92 THE FLORIST AND 
but on grass. Moreover, grass and hay from land thus manured were much 
better relished by cattle. This fact was beginning to be well understood by 
farmers. He had recently been offered a lot of hay from Delaware county 
at the fall market price, and one of the recommendations urged by the 
vendor, was, that it had been cut from "boned" land. Such hay had been 
said to support cattle better. He would ask for Mr. Clements' opinion on 
this point. 
Mr. S. C. Willits prefered guano, but having been unable a few years 
since to find any in this market, he had purchased some superphosphate of 
lime, and at the same time a quantity of a material called the " Fertilizer." 
He had spread 47J bushels of each on equal parts of the same field, leaving 
a portion unmanured, and from that day to this he has been unable to 
discover any appreciable difference in the crops. He of course, knew nothing 
of the purity of the articles which he had purchased, nor could any farmer 
know until there was a state chemist appointed, whose duty it should be to 
inform us of the nature aforesaid, and guard against fraud in concentrated 
manures. Guano had been placed on a field adjoining the above, and its 
effects three years after wheat, were markedly favorable, yielding about IJ 
tons timothy to the acre. A portion of his farm of 135 acres had formerly 
belonged to Mr. Walker, once a well known "book farmer" of this county, 
who before the days of bone-dust, had heavily " boned" the land, putting 
on the bones, for the Avant of suitable mills, in large pieces, many of which 
now remained undecomposed. 
Dr. Elwyn, inquired what redress the farmer had, in case unadvertised 
manure failed to come up to the assurances of the vendor. Were such 
manures like quack medicines, sold for cash, the buyer losing both time and 
money ? He had recently seen a decision of an English court on this 
subject, which seemed to him peculiarly just, and one which he hoped would 
be sustained in this country : a farmer had bought on credit a quantity of 
concentrated manure, warranted to produce a certain result, the crop not 
equalling the grain guarantied, the purchaser declined payment, the vendor 
brought suit but failed to recover ; the court holding that he had not com- 
plied with the terms of his contract. 
Mr. Roberts had sown guano on his lawn. The first year the grass was 
beautiful, the second, inferior, the third, worse than before the manuring. 
H. Ingersoll, Esq., stated that his experience agreed perfectly with that 
of Mr. Roberts. He deemed guano too stimulating, acting, so to speak, as 
a blister, and when the stimulus was over, say in three years, leaving the 
soil poorer than before. Mr. Isaac Newton had a large estate in Virginia. 
