MR. Nichols' address. 17 



ipulations. Chemistry is capable of pointing out a wide difference 

 between the swampy material to which I have alluded and common 

 pond mud, as respects its fertilizing effects. The one is rich 

 in carbonic acid, which can be of no essential importance to 

 most lands, as they contain it in sufficient quantities, while the oth- 

 er seldom fails to be rich in the calcareous elements so important 

 to soils. 



I doubt not but the experience of the husbandmen whom I ad^ 

 dress will bear corroborative testimony to the facts which Chemistry 

 teaches, as it respects the value of black swampy mud when ap- 

 plied to soils. During the extreme drought of the season of 1854: 

 much of this material was removed from swampy land and spread 

 upon soils, with the expectation that it possessed some valuable fertil- 

 izing properties. It was seldom that disappointment did not attend 

 its application. It is in most cases nothing but a mass of vegetable 

 humus, leached to the last degree of exhaustion by the action of 

 water, and abounds in no essential ingredient except it be carbonic 

 acid, capable of aiding in plant growth. It may bo of some value 

 upon worn out ridges, or upon a silicious plain, but upon the ordi- 

 nary tillage land in our section it is of but little value. Generally 

 speaking, it is not the best material for the basis of compost. — 

 Those small ponds which abound in animalcules, and Avhich receive 

 the washings of contiguous surrounding hills, afford a better loam 

 when partially dried up. 



It is of the first importance that a proper selection of soil should 

 be made upon which to apply fertilizers of this description. A 

 mass of dry sand thrown upon a spongy, damp meadow, will, by 

 supplying silex and other mineral food, and by absorbing moisture, 

 cause it to produce the finest grasses of the uplands. No farmer 

 would think of applying it to sandy soils ; and it follows that it 

 would be equally as improper to apply meadow muck to soils of a 

 moist clayey variety. Where Chemistry affords no positive knowl- 

 edge to the farmer, much judgment is needed in distributing man- 

 ures upon different soils. 



In the manufacture of compost, it is impossible to proceed with 



much success without this knowledge, as in this work it is not the 



sole object to make a simple mechanical mixture of different kinds of 



fertilizers, but to combine them, so that chemical change will ensue, 



3 



