350 
alternate layers with peat, or bog-earth. Vegetable matter, in an active 
state of fermentation, has the power of inducing other vegetable matter 
to ferment likewise, if placed in contact with it, and this speedily, pro¬ 
viding the fresh matter has been previously deprived of life. Thus the 
tough and fibrous peat, besides absorbing gases and fluids which w r ould 
otherwise have been lost, became itself so reduced, by the action of the 
fermenting manure* as to be capable of affording food to plants. 
In these parts peat, properly so called, is unknown. In its natural 
state it produces a poor, stunted herbage and heather ; but the black 
muck which it is proposed to use as an absorbent here, from the luxu¬ 
riant vegetation which it naturally produces, is evidently rich in the food 
of plants, and would of itself, if applied to the lighter sandy soils of our 
oak openings, prove beneficial. If muck is not used after the Scotch 
fashion by mixing it in alternate layers with manure, it should form the 
base of our dung-heaps, and be spread thickly in our cattle-yards and 
hog-pens. Muck may be turned to account in other ways. Animals 
which may die on the farm, or the offal of animals which are slaughtered, 
may be made to afford a quantity of powerful manure by being mixed 
with muck. 
Bones are a most valuable fertilizer, and should be carefully preserved. 
They have been applied to land in a variety of ways. Formerly they 
were simply crushed, and so spread on the land. Sometimes finely 
crushed bones were laid on heaps, moistened, and covered with earth for 
about a week or ten days before they were applied; they heated, became 
more or less soft, and afforded in consequence a greater immediate sup¬ 
ply of food than if they had been used in the raw state. This was a 
point of considerable importance in the culture of the turnip. The young 
plants were more speedily pushed into the rough leaf, and had a better 
chance of escaping the ravages of the fly in consequence. Crushed bones 
may be more effectually reduced by mixing them with fermenting ma¬ 
nure. Fresh wood-ashes, moistened, have also the power of reducing 
bones. But the mode of decomposing bones now most extensively prac¬ 
tised is to dissolve them by means of sulphuric acid, (oil of vitriol). The 
substance obtained by this process is that known as super-phosphate'of 
lime. Bones treated in this way have a more powerful immediate action 
than crushed bones ; but the latter produce a more permanent effect 
