Practical Farming—Wheat Sheaf Farm* 
over the ground and plowed in when a crop I 
of the smaller grains are required, or put in 
hills or dibbled in when corn or roots are 
cultivated. When applied in this way it af¬ 
fords efficient manure for a single season, but 
the rapid tendency to decay, and extreme 
volatilization of the gases it generates, al¬ 
lows a large portion of the nutritive matter 
to escape, and taints the air for a great dis¬ 
tance with its putrid odors. This is a com¬ 
pound error which is entirely obviated by the 
use of peat, which is in that condition pre¬ 
cisely in which it is best fitted to absorb the 
volatilised animal matter,and this it does most 
effectually as fast as generated. The absorp¬ 
tion is complete, for not a particle of putres¬ 
cent effluvia is detected by the most sensitive 
olfactories. A strong acid smell is percepti¬ 
ble, which arises from the expulsion, or rather 
liberation of the acetic principle from the 
vegetable matter with which it has ever be¬ 
fore been in combination, owing to the 
stronger affinity it has for the gases gene¬ 
rated by the decaying fish. The observing 
farmer will here note the strongly contrasted 
results of the combination of two materials 
under different circumstances. Animal mat¬ 
ter in contact with the material affording 
tannic acid, or immersed in the liquid which 
is saturated with it, is most effectually pre¬ 
served ; but when freed from this, it is the 
most efficient agent in effecting its dissolu¬ 
tion. Hence this matter which has existed 
unchanged for centuries, when placed under 
favorable circumstances, not only exhibits a 
tendency to rapid decay, but becomes a pow¬ 
erful means under the direction of science, 
in effecting the dissolution of other matter. 
After remaining in the heap a few months 
decomposition is completed, and it may re¬ 
main without injury or waste till wanted. 
Two or three weeks before using, it should 
be broken up and intimately mixed by com¬ 
mencing at one end, and overhauling the 
entire mass, when another fermentation com¬ 
mences, and the mass becomes rapidly heat¬ 
ed to 90° or more, and it is then fitted for 
use, and may be applied immediately to the 
land. 
But independent of these exhaustless 
sources of fertility, no particle of animal or 
vegetable manure produced upon the farm, 
is allowed to be wasted. All is preserved 
and added to the general stock of compost. 
The necessity of resorting to the city for 
manure at a large expense, is here shown to 
be unnecessary, and those who at first jeered 
at this undertaking, are now wisely follow¬ 
ing the example. Since the full organiza¬ 
tion of the farm, there has never been less 
than 2000 loads of surplus manure ready for 
use. 
A small patch of the stiffest and most un¬ 
promising clay, from which, Mr. S. says his 
first attempt for a crop of buckwheat, result¬ 
ed in a growth of about six inches ; by an ad¬ 
dition of a coating of sand plowed in, and a 
subsequent one harrowed over the surface, 
produced a most bountiful yield. It is 
thus the intelligent and observing book-farmer 
avails himself of all the principles of science 
and the experience of others, in his practise, 
and the consequence is, he gets rich, while 
his equally industrious and economical, but 
ignorant neighbor continues poor. 
It has been suggested to use this farm as 
a site for an agricultural school, and it must 
be confessed, no more appropriate place 
could be selected for such a praiseworthy 
object. It is accessible from every portion 
of the Eastern United States ; and the diver¬ 
sity of its soil, and the convenience for pro¬ 
curing every kind of marine and inland ma 
nures, would admit of almost every variety 
of experiment. The scenery, too, would not 
be without its beneficial effect on the yet 
unformed and expanding mind. The happy 
commingling of hill and dale; of forest and 
cultivated fields ; of extensive meadows, and 
the chequered patches of almost every spe¬ 
cies of grains, roots, and vegetables, would 
afford a useful and delightful study to the 
enquiring student. 
From the summit of the hill on the eastern 
extremity of the island near the site of the 
j Pavilion, the eye ranges southward over this 
highland, which falls off gracefully on either 
side to the cultivated vales below. A thread 
of silver marks out the channel that sepa¬ 
rates it from the opposite shore on the right. 
Near by, on the long, low, level margin of 
the water, a few scattered hamlets indicate 
the ancient settlement of Communipaw, 
where the first Dutch burghers that emi¬ 
grated to the new world, hoped to found a 
commercial capital, that in after ages was to 
eclipse their favorite Amsterdam at home. 
Still further on is the little peninsula, jutting 
into the bay, now known by the ambitious 
cognomen of Jersey City. Then comes the 
more elevated and picturesque promontory 
of Hoboken and the Elysian fields, which 
fancy paints yet more delightful than the 
charming reality, because invisible. Behind 
it, Weehawken lifts its poetic brow; and far 
beyond, where the eye begins to mingle the 
misty things of physical existence, with the 
vivid pencillings of the imagination, the 
