NEW ENGLiANii) FAHMEK 



AND GARDENER'S JOURNAL. 



9 



I'UBLISHGI) BY GEORGE C. BARKETT, NO. 52 NORTH MARKET STKEET, (Aokicui.turai, Warehouse.) — T. G. FESSENDEN, EDITOR. 



BOSTON, WEDNESDAY EVENING, MARCH 16, 183i5. 



NO. 3B. 



REPORT ON FARMS. 

 The committee of tlip Tnistoes of tlie Massa- 

 chusetts Soi'icty for the Promotion of Agiiimltiire, 

 to whom Wiis referred tlie applic-ations for pveitii- 

 llins for the best ciihivated fariDS, respectfully 

 report, — 



That only two claims for premiums for the hcst 

 cultivated farms have been pxhihited the present 

 year, and they regret that they cannot recommend 

 the allowance of either of them. When premiums 

 for this object were first instituted, pome years 

 since, the 'I'nistees thought, and your committee 

 still believe, that they would highly promote the 

 interests of agriculture, if experienced, well in- 

 formed, practical farmers could be induced to 

 become applican'.s for them, and exhibit state- 

 ments of their manner of cultivating their farms, 

 and tlie products they obtained. This statement, 

 to be useful, it is obvious, must be somewhat 

 particular, so tliat farmers of less knowledge and 

 experience, by reading might readily under.stand 

 it, and, if they chose, conform their own I'ractice 

 to it. It might in that case, it was thought, serve 

 both as a model and a practical lecture on the 

 . (iood husbandry of a farm similar to his own. 

 This was the view of tlie Trustees. They were 

 awaro that keeping an account, and preparing 

 such a statement, would cost the aiiplicant some 

 labor and troihlile, and to render this light as pos- 

 sible, they disjienssd with actual surveys, weigh- 

 ings and ineasurings, and only required the 

 statements to be made according to the applicant's 

 best judgment and belief. They intended also 

 that th ■ premium should he a liberal indemnifica- 

 tion for all his labor and trouble, as well as a 

 testimonial of his cininence in the honorable 

 profession of an agriculturist, and these consider- 

 ations, coupled with the consciousness that they 

 were conferring valuable benefits on their less 

 informed brethren, it was hoped would induce 

 our most skilful farmers to 'become competitors 

 for the premiums. These expectations, however, 

 have not been realized, and it may perhaps be 

 thought, that the Trustees should consider it an 

 indication of public opinion that the object of 

 these premiums is not so valuable, and that the 

 difficulty of keeping and exhibiting an accoimt of 

 the management and crops of a farm is greater 

 than they have sujiposed. Your committee, how- 

 ever, are stiil firmly persuaded that these premi- 

 ums are eminently calculated to advance the 

 interests of agriculture, and that, after a little 

 practice, the difiiculty of preparing the statement 

 required will be found much less than is imagined, 

 and they, therefore, recommend the continuance 

 of the premiums another year, and that they 

 should be so liberal as fully to indenmify the 

 applicants for all the labor and trouble of keeping 

 the necessary account, and preparing and exhibi- 

 ting their statements. 



The applicants for premiums for the best culti- 

 vated farms this year, are Mr Daniel Putnam, of 

 Danvers, and Mr Nathaniel J. Rennet, of Fra- 

 niingham. Mr Putnam's farm is in Danvers : 

 contains eighty acres, about thirfythree of which 

 are suTlablo for tillage ; one is irrigated land, one 

 gravellcil, and ten wet or peat meadow, and the 

 remainder too rocky for any use but pasturing. 

 Your committee have carefully examined aiul 

 considered the statement exhibited by Mr Putnam, 

 and, although it furnishes proof of good husbandry 

 and careful observation, they have not been able 

 to discern anything novel or uncoifimon in his 

 manner of preparing his land, planting, or sowing 

 his seed, or dressing or harvesting his crops, or in 

 the management of his dairy. Of the latter he 

 has indeed given very little information, beyond 

 staling the quantity of butter tnade and milk sold, 

 which were by no means large for seven cow.s 

 that he kept. His crops taken together were 

 resjioctable, but none of them j-emarkable, except 

 his In<lian corn and apples. According to his 

 statement he had 719 bushels of ears upon four 

 acres and one eighth ; fiftyfour bushels of what 

 be calls Phinney corn, and 653 of brindled corn. 

