The mud diggers were moved on to the ice when it reached a thickness of three to four feet. Lorne Wigginton remembered one year there were twenty mud diggers on the river.

The mud was raised in a scoop or fork and deposited in the waiting sleighs. Three or four scoops was considered a load. Lorne Wigginton recalled an inci— dent that occurred when his father was selling the mud for ten cents a load. One chap disagreed on the size of the load and insisted another scoop be added. To make room for this extra scoop, he even leapt into the sleigh to stamp down the mud. He was wearing a pair of old fashioned knee high rubber boots, which promptly filled to the top with the oozing mud as he sank in the pile. The gentle- man’s problems were far from over when he got off the sleigh because the mud quickly froze in his boot. He had to go to Matthew and MacLean’s and lie by the stove waiting for the mud to thaw out so he could empty his boots.

The mud digging was cold, hard work. The results of applying the mud were good however, and the effects lasted for quite a few years. The farmers obviously felt the increased yield justified the hard labour.

Earl Jenkins named Frank Clay as one of the last diggers on the ice in Bridgetown. When commercial fertilizer and lime became easily available, mud digging died out. Several mud diggers are still preserved in the area, stored in outbuildings.

Mussel mud was not the only fertilizer used on the land. Lime was also applied and was found to be extremely beneficial.

The people however, were generally too poor to purchase lime. What they did instead was burn the limestones which were carried as ballast by the ships and were discarded along the shores. These stones were burned in kilns which were constructed in various communities. The kilns had to be located close enough to where the limestone was landed to make the venture profitable.

Meacham’s Atlas of 1880 showed a lime kiln situated in Little Pond on what is now Edwin Mill’s property at the shore below the end of MacDonald’s Road, on the east side of Blackett‘s Creek. Another is shown in the settlement of Annandale at the end of what is now Albert Henry‘s property. No doubt these kilns were close to where the ships cast off their ballast before heading up the River.

“Sea manure” was also applied to the land. The kelp or seaweed was gathered and spread on the land. For some farmers, gathering seaweed for fertilizer was an ongoing job. They would travel to the shore at low tide to get a load of seaweed.

A lot of people in the Launching area piled the seaweed on the beach and then sold it in the winter when it was dry. Farmers from the other side of the River travelled across when the ice became thick enough. They would come with their horses and sleighs to purchase a load, and would often race on the way back. Lorne Wigginton related the story of one such race which his father engaged in

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