48 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



fertile as California, were quite equal to any of the fruits that 

 were exhibited from California. I am not prepared to say that 

 the fairness, or beauty, or size, or excellence of those fruits was 

 derived from potash ; but we all know that on lands newly 

 burnt over we get the fairest fruits, the finest vegetables, and the 

 best grain. I have always been very much in favor of the use 

 of ashes. 



I was much pleased with the remarks of Prof. Goessmann, and 

 especially with the caution that he gave us. I consider salt a very 

 dangerous article to use, unless it is used with great caution. 

 It may be owing to the region where I live, so near the ocean ; 

 but I must say, that in all the applications I have ever made of 

 it, even to asparagus beds, which I know will take a great 

 quantity of it without injury, I have never yet seen any benefit 

 resulting from it. 



Mr. Thompson. I will explain the method by which I have 

 arrived at a number of results by the manufacture and appli- 

 cation of manures this past year. First, I will state how I 

 became interested in the matter of using ashes. 



In 1832, there was a lot of land of five acres adjoining my 

 father's farm. It was purchased by a man who was a shoemaker, 

 and was new to the business of farming ; that is, he had not 

 been brought up to it from his youth. The land had been worn 

 out, both as pasturage and as a mowing lot, until it got so poor 

 that it would not give more than three-quarters of a ton of hay 

 to the acre. He had an idea that he could purchase manures 

 and make the land better, and make a profitable business of 

 farming. He bought all the leached ashes from the soap- 

 boilers, paid seventeen cents a bushel for them, and carted them 

 two miles ; all the manure he could get from the livery stables, 

 and all he could buy from other sources. He used to give fifty 

 cents a load then — twenty bushels to the load. He went on to the 

 lot and applied his leached ashes to about an acre, " fore and 

 aft," as we sailors say. Next he applied his barnyard manure 

 that he bought in the vicinity, of those who were not so much 

 interested in producing crops as he was, and sold their manure, 

 instead of using it on their own land. Then he applied the 

 livery stable manure to another acre. The result was right 

 before my eyes every day while I was on the farm adjoining it. 

 The benefit of the horse manure was evident in the first crop to 



