156 
THE CULTIVATOR 
she deposits by millions. The laborer or neuter, male, 
and gravid female, of the Termes, may be seen on the 
230th plate of Wilson’s Entomology. We are gratified 
in being able to inform Mr. P. that we have a specimen 
of each of the bees named above, which we shall be 
happy to show him, should he visit Albany. 
ARTIFICIAL MANURES. 
The preparation and use of manures constitutes one 
of the points in which the advance of modern agricul¬ 
ture is most apparent. For this advance, we are indebt¬ 
ed to the application of chemical science to an investiga¬ 
tion of the substances most commonly used to promote 
the growth of plants. An imitation of the operations of 
nature has thus been effected, in which there has been a 
decided improvement on the original, as the change ne¬ 
cessary to convert organic matter into the fertilizing ma¬ 
terial is effected in a very short time; the bulk diminish¬ 
ed while the efficiency is increased; and the disgusting, 
offensive character belonging to some of the original 
compounds entirely done away. Substances, too, once 
wasted, or rather considered of no value, are now in the 
course of a few weeks converted into manures of the 
first quality. Every discovery of this kind is of impor¬ 
tance to the agriculturist; for although some of them it 
is probable will not be made useful on a large scale, and 
some of the preparations cannot become common in this 
country; still there are many which we are confident 
will be extensively used everywhere; and the better 
they are known, the more highly appreciated by the 
farmer or gardener. 
Poudrette, or prepared night soil, is one of the most 
valuable of these prepared manures, concentrating in a 
great degree the elements of fertility; and as prepared, 
being easily portable, used with facility, perfectly inof¬ 
fensive, and very powerful in its action. The two most 
extensive manufactories of this article are the New-York 
Poudrette Company—D. K. Minor, agent New-York 
city; and the Lodi Poudrette Company at Hackensack, 
New-Jersey—A. Dey, New-York city agent. We are 
pleased to learn that the demand for the products of these 
manufactories is constantly increasing, and the proofs of 
the value of the manure so made rapidly accumulating. 
The value of poudrette, compared with good stable or 
barn yard manure, is estimated as one of the former to 
from 12 to 15 of the latter; and some have even estimat¬ 
ed the difference as still greater. When we remember 
that this manufacture is designed to convert what has al¬ 
ways been a nuisance and source of multiplied diseases 
in our cities into a means of fertility and wealth, its im¬ 
portance will be duly estimated. 
Another preparation, which is receiving some favor, 
is that produced by Sommer’s patent, in which all ligne¬ 
ous or woody plants, such as straw, cornstalks, weeds, 
roots, sea grass, and in fact all vegetable matters, are 
converted into manure in a much shorter period than by 
the usual course of decomposition. It is pronounced as 
efficient as stable manure, more lasting, and costing but 
little. The process of preparing this manure has nothing 
difficult about it, and is said to be easily and expedi¬ 
tiously performed. It is probable the patent will for a 
time, even were its value unquestioned, prevent the ex¬ 
tensive use which this mode of preparing vegetable 
matter might otherwise have obtained. Of the peculiar 
forms of the process we know nothing; but the testimo¬ 
ny in its favor from those who have tried it, appears 
ample. Patent manures, patent implements, and patent 
medicines, are very apt, however, by practical farmeis 
to be placed in the same category. 
The English agricultural journals have within the past 
year frequently alluded to the qualities of a new fertili¬ 
zing preparation called Daniel’s patent ma.nure. I he 
specifications of the patent have been received in tnis 
country; and though evidently intended to mistify, ra¬ 
ther than disclose the real process of making the ma¬ 
nure, it is easy* to see that a powerful manure must be 
the result of the combination. According to the speci¬ 
fication, the materials of the manure are divided into 
three classes. First: ligneous matters, peat, straw, 
weeds, &c. Second: bituminous matters; such as mine¬ 
ral coal (bituminous doubtless) asphaltum, pitch made 
from coal tar, or other pitch, mineral rosen, and also 
tar. Third: animal matter; such as butchers offal, 
graves, flesh of dead animals, also fish. 
