44 



EBENEZER BERRY'S STATEMEjYT-^OJV DEEP AND- 

 SHALLOW PLOUGHING. 



To the Trustees of the Essex Agricultural Society. 



Having learned that you had offered a premium, the present 

 year, for the most satisfactory experiment in ascertaining the 

 relative advantages of deep and shallow ploughing," I have 

 been induced to offer for youF examination the following 

 statement. 



In the autumn of 1821, my field was ploughed by the teams 

 that contested for the premiums of your Society. It was laid 

 out in lots of one quarter of an acre each. The land is level, 

 and free from rocks. The soil is gravelly, and shallow, and 

 only of middling quality. It had been in grass four years pre- 

 vious, and never had been highly manured. The common bur- 

 den of grass produced upon it was not more than one ton to the 

 acre. The whole field ploughed contained two acres and a 

 half, one acre of which was ploughed in the spring of the pre- 

 sent year ; and on this part was the best crop. That which was 

 ploughed in the preceding autumn at the ploughing match, was 

 well harrowed in the spring, and furrowed, eight rows to the 

 lot, two rods wide. Twelve ox loads of manure were put 

 to the acre, in the holes. The manure was a mixture of the 

 droppings of horses and neat cattle, in about equal quantities, 

 taken from the barn yard. The ground was planted with Indian 

 corn, from the 10th to the 12th of May. The eight rowed corn, 

 and that which is commonly cultivated in this vicinity, was the 

 kind planted. It was hoed three times in the usual manner. 

 Every part was managed as nearly similar as possible. Each 

 lot was gathered and accurately measured by itself Lots No. 2 

 and 3, were the most gravelly, and most exposed to the drought ; 

 and the whole field suffered considerably for want of moisture. 

 I am of the opinion that it would have been highly beneficial 

 to have cross-ploughed the land in the spring. The following 

 is the product of each of the lots. 



No. 1 , ploughed by 28 furrows, 4^ inches deep, situate on the 

 western side, yielded twenty and a half bushels of ears. 



No. 2, ploughed by 28 furrows, 6 inches deep, yielded i?ine« 

 teen bushels of ears. 



