2S0 APPENDIX. 



for use ill agriculture, when applied to all our swamp muck and peat, 

 will amount to an aggregate saving to the industry of the Common- 

 wealth, of over five and a half millions of dollars. Is there a rea- 

 sonable doubt that more than ten times this one per cent, per ton 

 will be saved over any present process, when chemistry has shed its 

 full light on the subject ? 



The magnitude and importance of a small saving in this matter, 

 must certainly have been overlooked by some who have given ad- 

 vice on the subject of making muck compost. 

 KespectfuUy, 



Your most obedient servant, 



William Claek, Jr. 

 S. L. Dana, M.D., Lowell, Mass. 



No. IV. 



Extract from a letter of Mr. Joseph A. Foster to the 

 Author, relating to imitation spent Lye (238). 



Attlehoro\ February 6th, 1844. 



Dear Sir : — I determined last spring to make a trial of the imi- 

 tation spent lye, recommended in the *' Manual," and the object of 

 this communication is to give you the results. 



I mixed the composition in the manner and proportion stated, 

 with one exception, using two bushels of ashes instead of one. I 

 then spread it upon grass land, seeded down to herd's grass and 

 clover. The soil was rather a dry, gravelly loam. It was spread 

 upon a piece of land about ten rods long, and two broad. It was 

 spread the 27th of April. On the 8th of June, or a little more than 

 five weeks after the application, as I find by the farm journal, the 

 effects of it were distinctly visible. The grass was both much 

 darker, or deeper green, and much taller. The spot was distinctly 

 marked where the composition was spread. The difference contin- 

 ued to be much more apparent, and several persons who knew not 

 that anything had been put on, pointed out the spot upon which it 

 had been applied. The difference continued to increase till the dry 

 weather came on, when, in common with other dry lands, the grass 



