1817. 
THE CULTIVATOR. 127 
The mountains are well adapted to the growth of rye, 
oats, buckwheat, hemp, flax, potatoes, turneps, beets, 
apples, orchard grass, timothy, greensward, and white 
clover; and the valleys between the mountains produce 
yellow corn and tobacco tolerably well. Za. Drum¬ 
mond. Amherst , Va., 1847. 
One of the gentlemen from Pennsylvania, is well 
known at Lowell, his wool selling there for the highest 
price. His name is Patterson. Mr. P.’s associate is 
now with me, and says they have determined after full 
search , to graze about 900 fine sheep on the highest 
mountain in Amherst. Z. D. 
Fixing Ammonia. —It is said that plaster of Paris 
(gypsum, or sulphate of lime,) fixes the ammonia of 
rain water by forming with it a sulphate of ammonia , 
which is a fixed salt. This I do not understand; my 
tables of affinity stand thus, with respect to the degree 
of affinity which certain bodies have for sulphuric acid. 
For example— 
Sulphuric acid. —1. Baryta; 2. Strontia; 3. Potassa; 
4. Soda; 5. Lime; 6. Ammonia, &c. 
Now by this, it is evident to me that if carbonate of 
lime and sulphate of ammonia are mixed together, the 
result would be sulphate of lime and carbonate of am¬ 
monia, a very volatile salt, whereas no salt of ammonia 
coul^d decompose the sulphate of lime, lime having a 
stronger affinity for sulphuric acid than ammonia. I 
could understand the theory well if ammonia stood in 
the place of soda. Perhaps some of your chemical cor¬ 
respondents would explain this discrepancy, or appa¬ 
rent discrepancy. Probably the plaster of Paris is a 
mper-sulphate of lime, in which case I can imagine the 
ammonia combining with the excess of sulphuric acid. 
T. H. Colchester , Canada West. 
[We apprehend there may be a difference of opinion 
in regard to the above table of affinities. We should 
like to hear the remarks of any of our chemical friends 
in regard to it.— Eds.] 
Agricultural Capabilities of North Caroli¬ 
na. —The agricultural capabilities of this part of North 
Carolina, are by no means great or extensive; other avo¬ 
cations absorb the attention of the mass of our population. 
Our lands consist principally of extensive forests of pine 
barrens. Turpentine, lumber, and tar, the produce of 
those forests, afford means of subsistence to the majori¬ 
ty of our people. There are some good lands on our 
rivers, and a strip on our sea coast, beginning 10 miles 
from Wilmington and extending northwardly about 50 
miles, with a breadth of from one to two miles. The 
public road, which passes close to this region, presents 
the most uninviting aspect in the universe—the deserts 
©f- Africa not more so—and a traveler would little sus¬ 
pect that he was in the neighborhood of extensive and 
not unfertile plantations. Of this region, being my lo¬ 
cality, I shall more particularly speak. 
The growth of timber in its primitive state, was oak, 
hickory, and walnut; the soil a dark sandy loam, pro¬ 
ducing fair crops of everything but wheat. The timber 
is nearly all cut down, or rather destroyed; for, per¬ 
tinaciously treading in the steps of our forefathers, we 
are in the habit of clearing land, 11 killing ” it by injudi¬ 
cious cultivation—clearing more, and “ killing,” until 
all is cleared and exhausted; and then we have nothing 
to do but clear ourselves. Log-rolling succeeds log¬ 
rolling, and heaps of beautiful timber are annually de¬ 
voted to the flames, until in a few years there will be 
‘nothing to feed flame in kitchen or parlor. 
The farmers of late years have turned their attention 
to the culture of pea-nuts. This crop resembles, in its 
more luxuriant state, a field of red clover. It is a most 
destructive crop to land. The usual ordeal is to plant 
after all the vegetable matter has been cleared from the 
land. When harvested, it is entirely removed from the 
soil, leaving no vestige of vegetation; the high winds in 
winter and spring, take off the loose and exposed soil, 
and although we are sensible of the homicide, or rather 
land slaughter we are committing, cupidity is so excited 
by the tempting prices the article bears in market, that 
neither Moses nor the Prophets, nor one risen from the 
dead, would deter us from pursuing the injurious course. 
Yet we are an industrious people; but the system of 
farming needs a radical change, and I think it can be 
effected only by taking and reading useful publications, 
like yours. I take my full share of the rebuke with my 
neighbors, and perhaps am more to blame than they 
for sinning against light and knowledge. 
Between the main land and the sea shore, is a marsh 
apparently of alluvial soil, about miles wide, inter¬ 
sected with innumerable creeks of salt water, present¬ 
ing to the eye one of the most .delightful meadows in 
nature. It sustains a coarse grass, from two to three 
feet high, which horses and cattle will eat, and many 
of these animals are reared entirely upon it. the grass 
being perennial. Whence the alluvial deposit proceeds 
I know not, as there are no large rivers making into the 
marsh; the country back for 100 miles being sand, and 
almost a dead level. It is filled with beds of oysters, 
and on the margin of high land, by the continual attri¬ 
tion of the tides, those shells become pulverized, being 
no bad substitute for marl. A friend of mine, a re¬ 
spectable scientific farmer in the interior of the state, 
has taught me to make an excellent manure from the 
mud, grass, and shells. The process is as follows:—• 
Make a bed of marsh mud, say thirty feet long by 8 feet 
wide, and one foot deep. On this put the pulverized 
shells two or three inches deep; place on them 8 or 10 
inches of the coarse grass,—then a coat of mud, and 
proceed as in the first course, alternating the materials 
until your heap is about four or five feet high. Then 
cover the whole with a thick layer either of mud or of 
common soil. This should be done while the grass 
is green. Let it stand until winter sets in; then cut it 
down with spades, turn it over, and apply it to the soil, 
after the first plowing. 
By this process, the acidity in the grass will in a 
great measure be destroyed; yet the compost will carry 
enough of the grass and lime into the soil to give it a 
healthy action. Let the beds be formed on the soil to 
be cultivated. 
This process may meet the eye of some farmer simi¬ 
larly situated with myself, on our extensive seacoast, 
and if he derives any benefit from it, I shall be am¬ 
ply compensated for my trouble in making it known. 
J. D. Jones. Topsail , New Hanover Co., N. C. s 
Feb., 1847. . 
Breeding Sheep. —Whatever may be the diversity 
of opinion in regard to in-and-in breeding, to a limited 
extent, there is no doubt of its injurious tendency when 
carried to any considerable length; and it is a matter 
of some moment to be able to discover, by visible signs, 
those animals whose constitutions have been thus in¬ 
jured. In swine, it is a commonly received opinion, 
that a hollow back of the shoulders, is a pretty sure in¬ 
dication of this course of breeding. 
My principal object in this article, is to start the in¬ 
quiry, what is the index of in-and-in breeding among 
sheep? It is an opinion of those who speak with the 
voice of oracles, that the falling of the wool upon the 
shoulders,—a lifeless appearance of the wool in that 
part of the fleece, is the unerring evidence of it. Is this 
true ? It is doubtless true that this trait is found in 
many flocks where this pernicious system has been 
practised. If there was originally any of this bareness 
upon the shoulders, in-and-in breeding would doubtless 
perpetuate, perhaps increase it, unless an effort was 
directed to breed it out. Upon what evidence is this 
