potash. The mixture is occasionally stirIt may be remarked that bleaching by silk. In winter portable furnaces contain red, and at the end of twenty-four hours is chlorine, if carefully performed, is, contrary ing charcoal in small fragments are introallowed to settle. The clear liquor is then to general prejudice, less likely to injure ducee into the chamber, and after they are decanted. The yarn to be bleached is thrown the texture of the material than grass bleach- set on fire the doors and windows are loosely into a copper boiler, and the alka-ing. The latter, too, may be said to be closed. In both cases, the combustion, line solution poured upon it, until the upper wholly abandoned, so that the inscription whether of sulphur or charcoal is slow, as part of the cotton is two or three inches be- upon foreign goods of "genuine grass the necessary oxygen must make its way neath the surface of the liquid. The boiler bleach," is untrue, and were it true, would through the accidental crevices of the doors is then slowly heated until the liquor boils, be no warrant of superiority in quality. and the ebullition is kept up for four hours. At the end of this time the cotton is re moved, and after being permitted to drain, is well rinsed in running water, after which the liquid is wrung out, and the yarn hung up to dry; in fine weather in the open air. and in bad weather under sheds. Second operation.-Bath of Chlorine.This bath is formed by steeping chloride o lime in water, in the proportion of eigh Chlorine does not act upon the native coloring matters of wool or silk, but as the modes for discharging them go under the same name, we may with propriety consider them in this place. (B) BLEACHINg of silk. AUTHORITY.-VITALIS. Art de Teinture. Silk is covered with a substance which and windows. In neither of the ways above described. is the discoloration of the silk permanent. On exposure to the air in wear, the natural color of the silk is partially restored. It therefore becomes necessary to bleach white silks that are in wear, from time to time. This is done by suspending them, while wet, in a barrel, in the bottom of which a small quantity of sulphur is inflamed in an earthen vessel. The top of the whole is left undisturbed for several ounces to each gallon; the insoluble matter has the character of a gum, and is usually the barrel is then covered by a cloth, and is allowed to settle, and the liquor decanted. The yarn is placed in regular layers in a wooden vat, the hanks in the successive layers crossing each other. On these the clear solution of chloride of lime is poured until they are completely immersed, and the liquor rises above them three or four inches. The yarn having been steeped for a couple of hours, the liquid is drawn off by a spigot in the bottoin of the vat, and is replaced by pure water, which being drawn off in its turn, carries with it the chloride which may have adhered to the yarn. The yarn is then rinsed in running water, wrung and hung out to dry. Third operation-Acid Bath.-Sulphuric acid is diluted with sixty times its weight of water, and the yarn is steeped in it for a time not exceeding a single hour for the coarsest numbers and less for the finer yarn. On taking it from this bath. it must be repeatedly washed with great care in running water. Fourth operation.-Soap Bath.-The yarn is washed with white soap in water for the purposes of neutralizing any sulphuric acid which may remain, of removing the last portions of chlorine, and of rendering the cotton soft and flexible. It is then rinsed, wrung, and dried. nated. These operations are sufficient for the inferior qualities of cotton yarn. The finer kinds are immersed in an alkaline bath of greater strength; are twice passed through a bath of chloride of lime, that used the second time being weaker than the first; and cobalt blue is always employed to finish of a color more or less inclining to yellow, Silk may be bleached either by the aid of hours. BLEACHING OF WOOL. Wool is coated with a greasy substance called the Yelk, with which a yellow coloring matter is combined. The coarser wools contain least of this substance, but in the finer merinoes it amounts to two thirds of the To bleach it without the use of sulphur- whole weight. The removal of this canous acid, a bath is prepared by dissolving not be wholly effected by chemical means, white soap in water, in the proportion of 30 but must be partially effected by the meparts to 100 of silk. The solution is rais-chanical operation called fulling. This ed to the boiling temperature, but not per-may be performed upon the wool, on yarn, mitted to undergo the act of ebullition. The or on the woven cloth. It consist in beating silk is steeped in this bath until the harsh-the article in a mill, with water and a miness given by the gum disappears, and is then wrung out and dried. It is next put into sacks made of coarse canvass, each of which holds about thirty pounds of silk. These sacks are put into a boiler with weaker solution of white soap, which is boiled for an hour and a half. The silk is a then taken out, rinsed in running water, and neral called Fuller's Earth, which is a silicate of alumina in which the silex is in greater proportion than in ordinary clays. After having been fulled, the wool is washed in luke warm water, in which a small quantity of a soap is dissolved, until the residue of the yelk is removed. After being allowed to drain, it is rinsed in running water, permitted again to drain, and dried in the air. This method is not successful unless the water is perfectly free from saline matter, or in ordinary language soft. In districts where large supplies of soft water cannot In order to brighten the color, cotton is the water used in cleansing wool with one be obtained, it is considered necessary to mix sometimes steeped after the four preceding operations in water, through which a small This method is less perfect than that fourth of its bulk of putrid urine. This quantity of cobalt blue has been dissemi- which brings in the aid of sulphurous acid, supplies an ammoniacal salt, (phosphate of dissemi-which ammonia and soda,) by which the sulphate as a substitute for the last of the three baths of lime, which gives to water the character