1867. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



545 



year he had a good crop, about 25 bushels on 

 an acre. He sows the "Scotch File" it does 

 not lodge on rich ground. A heavy growth of 

 straw will not produce more than the seed. 

 As to potatoes, when he began farming he 

 bought a bushel, cut them fine, planted, and 

 raised 50 bushels from one of seed. He has 

 tried several kinds, and they gradually run out. 

 Since the rot, the California yields the best 

 with him of any kind. 



G. B. Brewster said he thinks we agree in 

 the saving of seed. Poor seed gives a small 

 plant and feeble growth. He remarked, 1 see 

 some of the members have brought several 

 kinds of potatoes here to-night. I think it 

 wrong to raise several kinds. If planted side 

 by side they will run out and mix. 



S. Flint had improved his potatoes by plant- 

 ing large ones, and believes planting small 

 ones will decrease the crop. 



O. ]\I. Wells said that fifteen years ago he 

 got a kind of potato that he liked, and he made 

 a practice of saving in the fall enough of the 

 large potatoes for seed and they do as well now 

 as ever. But he let some of his neighbors 

 . have these potatoes, who ate the largest and 

 planted the smallest, and theirs have run out. 



J. B. Clement had raised this year twelve 

 bushels of Gold Drop wheat, from one bushel 

 sown. He was anxious to know if it is bene- 

 ficial to change seed ; that is, to send off and 

 get seed of the same kind as we have, but 

 raised on different soil. 



Z. E. Jameson did not think it advisable to 

 change seed in that way, but he approved of 

 changing poor for good seed. The men of 

 whom we get this good seed do not change 

 seed but save it with care. We should imitate 

 their example. It is also beneficial to change 

 and get new varieties of seed whenever new 

 varieties are produced, by accident or design, 

 that in hardiness and productiveness surpass 

 what we have hitherto raised. Potatoes, es- 

 pecially, differ much in quality. But he thought 

 they do not mix more than a maple tree would 

 mix with a hemlock. Plants mix through the 

 blossom, not the root. 



G. B. Brewster was well satisfied that oats 

 changed from hill to valley, and from valley to 

 hill do better, and has seen trials that prove the 

 fact to his own satisfaction. 



Wm. L. Jameson had taken pains to obtain 

 oats raised on sandy land and sowed them on 

 clayey soil, but could see no difference between 

 them and those from seed of his own raising, 

 when sown side by side, either while growing 

 or after being threshed. He had changed seed 

 corn, but believed the improvement was in the 

 cultivation and saving seed, rather than in the 

 mere change. 



G. B. Brewster asked, Why do we have to 

 send west for seed wheat. 



J. B. Fassett replied, Because this is not a 

 natural wheat country. Wheat deteriorates 

 here ; there it does not. He did not believe 

 that Mr. Jameson could raise his seed 20 years. 



A. Jameson remarked that when he came 

 here, between forty and fifty years ago, this 

 was as natural a wheat country as one could 

 desire. He could raise wheat as easily as oats. 

 Wheat was 75 cts. to $1 per bushel. Mer- 

 chants took it in pay for goods and sent it off. 

 I used to get 20 or 30 bushels per acre, and 

 rye the same. But weevils came, and farmers 

 had to stop raising it, although he continued 

 to sow an acre or two. Sometimes he got six 

 bushels, sometimes ten. Now we are more 

 sure of a crop. He once sowed three pecks 

 of rye and harvested three pecks inferior to 

 the seed. When a young man he worked in 

 York State, and the farmers then thought it 

 paid to send to the white oak openings for 

 seed. 



G. B. Brewster would say that we now raise 

 more bushels per acre than they do in the 

 West. If a man in Wisconsin had raised a 

 piece of wheat like mine we should have 

 heard of it before now. In Chittenden County 

 they raise good winter wheat. One man in 

 this county has raised winter wheat as good as 

 the western white wheat. 



O. M, Wells said, from a number of experi- 

 ments, he finds it a benefit to get potatoes and 

 oats raised on different soils. He has tried it 

 three or four times. He had raised of wheat 

 at the rate of 25 bushels per acre. 



Wm. L. Locke, Jr., said that, according to 

 reliable reports, Vermont yields as much wheat 

 per acre as any State, with one or two excep- 

 tions. 



N. H. Stiles thought It is an error for a 

 farmer to go to his heap of grain and take 

 the average for seed ; full of foul seed, it may 

 be, and many imperfect seeds. He should 

 sow the best and most perfect grain. There * 

 may be cases where it would be an advantage 

 to change seed, but there are more cases where 

 farmers would do well to save the best of their 

 own raising. 



Capt. E. Grant, did not intend to have said 

 anything, but Mr. Jameson's remark of three 

 pecks of rye put him in mind of a crop of 

 wheat he once raised. It was on new land 

 and came up well, headed out and got ripe. 

 He was sick when it was harvested and hired it 

 done. In the winter he threshed it out, and 

 after working about three days cleaned it up 

 and got about three pecks of mouse manure ! 



At this meeting of the club J. B. Clement 

 exhibited half a bushel of extra onions ; J. 

 B. Fassett the product of two hills of Jackson 

 White potatoes, and S. Flint, 17 large ones 

 from a single hill of same variety ; Wm. Lock 

 specimens of Jacksons and Garnet Chili ; Z. 

 E. Jameson, one hill each of Early Goodrich, 

 Garnet Chili, Cusco, Rusty Coat and Orono. 

 Potatoes yield fairly in this section. 



Z. E. J. 



The best crop of rice raised in Georgia this year 

 was put in by two men from Ohio. There are 200 

 acres, and the estimate is 60 bushels to the acre. 



