The Southern field and fireside. (Augusta, Ga.) 1859-1864, November 19, 1859, Image 6

The Southern field and fireside., November 19, 1859, Page 206, Image 6

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Newspaper Page Text206 AGRICULTURAL. DANIEL LEE, X. D„ Editor. SATURDAY. NOVEMBER 19. 1859. COMMERCIAL MANURES. Woodvilue. Miss., Oct 24. 1559. ; Mr. Editor: —l see much in your journal ■ about the use and effects of guano, bone-dust, ; gvpsum. marl, superphosphate ot lime, and other fertilizers, but nothing about the application'of them that is satisfactory to us, who have never used them. It would be gratifying to your Mis sissippi patrons, if you would publish the most approved method of applying guano for cotton and com—the time to apply, &c. The manner of applying your superphosphate of lime. The manner of applying marl, fish and bone'dust. I intend experimenting the coming year with lime, guano and bone dust, and will send you the result, should it be interesting. I have been exp<- imenting some littlo with fish. I have two artificial ponds well stocked, and am building two more. Should you desire anything upon that subject, I should be glad to furnish you with the result of my ex perience. I remain yours, Ac.. Jas. F. Hakris. P. S. It is no flattery to say, that “ The South ern Field and Fireside" is the best and cheapest paper of the kind published in America. I have had some experience in journalism, and confi dently place the Field and Fireside in the lead. J. F. H. We are happy to learn that our paper gives satisfaction; audits readers will be gratified if our correspondent will write for its columns a full account of his way of making and stock ing fish-ponds. It is a department of rural economy very little practiced or understood. On the subject of the use of commercial man ures, we shall soon furnish much information that, we trust, will be alike useful and satisfac tory. We are paying considerable attention to the subject of portable manures, particularly to phospliatic guanos and superphosphates. Whoever will study carefully Prof. Johnson’s analyses of Mapes’ superphosphate of lime, which will lie found in this sheet, may gain val uable information. Not one of the three kinds on sale m the city of Hartford for agricultural purposes contains a weighable amount of any sol uble superphosphate whatover! If the stuff sold to farmers was honest phosphate of lime, although greatly inferior to the superphosphate in value, the fraud would be infinitely less glar ing. Prof. Johnson gives the result of six analy ses, and not one shows as much as eight and a half per cent, of insoluble phosphoric acid; and yet this is all of this acid that the dirt and other stuff contain. There is an average of 15 per cent, of sand, and probably twice that quantity of clay and swamp-mud “ not determined.” This fertilizer, estimated to be worth about twelve dollars a ton of 2,000 pounds, is perhaps as cheap at fifty dollars a ton, delivered in Geor gia or Mississippi, as most superphosphates that can now be bought. Last week, when wo gave out the coDy of the very instructive communica tion of Prof. Johnson to the Connecticut State Agricultural Society, we intended to accompany its publication with an analysis of another su perphosphate made by the writer; but we have not had time to complete it. Enough, however, is known to justify a word of caution not to in vest too much money in any manipulated man ure. At another time wo will fully explain how it happens that millious of dollars aro paid by farmers for something called manure, which is not worth the transportation charges. We are credibly informed that a Georgia cap italist of great enterprise, and his associate, have made a contract by which they expect to import one hundred thousaud tons of the best phospliatic guano known either to science or commerce. The enterprise probably has all the essential elements of success; yet if the gentle men eugaged in it listen not to the teachings of agricultural science, they will gather a larger -harvest of curses than of profits. The article which they contemplate importing and selling is not in proper condition to lie put on land to the best advantage. Mineralized manures of the same character have been largely consumed in England and France during the last fifteen years; and we have used a ton of it this year, and from the island which can easily supply -100,000 tons, or a million, if government sur veys are reliable. There has been a good deal of government humbugs about guano, sorghum, and other agricultural matters, and our succes sor, Mr. Browne, has lost his place. Timo