1857. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



341 



consumption, as to be fed on such milk. So great 

 has this evil become that in some cities, where cows 

 are kept for life on slop, without access to the 

 ground, the sale of their milk has been prohibited 

 by law. But how great must have been the evil, 

 how many thousand helpless infants must have 

 been sent to an untimely grave, before the atten- 

 tion of legislators was called to the subject ! and 

 the worst of all is, the helpless infant, who has 

 neither power nor knowledge to choose, is the suf- 

 ferer. A handful of bone meal, put into the food 

 of each cow, two or three times a week, would par- 

 tially remedy the evil. — Western Jlgriculturist. 



SEA-WEED. 



This is a valuable manure for almost any descrip- 

 tion of soil, from the light sands to the heavy and 

 viscid clays. No one who has experienced the bene- 

 ficial results attending its application, will doubt its 

 value, especially when applied as a top-dressing to 

 lands in grass. The most proper season for remov- 

 ing and spreading it, we are informed by those ac- 

 customed to its use, is immediately after haying, or 

 if it cannot be conveniently done at that time, the 

 •work may be deferred till after harvest. It is a 

 judicious plan to mix this weed with loam or muck, 

 forming it into a sort of compost. The mass should 

 be frequently turned. If convenient, ashes, lime, 

 plaster and clay may be added, depending consid- 

 erably upon what kind of soil the mass is to be ap- 

 plied to ; but it should not be permitted to decay in 

 a heap by itself, as in this case the limited amount of 

 fibrous or ligneous substance contained in the mass 

 causes it to decompose almost "to nothing" — a 

 slight residuum only being left after decomposition, 

 and this of a very weak character, and not, perhaps, 

 of sufficient value to warrant its application to the 

 soil. 



Muscle shells, and the rich, unctuous and viscid 

 sand abounding along the coasts, and on the shores 

 of creeks, are other important and valuable elements 

 of fertility, and when spread upon soils of every de- 

 scription, produce highly beneficial results. This 

 sand is composed principally of animal and vegeta- 

 ble substances, intermixed with the exuvia of testa- 

 ceous and crustaceous insects, saline particles, and 

 an extremely fine sedimentary substance deposited 

 by the waters of the ocean, together with carbonate 

 and hydrate of lime, animal matter and earth. The 

 intermixing of these several substances constitutes 

 that highly efficient fertilizing mass denominated 

 sea mud, or "flats." 



When a farmer can obtain a sufficiency of this 

 article with which to dress his lands, he need not 

 fear the failure of his crops for lack of manure. 

 Sea weed, and sea mud, or "flats," constitute an ex- 

 cellent substitute for animal excrement and com- 

 post, and almost supersede the necessity of the lat- 

 ter, in ordinary husbandry. If the weeds and mud 

 should be taken out after haying, and placed in the 

 barn or compost yard, with common muck, mold, 



and vegetable matters of a succulent and perisha- 

 ble character — or thrown into heaps with forest 

 leaves, straw, weeds, &c., it would decompose, and 

 by the next spring furnish an invigorating manure 

 for every description of crop. 



There is abundant testimony of the value of sea« 

 weed as a manure, in the books. Many years ago, the 

 Highland Agricultural Society of Scotland charged 

 an intelligent committee with the labor of investiga- 

 ting its composition and value, and their report is 

 highly favorable. Dr. Holland, in his "Survey of 

 Cheshire," says, "the ground thus manured not on- 

 ly gives a larger produce of potatoes, but is in a 

 state of excellent preparation for a succeeding crop 

 of either wheat or barley." In a work by the Rev. 

 Philip Falle, upon the island of Jersey, whence 

 we obtain the famous Jersey cattle, he says that 

 "Nature having denied us the benefitof chalk, lime 

 and marie, has supplied us with what fully answers 

 the end of them in husbandry — it is a sea-weed, 

 but a weed more valuable to us than the choicest 

 plant that grows in our gardens. * * * Being 

 spread thin on the green turf, and afterwards hur- 

 ried in furrows by the plow, it is incredible how, 

 with its fat unctuous substance, it ameliorates the 

 ground, imbibing itself into it, softening the clod, 

 and keeping the root of the corn moist during the 

 most parching heats of summer." 



We are aware that our friends on the sea-shore 

 who have access to this plant value it highly. We 

 suggest whether it has not sufficient value to justify 

 its being collected away from our immediate shores, 

 and landed up the creeks, and in such places as to 

 bring it into the vicinity of a large extent of farm- 

 ing country. 



For the New England Farmer. 



FEEDING MOWING LOTS. 



A word in season, if properly heeded, may not 

 be amiss on this subject. A practice, hitherto quite 

 common among pretty good farmers in many parts 

 of New England, has been to feed their meadows 

 as soon as the hay was off, and the "fields cleared" 

 in autumn, and then as soon as the ground is half 

 bare in spring, let the whole stock loose from their 

 winter confinement to exercise in the open fields. 

 From the time of this first "exercise," the creatures 

 are uneasy, and must be "left out" every day. Now, 

 Mr. Editor, I wish you would call attention to the 

 evils of this course, in some of your articles to the 

 readers of the Farmer. As I pass through the 

 country during the present spring, I find the above- 

 mentioned practice by no means obsolete. Many 

 farms in this town, and in towns adjoining, are 

 over-run with cattle, till the surface is trodden in- 

 to all kinds of shape, except a smooth shape, and 

 the young trees are browsed or broken so that no 

 art can heal them. 



Let any one who is accustomed to allow his cattle 

 to run out in the spring, for once keep them in the 

 barn or yard, and see if it does not pay. If we 

 want a good crop of corn or oats, or any other 

 grain, do we think it profitable to feed it down for 



