14 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



[August 5, 



Setting aside the healthiness of the exercise 

 there is no feeling which gives so much inward 

 Satisfaction as tor one human being to be able 

 to extend a hand to save a fellow mortal when 

 in danger ; ami a joiing man cannot be said to 

 have completed an American education until he is 

 enabled to do every humane act. — Wash, city Ga- 

 zette. 



individual in this country who investigated the 

 properties of that species of manure, and ex- 



salt water, or even fresh water, poured on the 



top slowly, that it may ooze downward, will 



bring it on with rapidity. On the other hand, plainetl Ihem upon scienlilic principles. The 



should the process advance with too great vio- result is that one ton of dung will ferment three 



lence, which can be known by keeping a stick Ions of peat, or moss earth. This is a most val- 



in the middle, and drawing it out occasionally uable discovery, and must, if duly attended to, 



tor trial, the fermentation mu»t be restrained by 



greatly enrich many hitherto neglected disli ids. 



turning over the dung hill, and mixing anew the The great advantage of this compost is, that it 



NEW tilNGJLAND FARMER. 



FRIDAY, AUGUST 5, 1825. 



FARSa-SR'S CAI.Z!lTDAa. 



Composts. — The hut and dry season is the prop- 

 er lime lor obtaining mud from poids, and weeds 

 from rivers, ditches, drama &.c. These sub- 

 stances should be made into a mass, or compost 

 with a proper quanlilv of mould ; and if you can 

 alTord a little quirk lime so much the belter. It 

 has been said by si'nie agriculturists that the 

 farmer, who understands his own interest, verv 

 rarely uses dting without making it into a com- 

 post with other suitable substances; and in thai 

 way he not only mmtures his land, but, in the 

 coui'ae of a few vears, makes it to become what 

 he w'slies it lo be. Thus if be inlends his com- 

 post f )r a sod w'lich is heavy and slitT, he makes 

 his compost bed with I ght and sandy earlh, as 

 tich as he can procure. If the field, for which 

 hi- in'i-nds bis cnmiio-t. is ii light loam, he mix- 

 ed h s coiiipo-t m ileriai- with clay or marl mud, 

 &,c. vvhifli may 'j.ve sididiiy to the soil at the 

 same time ibcy fi'rni>h food to the planls. The 

 following I uie-i for forming composts are from 

 the efrellent work of Joiin Young, Esq entitled 

 " The Letters of .\gricola on the Principles of 

 Vegetation." 



" The smplest of all romiiosfs is a mixture of 

 barn y ir.l dung, and surfice mould taken from 

 a field under regular culture. INie proportions 

 / helween the ingredients are determined by no 

 regular laws, and consequently great liberty is 

 allowable to the operator. I have known some 

 instances, where two carts of dung were used 

 for one of earth ; others where they were blend- 

 ed in equal quantities ; and it is not unfrequont 

 to compoimd two of earth with one of dung — 

 In fact, such is the uncertainly in Ihe composi- 

 tion, that almost every farmer adopts a mode 

 peculiar to himself, and with equal success. No 

 man need therefore follow implicitly the rules 

 which are laid down in this de|iartmenl of rural 

 economy, but may vary and multiply his experi- 

 ment", according lo ihc suggestions of fancy and 

 th(t <liclales of convenience. 



"•• One carl load of soil to tvfo of stable dung is 

 the leasl proportion which he should ever at- 

 tempt to combine, and, perhaps, if the two were 

 mixed equally, he would be compensated for his 

 Itibor and expense. 



"The whole art of composting, is to arrange 

 Ihe materials in alternate layers, — to shake up 

 the litter and ilung with a hay fork that it may 

 lie loosely, — to cover Ihe top and ll-,e sides ivilji 

 earlh, — and to give it a slo|)ing direction that it 

 may cast off excessive moisture, lis height 

 should never exceed four feel or four and a half; 

 and its breadth should be such, ihat a man on 

 either side, may be enabled lo lling ihe ingre- 

 dients into the centre, without trani|>liiig on Ihe 

 heap ; for compression, in all cases retards the 

 putrefactive process. If the mass, alter being 

 eorapouuded, is loDg in geueratiDg heat, urine, 



ingredients. This will not only put a stop to 

 the mischief, but facilitate a second fermenta 

 tion ; and as fresh particles of earlh will be bro'l 

 into contact with the decomposing mailer, the 

 whole will be enriched and impregnated wilh 



has nothing but inert vegetable mailer to act up- 

 on, whereas, when lime is mixed wilh rich earth. 

 It may have the etfect of dissipating the gaseous 

 mailers it contains, and of rendering it propor- 

 tiouably less valuable. 



the fertilizing principles. — These general views 2. Composts are peculiarly well calculated for 

 are applicable to every species of compost. grass land«, and ought to supersede the oflensive, 



" Simple eartii, although excellent for bottom- I ami wasteful practice of laying j>ulrescent mat- 



ing and strewing over the pil dug near the barn, 

 is ol all materials the most uuprobtable in com- 

 post dunghills. Its superiority in the farmyard 

 rests on this obvious circumstance, that it isem- 

 ployed to absorb the urine, and repress fermen- 

 tation ; but in composting, fermentation is court- 

 ed as the gran<l agent in preparing the nutri- 

 tious food ; and the whole economy of the plan 

 is to give full scope and action to this mighty 

 desjiniler of vegetable and animal remains. 

