42 TRANSACTIONS. 



bring forth abundantly. No premiums should be awarded, where 

 dame nature does all the work, and throws up from her own bosom a 

 spontaneous and abundant growth. 



What benefits will the farmer derive, by thus endeavoring to raise 

 large crops? In the first place, if successful, he will most certainly 

 be the possessor of the large crop itself, and may secure a premium, 

 from some Agricultural Society, by conforming to its rules and re- 

 quirements. Again, he will have all the benefit of his experience and 

 experiments, in selecting, preparing, manuring and planting ; also, 

 in seeding and harvesting. He will learn how to adapt the crop to 

 the particular piece of land most fit for it ; — how to prepare with the 

 least expense the most valuable and fertilizing manures. He will 

 find that home made manures, may be more economical than imported 

 manures. He will learn what kind of manure each crop requires, and 

 when and how to apply. His inventive genius may bring to his aid 

 new labor-saving machines. He will learn to do everything in the 

 right time and in the right manner. Method will become one of liis 

 watchwords, and economy another. Not entirely contented with his 

 own experience and experiments, he will strive to learn from his neigh- 

 bors, and from agricultural papers and books. In a word, the en- 

 deavor thus to raise large crops tends to make the farmer a student, 

 a philosopher and chemist ; a learner from the great book of nature, 

 and a shareholder in her hank stock — the surest and most reliable 

 bank stock in the world ! 



I will close by asking the farmers to strive to develop and illustrate 

 the principle of making two spears of grass to grow where only one 

 grew before. 



The competition for the Hampshire Society's premiums on crops, 

 was greater this year than in any former year. The whole number of 

 crops entered was forty, viz : two of carrots, two of turnips, three of 

 potatoes, four of oats, four of rye, seven of wheat, seven of Indian 

 corn, and eleven of broom corn. The statements of the successful 

 competitors are annexed. 



IIYDIA^ CORI. 



Albert Montague^ s Statement. 

 The acre of land on which my corn grew, is a sandy loam. It was in 

 broom corn last year, when it received a light coat of manure on the surface. 

 The bioom corn was light, not more than six or seven hundred pounds to the 

 acre. On the 27th of May last, I carted 15 loads of coarse manure from my 

 yard to this piece, and ploughed it in. I ploughed seven inches deep, and 



