194 
MOORE’S RURAL NEW-YORKER: AN AGRICULTURAL AND FAMILY NEWSPAPER 
! 
gard to the weather. If “falling,” well; if 
not. plant, —but in a manner to save your 
labor and forward your crop. This may be 
done in the dryest season, by watering after 
setting, and covering the plants with a small 
handful of fine hay or green grass. A boy of 
fifteen will water and cover, it his materials 
are convenient, after two setters. This ma¬ 
terial for covering is recommended as the 
best, as affording sufficient shade, and at the 
same time admitting the free circulation of 
the air, essential to the health and vigor of 
the plants. Let the planter carry his seed¬ 
lings in a market basket, protected from 
the rays of the sun by a covering of fresh 
grass, from which he serves himself with 
plants, instead of having them dropped on 
the hills—with a boy to follow, watering and 
covering, and the work is performed with 
more comfort than in rainy weather, and 
with nearly equal facility and advantage 
and the main object, getting the plants in 
in good season, is secured. 
Yours, &c., Raab Schagy. 
Near Syracuse, N. Y., June 10, 1852. 
WANTED-A FARM SCHOOL. 
Among the mooted questions, which our 
bost practical farmers, after a discussion of 
years, have been unable to settle to their 
own or to any body elso’s satisfaction, is the 
comparative value for feeding purposes, ot 
hay—cut and uncut. Now wo want no bet¬ 
ter evidence of the necessity of science, or 
system, applied to agricultural operations 
than is afforded by this unsettled question. 
The men who are claimed to be the only 
practical farmers,—the only farmers worthy 
of the name—have had possession of the 
land of Massachusetts, and of the cattle on 
its thousand hills, since the Pilgrims put 
foot on Plymouth—for 232 years—and they 
liavo raised and fed and slaughtered hun¬ 
dreds of thousands of bulls and bullocks 
and $heep and swine; but to this day aro 
unable to tell how much feed it takes to 
make one pound of pork or beef; or what, 
of all kinds of fodder—Indian corn, the 
general stand-by, alone excepted—is the 
most economical. 
Now science, as advocated by this Jour¬ 
nal.—not simply the science of the schools, 
but science in its widest sense—would long 
since have settled this, and other kindred 
questions. This science, which we preach 
and strive to practice, requires system in 
every stop: each operation on the farm, 
then, becomes an experiment; the farm is 
one vast laboratory; earth, air and water are 
the elements in which we deal; every hour 
is one of pleasing anxiety, every season 
brings with it its stock of doubts to solve, 
and produces its crop of knowledge gained. 
The farmer’s life becomes one of constant 
and healthful interest; his mind, like his 
body, grows strong by labor, and he stands 
forth among his fellow-men at least their 
compeer in intellectual, as in physical vigor. 
It is mean and cowardly to shrink from 
the hearing and telling of wholesome truth; 
and though “ Tray, Blanche and Sweet¬ 
heart” may bark at us, we feel it in our in¬ 
most bones, and are not therefore afraid to 
declaro it, that despite our boasts.— despite 
our mottoes that “ Agriculture is the no¬ 
blest occupation of man ”—we neither are. 
nor do wo feel ourselves to bo the equal of 
many of our fellow men, of other profes¬ 
sions; and what is bad, too, they do not 
deem us their equals. Let the man who 
doubts this, postpone his huffiness for a few 
moments, and put to himself the question, 
“ Of two sons, one eminent as a lawyer, 
commanding the admiration and respect of 
the country, by his abilities; the other a 
farmer, following in his father’s footsteps at 
the plow;—of which are you most proud ? 
Whose opinion goes farthest with you ?— 
Who has the most weight in the State ?”— 
The professional son, without doubt. ’Tis 
the same, if ho was a pious and learned di¬ 
vine; or a well-read and skillful physician; 
or an ingenious and reliable mechanic. 
There is not one of the leading occupa¬ 
tions of men, that does not call into more 
active exercise the mental faculties of those 
engaged in it, than our own. These facul¬ 
ties, like our sinews, are strengthened by 
the exercise; and in this land, where “ the 
mind is the measure of the man,” and labor 
is honorable, he is most honored, whose 
mind most labors. 
