THE CULTIVATOR 
3. No two kinds increased in flesh according to their 
food. 
■4. They did not produce loose fat according to their 
food. 
5. The Cotswold sheep gave a larger increase, from 
a given amount of food, than any other variety. 
'It appears then to be fully proved both by reason 
arid experience, that the amount of food which sheep 
require, depends on the various causes specified, and 
not on size alone, and that the quantity of flesh, fat 
or wool, which a sheep will produce, is determined, 
not by the quantity of food consumed, but by the na¬ 
ture and perfection of the animal organization. 
These general principles are equally applicable to 
all our domestic animals, and the obvious importance 
of the subject will justify or at least apologize for the 
length of this article. Its chief object is, to correct 
the common impression that agriculture is the appro¬ 
priate sphere of dullness, and to show that, on the con¬ 
trary, the selection and culture of a single class of 
animals alone, requires the most refined and correct 
taste, acute perception, large observation, careful 
study, and long experience. 
If this article shall in the least aid in fastening this 
impression on the minds of the young farmers of our 
country, the writer will never regret that, in its prepa¬ 
ration, even at this most busy season of the year, the 
pen has usurped the place of the plow. John T. An¬ 
drew. West Cornwall, Ct. 
Nitrate of Soda—No. 2. 
^Messrs. Editors —In addition to the synopsis which 
we have prepared of the experiments of Mr. Pusey, 
with nitrate of soda and nitric acid, we herewith pre¬ 
sent you and your readers with some farther informa¬ 
tion on the same subject, gleaned from reports which 
we find in a foreign paper of late date. The following 
mgy be taken as a fair specimen of the effects of the 
application of nitrate of soda on pastures. Mr. Main 
of Mid Lothian, in a prize essay in the Transactions of 
the Highland Society 1853, gives the results of an.,ex- 
periment. In a field consisting of 15 acres, six years 
in pasture, nitrate of soda at the rate of l}.ewt. per 
acre was applied. Previous to the application. “ 12 
cows starved upon it.” After being top-dressed, 13 
milk cows, 5 young cattle, 3 colts, and at intervals 60 
sheep were grazed upon it. 
In a field which had been three years in grass, ni¬ 
trate of soda, gypsum and other top-dressings were ap¬ 
plied to different portions. That portion to which the 
nitrate was applied at the rate of 1 cwt. (112 lbs.) to 
the acre yielded an increase of If ton over that por¬ 
tion which had no application, and also over that portion 
to which gypsum had been very liberally applied. 
Other experiments equally favorable, have been re¬ 
ported from time to time for seme years back, in Bri¬ 
tish agricultural journals. In combination with guano, 
striking results have also been obtained ; and it is usu¬ 
ally from such a combination that the largest profits 
have been realized. 
As a top-dressing to oats, nitrate of soda has pro¬ 
duced results similar to those above alluded to on grass. 
One English farmer reports an increase of 16 bushels 
of oats over the product of a field undressed, and the 
gain at over S10 an acre, after deducting the expense 
of the nitrate, On strong land this same experimenter 
found that the result was barely sufficient to pay the 
cost of the nitrate. 
A farmer in Derbyshire, top-dressed a field of 10 
acres of heavy soil, on a clay bottom, with 1 cwt. of 
nitrate to each acre—one land excepted—and the re¬ 
sult was an increase of, about 16 bush, oats, and a cor¬ 
responding increase in the amount of the straw. Es¬ 
timated profit after deducting cost of nitrate about $10 
an acre. 
It may be well to mention, however, that at the 
meeting of the Royal Agricultural Society of England 
on the 23d of March last, reported in the Mark Lane 
Express of March 27th, a communication was received 
to the effect that several comparative trials of nitrate 
and guano on oats, had led the writer to prefer guano. 
In one experiment he applied l£ cwt. of nitrate on one 
portion, and 3 cwt. of guano on another. The oats top- 
dressed with the nitrate kept a bluish sort of color 
throughout the season, did not ripen equally, and were 
soft in the ear ; while those which had guano ripened 
equally and had a harder, crisper ear, and weighed 
better. That the writer of this report was not preju¬ 
diced against the nitrate is evident from another part 
of his communication in which he states the results of 
an experiment made on a field of grass. On one por¬ 
tion of the field he applied 2 cwt. of nitrate and 1 cwt. 
of salt; on another portion 4 cwt. of guano, and on the 
remainder of the field no manure was applied. The 
nitrate gave about 3£ tons of hay per acre, the gu¬ 
ano a little under 3 tons, and on the portion which 
had no manure the amount of hay was only about l£ 
ton. Independently of the increased weight of hay 
from the nitrate, the writer prefers that manure for 
either old or new grass, as it appears to require but 
little moisture to fit it for reaching the roots of the 
plants. A strong dew in the course of one night ap¬ 
peared sufficient for that purpose ; and in about 36 hours 
after its application the grass turned to a luxuriant 
dark green color, whereas the guano requires a good 
shower of rain to fit it for acting on the grass, and un¬ 
less it gets such a fall of rain it does little good. 
On barley the nitrate has been applied so as to yield 
very large profits—7 to 14 bush, of increase. 
The experiments have been numerous with Wheat. 
From various reports we note the following amounts of 
excess of dressed over undressed portions of a field. 
1st,. 
2(1,.. 
.i..5 
do. 2 
3d,. 
....6 
do. 
4th,. 
.10 
do. 
5ih. 
.,.;..i2 
do. 
6th. 
do. 
do. 
7ih, The amount of excess not stated: th« yield, 
however, do bushels per acre. 
When nitrate of' soda has failed to do good, it has 
been owing probably* either 1, to the article not being 
genuine ; 2, to being applied at an improper season'; 
or 3, to its having been applied to land so high in con¬ 
dition that nitrogenous manures proved injurious by 
producing too luxuriant a growth of straw. * 
A box 8 inches by 8 inches square, and 4-2 inches 
deep, will contain one gallon. 
