

 designed however to be so distributed, strainers mua' 

 be carefully affixed to the conduits, or otherwise the 

 machine will notdistribute it. It will bear also being 

 diluted to some extent in the cistern with advantage. 

 We have likewise known a cow stall with a vault 

 extending the whole length of it, four feet wide, and 

 three feet deep, carefully stoned and cemented so as 

 to be water tight. The cows were tied in the stalls 

 every night in the year. The vault was emptied two 

 or three times a year, being as often filled with muck 

 or loam, which became thoroughly saturated with the 

 nrine admitted through holes in the floor. The 

 boards of the floor were easily removed and replaced, 

 ond a large amount of most valuable manure was 

 made in this way. This is a very homely subject, wa 

 know ; and the fastidious we hope will not look nt it ; 

 but there is none which more essentially concerns a 

 farmcr'sinterest, and scarcely less, the cleanliness and 

 Ijealth of his premises. 



Holderness Cattle and Hollow Head. 



To S. St. John, who inquires about the Holderness 

 breed of cattle, we answer that they came originally 

 from Holland into the counties of Durham ond York, 

 n England. They were coarse and thin animals, but 

 yielded most abundantly in milk ; the milk however, 

 of an inferior quality ; the distinguished breeders of 

 the Teeswater cattle crossed their best stock with the 

 Holderness, and from this cross with some variations, 

 have sprung the Yorkshire cows, which are the most 

 celebrated in the London Dairies or milk establish- 

 ments. These Yorkshire cows are, properly speak- 

 ing,lmprovedDurbamB,and therefore,many of the Im- 

 proved Durhoms may be regarded as abounding in the 

 Holderness blood, the cross of the Teeswater having 

 improved their shape, lessened in some degree their 

 yield of n-.ilk, and given them a tendency to fatten. 



The weight of the bull at three years old, which he 

 describes at 21 to 220U lbs , is an evidence in favor 

 rather than against his being an Improved Durham. 

 When he asks us to give him the marks, which show 

 the Hollow Head, we can only say that we know 

 nothing of thib deficiency in brute animals ; but poor 

 soul 1 have ourselves labored under the complaint all 

 our lives ; and, if he wishes to know more about it, 

 he must surely apply to a full head for on explana- 

 tion. , 



Mildew upon Gooseberries. 



Advice from one competent to give it — " Say to 

 the growers of gooseberries, if they wish to keep off 

 mildew, troin your bushes so as to admit o free circu- 

 lation of air through them ; manure obout the roots ; 

 and forget not to sprinkle them with soap-suds on 

 washing" day.", three or four weeks m succession be- 

 fore blossoming ; and they cannot miss having fine, 

 either in the stables, or when spread upon the ] fair, Urge berries. I know this by several years' es- 



ground. Of couise it is supposed to be finely pow- 

 dcred- 



Our friend knows as well as we do, that in Fland- 

 ers the urine vaidls are made under their stables and 

 cemented so as to be water tight. Here it is mixed 

 with rape dust, and carried out in tanks, often upon 

 ihe shoulders of the women, and sprinkled upon the 

 growing crops ; o process, which cannot be consider 

 ed as at all superior to the best can dc Cologne in im- 



•Org.inic Chemistry, tst Amer. Kdit.. p. 13S. t P- 94<i- 



;p.2 7. 5P-23S. 



perience. Let them try and see.' 



Munificent Donation.— Give while you live ; 

 thus secure the purposes of your charity and galh. 

 er the first sheaves of the Harvest. 



John Conant of Jaffrey, N. II., a spirited and in- 

 telligent former, has given his valuable farm of 230 

 acres with all its oppurtenances, to the (..heshire Coun- 

 ty Agricultural Society for the establishment of an 

 Agricidtural Seminary. It is not many miles from 

 Keene. It is a noble benefaction, and reflects upon 

 him the highest honor. 



