APPENDIX. 351 



in this State, unless, perhaps, wheat. The practice of applying manure as 

 a top-dressing to winter-wheat, is rapidly gaining ground here. It is 

 found that the manure thus applied, acting as a mulch, mitigates the 

 effects of drouth, besides improving the quality of the grain. 

 Very Respectfully Yours, 



E. M. SHELTON. 



LETTBB FROM PROF. W. H. BREWER, PROFESSOR OF AGRICULTURE IN 

 SHEFFIELD SCIENTIFIC SCHOOL OF YALE COLLEGE. 



SHEFFIELD SCIENTIFIC SCHOOL OF YALE COLLEGE, 



NEW HAVEN, Conn., April 14th, 1876. 

 Joseph Harris, Esq., Rochester, N. Y. : 



MY DEAR SIR. I have made inquiries relating to " the price of stable- 

 manure in New Haven, and how far the farmers and gardeners haul it, 

 etc. " I have not been to the horse-car stables, but I have to several 

 livery stables, and they are all essentially the same. 



They say that but little is sold by the cord or ton, or by any weight or 

 measure. It is sold either "in the lump," "by the month," "by the 

 year," or " per horse." Some sell it at a given sum per month for all 

 their horses, on a general estimate of their horses thus, one man says, 

 " I get, this year, $25 per month for all my manure, he to remove it as 

 fast as it accumulates ; say one, two, or three times per week. He hauls 

 it about five miles and composts it all before using.'' 



Another says, he sells per horse. " I get, this year, 813 per horse, 

 they to haul it." The price per horse ranges from $10 to $15 per 

 year, the latter sum being high. 



From the small or private stables, the manure is generally " lumped " 

 by private contract, and is largely used about the city. It is hauled 

 sometimes as much as 10 miles, but usually much less. 



But the larger stables often sell per shipment it is sent by cars 

 up the Connecticut Valley to Westficld, etc., where it is often hauled 

 several miles from the railroad or river. 



Much manure is sent by boat from New York to the Connecticut 

 Valley tobacco lands. Boats (" barges ") are even loaded in Albany, go 

 down the Hudson, up the Sound to Connecticut, to various places near 

 Hartford, I am told. Two or three years ago, a man came here and 

 exhibited to us pressed masses of manure a patent had been taken out 

 for pressing it, to send by R. R. (stable manure). I never heard anything 

 more about it and he was confident and enthusiastic aboiit it. 



Tours truly, WM. H. BREWER. 



