138 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE. 



ing. Use the manure freely, and plant about a bushel of peas 

 to the acre. After hoeing the peas a second time, plant in the 

 rows either marrow squashes or sweet corn. When the peas 

 have been picked, pull up the vines and hoe and cultivate the 

 corn, if that was planted as soon as possible, and you will have 

 it in season for the market before any frost can injure it. 



Parsnips yield another good crop, when made to grow well. 

 Their seeds do not readily vegetate. I have usually prepared 

 the ground for them, and also the seed, in the following way : 

 I plough the ground to the depth of ten or more inches, putting 

 in at the same time at least ten cords of manure to the acre. I 

 soak the seeds for twenty-four hours in milk-warm water, skim- 

 ming off all that rise upon the surface, and roll the rest in 

 pulverized plaster. If the seeds are good, they will then be 

 sure to vegetate. Deep, heavy loam, near low land, is to be 

 preferred for parsnips. Proceeding in this way, I have grown 

 upon half an acre of ground, one hundred and twenty barrels 

 of good merchantable parsnips, most of which were sold for 

 $1.50 per barrel, and some, in the spring, for $2.25. They 

 were harvested by running a large plough closely to the rows 

 and pulling the roots up by their tops. I consider the above, 

 however, an extraordinary yield, and the cost per barrel I am 

 unable to state exactly. Parsnips afford good food for stock or 

 swine. J have fed store pigs with raw parsnips in the winter 

 season, giving no other food, and found that the pigs throve 

 well. 



Land which produces good corn, I consider best for grass. 

 Good crops of grass may, indeed, be produced on low grounds, 

 too wet for corn ; but the quality of such grass cannot be so 

 good as that grown on dryer land. 



I think the best time for cutting grass is when it is in full 

 blossom, should the weather then be suitable. With proper 

 care two tons per acre may be harvested. I use only the scythe 

 in mowing, and rake the hay with a horse-rake, saving thereby 

 full one-half the labor. 



It has been my custom to employ native workmen. I think 

 they are the most skilful ; they understand more readily and 

 execute more rapidly. I usually employ five men for eight 

 months in the year, and have endeavored to obtain men of 

 rugged constitution and of good moral character. I treat them 