will show who are mere speculators: and who seek the great and enduring truths of science. All these phospliatic guanos, whether from Mexico, the Pacific, or the Indian Ocean, need honest manipulation to render tlieir fertilizing elements soluble when applied near the root 3 of growing crops; but these necessary manipulations, or more properly chemical manufactures, should be performed here at tire South, under the di. rection of men whose integrity is too precious to be bought and sold for money. HOW TO KILL BERMUDA GRASS. Montgomery, Ala., Nov. 8, 1859. Dr. Lee : —You have requested an article on the extermination of Bermuda Grass. I have succeeded as follows: In August or September, when the weather is dry, plow up tho land closely and well, with a scooter or bull tongue. Again, in October or November, cross plow with a turning plow, availing yourself as before, of a dry time. — Then in December or January, bed up your land, being careful to have your rows narrow, so that your cotton will lock across them early in the season. When you get ready to plant, reverse your beds, and plant your cotton at once. This will give the cotton the start of the Bermuda. — Be careful to plant seed enough to avoid chop ping through your cotton, only doing so where a bunch of Bermuda renders it necessary to get rid of it—but hoe each side of the drill, by ma king the negro walk astride of it, and cutting toward him, thus bringing the cotton to a line by taking it off of the sides. This process, I TBC& 801T9HK£lUi JKSD ffg&SSXttS. call - stringing ” the cotton. Cultivate with the solid sweep in the usual way. Bermuda grass does not grow rapidly in any weather, and if the weather is wet, the cotton will grow more rapidly, and soon check the Bermuda, by sha ding it. The gToat secret is to plow and cross plow, at a dry time; Plant your cotton iu nar row rows, and be careful to preserve your stand. These things being done, there is no difficulty in making a good crop, and so crippling the Ber muda, that you will never have any more diffi culty after the first year. Continue to plant for a year or two longer, in tho narrow rows, and you will have exterminated this grass, if you are a nice cultivator. But, Mr Editor, whilst I am endeavoring to tell others how to kill this much abused grass, I connot forbear to speak of its merits. I have one hundred acres or more in it, which I use for pasturage, and am confident that one hundred acres of the best prairie land, cultivat ed in corn and other grain, would not afford the food for my stock that this old, worn out, Ber muda field does, without any other labor than that of the stock in cropping its green blades. It has continued to yield its annual crop for twenty years, and I presume, is as fresh and vigorous as at first, and this without having been turned by a plow. The Osage Orange, Chero kee Rose, or Microfilia, will make a good hedge, and I will warrant that this grass will remain in such enclosure, so that those who fear it, can use it and control it. I will send you a sample of the lime rock which underlies my land, tho first opportunity. It may be, the soil I sent you had more than an average of sand, as it was not far from the foot of a large hill, which in former times had been permitted to wash, and the sand may have been borne on to it from this cause. Truly, W. C. Bibb. Tho reader will see from the above state ments, that cotton may be successfully cultiva ted on land thickly set in Bermuda grass, and of course corn and wheat. That its tendency is to enrich the soil on which it grows, no one famil iar with its far reaching stolons, and deep roots will doubt. It forms in a few years an unusual quantity of vegetable matter, which, when de composed by proper tillage, yields abundant, and very cheap food for agricultural plants. Its re markable tenacity of life, its vigor, and tena cious of tho soil, fit it admirably to flour ish, where all tho feebler grasses would perish- For the extensive grazing of horses, cattle and sheep, in spring, summer, and even late in the fall, it probably has no equal; especially where lucerne and white clover are cultivated, or ra ther grown with it. As a winter pasture, it is not so good as the winter grasses adapted to colder latitudes. At the present writing, our crab grass, and most other indigenous grasses, are as dead and dry as last year’s mullein stalks; while our thickly set, and not too closely fed, Bermuda is second to the field only of orchard grass for the support of live stock. We now very much regret that we were deterred three years ago by the bad namo given to Bermuda, from planting