208 I Sen/, IE 



less it be wanted to mix with coarse barn-yard manure to act as a 

 leven, to set it also into a state of ferment, that both may be used 

 together. It is quick and active in its operation, but its strength is 

 spent with the crop to which it is applied. One of the inconvenien- 

 ces of this factitious manure is the abundance of foul seeds introduced 

 by it. Street dirt, however, is subject to the same objection, particu- 

 larly in summer, when ever kind of garden, fruit and flower seeds, 

 thrown into the streets from the houses and markets, abound in it. 

 . Sea Weed. — This is principally collected by farmers who have a 

 , water front on the south side of the island. It is driven up by 

 storms and winds blowing on shore, and must be secured as soon as 

 possible, lest a change of wind and tide sweep it away. In some 

 coves and sheltered places, it washes up and accumulates in greater 

 quantities than the owners require, when they allow others to cart 

 it away. This is particularly the case at the mouth of the Great Kills, 

 on the shore of Mr. Seely and Major James Guyon. 



Wherever it can be procured, sea weed is employed to make ma- 

 nure. It has been carted from the shore, and plowed in as a green 

 crop with advantage, but this method cannot be followed on account 

 of the uncertainty of .procuring it in sufficient quantity when wanted. 

 The inhabitants here do not rake and collect it as they do in some 

 of the creeks and bays on the south side of Long Island, but depend 

 upon that which drifts on shore. Hence there is an uncertainty in 

 its supply, and whenever it is collected it is carted and spread over 

 the barn yard, or thrown into the hog pens. It is excellent litter for 

 swine, and with a stock of them, and plenty of sea weed, manure can 

 be made very fast in summer. The animals eat some of it, and keep 

 rooting it about and mixing it with their dung, and it soon rots and 

 makes a valuable manure for corn or any other crop. 



Sometimes a variety of sea weed is driven upon the shore in sum- 

 mer, and is here called chowder. It principally consists of several 

 species of confervse, which are -soft and mucilaginous, beat fine by the 

 waves, and of the consistence of pumice, and would not hold toge- 

 ther if it was not for some of the alga and fuci mixed with it. If a 

 quantity of this mixture of marine plants be heaped, in a few days it 

 will ferment and become hot, and soon decompose. Loudon de- 

 clares that sea weeds will not ferment, but the writer has witnessed 

 what he states. 



Fish. — The Mossbonker, (Clupea manhaden of Mitchell,) a species 

 of herring, is a migratory fish that frequents the shores of this and 

 Lono; Island in immense numbers in the month of June, are taken 

 with the seine, and sold by the fishermen at seventy-five cents per 

 thousand. The farmers purchase them on the beach at this price, 

 anil cart them away to be applied to the land for manure. In size 

 they are from eight to ten inches long, and at this season very fat, 

 so that by exposure to the sun they melt down into an oily mass. 

 The most common method of employing these fish, is to spread them 

 from the cart thick upon the land with a shovel, and immediately 

 plow them under. They are so spread upon a field of young corn, 

 and they make it grow most luxuriantly. They are sometimes 



