The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1877-1885, 1879-04-24

VbeTarnt
Another Drain.

At this season Of the year the farm
ers' clubs are discussingth question of
how to increase the yield at considera-
BILE length and, although they deduce
many truths and advance many ideas
Of ~incalculab'e value to their fellow
farmers, still many of those little fine
points are overlooked or forgotten.
One in particular, which. when travel
ing in Europe a few years ago, we could
not help but notice. We allude to the
matter of SCOT as a manure. While we
lay out enormous sums for phosphates,
guanos, &C., each year we are allowing
the best kinds Of vegetable producers
to grow to waste. During our soJourn
II England we were talking with a
celebrated lecturer and writer upon
agricultural topics-and wlthal a
model farmer-upon this subject, when
he remarked that at no very distant
day the sweeps would be glad to c.ean
the %chimneys for the privilege OF col
Letting the accumulations in the tlues;
and his theory was more than substan
tiated in less than five years; for now,
we are told, the collection of SCOT by
the sweeps of the city of London has
amounted to a very large and impor-
tant industry, the privileges being sold
each quarter by the occupant of the
house where fires are kept.
In cases where the chimneys are
swept regularly at certain intervals,
this substance is often collected in i'm
mense quantities. We are personally
acquainted with a gardener who has
grown wealthy at his business in fifteen
years, hence can well be denOminated
a successful gardener; he always OBJ
tains good prices in the markets Of
that city of squares" merely because
his early fruits and vegetables are al
ways earlier than those of his neigh
bors, and he has always fused SCOT in
large quantities. His plan of opera
tions is as follows He collects all he
a as often as there is enough to pay
for going through the flues, but gener-
ally quarterly, Spring, Fall and about
Christmas-time.E 1t is then slowed
away in old barrels and boxes under
cover, great care being taken when
using to dilute it largely, for, although
useful in an eminent degree when so
diluted, to !promote.a luxuriant and
rapid growth of vegetables, such as
onions, potatoes and root crops gener-
ally, it is of too burning..a nature to
be applied in a raw state, or in large
quantities. Young, tender crops, he
claims, will not stand a very liberal
application.
Again, while a resident of Chicago,
we have seen peas and beans dressed
heavily with SCOT, which SO weakened
the young plants that they never over
the evil effects. Both lime and
require great care in their applica-
ton, OF more harm than good will toll
low. For pot-plants DOT should al
ways be given in a liquid form, and
should be very weak, and may be APP
piled in this way to all kinds of house
plants with the best results For such
purposes it is certainly a very cheap
and perfectly inoffensive as
regards smell. Applied to grass lawns,
it improves the sward in a very short
time, bnt must always be applied in
damp weather. Lawns that have been
with a mild application look
much darker and thicken up at the
bottom much more. than those treated
in the ordinary way.