“I see that, on plot 0,” said the Deacon, “one ton of superphosphate was used per acre, and it gave only half a bushel per acre more than 350 lbs. on 9_a_.” “This proves,” said I, “that an excessive dose of superphosphate will do no harm. I am not sure that 100 lbs. of a good superphosphate _drilled in with the seed_, would not have done _as much good_ as a ton per acre.” “You say,” remarked the Deacon, “that the season was unfavorable for wheat. And yet the no-manure plot produced nearly 15 bushels of wheat per acre.” “That is all true,” said I, “and yet the season was undoubtedly an unfavorable one. This is shown not only in the less yield, but in the inferior quality of the grain. The ‘dressed corn’ on the no-manure plot this year only weighed 57⅓ lbs. per bushel, while last year it weighed 61 lbs. per bushel.” “By the way,” said the Doctor, “what do Messrs. Lawes and Gilbert mean by ‘dressed corn’?” “By ‘corn,’” said I, “they mean wheat; and by ‘dressed corn’ they mean wheat that has been run through a fanning-mill until all the light and shrunken grain is blown or sieved out. In other words, ‘dressed corn’ is wheat carefully cleaned for market. The English farmers take more pains in cleaning their grain than we do. And this ‘dressed corn’ was as clean as a good fanning-mill could make it. You will observe that there was more ‘offal corn’ this year than last. This also indicates an unfavorable season.” “It would have been very interesting,” said the Doctor, “if Messrs. Lawes and Gilbert had analyzed the wheat produced by the different manures, so that we might have known something in regard to the quality of the flour as influenced by the use of different fertilizers.” “They did that very thing,” said I, “and not only that, but they made the wheat grown on different plots, into flour, and ascertained the yield of flour from a given weight of wheat, and the amount of bran, middlings, etc., etc. They obtained some very interesting and important results. I was there at the time. But this is not the place to discuss the question. I am often amused, however, at the remarks we often hear in regard to the inferior quality of our wheat as compared to what it was when the country was new. Many seem to think that ‘there is something lacking in the soil’--some say potash, and some phosphates, and some this, and some that. I believe nothing of the kind. Depend upon it, the variety of the wheat and the soil and season have much more to do with the quality or strength of the flour, than the chemical composition of the manures applied to the land.”