out two or three hundred acres of it on our barren old fields. One of the best crops of corn and peas made in Clark county the past summer, grew on ground enriched by lying some ten or fifteen years in a Bermuda pas ture. A broomsedge range will not do for sheep, as we are now learning by experience. We shall have to feed ours on corn for several months, or graze our winter pastures too closely. One ne§ds a pretty wide breadth of grassland to avoid the eating down of really nutritious forage plants almost even with the ground, by sheep and horses, if allowed to run on the same. The true plan is to take in more land ; devote all the best of it to orchard and blue grass, (sowing herd’s grass in the lowest places) and plant a wide stretch of Bermuda. Let the cold and often dry weather in November, find our pastures covered with a thick and deep carpet of green herbage for winter consumption by stock, when the natural growth on our old fields is perfectly worthless. Orchard grass seed sown by us in December and January last, have turned out quite to our satisfaction. The only error com mitted was, in not buying far more seed, and having three acies, where there is only one. It is hard to winter cattle, sheep and hogs on faith alone. When they have a plenty to eat, they gain more in flesh and fat. in cool than in hot weather, and their manure, if stock is properly yarded, forms quite an item in preparing for good crops next year. Now is an excellent time to collect forest leaves, if hands can be spared for the purpose, for cowpens and stables. Make the latter warmer for winter than for sum mer use, and you will save corn and fodder, which are worth money. We have all some thing to learn, and more to practice, before our farms will exhibit no evidence of bad economy, and mismanagement. The care of stock in au tumn, winter and spring, when the range is poorest, deserves our best attention. - » HOW TO USE GUANO. Several correspondents wish to learn how to prepare and apply guano to different crops. The following is our practice : Empty a few bags or barrels on a clean barn floor, and moisten the ma nure with a little water to soften the lumps, and then crush them under the back of a hoe. If we have any ground gypsum, salt, coal dust or other substance to mix the guano, it is done, and the two are shoveled over until thoroughly commingled. Wc usually sow from 150 to 300 • lbs per acre of Peruvian guano—more or less, according to the strength of the soil, the crop, and other circumstances. Common bone dust, and phospliatic guanos, being much less soluble, should be applied in larger quantifies, to be ef fective. In England, from ten to twenty bush els of ground bones are considered a fair dose per acre. Phospliatic guanos differ so much in composition and value, that it is impossible to say what is a fair allowance per acre. All these manures may be sown broadcast and plowed in, or put in the drill or hill.— When Peruvian guano conies in contact with the seed, its causticity is apt to kill the young germ as it begins to grow. SCIENTIFIC LECTURE ON THE FEEDING OF STOCK. One of the most important elements of the Highland Society’s show was the lecture given by the society’s chemist, Dr. Anderson, on the “Feeding of Stock as a branch of Farm Manage ment.” The lecture was well attended, and al together created considerable attention. After some preliminary observations, Dr. Anderson re marked — All branches of agriculture are now going through this phase of existence, and principles are being gradually established. The feeding of stock is exactly one of those subjects which can be most successfully advanced by studying the principles on which it depends; and though these involve many most complex chemical and physiological questions, we have obtained some foundation on which to go. The food which an animal consumes is partly assimilated and part ly excreted, but, if it be proportioned to its re quirements, its weight remains constant, and hence we learn that food does not remain perma nently in the body. If, now, an animal be de prived of food, it loses weight, owing to the substances stored up in the body being used to maintain the process of respiration and the waste of the tissues. The course of events within the body is, so far as known, somewhat of this kind. The food is digested, absorbed into the blood, a certain quantity being consumed to support re spiration. If the food is properly adjusted to the requirements of the animal, its weight re mains unchanged—the quantity absorbed and that execrated exactly correspond to one anoth er; but if we increase the food, a part of the excess will be deposited in the tissues to add to its weight. Now, the quantity absorbed depends upon the state of the animal —a lean beast thoroughly exhausting its food, while, when it is nearly fat, it takes only a small proportion.