292 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



From the Massachusetts Agricultural Repository. 



Newbury, Nov. 25, 1823. 



TO BENJAMI.N <iUII,D, ESa. ASSISTANT SECRETARY TO 

 THE MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURAL SOCIETI. 



[Continued from page 276.] 

 Sir, — The production of an acre of land cul- 

 tivated with English Turnips, by Joseph Little 

 on the farm owned by him and his father, Silas 

 Little, Esq. in New'bury, is here offered for 

 premium. The soil is a clay loam, and had 

 laid to grass for several years. The 29th of 

 June, 1823, I took off the gras.s and it made 

 8hort of a ton of hay. Ploughed the ground 

 the 1st day of July, and harrowed and hauled 

 on about thirty cart loads of compost manure, 

 which I put into furrows made three feet apart 

 on the second and third day, and after the ma- 

 nure was covered with a double mould hoard 

 plough. The seed was sown at different times, 

 viz: from the 3d to the 8th of July, and used 

 one and a half pound of seed, and after seed- 

 ing, the ridges were rolled with a hand roller. 

 When the turnips were up, and out of the way 

 of (Jies, they were thinned at the distance of 

 more than one foot (which 1 think injured the 

 crop,) nevertheless I gathered six hundred and 

 thirty-six bushels on the last of October, and 1 

 calculate the whole expense of manure and la- 

 bor did not exceed forty-eight dollars; and that 

 the turnips will bring eighty and the hay ten. 

 Yours with great respect, 



JOSEPH LITTLE. 



Newton, 2ith Nov. 1823. 

 INDIAN CORN. 



TO THE TRUSTEES OF THE MASSACHUSETTS AGRICUL- 

 TURAL SOCIETY. 



The first week in September last, before 

 there was any frost, and while the corn was in 

 the milk, I cut up about twenty hills of my corn, 

 and the next day bound the stalks with the 

 ears on, in small bundles and stacked them in 

 the field, where the stack remained until the 

 last of October. It was then carried into the 

 barn, and the corn taken from the stalks. The 

 corn was perfectly rij)e, and sound, and the 

 stalks sufficiently cured, to be packed in the 

 mow. I send a few ears, taken from the stalks, 

 without selection, for the inspection of your 

 honorable board. A belief', that a knowledge 

 of this fact, may, under some circumstances, be 

 useful to the agricultural interest, has induced 

 me to make the communication. It is not un- 

 conlraon to have our cornfields injured, and 

 sometimes destroyed by early frosts in the au- 

 tumn. To guard against this calamity, must be 

 a desirable object. 



It seems now to be a settled opinion,* that 

 there is no season so favorable fcr sowing 

 grass seed as the early part of September. In 

 cultivating the corn, the ground, having been 

 frequently ploughed and hoed during the sutn- 

 mer, is in the best preparation for this impor- 

 tant object. If the corn stands to ripen on the 

 ground, where it was phtited, it is too late in 

 the season for the purpose. The ground, con- 

 sequently, cannot be laid down to grass, until 

 the next spring, and one year's crop of hay is 

 lost. This experiment has been made on a ve- 

 ry email scale, and although it has succeeded 

 far beyond my expectations, yet I would not re- 



-* We do not consider this rxs a settled opinion. 

 Kditoke. 



co-ramend the practice, excepting on a similar 

 scale, until further experiments are made. 



If however I had a field of corn, late in 

 growth, and there was a prospect of its being 

 injured by frost, I should not hesitate to adopt 

 the practice. 



1 have reason to believe, that in the event of 

 an early, and unexpected frost, while the corn 

 is in the milk, there is no mode so effectual for 

 its preservation as to cut it up immediately af- 

 ter the frost, and stack it in the manner I have 

 mentioned. 



With much respect, 



I am your most obedient servant, 



WM. HULL. 



Roxbiiry, ISth Dec. 1823. 

 ON INDIAN CORN. 



TO THE CORRESPONDING SFXRF.TARY OF THE MASSA- 

 CHUSETTS AGRICULTUP^AL SOCIETY. 



Dear Sir, — Among the papers read to the 

 Trustees on Saturday last, I observed one from 

 Gen. Hull, on an experiment made by him the 

 past season in cutting a few hills of Indian corn, 

 by the ground in September and stacking it, 

 which by the sample exhibited was well ri[)en- 

 ed, he appears to think it a new mode of tre ut- 

 meiit. 1 at the same time mentione<l the same 

 thing being done at a merino sheep larm ol 

 mine on the island in the Winnipiseoga Lake 

 in New Hampshire, on about six acre" of corn, 

 the subject appearing to be new to the Trustees, 

 some of them thought it would be well to add a 

 note to the GeneraTs communication in confir- 

 mation ; with which I now with pleasure 

 comply. 



