140 
5^n0toers t 0 Inqnirie©, ^c. 
USE OF SALT. 
Messrs. Editors —I see it stated that common salt, 
(muriate of soda,) is coming into use largely in Eng¬ 
land, as a manure. We have around a salt manufactory 
at this place, a large quantity of refuse salt, with which 
we could very easily test its virtues. I am, however, 
ignorant of the quantity per acre used- on land, and of the 
mode of using it; also on what soils, and on what crops 
it is found to be the most beneficial. Any information 
on this subject will be gratefully received. 
Athens CO ., Ohio, 1843. S. F. Vinton. 
In England, salt is generally applied to the wheat crop, 
and is spread on the fallow “ some time before sowing 
in quantities of not less that ten, or more than twenty 
bushels per acre.” The use of salt does not appear to in¬ 
crease the bulk of straw, but the ear is better filled, and 
the grain plumper and heavier. Another mode of ap¬ 
plying salt, is to take quick lime and slake it with sU-ong 
brine. This should be done a month or two before it is 
required for use, and then mixed with swamp muck, or 
earth, before spreading on the soil. Lime so prepared, 
is said to produce a capital effect. From the experi¬ 
ments made, it appears that light or gravelly soils, are 
those most benefitted by the use of salt. 
THE WILD CHERRY. 
Messrs. Editors —It is known that the leaves of the 
wild cherry, if eaten by cattle, when they are just wilt¬ 
ed by the sun, will kill them; whereas, when they are 
green, and also after they are dried, they are not at all 
hurtful to cattle. Can you give us the reason why, just 
at the wilt of the leaf, they are poisonous? 
L. Durand. 
The poisonous qualities of the cherry are owing to 
the prussic acid they contain, and of the various kinds 
of cherry, the Laurel or Bird cherry is the most dan¬ 
gerous. It was from the leaves of this tree that the 
poison was formerly obtained. W'hile the leaves are 
fresh, the poison is so diluted with the juices, that it 
loses most of its energy, and besides, animals cannot 
eat the same quantity of fresh leaves that they will of 
wilted ones. The consequence is, they obtain from the 
wilted leaves a much larger quantity of poison, and that 
in an undiluted state. In drying the leaves thoroughly, 
the poison is lost with the other juices; for of all poi¬ 
sons, prussic acid is the most difficult to confine or re¬ 
tain in purity. The numerous instances of the death of 
animals from eating wilted cherry leaves, should render 
farmers cautious how they allow cattle to have access 
to them in that state, or indeed to any extent in any 
other. 
GREENSTONE LANDS OF VIRGINIA. 
Messrs. Editors— The Greenstone lands of my neigh¬ 
borhood are the most valuable we have. I have noticed 
that ■where marine salt has fallen on this stone, it has 
hastened its disentegration, and so I suppose would any 
other salt, whether simple or compound. Disintegration 
changes the color from green to a bright brown. Will 
you be so obligingly as to inform me what are the com¬ 
ponents of this stone? (a) 
There are in my lands, and throughout my neighbor¬ 
hood, much bog iron ore; and I have noticed that where 
ever it has been brought to the surface, the land is pre¬ 
sently improved by it. Will you be so good as to inform 
me whether marine salt Avil! oxidize the iron, whereby 
the improvement may be hastened? (b) 
There is in my neighborhood a considerable quantity 
of sulphuret of iron. I have used this after it had de¬ 
composed and become copperas, as a manure for tobac¬ 
co, and found its virtue superior to jdaster. We are in¬ 
formed it has been extensively and beneficially used on 
clover in Flanders. Please inform whether or not this 
substance is used to any extent as a manure in the Uni¬ 
ted States, and the result? (c) 
Amherst, Va., June 16, 1843. Z. Drummond. 
