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OorAL 
CULTURE 
EXCELSIOR 
5 lleeUniuil St., New York 
82 liullalo Hi., Rochester. 
gtf.OO IM5R YEAR. 
Htu^le ,\o., liiglu Cents. 
WHOLE NO. 1132 
the Librarian of Congress, at Washington.] 
fEnter ed according to~Act of Congress. In the year lSTlTbr P- D. T. Mouke. In the office of i 
sntisty himself in regard to the rel- obtain the insignificant harvest of only live 
(portion in which these elements or six hectolitres* per hectare, (14 to 17 
n the soil upon which he had to bushels per 2% acres, or 6 to 7 bushels per 
lie analyzed the same, and found acre;) and, notwithstanding all this, the 
,000,000 kilogrammes, representing loin harvests had only removed from the 
_— — He came, therefore, to the important con- 
elusion, (which he had before surmised,) 
Mud a soil may still contain in large quantity 
t__ </w indispeusable Mineral ingredients, and not- 
withstanding this, not jtresent them in a soluble 
ffmlmmm ' condition to the plants, so that their organs mag 
ilffliiSfilBllli U assimilate them. This scientific truth gives 
902.11 kil. of grain. (A kilogramme is very 
nearly 2%i pounds avordupois.) Pig. 2 is 
product of natural soil with artificial fertili¬ 
zer containing all the mineral elements, but 
no liitrogenized substances. Product per 
hectare, 3003 kil. of straw, and 1288.10 of 
grain. Pig. 3 is the product ot natural soil 
with an artificial fertilizer containing the 
nitrogenized substances without the mineral. 
Product per hectare, 3587 kil. straw and 
1020.20 of gfain. Pig. 4. is the product of 
natural soil with a complete fertilizer con¬ 
taining mineral ami nitrogenized substances. 
Product, per hectare, 6931 kil, of straw and 
3790.46 of grain. 
---- 
Florida Turnips. 
I see in the Rural New-Yorker, July 
29, a statement that near New Orleans a 
turnip has been produced weighing six 
pounds. 1 do not know whether you think 
this remarkable or not; but it you do, let 
Kllogra mines 
sugar. 
On natural soil, without fertilizer...-• 
“ « with fertilizer, without ni¬ 
trogen .. 
“ *• with fertilizer, with’t phos¬ 
phates .. 
•• “ with fertilizer, without pot¬ 
ash... ••••■-•— 
»* •* with fertilizer, with t lime 
“ •• with complete fertilizer ... 
EXPERIMENTS 0E PROP. VILLE 
Pen** nml Wheat. 
With Beans, 
These experiments are said to be those of 
Prof Ville made at the farm at Vincennes; 
but the fact is they were also made by two 
thousand agriculturists in co-operation and 
constant, aelivo correspondence with him; 
and their letters were classified and preserved. 
We have already given in the Rural New- 
Yorker, two articles relating to these exper¬ 
iments. Wo copy the following with illus¬ 
trations from the Manufacturer and Builder: 
Professor Ville, wishing to discover the 
useful ingredients of dry, farm manure, ob- 
iilysis the following result: 
taiued by an 
f Carbon 
Organic Hydrogen >. 
Element | Oxygen ). 
I Nitrogen. 
i Phosphoric Held. 
Sulphuric " . 
Chlorine. 
Alumina and iron 
Mineral Lime. 
Element Magnesia. 
Soria... 
Piu.ish. 
Soluble allien. 
Sand . 
rcbitfctmre 
1‘rotate l. 
about the surface of t!. • available soil dis- 
tributed over a hectare, (about 2 % acres,) 
there was: 
X-line.39,3<w kilogrammes, or 80,000 lbs.about. 
Potash.2.361 “ “ LfW ,) 
Phosphide a’d 1.790 “ “ 3.7o0 
HOW TO CONSTRUCT A ROOT HOUSE. 
It might be useful to some of your readers 
to know how I constructed my root house, 
which 1ms proved to be a real success. 
