43 [Assembly 



Gentlemen : 



Having been awarded the first premium by the American In- 

 stitute, for the best cultivated farm of one hundred acres for the 

 present year, in obedience to the rules of your institution, I send 

 you the following statement of my mode of cultivation : 



I observe in the first place, that as far as possible, I adopt the 

 following rotation of crops : Indian corn upon green sod ; pota- 

 toes after corn, with a second crop of turnips or cabbage the 

 same year ; potatoes the following year, followed by wheat sown 

 in the fall with timothy, and in the spring adding red clover 

 seed. Thus stocked, the meadow is permitted to remain so long 

 as it yields two tons of clean hay to the acre, w^hich is usually 

 five or six years, without top dressing. Each crop is thoroughly 

 manured, except the turnips. 



Manure. — The manure heap is made up from the barnyard, the 

 horse stables and the hog pens, composted with muck or mud 

 from the salt meadows, leached ashes, ground bone, charcoal dust 

 and guano. I form the compost as follows : charcoal dust at 

 the bottom, wet muck, then ashes, then barnyard, hog and stable 

 manure, then bone dust, and so on in rotation, until the material 

 is exhausted. Then cover the whole heap with charcoal dust, 

 and cover the charcoal dust with a heavy coat of seaweed and 

 drift, which is thrown up in great abundance from the bay on 

 the farm. By means of such covering, the manure heap loses 

 none of its ammonia, and other fertilizing qualities. Immediate- 

 ly previous to applying the manure to the crops, the heap is 

 turned, and thoroughly mixed and made as fine as possible, then 

 through each load as it is taken to the field, a small quantity of 

 Peruvian guano is sprinkled, equal, say fifty pounds to the acre. 

 I have never known a tree, vine, or vegetable, upon my farm, 

 that did not thrive on manure composted according to the above 

 receipt ; and any success which I have had in agriculture, I at- 

 tribute mainly to the practice of giving every animal, and every 

 tree, vine, and vegetable, plenty of food, and in such variety as 

 to ensure good health and condition. 



My agricultural year commences on the 1st ot December. I 

 then commence preparing my hot-beds, which consist now of 



