x859. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



521 



ing the potash in water, and sprinkling the 11- parts of muck, if it is old and fine, to one of horse 

 quid upon each layer of muck, while making up i manure. 



the heap. My fiiend, Mr. Dudley, of Chester- But I have neither time nor space now to go 

 field, N. H., a few miles from here, informs me] fully into the various details of composting. It 

 that he has for two or three years past been us-jis a large subject. If, however, there are some 

 ing potash, alone, for manuring his corn in the | particular points, not touched in this letter, which 

 hills, and with satisfactory results. I have sev-iyou would like to confer with me about, I shall 

 eral times promised to go and see the corn, while be happy to answer your inquiries. 



growing under this treatment, and suppose I 

 should have visited him before this time, but one 

 thing and another has prevented. It appears to 

 me that if potash works so well, alone, in the 

 corn hills, it would be still more valuable if suit- 

 ably composted with good dry muck. I think I 

 shall try it another year. The only rule neces- 

 sary to observe, as to the quality of potash to be 

 used in the compost, is to keep within reasona- 

 ble bounds of expense, as compared with other 

 composts. 



A mixture of muck with superphosphate of 

 lime makes a good dressing to put in the hills 

 of corn and potatoes. In a recent communica- 

 tion of mine in the Farmer, I described the ef- 

 fects of this compost, as used by my neighbor. 



Very truly yours, 



F, HOLBKOOK. 



THE MAPLE. 



HIS is one of the most 

 splendid of American for- 

 est trees. There are com- 

 monly enumerated three 

 species of the maple, viz.: 

 White maple, Acer cln.irj- 

 carpum, Red Maple, Acer 

 rubrum, and the Hard or Rock Maple, Sugar 

 Maple, Acer saccharinum. The first is a tall, 

 MrrRufurCkTk^By mlxin"g\he"sup7rpho^^^^^ tree of two varieties ; one of which pre- 



with old, dry, fine muck, it becomes well diffused :sents a straight an smooth grain, and is much 

 through the muck, and is safer and more effec-!used for a variety of purposes connected with the 

 tive in the hills of corn than when used alone. A ' mechanical arts, for ship timber and for fuel ; the 

 week or two previous to planting-tnne, mix thci ., • i <■ • -/-^ ,• n 



a ■ J 1 • u I- 1 other IS less tree in nit, presenting: usuailv grains 



two on a floor in a dry place, in such proportions! '^ » Jw ° 



as to give a large handful of the compost to each ^i^ore corrugated and convolved. The latter is 

 hill, and include a moderate table-spoonful of : often called "birds-eye," and is really a most de- 

 superphosphate in each handful, being careful to sirable and durable wood. Like the former, it is 

 use muck which is dry and fine. _ ; much used for various artistic purposes, being 



Construct your cattle-stables on a plan similar „imuj^ i j i 



i *L .. u- i: T ..1 • *i, IT- .. remarkably hard, nrm and ponderous, and cana- 



to that which I recently gave m the tarnifr to r ■ i " xv^uo, ani^ K,a^a 



Mr. A. C. Powers, making the stable floor just, ^le of receiving a high polish, 

 long enough for the cattle to stand or lie upon i The Acer saccharinum, or rock maple, is pro- 

 comfortably; and immediately behind them have I bably the most beautiful and valuable of the 

 a water-tight plank trench, about four inches i^^ree. It is sometimes known by the appella- 

 deep and twenty inches wide, and use your muck ^,. ~ ., ^ /-a i \_ , n ^ 



daily in the trench during the season that the |^J°" ^^ ^^^ ^"g^^' ^''''- «" ^he banks of the 

 cattle are stabled, putting about a bushel of it { Saco, in Maine, where it imbibes the rich matters 

 behind each grown animal. This is one of the, essential to its gro.wth from the inexhaustible 

 very best ways for making compost ; for you thus deposits contained in the fertile alluvial soil, it 

 save the liquids, which are the most valuable part 'attains, ordinarily, a most majestic development. 

 01 the manure, you mix the various parts mi- rp, i i i • i ■ 



nutely and perfectly and make a large quantity ^^^ ^"g^'^ "^P^^ abounds extensively in most of 

 of effective and enduring manure, excellent for] the New England States, though it is most com- 

 any kind of a crop. I mon in Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont. 



In the fall, spread muck six to twelve inches in Massachusetts, it is also quite common, and 

 thick over the bottom of your yards and sheds, '^^^^^ij^gg constitutes extensive forests which 

 to become mingled with the manure and utter , „ ,,,,., 



made in them through the winter, carting out| are possessed of great value, both for the wood, 



the contents to the tillage-fields in the spring; 



which is much prized for fuel, and for fine cabi- 



or, after spring work is over, piling them snugly, net work, and for the sap, which is boiled into 

 for use the next fall or spring. A still better [sugar. The maple is very easily propagated, 

 way, howev^er, is to draw the muck by sledding, 1^^^^ ^j^^^ ^^^^ ^^^ ornamental purposes, is un- 

 at two or three different times during the winter,! '■ ^ 



and spread it thinly in the yards and sheds, say 

 three or four inches thick each time, thus ex- 

 posing it thoroughly to the frost, as well as 

 more perfectly mingling it with the litter and 

 manure. 



Put muck into the pig-pens, a little at a time, 

 and often. Put the horse manure in there also, 

 and the pigs will keep it from over-heating and 

 burning, and mix it well with the muck. Or the 

 horse manure may, from time to time, at short 

 intervals, be composted directly with muck, mix- 

 ing the two in thin layers, and using t v^o or three 



rivalled in the richness of its luxuriant shade. 

 The white maple has a rapid growth, does well 

 on almost any kind of soil, and when transplant- 

 ed in the spring, and properly tended, grows with 

 scarcely any diminution of vigor. 



The Practical MAeniNisx is a new, hand- 

 somely printed and well filled paper — published 

 in New York, weekly, by T. H. Leavitt & C©. 

 Price one dollar per annum. 



