166 
THE SOUTHERN CULTIVATOR. 
Nothing is more wanting in agriculture than 
experiments in which all the circumstances are 
minutely and scientifically detailed. This art 
will advance with rapidity in proportion as it 
becomes exact in its methods. 
Discoveries made in the cultivation of the 
earth are not merely for the time and country 
in which they are developed, but they may be 
considered as extending to future ages, and as 
ultimately lending to benefit the human race; 
as affording subsistence for generations yet to 
come; as multiplying lite, but likewise provid- 
ing for its enjoyment. 
Potatoes in general afford irom one-filth to 
one-seventh of their weight of dry starch. 
One-lourth part of the weight of the potato 
at least may be considered as nutritive matter. 
The principal consumption of the carbonic 
acid in the atmosphere, seems to be in affording 
nourishment to plants; and some of them ap- 
pear to be supplied with carbon chieffy trom 
this source. Carbonic acid gas is formed dur- 
ins fermentation, combustion, putrefaction, and 
a number of operations taking place upon the 
surface of the earth; and there is no other pro- 
cess known in nature by which it can be de- 
stroyed but by vegetation. 
It is usual to carry straw that can be employ- 
ed for no other purpose to the dunghill to fer- 
ment and decompose ; but it is worth experi- 
ment, whether it may not be more economical- 
ly applied when chopped small by a proper ma- 
chine, and kept dry until it is plowed in for the 
use of a crop. In this case, though it would 
decompose much more slowly and produce less 
effect at first, yet its influence would be much 
more lasting. 
Manures from animal substances in general 
require no chemical preparation to fit them for 
the soil. The great object of the farmer is to 
blend them with earthy constituents in a pro- 
per state of division, and to prevent their loo ra- 
pid decomposition. — Ex. Paper. 
Tlie Conversion of Vegetable Mcitter into 
Animal Substance. 
The following summary of the views ot 
chemists on this subject is extracted from Prof. 
Johnston’s lectures on Agricultural Chemistry. 
1. It appears that all vegetables contain ready 
formed— that is, form during their growth from 
the food on which they live— these substances 
of which the parts of animals are composed. 
2. That from the vegetable food v.^hich it eats, 
the animal draws directly and ready formed the 
materials of its body— phosphates to form the 
bones, gluten, &c., to build up its muscles, and 
oil to lay on in the form of fat. 
3. That during the process of respiration, a 
full grown man throws oft from his lungs about 
8 oz. and a cow or a horse five times as much, 
of carbon, every twenty-four hours; and that 
the main office of the starch, gum and sugar oi 
vegetable food, is to supply this carbon. 
4. That muscles, bones, skin and liair under- 
go a certain necessary daily waste of substance, 
a portion of each being removed every day and 
carried out of the body in the excretions. The 
main function of the gluten, the phosphates, 
and the saline substances in the food of the full 
grown animal is to replace the portions of the 
body which are thus removed, and to sustain 
its original condition. Exercise increases this 
natural waste, and accelerates the breathing 
also, so as to require a larger sustaining supply 
of food, a larger quantity to keep the animal in 
condition. 
5. That the fat of the body is generally de- 
rived from the fat of the vegetable food. In 
cases of emergency, it is probable that the fat 
may be formed in the animal from the starch or 
sugar of the food. 
6. In the growing animal, the food has a dou- 
ble function to perform ; it must sustain and in- 
crease the body. Hence, if the animal be mere- 
ly increasing in fat, the food, besides what is ne- 
cessary to make up for the daily waste of vari- 
ous kinds, must also supply an additional pro- 
portion ot oil or fat. To the growing animal, 
on the other hand, it must supply also an addi- 
tional quantity of gluten lor the muscles, and of 
phosphates lor the bones. Hence, whatever 
tends to increase the sustaining quantity — and 
cold, exercise and. uneasiness do this — will tend 
in an equal degree to lessen the value of a giv- 
en weight of food, in adding to the weight of 
the animal’s body. To the pregnant and the 
milk cow the same remarks apply. The food 
is partly expended in the production ot milk, 
and the smaller and leaner the cow is, less food 
being required to sustain the body, the more will 
remain for the production ol milk. 
7. Lastly, that the quantity and quality ot the 
dung, while they depend in part upon the kind 
of food with which the animal is fed, yet even 
when the same kind of food is given, are ma- 
terially affected by the purpose for which the 
animal is fed. If it be full grown and merely 
kept in condition, the dung contains all that was 
present in the food, except the carbon that has 
escaped from the lungs. If it be a growing ani- 
mal, then a portion of the phosphates and gluten 
of the food are retained to add to its bones and 
muscles, and hence the dung is something less 
in quantity, and considerably inferior in qual- 
ity, to that ot the full grown animal, So it is 
in the case of the milk cow, which consumes 
comparatively little in sustaining her own body, 
but exhausts all the food that passes through 
her dige.stive organs for the production of the 
milk which is to feed her young. The reverse 
takes place with the fattening ox. He lakes 
but little else from the rich additional food he 
eats than the oil with which it is intended that 
he should invest his own body. Its other con- 
stituents are for the most part rejected in his ex- 
cretions, and hence the richness and high price 
of his dung. 
Farming on Twenty-five Acres. 
