FOR PROMOTING AGRICULTURE 43 



The responses show that at the beginning of the 

 century a medium crop of hay for an acre of upland in 

 Marlboro, Concord, New Gloucester and Newbury 

 was one ton; in Worcester, Brookline and Barnstable, 

 one and one-half tons; in Brookfield, 18 cwt.; in west- 

 ern Middlesex towns, 16 cwt. A medium crop of 

 Indian corn per acre in the same towns ranged from 

 40 bushels in Newbury to 20 bushels in Barnstable. 

 Among the products of the farm sold for money, Marl- 

 boro and Worcester name "mules." This breeding 

 was a distinct advance upon the state of things exist- 

 ing a few years prior; for the first importation into the 

 United States for this purpose occurred in 1795, when 

 two jacks were landed at Portsmouth, N. H., being a 

 gift from the king of Spain to General Washington. 



The correspondents report that the shelling of 

 Indian corn was generally done with a flail, though in 

 one town the approved method was by rubbing the ear 

 of corn against the edge of a spade laid flat-wise. But 

 a brighter day in this particular had dawned, for 

 already, in 1803, an inventor had gained the approval 

 of the board of trustees for his newly contrived "corn- 

 sheller." 



In 1802, after a service of six years. President 

 Lowell declined a re-election, and Caleb Strong, who 

 at the time and during five years following was the 

 Governor of the State, was chosen president of the 

 society. He held the office until 1805 when John 

 Adams, ex-president of the United States, was chosen. 

 Mr. Adams was president of the society until 1813 and 

 Dr. Aaron Dexter was his successor. In 1812, Josiah 

 Quincy, who for a considerable period had been a 

 member, was elected a trustee of the society. Evi- 

 dences of his vigor and versatility appear frequently 

 in the record of the next fourteen years. In 1813 he 



