277 
MERIC AN AGRICULTURIST. 
me to expect fleetness and strength from my 
horse without his grain and “ curry-comb.” 
But they reply with a significant smile, and 
“ Well, we’ve been farming-years, and 
you’ll find, after you’ve triedit long enough, 
that your new-fangled notions from books 
won’t do.” 
But I am not willing to lose the fruit with¬ 
out an effort, and appeal from the judgment 
of our conservative farmers, who seem con¬ 
tent to do as their grandfathers have done, 
to the experience and science of the editors 
of I he American Agriculturist, hoping that if 
1 am wrong in any particular, they will point; 
out my error, and guide me according to the 
light which they enjoy. 
I should have said, most of the trees arts 
sound, and have no appearance of decay, pre¬ 
cept an apparent want of food—I might say, 
starvation. The soil is good clay loam, 
which, where it was thoroughly manured 
last season, yielded, as I before said, fine 
corn—some ears fourteen inches long, and 
two of them on a stalk—and luxuriant pump¬ 
kins and squashes, beside Lima beans, mel- 
lons, marrow squashes, peppers, egg-plants, 
&c., in great perfection. 
I have already commenced under draining 
it, (although it is not wet,) and intend, if the 
weather during the winter will admit, to car¬ 
ry it out thoroughly, by all of which you 
will see I am sparing no pains to accomplish 
my object; and, if in your judgment, I am 
spending labor and money without, prospect 
of reward, you would confer a favor by say¬ 
ing so; and your decision will probably 
not only affect me, but scores of others of 
your readers. 
1 see by the last number of the American 
Agriculturist that a correspondent, from 
South Norwalk, asks for some one to adver¬ 
tise “Whale Oil Soap, with the price.” I 
have often wished that various agricultural 
articles might be so advertised, as guano, 
bone-dust, nitrate of soda, &c., &c. But, if 
not advertised, why should they not be 
quoted in the “ Prices Current,” especially 
in an agricultural paper 1 They are certain¬ 
ly of more importance to the farmer than, 
many articles therein quoted, for instance, 
“ Beestvax,” “ Bristles,” “ Cabbages.” In 
fact, it strikes me they are of prime import¬ 
ance, and I am sure that every farmer who 
reads the American Agriculturist would be 
glad to see in the weekly “ Prices Current” 
every fertilizer that is an article of com¬ 
merce quoted, that he might know their 
cost and make his calculations about their 
purchase and use, when he has leisure, and 
by his own fireside, (c) 
I have alow, swampy place that has been 
cultivated some, and this season I have 
plowed it thorougly, and drained it so as to 
carry off all surplus water, and that part 
which was the wettest I plowed deeply, that 
the frost may make the soil loose and friable. 
To facilitate that, and to hasten the decom¬ 
position of the organic matter in the soil, I 
have designed to apply lime, and have 
thought of doing it this winter that the 
freezing and thawing rains and snows might 
carry the strength of it down into the soil, 
and so get the whole ready for the suste¬ 
nance of plants early in the spring. Is this 
proper ? 
I have also a pasture lot, a part of which 
is low and swampy, which I have drained 
pretty thoroughly, and contemplate applying 
lime pretty thoroughly this winter, and in 
the spring apply fertilizers, including bone- 
dust, if desirable. Last spring I scarified it 
thoroughly with a new steel-toothed harrow, 
sowed on grass seed : guano and plaster on 
one part, and superphosphate and plaster on 
another, and improved it very materially ; 
but still believe it is deficient in some prop¬ 
erty necessary to supply milk, and from the 
best information I can obtain from the “oldest 
inhabitant,” it has been used for generations 
as pasture land, and the milk hay sold off, 
and hence I conclude it has become ex¬ 
hausted of phosphates, bone earth, and 
therefore contemplate the application of 
bone-dust, or home-made superphosphate, 
in the spring. Or will the application of 
lime be suflicient 1 
This is troubling you with many questions, 
but as the questions are matters of general 
interest to the readers of your invaluable 
American Agriculturist, may I not hope to 
see them answered, and at some future day 
you shall have a due report of the result. 
Camptown, Nevv-Jersey. H. 
(a) We like the spirit and determination 
shown by our correspondent, and do not 
think he needs much encouraging. We ra¬ 
ther fear he will push the matter too far. A 
bushel of lime around the roots of a tree is 
more than we should advise for a single ap¬ 
plication. The tendency will be to speedily 
exhaust the organic matter of the soil. One- 
fourth of this quantity applied once in two 
or three years, or an eighth once a year will 
be more economical. Soils limed too heavily 
are apt to become lime-sick after a time, 
which means nothing more than that the 
lime has exhausted the organic materials. 
So also with the barilla and other alkalies. 
The treatment proposed would probably 
show very marked results for a year or two, 
and if an abundant supply of organic matters 
are annually supplied, the good results will 
continue; but over a long period of time, the 
more cautious treatment we have recom¬ 
mended will probably pay the best. 