(a.) Those primitive rocks in which felspar, as the 
main ingredient, is combined with hornblende, or some¬ 
times with augite, are termed greenstone. Their ap- 
peai-ance in columnar masses, as well as their injection 
in veins in other rocks proves their plutonic or melted 
origin. The peculiar qualities of greenstone soils, and 
they are usually valuable, is owing to the felspar the rock 
contains. Felspar is composed when pure, of silica 64 
parts, alumina 20, potash 14, and lime 2, in 100. But 
greenstone usually contains more lime under the form of 
calcareous spar, and it is evident that the disintegration 
of a rock so rich in potash and lime, must make a good 
soil. It is remarkable that felspar, perhaps the most a- 
bundant mineral on the globe, should contain about the 
same proportions of the principal earths that analysis 
shows exist in the most fertile cultivated soils. 
(b.) There are two oxides of iron constituting iron ore 
—the red and the black. Both are insoluble in pure wa¬ 
ter, and both dissolve readily in acids. It is the first 
which in boggy land is so injurious to v’egetation. But 
according to Sprengel, .Tohnston, &c. this red oxide ex¬ 
posed to the air, has the property of absorbing ammonia, 
and must thus be useful in furnishing it for plants. Salt, 
by the conversion of the black oxide into the red, might 
hasten this fertilizing elfect, but we have no facts or ex¬ 
periments to determine that such would be the result. 
THE CULTIVATOR. 
All soils containing iron should be frequently moved, 
kept free from water, and loose and pervious to the air. 
(c.) The use of sulphuret of iron by Mr. D., is the on¬ 
ly instance we have known in this country; yet Sprengel 
asserts that a subsoil from a bog, containing sulphuret of 
iron, produced great effects used as a fop dressing on 
grass lands. The explanation given is, that the pyrites 
absorb oxygen, and is converted into sulphate, and thus 
reproduces the remarkable effects observed on the addi¬ 
tion of gypsum, of sulphuric acid, or of sulphate of soda, 
to similar grass lands. 
CLOVER SEED. 
Messrs. Editors— One of your correspondents, in a 
late no., speaks of farmers sowing clover seed‘‘be¬ 
tween the thumb and finger, as if it were gold dust.” 
Now I am well aware that most farmafs sow grass seeds 
too thinly; but where they cost from five to ten dollars 
a bushel, they are almost as precious as gold dust. 
What is the reason that farmers in Dutchess cannot 
raise their own clover seed? If they can, how is it ne¬ 
cessary to manage a piece to secure the seed? 
If you will be so good as to answer these queries, 
Messrs. Editors, you will oblige me, and perhaps other 
subscribers. North East. 
AVe certainly are aware of no reason why as good 
clover seed cannot be produced in Dutchess county as in 
Seneca, and believe it might be. There will always be 
some failures with this crop; but in general, if managed 
well, a fair yield may be considered certain. Where 
the first growth of clover is allowed to proceed and 
head without mowing or feeding, it rarely fills as well 
as a later growth. In the clover seed districts of west¬ 
ern New-York, the first growth is mown early for hay, 
and the second is used for the seed. The growth will 
not be heavy, but the seeds will be abundant and of good 
quality. Some feed off the clover in the spring pretty 
close, and then take a crop for seed. Of the large clo¬ 
vers, this method does well, as they are later than the 
smaller ones, and require more time to perfect their 
seeds. With these, waiting for mowing rather hazards 
the seed crop, and we hav^e found feeding the better 
way. When the heads of the clover have become dry 
and brown, it should be cut while the dew is on, and 
suffered to lie until the chaff and stem have become par¬ 
tially rotted, never stirring it while very dry, as the 
seeds are easily lost. Clover seed is now usually got out 
by machines, which not only give a greater yield, lessen 
the labor much, but render the long and tedious process 
of rotting mostly unnecessary. 
NEW WORK ON FRUITS. 
We are gratified in being able to announce that A. J. 
