70 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



with a fence in front of his building, and a division fence 

 between him and the next man, when he looks out of his 

 window, he is reminded that he owns to that fence, and not 

 an inch beyond. Take the fences away, and he will imagine, 

 at any rate, that he owns every thing within his sight, and 

 it is certainly more beautiful. You would be astonished if 

 you knew the amount of money which is foolishly put into 

 fences. 



Mr. Everett. I wish to say a word or two in relation to 

 the question of absorbents, as that topic has been presented. 

 I have some neighbors who practise carting sand into their 

 barns as an absorbent ; but it has always seemed to me a 

 ridiculous thing to do, and the same opinion has been ex- 

 pressed by Mr. Moore and Mr. Whitaker. Sand has been 

 carted upon low land on my farm with great advantage. I 

 did not put it there as an absorbent, however. My father 

 practised it fifty years ago on low land. He had a piece of 

 low land of four or five acres ; and he covered an acre or two, 

 at considerable expense, with sand and gravel, and raised 

 good English grass upon it. He did not cart it into the 

 barn-cellar first, and make three times as much work in cart- 

 ing it in as an absorbent, and then carting it out again. I 

 have understood the term " absorbent " to mean that which 

 will soak up and hold the liquid manure. That is all that I 

 have ever carted into my barn-cellar. I use sawdust as an 

 excellent absorbent. I use muck, taking it out of the swamp, 

 as Mr. Whitaker has stated, letting it freeze ooe winter, and 

 dry the next summer ; and the next fall I haul it in, and use 

 it as an absorbent to take up the liquid manure of the fifteen 

 or twenty head of cattle which I keep in my barn. Instead 

 of going to the expense of carting in sand, and carting it out, 

 you may take something which is very light, and which has 

 much greater absorbent power. Sand absorbs very little as 

 compared with muck or sawdust, from the fact, as has been 

 stated, that it is composed of little round stones, which 

 cannot absorb much. It seems to me we ought to use the 

 finest and most pulverized material we can get that will suck 

 up and hold the liquid manure. That is all we need, and all 

 we should ever adopt. 



Adjourned to seven o'clock. 



