NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



y blished by Joii.\ B. Rvsstll at tlio corner o. t"onj,ncss and Lindall Ktrccis, (enlraULC from Liiuiail Street). — Tuomas U. FitssEKDj.rv, Eclilur. 



OL. V. 



B08T0N, FRIDAY, JAi^^UARY 5, 1827. 



U I G 1 N A L P A P i: K S. 



% SSACHUSETT.S AGRICULT. SOCIETY 

 e Committee on .Igricullural ETperiments, in 

 lion to their report of the VJth of October, ask 

 to '\lTer the f llouins; for the consideration of 

 tourd of Trustees, to tvit. 

 lat, the Society's premium of twenty dollars 

 d to Payson Williams, Esq. of Fitch- 

 h, ill the coimty of Worcester, for having 

 d t!ie greatest quantity of Spring Wheat, 

 ■■' thirty- three bushels and twenty one qnurts, 

 ne acre ; — accompanying the certiticates re- 

 ed by the Trustees, is tiie following communi- 

 "My crop of 33 bushels and 21 quarts of 

 lan wheat, was grown the present season, on 

 t was my potatoe field the last year — tiie pre 

 tion of the ground was two plougiiings, fine 

 deep. April "2;-, sowed on the furrows, cross- 

 owed, and rolled ; the quantity of seed sown 

 the acre, two bushels and tliree ])ccks, well 

 d. When the blades of ^vheat were four inches 

 ve the ground I had fifteen bushels of wood 

 }S sown, with the same valuable effect of lastj 

 r, viz, checking the ravages of '.vorms that | 

 lerly attacked the roots, with addition.-! plump- 

 3 to the kernel. During our very severe 

 jglit, the ravages of the grasshoppers on all 

 Is of vegetation around the wheat field, was of 

 I an alarming extent as to dampen all hopes 

 1 crop of wheat ; but in cradling the grain at 

 ;arly period, it appeared that the innumerable 

 rms that infested the field, had contented them 1 

 es with using the wheat ears as roosts be- 

 en their gluttonous meals on the tenrler cIov;r 

 its below — this part of the culture entirely 

 sd." 



'hat Messrs Tristram & Henry Little are 

 itled to the premium of twenty dollars, for hav- 

 raised the greatest quantity of English Tur- 

 s, being six hundred and seventy-three bushels 

 one acre — they make the following statement, 

 n consequence of the drought in the early part 

 the season, the grub-wofr/j multiplied beyond 

 parallel, so that with a double diligence in re- 

 nting, and destroying the insects, we obtained 

 ■y scanty crops of Mangel Wurtzel, Carrots and 

 ions ; the potatoe crop is quite ordinary; as is 

 o the Indian corn. The Ruta Baga, Cabbages 

 i English Turnips, are about middling. We 

 .ved one acre of English Turnips on the 7th day 

 July, after taking off a crop of hay, with ono 

 und of seed and five cords of manure put in the 

 ill; and they were cultivated in every respect 

 stated in page '2'J, Vol. viii of tlie Massachusetts 

 pository and Journal ; and the produce was six 

 ndred and seventy-three bushels." 



That Mr Leonard Hill, of East Bridge-.vater, 

 entitled to the premium of twenty dollars, for 

 ving raised tlie greatest quantity of Potatoes, 

 ing live hundred and ninety bu.stels on one acre 

 d five rods, equal to 57'2 bushels to the acre — 

 ,e description of their culture is as follows, " the 

 il i.!- a dark loam, very fertile, perfectly free 

 om stones, and quite level ; In 182.5 I ploughed 

 on or about the 1st day of May, and put on 

 out 70 cart loads of manure ; the time of plant- 



ing was between the lOth and 14th of May ; and 

 it was hoed 3 times ; tlie iiarvestiiig was done in 

 Octolier, and there were seventy bushels of corn. 

 In the month of May last I ploughed t!io same 

 piece before d. scribed, then harrowed it with a 

 coarse harrow, and furrowed it, making the fur- 

 rows two feet and six inches apart each way. I 

 then filled up the furrows willi sixty-eight loads 

 of coarse manure, which I took from my barn lin- 

 ter where my cattle were kept ; and from my 

 hogstye, which was half straw- and hay. Upon 

 this manure I planted tliirty-one bushels of tiie 

 common long red and blue potatoes, cuttipg the 

 largest into two or more pieces, and placing them 

 about 4 inches apart in the hill, which I covered 

 »ith a hoe ; after they were well up I ploughed 

 and hoed them twice. In October tliey were dug 

 and measured ; and the quantity of potatoes pro- 

 duced on the piece, which contained one acre and 

 five rods, was 590 bushels, as will appear by the 

 Certificate of the Treasurer. The expense of cul- 

 tivating the above mentioned piece of land, dig- 

 ging and gathering the crop, &c. exclusive of the 

 manure, was twenty-one dollars and si.xty-seven 

 cents." 



