1838] 



FARMERS' REGISTER 



721 



insoluble, and (herelbrc incapable of acting as ma- 

 nure, and feeding growing plants. Yet peat may be 

 rendered soluble, and maden valuable materia! for 

 compost manure, by being mixed with and acted on 

 by highly putrescent manure, by alkaline fluids, and 

 by quick-lime. Now it is possible, that though 

 our marsh-mud is very far from being incapable 

 of rotting, still its being so long water-soaked 

 may have taken out all the soluble parts, ready for 

 immediate action ; and that composting with other 

 substances, as is recommended for peat, may be 

 required to bring the balance of the mass into 

 early and profitable use. Several things give 

 countenance to this supposition. The only known 

 cases of the marsh-muii being supposed profitable, 

 were when it was used in mixture or union with 

 other manures ; or when it was from salt-mareh — 

 the salt perhaps serving in some measure Jtjr the 

 same purpose. In addition — and it is the most 

 important circumstance — the readers of this jour- 

 nal may remember the French practice (stated 

 In Puvis' Essay on Lime, vol. 3, Far. Reg.) of 

 applying lime in quantities as small as5 bushels to 

 the acre, with profitable effects. But this lime was 

 put in compost, with rich vegetable soil, which is 

 much like marsh-mud in composition, and it was 

 elated that the older the compost, the better its 

 operation as manure. Now, as the lime could not 

 grow stronger or richer by age, it may be inferred 

 that it was the mass of vegetable matter, acted on 

 slowly and gradually by this small leaven of quick- 

 lime, which was improving in value, and which 

 in fact constituted the greater strength of the com- 

 post a.? a fertilizer, li" by any means, this enor- 

 mous and inexhaustible supply of natural mate- 

 rial can be profitably used as manure, it would be 

 the greatest means for improvement, except cal- 

 careous manures, yet offered to the tide-water 

 region. Nor would it be confined to that region; 

 for others have rich alluvial and vegetable depo- 

 sits, in swamps and in the bottoms of ponds, to 

 which the same rules and practices would apply. 

 And if the state government should attempt to aid 

 agricultural improvement, there will be liivv sub- 

 jects for experiment more worthy of being direct- 

 ed, and paid for, by the state, than the conversion 

 ol some portion of this widely spread and now un- 

 mixed evil and nuisance, to a source of fertility and 

 profit, as manure for the neighboring lands. — Ed 

 Far. Reg.] 



l''rom tlie Anioric;iii Fiiimur. 



Westmoreland county, Va. } 

 y/ugiistU, 1831, S 

 Mr. Smith — I am engaged m makinir extensive 

 experiments with marsh-mud, Indian banks, or 

 partially decomposed oyster shells, which are 

 found in great abundance on the margins of many 

 of our creeks, and kelp or sea-weed, which is 

 Vol. VI.-91 



thrown in great quantities upon the shores of the 

 Potomac, by almost every tide. These abundant 

 and convenient resources lor fiirtili/ing our lands, 

 have hitherto been almost totally neglected by the 

 lin-mers in this part of the country ; and in making^ 

 my experiments I am entirely unaided by the re- 

 sults of the experience of others. In applying the 

 marsh-mud, the plan recommended by Judge 

 .Johnson of South Carolina, in llih vol. of the 

 American Farmer, has been pursued, and I have 

 no doubt will be successful. The |)artially de- 

 composed oyster shells have been applied in the 

 manner in which marl is used in different parts of 

 the United States. In the application of the kelp 

 I have experienced more difficulty, having been 

 unable to find any practical treatises upon that sub- 

 ject. To my surprise, although this manure has 

 been used with great effect as I have been inform- 

 ed, for many years, in different parts of JVI aryiand, 

 there is not a line to be found in the American 

 Farmer upon this subject, with the exception of 

 the communication ii-om Thomas Griffin, Esq. of 

 York Town, Virginia, contained in the first vo- 

 lume of that valuable work. A practical essay 

 upon this subject, by some intelligent agriculturist 

 who has used this manure extensively, would be of 

 vast service to the farmers upon the sea-board, and 

 upon the salt-water rivers, where this valuable 

 "■Mjeed" may be obtained in almost inexhaustible 

 quantities. 1 should be much gratified by informa- 

 tion particularly upon the following points. What 

 is the best season for applying the sea-weed ? Is it 

 most efficacious when applied in summer, winter, 

 or spring? Sliould it be applied fresh as taken 

 from the river, or afier standing in heaps until 

 partly decomposed? Is it true that wire grass 

 is introduced by its use 7 Should it be turned in 

 immediately, or left upon the surface until the 

 earth is tilled for a crop 7 The plan which I am 

 pursuing, is to distribute the weed regularly in the 

 water furrows of an old cornfield, as soon as con- 

 venient after it is carted out, and to list immediate- 

 ly upon it, to protect it from the rays of the sun. 

 I put from 70 to 100 loads, drawn by two yoke of 

 oxen, upon an acre. 



Since the beginning of the present year, I have 

 kept a cart, a man and a woman, and two small 

 boys who could do nothing in the field, constantly 

 engaged in collecting and carting out manure of 

 various kinds, and ai this time, which is a season 

 of comparative leisure with farmers, i employ an 

 additional cart, and a few additional hands, and 

 with my short experience I can confidently say 

 that the labor thus employed is ten times more 

 productive, than it would be in any other work 

 upon the farm. I yesterday stood by for two hours 

 where my carts were carrying kelp from the river 

 shore, and in that short time twenty-one loads, 

 averaging about 20 bushels, were carried out. 

 The distance of course was short, and the kelp 

 abundant, so that little time was lost in loading. 

 I have little doubt that with the force exclusively 

 devoted to this business, and with occasional as- 

 sistance from the fiirm hands, I shall be able to 

 manure at least one hundred acres annually. This 

 may be startling to those who have paid little at- 

 tention to the improvement of the earth, but it is 

 not more incredible than the account i^iven by 

 Mr. Sinirleton of the Eastern Shore of Maryland, 

 in the 2d vol. of the Farmer, of the great im- 

 provements effected upon his farm, with corapara- 



