230 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE. 



an incredibly short space of time. Wc see tlie results of econ- 

 omy and care, in saving all varieties of plant nutriment. We 

 see the advantage of drainage, of subsoil ploughing, of correct 

 science in the formation of compost. Here we see the great 

 fact established, that land the most barren and worthless, may 

 by science and skill be transmuted into fields mellow and fertile, 

 beyond a parallel, and that the operation may be a pay'mg one. 



Mr. Mechi, at the time of my visit, the first of June, had 

 already taken from his fields three heavy crops of Italian rye 

 grass, a Valuable variety, and was expecting a fourth ready for 

 the scythe in a week. His method is, to give his grounds a 

 thorough drenching with liquid manure as soon as vegetation 

 begins to start in the spring, and a short time after this rich 

 prepared plant-food is dispensed, a heavy crop of grass invites 

 the mower to the fields. This removed, another drenching fol- 

 lows, and another crop succeeds ; in this way, he has secured 

 seven heavy burdens in a season. All the manures of this farm 

 are applied to the land in the liquid form, and the admirable 

 arrangements for saving and preparing, are, in some respects, 

 peculiar. 



Tiie cattle, horses and swine are housed over brick-cemented 

 drains, and the solid and liquid excrements fall together through 

 crevices in the flooring, and are thence carried by iron ducts to 

 the great cistern, where enough water is supplied to render the 

 whole so liquid that it will pass through pipes of two-inch diam- 

 eter. From thence, iron pipes are carried under ground over 

 the entire circuit of the farm, and a pump, propelled by a steam 

 engine, forces the liquid in dingy, odorous showers, over the 

 fields. 



The sheep, of which there are about one hundred, (magnifi- 

 cent animals, such as are seen nowhere else but in England,) are 

 brought under cover each night, and their pen has a cemented 

 bottom and surroundings, so that all the liquid of the animals 

 is saved. The amount of this is so large, that a covering of 

 straw is required as often as once in twenty-four hours to absorb 

 the liquid. The whole decomposes, forming a deep mass, the 

 richness of which is made apparent by the strong odor of ammonia 

 which pervades the inclosure. I suggested the use of sujphate 

 of lime to prevent this loss of volatile ammonia, and was informed 

 that it had been applied for that purpose. This pungent smell 



