94 ON' CULTIVATION OP CROPS. 



ON CULTIVATION OF CROPS. 



The committee on the cultivation of crops to 

 whom were referred the three claims which are an- 

 nexed, after considering the same, have concluded 

 to Report: 



That they award the premium of ten dollars, to 

 Mr. Stuart, and they recommend that a gratuity of 

 five dollars to each be paid to Messrs. Putnam and 

 Dodge. 



It is understood that entries of other claims were 

 made which have not been prosecuted. The com- 

 mittee regret that such should be the case, especial- 

 ly as it may have been occasioned by a failure in the 

 anticipated abundance of the harvest. But even if 

 such have been the events, it might still be useful to 

 know to what causes the disappointments have been 

 owing. The point to be gained by the publication 

 of statements and reports, is to render cultivation 

 more intelligent, by communicating to the whole the 

 experience of each. So far as there has been any- 

 thing peculiar, or in the nature of an experiment in 

 the mode of rearing the crop which has failed, it is 

 perhaps equally important that the details of the 

 cultivation should be laid before the public, as 

 if the result had been one of complete success. 

 That course of culture would then cease to be an 

 experiment, and the intelligent farmer would be 

 careful to avoid a repetition of the same error. 

 All experience in human affairs must of necessity 

 consist of evil as well as of good, and the record 

 that contains only the good, and omits all history of 

 the evil, cannot but be imperfect. But if any im- 

 provement in the annals of Agriculture is desired in 

 this respect, it is perhaps only to be accomplished 

 by a change in the principles upon which premiums 

 are awarded. 