Fellow farmers, let us pray you to meet 
this question on its merits, and as, from its 
importance, it deserves to be met; and not 
with hoots and huffs. There exists no rea¬ 
son under heaven, why the farmer should 
not be the intellectual equal of the proudest 
statesman, or the most profound philoso¬ 
pher; an<I why he should not be thus ele¬ 
vated by the very necessities of his profes¬ 
sion ; pxcept that we have voluntarily de¬ 
graded agriculture to the level of any ordi¬ 
nary drudgery, by claiming for its pursuit 
no other qualifications than bodily strength, 
and a capacity to walk in the cider-mill- 
track of a settled routine. AVe have not 
only done this, but we have fiercely fought 
all who dared to argue that we were wrong. 
We have doomed our children, too, to be 
drudges for life.—more automata, following, 
machine-like, the movements of some mod¬ 
el,—instead of using the reason, which the 
Lord of tho harvest implanted in the minds 
of husbandmen, as of others. And if, as 
wise .and holy men have thought, the kind, 
if not the degree of happiness which heaven 
affords, depends upon tho bent of our minds 
here, do we not rob those who look up to 
us for instruction by precept and example, 
of what wo can never return to them ? 
Let us now lug in tho two sons again, for 
an illustration. Why is it that the one in¬ 
tended for a profession is sent to school and 
to college to ho thoroughly educated, and 
tho other is put on the farm, as soon as he 
has learned to spell cow with a k, and to 
imitate in his handwriting tho tr.avels of a 
half drowned fly escaped from the inkstand ? 
It is because you know that education is 
necessary to the advancement of the pro¬ 
fessional'man. and because you believe that 
it will not aid the farmer. This is a woful 
error. Napoleon declared that of-two ar¬ 
mies, otherwise equal, that which was the 
most intelligent would surely be superior; 
and he proved it by dashing to atoms the | 
machine-men of Frederick tho Great; and 
all others built after the same model. If 
then, an active, enlightened mind is an aid 
to the soldier in the rudo shock of war, 
when brute force on the part of the rank 
and file, is supposed to be alone necessary, 
why should it not advantage the plowman ? 
and if the plowman, why not the sower and 
the husbandman ? why not the farmer who 
is to direct the animal force on his farm ? 
Lot farmers, then, accustom themselves 
to regard as a necessity, a good farm school, 
where their sons may be educated in all the 
branches, which will benefit them in their 
future pursuit; and enable them to elevate 
their calling, and themselves, to a rightful 
position. Here, and hero alone, can be 
carefully examined and accurately answered 
questions, like that with which this article 
commenced. Individuals may endeavor to 
settle these and similar questions. But 
few, that have tho will, have also tho pecu¬ 
niary ability, tho facilities and the perse¬ 
verance required; and the results obtained 
will not be as satisfactory or as reliable, as 
those afforded by an institution, where sys¬ 
tem is known to direct every branch and 
every single operation.— Journal of Agri¬ 
culture. 
FARM WORK FOR JUNE.-HOEING. 
June, balmy, leafy, weedy Juno is upon 
us. Trees, grain and grass are making i*ap- 
id growth. But faster and ranker than all 
grow the weeds. Now let tho war of exter¬ 
mination be vigorously prosecuted. De- 
lenda esl Carthago , —down with the weeds, 
—should be the motto of every thrifty far¬ 
mer. There is no safety in parleying with 
them ; let hostilities cease but a brief peri¬ 
od, and' the enemy, is master of the field; 
or, what is nearly as disastrous, they will 
have despoiled it of its treasures. But to 
drop tho figure; the whole month of June 
demands unceasing efforts to destroy tho 
weeds among cultivated crops. If one can 
keep ahead of them, cultivate and hoe, just 
as they are springing up, it is the best way 
to check them. But this cannot always be 
done, and hence some fields aro considera¬ 
bly overrun, before they can bo attended to. 
