160 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE. 



of sufficient size to obstruct the plough. This portion of the 

 lot also was ploughed in September, (the fall previous to the 

 planting,) about eight inches deep, the furrows were then 

 smoothed over with a harrow, afterwards there were spread over 

 the surface, from the cart, forty loads (thirteen cords) of stable 

 manure to the acre, which was ploughed in four inches with a 

 horse and plough. » 



The manure had lain one year in large heaps and had so far 

 ripened, oxydized, or undergone a slow combustion, by absorbing 

 oxygen from the atmosphere, that its color was almost black, 

 yet not sufficiently decomposed to render it pulverizable. A 

 further exposure to the atmosphere was necessary, before much 

 of it would be sufficiently rotten to become soluble in water, 

 which condition must be obtained before it could enter the 

 circulation of the plants, and thereby stimulate their produc- 

 tiveness. This object was obtained by the manure laying near 

 the surface of the ground during the winter. The labor of 

 preparing the ground in the spring for planting, was but small. 

 It was only to lighten the soil with the horse and plough, and 

 furrow the same, and it was ready to plant. 



The other third of the two acres was in corn last year. The 

 same quantity of manure was used in proportion upon this part 

 of the field, as upon the other. The corn upon the first part 

 was much larger than that grown upon the other. The whole 

 of the two acres was planted on the 19th and 20th of May, in 

 hills three and a half feet apart each way, five kernels in a hill, 

 making 3,555 hills on an acre. 



I was particular that all the kernels should be dropped as near 

 together as possible, for the accomplishment of which I had a 

 tin tube made, which was about three feet long, three inches in 

 diameter at the top and tapering to three-fourths of an inch at 

 the bottom, with a foot bulb to prevent it from entering and 

 sticking to the soil. The upper end is connected with a dish, 

 with a handle upon the side similar to a tin wash-dish, for 

 holding the corn to be dropped through the tube. Any tin 

 worker can make one of them, the cost of which should not 

 exceed one dollar. 



Botanists speak of plants that are solitary, and of others that 

 grow in families. Indian corn is a family plant. I have never 



