340 
THE BUBAL NEW-Y0B3CEB. 
viz.: When Congress gave a part of the public 
domain, of the farm of the nation, it was to 
improve the rest of it and those who till it, 
just as a farmer sells a part of his farm to get 
funds to draiu or otherwise improve the rest. 
The schools built on these land-grants should, 
therefore, he, first ami foremost, schools of 
agriculture. We have universities and excel¬ 
lent denominational colleges and scientific and 
technological schools all over the laud, to train 
young tnen for the learned professions, for 
business, commerce, arts, civil engineering and 
the like, and their graduates have almost ex¬ 
clusively been absorbed by those professions 
and callings. But there are absolutely no 
schools, except the agricultural colleges, to train 
men to become really scientific farmers, and to 
raise the pursuit of agriculture from an illiberal 
and degrading labor up to a liberal profession, 
and make the farmer, not a mere plodder, but 
an intelligent man and good citizen. 
Now, the Michigan school has been all the 
while conducted on this plan: chemistry, bot¬ 
any, geology, zoology, physiology, anatomy, 
and other kindred sciences arc taught with 
special reference to their bearings on agricul¬ 
ture. Greenhouses, gardens, orchards, larms, 
6tock and all farm crops and work are so 
arranged and planned as to give clear scientific 
knowledge of, and thorough practical training 
in, every process and detail of nearly all kinds 
of agriculture aud horticulture. The chemical 
and botanical laboratories are so arranged as 
to give each individual student a working 
acquaintance with those studies aud their bear¬ 
ings on agriculture. Not only that, but, pro¬ 
ceeding on the theory that the farmer is a 
woiker, and that entire separation and free¬ 
dom from physical labor during the four 
years of college life, would tend to create a 
distaste for labor among students, labor is 
made a part of the curriculum. The students, 
under the professors or competent foremen, 
spend three hours daily, in fair weather, work¬ 
ing in greenhouse, or garden, or orchard, or 
stock yard, or field. Thus study and practice 
go hand in hand, training young men to he 
practical as well as scientific farmers, and all the 
time thiscxcelient out-door exercise is helping 
to build up rugged constitutions, instead of un¬ 
dermining them, as study alone is apt to do, 
especially in the case of those accustomed to 
active out-door labor. And to further this 
idea, the long vacation comes in winter when 
profitable farm labor is almost impossible. 
Again, in oi der to bring the results of scien¬ 
tific knowledge and experiment within the 
reach, not only of the sous of farmers, but 
of as many of the present farmers of the 
State as possible, a number of Farmers’ Insti¬ 
tutes are held each winter in different parts of 
the State, conducted, iu part at least, by mem¬ 
bers of the Faculty, and largely attended by 
the farmers. No wonder the Michigan Agri¬ 
cultural College is each year growing in the 
affections of the intelligent farmers of the 
State. No wonder they deem it, iu most re¬ 
spects, the model institution of its class in 
all our laud. 
Now, in Onio the idea is quite different. At 
first, indeed, the institution was called “ The 
Agricultural and Mechanical College,’’ but soon 
it began to be felt that this title was far too i 
limited, and it was accordingly changed by the 
Legislature to "The Ohio State University," 
with no special mention of, or partiality to, 
agriculture, hut almost the reverse. We 
have uot iu Ohio, it is true, any great univer¬ 
sity like the most excellent one at Ann Ar¬ 
bor, Michigan, but we have many excellent 
colleges of liberal piivate endowments, aud 
more than 50 years’ prestige, that are doing, in 
the aggregate, the full work of the largest 
university. Such institutions are Marietta, 
Denison, Kenyon, Western Reserve, and Ober- 
lin colleges, with an attendance at each of from 
one or two hundred to a thousand. And there 
are several younger but most flourishing col¬ 
leges or universities of private endowment. 
These institutions are doing the work well of 
educating young men in the classics and 
in the sciences for the various liberal profes¬ 
sions aud higher callings iu life. Recently, too, 
the most munificent bequest of a million aud a 
quarter dollars' worth of rapidly appreciating 
property, in Cleveland, by the late Leonard 
Case, to establish an institution to be known 
as the “Case School of Applied Sciences,” 
seems to render still less necessary the exist¬ 
ence of another “university” in our midst, 
built, as the Colnmbus one was, on a State and 
National endowment given, primarily, in the 
interests of agriculture. 
In point of fact, too, agriculture has a most 
subordinate position in our “university” 
scarcely a dozen out of the two hundred stu¬ 
dents being really iu the agricultural course. 
The Professor of Agriculture, a most able and 
excellent man for the place, is bending all his 
energies to the work of his department. 
