REPORT OF COMMri^'I^EES. 



SUMMEE CROPS. 



The committee of tlie Housatonic Agricultural Society submit 

 the following- report : The entry book closed on the first of July. 

 We commenced our examinations on the fifth. Oats were not headed 

 out, and we thought it best to leave them until later, w4ien we could 

 do them justice. In our examination of Rye vve found some excel- 

 lent pieces. The heads w^ere short but well filled. We would re- 

 commend sowing less and using more manure, ashes or guano. I 

 have used guano on rye ground, and found it paid well. I once tried 

 it for corn, preparing the ground as I would to put a shovel of ma- 

 nure in the hill, used a single handful to five hills scattered over a 

 foot of ground, and covered with a hoeful of dirt before drojiping 

 the corn. A sack of one hundred and sevent} -tbree pounds used on 

 four-fifths of an acre, could see no difference either in the corn, oat 

 or grass crops from where I used manure. This was w^hen the guano 

 cost fifty-five dollars per ton ; now it costs nearly, double. It can be 

 used w^here it is difficult to draw manure. I also used it for Buck- 

 wheat ; left a piece through centre of field and sow^ed phosphates. 

 When I harvested the crop I had forty bushels to the acre where 

 guano was used, and only twenty where I used phosphates. In using 

 it on oats I found it doubled the crop. We would recommend sow- 

 ing salt, at least two bushels to the acre. We saw a piece of oats 

 on three-fourths of which salt had been sown, and we judged it added 

 to the crop eight bushels per acre. It is available in destroying in- 

 sects which are injurious to many crops. I mixed one bushel of salt 

 to eight of ashes and dropped it on my corn hills, and the w^orms did 

 not destroy ten hills. It added one-fourth to the crop. We found 

 oats a very heavy crop through the county, perhaps the heaviest in 

 a number of years. The heaviest we found were the white side oats. 

 We saw several heads over twelve inches long. The}' have a stronger 

 and coarser straw. We would prefer this kind for sowing. Found 

 the hoop of much use in taking samples, upon which we placed a 

 card wdth competitors name on one side and our estimate upon the 



