No. 4.] MARKET GARDENING. 83 



gardener, and while I hope some day to come nearer to his 

 methods than we can afford to do at present, I do believe it 

 to be good policy in every way to encourage the small man 

 of moderate means to go back upon the hills and take up the 

 neglected possibilities of the old soil, and make it yield for 

 him that greatest of New England blessings, "an indepen- 

 dent homestead." 



Question. Should crimson clover be ploughed in now, 

 or left until spring? 



Mr. CoLLiNGWOOD. I should leave it until next spring. 



Question. Will it be rotted enough to catch the crop 

 next spring by waiting until next spring to plough it in ? 



Mr. CoLLiNGWOOD. Yes ; plenty. If not, we use a little 

 lime with it, but for corn that would rot in plenty of time. 



Question. How would it act on potatoes? 



Mr. COLLINGWOOD. I should prefer to use it for corn. I 

 cannot say that I have had any particular experience with 

 potatoes, for all our potatoes are grown between rows of 

 fruit. I would not like to make a statement in regard to it, 

 but my judgment would be that it would be perfectly safe 

 and good policy. 



Mr. B. P. Ware (of Marblehead). You started in by 

 saying that the plough must be a back number; that you 

 could get along without it on your farm. Now, it seems to 

 me that you have based your success almost wholly on the 

 use of the plough and stable manure. You stated you could 

 get along without stable manure, but you took that muck 

 and mixed it with stable manure and made a compost that 

 was valuable ; you have used stable manure all through your 

 process of farming more or less, and your success has de- 

 pended largely upon it. You have used the plough, as you 

 could not get under ground the stuff that covers it and have 

 it fit to make a seed-bed for your crops without the plough. 

 I only want you to explain how you denounce the plough 

 and stable manure, when you based your whole success, it 

 seems to me, upon the use of the plough and stable manure, 

 in connection with muck. 



Mr. CoLLiNGWOOD. I am very glad you brought up this 

 point. In regard to the stable manure, I use it on a par 

 with my Uncle Daniel Reed, whom I lived with, who made 