Downing, Esq. of Newburgh, than whom no individual 
in the country is more competent to the task, is engaged 
in the preparation of a volume on fruits, which will, we 
are confident, be welcomed by every orchardist and fruit 
grower in the country. There has been so much con¬ 
fusion of names and imperfect descriptions of fruits, in 
our American treatises on fruits, (and foreign ones are 
by no means exempt,) that names and descriptions have 
furnished but very imperfect guides to a knowledge of 
the fruit indicated, and the purchaser of trees found this 
to be the case, frequently to his cost. The superior ad¬ 
vantages of Mr. Downing, his intimate acquaintance 
with the subject, and the skill and patience he has 
brought to the inimstigation, will doubtless correct these 
evils, and give the public a Avork on which both the 
groAver and the tree purchaser may rely with confidence. 
We give in the present number descriptions, with out¬ 
line drawings, of fiA'e varieties of cherries, and we hope 
hereafter to follow them up with drawings and descrip¬ 
tions of other fruits from the same source. 
NOTICE OF NEW PUBLICATIONS. 
“ Productive Farming.” —This is a popular digest 
of the recent discoveries in agriculture, and the conse¬ 
quent improA'ements, compiled by J. A. Smith, and from 
the press of Wiley & Putnam and D. Appleton & Co., 
New-York, to whom the agricultural public are so much 
indebted already. The arrangement appears to be very 
good, and the volume, a neat duodecimo of 150 pages, 
is sold at the low price of 31 cents. (A notice of this 
Avork, by our coivespondent “ Richmond,’- Avill be given 
in our next.) 
Johnston’s Lectures on the A'pptjcation of 
Chemistry and Geology to Agriculture. —We 
have received from the American publishers, Wiley & 
Putnam, New-York, Parts I. II. and HI., with the Ap¬ 
pendix, of this A'aluable publication. There is an inde¬ 
pendence of thinking and a clearness of reasoning in 
Prof. Johnston's works, that render them attractive and 
instructive. Vv''e perceive he has just been chosen as 
the agricultural chemist of the Edinburgh University, and 
that he Avill do honor to the place, none Avho read these 
lectures can doubt. 
“ The Economy of Farming.” —This A'aluable 
contribution to what may be termed our agricultural li¬ 
terature, is a translation from the German of Prof. Bur¬ 
ger, with copious notes from Thaer, Veit, Sprengel,&c., 
by E. Goodrich Smith, and published by Leavitt & Trow, 
New-York. It is a handsome octavo of some 140 pages, 
and afforded at 50 cents. These Germans are a curious 
people, the most imaginative and speculative on earth, 
and yet endowed with a nicety of calculation, a perseve¬ 
rance of purpose, a coolness of judgment, and a patience 
of investigation, that distances all competitors. We are 
glad to see this publication. We have had translated 
for us the great works of Liebig and Sprengel, embrac¬ 
ing the German theories of farming; now we have in 
this translation from Burger, ample details of their prac¬ 
tice; the Avhole interspersed and illustrated with a great 
variety of tables of the most useful kind. Differing in 
some respects as the German mode of farming does from 
ours, (though in a less degree than the English,) it is 
still sufficiently near to render the statements, tables, &c. 
very valuable to our cultivators of the soil. We are 
glad to perceive, in a well written preface, that, should 
the present issue meet Avith such a reception from the 
.public as to Avarrant further translation, the other por¬ 
tions of Burger’s works will be given to the public. 
On the subject of agriculture, there is a mine of riches 
in the German publications, the exploration of which 
has as yet been hardly attempted; and we much mis¬ 
judge the character of our farmers, if Mr. Smith is not 
encouraged to proceed with his translations. We cor¬ 
dially recommend it to all who wish a compend of a 
mass of facts of the greatest practical utility. 
Thirty Years from Home, or a Voice from the 
Main Deck. —This interesting volume, published by 
Tappan & Dennet, Boston, contains the experience of 
Samuel Leech, who was for Six years in the British and 
American navies; was captured in the Macedonian; en¬ 
tered on board the U. S. brig Syren, and was captured 
by Medway 74. We notice it here, because having a 
personal acquaintance with Mr. Leech, we are assured 
of the general fidelity of his narrative, and because it 
affords the best insight into life in a vessel of war that 
can any where be obtained short of actual experience. 
