1863.] 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
23H 
acre, is a reclaimed swamp, and the manure was 
simply dried muck and fish pomace at the rate 
of not over five dollars to the acre. We have 
repeatedly tried stable manure composted with 
muck, upon the same meadow, with similar re- 
sults. The popular faith that it is best for gra- 
velly soils, is undoubtedly correct, but it is about 
good enough, when composted, for even re- 
claimed muck swamps. And this fact is not 
without its analogies. It is well known, that 
soils made up in part from lime rock, are much 
benefitted by applications of lime; and granite 
soils which are supposed to be rich in potash 
tenia the decomposed feldspar, show at once the 
effects of wood ashes. 
The muck is ameliorated by the manure or 
ashes with which we have mixed it, and it 
shows its good effects upon the grass in a pow- 
erful manner. After using muck for ten years 
and more, we should hardly know how to farm 
on old soils without it. The present is the best 
season in the whole year to dig it. The swamps 
are now, many of them, without water enough 
to be troublesome, and the water is so warm, 
that one can stand in it barefooted all day with- 
out danger of taking cold. Then the warm 
season is much the best for curing the muck. 
When thrown out upon the hank of a ditch, 
it is drained of its superfluous water at once, 
and is heated in the sun. The outside of the 
heap very soon becomes as dry as powder and 
much finer than common soil. In this dry con- 
dition it is benefitted by the fall rains and the 
winter frosts, if it lies on the bank, and still 
more benefitted, if it is carried to the yards and 
stables. It is one of the best deodorizers for 
sink drains, privy vaults, and barn cellars, and 
a farmer should always keep a good supply on 
hand, and, if possible, have it sheltered ready for 
use. There is a great difference in the value of 
muck, owing to the trees and shrubs from the 
decay of which it is composed. But the im- 
mediate effects of it upon crops is still more de- 
termined by the condition in which it is applied 
to land. This summer curing before it goes 
to the compost heap, or the stables, we regard 
as very important. Without attempting to ac- 
count for the philosophy of the fact, it doss un- 
dergo a very rapid change in hot weather, and 
becomes much more available for plant food in 
the compost heap. If it is to be in the com- 
post heap six months or a year before using, the 
summer exposure is of less importance. Muck 
digging ought to have a regular place in the 
yearly routine of labor. On the whole we have 
never found any farm operation to pay quite so 
well. Connecticut. 
— < — «•»— . ^m 
How About the Compost Heap ? 
In this season when the garden is teeming 
with vegetation, are you accumulating materials 
to meet next year's demands? We all know in 
what request manure is in the Spring, and pro- 
visions should he made for it now. The garden 
furnishes a large amount of refuse matter which 
should go on to the compost heap. An oc- 
casional load of stable manure may be added, 
and alternate strata of green vegetable matter 
and manure may be built up throughout the 
season. Every privy should have its vault so 
arranged as to be perfectly accessible for re- 
moving or adding to its contents. An oc- 
casional addition of muck and plaster or cop- 
peras (sulphate of iron) will completely deodor- 
ize the contents and make a highy valuable 
fertilizers. Do not forget the hen house in the 
summer season. A few shovelfuls of soil will 
make the hen roost more comfortable for its in- 
mates and assist in forming a manure equal in 
value to guano. It is better to save and accu- 
mulate manures now, than to be short and ob- 
liged to buy when the need is felt next Spring. 
Fish for Manure. 
It is a query whether fish are turned to their 
greatest possible account as manure. It would 
seem that by good management they might be 
made to fertilize a large part of the barren sands 
which line the sea-shore. And what more just 
than that the sea should render back some of 
the fertility which has been washed into it from 
the land. As Prof. Johnson happily remarks, 
" Guano is an iudirect contribution of the ocean 
to Agriculture. The sea-fowl manufacture it 
from the fish with which the sea is everywhere 
teeming." — Analysis shows that fish abound in 
nitrogenous and phosphatic elements; and ex- 
perience shows that they are very useful in 
bringing up lands otherwise quite unfertile. 
Indeed, we have known farmers to cart them 
fifteen or twenty miles distant from tide water, 
and to find the labor remunerative. Yet the 
slovenly practice of spreading fish on the sur- 
face of land or imperfectly covering it for the 
benefit of growing crops, is one to be con- 
demned. It is wasteful, and exceedingly offen- 
sive, if not unhealthy to all the region filled with 
the foul effluvia. 
