Potash as a Manure for Wheat—The Gad Fly—The Lead Trade. 
381 
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spoken of as containing salts of ammonia, and ammo¬ 
nia has been shown to consist of hydrogen and nitro¬ 
gen. The superiority of ammonia over nitric acid for 
the supply of nitrogen to plants is undoubted, and 
seems to be due to the greater facility with which it 
undergoes decomposition, forming the various nitro¬ 
genous products of vegetables, as gluten, alumen, &c., 
while the facility with which hydrogen (the other con¬ 
stituent) unites with the universally present oxygen to 
form water, is an additional cause .of its fertilising 
effects. 
Sulphate of ammonia seemed the salt best 
adapted for the use of the farmer, to supply his crops 
with nitrogen. This salt was now prepared by Mr. 
Croll’s patent process for the purification of coal gas, 
and might be bought for about 16s. the cwt., and 
would most likely become much cheaper, as an inex¬ 
haustible supply might be procured by fitting up Mr, 
Croll’s apparatus at the various gas works throughout 
the kingdom; a result which would no doubt ensue 
upon the demand of this article becoming general 
among agriculturists, who could not better consult 
their own interests than by using this salt—not in 
large quantities, for in most seasons from 1-2 to 3-4 of 
a cwt. per acre, as a top dressing, applied at two or 
three separate periods, would be found preferable; and 
with this, as with all the saline manures, small dress¬ 
ings judiciously applied, according to the condition of 
the crops, were more successful than large dressings of 
two or three cwt. or more, at a time, as recommended 
for some saline manures, or of forty to fifty cwt, 
as recommended for others. These small dressings 
would be proportioned to the wants of the crop, neither 
burning them tep, nor making them too growthy, as has 
been complained of in some instances. Soot owes its 
efficacy to sulphate of ammonia contained in it. With 
regard to the efficacy of sulphate of ammonia, Mr. 
Chatterley shewed a tabular review of the result of 
experiments conducted upon a bad plant of wheat, on 
Mr. Hall’s farm, with different quantities of this salt, 
in proof of the latter statements; the increase had 
been altogether beyond expectation : it should not be 
drilled with the seed. 
With regard to saline manures in general^ they, like all 
others, should not be applied unless the land is deficient 
in the substances which they, by their constituents, 
are fitted to supply; nor to land which is not pro¬ 
perly drained ; and, with regard especially to manures 
containing hydrogen, it should be remembered that, in 
order that they may stimulate the plant to growth, 
the vegetable matter must be present in the soil in suf¬ 
ficient quantity to supply the material, for though 
much may be obtained from the atmosphere, such as 
nitrogen and carbonic acid, still the soil should be in a 
good condition to supply more carbonic, phosphoric, 
and muriatic acids, lime, potash, soda, and magnesia, 
silica, &c., as these cannot be obtained elsewhere, and 
are absolutely necessary to the healthy existence of 
the plant. It is for want of a due attention to all 
these circumstances that so many contradictory ac¬ 
counts of the value of saline manures are propagated, 
that so much of unmerited praise and blame have been 
bestowed upon them.— Ibid. 
To Preserve Sheep from the Gad Fly. 
In vol VII of the N. E. Farmer, we find the follow¬ 
ing remarks upon this subject, by Mr. Fessenden: 
<c There exists in some parts of the country, a spe¬ 
cies of fly, which naturalists call CEstus ovis, of the 
same genus with that which deposits eggs in the hair 
of horses, and causes botts. This fly attacks sheep 
from about the middle of August to the middle of Sep¬ 
tember, deposits its eggs in the nostrils of the animals, 
and causes those worms, which so frequently destroy 
them. The Mechanic’s Gazette recommends as a pre¬ 
ventive, covering the nostrils of sheep with a list of 
gauzy substance, through which the animal can breathe, 
and keeping it in place by some adhesive substance. 
We doubt, however, the practicability of c keeping it 
in its place.’ Another preventive which sheep-owners 
tell us is effectual, is to keep the noses of the sheep 
constantly smirched with tar, from about the middle of 
August to the latter end of September. If the sheep 
swallow some of the tar, so much the betier, as it pre¬ 
vents or cures the rot, and confirms their health. 
If the fly has performed its mischievous function 
and the seeds of the disorder are already sown, you 
may make use of the following: take half a pound of 
good Scotch snuff, pour two quarts of boiling water on 
it, stir it and let it stand till cold ; inject about a table 
spoonful of this liquid and sediment up each nostril of 
the sheep with a syringe. This must be repeated 
three or four times at proper intervals, from the middle 
of October to the 1st of January.; the grubs are then 
small and are easier destroyed than afterwards, and 
have not injured the sheep as they will if deferred until 
later. Half an ounce ofassafeetida, pounded in a littlie 
water, and added to the snuff, will make it more effect¬ 
ual. The owner of the sheep need' not be alarmed 
when the operation is performed, to see the sheep very 
drunk and apparently in the agonies of afeath, as they 
will in a few minutes recover. I never knew any bad 
effects to follow. Dry snuff may be blown up the nose 
with a quill, and have a good effect; but it is a tedious 
dirty job. I have tried vinegar and blue dye with but 
little or no success. 
Instead of Scotch snuff, a decoction of tobacco will 
answer the purpose. A gentleman who owns a large 
flock of sheep, informs us that he had used it with per¬ 
fect success. Spirits of turpentine is injected into the 
nostrils of sheep, as a remedy for worms; but that sub¬ 
stance appears to possess one material disadvantage, 
which should preclude its use for that purpose, namely : 
when thrown into the nostrils it kills the sheep as well 
as the worms.— N. E. Farmer. 
The Lead Trade. 
The St. Louis Republican, on the authority of a re¬ 
spectable merchant of Galena, Ill., gives a statement 
of the quantity of lead exported from Galena, Dubuque, 
and all other points on the Upper Mississippi, by the 
river, and by Lake Michigan, during nine months, from 
March to November inclusive, in the years 1841 and 
1842. Most of it is shipped in the form of pig lead, 
each pig weighing 70 lbs. Some is sent off in bars, 
and some in shot; but they are both reduced to pig in 
the statement; and the money value is annexed. 
In 1841, the whole number of pigs sent by the Mis¬ 
sissippi, was 455,814; by the Lake, 884 boxes bars, 
equal to 2750 pigs, and 2616 kegs shot, equal to 7640 
pigs, making the total for 1841, equal to 493,404 pigs. 
The price of the pig is put at 3 cts per lb., the bars, 
at 3 * cents, and the shot at 4£ cts. The total value 
in 1841, Was $982,243. 
In 1842, the whole number of pigs shipped by the 
river, was 447,859 pigs, and by the Lake, 25,000 pigs, 
and in the form of bars, what was equal to 840 pigs; 
making the total number of pigs 473,699, in 1842. 
The price in 1842, was less than in 1841, being an 
average of about 2? cts. per lb. for pig, and 3 cts. for 
the lead in bars. The total money value for the whole 
export of 1842, is put at $746,359 28. 
From this statement it is plain that the Lead Trade 
is becoming a very important one.— Alb. Daily Atlas. 
