1847.] South Carolina Agricultural Society. 51 



far as that object is attainable by human agency, and to prevent 

 the dissipation of their aerial or gaseous particles, the use of reten- 

 tive absorbents is indispensable. A stratum of clay sustaining 

 the heap to receive the fluid parts, and a covering also of clay to 

 hold fast the disengaged elastic matter, will, in part, accomplish 

 these important designs. According to the statement ot Dr. C. 

 T. Jackson, in his Report on the Geological and Agricultural Sur- 

 vey of Rhode Island, a compost made of three parts of peat and 

 one of stable manure, is equal in value to its bulk of clean stable 

 dung, and is more permanent in its effects. By substituting salt 

 clay mud, in which is a large portion of marsh roots, for the peat, 

 a compound is furnished, of as great intrinsic worth to the grower 

 of long cotton, as that so warmly recommended by Dr. Jackson, 

 is to the New-England farmer. Into the cattle pen, a level 

 though not a hollow or very low spot having been selected for 

 that purpose, spread mud, of the kind just mentioned, about one 

 foot thick, then add four or five barrels of lime. Upon these let 

 the cattle trample for eighteen or twenty nights; then recom- 

 mence and continue the same process until the requirements of the 

 planter are satisfied. The lime, says Dr. Jackson, decomposes 

 the peat (mud), neutralizes the acids, and disengages the ammo- 

 nia. The peat absorbs the ammonia, becomes in part soluble in 

 water. To the compost heap, pine straw and salt may be advan- 

 tageously added. Independently of its utility as the destroyer of 

 vermin,* salt in small quantities has a septic power; and as its 

 capacity of attracting moisture is well known, it is strongly re- 

 commended for high land, especially where there is much vegeta- 

 ble matter. Pine straw has an acid principle which is corrected 

 by the lime. As it is very slow of fermentation, its beneficial 

 influence, although comparatively weak, endures for a longer pe- 

 riod than any of the crude substances yet noticed. As a retentive 

 absorbent it is highly prized. 



The stock of putrescible substances annually collected on the 

 island (Edisto), is perhaps large enough to secure a fair return of 

 the products of the field; but from waste and a misapplication of 

 efforts, much time and labor are uselessly consumed. To the de- 

 sultory remarks on this head already offered, a few observations, 

 with a view solely to excite reflection, will now be submitted. 

 To augment, and not to diminish the supply of vegetable matter 

 which nature or art might furnish, is too plain a proposition to 

 be denied. Why then are potato vines so frequently used for 

 cattle? This substance so abundant in quantity, and so rich in 



* Salt in the proportion of one quart to the task-row on the list, or one pint 

 below the list, and another above it, may be pronounced an effectual preven- 

 tive to the attack of bugs at the roots of cotton. 



