POTASH FOR AGRICULTURAL PURPOSES FROM GRANITE. 
269 
turn under the sod as deep as you can, and it will 
bring a better crop with less labor than any other 
mode. One of the great comforts of this mode of 
cultivation is, that you have but very few weeds, 
and but little grass among the corn, and the sod, 
rotting in the latter part of the season, makes grain 
instead of stalks. Notwithstanding the success of 
Mr. Baker. I presume that few of his neighbors 
will “ go and do likewise,” because he is a “ book 
farmer.” 
English Mode of Making Butter. —I wish Dr. 
Wills would explain the use or advantage of put¬ 
ting the saltpetre in the milk pail. I do not think 
that the cows should be housed at night in this 
country during the hot weather of our summers. 
Some of the other directions are very good. A 
thermometer churn, however, where the hot water 
is put around, instead of in, the cream is much bet¬ 
ter. 
Superiority of Brown Bread over White. —What 
is the use of preaching to a set of people dying 
with dyspepsia, in consequence of eating so much 
white fancy bread, when they might prolong their 
lives by changing their diet to brown bread ? They 
won’t do it. They would rather “ eat and die.” 
The Effects of Bright Colors on Animals , the wri¬ 
ter says is such as to provoke a bull almost to 
madness. Ah ! And according to my way of 
thinking, it has almost driven the wearers to mad¬ 
ness, for every comfort and in some cases virtue, 
health, and even life has been sacrificed to obtain 
these bright-colored garments. As to bright colors 
exciting a warlike spirit, I cannot say; but I am 
sure it sometimes excites a very wicked one, full of 
envy, covetousness, ill will, and foolishness. 
Pork vs. Bacon., fyc. —I would refer this writer to 
some of the back volumes of the Agriculturist, 
where he will find a true and particular account of 
all he wishes to know upon this subject in several 
experiments made in cutting up pork by one of your 
old correspondents, Mr. Robinson, of Indiana. It 
is a wonder that good stout thread, in hanks, can¬ 
not be made of cotton, as well as fine thread upon 
spools. And it is equally wonderful that the kind 
of cotton hose that “ Querist” inquires for cannot 
be had. I make it a rule never to criticise the 
style of a correspondent, for if I did, I should say 
that the ideas of this writer are sadly jumbled up 
together. 
Filtration Upwards. —That looks plain and rea¬ 
sonable. But the best filter for Croton water, or 
any other, where there is a strong head, is the dia¬ 
phragm filter. Another excellent filter for house¬ 
hold use, is a filtering stone. But the apparatus 
described in this article is certainly very neat and 
I have no doubt is very effectual. There is no use 
of drinking muddy water when it is so easily pu¬ 
rified. I commend these filters to the attention of 
some of the dwellers upon the banks of the Missis¬ 
sippi, and all other muddy streams. It is scarce pos¬ 
sible to drink such water without bringing on a 
diarrhoea, and this is the reason so many emi¬ 
grants are now dying of cholera in the towns on 
the Mississippi and its tributaries. I look upon a 
voyage up any of these streams as the surest prepa¬ 
ration an European emigrant could take to ensure his 
getting the cholera. 
American Capons. —By reference, American ca¬ 
pons must be something different from English 
ones. It seems by Mr. Colt’s account, that it is 
“ practice that makes perfect,” in this business, as 
well as in some others. Caponising turkeys is 
something new. Can’t you contrive to get me an 
invitation, also, to that “ thanksgiving dinner?” 
If I find that turkey very nice, I will recommend 
others “ to go and do likewise,” the invitation to 
dinner included. 
Green Sward for Boot Crops. —My opinion is 
the same as in regard to corn. I fully believe that 
we should see our account in it, if we should grow 
a great many crops in the same manner we should 
see our product increased and labor decreased. 
And finally if we should read more and try to im¬ 
prove, instead of dragging along the same old path 
our fathers trod, without ever thinking whether it 
is right or wrong, we should improve more, live 
easier,and die better.” Reviewer. 
POTASH FOR AGRICULTURAL PURPOSES FROM 
GRANITE. 
We clip the following from an exchange paper, 
as containing valuable information for the agricul¬ 
tural public :—“ A discovery has been made in 
Ireland, that the granite on an extent of 70 miles 
in Wexford, contains so large a proportion of pot¬ 
ash, that the alkali can be extracted by a chemical 
process so as to become an article of commerce. 
It is estimated that there are 2,000 tons of potash, 
the produce of America, consumed annually in 
England and Scotland, the present cost of which is 
£40 per ton ; and that, by working the granite of 
Dalkey, which extends inward to Sandyford, the 
same quantity could be extracted by means of the 
capital of £10,000, and sold at £20 per ton, yield¬ 
ing a revenue rate for the capitalists, and diffuse 
the blessings of employment among the people, 
and not only render it quite impossible for the 
Americans to compete with the Irish, but really 
push an Irish trade in potash into the American 
continent.” 
The process of extracting the potash from granite 
is not given; but we presume it is done by roast¬ 
ing, and then slaking, by pouring water upon it 
when hot. This will undoubtedly liberate the pot¬ 
ash to such an extent, that all the alkali will be 
readily available for the food of plants; all that 
remains to be done is simply to throw it upon the 
land. The mare expensive process of leaching 
and boiling, to extract the potash, which is required 
to prepare it for market, may be entirely avoided. 
The component parts of granite are quartz, fel¬ 
spar, and mica. Sienite, which is often called 
granite, and is the material generally furnished from 
the quarries at Quincy, Mass., differs from the 
technical granite of geologists, in containing horn¬ 
blende in place of mica; but being formed under 
similar circumstances, and frequently in the same 
beds or quarries with granite, it often passes, by 
imperceptible gradations, into a combination with 
considerable proportions of quartz and mica. 
Pure quartz consists entirely of silex. Felspar 
varies essentially in its constituent parts, but fre¬ 
quently contains from 12 to 17 per cent, of potash, 
one to two per cent, of lime and soda, and about 
18 per cent, of alumina. Mica contains from 4 
to 8 per cent, of potash, and other alkalies, valua- 
