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the amount of fertilizing material tliey contain. As lit- 

 ter or absorbents in the stable, leaves have some value, 

 but much less than straw, inasmuch as they lack the 

 reedy character of straw, and because they are far more 

 difficultly and slowly decomposed. 



A pound of good thoroughly formed peat taken fresh 

 from the meadow upon my farm, lost of water in drying, 

 a little more than fourteen ounces. A farmer drawing 

 from his meadow a cord of peat weighing 4000 lbs., has 

 upon his wagon 3500 lbs. of water and but 500 lbs. of 

 the dry material he seeks. This, dried and compressed, 

 could be placed in a couple of our largest sized farm 

 baskets. The amount of ash constituents in the pound 

 of peat after drying, was a little less than 10 per cent, 

 so that when we reduce the heavy load of peat, which to 

 the eye appears so bulky and valuable, down to its con- 

 tained inorganic principles, we find the whole amount to 

 be less than 60 lbs. I hope not to be misunderstood in 

 the matter. The ashes are far from being the only ma- 

 nurial part of peat, and as in burning some of the most 

 valuable elements are volatilized and lost, it is not aood 

 economy to burn peat for ilie purpose of securing the 

 ashes. Fresh peat allowed to ferment in contact with 

 lime, is changed into new substances capable of nourish- 

 ing plants, and where it can easily be obtained, it pays 

 the farmer well to secure a good supjoly. I cannot help 

 remarking, however, in this connection, that many of the 

 statements made by our chemists and journal writers re- 

 garding the value of muck or peat, are simply absurd, 

 and are proved erroneous by practical experiment. The 

 great value of peat after all, lies in its absorbent quali- 

 ties. From the experiments and experience of a consid- 

 erable number of years, I feel more inclined to uro-e the 



