496 [Assembly 



which requires lime to neutralize it. Shell lime is abundantly bet- 

 ter than stone lime. I have put on my farm in one year, five thou- 

 sand bushels of stone lime, upon sandy soil, without any great advan- 

 tage, except where I had before put on alluvial matter. I have 

 composted the alluvial by one stratum 6 inches thick, lime two inches 

 thick, and so on to 6 or eight feet high; after some time I mix all 

 the strata well together, pulverize the mass, and thus I make an ex- 

 cellent manure. Draw out the alluvial matter, let it have the winter's 

 frost. It will be friable next year, and be good manure if you stir 

 it well into your soil by plowing, &c. The copperas in it dissolves 

 in the rains, and leaves the soil good, and on a hoed, and plowed crop, 

 such as corn and potatoes, it shows well the first year, without lime. 

 But if you add lime to the alluvial, you can make it good for manure 

 in a short time. 



I have put on my farm, over thirteen thousand loads of alluvial 

 without lime, and after a little time, it has proved good for all my 

 plants and trees. Our Boston friends must wait a year after their al- 

 luvials are put on their farms, before they will reap the full benefit 

 of it. . 



Dr. Field — There are material diflferences in the qualities of muck. 

 Our farmers ought to know what these differences are. Where run- 

 ning streams are passing through deposits of muck, the salts origin- 

 ally in the muck are necessarily dissolved and carried away by the 

 water. Alluvial is different, it contains the remains of reptiles and 

 other animals — much ^nimal matter- — and the presence of phosphate 

 of lime, proves that of the remains of animals. 



In composting muck, I make a layer of it one foot thick, cover 

 that with two inches depth of stable manure, and over that one inch 

 of lime. Do this in the fall or winter, leave it until spring, then 

 mix the mass thoroughly. I have put upon an acre two hundred and 

 fifty loads of forty bushels each, of this compost, with signal success 

 to the after crops. 



Dr. Underbill — On one vineyard of five acres, I have put 6,000 

 horse-cart loads of muck, at about £0 bushels the load. 



Dr. Field — 'Last year I put gypsum and muck in my barnyard, to 

 mix with the stable manure. In these composts, much depends on 

 the play of chemical affinities; the gases are absorbed by some of 

 the ingredients to a great amount, and thus retained for use as fertili- 



