PLYMOUTH SOCIETY. 173 



powerful stimulant to almost every kind of plant. Farmers, 

 we think, will do wisely in making trials with less quantities of 

 seed oats, especially where they seed also with grass. It is un- 

 common to see so vigorous-looking young grass where oats had 

 grown, as appears in Mr. A's. field. 



Thomas Weston is entitled to the first premium on white 

 beans, $6 00. 



Orsamus Litteljohn is entitled to the premium for carrots on 

 quarter of an acre, $5, having raised 102^ bushels. 



Five claims were entered for French turnips. From various 

 causes the turnips were very uneven ; some of the applicants had 

 supplied the vacant spaces with round turnips. The supervisor 

 stated to the committee that the weight of a selected rod on most 

 of the plats was a very uncertain criterion by which to judge of 

 the whole product, and would operate very unequally among 

 the applicants, as some of the soils were of a very adhesive 

 character, and the turnips could not easily be freed from a 

 quantity of earth. For these reasons, gratuities are recom- 

 mended. 



G. W. Wood is entitled to the first premium for the greatest 

 crop of potatoes on an acre, having raised 457 bushels, accord- 

 ing to the rod weighed, $8. Mr. W. obtained a sufficiently 

 large crop, and should receive the premium : he has not much 

 prospect of benefit beyond it. The potatoes were, a large por- 

 tion of them, discolored on the outside, and will probably de- 

 cay, if stored in a cellar. Whether they are of much value as 

 food for animals, in a decaying state, seems very doubtful. It 

 will not be wise, under existing circumstances, to encourage ex- 

 tensive planting of the article. Notwithstanding the numerous 

 dissertations written on the subject of this malady, and the 

 various remedial projects that have been adopted, we remain 

 nearly as ignorant of the causes and cure as when the difficulty 

 first occurred. Early after its appearance in this country, a 

 very distinguished agriculturalist, in a discussion on the sub- 

 ject, said he could describe it only as a certain physician once 

 characterized the disease called spotted fever ; — it is death. We 

 know, to our loss, the fatal character of the malady, and our 

 knowledge extends very little farther. In the progress of the 