 Two bushels of the ears of each were shelled, 

 and the Phinney corn was found to yield a bushel 

 and a quart of shelled corn, at the rate of fiftynine 

 bushels an acre, while the brindled corn yielded 

 more than a bushel and two quarts of shelleJ'corn, 

 and at the rats of more than ninetyfive' bushels to 

 the acre. This was a great crop, if there was no 

 mistake in the estimate, such as we have not 

 unfrcquently heart! of, but rarely have seen veri- 

 fied, and if the whole had been shelled and h-jd 

 yielded at the same rate, Mr P. would have been 

 well entitled to the premium upon this article, on 

 producing the proof required. The difl^erence in 

 the product of these two sorts of corn is deserving 

 notice. No further description is given of the 

 Phinney corn ; the brindled is said to have con- 

 sisted mostly of the eight rowed ears. His or- 

 chard consists of 240 grafted ap[ile trees, and 2.5 

 of natural fruit, and from these he gatliered 200 

 barrels of winter apples, and 340 bushels of inferior 

 winter and summer apples. The land on which 

 his corn was raised was ploughed in the autumn, 

 and on part manure was sjiread before ploughing, 

 and immediately turned muter the sod, and upon 

 the other part a like quantity was spread in the 

 spring, and ploughed in across the furrow, but 

 not so deep as to disturb the first furrow. Wr P. 

 says, that in preparing his land for a croj) of corn, 

 for two years ])ast, he has practised spreading 

 part of the manure on the grass in the fall, and 

 turning it under the sod, and the other part in the 

 spring on the furrow, and cross-ploughing it in, 

 and that he has found no difference in the effect. 

 He spread seventeen cords of manure on the four 

 and an eighth acres, and put sixteen (toijds more 

 into the hills at planting; the whole, as is under- 

 stood, being a compost of barn dung and meadow 

 mud. His practice has been to raise little or no 

 hills about his corn, and in 1834 he planted an 



acre, and instead of ploughing, only harrowed 

 among the corn, and at the last harrowing sowetl 

 it with grass seed, and in the spring rolled the 

 ground, and it yielded 55 bushels of corn and 20 

 of potatoes, and the next summer two tons of 

 clover. His crops of hay and oats appear to have 

 been rather small, 22 tons of hay on 17 acres, 1 1-2 

 Ions on the irrigated land, an.l 1 1-2 tons on lh« 

 gravelled meadow, and six on the ten acres, and 

 52 1-2 bushels of oats on 3 1-2 acres, but tliose 

 are said to have been beat down by rain. It to 

 worthy of observation, that Mr Putn;un fed his 

 swine in the autumn with apples boiled with rob 

 merd, and with the wash of his dairy, which faltod 

 them well, and he did not use half as much t:ieal 

 as in former years. If further experience shall 

 prove that swine may be well fatted with ap]i'c8 

 and a small mixture of meal, it will be a clicap 

 food with many farmers, and an economical sul>- 

 stitute for potatoes and corn. Tbo committee 

 are pleased to observe that no ardent spirit, wine, 

 cider, beer, or tobacco, were used on Mr Putnairps 

 farm, but that milk was the common drink of lii.s 

 laborers, in the field and at the table, during the 

 whole year. 



On the whole, the committee consider PiTe- Put- 

 nam entitled to much credit as an agriculturist • 

 and, although they do not perceive in his state- 

 ment that excellence and superiority in his mnrv- 

 ner of cultivating his farm, that would justify the 

 Society in reconjmending it as a model for others, 

 or in granting him the premium, tljey recommend 

 that fifty dollars be given him as a gratuity. ' 



Mr Bennet, the other ajiplicant's fariii, is situate 

 in Framingham ; contains 96 acres, exclusive of 

 woodland, of which eighty is suitable for tillage, 

 and is also improved for mowing and pasturing 

 in rotation, five natural, and ten rec'aiined mead- 

 ow. The soil generally is a dark loam, and rather 

 moist. The committee have carefully examined 

 Mr Bennet's statement. It shews him to be one 

 of the many respectable farmers in this town; 

 but it is not perceived that it exhibits any meth.od 

 of cultivating or improving land, making or apply- 

 ing manures, or any rotation of crops, that is not 

 generally understood and practised by our good 

 farmers. He states, that he planted the last year 

 five acres With Indian corn, and potatoes round 

 the borders ; that the land was ploughed in the 

 fall, and twenty loads to the acre of .•! compost of 

 barn inanure mixed with a portion of sand, were 

 carried out and laid in heaps upon it, and in the 

 spring it was spread and harrowed in, and ten 

 loads more to the acre of a like compost wen; 

 carried out, luixed with ashes made in his house 

 t!uring the winter, and then used for covering (as 

 he calls it) the corn. Neither the proportion ot 

 sand, nor the quantity in a load, are stated. He 

 says, there were gathered from this field, 295 

 bushels of corn, and 300 of potatoes, whi<di your 

 committee consider a very good crop. Mr B. laiij 

 down last year three and a half acres of land, on 

 which he had raised corn the year before, two 

 acres with tea wheat, and an acre and u half with 



