186 
THE CULTIVATOR. 
rich vegetable mold so desirable to a certain degree in all 
soils. Straw, corn-stalks, leaves of forest trees, and 
swamp-muck made into compost with lime and ashes, 
are of great value. Charcoal well pulverized, and satu¬ 
rated with urine, I regard as the cheapest and most use¬ 
ful fertilizer that can be applied to a poor soil, for the 
production of wheat or almost any other crop. 
The earths contained in charcoal, as the analysis of its 
ash demonstrates, are identical with the earths found in 
the wheat plant. Coal contains a very large portion of 
carbon, and will imbibe from the atmosphere a large 
quantity of nitrogen in the form of ammonia and its car¬ 
bonates. Unlike stable manure, the salts of lime, pot¬ 
ash, soda and magnesia, it will not waste by premature 
solution nor by evaporation. On the contrary, it is of 
incalculable value to mix with the liquid and solid ex¬ 
cretions of all animals, to absorb and fix in a tangible 
condition those volatile, fertilizing elements, which are 
so prone to escape beyond our reach. 
When it is recollected that without nitrogen in some 
form, it is utterly impossible to grow one kernel of good 
wheat, and that a pint of human urine or four quarts of 
that of the cow, or one quart of that of the horse fed on 
grain, contain nitrogen enough to supply 60 lbs. of 
wheat, we may begin to understand something of the 
money value of this animal product. But mind this sug¬ 
gestion. Nothing is sooner lost than the hartshorn in an 
open smelling-bottle, or a large share of the ammonia in 
free urine in a warm atmosphere. Charcoal and gypsum 
will absorb it in large quantities, and give it out to the 
roots of plants as their wants require. In feeding plants, 
great judgment should be exercised. At least one-half 
of the food fed out to them in the shape of stable and 
barn-yard manure, is entirely lost. It escapes into the 
air, or is dissolved prematurely, and carried like the pot¬ 
ash in water running through a leach, beyond the reach 
of your hungry if not starving plants. 
I have just separated a half pound of wheat flour into 
its proximate elements of starch and gluten. The gluten 
I have in my hand. It is nearly identical with animal 
muscle. It forms from 7 to 35 per cent of the bulk of 
wheat kernels. The more gluten flour contains, the 
more good bread a given number of pounds will make. 
A barrel of flour rich in gluten, will make 10 per cent 
more of bread than one which is nearly all starch. Glu¬ 
ten will bear far more water than starch. The quantity 
of this meat-forming principle in wheat, depends in a 
good degree on the quantity of nitrogen in the soil where 
the wheat is grown. 
Prof. Emmons made some interesting experiments, il¬ 
lustrative of soils. He also exhibited some beautiful 
specimens of the separation of starch and gluten in ker¬ 
nels of wheat and corn; and also of the phosphates in the 
latter grain. 
FARMING IN NOVA SCOTIA. 
To Solon Robinson —Sir—I have just finished reading 
your letter in the March number of the Cultivator; and 
although it is addressed to your friend Richmond, of Sta¬ 
ten Island, I have perused it with muoh interest and plea¬ 
sure, and the impulse is so strong that I cannot resist wri¬ 
ting a few lines to you, through the same medium. 
No doubt you have heard of a place upon the face of 
the earth, called Nova Scotia, “ away down east, beyond 
the State of Maine,” in lat. 44 north, long. 63, west from 
Greenwich. Well sir, the person who now addresses 
you, lives (some would say, stays,) in said Province, and 
is a farmer too. What! a Southerner would exclaim, 
farm it in Nova Scotia? Yes, sir, we farm it here, or 
rather attempt it; but since I became familiar with agri¬ 
cultural journals, especially the Albany Cultivator, and 
perused the communications of practical farmers, I find 
we are in the “ rear” of agricultural science and infor¬ 
mation; of course there are exceptions. 
It would be impossible in a letter, to be published in 
an agricultural journal, to go into the details of our sys¬ 
tem of farming. Suffice it to say, our winters are long, 
and sometimes very severe; our summers are short and 
warm; and the only recompense the farmer has for the. 
above disadvantages of climate, is a long and favorable 
autumn, for fall plowing, making compost heaps, &c. as 
yet too generally neglected. 
