130 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



Mr. Heesey. There was the trouble with me. I could 

 keep the field perfectly clean everywhere except in the hills. 

 There the weeds would grow just as well as the corn. I 

 have made it a rule not to allow weeds to grow on my land. 

 I think clean culture is one of the most important things to 

 be considered. I will here say that I visited a farm once in 

 New Hampshire, located on a high hill, where the farmer 

 had occupied it fifty years. I looked that farm over, and I 

 could not find a single weed among his cultivated crops. He 

 had taken pains year after year to destroy all weed-seeds, 

 and had thus cleared his land. I think that is an important 

 thing for us to consider, that we must stick to clean culture. 



Question. Do I understand Mr. Bo wd itch to recommend 

 plantii]^ corn in drills, three kernels in a hill, fourteen inches 

 apart ? 



Mr. BowDiTCH. The heaviest crop I ever raised, I raised 

 without a machine, by dropping a kernel every three inches. 

 I harvested a hundred and five bushels of shelled corn to 

 the acre. 



Mr. "Williams. Were there any stones in the land ? 



Mr. BowDiTCH. No : it was a clean field. 



Mr. Williams. Could you use this horse-hoe and planter 

 you speak of where there were a great many small stones ? 



Mr. BowDiTCH. Yes : small stones would not do any harm. 



Col. GniNNELL. I would like to ask Gov. Boutwell 

 whether he is perfectly satisfied that the better way is to 

 cut corn up at the roots, rather than to top it. The practice 

 has been changed two or three times in that regard, within 

 the last fifty years, up in the valley ; and perhaps it is pretty 

 well settled now in favor of cutting up at the roots. But I 

 would like to have the matter ventilated a little. 



Gov. Boutwell. I can only answer for myself. I say 

 that I would not have the tops of corn cut if it could be 

 done for nothing. I prefer it cut up from the ground : it 

 preserves the Avliole body of the fodder in as good condition 

 as the tops can be preserved if you cut them and manage 

 them in the best possible way, and you have left the re- 

 mainder in the field for the frosts and rains of autumn to 

 work upon, and it loses its value very rapidly. 



Adjourned to evening. 



