LIBRARY

OF THE

MASSACHUSETTS

AGRICULTURAL

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FIRST REPORT

AGRICULTURE OF MASSACHUSETTS.

FIRST REPORT

AGRICULTURE OF MASSACHUSETTS

Bir HENRY COLMAN,

CCMillSSIOXER FOR THE AGRICULTURAL SURVEY OF THE STATE.

COUNTY OF ESSEX

1 837.

iS onion:

DU ITON AND WEiNTWORTH, STATE PRIMTERri,
1S38

^d

CommontDcaltl) o£ i^assactusetts.

In Council, March 1, 1838.

His Excellency the Governor presents the first Report of the Com-
missioner for the Agricultural Survey of the State, and it is thereupon
Ordered, That the Secretary cause three thousand copies thereof to
be printed for distribution.

Attest,

JOHN P. BIGELOW,

Secretary of the Camnwnwecdtk.

To His Excellency

Edwaud Everett,

Governor of Massachusells :

Sir,

I have the honor to lay before you my first Report as Commis-
sioner for making an Agricultural Survey of the State. It includes
the county of Essex. A report of the survey of the county of
Berkshire with incidental matter relating to the culture of silk
and beets for sugar, objects now strongly attracting the attention of
the farmers of New England is advanced ; and will be submitted
with as little delay as possible. The labor of examining and con-
densing for the public eye a large number of miscellaneous docu-
ments, notes, reports, and communications, can be justly appreciated
only by those who have performed it.

This report for obvious reasons will necessarily be imperfect.
Its publication however will much facilitate the further progress of
the survey by letting the agricultural public know what information
is sought ; and will afford occasion to the farmers to say what they
desire should be done. I shall anxiously attend to the indication of
their wishes ; and to any suggestions which may be made for the im-
provement of the Survey.

If the Survey results in no other good, it will present, I hope, in
their true light the motives which the children of Massachusetts
have to stay at home. Her rewards to industry, enterprise, and
good conduct, directed by intelligence and under the guidance of
temperance and prudence in the cultivation of her soil, are sufficient
to satisfy every reasonable desire. Her social institutions and privi-
leges are pre-eminent ; and such as no new and unsubdued territory-
can expect to reach, under the most favorable circumstances, even
in half a century-.

Filial reverence and affection are honorable traits of character
and among the highest duties of religion. Let the children of
Massachusetts then love and honor their good old mother. Her

soil may be hard ; but labor compels it to be bountiful. Her climate
may be liarsh ; but it gives stren2;lb and elasticity to the muscles,
and the brightness of its own stars to the mind. Her voice in
winter may be sometimes hoarse, and her face wrinkled and frown-
ing ; but her children will not love her the less for a sternness of
discipline, by which she trains them up in habits of unremitting labor
and self-dependence ; and thus qualifies them to be the blessings
and ornaments of their own community ; the substantial pillars of the
federal edifice ; and the pioneers of learning, civilization, humanity,
and religion in the boundless West.

I am glad, even in the most humble form, to contribute to that
large amount of good, which the Commonwealth is deriving from
your patriotic services. I am particularly happy. Sir, that in any
public service my name should be associated with yours ; from
considerations of honor to myself, and not less, from the sentiments
of high personal regard with which I have the pleasure to subscribe
myself,

Your fellow-citizen,

HENRY COLiMAN.

Boston, Feb. 22, 1838.

Extracts from the Statement of the Commissioner of Agricultural
Survey to the Committee of JJgriculture of the House of Repre-
sentatives of Massachusetts^ toho were " Ordered to inquire^ what
progress had been made in the Agricultural Survey of the State^^^
7 Feb. 1838.

The Resolve for an agricultural survey of the state bears date the
12th April, 1837. The appointment of a commissioner was made
on the 27th of the ensuing May ; and he received his instructions
for its prosecution on the 15th of June.

The resolve requires of the commissioner that he should " make
an Agricultural Survey of the State ; collect accurate information
of the state and condition of its agriculture, and every subject con-
nected with it ; point out the means of improvement ; and make a
detailed report thereof with as much exactness as circumstances will
admit."

The service, it will be seen, was in a measure indefinite ; but suf-
ficiently large, since it required " the collecting of accurate informa-
tion and reporting with exactness and in detail, on the state and con-
dition of the agriculture of the Commonwealth ; and every subject
connected with it, as well as the means of its improvement," involv-
ing of course the improvements practicable and desirable.

The Executive, in his letter of instructions- to the commissioner,
expresses an opinion that the execution of the survey would require
two years. The committee, who reported the resolve were of opin-
ion that three years would be required. The commissioner has
hoped to bring it within the term prescribed by the Executive. It
will be seen, however, diat from the advanced state of the season
when he received his instructions, and the preparations indispensable
before he could commence his examinations, a valuable part of the
season was necessarily lost. Besides which, at the request of the
committee of the Executive council, he was in attendance upon them
a fortnight at their session in August and September, in determining
the necessary expenses of the survey.

' Appendix A.

In an enterprise altogether unattempted in our own country, it was
necessarily left in a great measure to the commissioner to determine
his own course of proceeding under the sanction of the Governor.

He accordingly prepared a circular letter to the farmers of Mas-
sachusetts explaining his notions of the nature of the survey, and
pointing out in detail the various objects embraced by it. Of this
letter the Governor was pleased to signify his approbation. A copy
of it, he has now the honor to submit to the committee.* Of this
letter, the preparation of which required some labor, he caused 2,500
copies to be printed and distributed in various parts of the State.
Afterwards finding it indispensable in the prosecution of his inquiries,
he caused to be published and distributed extensively, wherever he
visited, a blank form of a Farm Report, a copy of which also, he
submits to the committee. f

In the prospectus of the survey the chemical analysis of soils,
mineral manures found in the state, botanical productions, insects
and worms affecting crops, and forest trees, are put down as subjects
of inquiry. From these, by the instructions of the Executive,
he is excused, as they come immediately within the survey of other
departments. His duties, however, make them incidentally indis-
pensable objects of inquiry ; and they have accordingly in a degree
received his attention.

It will be seen that the information sought after was not to be had
but from personal observation and direct intercourse with the farmers
themselves ; on their own premises ; by correspondence ; or wher-
ever they could be met with. He has accordingly undertaken to
visit every town in the Commonwealth. He has given it likewise
to be understood as his wish to visit every principal farm in every
town, the management of which promises to afford useful information.
In determining what particular farms to visit, it is obvious that he
must necessarily be directed by the advice or suggestions of others ;
but in order to avoid all invidiousness, he stated plainly, in the outset,
that unless prevented by extraordinary circumstances, he would visit
every farmer, who would invite him to his premises ; having a per-
fect confidence that he should find oftentimes as creditable and in-

' Appendix B. t Appendix C.

structive management among small farmers, as among those who pur-
sue agriculture upon an extensive scale.

He commenced his survey in the county of Essex. He visited
every town in this county more than once, and at the end of Sep-
tember he went into the county of Berkshire. He attended the
Cattle Shows in Essex and in Berkshire ; and continued in the
latter county, with the exception of an excursion into Hampshire
county, until the last of November, when the snow rendered the
out-door prosecution of his labors impracticable. In October he
went, as stated above, into Hampshire county, for the purpose of
attending the Cattle Show and Exhibition at Northampton ; and
particularly that he might ascertain the precise condition and prospects
of the Silk culture and manufacture, and the culture of Beets for
sugar in that vicinity ; two matters in respect to which the public
curiosity is excited ; and which, from the direct encouragement
promised by the laws of the Commonwealth, essentially concern the
public interest. Besides these he has made visits to several other
towns in the Commonwealth, for the prosecution of his inquiries^
as they came incidentally in his way.

He has applied himself to every principal object of agricultural
inquiry that has suggested itself, or been pointed out to him ; and
personally inspected every considerable improvement in cultivation,
in reclaiming land, in seeds, in crops, in farm buildings, in farming
utensils, and in live stock, of which he could get any information,
wherever he has been.

In the course of his journeys likewise, he has had as many in-
quiries put to him as he has put to others. He has by request
delivered several public addresses ; and in many towns and villages,
considerable numbers of the farmers have invited him to meet them,
of which opportunities he has gladly availed himself to get and to
give information. The information which he has sought to commu-
nicate has been wholly practical and experimental. His visits have
in such cases been welcomed ; and in evidence of their supposed
utility, he begs leave to submit to the Committee an extract of a
letter received by him from a highly intelligent farmer in Berkshire,
late President of the Berkshire Agricultural Society.*^

" Appendix !'■

The ]5iinci[)al objects of his inquiries have been, —

I. The Crops ; their aiDouiit and uses ; the modes of cuhiva-
lion ; the cost of production ; their positive and comparative value.

II. TheLivk Stociv : their kinds ; the cost of keeping, modes
of being kept ; yield or produce ; the improvements made in them ;
and the comparative advantages of different kinds or breeds.

III. Comparative AND MIXED Husbandry. The Dairy ;Wool;
Vegetable Crops ; Grain Crops ; the selling of Hay ; Grazing and
raising Neat Cattle ; Fattening of Beef, Pork, and Mutton ; Raising
of Lambs for market ; Silk ; Beet Sugar ; Teasles ; Broom Corn.
. IV. Implements. Ploughs, Harrows, Threshing Machines,
Drill barrows for planting. Cultivators, &c.

V. Manures. Green Crops ploughed in. Use of Barn manure,
Lime, Gypsum, Marls, Fish, Seaweeds, Shells, Clay.

VI. Growth of Wood. Value of land for wood. Kinds of
wood grown, and relative profits. Hedges. Peat. Charcoal.

VII. Weeds pernicious to Agriculture.
Vm. Bees.

IX. Improvements in reclaiming salt meadow; in managing
salt meadow ; in reclaiming fresh meadow ; in cultivation.

These are not enumerated as the only subjects of inquiry ; but as
subjects of inquiry on which he has obtained in those parts of the
state where he has been, practical information, ihe result of experi-
ence, which will be valuable ; and which he designs to imbody in
his report.

Of Mixed Husbandry, he has the pleasure to state to the Com-
mittee, that he has received several reports, which he will submit to
the public.

Any person familiar with our farn)ing population will in some
degree appreciate the difficulties in the way of obtaining in an authen-
tic form the information which he has sought.

He designs no improper reflection. Some will overstate ; some
understate. Some will not state at all. Some through indiffer-
ence or carelessness keep no accounts of their farming operations.
Some through diffidence are unwilling to tell their experience.
Many persons were utterly ignorant of the objects of the survey,
and naturally regarded with a degree of suspicion or caution an

9

individual coming under a sort of authority to look into tlieir affairs.
Some from an liabitual distrust of all reports, were unwilling to give
any, lest their veracity should be questioned ; and not a few were
disinclined to make any statement lest it should raise the valuation
and increase their taxes. Many promised full reports, but to his se-
vere disappointment, have not fulfilled their promises.

Notwithstanding all these exceptions, yet among the intelligent,
enterprising, and public spirited, as soon as his objects were under-
stood, they were seen to be disinterested and for the j)ublic good.
Such persons rendered essential aid, and have promised their future
co-operation. He has received several valuable reports and com-
munications of which he shall avail himself.

He has deemed it an important part of his duty to collect seeds
valuable either for the quality and abundance of their product, or
for their early maturity, that he might either furnish the farmers with
these approved varieties or put them in the way of supplying them-
selves. In this matter he has no view whatever either directly or
indirectly to any personal advantage ; but altogether to the advantage
of the farmers themselves.

He has collected several specimens of wheat, barley, Indian corn,
buckwheat, teasles and jiotatoes. He has sent to Portugal for a
valuable variety of wheat said to ripen in seven weeks ; to Italy for
a kind of Indian corn of the flint variety, said to bear four to
five ears on a stalk ; to Germany for seeds of teasles much superior
to those grown among us, and sold at 100 per cent, advance upon
ours ; to Nova Scotia for a kind of oats reputed highly valuable for
their weight and not subject to blight ; to New York for potatoes of
extraordinary productiveness and for the Siberian and Italian wheat ;
and to New Hampshire for early and productive varieties of corn.
He is expecting to obtain likewise some seed of a kind of corn which
is said to have ripened perfectly on the shores of Lake Superior.
He has taken pains likewise to obtain the model of a Scotch bow
for harvesting grain of a simple, useful and cheap construction ; and
of a drill barrow from Berkshire county, recommended strongly by
the same qualities. He has taken measures to procure the best
model of a plough, and to get information which he thinks he has
2

10

acquired, of the least expensive iliieshing machine effectual for the
farmer's purposes. He has likewise engaged a model, which he
expects will be sent to him, of an excellent steaming apparatus for
the preparation of feed for cattle. x\ll these are matters of his own
private expense to be allowed or not at the pleasure of the Executive.

The correspondence of his office has been considerable ; and is
daily extending — it being his determination to avail himself of every
opportunity at home or abroad of obtaining such information as may
benefit the agriculture of the state.

He has likewise, once of his own movement, and a second time
at the instance of the Committee on Agriculture, addressed the
members of the Legislature at large on this great interest of the
state ; being desirous to communicate whatever information he pos-
sessed for the general benefit ; and to awaken a just concern in the
subject with others.

Exact returns from the difierent towns of the number of acres
cultivated or under improvement and the amounts of agricultural
produce obtained, and of live stock, he has found it impossible by
his individual exertions to obtain. In this respect he hopes the
government will aid the survey by some general law. The returns
of the assessors made seven years since, give very imperfect state-
ments of the present agricultural condition of the Conmionweahh.

His report, in the present stale of the survey, must be partial and
imnerfect. No reports of the soils, of the forest trees, of the domes-
tic animals, and of the insects, have as yet been submitted, of which
so !ai s they should be connected with agriculture he is promised,
when presented, permission to avail himself.

The Legislature have been pleased by a resolve to assign him the
use of a room in the State-house for an office ; but as the grant was
only during the session, and as th? inconvenience of making a re-
moval at the close of the session would be considerable, he has hesi-
tated to avail himself of their kindness. A permanent office, with the
usual accommodations, where he might exhibit samples of wool, silk,
seeds and plants, and such plans or models of farm buildings, imple-
ments, or machinery, as it might be convenient to place there ; and
where the intercourse between the members of the government and
the commissioner of this department could be easy and frequent,
mi^ht bj ot public advantage.

REPORT

AGRICULTURE OF THE COUNTY OF ESSEX, MASS. 183-

Essex County lies at the northeastern part of Massachusetts ;
and is bounded on the northwest by New Hampshire ; on the east
and northeast by the Atlantic Ocean ; and southeast by Massachu-
setts Bay ; and on the southwest by the County of Middlesex. It
embraces in extent oHO square miles. Its population in 1830 was
82,887 ; its present population 93,G89 ; being about 260 inhabitants
to a square mile. It contains twenty-six towns. It is intersected
through its whole width by the river Merrimack, which empties into
Massachusetts Bay at Newburyport ; and the rivers Shawsheen and
Agawam or Ipswich. Parker and Saugus livers aie likewise found,
but are inconsiderable in length and magnitude.

The general surface of the county is uneven ; but there are no
hills of great elevation, and few, which may not be cultivated to their
summits. The county, for its whole length on the eastern side, is
washed by the Atlantic Ocean. Cape Cod, its eastern extremity,
projects into the sea, a distance of sixteeri'miles ; and the coast is
lined with a rocky shore or extensive beaches ; and pierced by in-
numerable inlets and creeks, on which are extensive tracts of salt al-
luvial meadow. The county abounds likewise in tracts of a greater
or less extent of fresh meadow or peat-bog. A considerable amount
of this land has been drained ; and by the application of sand, gravel,
or loam to its surface, has been converted into profitable mowing.
Much of this same description of land remains to be redeemed ; and
will fully compensate for the expenditure, which this improvement
may require. There are considerable tracts on the Agawam river,

12

tne waters of which are forced back by the mill-clams thrown across
it. near its mouth, which must be regarded as irreclaimable while
those obstructions remain.

The climate of Essex County is affected by its maritime situation.
The proportion of snow which falls in the course of the year is con-
siderably less than falls in the interior and western parts of the state ;
the proportion of moisture in the form of vapor, snow, and rain, is
greater. The degree of cold is sometimes as intense, but not as
long continued. The spring is in advance of the interior of the state
generally, from a week to a fortnight ; and the frosts, excepting in
some particular localities, are not so early, nor severe. For healthi-
ness, as far as this may be determined by the tables of longevity, this
county may be safely compared with any part of the known world.

The whole number of acres in Essex County according to the
Reports of the valuation committee in 1S31, is as follows :

Tillage, ..... Acres

English and Upland Mowing, . "

Fresh Meadow, ... . "

Salt Marsh, ... . "

Pasturage, . . . . "

Wood,

Unimj)roved, .... "

Unimprovable, .... "
Owned by the Towns or other Proprietaries, "

In roads, .... . "

Total,

14,113

31,947

15,471

14,139

100,309

22,058

34,281

10,417

3,G04

6,606

17,176

270,121

The soil of Essex County is of primitive formation ; and of va-
rious character. There is a locality of limestone mentioned by the
geological surveyor in Newbury and Bradford ; but it is believed of
small extent. There is little purely sandy land excepting on the
sea-shore. There are extensive tracts of peat bog. The soil on
the sea-shore among the projecting cliffs and ledges, on the peninsu-
las and islands on the coast, with the exception of Plum Island which
is almost unmixed sand, is a deep rich loam, highly productive in

13

grass, corn, oats, and potatoes. On the main eastern road from Sa-
lem to tlie extreme line of the country, there prevails generally a
gravelly loam from six inches to a foot in depth ; not difficult to be
worked ; and productive under good cultivation. Tiie lands border-
ing on the Merrimack are much broken ; but the hills are generally
rounded, of not difficult ascent, and composed of a rich dark clayey
loam. They ordinarily produce good crops of wheat, barley, corn,
oats, and potatoes. This variety of soil embraces an extent of three
or four miles from the river on the south side. On the west side
the land is much more charged with sand, and is not so fertile. With
the exception of a considerable tract in Haverhill and an island of
fifty acres lying below the bridge in Haverhill, there is no fresh allu-
vial meadow on the river. The towns in the interior of the county
are of various character, in some places presenting long strips and
high eminences of rich clayey and gravelly loam ; and in other parts
a broken, thin, hungry and stony soil, the cultivation of which is
difficult and unproductive. The primitive forests have been long
since removed ; but there are extensive tracts of wood in different
parts of the county. The maritime parts are principally supplied
with fuel by importations of wood from Maine, or coal from Penn-
sylvania. The interior have a supply from their own wood lots ; or
their peat bogs, the value of which is becoming more highly appre-
ciated.

The soil has in parts of the country become exhausted ; and in no
part of it can it be advantageously cultivated without manure. The
stony and rocky character of the soil is in some places an impedi-
ment to cultivation ; but a large proportion of the land in the county
is already under partial improvement or susceptible at present prices
of labor, while present prices of produce remain, of profitable culture.

The county is well watered ; and contains several ponds of some
extent, the scenery in the neighborhood of which is picturesque and
beautiful. Some of the situations on the Merrimack and many on the
sea-shore are commanding in their position and present views of large
extent and great variety and beauty.

The farmers in Essex are particularly favored in respect to mark-
ets. Boston is easily accessible to most parts of this county, being
from its farthest point not more than forty miles distant ; and the

14

large commercial and manufacturing towns of Salem, Lynn, New-
buryport, Marblehead, Danvers, and Lowell, furnish a ready demand
for whatever the farmer will produce. Of the whole population in
Essex, there is reason to believe that not one fifth part are engnged,
properly speaking, in agriculture. The remaining four parts are con-
sumers not producers. The County of Essex is essentially a com-
mercial and manufacturing district. Besides what may be called
marketing, including the selling of hay, she sends no agricultural
produce away ; and she imports largely of bread-stuffs, vegetables,
dairy-produce, mutton, beef, and pork, together with a great amount
of oats and corn for horse-feed. Rye is cultivated to a small extent,
and the bread of the population is almost entirely composed of the
superfine flower of western New York and the middle States.

Size of Farms. The average size of the farms in Essex will not
exceed one hundred acres, and farms of three or four hundred acres
are scarcely to be found. The population of the county be-
coming daily more numerous, the land is continually undergoing
subdivisions ; and a large proportion of the persons engaged in the
manufacturing and mechanic arts, are anxious to secure to themselves
small parcels of land, for the sake of keeping a cow or raising their
own fruits and vegetables.

Farming in the county is scarcely pursued as a distinct or exclu-
sive profession ; but as subsidiary to some other business or pursuit.
In this way it has been eminently conducive to health, and productive
of innumerable comforts ; but no fair experiment has been made of
it under the fair advantages of capital and labor and exclusive
enterprise and attention, as matter of pecuniary income and profit.

The Crops produced in Essex County are Hay, English, Salt,
and Fresh Meadow ; Corn; Wheat ; Barley ; Rye ; Oats ; Buck-
wheat ; Potatoes ; Onions ; Ruta Baga ; Carrots ; Turnips ; and
Garden Vegetables. The Beet has been cultivated extensively for
feeding cows ; and on a small scale for an experiment in sugar.
Attempts were made to cultivate the sunflower for oil. The mul-
berry has been attempted in some places for silk.

16

I shall proceed to give an account of tliese crops.
CROPS.

Grasses. The grasses usually cultivated are the Herds Grass
or Tirnoiliy, the Red Clover, the Red Top ; and besides these, ex-
periments have been made with Orchard Grass, Lucerne, Tall
Meadow Oats, and Foul Meadow.

The principal grasses on the salt meadows, are black grass, Ibx
grass, and thatch, goose grass, and branch grass.

The usual rotation, where the land is broken up from greensward,
is, first, potatoes, which are commonly planted with manure ; the
second year Indian corn with manure ; and the third year oats with
grass seed. It is then continued in grass at the pleasure or con-
venience of the cultivator three or four years ; and then again
taken up and subjected to the same rotation. Indian corn is some-
times planted two years in succession. Oats being a sure crop, and
at once available, are much cultivated, but almost universally dis-
approved to be sowed with hay seed for the purpose of laying down
land to grass. Wheat is preferred to any other crop, with which to
sow grass seed. I found one instance in which the land had been
laid down with pease. The grass seed had taken perfectly ; and
the practice was strongly commended by the intelligent farmer who
had made the experiment. The pease would completely cover the
ground while growing ; and the coarse stubble would furnish a good
protection for the young plants, when exposed by the removal of the
crop. The laying down of lands with grass only, or with winter rye
in the autumn, is a frequent practice and greatly cotnmended. This
is done at a season of comparative leisure in the first part of Sep-
tember ; or, in some cases, after the corn or potaioe crop is taken
off; and the success is almost certain.

The quantity of grass sown to the acre, varies very much with
different individuals. I subjoin the practice of some of the best
farmers in the country, whose crops are among the largest ob-
tained. (I.) half bushel Herds Grass; (II.) half bl. h. g. and qr.
bl. Red Top ; (III.) three pecks h. g. ; (IV.) half bl. h. g., qr. bl.
r. t., 1 pint clover ; (V.) half bl. h. g., half bl. r. t. ; (VI.)

16

one bushel h. g., sometimes two bushels h. g. In the last case, the
land was manured In an abundant manner ; the soil moist and clayey,
and highly favorable to herds grass ; and such an amount of seed
was sown in order to prevent the crop from being too coarse.

The herds grass seed brought into our market is often injured
by being too much rotted ; so that a considerable portion of it will
not vegetate. The best method of curing it which I have met with,
is to cut it when dry in a good day ; allow it to lay one day and a
half; tie it in bundles ; and set it upright in a barn chamber or on a
scaffold, well ventilated ; and where the scattering seed may be
saved. Cured in this way, it may be considered worth double the
price of that usually offered for sale.

It has been (he practice with many farmers to omit sowing clover
for a few years past. They are reverting to their former custom ;
and sowing a portion of clover with their other hay seeds, as other-
wise they get in the first mowing a comparatively small crop from
the land ; and tiiey deem it better for the land newly laid down that
it should be shaded with clover, which starts immediately after being
cut, rather than exposed to the severity of the sun's rays, as it is
where only herds grass is sown.

Of the proper time of cutting herds grass, v.hich is the principal
grass cultivated in the county, the general impression is, that it should
be cut early rather than late ; and that the most desirable time is as
soon as the seeds begin to shake off. The buyers in the market
require that hay should be bright and green. A very shrewd farmer
remarks, however, as the result of his observation, that grass spends
much better, when perfectly ripened, than when cut early ; besides
that it is then cured at much less expense. The farmers in the
interior are in the habit of cutting their grass much later than those
farmers who prepare it for market. As far as the tables of the nu-
tritive matter found in different grasses, made by order of the Duke
of Bedford, are to be relied upon, it seems that an acre of this grass,
when cut at the time of flowering, yielded 1595 lbs. of nutritive
matter ; and when cut while in -sefld it yielded 3668 lbs. of nutritive
matter, making a difference la^jt^ov of cutting it when perfectly ripe,
of 2073 lbs.

What is called the Ipswich hay in Boston is usually of a bright

17

green, and much esteemed. A great deal that goes under this name
is purchased in the neighboring towns and sold by the Ipswich mar-
keters. When taken for sale on commission from Ipswich and
Rowley from four to five dollars per ton are allowed ; from Newbury
seven dollars. These loads are made up with great care, and fre-
quently contain from three to four tons each.*

The sale of hay is a matter of so much importance to the Ipswich
farmers that the greatest pains are taken in curing it. One of the
best farmers in the town states, that he gets his hay quite early ; pre-
fers to cut it before it is all in blossom rather than too late ; and never
permits it, if possible to be avoided, lo be wet by dew or rain. He
chooses that it should remain one day in cock. This method is
strongly recommended by another fartner of equal skill, who " cuts
his grass early, and never suffers it to be wet."

The yield of hay upon an acre is quite various ; and as it would be
very difficult to make a general average, I subjoin statements given
to me in different towns.

In Salem, I ton, 2tons,2i tons to the acre. Beverly, 1:^ ton, f
ton. Manchester, 1 to 2^ tons, I ton, 1^ ton, 1j ton. Glouces-
ter, H ton, 2 tons, 3 tons. Sandy Bay, 2 to 3 tons ; 14 acres
produced 30 tons at one cutting. Ipswich, 1 to 2 tons, 2 tons ; 23
acres gave 20 tons. Essex, ll ton, 2 tons. Wenham, 1 ton.
Hamilton, 1^ ton. Danvers, li ton. Lynn, 2 tons. Methuen, 2
tons. Newbury, ll ton. Amesbury, 2 tons. Marblehead, 27
acres produced 57 tons.

I have many other returns, but it is not necessary to submit others.
The average product, according to the above, would be about If
tons to the acre.

The hay raised in Essex County is a source of great income.
The number of stage and livery horses kept in the county cannot
fall short of one thousand, besides those kept by private individuals
for business or pleasure, who depend on the purchase of hay. The
price of hay for the last seven years has fluctuated from twelve to
twenty-eight dollars per ton of 2000 lbs. It would not be far from

* The hay and straw brought from Essex County and sold in Boston market in the j'ear
1837, amounted lo 2,071,235 lbs. or 1,035 tons, 1,235 lbs. net weight. The amount of straw
included in the above, is trifling.

3

18

a true average in different parts of the county to place it for that time
at sixteen dollars.

The expense of cutting, curing, and storing a ton of Engiisii hay
in ordinary circumstances is rated at two days and a half of a man's
labor.

Salt Hay. A large amount of salt hay is cut in the county.
The marshes in Saugus, Lynn, Essex, Ipswich, Rowley, Newbury,
and Salisbury, are extensive and productive.

The grasses produced on the salt marshes are various in kind and
value. I prefer to give the common names, though these names may
be regarded as local and provincial.

Black Grass — deemed the best product ; grows on the higher
parts of the marsh, where it is only occasionally flooded by the tide ;
it is often thick and heavy, and it is desirable that it should be cu^
early. When well cured it is much relished by cattle ; and deemed
of almost equal value as the best English hay. I have seen this
grass growing luxuriantly high up on the upland, where the seed was
dropt from the cart ; and it would be well worth the experiment to
test its value as a cultivated grass in such locations. A farmer in
Ipswich is of opinion, that if this grass is not cut very early it should
be cut very late, after the season of the fly has passed, which is apt
to impregnate it, and occasion maggots in the mow, offensive to cat-
tle. Other farmers deem this a matter of little moment. The cattle
themselves ought to be judges in the case.

The next grass is the Red grass or Fox grass, a very fine reedy
grass, abundant and excellent.

The next is Goose grass, deenied excellent but not abundant.
Sheep it is said will entirely destroy this grass, if suffered to feed on
the marshes.

Branch Grass, a short reedy grass, resembling much the fox
grass, and by some persons pronounced the same ; it branches much
and from this circumstance derives its name ; it is not abundant but
the hay is much valued.

Sedge, a pointed long flat-leaf, grows in low places and on the
sides of creeks, much valued when not too large.

Thatch, a grass differing little from sedge, which grows in creeks
as high as the tide rises ; and is cut principally for litter or manure.

19

The average product of well managed salt marshes is from f of a
ton to li ton. The hay is valued at half the price of English hay.
In Salem and Boston markets, where it is purchased for a change of
diet or to be mixed with English, it usually brings two-thirds of the
price of English.

The farmers in the interior of the county, even at a distance of
fifteen miles or more from the sea-shore, are glad to own or hire a
piece of salt marsh, considering a portion of this fodder of great ser-
vice to the health of their stock. A shrewd farmer in Lynn con-
siders salt hay as worth five dollars a ton merely to spread upon his
grass land for manure. His judgment is to be relied on. It is
stated likewise that those farmers, who carry it into the interior in a
green state and cure it in their fields, find this process almost equal to
a top dressing of manure. This comes undoubtedly from the salts,
which it deposits. The quantity of salt hay, which is cut, enables
the farmers to sell much of their English hay, without injury to their
farms. These lands according to their situation are valued at from
ten to fifty dollars per acre. Tiieir value is likely to be much in-
creased in many places from improvements of which I shall speak
presently.

Considerable quantities of fresh meadow or swale hay is cut ; but
it is composed of aquatic plants, which contain little nourishment ;
and is of comparatively little value. The manure of cattle fed upon
it or littered with it is of inferior quality.

INDIAN CORN.

The next valuable crop in the county is Indian corn. This plant
delights in a warm, rich soil, inclined to sand ; and no plant, if prop-
erly managed, affords a better compensation for labor and cost. A
good deal of land in the county is favorable to it. The two last
years are by no means proper test years of the value or amount of
this crop. The accounts, which I subjoin, are of crops raised in
many cases in former years, or the judgment of the farmers of the
average yield of a town.

20

Every statement which I present rests upon credible authority ;
but it is not necessary to refer to names. In Essex the yield is
rated at 50 bushels to the acre. Wenham and Hamilton 35 bs. ;
Ipswich 30 and 70 bs. ; Old Rowley 50 bs. ; New Rowley 40 bs. ;
West Amesbury 30 bs. ; Amesbury 40, 50, 60 bs. ; Salisbury 35,
50, 70, 80 bs. ; Newbury 40, GO, 80 bs. ; Saugus 30, 75 bs ;
Manchester GO, 72 bs. ; Gloucester 40, GO, 75 bs. ; Beverly 40,
50 bs. ; Danvers 40, 85, 95, 110 bs. This would give an average
of 54 bushels to the acre. The price of corn in the county has
now for some time exceeded one dollar per bushel ; and it may be
fairly estimated at one dollar when pork is valued at 10 cents per
cvvt. The best kinds of tlint corn weigh GO lbs. to the bushel.

I found corn in the county which was planted the lOih of June
and ripe the 7th of September. Many fields planted the middle of
May were fit for harvest the first week in September. A farmer
whose premises every where exhibit excellent management writes
me that a field of 2 J acres, which I visited, was sound and good, and
yielded 280 bushels of ears, equal to 5G bushels of sound corn, to
the acre. The largest crop raised, of which I have any return the
present year on any one farm is G17 bushels.

Of the expenses of cultivating an acre of corn in this part of the
State I have been fortunate enough to obtain only three estimates ;
these are from farmers, whose lives have been devoted to agriculture.

Ploughing and harrowing

5 00

Furrowing

. 1 50

Planting

5 GO

Hoeing ....

. 5 00

Topping stalks

1 50

Harvesting

5 00

Manure . . . .

20 00

$43 GO

An acre under his cultivation will generally yield from 40 to 60
bushels ;

21

Say, 50 bushels at 1 doll.
Corn fodder on an acre

:pens(

50

00

17

00

$67

00

43

GO

$23 40

To this may be added without serious injury to the corn crop three
or four cart-loads of pumpkins and fifty bushels of turnips.

The large charge above made for planting, it is presumed, includes
manuring in the hill. He considers the land improved to the amount
of half the manure, which would of course lessen the expense, ten
dollars.

Another farmer states : "I think ploughing an acre of swarded
land with two yoke of oxen and two hands will lake something short
of a day, cost $3 ; to plough old ground, one yoke of oxen
and one hand three-fourths of a day 1.50; harrowing an acre of
new ground 1.00; old ground 50 cents ; furrowing or hoeing
50 cents; planting 1.00; cultivating, harrowing, or hoeing, three
times 4.50; toppi.ng stalks 1.50; gathering 2.00; husking 3.00;
if manured in the hills, say 20 loads of manure, 20.00 ; making a total
on swarded land of 3G.50. I call a good crop of corn from GO to 70
bushels. I have raised SO bushels. I buy good manure at 1.50
per load." If we rale the crop at GO bushels at 1.00 per bushel,
it leaves a profit of 23.50, and to this is to be added the value of
the corn fodder equal to three-fourths of a ton of hay, say 12.00,
making the whole profit 35.50. Half the manure in this case
should be charged to the next crop.

The estimate of another farmer in Essex County of the cost of
cultivating an acre of corn is as follows :

" Hiilf the corn raised in our neighborhood is raised in a course
of crops ; first year, break up grass land and plant wiih corn ; second
year, corn or potatoes ; third year, wheat, bailey, or oats, with grass
seed ; then from three to four years in grass. We use from four to
ten cords of manure, average eight cords per acre ; but only half
should be charged to the com or potatoes.

16

00

3

00

3

00

1

00

5

00

2

00

4

00

22

Four cords of manure are .

Ploughing including team, 3 days work

Opening holes and putting in manure, 3 days

Dropping and covering, 1 day

Hoeing three limes, 5 days ....

Cutting and securing tops, 2 days

Gathering and husking, 4 days

$34 00

He puts the produce at 40 bushels and values it at $30, and the
fodder at $8, making $38.

In this case the produce is less than such cultivation ought to
warrant ; and the value of the manure is estimated at a high rate.

This farmer states, likewise, that he estimates the expense of
cultivating an acre of potatoes to be the same as an acre of corn,
$34; and the produce 240 bushels, deducting 15 for seed, will
leave 225 bushels, at 20 cents, equal to $45. The above estimates
he adds are for our stiff loams ; but from light loams and sand)""
lands I should put the potatoe crop at from 150 to 200 bushels."

The statements above given are from a farmer, who in his ex-
treme concern lest he should make an exaggerated estimate, has
certainly underrated the produce of his own fields ; and designs to
give the average of his vicinity. It is obvious how greatly the
increase of ten or twenty bushels to his corn crop, and one hundred
bushels to his potatoe crop per acre, by more liberal and skilful
cultivation, would change the results, without increasing the expense
of manuring and cultivation in proportion. With less than 50
bushels of corn to the acre and three hundred bushels of potatoes
no farmer ought to rest contented.

I add the estimates of a farmer in Middlesex county, whose yield
of corn is 55 bushels to the acre ; and who frequently gets 100
bushels of turnips from his corn ground.

55 bushels coin at 1 doll. . . 55 00

100 bushels turnips at 12 cents, less

expense of gathering, 5 dolls. . 7 00

23

Corn fodder

Expenses

12 00

$74 00
40 00

$34 00

I subjoin also the eslimale made by one of our most skilful far-
mers, the Superintendent of the Farm School, at Thompson's Island,
Suffolk county. One acre of corn or greensward :

Ploughing with double team nearly one and a half
day at 4 dolls, per day ....

10 cords of compost manure one part animal, the
other vegetable, well incorporated together, and
which should be in a state of decomposition,
valued any where within fifteen miles of Boston
at 4 dolls, per cord ; one half of which should
be put to the corn crop

Carting on manure with single team 2 days

Harrowing with single team half a day

Spreading manure 75 cents; rolling half day $1

Harrowing $1 ; furrowing one way with horse
75 cents. ......

Planting 2 days $2 ; seed 50 cents

Cultivating twice in one furrow

Hoeing first time, 2 days for a man

Cultivating 2d time, once in furrow

Hoeing 2d time, one and a half day

Cultivating 3d time, once in furrow

Hoeing, 3d time

Cutting up, and carting in corn, two men and
team one day .....

Huskin'g and putting away corn

Shelling by the machine ....

5 00

20

00

4

00

1

00

1

75

1

75

2

50

1

25

2

00

0

75

1

50

0

75

1

50

3

00

2

00

1

00

$49 75

24

The product of such cultivation is estimated at 70

bushels 70 00

Corn fodder at 12 00

82 00
Expenses . . . 49 75

Profit . . . . $32 25

Farmers in general estimate the corn fodder or stover upon an
acre as equal to three fourths of a ton of English hay ; many con-
sider it as equal to a ton of hay. The only instance of exact
measurement which I have met with is from a Pennsylvania farmer.
On corn yielding GG bushels to the acre there was obtained of

Tons. Cwt. lbs.

Blades, husks, and tops . . . 16 13

Stalks or butts 1 7 00

Total, 2 13 13gr's.

The stover of the Pennsylvania corn, wiiich is a gourd-seed
variety would probably yield from a third (o a half more than ours in
weight ; yet our stalks being smaller, more of the fodder in propor-
tion would be consumed by the cattle.

I have dwelt thus largely upon the crop of Indian corn because I
deem it among the most valuable crops that can be raised among us.
It constitutes a nutritious food for man and beast. With the excep-
tron of the clayey, wet, and frosty soils, no crop is more adapted to
general cultivation. In the emphatic but just language of a Virginia
farmer it is " Meal, Meadow, and Manure." It is a comparatively
certain crop. There has been no general failure of the corn crop
until within the last two years, since the year ISIG, when a frost
occurred every month in the year. In the last two years, however,
fields have ripened perfectly where an early variety was planted.
The Pickwacket corn, an early eight-rowed variety, highly pro-
ductive and yielding under good cultivation 70 to 80 bushels to an
acre, has been sound and good in many places within the county the

25

present year ; and even in the interior of New Hampshire, from
whicii it was brought. The Dutton or Sioux corn, a large twelve-
rowed variety, has likewise ripened in favorable locations. This
is a valuable variety abating the size of the cob. We have ascer-
tained by repeated trials, made with as much exactness as the case
admitted, that in thickly set ears, the amount of grain upon a large cob
bore an equal proportion to the size of the cob, with that found
in smaller varieties. The objection to the large cob is the quantity
of moisture contained in it, in consequence of which it is liable to
become heated and mouldy in the bin, though the exterior may
appear bright and sound. It is a crop of lasting value, and may be
kept in a sound state for years. 1 have in my possession an ear of
corn grown in 1806, as sound as in the year of its growth ; and some
kernels of the same product, planted the last year, came up well.
There is no crop, according to its weight, which will produce more
beef, mutton, or pork. There is none, where the produce is con-
sumed on the place, which returns more manure to the land. There
is none, which may be planted successfully, more frequently on the
same land. I know an instance of its repetition thirty seven years in
forty, and without any diminution of the product. There is none
which affords a better preparation for laying down land to grass, as
some decisive experiments, which I shall hereafter detail, will show.
There is none, all the processes in the management of which are
more simple and certain.

One of the most valuable improvements in the husbandry of the
last twenty years is that of planting this crop on an inverted green-
sward. The sward is completely turned over after vegetation has
considerably advanced. The manure is applied on the top of the soil;
and the field is then rolled in a thorough manner. The ground is
next harrowed ; and the corn planted either in drills or hills. When
the roots of the corn pierce the sod, they find an abundant pabulum
of decayed vegetable matter, equal, by as exact a calculation as can
be made, to twelve tons upon an acre ; and the crop is forced on at
the last of the season, when it particularly needs this stimulus and
food, to great advantage.

It is important in these cases that the sod should remain unbroken ;
and where the corn is cultivated on a flat-surface and no hills are
4

26

made, the land may be easily laid down immediately to grass, the
seed being sowed at the last hoeing ; or it may be thoroughly har-
rowed after the crop is taken off, and then laid down with winter
grain and grass seed. The benefits of the decomposed sod, being
thus all secured in the soil, will be felt for a long time ; and the com-
paratively small expense of this mode of management strongly re-
commends it.

The importance of this crop to Massachusetts can hardly be over-
stated. The imports of corn into the port of Boston in the year
1837, amounted to 1,725,436 bushels. Immense amounts were
likewise brought into other ports ; but it has not been in my power
to ascertain them. At one mill in Gloucester more than 14,000
bushels were imported and ground at one time the last season. I
believe that the demand might be supplied within the State, and to a
great profit.

That an average of 8,000 bushels of Indian corn should be pro-
duced to every town in the Commonwealth would not be demanding
too much. In several of the towns on Connecticut river ten far-
mers can be found, who themselves produce this quantity. This
production would require only, that in every town, forty farmers
should cultivate each four acres, yielding, under good cultivation,
50 bushels to the acre. In one of the most forbidding localities
of the Commonwealth, in Windsor, Berkshire County, among the
mountains, 116 bushels have been obtained from an acre. If this were
done, at 50 bushels to an acre, the corn crop, under favorable circum-
stances, through the State would yield 2,400,000 bushels, worth as
many dollars, when pork is worditen cents and beef seven cents. The
value of the corn fodder in such case, valuing it only at $5 per acre
for fodder, leaving out all estimate of it for manure, would amount to
$240,000. There is no reason, in any but the most impracticable
situations, why every farmer should not cultivate his ten acres ; and
why many of them should not cultivate their fifty acres. No crop
requires a less outlay for seed. It was said by the celebrated Ar-
thur Young, that a country capable of growing Indian corn is singu-
larly blessed above others.

Wheat has sometimes been raised in this county with success.

27

Until within the last two years, the town of West Newbury has al-
ways raised a sufficiency for its own wants ; and some for sale.
Good crops have been produced in some places in the county this
year. In Newbury, two acres produced fifty-seven bushels of sound
grain. This was the Black Sea wheat. In another instance, 32
bushels and 14 quarts were obtained from an acre. In Lynn, a good
crop of 20 bushels to the acre was obtained. In Haverhill a crop
of 25 bushels to the acre. In Ipswich likewise there have been
good crops. In Gloucester, a small piece of land yielded at the
rate of 24 bushels to the acre.

The crop can hardly be considered as an established product of
the county ; and the amount raised at any time bears an inconsidera-
ble proportion to the wants of the population. There are parts of
the county, especially the northeastern, where the soil is clayey; and
where, by proper management, it may be cultivated to advantage. A
farmer in Newbury states, that " he has raised wheat and rye on his
farm since the year 1812, and has found no difficulty except in 1836."
This year his crop was excellent, yielding more than 26 bushels to
the acre. He adds, " I have always sown wheat on ground in good
condition; and, at the same time, have laid the land down to grass ;
and I have thought the roots of wheat decomposed soon, enriched
the ground, and were better for the grass than full sowing without the
wheat. I have always sown spring wheat; and in 1836, sowed
Black Sea wheat. It came up mixed as to kinds, but of a good
quality. I sowed the wheat I raised last year in 1837, and it was
good in quantity and quality."

1. Wheat is still, however, regarded as an uncertain crop. Some
portion of lime in the soil is deemed essential to its success. Soils,
containing only one hundredth per centage of lime, are found capable
of bearing wheat. In this county, this can be procured only al
considerable expense. The value of lime to corn is almost as great
as to wheat, though to the latter crop, some measure of it is indis-
pensable. The prospect that the cost of lime will be considera-
bly reduced, by cheaper methods of burning it being employed in the
great lime depositories in Maine, leads to the hope that it may be
more accessible to the Essex farmers. The use of ground bones,
which will soon be extended, will, in some measure, supply its place.

28

Great quantities of clam and muscle shells, which are furnished by
the fisheries in the town of Essex, could they be reduced by fire,
would prove of considerable service. As yet the use of lime as
manure in the county is very little understood ; and further experi-
ments are important to determine at what rate a farmer can afford to
purchase it. A considerable deposit of shell marl is reported to have
been discovered on the route of the rail-road, now in progress be-
tween Boston and Salem. The discovery has been so recently re-
ported, that no examination has been made of it.

2. A second cause of failure is supposed to be connected with
our climate. The blights or shrivelling of the kernel, which some-
times occur, are in some cases occasioned by the want of lime in
the soil, in order to perfect the grain. Where these blights are di-
rectly connected with atmospherical influences, they can be but par-
tially guarded against by any human skill ; but in this respect they
are not so frequent as to discourage the cultivation. There has not
been a general blight of the wheat crop in Great Britain since the
year 1806.

Of two contiguous fields of wheat, similar in aspect, condition of
soil, and kind of seed, which I visited this season, one was severely
blighted ; the other sound and perfect. The only difference ascer-
tainable in the management of the two fields, was that one of the
farmers, during the continuance of the heavy dews, and damp foggy
weather, which occurred while the wheat was in flower, was careful
every morning to sweep the dew from his wheat by passing a rope
over it. Another farmer in Manchester reports his having pursued
this practice in former years with his wheat, and with success.

3. A third cause of the failure of the wheat crop in several places
in the county, is the grain worm. The Hessian fly, which formerly
infested the wheat, has, in a great measure, disappeared. The grain
worm, whose habits are not yet well understood, threatens great in-
jury throughout the country. The fly, from which the worm origin-
ates, deposits his egg at the time the wheat is in blossom. This
small black fly is seen at that time hovering over the fields of wheat
in infinite numbers. Some remarkable experiments have been made
by a free dressing of newly slacked lime upon the plant, while it is
in a wet state, to destroy his deposit or prevent his approach. There

29

is some reason to hope, that if seasonably and properly applied, this
may prove an effectual remedy. A farmer in West Newbury states,
that he this year made the experiment of liming his wheat field, hav-
ing applied at least one bushel of newly slacked lime to an acre ; and
that his grain was comparatively free from the insect, while the ad-
joining fields of his neighbors were severely injured. The subject
of the worm is of such great importance as to deserve the most anx-
ious inquiry and exact and repealed experiments. In some parts of
the country, late planting seems to have carried the season of flower-
ing beyond the period of the insect, and his ravages have been pre-
vented. This insect has been known in Great Britain since the year
1828, but the cultivation has not for that reason been abandoned or
lessened.

The expense of cultivating an acre of wheat may be thus stated.
Ploughing, $2.50 ; 2 bushels of seed, $4 ; sowing and harrowing,
$1.50; harvesting, $2.50; incidentals, $1 ; total, $11. Nocharge
is here made for manure, which is applied to the preceding crop, but
half of which certainly belongs to this crop ; nor for lime, where
any is used. The straw will fully pay for threshing and cleaning.
This is customarily given, where there is a threshing machine ; but
it is a bad bargain for the farmer. The crop may be estimated at 18
bushels ; and when flour is at $8 per barrel, the wheat may be valued
at $1.50 ; the produce, $27 ; the expenses, $11 ; profit, $16.

The average product of wheat in Great Britain, is 18 bushels to
the acre ; of New York, 23 ; of Virginia, 7 to 9 bushels. New
England has no fixed average, as for several years past, excepting
the last, the crop has been to a considerable degree abandoned.
Wheat is much valued, as a crop with which to sow grass seed, by
all who have practised this mode of laying down land to grass.

The farmers on Long Island, have been accustomed to send to
towns on our sea-shore, to Marblehead for example, to purchase for
their wheat fields, our leeched ashes, at 10 cents per bushel ; these
contain a good deal of lime, which had been used by the soap boilers.
They ascertained that there was an advantage in it. It is known
likewise, that foreign agents are visiting different towns and places
on the sea board, to purchase the refuse bones, and the animal car-
bon, after it has been used by the sugar refineries, in order to en-

30

rich the wheat fields in Europe, which have been for the last two
years, to a considerable extent, and to our great disgrace, the grana-
ries of the United States.

Rye can scarcely be said to be cultivated in Essex County. In
Salisbury, on poor land, 7 bushels are given as the produce of an
acre. In Wenhain, 15 and 16 bushels. In Manchester, 12 bush-
els. In Saugus, IS to 25 bushels. A small farmer in Gloucester,
whom I induced to measure and report exactly the produce of a small
rye field, returns 9J bushels rye this year on 37 rods of land. A
considerable amount of rye was formerly raised in the upper j)arish
of Beverly, but the cultivation was for a time discontinued. It has
been revived, and it is calculated 1000 bushels have been raised
there this year. In Amesbury, and the northern parts of the county,
it is represented as subject to blight. The cost of cultivating rye
differs little from that of wheat, excepting in the price of the seed ;
of which only half the quantity is sowed to an acre, and that of half
the value of wheat. The general impression is, that as much wheat
can be grown to an acre as of rye ; and the chance of success is as
great for the wheat as the rye. In such case, the crop would of
course be of double the value. Justice is seldom done to this crop.
Land, which is considered too poor for any other crop, is consigned
to rye without favor or affection. Under good cultivation in Glou-
cester, 31 bushels weighing 62 pounds to the bushel, were obtained
in 1836. I am assured, on respectable authority, that 70 bushels
have been obtained from 1^ acre in the parish of Sandy Bay ;
and the ensuing year, from an acre of this land, the remainder
being appropriated to turnips, 40 bushels were harvested. Of the
extraordinary success in Haverhill, in cultivating rye by ploughing
in green crops by which 46| bushels were obtained from one acre
and thirteen rods, I shall subjoin the cultivator's particular account in
the Appendix, as a remarkable and instructive example.*

Rye straw is always in demand in the large markets for stable lit-
ter, and for beds. I have known it sold as high as $8, $10, and
$12 per ton. It is often used to be cut up and sprinkled with meal
for horse feed ; and in this way to a degree, it is used with equal

* Appendix E.

31

advantage as hay. It appears to be necessary that a certain volume
should be given to the feed rather than that the feed however nutri-
tious, should be given in a concentrated form ; but it is not believed
that there is much nutriment contained in the straw itself. I know
of no experiments made to ascertain the amount of rye, wheat, bar-
ley, or oat straw upon an acre ; but where the crop of rye is equal
to twenty bushels, it would be fair to estimate a ton. This, at the
prices which it usually commands in the vicinity of large towns, will
nearly or quite pay all the expenses of cultivation. A certain quan-
tity of rye, for fatting beef or pork, is of equal value with any grain
that can be given. It is an excellent feed for horses mixed with cut
fodder. It is superior to any other feed to be given to milch cows
for promoting secretions of milk ; and it is a crop that deserves
much more attention than it commonly receives. One of the best
farmers in Hamilton says, he always succeeds with rye if put in early.

Barley is cultivated in many parts of the county to advantage.
Some few years since, owing to the importation of some barley from
Holland, by a brewer in Newburyport, an insect was introduced
which for several years destroyed the crops. The cultivation was
generally suspended for a time, and the insect has disappeared. The
crops reported to me in difierent towns in the county, areas follows:
in Manchester 20 bushels to an acre; Gloucester 26 bs. ; Essex
30 bs. ; Ipswich 30 bs. ; Amesbury 20 bs. ; Salisbury 30 bs. ;
Andover 54 bs. On one farm in Danvers 220 bushels have been
raised this year, averaging 27j bushels to an acre. In Beverly, 633
bushels have been raised on one farm this year, averaging 38 bushels
to the acre. At 30 bushels to the acre, barley is a valuable crop.
For fattening swine, it is considered by many good farmers, of equal
value pound for pound with Indian corn. To horses it is injurious.
At Danvers Alms House, it is made to supply the place of rye and
wheat, and makes an agreeable bread.