But it is only a department , and seems not 
to be the favorite one of the Legislature 
or Board of Trustees—Beems, I say, for 
my impressions here may be incorrect; but 
the appropriation and the general tide of sen¬ 
timent at the institution seem to indicate it. 
It is not “the thing” at the! niversity, to study 
agriculture. Tarm labor is at a discount. It 
is not a part of even the agricultural course. 
Farm labor is furnished and paid for. to those 
who need it to eke ont slender means, hut 
simply as a business arrangement. There are 
no greenhouses, or gardens, or orchards, or 
plats for small fruit culture, for practical in¬ 
struction in botany, horticulture, floriculture 
and pomology, aud even the farm is by neces¬ 
sity managed on paying business principles, 
and not in any sense as an experiment station 
for the solution of problems in breeding, feed¬ 
ing, testing new seeds and plants, and new 
methods, or fertilizers, or deciding any of 
those qaestious that require accuracy and 
skill aud money for their correct solution, and 
that individual farmers could uot afford to 
solve, even If they were otherwise fitted. And 
yet it is expected that the college farm frill do 
this work, furnish labor for students and show 
a clean balance sheet of profits. Mr. Thorne, 
the excellent superintendent of the farm, feels 
keenly lh> Injustice aud incompatibility of 
such expectations. lie must keep a show 
farm and barns, too, always on exhibition to 
all visitors; and this in itself is no little bur¬ 
den aud expense. It is even in serious doubt 
whether the Legislature will vote the moderate 
sum of $5,000 for the establishment of an ex¬ 
periment station, with greenhouses aud equip¬ 
ments, tu enable the Professor of Agriculture 
and the Farm Superintendent to do the very 
work demanded by the farmers of the 8(ate. 
Another point, too: — Acting on a differ¬ 
ent theory as to which is “ Mahomet” and 
which is the “mountain” and which can 
more easily he made to "come” to the other 
iu our modern miracle, instead of profes¬ 
sors holding Institutes in different parts of 
the State, as in Michigan, the farmers are in 
vited to an annual course of lectures at the 
university for two weeks in January. This 
course is thoroughly admirable, but only 
about a hundred farmers thus far have at¬ 
tended each year. It is hoped, however, that 
a much larger number will attend iu future, 
and it is quite possible that the Ohio plan may 
prove as wise on this point as the plan in 
Michigan. 
But from the whole outlook in Ohio, it is 
not surprising that many intelligent farmers 
begin to feel that we are iu serious danger of 
losing onr Agricultural College. And if we 
do, it will be the old Scriptural parable of Na¬ 
than, in regard to David aud Uriah. The rich 
king will have “spared” the many “lambs” 
of his own numerous flocks, and taken cur 
“ one ewe lamb”—our one hope of a more lib¬ 
eral education for farmers aud mechanics. 
Science aud Literature, intrenched in more 
than a score of excellent colleges and univer¬ 
sities in our State, in the interests of the lib¬ 
eral professions and more lucrative callings 
will have laid their hands on our one school 
and swerved it over to the same interests. Per¬ 
haps the farmers i f the State will take a more 
stalwart view, however, and say “Agricul¬ 
ture feeds the State and furnishes her reve¬ 
nues, and agriculture will holdin her owu right 
the institution founded on the agricultural re¬ 
sources of the nation, and intended for the 
elevation of agriculture in our State.” If 
they take that view, our legislature will 60 on 
know and feel it, and act accordingly. Aud 
the same question is yet to be decided in 
many other States—whether our Agricultural 
Colleges shall he such both in nkme and in 
fact. 
Jann ®cpirs. 
VALUE OF LEACHED ASHES. 
T. H. HOSKINS, M. D. 
I have read Prof. Storer’s article ou the 
value of leached ashes (Rural, p. 262) with 
much iuterest. Living iu a region of country 
where ashes, leached and uuleaehed, are to he 
bought cheaply and abundantly, and yet where 
there are many farms (of which mine is one) 
where they have perhaps as much value for 
fertilization as in southern New England, I 
have naturally been much interested in the 
subject. When I came into possession of my 
farm, 14 years ago, it had been “potatoed to 
death,” like many another farm in Vermont. 
From a yield of 300 to 400 bushels of potatoes 
per acre it had iu 80 years’ use declined so that, 
even with a moderate dressing of manure, 80 
to 100 bushels were a maximum crop. The 
land was wbat is so often eaLled “run out," 
and gave only meager crops of grass and grain 
with the ordinary tillage. The soil is a light 
loam, but not strictly sandy. It is part ot a 
large flat on the east shore of Lake Mempkra- 
magog, aud was once undoubtedly lake bottom, 
the old beachss showing along the flanks of the 
hills 100 feet higher. Boring for water 38 feet, 
I have found it composed for that depth of 
alternate irregular layers of sand and clay, aud 
clay is often turned up here and there with the 
plow, though there is no “hard-pan,” except 
in occasional spots of small area. 
