Newspaper Page Text
14
AGRICULTURAL.
DANIEL LEE, N. D., Editor.
SATURDAY .'. .JUNE 4,1559.
OUR DEFECTIVE SYSTEM OF AGRICULTURE.
“The talented editor of the South Countryman
has written and published a thoughtful and in
structive essay on “the low price of land at the j
South—its cause and remedy;” some parts of
which we copy, and commend as worthy of care
ful consideration. He says:
Our crops are not only very exhausting, but
they require an amount of labor not known else
where. Our farmers and planters generally
hold large tracts of land. Much of this, as we
have seen, is annually idle and unproductive.
In the cultivation of that portion in use, we use
less land and more labor, perhaps, than any other
intelligent population whatever. The average
of labor (steady labor) on a European farm in
high culture, will, perhaps, not exceed two hands
to the hundred acres. This will include pasture,
meadow and plowed’land, but is all annually
productive—that which is not plowed yielding a
return, including interest and expenses, quite
equal to that which is plowed. There is no
dead capital in the case.
In the Northern States of this country, the
average of labor to the number of productive
acres, is perhaps still less. It may be of interest
to offer a few instances taken from the transac
tions of the New York Agricultural Society, the
details of Which were given under oath. These
instances will show that at the South we have
no practical idea of the amount of income which
may be derived from a given number of acres of
land with a small amount of labor.
J. V. Grove's farm, 234 acres, of which 37 are
woods. Gross sales $6,752 89: amount paid for
labor, besides the farmer’s own labor, $526 15 —
at the usual rate of wages, this woffld about pay
three hands, yet there arc cash sales of nearly
$7,000.
J. Westfall’s farm, 202 acres. Gross sales
$4,973 14. Paid for labor, $663. This includes
the labor of the farmer at S2O per month, and
all the labor expended in improvements, manur
ing, 4c.
W. Holmes’ fa™. 185 acres. Gross receipts,
$6,720. *Paid for labor, $650, including labor
of the farmer—equal to between three and four
hands.
L. D. Clift's farm, 160 acres. Gross sales,
$6,344, Two regular hands, including extra
help, paid for labor, $495.
R. J. Swan’s farm, 325 acre.*. Gross sales.
$10,771. Paid for labor, S9OO.
We cannot forbear giving another instance
originally published in the Valley Farmer, of the
farm of a Mr. Gentry, of Missouri. The in
stances previously given are on a small scale.
This is on a large, and on this account may be
inose instructive to our large planters. This
farm consists of 3,500 acres under fence, and
mostly in divisions of forty acres; 1,400 acres
in blue grass, 700 in clover and timothy meadow,
360 in com, 160 in oats, 20 acres in millet, and
the rest in woods posture. There are 30 miles
of fence, mostly rails. The farm force consists
of twelvo grown hands and six boys. Gross
receipts from the farm $27,000. This return
gives an annual gross income of eight dollars
from every acre, including woods—it gives
SISOO to each hand, man and boy, and allows
about 200 acres to each hand.”
It is difficult for a cultivator of the soil, who
has not studied agriculture as a profession, to
understand how a farmer can make from a
thousand to fifteen hundred dollars a year from
the labor of each hand employed. It is only
quite recently that this high skill in rural affairs
has been acquired in this, or. in any other coun
try. Before many months, all the elements of
this art will be made perfectly plain to every
adult reader of this journal But as we wish to
make the record in the Southern Field historical,
as well as authentic, we desire to point out the
progress attained by a few in New York in the
last sixteen years, as an encouragement to our
Southern friends. All should remember that
history is philosophy teaching by example.
In the third volume of the Transactions of the
New York State Agricultural Society, bearing
date 1843, there are statements from whic(i we
copy a few statistics taken from the State and
United States Census: “ The number of acres of
land charged with taxes in 1842 was 27,176,934,
valued at $504,254,029. According to the State
census of 1825, the number of acres under cul
tivation was at that time 7,160,967. The same
authority in 1835 gives 9,655,426 acres.” The
census of the United States Government in 1840
does not give the acres of improved land in any
State. They were estimated in 1843, in New
York, at 11,000,000; and as the number em
ployed in agriculture in 1840 -was 455,954 la
borers, they were estimated at 500,000 in 1843.
