102 CN GRAIN CROPS. 



bushel. The grain was plump, clean, and of as good quality 

 as any I have seen. It was sown in the autumn of 1849, by 

 Mr. Hathaway, my predecessor on the farm. His manner of 

 cultivation is particularly specified in his statement of 1848, 

 published on page thirty-eight of the Transactions of that year. 

 Had it occurred to me to present this crop to your notice, be- 

 fore it was gathered, I have no doubt one acre could have been 

 selected in the field that would have yielded more than forty 

 bushels. I state the facts as they are, not so much to obtain a 

 premium, as to show what such land may be made to produce, 

 by full manuring and thorough culture. On this farm, which 

 is a hard gravelly soil, a large number of hogs are constantly 

 kept, and employed in the making of manure. The yard in 

 which they are penned is constantly supplied with mud from 

 the meadows on the farm, and the offal from the slaughter 

 houses of the town. In this way there are annually made be- 

 tween two and three hundred loads of manure, a full coating 

 of which is applied to all the cultivated fields of the farm. It 

 is the practice on this farm to plough at all times with two pair 

 of cattle, and a large size plough. These facts are mentioned 

 as explanatory of the crop produced, especially as the soil is of 

 ordinary quality. I also present a specimen of the grain for 

 your inspection. 



Danvers, Sept. 21, 1850. 



JOSHUA FOSS'S STATEMENT. 

 I offer for inspection a piece of land containing one acre, 

 from which I have harvested one hundred and eighty-six bush- 

 els of ears of corn. Planted from the 10th to the 12th of May 

 — land a dark loam, with light sub-soil. Planted in 1849 with 

 corn — in the spring of the year it was broken up, and manured 

 in the hole with about fifteen loads to the acre. In the spring 

 of 1850 there were spread on about thirty loads of manure, 

 containing about thirty bushels to the load, and about sixteea 

 loads dropped in the hole. The corn was planted three feet 



