107 



salt marsh sods will be interesting to all who have occasion to 

 deal with them, and will no doubt appear in his statement to 

 be published herewith. It is well known that the surface sods 

 taken from the marsh are generally well nigh indestructible 

 when exposed to the action of the air, and even when chopped 

 fine and laid in the cow-yard they are often inveterate. Swine 

 will usually work them up as well as anything ; but the cotton- 

 wool character clings to them so tenaciously that many farmers 

 reject them altogether, and would never remove them from the 

 marsh, except upon the principle of abating a nuisance. As 

 soon as they are thoroughly frozen. Dr. Loring has them de- 

 posited in his barn cellar, where they are covered by cattle 

 droppings and remain frozen during the winter. On exposure 

 to the air in the spring they fall to pieces and mingle with 

 other ingredients readily ; thus saving the labor of a mechanical 

 division, always laborious and imperfectly done at best. 



Of the artificial manures. Dr. Loring is satisfied that ground 

 bone outlasts all others. It is not known, however, that any 

 mill suitable for grinding bone is wdthin the reach of Essex 

 county farmers. The bone meal sold at the agricultural stores 

 has all the appearance of burnt bone ground. What effect the 

 burning may have upon the lime is not clear ; but that all the 

 animal fibre and oils have been destroyed the absense of efflu- 

 via abundantly testifies. 



BUILDINGS. 



Having already alluded to the house, the buildings next 

 in importance are the barns. By a description of them in 

 a ack number of our Transactions it appears that " there 

 are two upon the place, one one hundred feet in length, and 

 thirty-five feet in breadth ; the other, one hundred and fourteen 

 feet long, and forty-two wide. The latter has a cellar under 

 the whole of it ; the main part of which is for manure, and 

 receives all the deposits of the cattle. A portion of this cellar 

 is inclosed for the storing of fruit and vegetables." 



A steam boiler situated between the two barns throws the 



