434 TRANSACTIONS OF THE AMERICAN INSTITUTE. 



remembered right Mr. Robinson had said at a previous meeting 

 that his farm was poorer than even any spot in the State of New- 

 Jersey. In such a case, perhaps, progressed manures were the 

 only kind that would do any good. 



Mr. Carpenter said, in behalf of Mr. Robinson, that he visited 

 the place of that gentleman that was so miserably poor when he 

 first bought it, and he was delighted to see some of the finest 

 crops he had seen in the State of New York. It had been done 

 by the right application of manure, and showed what the soil of 

 Westchester county was capable of doing when properly treated. 



Mr. Fuller asked Mr. Robinson whether it was the manure or 

 the plowing deep that so increased his crops. 



Mr. Robinson said that he manured and plowed deep too, as 

 he intended to keep doing. He had told his man that he could 

 not waste time in plowing. The subsoil plow should follow in 

 every furrow. He believed with progressed manures and deep 

 plowing and draining he could make any farm in Westchester 

 county productive. 



Prof. Nash, the chairman, said he would try to answer the 

 question, "What is a loamy soil?" There were three kinds of 

 loam, sandy loam, loam, and clay loam. Soils are mostly made 

 up of clay and sand. If a soil has 80 per cent of sand, 10 or 15 

 per cent of clay, and other ingredients to make up 100, it would 

 be a loam — it might be considered a strong loam. But if it has 

 95 per cent of sand, only one per cent of clay, and other ingre- 

 dients to make lOO, it is a sandy loam. If it is 70 or *75 per cent 

 of sand, and a large portion of clay so as to make it considerably 

 tenacious, then it is a clay loam. We want an understanding of 

 these terms throughout the whole country. People use these 

 terms differently, and farmers in different sections of the country 

 do not know what each other mean. 



Dr. Waterbury spoke in reference to the question, how far it 

 would pay to haul stable manure. Liebig advanced the idea 

 that if you supply the earth with inorganic matter the ammonia 

 necessary would come from the air. The agricultural world is 

 divided as to the necessity of ammonia in manure. He believed 

 that ammonia was necessary to the roots of plants. In the inte- 

 rior of this State, where ashes exist to a great extent, and the 

 people are engaged in the manufacture of potash, these are used 

 very generally for restoring land ; but apply ashes alone and they 

 cannot raise a crop. Some stable manure is necessary. 



