78 MAINE) AGRICULTURAL, EXPERIMENT STATION. IC)OI. 



Nitrogenous manures cost more than others for the simple 

 reason that concentrated nitrogenous compounds capable of sup- 

 plying this element to plants are neither abundant nor readily- 

 prepared. "New sources of phosphate of lime have continually 

 been discovered, so that the price of this article has not risen 

 from year to year, in spite of the greatly extended use of it. 

 But the assimilable nitrogen compounds are more costly than 

 either phosphates or potash salts, and there is no immediate prob- 

 ability that their price will be much reduced. Hence the impor- 

 tance of recognizing clearly the value of the peat (muck) and 

 the humus which are found already in the fields." * 



Sea weeds. 



Seaweeds have long been used as manures in this country and 

 in England. Here in New England there is abundant evidence 

 of the great value of sea manure. According to Storer, with the 

 exception of the intervale farms of the Connecticut river, the 

 farms that depend upon manures derived from great cities, and 

 a few localities in which the fertility is based upon fish manure, 

 "the only realty fertile tracts in New England are to be found 

 back of the sea beaches upon which an abundant supply of sea- 

 weeds is thrown up by storms." 



Under the name of seaweed are included a large number of 

 plants which grow in the water on the coast and are found col- 

 lected on the shelving beaches or in inlets, or adhering to the 

 rocks covered by tide water. From their habit of growth, those 

 which grow upon the rocks between low and high water mark 

 are called rockweed. Others which grow in deeper water from 

 low water mark out to a depth of four or five fathoms and are 

 washed in by the tides are called driftweed or kelp. These 

 materials are valuable agricultural resources to farmers located 

 near tide water, but it is doubtful if the farmers along the coast 

 of Maine fully appreciate their value and utilize them to the 

 extent they should. They are used extensively on the coast of 

 France, Germany, Great Britain, Ireland and southern New 

 England and many fine farms owe their fertility almost wholly 

 to these materials. 



* Storer, Agriculture, Vol. II, p. 82. 



