No. 8. 



Manures. 



235 



the bones in Baltimore, was forty cents a 

 bushel, and it cost ten cents a bushel to 

 transport them to my farm. The wheat 

 where the bone was put, w^s not improved 

 by it; but a striking difference was soon 

 perceived in the clover that had been sown 

 among the wheat about three weeks before 

 the bone. In the first crop mowing the past 

 summer, there was amply sufficient, where 

 the bone had been put, above what was on 

 the adjacent parts, to pay for the bone, and 

 all the trouble of putting it on ; and the se- 

 cond growth gave me an excellent crop of 

 seed, while on the parts where the bone was 

 not put, there was no seed worth gathering. 

 The seed is not got out yet, but several of 

 my friends who are considered good judges 

 in such matters, thought there would be 

 more seed than would pay for the first cost 

 of the bone. 



Experiment 2. — At the same time I sowed 

 bone on my wheat, I sowed some at the rate 

 of six bushels per acre on my oats, which 

 had been put in ten days before, and sowed 

 with clover. There was a great increase 

 in the oats, both in the size of the straw and 

 in the quantity and weight of the grain; and 

 the clover the past season was several times 

 over more abundant where the bone was put 

 than where there was none. There is no ques- 

 tion that the first cost of the bone was fully 

 returned in the additional quantity of oats 

 that resulted from its application. 



Experiment 3. — On the 2nd of the fif^h 

 month, 1843, I put a bushel of the bone at 

 the rate of six bushels per acre, on^ four 

 rows of my corn in the hill, by dropping the 

 corn, then putting the bone on it, and cover- 

 ing both up together. The difference in the 

 appearance was manifest through the sum- 

 mer. When we gathered the corn we kept 

 these four rows, and the four rov.s on the 

 one side, and the four rows on the other, all 

 separate. From the four rows where the 

 bone was put, there were two and three- 

 quarter flour barrels full of real good ears, 

 and a half barrel of short corn ; while from 

 the four rows on each side, there was a 

 scant flour barrel full of good ears, and 

 three-quarters of a flour barrel of short corn. 

 This gave me more than one and a half 

 flour barrels full of good corn for a bushel 

 of bone, or fifty cents, besides there being 

 more than double the quantity of fodder 

 where the bone was put. 



Experiment 4, — On the 3rd of the tenth 

 month, 1843, I put in my wheat, on one part 

 of which I put 15 bushels of bone per acre, 

 on another part 30 bushels of finely ground 

 charcoal per acre, on another stable manure, 

 on another a coating of wheat straw, and a 

 part was left without anything. The bone 



and charcoal were sown broadcast, and har- 

 rowed in with the wheat. The charcoal did 

 no good whatever, either to the wheat, or 

 the clover that was sown amongst it, the 

 part where the charcoal was, and that where 

 nothing was put, alike not producing as 

 much wheat as was sown on. it, and they 

 are now bare of clover, while I had fifteen 

 bushels of wheat per acre where the bone 

 was put, and a luxuriant growth of clover, 

 a large portion of which headed out, and 

 filled well with seed. The wheat was 

 larger, and the heads better filled, and the 

 clover larger, where the bone was put, than 

 where the ground was dressed with stable 

 manure. The wheat straw did some good, 

 but comparatively little. 



Experiment 5. — On the 26th of the third 

 month, 1844, I put in my oats and clover, 

 dressing the ground, except a small part, 

 with ten bushels of bone to the acre. On 

 one half the ground the bone was harrow-ed 

 in with the oats, on the other half the bone 

 was sown on the top after the harrowing. 

 The crop of oats was greatly increased 

 where the bone was put, but it was much 

 best on that part where it had been harrowed 

 in. The yield, however, was not so great 

 as last year, which I attribute partly to the 

 dryer season this year. The clover is far 

 better where the bone had been, than it was 

 on the part lefl for experiment without any- 

 thing. 



Experiment 6. — On the 24th of the fourth 

 month, 1844, 1 planted my corn, putting pou- 

 drette in the hills at the rate of one and a 

 half barrels per acre, and covering it up with 

 the corn. I left a few rows for experiment 

 without any, which were decidedly inferior 

 to the others in the number and size of the 

 ears, and the size of the stalks. Also that 

 which had been dressed with poudrette, 

 ripened considerably earlier — I should think 

 at least ten days. The beneficial effects of 

 the poudrette were much the most remark- 

 able on the part of the field where the land 

 was poorest — indeed, on a small part where 

 the ground was very good, I was scarcely 

 able, at pulling time, to see any difference. 

 Experiment 7. — On the 19th of the ninth 

 month, 1S44, I put in my wheat, four con- 

 tiguous acres of which were manured as 

 follows, viz: X)ne with 200 lbs. of guano, 

 finely pulverized, and mixed the previous 

 day with about an equal bulk of plaster of 

 paris ; another with 16 bushels of bone ; a 

 third with four barrels of poudrette, and the 

 fourth with a mixture of all these, and a 

 small part was lefl without anything. The 

 manures were all harrowed in with the 

 wheat. The rest of my wheat ground was 

 dressed with bone. The cost of the manure 



