118 
THE CULTIVATOR. 
throughout a course of cropping.* Sixteen single-horse cart-loads 
per acre, are indeed, said to have produced comparatively as good a 
crop as twelve of farm-yard dung.f 
By this plan, one ton of dung will ferment three tons of peat, and 
wherever moss is only two or three miles distant from the farm, this 
mode of raising manure can be confidently recommended as a great 
acquisition. His Lordship also tried various experiments on the mix¬ 
ture of animal matter—such as refuse fish, whale blubber, and the 
scourings of the shambles—with peat, without the addition of any 
other substance, and found that, in the course of about nine months, 
a compost formed of one ton of animal substance and 10 or 12 tons 
of peat, produced a compost of superior power to that composed with 
dung. He, however, states, that peat prepared with lime alone is 
not capable of being decomposed when collected in a heap, and has 
consequently not been found to answer as a good manure; which 
opinion he supports upon chemical principles, which we need not 
now discuss, as experience proves that he is mistaken ; for not only 
does peat, when compounded wth a small quantity of lime, obvious¬ 
ly undergo tha putrid fermentation, but it is well known to many 
farmers that such composts form excellent dressings, particularly 
for grass-lands. In corroboration of which, there is an experi¬ 
ment recorded by the Manchester Agricultural Society, stating that 
“A compost of 119 tons of peat moss and lime having been laid up¬ 
on five acres of a poor sandy soil, and harrowed in with oats, an 
equal quantity of the same compost was laid upon five acres of thin, 
poor clayey soil, and harrowed in with the seed, which was likewise 
oats. The crop upon the sandy field was uncommonly heavy ; that 
on the clay land, though inferior, was, however, very abundant, con¬ 
sidering the state of the soil previously to the application of the com¬ 
post.” 
To this may be added, that lime will operate in composts when 
used upon land which has been previously exhausted by the applica¬ 
tion of lime and marl, although it may have failed to act when used 
by itself; but it is only upon the varieties of deep argillaceous soils 
that it can be used with advantage. It is, indeed, generally suppos¬ 
ed that the power of the compost will be increased if animal or ve¬ 
getable matter be added; but the mixture of quick-lime and dung 
can never be advisable, for the lime will render some of the most 
valuable parts of the dung insoluble. 
EXPERIMENTS. 
The following experiments upon composts of peat combined with 
various substances, communicated to Sir John Sinclair by Mr. Ar- 
buthnot, of Peterhead, will tend to show the power of fermentation 
in occasioning its decomposition, and its consequent probable effect 
upon the land: 
1. Peat-moss was mixed, in the month of November, with rotten 
sea-ware, in the proportion of 300 cart-loads of the former to 50 of 
the latter. In January, the midden, having attained the heat of 90 
degrees of Fahrenheit, was turned; in March, the operation was re¬ 
peated ; and in the latter end of April, the compost was spread up¬ 
on 18 acres of land, and immediately ploughed in. On the 15th of 
May, the field was sown with barley, which produced one-third 
more than any similar crop from the same land when manured with 
dung. 
2. Another field was manured in the same proportion of compo¬ 
sition, with equal parts of cow-dung and sea-ware; the ground was 
planted with potatoes, and the produce was large and of excellent 
quality. Turnips, mangel wurzel, and cabbages, were tried with 
the same manure, and the crops were all luxuriant. 
3. The foundation of a midden was laid on the first of May, with 
800 cart-loads of peat-moss and 150 of cow-dung. The cattle had 
been littered with green rushes; which, although they had lain in 
the dung-pits for more than nine months, showed no signs of decom¬ 
position. About the middle of June, 50 hhds. of salt water were 
» Essay by Lord Meadowbank, pp. 148 to 151. To every 28 cart-loads of 
compost, when made up, it is also recommended to add one cart-load of ashes: 
or, if these cannot be had, half the quantity of finely powdered slaked lime 
may be used; but these additions are not essential to the general success of 
the compost, though they will tend to quicken the process. 
\ Gen. Rep. of Scotland, vol. ii. n. p. 55C. In Holland's Survey of Che¬ 
shire, it is also mentioned, that three tons of compost made from moss and 
dung, having been spread on part of a meadow, and three tons of rotten dung 
upon an equal portion of the same field, it was found that, although the grass 
on that part which was covered with dung only, came up as soon, and upon 
the whole grow rather higher than that on the other part, yet the latter was 
of a darker green, and yielded nearly an eighth more when it came to be cut. 
