60 ESSEX SOCIETY. 



A good com soil will give good wheat ; the higher the dress- 

 ing the better the crop. I roll after cultivating in, and also roll 

 again in the spring ; this packs the roots and branches the grain. 

 Profit is the great desideratum in all business pursuits. My 

 wheat yielded me two dollars and fifty cents per bushel, equal 

 to sixty-three dollars and seventy-five cents per acre, to say 

 nothing about the straw, which is worth ten dollars more. 

 The farmer can make his own estimates as regards expenses, 

 say one and a half bushels of seed, fifteen cart loads of ordi- 

 nary manure, twenty bushels of ashes, at six and a quarter cents. 

 Add to this, ploughing, harrowing, harvesting, threshing, &c., 

 (and you will bear in mind it requires no more labor to produce 

 this crop than any other of the small grains,) and I think you 

 will be satisfied that more value is here obtained than in any 

 other grain crop. 



Five years ago I sent a barrel of wheat, (mj'^ first crop,) to 

 the Kennebeck, (Waterville.) It has gradually been "taking 

 root," and at the present moment, thousands of acres of green 

 wheat fields are the only spots of verdure that have bidden de- 

 fiance to the scathing frosts of autumn in that section. So 

 great has been the wheat fever in Maine, that choice seed, 

 (grown hereabouts,) would have commanded five dollars per 

 bushel. I would close by respectfully suggesting to farmers 

 the importance of stopping their " flour bills," by drawing 

 from their own farms the very bread which a kind Providence 

 had designed for their comfort. 



North Andover, Sept, 1850. 



Adino Page's Statemerit. 



Perceiving that a premium is offered, " for the best conducted 

 experiment in tjie cultivation of Rye," I beg leave to submit 

 the following facts relating to the cultivation of this crop, on 

 the town farm in Danvers. 



The field contained four acres ; the produce was one hundred 

 and thirty-five bushels, weighing fifty-seven pounds to the 

 bushel. The grain was plump, clean, and of as good quality 

 as any I have seen. It was sown in the autumn of 1849, by 

 my predecessor on the farm. Had it occurred to me to present 



