1854 . 
THE CULTIVATOR. 
299 
operation. The product of such land was originally 
flags, sedge, and other worthless growth ; when made 
dry, the most luxuriant crops of timothy took their 
place, and when a portion of upland soil has been 
spread over the reclaimed muck, the addition of clover 
has been quite successful. Such land has also afforded 
the finest crops of corn ; but where the soil is nearly 
clear muck or peat, and consequently more liable to 
frost than more compact soils, it has been found neces¬ 
sary to plant a little later, so as to escape the frosts of 
spring, and to use a sort ripening early so as to avoid 
those of autumn. 
Open drains are required when a large amount of 
water flows off in the wet season. Such drains should 
be furnished with sloping walls of stone if practicable, 
to prevent the banks settling down—a very common 
cause of failure in open drains through swamps. Such 
channels as this are only needed as a main or central 
outlet. All the smaller may be covered. If tile are 
used they should be supported beneath by being laid 
on a plank or slab, and be covered with a portion of 
brush laid lengthwise, to prevent their settling out of 
place. But in many instances brush drains will an¬ 
swer every necessary purpose. These may sometimes 
be made with almost incredible cheapness, by using 
the brush-cleanings from the land—it being only ne¬ 
cessary to deposit them with the butts pointing down 
the current, and with the branches and leaves at the 
top—which diposition is effected by simply beginning 
at the upper end of the drain and working downwards 
—treading the whole down with the feet, and covering 
with soil, after having inverted a coat of turf or tus¬ 
socks. Brush drains will last many years. If much 
water is expected to flow through them, the addition 
of two large poles a few inches apart may be best, the 
brush being laid diagonally across them. 
Drained swamps and marshes are often difficult of 
tillage at first, in consequence of the great number of 
hard knots or tufts formed by the roots of larger grow¬ 
ing ferns. Some of these may be cut off by a sharp 
paring-plow; others can be only removed with a spade 
ground sharp. Those which cannot be reduced by be¬ 
ing deposited in successive layers in the manure heap, 
should be piled in a heap, and when dry, reduced to 
ashes by burning. » 
Gypsum on Wheat. 
Messrs. Editors —Will you or some of your expe¬ 
rienced correspondents, inform me of the probable ef¬ 
fect of sulphate of lime as a top-dressing on wheat in 
the spring! Please state the quantity used per acre, 
and the increase of wheat resulting from such applica¬ 
tion. A Surscriber. Cedar Fields , Isle of Wight 
Co ., Va. 
As a general rule, it is impossible not only to give 
the precise increase per acre, but to say whether there 
will be any increase at all, by the application of any 
special or specific manure, as for example sulphate of 
lime or gypsum, without trial in each region or neigh¬ 
borhood. In some places, and especially on the clover 
crop, its effects are wonderful—in other places, of lit¬ 
tle value. We have scarcely ever found an instance 
where the spring application of gypsum has benefitted 
the wheat crop—it may, however, on some soils. But 
as it commonly helps the growth of clover, it is best to 
sow it on wheat;—as the clover crop of course always 
follows wheat under good management. Our corres¬ 
pondent will find on page 198 of the third volume of 
the Country Gentleman, and on page 145, current vol¬ 
ume of the Cultivator, a communication from D. A. 
Bulkley, of Williamstown, Mass., giving the results 
of many experiments with gypsum on wheat, and par¬ 
ticularly of its very successful application when sown 
in autumn. -»■ .. 
Inquiries. 
I have, for a few years past, put a solution of hen- 
dung on my melon plants, to keep the bugs off. I wish 
to know the proportions of dung and water that should 
be used, and how long it should be allowed to stand be¬ 
fore using. I planted some melons late, this season, 
and as they were coming up. I went over them with 
the above preparation, and it being as I supposed too 
strong, it appeared to prevent their coming up in the 
hills where they had not already appeared. 
Are vines, and crops generally, injured materially 
by being hoed when wet with rain or dew 7(1.) 
Can you tell me what is the best work, partially or 
wholly devoted to ventilation of dwellings 7(2.) 
Is there any cheap way to obtain a good supply of 
water in low ground in pastures, for stock, in time of 
drouth 7(3.) 
We had a sucking calf tied under an apple tree that 
bore very sour green fruit, and it caused the diarrhea 
very severely. Would it be safe to let young calves 
run in a pasture, of not more than one-quarter of an 
acre with 3 or 4 large bearing trees in it, when the 
apples were green 7 A Subscriber. 
(1.) Crops are not injured by cultivation in wet wea¬ 
ther, unless the soil be clayey and so wet as to be woik- 
ed into an adhesive mass like mortar, or so as to make 
it harder by subsequent drying. 
(2) Downing’s “ Country Houses ” contains a 
chapter on ventilation with many valuable suggestions. 
Allen’s Rural Architecture has likewise some useful 
remarks. If we remember correctly, (for we have not 
the work at hand,) Wightwick’s Hints to Young Ar¬ 
chitects also contains something on the same subject. 
In adopting Downing's views, one of his errors should, 
however, be guarded against—that is, that stoves poi¬ 
son the air—an error that many others who cannot 
think for themselves, have implicitly adopted. Down¬ 
ing held that “ the air that passes over the surface of 
hot iron becomes loaded with the vapor of arsenic and 
sulphur, which that metal, highly heated, constantly 
gives off.” How is iron , a simple substance, to give off 
constantly these two different and distinct substances 7 
|5uppose, however, the iron to be not quite pure, and 
to contain a ten-thousandth part of sulphur, and a hun¬ 
dred-thousandth part of arsenic, how long will they 
“ constantly ” pass off, and fill the air of a room, and 
never be consumed ! ! Great men sometimes indulge 
in sublime nonsense,—and our correspondent will of 
course guard against this error, in reading the chapter 
on ventilation in the Country Houses. A stove-room 
should, however, always be freely ventilated. 
(3.) Water is obtained for cattle from springs, wells, 
roofs of buildings, outlets of deep ditches, and natu- 
