347 



on a light mould, is as follows ; raise a platform of earth on the 

 headland of a field, eight feet wide, one foot high, and of any 

 length according to the quantity wanted. On the first stratum 

 of earth lay a thin stratum of lime fresh from the kiln ; dissolve 

 or slack this with salt brine from the nose of a watering pot ; 

 add immediately another layer of earth ; then lime and brine as 

 before, carrying it to any convenient height. In a week it 

 should be turned over, carefully broken and mixed, so that the 

 mass may be thoroughly incorporated. This was applied in 

 the hill to corn. The crop was equal to that obtained by barn 

 manure on parts of the field immediately contiguous. 



O. M. Whipple, of Lowell, to whose experiments with salt- 

 petre I have referred at large, gives it as his opinion " that equal 

 quantities of common salt and saltpetre mixed together and these 

 mixed with compost manure would form one of the best and 

 most economical manures for enriching land. The proportion 

 of common salt to be taken for the purpose can be determined 

 only by experiment, and this must somewhat depend on the 

 nature of the soil." A large amount of valuable manure is ob- 

 tained from the print works in Lowell. The principal ingre- 

 dient in it is sulphate of lime. It has been used by the farmers 

 in Dracut with great success, producing, as I have seen, large 

 crops of grass. In Nantucket, the refuse of the oil manufac- 

 ture, or where the whale oil is purified, is greatly valued as an 

 ingredient in compost. It consists principally of animal or fatty 

 matter and potash. 



I have gone thus largely into the subject of manures, for the 

 purpose of showing the practice of some of the best farmers in 

 the State; and likewise the great number and variety of re- 

 sources which we have for enriching the land. Wherever there 

 is waste or decay, there is manure, so that in the great system 

 of nature, death itself seems to be the element of life. Few 

 arts or manufactures are carried on without supplying in their 

 refuse a valuable manure ; and a sagacious farmer can hardly 

 look round his premises without finding in abundance the means 

 of increasing his compost heap. His sink, his vault, his fire- 



