190 TRANSACTIONS OP THE AMERICAN INSTITUTE. 



for agricultural purposes. Upon such land trenching may be 

 useful, even if it costs $500 or $1,000 an acre. 



Prof Mapes. — In England they trench but little deeper than 

 they plow ; only about fourteen inches deep. 



Mr. Pardee thought that spending $500 an acre upon trenching 

 was a mere matter of theory never reduced to practice. The 

 best method in practice was turning over the soil and subsoil, as 

 lie had explained last week, which costs less than $50 per acre. 



Mr. Robirison. — I can get a ditch dug three feet wide, three 

 feet deep, and one rod long, for 25 cents. That is fifty super- 

 ficial feet, which is just half a cent per superficial foot. That 

 will be about $218 per acre. 



Prof Nash. — That would give the man who did it 1 1-8 cents 

 per ton for lifting the earth, and no more. I still think that 

 land cannot be trenched three feet deep for less than $500 per 

 acre ; and as I said last week, that there is no advantage in 

 reversing the soil. 



NEW SUBJECTS. 



The subjects of "fall plowing," "winter feeding," and "trench- 

 ing," were suggested for consideration at the next meeting. 

 Adjourned. 



J^ovemher 25, 1861. 

 Dr. Hawkes in the chair. 



SQUASHES AND PUMPKINS. 



Dr. Trimble called attention to a mammoth pumpkin, the seeds 

 of which were selling for a dollar per dozen. 



Mr. Carpenter said that the mammoth pumpkins were generally 

 deficient in quality. The white mammoth Leghorn is a valuable 

 squash, but not as valuable as the Honolulu, the largest speci- 

 mens of which weigh from 35 to 60 pounds. 



Mr. Robinson. — What advantage is it to grow big pumpkins 

 weighing 200 pounds ? Is it any more profitable than growing 

 200 pounds of pumpkins weighing 10 pounds each ? These big 

 pumpkins are almost worthless in their quality. 



Mr. Carpenter. — The field pumpkin is considered a paying crop 

 when planted among corn, as the Connecticut farmers are in the 

 practice of doing. I consider it a profitable crop when planted 

 by itself, for home consumption. The pumpkin is valuable for 