Not believing that 30 years’ use had utterly 
destroyed the value of a once very fertile farm, 
I concluded that growing potatoes for market 
year after year during that time, had probably 
exhausted the store of available potash and, 
acting on that idea, in three years I made it 
again give crops of 400 bushels to the acre, 
much to the surprise of my neighbors, who 
said potatoes eould not he made to pay there. 
In the same time the grass product was raised 
from one ton on four acres up to over two tons 
on one ac.e. All this was done by the free ap¬ 
plication of unleached ashes, part of it from 
fire-wood, part from a steam mill where spruce 
saw-dnst was burned under the boilers, and 
part from a bark-extract factory where spent 
hemlock tan waB used for generating steam. 
In three years I had applied over 100 bushels to 
the acre, and had as good land as anybody in 
the county. The whole expense was not over 
$15 per acre, well returned in crops, and leav¬ 
ing the land in a condition, as shown by these 
same crops and acknowledged by “the neigh¬ 
bors,” that raised its salable value not less than 
$30 per acre, Not a dollar’s worth of stable 
manure was used, and no other fertilizers were 
employed besides the ashes, except about $8 
worth of rmmoniated superphosphate per acre 
upon corn aud potatoes, each year. When 
seeded to grass the growth was fully equal, by 
the testimony of early settlers, to the growth 
when the land was new. 
So much for unleached ashes. I have also 
used a good deal of leached ashes, which work 
very differently. They are excellent for clover, 
and especially, for white clover, “bringing it 
in,” and makiug a thick mat of it where very 
few plants could be found before. It proves a 
better application to a young orchard than 
unleached ashes, giving a thrifty, healthy 
growth, not so sappy aud rank as when ma¬ 
nure is used, or where raw ground bone and 
unleached ashes are applied, having been first 
mixed and wet down in a heap for three or 
four weeks before using. This compost is a 
“jumpir” used in the nursery or on Grape¬ 
vines, in the garden ami upon grain, and pay6 
well when pure ground bone can be had for 
$40 or less per ton. Leached ashes are not to 
be compared to uuleaehed for potatoes or for 
grass proper, excluding the clovers. They are 
not nearly so good for corn or grain. For these 
purposes (looking to prompt returns rather 
than permanent value), leached ashes are not 
(with me) worth one quarter as much as the 
unleached. 
Now for lime. This is a limestone country, 
there being extensive quarries where lime is 
burned on the next point north of me on the lake 
shore. Lime used in the way advised by Pro¬ 
fessor Storer, is utterly useless and worse than 
useless on my land. On the clay farms around 
the lake it works very well, improves the grass 
and benefits the hoed crops aud grain. But on 
the light loams it “ burns everything up,” 
makes the grain rust aud kills out the grass : 
this, whether used at the rate of one load or 
ten loads to the acre. I think, therefore, that 
we mast attribute the usefulness of leached 
ashes to other constituents than the lime. I 
have long thought that we have not given 
enough importance to magnesia as a plant 
food that uotda to be artificially supplied on 
some soils—not in large quantities, indeed, 
yet none the less needed. And may it not be 
that the magnesia in leached ashes accounts 
for some of its good effects ? Also, may not 
dolomitic limestone (which ours is not) he 
worth more as a fertilizer for the same reason ? 
I have experimented “ 6ome" with sulphate 
of magnesia in my composts, and have believed 
that I saw good results from its use. 
Orleans Co., Vt, 
---- 
LONDON PURPLE. 
So far as we can ascertain, this insecticide 
is destined to take the place of Paris-green 
entirely, and there ara many cogent reasons 
why it should. The color is a bright purple 
and it can therefore readily be detected upon 
the green leaves. It will adhere to the leaves 
also, so that a smaller quantity suffices. It is 
only a little over half the weight of Paris- 
green, so that the same weight will go twice 
as far. It is far less dangerous to human life, 
and its cheapness insures it, iu a great meas¬ 
ure, agaiust adulteration. Professor Cook 
says that it can he put in the market at ten 
cents, or less, per pound, and that he has 
found one pound of the poison sufficient for 
100 gallons of water. He also says—and this 
we have stated before—that it is more diffusive 
than Paris-green, and, therefore, needs les6 
stirring to keep it well mixed with the water. 
It iB death to the potato beetle, cotton worm 
and, in Bhort, to all leaf-eating insectB. We 
are in receipt of pamphlets from the manu¬ 
facturers, Hemingway’s London Purple Co., 90 
Water St., New York, which tell the whole 
story and present testimonials from eminent 
horticulturists and experts whose testimony 
cannot be doubted. Our readers will please 
Bend for circulars which will be forwarded free, 
and which will fully answer any questions 
which may suggest tkemselvcB. 