The price of barley is seldom less than 70 cents, and rarely over
$1 per bushel. The seed sown upon an acre is usually 3 bushels.
The straw is not of equal value for the market as rye straw ;
but considered better for the feed of cattle as it is softer. The
expense of cultivation and harvesting, may be estimated, exclusive

32

of the seed and manure, at $8 to $10 per acre. It is considered as
an exhauster of the soil ; and is not to be chosen for the purpose
of Inying down land to grass ; the crop being usually cut close with
a scythe, the stubble affords no protection to the young crop.

A new kind of barley has been introduced into West Newbury,
called by some, the Wheat, by others, the Naked Barley, because
it separates easily from the husk. Its yield is said to be equal to that
of other barley ; and its flour to be superior. It has been cultivated
but not extensively, in the interior of the state. By Davy's tables,
barley meal contains a large proportion of nutritive matter, being 920
parts in 1,000 ; 790 of mucilage or starch; 70 of sugar, and 60 of
gluten.

Oats are considerably cultivated in Essex County. The crop,
however, is not large. In Danvers 40 bushels to the acre ; Meihuen
30 bs. ; Amesbury 30 bs. ; Wenham 25 Ls. ; Ipswich 25 bs. ;
Hamilton 30 bs. ; Rowley 25, 30 bs. ; West Amesbury 30 bs. ;
Salisbury 25 bs. ; Newbury 30, 50 bs. ; Andover 50 bs. ; Lynn
50 bs. This would give an average of 33 bushels to the acre.

The expense of cultivating, is thus calculated by an experienced
farmer in Newbury, who estimates his crop at about 50 bushels to
the acre :

Ploughing $1.50; harrowing $1.50; harvesting $2.50 ; thresh-
ing and cleaning $5.00 ; seed 3 bushels; if sowed alone, 2 bs. if
with grass seed, say $1.50 ; total $12. This yield considerably ex-
ceeds the average through the country. The expense of threshing
is much too high. The general price of oats per bushel is 50 cents.
The last year has been an exception ; and when hay is at $20, and
corn at $1, they will generally command 62 J cents. The farmers
disapprove the use of them as a crop with which to lay down land to
grass ; and yet they are much used in this way. They are general
favorites because the cultivation of them is easy ; and it is thought
they will put up with almost any treatment. One great difficulty in
the way of cultivating them is their liability to blight, especially
where the land is rich and highly manured. A kind of oats cultiva-
ted in the central and northern parts of this county, and known by
the local name of Kilham Oats, from the gentleman, who, it is said,

33

introduced them from abroad, has hitherto not been known to be
bh'ghted, though it has been cultivated here for some years. Its
weight is about 33 pounds to tlie bushel ; its yield to the acre as
good as others.

The Tartarian, or as some call it, the Horse-Mane Oat, from the
grain hanging together on one side of the panicle, is sometimes cul-
tivated. Its straw is stouter than the common oat, and, perhaps,
less likely to be lodged. It is as productive as the common oats ;
but it is not thought to possess any decided advantage over them.

Buckwheat. The Tartarian, or smaller kind of buckwheat,
has been recently introduced into the county. It is known under
the name of Indian Wheat. It has been cultivated in Beverly,
Wenham, and Lynn. It does not demand a rich soil ; may be
sowed about the 10th of June ; and may be expected to yield under
good cultivation, from 35 to 50 bushels to the acre from 12 to 16
quarts sowed. Much larger crops have been reported. It weighs
49 or 50 pounds to the bushel ; 25 lbs. and by close milling, 35
lbs. of flour have been obtained from a bushel, which makes fine
cakes, when eaten warm ; and quite tolerable bread. It forms a
valuable feed for stock ; and the cultivation of it may be extended
to much advantage.

Potatoes. The next principal crop cultivated in the county, is
potatoes. This crop is cultivated more or less on every farm, prin-
cipally for marketing, but in no case very extensively. One farm
return, gives 1300 bushels raised, which is probably as large as any
in the county.

The yield is rated in Wenham at 150 bushels ; Rowley 75 to
200 bs. ; Amesbury 300, 320 ; 400 bs. common on one farm ;
Salisbury 100, 200 bs. ; Newbury 250, 300 bs., Saugus 150, 200
bs. ; Manchester 260 bs. ; Sandy Bay 300 bs. ; Beverly 200 bs. ;
and on 4^ acres this year 278 bs. to the acre ; Haverhill 400 bs.
The kinds raised are the August whites, a very early variety ; the
English whites, a round potato ; the Biscuit potato, a round pota-
to with a brown rough skin, mealy and productive ; the La Plata,
5

34

or long red, well known ; and the Chenango, sometimes called the
Mercer, or Pennsylvania Blue. These last are early and large
bearers ; and command a good price in market.

The amount of seed varies from 6 bushels to 25 bushels. All
are agreed that the seed should be large and fair. The point so
much debated, wiiether the potatoes when planted, should be cut or
not, remains undecided. The majority of the farmers plant in hills 3^
feet apart ; but most of them admit that they are able to obtain larger
crops in drills. Excellent crops have been grown where the whole
work was done by the plough ; the land was furrowed, and the seed
dropped in the furrow, and then covered with the plough. They
were afterwards cultivated with the plough only. When ripe, the
plough was passed through the drill, and the potatoes thrown out ;
the field was afterwards harrowed, which brought all the remaining
ones to the surface ; and was thus left in a thoroughly pulverized
and neat condition for a grain or grass crop.

It is the custom of one farmer to cut the seed end from his pota-
toes, in the winter at his leisure, for planting and use the other part
for his swine. In this way a considerable saving is made.

One farmer has obtained three crops of potatoes from the same
tubers, by plucking the sprouts, and planting them ; and availing
himself of a hot bed to forward the growth.

By recent exact experiments in Great Britain, it seems decided
that no advantage comes from planting whole over cut sets ; and
that deep planting is unfavorable to the product ; as a potato planted
an inch under the surface will produce a greater number of potatoes
than one planted at the depth of a foot ; much earthing up of pota-
toes therefore is not approved. The advantage of plucking off the
buds of the potato before they unfold themselves, instead of suffer-
ing them to remain until the balls are formed, is to increase the pro-
duct one sixth.

" Potatoes may be preserved by being rasped or ground to a pulp,
and afterwards pressed with a heavy press, and then dried like cheese.
Potato cakes of this sort have been found to keep perfectly sweet
for years ; and it is thought that ships bound on long voyages, might
find it advantageous to take their potatoes in this form."

35

Land of a calcareous nature produces the best potatoes. Clay-
land produces those of a poor quality. Gypsum in the hill is gen-
erally supposed to improve both the quality and the product.

I have no estimate of the expense of cultivating an acre of pota-
toes in Essex County except the one given on page 22. If we sup-
pose the amount of seed used to be 20 bushels, and that the digging
is at the rate of 30 bushels to a day's work, the expenses will not
much fall short of $50, including ten loads of manure at $2 per
load. The crop in such case, with ordinary success, may be rated
at 300 bushels. The price is seldom less than 25 cents, and rarely
exceeds 40 cents in quantities. Potatoes return nothing of value to
the soil. Wheat, within my own observation, has done extremely
well after potatoes. Potatoes are best grown in a deep rich loam ;
and will well repay good cultivation.

Onions are a considerable crop in the county ; the cultivation as
a field crop has been principally in Danvers and Newbmy. Of late
they have been subject to a blight, which reduces the value of the
crop, and sometimes renders it worthless. Neither the cause nor
preventive is understood. In Danvers, until the two last years,
25,000 bushels a year have been raised ; the last year, two thirds
of that amount. They are sold in the market to be shipped to
New Orleans or the West Indies ; and the price varies from 30
to 67 cents : 300 to 400 bushels to an acre may be considered
a fair crop ; 600 bushels are sometimes obtained. The estimate of
the cost of cultivation, which I have obtained, is fifty days' labor to
an acre. This includes nothing for manure nor rent of land. The
manure very generally applied, where attainable, is muscle-bed,
which is obtained in Salem at the rate of $1 per horse load ; and
laid in heaps on the land in autumn, where it is completely pulver-
ized by the action of the frost.

In Weathersfield, Connecticut, it is well known that this vegetable
has been extensively and profitably cultivated for years ; and mainly
by female labor. After the land is ploughed, manured, and fitted
for the seed the whole labor is performed by women, even to fitting
the crop for market ; — formerly in successful seasons $100 or more
was not an uncommon result of a woman's summer labor in the

36

onion field. We should be sorry to see women in our country
subjected to the severe and degrading services and toils, to which
the wives and daughters of the agricultural laborers of the old coun-
tries are accustomed. But exemption from all necessity of bodily
exertion is usually a curse not a blessing ; and many of the lighter
kinds of agricultural labor would be as proper for women as for men,
did not custom forbid it, a custom of at least questionable utility.
Rather than engage in this many of our young women quit their pa-
rental homes, and prefer passing months and even years in heated
rooms amid the dust and confinement and deafening din of ma-
chinery, to the light but cheerful and invigorating labors of gardening
and agriculture, in the pure and bracing air and the green and open
fields. The culture of silk promises to afford a healthful and pro-
fitable occupation for female labor.

Of the other crops there can be said to be no general cultivation.
Ruta Baga, Carrots, Beets, and Cabbages have been sometimes
extensively, and continue in some degree, to be cultivated, but not
to any noticeable extent. In this respect we believe the Essex
farmers have not yet come to a perfect understanding of their true
interest. There are three sorts of farming. The first, where
agriculture is pursued as subsidiary to something else, and is a
mere accompaniment to a trade, business, or profession. The se-
cond, where a bare living is sought for ; and men are satisfied with
the ordinary supplies and comforts of a farm without any view to
improvement or gain. These two classes may be said to compre-
hend the greater part of the agricultural population of Essex ; and
their situation is almost universally comfortable and independent.
The third class is, where agriculture is pursued like any other busi-
ness in the community with a proper outlay of capital and labor,
and with a main view to pecuniary advantage. From the number of
markets accessible in the county, and the amount of manufacturing
population within and in the vicinity of the county to be sustained,
this class is destined to arise ; and when this is the case the cultiva-
tion of green crops and esculent vegetables will form an essential
part of the rotation of products.

I shall here subjoin a list of remarkable products, which have

37

been obtained in the county, many of which have been certified
under oath to the Massachusetts and Essex Agricultural Societies ;
others have come under my own personal observation, or rest upon
testimony so well authenticated that it is difficult to reject it. Where
the products themselves have been actually measured, and the land
on which they were grown measured, and the whole certified by the
asseverations and oaths of persons, whose credibility is unquestioned,
I am at a loss to know by what right or reason these statements
should be distrusted. The authorities are at the service of those
persons, whose curiosity would be gratified by knowing them.

Of Wheat, 24, 25, and 32 bushels to the acre.

Of Indian Corn, 70, 72, 84, 90J, 90f, 105, 110, 113^, 115,
11 7^ bushels.

Of Barley, 50, 51^, 52, 54 bushels.

Of Rye, 40, 56 bushels.

Of Oats, 1,000 bushels on 20 acres.

Of Potatoes, 400, 484, 518J bushels.

Of Carrots, 849, 864, 878, and 900 bushels.

Of Mangold Wurtzel, 924, and 1,340 bushels to an acre at
56 lbs. to a bushel.

Of Beets, 783 bushels.

Of RuTA Baga, 688, 903 bushels.

Of English Turnips, 636, 687, 672, 751, 814 bushels.

Of Onions, 651 bushels.

From one acre of land upwards of three tons of well cured Millet
were obtained.

From one acre of redeemed meadow 4^ tons of English Hay
were weighed and sold in 1836-7.

From six acres of land more than 29 tons of good English Hay,
weighed at the town scales, have been cut in a season.

Six hundred dollars worth of Winter Squashes were sold the last
season from two acres of land. The number of pounds is not ascer-
tained. The market price was very high.

The products of an acre and a half in a garden, the present sea-
son, are worthy of notice.

175

00

67

50

100

00

10

50

4

00

6

67

The land was manured with eight cords of manure to the acre,
and there have been grown on it for sale, and to be sold, as follows :

3,500 bi^ii^ls of Onions, at 5 cents

45 barrels of Beets, at $1.50 per barrel.

Cabbages sold .....

14 bushels of Parsnips ....

2 do Beans ....

20 do Potatoes ....

$363 67
Besides a supply of vegetables for family use from the same garden.

The establishment with which the last account is connected pre-
sents one of the most beautiful examples of persevering industry,
and admirable domestic economy and management, to be met with
in our industrious and frugal community. The individual began his
married life with only $500, which was the dower of his wife. He
has never been the owner of more than 10| acres of land, but has
often hired land for improvement. His whole and exclusive busi-
ness has been farming. He has been blest with ten children, of
whom seven are sons, and all of whom have been brought up in
habits of useful industry and had the advantages of a useful educa-
tion. His house is handsome enough to satisfy any reasonable am-
bition ; and his out-door and in-door establishments patterns of neat-
ness and order. He has all the needed comforts and luxuries of
life ; and in property may be pronounced independent. The habits
of such a fan)ily are in themselves a fortune. He and his two sons
have this year cut and cured 75 tons of hay ; and better hay is
not to be found.

THE DAIRY.

Under this head may be placed the milk establishments in the
neighborhood of Salem for the supply of the city. In some of

39

these 30 cows are kept ; in some 40 or more. By an observing
and experienced milk man, llie average produce of a cow, well fed,
was rated at five beer quarts per day ; by others at one gallon. In
the former case the customary allowance to each cow during the
winter was two quarts of Indian meal, and one peck of vegetables
per day, and as much good hay as they required. This farmer
judges from his long experience that each cow would require two
tons of hay in a season. In summer their feed was good pasturage ;
and when that failed, Indian corn, which was planted to be fed to them
green. In one year from 23 cows he sold ^2,100 worth of milk,
at 5 to G cents per quart.

He has found potatoes highly useful for increasing the quantity,
but not for improving the quality of the milk. Other milk men speak
of trials with the common blood-beet for the feed of milch cows
with great advantage. The cows are dry upon an average about
eight weeks, and the calf is usually killed or given away as soon as
the milk is fit for use.

The use of shorts, wheat bran, mashed or grated potatoes, and
cut feed mixed, have been found valuable ; and increased economy
in the consumption has been deemed a full compensation for the extra
trouble of preparation. The consumption of food by a dry cow is
much less than by a cow in milk ; but the length of time during which
cows are out of milk is a great deduction from the profits of a milk es-
tablishment. In the best managed New York milk establishments, with
which I am well acquainted, they feed their cows well, and as their
milk declines they increase this feed ; they keep them in milk as long
as they will pay well for their keeping, not suffering them to take the
bull ; and then they dry them off at once. After three weeks ex-
tra feeding they are fit for the butcher, and are sold as beef. This
management they consider much better than to keep many dry cows.
This method would not be so practicable here. It is more easy
there to obtain milch cows when wanted than here. A demand
here, however, might create a supply.

At the Theological Institution in Andover, and the same practice
is proposed to be pursued at the farms connected with the English
and Latin schools in the same town, a considerable number of cows,
kept for the purpose of supplying the students with milk, are

40

soiled on green food. Grass is cut for them ; and particularly oats
which are cut green. The experiment is thus far satisfactory. In-
dian corn sowed either in drills or hroadcast, but much better in
drills, furnishes an excellent article for this purpose. The cultiva-
tion of Ruta Baga, Carrots, Beets, and Cabbages, from their tops
and leaves in the autumn as well as from their roots in the winter,
would furnish a great amount of valuable feed. The cows are every
day turned out for some hours into a small enclosure. The quantity
of manure obtained in this way, especially where proper pains are
taken, is of a superior quality, and is an important consideration.

Of Dairies for the manufacture of butter and cheese, there are
none within my knowledge in the county, of any great extent. Ten
cows constitute the largest number reported to me as kept for this
purpose ; and these are devoted mainly to the making of butter, for
which there is always a ready sale in the towns. It requires a gallon
of new milk to make one pound of cheese. From two and a half to
three gallons are required for a pound of butter. The cheese usu-
ally brings 8 or 9 cents. The butter 20 to 22 cents. Ten quarts
of good milk will ordinarily produce a pound of butter. When
cheese is worth 9 cents, butter should be worth 22 cents ; the value
of the milk then applied in either way is about the same. The
skimmed milk and the butter milk, however, are of much more
value for various domestic purposes, and for feeding swine, than the
cheese whey. The labor of the manufacture is not very different.
The care of the cheese, where it is kept tlirough the season, is consid-
erable. The butter finds usually an immediate sale. In the warm-
est part of the season cheese is principally made. There are no
spring houses in the county, such as are universal in Pennsylvania,
designed exclusively for keeping the milk, and with running water
passing through them. From the want of these accommodations
the making of butter in summer is often discontinued.

The yield of a cow in milk is stated generally at 350 gallons per
year ; of butter 87^, 116, 140, lbs. ; of cheese I have been able to
obtain no return on which I could place reliance. These returns
are very small ; and indicate either poor stock, or poor pastures, or
poor management. I am inclined to think the returns much under
estimated. I have the returns of a dairy of six cows, which I have

41

often visited, where in 1830, 181 lbs. of butter were made to each
cow, and this without any extra feed. In another case, from four
cows by high feeding, 208 lbs. of butter were obtained in a season
to a cow. Such examples ought to stimulate efforts at improvement*

I am struck often with the remarks made by persons, who are dis-
posed to speak well of their cows, when after stating what they pro-
duce, they finish by saying, " but we give them nothing but grass or
hay," as the case may be ; and " they go in a very poor pasture."
This may be very reputable to the cows, but it is very disreputable
to their owners. A poor cow is not worth keeping ; but no ani-
mal will better pay for liberal treatment than a good cow. Why
should one of the kindest and most liberal benefactors, which divine
Providence has given to men in the form of a quadruped, be treated
in this negligent and niggardly manner ?

It cannot be denied that a great part of the butter made in New
England, is of an inferior quality ; and bears a disadvantageous com-
parison with the butter of Pennsylvania and New York. There is
a freshness and delicious flavor to be found in the Philadelphia and
much of the Goshen butter, which is rarely, though sometimes, to
be met with in ours. It may depend somewhat upon the feed ;
somewhat upon the animal herself ; but I believe oftener upon the
management. I shall be pardoned for speaking of some remarkable
but not uncommon faults. The cream is often kept too long. The
milk room is not always well ventilated and white washed ; and is
frequently in the neighborhood of the effluvia of decayed vegetables,
and musty cider barrels ; and is often made the depository of the
remains of the dinner table, cider, pickles, cold meats, and various
unmentionables. The milk and dairy room, should be exclusively
for milk and its products ; and by itself. Cleanliness in every part
of it, in every vessel, in every operation connected with it, and in
every person permitted to enter it, should be the first and an indis-
pensable requisite.

The color of butter depends, doubtless somewhat, but not entire-
ly, upon the management of the milk and cream. The bright golden
surface, sparkling like a piece of rock candy or loaf sugar, is alto-
gether preferable to a slimy, waxy appearance, or a cheesy whiteness,
which it often has. A lady in Boxford, whose own butter showed
6

42

that she understood the art, told jne that she knew two neighbors,
each owning one cow, who engaged to use their two cows together
alternate weeks. The cows went in the same pasture. One of
these persons, in the week when she milked the cows, produced
from them a beautiful yellow butter ; the other, in her week, from
the same cows, produced butter that was white and crumbling like
cheese. The former kept her milk in a well aired room above
ground ; the latter kept her milk in the cellar. I had no opportunity
of making further inquiries, and I am not prepared to say that this
was the occasion of the difference ; but it is a strong circumstance.
The main point is a pure atmosphere and perfect cleanliness in every
operation and utensil.

I shall subjoin here the suggestions of a resjjected friend in Maine ;*
a gentleman who yields to bo one in agricultural intelligence, zeal,
and experience.

" Take one quarter or even one third of the milk of a cow — an
equal quantity from each teat ; use this in your family or for your
pigs — and milk the residue for the dairy. You will make better
butter in less time ; and nearly an equal quantity.'"

I have been long of an opinion, that a winter dairy for making but-
ter in Essex County, where access to market is so easy, would be
quite profitable. In this case it would be necessary to have the cows
come in in the fall ; and to be prepared with an abundance of succulent
food for them, such as carrots, beets, or ruta baga, through the winter.
The stables, too, should be warm and comfortable. An experienced
dairy woman says, she finds no difficulty in making butter at any time
in winter, provided she heats her cream on the stove to 72'' Fah't.,
and scalds her churn with boiling water when her cream is put in.
Such a dairy, on many accounts, would be managed with less trouble
than in the warm season. The butter could be sent to market in
the best condition ; and, if well made and known to be new, would
always command a quarter to a third more than the ordinary price.

*• Charles Vaughan, Esq., of Hallowell.

43

SHEEP HUSBANDRY.

This branch of agriculture is comparatively a small concern in
Essex County. The whole number of sheep in the county, accord-
ing to the Statistical Returns, being 6252 ; Saxony, 10 ; Merino,
928 ; of other kinds, 4879. The Saxony are represented as yield-
ing 3 lbs. to a fleece ; the merino, 2^ to 2, 11 oz. ; the common
sheep, 3 and 3^ lbs. The experienced shepherd will receive the
returns of the yield of Saxony sheep in wool with some hesita-
tion, but in this case, they are not of great importance. The county
is not adapted to the raising of fine vvooled sheep for their wool only ;
and no one thinks of the Saxony for mutton.

In several parts of the county, however, a small number of sheep
are kept for early lambs, and to great advantage. Where other
stock is kept on a considerable scale, a few sheep may be kept at
little or no expense, upon the orts and wastings of the other cattle.
A farmer, whose management is excellent for its success and frugal-
ity, in another county, writes to me : " Any farmer may keep a (ew
sheep with but little cost ; say as many sheep in number as he has of
cattle and horses. In fair weather they require nothing but the orts,
sticks, and leaves, which the other creatures leave. By giving them
a small quantity of corn daily, I am confident that in this way I have
kept ten sheep on two bushels of corn, or a pint a day, with the
addition of four or five hundred of hay at most, to be given in bad
weather and in the spring. In this way I have as good or better
sheep than my neighbors. Sheep will fatten in this way."

There seem to me two ways in which the sheep husbandry may
be pursued in Essex County to great advantage. The first is in
fattening wethers for the market. It is better for the farmer to consume
his hay on his farm, when he can obtain for it $15 per ton, than to
sell it in the market for $20. I believe, in general, with ordinary
skill, a farmer in any part of Essex County may do this by fattening
wethers. In this case, his ton of hay may be expected to give
him nearly a cord of valuable manure ; and all the expense and
trouble of going to market, to say nothing of the loss of time and the
vexations. I will suppose him to purchase a good lot of wethers,

44

which he shall commence with on the first of December. For these
he pays three dollars per head. They will require on an average for
twelve weeks, two pounds of hay per day, at $15 per ton or 1^
cents per lb. — $1 26 ; and one pint of Indian corn per day, say at
96 cents per bushel, or li cent per pint — $1 26 : total cost, $2 54.
This is liberal feed ; and by the first of March his sheep will gene-
rally bring him $5 50 to $6. If they are of superior quality, and
have had more liberal feeding, they will generally bring in proportion.
The attendance is easy, and goes into the general farm labor. If an
Ipswich or Rowley farmer sends his hay by an agent to be sold in
Boston market on commission, he pays from $4 to ^7 on the sale of
it, and the manure is lost. If the Essex farmer will go largely into
the raising of ruta baga, he will be able to fatten his wethers at a
less expense than we have charged ; and if he will in such case
litter his sheep yards abundantly with meadow hay, ferns and brakes,
straw, corn butts, or peat mud, he will find a mine of wealth
in them in the spring, whose diffusion will spread its golden harvests
over his fields. There is no article of feed, which can be given to
cattle, which will produce such large secretions of urine as turnips ;
and a compost formed in the way described is among the most active
and productive manures, which can be applied to the soil. In such
experiment the farmer needs, however, to be admonished to under-
take it only with sheep in good and thrifty condition. It is a proverb
that a sheep is never fat but once ; and attetnpts to fatten a poor
sheep will usually end in disappointment. The second important
point is to observe the strictest regularity and care in feeding. I
speak on the subject of fatting wethers with some confidence, having
had many years of careful and exact experience. The near vicinity
of the Essex farmer to a market for his mutton gives him great ad-
vantage over one living far in the interior.

A second branch of sheep husbandry, which the Essex farmer
may prosecute to great advantage, is the raising of early lambs for
the market. I mention one example which may seem trivial, yet a
feather may indicate the course of the wind as certainly as a ship
under full sail. A farmer in Ipswich had a lamb come on first of
January last. He fed the ewe with plenty of succulent vegetables,
and he allowed the lamb to have free access to Indian meal, of

45

which he soon became fond, though the whole amount he consumed
was trifling. On the 20th of May the butcher gave him $4 for the
lamb, which weighed 9 and 10 lbs. per quarter. Another farmer
this last season from 30 sheep sold 24 lambs at $3 each. Another,
from 30 sheep sold lambs to the amount of ^75. Another from 12
ewes sold 18 lambs at $2.50 cents each.

I subjoin the account given to me by an exact farmer. " Five
years ago he bought 6 sheep for $2 per head. From these he
sold 6 lambs at $2 each. He considered the wool as paying for
the keeping. The sheep sold in December of that year for |i25.50

Four years ago he bought 12 sheep but did not do so well be-
cause he did not sell the old sheep ; the lambs sold for more.

Three years ago he had 25 sheep. The experiment in the sale
of the lambs did well.

Two years ago he had 50 sheep ; for 40 lambs he received $100,
for 4 lambs $8 — $108 ; for the wool at 48^ cents per lb. he received
$73. Total proceeds, $181. He kept the stock.

This year he had 47 sheep. They gave him 33 lambs, and be-
sides these 7 lambs died. The lambs brought $2.25 each. They
did not come until April."

It is important in such cases so to arrange matters that the sheep
should Iamb early ; and to have plenty of ruta baga or best of hay in
store for them while in milk. Potatoes tor feeding the ewes are
said by some farmers in Berkshire to be in such case injurious.
The difficulty is in keeping a stock of ewes through the summer.
This might be very inconvenient in some locations, especially as
the fences in general in Essex are not suited to this kind of stock.
The farmer might provide, therefore, to drive his ewes to a pasture
in the interior after his lambs were sold, and have them returned in
the autumn ; or he might finish the experiment in the spring by
fattening and selling his ewes in the market after the lambs were
sold, and the fleeces taken off; or he might fatten his ewes to
advantage by soiling. I have known this done with advantage.

Our native stock crossed by the South-down would probably
give the best lambs. The South-down Sheep, of which a beautiful
flock is to be seen at the Ten Hills stock farm in Charlestown,
combine probably in a higher degree than any known among us the

46

best properties of thrift, mutton, and wool. The Leicester or Dish-
ley are larger and fatter ; but they are much more tender in their
constitution ; they require more keep and more care ; and neither
in England nor in the New York markets, where I have particularly
inquired of the butchers, are they considered so valuable.

BEEF.

The fattening of Beef is not greatly pursued in the county.
In general the farmers fatten their oxen when they deem it no longer
best to keep them for labor. Some farmers in Danvers fatten beef
to some extent and profit. One farmer in the northern part of the
county consumes all his produce in fattening cattle ; and he turns
them off twice a year. To those, which he stall feeds in winter, he
allows one bushel of potatoes and one peck of meal to a yoke with
hay per day. He lays the greatest stress upon regularity of manage-
ment. The condition of his whole place shows that he follows out
with rigid exactness his own precepts. He has great skill in buying
and selling, and therefore finds an advantage in this management.

I have almost innumerable reports of the excellence of apples
for fattening beef as well as pork. Many farmers rate them as of
equal value with potatoes. Most think them greatly improved by
being steamed or boiled. I could hear of no exact experiments
having been made to determine this matter, and I place little reliance
upon vague inferences or impressions. It is well settled that the
cooking of food for swine is expedient and profitable. The advan-
tage of cooking food for fattening sheep is only as 14 to 13. The
cooking of feed for fattening neat cattle in my own experience, and
in the result of some full and careful experiments made not long
since in Scotland, will not aflbrd a benefit equivalent to the extra
expense.

In passing through Manchester I was much struck with some
very fine cattle in a pasture by the road side. On inquiry I found
that with the exception of about two bushels of corn and twelve
bushels of potatoes given them in the spring, their feed had been

47

nothing but hay. This yoke of cattle have since been killed, and
weighed 2,400 lbs., and sold for $160. These cattle, all circum-
stances considered, were so remarkable, and the success of the two
brothers, who own the farm together, in fattening cattle has been so
unusual, that I shall subjoin an extract from a letter from a highly
respectable farmer and butcher, in answer to my inquiries in relation
to this matter.

" I requested my brother to look for the weight of the heifer
that he purchased of Mr. B. Foster of Manchester. In this he has
not been successful, except the weight of the tallow, which was
147 lbs. ; and that the heifer weighed, as near as he can recollect,
875 lbs., hide, beef, and tallow. This heifer was five years old.
In April, 1835, I purchased of Mr. S. Foster a yoke of oxen, and
of ]Mr. B. Foster a heifer, the weight of which was as follows :

Heifer four years old. Oxen.

Tallow 102 ... . 128 148

Hide 66 .... 109 109

Beef \^^^ ... S^20 444

I 322 ( 520 454

811 lbs. 1,277 1,155 lbs.

In March, 1836, I purchased a yoke of oxen of each of the
above gentlemen, which weighed as follows :

Oxen of B. F. Oxen of S. F.

Tallow 83 100 . . 89 100

Hide 114 120 . . . 100 96

g J. C 528 508 . . ^ 490 543

514 516 . . M91 534

1,239 1,244 lbs. 1,170 1,273 lbs.

The above cattle were all of what our farmers call the native
breed ; and were fattened without the aid of grain or vegetables,
with a very trifling exception ; they were fattened upon grass and

48

hay ; the two last pair in one year ; the other pair in two years ; and
were only in common working condition when purchased by the
Messrs. Foster; besides, they have performed all the work on a
small farm during the time they were in the hands of the abovenamed
gentlemen ; and some work off the farm. These cases are not
singular with these gentlemen. They are only samples of what
they have been doing for twenty years. The only secret in the
mode of their management is the superior quality of their hay, to
which may be added careful and kind treatment."

The authority of the above is unquestionable. I can bear testi-
mony to the very fine quality of their hay, owing to their extraor-
dinary care in curing it.

SWINE.

Essex County may claim the honor of having produced the most
important improvement in this species of live stock, which has ever
been made in the country. A farmer in Byfield, a parish in New-
bury, found accidentally in the market a pig of remarkable appear-
ance, and this laid with him the foundation of die breed of hogs
known as the Byfield breed, which have been extended through the
county, and are known by this designation in England. They have
been considered as too short, and not sufficiently heavy. They
come to maturity early. They are quiet and docile in their disposi-
tions and they are fattened at less expense than most others. They
are easily made to weigh 300 lbs at fifteen and eighteen months old.
Improvements have been made by crossing with this stock in all
parts of the country ; and it is now impossible to find it pure. The
weight of a small herd killed the "present autumn, approaching as
nearly to the original stock as any that can be found is subjoined.
AVeight of 7 hogs — 6 sold ; one salted for family.
397 lbs., 396, 366, 366, 412, 418, 520.
6 sold at 12 cts. per lb. ; I reserved at same — $345.
These hogs were fifteen to eighteen months old, and show good
stock and good keeping.

49

I found an excellent breed of swine in Gloucester, recently-
imported from ^pain. Their black color would be with some per-
sons an objection ; but their shape and thrift and good humor, an
essential to thrift, were admirable.

In an exact experiment, made by myself a few years since in this
county, the largest gain ascertained was more than three pounds live
weight ; that is, 57 lbs. in 18 days. This was obtained on pure
Indian hasty pudding. This was extraordinary, and not to be usually
calculated upon. Two pounds live weight is a great gain. A far-
mer in Newbury stated to me, that he purchased a hog in October,
weighing 60 lbs., and killed him in the ensuing March, weighing GOO
lbs. This was an extraordinary gain ; but the kind of feed was not
stated. This farmer usually buys shoats at seven months old, and
keeps them one year upon an average of three quarts of corn per day.
A gain of a pound per day, dead weight, supposing corn to be one
dollar per bushel and pork ten cents per pound, will fully pay the
expense. The manure, where the styes are well littered, and the hogs
are not compelled to make bricks without straw, will amply compen-
sate for the attendance and care. A very excellent manager states,
that a peck of meal, scalded or cooked for feeding swine, is equal in
value to one and a half peck in a raw state.

The Gloucester Alms-House the last year fattened nine hogs,
weight 2774 lbs. ; wt. 306 ^ lbs. each. The general failure of
the corn crops for two past years is strongly indicated by the
condition of the styes through the county. The average weight re-
turned tome of swine, fattened at 18 months old, is from 300 to 350
lbs. A farmer in Manchester states, that, in his experience, barley
meal for fattening swine is of equal value, pound for pound, as Indian
meal. This I have before remarked ; and it is fully confirmed by
the experience of the intelligent Superintendent of the Farm School,
near Boston, who has communicated with me on the subject.

NEAT CATTLE.

Essex County is not a grazing territory. Few cattle are raised
in it. The stock generally to be found in it is what is called our
7

50

"Native Stock," which is a mixture, of no certain origin ; but in
which the Devon race greatly preponderates.

Some cows, which have been owned in Essex, have probably
never been exceeded, for their dairy produce, by any in any part of
the country. The Oakes cow, owned in Danvers, made in 1813,
180 lbs. of butter; in 1814, 300 lbs.; in 1815, over 400 lbs.; in
1816, 484^ lbs. At the same time the family reserved one quart of
milk per day for their own use ; and she suckled four calves four
weeks each in the course of those years. She made in one week
19.^ lbs. butter; and she averaged over 16 lbs. of butter per week
for three months in succession.

The Nourse cow, owned in North Salem, made 20 lbs. of butter
in one week ; and averaged 14 lbs. butter per week for four suc-
cessive months.

The Haverhill heifer, two to three years old, produced 14 lbs. of
butter in a week after her calf was killed at six weeks old ; and more
than 18 lbs. of butter in the ten days after her calf was killed.
These cows were all of native stock.

The largest amount of milk given in one day by the Oakes cow,
is 44j lbs. In the case of the two first cows, they were fed in the
most liberal manner with meal and their own skim milk. In the
case of the heifer, the feed was grass and pumpkins.

I subjoin a list of a few other cows in the county, whose yield is
well authenticated.

1. Cow owned by John Barr, in Salem.

In 274 days the weight of milk was 7611 lbs.

1822. No. of quarts, beer measure, 2965^.

1823. In 268 days, weight of milk was 7517 lbs.
No. of quarts, beer measure, 2923.

The sales from this cow, including the calf at 5 dollars and milk at
5 cents per quart, in 1822, was $153.25. In 1823, $151.15.

2. Cow. John Stone, Marblehead. From June to October
this cow averaged 1 1 lbs. of butter per week.

3. Cow. N. Pierce, Salem. 3,528 quarts milk per year, —
nearly 10 quarts per day.

4. Jeremiah Stickney, Rowley. 19 quarts daily ; calf at six
weeks old weighed 196 lbs. — gain 2^ lbs. per day.

51

5. Cow. Isaac Osgood, Andover. 17 quarts of milk per day;
made 50 lbs. of butter in the month of June.

6. Cow. S. Noah, Danvers. In 148 days from 2d May,
gave 5S7J gallons milk ; — more than four gallons per day for that
time.

7. Cow. T. Flanders, Haverhill. From 20th April to 22d
September besides 46i gallons milk used for family, made 163 lbs.
4 oz. butter.

8. Cow. Daniel Putnam, Danvers. " This cow calved May
21st. The calf was sold June 20th for $7 62^. During the 30
days that the calf sucked there were made from her milk 17 lbs. of
butter. From June 20th to September 26th (14 weeks) she gave
3370 lbs. of milk, or more than 34 lbs. 6 oz. per day. The great-
est quantity on any one day was 45 lbs., or 17^ quarts. The weight
of a quart of her milk is 2 lbs. 9 oz. The greatest quantity in one
week was 288 lbs. The quantity of butter made in the same 14
weeks was 139 lbs. The greatest amount in one week was 12 lbs.
2 oz."

9. Cow. Owned by William Osborn, Salem. The milk of
this cow from January 24th to April 10th, was 3127 lbs., varying from
33 to 48 lbs. per day, averaging 40^ lbs. per day during that time.

10. Cow. Owned by Richard Eliot, Danvers. This cow's
milk gave 16 lbs. of butler in one week ; and she yielded on an aver-
age from 15 to 18 quarts per day, beer measure, for a length of time.

All these cows were what is denominated our native stock. An in-
telligent gentleman, the owner of an extraordinary cow in the interior,
remarks, in a letter detailing her yield, what is highly important to be
remembered. " From the experience I have had with this cow, I
feel quite sure that many cows, which have been considered quite
ordinary, might, by kind and gentle treatment, good and regular
feeding, and proper care in milking, have ranked among the first
rate."

The yield of a cow now owned in Andover is remarkable. Her
origin is not known, but her appearance indicated a mixed blood ;
and I was led to believe she partook of the Yorkshire blood, a race
of cattle which I have found in the neighborhood of Moultenboro'
and Canterbury, N. H., but whose introduction I am not able to trace.

52

In 1836, besides supplying the family with cream and milk, there
were sold 127^ gallons milk at 14 cents per gallon, $17 88
166 lbs. butter at 25 cents, 41 50

Calf sold, 8 00

$67 38
" The keeping was good pasture and swill of the house, including
the skim milk, with three pints of meal per day." These statements
show, in a strong light, the difference between a good and a poor
cow ; and the utility of liberal keeping.

The difference in the butter properties of different cows is not
generally considered. In a yard of five cows, upon repeated trials,
made at similar times, and as near as could be under the same cir-
cumstances, by a farmer in this county, the difference in the yield of
cream upon 9 inches of milk was found to be as 13 to 3.

Attempts have been made to introduce some improved foreign
stocks into the county ; the Alderney, the Holderness, and the Im-
proved Durham Short-Horn. These experiments are reported to
have been satisfactory to those, who have made them ; but I have been
unable to procure any exact returns. Admiral Sir Isaac CofBn pre-
sented a valuable Improved Durham Short-Horn bull and cow to the
Massachusetts Agricultural Society, which were placed on the farm
of a gentleman in Salem, who retains some of the lialf-blood stock.
The amount of the yield in milk of this short-horned cow is mislaid ;
but the owner states from recollection "that her milk night and
morning, weighed 48 lbs., when she had nothing more than pasture
feed in June." Respecting this stock, the gentleman adds, — "In
my opinion they combine the two qualities of milk and beef in a
greater degree than any other stock I am acquainted with. With me
the pure bloods and a large proportion of the mixed blood have
proved great milkers, and, when not in milk, take on flesh very rapid-
ly. I have slaughtered two half-blood heifers, which have weighed
at four years old over 700 lbs. A pair of half-blood steers, at four
years old, became so very fat from common keep, that I was induced
to dispose of them to the butchers; they weighed 1100 lbs. each.
The greatest objection to them in my opinion is, that they incline
to go dry a longer time than our native stock."

63

My own experience differs somewhat from the respectable author-
ity just given. I have had some of the full-blood and some of the
mixed breed ; and I am not able to say anything in favor of their
milking properties. I have seen some remarkably fine specimens of
early maturity and thrift among them ; and more beautiful models of
cattle than some specimens, which I have seen of them, I believe
are no where to be met with.

Another public-spirited gentleman in Bradford imported some of
this fine stock for his farm. His expectations do not appear to have
been fully answered, though I was not able to obtain any exact in-
formation of their yield in milk or butter. From the letter of his
correspondent, whom he employed to procure these fine animals for
him without limit as to expense, I extract as follows. "I must ob-
serve that this breed of stock has not been held of late years in great
estimation for milking." He adds that " Short-Horns are only cal-
culated for the best and most powerful land ; on poor soils thev will
do nothing. The most improved plan of keeping them in winter is
to have them loose in open warm hovels, two or four together. The
bulls you will find it necessary to keep in altogether from one year
old. The Milch Cows are kept at the stake in enclosed houses ;
and turned out a short time in the day time — they bear the cold bad-
ly."

There is another very strong testimony, that of Mr. Shiriff, who
travelled in this country for agricultural information in 1834 '5 ; and
who is pronounced by one of the most eminent breeders of the Dur-
ham Short-Horns in England, a farmer of the first rank. In his
journal he remarks, — " There was a fine short-horn bull, intended to
improve the dairy stock, which I did not see. I took the liberty
of advising the cross to be tried on a small scale, believing the Short
Horns the worst milking breed in Britain."

I give these opposite authorities, in justice to the agricultural com-
munity. The subject deserves much farther inquiry, and the test
of actual experiment. On this account it were greatly to be de-
sired that the gentlemen, who own this fine stock, and from the most
public-spirited designs have introduced them into the country, would
give the public exact statements of their product. Some oxen in the
county descended from the Short-Horned Bull Admiral in the second

54

generation are very fine cattle, in point of size, docility, condition, and
work. I have seen the importations of this stock made by the Ohio
Company ; and it seems impossible to imagine animals of more perfect
symmetry and beauty ; or of better promise in point of thrift and
condition. They may however suit far better the luxuriant meadows
of Ohio and Kentucky than our bleak and short pastures.

MANURES.

Much and increasing attention is paid throughout the county to the
saving of manures and the formation of compost. Vastly more re-
mains to be done. In many parts of the county, cellars are consid-
ered a necessary appendage to the barn, where the manure is sheltered
from the sun ; and, by some of the most careful, from the external air
likewise. A Danvers farmer, on whose good judgment I place great
confidence, expresses his strong conviction, that the value of his
manure is doubled in a closed cellar, in comparison with it under the
former mode of exposure to the sun, and air, and rain. In most of
these cases the barn is placed on a side hill ; the cellar is high enough
to load in and turn the team and cart ; and a trap door is in the barn
floor, so that bog-mud, litter, or other refuse may be easily thrown
in to be formed into compost by the store hogs, who are put there
to work, and who faithfully earn their living. In two places I found
provision made for saving all the liquid manure from the stalls and the
barn yards. It was conveyed by gutters into a capacious cistern,
from which it was occasionally pumped into a watering cask, like that
used in the streets of cities, and distributed on the grass ground.
This was done with great advantage. The liquid manure of a large
herd of cattle, could it be properly husbanded, would be of equal
value as the solid manure. The subject of saving manures, and
collecting and compounding them, is a matter which cannot be too
strongly pressed upon the attention of farmers. It is the very life-
blood of successful agriculture.

The subject of the application of manures, whether in a perfectly
green and unfermented, or in a decomposed state, has been matter
of much inquiry among the Essex farmers. The general impression

55

is, that they should be used in a green state, as their most valuable
parts are lost in the progress of decomposition. The philosophy of
manures is as little understood as the philosophy of digestion. Nature
draws a veil over many of her processes, which no prying curiosity
has been able to raise, and no solicitude has induced her to uncover
these operations. By what means the food received into the stomach
goes, in its wonderful subdivisions and changes, to the formation of
blood and bone, muscles and skin, hair and nails, is a matter about
which we know as much as we know how the food of plants is taken
up and elaborated, and goes, according to the seed which is sown,
to the formation of the stem and leaves, the coloring and taste, the
flowers and fruit. It may operate as a stimulant, waking the dor-
mant powers of the earth into action. It may serve as the substance,
out of which the plants are to be formed ; and to a degree the evi-
dence of this is perfect. It may so affect the earth and the atmos-
phere, that these great reservoirs of the elements of vegetable and
animal life may at once furnish their proper and required contributions.
But conjecture here is in a great measure idle. We may talk very
learnedly on the subject without knowing any thing about it, or being
able to communicate any valuable information. On this matter,
experience and intelligent observation must be our guides. In actual
bulk manure, which is thoroughly decomposed, loses one half. Its
activity, its power of producing heat, one of the ascertained principles
of vegetable life, is likewise lost. On these accounts, it is obviously
best to apply it green. The experience of intelligent farmers almost
universally confirms this. But unfermented manure, if applied im-
mediately to the roots of plants, may, by too much action, or too
much heat, or by supplying their food in too lavish or too concen-
trated a form, destroy them. There is no danger from this when
manures are spread and ploughed under the soil, or scattered over its
surface. But where their immediate action is desired in the soil, it
is important, before they are taken out of the yard, that they should
be in a partially decomposed state, or rather in an active state ; and
for that reason they should be turned over and thrown into heaps in
the cattle yards in the spring, that they may become in a degree warm
before they are applied. If they are to be applied directly to the roots
of crops, they should be either mixed with earth, or so far advanced

56

in their decomposition, that no evil may result from the heat of their
first action ; and that they may be so subdivided and dissolved as to
be in a condition to be at once taken up by the absorbent vessels of
the plants.

These views will explain what I wish to say in regard to our great
crop, Indian corn ; and what long experience and observation have
confirmed. The question is often asked, shall the manure be spread
or placed in the hill ? T answer, do both. Its immediate action is
needed to bring the plant forward as soon as possible ; and therefore
partially decomposed manure should be placed in the hill. It is equal-
ly necessary that the plant should not suffer from want when its roots
spread themselves beyond the hill in pursuit of food. The unfer-
mented manure, spread and ploughed in lightly, will be in a condition
for the use of the fibrous roots when they advance to receive it.
Another question often proposed is, should the manure which is
spread be ploughed in deeply, or covered lightly, or simply laid on
the surface ? If the plant to be cultivated be a tap rooted plant, it
will find the manure though it should be buried deeply. If it has a
spreading and fibrous root, like all the cereal grains, the nearer it is to
the surface, without being entirely exposed on the top of it, the more
available it is to the growth of the plant. If laid upon the surface
and not covered, much of it must inevitably be lost by the sun and
rain and wind. In respect to Indian corn, especially recollecting the
cold seasons of the two last years, it is important by every possible
means to get the plant forward as fast as possible ; and for that reason
to select the warmest and the dryest land ; to manure with fine ma-
nure in the hill, and with unfermented manure spread broad cast ;
and to plant as soon as the land can be made dry and warm enough to
receive the seed. There is no crop that will better reward the most
liberal cultivation.

In respect to the manuring of wheat, fermented and finely dissolved
manures may be safely applied the year of its being sown ; but not
so with unfermented manures. In general, it is best that the crop,
which precedes the wheat rather than the wheat itself, should be
manured.

In regard to the application of manure to potatoes, the almost uni-
versal opinion has been, that when manured in the hill, the seed
should be laid upon the manure. Many farmers have reversed this

57

practice ; and now place the mannre upon the seed, they say, with
superior advantage.

Besides barn manures, slaughtcr-liouse manure lias been used vviili
great effect ; but it is necessary it should be mixed with loam. Night
soil, mixed in the proportion of one part of night soil to four of loam
or fine gravel, has been used with extraordinary efficacy, upon peat
or bog meadow. Muscle bed is much used, especially by the Dan-
vers farmers, for their onions and vegetables for the market. It costs
in Salem about one dollar for a large horse load, and is applied lib-
erally. At Manchester, where it is quite accessible, it is used with
great advantage either as a top-dressing or ploughed in. At Bever-
ly, I have seen its excellent and lasting effects as a top-dressing on
grass land. A farmer in Danvers states, that a gondola, containing
eight four-ox loads of muscle bed, will deliver its cargo near to New
Mills, for seven dollars. This is a low price. He is accustomed
to spread six or seven loads to the acre, in winter, when frost will
render it pliable. It will do well to apply it once in four or five
years ; oftener than this, it binds the land and renders it hard.

He says, it is of excellent use when applied to land which is to be
laid down to grass with barley or oats. Its effects are lasting ; and
no other application will be required for years.

In the town of Essex, a great amount of clams are dug for fish-bait.
The shells are much used for manure. The keeper of the alms-
house in Essex, whose management is highly creditable, says, " as
to the value of clam-shells for manure, I think the broken and the
whole shells very useful to low land, either to be spread on or ploughed
in. They render the ground light and warm, and are very durable.
They likewise enrich the land very much." The same may be said
of oyster shells, which are obtained in some quantities in the cities.

The great amount of squashes mentioned in a former part of my
report, as obtained from two acres of land, is in some measure to be
ascribed to the use of fish oil or blubber oil. The farmer, living near
the fishing village in Lynn, obtains in the winter time a great quantity
of fish livers and garbage. From this he procures the oil. After his
casks are emptied of their oil, he fills them with water, which re-
mains sometime ; and this water, thus considerably charged with oil,
he applies to his squash tines. The effects are powerful. ,
8

58

One farmer, whose farm lies on the sea, lias this year made some
trials of fish as a manure. The Munhaden, Alewives, or Hard-
heads, as they are called, come to the shores in the early pari of the
season in great numbers, and are easily taken in seines. In the
southern parts of this State, and in Rhode Island, they are used in
great quantities ; either spread upon the grass land, or laid near to,
or placed in, the hill of corn. They are very powerful ; but their ef-
fects not lasting. The animal matter contained in them is consider-
able ; and the bones are composed of phosphate of lime, which is
a strong and active manure. The great objection to their use is,
that to a person not interested, they render the air extremely offen-
sive. Not so to those who find a profit in their application. To
most men, a golden breeze is always fragrant. There are other ma-
rine manures of great value. I have found sea sand, put in the hill of
potatoes, in low land of great eflicacy. My experience in this mat-
ter is not singular. The siliceous matter divides the soil ; and the salt
which adheres to it serves to stimulate the plant. Sea sand has been
used with advantage at Sandy Bay. The marine plants are used with
very beneficial results. The eel-grass is of little value excepting as
litter. Nothing seems more grateful or heahhfiil to swine than an
abundance of this grass in their styes. It serves to increase the
compost heap ; but it becomes light and does not leave much
when dried. Rock weed and kelp are valuable when ploughed in;
but they are used to most advantage when applied directly as a top-
dressing upon grass land. Then their effects are remarkable, and
no more efficacious manure can be used. If left in heaps for any
length of time, they soon become heated and decomposed ; and are
gone.

The refuse of the comb manufactories, horn tips and horn shav-
ings, are greatly valued as manures. The refuse of the glue manu-
factories are used with great advantage. Ashes, leeched or crude,
have been applied by different individuals with various success. A
farmer of high authority, in Newbury, states: — "I think leeched
ashes very valuable to spread on grass land ; likewise for onions and
grain. I use 20 or 30 cart loads. I gave this year three dollars
per load of fifty bushels." A respectable farmer states, that he
deems thcuj of no use unless applied in conjunction with other ma-

59

nure, and then of great efficacy. In llieir applicntion iij)on a rich
loam to corn, both in the hill and spread round the hill at the first
hoeing, I have seen no beneficial results from them. The experi-
ence of J. Buel, Esq., of Albany , he told me, in the use of ashes, co-
incides with mine. Leeched ashes, or soap-boilers' waste, which
contains always a quantity of lime, I have used with advantage for
wheat. These different results may depend upon soil, season, modes
of application, or various circumstances, which we have not yet
been able to determine. There can be no doubt of their efficacy and
utility in some cases. There are many good authorities to this effect.

The ashes of anthracite coal have been spread upon grass land in
Gloucester with obvious advantage. Peat ashes have been used in
Newbury on grass ground with much advantage ; but in excess, or
when frequently repeated, their effects are stated to be injurious.

