56 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE. 



May, 



June, 



July, 



The ground was an old worn-out pasture, that had been 

 neither ploughed nor manured for the last fifteen years. 



Remarks. 



From the numerous experiments I have tried, and from my 

 general experience, I am satisfied that manure should be applied 

 at or near the surface. That the rootlets of most plants are 

 found within two or three inches of the surface,* that they may 

 be under the influence of the heat of the sun, dew and small 

 rains ; that the tendency of manure is downwards, not up ; that 

 manure affects vegetation by the heat it produces ; that the 

 heating effects of the manure tends to decompose all dead vege- 

 table and animal matter ; that the good effects of manure (all 

 other things being equal,) will be in proportion to the amount 

 of dead, perishable matter in the soil. 



CO. Perkins. 



gkai:n' ceops. 



ESSEX. 



From the B.eport of the Committee. 



The first field, visited by the committee, was that of Jesse 

 Smith, of West Haverhill. It contained about two acres, the 

 soil being a strong, hard, rocky loam. Many large stones had 

 been taken from it, and a part of it had been underdraiued. 

 Mr. Smith's mode of ploughing was new to us. He showed us 

 a field which he had ploughed this summer, a few inches deep, 

 and the grass appeared to be all killed. 



His estimate of the cost of seed and planting an acre of corn 

 would seem low to those who are in the habit of putting all the 

 manure in the hill. Our impression is, that the farmers in this 

 country spend on an average $8 per acre in forking over manure 



