AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
25 
or the South-down. There are plenty of these 
in Upper Canada, Vermont, and New-York. 
The price varies from $5 to $500, according to 
breeding, quality, &c. 
Quest. 13.—Our last volume contains several 
good recipes, and we shall introduce others as 
occasion requires. 
Quest. 17.—Yes; especially if it be a light soil. 
Quest. 18.—Yes. 
Quest. 19.—No, not for profit. 
. Quest. 20.—Twelve dollars we believe is the 
usual price. They cut in sufficiently small 
pieces. Driven rapidly it will cut 60 bushels an 
hour, but worked by hand, if the machine cuts 
fifteen or twenty bushels an hour it is getting 
along pretty well. 
- - 
For the American Agriculturist. 
THE COMPOST HEAP. 
Will you be good enough to inform me 
whether lime mixed in a compost heap,consisting 
of two-thirds green stable manure and one part 
loam, will injure the manure. I know that 
quick or slacked lime brought in contact with 
green manure, liberates the ammonia and spoils 
it; but whether the loam would catch the am¬ 
monia and thereby obviate this difficulty, is a 
matter of which I am ignorant. My object is to 
shorten my long manure by rapid decomposition, 
in order to mix it more perfectly with the soil. 
Long manure we cannot bury sufficiently with 
the harrow or plow, on sod ground. What effect 
will oyster-shell lirne have in a compost heap ? 
This ingredient can be obtained at less than 
half the cost of stone lime, and on this account 
would be preferable. By enlightening me upon 
this subject you will greatly oblige B. S. 
Woodstock, Ct. 
We are quite certain that one-third part of 
common loam would not be sufficient to retain 
the ammonia and other gasses escaping. The 
best peat or swamp muck in so small propor¬ 
tion would not be sufficient for the purpose, un¬ 
less it should have been very recently subjected 
to a strong heat, (with the air excluded,) so as 
to make it like newly-burned charcoal, and even 
then it would have to be kept dry upon the sur¬ 
face. Many would-be-chemists arc publish¬ 
ing a great deal about the wonderful absorbing 
powers of muck. They compare it to charcoal 
in this respect. It should be remembered that 
old charcoal, which has lain exposed to the air, 
has its pores already filled, and is no longer an 
absorber. It is similar with peat, or muck, 
which is a species of charcoal, though differing 
much from it. 
When speedy decomposition of manure is de¬ 
sirable, it is better to mix some muck or loam 
and lime with it thoroughly, then cover over the 
heap with a good coating of muck, or even 
loam, incorporated with a quantity of plaster, 
(sulphate of lime.) This outer coating of muck 
and plaster, if kept moist , will effectually absorb 
the escaping gasses. A few days before using, 
it will be well to mix over the whole mass. Such 
a compost cannot be otherwise than valuable for 
almost any crop. 
Newly-burned shell lime is preferable, even to 
the common stone lime, for the compost heap, 
or for land, because all kinds of shells contain 
more or less phosphoric acid, which is a great 
desideratum for nearly every class of soils, and 
for old fields especially. Usually shell lime is 
a little less caustic than good stone lime, and a 
trifle more is needed for composting effects, but 
this is much more than counterbalanced by the 
valuable phosphate it contains. 
CHANCES FOR EDUCATED MEN. 
Under this head the Tribune gives some very 
wholesome advice to attorneys and doctors, 
most of which we approve, though we must 
add a word of caution. The Tribune says, 
“ Qualify yourselves at college to enlighten farm¬ 
ers and mechanics in the scientific principles 
which underlie their several vocations.” This 
is all very well; but in respect to enlightening 
farmers we will add, qualify yourselves out of 
college also. We pursued the usual collegiate 
course, and afterwards passed three years with 
one of the best scientific instructors, in the 
in the special study of the science of agricul¬ 
ture, and yet we should feel very incompetent to 
instruct farmers, had we not for many years 
been actively engaged in all the various details 
of farm work. We would advise no one, how¬ 
ever thoroughly versed in science, to undertake 
the business of instructing farmers, if he has 
not. at some period in his life, passed a few years 
at least, upon the farm. 
As well might one study the mechanical prin¬ 
ciples involved in blacksmithing, and then, 
without even looking into a smith’s shop, call 
together the blacksmiths of a neighboorhood, 
and attempt to instruct them in the principles 
and practices of making horse-shoes and iron¬ 
ing wagons, as for a man who had passed all his 
previous life out of sight of the farm, to attempt 
from book-knowledge alone, to teach farmers 
how to till land, take care of stock, &c. 
Let us not be misunderstood in this matter. 
We do not ignore the assistance which science 
may and must render to the farmer. On the 
contrary, we believe that the application of 
science to cultivation will soon double the pro¬ 
duct of labor in this department, but we would 
advise those who have been educated in schools 
only, to be cautious how they attempt to instruct 
practical men. 
