It is one of the faults in the manner of j 
teaching Agricultural Science, that it is not j 
yet sufficiently-simplified- -has thrown about i 
it yet too much cf the lumber of the schools. 
It can be reduced to a few simple, familiar 
rules, brought within the comprehension 
of your children, as soon as they have ac¬ 
quired the ordinary rudiments of education. 
Such will be-the not far off results. 
Let us take a familiar example, in refer¬ 
ence to its capablity of being taught and 
understood. There is the primitive forest. 
Nature hae there adapted the means to the 
end. Vegetation has been there for cen¬ 
turies,-self-supporting and self-existing. All 
that modern Agricultural Chemistry would 
teach, lias been going on there. To sup¬ 
port that gigantic growth, the earth has 
been yielding it annual contributions. But 
nature is a good paymaster. It has all 
been annually returned. There has been 
the falling leaves, the decaying trunks, all j 
the while nicely adapting the supply to the 
waste; paying interest even, for there is no 
doubt that the soil undisturbed, is growing 
more and more fertile. Farm it as that 
forest has been farmed, and you have ac¬ 
complished all that, books would teach, were 
it not that there has been no rotation of 
crops. With you there must be. Clear 
off that forest and that under-growth, and 
you find the virgin soil well adapted to your 
purposes. But go on to crop at, year after 
year, removing each successive growth, and 
you have lost sight of Nature’s returning re¬ 
ciprocal policy. You have proved a bad 
paymaster,—you have impoverished your 
bank, and it has no means of discounting. 
You must go back to nature’s process, re¬ 
plenish when you have exhausted. 
And here comes in the aid of “ Book ” 
learning. It is necessary to know what 
chemical agents have been taken from the 
soil, in order to know what must be return¬ 
ed. Your process must vary, too, with the 
.kind of crops that have been grown and 
..are to be grown. Agricultural Chemistry 
>will inform you. It will tell you of simple 
tests—perhaps no -more than saturating a 
lamp of the earth -with vinegar—to deter¬ 
mine in what the -soil is deficient, for the 
production of a given crop. The Dutchess 
County Farmer was .a man of Progress,— 
one not afraid of book learning—who found 
that the had been using plaster or gypsum, 
until 'he had rendered his soil incapable of 
producing—made a chemical analysis of it, 
and found that a small quantity of salt and 
plaster would restore it. I name this as an 
example, and venture to assume that chem¬ 
ical knowledge, was absolutely the only 
means by which he could have arrived at a 
correct conclusion as to how plaster had 
operated—and what was the remedy. 
I readily grant that careful observation, 
experience, good judgment, may do much, 
may, under favorable circumstancs be at¬ 
tended with success. But at the same time 
I insist that even good farmers will be¬ 
come better ones, the more they inform 
themselves of the simple truths of Agricul¬ 
tural Chemistry. 
ashes, use 100 lbs. of guano, treating it in 
the same way. 
These and many ether fertilising mix- 
tures -are- valuable applications to the wheat 
crop, which we hope will come-ink' general 
use. There can be mo reason why in soils 
adapted tc this grain, we may not raise as 
large crops as the farmers of any other 
country, <aad grow them as cheaply and 
profitably. If we collect end economize, as 
some of our best farmers new do, every 
substance on the farm capable-ol being con¬ 
verted into manure, and save and apply 
these fertilizers in the ’best manner,-'the 
average* as well as the'Occasional product 
of -cur wheat fields can be brought up to 
the highest point, and the quality still be 
kept,-where it now ranks, first and foremost 
throughout the world. 
class. Althoug h the straw may grow lux¬ 
uriantly, the gri tin cannot be formed with¬ 
out it. Up to the formation of the kernels, 
ordinary soils, with rain, and dew,- and air, 
can furnish art ,d grow the -wheat, plant.— 
“ But,” says the Farmer, before quoted, 
“ when ■ it ccd aes to the last tug—to the 
fruiting part—-the plant -has to seek in the 
soil for- the m; iterials out cf which to fabri¬ 
cate its seed. It is necessary, ‘.therefore, 
that these be :m such soil,* what we-farmers 
call nutritive < >r putrescent-manure—some¬ 
thing-out of w hich nitregan can be formed.” 
