90 [ASSEMELY 



13th. Can flax and hemp be grown for a series of years on the same 

 ground, or is rotation necessary. 



I have known hemp grown on the same field perfectly well for 

 twenty years in succession. The hemp crop is from seven hundred 

 lo nine hundred pounds per acre. I add lime to land for flax crop, 

 but not for hemp. When flax is not allowed lo go to seed, it does not 

 exhaust the soil one half as much. It exhausts about as much as the 

 wheat crop. Our corn aiid wheat in Missouri certainly exhaust our 

 soil. We have already found the necessity of deep plowing and sub- 

 soiling the land. It is better and cheaper by far to me, to cradle flax 

 than to pull it by hand in the old way. We do not consider the rot- 

 ting and dressing flax an unhealthy business. We raise about 50,000 

 Jons of hemp per annum. 



APPLES. 



Monroe, Orange Co , Dec. 6th 1845. 

 T. B. Wakeman : 



Sir — I send you a short statement of my method of cultivating the 

 trees from which was gathered the fruit, exhibited at the late fair of 

 the American Institute. 



I do not believe in trimming further than to remove such branches 

 as exhibit signs of decay. I prune in the latter part of May, believ- 

 ing that the wounds heal quicker, and no check is given to the growth 

 of the tree. 



Horse manure 1 find to be much the best taken from the stable, 

 and spread under the tree as far out as the top projects ; and not too 

 near the trunk. An orchard of apple trees, should I think, be plow- 

 ed once every four years, and then sown with timothy, which I think 

 preferable to clover, as the roots of the latter generally run very deep, 

 and withdraw vegetation from the tree. 



Quince trees do best on a rich damp soil. I dress them once a year 

 with slack lime, and prune them very little, merely removing the 

 dead branches. 



Yours, respectfully, 



OBADIAH SMITH. 



