STATE AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY. 91 



which constitute an important element of manures. In the fall 

 this compost is used on the hop field for a top dressing, to enrich 

 the soil and shield the roots froni the action of frost. 



I also make a composition of six bushels of house ashes, one 

 bushel of plaster, one bushel of slacked lime, and one fourth 

 bushel of salt, a small quantity of sulphur, pounded bones, &c. 

 This is used for a top dressing. It is sown broad cast, on grain 

 and meadows. On grain it should be sowed soon after the grain 

 is up. On meadows as early as practicable after the grass shoots 

 up in the spring, and before a rain if practicable. On corn it is 

 applied before and after hoeing. On potatoes it is applied to the 

 hill at the time of hoeing, and slightly covered, and in the same 

 manner on gardens. This composition was made at an expense 

 of about twenty cents per bushel, and used at the rate of two to 

 three bushels per acre, on grain and meadows. 



This composition, with a small addition of guano, was used 

 upon about an acre, constantly cultivated for ten years, without 

 other manures, and the result was a constantly increasing annual 

 product. The last crop was wheat, and the yield thirty bushels 

 per acre. It was then seeded with clover and timothy, and dur- 

 ing tlie past season it has produced two crops of hay; the first of 



two the second of one ton. 



The potatoes tliat I cultivate are pink eyes and peachblows; 

 the ground is prepared by plowing and harrowing without manure. 

 The field is then marked out for the rows, three feet and a half 

 apart, and the potatoes, having been quartered and rolled in 

 plaster, are immediately dropped on the surface about a foot 

 apart, and covered with the plow or hoe. As soon as they are 

 fairly above ground, the cultivator should be run through the 

 rows, the hills weeded, the composition of manure applied to the 

 hills with a spoon, and this process should be repeated as often as 

 is necessary to keep down the weeds, till the potatoes gain such 

 development as to shade the soil and bid defiance to their ambi- 

 ti(jus enemies. When the crop is formed, which averages about 

 two hundred bushels per acre, they should be dug in fair weather 

 before the autumnal rains or heavy frosts occur, if practicable, 

 and dried in a field before gathering; then gather and keep in a 

 dry, dark cellar. Under this management I have had no trouble 

 with rot — not having lost five bushels during all the seasons that 



