70 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE. 



[Statement of Edmund Smith.] 



The soil on which this crop was raised is a dark sand. It 

 is in Newbury, near Plum Bush Bridge, on the Plum Island 

 turnpike, and contains one acre. It is very little higher 

 than the marsh adjoining, and is often covered by the tide. 

 It has been in grass, but was pretty well run out. In 1877 

 it produced only three hundred pounds of hay. It was 

 ploughed and harrowed May 28. It was furrowed, and the 

 fertilizers applied the 29th, and one peck of corn planted the 

 next day (the 30th). 400 pounds of Stockbridge corn fer- 

 tilizer, costing $12.32, were applied to one half by measure, 

 and 334 pounds of Darling's animal fertilizer, costing $7.52, 

 to the other half. They were both applied by dropping a 

 handful in the hill, covering with a hoe with about three 

 inches of soil, dropping five kernels of corn in the hill, and 

 covering with the hoe about three inches. The whole came 

 up w;ell, and grew rapidly. Cultivated both ways, and hoed 

 the last week in June. Cultivated both ways July 23 ; hoed 

 Aug. 2 and 3. The crop was cut Oct. 1, tied in bundles 

 (six hills to a bundle), and put in stocks immediately, — 

 about twelve bundles to «a stook. Oct. 18, the corn was 

 husked in the field, leaving the husks on the stover. The 

 crop was weighed as taken from the field, the product 

 being as follows : From one-half acre (Stockbridge), 2,000 

 pounds; from one-half acre (Darling's), 1,791 pounds; 

 total, 3,791 pounds. 



No other manure or fertilizer was applied to the crop. A 

 high tide, when the corn was about six inches high, flowed m 

 a low place, of about fifty hills, to the depth of three inches 

 on the Stockbridge, reducing the crop on that part some. 

 The Darling, being nearest the marsh, was raided upon by 

 the rats, destroying, in my judgment, considerable more of 

 the crop than Stockbridge was injured by the tide. The 

 corn was the eight-rowed variety; and the percentage of 

 unsound, or pig-corn, was very small. The stover (butts, 

 husks, and top stalks) was sold and weighed from the field, 

 for $18.10, weighing 5,870 pounds. The financial statement 

 is p.s follows: — 



