•2-22 



NEW i: K G L A N D FARMER 



JAN. I a, IM 



A.xn IIOHTICULTUBAL RK6ISTER. 



BOSTOK, WkONESDAY, jAIfUARt 12, 1843. 



FIRST AGRICULTURAL MEETING AT THE 

 ST.VTE HOUSE. 



Agreeably to prei ioiiB notice, members of tlie li'giala- 

 tiirc and friends of agriculture, met at tlie Slate House 

 in Boston, on the evening of January 7tli, 18'I2. Mr 

 Lntlirop, iif Siiulh Hndley, called the meeting to order : 

 Allen Pulnnm was chosen Clii>irm«n, and S. \V. Cole 

 Secretary pro tern. 



The Chairm.in slated the plan that had been pursued 

 at the meetings the previous )ear. 



Then a committee was < hosen tii nominnle a list of 

 officers for the season, and leport at the next meeting. 



The following (piestion, |>roposed by Mr Merriain, 

 was adopted for discussion at iho next meeting : — 



What ought to be done by the Legi.'latnre and Con- 

 gress to give an equal impulse to Agriculture with the 

 aister arts P 



After the necessary preliminBrieB had been attended 

 to there wi.s u brief but pertinent contiderntion of 

 AlUCK. 



Mr Stone, of Beverly, stated that he was not a farmer, 

 but that he was interested in farmers and their purnuils, 

 and that hj wjs desirous of learning in order that he 

 might commmiicole and do good. He desirtd to learn 

 Boineihing of the worth of muck, meadow mml, swamp 

 muck, or whatever else its name ; how it should be used 

 and on what soils. 



After a silence of some minu-tes, the Editor of this 

 paper stated thai he was unwilling to have so important 

 n matier to ihe farmers fall undiecuesed — and that he 

 would say a few words. 



He comm.'nced by remarking that the articles wliich 

 pass under the names of murk, swamp mud, meadow 

 mud, bog murk, &c. have been used with very difl'erent 

 success. In some instances it has been found serviceable, 

 in otliers not so. This may be owing in part to the dif- 

 ferent qualities of the article taken (mm different locali- 

 ties. The manor obtained from the wet holes is most- 

 ly decayed vegetable matter, and its quality may be va- 

 ried by the kind of growth which has been sustained in 

 nges past, upon the swanip and the surrounding uplands. 

 An intelligi nt gcnllcmin once expressed to him the bi-. 

 lief that where the growth upon the swamp had been 

 maple and that upon the surrounding uplands had been 

 hard wood, timl the muck is belter than where the origi- 

 nal growth was pine. The speaker knew not whether 

 the opinion is well founded. 



The mineral matters in the bed below the muck and 

 in the adjoining uplands, which impregnate the waters 

 that ooze up through the muck, m«y affect the charac- 

 ter of the muck as a fertilizer. From these views it fol- 

 lows that if one man has found his muck serviceable up- 

 on a particular soil, it is by no means certain that oilier 

 muck will bo found equally valuable upon a similar soil. 



Ho believed that the great causa of failure is the use 

 of the article in an improper slate. All vtgeiablo mat- 

 ters in their process of decay become acid — while they 

 remain in the wet bed, the acid is retained in them — 

 and as long a« the acid is there, the muck ii not n fertili- 

 ror. He had two years since an account of the use of 

 muck from a very intelligent farmer of VVeslboro', who 

 Ihen represented that town in the legislature, which 

 ▼ery distinctly points out the difl'erent effects of muck 

 when applied in its fresh state, and when not used until 

 it has been dug several years. This gentleman pur- 

 »bued ( small farm a mile distant from the one on which 



he lives. The foriiicr owner dug a considerable quanti- 

 ty of muck, and applied about one half of it in its fresh 

 stale to a field which he planted to corn — the crop was 

 little or nothing. The next ye ir oais and grass seed 

 were sown — both failed to do any lliing. The other 

 half of the muck, supposed to be worthless, was left un- 

 disturbed in a heap for soveral ye.ar.s. When my infor- 

 mant (Mr B.) became the owner, he plowed up the 

 vamo field on which the muck had been applied, and 

 spread the heap there ihat was on hand. He planted to 

 corn and had a fair crop; then sowed to oats and grass 

 seed, and both did well. Time, or rather ihe nclion of 

 frosts and the atmosphere, will remove tln^ acid — but we 

 may hasten the process by the use of dung, ashes, lime 

 or alkalies of almost any kind, and may thus speedily fit 

 for use. It is always well to let it have one winter's 

 freezing. 



As to the proper soil on which to use it, bethought 

 that, as a general rule its benefits are the greatest on 

 light and s.indy soils. Tlicio may be a chemical reason 

 for this. Whenever one finds a ruck or stone imbedded 

 in the muck, the atone is always ir/ii(e. This is owing 

 to tliu fact that the acid in the muck has diawn out-the 

 alkalies the coloring mailers from the rock, and combined 

 wilh them. Immedintcly around the rock, the acid in 

 the peat is tmuiralized by matters obtained from the 

 rock itself. I'ut muck then upon sand or rocks and it 

 will get from them alkalies, and will be thus prepared, 

 in pait at least, to become H fertilizer. On oilier soils, 

 also, il muck is often very conducive to feitiliiy. 



A gentleman whose name is noi known, thought that 

 sacii results as are here described, could exist only 

 where the rocks contain some lime. 



