108 FIRESIDE SCIENCE. 



The whole sum expended for special fertilizers 

 during the past seven years is seven hundred and 

 ninety dollars, or, in round numbers, eight hundred 

 dollars, which, applied to twenty-five acres of land, 

 gives as the cost of renovation about thirty-three 

 dollars per acre. The price of fair stable manure 

 in the city of Haverhill has, during the past seven 

 years, ruled at about six dollars the cord. Add to 

 this the cost of loading and hauling to the farm, 

 about four dollars, and we have, as the entire cost 

 of stable manure in the field, ten dollars the cord.. 

 Eight hundred dollars, the sum expended for special 

 agents, would have provided me with about eighty 

 cords of ordinary long manure. This would have 

 given to each acre a little more than three cords ; 

 and now the question arises, Could the expenditure 

 of eight hundred dollars for stable manure have 

 secured fertilizing effects of equal value with those 

 afforded by the plan of treatment pursued, costing 

 the same ? On the contrary, I am confident that to 

 have started my farm and put my fields, by pur- 

 chased manures, in the high tilth in which they are 

 at present, would have cost perhaps double the sum 

 which has been expended. 



The amounts and cost statements presented are 

 not exact, but sufficiently so to answer all the pur- 

 poses of this discussion. Of course, in contrasting the 

 cost of fertilizers, a great many little things should be 



