MANURES. 231 



pervades the whole establishment, but I was told that none of 

 the animals suffered inconvenience from it. Will not our Essex 

 farmers who have flocks of sheep, derive some important hints 

 from this description ? Tlie excrement of sheep approximates 

 nearer to that of fowls and the human race in value, than that 

 of other animals, and I think, when we take into account its 

 great importance, that our farmers lose sight of their interests 

 in so generally abstaining from rearing them on their farms. 



Manures are applied in the liquid form very generally in 

 Switzerland, Germany and Belgium. In the former country, in 

 the month of May, the whole atmosphere was redolent with the 

 strong odors. The farmers were in their fields with huge 

 wooden vessels upon wheels, from which, with long handled 

 buckets, they distributed it to the soil. They had already 

 secured one, and in some instances, two crops of grass. I 

 observed this in those elevated valleys where the seasons and 

 climate would very nearly correspond with those of our own 

 New England. 



Why may it not be profitable for our farmers to adopt this 

 course, and thus obtain successive crops in a single season? 

 The hay crop is growing more valuable and important every 

 year, and I know of no reason why it may not be much in- 

 creased at a great profit, by the means described. 



The use of guano and artificial manure is rapidly increasing 

 in England. The enormous sum of 125,000,000 was expended 

 the past year for guano alone, and a million of fresh acres of 

 land have been brought into cultivation. This powerful fertil- 

 izer has, in many instances, disappointed our farmers, and it 

 has in a great measure been owing to the frauds practised by 

 dealers. Ignorant or unscrupulous dealers have, doubtless, 

 subjected them to a great loss, in the purchase of the article, 

 and the evil will not be removed until measures are taken to 

 have every parcel correctly analyzed and placed under seal. 



The super-phosphate of lime, as prepared from bones, is a 

 favorite fertilizer in England. It is used on the wheat fields 

 with great success. It is prepared mostly by large manufac- 

 turers, but in riumerous instances farmers prepare it themselves. 

 As many inquiries have been addressed to me respecting the 

 details of the best method in the treatment of bones, I take this 



