of the best wheat-growing counties of the State are in the habit of raising their grain from the same lands for a series of years, without much depreciation of product, and the manure they apply is the straw that comes from the preceding crop. Clover is the best and most generally used fertilizer among us. It is usually sown in the proportion of from one to two gallons an acre on wheat, or with oats in the spring. It does not succeed well when sown in the fall.

Statement of A. G. COMINGS, of Mason, Hillsborough county, New Hamp

shire.

Guano, super-phosphate of lime, plaster, &c., are having a greatly increased use among our farmers. The beneficial effects following the use of these manures are found to depend upon the manner of their being applied.

In manuring a kitchen garden, three divisions of the ground should be made, as follows: No. 1, should be for onions, carrots, tomatoes, celery, and all plants and vegetables that require much ammonia. An application of guano or hog manure should be made to this division of the ground. More vegetable or carbonaceous matter than guano contains should be applied.

No. 2, besides a supply of old vegetable matter in the soil, should have a mixture of guano and super-phosphate for the production of potatoes, peas, beans, beets, corn, &c.

No. 3, for cabbages, turnips, &c., should have no hog manure nor guano, although a small quantity would do no injury to turnips; but much ammonia in the manure for cabbages and turnips would make them club-rooted. Super-phosphate of lime for this division of the garden will show an effect most highly gratifying, with vegetable matter in sufficient quantity.

The above suggestions on manures for different divisions of a kitchen garden, and the plants to be cultivated in those several divisions, are made from experiments which I have directed and seen. I have embraced in the list of vegetables and plants several which are cultivated as field crops.

I have proved both guano and super-phosphate to be valuable for Indian corn, but find the best effect from mixing them in equal quantities. I have, the past season, applied the mixture to a field of corn, about 100 pounds of each to the acre, with a light dressing of compost, made of vegetable matter with animal excrements, spread and ploughed in. The mixture of guano and super-phosphate was applied in the hill. The effect was decidedly good. I also applied the same mixture to a piece of ground, sowing broadcast and ploughing in, for Tuscarora corn, without any other manure. It appeared very beautiful, and where there was a good supply of old vegetable matter in the soil, it continued exceedingly fine; where there was but little old vegetable matter in the soil, it failed to fill the kernel well. I selected another piece of ground for the super-phosphate alone, where the soil was in good condition in every other respect than being nearly destitute of old vegetable matter. The color of the corn while growing was healthy in appearance, and there was a fair growth of stalks, but not enough corn

to be worth the harvesting. Not a single well-formed ear could I find in the field. This was as I anticipated. There must be, I think, a full supply of carbonaceous food for every plant to mature its seed. Superphosphate alone will not produce corn where there is little or no vegetable matter in the soil.

neg

I also applied super-phosphate to a field where I planted corn for fodder. One row was left without any. The ground had been lightly manured with compost and then ploughed. To ascertain the exact difference caused by it, I cut up thirteen stalks of the fairest in the lected row, and as many near by them in a row to which the superphosphate had been applied, and found the difference as thirteen and a half to one, by weight, in favor of the super-phosphate. The difference in height was four to one and a half in favor of it.

In this county, I have known no use to be made of super-phosphate before the past season. It has proved itself a valuable manure; but for plants bearing seed, it is by no means sufficient alone. I have not found it successful by itself except in one case. I had a small spot of ground which was mostly made by throwing out subsoil, so that very little vegetable matter could have been in it. With no other manure, I raised the best Savoy cabbages that I ever saw.

In the use of plaster, our farmers have had but little experience. Most of them who have tried it heretofore, have applied it to corn and potatoes in the hill. The advantage of it when thus used has been very little. When it has been applied to the surface of the ground, especially where manure had been applied which contained much ammonia, its value has been unquestionable.

Salt has for some years been used more or less, by many of our farmers. It has been applied to the potato crop with evident profit. When sown upon the land, as much as six bushels to the acre has been employed; when applied directly in the hill, a smaller quantity. Potatoes have generally been more free from disease where it has been used. It has also been used with good success for other crops, especially cabbages. I have sown it broadcast among grain. About one and a half or two bushels to the acre on wheat or oats, after they are well up, will, on most soils, produce an excellent effect.

