The Evansville journal. [volume] (Evansville, Ind.) 1866-1870, 1868-03-28
AGRICULTURAL.
sOlIlng vs.. Paslurlng.

DNAAAMH Hoe eAoEAA Al
Let me recite the experience anC
practice of friend Of nine. Coming
into possession Of about nine acres Of
land, in the neighborhood of a good
market, made by the demands of q
large literary institution. he cast about
as to what was to be done. Two COWS
and a horse was the stock in trade for
neat cattle. He was Obliged to pay
each season, for pasturage, what II
was thought to be worth, and at the
same time it was no small job 10 drive
his cows back and forth That deter
mined him to keep his COWS IN the
barn. The greatest trouble was the
rapid accumulation of manure. BY
good husbandry he properly secured
that-he kept feeding it to his crops.
Finding his crops increasing he added
another COW. Another COW only
made more manure. More manure,
! husbanded the same way, made more
crops, and the third year he added
/ another COW.
Now began another serious Difficult
| ty. His barn was too small. Still, at
| the end ofthe fourth year he put in
another COW, and set himself at work
to get up-a new barn; and when |
| last saw HIM he had a new barn with
moderate Improvements Of good size,
a horse, pair Of cattle and five cows,
and yet he had not thought of buying
more land, but wanted more COWS.
Now, people who do not want a
large accumulation Of manure and a
gradual increase of crops should not
adopt that style. But it seems to me
that for our towns, where homesteads
are in small lots and not easily pro-
cured, no better course can be pur-
sued than sOiling thee and at the
same time fattening the soil.
AsHEs-sUDs.
A burglar once contented hipself
with carrying away from store a
heavy bag of specie. 1t proved to be
of copper, and worth about ten dol
lars. Specie is not the only term that
fails to indicate the value of the
article it denotes. One Of the great
wants. Of vegetation is potassium. 1t
is found sparingfy In many rocks that
are pulverized BY frost and attrition.
Most crops carry it away from the
soil and it is returned, in insufficient
quantities, In manure A consider
apAO talt VI IiAC pulds5AuLu III OuE AOT-
ests finds its way, after their destruc-
ton, into soap. Much Of this is used
in washing clothes, and is left in the
water in the form Of suds. The i'm
purities which they con tain add to
their value as a manure. All their
fertilizing virtue should find its way
to tlllable soil, if possible.
Upto the time Of the present gene
ration, pound Of sodium would buy
several pounds of potassium, both
beingi in the form Of carbOnates. The
sodium in salt was not reducible to
this form, and all our carbonate of
soda came from the ashes of sea weed.
The invention of a mode of manufac-
turing carbonate of soda from salt
wrought a revolution in the chemical
arts. A pound ofcarbonate of potassa
will buy several times its weight of
carbonate Of soda, and twenty-three
pounds of sodium is as efficient as
thirty-nine pounds of potassium. We |
are not, then, to look for potassium |
In anything in which sodium can re-
place it. In potash " we may
find little or none, and none |
In saleratus used for cooking. |
You find It In no soap except |
the soft soap made IN families with /
the I've leached from ashes It is not |
improbable that plants may be able !
to substitute sodium for some part of /
the potassium they need but it is on /
the same principle that COWS on GER
tain islands are said to eat catfish. [
the gardener invariably over
looks the difference in the two kinds /
of seeds, the plantwil be sure to find |
it out. 1t fails to find particle of that
element which the soil most needs in
suds made from the common bar
soap.
No one need be told that there is
little resem bIance between wood ashes
and cOal-ashes. @Unleached wood
ashes are Of great use. to the soil;
and in leached ashes. considerable
potassium remains We all know
that it is not so with coal-ashes. 1t
is curious to inquire whether the vege-
tatiOn which originated the coal con
tanned potassium; and If so, what be-
came of it? But Ut Is a much more
practicable question, what shall we
do with our coal-ashes? How far
will frost disintegra-e the cinder or
olinker? Having Separated all solid
PARTICLES with a sieve, the rest may be
used IN diluting strong manures or in
soils; but there is no point
in the range of domestic economy on
which ignorance is more universal
than on that Of utilizing coal ashes.
Il r. H., III american Journal Of
HOrttcU tire.