MANURES. 73 ' 



These results arc in accordance with the theory that manure 

 cross-ploughed in should give the greatest returns; the excess 

 being $5.11 per acre over manure plouglied in, $0.42 over 

 manure harrowed in, and $19.04 over manure left on the sur- 

 face. This average excess of No. 2 is considerably diminished,, 

 as is also the relative standing of No. 1, by the somewhat pecu- 

 liar results of Mr. Benson's experiment, the only one in which 

 No. 3 gave an excess of products. 



A few suggestions as to the details of this experiment may 

 not be inappropriate, especially as the Massachusetts Society, by 

 their award of premiums, have indorsed it as being " more 

 thorough, exact, and reliable " than any other in this county, 

 at least ; a decision at variance with that of your board of 

 trustees, who, on the recommendation of their supervisor, 

 awarded to Mr. Benson the second premium only. 



The land selected for this experiment was heavily manured 

 the year before the experiment was commenced, the manure 

 being cross-ploughed in without breaking the previously inverted 

 sward. It, of course, remained .near the surface till the first 

 ploughing for the experiments, which, being about nine inches 

 deep, placed this manure low down in the soil. No. 3, No. 4 

 and No. 2, measurably, were thus enriched below the surface 

 by the manure first applied, and at or near the surface by that 

 applied subsequently ; while the surface of No. 1, during the 

 first year, was not directly enriched by either application, both 

 being deeply buried by the plough. No. 1 was thus evidently 

 placed at a disadvantage, at the outset. 



The cultivation was different in this experiment from that in 

 any other, so far as appears from the statements of competitors. 

 The manut-e applied to No. 1 was ploughed into a depth of 

 about nine inches ; yet it seems to have been reached by the 

 roots of the first crop, corn, as No. 1 gave the greatest yield the 

 first year. As the second ploughing was but six inches deep, 

 the manure on No. 1 must have remained undisturbed, where 

 the roots of the second crop could only reach it by penetrating 

 some three inches of compact earth, or earth not in tilth; 

 while, on each of the otiier plots, all the manure was contained 

 in the six inches of earth kept mellow by the plough. This 

 condition of things could but be unfavorable to the growth of 

 the last two crops on No. 1 ; yet the crop of oats seems to have 



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