122 
l’HE CULTIVATOR. 
April. 
I presume the above estimates were principally based 
upon the amount of ammonia the urine of a cow would 
yield in a given time, and the present commercial value 
of ammonia, say at 12£ cents per lb. The commercial 
and agricultural value of a manure are two very diffe¬ 
rent things. The agricultural value of a manure would 
be very different, where wheat was worth two dollars a 
bushel, and where it was worth only thirty-five cents, 
the price at which wheat was selling at Geneseo, Ill., 
February 4th. 
But whether the estimates are correct or not, there 
can be no doubt the agricultural value of the urine of 
a cow, is but little understood by a great majority of 
farmers. 
There are farming sections in New-Hampshire where 
a cow can be wintered for twelve dollars, and pastured 
for three dollars ; just the value of the urine, according 
to Mr. F. and Gov. B. Consequently, if the urine of 
the cow could all be saved, the annual calf, the milk, 
and the solid manure, would all be clear profit, less the 
taxes and interest on the value of the cow. 
Most of the speakers at the meeting, strongly advo¬ 
cated the use of muck or some other absorbent, for sav¬ 
ing the urine of farm stock. As an absorbent, I prefer 
leaves and mold from the wood-lot; next, swamp muck. 
In the absence of these, saw-dust; even pine saw-dust, 
if no other was to be had, is better than nothing, as I 
will show by one who has used it for many years. 
A few weeks since, I received a letter from Simeon 
Abbot, Esq., a good farmer of West Concord, N. H. 
His letter is dated Jan. 13. He writes : 
“ It is sixteen years since I commenced using saw¬ 
dust and shavings as an absorbent, by littering the cat¬ 
tle, and wherever there is liquid manure, or wash from 
the barn, sink, or house, to prevent waste or loss. I 
do not think it is the best thing that can be used for 
this purpose, although it is good, and where it can be 
had for a trifling cost, and the distance Dot far to cart 
it, T am well persuaded it will pay the farmer for all 
toil and cost he may be at to procure it. I have used 
some years, as many as fifty cart-loads of pine shav¬ 
ings and saw-dust, (never having used hard wood,) 
without perceiving or detecting the least injury to the 
growing crops at the first application, or to succeeding 
crops years afterward. 
“ The first time I tried it, I put ten cart-loads under 
my cattle stalls in the fall, to absorb the liquid manure. 
My barn then stood three feet above the ground ; since 
then, I have raised it up seven feet, and have a cellar 
under the whole—a convenience every farmer, who can, 
should have. The next spring I found the saw-dust 
well saturated with the urine, and used it on land for 
Swedish turnips—the land the previous year was plant¬ 
ed with potatoes, without manure. On one part of the 
field I used hog manure, the same number of loads. I 
had a good crop of turnips, and did not see any differ¬ 
ence where I put hog manure or saw-dust. I have 
used it for potatoes at the rate of thirty loads to the 
acre, and also for corn, and can testify, that as far as 
I can judge. I have never perceived any injury to my 
crops from it.” 
Last year Mr. Abbot raised 180 bushels of sound 
corn on three acres of land, at a cost of thirteen cents 
per bushel. He used 25 loads of manure to the acre— 
30 bushels to the load. There was a good proportion 
of pine shavings and saw-dust mixed with the manure, 
well saturated with urine. He says : “ The manure is 
not considered so valuable as if some other material 
had been used as an absorbent; say peat, or muck, 
articles which I cannot obtain without too much cost.” 
I have freely used sawdust for bedding for my cat¬ 
tle, a number of years, keeping a portion of my stock 
in the hovel at night the year through. Pine, hem¬ 
lock and spruce sawdust I obtain at a shingle mill near 
my place, without pay. White oak sawdust I obtain 
at a gallon bottle factory—for this I pay 25 cents per 
cartload, drawing it about one mile. Of this I obtain 
12 or 15 cartloads each year; I should be glad to get 
60 loads at the same price. There are many farmers 
in this vicinity that use sawdust and turning shavings 
for littering their stables, hovels and hogpens 
The value of swamp muck for composting with ma¬ 
nure, is now pretty generally admitted on all hands. 
It is, when not too much impregnated with mineral 
acids and sulphates, rich in plant food. There is usually 
much labor required in digging, carting, and shovel¬ 
ling over the muck, &c. But it is generally thought to 
pay well for the labor. 
It would probably pay better to drain the swamps 
and cultivate these rich deposits of half decayed vege¬ 
table matter. Scores of experiments testify to the 
fertility and productiveness of these reclaimed lands— 
both on small and large scales. Of the last, Ex-Gov. 
Hammond of South Carolina is a striking example. 
Some ten years ago he forwarded to me a copy of a 
letter addressed to the Jefferson Co. (Ga.) Ag. Society. 
In this printed letter he gave the results of his experi¬ 
ments in the use of “ shell marl.” He usually applied 
from 100 to 200 bushels of marl per acre, containing 
60 per cent, of lime. But he did not depend upon 
marl alone to increase his crops and the fertility of his 
fields. He made use of immense quantities of swamp 
muck in composting with animal manures, using two 
of muck to one of manure. In the free use of marl 
and compost he greatly improved his fields and in¬ 
creased his crops. 
A few weeks since I addressed a letter to Gov. H., 
inquiring if he had for the past few years continued 
the use of marl and the composting of muck and ma¬ 
nure, as practiced at the date of his letter on marl. 
He very kindly and promptly replied. His letter is 
dated Washington, Jan. 24, and says:—“My experi¬ 
ments in muck manure were cut short in a singular 
manner. Opening the upland swamp3 near my fields 
to procure muck, I found the land in them so good that 
I changed my plan, and drained the swamps. To this 
I have devoted myself for several years past, and I 
have now some fifteen hunred acres drained, which is 
good for 60 bushels of corn per acre, and I have made 
a marvelous amount of cotton on it. I actually housed 
last year, over 62,000 bushels of corn, of which 37,000 
were made on fifty acres of upland and six hundred 
and fifty acres of the swamp, only two hundred and 
fifty acres of which were dry enough to bear plowing. 
“ I used while at it, perhaps, 500,000 bushels of muck. 
There is no doubt about it, it makes a first-rate ma¬ 
nure ; but it is very bulky. It will not pay for much 
manipulation, at least it will not with us here, where 
everything must be done on a large scale, and all pro¬ 
duce sold at wholesale prices.” 
What Gov. Hammond has done on a large scale, 
thousands of others can do on a more limited one, and 
thereby make their now useless swamps the most pro¬ 
ductive and profitable portions of their farms. Levi 
Bartlett. Warner , IV. H. 
