108 MASSACHUSETTS HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



and though this was five or six years ago, the effect is still percep- 

 tible. The glue was thoroughly incorporated with the muck while 

 in a liquid state, and applied at the rate of twelve hundred pounds 

 of dry refuse to the acre. 



James Cruickshanks remarked that the muck generally used here 

 is very different from that which he knew in Scotland. Most of it 

 there can be cut out in bricks. At Woodlawn Cemetery, in making 

 an avenue through a swamp, he dug out a large quantity of peat, 

 which he began to use after it had lain two years, and continued to 

 use for eight or ten years. Having occasion to plant a hedge of 

 arbor vitae, which is a swamp plant, he dug a trench eighteen 

 inches wide and the same in depth, and filled in six inches of muck 

 in the bottom, and on this placed six inches of soil. He then set 

 the plants and gave them a thorough watering, and in forty rods 

 of hedge he did not lose more than five plants. He thought the 

 muck useful in retaining moisture. 



Mr. Fuller said that lime must be used only in moderate quanti- 

 ties in connection with peat. If used too largely the peat will be 

 charred. He thought that a sprinkling of lime on the successive 

 layers — just enough to cover each layer of the compost heap — 

 would be sufficient. In answer to an inquiry-, Mr. Fidler stated that 

 quick lime ma}^ b}^ its action, discharge valuable gases. He used 

 last spring 2,200 bushels of ashes, which was procured from lime- 

 kilns in Maine, and, though largely mixed with lumps of lime and 

 other rough material, it produced a good ettect as a top-dressing on 

 a sandy soil. 



Marshall P. Wilder said that the remarks which had been made 

 had established several principles in regard to the use of peat. It 

 should be taken out in a dry time, and allowed to drain, saving 

 expense in carting ; it should lie a 3'ear or two before composting, 

 and it should be thoroughly decomposed. He was very glad to 

 hear from Mrs. Horner in regard to its deodorizing properties, 

 which he attributed to its carbonaceous composition. When 

 properly matured by age it is one of the purest of soils. By a pure 

 soil he meant one entirely free from manure. Certain plants are 

 cultivated in a mixture of peat and sand alone, and in such cases 

 the growth is largely due to proper watering. He had two farms, 

 and bought a meadow for the peat which it contained, and which 

 he found most useful as a fertilizer, but only when old. Many 

 years ago he recommended a cord of peat, mixed with six bushels 