above described. The silk, after being know by the epithet hard is decomposed. rinsed from the second bath of soap is sus-In countries where the woolen manufacture pended upon poles about 8 feet above the is carried on extensively, this disgusting floor of a chamber, which has no chimney, substance is in consequence a profitable and is provided with doors and windowarticle of commerce. There are however shutters that can be opened and closed modes of rendering water soft, which we without entering the chamber. For every shall have occasion to describe hereafter, hundred pounds of silk a pound and a half which might be advantagously introduced Linen and hemp threads are bleached in of roll-brimstone is put into an earthen dish in the woolen manufacture. the same manner as cotton yarn, but they on the floor of the chamber, and set on fire. must be prepared for the alkaline bath by The doors and windows are then tightly steeping them for two or three days in wa- closed. The sulphurous acid which is first ter, by which the coloring matter is softened generated by the combustion of the sulphur and made more accessible to the chemi-is condensed by the water adhering to the cal agents. The methods for bleaching silk, and after this is saturated, fills the woven cloths of the three several materials chamber. The silk is left in this atmosare more difficult than are necessary for phere of sulphurous acid for twenty four yarn, but do not differ in principle. It is hours, after which the doors and windows only necessary, according to the firmness are opened and the chamber ventillated. In of the cloth, to repeat the processes in re-summer the current of air which replaces gular succession two or three times. the sulphurous acid is sufficient to dry the them. LABORERS WANTED. Two thousand laborers, says the Philadelphia Price Current, will find constant employment upon the upper section of the Lehigh Canal and the Railroad connected with this work. The country is healthy, and the wages liberal. for 500 laborers, at $1 per day, from 6 to 6, and 12 The coal dealers on the Schuylkill also advertise 1-2 cents per hour for extra work. THE UPPER LAKES.-The Troy and Erie Line have made arrangements to despatch a Steamboat Buffalo for Chicago every ten days. The first Boat is advertised to start on the 25th instant, AGRICULTURE, &c. From the British Farmer's Magazine. ON THE UTILITY OF CHEMISTRY TO AGRI- By MR. TOWERS, author of the "Domestic Garden er's Manual," C. M. H. S. I do not affect to apologise for the introduction of this subject at some length, into your pages, because I conceive that, how ever it may have occupied the attention of practical farmers, upon the urgent recommendation of men and science, it has been misunderstood, and, therefore, unjustly agi tated. I have been induced to resume the consideration, by the perusal of those admirable papers in your two last numbers, entitled Essay on Calcareous Manures-by Mr. Ruffin-papers which, I think, contain the soundest truths, and, therefore, may be rendered more practically available than most of the elaborate works that have preceded them. The propositions of the writer require, however, to be impartially examined; but before I attempt to do so, I shall cite a passage from a chemical work, written by that worthy and zealous man, the late Mr. Samuel Parkes, whereby the reader may, at one view, appreciate the objeet of the chemist, and the weight of the arguments he employs, when he urges the necessity to call his science in aid of the agriculturist. "Lavoisier cultivated 240 acres of land cal experiment; and those chemists have in La Vendee, on chemical principles, inerred who have attempted to discover its order to set a good example to the farmers; nature by chemical ageny. That which des and his mode of culture was attended with troys life, or interferes with the vital funcso much success, that he obtained a third tions, can neither tend to elucidate the namore of crop than was procured by the ture of the one, nor discover the causes of usual method, and in nine years his annual the other. The principle of life, whether it produce, was doubled.-[From Lalande's be that of animals or of vegetables, appears Life of Lavoisier.] to be directly antagonist to chemical energy; Thus far the pretensions of the chemist no one, therefore, can be justified in at are made out; his objects are defined, and tempting to interpret any of the phenomena it must be admitted that with the exception of vegetable life, by the application of cheof one or two points, which, not to be hy-mical principles. Chemists, then, it appears percritical, we may safely pass by, science to me, have weakened their own cause by has laid no claim that she cannot establish. endeavoring to prove too much: we know Chemists can analyze soils, can determine nothing of life, we consequently cannot inthe quality and quantity of their component terpret its phenomena, or refer them to those parts, can detect acids if such exist, and agencies which are called into action by its point out antagonist principles by which extinction. they may be rendered neutral, and, to a Scientific men have also laid themselves certain extent, innoxious: thus far, then, open to reproof, or even reproach, by their the chemist and his science must be useful speculative reasonings upon the practical to the agriculturist; nothing but the most operations of the farmer. In the laboratory dense prejudice can oppose this admission; the chemist moves in his own appropriate. and were every farmer to become an analytic sphere; there he can, and ought to investichemist, to the extent above referred to, and gate the substances which nature has renbe able to detect the components of his soils dered the matrix of her vegetable producand manures, his mind would be enlarged, tions; and thence, he may diffuse, in every his sources of rational pleasure and amuse-direction, a knowledge of the facts which ments increased, and his practice removed his genius and experimental acumen have further from that of the empiric, in pro-enabled him to elicit; but he has no right to portion as it became based upon philosophic truth. criticise the practice of the agriculturist in respect to the management of his crops. In a former