1849. 
THE CULTIVATOR. 
11 
mates one load of it to be equal, in the power of pro¬ 
duction it imparts to the land, to three loads of ordinary 
farm-yard manure. It gives me pleasure to add, in 
this place, an extract from a letter just received from 
J. P. Norton, Esq., professor of Agricultural Chemis¬ 
try in Yale College, in answer to some inquiries of 
mine as to the nature and constituent parts of this sea¬ 
weed, and it will readily be seen from his description, 
why this substance is so valuable to the farmers on the 
sea-coast: 
u The name kelp does not, as I understand it, apply 
to any particular kind or class of sea-weeds, but to the 
ash which is left when they are burned. This ash was 
formerly made in great quantities, on the northern 
coast of Scotland, for the purpose of glass making, and 
sold often under the Spanish name of ‘barilla. 7 Carbonate 
of soda is now so cheap that the kelp is chiefly applied 
to the land, and for this purpose brings £3 (about $15,) 
per ton. It contains a large proportion of the alkalies, 
potash and soda, much sulphuric acid, and generally a 
good proportion of phosphates; also, of course, com¬ 
mon salt. It is therefore a very valuable manure. 
The organic part contains much nitrogen, besides a 
species of mucilage, and, in some varieties, a kind of 
sugar. In the Lotbians of Scotland, a right of way to 
to the sea-coast to gather sea-weed., increases the rental 
of a farm, to the extent of five or six dollars per acre. 77 
The particular substance which Mr. Webster calls 
kelp, is a plant growing in shallow water and rooting 
upon the stones, the stalk being four to five feet long, 
with a long and broad leaf. It is a very gummy plant, 
of a greenish appearance. A strong wind, blowing 
from the eastward, drives great quantities of it on to 
the beach, depositing it in large winrows at high water 
mark. Immediately after one of these blows, all the 
force of the farm, of men and teams, is set at work in 
hauling it to the uplands. It is spread directly from 
the eart, and mostly plowed under the soil, for hoed 
crops, without any delay. But when taken at intervals 
inconvenient and unseasonable for turning under for 
this purpose, it is either spread as a top dressing on 
the mowings, or used in fertilizing the pastures. Its 
best effects are realised when plowed in for hoed crops. 
It is necessary to secure the kelp very soon after it 
is deposited on the beach; for if left in a pile, a pow¬ 
erful fermentation commences, and the next high water 
carries it out beyond reach. There is no particular 
rule observed as to the quantity used, the ground being 
covered with as much as can be turned under, by the 
plow. A short time previous to my visit at Marsh¬ 
field, there had been one of these heavy easterly winds, 
and the kelp thrown on shore had been carted to a field 
of several acres of sward-land, and plowed immediate¬ 
ly under the sod. Several teams were engaged in 
hauling it from the beach, and others in plowing it in; 
all hands working with all their might, and Mr. 
Webster as much engaged in the matter as any body. 
The field is intended for corn next season. 
The Crops. —Mr. Webster goes largely into the 
cultivation of the various root crops. His potatoes, of 
of the Pinkeye and Mercer varieties, are as fine as I 
have seen for years. They are very smooth and fair, 
and have grown to a large size, without any indica¬ 
tions of disease. In fact, I w T as informed that they are 
not affected with the rot, when planted on his light, 
loamy soils, and manured with the kelp. It is an ad¬ 
mirable dressing for the potato; possessing great pow¬ 
er as a fertilizer, without any tendency to produce the 
fatal disease which is of late years always sure to at¬ 
tack this root when heavily dressed with animal ma¬ 
nure. 
A field of turneps, of ten or twelve acres, and ad¬ 
joining it, five or six acres of mangel wurtzel and su¬ 
gar beets, were noticed. Here again the advantage of 
the kelp, as a dressing for these succulent crops, was 
at once apparent, not only in the luxuriant growth im¬ 
parted to them, but also in the entire absence of all 
weeds from the soil; for, unlike manures from farm- 
stock, the material taken from the sea, brings with it 
no w T eeds to the soil, and the labor of cultivation is 
therefore materially lessened. 
The corn crop is good, averaging, I should judge, 
over 60 bushels per acre. The crop of hay is abun¬ 
dant, the season having been most favorable for grass, 
and over 200 tons of upland hay have been gathered 
into the barns. I noticed that a good deal of grass is 
cut here, called 11 black grass, 77 which grows on the 
margins, between the uplands and salt marshes, and is 
highly esteemed as forage for the stock. I was inform¬ 
ed that it does not flourish in any other locality. The 
marshes yield a heavy burden of hay, and some of it 
makes very fair winter fodder, but the most of it is 
profusely used in bedding the stock and littering the 
yards and sheds during the winter. The barns are full; 
and an abundance of the requisite materials is at hand, 
for carrying the numerous stock through the foddering 
season, in fine condition. 
In closing this communication, it gives me pleasure 
to remark, that the importance and the improvements 
of agriculture have, from early college days, been a fa¬ 
vorite subject with Mr. Webster ; and he has ever, 
both by precept and example, shown that he regards 
the cultivation of the soil as the highest and most en¬ 
nobling employment of man. 
Hear his own remarks in this connection:— 
11 Agriculture feeds us; to a great extent it clothes 
us; without it we could not have manufactures, and 
we should not have commerce. These all stand toge¬ 
ther, but they stand together like pillars in a cluster, 
the largest in the centre, and that largest is agricul¬ 
ture. Let us remember too, that we live in a country 
of small farms, and freehold tenements; in a country 
in which men cultivate with their own hands, their 
own fee simple acres; drawing not only their subsist¬ 
ence, but also their spirit of independence and manly 
freedom from the ground they plow. They are at once 
its owners, its cultivators and its defenders. And 
whatever else may be undervalued, or overlooked, let 
us never forget that the cultivation of the earth is the 
most important labor of man. Man may be civilized, 
in some degree, without great progress in manufactures, 
and with little commerce with his distant neighbors. 
But without the cultivation of the earth he is in all 
countries, a savage. Until he stops from the chase, 
and fixes himself in some place, and seeks a living from 
the earth, he is a roaming barbarian. When tillage 
begins, other arts follow. The farmers, therefore, are 
the founders of human civilization. 77 
We often hear the clamor of ‘ book-farming, 7 1 gen¬ 
tlemen farmers, 7 &c., &c., raised against the men of 
wealth, or of gifted mind, who engage in farming, 
from a natural taste that way, and a desire to promote 
improvements. It usually proceeds from ignorance or 
a narrow mind. No man of sense or intelligence ever 
joins in this clamor; keeping his own operations within 
the limits of his means, he is readily convinced upon 
reflection, that to this same class of citizens, agricul¬ 
ture has been largely indebted, in all countries and in 
all ages. F. Holbrook. 
Brattleboro , 7 Vt., Nov. 24, 1848. 
Ashes on Grass. —S. R. Gray, of Salem, N. Y. 
sowed in the autumn of 1845, 25 bushels of unleached 
ashes on two acres of meadow, on a western hill-side, 
which had been mown for thirty years. The crop of 
hay was increased from half a ton per acre to a ton, 
and the second year to a ton and a quarter. 
