REPORTS OF COMMITTEES 



SUMMER CROPS. 



The examination of the summer crops, occurring necessarily at a busy 

 season of the year, and always performed with inconvenience to a commit- 

 tee of practical farmers, was attended with special embarrassment to your 



present committee ; but, having accepted the position, they commenced 

 their labors on the thirteenth of July, " meaning business," and within 

 two weeks examined the one hundred and forty-five crops entered, devoting 

 such time as they deemed necessary to a fair comparison of the various 

 crops, although a longer time for enjoying the hospitalities pressed upon 

 them, and for a more extended interchange of opinions and experiences 

 with the farming competitors, would have been both pleasant and profitable 

 to themselves. 



There were six entries of winter wheat — a crop entering more largely 

 into the supply Of daily food than any other, but one which is almost en- 

 tirely neglected by the farmers of Southern Berkshire. Of the profita- 

 bleness of growing winter wheat, as compared with some other crops, there 

 may be a doubt, bat of the possibility of growing it — none, as three of 

 the crops entered abundantly attest, while the other three were not such 

 as it would pay to cultivate. We know that the soil of Berkshire has 

 given bounteous crops of wheat to a past generation of farmers, and we 

 believe that the earth refuses to yield its increase only when some inexor- 

 able law of vegetable economy has been violated. 



In a populous territory like ours, where more food is annually consumed 

 than is grown, it ought to he an easy matter to maintain the original ca- 

 pacity of the soil by returning to it alt of the elements of fertility taken 

 up by the growing crops. Some of the older countries not only attain such 

 a result, but show a constant improvement in their cultivated lands. 



It is a common saying among farmers, that winter wheat is a good crop 

 to "seed after." The tender nature of the wheat plant may be favorable 

 for the grass, but the grass is undoubtedly bad for the wheat. Of the six- 

 teen entries of spring wheat, a much better average was found. Some of 

 the crops examined, we believe would compare favorably with the crops of 

 the wheat growing regions of the West. 



