OF TENNESSEE. 47 



III. A judicious mixture of mineral and nitrogenous 

 manures increased the growth of grasses far beyond the sum 

 of increase attained by the two used separately. 



IV. Farm-yard manure stimulated the growth of both 

 the grasses and leguminous herbage, but chiefly the 

 former. 



V. A mixture of mineral manures, (consisting of 200 

 pounds of bone ash, 150 pounds sulphuric acid, 300 pounds 

 sulphate of potash, 200 pounds sulphate of soda, 100 pounds 

 sulphate of magnesia, and 400 pounds each of muriate and 

 sulphate ammonia, exceeded in increase by more than a ton 

 per acre the increase produced by 14 tons of farm-yard ma- 

 nure of good quality. 



It may perhaps be useful to relate how these experiments 

 were tried. A piece each of meadow and pasture of uniform 

 quality and condition was laid off and a careful examination 

 and record made of the kinds of herbage and their propor- 

 tions. The lands were then laid off in plats and the several 

 manures applied year, after year. At the close of every 

 growing season each plat was carefully examined and a 

 record made of the proportions of the different plants pres- 

 ent. Two of the plats were kept unmanured as standards 

 of comparison. The hay cut from the meadow plats was 

 carefully weighed and analyzed, so that the experiments not 

 only show how much increase each manure gives in bulk 

 but also what plants it increases and how it influences the 

 quality of the hay. These results render the experiments 

 by far the most valuable yet made in grass culture. With 

 the exception of the chemical analyses these experiments 

 made be repeated by any intelligent farmer. It is 

 only through such experiments that new facts may be 

 learned or old notions put to the test. This is the kind of 

 work waiting the educated farmers. 



As a practical conclusions from their experiments, Messrs, 

 Laws and Gilbert advise the farmers to apply a 



