RECENT FARM EXPERIMENTS. 459 
. Mr. N. G. Pierce, of the same elub, reports an experiment in planting 
corn on hijl land of rather heavy texture, with clayey subsoil. To four 
rows twenty-eight pounds of Bradley’s superphosphate were applied, at a 
cost of 95 cents, being thoroughly incorporated with the soil before drop- 
ping the corn; to the next four rows ashes were applied on the hill after 
planting, at the same expense; to the next four rows, hen-manure in 
the hill at the same expense—the quantity being nearly three bushels, 
at 25 cents per bushel. The next four rows received no fertilizer, and 
their product was 716 pounds of corn in the ear. Plot 1 yielded 1,113 
pounds, showing a gain of 397 pounds over the unfertilized plot; plot 2 
yielded 859 pounds, a gain of 143 pounds; plot 3 yielded 740 pounds, a 
gain of 24 pounds. Thus, on four rows the superphosphate should re- 
ceive a credit of $7 94 as the legitimate net profit over the cost of appli- 
cation; the ashes a credit of $2 86; the hen-manure, even at the low 
rate of 25 cents per bushel, only paying the cost of application. 
POTATOES. 
Mr. 8. C. Pattee, of Warner, New Hampshire, reports the following ex- 
periment with potatoes on a ridge of dry land plowed late in the fall, and 
thoroughly harrowed in thespring, the area occupied being liacre. Rows 
were laid out three and a half feet apart, by running a plow lightly, and 
the hills were marked a little more than two feet apart, and planted 
with potatoes cut to one or two eyes in a piece, two pieces in each hill. 
The hills received a compost prepared by mixing four bushels of leached 
ashes with one peck of lime slacked with a saturated solution of salt, 
and one peck of gypsum. The product of potatoes was 200 bushels, or 
160 bushels per acre, worth 45 cents per bushel. Total expenses: 
breaking up in the fall, $7 50; harrowing, May 12, $2 55; ee 
May 20, $7 75; cost of compost, go 25; 84 bushels seed potatoes, $4 2 
cultivating, June 14, $1 50; June 24, : D5, two hoeings, employing shied 
to four laborers, making a total of fifty. -one hours’ work, $7 65; October 
6 to 9, digging the crop, $14; interest on land, $5; total, $55 45, or 
$44 36 per acre, making the average cost per bushel 273 cents; value 
of the crop, $90. Net profit over all expenses, including interest on land, 
$34 55, or $27 64 per acre. The yield included 15 bushels of Early Rose, 
12 of Early Goodrich, and 4 of Excelsior potatoes, which, if sold at reg- 
ular market prices, would have consi iderably increased the profit. Mr. 
Pattee finds the most suitable soil for the potato to be a light yellow 
loam, elevated in situation, and possessing good drainage, either natural 
or artificial, so that no water will stand upon it in the wettest part of 
the season. All unfermented, nitrogenous manures should be avoided 
as far as possible; but, if necessarily used, they should be applied in the 
fall and plowed in, as ‘they will be less liable to produce disease than 
when spread on the surface. Ashes in liberal quantity make a good 
fertilizer, and plaster is excellent on some soils. Superphosphate of 
lime has, in some instances, doubled his crop. 
Potash, superphosphate, &c., on potatoes.—The following is an abstract 
of reports by Protessor Voelcker, of England, of experiments during 
the years 1867-69, bearing specially on the effects of potash salts ap- 
plied alone, and in ‘combination with phosphatie manures, for the potato 
crop. In 1867, at Carleton, Carlisle, an experiment was inade on a very 
sandy, light soil, in poor agricultural condition, on plots measuring one- 
twentieth of an acre each. Some of the plots were left unmanured; 
others were manured’ with dung at the rate of 20 tons per acre; one 
with mineral superphosphate, at the rate of 4 ewt. per acre; one ‘with 
crude potash salts at the same rate; one with common salt at the same 
