76 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



litter and muck below, saving all there is. In the manner 

 above described, one hundred percent, increase may be made." 



In the southern part of Berkshire, also, "Mostly barnyard 

 manure is used, which is spread in the usual way. Our farmers 

 are beginning to pay some attention to the subject of compost- 

 ing, but as yet, except in a few cases, but little progress has 

 been made. Swamp muck, yard manure, lime, ashes and leaves, 

 are the principal ingredients used. The increase per cent, in 

 manures which might be made on our farms, is large ; for our 

 farmers, as a general thing, are extremely careless in regard to 

 the saving of manure." 



And in the northern part of the same county, " Barn manure, 

 plaster, to some extent, and occasionally guano and bone 

 dust. Very little attention is paid to composting. One hun- 

 dred per cent, increase might be made by care in saving manure." 



In the county of Franklin, a correspondent writes : — "Barn- 

 yard manures are chiefly used, applied mostly to tillage, and 

 more generally spread on and harrowed in. There has been but 

 little attention paid to composting ; not enough to determine 

 what is the most profitable way of doing it. 



" I think that, with Reasonable care, there might be some 

 fifty per cent, increase of manure by the use of muck, lime, and 

 ashes, &c." 



In Norfolk County, " Animal manures are chiefly used ; the 

 most of which are applied to ploughed land. Much attention 

 is paid to composting, and the most profitable mode of pre- 

 paring compost, is probably by mixing muck or soil, with ani- 

 mal manure in a barn cellar, over which a stock of cattle or 

 horses is kept." 



In Middlesex, " The farmers depend upon the natural re- 

 sources of the farm for their fertilizers, such as the droppings 

 of the stalls, collections of the pigsty, coarse grasses, weeds, 

 leaves, &c. ; but chiefly, after the droppings of the stalls, that 

 ' Mother of the meal chest,' meadow muck, — the most convenient, 

 cheapest, and best absorbent and fertilizer, all things consid- 

 ered, that can be used to increase the products of our land. 

 It is found in great quantities in the town, and of excellent 

 quality, and is beginning to be properly appreciated. But they 

 avail themselves of such other helps as they can command in 



