282 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER 



MARCH 18, 1335. 



MASSACHUSETTS SOCIETY FOR PROaiOTIXG 

 AGRICULTURE. 



WILLIAM CAP.TEr's PREMIUMS rOR POTATOES 

 AND BARLEY. 



FircHDi'K.i, Mass. Nov. an, 1831. 



To liciij^niin CiiiNl, rpij. A^st. Her'tl. Fee. of the Mass. Sue. for 

 rroiiioliiig Atiricilllilre. 



The undcrsignnil proposes tho following dc- 

 .-jcribed crops of Potatoes and Barley, raised the 

 ])ast season, eacli m)0u one acre of land npon his 

 farm in FilcldiMrjr,%or the Society's Premiums — 

 and gives the following .statements in relation to 

 the same. Tlie acre of land npon which the 

 siihscriber raised the present year, five hnndred 

 and thirteen bnshcls of Potatoes, was green sward, 

 having been mowed six years ; it was broke up in 

 September, 1833, harrowed and cross-ploughed 

 early in the sjn-ing of 1834, then cross-ploughed 

 again, and furrowed two and an half feet apart, 

 and forty cart loads of good barn manure pnt in 

 the drills. The planting was in the last week in 

 May, the quantity of seed 55 bushels, two thirds 

 of which were the coramon long red potato and 

 the other third, the common blue potato. The 

 ground was hoed twice ; the first time soon after 

 the sprouts a])peared, and again, when the tops 

 were about one foot in height. The crop was 

 harvested in the last [lart of October. No par- 

 ticular account of the expense of cultivation has 

 been kept, but no untisual expense, as may he seen 

 from the above statement, was incnrred. 



The acre of land on which the subscriber has 

 raised the present season tiftyfive bushels of the 

 common two rowed barley, is the same on which 

 was raised the last year 677 bushels of potatoes, 

 for which he was awarded the Society's Premium. 

 Forty Loads of good barn manure were last year, 

 previous to the planting, spread upon the land. 

 Nothing was done with the land, after the crop of 

 last year was taken off, until the last spring, when 

 the ground was ploughed early, some time after- 

 ward cross-ploughed, and four and an half bushels 

 of seed sown on the furrow and harrowed in. 

 The crop was harvested in the latter part of July, 

 and threshed and measured the last of October. 

 No expense above what is above stated was in- 

 ourred upon the cultivation of this crop. 



William Carter. 



I hereby certify that I assisted Mr William 

 Carter in harvesting the above crops of potatoes 

 and barley raised each upon one acre of laud, as 

 measured by Phihp F. Cowdin, a sworn surveyor, 

 as also in the measmemeiit of the same crops, and 

 that there were live lumdred and thirteen bnshcls 

 of potatoes and liftyfive bushels of barley. 



'Michburg, JSim. 29, 1834. John Sticknet. 



Commonwealth of Massachusetts, ff'orcester, ss. 

 .November 29, 1834. Then the above named Wil- 

 liam Carter and John Stickney severally made 

 oath that the foregoing statements by them sub- 

 .scribcd, are true. 



Before me, KEr.NrzER Torrey, 



Justice of the Peace. 



Thia is to certily that I Philip ]•'. Cowdin, being 

 a sworn surveyor of the town of Fitchbiug, have 

 this day measured a certain piece of land for 

 William Carter of said I'itelihurg, on which pota- 

 toes grew this present season, and find it to con- 

 tain one acre and no more. 



Philip F. Cowdin. 



Fitchburg, October 20, 1834. 



This is to certify that I Philip F. Cowdin being 

 a sworn surveyor of the town of Fitchburg, have 

 this day measured a certain piece of land for 

 William Carter, of said Fitchburg, on which bar- 

 ley grew this present season and find it to con- 

 tain one acre and no more. 



Philip F. Cowdi.n. 



Fitrhbrirg, October W, 1834. 



MR J. GARDXEr's premium CROP OF RYE. 



To the Committee of .\nririillnra1 proiluets, Massachusetts Agricul- 

 tural [Society. 



The sidiscriber oflTcrs for tlie premium of the 

 Society, for the greatest crop of rye raised on an 

 acre, the following production of one acre and 

 fifteen rods of land on bis farm in Swanzey, 

 county of Bristol. The lot of land on which the 

 crop of rye was raised, the present yetjr, was, the 

 last year ]danted with |)Otatoes, and but a small 

 quantify of manure, say six or e^^ht cart loads of 

 common coinpost manure, was put into the hills, 

 which together with about 25 or 30 barrels of 

 Menhaden fish, which were spread or put upon 

 the lot, during the time of hoeing was all the 

 manure used for the two crops of potatoes and 

 rye ; about 225 bushels of potatoes, dug and 

 marketed in August, was the product of that crop. 

