226 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
manipulator, we value the experiments he de¬ 
tails. His article is as follows: 
As the time of making compost is at hand, 
and the use of gypsum as one of their ingre¬ 
dients, has lately been decried, I take the lib¬ 
erty of giving you the substance of the results 
of some experiments recently made, bearing 
upon that p"int. 
It is well known to the most of farmers, that 
during the decay of animal and vegetable mat¬ 
ter, a quantity of ammonia is found, which from 
its volatile nature is very liable to evaporate, or 
pass away in the atmosphere, very much to the 
deterioration of the value of the substance as a 
fertilizer, for ammonia is a very beneficial ma¬ 
nure. The form in which it flies away, is gen¬ 
erally that of carbonate of ammonia, a very vol¬ 
atile, pungent salt, known under the name of 
hartshorn. Various means have been suggested 
and used to fix this, that is, to render it less 
volatile and keep it in the material in which it 
is formed, for the purpose of using its valuable 
compounds as fertilizers. A common way has 
been to mix gypsum (sulphate of lime) with the 
material used in compost heaps, when a mutual 
decomposition takes place, in which carbonate 
of lime and sulphate of ammonia are formed. 
This last salt is much less volatile than the other 
compound of ammonia mentioned, and is there¬ 
fore more easily retained in the heap. It has 
recently been denied in a scientific journal, that 
this change does take place—that dry, or nearly 
dry carbonate of ammonia will decompose and 
be decomposed by gypsum, and therefore that 
it would not fix the ammonia, and that its addi¬ 
tion to other manure, added to its value, only 
by its own ingredients—not by saving other 
valuable products. This statement has been 
copied in several popular newspapers, and if 
incorrect should be refuted, as it pretends to be 
based upon the unerring laws of chemistry. 
I took three samples of gypsum, (the com¬ 
mon, such as is used here by the farmers,) and 
treated them with carbonate of ammonia in dif¬ 
ferent ways, imitating the condition of the com¬ 
post heap. The first I moistened slightly after 
mixing the two together, not making them 
more damp than they would be in a heap of 
compost. 
The second I left dry as they were mixed. 
In the third, I did not allow the two to come 
in contact, at all, but kept them separated, so 
that to unite, the carbonate of ammonia must 
come in contact with the gypsum as it evapo¬ 
rated. 
In all three cases, T exposed them a few days 
to air mixed with carbonic acid, (conditions al¬ 
ways present in the compost heap,) at the ordi¬ 
nary temperature of my room, and then exposed 
them to the pure air until the carbonate of am¬ 
monia had all been decomposed (or evaporated,) 
and afterwards examined them chemically. In 
all cases , a mutual decomposition had taken 
place. The gypsum, (which was originally pre¬ 
sent in the largest quantity,) contained much 
carbonate of lime, and a corresponding, (appa¬ 
rently so at least,) amount of sulphate of am¬ 
monia was present in the mixture, which I sep¬ 
arated by chemical means, and examined. 
As I have remarked, the gypsum was present 
in excess, and so it should be in the compost 
heap; that is, there should be more than enough 
present to. decompose all of the ammoniacal 
compound. Otherwise there will be some that 
will escape, and undoubtedly a small quantity 
always does escape, not coming in contact with 
any thing which will retain it, for it is difficult 
to have such substances thoroughly mixed 
through the mass. 
I think these experiments show that the use 
of plaster, or gypsum, for this purpose, is 
founded on sound principles, and consequently 
are safe to follow. Such experiments have been 
frequently made by others, and I intend, if pos¬ 
sible, the coming summer to carry on these fur¬ 
ther, and see if such changes do actually take 
place in fermenting and decaying barn-yard 
manure, the result of which you shall have, if 
you think them worth your attention. 
For the American Agriculturist. 
CHEAT, CHESS, BROME GRASS, AND WHEAT. 
What, we might consistently ask, has cheat 
to do with Wheat, or Wheat rvith Bromus , or 
Brome Grass ? Simply this, that some men 
who talk and write too fast for the amount of 
information they possess, have confused the 
identity of one with the other. 
The botanist feels no hesitation in stating 
that, cheat or chess is a Bromus , a family of 
coarse grasses of little agricultural value, except 
to clothe with vegetation, barren or uncultivated 
localities, where the more useful plants will not 
flourish. Wheat has been referred to another 
genus or family, Triticum , and several species 
once included in this genus have been trans¬ 
ferred or ranked in a new r genus, Agropyrum; 
the Couch grass for instance, formerly Triticum 
repens, is now Agropyrum repens, or creeping 
wheat grass. The Bromus, of which we have 
several familiar species, is readily distinguish! d 
even by the untrained botanical eye, from Agro¬ 
pyrum or Triticum. Cheat, then, I assert on the 
faith of what little botanical science I am master 
of, can never become wheat, or wheat cheat, un¬ 
less by a mistake in the husbandman or seedsman. 
There can not by any possibility be cheat from 
wheat, by any process of culture or manuring; 
nor on the poorest lands, destitute of the most 
essential elements of the organic and inorganic 
part of plants, can such a transmutation ever 
occur. We have nothing further to say on this 
often-recurring question at present. I enclose 
a specimen of a species of cheat or chess; not 
the common one. S. 
-»-• •- 
AGRICULTURE AT THE CRYSTAL PALACE. 