AVith these, a hot and drying day is all im¬ 
portant for doing tho job effectually; the 
exposure of tho roots for a few hours then 
will make a finish of them. 
By stirring the earth, not only aro‘the 
weeds destroyed, but the crops are benefit¬ 
ed. This is so well understood that every 
farmer practices it. Tho why and the when - 
fore this is so, science may explain; but of 
the fact there is no doubt. It is said, and 
justly too, that stirring the earth in a dry 
time, induces moisture in it; certain it is 
that vegetation of every description that 
droops in a drouth, revives by simply stir¬ 
ring the soil, and grows, too, apace. Keep 
the plow or cultivator with the hoe. moving 
in the corn and potato field, and tho crop at 
harvest will repay the laboi*. 
Tho first hoeing of corn if well done, is 
twice dono ;—carelessly performed, there 
will bo work and a plenty of it at the second 
hoeing. Every weed should be destroyed ; 
the smaller ones may be buried in the earth, 
the larger ones hoed up or pulled up by the 
i-oots. A great mistake is frequently made 
in leaving more stalks to stand, than can 
carry ears to maturity. AVhen crowded to¬ 
gether, six or more stalks to a hill, they 
grow up tall and slim, like treos in a dense 
forest; and for want of sufficient sun and 
nutriment, tho ears are few and meagre.— 
Four stalks, or five at most, are sufficient 
for a hill. 
Crows, squirrels, cut-worms, and othor 
vermin must be kept off from the corn-field, 
if a uniform crop is expected. Here as 
elsewhere, “ an ounce of prevention is worth 
a pound of cure.” For scaring crows, wo 
have tried various devices, such as suspend¬ 
ing on poles bits of shining tin, erecting 
flags and little wind mills, and stuffing old 
clothes into human forms. But nothing is 
more effectual, and more simple, than string¬ 
ing the field, as has been practised time out 
of mind. Squirrels may be trapped, or kept 
from the growing corn by strewing a special 
supply for them near the walls. Ashes, put 
around corn, will keep off the worms; but 
if they begin to eat off the stalk, they must 
bo hunted up early in tho morning, and ear¬ 
ly in the season too. before they have at¬ 
tained much size. AVhen caught there is no 
other way but to kill them. — Journal of 
Agriculture. 
Great Cheese Factory. —George Hez- 
lep’s great cheese factory in Ohio, converts 
tho m.lk of about 2500 cows, belonging to 
farmers in the neighborhood, into the best 
cheese, by labor-saving machinery. Tho 
curd is made, sacked, and marked by the 
farmer, and sent to the factory by a wagon 
which daily goes the rounds. Eight teams 
aro thus employed. The curd is then weigh¬ 
ed ; sliced in a machine; then passed thro’ 
the double curd-cooking apparatus; then 
through a machine which cuts it fine to 
powder, and salts it while passing through. 
It is then pressed, sacked, and again press¬ 
ed. A machine sacks 240 cheese per hour. 
The factory makes 300 cheeses daily, weigh¬ 
ing about 5000 pounds. Nearly 400 tons 
aro turned out yearly— Cultivator. 
A Mr. Leclere, of Leige, in Belgium, has 
succeeded in getting four successive crops in 
one year from a single potato; ho employs 
very early kinds, and plants tho same for 
each crop. 
“TROTTING HORSES IN AMERICA” 
MIXING SOILS, 
MANURE-SPENT TANBARK, HOW USED, 
In an article with this caption, in this 
paper of March 27th, says the Boston Cul- 
tivtaor, we spoke of a horse called the Ken¬ 
nebec Mesenger, taken to AA 7 inthrop, Me., 
several years since by Mr. A. Hayward. The 
following letter from Mr II., in relation to 
that animal and his progeny, is worthy of 
preservation as a land mark in the history 
of trotting horses: 
York, Livingston Co., N Y., ? 
May 12, 1S52. j 
Dear Sir: —Yours of the 27t.h of April 
last, reached hero during my absence from 
home, which has caused the delay in my ro- 
p’y- ... 
