284 AGRICULTURAL REPORT. 
and fifty to two hundred pounds of commercial manure are applied to 
the acre; for oats, fifty to one hundred pounds; for corn, one hundred 
to one hundred and fifty pounds, and for tobacco, two hundred to four 
hundred pounds. The increased production about pays the expense, 
the chief advantage being in securing a good stand of clover or grass. ' 
Farm-pen and stable manures do not receive merited attention. Nelson: 
Great complaint is made of the adulteration and worthlessness of bought 
manures, rendering it neither safe nor profitable to purchase any except 
plaster, ground bones, and some of the tobacco fertilizers prepared at 
Richmond. Farmers rely mostly on clover, plaster, and stable and barn- 
yard manures for the improvement of their lands. 
Tide-water district, (Southside. —Surry : Commercial manures are used 
very extensively, and with good results. From one-third to one-half the 
cultivated area is fertilized, the usual application being one hundred 
pounds of guano or phosphate, with fifty bushels of lime or one hun- 
dred and fifty bushels of marl to the acre. Commercial fertilizers are 
used to a greater extent than home-made, but the latter produce the 
best effect in dry seasons like the last two, and the use of them is on the 
increase. Southampton: Fertilizers are applied to a very limited ex- 
tent; home-made and commercial about half and half, and the results 
are similar, increasing the product fully 25 per cent. Isle of Wight: 
Fertilizers are used to a large extent on peanuts and potatoes, but, as a 
general rule, on no other crops. Probably one-fourth of the tilled 
lands is annually fertilized by an application of one hundred and fifty 
to two hundred pounds of Peruvian guano, and a larger quantity when 
other concentrated manures are used. Farmers are making a good deal 
of farm-yard manure from their stock, but the greatest results are be- 
lieved to be from the commercial fertilizers, particularly from guano 
combined with plaster. Princess Anne: No artificial fertilizers are 
used except in the cultivation of Irish potatoes. Barn-yard manure is 
relied on for corn. No other manure can be found to supply its place, 
and much attention is being paid to its production. Norfolk: The re- 
ports are occupied with details of the truck business, for the prosecution 
of which it is well known that a vast amount of fertilizing material is 
necessary. Commercial manures are extensively used, and large quan- 
tities of putrescent manures are annually obtained from all the neigh- 
boring cities in convenient reach by water. 
Piedmont district, (Southside.)—Chesterfield: At least one-half of the 
lands have been fertilized, until it is now almost impossible to raise 
wheat without guano or some other bought manure. Even then it 
takes two hundred pounds to the acre to realize as much as ten or twelve 
bushels. Farmers are generally coming to the conclusion that lime upon 
clover or pea-fallow is the surest way of improving their poor lands. 
Home-made manure is preferred for permanent results. Powhatan: 
Concentrated manures are used to a much less extent than formerly. 
They are not thought to pay except on the tobacco crop. Not more 
than one-fourth of the tilled acreage is manured. Home-made manures 
are used only on tobacco. Cumberland: Fertilizers are applied to con- 
siderable extent, about one-fourth of the cultivated land being thus 
treated: for tobacco, four hundred pounds per acre; for wheat, two 
hundred pounds. Nearly all of the home-made manure is given to the 
tobacco crop. On the poorer lands, about half the usual quantity of 
fertilizers is combined with it. Amelia: Fertilizers are used to a large 
extent, being applied to about two-fifths of the tilled acreage. Rate of 
application, about two hundred pounds Peruyian guano, or three jun- 
dred pounds manipulated, and eight to ten wagon-loads of farm, pen, or 
: 