—p. 282 . 
therefore thrown upon it, and the fermentation then began very 
quickly. The heap was first turned in the beginning of July, and 
some newly slaked lime added to it. By the latter end of August, 
it was all grown over with chickweed, when it was again turned, 
and showed the appearance of a total decomposition of all the mass, 
into mould of a uniform, smooth, soapy-like consistence, of a strong 
smell. 
4. Consisted of three hundred cart-loads of peat-moss and fifty 
of town-dung. The decomposition was completed as soon as in 
the former experiment; but the appearance was not equal through¬ 
out. 
5. Was composed of 200 cart-loads of rough peat-sods, with a 
leafy sward, mixed together in July with 30 cart-loads of horse-dung, 
and the fermentation came on more rapidly than in either of the 
foregoing experiments; probably, however, owing partly to the heat 
of the weather, as well as the nature of the dung. 
6 . In this experiment, 300 cart-loads of peat-moss were put up in 
three layers of equal quantity. The foundation was laid one foot 
deep with moss, and then 150 gallons of the urine of cattle was 
thrown upon it. The fermentation came on almost instantaneous¬ 
ly, attended with a hissing noise. The other two layers were 
then put on, when the same effect was produced; eight days after¬ 
wards, it was turned, and to all appearance was completely fer¬ 
mented. 
APPLICATION. 
The practice most usually followed in preparing the compost is to 
trench and throw the moss up into ridges, at the most convenient 
time after the autumn sowing, that it may be dried and pulverized 
by the winter’s frost; and towards the latter end of February to 
turn it over and lay it flat, when it will be found considerably lighter 
than when it was first dug up. It is then mixed with the dung, and 
the process of composition already stated is carried through until it 
is ready to be laid upon the land. When made up in January, such 
composts are generally in good order for the spring crops; but this 
may not happen in a long frost. In summer, they are ready in 
eight or ten weeks ; but if there should exist any necessity for 
hastening the process, that can be effected by a slight addition 
of ashes, rubbish from old building, or of lime slaked with foul wa¬ 
ter, and applied to the dung when the compost is being made up. 
Doubts have arisen respecting the proper season of laying on this 
manure—some insisting that it should be applied to spring crops— 
others, that it should be ploughed in for wheat in the autumn ; but 
we believe that its effects upon the land will, in the long run, be 
found in either case equal.— Farmers’ Series, <fc. 
f From the Genesee Farmer .] 
CULTIVATION OF MADDER. 
Mr. Tucker— There are consumed in the counties of Oneida and 
Otsego, by three manufacturing establishments, about two hundred 
and thirty-four thousand pounds of madder every three years. This 
article is dug from the ground once in three years. Suppose each 
acre produced from 1,500 to 2,000 pounds, but say the former, on a 
common soil, it would require 156 acres of land to produce madder 
for these establishments ; and perhaps the remaining manufactories, 
cloth dressers and families, use half as much more, making the whole 
351,000 pounds, which, at fifteen cents per pound, the average price 
of best Dutch madder for the last twelve years, is over $50,000. 
What a large sum to send to foreign countries, for an article which 
can be cultivated here as well as potatoes! I am well aware that 
less than 156 acres will produce the above amount; as, according 
to the quality of the land and cultivation, it will produce from 1,500 
to 2,000 pounds of dry madder. I think it will produce 2,000 pounds 
on land that will yield, in a good year, fifty bushels of corn to the 
acre. The whole cost of cultivation on rich deep loam, say sandy 
loam, digging, washing, drying, grinding, rent of land, seed, and in¬ 
terest of money, at 2,000 pounds to the acre, will not exceed seven 
cents per pound. There are, without doubt, on most farms in these 
counties, a few acres of land at least, suitable to the cultivation of 
this article. I consider that the demand will be for years unlimited ; 
as there is not, as yet, in the circle of my acquaintance, more than 
twenty-five acres under cultivation, nine of which are under my 
management. The price of American madder, for the three past 
years, has averaged about twenty-three cents, wholesale. The time 
for digging, as also for selling the top roots, or seed, is from the 15th 
of September to the 15th of October; the price at this time is $3 
per bushel, by the quantity. These top roots are buried in the fall 
