COST OF A BUSHEL OF CORN. 115 



made ; and I am free to say, that after very careful observation, 

 year after year, without any analysis, for I am not a chemist, I 

 came to the conclusion that it did not pay me to cart coal ashes 

 a mile and apply them to my fields. Then I used them as an 

 absorbent of night soil, as I would use muck or lime. I made my 

 basis for night soil of coal ashes, and they answered a very ex- 

 cellent purpose. I then applied the compost as a top-dressing 

 to my low grass land, and although I do not think I derived 

 much benefit directly from the ashes, yet, used in that way, 

 they were of some value to me ; but having muck in consider- 

 able quantity, I did not care to continue to use them for that pur- 

 pose. Then I think coal ashes may operate mechanically on the 

 soil, just as the oyster shells did that Dr. Durfee's gardener put 

 into his grape borders. They helped the drainage of the borders, 

 if they were likely to be too wet. So these coal ashes would act 

 mechanically upon the soil in some instances, and might be of 

 some use in that way ; but I have yet to learn that they have 

 any real value that will justify the time spent in working them. 



Question. Would not sawdust have been just as valuable as 

 coal ashes ? 



Mr. Hyde. I am not competent to say. I have always 

 avoided the use of sawdust and all substances of that kind, 

 because I know that insects and worms injurious to vegetation 

 resort to them as a safe harbor, and they would be introduced 

 into my soil if I applied such substances. 



Dr. Durfee. I think we ought to say something about saw- 

 dust. I have seen a great many loads of it carted out of this 

 city on to the farms to the east of us. It is used in the stables 

 under the horses, and the stable keepers sell it for manure. 



Mr. Johnson. Can Dr. Nichols tell how much his corn cost 

 per bushel this year ? I understand him to say that he raised 

 a hundred bushels to the acre. 



Dr. Nichols. I keep a very accurate account of my crops. 

 I keep a regular set of books, and give them all the attention 

 that is necessary. I estimate that my corn costs me forty-five 

 cents a bushel, and I do not include in that the value of the 

 corn fodder. I estimate half the fertilizing material that I use 

 in the field in the cost of the corn crop. I have raised corn for 

 seven successive years at a cost of forty-five cents a bushel, and 

 I do not see why it cannot be raised in Massachusetts at that 



