MUD 



MUD 



28i 



vellj soils. I have known it to 

 have as good an effect as barn 

 dung, in the culture of Indian corn, 

 upon such soils. The advantage 

 of it is not found to be onlj for 

 one season ; it mehorates the land 

 for several years. It restores to a 

 high piece of ground what vegeta- 

 ble mould the rains, in a long 

 course of years, have been washing 

 away from it. 



It is happy for the farmer that 

 Providence has prepared for him 

 these magazines of manure in all 

 parts of the country. None but 

 the stupid will let them lie unno- 

 ticed, or unremoved. When a 

 dry autumn happens, the prudent 

 farmers will be very industrious in 

 carting mud up from evaporated 

 ponds, and other sunken places in 

 their farms, and laying it upon 

 their light soils, especially upon 

 high gravelly knolls ; or into their 

 barn yards, if the distance be not 

 too great. 



But with respect to using mud 

 as a manure, tiie maritime farmers 

 have the advantage of all others. 

 For the sea oose, which appears on 

 theflats,andincreeks and harbours, 

 along the shores of the sea, has all 

 the virtues of fresh water mud, with 

 that of sea salt superadded, which 

 is one of the most important 

 ingredients in (he composition of 

 the best manures. I might add, 

 that it abounds, more than any 

 other mud, with putrefied animal 

 substances. Much of these are 

 contained in the sea itself: And 

 innumerable are the fowls and fish 

 that have perished upon flats since 

 time began ; and the component 

 parts of their bodies have been 

 36 



inclosed by the supervenient 

 slime. 



Mud taken from flats where 

 there are shell fish, or even where 

 they have formerly lived, is bet- 

 ter for manure, than that which 

 appears to be more unmixed. 

 The shells among it are a valua- 

 ble part of its composition. If it 

 abound much with shells, it be- 

 comes a general manure, fit to be 

 laid upon almost every kind of 

 soil. 



That mud, however, which is a 

 richer manure than any other, is 

 taken from docks, and from the 

 sides of wharves in populous 

 towns. For it has been greatly 

 enriched by the scouring of foul 

 streets, and from common sewers ; 

 as well as from an unknown quan- 

 tity of animal and vegetable sub- 

 stances, accidentally fallen, or de- 

 signedly thrown into such places. 



Sea mud may be taken up at 

 any season, whenever the farmer 

 has most leisure. It is a good 

 method to draw it up on sleds from 

 the flats in March, when the bor- 

 der is covered with firm ice. I 

 have thus obtained mud from flats, 

 with great expedition and little 

 expense. 



Mud that is newly taken up, may 

 be laid upon grass land. But if it 

 is to be ploughed into the soil, it 

 should first lie exposed to the frost 

 of oiie winter. The frost will de- 

 stroy its tenacity, and reduce it to 

 a fine powder ; after which it may 

 be spread like ashes. But if it be 

 ploughed into the soil, betore it 

 has been mellowed, it will remain 

 in lumps for several years, and be 

 of less advantaije. 



