42 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



do more j^ood by staying here, than j'ou can by going anywhere 

 else in the territory of the United States. 



I am done, but this subject is a great one, and I have passed 

 over it hurriedly. It is full of detail — full of special points. To 

 me they are all familiar, and if there are any crooked things about 

 them, anything that is not perfectly understood, I will answer any 

 question in relation to it which gentlemen may wish to ask. 



Question. Is there not plant food enough wrapped up in our 

 soils if we could only unlock it? 



Prof Stockbridge. The gentleman asks a question which leads 

 on another track. I have not said a word about the phj'sical 

 condition of the soil, though that is very important. I assume 

 that no man will think of such a thing as feeding plants, using a 

 costly fertilizer, unless he has secured the proper physical condi- 

 tion of the soil. What ! put a manure that costs from $40 to $80 

 per ton on land that is so saturated with water that the roots will 

 not take it up, and it must lie dead and dormant ? Is there any man 

 who is such a fool as that ? Why, you can control the physical con- 

 dition of your soil, and don't talk to me about feeding plants until 

 you have put the soil in the proper physical condition. Do that 

 and then use your barn-yard manure and your chemical fertilizers, 

 and you will get well paid for your labor. If you don't do it you 

 might as well put them in the fire. 



Question. In what condition is the land left for the culture of 

 grass or grain ? 



Prof. Stockbridge. It is in better condition than before it was 

 worked. I know somebody will say that if you raise crops in this 

 way you will ruin your land. Not a bit of it. Your land will be 

 better the second year than it was the first. Land manured in 

 this way in 1874 bore 98 bushels per acre of potatoes, and planted 

 and manured in the same way in 1875 made 51 bushels more. 

 Corn planted and manured in this way in 1874 made 104 bushels 

 to the acre. The same land planted in 1875 without manure made 

 30 bushels of corn in excess of the natural production, as the 

 second result of the manure. 



Question. ^Vhat is the cost of the materials ? 



Prof. Stockbridge. They will cost enough in Maine. The sul- 

 phate of ammonia and the potash salts come from abroad, and the 

 prices vary with the fluctuations of gold. The variation wouldn't 

 be perhaps more than $3, $4 or $5 per ton. Last year the 



