EXPERIMENT WITH ASHES. 49 



such an extent that the land yielded nearly three tons of hay to 

 the acre. The result of the cow manure was a medium between 

 the crop of the previous year and the crop produced by the 

 horse manure. You could hardly perceive that there was any 

 particular advantage the first year from the leached ashes ; the 

 next year you saw the advantage, and he run it five or six years 

 before he applied any more, and then he broke it up. The third 

 year ashes were applied where the horse manure was, and you 

 could see the effect as plainly as you can see these aisles be- 

 tween the benches. The cow manure ceased to show much 

 effect the third year ; the ashes, I think, did not lose their effect 

 upon the soil for years and years. 



Ten years ago, I had occasion to oversee the laying out of a 

 park for our agricultural society. I wanted to make the track 

 as hard as I could, at as small expense as possible. If we used 

 clay, we had got to cart it two or three miles, but we could 

 readily get coal ashes carted to the park, to get them out of the 

 way as waste. I got some as good soil as I could, and put it on 

 the track — our common poor land that wouldn't spindle corn 

 in two years, if it would last so long. "We mixed that soil with a 

 little of the yellow loam, and then ploughed and harrowed it, 

 and applied these coal ashes to it, two or three inches deep, and 

 in three years from that time I mowed it with a mowing 

 machine, and I think I cut a ton and a half of as good clover as 

 ever grew in the world on that park ; and to-day, it is in such a 

 condition that it would grow fifty bushels of corn to the acre, if 

 you turned the soil up. That is simply the result of the 

 application of coal ashes. 



I bought last year all the coal ashes I could get carted to my 

 place for twenty-five cents a load of sixteen bushels. The folks 

 thought I was crazy to have coal aslies tipped upon my farm. 

 I mixed these ashes with peat muck at about the rate of 

 three loads of muck to one of ashes. Early in the spring I had 

 it sliovelled over. There was part in the ground and I kept 

 moving it until it was thoroughly composted. I had a piece of 

 land which was sowed to rye, which had had corn on it the year 

 previous ; the manure was ploughed in, and then a spoonful 

 of Pacific guano applied to a hill ; the yield was fifty-eight 

 bushels to the acre. I seeded that in October of last year to 

 rye, and did not put on any manure. In the spring I wanted 

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