— So r likewise, if the quantity of food be greater than the digestive organs can well dispose of, a certain quantity escapes digestion altogether,and is practically lost. Tho problem which the feed er has to solve is, how to supply liis cattle with such food, and in such proportions, as to insure the largest increase with the smallest loss. In solving this problem we must, in the first place, consider the general nature of the food of all an imals, the constituents of which may be divided into three general classes—the nitrogenous mat ters, which go to the formation of flesh; the sac charine and oily, which support respiration and form fat. It is sufficiently obvious that these two great lunctions of nutrition and respiration must proceed simultaneously; the most advan tageous food will be that which supplies them in the most readily assimilable forms, and in pro per proportions. Iu regard to the first of these matters, it will be obvious that if two foods con tain the same quantity of nutritive matters, but in one they are associated with a larger quanti ty of woody fibre or other non-nutritous matter, the latter will have considerably less value than the former. Tho necessity for a proper balance of the two great classes of nutritive constituents is also sufficiently obvious, for if, for example, an animal be supplied with a large quantity of nitrogeneous matters, and a small amount of re spiratory elements, it must, to supply a sufficien cy of the latter, consume a much larger quanti ty of the former than it can assimilate, and there is practically a great loss. We may determine the proper proportion of these substances in three different ways—lst, we may determine the com position of the animal body ; 2d, we may exam ine that of the milk, the typical food of the young animal; and 3d, the results of actual feeding ex periments may be examined. But, however valuable tho data derived from these experi ments may be, they aro less important than those derived from actual feeding experiments. In fact, it by no means follows that the propor tions iu which the substances are found in the animal, are exactly those in which they ought to exist in the food. On the contrary, it appears that while one-tenth of the saccharine and fatty matters are assimilated by the animals, only one twentieth of the nitrogenous compounds, and one-thirty-third of the mineral substances in the food, are assimilated by the animal. On the oth er hand, however, it must be remembered that the particular compounds also exert a very dif ferent influence. Thus a pound of fat in the food, when assimilated, will produce a pound of fat in the animal; but it requires about two and a-lialf pounds of sugar and starch to produce the same effect. The broad general principle ar rived at is, that we must afford a sufficient sup ply of readily assimilated food, containing a pro per proportion of each class of nutritive substan ces. But there are other matters to bo borne in mind, for the food must not only increase the weight of the animal, but also support respira tion and animal heat; and the quantity of food required for this purpose is large. It appears from Boussingault’s experiments, that in a cow eighteen ounces of nitrogenous matter are re quired to counterbalance the waste of the tis sues—a quantity contained in about ten or twelve pounds of wheat flower; and it is well known that an ox expires four or five pounds of carbon daily, to supply which, one hundred pounds of turnips are required. We see from this the large quantity relatively to that used Hp which is required for the maintenance of these func tions, and the importance ofadopting such meas ures as, by restraining them within the narrow est possible limits, produce a saving of food.