ECONOMICAL GEOLOGY. 121 



Analysis of the Dried Fish. 



Litoe 8.670 



Magnesia .0.670 



Potash 1.545 



Soda 1.019 



Phosphoric acid '. 7.784 



Chlorine 678 



Silicic acid 1.333 



Organic matter and loss 78.301 



100.000 



Shell-fish for Manure. — There are great quantities of 

 mussels in the creeks and thoroughfares of the marshes. 

 They are usually attached to sods and roots in the banks, 

 entirely covering the surface of such objects. They could 

 be very easily and cheaply collected, by detaching them 

 from the sods, by the use of a sharp spade, and loading 

 them directly into boats. The animal matter and the 

 lime of their thin shells are both valuable for manure, and 

 could be advantageously used. 



The value of mussel beds for manure is given in an arti- 

 cle from Essex County, Mass., published in the " Country 

 Gentleman," Vol. 7, p. 155. " Thousands of cords of mussel 

 beds are annually taken from the bed of the streams bor- 

 dering on the sea, and used on grounds cultivated. I have 

 repeatedly witnessed the value of this fertilizer in the 

 growing of carrots and onions. The very best crops of 

 carrots I saw the last season, more than thirty-four tons to 

 the acre, had no other fertilizer applied to the land. For 

 the last thirty years I have known it applied to lands 6n 

 which onions have been grown, with a product varying 

 from three hundred to six hundred bushels to the acre. It 



