116 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



MASSACHUtiETTS AGRICULTURAL JOURNAL, 

 FOR JUNE, 1832. 



(Continued from p. S5.) 



A letter from John Prince, Esq. (if Roxbury, 

 to llie Committee on Aarricultural jiroductions, 

 dated Nov. 1821, states the tbilowinjr tacts, viz. 

 That Mr. Prince kc])t a iarg-e stock for the size 

 of his farm, which is small, his house lot only 

 f)7 acres, and was therefore induced to raise 

 lar<?ely of roots. The quantity, however, is 

 smaller than he had last season from the same 

 quantity of land under cultivation, owins:, as Mr. 

 Prince supposed, to its being principally from 

 pasturage, newly broken up. The jiroductions 

 of tlie lifty-seven acres were 800 hills of sum- 

 mer squashes (on less than half an acre) which 

 yielded largely, and were daily gathered for a 

 long time, and boiled for a large stock of swine, 

 with the thinnings of mangel wurtzel, &.c. kc. — 

 657 bushels of mangel wurtzel at the harvest- 

 ing, besides a largeouantity of thinnings, dur- 

 ing the season, an(l^lso of leaves at harvest 

 given daily to cows, swine, &c. cost seven cents 

 per bushel. Mr. Prince says, "I think a great- 

 er quantity of this root can be raised on suitable 

 soils, than of any other vegetabl?, requiring not 

 more than one third of the labor that carrots do. 

 — 100 bushels carrots, on same space of ground 

 adjoining the preceding crop ; cost 17 2-3 cents 

 per bushel — 337 bushels ruta haga ; o-4tli3 of 

 them were raised on land broken up the same 

 season, and the sods burnt by an Irishmnn ac- 

 quainted with the businc.-s, and no other mmure 

 on the three-fourths; the cost 8 2-3 cent* per 

 bushel ; were sown the 29th .lune, too late by 

 A fortnight, but the land could not be got read}' 

 sooner — 745 bushels of potatoes, besides early 

 ones, used during the season ; they were of 13 

 different sorts, and cultivated by Llr. Prince for 

 the niirpn=« fif coloctin^ the most valuable. 

 The best were the Kium potatoe U'm P.hode 

 Island, and are uncommonly fine. The second 

 best from Gen. Derby, of Londoniorry, N. H. 

 and supposed to be the Huckmat potatoe from 

 Maine, a new sort. The third tom Hamburgh, j 

 imported by T. B. Wales, E?q. are very tine I 

 and yield well. There were so many sorts, and I 

 planted on so many spots, t'lat it was impossible ! 

 to keep the costs — 15 bus.'icls of sweet potatoes 

 ot xary good quality, am/ the cost of cultivation 

 not more il so much as other? ; they yield more 

 from the same number of hills, and do best on 

 light sandy land — 37 bushels Russian radish, the 

 produce as large as any vegetable Mr. Prince 

 e.Ter raised ; some of them weighing fourteen 

 pounds; they keep well through the winter; 

 cattle arc very fond of them, and the thinnings 

 wore boiled, among other vegetables, for swine. 

 Gen. IJcrliy, of Londonderry, has this year rais- 

 ed more than one tliou'sand bushels altogether 

 on his cornbills (one each) and he thinks it no 

 injury to tlic corn ; thoy do not seed the first 

 year, like oilier radishes, but must be cultivated 

 like turnips — 400 bu<bels turnips of different 

 sorts; some of the yellow .Micrcleen, from Mr. 

 Young, of Halifax, thought to be the best of any 

 for the table, ami keep well ; some red tankard 

 and while Norfolk. All were imported seeds, 

 and not sown till the last of July, and principal- 

 ly on burnt soil. 1 find, says Mr. Prince, when 

 English turnip seeds are used, they should be 

 sown from two to four weeks earlier than our 

 own old fashioned sorts, as the tops grow very 

 large, and the roots do not begin to swell fill 



the tops are nearly done growing. — Cabbages, a 

 considerable quantity, but did not head well ; 

 the soil too dry for them. Besides a considera- 

 ble quantity of vegetables from a large garden, 

 not more than two hundred bushels have been, 

 or will be disposed of otherwise, than for the 

 use of the farm. Last winter I kept in pits 

 near one thousand bushels of Ruta Baga and 

 Mangel Wurtzel, which did so well, that this 

 season I have nearly as many. The trench dug 

 about one foot deep, and four feet wide, and 

 long enough to contain one hundred and fifty or 

 two hundred bushels each: they are then piled 

 about 3 1-2 feet like the roof of a house, cover- 

 ed eight or twelve inches with straw or mead- 

 ow hay, and then with the earth thrown out of 

 the trench and enough added to make it, when 

 the weather becomes quite cold, about a foot 

 thick. Be careful not to cover too thick at first, 

 as the heat of the vegetable is great, when con- 

 fined in so large a body, and would destroy 

 them." 



Mr. John Dv.'inell gives a statement of the 

 cultivation of a lot for a premium crop of po- 

 tatoes. 



" The lot is situated by Bridge street, so call- 

 ed, in Salem, county of Essex, and owned by 

 Messrs. Waitt and Pierce. It was broken up 

 in 1819; soil black, low and heavy. For about 

 twenty years previous to which, it had been 

 mowing land. The last year potatoes were 

 raised on the lot, nine cart load*; of barn manure, 

 about twenty bushels white seed potatoes, and 

 whole labour then employed in production of 

 croj), nineteen and an half days. 