In relation to your inquiries respecting 
the horse called Kennebec Messenger, it is 
with much pleasure that 1 give you what in¬ 
formation I can in regard to him. As all 
tho records I had of the horse were de¬ 
stroyed by a fire which occured in our vil¬ 
lage in 1845, I regret that it is out of my 
power to givo you all the information re¬ 
quested. * 
The stock produced by that horse I con¬ 
sider superior, as combining more properties 
useful in a horse,than any other stock 1 have 
ever been acquainted with—being good for 
draft, for the carriage, for travel, parado. or 
for any place where horses aro required. 
They had great bottom and strength, and 
were of a hardy constitution. There are 
some horses in this town, twenty-two years 
old, that were by a son of Ivenebec Mesen¬ 
ger which I brought with me when I left 
Maine. They have al ways been accustomed 
to draw the plow, and perform other hard 
labor; and yet they have the appearance of 
young horses, and will now do more service 
than horses of seven or eight years old. 
Although I 'have somowhat wandered 
from answering, your inquiries, I will now 
say, that the time I took the above men¬ 
tioned horse to AVinthrop, Me., was the fall 
of 1819. I obtained him in Paris, Oneida 
county, N. Y., but cannot bo positive as to 
the name of the man of whom I had him; 
I am under the impression it was Rice, or 
AVright.. He was bred on Long Island, but 
I do not recollect the breeder’s name. I 
cannot state what was the blood of his dam, 
but it was said sho had some imported blood. 
I cannot tell the precise time he was foaled, 
but he was twelve years old past when I 
purchased him. 
The imported horse, Messenger, I have 
no idea was ever north of New York. The 
son of his which I took to Maine, was tho 
only stallion of his get taken into that state, 
to tho best of my knowledge; and there is 
not a shade of doubt in my mind that he 
was got by the imported messenger. 
Yours, very respectfully, 
Alvan Hayward. 
THE HEN FEVER AT THE WEST. 
There has been a terrible cackling and 
crowing down at Starkweather and Hook¬ 
er’s during the last ten days. The Boston 
hens have come in force, Shong hais and 
Shang haes, Guilderlands, Cochin Chinas and 
Chittagongs, Dorkings and Spaniards, aro 
there, male and female. Some of them look 
meek and demure, others st upid and booby- 
ish. The pullets crake and sing in a modest 
feminine way, while the cocks bluster and 
crow as though they were’nt afeard, and 
didn’t care who heard. 
One crows like the singing of a Bavarian 
market woman; another whistles it out as 
if ho was trying to shout through a ball ot 
wool, while one old fellow who makes noth¬ 
ing of eating his breakfast off the head of a 
flour barrel on end, and who looks as if ho 
did’nt know enough to go half over him, 
sings it out something like the bray of a 
jackass with a bad cold. One pugnacious 
little Guilderland has to be shut up by him¬ 
self, so bent is he on the destruction of all 
the other cocks of the Monagarie. Ho will 
pitch into the whole of them at once, tooth 
and nail. His gizzard must be a perfect ball 
of fire; while his better half is the most 
sweet tempered looking creature in all hen- 
dom, being spotted all over with tho neatest 
array of gilded feathers that ever adorned 
a hen pelisse; and with a bonnet of the latest 
pattern, from under which glistens the mer¬ 
riest and chickenest looking eye visible in 
these parts for many a day. 
Theso chickens sell, even out here in tho 
west. AVhat bettor proof could wo give of 
| being civilized.— Prairie Farmer. 
MIXING ASHES WITH MANURE- 
In an answer to the question, “ Do wood 
ashes operate on manure in the same man¬ 
ner as lime,” tho Cultivator remarks :—Lime 
tends to liberate tho ammonia of manures, 
by combining with the carbon with which 
the ammonia was previously united, thus 
setting free tho latter. AVood ashes are 
supposed to have a similar tendency to lib¬ 
erate ammonia. AVe cannot refer to any 
experiments made to test this point. It is 
not improbable that something of the effect 
mentioned, may take place from a combina¬ 
tion of the carbon of the manure with tho 
potash of tho ashes, which would seperato 
the ammonia from its union with the car¬ 
bon. Potash, however, greatly promotes 
the solubility of carbonaceous substances, 
and is highly beneficial from this action. 
