372 
THE CULTIVATOR. 
THE PEA AND THE BUG. 
A gentleman in Pennsylvania sent some peas, supposed 
to be wild, to J. S. Skinner, Esq., who forwarded them 
to Dr. G. B. Smith of Baltimore, for inspection. Dr. S., 
in a letter to Mr. Skinner, says:—“I have no doubt the 
pea you kindly sent me, is a variety of the common gar¬ 
den pea, acclimated, if it be acclimated, accidentally, by 
the seed being distributed by birds, &c. The bug is the 
genuine c pea-bug,’ Bruchus pisi, of Linnseus, and is 
fully described by Harris, beginning at the bottom of 
page 54 of his Treatise on Insects. I shall have the peas 
carefully raised next spring by some careful hand. Its 
appearance is the same every way, as that of the com 
mon brown pea that we used to have in the north when 
I was a boy. It is a tolerable good pea, nothing very 
extraordinary one way or the other. 
<l You hatched the bugs by wearing the peas in your 
breeches pocket. You can hatch the bugs cut of any peas 
that were grown in this country, in the same way. We 
call it a bug—it is a weevil; what we call weevils, how¬ 
ever, are not weevils—look into Harris. Is it not curi¬ 
ous, that the pea-bug or pea weevil, does not affect peas 
grown in Europe ? They have not that insect there. It 
does not generally hurt the germinating principle of the 
pea.” 
SALT AS A FERTILIZER. 
Statements in regard to the action of salt, when applied 
to the soil, are quite various, and sometimes contradicto¬ 
ry. Some accounts would lead us to suppose that its op¬ 
eration is highly beneficial, while others seem to show’ 
that its effects have been of an opposite nature. 
In a paper read before the N. Y. Farmer’s Club, by F. 
Mortimer Butler, Esq., a copy of which we find in 
the Farmer and Mechanic, is some interestingsuggestions 
which tend to reconcile former discrepancies, and perhaps 
show’ the true theory on this subject. 
Mr. Butler entertains the idea, that for salt to act ben¬ 
eficially, it is necessary that it should be combined with 
lime, or calcareous earth—that “ whenever salt and lime 
have been used together, the effect has been good: while 
on the other hand, where either is used alone, there is 
need of some other governing material, or the effect is 
not good.” Mr. Butler supports this conclusion by rea¬ 
soning on the chemical properties of salt and lime—by 
reference to several writers who speak of the beneficial 
effects of the two substances when mixed together—anil 
by some facts which have fallen under his own observa¬ 
tion. From an investigation of this subject, he was 
prompted “to use salt upon a field which had been ren¬ 
dered caustic by an injudicious application of lime. 
Buckwheat, sown upon this field, had its roots so scorch¬ 
ed that the three acres yielded but four bushels of seed.” 
Grass seeds were sown three several times on the field, 
but, he observes, “did not take well, excepting in one 
spot, where a single load of yard manure had been 
strewn; this governed the lime; the Timothy grass came 
in, and grew full five feet high.” 
“ At this period,” (says Mr. Butler,) “ coming into 
charge of the field, I sowed it with about one bushel of 
fine salt to the acre; in less than two weeks time the clo¬ 
ver and timothy came in plentifully, and did well, field 
pastured.” 
In conclusion, Mr. Butler says—“ the agricultural facts 
that have come to my knowledge have shown me, that 
salt has succeeded best upon lands naturally calcareous, 
lands previously limed, or upon lands limed at the time 
of its application. Salt, even when accompanied with 
lime or the carbonate of lime, must not be depended up¬ 
on for a crop in the absence of a due supply of organic 
matter. Salt is but a corrective when decomposed in the 
earth, it then acts as an alkali, or in other words, the be¬ 
neficial results that follow its decomposition, depend up¬ 
on the action that the liberated alkali (soda) exercises up¬ 
on the organic matter of the soil.” 
Envy is a turnkey by birth, and an executioner by pro¬ 
fession. 
NATURE OF FOOD, AND THE RELATIVE VAL¬ 
UE OF VEGETABLES AS FOOD. 
