188 TALKS OJf MANUEES. 



This season was consiilered unfavorable for wheat. The con- 

 tinuously uumanurcd plot iiroduci-d UJ bushels, and the plot 

 nctiviiij,' 14 tons of barn yard manure, 35J busiiels per acre nearly. 



300 lbs. of ammonia-salts alone on plot lOa, pave lOJ^ bushels 

 per acre, while the same quantity of an^monia, with superphos- 

 piiale in a<ldition, gave, on plot 96, 25 bushels per acre. 



The addition to the above manures of 300 11)S. of potash, 200 lbs. 

 soda, and 100 lbs. sulphate of magnesia, on plot 10/<, gave pre- 

 cisely tlie same yield per acre as the ammonia and the superphos- 

 jdiate alone. I'he potanh^ »id'i, <ind inug/ie-ni, Owrcfore, did no good. 



400 ilts. of ammoiiia-sjilts, with superphosphate, potash, etc., gavci 

 on plot 176, nearly 20 busiiels per acre, or 3A bushels more than the 

 plot which has now received 70 t<nis of barn-yard manure in five 

 successive years. 



*' I see that, on plot 0," said the Deacon, "one ton of superphos- 

 phate was used i)cr acre, and it gave only half a bushel per acre 

 more than 350 lbs. on 9a." 



"This proves," said I, " that an excessive dose of superphos- 

 phate will do no harm. I am not sure that 100 Hw. of a good 

 superiiliosphatc f7n7/^(Z in ic'lh the sod, would not have done a» 

 much good as a t<jn per acre." 



" You say," remarked the Deacon, " that the .season was unfa- 

 vorable for wheat. And yet the no-manure plot produced nearly 

 15 bushels of wheat per acre." 



"That is all true," said I, "and yet the season was undoubtedly 

 an unfavorable one. This is shown not only in the less yield, but 

 in tlu! inferior quality of the grain. The ' dre.s.sed corn ' on tiie no- 

 manure plot this year only weighed 57^ lbs. per bushel, while last 

 year it weighed 01 lbs. per bushel." 



"By the way," said the Doctor, "what do Messrs. Lawcs and 

 Gilbert mean by ' dressed corn' V " 



" By ' corn,' " said I, " they mean wiieat ; and by ' dressed com ' 

 they nican wheat that has been run through a fanning-mill until 

 all tlie liirht and shrunken grain is blown or sieved out. In other 

 words,' dressed corn ' is wheat carefully cleaned for market. The 

 English farmers take more pains in cleaning their grain than we 

 do. And this ' dressed corn' was as clean as a good fanning-mill 

 could make it. You will observe that there was more 'oflfal corn' 

 this year tlian last. This also indicates an unfavorable season." 



"It would have been very interesting," said the Doctor, "if 

 Mes.srs. Lawes and Gilbert had analyzed the wheat produced by the 

 different manures, so that we might have known something in re- 



