AMERICAN INSTITUTE. 285 



finest tilth. From the depth of the disintegration and the influ- 

 ence of the imder-drains, securing circulation of atmosphere and 

 deposit of moisture By condensation, no drouth is ever felt, all of 

 which was fully set forth by the committee who visited this farm 

 last year, and who reported that the "fences seemed to be a boun- 

 dary to the drouth." 



Manure Shed. 



Near the stables is a shed under which the solid manures of the 

 stables are placed each day, the fluid manures running from the 

 stables to a cistern which receives the drainage from the manure 

 heap. This cistern is supplied with a pump, by which its con- 

 tents may each day be pumped on top the manure heap, return- 

 ing by filtration to the cistern, and preventing all fire-fanging or 

 loss of ammonia from the heap. This arrangement does away 

 with the necessity for forking over the dung heap, as it is never 

 dry, and the soluble portions of each part are sub-divided through 

 every other part, without any disturbance other than that conse- 

 quent upon the filtration of the water itself, while the frequent 

 changes of air and water supply all the necessary chemical con- 

 ditions to secure decomposition without loss of ammonia. We 

 learn that occasionally a small quantity of sulphuric acid was 

 added to this cistern, to change the carbonate into the sulphate of 

 ammonia, and that occasionally a small quantity of nitrogenized 

 phosphate of lime, in a soluble or semi-soluble state, was also 

 added. 



Beyond the manures of the farm, which are entirely insufficient 

 in quantity to produce the vigorous growths named by your com- 

 mittee, tliere are used, in variable quantities of 100 to 600 lbs. 

 per acre of either Mapes' nitrogenized super-phosphate of lime, or 

 the cheaper potash phosphate, and in all cases divided with char- 

 coal dust or decomposed salt marsh muck, of which there are 50 

 acres, before being applied to the soil, which is mainly done du- 

 ring the disturbance of crops, and but in part before seeding or 

 planting. No other artificial manures are ever used than the 

 phosphates above named, and in some parts of the farm no stable 

 manures have ever been applied. The cost of manuring seems to » 

 be much less than if stable manures without cost, except for cart- 