Where my outbuildings are situated the rock 
is within two feet of the surface, hence l 
built it above ground, along the back side of 
the cattle stable, of two walls of logs having 
no connection with each other. 1 chinked 
the walls tightly and plastered the inside of 
the inner wall; left a space of fifteen inches 
between the walls, which I filled with black 
muck. I roofed it up to tlm stable, with ce¬ 
dar split, four to six Inches in thickness, 
threw on first, a nice covering of straw, then 
six inches of black muck, then another cov¬ 
ering of old straw, and the roof was finished. 
I made a trapdoor In the roof, at the center, 
to throw the turnips in out of the wagon, 
(of course 1 made a box round it to keep the 
earth from running down.) I don’t close it 
until winter sets in ; and all that is necessary 
for this is a piece of board to cover the trap, 
and a bunch of pea Straw. I have a venti¬ 
lator at the very top, with a tube about ten 
inches square, so nigh that the snow never 
rises over it, which 1 keep open all winter; 
otherwise the turnips would rot by having 
SO many of them together. Tim building is 
twenty-four by eight inside, and holds about 
Figure 2. 
Mr. Ville has varied the application of 
this method, which, by its simplicity is with¬ 
in reach of the smallest agricultural enter¬ 
prises. 
was yearly ciimmisniug, Air. ville piaiueu 
wheat, to which lie yearly gave a dose, after 
his scientific principles, and from this he ob¬ 
tained each year, during eight years, a mid¬ 
dling harvest of 32 hectolitres to the hectare, 
(about 40 bushels per acre,) while the soil 
without fertilizers gave only 11 hectolitres, 
(about 13 bushels per acre.) By manuring 
with nitrogenized matter alone, he did raise 
this product front 11 hectolitres to 20 ; and 
by using mineral matter alone without nitro¬ 
genized, he obtained 10 hectolitres per hec¬ 
tare. 
The three following experiments show 
clearly what elements are most needed by 
the soil, and consequently what those are of 
which the largest quantity must be taken in 
(lie methods of manufacturing fertilizers. 
It is, in fact, to suite the conditions correctly, 
a true, practical analysis of the soil; uot an 
analysis in the scientific sense of the word ; 
but an analysis in regard to the needs of the 
plants, and the requirements of their culti¬ 
vation. 
In 1864, Mr. Ville obtained in Vincen¬ 
nes, with wheat: 
Hectolitres 
wheat. 
On natural soil, without fertilizer.... 11 
•• “ with fertilizer, without nltro- 
genized matter..... 15 
“ ■* with fertilizer, without phos¬ 
phates ... . 24 
“ •• with fertilizer, without potash. 28 
•• •* •• " lime... 37 
“ •• with complete fertilizer. 39 
M. Cavallieh, at Mesuil St. Nicaise, De¬ 
partment Somme, obtained with beet-root: 
Kilogrammes. 
Naturul soil, without fertilizer. .25,000 
“ •* with fertilizer, without nitro¬ 
gen. 36,000 
** •> with fertilizer, without phos¬ 
phates... . 37,000 
•* •• with fertilizer, without potash 42,000 
>• >• “ •* lime... 47.000 
** “ with complete fertilizer...51,000 
Mr. -Tatartin of Guadaloupc(\Vest Indies,) 
in cultivating sugar cane, obtained: 
* A hectolitre Is 010 cubic laches, or about 2.84 Uni¬ 
ted States bushels. 
Asbestos Konllug. 
Will you or some of the readers of the 
Rural New-Yorker give experience with 
the Asbestos roofing and Asbestos roof coat¬ 
ing? Is it cheaper and more dm able than 
shingles? Will the coating stop leaks and 
preserve shingles on a steep loof? Tho-c 
who have tested it (not those Interested in 
its sale) will please report tacts and figures. 
—Isaac Buaulky. 
Figure 3. 
The illustrations herewith given are copies 
of photographs of the products of the soil 
from the farms of Mr. Ville. Fig 1 is the 
product of natural soil without fertilizer; 
product per hectare (a hectare is 107.698 
square feet,) 2640 kilogrammes of straw and 
Figure 4. 
After having, during four successive years, 
planted wheat on this soil, using a fertilizer 
containing only nitrogenized ingredients, he 
succeeded in exhausting the soil so far as to 