— The diminution of muscular exertion, and keep ing the animals warm, so that a small quantity of food may be required to act as fuel to maintain the animal heat, are the most important consid erations. Although the presence of a sufficient quantity of nutritive matters is an essential qual ification of all foods, their mechanical condition is not unimportant, so unless its bulk be such as to admit of the stomach acting upon it pro perly there must be an appreciable loss; and there is no greater fallacy than to suppose that the best results are to be obtained by the use of those which contain their nutritive matters in a small bulk. As a practical question, the princi ples of feeding are restricted to determining how the staple food produced on a farm can be most advantageously used to feed the cattle kept on it, and on this point much requires to be said. It appears that they can be best made use of when combined with more highly nutritious food, such as oil-cake or rape; and, when this is properly done, a very great advantage is de rived. It appears from experiments that sheep, which, when fed on hay only, attain a weight of ninety pounds, reach a hundred when rape is added. The subject cannot be completed with out referring to the value of the dung produced, which has been variously estimated." The experiments referred to in the course of the address appeared to show that, of food gene rally, about one-third to one-fourth of the money value, and seven-eights of the valuable matter, appear in the dung. Dr. Anderson concluded by saying that he had by no means attempted to ex haust, but had given only a sketch, trusting that the observations of others might fill up the de tails. CONNECTICUT STATE AGRICULTURAL SO CIETY. REPORT OF PROF. S. W. JOHXSOX, CHEMIST TO THE SOCIETY, OX MAPES’ SUPER-PHOS PHATES OF LIME. Hexry A. Dyer, Esq., Cor. Sec. —Dear Sir: Os all the many fraudulent and poor manures which have been from time to time imposed up on our farmers during the last four years, there is none so deserving of complete exposure, and sharp rebuke, as that series of trashy mixtures known as “ Mapes’ superphosphates of lime.” It is indeed true that worse manures have been offered for sale in this State; but none have ever had employed such an amount of per sistent bragging and humbuggery to bolster them up, as has been enjoyed by these. Seven or eight years ago, “ Mapes’ improved super-phosphate ” was almost the only manure of the kind on sale in our northern markets. — Then it was of good quality, and contained solu ble phosphoric acid 10.65 per cent; insoluble phosphoric acid 10.17 per cent; ammonia (ac tual and potential) 2.78 per cent, and had a val ue (calculated on present prices) of $44 per ton. It was sold at SSO per ton. This manure was the prototype of the following formidable series, viz: Mapes’nitrogenized superphosphate of lime, $4 per bag, SSO per ton; Mapes’ No. 1 super phosphate of lime $3.60 per bag, $45 per ton; Maples' superphosphate of lime, $3.20 per bag, S4O per ton; Maples’ cotton and tobacco super phosphate of lime, $3.20 per bag, S4O per ton; Mapes’ potash superphosphates of lime, $2.80 per bag, $35 per ton. In my first annual report (page 28, 2d ed) may be found analyses of the “ nitrogenized,’’ made on samples collected in the Connecticut markets, in the years 1856 and 1857. The calculated value of this manure was s2l in case of the sam ple analyzed in 1856, and $14.50 and $12.50 respectively for the specimens exemined in 1857. In my first report these manures were noticed in these words: “It is clear that this is a brand not to be depended upon, and the material that has come into Connecticut the past year (1857) is hardly worth a long transportation.” I now communicate analyses of four samples, made the present year, and it will be seen that no improvement has taken place: 2.SL* j, g is:?-®rg£ ! £• 5* £L* E 3 2 j o 2 - -a: S'- «-» ® 1- 111 li 1: II!! i g: s-fi sell 1 a*. a.: O S-bI s: »; g 3 **l £ l: I: §■§.: E&gi „ I •1: I ; s; 3 i : 5: g.- : • • p a : r* 2 » ! s» cr .s» • 2.: .:; i : 2 S * : 7". H ■§ : : '• w t ii i Fi :ii : i : SJ » : : : .» *5 m immi I ii! fmim f i: i S.| :i: : : ; f • • • S' :i : iiii i i j i ? • • • ii;;:::: „ g JO 5* 8j qinotuuuj ~-auiH 1 8 o Si _ <J (»»<( •-* P S» ! pu« uojioj .sodvw_ ’ S SIS 3 —» 2 P* at -4 Sc c* x i _ ’ b«©©cc Li qi 091 iuoji S ©S ® 5 1 ~ 3 ®** ° I J« *«oqa ; 3 fi ~ i *OK .iadwiv 2 *-* p \ pcotooSpe k „ „ §!® s»®>33p .a §2 oceJJ g o>g « “- , ®-"ipuno(l o9x tuojj uaqßX |S' §® Si*S 1° Yoqdiaans a to p it • pDj»t»«p pazjaaSojpu .soub „ s -* O'to OPCPOIOOIj ® „ „ sp. p3f«SZ , > p Swg § *"punod Buo may uosBX SK S « J" voqdjsdns ft eo o; cc. o»tc.*.