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NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



Richard Hutchinson twenty acres ofland, " if he 

 would set >ip plowing." And as John Blackleach, 

 in 1638, had n-»t "sufficient ground to mayntaine 

 a plow on his firm of 300 acres, the town for the 

 furthering of his endeavures in plowing, and for 

 his incouradgement therein, allow him more land!" 

 It is interesting to notice the high encomiums 

 given by the early planters to the value of the In- 

 dian corn. But its value has never, as yet, proba- 

 bly been overrated. 



The celebrated English cultivator, Arthur Young, 

 once siid, "that a country capable of growing In- 

 dian corn, was singularly blessed above all others." 

 The Rev. Mr. Iligginson, the teacher in the Salem 

 Church, and the particular friend of Mr. Endicott, 

 sent home to England, on the return of ship Four 

 Sisters, a glowing account of the cultivation of the 

 maize. He says, " The abundant increase of corn 

 proves this country to be a wonderment. It is al- 

 most incredible, what great gain some of our Eng- 

 lish planters have had by our Indian corn. Cre- 

 dible persons have assured me, "and the party him- 

 S3lf avouched the truth of it to me, that of the 

 setting of thirteen gallons of corn, he hath had 

 increase of it fifty-two hogsheads, every hogshead 

 holding seven bushels of London measure, and 

 every bushel was by him sold and trusted to the 

 Indians, fur so much a beaver, as was worth eigh- 

 teen shillings, and so of this thirteen gallons of 

 corn, which was worth six shillings eight pence, 

 he made about £327 of it the year following, when 

 you may see how God blesseth husbandry in this 

 land." Aye, Master Iligginson, God has contin- 

 ued up to the present day, to bless the labors of 

 husbandry in this country, and we have the pro- 

 mise that he always will. It will be seen from this 

 extract of one of the early planters, what was the 

 quantity of corn raised upon an acre of ground, 

 and the profits to be derived from it. And here 

 it would be well, before we enter upon our calcu- 

 lations, to notice the appliances made in 1029, to 

 stimulate the growth of corn. Master Thomas 

 Graves, sent over by the company, as a man of 

 science, and required to visit Nahumkeag, and ex- 

 ercise lus scientific qualifications, when speaking 

 of its soil, says, " It hath not at any time been 

 manured, or husbanded." The principal or only 

 manure used in the cultivation of Indian corn in 

 those days, was the fish, caught in the bays and 

 rivers, and these applied but once in three years. 

 Woods says, when speaking of the soil of Salem, 

 more than two centuries since, "For seaven yeares 

 together, it has brought forth exceeding good corn, 

 by being fished but every third year." Then corn 

 was planted in hills, where was placed one or more 

 of the fish called alewives, hardheads, or blue 

 backs, and required to be watched until they were 

 decayed, which was usually in fourteen days, to 

 prevent the corn being disturbed by the wolves, in 

 their desire to obtain the fish. The mossbunker, 

 or hardhead, is still used as manure, in some of 

 the towns on Cape Cod. 



Weirs for the taking of fish were placed across 

 the Water's river, and fish was used probably in the 

 planting of the first corn, in 1033, at the Orchard 

 Farm. Now what was the amount of corn by the 

 acre, produced by Mr. Iligginson's friend, who 

 avouched for the truth of it T I will commence 

 my calculations, by supposing that six quarts of 

 corn was planted to the acre, and that there were 

 dropped tifty-two quarts. These fifty-two quarts 



divided by six, would give us eight and two-thirds 

 of an acre to be planted. The amount of corn 

 produced on these eight acres and two-thirds, was 

 304 bushels — this, divided by the number of acres, 

 would give us forty-two. We may then suppose 

 that in the year 1G29 — 42 bushels of corn to the 

 acre was considered by theJPuritans a good crop. 

 The London or Winchester bushel made use of in 

 the measuring of this corn, was used in England, 

 from the time of Henry VII., to the year 1820. It 

 is still in use in the United States. The average 

 crop of corn per acre in Danvers, has been esti- 

 mated at 57 1-2 bushels. In the county of Essex 

 the same has been estimated at 54 bushels. Corn 

 standing in the field was subject to many more de- 

 predators, than are to be found at the present day, 

 which would probably serve to diminish their crops. 

 In a diary, kept by the Rev. Mr. Green, of Salem 

 Village, in 1711, we find the following : " Killed 

 grey squirrels, that devour my corn exceedingly. 

 They have eaten one-quarter of my corn. It is 

 said there are millions of them in this village." 

 Swine being permitted to run at large, became very 

 troublesome in fields of corn, and alter much legis- 

 lation upon the subject of their restraint, a law 

 was finally passed whereby any owner of a corn- 

 field was permitted to kill any swine found in them. 

 This summary manner of dealing with strays, in 

 the olden times, no doubt had a good effect. Rut 

 we are ourselves straying from our subject. Where 

 is the old Puritan, Governor Endicott 1 This love 

 of antiquarian lore, has led us sadly out of our 

 way. We must retrace our steps, and find him. 

 But it is time to close this communication, and 

 having in the mean time found the Governor, we 

 will endeavor, in our next article, to show how he 

 cultivated native grapes at the Orchard Farm, and 

 the manner in which he treated the proposition to 

 cultivate tobacco in the plantation, &c. s. p. f. 

 Danversport, Aug. 27, 1852. 



Fur the New England Farmer. 

 DOES THE STOCK AFFECT THE FRUIT? 

 Mr. Editor: — Conversing a few days since, 

 with a gentleman, of much experience in the cul- 

 tivation of fruits, I inquired, if the stock has any 

 influence on the quality of the fruit of the graft 1 

 Certainly, said he, I know it does, — I have seen it 

 illustrated in many instances. He spoke with so 

 much confidence, that I supposed that he must be 

 right ; — and that it was a well settled principle of 

 vegetable physiology, that the stock does modify 

 the character of the fruit of the scion. 



Is this true, or is it not I If it be true, then 

 what confidence can we have in perpetuating any 

 particular variety of fruit. Take for instance the 

 Baldwin, the most popular apple of the day ; into 

 how many thousand different varieties of stocks, 

 has its scions been inserted ? Has any one tried 

 the experiment to know whether scions from the 

 same tree, when inserted in stocks, yielding sour 

 fruit, and in others yielding sweet fruit, will yield ' 

 the same on different qualities of fruit, under like 

 position and exposure 1 Here are interesting prac- 

 tical questions, to those who are desirous of grow- 

 ing orchards of fruit of the best quality. I wish 

 your friend who answered me with so much con- 

 fidence, would explain the reason for the faith 

 that is in him. For, notwithstanding his confi- 

 dence, I have doubts of the correctness of his 

 views of the subject. P- 



Danvers, Aug. 29, 1852. 