The use of gypsum in the interior of the county, has been suc-
cessful ; but not so on the sea-board. In Haverhill, Andover, and
Methuen, its effects are marked ; and, in some cases, are as dis-
tinctly observable in parts of a field on which it has been used,
where the other parts have been omitted in the distribution, as the
enclosure is by the fences. The testimony of an experienced and
careful farmer in the interior is subjoined. "As to gypsum, I have
used it with good success. It is the opinion of many of our farm-
ers, that it injures the land. But from actual observation, I have
been led to believe otherwise. There are pastures in our vicinity,
in which plaster has been used 20 years without ploughing ; and they
are now the best pastures in the vicinity. I think, that in some in-
stances, our crops have been doubled by the use of it. We usually
apply about 2A bushels to the acre." This is a large application ;
and it is questionable, whether the benefits are large in proportion to
the quantity applied. In Berkshire County, a bushel to an acre is
deemed ample.

Of the ploughing in of green crops for enriching land, I know of
but one decisive experiment ; and this made by one of the most in-
telligent and best friends of the farming interest in the county. This
was made in 1S32-3 ; and honored by the premium of the Essex
Agricultural Society. This was a crop of buckwheat ploughed in
when in full flower. " The Committee say, on examining the land

GO

on which the experiment hnd been made, they found the growing
crop of corn thereon was in a much more promising and flourishing
state, and much better sustained the severity of the drought, to which
all lands in that vicinity were then exposed, than the crops of corn
which were then growing on the contiguous ground of a similar soil;
and which had been cultivated and manured in the ordinary manner."
Besides the ploughing in of the green crop, the field was manured
in the same manner as the other lands with which it is here com-
pared.

The price of manure in Essex County, is extraordinary. Three
dollars and a half a cord for stable manure have been paid at
the stables in Methuen ; 55§4.50 in Andover ; and I have known $6
paid in Salem for compost of night soil and muscle bed. A farmer
in Middlesex, told me he was content to pay $5.50, for unmixed
cow manure in Lowell, and cart it a distance of 4 miles. The ex-
penses and trouble of transportation are often fully equal to half the
cost of manure. It is surprising to find farmers willing to pay such
prices ; and it would be well to inquire whether it would not be ex-
pedient to keep one man whose sole business it should be, whenever
the team could be spared, to collect the materials for a compost
heap, w^hich are to be found in abundance in almost every vicinity
for the labor of going afier them. At the prices above named,
manure may well be called the gold dust of the farmer.

I am unwilling to quit this homely subject without remarking,
what always strikes me with great force, that beautiful and sublime
miracle of the divine Providence, by which the very refuse, which
man casts out and loathes, returns to bless him in the verdant fields,
and the teeming harvests, in the most fragrant flowers, the most deli-
cious fruits, and the most substantial products.

The use of clover sowed among grain and even among corn for
ploughing in as the means of renovating the soil, has not prevailed
within my knowledge in Essex County ; but is commended to
their attention as likely to be eminently beneficial. For this pur-
pose we recommend most strongly the June, southern, or early
clover so called.

No considerable experiments in the use of lime have come under
my notice. A farmer in Haverhill, who has applied lime as a top

61

dressing upon his grass lands, is disappointed in his expectations of
advantage from it. Extensive beds of clay marl have been dis-
covered ; and this has been applied with great advantage on peat
lands or bog meadows.

FRUIT TREES.

Fruit is an article cultivated in some parts of the county to much
profit. A farmer in the northern part of the county, two years since,
sold peaches from his orchards to the amount of $250, and the year
previous, to the same amount. The severity of the seasons has
been fatal to this fruit in most parts of New England ; but the culti-
vation is so easy, and the yield so early, and, when successful, so
valuable, that it deserves attention. The farmer's gains where the
farm is small, must be made up of small iten s. The apple trees of
this same careful and skilful farmer, were arranged on the borders of
all his fields ; and placed parallel with the walls at such a distance,
that he could plough between the wall and his trees. He, therefore,
kept a belt of about twelve feet, in which the trees stood, always
cultivated. This was to the benefit of the trees ; and, at the same
time, enabled him to keep the space between the trees and the wall
clean and entirely free from weeds and bushes.

The cold winter of 1833-4, was fatal to the Baldwin apple trees,
throughout the county ; but there are other and a great variety of
apples cultivated to advantage. The canker worm, which for some
few years infested and destroyed many fine orchards, has disappeared.
The application of tar to the trees, at the time of their ascent from
the ground, was found to injure the trees. This injury has been
successfully obviated, as I learnt in the practice of an excellent cul-
tivator, by first putting a belt of adhesive clay round his trees, and
applying the tar upon the clay, which, when the season of the ascent
of the millers had passed away, might easily be removed without in-
jury to the tree.

One farmer, in ordinary years, sells 300 barrels of apples. They
are picked carefully ; packed in dry barrels ; immediately put into
a dry and cool cellar ; and are not usually disposed of until May or

63

June. His fruit is of select varieties, the product of great care ;
and the remuneration is ample. Eight hundred dollars a year is not
an unusual product of his orchard.

The use of cider, though that of the choicest quality is still made
in the county, is going fast out of fashion ; and it has ceased to be
of much demand in the market. The value of apples for fattening
swine and beef stock, where they are not given in too great excess,
is so fully established by the experience of many of the best farmers
in the county, that apples ought to be much cultivated for that, if for
no other object. As human food likewise, when simply cooked,
few articles are more wholesome or nutritious.

Other fruits, pears, plums, grapes, and the smaller fruits are not
cultivated as they ought to be, though much more extensively than
formerly. A taste for flowers and the external rural embellishments
of the houses and grounds, is every where springing up. Besides
its strong tendency to multiply the attachments to home, among the
best safeguards of virtue, and furnishing sources of delightful recrea-
tion, it is highly conducive to intellectual and moral improvement.

The Rev. G. B. Perry of Bradford, a gentleman as much dis-
tinguished for his practical skill, intelligence, and public spirit, as for
his exemplariness in his pastoral character, has ascertained an effec-
tual remedy against the insect, which has been so fatal to the plum
trees by boring into them, and causing an exudation of sap and a
black excrescence, which presently destroys the trees. As soon as
there is any appearance of the disorder " he cuts off" every limb
affected with it ; and where the disorder is in the trunk, carefully
chisels it out, always taking care to put every limb and chip taken
from it immediately into the fire. By this means, he lias got en-
tirely rid of the disorder. He has found the worm, which occasions
the injury, most strong and active about the 4th of July."

A Society of Natural History, has been established in the county,
who liave occasional exhibitions of flowers and fruits. Some of the
gardens and green houses in Salem and its vicinity, exhibit great
skill, intelligence, and success, in the beautiful arts of fruit and flower
cultivation, and are exerting a powerful and delightful influence. ,

63

FOREST TREES.

This subject having been committed by the government to another
department, has been no farther matter of inquiry with me, than as
connected with a supply of fuel, a matter essentially affecting the
value of land and the interests of the farmers. Facts, which have
been stated to me on respectable authority, I have carefully noted.

1. A gentleman in Andover states, that in making the Rail-road,
it became necessary to cut away some wood. Two pieces were
cleared, containing 4 square rods each ; and on measuring the wood,
the product would be equal to 60 cords to the acre. This was of
pitch pine, yellow pine, or Norway pine ; and was the growth of 25
years. It was worth $5 per cord, delivered.

2. Another piece of land was mentioned by the same person as
having been cut, being the growth of twenty-five years, and yielding
60 cords to the acre. This likewise was of pitch pine.

3. Another lot of land containing 1^ acre, produced 36 cords.
This was of mixed growth, oak and pine ; and two-thirds of this pro-
duct was considered the growth of twenty years.

4. A farmer in Saugus states, that in oak wood, which is 13 or 14
inches in diameter, may usually be counted forty rings, indicating the
years of its age.

5. It is the opinion of an experienced farmer in Manchester, that
he can cut his wood-lot to advantage once in twenty years.

6. I was shown a wood lot in Wenham, from which the growth
of oak timber was entirely cut off in 1816. It is now in pine and
judged to yield 25 cords to the acre. The wood was not closely
set. The growth is white pine, and many of the trees are more than
one foot in diameter. The growth of white pine will, in his judg-
ment, pay the interest of more than one hundred dollars per acre ; in
this case, of more than two hundred dollars per acre. The value of
pine is here from five to six dollars per cord.

7. A farmer in Lynnfield showed me a wood lot formerly pine,
now oak and mixed, fully averaging 30 cords to the acre, of twenty-
nine years growth. Fifty acres of wood now growing, he believes

64

from an exact calculation, as far as exactness Is applicable to the
subject, increases 100 cords per year.

8. A fanner in Ipswich deems the white birch, on the land on
which it is likely to grow, more profitable than any other wood that
can be grown ; and says that it may be cut to advantage once in sev-
en or eight years. Some other farmers fully concur in this opinion.

9. Another farmer, whom I requested to favor me with his opin-
ions and experience, thus writes. " In November and December
of 1824 the birches on the acre on which they grew were all cut off.
It was an old growth, say from 25 to 30 years of age, and the first
of the kind on the lot. The birches were large and stood not very
near together ; they were from 5 to 9 inches through at the butt end.
I had 23 cords by measure from the acre. There are now from five to
eight sprouts on the same stumps, and, I presume, as many as that
number have died and fallen down within the last four and five years.
I am satisfied there now is as much birch wood on the acre, as when
I took off the old growth thirteen years since ; but generally not fit
to cut by four or five years. Rocky moist land is believed the most
favorable to the growth of birch wood ; and where the soil is favora-
ble I consider the gain more valuable than any other kind of wood ;
and white pine the next in value, in my vicinity. When good white
or yellow oak wood sells near honie at ^5 per cord, I think from
much experience, birch wood is as cheap at $4, or in that propor-
tion. Birch wood being much straighter, packs much better, and
we get more and better cords. The growth of an acre of maples
adjoining the acre of birch has not been of one half the value of the
birches. "I think," he adds, " that button wood, (the Plane tree,)
and the white ash may be cultivated to as great a profit on my land,
as any kind of forest trees whatever." The cultivation of forest
trees has not been pursued to any extent. Some small experiments
have been made with the locust, the oak, and the birch ; — this sub-
ject demands, on various accounts, much more attention than it has
received. Essex County has heretofore supplied a great amount of
ship limber, and considerable is still growing ; but the demands of
an increasing population will be constantly needing more for timber,
fuel, and fencing. The growth of the locust and larch, or Scotch
fir, do not injure, but the former certainly improves, the pasturing.

65

The locust has been cultivated in some parts of the country to a
great profit ; and though often destroyed by the borer, this ought not,
where the object is so important, wholly to discourage the cultivator.
The cultivation of immense plantations of the German larch in Scot-
land, is now resulting in most extraordinary profits.* The lining
our roads, and many of our grounds with trees, both useful and orna-
mental, would confer immense public, as well as individual benefit ;
and is alike dictated by taste, interest, and public spirit.

FENCES.

The fences in general throughout the county are of stone, of which
material there is everywhere an abundance. The condition of the
fences generally through the county is wretched and disgraceful.
The law requires that all partition fences shall be four feet in height ;
but the law appears to be seldom enforced, and the fences being
neither in straight lines, nor of the legal height, are of the most slov-
enly description. It is impossible to conceive of any more irregular
divisions than the enclosures throughout this county generally present.
Straight lines are so important in point of convenience, as well as
desirable in appearance, that a hint to the Essex farmers in regard to
removing unnecessary fences, and bringing their enclosures into more
regular shapes, may not be lost upon them.

The great evil of sfone walls, especially bank walls, is the danger
of being thrown down by frosts. A farmer, whose exactness of
observation entitles his judgment to respect, suggests, that the mistake
lies in water being permitted to settle at the foundation of the wall,
which is commonly laid in a trench ; therefore, whenever a wall is
built, gutters should be formed on each side of the wall, at a short
distance from it, by which all the surface water, which would other-
wise settle under it, should be immediately conveyed away. This
seems a highly useful suggestion, and I have known it practised upon
with advantage.

Of live fences, there are no samples of any considerable extent in

* Appciidix F.

66

the county. A farmer in Salem has cultivated the buck-thorn in his
garden to a degree sufficient to demonstrate its usefulness, the ease
with which it can be raised, and its extraordinary beauty. This
hedge is now more than four feet in height ; proof against cattle ;
not infested by any worm or insect ; and extremely ornamental.

The white mulberry has been recommended in the county for hedges;
but I found no instances of its cultivation for this object. Its utility
in this respect remains to be tested. The cultivation of the red
cedar for fence might in some places be advantageously introduced. I
saw at Mount Vernon some years since a hedge of this kind, which
Judge Washington informed me was of seven years' growth. It was
neat in its appearance, and perfectly efficient as a protection against
cattle. It was raised from the seed. The difficulty, which might
otherwise be experienced in causing the seed to vegetate, is obviated
by soaking the seed in warm water, and bruising the glutinous envel-
ope with a stone.

FARM BUILDINGS.

The buildings in Essex County are generally of wood, and this is
a country abounding in materials for more durable constructions.
That the common stones of the country may be used in the construc-
tion of dwelling-houses and other buildings, with as much advantage
and at as little expense as any other material, is demonstrable. A
handsome stone house, two stories in height, forty feet in length,
and thirty-four in width, with cellars under the whole, and with two
sheds projected, has been erected within the last year at Topsfield
for $2500. It is believed that this is less than it could have been
constructed of bricks by the whole cost of the bricks. I subjoin
the minutes of the expense in a letter from the owner. ^

Great attention is now paid through the whole county to form-
ing cellars under the barns, for the purpose of saving and compound-
ing manure. These arrangements cannot be too much urged. One
of the most com[)lete establishments, in the way of a barn and stables,
is to be found at Indian Hill in Newbury. The arrangements here
for the cattle are excellent. The horses and cattle stand upon stone

* Appendix, G.

67

or clay ; and the stale is designed to be conveyed by tight gutters
into a reservoir. The barn Hkewise encloses a large threshing mill,
built upon the best Scotch model, which threshes and cleans the
grain for the neighboring farmers for the straw. The establishment
will be deemed too expensive for farmers in general.

There is another barn in West Newbury, belonging to Moses
Newell, of an admirable construction. It is 85 feet in length, 40
feet in width, and 20 feet in the posts. The entrance is at the end
by an embankment, the floor being about eight feet above the sills.
The mows or bays on one side go down to the ground, which greatly
alleviates the trouble of unloading hay. The lower story on the
other side is occupied by the cattle-stalls. There is likewise a ca-
pacious vegetable cellar secured against the frost. The barn com-
bines in a high degree comfort, convenience and cheapness.

There is another barn, excellent in its arrangements, on the farm
of Joseph Howe, of Methuen. This barn is 84 feet in length, 40
feet in width, 17 feet posts. It stands upon a side hill. The cattle-
stalls and the hay and granary are in the second story, which is entered
by an embankment. The cattle yard is on the eastern and upper
side of the barn, so that all the washings of the barn yard are received
into the lower story or cellar. The lower story embraces a manure
cellar the whole length of the building directly under the stalls of the
cattle, and which serves likewise as a pig stye ; a large place well
enclosed for the deposit of fruit and vegetables ; a stable for the
horses ; a boiling room, with an aqueduct ; a work shop and tool
room ; and a carriage-house. Of these buildings I have taken meas-
ures to obtain cheap models or plans.

But the most complete erection of this kind, and one probably not
exceeded by any one in New England, is a stone barn in Danvers,
on the farm of Stephen Phillips. This is 100 feet in length and 44
feet in width, with a paved cellar under the whole, of ample height.
He carefully deposits in this cellar a large amount of mud from his
ditches and meadows, and this is intermixed with the manure of his
cattle from above. His barn yard is paved, and the washings of this
likewise all flow into the cellar. His store hogs are likewise kept in
the cellar. The deposits of all his stables go into the same reser-
voir. Besides this, his cattle are tied in the barn every night, sum-

68

mer and winter, an arrangement practised by several judicious farmers,
and which ought to be adopted by every farmer. Thus nothing
is lost, and a great amount of manure is accumulated. The erection
is an expensive one, and beyond the means of most New England
farmers ; but its conveniences may be advantageously copied at a
reasonable cost. The barn floor, 14 feet in width, runs the whole
length of the building ; the haymows are on one side, and the stalls
and stables on the opposite side, with scaffoldings over them. The
roof is of a very steep pile!), and two successive scaffoldings are
over the barn floor, for the reception of straw and coarse fodder.
Thus no room is lost. Frames likewise are so placed, that a large
amount of corn stalks may be cured in a green state ; and in this
condition are inferior to no kind of dried fodder, which can be given
to cattle. A large shed, the whole length of the barn, is projected
on one side for the reception and protection of wagons and farming
implements.

FARMING IMPLEMENTS.

The Essex plough, built in Danvers, where the mould boards are
cast in two different sizes, is not surpassed by any one within my
observation for ease of draught, and manner of executing the work,
especially in greensward. Whether the right shape of a mould-
board in this case, be matter of accident or calculation, it has been
exactly reached. The objections to many cast-iron ploughs, are
the shortness of the mould-board, by which the sod is often broken
off before it is completely turned over, and falls back into the fur-
row ; or the concave rather than wedge-like form of the mould-
board, by which the resistance is greatly increased, the furrow slice
is rather shoved forward than raised up ; or a form of mould-board,
by which it is curled over rather than laid flat. These objections
do not at all apply to the Essex plough.

In some parts of the county, the side hill plough with a changea-
ble mould-board is used for all ploughing. It saves considerable
time in turning at the corner of a field, and it avoids a dead furrow
in the center.

69

WEEDS.

The principal weeds which infest the fields, and are considered
pernicious to agriculture, are the ox-eyed daisy or white weed ; the
wood-wax or genista tinctoria ; the Canada thistle ; and the char-
lock. The Canada thistle does not much prevail ; and where it is
kept constantly mowed, without being permitted to sow its seeds,
will, after two or three years, disappear.

The ox-eyed daisy prevails in some parts to a great extent. High
cultivation and much enriching the land, at the time it is laid down
to grass, will destroy it, or rather the grass will conquer it ; but, in
this case, great care must be taken not to use manure which has been
exposed, to be mixed with the seeds. Marine manures, are, in this
respect, free from objection. Many farms in the county surrounded
with fields infested by it, are perfectly free from it. They are kept
clean, by extreme vigilance, and personal attention, in destroying at
once, all the plants that appear.

The wood-wax, [genista tinctoria^) prevails principally in Dan-
vers, and in the parts of Salem, adjoining Danvers. It spreads rap-
idly where not checked, and destroys all the grass, where it prevails.
Ploughing will destroy it ; but in most of the pasture lands, where it
prevails, all cultivation is impracticable. One persevering farmer
has destroyed it by actually digging up the roots with a hoe and pick-
axe, wherever the plants appear. Another has destroyed it by cov-
ering it completely with meadow hay or litter, thus smothering it and
stopping its growth for a whole season, when it would disappear.
The hay was afterwards raked off, and used for littering the stalls and
yards. It is usually burnt on the ground in the winter, when the
condition of the ground admits of access to it. This checks, but
does not destroy it ; and is thought to injure the land, besides losing
the litter which would otherwise go to increase the manure heap. It
grows luxuriantly, and a farmer in Danvers has lately discovered a
valuable use for it in soiling sheep. It is cut green, and carried into
their yards ; and some of it is cut and cured for winter. The sheep
are said to be fond of it ; and to be kept fat by it. This is reported
to me on credible authority. I regret that I did not hear of it in
season to see the sheep, and the way in which the fodder is cured.

70

Charlock or Cadluc. This pernicious and troublesome weed,
known by some, as the wild turnip or mustard, prevails to some ex-
tent. I regret that I know no effectual way of destroying it, but by
rooting it out by hand. One farmer stated that he had destroyed it
by fallowing his land, and ploughing it as often as the charlock ap-
peared. I have shown in the Appendix,* to the surprise, I believe,
of many farmers, how, in the cultivation of rye in Haverhill, it has
been turned to a valuable account. This excellent manager in his
pleasant way, inquired of me where he could get some charlock
seed to stock his fields. This experiment is eiiiplnitical in favor of
green dressings for land.f

BEES.

Bees are kept to some extent in Essex County.

1. A farmer in Andover, who has kept bees for forty years,
speaks of them as a profitable stock. In September, one of his
hives since June had yielded one swarm of bees ; and 22i lbs. of
honey, sold at 20 cents per lb. ; and he supposed enough was left
or would be made by them for their winter's consumption. Another
farmer had obtained this season 54 lbs. of honey from one hive,
without destroying the bees.

2. A farmer in Danvers, raises bees for sale. His hives usually
bring him $7 to $S. He has this year obtained ten swarms from
four hives. Another farmer in Andover obtained twelve from four
hives.

3. A farmer in Bradford, considers that a hive of bees yields an
annual profit of $10 in bees and honey. He had taken in August,
three boxes from one hive, containing eight lbs. each, and expected
to take another of equal size ; this would give thirty two lbs. in the
whole.

Buckwheat is sown for their use, but the honey from it is inferior.
Clover cannot be reached by them. Mignonette, and the poppy, or
China rose, is much liked by them.

'Appendix E. t Appendix H.

4. I subjoin in the Appendix a letter* from an intelligent and care-
ful observer, who has given much attention to Bees. His apiary is
beautiful. The bee moth is to be guarded against by making the
crevices of the hive tight with putty or glue ; and then it is said the
bees v/ill defend the common entrance. Others recommend, that
the hive should be daily lifted up and the bottom swept, that the
millers and their deposits may be brushed away. A gentleman at
Northampton, whose agricultural skill and intelligence deserve the
highest respect, says, that he has found an effectual security against
the bee moth by placing his hive in a bee-chamber above the floor,
on slats or stakes so as to leave the bottom open and exposed. The
moth then is not able to make a lodgment ; or his webs, if he forms
them, may be easily seen and removed.

MISCELLANEOUS MATTERS.

L Sun Flower for Oil. Some few years since an attempt
was made in the northern part of the county to cuiiivate the common
sunflower for the purpose of expressing the oil. Fifty cents a bush-
el were promised to farmers who should raise it. It was unsuccess-
ful. The cultivation was more expensive than that of Indian corn.
Twenty bushels were the largest crop I could hear of to the acre ;
but this was an inferior crop. Owing to imperfect machinery or
want of skill, one gallon of oil, valued at ^1.17, was all that was
obtained from six bushels of seed.

II. Beet-Sugar. A few pounds of beet Sugar, the first, pro-
bably made in New England, were made this year in Salem by
Pickering Dodge. It was well grained and of a good quality. He
has been kind enough to furnish me with a detailed account of the
process ; but, as it was a first experiment, and the apparatus for the
manufacture, of an imperfect description, and such as could be got
at the time, I deem it unnecessary to give any further statement,
until I come to report more fully on the whole subject.

* Appendix I.

72

III. Silk Culture. No claim has been made the present year
from Essex for any portion of the State's Bounty, for raising or
reeling Silk. The Morus Multicaulis on which great dependence
was placed, has failed through the severity of the winters. A small
but beautiful example of cocoons and raw silk were shown to me in
Amesbury ; and some silk handkerchiefs of a fine description were
produced and manufactured in Lynn, under the care of Edward S.
Davis.

The silk culture is destined to become a great source of wealth
to New England ; and there is no reason why Essex County should
not fully share in its benefits.

IV. Milk Weed. Experiments have been made with the stalk
of the conmion milk weed, in procuring from it a thread or fibre,
capable, as was represented, of making a fabric as fine and slrong
as flax or silk. A patent was secured for the discovery, but it has
not been pursued.

V. Manufactures. There are various manufactures pursued
in the county intimately connected with its agriculture ; but for these
I refer to the Statistical Tables of the Manufactures of Massachu-
setts.

The Linen Thread Factory at Andover, where flax is spun by
machinery like cotton, is confined to the making of twine for sail-
makers. The flax employed is almost wholly obtained from the
state of New York. They consume 150,000 lbs. per year. They
pay for it ten cents per pound in Troy. The farmers there obtain
300 lbs. to the acre, and 12 pounds of seed would be a good yield.
The flax which is cut in the flower is preferred to that which is
ripened. The former is soft, the latter tough. The superinten-
dent states that the water-roiied flax of Scotland is much superior
to ours, which is dew-rotted. He speaks of the Friesland flax as
preferable to any other ; and so considered in Scotland. It is
stronger and may be spun finer. Flax is scarcely cultivated in Essex.
It is considered an exhausting crop, and it will not do in a rotation
oftener than once in five years.

VI. Keep of Oxen. Facts connected with the expense of
feeding farm animals are ahvays important ; and therefore I state that
at Sandy Bay, the oxen employed in stone work, have been found
by careful experiment, to require 25 lbs. of hay and four quarts of
Indian meal to each ox per day.

VII. Slaughter House Offal. An arrangement at the Poor
House in Danvers is so creditable for its economy, that I shall here
insert it, as it was related to me by the superintendent. The whole
management of the establishment, as well within as without the house,
is excellent.

A contract is made with an extensive slaughtering establishment,
two miles from the house, to purchase all its offal. Tlie carts are
to be sent for it once a day in the autumn, and twice a week at other
seasons. They agree to pay 32 cents for the offal of every beef,
animal there slaughtered. The offal of other animals, calves, sheep,
or swine, killed there, is not charged. The proceeds are then sub-
jected to the following assorting process :

From four to five pounds of clear meat are usually taken from
each head, which is used either in a fresh or salted state by the
inmates of the house. The heads are then boiled for the extraction
of the tallow, and then thrown to the swine. After being thoroughly
picked by them, they are gathered up and sold to the sugar boilers,
for the purpose of making animal carbon for the refining of sugar, at
$4.50 per ton. The jaw bones are sold to the button makers, at
62^ cents per hundred ; the leg bones, to the same manufacturers,
at $20 per thousand. The claws of the hoof are sold to the comb
makers at | cent per piece. The skins from the legs are sold to
the glue makers at 1^ cent per piece, or $5 for four hundred leg
bones ; and from the feet is extracted the oil of which 250 gallons
were made the last year, 1836. A considerable amount of tallow is
obtained from each offal, amounting the last year, 1S36, to 3,500lbs.
which sold for 10 cents per pound. Upon the offals a large number
of swine are profitably maintained, and fattened with a moderate
allowance of other food. Tlie amount of valuable manure made in
this way is no small item in the account.
10

74

VIII. Peat for Fuel. The peat meadows in Essex are ex-
tensive, and constitute a valuable resource to the inhabitants for fuel.
In Wenham an intelligent farmer stales, that the peat meadows
yield about three cords of peat to a rod, by going two feet after the
sod is taken off. The sod which is taken off is usually thrown back
into the ditch ; and after it is cut over in this way for peat, the land is
considered worth ^25 dollars an acre for the grass which may be got
from it, a coarse aquatic grass. It is not determined how many years
will be required to restore the meadow to its former consistency.
At the rale of three cords to a rod, an acre of good peat land will
yield 480 cords. The peat is ordinarily worth $3 per cord ; if well
cured by being housed, much more than this. It may be cut and cured
to the halves. It is stated in English publications, that peat may be
charred to advantage, and be converted in this mode into an excel-
lent fuel free from all offensive odor. For this reason I caused
some to be charred in Salem, but the result was not favorable.

In Rowley the yield of peat land is rated at the same as above.
They consider peat as three fourths of the value of oak wood. At
Ipswich it brings $5 per cord. The digging and carrying out of a
cord of peat is considered a day's work. The labor in getting peat
is regarded the same as getting wood and preparing it for the fire.
There are in Rowley one thousand acres of peat land.

IMPROVEMENTS.

Great iraprovemenls have been made in the county in the man-
agement of salt marsh by ditching, draining, and dykeing.

The average yield of salt marsh, is from three fourths of a ton,
to one and a fifth, and one and a half tons. A farmer in Salis-
bury, and one in Ipswich, speaks of the importance of draining salt
marshes. The latter slates that on 12 acres of marsh, where for-
merly he obtained four tons only, he now gets twelve tons, simply
from draining the marsli. Another experienced farmer says, " it is
always useful to drain salt marshes if men would only Lave patience
to wait for iis effects. " Two other farmers, whose judgment deserves

75

great respect, say that "salt marslies must not be drained unless where
the water stands upon them ; or unless the meadow lias a soft bottom."
If the alluvion is shallow and rests on a hard pan, the drainine; will injure
it. A farmer in Lynnfield says, "that salt marshes should be ditched,
not drained"; by which I understand him to mean that the object
aimed at is not to take the water away from the bottom or roots of the
grass, but to remove it from the surface. I submit these authorities
without comment on a subject in which I am not much versed.

Great improvements have been made in dykeing salt marsh ; and
effectually excluding the salt water.

I. The first is an improvement in ten acres of salt marsh diked on
Kent's Island, Newbury. I shall subjoin the owner's account of it,
in the letter which he was kind enough to address to me.* He has
been amply compensated for the experiment. One circumstance is
remarkable, that the breaking of the sod was injurious. The plain
inference from this will be confirmed by a statement from Glouces-
ter. From a thorough examination of this reclaimed meadow, it is
my belief, that the application of two or three inches of clay or loam
upon it, where it has not been dug over for peat, and the sowing of
English grass seed would make it in the highest degree productive.
The intelligent owner has kindly promised to test this matter, of the
favorable result of which I have no doubt.

II. A second experiment in dykeing salt marsh is now going on
at Ipswich. A tract containing 103 acres has been dyked about three
years ; the expense of dykeing, as the situation was particglarly favor-
able, was $355, at $4 GO per acre. The dyke is 55 rods in length,
12 feet at bottom, 4 feet at top, the height varying; but in the creek
the bottom is increased to 20 feet. I have an account of nine acres
of this dyked meadow^, which may be consi ered a fair sample of what
may be expected from the remainder. The year before the dyke
was made the produce of this nine acres was not considered worth
the expenses of gathering. The first year after the dyke was made,
the nine acres yielded 3000 lbs. of hay ; the second year six tons ;

* Appendix K.

76

ilic third year, tliat is the last, 14^ tons of hay have been sold from
these nine acres, at $12 per ton. Nothing has been done to this
marsh odier than to sow it with grass seed every year since it was
diked. The first year the grass seed took but very imperfectly, as
the saltness had not been removed. I hope the application of loam
mixed with clay and the land then manured, will be tried here.

III. The third experiment in reclaiming salt marsh has been
made in Gloucester. The town enclosed a piece of salt marsh and
effectually excluded the salt water from it. The experiment was
unsuccessful where they broke and cut up the surface from an opin-
ion that this would render it more productive. The opposite result
occurred. A piece of salt marsh adjoining this was dyked ; the fol-
lowing is the account of this piece given at my request by a respect-
able gentleman, well acquainted with its management and condition.
" The Marsh land was diked in 1814. For four years after the salt
water was shut our, grass seed was sowed on, with a liberal supply
of manure mostly collected in the streets ; since which every other
year it has been well covered with stable manure, spread over it in
the winter. No land in this vicinity has afforded such abundant
crops of hay, having never failed to produce four tons of best qual-
ity of hay to the acre at twice mowing ; and then feeding it close
every autumn with cows.

"I have noticed the destructive effects produced by breaking the
sod w ith a plough or harrow on marsh well diked. That which joins
the piece above described, when turned up, dried into a substance re-
sembling cork, and seemed to have no appearance of decay. The
piece first described could now be ploughed with ease if it should be
necessary, presenting a fine rich mellow soil, the sod being entirely de-
composed." This is the condition of the soil of the dyked meadow on
Kent's Island, spoken of above. Other experiments in dykeing salt
marsh have been made known to me ; but not with sufficient exact-
ness to be made the subject of my report.

Great improvements have been made in reclaiming low wet land
or fresh meadow. In some cases it is ditched and the contents of
the ditches thrown on to the land, which is thus raised in the middle,
and sown with English grass seed. In some cases after being drain-

77

ed, gravel and loam have been carted on, and grass seed has then been
sown with success. In cases where the lands can be conveniently
ploughed after being drained, they are ploughed and harrowed, and
at once laid down with oats and grass. Two of the best farmers,
who have experience in the management of this kind of land, are of
opinion that sand is a much belter application to these lands than
gravel. Their yield in grass, after they are thus treated, is most
abundant.

IV. One of these gentlemen whose redeemed meadows though
not of peat, yet are of a peaty character, has found this sort of land,
after it was thus "brought to," extremely favorable to the growth of
rye. He applied sand and gravel, and manured the land with ashes,
and the scrapings of the street ; and from one-eighth of an acre, and
four quarts sowing, he obtained 5^ bushels of rye. The land after-
wards produced two tons of hay to the acre. His redeemed mead-
ows, he says, have sometimes produced four tons to the acre.

The improvements of this kind throughout the county are very
numerous and valuable. My limits will allow me to speak of but two
other individual cases.

V. On one of the farms to which I refer there were seventy acres
in low meadow, which, before its recent improvement, were saturated
with water, and produced nothing better than a coarse swale or water
grass. They were inaccessible to cattle, excepting in the dryest
season, and abounded with hassocks, flags, and rushes.

The soil of this extensive meadow is a bog of dark mud, decayed
vegetable matter, varying in depth from eighteen inches to several
feet ; resting upon clay highly charged with sand, and when dry
becoming friable. The owner has effected a great improvement in
draining a large portion of this meadow, and changing its produce
into English hay of the finest description, herds grass, clover and
red top. The whole meadow is under the same process of improve-
ment, and in a short time will probably be altogether reclaimed, pre-
senting one of the most skilful and successful operations of the kind
to be found in the state.

The farmer began by cutting one large open drain or ditch

73

through the centre of the meadow, and for its whole length. This
drain is four feet wide at the top, and goes down some small depth
into the clay pan. Cross drains are then cut on both sides at right
angles with the main ditch, and made to empty themselves into it.
These drains are carried down into the hard pan, and vary in width
from eighteen inches to three feet, according to the quantity of water,
which they are likely to be required to carry off. They extend
from the main ditch to the margin of the meadow. The cost of the
main ditch was not ascertained ; but ten cents a rod by contract were
paid for making the side drains. The materials thrown out from the
ditches were immediately spread evenly upon the meadow, and with
the best advantage.

The next step was to plough the meadow thus ditched and drained
in the autumn, and in the ensuing spring to sow this ground with
oats and grass seed, which were sowed on the furrow and harrowed
in. Of oats he sows from three to four bushels to the acre ; of grass,
seed, half a busliel of herds grass, one peck of red top, and one pint
of clover. After this in the winter time he manures the land upon
the oat stubble. He collects the night soil in the neighboring town.
With one cord of night soil he puts four cords of gravel or loam ; of
this mixture he puts ten cords to an acre, or twenty loads to an acre,
spreading it as evenly as possible. He designs to manure his land in
this manner once in four years, and let it remain permanently in grass.
His experiment so far has been successful, his meadows yielding
an average of two tons of the best English hay to an acre. In some
cases he has tried the effect of spreading clay from the bottom of his
ditches, a clay strongly mixed with sand, upon his meadows, and
finds it in its effects equal to the best manure.

One measured acre, covered with hassocks, and producing only
the coarsest water grasses, he first drained completely ; then cut the
hassocks close to the ground while it was frozen ; put on a quantity of
gravel and manure ; sowed it with grass seed ; and harrowed it as
usual. From this acre he mowed four and a half tons of English hay
in one season.

He has obtained from one measured acre of his meadow, manured
in the hill with green barn manure, four hundred bushels of potatoes.
This he stales as an average crop in such land thus managed. From
twenty acres in oats, cultivated as above described, he obtained one

79

thousand bushels of oats. The above crops grew upon land which
had never before been ploughed. The acre of grass above men-
tioned has never been broken by a plougli.

The extent of ditches cut upon his place exceeds four niiles.

He has this year fifteen acres in oats ; three in corn ; three or four
in potatoes.

VI. The next account I shall give is of an experiment now in
progress, which for various reasons will be found interesting. It
shows in a striking view what may be accomplished by enterprise
and perseverance. I shall give the account in the words of the indi-
vidual, whose letter is before me.

" The land in question a year ago last August (that is 183G) was
grown over to blueberry, alder and briar bushes, and some young
maples ; a growth of maple having been cut from it four or five years
ago.

I mowed these bushes a year ago last August : cost of
labor, 12 00

The quantity of deep meadow is about six acres. One
and a half or two acres on the edges of this meadow pro-
duced a small quantity of poor hay.

Expense of digging a new ditch and cleaning out other
old ones, 30 00

Paid for labor on the meadow, 300 00

For tools, $12 ; for board, $150, 162 GO

Expenses, $504 00

The quantity of wood got out of this swamp, as nearly as I can
estimate it, is about two hundred cords. The stumps and trees were
from one foot above to two or three feet below the surface. The
trees or logs were from ten to sixty feet in length. They appeared
to have been blown down, and the meadow to have been formed
over them. The wood is mostly stumps ; the sap being gone, and
the heart left perfectly sound. I dug three large stumps, one on top
of the other, like tea cups the bottom side up ; and under these was
the heart of a pine tree, which had been burnt some time or another.

80

The wood that I have made into coal I did not cord ; but there

were twelve hundred bushels of coal. Allowing fifty bushels to the

cord, as some estimate it, there would be twenty-four cords of wood.

Eleven hundred and twelve bushels of coal, sold for 157 00

Paid for burning and marketing, 40 00

117 00

The wood when cut fit for a cook stove is worth $4 a
cord ; the expense of cutting $2 a cord.

I have now on hand, as nearly as I can judge, 175
cords of wood, worth as it now is, $350 ; but when coaled
or cut fit for market, double that amount. Wood, 350 00

Proceeds, $467 00

The land at the present time I value at $100 per acre, and my
object is to get it into English grass as soon as I can."

VI. A farmer, whose success is the best test of his skill, thus
describes his method of cultivating his level clay lands, and bringing
them into very productive mowing lands. " The soil is about five
inches deep on a hard clay bottom. I plough about five inches deep
usually in the fall, in lands about thirty feet wide, that the water may
drain off in the furrows. I usually plant with potatoes manured in
the hills, with about four cords of stable manure to the acre ; and
usually have produced 200 bushels to the acre. The next season, I
take a harrow with teeth, with a shoe on the bottom of each tooth,
about five inches broad, and running to a point ; and harrow two or
three inches deep. I then spread 200 bushels or more of leeched
ashes to an acre ; and sow half a bushel of herds' grass seed, and
two bushels of oats to the acre. I have usually had from 40 to 50
bushels of oats to the acre ; and the next season, about two tons of
hav to the acre. I think it best not to plough up the sod."

VII. One of the most extraordinary cases of general improve-
ment within the county, is to be found in Sandy Bay, a parish of
Gloucester. Any person, who has visited this village, at the ex-

81

tremity of Cape Ann, knows that nothing in an agricultural view can
be n)ore forbidding. Forty years ago, a farmer, who, looking mainly
to the ocean for subsistence, had the courage to plant himself among
these elder-swamps, huckleberry bushes, frowning hills of granite,
and rolling boulders, was not able to keep a single cow without pro-
curing hay for her support, from Essex, or Rowley, or Newbury, a
distance of several miles, has become now a large seller of hay. In
1832 and 33, he had two acres of Indian corn, yielding 80 bushels
of sound corn to the acre. In 1830, he gathered from six manured
acres sowed to winter rye, 21 bushels, or more than 35 bushels to
an acre ; and 14 acres of such land, if land it may be called, which
you can scarcely find among the overhanging masses of granite, have
produced 30 tons of English hay for the first crop, seldom worth
less than $20 per ton. The average yield of their mowing land is
always rated at two to three tons to an acre. Their mowing land
they value at $300 per acre, because it will pay a handsome profit
upon that price. This little despised territory, which within so kw
years imported all its produce, at a recent valuation, is thus reported:
Crops.
Hay, . . 845 tons, Oats, . 130 bushs.

Indian Corn, 690 bushs. Potatoes, 8635 "

Rye, . . 390 " 584 acres cultivated.

It now has a considerable amount of agricultural produce for sale.
Much of this productiveness is effected by the use of sea manures,
particularly fish garbage, of which they usually apply ploughed in
six or seven loads to the acre. Its effects are powerful.

FARM REPORTS.

Out of a considerable number of Farm Reports, which have been
given to me, I have selected a few rather incidentally than otherwise;
and from different fjarts of the county, that a fair specimen may be
presented of the condition of its agriculture.

Farm I. This farm consists of 49 J acres, of which 16 are in
11

pasturage and one waste. The live stock on the farm is horse 1 ;
oxen 2 ; cows 6 ; swine 6. — Produce in 1837 : English hay 16
tons ; meadow hay 1 ton ; Indian corn 16 bushels; beans 11 bs. ;
potatoes 500 bs. ; onions 2 bs. ; beets 4 bs. ; ruta baga 100 bs. ;
buckwheat 25 bs.; pork 675 lbs.; butter 750 lbs.; winter apples 60
barrels; corn fodder 1 ton; calves sold 5, at $5 each. Total amount
of sales, $469 ; value of produce used, or on hand, $425 ; cost
of labor and incidental expenses, $330.

Farm II. This farm consists of 43 acres in the whole ; of which
15 are in wood, 12 in pasture, 1 wet meadow, 3 waste ; 6 in English
mowing, and 6 in tillage. The appearance of the crops seemed to
me so remarkable, that I agreed with the farmer to have his land sur-
veyed, and his crops exactly measured. Here follows his statement:
— " I have had my hay land and my tillage also surveyed, as you
required. The exact amount produced on certain quantities I will
give. On 56 rods of land or a lot 7 rods wide, and 8 rods and 2
links long, I cut 1 ton and 1527 lbs. of hay. On 37 rods of land
I raised 9^ bushels of rye. On ]6f rods I raised 11^ bushels of
barley. On 24 rods of land I raised 52 bushels of potatoes."

" There is another lot of land adjoining the above, of the same
size and equally good, which produced only 1993 lbs. of hay. This
shows clearly the effect sea-weed has on hay land, for the one had
17 loads put on it, which cost me $2, and the other hadxnone. Both
lots were laid down in 1827, and always produced alike when dressed
alike. The lot on which I raised my potatoes, I dressed three years
with barn manine. Finding the product small in two ways, small
potatoes and small crop, in October I spread over the lot 12 loads
of fish dressings, (fish garbage, entrails, &c.,) this I ploughed in.
This I have done two years in succession, and find the product to be
more than one quarter greater than before. I should recommend to any
farmer, who can obtain it for the laying down land to grass, or on
tillage land, one load in preference to two loads of barn manure. On
a lot of 49 rods of land, I raised lOi bushels of corn this year,
planted the lOlh of June and taken off October 5ih. This is what
we call Canada corn ; a kind I never planted here before." The
whole produce of this place is as follows: English hay 14 tons ;

83

fresh meadow 2 tons ; Indian corn 20 bushels ; rye 9^ bs. ; bar-
ley 11^ bs. ; pease 2 bs. ; beans 3i bs. ; potatoes 210 bs. ; on-
ions 3 bs. ; beets 5 bs. ; English turnips 14 bs. ; pork 967 lbs. ;
butter 426 lbs. ; calves sold 4, average price $7.25, — $29.

Farm III. No. of acres, 118. Of these, 50 in pasturage ; 13
in wood ; 30 in salt marsh ; leaving 15 in English mowing, and 10
in tillage. Produce in 1837 : English hay 30 tons ; black grass
25 ; salt hay 20 ; Indian corn 150 bushels ; oats 200 bs. ; potatoes
1,100 bs. ; onions 275 bs. ; winter apples 130 barrels ; cider 13
barrels ; beef 800 lbs. ; pork 700 lbs. ; butter 100 lbs. ; new milk
cheese 400 lbs. No account of calves sold or raised.

It will be remembered that the years 1836-7, were extremely
unfavorable to corn ; but it deserves mention, that in the granaries
of several farmers I found large amounts of old corn on hand. They
remember Joseph in Egypt, and are always prepared with com-
mendable providence for a year of scarcity.

Farm IV. This farm consists of 103 acres. Pasture 35 ; wood
20 ; wet meadow 8 ; waste 9 ; leaving in tillage, English mowing,
and orcharding, 31 acres. The number of cows is 8.

Produce 1837. English hay 25 tons ; fresh meadow 5 tons ; In-
dian corn 132 bushels ; oats 35 bs. ; beans 3 bs. ; potatoes 300 bs. ;
carrots 140 bs ; sugar beets 125 bs. ; parsnips 2 bs. ; English
turnips 90 bs. ; ruta baga 60 bs. ; squashes 1 ton ; pumpkins 2 tons ;
winter apples 100 barrels ; summer and other varieties 200 bushels ;
straw 1^ ton; corn fodder 6 tons ; pigs sold 5, average price $6 ;
calves sold 7, average price $8.35 ; pork 1406 lbs. ; butter 950 lbs.

Beef animals fattening in 1837-8. Number, 4. On boiled pota-
toes, apples, and cob meal, (with ruta baga, sugar beets, &c., un-
cooked.) Pair of oxen to be killed in March, probable weight
2,100 lbs. ; two cows do. 1,200 lbs.

His swine likewise are fattened on boiled apples, potatoes, and
cob meal. Of the use of apples, for fattening beef and pork, with
other feed, he speaks in strong terms. He thinks the use of apples
boiled for his swine saves him half the quantity of meal, which he has
before been accustomed to use, in fattening the same amount of pork.

The Shakers at Canterbury, New Hampshire, who are among

84

the most intelligent and skilful farmers in the country and have been
kind enough to favor me with a full report of their farming opera-
tions, confirm this opinion of the value of apples by their own expe-
rience. They state that in fattening their usual amount of pork the
year before the last, by the use of one third of apples cooked with
their potatoes, they considered themselves as having saved $200
worth of Indian meal.

The gentleman of whose farm I am now speaking, obtained two
years since, on a piece of land of 3i acres and 26 rods, at the rate
of 95 bushels of Indian corn to the acre.

Farm V. This farm contains 100 acres, of which 50 are in
pasture ; 24 in wood ; 10 in salt marsh ; 10 in English mowing ;
4 in tillage ; 2 in wet meadow. Cows C ; oxen 4 ; swine 2 ; horses
4, kept mainly for the purpose of carting hay to market on com-
mission.

Produce. English hay 12 tons ; salt hay 30 tons ; Indian corn
75 bushels ; barley 30 bs. ; oats 40 bs. ; beans 3 bs. ; potatoes
500 bs. ; beef sold $262 ; pork 500 lbs. ; butter 300 lbs. ; new
milk cheese 900 lbs. ; cider 26 barrels. ; winter apples 200 barrels ;
straw 2 tons ; corn fodder 2 tons ; pigs sold 3, at $3.25 — $9.75 ;
calves sold 5, at $7 — $35.

The extraordinary crop of salt hay stated above, of which I have
unquestionable testimony, is to be attributed to superior management
of the salt marsh, and its particularly excellent character. It has
been carefully drained, so that the water is immediately, as the tide
falls, taken from its surface. It consists of a deep alluvion resting in
some parts upon a clayey substratum.

Farm VI. This farm consists of 110 acres of which 30 are in
pasturage ; 20 in salt marsh ; 20 in wood ; and 7 waste ; leaving 33
in tillage and English mowing. Cows 5 ; oxen 4 ; horse 1 .

Produce in 1S37. English hay 20 tons ; salt hay 15 tons ; fresh
meadow 2 tons ; Indian corn 300 bushels; barley 40 bs.; oats 20 bs.;
pease sold green 200 bs. ; beans 10 bs. ; potatoes 50 bs. ; onions
75 bs. ; carrots 10 bs. ; beets 30 bs. ; parsnips 6 bs. ; English
turnips 150 bs. ; pumpkins 50 cart loads ; squashes sold for $100 ;
beef fattened 3,000 lbs ; pork 1,500 lbs. ; butter 750 lbs. ; cider

86

17 barrels ; winter apples 120 barrels ; pigs sold 6, average price
$10 ; calves sold 4, average price $5. Beef. In fattening beef
made great use of pumpkins. Swine were fattened on pumpkins,
barley meal, and potatoes. Manures applied, 15 cords to the acre,
principally barn manure.

Amount of sales in 1837, $1,600. Value of produce used or
on hand $886. Cost of labor and incidentals $575. Manure made
supposed 60 cords ; manure bought 50 cords. Nothing is here
credited to the farm, as I suppose, for supplies used by the family
of vegetables and milk : nor for house rent.

Farm VII. This farm consists of 108 acres ; of which 50 are
in pasturage. The live stock consists of 1 horse ; 6 oxen ; 7 cows
and heifers ; 7 swine.

The produce for 1837 is as follows. English hay 60 tons ; low
meadow 12 tons ; fresh meadow 4 tons ; Indian corn 173 bushels ;
oats 350 bs. ; potatoes 700 bs. ; winter apples 175 barrels ; pork
fattened 1,700 lbs. ; cheese, the night's cream taken off, 400 lbs.
butter 700 lbs. ; straw 10 tons ; wood sold 50 cords; calves sold
5, at $4 each ; manure made 60 cords ; manure bought 15 cords,
at $3.50 per cord.

The amount of sales given for 1837, is $1,350. The cost of
labor $280. The value of produce on hand is not stated. The
cost put down for labor means, undoubtedly, wages paid exclusive
of the owner's care and labor ; the board is considered as furnished
by the farm, and nothing is put down for incidental expenses.

It is much to be lamented that farm accounts every where, if kept
at all, are kept with so little exactness ; and that one of the most
important business concerns in life is pursued with so little exactness
of calculation or cost.

This farm has this year been honored with a liberal premium from
the Essex Agricultural Society, and a gratuity from the Massachu-
setts Agricultural Society ; and a full and detailed account of its
management will be found in their reports.

Farm VIII. This farm consists of 334 acres. 169 in pastur-
age ; 22 in wood ; leaving in tillage, mowing, and orcharding 143
acres. The live stock consists of cows 20 ; oxen 6 ; swine 25 ;

86

and horses S ; which are used for marketing meats and other pur-
poses, not connected directly with tlie farm.

Produce in 1837. Enghsh hay 80 tons ; fresh meadow 8 tons ;
Indian corn 150 bushels ; Rye 40 bs. ; barley 633 bs. ; oats 570 bs. ;
pease sold green 150 bs. ; beans 6 bs. ; potatoes 2,300 bs. ; onions
50 bs. ; carrots 400 bs. ; beets 75 bs. ; parsnips 10 bs. ; English
turnips 300 bs. ; pork 8,700 lbs. ; butter 200 lbs. The milk was
principally sent to market ; cider 10 barrels ; winter apples 30 bar-
rels ; straw 40 tons ; corn fodder 14 tons ; wood sold 35 cords ;
calves 20, killed and marketed, average price ^10 ; sheep fattened 20.

The whole amount of sales reported in 1837 is $4,052. Value
of produce used or on hand $3,358. Cost of labor and incidental
expenses $2,550.

Farm IX. Extent 160 acres. Of this farm, which I have re-
peatedly visited, I have no returns for 1837 ; but in 1834-5, the
produce was as follows. English hay sold 184 tons ; potatoes
grown 1,541 bushels ; corn 300 bushels.

The in)provements on this place, within twenty-five years, are im-
mense. It has extraordinary advantages for obtaining sea manure of
various descriptions ; and this is applied widiout stint.

Farm X. I shall add to these statements an account with which
I have been favored by the Treasurer of the Institutions for Educa-
tion at x\ndover. A farm of fifiy acres is connected with each of
the three Institutions — the Theological, — the English, — the Latin
School. The improvements, vvliich have already been made upon
these different lots, are judicious and excellent.

" Andover, November 25, 1837.

