REPORT 



Of the committee on Field Crops, on the farm of Mr. 

 David S. 3Iills, of Newtown, Long Island. 



The committee consisting of Messrs. Skinner, J. J. Mapes, Under- 

 hill, Field, Townsend, Bell, Van Wyck, and Meigs, of which Col. 

 J. S. Skinner was chosen chairman, beg leave to report: 



That they went to the farm of Mr. Mills, about five miles from 

 Williamsburgh, were most hospitably received by the proprietor and 

 his family; and passed the day in examining this fine farm. Two 

 hundred acres are divided into nineteen sections by regular built 

 stone walls, of from four to five feet high; all the stones of which 

 were taken from the fields, leaving the soil free from all impedi- 

 ments to the plow, hoe, or harrow. Mr. Mills supplies a large 

 quantity of pure milk at six cents per quart, to the city of New- 

 York. The first remark of Mr. M., in answer to a question, wheth- 

 er green corn stalks formed good feed for cows, was, that if the 

 stalks are given to cows after the ear of corn is formed on ihe 

 stalk, it always gripes them, arid if contimied as feed, always kills 

 them ! After the corn is ripe this effect entirely disappears. 



He remarked, that oals in the milky state are good for cows. Ex- 

 perience had proved to him that the corn stalks were one of the 

 best means of soiling cattle. He cuts them as soon as they tassel; 

 sows broad-cast five bushels of corn on an acre. The stalks must be 

 for many days, perhaps a fortnight, exposed to the sun and air and 

 carefully turned over, that they may be properly cured. For feed he 

 cuts all his corn stalks, hay, &c. As manure, he uses among other 

 things, charcoal, and burned bones; the charcoal from the retorts of 

 the manufacturers of pyroligneous acid, and the pyroxylic spirit. He 

 relies for the profit of his farming chiefly on the milk of his cows, 

 of which he now has upwards of fifty. 



He has tried the Durham breed, and found it expensive to raise 

 them. His present stock is a mixed one, having some fine milkers 

 among them. He had some time ago .in his herd, (Eighteen cows 



