352 
THE CULTIVATOR. 
rior vigor of vegetation, and will yield double the quan¬ 
tity of hay that the unwatered part will give. The re¬ 
sult exceeds my expectations, for I did not think that the 
action of a small quantity of ammonia would continue for 
several years. I no longer doubt that it will be felt for 
three years at least. Ammoniacal salts may thus be ea¬ 
sily made to supply the wants of soils where dung enough 
is not produced—for if we admit that 880 lbs. of these 
salts at 5 cts. and 3 mill’s, or about $47, are required to 
manure two and a half acres for three years, the annual 
expense would hardly be $16, (about $6,40 per acre,) 
which would be more than compensated by the increas¬ 
ed production. I am, &c., 
$CHATTENMANN, 
Director of the mines of Bouxwillier. 
TURNING UNDER CLOVER, &c. 
Mr. Tucker— There is perhaps no method of enrich¬ 
ing lands more efficiently, and at so cheap a rate, as that 
of plowing under green clover. Clover is acknowledged 
by all practical farmers, as one of the best, if not the best 
grass in existence for fertilizing lands. Its long tap roots 
reach into the subsoil below, and loosen and render the 
soil light and mellow; and there is a substance which 
gathers around the roots over clover, in the form of rich 
mold, which I think no other grass is capable of produ¬ 
cing. Yet with these general facts before the eyes of 
farmers, how few of us have yet resorted to this method 
of renovating and enriching our worn out lands. Many 
of us farmers, when we get a crop of clover grown, dis¬ 
like to plow it in, as it looks too good to be - wasted, and 
the consequence is that it is cut for hay, and ten chances 
to one if it is not spoiled in making, so that by the time 
it gets into the barn, it is nothing but a bunch of stems. 
There are many different opinions as to the management 
of clover, and as to the best time of turning it under for 
enriching the soil. Some prefer to have the stalk in a 
dead ripe state before they plow it under, and think that 
in this state it is in a more fit condition to furnish food 
for plants than when in a green state. Others prefer to 
have the crop fed off one or two seasons by cattle, and 
then have the mass of trodden down clover, together 
with the droppings of the animals, turned under for 
a crop of corn or grain as the case may be. We have 
succeeded in raising the largest crop of rye which we 
ever raised, by pasturing off a crop of clover two years, 
and then turning the whole under, with once plowing. 
There is no question, I believe, but that if farmers will 
allow clover to grow on their farms, it will enrich them 
greatly, whether fed off or turned under as a green crop; 
and yet many farmers are afraid to have this grass grow 
on their lands. They say that they do not want to sow 
much clover on their lands, as enough will come in of it¬ 
self. This doctrine plainly indicates that they are afraid 
of this best of all grasses for enriching the soil. I think 
the majority of practical farmers will say that the best 
time for plowing under clover, is in a green state, at a 
time when the stalk contains the greatest quantity of sac¬ 
charine juices. That time is when the stalk is in full 
blow. Where a crop of clover is thick and heavy in the 
ground, a heavy roller passed over it the same way that 
you plow, may press it down sufficiently to turn under. 
If not, a chain attached to the plow beam, let down so 
as to drag the clover down, will do the work pretty well. 
Care should be taken to have all turned under that possi¬ 
bly can be. In this state it should lie till it is thorough¬ 
ly decomposed. On plowing it again, it will be found 
that the ground is light and mellow. But it may be said 
by many that on poor, worn out lands, it will be of little 
J3e to sow clover, as the soil will not produce it. In an¬ 
swer to this, I would say that on such lands, commence 
with buckwheat, and turn in a crop or two of that, and 
then oats, and then try clover, and do not be discouraged 
if the first crop of clover is not as thick as you could 
wish, but try another crop, and you will soon have the 
satisfaction of seeing your worn out lands in a state of 
fertility. In conclusion, I will say to the farmer, that 
whether you feed off your clover, or turn it under green, 
or make it into hay, sow clover. L. Durand. 