" It will be recollected that the object of our farming is somewhat
peculiar. Our aim is to obtain milk for our commons. This is our
first object, and our husbandry is managed with a view to this pri-
marily. We raise potatoes principally, rather than corn, because
potatoes turn to a better account to produce milk than corn. The
ground that we sow down to grass we sow down with oats ; and cut

87

them green for fodder, rather than let them ripen for grain, because
the fodder is better adapted to our use. We have about one hun-
dred and fifty acres of land, divided into three farms of fifty acres
each. It was nearly all in a slate of nature when we commenced
operating upon it, and most of it in the hiirdest and roughest state.
The farm connected with the Theological Seminary was the first
commenced, and has been the longest in a course of improvement.
The farm connected with the commons of the Classical School was
the next in order, and is next in the course of improvement. The
farm connected with the commons of the English School has been
but recently commenced, and of course is in the state of least im-
provement. We do not calculate to have any pasture land, proper-
ly so called, in these farms ; but to plough the whole over and over
by turns, or parts, as the case requires ; — to keep the cows in the
barns, and cut green fodder for them till the fall of the year, when
they are turned out to the fail feed. We have a pasture at a dis-
tance of about fifty acres, where we turn off the cows that are dry in
the summer, and also the oxen when not at work on the farms. As
to the product of our farms we can say nothing extraordinary ; we
have but just made a beginning, even with the farm which has been
]on2;est in a course of improvement ; but we have accomplished
enough to encourage us to persevere, and have no doubt that great
advances may be made with judicious cultivation. In respect to
one of the farms we have done buying manure; we make a very good
supply ; and the same is nearly true in respect to the second ; and
the progress of iinprovement is in an encouraging course, and with
comparatively small expenditures. A summary of the stock, crops,
&c., of the three farms, is as follows, viz : —

Horses, -------3

Oxen, ------- 6

Cows, 34

Hogs, — fat, — weighing from 300 to 400 each, 14
Pigs, — stores, - - - - - - 11

English Hay, including oats cut for winter fodder,

besides green fodder for cows in summer, 106 tons.
Fresh Meadow Hay, 6 tons.

1450 bushels.

- 38

do.

90

do.

- 70

do.

25

do.

- 50

do.

30

do.

- 39 barrels.

3

do.

- 4J

bushels,

Potatoes,

Corn, .----.

English Turnips, - " -
Onions, .---..
Carrots, . . - . -

Beets, ......

Parsnips, _ . - . -

Winter Apples, -----

Cider,

Beans, ---_..

" The rude and rough state of our lands at the commencement of
operation has afforded but small opportunity for nice observations
and experiments. We have done considerable at underdraining our
low and wet grounds to very great advantage. We have paid no
particular attention to our breed of cattle. It is not convenient for
us to raise young stock, and we have bought our cows and oxen,
principally of common native breeds. We generally purchase our
oxen in the spring, do our summer work with them, and turn them
for beef in the first of the winter. As to manure we have made no
important experiments. We have repeatedly tried gypsum, but with-
out any important effect. Lime we have not tried to any extent.
We have not raised any crops that would be considered extraordina-
ry. Seventy bushels of corn to the acre is the most that we can
boast of, and eight hundred bushels of carrots. Our milch cows are
of the common kind."

1 have been favored with many more reports showing similar re-
sults, but until I better understand what the public wishes require, I
hesitate at enlarging my report with them. I have personally visited
all the farms, which I have reported, with one exception ; and that I
did not go over because of the owner's absence from home at the
time of my calling. The statements, which I have given, rest with
a single exception upon the written and certified reports of the gen-
tlemen, to whose farms they relate ; and their credibility is in my
mind unexceptionable. If there are errors, they must be errors of
judgment or accident, and not of design. I am not at liberty with-

89

out their permission, excepting where they have been the subjects of
public premium or are connected with some public institution, to
subjoin their names ; but the public spirit, which has induced them
to make these communications, is much to be applauded.

I have taken special pains to visit every Pauper establishment in
the county with which a farm is connected. I have accounts from
many of them, which are interesting and instructive, but I fear to
extend my report. Their condition and management in general
are respectable and encouraging. The condition of the unfor-
tunate inmates is enviable compared with what it was in former
times, when no out-door labor was provided for them ; and their la-
bor applied in this way does much to relieve the towns from the bur-
den of their expense. In only a single instance have 1 found any al-
lowance of spirituous liquor ; and very rarely the use of any fermented
or intoxicating drink among them. This is an immense advance in civil-
ization and humanity. It struck me as greatly desirable, if consistent
with the ends of public justice and the security of the wretched vaga-
bonds and convicts who are committed to these places, that the
county Houses of Correction should have a farm connected with them,
where the labor of the inmates, which is now applied with little compar-
ative adavantage, either in point of pecuniary profit, health, or morals,
might do much towards their support if devoted to agriculture or garden-
ing. There are insular or peninsular situations to be found, combining
every advantage for this object, where the perfect security of the con-
victs might be assured at an expense not greater than is now incurred.

The condition of the population of Essex, before the recent finan-
cial derangements and calamities in the country, was singularly pros-
perous and thrifiy. The extraordinary gains acquired in mechanical
and manufacturing employments, though it increased the den)and for
agricultural products, tended to withhold from agriculture much of
the labor and intelligence, which would otherwise have been applied
to it ; and to encourage a distaste for it as a severe and unprofiiable
pursuit. The extraordinary reverses, which have taken place within
the last two years, have diawn atteniion and labor more strongly to
the earth as a bank sure not to fail ; always ready to honor the drafts
12

90

of labor directed by skill and intelligence, and certain to pay the just
demands upon it in that which is better than specie, plenty of food
and clothing, domestic comfort, health, and peace of mind. It is a
gratifying fact, in which I am confirmed by my own as well as the
observation of others, that more land has been cultivated, and more
unproductive land has been drained and redeemed within the last
year, in the county, than has been done for many previous years.
The facts detailed in this report will demonstrate that capital and
labor may be applied to agriculture in Essex County with a perfect
security, under intelligent and skilful management, of an ample return.
It is not to be concealed, however, that agriculture, to be successful,
requires application, labor, science, experience, skill ; and, accord-
ing to the objects aimed at, and the measure of profit to be expected
from it, pecuniary capital. It is said that any man may be a farmer.
Success in agricultural pursuits is just as certain, but it is no more
so, than it is in commerce and manufactures ; and upon no other
conditions.

The silk culture may be made matter of most profitable attention
in Essex. I say this with strong confidence, from some actual ex-
periments detailed to me In the cultivation and management of the
Morus muhicaulis, the results of which may be said almost to guar-
antee success, as far as this depends on ihat invaluable plant. These
results I design fully to detail in the report, which will follow this.
Essex has taken the lead in the manufacture of beet sugar in America ;
and I have strong reason to hope that it may be followed up to great
advantage ; and on this matter I shall give the information, which has
been recently received, and promises to be of great public advantage.

The main hindrances to the progress of Essex agriculture are either
the want of capital of those who pursue it exclusively, or in other
cases, that it is merely a secondary object, subsidiary to something else.
Every farmer seems disposed to boast with how little labor he gets
along. My belief is, and it is confirmed by the facts stated in
this report, that much more labor, even at the present high prices,
might be profitably applied ; or else, indeed, none can be profitably
applied. Hay and oats are deemed the best crops, for the simple
reason that they are managed with less labor than other crops ; and
at the same time are always sure of a cash sale. Oats are an ex-

91

hausting crop, as is universally admitted ; and hay that is marketed
deprives the farm of manure. My belief is, that the extended cul-
tivation of grain crops, such as Indian corn, barley, or pease, and of
vegetable crops, such as ruta baga, potatoes, carrots and beets, to
be consumed on the place, or, if sold, sold only in the form of grain,
or pork, or mutton, or dairy produce, butter in particular, would be
doubly profitable ; and render our agriculture an improving, rather
than, as it often is under the hay-selling system, an exhausting opera-
tion. The introduction of the plan of sowing clover with all grains,
to be ploughed in as a green dressing, and other green crops, demands
attention. The composting of manures, the application of clay marls,
which it is believed may be found abundantly in the county, and the
uses of lime, deserve immediate and exact inquiry and experiment on
the part of the Essex farmers.* The draining of their fresh meadows,
and the preparation of them for English grasses, and the dykeing
and draining of their salt marshes, would add immensely to the pro-
ductive wealth of the county.

AGRICULTURAL SCHOOLS.

Two literary institutions, one at Beverly, and one at Byfield, are
designed in some measure to connect agricultural or mechanical labor
with literary education and improvement. They are in this matter
as yet in embryo. The latter has ample means in a valuable land-
ed estate contiguous to the school. The former has purchased
a valuable estate, and design to apply to the government of the state
for aid. Some capital is found necessary in the outset ; but I have
a strong persuasion, that the introduction of the cultivation of silk in
such seminaries where favorably situated, without materially interfer-
ing with the literary improvement of the pupils, may do much, under
skilful management, towards defraying all the necessary expenses of
the establishment. The education which is the fruit of our own
honest industry is of vastly more value to the character and self-
respect of its favored subject, than that, which is the gift either of
public or private charity.

* Appendix L.

92

AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY.

The Agricultural Society of Essex was founded in 1818, undei
the influence of an eminent friend to agricultural improvement and a
skilful practical farmer, Timothy Pickering. It embraces nearly all
the farmers in the county. Its funds invested amounted at the close
of the year 1836 to $0500. Besides the income received from
these, it receives $600 from the bounty of the state. These funds
are applied to the payment of premiums on matters and things con-
nected with agricultural improvement ; and to the publication of an
annual report of the awards and doings of the trustees. A list of
premiums offered, and the subjects on which they are proposed to
be paid, is annually published ; and a cattle show and exhibition is
annually held in some town of the county.

The affairs of this society have been managed in the most skilful
and public-spirited manner ; and its influence has been marked and
eminently salutary on the agriculture of the county. The trustees
have published two volumes of Annual Reports of their Transac-
tions, which imbody a great deal of instructive aud valuable informa-
tion on subjects of agriculture and domestic economy.

My conviction is, that the agricultural interests of the county would
be greatly promoted, if their annual show and ploughing match were
extended to two days instead of being crowded into one ; and if their
premiums were given in some permanent memorial of books, or plate
with suitable inscriptions, rather than in money ; and besides this, if
as far as practicable, they were publicly awarded and bestowed on
the second day of the festival. Tiiese opinions are strongly con-
firmed by my observations at the spirited exhibition of the Berkshire
Agricultural Society the last autumn ; and are respectfully suggested
to the consideration of the trustees of a society, which stands in the
first rank of the agricultural institutions of the country.

APPENDIX

[A.]

Instructions of the Executive to the Commissioner for an Agricultural
Surveij.

Boston, 15th June, 1837.
Sir,

Having accepted the place of Agricultural Surveyor of the Com-
monwealth, you will enter on the discharge of its duties with all con-
venient despatch. You will consider it of course the great object to
carry into effect the Resolve of the Legislature under which you are
appointed ; as far as depends on the Surveyor, omitting nothing direct-
ed by it ; nor including what is not embraced in it; giving it a liberal,
but not a loose construction ; and, in doubtful matters, referring to the
Report of the Committee, by which the Resolve was introduced, as a
safe guide to its interpretation.

An Agricultural Survey of the Commonwealth is, of necessity, an
undertaking of a character somewhat indefinite. A very general and
summary survey, such for instance as would be made by an intelli-
gent tourist, would be the work of a few weeks, and would, by no
means, be without interest. On the other hand, a survey might be
projected, so comprehensive in its plan, and so minute in its details,
as to require a long term of years to carry it into execution. The in-
formation, which might be collected by such a survey, would no doubt,
also be valuable. But it is not presumed, that the Legislature contem-
plated a survey of either description, as the one would be too super-
ficial to afford much knowledge that would be practically useful, and
the other would be too expensive, too voluminous, and too long de-

94 APPENDIX.

layed, to meet the views supposed to be entertained in passing the
resolve. To find, and preserve the proper medium, will require much
discretion, and good judgment ; and confident reliance is had upon
your disposition to bring the survey into the narrowest limits, as to
expense and time, consistent with its great objects. As to expense
as it of course cannot exceed the appropriation, so it is desirable that
it should be brought as far within it as practicable, without sacrificing
the objects of the survey. The amount of your compensation will be
submitted to the Council for their consideration, at the next meeting
of the Board.

You will, from time to time, as you may accomplish such portions
of the survey as may be safely published, communicate the same to
the Executive ; and, it is considered highly desirable, that an ample
specimen of the work should be in readiness, to be laid before the
General Court at their session in January next.

Provision having been made, at the last Session of the Legislature,
for a mineralogical, geological, botanical, and zoological survey of the
State, with a view to agricultural benefit, it is submitted to you, con-
sidering the great extent and variety of objects, properly falling within
your commission, to treat more summarily those, which are included
within the province of the other surveys; as, for instance j the chemical
analysis of soils, which is expressly provided for in the geological sur-
vey ; and the forest trees, and insects, which will be naturally objects
of inquiry to those employed in making the botanical and zoological
survey of the State, as they are particularly instructed to direct their
inquiries with a view to agricultural benefit. You will also find by
the hundred and ninety-ninth chapter of the acts of the last Session of
the Legislature, that provision is made by law, for obtaing statistical
information in relation to certain branches of industry within the
Commonwealth. It will appear from the provisions of the act referred
to, that many of the subjects on which information is to be collected,
fall within the range of an agricultural survey. The official returns
under this act will be open to your examination ; and, it is supposed,
will relieve you from the necessity of instituting inquiry yourself, on
some points to which you might otherwise feel it proper to give your
attention.

It is supposed that a period of two years will be sufficient to enable
you to accomplish the survey in a manner designed by the Legislature ;
and, in such a way, as to reflect credit on yourself, and be productive
of great good to the community.

APPENDIX. 95

You will keep an account of your expenses, to be submitted with
the proper vouchers to the Council, in order to the quarterly settle-
ment of your accounts ; and you will be pleased, at the close of each
quarter, to make a summary report to the Executive, of the general
progress of the survey.

Respectfully, your obedient servant,

(Signed) EDWARD EVERETT.
Rev. H. Colman.

[B.]
CIRCULAR.

To the Farmers of Massachusetts on the subject of an Agricultural
Survey of the State by the authority of the Legislature.

To

Sir : — Having been appointed by the Executive of the Common-
wealth, under the provisions of a Resolve of the Legislature, passed at
its last session, Commissioner to make an Agricultural Survey of the
State, I take the liberty of addressing this Circular to several gentle-
men of intelligence and respectability in the different towns, yourself
among others, with a view to obtain their advice and co-operation in
accomplishing such survey.

You will allow me, then, to point out the general objects of inquiry;
and to solicit particularly your attention to them ; that when I visit
you, as I shall ask the pleasure of doing, you will be able to give me,
in respect to those which have been the subjects either of your experi-
ence, inquiry, or observation, the desired information. By the Resolve
it is made the duty of the Commissioner " To collect accurate infor-
mation of the state and condition of the Agriculture of the Common-
wealth, and every subject connected with it; point out the means of
improvement; and make a detailed report thereof, with as much exact-
ness as circumstances will admit." From the terms of the Resolve it
is apparent that the duty is very comprehensive ; as it embraces every

96

APPENDIX.

subject connected with the agriculture of the State, and the means of
its improvement. The more full however it is, the more useful it is
likely to prove ; and exactness in the information obtained is obviously
of the very highest importance. I will now point out some of the ob-
jects to which inquiries will be directed.

I. The Nature of the Soil, in different parts of the State; and par-

ticularly in reference to the crops cultivated.

II. The Climate, with reference to the crops grown ; the usual time of
ploughing, planting, and harvesting; the occurrence of early
frosts ; the length of winter ; the average temperature ; and the

quantity of rain or snow in any year.

It is desirable that meteorological observations should be made in
different parts of the State.

III. The Number oj Acres in any town.

1. cultivated or in any form productive.

2. in wood, timber, &c.

3. capable of cultivation but unproductive.

4. waste or irreclaimable.

IV. Products.

1. The amount raised in any town in any given year.

2. The average yield of any crop per acre.

V. Crops cultivated; among which are the following: —

Wheat.

Broom Corn.

Parsnips.

Lucerne.

Indian Corn.

Teasles.

Beets.

Tall Meadow-

Rye.

Madder.

Artichokes.

Oats.

Barley.

Woad.

Pumpkins.

English Bent.

Oats.

Saffron.

Squashes.

Rye Grass.

Buck Wheat.

Rape.

Turnips.

Millet.

Pease.

Mints.

Fruits.

Foul Meadow.

Beans.

Mustard.

Garden Vegeta-

Blue Grass.

Tares.

Succory.

bles.

Salt Marsh Grass-

Lupins.

es.

Hemp.

Potatoes.

Herds Grass.

Grass for Bonnets.

Flax.

Onions.

Clovers.

Mulberry for Silk.

Tobacco.

Cabbages.

Red top.

Sunflower for Oil.

Hops.

Carrots.

Orchard Grass.

Poppy for Opium.

APPENDIX.

97

VI. Other Products.

Wool. Beef. Mutton. Cheese.

Silk. Pork. Lard. Butter.

VII. Rotation of crops.

VIII. Modes of Cultivation.

1. Soils adapted to particular crops.

2. Preparation of the soil by ploughing and manures.

3. Seeds ; selection ; change of seed ; quantity ; preparation ; steeps
for seeds; preservation of seed from worms, birds, and vermin.

4. Care and management of the growing crop.

5. Harvesting. Time and manner.

6. Use and application of the product.

7. Labor required; and general expenses of a crop.

8. Value of the crop for use or sale.

9. Marketing of the product.

IX. Diseases of Crops. Blight; mildeto ; rust; curl; Sfc. Sfc.

X. Weeds ; and methods of extermination.

Thistles ; Canada thistles ; brake ; laurel ; ox-eyed daisy or white
weed ; ranunculus or butter-cup ; wood-wax ; pine-weed ; St. John's
wort ; charlock or cadluc , sorrel ; cockle ; tares ; chess or cheat, &c.

XI. Refuse of Crops. Preservation ; value, and use for fodder or

manure.

1. Value and use of the stalks and husks of Indian Corn, and how
preserved.

2. Value and use of the stalks and husks of Broom Corn.

3. " " of the straw of Wheat, Rye, Oats and Barley.

4. " " of the haulm of Pease and Buck Wheat.

5. " " of Potato tops, &c. &c.

It may be useful in this place to give an outline of the manner in
which it may be desirable to conduct the inquiries. I will take, for ex-
amples. Wheat and Indian Corn.
Wlieat.

1. History of its cultivation in the state.

2. Kinds; bearded or bald; flint or soft skin ; red or white; sum-
mer or winter ; where obtained ; by what name or quality designated ;
average weight per bushel.

3. Amount of any particular crop; extent of land sown.

4. Condition of the land ; nature of the soil; whether newly clear-

13

98 APPENDIX.

ed ; burnt ; swarded ; or how used for two or three previous years ;
how prepared for sowing.

5. Kind and quantity of manure ; use of lime; plaster; or any com-
post manure.

6. The quantity of seed to an acre, and preparation of the seed ;
advantages or evils of steeping the seed.

7. The time of sowing; week and day, if possible to be ascertained.
The importance of such an inquiry as this will appear for the reasons
which follow :

It is strongly recommended that wheat should be sown before the
14th of September, so as to be well rooted before winter ; thus afford-
ing a better protection against frosts. Or else so late as not to germi-
nate before spiing; this method has been tried. Or frozen in water
in the autumn and kept so until the spring, which experiment is re-
ported to have been successful. It is often desirable for wheat to fol-
low Indian corn ; but Indian corn in general cannot be taken off in
season to get the wheat sown. The discovery of any mode, such as
the above for example, by which the necessity of this early sowing
could be obviated, would be of great advantage.

Wheat sown early is more likely to have passed beyond injury from
the hot, damp, steaming weather, which occurs in July and occasions
rust. Query ; whether late sown wheat is not likely to pass beyond
that season before it gets into a condition to be injured, which is while
it is in the milk.

Late sowing of wheat, as in some cases the last of May and the first
of June, it is stated, has carried the season of flowering beyond the
time of the wheat insect, and the crop has been saved.

8. The diseases or accidents, if any ; whether affected by rust,
smut, or mildew; and any circumsiances of weather, situation, or par-
ticular condition of the plant connected or contemporaneous with such
occurrence. The situation or exposure of any blighted field, whether
high and airy, or low, damp, and confined.

9. Whether or not affected by the vicinity of barberry bushes.

10. Whether winter killed or not ; under what circumstances as it
regards the forwardness or lateness of the plant; and how affected by
the snow.

11. Whether attacked by the Hessian fly or other insects; and pre-
ventives, if any.

Wheat is, in many parts of the country, subject to injury from an
insect or worm, whose appearance is comparatively recent ; and whose

APPENDIX. 99

habits are not well ascertained. He is making dreadful havoc in the
wheat regions, producing in many cases, an entire destruction of ex-
tensive fields of the most promising appearance; and has advanced at
the rate of about forty miles a year. The same insect, it is believed,
though the identity is not perfectly ascertained, has attacked rye and
oats with alarming success. The cultivation of wheat has on this
account been abandoned in some parts of the state ; and in what
have heretofore been deemed some of the most productive wheat re-
gions in New York.

Inquiries and experiments on this subject are of immense import-
ance. A perfect preventive or security would be worth millions to
the country.

12. Remedies or protection against blight or other accident.

13. The extirpation of weeds particularly injurious to the wheat
crop, such as tares, cockle, chess, garlic, and the Canada thistle ; and
any machinery by which the grain may be cleansed of " foul stuff."

14. The experience of farmers in the cultivation of wheat crops
successively on the same land ; and in sowing clover with the wheat
with a view to ploughing it in as manure for a succeeding crop ; and
whether customarily ploughed in with the stubble ; or depastured ; or
mowed for one or more years.

15. The general subject of sowing grass with grain; and the value
in such case of a stubble crop for winter fodder.

16. Harvesting.

Time and state of cutting ; and whether early or late cutting be
preferable ; the time, in the opinion of some persons, making a mate-
rial difference in the amount and value of the crop.

Modes of harvesting ; reaping or cradling ; and cost by day or piece
work ; average amount of a day's work.

17. Threshing and Cleaning.

Threshing machines. Winnowing machines.

18 Manufacture of Flour. Various qualities. Number of bushels
required for a barrel. Miller's charges and profits.

19. Construction of mills and flouring machinery. Water, steam,
and wind power. Domestic mills.

20. Value and uses of bran.

21. Value and uses of wheat straw.

22. Value of a wheat crop compared with other crops. Average
yield.

100 APPENDIX.

23. Capacity of the state to furnish its own wheaten bread

24. Experiments and observations in regard to this crop. Causes
of its general failure.

25. Some general estimate of the quantity and cost of imported
flour consumed in any village, town, or county.

Indian Corn.

1. Kinds. Gourd seed. White soft corn. Sweet corn. Flint
corn.

2. Varieties of flint corn. White ; yellow. Weight per bushel.
Comparative amount of cob and grain in different varieties.

3. Soils most suitable. Preparation of land. Crop, if any, which
it may best succeed. Fall or .spring ploughing. How often may it be
repeated on the same land.

4. Manuring : kinds of manure most suitable ; quantity to the acre ;
how distributed — in hills, drills, or spread — applied green or rotted.

Lime ; its value to corn — how applied.

Gypsum; its value to corn — how applied.

Ashes ; its value to corn — how applied ; crude or spent.

5. Seed — how selected ; effects of selection in increasing the crop ;
how saved ; steeped or sowed dry ; various steeps ; copperas water ;
lye ; rolling in tar ; coating with gypsum or ashes ; quantity of seed.

6. Time of planting ; modes of planting — in hills or drills, distance
of plants ; protection against vermin or birds.

7. Cultivation. Weeding ; ploughing or harrowing among corn ;
use of a cultivator; number of hoeings; hilling or earthing up. Top-
ping ; suckering ; stripping ; with the effects upon the crop.

8. Value of the corn stalks and leaves when taken green ; and mode
of curing.

9. Alternate rows of corn and potatoes. Planting pumpkins or
turnips among corn. Sowing grain among corn for a succeeding crop.

10. Harvesting. Gathering by the ear ; or cutting up and stacking
in the field.

11. Preservation of the grain. Construction of granaries.

12. Preservation and comparative value of the stover or dried
fodder.

13. Machines for shelling.

14. Average yield per acre; value of the crop; cost of cultivation
from beginning to readiness for the mill. Kiln-drying.

APPENDIX. 101

15. Value and uses of Indian Corn — for dairy animals.

for fattening stock,
for swine,
for horses,
for distillation,
for extraction of oil.

Having thus given a sketch of the manner in which it is proposed
to conduct the inquiries on particular subjects, in respect to which it
would confer an obligation on me to have your suggestions, or those of
any experienced farmer, I proceed to other great topics, to be em-
braced by the survey.

XII. 3Ianures.

1. Animal manures.

Animal excrements ; varieties ; comparative value ; preparations ;
uses.

Decayed bodies. Refuse of slaughter houses.

Bone ; horn ; hair ; feathers ; wool.

Fish. Fish oil. Gurry and blubber. Soap-suds.

2. Mineral manures.

Lime in various forms and compounds

Salt. Marine Shells. Gypsum. Clay. Sand. Marl,

Dock-mud. Ashes of mineral coal. Burnt clay.

3. Vegetable Manures.

Ashes of wood and peat. Soot. Tanner's waste. Straw.
Leaves. Sea weeds. Rape dust. Street manure.
Green dressings ploughed in. Buck-wheat. Clover.

4. Artificial manures. Composts.

5. Modes of applying manure.

Mixed or clear ; solid or liquid ; in drill or broadcast ; in fresh or
fermented and decayed state ; — at what season of the year or crop ; —
annually, or how often ; in what quantity.

Use and application to permanent pastures and mowing lands.

6. Manure houses or cellars ; Vaults for the preservation of urine;
and provisions for forming compost manures.

Machines for the application of liquid manures.

XIII. Live Stock.

1. Black Cattle. Horses. Sheep Swine. Poultry.

102 APPENDIX.

2. Comparative value of different breeds of animals for stall, work,
and dairy ; and notices of herds or individuals of improved breeds,
with places where found.

3. Animals known among us. Native; Hereford; Black Spanish;
Devon ; Holderness ; Yorkshire ; Alderney ; Ayrshire.

Improved Durham Short Horns.

4. The subject of breeding.

XIV. Animals for Labor.

Horses and Oxen. Comparative value. Mules. Cost of keep;
harness ; shoeing ; deterioration or improvement.

XV. Animals for Beef

1. Sex most eligible.

2. How reared ; as calves, how fed ; how long with the cow ; how
managed the first winter.

3. What age at maturity. Age best for fattening.

4. If pastured — average number of acres to an animal.

5. If soiled ; how managed and fed.

6. If stalled on dry feed, how fed ; how long kept ; amount of hay
consumed per day: of meal ; of vegetables; kinds of meal ; kinds of
vegetables ; how prepared ; meal ground with or without cob ; mixed
or unmixed ; wet or dry ; cooked or raw.

7. Use of flaxseed ; oil ; and oil cake in fattening.

8. Gain per day ; per month.

9. Machines for cutting and steaming food.

XVI. 3Tarkct ; Returns of Brighton and Danvcrs ?narlets.

1. Animals — how sold — on the hoof; or by weight after slaughter.
If by weight, how determined ; customs of butchers ; what parts
weighed; what considered as perquisites of butchers. Liabilities to
error or fraud, if any ; customs in other markets.

2. Different parts — how disposed of; relative value.

3. Modes of curing, packing, inspecting beef, pork, hams, &c. &c.

4. Drift of animals ; customs of Drovers ; expenses ; loss in weight
by travelling.

XVII. Animals for the Dairy.

1. Choice of breeds. Examples and history of cows of extraordi-
nary product.

2. Size and color as affecting produce. Continuance in milking.

APPENDIX. 103

Effects of early coming in. Disposition of the calf Times of milk-
ing.

3. Average yield of a good cow in milk ; in butter ; in cheese.

4. Trials of milk as to quantity of cream ; of butter; and of cheese,
per gallon.

5. Modes of feeding; vegetables; grain or meal, how given or
prepared ; quantity.

XVIII. Dairy Produce.

1. Butter; modes of making and preserving.

2. Cheese ; modes of making and preserving.

3. Comparative profits of making butter and cheese.

4. Use of skim-milk, butter-milk, and whey.

5. Advantages, if any, of giving it to the cow.

6. Value of dairy refuse for swine.

7. What proportion between number of cows kept, and number of
swine kept.

8. Steaming; heating; freezing milk ; with comparative advantages
of each method for raising cream.

9. Effects of different kinds of salt upon butter. Use of sugar and
saltpetre for butter. Coloring matter for cheese.

10. Protection from vermin

11. Grasses for dairy purposes.

12. Churns ; presses ; spring-houses ; pans.

XIX. Swine.

1. Breeds. Maturity, and age for fattening. Average weight when
fattened.

2. Mode of raising ; in stye or at large ; pasturage or soiling on
clover.

3. Fattening; value of vegetables ; value of meal ; preparation of
food; raw; steamed; boiled; fermented. Gain per day, per month.
Season best for fattening. Time of killing.

4. Assortment of parts; packing of pork; curing of hams; making
of sausages, &-c. &lc.

5. Trial of different kinds of food. Corn; rye; barley; oats;
broom corn ; pease ; apples ; potatoes, &c. &c.

XX. Sheep.

1. Breeds; crosses.

2. Yield in wool. Time of shearing. Mode of washing and
cleansing. Mode of doing up the fleece.

3. Yield in mutton. Age for fattening ; mode of fattening. Com-

104 APPENDIX.

parative value of different kinds of feed. Vegetables ; corn ; oats ;
oil-cake, &-c. &lc.

4. Genera] management. Choice of Buck. Time of lambing.
Mode of winter keeping.

5. History of particular flocks.

6. Sheep houses. Sheep racks.
XXI. Horses, Mules.

How raised ; how kept ; shoeing ; general management ; compara-
tive value for labor.
XXn. Animals kept for breeding.

Bull. Stallion. Ram. Boar.

Valuable points ; defects ; general management.
XXIH. Feeding of Animals.

1. Pasturage. Winter keeping.

2. Soiling of Animals ; articles to be cultivated for this purpose.

3. Cutting feed. Steaming or cooking. Green vegetable feed;
Dry feed.

XXIV. Poultry.

Kinds; management; comparative value.

XXV. Diseases of Domestic animals.

Of horses ; cattle ; sheep ; swine ; poultry : and remedies.

XXVI. Farm Buildings.

1. Barns. Stables. Styes. Poultry-houses.

2. Modes of fastening and harnessing cattle. Stalls; mangers;
stanchions ; ropes ; chains ; bows.

3. Yokes and harnesses.

4. Dwelling Houses, with comparative cost of stone, brick, and
wood. Improvements in apparatus for cooking; and for warming
houses.

XXVII. Bees.

Cultivation of feed for bees. Construction of hives. Protection
against the bee moth.

XXVIII. Orchards. Gardens.

1. Varieties of fruits, with methods of propagation and selection.

2. Varieties of esculent vegetables, with methods of cultivation.

XXIX. Diseases of Trees and Plants.

XXX. Injurious Insects and Vermin.

Borer. Canker worms Caterpillars. Potato worms. Tobacco

APPENDIX. 105

worm. Slugs. Bee motli. Turnip fly. Crows and Black-birds.
Woodchucks. Foxes. Field mice. Rats.

XXXI. Fences.

Stone walls. Rail fences. Live hedges. Hedge and ditch.
Raised banks, &/C.

XXXII. Forest Trees.

1. For timber. For fuel.

2. Modes of raising. Care of forests. Time and modes of cutting.

3. Nurseries of fruit and forest trees.

4. Plants for hedges and fences.

XXXI II. General Improvements.
Clearing wild land.
Removing stumps and stones.
Draining.

Irrigation.
Paring and burning.
Gravelling low meadows.
Improving Peat meadows.

XXXIV. Great Farming Operations.

1. Ploughing.

2. Sowing; planting; laying down to grass.

3. Haymaking.

4. Harvesting.

5. Preserving and expending the produce.

6. Marketing.

XXXV. Examples in detail and in full of

1. General farm management.

2. Particular crops.

3. Particular Improvements.

XXXVI. Labor.

1. Farm labor by the month or year.

2. " by the piece.

3. Cost of board and prices of provisions.

4. Use of spirituous liquor.

5. Laws and customs relating to labor.

Mechanical Labor.
\. Blacksmith. Price per pound of iron.

" Price of Horse shoeing. Ox shoeing.

14

106 APPENDIX.

2. Carpenters' work per day.

3. Masons' work, per day.

5. Wheelwrights' work, per piece.

5. General cost of farming utensils ; carriages, and equipments.
XXXVn. Farming Implements, £("0.

Ploughs. Harrows. Horse Rakes. Cultivators and Horse Hoes.
Threshing Machines. Winnowing Machines. Vegetable Slicers.
Hay Cutters. Rollers. Drill Machines. Corn Planters. Corn Shel-
lers. Wheel Carriages. Stump Extractors, &.c. &c.
XXXVni. Condition of Roads and Improvements in construction of

Roads, as intimatrhj connected with the agricultural prosperity of

a country.
XXXIX. Miscellaneous Subjects.

1. Size of farms.

2. Farm capital.

3 Farm accounts.

4. Laws relating to agriculture.

5. Taxes and burdens upon land.

6. Agricultural pauper establishments.

7. Agricultural and manual labor schools and colleges.

8. Agricultural Societies. Funds. Premiums. Operations. Cattle
Shows.

9. Agricultural Libraries and Publications.
XL. Manufactures connected with Agriculture.

1. Household Manufactures of wool, silk, flax, hemp, hair, bristles,
straw, &-C. &I.C.

2. Leather, with all its various preparations.

3. Glue. Combs. Buttons. Bonnets and Hats from grass, straw,
or wool. Wooden Ware. Barrels.

Maple Sugar. Maple Molasses. Beet Sugar. Potato Syrup. Starch.
Opium. Sunflower Oil. Indian Corn Oil. Linseed Oil. Neat's
foot Oil. Wine from Grapes. Wine from Currants.

Cider. Perry. Beer and Ale. Whiskey. Gin.

Soap. Candles.
XLI. Objects of particular inquiry, with a view to agricultural

improvements.

1. Improvements in live stock.

2. " in utensils and farm buildings.

3. " in new vegetables, fruits, and grasses.

APPENDIX. 107

4. Improvements in seeds for earliness and abundant yield.

5. " in economical preparations and uses of food for

man and beast.

6. " in economical uses of fuel.

7. " in economical application of human and brute labor.

8. " in application of water, steam, or wind power to

purposes of husbandry.

9. " in cultivation — depth of ploughing; mixing of
soils; compost manures; manuring with green crops; inverting and
covering the sward ; drill culture ; sowing broad-cast ; management of
any particular crop, &lc. «S^c.

10. Improvements in rotation of crops.

11. " in uses of lime ; gypsum; bone-dust.

12. " in application of ashes; crude or spent.

13. " in application or discovery of other manures.

14. " in construction of farm buildings.
XLII. Exports and Impoi-ts of agricultural produce.

Capacity of the State to supply its own wants. General views.
XLIII. Spcciincns of Soil to he analyzed.
Models of improved implements.
Models of improved buildings.
Sketches of improved modes of draining lands.
Collection of valuable seeds or plants.
Samples of wool, silk, and sugar.

I have thus, sir, laid before you the principal objects designed to be
embraced in an Agricultural Survey of the State. It is not of course
expected that every farmer, possibly not any single farmer, will be able
to give me information on every subject here enumerated ; nor will
any farm or any town in the Commonwealth furnish examples of all the
various crops, operations, and stocks here mentioned. But what is
wanting in one may doubtless be found in another ; and as no subject
is mentioned in which the agriculture of the State is not directly con-
cerned, it is hoped that much valuable and practical information may be
collected in regard to all. It will be my province to gather up the
fragments that nothing be lost. I earnestly solicit, therefore, your par-
ticular aid in acquiring this information ; and the communication of
your knowledge or experience, either by writing, conversation, advice,
or in any form in which you will please to give it. Any trouble which
any gentleman may take upon himself for the purpose of procuring in-
formation shall be always gratefully acknowledged.

108 APPENDIX.

My duty will require me to visit every town in the state ; and my
wish is to visit every principal farm in every town, the management of
which promises to afford useful information. In determining what
particular farms to visit, it is obvious that I must necessarily be direct-
ed by the advice or suggestions of others, which I shall always be most
happy to receive ; but, in order to avoid all invidiousness, I beg leave
to state distinctly, in the outset, that, unless prevented by extraordinary
circumstances, I will visit every farmer, who will do me the kindness
to invite me to his premises; and I have perfect confidence in finding
oftentimes as creditable and instructive management among small
farmers as among those, who pursue agriculture upon an extensive
scale. I therefore solicit such invitations ; and will gladly avail myself
of them.

I purpose to make the survey by counties, and am anxious to prose-
cute it with all convenient despatch. I beg the farmers to whom this
circular is sent, to give it an attentive and repeated examination. The
objects of the survey are most important to the farming interest. I
go to seek information from practical men : and shall be happy to
communicate all that I receive. I solicit the correspondence and co-
operation of such men. It is reasonable to hope that the inquiries will
elicit much valuable knowledge ; that they will contribute to excite and
strengthen a spirit of improvement in agriculture, this most honorable
and useful pursuit; that they will unfold agricultural resources and
capacities of which we were not fully aware ; that they will strengthen
those, which already exist, and present new reasons for a devoted
attachment to our native state ; a state, which, if its soil be compara-
tively hard and sterile and its climate severe, is in a high degree
favorable to longevity, to strength of muscle, vigor of intellect, and
moral energy ; furnishes an ample reward to patient industry, temper-
ance and frugality ; and, under the administration of upright magis-
trates, and wholesome and equal laws, which she has so long and
eminently enjoyed, abounds in the elements of domestic comfort, and
social improvement and prosj)crity.

Yours respectfully,

HENRY COLMAN.
Boston, June, 1837.

P. S. Communications and letters relating to the Survey may be
addressed to the subscriber at Boston. They may be forwarded by
private conveyance to the post-office in Boston, or directly by mail, if
otherwise not convenient.

APPENDIX.

109

[C]
FARM REPORT.

REPORT of the Farm of

18

No. of
Acres.

Write Ye
or xio.

Tillage, .
Eiig. Mowing,
Salt JMarsh, .
Wet Meadow,
Pasture,
Orchai-ding, .
Wood, .
Waste, .

Total, .

Loamy ?
Clayey ?
Sandy ?
Gravelly
Lime ?
Wet ?
Dry?
Hilly ?
Level ?

Horses,
Oxen,
Cows,
Sheep,
Swine,
Colts,
Young Neat
Stock,

Price of Labor.

Man's labor, (board inclu-
ded, per year, $
Per month, .
Per day.

Price of Mara s Board.
Per week, . $

Amount of Sales in 18

Valii£ of Produce used i
on hand.

Cost of Labor.

Incidental Expenses.

Am't of

Average

Am't of

Crops and Products.

Produce

yield per

Crops and Products.

Produce

yield per

acre.

■

■ nl«

acre.

English Hay, ". Tons.

Onions, . Bushels.

Salt do. . . «

Carrots, . "

Fresh Meadow do. «

Beets, . «

Millet,

Parsnips, . "

Wheat, . Bushels.

English Turnips, "

Indian Corn, . "

Ruta Baga, "

Rve, . . . «

! 1 Pumpkins, Tons.

1

Barley, .

Squashes, . lbs.

Oats. . . «

1 1 Broom Corn, "

Buckwheat, . «

Flax, .

Pease, . . «

1 1 Tobacco, . <'

Beans, . . «

1 Hops,

Potatoes, . . "

i Teasles, pr. thousand,

no

APPENDIX.

Other Products in 18

Other Products in

Beef, .

Pork, .

Butter, .

New iMilk Cheese,

Wool, .

Silk, .

Honey, .

Beet Sugar, .

Maple Sugar,

Cider, .

Winter Apples,

Barrels.

Straw, . . Tons,

Corn Fodder, . "

Wood used, . Cords.

Wood sold, . "

Peat, ..."
Charcoal sold, Bushels.

Manure made, . Cords,
Manure bought, . "

18

Lambs .sold, . No.

average price.
Pigs sold, . . No.

average price.
Calves sold, . No.

Average yield of a Cow
per annum.

Of milk, . . gallons.
Of butter, . pounds.
New milk cheese, "

average price.
Young stock, . No.
Average price of

yearlings, . .
Two years old, .
Three years old,

Average weight of a Hog
fatted at 18 moiiths old.

lbs.

Average number of Lambs
raised yearly to 50 ewes.

Native, . . No.
Merino, . . "
Saxony, . . "
Various, . . "

Average yield of Wool to
a sheep per year.

Native, . . . lbs.
Merino, ..."
Sjixony, ..."
Saxon-Merino, "
Dishley, ..."
Leicester, . . "

Animals fatted in 18

South-down, . «
Mixed, ..."

Beef Animals, No.
On what.?

Manures used ; and number of loads or
bushels to the acre.

Swine, . . . No.
On what ?

Sheep, ... No.
On what?

APPENDIX. Ill

Sir : — Please fill the blanks with as much exactness as you can, and
favor me with your suggestions and remarks on such topics as you may
deem useful ; for example ;

1. What improvement have you made in building; in cultivation ; in

draining; in irrigation; in clearing land; in live stock; in feed-
ing animals; in forwarding seeds ; in raising forest trees; or in
any other matter ?

2. What breed of cattle do you raise? What breed do you prefer for

labor, stall, or dairy 1

3. What experiments have you made in the application of manures ?

What are the effects on your farm of Lime, or Gypsum ; and
how used ?

4. What large or extraordinary crops of any kind have you raised;

and how cultivated ?

5. What remarkable beef cattle or milch cows have you owned ; or

known in your neighborhood I Please to give an account of
them.

6. What agricultural experiments of any kind have you made, the

knowledge of which, whether successful or unsuccessful, would
be useful ?

7. What do you deem the most profitable articles of cultivation ?

8. What is the general disposition of the products of your farm ?

Be kind enough to let me hear from you ; and when this table is
filled out at the close of the season, please enclose it with your remarks,
which I hope for at large, and forward it to my address bi/ private con-
veyance, to the ofiice of the Secretary of State, Boston.

HENRY COLMAN,

Commissioner for Agricultural Survey.
July, 1837.

112 APPENDIX.

[D.]

Extract of a letter to the Commissioner of Agricultural Survey from
Henry W. Bishop, Esq., Lenox, late President of the Berkshire Ag-
ricultural Society, Jan. 1, 1838.

" It has been very difficult to induce the farmers to make the desired
returns. Very few are able to do so except as to some particular crops,
which they consider of little moment. It will be different, I think, the
next season. The importance, as a matter of profit and loss, of a more
precise knowledge of the expenses and proceeds of the several branches
of their occupation, is seen and felt. Your visit here has done much
good. A spirit of inquiry has been awakened, and will keep awake,
till many useful things are learned. Results, hereafter, will be oftener
ascertained by measure and figures. Less will be left to loose, careless
estimation."

Extract from a letter from an eminent farmer in Pittsfield, Berkshire
County, Sam'l D. Colt, Esq., dated 16 Feb, 1838.

" Your visit to our county will be of incalculable benefit to the agri-
cultural interest. The encouragement with useful hints, with your
judicious advice thrown out from time to time in the hearing of our
agriculturists, will be stored up by our young farmers, who will prac-
tise upon them : and should you visit us next June, when our crops
are growing, presuming you have not closed your survey of the county,
I doubt not you will see some good effects, resulting from your labors
of last autumn."

I hope I may be pardoned for citing these testimonials, which I do
most certainly not for any personal considerations, but simply to show
the encouragement, which the survey has met with in one of the most
agricultural sections of the state, yielding to none other in intelligence
and general improvement.

APPENDIX. 113

[ i:. ]

On Cnllivotion of Rye. — John Keely's Statement.

TO THE TRUSTEES OF THE ESSEX AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY :

Gentlemen, — Having for some years past been more than com-
monly successful in raising large crops of winter rye by a process of
cultivation which I believe is entirely new ; I have been induced by
the suggestion of some gentlemen whose judgment I very much respect,
to submit for your consideration a statement of the mode of culture
with the produce. And that the success of the experiment this season,
may not appear to be altogether accidental, it will perhaps be as well
to communicate the result of the process for the three or four previous
years.

The land on which the experiment has been conducted is situated
on the Merrimack, about a mile and a half east of Haverhill bridge;
and came into possession of my father in 1827. The soil is a sand,
approaching to loam as it recedes from the river. Perhaps the term
idnin land (by which it usually passes) will better convey an idea of
the quality of the soil. It is altogether too light for grass. The crops
we find most profitable to cultivate on it are winter rye, Indian corn,
potatoes, and to some extent turnips. Oats might probably be raised
to advantage were it not that the land is completely filled with the
weed commonly called charlock, which renders it entirely unfit for any
spring crop, excepting such as can be hoed. The crops of rye, on
the neighboring soil of the same nature, vary I believe from seven or
eight, to twelve or thirteen bushels per acre, according to the cultiva-
tion and their approximation to tlie river. We usually raise on the land
from thirteen to thirty bushels of Indian corn per acre. Potatoes are
very good in quality, but the quantity is quite small ; not suflicient to
be profitable were it not that the land is very easily cultivated.

In the summer of 1827, we sowed three bushels of winter rye near
the river, on about two acres of land, which produced twenty eight
bushels.

In 1828, we sowed four bushels on four acres of land running the
whole extent of the plain from the river. This piece was sowed in
the spring with oats ; but they were completely smothered with char-
lock, and about the middle of June, the whole crop was mowed to
prevent the charlock seeding. By about the middle of August, a
15

114 APPENDIX.

second crop of charlock having covered the land, it was ploughed very
carefully, in order completely to bury the charlock ; and then suffered
to remain until the loth of September when we began sowing the
rye in the following manner. A strip of land about twelve yards wide
was ploughed very evenly to prevent deep gutters between the furrows,
and the seed immediately sown upon the furrow and harrowed in.
Then another strip of the same width, and so on until the whole was
finished. We found the oat stubble and charlock entirely rotted, and
the land appeared as if it had been well manured, though none had
been applied to this part, since it had been in our possession. The
rye sprung very quick and vigorously, having evidently derived great
benefit from being sown and sprouted before the moisture supplied by
the decaying vegetable matter in the soil had evaporated to any con-
siderable extent. This crop produced 133 bushels.

In 1829, the charlock was suffered to grow on the law.d appropriated
to rye, until it had attained its growth and was in full blossom. The
land was then ploughed very carefully and the charlock completely
covered in. In a short time a second crop appeared more vigorous
than the first. This also was allowed to attain its growth, and then
ploughed in as before. A third crop soon appeared, which of course
was destroyed when the land was again ploughed for sowing about the
middle of September. This piece of land was a parallel strip running
from the river, and containing two acres. Two bushels of rye were
sowed. The crop presented a remarkably promising appearance, and
yielded seventy four and a half bushels.

In 1830, the land appropriated to rye included nearly all the lighter
parts of the soil, and owing to a pressure of business w'as not attended
to as we could have wished. It was ploughed in the early part of the
summer. But harrowing to destroy the weeds was substituted for the
second ploughing. This, and the unusual blight which affected all
the grain in this part of the country, led us to anticipate a small crop.
It yielded however fifteen bushels to the acre.

The land on which the crop of rye was raised the present season,
had for the three or four previous years been planted with Indian corn.
And owing to the extent of our tillage land, we have not been able to
apply more than four or five loads of manure to the acre this season.
The charlock was suffered to attain its growth as usual ; and on the
18th and 19th of June it was carefully ploughed in. The second
crop was ploughed in on the 6th and 7th of August. On the 14th and
15th of September it was sowed in the usual manner, namely : a small

APPENDIX. 115

Strip of land was ploughed and the seed sown immediately upon the fur-
row and then harrowed in. Then another strip of land was ploughed,
and so on until the whole was completed. One bushel per acre was
sowed as usual. The seed was originally obtained from a farmer in
this vicinity, and I suppose is similar to that which is generally used.
We have never prepared our seed in any manner, but have directed
our attention solely to the preparation of the land ; and to this we
attribute our success. Owing to the unusual severity of the winter,
the crop was considerably winter killed ; but recovered very soon in
the spring, excepting in the niidfuirows. There, as the land lies very
level, the water settled and so completely destroyed the rye that they
continued bare the whole season. This would of course cause some
diminution in the crop ; perhaps a bushel or two. The rye was reaped
at the usual season, and, as the weather was favorable, immediately
put into the barn. The land contained one acre and thirteen rods
and yielded forty sit bushels and three pecks. A remarkahhj fine
sample.

In entering a claim for your premium, I would ask your attention
particularly to the process of cultivation. It is, I believe, entirely
new ; and capable of general application.

Sowing the seed immediately after the plough we consider very
advantageous to the crop. The soil being then moist, causes the seed
to spring immediately, and gives a forwardness and vigor to the plants
which they ever after retain.

The process of ploughing in three crops of weeds before the seed is
sown very much enriches the soil. It would be altogether unneces-
sary to attempt to refute the notion, that by such a process nothing
more is applied to the soil, than was before derived from it. If one
could not discover by the light which Chemistry has shed upon the
subject of agriculture, sufficient reasons for the contrary conclusion,
observation, one would think, would be sufficient to convince any in-
telligent man of the fact.

And here I would suggest that I do not consider the experiment as
we have conducted it, quite complete. To render it more so, in the first
place, in ploughing in the weeds, I would not turn a furrow after the
dew had evaporated I have no doubt but that a large portion of that
fertilizing quality in the soil, which (during the summer months) is
continually e?^aled from the earth, is by the dew brought again within
our reach, and it would be wise to avail ourselves of the opportunity
of again burying it in the soil. And in the second place, I would by

116 APPENDIX.

all means use a heavy roller after each ploughing. It would fill all the
cavities left by the plough, and by .pressing the soil more closely to the
weeds, at once hasten their decomposition and very much retard the
evaporation from the soil.

But the land is not only very much enriched by this process. There
is, I conceive, no method by which it can be so effectually cleaned.
Three times during the season, a fresh surface is presented to the at-
mosphere, and each time, as the decaying vegetable matter increases in
the soil, so is the exciting cause augmented to make a more vigorous
effort. We have in this manner gone over nearly all our land which
is infested with charlock, and the diminution of the weeds is quite
sufficient to warrant the expectation, that in a few years it may be
comparatively eradicated.

Very respectfully,

JOHN KEELY.
Havkrhill, Sept. -^2, 1832.

Cultivation of the Larch.

The Larch referred to in the text and there called the German
Larch, is the common or White Larch, ( Larix Communis,) and re-
sembles our Hackmetack or Black Larch, (Larix Ptnchda,) in the
value of its timber and bark. "The American Larch or Hackmetack
is a magnificent vegetable with a straight slender trunk, eighty or a
hundred feet in height, and two or three feet in diameter. The wood
of the American Larch is superior to any species of pine or spruce ; it
is exceedingly strong and singularly durable. In Canada it is consid-
ered as the most valuable timber. In the State of Maine it is esteem-
ed more than other species of resinous wood for the knees of vessels."
Its rareness however prevents its frequent use.

