150 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE. 



Wg have heard of a singular experiment in the choice of seed. 

 A fanner planted only the corn from the small end of the ears, 

 choosing such as were well filled out ; then only from the mid- 

 dle of tlie ears ; then only from the big ends. After ten years, 

 he found that in seven years of the ten the crop from the small 

 ends was the largest and best. 



During the past season, the corn-planter has come considera- 

 bly into use in this county. One of our friends finds it satisfac- 

 tory on mellow, well-tilled land, dropping the corn evenly. 

 Another says, that in some hills he had eight or ten grains, in 

 others one or two. Upon inquiry, we found his land was very 

 rocky and uneven. One farmer says : "I regard the introduc- 

 tion of the corn-planter among the most valuable improvements 

 in the culture of this crop. This machine immensely economizes 

 expense and time." It is obvious, however, that it can be used 

 to most advantage on smooth, well-tilled land, and where the 

 manure is ploughed in. Is not this an argument for bringing 

 land into such a condition ? 



When for any reason a farmer is convinced that he may with 

 safety and profit leave the beaten track and lay out a new path 

 for himself, he usually encounters the ridicule of his neighbors. 

 Yet the latter are constantly receiving good impressions, and 

 before they are aware of it, they are found practicing the very 

 things which they condemn. Perhaps this is more apparent in 

 the corn crop than any other. It was asserted a few years ago 

 that it was impossible to raise a lumdred bushels of corn to the 

 acre, by men of the greatest experience in farming. And when 

 the fact could no longer be denied, it was attributed to a combi- 

 nation of favorable circumstances, which might never occur 

 again. This year there are four fields in the town of Milton 

 that yield more than a hundred bushels each per acre, and one 

 that has produced, after the most accurate tests of the commit- 

 tee on grain crops, one hundred and twenty bushels. There 

 were also many in other parts of the county which looked very 

 promising, the exact yields from which we have not learned. 

 Facts of this kind are a sufficient answer to alleged impossi- 

 bilities. 



Within a few years the practice has been revived of raising 

 wheat in this county. Every real practical farmer ought to 



