392 TRANSACTIONS OF THE AMERICAN INSTITUTE. 



by mulching for two years, all the insects known to the country 

 would be harbored in a field. He thought the best practice in 

 an orchard was to stir the soil by the use of a cultivator. 



Mr. Carpenter said his experience was in favor of surface 

 manuring for dwarf pear trees. If the manure was dug in deep 

 the roots would go down to it, and, not being exposed to the 

 changes of the weather, would continue to grow, and not be 

 cheeked in season. The result is that the young wood is not 

 ripened. In regard to plowing in manures, in other cases, he 

 thought a great loss was sustained by putting volatile manures 

 on the surface in hot weather. All agreed that surface manur- 

 ing in the spring is advantageous, but he believed in getting it 

 mixed with the earth to some extent or with something that would 

 hold it ; earth, perhaps, was as good as anything else. If used on 

 the surface, the ammonia of manures would escape,— still it should 

 be near the surface. For several seasons he had noticed persons 

 plowing manure in corn fields, while he sprinkled it— not using near 

 as much. The corn in the fields where manure was plowed in 

 would come up and struggle a long time, sometimes be injured by 

 worms, and not reach the manure until late in the season, so that 

 the crop was very poor. His own corn, where the manure had 

 been sprinkled, would bear well. Lime, ashes, plaster, and 

 manures of that nature, are heavier than the soil, and need no 

 plowing, because they sink down of themselves. He recommended 

 plaster and ashes for potatoes. 



Mr. Fuller said that some had asserted that manure should be 

 dissolved in water so completely that its presence could not be 

 discovered before being put on land. 



Mr. Quinn said there was no doubt that it was good policy to 

 dissolve manures. He did not advise the use of unfermented 

 barnyard manure near the roots of a growing plant. 



Mr. Fuller thought manure applied when dissolved in too much 

 water would drown out a crop, and nothing but water plants 

 grow. 



Mr. Gale thought liquid manure the best. He did not mean 

 dissolved as thin as water, but as we see it run from our farmers' 

 barnyards — a waste of gold. Mulching is the next thing to 

 that, — but not in the spring of the year, — put it on in the fall 

 and take it away in the spring. The plants have then got all 

 they want during the winter, and the spring rains have leeched 

 it ; or, if there are no plants, the ground is impregnated with 



