256 HANDY-BOOK OF nUSBANDRT. 



amusement, even in the coldest weather, in working in the surf, 

 remarking that it did not seem to- me that, to a man situated as he 

 was, the sea-weed was worth the trouble. His reply was as 

 follows : " There's more than sea-weed in it — the devil's in it, — 

 *' and I don't know how it is, but I had rather sit up all night to 

 " get sea-weed than to go out early in the morning duck-shooting." 

 Indeed, in many sea-board neighborhoods feuds and lawsuits, 

 generations old, are based solely on contests and jealousies con- 

 cerning " sea-weed rights ; " and the fertility of the grass lands to 

 which sea-weed is habitually applied is sufficiently great to estab- 

 lish its value. 



Swamp muck being, so far as its organic matter is concerned, 

 entirely the result of the decomposition of vegetable matter, its 

 ashes, of course, are rich in various earthy ingredients of vegeta- 

 tion. Professor S. W, Johnson publishes a table, giving the 

 average of the analyses of 26 specimens of muck or peat, and in 

 the ashes of these there is an average amount of potash equal to 

 T^oV "^ °"^ P^^ cent. And when we consider the average amount 

 of ash, including the earthy deposits which are added to peat in its 

 formation, and the very large quantities that are used on farms on 

 which it is used at all, we see that the total amount of potash to 

 be derived from this source is by no means insignificant, and that it 

 constitutes an important element of the value of muck as a manure. 



Lime. — This material, although forming an important part of the 

 ashes of plants, is to be more properly considered, in its applica- 

 tion as a manure, under the head of " mechanical manures," and 

 will, accordingly, be treated hereafter. 



Special Fertilizers. 



It would be hardly prudent in any work of the character of this 

 to describe the various special fertilizers, under their different 

 names and according to the reputation of their manufacturers. 

 There are many different brands of phosphate of lime, all of which, 

 if made strictly according to the recipe by which they profess to 

 be compounded, should be valuable manures. But the farmer in 



