VOI,. XIX. NO. 35. 



AND HORTICULTURAL REGISTER, 



275 



REPORTS OF TIIK MASSACHUSETTS AG- 

 RICULTURAL SOCIETy. 



WM. SAHSUUIiV's STATEME.N r. 



1. My farm consists of 13(1 acres, exclusive of 

 woorflatid, ami embraces loain, clay anil some peat, 

 or as we call it, iiieuilow. 



To reclaim my meadow lands, I find it necessary 

 to drain them, and invert the snd l>y the plongh or 

 some other implement, in such a manner as to com- 

 pletely kill out all the wild irrass : when that is 

 accomplished, I carry on a comport made of as fine 

 loam as I can obtain — say from I'i to 2.5 loads to 

 the acre. My meadows are generally so soft be- 

 fore I get them brought into grass, that I cannot 

 go on to them witli a team, except there is frost in 

 the ground. I therefore prepare my compost in 

 summer or fall and heap it i p pretty well, so that 

 I can tal<e it when the meadow is sulHciently fro- 

 zen, and carry and spread it on the meadow ; and 

 when the frost gets out 2 or 3 inches, I go on with 

 a good pair of horses and sharp harrow, and harrow 

 till I make the surface as smuuth as I can get it. 

 I then sow on oats or some other grain, and give 

 another harrowing. 1 then sow on about one peck 

 of herds grass, half a bushel of red top, and as I 

 commonly raise my own clover seed and sow it in 

 the chaft', I do not know how much seed I put on ; 

 do not think we often hurt land by sowing clover 

 seed on it. My upland I prefer to stock dowp. in 

 the fall, as I can then turn the stubble under, which 

 I think is of service to the ground : I sowed two 

 pieces on my meadow last spring ; the one I har- 

 rowed after sowing the grass seed — the other I did 

 not ; and the piece that was not harrowed took the 

 best. I sow southern clover seed on my land in 

 the spring ; the next season it will be ready to ciit 

 early, which I do, and lay it up for my milch cows. 

 The second crop will usually start up very soon, 

 and with me, as it will commonly fill with seed, I 

 let as much ot this crop stand till it gets ripe, as 1 

 think I shall want to sow the next spring. I do not 

 think it good policy to sow clover seed in the fall, as 

 the frost would probably kill it out. On the lands 

 I laid down this fall, I intend to sow clover chaff 

 next spring. After cutting clover intended for 

 seed, I let it lay on the ground about a week, to 

 take the dews and rains, which will render it much 

 more easily ilireshed. I have been thus particular, 

 thinking that the method of saving clover seed 

 might not be understood by all my brother farmers 

 in this section of the country. 



I have tilled this season about 18 acres ; I usual- 

 ly put on ubuut 20 loads of manure to the acre, 

 where I spread it, which I generally prefer to do. 

 I usually mix meadow mud with all my stable ma- 

 nure : my straw nianure I usually cover up in po- 

 tato hills. I have usually carted my manure on to 

 my grass land that I intended to plant to corn, and 

 as I plough niy land with what is commonly called 

 a side-hill plough, and turn the furrows all one 

 way, I have but one row of heaps spread at a time, 

 preferring to cover it before it dries. The land 

 that I intend to plant to potatoes I plough before I 

 cart the manure on ; then spread and harrow well, 

 and cover the manure nearly all up when I plant. 



There was so much said last year by a gentle- 

 man at the south, about its being the best way to 

 put the manure on the top of the land, which has 

 always been contrary to my theory, that I this year 

 caused three loads to be spread upon the top of the 

 land and well harrowed in, and three loads plough- 

 ed under as usual, and staked the land ont (equal 



quantities) and planted it to corn; the result this 

 year is in favor of turning the manure under; but 

 it remains to see which piece will produce the most 

 grass and hold out longest; which it will take sev. 

 eral years to determine. 



I mow about 2.') acres of upland. 1 think I cut 

 from 1 to 1 1-2 tons per acre. 1 have no land that 

 I can irrigate, except some low meadow, which I 

 flow by means of dams that I cause to be made by 

 ditching and laying the sods and mud above the 

 ditch, I put down my gates in the fall before the 

 swamp" get full, and keep them down till April. 

 The last year was the first of my experiment in 

 this way. 1 therefore cannot so well tell what the 

 result may he, but I think it will he fnvorable, as 

 there appears to be considerable sediment settle. 

 I do not manure the land that I irriL'ate. I put 

 compost manure on meadow land that has been re- 

 claimed, say from 12 to 20 loads per acre. I mow 

 about 20 or 25 acres of low land that is not suita- 

 ble for the plough ; on that part which I have 

 properly reclaimed 1 cut from 2 to 3 tons per ncre 

 of a good quality ; on about 10 acres that I have 

 not improved, I should think that I did not cut 

 more than half a ton per acre ; and that nut worth 

 half as much per ton as that that grew on the re- 

 claimed meadow. (My method of reclaiming low 

 bog is given in the previous part of my statement.) 



J have planted 3 1-2 acres of corn this season. 

 Some part of the ground was prepared by spread- 

 ing manure on the grass and turning it under ; on 

 about one acre of which we also put a small quan- 

 tity into the hill ; on some we ploughed the land 

 and spread manure on the top and harrowed it well. 

