162 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE. 



equal, pound for pound, and that pot and pearlashes may be 

 taken at one-half more ; that if to one hundred pounds fresh- 

 dug peat there are added two pounds soda ash, or tliree pounds 

 of pot or pearlashes, all the good effects of cow-dung will 

 be produced. Following out the calculation, he prescribes 

 for every cord of fresh dug peat, ninety-two pounds of pot or 

 pearlashes, sixty-one pounds of soda, or sixteen to twenty 

 bushels of common house or wood ashes. Dr. Dana mentions 

 a case wliich throws some light on the principles laid down. It 

 is as follows: — 



" Mr. George Robbins of Watertown, an extensive manufac- 

 turer of soap and candles and of starch, employs the refuse of 

 these trades in enriching his land. It is believed his crops will 

 compare with those of any of the best cultivators around him. 

 He has not used for four years (from 1851 to 1855) a spoonful 

 of manure made by any animal walking either on two legs or 

 four. He keeps a large number of horses and hogs, and several 

 cows, and uses not a shovelful of their manure, but, selling 

 that, uses peat and swamp muck mixed with his spent barilla 

 ashes. The proportions are one part of spent ashes to three of 

 peat, dug in the fall, mixed in the spring. After shovelling it 

 over two or three times, it is spread and ploughed in. The 

 effect is immediate, and so far lasting." 



The preference which Dr. Dana gives to wood ashes or 

 potash, in preparing muck for manure, seems to be justified 

 by practical trials. The experience of Artcmas Newell, Esq., of 

 Needhara, may be referred to as an example. He has used 

 muck very extensively as an absorbent of the liquids of his 

 horse and cattle stables, pig pens, ttc, from which great benefit 

 has undoubtedly been derived, and he has also tried it in com- 

 bination with potash. In regard to the latter mode of preparing 

 and using it, he has kindly furnished the following account : — 



" The muck should be dug from its bed late in autumn, and 

 be fully exposed to the frosts of winter before it is used. The 

 reason why I prefer to have it dug at this season is, that if dug 

 earlier and left on dry land, it sometimes becomes hard, like 

 dry peat, and is, in fact, better for fuel than for manure. I 

 deem it a waste of labor and money to use it in combination 

 with potash or alkalies in any other form until it has been thus 

 exposed and prepared. 



