MANURES. 135 



MANURES 



No subject is of greater importance to the farmer, than that 

 of manures. On his facilities for procuring them in sufficient 

 quantity, either from the natural resources of his farm, or from 

 other sources, as resorting to artificial manures from the market, 

 depend his ability to raise large crops, and, at the same time, 

 to secure the permanent improvement of his land. ■ 



In addition to the use of barnyard manures, and such other 

 materials as may be made from the natural resources of the 

 farm, and the use of guano, super-phosphate and special ma- 

 nures, in this State, some experiments have been made in the 

 use of tan, which, in certain sections, can be had in considera- 

 ble quantity. 



The value of tan may be stated in the words of a letter of 

 James J. Conover, Esq., of New Jersey, to the Hon. "William 

 Sutton, of Salem. "About the 25th of March," he says, under 

 date of Dec. 28, 1853, "I planted three acres, (most of it a 

 gravelly loam) with the common Mercer potatoes. On the 

 largest part of this, I put one small shovelful of spent tan, 

 composted one year previously with lime, and then covered 

 with soil. On a small portion I put our first quality of blue 

 shell marl, and covered them as the others, and on the rest I 

 put a shovelful of compost, made of barnyard manure and rich 

 earth. 



" The crop was light on the whole piece, and, as I did not go 

 into the measurement of ground, I cannot give a correct account 

 of the crop, but I was fully satisfied that the tanned potatoes 

 yielded more bushels than either of the others, and of a far 

 superior quality. About the 20th of April I planted three 

 acres more, on nearly all of which I put the tan and lime com- 

 post as before, excepting a few rows, by way of experiment, 

 on which I put tan in its raw state from the yard. On some I 

 put barnyard compost, the same as in the other patch, and on 

 some I put a handful of charcoal dust and ashes, which I gath- 

 ered from what we call charcoal heaths here in the Jerseys, 

 where charcoal is burned in pits or kilns, from common pine 

 wood. Now for the result. 



