50 ' BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



its application. Don't turn a heav}' coat of manure ten inches 

 under the surface and let it lie there. Or if turned under do not let 

 it lie there but bring it back and mix it with the soil. But more 

 concerning farm manures later. 



No farmer can pulverize land as it should be when it is too dry 

 or too wet. Land constantly' wet must be drained before it can be 

 properh' tilled or before it will properl}' respond to tillage. Any 

 soil that is full of water is prettj' well preserved against the action 

 of the various agencies of decomposition. Farmers, drain your wet 

 fields, use a plow that pulverizes, also some effective cultivator, and 

 when the land is lump}- roll it and plow or cultivate again. Do not 

 be afraid of an extra plowing. Till thoroughly, for ''tillage is 

 manure." 



Commercial Manures. 



We have in our markets a class of subtances known as commer- 

 cial fertilizers. Whenever they are of value, they contain one or 

 more of the ingredients of plant food that have been pointed out, 

 as especiall3' liable to be lacking in the soil, in a form available to 

 plants. In all first-class commercial manures these ingredients 

 exist in quite large percentages ; they are concentrated as compared 

 with farm manures. While there would be 320 lbs. of phosphoric 

 acid in a ton of first-class dissolved bone, (superphosphate) in a 

 ton of farm manure from good hay, there would be only four or five 

 pounds. Dried fish scraps would contain per ton, 150 to 160 lbs. 

 of nitrogen, if of good qualitj', but not over a dozen pounds of that 

 ingredient could be found in a ton of stable manure from the best of 

 hay. Condense animal excrement b}- ridding it sufficiently of its 

 large quantities of carbonaceous material and water, and it would 

 then approach in character the fertilizers of our markets. Commer- 

 cial manures are concentrated plant food, or ought to be. 



Classes of Fertilizers. 



The fertilizers called "commercial," are made up of various 

 classes, according to their principal ingredient. They are nitrog- 

 enous, phosphatic, or potash manures, according as they contain 

 principally nitrogen, phosphoric acid or potash. Some fertilizers 

 cannot be distinguished b}' either of the above names, because they 

 are made up of a mixture of two, or all of the three valuable ingre- 

 dients. 



