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condition, but the experiment having been in progress 

 but one year, it does not come within the rules. The 

 fourth entry was by S. A. Jaques of West Newbury, who 

 entered an acre of swamp land of deep peat muck ; this 

 was first drained by cutting a wide and deep ditch around 

 the lot ; a heavy growth of wood was cut seven years since 

 from the lot, the stumps and hassocks removed, the whole 

 worked entirely by hand for three years, producing two 

 extraordinary crops of potatoes, grown without manure 

 or fertilizers of any kind. The fertilizers applied the third 

 year were not required by the soil or not adapted to the 

 crops, hence the failure of the onions and root crops ; the 

 cabbage succeeded better. Taking the three years togeth- 

 er, the crops paid a large profit upon the labor bestowed, 

 beside greatly increasing the value of the land. Your 

 Committee recommend the award of $10, second premium, 

 to S. A. Jaques of West Newbury. 



Respectfully submitted, for the Committee, 



J. Scott Todd, Chairman. 



STATEMENT OF B. H. FARNUM. 



To Essex Agricultural Society : — 



The piece of land which I enter for premium contains 

 an acre and one fourth as near as I can measure. It was 

 given to me by my father. He had previously cut off a 

 thick growth of maple trees, blueberry bushes and alders. 

 Twenty years ago it was ploughed, the roots dug out and 

 burned, a ditch dug on two sides, levelled with bog hoes 

 and harrow, and sowed to grass seed without any manure 

 except the ashes which came from the burning roots. It 

 was so soft oxen could not be used only on one side near 

 the ditch. The grass seed on a narrow strip near the 

 ditch came up and did nicely, but a large portion of the 

 piece produced a poor quality of meadow grass, very hard 



