Ashes And Plaster On Wheat

Tho profit iu farming is all mude froin growing largo crops. A farmor cnniiot make imy olean money out of tifteen bushels of wheat to tho acre, or out ot' thirty bushels of corn to the aeri-, or twenty bushels of oats, or a tou of hay ; nor from pasturen whioh afford just about feed cnough to koop auimalfl trom growing pooi". i)on't his own experienoe provt; it to bituself bojFO&d question t Yet thore are inore formen who fall below these figures thun there are that go higher. This the census returns prove, by showing an average yiold of leas per acre, the State tlirougli, than wc have noted above. lf a farnier'a own experionce lon't satiefy hiui on this point, thore is nothing tliat we can say that will eonvince hini that ho is making no progross. Surely, when a man has laborod long for a dozon years or more, he ought to have soiuething to show for it. Ho inay say that he has lived and supported his family, but that is not enough - he ought not to be satisfied with that. If he had set his wits at work, and incroaseJ the produce of his farm one-third - which without doubt he uiight have done - he would to-day have soniothing more to boast of thaa thu makiog of a baro living. To show how easy a thing it is to. in crease the yield of whoat, we will relate a simple exporiinont made with ashes and piastor, by Mr. Hiram Lockwood, of Hurr Oak, 8t. Josph Go., Mich. Mr. Lockwood is one of the most thorough and prosperous formara iu this ssetion ; aud it is no rlatteiy to say that tliis is a result oí oarefnl obaervation and clcse attentioc to busiuoss, giving everything his personal oversight and superintendent'?. Having a hogshead of house ashos last fall, be thought he would try the experiment of niixing piaster with theui, and sowing on whoat. Aceordingly he mixed a barrel of p' aster with the ashes, uiaking abcut one-third of the former to two-thirds of the latter. He Bowed at the rate of about fifty pounds to tho acre, on one sido of a wheat field, tho wheat boing fairly up. A couple of showers oarae upon it soon alter sowing, aud the effect of tho application was very soon visible in the doeper color and more vigorous and rapid giowth of the grain on the part to which the mixture had been applied. This differei.ee in appearanee and growth was maintainod tlirough thi! fall. This spring tho plants on that portion took a more dec.ded st.irt ahead of the rest of the field, the Uue of separation being distinctly seen from a distance. T.us rerninda v.s of the experiment made by Frinklin with piaster on clo it, wheu be iutroducod it from Franco, BOwing a strip with it through a clover field, and exhibiiing to his neighbors the very salntiiry effocts which the iucreaaed growth made so plain. Mr. Lookwood states that the di&renoê in favor of the ishcs and piaster wits plaiuly observable at bar vest time, attracting the notico of all engaged in the finid: The soil is a sandy Iojiu, rather heavy, with a gravelly sub soil - common bur-oak soil, familiar to most Wi stern farmers. Mr. L. is eniphatic in f.ivor of ashes and piaster on i his soil. Now the question arises, how much would tho ashes made in the State in crease the yield of the wheat erop? Consido: ably, without doubt. This is only one of the raany ways by which the general agriculture of the country may be iraprovod. It is a simple nieuns which every farmer and gardener in the land may use to bettur pay him tor his la bor and investraents, at a trífling proporciónate outlay. Há who lives by the land must uiake the land full of fatness ; and how to do this the most effectually must be his oonetant stndy and labor. Wood ashes contain eight or nine times as much lime as potash, audhalf as luuch phosphoric acid as potash, as well as a good proportion of soda and magnesia- all vory important ingredients in grains and grasses. Leached ashes are nearly as valuablo ar; thoso unleached on most soils. Theret'ore let no aslie go to waste or be