163 



tively modern. The value of flax seed for fatting cattle is not 

 yet by any means justly appreciated. I should have inserted 

 flax more properly among the crops of the county ; but its pro- 

 duction is so rare that it seemed hardly entitled to a place among 

 them. 



XX. Experiments, Improvements, &c. 1. Freezing 

 Seed Wheat. — Polycarpus L. Cushman, one of the best farm- 

 ers in the county, tried an experiment which has been often 

 recommended in the public papers, of freezing in water his seed 

 wheat, keeping it frozen until the spring, and then sowing his 

 winter wheat in the spring. It had been confidently stated, that 

 by this process winter wheat might as well be sown in the 

 spring as in the autumn. The seed in this case came up well, 

 but from some cause unknown the plants soon after perished. 

 One bushel sown produced a crop of only two bushels. 



2. Value of Corn Stalks. — Gardner Dickinson, of Con- 

 way, made a trial of keeping cows entirely upon corn-stalks 

 several weeks in December and January. The stalks were pur- 

 chased at I cent per bundle or 175 cents per acre. He prefer- 

 red purchasing at that rate by the acre. I would not record the 

 name of the individual willing to sell them so, if I knew it. — 

 They would be cheaply bought at that rate for manure only. 



Five cows were kept exclusively upon these top-stalks, and 

 the ordinary allowance of each cow was five bundles per day. 

 Their condition was as good as when kept upon hay. They 

 preferred stalks to hay. The cost of keeping these cows, at 

 the price at which these stalks were purchased by the acre, was 

 28 cents each per week. Hay at this time in Conway was at 

 15 dollars per ton. A cow, by actual trial, requires about 25 

 lbs. of hay per day. This would be worth 13 IJ cents per 

 week. 



3. Double Crops on the same Land. — Orlando Ware, of 

 Deerfield, approves of cultivating parsnips ; they remain in the 

 ground over winter to be given to his cattle in the spring. He 

 sows pease among them, for family use in summer, in the same 



rills in his garden. 