paper (No. xxxiv., p. 537,) I Abstract reasoning, from deductions drawn have endeavored to elucidate the science from the most refined experiments upon and operations of analysis: I now find a dead matter, can never authorize any inter"Chemistry" (it is observed) "will teach powerful coadjutor in Mr. Ruffin; and am ference with the well grounded practice of him" (an opulent land-owner)" how to im-satisfied that, his remarks and observations the cultivator-of an organized being enprove the cultivated parts of his estate; and under that head of his essay, entitled "Re-dowed with the mysterious principle of life. by transporting and transposing the differ-sults of the chemical examination of various Even in that modern and comprehensive ent soils, he will soon learn some method soils," and the process therein described, doctrine of the radical exudation by plants, by which each of his fields may be rendered which bears directly upon the rotation of more productive. crops, and interprets its philosophy, the experiments which have detected exuded mat ters by the test of re-agents, ought to be regarded with suspicious caution, inasmuch as they have, one and all, been performed upon plants placed in unnatural situations, and acted upon by some medium altogether different from that of the soil, in which alone they could flourish, and perfectly develope their foliage and fruit. "The analysis of soils will be followed by that of the waters which rise upon, or flow through them; by which means he will discover those proper for irrigation, a practice, the value of which is sufficiently known to every good agriculturist. are some of the most luminous which I Having thus upheld the cause of che- "Should he himself occupy the farm, and become cultivator of his own estate, he must, of necessity, be a chemist, before he can make the most of his land, or put it in It is the duty of the chemist to lay down a high state of cultivation, at the smallest The operations of chemistry have a legiti- clear and definite rules, by which soils and possible expense. It will be his concern, mate object when they are performed upon manures may be correctly analysed; and if, not only to analyze the soils on the different what is considered dead or inert matter; with an intimate knowledge of practical parts of his farm, but the peat, the marl, thus, there is no material substance through- and theoretic science, he can combine a the lime, and the other manures, must be out the range of created things, which, pro- knowledge also of farming, attained by subjected to experiment, before he can avail vided it be not endowed with the vital prin-actual experience-as was in fact exemplihimself of the advantages which they pos-ciple, may not justly be submitted to the fied in the person by the renowned Lavoi sess, or before he can be certain of pro- test of chemical agents. It is now admitted sier, and now by the writings of Mr. Ruffin ducing any particular effect by their means. by our best philosophers, that chemical ac--he is pre-eminently qualified to instruct, The necessity of analysis to the farmer is tion is entirely dependent upon, and identi-and to recommend his principles by the force evident from a knowledge of the circum. cal with, electrical energy; that, in fact, the of example. But in ordinary cases, men of stance, that some kind of lime" (magnesian combination of all substances, and their de- the highest attainments in experimental limestone) "is really injurious, and would composition, are maintained and effected by science cannot command time, or the means render land which had been hitherto very electrical affinities. As electricity, is the to become extensive cultivators: hence it productive, actually steril."-(Chemical most influential of the great natural agents; would always be wise to point out those Essays, vol. i. pp. 8, 9,)-Again: being an immediate emanation (I use this facts which cannot be controverted, and to word for want of a better term,) from the let the practical man avail himself of the source of light, the sun, whose rays have aids thus furnished, in any way which his been poured upon the world from the com- good sense may direct. If the farmer be so mencement of time; and as chemical action unconcerned or prejudiced, as to overlook is but a manifestation of electric energy, it or reject those important instruments of refollows, that every individual thing which search which are offered to his notice, the can be dissolved, decomposed, or in any blame must rest with himself. Farming is, way disturbed, so as to cause a change in at the present moment, in a state that dethe arrangement of its constituents, is im-mands all the resources which science can bued with the essence of light. Chemistry, furnish. The prices of every product of therefore-to say the least of it-is one of the farm are reduced to a very alarming exthe grandest and most comprehensive sciences which the human mind can employ in its researches after truth. "A knowledge of the first principles of chemistry will teach him when to use lime hot from the kiln, and when slacked; how to promote the putrefactive process in his composts, and at what period to check it, so as to prevent the furtillizing particles becoming effete, and of little value. "It will teach him the difference in the properties of marl, lime, peat, wood ashes, alkaline salt, soap waste, sea water, &c., and, consequently, which to prefer in all varieties of soil. A knowledge of the chemical properties of bodies will thus give a new character to the agriculturist, and render his employment rational and regpectable," (Idem, pp. 19, 11.) And in a But the vital principle, though it may be. and probaby to ganhosted with plenipoal Hagiloin, la más a legiiliste subject of chemi tent: but the reduction though great, bears no comparison with that of almost all the preparations of the manufacturing chemist. Yet the extension of his science has en. Alded him in bear up with a bold front ngainst & deprestsiint of two, three, per; haps four hundred per cent.; and now to feral sterility of turbary soils; I refer it to the lafsumed--that, "soils, be their nature what produce, with a remunerating profit, chemi- situation in which they are originally pro-it may, tend to