VOL. XVII. NO. 39 



16th I sowed 14 acres of winter rye on upland 

 meadow. It was mowed in July, the sward turned 

 over and harrowed. The first week in September 

 I sGwed 1 1-4 bushels per acre. It will produce 

 about IG bushels per acre. I sowed 6 acres ot 

 summer wheat ; 2 acres of it was on land where I 

 had ruta bagas last year ; the land was rich and the 

 crop, though some injured by the weevil, was good; 

 will produce about 20 bushels per acre; sowed the 

 tea wheat ; I sowed 4 acres of wheat on where I had 

 winter rye; the crop was as I expected rather light, 

 about 10 bushels per acre. I sowed 1 1-2 bushel 

 per acre ; half of the piece was sowed with the tea 

 wheat and the other half with the old fashioned 

 bearded wheat. The bearded wheat was the stout- 

 est straw and largest kernel but was more injured 

 by the weevil. There is not much difference in 

 the yield. If the weevil should disappear as I 

 hope it will, the bearded wheat will be the best 

 kind to cultivate. I prepared all my seed wheat 

 by washing it in brine and rolling it in lime. 



17th. I have laid down 10 acres to grass this 

 year, sowed 4 quarts of herdsgrasa and 4 quarts of 

 clover seed per acre with spring grain sowed in 

 hay. 



18th. For the purpose of making manure 1 carry 

 muck and earth into my yards in the fall and 

 gather all the leaves I can conveniently for 

 litter. 



19th. I keep 6 o.xen, 8 cows, 12 young cattle, 

 700 sheep and 4 horses through the year. I have 

 barns and sheds sufficient to house all my stock. I 

 have cellars under 3 of my barns for the purpose 

 of storing vegetables for feeding stock. The 

 manure is not covered excepting what falls under 

 the sheds. 



20th. My cows are of the native crossed with 

 the Durham breed. The calvea that I raise are 

 taken from the cows at 3 days old and fed with 

 new milk 2 weeks ; then with skimmed milk or whey 

 with half a pint of meal stirred into the mess of 

 each calf twice a day until they are 12 weeks old ; 

 then they are turned into good pasture where they 

 will do very well until winter ; they are then sta- 

 bled and fed with hay, cut straw and ruta baga 

 grated fine and mixed with the cut hay or straw. 



21st. I am not able to tell how much butter and 

 cheese we have made this year. I have kept 8 cows; 

 they are good and in good order and I think have 

 done well for milk. My family is large, and we 

 use all the milk, butter and cheese we want, and 

 sell some. 



22d and 23d. I wintered .5 swine they are of the 

 Byfield or i\Ioco breed, they are not yet slaughtered. 

 I think they will weigh 400 lbs. per head by the 

 first of December when they will be 19 months old. 

 My hogs are fed on raw potatoes principally with 

 a little bran mixed with the slop of the house until 

 the first of October, when I commence boiling po- 

 tatoes and pumpkins, mixing provender made of 

 oats and peas or oats and rye, with which they are 

 fatted, adding a little dry corn the last four weeks. 

 24th. I take from my hogstyes about 30 loads of 

 manure in a year. It is made from leaves, straw, 

 potato tops, weeds and any vegetable substance 

 that comes handy to throw in. 



25th. I employ 1 man and a boy in the winter, 

 and 3 men and 2 boys in the summer, besides my 

 own 2 hands which are yet able and willing to 

 labor. 



26th. I have about 100 apple trees of the natu- 

 ral fruit ; most of them are old and are decaying. 

 In the year 1832 I fenced off two acres of land and 



prepared it for a fruit yard. I sent to Albany and 

 got a choice selection of fruit trees of various 

 kinds. They lived and appeared very promising 

 until the cold winter of 1834 when they all perish- 

 ed. I think I shall make another trial next spring, 

 and hope for better success. 



27th. I have no fruit trees excepting apple trees. 



28th. None to be attacked by insects. 



29th. I have used no ardent spirits for the last 

 () years and there has been none on my farm, and I 

 hope never will be again. 1 had some difhculty in 

 getting help in haying and harvesting the fir.st year 

 that I 'commenced doing without it. I have no trou- 

 ble about it now for no man that I hire expects it. I 

 am satisfied from experience that I am better with- 

 out it, and my hired men are more contented and 

 will do more work, and do it better without the use 

 of ardent spirits than with it. 



PittsfiM. LEVI GOODRICH. 



MR LITTLE'S STATEMENT ON COM 

 POST MANURE. 



J\reivhury JVov. 28, 1838. 

 To the Trustees of tlie Massachusetts Agricultural Society. 

 Ge-^tlemkn^ — Your inquiries respecting compost 

 manure I think one of great importance to the farm- 

 er and gardener. After thirty or forty years of ex- 

 perience in making and applying the same, your 

 correspondent must acknowledge that he- has not 

 arrived at any degree of perfection, (however this 

 he thinks he has learnt that composts are more val- 

 uable in warm and dry, than in wet and cold sea- 

 sons.) Not reading your communication in season, 

 my last experiment does not meet your requirement 

 in every particular. In- September 1837, I hauled 

 from a brook thirty ox cart loads of mud; abouttwo 

 thirds of the same was- put down in a pile on the 

 maro-in of the brook, the other third was drawn in- 

 to the barn and hog yards ; and mixed with about 

 the same quantity of yard manure. Some time in 

 November or December following, about three 

 fourths of that at the brook ^vB,s hauled on to one 

 half acre of land and put down in small heaps. 

