WORCESTER SOCIETY. 187 



his duty to make a ditch to keep it, as far as he was able, on 

 his own land, and was greatly surprised at the result. This 

 compulsory irrigation had increased his crop of hay, and also of 

 the aftermath, much beyond what he had before seen on the 

 same land. It is no new thing, although not generally under- 

 stood by farmers, that pure water can beneficially be used in irri- 

 gation. On the farm of the chairman, a very copious spring 

 issues on the side of a hill, yielding, for a large part of the year, 

 a considerable stream ; within two rods from the spring, the 

 water is taken into a ditch, and used in irrigating some mowing 

 land to great advantage. 



Two of the committee proceeded, a few days after, to view 

 the carrot and ruta baga fields of Benjamin N. Child ; they 

 found him oigaged in digging the carrots. After carefully 

 viewing the field, they both agreed that from its appearances, 

 compared with those entered for premium, which they had 

 viewed, that it would not stand higher than the third in regard 

 to the amount of the crop, and this opinion at that time they 

 both expressed. The public will not think their opinion enti- 

 tled to much consideration, when they see, by a comparison of 

 the several statements, how much they were apparently mis- 

 taken in their estimate. The ruta bagas of Mr. Child had been 

 injured by an excess of moisture on a part of the field ; many 

 of the roots were small, and some of them decayed. 



It is a subject of much regret to the committee, in which mem- 

 bers of the society will coincide, that so few entries for premiums 

 for root crops have been made. The chairman had occasion to 

 pass through Bolton, during the autumn, and saw several large 

 fields of carrots, which appeared to be uninjured by the blight, 

 and as promising an abundant harvest. Hon. Amory Holman, 

 who has for several years been a successful grower of root 

 crops, had a field of eight acres, on three of which ruta bagas 

 were grown, and the remainder cultivated with carrots. 

 It has been expected that a statement would be received from 

 him, of his root crops and their cultivation, in season to append 

 to this report. 



It is the opinion of the growers of roots generally, that the 

 last season, independent of the blight, was less favorable for 



