14 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE. 



of his land, and in keeping an accurate account of every trans- 

 action on the farm. The Committee award to him the first 

 premium of one hundred dollars. 



Mr. Pratt has been very industrious, has worked his farm to 

 its utmost capacity, and with the strictest economy, but he has 

 not made very much improvement, and it is doubted whether he 

 has added much to the fertility of his soil. The second premium, 

 of seventy-five dollars, has been thought to be due to him. 



Charles Burton, Chairman. 



Statement of A. G. Pratt. 



This being my last statement as a competitor for premiums 

 " for the most judiciously cultivated farm," I wish to state that 

 my main object has been, through the years specified, to make 

 my farm produce the most I could, (without detriment,) of the 

 staple articles of life. The luxuries I have not lost sight of. 

 Still, in xAj mind, they are secondary, and I have managed 

 accordingly. 



My apple crop proved a failure the past season, this not being 

 the bearing year with my orchards, which has made a sad inroad 

 into my income for the past year. I am more fully convinced of 

 the advantages to be derived from sheep raising, whatever the 

 breed may be. I have seen the good effects on my rye and 

 potato crop, ground having been exhausted by previous cropping, 

 by pasturing forty sheep for four years, producing abundantly, 

 the mutton and wool paying a profit besides. I have my rye in 

 the ground by the middle of September. I sow one bushel to 

 the acre. I have used on my potatoes ashes mixed with plaster 

 and salt, equal parts of ashes and plaster ; one peck of salt to 

 one barrel of the mixture, and plant without manure. This I 

 have used on my sheep pasture. As a trial between putting 

 manure in the hill and spreading, I prefer the latter, using ten 

 to twelve ox-loads to the acre. Five bushels of seed to the acre ; 

 hills three and one-half feet each way. 



I am satisfied that farmers in general seed too much. My 

 corn crop has been a fair one, but the dry weather showed its 

 effects in filling out. My wheat crop has not yielded as much to 

 the acre as some years, owing to dry weather ; yet the wheat 

 was of extra quality. My mode of culture has been by taking 

 a good soil, having been cultivated the previous year with corn 



