192 
GLASS MILK PANS — COMPOSITION OF GUANO. 
as small ones? I think not. Poultry never 
thrive so well in any other situation, as in the 
forest. Some of the new settlers in Ohio, living 
in a log cabin in the woods, have been more 
successful in raising poultry than the most 
careful and costly breeders. If hens are con- 
fined in a yard, the earth should be often dug 
up, and they should be fed with meat, or else 
they cannot lay eggs. I have seen chickens in 
a coop upon a long voyage eat one another. 
Agricultural Geology, No. 2. — Better and better. 
I cannot, commend these articles too highly. 
Yet I wish to inquire, (as seems to be stated in 
this article,) whether all the earth was once 
rock, and that all the soft soil has been disinte- 
grated from a solid substance, by the slow ac- 
tion now at work leveling the mountains ? If 
you please, Dr. Antisell, explain this matter a 
little more fully. 
Amount of Food Raised on an Acre. — Wonder- 
ful as this calculation may seem to those who 
have never reflected upon the subject, it is even 
excelled by some other articles of human food. 
Certainly by turnips, beets, pumpkins, and 
apples. Then what vast amounts of human 
food are sometimes taken at a single draught of 
the net, from the sea. I have seen 3,000 shad 
taken at once, when a boy — enough to give a 
man a shad a day for eight years, and leave 
him eighty over, to treat his friends. Truly, 
upon reflection, it is not wonderful that so large 
a portion of mankind are like " the lilies of 
the field. 
Cultivation of the Sweet Potato. — A practical 
article from a practical man. Irish potatoes, 
(I hate that appellation — why not call them 
American potatoes,) can be sprouted and plant- 
ed in the same way when seed is scarce. 
The Forest Scenery of California. — Rather more 
interesting than anything else from the same 
source, that I have seen for a long time. 
Reviewer. 
Quantity of Ammonia in Bones. — There is 
about 33 per cent, of animal matter in fresh, dry 
bones, consisting principally of gelatine, with 
some fatty matter. Gelatine yields nearly 17 
per cent, of nitrogen. We shall thus find, after 
all deductions, that we have from three to four 
or five pounds of ammonia, slowly evolved by 
decomposition, for every bushel of bones we 
put upon the soil. This accounts, in part, for 
the valuable effects from the application of bones. 
When bones are first burned, only a minute 
portion of ammonia will be added to the soil 
from their application, the nitrogen and hydro- 
gen forming it, being exceedingly volatile, and 
both being driven off in their calcination. 
Thunder Storms. — When overtaken, out of 
doors, by a thunder storm, never resort to a 
tree for shelter; better take a wet skin and a 
safe retreat to the open field. Do not have any 
metal, nor metalic implements about you while 
exposed to electricity. Col. Wade Hampton 
informs us, he once lost a valuable field hand, 
who was struck down while retreating from a 
thunder shower, with a hoe carried perpendicu- 
larly on the head — a negro accomplishment 
quite prized by the victim. Col. H. said he re- 
suscitated two or three others when stricken 
down, by throwing cold water over them. 
A bright pitchfork, spade, or manure fork car- 
ried tine upwards is certain to attract electricity 
during a thunder storm. 
GLASS MILK PANS. 
The superiority of glass milk pans over all 
others, so far as the preservation of milk and 
the facility of keeping them clean are concern- 
ed, is unquestionable; but whether they will 
prove the most economical in the end, will de- 
pend entirely upon the care with which they 
are used, and the accidents that may befall them. 
Metallic pans are liable to oxidate or rust, and 
consequently are more difficult to keep clean ; 
wooden ones absorb the milk, which soon turns 
sour, and require frequent scalding to keep them 
sweet; and "earthen ones are more objectiona- 
ble than any other from their weight, liability to 
break, and the destructive or deleterious quali- 
ties of their glazing. 
Glass Milk Pan. — Fig. 55. 
Glass milk pans can be furnished of very 
convenient form or size, with or without covers, 
for about 20 cents per pound, say from 75 cents 
to $1 each. 
Composition of Guano. — The fresh dung of 
the sea eagle, from which guano is made, in 
part, was analysed by Coindet, and found to 
contain of uric acid, 84.65; ammonia, 9.21 ; phos- 
phate of lime, 6.13. This proportion of uric 
acid gives 28.3 of nitrogen, equivalent to 36.3 of 
ammonia, or 42.43, altogether a composition of 
astonishing richness, and of gi-eat benefit for 
land when thus applied. Its place, however, is 
fully supplied by the guano, which is the same, 
and similar manures, from which large propor- 
tions of the ammonia-forming materials have 
been lost by passing off into the air, and by this 
very operation, too, augmenting the proportion 
of the phosphates, (the mineral, non-evanescent 
portions,) which are equally important to vege- 
tation. 
**■•. 
Seeds taken from a warm, dry climate have 
been found most productive when used for a 
change. This will account for the want of suc- 
cess in American farming, from most of the 
choice specimens of seed wheat and oats brought 
to this country, from the cool, moist climate of 
Great Britain. 
The cheapest labor is one's own. The best 
is just like it, for it is what is done by our- 
selves. 