These figures (which are reliable) give at that
date just twenty-two acres of improved land,
(wliicli includes both meadows and pastures,) to
each field hand; and at the same time there was
a laborer to every 57J acres of taxed land in the
State. A valuation of the agricultural products
of New York was made by the writer in a re
port to the Legislature, drawn from official
so4*pes, which proved that seven dollars per acre
of tlievjmproved land was the average of the
whole Sratig. The average product to each la
borer in was $154.
Since 1843, improvements in farm econ
omy have been h>wle by some tliousands of
farmers in that large ; but their
numbers are few as cdw,red with its wholo
rural population. The ceiling of 1855 proves
this beyond a reasonable doufiy Their two most
important crops, hay and compere less per
acre than in 1845; nor is it possmL for a few
very superior husbandmen to bring uphGje aver
age of the whole State, so long as theWsses
pursue the down hill course of cultivationSyA
few days ago we were in the office of the
Cultivator, whose senior editor and publisher has 1
been at his desk thirty years toiling for the ad
vancement of American agriculture. While Mr.
Tucker rejoiced at the remarkable progress
made by some, he said, in substance, that he
had become a convert to the views so early incul
cated by the writer to the effect, that American
soil is everywhere being impoverished on this
continent. The land is plundered, not treated
in a friendly spirit. Tillage is made a system of
Tmm SOTTEHEM MMB YXBHXDS'.
j warfare, as when a hostile army is quartered on
an enemy, and delights to eat out his substance.
Planters and farmers become, in some degree,
migrator)' like a swarm of locusts, w hich cannot
i remain long in one place without starving.—
What is the remedy ? There is no remedy save
an increase of thought, an increase of knowledge,
and an increase of true wisdom, in the commu
nity at large.
The five premium farms in New York, referred
toby the South Countryman , contain 1106 acres,
including woodland as well as that under im
provement; and the. aggregate annual products
sold therefrom amount to $35,560. The cost of
all the labor expended thereon is $3,444. In
1 what way do every hundred dollars of farm
work operate to yield over one thousand dollars
in marketable crops, without impoverishing the
| soil? Improved live stock, kept on rich peren
nial grasses that grow from year to year without
reseeding, plowing, planting, or hoeing, which
stock is sold at high prices, form a prominent
feature in the husbandry of the best managed
farms. l T ntil quite recently a farmer might pur- j
chase twenty fine young brood mares for $2,000,
and a superior male Os the Morgan stock for j
SI,OOO more. These breeding animals would
pay for their keeping in light work on the farm;
and subsisting on pastures in spring, summer j
and autumn, and cutting their own hay by the j
use of mowing machines, for winter consump
tion, the labor of man required to superintend j
them is reduced to a mere trifle. Yet twenty i
fine young horses to be sent to market every j
year, so soon as the first colts become four or j
| five years eld, will produce an income of some j
' three thousand dollars from this kind of stock j
alone. The parentage of “Blackliawk” was j
j nothing extraordinary, although he brought to
| his owner from the sale of his blood, over fotty
thousand dollars before he died, "Hubback,"
I
i the progenitor of the best Short-hems that Eng
land has produced, “ was a chance calf belong- j
ing to a poor man who grayed his cow on the j
sides of the highway.” Prof. Low, of the Uni
versity of Edinburgh, in his admirable treatise on
; the “ Domesticated Animals of the British Is
lands,” page 382, says “he is generally regard
ed as the father of the improved Short-horns."
Poor Mr. Waistel's street calf lived to make
ample fortunes for the brothers Robert ami
Charles Colling, and give them an imperisha
ble fame as the most successful improvers of
neat cattle that the world has ever produced.
Mr. JONAS Webb has at this time a few male
sheep that let for over twelve thousand dollars a
year. His income from this source has been in
creasing for twenty years. He has hired out a
single sheep for twelve hundred dollars a season.
