AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
181 
ammonia, is contained in the rain-water taken 
from the country in the vicinity of Oxford, as 
it was by Barral, at Paris, and proves that, as¬ 
suming the fall of rain to be 28 inches per an¬ 
num, at that rate, he discovered, the nitric acid 
would give 41.42 lbs. of nitrogen per acre. 
Again, Mr. Pusev suggests the probability of 
the plant having the power to assimilate nitric 
acid directly. It is remarkable that Liebig at¬ 
tributed to plants the power of transforming 
ammonia. “Ammonia,” he says, “ by its trans 
formation, furnishes nitric acid to the tobacco- 
plant, sun-flower. &c., when they grow in a soil 
completely free from nitre.” 
We are mainly interested, however, in three 
practical facts which the subject of this contro¬ 
versy opens up. The first is, that there may 
be great waste in applying ammoniacal mamires 
to calcareous soils. On clays, it may be applied 
as carbonate, because they can detain the am¬ 
monia ; but on chalks and limestone soils, it is 
more than probable, both from the facts and 
experiments of Mr. Pusey, that, careful as we 
may have been to fix it, and expensive as maj 
be the mode of effecting this, all may be de¬ 
feated in a soil where lime is present, and it may 
be dissipated and lost in the atmosphere. 
The second is, that the mixture af lime and 
manure in a compost heap may not he so object ion¬ 
able as closet chemistry may seem to indicate. 
A manure heap so arranged is exactly a nitre-bed; 
and on a limestone soil, it may be a better mode 
of preventing the loss of nitrogen, by convert¬ 
ing it into the stable acid, than by allowing it to 
be carried to the soil as ammonia, to be dissi¬ 
pated by the lime. 
The third is, that the same economy may pos¬ 
sibly apply to the well fermenting of manure. 
Mr. Pusey alludes to the fact that nitrates are 
repeatedly found in well-rotted dung ; and not 
unfrequently nitrate of ammonia is discovered 
in such manures. This may, after all, compen¬ 
sate for a little loss of ammoniacal vapor, so 
often insisted on as being highly detrimental. 
W hile on the subject of nitrates, we must 
refer to the vast waste of manure in the destruc¬ 
tion of the lime of old buildings pulled down. 
They are vast masses of nitrate of lime, and too 
often used only for the mending of roads and 
other similar purposes. We remember, when 
younger, an old farmer laughed at, for carting 
this dry substance away to his “ deaf hills” (his 
barren spots of soil;) and we have, as such, 
witnessed the most satisfactory results. Corn, 
and turnips, and seeds, after this, grew green 
and vigorous. The following experiments were 
made by Kuhlmann, and which are alluded to, 
but not given by Mr. Pusey in his paper: 
In 1844, he applied top-dressings of nitrates 
of soda lime, and the result was : 
Kilogrammes per 
hectare. 
No. 1. Nothing. 3,820 
No. 2. Nitrate of soda, 5,690 
No. 4. Nitrate of lime 5,397, 
In 1845, he applied nothing to any part, and 
the produce was : 
Kilogaammes per 
hectare. 
No. 1 4,486 
No. 2 4,390 
No. 3 4,420 
In 1846, he again applied the same as in 1844, 
and the crop gave : 
Kilogrammes per 
hectare. 
No. 1. Nothing. 3,330 
No. 2. Nitrate of soda, 5,383 
No. 3. Nitrate of lime, 4,023 
The quantities of British or home guano thus 
wasted are enormous; and yet how perfectly 
deodorized, and how innocuous in every respect 
is this most readily available receptacle of ma¬ 
nure, within the reach of farmers every day, 
and extremely light of cartage ! 
-• O-*- 
What energy is to a man, pride is to a wo¬ 
man. A proud girl will never become a slovenly 
wife. 
THE PATENT [ELASTIC HORSE SHOE. 
' In common with almost every horse owner, I 
pretend to a little crude knowledge as to the 
horse’s foot, the diseases to which it is subject, 
and the causes thereof; and my first proposition 
is (what few will deny) that horse shoeing is at 
best a necessary evil. 
In his natural state, the horse ranges over 
sward or sands, soft and yielding to the hoof, 
with only sufficient, friction to compensate the 
growth of horn. When removed from that 
state and applied to our uses we compel him to 
no greater change than in the nature of the sur¬ 
face upon which he is obliged to travel. The 
rough and hard road is substituted for that 
which was just the reverse, and imperatively 
demands protection to the hoof to prevent its 
being entirely worn away. 
By our ordinary system of shoeing we guard 
against the greater friction, but the greater con¬ 
cussion is in nowise compensated. And the na¬ 
tural result is (what every intelligent horse- 
shoer will admit) that hardly one of a dozen 
horses in common use has perfectly sound feet. 
And especially is this true of the heels of the 
fore feet, the toe being of thicker horn and not 
so much exposed to the weight of the animal. 
You propose with your “patent elastic shoe” 
to relieve this evil of concussion, and it appears 
to me that you have admirably succeeded. My 
wonder is that an invention so simple and at the 
same time so effective, should have been so long 
delayed. 
It is one of those self-evident improvements, 
which actually require no test, but I have tried 
the shoes on my horse, and find that she travels 
with greater freedom, and especially in going 
down hill she is not “afraid of her feet.” 
In conclusion, I say with confidence that 
your shoes well seated out, so that the outer 
crust of the hoof shall bear the weight, and 
fastened with but few rails, those on the inner 
side placed near the toe so as to admit of expan¬ 
sion, must do much to remedy and prevent un¬ 
soundness of the feet.—W. S. Stearns, in Bos¬ 
ton Evening Traveller. 