At present we are inclined to think that 
wood ashes, mixed with strawy stable ma¬ 
nure, at the rate of a bushel of the former 
to a cart-load of the latter, would bo on tho 
whole beneficial. 
A ten-acre field, costing fifty dollars per 
acre, and ditched, manured and improved 
at fifty dollars more, so as to give double 
crops, is much more valuable and profitable 
than twenty aci*es unimproved, costing the 
same money. 
Timber cut in tho spring and exposed to 
hot weather with the bark on, decays much 
sooner than if cut in the fall. 
Some nine or ten years ago, in the early j 
part of my farming, I had occasion to deep¬ 
en a well about six or eight feet. The earth 
thrown out was a tenacious blue clay, just | 
damp enough to cut into lumps, and adhe¬ 
sive enough to remain so. After finishing 
the well, the man who had charge of the 
farm was at a loss to know where to deposit 
it. Having a rare sandy knoll in one ot tho 
fields, which was not inaptly termed “ per¬ 
sonal property, ’ from, its being watted about 
by every breeze, here to-day, and there to¬ 
morrow, it occurred to me that the clay 
would hold the sand and form a soil. I ac¬ 
cordingly ordered it deposited there in 
heaps, the same as if manure. This was in 
the summer. In the fall tho lumps were 
scattered over the surface and lett to the 
action of the rain and frost. In the spring 
it was found to have broken down, crum¬ 
bled and slacked like lime. These heaps 
were reduced and the clay evenly spread 
over the surface. Tho field received a coat 
of manure, was plowed, and sown with oats 
and peas. That where tho clay was applied, 
produced the largest and most vigorous 
growth, of any other part of the field. In 
the fall it was sown with rye, and seeded 
with timothy and clover. The rye as well 
as tho clover was much more vigorous and 
heavier on that, than any other part of the 
field. In fact, the person who occupied tho 
farm after 1 left it, informed me that he 
lost his crop of grass on that part in conse¬ 
quence of its lodging. Thus the personal 
was made real or fasto property, and remains 
so to tho present day: 
Having experienced such beneficial ef¬ 
fects from mixing clay with sand, I was af¬ 
terwards induced to try what effect sand 
would have on a rather retentive soil. The 
garden at Three Hills Farm, is a stiff clay 
loain resting on a strong tenacious.clay sub¬ 
soil, rather inclining to moisture. The sec¬ 
ond year after 1 purchased and took posses¬ 
sion of it, I caused a coat of sand, from six 
to eight inches in depth, to be put on one 
of the squares, which was spaded in with 
the manure, and I had the satisfaction to 
witness tho most gratifying and happy re¬ 
sults—the crop on that square was far su¬ 
perior to any other in the garden. Since 
then I have caused over five hundred one- 
horse cart loads of sand to bo put in the 
garden, and tho’ effect is still visible, al¬ 
though tho sand has disappeared.— Poole. 
ON FIXING AMMDNIA IN STABLES. 
Mr. Reed recommends sulphate of lime, 
moistened with diluted sulphuric acid as an 
absorbent of ammonia, that volatile gas 
which affects the vision of, and produces 
many diseases in. horses. Mr. Reed’s remedy 
may be, and no doubt is, a good one; but it 
is very improbable that it will bo adopted 
by any non-scientific person, who would find 
a difficulty in obtaining and applying the in¬ 
gredients : and as 1 have found a very cheap 
and efficacious remedy, which can be uni¬ 
versally applied, I hope you will givo the 
public the benefit of publishing in your 
columns the means of obtaining asweet and 
wholesome stable, and so prevent injury to 
that valuablo animal, tho horse, which it is 
as much our interest as our duty to do. 