reduce manuring subcals of a quality far superior to those which duced, and in this point, a remark made by stances to earths of their own precise qualhis predecessors sold at an enormously high Mr. Hayward will apply very pertinently. ity;" and in accordance with this doctrine, price. Farmers, therefore, while they feel In the paper on the Food of Plants, which I hold it highly probable that the ultimate and admit the necessity to adopt every precedes the Essay, and in the middle of the end of manuring is to support and maintain economical measure to insure increased page 197, it is observed: "if a quantity the quality and bulk of the staple soil. produce, ought to 'regard the chemist and of the leaves of trees be collected, and im his art with reverential deference. Even mersed in a cistern or pool of stagnant wathe simple perusal by a man of discern- ter, and permitted to remain undisturbed for ment of the Electrical Researches" of three years, they will be decomposed, the amiable and accomplished Faraday, is and in appearance will be in that state, amply sufficient to prove, beyond a doubt, which, placed on the surface of the earth, the scientific chemist to be a person of should form a fertilizing substance; yet it superior order; one to whom the reveal-will be found so sterile that no plant will ment of the wonder-woking secrets of na- grow in it." ture is intrusted; and his art, the grandest, the most sublime treasure that could be conferred on any created being. That science, legitimately directed, is well qualified to assist the farmer, and promote his welfare, for it bears directly upon the agents which he employs in the culture of every one of his crops. Earth may be gorged with manure, but it is not thereby enriched. Plants may be rendered richly luxuriant in a gorged soil, but their health and vigor are not thereby increased. A medium state of soil, wherein it contains a prper quantity of enriching decomposable matters, is most favourable to healthy and robust vegetation; and in it those matters soon disappear, and nothing but earth remains after a few crops have exerted their energies upon the soil. Any one who has witnessed the effects of sand upon a very liberal supply of manure, after a crop has been taken, will not be at a loss to determine what the terms "barren" and hungry, mean when applied to land. Strong loams, on the contrary, hold the manures unchanged for a considerable time when not cropped, and retain the active principle more tenaciously by far, than light sands, even when severely cropped. Now it is certain that every correct analysis has proved the convertibility of farm-yard manures into, not only the elements of vegetables, but also into the three staple earths themselves; Now the true peat mosses are formed, in the large way, in a manner analogous to the earth of decayed, immersed leaves, above described; that is, a bulk of vegetable matter is burried, and becomes sodden under water. Now leaves, and, indeed, vegetable substances in general, if burnt, yield a great abundance of carbonate of lime, as indeed, One other objection to the general utility Mr. Ruffin asserts; therefore, though it may of chemistry to agriculture remains to be be presumed that, while in a growing state, noticed before I pass to the investigation of these substances contain no chalk, properly Mr. Ruffin's propositions, namely:-it is considered as such, yet the elements of that asserted and freely admitted, that the nature earth must exist in them, otherwise it could of soils lies open to the investigations of the not be revealed by the action of fire. Inert chemist; but it may too frequently occur, vegetable soils then, may originate in the pethat although experiment can readily detect culiar action of water upon them, while they the components of a soil, point out an anti-are deposited in a situation from which at- if then, a hungry sand, after a liberal sysdote for any deleterious substance which mospheric air is excluded. This, too, ac-tem of manuring for years, still return to its may be traced therein, and show that in dords with Mr. Hayward's idea, and it ap-original state of poverty, what must have which it may be deficient, the substance re- pears to be well founded. One of the most become of the alumen, the carbonate of lime, quired, either to correct the evil or supply energetic loams which I have ever tested, and the oxide of iron, which the manuring the deficiency, may not be at hand. Thus, contains merely a hint of conbonate of lime; substances were capable of yielding under a soil may superabound in sand, or exhibit it is of a fine, ochrous color, a velvety, unc- certain conditions, to say nothing of the oxya poisonous salt of iron; but alumen or tuous texture, and when washed by various gen, the hyrdrogen, the carbon, and the pure lime may be unattainable, unless at effusions of water, yields nearly three azote, all of which gaseous products, may be an outlay which would neutralize the bene-fourths of its bulk of impalpable matters, the presumed to have been taken up by vegetafit to be derived from the use of either. remainder being a moderately fine silicious ble vital action. Fortunately, however, science can go a sand. When muriatic acid is applied to the considerable way towards procuring an fine matters, it produces little effervescence, artificial remedy, and thus tend to supply and detects scarcely two per cent. of chalk. the deficiency of the natural one; but as I This loam is applicable to almost every spemust recur to this subject hereafter, I shall cies of plants; far more so than many earths not dwell upon it now. which contain three times the proportion of chalk named, with double the quantity of warm sand. But if calcareous matter be the principal meliorating medium, the quan. tity required must be small indeed, if that in the loam just alluded to be sufficient to establish the fertilizing principle.