302 - [Senate 



of the statements which have been submitted, some are not sufficient- 

 ly explicit to render them as serviceable as they might have been; 

 while others were so brief that very little instruction could be deriv- 

 ed from them. To these remarks there is one exception — as there 

 was one such document which fully answered the design of the Soci- 

 ety, and which, as it comes from the pen of a scientific and practical 

 farmer, and is believed to contain some useful and interesting matter, 

 will be published. These statements are all preserved, and will be 

 kept on file among the Society's papers, at the office of the recording 

 secretary, where they will at all times be accessible to those who may 

 wish to peruse them. For the satisfaction of those who may not find 

 it convenient to call and examine them for themselves, it may be pro- 

 per to remark, that so far as these statements go, they all concur in 

 bearing testimony to the correctness of the following propositions, 

 ail which are now regarded as established principles in an improved 

 system of American husbandry : 



That a rotation of crops is essential to the most economical and 

 profitable cultivation of all soils : 



That coarse manures should be applied to hoed crops — always in 

 an unfermented state — and plowed under, or thoroughly incorporated 

 with the soil: 



That most soils are improved by fall plowing; and especially clay- 

 ey or tenacious soils — where it is indispensable, and should always 

 be deep: 



That on clayey soils, surface-draining, by plowing in narrow lands, 

 and leaving the " dead-furrows" deep and open, is of essential bene- 

 fit: 



That the mode of tillage should be thorough — it being far better 

 to cultivate a small farm, and do it in sucli a manner, than to run 

 over more land, in a manner less thorough: 



That in sowing grain of all kinds, a liberal use should be made of 

 seed — it being more profitable, and far better for the soil, to raise a 

 crop of grain than a crop of weeds: 



That in seeding down grass-lands, a liberal use of clover is essen- 

 tial to the amelioration and improvement of the soil: and. 



That gypsum or plaster is of essential service on meadow-lands 

 and on green-sward crops. 



The report of the viewing committees, though in general extreme- 

 ly brief, contain some hints worthy of attention. 



The report of the committee for Peru, furnishes something more 

 than a hint for the consideration of those who, for w^ant of a little 

 order in the preservation of their tools, are ever running to their 

 neighbor to borrow, because they cannot find their own; — as also of 

 those who, regarding the proffered aid of invention and the mechanic 

 arts, in the improvement of our implements of husbandry, as an inno- 

 vation, remain contented with using the same unwieldy and labor- 

 consuming instruments which their fathers used, and their grand-fa- 

 thers before them. 



In the report of the committee for Plattsburgh, the " four hundred 

 and fourteen rods of stone-wall," — the " fences good," — by a most 