The winter application of lime is a good 
one, especially if organic manures are to be 
applied in the ^spring, for the two should 
not as a general rule be applied together. 
Lime exposed upon the surface will not lose 
any property except its causticity, and if in 
large quantities, it is better that this should 
take place before it comes in direct contact 
with the fibers of the roots, or the or¬ 
ganic manures. It is not advisable to de¬ 
stroy too many of these roots and fibers in 
breaking up the ground, though a pretty 
thorough loosening with a pick, crow-bar or 
even with the plow is desirable. 
(b) Where the trees are very old, so as to 
have much decayed wood, it is probably bet¬ 
ter economy to set out new trees between 
the old ones, and gradually remove the latter. 
This depends much upon the age of the trees 
now standing. But, as in this instance, the 
soil is described as a “ good clay loam,” and 
the trees apparently sound, cultivating or 
stirring the ground, draining, moderately 
manuring with akalies and organic or barn¬ 
yard manure at successive periods, scraping 
the trees (not too savagely), washing with 
common house ashes ley, quite weak, or a 
weak solution of soda or potash, and a pret¬ 
ty thorough pruning, will doubtless rejuve¬ 
nate the orchard, and yield profitable returns 
for the expense and labor invested. 
(c) We do not attach any special notice to 
“Whale Oil Soap.” Ley from house ashes, 
or a solution of soda or potash is equally 
effectual and is less expensive. In reference 
to the commercial manures, we recommend 
very few of them. Guano, bone-dust, sul¬ 
phate of ammonia, and nitrate of soda are 
about all wc can particularly commend to 
general trial. Guano has an almost fixed 
price, generally about $50 per ton. Bone- 
dust has also a pretty constant value, of 
from $2 50 to $3 per barrel, according to 
the quantity. Sulphate of ammonia has not 
till recently been offered for sale. Its price 
named in our advertising columns is at $6 50 
per hundred pounds. Nitrate of soda is not 
in market in sufficient quantity to have a 
fixed price. Wc have spent much time in 
searching for it and have seldom found it. 
If, after it has been thoroughly tried, it 
proves valuable, the demand will be supplied 
at a somewhat uniform price. “ Beeswax,’ 
“ Bristles,” “ Cabbages,” &c., are articles 
of extensive production, by fanners, in 
some parts of the country, and lienee we 
quote their prices. We give the price of„all 
articles, from week to week, which arc of 
general interest to farmers and of which 
we can obtain the standard wholesale prices. 
(cl) We recommend a careful and thorough 
trial of bone-dust on a considerable portion 
of the old pastures. In this as in all other 
cases, let a portion of each field be left un- 
manured, and mark the result, for only in 
this way can the profitableness of any course 
be fully known. Experiments, thus tried, 
are, in the present state of chemical know¬ 
ledge, worth any quantity of soil analysis 
and theoretical speculations. 
We thank our correspondent for his plain 
detail of his proceedings, which will furnish 
hints to others, and wc hope they will return 
the compliment. We can give space for 
several of just such details every week. 
PRESERVING FLOUR AND MEAL- 
We recently noticed the invention of Mr. 
Thomas Pearsall, of Tioga County, in this 
State, designed to prevent flour, meal, &c., 
from becoming sour in the barrel, from heat¬ 
ing, and which consists in introducing a 
tube of thin sheet iron, three inches in diam¬ 
eter and open at both ends, through the en¬ 
tire length of the barrel—thus admitting of a 
thorough ventilation of the contents. The 
Louisville Journal says the invention has 
been thoroughly tested, and its usefulness 
established. [Journal of Commerce. 
“ Our fellow-citizen, L. T. Thustin, of the 
firm of Thustin & Co., is one of the proprie¬ 
tors of the patent, and on the 1st of August 
last he put up several barrels of meal in this 
form, which were shipped to New-Orlcans. 
A part of that shipment has recently been re¬ 
turned to this city for the examination of 
those who feel an interest in the matter. 
We have seen this meal, and have eaten 
bread made of it, and we can not detect the 
least appearance of change in the quality, and 
in'every respect it appears as'fresli and sweet 
as when taken from the mill. 
“ Shipments have also been made to Liv¬ 
erpool, South American ports, and Cali¬ 
fornia. 
“ From estimates deemed reliable, wc learn 
that the loss on sour flour and damaged corn 
in the United States equals the sum of $5,- 
000,000 annually. In the port of New-York 
alone there are not less than 500,000 barrels 
of flour condemned annually as sour.” 
Book Binding. —Mr. Doolittle showed us a 
volume of the American Agriculturist he had 
just bound, which was an excellent specimen 
of substantial-binding. Two things are plain : 
Mr. Doolittle understands the philosophy of 
bookbinding, and the American Agriculturist 
looks finely between two handsome covers. 
Mid. Const, 
