236 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



with some which I made the year previous. I planted a piece 

 of corn in 1870, on some yellow, loamy land, and manured 

 it very well. By the side of this, on the same kind of land, 

 I had a piece of sowed corn, manured not quite so well ; and 

 by the side of the sowed corn I had three-quarters of an acre 

 of Norfolk turnips. Last year, I planted all this ground to 

 corn, and also broke up a piece of sward land by the side of 

 it. My object in doing this was to see the effect of preceding 

 crops upon the following crop?, and I endeavored to manure 

 the land all alike, except the plaster and the turnips had the 

 most stable manure. The corn was the lightest on the sward 

 ground ; the next larger was on the piece where I had corn 

 the previous year ; the best was on the ground where I had 

 sowed corn and where I had turnips. I could not see that 

 there was much difference between these two pioces. Now I 

 will state the difference in my mode of management. In 

 1870, 1 sowed plaster where I sowed the corn, and mixed 

 plaster with green manure for the turnips, which I covered 

 with the plow before I planted the turnips. Last year, I ma- 

 nured principally in the hill, with green barn manure, or 

 green hog manure, but put on a compost of ashes, lime and 

 plaster, at the rate of about five bushels of ashes to a hund- 

 red lbs. of plaster and half a bushel of dry slacked lime. I 

 put about a spoonful of this compost in a hill. I saw no dif- 

 ference in the crop where I used the different kinds of ma- 

 mire, but where I used plaster the previous year, the ears 

 were almost as large again as where I did not use it. 



Mr. Gould. I can give an explanation of that. The gen- 

 eral rule is, that all crops belonging to the family of the cru- 

 ciferae, — that is to say, having flowers like the radish or turnip 

 — injure the land. It is an exception to the rule to see a 

 good crop of corn after cabbages, radishes, or turnips. 



Mr. White. That brings to my mind another thing. I 

 have raised turnips for some thirty years. I generally follow 

 with oats ; I never followed with corn before. The oats are 

 smaller and more liable to rust. 



Mr. Gould. Always; I never knew an exception. 



Mr. White. I want to know if lime and plaster are no 



