358 AGRICULTURAL REPORT. 



peculiar soil of the locality, wbicli is a loose, friable, and apparently 

 rather crude vej?etable mold, the deep plowing of which brings up a 

 soil not so congenial to plant-growth on account of its chemical or per- 

 haps mechanical condition. These are facts, however, which go to show 

 that deep plowing here, as well as elsewhere, has been attended with 

 profitable results ; and in some experiments, now making on land that 

 has been cultivated for twenty years without manure, it is found that in 

 appearance the deeply plowed plots will give the heaviest crops. Com- 

 mon stable-manure has been applied on the model farm to the i)otato- 

 cro]) with injurious results, in consequence of grubs breeding in the 

 manure. When applied to corn-laud in the fall previous to planting iu 

 the spring, at the rate of twenty loads to an acre, the yield has been 

 increased ten bushels ; and when applied as a top-dressing to grass- 

 land, at the rate of thirty loads to an acre, the hay-crop has been 

 doubled. Salt sown on wheat, at the rate of one barrel to three acres, 

 had no apparent efiect on the crop. 



Experiments have been made during the present year, 1872, in com- 

 Ijaring five varieties of broom-corn, to the extent of one acre of each, each 

 quarter-acre being planted with a diiferent amount of seed, so as to de- 

 termine the best quantity as well as the best variety of seed ; in the 

 continuous or frequent culture of crops as compared with the ordinary 

 culture; in the growing of root-crops, one acre each of ruta-bagas, 

 sugar-beets from various sources, carrots, and x^arsnips ; with corn in 

 hills as compared with corn in drills, with the cross-experiment of plant- 

 ing at the distance of 3, 3J, 4, 4^, and 5 feet ; with corn grown on un- 

 plowed land as compared with that grown on land plowed to a depth of 

 3, 5, 7, 9, and 11 inches subsoiled, aud 11 inches trenched ; with thirty- 

 five varieties of flint, white, yellow^, calico, aud red corn ; with seventy- 

 five varieties of potatoes ; with varieties of grain from the Department 

 of Agriculture ; with varieties of tomatoes and cabbages ; with potatoes 

 variously planted, as with small, large, cut, and uncut tubers ; with va- 

 rieties of grasses and clovers; and a commencement has been made 

 upon the repetition of some Bavarian experiments in rotation of crops. 

 Besides these annual field -experiments, the experimental orchard is 

 carefully observed as to facts iu relation to the leafing, blooming, and 

 ripening of varieties, to diseases, insects, &c. ; and vineyards and plan- 

 tations of small fruits are being made ready with a like interest. 



On the model farm, 75 acres have been planted with corn, yielding 75 

 bushels per acre; 60 acres were sown with oats, which were destroyed 

 by the army-worm ; 9 acres with rye, yielding 10 to 18 bushels per acre; 

 10 acres with spring-wheat ; 100 acres meadow ; and 14 acres of orchard, 

 yielding about 1,000 bushels of apples. 



There are kept on this farm a thorough-bred bull and cow or heifer of 

 each of the following breeds: Shorthorn, Devon, Hereford, Ayrshire, 

 and Jersey cattle, for the purpose of illustration of the lectures, and of 

 animal husbandry, and also with the hope of making them profitable in 

 the dissemination of improved breeds. There are also kept the Berk- 

 shire and Essex breeds of swine, and the Southdown sh^ep. Other 

 breeds of all these animals, as well as of horses, will be added. To con- 

 sume the crops on this farm grade-cattle are bought, and swine not of 

 pure blood are raised. 



Of the cattle kept on the model and experimental farms and raised iu 

 the State, the shorthorns are considered by breeders to be the most 

 profitable, and far outnumber all other breeds of pure'-blooded animals. 

 They are not so much esteemed by common farmers, being too artificial, 



