480 



THE SOUTHEEN PLANTER. 



%vill do still better • but this kind of char- 

 coal fs neither cheap nor abundant, and, 

 therefore, cannot be recoirmended for 

 genera] use. The refuse animal charcoal 

 of our manufactories is now sold for manure 

 at the price of several pounds a ton : 

 either those who sell it, or those who use it, 

 might render it still more valuable by 

 causing fermenting liquid manure to fil- 

 ter through it before it is applied to the land. 



" But other kinds of charcoal possess 

 this property to a certain extent: wood 

 charcoal, reduced to powder, charred saw- 

 dust, and charred peat, are all capable of 

 being used with advantag^a in extracting the 

 ammoniacal and other salts, which give its 

 value to the liquid of our farm yards. Ex- 

 periment has shown that v;hen filtered 

 through a bed of such charcoal, the liquid 

 escapes without colour, and almost without 

 taste, while the charred peat or sawdust is 

 converted into fertilizing manure. A great 

 portion of the loss now incurred may be 

 prevented by the use of such kinds of 

 charcoal ; and the fertilizing substance 

 n$ay, through their means, be applied to 

 our crops at seasons of the year for which, 

 in their liquid form, they are not suited. 

 It is even capable itself of yielding slow sup- 

 plies of nourishment to plants; and it is 

 said in many cases, even when unmixed, to 

 be used with advantage as a top-dressing. 

 In moist charcoal the seeds of the gardener 

 are found to sprout with remarkable quick- 

 ness and certainty, but after they have 

 sprouted they do not continue to grow well 

 in charcoal alone." — (C. W. Johnson's Mod- 

 ern Agricultural Iraprovements.') — J., in 

 Cottage Gardener. 



Remarkable Spring. — In Greene Co., 

 Virginia, there is a renuirkable natural cu- 

 riosity, known as the "Tidal Spring." The 

 water issues out of the ground in a bold 

 stream, sufficiently strong to turn a grist 

 mill, and it continues to flow for fifteen or 

 twenty minutes, when the water ceases to 

 run, and in two minutes' time not a single 

 drop of water is visible In the course of 

 an hour or tv/o the water commences flow- 

 ing again, and flows twenty or thirty min- 

 utes, when it again ceases. In wet weather 

 it flows every hour, and in dry weather it 

 flows seven or eight times every twenty- 

 four hours. 



Measuring^ Land. 



Farmers often desire to lay oflF small por- 

 tions of land for the purpose of experiment- 

 ing with manures, crops, etc. ; but sometimes 

 find difficulty in doing it correctly, for the lack 

 of a few simple rules. The following t;ible 

 and accompanying explanation, which we copy 

 from the Neiv England Farmer, carefully stu- 

 died, will make the whole matter perfectly 

 clear. 



One Acre contains 160 square rods ; 4,840 

 square yards; 43,560 square feet. 



One Rod contains 30.25 square yards; 272.25 

 square feet. 



One square yard contains nine square feet. 



THE SIDE OF A SQUARE TO CONTAIN. 





feet. 



rods. 



paces 



One acre, 



208.71 



12.65 



64 



One-])alf acre, 



147.59 



8.94 



45 



One-third acre, 



120.50 



. 7.30 



37 



One fourth acre, 



104.36 



6.32 



32 



One-eighth acre. 



73.79 



4.47 



22f 



208.71 feet. 



It will be seen by reference to this plaa 

 that a practice sometimes followed by farmers- 

 is very erroneous ; if the side of a square con- 

 taining one acre measures 208.71 feet, one-half 

 that lenj>;th will not make a square containing 

 one-half an acre, but only one fourth an acre, 

 and one-third the length of line will inclose a 

 square of one ninth an acre, and one-fourth 

 the line, squared, will contain one-sixteenth 

 an acre, and so on. — The Farm. 



Grain fed to stock is much better when 

 cooked 



By forgetting injuries, we show ourselves 

 superior to them ; he who broods over them ia 

 their slave. 



Inherited riches cannot purchase ornaments 

 for the mind ; these must be acquired by each 

 possessor. 



Beauty without honesty is like poison in a 

 box of gold. 