 When I plough the manure under, I put about a 

 gill of ashes round the corn after it is up: on the 

 two pieces whore I planted for ex|)eriment, I put 

 ashes equally alilie on both parts. I plant my corn 

 without soaking. From .3 1-2 acres of corn we 

 husked 300 bushels of ears, which we think will 

 yield 150 bushels of shelled corn. The principal 

 part of my corn this year was planted on low moist 

 land. On one fourth of an acre of good corn land 

 containing 680 hills, we spread 8 loads of stable 

 manure and ploughed it in, and put about 3 loads 

 in the hill : the corn was planted near the house 

 and the fowls injured it some, but we husked 13G8 

 pounds in the ear, which would be but a traction 

 short of 19 bushels, allowing 75 pounds to the bush- 

 el, on about one quarter of an acre. 



We planted about 4 acres with potatoes), they 

 are not all dug, and of course 1 am not able to state 

 how much they will yield to the acre. My man- 

 ner of planting I have heretofore in this report sta- 

 ted : I plant Calico, Orange, Pinkeyes, Lady-fin- 

 gers, Blues and Long Reds. 



I planted this season to ruta baga, English tur- 

 nips, cabbages and carrots, about 1 1-2 acre : they 

 are not all gathered yet — of course I am not able 

 to say how many bushels I shall have. I do not 

 think 1 have made it profitable to raise turnips this 

 year; my carrots look better. I also sowed nearly 

 an acre of corn for the purpose of feeding to cows 

 when the pasture grew short: I this year found it 

 very convenient. I expect also to feed out my 

 turnips and carrots principally to my milch cows. 



I sowed about 14 acres of ground this season. I 

 sov/ed rye, peas, rye and oats mixed together for 

 feed for hogs ; rye and oats also, and barley. The 

 peas, rye and oats sowed very early : rye I also 

 sowed the first part of April ; the barley I did not 

 sow till some time in May : I sowed about one 



bushel of rye to the acre ; about two of peas, rye 

 and oats, and about two and a half of barley. I 

 last fall ploughed up about 2 1-2 acres of grass 

 land, that was loo wet to hoe ; I rolled the land 

 down and in the winter and spring I carried on 

 tiom 15 to 2(1 load^ of < ompnst made by my hogs 

 and spread it, and sowed on about two bushels per 

 acre of peat, rye and oats mixed together, and har- 

 rowed it in and sowed on my grass si'ed, and it 

 now bids fair to produce a crop of good hay another 

 year ; the land that I sowed my rye on I did not 

 plough in the spring, as I did not wish to disturb 

 the sod that was turned under last year ; I went 

 over It with the cultivator. The land that I sowed 

 barley on I ploughed this spring. Did not raise 

 v.heat this year. 



1 have laid down 14 acres to grass this season, 

 on 8 of which 1 sowed the grass seed in the spring 

 at the time of sowing the grain, and on G acres I 

 Sowed it by itself this fall about the first week in 

 September, (quantity of seed stated before.) 



My means for making manure are meadow mud, 

 loam from the road side, leaves, &c. Method of 

 making manure: first my barns stand a little ele- 

 vated ; the yards form a gentle declivity. I have 

 ploughed and taken out the earth near the lower 

 side, also raised the lower part so that the hole 

 would piobably contain about 20 loads of muck or 

 loam; I fill that with meadow mud or loam, as best 

 suits my convenience ; when taken out, which I do 

 about twice a year, if filled with mud, carry it on 

 to upland ; if with loam, carry it on to the meadow. 

 Below the yard I have excavated another hole, 

 which I fill also ; and when there is enough water 

 to run out of the yard, I conduct it with spouts over 

 any part of the place that I wish. I used to be in 

 the habit of cleaning up my yard every morning 

 and putting the droppings from the cows into a 

 pile and throwing mud or loam over them ; bnt 

 have for two years past adopted a different method, 

 which I think augments my manure very much ; 

 every morning, Sunday excepted, I throw about two 

 shovelsful of mud or loam over every dropping of a 

 cow, and by this means I not ocly save the drop- 

 pings, but also a great part of the urine. I have 

 also dug under my stables and carried the dirt on 

 to my meadow, and now fill under them with mead- 

 ow mud; also lay as much mud as is convenient 

 under the barn windows where I throw out my ma- 

 nure. I have also dug into tlie side-hill and placed 

 my hog pen in such a way that my hogs lie almost 

 under ground : have dug the yard down so as to 

 make it Invtd ; laid a bank wall (i or 8 feet high on 

 the north side of my yard, and rnade a road round 

 so that I can drive and tip as many loads of any 

 thing that I wish into the yard as I please ; I do 

 not, however, at this season of the year put more 

 than one or two into the same yard at a time. I 

 also deposit back of the hog yards large quantities 

 of mud, and as soon as it begins to thaw in the 

 spring I begin to shovel into my hog yard and cov- 

 er up the droppings of my hogs. I have also dug 

 a hole a short distance from my house that will con- 

 tain 12 or 15 loads of meadow muck, and witi 

 spouts from my sink spout and back door, I conduc 

 all the waste water and suds over the deposite. 



I have kept this summer and , through the lasL 

 winter 4 oxen, 12 cows, 6 two years old, 9 year- 

 lings, 2 horses, 1 colt, no sheep. 



I have one barn 82 by 30, one 52 by 30 feet ■ 

 one barn built by my predecessor, for sheep, which 

 I have converted into a hay and stock barn, 60 by 

 20 feet: have no cellar under them, except as eta- 



