79 



STATEMENT OF GILBERT CONANT. 



I would hereby respectfully inform you of my intention to 

 ■enter for premium about thirty acres of old pasture lands, up- 

 on which for the last five years I have been making improve- 

 ments in order to increase their value for pasturage. At the 

 time that I commenced improvements upon these lands, they 

 were mostly run over to bushes, and were of but little value 

 for pasturage. One piece of them containing about twenty 

 acres, previous to that date had been let for several years at 

 eight dollars per year. Now it will pasture five cows well. 

 My improvements upon the remainder of said lands have been 

 equally successful. My method of renovating these lands has 

 been by the process of burning. This I have continued from 

 the commencement of my experiment, every year when a fire 

 could be made to run. These lands are a part of my farm in 

 Ipswich, and are situated near my dwelling house. I will 

 hereafter give you a detailed statement of my experiment in 

 renovating them, the expense of which has not amounted to 

 five dollars a year. 



MANURES. 



The Committee on Manures have received but one invitation 

 from the farmers of Essex to examine the progress and results 

 of experiments with manures or commercial fertilizers. The 

 farm of Wm. R. Putnam, of Danvers, was visited by his re- 

 quest in September, and some crops upon which he had applied 

 various kinds of fertilizers were examined. Mr. Putnam has 

 lianded us a report of these experiments, which we herewith 

 transmit for publication. Mr, P. deserves commendation for 

 his zeal and painstaking in procuring and applying to his crops 

 some of the well known compounds, called fertilizers. In ex- 

 amining the crops to which they had been applied, but little 



