vol.. XX. .\l>. 30. 



AND H R T I CUT I. 1" i; K A L REGISTER. 



3C7 



B 6eM am! lot it lio until I loiiiiJ lliat llio clover 

 d m»turau-.l. 1 llion pli.wod it «(;«'"• '•'''"' 

 lid looked very well, and 1 supposed it much I'li- 

 hed. I 30« cd wheat, but wa« dis.ippiunted in it, 

 the crop wa.s poor. I knew, however, that the 

 id was iiuich enriched, and concluded that I »»" 

 (Tented from having a good crop of wheat from 

 ler causes, t!isn the land not beinj; well prepared. 

 Mr Phelps, of Simsbury. I plowed up a clover 

 Id, the second year after it was sown, when the 

 ,(s wore full grown. It was about a rorlnijrhl 

 er mowing the land. I let the licld lie in this 



latioii about si.'c weeks, then harrowed it well 



red It with wheat, and plowed in the wheal, 

 e next year 1 harvested as niucli as twenty 

 ihcls to the acre The soil was rather dry and 



Mr ILokcr, of Fannin^lon. 1 cowed a sandy 

 d with buckwheat. When it was grown and in 

 oni, I plowed ny ticld in ridges, and covered the 

 eat. .\fter it had lain about e\x weeks, I plow, 

 it asjain in ridyee, putting the new ridges where 



balks were before. Soon after I harrowed the 

 i, and sowed it with wheat. The next summer 

 irvcsted an excellent crop. 

 »fr Ik'.dtn, of H'llhersfiM. I have sown buck - 

 ■at, both on sandy land and on loamy land, and 

 »ed it in to prepare the land fur wheat. I have 



good crops from it, and have found the experi- 

 it to succeed to my wishes. — Transactions of 

 Conn. Agricid. Society. 



AN EXPERIMKNT. 

 fr Editor. — The details of an experiment which 

 cd last sprinij, assisted by a little imagination, 

 a good tiow of mother English, would make an 

 ■ing tale. But as I possess neither, I shall at- 

 ot nothing but a statement of facts. And, per- 

 (, if the hint is acted upon, it may be beneficial 

 oth the Farmer and the Printer. 

 •wing to causes which I could not control, and 

 rary to my wishes and general practice, I had 

 iant a piece of new ground as we farmers call 

 1 late in the season, that on the Cor.i coining 

 Ihere was no other near to divide the attention 

 he crows and other birds. The Corn, as will 

 ne case, in land that is not well cleared of the 

 and covered with the plow, came up very 

 •ular, which enabled the birds to take it nearly 

 Jt as it came up, that is, on two sides of the 

 which were bordered by old field pines. I 

 round the field some two or three times a day, 

 hti what protection I could to the young Corn, 

 It Uie end of about two weeks from the time 

 Jorn first began lo come up, so great was the 

 B on about one fourth of the field, and the 

 IS stood so '' few and far between," that I was 

 ied to plow that portion up. As the season 

 growing late, and the Corn now left, was too 

 dvanced for the "varmints" lo pull up, and 

 ing of the proverb, "a bird in the hand is 

 h two in the hush," I finally concluded to go 

 it with hoes, and have clean earth put on the 

 with the view of having it tome up as much 

 as possible. The replant soon began lo 

 I up, and I again commenced my rounds ; but 

 ) very littl* purpose for Uie field being, large, 

 I would be in one place, the birds — red-birds, 

 s, &.C., would pounce down somewhere else 



o to work. 



thought of soaking the seed corn in tar, but 

 was out of season ; I thought of hoards cut 



into various comic figures, painted, and hung up, 

 to bo agitated hy the wind ; 1 thought of now tin, 

 rrtlecting the sun's rays, &.C.; but all these plans 

 ro<|uirod Boine delay, and my case was urgent. 1 

 uii.s about ti) give it up, when raising my hood my 

 rye rested upon a desk, wherein was depi'sited all 

 the newspapers I had receivrd for yeais. Tlie 

 a struck me — ha I .Mr Rditur do you Hm"ll it 

 now ? yes, the idea si ruck mc to use these papers 

 in frightening the bird.< from my field. Well, I . 

 gathered an armful of the papers, without regard 

 lo religion or politics; excluding from the honor, 

 only such as by their form, were not suited to such 

 an entorprizc : I also pocketed a gross of small tacks, 

 and " put out." By the way, I cut with my pocket 

 knife, a qu.inlity of small poles, six or eight feet 

 ong, leaving a horizontal branch at tlie top, or if 

 tliat was wauling, I bent the top square to one Sde, 

 so that the papers might hand perpendicular and 

 square, the belter to resist the action of wind and 

 uler. And now for the result : as I stuck the 

 pole in the ground, I heard a crow, the only one in 

 the field, F believe, about 1.50 yards off. He utter- 

 ed not another sound, but putting himself in com- 

 plete trim, he darted through the air with almost 

 the swiftness of an arrow, nor did I see any crows 

 in that field from thai time, until the corn was out 

 of danger. 



Farmers of Edgefield, take good papers, and 

 read them, and if you have occasion, use them as 

 scarecrows. — [Plowboy. 



[From 'Transactions of the Essex Agricultural Society.'] 



