416 TRANSACTIONS OF THE 



statement was "nonsense," that was calculated to do mischief, that It has 

 been the occasion of drawing out a very valuable correction, which will do 

 good." 



I will read a little further from Mr. Johnson's letter upon the " quantity 

 of seed per acre." He says: 



^'■Timothy. — Half a bushel of timothy seed to the acre will give a better 

 quality of hay, but with me the quantity is much less than .six quarts. I 

 know we read that those who sow bountifully shall reap bountifully, but 

 this will not hold good in farming. 



" Wheat seed per acre. — I vibrated between one and three bushels of 

 wheat to the acre for several years, but settled down at l.^ bushels, believ- 

 ing it to give the greatest yield ; although with 2 to 2^- bushels the wheat 

 ripens a few days earlier. To prove this, a farmer has only to sow half an 

 acre with from 2\ to 3 bushels per acre, and sow the other part of the field 

 1-|, and it will be found that the thick sown will be ready to cut a few days 

 sooner than the thin. 



'■'■The yield per acre. — Mr. P. published that he had 78 bushels of wheat 

 from an acre — the average of the field. That was more than I could 

 believe, and I made inquiry of a friend of mine (who was acquainted with 

 Mr. Pell), as to Mr. P.'s farming matters. He told me that no doubt Mr. 

 P. believed he had the quantity named, to the acre ; but he said Mr. P. 

 was a man of wealth, resided in the city, went occasionally to his farm, and 

 no doubt had the acre accurately measured, and gave orders to have it 

 thrashed and accurately weighed by itself. But he says : ' I have little 

 doubt but his men thrashed 3 acres for the 78 bushels, and told him they 

 only thrashed the one.' 



'■'Blunder in Measuring. — Now I think there must be some such blunder 

 with the clover seed. I think, however, that Mr. Pell has not yet. seen the 

 bushel of red clover seed sown to the acre something like twenty years ago, 

 be the same more or less." * 



I hope this just though severe criticism will serve as a caution to all of 

 us not to make assertions here, even if they are true, that the world outside 

 who do Dot know our characters for veracity will never believe. Another 

 letter-writer says : 



"We want less fiction and more reality in these days of humbuggery ; 

 not that I would insinuate that the members of the Farmer's Club would 

 intentionally humbug the farmers who read their proceedings." 



Wra. S. Carpenter — I sow eight pounds of clover per acre, and would 

 not sow it until after hard frosts are over. I have no doubt that Mr. Pell 

 did sow a bushel of seed per acre, but I don't believe it all grew. 



Wm. Lawton. — I hope members will be careful not to make extravagant 

 statements that will be censured outside of our meetings. Our object is to 

 give each other our experiences. 



Mr. Moody. — The difficulty in the statement is, that we are not definite 

 enough about the quality of soil. Some soils might not produce as many 

 plants from a bushel of seed as upon other soils with ten quarts. With 



