CITY MANURES.*—PROTECTION TO WOOL= 
13 
a larger portion of silicate than any other grain; 
and if sown on land totally exhausted of this ma¬ 
terial, ho wheat will be produced, however rich 
the soil may be in other fertilizers. When sown 
on land mostly exhausted of silicate, the crop will 
be small and the grain light in weight. 
To apply glass to land, it should be ground as 
fine as flour. I have sold about twenty-five barrels 
of it to our farmers within the last six months, 
and the coming crops will test its value. The 
price charged has been $175 per barrel, the barrel 
included; and when our farmers know that each 
barrel contains more than three hundred pounds, 
and that in this quantity there are from one hun¬ 
dred and five, to one hundred and twenty pounds 
of potash or soda, they will know it to be one of 
the cheapest fertilizers they can purchase, inde¬ 
pendent of any effect from the silex dissolved in 
it. It is purchasing pure potash or soda at less 
than one and three quarters cents per pound. I 
should consider one barrel per acre to be an ample 
supply for two years’ crops. 
Many hundreds of tons of broken glass are 
thrown away in New-York and Brooklyn annually; 
and as every hundred tons contain from thirty-five 
to forty tons of alkali, our Long Island and Jersey 
farmers may judge how much they lose by not 
employing it on their land. 
I shall now call your attention to the Plaster of 
Paris thrown away in New-York. Such an as¬ 
sertion will no doubt surprise many a farmer who 
uses plaster: yet it is true that scores of tons of 
the purest of plaster have been annually thrown 
away in our city. I last summer had carted away 
twenty-one barrels of it to put into a compost heap 
at Gravesend. In making soda water they use 
carbonate of lime, from which they separate the 
carbonic gas to saturate the water contained in 
their fountains. To do this, they have to use 
sulphuric acid; this combines with the lime, 
separating it from, and liberating its carbonic gas, 
and the residuum thrown away is the purest of 
plaster. Such plaster will be moist, yet suffi¬ 
ciently solid to cart away in flour barrels. Let 
those farmers who find plaster beneficial to their 
land, attend to this source of supply. 
I shall now call your attention to the dock-mud 
taken out of our docks by dredging machines. I 
was quite astonished the other day to learn that 
this material was landed in scows, then warped 
to the tide current, and there thrown into the river ! 
This is probably one of the most valuable fer¬ 
tilizers we have in the country, and the quantity 
is immense. It contains the whole wash of the 
city; and after a rain-storm, the most valuable 
portion of our street dirt settles in the docks. 
Chamberlie, soap-suds, soap-lees, fish-offal, blood, 
pot-liquor, &c., &c., are the greater portion of 
them collected in the dock-mud. The very smell 
from the docks when foul, or the tide is low, is a 
pungent proof of its fertilizing power. 
This material should be collected in some con¬ 
venient spot where it can be landed, put into heaps 
under open sheds, mixed with lime, plaster, or 
charcoal, and let lie until a thorough decomposi¬ 
tion takes place, and then applied to the land. 
There can be no doubt that one cart load from such 
a compost heap, would be more valuable to the 
farmer than three loads of the best street dirt. 
It has been objected by some that dock-mud con¬ 
tains salt. This, instead of being an objection, 
will be found to be one of its most valuable prop¬ 
erties. The celebrated guano-manure, taken to 
Europe from islands in the Pacific ocean, and sell¬ 
ing there at $2 33 per 1121bs., contains more than 
thirty per cent, of sea salt, a larger portion prob¬ 
ably than would be found in our dock-mud. I 
should consider that a compost made from our 
dock-mud would be very little, if any, inferior to 
the guana-manure. 
Wm. Partridge. 
PROTECTION TO WOOL. 
As the subject of the necessity of further pro¬ 
tection on wool, is at present occupying the atten¬ 
tion of the public mind, in particular accordance 
with the advice of some of our friends in town, 
we give extracts from two letters received three 
months since, and have spent some time in again 
investigating the wool business here. It will be 
seen, that we can add but little to what we said in 
our January Number. But here is the substance 
of the whole matter, so far as we can learn. 
1st. None but the very coarsest wools, such as 
we do not grow now in this country, can be im¬ 
ported at present prices without a loss. 
2d. No wool can be brought here from abroad, 
that would have the smallest chance of competi¬ 
tion with Mr. Grove’s, Saxons, for example, or 
Mr. Collins’s, Rambouillets. 
3d. The fine Australia merino, which it was 
feared would be so great a competitor to our own 
merino, can not be afforded here at less than 45 to 
50 cents per pound, and it is bringing more than 
that now in England; and it will consequently all 
go there hereafter. 
4th. The fine Mateza wool of South America 
makes good satinets, and is about equal to our 
half-blood merino, and will therefore compete 
with it in being manufactured into this article; 
but in consequence of having so many burs, it can 
not be stapled, and enter into competition with 
our middle wools and the manufacture of broad¬ 
cloths and cassimeres. It is sold from 6 to 12 
cents per pound, in this city, according to quality, 
and the amount of dirt and burs in it. Yet not¬ 
withstanding this low price, when it comes to be 
made as clean as well-washed half-blood merino, it 
loses so much, that it will cost the purchaser at 
least 26 cents per pound, and is therefore only a 
fair competitor in our market. 
Now under these circumstances, we think our 