PREMIUMS FOR CROPS IN ESSEX COUNTY. 

 The Committee on the C'lltivation of Crops, Re- 

 port : 



That claims have been entered and statements 

 made as follows: — 



Hy Francis Dodge, of Danvers, for Corn. 



" Enoch Dole, of W. Newbury, " " 



" John Noyos, of Newbury, " Rye. 



" William Williams, of Rowley, " Oats. 



" John Noyes, of Newbury, " Onions. 

 The Society the present year have offered pre- 

 miums for the best conducted experiment on crops 

 of wheat, rye, oats, barley and Indian corn, on not 

 less than one acre; for the next year, in addition 

 to the above, premiums will be offered for the best 

 conducted experiments in rai.iing crops of carrots, 

 onions, sugar heels, rtita baga, and mangel wiirtzel, 

 on one half acre, and it is hoped that there will be 

 many claimants for all these premiums. Farmers 

 are desirous of ascertaining by what process such 

 crops can bo most siiceessfully cultivated, and by 

 no other means can this information be so readily 

 and satisfactorily obtained, or sn easily dissemina- 

 ted. They want to know what kind of soil, ma- 

 nure and cultivation are best adapted lo each of 

 these crops, and their own operations will in some 

 measure be directed by the successful operations 

 of competitors. It is therefore highly desirable 

 that all the statements submitted should be plain 

 and accurate. The soil, manure and variety of 

 seed should be carefully stated, and all such obser- 

 vations and remarks as may tend to enlighten not 

 only old farmers but learners of the art. 



It is often interesting to have the means of 

 knowing how hrge crops have been raised in the 

 country. For the purpose of satisfying in part 

 this curio.si'y, some extracts from Mr t/Olman's first 

 Report of the Agriculture of Massachusetts arc 



hero inserted. Tlioro h.ivu buuii raised in this 

 county, lo the acre — 



••or Wheat, 24, 'i3. and 32 bushels. 



or Indian Corn, S4, !)0J, 'JOJ, lO.'i, 1 10, 1 13, 1 1."!, 

 117^ bushels. 



or Barley, SO, r.lj, 52, 54 biishcln. 



or Rye, 40, .'id bushels. 



or Outi", 1000 bushels on twenty acres, avera- 

 ging 50 bushels lo the acre. 



Of Carrots, ti 111, «(!!, H7rt. OIK) bushels. 



or Mangel Wurlzel, y-J4, i:t40, at 5<i lbs. per 

 bushel. 



or Beets, TtC) buahtls. 



or English Turnips, CSG, M7, (;72, 751, 814 

 bushels. 



Of Onions, (i.")l." By Mr Ware, of Salom, 900 

 bushels. 



Some or those quantities apncar large, but the 

 amount which may be raised • <n a well manured 

 and thoroughly cultivated aero, would astonish any 

 one wlio has not witnessed the experiment. A 

 great cause of the want of success of many tanners, 

 is their olteinpt to cultivate too much land. To 

 own or to cultivate an extensive territory, is a poor 

 ambition. Our object should be to show how well, 

 and not how much we can till. When stern ne- 

 cessity, or good policy, or the dispensation of Pro- 

 vidence has divided farms, we have often noticed 

 that the several parts became more productive, and 

 in such cases it is almost always true that the half is 

 better than the whole. Whenever a farmer be- 

 comes satisfied that ho is cultivating loo much 

 land, he should sell off or lease his supernumary 

 acres, or turn them into pasture. The labor and 

 expense of raising thirty bushels of corn is three 

 quarters as much as much as of raising sixty bush- 

 els to the acre. 



Many of our farmers have yet lo If arn the great 

 advantage of cultivating extensively root crops, os 

 a winter feed lor slock. A large portion of our 

 lime and strength is expended in procuring this 

 feed; it is now principally hay and corn-fodder. 

 The average quantity of hay to the acre is less than 

 a ton and a half ; but fifteen or even twenty tons 

 of carrots and mangel wurlzel, are not very extraor- 

 dinary. The expense of «i = .-r these roots is con- 

 siderable, but coinmonlyi it ciees not exceed p;x 

 dollars per ton. There cwmui be a doubt that a^ 

 food for cattle, two tons of them are worth at least 

 as much as one ton of hay, and .slock kept in part 

 on roots, arc in belter health and condition, and 

 make more valuable manuie. 



* * « • • • • 



The Committee aword — 



To Mr Francis Dodge, of Danvers, for his crop 

 of Indian Corn, 105 bushels, the premium o( $10 00 



To Mr John Noyes, of Newbury, for his 

 crop of winter rye, 40 bushels and 22 quarts, 

 the premium of 10 00 



To Mr William Williams, of Rowley, 

 for his crop of oats, 5t) bushels, a gratui- 

 ty of 7 00 



Mr Williams's statement was not considered 

 sufficiently full and well authenticated to entitle 

 him to the premium, but his crop of 5'J bushels to 

 the acre, is creditable lo his good management. 



Mr Dole's crop of corn was a very good one for 

 the season, but as no second premium was offered 

 by the Society, they cannot award it. Mr Noyes' 

 crop of onions is very large, for the amount of la- 

 bor spent upon it, but no premium was offered for 

 this crop. 



For the Committee, DANIEL P. KING. 



