278 TALK.t ON MANURES. 



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

 Society awauled you a prize of $75 for thera." 



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

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

 and ai»i)lying the manures, and nu-asuring the crop. But I wish I 

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

 ever carefully made, can not he depended on. However, 1 will 

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

 at the time: 



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

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

 and St) far as I can ascerUiin has never Ijeen manured. It has been 

 somewhat imi)overisiieil by the growth of cereal crops, and it was 

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

 and "ctive character, which would cause tlie manures to act imme- 

 dialily, it was well adapted for the jiurpose of showing the effect 

 of diflferent manurial substances on tlie 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 3J v 



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 

 tulphdU' of Unit'), the seed was placed directly on top of the ma- 

 nure, as it is well known that tiie.se manures do not injure the 

 girminating principle of even the smallest seeds. 



"The ashes were dropped in the hill, and then covered witli soil, 

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

 tact with the ashes. 



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



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

 ammonia were both used, the ashes were first i)ut in the hill, and 

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

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

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

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

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

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

 phate of a'limonia, and converting the soluble phospliate of the ' 

 9uperphosph;ite of lime into the insoluiile form in which it existed 

 before treatment with sulphuric acid. All the plots were planted 

 on the same day, and the nu.nurcs weighed and applied under my 



