74 



REPORT ON SPADING. 



The Committee on Spading make the following report : — 



Whole number of entries five. One hundred square feet of 

 sward land to each lot. The time allowed, thirty minutes ; the 

 shortest time taken was nineteen, and the longest twenty-two 

 minutes to perform the work. 



The Spading was all remarkably well done, and better than at 

 any of the Society's previous exhibitions, and it was very difficult 

 to decide on the various merits of the spaders. 



The Committee beg leave to observe that too little attention is 

 generally given to the use of the spade with our farmers, in 

 their every-day work ; it is one of the most important implements 

 of agriculture, and they urge all in their power the free use of the 

 spade, and deep spading, too — say from twenty to thirty inches. 

 As an illustration of the benefit derived from a thorough pulveri- 

 zation of the soil, your Chairman visited the garden of Mr. Ed- 

 ward Ives, near the Four Corners, Dorchester, and at his request, 

 Mr. Ives has furnished him with a statement from which the fol- 

 lowing extract is made : 



" Early in March, 1861, I commenced trenching ; it was done 

 with the sjMde entirely, at a uniform depth of twenty-eight or 

 thirty inches, the soil not reversed, but thoroughly mixed together. 

 This trenching I consider the great secret of the success that fol- 

 lowed, not only of the cause of the remarkable growth which the 

 trees and vines have since made, but also of the fact that out of 

 600 dwarfs set out immediately afterward, not one was lost, though 

 it will be remembered that the succeeding summer (1861) was 

 one of unusual drought. The growth during the present season 

 (1862) has been almost without exception from three and a half 

 to over five feet, in both standards and dwarfs ; and in a large 

 proportion of these young trees we have felt it safe to allow con- 

 siderable of the fruit to ripen. The trees are exactly eight feet 

 apart — between these, at the same time, we set out currants, and 

 this year, in the rows between, we have carrots and beets. 



There is about one acre and one half under cultivation, cov- 

 ered by 900 pear trees, about 2,000 currants, 100 grape vines, 

 as many raspberry bushes, nearly 50 blackberry bushes, a nursery 

 of 250 peach trees, and every thing, as can be seen, in a most 

 thriving condition, Avhich I attribute, under Providence, first to 

 the excellent trees, vines and plants, which I obtained from Col. 

 Wilder ; secondly, to the careful and deep trenching and to the 

 draining ; and, lastly, I ought not to omit to mention how much 

 we owe to the attention given to the compost heap." 



So much for deep spading and thorough pulverization of the 

 soil. 