“ Blood ”is a costly commodity in England; and
it is by no means cheap in this country, as will
be shown hereafter.
Some may fail to see the connection between
the improvement of live stock and the improve
ment of farming lands; yet they are almost in
separably blended. Good keeping the year
round implies the production of much rich ma
nure, as well as of superior domestic animals.
It implies rich wheat and corn fields, as well as
excellent pastures and meadows. It makes both
vegetable and animal vitality do their best for
the farmer with the minimum of human labor.
The skillful husbandman subdues Nature, and
makes her his servant, by simply studying and
obeying her laws. Nature gives him not two
blades of grass where one grew before, as in the
days of Cato and Cincinnati’s, but luxuriant
herbage on every square yard of a thousand
acres, where only briars, thorns and sedge were
seen before.
THE GUANO TRADE OF PERU.
The government of Peru sold, from Chinclia
Islands, in the year 1858, guano to the amount
of 266,709 tons. At the ports of Europe and
America, where it was delivered, it brought
about fifteen million dollars; and, deducting
three million for freight, leaves the government
and its agents an income of twelve million from
the sale of this extraordinary manure. The av
erage freight last year was eleven dollars a ton;
it is now ten dollars or less. At one time
freight ran up to thirty dollars a ton.
The Lima Comescia gives the amount of guato
shipped in 1858, as follows:
NO. or BIIIP9. TONS OF OCA NO.
England and the Continent 190 151,838
8 [Kiln 37 27.100
France 45 25,515
Australia 8 1,528
Ilarbadoes 6 2,807
United States 52 51,253
Mauritius 13 7,22 S
Total 840 266,709
At sixty dollars a ton, which is less than the
average cost of this guano to American farmers,
they have paid $3,075,180 for the article con
sumed last j-ear. Inferior guano, from other
places, probably cost them as much more. These
special fertilizers are far from being perfect ma
nures ; although, under a wise system of farm
management, they will contribute largely-to the
resources of the cultivator. A fair portion of
the plants grown by the aid of guano should
always be given to the soil, to increase its vege
table mould and soluble mineral elements of fer
tility; otherwise, tillage and severe cropping,
notwithstanding the use of guano, will in time
consume the mould or organic part of the soil,
and remove its soluble silica, lime, magnesia,
potasli, soda and chlorine, to the serious detri
ment of the ground for agricultural purposes.
Good stock manure supplies the materials to
Vrn rich mould and the soluble minerals above
and atbjjlaces. All agricultural plants decaying
on the eaHb yield precisely the same substances
to enrich tls* land as stable manure. Hence,
perennial grass** grow for ages on commons
and prairies withos% impoverishing the soil, no
matter whether anin%la' consume the herbage
and leave their dropping* on the land, or the
grass rots where it grows.
the study of GRASSES-NO. 1.
Os the thirty-four species of grasses analyzed !
by Professor Wat, for the Royal Agricultural
Society of England, with a view to determine
their nutritive and fattening go-op, rties, we select
a few of the most valuable for examination and
critical remarks. Whether regarded as food for
domestic animals, or as food forcultivated crops,
in the form of manure, other things being equal,
that grass is best which yields the most flesh
forming elements. If the reader will run his eye
over the second column o! figures in the table
below, indicating the amount of albuminous mat
ter. or flesh-forming, principles in different grass
es, lie will see that orchard grass, ( Dactylis ylo
merata,) has of these substances something over
one per cent, more than any other. By a singu
lar coincidence, it so happens that this plant, so
nutritious to all live stock, and so strengthening
to working animals, is found by long experience,
of all English grasses, the best adapted to the
climate and soil of the Southern States. It is
the seed of this grass, grown on Southern soil,
1 and long acclimated, that the writer has ob
| tained for gratuitous distribution among the
subscribers and patrons of the Field and Fire
l side.
