AND HORTICULTURAL REGISTER. 



PUBLISHED BY JOSEPH BRECK & CO., NO. 52 NOUTH MARKET STREET, (AoRicnLTUEAi. Waeehohsb.)— ALLEN PUTNAM, EDITOR. 



BOSTON, WEDNESDAY EVENING, SEPTEMBER 7, 1842. 



[NO. 10. 



N. E. FARMER, 



PREMIUM CORN CROP. 



At ameetingof the Board of Trustees of tlie Mas- 

 ichusetts Society for Proniotinnr Agriculture, held 

 uJy 0, 1842, the following report was. read and ac- 

 ;pted. 



The committee to whom was submitted the 

 laims for premiums on crops, having taken into 

 onsiJeration the claim of Mr Elias Ayres, for a 

 remium on his crop of corn, (his statement and 

 laim by "ccident not having been handed to them 

 ith th*' ;!ier claims at the time they made their 

 ^port,)do now award the sum of Tiotnty Dollars 

 I be paid Mr Ayres by the treasurer — being au- 

 lorized by a vote of the Board to grant Mr Ayres 

 sum equal to the highest premium on corn, if his 

 ateinent and certificates would have entitled him 



I the premium, had the papers been with the com- 

 ittce at the time they made their report. They 

 80 recommend the publication of his communica- 

 ODS, P. C. BROOKS, 



For the Committee. 



•Vr .lyres's Siatement. 



Barre, Nov. 22d, 1841. 

 Benj. Guild, Esq. — Dear Sir — The ground from 

 hich I raised the corn mentioned in the enclosed 

 irlificates, which together with (he following state- 

 ent, are presented for the Society's premnmi, is 

 hat is usually denominated upland, and was a 

 •ugh s«ard, having been mowed once, and for a 

 reater part of the time, twice, for the tliirteen pre- 

 jding years. During that period of time, the only 

 iltivation it received was, one topdre.ssing of ma- 

 jre, and for nine years of the thirteen, two bush- 

 ■s of ground plaster a year, sown usually in the 

 I iring. I plowed about half of the acre late in the 



II previous to planting, and the residue in the 

 lUowing spring. I then harrowed and spread up- 

 ) the ground seventeen common cart bucks of ma- 

 ire, which was in about equal proportions of 

 reen, compost, and light straw manure from the 

 ards. It was then cross plowed and about the 

 ime quantity and quality of manure spread on and 

 jain harrowed. I then plowed it into furrows 

 30ut three and a half feet apart one way, and 

 lanted the corn about twice as thick the other way. 

 1 dropping the corn, I put from ten to twelve ker- 

 els in a lull, putting into each hill a small quanti- 

 ' of plaster — using in the whole two bushels — 

 ad planted the corn on the 17th and IStb of IVIay, 

 itendincr, should there be a superfluity of stalks, 

 ) pull up a portion of them at the first hoeing. 

 lany of the hills were, however, neglected; and 

 thers but partially attended to. I hoed the corn 

 ut twice, making little or no hill, and would here 

 amark, that the hills containing ten or more stalks, 

 ad not so much corn as those having but two 

 talks. As near as I could judge, hills having four 

 talks were the most productive. There were upon 

 le acre about eight thousand hills. The variety 

 f corn planted was the white eight-rowed corn, 

 'hich T have called the many-eared corn, from the 



fact of its having generally from two to five ears 

 upon a stalk ; and I have known as many as seven 

 good sound ears upon a stalk. I have planted this 

 variety for twelve years, usually selecting my seed 

 from stalks whicli had two or more ears upon them. 

 The cobs from which I shelled a bushel of corn, 

 weighed but eight pounds. 



The account which I have made out upon the 

 opposite side of this page, will e.-chibit the expense 

 of cultivation and the product of the acre. 

 Very respectfully, I am yours, 



ELIAS AYRES. 

 P. S. — Should any thing further be required 

 than the enclosed certificates and the above state- 

 ment, I should be happy to be informed, that I inay 

 be able to conform to the requisition. 



E. A. 

 Cost of CuUivation. 

