April, 1859. 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
105 
Manuring with Mud. 
As it is difficult for many farmers to obtain all 
the barn-yard manure they need, it is well for ! 
them to be on the look-out for every other means 
of fertilization within their reach. Many live in 
the neighborhood of ca 
nals, ponds, and sluice 
ways, where the large 
annual deposit of mud, 
and various refuse, is 
cleared out every Spring 
and left lying on the 
banks unused. This mud 
may serve an excellent 
purpose. If farmers 
should cart it home, at 
their leisure, and let it 
lie in broad heaps ex¬ 
posed to the air and frost, 
and give it also a few 
coatings of lime to sweet¬ 
en it, and a few turnings 
over to mix it well, it 
would make, in a few 
months, an excellent fer¬ 
tilizer. And why not use 
it, also, in making the 
compost heap! Carta 
pile of it into the barn¬ 
yard, near the port-holes 
of the stables, and then 
stack it up in alternate 
layers with the dung, as 
fast as that accumulates. 
As a top-dressing for 
grass, it is a very valua¬ 
ble fertilizer. Sandy 
soHs treated with it 
show an immediate and 
decided improvement. 
Muscle-beds, found in 
the banks of rivers emp¬ 
tying into the sea, make 
an excellent manure. 
'They are usually dug in 
the winter season, heap¬ 
ed up on the shore, and 
then carted to the fields 
when wanted. Like the 
mud and vegetable de¬ 
posits of canals, they 
need exposure to the ac¬ 
tion of frost before using. 
Sea-weed and kelp 
may also be mentioned 
here, thousands of loads 
of which are often 
thrown on the shore in 
a single storm. These 
articles need only to be 
collected and piled in 
heaps for a short time, 
when they may be ap¬ 
plied to the land and 
plowed under. Like 
many other sea-side 
farms, Danl. Webster’s 
land at Marshfield was 
greatly benefited by this 
treatment. And we 
might here add fish to the list of manures, if we 
had not already got too far away from the “ mud ” 
with which we started. Every farmer, with his 
eyes open, can find in his own neighborhood some 
means of increasing the fertility of his land. 
Burning Sods and Weeds for Manure. 
To the Editor of the American Agriculturist: 
The cheapest manure I ever used for fruit 
trees, blackberries, raspberries, potatoes, and 
most kinds of garden vegetables, is obtained in the 
HOMEOPATHY. 
The Soil Doci-ons, having read in the Eighteenth Book of Chronicles (see page 68), concerning the troubles of 
Farmer Thomas, hasten to pay him a visit. Mr. “ Chilian Guano” having first arrived, departeth in a rage, on re¬ 
ceiving a stern rebuff from Thomas, w ho saw a callage in the bag upon his back.Our picture sheweth the per¬ 
plexity of Farmer Thomas at the conflicting theories of those who have each an infallible cure for his sick land—from 
the brains whereof groweth only thistles and coarse grasses . . The “ Patent Manure ” agent sheweth conclusively 
that one bushel per acre of his medicine (f teaspoon full to a square yard) will prove an infallible cure for all diseases 
of soils.The “ Mineral Manure ” man sheweth conclusively, that only an infinitessimal quantity of mineral matter 
is wanted to render any soil immensely and infallibly vigorous and productive. He carrieth in his vest pocket amply 
enough for a ten-acre field, and in the casket upon his back enough to supply a whole State.The Super-phos- 
pliate man sheweth conclusively that the others are all wrong, and that phosphoric acid only is wanting in any dis¬ 
eased soil. He proved beyond the possibility of contradiction, that an infinitesimal amount of burned bones dissolv¬ 
ed in acid, is the medicine, and the only medicine needed.But Thomas still doubteth 
ALLOPATHY. 
Farmer John hath certain notions of his own in regard to medicines for his family, but whatever these may be, 
he holdeth fast to the old fashioned All-o-path-ic treatment for sick land. He believeth particularly in stimulating the 
iand with large doses of organic manures, and strenuously contendeth that thirty loads per acre of barn-yard manure 
w ell mixed with muck, is the best of all medicines for a weak, emaciated soil; and Farmer John’s experience conjirmeth 
his theory 
following manner. I plow up the sides of the 
road or any other place where there is turf to 
spare, and after letting it dry a few days, start a 
fire of roots, stumps, rotten wood, brush, or any 
other suitable waste material, and after it gets 
well to burning, pile on the turf, keeping the fire 
from breaking out by adding more turf when it is 
needed. As soon as one heap gets well to burn¬ 
ing, I begin another, and so on. 
After the ground is plowed, a man can easily 
make from one to two hundred bushels per day 
I find this an excellent 
way to dispose of weeds 
and bushes with which 
the roadside is often in¬ 
fested ; and the manure 
obtained is of so good 
quality, that I am quite 
sure, no one who has 
once tried this method, 
will trouble himself to 
go a great distance for 
unleached ashes, or for 
any other kind of alkaline 
fertilizers. H. L. C. 
St. Lawrence Co., N. Y, 
Remarks .—Weeds 
should never be allowed 
to go to seed, but if this 
has been done, by all 
means destroy the seeds. 
Burning sods furnishes a 
supply of ashes for cold 
sour land—but usually 
vegetable matter like 
turf is a better manure 
before than after burning. 
It frequently happen 
that in clearing an 
draining swamp lands, 
there is a deposit two or 
three feet in depth, con¬ 
sisting ofdecayed leaves 
mixed with soil, and al¬ 
so more or less of half- 
rotted logs and brush. 
If the whole mass were 
burned as it lies there 
would be little left but 
ashes and the underlying 
clay or hard pan. It is 
necessary to burn the 
bulk of the timber and 
brush while the soil is 
saturated with water. 
After this is done, it will 
often pay to plow up the 
muck deposit when dry, 
and cart off'all the coarse 
material, and also a part 
of the muck itself, and 
burn the mass. This will 
furnish a large quantity 
of alkaline ashes which 
may then he carried back 
and spread over the sur¬ 
face. These will sweet¬ 
en the remaining muck, 
and assist its decompos¬ 
ition. It will then be ad¬ 
mirably fitted for culti¬ 
vation, and produce 
heavy crops of turnips 
or grass, corn, etc. If 
by such a process the 
depth of the muck soil be 
reduced to a foot or so, and afterwards an inch or 
two of the more compact subsoil be annually 
plowed up and mixed w’ith the surface, there will 
eventually be produced one of the most valuable 
soils that could be possibly obtained, as it will 
