SECRETARY'S REPORT. 231 



is worth at least five or six cords of the best stable manure, for 

 a top-dressing. This we cannot doubt, for here are the blood, 

 the wool, pieces of the skin of the animal, a little lime, and many 

 other substances, all collected together. A fermentation takes 

 place, by which the richest gases are formed. Such a compost 

 heap, with an addition of loam and mud, would be invaluable 

 for a top-dressing. But though in most cases all these sub- 

 stances cannot be procured, many of them can, and should be 

 saved by every one who is desirous of improving his land. Those 

 who are near the sea, or near the market, can procure an abun- 

 dance of fish to add to the compost. Nothing is better for soils 

 than tliis. A little lime added to the heap, causes its rapid and 

 thorough decomposition. Ashes should also be added. When 

 additions of manure arc made, they should be covered with mud 

 or loam, to prevent waste. 



We need not enter more minutely into the details of forming 

 the compost heap. It is sufficient to say, in a word, that every 

 thing capable of fermentation should be added to it. The lower 

 layer should be of loam or mud. Nothing is more common 

 among farmers, on the death of a horse or any other animal, 

 than to throw the body away. It is estimated by some, that the 

 body of a single horse, when divided and mixed with peat mud 

 and loam, will make a compost worth fifteen or twenty loads of 

 the best and richest manure. This is, perhaps, too higli an 

 estimate, but animal substances ferment rapidly, or rather they 

 may be said to putrefy without fermenting, so quick is their 

 decomposition. If leaves, grasses, moss, straw and other sub- 

 stances of like nature, are used, lime will be useful in causing 

 their rapid decay. When these are well fermented, the heap 

 should be thrown over, and if made long and narrow, so as to 

 expose the greater surface to the air, it will be the better. 



The value of a compost, properly made, is greater than the 

 aggregate value of the several ingredients applied separately, no 

 matter what or how rich they may be. Besides, some divisor 

 is needed for concentrated or other powerful manures, by means 

 of which they may be more evenly and judiciously applied. 

 Peat, or dry meadow muck, is one of the best and most availa- 

 ble of these divisors, if properly prepared by exposure to the 

 influence of air and frost. No good farmer would ever use lime 

 in compost with barnyard manure or animal substances, unless 



