1854. 
THE CULTIVATOR. 
239 
The / 1 Economical Manure.” 
For some time past there has been used to some ex¬ 
tent in England and Scotland, an artificial manure, to 
which the above title has been given. If testimonials 
are to be relied upon at all, this manure must be pos¬ 
sessed of very desirable properties. In the month of 
May last it was analyzed by a competent ,chemist in 
Edinburgh, and found to be composed mainly of, 1st. 
protosulphate of iron, or green vitriol, about 35 per 
cent; 2d, of sulphate of lime, or gypsun, about 16 or 
17 per cent; and 3d, of chloride of sodium and other 
alkaline salts, about 26 to 34 per cent. In one speci¬ 
men analyzed the chloride of sodium amounted to 16.31 
and the other alkaline salts to 10.66, or in all 26.97 
per cent, and in another specimen to 17.43 and 16.88 
respectively, or in all to 34.31 per cent. 
Now, as a manure of such a composition might be 
easily and cheaply got up by any agriculturist, we 
subjoin a specimen or two of the testimonials which 
have been given of its fertilizing properties. One 
testifies that on that portion of a field of barley on 
which this manure was sown broadcast, mixed with 
ashes, the growth of the barley was wonderfully thick 
and luxuriant to what it was on the other portion of 
the field. Another testifies to its having most benefi¬ 
cial effects on his garden crops, and to his cattle being 
very partial to a part of a field of grass to w r hich it 
had been applied. “Your manure,” says Mr. John 
Davenport of Staffordshire, “ improved the wheat very 
much, and the grass it sweetened, and the cows eat it 
off very bare all the summer.” “ Your manure,” says 
one, “ was sown with clover, and it is most luxuriant.” 
It is called the “economical manure,” because \ to 
£ cwt., per acre fully equals in effect 3 cwt., of the best 
Peruvian guano, and because the saving in cost is 
thus at least 50 per cent. It is applied with two or 
more times its bulk of light earth or peat-mud, or 
ashes or sawdust or anything of that kind, broadcast. 
It has been also employed in solution. In this state 
we presume it was applied to some apple and pear 
trees, of which it is said to have improved both the 
oliage and the fruit. We may close by stating that 
it is sold in Gr. Britain at about or a little over the 
price of the best Peruvian guano, that is about £12 
per ton. — <a»— 
Good Condition in Plants and Animals. 
There is no better preservative against the attack of 
many diseases, both in animals and plants, than such 
a mode of feeding and care as produces what is gene¬ 
rally understood by the phrase ‘good condition.’ Some¬ 
where lately we met with a statement to the effect 
that the writer was inclined to depend more upon hav¬ 
ing his sheep in good condition, as a mode of escaping 
the destructive effects of grub in the head, than upon 
any specific remedy or preventive application. The 
paper or book in which this statement was found we 
cannot now name, not being able to put our hands up¬ 
on it after some research,* but we are much inclined to 
* Found at length in Co. Gent, for June 1, on page 345. 
be of the same opinion, as it seems to be a general or 
universal law that animals reduced by stai-vation, ill- 
feeding, filth or any source of debility, are much more 
commonly attacked by disease or vermin, than when 
in an opposite or good condition. This seems to be 
the law also in regard to vegetables. Plants grow¬ 
ing on exhausted soils are especially subject to blights 
and diseases. Clover sickness may be mentioned as 
one instance in illustration of the operation of this law 
in the vegetable world. On some soils on which clover 
has been raised a greatnumber of times, it can no lon¬ 
ger be grown with success. In the spring the leaves 
wither and die, and the roots, upon examination are 
found to be passing into a state of decomposition, cov¬ 
ered with fungi or the larva of insects. Various consid¬ 
erations and observations go to . establish it as certain 
that the decay of this plant is owing entirely to the want 
of one element in the soil which is essential to the 
growth of the clover plant. Clover sickness in land 
may be owing to some original deficiency or uncon¬ 
geniality of soil; but chiefly to the circumstance of 
the soil having been exhausted of the nutriment pro¬ 
per for the plant by previous cropping. The same 
holds true as to potato-rot and turnep disease, to a 
great extent at least. For almost always newly bro¬ 
ken up pastures or wood land will produce good crops 
of any of the above named plants, and generally for 
quite a number of years, when a proper rotation is 
put iitjh'actice. * 
How to get Water for Cattle. 
Mr. Tucker —Many of the otherwise fine farms in 
Illinois are badly supplied with water for stock. Wells 
fail, and farmers are compelled to drive their stock of¬ 
tentimes one or two miles to water. 
Such trouble can be obviated in most cases, by se¬ 
lecting some low plat, underlaid with clay, and with 
a span of horses, plow and scraper,(such as are used on 
roads,.) one man could in three or four days, scrape out 
a hole, four or five feet deep, and large enough for a 
hundred cattle to drink from at once. Then a lot of 
hogs should be fed in the excavation for a few days, 
until the clay was compressed and rendered water¬ 
proof. When this is done, a few furrows leading to 
higher land, would form a ditch for carrying the water 
into the hole, and filling it the first rain. In this way 
a fair supply of water may be obtained. I would ad¬ 
vise the^tting out of shade trees around the pond, as 
they would have a tendency to preserve the water pure 
and fresh, as well as affording a, refreshing shade for 
stock. H. M. M. Armington, III. 
Productive Sheep. —Mr. Burwell of Clarke county, 
Va., has eleven ewes, which brought him the last win¬ 
ter, twenty-eight living lambs—one of them had four, 
four had three each, and the others twins. 
California Products. —The Californians boast 
largely of their big turneps and potatoes. Two tumeps 
are mentioned, weighing 29 and 36 lbs. each, and a 
sweet potato weighing 9 lbs. 