Derby, Corm., Oct., 15, 1844. 
STOVES—THEIR DELETERIOUS EFFECTS. 
Mr. Tucker —I have for years been aware of the fact 
that the effects of stove heat were very injurious; that 
(many, very many of the chronic complaints, which have 
been increasing to such an alarming extent for the last 
few years, have been wholly or in part produced by the 
use of stoves; that silently, and almost, if not quite, im¬ 
perceptibly, they have continued to sap the foundations 
of health, without giving an alarm, until too late for the 
application of successful aid. Even those who have been 
to some extent aware of these effects, have not imagined 
the extent of the evil, and consequently this prolific pa¬ 
rent of those most afflicting diseases, such as consump¬ 
tion, nervous and dyspeptic complaints, together with 
others, has been permitted unarrested to prey upon the 
vitality of our constitutions. This is no picture of fancy, 
but a sober, serious fact, forced upon my understanding 
by experience and observation, and against my prejudi¬ 
ces, for they were in favor of the use of stoves until ab¬ 
solute certainty of conviction compelled me to yield the 
point. Experience, followed by observation, had years 
since convinced me that the effects of stove heat, were to 
check expectoration, thus deranging the action of the 
lungs —to produce a corresponding effect upon the skin, 
which prevented perspiration, and through these, to affect 
and derange the whole system; thus producing a debili¬ 
tated action, and feverish or inflamed state of the blood, 
causing coldness of the extremities, and followed by oth¬ 
er symptoms in their turn, according to the constitution. 
Want of change of air in the room, difference of tempe¬ 
rature between the air in the top of the room and at the 
bottom, and obstruction of moisture, had been looked up¬ 
on as some of the causes of .these effects, but there ap¬ 
peared to be still another one farther back; some organic 
change of the atmosphere, the effects’ of which were per¬ 
ceptible, but its nature, incomprehensible. This has 
heretofore prevented me from publicly sounding the 
alarm, though I have continued to do it in private. 
The light thrown upon the subject, by a new system 
of philosophy, which the recent developments of science 
have enabled me to combine, has removed that barrier, 
hence this communication. 
Electricity being one of the principal combining agents 
in nature, is consequently a necessary element of physi¬ 
ological combination, and is uutro-duced into the system 
principally through the.Jj.mgs, and has to do with the ac¬ 
tion of the-skin also. It is also necessary in the combus¬ 
tion of fuel, and we find the atmosphere charged with the 
requisite quantity of it for these purposes, but the con¬ 
struction of stoves is such as to limit the amount of air; 
hence iron being a good conductor of electricity, that 
agent is abstracted from the surrounding air. This pro¬ 
cess also decomposes the moisture which the atmosphere 
contains, which consequently loses its most essential in¬ 
gredients for the support of animal life, and also becomes 
a non-conductor of electricity, which prevents it from 
receiving a fresh supply from without. Water upon the 
stove, in part, but not wholly, remedies the defect. 
In view of these facts, it behooves (he American peo¬ 
ple, to look for, and apply a remedy for these evils, if 
they would escape the threatened curse of becoming a 
miserably sickly and enervated race. M. D. Codding. 
Peaches. —The editor of the Boston Cultivator gives 
an account of a visit to the (( Allen neighborhood” in 
Walpole, where he found some of the finest peach or¬ 
chards in the country. He states the following singular 
fact in relation to a variety of the peach reproducing its 
kind. He says: “ The principal peach cultivated here is 
the Allen peach, which is a seedling that has been prop¬ 
agated from the seed more than 40 years, through many 
generations of trees, always producing about the same,, 
without budding or grafting. There is no more devia¬ 
tion from the original or standard kind, than there is in 
the Baldwin apple, or other varieties of fruit propagated 
by budding and grafting. We saw some trees bearing 
full that were 28 years old, and they had borne well from 
their youth to their old age.” It is said to be a good 
peach—well deserving a place among the best—color 
light, with a red cheek—a freestone. 
