THE SOUTHEUX CULllVATOK. 
51 
ported by James F. W. Johnson, made many 
important experiments on this substance, espe- 
cially when it takes the fonn of peat, the result 
of which is, that it may be rendered active, by 
being partially dried in the air and mixed in a 
compost heap with about half its weight of hot 
fermenting animal manure, or even by exposing 
it to the vapors which rise from the naturally 
fermenting farm-yard manure. If it can le 
made to ferment in any way, it is thereby con- 
verted into a rich fertilizing" sitb.':tance. John- 
son is of opinion that the dried and pulverized 
peat, with a small mixture of animal matter fre- 
quendy wetted by pumping over it, from a pro- 
er cistern, the liquid manure, would soon un- 
ergo this needful change. 
Lime — The analysis of this substance has 
been given already. Its value in agriculture 
has been long known. It pulverizes stiti' clays; 
it hastens the decomposition of vegetable matter, 
either in the soil or m the compost heap. By 
this decomposition carbonic acid and other com- 
pound substances are produced, which serve for 
the food of plants-. In the crop already referred 
to ol ‘25 tons of turneps from an acre of land, 
there are removed from the soil 45 lbs. of lime; 
in a ton of red clover 03 lbs.; and in 25 bushels 
of wheat grain U, straw 7 lbs. 
Hex Manure, (with that of pigeons and fowls 
generally,) contains a good proportion of nitro- 
gen, an element always valuable as lood for ve- 
getation. In Flanders, the produce of 100 pi- 
geons is worth ‘JOs. sterling per annum, for ag- 
ricultural purposes, 
“The Guano, or Huano, has recently attract- 
ed great attention; no less than 40,000 tons hav- 
ing been shipped to England as a manure. — 
Much discussion has arisen as to its nature, but 
Lhe received opinion at present is that it is bird’s 
dung. It is found on the islands adjacent to the 
coast of Peru in such enormous quantities as to 
induce much skepticism as to its origin. In 
some places it lies from 80 to 100 feet in depth; 
feathers and egg shells are frequently found 
deeply buried in it; it was used as a manure by 
the Indians long before the conquest, and with- 
out it, the valleys ot Peru would be almost de- 
solate; it is pungent in the extreme, and, if used 
in large quantities, burns and destroys vegeta- 
tion, while in smaller quantities it vivifies and 
gives extraordinary rapidity to growth.” 
The following is an analysis of twm specimens 
of Guano, showing very different results: — 
1. Water, salts of ammonia and organic mat- 
ter expelled by a red heat 23.5 per cent. 
Sulphate ol soda 1.8 
Common salt and a little phos- 
phate of soda 30.3 
Phosphate of lime, with a little 
phosphateof magnesia and car- 
bonate of lime 44.4 
100 
2. Ammonia 7.0 
Uric acid 0.8 
Water, carbonic and oxalic acids. 51.5 
Common salt, with a little pho-s- 
phate and sulphate of soda 11.5 
Phosphate of lime 29.3 
100 
Wa regrel that we have not at hand an exact 
analysis of the other animal manures mention- 
od. In general, it may be stated, that their val- 
ue is in proportion to the nitrogen they contain, 
and in this respect they stand in the following 
order: — 64 lbs. of the mixed, solid and liquid 
excrements ol the hog are equal to 36 ditto of 
the sheep, 54 of the horse and 98 of the cow — 
to the solid of the horse 73; do. of the cow 125 
— to the liquid of the horse 16; of the cow 91; 
to pigeon’s manure 5; dry woolen rags 2i. 
Ink.— You may restore ink that has been fro- 
zen, by dropping a small lump of gum arable 
into the ink bottle, and when it dissolves, shake 
the ink well, and the gum will hold the coloring 
matter ia solution. — Alb, CuUivator. 
AORICULTL'K.XL EDUCATION. 
The following extract, says the Farmer.s’ Ga- 
zette, is from the addicss of the Uon. S. H. 
iluntington, delivered before the Hartford coun- 
ty Agricultural Society, at their lasi atmual ex- 
hibition. Mr, Huntington is a practical farmer, 
and was last .spiing appointed Judge of tlie 
County Court, by the Legislature, and we find 
him an excellent judge as well as a good farm- 
er. The counsel of such men are well worthy 
of attention. 
“The farmer’s standard of education is too 
low, but not especially so, in reference to his 
own occupation. Pie is a co-worker with Pro- 
vidence in the laboratory ol nature; and yet 
how little does he really understand of the ma- 
terials he operates upon; the nature of his vari- 
ous soils— the power and adaptation of his ma- 
nures — the singularly curious combinations he 
forms, and ol the beautiful and almost miracu- 
lous operation which he puts in motion, to pro- 
duce the crowning fruits of his efforts. IN'otso 
with all other pursuits; the mechanic perfectly 
comprehends the principle upon which he com- 
bines. Science has arranged and reduced to 
system his art, and he is considered as but half 
accomplished in his trade, if he can boast of 
nothing beyond a skilful use of his tools. So 
with all other prolession.s; knowledge is the most 
extensive and varied, where the science is of 
dilily, nay, hourly application, in the construc- 
tion and use of our numerous implements; — 
where animal and vegetable jihilosophy invite 
us to their investigation, as a matter of interest, 
as well as attract us by disclosing the beauties 
and wonders of creation— where chemistry is 
absolutely required to enlighten and guide us in 
the compo.sition of the materials of fertility — 
and where geology should point out to us the 
origin, and explain the nature and adaptation of 
our soils, it is too generally considered that the 
very lowest grade of our common school educa- 
tion is most abundantly sufficient. How often 
do we see among the sons of farmers, one des- 
tined to a learned profession, and another, per- 
haps, to commercial life. The first is eventu- 
ally found at some one of our colleges, and the 
other is, year after year, at the high school or 
academy; while to him who is destined to suc- 
ceed his father on the farm, two or three winters 
at the district school, after he has entered his 
teens, is about all that can be afforded. Thn.s, 
while .schools and colleges are established, pa- 
tronised and endowed from taxes paid by the 
farmer, for the education of those employed in 
other pursuits of minor importance, agriculture 
has not, as yet, found the first professorship en- 
dowed for her advancement. 
