278 TALKS OX MANURES. 



in front of my house, and I recollect that the N. Y. State Ag. 

 Society awarded you a prize of $75 for them." 



" And I recollect," said I, " how you and some other neighbors 

 laughed at me for spending so much time in measuring the land 

 and applying the manures, and measuring the crop. But I wish I 

 could have afforded to continue them. A single experiment, how- 

 ever carefully made, can not be depended on. However, I will 

 give the results for what they are worth, with some remarks made 

 at the time : 



" The soil on which the experiments were made, is a light, sandy 

 loam. It has been under cultivation for upwards of twenty years, 

 and so far as I can ascertain has never been manured. It has been 

 somewhat impoverished by the growth of cereal crops, and it was 

 thought that for this reason, and on account of its light texture 

 and nctive character, which would cause the manures to act imme- 

 diately, it was well adapted for the purpose of showing the effect 

 of different manurial substances on the corn-crop. 



" The land was clover-sod, two years old, pastured the previous 

 summer. It was plowed early in the spring, and harrowed until 

 in excellent condition. The corn was planted May 23, in hills 3 

 feet apart each way. 



" The manures were applied in the hill immediately before the 

 seed was planted. 



" With superphosphate of lime, and. with plaster (gypsum, or 

 sulphate of lime), the seed was placed, directly on top of the ma- 

 nure, as it is well known that these manures do not injure the 

 germinating principle of even the smallest seeds. 



** The ashes were dropped in the hill, and then covered with soil, 

 and the seed planted on the top, so that it should not come in con- 

 tact witli the ashes. 



" Guano and sulphate of ammonia were treated in the same way. 



"On the plots where ashes and guano, or ashes and sulphate of 

 ammonia were both used, the ashes were first put in the hill, and 

 covered with soil, and the guano or sulphate of ammonia placed 

 on the top, and also covered with soil before the seed was planted. 

 The ashes and superphosphate of lime was also treated in the same 

 way. It is well known that unleached ashes, mixed either with 

 guano, sulphate of ammonia, or superphosphate, mutually decom- 

 pose each other, setting free the ammonia of the guano and sul- 

 phate of ammonia, and converting the soluble phosphate of the 

 superphosphate of lime into the insoluble form in which it existed 

 before treatment with sulphuric acid. All the plots were planted 

 on the same day, and the manures weighed and applied under my 