About the 8th of September last J was at the 

 Island, on one part of which, was live or six 

 acres of corn in three or four different palche.s, 

 (this Island of near five hundred acres is in al- 

 most two equal parts divided in the centre 

 by a neck of only eight or ten rods wide, one 

 part is intended lor mowing and cultivation, the 

 other for pasture, so as to require as few fences 

 as possible) the season had been uncommonly 

 dry and the pastures generally very short, it 

 was proposed to me by several good farmers, 

 as a common method in that part of the coun- 

 try, to cut the corn near to the ground and put 

 it in small stacks near the barn, and place a 

 temporary fence round them, by which means 

 my sheep could have the range of the whole 

 island ; I was pleased with the thing and it was 

 done before the 12lh of Se|)tember, the far- 

 mers in the neighborhood were generally top- 

 ping their corn, therefore it was considerably 

 dry. 



1 was at the island again about the 20lh of 

 November, and found the corn in cribs, and in 

 very line order, much superior to mine at Kox- 

 burv, which was not harvested till about the 

 iuth of November, all the stocks, buds, and 

 leaves are excellent fodder, when by our u^ual 

 mode the butts are of very little value. 



I think considerable labor is saved by adopt- 

 ing this method although a little more haiulling 

 in the husking will be required, which howev- 

 er is much more than repaid by the better 

 quality of the fodder; and more particularly, as 

 it will give twice to lay down the ground with 

 winter grain, or grass seed only, at a season too, 

 when it is now becoming generally considered 

 the best time for sowing them. In four or five 

 instances on my farm, within ten years, 1 have 





k 



sown grass seed in the autumn without grain, 

 and even as late in one year as the 24th of Dec. 

 and am decidedly of opinion that the grass 

 takes better, gets better hold and is more last- 

 ing than if sown in spring, with barley or oth- 

 er grain, which being cut in the hottest season, 

 leaves the young tender grass too suddenly ex- 

 posed and is often burnt up. 



Since the meeting of Saturday, I have loot 

 ed into the American Farmer, third and fourth 

 Volumes, and find several valuable pieces on 

 the subject of cutting corn early and stacking K 

 it, in Maryland and Virginia ; where it appears 

 to be of great importance, in their mode of cul- 

 ture, by giving time to plough and sow their fall 

 wheat in good season, there are however some 

 writers who oppose it; but on the whole 1 

 think the plan excellent, but care should 

 be taken not to do it too early ; I should thinfc «i 

 it perfectly safe at the time we usually top it; 

 and should recommend the stacks being small, 

 not larger than the top stocks are usually made, 

 to give a better chance for air to pr.ss freely 

 that it may more speedily be fit to house ; li> 

 Virginia they put the corn of two hundred hfty 

 to four hundred hills in a stack, which I shoulc 

 be ap[)rehensive would not answer so well in outi 

 climate. 



I hope Gen. HulPs hint will be improved up 

 on, the next season, and the result reported U lli 

 the Society. 1 am, dear sir, 



very respectfully yours, .' 

 JOHN prince: 



From the Old Colony Memorial. 



TO THE trustees OP THE PLYM(ji|jl COUNTY AC 

 RICPLTURAL SOCIETY.' 



[Cimchided from page 285.] 

 Gentlemen, — I here give you a statement c 

 my proceedings with an acre of corn, for whic 

 I have entered my claim for a premium. 



Previous to the year 1822, the land was mow ''' 

 ed for a number of years, and was generalL; ^ 

 yarded in the fall. It lies shelving a little t 

 the east, and its soil is a yellow loam. In 18251 ^' 

 I planted it with Indian corn, and the last sprinj^ 'f' 

 I ploughed down the hills and drawed about 21' ''" 

 waggon loads of manure upon it, but I did no '," 

 then think of claiming a premium on if. 1 

 was furrowed one way three feet apart; th< 

 other way about two feet or a little short oftha 

 distance. 1 planted it with large white corn 

 putting four or five kernels into a hill. Whei 

 we harvested the crop, it produced 119 baskets 

 which basket was accurately measured aqi> 

 found to hold one bushel, one quart and half 

 pint. I throwed in the half pint to make IBt' 

 small corn equal with the larger. Al'ler castin 

 it up, I found the amount of corn raised upo 

 the acre to be one hundred, twenty-two and aim 

 bushels and seven quarts. 1 consider the fodaa 

 to amply pay for the labor and the manure. 

 Respectfullv vours, &.c. 



TIIADD'EUS HOWARD.; 

 yVcst Bridgewater, Oct. 15, 1823. 



id 



TO THE TRUSTEES OF THE PLYjMOOTH COUNTY iSl 

 RICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



Gentlemen, — Having clarraed the Soeiety'i 

 premium for making the greatest quantity apt 

 best compost manure, I here state the mannci 

 of making it and the quantity made. In lh< 

 fall of 1822, I ditched a piece of stump laod 

 and carted the mud into my cow yard and bojll 



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