278 APPENDIX. 



sively which is best. I will, however, give you the experiments (if 

 thdy deserve the name), as they were made, with the apparent results. 

 The first was with fine well decomposed muck, from the swamp of 

 which you had samples, numbered 5, 6, and 7. In the spring of 

 1840, 16 lbs. of soda ash, or white ash, dissolved in water, were 

 carefully mixed with two estimated tons of the muck, and the mix- 

 ture applied as a top-dressing for cora Two other estimated tons 

 of the muck were served with eight bushels of dry wood ashes, ail 

 well mixed together and spread on one side of the muck that was 

 served with the white ash, and further on, an equal quantity of fresh 

 barn-yard manure was spread, and still farther on, an equal quantity 

 of compost, made of one part barn-manure, and two parts muck, 

 mixed and fermented before using. 



The land was a light sandy loam, on the border of a pine plain, 

 and the whole field was treated alike in all respects, except the dif- 

 ferent kinds of manure, all of which was spread on the turned fur- 

 row, and harrowed in before planting. The corn planted where the 

 wood ashes and muck were spread, early took precedence of all the 

 other parcels, and continued apparently much the best through 

 the season. Among the other parcels, no striking difference in 

 growth or yield was manifest. The whole field was harvested 

 together, without separate weight or measurement ; and the advan- 

 tage which the ashes and muck apparently gave over the others, 

 rests (where no experiment should rest) on the opinion of those 

 whose attention was called to it while the corn was growing. 



A similar trial of ashes and muck, and soda and muck, was made 

 the same season on grass land ; and the advantage was decidedly in 

 favor of the soda ash and muck, as on the corn land it was in favor 

 of the ashes and muck. 



Why the soda ash should act relatively, more favorably upon the 

 muck spread on grass land than when spread on corn land, I am 

 unable to determine, unless it be the partial shade which the grasa 

 affords to protect it from the direct rays of the sun, and measurably 

 preserve its moisture and softness. This inference is strengthened 

 by the fact that muck, treated as in the above cases — with soda 

 ash in solution (which makes it somewhat pasty), in the only instance 

 I have tried it — spread on the surface of an old field, without a pro- 



