NEW ENGLAND FARMER, 



13 



the line of the Essex railroad, to leara that the 

 directors have in contemplation an arrangement by 

 ■which they can transport, to different points upon 

 this route, the above excellent manure for the land. 

 I say excellent, for it is well known that the soil in 

 this, as well as in many other counties in the state, 

 is doticient in calcareous matter ; and, as was recently 

 said by a distinguished agriculturist, that " no soil 

 Ctin be regarded as at all icell fitted for cultivation, 

 unless it be calcareous," this article must, therefore, 

 be among the best that can bo applied to improve its 

 texture and composition, by making it more capable 

 of supplying the food necessary for the production of 

 vegetables. The use of this compound, upon a poor 

 or light sandy loam, will produce a more lasting 

 degree of fertility than dung alone. 



Its effect upon the soil, in the first year of its 

 application, is inconsiderable in comparison with the 

 second and succeeding years. After an a])plication 

 of one and a half cords of muscle marl to about one 

 eighth of an acre of sandy loam, (by placing it in 

 small heaps upon the land in the fall, and spreading 

 it over the land early in the following spring,) we 

 planted potatoes ; the crop, as well as the size of the 

 vegetable, was small. The spring following, it was 

 again planted to potatoes, without dressing of any 

 kind, and the crop was good, and the potatoes of a 

 large size- This failure at fij'st, we admit, may have 

 been owing, in some degree, to the season ; but not to 

 such an extent. "We have, from the Beverly Ear to 

 Ornes andKopes's Points and Porter's River, so called, 

 in North Salem, muscle beds, Avhere are large depos- 

 its of this fertilizing manure, which increases in 

 forming, as is supposed, nearly as fast as it has here- 

 tofore been gathered ; and if it can be transported, at 

 a reasonable rate, from these several places, on this 

 railroad, it must bo a great benefit to the farmer. 



It is comparatively recent that our cultivators have 

 turned their attention to the use of this material, and 

 thus fai' it has been generally, or almost exclusively, 

 used in the cultivation of onions, and considered to 

 be a fine manure for this vegetable alone ; but we 

 feel assured that it will be found, by a proper appli- 

 cation, quite as useful in nearly, if not all, purposes 

 where slicll-\mic and marl operate beneficially ; and, 

 as before remarked, that, our soil being deficient in 

 calcareous matter, it cannot but be exceedingly use- 

 ful. Shell-lime is now used with astonishing effect 

 by Mr. Pell, of New York state, by which that finest 

 of all American apples, the Newton Pippin, is made 

 to produce annually great crops of the finest fruit. 



The muscle beds in the North and Porter's Kivers 

 are formed by the decomposition of a small shell-fish 

 and sea-weed, rock-weed, and other substances Avhich 

 gather in large quantities in the eddies of the above 

 rivers, thus making an exceedingly fertilizing com- 

 pound. The muscle is very prolific, millions being 

 formed in a square rod in a single year. As their sur- 

 face is immediately covered by the young the suc- 

 ceeding year, the growth of the "beds," as they are 

 called, is astonishingly rapid, upwards of one thou- 

 sand cords being annually taken from the deposits 

 in the vicinity of the railroad. Notwithstanding this 

 quantity has been gathered, there does not appear to 

 be a very sensible diminution of the article. 



The beneficial effects of this manure arc more 

 marked when applied to land at a distance from the 

 salt water. This manure is sometimes gathered and 

 used immodiateh', in what is called its raw state ; the 

 generality of cultivators, however, prefer to place it 

 upon their land in small heaps, in the fall, to be acted 

 on by frost, Avhen it slackens and becomes better pul- 

 verized in the spring, to spread evenly over the bind. 

 "\Vc prefer, in order to preserve the saline juices, 

 which arc useful on almost every description of soils, 

 to apply muscle marl fresh from the shore, while we 

 have frosty nights, early in March, spreading it at 



once ; and, in a week or two, (after it is meliorated by 

 freezing,) ploughing it under the soil. Muscle-bed 

 and common barn-j'ard manure make an excellent 

 compost for Indian corn. A correspondent of the 

 Yankee Farmer, in speaking of " sea manure," says, 

 " \\'hcn sea mud is thickly blended with sea-shells, 

 they tend to give it much additional value ; as the 

 shells, when exposed to atmospheric influence, will 

 have their cohesion and organization gradually de- 

 stroyed — chemical composition ensues, carbonic gas 

 is di-icngagcd, and this gas comes in contact with the 

 vegetable fibre, where it is distributed through all its 

 ramifications. To improve the soil is to give it the 

 principles which it requires, and does not contain. 

 Marine dressing not only imparts to its princijdes, 

 but animates inert matter into action ; or, to define 

 it more chemically, the elements of inert matter are 

 resolved into new combination. In these remarks, I 

 have made no deductions from supposition, but have 

 draAvn conclusions from known facts, supported by 

 chemical aflinity. I wiU only observe that I have 

 used the above-named dressing for more than twenty 

 years, and it has fully answered my expectations." 

 Another writes, " Nature, to supply a deficiency in 

 the soil and climate on our rugged seaboard, has, 

 with a liberal hand, deposited inexhaustible maga- 

 zines of marine manure all along our shores, which 

 is composed of animal, calcareous, saline, arfjillaccoxis, 

 and vegetable matter ; the calcareous, of the shells ; 

 the saline, of the salt of the ocean ; the argillaceous, 

 of the fine moidd washed from the surrounding clay 

 banks; and the vegetable, of eel-grass, rock-weed, 

 kali, and other marine vegetable productions brought 

 in from the ocean by flood-tides and easterlj' winds." 



In speaking of a rich muscle bed, he says, " The 

 population and territory of aquatic community have 

 unquestionably been progressively increasing from its 

 origin ; for small animals, by a law of nature, are 

 generally prolific, and prolific animals, by the same 

 wise law, are confined to a very brief existence ; 

 therefore numerous deaths have enlarged this terri- 

 tory, and numerous births, exceeding the deaths, 

 have increased the population. The same contracted 

 inch of space is the birthplace, residence through 

 life, and at death the grave, of each individual." 

 " Ey an ordinance of the British Parliament, p;i.ssed 

 about A. D. 1680, for the exclusive benefit of the 

 New England colonies, all fiats fronting upland, in 

 public grants, became the property of the grantees, 

 although not expressed in the instrument of convey- 

 ance, extending to the channel, or one hundred rods 

 below high-water mark ; and in all subsequent con- 

 veyances, when bounded by the shore. The shore, 

 as "legally defined, is the margin of the water at any 

 time of tide. This ordinance and definition remain 

 in full force, having been invariably recognized and 

 sanctioned by all our courts." 



Another material, somewhat different in its char- 

 acter, (and which is used extensively in Europe,) is 

 sea-sand, mixed with a large proportion of shell. 

 This mixture is considered an excellent fertilizer for 

 grass and grain crops on low land. It is found in 

 inexhaustilile quantities in the North River, in near 

 proximity to the railroad. 



Eord Bacon, who flourished early in the seven- 

 teenth century, having noticed the advantages which 

 the farmers in tlie maritime countries of Europe 

 derived from the free use of sea-sand, which, upon 

 those coasts, chiefly consists of broken shells, imjireg- 

 nated with salt M'atcr, declares that the "best ma- 

 nure, next to marl, is sea-sand ; " and the Archbishop 

 of Dul)lin, speaking of the manuring of lands, in the 

 counties of Londonderry and Donegal, with sand 

 and shells from the sea-shore, says, " that what for- 

 merly was not worth a groat per acre, is now worth 

 four shillings." 



" This substance is very generally used in Cornwall, 



