AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
73 
ation. But every five quarts of air contains 
four quarts of nitrogen, and only one quart 
of oxygen. The nitrogen does not assist in 
producing heat because it does not unite 
with the fuel—it rather retards the action 
because it prevents the rapid access of oxy¬ 
gen. Now if we remove the nitrogen and 
supply the fire with pure oxygen—as is done 
in the vial or bottles—the combustion or 
burning is very rapid. We supply oxygen 
much faster than we could by blowing the 
fire. 
Let us now keep in mind that in our ordi¬ 
nary methods of burning, the heat is obtained 
by chemical action. The oxygen having an 
affinity for the carbon (coal) contained in 
the fuel, of whatever kind, unites with it in 
a condensed form, and the condensation thus 
produced brings out the before insensible 
heat. 
THE OSAGE ORANGE- 
The Osage Orange is fast gaining favor in 
this country, and is likely to supersede all 
other plants for hedging purposes. It is 
hardy, a vigorous grower, not liable to be 
destroyed by insects, and, when cut in, 
branches freely. It was first introduced 
from the wilds of Texas, by Prof. J. B. Tur¬ 
ner, of Illinois College ; or, as elsewhere 
stated, by Lewis & Clark’s Exploring Expe¬ 
dition, during the time of Jackson’s Admin¬ 
istration. Of late, thousands of bushels of 
seed have been annually gathered in Texas 
and Arkansas; and, at the present time, sev¬ 
eral companies are formed in the western 
States for the purpose of planting and train¬ 
ing these hedges at a stipulated price. One 
company alone, in Illinois, has a contract 
the present spring of 225 miles. They fur¬ 
nish the plants and bring the hedge to matu¬ 
rity at prices ranging from 75c. to $1 25 per 
rod : or, if otherwise taken care of, set out 
the plants for from 30c. to 40c. per rod. 
The hedge is sufficient for inclosing stock 
in four years, and is so close as scarcely to 
admit a chicken or rabbit. It is carefully 
estimated that the cost of raising and keeping 
it in repair is, in many locations, not greater 
than that of a rail fence, while in point of 
beauty there is no comparison. * 
“WESTCHESTER COUNTY MILK.” 
If a stranger Avere to count the Westches¬ 
ter County milk carts which daily rattle 
through our streets, he would doubtless con¬ 
clude Westchester County to be an unlimit¬ 
ed country abounding in succulent pastures 
and famous dairy cows, whose only ambition 
is to excel each other in abundance of “ pure, 
unadulterated milk.” If he were to inquire 
the location of this famous country, he might 
be surprised to find it in New-York City, and 
that these cows, instead of roaming broad 
fields by day and enjoying spacious stables 
at night, are stowed away like beastly swine, 
whose only diet is a simple decoction of 
distillery slops and swill, which it is their 
office to convert into “ pure W'estchester 
County milk.” 
And yet we saw a man a day or two ago 
in great distress, because the new Liquor 
Law would be likely to throw this numer¬ 
ous class of citizens out of employment. 
Why, we have often wondered that West¬ 
chester County did not come down en masse, 
and sue our city milkmen for libel. What 
could possibly be more libelous than to fill 
a dozen cans with pale whitewash and cart 
it around the city under the title of “ pure 
milk 1” We shall be glad to find this the 
only ill effect of the new Liquor Law. 
Now we can suggest a way in which those 
persons who anticipate such disaster to their 
business, can advance good for evil, before 
the Law takes effect. It is this : Build an 
enormous trough, say five hundred feet long, 
up near the Cattle Market. Carry all the 
milk up there every day and turn it in ; then 
turn out the pigs three times a day, and let 
them drink. In this way they will confer a 
double favor on society, and honor upon 
themselves. * 
MIXING SALT WITH GUANO- 
The following experiments, performed by 
M. Barral, editor of the Journal d’Agricul- 
ture Pratique, which we extract from the 
Journal of Agriculture, prove the value of 
common salt as a fixer of ammonia. The 
most of the nitre (saltpetre or nitrate of pot¬ 
ash) used in France for the manufacture of 
gunpowder is obtained by mixing the nitrate 
of soda with the chloride of potassium, when 
a double decomposition takes place, and the 
nitrate of potassa or nitre is formed and re¬ 
moved, and common salt, containing a small 
quantity of the nitrate is left as refuse. M. 
Barral took two samples of guano ; the one 
he kept pure, the other he mixed with this 
refuse salt in the proportion of 50 per cent 
of the salt. 