The ligneous matters are reduced to powder by grind¬ 
ing, or by the action of caustic lime. The bituminous 
matters are also ground into powder; if sticky like pitch, 
a small quantity of dry quick lime is added to prevent 
adhesion to the machine; if liquid, they are converted 
into vapor by dry distillation, in which vapor the ligne¬ 
ous materials are saturated; or if preferred, the soft bi¬ 
tuminous matters are dissolved in water, to which caus¬ 
tic alkali has been added, and in this the ligneous mat¬ 
ters are steeped. The animal matters are mixed with 
the ligneous and bituminous ones, and then the whole 
reduced to a powder. 
Such a preparation cannot fail to be a fertilizer of the 
most powerful kind, though it is evident the process 
needs much simplification before it can be adapted to 
the use of farmers generally. 
Guano is probably the most powerful natural manure 
known; and the artificial one that shall most nearly re¬ 
semble that, will doubtless be the most valuable. Voelck- 
el’s analysis, the latest and best of this substance, as given 
by Dr. Dana in his Muck Manual, shows that it contains 
in the various salts of ammonia 32 parts in 100, sulphates 
of potash and soda 9 parts, phosphate of lime 14 parts, 
soluble geine or humus 12 parts, and insoluble undeter¬ 
mined organic matter 20 parts. The artificial manures 
are valuable in proportion as they furnish the materials 
for the ammonia, phosphates, and sulphates, which 
abound in guano. It is likely, indeed certain, that the 
immense masses of guano existing on the islands of the 
Pacific, are in a very different chemical condition from 
what they were when first deposited by the sea fowl 
that frequent those coasts and islands; consequently, in 
no fresh manures in any country can we expect to find 
the same combination of fertilizing substances as in gua¬ 
no. In no other country could such masses have re¬ 
mained without the wasting or dissipation of their most 
valuable parts, or their entire substance; the nearly to¬ 
tal absence of rain in the guano region preventing such 
a result. The guano is therefore not only the result of 
the accumulation, but the chemical combinations of ages, 
and what agriculture requires of science, is the discove¬ 
ry of the means of effecting in a short time what nature 
has been centuries in performing. 
In all preparation of artificial manures two conditions 
are requisite; first, value as a fertilizer; and second, fa¬ 
cility and simplicity of preparation. Without the first, 
the labor of manufacture is lost; without the second, 
few farmers will be able to avail themselves of the be¬ 
nefits such manures offer. Thus far, we are inclined to 
the belief that of all the artificial manures, poudrette best 
fulfils these two conditions; but it by no means follows 
that other combinations may not be discovered, equally 
simple, and more powerful. Of one thing we may be 
assured; all such preparations, when brought within his 
reach and his means, will be hailed by the farmer with 
pleasure. 
CANNOT. 
We very much question whether there is a word in 
the English language productive of as much mischief as 
the one placed at the head of this article. Indeed, it 
has no bnsiness where it is so frequently found; for it is 
an intruder on our forms of speech, and deemed unwor¬ 
thy of notice by the lexicographer; yet there are some 
men who are always using it, and find it ever at their 
tongue’s end. The man who admits this word into his 
vocabulary is regularly done up; henceforth he is good 
for nothing, because he will perform nothing. We like a 
man, aye and woman too, who at proper times can utter 
a plain plump No; for that little word may be their sal¬ 
vation ; but if they meet you with a canting cannot, de¬ 
pend upon it, they will—“ for a consideration.” 
Ask your friend why he runs in debt for things for 
which he has no possible earthly use; and he will tell 
you he cannot avoid purchasing things when offered at 
a bargain, even if he has no present use for them. The 
time, however, will come when there will be a cannot 
of another nature to arrest him; and that will be when 
his foolish purchases have so exhausted his finances, 
and reduced his credit, that no one will trust him. 
Ask that farmer why he allows that bottle of spirit to 
be carried into his harvest field; and as the ill-cut and 
scattered grain attests, to his manifest loss, and he re¬ 
plies that he has been so long in the habit of doing it, 
that he cannot do without it when working hard. All 
nonsense. Thousands, if not millions, have demonstrat¬ 
ed the contrary before his face the present year. The 
truth is, the farmer loves the “ good creature,” and his 
cannot is the partial opiate he forces upon his conscience 
to disguise the fact. 