Statement of LEVI BARTLETT, of Warner, Merrimack county, New Hamp

shire.

Manures made from the farm stock are most in use with us. But many of our enterprising farmers have recently been adding much to the improvement of their soils, and increase of crops, by composting animal manures with swamp or pond muck. Guano, bone-dust, and other similar fertilizers, have not been used here to any great extent. Gypsum is freely used-sometimes with very good results; at others, it has no visible effect.

I will relate an experiment I made in the use of guano, and the fine bone-dust from a button factory, in growing potatoes, several years since. The soil upon which the potatoes were planted (one and a half acres) was mostly a light sandy loam, which had long been pastured with cows-perhaps fifty years. I began planting upon one end

of the field, and dropped a teaspoonful of guano in each hill of ten rows, then left several rows without manuring; next ten rows received a tablespoonful of bone-dust in each hill; other rows were again left unmanured; thus alternating, until the field was planted. In a few days after, the tops appeared; the dark-green, broad leaves told plainly where the guano and bone-dust had been applied to the hills, and the difference was very apparent all through the season. At the time of harvesting, it was found that the crop where the guano and bone-dust had been used, was just double that of the unmanured rows; and it took no longer to dig a bushel from the manured, than it did to dig half a bushel from the unmanured hills.

Theory would account for the favorable action of the guano and bone-dust, upon the supposition, that from the long time the land had been grazed by milch cows, it had become deficient in phosphate of lime and ammonia; and that these important ingredients were supplied by the guano and bone-dust, in a concentrated and available form for the crop. The practical result in this case would seem to sustain theory.

Early in September, I sowed a field with winter-wheat, upon which I applied per acre at the rate of 300 pounds of Peruvian guano. The wheat now (October 25th) is looking finely-much better than other fields where no guano was used.

In the season of 1851, I used upon various crops a few hundred pounds of mineral phosphate of lime from New Jersey. When applied in its raw state, it had no perceptible effect. A portion of the mineral treated with sulphuric acid, changing it to the more soluble super-phosphate, had a very marked effect on the cabbage and turnip tribe of plants.

Last spring, I received from Professor Horsford, of Cambridge, Massachusetts, a few pounds of artificially prepared manure, to be applied upon field crops at the rate of 160 pounds per acre-one pound to the square rod. Upon the wheat and oat crop it had a decidedly good effect, increasing the growth of the grain very perceptibly, and hastening the maturity of the crop. I also tried it on various other crops, in proportions according to printed directions accompanying the package. It was used on land planted with turnips, carrots, squashes, potatoes, &c.; but, unfortunately, drought, bugs, grasshoppers, and the carelessness of my hired hand, destroyed all comparative results.

Statement of SAMUEL WEBBER, of Charlestown, Sullivan county, New Hampshire.

Stable and barn-yard manure is our great dependence in maintaining our crops. With some, it is composted with muck, and in a few instances, very improperly, with wood-ashes or lime. Gypsum is occasionally employed, and sometimes ashes alone. All admit that barnyard or stable manure is good, but do not agree as to the best mode of applying it. Some prefer it in a long, or green state; others fermented, or partially decomposed; while a third class use it in a rotten Some use gypsum with good effect-others not; and all coincide in the excellence of ashes, when applied to Indian corn.

state.

Statement of JOHN FITCH, of Troy, Rensselaer county, New York.

In this cold climate we have to feed our stock during the winter months, and until late in the spring. Horses, cattle, sheep, and hogs are housed and fed. The horses are most carefully stabled, and our cattle, sheep, and hogs afforded an excellent shelter. The hay, straw, and other feed are thus converted into manure, and left in the barnyards until thoroughly rotted and fit for use. It is then carried and spread upon the land as a fertilizer.

Those farmers who give any attention to the improvement of the soil, increase the amount of manure by having a compost heap, which is made as follows: Draw up swamp muck, put it in a heap, add to it lime, barn-yard manure, and other convenient perishable materials. In a year's time, it is fitted for use, and pays well, affording a large profit on the outlay. Bone-dust and shell-lime are used also as fertilizers, and those who employ them are highly pleased with the results. Lime and plaster are both used as fertilizers-the latter by all. Corn, when planted, is rolled in plaster, and the young plant is covered with it. It is likewise sown on grass and clover fields, with the best effect.

