276 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



June 



decomposition of gypsum by carbonate of ammo- 

 nia does not take place instantaneously ; on the 

 contrary, it proceeds very gradually, and this ex- 

 plains why the action of the gypsum lasts for sev- 

 eral years." 



All this talk, I understand to be about gypsum 

 •u'hen applied to land, and there you have water 

 enough, except in dry seasons, and if convenient 

 in these seasons, you can irrigate, and perhaps it 

 will pay. 



Put plaster upon your stables, and a portion of 

 it will be dissolved, enough for all practical pur- 

 poses, because, as I have shown, only a small por- 

 tion of ammonia is set free, and only a small 

 amount of dissolved plaster is required. Mix 

 plaster with night soil, and the scent will be re- 

 tained ; then add some pure lime, and the odor 

 will be thrown out again. "Put fresh urine and 

 plaster into a cask ; in the course of a few days 

 there will be on the surface of the mine a thin, 

 ice-like pellicle ; this, when taken off and tested 

 by an acid, will be found to be carbonate of lime, 

 showing plainly that some of the plaster has been 

 decomposed ; the quick lime, in its eagerness for 

 carbonic acid, rises to the surface, and when it has 

 obtained a certain thickness, it breaks and falls to 

 the bottom, and doubtless the acid that was sep- 

 arated from the lime combines with the ammonia, 

 forming an impure sulphate of ammonia." 



Sulphuric acid is worth about six cents per 

 pound. The same in plaster a trifle over one 

 cent. The acid in copperas at two cents a pound, 

 would cost over six cents. Now farmers, which 

 of these will you use ? I shall use the plaster. 

 The water in animal excrement is sufficient to dis- 

 solve a portion of the plaster, so that it will re- 

 tain nearly all of the ammonia, but when the ma- 

 nure is applied to the land, there will be need of 

 more water to assist the plants to take up ammo- 

 nia. This is done by the water in the ground 

 and by rains. All the gypsum gradually disap- 

 pears, but its action upon the carbonate of ammo- 

 nia continues as long as a trace of it exists. 



Lyndeboro', N. H., 1862. L. G. B. 



For the New England Farmfr. 



NOTES FBOM. THE MONOMACK. 



BY SAGGAIIEW. 



STATISTICS OF THE AGllICULTURE OF MASSACHUSETTS. 



The following table shows the number of farms, 

 &c., in this State, as exhibited by the official re- 

 turns of the United States census for 1860 : 



Farms 35,519 



Farmers 45,522 



Farm laborers 18,039 



Improved land, acres 2,213,315 



Unimproved land, do 1,192,296 



Value of farms $122,645,221 



Value of farm implements and machinery.. $3,804,385 



Horses 47,679 



Asses and mules 51 



Mitch cows 134,475 



Working oxen 37,989 



Other cattle 96,563 



Sheep 113,279 



Swine 74,843 



Value of live stock $12,525,200 



Wheat, bushels 120,294 



Rye, do 389,610 



Indian corn, do 2,084,040 



Oats, do 1,148,081 



Tobacco, pounds 3,22*1,941 



Wool, do 373,789 



Peas and beans, bushels 43,206 



Irish potatoes, do 3,202,391 



Sweet potatoes, do 909 



Barley, do 133,488 



Buckwheat, do 113,408 



Value of orchard products $928,140 



Wine, gallons 21,854 



Produce market gardens $1,383,178 



Butter, pounds 8,168,980 



Cheese, do 5,509,614 



Hay, tons 668,628 



Clover seed, bushels 453 



Grass seed, do 4,894 



Hops, pounds Ill ,309 



Flax, do 175 



Flax seed, bushels 7 



Maple sugar, pounds 1,011,569 



Maple molasses, gallons 15,425 



Beeswax, pounds 3,457 



Honey, do 59,420 



Value of slaughtered animals $3,046,861 



From the above table the following table of av- 

 erages is prepared : 



Average number of acres of land per farm 95 



" " " improved land per farm 60 



" " " unimproved land per farm 35 



Average value of farms $3,453 



Average value of farm implements and machinery per 



farm $107,10 



Average value of live stock per farm $355,45 



Yearly value per acre of orchard products (fi-uit) $4,53 



" " " farm " " " $26,13 



As may be seen from the annual report of the 

 Secretary of the Massachusetts Board of Agricul- 

 ture for 1861, (for which these, and similar tables, 

 were prepared by the writer,) there is a great 

 discrepancy between the returns of the above 

 census, and the returns of the assessors of 

 the several cities and towns of the same year. 

 And as it is self-evident that the latter must be 

 much nearer the truth, we are led to doubt wheth- 

 er any reliance can be safely placed in the former. 

 As a specimen of these wide differences in the two 

 returns, we give the following : 



Assessors, 

 1860. 

 Yearly produce of hay, tons. . . .702,285 



Acres of imjiroved land 3,373,458 



Acres of unimproved land 996,149 



Males 20 yrs. old and upward... 298, 830 

 Number of horses 90,712 



" cows 160,982 



" sheep 115,671 



♦' Bwine 57,241 



The difference in the returns of hay, horses, 

 cows and sheep alone, by the census marshals and 

 the assessors, (both taken in the same month and 

 year,) amounts to a total of $4,656,844 in the 

 State ! Surely, we can have but little confidence 

 in our census figures, if this is a sample of them. 



The returns of the assessors of the above year 

 contain much valuable information in relation to 

 agriculture in the State, as the following items 

 will show : 



Acres of orcharding of all kinds of fruits 41,812 



" " mowed 25,380 



Yearly tons of hay in orchards mowed 24,011 



Acres of l.ind annually tilled, excluding orcharding 



tilled 265,570 



Acres of upland mowing, excluding orcharding mowed.. 550,183 



" fresh meadow 156,359 



" salt marsh 38,543 



" pasture land, excluding orcharding pastured. .1,344,914 



" woodland, excluding pasture land enclosed 976,071 



" unimproved land 767,019 



" land unimprovable 229,130 



" land used for roads 109,940 



" land covered with water 198,254 



" land (total) from actual survey 4,857,497 



It will be remembered by many that our last 

 State Valuation Committee recommended a change 

 in our method of taking the State valuation, which 

 was adopted by the Legislature. One of the feat- 



