216 



ploughed land in Dunstable, it is said to produce from 15 to 20 

 bushels to the acre ; in old fields long under cultivation, where 

 it is repeated from year to year, it yields 7 and 8 bushels. On 

 pine lands, on which a crop is obtained once in four years, the 

 product is stated to be from 10 to 15 bushels : 15 must be the 

 maximum, for no manure is applied in such cases, and the land 

 is left by rest to recruit itself. This must be considered as very 

 bad husbandry. In such cases clover should be sowed with the 

 rye, in order to be ploughed in, in the second year of its growth. 

 Gypsum and ashes should be tried upon such land. Ashes sel- 

 dom fail to be beneficial ; of gypsum it can never be said wheth- 

 er it will be efficacious or not without a trial, but a trial is eas- 

 ily made. If the grass seed do not take readily on such land, 

 the application of only a small quantity of manure, or even of 

 rich loam, will remedy the evil ; and after the clover has once 

 a firm footing in such soil, its improvement is easy and certain. 

 This land is valued in Dunstable at ten dollars per acre. In 

 many parts of the State such land may be purchased for seven. 

 Though under this management it pays a fair profit, yet such 

 husbandry deserves condemnation. There are thousands of 

 acres in the Commonwealth of this kind of soil, which are 

 capable of being made quite productive, sufiiering, if not under 

 the original curse, under the present curse of neglect and occa- 

 sional severe croppings. 



2. In Groton, rye is represented as subject to blight ; from 

 what local cause, if any exists, is not known. Here it is obtained 

 on pine-plain land once in three years, the average crop being 

 from 10 to 12 bushels. Spring rye only is cultivated. In 

 Tewksbury, rye is taken once in three years, and gives eight 

 bushels to the acre. 



3. An estimate of the cultivation of rye in Dunstable is as 

 follows : — 



Ploughing and harrowing, 2 00 ; seed, 1 bush. 1 00, 3 00 

 Reaping and binding, 1 50 ; threshing, I 25, . . 2 75 



5 75 



