THE SOUTHEEN PLANTER. 



299 



as the humic, crenic and apo-crenic acids which 

 are ahiiost insoluble, and forms compounds, 

 readily dissolved and washed from the soil by 

 the rains, greatly depriving it of those consti- 

 tuents upon which its fertility chiefly depends. 



It is the deteriorating effect arising from the 

 escape of the ammonia, and the soluble com- 

 pounds it forms with the organic acids in the 

 soil, that indicate the propriety of mixing plas- 

 ter with guano to "fix" the ammonia, previous 

 to sowing it on the land. The first crop may 

 be none the better thereby, and, in some rare 

 instances, possibly not quite so good ; but the 

 land will always be in a state more favorable 

 to the growth of subsequent crops. 



I will take this occasion to repeat, that I 

 regard the discovery of guano, and its intro- 

 duction into our country, as a great blessing^ 

 by increasing the fertility of our soils, and af- 

 fording the means of improving many lands, 

 otherwise in a state of hopeless sterility. But, 

 we must not depend upon the use of this, as 

 the settled policy of farming, to the neglect of 

 our home manures. It is opposed to every 

 principle of political economy, to send as far 

 as half the circuit of our globe for guano, and 

 neglect equally, or even more valuable manures, 

 on our very premises, and in our neighboring 

 cities. What an amount of money, now sent 

 abroad for guano, might be retained in the 

 country, and the farmers be quite as well sup- 

 plied with fertilizing materials, were only a pro- 

 per system adopted, which is entirely practica- 

 ble, of returning the ivaste animal and vegeta- 

 ble matter to the soil; and how great a bene- 

 factor will he be, who succeeds in adequately 

 awakening public attention to the subject. I 

 tried to do this in my address to the citizens 

 of Loudoun, at Leesburg, two years ago; but 

 my voice was not strong enough. Cannot the 

 Sentinel" speak louder, and make himself ef- 

 fectually heard? 



Thy sincere friend. 



Bent. Hallowell. 



IMPROVED HARNESS BUCKLE. 



Much peril as well as painful annoyance has re- 

 sulted from the old-fashioned harness buckles by 

 reason of their liability to break or draw out during 

 accidents, which their own defects not unfrequently 

 cause, and also from the difliciilty of release to 

 falling horses, occasioned by the tightening force 

 of the animal's weight. Christian and Lewis B. 

 Oyster, of Charabersburg, Pa., have jointly claimed 

 an improvement in buckles, which will completely 

 revolutionize the principle of their action, if found 

 applicable as designed by the inventors. It is i)ro- 

 poscd to dispense entirely with tlic tongue holes in 

 traces and other straps, and to rivet the tongue to 

 leather instead of the buckle. The bar of the buckle 

 is furnished with a number of rachet-shuped teeth 



or stops, and corresponding cavities are cut in the 

 tongue, but having reversed catches. The desired 

 length of the trace is adjusted by bringing these 

 teeth together at a given point, and securing them 

 with a set screw. The screw puts the unhitching 

 of the horse under the instantaneous control of the 

 driver in case of falls or other perilous entangle- 

 ments. — Exchange. 



From the Germantown Telegraph. 

 UNDER-DRAINING. 



Mr. Editor^ — Under-draining has never, I 

 believe, been practised, to any great extent, in 

 this country. Having a piece of low ground, 

 of an oblong form, and rather narrow, through 

 which it was necessary to run a drain length- 

 wise, and perceiving that an open drain would 

 seriously interfere with its cultivation on ac- 

 count of its narrowness, I determined to put in 

 an under-drain, which I accomplished in the 

 following manner: a trench three feet wide, 

 and eighteen inches deep, was opened, and the 

 excavated soil deposited on one side. Com- 

 mencing at one extremity of this trench, an- 

 other eighteen inches wide and one foot deep, 

 was opened along the centre of the first. The 

 land being nearly level, and the soil and sub- 

 soil a very hard and compact clay, so tliat I 

 anticipated little injury from the wearing ac- 

 tion of the water, I concluded no lining on the 

 sides or bottom would be necessary, and deter- 

 mined to cover in without supplying any. This 

 I did by placing flag stones compactly over the 

 narrow drain, and shovelling upon them the 

 dirt thrown out. This gave a rounded surface, 

 and prevented the percolation of the surface 

 water from the first, so that no injury did, or 

 possibly could, result to the work from that 

 source. The drain has now stood upwards of 

 a year, and answers the purpose for which it 

 was intended, admirably, and as completely, 

 and I may say pt^^'fcctly^ as any work of the 

 kind, however expensive, possibly could do. I 

 have ploughed over it, passed and repassed it 

 with loaded carts, and, indeed, performed all 

 the details of the most complicated cultivation 

 on the meadow, without any detriment or in- 

 jury to it whatever. 



It will be recollected, however, that I en- 

 joyed peculiar facilities in this, ensuing from 

 the characteristics of the soil, and the almost 

 perfect flatness of it. Had the soil been looser 

 and of a lighter texture, or had its surface 

 been sloping instead of level, a more expensive 

 work would have been required ; there would, 

 under either of the conditions mentioned, have 

 been a liability to wash, from the increased 

 current of the water; but as it was, any pro- 

 tection against such a contingency, seemed, in 



