THE FIELD. 
[Saturday, 
nnlesa tliev aw provided with the requisite concomitant*, 
JffWi m«t!fat; charcoal, ami calcareous matter, to assist 
of the egg. all of which is found in a 
wide range, without our especial attention or at least enough 
to cause a hen to lay her maximum number of eggs. 
The following letter to the author, signed A 
is good in the mam poiuts, although many of our tow is 
and there that either tho one or the other is applied, old 
systems being pertinaciously adhered to in most of the 
grass districts. The introduction of bones as a manure, 
has in some neighbourhoods bceu attended with most re- 
markable results. Twelve or fifteen years since, Salisbury 
Plain was a mere desert, compared with its present con- 
dition ; tliis may not, and indeed ought not, to bo solely 
attributed to bone manures ; but there can be no doubt 
their introduction has expedited the breakiug up of thou- 
sands of acres, as no manure used produces such marked 
effects on the favorite, and indeed iudispensable crop of 
tho Downs, the turnip. In former days this was a most 
uncertain crop ; the fly was upon it during the slow period 
of its early growth, and if the weather was dry its destruc- 
tion was inevitable ; repetition and re-repetition of the sow- 
ing have followed, attended by the same results, until time 
and opportunity for anything like a decent crop were lost ; 
under these circumstances, the introduction of bones became 
a great blessing, which was still further improved by the 
use of superphosphate of lime, the peculiar characteristic of 
which is its effect upon the young turnip, which it pushes 
into rough leaf with such rapidity, as even in dry seasons 
to escape its minute but destructive enemy. It is now 
scarcely 13 years since that Liebig suggested the use of 
sulphuric acid with bones, which ho did as follows " Ihe 
more finely the bones are reduced to powder, and the more 
intimately they are mixed with the soil, the more easily 
they are assimilated. The most easy and practical method 
of effecting their division, is to pour over the bones m a 
state of fine powder, half then- weight of sulphuric acid, 
diluted with 3 or 4 parts of water, and after this has beeu 
digested for some time, to add about one hundred parts 
of water, and to sprinkle this acid mixture (phosphate of 
lime and magnesia) before the plough. ’ Such was the 
The following letter to the author, signed A A. Hudson, 
cood in the main poiuts, although many of our fowls 
would be terribly disconcerted at the idea of one meal a 
jjr. Miner, — The following method will bo found a good one. 
Once* a day m summer, feed on a mixture of corn and barley, 
(com be it remembered always means maize or Indian corn) “ or 
, v rn mid outs. This will Insufficient if your fowls have a largo 
enclosure where they can obtain gravel, insects, worms, and green 
food. If they are confined to a small space, these substances must 
be supplied them liberally. In winter, keep corn, mixed sometimes 
with barley, and sometimes with oats, constantly before them, ns 
well as pounded oyster shells, burnt bones, and a plenty of gravel. 
Occasionally give boiled potatoes, mashed, and mixed with Indian 
meal, or bran, warm, but not hot. Twice or three times a week 
give them scraps from the tallow chandlers, or fresh meat. Let 
them have wood ashes to dust themselves in, and an abun- 
dance of clean water, fresh every day. In freezing weather the 
water should be warmed. Chickens require no food for the first 
twentv-fonr hours after tliev are hatched. I have, however, been 
in the' habit of giving them'water in about twelve hours from the 
time they leave the shell. After tho first twenty-four hours, for 
about two months, I give them coarse meal or cracked corn, 
moistened a very little, and sometimes dry, three or four times a 
doy ; occasionally varying their food by giving sometimes cooked 
meat chopped fine, and sometimes crumbs of bread. I also prefer 
to feed them with damaged wheat, that is to say, wheat that has 
grown. This can often be procured at low rotes, and is the very 
best of food for fowls. An obundnnee of clean water should ho 
constautlv before them. It will not answer to feed fowls wholly 
fowls have sufficient range, tliev will find this for themselves in , method pointed out by Liebig and so many weie the ob- 
