148 
THE CULTIVATOR, 
May, 
have already shown in numerous published experi¬ 
ments. In some instances, they produce powerful and 
surprising effects, but much oftener little or no effect 
whatever. To be safe with them, purchase in mode¬ 
rate quantities and give them a fair trial—if they are 
successful, a larger investment may be made another 
year; if a failure, the loss will be moderate, and the 
knowledge useful. All the crops mentioned are bene¬ 
fited by manures, but corn more especially needs a 
large quantity. —— 
Liquid Manure Compost. 
There is a barn standing on my farm, and in one of 
its stables cattle and horses have been kept for 20 
years, and there has no doubt many hogsheads of 
their liquid manure run into the ground underneath. 
Will The Cultivator tell me whether the earth so 
saturated could not be used to much, advantage on 
some crop, and if so on what crop it can be most bene¬ 
ficially applied 1 C. Smith. E.. Hamburgh, N. Y. 
No doubt a few inches of the upper surface under 
the stable is strongly impregnated with fertilizing mat¬ 
ter, which would be useful to any crop commonly ben- 
efitted by stable manure. If we- should make any 
distinction as to soil it would be to apply this earth to 
lands containing considerable vegetable matter, as 
liquid manure affords none. This may, however, be 
merely a nice point in theory, of no great value in or¬ 
dinary practice. —— 
Experiments in Cultivation. 
It is an old and quaint saying, very applicable to 
experimental farming, that “ it requires more than one 
swallow to make a summer.” Farmers, like all other 
men, are wonderfully prone to draw general conclu¬ 
sions from single facts—a mode of reasoning that leads 
to a great deal of contention among the tenacious hold¬ 
ers of hastily formed opinions. We often publish ex¬ 
periments,—sometimes for the sake of corroborating or 
enforcing what has been before well proved; and some¬ 
times to accumulate a mass of information from which 
opinions may be formed in future when enough has 
been obtained to build a foundation. With this view, 
we publish the following extracts- from a recent letter 
of Phineas Pratt, of Deep Biveuf Ct. 
Special Manures— It is said by some that yard 
manure furnishes all that is necessary for a crop. I 
have planted peas in a good soil (for some uses), with 
rotten yard manure—the crop was not worth picking, 
or eating after it was picked. I have planted them in 
common soil manured with rich compost of phosphate 
and ashes, or what contained them. The crop was the 
most productive, the largest, fullest podded, and finest 
flavored of the kind I ever saw. I have raised four¬ 
teen years in succession on the same ground,, a fine 
crop, the last as good as the first, with the same kind 
of manure, and but a trifle of that. 
Hen Manure. —One of my neighbors sells his hen 
manure to the tanners for 12^ cents per bushel. An¬ 
other values his at a dollar per bushel for manure. I 
save mine as fast as made in covered casks for com¬ 
post, and think from experience it is equal to guano. 
A neighbor manured in the hill four acres of corn with 
the droppings of thirty hens of one year, and had an 
excellent crop. 
Corn-stalks for Manure. —I have known a fine 
crop of broom-corn, fifteen years in succession without 
manure except the first year, and the stalks plowed in. 
Common corn, with the stalks laid in the furrow, prov¬ 
ed a first-rate crop for many years on the same ground 
Valuable Paint for Farm Buildings. 
To the Editor of the Country Gentleman— I 
noticed in a recent number of your paper, an inquiry 
for information as to which was the best paint’now in- 
use for barns and other buildings attached to farming 
premises. If I am not too late in my answer, perhaps 
my communication may be of use to your readers. 
Within a few years there- has been a paint discov¬ 
ered in one of our northern counties, which, I under¬ 
stand has already created no little sensation among 
painters and paint dealers in many parts of the state. 
It is known as the “American Sienna,” and is manu¬ 
factured at Malone, Franklin co., by Mr. Henry B. 
Duane. It has many most excellent qualities, not the 
least of which is its cheapness—it requiring one-third 
less of oil than either the Venetian Red or French 
Yellow. Among its chemical properties are three por¬ 
tions in oxide of iron, which of course penetrating the 
surface upon which it is applied, renders it very dura¬ 
ble and impervious to every weather. Its fire-proof 
qualities also very much- enhance its value. I know of 
one instance, where some buildings adjacent to a house 
painted with the Sienna, burning to the ground, did 
not in the slightest degree injure this paint, while the 
white lead paint on the window sashes became very 
much blistered and disfigured. 
This paint is generally used throughout the north¬ 
ern part of this state—particularly for railroad stations 
and bridges, and I believe has in all cases proved su¬ 
perior to any now in use. 
Mr. Duane, I see, has established agencies in dif¬ 
ferent parts of this and some eastern states, where his 
paint can be procured. 
From what I have seen of this paint and have heard, 
I can most cordially recommend it to the use of the 
public. The color is a rich claret. Thomas D. Reed. 
Geneva , March 21, 1854. 
We would suggest to Mr. Duane, that it might ma¬ 
terially promote the sale of this article, if he would 
advertise in this paper, the agencies where it can be 
procured. —«s»—- 
Cider in Oil Casks. 
I have heard it remarked that cider will not turn to 
vinegar in an oil cask. Would this effect be produced 
by drawing it out and putting, it in a clean one ? If 
not, is there any process by which it can be done, and 
what will effectually cleanse an oil cask! A Sub¬ 
scriber. 
We know but little of the manufacture of vinegar 
in oil casks. Doubtless the chief difficulty is the thin 
film of oil which covers the surface, excludes the air, 
and prevents active fermentation. Strong, hot ley, 
might in time remove the oil from the wood. 
