AMERICAN? AG-RICULTURIST. 
149 
labor, in the months of May, June arid July, 
must be cherished. If a mowing machim 
will cut the grass as well and cheaply as tin 
scythe, we should say of it as Patrick Henry 
did of the war—“ Let it come;” because it 
eases the severity of the summer labor. 
But more is to be expected. It will do the 
work cheaper and better, after a few more 
such years as the past has been, for improv¬ 
ing the machines. It probably does it cheap¬ 
er already. At least such is the opinion of 
many who have u-ed it; and not a few who 
Stave tried it two or three years, declare that 
although a good mower will excel it in the 
goodness of the work, yet it already does 
its work better than the majority of such 
hands as can be hired.-r-J. A. N., in New- 
England Farmer. 
MARSH MUD. 
• This article abounds all along our sea 
coast, and has not yet attracted a tithe of 
fehe attention which its importance demands. 
It is a valuable manure, and where it can be 
had for the gathering it will pay to cart it 
miles inland. To the shore farmer it is one 
of his cheapest sources of manure. We 
have used hundred of loads of it the last 
three years, and it lias never failed to pro¬ 
duce excellent crops. It is good spread 
upon the land, and plowed in immediately. 
It is still better spread in the fall, and plowed 
under in the spring. The action of the frost 
upon it during the winter aids the decompo¬ 
sition of its insoluble gein. In several 
analyses of marsh mud that have come un¬ 
der our notice, it is shown to be made up of 
organic matter, silica, alumnia, oxide of iron, 
lime, magnesia, soluble salts and sulphuretted 
hydrogen. Its quality differs greatly in dif¬ 
ferent localities in the same bay or creek 
This appears on a very slight examination. 
Some samples have 80 per cent, of sand, 
while others have not 50. Where the sand 
predominates it should be put upon low, 
black, loamy soils. Other localities furnish 
a mud with 15 or 20 per cent, of vegetable 
matter. This is the most valuable, and of¬ 
ten gives astonishing results when spread 
upon gravelly and sandy loams. In our ex¬ 
perience we have found this a very valuable 
dressing for fruit trees and shrubs. Our 
largest growth of pears, whether upon 
quince or native stock, is upon soil made 
principally of marsh mud. Three to four feet 
of wood in a season is no uncommon growth 
in this portion of our garden. The rasp¬ 
berry, the strawberry and the pie-plant, all 
flourish admirably in this soil. We can rec¬ 
ommend this article to all farmers and gar¬ 
deners living near the shore, as a valuable 
help to their operations. Large quantities of 
it are frequently raised by steam mud-diggers 
in our seaports, to make the water deeper in 
the docks. This will pay for carting to any 
of the gardens within a mile of the landing 
place. 
If a farmer owns a landing on tide water, 
or can have the use of one, it will be good 
economy for him to purchase a scow, and 
the necessary tools for raising this mud, and 
landing it. Combined effort and capital, in 
a neighborhood of shore farmers, would 
probably be the best economy. Large quan¬ 
tities of it might be raised at seasons of the 
year when farm work is not pressing, and it 
might be carted on to the fields in the winter. 
If any of our farmers have doubts of the 
value of this article, let him spread a load 
on his grass and note the result. Let him 
also put a load on two square rods of ground, 
and spade it in, and plant it with potatoes— 
comparing the result with two square rods 
cropped with potatoes, without any ma¬ 
nure. A few loads may also be forked-in 
under his fruit trees. A few simple experi¬ 
ments of this kind will test its value,and we 
think lead to its more general use.— Ed. 
SPARE THE QUAILS. 
We cannot too strongly impress upon the 
minds of Northern farmers, the propriety of 
making some suitable provision for the pres¬ 
ervation of this domestic little game-bird, 
during the severity of winter. The necessi¬ 
ty for such a step has repeatedly presented 
itself to us during the late long continued se¬ 
vere cold, whenever we have passed through 
the market of our city and have seen the 
vast quantities of game of all kinds, and 
especially of quail, which remain unsold, 
although offered at a very low price. Every 
farmer is acquainted with this bird, though 
few are aware of their usefulness in ridding 
the land of noxious plants, such as thistles, 
docks, &c. During the early summer,before 
any grain is matured, this little bird is to be 
*seen, gleaning its lood from among the 
weeds fast ripening along with the crops, 
and which would otherwise prove a source 
of incalculable annoyance. 