- «•-*——- 
GRASS SEEDS-QUANTITY TO THE ACRE. 
We should be glad to have a large number of 
practical farmers in different localities give us 
briefly, the amount of the different kinds of 
grass seeds they find most profitable to sow 
upon an acre. Such a report would be valuable 
to young farmers. The Boston Cultivator gives 
the following: 
A good mixture of grasses for hay, and the 
proper quantity for one acre, on soils of medium 
dryness is the following : 
Red clover. 8 lbs. or 4 qts. 
Herds grass, or timothy. 8 qts. 
Red-top. 1 bushel. 
In some instances clover is sown chiefly as 
an improver of the soil, and as it will only oc¬ 
cupy the ground one or two years, it is best 
under these circumstances to sow no grass seeds 
with it, but to increase the quantity of clover 
seed to twelve or fourteen pounds to the acre. 
Where the land is unfavorable to clover, that 
seed should be omitted, and the herds grass 
seed increased to twelve quarts, and the red-top 
to five pecks to the acre. Clover, being bien¬ 
nial, dies out more or less after the first year, 
and the space it occupied is filled by the spread 
of the grasses. 
For pastures, on soils of medium quality and 
tolerable dryness, the following mixture has 
been found to succeed well: 
Red clover. 2 qts. 
White do. 2 do. 
Kentucky blue grass. 8 do. 
Red-top. 2 pks. 
Herds grass. 1 bushel. 
The red clover should be omitted on wet land 
and the red-top increased. 
Salt Lake a Good Place to Salt Down 
Meat.— Experiments have been made upon the 
properties of the water of the Salt Lake, Utah, 
for preserving meat, by Mr. Stanbury and his 
associates. A large piece of fresh beef was sus¬ 
pended from a cord and immersed in the lake 
for over 12 hours, when it was found to be toler¬ 
ably ivell cured. After this, all the meat they 
w'ished to be preserved was packed into barrels 
without any salt whatever, and the vessels were 
then filled with Lake water. No further care 
or preparation u'as necessary, and the meat re¬ 
mained perfectly sweet although constantly ex¬ 
posed to the atmosphere and sun. They were 
obliged to mix fresh water with the brine, to 
prevent the meat becoming too salt for present 
use. 
Hemp. —This article is attracting considerable 
attention, not only in our own, but in all the 
Eastern and Western markets. Prices, too, 
are higher than they have been known for years, 
and still constantly going up. Yesterday we 
noticed sales of undressed in this market at 
$148 to $152, and hackled has sold as high as 
$205 per tun. The demand is chiefly, if not 
entirely, for export to the Ohio river and the 
Eastern cities. Several hundred bales were ship¬ 
ped for New-York, via Wheeling and Pittsburg, 
at the rate of 50c. per 100 pounds freight. — St. 
Louis Intelligencer. 
- • e •- 
CLAIMS OF AGRICULTURAL PATENTS 
FOR THE WEEK ENDING MAY 16, 1854. 
Hay and Cotton Presses. —Levi Dederick, of 
Albany, N. Y.: I claim, first, the bar hinged to 
one of the doors, and capable of being removed 
therewith from the opening in combination with 
the caps, by which it is retained immediately 
over the ends of the two doors, effectually re¬ 
sisting the pressure from wiihin, and keeping 
them closed during the operation of pressing. 
Second, providing the caps with flanges on 
the interior sides, by means of which the bar is 
enabled to aid in supporting and binding to¬ 
gether the two sides of the press during the 
greatest strain upon them. 
Harvester Rakes. —Cyrus Roberts, of Beli- 
ville, III.: I claim the fingers, arranged as des¬ 
cribed, and operated by means of a rod, eccen¬ 
tric, rod, and lever, in combination with the 
fork, as shown, viz., with a curved slot through 
it, in which the pin or arm fits, and operated by 
the crank, for the purpose of removing the cut 
grain from the platform, as described. 
Potato Diggers. —C. II. Dana, of West Leba¬ 
non, N. II.: I claim the revolving separator, as 
described, for the purpose of breaking up the 
raised furrow slice, and separating the potato 
therefrom. 
Ox Yokes. —I. W. Little, of Newbury, Mass.: 
I claim making the yoke in two parts, scarfed, 
bolted, and confined togther, as set forth, and 
combining with them the sustaining chains, the 
chain holder, and the stirrup screw and nut, as 
specified. 
Ox Yokes. —II. B. Hammond, of Bristolville, 
Ohio: I do not claim the ferrule and washers 
separate, for they are used for different porposes. 
But I claim the combination of the ferrule or its 
equivalent and the washers, for fastening ox 
bows, as set forth. 
Hanging Gates, etc. —N. W. Gilley, of Not¬ 
tingham, N. Y.: I am aware that a system of 
connecting levers or links, have been used, 
called the parallel motion, for connecting the 
end of the working beam with the piston rod in 
steam engines, and that the same arrangement 
has also been applied to other machines to im¬ 
part a rectilinea-’ motion from a vibrating circu¬ 
lar motion, ani therefore I do not wish to be 
understood as naking claim to any such de¬ 
vice. 
I claim the nethod of suspending gates or 
other structure i to bracing levers jointed to 
each other and to the gate or other structure, 
and to fixed wc k, as specified, for the purpose 
specified.— Scic itific American , 
