426 [Senate 



fore the plant is benefitted. The growth of the plant is therefore re- 

 tarded till this decomposition takes place. For corn, the whole of 

 our short season is wanted — it will hardly do to wait or lose time, 

 for fear that the season will close before the crop is ripe. Hence we 

 should use manure in such a manner that a steady and uniform sup- 

 ply of nutriment is kept up from the time the crop begins to grow, 

 till it is matured. 



Mr, Stevens remarked that it was frequently said muck was not 

 good without some preparation. This is true in regard to the earlier 

 stages of its application. He had tried it — the first year it produced 

 no beneficial result— the second some good effect was perceived^ and 

 the third very great. On land where it had been applied, a great 

 difference was perceptible in the crops for several years. On root 

 crops it had been very useful. If he desired an immediate effect, he 

 preferred composting it with barn yard manure. He had mixed it 

 with lime, and its beneficial operation was quickened by it. 



The subject of Peat has become so interesting^ that the introdoic-' 

 tion of a few extracts from Professor Jackson's contributions towards 

 the improvement of agriculture, contained in his survey of New- 

 Hampshire, and also from Lord Dundonald, will be pardoned^ even 

 if not approved of. 



Origin of Peat and Swamp Mucka 



Peat arises from the disorganisation anel partial decomposition of 

 vegetable matters in water, and the changes that take place are very 

 different from those which arise from exposure of the dead plants t© 

 the atmospheric influences, and to the basic or earthly and alkaliae 

 ingredients of soils. 



Peat is mostly formed by the growth of sphagnous mosses,, the 

 roots and submerged stems of which die and decompose, while the 

 plants grow from their upper parts, and furnish a continual supply 

 of carbonaceous matter^ consolidating, by their fun^^tions, a portion 

 of the carbon contained in the carbonic acid gas of the atmosphere. 

 On cutting out a mass of peat, eveiy observing man must have ob- 

 served the gradual manner in which the living stems and roots of 

 the peat mosses pass into soft, disorganized peat mud, the principal 

 mass of which is made up from the remains of the mosses. 



Dead leaves, rotten trunks and branches of trees also enter into 

 the composition of a peat bog ; but they form only a small propor- 

 tion of the bog, though they generally attract more attentionj on ac- 

 count of the perfect preservation of their forms, by which the nature 

 of the tree may be recognized, even when its substance is perfectly 

 brown, black and rotten. 



Peat formed from mosses, possesses antiseptic properties, so that 