Since Mr. Leech has abandoned the great deep, he has 
taken a decided interest in the more peaceful pursuits of 
agriculture, in which he has become no mean proficient. 
As a narrative calculated to deeply interest the young, 
we know of but few works that exceed “ Thirty Years 
from Home;” and as the moral is every where good, 
Ave trust it will have an extensive circulation. 
The Every Day Book of History and Chronolo¬ 
gy, by JoelMunsell; Albany, E. H. Pease; 2 vols. of 
400 pages each. This is a valuable collection of facts 
in history and chronology, embracing notices of celebra¬ 
ted persons and memorable events in all ages of the 
world, arranged under each day of the year, forming a 
very useful book of reference, to Avhich all may refer 
with advantage. The author has been several years en¬ 
gaged in making the collection, which is particularly full 
on all subjects connected with the history and men of 
our country, and great care has been taken to give the 
dates in accordance with the best authorities. 
The Medico-Chirurgical Review. —This valuable 
quarterly Journal of Practical Medicine, is regularly re¬ 
published in NeAV-York, by R. & G. Wood, at $5,00 per 
■ annum. Each no. contains neai'ly 300 pages, close print, 
embracing a general view of medical practice and sci¬ 
ence in all countries, and must, we should think, prove' 
invaluable to the medical man. 
Blackwood’s Magazine _This well known maga¬ 
zine is promptly issued each month, by J. Winchester, 
New World office, New-York, in about 20 days after its 
appearance in Edinburgh. Only $2 a year. 
American Sporting Chronicle _Commend us to 
our good friend W. T. Porter of New-York, for a jour¬ 
nal which will unite the suffrages of all true sportsmen 
in the country. Not satisfied with giving us the “ Turf 
Register,” and “ The Spirit of the Times,” two publica¬ 
tions unrivaled in their way, he has commenced another 
under the title of the American Sporting Chronicle, 
which from the comprehensive nature of its plan, and 
the exciting character of many of its topics, as well as 
from its fine execution and its cheapness, must have ma¬ 
ny readers. In the success and spread of all healthy, 
manly and athletic exercises Ave shall be glad, but when 
they degenerate into brutality, and are of a character fit 
only for the savage state, they ought to be placed under 
the ban of the seA'erest reprehension. Believing that the 
Editor of the Chronicle views this matter in the same 
light that we do, we hope he will not permit his desire 
to cater successfully for all, to allow much of his columns 
to be devoted to pugilism, that remnant of barbarism, 
and practice utterly unworthy an enlightened age. No¬ 
thing can be worthy of attainment, the price of which is 
the surrender of public virtue and public morals. 
The Southern Cultivator _This is the title of a 
very neat and well conducted agricultural paper, recently 
commenced at Augusta, Geo. It is published semi¬ 
monthly, 8 pages quarto, at $1,00 a year, by J. W. & W. 
S. Jones. 
The Farmer’s Cabinet. —-This neat and well con¬ 
ducted paper has just commenced its 8th vol. Phila¬ 
delphia, published by J. Tatem —monthly, 32 p. octa- 
A'O, at $1 per year. 
“The Planter,” is the title of a weekly folio sheet, 
commenced at Columbia', S. C., about three months since, 
at $2.50 per year. It isably edited by J. J. Dubose, Esq. 
and has already done much to aid in awakening the in¬ 
terest which is now felt in that state on the subject of 
agriculture. The South Carolinians are beginning to re¬ 
alize the necessity of an improved system of culture in 
their present crops, as well as the introduction of such 
others as they can grow to advantage. Mr. Ruffin is now 
engaged in making a survey of the agricultural resour¬ 
ces of the state, from which much important information 
is expected. 
