46 



The land upon which my potatoes were raised was broken 

 up on the 5th of June last with a Michigan plow, plowing 

 very deep. Young apple-trees had previously been placed 

 in the piece, at the distance of 36 feet each way. The dif- 

 ferent squares between the trees, — which contained about 4 

 4-5 rods each — were planted on the 6th of June, and treated 

 alike in every way, except in the application of different ma- 

 nures. Two squares were manured by a small handful of 

 plaster in each hill at the time of planting. In the next one 

 I put the same quantity of plaster, and in addition, one table 

 spoonful of guano, placing the plaster under, and the guano 

 over the seed. To the next square, only guano was used, 

 being applied in the same way as with the plaster. On the 

 fifth square no manure of any kind was used. The potatoes 

 were hoed twice, and dug on the 17th and 18th of October. 



The average amount dug from 4 4-5 rods, on which plaster 

 alone was used, was 4 4-5 bushels, or at the rate of 160 

 bushels to the acre. The amount raised on the piece on 

 which both plaster and guano were used, was 6 bushels, or 

 208 2-3 bushels to the acre. On the piece on which only guano 

 was used, was 5 bushels, or 173 11-12 bushels to the acre; 

 and on the piece on which no manure was used, was 3 3-4 

 bushels, or 130 10-13 bushels to the acre. 



The potatoes were of the kind called " round reds." They 

 were large and fair, though much larger where the manure 

 was used than where it was not. The seed potatoes were 

 very small ones, having been separated from the good pota- 

 toes last year. 



The cost of the manures I am not prepared to give, but 

 it could not have been very large. The difference in the pro- 

 ducts of the several pieces can be attributed to nothing except 

 the manure, as the land was of about the same quality, being 

 a light deep loam upon a clay sub-soil. 



