From the quantity of lime, sulphuric acid, and soda in the above ash, it is aparent that gypsum and common salt in addition to wood ashes will be of great service on red top meadows. Salt and plaster are exceedingly valuable articles to mix with all stable and barn-yard manure, as well as with night soil, before their applica

tion to the land.

A luxuriant plant of Spear Grass (Poa pratensis), sometimes called herds grass [Kentucky blue grass, EDs. Lov. JOUR.], just headed out, gave of

Another specimen gave the following results, which Prof. E. suggests may be a fairer average sample of poa pratensis than the above:

The quantity of chlorine, soda, and sodium (all of which are common salt) in the above deserves attention. The almost total absence of lime is remarkable. We respectfully suggest to farmers to try the easy experiment of sowing broadcast about two bushels of salt on an acre as an experiment, applying it five weeks before haying time. It will be more likely to benefit dry than wet meadows. Two bushels of salt and two of wood ashes, unleached, will doubtless pay well for the expense incurred.

In former volumes of this journal, we have frequently taken occasion to say, from our personal observation, that young clover, young corn, and other plants cut for soiling should be partially dried before feeding. The following results bear upon that question. Red clover gathered when nine inches high, contained

All plants, when young and growing rapidly, contain a large amount of water to facilitate the circulation of their aliment. There is more Water in 100 pounds of young clover or corn than in a like weight of blood. In the arterial blood of a horse there is about 76 per cent. of water: in that drawn from a vein a little less, say 757.251 in 1,000 parts. To keep horses, cows, working oxen, and sheep in health, and provide for them a generous supply of food, are objects of great importance to the farmer. Science will aid him much in this department of his great profession, if he will not treat her with rudeness or neglect.

ANALYSES OF INDIAN CORN.

The following analyses of Indian corn and the accompanying remarks on inorganic manures, appeared in Downing's Horticulturist some time last year, and appear to have been extracted from a prize essay on Indian corn, by Mr. Salisbury. It is stated that the essay of Mr. S. contains the analysis of twenty varieties. The following is the analysis of the common eight rowed yellow corn.

"We see by the (various foregoing) analyses that the several inorganic bodies removed from the soil by a crop of maize, rank as follows: commencing with the highest, silicic acid, soda, phosphoric acid and potash, sulphuric acid, magnesia and chlorine, lime and iron.

0.249

3.100

.....97.000

"The aggregate amount of inorganic bodies taken from an acre of land, annually, by a stout crop of maize, is by no means so large as is generally supposed; and yet it is sufficiently so to exhaust the best soil in a brief period of years of some of those bodies which act so essential a part in the constitution of the plant. The amount, generally, would not exceed 600 lbs. Indeed, it would, in a majority of cases, fall short of this. In some instances, however, of an ordinary stout growth of some of the larger varieties, it might even go up to 1,000 pounds; but such cases would rarely occur. Six hundred pounds may then be assumed as the quantity ordinarily removed from an acre of land by a stout crop of maize; or, what would be a better criterion to follow, one hundred pounds of inorganic matter for every ten of dry produce. Of this, about one-third is silicic acid, one-sixth soda, one-eighth potash, one-eighth phosphoric acid, one-twelfth sulphuric acid, oneeighteenth magnesia, one-eighteenth chlorine, and one-eighteenth lime and iron.

"The silicic acid is mainly removed by the straw or leaves, sheaths, and stalks. There is generally an abundance of this body in the soil; it only being necessary to secure the presence of a sufficiency of the alkalies to form with this acid enough of its soluble salts to meet the demands of the plant.

"The potash and soda enter quite largely into the composition of all parts of the plant; but more so into that of the stalks, grain, and cobs, than of the other portions. Soils, though they ordinarily contain considerable of these two bodies, yet they generally have a quantity by far too small to supply the lavish demands of this plant for any great length of time.

66

Phosphoric acid enters largely into the grain, and quite largely into the cob and stalk. It constitutes about one-eighth of the ash of the entire plant. Soils are commonly deficient in this acid; or at least they contain much less of it than almost any other of the organic bodies which enter into the composition of plants. The quantity usually removed from an acre of land annually by a good crop of maize is from 60 to 75 pounds, or from 10 to 12 and 13 pounds per ton of dry produce.

"Sulphuric acid, from the quantity taken away by a crop seems to be an essential ingredient of this plant. It enters more largely into the leaves, stalks, and sheaths, than into the grain. From 45 to 60 pounds are removed by the annual produce of an acre, or from 7 to 11 pounds per ton of dry plants.

"By referring to the foregoing calculations, we notice that the magnesia is removed from the soil in larger proportions than the lime; or, in other words, the maize plant requires more of the former than of the latter. This is by no means an uninteresting feature. About 16 per cent. of the ash of the grain is magnesia, while the same ash has usually less than one per cent. of lime. The magnosia in the kernels is usually in the state of a phosphate.

Lime enters more largely into all parts of the plant except the grain and cob than magnesia; yet the aggregate amount of the latter in the whole plant is greater than the former. Hence there is evidently as much necessity of adding magnesia to the soil for the maize crop as lime; and even more, if one of these bodies can be said to rank in importance before the other; since it enters so largely into the composition of the seed, constituting about onesixth of its ash.

"Lime is often added to soils in considerable quantity, and has ever been considered "the basis of all good husbandry." The greater value of lime over that of magnesia, if any (in the maize crop) is in mechanically and chemically influencing the soil, aside from serving directly as food to the plant. Indeed, it is by no means a settled question that magnesia, when properly applied, exerts a less beneficial influence upon the soil than lime. Neither of those bodies, however, possess the property of maintaining, unimpaired, the original richness of a soil. Hence one cannot be strictly said to be more valuable than the other. There is an equal necessity of returning any or all of the other inorganic bodies which are removed from the land, as they become less in quantity in the soil than is necessary amply to supply the healthy demands of the plant, as there is in returning either or both of these as they become deficient."

CURCULIO.

This is, perhaps, the most destructive enemy to plums and other fruits of the smaller varieties, that is known to the Horticulturist of this country. And notwithstanding the many remedies that have been prescribed by observing individuals in this and other countries, but little has been done to prevent its ravages. The following observations on the habits and character of this insect were made in this vicinity by one of our most successful Horticulturists, and are, in our opinion, worth more than all the other remedies combined, that we have seen published.

The author is entitled to the gratitude of fruit growers and the lovers of good fruit everywhere, for his patient and intelligent investigation of the habits of this destructive insect.

The article was written for the Western Horticultural Review, but we take pleasure in giving it a place in our Journal for the benefit of our readers. EDITORS.

ST. LOUIS, February, 1851.

MR. EDITOR: By inserting the following you may perhaps save