AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST 
FOR THE 
Farm, Grarden, and. House] told. 
“AGRICULTURE IS THE MOST HEALTHFUL, MOST USEFUL, AND MOST NOBLE EMPLOYMENT OF MAN —W ASHIXGTON. 
®BAME MB© & CO., ) ESTABLISHED IN 1842. ( 
PUBLISHERS AND PROPRIETORS. [■ . . „ 1 SINGLE NUMBER, Is CENTS. 
Office, 245 BROADWAY. ; Published also in German at i?1.50 a Year. ( 4Cox>iesfor $5 ; 10for$12; 20ormore, $leach. 
Entered according to Act of Congress in October, 1S69, by Orange Judd & Co., in the Clerk’s Office of the District Court of the United States for the Southern District of New-York. 
VOLUME XXVIII.—No. 11. 
NEW YORK, NOVEMBER, 1869. 
NEW SERIES—No. 274. 
BaBEVwr’iioir 
TOWING- SALT 
The salt marshes along the Atlantic coast are 
covered by a vegetation peculiar to such locali¬ 
ties. In some places the growth consists al¬ 
most exclusively of Cat-tails ( Typha ) and coarse, 
reedy grasses, i while .in others it presents 
the appearance of a fine level meadow. The 
grass will be found on examination to he very 
harsh and wiry, and more or less mixed witli 
fine rushes and other grass-like plants, and af¬ 
fords an abundance of hay, which, though not 
good food for animals, is still of considerable 
value. Those who have farms within a few 
miles of the coast generally own a tract of this 
marsh land, which is bought and sold as a part 
[COPYRIGHT SECURED.] 
H A Y .—Drawn BY Granville Perrins. — Engraved for the American Agriculturist 
of the farm. The mowing is done by hand, 
and the hay, when dry, is made into cocks, and 
left until it can be removed. When the marsh is 
so located that loaded wagons can go upon 
it after the ground is frozen, the hay is hauled 
off in winter. In other places the salt meadows 
are accessible only by boats, and in this case the 
hay is brought away by water. Our artist, who 
was down in the marshes of Ocean Co., N. J., 
last season, has given us a sketch of this man¬ 
ner of taking home the hay. Large scows are 
freighted with enormous loads, and these are 
towed by means of sail-boats. The neighbors 
help one another in this matter, and there will 
often be five or six or even a dozen in a line. 
Salt hay, by its elasticity, is particularly adapted 
to the covering of such crops as requite winter 
protection, and is largely used as a mulch for 
small fruits and those vegetables that are left in 
the ground over winter. Large quantities aie 
used in packing glass, etc. The chief consump¬ 
tion is in bedding for horses and cattle, and after 
being used thus, it finds its way to the manure 
heap! Though slow to decay when exposed to 
the weather, it decomposes rapidly in contact 
with fermenting manure, and adds a laige 
amount of vegetable matter to the compost, while 
it does not introduce any troublesome weeds. 
