306 
THE CULTIVATOR 
it. I hope my fellow farmers throughout the country, 
who need manure for their farms will avail themselves 
of this useful method, which so cheaply and expedi¬ 
tiously converts the materials into this valuable article. 
Let us be awake to this subject, and we shall but little 
longer hear of short crops and worn out lands^ 
Ralph Storrs. 
Mansfield, Ct., August 21th , 1845. 
CANADA THISTLES. 
Mr. Editor —I fully agree with a writer in the July 
number of the Cultivator, that “ prevention is better than 
cure.” I have no doubt that old, deep-rooted patches of 
thistles may be subdued by constant and thorough plow¬ 
ing; but my plan is to save the trouble of a ‘‘cure.” I 
know by my own experience, that any farm not already 
overrun with thistles, may, by a little work and contsant 
vigilance, be kept entirely clear. 
In 1807, I came into possession of the farm I now oc¬ 
cupy. There was not then any thistles on it, but a neigh¬ 
bor adjoining had at that time one lot very full of them. 
He took no pains to keep them down, except by ordinary 
plowing and cropping, and his farm at length became 
completely overrun with them. In every head-land and 
joint of fence they were from year to year suffered to 
run to seed. The consequence was, that my farm, which 
adjoins my neighbor's for half a mile, in a few years 
showed Canada thistles springing up in different places. 
I made up my mind to commence not a Florida war 
merely, but an interminable war on the base intruders. 
Believing in the theory that the root is as much de¬ 
pendent for prosperity on the branch as the branch is on 
the root, I take a hoe, in the spring of the year when 
they first make their appearance, and just crop them off 
at the surface with one stroke, which a man can do and 
walk right along. I repeat the operation as often as the 
thistles appear, which may be three or four times in the 
season. I have frequently killed them in this way the 
first season, so that they have not appeared again in the 
same place; but if they should appear the next season 
they will look sickly, and by repeating the same process 
the second year they will be entirely subdued. But if, 
unfortunately, you have neighbors less faithful than your¬ 
self, you will be constantly annoyed with new cases 
which will require attention. 
I have pursued this practice of cutting thistles with a 
hoe for nearly forty years; and although my neighbor’s 
farm is now filled with them in every field, there has 
never been on mine in any one year more than a man 
could cut up with a hoe in ten minutes, provided they 
were standing in one spot. But they will spring up in 
some new places every year or two, requiring, like the 
maintenance of liberty, “eternal vigilance.” 
An Old Farmer. 
Saratoga, August, 1845. 
HOUSES OF UNBURNT BRICK. 
Mr. Editor —We have a method of building cheap 
good houses here of unburnt brick, of which I do not 
recollect that any notice has been taken in your paper, 
and which I think are admirably adapted to any part of 
the country. The plan ) < as follows: 
First, find out some st ong, adhesive clay—thes ; tronger 
the better—throw up a quantity of it and mix in plenty 
of straw or sedge gras', cut about six inches long. Put 
in sufficient water to rr»<ke a strong mortar, and tread with 
oxen or horses to a consistency to be made into brick. 
Mould them to any size you wish, from 18 inches by 9 
to the size of common brick; they are generally mould¬ 
ed here as long as the wall is thick—say 18 by 9, and 6 
inches thick. After being dried in the sun, like other 
brick, they are ready for building, and can be put up 
with either clay mortar, or lime mortar, as is conve¬ 
nient. Lime is of course the best. They should be 
built on good stone or oak sill foundation, 18 inches from 
the ground, and the eaves of the roof should project over 
2 feet, to prevent the water lodging. The chimney can 
be built of the same material of a smaller size, except 
the fire place, and above the roof. The plaster is put on 
the wall without lathing, both inside and outside, it being 
usually rough cast. If five or six nails are driven into 
each brick to within half an inch of the head, they will 
prevent the rough cast from falling off, but it will stick 
close enough to the wall on the inside without. A 
frame is fitted on the wall where floors are wanted for 
! the joists to fit into, if for good houses, but if for a 
cheap kind, simple two inch plank are laid on the wall, 
and the joists laid on them for the floor. 
These houses are at once cheap and durable, being 
very warm in the winter and cool in summer, and always 
free from damp. Being generally frost-proof, flowering 
plants can be kept in them in the winter with the great¬ 
est ease. A friend of mine, a few miles from here, who 
formerly lived at Albany, Mr. John Holmes, has built a 
very good one of this kind, and he finds it all that he 
can desire a house to be. Mr Ellsworth, of the Patent 
Office at Washington, has also built one. 
J. B. Bagwell. 
Chinguacousey, Canada West, August, 1845. 
POUDRETTE. 
To the Editor of the Cultivator —Having seen 
it stated by you in some of your papers, in answer to an 
enquiry in relation to Poudrette, that it is undoubtedly 
one of the best manures when properly made—but thu 
the purchaser must trust to the honesty of the manufac¬ 
turer for a good article—we beg leave to state two or 
three facts concerning ourselves, which will show that 
we have an interest in making a good article, and prove 
the fact that we do not adulterate our poudrette. In the 
first place, we have too much capital at stake to risk our 
reputation by making an article that would sell for but 
one season. Our buildings, vats, drying floors, with 
movable covers, which occupy more than an acre of 
:ground, together with the vessels continually employed 
in the business, cost us more than $75,000. Secondly, 
we offer the following 
Affidavit. — State of New Jersey, Hudson County, ss .— 
Charles F. Dodge, being duly sworn according to law, 
deposes and says, that he is now, and has been Agent and 
Superintendent for the Lodi Manufacturing Company, at 
their works on the Hackensack River, during the two last 
years, (1844 and 1845,) that he knows the materials of 
which every barrel of Poudrette has been made during 
that time, and that to his certain knowledge, no raw peat, 
turf, or meadow mud is now, or has been used, in the 
'manufacture of their New and Improved Poudrette, and 
moreover, that no street manure, pond dirt , or hard coal 
ashes, or any other hurtful or deteriorating material ha-s 
been or is now mixed in or with the article. That the 
cheapest material used in its manufacture, is an article an¬ 
swering exactly both in description and analysis to the 
celebrated ‘‘Dutch Ashes,” which, as deponent is informed 
and believes, have been for many years a considerable 
article of commerce in Europe, being there considered a 
most valuable and powerful fertilizer. And deponent fur¬ 
ther saith, that the proportion of night soil to the other 
compounds, is not less than 60 per cent., and that no ar¬ 
ticle is used which is not a good manure by itself; that 
all foreign substances, such as sand, &c., are separated 
as much as possible from the night soil, by a peculiar 
process;* that no two kinds of Poudrette have ever been 
manufactured for sale; that the proportions of the seve¬ 
ral ingredients are uniform and not varied from; that in 
its manufacture it is carefully protected from rains, snows, 
and dews, and that from the manner in which it is made, 
it is next to impossible that one barrel should be better or 
worse than another. 
Charles F. Dodge, Agt. and Supt. LodiMan’g. Co. 
Sworn this 23d day of June, 1845, before me at Jersey 
City. J. D. Miller, Master in Chancery. 
Add the fact, that we are an old established and incor¬ 
porated company; that we have survived every rival es¬ 
tablishment; that we have greatly improved upon the 
European process of preparing Poudrette, and we leave 
* It sometimes happens, that hard coal ashes are thrown intc 
privies. In such eases it impossible to separate or screen every par 
tide of hard coal from it—hence, small pieces, about the size of 
pea, are occasionally found in the Poudrette. 
