106 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE. 



has been in grass several years without manure, and nothing 

 but commercial fertilizers have been applied the present year. 

 In his statement, Mr. Humphrey says : — 



" I am fully satisfied that corn may be grown b} r the use of fertil- 

 izers for fifty cents per bushel, or less. In order to do it, however, 

 labor as well as fertilizers must be applied judiciously. It is not 

 fair to spend days cultivating around rocks, and grubbing up hedge- 

 rows by the side of walls around small fields, and charge it all to the 

 corn crop. It costs much less to cultivate one field of ten acres than 

 ten fields of one acre. The less angles per acre the better, as much 

 more can be accomplished in ploughing long furrows than short 

 ones, as much less time is consumed in turning at the ends. And 

 the same holds true of nearly all other operations required in raising 

 a crop. The most improved implements should also be used, and as 

 little hand labor employed as possible. I have removed and re- 

 arranged walls and fences, until I have one field of five, one of 

 twelve, one of fifteen, one of twenty, and one of nearly forty acres. 

 The appearance of the place is much improved, and furrows one- 

 third of a mile in length can be drawn without a turn. 



" In raising my corn, I used four and one-half tons of the Brighton 

 fertilizer, a portion of it having an addition of potash, and twenty- 

 seven dollars' worth of the Stockbridge formula for corn. When I 

 applied these three kinds, I did so with the intention of testing their 

 comparative merits. But the season has been very unfavorable for 

 any experiments of this nature, as the different varieties of soil, and 

 the difference in location, whether on a knoll or in a hollow, has 

 caused some portions of nry field to be affected b} T the drought much 

 more severely than others. I am unwilling, therefore, to express an 

 opinion upon their comparative merits. Perhaps the best return 

 was derived from a portion of the field where the Brighton fertilizer 

 was used, and which had had an application of seventy-five bushels of 

 ashes per acre six years ago. This result I account for, in part, by 

 supposing that a portion of the potash of the ashes still remained in 

 the soil, and, uniting with the nitrogen and phosphoric acid of the 

 Brighton, formed a complete fertilizer. I think that when the Brigh- 

 ton is used, potash, in some form, should also be applied, in order 

 to secure the best results. The kind of corn I planted is called, in 

 this section, Rhode Island White ; and, as it is used for making 

 bolted meal, will command several cents per bushel more than the 

 common kinds. I planted about fourteen acres, and harvested 

 1,047 baskets of ears, weighing forty pounds each, making about 

 493 bushels of shelled corn, which, — 