It seems to be generally conceded at the present time, 
that the principal value of any food for the purpose of 
nutrition, is depending on the azote or nitrogen it con¬ 
tains. This, Prof. Liebig, Mr. Madden, Prof. Johnston, 
and others, in the main agree on this point, as do Bous- 
singault and Bechsteim. Prof. Liebig says, “ the sub¬ 
stances of which the food of man is composed, may be 
divided into two classes; into nitrogenized and non-nitro - 
genized. The former are capable of conversion into 
blood, the latter incapable of this transformation. The 
former may be called the elements of nutrition, the latter, 
elements of respiration .” Parts of the former are derived 
from vegetables, and are as follows: vegetable fibrine, 
vegetable albumen, and vegetable casine; to these are to 
be added animal flesh, and animal blood. Parts of the 
latter, or the elements of respiration, are derived from 
both animals and vegetables, and are as follows: fat, 
starch, gum, cane sugar, grape sugar, sugar of milk, and 
some few other products. Liebig has demonstrated that 
the nitrogenized constituents of vegetable food, have a 
composition identical with that of the constituents of the 
blood; and that no nitrogenized compound, the composi¬ 
tion of which is different from fibrine, albumen, and ca- 
seine, can support the vital process of animals. As a 
matter of practical utility to every farmer who keeps an¬ 
imals, we give from Boussingault, the following table, 
exhibiting the relative value of different kinds of food 
calculated on the amount of nitrogen they contain, or in 
other words, on the quantity of vegetable fibrine, albu¬ 
men, and caseine they will furnish to the circulation. 
Article. Am’t per cent of Am’t per cent Val.com- 
st. ' ' . 
Hay from Red clover in flower, 
Hay of Vetches,. 
Lucern Hay,. 
(tommon Hay,. 
Green Clover, - .. 
Potatoes, - - -. 
Green Lucerne,. 
Carrot,. 
Wheat Straw, 
Barley Straw,. 
Oat Straw,. 
Rye Straw,. 
Turneps.. 
Beans,.- - 
Vetches,. 
Kidney Beans,. 
Lentils, - - .. 
Yellow Peas,. 
Wheat Flour,. 
Wheat Grain, 
Rye,. 
Oats, ......... 
Barley Flour,. 
Barlry Grain, -. 
In this table Boussingault has taken good common hay 
at 100 as the standard. Thus 60 lbs. of good hay from 
red clover in flower, is equal in nutriment to 100 lbs. of 
common hay, 281 of potatoes, or 520 of wheat or barley 
straw. The leguminous plants, such as the beans, vetch¬ 
es, lentils and peas, afford the most nitrogen, and every 
farmer knows they rank deservedly high in the scale of 
nutrition; still, as they are destitute, or nearly so, of the 
phosphates required for the formation of bone, experience 
proves they are the most useful when fed in connection 
with some of the cerealia, or grains. We believe that 
most farmers will find that their experience in feeding 
animals, agrees very well with the estimates of the ta¬ 
ble. Thus in soiling, 208 lbs. of green clover, or 347 of 
green lucerne will be found equal to 100 lbs. of hay, a re¬ 
sult which few will doubt who have made experiments 
in this mode of feeding. 46 lbs. of wheat flour are equal 
in nutriment to 281 of potatoes; but the animal would 
fare better on the potatoes than the flour, as there would 
be more bulk for the proper distention of the stomach. 
The Gavel, devoved to Odd Fellowship and Ge¬ 
neral Literature. Three numbers of this work have 
been issued. It is a w’ell filled octavo of twenty-eight 
pages. Edited by Rev. C. C. Burr. Published monthly 
at Albany, by John Tanner, at one dollar a year in ad¬ 
vance. 
matter. 
of nitrogen, par’d with 
hay as 100. 
83.4 
1.76 
60 
89. 
1.41 
74 
83.4 
1.35 
75 
88.8 
1.04 
100 
.50 
208 
7.7 
.37 
281 
12.4 
.30 ; 
.30 « 
J 347 
80.7 
89. 
•20 J 
.20 < 
520 
79. 
•19 
574 
87.8 
.17 
611 
8.2 
.17 
612 
92.5 
5.1] 
20 
85.4 
4.37 
24 
95. 
4.08 
25 
91. 
4.00 
26 
83.3 
3.40 
31 
87.7 
2.27 
46 
89.5 
2.13 
49 
89. 
2.04 
51 
87.6 
1.96 
54 
87. 
1.90 
55 
86.8 
1.76 
59 