“ The sample of pure guano which we an¬ 
alyzed,” says M. Barral, “ contained 12.56 
per cent of nitrogen; the sample mixed with 
salt contained only 6.23 per cent. We do 
not take into account the nitrogen in the 
state of nitrate mixed with the salt. We 
subjected equal weights of the two samples 
to heat for three hours in the same stove, in 
a current of air, maintained at 100°. They 
were spread out so as to have the same 
thickness, and occupy an equal surface, and 
they had been equally pulverized. At the 
end of the three hours, on examining the 
two samples, we found that the pure guano 
had lost 5.1 per cent of its nitrogen, while 
the mixture had lost only 1.9 per cent of its 
nitrogen. 
“ Though this experiment appeared to us 
to be in favor of the preservative power of 
salt, we repeated it under another form. We 
left in the open air, in plates, during fifteen 
days, equal weights of the pure and the 
mixed guano. At the end of that time we 
examined anew the amount of nitrogen, and 
found that the pure guano had lost 11.6 per 
cent of its nitrogen, while that mixed with 
salt had lost only 5 per cent. Thus we see 
that salt can be usefully employed for mix¬ 
ing with guano. 
“ Five years ago, in our work on the Chem¬ 
ical Statics of Animals, we showed that salt 
had the property of increasing the amount of 
nitrogen, and consequently the value of the 
manure derived from the urine of animals. 
We only allude to this to prove that the fact 
verified at present with regard to guano is 
only the consequence of a former observa¬ 
tion, and to prevent the suspicion of plagiar¬ 
ism.” 
This property of salt as a fixer of ammo¬ 
nia has not been sufficiently attended to in 
agriculture. While some chemists recom¬ 
mend gypsum, nitrate of lead, chloride of 
zinc, sulphate of iron, and chloride of manga¬ 
nese for this purpose, common salt is but 
rarely alluded to. It has been used extens¬ 
ively of late, with nitrate of soda as a top¬ 
dressing, with the view of strengthening the 
straw of the cereals. It has been alleged 
that guano tends very much to increase the 
growth of shaws (vines or tops) in the pota¬ 
to crop. We are of opinion, from numerous 
experiments variously detailed, that, when 
applied to this crop, the guano should al¬ 
ways be mixed with some fixer of the am¬ 
monia, such as gypsum, salt, or charcoal: 
at present prices the most expensive of these, 
at the rate of 100 lbs. per acre, will not cost 
more than 50 cents per acre. 
Another important fact, independent of the 
value of the salt, brought out by M. Barral’s 
experiment, is the great waste of ammonia 
which takes place on exposing guano to the 
air. It will be remarked that, in the case 
before us, upwards of one-tenth of the nitro¬ 
gen was lost in the course of fifteen days. 
This shows the necessity of farmers hus¬ 
banding as much as possible this important 
ingredient of their manure : instead of throw¬ 
ing their guano in exposed sheds, as is too 
often done, it should be carefully covered up, 
and mixed immediately on their receiving it, 
with some preserver of its ammonia. 
ENCOURAGING TO FARMERS. 
We desire to call the attention of farmers 
to our Price Current this week. They will 
see that Flour, Corn, and some other things 
have advanced materially ; and that prices 
on the whole have not ruled so high for 
many, many years. This should encourage 
them to prepare their ground in the best pos¬ 
sible manner for the reception of seed, and 
then cultivate the growing crops in the best 
manner. The stocks of grain and vegetables, 
both in this country, and in Europe, are so 
small, the cultivators of the soil can not but 
realize high prices for their produce during 
this year, however abundant may be their 
crops the coming season. Farmers will 
greatly enrich themselves this year if they 
properly prepare and cultivate their lands. 
Use All Your Land. —How often do you 
see men adding acre to acre, for the sake of 
having a large farm to cultivate, when they 
have never yet tilled one-lialf of the land 
which they possessed in the first place. 
They have cultivated, perhaps, five or six 
inches of the surface, and have never made 
the least use of the eight, ten, or twelve 
inches which lie immediately below it. A 
few years ago there was a premium offered 
in Kentucky for the best ten acres of corn. 
The average crop of the competitors was 122 
bushels per acre. Now, if that quantity of 
corn can be produced upon an acre, is it not 
folly for you, intelligent reader, to add more 
land to that which you already possess, un¬ 
til you have made the latter capable of pro¬ 
ducing that number of bushels, or as near it 
as may be 1 You know very well that you 
can raise these 122 bushels a great deal more 
cheaply off of one acre than if you had to 
cultivate three or four for that purpose. 
Why then buy more land until you have 
brought under cultivation what you already 
