91 



proceeded alone to look at this field of rye, thought it a fine 

 piece of grain, straw tall, heads long and well filled, and in his 

 opinion it would exceed thirty bushels to the acre. 



On the 13th of July the Committee were requested to meet 

 at the fjirms of A. P. Noyes, of Middleton, and S. A. Mer- 

 rill, of Danvers. Only a part of the committee were present. 

 We found on the farm of Mr. Noyes what we thought to he 

 an extra piece of rye — very heavy straw and a good head, but 

 felt disappointed to find that it did not cover an acre of ground. 

 It was the opinion of the committee that there would be at the 

 rate of forty bushels to the acre. Mr. Noyes invited us to look 

 at another field, where we also found a good piece of rye — 

 the two fields containing about one and a quarter acre. The 

 committee thou^'ht these two fields of grain to be more than 

 one-half mile from each other — one piece upon his own farm, 

 the other upon a fiirm owned by another man, cultivated by 

 Mr. Noyes. 



The committee also made a call, on the same afternoon, at 

 Mr. INIerrill's farm, of which a full account is given in the 

 Transactions of the Essex Agricultural Society for the year 

 1<^68, and we were well pleased with our visit, and with the 

 gentlemanly manner in which we were entertained by Mr. Mer- 

 rill. His grain was Spring rye, and a fair crop might be ex- 

 pected, although the dry season had injured it some. It was 

 the opinion of tlie connnittee that it would not be w^orthy of a 

 premium. 



October 4th, the committee met at the farm of J. C. and R. 

 Jaques, of West Newbury, to examine their crop of Corn (tdl 

 the members present). The whole field contained about three 

 acres (only one entered). The committee thought there would 

 be a large yield u[)on this acre, and a good crop iq)on the whole 

 field. It Avas -very free from weeds, and showed good cultiva- 

 tion, and so did the farm generally. Things looked as if "farm- 

 ing might psiy." The committee left well pleased with their 

 visit, and the statement of the Messrs. Jaques proves that "wc 

 were not disappointed in our expectations. If the bushel 



