190 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE. 



of the summer. After harvest, I planted rye, and in the spring, 

 while there was snow on the grovmd, put on nine hundred 

 pounds of gypsum, and seeded to grass. I had a fine crop of 

 rye, about thirty bushels to the acre. This year, I applied two 

 bushels of plaster, mixed with twelve bushels of ashes, and had, 

 it was said, the best crop of clover in the town. The sandiest 

 parts produced as bountifully as any. After removing the crop 

 of clover, I devoted the land to pasturage. 



SUNDEELAND, April 6, 1857. 



ORCHARDS. 



MIDDLESEX SOUTH. 



Statement of Willard Haven. 



I have, within a few years past, set out eight hundred and 

 twenty-five standard apple trees on my premises, all of which I 

 raised from the seed. There are three hundred in one lot, 

 coming under the society's rules for the present year. 



The soil being light, sandy and gravelly, I took special care 

 to prepare broad and deep holes, — about seven feet in diameter 

 and from two, to two and a half feet in depth, — before setting. 

 The holes were filled with the top soil, rich earth, and in some 

 cases, a mixture of mud, but no manure. 



After setting the trees, I placed a few shovelfuls of coarse, 

 strawy manure from the yard, around each tree. A part of 

 the land has been kept in cultivation. In the other part, care 

 is taken to keep the soil broken for a large space around each 

 tree. 



Fkamingham, Sept. 22, 1857. 



Statement of 11. H. Bigeloio. 



My orchard contains ninety apple trees, which were set out 

 in the spring of 1854, on one and a half acres of land, and at the 

 distance of twenty-five feet each way. The land had been used 



