126 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



March 



hog-pen and from about the house, the total loss in 

 the State would be at least $300,000 a year. He 

 thought there was some doubt whether composts 

 were important for making manures. He did, how- 

 ever, use subsoil carted in the fall, to mix with his 

 barn-yard manure, with which he threw in corn 

 buts and other refuse matter, which remains thus 

 mixed till May. He used j^laster of Paris and salt, 

 turned on in a liquid state, so as to saturate the 

 whole heap with it. The heap is kept till Septem- 

 ber, the droppings of the cows being added every 

 day. The plaster is put in to preserve the ammo- 

 nia, and he found the salt was useful on his land, 

 which, as he expressed it, was hungry for salt. 

 The principal reason for using salt, however, was, 

 that it killed the weed seed. After all, he was in 

 doubt whether the doctrine of composting manures 

 was good. He would like to concentrate his ma- 

 nures as much as possible. There was a great deal 

 of labor required to cart into the yard, muck or 

 subsoil, and then to cart it back again on to the 

 land. 



Mr. Dodge stated the result of an experiment 

 that he made in feeding a pair of twin steers for a 

 premium. He tied them in a stable, and the litter 

 used, as well as all the liquid manure, was saved in 

 his barn cellar, and the whole manure was weighed 

 and measured. Ninety-three solid bushels of ma- 

 nure were made in eight weeks from three tons of 

 hay fed to them. He thought the Hquid manure 

 from the stables, worth about four-fifths as much 

 as the solid manure. 



The chairman suggested that there was little cer- 

 tain knowledge as to the fermentation of manure, 

 and there was a difference of opinion as to whether 

 it should be fermented at all, and as to how it 

 should be preserved and 'how applied. 



Mr. Waters, of Beverly, was then invited to ex- 

 press his views on the general subject, being re- 

 ferred to by the chairman as a man who mows 

 sixty or seventy tons of hay every year . with his 

 own hands. [Guiding a machine. — Ed.] 



He gave an account of his manner of composting 

 manure. He usually got about 200 loads of mea- 

 dow mud, in the month of August, out of his 

 swamp, which he allowed to remain in a heap dur- 

 ing the winter. After cleaning out his barn-yard 

 in the spring, he spread it to the depth of eight or 

 ten inches over it and under the sheds. The yard 

 is made lowest in the middle to catch the water 

 and hold it. His hogs were allowed to root over 

 the yard in the day time, and the cows were kept 

 in it at night. In the autumn it is brought up in- 

 to a heap. Sometimes gypsum is thrown into the 

 heap when it ferments. This method of making 

 manure was a great deal of trouble, and he had 

 hoped some more profitable fertilizer could be 

 found ; but at present he knew of none that would 

 take the place of this kind of manure ; and to be 



successful cultivators they must do this. He agreed 

 that much was lost every year by not saving ma- 

 nure, "j^robably half a miUion of dollars, in the state. 



Mr. How.ARD, editor of the Boston Cultivator, 

 added his testimony to the value of swamp muck. 

 There is a difference of opinion on the subject, 

 which is probably owing to the difference in the ar- 

 ticle Avhich goes by that name. It varies in its 

 composition, as it is derived from quite different 

 sources. He had seen that, which spread upon the 

 land, precisely as it was taken from its bed, pro- 

 duced as good an effect as the same quantity of 

 barn-yard manure would have done. This muck 

 was taken from a narrow basin in a piece of woods, 

 the growth of which was rock maple, v^dth some 

 chestnut and oak. This basin was simply a recep- 

 tacle for decayed leaves and the debris of the rock 

 which had washed down into it. 



Some muck is formed from moss, one of the 

 simplest vegetables, and, like other aquatic vegeta- 

 bles, it contains little fertilizing matter. This muck 

 is mixed Avith the resinous matter and some sub- 

 stances from the trees which grow upon it, such as 

 the cedar, spruce, hacmatack or American larch. 

 They contain tannin, which is wholly insoluble, 

 which is imparted to the muck. 



Dr. Dana says that muck needs only potash to 

 make it almost similar to cow dung. The potash 

 tends to neutralize the acid and resinous matter, 

 and opens the way by which the oxygen can dis- 

 solve that matter. But generally, perhaps, it is 

 better to compost muck. As an absorbent of 

 urine, muck is one of the best substances, because 

 the ammonia which is evolved, is the article 

 most needed to bring it into such a state that its 

 properties can be appropriated by plants. 



The manner of composting is a distinct subject. 

 The application of chemistry to agriculture, even if 

 what is called the mineral manure theory, is thrown 

 out, has been of great use by setthng the question 

 that the leading value of all manures is the ammo- 

 nia which they contain. So obvious is that idea, 

 that in some instances the amount of ammonia has 

 been taken as the criterion of value. The question 

 then arises whether ammonia can be excited with- 

 out fermentation, and whether fermentation can be 

 produced without composting. 



The leading object vnth farmers should be to 

 save all their manures. The value of guano as to 

 its ultimate results, rests still in doubt. The expe- 

 rience of this country does not yet prove what its 

 results will be, when used with other manures. 

 We can draw no inferences from its use in Eng- 

 land, because many other substances are used in 

 connection with it there. 



In answer to a question put by the chairman, 

 Mr. Howard said there might be some doubt as 

 to whether the manures should be piled up and 

 fermentation produced before applying them to 



