216 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



can give any approximate answer to the question (for I think 

 the answer can only be approximate), I hope he will do so. 

 The question is this, whether if twenty-four dollars are spent for 

 shorts, and the shorts added to one ton of hay, the excrement 

 resulting from that, if applied to the land, will give anything 

 near the value which the same amount expended for special 

 fertilizers would give ? It seems to me that if we can have an 

 answer to this question^ it will be valuable to us, from the very 

 fact that we have such difficulty in regard to buying these 

 things that are offered as fertilizers. The same question might 

 be asked in regard to corn : whether thirty-six dollars expended 

 for corn, and the corn added to a ton of hay, and passed through 

 an animal, the corn wiH add as much to the value of tlie manure 

 as thirty-six dollars expended for any of the superphospiiates 

 ■which are thrown upon the market, or expended in any way in 

 which the money could be expended for these various fertil- 

 izers ? 



Dr. Nichols. I don't know that I could answer that ques- 

 tion, because shorts differ in their value very much. And then, 

 you know, the manure coming from different animals is very 

 different. But thirty dollars' worth of shorts would give 'half a 

 ton of fine bone, as it is sold in the market. I should prefer 

 that half ton of bone. I could make more out of it. 



Question. I should . like to ask Dr. Nichols if he has any 

 knowledge of the relative merits of ground bone and fine horn. 

 There are sections in Massachusetts where horns are manufac- 

 tured into combs quite extensively, and large quantities of fine 

 horn can be obtained there. 



Dr. Nichols. That is a practical question. I have usod horn 

 shavings in various ways, and' they are very valuable. I usually 

 rot them. They are very nitrogenous. They will make a mag- 

 nificient stock of wheat or corn, but they will not give you plump 

 seed without bone. 



The Chairman. I think there is a lurking feeling among 

 almost all unscientific people, that, after all, there is some 

 element of uncertainty with regard to the result of chemical in- 

 quiries. For instance, the statement is very often made, in 

 regard to the analysis of soils, to see whether they are fitted for 

 the growth of plants, that there is some jclement or some proc- 

 ess which is as yet undiscovered by chemists ; that, given a 



