ARTIFICIAL MANURE. 191 



principles here advanced, are of practical value, by 

 calling upon the stand, those gentlemen who have 

 tested his opinions, and of some of whose operations 

 and results he was ignorant, till he met with them in 

 the agricultural publications of the day, or in acci- 

 dental conversation ; others have been requested to 

 state by letter their results, after these pages were 

 prepared for the press. The evidence on this point 

 is contained in the appendix to this volume. 



272. Attention might here be called, to the ex- 

 tended use of peat, composted with lime and ani- 

 mal matter ; but it will be observed, that it is 

 wished to direct the thoughts at this time, to a com- 

 post or artificial manure, without lime or animal 

 matter. The author does not go for lime, but for 

 soluble alkali. Carbonate of lime alone, is not ex- 

 pected to produce immediate results, and seldom has, 

 nor can be expected to produce visible effects in the 

 first year of its application. The why and the 

 wherefore of this has been already explained, and it 

 is merely adverted to now, to guard against any in- 

 ference favorable to the action of lime, being deduced 

 from the following facts. Mr. George Robbins, of 

 Watertown, is an extensive manufacturer of soap 

 and candles and of starch, and still better, a man 

 who employs the refuse of those trades, in enriching 



