O N F A R M S . 1^9 



manure, and fermented in the heap. Since its extensive use 

 there, the agriculture of the country has been greatly improv- 

 ed. In Mid Lothian a compost so prepared is said to stand 

 cropping, whether by grain, of all sorts, hay, pasture, and po- 

 tatoes ; and whether on loams, thin clays, sand or gravel, at 

 least equally well with farmyard manure, and at the same time 

 it alters and amends the texture of the soil. 



Mr. King has made experiments with guano, salt, saltpetre, 

 and ashes. On one acre of meadow upon which 300 lbs. of 

 guano were spread in April, and sown with oats and grass seed, 

 the crop of oats was heavy, and the grass seed has taken well, 

 Indian corn grown upon guano, was not as good as some grown, 

 beside it upon his compost manure. This, as the season has 

 proved, was better than any fertilizer with which he experi- 

 mented. Your Committee were pleased with the clean culture 

 of his hoed crops, v/ith the smooth and workmanlike manner 

 of inverting the sod and re-seeding his grass lands after hay- 

 ing, and with the good condition of his v/orking oxen and farm 

 stock. 



Without further remark we v/ould refer to Mr. King's state- 

 ment, which is annexed, and which will be read with interest, — 

 for his manner of making and using compost manure, — the use 

 of the horse rake in securing his hay crop, — for his method of 

 re-seeding his grass land, — and especially to that part of his 

 statement which relates to the keeping of a diary. 



The farm of Mr. How is in Methuen, and consists of one hun- 

 dred and seventeen acres; the soil, a gravelly loam, intermixed 

 with stone, and good for grass. Some parts of the farm rise 

 into large swells of considerable height, affording good pasture, 

 and good crops when under cultivation. The ground at the 

 base of these hills is too moist in the spring to admit of hoed 

 crops, but produces large crops of English hay, and is kept in 

 good condition for grass by an occasional top dressing. 



Since 1819, when Mr. Howe came in possession of his farm, 

 it has been increased from about fifty acres to its present ex- 

 tent, and from that time when the place kept but six head of 

 cattle, such has been his addition of uncultivated lands, and 

 his improvement upon the whole, that he is now able to v/in- 