My remedy is granulated or powdered 
peat charcoal, which is very cheap, and can 
be applied by every stable boy ; and such is 
the affinity between ammoniacal gas and 
peat charcoal, (carbon,) that tho former, 
whenever it is near tho latter, is attached to 
and retained by it, and thus the serious evil 
of tho dissemination of the poisons is en¬ 
tirely eradicated; independent of which, 
the mixture forms tho most valuablo ma¬ 
nure, and will amply repay tho expense ot 
the trivial alteration which it will bo expe¬ 
dient, but not indispensable, to make, by 
excavating under the centre and end ot the 
stall to a depth of about 12 inches, and par¬ 
tially filling up the excavation with the char¬ 
coal, (the communication from the centre 
to the end being by a simple drain,) which 
will entirely absorbed and deodorize the 
gas. Tho specific character of the above 
remedy can easily bo proved, by placing in 
the stable, near to one of the drains, a small 
quantity of charcoal, say two inches in depth 
on a squaro piece of tin of about 18 inches 
in size. After an exposure of a few min¬ 
utes, an analysis would prove that this char¬ 
coal had absorbed its own weight of this 
deleterious gas; and if this intermixture 
were used in the garden or conservatory, its 
beneficial effects would bo manifest to the 
most casual observer.— London Times. 
FEEDING OR CUTTING CLOVER. 
Mu. Nesbit, Principal of tho Agricultural 
and Scientific Academy, Kensington, Lon¬ 
don. has propounded a new fact in his esti¬ 
mation in regard to the growth of the clo¬ 
ver plant; which is that tho roots of clover 
are in tho soil in an exact proportion to the 
leaves in the air. That each leaflet that 
shoots upwards sends a rootlet downwards, 
and that if the leaflet is destroyed its radi¬ 
cle ceases to grow. From this fact he infers 
that tho land is left in a better condition 
for wheat when tho grass is left to grow, 
and is cut twice,"than when it is permitted 
to be fed down. 
An experiment, in reference to this theo¬ 
ry, was made by a gentleman of Northamp¬ 
tonshire. He took two equal portions of a 
field of clover, cut at mid-suinmor. One 
of these parts was fed by shoep and the oth¬ 
er cut again in September. From tho part 
fed. he took 85 cwt. of clover roots por acre, 
while from tho other ho took 75 cwt., a dif¬ 
ference of two tons in favor of tho cut. 
Do not many of our farmers unprofitably 
lessen their annual orop of grass by too close 
autumn feeding? James AValker. Esq., of 
Bedford, while he cuts his grass but once in 
the season, considers it poor policy to feed 
his mowing land, which of course he does 
not do.— Granite Farmer. 
An article in the N. Y. Express states that 
a small country tanner in France being en¬ 
cumbered with his spent bark, made a pile 
and mixed with it his refuse hair, horns, 
pieces of skin. &e., and by the addition of a 
few dollars’ wortu of some chemical sub¬ 
stance to induce fermentation, had rendered 
the whole mass good manure. Ho applied 
it to five acres of sandy soil, so sterile as 
hardly to produce a blade of grass, and in 
two years the field yielded, with ordinary 
cultivation, $250 worth of root crops. It is 
calculated that tho refuse of the tanneries 
in Franco will annually reclaim 30,000 to 
50.000 acres of land. 
Now, it occurred to me, that if some 
cheap chemical ingredient was generally 
known, that would render the immense 
quantity of spent tanbark annually wasted 
in this country, fit for manure, it would be 
a source of great wealth to thoso farmers 
who reside in the vicinity of large tan-yards; 
and hoping to obtain such information thro’ 
Tho Plow, I have taken the liberty of ask¬ 
ing the information from you or some of 
your correspondents, for the benefit of our 
agricultural interest. 
You are probably aware that it is the cus¬ 
tom among tho tanners to cast their spent 
bark from tho leaches into tho streams, 
which carry it away for miles, where it is en¬ 
tirely wasted ; or else it is thrown out around 
the tan-yard, and trodden under foot upon 
the adjacent roads. Some estimate may bo 
formed of the quantity of spent bark yearly 
made in this State alone, by informing you 
that an average sized tannery consumes 
yearly, about 3,000 cords of bark. Accord¬ 
ing to the census of 1840, there were in tho 
State of New York, 1,210 tanneries, employ¬ 
ing 5.579 men, and a capital of $3,907,348. 
