NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



139 



sorb the liquids, and form part of his compost 

 heap. There are many resources of this kind for 

 which farmers should keep a watchful eye. As to 

 the application of manures, reason tells us that 

 different soils need different manures, and this 

 fact science proves. This is one of the most im- 

 portant considerations connected with the subject. 

 This knowledge of the application of manures is all 

 important, and there is no correct way of obtain- 

 ing it but by an analysis of the soil. But few un- 

 derstand how to do this. There is no general sys- 

 tem to tell us how to restore our worn-out pas- 

 tures and other lands, and therefore wc need the 

 light of science upon this point. At this point, 

 science comes to our aid, and by analyzing the 

 soil, tells us what ingredients are wanting and 

 what manures to apply to supply those ingredi- 

 ents. 



Mr. French, of Braintree, said the subject of the 

 acquisition of fertilizing matters and their judi- 

 cious application to the soil, is one second in im- 

 portance to no other, to the people of Massachu- 

 setts. Without this fertilizing matter we should 

 make but poor headway. This, in some cases, is 

 expensive. He had found by inquiry, in different 

 sections, that the expense when a full cord in 

 bulk was obtained, would not vary far from $7 

 per cord. A cord carefully measured would con- 

 tain 103 bushels ; liberally measured, 100 bushels, 

 — making it cost 7 cents a bushel. From this es- 

 timate, farmers could see the cost of their man- 

 ures, and judge in regard to the profit of applying 

 them in large or small quantities. Farmers ought 

 * to turn their attention to the accumulation of 

 manures in every possible way. Most farmers car- 

 ry out the manure from their yards between the 

 1st and the 11th of May. The yards are scraped 

 perfectly clean, and the droppings of the cattle 

 which are thrown out between that time and the 

 time of turning out the cattle (usually the twen- 

 tieth of May) is mostly lost by its being exposed 

 to the rays of the sun. There ought to be a cov- 

 ering of muck spread over the yard. The same 

 course should be adopted in regard to the piggery, 

 the privy, &c. In regard to the application of 

 manures, he had tried various quantities. He 

 had put on twelve cords to an acre ; but this he 

 thought was too much. He would put on less 

 and plow more. He was was strongly in favor of 

 a thorough. subdivision of the soil. He had used 

 bone dust as a manure on light sandy soil — (30 

 bushels to an acre) with great results. He had 

 also found his account in sowing six or eight 

 bushels of refuse salt to an" acre. It operated 

 well in destroying worms. In his region, on the 

 sea-shore, no benefit had been experienced from 

 the use of plaster. 



Mr. Brigham, of Westboro', did not believe 

 the people of Massachusetts were generally so ig- 

 norant in regard to the adaptation of manures to 



soils as the chairman had intimated in his re- 

 marks. He believed that so far as stable manures 

 were concerned they might be advantageously ap- 

 plied to all soils. He would allow that they 

 might be injudiciously applied. He did not believe 

 that the farmers of the State were obliged to cul- 

 tivate the same amount of land from year to year 

 and that they were not able to increase this 

 amount — but he did believe that the farmers of 

 Massachusetts might, by judicious management, 

 be increasing their amount of manures annually 

 and at the same time increase their crops, stocks, 

 &c. He was in favor of cellars under barns. 

 The system pursued in his town, where most of 

 the farmers were engaged in keeping stock for 

 milk, — and which had resulted in enabling the 

 farmers to increase both their stock and their crops 

 — is to keep their cattle in the barn all winter, 

 and to keep them tied up during the summer 

 nights. In this way a great saving of manure 

 was made. In conclusion, he asked for informa- 

 tion in regard to the best mode of treating lands 

 which lay so that it is difficut to get manure on to 

 them, such as worn out pasture lands. He had 

 made one experiment, of plowing in a crop of 

 buckwheat, but obtained no benefit from it. 



Mr. Simon Brown, of Concord, said that in some 

 cases it was as important to tell what we ought 

 not to do, as what should be done. He once had 

 a conversation with a person employed to enrich a 

 piece of ground around a public building for the 

 purpose of setting out shrubbery and trees in it. 

 This person said he had purchased the manure of 

 a stable for a year, to which he, intended to add a 

 number of casks of lime in order to "cut up" the 

 whole and bring it into a fine compost, and in- 

 quired whether this would not be the true course 

 to pursue. Mr. Brown thought it would be inju- 

 rious. The gentleman seemed surprised at this, 

 and thought lime might be applied to advantage. 

 He did not understand that all animal manure con- 

 tains a certain amount of nitrogen which the ap- 

 plication of lime separates from the manure and 

 allows it to escape. But lime may be used in small 

 quantities on coarse vegetable substances which 

 need to be reduced before they can be convenient- 

 ly applied to the soil. Another important matter 

 is too often overlooked. When the compost heap 

 is overhauled, or moved, it should not be allowed 

 to remain uncovered one hour. People would be 

 surprised were they to spread a sheet over a heap 

 left uncovered over night, to see what collects on 

 it during that period. Where manure is hauled 

 out, and left uncovered, it will lose a large portion 

 of its fertilizing power in a few days. He referred 

 to old Jethro Tull's theory, that with constant stir- 

 ring and pulverzing of the soil, manure might be 

 altogether dispensed with. This, he said, was of 

 course an exaggeration, still, with more perfect til- 

 lage much less manure would be required. A well 



