866 [Assembly 



was formerly produced by the same consumption of food. These 

 results are attained by practices, familiar to all well regulated 

 husbandry. 



The analyses, I have introduced, manifest the existence of 

 peat, or swamp mud of remarkable richness. It is diflused 

 through the county in vast deposits. This material is attaining 

 very extensive use, and is esteemed of great value in promoting 

 the permanent improvement and fertility of the soil. It is pre- 

 pared for efficient application to the earth, either when incorpo- 

 rated with barn yard manures, as a constituent of a compost, or 

 after exposure in piles for ?\, season, to the action of the elements. 

 Mingled with lime, it rapidly decomposed, and is soon prepared 

 for use. The first mode combines many important advantages. 

 A prominent and obvious one, is formed by the great absorbent 

 properties of the peat, through the agency of which, the liquid 

 manures and the volatile gases are concentrated and essentially 

 preserved. 



Many of the appliances formed by a greater advance in agri- 

 cultural science, and m.ore extended pecuniary means, for the 

 creation and preservation of manures, have not been introduced 

 into Essex county. 



Plaster^ is in general use in the towns contiguous to Lake 

 Champlain, and extensively in those of the interior. It has 

 not been introduced into some of the more remote sections of the 

 county. My own observation, corroborates the opinion of intel- 

 ligent'farmers, which ascribes to the application of this material, 

 the most useful and important results. Broadcast upon mead- 

 ows and pastures, its beneficial effects seldom fail. Light and dry 

 soils, are usually more decidedly affected by its powerful, but mis- 

 terious influences. Wet seasons, are regarded the most congenial 

 to the development of its fertilizing principle. I have, in other 

 places, noticed its application to specific crops. Those to which 

 gjpsum is most successfully applied, are corn, potatoes, beans and 

 peas. -Its use upon grass, in alternate years, is the most usual 

 and approved practice. Several of the responses to my inquiries 

 on this subject, impute to the use of plaster, an increase of one- 



