HOW TO MAKE RUSKS.-DECOMPOSITION OF MANURES IN THE SOIL. 
371 
no one ever felt very strongly impelled towards an 
agricultural life by his example. He has not confi¬ 
dence in his own business. Why should others ? 
To be a good, farmer is not a height sufficient for 
his aspirations. Why should others grade theirs 
lower ? 
Sample No. 5.—This is one of a class, the very 
antipodes of the last, and altogether too much dis¬ 
posed to rest contented with his business, as far as 
it will permit him. He “ vegetates” upon a farm, 
where some one started a course of tillage, and he 
keeps it going for better or worse, despite of all 
suggestions for improvement from any quarter. 
The “ vis inertise” has stronghold of this man. He 
seems to luxuriate in the very monotony of his life, 
and looks upon all who would disturb it as troub- 
lers and tormentors. The doctrine of human pro¬ 
gress would find but little favor with him, were he 
ever to hear of it. In how much does this farmer 
differ from the vegetable he tills, or the cattle upon 
which he tends? They eat and drink and sleep; 
and eat and drink and sleep again—and so does he. 
What a life, says the youth, as he surveys this re¬ 
pulsive specimen of tillers of the soil. Can it be 
that the business nourishes such a disposition of 
mind ? I will have none of it. Give me something 
where there is room for the application of ever in¬ 
creasing stores of knowledge, and expanding intel¬ 
lect, for I would always be a learner. 
Sample No. 6.—This is a farmer whose business 
seems entirely too much for him. He is ever after 
it, and to observers presents the appearance of one 
who had lost a day or two in the earliest part of 
his life, and never been able to regain it. While 
reaping one crop, the seed of another is waiting for 
the soil—and the soil for its preparation. Rules 
and system, he has none. Everything makes its 
own rule. The successive portions of his business 
crowd in one" after another, pushing themselves into 
notice, and demanding attention. The men can 
hardly fail sometimes to wonder what has got into 
matters, thus to insist on all being done at once. It 
does not seem so with his next neighbor. Winter is 
a very convenient season in his estimation, in 
order to enable him to overtake the rest of his 
brother farmers, and start anew with them every 
spring. 
But these few samples will answer for this time, 
and in them we have some of the stones of that 
foundation upon which rests the common opinion, 
that agriculture is just the business for ail the lower 
grades of intellect. The agricultural periodicals 
are the only sources which many have from which 
to make up ajuster opinion. Their own neighbor¬ 
hoods will not prevent them. A. R. D. 
How to Make Rusks. —Take 7 eggs well 
beaten ; new milk k pint; melted butler | lb.; yeast 
4 pint; sugar 3 oz. ; and beat the whole well to¬ 
gether, with as much flour gradually added as will 
make a very light paste. Let it rise before the fire 
for half an hour ; then add a little more flour ; form 
the mass into small flattened loaves or cakes five or 
six inches wide; and bake moderately. When 
cold, cut them into slices the size of rusks, and put 
them into the oven again to brown a little. This 
makes a nice tea-cake when hot; and when sea¬ 
soned with caraway-seed, it is good to eat cold. 
DECOMPOSITION OF MANURES IN THE 
SOIL. 
My attention has been called to this subject by 
the report in your September number of a meeting 
of the New York Farmers’ Club at Greenport. In 
that report are some statements quite opposed to 
what has hitherto been considered true, of the de¬ 
composition of manures in the soil. If every par¬ 
ticle of manure, as there stated, has an upward ten¬ 
dency, the practice of the best farmers in this and 
other countries has been entirely wrong. With all 
due deference to the gentlemen whose remarks are 
there reported, I must express the opinion that such 
an unqualified assertion is not advisable upon this 
point. 
In the first place, the fact seems to have been 
overlooked that all manures contain inorganic sub¬ 
stances, wffiich are neither volatilized by heat, nor 
readily soluble in water; those which on some 
soils produce the greatest effect^are almost entirely 
inorganic. With regard to'the organic part of ma¬ 
nures, there can be no doubt that in certain cases a 
portion of the gases evolved during decomposition 
may escape. This would be peculiarly large dur¬ 
ing a dry season when the evaporation is great and 
at the same time the progress of decomposition 
rapid. Ordinarily, however, decomposition, in a 
substance covered by a sufficient layer of earth to 
exclude the air almost entirely, goes on with ex¬ 
ceeding slowness, This is not the case with large 
masses of animal or vegetable matter, but applies in 
the case of manures, which are usually disseminat¬ 
ed either in small fragments or powder through the 
whole soil. The evolution of gases from the com¬ 
mon manures is very gradual, so much so that in 
most seasons but little that is valuable w T ould escape 
in any w T ay, as all of the gases and soluble salts 
would enter into new combinations, or be taken up 
by the roots, either before reaching the surface, or 
before descending beyond the reach of the plant* 
The quantity lost by evaporation would vary wfitli 
the season; in a long continued drought much would 
come up from below. In some parts of South 
America, during the dry season, a saline incrusta¬ 
tion is formed over the surface of the earth, left by 
the evaporation of water, which contained the salt 
matter in solution. On light, sandy soils, the ten¬ 
dency during dry weather would be to evaporation, 
but during an ordinary season much more would 
sink with the water descending from the surface. 
~ Little can be drawn from the fact that grave-yards 
are sometimes very rich. So far as my observation 
extends, this is only the case in those very old 
yards, where the ground has been many times 
spaded over, and where the whole soil is filled in 
consequence with decaying animal and vegetable 
matter. I have known instances of burial-grounds 
of several hundred years’ standing, which showed 
no symptoms of special richness. At the depth to 
which graves are generally dug, decomposition is 
slow; and it is not likely that much of the gas 
evolved ever reaches the surface; it is more likely 
to be absorbed by water and descend to the nearest 
level. 
Fish is a species of manure which becomes putres¬ 
cent with great rapidity, and if only covered by a 
slight layer of earth it is certainly probable that 
‘ much of its value would escape upward in dry 
