EXPERIMENTS ON MANURES. 135 



On weighing seventy-five pounds of the corn, it was found, on 

 shelling, to measure one bushel — the cobs weighing nineteen pounds. 



Perhaps I may here say, that when a larger yield has been ob- 

 tained, I have planted nearer together, and have used a larger share 

 of stable manure. 



Respectfully yours, 



DANIEL PUTNAM. 



North Danvers, Nov. 8, 1849. 



EXPERIMENTS ON MANURES. 



No application has been made for the premium, and the Commit- 

 tee have come to the conclusion that no further encouragement is 

 necessary ; for every farmer who husbands his means and saves and 

 makes a large quantity of good manure, and applies it judiciously, 

 is so well repaid that he needs no other premium or reward. 



We have seen many instances of marked success in composting 

 manures, and some well worthy of imitation. One farmer, whose 

 farm abounds in peat muck, and whose cultivated lands are com- 

 posed mostly of sandy loam and gravelly loam, has applied compost- 

 to his crops with marked success. The last season, most of the 

 crops in our county suflfiired from drought in mid-summer ; his culti- 

 vated crops escaped the effects of it. There was nothing peculiar 

 in his method of cultivation, except that he applied his manure to 

 the surface and harrowed it well in, and in cultivating corn and 

 other hoed crops, kept a level suiface, without hilling up, as it is 

 barbarously called, and more barbarously practised. This farmer's 

 corn, planted in hills four feet apart, was judged to yield sixty 

 bushels to the acre. His potatoes, planted with compost, mostly 

 escaped the rot, while those planted on long and unfermented ma- 

 nure suffered much from it. His onions yielded well, while on sta- 

 ble dung, muscle bed, and the manures usually applied, the crop, 

 owing to the drought, was in many places almost a failure. For 

 carrots, beets and turnips, this compost has been found equally 

 effectual ; nor are its effects less lasting. 



This farmer, who finds himself so well compensated that he does 