*•> paziuaSunra .soclbw „ S g Bi3BSBSSBI I I have not been able to get samples of all the kinds above specified, but those whoso composi tion is here given, will serve to characterize the manufacture. The agents for Mapes’ superphosphates are fur nished not only with the article in bulk or in bags of 160 pounds each, but also with one pound samples put up in cans, which they are instructed to furnish gratuitously to any one who are desirous of trying the manure. It was of course interesting to learn how closely these trial samples correspond with the material which purchasers receive, and in case of the “nitrogenized superphosphate,” both classes of samples have been examined. The result is highly instructive, and shows that a small specimen of one pound in a can, worth at the rate of $22 per ton, is to make the farmer swallow the 160 pound bags, the contents of which have the extraordinary value of sl3 per ton. Another remarkable feature to be noticed in the above analyses is, that the three specimens taken from 160 pound bags, and bearing differ ent names, are, so far as their valuable ingre dients are concerned, the same thing. The “cotton and tobacco," the “No. 1,” and the “ni trogenized,” letting the cans alone, are equally good, or I should say, equally bad! This fact proves that nothing is meant by the difference of names, except to confound the purchaser, and make him imagine that among this great variety of fertilizers, some one must be adapted to his fields and crops. It is a well-established fact that the tobacco crop removes a large amount of potash from the fields, and accordingly this substance was looked for in the cotton and tobacco superphosphates, but it was not to be found. Another point to notice is, that these mixtures, the calculated value of which is from one-quar ter to one-third of what is demauded for them, are now sold under the analyses and recommen dations that were procured, years ago, on what was really, at that time, the best superphosphate in the country. Whoever proposes to invest money in a su perphosphate, should take notice that, the can samples excepted, neither one of these three kinds that have been examined, contained any weighable quantity of soluble phosphoric acid, and hence the seller is doubly liable to the charge of obtaining money on false pretences. The inventor of these fertilizers, Prof. J. J. Mapes, is also the inventor of a new doctrine, dating back only a few years, to the effect that there is a progressive increase in the value of the ingredients of a fertilizer, in proportion to the number of times it becomes a part of an an imal or plant, and that therefore a mineral phos phate, for example, is comparatively worthless as a manure, considered beside a phosphate that is derived from the bones of an animal. M e have only to carry out this principle far enough to show its utter absurdity, for, by a vastly great number of “ progressions” the point will be finally arrived at when a grain of “ pro gressed” phosphate shall equal a ton of Som brero guano, or other mineral phosphate. The only use that this vagary of the “progression of ultimates” or “progression of primaries” can serve, appears to be to account for the great value of Mapes’ superphosphates 1 Are wo to believe that a few per cent, of really valuable fertilizing matters they contain is so far pro gressed as to be worth three or four times as much as the same ingredients as other manures? Are the insoluble phosphates of these manures as good, and hence deserving as good a name as what are ordinarily known as soluble or real superphosphates ? Do the materials, ( primaries , ultimates,) out of which these manures are made, “progress” with such rapidity that a manure which in 1852 contained twenty-one percent, of phosphoric acid, could produce an equal effect in 1857, though containing but thirteen per cent, and in 1859 only requires to contain eight per cent. ? Absurd as the doctrine of progression of ultimates in the abstract is, its logical appli cations are, if possible, more so, and will not find currency in Connecticut we may be sure. Yale Analytical Laboratory, Sept. 24.— Hartford Homestead. GBASS CULTURE IN FLORIDA. Jacksonville, Fla., October, 1859. Dr. Lee — Dear Sir —l notice you are calling attention to grasses suited to the South. I am especially interested in this subject, as connected with a stock-growing concern on Lake Monroe, near the head ot steamboat navigation of St. John’s river. I have this year put under fence some six to eight thousand acres, mostly prairie, with some hammock and pine land.. The prairie is covered with heavy crops of wild grasses, that answer a fine purpose for my stock at pres ent. Still, knowing that some of our cultivated grasses are much more nutritious, I am anxious to work them into the prairie and other parts. The soil on the prairie is covered with heavy turf of the wild grasses with a little sand and muck ; on the surface below comes stiff, dark colored clay, five, and some twelve to twenty four inches, lying on marl. I intend giving this a very deep turning-up, and mixing and trying the different portions of the wet and dry prairie and hammock, Ac., with different kinds of grasses, as