summer- when thev do not possess such an advantage, you must stacles presented by this plan, that its use has ne\ei been 
provide green food for them. followed. But the hint was not lost, and the manufac- 
(Signed) “A A. Hudson.’' I ture of superphosphate of lime, or bones treated with eul- 
The abundant use of Indian corn practised in America, pi, ur j c acid, has become so extensive, that one manufacturer 
has not been considered beneficial by English amateurs: | i, eeu known to use 230 tons of acid iu a season, 
from its exceedingly fattening nature it has been found it is estimated that 5 cwt. of dissolved bones, costing say 2/., 
decidedly injurious ’to laying hens. With regard to the ; UBe a either as a top dressing, or au underground manure, 
first meal for young chickens, our plan is to give the hen a C q Ua i to a ton of undissolved bones, which would 
cup of crushed corn or porridge, mixed very dry, and leave ( cost about 6/. Many buy the materials and make the 
her to settle when her chickens want to eat; the first lesson SU p e rphosphate themselves, aud this, undoubtedly, is not 
iu drinking we have often found it advisable to bestow on j y their cheapest, but best plan, where anything like 
ourselves, in preference to leaving it to the old bird. The proper attention cau be paid to its preparation, 
value which the author attaches to poultry manure seems Professor Way, in a scries of comparative experiments 
worthy the attention of the gardener if not of the ftgri- ou superphosphate procured from manufacturers, putting 
culturist. I the value of the best at 8/. per ton, met with some which 
“The most valuable fertiliser that we have is poultry manure.” Avere worth no more than 3/. 8s., with an abundance of 
It is lamentable and disgusting even, to see what a 0 t,hers of intermediate value, indeed in such abundance 
as sho> 
ignoran 
—which is asserted to be equal in value— is suffered to go to waste neglect .. — - ■lidimraulnhurirapid to bones 
in the United States. Each farmer’s poultry yard produces so asa manure. The object m adding sulphuric acid to bones, 
little, that it is suffered to go to waste, and thus the country loses is not merely to reduce them to a state of minute division, 
over a million dollar s annually. Having learned the value of but to procure their essential ingredient, phosphoric acid, 
poultry manure, we suppose now our readers would like to know iu a soluble condition. Dry bones contain between 60 
what i's the best method to save it. First, build a poultry house, if an d 70 per cent of phosphate of lime aud a small quan- 
it be no more than a rough scaffolding of poles or slabs, laid upon t j ty 0 f phosphate of magnesia, the remainder being chiefly 
crotches, forming a double pitch roof, with end boards in winter, Ke i a tine with about four pounds of carbonate of lime, 
to keep out the wind and driving storms. Under this” (we hope, procure supe rpbosphate of lime of the best quality, it 
for the sake of the fowls, it is to be weather tight) “place parallel n ‘ cessary J supply sufficient acid, not merely to ueu- 
roosts, and the manure in the night will all drop down into a uecesstuy FF J unite with a* much 
narrow row beneath. Here place a light loam, about a foot deep, tralise the carbonate of lime, but to unite i with a* much 
rather wider and longer than the roosts, and give it a sprinkling of , of the lime of the phosphate as will leave a y 
plaster of PariB an inch thick.” (Query. Would not this come sufficient phosphoric acid to convert the whole into the 
rather expensive ! And would the fowls prove as healthy as if kept soluble bi — or as it is more usually termed, super-plios- 
rleon everyday?) “When this iscovered with manure an mch deep, phate ; sulphuric acid being relatively the expensive ar- 
give it a layer of loam four inches deep, and another sprinkling of ! tide, a desire, of course, exists to save its use as much 
squashes, pumpkins, melons, peas, onions, strawberries, or any 
other fruit, vegetables, or grain, requiring rich manure, and our 
word for it, you will have u crop of a superior quality. Thus you 
will become one, out of the many, who is desirous to benefit himself, 
and assist in saving more than a million dollars annually to the 
country.” 
