AND RURAL ECONOBIIST. 135 



a large proportion of earth, and frequently removed by the 

 fork and the shovel ; so that in this Avay, being ripened for 

 use, it went immediately (not to burn, as when applied green 

 or new, but) to nourish and fertilize the soil. There was 

 early in the spring of the present year spread on the field 

 about eight cords of the above described manure. The field 

 was harvested the latter part of August, the grain threshed 

 soon after, and measured by the purchaser, w^hose certificate 

 follow^ed, showing the product to be sixty-one and three- 

 fourths bushels, or thirty-eight bushels and two quarts to the 

 acre.'^ 



The following is from the ' Transactions of the Essex Agri- 

 cultural Society.^ 



To the Trustees of the Essex Agricultural Society. 



Gentlemen, — Having for many years past been more than 

 commonly successful in raising large crops of winter rye by 

 a process of cultivation w^hich, I believe, is entirely new, I 

 have been induced, by the suggestion of some gentlemen 

 "whose judgment I very much respect, to submit for your 

 consideration a statement of the mode of culture, with the 

 produce. And, that the success of the experiment this sea- 

 roii may not appear to be altogether accidental, it will, per- 

 haps, be as well to communicate the result of the process for 

 the three or four previous years. 



The land on which the experiment has been conducted is 

 situated on the Merrimack, about a mile and a half east of 

 Haverhill bridge ; and came into possession of my father in 

 1827. The soil is a sand, approaching to loam as it recedes 

 from the river. Perhaps the term plain land (by which it 

 usually passes) will better convey an idea of the quality of 

 the soil. It is altogether too light for grass. The crops we 

 find most profitable to cultivate on it are winter rye, Indian 

 corn, potatoes, and to some extent turnips. Oats might 

 probably be raised to advantage, were it not that the land is 

 completely filled with the weed commonly called charlick, 

 which renders it entirely unfit for any spring crop, excepting 

 such as can be hoed. The crops of rye on the neighboring 

 soil of the same nature vary, 1 believe, from seven or eiffht 

 to twelve or thirteen bushels per acre, according to the culti- 

 vation, and their approximation to the river. We usually 

 raise on this land from thirteen to thirty bushels of Indian 



* N. E. Farmer, vol. xi. p. 243. 



