80 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE. 



FIELD AND GARDEN CROPS. 

 MARSHFIELD. 



[From the Report of the Committee. ] 



If we had never wished to fill our cellars with fruits and 

 vegetables raised by our own hands, we think the desire would 

 have been created by visiting this department the present 

 season. Improvement every year has been our object. A 

 new and prominent feature has been the increase of field-corn 

 over previous years. This cereal has appeared on our tables, 

 of excellent quality, and grown in quantity at the rate of 

 a hundred and seven to a hundred and twelve bushels 

 per acre. This gives us all a feeling of encouragement. 

 " With plenty of corn and hay we can have things pretty 

 much our own way," said the old farmer. It will pay us to 

 cultivate corn, if we feed our crops. It sells well on the farm, 

 and there is no fear of decay, if it is cured with care. 



Your committee report a large variety of vegetables, com- 

 prising squashes, beets, turnips, and potatoes in great vari- 

 ety. If these productions cannot be sold at remunerative 

 prices, they are valuable to the farmer to feed to stock ; and 

 he can grind them into milk and meat and chickens and 

 eggs ad infoiitum, thus keeping the wolf from the door in a 

 period of great commercial depression. Learn, then, to feed 

 your crops, if you would be fed. Give, and you shall receive, 

 is the law. Heavy crops of onions have been raised on sandy 

 soil, by extra care, and an application of ashes at the rate of 

 forty barrels to the acre. The same general rule applies to 

 strawberries and most of the early crops. 



In addition to the usual variety was a table covered with 

 the productions of the new soil on Green Harbor marsh. 

 Heavy oats and rye and barley, and all the vegetables that 

 were grown there, were of good quality, and grown without 



