92 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



corn, pease, cucumbers, squashes and melons. It was a great 

 preventive against drought. That ground has been sown to 

 rye, and it looks first rate." And from Plymouth county : 

 " Swamp muck, as also upland soils, are valuable to mix with 

 various kinds of manure to retain and absorb the salts. For 

 upwards of two years, I have adopted a different course with 

 my swamp land from any I know of. I employ men with 

 long-bitted hoes, and sward hooks, &c, to dig up the hum- 

 mocks and bushes, in bodies large and small, as is convenient, 

 and pile them in bunches for a few days to dry ; after which 

 I select a central bunch, in which I form a cavity or hole near 

 the bottom or surface of the ground. Then I set fire to some 

 of the dryest and most combustible, and as it burns I replenish 

 it from the other bunches, smothering in the coal-pit form, 

 though more combustible, till it is burned down to a perfect 

 body of ashes and sand. I have not carried ttie experiment 

 into full effect as I designed to ; but, so far as I have used 

 the ashes, they have given me entire satisfaction. Their 

 nature is to improve exhausted lands ; and my belief is that 

 they may be spread upon the same land upon which the ashes 

 were made, and increase the growth of English grass. Much 

 has been said upon the subject of reclaiming wet, swampy 

 lands ; but after all that has been done, as I understand it, a 

 coat of manure is required to produce a good crop of English 

 grass. Now, if our worthless swamp lands possess the very 

 article required to produce such grass by the simple process 

 as above named, I think it would be an improvement in one 

 point of agriculture." 



A farmer of Barnstable county says : " The best compost 

 manure is made in our barn and hog yards, of swamp muck, 

 seaweed and animal manure. Swamp muck and seaweed arc 

 accessible to all who will take the trouble to procure them. My 

 barn and hog yards arc so excavated and dug as to absorb the 

 liquids passed into them. Every spring and summer, after my 

 barn yard is emptied, I replenish it from time to time with 

 swamp muck, peat, seaweed, and other materials from the 

 farm, which, with the animal manure produced by yarding my 

 cattle, furnish mc in the autumn with 200 loads of good com- 

 post, which I cither stack in the yard, or cart on to the land 



