44 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER, 



An^gt 22, 1S92. 



l''iom Liio Alussuchusctta Agricultur;il Repositury and Journal. 



Report of the Committee on VegetahU and Grain 

 Crops. 

 Tlie Committee of the Massacluisetts Agricul- 

 tural Society " On Vegetable and Grain Crops," — 

 respectfully Report: 



1. That Payson Williams, Esq., of Fitchburg, in 

 the County of Worcester, is entitled to the premi- 

 um of .$20 on hisjjreat crop of potatoes, being 584 

 bushels on one acre. 



2. That Mr Joseph Perkins of Newbury, in the 

 County of Essex, be paid $20, being the i)remium 

 on the greatest crop of onions. His was Q\6^ bush- 

 els on the acre, — reckoning 52i lbs. to the bushel. 



a That Mr John Wilson of Deerfield, in the 

 County of Franklin, is entitled to the premium of 

 $'20 for his crop of winter wheat, 34^ bushels to 

 the acre. 



4. That Mr Henry Sprague of Princeton, in the 

 County of Worcester, — living on the farm of John 

 Lane Loylston, Esq. be paid ,$10, as agratuity for 

 his large crop of Indian corn, stated to be 109 

 bushels on an acre. Tlio premium proposed on 

 this article was $20, and by Mr Sprague's mode 

 of estimating his crop, it exceeded the quantity re- 

 quired. But as he omitted to comply with one 

 condition, which is deemed important, — that of 

 weighing the corn and cob, in case of its not being 

 shelled, — the Committee, while they are unwil- 

 ling to pass over the claim of Mr Sprague entire- 

 ly, have thought they could not with propriety 

 recommend the payment of the whole |iremiutn. 



The Committee, thinking that the manner of 

 raising these crops will be best seen by the letters 

 of the claimants, recommend that they be publish- 

 ed as part of this Report. 



The Committee regret to state that, although 

 thirtyone premiums have been offered by the 

 Trustees, on crops deemed the most deserving the 

 attention of farmers in our climate, only four 

 claims have been presented. In former ye.-irs not 

 less than an acre was reqnireil to be i)lanted, in 

 many cases, in order to put in for a premium. It 

 was thought better in 1831 ni t to insist on an 

 acre, thinking that possibly half an acre might 

 make the trials more general. The claims, how- 

 ever, have been fewer than ever. The Commit- 

 tee are aware that for certain articles, such as po- 

 tatoes, mangel wurtzel, turnips, &c, the season has 

 not been so favorable as usual : yet as it has not 

 been such as to cause a failure in anything, and as 

 in many things the crop has been abundant, they 

 are disappointed that applications should not have 

 been much more numerous. They are convinced 

 it might have been done, if the indinalion to fur- 

 nish out claims had not been wauling. The Com- 

 mittee can only hope that, shonltf the Trustees 

 repeat their invitation to our industrious and en- 

 terprising husbandmen, much more attention will 

 be paid to it than has hitherto been shown. The 

 single circumstance that the bounty of the Gov- 

 ernment has been put into the hands of agricultu- 

 ral societies, with a view to encourage and im- 

 prove our agriculture, would seem sufficient to 

 draw attention from our intelligent farmers. So 

 much was said the last year, on this subject, in 

 the reporter the Trustees, that the Committee for- 

 bear to enlarge here, and would merely request a 

 reference to the remarks then made, and to the in- 

 stances of fine crops there set forth. 



P. C. BROOKS, 

 By order of the Committee. 



cl3 of tlie Ma*sacliu9ctts 



Ge.ntleme.n — In presenting my claim for the 

 premium offered by the Trustees of the Massa- 

 chusetts Agricultural Society, for the largest quan- 

 tity of potatoes grown on one acre, I will state, 

 that the field cultivated by me the present season 

 for that piupose, is a deep yellow loam, somewhat 

 rocky — its situation uneven, with rather an eas- 

 tern asi)ect ; and has been for the last seven Tears 

 used as mowing land. The sward was brpken 

 last autumn, — last May cross-ploughed, harrowed, 

 and eighteen cords of unfermcntcd sheej) mahme 

 evenly spread, and immediately ploughed in. The 

 sods again harrowed down and the field mai^sed 

 out three feet distant for the seed, which Was 

 placed eighteen inches apart in the furrow. The 

 kinds of seed used were the Blues, three fourths — 

 the other fourth of the Reds of La Plata,'the Che- 

 nangos, and a variety of the Whites produced 

 from the ball four years since on the farm of Maj. 

 Benjamin P. Williams, of Roxbmy. The quali- 

 ty of this potato is excellent, also yielding a large 

 crop. I beg leave to name this variety the Can- 

 terbury mites. 



The planting was finished the .3d of June. 

