198 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



heap by itself. In the month of October it was covered up 

 nicely with sods ; and the next spring I put it on a piece of 

 corn. The corn came up very nicely, and looked very well 

 until about the middle of June ; and at that time the virtue 

 of the fertilizer was all gone. The corn-crop was nothing. 

 I do honestly believe that that corn-crop was not as good as 

 it would have been if it had been planted without any 

 fertilizer whatever. When Professor Atwater was quoted, 

 that experience came into my mind very strongly. I have 

 had an offer of the same material since, and can have it to- 

 day, if I would take it and cart it home ; but I do not think 

 it would pay for carting. There is a reason for that, un- 

 doubtedly ; and I should like to have it explained. 



While I have the floor, I will say a word or two in regard 

 to the Stockbridge Fertilizers. I have used them somewhat 

 myself; but I have attributed the result — that is, where 

 they were not successful — to my own fault, or a difference 

 in soil. A neighbor of mine used some on corn this last 

 year, and harvested seventy-five or eighty bushels to the 

 acre, without any other manure. Other farmers have used 

 it without satisfactory results. I used some myself on grass, 

 and I do not think it was worth a quarter of a cent a 

 pound. A neighbor purchased a little for grass, and a little 

 to put on to asparagus. His hired man, in his ignorance, 

 made the mistake of putting the dressing for grass on the 

 asparagus ; and the other he put on the grass-land. The 

 grass fertilizer that was put on the asparagus produced an 

 excellent crop : the other was apparently worthless. I had 

 a piece of clover which grew after rye, — a piece that had not 

 been manured for two years, — and my intention was to turn 

 the clover in, and put in the Stockbridge Formula, and raise 

 a premium crop of corn. The clover was ploughed in about 

 eight inches deep ; and I thought I would harrow it over 

 before I sowed the fertilizer, and then harrow that in ; but, 

 upon examining it, I found that a Share's harrow had no 

 effect upon it at all. The surface was a complete mass of 

 clover-roots; and so I managed to furrow it out a little, 

 and planted it to corn, thinking perhaps I would apply the 

 fertilizer in June. The corn came up, and looked very well, 

 and, when it was time to apply the fertilizer, I was very 

 busy about something else, and, as the corn looked as well as 



