116 TALKS OX MANURES. 



"The quantity applied, is, as near as may be, 25 loads per acre; 

 but as we use a great deal of straw, we haul out 30 loads, and es- 

 timate that in the spring it will be about 25 loads. 



" If we have any more (and occasionally we have 100 loads over), 

 we pile it near the barn, and turn it once or twice during the sum- 

 mer, and use it as seems most profitable sometimes to top-dress 

 an old grass-field, that for some reason we prefer not to break for 

 another year. Sometimes it goes on a piece of fall wheat, and 

 sometimes is kept over for a barley field the following spring, and 

 harrowed in just before sowing. 



" I should spread the manure as it comes from the sheds, instead 

 of piling it, but the great quantity of snow we usually have, has 

 always seemed to be an insuperable obstacle. It is an advantage 

 to pile it, and to give it one turning, but, on the other hand, the 

 piles made in cold weather freeze through, and they take a pro- 

 vokingly long time to thaw out iu the spring. I never found ma- 

 nure piled out of doors to get too much w T ater from rain. 



" I have given up using gypsum, except a little in the stables, be- 

 cause the clover grows too strong without it, and so long as this 

 is the case, I do not need gypsum. But I sometimes have a piece 

 of oats or barley that stands still, and looks sick, and a dose of 

 gypsum helps it very much." 



" That is a fact worth remembering," said the Deacon. 



"I use some superphosphate," continues Mr. Ilarison, "and 

 some ground bones on my turnips. We also use superphosphate 

 on oats, barley, and wheat (about 200 Ibs. per acre), and find it 

 pays. Last year, our estimate was, on 10 acres of oats, comparing 

 with a strip in the middle, left for the purpose, that the 200 Ibs. of 

 superphosphate increased the crop 15 bushels per acre, and gave a 

 gain in quality. It was the " Manhattan," which has about three per 

 cent ammonia, and seven to eight per cent soluble phosphoric acid. 



" My rotation, which I stick to as close as I can, is : 1, oats ; 2, 

 corn, and potatoes, and roots ; 3, barley or spring wheat ; 4, 5, and 

 6, grass (clover or timothy, with a little mixture occasionally). 



" I am trying to get to 4, fall wheat, but it is mighty risky." 



" That is a very sensible letter," said the Deacon ; " but it is evi- 

 dent that he raises more grain than I supposed was generally the 

 case in the dairy districts ; and the fact that his clover is so heavy 

 that he does not need plaster, indicates that his land is rich." 



It merely confirms what I have said all along, and that is, that 

 the dairymen, if they will feed their animals liberally, and culti- 



