64 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE. 



this field ill ' November. That it suffered in spots from the 

 worms was evident in August. 



Manures. — Fresh meadow mud is dug in September to the 

 amount of some five hundred ox-cart loads, and kept exposed 

 to the frost during the winter. It is then mixed with one hun- 

 dred casks of lime and well forked over. Dr. Loring applies 

 phosphate of lime in the hill before dropping the corn. About 

 one ton was used upon the above mentioned fourteen acre lot, 

 west of and adjoining the railroad. Dr. Loring's method of 

 treating salt marsh sods will be interesting to all who have 

 occasion to deal with them, and will no doubt appear in his 

 statement to be published herewith. It is well known that the 

 surface sods taken from the marsh are generally well nigh inde- 

 structible when exposed to the action of the air, and even when 

 chopped fine and laid in the cow-yard they are often inveterate. 

 Swine will usually work them up as well as any thing ; but the 

 cotton wool character clings to them so tenaciously that many 

 farmers reject them altogether, and would never remove them 

 from the marsh, except upon the principle of abating a nuisance. 

 As soon as they are thorougiily frozen. Dr. Loring has them 

 deposited in his barn-cellar, where they are covered by cattle 

 droppings and remain frozen during the winter. On exposure 

 to the air in the spring they fall to pieces and mingle with other 

 ingredients readily ; thus saving the labor of a mechanical 

 division, always laborious, and imperfectly done at best. 



Of the artificial manures, Dr. Loring is satisfied that ground 

 bone outlasts all others. It is not known, however, that any 

 mill suitable for grinding bone is within the reach of Essex 

 Connty formers. The bone meal sold at tiie agricultural stores 

 has all the appearance of burnt bone ground. What effect the 

 burning may have upon the lime is not clear ; but that all the 

 animal fibre and oils have been destroyed, the absence of 

 efiluvia abundantly testifies. 



Buildings. — Having already alluded to the house, the build- 

 ings next in importance arc the barns. By a descri[)tion of 

 them in a back number of our Transactions it appears that 

 " there are two upon the place, one a hundred feet in length, 

 and thirty-five feet in breadth ; the other, one hundred and 

 fourteen feet long, and forty-two wide. The latter has a cellar 

 under the whole of it; the main part of which is for manure, 