Ask that farmer why he allows his fields to be over¬ 
run with thistles, johnswort, daisies; his crops choked 
with stein krout, chess, and cockle; his corn overtopped 
hy pigweeds; and his garden by chickweed, purslane, 
&c.; and he answers he cannot attend to them all, he 
has so much work to do, that some must be neglected. 
Such an answer only makes a bad matter worse. It 
proves that he is a bad calculator, as well as bad worker. 
The farmer has no business to plan so much work, as to 
be unable to perform every part well; and the cannot in 
the case can deceive no one. 
“ Neighbor, the bars to your cornfield are very defec¬ 
tive, and the gate to your wheat field is so insecure, that 
I wonder at your leaving them in such a condition, when 
there are so many unruly cattle running at large.” Ah, 
he answers, I know it well enough. I intended this 
week to have made some new bars, and had a new gate 
hung; but have lost so much time in attending that law¬ 
suit, that I cannot do it now, and must put it off till next 
week. The next sunshiny morning, he finds a whole 
herd of unruly animals in his fields, his crops half de¬ 
stroyed, and a beautiful foundation for another lawsuit 
laid. . , , , , 
See that poor man, once rich and talented, reeling 
through the street! He is a sacrifice to this accursed 
cannot. A beautiful wife has wept tears of entreaty; 
friends have uttered words of remonstrance; reformed 
inebriates have taken him by the hand, and pointed out 
the way by which he may be again a man; but to all 
the reply, a reply fatal to hope, has been, I cannot. It 
is a lie. He can. He can forsake his cups; he can again 
brino- joy and gladness to his family; he can again re¬ 
joice his friends; but he must first renounce and repudiate 
this soul and body destroying cannot. 
Young man, whatever may be your profession or pur¬ 
suit, if you would hope for success, never use the word 
cannot. You may as well attempt to swim with a Sco¬ 
tia grindstone at your neck, and a Paixhan shot at your 
heels, as to expect to accomplish anything worthy of a 
man while this word is in your vocabulary. When the 
gallant Miller, at the battle of Niagara, was asked by 
Scott if he could carry the enemy’s batteries; suppose, 
instead of the determined «I’ll try,” he had whined out 
— C£ I cannot,” where would have been his fame, and 
what the result of that day? Cannot, accomplishes no¬ 
thing but the ruin of him who uses it. 
Farmer, keep shy of cannots. Use not the word your¬ 
self, and be careful how you employ those that do. Na¬ 
poleon never allowed the use of the word, impossible; 
and in the management of a farm there should be no 
place for cannot. You can do all that is necessary to be 
done, if you set about it in the right way, and at the 
right time. If you do not, your labor will be like that 
of Sysiphus; ever beginning, never ending. Neglect 
nothing; keep a watchful eye over everything; see that 
every part moves in harmony, and together; and you 
will have no use for cannot. 
TRIAL OF PLOWS. 
We have received an interesting report of a committee 
appointed to superintend a trial of plows, near Baltimore, 
in May last. The committee were George Beltshoover, 
Ed. P. Roberts, and Gideon B. Smith; names which are 
a sufficient guarantee of the skill and fairness of the trial. 
The ground selected “ was a clay mold, which from hav¬ 
ing lain in grass, in a common, for many years, had be¬ 
come indurated, and presented great resistance to the 
plows.” We are unable to present the whole report, and 
have presented in a table, the results of the trial with the 
several plows submitted to the committee. 
(Depth of 
Width of 
Plow. 
furrow. 
furrow. 
Force. 
1. Barnaby & Mooer’s,. 
12 in. 
350 lbs. 
2. Mott's Wiley Plow,. •••• 6 6-9 
3. Prouty & Mear’s center draft 
13 1-6 
662 
Plow, Boston,. 
• • 6 1-9 
12 1-6 
600 
4. Howard Plow, Boston,• 
• • 6 7-9 
14 
550 
5. The Davis Plow. This plow worked well 
before trial with the Dynamometer. 
, but was withdrawn 
The committee remark, <c the task to the committee, 
of deciding, where such excellence was to be found in 
each of the implements contending, was one of difficulty, 
and would have been more so, but for the various pur¬ 
poses to which the Barnaby and Mooer’s plow is adapted, 
it being in fact a plow of all work, and from the fact of 
its executing its work with so much less draft than either 
of the others.” 
