SECRETARY'S REPORT. 59 



E. W. Bull, of Concord. — One of the most successful farmers 

 in Concord, who grows the largest crop of corn to the acre of any 

 man in town, but whose soil is rather low and moist, lets the grass 

 grow until very nearly the first of June ; certainly until the 

 season is warm and the grass has grown considerably. He 

 hauls on not less than fifty loads to the acre, which is partly 

 fermented, but not wholly, and ploughs it under immediately 

 with a plough which gives a furrow of about eight inches. He 

 harrows the surface over thoroughly and plants the corn with a 

 little ripe compost in the hill to start its roots quickly. The 

 season is warm, the ground is warm, the manure is warm, and 

 the ground is soon covered with so many stalks that I think the 

 doctor would say he would have no crop, and yet he counts 

 positively and confidently upon fifty or sixty bushels, and 

 is not disappointed, and his following crops are all so much the 

 better for it. If the corn crop did not pay, in a money sense, 

 still it is a most important fallow crop ; and since we must have 

 a fallow crop, I think it is particularly fortunate that we have 

 one that gives us breadstuffs. The English farmer must fallow 

 with the turnip, but we have a fallow crop that gives us some- 

 times fifty bushels to the acre. 



Harrison Garfield, of Lee. — If I wanted to raise an extra- 

 ordinary crop of corn for one year, I should certainly pursue 

 the same method that the doctor does ; but it is a question in 

 my mind whether manure put on in that way will serve the 

 best interests of the farmer in a succession of years. My 

 experience has been that it is best not to leave the manure 

 exposed to the rains and to evaporation any longer than is 

 necessary. I have practised putting it on in the spring so tliat 

 I could retain the fertilizing property of the manure, not only 

 for the crop I put in at present, but for future crops. I should 

 be glad to have gentlemen here, who have had a larger experi- 

 ence than I have, express their views in relation to that point. 



Dr. Hartwell. — I can state one fact that will perhaps throw 

 some light upon the question. Several years ago I ploughed an 

 acre and a half in the fall in the manner I have described ; I 

 proposed to make a nursery upon half of it, and I put on the 

 manure and spread it upon the surface of the soil, but the 

 frosts followed so soon that I was not able to work it in. I 

 changed my mind in relation to planting a nursery, and in the 



