SPRING OF ’97 219 
Fresh mulching was piled near all the young 
fruit trees, to be applied as soon as the frost was 
out of the ground. Several hundreds of loads 
of manure were hauled to the fields, to be spread 
as soon as the snow disappeared. I always re- 
turn manure to the land as soon as it can be 
done conveniently. The manure from the hen- 
house was saved this year to use on the alfalfa 
fields, to see how well it would take the place 
of commercial fertilizer. I may as well give the 
result of the experiment now. 
It was mixed with sand and applied at the 
rate of eight hundred pounds an acre for the 
spring dressing over a portion of the alfalfa, 
against four hundred pounds an acre of the 
fertilizer 3:8:8. After two years I was con- 
vinced that, when used alone, it is not of more 
than half the value of the fertilizer. 
My present practice is to use five hundred 
pounds of hen manure and two hundred pounds 
of fertilizer on each acre for the spring dressing, 
and two hundred pounds an acre of the fertilizer 
alone after each cutting except the last. We 
have ten or twelve tons of hen manure each 
year, and it is nearly all used on the alfalfa or 
the timothy as spring dressing. It costs nothing, 
and it takes off a considerable sum from the 
fertilizer account. Iam not at all sure that the 
scientists would approve this method of using 
it; I can only give my experience, and say that 
it brings me satisfactory crops. 
