THE CULTIVATOR. 
125 
nure to one spot, barn manure and lime mixed on another spot, and on 
a third spot, I applied lime alone. I have tried other experiments with 
barn manure, and from my experience I am fully persuaded, that lime 
or calcareous manure is the best for wheat. I am about trying the ef¬ 
ficacy of clover and buckwheat, ploughed down, as a manure. I in¬ 
tend sowing wheat in the clover, and rye in the buckwheat field. 
To furnish putrescent, or animal manures for all our worn-out fields, 
would require immense labor and expense. If lime will answer the 
same purpose—and I believe it will*—we should not much longer com¬ 
plain of poor land; for, in this country, we have an abundance of the 
best limestone and timber—and now, all that is wanting is knowledge 
and industry in the preparation and application of it to our lands ; in 
both of these particulars, we must admit we are sadly deficient. We 
have but two alternatives, either to improve our lands, or to sell and go 
westward, where Providence has furnished a richer soil. 
Suppose, for a moment, my whole farm to be as rich and as well 
cultivated as that one acre, (and I might have had it so if I had began 
to improve when I first purchased,) what would be the profit of it 
yearly ? If on that one acre I make a profit of only $30, (and I am 
satisfied I will make more when the second crop is taken) my whole 
225 acres would then yield me a profit of $6,750, a sum grealer than I 
can sell the farm for, and more than I have ever made on it since I 
I owned it. 
But suppose a clover crop to be twice as valuable as any other, I 
would still have $3,375. I will now deduct one-half of that amount for 
pasture land and failure crops, &c. and I would still have a profit of 
$1,637. I will now suppose $687 will be required to defray the expenses 
of the farm, I would still have a yearly profit of $1,000. 
I will now give you a short account of my profit and loss for a few 
years. 
Not being able to work myself, and having no force of my own, I 
am necessarily compelled to have my work done by hired hands. Af¬ 
ter I became unable to labor myself, I found that my hired hands were 
sinking money for me. I then resolved to keep a strict account of all 
my farming operations. At the end of the first year, I found, on ba¬ 
lancing the account, that I was $163 in debt. I examined the account, 
and endeavored to ascertain, if possible, where the fault lay. I satis¬ 
fied myself sufficiently to make a second trial; accordingly, I dismissed 
my manager and some of the hands, and employed a more faithful and 
industrious manager, determined, if possible, to profit by past expe¬ 
rience. At the end of the next year, when my books were compared, 
I found I had made a profit of $93, a sum not half sufficient to pay the 
interest of the money I had laid out, A third trial is now going on, 
with the same manager, but more immediately under my own super¬ 
vision, aided by all the knowledge I have been able to acquire from ag¬ 
ricultural papers and other sources. I cannot yet make a fair estimate 
of the profits, but from present appearances, I ihink I shall realize 
near $500. Is it not astonishing to seethe number of persons who sub¬ 
sist by farming entirely, still continue the old land-killing system, when 
such profitable results are to be expected from an improved mode of 
tillage ? 
Farming is both a pleasant and profitable employment, if properly 
carried on. The experience of thousands have taught us this, and any¬ 
thing I could -say, would not make it more clear. 
I have been asked by some, “what use have we for rail-roads? our 
population can consume all the surplus which we now have.” I an¬ 
swer, if we had rail-roads, the amount would be increased to a vast 
extent; our interest would become more united, and the danger of a 
disunion proportionably lessened. 
A few words more to my brethen of the plough in East Tennessee. 
From the great irregularity of our surface, we have a great diversity 
of soils and climate, requiring the greatest agricultural skill, to ensure 
its full developments. Clover and lime, judiciously used, as a manure, 
will produce beneficial results, far beyond the expectation of those who 
have never tried them. Arouse then, brethren, to the improvement of 
your lands, and be assured, you will reap a reward, amply sufficient 
to compensate you for your labor. 
Tennessee Fa rmer. _^_ VM . PEEPLES. 
NEW APPLICATION OF ELECTRICITY. 
We noticed not long since, in a foreign journal, a wager between a 
London scientific gardener, and a celebrated cook, that the former 
would produce a handsome salad of mustard and cress from the seed, 
before the latter could cook, in good style, a leg of mutton to be eaten 
with the salad. The wager was won by the gardener. The process 
was to immerse the seed for a time in oxymuriatic acid, then sow it in 
* We would caution friend Peeples against an exclusive reliance on lime for 
manure, valuable as it unquestionably is. Nothing can justify the neglect of 
animal and vegetable manures, without the application of which, the perma¬ 
nent fertility ot land cannot be obtained—but when united with the use of 
lime, the effect will no doubt equal his expectation ; but in both cases it must 
not be forgotten, that to insure profitable results, judicious tillage is indispensa¬ 
ble.— Editor Tenn. Far. 