“ This domestic guano,” says another contributor, “ produces a 
powerful effect on the growth of Indian corn ; the mode of applying 
it is to drop a handful on each lull, which is then covered half an 
inch or more with earth, in order to prevent the seed from coming 
in immediate contact with the manure, which experience has shown 
w ould prevent its germinating. The same correspondent stated 
that he had tried this compoet in comparison with good hog 
manure, by applying each to corn in the same field and on similar 
is not only necessary to add sufficient acid for the pur- 
pose of producing a super-phosphate ; there are mechanical 
and other difficulties to eucounter aud overcome ; every 
part of tho bone ought to be brought into coutact with 
the acid, and this, easy as it appears, is somewhat trouble- 
some to effect. Suppose that four bushels of bones are 
put into a tub or vat, with water sufficient, or nearly 
so, to cover them, to this 1001b. of the white sulphuric 
acid is added, and a great commotion is at first caused, 
which gradually subsides ; by tho union of the sulphuric 
acid with the lime, sulphate of lime is formed, which 
coats over the nuclei of the fragments of bones, and 
JlJflUUI V, 111 h W1 Xi IU kUV DUUJV “tl a viliu vll Ol lllllul . f, £1 , t , • /> .1 
soil. On one part half a shovel full of hog manure was put in a completely protects them from the further action ui tbe 
hill, and on the other part a handful of the hen manure compost, acid. Stirring is of course of some use, but nothing is so 
The crop was best where the latter was used, and the succeeding 1 complete in its effect as the addition of a bucketful of 
crop i which was oats i showed the same result in favour of the ken boiling water; this not only washes away the sulphate, 
manure.” It is mentioned that ten acres of land with hen manure, 1 but dislodges a quantity of imprisoned gases, causing con- 
produced sixty bushels of corn to the acre. siderable commotion, and usually making tho solution 
At page 213 a good plain form of coop is described. complete. Thus made, it is too damp to pass through the 
“ It mold but in my opinion, the art of man can never improye au ^ d variet y 0 f substances are used to dry it off; 
on its general good qualities for a cheap coop. All that is to be , . 7 “ . * c - , ’ 
done is to take two pieces of a wide boaVd and nail them together this also is a matter of considerable importance, and a 
at the top in a triangular form, board up one end tight, aud put J good article is frequently diminished in value by the 
slats of laths at the other. If the slats ore put on in a perpendicular addition of substances which at any l ate partially re- 
position, you will require a cross strip of more substantial dimen- 
pions to nail the latbB to at the bottom The position of coops of 
thia kind should be with the tight sides facing the cold wind. No 
bottoms should be attached to such coops, but the hens should be 
allowed to brood their youDg ones on the ground, except in cold 
weather, when a little hay may be given to them.” 
AGRICULTURE. 
SUPERPHOSPHATE OF LIME 
Bones were in considerable use as manure twenty-five 
years since, and from that period to the present have in some 
shape or other yearly increased in favour on all soils of 
a light description, excepting the green sand, where they 
seem next akin to utterly lost. Various attempts have 
been made to account for this failure, which by some is 
attributed to the prevalence of phosphatic nodules in tliiB 
formation, which are supposed to furnish a sufficient supply 
of phosphoric acid for vegetative purposes ; but this can 
scarcely be the sole cause, as, however conspicuously abun- 
dant these fossil?, arc, in portions of the green Baud, there are 
other portions where they are totally absent, and tbe 
remark before made of their failure applies alike to this as 
the other. Chemistry is at present at fault iu applying a 
solution of this enigma. A close clayey soil is only occa- 
sionally benefited by their use, but the application as a 
top-dressing in the shape of superphosphate of lime, has 
always been attended with much benefit when followed 
K|«eedily by light showeir of rain. Pasture laud has been 
much improved both by bone-dust and superphosphate, the 
crops being more abundant, and if fed off, the cream and 
milk richer and in greater quantity, but it is only here 
convert the soluble into tbe insoluble phosphate. Chalk or 
lime is utterly inadmissible ; coal or wood ashes, but es- 
pecially the latter, of doubtful utility ; charcoal, rape-cake, 
shoddy, or earth which contains little carbonate of lime, 
are mentioned by Professor Way as unobjectionable. 