Mr Fitch, of Shefli. Id, staled that by the month of 

 two or three witnesses a word is conlirmed. There 

 could be no doubt that this swamp mud was in many, 

 cases highly serviceable. A friend of his in Dutchess 

 county, N. Y., where the soil was on a slaty and clayey 

 gravel formation, was in the iiabit of applying this muck, 

 after il had been dug one year, and found it as valuable, 

 load for load, as barn manure. None can doubt its 

 worth, for upon throwing up a ditch bank through a 

 meadow where none but the coarse water grasses grow, 

 there will in a few years be on this bank a heavy growth 

 of grass of good quality. His observations tended to 

 confirm tlio views of the Editor in regard to its great 

 value upon sandy lands. 



[We have given but a meagre report of the interesting 

 und valuable remaiks of this gcnllcman. The situation 

 in which we were placed, deprived ua of opportunity 

 to take notes.] 



Mr Buckminster, editor of the Plowman, dwelt more 

 fully upon tlie difl'erent and unlike substances, taken 

 from the wet holes, than those who preceded him. Tho 

 matters from holes which contain mostly decayed leaves, 

 wood and the like, ho called muck, and stated that il 

 might generally bo applied immediately to the soil. In 

 meadows where llicio is a growth Iroin below, the eub- 

 stance is peat. But peat is very different in its texture 

 and properties — some is black and firm, having but liiile 

 fibrous matter, while other i« composed mostly of fibres. 

 The former is as much better than tho loiter as hickory 

 or walnut wood is butler than white pine. Another 

 Buhstanco, heavy and black, found where hassocks 

 abound, contains (as he was understood to say,) no vege- 

 table matter, and is of little value as a fertilizer. Tho 

 muck and poat he tliinks good. Upon sandy and grav- 

 elly lands these articles are found to produce highly 

 beneficial clfocis— particularly upon gravelly knolls. 

 There, perhaps for reasons already suggested, the acid 

 of the muck may bo neutralii.d by alkaline matters in 

 the amall stonef. But we do not profeii to know the 



T 



leiA *! 

 tu4 = 



cau-e — lUnfiict is all ihat is important to practical i! 

 .-Msn, it is probable that the muck or peat here hai 

 vorable mechanical notion — helping to retain mots 

 and to keep the land from drying up. Gravel is 

 warm nature; the muck is cold, and a mixture of 

 two gives the proper temperature. Here is a rt. 

 why on somu cold lowlands, gravel is a bettor drtk 

 than cl.ij or even the best garden mould. On mei<l ' 

 more loose in texture, and warmer, the other fubstti 

 clay, loam or mould, will be found most serviceablt „ 

 Mr Collnmore, of I'einbrokc, staled that ho had.«. 

 some use of meadow mud. A few years Bince,.| 

 the v.inlcr rut a a ditch through a meadow and M 

 the mud to the upland. By mixing with the niudM ^ 

 casks of lime, he foimcd thirty cartloads of coi 

 I On tome of this he planted ^jotaloes, and by thei 

 he planted potatoes upon barn manure. In aulu; 

 afked the man who was digging the potatoes, an4^ 

 was ignorant ol the applications that had been m^ 

 I ihe soil in the spring, wlielher he found any difTtn 

 : in the potatoes on ihe dilfereni part* of the fiild. ' 

 wficre llie plaster was put, they are. best. The < 

 mistook the partirles of lime for plaster. Another 

 lion of the compost w.-ia spread on corn land ; 

 upper and poorer side of tho field. The Agric 

 Commissioner visiting Mr Cullamore in the lui 

 was enabled by the superior sizd of the corn, to tel 

 far the muck or compost extended. Mr C. thin 

 with a cask of lime and muck enough, he can rai 

 loads of very gojd manure (or light lands 



Mr Merriam, Editor of tho Culiivator, stated 

 one inaiance muck put into his hog yard laio in a 

 did not fraeze much in the winter, and when 

 next season was of very little service. While 

 dug at the same time, and put where it was 

 during the winter wilh urine from his cattle, 

 very good. He Btated also other facts generally o 

 ing the statements of those who preceded Jiim. 



The conversation relating to muck, was a vei 

 sant, and as wo think, useful one. Our ra|>ort 

 loss full tliaii we wish it was, though tlieimportai 

 are mostly if not entirely included. 



FOURTH AND LAST REPORT OF THE 

 CULTURAL COMMISSIONER. 

 This Report fills more than SUO pages — is ezcea 

 well written— contains very many valuable (U 

 and will add to Mr Colman's reputation. Il 

 principally to tho agriculture of Franklin and Mid 

 counties. While we give il general approbation, 

 are many passages and pages, which, though well 

 ten and interesting, seem to u» misplaced in the bl 

 report of a public officer. Wo shall have occasion 

 after to notice it more particularly, and to extract I 

 from its contents. 



ROBERT MERRY'S MUSEUM. 

 This work, issued inonlhly, is edited by S. G, 

 rich, author of Peter I'ai ley's Tales, and is publii 

 Bradbury & Sodcn, 10 School street. No oihar 

 ill our vicinity equals Mr Goodrich in pleasaat 

 tellin;,'. The general tono of his stories is (leallll 

 moral, while they both entertain and instruct ihi 

 of readers for whom they arc designed. This Hi 

 would find a welcome, ond would bo uieful io I 

 every family where there are children. 



STILL ANOTHER AGRICULTURAL PAPI 



"The British American Cultivator," publii 

 Toronto, edited by W. G. Eilmundion, is the till 

 monthly paper, well got up, and gives promiae »t 

 a valuablo work. 



