PROCEEDINGS OF THE FARMERS* CLUB. 183 



some have lain prostrate for thousands of years. I am particularly desir- 

 ous, with many others here, that the gum from the mammoth trees should 

 be submitted to the chemists of the Polytechnic Club for analization. I 

 was in hope, at this time, to have sent you some of the seeds of the mam- 

 moth cedar trees, little inferior in size to the sugar pine, but as soon as I 

 can obtain I will send them. If those obtaining the seeds of those 

 splendid trees succeed in their culture, future generations will have cause 

 to bless them for the deed." 



Prof Mapes moved that the thanks of the Club be presented to Mr. 

 Bruce, for various seeds sent by him, viz : Mammoth Pine, Sugar Pine, 

 Wild Perpetual Flax, Chinese beans, bearing pods three feet in length, 

 Mexican Holyock and Belle of the Night. Adopted. 



Chandlers' Greaves for Manure. 



Mr. Nathan Leeds, Cinaminson, N. J., asks : " What is the best method 

 of preparing chandlers' greaves for manure ?" 



Mr. Solon Robinson — If broken fine, they may be used like guano. If you 

 have muck, mix one load of greaves with fifteen of muck, adding a sprink- 

 ling of lime and salt to each layer as the compost pile is made. When the 

 pile gets quite warm, turn and air it. The greaves may be advantageously 

 fed to store hogs and poultry, and their value saved in the manure. 



Prof Mapes. — Chandlers' greaves make a very strong manure ; too 

 strong to use in a raw state, because they would be likely to generate so 

 much hydrogen gas in the soil, during decomposition, that it would injure 

 the crops, as grubs always abound in such a condition of the earth. I 

 would soak the greaves soft, so as to separate all the atoms, and then mix 

 with muck, which would be all the better if treated with the salt and lime 

 mixture, so often recommended. If muck is not to be had, substitute leaf 

 mold, rotten sods, or rich loam. The greaves should never be mixed with 

 stable manure, because that is already sufficiently nitrogenous. 



Brine for Manure. 



Mr. J. Z. Gordon writes from West Newbury, Mass., for the opinion of 

 the Club about the best way to use old brine for manure. He says : " My 

 practice has been to pour it upon the barn-yard manure in my barn-cellar. 

 Is this right or wrong ?" 



Mr. Solon Robinson. — It is altogether wrong. It would be more service- 

 able upon a compost heap. If largely diluted and sprinkled upon grass, 

 or almost any other crop, immediate benefit would be obtained. There is 

 no upland in Massachusetts that would not be benefited by salt. We have 

 used it for three years to the amount of 15 to 20 bushels an acre, and 

 never purchased any manure that paid so great a profit. 



Prof. Mapes. — It is not serviceable to stable manure to pickle it. The 

 best way to use brine is to add more salt to bring it to the point of satura- 

 tion, and then use the brine to slack lime, to make a crude chloride of lime 

 to use in decomposing muck. As to the use of salt on land, it is, up to a 

 certain point not likely to be reached, always beneficial. It is considered 

 so much so in England that provision has been made to pass it toll free 

 upon some roads. In Hunterdon county, N. J., some of the farmers put aa 



