312 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURISTS, 
The Back Volumes or the American Agriculturist, 
neatly bound, can now be supplied from the commence¬ 
ment. These of themselves constitute a beautiful and 
valuable Farmer’s Library, embracing a compendium 
of all the important agricultural articles that have ap- 
peareed during the last thirteen years. First ten volumes, 
new edition, furnished bound for $10. 
Bound volumes XI, XII and XIII (new series), $1 50 per 
volume ; unbound, $1 per volume. The whole thirteen 
volumes furnished bound for $14 50. 
Jmerm ^grialturid. 
New-York, Thursday, July 26Jj 
This paper is never sent where it is 
not considered paid for—and is in all cases 
stopped when the subscription runs out. 
We occasionally send a number to persons 
who are not subscribers. This is sometimes 
done as a compliment, and in other cases to 
invite examination. Those receiving such 
numbers are requested to look them over, and 
if convenient show them to a neighbor. 
USING BONES. 
“ Of all the possible modes of applying the 
bones of the premises, that of burning them, 
although attended with the loss of the gela- 
atine, is on the whole to be preferred, if the 
preparation is to be made at home, as we 
suppose, and only on a small scale, and with¬ 
out any special conveniences.” 
The above is from an editorial in the Am¬ 
herst (Mass.) Farmer for July. We are sor¬ 
ry to find Prof. Nash giving such directions 
to the readers- of the Farmer. To say noth¬ 
ing of the theory, or the chemistry of the 
matter, oft-repeated experiments made with 
bone-black—that is, burned bones from the 
sugar refineries—have proved that this sub¬ 
stance is of comparatively little value for 
most kinds of crops. It is true it has occa¬ 
sionally been found beneficial to some de¬ 
gree ; but in these cases the benefit is most 
probably to be attributed to the organic mat¬ 
ters retained from the sugar, and to the am¬ 
monia secreted from rains and the atmo¬ 
sphere, and held in the pores of the charred 
bones, or in the water contained in these 
pores. As a simple manure, to be applied 
to the land, we would not give five dollars a 
tun for burned bones. Indeed we estimate 
them as but little better than the same weight 
of the best charcoal dust. 
Bones should always be ground or dis¬ 
solved in acid to preserve the organic part, 
or, where neither of these methods are prac¬ 
ticable, let them be broken with a hammer 
as finely as may be, and applied in this 
form. 
Burned'bones from the sugar-house have 
been used extensively in the manufacture of 
artificial manure. They are treated with 
sulphuric acid, and Peruvian guano is then 
added. Theory ascribes the benefit from 
this compound to the superphosphate of lime. 
To doubt this theory would call down upon 
our (not) defenseless heads, the maledictions, 
and the cry of “ old fogie,” from the inter¬ 
ested manufacturers, and those sympathiz¬ 
ing specially with them, and from those who 
have looked just far enough into chemistry 
to believe that a short method has already 
been discovered for ascertaining precisely 
the elements necessary to be added to a soil 
to adapt it to raising any crop. So we will 
not undertake to deny any of the virtues 
acribed to phosphoric acid in the form of 
superphosphate, or in any other form. But 
we will suggest that it is quite possible, that 
as good results may be obtained from a com¬ 
pound made by taking all the other ingredi¬ 
ents—the sulphuric acid, guano and organic 
matters—-used in making the superphos¬ 
phate, but instead of the bone-earth, substi¬ 
tuting pulverized charcoal. There must, of 
course, be organic matter enough added to 
supply the loss of that contained in the bone- 
earth after its use as a sugar clarifier. Un¬ 
til these substances are tried separately from 
the phosphate, it is not the part of earnest 
inquirers after truth to lay too much stress 
upon the theoretical value of the phosphoric 
acid. 
We should be glad to see fair trials of the 
manufactured superphosphate side by side 
with an equivalent amount of sulphuric acid 
and guano, which may be purchased sepa¬ 
rately for less than half the price paid for 
them in their manufactured form. We 
merely throw out these suggestions as hints, 
at the present time, intending hereafter to 
discuss more fully some points in the min¬ 
eral manure theories so popular with certain 
agricultural writers and teachers. 
Mediterranean vs. Soule’s Wheat. —Mr. 
