240 



XEW EXGLAXD FARMER. 



May 



bushel, but we could get seventy-six quarts for 

 a bushel and a liberal bonus to the one who 

 would guarantee the pay. They were re- 

 commended to weigh forty and more pounds 

 per bushel. The result of the crop raised 

 from this original seed proved to us that sev- 

 eniij-six quarts might produce the forty 

 pounds, but in some cases it would not. Our 

 ^^:'od was from the great originator of this kind 

 cf — "trade mark," as you justly term it in 

 your last issue. 



Sowing according to directions, one-half 

 bushel on one-half acre of ground which pro- 

 duced excellent corn in 1867. I raised about 

 seven and one-Tialf bushels of Norway oats by 

 weight, of thirty-two pounds. This field was 

 never excelled in lodging, though not from 

 heavy growth. The crop was a failure. 



In 1869, a piece of one and a half acres 

 g eensward was ploughed and well manured 

 and stocked. One acre was sowed with the 

 Dodge or Rio Grande wheat, the last day of 

 April. The half acre was sowed a week later 

 with Norway oats, and was the best part 

 of the field. The wheat grew very large, 

 stood up well and gave me twenty- seven and 

 a half bubhels of extra heavy wheat, while the 

 iialf acre of Norways began to rust and wilt 

 over about the time they began to head out, 

 and before the few single heads that tilled were 

 ripe the whole tield was a mass of rnsty straw, 

 the worst field I ever saw. The result at 

 threshing was twelve bushels of hulls that 

 would not equal so many pounds of good hay 

 in value — less than twenty pounds per bushel 

 by weight. 



This piece of ground is on a high hill, fac- 

 ing the south, and was very thoroughly har- 

 rowed and leveled, and could not be in better 

 (condition for a crop. The entire piece, though 

 very sideling, was cut with a Wood's hand- 

 rake reaper with success, and in a little m ire 

 than an hour's time. There were six hundred 

 bundles cf wheat, nice and straight, but the 

 oats lay in shapeless bunches as large as could 

 be can ied on the apron of the reapiir — ready 

 for the fork. 



Two other fields on farms adjoining were 

 but little, if any, better. 



• The verdict is almost unanimous among all 

 our farmers that the common oat is very much 

 better than the Norway, and while the former 

 can be grown with ordinary success, (he latter 

 is a very uncertain crop, and is not worthy our 

 cuiiivation. 



And now I will give you one more trial 

 which has been a fair success. Last spring a 

 barrel of black oats from Prince Edward's 

 Island, was ordered of an egg dealer in Bos- 

 ton. The oats were plump, black and heavy, 

 and were in the original barrel in which thwy 

 came with the eggs from the Gulf of St. Law- 

 rence, 'i'heir weight was about forty pounds 

 per measured bushel. 



The crop from this trial was between sixty 

 and seventy bushels of fine, heavy oats. I am 



feeding them to my team and see no difference 

 between them and the common white oats. I 

 thall continue to raise these and the oats from 

 the Agricultural Department, but no more 

 Norways. 



Any one can thus change his seed and get 

 oats from an extreme north-^rn climate by pur- 

 chasing of an egg dealer in Boston annually, 

 or less frequently, and thus keep a fresh change 

 of seed, which often proves advantageous. 

 Geo. F. Nutting. 



Randolph, Vt., March 2, 1870. 



VBQETABLBS. 



The following extracts are from the Report 

 of James J. H. Gregory, of Marblehead. 

 They will afford many good suggestions to the 

 farmer and gardener in his spring sowing of 

 seeds. Mr. Gregory has large experience in 

 his profession, which, being aided by an ex- 

 tended and careful observation, qualifies him 

 to become a safe adviser in matters pertaining 

 to the subjects of which he speaks. The re- 

 port was made to the Essex Agricultural Soci- 

 ety last fall. 



The report is not only valuable as a guide 

 in our present spring sowing, but as showing 

 the inconsistency of awarding premiums at 

 our autumnal shows to vegetables of mam- 

 moth size, but utterly unfit for table pur- 

 poses : — 



Any thrifty housewife who was compelled 

 by untoward circumstances to drop into the 

 dinner pot an onion weighing one pound, 

 or a turnip beet weighing six pounds, would 

 consider herself unfortunate, and when 

 "boiled dinner" came to the table John would 

 not be expected to go into raptures over the 

 thick, coarse sloughing layers of the onion ; 

 or the stringy, flivorless beet. 



An onion is grown for table use only, and as 

 a rule turnip beets are grown for table use 

 only ; why then should a false staidard be en- 

 couraged on our exhibition tables by award- 

 ing premiums to specimens of these two 

 vegetables, whose size would render them 

 utterly worthless for the table, — the only use 

 no iV made of them ! 



The Carrot has a double use, being culti- 

 vated for the table, and for stock ; for our 

 tables we want the sweetet^t, the finest grained, 

 and the richest fiavored of all the numerous 

 varieties. This we have in the Early Scarlet 

 Horn, the earliest of all. * * * * The 

 White Belgian will jield a quarter more than 

 any other variety, and growing partly out of 

 the ground, a large part cf the crop can be 

 pulled by hand. 



The Parsnip. This root is at present 

 grown almost entirely for the table. * * * 

 Shallow, dry, or anything but the richest of 



