94 ON COMPOST MANURE. 



combines with what would be otherwise lost, and is there- 

 by rendered soluble and rich food for plants. His state- 

 ment is valuable, as it shows that every farmer may, by 

 mixing his barn manure, with a sufficient quantity of 

 muck, double or treble the quantity of his manure, 

 without much expenditure of cash, by a little labor 

 alone, ft shews, taken in connexion with his statement 

 on experiments with manure, that the old wasteful meth- 

 od of rotting down barn manure to a fit condition to 

 plant Indian corn with, should be abandoned, for three 

 times as much, equally good lor the same purpose, can 

 be made by mixing it fresh with muck in compost heaps. 

 A practical farmer speaks, will ye not hear and be in- 

 structed ? 



Mr. Chase, according to his means, seems to have 

 done equally well. He, too, has saved what is tou often 

 allow^ed to fly away on wings of the wind, or to percolate 

 down to spring waters and flow into the sea. 



Mr. Carter seemed to the committee to be entitled to 

 notice, on account of a like economical management, 

 in collecting materials and converting all his manure 

 into compost, the value of which he seems to under- 

 rate, unless his loam and wash from the road side is 

 much less valuable in compost than the same quantity 

 of miuck, and so it doubtless is. VVe should recommend 

 to Mr. Carter and all others, similarly situated, to use 

 muck in future ; double the quantity of the, loam used 

 by him would, we think, mixed with the same animal 

 manures, &c., be converted into a compost, worth as 

 much, not half as much per cord, for immediate use, as 

 green cow manure used alone. A cord of green cow 

 manure is, of course, worth more when used as an ingre- 

 dient of compost which is the only economical way of 

 using it, at least on Sry, gravelly lands. On lands full of 

 peat or gcine, it may be profitably spread and ploughed 

 or harrowed in alone, as this operates to convert into a 

 weak compost the soil itself. Mr. Putnam seemed in 

 the opinion of the committee to be precluded from a 

 premium this year, by the fact that he received a pre- 

 mium last year, for the same compost in part and the 



