77 



No. XX. 



How bountiful is Nature's King, 



From whom such various blessings spring ! 



Manures he gives to every land, 



In form of Limestone, Marl, or Sand ; 



Fat weeds on sea beat shores that grow. 



And streams that fertilizing flow. 



Besides what human labours raise 



By skill employed in various ways ; 



Then wisely use the blessings given, 



And show your gratitude to heaven. 



Sea-wepd is occasionally drifted on many parts of 

 This coast in such abundance as to constitute a princi- 

 pal source of your manure. It produces excellent 

 potatoes if sown early enough, and indeed vegetables 

 of all kinds, particularly cabbages of fine iiavour. 

 Sea-weed, however, is not lasting- in its effects, which 

 is easily accounted for, from the large quantity of 

 water, or the elements of water, which it contains. 

 It decays without producing- heat, when exposed to 

 the air, and seems, as it were, to melt down or dis- 

 solve away. A large heap has been destroyed in less 

 than two years, nothing remaining but a little black 

 shrivelled fibre. It is wasteful to allow sea-weed to 

 ferment, because its fermentation destroys a certain 

 acid (carbonic) and dissolves its mucilage. The best 

 way of using- it is to plough it into stulible as fresh 

 as possible. By so doing-, all the useless labour of 

 collecting-, mixing-, and carting- out composts is 

 avoided, and the stubble straw, instead of withering 

 away unprofitaVily, becomes immediately converted 

 into mantire. The usual practice in the barony of 

 Bargy, is to mix earth, sand, and weed, tog-ether for 

 potatoes. The advantages of this mode are — creating- 

 a supply of short, rich, and loosening manure — ad- 

 ding to the staple of the soil, and preserving- the 

 juices of the weed, which is, or shoitld be, laid on 



