MR. KEWHALL'S address. 11 



degree been the fruits of our agricultural societies by collecting and 

 disseminating the results of experiments. 



The greatest deficiency of good husbandry of our fields of grain 

 and vegetables, is in peraiitting the weeds to grow and seed the lat- 

 ter part of the season. The great length of time required to har- 

 vest and secure fodder for our cattle during our long winters, and 

 which generall} employs all hands in the hay field, permits the 

 weeds to get ahead of the hoe and cultivator, and assert the suprem- 

 acy, so that many will be discouraged, and give up the contest, as 

 described by the following anecdote. 



An aged farmer in the town of Lynn, had a potatoe patch, some 

 two miles from the homestead, and deferring to hoe at the proper 

 time, at last harnessed his horse, took his plough, apparatus, and 

 boy into his cart, and went to the field, for the purpose of ploughing 

 among his potatoes ; after unharnessing his horse and unloading his 

 plough, he deliberately walked around the field, carefully inspected 

 it, but returned, harnessed his horse, reloaded his plough, and tak- 

 ing a serious look over the field, with along sigh, says, "I wish thee 

 well, but I cannot help thee," and returned home. It would be 

 better in many instances to plough in the crop with the weeds, than 

 to permit them to ripen, and shed their seed for a future crop. 



As long ago as eighteen hundred twenty-one, premiums were 

 offered for mixed crops of Indian corn, potatoes and bush beans ; or 

 any two of them to make a mixed crop, planted in alternate rows 

 or hills. But one premium, I believe, has been claimed, which 

 was for a crop of corn and potatoes planted in alternate rows ; 

 the experiment made at that time, by measurement of land and 

 produce, showed that the mixed crop yielded some nineteen pet 

 cent more, than that which was planted separately. The corn and 

 potatoes planted in this way are mutual helps to each other ; the 

 potatoes shading the roots of the corn and protecting it from the ef- 

 fects of drought, and the corn, in the months of July and August, 

 screening the potatoes from the rays of the sun. The crops planted 

 in this way, adding the value of potatoes in corn, yielding from 

 eighty to one hundred bushels per acre. 



The crop of corn will be increased by mixing a few grains of a 

 later than the principal kind you plant, as the stocks of the later 

 kind will furnish seed for the late silks of the earlier kinds. 



