376 TRANSACTIONS OF THE 



Mr. T. W. Field — The corn crops that measure over one 

 hundred busliels per acre, often cost in manure and labor more 

 than their value. 



Prof. Mapes — The yield of corn in my neighborhood is about 

 sixty bushels per acre. I have raised one hundred and ten bushels 

 per acre, with the same treatment given to other parts of the 

 farm — that is, under-draining and sub soil plowing, and special 

 manuring. I have no doubt that one hundred and twenty-five 

 bushels of corn have been raised per acre, and perhaps the much 

 larger crops published. I don't think you can find poorer soil, 

 or better soil, than is to be found in the State of New Jersey. It 

 will not all grow such crops. Where we get sixty bushels of corn 

 upon an average, we cannot get one hundred bushels of potatoes, 

 and rarely over two tons of hay per acre. From some New Jersey 

 soils, that to some would appear worthless, the owners get two 

 hundred and fifty bushels of potatoes, by the use of green sand 

 marl. 



T. W. Field — Near New- York city we cannot grow apples to 

 any profit. So it is with every crop; it must be adapted to 

 soil and climate. Within a radius of fifty miles around New- 

 York, the pear grows to perfection, with the exception of a 

 few kinds. The pear tree here has a great longevity. The peach 

 is ephemeral. Apple trees endure in a scraggy form, but unpro- 

 ductive. Cherries and plums are short lived. While pears are 

 found everywhere about here of great size and age. 



Solon Robinson — Yes, one in this city, still in bearing condition, 

 is two hundred and twenty years old. 



Prof Mapes — One of the most productive fields in Maryland, 

 celebrated for its great crops for many years, is one where an 

 immense number of coal-pits had been burnt. I get all the rail- 

 road cinders at Newark, and find immense benefit from their use, 

 applied directly to the soil, or upon manure heaps in the stable 

 and pig pen; I use this charcoal dust as a divisor of superphos- 

 phate and wood ashes. It is not a manure, but it is a chemist, 

 constantly at work in the earth, where it is placed for our benefit. 