When we consider that each full-grown 
bird consumes a gill of seed a day, we can 
imagine of how much service they in reality 
are. Audubon, the great Ornithologist of 
America, conclusively proves their useful¬ 
ness to the husbandman. The sportsman 
well know that it is useless to beat for quail 
in a country overgrown with weeds. How 
much then does it behoove farmers to 
make some protection for so useful a bird, 
when they are unable to provide for them¬ 
selves, and are beset on all sides by the 
snares and trap-guns of the rascally poacher. 
It is lamentable to witness the reckless and 
open infringements of the already too lenient 
game laws, and to see the vast quantities of 
game so wantonly destroyed, not to be sold, 
but thrown away for want of purchasers. 
These remarks are made not with any 
hope of preserving quail for this season, but 
with a desire to induce our readers to 
further aid, by all means in their power, the 
increase of a bird so useful as this—useful 
not only in their fields, but also for the 
amusement it affords to the sportsman at the 
proper season, and also as an article of food. 
In the past winter the mischief has been 
done—henceforth let it be shown what we 
can do to remedy it and prevent its recur¬ 
rence.—E d. 
The Philadelphia Ledger says that the 
$15,000, the sum required to be raisd to se¬ 
cure the exhibition of the National Agricul¬ 
tural Society for that city, has been contrib¬ 
uted. 
DEAD LAMBS, ARE THEY ORNAMENTAL? 
Editor American Agriculturist: 
Sik : In riding a week since through a 
part of one of the northern States (which 
shall be nameless), I noticed dead lambs 
hanging on the top rails and to the stakes of 
fences, and also to the limbs of trees, more 
especially apple and peach trees near the 
houses. 
Can you tell me why this is done 1 One 
of my friends suggested that they were hung 
up as an ornament; another stated that they 
were signs to advertise the traveling public t 
that they bred sheep there ; while another 
was of the opinion that it was to perfume the 
atmosphere, and scare off the scarlet and 
other fevers, the whooping cough, measles, 
and any other disease at the time prevalent 
in the neighborhood. 
Having been born and brought up in the 
city of New-York, I am entirely ignorant of 
all such rural matters; but on reflection, I 
am inclined to class these dead lambs with 
the dead cats and dogs which are occasion¬ 
ally set up as ornaments in our streets, and 
as perfumery for the neighborhood. I should 
suppose they would be much better for the 
manure heap, and were well worth the 
trouble of cutting up and composting them, 
as well as all other dead animals; but hav¬ 
ing as I before said no knowledge on this 
subject, I advance the opinion with great 
diffidence. Will you, Mr. Editor, be so kind 
as to oblige me with correct information on 
this matter 1 A. Citizen. 
We beg to be excused. Somebody please 
answer “ Citizen.” Do !— Ed. 
LICORICE-WILL IT GROW IN NEW-ENG 1 
LAND ? 
[Some half-a-dozen or more have asked 
our opinion of the feasibility of growing lic¬ 
orice in this country. Having no experience 
in the matter we have made several inquiries. 
Our first answer is from Dr. Asa M. Holt, 
which will serve in part as a reply to those 
who have addressed letters to us on the sub¬ 
ject, since all but one of them are from New 
England.— Ed.] 
East Haddam, Ct., March 18, 1850. 
As you expressed a wish to have the re¬ 
sult of the experiments which I made 
sometime since, in the cultivation of licorice , 
I very cheerfully tell you the story as fol¬ 
lows : 
I was fond of licorice from my childhood, 
and I valued it also as a medicine, and I un¬ 
derstood that it grew abundantly in the south 
of Europe, and that in Italy it was a pest 
which it was difficult to eradicate from their 
gardens. So after I had received my medi¬ 
cal diploma and settled in the world with my 
family, and commenced the cultivation of a 
garden, I thought myself fortunate in obtain¬ 
ing through the kind agency of a distinguish¬ 
ed Botanical friend, a small stock of the lic¬ 
orice plant, (the Glycyrrhiza glabra of the 
books.) 
I set it out in a spot of sandy loam, in my 
garden, where the soil was neither very wet 
nor very dry. I watched it in this place with a 
great deal of interest, and cultivated it with 
