60 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE. 



The land was ploughed once about the middle of May, 1865, 

 eight inches deep, and harrowed. Cost, $5. Twenty-five loads 

 of manure was spread and ploughed in. Value, $45. It was 

 planted May 25tli — rows four feet apart each way — five kernels 

 of eight rowed corn in the hill. Cost of seed and planting, $3. 

 Cultivated June 5tli, twice in a row each way, and about June 

 12th ploughed both ways and cultivated one, and hoed July 

 20th and cultivated both ways. Cost of cultivation, $4. The 

 stalks were cut September 1st, and the corn husked in the field 

 October 12th and 13th. Cost of harvesting, |4. 



Product. 



200 bundles of top stalks, together with the butts, valued at 

 $10 ; 6,600 pounds of corn in the ear, equal to 165 bushels. 



The principal part of the labor of cultivation was done with 

 the plough and cultivator, in consequence of which the cost has 

 been less than when the hoe alone is used. 



A man and horse can plough four acres of corn in a day, 

 turning the furrow away from the rows when small, the next 

 time using the cultivator to level the ground, which can be done 

 as often as the weeds start. I have found that stirring the 

 ground three or four times, and leaving a flat surface, gives the 

 corn a much more vigorous growth, than by the old process of 

 weeding and hilling. 



MIDDLESEX. 



From the Report of the Committee. 



The details of a successful growth of any kind of grain 

 interests every one, and would be read attentively by all persons 

 engaged in agriculture. Exactness gives much value to his 

 experience and confidence in his own ability ; guess work is very 

 uncertain, varying with different individuals more than fifty per 

 cent. We take it for granted that the farmer who is successful 

 in one especial branch of farming, with a certainty may be in 

 most any other if he applies himself. Now, we believe that 

 many of the different grains can be raised on the farm, for the 

 consumption of the family, (and perhaps for the stock,) with 

 profit ; still, grass is the foundation of all good farming at a dis- 

 tance from market, — and that the grains should only be raised 

 as preparatory to grass. 



