NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



131 



TWELFTH AGRICULTURAL MEETING 



At the State House, Atril 1, 1851. 



Hon. B. V. French in the Chair. Subject, — Manures. 



The President opened the discussion. He said 

 that there was no subject so important as this. — 

 He as well as others had made mistakes in the use 

 of manures. Some farmers follow the old mode, 

 and only apply the manure from their cattle and 

 swine. We may as well make bread without 

 yeast as raise crops without manure. We ought 

 to magnify our compost heaps. Manure dropped 

 in our barn-yards in the summer wastes by expos- 

 ure. If we apply leaves from the forest, to save 

 it, we rob them. If we have peat bog, there is no- 

 thing better. It is best to dig peat in the fall and 

 expose it to frosts and air. He considered it the 

 best absorbent he had found. It absorbs and saves 

 the urine. After being mixed with manure, it 

 should undergo fermentation, else it will produce 

 sorrel. We need some absorbent to take up the 

 ammonia and hold it until the manure is applied. 

 He had found his account in using 30 bushels 

 ground bone to the acre. Guano had produced ex 

 cellent effects in some cases; but with him the re 

 suits were not satisfactory. Much depends on ap 

 plying manure to the soil. He once applied 5 

 cords to half an acre, and ploughed it in. He 

 ploughed other lands by the side, and then applied 

 manure to all alike. But the crop was no better 

 when the extra quantity of manure was ploughed 

 under. He thought he should see its effects in the 

 grass, but he never saw any benefit from it. Com- 

 post manure should be shoveled over and fermented, 

 but not heated so as to fire-fangle. On all red 

 sandy soils impregnated with iron, lime is good, 

 but generally there is no benefit from it. There 

 are in this State over 300 towns, and on an aver- 

 age 100 farmers to a town. Each loses on an av- 

 erage five dollars in saving and preparing manure 

 for want of information, and five dollars more in 

 the application, making a loss to each farmer of 

 $10, or over $300,000 to the State annually. 



Mr. Sheldon, of Wilmington, said that he wished 

 to make a few remarks on the subject discussed at 

 the previous meeting. Leave was granted. He 

 said that he agreed with Mr. Cole, that farmers 

 had made greater improvement than any other pro- 

 fession. In ploughing they now dispensed with 

 half the time and hands formerly used, and did 

 their work better. In raking hay, one man would 

 do as much as four in the old way. With a simple 

 machine one man would do as much in weeding on- 

 ions, as four men with hoes. Have other profes- 

 sions made equal progress ? Numerous other im- 

 provements might be named, farmers arc called 

 ignorant, because they cannot make exact estimates 

 on the expense for manure, and cost of crops. It 

 is wisely ordained by the God of nature that ex- 



act experiments cannot be made. No person can 

 tell what it costs to make a pound of butter. In 

 raising crops an exact estimate cannot be made, as 

 the benefit to the land cannot be reckoned. When 

 riding lately, a gentleman said to him that if a cer- 

 tain oak, among other trees, had been removed, 

 there would have been more timber by the greater 

 growth of the others; but this experiment could 

 not be made. So farmers must make heavy 

 draughts upon their judgment, and should not be 

 reproached with ignorance, when exact experi- 

 ments cannot be made. As to the subject for this 

 evening, manures, he thought it w-as a good plan 

 to haul out green manure in the fall, spread it and 

 then back furrow the land, covering up the man- 

 ure in the ridges, and let it become compost with 

 the soil. 



Mr. Flagg, of Worcester, inquired how he should 

 apply his manure, which was from horses, cows, 

 and some in compost, to a light gravelly soil for 

 Indian corn. He had no peat. 



]Mr. Walker, Secretary of Stale did not agree 

 with the gentleman that exact RTVperiments could 

 not be made. In making conijjost, different mate- 

 rials might be used in different proportions, for sev- 

 eral lots, and the result on the crops noted. 



Mr. Chapin, of Chickopee, said that in his re- 

 gion, they use manure in the green state, plough- 

 ing in, but not under the sod. They think there 

 is na advantage in decomposing manure before it is 

 applied. They soak their corn and then roll it in 

 plaster. 



Mr. Sprague, of Plymouth county, said that the 

 ubject of preparing and applying manures was but 

 very little understood. On his light soil it was best 

 to plough in the manure without composting, and 

 it saved labor. To put manure on or near the 

 surface is a waste. He would like to have his 

 friend from Princeton state how farmers can make 

 too much manure. 



Mr. Brooks said that moderate crops were most 

 profitable, and we can get this without high ma- 

 nuring. By collecting sods or other absorbents, 

 and pouring on them the urine from the horse, a 

 large amount of good manure might be made. By 

 using materials to absorb all the liquid manure 

 of cattle, a greal of manure may be made. A 

 little plaster should be scattered over the cattle 

 house, to absorb the ammonia. On his heavy land 

 peat was not good, but it is beneficial on light soils. 

 Dr. Dana, in his Muck Manual, led him astray by 

 saying that two loads of peat and one of cow ma- 

 nure were worth as nuich as three loads of cow 

 manure. Manure enough may be made on every 

 farm by feeding the crops mostly on the farm. 

 Grass is not exhausting. Land long cropped with 

 it, yields well on being ploughed up for tillage. 



Col. Newell, of West Newbury, thought there 

 was no advantage in composting manures, as they 

 may be applied in their green state without loss. 



