Gl-ANB FARMER. 



PUBLISHED BY J. B. RUSSELL, NO. 52, NORTH MARKET STREET, (at the Agricultural Warkhousk.) — T. G. FESSENDEN, EDTrOR. 



\OJj. X. 



BOSTON, WEDNESDAY EVENING, JUNE 37, 1832. 



NO. 60. 



A §^ r i c u I t n r e . 



MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURAL 

 SOCIETY. 



ON THE BEST CDLTIVATED FARMS. 

 Bkhjamin Guild, Esij.— 



Sir — I wish to oflor mj' farm for premium. 

 It lies in tlie cast part of the town of I'ittsfielil, 

 upon Boston and Albany stage road, containinj; 

 two hundred and fifty acres or thereabout. Tbe 

 soil is alluvial and loam ; forty acres of it good 

 woodland, princi|)ally covered with sugar-raaj le. 

 I have also, intone square lot, forty acres of mea- 

 dow, almost perfectly level, and overflowed by the 

 waters of the Housatonic river (by which it is 

 bounded on the east,) in the spring of the yeir 

 when the snow melts away, generally, and some- 

 times twice or thrice in the year ; so that it nevM' 

 requires any manure ; and I have nothing to oo 

 but to keep up my fences and cut the grass, whicl 

 is all of an excellent quality, consisting of herds or 

 timothy, clover, and tine English ; has produced I 

 this year one hundred and six loads, which we | 

 have estimated to weigh one ton each, as we get | 

 it in, well made. This lot li^s upon the east side 

 of the road, opposite to my house ; and the residue | 

 of my farm upon the west side of the road, pretty 

 nearly in a square form, a little elevated above thei 

 meadow, say eight or ten feet, and rises hut little! 

 to the western extreme of the farm. I have an I 

 orchard lot, consisting of about eighteen acres, I 

 which I mow, and which has produced this year j 

 tweiitythree loads, which we have estimated at one 

 ton each, of excellent hay ; making in all one hun- 

 dred and tweiitynine Iiads. 



The residue of my farm consists of pasturage 

 and tillage, say one hundred and fortyseve'ti acres, 

 all good, which I have improved alternately for 

 pasturage and tillage by a rotation of crops; first 

 for wheat or rye, then corn, then oats or other 

 spring grain, with clover and grass. I have im- 

 proved it the present season as follows: Of win- 

 ter crops twenty acres, called, but if accurately 

 measured would fall a liLtle short of that quantity; 

 it has, however, pro.luced 45C8 sheaves, 900 of 

 which we have tl.reshed, and which yielded fifty- 

 one and a half hushals of first quality rye; three 

 acres of winter wheat, which produced Oil 

 sheaves, of whi<h we h ve not threshed any. 



These two crops were sown upon old pasture 

 land, sumiM r fdlovved, and without manure. 



The nine h Ind and eleven sheaves of wheat, 



or sixty shuck and eleven sheaves, will yield bv 

 fair estimati' three quarters of a bushel to the shock, 

 which will aiuf)iint to fortyrive and a half bushels. 

 I have raised luurieen acres of oats on land on 

 which I h.iil b. aus last year. After putting a light 

 sprinkling of manure of twenty loads, the fomteeu 

 acres produced 3080 sheaves, of which I liave 

 threshed 550 sheaves, which yielded fifty four bush- 

 els ; very nearly oiie bushel to ten sheaves. I 

 have also raisi'd two acres of spring rye, which 

 produced (JO I sheaves ; of this crop I have not 

 threshed any, but it is a good one, and so good as 

 to give me the 15. A. Society's first premium. I 

 had oats upon the land last year, but I put twenty 

 loads of manure ujion it. I sowed two acres of 



marrowfat peas upon land on which I had potatoes 

 last year, but the croi) failed almost entirely, and 

 I got but twelve bushels. 1 have also raised one 

 acre of buckwheat where I had beans; put six 

 loads manure and sowed one bushel of seed, which 

 produced seventeen bushels. I have also raised 

 two acres of white beans, which is a very good 

 crop, hut which I have not been able to harvest. 

 The time you have fixed on for making applica- 

 tion, (1st October,) is a little too early for njy con- 

 venience, and I shall not be able to make my state- 

 ment complete in all respects. For instance, it 

 would be considerable loss to me, I should think, 

 to thresh out all my grain thus early, particularly 

 oats, as the straw makes tolerable feed in winter; 

 and it also fiu-nishes employment for my man who 

 takes care of the sheep and barn. Potatoes I have 

 considered among the first and most valuable crops 

 that the farmer raises ; I have therefore made sev- 

 eral experiments, and by far ttio many for my in- 

 terest ; yet my experience may be useful to others, 

 and I have concluded to state some of my experi- 

 ments, and oflfer some few remarks. 