 Soon after the field was cleared of the potatoes, 

 the cround was ploughed, and seed sown, and 

 htuTowed in, and completed about the first of Sep- 

 tember. The crop of rye the present year was 

 extraordinary heavy, .so that the re.-iping which 

 was done early in July, required the labor, equal 

 to th.at of one man for five days. The very great 

 quantity of straw, (rather too much seed having 

 been sown, say one and a half bushels) and Ufion 

 that, but a few days before the reaping, a very 

 heavy rain fell, made the labor of reaping quite a 

 task ; after reaping, the straw being green, some 

 days elapsed before the binding and stacking was 

 done, so that a waste of some, perhaps bushels of 

 rye was the consequence. The threshing done 

 as soon as convenient, say last of August, and the 

 grain was thoroughly cleaned, foityseven bushels 

 of heavy rye, averaging 60 pounds to the 

 bushel was measured up. 



By twlopling the legal standard, of 54 pounds 

 for a bushel, the number of bushels is increased 

 to iTiore than fiftytwo, and following out that 

 standard of 54 pmnds for a bushel, within a 

 fraction of 48 bushels will be the product jier 

 acre or taking the crop as it measured, weighing 

 sixty pounds, the product amounts to 43 bushels 

 to the acre. 



The subscriber will here add, for the informa- 

 tion of the committee, that in this town large 

 quantities of Menhaden fish are caught annually 

 and mostly used for manure, the price of these 

 fish ranges from 12 to 25 cents per barrel, and as a 

 manure for rye are well worthy of evei-y farmer's 

 attention who can obtain them at those prices ; 

 they also are in high reputation for a manure 

 generally. The subscriber owning a seine, takes 

 several thousand barrels annually, and sells a 

 great jiroportion of what he takes, but uses (piite 

 a quantity on his own farm, and ihe field on 

 which the rye was raised as well as the rest of his 

 farm Ims been maile to be in his opinion quite 

 productive in consequence of their being u.sed. 



The subscriber, has given, as he believes, all 

 the facts required by the committee to enable them 

 to decide upon the claims for premiums; should 

 the committee however require further informa- 



tion, in order for theiu to decide, the sul seriber 

 will be ready to communicate, wluitever may be 

 desirable or requisite for the committee to possess.. 

 The expenses of the crop are estimated as fol- 

 lows, to v.'it, 



One and a half bushels .seed rye 80 cts. ,?1 20 

 Plougliing and harrowing, &.C. 2 50 



Reaping and binding 8 00 



Threshing and cleaning 6 00 



$17 70 

 And the value of the rye as follows, to wit: 

 47 bushels Rye SO cts. $37 60 



3 tons Rye Straw $4 12 00^ 



$49 60 

 Job Gardner. 



Swanzey, M'ovember, 1834. 



I hereby certify, that I assisted in the cultiva- 

 tion, of the foregoing crop of rye, and that the 

 foregoing statement relating thereto, is, according 

 to my best belief, just and true. 



John B. Gardner. 



I hereby certify, that I have surveyed the lot of 

 land referred to iu the foregoing statement, and 

 that it contains one acre and fifteen rods and no 

 more. David Gray, Surveyor. 



Swanzey, JVov. 3, 1804. 



Commonwealth of Massaclw-setts, Bristol, ss. 

 JVovember 21, 1834. Then Job Gardner, John B. 

 Gardner, and David Gray, subscribers to the fore- 

 going statements or certificates, a])peared and 

 made oath to the truth of the same by them sev- 

 erally signed. John Mason, 



Justice of the Peace. 



[For tiie New England Farmer J 

 EARLY CORN, 



^ewhuryport Rock F^rin. 



I\Ir Fessenden — About the first of October 

 1833, I read in some newspaper not now recol- 

 lected, a communication from the Hon. O. Fiske, 

 M. D. of Worcester, on the article of early com 

 which he had for three or four years suceessfullv 

 raised. The importance of having seed corn 

 which would ripen sufficiently early to escape our 

 frosts, also to make use of the saine ground for 

 other culture, and thereby save time in the spring 

 when nature seems to ])rcss on the duties of the 

 f.iririer, induced ine immediately to address the 

 Doctor and request him to send me in the course 

 of the ensuing winter or spring half a bushel of 

 his best selected seed. 



Early in May it arrived to hand. On the 14th 

 .same month, 1 had about half a peck of it, after 

 being soaked two or three days in a satnrated so- 

 lution of copjieras, planted on less than half an 

 acre of inverted sward, broken up for the purpose ; 

 was manured in the holes, was hoed twice with 

 very little hilling in either operation. It was in 

 spindle and car the first of July, fit for boiling 

 about the 15th to the 20th, same month, and was 

 harvested the middle of September ; and imme- 

 diately husked out, measuring fortyfive bushels 

 in the ear, being more than ninety bushels to the 

 acre. The stalk is very small and ran seldom 

 higher than four to five feet. Tlie ear is small and 

 not long, but the kernel is set very compactly on 

 the cob ; is good for boiling green, excellent iti 

 bread, and very useful for the farmer en account 

 of its early arrival at maturity ; and would Imva 



