334 



the rate of 53 bushels per acre ; this produced a heavy burthen 

 of grass, and was considered the best of the several manures 

 applied. 



Salt, applied at the rate of one peck to three rods, or four- 

 teen bushels per acre, produced a fair crop, and was consider- 

 ed the next best to the ashes. 



Gypsum, sown at the rate of three bushels to the acre, man- 

 ifestly much improved the crop, and was much the least ex- 

 pensive application. Lime was dry slacked and applied at the 

 rate of one bushel to six rods, or 26 bushels per acre, without 

 any perceivable effect. 



I do not present these examples as furnishing any decisive re- 

 sults, but rather with the hope of inducing farmers to make 

 and record exact experiments though on a very limited scale, 

 that by the accumulation of such facts we may arrive at some- 

 thing more definite. Little can be deduced from the above ex- 

 periments, unless equal quantities of each kind of manure 

 had been used ; and then we want likewise to understand the 

 nature of the soil, as in respect to some soils, it is obvious cer- 

 tain kinds of manure are much more suitable than others. 



Saltpetre has been used to some extent in Middlesex coun- 

 ty. The use of this manure and the nitrate of soda abroad, 

 has, according to the reports which we have had, been pro- 

 ductive of so much benefit, that every fact connected with 

 their application here is important. I shall subjoin some few 

 of the results which have come within my knowledge. 



E. Phinney of Lexington thus writes to me : 



"My experiments with saltpetre as a manure have satisfied 

 me of the inexpediency of using it for that purpose. In the 

 spring of 1839, I purchased 400 lbs. for which I paid $S per 

 cwt. I tried it upon wheat, rye, and grass. Fifty pounds to 

 the acre on wheat and rye had no perceptible effect, and on 

 grass but very little. One hundred pounds to the acre occa- 

 sioned a very considerable increase of straw and grain, both in 

 wheat and rye as well as grass. But had I bestowed an equal 

 outlay in compost made from peat-mud and stable manure, or 



