1853. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



m 



acres. The solid and liquid manuring substances 

 produced in factories of various kinds in our cities, 

 ■with the sewerage, &c., is equal to one ton for 

 each inhabitant. Allowing the same calculation 

 for Boston, it would give 150,000 tons per annum. 

 In addition to this, 150,000 tons of street dirt, 

 ashes, &c. , might be saved every year, the whole 

 furnishing valuable fertilizing matter worth at least 

 $150,000. Mr. Pell suggested the erection of 

 reservoirs, with buildings over them, at the ter- 

 minations of the sewers, for the purpose of collect- 

 ing the rising gases, and crystalizing them by 

 chemical process for agricultural purposes. 



Mr. Clark, of Waltham, read extracts from 

 several letters from gentlemen in the Southern 

 States, going to show the value of guano both as 

 a temporary and permanent manure. Mr. Clark 

 entered into a calculation of the comparative cost 

 of dressing an acre of land with guano and with 

 manure. 20 loads of manure are about G cords, 

 which at $7 per cord, amounts to $52. This 

 would manure, not very heavily, one acre. 300 

 lbs. of guano will manure about equally with 6 

 cords of manure, and at $50 per ton, would cost 

 $7,50. It there.fijre costs $42 to drefs an acre 

 with barn-yard manure, and only $7,50 with guano 

 — leaving a difference in favor of the latter of 

 $34,50. And if the expense of applying the two 

 is taken into the account, the difference will be 

 still greater in favor of guano. It is said that gua- 

 no is not so permanent in its effects on the soil, 

 but this is not so certain. Experiments have not 

 yet been made on a scale of sufficient magnitude 

 or accuracy to test this point thoroughly. Many 

 experiments, if they can be relied upon, prove that 

 the effects of guano are as lasting as those of ma- 

 nure. Mr. Clark thought that it might be used 

 with very great advantage. 



Mr. French, of Braintree, made some remarks 

 in relation to the great attention paid to the sub 

 ject of manuring in Europe. In Great Britain he 

 said, $300,000,000 worth of fertilizing mattere are 

 used annually. He considered it a very important 

 matter that measures should be taken to secure 

 the benefit of the vast amount of manure which is 

 wasted annually in our cities and about our farms 

 The occasional failure of guano, he believed — was 

 owing to a misapplication. He related a case of 

 some gentlemen who bought up a lot of extremely 

 poor laud, paying only one dollar per acre for it, 

 which they manured with guano, and the first 

 year cleared the land, paid all the expenses of cul- 

 tivation, and had a surplus besides, as the result 

 of the operation. This he believed was owing to 

 a judicious application of the guano, a point on 

 which we are without accurate information, and 

 which is much needed. 



Mr. Walker, of North Brookfield, inquired if 

 Mr. French had had any experience in applying 

 guano to pastures or grass lands. He thought if 



guano could be advantageously applied to pasture 

 lands it would be a gi-eat benefit to the common- 

 wealth. In Worcester counnty, for instance, 

 there were pastures that had been used for 150 

 and perhaps 200 years, without being replenished, 

 owing to the expense and difficulty of conveying 

 barn-yard manure on to the hills. 



Mr. French replied that he had had no experi- 

 ence in applying guano to pastures, but had used 

 it on grass lands with decided benefit. He pul- 

 verized it and spread it broadcast in Jupe, while 

 raining gently. 



Col. Faulkner, of Acton, expressed the opin- 

 ion that one-quarter of the value of barn-yard ma- 

 nure was wasted by the manner in which it was 

 put out. He conceived the best plan to be to 

 heap it up before warm weather, covering it up 

 closely, by putting sawdust or plaster over it, 

 which will prevent the fertilizing gases from es- 

 caping. He believed that this process brought it 

 into a form nearly akin to guano, and he thought 

 made it almost, if not quite, as valuable. If gua- 

 no were treated in the way the bulk of our do- 

 mestic manure is, it would be worth no more 

 than that is. He believed that manure plowed 

 into land in a green state lost one-fourth of its 

 value by the working off of its nutritive gases. 

 He considered the great cause of sterility in pas- 

 ture lands to be in overstocking them, by which 

 the grass blades were fed too closely. Grass blades 

 which were apparently dead nearly to the roots in 

 the fall, renew themselves very rapidly in the 

 spring, becoming perfectly green in a few days of 

 favorable weather. Hence, if not fed too closely, 

 a pasture will maintain its vigor and fertility for 

 many years. 



Mr. Clabk, of Waltham, said, that having a 

 very unproductive pasture, he took half a ton of 

 plaster of Paris, and spretid it on ten acres ; and 

 during the whole season he could see a great dif- 

 ference between that part of the land which re- 

 ceived the plaster, and that which did not. 



Mr. French thought the case must be an excep- 

 tion. He did not think plaster would be applied 

 with advantage on lands near the seacoast. It 

 may do better at a distance from the sea breezes, 

 where the cattle need saline matter. But the Shak- 

 ers at Canterbury, say that plaster has no effect 

 on their land. If any one was disposed to use it 

 he would advise the trial of a 'small quantity at 

 first, as he considered its use of very doubtful ex- 

 pediency. We read that lime is an excellent arti- 

 cle ; he had heard of an instance where a man 

 bought 200 casks, which he put into his barn-yard 

 and his hog-pens, and the result was, it smelt 

 very strong, which led him to anticipate great ben- 

 efit from its use ; but he was in error, for the val- 

 uable qualities were passing off, and he probably 

 lost all his lime, and all his manure. These mis- 

 takes are continual; and we shall notget right till 



