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It will not be out of place here to refer to an experiment 

 made by C. N. Bement, of Albany, N. Y., distinguished for his 

 enterprise and success as a farmer, on the use of hog's bristles 

 as a manure. He has obligingly communicated the results to 

 me in a private letter. 



" I have made some experiments the past season with, to me, 

 a new kind of manure, hog's bristles. I have used horn sha- 

 vings from the card manufactories, and crushed bones for corn, 

 potatoes, and ruta-baga, with good success ; and from analogy 

 it occurred to me that bristles might contain as great fertilizing 

 qualities as horn shavings or bones. I applied to a brush man- 

 ufacturer in the city for his refuse bristles or sweepings of the 

 shop, which he had been in the habit of paying a cartman to 

 remove. I obtained only about thirty bushels, the greater part 

 of which I applied to potatoes, putting a handful in each hill. 

 The result was most satisfactory, the yield being more than 

 double to those where a shovelful of yard manure was put in 

 each hill, and, other circumstances being the same, many of the 

 hills furnishing a peck of potatoes too large for the table. This 

 kind of manure, as well as horn shavings, have a powerful re- 

 commendation in that they carry no foul seeds to the soi). I 

 also tried bristles on Indian corn, putting the same quantity in 

 each hill, and the eftect surpassed my most sanguine expecta- 

 tions. The corn came up very soon, grew rapidly, maintained 

 a dark and healthy color during the whole season, the ears filled 

 well, and it Tipened early. 



A farmer in Worcester county has been long in the habit of 

 applying salt. On his wheat ground he sows as much salt as 

 seed wheat, and for corn he puts it with his compost manure ; 

 not, however, in large quantities. He deems it a remedy 

 against the Hessian fly, of which I have great doubts ; and 

 mixed with compost, he puts it into the hill with corn, and con- 

 siders it a remedy against the wire-worm. In the latter case, 

 from his long experience and facts stated to me, I am inclined 

 to think it efficacious. 



A composition which I have myself applied with advantage 



