AGRICULTURAL CHEMISTRY AND GEOLOGY. 158 



especially for top dressing for grass -when composted as above." A Norfolk county farmer, 

 who has met with great success, says : — " The best way of using swamp muck is to dig it and 

 expose it to the sun, air, and rains one year ; and then, when in a dry state, place it in a barn- 

 cellar, where it will take the droppings of the cattle above until it is thoroughly saturated ; 

 then mix it well, and it is ready for use. It is good for all high lands." He estimates it at 

 about three dollars by the cord of one hundred and two bushels. A Middlesex farmer, of 

 great experience, states that "swamp muck is of different qualities, and varies as much as 

 wood when used for fuel. Peat mud, the older the better, consists principally of vegetable 

 matter. It has most effect on high and dry ground. Wood-ashes are the best article to cor- 

 rect its acidity." 



Similar accounts come from every section of the State. From Hampshire county we have 

 the following: — "The best method of using swamp muck, judging from experiments of my 

 neighbors and my own, is to cart it out in the autumn, expose it to the frost and snows, then 

 spread and plow it in in the spring on sandy, dry soils ; or in other words, on soils of an oppo- 

 site nature to its own. I plowed in twenty-five loads on one quarter of an acre last spring, 

 and planted it to early potatoes, corn, peas, cucumbers, squashes, and melons. It was a 

 great preventive against drouth. That ground has been sown to rye, and it looks first rate." 

 And from Plymouth county — "Swamp muck, as also upland soils, are valuable to mix with 

 various kinds of manure to retain and absorb the salts. For upwards of two years I have 

 adopted a different course with my swamp land from any I know of. I employ men with 

 long-bitted hoes, sward-hooks, etc., to dig up the hummocks and bushes, in bodies large and 

 small, as is convenient, and pile them in bunches for a few days to dry ; after which I select 

 a central bunch, in which I form a cavity or hole near the bottom or surface of the ground. 

 Then I set fire to some of the dryest and most combustible, and as it burns I replenish it from 

 the other bunches, smothering in the coal-pit form, though more combustible, till it is burned 

 down to a perfect body of ashes and sand. I have not carried the experiment into full effect, 

 as I designed to ; but so far as I have used the ashes, they have given me entire satisfaction. 

 Their nature is to improve exhausted lands ; and my belief is that they may be spread upon 

 the same land upon which the ashes were made, and increase the growth of English grass. 

 Much has been said upon the subject of reclaiming wet, swampy lands ; but after all that has 

 been done, as I understand it, a coat of manure is required to produce a good crop of Eng- 

 lish grass. Now, if our worthless swamp lands possess the very article required to produce 

 such grass by the simple process as above named, I think it would be an improvement in 

 one point of agriculture." 



A farmer of Barnstable county says — " The best compost manure is made in our barn 

 and hog-yards, of swamp muck, sea-weed, and animal manure. Swamp muck and sea-weed 

 are accessible to all who will take the trouble to procure them. My barn and hog-yards 

 are so excavated and dug as to absorb the liquids passed into them. Every spring and 

 summer, after my barn-yard is emptied, I replenish it from time to time with swamp muck, 

 peat, sea-weed, and other materials from the farm, which, with the animal manure produced 

 by yarding my cattle, furnish me in the autumn with 200 loads of good compost, which I 

 either stack in the yard or cart on to the land I intend to plant in the spring. I again re- 

 plenish the yard, giving me, with the proceeds of my hog-yard, from 100 to 150 loads more 

 in the following spring. In addition, I have for two years past composted in the field adjoin- 

 ing my peat-bog from 75 to 100 loads of peat, (thrown from the pit in summer or autumn,) 

 with sea and rock-weed, or ashes and animal manure, which I esteem of equal value to barn- 

 yard manure. I estimate the value of a cord, or four ox-cart loads, of barn-yard manure 

 composted as above at from $4 to $5. We esteem the value of this for a corn crop and the 

 improvement of land higher than pure animal manure." 



I give one more extract, from a farmer of Berkshire county. He says — "I have used 

 swamp muck for a number of years past with good results, by mixing it with yard and stable 

 manures in the proportion of one-third to one-half muck, and consider it worth $1 per load 

 to use for agricultural purposes on soils that are a mixture of loam and gravel." 



The testimony is uniformly in favor of composting muck with other manures. Its power 

 of absorbing valuable liquid and gaseous substances is very considerable ; and this makes it 



