4dC 



FARMERS' REGISTER 



[No. 8 



MAKURE FROM PEAT AND LIME. 



From llic Tliiril Animal Report on tlio Geology of Maine. 



Peat also occurs abundantly in the same mea- 

 dow, and by a liitle chemical skill may be converted 

 into an excellent manure by means of a mixture 

 of lime and a liitle barn-yard manure, or any ani- 

 mal matter. Thus three or lour cords of the peat 

 mixed with one cord of animal manure, and treated 

 with a cask or two of slaked lime, will make a 

 compost superior in value to five cords ol' the best 

 stable manure alone. They ought to be placed in 

 alternating layers, thus : 



PEAT, 



LiaiEj 



ANIMAL MANURE, 



&C. 



T^he whole forming a regular compost heap. 

 The chemical reactions which follow are chiefly 

 thus : 



The lime extricates a large quantity of gaseous 

 ammonia from the animal matter, which is ab- 

 sorbed by and enters into combination with the 

 peat, and is thus retained ready for use in the state 

 of ulmate or geat of ammonia — (a most powerful 

 manure) — and the lime becomes completely car- 

 bonated or air slaked by the carbonic acid given 

 out during fermentation, and in this state is a pro- 

 per and permanent ameliorator of the soil. The 

 peat is converted into a powder and soluble pulp, 

 and becomes more suitable for the nutriment ol" 

 plants. While if lime and animal matter was 

 used in excess we shall have also a considerable 

 quantity of carbonate of ammonia, in the peat, 

 a well known and [lowerlul saline manure. 



In case the soil is sandy, the clay marl, neutra- 

 lized with lin\e, is the most proper amendment for 

 it, and such is generally the condition of the fields 

 in Saco, so that by a proper use of this marl the 

 happiest effects may be realized by the farmers in 

 that town. 



I could quote other instances of the kind, but 

 the above fully illustrates my meaning, and will 

 show how favorable an influence scientific know- 

 ledge would exert in agriculture, were it more ge- 

 nerally appreciated. 



The principles which I have laid down, have 

 been adopted by several distinguished farmers of 

 Massachusetts, and their experience most fully 

 corroborates the truth of the theory inculcated. 



I need but appeal to the experience of one of 

 our most intelligent farmers in Massachusetts, 

 Elias Phinney, Esq., of Lexington, to demon- 

 strate the correctness of the rules we have laid 

 down, with regard to the use of peat for compost 

 manure, or to the beautiful farm of Benjamin 

 JBussey, Esq. of Jamaica Plain, Rcxbury, where 

 similar results have been obtained. 



Lexington, January 30, 1830. 

 "Dr. Charles T. Jackson, 



"Dear Sir : — I herewith send you a sample of 

 my peat. I am very desirous of availing myself 

 of the benefit to be derived from a chemical analy- 

 sis of the same, which you kindly ofl'ered to make. 



A more intimate kmwledge of the nature and pro- 

 perties of peat, which can be obtained only by a 

 scienlificexamination of its constituent parts, would 

 enable farmers more justly to appreciate this valu- 

 able species of land. Jt is from a want of this 

 knowledge, that our extensive tracts of low mea- 

 dow and swamp lands have hitherto been esteem- 

 ed of little, or no value. Allow me to say, sir, that 

 I know of no way, in which you could render a 

 more essential service to the public, more espe- 

 cially to fiirmers, than by enabling them to con- 

 vert their unproductive and unsightly bogs and 

 morasses into luxuriant fields, and sources of 

 wealth. I consider my peat grounds by (ar the 

 most valuable part of my farm, more valuable than 

 my wood lots for fuel, and more than double the 

 value of an equal number of acres of my uplands, 

 for the purposes of cultivation. 



"In addition to these, they flirnish an inexhausti- 

 ble supply of the most essential ingredient for the 

 manure heap. A statement of tlie uses, to which 

 I have appropriated peat lands, and my manage- 

 ment of them, though very imperlt^ct, may serve 

 to give you a partial conception of their value and 

 uses, and at the same time enable you to see how 

 important it is that the farming community should 

 have more information on this subject. 



"In the first place they are valuable for fuel. I 

 have for twenty years past resorted to my peat 

 meadows for fuel. These, with the prunings of 

 my fruit trees, and the brush from my uncleared 

 lands, have given me my whole supply. The 

 prunings and brush are bound in bundles, and 

 housed, and with the help of a small bundle of 

 these fiiggots, and peat, a quick and durable fire 

 is made. It gives a summer-like atmosphere, and 

 lights a room better than a wood fire. The smoke 

 from peat has no irritating efi'ect upon the eyes, 

 and does not in the slightest degree obstruct respi- 

 ration, like the smoke of wood ; and it has none 

 of that drying, unpleasant eflect of a coal fire. 

 The ashes of peat are, to be sure, more abundant, 

 but not more troublesome, and are less injurious to 

 the furniture of a room, than the ashes of coal. 



"The best peat 's found in meadows, which 

 have for many years been destitute of trees, and 

 brush, and well drained, and where the suriace 

 has become so dry, and the accumulation of de- 

 cayed vegetable matter so great, that but little 

 grass or herbage of any description is seen upon 

 the surface. If the meadows are suffered to re- 

 main in a wet and miry condition, the wild grasses 

 and coarse herbage will continue to crow, and the 

 peat be of a light and chaffy texture, filled with 

 undecayed fibrous roots. By draining they be- 

 come hard, and the peat becomes compact and 

 solid, and the cutting out, and carryiiiir off greatly 

 faciiitaled. A rod square, cut two spittings deep, 

 each spitting of the length of eighteen inches, 

 will give three cords when dried. It may be cut 

 from May to September. If the weatlier in au- 

 tumn be very dry, the best time for cutting will be 

 from the middle of August to the middle of Sep- 

 tember. If cut the latter part of summer, or early 

 in autumn, it dries more gradually, and is not so 

 liabl.j to crack and crumble, as when cut early in 

 summer. The pieces are taken out with an instru- 

 ment made (or the purpose, from two to three in- 

 ches square; anil if of good quality will shrink 

 about one-half in drying. It is coiu-idered a day's 

 work lor a man, a boy and a horse, to cat out and- 