On the tenth of this month the great Crystal 
Palace at Sydenham, (England,) was to be 
opened with brilliant ceremonies, in which the 
Queen of England was to take a conspicuous 
part. The following notice of the interest taken 
in agricultural matters by the managers of that 
Crystal Palace, we copy from the Agricultural 
(Eng.) Gazette. We earnestly commend their 
example to the attention of our own Crystal 
Palace directors ; and it may be useful for all to 
read it in connection with another article we 
publish this week, headed, “ What is Govern¬ 
ment doing for Agriculture?” 
It is satisfactory to find that agriculture is to 
have a place among the professions, arts, and 
sciences which are to be illustrated in the Crys¬ 
tal Palace. They will not be all Londoners who 
shall crowd its passages and courts—instruction 
is to be offered to country folks as well as citi¬ 
zens—the various forms of manufacture, of 
which substances used as food and other agri¬ 
cultural products are susceptible, will be so ar¬ 
ranged as to form “ eye lectures” as perfect and 
detailed as those on any other of the manufac¬ 
tures represented there. Of this we have as 
yet no earnest in the building itself; indeed, 
that portion which is to be devoted to this de¬ 
partment (the north wing) is still in an unfin¬ 
ished state. The agricultural department will 
be classed amongst the useful rather than the 
ornamental; and it is the latter rather than the 
former that is now being hastened to completion 
by the 10th of June. But we have a sufficient 
pledge of what the agricultural department is to 
be in the known ability of those who have the 
charge of it. 
The plan of this department of the exhibition, 
which is due to Professor Wilson, to whom its 
execution also is deputed, involves the full re¬ 
presentation of all the sections into which, as 
we lately (p. 202) stated, the subject naturally 
falls. Jermyn Street and Kew, as well as the 
intended museum of animal products, will all be 
represented in the Crystal Palace. The museum 
of economic geology, so far as agriculture is 
concerned—and, of course, in its other depart¬ 
ments also—will be amply represented. Rocks, 
sub-soils, soils, and their produce—vegetable and 
animal — will be exhibited so as to teach as 
strikingly as possible the connection existing 
throughout the whole, and their relation to the 
localities of which the several specimens are 
characteristic. 
From the rock on which the whole is built, 
up to the most finished products—cheese or 
wool, that the farmer sends to market—no step 
in the progress, no collateral offshoot from any 
of these steps, will be left unillustrated. The 
student may wish to ascertain the agricultural 
wealth of England. Well!—besides every suite 
of specimens he will find a map of the country, 
colored geologically for that particular produce, 
so that whether it be the district of any partic¬ 
ular limestone, any mineral manure, (as chalk, 
or coprolite, or marl,) or possibly the district of 
any peculiar crop, or of any breed of animal, its 
limits and extents shall at once appear. A quiet 
half-hour’s study and examination will thus in¬ 
struct more perfectly than a whole series of geo- 
agricultural lectures. 
Or the student may wish to trace the soil 
through all its products, so that the whole agri¬ 
cultural produce of any one district shall be as¬ 
certained. Well!—he will find specimens ar¬ 
ranged with this particular end in view, and the 
rock, sub-soil, soil, the manure used to fertilize 
it, and the implements used to cultivate it—the 
seeds that are sown in it, the weeds which in¬ 
fest it, and the crops which are grown upon it— 
will all be represented. Sheaves of the various 
grains, wax models and actual specimens of the 
various roots, will be exhibited. Messrs. Law- 
son, of Edinburgh, have largely aided in pro¬ 
viding these; and those of us who remember 
their contributions to the Exhibition in 1851, 
can have no doubt of the value of their contri¬ 
bution to the Exhibition now. Every variety 
of the grasses and the grains in seed and straw 
will have it representative; and pursuing any¬ 
one of th.se, as wheat, for instance, to its ulti¬ 
mate purposes, we shall see the several pro¬ 
ducts—of the miller, the starch manufacturer, 
the straw bonnet maker, and even the paper 
manufacturer spread out before us. The higher 
products of the district, arising out of the con¬ 
sumption of its vegetable produce, will be ex¬ 
hibited in specimens of the animals so fed, of 
the cheese and wool they yield while living, and 
the skin, bones, glue, and other prdducts of 
their carcases and skeletons. 
Or the student may wish to trace any one of 
these ultimate products backwards through 
every stage of the process which its atoms must 
have traversed since they came from air and 
soil respectively. Let him take the article 
wool; he will find a series of specimens for his 
inspection, which, we are assured, is already 
marvellous for its completeness; he will also 
find specimens of all the different breeds of 
sheep in this country and in others—the names 
best known as breeders in the South-down, Lei¬ 
cester, Cotswold, and Cheviot districts are con¬ 
tributors ; and these specimens will be stuffed 
and otherwise prepared better than the scare¬ 
crows in the galleries of the British Museum. 
He will have an opportunity of studying the 
anatomy as well as the outer characters of the 
several breeds of sheep and cattle, for skeletons 
as well as stuffed specimens will be presented 
for his study. And traveling backwards fur¬ 
ther still, he will have to trace his way through 
specimens of all imported foods, and of foods 
prepared and grown at home; and thence to 
British soils, with the implements by which 
they are tilled, the manures by which they are 
fertilized, the rocks on which they rest. 
Who shall say that the interests of agricul¬ 
ture fail of being represented here ? A com¬ 
mercial company has seen the importance of an 
