No. 85.] 171 



the land is greatly benefited for future purposes. Hardly a quarter 

 of its cost is justly chargeable to this crop. In No. 2, we have an 

 example, in which the effects of the manure are easily traced through 

 many years. The last manuring this piece had was in 1837 — and it 

 now produced 60 J bushels to the acre. No charge being made 

 against it for manure, it appears to be profitable above every other 

 experiment. But if the account could be stated for a period of 

 years for each piece of land as we have it for this year, I doubt not 

 the manure would be found to pay fully all it costs. 



These experiments were made, chiefly to determine how thick corn 

 should be planted — what is the most convenient form to place the 

 plants — and whether the manure should be rotted and applied to the 

 surface, or plowed under unfermented. 



The conclusion that now appears likely to be arrived at is, that 

 hills three feet by three feet apart, put in rows, so that a cultivator 

 can be used both ways, is the most convenient form for cultivation, 

 and that six kernels put into each hill, will make the corn thick 

 enough. I counted, and made examinations that satisfied me, that at 

 harvest, my hills averaged five stalks to the hill — no thinning was 

 done, except by insects and accidents. That this is not too thick, is 

 proven by experiment No. 6, where the hills were three feet by tw^o 

 feet, the product being 65^ bushels to the acre, and with one half the 

 manure that was put on No. 1, which was three feet by three feet 

 apart, and the product only five bushels more to the acre. In fact I 

 believe that more bushels with the same manuring, would have been 

 raised, with the hills two by three feet, than three by three feet, but 

 the extra labor of planting, hoeing and harvesting, will more 

 than counterbalance the gain. 



The labor required to plow under imfermented imnuve, in any con- 

 siderable quantity, is so great, and its great bulk compared with its 

 value, making it so expensive to draw, and the fact that it is not felt 

 until late in the season, and that the next plowing must be deeper, 

 in order to bring it all up and mix it with the soil, are great objec- 

 tions to its use. That the next plowing must be deeper, in order to 

 bring up all the manure, is evident from the consideration that every 

 time the soil is saturated with water it must sink deeper unless it is 

 held up by some stratum that is impervious to water. If the contents 

 of the barn-yard are piled up in the spring as soon as the frost is out, 

 and covered with gypsum, so as to prevent the escape of any of its 

 gases, and turned and replied at midsummer, and again covered with 

 gypsum — the seeds of weeds will be destroyed, and the manure will 

 be entirely rotted in time to put on corn the next spring. The ma- 

 nure used in these experiments was but half rotted, in consequence of 

 neglecting to turn and repile it. From the decrease of the bulk, the 

 expense of handling and mixing the manure with the earth, will be so 

 much lessened, as fully to compensate for all the expense of piling 

 and rotting it. The cost of the gypsum, too, will be but slight, as 

 but little is required — merely enough to whiten the heap. The corn 

 will then have its stimulus at the time it needs it most, and but few 

 weeds will spring up from the manure. All these considerations lead 

 me to prefer fine manure to coarse. 



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