From Out of the Past - Part V

            By sometime in the mid 1800s, farmers throughout the region had adopted this practice – using horseshoe crabs (whole or in pieces) – as a form of plant fertilizer.  Indeed, there are several “testimonials” that celebrate the efficacy of these creatures as both a logical and ready source of soil nutrients:

§ “The dead bodies of the (crabs) themselves are hauled up in wagons for manure, and when placed at the hills of corn, in planting time, are said to enrich the soil, and add greatly to the increase of the crop.” (1840)

§ “Mr. Springer of Dyer’s Creek, with a compost of 7,000 crabs, 20 loads of muck, 2 coal-pit bottoms, 7 or 8 loads of hay, and manure applied on 6 acres of sandy loam, raised 151½ bushels of wheat.”  (1887)

§ “On land which would not grow wheat at all up to that time, crops of 20, 25 and even 30 bushels to the acre have been raised by the use of these crabs composted with earth.”  (1908)