168 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE. 



(north and south,) making five rows to average one rod in 

 ■width. In these furrows were put three and one-half cords 

 fine manure, making the hills from fifteen to twenty inches 

 apart ; two or three kernels were dropped in a hill, in most hills 

 but two. Used nine quarts of seed; the kind was a large, 

 eight-rowed, yellow corn. Finished planting May 21 ; about 

 one-eighth was planted a few days before. June 13, 1 ploughed 

 two furrows in a row, turning them from the corn, and went 

 through the rows twice with a small harrow before hoeing. It 

 was hoed on the 20th and 21st of June, making the land near- 

 ly level. Harrowed twice after hoeing, June 25 and July 4. 

 July 21, pulled and dug up weeds three-fourths of a day. 

 Cut the stalks the first week in September; harvested from 

 15th to 20th of October. The field measured one acre one 

 and a quarter rods. 



Before harvesting Mr. Gilmore viewed the corn, and ordered 

 three rows, in different parts of the field, to be saved and meas- 

 ured as an average for the whole. The rows selected were 

 the centre row and eighth from each side, and averaged thir- 

 teen rods in length ; making thirty-nine rods, or seven and four- 

 fifths rods of land. There were fifty-seven rods of the same 

 average length, and eleven rows six rods long, making eight 

 hundred and seven rods of rows in the field. 



The corn from the rows selected was shelled about the mid- 

 dle of December. The cars weighed three hundred and thirty- 

 four pounds ; the cobs fifty-one pounds ; the corn two lmudred 

 and eighty-three pounds. Mr. Benjamin F. Dean saw it meas- 

 ured soon after it was shelled ; there were four bushels and 

 three pecks, making ninety-eight and one-fourth bushels on the 

 lot, and ninety-seven and one-half to an acre. If the standard 

 adopted by the State (fifty-six pounds of shelled corn to a 

 bushel) had been used instead of a measure, there would have 

 been one hundred and three and three-fourths bushels instead 

 of ninety-seven and one-half to the acre. 



Expenses : — 



Ploughing, $3 00 



Ten cords of manure, 40 00 



Carting, spreading, and ploughing in manure, 5 00 



