SECRETARY'S REPORT. 113 



^ion and is made tke scapegoat for all sins of omission in farm ^ 

 management. And yet the replies to the circular express the 

 opinion that a loss of at least iifty per cent., is sulfered by most 

 farmers, either in the amount cr value of the fertilizing mate- 

 rials at their command. It is believed that our husbandry is 

 not such that wc can afford to lose this ; and it is gratifying to 

 •learn also, that interest is generally awakening on this most 

 important subject, that efforts are being directed both to the 

 saving, and to the conversion of materials hitherto neglected, to 

 the uses of crops. The inexhaustible supplies of meadow mud, 

 peat or muck, are being drawn upon and prepared in various 

 ways for application. This is by no means uniform in its com- 

 position or quality ; some being made up of the wash of higher 

 lands, with abundance of leaves from a hard wood growth, with 

 the remains of frogs, &c. Such may be immediately applied to 

 the land to advantage, and is often found of as great value as 

 barn yard manure. Another style of muck seems to have 

 originated mainly from the decay of mosses and the leaves of 

 everaireen or resinous trees. This is the least valuable of all, 

 and especially if, as is sometimes the case, it be impregnated 

 with pyrites or other form of iron ore, in which case it some- 

 times becomes corrosive upon exposure to the air, and unless 

 corrected with lime or other alkali, is. actually pernicious to 

 veo'etation. It is more issual. however, to find such as is formed 

 In large measure of coarse water grasses, and other aquatic 

 .plants mixed with leaves, branches, and trunks of trees gone to 

 decaf, with some mould and mineral matter washed from the hills, 

 often of a fibrous texture, being filled with minute roots. This 

 is so much benefited by the simple action of air and the frosts 

 of one or two winters, that it may be used with good results, 

 but its value is greatly increased by the addition of ashes, or 

 of alkali in some form, or by being used as an absorbent of 

 liquid excrements. 



With regard to the application of manures, little has been 

 elicited beyond the fact that it is usually applied in an unfer- 

 mented state. This may be the better way, where suitable ab- 

 sorbents have been intermingled during its accumulation, and 

 wtere permanent fertility, rather than present benefit is aimed 

 8 



