186 WORCESTER SOCIETY. 



good. The committee also viewed a lot of carrots sowed on 

 the greensward turned over in the spring, with the stable ma- 

 nure harrowed in, the sod not having been disturbed after the 

 first ploughing. The carrots were of a fair size, but short, the 

 downward course of the root having been checked by the tough 

 unrotted sod, which they had not power to penetrate. This 

 mode of culture may succeed well on the easy soil of the val- 

 ley of the Connecticut river, but is not the most profitable on 

 the close hard turf of Worcester county. 



The committee then proceeded to view the carrot field of 

 Charles White. The tops appeared well ; upon pulling some 

 of the roots, a portion of them were small, from too much seed 

 having been sowed, and from not having been thinned out, but 

 there was the appearance of a good yield. From thence they 

 passed to the field of William A. Wheeler, the carrots on which 

 had been greatly injured by the rust ; it was apparently the 

 smallest crop grown on the same land, for either of the eight 

 years, during which it has been appropriated to carrots. They 

 then proceeded to the land of William S. Lincoln, where carrots 

 had also been much affected by the rust. They afterwards vis- 

 ited the land of Mr. Dodge ; his carrots were of good size and 

 nnaff'ected by the rust, but there were many vacancies in the 

 roots, which he attributed to the seed not having germinated as 

 well as he had expected. The committee were disappointed 

 in the appearance of his beet crop ; it was inferior to any other 

 of the kind they had seen on that farm. They also viewed a 

 large field of English turnips, sowed late in July, on the land 

 which he is reclaiming, by putting in numerous underdrains 

 filled nearly to the surface with stones, and on land which, only 

 a few months since, was covered with white bush, hard-hack, 

 and other pests to the farmer ; on soil, before too wet for any 

 root crops, was then growing a large crop of flat turnips. He 

 called the attention of the committee to the effect of the water 

 discharged from his ditches, on some of his land lying on the 

 side hill, on a lower level. The water, by the lay of the land, 

 would soon have passed into the territory of a neighbor, who, 

 believing that it would prove injurious to him, objected to its 

 being allowed to run there. Mr. Dodge, therefore, deemed it 