 " A matted sward, thickly entangled with 



let on the surface of the soil, by which a very 

 large proportion of its most valuable component 

 parts is lost in Ihe atmosphere. They are like^ 

 wise of great use lo moorish lands, ausrmenling 

 their staple, and adding to them a number of val- 

 uable and enriching substances. In regard to 

 sandy or clayey soils, composts, principally con- 

 sisting of articles dilferent from their general 

 nature respectively, will improve their texture 

 and convert them into loams. 



S. '' The efiects of composts are highly satis- 



roots, or mud dragged from the bottom of bogs factory. In regard to grass lands, experience 

 or ditches, and replete with aquatic plants, are j hat shown, that they at once improve their qual- 



preferable on this account, that, besiAei bring 

 ing earlh to the composition, they sujiply a 

 large quantity of vegetable matter. Whenever 

 the soil must he carted to the heap, it is belter 

 to lay out the expense in transporting tliose en- 

 ricliins: materials ; because they will not only 



ty\ and check for years, the progress of moss 

 or even unprofitable grasses. In thin moorish 

 soils, composts properly and repeatedly applied, 

 alier the nature of the soil ; it becomes more 

 fellile, retains its moislnre heller, and does not 

 snfer by the summer's drought, which would 



equally absorb and retain the evaporating gases, j oluerwise burn up the crops. The effects of 

 but greatly augment the quantum of manure." i lift Jleadowbank composls are still more extra- 

 Sir John Sinclair says that in making composts i ordinary ; a farmer in Rosburgbsbire, having 



•' it has been ascertained by a number of exper- 

 im-nls, that two bushels of unslarked lime a.e 

 suflicient for each cubic yard of earlh of a ne- 

 dium quality, and as 80 cubic yards of eartlj art- 



raised as good turnips, and a.« producli\e ciops 

 of wh»al, a''ler fallow, on good soils manured 

 with lliis Compost, as from dung. 



" It is a circumstance not to be omitted, that 



sufficient to manure an acre, 160 bushels of un-!lime will operate in compost, upon lands that 



slacked lime is the quantity required. To ob 

 tain this quantity of each, it is the practice of 

 some farmers to plough the head-ridsjes at both 



had been exhausted by the over frequent, or too 

 nbundaut application of lime oi' marl, even when 

 it had nol succeeded whe.i used by itself. This 



ends of the field, ten inches deep, ami to colled is a strong recommendation of such mixed ma- 

 one hall of this, which can be often spared, with- nure, as land may be Ihus cultivated to advan- 

 oii^any loss, as the head ridges are generally \ tage, that would otherwise remain unprodac- 

 to"tigh, tn con.seqiience of the earlh accumula- ! tive." 



ted in ihe course of years, from the plou^-h he- : The only objection lo making composls in this 

 ing cleared every time it turns. It has been I country is, that they require too much labour, 

 calculated, that where a head-ridge is 18 feet I But \ve doubt whether there are many processes 

 broad, 72 feet of it in length, ploughed ten inch-) in agriculture, in «vhic\i ^^bour is more profita- 

 cs deep, will produce 40 cubic yards of earlh, ; biy applied. The good eRecls of composts made 

 and consequenlly the tivo head-ridges will pro- nl materials suitable to tlie soil for which ihey 

 (luce 80 cubic yards of compost f»r the field lo arc intended, are not confined, like those of barn 

 be manured. jyard maiuire, to two or three of the crops next 



"Composts are frequently made of Tarioiis succeeding their application, but by altering and 

 materials, as several sorts of earlh, lime, old amending the lexlure of the soil, as intimated io 

 mortar and plaster, green vegetables, before , Ihe beginning of this article, they give a perm- 

 Ihey run to seed, soft chalk, tanners' bark, saw- anent, increasetl value to the land, 

 dust, soap ashes, dung, &c. It is recommen<led, \ The Farmer's Magazine, an agricultural work 



iliat instead of being laid in regular layers, they 

 should be mixed as much as po-sible, in forming 

 the heap. .\ lirmenlation is soon excited, and 

 the oflener the heap is timed, so aiiich Ibc 

 i more will fermentation be promoted. 



" A mode of making compost was suggested 

 by the late Lord Meadowbank, of which peat is 

 Ihe basis. It was not unusual in various parts 

 of ."-Scotland, to bed cattle, and even sheep, with 

 peat, for the purpose of increasing the (pianlilv 

 of mauure; but Lord Mcaduwbaiik vras the first 



printed in Scniland, vol. x. page '37, gives ibc 

 I'.-llowiiig acrouni of the successful manufacture 

 and application of compost : 



" ,V farmer in .ledlmiirh possessed a piece of 

 wet ground in Ihe corner of a field which he 

 wished lo improve-. it had long lain in grass, 

 and produced, eveiy season, a luxunaul crop of 

 coarse hay. In ihe end of the summer of 1814 

 when the crop was rt-ady for cutting, he em- 

 ployed a person lo pare the whole, which was 

 easily doue, as the g;rouDd was then dry. After 