Mr. George Sinclair, who made the celebra
: ted Woburn experiments near the close of the
; last century, says: “If one species only is
; thought preferable to another in the alternate
j husbandry, that species is the Dactylis glomerata,
from its more numerous merits. We have highly
j productive meadows composed principally of this
j grass in the light sandy 'oils hi the county of
| Norfolk. They were kept very closely cropped
; by sheep, and for two or three first years would
j yield more nutritious lieriage, taking the whole
I year round, than any ether grass.” Loudon
I says: “It has been found highly useful as an
early sheep feed. It is early, hardy and pro
• duetive, and requires even greater attention than
rye grass to being cut soon or fed close." In
; the cool climate, moist atmosphere, and rich soils
| of England, it grows too rank and coarse, unless
fed closely, or often moved. Lewis Sanders,
Esq., of Grass Hills' Kentucky, says, in a letter
published in the Albany Cultivator for March,
1853, "My experience in cultivating it warrants
me in recommending orchard grass in preference
to any other, either for pastures or for hay.” In
a paper on this subject, published in the Louis
ville Democrat , he gives “the results of more
than thirty years experience with different kinds
of grass;” and as before cited, he recommends
orchard grass as superior to the famous Ken
tucky Blue grass. We will give his directions
for sowing seed, and saving it, hereafter.
COMMON NAME OF PLANT;
AND BOTANICAL NAME.
Timothy, (P/tleum praiense).
Orchard irrass, ( Dactylis glomerata)
Rye grass, (Lolium perennt)
Meadow Foxtail, (Alopecurus pratensis)
Kentucky Blue grass (Poa pratensis)
Rough Meadow grass, (Poa tririalis)
Sweet scented Vernal grass (Anthoranthum odoralum).
Downy Oat grass. (Arena pubescent)...’
Hard Fescue grass, (Festuca dusiuscuhi )
Soft Meadow grass, (Holms lamitus)
Italian Rye grass, (Lolium italicum )
PER CENT AGE OF DRY MATTER IN THE GRASSES. •
__ 2 K
Z « fi S A %
£ 8 «.2 •§ a ® _•
sQcOAt *—i P 8 J «
43 fe l t S* • s “I
|g il I I I Ji
3 > a a es 5 S ■ o
a $ *3*3 3X . * b
s* §e * *f ® *
£<2 § 8 j -8 .1
1 6s S _j? -7 E—
-57.21 11.36 8.55 58.85.26.46 5.29 Jnne 18
70.00 18.58 3.14 44.82 83.70 5.81 dune 18
71.48 11.85 8.17 42.24 85.20 7.54 June S
90.20 12.82 2.92 43.12 88. S 3 7.81 June 1
67.14 10.85 2.68 43.06 88.02 5.94 June 11
73.60 O.SO 8.07 40.17 88.08 B.SB Juno 18
80.85 10.43 8.41 43.48 36.36 6.82 May 25
61.50 7.97 2.89 49.78 84.64 5.22 June 11
68.83 12.10 8.34 40.43 88.71 5.42 JniiuJO
69.70 11.52 8.56 89.25 89.30 6.87 *nP29
75.61 10.00 8.27 57.82 19.76 9.05 June 18
In the fifth volume of the Genesee Farmer,
page 245, may lie found a statement to the fol
lowing effect: A farmer had a young orchard
seeded in orchard gtass, from an acre and a
quarter of which he gathered seventeen bushels
of seed and sold it at $2 per bushel, bringing
him $34. Four thousand pounds of hay, ob
tained from the same ground, sold at fifty cents
per hundred lbs, and brought S2O. A second
crop of 3,000 lbs. of hay was cut and sold for
sls. The whole product in one year, $69.
this is a perennial plant, and the land was per
manently in meadow, no plowing, seeding or
hoeing was necessary; and the’whole cost of
the labor which produced the $69 worth of crops
was pnly six dollars. This leaves sixty-three
dollars; and if we deduct sl3 for manure to
feed the soil as it ought to be where the crops
are sold off the farm, there is left fifty dollars
clear profit on one acre and a quarter of grass
land—selling hay at fifty cents per hundred lbs.