A gentleman at the North who has given for- 
ty years ot his life to a speculative pursuit, 
turned farmer at the age of 60, and his exam- 
ple might safely be imitated. He had nothing 
wrving to unlearn in his practice, and by the 
light ol the New England Farmer and the other 
agricultural papers he performed all his opera- 
tions. This is, emphatically, a "Book Farm- 
er.” Hear him speak for himself: 
" I divided my land, devoted to rotation crops, 
into six fields of about acres each: anew 
field was taken up every year, and first planted 
with corn, then with potatoes, and sown with 
winter rye in the fall, after the potatoe harvest, 
and seeded down, remaining in grass three years 
before the rotation comes around. This course 
gives me one field to corn, one to potatoes, and 
one to rye, each year, and the other three to 
grass, £ have in addition 2 acres of reclaimed 
bog which is not plowed, and 1 J acre for raising 
root crops and garden vegetables planted every 
year; the whole making about 25acres, which, 
with two or three acres of salt marsh, and a 
small piece of woodland constitute my farm. 
The first lesson I took in my new calling was 
to plow no more than could be well manured, 
and to have enough to do everything ira 
season. This has not been lost sight ot. My 
first crops were pretty fair, and have been gra- 
dually increasing from ypar to year, so that the 
same land which seven yearsago would rent for 
4 per cent., has yielded more than 20 the past 
season, alter paying all the expenses of cultiva- 
tion. My last crops were estimated at S900, 
and, after deducting the cost of labor, board, 
manure, seeds, farming tools, taxes, &c., it 
leaves me a balance of more than $550 lor rent 
of land. Have sold over $600 worth, and the ba- 
lance is laid in for my own consumption, which 
is estimated at the same price as that sold. 1 
could give a copy of the account in detail, if re- 
quired. 
It is no exaggeration in saying that I am 
more than a thousand dollars better off for the 
information I have derived from agricultural 
papers during the last seven years, in a small 
way of farming. From that source I have 
learned the best methods of composting manures 
and the kinds best adapted to distinct soils ; the 
Lest rotation of crops and the selection ot seeds, 
and the method ot cultivating each kind; also, 
how to reclaim bogs, of which 1 had two acres 
ol no value, but which, since that time have 
produced six tons of good hay annually. All 
this and much more 1 have gleaned from the ex- 
perience of others, communicated through the 
medium of the press. But still, I am n.ot so 
much ot a “ book farmer” as to believe one hall 
that is published is of any benefit to ordinary 
farmers like myself. I have tried some experi- 
ments recommended in your paper, that proved 
areal disadvantage. Yet I am fully of the opi- 
nion that every farmer v'ho can read ought to 
take an agricultural paper; for by selecting 
such advice as will apply to his particular soils 
and crops, he can treasure up something in the 
course of the year that will be worth more to 
him than the cost ot the paper.” 
Toads not to be Ti’od on. 
We have complaints from every quarter of 
the depredations of worms and flits — and anx- 
ious inquiries are made for remedies. We 
have killed off all the birds for lear ttiey would 
steal a lew kernels of grain — and we pay no 
more attention to a toad than if he was not born, 
like ourselves, to labor for a living. Crows 
we make war upon with more bitterness, if not 
at so great cost, as on the Mexicans ; and pigs 
are not permitted to run in orchards lest they 
root and pick up green apples along with the 
worms that harbor there. 
“Shall vve receive good at the hand of Pro- 
vidence and shall we not receive evin” It is 
the duty of man to turn to the best account the 
instincts ot all the animals that are destined to 
accompany him. 
Toads are as harmless as any of our fellow 
creatures, and loads will pick up every worm 
and fly in the garden provided you give them a 
fair chance. 
Toads want a shelter from the wet and cold, 
and if none is provided in your garden or field 
they will not make these places their home 
though they find food enough. In Matamoros 
your warriors are uneasy without tents, and 
they too will quit unless a supply is furnished. 
You may find toads in plenty under your build- 
ings where they find not halt so good living as 
they would in your fields. They go for protec- 
tion, and leave their best game to riot on your 
vegetables in the garden. 
Last week we turned up a board several feet 
in length, that had been carelessly left near our 
garden on some plowed ground. Under this 
board were snugly lodged a number o' large 
toads and a family of little ones, half an inch 
long. They appeared more happy than many 
families under more costly roofs, and seemed 
not much alarmed at the unroofing ot their 
house, for they had th,e bestof reasons for trust- 
ing us as friends. 
We have removed this family — shelter ana 
all — into our vegetable garden, and intend to pro- 
vide more boards for others that may come till 
we have stock enough for the fodder. Flat 
stones are acceptable to these useful creatures; 
but a number ol boards one foot wide and three 
in length will answer better. They will not be 
much in the way. They save much weeding, 
and the roots of vegetables will run as well un- 
der such .shelters as when there are none. 
And NOW FOR Crows. — While we were writ- 
ing the above, twelve crows gave us a loud call, 
and without farther ceremony alighted in our 
mown field and helped themselves, to their sto- 
mach’s content, to the surplus grass-hoppers 
v/hich the hens could not pick up. The crows 
cn our premises this year have done more good 
than evil. They pulled up not a hill of corn 
after we sowed a peck or two on the surface of 
the field — and with theiraid we shall have a fine 
lot of tall feed for cattle. Grasshoppers have 
often done ten limes as much mischief on a farm 
as crows, and it is a moot question whether it is 
ad visable to exterminate their destroyers. 
We would electioneer right heartily for these 