Our soil is very productive, when properly managed, 
and consists of stiff loam, sandy loam, sand and gravel, 
with intermediate grades; besides intervale and dyked 
marsh; the former (intervale) resembling perhaps, your 
prairie ground; the latter (dyke) superior, 1 suppose, to 
any land yet discovered; for it will produce hay, wheat 
and oats in abundance, year after year, without manure, 
or any renovating substance whatever, or at least it has 
done so for nearly one hundred years, and I think it is as 
fruitful as ever. There are large quantities of it in the 
midland and farming- counties, and after the expense of 
excluding the tide or sea—in some instances a heavy ex¬ 
pense—it sells from forty to one hundred and thirty dollars 
per acre; and at the higher rate will pay not less than ten 
per cent interest on the amount invested. The upland can 
be procured at from one to eighty dollars, depend¬ 
ing upon their location, wild or cultivated state. Our 
houses are built of wood, and are from one to two 
stories, neat, and generally comfortable; although we 
Jhave plenty of stone and material for making brick. The 
extent of the farms varies from 100 to 500 acres. 
The principal crops are potatoes, (every body knows 
Nova Scotia potatoes to be good,) wheat, rye, oats, hay, 
&c.; garden vegetables are grown, but at present, limited 
to a few. We have fruits, consisting of apples, both na¬ 
tive and imported varieties, (and I have just been eating 
some raised in my orchard, as sound as the day they were 
pulled, and if Millerism be not true, I expect to have 
them in August,) pears, peaches, (I have eaten as good 
ones from the garden of the Hon. C. Prescott, Cornwal¬ 
lis, as ever I eat in New-Jersey,) plums, cherries, &c.; 
so you see, although I live in Nova Scotia, I can with 
knowledge and industry, enjoy good vegetables and 
fruits, &c. &c. 
Our native cattle are inferior, but they have been im¬ 
proved from time to time, and are now undergoing a 
great improvement by the importation of the Durham 
breed from England, also horses, as well as swine. We 
have now the Berkshire breed among us, pure and direct 
from England. You will observe we are not destitute 
of the materials for a good and profitable system of farm¬ 
ing, provided science, skill and good management, had 
their legitimate and proper influence among us. Better 
things, I trust are in store for the future—and possessed 
of a government both mild and potent, and free from all 
taxation except to support the poor, &c., amounting per 
annum to not over 25 cts. upon every $400 worth of 
property. A few such men as Garnett, Buel, Dana, 
Robinson, and others, would in a few years make of 
the midland counties of Nova Scotia a garden. For 
the last ten years we have been rent to pieces by politi¬ 
cal demagogues, but as the old saying is, (( every dog has 
his day,” their plans of self-aggrandizement have been 
frustrated by the nobleman at the head of our affairs, and 
they are now meeting their just reward, viz- degrada¬ 
tion. 
Within a few years, the emigration Illinois Fever” 
has prevailed, and a number of families have sold their 
farms and left Kings county, (the very best agricultural 
county in Nova Scotia,) for your State, and others adjoin¬ 
ing—hoping “ to obtain their daily bread by less sweat 
of their brows.” I have always had my doubts whether 
they would better their condition (especially those at the 
middle age of life and in good circumstances) by moving 
thither. From the tenor of your letter, I should say 
they would not. I should like to have some further 
statements from you through the medium of the Cultiva¬ 
tor or otherwise, relative to the cost of land, amount of 
all land and other taxes, amount of grain, potatoes, oats, 
rye, &c. raised per acre, profits per acre of different 
crops, durability of the prairie grounds for cultivation , 
state of morals, religion, schools &c.—price of salt, iron 
and such like articles. Hoping ) ou will excuse the lib- 
liberty of thus addressing you, believe me to be, 
Yours respectfully, Old Nova. 
Kings county, Nova Scotia, April 1, 1844. 
No man can borrow himself oqt of debt; if he gets free 
of it at all, honorably, it must be by industry and frugality. 