Some few years ago, believing that the quantity 

 usually raised from an acre might be increased 

 materially, I accordingly ploughed one acre of mel- 

 low land, dragged it, and furrowed it out at three 

 feet a part, and filled the furrows with well-rotted 

 manure. I then sorted out the largest and best 

 potatoes, and planted them in the furrows on top 

 of the manure, placing one potato every six or 

 eight inches a|)art ; then planted in, the whole for- 

 tyfive bushels; they were well covere<l, and hoed 

 three times, and at digging they were found to be 

 almost all of them very small, not larger than wal- 

 nuts, perhaps not as many good ones of good size 

 as I planted. This I charged to the season as be- 

 ijig imfavorable, and the subject passed off. 



Two years since, I set out twentyfour cuttings 

 ofjrapes in my garden, where the ground was 

 rich, being well inaiujred, by sticking the ground 

 end into a small potato about the size of a hen's 

 egj, and placing that in the ground three or four 

 inches deep ; these were not hoed ; the giapes 

 all died, and in the fall I pulled and dug the pota- 

 toes somewhat early in the season, for eating. The 

 (immtity and large size excited the curiosity and 

 astonishment of us all. Last year I planted in the 

 garden, by way of experiment, one of the smallest 

 |)otatoes, one of middling size, and one of the 

 largest, in separate hills^ and then put two, and 

 three, and four in hills, where the land was equal ; 

 the result was, that the single potatoes produced 

 the largest and much the best, but not so many in 

 number of small size. I have made several other 

 experiments, and quite enough. Ujjon examining 

 a potato, it will be found that each, whether large 

 or small, has from six to ten eyes or sprouts ; and 

 if it be fair to calcidate that each sprout will pro- 

 duce from six to ten potatoes, each potato will 

 yield from thirtysix to sixty potatoes, which num- 

 ber is by far too great to be congregated in the 

 circumference of a hill ; the consequence is, a 

 great i)roportion of them are small, and if more 

 seed is planted, the greater the numberof sinall ones 

 and less of large. This year I planted about three 

 acres, and ufion one acre I put fortyfour loads of 

 coarse manure from my sheep yards; the cart 



body somewhat heaped, say about thirty bushels 

 to the load ; spread it over the land and ploughed 

 it in ; then dragged, then furrowed at three feet 

 apart one way only, and dropped the potatoes 

 without sorting, the smallest as well as large, at 

 about two and a half feet apart, and covered, and 

 hoed them twice. 1 jdanted eighteen and a half 

 bushels of seed. On the next seven eighths of an 

 acre, by the side of the first, I put twentyfive loads 

 of manure, ploughed and furrowed as before, and 

 dro|)ped my potatoes single at three feet apart, 

 planted seventeen bushels of seed, and hoed twice. 

 The third acre was ploughed and dragged and fur- 

 rowed as before, and a shovel full of manure, at 

 about three feet, put in each hill, in all twelve 

 loads, and hoed them but once, the same sort of 

 seed in all, which is called the Burr potato, of flesh 

 color, and excellent for table use. The result is 

 as follows : The first acre produced 425i bush- 

 els ; the second, seven eighths of an acre, produced 

 2504^ bushels ; and the third acre we have not 

 completed the digging of, owing to the constant 

 rains for the week past; but we have dug part of 

 them, perhaps one fourth part, and in such a way 

 and places as to ascertain with a good degree of 

 certainty, that this acre will not produce over one 

 hundred and sixty bushels. 



I have also raised one acre of ruta baga, which 

 now promises a large crop. They are not suffi- 

 ciently grown to pull, therefore I cannot ascertain 

 the quantity. The land was well fitted by putting 

 20 lo>ids oftD^nure uj>on it, before ploughing ; then 

 by spreading five loads of leached ashes and one 

 load of unleached. 1 have strong hopes of a very 

 large crop, although I do not consider it a very 

 valuable one. I have also raised four acres of 

 corn upon land on which I had corn last year, fit- 

 ting it by putting seventeen loads of manure to the 

 acre, by dunging in the hill. The four acres, 

 which 1 have measured accurately, as well as my 

 potato lands, have produced four hundred and fifty 

 bushels of ears. 



I have ploughed atid sowed five and a half acres 

 of winter rye, or thereabouts, and two acres of 

 winter wheat upon the land upon which I have 

 raised i)otatoes. This I have fitted, and intend to 

 sow this (lav. 



In addition to the above, I have let out about 

 nine acres of land to be sowed to oats, on shares 

 or for one half, and for which I have received 

 1347 sheaves. 1 have also let out about four and 

 a half acres, which have been planted to corn, in 

 the .same way, or for one half, and had it dunged 

 in the hill. This is a fine crop, and not yet har- 

 vested ; besides about one acre and a half more, 

 for buckwheat and potatoes. The land on which 

 I have raised my oats, I have seeded down to clo- 

 ver and grass seed principally. 



The number of apple trees in my orchard Is one 

 hundred and fortynine, and I have several olhera 

 scattered over the farm. Seven years since, I put 

 in one thousand grafts by contract, principally of 

 winter fruit, such as greenings, spitzenbcrgs, gilli- 

 flowers, russets, golden sweetings, and seek-no- 

 furlhers, &c, of which I have a great abundance 

 this year ; but owing to the incessant rains for a 

 week past, I have not been able to gather them. 

 I shall have, probably, between 100 and 200 bush- 



