HORSE-MANURE AND FERTILIZERS. 215 



Mr. Ellsworth. I am very glad you have brought that 

 to my mind. I waut to state that fact. I had two old 

 gentlemen who did the husking, and I gave them directions 

 to save the best twin-ears for seed ; and I can show any 

 gentleman thirty-eight basketfuls of twin-ears from the two 

 acres of corn, and every ear filled out nicely. I think that 

 is some test of the capacity of the Stockbridge Formula to 

 make corn. 



Question. Wliat was the condition of the corn from the 

 quarter of an acre ? 



Mr. Ellswoeth. There were very few well-filled ears, 

 and the fodder was very small. Every hill was looked over, 

 so that there should not be more than four stalks in any 

 case. There were some thirty missing hills, I was told by 

 one of my boys. There were but thirty-one baskets of small 

 corn on the two acres. All the rest of my corn in the 

 granary is well filled out. 



Question. Are there any kinds of commercial manures 

 that can be used to advantage, when fresh horse-manure can 

 be obtained, delivered on the farm, at six dollars a cord ? 



Dr. Fisher of Fitchburg. That is a question that I do 

 not know much about, and I doubt if anybody does. It is a 

 very broad question, that will take a great deal, perhaps, to 

 answer it. It opens the whole subject of manures, and 

 every thing else. It might be answered from a chemical 

 stand-point ; but I have no data with me, and I have nothing 

 to refresh my recollection. I have not had any time to 

 think of the question, because we have been talking ever 

 since it was put into my hands. I can only give 3'ou some 

 indication of my own opinion, from what I may call a prac- 

 tical stand-point. In the first place, what is meant by " fresh 

 horse-manure at six dollars a cord " ? Is it one foot of 

 manure, and seven feet of straw, burned up at that ? or is it 

 seven feet of horse-manure without any straw? What is 

 " horse-manure " ? That is rather an important question, to 

 be settled at the start. I suppose there is but one way to 

 look at that practically. "We buy a great many different 

 kinds of horse-manure. Some of it is very poor, some of it 

 very good. Was it a horse stuffed with grain ? or was it a 

 colt that was fed on meadow hay ? There is a vast differ- 



