514 



FARMERS' REGISTER— MARINE MANURES. 



nurino; ; the oats on the poor knoll bein<^ from 6 to 

 12 inches higher than tliose on the rich hottom. I 

 verily believe I do not exaggerate, when I say 

 that the oats were higher than some of the corn 

 stalks of the crop preceding llie manuring. I tried 

 this manure also as a top dressing for oats followed 

 by clover, with decided benefit on both crops. Its 

 great efficacy in counteracting the effects of 

 drought is very remarkable, and was strikingly 

 exhibited in my field of corn during the excessne 

 drought of last summer. The parts manured with 

 sea weed continued green, long after the rest of the 

 field had faded, and produced a tolerable crop, not- 

 withstanding the great severity of the drought. I 

 am now making an application of it, the operation 

 of which I have yet to test. I am top dressing a 

 field of clover sowed last spring, that I design to 

 fallow for wheat next summer. I have been in- 

 formed by an intelligent gentleman who witnessed 

 the experiment in New Jersey, that good farmers 

 in that state purchase this manure on the sea coast 

 at 25 cents a load, and after carting it several 

 miles into the interior, apply it with profit to their 

 grass lands. I have little doubt that my experi- 

 ment will be successful. 



In an admirable treatise on agriculture in the 

 New Edinburgh Encyclopaedia,* (to which, if it 

 has not already attracted your notice, I would beg 

 leave to direct your attention, as furnishing many 

 valuable extracts for your Register,) the opinion is 

 expressed, that " in one respect sea iveed is prefe- 

 rable to the richest dung, because it does not pro- 

 duce such a quantity of weeds." I do not know 

 whether its effect will be so permanent or not, but 

 for a single crop, I hazard nothing in saying that 

 in sufficient quantity it is equal to the best stable 

 manure. 



The wonderful effects of this manure are not fo 

 be attributed so much to the vegetable matter 

 which it contains, as to the quantity of salts and 

 animal mucilage intermixed v/ilh it.' It is doubt- 

 less this animal matter (consisting of sea nettles, 

 young shell fish, and the spawn and fceces of the 

 finny tribe,) that produces so striking an effect on 

 wheat on light lands. According to the writer in 

 the Encyclopedia to whom I have referred, it has 

 produced a wonderful effect on the sea coast of 

 England, imparting to light lands sufficient tena- 

 city to produce wheat and to resist mildew. I do not 

 know whatthis manure would yield on analysis; but 

 I think it probable a quantity of gluten would be 

 afforded, which is essential to tlie growth of wheat ; 

 and this may account for the remarkable fact ob- 

 served both here and in England, that it imparts to 

 the lightest soils the caj)acity to bear heavy crops 

 of wheat. You may find in the 1st vol. of the 

 A|,.merican Farmer, an interesting letter from Tho- 

 mas Griffin, Esq. of Yorktown ; and in the 13th 

 vol. of the same work, a valuable communication 

 from an Eastern Shore farmer, signed " Corn- 

 planter," on the great virtues of this manure -.t the 

 republication of these papers might possibly be of 

 service by rousing the attention of some of our 

 lethargic farmers, to the inestimable value of an 



* By tiobert Brown of Markle, (Scotland,) who was 

 a judicious and successful practical farmer on a large 

 scale, as well as an excellent writer on agriculture in 

 general — two characters which unfortunately, are sel- 

 dom found combined in the same person.— [£d. 



t "Complanter" xcas republished, p. 314, Farm. Reg- 



article, heretofore regarded by them as a nuisance, 

 being suffered to remain fermenting and putrefying 

 on the shores, and infecting the atmosphere with 

 the most fetid and pestilential odors. 



Most of the farms on Potomac abound with 

 banks of partially decomposed oyster shells, w he- 

 Iher left there by the Indians, or brought to the 

 surface by some great convulsion of nature, from 

 the forrner bed of the river, I leave to geologists to 

 determine. I have used these shells in considera- 

 ble quantity, and with very manifest advantage. 

 They do not act so promptly or so powerfully as 

 the sea iveed, but are probably more permanent in 

 their effects. In combination with sea weed and 

 other putrescent manures, they have all the effects 

 of marl in giving permanency to the improve- 

 ment. The late Mr. Ellyson Currie of Lancas- 

 ter, who was the most zealous farmer of my ac- 

 quaintance, used these shells very extensively; 

 and whenever I met with him, he expatiated 

 with delight and enthusiasm on the great benefit 

 derived from them. lie used them, however, 

 without a sufficient attention to artificial grass- 

 es, and probably without the application of a due 

 portion of putrescent manures; and the conse- 

 quence has been, as I have been informed since his 

 death, that parts of his farm, now exhibit the ap- 

 pearances invariably produced by an over-dose of 

 calcareous matter, without a due application of pu- 

 trescent and vegetable manures. 



The value of oyster shell lime as a manure is so 

 generally understood, and has lately been so well 

 attested by the successful practices of Mr. Lewis 

 of Wyanoke, and other contributors to your Re- 

 gister, that I deem it unnecessary to say much on 

 that subject. I have applied it to some extent, and 

 with obvious advantage to wheat and clover: but 

 having a great abundance of other materials much 

 more accessible, I have* not yet devoted much at- 

 tention to lime. I am now, however, about io 

 burn a quantity of shells, with the view of making 

 a compost of old corn cobs, marsh mud, stable ma- 

 nure and lime, hoping in this way to derive some 

 advantage from the corn cobs, which heretofore I 

 have found it almost impossible to reduce to the 

 food of plants. Under ordinary circumstances, I 

 do not approve of expensive composts; but having 

 all the necessary materials at hand, I shall form 

 my compost during wet weather, when the fields 

 will not bear carting over them, and when my ma- 

 nuring force could not be profitably employed 

 about any thing else. In this way it will cost but 

 little. 



I have made some experiments with marshmud, 

 which at first promised to be very successful, but 

 I must confess that my expectations have been 

 somewhat disappointed. To apply it, requires 

 more labor, and that of a very disagreeable kind, 

 than either bank shells or sea weed; and in my 

 hands it has proved less efficacious than either of 

 them. It is possible that I have committed some 

 error in applying it, as I have been assured by a 

 gentleman of high respectabdity, from the Eastern 

 Shore of Virginia, who had used it extensively, 

 that he would not exchange it, load for load, for the 

 best stable manure. I entertain no doubt that 

 when better materials are not to be had, it may be 

 used with very great advantage. 



The beds of fossil shells, in this country, deno- 

 minated viarl, may possibly be considered as be- 

 longing to the class of marine manures ; as in all 



