206 
THE CULTIVATOR, 
Jfly. 
acid, and afterwards through a solution of bicar¬ 
bonate of soda. Under these circumstances the 
plants grew, and were found to contain much more 
nitrogen than was contained in the original seeds, 
which excess must have been drawn from the air. 
In 1852 these results were confirmed by further 
experiments. The plants fructified completely, 
and their nitrogen, when matured, was more than 
in the seeds planted. 
“ The conclusion then is, with all the certainty 
that belongs to an experimental science, that the 
nitrogen of the air is absorbed by plants and serves 
in their nutrition, and that the cereals are not an 
exception in this respect.” 
Although this settles the question of science, 
it does not show that ammoniacal manures are not 
valuable. Practical agriculture has too long de¬ 
cided that they are; hence, though a part of the 
nitrogen may, under certain circumstances, be de¬ 
rived from the air, other sources appear to be the 
most favorable to the luxuriant growth of our cul¬ 
tivated plants, and guano and other nitrogenous 
manures will perhaps be used with success in in¬ 
creasing the yield of our fields, while the soil is 
tilled, and man derives from ithis support. Yours 
truly, ¥m. H. Brewer. Ovid,Seneca Co.,N.Y. 
Making and Saving Manure. 
The great object to be obtained, in preserving 
horse stable manure in good condition, in my opin¬ 
ion, is to prevent its heating, which causes great In¬ 
jury and waste. The plan suggested by B. B. K., 
in the May No. of the Cultivator, which is to spread 
it over the farm-yard, as well as that of Composter 
in the Feb. No., which is to throw it into a yard, 
and to cause his hogs to mix and turn it over, is a 
decided improvement over that of throwing it in 
a pile out side the barn, to rot and waste by rains, 
and also evaporate by the wind and rays of the 
sun. Yet by neither of these plans is the wash¬ 
ing and evaporation obviated. 
All stable manure should, as far as possible, be 
kept under cover. Sheds for manure, contiguous 
to stables, can be built at small expense, into 
which the daily clearings of the stable should be 
thrown. I have a stable for sheep attached to my 
horse barn, 26 by 18 feet, without a floor, into 
which I throw my horse manure, and spread it 
over the stable. Thirty or thirty-five sheep use 
this stable at pleasure. In bad weather they are 
fed there in racks around the walls. The sheep 
keep the manure trampled down hard, so as to 
prevent any degree of heating. The litter from 
the racks keeps the stable in good condition for 
sheep. 
I am fully satisfied that my horse manure trea¬ 
ted in this manner, is worth double what it was 
when thrown in a pile out side of the barn, and 
left to heat, wash, evaporate and waste, until its 
remains were given to the earth. 
In autumn I usually take up my stable floors, 
and deposit a layer of coal dust about six inches 
deep under them, which by spring becomes tho¬ 
roughly saturated with urine. In this way I 
make two or three loads of manure every winter, 
equal to, if not better, than that thrown from the 
stables. 
I apply all my stable manure to the soil in the 
spring, plowing or harrowing it immediately after 
getting it to the field. I would never draw it to 
the field until every thing was ready to mix it with 
soil. Manure is often injured and wasted by 
permitting it to remain in small heaps on the field 
several weeks before it is used. Samuel F West. 
Columbia , Ci., May 3, 1853. 
Investments in Weeds. 
It is some sfx thousand years since weeds 
became a serious and positive evil; yet if we 
should judge from the undisputed empire "which 
they appear to have obtained on some men’s 
domains, we should very naturally suppose that 
this long period' had not been sufficient to reveal 
the fact. Elders, thistles, mulleins, johnswort, 
red root, chess, cockle, fox-tail, pig-weed, mus¬ 
tard, ox-eye, &c , consume as much of the strengh 
of the soil on some single farms, as would furnish 
grain for the family’s yearly supply. We have 
heard of many bad investments of capital, from 
the South Sea scheme, a century or more 
ago, down to the multicaulis speculation of a later 
day, and railroads whose only dividends were the 
old iron originally used in making them. But 
South-Sea bubbles, multicaulis humbugs, and 
grass-covered railroads have not consumed a tithe 
of the money lost every year by the mighty legions 
of foul materials in the shape of weeds, which are 
secretly and openly devouring the strength of the 
soil in all quarters of this round globe, wherever 
cultivation has turned up the soil to the sun. 
We do not propose to say anything new on the 
subject of an evil that existed even ‘ 1 before anti¬ 
quity appears to have begun f f but perhaps we 
may make a few suggestions of some use, at the 
present juncture, when the weeds are approaching 
the height of their vigor, and to which the wetness 
of the season in many parts of the country has 
imparted unusual strength. 
“How shall we destroy them?” This is an in¬ 
teresting question, but there is no “royal road” 
to their eradication; it must be accomplished by 
vigilance and labor. There are, however, differ¬ 
ent modes of attack—some laborious and expen¬ 
sive, and others comparatively expeditious and eco¬ 
nomical. It is our present object to point out 
some of these. 
When weeds are newly introduced, and when 
only a few scattered plants have made their ap¬ 
pearance, they may be easily and thoroughly root¬ 
ed out by the hand or hoe. But when they have 
multiplied from a few to millions—when the num¬ 
bers become swollen like the little rill to the mighty 
river, such a retail attempt would be as futile as 
trying to dip out the waters of Niagara with a 
quart cup. In such instances, we are to look for 
some means of making a wholesale sweep of them. 
These means will vary with the nature of the weed 
against which the war is declared. 
Red-root , often called pigeon weed from the sup¬ 
position that migrating pigeons have dropped the 
seeds in their flight, has of late years nearly ruined 
innumerable wheat fields. When the numbers 
are few, they are very readily destroyed, by pul¬ 
ling them up early in the season. Some careful 
farmers, by a few day’s annual labor, have suc¬ 
ceeded in keeping their fields nearly clear of them. 
But they often increase two or three hundredfold 
annually; so that one plant will produce, say two 
hundred the second year, forty thousand the third, 
eight millions the fourth, sixteen hundred millions 
the fifth, and so on in this interesting ratio. The 
hard and stony seed will remain inert for years in 
the soil, and as each subsequent plowing brings it 
up to the surface, will produce successive crops. 
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