103 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



Cost of hai- vesting 12 tons of hay, . $2-1 00 



Interest, 8 years, on 1 acre of land, . 20 00 



Total $i4 00 



Troducc, li tons, 8 years, at $6 per ton, 72 00 



Profit for 8 years $28 00 



Profit of 1 acre for 11 years, . . . $68 09 



In this estimate, the labor of a man -was reckoned 

 at one dollar per day, and that of oxen at fifty cents. 



Mr. Brooks showed by estimates, that there Avas 

 more profit in raising corn in Massachusetts than in 

 Ohio, and that, with a due degree of intelligence and 

 industry, farming Avas more profitable than any 

 other business. 



Mr, O. Brigham, of "Westborough, said, that he 

 followed the method of Mr. Wm. Clark, of North- 

 ampton in raising corn and grass. His land was a 

 sandy loam. He ploughed six or eight inches deej) ; 

 iipplied comiDOst manure, and harrowed it in ; planted 

 corn, cultivated on a level ; was not troubled with 

 weeds. lie sowed grass seed at the last hoeing, 

 which was from the middle of June to the middle 

 of July. This mode is very successful. His corn 

 costs forty cents per bushel. Red top binds out. 

 He prefers foul meadow grass, as it makes better hay. 



Mr. Jones, of "Wayland, made some remarks on 

 the profit from potatoes, though that was not the 

 subject before the meeting. His profit was sufficient 

 to pay all expense, pay for the land, and leave a 

 l)alance. 



Jilr. H. B. Pearson, of Harvard, said, that as pota- 

 toes had been unusually high for a few years past, 

 the profit on that crop was no criterion of the general 

 profits of farming. 



Mr. II. C. Mcrriam, of Tewksbury, exhibited very 

 handsome specimens of corn which ho had produced 

 by a cross between the Canada corn and a variety 

 from Nantucket. 



BEST MODE OF OFFERING PREMIUMS 



FOR EXCOUKAGEMENT AND IMPROVEMENT IN AGEI- 

 CULTt'RE. 



At the agricultural meeting, at the State House, 

 March 6, Hon. M. P. "Wilder, president, in the 

 chair, the above subject was discussed. Mr. Wilder 

 read the following letter from the president of the 

 Essex Agricultural Societ}% which was then placed 

 in the hands of the editor of the New England Farm- 

 er, as directed by Mr. Proctor. 



Gentlemen : "Wlicn I saw announced that the 

 legislative farmers were about to take into con- 

 sideration the best mode of offering " premiums for 

 the encouragement of agricultvire," it struck mc that 

 the theme was highly appropriate to their position. 

 This state itself has done so much to aid the enter- 

 prise of the farmer, that it is meet that those who 

 govern the state should be consulted in the applica- 

 tion of this bounty. 



Apprehensive that it may not be in my power to 

 be present at the discussion this evening, I thought 

 I might be pardoned in putting on paper a few sug- 

 gestions. The main purpose of offering premiums is, 

 to awaken the interest and attention of the cultiva- 



tor to the subject ' — to impress him with the necessity 

 of doing what he would not otherwise be inclined to 

 do. The direct benefit accruing from the obtaining 

 of premiums is of secondary importance, compared 

 with the lessons of instruction acquired in the 

 efforts to obtain them. "While there are some who 

 will seek knowledge for the sake of knowledge itself, 

 there are many who will swallow it with more 

 avidity when sweetened to their taste. 



Care should be taken that the object for which 

 premiums are offered, should be not only valuable in 

 themselves, but of a character to afford a fair chance 

 for competition. It is desirable to embrace as great 

 a variety as practicable, that all classes may be more 

 or less interested, and disposed to encoxu'age the ex- 

 hibitions with their presence. 



Among the premiums wliich have been most gen- 

 erally approved, and from which, in my judgment, 

 have sprung the most beneficial effects, are those 

 which have been awarded for successful efforts in 

 ploughing. Ever since my attention has been direct- 

 ed to this subject, — now nearly thirty ijears, — have 

 j)/oug/iing matches been continued, and always Avith 

 unabated interest. They seem particularly well 

 adapted for the gratification of the public. They 

 create an agreeable excitement of mmd, that has a 

 cheering and healthy influence. " All work and 

 no play makes Jack a dull boy." This adage is 

 equally ai^plicable to old boys as to yoimg ones. At 

 each succeeding exhibition of skill in ploughing 

 have some new peculiarities or improvements been 

 developed. Compare the structure of the ploughs 

 now used Avith those that Avere in use Avhen these 

 matches Avere first introduced, and will any one 

 hesitate to acknoAvledge the advances that haA'c been 

 made ? Is it not therefore beneficial, once a year, to 

 exhibit to the people sjjecimens of best skill in the 

 structure and use of the most essential implement 

 of agriculture — the plough ? The oftering of premi- 

 ums for the management oi farms entire, first suggest- 

 ed by Colonel Pickering, a source most Avorthy of 

 regard, has ever been Avith us, in Essex, a favorite 

 method of bcstoAving our bounties. If societies 

 can be so fortunate as to command the serA'ices of 

 intelligent committees, Avho will observe Avith dis- 

 crimination and report Avith fidelity, in this way 

 more practical intelligence can be condensed than 

 in any other. Nor Avould I undervalue the untaught 

 descriptions from the hard hands of the Avorking- 

 men themselves : though their periods may not be 

 so finely polished or perfectly pointed, they not 

 unfrequently embrace the germ of all that is Avorth 

 remembering. Such statements give a summary 

 vicAv of all the individual objects of premiums AA-ithin 

 the limits of the farm. Let any one accompany 

 such men as Pichering, or Lowell, or Allen, in theh 

 vicAV of the farm, of their county, and if they do 

 not say that the lessons of instruction deriA'cd from 

 their unpremeditated remarks upon the objects that 

 come within their observation, are among the most 

 A'aluable agricultural lectures, I Avill acknoAvledge 

 that their experience does not accord Avith my OAvn. 



Essays on subjects connected Avith agriculture 

 have, in several instances, been favored Avith our 

 bounties. By these, it is not intended simply the 

 compilations of ideas from books on the subject : 

 but the bringing together the results of careful 

 observations and Avoll-conductcd experiments, and 

 the comparison of facts that naturally spring from 

 them. No one can attentively Avatch the cultivation 

 of an acre of any crop Avorth raising through the 

 season, and note in his OAvn Avay the various phe- 

 nomena presented to vicAV, Avithout having many 

 queries arise, no explanation of Avhich can readily be 

 found in any printed treatise. If he Avill but carefully 

 arrange and digest these observations, at the close 

 of the season, this operation Avill constitute an essay 



