210 TALKS OX MAXUEES. 



The ninth season (1851 -2), was unusually cold in June and wet 

 in August. It will be seen that the wheat, both in quantity and 

 quality, is the poorest since the commencement of the experi- 

 ments. The unmanured plot gave less than 14 bushels of dressed 

 grain per acre; the plot with barn-yard manure, less than 28 

 bushels, and the best yield in the whole series was not quite 29 

 bushels per acre, and only weighed 55 Ibs. per bushel. On the same 

 plot, the year before, with precisely the same manure, the yield 

 was nearly 37 bushels per acre, and the weight per bushel, G3^ Ibs. 

 So much for a favorable and an unfavorable season. 



The tenth season (1852-3), was still more unfavorable. The 

 autumn of 1853 was so wet that it was impossible to work the 

 land and sow the wheat until the 16th of March 1853. 



You will sec that the produce on the unmanured plot was less 

 than 6 bushels per acre. With barn-yard manure, 19 bushels, and 

 with a heavy dressing of ammonia-salts and minerals, not quite 26 

 bushels per acre. With a heavy dressirg of superphosphate, not 

 quite 9 bushels per acre, and with a full dressing of mixed 

 mineral manures and superphosphate, 10 bushels per acre. 



The weight per bushel on the uumanured plot was 45 Ibs. ; with 

 mixed mineral manures, 48.J- Ibs. ; with ammonia-salts alone, 48 

 Ibs. ; with barn-yard manure, 51 Ibs. ; and with ammonia-salts and 

 mixed mineral manures, 52 Ibs. 



Farmers are greatly dependent on the season, but the good 

 farmer, who keeps up the fertility of his land stands a better chance 

 of making money (or of losing less), than the farmer who depends 

 on the unaided products of the soil. The one gets 6 bushels per 

 acre, and 1,413 Ibs. of straw of very inferior quality; the 

 other gets 20 to 23 bushels per acre, and 5,000 Ibs. of straw. And 

 you must recollect that in an unfavorable season we are pretty 

 certain to get high prices. 



The eleventh season (1853-4,) gives us much more attractive- 

 looking figures ! We have over 21 bushels per acre on the plot 

 which has grown eleven crops of wheat in eleven years without 

 any manure. 



With barn-yard manure, over 41 bushels per acre. With am- 

 monia-salts alone (17a), 45| bushels. With ammonia-salts and 

 mixed minerals, (165), over 50 bushels per acre, and 6,635 Ibs. of 

 straw. A total produce of nearly 5J- tons per acre. 



The twelfth season (1854-5), gives us 17 bushels of wheat per acre 

 on the continuously unmanured plot. Over 34| bushels on the 

 plot manured with barn-yard manure. And I think, for the first 

 time since the commencement of the experiments, this plot pro- 



