122 ECONOMICAL GEOLOGY. 



sells, delivered several miles from where it is dug, at four 

 or five dollars the cord. It is usually gathered in the 

 winter months, taken to the shore in scows or gondolas, 

 and thence to the fields where it is to be used. Sometimes 

 it is laid in a pile of several cords together, and, after it 

 has been exposed to the frosts of winter, distributed from 

 four to eight cords to the acre. At other times it is laid 

 out in heaps of a few bushels only, which remain for a 

 time exposed to the frost. What is the chemical effect of 

 this exposure I am not advised, but it is generally under- 

 stood to be improved by being thus exposed before it is 

 used. 



"Mussels and star fish (five fingers)," says a writer in 

 the " Agricultural Gazette," " have long been an established 

 manure in the neighborhood of Faversham, Kent. They 

 are procured by dredging. The mussels sell at sixteen 

 shillings sterling per wagon, and five fingers at twenty- 

 one shillings." 



Marsh mud. — The mud exposed in the banks of the 

 creeks, and also that which is deposited on the marshes 

 by the tide, has long been known to possess fertilizing 

 properties, and has been used to a limited extent as a 

 manure. 



The mud has been used very successfully by Mr. E. C. 

 Holmes. He has had it dug out and exposed to the frost 

 for one, or sometimes for two winters, so that it might be 

 slacked down fine, and the salt leached out by the rains. 

 He uses it in compost with lime — one bushel of stone lime 

 to twenty of mud; also composted with barn-yard manure. 

 Its effects have been tested on wheat, corn, and grass, to 



