1850. 
THE CULTIVATOR. 
235 
spread with muck. Where there is much stock, a 
drain should be made to lead their urine directly in¬ 
to the tank. 
The next question that arises, is relative to the dis¬ 
position of this liquid from various sources, after we 
have got it into the tank. From what has been said, 
it will be seen that it is extremely liable to ferment 
and putrify,and to lose a large portion of its most va¬ 
luable ingredients; this will not happen quite so soon 
in a covered tank as in the open air,under the influence 
of the sun, but still it cannot during warm weather 
be delayed long. There are several methods of 
treatment which have beed found successful. 
Some farmers mix two or three times its bulk of 
water, thus retarding the fermentation until they 
have leisure to distribute the liquid over their fields, 
with a common water cart. In most cases this 
would be a troublesome mode of management. A 
more convenient way, is to pump it up, and pour it 
upon the surface of manure and compost heaps, 
sprinkling them over with gypsum at the same time. 
Where neither of these plans will answer, it is 
quite practicable to preserve the ammonia by sprink¬ 
ling in occasionally a little sulphuric acid, say one 
or two pints; this converts the carbonate of ammo¬ 
nia into the sulphate of ammonia, a compound far 
less volatile than the carbonate. The same effect 
may be produced by adding gypsum or sulphate of 
lime; sulphate of ammonia is formed in this case 
also. The propensity that gypsum has to form this 
compound, when it is brought into contact with am¬ 
monia, explains its beneficial action in arresting the 
escape of that gas from fermenting manure heaps. 
Even when ammonia is rising so as to be visible in 
white fumes, and perceptible to the smell, a sprink¬ 
ling of gypsum will arrest all further escape for a 
considerable length of time. 
In situations where it is convenient to employ 
them, peat, peat ashes, wood or coal ashes, rich 
mould, &c., are good materials to throw into these 
tanks; they will absorb nearly all of the valuable 
parts of the manure. The tank soon fills up in this 
case, and must be cleaned out at comparatively short 
intervals. 
These methods of using the liquids from the barn¬ 
yard, and the stables, are all perfectly simple and 
practicable, while at the same time they involve lit¬ 
tle expense. The manure saved is of the most pow¬ 
erful character, and will upon trial be found to add 
very greatly to the resources of any farm. 
The subject of water from the sewers of towns, 
has lately attracted much attention in England, and 
Prince Albert has quite recently made public a plan 
for extracting on a large scale, the valuable substan- 
es which it contains. He proposes a large upward 
filter,—that is, to bring the water into a recepta¬ 
cle under such a head, as to force it upward through 
a filter of sand and gravel. The clear water passes 
off above, and the solid matter remains below the 
filter, to be taken out and used for manure, I think 
that certain practical difficulties would attend the 
working of this plan, and the Prince seems to have 
overlooked the fact, that the clear water which runs 
away contains everything that is soluble in water, 
and of course much that it is important to preserve. 
In any case, the system would be too expensive for 
this country, but is worthy.of mention as showing 
how much value is placed upon this species of re¬ 
fuse abroad. Wherever land lies so that it can be 
irrigated from the sewers of large towns, such irri¬ 
gation will be found a most effectual and economi¬ 
cal method of enriching it. 
For my next communication I shall endeavor to 
select some more savory subject than has occupied 
our attention in the preceding letters of this series. 
John P. Norton. 
govticultural Apartment 
CONDUCTED BY J. J. THOMAS. 
NOTES ON GARDENS AND NURSERIES. 
A few observations made of some of the gardens 
and nurseries in the vicinity of Boston, about the 
first of the sixth month (June,) may prove interest¬ 
ing to such of our readers as have not had opportu¬ 
nity for personal examination in that place, so emi¬ 
nent for horticultural improvement. 
Graperies ofiJ. F. Allen, Salem. 
J. F. Allen, regarded as the most eminent grape 
culturist in America, has erected a number of grape 
houses, having in the aggregate, a running measure 
of about 500 feet, containing grapes, peaches, nec¬ 
tarines, and cherries, in the highest degree of cul¬ 
ture. The forcing grape house had hundreds of 
bunches of large, fully grown, and ripe Black Ham- 
burghs, hanging in rich clusters overhead, together 
with many other of the best foreign sorts, mostly 
ripe. Some of the bunches were nearly a foot long. 
The most rich and showy variety was Wilmot’s 
New Black Hamburgh, the clusters being heavy and 
compact, with the berries about an inch in diame¬ 
ter. The Cannon Hall Muscat, the largest grape 
noticed, had slightly oval berries more than an inch 
long. The house containing these specimens was 
the second forcing house, the earliest ripened 
grapes being all gone. 
Another house is devoted to retarding, the fruit 
not ripening till winter. The forcing, cold, and re¬ 
tarding house, furnish ripe grapes the year round. 
The earliest grapes have sometimes ripened a month 
before the late ones had disappeared. 
The peach house was lined with over a hundred 
feet of nectarine trees, loaded with partly grown 
fruit. One tree of Hunt’s Tawny was full of rich, 
golden, ruddy-cheeked nectarines, fully matured. 
A part of the peaches, with fruit about two inches 
in diameter, were beginning to redden. It may be 
remarked however, to those not familiar with forcing 
fruit, that while early ripened grapes are usually of 
delicious flavor, forced peaches are comparatively 
insipid. 
Another house presented an exhibition of ripe 
cherries. The Elton was particularly fine, the 
fruit being an inch or more in diameter. The Black 
Tartarian did not succeed so well. It will be ob¬ 
served that at this time, peaches, nectarines, and 
cherries, in open ground, were but a few days past 
the season of blossoms, and that the cold, damp 
weather had materially injured and retarded the 
house fruit. —— 
Buckthorn Hedges. 
Good specimens of buckthorn hedges were seen 
on the grounds of J. C. Lee, of Salem, forming a 
close thick growth about six feet high. The only 
defect was in their being sheared too broad at top, 
the sides being nearly perpendicular, and the growth 
being shaded at bottom, was not sufficiently vigor¬ 
ous and dense. The most perfect specimen was in 
the garden of Otis Johnson, of Lynn, the hedge 
being over seven feet high, and four feet and a-lialf 
thick at bottom, tapering with sloped sides to a 
sharp edge at top. It presented a very close and 
smooth wall of verdure from bottom to summit. It 
was 9 years old. Although but little thorny, it 
