134 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE. 



MIDDLESEX. 



Statement of J. B. Farmer. 



The ground on which I am trying experiments with manure, 

 under the directions given by the society in their Transactions 

 for the year 1861, contains three pieces, of fifty square rods 

 each, of apparently uniform quality, though each piece differed 

 one from the other, both in soil and subsoil. On these three 

 pieces, I applied three different kinds of compost, and each kind 

 was of uniform quality, while the same number of cubic feet 

 was applied to each piece. 



No. 1 is what I call a strong, sandy loam — soil about ten 

 inches deep, with a sandy, clay subsoil, retentive of moisture, 

 and probably of manure, but not wet and heavy. 



No. 2 is a little dryer, with about the same depth of soil, and 

 a subsoil containing more sand and less clay. 



No. 3 is a light sandy loam, with a subsoil of clear sand, 

 neither retentive of water nor manure. 



The crop on the whole field in 1861 was corn. I kept an 

 account of the number of bushels, shelled one, and found the 

 average to be fifty-two and one-half bushels per acre. The field 

 was ploughed in the fall of 1859, planted with corn in 1860, 

 meadow muck carted on the following winter and thrown out 

 in the fall, and cattle, horse and hog manure carted on in the 

 spring of 1861 ; making a compost of, as near as I can 

 estimate, three parts meadow mud, and one part cattle, horse 

 and hog manure. This compost was spread broadcast, about 

 seven cords to the acre, and cultivated in. Corn occupied the 

 land in 1860 and 1861. 



On the 28th of April, 1862, I subdivided each piece into 

 five equal lots, each lot containing ten square rods, numbered 

 according to the society's directions. 



Four of the lots in No. 1 were manured with compost made 

 of three ]»arts cattle manure and one part meadow nuul ; 72-^^2" 

 cubic feet to each lot. Lot No. 5 had no manure. 



Four lots in No. 2 were manured with compost made of one- 

 third meadow mud and two-thirds horse manure, on which two 

 shotes had been kept through the winter ; 72-/^ cubic feet to 

 each lot. Lot No. 5 had no manure. 



