214 
EXPERIMENTS WITH PEAT, FISH, POUDRETTE, AND ASHES. 
I shall omit at this time), on the subject of farming, 
and that in no one thing did they differ so materially 
as on that of employing laborers; he always em¬ 
ploying such as would lay up their wages, while his 
friend only such as would spend them between Sa¬ 
turday night and Monday morning. Subsequently 
to divulging such sentiments, his friend hired a man 
from the Green Mountains, in Vermont. He kept 
him on a few months, when the young man came to 
him one day, and said, “ I want to quit.” “ Why 
so ?” was the reply. No answer. “ Do you want 
more wages ?” “ That is not my reason for quitting.” 
“ I’ll double your wages if you will stay.” “ Sir,” 
said the young man, “ you cannot tempt me with 
money to labor with such an unprincipled set of eye 
servants as you have on your farm.” “ Now,” said 
the gentleman, “ I am fully satisfied with the cor¬ 
rectness of your practice, friend Hicks; but, from my 
education and habits, I never shall be able to adopt 
it.” Now, I apprehend the difference between these 
two individuals to be this: The one had been bred 
in principles that teach the doctrine of doing to 
others as they would have others do unto them, con¬ 
sidering, thereby, that laborers have their rights, and 
are entitled, not only to their wages, but to the coun¬ 
sel, friendship, and care of those who employ them, 
many of whom become as wise, as respectable, and as 
rich eventually as their employers ; while the other, 
having moved in a different circle, had spent much 
time in Europe, particularly at the Court of France, 
thereby imbibing, no doubt, the peculiar notions and 
sentiments of too many in Europe. These are, that 
the laboring-man is entitled to nothing more than a 
subsistence, to make him strong and healthy to do 
his work ; and that, as far as education is concerned, 
it is as entirely unnecessary for them as for the cat¬ 
tle which they drive. S. 
EXPERIMENTS WITH PEAT, FISH, POU¬ 
DRETTE, AND ASHES. 
By the bearer, I send you some of the peat (if it 
deserves that name) I spoke of, from three different 
ponds, marked 1, 2, and 3, according to convenience 
of getting. Can you tell me which is the most valu¬ 
able ? also, the comparative value with barn-yard 
manure and the best way of using it ? ( a ) 
Of No. 1, I dug about twenty loads last summer. 
One parcel I mixed with about one bushel lime to one 
load of mud, letting the moisture which was in the 
mud slack the lime. With another, the same as be¬ 
fore, with the addition in the course of the fall, of 1£ 
barrels of urine to 3 loads poured into the heap, by 
making holes with a crow-bar; another left in a heap 
to dry through the winter and pulverize with the frost, 
with nothing mixed. 
Some of each I have spread this spring upon my 
grass land ; as yet I can see no difference, it having 
been spread but a few weeks. I am also composting 
some now with my yard manure ; am also gathering 
a few ashes to try a compost of some with them. 
Will it pay to buy some nitrate of soda or saltpetre to 
put with it, if so, which is the best ? (6) Or can I 
make it a good manure without paying out much 
money ? If so, I can hope to induce my neighbors to 
make some use of it. 
As to the experiment I mentioned of trying last 
year with different manures, as it could not tell large 
profits I concluded it was thought contraband to pub¬ 
lish it, and have not now my exact minutes, but they 
would not vary much from the following. The lot 
on which I experimented was part of an old field that 
had been literally tilled to death, and then lain till the 
domestic grasses had almost entirely run out, and it 
was covered with bent grass, ferns, &c. I did not 
come into possession of it soon enough to plow but 
once. The soil is a sandy loam.—It was sown the 
first of September (c), the ashes and poudrette, with 
fish, were added, about the ihiddle of the same month, 
as I could not get the fish before. The portion was 
one-and-a-half acres. On half an acre, I put 50 
bushels leached ashes, cost with cartage, $7 ; on ano¬ 
ther, 4 barrels poudrette, cost the same; on the other, 
5,000 white-fish, cost $6.50. The part with fish 
grew the most vigorously, till near harvest, when it 
began to mildew and rust, and break down, so that 
though it gave abundance of straw, I got but about 
2 bushels of blasted grain from this ; so here I am 
minus $5, beside my labor. From the half acre with 
ashes, it differed but a few quarts from 6 bushels ; 
here again, beside labor, I was minus $2.50. This, 
though side by side with the other, was not blasted at 
all; the heads being very fair, though not two feet 
distant from the other, which was, as before said, 
wholly so. Can you tell me the reason, and how I 
can prevent it in future? On the last, with pou¬ 
drette, which was also fair, I got about 9 bushels. 
Here I am minus 25 cents and labor. The straw on 
both the ashed and poudrette (while the other was so 
rusty and mildewed), was very bright, without the 
least appearance of either. ( d ) 
I again sowed the whole on the first of September 
last, in order to test which manure would last the 
longest without putting on anything more. To-day, 
the parts on which I put the fish and ashes, look the 
most vigorous ; the results, however, must remain till 
harvest. Should 1 then find myself plus far enough, 
that I may not discourage others, I may, with your 
leave, venture to scribble again, and also propose 
some more queries. H. C. Sanford. 
Essex, Ct., May 15, 1845. 
(a) Nos. 1 and 2 are not what is known in this 
vicinity as peat, nor do they resemble any thing we 
ever met called by that name. They seem to be the 
roots of grass and aquatic plants, mixed with more or 
less pond mud. No. 2 has least of the pond mud, 
and is therefore the most valuable specimen. Nothing 
but a strict analysis could tell its comparative value 
with stable manure. The best way of using this 
vegetable matter (Nos. 1 and 2) is, first, put it into 
pig pens and the cattle yard, and mix it up with the 
manure. A compost made of equal parts of this and 
barn yard manure, would be nearly of the same value 
as the ordinary kind from stables. Second, compost 
it with unslacked lime, at the rate of ten bushels of 
the latter, to one cord of the former. Put a layer of 
the peat one foot deep, then a layer of lime, and so 
on, till the heap is made. Let it lie six months, then 
toss it over well, and it is fit for use. A dry time in 
autumn is the best season to lay up this compost, it 
will then be fit for use the following spring. Third, 
compost it with fish. Put a layer one foot deep, then 
a layer of fish 3 inches deep. When the pile is com¬ 
plete, cover it with 3 feet of the peat and muck. Let 
