182 



MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE. 



WHEAT. 



FRANKLIN. 



Statement of D. D. fy J. Whittemore, Jr. 



We offer for premium a crop of wheat raised in Sunderland 

 on one acre and forty-one rods of land. The soil is a dark, 

 sandy loam. In 1851 the piece was sown with barley and 

 seeded with clover. In 1852 we cut two good crops of clover. 

 In 1853 we ploughed in the second crop of clover and sowed 

 two varieties of wheat, namely, bald and bearded white Flint, 

 one bushel of the first, and one and one-half of the latter, har- 

 rowed well, and in the spring sowed on the piece three bushels 

 of salt, two bushels of plaster, and five barrels of slaked oys- 

 ter-shell lime. 



Our wheat suffered from the severe winter and from drought. 

 We judged that full forty per cent, of the winter wheat was 

 killed. We harvested in July, and for want of barn room had 

 it threshed immediately with a flail; consequently a large per 

 cent., estimated at from three to five bushels, remained in the 

 straw. Of the bearded we had nineteen bushels ; of the bald 

 we had six ; giving us twenty-five bushels of clean wheat free 

 from all other seeds. 



Value of the crop : — 



25 bushels of wheat, sold at $2.50, 

 Straw, valued at . 



Expenses of cultivation : — 



Ploughing, sowing, and harrowing, 

 Paid for seed wheat, 

 Lime, salt, plaster, and appliance, . 

 Harvesting and threshing, 

 Interest on laud, . 



$G9 50 



25 47 



Net gain, 



s! I 03 