During eleven years the number may have 
increased 30 per cent. So there now would | 
be 1.580 tanneries. If each consumes only j 
2.500 cords of bark a year, (some use 6,000,) 
it will give tho enormous sum of 3,950,000 
cords, equal to 4 000.000 tons per annum, of 
spent bark, and so much wasted manure.— 
If by some cheap and convenient process, 
this amount could be converted into manure, 
it would be so much clear gain to tho far¬ 
mers of this country. 
Tan-bark is sometimes used in our coun¬ 
try villages on the foot paths and garden 
walks for killing tho weeds, &c. The killing 
power is in the gallic acid which the bark 
contains; tho affinity being so strong it will 
not dissipate for a long time, and thus ren¬ 
ders it totally unfit for fertilizing land.— 
Some have recommended that tan should bo 
burnt or charred; but this process is tedious, 
and not always convenient. Although this 
is a good manure, yet it can be obtained by 
a much cheaper and more convenient pro¬ 
cess. Others have recommended tho ad¬ 
mixture of some alkali, as potash or lime, 
to kill tho acid of the tan. But this does 
not seem to meet the case, as theso alkalies 
cannot always be obtained without consid¬ 
erable expense. 
From the well known anti-putrescent 
qualities of spent tan-bark. 1 apprehend 
some difficulty in converting this article into 
good manure; but if some of your learned 
correspondents can throw any light upon 
this subject, they would he adding materially 
to the common knowledge of our farmers, 
and benefiting them and the country in 
general. c. w. t. 
Sullivan Co., Feb., 1852. 
Editorial Remarks. —That thero is an 
enormous waste of manure in spent tan¬ 
bark, we have no doubt ; but that it is as 
great as our correspondent makes it, we had 
no idea. One of the most profitable uses 
to which this substance might be applied, 
perhaps, would bo in mulching orchards.— 
It would keep the ground shaded, moist and 
rich, and the slow decay would give the 
trees exactly the kind of manure they re¬ 
quire. Wood decaying, will make wood 
living. Another very profitable use of spent 
tan, is to apply a few shovels full every day 
to the privy. It not only acts as a deodor¬ 
izer. but absorbs the liquid, portion, and by 
combination with the animal matter of the 
contents, it is converted into an unctuous 
mass of black, rich manure. It may also 
be used to great advantage as an absorbent 
of the liquid manure of the stable and 
yards, and pig pens. In composting, tan 
may be made a valuable ingredient. Lime 
is the cheapest and best “ chemical prepa¬ 
ration” that can be used to correct the acid. 
To make a compost heap with spent* tan, 
first lay down about one foot deep of tan, 
and upon this spread three inches of lime, 
then one foot of stable manure, then another 
layer of tan, then lime and so on, till high 
enough, cover the whole with charcoal dust, 
dry peat or loamy earth, a few inches deep. 
If you can get from tho tannery any scraps 
of skins, or oily matter, or if you can pro¬ 
cure the carcass of any animal, even a dog, 
or any animal matter of any kind whatever, 
whether flesh, blood, skin or hair, bury it in 
your compost heap. After three months of 
cold weather turn your heap, nvx and repile, 
and you will soon learn tho value of spent 
tan for manure.— The Plow. 
A New Idea in Agriculture. —The stew¬ 
ard on board a U. S. steamer,, in the Gulf, 
has produced several crops of excellent po- 
tatos by the following mode of cultivation: 
He procured a common “ crockery crate,” 
a bundle of straw, and a few eves of tho 
potato, and went to work farming it on 
board ship ! The process for cultivating 
them is this:—Fill your crate with alter¬ 
nate layers of straw and the eyes of thepo- 
tatoe, commencing at the bottom with a lay¬ 
er of about six inches in depth of straw, 
and then a layer of the eyes—the oyes be¬ 
ing placed about two inches apart over tho 
surface of the straw—then another layer of 
straw on tho top. Keep the straw always 
moist, and. in about two months you will 
havo about $14 worth of souud, good pota¬ 
toes of the “ first water.” 
