No. 144.] 253 



spring it was ijlowed again and planted to corn, which is said to 

 be a very gooJ crop. It was only after this land had received a 

 green crop as manure that it showed any marked improvement. 

 The expense oi these operations was, at the time, computed at 

 $15. 



There is no improvement made in any green crop for manuring 

 purposes by passing it through any process of eating it and digest- 

 ing it by animals. On the contrary there is a waste by just so 

 much as the animals have derived from it. This must be equally 

 true of all composting processes or any other process which in 

 any measure destroys the tissue of plants. 



If the corn ground, which is annually manured and planted, 

 in this State, were divided into two equal parts, and while one 

 of them received all the manure, and was planted, the other was 

 sown with some green crop, and which should be plowed in, 

 there would be no increase of labor, and on the very first year an 

 increase of the corn crop, to say nothing of the fallow half of the 

 field. 



Leaves from the forest are peculiarly rich in organic constitu- 

 ents. They make excellent bedding for cattle and horses, and 

 are a resource convenient to almost every portion of the State. 



It is very easy to say to the great State of New- York, " buy 

 manure," but with the exception of the importations of guano, 

 the manure that she buys must have come out of her own fields. 

 It is very easy, sir, in the vicinity of this city, with an unlimited 

 supply of manures, and a convenient and steady market, to make 

 processes not only pay, but become really remunerative, that 

 would prove ruinous in the dairying and grazing districts. 



And finally, sir, the ultimate reply to all these speculations is 

 to be found in the fact that the average worth of improved lands 

 in the United States is only $10 per acre, and the average price 

 of unimproved lands in this State is hardly as much, while the 

 first crop generally pays for the clearing. In the Western States 

 these items are even less, and this it is that gives rise to the steady 

 tide of westward emigration. It is in vain, sir, to attempt to 



