114 



FARMERS REGISTER. 



[No. 2 



(sometimes it being less than 40 cents the buslicl,) 

 unci there being on hand a large supply. The pans 

 thus left out were generally the poorest of the field, 

 which had the efiect of raising the apparent ave- 

 rage product. From 1818 to 1823, inclusive, the 

 crops of corn were also considerably increased by 

 the annual cultivation of part or all of 30 acres of 

 embanked tide-marsh, which has since sunU so low 

 as to be unfit (or grain, or even grass. But the 

 average product of Wheat is a much better mea- 

 sure of the rate of improvement of the liirm : for 

 though the sandy nature of most of the soil was 

 very unfavorable to the growth of wheat — yet hav- 

 ing a ready market, and the delivery at my land- 



TABLE OF G 



ing, and being able to deliver it very early, it was 

 deemed tlie most profitable crop, and as much was 

 raised every year as I he system of cultivation and 

 extent of land permitted. The whole crop was_ 

 always delivercil to tlie buyer within the space of 

 two or three day.s, which leaves very little ground 

 lor error in quantities. My fields have been care- 

 fully surveyed, and the only mis-statement, on that 

 score, that tlie (o. lowing table can present, will 

 arise from my having to guess at the sizes and 

 amount of the pieces of waste land iuclud^ed in the 

 fields, but deducted in the statement of acres 

 cultivated. 



RAIN CROPS. 



Imperfect as this table is, for the various rea- 

 sons before stated, it furnishes information in some 

 cases so exact, that they deserve to be considered 

 as accurate experiments on a whole field, or the 

 entire larm. The most important ol these cases 

 will be referred to, and accompanied with such 

 explanations as are necessary. 



The first three crops of corn covered all the 

 land then cleared, except 48 acres, which could 

 not have yielded more than 10 bushels per acre. 

 That supposed product being added to the actual 

 product of all the balance, (forming the crops of 

 1813, 14, and 15,) shows the average of the whole 

 cultivated land (excluding all waste spaces,) to 

 have been 12^1 bushels the acre. From such an 

 average on land of very unequal qualities, there 

 can be no doubt but that the poorer half of the 

 farm did not yield on the average 8 bushels of 

 corn. During the first 6 years, but little ofihis poor- 

 er half was sown in wheat, as it would not have 

 yielded more than 2 or 2^ bushels: Therefore, the 

 first two general averages of 5g and 7,-| bushels of 

 wheat, were obtained from the richesf parts (say 

 ihree-fifths) of the land ; and if all had been in- 

 cluded, a much lower general average would have 

 been made — probably not 4 bushels. The in- 



crease of general average product of wheat, per 

 acre, in the second of these two terms of three 

 years, was not owing to any apjjreciable increase 

 of lertility, but to the circumstance that much less 

 land was sown, and the parts left out, of course, 

 were the poorest. The wheat crops of 1819 

 and the next two years were increased in amount 

 by a summer fallow of some of the poor lands be- 

 Ibre left out — besides the improvement which had 

 then been gained from the earliest marlings. 

 Since then, all the poorest land has been marl- 

 ed, and the lohole is regularly sown in wheat 

 in its turn ; and yet the average of the years 

 1822, '23, '24, rose to lOJ bushels. After- 

 wards the crops, as well as the average products 

 were reduced — but it was owing to various disas- 

 ters which greatlyinjured all the crops of our part 

 of the country. In 1825 very i'ew persons made 

 half a crop ; and still less of perfect grain. 



No grazing had been permitted on the poor 

 land, and but little on the rich, since 1814 — and 

 during the first 6 years, before marling was begun, 

 I was more attentive to making and applying 

 farm-yard and stable manures, than for the 6 or 7 

 years after. The table shows that these means 

 jnoduced veiy little, if any, general increase of 