When dry, practically at any rate, the admixture of coal 
ashes does not seem to disturb their good effect; from 
one end of the land to the other this article is added 
to superphosphate before it is put into the drill, but a 
systematic Beries of experiments is very much needed to 
ascertain whether any more efficient substitute might be 
used. When it is considered that the ashes of all plants 
afford phosphates, the value of bones as a manure is not 
at all surprising ; no soil which does not contain phos- 
phoric acid is capable of cultivation, and experiments 
Bhow that when absent or in small quantity it must bo 
supplied to tbe soil ; the air cannot, as it may in tbe case 
of nitrogen, furnish this necessary ingredient, and in ad- 
dition to this supply of phosphate, bones contain from 
20 to 30 per cent of gelatine, which would afford from 
4 to 5’25 per cent of nitrogen, another ingredient highly 
favourable to fertility. Natural phosphates occur in tho 
crag, the green sand, and the lius, aud have been used 
as a substitute for bones iu tho manufacture of super- 
phosphate ; they have been latterly found in tho chalk 
iu great quantity, but containing too much carbonate of 
lime to be converted profitably into superphosphate. 
5 Exportation op Balt. — Tho valuo of salt exported in tho 
months, between January and November, omounted to 219, 000/. 
In tho like period of lust year the amount was 194,942/. 
Portable Manures.— “ An increasing partiality for 
mixing our light manures is observable among experi- 
menters — the impression gaining ground that equal values 
of the best of them generally produce pretty similar effects 
when used alone. Dissolved hones or superphosphate has 
returned well iu potatoes, and alkaline dressings, or a 
mixture of guano, soot, and salt, are gaining ground for 
young grass. Dressed food for feeding stock is increasing 
in favour. Equal portions of chaff, beans, and bruised 
corn, with a quarter part bruised linseed, has been used 
with advantage, anil a small quantity of the linseed 
mixed with the horse corn has an excellent effect on their 
condition.” — Scotch Paper. 
Extinct Farmers’ Clubs. — The following farmers' 
clubs and other agricultural institutions are at present in 
abeyance, viz : — “ The Stratford-on-Avon.” “ The Wive- 
liscombe,” (Devonshire). “The Ottery (Devonshire) 
Agricultural Society." “ The Swansea.” “ The Winger- 
worth,” (Derbyshire). “ The Collumpton,” (Devonshire'. 
“The Wickham Market,” (Suffolk). “ The Carlton-on- 
Trent.” “ The Dartford.” “ The Ardlcigh.” “The York.” 
“ The Cardiff." “The St. German’s,” (Cornwall). “The 
Bromley.” “ The Exminster,” (Devonshire). “ The Bur- 
ton.” “The Agricultural Society” and “ Farmers’ Club," 
at Stewpony. “The Northampton Agricultural Book 
Club.” “ The Claydon.” 
Prices of Provisions in London Workhouses. — The 
contract price of provisions for the present quarter, ending 
March, is— milk, per barn gallon of eight quarts, 1*. lOtf. 
— corresponding quarter of last year, Is. Id. ; meat, 4s. 6d. 
per stone of 8lb.— last year, 3s. 3d . ; flour, per sack, 53s. 
—last year, 29s. 6 d. ; potatoes, per ton, 140s.— last year, 
95s. ; cheese, butter, and lard, per cwt., 57s. 9i/., 93s., and 
65s. 9d . — last year, 44s. 9d., 63 s. 9 d. and 63s. 9 d . ; oatmeal, 
bailey, and peas, per bushel, 18s., 17s. and 10s. 6 d . — last 
year, 11s., 11s., and 6s. 6<f. ; other articles in similar 
proportion. 
Mutton for the Million. — In proof of the rapid 
advance in the manufacture of mutton, a sweepstakes of 
one sovereign each, iu which several of the leading sheep 
breeders of the county joined for the best ten long woolled 
sheep, to he shown at Christmas, 1853, was decided in 
favour of Mr. Thomas Porter, of Baunton ; his ten, 
although aged eight and nine months only, having attained 
the extraordinary weight of 30lbs. per quarter each. — 
Gloucester Paper. 
The Central Western Desert. — We are apt to asso- 
ciate, said the Rev. H. F. Yeatman, at the meeting at 
Sherborne last week, with the word “ desert ” the idea of 
a place of perfect stillness and repose, where the hatchet 
of the woodman cannot be heard, and where even the bird 
of song never breaks for a moment the stillness and soli- 
tude of the place ; but does that give you any idea of the 
great area which exists between the city of Salisbury and 
the town of Yeovil, and from Yeovil to the city of Exeter. 