* It is somewhat unfortunate that the "Essay on Calcareous Manures” Was written expressly for America. Mr. Ruffin, it is true, makes frequent allusions to the theories and experiments of British chemists; but his own observations and analyses apply purely to the soils of the United States-to that part at least of which he observes, "no chalk is to be found in our country, and it is only from European authors that we can know any thing of its agricultural characters, when nearly pure, or when forming a very large proportion of the surface of the land." Mr. Ruffin's arrangement, however, of the three principal earth, is clear, precise, and correct; as is also his general conclusion at the end of the before mentioned page, viz. "the mixture of the three earths, in due proportions, will correct the deffects of all; and with a sufficiency of animal or vegetable matter, putrescent, and soluble in water, a soil is formed in which plants can extend their roots freely," &c. &c. The first proposition of the Essay refers chiefly to the hypothesis that "soils naturally poor, cannot be permanently enriched;" and, " that the labors of man have been but of little avail in altering the characters and qualities given to soils by nature." In as far as this view extends, I heartily assent to the opinion of the Essayist, and on the ground which I, for some time, have Every fact that I am aware of, seems to prove-first, that vegetable action tends to decompose manuring substances within the soil: secondly, that these substances are either wholly consumed, or deposite a residuum which is percisely similar in character to that of the natural earth, leaving it, whether it be sandy, clayey, or loamy, neither more nor less rich than it was in its original constitution. If this view of the results of manuring be correct, then Mr. Ruffin's first proposition is so far, to all intents and purposes, established. The second proposition of the Essay unfortunately refers almost exclusively to the soils of Virginia, but one point of it, which is of great interest, is contained in the following lines" The abundance of putrescent vegetable matter might well be consid ered the cause of fertility, by one who judged only from lands long under cultivation." Vegetable matter abounds in all rich land, it is admitted; but it has also been furnished by nature, in quantities exceeding all computation, to the most barren soils we own." The author then proceeds to state, that calcareous earth-by which term he ate of lime-is "the cause of fertility, and always intends to express chalk, i. e. carbonthe cure for barrenness." * Th soil, containing "scarcely two per cent. of chalk," is abundantly calcareous to have acquired, and to retain all its fertility, according to to the theory maintained in the Essay on Calcareous Manures. Any quantity, however minute, of CARBONATE of lime had been enough for its use and benefit. The author found ntaurally existing in a soil, proves that there of the Essay was far from maintaining that the proportion of CARBONATE of lime found in any soil, was the measure of its fertilty. The quantity originally The arguments are well sustained and under like circumstances, might have served to throughout the remaining part of the Essay, given to soils, by natural causes, when not excessive, measure the power to acquire and fix fertility. But and prove the value and importance of chemin the course of reaching that end, the lime is supposed ical knowledge: they are, however, far too by combining with vegetable acid, to cease to be extensive to permit of being minutely inveshis soil which Mr. Towers scarcely considers tigated, and, indeed, may not be generally calcareous--or as containing " merely a hint of applicable to the soils of England. How carbonate of lime," is in fact better supplied with ever, it would be highly desirable that parthat ingredient than almost any natural soil in our Atticular attention be given to the facts ad, duced, in all districts where peat mosses ex, and very hosted ajuste en wiele oils have ten ist, or have been recently reclaimed, for prelica, 86. Pada, Res. therein Vegetable remains shound; an the carbonate, and longer detected in that form. But he, perhaps, labors under an error in supposing that all the earths, when pure, "are entirely barren; or that chalk, alone, could give them the fertilizing principle." The only soil-which I have ever met with, that has appeared to be wholly destitute of calcareous matter, (or, at least, that which affords no trace of it to the muriatic acid test,) is a black bog peat; but in this soil a few plants will gre v with extreme verdure.antic States--not even excepting our limestone soils. It does not appear to me that the absence of daleareguo earth to the ente anuge of the gens Indeed, the only sails more entegreons, are the fow though these substances contain the elements of calcareous earth, they also are replete with those of vegetable acids, inasmuch as they are chiefly composed of oxygen, hydrogen and carbon-the bases of all such acids. The presence of acids need not therefore, be questioned, though they may not be traceable as such, being taken up and neutralized by the chalk, or alkalescent mattters with which they come in contact as they are produced. to be meliorating processes of great efficiency; and why? simply, because the agency of fire decomposes the vegetable matters, destroys the acidifying elements, or, to speak more correctly, disperses them in the form of gasses, or aqueous vapor, liberates and fixes the carbonate of lime, and a portion of free carbon, and perhaps, (generally) a little carbonate of potassa, also. Here, then, we perceive another proof of the importance of chemical science, for nothing else could ascertain the results of the combustion of the peat, or refer them to their proper causes. From the Genesee Farmer. would be formed; such, to an extreme de- STATE OF NEW-YORK, TO HIS SON IN Leaves, and most vegetable bodies, affords manifest proofs of the presence of salts, particularly of salts of lime; not that they contain any chalk in its pure state, but they, in many instances, yield it to the min- Having taken a cursory view of the prin eral acids by mere digestion in them, with- cipal crops cultivated in the country, and The sterility of pure peaty soils, and their out having undergone combustion. Thus, having noticed the quality of soil and man. incapability of improvement by manuring while we attest the truth of the chemical ner of culture adapted to each, and in some substances, tend much to strengthen the law adduced by Mr. Ruffin-that