133 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



Farmer B, made his yield three times that of A's. Take the dry 

 statistics of the Agricultural Bureau at Washington, and look at the 

 average of the crops of the State at large, and the average Wash- 

 ington County farmer will, I think, be dissatisfied with the figures : 

 wheat, 14 bushels to the acre ; corn, 30 bushels ; oats, 28 ; barley, 

 21 ; potatoes, 107 ; ha}- 95-100 of a ton. These are the figures for 

 1875, and are the average of the whole State. Are they satisfactory? 

 It would not be so on my farm. I do not think I could pay expenses 

 if I could not raise more than the average shown. The question 

 that comes home to our minds is. How can we increase this averasfe, 

 and Avill it be profitable ? Perhaps I may be an enthusiast, but I 

 believe that an}- acre of fair arable land in Washington Count}- may 

 be made to double the average shown without doubling the cost. 

 That is, if it pa^-s us for our labor to raise the average crop of 1876, 

 all that we can increase that average, without more expense, is 

 profit. Now how can it be done ? 



1st. Bif a better ivorking of our Lands. I mean by better plowing, 

 ditching and harrowing, working our lauds when they are in a good 

 condition to work. Man}- of us in the spring are in a hurry to get 

 our crop's in, and on our clayey soils are apt to work them before 

 they are dry enough. 



2d. Better Fertilization. The farmer's bank is his manure pile, 

 and his constant aim should be to make it larger and better. I am 

 sorry to say that a large majority of our farmers, (and some of them 

 think they are pretty good farmers,) think the liquid excrements of 

 our animals are of no value, or at least they make no effort to save 

 them ; and, often, their barns are built so as to have the quickest 

 drainage. The solid manures are thrown out so as to catch the drip- 

 pings of the eaves, which leach them to such an extent as to leave 

 them almost valueless. It is with manure the farmer fertilizes his 

 soil, and every method should be used to preserve it. The swaujps 

 should give us muck ; the forest, leaves ; the shores, muscle mud and 

 sea-weed. The scraping of ditches, sawdust, in fact every thing of 

 a fertilizing and absorbent nature should be gathered, and made to 

 contribute to our wants. Special fertilizers can often be used to a 

 great advantage, extending the manure pile, and contributing their 

 share to the daily loss. 



3d. Bd better feeding of Stock. The better the feed the richer 

 the manure. The closest econom}- in saving fertilizers, and the 