Statement of LUTHER BAILEY, of the United Society of Shakers, North Union, Cuyahoga county, Ohio.

Barn-yard or stable manure is the only kind used here. In order to increase the quantity as much as possible, our yards are abundantly supplied with muck and litter, such as straw, saw-dust, turners' shavings, and any rubbish or filth that may accumulate about the premises; also muck from the woods or swamps, the wash from creeks, or anything of like character, are hauled from time to time into the yards. The stables are well supplied with straw, saw-dust, or turners' shavings. This litter, both in the yards and stables, by absorbing the more liquid parts, by retaining and preventing the escape of ammonia, furnishes an abundant supply of rich manure. The best mode of applying it is to spread on the surface and harrow it in. Our experience proves this to be much better than ploughing it under for any crop.

ence.

Statement of N. LINTON, of Cochransville, Chester county, Pennsylvania. The manures mostly used here are those of the barn-yard, lime, gypsum, and guano. Barn-yard manure and lime are our main depend The former is usually applied to oat-stubble, and sometimes to clover-seed, for wheat. In some instances, also, it is ploughed under for corn. Lime is mostly spread on the sod, at the rate of 30 to 60 bushels to the acre, once in each course of crops; but it is often scattered on corn ground, just previous to planting. Many farmers think it the best way to apply it to wheat-stubble shortly after the grain is harvested; but, in whatever way it is put on, it is the basis of successful husbandry in this vicinity. Nearly all our land for miles around was formerly worn out old fields, which would produce nothing; but the application of lime unlocked the hidden treasures of the soil, and rendered available, as food for plants, the inert organic matter which it

contained. This, accompanied by judicious cultivation, and a proper rotation of crops, has entirely changed the appearance of our neighborhood. Scarcely an old field is now to be found. Guano has been used to some extent of late. It is mostly employed for wheat, and ploughed in at the rate of 300 pounds to the acre. Its effects are generally considered renovating, and its use is greatly extending. Gypsum is applied on the young grass in the spring, when it is just starting. About one bushel to the acre is the quantity usually put on, and its effects are often very good, while at others it is not perceptible.

Statement of M. F. MYERS, of Kingston, Luzerne county, Pennsylvania. We use mostly stable manure, together with turning under clover as a renovator. Lime and coal-ashes are used to some extent, and with good results, on clayey soil. I will here give you my experience with lime on a heavy, clayey loam. I applied 100 bushels to the acre on a corn-stubble, and planted again in corn, but saw very little benefit to the crop. I then ploughed and sowed with oats, in 1851, together with clover and Timothy. For the two past seasons, I have mowed the finest of grass. One year ago, I top-dressed part of my meadow with 100 bushels of lime to the acre, with like results. The coal-ashes were managed in the same way, and with the same success.

Statement of JOSHUA S. KELLER, of Orwigsburgh, Schuylkill county, Pennsylvania.

As fertilizers, we chiefly use barn-yard manure. concentrated fertilizers are used to a limited extent.

Guano and other I have made use of guano on corn and turnips; in the former crop it did not pay, but in the latter it was attended with good results. As to the mode of application, I hold that all manures ought to be covered from two to four inches deep, if every possible benefit is to be obtained from them.

The cheapest way to improve land in this and the adjoining counties is by lime. It is not considered as a direct fertilizer to our grain crops, except in a small degree in furnishing food to the plants, but as a kind of stimulant or decomposer to the almost exhausted organic remains, as well as some animal matter, the effect of which creates a nourishment favorable to grass; and fine clover is thus produced, which, after growing up for a few years, ought to be turned under when fully ripe, with a good plough. Let those who advocate the green state do so to their hearts' content; I have the experience of both the dead-ripe and the young-green, and would by no means suffer the latter if I could prevent it. The best way to apply lime is on the top of a sod, one or more years before it is ploughed under. The quantity depends on the kind of soil and after-treatment. Heavy clay can bear 100 or more bushels to the acre, while on light soils from 50 to 80 bushels will answer very well.