George W. Rector, of Newfane, Niagara Co., 
N. Y., has a field of Mediterranean wheat, in 
which there is no appearance of the weevil, 
while a neighbor has an adjoining field of 
Soule’s wheat, which is almost entirely de¬ 
stroyed by this insect. What makes the 
contrast still more striking, is the fact that a 
number of scattering stalks of the Soule’s 
wheat in Mr. Rector’s field, are full of wee¬ 
vils. We shall feel greatly obliged if our 
correspondents and subscribers, in different 
parts of the country, will furnish us accounts 
of all similar instances of the exemption of 
Mediterranean wheat, and also of those cases 
where it has been injured by insects of any 
kind. Early information on this point will 
be of great benefit to those who are desirous 
of procuring the best seed for the next 
crop. ___ 
Where to Keep the Great Wheat Crop. 
—The Illinois Central Railroad Company 
have commenced building a granary at Chi¬ 
cago, which is 200 feet long, 100 wide, and 
more than 100 feet high. This building 
covers nearly half an acre, and will require 
about two millions of Milwaukee brick in its 
construction. Its capacity will be over two 
millions of cubic feet ; so that, if filled full, 
it would hold more than one million six hun¬ 
dred thousand bushels of grain. It is, how¬ 
ever, to be arranged with bins, &c., so as to 
hold about seven hundred thousand bushels. 
This is to be the storehouse at one end of a 
single railroad. 
Charles L. Flint, Secretary of the State 
Board of Agriculture of Massachusetts, will 
deliver the annual address before the Hamp¬ 
shire Agricultural Society, at the annual 
Cattle Show, which is to beheld on the 10th 
and 11th of October. 
Colic in Horses. —Ahorse does not digest 
as well when at work. If you are on a 
journey, driving your horse forty miles or 
more a day, and feeding him extra messes 
of grain to keep his spirits up, without al¬ 
lowing him time during the day to digest 
them, if he should have a turn of colic at 
night, don’t lay it all to luck. The poor fel¬ 
low can’t vomit, and the undigested contents 
of his stomach have passed on into his small 
intestine. Let him stir about a little and he 
will get over it the sooner. Do not bleed 
him or give him any drugs. Until we have 
educated veterinary surgeons, commend us 
to the unaided provisions of Nature. 
Hay Boxes for Horses. —Some of the 
New-Orleans livery stables have wide plank 
grain mangers at a convenient hight, and 
instead of racks, boxes for hay extending up 
from the mangers through the floor of the 
loft above. These boxes are a trifle smaller 
at the top than at the bottom, so that the 
hay will slide down readily. They are open 
sufficiently at the side over the manger to 
allow the horse to pull out the hay, while 
the dust accumulates in the manger instead 
of in his mane. One hay box answers for 
two stalls. 
Yellow Birds vs. Weevil. —Mr. D. H. 
Roberts, residing on the farm of Orson Marsh, 
in Colesville, communicates the following to 
the Binghamton Republican : “ A neighbor¬ 
ing farmer wished he would get a gun and 
kill some yellow-birds, which farmers gene¬ 
rally suppose destroy the wheat. Mr. R. de¬ 
clined, as he does not like to kill birds of any 
kind. Out of curiosity, however, he killed 
one of the birds and opened its crop, when 
he found that the bird, instead of eating the 
wheat, eat the weevil—the great destroyer 
of the wheat. He found as many as two 
hundred weevil in the bird’s crop, and but 
four grains of wheat, which had the weevil 
in them. This is a very important discov¬ 
ery, and should be generally known. The 
bird resembles the canary, and sings beau¬ 
tifully.” 
-——ong^in.TTTSSPa^ 1 - —-- 
Trees at the Side of Railways.— The 
Austrian government requests the directors 
of the railways in the Empire to plant young 
trees, of a description indicated, at conven¬ 
ient distances along the lines, intending them 
eventually to replace the posts upon which 
telegraphic wires are at present affixed. If 
this plan should be adopted in the United 
States, a graceful tree would take the place 
and perform the service of the unsightly 
poles which are to be seen along our rail¬ 
ways and public roads. 
Regularity of Meals. —The first thing to 
be attained in the economy of a household, 
is regularity of meals. There should be an 
hour for every meal, and every meal should 
be ready precisely at the hour. Until the 
beef steak can come at the right time, let us 
have something that will, if it is nothing but 
bread and milk. The energy oi a man is 
paralyzed, and the business of the whole 
day deranged, by a nine o’clock breakfast; 
and if dinner is delayed until three, the day 
