136 



MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE. 



two hundred and fifty feet long by forty-five feet wide, and top- 

 dressed them with the various fertilizers, as follows : — 



No. 1. Two cords of manure, well rotted and mixed with 

 one and one-half horse-carts of soil. 



No. 2. One hundred and twenty bushels leached wood ashes. 



No. 3. Two cords green cow-manure, the droppings of only a 

 few days before. 



No. 4. Eighty bushels unleached or dry wood ashes. 



No. 5. Two hundred and fifty-five pounds pure Peruvian 

 guano, mixed with one and one-half horse-carts of brook mud. 



The cost or value of the top-dressing, for each lot, was as 

 near ten dollars as possible. The grass was very carefully cut 

 and made — the first crop in July, the second in September — 

 and accurately weighed, yielding as follows : — 



You are aware the early spring was very dry, and quite a 

 drought prevailed during the months of April and May. This 

 no doubt retarded vegetation, and checked, particularly, the 

 fertilizing qualities of the ashes, as they laid in the sward for 

 a length of time as dry as when first spread. The copious 

 rains afterwards produced a wonderful change in thickening up 

 of the grass. Tiie guano dressing, you will observe, produced 

 much the largest quantity on tlie first crop, although very little 

 more than the green cow-manure with the aggregate of both 

 crops. 



The second mowing of tlie guano lot disappointed me, and 

 its short-comings on the second crop almost conclusively proved 



