1854. 
THE CULTIVATOR. 
865 
composed bf urine, plaster and ashes, ^hre-composition 
was made by saturating with urine 325 lbs. of ground 
plaster, 3J bushels of house ashes and about four bushels 
of common sand, and this he ’Calls Urate. When suffi¬ 
ciently dry, this was sown broadcast over half an acre 
•of land intended for com, and thoroughly harrowed in. 
About a spoonful was also put mtc each hill at the 
time of planting. The crop df com was not great ow¬ 
ing to poverty of soil, «£c., hut it was as good as was 
anticipated, and the com throughout the whole season 
exhibited a luxuriant green and apparent healthiness, 
uncommon for so small a growth fie thinks it would 
be of greater Utility on more fertile soils. 
The effect of applying this urute on a potato crop 
was more gratifying. One part of the potato patch 
was manured with about half a shovelful-of good ma¬ 
nure to each hill, and on another part the urate was 
used at the rate of about a heaped table-spoonful to 
each hill. The yield of that part treated with urate 
exceeded that of the manured land by several pounds 
in a row of 75 or 80 hills. Some rows of fifty-four 
hills were planted without any manure, and these fell 
short by 62 lbs. of the quantity yielded by rows of the 
same length treated with urate. In other words, the 
urate more than doubled the crop. 
If any reader should wish to pursue a farther investi¬ 
gation of the question, ‘ Will manuring pay,’ we would 
refer him to several articles in Country Gent. ;<and 
Cult, for 1853, and particularly to the accurateexpela¬ 
ments of Dr. Keene, C. G. II., 321, and : Cult. 202, and 
to ‘ Interesting Experiments with Manures’ by H. IL 
Eastman. —<*.— 
The Great Hay Crop. 
[ We yield to the request of the writer of the follow¬ 
ing communication in reference to that ‘ almost incre¬ 
dible ’ hay crop, which has been noticed in our issues 
of Sept. 14th and 21st. In a letter accompanying his 
communication the writer of it says—“I believe that 
nothing conduces more to stimulate the enterprise and 
industry of individual members of the farming com¬ 
munity than the persuasion that greater things have 
been accomplished by others than they themselves 
have as yet been able to bring to pass I believe it 
would be a great stimulus to enterprise, if some of the 
more ambitious or successful of the agricultural bro¬ 
therhood could accomplish results far beyond anything 
as yet realized—something that would startle and as¬ 
tonish and make the rank and file cry out “ Ridiculous,” 
“Humbug,” “Impossible.” After a while the won¬ 
derful result would become a fixed fact, and then there 
would be a prevailing opinion, among those who had 
hitherto been contented with old ways and ordinary 
products, that verily there are possibilities of improve¬ 
ment and attainment far beyond what they had ever 
dreamed of.. It is on account of such considerations,— 
on account of the stimulus which would result to urge 
farmers on to improvements and enterprises yet unat¬ 
tempted by them, that I would most respectfully but 
urgently entreat you to lay before your readers all 
that is authentic and reliable in regard to this ‘ great 
hay crop.’ Your unwillingness to countenance belief 
in it, l ean readily understand and sympathize with ; 
but surely, while it is not absolutely impossible, and 
since there is no rnudh to make it plausibio, you would 
not shut your columns to any article which would ex¬ 
plain or tender less •marvelous a startling statement. 
Please favor us with something on Irrigation of mea¬ 
dows in Lombardy.”] 
M-sssrs. Editors— The surprising crop of hay which 
was reported in your paper of Sept. 14th, and of which 
you stated in your next week’s issue that you did not 
wish to be considered as countenancing any belief, has 
proved a Stumbling block to many, both in this country 
and in G. Britain. The gentleman who first gave this 
statement to the public has recently communicated to 
the London Times some remarks in explanation and 
confirmation of this almost ineredble hay crop. The 
substance of these remarks which we now propose, 
with your .permission, to lay before your readers, may 
serve to present the matter in such an aspect as may 
render the original statement a great deal less incredi¬ 
ble than -at list sight it appears, and may also furnish 
to the enterprising portion of your readers some hints 
which may serve to increase their crops both of hay 
and other produce by the adoption of some modifica¬ 
tion of the means employed in the case of the great 
hay crop, at present under notice. 
Mr. James Call'd who first announced to the public 
the fact that twenty tons of hay, or grass which would 
have made as much as that in dry hay, says that at 
the late agricultural meeting at Tiptree, the farm of 
Mr. Mechi, the latter gentleman directed the attention 
of his visitors principally to his liquid manure system, 
which was in fact the most interesting feature of Mr. 
M.’s farm this season. His Italian rye grass was the 
only unsuccessful crop; but he referred to the experi¬ 
ence of others with whom it had been more successful. 
He told his audience of the marvellous results obtain¬ 
ed by Mr. Kennedy, in Ayrshire, whose Italian rye¬ 
grass affords keeping at.the rate of 70 house-fed 
sheep" to an acre. Mr. Telfer, of Ayr, who was pres¬ 
ent, confirmed this statement from his own experience, 
he having got from three cuttings of this prolific grass 
in one season, as much green food as would have made 
twenty tons of hay per acre. It was no wonder that, 
many were startled by such statements, seeing that 
this is ten times the number of sheep and ten times 
the quantity of hay usually fed on, and got from an 
acre. Men cried “Impossible they could not believe 
it. It would be impossible without a great amount of 
moisture. And there is the difference of 10 inches in 
the rainfall of the east and west of Great Britain in 
favor of the west, on which side this great crop was 
produced. An inch of rain is equivalent to 100 tons 
of water to an acre ; so that on an average, nature 
gives to the western farmer 1,000 tons more of water 
per acre than to his eastern competitor. In the growth 
of grass it is all needed. In addition, Messrs. Kennedy 
and Telfer, who grew the large crops in question, apply 
liquid manure early in the mornings, and late in tho 
