Treatment, Value and Application of Manures. 
of their newer sorts, for which we would be glad, if we 
could, to make room. They also showed fine speci¬ 
mens of the Concord Grape. E. Dorr, of this city, 
was, as he is wont to Be, on hanrd with all sorts of plums, 
or at least 34 of them, including several new and 
beautiful varieties. J. W. Bailey, Plattsburgh, exhi¬ 
bited a beautiful show of apples, 71 sorts. Among the 
exhibitors of native grapes were Dr. Underhill of 
Croton Point, whose show was as usual, very fine, and 
Th. Fowler of Fishkill, who exhibited a good assort¬ 
ment of Isabellas, Catawbas and Dianas. The Hot 
House clusters shown by T. W. Ludlow of Yonkers, and 
those of James Porter, Esq , Princeton, N. J.were mag¬ 
nificent. 
Among the Flowers were very good collections of 
Dahlias, Verbenas, &c .&c., beautiful bouquets and de¬ 
vices, all of which we must pass by. We can only 
say that the Society were largely indebted, as our 
Horticultural Society always was, to Mrs. J. T. 
VanNamee and William Newcomb of Pittstown, who 
exhibited fine assortments of different flowers and 
several beautiful designs. There was also worthy of 
particular notice, a model landscape made with mosses 
for the turf, little plants for the trees,&c. &e., and shown 
by Graeff a florist of Brooklyn. Also a beautiful case 
of preserved birds, insects, &e., shown by John G. Bell, 
Taxidermist, New-York. 
Mrs. Van Namee was also a large exhibitor oUDo- 
mestic Manufactures, and carried off there, as well as 
among the flowers, several well deserved prizes. The 
show of Domestic Goods was generally good, though 
not extensive. 
Mechanical Inventions, Agricultural Implements, 
&c., were exhibited in considerable numbers. Of the 
latter, R. L. Allen. Mayher & Co., and Longett & Grif- 
fing, were the chief contributors. We hope to present 
our readers in future numbers, cuts and descriptions of 
several novelties in which they have an interest, and 
so for the present must pass them by. 
In closing, we may be allowed again to commend 
the exhibition, as one in many respects worthy of New- 
York and the officers of the society—at least as regards 
the grounds themselves, and what is of more especial 
interest to the farmer perhaps than any thing else, the 
stock there exhibited. The lack of such attendance 
as gladdened the hearts of our Philadelphia friends 
the other day, or as has before been present at our 
State Shows, should not be discouraging to the Agri¬ 
culturists of New-York. The Show had much agaipst 
it. The weather of the first two days was enough to 
do away with all enthusiasm. The western part of the 
State felt that it had some claim to the fair this year, 
and did not turn out. with the warmth and the will it 
has usually felt. County shows have, so far as we 
know, been generally good this year, and this has en¬ 
grossed the attention of many who generally exhibit at 
the State Fair. Upon the whole, we congratulate the 
friends of the society that, with all the obstacles in its 
way which we. have shown, and more which we have 
not room to tell, it has done so well this year. And 
our readers will pardon us for the length of the 
account we have given,—if in fact it be too long to in¬ 
terest them. There was much to speak of, as certain 
tired limbs that peregrinated the grounds day after 
day, might testify ; and we trust that any tediousness 
on our part may not prevent general attention to the 
details of an Exhibition which partakes of the charac¬ 
ter of the State it represents, in being to some extent 
an exemplar to other members of our own confederacy, 
and to foreign nations the exponent of our progress in 
Rural Improvement. 
Importance of Draining.— By a recent decree 
of the French gevernment, 100,000 francs, about $20,- 
000. are devoted to encourage the manufacture of 
draining tiles for agricultural purposes in the provinces 
Translated from the German of Prof. Wolff for the Co. Gent. 
BY S. W. JOHNSON. 
“ Fixing agents in connection with liquid ma¬ 
nure. —While I consider the addition of certain chemi¬ 
cal fixing agents to the mass of yard manure as unne¬ 
cessary, still their use in connection with the drainings 
—the liquid yard manure—is to be highly recommend¬ 
ed; for in this case the whole of the added substance 
can be diiectly applied to the definite object of retain¬ 
ing vapors of ammonia, and therefore the process is 
not an expensive one ; since a relatively small amount 
of fixing material is sufficient to prevent the escape of 
ammonia from a large quantity of the liquid, and also 
to fix the ammonia of the solid manure, so soon as the 
latter is drenched with the former. The mixture must 
of course be made in the reservoir which collects the 
drainings, and which may occupy a separate easily 
accessible position, or may be placed in the midst of, 
and covered by, the manure. Especially in the latter 
case, care must be taken that the fixing agent employ¬ 
ed be such as does not occasion the separation of large 
quantities of solid matter, which might easily stop up 
the pumps. In practice three substances are especially 
employed as fixing materials, viz., gypsum (or plaster 
of Paris,) green-vitriol, and sulphuric acid. The two 
former cause the separation in the tanks of a more or 
less considerable sediment which in case of gypsum 
consists mostly of carbonate of lime, or when green-vi¬ 
triol is employed, of a mixture of oxyd of iron and 
sulphuret of iron. The lime sediment, together with 
the liquid, which contains all the ammonia, dissolved 
in the form of sulphate of ammonia, may be applied 
directly to crops, and especially to meadows, with the 
greatest advantage. The iron sediment formed when 
green vitriol is used, is also a good fertilizer ; but may 
at first act injuriously from containing the sulphuret of 
iron, which by exposure to the air, becomes again poi¬ 
sonous green vitriol, (protosulphate of iron.) that is 
destructive to young plants. By long and thorough 
exposure to the air, however, another body (persulphate 
of iron) is formed, which is innoxious. Green vitriol 
has long been used as a fixing agent in Switzerland, 
and in some parts of Belgium, while in England sul¬ 
phuric acid is preferred, and the latter must always be 
employed where the separation of sediment is to be 
avoided. 
A well known English farmer who has made many 
experiments upon the use of sulphuric acid, obtained 
the. best results when he added 1 lb. sulphuric acid to 
150 lbs. of tank liquid, (1 lb. to 20 gallons, nearly.) 
He also found in comparing the effects of two equal 
quantities of tank liquid, one treated with sul. acid, 
and the other applied in its usual state, that in case of 
the former ah expenditure of $10 gave a hay increase 
of $65 value. A similar if not so great advantage 
may of course be expected in case of all crops to which 
liquid manure is applied. 
The extent to which ammonia may be lost when 
common liquid manure (i. e. liquid which has not been 
