352 BARNSTABLE SOCIETY. 



per month. Being so far advanced in life — 69 years — I can 

 do but little labor myself. 



East Dennis, Sept. 25, 1850. 



Grain Crop. 



For the best conducted experiment in the raising of Indian 

 corn, on not less than one acre, the first premium of $6, to 

 Obed Brooks, Jr., of Harwich. 



Obed Brooks, Jr.^s Statement. 



The cornfield I offer for premium, contains one acre and six- 

 ty-four rods. I bought it in 1842, paying twenty dollars for 

 the field, the fence then upon it being worth full half of that 

 sum. The soil, which is naturally light and sandy, had become, 

 by continual cropping, entirely exhausted, and pine trees, the 

 usual vegetation of our worn out lands, had started up. I im- 

 mediately carted upon it one hundred horse cart loads of pond 

 mud and soil from alluvial bottoms. Upon this I spread twen- 

 ty-five loads of barn yard manure ; ploughed deep, and planted 

 with corn and potatoes. Raised twelve bushels of corn and 

 four bushels of potatoes. 



From that time to the present, I have added each year, mod- 

 erate quantities of dressing from the barn yard, or covered it 

 very slightly with ashes, plaster, or lime, and have taken off 

 every season, a crop of corn, oats, or clover, in value more than 

 sufficient to pay all expenses of fencing, labor, dressing, inter- 

 est, &c. My system has been to plant corn one year, plough 

 and sow oats and clover the next ; the two following years to 

 mow the clover, and let the aftermath fall down for a dressing. 

 At every ploughing, I have been careful to plough a little deep- 

 er than at the former ploughing. 



The preparation of the ground for the present corn crop, 

 commenced with carting on in the autumn of 1849, 500 horse 

 loads of pond mud, at a cost of ten cents per load. In the 

 spring, I spread upon the mud, fifty loads of barn yard manure, 

 valued at fifty cents per load, and then with Prouty's No. 23 