best suited to dif ferent lands. I see you are growing orchard grass for dis semination, believing its acclimation in Georgia will make it a successful grass for the South. Can you supply me with a few bushels of seed this season—how costly, and the price ? A little experiment at my place gives me hope it will succeed here. When with Mr. R. Peters, of your State, last March, procuring my blooded stock, he gave me some bunches of musquit and orchard grass. They were planted in sandy laud, (cow-penned pine land,) both kinds grew finely till the perishing drought in May and June. The musquit bunches died, while the orchard lived through, and is now doing well. I judge it will do much better on the rich, cal carious soil of the prairie. I have full confi dence that the musquit will do well on the firmer soil. Some experiments with the musquit in the last year, in this country, on dry sandy land, have failed—that is, died in the severe drought. On firmer and better lands it has lived, and is doing well, having given a fine crop of hay and seed. On fair land, and a usual season, the mus quit will flourish in this climate and prove a good perpetual pasture. The musquit seed used came from Texas, and I suppose the tlolcus Lanatus. I have more of the same seed of last year—will it still germi nate well ? lam trying several kiuds of grass. The Guinea grass, from Cuba; two varieties of clo ver, that bear the heat and sand of this country. Can you suggest some others likely to succeed? I am urging a number of persons to try to convert their pine lands (where the trees are rather scattering) into pasture. Some will try this month by sowing rye upon the rough wire-grass, covering with two plow ings. When ripe next spring, follow it with peas or pinders. Others will try the musquit on similar lands near the growing trees—say plow twice, sow on the seed, and roll it in, with the view of the trees protecting it from the hot sun in the summer. If some of these plans can convert the piney woods and wire-grass into good pasture, Florida can challenge the world for rich herds of cattle. Orchard grass would be well suited for such localities. If I had some of the seed, I would give it a trial this season. Pardon me for troubling you with so long a letter. My grass-hobby must be my apology. Hoping to liear from you soon, I am, dear sir, your ob’t serv’t, D. C. Ambler. LIME AND SALT FOR WINTER. We make the following extracts from the dis cussions at the annual meeting of the Cheadle Farmer’s Club, Staffordshire, England: Mr. Cargey said he had been in the habit of dressing land that was to be sown with wheat in autumn with a manure made of a ton of lime to half a ton of salt, well mixed together some weeks before it was used. Lord Ilarrowby had sent him the recipe down from London, and it had been applied to summer fallow for a long period with invariable success. Whenever he was afraid of a crop of wheat going down he al ways applied a dressing of lime and salt, and the same dressing had always secured a good crop of clover. Generally plowed the land and then applied the mauure to the surface. The limo and salt should be mixed some time before they are used, for the more completely they were amalgamated the better. The largest crop he ever grew was in a field which had been ma nured in this manner. The wheat was sown broadcast in autumn, and propuced, according to the Staffordshire measure, 16 bags per acre, and there was not one bit of it that was lodged, nor did the lime and salt make the land stiff, as some persons had predicted. He had never dissolved the salt but once. They generally laid a load of lime down and then shovelled the salt upon it and turned it over. If the weather was dry they put water upon it, but if not they let the rain fall upon it,, and turned it over three or four times. He did not know that any chemical change was thereby produced, but the lime and salt were well amalgamated. Ho had found this plan invariably a preventive of the great plague of falling wheat. When he first went to Sandon he was troubled a great deal with fal ling wheat, but now he never has any. Mr. Knight had applied lime and salt on his light land, and found them to answer. The Vice- Chairman said he had done the same on his farm, and had found it succeed admirably, ne had also found that it saved the clovor from the attacks of the slug. In wheat it strengthened the straw, and thus prevented it from going down. If to one part of a field the lime and salt were applied, and not to the other, it would be found that the straw in that part of the field to which they had been applied would be of a