DIGEST OF STATE EEPOETS. 391 



The yield of the manured land was 3,600 pounds to the acre, or 1,100 pounds to the acre 

 less than the statement. 



Beans. — The statement in regard to beans was that we would make 20 bushels to the 

 acre more than the natural product of the land. Twenty bushels of white beans is a 

 pretty good cro^r to the acre ; but that was the statement, 20 bushels to the acre over 

 and above the natural product of the laud, which it was supposed was nothing, the 

 land being about as poor as could be. The result was that the land without manure 

 yielded 4 bushels, the land with manure yielded 25 bushels. We got one bushel to 

 the acre more than the statement. 



Certificates were read from a number of farmers who had used his 

 formulas with the same gratifying results as those detailed above. 



Formulas for supplying the elements of plant-food for the different 

 crops named above are published in this report. 



In a discussion on corn and grain crops, Mr. Hapgood stated that he 

 grew 80 bushels or more of shelled corn to the acre. Explaining that 

 he prei'erred for corn sod-land, plowed in the autumn, six inches deep, 

 he exhibited some ears of corn and said : 



The field on which the samples were raised was plowed last autumn. 



In the spring I spread on 5 cords, or 15 two-horse loads of stable-manure to the acre, 

 which I worked in with a Boston horse-hoe and a Geddes harrow. I then furrowed the 

 field 3^ feet apart each way, and laida moderate shovelful of stable-manure to the hill, 

 which takes about 10 two-horse loadsto the acre, making 25 two-horse loads of manure 

 to the acre of corn, which is as much manure as I think is economy to use. Fropi my 

 experience, I am confident that for every additional load of manure the yield of any 

 kind of grain is not increased more than one bushel to the load, and the yield of hay 

 not more than 100 pounds to the additional load of manure. In seeding, I plant five 

 kernels to the hill, no more nor less; this is pretty sure to make four stalks to the hill, 

 which is as much as I intend shall grow. When 6 to 8 inches high, I hoe it. Once hoe- 

 ing is enough, if the field is free from weeds. My corn this year was hoed but once. 

 The mode*ot' cultivating corn is various. Some farmers spread manure on grass-land 

 and plow it under G inches or more; some never lay manure in the hill; some hoe 

 when it is no more than three inches out of the ground, and hoe two or three times, 

 and so on ; but the test of excellence in farming is always in the yield of the crop. 

 I never adopt any new mode of cultivation, however simple or however elaborate, 

 which yields a smaller crop than I now raise, or that does not produce definite results 

 in bushels or pounds. * * * The variety of seed-corn planted is a very important 

 consideration. It is not possible to raise a large yield of corn from a small variety of 

 seed ; and yet many New England farmers persist in raising these small varieties, 

 which, with high cultivation, will produce scarcely more than 50 bushels to the acre; 

 when, with a large variety of corn, and at the same cost, they might raise 80 bushels 

 or more to the acre. They claim that their corn has many stalks with double ears ; 

 but the proportion of stalks with two good ears is not very' large. Then they argue 

 that small corn has a small cob, and is filled out well ; it makes good meal, and they 

 like it ; that big, coarse corn has a great cob, and they do not like it. Some farmers 

 stick at the cob, as if that was the first object, without regard to the corn. After all, 

 there is but little difference in the weight of. cob to a bushel of corn, in the large or 

 small varieties ; 72 pounds of ears of my corn will make a bushel, or 70 pounds when 

 it is well dried ; so there is not much weight in the cob argument, after all. With oue 

 dressing of 25 loads of manure to the acre, I raise 80 bushels of corn. Then I sow to 

 barley, and seed down to grass ; the next year after, corn. I have 30 to 40 bushels of 

 barley to the acre ; then the two following years, about 2 tons of hay to the acre, after 

 that, li tons ; then 1^^ tons — so I raise five or six crops -with one dressing of manure. 



Perhaps the most interesting part of the transactions at this session 

 was the address delivered by Eev. William H. H. Murry, on the " Breed- 

 ing and management of horses." lieferring to the maxim of the Arabs, 

 that "the foal follows the sire," he says : 



To account for it, in the first place, the Arabs always select their dams with great care. 

 Now, it may be that the word " best," as applied to their dams, you do not apply to 

 yours. That is, the dam that you would consider the best may not be the best in the 

 eye of the Arab breeder. What is the best dam in the eye of the Arab breeder? May 

 it not be the one that will allow its foal to bear the stamp of the horse ? I think so. 

 I have two dams on my farm that could not be sold by a religious man for over $300, 

 in a matter of trade, and yet $3,000 could not buy either of them. Vv^hy ? Three colts 

 have come out of each, and every colt has looked precisely like its sire ; has put its 

 feet, when eating its oats, precisely like its sire; has smeUed of the water and muz- 