•-—-- 
Reclamation of Bog Land. —The article 
on page 101 of the Rural is an interesting 
MAY 45 
one, but the method of reclaiming such lands 
could not be followed in the United States, so 
long as manual labor rules as high as at the 
present day. It is something like the finish¬ 
ing process of cranberry bogs, as practiced iu 
New Jersey previous to setting the plants. 
These cranberry bogs, or, more properly, plan¬ 
tations. are usually formed from cedar 
swamps. They are first drained, the timber 
then cut off, the roots of the trees grubbed out, 
and the surface leveled. Sand or gravel banka 
line these swamps, and their soil is carted or 
wheeled in hand-barrows on to them to the 
depth required, aud then they are set with the 
cranberry plants. The soil of these swamps 
is a rich muck of one to several feet deep. If 
thoroughly drained, plowed, eeeded to grass 
and limed, they would m3ke rich meadows, 
but till cranberries began to he attacked by 
insects, the scald, &c., they were much the 
most profitable crop that could be cultivated. 
A. B. A. 
JflorinUtitral, 
PLANS FOR GEOMETRICAL FLOWER 
GARDENS. 
JAMES HOGG. 
The geometric style of laying out a flower 
garden is not only the mostaucieut. hut is also 
the most capable of producing, within specified 
limits, beautiful aud artistic effects. It also 
harmonizes better with the dwelling-house, as 
it cau he made, iu slcillfol hands, to partake of 
its aichitectnral character. It is especially 
adapted for small places in this country, as 
here we have such a superabundance of natural 
Ecenery in Us primitive state, that any style 
which forms a contrast to it and displays the 
operations of an intelligent mind, is pleasing in 
its effects. It is for this reason that people 
prefer to adorn their grounds with exotic trees 
and shrubs, iu preference to native species, 
although the latter may be as beautiful as the 
former are. it indicates creative power, 
which always presupposes intelligence, hence 
It has been well said that “Artis but nature, 
for nature is but the art of God.” Sir Joseph 
Paxton says iu one of his essays that “ the 
geometrical flower garden is, above all others, 
the most to be recommended, because of its 
readily admitting the greatest variety of 
flowers throughout the 6cason.” Sir Walter 
Scott has said : “ Nothing is so completely the 
child of art as a garden. It is, indeed, in our 
modern sense one of the last refinements of 
civilized life. To attempt, therefore, to dis¬ 
guise wholly its artificial character, is as great 
lolly as if men weru to make their houses re- 
semhli as much as possible the rudeuuBs of u 
natural cavern " 
The gardenesque style aud the picturesque 
style arc both well adapted to places of large 
extent; they are, indeed, the only styles iu which 
these can be laid out; for it would uot ho desir¬ 
able, as a matter of taste, to lay out 10 or 20 
acreB as a geometrical flower garden, but the 
latter is a very desirahlo feature to introduce 
iuto the other two. 
1 give some plaus of gardens laid out iu this 
style, most of which have boeu carried out iu 
practice ; they will give my readers some idea 
of the way in which such gardens are to be 
laid out, aud will enable them to exercise their 
ingenuity in devising plaus for their owu gar¬ 
dens. Such plaus should always be mapped 
out on paper and drawn to a regular scale, with 
the distances from the various points marked 
on the map, so as to facilitate the plan being 
transferred to, or laid out ou, the ground. 
Care should always be taken when designs 
of this character are laid out iu dose proximity 
to the house, or are looked upon from the 
principal windows, to have them parallel to, 
or at right angles with, the house. If they are 
at all askew, they will be a continual source of 
annoyance to every person possessed of a 
mathematical eye, who sees them. In laying 
down the design ou the ground, the first step 
is to lay down a center liue cr it base line, with 
a perpendicular line or one at right angles to 
it; sometimes three or four such lines may he 
required. How to lay down or to obtain such 
lines correctly on the ground is to be fouud in 
the few mathematical problems of which I 
give the solutions. These base and cross lines 
should remain in permanence until the work 
is finished, as, if removed from time to 
time, they can seldom be replaced correctly. 
Two or three ballB of good stout twine and 
some good strong stakes, to be driven two feet 
into the ground, will answer for this purpose. 
Where there are many intersecting points or 
subsidiary centers to bo made, strike a circle 
of the diameter of these polntB or centers from 
the principal or central point; then, on the 
circle so obtained, measure the distauce of the 
points, or centers, from the central base line 
aud the vertical line intersecting it; this will 
test the work for errors in measurement aud 
detect them, as it gives four fixed points to do 
it by. 
Some of the best suggestions for figures to 
