232 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE. 



Mr. Thayer thinks rye is a good crop for land which is to be 

 laid down to grass, the grass seed to be sowed on the surface 

 early in the spring, when it will take well and yet not be for- 

 ward enough to injure the rye. He has followed this method 

 for many years and has always had good crops of grass. 



West Bridgewater seems to be well adapted to the cultivation 

 of rye, the published statements of the society showing that in 

 past years nearly all the premiums for this crop have been 

 awarded to residents of that town. Mr. Kingman's " old field," 

 from which he has just taken four good crops, in four successive 

 years, without any great outlay for manure, must certainly be 

 a very desirable kind of field to own, considering the small 

 amount of labor required for cultivating it. Rye is just now a 

 very profitable crop to raise on soils adapted to it, the straw 

 being worth what, in former years, would have been thought a 

 high price for the best of English hay. 



Indian Corn. — Albert Thomas, of Middleborough, the only 

 competitor for a premium on corn, says in his statement : " The 

 acre of land on which I raised the corn entered for premium, is 

 a dark sandy loam, in grass unmauured in 1869 and 1870. It 

 was ploughed in May, 8 inches deep, turning under 35 loads, of 

 30 bushels each, of manure from my barn cellar ; planted May 

 12th, with Whitman corn, in rows 3| by 3 feet apart ; cultivated 

 both ways and hoed twice ; harvested during the last half of 

 October. Product 94^ 7 g bushels of corn, at $1, $94.12; 3 tons 

 of stover at $15, 815 ; total, -$139.12. Expenses : ploughing, 

 harrowing, &c, $6 ; manure ploughed in, $35 ; hen manure 

 and ashes in hills, $3 ; seed and planting, $6 ; cultivation, $8 ; 

 harvesting, $6 ; total $61 ; balance in favor of the crop, $75.12." 



Oats. — Albert Thomas, of Middleborough ; one acre of sandy 

 loam, in corn in 1869 ; manured with 35 loads, of 30 bushels 

 each, of barn cellar manure. In potatoes in 1870, manured 

 with 20 loads of similar manure. Ploughed twice, 9 inches 

 deep, in April, 1871; 3 bushels of common oats sowed April 

 20th with grass seed, and harrowed in ; harvested July 20th, by 

 cradling. Product, 2,026 pounds, equal 63^|- bushels of oats, 

 weighing 35 pounds to the level bushel, and two tons of straw. 

 Expenses : ploughing and harrowing, $8 ; seed and sowing, $3 ; 

 harvesting, $7 ; total, $18. 



