SAVING AND APPLICATION OF MANURES. 55 



sawdust used iu the vicinity where I reside, which is obtained 

 from the beach near the moutli of the Saco river. It has been 

 washed in the river and soaked in the sea for an unknown leno-th 

 of time, until finally driven ashore. It appears to be wholly 

 destitute of the resinous principle of fresh pine or spruce, and is so 

 highly valued by many farmers as to be carted away to distances 

 of ten miles and upwards, as seaweed is. I have never used it 

 myself; but the results of employing the ordinary sawdust from 

 the mills have been such that I greatly j)refer loam. Farmers may 

 all use this, whether they can readily obtain muck or sawdust or 

 not. The power possessed by ordinary loam to retain ammonia, 

 and also various fertilizing gases and salts, is really surprising to 

 those who have not fairly tested it. 



Night soil may be made to contribute very largely to the 

 fertilizing resources of the farm, instead of being a waste and a 

 nuisance as it so frequently is ; and for this purpose nothing equals 

 dry loam. In summer it should be added daily, or at least twice 

 a week. For winter use a store should be laid in, thoroughly dried, 

 and application made weekly. No one who gives this one faithful 

 trial, and applies the compost to his grass land, will abandon the 

 practice afterwards. We have, in this matter, an important 

 lesson to learn from the Chinese. While all their practice is not 

 to be imitated, we may well emulate their economy of this neg- 

 lected but most valuable manure. 



The manure question is paramount to all others in New England 

 agriculture. Not only should there be effort to save all, and to 

 apply all to best advantage, but there should be a constant 

 endeavor towards gain. If a little be gained each year, and the 

 gain held, to add to future gains, the increase will go on with 

 greater speed. The simple power of accumulation is wonderful. 

 Put a sum of money at interest, and let the interest be also put at 

 interest yearly, and although for a brief term, the results seem 

 moderate, yet after a while they pile up into enormous sums. 



When once the farmer begins in earnest to save all the manure 

 within his control, applies it to advantage, and uses his crops in 

 a way that shall return to the soil what they have taken from it, 

 he is on the high road to success ; for the agencies of nature are 

 constantly at work for him, every year liberating from the soil 

 locked up elements of fertility. His gains may be much more 

 rapid than of money at legal rates of interest compounded ev^y 

 year, and besides this, there is no danger whatever that his bank 



