68 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



Mr. . I experimented a little witli the 



Stockbridge Fertilizer tliis year on turnips, and I found the 

 same difiSculty as the gentleman who has preceded me. 

 They were watery, while those sowed on manure were not. 

 The outward appearance of the turnips was very much the 

 same. I would like to ask Professor Goessmann if he can 

 give any explanation. 



Professor Goessmann. The Stockbridge Fertilizer contains 

 no ingredients injurious to plants. It contains the elements 

 essential to plant-growth; but, without knowing the condi- 

 tion of the soil and the specific treatment, it is very difficult 

 to give an opinion in regard to any particular case. 



Mr. Hastings of Framingham. I have a neighbor who 

 came from Arlington, where he had cultivated a small piece 

 of land as a market-garden for a few years. His land was 

 very rich ; and he used nothing when he occupied it but f(;rtil- 

 izers of some kind, — no barnyard-manure. His land was in 

 excellent condition anyway, without the fertilizers. He 

 moved out into my neighborhood, and took some land that 

 was ordinarily good farming-land, but had never been manured 

 for gardening. I told him, when he commenced, that I did 

 not believe he could afford to buy that land to raise vegeta- 

 bles on ; but he thought he could. He had told me how much 

 he had raised in Arlington upon a certain piece of land. I 

 told him I thought he would find a great deal of difference 

 between the land where he was and the land in Arlington. 

 He talked with some of my neighbors who were carting stable- 

 manures about a mile and a half, and he says, " You are cart- 

 ing eighty-five per cent of water. You might just as well 

 throw that away, save your team, labor, and expense, and 

 buy fertilizers." He went on with this market-gardening, 

 using fertilizers of some kind ; and he had very poor success. 

 The next year he got barnyard-manure almost entirely, — 

 bought it wherever he could, — and raised better crops than 

 he did the year before. 



Three or four years ago, I read so much in the j)apers 

 about fertilizers, and how much could be raised by their use, 

 that I thought I would try a few kinds. I got some of the 

 Brighton Fertilizer, and then got something that they called 

 German salts. I got also two kinds of guano, which I used, 

 mixed with loam. I put them on about the first of June ; and, 



