CULTURE OF RYE AND WHEAT. Ill 



Mr. Blakeslee, of Watertown. I commenced farming in 

 1807. My father deeded me 70 acres, called worth 1200. 

 I had no means of support but to improve that land, and I 

 endeavored to enlarge the possession by the product. I took 

 the course of the rotation of crops that has been so ably dis- 

 cussed by Prof. Johnson ; and what I expect to do is to give 

 my experience through all this time — sixty-six years. There 

 are very few, probably, in the New England States, who have 

 had that length of experience. This land, you see by the 

 price, was in a very low state of cultivation. I have never 

 purchased any land, during the whole time, at a high price; 

 I have taken all the land that I have purchased at its lowest 

 state of cultivation, and my support has been derived from 

 improving that land by rotation of crops. During this time 

 I have cultivated over five hundred acres. 



The first crop which is usually planted is a crop of wheat, 

 which is the foundation of our discussion. That crop of 

 wheat prepares the ground for a crop of herbage. I think that 

 a crop of wheat, which is nourishment for the human race, 

 prepares the ground for herbage for the animal race. The 

 next crop is corn. When plowing for corn I plow so that 

 one fnrrow shall just lap over to the other, so that tlie vegeta- 

 tion in decaying shall furnish nourishment for the corn. In 

 that way I soon found out that I could get from thirty to forty 

 and sometimes fifty bushels to the acre. I had no manure 

 and nothing to make manure of. That crop of corn prepared 

 the ground for a crop of flax. That crop of flax, in those days, 

 furnished the material for the clothing of the family in the 

 summer. It furnished twine for our shoe-thread, and the 

 seed was miinufactured into oil to preserve the life of our 

 buildings. It was a very important crop, but one which is 

 now almost wholly neglected. That crop of flax was suc- 

 ceeded by rye. That crop of rye prepared the ground for 

 herbage again ; not as well as wheat, however, for we were 

 then under the necessity of sowing a little grass seed on the 

 rye, in the spring generally sowing timothy or red clover, 

 which was one of the native grasses and took better than 

 any thing else. That field was mowed one or two seasons, 