if any instances their comparative value, I am second proposition, as does the fact that combination of lime with a vegetable acid now ready to take my leave, as to these paring and burning are found experimentaly," had been taken up into the sap vessels of letters, of this department of husbandry. I a tree, it would be decomposed by the heat take my leave of it accordingly, and bid it necessary to convert the wood to ashes; farewell. the acid would be reduced to its elementary There is another department of rural principles, and the lime would immediately husbandry which, if I am not mistaken, unite with the carbonic acid," produced by offers to you, and your fellow citizens, pethe process of combustion; we feel assur- culiar inducements to become interested in ed, by the evidence of facts, that mineral it. I allude now to the breeding and rearacids may attract from green vegetable sub-ing of domestic animals, and the various stances the calcareous matters which lie uses in which they are susceptible of being masked among the cells of the plant, in a rendered serviceable to man. It does not state of union with some unsuspected acid. appear to me that your farm, or any other I have thus detected, or rather produced, in your immediate neighborhood, is so well carbonate of lime, by digesting some sorts adapted to the growth of grain as to the of moss in a weak cold solution of muriat- several uses of grazing. Nor is it, in my Mr. Ruffin's observations prove the cor- ic acid. I have also found a considerable view, likely that Western Pennsylvania, in rectness and accuracy of his analysis and portion in the leaves of a pine apple, but general, will ever be distinguished as a grain conclusions. All wood ashes, as I have not to equal that which was yielded after growing, and especially as a wheat growing proved by reiterated experiments, and asser-combustion. country. For other attributes, not less deted, do contain carbonate of lime, and some The combustion of vegetable remains, as sirable and important, it may be, and probother neutral alkaline salts, but wheth. leaves, haulm, sticks, and all such refuse, ably will be, highly distinguished. Who er these saline compounds have been fur. offers the ready means to furnish calcare- that has witnessed the fine pastures of nished "by soil on which the plants grew," ous matters and alkali to land that is de-white clover that are to be seen there in as he supposes, is to me a matter of some ficient of those important substances, in all directions, can doubt that the country is doubt. The roots are the media which con- cases where it may not be easy to procure admirably adapted to grazing purposes? nect the plant with the earth, and the leaves them in bulk. Many have objected to the The inhabitants of that country should lis expose it to the influence of light and air; process of burning, styling it a wasteful ten to the voice of nature, and yield prompt of these facts there can be no doubt; but expenditure of manure; and so it may be obedience to the lessons which she teaches. several experiments with the sap of a bleed. considered if a soil be ill supplied with de- What says nature? What is the language ing vine,have led me to hesitate on the sub-composable matters; but it is self-evident which she speaks, in exhibiting those fine ject of the components of that fluid. I have that, if a farm-yard manure be abundant, pastures? Most certainly it is, bring hither not been able, as yet, to detect the presence and the land of a light friable nature, void your flocks and herds. It is hard to strugof carbonic acid in it, but future experiments of chalk; or, on the other hand, if it be gle against nature. To make the culture may furnish more decisive evidence than any clayey and too adhesive, the products of of grain the primary and leading object, which have yet come under my observation; combustion must offer meliorating substan-while nature clearly points to another and still however, I lean to the opinion that, it is ces of first rate quality. better way, is little else than rebellion by no means from the soil alone that plants I cannot now dwell upon Mr. Ruffin's ob- against her sovereign mandates. derive their specific juices. When we per-servations concerning the original consti- It is my opinion that you have not given ceive that aerolites, containing metalic com- tution of what he terms neutral soils, or no- that attention which your interest requires pounds of a peculiar nature, are formed in tice the changes they may have undergone; to the breeding, rearing, and proper use the atmosphere; that masses of hundreds these considerations, and others which re- and management of live stock. I did not of pounds in weight are precipitated from fer to his remaining propositions, must be, see about you such specimens of fine stock, the air to the earth-(admitting the records for the present, deferred. especially young stock, as would have been of these startling phenomena to be founded I regard his essay as a master piece; he pleasing in my sight. Yet I do not intend in fact)—we need scarcely doubt the possi- has therein practically demonstrated the to single you out as the only delinquent. bility of the convertion of the elements of importance and vast utility of chemistry. It did not appear that your fellow citizens water alone into all the specific secretions His knowledge of refined processes may, in general had done better, in this respect of plants, through the agency of light and air. perhaps, as he leads us to infer, be some- than yourself. In regard to the husbandry But, be this as it may, the theory of the what limited; but he has shown that he of domestic animals, the whole country neutralization of the vegetable acids by the knows enough to analyse correctly, to de-around you is behind what it should be, carbonate of lime, naturally existing in the scribe accurately, and to apply the princi- and far behind its own interest. Good breed is the first requisite towards soil, is at once bold, novel and extremely ples of chemistry with the best effect. I trust we shall soon be favored with the good husbandry, in regard to live stock. plausible. The whole tissue of arguments adduced, are very ingenious and philosoph-remaining parts of his