Some specimens of the common or White Larch, originally import-
ed from Scotland, are to be found on the farm of the late Col. Timo-
thy Pickering in Wenham in this county by the road side; to him they
were sent as a present. The cultivation of this tree in Scotland for
timber and fuel by a public spirited nobleman, the Duke of Athol, has

APPENDIX. 117

been so extraordinary both for utility and profit, that I think I shall con-
fer a benefit on our farmers by giving a particular account of it. There
are parts of Essex in which plantations of this tree might be made to
great advantage. Fuel, fencing stuff, and building timber are matters
of great importance : and ship timber, in this commercial and fishing
county, will be always in quick demand. The Essex Agricultural So-
ciety, has oftered liberal premiums for encouraging the cultivation of
forest trees ; so likewise has the Massachusetts Agricultural Society.
These considerations will, I trust, justify my going so much at large
into this important subject.

The timber of the White Larch has been as nmch extolled as that
of the cedar, and with much more reason. The red Larch trees ( Larix
viicrocarpa) on the Athol estate do not contain one third as many cu-
bic feet of timber as the White Larch of the same age. The rapidity
of the growth of the White Larch is not less remarkable than the du-
rability of its timber. Both have been experimentally tried in the
Highlands of Scotland. It is stated by the Duke of Athol, " that on
mountainous tracks there at the elevation of 1500 and IGOO feet, the
larch at eighty years of age has arrived at an age to produce six loads
(300 cubic feet) of timber, appearing in durability and every other
quality to be likely to answer every purpose both of civil and naval ar-
chitecture. It bears the ascendancy over the Scotch Pine in the fol-
lowing important circumstances. It will arrive at a useful timber size
in one half or a third part of the time in general, which the pine re-
quires; and the timber of the larch at thirty or forty years old, when it
has been planted in a soil and climate adapted to the production of
perfect timber, is in every respect, superior in quality to that of the
pine at 100 years old. The bark of the larch is more than half as
valuable as that of the oak in tanning."

" The late Duke of Athol planted 1.5,573 acres, which contained 27,-
431,600 plants. Of these 8,604,542 plants were larch. The larch in
comparison with the Scotch Pine, is found to contain three and three
quarter times more timber, and that timber of seven times more value.
The larch also being a deciduous tree instead of injuring the pasture
under it, improves it. The late Duke John, the Second, planted in the
last years of his life, 6500 Scotch acres of mountain ground solely with
the larch, which, in the course of seventy-two years from the time of
plantinir, will be a forest of timber fit for building ships of the largest
class in the navy. It will have been thinned out to about 400 trees

118 APPENDIX.

per acre. Each tree will contain at least 50 cubic feet, or one load of
timber, which, at the low price of Is. per cubic foot, only one half its
present value, will give c£1000 per acre, or, in all, a sum of =£'6,500,000
sterling. Besides this there will have been a return of c£'7 per acre
from the thinnings after deducting all expense of thinning, and the orig-
inal outlay of planting. Further still, the land on which the larch is
planted is not worth above 9d. to Is. per acre rent. After the thin-
nings of the first thirty years, the larch will make it worth at least 10*.
per acre, by the improvement of the pasturage, upon which cattle can
be kept summer and winter. (Highland Soc. Trans., Vol. 3, p. 168.

Soil for tlic Larcn. It is an error to suppose that the larch will
thrive in all soils and situations. There are many soils in which it will
not thrive and ought not to be planted. In soils which have been
turned up by the plough, and which have borne white crops, the larch
cankers; in wet situations also. In soils resting on a wet tilly subsoil,
it decays at the heart, after arriving at forty years of age. In situations
where water stands for a length of time about the roots, it becomes
fogged or covered with lichens. But in all rocky situations and par-
ticularly those which are composed of mica slate, containing crystals
of garnets, among the fissures and fragments of which the trees can
push down their roots, larches thrive to admiration.

The growth of the Larch. Taking the .iverage height of an average
larch, of eight years from the seed, at eleven feet, it will be nearly ac-
curate to allow sixteen inches as the annual growth, till the tree is fifty
years old, and after that, only ten inches per annum for twenty-two years
longer, as the length of the tree lessens in growth as the bulk of the
wood increases. These data give a larch tree of seventy-two years of
age a height of ninety-three feet four inches; a fair average, agreeing
with actual experiment.

In regard to the growth of the girth, a larch tree, on an average,
will acquire an inch in girth per annum, till it be twenty-four years
old ; and from that time till it has acquired the venerable age of sev-
enty-two years, it will grow one inch and a quarter in girth every year;
thus : —

In 24 years, it will be 2 feet in girth, at 1 inch per annum.
48 years more, 5 feet in girth, at 1 1-4 inch per annum.

In 72 years, it will be 7 feet.

APPENDIX.

119

The larch begins to make wood at twenty-four years of age.
At 50 years old it will contain 26 cubic feet of wood.

60 " " 14 do. more.

72 " " 20 do. more.

In all, 60 do., or one load of 50 cubic feet,
and 10 feet more.

These results correspond exactly with the quantities which the Duke
obtained at these respective ages. Larch appears to be on its greatest
increase for timber from fifty-seven to seventy-two years old. A larch
containing fifty cubic feet, or one load of timber, is quite fit for naval
purposes. At half that size it is suitable for every country purpose.

With regard to other trees effecting a change of the ground, the fol-
lowing are the results of many experiments made by the Duke on the
subject. In oak copses the value of the pasture is only 5s. or 6s. per
acre for eight years only in every twenty-four years, when the copse is
cut down again. Under a Scotch fir plantation, the grass is not worth
G(l. more per acre than it was before it was planted. Under beech and
spruce it is worth less than it was before ; but the spruce affords ex-
cellent shelter to cattle, either from the heat of summer or the cold of
winter. Under ash the value may be 2s. or 3s. per acre more than it
was in its natural state. But under larch, where the ground was not
worth Is. per acre, the pasture is worth from 8s. to IDs. per acre after
the first thirty years, when all the thinnings have been completed, and
the trees left for naval purposes, at the rate of about 400 to the acre,
and twelve feet apart. Nay, so impressed was the Duke of the value
of larch, as an improver of natural pasturage, that he makes a statement
to show that the pasture alone, independent of the ship timber on it,
would increase the value of land by increasing its annual rental, so
that it itself would repay the whole outlay of fencing and planting, at
five per cent, compound interest.

The value of larch tnoocl, exclusive of the value of the pasture under
it, may be estimated in this manner : — suppose the plantations are
thinned out by thirty years to what they are to stand for ship timber ;
that is to 400 trees per Scotch acre ; — suppose after that period the
whole were cut down at the following respective ages; the value of
the whole per acre at the different periods, would be as follows : —

400 trees at 30 years old, at 2 1-2 cubic feet each tree = 1000 cubic
feet, or twenty loads at Is. 6d. per foot profit = <£75 per acre.

120 APPENDIX.

400 trees at 43 1-2 years old, at 15 cubic feet each tree = 6000
cubic feet, or 120 loads, at Is. 6d. per foot profit =^ of 4.50 per acre.

400 trees at 59 years old, at 40 cubic feet each tree = 16,000
cubic feet, or 320 loads, at 2s. 6d. per foot profit = =£2000 per acre.

400 trees at 72 years old, at 60 cubic feet each tree = 24,000
cubic feet, or 480 loads, at 2s. 6d. per foot profit =: ^^3000 per acre.

The average of these prices would be ^1381 5s. per acre, so that
^1000 per acre is not too high a calculation of the value of the Duke's
larch plantations." These estimates are made upon foreign prices of
timber ; tlie profits among us of a plantation upon an humble scale
would bear a fair proportion, as the product is always sure to command
a market.

" Posts and rails for fencing may be made either out of the tops or the
trunks of the young trees. While fir posts and rails last only about five
years and are worm-eaten after that period, the larch posts stand for
twenty years and never get worm-eaten.

The Riga timber and American white pine are about one fifth part
less strong than the larch.

The relative duration of timber has been thus determined by M.
Hartig, an eminent German professor of forestry. Small posts of lime
tree, black American birch, alder, and trembling poplar, inserted in the
soil, decayed in three years; the common willow, the horse chestnut
and the platanus in four years; the purple beech and the common birch
in five years; the elm, the hornbeam, the ash, and the Lombardy poplar
in seven years; the acacia, the oak, the Scotch pine, the Weymouth
pine and the spruce fir, at the end of seven years were only decayed a
little to the depth of a quarter of an inch ; the larch, the common juni-
per, the Virginia juniper, and the arbor vitse were, at the end of the
same period, untouched by decay. Thin boards of the same woods de-
cayed in the following order : platanus, horse chestnut, lime tree, pop-
lar, birch, purple beech, hornbeam, alder, ash, the maple, the spruce
fir, the Scotch pine, the elm, the Weymouth pine, the acacia, the oak,
and the larch. (L'Agronome, tom. i. p. 315.) It thus appears, that
the larch, whether as posts with the bark on, or sawn up into boards,
is by far the most durable of our timber trees."

APPENDIX. 121

[G.]

Stone Buildings.
Extract from a letter to Commissioner of Agricultural Survey.

" Topsi'iELD, Jan. 1, 1838.

" In answer to yours of the 29th December : the stone house is 40
feet long and 34 wide ; a cellar under the whole ; the cellar wall laid
in mortar about 3 1-2 feet thick ; the first stone laid in mortar 16 inch-
es thick; second stone 14 inches thick; the gable ends the same as
the second stone ; the corner stones and all the cap stones, which
cover the windows and doors, came from Lynn — cost 10 cents per foot
in Lynn; the under-pinning stones came from Lynn half dressed — cost
34 cents per foot there; the residue were slate rock from Boxford, cost 25
cents per cord — teaming, 83 per cord. The chimneys are brick inside.
Two stone arches in the cellar nine feet long, and a stone partition in
the cellar. The chimneys are topped with stone. It takes a little
more lime to lay these slate rocks, than to lay bricks. This house is
intended for two families, but the rooms are small.

The mason's labor in laying all the rocks from the bottom of the cellar
to the ridge pole, two chimneys, two ovens, and setting two boilers, lay-
ing the hearths, and doing all the plastering to the house, they boarding
themselves, cost 8500 — the rocks, lime and sand were hauled to the spot
for them. The quantity of rocks for the cellars is unknown. The
rough slate rock from Boxford was about fifty cords.

This house was built by contract, viz. : the contractor to find all the
materials for the mason, carpenter and joiner, and white oak timber to
cover the cellar — good seasoned and suitable stock for all the residue,
and no saplin boards to be worked in the doors or floors; no pale burnt
bricks to be used ; in fine, every thing to be procured and done in a
workmanlike manner for 82300, including two sheds."

I subjoin on this subject an extract from the letter of another re-
spected correspondent in West Stockbridge, Berkshire Co. The ma-
terials here are abundant and beautiful.

" With regard to stone buildings, I can say that here thev can
be built cheaper than what are called good wood houses. The price
of laying the walls is from 3 cents to 3 1-2 cents per cubic foot ; the
16

122 APPENDIX.

lime, sand, and stone delivered at the site. A gentleman of my ac-
quaintance lately erected a stone dwelling-house in this neighborhood.
He procured in the first place estimates for a wooden house. He kept
an accurate account of all his ex[)enses ; and found, when he had fin-
ished, that the amount was 875 less than the estimate for wood, besides
the outside painting. The houses built from our materials are perfect-
ly free from all moisture, or frost upon the inside of the walls; and are
much the most comfortable dwellings, that we can erect. Could the
people of the county be persuaded to build of stone in all eligible sit-
uations, it would add highly to the comfort of life in such a climate as
ours ; and free our children from an enormous expense."

[H.]

Weeds and Thorns.

There is in the neighborhood of Salem another weed supposed to
have been recently introduced from Europe, which threatens to prove
troublesome. I found it also in the fields in Amesbury. Dr. Bigelow,
mentions it as extending itself in Medford and Charlestown. This is
the Knapweed (Ccntaurea Nigra.) It is a harsh, stubborn weed,
very difficult of extirpation. An intelligent botanist remarks of it,
" that it should be pointed out to our farmers, who ought by all means
to destroy it. It is a villanous weed, utterly unfit for fodder either
green or dry. It is sometimes called the thistle without thorns ; but
it will prove a thorn in the sides of some of our husbandmen, difficult
of expulsion, if it is suffered to continue its advances. It propagates
by creeping roots and feathery seeds, very much after the manner of
the white weed."

Canada Thistle. Of the tenacity of life and rapidity of propaga-
tion, which this plant displays, a striking proof is subjoined. " Mr.
Courtis, an English gentleman, in order to test the astonishing powers
of reproduction possessed by this plant, deposited about two inches of
a root in his garden. In the course of one summer it had thrown out
under-ground runners on every side ; some of these runners were eight
feet long ; and some of them had thrown up leaves eight feet from the
original root. The whole together were taken up; and, being washed,
weighed four pounds. In the spring following it made its appearance
on or about where the small piece was originally planted. There

APPENDIX. 123

were between fifty and sixty young plants, which must have ehided the
gardener's search, though he was particularly careful in extracting
them. From these facts it may be readily conceived how difficult it
is to extirpate this weed, when once it has taken possession of the
soil."

Thomas Spencer, of Salem, a gentleman distinguished inr his
fine taste and skill in botany, from whom 1 received the foregoing,
allows me to add his opinion in regard to a native thorn for hedges.
" There is a native shrub abundant in this vicinity most admirably
adapted for fences; the common Cockspur Thorn (Cratagus Cms
Gain.) In all the essentials of a fencing shrub it fully equals
the English hawthorn to which indeed it is closely allied. The spikes
of this shrub are more than an inch long, so that a hedge formed of
it would present an almost impregnable barrier, bidding defiance to
all intruders, whether biped or quadruped. Several plants of this
shrub have been suffered to stand near the entrance of the Forest-
river road till they have assumed the size of trees. In the spring they
are covered with a profusion of white blossoms; and in the fall their
rich scarlet fruit never fails to attract attention. In these particulars
this shrub strikingly resembles its English congener. Indeed, the
points of resemblance are so many and so striking, that it ought to be
called the American hawthorn. Like the English haw its fruit re-
quires two years to vegetate."

Bees.

Extract from a Letter of a respected correspondent at Salem, January
2, 1838.

" I have long been deeply interested in the management of bees and
shall continue the experiments upon hives, and the general manage-
ment and preservation of this valuable insect, upon which I have
been engaged the last four years, in the hope of adding something to
the little already known.

" Your first inquiry is as follows : ' What do you hold to be the gen-
eral and usual errors in the management of bees V

" I presume this question to refer to that kind of management which

124 APi»ENDIX.

prevails among our fatmers generaUy, and reply that I consider the
ordinary construction of the hive to be the greatest error and the
groundwork of all others. The stock from which they are made is
usually less than one inch, and generally not more than three fourths
of an inch in thickness ; and the hives are composed of four upright
pieces covered with a top, the whole unplaned and unpainted. Into
this box the bees are put ; and after a season of great and untiring
industry on their part, they are all smothered by fumes of sulphur,
and afterwards robbed of their treasures. Is not this murder and
robbery too ; and unnecessary, and therefore, doubly wicked murder
and robbery ? This evil can only be remedied by hives of a different
and more substantial construction, or by attaching collateral, or top
boxes to the ordinary hives, if any should be found worth it. There
are several very excellent and newly constructed hives, each of which
possesses some peculiar advantage, and any one of which is better
than the ordinary country boxes. Those of Dr. Thacher and Mrs.
Griffith, of our own country, and those of Mr. Nutt and Mr. Bagster
of England, are the best that I know of. They are all on the bee-
preserving principle ; are well and substantially made, and so con-
structed as to afford good opportunities for watching the operations of
the colony. Those of Dr. Thacher and Mrs. Griffith are fully de-
scribed in Dr. Thacher's and Dr. Smith's Works on Bee-management,
and need not be described here. Mr. Bagster's is complicated, (though
very good,) and probably would not be generally used. Mr. Nutt's is
more simple, can be easily made by any one who can use a plane and
chisel, and is calculated to prevent swarming, if the apiarian choose
so to do. I think too much cannot be said or done to prevent this
wanton and unnecessary sacrifice of insect life, to which I have above
referred ; and I am satisfied that if Mr. Nutt's hive could come into
general use, or a hive on similar principles, we should find in the
country more cultivators of bees, better stocks, better management
during all the year, and much better honey in the market. Should
you think it worth while, I will, at some future time, give you a draw-
ing and a description of this hive.

" I have spoken of the stock from which hives are usually made, as
being too thin. No hive should be made from boards or rather plank,
less than one and a quarter inch, and I should prefer even one and a
half inch stock. The bees, by this thickness of wall to their homes,
are kept in more even temperature, and less affected by sudden changes
in the weather, both during winter and summer. This evenness of

APPENDIX. 125

temperature is of great consequence to them. I might, perhaps, just
state that Mr. Nntt's hive consists of three boxes on a common floor.
The centre or principal hive is that into which the swarm is first put,
and to the sides of which the end hives are secured. From the centre
to the side boxes are passage ways commanded by sliding tins. In
the side boxes, are ventilating tubes, and at the period of swarming,
by withdrawing the tins, and thus producing a circulation of air from
the centre box through the ventilators, and by giving additional room,
the bees will not swarm, but continue their labors in the collateral
boxes. Mr. Nutt states, in his work, that in the year 1834, he took
ttco hundred and ninety six and a half pounds of pure honey from one
hive, thus made and managed. The front and back of the centre hive,
in which the queen deposits all her eggs, and where, of course, the brood-
comb is all found, is of one and a half inch well seasoned plank ; the
other parts are somewhat thinner. All the boxes are thoroughly made
and well painted. I consider it by far, the best hive within my knowl-
edge, and should rejoice to see it in general use. The pattern, which
I have, has never been infested by the moth.

" Your next question relates to any remedies I may know against
the ravages of the Tinea. How gladly would I make them known,
if I knew any ! I have, at present, no hope but in constant watchful-
ness and well made and tight hives. In M. Bevan's excellent work on
the Bee, he observes that ' hives are sometimes made of the red
cedar, from its eflicacy in keeping away the moth.' I have con-
structed hives of this wood, but they were as much infested as any
others in my apiary. A great variety of methods have been proposed
for subduing this formidable enemy, all more or less useful, but none
of them fully answering the purpose, and keeping oflf the intruder. I
know of nothing to be applied, excepting the use of tight hives, con-
stant care in frequently examining and sweeping the floor boards,
shutting the entrance from 7J o'clock, P. M., to daybreak, &-c.

" With regard to the question, ' Whether bees may be allowed with
safety and success to multiply indefinitely in a hive or room,' I can
give no reply founded on personal experience. I have been informed
of instances in this neighborhood where they have been allowed to go
on increasing and l)uilding, without swarming, to a considerable and
profitable extent. I myself have not been engaged in the subject long
enough to apply the test of experience. Having thought upon the
subject, however, I last year built a very large hive, with large collat-
eral boxes to try the experiment. Dr. Thacher is in favor of allowing

126 APPENDIX.

the bees to take their own course and to swarm. This is the opinion
of the English apiarians generally, unless we except Nutt and Bagster.
In Dr. Thacher's work pp. 71, 72, 73, are some minute statements
and calculations on this point which seem to go against the prevention
of swarming. Dr. Thacher's calculation is that each hive, if allowed
to swarm, will yield, in addition to the swarms, say, twenty five pounds
of honey, and that in the course of six years there would be an in-
crease from one hive to the amount of sixty three stocks, yielding
1,515 lbs. of honey. A hive kept by Mr. Williams, of Ashfield, and
which did not swarm, yielded but 384 pounds of honey and 47 pounds
of wax. The advantage is here greatly in favor of swarming. But this
amount from Mr. Williams' hive appears to me unaccountably small.
The stock of bees must have gone on increasing at the rate of, say,
40,000 bees a year. Allowing the swarm to have consisted originally
of 20,000, and the increase which I have supposed to take place, and
the diminution to be one half the births annually, there ought to have
been in the hive at the end of six years, no fewer than 140,000 bees.
Now if, by Dr. Thacher's calculation, a common swarm yields 25 pounds
annually more honey than they consume, there ought to have been at
the end of six years, 625 pounds. This does not equal the produce
by the non-swarming method. But I think 25 pounds annually, too
low a rate. Taking but about one third of the amount obtained by
Mr. Nutt's new hives, (that is, as I have said, 296 pounds,) we shall
have, say, 100 pounds a year from a non-swarming hive, and this
calculation, if it should prove correct for this country, would throw
the advantage on the side of non-swarming. Tiie whole subject is,
however, very uncertain, and can only be tested by experience. I
have several hives prepared for the express purpose of experimenting,
and will give you the results of those experiments at some future period.
"There is one experiment which I design trying the next season, and
which may throw some light upon this part of the subject. I have
built a large hive with two large collateral boxes, each capable of hold-
ing a swarm. The communication between them is by means of aper-
tures cut in the sides. These are closed by perforated tin slides. I
design to put a swarm into the centre hive, and one into each of the
collaterals, affording the latter an egress by the front of the box, sep-
arate from the entrance to the main hive. After they have worked 3
or 4 weeks separately, and a similar odor shall have diffused itself
throughout the three boxes, by means of the perforated tins, I shall
withdraw th« slides and introduce them to each other, closing the ex-

APPENDIX. 127

ternal door of the collaterals. I think the bees will mingle, though I
suppose the queens will do battle for the throne, and two of the three
perish. If the bees agree, and I think they will, the work will go for-
ward with great rapidity, and they will probably fill all three of the
boxes. The centre one will hold enough for them all, and I shall take
the two collaterals for rent and cost of the experiment. I say the cen-
tre box will support the bees through the following winter, for, by a
long repeated series of experiments tried in France, it has been ascer-
tained, that three and even four united stocks will not consume five
pounds more of honey, than one stock alone. This fact is not gener-
ally known in this country. The experiment was instituted by M.
Jonas de Gelieu, minister of the churches of Colombier and Auver-
nier, in the principalities of Neuchatel. It may be found in the 'Bee
Preserver' of M. Gelieu, translated from the French and published at
Edinburgh in 1829. You will perceive that if this union of stocks
can be effected in the fall, there will be no need of suffocation to get
at the honey, for the apiarian can take, say, two hives, unite the bees
with those of a third, where they may pass the coming winter, and
have all the honey and wax of the two for use or for sale. This is a
very important discovery, and ought to be tried here. M. Gelieu's
method of wintering bees, by placing the hives without floor boards,
on rafters laid a foot apart, across a perfectly dark and cold room, is
very excellent and should be generally tried. I have five hives so placed
by way of experiment."

[K.]

Dykeing Salt Marsh. — Letter to Commissioner of Agricultural
Survey.

" Newbury, Nov. 15, 1837.

" Sir, — In compliance with your wishes, I will detail with as much
minuteness as my recollection will permit, the method pursued, and the
result of my experiments on the subject of dykeing.

About fifteen years since, I enclosed ten acres of salt marsh by dyke-
ing. The next season, I drained it by ditches eighteen inches wide
and three feet deep — at about tliree rods distance from each other over
most of the lot ; in two instances, I left them six rods apart.

128 APPENDIX.

The second and third autumns after the dyke was built, I sowed
herds-grass and red top. A small part of the herds-grass vegetated and
grew very luxuriantly. The third and fourth years, I had herds-grass
three feet high, with heads from four to eight inches long.

In November of the fourth year after building the dyke, in conse-
quence of a very high tide, it gave way and the meadow was flowed all
winter with salt water, which of course killed all the herds-grass. I
repaired the dyke in the spring, and the second and third year after, I
sowed the meadow with the above grasses, and in addition with white
clover. But very little of either kind of grasses vegetated, and what
did live, did not thrive The herds-grass and red top, entirely run out
by the second and third years after sowing. The white clover lingered
along, but has never flourished well.

The third year after dykeing, I covered two rods of the meadow
with loam, about one half inch deep, and sowed it with flax. It grew
a foot and a half long, bore seed, and had a tolerable good hurl.
Thistles, mullen, and other kinds of weeds, have come up spontaneously,
and grown much larger than the same kinds of weeds on the upland.

About three years since, I repeated my experiments of sowing grasses
and flax. I chose the time in the spring, when the frost was out about
the depth of three inches. I found the top of the ground peat, with a
very small mixture of earth even at that little depth, and very tough.
I succeeded in making the ground tolerably fine by tearing it to pieces
with hoes and rakes, and sowed it as above mentioned. They all came
well, but grew feebly until July, when the top of the ground became
very dry, and they all died.

Notwithstanding these several failures, I think I have been well paid
for all my expenses. The first three or four years after the dyke was
built, I had a larger burthen of salt grass and of a better quality than
before the salt water was excluded ; as the salt grass died out, others
came in and supplied its place. There were several patches of black
or pigeon grass when the dyke was built. These have maintained
their ground and rather increased, although they have been fed very
closely. I have used most of the lot as a pasture ; a small part I have
mowed. For the two or three years while it was changing from salt
to fresh grass, the quantity did not increase. Excepting those years
there has been a gradual gaining from year to year to the present time.
I should say on an average that the produce had been double what it was
before dykeing.

From my experience and observation, I am led to conclude that

APPENDIX. 129

black grass would be the most profitable for cultivation. I have seen
several small lots that have been dyked, and in every instance, where
the black grass has been well rooted, it does not run out but yields
abundantly.

The last five years I have used the turf as fuel. It burns much more
freely than fresh meadow peat, but is not so durable. I should say four
cords would be equal to three of the very best fresh meadow peat."

[L.]

Lime.

I subjoin a letter from the learned geological surveyor of Maine and
Massachusetts, which is of an interesting and valuable character.

" Boston, Jan. 15th, 1838.
Rev. Henry Colman,

Dear Sir : — In accordance with your request, I now beg leave to
offer you a few general remarks on the subject of soils and the raising
of wheat crops in the New England States.

A general opinion has prevailed in the community that our section
of country was incapable of producing its own supply of bread stuff
owing to the nature of the climate and the composition of the soil.
So far as the climate is concerned, there is not the least difficulty in
raising any kind of grain, but it is true that many of our soils require
some modification by means chiefly of mineral manures, before they
can be made productive,

I have for several years been an attentive observer of the manage-
ment of soils, and believe that I have good reason to conclude from
my observations that the amelioration of the soils of Massachusetts,
may be conducted in such a manner as to render them very productive
at small expense.

I find, by chemical examination of several remarkable soils, that a
very minute quantity of carbonate of lime, viz. from 1 to 2 per cent,
is amply sufficient to render them capable of bearing heavy crops of
good wheat. I am also satisfied that a soil is incapable of producing
wheat of good quality if it does not contain carbonate of lime; for this
substance is an essential ingredient of the grain.
17

130 APPENDIX.

I have found during my geological researches in Maine, that those
soils which were derived from the disintegration and decomposition of
limestone rocks, were the most remarkable for their wheat crops. Such
districts are very extensive in Maine, and will ere long become exceed-
ingly valuable as grain soils.

I have seen on a single farm of less than 30 acres of unmanured
land upon the Aroostook River in Maine, no less than 1000 bushels of
grain, principally wheat, which was raised this last summer. The soil
is alluvial and derived from limestone. In York and Oxford counties,
I also noticed very excellent crops of wheat in soils derived from the
disintegration of limestone, which alternates with gneiss. The w'hole
of the district between Houlton and the Aroostook River, which is a
portion of the public lands, is a most valuable wheat soil of immense
importance to our country ; north of the Aroostook to the St. John a
similar tract of good soil exists, which in the course of time will be-
come a most valuable farming country.

In the western part of Maine and throughout a large portion of Mas-
sachusetts the soil is wanting in lime, and is frequently charged with
sulphate of iron. Such soils require liming in order to render them
productive. In general we may say that wherever ferruginous waters
percolate from a soil, that soil requires treatment with lime. The sul-
phate of iron in this case is decomposed by the lime or by the carbon-
ate of lime, and gypsum is the resulting product, while the iron is left
inert. Now we have a very simple calculation to make as to the quan-
tity of lime required for a soil which is destitute of it, or which con-
tains matters to be decomposed by it. Calculate by a simple trial how
much lime is required for a given measure of soil and then calculate
the superficial contents of the field and multiply it by the depth to which
the lime will extend ; other things being equal, 1 per cent, of lime will be
sufficient. Ground bones form a valuable manure, and there are mills
now at work preparing them for our farmers. Mr. Winchester the soap
maker, formerly threw his refuse bones into the sea, but lately, I under-
stand, he has hired laborers to dig them up for agricultural use.

Burnt bones are easily crushed to powder in a break mill, and will
answer admirably as a top dressing. A few faggots are sufficient to
burn a large heap of bones, since the fat they contain aids in the com-
bustion. The refuse bone black of our sugar refineries is also a very
valuable manure, insomuch that proposals were made to the East
Boston Sugar Refinery, by Havre merchants, to send here for all the

APPENDIX. 131

refuse bone black, which they wished to purcliase for agricultural use
iu France.

Is it not a shameful fact, that the French farmers are so much our
superiors that they can afford to send here for manure, and then raise
wheat, beans, corn, and other vegetables cheap enough to supply a
large share to our market? Such you will notice by the importations
last year is the fact.

If our farmers knew more respecting the chemical nature and meth-
ods of amending their soils then we might indeed look to our own
fields for bread, but alas ! there is a great deal of empyricism in agricul-
ture, and it is no wonder that farmers distrust what they call " book
learning " when they obtain so very little practical information from
it. The fault is on both sides, first, because the books we have at
present are very inaccurate ; secondly, because the farmers generally
do not know how to apply the information contained in books, since
they do not know the composition of the soils in question.

If the Agricultural Survey is supported as it ought to be, and a
degree of liberality is extended towards it, such as its importance mer-
its, then we should soon be able to say with truth that Agriculture is a
Science.

In order that we should come to this result we have to learn 1st, the
geological origin, 2d, geological distribution, 3d, chemical composi-
tion, 4th, capabilities of soils. These three topics I shall endeavor to
discuss in my Geological Report to the Legislatures of the two States
of Massachusetts and Maine. We must not expect to make a perfect
work at once ; several years of assiduous labor must be devoted to each
of the questions before us, before a good book on Agriculture can be
produced. All the old works are too inaccurate to be relied upon.
The light of modern science is required.

There are I believe several other questions proposed for discussion ;
but time will not allow me at present to enter upon them.

I will therefore now conclude this letter by offering you my best
wishes for your success in the Agricultural Survey of our State; and
shall be most happy, when my present labors are completed, to cooperate
actively in your important avocations.

Most respectfully.

Your ob't servant,

CHARLES T. JACKSON."

132 APPENDIX.

[AJ.]

Smith's Subsoil Plough.

I have prefixed to this Report two engravings of modern implements,
which in England are deemed of immense value; and which bid fair,
if adopted, to be of great importance in our husbandry ; they are Smith's
Subsoil Plough, and the Rack Heath Plough ; both intended for the
same object. The original engravings are imperfect ; but they will at least
give a clear idea to our ingenious mechanics of an implement that is
much wanted among us, and I hope, lead to its early invention. An im-
plement is wanted by which the cold gravelly subsoil often found in our
lands, our wet lands especially, may be effectually stirred and loosened
and rendered permeable to air and water, without at the same time
bringing it to the surface, where it must require a length of time and a
most copious supply of manure to render it productive ; and also with-
out burying the loam and richer parts of the soil under the subsoil as
is necessarily done in such cases by deep ploughing with a common
plough. We want to keep the richer parts of the soil, that is the
mould, on the surface ; where the plants can derive all the advantages
possible from it, and where too, the manure applied to it will be most
efficacious. At the same time it is important to loosen the subsoil, so
that the water may pass off; and the roots of the plant, if so disposed,
may spread themselves into it ; and likewise that we may be gradually
but constantly deepening the upper soil. I have myself seen so much
the importance of doing this that I am persuaded this invention must
be duly appreciated by the farmers. Its great utility likewise in
draining many kinds of lands will be at once apparent. In many in-
stances it will completely obviate the necessity of open or covered
ditches. Its utility too in clay soils, but especially in many of our wet
meadows, where the upper surfiice is thin and resting upon a hard pan,
cannot admit of a question. It is of course designed to follow in the
furrow of a common plough. The trenching of ground in considera-
ble tracts in other countries, and in gardens in our own, has been fol-
lowed by the best effects. Here the soil is dug thoroughly to the
depth of two or three feet ; and at the same time it is so managed, that
the substratum is completely loosened and turned over, and the rich
vegetable mould is returned again to the top, where it was at the com-
mencement of the operation. These ploughs are adapted to operate in

APPENDIX. 133

the same way as this trenching by the spade. The increase of crops
in grounds thus managed has been always an ample compensation for
the labor. The loosening of the earth and the consequent removal of
the water and admission of the air, besides affording room for the ex-
pansion of the roots, without doubt by a chemical action, assists the
nourishment and growth of the plant. The great objection to deep
ploughing has always been, that the cold gravelly pan was brought to
the surface; the vegetable mould buried beneath it; and, that it requir-
ed a great length of time and an extravagant amount of manure, to
bring the land into a healthy and fruitful condition. These models
are copied from a late number of the British Farmer's Magazine; and
I subjoin the accounts which are therein given of them.

" The most astonishing effects appear to have been produced by a
new agricultural implement, the invention of Mr. Smith of Deanster
near Sterling in Scotland, called the Subsoil Plough. This machine
is a necessary accompaniment to draining; but when that is done effec-
tively, it seems calculated to render the most sterile and unproductive
soil fertile and profitable. There is no difficulty more fatal to the
practical farmer than that of cultivating a thin shallow soil with a stiff
retentive subsoil. Whatever pains may be taken with the tillage of
the former, however expensive the dressing which may be used in its
cultivation, the nature of the subsoil will always counteract its benefi-
cial effects. Many persons have endeavored by trenching to obviate
this difficulty, but where the subsoil is of that sterile nature, and re-
quires exposure to the atmosphere for so long a period to make it pro-
duce, few farmers have been found bold enough to repeat the experi-
ment. Mr. Smith's ingenious invention, by breaking the subsoil with-
out bringing it to the surface, renders it pervious both to air and water.
The same chemical changes, which take place in a fallow, owing to
its exposure to the action of wind and rain, are thus brought into oper-
ation in the subsoil ; whilst the upper is in the ordinary course of crop-
ping, and when, after a few years by a greater depth of ploughing, the
subsoil is mixed with the upper, it is found to be so completely chang-
ed in its nature as to be capable of producing every species of grain.
The experiment has been tried for twelve years, and with uniform suc-
cess."

134 APPENDIX.

[N.]
Rack Heath Plough.

The Rack Heath Plough. " Tlie plate introduces to public notice,
what in my humble estimation promises to be one of the most useful
inventions ever exhibited to the farmer, whether of sharp clays or stiff
gravels; and when I say this, I do not mean in the slightest degree to
disparage the subsoil plough of Mr. Smith. I would rather include
his implement in my encomium; because the objects of each being the
same, viz., loosening not turning up the subsoil, I do not see why each
invention should not have occurred simultaneously, without either of
the authors being chargeable with plagiarism. The one is a foot, the
other a lohecl plough. The public must decide which is best.

" Sir Edward Stracey says, he invented his plough in the year 1833.
He adds, I have broken up nearly 500 acres of heath land with this
plough ; my crops have been nearly doubled ; the wheat produced on
the land so broken up has been fine plump grain, weighing about <)3J
lbs. to the imperial bushel ; and it has fetched the best price in the
market, when before the deep ploughing the land scarcely produced
the seed; the wheat was poor and shrivelled; and as I had no manure
to lay on the ground I can ascribe the goodness of the crop to nothing
but the deep ploughing."

" For planting trees this plough far exceeds digging, as, by proper
management, the soil may be broken two feet deep all around ; instead
of the young trees being crammed into a little hole, where they have
no room to breathe ; and the whole may be done at a fourth of the ex-
pense of trenching. Some of my neighbors are getting these ploughs
for the express purpose of planting." {British Farmer's 3Iagazine
for July 1837.

APPENDIX.

135

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136

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INDEX.

Letter of Commissioner to the Governor,

Page 3

Statement of Commissioner to Committee of the House

of

Representatives, .....

5

Report, .......

11

Essex County — boundaries and aspect,

. i6.

Climate, .......

12

Whole No. of Acres,

. ih.

SoU,

ib.

Size of Fai-ms, ......

. 14

Crops, .......

ib.

Grasses, upland, ......

. 15

" salt meadow, .....

18

Indian Corn, ......

. 19

Wheat,

26

Rye,

. 30

Barley,

31

Oats,

. 32

Buckwheat, .......

33

Potatoes, .......

. lb.

Onions, .......

35

Largest Products, .....

. 37

Product of one and a half acre, . . . .

ib.

The Daii7,

. 38

Sheep Husbandry, ......

43

Beef,

. 46

Swine, .......

48

Neat Cattle,

. 49

Manures, .......

54

Fruit Trees,

61

Forest Trees, ......

63

Fences, .......

. 65

Farm Buildings, ......

66

Fai-mmg Implements, .....

. 68

Weeds,

69

Bees,

70

18

Miscellaneous Matters, .

I Sunflower for Oil,

n Beet Sugar,

UI Silk Culture, .

IV Milk Weed,

V Manufactures, .

VI. . . . Keep of Oxen,

VU. . . .Slaughter House Offal,

Vin ..Peat for Fuel,

Improvements, . .

I Dykeing Salt Marsh — Kent's Island,

n " " Ipswich,

m . . . . " " Gloucester,

IV ... . Reclaiming Fresh Meadow — Lynnfield,

V " " Lynn,

VI. . . . " " Saugus,

Vn " Clay Soil, Newburj',

Vni . . . Improvements at Sandy Bay,

Farm Reports,
I Farm,

n " .

m, IV Farms,

V, VI " .

vn, vm.. "
rx, X .... « .

General Remarks and Suggestions,
Agricultural Schools,
Essex Agricultural Society,

Page 71
ib.
lb.
72
ib.
ib.
73^
ib.
74
lb.
75
ib.
76
77
ib.
79
80
ib.
81
ib.
82
83
84
85
86
),90
91
92

139

APPENDIX.

A Letter of Instructions to Commissioner,

. Page 93

B Circular to Farmers of Massachusetts,

. 95

C Form of Farm Report, ....

109

D Extracts from Letters on utility of the Survey,

. 112

E . . . . Cultivation of Rye, .....

113

F Cultivation of the Larch,

. 116

G . . . . Stone Buildings, .....

121

H Weeds and Tliorns, ....

. 122

1 Bees,

123

K Dykeing Salt Marsh, ....

. 127

L Lime, ......

129

M Subsoil Plough,

. 132

N... .Rack-Heath Plough,

134

Tables of Valuation Committee— 1831,

. 135

ERRATA.

Page 11 — line 15 — for "Cape Cod," read "Cape Ann."
" 38 — line 4 — for " bushels," read " bunches."
" 80— line 16— for " VI," read " VII."
" 80— line 31— for " VII," read " VIII."

SECOND REPORT

AGRICULTURE OF MASSACHUSETTS.

SECOND REPORT

AGRICULTURE OF MASSACHUSETTS,

By henry COLMAN,

COMMISSIONER FOR THE AGRICULTURAL SURVEY OF THE STATE.

COUNTY OF BERKSHIHE,

1838.

2t$ 0 s 1 0 n :

DUTTON AND WENTWORTH, STATE PRINTERS.

1830.

©ommontocalUj of iHaasacijUBettfl.

In Council, Feb. 27, 1839.

His Excellency the Governor presents the Second Report of the
Commissioner for the Agricultural Survey of the State, and it is there-
upon Ordered, That the Secretary cause three thousand copies
thereof to be printed.

Attest,

JOHN P. BIGELOW,

Secretary of the CommompeaJth.

To His Excellency ,

Edward Everett,

Governor of Massachusetts :
Sir,—

I have the honor to submit to you my second Report of the Ag-
riculture of Massachusetts. It is principally confined to the county
of Berkshire ; but embraces also much incidental matter.

I have omitted in this report the consideration of one of the great
interests of the agriculture of Berkshire, the Sheep Husbandry. I
have gone largely into the other great interests of the county, the
Dairy Husbandry ; and on that account judged it expedient to post-
pone the discussion of the Sheep Husbandry to the report of the
agriculture of the county of Franklin. The agriculture of Berk-
shire and Franklin counties are in many respects similar and nearly
related ; and in the report of Franklin, I propose to treat this sub-
ject at large.

The surveys of Franklin county and Middlesex county are com-
pleted, as far as I have deemed the views of the government to ex-
tend ; and the reports will be made with all practicable despatch.
In the collection, arrangement, and comparison of such a variety of
facts, however, as the survey necessarily embraces, time and labor
are requisite to do justice to the subject and to the Commonwealth.
No time shall be lost in finishing these reports, which are already in
progress.

The report of Franklin will embrace among other subjects an ex-
tended view of the Sheep Husbandry ; and the report of Middle-
sex the culture of hops, the redemption of peat-bogs, and partic-
ular improvements in the cultivation of arable lands ; on which sub-
jects information has been particularly solicited. The counties of
Worcester and Hampshire have been half explored.

I had great pleasure in attending the Cattle Shows of the Middle-
sex, Worcester, and Hampshire, Hampden and Franklin Agricul-
tural Societies ; and the town Shows of Barre and Petersham ; and
in witnessing the spirit of improvement every where awake.

Having at my personal expense obtained as exact returns as I
could get of the agricultural produce of several towns in different
parts of the Commonwealth, Pittsfield in Berkshire, Bernardston in
Franklin, Barre in Worcester, and Marlboro' in Middlesex, and
deeming these documents of much interest to the agricultural com-
munity, I shall annex the four last to this report, without delaying
their publication for the reports of the counties to which they appro-
priately belong. If desirable, they can be reprinted in their proper
connexion.

I have procured for gratuitous distribution among the farmers,
some of the best wheat of Portugal ; of the best teasle seed from
Germany ; a barrel of genuine Italian wheat ; and a very superior
variety of Indian corn. I have likewise sent to Leghorn and Sicily
for the best varieties of Indian corn and wheat known in those coun-
tries. While I sustain my present official relation to the agriculture
of the Commonwealth I shall avail myself of every opportunity of
advancing in this or any other way the interests of the farmers. I
have already laid the foundation for the benefit of the Common-
wealth, of an agricultural museum, intended to embrace samples of
the best agricultural products of the State and country, which are
susceptible of permanent preservation. Several varieties of corn,
grains, and grasses, have been sent in ; and specimens of some val-
uable implements.

I have taken measures to procure a complete collection of speci-
mens of the grasses of the Commonwealth ; and of the weeds most per-
nicious to agriculture ; in the hope, that from these beginnings, which
must necessarily be small, a respectable collection may be at last
formed, the utility of which must be obvious.

The extensive correspondence occasioned by this appointment,
the various inquiries on agricultural subjects daily addressed to me,
and the respectable attendance upon the meetings of farmers and
others for agricultural conversation and discussion, which have been
held weekly during the session of the Legislature in the Represen-
tatives Hall, at the instance of the Commissioner, evince the con-
cern which is so extensively felt in this great interest of the com-
munity, and the strong desire for information. In being obliged
to go on thus single-handed, I cannot but hope that my strong claims
upon the candor of the agricultural community will be admitted.

Permit me, sir, to add, that, as a native of Massachusetts, it affords
me the highest pleasure and pride, that this survey has been under-
taken and continued under the auspices of a chief magistrate, who,
to the most intelligent discernment and the most just appreciation of
the true interests of the Commonwealth, adds a hearty and untiring
devotion of his time and talents to their accomplishment.

I have the honor to be. Sir,

With the highest respect.

Your fellow-citizen,

HENRY COLMAN.

Boston, Feb. 1839.

REPORT

AGRICULTURE OF THE COUNTY OF BERKSHIRE.

GENERAL DESCRIPTION.

1. Boundaries and Situation. The County of Berkshire
forms the western part of Massachusetts. On the north line it is
bounded by Vermont ; on the west by New York ; on the south by
Connecticut, On the east it lies contiguous to the counties of
Franklin, Hampshire, and Hampden. Its length on the western
line exceeds fifty-seven miles. Its breadth at the north, on a line
running east and west, is about fourteen miles — at the south, where
it is bounded by Connecticut by a line parallel with its northern line,
its breadth is about twenty-four miles. The breadth in some parts
north of the south line, reaches to twenty-six miles ; and in parts not
far from the centre of the county, it is about sixteen miles. It lies
between Lat. 42° 2' — and 42° 44' north. The longitude of the
north-west corner of the county is nearly 73° 23' west ; that of
the south-west corner is a little greater. The area of the county is
about 950 square miles or 608,000 square acres. The towns em-
braced within the limits of this county are thirty ; and the popu-
lation by the official returns of May, 1837, was 39,101.

2. Division of Territory. From the reports of the valu-
ation Committee we gather the following returns : There are in
Berkshire county

In Tillage, - • - Acres 26,817 li

English and Upland Mowing, - " 55,495

Fresh Meadow, - - " . 7,729 1

Pasturage, - - - " 117,0^9..^^^

Wood, ... « 60,997 i

Unimproved, - - - " 123,906^

Unimprovable, - - " 103,694 -^

Owned by Towns or other Proprietaries, " 15,010

In Roads, ... " 6,623 ^

Covered with water, - - " 7,261 J

Total, 524,655 ^

3. General Features and Aspect. The county of Berk-
shire is an inland county ; at its nearest point it is about twenty-five
miles from any navigable waters. The county is well watered.
The Housatonic river, a small stream, extends through it longi-
tudinally. It rises from within about twelve miles of its northern
boundary, and flowing in a southerly direction, it receives on its pas-
sage the contributions of many minor streams, until it passes beyond
the bounds of the state into Connecticut, and empties at last into
Long Island Sound. The Hosick river rises in the immediate
vicinity of the fountain head of the Housatonic ; flowing northerly
and then westerly it passes through the south-west corner of Ver-
mont into New York and presently mingles its waters with those of
the Hudson. Deerfield river passes for a short distance through the
northern part of this county. Two branches of the Westfield river
take their rise likewise in this county ; and two streams of inconsid-
erable size under the name of Green river ; one in the northern part,
emptying into the Hosick and one on the south emptying in Shef-
field into the Housatonic, are likewise deserving of notice. There
are other streams, furnishing multiplied advantages to farmers and
manufacturers ; and presenting valuable sites for mills and mechanical
objects, which it is not necessary to particularize. The hills every
where abound in springs of the purest water ; and in an agricultural
view no country can be better supplied. The Pontoosuck lake
in nearly the centre of the county, one of the largest collections of

8

water in the county, presents its mirrored surface to the traveller as
one of the most beautiful objects on which the eye can rest. After
furnishing several extensive and valuable mill powers at its out-let,
its superfluous waters flow southerly until they mingle in the Housa-
tonic.

The surface of the country is broken and mountainous. There
are generally considered three distinct ranges of mountains running
from north to south the whole length of the county. The easterly
branch or range of mountains is a part of the Green mountains,
which reach far into Vermont. The westerly branch is denominated
the Taconic Range. The intermediate mountains are known by
various local names, and are rather insular elevations than a continued
range. Saddle Mountain in the north-western corner of the county,
and Mount Washington forming its south-western corner are magni-
ficent elevations and the highest mountains in the State. Saddle
mountain has in many places been cleared high up its sides ; but its
summits are crowned with a thick and beautiful forest of maple, oak,
walnut and other varieties of hard wood. The ascent of INIount
Washington on the western and the north-eastern side is long and
wearisome, but not difticult ; and after ascending by the course of the
road two miles or more, you reach an extended space of gently un-
dulating country, and almost entirely surrounded by a belt or succes-
sion of hills of different elevations, which, from a distance, and before
the mountain was ascended, seemed to form only a single elevation.
This comparatively level sj)ace is cleared and cultivated, furnishing
many valuable farms favorable for pasturage. It forms the town of
Mt. Washington, which now includes the whole elevated country,
and that small portion of territory, making the south-western angle of
the state, and known as Boston Corner.

The Hosick mountain, lying at the north-eastern part of the county,
is a considerable elevation, difficult of ascent by the road on the east-
ern side ; and steeper, and in some parts precipitous, on its western
side. The stage road passes over this mountain ; and like Mount
Washington, the top of the mountain presents a rolling country, with
a jiroductive soil, furnishing excellent pasturage, and valuable and
thrifty farms. The other mountains in the county are insulated.
Several of them are immense masses of lime-stone and marble ; but

many of the minor elevations are rounded and beautiful summits, cul-
tivated to their tops.

4. Soils. — In passing through the county from east to west, you
meet a succession of valleys of remarkable beauty and fertility ;
and on tiie Housatonic, the Hosick, the Green river, and Hop
Brook, there are extended alluvions or intervales, which furnish a pro-
ductive soil. The hills every where abound with springs of the pur-
est water ; and these added to the numerous permanent streams inter-
secting the country in various directions, afibrd extraordinary advan-
tages to the farmers of Berkshire over the tenants of a level country.

The alluvial meadows on the Housatonic seldom exceed a mile in
breadth. These are mainly to be found in the Pittsfield valley, in
South Lee, in Stockbridge, in Great Barrington, and in Sheffield.
In general, these lands are annually overflowed, and the deposits of
rich mud superinduced by such freshets, prevent the necessity of any
artificial manuring ; and keep these lands in a state of exuberant fer-
tility. These deposites are mainly composed of finely comminuted
sand, and rich loam and vegetable mould ; and in many cases the de-
posits have accumulated to a great depth, as the presence of large
logs and partially decayed stumps and roots of trees, found often at
the depth of fifteen and twenty feet below the surface, evince.

Of peat bogs, there are k\v in the county. Tl;ese are of small
extent ; but some found in the neighborhood of Pittsfield, which have
undergone the process of ditching, draining, and manuring, present en-
couraging examples of an enterprising and intelligent husbandry. This
description of land throughout the state is destined to become highly
valuable and productive . For fuel, where the use of peat for fuel prevails,
this land, or rather the right to dig the peat, is sold for three dollars per
square rod, the purchaser being limited as to the depth he shall go. As
manure for upland, when decomposed and dissolved by heating
manures, or deposited in the barn yard, where it absorbs the liquids
of the manure heap, it has been found efficacious and valuable. As
land for cropping, under good management, of which I propose pres-
ently to give several remarkable examples, it has proved eminently
productive in grass, potatoes, turnips, and carrots.

The soils in Berkshire are various. There is little pure clay.
There is little pure sand. The Hosick mountain and the Green
2

mountain range is generally composed of granitic rock. The other
mountains, and in general the rest of the county, rest upon beds
of limestone or mica slate, which sometimes rise into high and abrupt
elevations, and are every where to be seen showing themselves above
the surface. Some parts of the county are rich in iron ore, espe-
cially the beautiful valley of Richmond, and the vicinity of the high-
lands designated as Mount Osceola. In many parts of the county,
as in Lanesboro', Williamstown, and Stockbridge, the soil presents
the appearance of rich vegetable mould resting upon a substratum of
a greenish color, strongly argillaceous, and retentive of moisture.
The same remarks apply to the soils in Cheshire, furnishing the rich-
est pasturage to be found in the state. These lands are well adapted
to grass, potatoes, and all esculent vegetables. Other lands in the
county are better suited to grain crops, being gravelly and abounding
in calcareous matter ; as the Pittsfield valley ; much of the land in
Great Barrington, west of the village ; and especially the town of
Egremont, and the lands lying towards the eastern side of Mount
Washington, on the great road from Egremont to Salisbury in Con-
necticut.

It is a singular fact, not less surprising to the learned geological
surveyor than to others, that the soils in Berkshire, though resting
upon limestone, contain no larger proportion of the carbonate of lime
in a state of detrition, than many other soils in the state where lime-
stone is not found. It was supposed, that the continual abrasion or de-
composition of the stones by the natural operations constantly going
on, or by cultivation, would have imparted a large proportion of this
ingredient to the soils. Nor can its absence be accounted for on the
supposition, that it existed in much greater quantities formerly,
but has been exhausted by cultivation. Much of the land in the
county is comparatively new ; and, as the crops throughout the
county are generally consumed on the farms, it would seem as
though what had been taken up by them, which, after all, is a very
minute quantity, must have been again returned in the manures ap-
plied. Is it not more probable, that as the country is comparatively
new, and the vegetable mould consequently more abundant, the spe-
cimens analyzed may have been taken near the surface, and therefore-
exhibit a less quantity of the carbonate of lime than if the country

11

iiad been longer cultivated, and the vegetable mould, the accumula-
tion of centuries, had been more nearly exhausted ?

