136 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE. 



" No. 1. Planted with tan only, yielded me a fine crop of large, 

 smooth, white potatoes, the best yield in the lot. 



"No. 2. Planted with the tan and lime, nearly the same, but 

 not quite so smooth. 



" No. 3. Planted with charcoal ashes, the largest potatoes, 

 but not so many in the hill ; a good yield, and, taking into con- 

 sideration the expense of putting on, it was quite as valuable 

 a crop as either of the others. 



" No. 4. Planted with compost from the barnyard ; a good 

 crop, but the poorest in the lot. The soil of this lot was a 

 clay loam, and yielded one hundred bushels per acre. The pota- 

 toes were all Mercers. 



" One of my neighbors composted twenty bushels of tan, with 

 one of guano, which yielded a fine crop. He thinks two of 

 guano to twenty of tan would be better. I have carted 1,500 

 bushels into my cattle-yard this fall, and intend to cart four or 

 five thousand bushels for planting potatoes. I am well satis- 

 fied that the potatoes are of a superior quality." 



Experiments have also been made in turning in crops as. a 

 manure. 



ESSEX. 



From the Report of the Committee. 



It is to be regretted that the liberal premiums offered by the 

 society, to test the value of crops turned in as a manure, should, 

 for several years, have failed to elicit any well-conducted ex- 

 periment on this subject. 



Ploughing in green crops as a means of fertilizing, has been 

 attended with striking results, and it has the additional advan- 

 tage of being a highly cleansing process. Weeds of annual 

 growth, very pernicious to cultivated crops, may be, by judi- 

 cious ploughing, very nearly eradicated. The charlick, or wild 

 mustard, which formerly choked any summer grain on the farm 

 of the writer, has, by this means, ceased to be any longer 

 troublesome. By this process, the town of Haverhill, some years 

 since, obtained the society's premium for a crop of rye, and it 

 has been continued on their farm ever since, with decided benefit. 



