BULLETIN OF THE BUSSEY INSTITUTION. 317 
that dung is but little if any better as a nfanure, than the plants from 
which it was formed; and it is probably true that, in the vast majority 
of cases, the real efficiency of barn-yard manure would be increased by 
the addition of a certain proportion of soluble potassic and nitrogenous 
fertilizers and by dressing the land beforehand with a true super- 
phosphate. Just as the mulching and diffusive power of the stable 
manure would tend to increase the efficiency of a mixture of artificial 
fertilizers, as was urged on page 312, so the ready solubility and diffu- 
sive power of the latter, — their so-called activity, — would enable the 
crop to use the constituents of the dung more fully than would other- 
wise be possible. ‘There is manifestly wide room for observation 
and for the exercise of judgment in adapting such mixtures to the 
conditions and requirements not only of each special farm, but of each 
particular soil and crop and field. 
For the sake of ready comparison, the amounts of “grain” and of 
“total product” that have been harvested during each of the four 
years from the barley and the bean squares now specially in question 
are given upon the next page in tabular form. It is to be remembered 
that the barley crops of 1873 were as good as ruined by the severe 
drought that prevailed throughout the early part of that year. 
