h."

"That is a fact worth remembering," said the Deacon.

"I use some superphosphate," continues Mr. Harison, "and some ground
bones on my turnips. We also use superphosphate on oats, barley, and
wheat (about 200 lbs. per acre), and find it pays. Last year, our
estimate was, on 10 acres of oats, comparing with a strip in the middle,
left for the purpose, that the 200 lbs. of superphosphate increased the
crop 15 bushels per acre, and gave a gain in quality. It was the
"Manhattan," which has about three per cent ammonia, and seven to eight
per cent soluble phosphoric acid.

"My rotation, which I stick to as close as I can, is: 1, oats; 2, corn,
and potatoes, and roots; 3, barley or spring wheat; 4, 5, and 6, grass
(clover or timothy, with a little mixture occasionally).

"I am trying to get to 4, fall wheat, but it is mighty risky."

"That is a very sensible letter," said the Deacon; "but it is evident
that he raises more grain than I supposed was generally the case in the
dairy districts; and the fact that his clover is so heavy that he does
not need plaster, indicates that his land is rich."

It merely confirms what I have said all along, and that is, that the
dairymen, if they will feed their animals liberally, and cultivate their
soil thoroughly, can soon have productive farms. There are very few of
us in this section who can make manure enough to give all our corn,
potatoes, and roots, 25 loads of rotted manure per acre, and have some
to spare.

In the spring of 1877, Mr. Harison wrote: "I have been hauling out
manure all winter as fast as made, and putting it on the land. At first
we spread it; but when deep snows came, we put it in small heaps. The
field looks as if there had been a grain crop on it left uncut."

"That last remark," said the Doctor, "indicates that the manure looks
more like straw than well-rotted dung, and is an argument in favor of
your plan of piling the manure in the yard or field, instead of
spreading it on the land, or putting it in small heaps."

CHAPTER XXIII.

MANAGEMENT OF MANURES ON GRAIN-FARMS.

"I am surprised to find," said the Deacon, "that Mr. Harison, living as
he does in the great grass and dairy district of this State, should
raise so much grain. He has nearly as large a proportion of his land
under the plow as some of the best wheat-growers of Western New York."

This remark of the Deacon is right to the point. The truth is, that some
of our best wheat-g