101 



The deep interest I have felt in the subject, must be my 

 excuse for such a lengthy communication. 



Oak Hill, South Danvers, Oct. 29, 1861. 



KOOT CROPS. 



Forty years ago, double the claims for the culture of Roots 

 were presented, to what, by dint of application, we have been 

 able to obtain. "When the Littles of Newbury, the Putnams 

 of Danvers, and the cultivators of the fine lands of West 

 Newbury, were in the field, claims were presented worthy of 

 notice. 



Such statements as have come to our possession, are append- 

 ed to this report. They fully explain the culture sought to be 

 rewarded. The Committee are fully aware that large crops 

 may be grown by extravagant applications of fertilizers and 

 labor. This is not the kind of culture which they deem most 

 worthy of encouragement. Crops grown in the ordinary mode 

 of farm labor, which will pay for what is done to them, are 

 what we would reward. 



We are well assured that there are some crops grown in the 

 State (tobacco, for instance,) which pa^/ better than any grown 

 by the farmers of Essex. • But we think no friend of human- 

 ity, when he considers the evils consequent upon the use of 

 this filthy weed, will deem it worthy of encouragement. It is 

 antagonistic to decency, comfort, health, and even life itself. 

 It is evil, and only evil, continually. 



The first claim presented to our notice was by Hiram A. 



