136 PLYMOUTH SOCIETY. 



The labor in collecting material costs about six cents per load, 

 the cutting over about two cents, and carting out, five cents. 



Middleborough, Sept. 29th, 1846. 



Benjamin Hobari's Statement. 



I ploughed and sub-soiled one acre of land, on the last of 

 April, 1846 ; ploughed it again on the first of May, and put on 

 twenty-five loads of good compost manure, from the horse sta- 

 ble and barn yard ; spread the same, ploughed and harrowed it 

 in, and sowed the wheat on the 6th of May, a little over three 

 bushels to the acre ; harrowed and bushed it in, sowed some 

 grass seed before the last bushing over : I did not soak the seed, 

 or put any lime or plaster on the land ; there was some lime and 

 plaster put into the compost heap in the barn yard ; the land 

 was in corn the year before, and yielded over ninety bushels to 

 the acre. I did all in the most common way, to see if I could 

 not raise wheat with as much certainty and as little trouble as 

 other grain. Reaped the wheat July 28th, and stacked it up 

 in the field, and let it stand three weeks. I then took it into the 

 barn, and had it threshed out with a threshing machine, and the 

 result was, a little over eighteen bushels of good clean wheat, 

 not enough to secure the premium (twenty-two bushels). 



The wheat was sowed too thick — it grew so fast, and ths 

 straw was so slender, that, when it was lodged, it was so matted 

 together it could not right again ; there was nearly two loads 

 of straw on the piece. My object in sowing so thick was to 

 prevent tubers, preferring to have one good stock only from a 

 clevel. 



It is quite a question among farmers, how much seed ought 

 to be sown to the acre. I have tried diifereiit quantities, and 

 am of the opinion, that a little over two bushels, for summer 

 wheat, is the best quantity. I say a little over, that is, enough 

 to make up for any bad seed, or loss by scattering. The kind of 

 wheat which I sow is that of the golden straw, and is spurred^ 



South Abington, Sept. 28, 1846. 



