THE CULTIVATOR 
March, 
78 
Draining Ponds. 
I hare rented a farm for fivo yearn; nearly alf the 
tillable land is er^ek bottom, sandy, and usually over¬ 
flowed every year. But the up-land is clay with a 
slight mixture of sand; the subsoil, quicksand, about 
six feet from the surface. In this there are two ponds 
of about an acre each. One of them I can drain with 
a blind ditch. Will-it pay me to ditch it'/ The other 
popd is so situated that I cannot drain it by ditching. 
I have thought of digging two or three wells down to 
the quicksand, and curbing it in with timber. Would 
that be likely to secure the object? T. Lowry. Rock- 
vHte y Indiana. 
Our correspondent has not furnished sufficient data 
for an answer;; so we must answer conditionally. If the 
pond, when drained, will be likely to furnish a fine bed * 
of rich arable soil, five years’ rent of which will proba¬ 
bly exceed in value the cost of the ditch, then of course 
it will pay draining, but not otherwise. This we can¬ 
not determine until we know the depth, length, and la¬ 
bor of cutting the ditch, and the yearly value of good 
land in that region. 
If the quicksand is so porous and dry at all seasons of 
the year, that water will always soak away rapidly in It, 
then the cutting a well through the basin of the other 
pond into this bed of quicksand, will effect drainage. 
Otherwise,- it will not. 
Preparation of Bones for Use. 
Messrs. Editors —The best and cheapest methodof 
preparing bones for manure, is first, to boil them in 
strong ley, a few hours, to extract from them the animal 
matter, or what would be more convenient perhaps, break 
them as fine as convenient, and put them into a tub of 
ley to remain there during pleasure, until the animal 
matter is all extracted and incorporated with the ley.— 
The mineral part of the bones will now be found very 
friable and easily pulverized. They should be rinsed 
clean, pulverized and put into another tub or trough.— 
Apply to them some diluted sulphuric acid, in the pro¬ 
portion of one of acid to four or five of water. Stir 
J^hem frequently, and in a short time, they will be en¬ 
tirely decomposed and fitted for use. These two mass- 
_ es, being equally rich in the elements of fertility, the 
one of ammonia and the other of phosphorus, are 
equally valuable as fertilizers, and adapted to any and 
every variety of soil that may be deficient in these ele¬ 
ments, and equally necessary for the healthful maturity 
of every growing plant, whether of grain, grasses, fruits 
or roots. I would now advise a mixture of these two 
masses with the general compost, to secure a general 
diffusion of them upon the different fields to be manured. 
My reason for the general diffusion of these masses, up¬ 
on the different fields is, first, every plant needs them. 
Secondly, the farmer's resources, in this line, will be 
mainly within himself. This will be true of all those 
that live at a distanc3 from villages and cities. Their 
resources must therefore be small. Thirdly, the ele¬ 
ments of the bone, both the animal and mineral, were 
taken from the different fields, and should, therefore, be 
returned to the same fields. To keep up the fertility of 
each field, it is necessary to return to it annually, the 
same lements that are e taken away. The farmer may 
secure a larger crop of any kind, on any field, by rob¬ 
bing other fields of the same elements of fertility to en¬ 
rich that one. But such a policy would not only be 
bad, but ruinous if ^pursued. Yours most respectfully- 
J. L. Edgerton. Georgia, Vt., Jan. 14, 1854. 
Cow-Milkers—Bommer’s Manure. 
Please give a description of the Patent Cow-Milker 
advertised in some of' the back volumes of the Cultiva¬ 
tor; also your opinion of Bommer’s patent fur making 
Manure and price of reeeipt. C. West Greenville , Pa. 
We suppose -our correspondent refers to the tubes 
made for entering the orifice of the udder, and kept in 
their place by gutta-percha cases round the teats. The 
tube keeps the udder open, and the milk flow’s out. 
This, in substanee, is an old method, as we can well re¬ 
member in childhood the practice of mischievous boys 
in thrusting straws or the barrels of a small quill up 
the udder, to save them the labor of milking,—a few 
repetitions always causing an openiug so permanent, 
that large quantities of milk escape and waste during 
the intervals between milkings. These cow-milkers 
are therefore worse than useless. 
Bommer’s patent manure is made by erecting a 
square pile of straw, stalks, leaves, and other dry veg¬ 
etable matter, at the side of a vat or-reservoir. Liquid 
manure from the vat is pumped repeatedly on the pile, 
causing its fermentation. The pile is built on rails and 
brush, so as to drain freely, and admit the air from be¬ 
low. All surplus drainage passes off into the vat. 
The liquid manure is made by mixing night soil, and 
other rich materials with water, adding gypsum, with 
some lime, ashes, salt, &c-, and stable washings. Bom- 
mer published a useful pamphlet on making manure, 
not now in market. The patent is generally thought 
not to be valid. —— 
Fattening Animals with- Cod-liver Oil. 
The London Lancet gives an account of a series of 
experiments made by Dr. James Pollock upon fat¬ 
tening animals with cod oil. They were conducted 
upon a Targe scale, and he found that pig3 taking the 
oil ate less meal, weighed the heaviest, and brought 
most money per stone in tho London market, the fat 
being firm and white. He fed from two ounces to a 
quarter of a pint daily, with good results ; but when 
larger quantities were used the fat became yellow and 
the flesh tasted fishy. He states that when sheep were 
fed one ounce a day the fat was beautifully white, and 
the flesh light and easy of digestion, and gave general 
satisfaction to the consumers. The experiments with 
bullocks had been equally satisfactory. He feeds the 
bullocks oil mixed up with meal and chaff; the pigs 
havg it m xed with dry meal - T the sheep have split 
beans soaked in oil. The commonest oil costs in 
England from 2s. 8d. to 3s per gallon, and the saving 
of expense is very considerable. Dr. Pollock also says 
that the relief to a broken-winded horse from the ad¬ 
ministration of cod oil, is very soon perceptible. 
Whether these experiments are of any practical 
value to farmers in this country or not, they are inter¬ 
esting inasmuch as they show the importance of study¬ 
ing the application and physiological action of differ¬ 
ent food, and oils, on the animal system. 