The claims for premiums offered by the Trus- 

 tees for grain and vegetable crops, it will be per- 

 ceived have tliis year been less than at any former 

 period ; the cause of such being the case, is to be 

 attrihiited to the very uncommonly severe drought 

 in most parts of the slate of Massachusetts, in the 

 early ptrt of the season. 



Which is respectfully submitted, 



THO'S L. WINTHROP, 

 ISRAEL TL'ORNDIKE, 

 W'M PRESCOTT, 

 BENJ. GUILD. 

 Boston. Dec. 9, 182G. 



EfSEX AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY. 

 The Conanittt e appointed, to decide on the clnims of 

 premiums, " For the Management of Farms, i 

 their Tillage, Mowing, Orcharding and Pastur- 

 age,'" (covsisting ofT. Pickering, P. Kent, J. 

 Osgood, Aaro.v Perley, Asa T. Newhall, 

 F. Howes, and J. W. Proctor,) make the fol- 

 lowing report of their proceedings : 

 In tlie month of June last they visited the si-, 

 farms, for the management of which premiums had 

 been claimed, and in the order in which they are 

 hero numbered : and in September they repeated 

 their visits. 



1. The lafEn of Ben.iamin Tyler Reed, Esq 

 consisting of about eighty acres, is situated in 

 Marblehcad, and bounded on its northwestern side 

 Qy^alem harbour. This furnished some valuable 

 supplies of iranure, consisting of sea-weed grow- 

 ing in the mud of the shallow waters of that har- 

 bour, whicli in the storms of autumn are torn up, 

 and with rockweed washed upon the shore of tin- 

 farm. Other adjacent parts ot the harbour are 

 covered with beds of muscles, which in digniiK; 

 up, being mingled with the mud in which they lie, 

 compose a valuable and lasting manure. Mr Reed, 

 with hudable care, has applied these materials in 

 aid of the common sources of manure, for enrich 

 iijg his farm. In tlie few years that he has owned 

 this farm, he has judiciously improved it ; draining 



low and wet portions of it, and clearing off bUshcs, 

 draining and converting into good mowing land 

 some swainpy parts of it. 



2. Isaac Pa rcii's farm lies in Hamilton. It con- 

 tains about ninety-seven acres, of which twelve 

 are salt marsh, and five woodland. He has owned 

 this farm about twenty years ; and by his own in- 

 dustry and goo 1 management, rendered it produc- 

 tive. It is well fenced : — some rocky portions of 

 it have been cleared and converted into fruitful 

 fields : some low grounds have been drained ; and 

 all the parts cultivated for the usual crops, were 

 in good order. A neatness in his husbandry was 

 manifested throughout his farm. 



11 The farm of Jacob and Putnam Perlet, 

 father and son, is situate in Byfield parish, of New- 

 bury. This farm contains about 180 acres ; — of 

 which about 35 are tillage, alternating with Indian 

 corn, and the small grains usually cultivated, aiul 

 grass. About 30 acres are salt marsh, adjoining 

 the upland ; and about 6 acres ars low grounds 

 producing blue grass. The residue of the farm is 

 pasturage an<\ woodland. The orcharding consists 

 chiefly of young grafted apple trees, which have 

 been cultivated with much care and attention, 

 yielding about a hundred barrels of apples annual- 

 ly ; exclusively of the trees producing apples for 

 cider. 



It is but recently that any very material im- 

 provements have been undertaken, and these have 

 been effected by the means afforded by the judi- 

 cious management of the farm itself. One of the 

 most striking of these has been made upon the salt 

 marshes, by ditching. Whether the expeditious 

 dischargi; of .'jater from the salt marsh when over- 

 flowed ; — or its more ready admission at some sea- 

 sons of the summer when drougth prevails, by a 

 great number of deep but very narrow ditches, 

 has caused the change, — the consequence has 

 been an extraordinary amelioration, — increasing 

 threefold the quantity of grass, and this giving 

 hay of a much better quality than before. 



A valuable improvement has been commenced to 

 increase the quantity and fcrtiliiing quality of 

 manure, by depositing marsh soijs, or earth, or 

 both, to the depth of three feet (an excavation be- 

 ing made for the purpose) under the beds or stands 

 of the cattle, to receive and absorb the urine. — 

 [Accurate experiments during ten years, by a far- 

 mer in Scotland, proved that common loamy earth, 

 (most easily obtained from land in tillage) filled in- 

 to a pit about four feet deep, and thirty-six feet 

 square, into and over which the urine of fourteen 

 cattle was cast, yielded a manure every load of 

 which was equal to a load of the dung of the same 

 cattle mingled with the litter with which they 

 were bedded. And the quantity of the earth so 

 saturated with the urine of fourteen cattle, during 

 the five months that they were kept on fodder and 

 turnips, supplied for an ample manuring of seven 

 acres. So the urine of each of the cattle (from the 

 description only of the size of cows) manured half 

 an acre.] 



4. Indian Hill Farm, in West Newbury, belong- 

 ing to the family of Poor, bat for several years 

 in t!ie occupancy of Nathaniel Pearson, jr. as 

 tenant. — This farm, in its homestead, (being all of 



