No. 144.] 169 



manure, to better advantage than by any other fertili2er. This 

 also serves as a good fertilizer for the next crop. An Irishman in 

 the Newarli meadows raised 600 bushels to the acre, year after 

 year, with no other manure than the salt muck. I have lately 

 learned something useful from a French nurseryman in regard to 

 setting out pear trees, grafted upon quince stocks.' He said that 

 stocks with pear grafts on quince should be inserted deep enough 

 for the graft to take root. The quince roots should be trimmed 

 off as well as the limbs of the graft. 



Mr. Lodge said a farmer from Nova Scotia came here with a 

 vessel load of potatoes, the other day, for which he obtained 

 ^5,000. They were grown so near the sea shore, upon sandy 

 land, that tlie tide and spray affected the land and kept the po- 

 tatoes healthy. I have often proved the value of salt for ma- 

 nure. I had in tillage, in Europe, 126 acres, which we kept so 

 clean of weeds that you could not get a barrow load of weeds on 

 the whole plot. I do not believe in growing weeds lo manure the 

 land. 



By the Chairman — Was any manure applied 1 



Mr. Lodge — No, sir, and the heat of the sun there Vould kill 

 almost any plant. The whole farm of one hundred and twenty- 

 six acres was spaded — no weeds allowed to grow in it. I have 

 been a gardener forty years. I always stirred up the ground deep, 

 to let in the elements, including the ammonia. You could not 

 have gathered a single wheelbarroAV load of weeds on the 126 

 acres. A pure, dry air prevailed over it. 



Pi of. Mapes — I have spoken of salt swamp muck used success- 

 fully for potatoes; that muck does not contain a pound weight of 

 sand in 100 pounds weight of it — it is almost exclusively vegeta- 

 ble matter. 



Mr. Rolinson stated the singular method used in the Sandwich 

 Islands to raise potatoes. They put the seed upon naked fields of 

 volcanic lava in some places, cover them with bushes to a certain 

 extent, and thus grow their best yam potatoes. 