 First plowing^ $4 00 



Harrowing, 1 00 



Second plowing, 2 50 



S.') loads manure,. 30 00 



Planting, 4 00 



Hoeing first time, 5 00 



do. sec<md time, 3 00 



Cutting and binding stalks, 3 00 



Harvesting, 8 00 



Two bush, plaster, 1 50 



1-2 bush, seed corn, 75 



Produce of the Acre^ 

 115 bushels of corn, at 92 cts. 



4 tons of fodder, at $5, 



5 cart loads of pumpkins. 



.$62 75 



$105 80 



20 00 



7 50 



$133 30 



First Certificate. 



Barre, Oct. 11th, 1841. 

 To Benj. Guild, Esq. — Sir — I hereby certify, 

 that [ have raised, the present season, one hundred 

 and fifteen bushels of Indian corn on one acre. 

 ELIAS AYRES. 

 We do hereby certify, that we helped harvest and 

 measure the acre of corn above described, and that 

 the above statement is true. 



JASON DESPER, 

 HIRAM AYRES. 

 [Sworn to before N. P. Bryant, Justice of the 

 Peace.] 



BARBiE, Oct. llih, 1841. 

 This is to certify, that I, David Lee, of Harre, 

 have this day surveyed a piece of land owned by 

 Elias Ayres, of Barre, on which he raised corn this 

 season, and find it to contain one acre and no more. 

 DAVID LEE, Surveyor. 

 [Sworn to before N. P. Bryant, Justice of the 

 Peace.] 



The above certificates not being deemed by the 

 committee sufl^iciently full, omitting to state how 

 the corn was measured, another was requested and 

 the following received : 



Barre, June 4th, 1842. 

 Good Sir — I send you enclosed the following 

 certificate, which I hope will be satisfactory. 

 Yours, with respect, 



ELIAS AYRES. 

 Benj. Guild, Esq. 



Barre, Juno 4th, 1842. 

 We, Jason Desper and Hiram Ayres. hereby 

 certify, that we were present and helped harvest 

 and measure the corn as above stated to have 

 grown on one acre of the land of Elias Ayres, as 

 surveyed by David Lee, and that I he measure, at 

 the rate of seventyfive pounds to the bushel, was 

 one hundred and fifteen bushels. 



JASON DESPER, 

 HIRAM AYRES. 

 [Sworn to before Scth Caldwell, Justice of the 

 Peace.] 



FARM ACCOUNTS. 



What would be thought of a merchant who did 

 not keep a set of books, nnd who at the end of the 

 year could not tell whether a certain, branch of his 

 business had been productive or not? And why 

 is not a farmer as much interested in the result of 

 his operations as a merchant ? The pettiest shop- 

 keeper must have a clerk to keep his books, with 

 double entries, and yet the most extensive farmer, 

 operating with thousands, keeps no record of his 

 proceedings. The manufacturer opens an account 

 with each department of his business, charging it 

 with the stock employed, the expenses incurred, 

 and crediting it with its products. At the end of 

 the year, he sees at a glance whether it has been 

 productive or not, and concludes to lop it off, or to 

 extend it. So should the farmer open an account 

 with every crop he cultivates ; charge it with the 

 outlay and credit with the proceeds. At the end 

 of the year, he should take another account of the 

 stock on hand, and he will see at once how he 

 stands on the year's operation. If he is unable to 

 keep so simple an account, he should employ a 

 clerk ; (although he had better go to school him- 

 self;) he certainly needs his assistance as much as 

 a merchant. But there is no difficiilty about the 

 matter — an<l extracts from a farmer's books, well 

 kept, would form the most .valuable contributions 

 to an agricultural paper. — Southern Planter. 



Lard Oil. — At a large auction sale of groceries 

 at Cincinnati, winter-strained sperm oil of the very 

 best quality, was bid in at 37 1-2 cents per gallon. 

 Lee's No. 1 lard oil sells at 50 cents, and as it 

 burns brighter and longer than sperm, of course the 

 latter must give in. Our Nantucket friends may 

 spout and blubber as much as they please, but we 

 assure them the day for sperm oil and candles, 

 west of the mountains at least, has gone by. Any 

 sane man might as well send warming pans to Ja- 

 maica, as sperm oil and candles to the west, in ex- 

 pectation of a profit. — Cincinnati Gaz. 



Words are but articulated breath. Deeds are 

 I the fac simile of soul. 



