254 



TALKS ON MANURES. 



EXPERIMENTS ON OATS AT MOKBTON FABM, ROCHESTER, N. Y. 



These experiments were made when my land was not as clean 

 as it is now. I presume the weeds got more benefit from the am- 

 monia than the oats. To top-dress foul land with expensive arti- 

 ficial manures is money thrown away. If the land had been plowed 

 in the autumn, and the seed and manures could have been put in 

 early in the spring, I presume we should have had more favorable 

 results. 



" Are you not ashamed to acknowledge," said the Deacon, " that 

 you have ever raised oats weighing only 22 Ibs. per bushel." 



No. I have raised even worse crops than this and so has the 

 Deacon. But I made up my mind that such farming did not pay, 

 and I have been trying hard since then to clean my land and get 

 it into better condition. And until this is done, ic is useless to talk 

 much of artificial manures. 



The most striking result is the effect of the gypsum. It not only 

 gave an increased yield of 11 bushels per acre, but the oats were of 

 decidedly better quality, and there was nearly half a ton more 

 straw per acre than on the plot alongside, where no manure was 

 used. 



The superphosphate was a good article, similar to that used in 

 Mr. Lawes' experiments. 



