100 



FARMERS' REGISTER. 



[No. 2 



sown, to the formation of the stem and leaves, 

 the coloring and taste, the flowers and fruit. It 

 may operate as a stiniulaiil, wakino; the dormant 

 powers of the earth into action. It may serve as 

 the substance, out of which the plants are to be 

 firmed; and to a degree, the evidence of this is 

 perfect. It may so affect the earth and the at- 

 mosphere, that these great reservoirs of the ele- 

 ments of vegetable and animal life, may at once 

 fnrnish their proper and required contributions. 

 But conjecture here is in a great measure idle. 

 We may talk very learnedly on the subject with- 

 out knowing any thing about it, or bein£r able to 

 communicate any valuable information. On this 

 matter, experience and iutellitrent observation 

 must be our guides. In actual bulk, manure, 

 \vhich is thoroughly decomposed, loses one-half 

 Its activity, its power of producing heat, one of 

 the ascertained principles of vegetable life, is like- 

 wise lost. On these accounts, it is obviously best 

 to apply it green. The experience of intelligent 

 farmers almost universally confirms this. "But 

 unfermented manure, if applied immediately to 

 the roots of plants, may, by too much action, or 

 too much heat, or by supplying their food in too 

 lavish or too concentrated a form, destroy them. 

 There is no danger from this when manures are 

 spread and ploughed under the soil, or scattered 

 over its surllice. But where their immediate ac- 

 tion is desired in the soil, it is important, before 

 they are taken out of the yard, that they should 

 be in a partially decomposed state, or rather in an 

 active slate; and for that reason, they should be 

 turned over and thrown into heaps in the cattle 

 yards in the spring, that they may become in a 

 degree warm before they are applied. If they are 

 to be applied directly to the roots of crops, they 

 should be either mixed with earth, or so far ad- 

 vanced in their decomposition, that no evil may 

 result from the heat of their first action; and that 

 ttiey may be so subdivided and dissolved as to be 

 in a condition to be at once taken up by the ab- 

 !3orbent vessels of the plants. 



These views will explain what I wish to say in 

 regard to our great crop, Indian corn; and what 

 long experience and observation have confirmed. 

 The question is often asked, shall the manure be 

 spread or placed in the hill? I answer, do both. 

 Its immediate action is needed to bring'the plant 

 forward as soon as possible; and therefore partially 

 decomposed manure should be placed in the 

 hill. It is equally necessary that the plant 

 should not suffer from want when its roots spread 

 themselves beyond the hill in pursuit of food. The 

 unfermented manure, spread and plouirhed in 

 lightly, will be in a condition for the use of the fi- 

 brous roots when they advance to receive it. 

 Another question often proposed is, should the 

 manure which is spread be ploughed in deeply, or 

 covered lightly, or simply laid on the surface"? If 

 the plant to be cultivated be a tap-rooted plant, it 

 will find the manure, though it should be buried 

 deeply. If it has a spreading and fibrous root, 

 like all the cereal grains, the nearer it is to the 

 surface, without being entirely exposed on the top 

 of it, the more available it is to the growth of the 

 plant. If laid upon the surface and not covered, 

 much of it must inevitably be lost by the sun and 

 rain and wind. In respect to Indian corn, espe- 

 cially recollecting the cold seasons of the two last 

 years, it is important by every possible means to 



get the plant forward as fast as possible; and for 

 tliat reason to select the warmest and the driest 

 land; to manure with fine manure in the hill, and 

 with unfermented manure spread broad cast; and 

 to plant as soon as the land can be made dry and 

 warm enough to receive the seed. There is no 

 crop that will better reward the most liberal culti- 

 vation. 



In respect to the manuring of wheat, fermented 

 and finely dissolved manures may be safely ap- 

 plied the year of its being sown; but not so with 

 urilermented manures. In general, it is best that 

 the crop which precedes the wheat, rather than 

 the wheat itself should be manured. 



In regard to the application of manure to pota- 

 toes, the almost universal opinion has been, that 

 when manured in the hill, the seed should be laid 

 upon the manure. Many farmers have reversed 

 this practice; and now place the manure upon the 

 seed, they say, with superior advantage. 



Besides barn manures, slaughter-house manure 

 has been used with great efiTect; but it is neces- 

 sary it should be mixed with loam. Niijht soil, 

 mixed in the proportion of one part of night soil 

 to four of loam or fine gravel, has been used with 

 extraordinary efilcacy, upon peat or bog meadow. 

 Muscle bed is much used, especially by the Dan- 

 vers farmers, lor their onions and vegetables for the 

 market. It costs in Salem about one dollar for a 

 large horse load, and is applied liberally. At MaQ- 

 chesler, where it is quite accessible, it is used 

 with great advantage either as a top-dressing or 

 ploughed in. At Beverly, I have seen its excel- 

 lent and lasting effects as a top-dressing on grass 

 land. A fiirmer in Danvers states that a gondola, 

 containing eight four-ox loads of muscle tied, will 

 deliver its cargo near to New Mills, for seven dol- 

 lars. Thfe is a low price. He is accustomed to 

 spread six or seven loads to the acre, in winter, 

 when frost will render it pliable. It vvill do well 

 to apply it once in four or five years; oftener than 

 this, it binds the land and renders it hard. 



He says, it is of excellent use when applied ta 

 land which is to be laid down to grass with barley 

 or oats. Its effects are lasting; and no other ap- 

 plication will be required lor years. 



In the town of Essex, a great amount of clams 

 are dug for fish-bait. The shells are much used 

 for manure. The keeper of the alms-house in 

 Essex, whose management is highly creditable, 

 says, "as to the value of the clam-shells for ma- 

 nure, I think the broken and the whole shells 

 very useful to low land, either to be spread on or 

 ploughed in. They render the ground light and 

 warm, and are very durable. They likewise en- 

 rich the land very much." The same may be 

 said of oyster shells, which are obtained in some 

 quantities in the cities. 



The great amount of squashes mentioned in a 

 former part of my report, as obtained from two 

 acres of land, is in some measure to be ascribed 

 to the use of fish oil or blubber oil. The fiirmer, 

 living near the fishing village in Lynn, obtains in 

 the winter time a great quantity of fish livers and 

 garbage. From this he procures the oil. After his 

 casks are emptied of their oil, he fills them with 

 water, which remains some time; and this water, 

 thus considerably charged with oil, he applies to 

 his squash vines. The effects are powerful. 



One flu-mer, whose farm lies on the sea, has this 

 year made some trials of fish as a manure. The 