Nitrogen is abundant in horse, hog, and 
sheep manure,, in that of cattle and fowls, 
<fcc., in fish an d flesh, in guano and all kin¬ 
dred substan ces. -So -we may conclude 
“that it is noi the application of manure 
directly to the wheat which causes..?, to fall 
ation is excess 
MOORE’S RURAL NEW-YORKER: 
A WEEKLY JOURNAL, DEVOTED TO 
Agriculture, Horticulture, Mechanic Art3 and Sci¬ 
ence, Education, Aural and Domestic Economy, 
General intelligence, the Markets, &c,, &c. 
CGKDTTCTED BY D. D.-T. MOORE, 
ASS1STKD BY 
J. H. B1XBY, L. WETFIERELL, and H. C. WHITE. 
Dr. M. M. RODGERS, Foreign Correspondent. 
Eds. Rural -.—Having kept bees a num- < j, 
ber of years—I send you a few observa¬ 
tions on their management, and thereby \ 
contribute my mite of information and ex¬ 
perience on this pleasant branch of rural 
occupation. 
Like Mr. Wilcox, I believe that patent 
hives are a nuisance to the bee keeping com¬ 
munity ; their only benefit being to abstract 
money from the pockets of Apiarians, with¬ 
out replenishing them by increased products 
of the apiary. 
I make my hives 12 inches square in the ; j 
clear, with a chamber 7 inches high for ' 
drawers, there being two in each hive, and J 
to hold about 10 lbs honey. In the bottom 
of each hive at the corner, I drive a nail, 
leaving it to project out ■§ inch, with holes 
in the bottom board to correspond, with the 
nails. In the summer the hives can stand ; 
elevated from the bottom board by raising 
the hive and setting it a little one side of 
the holes—in the winter they can be low¬ 
ered into the holes, and thus set down 
snug on the bottom boards. In the front 
and rear of the hives at the bottom, are the !• 
entrance holes inch by 2 inches, with a ) 
moveable slide so bees can can be-shut in / 
if necessary—in these slides are small holes 
for ventilation. These nails or iron pins 
are highly useful in hiving bees, by saving 
time and the lives of many bees which oth¬ 
erwise would be crushed in setting the 
hives qn the bottom board without them. 
My method of hiving is to have the bees 
alight on the limb of a tree, of which I 
have a goodly number convenient; tnen 
when half or two-thirds of the swarm have 
clustered, I shake them off on a board with 
cleets nailed on to rest the hive on. I then 
take the hive and set it over them on these 
cleets—the balance of the swarm will light 
down with them as quick as though they 
were on the limb. As soon as they are ^ 
about all settled, I then place the hive on 
the bottom board, (the nails keeping it from 
crushing any bees,) and carry it to the 
place where it is to stand—this is the work 
of but a few moments. When two or mere 
swarms are out at once, they can be kept 
divided by this method, with a little more- 
The Rjr al ‘New-Yorker is designed to he unique an 
beautiful in appearance, and unsurpassed in Value, Purity 
and Variety of Contents. Its conductors earnestly labor 
to make it a Reliable Guide on the important Practical 
Subjects connected with the business of those whose inter¬ 
ests H advocates. It embraces more Agricultural, Horti¬ 
cultural, Scientific, Mechanical, Literary and News Matter 
—interspersed with many appropriate and handsome en¬ 
gravings—than ar.y other pa]>er published in this Country. 
J^Eor Terms, &c.. see last page. ...C3 
PROGRESS AND IMPROVEMENT. 
or-rust,” thou| rh the appl; 
may .have that, tendency. 
To prevent this effect,"we must-seek to 
apply those manures also, which will pro¬ 
duce a firm, healthy growth of si?:aw.— 
Lime, asHes, gypsum, salt, &c., are useful 
for this-, purposie. Clover, furnishes sill the 
rvecesssry constituents in,abundance, and 
tide‘is the reason why-fit is so successfully 
used as .manure for the wheat crop. • “An 
acre-of wheat,” says Dr. Lee, “ needs, to 
foitsfl Loth need and straw,. 17 lbs. of phos¬ 
phoric, acid. An acre .of good clover will 
fiMffiisb 18 lbs. That quantity of wheat 
needs .2 lbs. of sulphuric, acid. An acre of 
clover will-supply 7 lbs. The former neMs 
1 lb. of chlorine—a substance that forms JO 
per -cent. in common salt. Clover will fur¬ 
nish '7 lbs. Wheat needs 13 lbs. of mag¬ 
nesia. .Clever will supply !8<Ibs. Wheat 
needs 24 lbs. of potash and soda, (and an 
excess.) Glover will furnish 77 lbs. Wheat 
neds 3-2J lbs,of Silica, of which closer can 
furnish only 15 lbs/’ This is but sand or 
flint, and is found abundantly in all soils 
capable «of producing wheat. 