Of the advantages in respect to fertility of a considerable propor-
tion of calcareous matter in soils, there is no doubt. Yet the opera-
tion of lime in any of its forms to the purposes of vegetation is as yet
a subject involved in so much obscurity, that we can hardly speak
upon it with any confidence ; and the particular office that it
performs in the wonderful processes of vegetable life and growth,
is among those triumphs which chemical science has yet to achieve.

The theory of Dr. Dana, of Lowell, given in the report of the
learned geological surveyor, of the last year, is original and probable.
Future experiments, and much more extended observations are neces-
sary, in order to determine its soundness. The fertility of a soil de*
pends, to a certain extent, upon the presence of lime ; but it is not
in proportion to its quantity. The presence of lime in the form of a
carbonate amounts, it seems, in some of the fertile soils of Europe,
as given by the French chemists, to 25, 28, 30, and 37^ per cent.;
yet in some of the richest of the western soils it does not amount to
more than 3.3 per cent.; and lime, in all its forms, does not exceed
5.1 per cent. This is certainly a great disparity ; and it suggests the
inquiry, whether this difference is actual, or the result of different
modes of analysis or examination. The theory of Dr. Dana, and the
observations of many intelligent practical men confirm the sugges-
tions, implies that the office performed by lime in the soil is not pri-
mary, but secondary. The most productive soils are those in which
the various earths are compounded but not chemically combined ;
but the earths alone, however intermixed, will not give fertility, with-
out vegetable soluble matter. The quantity of lime or of silex taken
up in the formation of the plant is small and inconsiderable. The
vegetable matter in the soil constitutes the food of plants. Lime and
marls may be useful in their mechanical influences and changes upon
soils of an aluminous and argillaceous character, when applied in large
quantities ; a use, which the cost of lime in Massaceusetts forbids us
to expect will prevail to any considerable extent, excepting in the
limestone regions. But it would seem, that the main effects to be
expected from lime is in neutralizing the acids, which render a soil sour
and unproductive ; in converting insoluble into soluble matter ; and
in thus preparing the vegetable matter in the soil for the food of

12

plants, and bringing it into a condition by which it can be taken up
by their roots. The mode by which lime assists vegetation is
still unascertained. Nature draws an impenetrable veil over
her subtle operations ; and at a certain point, human sagacity,
however acute and prying, is repelled under the stern mandate,
" Hitherto shalt ihou come, but no farther." The rich alluvial soils
of the West, and \he calcareous regions of western New York, are
equally productive of wheat. We have instances of like success,
and uniform success, in which, wheat has been constantly culti-
vated with hardly a failure, (and where, when it has failed, its failure
has evidently depended upon external atmospheric influences, rather
than upon any conditions of the soil,) for periods of many years on
the same farm ; and at the ordinary yield of from twenty to thirty
bushels to the acre. This has happened on alluvial lands and granitic
soils, where the presence of lime has scarcely been detected, and where
none has been artificially applied. We have a high opinion of the
value of lime applied to the land in the form of a sulphate, as plaster
of paris, or of phosphate, as in bone manure ; or as a carbonate in the
form of ground lime-stone, or as quick lime, which soon becomes
carbonated. We have a high opinion of other alkaline manures,
when applied to the soil, though the beneficial results, as of common
wood ashes for example, are not always seen, and not always uniform.
But the fertility of a soil depends much more upon the vegetable
matter contained in it, what Dr. Dana denominates the "geine," or
vegetable food, than upon the presence or absence of any particular
earth or salts. The efficacy of lime and ashes I do not question ;
but their indispensableness in any quantity beyond what the former is
found, in some form, in most soils, (and I understand Dr. Dana
to say that the particular form in which it is found, is of little com-
parative importance,) is not so far confirmed by any facts which have
yet come to light in the experience of some of the most observing
farmers of the state, that it may be considered as established. But
on this subject I shall have occasion to speak hereafter.

The soils in the county of Berkshire abound in rich vegetable
mould. Any person who has seen the luxuriant jjastures of Che-

satonic, and some of the beautiful lands in the neighborhood of

13

Green river in Great Barrington, Konkapot river in Siieffield,
Guelder Hollow in Egremont, the alluvial lands in Lee, and the val-
ley of Great Barrington as well as parts of Richmond, Hancock,
and Williamstown, and other parts of the county equally deserve to
be named, can have no question of the abundance of vegetable mould,
and the eminent fertility of much of this favored territory.

5. Markets and Manufactures. — In an agricultural view
the county of Berkshire is singularly favored in respect to its climate,
its soil, its water, its capacity of production, and its vicinity to mar-
kets. By the great lines of communication now in the course of
construction, and which concentrate in this county, it will be brought
into much nearer communication with the great marts upon the sea-
board. With the exception of pork, which has usually gone to
Hartford, and in some rare instances to Boston, the produce of
Berkshire beyond what is demanded for their manufacturing popula-
tion, goes to New York. The Hudson is reached from almost any
part of the country in a distance of thirty-five to forty miles ; and
from all the points on that magnificent thoroughfare of wealth and
population, the city of New York is reached in a few hours.
The immense consumption of this great city, this insatiable con-
sumer, demands all the contributions which can be poured into it,
for use or traffic.

The greater part of the population of Berkshire are occupied in
the pursuits of agriculture. The establishment of manufacturing
villages creates a demand for the products of agricultural labor, and
a permanent and certain home market is established for the supplies,
which the farm will furnish. The manufactures bearing directly up-
on agriculture, are those of woollen cloths and paper. The number
of pounds of wool used by the factories in the county from the re-
turns of 1 837, appears to have been 875,957 lbs. The amount of tea-
sels purchased by these same manufactures is not ascertained. The
quantity of paper manufactured amounted in value to 333,000 dollars.
What amount of this was in paper made from the straw of oats or
rye cannot be determined. " In 1857," an intelligent farmer of
Lee writes me, " about five hundred tons had been used in their
manufactures. Wheat, rye, and oat straw, if not rusted, was used
indiscriminately, and was purchased at the mills at ^5 per ton." The
advantages to agriculture of the latter kind of manufactures, and of

14

the appropriation of the straw of a farm to such purposes, is, to say
the least, of an equivocal character.

6. Climate. — The season in Berkshire, is in the valleys not
very different from that on the Atlantic coast. I shall subjoin some
meterological tables kept at my request by an intelligent observer in
Lenox ; and shall add to these a table from the memoirs of the
American Academy, showing the comparative progress of vegeta-
tion on a former occasion. With the exception of the high-lands
and the mountainous portions of Berkshire, there are no crops raised
in other parts of the state, which may not be cultivated to advantage.
Indian corn is often successfully cultivated in some of the elevated
locations ; but these places are most favorable to oats and barley.
Potatoes and turnips are likewise abundant in these hill towns, and
the former of superior quality. The springs, however, in these
parts of the county, are generally about three weeks in the rear of
those in the valleys ; the cold winds from the north sweep over them
and retard vegetation. The autumnal frosts on the other hand,
seem proportionately kept back ; and vegetation here retains its ver-
dure ; and potatoes, for example, continue to grow sometimes for
weeks after every thing has been destroyed by the frosts in the low-
grounds.*

II. CROPS.

The crops in Berkshire are those cultivated in other parts
of the state ; and consist of the usual grasses, herds grass,
red top, and clover. Of grains, Indian corn, wheat, barley,
rye, and oats ; and of esculent vegetables, potatoes, carrots, ruta
baga, mangel wurtzel, and common white turnip. In addition
to these, buck-wheat is raised to a considerable extent, some small
amount of flax, and comparatively large amounts of teasels. The
cultivation of hops was at one time attended to in some places ; but
is abandoned on account of the low price. Large amounts of rye
have heretofore been used for distillation ; but this is now pursued to
a small extent.

Indian corn, the great grain crop of New England, with the ex-
ception of the two cold years 1836 and 1837, has been always

•Appendix A.

15

raised in the favorable locations in Berkshire with advantage. In
some towns, however, the high prices obtained for wool induced
the farmers to abandon entirely the growing of grain for bread, and
devote their farms to the sheep husbandry.

Of corn, large crops have been frequently raised. In one of the
hill towns more than one hundred and ten bushels have been more
than once obtained. In these cases a favorable situation was selected
on the southern declivity of a hill, and the best cultivation was em-
ployed, the ground having been highly dressed with the spent ashes
of a potash establishment.

1. Amounts of Crops. — I shall subjoin some statements of
the amount of crops in Berkshire. In many cases, wherever prac-
ticable, I have collected a number of respectable farmers together,
and obtained from them some general average of the crops in the
town. In other cases I have obtained from individuals, distinguished
for their practical skill and knowledge, the average amount of their
own crops, either in conversation, or from the farm reports with
which they have favored me.

In Sheffield the crops of corn are rated at 30 bushels to the acre.
60, 80, 93, and 110 have been obtained. Of oats, 35 to 50
bushels are the average product. 80 bushels, 84 bushels and
upwards have been obtained. Of rye, 6 acres gave 30 bushels to
the acre — 8 acres gave 30 — and one acre 4G^ bushels. Of buck-
wheat, 30 bushels. Of wheat, without manure IS to 20 bushels —
29 bushels, 34 bushels, 36 bushels, 40 bushels have been
obtained. Of potatoes 200 bushels — 2 acres gave 600 bushels — i
of an acre gave 165 — rutabaga 800 bushels. — pease, in one case, 100
bushels on 2 acres. Of hay, on the alluvial lands 2 tons — and in
two cases, one of 4 acres and one of 5 acres, 3 tons were obtained.
In the eastern part of the town, called Konkapot, from the name of
the small stream flowing through it, the subjoined actual crops have
been obtained to the acre. Corn 60 bushels, wheat 40, oats 50, 60,
rye 25, potatoes 300. In Egremont the crops are thus rated : — corn
without manure, but plastered; 25 to 35 bushels, 40, 50 and 55
bushels — rye 12 to 15 bushels — oats 35 to 40 — wheat 15 — potatoes
175 to 200 — hay 1| to 2^ tons. Fifteen acres produced 52 bush-
els of corn to the acre, and the same land afrerwards yielded 1100

16

bushels of oats ; 700 bushels of rye have been obtained on thirty-
two acres.

In Great Barrington, corn is rated at 49, 59 bushels : 70 bushels
and 102 have been obtained. Rye at 12^, 24. Oats, 30,40 ; 90
bushels to the acre were raised last year upon 8 acres of land.
Wheat, 12 bs., IS bs. Pease and oats, 35 bs. Rutabaga, 700 bs.
Potatoes, 175, 320i. Grass, 1^, If tons.

In Stockbridge, corn, 40 bs. 45 bs. to the acre. Rye, 35 bs.
35 bs., once 40 bs. Barley, 25 bs. Potatoes, 225 bs., 300 bs.
These returns from two highly intelligent farmers. The only re-
turns of wheat obtained, were 35 bs. 38 bs. measured to the acre.
In one case, 4 tons of hay to the acre.

In New Marlboro', corn, plastered only, 20 bs.; manured, 30 bs.
Rye, 12, 20 bs. Spring wheat manured, 20 bs. Oats, 30 bs.
Potatoes, 200. 60 bs. of oats have been raised ; 400 bs. of pota-
toes. Grass, 1^ ton, 1^ ton.

In Dalton, one farmer rates his crops of corn, at 40 bs.; of rye, at
15 bs; of potatoes, 300 bs.; and has obtained 80 bs. of wheat from
two acres.

In Otis, the crops are, of corn, 30 to 50 bs.; of rye, 20 bs.;
of oats, 35 bs.; 70 bushels have sometimes been obtained ; of hay,
1 ton.

In Richmond, through the public spirited exertions of a highly in-
telligent and respected friend, my returns are more numerous than
from any other part of the county. Wheat is returned at 10 bs.,llj,
12, 13, 15, 16i, 17* to the acre. Corn, at 30 bs., 32, 40, 50, 54,
60. Oats, 20 bs., 25, 30, 32, 35, 40, 58. Rye, 9, 12, 14, 30.
Buckwheat, 10, 12*, .32, 35. Pease, 24. Ruta baga, 400, 660.
Potatoes, 150, 160, 175, 180, 200, 208, 225.

In Alford, my^ returns are, corn, 40 bs.; through the town, 25 bs.
Wheat, 15. Rye, 10. Oats, 35. Buckwheat, 25. Potatoes,
200. 80 bs. oats have been measured from an acre ; and 2J and 3
tons of hay. The town of Alford does much more than produce its
own biead, pork and beef.

In Lenox, the average returns given me were as follows : Corn,
manured, 40 bs. Wheat, 20. Rye, 15. Oats, 40. Grass, Ij
tons. Extraordinary crops were likewise authenticated : Corn, in

It

two cases, 120 bs. Spring wheat, 37 bs. Winter rye, 40 bs^
Summer rye, 25 bs. Oats, 80 bs.

In Lee, the returns were, Corn, 30 bs. Winter rye, 15 bs. Oats,
40 bs. Buckwheat, 28 bs. Ruta baga, 400 bs. Potatoes, 300,
400 bs. Fifty and sixty bushels of oats have been obtained ; rye,
40 bs. on new land ; SO bs. Corn ; 700 and 900 Ruta baga. One
farmer states, that in 1837 on 2i acres, he raised 2000 bs. Ruta baga,
and on 2 acres, 1200 bs. of Carrots.

In West Stockbridge, the reports given are, Winter wheat, 25 to
sobs. Corn, 40 bs. Oats, 50 bs. Rye, 15 bs. Potatoes, 200
bs. 400 bs. In last case, 30 bs. were used for seed.

In Pittsfield, the crops are thus rated. Corn, 30 bs. 40 bs. Oats,
35 bs. 40 bs. 45 bs. Wheat, 15 bs., 18 bs., 20 bs. Rye, 20 bs.
Potatoes, 250 bs. The following are extraordinary and well authen-
ticated returns — Three and one quarter acres produced 1280 bs. Po-
tatoes ; 1 acre and 66 rods, 1700 bs. Ruta baga. The crops of an-
other farmer, whose cultivation is excellent, are rated thus : Corn, 50
bs.; Oats, 45 bs.; Rye, 25 bs.; two acres of Potatoes in 1837, pro
duced him 560 bs. to the acre ; IJ acre gave him 900 bs. Ruta baga.
Another farmer, from 9 acres, obtained at one crop, 160 bs. Wheat ;
Meslin, Rye and Wheat, 80 bs.— 240 bs., or 26 4-9 bs. to an acre.
From 14 acres, he obtained 190 bs. Wheat ; 120 Meslin ; 90 Rye ;
400 bushels ; or 28 4-7 bs. to an acre. Grass, Ij ton, 2 tons.

The return of crops in Lanesboro', give, of Wheat, 20 and 25 bs.;
Corn, 50 bs.; Oats, 40 ; Ruta baga, 900 bs.

In Williamstown, I am favored with the returns only of a single
farmer, whose cultivation is highly creditable to him. Wheat, 20 bs.
Oats, 50 to 70 bs. Corn, 50 to 60 bs. Barley, 20 bs. Potatoes,
350 to 400 bs.

In Cheshire, the product of corn is rated at 40 bs. Oats at40bs.
Wheat, 20 bs. In 1836, 3 acres produced more than 1800 bs. Po^
tatoes ; in 1837, 2J acres, 1000 bs. Potatoes.

I could extend the above returns ; but these will present a fair sam-
ple of the common cultivaiion of the county.

2. Rotation op Crops. — The usual rotation of crops is corn
or potatoes, in most cases manured ; then oats ; third crop, wheat or
some other grain, with which the land is laid down to grass. The
3

r&

land then commonly remains in grass for two or three years, and the"
same process is repeated. There are cases in which the same crop
is pursued on the same land, two or three years in succession, and
without diminution of the crop. These are cases of extraordinary
fertility or abundant manuring ; but it is not a practice greatly preva'
lent ; nor to be generally commended.

3. Expenses and profits of crops. — I have been anxious
to obtain true returns of the actual expenses and profits of crops in a
regular rotation ; and 1 shall subjoin minutes of these expenses,
furnished by experienced and judicious farmers in different parts of
the county.

In the estimates which have been made of the expenses of culti-
vating any crops, it will be understood, that a man's labor has always
been estimated at one dollar per day ; and the same for a yoke of
oxen, and half a dollar for a horse. In many parts of the country
this, undoubtedly, is an over-estimate of the price of labor ; but it
seemed necessary to fix some price as a uniform standard through-
out the state ; and in the cost of labor involved in the production of
any crop, one dollar is to be considered as the representative of a
day's work. The prices of labor and the prices of board vary in dif-
ferent parts of the state. The estimated price includes both labor
and board.

Expenses of cullivating an acre of corn in Sheffield, Mass.

Ploughing, . . . . . . $1 50

Manuring, 15 loads, at 50 cents, half the manure to be

charged to the corn, . . , . . 3 75

Getting out manure, $2 ; planting, $1 25 ; seed, 25, . 3 50

Hoeing twice, $2 ; gathering and husking, $2, . 4 00

Interest on land, at $50 per acre, . . . 3 00

Product.

Corn-stalks for fodder, equal to 3 ton of hay, $5 00

Forty-five bushels of corn, at 75 cts, 33 75

$15 75

^38 75

Profit on the corn, . , . $23 00

19

Estimated expenses of an acre of Potatoes
Ploughing, ....
Manuring as per corn, $3 75 ; hoeing, $4 00,
Digging the crop, $12 ; interest on land, $3,
Seed, 15 bushels, ....

Product, if 300 bushels, .
" 400 "

Suppose 300 bushels, — Profit,

P 50

7 75

15 00

•

3 75

$28 00

$75 00

100 00

$47 00

Estimated expenses of an acre of Ruta Baga.

Ploughing and preparing ground, planting on ridges, eight

days, .....

Twenty loads of manure, half charged to this crop.
Seed, $1 ; sowing with machine, 50 cts.,
Fifteen days' hoeing, $15 ; 12 days' harvesting, $12
Rent of land, at $50, ....

Product of above, 800 bushels, at 12 J. .

Profit, .....
Cost 5f cts. per bushel.

I give another estimate in Sheffield.

Corn^ — one acre.
Ploughing, .....
Manured in the hill, 20 loads, half to the corn.
Seed, 6 qts., 25 cts.; manuring and furrowing, $4,
Planting, $2 ; hoeing, $3, .

Topping and binding stalks, $1 ; gathering and shock-
ing, $2, .... .
Interest on land, valued at $40,

$8 00
5 00
1 50

27 00
3 00

$44 50
100 00

$55 50

$1

75

5

00

4

25

5

00

3

00

2 40

$21 40

20

Product.

Thirty-fivo bushels corn, at 75 cts., . $26 25

Stalks, valued at twice cost of cutting, . 2 00

Bottom stalks or butts, . . . 1 GO

$29 25

Profits, . . . . . $7 85

A very different estimate from the preceding is generally put upon
the stalks. Throughout the state, the farmers, who are careful and
successful in the management of their corn fodder, consider it for any
neat stock as equal in value to three-fourths, and most of them to a
ton of hay.

Another farm in Sheffield, on the alluvial or river land, gives the
following estimate :

Ploughing, ......

Ten loads of manure in the hill, half to the corn.

Getting out manure, .....

Planting, $1 ; seed, 25 cts.

Hoeing three times, .....

Topping the stalks, ....

Gathering and husking, ....

Interest on land, at $75,

$20 25
Produce.
Sixty bushels corn, at 75 cts., .... $45 00
Corn fodder, . . . . . 3 00

$2 50

2 50

2 00

1 25

4 00

50

3 00

4 50

$48 00

Balance in favor of the crop, . . $27 75

Egremont. — The usual rotation is oats, rye, corn, oats or rye and
grass seed.

Expenses of an acre of corn.

Ploughing and harrowing, . . . . $1 50

Manure, 15 loads, half charged to the corn crop, . 3 75

Getting out manure, $1 ; planting, $1 ; seed, 25 cts., . 2 25

,$2,

5

00

-

2

40

$14

90

$25

00
00

—

$26

00

21

Hoeing three times, $3 ; gathering and liusking, $2,
Interest on land, at $40,

Produce.
Twenty-five bushels, at $1,
Top stalks, ....

The bottoms considered equivalent to expense
of horse for ploughing.

Profit, $11 10

2d.— Oats.
Ploughing twice, $2 ; 2J bs. seed, $1 ; sowing, 50 cts..
Reaping and gathering, $1 50 ; carting, 50 cts..
Interest on land, at $40, ....

Straw equivalent to expense of threshing.
Twenty-five bs. oats, half price of corn, 50 cts.,

Profit, ......

Egremont. — Another estimate of expenses of corn crop without ma-
nure, but plastered.
Ploughing, $2 ; planting, $1 ; seed, 25 cts., . . $3 25

Plaster, 1 bs. 30 cts.; hoeing three times, and horse, $4, 4 30

Topping stalks, 50 cts.; picking and husking, $2, . 2 50

Interest on land, at $40, . . . . 2 40

$3 50
2 00
2 40

$7 90

$12 50

$4 CO

Produce.
Thirty bushels corn, at 75 cts., . . $22 50

Fodder, . . . . . 3 50

$12 45

$26 00

Profit on corn, . . . . . $13 55

2. Expenses of an acre of Oats.

Ploughing and harrowing, . . . . $2 50

Two and one-half bushels seed, . . . 1 25

Cradling and binding, . . . . . 1 50

22

Getting in, 55 cents, .... 55

Threshing, at 4 els., . . . . . 1 60

Interest on land, at $40, . . . . 2 40

Produce.

$9

80

$20

1

00
60

—

$21

60

Forty bushels, at 50 cts., .
Straw, equivalent to threshing,

Profit, $11 80

In Egremont, 700 bs. of rye were obtained on thirty-two acres of
land.

Egremont has about 75 farms. On these farms, 500 bs. of oats
are produced on an average to each. Several farniers raise 2000 bs.
each. The wheat cultivation has been successful among theni for the
last ten years. They raise an ample supply of bread corn ; and ex-
port considerable quantities.

In Great Barrington the rotation is corn on greensward ; oats with
clover ; winter rye, and land laid down to grass.

Expenses of an acre of Indian Corn.
Ploughing 2, harrowing 1 , seed 50, . . 3 50

30 loads manure spread, at 50 cts. half charged to the

corn crop, . . . . . 7 50

Planting 1 50, hoeing twice 4, . . . 5 50

Gathering and husking 3 50, interest on land at 40,

2 40, 5 90

Corn fodder equal to one ton of hay,
40 bushels corn at 75 cts.

Profit,

2nd. — Oats. — Expenses <
Ploughing 2, harrowing 75, seed 2j bush. 93^,
1 bush, plaster 50, gathering 1 75,
Interest on land at $40, 2 40,

$22 40

8 00

30 00

38 00

15 60

e acre.

)

3 68|

.

2 25

2 40

8 331

23

Produce 40 bush, half price of corn, 37^, 15 00

Straw equivalent to the threshing, . . 16 00

Profit, $6 66i

In other cases the expenses of an acre of corn without manure,
but with plaster, at $17 49. The corn at 30 bush, at 80 cts.
$24 00. The corn fodder at i ton of hay, $4 00. The profit in
this case $10 51.

Of oats, the expense at $10 10 — the crop 40 bush, at 40 cts.,
$16 00 — the profits $5 90 — the straw deemed equivalent to the
threshing.

Great Barrington. — Another estimate of Indian Corn.

Ploughing 2 00, . . . . . 2 00
10 loads manure at 50 cts., half the manure only to be

charged to the corn, . . . . 5 00

Getting out and spreading manure 3 00, planting 1 50, 4 50

Seed, 7 qts. 34 cts., .... 34

Hoeing twice on the intervale lands, . . . 6 00

Cutting up and stacking 2 00, husking 2 00, . 4 00

Interest on land at $60, . . . . 3 60

Product,
35 bush, corn at 75 cts..
Fodder equivalent to one ton stock hay.

Balance in favor of corn, . . . $7 81

In another case the yield of corn is ascertained on the whole farm
to average 49 bush. Gross expense of cultivation without interest
on land, 12 34. This is an actual account ; the labor in this case,
however, is not charged at $1 00 per day, but at its actual cost.
Yield of wheat on this farm IS busii. to the acre. Expenses of cul-
tivation $11 00. Of oats ordinarily 50 bush. ; and expenses of cul-
tivation $7 56. Of potatoes 320i bush, to the acre, and expenses
of cultivation $23 50.

.

$25 44

26 25

7 00

33 25

24

In another case the yield and expenses are thus stated

Yield per acre— Wheat, 12 bush.

ExF

)enses,

$11 88

Indian Corn, 59 "

30 69

Rye, 12^"

5 10

Oats, 30 "

5 10

PeaseandOats,30 "

6 35

Potatoes, 175 "

33 59

Ruta Baga, 750 "

50 06

In these cases it is presumed no rent is charged on the land.
The last account is an actual return of the last year, when the ex-
treme severity of the drought was unfavorable to large returns.

In Otis, two estimates were given. — Indian Corn, one acre.

Expenses.

Product

Ploughing,

$4 00 30 bush, corn

30 00

Manure, 8 loads,

3 00 Corn fodder,

3 00

Getting out manure,
Planting 3 00, seed 25,

9 00

^ uu —

3 25

33 00

Hoeing twice.

6 00

23 05

Gathering and husking,
Interest on landj

o on

0 yJU —

1 80 Profit,

$9 95

$23 05

Estimate from another Farmer.

Expenses.

Ploughing 2 days.

$5 00

Product

Manure 30 loads spread,

50 bush, corn,

half to the corn crop,

7 00

Corn fodder equal to

Getting out half 3 00,

3 00

J a ton of hay,

Planting 4 ft. by 3 ft.,

2 00

Hoeing three times,

6 00

Gathering and husking,

5 00

Profit in favor of the

Int. on land at $30 pr. acre

, 1 80

corn,

$50 00

5 00

55 00

$25 20

$29 80

26

In Stockbridge I give the exact expenses of cultivating six acres
of corn in one instance.

Ploughing with oxen six days,

Harrowing 2 days with team,

Piaster, but no manure, 4 bush..

Planting 3 J ft. by 4 ft.,

Furrowing, 2 00

Ploughing the field two furrows in a row each way.

turned the furrows from the hill each time 4 ways,
Hoeing ^6, second ploughing $8, second hoeing $C
Topping stocks and putting up |^5,
Gathering and husking ; 10 bush, made a day's work

the whole field,
Interest on the land at ^30 per acre,

$12 00

4

00

2 00

6

00

2

00

, 8

00

20

00

5

00

20

00

10

80

Product of the above six acres.
Corn fodder equal to half ton of hay per acre, $24 00
200 bush, sound corn at 75 cts., . 150 00

Pumpkins 2 loads to an acre, worth more than
$1 per load if ripe ; excellent for pork and
beef, . . . . 12 00

186 00

$89 SO

Balance in favor of crop,

Stockbridge. — Expenses of an acre of Oats.

Ploughing $1 50, harrowing $1, seed 2 bush. SO cts..
Cradling and tying up $1 50, getting in 50 cts.,
One bush, plaster 50 cts., rent of land at $50, $3,

45 bush, oats at 40 cts.,
Straw pays expense of threshing.
Profits on crop,
4

18 00

$96 00

$3

30

2

00

3

50

$8 80

$9 20

26

Expenses of cultivating an acre of Ruta Baga.

Ploughing uvice old land, . . . . $2 00

One pair of horses will plough 2 acres per day, 30 loads

manure, half charged to this crop, . . 7 50

Getting out half the manure, H day, . . 3 00

Ridging 50 cts., sowing with machine $2, seed half

bush. 50 cts., . . . . . 3 00

3 ft. 3 inch, between the rows, plants in the row 1 ft.

apart.
Thinning out $2, 2 days' weeding $2, . . 4 00

Three hoeings 6 days $6, gathering $8, . . 14 DO

Rent of land at $40, . . . . 2 40

$35 90
Product.
Five hundred and fifty bs., worth one shilling for pork or
beef, .....

Profits on the crop,

Estimated expenses of an acre of Potatoes
Ploughing green-sward,
Harrowing 50 cts., seed 25 bush. $G 25,
Manure 15 loads in the hill, half to this crop,
Planting and manuring $6,
Ploughing $1, one hoeing $2,
Digging and storing $9, .

Rent of land, ....

91

66

$55

76

s.

$2

00

6

75

3 25

6

00

3

00

9

00

2

40

Product.
Two hundred and sixty bs. potatoes at 20 cts.,

Profits on crop,

$32 40
$52 00
$19 60

West Stockbridge. — Expenses of an acre of Corn.

Ploughing twice $2 50, seed 5 qts. 25 cts., . $2 75

8 loads manure in the hill, f cord each 75 cts., half to

the corn, . . . . . 3 00

27

Getting out and applying manure, two men and team

one day ; half to the corn,
Planting 3 ft. by 4 ft.,

Ploughing and hoeing twice $6, topping stocks 50 cts
Gathering 4 days $4, cutting up butt stalks $1,
Interest on land at 5^40,

Product.
Stalks and fodder equal to half ton of hay, ^5 00

40 bush, corn at $1, . . . 40 00

1

50

1

50

6

50

5

00

2

40

$22 75

15 00

Profits on corn, ....

Expenses of an acre of Oats.
Ploughing and harrowing, $1 50 ; half the manure, $4 50,
Seed, 2^ bs. at 42 cts., $1 05 ; cradling and tying up, $ 1 ,
Getting in, 50 cts.; interest on land, $2 40,

$22 25

Product.

Forty bushels oats, at 42 cts.
Straw equivalent to threshing.

Profits on oats,

$5 85

The rotation of crops in West Stockbridge is thus stated, on land
well limed :

1 . On a clover ley, winter wheat.

2. Wheat, 25 to 30 bs.

3. Corn, 40 bs., with manure.

4. Corn, without manure.

5. Either oats, rye, or wheat, at pleasure, and laid down to grass.

West Stockbridge produces oats enough for sale beyond their own
wants to purchase all their bread. They make pork enough for their
own consumption ; and generally produce a sufBciency of the sub-
stantials of life for their own consumption.

28

Let. — Expenses of an acre of Corn.

Ploughing, $2 ; harrowing, 50 cts.; seed, 37icts.; plant-
ing, $2, $4 87J

Manure, 20 large loads — say, i cord each — 50 cts. ; 5
cords to the corn crop, $5 ; getting out halt' manure,
$1 50, . . . . . . 6 50

Three hoeings, ^6 ; cutting up and gathering, $2 ; husk-
ing, $3, ....

Interest on land, at $40,

Product.
Fodder, equal to ;| ton of hay.
Corn, 50 bs., at 75 cts.,
Add 4 loads of pumpkins.

Profits on corn, .... ^21, 72 J

Expenses of an acre of Oats.

Ploughing, $2 ; seed, 2^ bs., 94 cts., . . . $2 94

Manure and getting out ; half belongs to the oat crop, 6 50

Threshing, $1 50 ; Interest on land, $2 40, . .3 90

11

00

2

40

$24 77i

p

00

37

50

4

00

$46

50

$13 34

Product.
Oats, 50 bs., at 37^- cts., . . $16 75

Eighty bundles straw, at 2 cts. per bundle, as

sold at paper-mill, . . 1 60

$18 35
Profits on oat crop, . . . . $5 01

It seems bad economy to sell the straw at this rate. The manu-
facturer, perhaps, cannot afTord to give more. The farmer cannot
afford to take so little. The value of an acre of oat straw, yielding
50 bs. to the acre, even where manure is estimated as cheaply as
above, cannot be overrated at four or five dollars. It is not to be
recommended to sell it even for that.

29

Expenses of cultivating an acre of Potatoes.

Ploughing, $2 ; seed, 20 bs., $5 ; planting, $3, . $10 00

Ten loads manure in the liill, $5 ; getting out manure, $3, 8 00

Hoeing twice, $5 ; digging, one-tenth to the crop, $6 25, II 25

Interest on land, at $40, . . . . 2 40

Product.
Two hundred and fifty bs., at 25 cts.,

Profits on the crop,

Expenses of an acre of Ruta Baga.
Ploughing, $1 50 ; harrowing and ridging, $1,
Manure, 40 loads, — 20 charged to this crop,
Sowing, 50 cts.; seed, 50 cts.; thinning and hoeing, $i
Two next hoeings, $6 ; gathering, $S, .
Rent of land, .....

$35 90
Seven hundred bs. ruta baga, at 20 cts., . . $140 00

Profits on crop, . . . . $104 10

The value credited to the crop in this case will be regarded as high ;
but I give the estimate of ihe farmers themselves, who report their
cultivation.

Lenox. — Expenses of an acre of Indian Corn.

Ploughing green-sward, $2 , seed, 25 cts..
Twenty-five loads of manure, half to corn.
Getting out manure, $3 124 ; dragging, $1 ; planting, $2
First hoeing, $3 50 ; second do, $2 50 ; topping stalks,

$1,

Husking and gathering, $3 ; getting in butts, $1,
Interest on land, at $40, ....

$28 02^

$31

65

$62

50

$30

85

$2

50

10

00

7

00

14

00

2 40

30

Product.
Corn fodder, equal to 1 ton of hay, . . $9 00

Forty bs. corn, at 75 cts., . . 30 CO

$39 00

Profits on corn, . . , . . $10 97^

Oats. — Expenses of one acre.
Ploughing, $1 50 ; seed, 2^ bs., $1 12^ ; sowing, $1, $3 12^
Cradling and tying, $1 50 ; team, 50, . . . 2 00
Half the manure of the corn crop, and half expense of get-
ting out the manure, . . . . .7 81
Interest on land, at $40, . . . . 2 40

$15 83^
Product.
Forty bs. oats, at 37 J cts, . . . . 15 00

Straw an equivalent to thresiiing.

Balance against the oats, . . . S3i

It is plain, in the above tu'o cases, that the corn crop was under
estimated for such cultivation ; and that the efficacy and value of such
manuring are by no means exhausted by two crops.

It rests upon the most respectable and credible testimony, that in
two instances in this town, 120 bs. of corn have been obtained upon an
acre; 37 bs. of spring wheat ; 40 bs. winter rye, and 80 bs. of oats to an
acre. What has been done can be done ; and it is easy to see how
inconsiderable is the increase of expense in obtaining such crops,
compared with the superior value over the crops reported as above.

Expenses of an acre of Potatoes.
Ploughing, $2; manuring, same as corn, $9 37-i, . $11 S7J

Seed, 20 bs. $5 ; hoeing, $5 ; digging, $10, . 20 00

Interest on land, at $40, . . . 2 40

$33 77J

Product.
Two hundred and fifty bs., at 25 cts., . . . $62 50

Profits on potatoes, .... $28 72J

31

I shall now proceed to give in detail an account of a wheat crop in
Lenox, in 1S37, by a farmer, whose uniform success in raising wheat
is ample proof of his agricultural skill.

The extent of land sown was 2 acres 60j rods ; the whole crop
was S9 bs. 26 qts. On one of the two acres the crop amounted to
40 bs. 20 qts. The niode of cultivation pursued by this farmer is
somewhat peculiar. I shall refer to it more fully in a subsequent part
of my report. At present, I only say, that the land on which this
crop was obtained, was the preceding year in corn ; and the corn
crop planted on an inverted green-sward. Some of this field was ma-
nured in the hill ; and on some of it the manure was spread at the rate
of twenty common cart-loads to the acre. There was not a remark-
able diflerence between the appearance of that part of the corn crop
manured in the hill, or that on which the manure was spread. A
circumstance, to which the attention of farmers is particularly invited,
is, that in cultivating the corn, in hoeing and harrowing, particular
care was taken not to turn up or break the sod from the bottom. I
shall now quote from the account given by this intelligent cultivator :

"About die 15th of April, the corn hills were split with the com-
mon harrow ; and ploughed once with great care. A thin coat of
barn manure was spread. The manure was principally fresh horse-
manure. After sowing and dragging, leeched ashes were spread over
that part of the field not manured. Six bushels of clean seed were
sown, after having been prepared by soaking in brine from 24 to 48
hours, and rolled in finely slacked lime, care being taken to have as
much as possible adhere to the kernel. Care was taken to cover the
wheat sown before it became dry. After sowing, the ground was
dragged (harrowed) everyday for five or six days, alternately crossing
the field in opposite directions. Dry light soils are greatly bene-
fited by working them while the dew is on. Heavy soils, however,
should be thoroughly warmed and dried, previously to working them.
When the blade was up two or three inches, a good dressing of plas-
ter was given."

Entire expenses of cultivation.

1 day with one pair of horses, splitting hills, . . ^2 00
J " " dragging, . . 1 00

2 days' ploughing, at $2, . . , . 4 00

6 bs. seed wheat, at $3,

Preparing seed, 50 cts.; 1 peck salt, 25 cts.,

2 bs. lime, 6S cts.; labor in sowing, $1,

3 days, man and team, harrowing the wheat,
2 men, 3 days, to cart and spread manure, team
24 loads of manure, at 50 cts., .
350 lbs. plaster, at ^13 per ton,
Sowing plaster, ^ of a day,

2 hands, 3 days' reaping, $6 ; board of hands, $1

3 days' work binding, $3 ; board, 75 cts..
Carting, 2 hands 1^ day, and team, ^3 75 ; board, 75 cts.

and cart,

50,

18

00

75

1

68

6

GO

9

00

12

00

2

27

34

7

50

3

75

4

50

$72 79

The soil is, what is here called, a dark loam, strongly siliceous.
The substratum is mica slate.

This farmer has been uniformly successful in obtaining good crops
of wheat, unless when he has suffered from accidents, not connected
with the cultivation, and not foreseen nor controllable by human saga-
city or skill.

In Richmond, the expenses of cultivation are thus estimated :

One acre of Corn.

Ploughing, $2 ; seed, 5 qts., 25 cts.,
15 loads manure, J cord each, at 50 cts., $7 50, half
charged to the corn, ....

Getting out and spreading manure, 3 days, half charged,
Harrowing, ^ day, $1 ; planting, 2 J feet each way, $1,
Hoeing 3 times, $3 ; and horse, $1 50,
Topping stalks, $1 ; gathering and husking, $4,
1 bs. plaster, 50 cts., .....
Interest on land, at MO, ....

Product.

Forty-five bushels, at 75 cts..
Fodder, equal to | ton of hay.

Balance in favor of corn,

$33 75
7 50

$2 25

3 25

1 50

2 00

4 50

5 00
50

2 40

$21 40

41 25

$19 85

33

Expenses of an acre of Oats.

Ploughing and dragging $2, 2^ bush, seed 94 cts., $2 94

Half the cost of manure $4 75, . . • 4 75

Cradling and binding ^l, getting in 50 cts., . . 1 50

Interest upon land at $40. . • . 2 40

Plaster 50 cts. — threshing paid by straw, . . 50

Product.
40bush.at 37J cts., . . . $15 00

$12 09

Balance in favor of the crop, . . $2 91

Expenses of an acre of Potatoes.

Ploughing $2, seed (supposed) 15 bush $3 75, . $5 75

Plaster 1^ bush. $1 50, hoeing twice $4, . . 5 50

Gathering $7, interest upon land $2 40, . - 9 40

Product.
200 bush, at 25 cts., . • $50 00

$20 65

$29 35
No manure is used in this case ; but it cannot be supposed that
such crops can be often repeated without manure.

Expenses of an acre of Ruta Baga.
Ploughing three times $6, ... $6 00

Manure 20 loads, half to this crop — getting out ma-
nure $3, ..... 8 00
Hoeing once $8, gathering $11, interest on land $2 40, 21 40

$35 40
Product.

400 bush, at 16| cts., . . ^QQ 66

Balance in favor of crop, . $31 26

I have been much disappointed in not having received from the
intelligent and enterprising farmers of Pittsfield, such estimates of
the expenses of cultivation as I had expected.
5

34

One of the best farmers in the town and in the state, puts down
the expense of cultivating an acre of wheat at ^9 ; of oats at $8 ;.
of rye at $7 ; of potatoes at $28 ; of ruta baga at $25. Tiie items
of expense are not 2;iven.

I subjoin from anoiiier enterprising cultivator, whose whole man-
agement in respect to cultivation and stock is entitled to high com-
mendation, an exact account of a crop of ruta baga and flat turnips
in 1S37.

The charges for preparing, cultivating, gathering, and the product
of 4 acres Ruta Baga and English Turnips, are as follows :
April 21 and 22 — 2 days man and horse-team first

ploughing 2, . . $4 00

June 5 and G — 2 days man and horse-team, second

ploughing 2, . . . 4 00

" 6 to 9 — 3 teams and 3 hands, 3 days each,

making 9 days drawing on 64

loads manure, $1 50, . . 13 50

" 10 — 2 men spreading manure, $1, . 2 00

" *' 1 day man and horse-team harrowing, 2 00

" "1 day man and horse ridging, . 1 50

" "1 day man sowing, . . 1 00

" " H lbs. seed, at the price I sold

seed, $1, . . . 1 50

.Tuly 5 and 6 — 8 days' labor hoeing and thin-
ning, $1, . . $8 00

" 12 and 13 — 8 days' labor hoeing and thin-
ning, $1, . . 8 00

Oct. 16 to 18 — 18 days' labor charged for gath-
ering, and 3 teams each 3 days,
drawing, at 75 cts., $20 25

Cr. Deduct for tops, $2 per acre, 8 00

$29 50

$16 00

$12 25

$57 75

35

The quantity gathered fiotn 1st. and 2d. acres, 1600 bs.

3d. " 1080 "
4th. " 900 "

3580 bs.
Jess than 2 cts. per bs.
If the interest on land were charged at !|40

per acre, . . . . 9 60

and tlie manure at its value, (a compost
of muck and stable,) . . .32 00 41 60

$99 35

The turnips would cost not far from 2f cts. per bs., $98 45.

He adds, " from my own observation much depends on having
the land for the turnip crop, as also all root crops, potatoes except-
ed, mellow ; they ought to be hoed at least three times, and of-
tener if the crop will admit of it. My crop of 1836, was hoed
three times in the month of July, the ground was kept light until the
tops covered it."

I annex to this the statement of a crop of Ruta Baga in Great
Barrington, from another farmer, whose agriculture shows his in-
dustry and skill.

The amount of land was 1 acre and 20 rods. The amount of
product, well cleaned roots, was 46,495 lbs.

The land on which they were raised was green-sward, and plough-
ed the last days in April, 1837. It had had no manure for three
years preceding ;.it then received a tliorough harrowing ; it remained
until the first of June ; then harrowed it again smooth ; and drew
on thirty loads short barn manure ; principally the manure of sheep,
which is deemed preferable to any other for this root ; this was
spread and harrowed until it was thoroughly incorporated with the
soil ; it was then with a plough thrown into ridges 24 inches apart.
It was then sowed on the 24ili of June, which was ten days after
the proper season for sowing ; when well out of the ground, they
were plastered at the rate of one bushel to the acre ; they were then
ploughed and hoed twice. In cultivating them great care should be
taken to have them stand 24 inches apart between the rows ; and the
plants 6 or 8 inches from each other in the rows.

36

The expense of cultivaiing this acre and 20 rods was as follows ;

2 ploughings $4, harrowing $3, f lb. of seed 75 cts., $7 75
30 loads manure at 62i cts. per load, . . 18 75
Ridging 75 cts., planting 50 cts., . . . 1 25

3 ploughings before hoeing $2, 6 hoeings 1^12, . 14 00
Gathering $6, . . . . . 6 00

$47 75
In another case tliis san>e farmer obtained from 90 rods of ground

G05 bs. The expenses of cultivation were as follows :
2 ploughings $1 50, harrowing ^1, ridging 34 cts.,

planting 25 cts., .....
Seed 37i cts., 3 hoeings $5, gathering $3 25, manure

$7 50, .

Whole weight of crop, 25,410 lbs.

In Alford the subjoined estimates were obtained :

Expenses of cultivating an acre of Corn.
Ploughing $2, harrowing $1, seed 25 cts., planting $1
Manure, 30 loads spread, 15 charged to corn, $7 50
Getting out manure $3 50, hoeing twice $3,
Gathering and husking $4, interest on land at $60

$3 60 .

$3 09

16 12^

$19 2H

$4 25
7 50

6 50

7 60

Product.

$25 85

Corn fodder equal to one ton of hay, . . $8

00

50 bs. corn at 75 cts., . . .37

50

$45 50

Profits on corn,

$19 75

Oats, one acre.

Ploughing $1 50, harrowing $1, 2| bs. seed $1,

$3 50

Cutting and binding $1, getting in 50 cts., interest

on

land $3 60,

5 10

Threshing paid for by straw.

Product.

$8 60

40 bs. oats at 40 cts.,

16 00

Profits on oats.

$7 40

37

From Lanesboro^the subjoined return was obtained from a farmer
whose whole estabhshment is a model of neat and exact husbandry ;
in neatness and carefulness perhaps no where surpassed.
Ploughing $2, seed J bs. 50 cts., . . . $2 50

Manure, 20 cart-loads, i of the cord to a load, 50 cts.,

half to be charged to the corn, . . . 5 00

Getting out manure $3, . . . . 3 00

Planting 3 ft. square, $1 50, hoeing 3 times $7 50, . 9 00

Cutting up and gathering $2, husking $2, . . 4 00

Interest on land at $40, . . . . 2 40

$25 90

61 00

Product.

Corn fodder equal to 1 ton of hay, .

. $9 00

50 bs. corn.

. 50 00

Pumpkins, 2 loads,

. 2 00

Profits on corn,

$35 10

This farmer is in the practice of occasionally planting potatoes
among his corn. In this case he plants his corn 3 ft. 6 inch, apart
in the rows, and a hill of potatoes between the hills of corn. In
this way he frequently obtains 150 bs. potatoes upon an acre, and con-
siders the crop of corn not much lessened on account of the potatoes.
The injury to the corn is in this case rather a matter of judgment
than of exact experiment ; and therefore this conclusion is in my
mind to be somewhat distrusted. Corn and potatoes planted in al-
ternate rows, or one row of corn and two of potatoes, have suc-
ceeded well ; and from two acres of corn and potatoes planted thus
alternately, there is little doubt that more corn and more potatoes
may be obtained than from two acres, where the corn and the pota-
toes are planted separately. In cases of alternate planting, the corn
has a great advantage in its exposure to the sun and air. In the case
above mentioned the potatoes occasioned a very small diminution of
the number of hills of corn on the land. Here the potatoes, which
require, particularly, coolness and moisture, obtained an advantage
in being protected to a degree, from the drought, by the leaves of
the corn. In all these cases, however, of mixed crops, and of mul-
tiplying plants upon the land, two things are to be remembered ; the
first, that they are always of more difficult cultivation ; a potato crop

38

is kept clean with much more difficulty than a corn crop, and the
corn crop with potatoes intermixed with it, is kept clean with much
more difficulty than when cultivated alone. The second thing to be
remembered is, that the preparation of the land must correspond
with the amount of vegetation grown upon it ; and a great crop can
be expected only from a soil abundantly enriched. The art of pro-
ducing fire and warmth without fuel, or of sustaining either vegetable
or animal life without nutriment, is not yet attained.

The expenses of cultivating an acre of oats, as given by the same
farmer, are subjoined :

Ploughing and dragging $2, seed 2i bs. ^I 25, . $3 25

Sowing 25 cts., half the manure and expense of get-
ting out $6 50, .
Cradling and tying up $1 50,
Interest on land at $40,

Product.
40 bs. of oats at 50 cts..
Straw against expense of threshing.

Profit on oat crop, . . . $6 10

I shall add the return of another farmer, of the expenses of cul-
tivating an acre of ruta baga :
Ploughing green-sward and dragging, .
20 loads coarse manure at 50 cts., half to this crop.
Getting out with team, half the expense,
Drilling and sowing rows 24 inch, asunder.
Hoeing and weeding the first time.
Hoeing &c., second time $3, gathering $11,
Interest on land at $45,

6

75

1

50

2

40

$13

90

$20

00

Product.

900 bs. at 10 cts.

$3

00

5

00

2

00

50

3

00

14

00

2

70

$30

20

$90

00

$59

80

He subjoins the remark that ruta baga are in his opinion better for
sheep than potatoes ; that his manure is spread on the surface and
thoroughly harrowed in.

From Cheshire I have two estimates, which I subjoin :

39

Expenses of cultivating an acre of Corn.
Ploughing $2, dragging $1, . . . •

30 loads manure, half a cord to a load, ^ to be charged

to the corn, . . . •

Getting out manure $1 25,
First hoeing $2 25, second hoeing $1 62i,
Third hoeing $1 25, topping stalks $1 50,
Gathering and husking $4, interest on land $2 40,

Product.
One acre of corn fodder equal to 1 ton of hay $9 00
40 bs. corn, . . . . 40 00

Profits on corn,

Expenses of an acre of Oats.
Ploughing, harrowing and sowing,
37^ bs. seed $1 75, cradling and gathering $1 50,
Manure $6 25, .

Interest on land at ^40, . . . .

Product.

Straw against threshing.
40 bs. oats at 50 cts.,

Balance in favor of oats,

$3 00

5 00

1 25
3 87^

2 75

6 40

$22 27^

$49 00
$16 72J

$1 50

3 25

6 25

2 40

$13 40

$20 00

$5 60

I add the estimates of another farmer in Cheshire, who has had
much and successful experience.

Expenses of an acre of Corn.
Ploughing green-sward, $2 ; dragging, 50 cts., .
20 loads manure, half to the corn,
Getting out manure, $3 ; planting, 3 ft. square, $1,
Seed, 5 qts., 25 cts.; hoeing, including horse, $2 50,
2d hoeing, $1 50 ; 3d hoeing, $1 50 ; topping stalks, $1.
Gathering and husking, $3 50 ; interest on the land, $2

$24 45

$2 50

5 00

4 00

2 75

4 00

0,

6 20

40

Product.
Fodder, equal to one ton of hay, . $8 00

40 bs. corn — sometimes have CO, . 40 00

^43 00

$23 55
Expenses of an acre of Oats.

Ploughing and dragging, $1 50 ; seed, 2^ bs., $1 25, $2 75

Manure, and getting out, . . . . 6 00

Cradling and harvesting, $1 25 ; interest on land, $2 70, 3 95

$12 70
Product.
40 bs. oats, at 50 cts, ..... $20 00

Straw against threshing.

Had more than 45 bs. this year, 1838.

Profits on the crop, . . . . $7 30

I have deemed it best thus at large to report the estimates of prac-
tical farmers in different parts of the county, as to the expenses of
the cultivation of the different crops, which they are accustomed to
raise. The price of labor, at a dollar per day, including board, is
undoubtedly above its actual cost ; but it is better it should be
so, than that a deceptive impression should be given as to the re-
sult by any under estimate of the expense. The estimates were
procured sometimes from individual farmers ; at other times, at a
meeting of farmers, where the estimates were corrected and deter-
mined, by being submitted to their united judgment. I only add,
that the most earnest desire has been felt, and all possible pains taken
to have these statements exact and true.

