THE FARMERS' REGISTER. 



25 



determine the best mode of its application. The 

 waste from the woollen mills has likewise been 

 used as a top-dressing lor grass boih in Tevvks- 

 bury in this county, and at Norihampion in 

 Hampshire. I have seen its etiects in tliete 

 places and in some oiher pans of the country. 

 They have been most remarkable, and surpassed 

 by no manure which I have ever seen a|j|ilied. 

 'J'his reluse used lormerly to be accumulated ni 

 the neighborhood ol'the woollen I'actoriee at Low- 

 ell ; and being surcharged with oil used in cleans- 

 ing it, there was great risk always of spontaneous 

 combustion. When thrown into the river it was 

 complained ol'as inierlenng with the shad fishery. 

 The,amount ot wool used at the Middlesex mills 

 in Lowell is more than 600,000 lbs. per year. Be- 

 ing full of animal matter it is a most excellent 

 manure. Its value has long been appreciated in 

 England, but we seem to have come late to the 

 knowledge of it. I have seen it spread directly 

 upon grass land, both in mowing and pasture 

 grounds, with surprising effeci. It is much to 

 be desired that the water in which their wools 

 ate washed, llill as it is of animal oils and alkalies, 

 could likewise be saved and applied to the land. 

 It would prove beyond doubt a most valuable ma- 

 nure either applied on the grass lands or mixed 

 in the cerapost heap. In the economy of nature 

 nothing is without its use; and ihe first duty of 

 the lariner is to remember that nothing should 

 be lost. 



A very exact and intelligent farmer in Groton 

 made some comparative experiments with differ- 

 ent manures on pieces of land contiguous to each 

 other, of which he has favored me with an ac- 

 count. The land to which these difierent sub- 

 stances were applied was what is there termed 

 reclaimed meadow, and rich in vegetable mould. 

 One bushel of ashes applied to three square 

 rods of land at the rate of 53 bushels per acre ; 

 this produced a heavy burthen of grass, and was 

 considered the best of the several manures ap- 

 plied. 



Sah, applied at the rate of one peck to three 

 rods, or fourteen bushels per acre, produced a fair 

 crop, and was considered the next best to the 

 ashes. 



Gypsum, sown at the rate of three bushels to 

 the acre, manifestly much improved the crop, and 

 was much the least expensive application. Lime 

 was dry slacked and applied at the rate of one 

 bushel to six rods, or 26 bushels per acre, without 

 any perceivable effect. 



1 do not present these examples as furnishing 

 any decisive results, but rather with the liope of 

 inducing farmers to make and record exact expe- 

 riments, though on a very limited scale, that by 

 the accumulation of such facts we may arrive at 

 something more definite. Little can be deduced 

 from the above experiments, unless equal quan- 

 tities of each kind of manure had been used ; and 

 then we want likewise to understand the nature 

 of the soil, as in respect lo some soils it is obvious 

 certain kinds of manure are much more suitable 

 than others. 



Vol. X.-4 



COMPOST MANURE, PRINCIPALLY OF PEAT 

 OR SWAMP MUD (OR MUCK. J 



From tlie same. 



D. S. Ilaggerston, the intelligent and experi- 

 enced manager ol J. P. Cushing's garden and 

 larm at Watertown, has been kind enough to lavor 

 me, at my request, with some practical observa- 

 tions and experiments on the subject of manures, 

 which deserve attention, and are therefore 

 subjoined. 



" I send you an account of experiments made 

 onthefarm of J. P. Cushing, Esq., of the differ- 

 ent composts used as manures, and the apparent 

 effecis of each. 



"Meadow muck or peat has been used in various 

 ways, and loundso very beneficial, that two thirds 

 of the manure used on the farm is dug from the 

 swamp. 



" A compost for top-dressing mowing land is 

 made from leacheci barilla ashes Irom the soap- 

 boilers', and meadow muck, in the following 

 manner. The muck is dug (rom the swamp, the 

 last part of August, or early in September, and 

 lies one year on the surface, after it is thrown out 

 of the pit. It is then carted to a convenient place 

 to make the compost heaps, which are formed 

 by spreading a layer of muck ten feet wide, eight 

 inches thick, and of any length desired ; on the 

 muck four inches of ashes are .spread, tfien ano- 

 ther layer ol muck, and so on (or five layers of 

 each, which makes a pile five leet high, in the 

 lorm of a ridge. This is to lie through the follow- 

 ing winter. As soon as the Irost is gone in iho 

 spring, the pile is turned over, well broken, and 

 mixed together. It then lies till the October or 

 November Ibllowing, when it is spread on tlie 

 land at the rate of fifteen cart-loads to the 

 acre. 



" Two accurate trials of the above compost, ui 

 comparison with decomposed stable manure, 

 resulted as follows ; 4 squares of equal size which 

 are kept as lawns and mown seven or eight times 

 in a season were manured, two with the leached 

 barilla and muck compost, and two with a com- 

 post of well-rotted stable manure. It was spread, 

 at the rate of twenty cart-loads to the acre. The 

 grass on the different squares was mucfi the same 

 in quantity, but on the squares manured with the 

 muck compost, it was decidedly of a darker and 

 richer color, and the manure introduced a greater 

 quantity of white Dutch clover or honeysuckle. 

 The second trial was in a field mown for hay, 2^ 

 acres. The field was divided into two equal parts, 

 as near alike as possible, one half manured with 

 muck compost, the other half with rotted manure, 

 at the rale ol fifteen cart-loads to the acre. Eight 

 tons and eighty lbs. of hay were cut from iha 

 field. No difiisrence could be discovered in the 

 parts manured by the different composts. This 

 proved that, for a lop-dressing, the compost of 

 leached barilla and muck is equal to stable ma- 

 nure. Alter using it to a large extent for sever-al 

 years, I am still in favor of it as a top-dressin,^. 

 The compost manui:e, which we use tor plougliesd 

 land, is made up of two thirds muck, and on-.e 

 third manure. The muck in all cases is mixfjd 

 with the manure bcfbie it ferments, and care is 

 taken not to put in so much muck as lo prevent 

 the compost's lieating. The fermentation of i he 

 manure decomposes the muck rapidly, and I sm 