 That in the yard was at the same time hauled and 

 put in one pile on the same land ; there was drawn 

 from the yard, and barn cellar about ten loads and 

 put in a heap, on land adjoining of the same qual- 

 ity. Both parts had been planted with Indian corn 

 the year previous ; in April following the mud that 

 was in heaps was spread, and seven loads of the 

 yard manure was spread on the other half of the 

 land and both ploughed in. That in the heaps was 

 overhauled and well mixed together. About the 

 12th of May the land was ploughed again, then 

 furrowed three and a half feet apart, the compost 

 was put in the furrows as far as it would go ; still 

 there remained nine furrows which were supplied 

 with the remainder of the yard manure, the seed 

 corn was the eight rowed yellow sort of the early 

 kind, which was planted on the manure in the fur- 

 row about five thousand hills on an acre. It was 

 hoed three times, after the last hoeing which was in 

 July, I sowed with my hand half a pound of turnip 

 seed and covered the same with my cultivator. I 

 spent about one and half day thinning the turnips, 

 the corn was harvested about the 20th of Septem- 

 ber, the product was one hundred and thirty bushels 

 of ears of perfectly sound corn. At the time of 

 o-athering the corn I was out of health and my sons 

 to make "short work cut it all together. But from 

 the appearance standing in the field the corn was 

 as much larger on the compost as the turnips which 

 were harvested between the 20th and 25th of Oc- 



tober ; six rows filled a cart on the yard manure, 

 and five the same cart on tlie compost, and there 

 was four hundred and seventyfive bushels of hand- 

 some turnips. If you will take the trouble to look 

 back you will find that a part of the mud was left 

 on the bank of the brook, which was mixed with 

 unslacked lime in proportion of one bushel to a 

 load and spread on land sowed with barley ; by the 

 side there was spread one load mixed with ten 

 bushel of leached ashes ; tlien I left a space with- 

 out dressing. The land was all of equal quality 

 and had been cultivated alike the year before ; my 

 intention at the time of sowing was, to keep the 

 parts separate, but the wind brought the dressed 

 parts down, which separation could not be done at 

 the time of cutting. While growing I could see no 

 material difference in the two first parts ; the other 

 was inferior. 



As to the expense of the turnip crop we think 

 the tops amply paid the cost of.seed and labor. The 

 injury done the land we think but small, as they be- 

 ,ong to that class of vegetables that draw largely 

 from the atmosphere. Respectfully yours, 



TRISTRAM LITTLE. 



Massachusetts Horticnltnral Society. 



Saturday, March 23, 1839. 



EXHIBITION OF FRUITS. 



Apples from John M. Ives' Nursery on Dearborn 

 street Salem. 



Carthouse or Gilpin No. 92 of Coxe. A fine juicy 

 and highly esteemed table apple, late in the spring. 

 Bullock's Pippin or Sheep-nose, No. 40 of Coxe, 

 an indifferent fruit. 



Michael-Henry Pippin, No. 74 Coxe. This New 

 Jersey fruifwhich ripens in November, and is then 

 highly flaven-ed, will keep -n-ell until spring when it 

 loses its acidity and becomes a fine sweet apple — it 

 is a goodfbearer and the. fruit hangs upon the tree 

 late in the fall. 



Swaar, No. 101 of Coxe. This apple which 

 does not exactly answer the description in Coxe, is 

 a handsome formed and rather large sized fruit, 

 juicy, but not high flavored. 



Wellington. A fine fruit, remarkably juicy, very 

 acid, and a great bearer producing its fruit in clus- 

 ters, and improves for the table as the spring ad- 

 vances. 



From Job Sumner, Roxbury, a fine dark red ap- 

 ple, nearly black and sweet. 



St. Germain pears, in fine preservation and fla- 

 vor, from the garden of Benjamin Bussey, Esq., 

 Summer street, Boston. 



For the Committee, 



B. V. FRENCH. 



Sahirday, March 30, 1839. 



EXHIBITION or FLOWEKS. 



From S. Walker, Esq., Roxbury, seedling viola, 

 grandiflora variety, of a new character — black 

 ground with a bright orange eye, most beautifully 

 shaded with crimson purple ; thought by the mem- 

 bers of the committee who examined it to be much 

 the prettiest variety they have ever seen. 

 For the Committee, 



D. HAGGERSTON. 



EXHIBITION OF VEGETjSBLES. 



Mr James L. L. F. Warren of Brighton, present- 

 ed two bunches of Radishes which we understand 

 to be a sample of 20 bunches gathered this morn- 

 ing, and of 50 bunches gathered this week from a 

 bell 2 1-2 by 40 feet. Estimated crop, 200 bunches. 

 For the Committee, 



S. WALKER, Chaimutf. 



