228 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE. 



RECEIPTS. 



By 3 tons of stalks, at 110.00 per ton, . . . $30 00 

 207| bushels of corn, at 88 cents a bushel, . 182 00 



\ part of manure in ground unexpended, . . 84 91 



$297 51 



On the 9th of October a committee of the Hampden Agricult- 

 ural Society examined this field of corn, which was very 

 straight and clean, and harvested an average portion, containing 

 262 feet, being 10 feet less than a square rod. The corn was 

 husked, found to weigh 45 pounds, and carried to the store of 

 Ferre, Batchelder & Co. for safe keeping and drying. Here it 

 remained suspended in an open basket till the 29th of November, 

 when its weight was found to be 31^ pounds. It was then 

 shelled and cleaned, and its weight found to be 22^ pounds, 

 having shrunk by drying, shelling and cleaning, just one-half 

 the original weight of corn and cob. The yield per acre, calcu- 

 lated after the shrinkage, is 66|^ bushels. The weight of a 

 measured bushel was found to be 54| pounds, and the cost 

 about f>2 per bushel. 



Believing that this lesson of shrinkage and loss is worth the 

 trouble of the experiment and premium, we have made the 

 award. If all premium crops of corn were subjected to the 

 same searching test, there would doubtless be less bragging of 

 great yields, and less corn would be raised. Whether it will 

 pay to raise corn now in New England, is a mooted question. 

 At the time of this last weighing, corn was selling in the large 

 markets of Illinois at 30 cents for 56 pounds shelled, and 27 

 cents for 70 pounds in the ear, these being the standard weights 

 per bushel, and the price of corn meal in Springfield, Mass., was 

 $1.80 per 100 pounds. The dealers claim that the difference 

 in cost is mainly chargeable to high freights. 



Phineas Stedman, for the Committee. 



FRANKLIN. 



Statement of C. B. Merritt, Conway. 

 Winter Wheat. — The wheat which I offer for premium was 

 raised on 165 rods of land that had been set to tobacco for the 