 When the vines were two inches above groimd, 

 the horse-plough passed twice between each row, 

 throwing the earth from the plants, which were 

 slightly dressed with the hoe. When the vines 

 were eight inches high, and in the bud, the ridges 

 between the rows were split, the ploirgh throwing 

 one half to each row, the hoe following to dress 

 the vines for the second and last time. In three 

 or four weeks the vines completely covered the 

 ground, thereby preventing the weeds from veg- 

 elating. The digging commenced the l.'ith Octo 

 her, and finished the 21st, when by careful meas- 

 urement we found five hundred and eightyfour 

 bushels from the acre, and of these, three hundred 

 and nineteen bushels were the product of the 

 best half acre. In order to be understood, I will 

 here state that in the item of the expenses, the 

 manure, I place but about one third to the potato 

 crop, deeming this a fair average of its exhaustion, 

 the residue to be charged to after crops. The 

 quantity of seed used was about eighty bushels. 

 The reason for using so large an amoimt of seed, 

 was the low price (12 cents) in our market, which 

 induced me to plant the potato without cutting, as 

 the saving by cutting would not pay the labor. 

 My practice is, invariably, to cull the largest po- 

 tatoes for seed. There is about sixty young ap- 

 ple trees growing on the field. Had the season 

 been congenial for the culture of the potato, I 

 should probably have had 700 bushels to the acre. 

 Yours, &c. PAYSON WILLIAMS. 



EXPENSES OF CUOr, 



Breaking the sward, $5,00 



Two ploughings, 5,00 



Two harrowings, ],.")0 



Marking out and planting, C,50 



Twice hoeing the field, 0,00 



Harvesting the crop, 18,00 



Manure exhausted by the crop, J 5,00 

 80 bushels seed, at 12 cts. (usually 25 



cts. at this season of the year,) 9,60 



$66,60 

 It will be seen, that after deducting all expen- 

 ses except the taxes and the interest on the land, 

 the profit from one acre will be, (allowing the 

 price 20 cts. per bushel,) fifty dollars and twenty 



cents. In view of such result, can any farmer, 

 either book, or practical, for a moment remain 

 unconvinced of the inutility of planting more than 

 can be well manured ? for the expenses will be 

 the same, except in the cost of manure, harvest- 

 ing, and transporting a large instead of a small 

 crop. ^y_ 



XiWBORT, Nov. 19, 1832. 

 icliuseln Asricullural Society. 



To tlie Trustees of the Ma 



Ge.\tleme.\ — In conformity to the rules and 

 regidations of your Society, I send you a state- 

 ment of one acre of onions, the growth of 1831 ; 

 the quality of the soil varies from a light yellow, 

 to a dark loam, and has been cultivated with on- 

 ions several years. The 20tli of November last 

 there were four cords of barn manure ploughed 

 in, in ridges. The 28th of April following," the 

 land was ploughed, and harrowed, and three 

 pounds of seed sown in drills, fourteen inches 

 apart. The first hoeing and weeding was done 

 Jimo 10th, which cost six days' labor. The last 

 weeding was done July 7th, which cost six days' 

 more. They were harvested the first of October ; 

 and nine thousand and seven hundred bunches 

 have been bunched; which, estimating ISbunches 

 to the bushel, each bunch weighing 3^ lbs., make 

 six hundred and fortysix and a half bushels. 



JOSEPH PERKINS. 



To tlie Trustees of tlio Massacliusetis Agricultural Society. 



Ge.ntlemen — I have raised the present year, a 

 very fair crop of tiinter wheat, which I take the 

 liberty to report to you for premium ; if it should 

 not prove to be the largest crop in the State, it 

 certainly is a very good one fur our old lands on 

 Connecticut river, that have been cultivated for a 

 century or more. 



The land on which this wheat grew, is a deep 

 black loam, and is flowed by the Connecticut, in 

 the very highest floods. It was jjlanted in 1828, 

 with Indian corn after grass; in 1829, broom 

 corn grew on the same land, which was manured 

 in the hill. Both were good crops. In harvest- 

 ing the broom corn, the stalks were cut by the 

 roots, and laid between the rows, and a furrow 

 turned on them. Iii the Spring of 18.30, I cross- 

 ploughed the land ; the stalks had then become 

 so tender, that they would separate at the joints ; 

 after harrowing it, I spread on about ten ox cart 

 loads of manure, of diflerent kinds, to an acre, 

 then ))loughed and harrowed again, and about the 

 last of May, sowcil it to hemp, at the rate of about 

 two bushels to the acre : I then harrowed and 

 rolled it — 7 acres and 93 rods produced 17 tons, 

 11 cwt. 2 qrs. 13 lbs. of dry stem, gross weight. 

 After the crop of hemp was taken from the ground, 

 I ploughed and harrowed the land, and in the fore 

 part of October sowed about 3J- acres to wheat ; 

 the remainder I sowed to rye, and harrowed and 

 rolled all, at the same time: the rye did not pro- 

 duce more than half as much to the acre as the 

 wheat. The wheat sown was raised on my farm 

 the year before on new land : it then produced 

 well ; but some of it was very badly grown in the 

 field, so much so, that the wheat which I sowed 

 was not fit to grind : this I mention to show that 

 grain which has been sprouted so badly as to 

 have the heads look green, will vegetate again, as 

 was the case with some of this. It is a bearded 

 wheat, brought from the state of New York two 

 years before, and is probably the white flint. I 

 sowed at the rate of about l^ bushels to the acre : 

 it was pretty thick, straw bright, mostly lodged, 



