New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1855-04-17
SALT-PETER EXPLODED.

Bsrnum-tls Bsrnum, is q Connecticut farmer He
has q passion that way. IL is his present hobby.
he always res . hobby. Sometimes II isa" Fire
Appihilstor, and sometimes the Crystal Palace ami
hlsiet him.
Lat year he had the hen fever. That wss his
hobby. He rode il till he spent about - 900, and
then found ihi. he had neither eggs or chickens for
family use. His neighbor's hers that "stole their
'pests" uuder the barn by the side of the fence,
hs,ct.d more chickens thar his did, and when they
were grow H. they healthy md good to eat, while
hs were Cropping and sickly IN their eosdy house.
Fsrnt q, however was always hobby with him.
lie hos been for yeas buying up the old fields srouod
Bridgeport and digging out the stones, covering the
ground with muck cug out Of all the neigho)ring
swamts. Thea he bought ell the stable-msnure that
be could get hold Of in the village aud carsed 1t out,
but it did not pay; it wss half straw and one fourth
water, ard 1t ~ss expensive That hobby broke
down. II has broken down thousand times before,
blu, the il broke, the more od-fOgysm stack -
to it. 1t the socient custom Of the land 10 po~
shallow end top-dress with stsble manure, seageed
and f-h Digging muck was a. innov alton. Is WAS
good thing bat il did not pay long transportation
Something better was wanted. Somebody said use
s,it That cid not look Reasonable What virtue
was there in salt TO make psofs grow Somebody
ehe said, use 'al'petsr. But tbat vas evident non
stnfe. Satseter was only TO preserve mea'-It was
Rot nature. Another wise man told him Gltuber.
sslis we're good but wiser one told him that EPSON
salts were better.
"Bless your soul, man" says B,rnun. ado you
suppose want TO physc my land No, Sir want
to feed il, and make il feed NE "
So he took TO the study of agriculture. He took
,everal learned agricultural papers, and read then,
ano-~e he concluded that he was no. tne oaly
hun bug in tbe world.
So be went off lectuIiog upon humbug A. = scenee,
vi der the full impression that be had been about as
bsdl, hun bus g.d, in rte agricultural line, hens aud
huncr ed oDar ducks included as hsever h1mbuSged
any body vito woody horses aud Feejee mermaid'.
Sill be WAS Dot satisfied. He thought Connecticut
sou bad sone,h in IT, ard il it could be STIPULATED
10 give il no. would produce something besides dat
ses aId ullers
Ar he dc not need to study his lecture-thst came
ratural-he bou. ht JobDsoLs Chemistry, Nort)ns
Chemistry and Lebies c. emi'try, sn1 devoted his
leisure hours of travelling to search out whs. vas the
beet and most concentrated manure to apply 10 hs
old 6eids. He had already done ons very essential
thu g. he had plos e5 the soil deeper til m il ever
pIoseo before; and now he wanted to manure better
and cheaper. and make i, more productive. 50 10
studied serculiural chemistry. Therein he learned
thee facts:
That an application Of 100 lbs. OF nitrate Of potash
TO an acre of land had doubled the crop OF sc.ss
Ag.p he re sd ID at the quantity Of ,ulphate Of
soda had produced the same or better effect
l. was alb stated that suiphnte Of magnesia was
s,ill b.ter and tina, able effects bad been pro-
duced by free use Of nlUriafe Of soda Nitrate Of
soda bad also done wonders
The author suggested that the farmer might prooure
portion Of each Of these .u pilates and ntrsss and
mix them together and produce cheaper and moro
concentrated manure than super phosphate Of lime or
Guaro.
Full Of this idea, Farmer Barnum returned to New
York, and went forth sith to dealer 10 drugs, medi
cines and chemicals, and inquired toe prices Of
Nitrate of potash &c. pound Nitrate Of soda
&c. sulpha.e of soda &c Sulph.te Of masnesiai
gle Muriate of soda lilo.
every well; put me up hogsbes I'D Of each"
In due time the farmer was ready to begin to uee
his new msnures, or, rather. he was first curious
even showmen have curosty-to see what these
nit sies and Gu pilates al looked like SO he ordered
Me cSks that had arrived to be opened for inspec-
ton That was econ DONE ard the man, with con-
sernstion written upon bis face came back with
bandsfull Of the contents and reported:
here; tia, was marked Nitrate of potash what
do You call that"
That! that is eatpeter-nothng cleo"
And this' This was marked 'Sulphs.e Of
Soda
why, hat.-that -and he tasted" thst-ob,
pshaw tina. is Glauber salts -
And tbs-sulpbste Of magnesia"
Bab-ih,t is Epson falts.'
And ehall s-ud them ack ~
Yes-no-hold on. Perhaps the druggist in the
village has sent for them, and they have made mis
tske and sent my bitrates AID suphstes to him. and
bic ptysic to me
So be postsd down town tonquire; but no-nobody
had sent for any gauber salts; and 90 be came back
TO WI e letter and bios up the dealer who had 80
be'ooled him In the me- aItime the man had got the
cssk arked "Mars,e of soda opened aud report.
ed iba. ii con ained-ha, hs, ha-simply common
ssli."
What on earth, wrote Mr.. B., 10 the chemist,
"did you serd NE Gsuber salts, Epson sslts, saltQe
ter ard common sat, for Do you think went to
pickle al eserve ny land and if get in too much
salt AID salipster physic il OUT Only one Of the
cStks contain What ordered and that is the nitrate eff
Soda
Ire return all brought the answer: "Nitra,e of
coda, of course, right, because it is not known by
any Other Lame
"Gl.uber salts it, properly speaking, sulphste of
coda, and sulpbafe Of magnolia Is nothing more nor
less than epsom salts "
"Ssl;, as We use the term, is salt but it s very
uDms apiDg term among 60 many salts. Muia'e Of
soda is u erght name Of our common, or table salt"
And nitrate Of potash is nothing but saltpeter