and excellent grass seed at two dollars a bushel
While examining the agricultural operations
practiced in Virginia, a farmer of high character
took the writer over a meadow some twenty
years in orchard grass, from some acres of which
the product per acre had exceeded, in seed and
hay, one hundred dollars a year. We have rea
son to believe that two-thirds of all the seed of
this grass in the country is grown in Maryland,
Virginia and Kentucky. Two weeks ago when
in New York, we found that orchard grass seed
was selling there at twice its cost in Louisville,
Kentucky, Washington and Alexandria—show
ing that this staple in American stock husbandry
is mainly grown South, and sent North to find ]
a market. The writer wishes to see its cultiva
tion extend still farther South, and witness the i
production among us of many good horses, i
mules, neat cattle, sheep and hogs. We greatly
need more and better live stock, more and better
manure to recuperate our old fields. There is
not one of the eleven English grasses above
named, and satisfactorily analyzed, that does not
promise a profitable return, if wisely cultivated
in upper Georgia. The poorest in the lot is the
Downey Oat Grass, (Avena pubescens) ; nor is the
Tall Oat Grass, (Avena etatior,) (“ wild oat grass”
of some) any better. Nevertheless, all these
domesticated and cultivated grasses are really
more nutritious than wild plants belonging to
the same great family. We have tried both
kinds faithfully, and are satisfied that nothing
but poor stock can lie raised on guinea grass,
broomsedge, wild cane, broom-corn or sorgum;
and that if we wisli to have horses, cattle, sheep
and swine equal to the best ever imported from
Great Britain, we must grow the forage plants
adapted by nature to the development of these
animals.
The Meadow Foxtail, (Abpecurus pratensis)
yields the next largest quantity of flesh-forming
elements after orchard grass. llaniiam, in his
valuable work on the British grasses with natu
ral illustrations, speaks of the meadow foxtail
as “ one of the best of meadow grasses, posses
sing the three great requisites of quantity, qual
ity and earliness, in a superior degree to any
other.” In England, “it is often fit for the
scythe by the middle of May; it flowers twice
in a year, and gives more bulk and weight of
hay than any other grass.”
We might cite additional authority to the same
effect; but it is deemed unnecessary. An insect
like the wheat midge destroys much of the seed
of this grass, and it is difficult to obtain it in this
country. We have sent to England for a quan
tity, if not extravagantly high. The plant is a
very hardy perennial, and might grow all winter
at the South, the genus Alopecurus belongs to
the Agrestis tribe; and some of the species are
nearly worthless. The.one under consideration
is even more valuable for grazing purposes than
for hay. It often Ik-comes too rank from an ex
cess of growth before cattle arc turned in to eat
it down in the spring of the year. It will yield
two crops of hay in a season.
—
USEFUL RECIPES.
To remove lice on cabbages, nothing, perhaps,
is better than to pour over them cool soap suds,
from a watering pot or otherwise, once a week,
or as often as washing is done for the family.
This practice will not only destroy lice, (the
aphis) but will greatly promote their growth.
* *
Blue Hydrangeas are obtained by mixing
the pulverised iron scales that fly off from bars
of heated iron in a blacksmith’s shop, with the
earth in a pot that contains hydrangeas. The
first oxide of iron colors the blossoms blue.
Cure for Sweney.—l ounce laudanum; I do.
camphor; 1 do. spirits of hartshorn; 1 do. spirits
of turpentine; 1 do. eastile soap; 3 ounces alco
hol ; 1 gill sweet oil
Put the above ingredients in a suitable bottle
with a good cork, and rub • the part affected
twice a day for a week or more, and a cure, will
generally be attained.
Banking up earth around pear and apple trees
will keep mice from gnawing them.
How to raise Cranberries from Seed. —
Many readers of the'Field and Fireside may de
sire to raise their own cranberries. If so, let
them select the largest berries to be had, mash
them in water, pour off the latter with the pulp,
and the seed will be found at the bottom of the
vessel. Plant in pure §and. Water every third
day, and in a few days the plants will appear,
coming up like a bean, bringing the seeds witli
them. As soon as they attain some size, they
should he set out in low, moist ground, and
cultivated to keep down grass and weeds.
