73 



sary for a farm house, yet that, part which is required for farm 

 use is very convenient and not expensive for the times, the 

 lower flower having kitchen, dining room, and men's sleeping 

 room, with ample closets in each room, and water in kitchen. 

 Salem, October, 1866. 



MANURES. 



The Committee on Manures report : 



The statements which have been submitted to them, and 

 which are appended hereto, relate entirely to artificial ma- 

 nures, and of course confine the attention of the committee to 

 these fertilizers alone. 



The question of the value of all condensed, artificial and 

 strictly chemical fertilizers is one which has occupied the at- 

 tention of all who are devoted to modern agriculture. In for- 

 mer days every form of putrescence, all stercoraceous matter, 

 all decomposed vegetable matter, earthy compounds found in 

 natural deposits, were used as manure, and were the means of 

 conducting all experiments, and the subjects of every essay on 

 the principles and processes of fertilization. The distinguish- 

 ed founder of this society, in all his careful investigations, 

 never advanced beyond a consideration of " that precious 

 liquor," as he called it, which flows through the drainage of 

 our stables, or is absorbed by the materials which make up our 

 heaps of composted manure. Since his day we have advanced 

 into the regions of science, and not content with the farmyard, 

 we have called upon chemistry to furnish us with those sub- 

 stances which, from their portable form, and their specific 

 properties, promise to make fertilization an easy process, and 

 a well defined and positive art. 

 10 



