322 PLYMOUTH SOCIETY. 



award of the premium, not so much for the merit of the appli- 

 cant's exertions, as with a view to the encouragement of farm- 

 ers, in more earnest engagement in the important business of 

 providing food for their plants. 



To George W. Wood, of Middlehorough, $10 is awarded for 

 composting manure. 



The committee on produce have been presented with few 

 claims on what are termed summer grains. George W. Wood 

 is entitled to the first premium on oats, having raised a fraction 

 over sixty-five bushels on an acre, $8. 



Daniel Alden to the second, a fraction over sixty-four bush- 

 els, $6. 



For the greatest crop of Indian corn on a single acre there 

 are five claims. The season was remarkably favorable for this 

 crop, and the measurement exceeded that of former years. But 

 we suppose, in every instance, a deduction of from five to ten 

 per cent, should be made from the reported quantity, on account 

 of the state of the corn, which was harvested immediately after 

 a rain that had visibly affected the cob, and considerably in- 

 creased its weight. When the proposed deduction is made, 

 which we think quite enough, the crops will exceed those of 

 last year. 



The editor of the Ploughman may again discover occasion to 

 doubt the accuracy of our measurement. But if he should pro- 

 pose a different method, we hope it will be a practicable one : 

 taking a certain number of hills instead of a square rod, as he 

 proposed last year, is impracticable ; because, where the largest 

 crops of corn are found, it is seldom planted in hills ; usually 

 in drills, without the uniformity that would give precisely the 

 same number of plants in each row. We know not how we 

 can be more accurate, in the measurement of the corn crops, 

 than we now are, unless we should require the whole crib to be 

 cured and measured in the winter, in which case it is manifest 

 there would be ample foundation of conjecture that the owner 

 might have added something from another field. We have 

 made very great improvements in the culture of this grain in 

 Plymouth county ; let those who have criticised our reports so 

 severely, make themselves fair experiments, to ascertain the 



