24 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



attention paid to the study and preparation of manures, has 

 done a great deal to increase the productiveness of our lands ; 

 but there is still room for much further advancement in this 

 direction. What we have done, is little, when compared with 

 what yet remains to be done. 



The average yield of upland mowing land throughout the 

 State, was returned, in 1840, at three-fourths of a ton per acre. 

 The whole number of acres of such land, was 440,930. By the 

 returns of 1850, we find this number to have increased to 

 628,025. The yield, in 1840, was 467,537 tons, while in 1850, 

 it was 483,228 ; showing a small increase in the yield per acre, 

 makino- it nine-tenths of a ton. The practice of reclaiming land 

 has become so general, even within the last five years, that it 

 is perfectly safe to assert that the yield is now somewhat 

 greater. The cities and large towns are fast growing in 

 population, and call for a more careful cultivation in their 

 vicinity. Experiments have excited interest and competition. 

 Land is better manured, and holds out better in grass. Ac- 

 cording to returns made to this department the past season, 

 from men as capable of judging as any, the average yield per 

 acre is 23| cwt., or about one ton and one-seventh. Making 

 all allowances for a favorable season and over statements, 

 we may set down the present average as not less than one 

 ton per acre. 



An intelligent and practical farmer of Hampshire County, 

 speaking of this subject, says : — " For ten or fifteen years past, 

 great improvements have been made in English mowing lands. 

 Such as were considered worthless then, have been so improved 

 as to produce the first quality of English grass, which will 

 yield from two to three tons of hay per acre. I should think 

 that quantity and quality had increased within fifteen years, at 

 least, one-third; some farmers think one-half. Many tons of 

 hay are sold annually at the neighboring manufacturing vil- 

 lages." 



Another, writing from Berkshire County, says : — " Hay is a 

 large crop with us. The two years last past, have tried our 

 meadows very severely ; the extreme drought of the first, and 

 the almost constant rains of the latter, have so operated, that 

 our average for this year will not at all compare with that of 