Why it has been stated that within that area there are no 
fewer than 210,000 souls waiting for this railway ; that 
there are between Salisbury and Yeovil 20,000 daily cows, 
70.000 oxen, 100,000/. worth of butter, 4,500 tons of cheese 
100.000 sheep, to say nothing of the immense quantities of 
corn which we are anxious to carry to better markets. 
Upon the edge of this desert is Salisbury, which, I believe, 
contains 11,000 inhabitants within the borough walls. 
Then come the towns of Wilton, Shaftesbury — Gillingham 
on the right, and Blaudford on the left ; Sturminster and 
Stalbridge, Milborne Port, with its thriving glove trade, 
Sherborne with its silk manufactories, and Yeovil with its 
flourishing trude. If we turn to Milborne Port — why there 
sits the king of Milborne Port in the chair — and near him 
is our old friend Mr. Ensor, one of the most enterprising 
of men, who knows perfectly well that in that part of the 
great desert no fewer than from 600/. to 800/. per week 
are paid in wages for glove making : again at Sherborne, 
my friends, Mr. Willmott and Mr. Rawlings, can testify 
there is not less than 1,000/. a month paid in wages in the 
silk trade alone ; aud when we come to Yeovil, I am as- 
sured that 1,000/. per week, 52,000 /. per annum, are paid 
as wages by the manufacturers in that town alone. 
Without going beyond the town of Yeovil, I am prepared 
to show that in the article of coal alone the saving by a 
railway is estimated at 1,500/. per annum, — more than 
sufficient to pay the local taxes ou every house in the town. 
But let us see what the farmers are likely to gain, by the 
cheapening of coal. The quantity of coal which would 
be required to burn lime might be purchased at the pit’s 
mouth for 10s. per load. At present I have reason to 
know that it would cost 2/. 19s. 2 d. for a man and boy who 
would be out two days and two nights, to bring that coal 
to the lime kiln ; and tliut added to the 10s. would amount 
to 3/. 9s. 2d. This would be sufficient to burn 300 bushels 
of lime. That coal might be brought over a railroad at 
the rate of 1 d. per ton per mile, and taking the average 
distance to be 36 miles, that would be 3s. per ton. It is 
computed that the saving would amount to about 1/. upon 
every acre of arable land in this county requiring the use 
of lime. 
Home Guano. — Mr. Herapath,' the eminent chemist, in 
a letter to the Times , says: I perceive, from the number ot 
letters which have been lately been introduced into the 
columns of the Times and other London papers, that con- 
siderable fear exists in some quarters lest the supply ot 
guano from the present known sources should fail in a few 
years; and the writers, in some cases, have suggested sub- 
stitutes to he resorted to should we be reduced to extremity 
either from that cause or from the excessive price demanded 
by the monopolists of the imported manure. The object 
of the present communication is to assure your readers 
that no anxiety need be felt on tho subject, as there is now 
a cheap, prompt, aud effectual means of economizing town 
sewage, so that very nearly all its useful ingredients, in- 
cluding its ammonia, may he converted into a guano inter- 
mediate between that of Saldnnhn Bay and Patagonia, 
having a fertilizing power of from five to eight times that 
of farmyard manure. In this way between 1,000,000 ami 
2,000,000 tons may be made yearly, and, as nil the pro- 
ducts are deodorized, the sanitary conditions of our large 
towns will be greatly improved. 
Asparagus “ Copper,” — Asparagus, according to Liobog, 
contains in common with tea and coffee, n principle which ho 
culls “ tuurine,” and which, by tho way, ho considers essential to 
tho health of all who do not take strong cxorciso. Heading tbi* 
lod mo to think that asparagus might lie mode a good subslituio 
for calico. Tho young shoots which I first prepared were not 
agreeable, having au nlkuhno flavour. I then tried tho ripe 
seeds ; these roastod and ground mako a full flavoured cotlbo, nut 
easily distinguishable from fino Me-' "" — urn easily 
freed from the Lorries by dr* ,: - 
rubbing thorn on a Bi<“' 
but. 