The cultivation, &.c. the present year has 

 been — 1st. Four loads of barn, and five of privy 

 manure, for one yoke of oxen, were put on the 

 lot. 



2d. The seed, an equal portion of nbile«, 

 blues and long reds, making in all about twenty- 

 four and an half bushels. 



3d. Two days ploughing and half a day fur- 

 rowing, with one yoke of oxen, no driver; 

 1 7th and 19th of May, three days planting; 14th 

 June, three and an half days weeding; Itilh 

 July, 3 days hilling ; and from 1st October, ten 

 days digging crop, making in the whole twentv- 

 three days labour. 



Itli. The amount of crop measured ^ivc luin- 

 dred and eighteen and an half bushels on the 

 acre." 



Thomas Shepherd, Esq. of Northampton cer- 

 tifies, in substance, that on the IGth Oct. 1821, 

 he measured an acre of ground, across the end 

 of his cornfield, had the produce threshed on 

 the first day of the Cattle Show, brought it to 

 the Show in the afternoon, and sold it under 

 the inspection of hundreds of people. The corn 

 was perfectly hale and dry, and measured C7 

 bushels and 24 quarts, all produced from one 

 acre of land sowed in rows about four feet apart. 

 The same gentleman caused an acre of land ad- 

 joming the above to be measured off, which 

 was sowed in alternate rows of corn and ruta 

 baga ; the corn rows being eight feet apart. 

 Tlie produce was sixty-one bushels and twelve 

 quarts of corn, and one hundred and sixteen 

 bushels of ruta baga. The whole field of nearly 

 twenty acres (except the fir«t acre) was sowed 

 in rows eight feet apart, and the half acre, 

 which yielded Gl bushels and 12 quarts, was 

 not better than a fair average of the field. The 

 ruta baga sowed between the corn rows was al- 



most liurnt up with the drought. The first acre 

 was entered for the Society's premium of g30, 

 for the greatest quantity of corn on an acre, 

 and the second acre for the premium of g30, for 

 the best mode of raising corn. The laud was 

 dry and the corn suffered much from the drought. 

 The field contains nearly twenty acres, whicL 

 with four others of about the same size is culti- 

 vated under a five years' rotation ot crops with- 

 out manure, except the corn year, when it is 

 spread on profusely. It had lain in grass (with- 

 out any manure being put on it) three years, 

 when it was ploughed in the fall, and manured 

 in the spring at the rate of nearly fifty loads to 

 the acre, taken fresh and green from the harp 

 yard and pig stye, and all made during the win- 

 ter (except some heaps of compost not very 

 good) by the cattle, sheep and pigs, from straw 

 and oats mixed with the stable manure ; the 

 land was cross-ploughed an inch or two dee[>ei 

 than the fall ploughing ; the manure covered 

 up as fast as it was spread about from the carts, 

 the turf harrowed fine with light seed harrows; 

 the land furrowed back to back in ridges foui 

 feet apart, the tops of the ridges being two feel 

 higher than the bottom of the ditches. Th( 

 land was then harrowed across the ridges, whicl 

 filled up the ditches with fine rich mellow eartl 

 a foot deep, well mixed with manure, in wbici 

 the corn was carelessly strewed along veri) thick 

 sprinkling gypsum on it before covering it up 

 The corn was sown between the 10th and 2Ctl 

 of May, was hoed three times, beginning th( 

 first week and ending the last week in June 

 Mr. Shepherd concludes this article as foUov.s 



" I have tried every plan lor several j'ear 

 past, and this is the third year that 1 have sow 

 ed it in rows from six to eight feet apart, will 

 a variety of roots and plants between them 

 The first year I got 44 1-4 bush, to the acre, o 

 rather from half an acre; the second a ear 5( 

 bushels, and this year 61 bushels 12 quarts. I 

 is my belief that 75 bushels corn and 3 or 40'. 

 bushels Ruta Baga (or 2 or 300 bushels potatoes 

 can be raised on an acre of good rich ground cul 

 tivated in this way ; but the corn must be sowc( 

 very thick in rows eight feet apart, and th' 

 ditch well filled with fine melloiv earth, am 

 plenty of manure, nor is it an expensive mode o 

 culture considering the great crop to be obtain 

 ed. The cross ploughing and furrowing is extr. 

 work, but this it is, with the aid of the harrow; 

 that makes the great crop, if sowed in widi 

 rows, as my experiment this year proves, ha\ 

 ing got at the rate of 122 bushels 24 quarts i' 

 the acre in this wa}', and in the narrow rou - 

 with more exhaustion of the land, only 87 busli 

 els 24 quarts. With regard to the expence o 

 cultivating a single acre of land, the Trustee; 

 will please to consider that 1 do not cultivate r.ii} 

 one acre of land with a view particularly to 

 premium, and therefore cannot ascertain the ox 

 pence. 1 would observe however that the ex 

 tra expence of cultivating corn in this way be- 

 yond what it is in the usual way in hills is in- 

 considerable. They will also decide which ol 

 the two is most meritorious, him who cultivates 

 his whole farm alike both as to labour and man- 

 ure, or him who devotes all his energies to gel 

 a great crop, from a single acre, and robs the 

 residue of his farm for the benefit of a pre- 

 mium." 



The succeeding articles in this excellent 

 number of the Massachusetts Agricultural Re- 



