SECRETARY'S REPORT. 49 



'bushels to the acre, and more, were it not for the weevil ; and oats fifty 

 bushels. Other crops are nearly the same as on new land, when sown thin. 



The cost of growing an acre of carrots, beets, or rutabagas, would depend 

 much upon how richly the ground was prepared. Of carrots, one thousand 

 bushels can be easily raised from an acre. This has been proved. Of the 

 others, I cannot answer. 



To recover the fertility of exhausted lands, the cheapest and easiest way is 

 to plow in the grass, in the month of July or August, or perhaps in June 

 would be still better, and ' summer tiU,^ as 'tis called^ sow some crop on it, 

 and plow in the same. To enrich the country, enrich the soil. 



I will illustrate by facts. On the farm of Benjamin Whidden, in this town, 

 one acre of impoverished grass land, which never had been plowed, and did 

 not produce over half a ton of hay, was stumped and plowed in August ; 

 after laying a few weeks, was harrowed well ; in November following, 

 twenty cords of old manure, from the barn-yard, was hauled and spread, 

 and then plowed in ; in May following, it was plowed again, and planted to 

 potatoes. The planting and. hoeing were done principally with the plow. 

 From it was raised three hundred and twenty bushels of good potatoes. la 

 the spring following, the same land was plowed once only, harrowed, and 

 sown with two bushels of white bald spring wheat, from which was threshed 

 and cleaned forty-two and a half bushels of beautiful wheat, the flour of 

 which was equal to any western flour. As soon as the grain was taken off 

 the ground, it was again plowed, and in the following spring sown to the 

 same kind of wheat, without any more dressing than the plowing in of the 

 stubble of t!ie former crops. And from the same was raised thirty bushels of 

 wheat of the same quality. The nest season, the same acre was sown to oats, 

 and seeded again to grain, producing a fourth crop, of forty bushels. 



In this case, the manure cost nothing ; it was never housed. Any person 

 knows what it costs to plow an acre of easy land. To plow and harrow after 

 the first time is not a very hard day's work for a span of horses. To house 

 and thresh such an acre of wheat, would not cost mors than eight dollars. 

 But hero are seventy-two and a half bushels of wheat, three hundred and twenty 

 of potatoes, and forty bushels of oats. I make an estimate : 



Breaking up, stumping, &c., 



Hauling manure. 



Plowing and harrowing, 



Plowing and harrowing, again. 



Seed potatoes, twelve bushels, 40 cents, 



Seed wheat, four bushels, . . 



Seed oats, four bushels, 40 cents, 



Planting and hoeing potatoes. 



Digging, 



Plowing three times, and harrowing three, 



Threshing and harvesting the three crops of grain, 



Cost, . . . . . $75 90 



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