SECRETARY'S REPORT. 73 



the hoe for making the holes, and drop the seed by hand; 

 others plough furrows six feet apart and drop the seeds in the 

 bottom of the furrow from one to two feet apart. This requires 

 too much time and labor if the plantation is to be very large. 

 A simple machine has been contrived for dropping the seed at 

 the proper distance, by which a man with a horse may plant 

 five or six acres in a day, which is quite as much as he could 

 plough with furrows at the distance of six feet in the same 

 length of time. This machine costs from three and a half to 

 five dollars. 



About a quart of seed is generally allowed to four acres. 

 If it be of good quality, this is commonly found to be a sufficient 

 quantity. Probably, however, planting a little thicker would 

 secure a more perfect exemption from any difficulty arising from 

 accident or bad seed. 



The transplanting of young white pines may be effected with 

 safety at almost any season of the year, provided, in taking 

 them up the bark of the roots is not strained and broken, or 

 loosened. The roots may be cut off with much greater safety 

 than their bark can be broken. By careful attention to this 

 precaution more than a thousand young white pines were trans- 

 planted by a farmer in Bristol County, with the loss of only one 

 or two. 



Among other very valuable trees may be mentioned the 

 yellow locust, on sandy land, both on account of its intrinsic 

 value as wood, and the benefit to dry pasture lands. The 

 Scotch larch, has also been planted, to considerable extent, and 

 for rapidity of growth, value for timber and beauty, is one of 

 the most desirable additions to the farm. The silver poplar on 

 light soils and exposed situations, is also of great value, as 

 are also the white birch, the chestnut, and, as an ornament un- 

 surpassed, the graceful elm. 



Manures. 

 As the necessity of a better culture begins to be felt, the 

 preservation and application of manures must, of course, attract 

 much attention. All eminent success in farming, in a great 

 measure, depends upon them. Some, indeed, have gone so far 

 as to say that the whole science of agriculture consists in pro- 

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