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troduce chemicals into five cords of manure that will produce larger crops than 
can be obtained from ten cords of crude manure, and last longer for future 
crops, saving at least fifty per cent. in labor and application. Dr. Wilkins 
thought that if five or six tons of hay could be produced, as promised by Mr. 
C. by chemical results, it would have a tendency to injure the soil, and illus- 
trated his view by referring to the vineyards on the Rhine, which, when 
manured heavily, will, for one or two years, produce extraordinary crops of ” 
grapes, and then become fruitless, requiring more than twelve years to restore 
the soil so as to produce grapes again. 
The chairman of the club said, in reference to the application of manure, 
that ‘after trying several ways, he prefers breaking up the sod early in the 
fall, ploughing not less than seven inches deep; in the spring drawing out the 
manure from the barn cellar after it had been forked over, placing it in heaps ; 
making five heaps from a cart-body full, five paces apart each way, spreading 
it, and harrowing it under the depth of three inches. If to be planted in corn 
and potatoes, chain it both ways and drop the seeds on the square. Or, if to be 
sown for fodder, harrow in four bushels of oats to the acre and cut in the milk, 
which makes a superior feed for milch cows, nearly equal to herd’s-grass. After 
the oat crop is harvested, plough the stubble under, across the furrows. The 
next spring harrow, haul from the barn cellar the same quantity of manure as 
applied to the first crop, about twenty-five loads to an acre, spread as before, 
and harrow or cultivate in to the depth of three inches, sow on three bushels of 
barley, eight pounds of clover and twelve quarts of grass-seed, harrow with a 
light harrow and roll; you will then get a good crop of barley, a good catch of 
grass, and a mowing field that will give you good crops, but do not fall-feed 
unless you want to spoil your mowing fields and be obliged to take them up in 
three years.” 
Mr. P. T. Campbell suggested the addition of two bushels of salt and three 
bushels of plaster per acre, immediately after the manure is spread, to be har- 
rowed in at the same time, to keep the ammonia from escaping and to chemicalize 
the manures sufficiently for a successful crop. 
Messrs. French, Manning, and Rollins thought leached ashes the best manure 
that can be applied to the soil, especially for fruit. The last named gentleman 
had doubled his crop of grass by the application of one hundred bushels per 
acre. 
At the close of the discussion the club voted twenty to one that manure should 
be applied to the sod after it had been turned over, and as near the surface as it is 
possible to cover it, not over three inches in depth. 
PUBLICATION OF THE REPORTS. 
The dissemination of the reports of this department is tenaciously adhered to 
by Congressmen, acting for and at the direct and urgent request of their con- 
stituents, notwithstanding occasional expressions of dissent from persons engaged 
in publishing agricultural books. Recognizing the great utility of the distribu- 
tion, and to some extent the reasonableness of a protest against issuing a mere 
agricultural compilation on general topics, the Commissioner has expressed his 
intention of restricting the acceptance of essays from outside sources and con- 
fining the matter mainly to the actual work of the department, thus making the 
annual volume in reality and exclusively a Report of the Department of Agri- 
culture. No book publisher could then, on any pretext, object to their wide 
circulation, and all would concur with a correspondent—one of a multitude— 
who says: “They would increase the demand for such works by stimulating 
the appetite and awakening a desire for further investigation.” 