In commenting on the qualities of the several plows 
submitted to trial, the committee say of Barnaby & Mooer’s 
side hill plow, the one usedThere is a peculiarity 
about this plow which is worthy of note. On the bottom 
of the furrow, and on the land side, it cuts out fully 12| 
inches of the earth, so as to reduce resistance to the 
turning of the succeeding furrow, thereby facilitating, 
not only that operation, but ensuring the exactitude with 
which it is performed, leaving a clean and broad furrow 
behind, in which the furrow horse can walk, and pre¬ 
venting the treading of the ground in turning.” 
Nos. 2, and 3, it is said, were new plows, and unscour¬ 
ed, a fact which should be remembered when the differ¬ 
ence of draft between these and No. 1, is looked at; al¬ 
though it cannot account for but a small part of that dis¬ 
parity. The force was ascertained by the Dynamometer, 
and the result stated, was the average of a number of ob¬ 
servations. We are glad to record such experiments, 
and hope such trials will become numerous. The plow 
is the grand implement of agriculture, and every effort at 
improvement should be encouraged and rewarded. 
AGRICULTURAL SOCIETIES AND FAIRS. 
NEW-YORK. 
Tios,a. —Thos. Farrington, Pres’t; C. F. Johnson, Owego, 
Sec. Fair at Owego, Oct 5, 6. 
Farmer’s Society, Butternuts.—Francis Rotch, Butternuts, 
Pres’t ; Thomas Hollis, Gilbertsville, Cor. Sec. The Fair was 
held at Louisville, Sept. 22. The Plowing Match is to be held 
at Garrattsville, Oct. 15. „ 
Otsego.—Elisha Doubleday, Cooperstown, Pres’t: Chas. Mc¬ 
Lean, Cherry-Valley, Sec. Fair at Cooperstown, Oct. 5, 6. 
MASSACHUSETTS. 
The Hampshire, Franklin and Hampden Society will hold 
their Twenty-Fifth Cattle Show at Northampton, Oct. 12, 13. 
Edward Dickinson, Pres’t; Harvey Kirkland, Northampton, 
Sec’y. , . 
Worcester. —Levi Lincoln, Worcester, Pres t; VVm. Lincoln, 
Worcester, Cor. Sec’y. Fair at Worcester, Oct. 12. 
Plymouth.— Fair at Bridgewater, Oct. 12. 
Bristol. —Fair at Taunton, Oct. 12 
Middlesex. —Fair at Concord, Oct. 5. 
MAINE. 
Kennebec. —Fair at Readfield, Oct. 12, 13. 
Cumberland— Fair at Gray’s Corners, Oct. 19, 20. 
Oxford. —Fair at Norway, Oct. 19. 
CONNECTICUT. 
Union Society, embracing the towns of Bristol, Farmington, 
Berlin, Southington and Burlington—Tracy Peck, Bristol, 
Pres’t; Eii Moore, Kensington, Sec. Fair at Plainsville, 
Oct. 12. 
DELAWARE. 
New-Castle. —James W. Thompson, Pres’t; J. A. Lockwood, 
Cor. Sec’y; P. O. of both, Wilmington. Their Fair was held 
at Wimington, on the 14th and 15th of Sept. 
PENNSYLVANIA. 
Philadelphia— Fair at the Rising Sun, Germantown Road, 
Oct. 12, 13. 
INDIANA. 
Putnam.— Wm. D. Allen, Green Castle, Pres’t; A. C. Steven¬ 
son, M. D., do., Rec. Sec’y ; A. H. Nichols, Spring Valley Farm, 
Cor. Sec’y, Fair, Oct. 5. Among the Premiums to be awarded 
are twenty volumes of the Cultivator. 
Large Melons. —The editor of the Springfield Post, 
boasts of a water melon weighing 37 lbs. AVe can beat 
that. We recently assisted our friend Walsh, of Lan- 
singburgh, and some other friends, to despatch a water 
melon from the garden of a gentleman near this city, 
which weighed forty-three pounds. It was decidedly 
the best, as well as the largest we have ever seen. 
