10. 



AND GARDENER'S JOURNAL. 



147 



> :'. iliat ibere are mnny dJetinguisbed naturalists 

 professors of physioloiry who wouUi go liigber 

 , oven to the humnn frnmB, and predict the final 

 iovery of the intimate connexion lietwecn clectri- 

 and the operation of the nervous eystcnii Any 

 coancctad with the action ofeleciricity ormognet- 

 (suiposed to be one ond the snnio ngoni) is now 

 ecially interesting, wlien there nre so mnny ince- 

 118 minds throughout the world devoted to juch in- 

 tigations. 



hnveascert lined to my entiafacticn t!iat this plant 



been well known to trappers and to many of the 



an tribes, and that they have been in tlie habit of 



iling themselves (in their tours over those vast 



ts) of this humble hut omnipresent guide, which a 



id Proviilence has sprinkled over that region, ond 



ich is thus available in cloudy weather, when the 



II and stars are denied them. Even if it is granted 



t it 18 less needed by the red man, no one will deny 



uses to the whites in a country destined still for a 



period to be roamed by hunters, traders, pioneers, 



id other white men. 



I will here add that Captain Boon also states that 

 re is spread all over the far West a certain root, 

 lied the '' snake root,** whose juices are very grate 

 |l to quench thirst, and which is found in the greatest 

 undance in those parts of the prairies which are high 

 dry, and most likely to be deprived of woter in a 

 oson of heat and long drought. 

 It is needless to descant upon these beautiful and 

 riking examples of the wise provision of NatiiTC, 

 rnishing a vegetable compass and the means of 

 lenching thirst, ever ready for the wonderer, and 

 ith located in a region destined perhaps for the long- 

 t period in the history of the world to be occupied 

 y a roving population. 

 I am, with high respect. 



Your obedient servant, 



BE.\J. ALVORD, ■ 

 Lieutenant United States ArmT/. 

 To F. Markoe, Jr , Esq., 

 ■orresponrting Secretary nf the National Institution. 



For the Neio Genesee Farmer. 

 MANURE. 



The first step which a farmer takes towards succcss- 

 ul business, is to understand the value of manure, 

 ^nd, as he discovers the value, he itses all the means 

 n his power to increase the quantity. The fact is, if 

 very farmer who owns a hundred acres of good land, 

 .nd who manages his manure according to the usual 

 )ractice of the country, were to use the very best means 

 'vhich he possesses for its manufacture and application, 

 lie would find his pocket-book heavier at the end of 

 each year, to use the most moderate computation at 

 he present low prices, by at least three hundred dol 

 lars. 



I need not here attempt to show how that the jrro- 

 I duct of the barn-yard may be increased fourfold by 

 I the use of muck or marsh mud and lime properly ap- 

 plied; but my object is to call attention to another 

 source of manure which appears to be even less known 

 and attended to. But I ought here at the outset to 

 caution the delicate and fastidious reader not to follow 

 me any further, as the Editor did some time ago at the 

 chsc of a similar article, though of course I mention 

 this fact with all deference. 



Poudrette is well known to be a very powerful ma- 

 nure, obtained in the neighborhoods of the cities where 

 it is in.tnufactured. But we, away back here in the 

 country do not possess this advantage which our city 

 friends do ; and very few have ever thought of manu- 

 facturing their own poudrette. The contents of privies, 

 instead of being regarded as of great value as they tru- 

 ly are, mo.it people look upon as a downright nuisance 

 Now, if the offensive odor may be removed, at the same 

 time that a valuable manure is made, two very impor- 

 tant points will be attained. 



I have searched in vain for a particular account ol 

 the process employed by the poudrette companies ; and 

 in the absence of such account have endeavored tc 

 use such means and knowledge as I could lay hold of; 

 and imperfect as the mode may be, it has been of deci- 

 ded value to me, and may prove so to others. The en 

 trance to the privy ia well flanked with evergreen trees, 



and on one of the other sides which faces low ground, 

 is a passage or road through the trees for a largo tight 

 box or trough to be drawn away from under the build- 

 ing, which is place<l about two feet above the ground 

 on that side for the admission of the box. A plank 

 door shuts it in closely. Runners arc placed under it 

 so that a horae may draw it away by the iron hooks 

 .attached to it ; low wheels would be belter. 



All the care required after this, is to sprinkle every 

 two or three days a few handfuls of plaster (gyp«um) 

 over the inside of the box from above. This is all. 

 Air-slacked lime, and ashes, arc also valuable; but plas- 

 ter, by furnishing sulphuric acid for combination with 

 the gaseous ammonia and thus preventing the escape of 

 this volatile but powerful ingredient, is considered the 

 most so. Ilence also, the use of plaster is found ex- 

 ceedingly to lessen the fostid odor, a matter of no small 

 consequence. Lime also greatly lessens the offensive 

 smell, but by what means I do not know. There ought 

 to be enough of plaster, lime or ashes, to keep the con- 

 tents ef the box in a dry state. When it is full, it is 

 drawn off, spread upon the ground and mixed with the 

 soil, or made to constitute a part of the compost heap. 



I have tried only one experiment on its fertilizing 

 power, and that a very indefinite, but otherwise satis- 

 factory one. Very rich stable manure, and poudrette, 

 were applied to dilTerent parts of a small piece of 

 ground — the stable manure, according to estimate, be- 

 ing about ten times the bulk of the night soil or unmix- 

 ed base. The whole was sown with turnips. There- 

 suit is, so far, that the turnips on the part manured with 

 the poudrette, have made a growth at least three times 

 as great as those on the part treated with stable ma- 

 nure. J. 