The Cheapest and best Phosphates. —The
lqto Mr. Pusey, President of the Royal Agricul
tural Society of England, published experiments
proving that bones fermented in a decaying
manure heap become sufficiently soluble for ag
ricultural purposes, and thus enable the farmer
to avoid the great expense attending the pur
chase of sulphuric acid in the manufacture of
superphosphate of lime.
How to Feed Sulphur to Cattle. —Mix one
pound of sulphur with six pounds' of salt, and
place the mixture in a box where the cattle can
have access to it. The box should be under
shelter, so as not to be dissolved by rain and
dew. Mr. Asa Bailey says, in the Albany Cul
tivator, that he lias used this compound of salt
and sulphur twenty years, and has not had a
louse nor a tick on his cattle in that length of
time.
To Make Cracker Pie. —To a common sized
bake-tin eight crackers, to be broken fine, one
teaspoonful of tartaric acid, one teacup of sugar,
witli water sufficient to wot the whole—say half
a pint or a little more—with spice to suit the
taste. This forms a pie equal to, if not better
than apples.
The Army Worm. —The Chattanooga Gazette
says, we regret to learn that this destructive
plague lias already made its appearance in this
county, and is making sad havoc in the wheat
fields and meadows. We are informed of its ap
pearance on several farms and in the wheat
fields, entirely stripping the stalks, and destroy
ing the crops. Some fine meadows have been
mowed down close to the gfound, scarcely leav
ing a sign that grass had grown on the land-
The littlo destroj’ers are increasing in numbers
and migrating from farm to farm.
Mice and Rats.— Mr. Glenny says: Mice and
rats are very easily destroyed, if we set about it
m earnest Get live plaster of Paris and flour,
mix them dry in equal quantities, lay it in dry
places, and sprinkle a little sugar amongst it.
Both rats and mice eat ravenously, the plaster
sets firm directly after it is moistened, becomes
a lump inside them, and kills to a certainty.
ANALYSES OF COTTON SOILS AND COTTON
PLANTS. /
The Commissioner of Patents has employed A
Dr. Jacksox, of Boston, to analyze soils known C
to be well adapted to Sea Island or long-staple Ife,
cotton, and also the an account of which
appears in the Patent Office Report for 1857.
These analyses throw no light on the question: Jj
why does the long staple cotton refuse to grow y
far in the interior from the ocean, as well as the 1
short staple ? The ash of the former contains
no more common salt than that of the latter yA
plant. Dr. Jacksox remarks: “It seems prob
able that atmospheric influences on the humid c\
seabord favor the growth of the long-stapled cot- A
tons; and that the saline matters in the soil do
not produce the differences by their absorption (
into the plants.” A
A thousand grains of the soil from St. Simon’s b
Island, in this State, gave to boiling distilled wa- V
ter 1 3-5 grains of soluble matter, 1 1-10 grains
of which consist of organic matter, and half a
grain of mineral salts, consisting of common salt, «
phosphates of lime and soda, sulphates of soda, S
potash and magnesia, and carbonate of lime, A
which was originally a c-renate of lime. A boil- C
ing solution of carbonate of ammonia extracted * k
3 3-5 grains of solid matter, from I,QOO grains Y
of soil. „ c\
A full analysis of this soil gave the following A
results: ™
Silica 92.640 per cent (
time 1.500 “ “ A
Magnesia 0.870 “ “ (
Potash i.OOO “ *• o
Soda 0.500 “ “ k
Peroxide of iron and magnesia 1.500 “ “ y
Phosphoric acid O.MO “ “
Sulphuric acid 0.009 “ “ <\
Chlorine •. 0.010 “ **' j
t'renic, ajwcrcnic and humid acids... 0.860 “ “ J?
Insoluble carbonaceous matter 2.400 “ “ A^
Carbonic acid trace.
