150 
THE CULTIVATOR. 
The following year I sowed oats and could see no dif¬ 
ference in the crop where the ground was guanoed and 
where it had no manure. I think a very large yield 
of corn might he realized by applying 500 lbs. Peru¬ 
vian guano to an acre of ground in the fall. In this 
case a piece of loamy land should be selected, deeply 
plowed and subsoiled: then as late in the fall as the 
frost would permit, sow on the guano, intimately mix¬ 
ed with 2J bushels plaster, and harrow thoroughly. 
In the spring plow lightly and harrow again, and plant 
the corn in drills—the stalks 1 foot apart, the rows 3£ 
feet apart, and the result will be a premium crop at 
any cattle show. 
To the potato crop guano is often applied with the 
best results, 200 to 300 lbs. per acre in the drills. This 
crop, however, is so precarious with us that few now 
attempt to raise more than they need for their own 
use. 
For oats guano is theoretically the very best of ma¬ 
nures, as they require much less alkali than wheat. 
When applied to oats it is sorted with the oats and har¬ 
rowed in in doses of from 100 to 300 lbs. per acre. In 
favorable seasons the yield is very large. Yet in Ma¬ 
ryland not much guano is thus used, the oat crop not 
being esteemed as profitable under any circumstances. 
As a top dressing for the grasses, guano is not much 
used in our state, in consequence of its volatility, and 
also of the fact that We do not raise half as much grass 
as we ought to do, nor take half the pains we ought 
with what we do raise ; but if any of your readers wish 
to take a premium for timothy, let them mix 100 lbs. 
Peruvian guano and 100 lbs. nitrate of soda, adding 1 
bushel of plaster; let them lie in a heap a week, turn¬ 
ing them every day, sprinkling with water to allay the 
dust, and if he has a tolerable soil and a good set of 
grass on his land, it matters not how poor it is—the 
result will astonish him. C. Y. Pikesville , Baltimore 
county , Md. —— 
Muck for Manure. 
I have a muck meadow, which appears to be made 
up of vegetable matter of any desirable quantity, very 
handy to my yards or cultivated lands. I wish to in¬ 
quire through The Cultivator , whether this muck can 
be made available as a manure for rather dry land, 
and if so, what is the best mode of preparing it ? D. F. 
ThetforcL , Vt. 
The best way to use muck is in mixture with yard 
manure. If the muck is well dried, it operates bene¬ 
ficially in two ways,—by its own fertilizing ingredients, 
and by absorbing the liquid manure. It usually con¬ 
tains when wet, about 7 or 8 times its own weight of 
water—and if made perfectly dry will absorb a like 
amount of the drainings of stables, cattle yards, &c. 
If the bed of muck our correspondent speaks of, could 
be well drained, the muck might be carted off at any 
convenient season of the year, and placed under a 
large coarse shed to dry, and to remain so for use. 
But if the bed cannot be drained, it should be drawn 
out or thrown up into heaps during the driest season of 
the year (which is usually immediately after wheat 
harvest,) if on a coarse plank or slab floor all the bet¬ 
ter, and then covered with some kind of roof or thatch¬ 
ing. This will keep it dry till wanted for littering sta¬ 
bles and yards in winter, and if well dried, it will not 
freeze, but may be drawn and spread during the cold¬ 
est days. 
Muck may be likewise used along with loam and 
turf to great advantage in forming compost heaps. 
The upper or turfy surface of the 'meadow will be 
found admirably fitted for this purpose. Make a layer 
of manure, a few feet wide and several rods long, and 
about five or six inches thick; then cover this with 
turf and muck nearly double in quantity ; then anoth¬ 
er layer of manure and so on. This is best done in the 
spring of the year, and afterwards during the season 
as fast as the manure accumulates. After it has lain 
a few months, or the next autumn or spring, plow and 
harrow this heap over with a yoke of oxen so as to in¬ 
termix it thoroughly, when jit will be ready for appli¬ 
cation to any crop benefited by manure, and it will be 
found to constitute a most excellent fertilizer—fully 
equal to ordinary half-rotted yard-manure. If the suc¬ 
cessive layers of manure and turf, muck, &c., are made 
thinner and more frequently than we have indicated, 
less intermixing will be subsequently required. 
Mice in Unthreshed Grain. 
Will you please inform me how to prevent mice from 
destroying ufithreshed grain in the barn 7 I think I 
have lost 100 bushels by these vermin the last two 
years. I have a threshing mill, and thresh my grain 
as I want the straw for fodder for my cattle, which I 
feed to them, with turneps, boiled carrots, chaff, &c. 
J. S. St. Davids, N. B. 
We know of but two good ways to keep rats from 
barns, viz: 1. The employment of at least half a 
dozen good cats , of some first-rate ratting breed, for 
there is much difference in them; and the other, and 
and probably most complete cure is a couple of genu¬ 
ine rat-terriers. Lewis F. Allen, of Black Bock, 
N. Y., informs us that the latter remedy has proved 
perfectly effectual in his extensive barns, where these 
depredators swarmed by hundreds. The dogs watched 
their holes, and in a few weeks none could be found 
nor traced on the premises. 
Strychnine and arsenic will kill rats very effectual¬ 
ly. especially the latter; but we do not like such dead¬ 
ly poisons in close proximity to breadstuff's, and through 
which the" rats may intermix it. 
We have been informed that hideous noises, such as 
from drums and other similar din-creators, have fright¬ 
ened off rats for a time, provided the music is kept up 
for an hour or two without intermission. 
Ledyard Town Ag. Society. —A Town Agricul¬ 
tural Society was organized in our town, Ledyard, the 
7th of the present month; and the following officers 
were appointed for the ensuing year, viz: 
President — Samuel S. Coonly. 
Vice-Presidents — Augustus C. Boyer, James Avery. 
Secretary '—Thomas Gould. 
Treasurer —Benjamin Baldwin. 
A Fair will -be held in the month of September, and 
books, periodicals and newspapers (agricultural) are 
to be awarded as premiums. Thomas Gould. 
