176 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE. 



geoiis. It is sometimes thought to increase the activity of barn- 

 yard manure, by being mixed with it when turned over. 



The curious reader will find in tlie second volume of the 

 Massachusetts Agricultural Repository for the year 1805, an 

 Essay upon the Nature and Uses of Plaster, in which it is highly 

 extolled. The writer says : " It seems to comprise in itself 

 more virtues as a manure, than almost any other manure of 

 equal bulk, or even of equal weight, which is known in common 

 practice. It will restore to good heart the old farms to which 

 it is suited, with little expense and in a short time. It begins 

 by turning into manure various useless substances found upon 

 the ground, and thus prepares the way for an ingrease of stock. 

 The grass obtained through plaster is peculiarly acceptable to 

 cattle, which always single it out from other grass. It is, indeed, 

 distinguishable to the eye and touch, and the hay from it, is, 

 perhaps, alike, valuable. Plaster, likewise, appears to have a 

 direct power in stimulating the sprouting of seeds and the 

 growth of plants." 



After a great deal more laudatory than this and more indefi- 

 nite, the author adds, " It is commonly supposed to be useless 

 near the sea." 



It is gratifying to notice, in every part of the county, the 

 increased attention given to reclaiming of meadows. The 

 instances are too numerous to be specified, in which wet, boggy, 

 bushy meadows, that yielded nothing whatever of value to man 

 or beast, have been converted into excellent mowing fields, by 

 draining, by gravel and manure. Farmers have found such 

 meadows to be the best land they owned ; that is, yielding the 

 largest returns in proportion to the money expended upon them. 

 Listead of poor hay, nearly worthless, and which animals will 

 eat only to keep from starving, the reclaimed meadow furnishes 

 from two to three tons per acre of the best hay, and hay brings 

 milk, butter and meat. Meadows so treated require but little 

 labor or expense for several years. 



The high price and increasing demand for cranberries have 

 given a new impulse to their cultivation. We refer both to the 

 improvement of natural meadows, by removing whatever hinders 

 the growth of the vines, and by a systematic course of flooding, 

 and to the planting of vines in meadows, expressly prepared for 

 that purpose. Some experiments on a large scale have been 



