100 MASSACHUSETTS HOETICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



been tried aucl fouucl equally beneficial in all the states, from Maine 

 to Louisiana. 



Facts gathered for and against the system, seem to prove that 

 we may by this method very materially lessen the uncertainties 

 which surround cultivators, and make the hills, the remote parts, 

 and the sterile lauds of our farms fertile. Prof. Stockbridge closed 

 by repeating the statement that while some of the ideas which he 

 expressed were original with him, others had long been common 

 property, Liebig perhaps being first to publish them. 



Discussion. 



The Chairman said that Prof. Stockbridge could not have spoken 

 on a more interesting subject, and that he would receive the thanks 

 of all the ladies and gentlemen present. An opportunity would now 

 be given for members who wished to ask Prof. Stockbridge any 

 question, to do so. 



William D. Philbrick said that Prof. Stockbridge had very clearly 

 stated his theory, and that he felt that the thanks of the meeting 

 were due to him. But he had not touched on the branch of hus- 

 bandry in which the speaker was engaged, viz., market gardening. 

 Market gardeners are differently situated from farmers in general, 

 whose supply of manure is limited to the cattle kept on the farm. 

 He could get all the stal)le manure he needed by pajdng for it, but 

 he wished to be sure of growing the largest crops at the least ex- 

 pense for fertilizers. He wanted to know whether vegetables could 

 be raised for market on Prof. Stockbridge's sj^stem. 



Prof. Stocklnidge replied that he disliked to go farther in theory 

 than in practice, and that he had no practical acquaintance with 

 market gardening. On a farm he would use chemicals in combina- 

 tion with barn-yard manure. Barn-yard manure is of uncertain 

 composition, and the refuse of English hay and Indian corn cannot 

 make the best manure for a potash crop. Early beets might be 

 manured with part barn-yard manure and part potash, which would 

 be cheaper than to use all barn-yard manure. In reply to Mr. Phil- 

 brick's question whether he could carry on a market garden entirely 

 with chemicals, he would say that a market garden being, unlike a 

 farm, tilled all the time, organic matter must be applied in some way, 

 and he thought there was probably no better way than in stal)le 

 manure, but on a farm it could be ai)plied in a cheaper way, such 



