230 Oats ; Jersey Manure, $s?c. 



I sowed oats, (thicker than usual for a crop,) to pre- 

 cede winter grain, on or with which I shall sow grass 

 seeds. Knowing that oats ripening the grain is a very 

 scourging crop, I have cut it, as soon as the panicles 

 were completely formed, for hay, bound in sheaves to be 

 chaffed in my straw cutter ; the excellent qualities of such 

 hay being well known to me. I have mentioned these 

 circumstances, with the view to communicate an occur- 

 rence which agreeably surprised me. Four years ago, 

 I procured forty tons of Jersey manure, and spread it as 

 a top-dressing on many parts of the Belmont farm, on 

 sand, clay, loam, and in every variety of exposure, as well 

 as on moist and dry grounds. But in no instance any 

 profitable effect appeared. A broad strip of the lawn, 

 light and sandy, had been top-dressed, and showed no 

 signs of melioration heretofore. This strip is part of my 

 little oat field ; and it has thrown up a most luxuriant 

 growth ; far exceeding any other part, (though the whole 

 was good ; having been well limed throughout,) and af- 

 forded a proof that this manure agrees and co-operates 

 with lime. I never saw, in the richest soil, stronger, bet- 

 ter headed, or more promising plants. It would have 

 been incompatible with my objects, or I should have suf- 

 fered it to ripen, for experiment of its product. Mr. 

 Mark Reeve, who is very intelligent on this subject, 

 (and to whom I sent a sample of the manure,) informed 

 me, that I had been imposed on by the person from whom 

 I procured it ; the article used by me being only the co- 

 ver of the true kind. Its effect, luxuriant as it is, must 

 have been far more so, if the perfect manure had been 

 used. 



