SECRETARY'S REPORT. 207 



Muscle-bed as a Manure. 



When treating of marine manures in my last report, this was 

 omitted in the hope of obtaining some more definite information 

 regarding its character, composition and effects. What is known 

 under the name of muscle-bed is a deposit found in coves, bays, 

 &c., the eflScacy of which depends mainly upon the remains of 

 shell fish which have ishabited it, and which varies with the 

 abundance in which these are found in it. 



Muscle-bed is most successfully used as a top dressing for grass 

 land, and its effects are most noticeable and permanent on clays 

 and clayey loams. I was informed by Mr. Joshua Hall, of Gorham, 

 that he could see its effects distinctly more than twenty-five years 

 after its application. In repeated instances, its use has raised the 

 product of grass from less than half a ton per acre to upwards of 

 two tons by a single application, and the quality was greatly 

 improved also, as clover and timothy immediately sprang up, and 

 grew freely, where none had been observed before. 



Its weight and bulk are such as to forbid its profitable transpor- 

 tation to a long distance into the interior, but within moderate 

 distance of the deposits, the profit attending its employment is 

 such that it should be resorted to far more than it has hitherto 

 been. 



As an instance of the success attending its use, I may relate the 

 following which was given me by the person using it: 



A farmer, without means to pay, went in debt to the amount of 

 five hundred dollars for an exhausted farm. He immediately com- 

 menced hauling muscle-bed about three miles to renovate his land. 

 Except the little furnished by his horse and cow, he depended en- 

 tirely upon this for manure. In the course of eight years he had 

 not only supported a large family and paid off his debts, but was 

 able to buy and pay for a much larger farm considerably nearer to 

 the inexhaustible banks whence he had drawn his support and 

 wealth. His method was to draw it during the autumn and winter, 

 and after free exposure to the air and frosts, to apply it as a top 

 dressing to all crops. He told me that, when plowed in, he pro- 

 cured little or no advantage, until by another plowing it was again 

 brought to the surface. 



The uniform experience of all whom I have consulted, agrees 

 that little good comes of its application in spring immediately 

 after being taken from the beds, but that exposure for some 



