290 BOARD OP AGRICULTUPtE. 



increases the means for suppli/m<r the defects of the soil, if the 

 crop (as it sLould always be) is consumed npon the farm. 



Artificial manures, such for instance, as lime, gypsum, wood ashes, 

 salt, &c., are frequently condemned, because they -were "vvronglj 

 appli; d. It must be borne in mind that they do not contain all 

 the elements found in barn manure ; consequently their beneficial 

 effects can only be realized on such soils as are deficient in those 

 properties to be supplied by the dressing. If the soil is not deficient 

 in lime, then lime cannot be applied to advantage ; and the best way 

 for farmers in general to acquaint themselves with the proper use of 

 them on their own fiirms, is to experiment on a small scale. And 

 especial regard, in experiments, should be had to mixture and 

 quantity as well as kind. I think I have seen good results from 

 salt and lime, mixed as before stated, applied to corn and potatoes ; 

 yet great care should be taken that but a small quantity comes in 

 contact with the seed ; and I have never known corn to suffer mate- 

 rially by the worm, where about half a table spoonful of it was care- 

 fully sprinkled over the seed after dropping; and when it is used as 

 top dressing, it is better to put it around the plant, an inch or two 

 from it. In this manner, a common handful of the salt, lime and 

 plaster mixture, may be used to a hill of corn or potatoes. If the 

 salt and lime mixture only, is used, a less quantity should be ap- 

 plied ; two thirds will be sufficient. 



I have witnessed apparently exhausted mowing lands materially 

 improved by the application of three bushels of gypsum to the acre, 

 at the same time abandoning the practice of grazing it in the spring 

 and fall. Also lands which were used for pasture till almost use- 

 less, being covered with moss, restored to good profit by three years' 

 cultivation, with the use of gypsum only, deepening the cultivation 

 a little each year, and removing the loose rocks, at the same time 

 obtaining a crop of oats and peas, sufficient to pay all the cost of ren- 

 ovation ; and this year, which is the fourth since the process com- 

 menced, it yielded at least one and a half tons of hay per acre, and 

 by a judicious system of rotation of crops, and at the same time re- 

 turning in manures what the four years' crops have affjrded, I can- 

 not see why a high state of cultivation cannot be attained; at the 

 same time receiving in. the crops ample remuneration for all expense 

 of labor and fertilizers. As before stated, the subject of renovating 



