FARMS. 169 



a ton and a half to the acre. In a poor and poorly tilled soil, 

 the roots will not only be small, but irregularly shaped. The 

 white Belgian variety grows very large, and is much esteemed. 



To avoid weeds, some farmers plant carrots on land that has 

 been kept clean, with one or two crops of corn. Others plough 

 an old pasture very deep, with a Michigan plough, use fine 

 manure and harrow lightly. 



It is impossible for us to say how much guano has been used 

 this year, only that large quantities have been employed in 

 some towns, scarcely any in others, and that its use is rapidly 

 increasing. Men begin with a bag or a few hundred pounds, 

 experimenting cautiously, feeling their way along, and usually 

 with decided success and encouragement.* One neighbor after 

 another hears of the experiment, and imitates it. One farmer 

 mixed a ton of guano with fifty loads of meadow mud, put it 



* We have received the following note from Mr. Charles Breck, of Milton, 

 one of our most accurate and intelligent experimenters : — 



" I have been conducting a small experiment with guano as a top-dressing 

 for worn out grass land, for the last three years, with very good success. In 

 1840, a crop of rye was taken off the land, after which, the stubble was 

 ploughed in, and grass seed sown ; the scattering rye came up, and grew well, 

 and, could it have been easily separated, would have yielded a good half crop. 

 It was mowed with the grass early, and used for fodder, since which time, the 

 field has been constantly mowed and fed, without any top-dressing. From 

 this you may conclude that the land was as nearly run out as it could be, 

 although it is naturally a mellow, productive soil. 



" In the spring of 1854, I staked off two square rods, which, to appearance, 

 were as nearly equal as they could be, and lying side by side. On one rod I 

 put twelve cents worth of guano mixed with one and a half peck of sand 

 from the road side. On the other rod, nothing was put. In July, the grass 

 was mowed, well dried, and carefully weighed. On the rod which had no 

 manure, there were six pounds of hay. On tlie I'od on which the gua no was 

 used, were twenty-six pounds of hay. 



" In 18.55, on the first rod were only three pounds of hay, and on the rod 

 with guano, there were nine pounds. In 1856, I mowed and dried the grass 

 carefully. On the first rod I had three pounds of hay, and on the second 

 nine pounds, making, in three years, a gain of thirty-two pounds, equal to 

 5,120 pounds to an acre, by the use of guano, that would have cost nineteen 

 dollars and twenty cents, with a fair prospect of its continuing some time 

 longer, besides improving the quality of the hay very much. 



" In answer to your inquiries about plaster, I would observe, that I have 

 never seen any good effects from its use as a manure, although I have seen it 

 tried many ways." 



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