164 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE. 



small one. "We put one by itself to dry. November 14 I 

 shelled it, and found that the corn weighed twenty-eight and a 

 half pounds, and the cobs six and a quarter pounds, the whole 

 having lost three and three-quarters pounds in drying. Adding 

 the other six baskets, we have two hundred and eight, which, 

 at twenty-eight and a half pounds each, would give one hundred 

 and five and eighty-five one-hundredths bushels of shelled and 

 dry corn. The land measuring one hundred and eighty-six 

 rods gives ninety-one bushels to the acre. Of this piece no 

 particular account was kept, as nothing extra was expected. 

 A fair lot of manure was used, part in the hill, part ploughed 

 in. The corn was planted in drills, rows from three to three 

 and a half feet apart, the kernels about six inches apart in the 

 drill. The manure falling short, a cord of green manure from 

 the piggery was put in the drills on a part of the field. This 

 manure was so strong that the corn did not come up, and 

 had to be planted over again, and some of it a third time, 

 which made it late ; and consequently there was a large quantity 

 of pigcorii, I should judge twenty or more baskets. But for 

 this circumstance, the field would, without doubt, have yielded 

 more than one hundred bushels to the acre. If after these, 

 and the still greater report which you will make of Mr. Rug- 

 gles' corn, any person doubts that one hundred bushels can be 

 raised on an acre, I hope that the next time I have two hundred 

 and two baskets to pick up and move in one afternoon he may 

 not only " be there to see," but to help do the work, and he will 

 probably be satisfied. 



Milton, November 15, 1854. 



Statement of Philemon Ruggles. 



The acre of land entered by me for premium was surveyed 

 I))- Mr. Charles Breck. The land was cultivated in one direc- 

 tion only, the seed having been planted in drills, the kernels 

 dropped six inches apart, alternately on each side. I have 

 found, by several years' experience, that this is a profitable 

 mode of planting, provided you have the same number of stocks 

 as if the seed were planted in hills. The rows run north and 



