404 TRANSACTIONS OF THE AMERICAN INSTITUTE. 



them in liberal quantities, but they soon showed signs of failing 

 and at last stopped growing and fruiting, and no amount of sta- 

 ble manure would start them ; salt was then applied at the rate 

 of one quart to each tree, scattering it all over the ground. 

 The result was the trees made a fine growth the first year, and 

 the next they produced an enormous crop. Now these trees had 

 befen receiving the saline properties in the manure, but the quince 

 being what is called a marine plant, did not get salt enough until 

 it had received a special application. In another soil, perhaps 

 the stable manure would have been all that the plant required. 



We have many cases around New York and Brooklyn where 

 land had become, by repeated doses of stable manure, incapable 

 of producing any of the various crops generally grown in this 

 vicinity. It had become too rich in nitrogenous manures, and 

 therefore failed to produce anything above the lowest order of 

 weeds. But when an application of lime is given these soils, they 

 immediately return to productiveness, and will grow enormous 

 crops. There are multitudes of cases where applications of spe- 

 •cial manure is the only resource left us for bringing our lands 

 back to their original productiveness. The superphosphates may 

 be applied to almost any crop, or upon any kind of soil, yet there 

 are some cases where their use would be more beneficial than in 

 others ; and this is what we must learn, what all should learn 

 who cultivate the soil, when and how manure should be applied 

 to bring the largest returns upon the labor and money expended. 



Mr. Robinson. The original question has not yet been an- 

 swered, " What shall I purchase to fertilize my land ? what is the 

 most economical manure ? shall I purchase cattle and use barnyard 

 manure ? shall I buy oilcake, or cornmeal or bran to put upon the 

 land ? or shall I buy them and feed them to cattle ? What is the 

 best economy ?" 



Dr. Trimble said that Egypt had supported the densest popu- 

 lation and been the granary of the world for a series of years, 

 the lands being annually enriched by the overflowing of the 

 Nile. So important did they consider irrigation, that they con- 

 structed an enormous lake, by which the country could be inun- 

 dated if the periodical overflow of the Nile should fail to occur. 

 ■ But irrigation cannot be applied everywhere. Some lands can 

 be redeemed by lime and clover ; others by gypsum. Guano can 

 be used where heavier manures cannot be easily transported. 

 Muck is sometimes valuable. It may be hauled upon the land 