“The consequence of all this has been to de- 
grade the position of the farmer; to render a 
pursuit, of all others the most interesting, and, 
in it.self, the most attractive, repulsive to our 
young men of enterprise and intelligence, to 
lead them to look upon the labors of the hus- 
bandman with contempt, as though they were 
disgraceful. 
“But the effect upon the farmer in reference 
to himself, personally, is still more lamentable; 
it too often and to effectually closes the avenues 
to the mind against all improvement. The r«le 
of doing as their fathers did, is to be adhered to 
at all events, for it is honoring their memoiy. 
A labor-saving implement is rejected as an in- 
novation, and to as.sail a .system of cultivation 
which has received the sanction ol half a cen- 
tury or more, notwithstanding the effect may 
have been to render the lands almost worthle.'is, 
is presumption — absolute madness. All real 
improvement, therefore, connected with the cul- I 
tivation of the .soil, is received w ith far greater ' 
reluctance and e.xtends with much less rapidity I 
among the farmers than amongany otherclas.scs j 
of men. It is said that the late Mr. Coke, the 
most distinguished agriculturi.st of England, 
could trace the progress ot his own improve- 
ments upon the adjoining lands ol his neigh- 
bors, as distinctly as he could trace their boun- 
daries; attempts at persua.-ion etlected nothing, 
and w hile he exhibited an almost miraculous 
renovating of a comjiaratively barren soil, many 
years passed away without the exten.'-ion of his 
improvements half as many miles. "What, let 
me ask, is the lemody for this great evil? — and 
would that 1 had energy to send home the inqui- 
ry with lusistlcss }:ower, to every farmer of our 
lanrl. It is education — intellectual improve- 
ment— the expansion of the mind. 
“The culture of the mass of mind should be 
deeper and more thorough, and then it will act 
as one ol the most suliicient means of a deep 
and thorough cultivation ol the soil. 
“Position, as a class, woul I thus be greatly 
elevated, for, happily as yet, in our country etb 
ucation, under all circum.stances but tho.-e of 
abuse, commands deference. Physieal labor 
would be rendered more respectable, and we 
•should assume that relative position and influ- 
ence to which our numbers so justly entitle us. 
T hen, our young men, as they seek to rise in 
life, would not consider it as a matter of course, 
that they must escape from the farm — but would 
be induced to pursue agriculture, not only as a 
source c»f a reasonable competence, but as the 
path to influence and distinction. Society would 
become generally refined, aud that great evil, 
(fondness for the tainted atmosphere of a large 
town,) would give place to a pure and primitive 
love of rural life.” 
MANURES. 
It becomes us in this enlightened age to look 
to our ways, and if there is any method w hich 
tends to improve or augment the productions of 
any branch of industry, most surely should it be 
received and practiced, (t has been, andstill is, 
a matter of regret that the farmer should be so 
backward to receive the truths which science 
and close observance have brought to light; but 
if appearances are not deceitful, that backward- 
ness is slowly being removed. Well has it been 
.said, that “manures are the farmer’s riches.” — 
But how little pains are taken to husband those 
riches; no one can reasonably expect a succes- 
sion of good crops without them. 
If manures are so necessary for good husban- 
dry, why is it that they are so much neglected 
aiid allowed to waste"? It ma)- be considered a 
broad assertion, but it is none the less true, that 
not one in a ihou.sand in the State of New York, 
properly saves those manures in common use, 
namely, the solid excrements of animals. 
But it has been shown by experiment that li- 
quid manures, which are every where allowed 
to waste, are equally beneficial when applied to 
plants. The Chine.se apply liquid manures al- 
mo.st entirely to vegetation, and in no countr}' 
has agriculture reached that degree ofperfection 
as there; scarce a weed is to be found on the 
land, aird in tlreir fields of grain, naught but 
grain js seen; which is, in a great measure, 
owing to the fact that they do not carry on to the 
land, in long or barn yard manure, an immense 
reseiwoir of the seeds of grain, noxious plants, 
&.C, Liquid manures, it has been proved by 
direct analysis, to contain in large quantities, 
those ingredients which arc not only highly nu- 
tritious aud stimulant, but in the .state to be mo.st 
easily absorbed by plants. 
It would be but little expen.'^e for the fanner to 
prepare his .stables so as to collect this kind of 
manure, and convey it to a large reservoir, so 
covered as to prevent evaporation, and there sa- 
turate it with earth, or apply it to vegetables in 
the liquid state. It is considered best for gras.- 
land.s, and to .such it maybe applied, if liquid, 
by placing a large hogshead or some other ves- 
sel, on a cart, fill it by means of a pump, then 
cau.se it to flow into a box four or five feet in 
length, the bottom pierced with holes, then by 
drawing over the ground, it is distributed evenly 
and with little trouble. A cow, in five month-s, 
discharges urine sufficient as manure for half an 
acre, of the richest quality and of the most du- 
rable kind. The excrements of a healthy man, 
solid and liquid, are sufficient in one year :o 
