1846. TH E CULTIVATOR. 143 
Dictionary . Pfoceeding with the composition of the 
oat straw—it appears, therefore, that if we should ape 
ply to every crop yard-manure, and the fertilizing ef¬ 
fect be due only or chiefly to the bone earth, it would 
have been very much cheaper to have added the bone 
earth at once, and not in the compost of yard-manure. 
If this should be the true cause of fertility, say to a crop 
of oats, it will be necessary to add as much as ten tons 
of yard manure to give to the soil one bushel of 110 lbs. 
of bone earth. No one will doubt that results like this 
do occur, when it is so well known through the pages 
of the Cultivator, that a few pounds of bones in a dis¬ 
solved state, are capable of producing the largest crops 
of turneps, and some 60 lbs. thus prepared are now used 
in England and Scotland, in the place of the sixteen 
and twenty bushels formerly employed. We believe, 
therefore, that from the preceding remarks it is abun¬ 
dantly clear that the use of special manures is preemi¬ 
nently economical, and a great improvement in farm¬ 
ing. But there is one condition necessary to the eco¬ 
nomical application of such fertilizers, and this is, that 
we have an accurate knowledge of the particular sub¬ 
stance required by any given crop, and the conditions 
when it is indicated. To know when it is indicated, 
we must ascertain whether it be already in the soil, ei¬ 
ther naturally or by the use of previous manures; on 
this point we have nothing to offer at present. 
How is the farmer to know what particular substan¬ 
ces any given crop requires ? This, next after the 
question of the economy of special manures, is the most 
important. A short time since it would have puzzled 
a wise man to have answered such a question to the 
satisfaction of the farmer; the answer might have been 
given in terms intelligible to a chemist, but we farmers 
are not of that craft, and probably never will be. We 
might have been told that there is a close connection 
between the ashes of a plant and the special manures it 
required. This connection unquestionably exists, for 
we know that gypsum forwards clover because both 
contain sulphur; lime improves potatoes, because the 
tops of that vegetable contain lime abundantly; turneps 
are improved by bone earth, because they require phos¬ 
phorous, which abounds in bones. From these instan¬ 
ces it is clear that we may ascertain what the special 
manures of any plant are by examining the composition 
of the ashes. But what are we to make out of sulphu¬ 
ric acid, 0.5; chlorine, 0.02, and such terms which are 
to be met with in all the analyses to be seen. But in 
the Farmer's Dictionary, by Dr. Gardner, recently pub¬ 
lished by Harper’s, we find what has never before been 
drawn up for the farmer, an account, not only of the 
analysis of the ashes of all farm plants, but an interpre¬ 
tation of it—the special manures for each crop are 
given at length. For instance, under the article— 
“ Corn —Special Manures ,”—we have the best analysis 
of Indian corn given, and then, exactly what every far¬ 
mer wants to know r —the practical deductions from this 
analysis—“that a special compost of poudrette or stable 
manure, bone earth and ashes, would be very valuable 55 
for the corn crop. We also learn that from the analysis 
of corn, “ it preeminently requires putrescent matter 
and bone earth, without which latter the seeds are im¬ 
perfect.” We believe that the Farmer's Dictionary is 
one of the most valuable works ever published for the 
practical farmer. No where else is any information on 
the important subject of special manures to be found. 
The work contains also the meanings of the hard tech¬ 
nical w T ords, now so freely used by some writers. 
New- York, 1846. C. E. McC. 
BONE DUST. 
A correspondent with the signature of “Rambler,” 
furnishes us with an account of an experiment made by 
Andrew Coe, of Middletown, Ct., with bone dust in 
raising turneps. The soil on which the trial was made, 
is represented as being thin and worn out. Twenty 
bushels of bone dust was applied to the acre, and the 
turheps sown about the first of August. The crop was 
luxuriant, and is attributed wholly to the bone dust. 
The writer states that he measured a piece in the lot 
six feet square, and by computation found the product 
to be at the rate of 1210 bushels per acre. The field, 
however, he says, would not have averaged that, but 
would have averaged half the quantity—say 605 bushels 
per acre. A space left through the middle of the lot, a 
rod and a half wide, without any bone or any other ap¬ 
plication, produced nothing worth harvesting. 
MORGAN HORSES. 
The editor of the Southern Cultivator, published at 
Augusta, Ga., states that, by the “many glowing ac¬ 
counts of the great excellence of the Morgan Horse,” 
he was induced to make arrangements for the purchase 
of one for the improvement of the Southern stock. The 
“ upshot of the business,” however, he says, is shown 
by the following extract of a letter from the person who 
had been commissioned to make the purchase: 
“The Morgan horse has been run out these twenty 
years, and it is the merest gammon with jockies to talk 
about them. Everything in the country is now called 
a c Morgan, 5 from the merest rat of a pony t® a gaunt, 
long-legged, seventeen hand horse. We have what is 
better than the Morgan horses ever were, viz: the 
Messenger, Mambrino, and Duroc crosses. They are 
almost thorough bred, and are the most admirable 
roadsters that the world can produce. * * * It fair¬ 
ly makes me sick to see the miserable Canadian and 
other horses palmed off upon the south by glib fellows,” 
&c. 
This article appeared in the March number of the 
S. Cultivator. In a preceding number, the editor had 
copied the remarks of Mr. Weisinger, one of the 
editors of Louisville (Ky.,) Journal, in reference to 
the Morgan horses. (See Cultivator for Nov., 1845.) 
The article from which we take the above extract, is 
said by the editor of the S. C., to be “intended as a 
sort of counter-blast” to Mr. Weisenger’s remarks. 
What the writer of the extract means by the expres¬ 
sion—“ the Morgan horse has been run out these 
twenty years,” we do not know. If he means that the 
original horse known by this name has been dead 
“ twenty years, 55 it is no doubt true. If he means that 
all the stock got by this horse , have been dead this length 
of time, or even that they are now extinct, it is not 
true; unless Mr. Wier's horse Chelsea Morgan, or Bul¬ 
rush has died within a short time. It ii true that in 
consequence of the great demand for this stock of horses, 
and the great prices they have brought, they have be¬ 
come scarce; and there is no doubt that “ miserable 55 
horses have been “ palmed off” in many instances as 
Morgans; but a man who would accept a “ gaunt, long- 
legged, seventeen hand horse,” as one of this stock, must 
certainly be too ignorant of their well-known cha¬ 
racteristics, to deserve pity for the imposition. But 
it is the acknowledged value of the real Morgans that 
has produced these-results. It is not strange that a great 
demand for an article, should occasion counterfeits;— 
hence judgment and observation are always necessary 
to distinguish the genuine from the false. 
That there is yet left at least one remnant of the pro¬ 
geny of the original Morgan horse, and that there are a 
considerable number of only the second generation from 
that horse, is known, and we are pleased that measures 
are being taken to preserve and increase this most val¬ 
uable race. 
As to the horses which are so much “ better than the 
Morgan horses ever were, 55 (!; that are spoken of in the 
above extract, we should feel obliged if the editor of 
the Southern Cultivator, or his correspondent, will tell 
us where they may be found. We, as well as some of 
our friends, are just now in want of a few of the “most 
dmirable roadsters the world can produce.” 
In conclusion, we would refer the editor of the 
Southern Cultivator, and others who desire to know the 
true history of the Morgan horses, to our paper, vol. ix, 
pages 99, 110, vol. n, new series, (1845,) pages 256, 
352, and the present vol., pages 19, (Jan. No.,) 106, 
(April No.) 