It will be remembered, that in the customary rotation of crops, as
say, for example, Indian corn and oats, or potatoes, Indian corn and
oats, or Indian corn, potatoes, and oats, the land is generally laid
down to grass, and remains in grass from two to three or four years ;
or in general, while it continues to yield a ton of hay to a cutting. In
a rotation of corn, and oats, there is but one manured crop. Where
Indian corn and potatoes precede oats, the land has usually two years'
manurings. In the preceding estimates, it will be perceived that the

41

whole of the manure is charged to the cuhivated crops, wo mean cul-
tivated in this case in distinction from grass crops. But it will be
seen, at the same time, that the benefit of the manuring is felt in the
grass as well as the grain crops. In order to judge of the profits of
cultivation, it is proper to take into view the whole rotation, — say, of
five or six years ; as, for example, coin, oats, grass three years ; or
the following, which is an approved rotation : corn, oats with clover
and plaster ; then wheat ; and grass three years. Now, what is the
usual return of grass ? I have stated the amounts reported to me ;
but I will here repeat them as given. In Pittsfield 1 and 2 tons to
the acre. Sheffield, 2 tons, and 2i tons ; 4 acres yielded 12 tons ;
5 acres yielded 15 tons. West Stockbridge, 2 tons. In Slockbridge,
from 60 acres of alluvial land a crop, averaging 2^ tons of hay, has
been repeatedly obtained. From 3 acres of land belonging to a highly
intelligent and successful cultivator, whose lamented decease oc-
curred the last summer, ten tons were obtained ; and this, too, from
land redeemed from coinparative worthlessness by his excellent man-
agement. Other reports give 2 tons to an acre ; one case an alluvial but
cultivated meadow ; the other i;pon some of the high lands in this fer-
tile town. In Egremont, li ton. In Lee, 1^ ton. I might ex-
tend these returns, but it is not necessary. In estimating the returns
of land, after obtaining the results of grain or cuhivated crops, then
add the grass of three years, averaging for the time, 1^ ton to the
acre. Deduct from these returns the cost of getting the hay, which
is generally estimated at $1 75 to $2 per ton, and the interest of the
value of the land. Suppose the return in hay to be Ij ton per acre,
at $8 per ton ; and in no part of Berkshire is it estimated at a lower
rate ; the amount would be ^12. Then the cost of making the hay
is $3 ; and the interest upon the value of ihe land, at ^40 per acre,
is $2 40 — leaving |i6 60 as the net return each year of the land in
grass. This is a low estimate of the value of hay ; and a liberal
charge for expenses. The hay, likewise, is presumed to be con-
sumed on t le place ; and there is, therefore, no loss of manure, as
when the hay is sold from the farm.

The method of cuhivaiion adopted by one farmer in Egremont de-
serves, perhaps, a particular notice. Ilis farm consists of six hun-
dred acres, three hundred and fifty of which are under improvement.
The soil rests maioly on mica and argillaceous slate. The growth ie
6

42

oak, walnut and chesnut, vvhicli, he says, will replace itself once in
twenty years.

His average yield of crops is, corn, 25 30 bs., has raised 55 bs.r
oats, 30 bs., weighing from 30 to 34 lbs.; winter rye,20bs.; winter
wheat, 25 bs.; grass, 1 to 2i tons.

His rotation is corn on green-sward, oats with clover, rye or wheat
and the land stocked down to grass. He sows a peck of herds grass and
clover, equally mixed, to an acre. But he uses no barn manure. He
is accustomed to sow one bs. of plaster yearly, to an acre. He says he
knows nothing of land becoming, as it is termed, plaster-sick. His crops
are not large, but they are raised at a small comparative expense. This
mode of management prevails in the neighboring district of New York,
Columbia and Rennsellaer counties, where the whole country is ag-
ricultural, and in no part of the country is agriculture more suc-
cessful. One farmer, for example, within ten miles of this farm,
plants annually, in corn, 100 acres and raises upwards of 2500 bs. of
corn. The oi)eration of gypsum on these lands, which is obtained
lie're prepared at about 10 dollars per ton, is singularly efficacious.
But it is not the plaster alone that supplies the place of manure. It
will be observed, that he turns under a large amount of vegeta-
ble nutriment, when he ploughs up l)is green-sward for corn ; and
when he ploughs in his oat-stubble charged with clover. This es-
tablishment on the side of the mountain, and near the turnpike-road
leading from Sheffield to Hudson, is a fine example of highly pro-
ductive and profitable agriculture.

4. Teasels. — Of other crops raised in this county, the one that
principally deserves attention, because the cultivation is not much
known, is the Fuller's Teasel — {Dipsacus Fullonum.) This, in
some few places, has been cultivated with eminent success. The
burr produced on this plant is of great use in the manufacture of wool-
lens, being employed to raise a nap on the cloth, that it may be pre-
pared for the operation of the shears. Substitutes have been at-
tempted in machinery made of steel ; but there is an elasticity about
the vegetable, which cannot be given to steel in this case ; and the
steel machinery is liable to tear the cloths. The amount of teasels
consumed in the country is considerable, and is likely to increase.
We have not, within reach, the means of determining the precise
quantity.

43

There were imported into Boston, —

In 1835, 531 packages, atnouniing to . . ^17,630

" 1836, 362 4c u ^ , 10,450

^' 1837, 31 " '' . . . 1,860

Total value, . . , $30,040

This amount constitutes but a small portion of the whole consump-
tion.

The teasels raised in tiiis country are esteemed inferior to the
best German teasels, and command a much lower price. A man-
ufacturer of great experience, both in Europe and in this country,
states, in a letter with which I have been favored, " that for a wool-
len factory the teeth must be full and strong ; the color, grecn-yelloiv.
When the teasel is yellow, it has been cut too late ; and is conse-
quently too ripe and not good. The core must be full ; if empty or
decayed, it is diseased. The kind denominated Rouaner is esteemed
in Europe the best quality ; they are far superior to those grown in
Avignon in France. If the teasel is quite green, it is not good ; as
the teeth run all one way, and do not come back, as they have not
had sufBcient sun. If too yellow, they are too ripe, and their strength
is lost ; and the teeth break off and become useless, after being used
three or four times ; but the good ones, green-yellow, can be used
twelve times on one side, then turned and used twelve times on the
other side."

I have the statements of three farmers familiar with the cultivation,
whose estimates of the yield of an acre will be found to differ consid-
erably from each other. This may arise from a difference in the culti-
vation, or in the assorting of the several qualities ; perhaps the one in-
cludes more in what he deems marketable, than the other. Of the farmer
who reports the smallest amount, I only say, that his crop was beau-
tiful ; and his teasels all assorted with the greatest care, being done up
in separate bunches with neatness, and hung up separately to be
dried.

He reports 85,000 to an acre. Another reports from 200,000 to
300,000. A third, 250,000 ; and states, that on three acres he, in
one instance, obtained a crop of one nnllion. In one instance, 30,000
were raised on one-sixth of an acre ; that is at the rate of 480,000 to an
acre. The burr must be 1 J inch in length, in order to be rendered
merchantable. The manufacturer will buy those which are shorter,

44

but at an inferior price. The English divide them into three qual-
ities : kings, middlings, and scrubs. Tiie latter are saleable at a
low rate.

They are a crrp which requires two years to come to mnturiij' ;
and they are liable to be killed by the winter. The soil should be a
deep, rich, moist loam. The cultivation should be as careful and thor-
ough, as for any garden crop. The English speak of a clayey soil as be-
ing most favorable to this crop, and advise rather against high manuring.
Our own cultivators are of a different opinion ; and say the ground
cannot be made too rich. The crops with us arc as large as the
English crops ; but our cultivators often raise a crop of carrots be-
tween the rows of teasels.

The plants are sowed in rows, eighteen inches apart ; and the
plants are thinned to a distance of four inches in the row. They are
to be kept as clean as possible ; and in the spring every other row is
to be taken up and the j)lants left a foot apart in the row ; those
which are taken up may be transplanted. The transplanted roots are by
no means so [)rodticiive as those which remain where they were
sown.

Teasels are deeined very good when they yield twenty burrs to a
stalk ; fifteen is considered a good crop. A careful farmer in this
county often gets fifty ; but his cultivation is very skilful. They are
to be gathered soon after the blossoms fall and while green, except-
ing what are reserved for seed. An industrious man w'ill cut six
thousand per day ; ten thousand are sometimes cut, but it is an extra-
ordinary day's work.

The teasels are liable to be killed by winter, or rather by thawing
and freezing in the spring ; particularly from the snow-water freezing in
the heart of the plant. The snow, therefore, in the spring, is to be
carefully cleared aw^ay from the plant. The plants require to be pro-
tected in the winter by a covering of hemlock branches. Straw is
often used ; but it is apt to become a harbor for mice, which destroy
the plants. A farmer at Stockbridge recommends scattering some
grain among the plants, to divert the vermin from the teasels. He gives
it further, as his opinion, that the chance of success in the cultivation
is seventy-five in a hundred. The price has fluctuated in a n)ost ex-
traordinary manner ; but it is not likely to be so variable while the
intercourse with Europe remains free. They are very extensively
cultivated there. As they are somewhat a rare crop with us, I have

45

been thus particular in describing the mode of cuhivation. At present
prices, $1 50 per 1000, under good cultivation, they will afford a
fair compensation. The kind of seed is of great importance, and I
have accordingly imported a quantity of the best GcMinan seed for
distribution among our farmers. The best article can be raised at as
iiitle expense as an inferior plant ; and the value of it in the market
is much greater. It is to be said in favor of this crop, that the high
manuring and clean cultivation which it requires, make it an ex-
cellent preparation for wheat. The crop, if well cured and managed,
is of a durable character ; and the farmer, therefore, need not sacri-
fice his product through any unfavorable fluctuations in the market.

5. Flax. — I recollect meeting with a few patches of flax. The
crop on an excellent farm in Sheffield gives usually about 400 lbs. of
flax, and 12 to 14 bs. of seed ; and it may be cultivated on the same
land once in four or five years. Under such circumstances, it is deemed
a profitable crop. Farmers have yet to learn the great value of flax-
seed, made into jelly, in fattening cattle. No substance of the same
bulk and expense within my knowledge, is so fattening for neat cattle
and sheep.

III. DAIRY HUSBANDRY.

I proceed to speak now of another of the great interests of the ag-
riculture of Berkshire, — the Dairy.

The dairy business has always been a great business. For a time
it gave way to the raising of fine wool, when the prices of that staple
were high. Since the abatement of the demand for wool, with
that caprice for which mankind always have been, and there is reason
to think always will be remarkable, many farmers have sacrificed
their flocks ; and are now giving their exclusive attention to the dairy
husbandry. These changes, in matters so important as the dairy or
the sheep husbandry involving, as theydo, a considerable investment
of capital, and many expensive fixtures, cannot be suddenly or fre-
quently made without risk of serious loss and disadvantage.

The county of Berkshire is admirably adapted to the dairy bus-

46

bandry. Grass is every where abundant. The soil is suited to the
cultivation of esculent vegetables in the highest perfection. Several
increasing manufacturing villages, with their swarming population, re-
quire supplies from the farms in the vicinity. Besides this, the great
mart of the country, the city of New York, is easily accessible.
Most of the farmers in Berkshire can reach Hudson with their pro-
duce, by a journey of four to eight hours, and put on board the boats
at four o'clock p. m., it is in New York by an early hour the next
morning. The farmer usually allows two cents a pound commission
for the freight and sale of his butter ; and, upon other produce, it is
equally reasonable. He does not return from the river empty ; but
carries home a load of plaster, or of articles of necessity for his
family. The great roads to the river, after the hills are surmounted,
are among the best in the whole country. The rail-road, already
open from Hudson to West Stockbridge, will afford to many of the
farmers all the facilities they can desire for reaching the Hudson river.

Produce and Expenses.

1. Egremont. — I will, in this place, slate, as an example, the opera-
tion of a farmer, who resided about twenty-five miles from Hudson.
The great object of his attention was the making of butler, which was
sold every week in the New York market.

From 18 cows he sold 2400 lbs. butter, at 23 els. net. With
these cows he fed 17 spring pigs until October, whose average
weight was 177 lbs. each, half of this pork, say 8S lbs., was
to be credited to the cow. He is of opinion, that when pork is 5)^10
per ICO lbs., a cow will give at least $8 worth of pork per year.

Cow, Cr.
133 lbs. butter, at 23 cts., (comm. paid,)
Pork, ....

Cow, Dr.
Wintering, ....

Pasturing, ....
Salt, .....
Interest on $25, 10 per cent, risks included,

Profits of a cow, .... $18 S4

$30 59

•

8 00

$38 59

$12 00

5 00

25

2 50

(it 10 7/^

47

It is understood, that no extra feed is in tliis case given to the cow ;
and the butter and milk used in the family, it is supposed, will fully pay
for the attendance. This is a fair profit ; but it is, as I think, we
shall presently see, much less than it should be. No animal is better
entitled to good keeping than a cow ; because none makes a more lib-
eral return for all the extra kindness and feed and attention bestowed
on her.

In another dairy, nine cows made 1550 lbs. of butter, and 300 lbs.
of clieese.

Another dairy of twenty cows produced, — of butter, 500 lbs.; of
new milk cheese, 4000 lbs.

In this town, two acres of land are deemed sufficient for pasturing
a cow or fatting a steer. Twenty head of cattle, made up of cows
and three year old steers, were fatted upon thirty acres of land.

The subject of dairy-produce is of such importance, that I shall
give various returns and calculations. I omit names ; I should be
glad to give them, and in a majority of cases it might not be disap-
proved ; but a fear of giving offence, or of being thought to take an
improper liberty, or of interrupting that freedom of communicaiion,
which I wish should subsist between myself and the farmers, and
which seems indispensable to the success of the survey. Induces me to
withhold them, save where permission has been explicitly granted, or
the nature of the case renders it obviously proper. Tiie statements,
which I give, rest upon undoubted authority.

2. In Otis. — Twenty cows gave 5000 lbs. new milk cheese, for
sale ; each averaging also 25 lbs of butter ; 600 lbs. of cheese were
also used in the family.

Cow, Cr.,

280 lbs. cheese, at 8 cts., .... 5^22 40

25 " butter, at 20 cts., . . . 5 00

Calf, .... . 4 GO

Pork, 26 lbs. at 6 cts., . . 1 56

$32 96

43

Coiv, Dr.
Wintering, . . . . $12 00

Pasturing, .... 5 00

Interest on cost of cow, $15 — 10 per cent, $1 50
Labor and attendance, . . . :2 16

$20 66

Balance in lavor of cow, $12 24

3. Laneshoro\ — Sales from 12 cows : — cheese at 12 els.; but-
ter at 25 cts.; gross amount, $600. Xo account in this case is
made of supplies in the family.

4. Sandisfiehl. — The average yield of a cow in ordinary seasons is
rated at 250 lbs. with common keeping. By extra keeping, the quanti-
ty is increased to 350 or 400 lbs. The quantity of butter in addition,
to each cow is supposed to be from 40 to 50 lbs., where new milk
cheese is made.

The amount of cheese made in Sandisfield, in 1837, was estimated
by a most competent authority, at 300,000 lbs.

Another farmer, with a dairy of 15 cows, stales the average product
of a cow, if she raises her calf, at 250 lbs.; if otherwise, 300 lbs.;
and 25 lbs. butter also, from each cow. Four hogs may be kept to
20 cows. Jn this way, weighing 100 lbs. in the spring, they will
weigh 300 lbs. in the fall. 140 lbs. of pork is to be credited to 5 cows.

The cost of wintering a cow here, is rated at $10 ; pasturage, $4.
A good dairy woman will take charge of thirty cows, with assistance
in milking and in handling cheese. Her wages will be $1 50 per
week, with board.

5. In I'yringhnm, the average yield of a cow is reckoned at
new milk cheese, 283 lbs., and butter at trie same time, 57 lbs. A
dairy of 28 cows gave 7912 lbs. new milk cheese, and 1600 lbs. butter.
A large amount of pork was fatted on this farm ; but it is difficult to
say what portion of it is to be credited to the dairy.

6. In Sheffield, the average product of 28 cows was 394 lbs-
new milk cheese, and 50 lbs. of butter each.

49

The product of a cow is thus stated by this excellent manager :

Cow, Cr.

400 lbs. new milk cheese, at 8 cts., . . . $32 00

Calf, (killed at 3 days old,) ... 1 00

50 lbs. butter, at 161., . . . . 8 33

Whey and butter-milk, make one hundred lbs. pork, 8 00

$49 33

$12

GO

3

50

3

25

2

50

4

00

$25

25

Supra, Dr.
Winter keeping, ....
One acre of land costing $50 will pasture the cow,
Salt 25 cts., 3 bs. bran $3,
Int. on the value of cow at $25, 10 per ct.
Labor of milking, making butter, cheese, &c..

Balance in favor of the cow, . . $24 OS

The quantity of land estimated for pasturage in this case seems
small. It must be small for a general rule ; another farmer in the same
town assured me that he kept one yoke of oxen all the season, and
one horse half the season, on two and a half acres of land, which
he showed me. The land had been greatly benefited by plaster.

7. In JWic J\Iarlboro\ the yield of a cow is estimated at 300
lbs. new milk cheese ; 4 hogs are kept to 20 cows ; 2 tons of hay
are deemed requisite for a cow ; value of hay sold $10 ; but if the
farmer can realize $6 per ton for it used on the place, he deems it
better than to sell it. Eight to ten acres of land here, with the use
of plaster, is deemed sufficient for the pasturage of four cows.

8. In Great Barrington, 9 cows produced 1900 lbs. new milk
cheese and 800 lbs butter. In another case from 8 cows were sold
of butter 200 lbs., of new milk cheese 1225 lbs. In another case
5 cows through the season, and an additional cow half the season,
from 1st. June to 10th Nov., produced 651 lbs. butter — and 200 lbs.
new milk cheese. In this case the weekly returns were given.
The same farmer says, that his cows will average one pound of but-
ter per day through the season. He states his cow account thus :

7

50

Cow, Cr.

200 lbs. butter at 20 cts.,

$40 00

Calf raised, ....

2 00

Butterniilk, and skirn milk for pork, equal

to all the care.

$42 00

$16 00

6 50

2 00

$24 50

Supra. Dr.
Wintering, 2 tons of hay,
Pasturing, 25 cts. per week, 26 weeks,
Int. on cost of cow $20 at 10 per ct..

Profits of a cow, .... $17 00

9. In Jilford^ the actual yield of a cow was as follows :
Butter, 240 lbs. sold.

Cheese 100 lbs. do., besides using what milk and butter were re-
quired by two persons. She had her own skimmed milk, but no
meal or grain. She consumed, as ascertained, two tons of hay ;
and her pasturage was 25 cts per week.

10. In West Stockbridge the report given is 300 lbs. new milk
cheese to a cow ; $40 are often obtained from a cow ; $30 are
deemed an average yield.

11. In Stockbridge, the proceeds of a dairy of twenty cows
are thus given :

20 cows. 4000 lbs. new milk cheese sold at 9 J cts., $380 00

1000 lbs. skim milk, " " 6 " 60 00

600 lbs. butter, " " 25 " 150 00

$590 00
This gives $29 50 cts. to a cow.
No account is made in this case of the supplies of the family, nor
of the amount of pork fatted, both which items would greatly have
increased the result.

12. In Lenox, the return of a dairy of 15 cows, was of new
milk cheese 1200 lbs. ; of butter ISOO lbs.
The return of another dairy is as follows :

51

10 cows produced of butter 1120 lbs. S oz., sold at
18 cts,, ..... $201 69

" " cheese, 800 lbs. sold at 9 cts., 72 00

J73 69

13. Tolland. — From a highly intelligent farmer in a town ad-
joining the county, Tolland in Hanijoshire co., I received so partic-
ular an account of a dairy, that I shall here insert it, though it might
be thought to come more properly under the report of another
county.

15 cows produced 4500 lbs. cheese, sold at 9 cts.

per lb. ..... . $405 00

and 509 lbs. butter sold at 19;^ cts. 99 25

$504 25

Fifteen cows will nearly fatten 4 hogs, weighing in the spring 20
lbs. each ; in the fall, 240 lbs. each. In this case it is deemed pro-
per to credit the milk with 140 lbs. weight of each of these swine ;
140 lbs. -\- 4 are equal to 560 lbs. pork at 8 cts. = $44 80 — this
divided by 15 gives to each cow a credit of $2 98| cts. —
Butter and cheese 504 25, add pork 44 80=549 05.
The proceeds of each cow is $36 60^ — add calf and

rennet $1 00, $37 60^ . . . $37 60^

Exj}C7ises.

Wintering a cow, usual charge, . . . $90 0

Pasturing do. $6 50, salt 50 cts., . . 7 00

Interest on the value of a cow $23 at 10 per ct. . 2 30

One woman will manage the milk of 30 cows,
Her wages $1 50 per week, 28 weeks, her board $1

per week
Wages and board for a dairy of 30 cows would be $70,

or $2 33 each,
Additional help in milking and turning cheese 67 cts.

Profits of a cow.

2 33

67

$21 30

$15 30J

52

No account in this case was taken of the butter and milk used in
the family ; but supposed to be not less than 150 lbs. of buiter.

14. Chesldre is devoted almost exclusively to the dairy husband-
ry ; and has been celebrated for the excellence and abundance of its
produce. For the goodness of their cheese, however, I must rely
upon authority. Its appearance in some of the dairies, which I ex-
amined, bespoke careful, neat, and skilful management.

A farmer with 25 cows, states their average yield at 300 lbs.
cheese, and 20 lbs. butter to a cow. He says likewise that 1500
lbs. pork are to be credited to his cows.

The average cost or value of his cows is $30 each ; wintering
$14 ; pasturing 26 weeks, $6 25 ; he raises some calves upon
whey. It requires the whey of two or three cows to raise a calf.
His hogs at 18 mos. average 350 lbs.; they run in a pasture and have
the refuse of the dairy until about six weeks before it is intended
to kill them, when they are shut up and fed with corn and meal. A
shrewd farmer observes, that, where swine in this way run in a pas-
ture, it should be laid down as a rule, to have their trough always
wet or always dry. This means that they should have as much whey
as they are disposed to eat ; or, by being kept wholly without any,
they should from necessity get their living in the pasture. They re-
quire quietness of mind and freedom from restless desires in order
to thrift ; and they are like other epicureans whom variety and
abundance render fastidious.

The dairy of another farmer consists of 20 cows. The year be-
fore last they yielded 400 lbs. new milk cheese ; the last year 400
lbs. each, besides an ample supply of butter for the family. He cal-
culates upon the proportion of one hog to four cows ; with the above
cows he made 1200 lbs. of pork, 600 lbs. of which he credits to
the cows ; he deems 3 acres necessary for the pasturage of a cow.
His cows during the spring, have an allowance of rye meal and whey.

In another case the produce of 23 cows was 12,000 lbs. new milk
cheese, and 500 lbs. butter.

Another case from 1 1 cows including 4 three-year-old heifers,
there were sold and used 3475 lbs. new milk cheese, and 403 lbs.
butter. Three hogs were likewise fatted ; and it was considered
that 400 lbs. pork were to be credited to the cows. Two tons of

53

bay were required for the wintering of a cow, valued at ^8 per ton ;
or she might be kept for hire at 50 cts. per week.

In another case 30 cows made 14,000 lbs= new milk cheese ; and
500 lbs. butter. In this case some calves were raised ; but most of
them were killed at four days old. Throughout the county of Berk-
shire this mode of dealing with the calves is termed " deaconing"
them. What is the particular propriety of this provincialism, I am
unable to determine ; and whether it had its origin in any superstition
among the aborigines or the first settlers of the county, I shall leave
to the antiquarians to ascertain. It is a peculiarity, and prevails no
where else.

The practice, with this farmer, is to give boiled corn in the ear to
his cows ; perhaps a dozen ears to a cow per day. When it is con-
veniently had, he gives a mess of rye meal to each cow, at the rate
of two quarts per day, for three weeks in the spring. He is anxious
to let his cows go to the grass as soon as the ground is bare. He
thinks cows are liable to suffer from excessive feeding in the barn.

The wintering of a cow requires If ton of hay, . . $14 00

Pasturing, 20 cts. per week for 26 weeks, . . 5 20

In 40 days of the best of the season on this farm 30 cows pro-
duced 4000 lbs. butter. The land required for the pasturage of a
cow is considered to be three acres.

From thirty cows, an average of 425 lbs. of cheese has been pro-
duced to each cow, and ten lbs. of butter ; or 300 the whole.

On one farm, where 18 cows were kept, 11.385 lbs. new milk
cheese were made in a season, which gives the extraordinary average
of 632J lbs. to a cow. 200 lbs. of butter were made the same sea-
son from the same cows. One of these cows produced 1000 lbs.
new milk cheese.

During the first part of the season, for two months, two quarts of
rye meal were given to each cow. Half of this quantity of meal was
given them for one month during the last of the season ; and the greater
part of the time they had their whey. 1000 lbs. pork were made on
the farm ; and half of this was credited to the cows.

The same individual, when on another farm in South Adams, with
twenty-one cows, made 626 lbs. new milk cheese to a cow, in a

54

season. 1700 lbs. of pork were raised in connexion with the dairy.
Half ihe pork was considered due lo the cows.

The process of making cheese began the 25th April, and ended the 1st
December. As soon as the cows calved, the cows received 3 qls.
of meal per day each — principally rye, with some Indian ; and each had
some whey, though not half what was yielded was given to them.
Three or four of the cows received meal all the summer. He
commenced feeding again with meal on the 25th July, and continued
to give them two quarts of meal until the 25th of August. On the
the 25th of August, he began feeding the cows with corn-stalks until
lOth September. Then the cows had the after feed of the fields ;
and from the 1st October, these cows had half a load of pumpkins per
day. In November, fed every cow fully with meal ; two and three
quarts per day until 1st December. After that, the cows had noth-
ing but hay until spring. From the same cows, at the same time,
butter enough was made, and milk enough used, for a family of six
persons. The cheese sold in New York for ^10 per 100 lbs.

These products are certainly remarkable, and show what may be
done by attention, skill, and good treatment of the animals under our
care. The pasturage in Cheshire is of an excellent description.
The soil is generally of a rich gravelly loam resting upon litnestone,
and abounding in vegetable mould. It is likewise sensitive to the ap-
plication of plaster, which is very commonly used.

IV. DAIRY STOCK.

The farmers are unanimous in their preference of the common native
stock of the country, in which the Devon blood predominates, to any
foreign stock with which they are acquainted. They are in general as de-
cided in their preference of small, over large-sized cows. They are not,
however, raisers of stock ; and buy their cows wherever they can find
them, according lo their best judgment. The remarkable produce,
if so it be considered, is to be attributed to extraordinary good man-
agement and keeping ; and on this account, deserves the more at-
tention, as showing Avhat may be done.

The dairy stock in England which seems to have the preference over
all others, is the Ayrshire. The origin of this stock is not well ascer-
tained ; but though it has some of the qualities of the improved Dur-

55

ham, it is a race distinct from that. Great pains have been taken and
great expenses incurred, in order to introduce this fine Ayrshire race
of cows into our state, by the Massachusetts Agricultural Society, and
by an intelligent and public-spirited friend to agricultural improve-
ment in Watertown. I regret that I am not able to obtain such re-
turns as would enable me to speak confidently of the merits or de-
fects of this stock, so far as these cases go ; — but I am safe in say-
ing, that some slight disappointment has been experienced. It is
probable, from the celebrity which they had obtained abroad, too
much was expected from them here. Extravagant statements have
been made respecting their produce in Scotland. One of the advo-
cates for this stock, and a man upon whose authority great reliance is
placed, has undertaken to calculate precisely the number of quarts of
milk given, and the number of pounds of cheese made from what is
stated to be in money the average produce of an Ayrshire cow. This
is certainly rather a loose way of reaching the result. Entire reli-
ance cannot be placed upon it. Tiiis, another distinguished Scotch
farmer and dairyman admits ; and says that " those statements are far
too high and not well founded."

He refers to a farmer, on whose exactness he entirely relies ;
whom he pronounces a man of superior intelligence and accuracy ;
and who has devoted himself to dairy husbandry ; and, farther, whose
stock were particularly select, and "who had every inducement to keep
them in the highest condition requisite for giving the largest product
in milk." The farmer referred to, states, that at the best of the season
the average milk from each cow is 9 Scots pints (4^ gallons), and in a
year, 1300 Scots pints or 650 gallons. A Scots pint is two quarts.
Now, allowing these cows to be in milk 320 days, the average yield
of a cow would be 8 J of a quart per day. But if we understand this
to be wine measure, which is the usual standard of measurement in
England, and compare it wiih our customary admeasurcnient of milk
in Massachusetts, which is always beer measure, we must deduct one
fifth ; and then the average product of an Ayrshire cow, compared
with ours, is 6i qts. per day for 320 days. Such a yield is often
surpassed by cows of our native stock. I have before me the case
of a cow of native stock among us, who, in 26S days, yielded 2923
beer qts. of milk ; and of another, that produced 3975 beer qts. of
milk in ten months. I can produce, within my own knowledge, a list

56

of nearly fifty cows of native stock, almost as productive as these.
I do not mean to undervalue the impoited stock. Far from it. I
deem the introduction of the Ayrshire stock and the improved Dur-
ham short-horn, a great benefaction to the country. Their tendency
to fatten, their early maturity, their beautiful proportions, highly com-
mend them to our good will and our interests. As yet, we have not
had, by any means, a sufficiently fair trial of their dairy properties so
as to determine fully, either for or against them ; and it has been found
here, in repeated instances, as it has proved abroad, that a cow, from a
cross of an improved Durham, with the Devon, has given a valuable an-
imal for the dairy. But among the great advantages which is to result
from the introduction of this improved and beautiful stock, is this :
to give our farmers a knowledge of what can be done by skill, intel-
ligence, care, selection, and perseverance in the art of breeding ani-
mals for any purpose ; in obviating defects of form, constitution, and
habit; and in perpetuating and transmitting excellent and desirable prop-
erties. In the Ayrshire stock, and in the improved Short Horns,
the most shrewd and persevering efforts have been exerted, and the
highest practical ^kill and philosophy have been taxed to carry this
race to as great a degree of perfection as any thing of the kind can
be ; and the success- has been decisive and wonderful. Excepting in
one instance, to which I shall hereafter refer at large, perhaps there
cannot be found in the whole of New England, a single instance of
any enlightened, determined, and systematic attempt to form a race of
animals of particular and desirable properties. It is most important
that this should be attempted in different parts of our country, with
what are called our native stock, who have become, in various ways,
so crossed and mixed up, that there is in truth no particular race
among them. A large portion of them are as ungainly, unthrifty, and
unproductive as can well be represented or imagined. Yet there are
among them so many extraordinary animals, — extraordinary for their
produce in milk, butter and cheese, — that a few years of careful and
intelligent selection from the materials already to our hand, and a
strict observance of those philosophical principles of breeding which
are well ascertained and understood, would undoubtedly give us a
breed of animals, a stock or race of animals, greatly superior to that
which now exists among us. This has been attempted in one in-
stance by a highly intelligent breeder among us ; and he is now able

57

to show three generations of animals of as extraordinary char-
acter for the creamy or butyraceous quality of their milk, as has
ever been known. Two quarts of what is called the strippings. the
last part drawn off of the milk of one of these cows, having repeat-
edly produced one pound of butter ; and the cream, as it came from
the pans, as I have seen myself, becoming by churning converted
into butter of the finest description in less than one minute by the
watch ; and this process repeated at pleasure.

Let us now compare the amount of cheese made by the English
dairies, with some in this county of which I have here given an ac-
count.

An Ayrshire cow, it is said by the English authorities, will yield
257 lbs. butter per annum, or about 5 lbs. per week, all the year round,
besides raising the calf; or of new milk cheese, about 514 lbs.
There returns are certainly large ; but they rest upon a calculation
of the quantity of milk, which the cow is supposed to yield, rather
than upon any account of an actual yield. None at least is given. This,
therefore, is not so satisfactory as it would be, if it were a precisely
ascertained result. One of the best authorities says, that in Eng-
land, " a well-fed cow of a good breed will produce, upon an average,
180 lbs. of butter in the season. The common calculation is indeed
150 lbs.; but this is made upon mixed stock, which affords no cer-
tain data. In the Epping district, where there is an indiscriminate
mixture of Devon, Suffolk, Leicester, Holderness, and Scotch, the
calculation, in a well-managed dairy amounts to 212 lbs.; that is, 6
lbs. per week during 26 weeks, and 4 lbs. per week, during 14
weeks. The average product of cheese in the best dairies, where
the whole milk and cream are used, cannot be estimated at more than
4 cwt. — that is, 448 lbs. On deep grazing soils, that carry a heavy
stock, a well-managed cow is reckoned to make from three hundred
and sixty pounds to six hundred pounds. In Somersetshire, the av-
erage is 4^ cwt., or 540 lbs.; in Essex not so high, and in the mid-
land counties something more than 3 cwt." It will be seen, in looking
back upon the dairy returns in some parts of this county, that they are
inferior to these, not frequently passing beyond 250 or 300 lbs. of new
milk cheese. On the other hand, the returns of some of the dairies in
Cheshire show an actual amount of annual produce of more than 500
lbs. to a cow, and in some cases 627 and 632 lbs. It may be said,
9

58

that this is owing to the fine pasturage which is to be found in Ches-
hire and its vicinity ; to the particular care which is taken of the
cows ; and the system of high feeding adopted. But it shows
conclusively that the cows are capable of bring brought to this
productive yield ; and the feed and management are matters which
can be adopted any where.

V. AMOUNT OF DAIRY PRODUCE.

This matter of the dairy is an affair of such great agricultural im-
portance, that I deem it best to go more at large into it, though
I must here refer to some facts, which properly belong to the report of
other counties. To evince fully the importance of this interest
I have been at pains to procure, with as much accuracy as possible
in the case, the actual produce of this branch of husbandry in two or
three towns, and here give it to the public. It will be understood,
that this is independent of supplies of butter consumed in the families,
of which no account was kept, and for which, therefore, nothing is
credited.

The first is the account of the produce of the town of Cheshire,
for 1838. The number of cows kept, the pounds of new milk
cheese and skim milk cheese made and sold, the amount of cheese
used, and the amount of butter sold are all given. I have the
names of all the farmers, whose produce is here reported, but deem
it most acceptable to these gentlemen to withhold them.

1 . Cheshire.

59

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60

The return from Cheshire the past season 1838-9 embraces only
the principal dairies, as it was not in my power to obtain a more com-
plete return. This gives 270,500 lbs. of cheese ; but there is no
reason to suppose there has been any falling off.

2. Peru. The return I have from Peru of butter and cheese
made for sale in that town in the season of 1838, is of cheese 30,000
lbs., of butter 13,000 lbs. The town of Peru has a population of
650, and its principal husbandry is the raising of wool.

3. Sandisjield. The quantity of cheese produced in Sandisfield
in 1838, for sale is estimated at 300,000 lbs. Sandisfield has a pop-
ulation of 1493. From other towns in the county, though returns
were promised, I have been unable to obtain any but such as are
wholly conjectural.

A farm in South Adams last year produced more than 16,000 lbs.
new milk cheese.

I hope it will not be deemed inconsistent with the proper gravity
of my report, if I here refer particularly to an individual case of
dairy farming in this vicinity, which much interested me, and holds
out a beautiful and encouraging example of the success of industrj',
perseverance, frugality, and good management.

This farmer has now a dairy of 24 cows ; and they produce a
cheese per day, weighing about 100 lbs. Supposing that it requires
a gallon of milk to produce one pound of cheese, this would give 400
quarts of milk per day, or at the rate of 10 2-3 of a quart to a cow.
These cows are all of native stock ; most of them raised by himself.
His average product of new milk cheese to a cow in a season, is
betv/een 500 and 600 lbs. Last year the actual yield was 598 lbs.
to a cow. Of his 24 cows last year, two were heifers of two years old,
just come in. Four years since he was the owner of a cow, whose
milk in the best season amounted by actual weight to 70 lbs. per day.
During the time of her greatest yield, she was fed with four pails of
cheese whey, and some rye meal. She was of native stock. This farm-
er has a heifer from her, which gives, as he supposes, 60 lbs. of milk
per day. He gives an opinion, which from his successful experience
certainly deserves attention; that heifers which "come in" with
their first calf at two years old, do better than when their coming in
is delayed until three years old. Their milking properties are in this
way improved. Probably hv is right in this matter ; but the general

61

experience of the best farmers recommends that, if a heifer comes in
at two years old, she should not be allowed to have another calf, un-
der at least eighteen months from this time.

The establishment of this farmer is substantial and independent.
As far as the common comforts of life are concerned, little more
seems to be desired. Good air, good water, plenty of bread, plen-
ty of fuel, plain and substantial clothing made by the hands of his
own family, and the product in a great measure of their own flocks
and fields; an estate which he can call his own with truth, because it
has been purchased not by fraudulent speculation upon other peo-
ple's earnings, but by the healthful toil of his own muscles and the
sweat of his own brow ; luxuriant pastures filled with those benefi-
cent animals, who are nourished by his kindness, and settle their
bills in the most honorable manner every night and morning ; and a
clean dairy room of ample dimensions and exismplary neatness, with
its numerous shelves, loaded with the richest produce, and speaking as
well for the in-door as the out-door management ; these features com-
bined in this picture, present one of those beautiful examples of rural
independence, and the bountiful rewards, with which a kind Provi-
dence is pleased to crown industry, frugality, and good management,
with which I am happy to say the County of Berkshire is every
where sprinkled over, even on its high mountain summits, as well
as on its fertile alluvions, and in its peaceful and secluded vallies.
The independent proprietor of this establishment is now sixty-six
years old. At the age of nineteen he was not the owner of a dollar.
He now adtnits himself worth thirty thousand dollars ; and all this,
with the exception of less than fifteen hundred dollars, is the produce
of his own farming industry, as he has never been engaged in any
speculation whatever. A higher good than all this is found, in the
fact which he added with an honest pride and an enviable pleasure,
that he had brought up eight children in habits of honest industry ;
and not one of them had ever disgraced his parents.

The standard of dollars and cents is a very imperfect standard, by
which to measure the prosperity of such a man. It is a prosperity
which money cannot purchase, and money cannot measure. It is a
prosperity flowing from deeper, purer, and more enduring sources ;
from a competency for the evening of life, earned by honest labor;
a mind unembarrassed by the fear of want, and the vexatious ca-

62

prices of trade and speculation ; and a grateful sense of the kindness
of that just and beneficent Providence, whose blessings have ren-
dered his peaceful and unpretending labors successful.

VI. NEAT CATTLE.

Of the neat cattle of the county much might be said in praise.
Yet they are of no particular denon)ination, but intermixed with many
accidental varieties. The North Devon stock mainly prevails
throughout New England. Different varieties have been introduced,
and crosses have been made in some instances with obvious advan-
tage ; but, as before remarked, intelligent, systematic, and perseve-
ring attempts at improvements in a breed, have not been made with-
in my knowledge on any extensive scale in Massachusetts, save in
one case, to which I shall presently refer more in detail.

1. Extraordinary Cows. I shall give an account of some re-
markable animals which have been found among what arc called our
native cattle. It is not pretended that they constitute a distinct race
or characterize a particular class of animals ; but they show at least
what materials are within our reach, upon which to build a stock of
high character.

A cow of Samuel D. Colt of Pittsfield, from 1st December to
27lh April, 148 days, produced 193 lbs. of butter.

A cow owned by R. Campbell of Pittsfield, has yielded 26 beer
quarts of milk per day.

A cow owned by Hosea Merrill, gave 30 beer quarts of milk per
day.

A cow owned by D. Fenn of Stockbridge, 8 years old, produced
in one week 12 lbs. 9 oz. butter. During the same time, 10 quarts
of the milk were sold, and in addition cream and milk were used
freely in the family.

A cow owned by Calvin Davis, 4 years old in the spring of 1838,
in 172 days produced 225 lbs. butter, and fatted a calf. An acci-
dental injury to the cow, prevented a continuance of making butter.

63

Two cows of Wm. Dewey, of Alford, in good season, averaged
for a length of time, 14 pounds of butter each per week.

A cow belonging to the late Dr. Hyde, of Siockbridge, for some
time produced fourteen pounds of butter per week.

Two cows in Vandeusenville, produced 14 lbs. of butter each per
week.

A cow belonging to Millard of Egremont, produced 14 lbs.

of butter per week.

From two cows belonging to Russell Brown, in Cheshire, besides
the free use of milk and cream in the family, 90 lbs. of butter were
produced and sold in three weeks, and in four successive weeks 114
lbs.

A cow owned in Stockbridge, by Stephen Willard, produced as
follows :

In 321 successive days 331 lbs. butter.
«' 284 " '' 293 "

" 306 " " 31S "

911 days 942 lbs.

" The above is exclusive of 25 lbs. made while fattening three
calves." He adds " my method of keeping has been grass only, from
spring to fall. In the fall I begin with pumpkins and potatoes, and feed
moderately during the lime she gives milk. An account has been
kept for only three years ; but it would not vary much from the
above, for the twelve seasons I have had her, except the present sea-
son she has been farrow." This cow is now eighteen years old,
" and will calve again about the middle of February."

Two cows owned in Pittsfield, produced each 50 lbs. of milk per
day ; and one other 32 lbs. at a milking.

A cow owned by Thomas Hodges, in North Adams, produced
last year 425 lbs. of butter ; 400 lbs. of this amount were made in
nine months. Her feed consisted of one quart of rye meal, and
half a peck of potatoes per day ; and very good pasturing.

To this list I will add the case of another cow, in the neighboring
county, whose product must be considered as quite extraordinary.
She is owned by Joseph F. Upton, of Ashfield. Franklin Co.

From the first of April, 1837, to the middle of Februaiy, 1838,
her product was 335 lbs. 15 oz. From the 9th of May, 1838 to

64

the 28th December, 1838, she had produced 303 lbs, 3 oz. of but-
ter, and was still making at the rate of one pound per day.

The owner adds, " In the year 1837, I killed my calf at three
days oM, and ga\e my cow tlie skimmed milk tlirougli the summer.
I commenced the first of October to feed on potatoes. I gave her
about one peck per day boiled as long as she gave milk. In the
year 1838, I fattened my calf and killed it at four weeks old. It
weighed 75 lbs. She has had nothing but grass this year, until the
first of October ; since then I have fed her with one peck of boiled
potatoes per day. My cow is seven years old last spring." Her
winter-keep at present, while giving milk is as much hay as she will
eat, and one peck of boiled potatoes per day. These cows are all
of native stock, without any admixture of foreign blood. The three
cases of largest product certainly cannot be considered as examples
of high feeding. It is extremely desirable that some skilful farmer,
should by a judicious selection from such animals as these, endeavor
to form an improved race for the dairy. I have already said that
this has been attempted by one gentleman in the state.

Before I proceed to say what he has accomplished, I will mention
an interesting fact, communicated to me by an observing farmer of
Stockbridge. Thirty-two years since he became the possessor of a
very productive cow ; and has continued tlie breed to this day. She
has never produced a bad milker, and some of her descendants owned
by other persons in the village do equal credit to their parentage.
The yield of one of them, which came within my knowledge, is
twenty quarts per day.

2. Improvement at Ten Hills Stock Farm ; Middlesex
Co. The great improvement in dairy stock, to which I have re-
ferred, has taken place on the Ten Hills Stock Farm in Charles-
town, near Boston, under liie skilful and enterprising efforts of Sam-
uel Jaques. This account might perhaps with more propriety come
under the report of Middlesex ; but as intimately connected with
dairy husbandry I shall give it here, even though I may be induced
to repeat it in another form. Perhaps no man in New England or
the country has more practical skill, or better judgment in relation
to live stock than Mr. Jaques ; and his experience has been long ;
and marked by careful and critical observation in those points to

65

which his attention has been particularly directed. I have the plea-
sure therefore of letting him speak for himself, suggesting only such
observations as I may deem proper to be submitted. The great prin-
ciples of breeding to an experienced and philosophic mind, are al-
most as well determined as the great principles of mechanics, chem-
istry, or any other branch of natural philosophy. The first and most
undoubted of all principles is, that like produces like ; and farther,
that good qualities and bad qualities are transmissible ; and as where
two animals come together of peculiar merits, the good qualities are
likely to be transmitted, so also where prominent defects or faults
exist, these faults or defects are likely to descend and to become
aggravated. This applies especially to breeding within the lines of
consanguinity among all animals, the human not less than the brute
races. It is therefore the great aim of the accomplished breeder,
to make such a selection that the desirable qualities shall predomi-
nate on both sides ; and especially that animals having similar defects
or bad properties, should not be suffered to mingle to the aggravation
of these evils.

A distinguished statesman of Kentucky, as I learn from a private
source, has given it as his opinion, that the milking properties of cows
is much rather matter of accident than of breed ; and that we must
despair of being able to continue and transmit this property with any
confidence of success. With the highest respect for the agricultural
skill and intelligence of that gentleman, I cannot accede to this opin-
ion ; and it is directly contradicted by experiments made with the
improved stocks in England and confirmed by several years' success. I
know that it has become almost proverbial, that you cannot rely with
certainty upon a good calf, because you breed from a good cow. But
it is to be considered that few careful trials are made ; that the charac-
ter of the sire from which we attempt to breed, if any thing, more impor-
tant than that of the dam, is generally matter of indifference ; and we
are unreasonable enough to expect a good calf, when we send our
cows to any miserable runt that happens to be in our neighborhood ;
that any substantial improvement of this nature, is seldom to be ex-
pected from a single cross, especially from animals, which are not
themselves high bred, but merely if the expression be allowed, acci-
dental individuals ; and that such improvement can only be expected
by continued trials, and careful and successive experiments.

66

3. Cream-Pot Breed. — From an account of his enterprises
and success, with which Mr. Jaques has favored me, I make the
subjoined extracts :

" It has been my object to effect such an improvment in milch
cows as should produce the greatest quantity of rich milk, affording
the largest quantity of butter. There is a greater difference in pecu-
niary profit between a good or a poor cow than among any other do-
mestic animals. In some yards, there may be found those which will
not produce more than three pounds per week, and others that would
make nine, and all on the same keep. As we sometimes hear of
cows, which have produced seventeen pounds of butter per week,
and even more, it occurred to me to inquire why a breed or race
could not be formed with the same valuable properties. This I
have attempted ; and have carried it to the third generation, and I am
confident of success. I have a cow, whose milk has produced nine
pounds of the best butter in three days : and this on grass feed only.
This I call my Cream- Pot breed. I have bred my cream-pots with
red or mahogany-colored hair, yellow noses, with mahogany-colored
teats, yellow skin, silky and elastic to the touch. I have obtained
the breed by the cross of a Durham short horned bull on a selected
native cow with certain extraordinary points and properties, anxious
to retain as much of the form of the Durham, as to ensure capacious
udders and widi the valuable property of affording rich milk. Though
an admirer of the Durham short horns, I have not found them produ-
cing so rich milk nor making so much yellow butter as I could wish.
The Durham race are round and straight in the barrel, full in the twist,
and inclining to be thick in the thigh. I have wished for some improve-
ment in the form of the bag. But I would premise, that whatever
I may say in respect to breeding animals, I only desire to express
my own private notions, widiout a wish to dictate to any one, from
the experience I have had, which, I am sensible, is very limited.
Generally, cows, which I have examined, giving the largest amount
of the richest milk, have had capacious bags, full behind, extending
far up into the twist and also well formed ; hanging moderately deep
when full in milk, and after the milk is drawn, quite the reverse, for
I would avoid a fleshy bag. My Cream-Pot breed are full in the
body, drop deep in the flank, are not quite so straight in the belly,
nor as full in the twist, nor as thick in the thigh ; but in other re-
spects I wish them to approach the Durham as near as may be.

67

My Cream-Pot breed excel particularly in affording a great quantity
of rich cream, and that cream capable of being formed into butter in
a short time, and with little labor, leaving a small proportion of but-
termilk. Their cream produces more than eighty per cent, of pure
butter ; and it is not infrequent to form the cream into butter in one
minute. It has been done in forty seconds.

" I have a heifer designated as Betty Cream-Pot, one of the third
generation, which produced her first calf at two and a half years old.
Mr. Brown, my foreman, made the following experiment upon her
milk, without my knowledge at the time. After milking, he took two
quarts of her milk out of the pail, and having strained it into a pan,
allowed it to stand twenty-four hours. Having then skimmed the
cream into a bowl, he churned it with a table spoon ; and in one
minute, by the clock, he formed the butter. It was then pressed and
worked in the usual way, and amounted to half a pound of pure but-
ter. After this the following practice was pursued for eight or ten
weeks in succession. At each of four successive milkings, two
quarts of the strippings were strained into a pan, making eight quarts
in the whole. All was mixed together in the same pan, and then
churned. The average time of churning did not exceed ten min-
utes ; in some instances the butter was formed in five min-
utes. After being properly worked over, it was weighed and never
fell short of two pounds. The remainder of her milk was for family
use, and, when set for cream, produced the usual quantity. These
experiments were made on grass feed only. She did not give a
large mess ; only about twelve quarts per day. I have forty cows
and heifers, ten bulls and bull calves of different grades of this cream-
pot breed, all bred and raised by myself. I keep my bulls, selected
as breeders, until I have proof of the quality of their offspring. My
old cream-pot bull is ten years old. My Don Cream-Pot, from
which I am now breeding with some of my cows and heifers, is three
years old."

It will be seen, that Mr. Jaques speaks with all the enthusiasm of
an amateur. I cannot endorse, certainly to their full extent, all liis
doctrines respecting the power of breeding at pleasure, any animals
of any desired shape or color, and of forming them as a statuary
would mould his plaster ; but the approaches, which a scientific and
experienced breeder can make to such a power as this are very con-
siderable, as all the improved races of animals show, whether among
neat cattle, horses, sheep or swine.

68

The dam of this stock was a noble sized cow, raised in Groton,
Mass.; but the owner there knew nothing particularly of her origin.
She was sold to a gentleman by the name of Haskins, residing in
Dorchester, about five miles from Boston ; and her cream was of
such extraordinary richness, that it would become separated into but-
ter by the motion of the carriage in bringing it into the city. The
stock owned by Mr. Jaques is descended from this cow by a cross
with the improved Durham short horned bull Coelebs, imported some
years since into Boston by a gentleman of that city, and owned after-
wards by JNlr. Jaques. This bull was without a pedigree ; but it is
said there is good reason to believe, that he was a regular descendant
from Mr. Collins's celebrated bull Comet. The bull now owned by
Mr. Jaques is a son of his by the daughter of the Haskins cow,
which was also the daughter of CcElebs.

Mr. Jaques is entitled to great credit for his care and judi-
cious selection in continuing and improving the stock. I have re-
peatedly seen the cream from these cows ; and its yellowness and
consistency are remarkable ; and in company with several gentlemen
of the Legislature, I saw a portion of it converted into butter with a
spoon in one minute. The color of Mr. Jaques' stock is a deep red,
a favorite color in New England. They are well formed and thrifty
upon common feed ; and, if they continue to display the extraordi-
nary properties by which they are now distinguished, they promise to
prove themselves, for dairy purposes, the most valuable race of ani-
mals ever known among us ; and as remarkable as any of which we
have any information. They have now reached the third generation ;
and maintain their high character.

From six cows taken promiscuously in a dairy of improved short
horn stock, in England, with a view to test the quality of the milk,
it was found that they gave in the following proportion of butter to
one quart of milk :

No. 1, .3 oz. 6 dwts. No. 4, 1 oz. 10 dvvts.

2, 1 " 6 " 5, 1 " 14 "

3, 1 " 12 " 6, 1 " 6 "

These measures, it will be perceived, are given in Troy weight,
of which it requires 1 75 lbs. to make 144 lbs. Avoirdupois. It is not
stated, whether the quart was beer or wine measure ; and it is there-

69

fore difficult to adjust the proportions. A variety of circumstances
likewise would affect in some degree, the result, as whether the milk
was taken at the beginning or the last part of the milking ; and how
long the cows had been in milk from the time of calving ; and what
was the kind of feed given them at the time of the experiment. Still,
I have quoted the result, as under any circumstances, showing by
comparison the extraordinary product of the cream-pot breed.

