356 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER, 



MASSACHUSKTTS AGRICULTURAL SOCI- 

 ETY.— PREMIUM FARM REPORT. 



MAT 15, 1830. 



8. I mow 5.5 acres ot upland, averaging one and bushels of peas and one bushel of oats mixed oer 

 a half tons to the acre. The yield is not always I acre. I sowed IG acres of spring wheat of the Ital- 



Thesubjoined is from Joshua R. Lawton, of uniform-sometimes more, sometimes it falls short, ' ian variety, on my sandy loam s^oils'TnlaceJ mv 

 Mr Lawton though not often. Tin- vnnr tl,o n,-„,^ „„„,„ — i „„„j :_ . ...i. „l ., ". K'-^^-^u my 



Great Bnrrington, Berkshire county 

 was honored last year with a premium or gratuity 

 of soventyfive dollars, and this year with one of fif- 

 ty dollars; so that he may be considered a highly 

 fortunate competitor. We are satisfied that he is 

 a deserving one, and know thathis firming is intel- 

 ligent, enterprising, skilful, and profitable. II. c. 



To the. Trustees of the Massaclnisetls Jl'^nndtural 

 Socidyfnr 1838. 



Gentlemen — I herewith make an.?wer to the 

 questions put to the applicants to your society for 

 premiums on the best cultivated farms. 



Answer to question 1. My farm consists of 173 

 acres, e.\clusive of wood land. 



S. The soil is generally loam, including about 

 40 acres of sandy loam and 25 acres inclining to a 

 clay loam. 



3. In the improvement of my tillageable lands, I 

 consider the best method generalIy,to put my straw 

 in pens about on the lands I till, and scatter it out 

 to my cattle and sheep ; I use it also, to stack and 

 fodder out in comfortable weather, a part of myjiay. 

 I am accustomed to sow one bushel of plaster ito 

 the acre annually. I never feed my lands very 

 closely in summer ; I turn tkem up with the plough 

 once in four or five years, varying the time wfth 

 circumstances— generally taking from two to three 

 crops before laying tliem down. I never suffer 

 them to be laid down, however, until the turf andsoi 

 is thoroughly subdued and pulverized. The crops 

 are alternated in spring and winter prodi-jctions. I 

 manure the third crop with from JO to ^U ' loads of 

 fine manure to the acre, spread upon the land and 

 well incorporated with the soil, giving them a heavy 

 stock of timothy and clover seed. When the 

 grass seed is well up, { sow upon each acre one 

 bushel of plaster. 



I have not been able from the want of manure 

 to put more than ten loads to the acre with the 

 third crop, and that upon the lightest soils. I think 

 it very important on my soils, which are inclined to 

 clay, that a heavy coat of foliage be suffered to re- 

 main on (hem through the winter, as it in a n-ood 

 degree, prcvent.s the effects of frost upon the grass 

 roots and affords nourishment to the crop of the suc- 

 ceeding year. This is best for all lands. 



4. I this year till 56 acres, including my sprino- 

 and last fall's sowing. On lands that I plant to 

 corn or potatoes, I put from 13 to 15 loads of man- 

 ure to the acre. On that sown with ruta baga, 

 from 20 to 30 loads as the land varies in quality. 



5. My manures are applied mostly in compost, 

 though much is applied in a long or green state. 



C. I generally spread and plough in my man- 

 ures on lands destined for corn or potatoes. I nev- 

 er suffer my manures to be spread any faster than 

 they can be turned under with the plough, as they 

 will lose much of their strength by drying. 



7. I plough my green sward in the spring, after 

 the groimd is well settled and thoroughly dry ; say 

 the last days in April and the first in May, from 

 four to five inches in depth. If there is a deep soil 

 I plough five inches ; if shallow, four inches. At 

 the next ploughing, when in stubble, I then plouo-h 

 the four inch soils five inches, which serves to 

 deepen the soil if the husbandry is good and the 

 lands are manured. At the first time ploughing of 

 green sward, I lay the furrows at an angle of from 

 30 to 40 degrees, thinking this better than to lay 

 them flat. 



year the crop averaged 

 tliis yield. 



!'. I have not practised irrigation. 



10. I sometimes spread fine manure on lands 

 where bad grasses prevail, and coarse manures on 

 lands which are moist. 



I fodder out straw and hay to my sheep and cat- 

 tle on my mowing land as m.uch as I can. I make 

 a pen where I wish to manure a piece of mowing 

 land, and put in a few hundreds of hay from stack or 

 barn; I then draw a lot of straw and place it most- 

 ly on one side of the hay in the pen. This pre- 

 serves the hay. They can be foddered out togeth- 

 er. When this spot is manured, I move to another 

 place. This can be done with convenience in com- 

 fortable weather, and is better for the sheep and 

 cattle and for the land. I sow annually one bu5h- 

 el of plaster to the acre in the nionth of April or 

 May. 



11. 1 have from five to six acres of mowing not 

 suitable for ploughing. The most of this I have 

 drnined and under drained, so that it is dry and 

 produces timothy, red top and clover, mostly giv- 

 ing me from one to two tons to the acre. 



12. I have no tog or foul meadow lands. 



13. I have planted 12 acres of corn this season. 

 After ploughing as described in answer 7, before 

 planting, I harrow twice lengthwise of the furrows 

 and then harrow diagonally until the sod is thor- 

 oughly pulverized, taking care not to break up the 

 turf— then furrow or mark with a drag three feet 

 apart each way or at right angles. 