The stalk of the long staple,, plant, stripped of A
its leaves and bolls, and burnt, yielded 107 grains £
of ashes per 1,000 of the dry stalk. The leaves
burnt left 107$ grains; and the cotton fibre 13
grains to 1,000. One thousand grains of the
seeds, when burnt, yielded 3 3-5 grams of ashes. $
These facts indicate considerable value in the' x.
leaves and stalks of this plant for the fertiliza- 1
tion of the soil. All cotton is known to be a
rich manure. Twenty-five grains of the ashes v~
from the stalks gave: y
Silica 0.600 grains. A,
Carbonic acid 6.000 “ ,
Chlorine 0.170 “ A
Sulphuric acid 0.480 “ T*
Phosphoric acid 3.967 “ S
I.ime 7.059 “ /
Magnesia 0.188 “ A
Potash ..8.802 u f
Soda 1.744 “ b
24.085 * W
Loss • 0.966 [
25.000 j
The above figures show that salts of lime and $
potash form most of the ash or earthy part of /
the stems of Sea Island cotton plant. A
Twenty-five groins of the ash of its leaves f
yielded: . Ik
Silica 1.200 grains.
Carbonic acid 4.959 “ A
Chlorine 0.667 “
Sulphuric acid 1.271 “ A
Phosphoric acid „ 4.864 “ y
I.imc 6.978 u V
Mttgnoaia 0.350 “ /
Potash 2 922 “ J
*oda... 1.789 “ >
25.000 V
One thousand grains of cotton fibre gave 13.1
grains of ashes, which yielded: <\
Silica- 0.60 grains. A
Carbonic acid 2.80 " c
Chlorine !o!sO “ k
Sulplmric acid 'o]s4 “ (
Phosphoric acid L 64 “ A
Lime ,1-go “ >
Magnesia ; 0.64 “ b
Potash 2.79 “ k,
18.10 f\
One thousand glams of the seeds yielded A
36 3-5 grains of ashes, which consist of: V.
Silica 0.1000 grains, /
Carbonic acid (diff.) 0.8604 “ A
Chlorine 0,8940 “ /
Sulphurie acid 0.0980 “ b
Phosphoric acid 11.8618 “ k
Lime 1,7484 “ y
Magnesia 6.0888 “ (
Potash 13.3566 “ <\
Soda • 8.1070 “ . j
86.6000
The bases soda, potash, lime and magnesia. (
appear to be in excess; as they form 24.2958 A
parts in 36.6000 of the ash analyzed. Phos- o
phoric acid and potash are the most abundant k
and expensive constituents in the earthy part of /
nearly all seeds of cereals, as well as cotton
plants.
LIVE AND DEAD WEIGHT OF HOGS. ' (
Hr. E. Cornell, of Ithaca, N. Y., furnishes A
the Country Gentleman the live and dead weight b
of four large hogs, which were as follows: Live
weight 3,100 pounds; weight when dressed f
2,643. In other words, 100 pounds of live *,
weight gave a fraction over 85 pounds dressed. 4
This is considerably more than an average.— S
Common well fatted hogs yield about 80 per I
cent, of marketable meat, including head and (
feet; leaving 20 for offal, blood and hair sepa- v
rated in killing and dressing.
Mr. Cornell is one of the most enterprising <\
stock-growers in the United States, and believes A
it profitable to keep a fine Durham or Devon to
the acre of improved land, up to the number of (
one hundred head. A
WHEAT AS FOOD FOB CATTLE - k
John Hudson, Esq., of Castle Acre, England, y
says: “ The very low price of wheat has induced <\
us to feed our cattle on wheat on a large scale, A
it being cheaper than linseed cake. I never re- A
member so a quantity of wheat consumed /
by cattle as there has been this season, and a A
great deal is being made into malt instead of £
barley.” The etjjtor of the Geneeet Farmer , who
is himself an Englishman, says that Mr. Hudson
is one of the best farmers in England, who re
gards wheat at $1 25 a bushol as less profitable M
than other crops, stock-growing and feeding. )
Rosin.—The New Orleans Chamber of Com- A
merce is in correspondence with similar bodies o
in London, Liverpool, and the United States, to
agree on the proper weight of a barrel of rosin