No. 124.] 137 



Jersey, " coverefi with Indian grass, with here and there a dwarf 

 pine or cedar, which was broken up about the sixth, and planted 

 about the eighteenth of May, with a gill of poudrette to the hill, was 

 raised four hundred bushels of corn, or nearly thirty bushels to the 

 acre;" and the gentleman who raised it says, "I am confident, that 

 without the poudrette, I should not have had more than three bushels 

 of infej'ior corn to the acre; or forty-two bushels at fifty cents, worth 

 twenty-one dollars, which taken from the value of four hundred 

 bushels, or two hundred dollars, leaves one hundred and seventy- 

 nine dollars, as the produce of the poudrette." The poudrette, a gill 

 to the hill, or about ten bushels to the acre, cost less than sixty dol- 

 lars on the premises, carried by Camden and Araboy railroad, at the 

 very highest rates of freight. 



Dr. George Emerson, of Philadelphia, the editor of the republica- 

 tion by Carey & Hart of the " Farmer's Encyclopedia and Dictionary 

 of Rural Affairs;" says, "I made experiments last spring, 1843, in 

 Kent county, Delaware, with poudrette prepared by Mr. Minor, in 

 New- York. This concentrated manure, was applied in its usual 

 form, that of a coarse powder, dropped in contact with the seed at 

 planting. The experiments were made in three different fields, all 

 however of very similar soil, a light loam greatly impoverished with 

 long tillage, without manure. The quantity applied was only a gill 

 to the hill, or about ten bushels to the acre, and the product was at 

 least double in every case, to that on the adjoining ground." 



I might give numerous other extracts, equally to the point were it 

 necessary ; but these are sufficient to satisfy those who will read 

 them, of the value to agriculture of an article which is now generally 

 wasted. 



It is not yet seven years since attention was directed towards it in 

 such a way as to produce beneficial results in this country. In 1837, 

 our best agricultural writers were entirely unacquainted with any 

 mode of preparing it for use, as the writer knows, having correspon- 

 ded with them in relation to it ; but now it is prepared in this city, 

 and in Philadelphia, on a large scale, and in Boston to a limited ex- 

 tent, whilst the demand for it is becoming very great, and its effects 

 highly beneficial and satisfactory. Is it not important then, that vigo- 

 rous efforts should be made to bring every farmer in the country to 

 undeistand and appreciate its value 1 Such is the opinion of one 

 who has devoted nearly seven years to the enterprise, and I therefore 

 offer to furnish o,ny farmer^ who will apply either personally or by 

 letter, with such information as will enable him to preserve and use 

 to good advantage, such of the material as he may be able to obtain 

 for his own use, and shall be gratified if the Farmers'' Club or the 

 American Institute^ will call their attention to this proposition. 



All of which is respectfully submitted by 



D. K. MINOR. 

 23 Chambers-st.j J^. Y. 



[Senate No. 124.J S 