As to ithe ; manures to be .employed; in 
addition bo green crops plowed in, or farm 
yard maiuares, the application .annually to 
leach acre,of 12 bushels of unleached ashes, 
two bushek of -salt, one of plaster, and two 
.of bone dust, (the latter dissolved in sul¬ 
phuric acid,) is .thought by able .agricultu¬ 
rists to be all that is needed to keep up the 
fertility of the soil. In England, where the 
product per acr-e is considerably larger than 
the. average in this.country, manure in some 
form is almost invariably applied directly to 
the wheat crop. In many cases, instead of 
plowing in clover and other green crops 
they aro fed off upon ;the land by cattle or 
sheep—.the distribution of the manure being 
secured by enclosing them in hurdles,—and 
then a liberal dressing given of bone dust, 
guano, and other concentrated manures.— 
Experiments of this character have been 
very successful wherever they have been 
tried in this country. 
We will give now, some of the ways of 
preparing composts for application; and 
might, had we time and space, speak here 
of the importance of using every available 
means of saving and increasing the amount 
of manure upon the farm. Those who have 
stable and barn-yard manure, half, or fully 
rotted down, -should, before applying it to 
the land, add to every 20 loads of it, 10 
bushels of ashes, one bushel of plaster, and 
two bushels of salt, then mix and shovel 
over, and leave it in the heap a few weeks, 
then apply it at the rate of 10 loads per 
acre before the last plowing. 
Another good compost can be formed 
from 10 loads of muck, mixed' with 10 
bushels of ashes, and five bushels of bone 
earth, suffered io remain in the heap 10 
days and then applied to an acre before 
plowing. Or instead of the bone earth and 
MANUKS2TG THE WHEAT CROP. 
In this, and many sections of the coun¬ 
try, the application of active manures di¬ 
rectly to the wheat crop, has not generally 
been practiced. The opinion widely pre¬ 
vails that such a course is injurious, by 
stimulating a heavy growth of straw—from 
its rankness and succulency more liable to 
lodge; and tending also to produce-rust and 
mildew in the standing.grain. In .some in¬ 
stances high manuring has been followed 
by such results, but in many more, very 
large crops of (the finest wheat have re¬ 
warded the application. We shall -gather 
a few of these esses, and follow them by 
some general remarks upon the philosophy 
of the practice. 
Several statements aret.made in the last 
volume of the American Farmer, and vouch¬ 
ed for by the editor, which are conclu¬ 
sive on this point <One of them says:— 
“A neighbor of ours seeded two acres in 
wheat, on a lot of rather heavy loam, w hich 
had been in early potatoes, .and liberally 
manured in the rows. After taking off the 
crop, he manured again with a heavy d ress¬ 
ing of night-soil; cross .plowed as deep as<£ 
strong team would permit, harrowed aod 
cross harrowed, until the (tilth was perfectly; 
ACmCULTHRAL CHEMISTRY. 
BY O. TURNER, B6Q»‘ 
In rthe history of modern-progress, there 
is no more striking feature than the discov- 
eries.and improvements in Agricultural-sci¬ 
ence. In the past ten years, these have 
added more of practical utility to the knowl¬ 
edge, of the farmer, than in any half century 
that preceded. 
