78 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



acre, and the potatoes, on the other side, were manured with 

 barnyard manure. Two equal plots for corn were measured 

 accurately, — twenty square rods, — and the soils, as far as could 

 be determined, upon the judgment of the farmer and my own, 

 were absolutely alike. Mr. Dillon, the farmer, said, "This 

 land will bear fifteen bushels of corn to the acre, without any 

 manure." "Very well ; I am going to put into that land the 

 material to make twenty-five bushels of corn, and if the land, 

 without manure, will bear fifteen bushels of corn, with its 

 natural proportion of stalks, my crop shall be forty bushels, 

 with its natural proportion of stalks." The corn was planted 

 on the 22d of May, in rows about four feet apart in each of 

 the plots, the same number of hills to the row, and the same 

 number of hills in each plot ; and, at the third hoeing, the 

 same number of stalks were left to grow on each plot. The 

 material was applied on the same day to each plot by strewing 

 it in the furrow. The two plots were hoed on the same day, 

 and when the corn was cut, it was cut at the same time and 

 husked at the same time. The treatment of the two plots 

 was exactly alike. The corn was cut about the 2 2d of Sep- 

 tember, and husked about the 20th of October. The plot 

 without manure, instead of yielding fifteen bushels to the acre, 

 yielded thirty-five ; therefore, the plot with manure, instead 

 of yielding forty bushels, must yield sixty. The plot with 

 manure actually yielded sixty-four and four-tenths bushels ; 

 having not only sustained nry statement, but proved itself a 

 failure, because it produced more corn than I said it should. 

 Now, gentlemen, let me show you the doubt. I had put in 

 more materials than I said were wanted for the twenty-five 

 bushels of corn and its natural proportion of stalks, and I 

 had got more corn than I ought to have had. Now, here is 

 the doubt : have I left in the land one-third of the materials, 

 which I should charge to the land, or have I got everything 

 in my crop? I had lost a year, so far as answering that 

 question was concerned. I did not know but I had wronged 

 my land by charging it with materials which it had not got, 

 but which I had got in mj' corn-bin. 



Now, I was not satisfied — because farmers were hungry for 

 information — I was not satisfied to try the experiment upon 

 the College farm alone. I said : "The result will be different 



