34 TRANSACTIONS OF THE AMERICAN INSTITUTE. 



Mr. Nathan C. Ely in the chair. J/ay 17, 1864. 



Poor Man's Manure. 



Mr. Natliaii Whittoii, Etna, PonobscDt comity, Mo, says : "I wish to 

 give my e.xperience about what has always been termed ' poor man's man- 

 ure.' Several years ago 1 was breaking up pasture ground in April, upon 

 which to plant potatoes. A strip about two rods wide and twenty rods 

 long was left unfinished at night. During the night four or five inches of 

 damp snow fell, and the next day that was turned under. No more was 

 thought of the circumstance until the crop made its appearance. Tiiis was 

 when good crops of potatoes could be produced M'ithout manure; and no 

 manure was applied in this case. The whole piece Avas treated alike-, but 

 when the potatoes came up, this strip developed rank, vigorous plants, 

 while the other portion of the field produced far more feeble plants, and 

 exliibited the same appearance throughout the season. A fair crop was 

 dug from the two sides of the field, but from the middle it was truly mar- 

 velous, producing more than twice as many on the same amount of land. 



" I have been thus exjilicit because I consider facts better than theory. 

 Now it makes little difference to the farmer what chemical or philosophical 

 principle is involved in this question; whether one of the thousand and one 

 elements so much talked about now-a-days, or all of them, produced the 

 result; or whether it is some other more subtile gas or fluid, that defies 

 detection, so long as he knows the result is favorable to crops. I know 

 this is an isolated case. I could state others, but think this will do for the 

 present." 



There was plenty of theorizing over this statement, but facts of any im- 

 portance were not adduced. Mr. Bartlett said that as freezing water expels 

 all gases, he could not understand how snow could contain ammonia. Mr. 

 Solon Robinson said that when plowed under it would tend to make the 

 furrow slices lie more lightly and aerate the soil. Turning dew under is 

 beneficial to land. Snow mixed with flour, only dissolving just enough to 

 wet it and make into cakes, and baked immediately, makes light, sweet 

 biscuit. Why not make the land light? 



Mr. W. S. Carpenter conceded great benefit to land from spring .'^nows, 

 acting as a mulch, but did not believe that it could be of any benefit, plowed 

 under, lie and all other doubters are recomniended to try the experiment. 



The Goitre in Lambs. 



Three letters in answer to the inquiry of Mr. Dean, of Parma, Mich., for 

 a remedy for this disease, were read. One from a corrospondent who 

 writes from llipton, Vt., recommends a surgical operation to remove the 

 lumps in the necks of young lambs. As soon as they are discovered, fix a 

 pair of splints, one upon each side, so as to prevent the lump pressing upon 

 the windpipe, which is the cause of deatii, and then get a person of suf- 

 ficient skill to cut out the lump and sew up the wound. It is important, the 

 writer says, to save? lamlis in that vicinity, since at one year old they often 

 H<'II from 8100 to $1,0U() each, and some have been sold at 82,000. One 

 two year old ram sheared a fleece of one year's growth that weighed 23 Ibs^ 

 and he then weighed only 102 lbs. 



