Hudson Strawberry—City Manures. 
381 
Female Hudson. Male Hudson. 
The male organs are always attached to the hull, 
and the female to the stem. By separating the hull 
from the stem of the female, the male organs will be 
discovered, though not before perceptible; whilst in the 
male, they may be seen at the distance of twenty feet. 
I would recommend all persons wanting faith, to refer 
to Rees’s Encyclopedia; article, Fragraria. 
Since writing the above, M. Mottier has made 
brandy from the mash (pomace) of the Catawba and 
Schuylkill Muscadell. At my suggestion, each kind 
was kept separate. The brandy from both promises to 
be of fine quality, but that from the Catawba, I doubt 
not, will rival the best brandy of France. 
With regard, yours, 
N. Longworth. 
The writer of the following article was, for many 
years, a practical farmer in England, and has since, 
been more particularly engaged as a practical chemist. 
He has constantly, however, been an observer of Na¬ 
ture’s operations, which he has been the more successful 
in detecting, as many of the manipulations of the chem¬ 
ist, are only acted over on a largej and more varied and 
complicated scale, in the out-door laboratory of the uni¬ 
verse. His remarks are of a thoroughly practical, and 
therefore of the most useful character. We are pro¬ 
mised a continuation of them, till most of the sources 
of fertilization afforded in our city are indicated to the 
farmer. We think it is unnecessary to mention, that 
although these observations have particular reference 
to this and all large cities, yet its principles are appli¬ 
cable wherever the materials mentioned are found. 
For the American Agriculturist. 
To our Farmers who obtain manure from the City of 
New York. 
It is a long time, at least forty years, since I was 
practically engaged in farming, yet I retain a strong 
predilection for that interest, and shall at all times be 
ready to render it any assistance in my power. Your 
pursuit, my friends, is superior to all others; it is the 
very foundation of national prosperity, and would be 
supported in preference to any other interest in our 
country, were our legislature willing to appreciate 
your intrinsic value. The present is considered by us, 
as superior to more ancient ages, yet among the an¬ 
cients, kings and princes devoted their attention to ag¬ 
riculture, promoting that interest as superior to all 
others. The modern kings, emperors, and legislators 
of Europe, are now pursuing the same course, and it is 
only our Republican America that hangs back in re¬ 
fusing a small pittance for establishing colleges for 
your instruction. This will be considered a foul blot 
on our national escutcheon, if not soon removed. 
I observe that our farmers, in taking manure from 
our city, collect only the street dirt and stable manure. 
My view in writing this article is, to point out to them 
other more valuable fertilizers, now totally neglected 
by them, which I shall mention separately, and com¬ 
ment on each as I proceed. 
All the fertilizing properties in manure, are the solu¬ 
ble portions, and by far the best of our street dirt is 
carried into our rivers by every rain that falls. In 
preparing soil for land, two distinct objects are to be 
kept in view; first, that the most fertilising materials 
be collected; and second, that a sufficient quantity of 
materials be added to absorb and retain the fertilizing 
portions.' I shall call the first the food of the plants, 
and the second the cellar in which it is preserved, to 
be used as wanted. In drawing your attention to the 
fertilizers now thrown away in our city, I shall en¬ 
deavor to recommend the best retainers to be used, 
after explaining the elementary properties of each ma 
terial. In doing this, I shall avoid, as much as possi¬ 
ble, all technical terms, using in every possible instance, 
the plain farmer’s language. 
I shall begin by drawing your attention to the offal 
of our fish markets. This is now thrown into our 
rivers and lost. You are all aware of the value offish 
manure, and yet this large supply is daily wasted. I 
have conversed with our fishermen on the subject, and 
they all assure me, they would be glad to have it taken 
away, if it could be done daily. I have no doubt that 
tons of this offal could be daily collected. As our fish 
markets are all on the borders of our rivers, it would 
be easy to collect it if suitable arrangements were made 
by the collector. 
The next object for the farmer to attend to after col¬ 
lecting this offal, is to save and apply it in the most ef¬ 
fective manner. Our farmers generally strew fish on 
the land, and work them into the soil in the best man¬ 
ner they can. In following this mode of application, 
they lose nine-tenths of the fertilizing qualities of the 
fish; as all the ammonia formed by their decomposition, 
excepting the small portion absorbed by the roots of 
the crop then on the ground, will evaporate and be lost, 
at least to that farmer. I say to that farmer, because 
it is more than probable that it will be brought down 
again by rain or snow on the land of some of his neigh¬ 
bors. I presume, however, that those who use fish for 
manure on Long Island or the Jersey shore, do not 
wish nine tenths of its fertilizing quality to fall on 
farms in Canada or Florida, or the Atlantic ocean, or 
wheresoever the wind may direct it. I have been in¬ 
formed that some of our farmers have put fish in their 
barn-yard manure, and did not find it more beneficial 
to their land than when the fish were applied to it as 
before described. This is no more than any chemist 
would expect, as there is nothing in their usual manure 
heaps to retain the ammonia—so far from it, the most 
valuable portion of their manure also evaporates, for 
want of ingredients being added to them capable of ab¬ 
sorbing and retaining the ammonia. The best known 
materials for this purpose, are Charcoal, Plaster of 
Paris, and the Acids. There are but few farms that 
do not afford brush-wood in sufficient quantity to burn 
into charcoal for the use of their manure heaps, by 
which all the ammonia from their cattle, horses, and 
other stock, would be saved, as well as that from fish 
or any other animal matter added to their dung-heaps. 
I would recommend our farmers to put plenty of it into 
their hog-pens. Those farmers who cannot have ac¬ 
cess to charcoal may use plaster, as this also will re¬ 
tain a large quantity of ammonia, but is every way in¬ 
ferior in its power of retention to charcoal. Besides, 
charcoal is one of the most durable of all applications 
to land, its good effect having been experienced twenty 
years after a liberal supply has been put on. It ap¬ 
pears not to waste when used as a soil, and if it does, 
it is so slowly as not to be perceptible. So long as it 
retains its qualities of charcoal, so long will it retain its 
power of absorbing ammonia, and giving it up to the 
plant when required. A charcoal dealer offered to 
