114 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE. 



After it was cleared, I planted it with potatoes and corn. The 

 expense of the crop was : — 



For five cart-loads of compost in hill, . . . . $5 00 

 For planting and hoeing, 4 00 



$9 00 

 Amount and value of crop : — 

 Twenty bushels of good potatoes, .... $10 00 

 Eighteen bushels of ears of corn, 9 00 



$19 00 



The fodder and small potatoes paid for harvesting. In the 

 winter of 1857-8 I cleared another half acre at less expense. 

 And in the June following, I sowed the whole with 13 quarts of 

 buckwheat, and obtained fifteen and one-half bushels of clear 

 seed. 



Value of crop : — 



Fifteen and one-half bushels of buckwheat, . 

 One ton of straw, ...... 



Expense of crop after clearing : — 

 Seed, sowing, and harrowing, .... 

 Cutting, threshing, and cleaning, 



$2 50 



I have cleared the remainder in the same manner, and with 

 nearly the same result ; averaging fifteen bushels of buckwheat 

 and one ton of straw per acre yearly. I cleared three-quarters 

 of an acre last autumn, at an expense of about $26. 



I have manured what I first cleared, for two years, for the 

 benefit of the trees ; and I am satisfied that they have been 

 improved by it to the full value of the crop raised on the land. 

 By sowing buckwheat I have cleared the land almost entirely 

 of briars and other noxious plants ; and I am convinced that it 

 is a good crop to raise in a young and growing orchard. 



The experiment of Mr. Killam is an interesting one, and has 

 been conducted with considerable economy and skill, and with 



