ON GRAIN CROPS. 101 



ffrain. Profit is the great desideratum in all business pursuits. 

 My M''heat yielded me two dollars and fifty cents per bushel, 

 equal to sixty-three dollars and seventy-fiv^e cents per acre, to 

 say nothing about the straw, which is worth ten dollars more. 

 The farmer can make his own estimates as regards expenses, — 

 say one and a half bushels seed, fifteen cart loads ordinary ma- 

 nure, twenty bashels ashes at six and a quarter cents. Add to 

 this ploughing, harrowing, harvesting, threshing, &c., (and 

 you will bear in mind it requires no more labor to produce this 

 crop than any other of the small grains,) and I think you will 

 be satisfied that more value is here obtained than in any other 

 grain crop. 



Five years ago I sent a barrel of wheat, (my first crop,) to 

 the Kennebeck, (Waterville.) It has gradually been "taking 

 root," and at the present moment thousands of acres of green 

 wheat fields are the only spots of verdure that have bidden de- 

 fiance to the scathing frosts of autumn in that section. So 

 great has been the wheat fisver in Maine, that choice seed, 

 (grown hereabouts,) would have commanded five dollars per 

 bushel. This is not an exaggeration — I have it from good 

 authority. 



In the outset I intended to have been brief, but I feel that 

 my story is but half told, and I would close by respectfully 

 suggesting to farmers the importance of stopping their "flour 

 BILLS," by drawing from their own farms the very bread which 

 a kind providence had designed for their comfort. 



North Andovcr, Sept. 1850. 



ADINO PAGE'S STATEMENT. 



Perceiving that a premium is offered, " for the best conduc- 

 ted experiment in the cultivation of Rye," I beg leave to sub- 

 mit the following facts, relating to the cultivation of this crop, 

 on the town farm in Danvers. 



The field contained four acres ; the produce was one hun- 

 dred and thirty-five bushels, weighing fifty-seven pounds to the 