a light soil, letting it be covered with a metallic cover, and bringing in 
contact with the whole an electrical machine. By the sameagent hen’s 
eggs, which require twenty or twenty-one days to hatch by animal heat, 
have been hatched in a few hours. Water apparently free from any 
animalculse, in an hour can be rendered full of living insects. It has 
long been suspected that what is called electro-magnetism performed a 
prominent part in the formation and growth of animal and vegetable 
matter, and these experiments would seem to place the matter beyond 
a doubt. Should these results be confirmed by further experiments, a 
new era in physiology, both vegetable and animal, may be considered 
as commenced, and another step taken in drawing the veil which shrouds 
the mysterious operations in the inner courts of the temple of nature. 
-— Gen. Far. G. 
MANURES. 
Manure is the wealth of the farmer. This proposition cannot be too 
often repeated and enforced, for on the full belief of this axiom, and 
a corresponding practice, the success of the farmer mainly depends. 
Manure, whenever it may be found on the farm, is beneficial, but it 
never does all the good it might, unless it is properly and judiciously 
applied. Most farmers are content if they are able to empty their 
yards once in two or three years of the accumulated piles of straw and 
cattle manure, at a loss of nearly one-half its efficient qualities; and 
the exuberant fertility of our western lands lias hitherto in part justi¬ 
fied this careless management of this important item in husbandry. 
Compost, or a mixture of earth with common manure, kept in a pile 
until the union and decomposition is perfect, is undoubtedly the best 
application that can be made to land. The efficient power is also 
greatly increased, as the earths employed in making the pile absorb 
the gases produced by the decomposition of the vegetable and animal 
matter, and becomes nearly of equal value. The mud which accumu¬ 
lates in swamps and low lands, where it lies useless and unproductive, 
may in this manner be converted into one of the most active restorers 
of exhausted soils. The yarding of cattle is to be preferred where 
practicable, to suffering them to run at large, and the additional quan¬ 
tity of manure made by stabling will, independent of the saving in fod¬ 
der, nearly pay the expense of erecting stables for their accommoda¬ 
tion. 
Common sense would teach a farmer, that the sooner manure, when 
applied to the soil, can be put under the surface, the better the effect 
will be, and the less of its fertilizing qualities will be lost. Spread over the 
surface it certainly does good, but in a much less degree than when put 
under the surface. To this philosophical application of manure, much of 
success in the improved system of farming is owing, as it necessarily in¬ 
volves a rotation of crops, two principles of the first importance in ame¬ 
liorating the soil, and advancing its products. Formerly the most of the 
manures was applied to the meadow lands, scattered over their surface, 
and these were allowed to remain in grass so long, that continued atten¬ 
tion was requifed to produce ordinary burdens. It was erroneously sup¬ 
posed that the ploughing of lands intended for mowing would be de¬ 
structive of grass crops, and their renewal as at present practised was 
not dreamed of. Now, where the soil is not so wet as to forbid it—and 
the system of draining leaves few pieces inaccessible to the plough— 
meadows are subjected to the same system of rotation as the rest of the 
farm, and when properly managed, no deficiency either in quality or 
quantity of hay need be apprehended. Experience here in the appli¬ 
cation of manure, is in perfect accordance with the theory, and shows 
that when nature is properly understood, the way she points out will 
be found the easiest and most productive to the agriculturist. 
The manner in which manures perform the effects attributed to them, 
there is reason to believe, is at present very imperfectly understood. 
That they become accessary in some way to the growth of plants is 
certain, and the general opinion seems to be that the decomposed mat¬ 
ter is taken up by the roots, and again becomes incorporated in the 
new structure. Is it not possible, however, that the electric or mag¬ 
netic influence, which seems to pervade nature, and the activity of 
which every new discovery tends more fully to develop, has a more 
important agency in the growth of plants than has generally been ad¬ 
mitted ? In the construction of the electric pile it is well known that 
alternate substances of metallic and animal or vegetable origin are em¬ 
ployed, which seems to be precisely the condition in which the manures 
are the most effective. Vegetation does not succeed in the pure mine¬ 
rals which form the foundation of the various earths, nor will it flourish 
where the richest, and of course purest, manure is alone employed. Is 
it not probable then that the mixture of these moistened with water, 
constructing a true voltaic pile, by exciting the secretory powers of 
the plants, gives it vitality, and the powers of aggregation or growth. 
We throw out these hints for the examination of the curious, merely 
adding, that in whatever way they operate, manures are indispensable 
to the success of the farmer.— Gen. Far. G. 
Labor relieves us from three great evils, indolence, vice and want.— 
Voltaire. 