There arc at the present time, a large number 
of young men in our colleges, who have grown 
up on the farm, and are familiar with all its 
practical details. They have left their former 
occupations with the hope of bettering their 
condition by engaging in professional pursuits. 
To such we. say, turn jmur attention to the 
science of cultivation. Learn well the princi¬ 
ples involved, and by study and observation fit 
yourselves to communicate sound, practical 
instruction to cultivators of the soil; there is 
then a wide field open before you, a field which 
promises well to yield emolument and honors. 
Do not follow the example of those, who have 
suddenly changed from mechanical and profes¬ 
sional pursuits, and have announced themselves 
as professors and teachers of agriculture. They 
have, by dint of plausible theories, and by the 
skillful use of a little smattering of superficial 
knowledge, been able to gain some notoriety, 
while the science of agriculture is in its infan¬ 
cy, and others are perhaps as ignorant as them¬ 
selves ; but their teachings have been looked 
upon as something strange and startling, rather 
than instructive. Their blunderings are daily 
becoming more and more apparent, and they 
will soon sink into merited neglect and oblivion, 
while a better class of teachers are springing 
up to 'occupy the field ; men who, if rightly pre¬ 
pared for their work, will rise to high stations of 
honor and usefulness. 
The article alluded to in the Tribune contains 
several good hints, and wc transcribe it entire. 
It is as follows: 
“E.” writes us from Cambridge, Mass., that 
he has read with interest our advice to young 
Farmers and Mechanics as to various locations 
in the West, and he writes to know whether we 
can give any useful and cheering counsel to the 
scores of educated young men—mainly embryo 
Doctors and Lawyers — who cluster within the 
shadow of Harvard, as of other universities. 
We cannot, indeed, point young Attorneys and 
M. D.’s to Western localities in which they will 
find clients and patients anxiously awaiting and 
ready to welcome them, as there are lands in 
abundance awaiting the farmer, and customers 
ready to fill with orders the shop of the newly- 
arrived mechanic. There is probably no grow¬ 
ing village of twenty houses or more in the 
West; which has not at least one lawyer and one 
doctor—many such have two or three of each. 
How they all live is a mystery, yet they do live, 
somehow ; for though some of them are driven 
by desperation to steal, and many to cheat, we 
have not yet heard that even one of them has 
been doomed to starve. Ultimately, the more 
energetic, capable, frugal and temperate, secure 
a good practice and acquire a competence; yet 
it is an even bet to-day that there would be 
quite as much justice and health in the West if 
no new lawyer or doctor migrated thither for 
the next ten years, as there would be if the pres¬ 
ent ratio of migration were doubled. 
Still, lawyers and doctors are necessary, since 
men will not obey the requirements of Justice 
and the demands of Health, and quite as neces¬ 
sary at the West as elsewhere. The best will 
ultimately thrive there, if they can manage to 
keep starvation at bay for the first few years. 
But how shall they do this? 
Our advice would be— Qualify yourselves at 
College to enlighten the Farmers and Mechan¬ 
ics among whom you may settle, in the scientific 
principles and facts which underlie their sev¬ 
eral vocations. The great truths of Geology, 
Chemistry, &c., &c., ought to be well known to 
you when your education is completed, and 
these, if you have the ability to impart and elu¬ 
cidate them, will make you honorably known to 
the inhabitants of any country wherein you may 
pitch your tent, and will thus insure you a sub¬ 
sistence from the start, and ultimately profes¬ 
sional employment and competence. Qualify 
yourself to lecture accurately and fluently on 
the more practical and important principles of 
Natural Science, and you will soon find oppor¬ 
tunities, auditors, customers, friends. Show the 
Farmer how to fertilize his fields more cheaply 
and effectively than he has hitherto done — teach 
the Builder the principles and more expedient 
methods of Heating and Ventilation — tell the 
Mason how to correct, by understanding and 
obeying Nature’s laws, the defect which makes 
a chimney smoke at the wrong end — and you 
need never stand idle nor long await remunerat¬ 
ing employment. 
But we are not telling our friend where to 
look for a promising location. No—we have 
only attempted to tell him how to deserve such 
a location. Let him do this, and his success is 
all but inevitable, let him settle in whatever 
thrifty, growing section he may choose. Ohio 
is not too near, nor Oregon too far for men of 
the right stamp ; and for others wc know not 
how to prescribe. 
PROBABLE PRICES OF CORN. 
To those interested in grain and flour, we 
recommend the perusal of the following candid 
and well-considered article on Bread-stuffs, 
which we take from the last London Shipping 
Gazette , just received by steamer. 
There is no doubt but grain will bear a good 
remunerating price for the year to come; and 
we advise the farmers and planters to get in all 
the Spring wheat, corn, barley, oats, peas, and 
beans which they can well cultivate the present 
