J14 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



at ; but for tlic immediate use of a crop, that wliicli has been 

 properly composted is doubtless far more efficacious. 



llegarding what arc called special fertilizers, as gypsum or 

 plaster, guano, poudrette, tafeu, super-phosphate of lime, &c.r 

 but little of interest and nothing reliable as a guide to farther 

 use, has been obtained. They have been used to soQie extent 

 in various parts of the State, and with very diverse results, but 

 it is never safe to deduce principles or even rules of action from 

 either success or failure in experimenting with manures, until 

 after repeated and careful trials, and when all the conditions! 

 affecting them are clearly apparent. 



In answer to the inquiry, what per cent, increase of manure 

 may be saved or made on our farms by reasonable care, a prac" 

 tical farmer in Washington county replies : ^'One hundred per 

 cent, at least.''^ The means which I have seen in operation on 

 one farm, for this saving and increase of value, are, first ; a thor- 

 oughly drained barn cellar, so that no drop of watar can enter it 

 from the outside ; into this is carted during the summer, a suffi- 

 cient quantity of dry muck ; a portion of this is from time to time 

 put under the cattle stalls till fully saturated, then renewed } 

 into this cellar is thrown whatever stray droppings may at any 

 time be found in the yard during the summer; tlie next a sheep 

 house, thoroughly drained as the barn-cellar, the bottom of which 

 (no floor) is kept constantly covered, summer and winter, with 

 about six inches of dry nmck. This sheep house opens into the 

 sheep pasture, and during the summer the sheep have free in- 

 gress and egress. The result is, that in hot weather, they spend 

 the most of tlie day there, instead of seeking in vain for pro- 

 tection from the flics, by the sides t)f fences, &c. Tlie accumu- 

 lation from this source is not inconsiderable— all the liquids 

 being absorbed by this dry muck. The hogs, also, contribute 

 their aid in wetting a portion of it ; and the poultry house, alsO; 

 adds to the accumulation. This farmer's first aim is to get rid of 

 all water that has not passed through some animal — as he says 

 rain water makes a poor ingredient for compost. 



There is plenty of swamp muck or peat in town, but it has 

 not been extensively used here. The plan above described, is 

 practiced in a neighboring town with the most satisfactory 

 results. • 



