1862. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



«7 



not important what time to apply manure. It does 

 not lose by drying. The valuable parts of ma- 

 nure Avill yield only to the chemist or to plants. 

 Make your own manure and spread it at any time. 



Mr. Howard, of the Boston Cultivator, alluded 

 to the dilution or extension of manure. Manure 

 may be so concentrated as to be injurious. Hence 

 urine should be diluted before being applied. Gu- 

 ano was usually reduced 50 per cent. He doubted 

 whether ^Ir. Mechi's system was the best. Heavy 

 soil needs straw and coarse manure, the liquid not 

 being so beneficial as on lighter land. Peat, as a 

 mulch, tends to lighten soil. Drs. Dana and Bart- 

 lett had discovered different kinds of muck, differ- 

 ing in value. Green muck was ruinous to rye, 

 and the muck of mosses not valuable. Dr. Da- 

 na's theory was that muck should have alkalies. 



Mr. Roberts, of Lakeville, inquired if it was 

 necessary to have bam cellars perfectly dry ? He 

 thought not. By putting in muck it would ab- 

 sorb all ammoniacal waters. 



A gentleman, whose name was not given, spoke 

 of the distinction between peat and muck. Muck 

 decomposes — peat does not. He takes sod and 

 muck from the ditches of his low land and spreads 

 it upon his upper grass land with great benefit. 



Mr. QuiNXY spoke of the difference between 

 peat and muck. He had gone down twenty feet, 

 and found cones of pine trees, probably thousands 

 of years old. The upper part was peat, the lower 

 muck — of which kind the L-ish make cakes. Tak- 

 ing soil from one part of the farm and putting it 

 on the other was an excellent practice. The great 

 business of New England farmers should be in 

 making manure and getting it out. 



A gentleman, whose name Avas not given, asked 

 about green manure. He had procured a great 

 crop of rye from turning in clover. And by tliis 

 process they get great crops of wheat in England 

 — 70 bushels to the acre being cited. He spoke 

 highly of !Mr. !Mechi's watering with ammoniacal 

 manure. 



Mr. Dewitt, of Agawam, said a neighbor plowed 

 in buckwheat to raise rye, but thought the wheat 

 worth the most ! He keeps his cows in his barn 

 summer and winter, and this should be done where 

 the land is good. He observed that he owned ten 

 acres, and farmed it partly for profit and partly for 

 the fun of it. Corn stalks were a good absorbent 

 of urine ; they keep the land open, and are good 

 for potatoes. !Muck will not pay the labor. 



Mr. QuiNCY alluded to sand as a bedding, or 

 for sprinkling the stalls. Was used in England 

 as an absorbent. Plowing in green crops was a 

 hard thing to do, though useful, as they did not 

 exhaust the soil till they began to form seed. He 

 also spoke of anthracite coal ashes for potatoes, 

 and cited an instance of where potatoes thus 

 raised were very sound. 



Mr. Baker had no experience in sand, but had 

 used sawdust for a bedding with good results. It 

 pays well. He takes out muck in the winter and 

 leaves it till the next fall, and then drops it 

 through the floor into the cellar. He dug a cellar 

 whose soil was very hard, yet it had become satu- 

 rated with ammonia and phosphates. He applied 

 manure in the f;\ll. He steams his corn-stalks 

 and feeds his cattle with them, instead of using 

 them as bedding. Leached ashes were very valu- 

 able, and he had applied fifty bushels to the acre, 

 at eight cents per bushel, to grass land, and cut 

 three tons of hay to the acre. Farmers should 

 not buy manure, but make it. 



Mr. Howes, of Marshfield, spoke of kelp, which 

 was very abundant in his region. Why had it not 

 been spoken of? It was valuable. Daniel AVeb- 

 ster spread fish upon his land, but it burnt up the 

 soil, and brought a prodigious lot of flies. For in- 

 sects, such as squash bugs and the like, he had 

 applied the putrid liquor of the fish, and found that 

 while they disappeared from his cucumber vines, 

 the latter grew enormously. Kelp and fish de- 

 serve more attention. 



Mr. Davis spoke again of bam cellars. Barns 

 should be put upon sandy land. Peat will carry 

 off all water, and five inches of sand will clear any 

 dirty water. 



Mr. Baker inquired how much it would purify. 



Mr. Davis replied, any quantity. Green crops 

 turned in are beneficial to light lands, and kelp 

 should be composted. Fish on light soils are very 

 hurtful, as they consume all the vegetation, but 

 the remedy is composting. He spoke of different 

 kinds of peat, and cited Mr, Colman, that salt peat 

 was good for wheat. 



Mr. Hood, of Somerset, said sand Avas used in 

 stables in Bristol county. He applies it to his 

 stalls once a week. He had also used fish as a 

 manure, and said that the flies they drew only an- 

 noyed people out of doors ; they never entered the 

 house. He keeps his cattle up, except thi-ee or 

 four hours a day, and has faith in the good results 

 of barn cellars. 



The time for closing the meeting having passed, 

 the chairman announced that the subject for dis- 

 cussion on next Monday evening would be Agri- 

 cultural Education, and that His Excellency Gov. 

 Andrew was expected to preside. Adjourned. 



Ignorance. — Never be ashamed of confessing 

 j'our ignorance, for the wisest man ujion earth is 

 Ignorant of many things, insomuch that what he 

 knows is mere nothing in comparison Avith what 

 he does not know. There cannot be a greater folly 

 in the world than to suppose that we know every 

 thing. 



Happiness groAvs at our oAvn fii-eside, and is'not 

 picked in the stranger's gardens. 



