HAMPDEN SOCIETY. 247 



/. Howe Demand's Statement. 



The land sown to turnips by me the past season, measures 

 IJ acres. I took from it a crop of rye in July last ; in August 

 I ploughed it and put on 2| cords of stable manure. Part of 

 the manure was ploughed in, and part harrowed in. It was 

 sown on the 4th of August to turnip seed, in drills, 26 inches 

 apart, and worked with the cultivator and hoe once. The 

 product was 1200 bushels, weighing 48 pounds to the bushel, 

 making twenty-eight tons and eighty pounds. The turnips 

 where the manure was harrowed in, were much the best. 



Springfield, 1849. 



Apple Orchards. 



There have been but two entries for premiums on orchards 

 the present year, and both made by Edmund Van Horn, of 

 Chicopee. Both orchards are in excellent condition, and show 

 for their owner a commendable spirit of enterprise and im- 

 provement, and promise ere long to warrant him an hundred 

 fold, in rich and delicious fruits. For want of competition, 

 and to induce further improvement, the Directors think best 

 to pass by the larger orchard, (containing 270 trees,) and notice 

 only the one containing 130 trees. One hundred of these were 

 planted in the spring of 1843, the remaining thirty in 1844, 

 and were of such size that seventy-five of them made an 

 ordinary one horse waggon load. They are now from four- 

 teen to eighteen inches in circumference, and of beautiful pro- 

 portion. The ground remained in grass, until the spring of 

 1848. when it was ploughed, manured and cultivated. The 

 same course was also pursued in 1849, and Mr. Van Horn states 

 that the trees have improved much faster since the land has 

 been in a state of cultivation, than while it remained in grass. 

 A wash consisting of one part water and two parts soft soap, 

 has been applied to the trees twice. 



To show that this is not an unprofitable investment, the di- 

 rectors submit the following statement : 