Straw from Rusted Wheat. 



We give the subjoined communications from a far- 

 mer of long experience. Wo cannot vouch for his 

 philosophy, which is certainly ingenious enough, and 

 maybe well-founded ; but his facts are valuable ; and 

 a small amount of facts well authenticated by observa- 

 tion and experience, is worth a load of theories. We 

 wish our experienced and respected correspondent 

 would let us hear from him again on various subjects, 

 which must have come within his observation ; and 

 we beg him when he sends us another yoliiable com- 

 munication, not to tax himself with the postage.— £rf. 



Mr. CoLMiii — In the number of the New Genesee 

 Former for September, you ask the opinion of farm- 

 ers in regard to feeding cattle with straw from rusty 

 wheat. I have had some experience in that way. 

 Let us first inquire what occasions wheat to rust. It 

 is generally supposed the occasion is from a sudc'en 

 flow of snp to the head at a certain stage of its ripen 

 ing, which causes the straw or bark of the straw to 

 burst neor the heads, and the sap to flow out, and 

 drying on the stalk, it forms the rust. Now this snp 

 is the most pourishing part of the straw, and makes 

 or fills the berry. Flowing on the out side of the 

 straw ond drying there, will it not increase the nour- 

 ishment of it ? 



At this time, there is very little wheat raised in the 

 valley of the Connecticut ; but formerly, when the 

 country was new, there was considerable ; large quan- 

 tities were exported. It sometimes rusted. I always 

 found that cattle ote this rusty straw much better than 

 that which was bright, which led me to suppose that 

 it was better feed ; and why should it not be, if it has 

 that which would have filled the berry if it had flow- 

 ed to it, dried on the stalk ? 1 verily believe that 

 those who have found their cattle injured when fed 

 on this straw, on farther investigation, may account 

 for the injury in some other way. 



Shrunk wheat threshes with much more difficulty 

 than plump ; much of it cannot be readily threshed 

 out; and when there are large quantities thrown otii 



daily, the cattle picking out these beads, they may bo 

 over fed ; or this wheat may be put up in too greon a 

 condition and become rusty in the movv, which would 

 entirely change the nature of it. 



IIow this may bo, I cannot any, but for myself I 

 had much rother have the straw of shrunk wheat 

 when well secured, as feed for cattle, than that which 

 is bright. We never keep cattle wholly on straw. 

 From a Farmkr of Ci.\rkmont, N. II. 

 Smut in Wheat. 



One word respecting smut in wheat. When I was 

 first acquainted with this country, being o boy, the 

 wheat raised here was all smutty, so much so that it 

 required to be washed before it was fit to use. Tho 

 first year we sowed the wheat procured in the neigh- 

 borhood, which was smutty, for seed, the crop wos 

 very smutty. The next season some for seed was 

 procured from a distance, clean of smut ; this wheat 

 was washed cleon, and while wet, as much good 

 ashes was mixed with it as would stick to the wheat, 

 and sovN'n immediately. The cnip was clean of smut, 

 and for more than twenty years in succession we 

 praoticed the same woy on the farm. We procured 

 wheat clean of smut, washed and ashed the seed, anil 

 during the whole time never raised a crop of smutty 

 wheat. I have more than once sown beside my neigh- 

 bor's lot, nothing but a fence dividing us, — he sowed 

 his wheat dry and I as I have stated — his was very 

 smutty, mine quite clean. All this time winter wheat 

 wos sown and occasionally spring wheat ; and to this 

 time, which is more than sixty years, I never havo 

 raised a crop of smutty wheat, when I observed the 

 above rule; or procured wheat clean of smut, ashed, 

 &,c. Once I had some spring wheat somewhat smut- 

 ty ; ond it was from smutty seed. Foranumberof 

 years of the time I tpeak of, there was no lime in the 

 country, otherwise lime would have been used instead 

 of ashes, as we have done since lime has become 

 plenty. 



A Claremont Fabmi£r. 



Killing Flics. 



Many persons, Uke myself formerly, are much pui- 

 zled how to get rid easily of these Uttle annoyances. I 

 have been very successful (his year, by the use of co- 

 balt, wliich is indeed no very new thing, but still but 

 partially known. I procured a six-pence worth at tho 

 druggists, pounded it fine, mixed small portions on 

 dishes with water only, and placed them upon shelves. 

 During the fly season, which has lasted a month or 

 two, from two to three hundred or thereabouts have 

 dropped dead upon the floor daily, which were easily 

 swept away. How we should otherwise have fared, I 

 cannot tell ; but if all that have died in the house had 

 lived to annoy us, we should have been literally black- 

 ened with them. As it was, very few indeed were at 

 any time visible. X. Y. Z. 



Evil turned to Good. 



A neighbor, who had last spring a field partly over- 

 grown with a dense matting of Stein kraut or red root, 

 {^LUhospainum arvense,) ploughed the whole crop of 

 this pernicious weed deep under the soil, and planted 

 the ground with corn. The corn on this portion of the 

 CtU-is now decidedly superior to the rest, in conse- 

 quence of tho nourishment of the decaying vegetable 

 matter. J. 



Worms in Swine. 



Corn soaked in ley, persevereingly used, has cured 

 the disease in swine called kidney-worm, in nume- 

 rous instances. A neighbor of ours succeeded with 

 it in a very bad case. If breeders would give their 

 hogs plenty of salt and brimstone, they would rarely 

 be troubled with diseases. — Dollar Farmer, 



Erratum. — In our last number, in the communica- 

 tion of S. W., page 141, in line 15 from top, for 

 American cotton read foreign cottons and fabrics. 



