276 [Assembly 



the Lawton blackberry (as the Club has correctly named it) to 

 public notice and patronage. 



Prof. Mapes remarked that if suitable manures are used the 

 land could not be made too rich for the growth of these berries. 

 They will not grow on poor land. One of the shoots exhibit- 

 ed, it will be seen, has grown ten or twelve feet long this 

 year. We should be very glad to see this and many other choice 

 varieties of fruit more extensively cultivated. There is no doubt 

 of the healthiness of all ripe fruit, and none is perhaps more so 

 than blackberries. 



TOP DRESSING OF GRASS AND GRAIN. 



Upon the regular subject of the day Prof. Mapes made the fol- 

 lowing remarks : 



The importance of this subject, Mr. Chairman, must be my ex- 

 cuse if prolix in my remarks, but when we remember that the 

 crops which are to be improved by top-dressing are annually 

 greater in value than the entire banking capital of the Union, ad- 

 ded to the value of all the precious metals, it may plead my ex- 

 cuse for prolixity. Indeed, in my belief, the advantages to be 

 derived from the judicious top-dressing of these crops will be 

 more than equal to any one of the crops now grown, and would 

 be very much greater than the v^lue of the cotton crop. The 

 value of the live stock of the United States, at this date, is not 

 less than $600,000,000, and this will be increased by any increase 

 of the grass and grain crops. More than 120,000,000 bushels of 

 wheat are annually grown, 14,000,000 bushels of rye, 150,000,000 

 bushels of oats, 5,000,000 bushels of barley, 9,000,000 bushels of 

 buckwheat, 320,000,000 lbs. of butter, 105,000,000 lbs. of cheese, 

 14,000,000 tuns of hay, and these, it will be remembered, are in 

 addition to the crops of Indian corn, potatoes, and many other 

 crops produced, nearly equaling them in value. 



The effects derived from some kinds of top-dressing now in 

 common use among our farmers are observed, but the cause of 

 their action is not clearly understood. Thus the top-dressing 

 with stable manure is supposed to be of material value from the 