essay, for science The rule noticed in one of my preceding owes him much, and its friends cannot but letters, that the more perfect the parents be delighted with the aid she has received are, the more perfect the offspring or proat his hands. A few more such papers, geny may be expected to be, applies cerwidely disseminated through the most in- tainly no less to animal than to vegetable fluential channels, could scarcely fail to tribes. A particular regard to the princiconvince the most sceptical, that he who ples of this rule is absolutely essential to could thus apply to the operations of hus- successful enterprise in the husbandry of bandry the scientific principles which he has acquired, must be, in every way, qualified to make the most of his land, be its quality what it may; and thus to increase his profits while he improves his practice of agriculture, and calls into action the utmost productive power of his farm by liberal, but wisely directed system of tillage ical; and though they do not apply with equal force to the soils of Britain, are high ly important to the philosophical agricul turist. Nothing can be more correct than the assumption that vegetable matters under fermentation, (which is a chemical change of the constituents of dead vegetable matter, effected by the play of electrical affinities,) produce acetic and carbonic acids, perhaps also the muriatic acid; and these would be taken up in their nascent state by any alkaline substance existing in the soil. Acetic acid would be carried off, were it not fixed by some chemical agent; but if met with lime or potass, a neutral soluble compound a live stock. Yet it is believed few good rules for the regulation of human agency are less regarded. By many it seems to be considered as a matter of indifference what animals, whether good or bad, are employed for the propagation of their species. Very inferior animals are often employed for that purpose, and it rarely fails that the conse quences are just such as should have been expected degenerate and worthless rass of animals. I know not to what extent you || estimating. It should be considered that a sume the expense or take upon himself the and your fellow citizens have practised such single animal of superior breed and excel-responsibility of introducing good breeds indiscretions. I regret, however, to say, lence, may be worth more for the market, of stock, still this should be done by the that the specimens of live stock which I than some dozens of such as generally com- combined agency of twenty or more farmsaw in that vicinity, did not afford satisfac- pose the stocks of this country. For illustra-ers. Let a public purse, made up of inditory evidence, that the general practice tion of this remark, I refer you to a recent vidual contributions, be provided for this there had been in these respects altogether sale of cattle in the State of Kentucky, pub- purpose. Let a discreet citizen, who unrebukable. To excite in your own mind, lished in the Genesee Farmer, current vol., should be a good judge of live stock, be apand amoug your neighbors and fellow citi. No. 5. It will be seen that a single heifer pointed general agent, and let him go zens, proper inquiries relative to the im-calf, 8 or 9 months old, was sold for $295. abroad in search after good breeds of catportance of entering more deeply than has One cow was sold for $300, and several tle. By such means let a good bullock be been done in that place into the husbandry others nearly as high. It is true, these introduced among you-let him be commitof domestic animals, and of practising there. were breeding prices, and if the cattle had ted to the care and keeping of some one in according to the principles of economy, been sold for other uses, such prices could who is known to be a faithful and skilful is the object at which I am aiming while I not have been sustained. Nor is it to be ex-manager of cattle stock-and let the privipected, that when cattle of the best breeds leges, profits and expenses, be justly divishall have become plenty in the country, ded among the members of the company. such prices can be sustained even for breedA FATHER. ing. Yet the difference in value between inferior and superior animals, will always be very great. write this letter. New-York State, March, 1826. From the Genesee Farmer. BREAKING AND MILKING COws. It has been suggested, that the first step to be taken towards improvement in the branch of husbandry now under considera. tion, is to procure good breeds of animals. This is a fundamental concern, and it is scarcely possible to attach to it greater im- It is believed my object in making the portance than justly belongs to it. Will not preceding remarks cannot be mistaken. I the farmers who compose that respectable have been laboring to convince you, and agricultural community with which you that cluster of farmers with whom you are The proper management of cows to renare connected, agree to act in concert for connected, that effectual measures should der them gentle and tractable, is a thing of the accomplishment of a revolution in their be taken to improve your breeds of live the first importance. The unpleasant conpractice, in conformity to plans herein sug-stock. I am not, unaware, however, that sequences of attempting to milk unsubdued gested? Owing to the liberality and practi- neither yourself, nor any other individual and irritable animals, the loss of a swimcal enterprise of sundry public spirited gen- in the neighborhood to which you belong, ming pail of milk," the long face, the tlemen, the best breeds of European stock may have money to spare for the uses that grave step, an apology and an empty pail,”— have already been introduced among us, have been suggested, nor be able to spare it is certainly always desirable to avoid. and are now to be found in almost all parts the time that will be requisite for accom- Even cows of naturally mild and gentle disof the country. It is, I believe, universally plishing the objects which have been recomposition, (for there is a great difference in admitted, that these breeds, some of them mended. For such reasons it may be feared them, as in almost all animals,) are someat least, go far ahead, in point of excellence, my counsels