172 



NEW ENGLAND FAEMER. 



April 



ting it on in strips, leaving alternate portions with 

 none. The results were very good, causing a great 

 increase of the crop. lie had since tried fish guano 

 on grass, and had seen no good results. He marked 

 ofTa piece of ground on the meadow, and sowed it 

 in strips during a rain, and he could see no differ- 

 ence. He tried super-phosphate of lime with like 

 poor results. He applied horse manure, guano, fish 

 guano and super-phosphate of lime to rows of peas. 

 He found the horse manure equal to the guano. 

 The fish guano failed entirely. He tried a similar 

 experiment with rows of corn, and could not see 

 that he found any benefit from fish guano and the 

 super-phosphate of lime. He cultivated also seven- 

 ty varieties of potatoes, and tried these four ma- 

 nures on them with similar results. The value of 

 salt lye and ashes were also spoken of. The for- 

 mer should never be used near the roots of trees, 

 but it did well on grass. 



Mr. Bacheller, of Sutton, had tried guano two 

 years to a limited extent. As he had it applied, 

 directly in the hill, with a little loam between it and 

 the corn, the corn was destroyed by it. Mixed with 

 compost he had found it to do very well. Upon 

 grass it did not produce so good an effect as he had 

 anticipated. lie had tried De Burg's super-phos- 

 phate of lime on corn with good results. His neigh- 

 bors also had found it very good. He had found 

 plaster on his pastures very useful indeed ; it brings 

 in the white clover, and makes the feed thick and 

 green. Upon potatoes he had found no benefit from 

 the use of plaster. He usually applied fifty loads 

 of manure, and obtained from forty to fifty bushels 

 of corn to the acre. 



Mr. Hyde again spoke of guano, and said that 

 he was not a strong advocate for it. At the price 

 at which it would be likely to sell this spring, he 

 did not think it would be profitable to use it. He 

 did not consider it a fertilizer, but only a stimulant, 

 •and only fit to be used where other manures were 

 also used, in order to aid in extracting from them 

 their virtues to the greatest extent. 



Mr. FlTCn, of Sheffield, spoke of the proper ap- 

 plication of manure. "Where the soil is light — he 

 thought the manure should be plowed in rather 

 deep ; but where it is heavy, it is better to apply it 

 upon the surface, or in the hill. He would plow 

 in eight inches, rather than ten, where land is po- 

 rous. He had had no experience with guano. Plas- 

 ter he had used considerably ; but he would not 

 use it continually. In his section, he considered it 

 one of the best manures in combination with other 

 manures. To corroborate the remarks that had 

 been made as to the importance of manuring high- 

 ly, he related the results in the case of a gentleman 

 who purchased a small farm near New York, run- 

 ning in debt for it, and then putting on $40 worth 

 of manure to the acre. Every fifteen years he had 

 expended the same sum for manure. Corn and hay 



had been the chief products of the farm, and the 

 owner after having spent thirty years upon it, and 

 rode on his hay to market enough to ride 70,000 

 miles, was now worth $80,000 as the result of his 

 farming. The success of all farmers in Massachu- 

 setts must depend on their making their farms bet- 

 ter. All the profit will depend on making the lands 

 as rich as they will admit of being made, because it 

 costs no more to cultivate an acre for a large crop 

 than for a small one. 



Mr. Steebess, of Chicopee, also concurred in the 

 opinion that the great secret of the farmer's success 

 was in making, saving, and applying manure. He 

 believed every farmer of his acquaintance wasted 

 manure enough every year to manure an acre suffi- 

 ciently well to make it produce fifty bushels of corn. 

 He applied about twenty-five cart-loads — some six 

 or eight cords — to the acre, besides some 150 or 

 200 lbs. of plaster sowed on, and all plowed in to» 

 gether. He used the double Michigan plow, which 

 he considered the best now in use, and he always 

 plowed ten inches deep where he could do it. Mr. 

 S. related the results of his practice in manuring 

 thoroughly, and said that for twenty-five years he 

 was in the habit of taking from 75 to 100 bushels 

 of corn from an acre. He concurred in the opin- 

 ion of Mr. Fay, that sheep are as profitable stock 

 as the farmer can keep, for the purpose of enrich- 

 ing a farm with manure. Their manure is worth 

 from 30 to 50 per cent, more than that of com- 

 mon stock. Hogs, he thought, would pay a far- 

 mer for their keeping, if well supplied with earth 

 and vegetables through the summer season. He 

 usually kept from twelve to fifteen, and made from 

 them a hundred loads of manure, which was worth 

 in the country $125. He had used guano for three 

 seasons, and he thought it an excellent manure j 

 but farmers generally did not apply it as he had 

 done. He plowed it under very deep, and put on 

 as much as 500 lbs. to the acre. In that way he 

 obtained from land which produced in 1853, with- 

 out guano, about 30 bushels of corn to the acre, 

 and 25 bushels of oats in 1854, at least 50 bushels 

 of corn in 1855, with guano. Last spring the same 

 land was sowed to wheat and oats and produced 20 

 bushels of wheat and 40 bushels of oats to the acre 

 — having had a dressing of 150 lbs. of guano to the 

 acre before plowing. Mr. Stebbins concluded by 

 repeating his opinion that farmers greatly mistook 

 their calling when they did not plow deep and 

 manure their land thoroughly. He believed that a 

 hundred per cent, more might be produced from 

 the farms of Massachusetts than is now produced. 



Mr. Wetherell spoke of the art of manuring 

 as being the art of feeding plants, and worthy of 

 the same attention as the art of feeding animals. 

 The nature of plants and soils needs to be studied, 

 and when understood, together with the nature of 

 specific manures, it is as easy to feed plants and 



