316 [AsSilMBLY 



black of tlie sugar refiners, wliich furnished phosphoric acid ; 

 Peruvian guano containing potash and ammonia — to which was 

 added a small portion of charcoal-dust and plaster of Paris, to 

 retain the volatile portions. 



" The above was added to the soil at an expense of $1,31 per 

 acre, and the field planted with corn. The crop is noAV stand- 

 ing, and the committee of the American Institute on Farms will 

 state to you that the crop Avill probably be from fifty to seventy- 

 five bushels of shelled corn per acre ; they having visited the 

 field last week. 



" During the last three years I have visited many farms in 

 New Jersey, at the request of the owners, and have advised 

 modes of manuring founded on tlie chemical constituents of the 

 soil, desired crops, &c., &c., and in no one instance has the ex- 

 periment failed to produce superior crops. Among these I may 

 mention that several have raised over one hundred bushels of 

 shelled corn per acre, and other crops in proportion. Fifty-se- 

 ven bushels of wheat has resulted in one case, and forty to fifty 

 bushels in several. Three hundred to four hundred bushels of 

 potatoes, one thousand bushels of carrots, nine hundred bushels 

 of parsnips, seven hundred to thirteen hundred bushels of ruta 

 baga turnips — have been frequently the result per acre of proper 

 tillage and judicious manuring." 



The speaker said, that it was a matter of regret to every one 

 interested in the improvement of agricultural science, that our 

 State, which had been so open and generous in creating common 

 schools — wliich liad provided so many Colleges to promote edu- 

 cation in the Classics, and in almost every department of science, 

 had as yet made no provision for an Agricultural School. The 

 American Institute had for several years made unsuccessful ap- 

 plications for the establishment of such a School ; and in 1847, 

 made a provisional agreement for the purchase, by the Stoie, of a 

 farm of about 150 acres, at Morrisania, for $21,000, to be held by 

 the State for an agricultural school, and for education in civil 

 engineering, surveying, and in the mechanical and industrial 

 pui-suits of common life. A petition was presented by the 

 American Institute accordingly to the Legislatm-e, to purchase 



