SOUTH KENNEBEC SOCIETY, 283 



Still we believe there is not that readiness, on the part of cultiva- 

 tors, to avail themselves of the medium afforded by the agricultural 

 societies, to make known the details and results of their experiments 

 in the production of crops, for the benefit of "their craft" and for 

 the public good, which there should be. The right knowledge and 

 practice in cultivation, with the means farmers now possess, would 

 much increase the productions of the State ; and, if the term ciilti-' 

 vation, as used above, may be so extended as to include the preserva- 

 tion and application of manures, it is safe to say, that the whole 

 agricultural production of the State would be doubled upon the 

 acres now under cultivation, in five years ; for besides the loss — - 

 waste, it may be termed — by shallow plowing, half tilling and "slip- 

 shod" cultivation in general, there is an annual loss of more than 

 one-half of the manure made by the stock upon the farms in this 

 State. A few farmers do better ; many do much worse than this 

 general average. To remedy these evils, we would urge upon those 

 farmers who, from superior advantages or other causes, occupy the 

 front ranks in the advancing force, to communicate to their fellows 

 in arms, the sScrets of their success, by detailing the manoeuvres 

 which have led them to it. And further, we will venture so far 

 "out of the record" as to suggest to the Trustees to offer premiums 

 for essays on the best method of preserving the manures made upon 

 the farm — the essays to be detailed descriptions of the fixtures, con- 

 veniences and practice of the applicants for the premiums. 



These remarks have been elicited by general observation — not by 

 any want of knowledge, or skill in practice, discoverable in the 

 statements of the claimants whose comparative merits we have been 

 calkd upon to decide. 



The season taken into account, the amount of the crops for which 

 the premiums were claimed, was very creditable to the competitors. 

 The three corn crops, reckoning Mr. Carpenter's mixed crop at its 

 value, all in corn, average very nearly sixty-five busliels to the acre ; 

 good crops for a good season, — and in the opinion of the Committee, 

 near the maximum of what the farmers of New England should 

 aspire to. Manuring to increase the corn crop above sixty or seventy 

 bushels to the acre, (except upon very porous soils, in which the 

 manure is soon lost.) is often attended by the loss of the following 

 grain crop, from "lodging," and often an injury to the followiRg 



