REPORTS, &.o. 



ON EXPERIMENTS ON MANURES. 



To the] Trustees of the Essex Agricultural Society : 



Gentlemen, — The only claim to which the atten- 

 tion of the Committee on Experiments on Manures 

 has been called, is that of Dr. Andrew Nichols, of 

 Danvers. His farm in Middleton was visited in Ju- 

 ly and September. Early in the spring he had caus- 

 ed unleached wood-ashes to be spread on low and 

 cold soils, and the crops of grass gave evidence that 

 the application was very favorable. It had produced 

 a heavy burden of grass on land which otherwise 

 would have had but a light and sour crop. 



His corn was manured with a compost made of a 

 small portion of animal manure, seventy bushels of 

 ashes and meadow or peat mud. The soil is a san- 

 dy loam. The growth in July was luxuriant, and in 

 September there was a handsome display of full- 

 grown, well-filled ears, in the judgment of the Com- 

 mittee about fifty bushels to the acre. This in some 

 circumstancs would not be considered a large yield, 

 but the soil is naturally light and for many years had 

 not been well manured. The committee were satis- 

 fied by the appearance of the crop, that this year the 

 proper manure and good treatment had been applied, 

 and that in ordinary seasons a compost of ash- 

 es, meadow mud and barn manure, will, on sandy 

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