will fail of having their intend- times completely spoiled by injudicious of any thing that can be found among oured effect. Permit me then, further to remark,|| treatment. Where no system of manageown native breeds. that farmers have in many respects a com- ment is adopted, and where animals are Do you, or do your fellow citizens, desire mon interest, and the better to manage that punished for bad conduct, merely as the to become possessed of one of the best interest, they would do well, in many in- convenience, caprice or passion of the milkbreeds of cattle, or the very best that ever stances at least, to form themselves into er dictates, it is not to be expected that they grazed in the pastures of any country? I small associations. Should it become the will improve in manners, or become otherapprehend you need not travel far abroad practice of farmers, every where, and in all wise than a terror of female, and finally, of to find such a breed. Certainly you need little farming communities, to form them- male milkers. not go for that purpose much beyond Buf. selves into such associations for the better falo, perhaps not half that distance. LEWIS promotion of their general interest, incalcuF. ALLEN, Esq. of the city just named. sup-lable advantages would be the results. Such posed to be one of the best judges of live associations should be regularly organized, stock, has taken unwearied pains to pro-and have stated periodical meetings for concure the best breeds of cattle. We are sultation and action on subjects equally incredibly informed that he has been success-teresting to all the members. There should ful in his enterprise. It is believed that gentleman has now in his possession on Grand Island several fine bullocks of the improved Durham Short Horned breed, graded differently as to blood, which he will dispose of to his fellow citizens on fair terms. Many other gentlemen in Western New York, and other parts of the same State, are also in possession of highly improved breeds of cattle. But why speak of N. York, as if good breeds of cattle could be found only in that State? Good breeds and good breeders of cattle abound in your own State no less, to say the least, than in any other. Since then, there are in the country, and not far from you, the best breeds of cattle, can it be supposed that you, and your agricultural neighbors, are doing yourselves justice while you neglect to become inter. ested in them? If gentlemen who under. stood their own interest, have thought it an object worthy of their attention to send to Europe for good breeds of live stock, is it no object to you to avail yourselves of such breeds, when they are brought near to you, and can be obtained at a trifling expense It does not appear that farmers in general consider as they should, how great the dif ference in value is between bad and good, or inferior and superior stock. They are inclined rather to estimate the value of their stock according to its numerical amount, counting the number of animals of which it is composed. This is a fallacious rule or Whenever young cows show any thing of a rebellious disposition, the first thing they should be made to feel, is the superior physical force of man, in a decided and effectual manner. As soon as this is felt, the animal is overpowered, and prefers surrendering at once to contending further, to maalso be rules and by-laws for the better re-nifest detriment. The best way to effect gulation of such associated communities. this, is to shut the animal up, and immediTo every such association a treasury, con- ately accustom it to handling on every part, taining a small amount of public funds, speaking to it at the same time in a loud should be considered as an indispensable firm voice, a single word at a time, and at appendage. If then an association of farm-intervals. It will thus become familiar to ers in the vicinity to which you belong us, and become conscious of superior powshould be formed after the plan bere suger. This consciousness will be more strong. gested, what useful purposes would it an-ly produced, if the handling be firm and swer? It almost appears to me that the even rough. An animal should never, for question admits of an amendment, and the same reason, be spoken to in a coaxing should be amended so as to read, What voice, though a kind and soothing tone useful purpose might it not answer? should always be adopted whenever it manmembers might communicate to each other position to resist, as by kicking, the act At the meetings of such societies, the ifests submission. If it should show a dismuch useful intelligence relative to practi- should be followed instantaneously by a sincal husbandry-suggest plans of improve gle stroke of a whip, or other punishment. ment-adopt measures for improving their If this is invariably adopted, the animal breeds of stock-agree how to practice soon submits, not finding it pleasant or when their territories are invaded, or threat- profitable to resist. But never punish an ened with invasion, by pernicious weeds, animal unless it can be done instantly after such as Canada Thistles, Johnswort, Dai- the commission of the offence, and never ses and the like. Indeed, the useful pur-strike but once; and above all, never get in poses to be answered by such associations a passion, for this will certainly spoil the as have been suggested, are too many to be readily enumerated. It should be known, that while individual effort is feeble, combined action is powerful and irresistible. whole. If an animal thus finds that bad behaviour is always followed immediately by punishment, and that submission is always attended with kind treatment, it soon learns To apply the above remarks to the case to distinguish one from the other; and a more particularly in view, it remains for change in its manners is wrought in a me to say, that the farmers of your neigh-remarkably short space of time. We have borhood should agree to act in concert, re-seen cows of several years of age, and aplative to adopting and pursuing measures parently of almost incorrigible ferocity, for the improvement of their live stock. completely metamorphosed in this respect, If no individual is able or willing to as-so as never, for years, to show the slightest |