This season I planted the Button com and pre- 

 pared my seed by soaking it 12 hours \a weak so- 

 lution of saltpetre in water and rolling it in plaster. 

 I manured my ground (or the most of it,) with com- 

 post ; this I draw out in winter and put in long 

 heaps on the ground. Tire remainder was long or 

 green manure, which I drew before ploughing and 

 dropped in small heaps for spreading, at the rate of 

 about 12 or 15 loads to the acre. I never suffer my 

 manure to be spread faster than it is turned under 

 with the plough. My corn has yielded ms this 

 year 50 bushels to the acre. 



14. I this season planted four acres of potatoes. 

 I prepared my land the same as for corn : see an- 

 swer 13 : with the exception of putting from 15 to 

 20 loads of manure to the acre. I furrowed my 

 lands 2 1-2 by 3 feet at right angles, with a lig-ht 

 plough. I cultivated the land by ploughing and 



hoeing twice before the setting of the potatoes 



taking care not to plough up to or disturb the hills, 

 as this produces great injury to the roots. The av- 

 erage yield this year was 175 bushels to the acre, 

 hut little more Ihan half a crop. The kinds were 

 Ladies' baking potatoes, round pink eye and flesh 

 color. 



15. I sowed two acres of ruta baga. The prod- 

 uce was 750 bushels to the acre, which will be giv- 

 en to my cattle, hogs and sheep. 



16. I sowed last fall ten acres of winter rye ; 

 this spring twenty acres of spring wheat, five acres 

 of oats, and three acres of oats ana peas. For my 

 winter and spring grains I plough my grounds twice 

 and sow the seed on the furrow; harrowinn- the 

 same twice each way, or until the soil becomes 

 perfectly smooth and 'mfillow : I sow one and a 

 quarter bushels of rye if sowe<i early ; if late, one 

 and a half bushels per acre : two bushels of spring 

 wheat, two and a half bushels of oats, and two 



seed in a tub where the water ran in and out of 

 the tub, and washed from it all the impurities, in- 

 cluding light grains, oats, &c., after which I rolled 

 it in lime slacked in a dry state, making as much 

 adhere to the kernel as the moisture would take 

 up. I sowed about four acres of the common spring 

 wheat without liming, which was not as good. A 

 small part of one lot that was sowed witlfthe Ital- 

 ian that w,-3 limed as above, I sowed without lime. 

 The difference in the product was very perceptible 

 in the field. That which was limed produced the 

 most I have sowed this fall 14 acres of winter 

 wheat of the red chaff and white flint sort, and 10 

 acres of rye. These lands were stubble lands that 

 I have sowed this fall. 



17. I have laid down twentyfive acres to grass 

 the present season. I have sowed my grass seed 

 on my winter grain the last of April, and on that 

 portion of land sowed with spring graiu, my seed 

 was sowed with the grain. I sow six quarts of tim- 

 othy to the acre with four quarts of clover. 



18. My manures in addition to that made in my 

 barn yards by the litter of my stock, are made by 

 gaUiering turf and vegetable matter and putting 

 It into my yards, and particularly into my pig styes 

 — constantly putting in straw and vegetable matter 

 as often as it is well broken and mixed. 



ly. I have four oxen, six milch cows, seven 

 young cattle and four horses. I winter generally 

 3.50 and summer 4.50 or more sheep ; (the summer 

 addition consists of my Iambs.) I would here say 

 that I hire a pasture for which I pay $70, where I 

 keep a part of my sheep in summer. 



I have one barn 29 feet wide by 84 feet long, 

 15 feet posts ; 30 feet of the lower part of this is 

 used for shelter and making manure ; also, 

 attached to this barn is a cow house 24 feet wide 

 and 50 feet long, with a loft above for storing hay 

 and grain, and in this shed I collect and house my 

 manures and compost. I am building also one 

 other barn, 35 feet wide by 45 feet in length. Un- 

 der this barn I am making a cellar, which'is almost 

 accomplished. I shall have the barn over it in the 

 month of November next. The cellar will be 8 1-2 

 feet deep. 



20. My cows are of the native breed, part of 

 them crossed with the Du!-hain stock. 



21. Mt calves are nursed from the cows, four 

 days after which they are fed with milk until they 

 areeightor ten weeks old, when they are put into 

 good pasture. 



22. I have made 408 lbs. of hutter since the 19th 

 of April last, and 1/83 lbs. ofcheese— allnew milk. 



23. The last season I kept fifty swine, and made 

 C,880 lbs. of pork. I killed it the latter part of Jan- 

 uary last. I have now on hand fortyeight swine ; 

 twentysix of these 1 wintered. The prospect now 

 is that my quantity of pork will be fully equal to 

 that of the last year. My swine are of the grass 

 breed. 



24. The twentysix swine kept through the win- 

 ter have been kept to pasture through the summer 

 months. 



1 fatten my swine on oats, peas and corn meal, 

 with potatoes and ruta bagas thoroughly steamed. 



25. I make from my hog styes seventyfive loads 

 of manure. For tlie materials of which it is made, 

 see answer 18. 



26. I employ one man by the year, but from his 

 loss of time his average labor will not exceed eight 



