156 BOAKD OF AGEICULTURE. 



thought he would plough it and plant it with corn. He pur- 

 chased some ashes and applied a handful to each hill. The 

 land produced a moderate crop. The next year he sowed 

 oats, and where the hills of corn were the year before, the 

 oats grew finely, showing that the soil had not been ex- 

 hausted, but that there was simply an exhaustion of the pot- 

 ash. In applying the fish, he had applied nitrogen and 

 phosphoric acid, but the potash had been exhausted, so that 

 the field would not produce crops. Acting upon the sugges- 

 tion which he got from the efi'ect of the handful of ashes upon 

 the corn, he applied ashes to the field, and, behold ! it was a 

 fertile field. Potash was the only thing that was required. 



I would say a word further in regard to the use of fertili- 

 zers. I am very much amused as I hear these discussions 

 from time to time, and it does seem, as Mr. Cushman has 

 said, that we ought to settle down upon something, so that 

 we shall not have to take up every year the same old ques- 

 tions. I used Peruvian guano twenty-seven or twenty-eight 

 years ago, and continued to use it. I have used many of 

 the fertilizers in the market, and have used them more or less 

 a good many years. I have used perhaps as much as fifteen 

 tons in a year. Well, most of them have paid me. I have 

 not been exact in my system of farming ; 1 have not kept 

 accurate accounts ; I have not kept an account of debit and 

 credit with each separate field ; I have only, at the close of 

 the year, examined my pocket-book ; and if I find that I have 

 something left after paying my debts, I say, "This year's 

 operations have paid me." I have purchased fertilizers that 

 did not pay me. I do not say they were not good, but 

 they have not acted on my crops ; they have not given satis- 

 factory results, in a few instances. 



In regard to the purchase of manin'e, if I could purchase 

 stable manure as Mr. Rawson can, I should purchase it more 

 largely than I have heretofore. He says it costs him six 

 doUars and a half a cord delivered upon his land. I should 

 think that that would be a cheaper source of plant-food than 

 any that I know of. I have used the dissolved bone ; I have 

 used ground bone, as we call it ; I have used powdered bone ; 

 and, mainly, they have paid me. I do not feel afraid to 

 apply these fertilizers in view of any injury they may do my 



