PROCEEDIXGS OF THE FARMERS' CLUB. 439 



divider. Old charcoal braise or cinders, form one of the most 

 excellent dividers that can be found. If we go into the country, 

 wherever we find these charcoal braise we also find early, fresh 

 and luxuriant grass, because the charcoal has the faculty of 

 absorbing and preserving all the gases which are so essential to 

 fertility. He remembered once passing through the country and 

 seeing a very fertile field, of which the people said that if they 

 took away a few cart loads of the soil, it would be sufficient to 

 enrich any barren land. He was so struck with the extraordi- 

 nary richness of the field, that he at once determined to find the 

 owner, and to ascertain his modus operandi in fertilizing it. 

 After some difficulty he found the man, who informed him that 

 the ground was formerly covered with large trees, but that his 

 father had cut down the wood and turned it into charcoal, which 

 he sold in the city. The whole of the land was then disposed 

 of, with the exception of that field, which was subsequently sold 

 to Col. Calvert, as the owner could at the time do nothing with 

 it, in consequence of the immense amount of charcoal braise 

 upon its surface. He (the Professor) examined the soil, which 

 he found strongly impregnated with charcoal, and also with the 

 ammonia which it had for a long time been receiving in immense 

 doses from the atmosphere. A comparison with adjacent fields 

 showed that this land was much more fertile than they. Farmers 

 should therefore be very careful to make use of charcoal ; for not 

 only was it a good divider and an absorbent of gases, but the 

 amount of potash it contained was of the greatest value. Pond 

 scrapings and the washings of rivers were also excellent assist- 

 ants in the fertilization of fields. All kinds of decomposed 

 matter should of course be brought into use by the practical 

 farmer. 



The Professor here explained most minutely a system of 

 economy in the preparation and application of manures. The 

 explanations were made by means of some chalk drawings on the 

 blackboard, representing a shed and gutters. The solid manure 

 was to be carried into this shed and placed in alternate layers 

 with the muck ; and to every barrow of the solid manure add 

 sixteen barrows of muck ; over this mass were thrown frequently 

 the fluid drainage of the heap, pumped from the receptacle in 

 which it was collected. By this process of economy, as explained 

 by the Professor, the farmer adopting it would in the spring have 

 sixteen times more manure than the man who followed the open 