The. chemist has analysed soils; the ge¬ 
ologists . and mineralogists have lent their 
aid. The instructed, intelligent, practical 
Agriculturists have experimented and de¬ 
monstrated, and collecting the results, of 
their joint-labors, the press-has broadly dis¬ 
seminated them. In a not far off neigh¬ 
boring county an Agricultural School hts 
been established. I will risk being called 
an enthusiast, by expressing tbs conviction 
that Agricultural Chemistry as an elemen¬ 
tary study, in. a form adapted to the com¬ 
prehension of your children—in a practical 
form, will soon be introduced into our com¬ 
mon school system. And why not? Your 
■ men of Progress,—the lights of the age 
—the benefactors of their time. Lave been 
at work, and furnished the facilities. They 
have taken the.matured stalk of wheat, its 
chaff and berry,.and with the aid.cf simple 
chemical tests, have ascertained with the 
utmost precision, -what the earth had given 
out.ia its production, and what, if .that was 
not-suffered to go back and replenish the 
earth, must be put .there to supply its place- 
©retake another instance;—.assuming the 
fact, that the wool upon a sheep’s back was 
the production of the food it eat,—the aid 
of chemistry was sought to ascertain of what 
wool was composed ? That done, a chemical 
analysis of different kinds of food, told them 
and will tell any of us, if we will profit by 
their labors, what will produce the most 
wool, and how ’even quality may be modi¬ 
fied by the choice of food! These are but 
instances of progressive science. 
Agricultural Chemistry! Farming by 
book and rule, as the chemist would mix 
and compound in his labratory! The very 
idea would have frightened our grandfath¬ 
ers. Bless their memories! Cherish the 
moral and religious precepts they left us. 
But we have just as good a right to avail 
ourselves of the discoveries as to the best 
manner of cultivating the earth, as we have 
to use Morse’s Telegraph. 
Agricultural Chemistry! Even the term 
is a new one, and yet it is destined to be¬ 
come as familiar as your household words. 
Knowledge, such as this, has come out 
from the secret caves of the Alchymists. — 
It can no longer be confined within the 
walls of colleges. It is walking abroad! 
In the form of cheap publications it has 
come and is coming to your rural homes. 
* Extract from an Addrqss delivered before the 
Niagara Co. Agricultural Society, in 184G. 
'■ acre, plowed it in three inches deep and, 
(finished by rolling. On these two acres he 
grew 104-j bushels of as £&e wheat as we 
ever saw, being.at the rate <of bushels 
per acre.” Hose no injury resulted from 
\ the highest manuring. 
| A butcher near Baltimore, Md„ had “ a 
< lot of 11 acres of bard yellow clay, much 
< mixed with gravel. He had for a few years 
previously used tide lot as a pasture for 
sheep; but concluding to set it in grass anew? 
it having nearly run -out; he manured it 
> heavily from his slaughter house, sowed it 
) in wheat in the fall, seeding to grass <the 
. ensuing spring, and his product was upward 
) of 40 bushels per acre.” We have also 
seen a statement of a Mr. Waln, who lias 
grown 11 ten successive crops of wheat on a 
} ten acre lot, the average annual product for 
the whole time being upwards of 40 bush- 
; els to the acre.” This was done by ma¬ 
nuring each year with stable manure—oc- 
' casionally giving the lot a dressing of ashes, 
and once in the course, liming the land. 
These instances of large crops after heavy 
I applications of strong animal manures, and 
<. the success that has attended the practice 
which has obtained in England for years, 
of using the strongest and most concentra- 
\ ted fertilizers, clparly prove that wheat, like 
all other crops requires to be fed, and that 
little injury need be apprehended from rea¬ 
sonable liberality in this respect. 
Of all grains, says Prof. Johnston, wheat 
, has in it more nitrogenous substances than 
. any other. Fifteen per cent, of the organic 
; matter of the grain of wheat belongs to this 
I cannot boast 01 reaping great profits 
from my bees, as some pretend to do. The 
most honey that I ever got from one hive 
was 45 lbs,—leaving enough for the bees 
to winter on. Twenty pounds would be a 
large surplus from my bees, for each hive 
wintered over, without reckoning any from, 
the new swarms. My experience in win¬ 
tering bees has been rather ufortunate from 
some cause or other, for I have lost gen¬ 
erally most all my increase for the season, 
but notwithstanding this drawback, have 
realized considerable from the surplus honey 
and beeswax.—White clover is plenty here 
It has been found by analysis, that wheat 
takes from the soil in mineral matter, 210 
lbs. per acre; barley, 213; oats, 310; tur¬ 
nips, 050; potatoes, 580; and cabbages, 
1,000. As the soil contains but 2 or 3 per 
cent, of matter available for the production 
of these crops, it is readily seen how the 
soil is so soon exhausted. 
The best fertilizer of any soil is a spirit 
of industry, enterprise and intelligence— 
without this, lime and gypsum, bones and 
green manure, marl and guano, will be of 
little use. 