But fish, in a crude state, can not be handled 
or carried many clays in warm weather; they 
soon corrupt. Some method must be devised 
for curing and putting them into some concen- 
trated and portable form. This was done some 
years ago in France and in England, and an ar- 
ticle was produced which was reported to be as 
valuable as guano. Not long after, a similar 
article was manufactured in this country, at 
New-Haven, Conn., Bristol, Rhode-Island, and 
in New-Jersey, which was styled "Fish Guano," 
and which has become popular with those who 
have used it. Of the precise mode of preparing 
it for market, we know only a little. The fish 
used for the purpose are chiefly the Moss Bunk- 
ers or Menhaden (Clupea Menhaideri), which are 
boiled or steamed, and thus reduced to a soft 
mass of flesh and bones. This mass, we are 
told, is now " chemically treated," then dried, 
thoroughly baked, and ground to a coarse pow- 
der. Possibly, the "chemical treatment" is 
only the application of sulphuric acid. This 
makes a powerful fertilizer. Another and less 
potent agent is made by mixing the boiled fish 
with some absorbent, like dry peat or street 
sweepings, and then drying it. This has great- 
er bulk, and is called " Fish Compost." 
But where neither of these prepared fertil- 
izers are in market and at a reasonable price, 
we would advise seaboard farmers to use all the 
fish they can get, in their own way. They can 
profitably be laid up with muck in heaps, to de- 
cay. A barrel of fish composted with muck 
or loam will make a rich dressing for any crop. 
Lessons of the Drouth. 
How often have farmers read of the import- 
ance of draining, deep plowing, thorough pul- 
verization of the soil, and other elements of 
good husbandry ! And they have said to them- 
selves, this is very good theory, and it is very 
well for others to practise, but my laud don't 
need such fussing over. Yet, almost every year, 
i in time of drouth, we hear them wqnder why 
their corn rolls up its leaves so much worse 
than that of more careful farmers, and why 
most of their crops dry so badly in mid-sum- 
mer. Has not this been the experience of some 
the present year? They complain bitterly of 
the season, of Providence, of everything ex- 
cept their own management. Now and then 
they visit other farms where the land is well 
drained, where sub-soil plows are owned and 
used, where the manure heap is constantly build- 
ing and no part of it suffered to waste, and 
where all the farm implements are kept bright 
by use; and here they find the crops almost 
unaffected by drouth. Their eyes are opened a 
little, and they begin to see that there is some- 
thing in thorough farming, possibly in book 
farming. We have no doubt that an inch or 
two deeper in plowing often repays the farmer 
a hundred or more dollars annually, in the crops 
saved from drouth, or increased in amount. 
Corn Raising in Illinois. 
— • 
In the June number of the American Agricul- 
turist, page 173, I find an article on the cost of 
raising corn in Connecticut. The writer says 
he raised last year on twenty-three acres, 1000 
bushels amounting at $1 a bushel, to $1000. 
The expenses according to his estimate were 
$509.25, leaving a profit of $400.75. He says at 
the close, " Let Western farmers beat it, if they 
can." I will give what it costs me to raise 24 
acre's, and farmers here say it is a fair estimate. 
12 days Plowing hind at $2 $24 
2 days Marking at $2 4 
2 days Planting, man, boy and team, at $2X. 5 
Seed Corn 2 
3 days Harrowing Coin, at $2 fi 
12 days Plowing Corn, at $2X 30 
Interest on Land ■ 20 
Total cost $91 
By 1,440 bushels Corn, at 30c .$432 
Net profit on Crop $341 
A man will plow two acres a day easily ; and 
with the markers we have, will mark 12 acres. 
The planting is done with a machine — a man 
to drive and boy to drop. I estimate the wages 
of the man and team at $3, and the boy at half 
a dollar. Twelve acres is the lowest number 
planted a day. The harrowing is done as soon 
as the corn comes up (the front tooth of the har- 
row being knocked out). No harrowing is done 
before, as the plowing leaves the ground in 
good order. Plow the corn four times with 
double shovel plows, one horse to each plow. 
I hire a man and a boy, and after paying the 
man and boy there is enough left of the $30 to 
pay for the use of the team. I count GO bush- 
els to the acre; as once harrowing and four 
times plowing will make it, 80 being frequently 
raised. If corn is worth $1 in Connecticut, it is 
certainly worth 30 cents here. I do not esti- 
mate the gathering, as it is not counted in the 
report from Connecticut. My corn is worth 
40c. to me to feed, but I have put the value at 
the lowest figures — the estimated value in the 
article referred to was at the highest. The ground 
is rich enough without manuring, and hoeing 
does not pay here. Mr. Dickerman expends 
$599.25 to make $400.75. I use $91 to make 
$341, or $485, if I count it at 40 cents, which 
would be right, if a dollar is right for him. 
Mercer County, III. H. S. SenTEB. 
— . m «-» 
True Nobility. — The day laborer who earns, 
with horny hand and the sweat of his brow, 
coarse food for a wife and children whom he 
loves, is raised by this generous motive to true 
dignity; and though lacking the refinements of 
Jife, is a nobler being than he who thiuks 
himself absolved by wealth from serving others. 
