pound of hops to a hill, though he has sometimes obtained 

 more than two pounds. Success, he says, depends on high 

 manuring ; but the quality of the hops is not so good where 

 the land is greatly enriched. Hops, in his opinion, do not im- 

 poverish land ; their roots extend to a great distance, as he has 

 sometimes followed them to a distance of fifteen feet. He 

 says they may be planted fifty yetirs in succession ; that the 

 hops in such case will deteriorate, but the land not. 



11. Grasses. — The grasses cultivated in Middlesex county 

 do not differ from those cultivated in other parts of the State, 

 of which I have already spoken ; they are herdsgrass, (phleum 

 pratense ;) redtop, (agrostis vulgaris ;) and red clover, (trifo- 

 lium pratcnse.) Lands are generally laid down to grass with 

 a second crop, and that a crop of small grain, such as wheat, 

 rye, oats or barley. Some of the best farmers for this purpose 

 prefer barley to oats, but on no very obvious ground, unless it 

 is that the greater thickness of the barley-stubble better protects 

 the young plants of the grass. 



The amount of grass seed sowed in laying down land by one 

 farmer, a good cultivator, is — herdsgrass, one peck ; redtop, 

 half a bushel ; clover, seven pounds. The price by his estima- 

 tion, when this statement was given, was for the herdsgrass, 

 75 cents ; the redtop, 50 cents ; the clover, $1 05 — or for the 

 acre, $2 30. Another farmer, in Bedford, sows twelve quarts 

 herdsgrass, half a bushel of redtop, and three pounds clover 

 seed to an acre. In Wilmington, a respectable farmer, but 

 quite of the old school, sows six quarts herdsgrass, twelve 

 quarts redtop, and six pounds clover to the acre — sometimes 

 less clover and more redtop ; the land light and favorable to 

 redtop. 



It will be seen by these various statements, of which I might 

 give many more, that the ground is very lightly seeded; too 

 lightly I have no doubt. Where more seed is sown the grass 

 is of a finer quality and makes better hay ; besides that, the 

 land, where the grass is thick, does not suffer so much from 

 drought. It is questionable with many farmers, whether any 