4. Dairy and soiling in Waltham, Middlesex Co. —
There is another case of dairy management upon a small scale, which,
though occurring in another county, and that not a grazing county, is
of so remarkable a character, that it will be highly interesting in this
connexion. The authority upon which it rests is unquestionable. It
shows particularly what may be accomplished by proper management,
in locations, which are comparatively unfavorable ; and by means
within the reach of individuals, whose possessions may be very re-
stricted.

In Waltham, Middlesex Co., a gentleman had four cows ; but not
a rod of ground, which could be appropriated to pasturage. These
animals were, therefore, never out of the barn or the barn-yard ; and
were fed with grass mown for them ; with green corn fodder, which
had been sown broadcast for this purpose ; and with about three
pints of meal each per day. The amount of their produce was kept
for thirteen weeks. Two of these animals were heifers of two years
old, who had calves the same spring ; and the whole milk of one of
them was taken by her calf during six weeks out of the thirteen.
Some of the milk of the other was taken for family use, but the quan-
tity not determined. Under these circumstances, these heifers could
not be rated as equal to more than one cow of full age and milk.
From this stock, however, thus circumstanced and fed, 389 lbs. of
butter were made in the thirteen weeks. An additional pound would
have given an average of thirty pounds a week for the whole time to
a stock which must be in fairness set down as three cows only. This
experiment was made in 1837.

5, Raising Calves. — These statements will, I hope, stimulate
the farmers in all parts of the state, and particularly where the dairy
husbandry is pursued, to attend more than they have done to the

70

selection and improvement of their neat stock. Small hopes can be
entertained of this until farmers get into the habit of raising their own
calves. The high prices, which all kinds of stock have maintained
for the last two years, has induced many more farmers to do this
than formerly. In my opinion it ought always to be done where the
stock from which you propose to raise the calves, is worth continuing.
Tliis can be done in the interior at much less cost than is gener-
ally supposed, if suitable measures are taken to efiect it in the best
manner.

A farmer of my acquaintance, in the interior, raises all his calves
from a large stock of cows. His cows are known to be of prime
quality- His heifers are allowed to come in at two years old, and
are then sold with their first calf generally for thirty-five dollars, which
he deems a fair compensation for the expense of raising. His calves
are raised mainly upon skiin-milk and whey, until they can support
themselves on hay and grass. His steers pay a proportional profit,
when sold at three to four years old.

The English authorities say, that upon two cows calving at differ-
ent times, seven calves may be fattened for the butcher in the course
of the year. More than this may be done if the calves are to be
reared for stock ; and if some little addition of meal or vegetables is
added to their feed.

Mr. Jaques remarks, on the subject of raising calves, that " he
generally lets them take a portion of milk from the cows for about
three months, and prefers keeping them in the stall until they are
about a year old, thinking that he gets better forms, rounder bar-
rels, straighter backs, greater broadness on the loin and hips, by this
management. Calves turned to grass at two and three months
old, become pot-bellied, their backs bent, acquire a narrowness in the
loins, and seldom get over the defect entirely."

I believe that it is decidedly better to raise them in the stall or
yard the first season, as their feed is much more uniform, and their
growth not interrupted by sudden changes. They soon learn to eat
hay ; and carrots or potatoes cut fine for them will be found highly
beneficial. In all cases, the calf should be taken from the cow
as soon after his birth as the cow's udder is brought into good
condition and her milk fit for use ; and then should be fed by
hand. " In my opinion," says a highly intelligent farmer of Stock-

bridge, "calves raised for other purposes than veal, should be early
weaned from the dam ; and nursed at least one year upon food,
adapted to give firmness and expansion of muscle, rather than to fat-
ten them." The observation of another farmer, a plain man, but one
of the most observing and practical farmers in the state, is deserving
of attention. "One of the most important points, says he, in the
feeding of the calf, is to feed him well when the grass first fails in the
fall by frost. If suffered to fall off then he does not recover, and
suffers more by scanty food than other animals." I shall subjoin in
the appendix a letter, with which I am honored, from an intelligent
farmer of much experience in J3raintree, on this subject of raising
calves, which deserves particular attention. *

6. Quality and Management of Dairy Produce. — The
quality of the dairy produce in Berkshire County perhaps deserves
remark. Much of the butter is very good. I ate little however that
could be pronounced of the very first quality. This is always a rar-
ity and cannot be expected but with peculiar pains-taking. It is im-
possible to convince our people of this, excepting where they have
sometimes tasted butter with that peculiar richness and deliciousness
of flavor, which I know not how to describe, but by comparing it to
the richness of the odour of a new blown rose, with all the dew drops
glittering among its leaves. I have tasted such butter several times
in Massachusetts ; and therefore am certain it can be made ; and I know
that such butter would always command almost any price in the mar-
ket. Something is in the cows. The milk of different cows is
known to have very different tastes, and therefore it must have other
different properties. Much is in the feed. It is well known that
June butter, when the pastures are in all their luxuriance, and Sep-
tember butter, when the cows are turned upon the after-math, are
generally of a superior quality to that made at other seasons. But I
believe from the best observation I can make, it depends more than
any thing else upon perfect cleanliness, a pure atmosphere in the milk-
room ; and especially upon the freshness of the cream, being taken
early from the milk, and churned soon after being taken off. The
salting too is of much moment ; but the medicaments of saltpetre

* Appendix D.

72

and sugar, do not in my opinion improve the flavor, nor assist the
keeping, of the butter. What is greatly wanted in Berkshire county
is a spring house for keeping the milk. 1 do not recollect the oc-
currence of one ; but on account of the numerous streams with which
the country is watered, and the chrystal springs which burst from the
sides of all their beautiful mountains, no part of the country is more
favorable to such establishments ; and in those parts of the county
where the proximity to the Hudson furnishes immediate and ready
access to the city market, the great consumer which is ready to ab-
sorb every thing that comes within its reach, a good butter dairy,
where by means of a spring house for the milk, and plenty of ice for
its transportation, the article might be sent to market in its best
state, a good butter dairy would yield a handsome profit. For swine
the buttermilk is probably worth twice as much as the whey of
cheese. Of the cheese of Berkshire county it would be improper
for me to speak ; as with me cheese is always contraband, and can
under no pretence be admitted to the port of entry. Those who
profess themselves judges, and men of taste in this matter, speak
well of it ; and perhaps a better test of its goodness is to be found in
the fact that it bears a good price in the market. It is sent to mar-
ket in a very green slate ; oftentimes when but three weeks old.
The best English cheeses are not considered as ripe and marketable
until two years old. The general rule of yankee thrift is, we believe,
" to turn the penny quick ;" and to sell what you have to sell when-
ever there are to be found those, who are ready to buy it. This rule
may produce the most money, but perhaps is not as likely to pro-
duce the best cheese. It is not however worth while in this world
to dispute about tastes. Constitution, education, and habit make
strange differences among us ; and when I found, as I did find,
among the farmers in the neighborhood of Lowell, that by a class
of customers in the city, their calves were spoken for as soon as
dropt from the cow and the skin taken off; and that by another class
of customers, the beastmgs., that is the first drawings of the milk from
the udder after parturition, were always bargained for beforehand,
I was obliged to remember, without I hope a sacrilegious perversion,
that "all flesh is grass;" and have recourse to the old chemical
philosophy, which resolves every thing into the four great elements,
«arth, air, fire, and water, only variously combined.

73

A great improvement is thought by some to have been made m
capping the cheeses, as it is termed ; that is, as soon as they are
taken from the press, covering them completely with cotton cloth
sowed over them tightly ; or else drawn round the sides of the cheese
and over the edges, leaving the centre partially exposed. Where the
cheeses are covered entirely, the cloth itself is completely covered
and saturated with the usual unguent of whey-butter and some simple
and harmless coloring matter. The effect is to preserve the cheese
against tiie attacks of flies ; and to render the daily turning of the
cheeses not indispensably necessary; besides preventing their spreading
and cracking. It is said by some persons, that tlie cheese does not
cure so perfectly in tiiis way as when exposed ; and that the sale is
not so ready. Such contradictory statements are made in this case,
however, by those who have tried, and those who refuse to try it,
that I cannot decide on its expediency. It impressed me favorably.

I found in use, in Sandisfield, a cheese-shelf of a siniple construc-
tion, and suspended on a horizontal centre bar, in such a manner that
many cheeses can be turned upon it by a boy, and at one operation.
Bars are so placed that, in turning, the cheeses are prevented from
falling out. The shelves are moveable, and those which have
been used can be easily taken out and thoroughly cleaned and
dried, until by another revolution of the shelves, they are
wanted in their places. This is a cheap construction ; of great con-
venience ; and so useful, that I shall give a full description of it in the
appendix.*

I have much pleasure in saying, that many of the Berkshire dairies
are most exemplary in respect to neatness ; and in this matter pre-
sent beautiful models of domestic management. There are excep-
tions, however, to this commendation. In some instances there is
any thing but neatness. The sink and the pig-stye with all their of-
fensive exhalations, on account of what is called convenience, which
is only an apology, in such cases, for gross laziness, are in much
too intimate proximity with the dairy-room ; and there are cases, —
I shall not venture to say whether I saw them, or only heard of them
— where, if the pigs should perchance mistake their own apartment
and go into the next door, they would never suspect their error, un-

".\ppeudix C,

10

74

less they were ordered out. Admonition, however, seems lost upon
such persons. Slovenliness and sluttishness are incorrigible vices ;
and the fate of such persons seems, as it were, in despair ol' reforma-
tion, irrevocably pronounced.

VII. SWINE.

Of the swine of Berkshire county, there is little remarkable. I
met repeatedly with a breed called the Mocho breed, which are much
esteemed. I have found them in difTerent parts of the state, but I
can obtain no account of their origin. The Berkshire breed from
England has been introduced into the county ; and will extend itself
as soon as its merits are properly appreciated. It is the best hog
that we have among us ; and when used as a cross with some of our
small boned breed, such as the Byfield or the China, or the Mocho,
the progeny is highly approved. In a cross with the grass breed,
so common in New York, the produce is very fine. Beautiful sam-
ples of this cross have been produced on one of the best managed
farms in Massachusetts, in Lexington, near Boston. The average
size, at eleven and twelve months old, has been .300 to 350 lbs.; and
with extraordinary care and feed they have been made to exceed 400
lbs. at ten months old. This early ripeness, in all animals designed
for the butcher, is of great importance.

On the dairy farms, the raising of pork is extensively pursued, ex-
cepting where the whey itself is used for the cows. The expediency
of using the whey for the cows or in preferetice of keeping swine,
is a vexed question among the farmers, which I have no means of de-
termining. One hog is usually kept to four cows. A shoat, weigh-
ing seventy pounds in the spring, kept upon the slops of the dairy
and pasturage, and some meal or potatoes or both, may be expected,
in the fall, to weigh 230 lbs.; and the fartners in general consider more
than one hundred pounds of this produce as in justice to be credi-
ted to the four cows. This, 1 believe, is in most Ccises an under-
esiiniate. No arti le can be gi. en to swiae, so conducive to thrift
as milk, or the slops ol the dairy.

One of the Lest establishments for fatting suine I found in Great

75

Barrington. This farmer, whose whole management is excellent,
fatted, the year before the last, twenty-four large hogs. The current
year he has fatted twenty-five, and their average weight was 318 lbs.;
toial 7,950 lbs. His mode of fatting swine deserves attention. " As
soon as the pastures will afford a good bile of grass, he turns them in
where they can have plenty of clover and water. He is careful to
salt them once a week, or ofiener, if the season is wet ; and changes
them from one pasture to another, as he does sheep or other stock,
which is of much importance through the summer. As soon as he
gathers his harvest, he gives them the stubbles. When these are
well gleaned, he gives them corn cut up by the ground for a few
days, as it is dangerous to keep them closely shut up and feed them
highly in the beginning ; having no exercise, it lends to produce the
blind staggers. In order to remedy this, they must be put upon thin
feed and have as much salt as they will eat. He commences steam-
ing potatoes for his hogs tiie first of October, his ruta bagas not being
then matured ; he mashes them fine ; puts nothing with them but the
sour milk from six cows, and four quarts of salt to a box of twenty-
eight bushels. This feed he continues three weeks. Afterwards,
he commences steaming ruta baga, and continues this feed until the
first of December, which is five weeks. He puts with the ruta baga,
after being mashed fine, four quarts of salt and three busiiels of oats
and pease ground together, into a box containing twenty-eight bush-
els. On this feed they do extremely well. This feed he continues
until the 25th of December ; and then finishes off with meal and
corn." The free use of sail is unquestionably of much advantage.

A very successful fattener of swine in another county, whose
authority in this matter is decisive, is in the habit of boiling corn in
a large vessel and with ihe mixture putting in a few quarts of wood
ashes. The proportions, I cannot exactly ascertain ; but he con-
siders its use once a day of great benefit to the health and appetite
of his swine. He is careful likewise to put charcoal into their styes
once a week. A finer stock of swine or a finer display of fatting
swine 1 have never seen than I have seen at this farmer's place, which
is certainly a conclusive test of the excellence of his management

I have statements without number of the value of apples for feed-
ing swirie. In one case the gain upon raw apples was eleven pounds
weight in twelve days ; and in this case nothing excepting apples

76

was used. The best form of using ihem seems to be to boil them
with potatoes ; and it is recommended by several farmers in this case
to put the apples at the bottom of the kettle ; and the potatoes be-
come thus impregnated with their flavor. This comparatively new
use and value of apples may be pronounced a great discovery of the
most beneficial character. Many farmers not accustomed to speak
lightly pronounce them of equal value as potatoes for the fatting of
swine, for milch cows, and for beef cattle. I can answer for the hu-
man animal. There is no food more healthful or more nutritious in
reasonable quantities than apples cooked or raw. A dish of baked
apples and pure milk is of all others the most delicious to the una-
dulterated taste ; and the free use of apples and milk, in place of the
miserable slops of tea and coffee, would give to the young bipeds of
the family vigorous bodies and bright minds ; abate a large item in
domestic expenses ; and prevent a taste for the two greatest and unal-
leviated curses with which humanity was ever visited, tobacco and
rum .

I had intended in this case to have gone largely into the subject of
the sheep husbandry, one of the most important interests of this coun-
ty and of the state ; but I have determined to omit it here and treat
it at large in my Report of Franklin County which will immediately
follow this ; a county which like Berkshire is well suited to the rais-
ing of wool.

VIII. MANURES.

It must be admitted that little attention is paid to the subject of
manures ; and that a compost heap is scarcely to be found from one
end of the county to the other. The usual resources are ample ;
but the raising of wool has in many cases prevented cultivation ; and
the forming or accumulation of manures has therefore received com-
paratively little attention.

The mineral manures in the county are abundant ; for an account
of which I must refer to the elaborate report of the Geological Sur-
veyor on economical geology, published by order of the government
the last year.

77

Gypsum is obtained abundantly at Hudson. It costs there about
eight dollars per ton ; and can be delivered in most of the western
towns in the county, in a prepared state at less than ten dollars. It
is applied to grass land and pasturage at the rate of a bushel to an
acre ; and in almost all cases with eminent success. Its effects are
more observable on soils based on lime-stone and full of rich vegeta-
ble mould ; but it is of little efficacy on wet or gravelly soils.

A farmer of Pittsfield of great intelligence and experience, and
whose successful husbandry is universally admitted, speaks strongly
of the value of plaster when applied to grass in conjunction with ma-
nure. His own words are " spread the manure and then spread one
and a half bushel of plaster on the manure. The effect is very great
compared with the result when applied without manure." Two
acres, which yielded only a single load, after this application produced
two tons of hay to the acre.

A farmer in Stockbridge, speaks strongly of the great value of
gypsum, when applied on fields which have been thoroughly ma-
nured by the folding of sheep upon them. It may be said this is the
effect of the manure and not the plaster. His own careful observa-
tion leads to a different conclusion ; and he is of opinion that
great benefit results from the combination. This is in conformity
with the theory of Dr. Dana, and Professor Hitchcock in respe; : to
the operation of lime in any ol its forms.

The same farmer gives an account of an experiment of plaster ap-
plied to potatoes, by putting a table spoonful on the seed in the hill.
One quarter of an acre thus managed yielded as much produce as half
an acre not plastered in its immediate vicinity. These effects of
gypsum, in respect to grass and cultivated crops, are confirmed by
the experience of two farmers in his immediate vicinity, as intelligent
and practical as are to be found in the state.

In Otis, ashes on moist land has proved unfavorable ; and repeated,
has occasioned moss and barrenness. On dry lands its effects have
been most beneficial. My business is with facts ; and on such a sub-
ject who can presume to speak with confidence ? As the ashes
applied to wet land becomes immediately dissolved and active is it
not the case that the vegetable is furnished in quantities, which the
plants cannot take up, being filled to repletion ; or passes off in its
dissolved state inmiediaielv into the sub-soil ?

78

In Sandisfield, a farmer whose premises and stock, bespeak skil-
ful and excellent management, and whose fellow citizens have deem-
ed him year after year, well quali6ed to assist in the management of
the state farm, has found plaster applied alone of doubtful utility ;
but plaster applied with manure highly beneficial. Ashes and lime
intermixed with manure have proved very beneficial to pasture
lands. Leeched ashes have been applied with great success to land,
which the year previous has been in potatoes and manured for that
crop.

Two of the best grain farmers in the county in Sheffield, mix
plaster with their manure to great advantage ; and are in the habit of
applying ashes in the spring upon their winter grain. They plaster
their corn on the hill twice in the season.

A farmer in Sheffield, whose husbandry is admirable, uses plaster
to great advantage on alibis crops; and deems it of much importance
that it should be applied early and just as the crops are coming out
of the ground.

The marls found in the county have not as yet proved as effica-
cious as was expected. They have been tried upon potatoes, corn,
and wheat, but with indifferent success. Some disappointment at
first was not surprising both from inexperience in the mode of appli-
cation ; and because from the nature of the substance a permanent
rather than a sudden improvement was expected.

A farmer of Lee, ^vhose observations are careful and intelligent,
made various experiments with this substance. The marl, to which
he had access, contained of soluble geine 2.6 of insoluble, 3.4 of
phosphate of lin)e, 1 .2 of carbonate of lime, 86.2 of granitic sand, 5.0
of water of absorption 1.6. The land to which it was applied was a
rich gravelly loam. Of potatoes six rows through the whole piece
were marled in the hill ; a shovel full in each hill. The rows above
them were not manured. The rows below them were manured with
barn manure. The first part of the season he considered the marled
rows as decidedly the best. In August, when I went into the field,
they were not so promising as those manured with barn manure ; and
were not upon the whole better than those by the side of them without
manure. He writes me since the harvest, " that he cannot say that
he has seen as yet much benefit from his marl, though his potatoes
were somewhat better for the use of it. "

79

A considerable dressing of marl on grass ground on the same farm
produced no perceptible results.

Its effects on his corn were not ascertainable as the whole field
was marled equally. The growth was luxuriant and promising ; but,
whether from the operation of the marl or the fineness of the season,
he could not determine.

At Sheffield, on a small farm which exhibits a beautiful example of
intelligent and successful husbandry, upon a soil strongly siliceous but
abounding in vegetable mould, and based upon lime stone, marl was
applied for the wheat crop. It was applied through the field in strips,
and at the rate of 500 bushels to the acre. Afier the most careful
examination that could be given to it before harvest, comparing the
marled portions with the adjoining, which were not marled, we were
unable to perceive any advantage or effect from its application.
The result at harvest showed no difference.

Tlie testimony every where is unanimous in favor of wood ashes,
applied to cuhivated crops, excepting on new land where it is not
needed ; to wheat in particular. An extensive manufacturer of
Pitisfield, states that "he has tried for several years with great suc-
cess, the ashes from his iron furnace ; the ashes of bituminous coal
and wood charcoal ; and found it of great advantage without any other
manure. Agricultural chemistry has yet a great work before it, in
the solution of these recondite operations.*

A farmer in Stockbridge speaks in strong terms of the beneficial
effects of powdered lime-stone wherever it has been applied. At the
mill for sawing and planing marble by a very ingenious machinery,
much of this material is found reduced to a very fine powder.

IX. FARM BUILDINGS.

The buildings in the county are almost universally of wood. The
best of building stone abounds ; yet I recollect but a single stone
hoiHc in the county ; and to this, refei" nee is had in my first report,
page 121. Here it is slated that the contract for the erection of a

Appendix D.

stone house was somewhat less than that of wood ; and in other
respects it is greatly to be preferred.

I recollect a single instance only of a convenient barn cellar for
the deposit of the manure ; and its protection from the exhausting
and evaporating process of sun and air and rain. This is a most
important improvement yet to be made ; but it is certain the value
of manure is not half appreciated in this county. The broken char-
acter of the land throughout the county, affords every where the
finest locations for this object ; and if in addition to providing for a
location where a good cellar could be made under the barn, the
building should be so placed that the barn floor could be laid upon
the beams, and the drive-way be into the erid directly under the
roof, there would be an immense saving of room, labor, and fatigue.
In that case all the hay and grain would be j)itched down instead
of up ; and great despatch secured ; which, in capricious hay-
weather, is sometimes of great importance. The severe labor and
excessive heat commonly attendant upon pitching off and storing
away hay in our common barns would be also much alleviated.
Two barns in Worcester county, erected by those careful
and excellent husbandmen, the Shakers, are upon this plan, and
greatly approved for their convenience. I am promised a precise
account of their dimensions and arrangement, which I hope to be
able to lay before the public in my report of that county. They
combine many advantages ; and are an improvement upon the Penn-
sylvania barns, where the drive-way and entrance is usually in the
second story ; and the passage way is formed by an abutment on the
outside, presenting an ascent at an easy angle. In Lanesboro', in
one of ihe neatest establishments which I ever witnessed, there was
a little contrivance connected with the doors, the convenience of which
was admirable. The doors were none of them swung upon hinges ;
but run upon small wheels, and were made to slide in by the side of
the wall. These wheels or trucks were attached to the upper end
of the door by a small wooden ledge, by which the door was sus-
pended. The door when opened was entirely out of the way. It
could be opened a greater or a less distance at pleasure. There was
no groove at bottom to become filled up with dirt, and obstruct the
opening of the door ; and there was no occasion of clearing away any
snow or other accidental obstruction from other matters, which

81

might be accumulated in front, in order to open it. There were also
none of the usual troubles of the door being lifted from its hinges or
being slammed or broken by the wind. It is a small affair but accom-
plished much convenience ; and is of a piece with every other part
of this neat and exact establishment.

Of the remarkable barn of a circular form, at the Shaker's village
at Hancock, I shall speak more particularly in another place. It is
three stories in height, and the entrance is upon the second floor. It
is ninety-six feet in diameter. The building is of stone, and of the
most substantial and careful workmanship, like every other produc-
tion of this remarkable community. It is a form of building which
involves a considerable loss of room, and too expensive for the adop-
tion of common farmers.

X. SHAKERS' ESTABLISHMENTS.

In a survey of the Agriculture of Berkshire, it would be inex-
'cusable to pass over these establishments.

1. The Family at Tyringham consists ordinarily of one hun-
dred members. The farm is understood to contain more than one
thousand acres, principally situated on the side of a high hill, and
running- down into the valley, where it is crossed by the small stream
called Hop brook, which empties into the Housatonic river at South
Lee. The view from this eminence, as the prospect extends towards
the northwest, embracing the village of Lenox, "set upon a hill,"
with the whole intervening valley of a diversified aspect and luxu-
riant soil, the little manufacturing bee-hive of South Lee, and the
many rich summits every where scattered in the background of the
picture, their tops and sides fringed with the chesnut and the
rock maple, and the noble pile of Saddle-Mountain lying in the dis-
tant perspective like a contemplative giant in his repose, is among
the most beautiful of those enchanting views, which are constantly
opening upon the traveller, in this picturesque region.

The principal object of their farming, at Tyringham, is the raising
of stock ; neat catde especially. Their dairy is well managed ; and
II

82

they have a garden of four or five acres, devoted to the raising of
garden seeds and medicinal herbs, under skilful and successful cultiva-
tion. Their annual sales have sometimes amounted to $3,100 ; and
they allow to their agents twenty-five per cent, commission on
sales, and take back what is unsold. They produce some wheat,
corn, and oats ; and they are now effecting with great labor and ad-
mirable skill the redemption of extensive alluvial meadows on Hop-
brook, by draining, rooting out the stumps, and cultivating the soil,
which will bring these lands under a course of most productive im-
provement.

Of the religion of this peculiar people, it is not for me in this
place to speak. A religion which holds the severest restraint
over appetites and passions ever liable by their excesses to lead men
astray, which encourages industry, frugality, mutual love and kind-
ness, and that which is certainly not lowest in the scale of virtues,
the most exemplary neatness and order in every thing, is so far en-
tilled to respect and commendation. Under whatever aspect we view
it, we have at least occasion to congratulate ourselves, that we live
under a government tolerant to every honest difference of worship
and opinion ; and to remember, that the same principle, which se-
cures freedom to ourselves, should guarantee to others a like
boon.

2. The establishment of the brethren at Pittsfield and Hancock,
consists of about seven hundred acres, lying together ; and is pos-
sessed by three large families, containing upwards of three hundred
individuals. They are united for all the general purposes of their
society ; but in their financial concerns are as families separate from
each other. The land is not of the best description, being low, cold
and wet ; and their attention is mainly directed to the cultivation of
grass and garden seeds, and the keeping of cows and sheep. Their
first purpose is for their own supply. They raise the best they can,
and they eat the best they raise ; and though from their temperate
and careful hal)its their thrift is remarkable, } et the accumulati n of
property is evidently not a principal object with them. They have
various mechanical contrivances by which their labor is nbridged or
lightened. They have made the best use of the water power which
tlieir place furnishes, and husband it with care and economy. They
have an extensive savv-miil carried by water, and all their fuel is cut

83

in the same way. A simple arrangement which it may appear tri-
fling to mention, impressed me by its shrewdness and good judg-
ment. Ordinarily, fire wood is piled horizontally, and when exposed
to the weather, becomes water soaked and mouldy. Their billets of
wood being sawed were stacked up in convenient piles, the sticks
being placed upright on the end, so that any water which fell upon the
pile was immediately drained off. After being sawed they were neatly
put up under cover.

T have already referred to their magnificent barn, built of stone of
a circular form, three stories in height, ninety-six feet in diameter,
and capable, as well as may be calculated, of containing from three to
four hundred tons of hay. The carts enter in the second story ; the
floor or drive-way is continued round by the wall for the whole of
the circle, so that the cart passes round the entire distance, and when
the hay is discharged, goes out at the same door at which it entered.
All the hay is deposited in the centre. Several loaded wagons may-
stand in the floor, and be sheltered and unloaded at the same time.

The roof is a beautiful and curious specimen of carpentry ; and
appears to be most securely supported. In the centre of the floor,
there rises to the apex of the roof a single column as large as an ad-
miral's mast, around which a hollow frame of slats is fixed, and which
serves as a ventilator or chimney to discharge the steam of the hay.
It is open at the top, and protected by a small cupola against the rain.
At the same time the hay is raised from the ground, about a foot by
an open floor of slats, so that there is, while the hay is new, a con-
stant circulation of air up this chimney ; and one of the friends
informed me, that the steam passing from the hay in this mode was
oftentimes so dense, that, to use his own expression, "you could
wash your hands in it." The arrangements for the cattle are in the
lower story, where every animal has its place and number, and where
every cow is designated by a label on the post as in milk or other-
wise. In this circular form, there is of course a considerable loss of
room ; yet the method of feeding is easy ; the place is kept clean ;
the whole arrangements are convenient ; and the kindly treated ani-
mals standing around this huge mass of hay, have at least the pleasure of
seeing the good things in store for them. These friends have singu-
lar advantages, in the amount of labor which they are able at any
time to command and apply to any object which they have in view ;

84

and their establishment presents a beautiful illustration of the advan-
tages of well directed industry, neatness, and order. The great rule
of domestic economy " a place for every thing, and every thing in
its place," is nowhere more strikingly exem})lified ; and though they
make no pretensions to the fine arts, and have little of what is called
taste, yet all their arrangements, and the products of their labor, ex-
hibit the proofs of thoroughness, permanency, utility, and substantial
comfort.

Their dairy is exquisitely neat in every part of it. Their piggery
is the exclusive concern of a single individual ; and illustrates the
utility in a large concern of a division of labor and of individual respon-
sibility. They have attempted an improvement of their neat stock,
by the introduction of some of the improved breeds, and the young
stock which they were raising from this cross, promised extremely
well, though no opportunity had been had to test its qualities for
milk. Their land is considered in a great measure unfavorable to the
production of grain : and a large portion of their bread stuff therefore
is purchased. They have likewise occasionally hired extensive
tracts of meadow on the Mohawk river in the state of New York,
which they have cultivated by colonies, in order to obtain brush for
the manufacture of brooms, a branch of business which heretofore
they have carried on to a considerable extent. They keep a large
flock of sheep ; and all their woollen fabrics are manufactured among
themselves. They likewise are very extensively engaged in the
raising of garden seeds, which are put up in a very neat manner, as
is well known, and distributed over the country.

A three story brick building or college, erected for one of their
families, is most remarkable for its neatness and the excellence of the
materials and workmanship. What by the " world's people," is
called taste, that is a study of symmetry and beauty in the forms of
objects, is studiously abjured by this remarkable community. Yet
in the perfection of finish, which they bestow upon every production
of their mechanical industry, they show that native perception of fit-
ness, order, and liarmony, which constitute the elements of the most
cultivated and refined taste. The same amount of expense and la-
bor, of which they are never spaiing, already devoted to the con,
struction of their buil lings and the arrangement of their grounds, had
»hey indulged themselves even in a slight degree in tasteful ornamenj

85

and embellishment, without impairing at all the convenience, utility,
or permanence of their works, might have rendered them extremely
beautiful. In so doing they would have found in them a new and
prolific source of pleasure, may I not add also of improvement. 1
know their candor will pardon these suggestions which have no un-
kind origin ; and which have their foundation in the universal beauty
of the natural world, as seen every where and always even in the
perishable crystals of the frost, and the fading tints of the sky, in the
plumage of the birds, in the unrivalled splendors of the vegetable
world ; in a word in every production of the divine power and good-
ness from an atom floating in the sunbeam to a planet, wheeling its
course in the glittering arches of the skies.

XI. EXPERIMENTS AND IMPROVEMENTS.

I have already referred to the experiments made in the applica-
tion of lime and marl. They are not of a sufficiently extensive or
exact character to be deemed conclusive. It is hoped, as suggested
in the valuable report of the geological surveyor, that they will be
continued. There is no reason to doubt, from the long experience
of other countries, that in her lime and marls the county of Berk-
shire contains inexhaustible sources of productiveness and the means
of greatly improving her soils.

The improvement of agriculture, as a science and an art, depends
greatly upon facts. Experiments, illustrating what can or what
cannot be done, are of great value. Farmers object to agricultural
experiments, as involving expenditures beyond their means ; but an
experiment on a small scale, within the means of the humblest farm-
er, may be as instructive and conclusive, in reference to the point
sought to be ascertained, as an experiment of an extended and ex-
pensive character. The point to be mainly insisted upon, and that,
in which farmers commonly fail, is exactness of observation. With-
out this, no experiment is of any value. In this matter I have been
so often disappointed, that my importunity will, I hope, be excused,
when I urge upon farmers attempting, or at all disposed to attempt.

86

experiments, to pay the most pointed attention to the mode of con-
ducting them ; their progress ; the circumstances under which they
are begun and carried on ; and their actual resuUs.

I beheve it must be admitted, that there is no class of men of bu-
siness so little attentive to exactness, in all their operations ; and
none more ready to draw hasty conclusions, or to deal in what are
mere guesses, than farmers.

I certainly design no disrespect to the farmers, when I give an
example of a conversation to which I am too often a party. Indeed
1 should be almost willing to give offence, if I could by any means
induce to more precision and carefulness.

Thus : if I ask a farmer, if he has used lime on his land or his
crops ? he answers, yes. In what quantity to the acre ? he did not
measure the lime or the land. Could he see any difference where
he limed, and where he did not lime ? he limed the whole field
equally. Did he apply it with or without manure, single or in com-
post, or did he apply it to a part of the field with or without manure .''
he applied it to all parts of the field in the same way. Did he per-
ceive any good effects upon the field thus limed and manured .'' yes.
How were these effects ascertained ? did he measure the crop ? no,
he measured nothing, but he was of opinion that the land was bene-
fited by the application ; he thought there was a difference in the
result from what would have been, had it not been limed. But was
this difference attributable to the lime or the manure ? it was all limed
and manured alike ; but he supposed it was t!ie lime. I might go on,
but this will suffice. This is a true account of the manner in which
my inquiries are often answered ; and shows how what farmers call
experiments are often conducted. But can any thing be plainer,
than that by such experiments no certainty is reached. Whether any
advantage was obtained from liming alone, or liming with manure can-
not be determined, because the field was all served alike, and there
were, therefore, no means of comparison. Again ; if the crop is not
measured and compared with a crop not thus managed, how can it be
determined what has or has not been gained ? Again : if neither
part was served with lime alone, and neither with manure alone, and
neither part separately from the part with lime and manure in combi-
nation, how could any thing be determined in regard to the compara-
tive value or use of lime or manure singly or in conjunction .'' Then

81

again, if any thing has been effected, yet, if nothing has been meas-
ured, neither lime, nor manure, nor land, nor crop, how can it be as-
certained what has been done, and what efficacy or utility is to be
accredited to the lime ?

I state this case, which is not in any respect exaggerated, to illus-
trate the difficulty of arriving at correct results solely from the neg-
lect of intelligent and exact inquiry and experiment. But I shall be
answered, that it would be too much trouble to be as exact and par-
ticular as I propose. This is an answer which an inquisitive and in-
telligent farmer, if he means to respect himself, will be very shy of
giving. In most cases, however, it costs scarcely more pains to
conduct and observe an experiment with exactness, than to do it in
the uncertain way in which it is commonly done. But in the latter
case we may be properly said to determine nothing ; in the former
we reach the object of our inquiry, which is generally much more
than a compensation for any pains-taking it may cost us. But in no
matter whatever is knowledge of any substantial value acquired without
labor and careful inquiry. We might as well complain that we can-
not obtain the harvest without sowing the seed, and tending and cul-
tivating the growth. But the constitution and laws of the divine
providence in these cases are inviolable, and not to be turned aside
for our convenience or indolence ; and as far as concerns man's moral
benefit, the benevolence of this unchangeableness corresponds with
its infinite wisdom.

1. Potatoes. — An experiment in planting potatoes was made
by T. F. Pliinkett, of Piilsfield, with a view to ascertain the proper
description and quantity of seed to be used. I subjoin the account
of it ; and deeming them interesting in the same connexion, I add
the results of some experiments made with the same view, in Dover,
N. H., in the year 1813.

Experiment in planting Potatoes, in 1838, by T. F. Plunkett.

1st Row. Seeded with 1 large potato to each hill ; product 5J
bs., and good size.

2d Row. Seeded with 2 small potatoes to each hill ; product, 4^
bs., and small size.

2d Roio. Seeded with 1 small potato to each hill ; product, 2§
bs., aod small size.

88

4lh Row. Seeded with 1 seed end to each hill ; product, 3 bs.
and small size.

5th Row. Seeded with butt end to each hill ; product, 5 bs., and
good size.

6th Roic. Seeded with one-half potato to each hill ; product, 4J
bs., and middle size.

Ith Row. Seeded with 2 common size potatoes to each hill ;
product, 6 bs., and varied sizes.

8th Roio. Seeded with 1 pink-eyed potato to each hill ; product,
3 bs., and fine size.

9th Row. Seeded with 1 black kidney-shape, to each hill ; pro-
duct, 4i bs., and fine size.

Remarks. — The first seven rows were planted with the Burr or
flesh-colored potatoes. The first row produced decidedly the hand-
somest potatoes for size, and I should say that they were the most
profitable. All were manured and cultivated alike.

Result of ff teen Experiments made at Dover, (N. H.) A. D. 1813, of

seeding Potatoes, consisting of twenty hills — the rows three feet
apart, hills two feet, without any manure, on sandy loam that had
been two years planted.

S 2

Is

II

CJo

No. 1

12

2

6

3

12

4

6

&

2

6

1

7

6

8

3

9

3

10

li

11

4

12

2

13

1

14

4

15

6

Description of the seed as put into the ground.

^■is

^1

Two whole potatoes, .... 15

One do. ...... 7

Two do, cut in halves, latitudinally, 15

One do. do. do. 7

'i'he eyes of two potatoes which weighed 12 oz. 3

The eyes of one do. do. 1

One potato cat in quarters, longitudinally, 7

Half do. do. do. 3

Half do. cut in halves, do. 3

One quarter of a j)otato, ... 1
Four ))otatioe8, whole wt. 1 oz. each, produce

small size,

Two do. do. do. rather small, \ 2

One do. do. do. good size, 1

The sprout end of two potatoes, J of each, 5

One potato, weight 6 oz. eyes cut out, . 7

68
Gain by manuring,

80
48
61
55
28
20
56
35
37
32

35
31
42;
33

0 632
143

S9

The jfollowing fifteen experiments arc exactly the same as the former,
with the addition only of a shovel full of good barn manure to each
hill

o i

II

Description of the seed us put into the ground.

Ill

l|

'^1

lbs.

oz.

No. 1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11

12
13
14
15

12

6
12

6

2

I

6

3

3

Ih

4

2

1
4
6

Two whole potatoes, ....

One do.

Two do. cut in halves, latitudinally.

One do. do. do.

The eyes of two potatoes which weighed 12 oz.

The eyes of one do. do.

One potato cut in quarters, longitudinally.

Half do. do. do.

Half do. cut in halves, do.

One quarter of a potato,

Four potatoes, wt. 1 oz. each, the produce,

small size,

Two do. do. rather small,
One do. do. good size.
The sprout end of two potatoes, J of each.
One potato, the eyes cut out, .

15

7
15
7
3
1
7
3
3
1

5
2
1
5

7

88

8

8
4
10
8
12
12
14

8
4

8

0

76
46
73
64
44
46
65
48
54
38

52
44

37
46
42

775

Result of ten experiments of seeding Potatoes, twenty hills each, ma-
nured with a small handful of * Rock-weed.

is

*^ • !

■So

i^^S 1 Description of the seed as put into the ground,
oz.

Weight
of seed in
20 hills.

ll

^t

lbs.

OZ.

No. 1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10

12 Two whole potatoes, ....

6 One do.

6 One do. quartered longitudinally,

3 One half potato, divided do.
li One quarter of the potato,

8 Four whole potatoes, 2 oz. each, .

6 Three do. do. ...

4 Two do. do

2 One do. do. ...

2 One do cut in halves, .

15

7

7

3

1
10

7

5

2

2

63

8

8

12

14

8

8
8

2

73
61
67
52
26
69
44
53
42
47

534

Fucus of I, in. much used as a manure for raisintj corn on sandv plains in this \icinitv.

12

90

The foregoing experiments prove, what all experienced farmers
were convinced of, that poor land requires more seed in all kinds of
crops, than that under a high state of cultivation.

N. B. A bushel of potatoes weighs 56 to 58 lbs.

The potato used for seed in the above described experiments
was the large blue."

Robert Campbell of Pittsfield, states that potatoes, which are cut
early, come up sooner ; and remain through the season in advance
of those which are not thus cut. This, he says, is confirmed by the
experience of other farmers, who recommend therefore that potatoes
should be cut and dried sometime before planting.

Jonathan Allen of Pittsfield has tried planting 45 bushels of seed to
an acre, and in another case 13 bushels ; the result in the latter
case was better than in the former. This is at variance with the ex-
perience of many farmers. He is desirous of having four sprouts in
a hill. The quantity of seed to an acre should depend somewhat on
the manner of planting and condition of the land. Drill planting re-
quires more seed than planting in hills ; but the crop may be ex-
pected to be larger. In drills three feet apart and with good sized
sets or cuttings one foot apart in the rows about twenty-five bushels
for seed will be required.

Wm. Boardman of Sheffield, who is successful in raising very fine
potatoes and of a large size, always plants those which are large ; and
says they should not be planted deeply ; nor covered much ; nor
often ploughed. His potatoes, which I saw, were remarkable for the
absence of small potatoes.

They have a black potato in Pittsfield, of a kidney shape, which
is of great excellence, but does not yield abundantly. I do not
know its origin. In the starch manufactory at Williamstown, they
have found the long red or La Plata potato unfit for their pin-poses
until the spring, and then not deemed equal to many other kinds.
This would seem to indicate the proper time for eating it ; and for
giving it to stock.

Mr. Plunkett of South Adams, gives the opinion of an Irish gen-
tleman, strongly against giving potatoes freely to milch cows. It is
condemned in his country, as serving to enlarge to too great a|degree
the milk vessels of the animal and thus produce disease. The ani-

91

mal so fed falls away the second season. Mr. P. is opposed to their
use for ewes for the same reason.

For fattening wethers I know well their value. Gayton Williams
of Heath, Franklin Co. is accustomed to boil them and give them
freely to his wethers, and ewes which are coming forward with ear-
ly lambs. May not the cooking of them correct the injurious quali-
ties attributed to them by Mr. Plunkett, when given raw ? For fat-
tening oxen in Deerfield, Franklin Co., five bushels of raw potatoes
are deemed equal to one bushel of corn. In my own experience
the advantages from the boiling of potatoes for fattening cattle are not
an equivalent for the expense and trouble. In a very exact trial
made in this matter in France, the advantages in fattening sheep of
cooked over uncooked potatoes were only as 13 to 12. This dif-
ference will scarcely pay the expense. Potatoes are a crop so well
known among us, that little need be said as to the mode of cultiva-
tion. If a large crop is desired, my opinion is that they should be
planted in drills ; the rows being about two and a half feet or three
apart, and the sets placed not less than a foot apart in the rows.
They may then be mainly cultivated with the plough. They should
not be planted deeply ; and they should be kept clean. In general
(ew plants are cultivated in a more slovenly manner. Under good
cultivation, few crops afford more valuable feed to an acre. They
are, I believe, however an exhausting and not an ameliorating crop.
They return little to the soil ; and the almost universal experience is
that wheat does by no means so well after potatoes as after Indian
corn. They are in general so much neglected in the cultivation that
the ground becomes surcharged with weeds.

2. Carrots. Jeremiah Valet, late of Stockbridge, but now an
emigrant to the fertile west, a irue philosopher in a homely garb, a
pure diamond though never in the hands of the lapidary, (I would
not say this if he were not out of the reach of my voice,) was much
in the habit of raising carrots ; and gave a preference to them over
every other vegetable for fattening swine and cattle. This was the
result of repeated trials and long experience. To fatting swine he
gives them boiled ; to store hogs, raw. His crops average SOO
bushels to the acre.

Jno. Merrill of South Lee, has been a very successful cultivator

92

of carrots. He states the yield on two acres at 600 bushels to the
acre ; and the cost of cultivation, exclusive of manure and rent of
land, at 25 dollars per acre ; or a little more than four cents per
bushel. For feeding horses, he says, he should prefer one hundred
bushels of carrots and one hundred bushels of oats to two hundred
bushels of oats. He applied them in a raw state to the feeding of
his team horses, and horses in preparation for market ; and they were
kept by them in high health and spirits. Oats followed his carrot
crop on the same ground with great success. The experience of J.
C. Curwen, Eng. in the use of carrots for horses, corresponds with
that of Mr. Merrill. The authority of Curwen is unquestionable ;
and he was in the habit of employing constandy as many as eighty
horses on his farm and in his extensive coal mines.

" I cannot omit" he says, " stating the great profit of carrots. I
have found by the experience of the last two years, that where eight
pounds of oat-feeding was allowed to draft horses, four pounds might
be taken away and supplied by an equal weight of carrots ; and the
health, spirit, and ability of the horses to do their work be perfectly
as good as with the whole quantity of oats. With the drill husband-
ry and proper attention, very good crops of carrots may be obtained
upon soils, not generally supposed suitable to their growth."

He adds in another place. " The profits and advantages of carrots
are in my opinion greater than any other crop. This admirable root
has, upon repeated and very extensive trials for the last three years,
been found to answer most perfectly as a part substitute for oats.
Where ten pounds of oats are given per day, four pounds may be
taken away ; and their place supplied by five pounds of carrots.
This has been practised in the feeding of eighty horses for the last
three years, with the most complete success, and the health and con-
dition of the horses allowed to be improved by the exchange. An
acre of carrots supplies an equal quantity of food for working horses,
as sixteen to twenty acres of oats."*

My own experience of the value of carrots, which has not been
small, fully confirms these statements. I have obtained at the rate
of more than a thousand bushels to the acre on three quarters of an

■ Curwen's Hinti on Agricultural Subjects.

93

acre ; but on several acres my crop has usually averaged 600 bush-
els to the acre.

Smith of Middlefield, Hampshire county, from three-fourths

of an acre obtained 900 bushels.

Charles Knovvlton of Ashfield, Franklin county, this year obtained
90 bushels on twelve rods of ground. This was at the rate of 1200
bushels to the acre.

D. Moore of Concord, Middlesex county, from six rods of land,
obtained this year 56 bushels, or at the rate of 1493 bushels to the
acre.

According to Josiah Quincy's experience in Quincy, Plymouth co.
charging labor at one dollar per day his carrots cost him eleven cents
per bushel. David and Stephen Little, in Newbury, Essex coun-
ty, in 1813, obtained 061 bushels to the acre, at an expense of |^79,
50 every expense included, excepting rent of land. This was at a
rate less than nine cents to a bushel.

I shall subjoin in the Appendix an account of an experiment made
in feeding swine, illustrating the value of this vegetable, from Arthur
Young.*

The great objection to the cultivation of carrots lies in the diffi-
culty of keeping them while growing free from weeds. If sowed
without any preparation, the seed is a long time in germinating ; and
a plentiful crop of weeds is liable to get possession of the land before
the carrots make their appearance. There is another difficulty. The
carrot seed from its minuteness is liable to be sowed too thickly. To
obviate in a degree these objections, let the ground be ploughed
deeply, well manured, and put in fine tilth ; and let the first and per-
haps the second crop of weeds be ploughed in. After this let the
land be thrown into ridges two feet apart, and the seed sown on top
of the ridges either in a single line, or the ridges be made so wide as
to receive two rows of carrots, eight inches or one foot apart. In
the mean time the seed should be freely mixed with fine sand ; and
this sand kept so moist that the seed shall germinate. As soon as it
is sprouted it should be sown. This may be so arranged that the
sowing shall take place about the first of June. They will then have
the start of the weeds. The mixture with sand will prevent their

"Appendix E.

94

being sown too thickly. After the first thinning and weeding is over,
if done with care, the battle may be considered as won. After-
wards let them be cultivated with a plough or cultivator and kept
clean. When the time of digging arrives, the work will be greatly
facilitated by passing a plough directly along the side of the carrots ;
and they are easily thrown out by the hand.

3. RuTA Baga. — Ruta Baga are differently estimated by differ-
ent individuals. Mr. Merrill of Lee, Valet of Stockbridge, Law-
ton of Sheffield, Bacon and Chapin of Richmond, Colt, Goodrich
and Plunkett of Pittsfield, highly approve of ruta baga ; and some
of them consider them of equal value with potatoes for swine or cat-
tle. Mr. Werden of Richmond, dislikes them, and says the gene-
ral experience of farmers there, is against them. It is difficult to
reconcile these contradictory statements. They are by no means so
nutritious as potatoes, especially those kinds of potatoes which are
most farinaceous ; and they are not comparable to carrots or pars-
nips or the sugar-beet for feeding stock. But they are a valuable,
though an exhausting crop ; and are raised at comparatively little ex-
pense. The golden yellow turnips with purple tops are the prefer-
able kind. The white kinds, and what are called the French turnips,
are an inferior plant.

Mr. Merrill of Lee, applied them to the fatting of cattle with
much success. He purchased a yoke of cattle in the fall, in low
flesh, at $50, and having fed them through the winter on 2 bushels of
ruta baga each per day, with good hay but with no other provender,
he sold them in the spring for $170, at $8 per 100 lbs.

Mr. Ashburner of Stockbridge, whose cultivation of vegetables
is nowhere excelled in neatness and productiveness, is in the habit
of transplanting his sugar-beet by merely making a hole with a hoe,
and laying them in horizontally keeping the tops free. He has found
planting with a dibble too slow a process ; and the plant is not so
likely to live, as the fine dirt is not so easily brought up to the small
roots of the plant. He has tried the transplanting of wheat by way
of experiment, but it was not successful.

I have transplanted ruta baga with great despatch and entire
success, simply by ploughing a furrow ; then taking the plants from
a seed-bed, dipping them in water, separating them and laying them

95

along in the furrow, with the top on the furrow-slice, at a distance of
a foot apart, as fast as a man could walk ; and soon following with a
plough and covering them. It is well to go over the ground with a
hoe to relieve plants that may be too deeply buried, and to cover
those which may by accident have been left exposed. They are al-
most certain to live ; and I have thought the work not more than to
thin them out when they are sowed thickly, where they are to stand.
There is an additional advantage in this method, that the plants may
be forwarded in the nursery, when it is not in your power to prepare
the land in season for sowing the crop where they are intended to
stand. I am not able to say whether the sugar-beet is as tenacious
of life ; but the experiments of Mr. Ashburner lead to such a pre-
sumption.

4. Oats. — John M. Hurlbut in Great Barrington, whose estab-
lishment within and without doors is a beautiful pattern of exact,
neat, and profitable husbandry rarely eqnalled, is of opinion that oats
should be sown just at the time when the grass starts vigorously.
The crop is injuriously affected from too early or too late planting.

5. Wheat. — The Messrs. Spurrs and Messrs. Curtis of Shef-
field, Messrs. Bacon of Richmond, John L. Cooper and Philo
Parks of Sheffield, John M. Hurlbut and Ralph Taylor of Great
Barrington, Eldad Post of Lenox, and others, have used lime for
wheat without any perceptible advantage. Ralph Taylor has applied
lime to his land at the rate of 200 bushels to the acre, and harrowed
it in, but now after three or four years, perceives no benefit. These
gentlemen, Claudius Wheeler of Great Barrington, and a host of
others all hold the opinion that the blasting of wheat depends upon
atmospheric influences ; the condition of the weather in certain stages
of the growth of the wheat, rather than upon any condition of the soil.
The great consideration to which the opinions of these gentlemen
are entitled, will be acknowledged by those who know them. I do not
mention their experience as at all decisive of the inutility of lime ; but
as showing in how great obscurity the subject is involved, and how
much need there is of farther inquiries and experiments of an exact
character.

96

Adonijah Jones of Otis says, that when he was accustomed to
plough in the seed of his winter wheat instead of harrowing, he sel-
dom had any killed by frost. The experience of a competent far-
mer in Northampton, leads to a similar conclusion. From an ex-
periment on spring wheat made by Derrick I. Spurr in Sheffield, it
would seem that harrowing or dragging it was preferable. He was
advised, in sowing his seed last spring, not to plough in his seed.
But he ploughed in a small strip in the centre of his field ; the
wheat on this part exhibited a taller and stouter growth, but it did not
come up so well ; much seed appeared to fail, and had he ploughed
in the whole, he thinks he should not have had a third of the crop
which he obtained by simply dragging in or harrowing in the seed.

Eldad Post, of Lenox, is in the practice of harrowing his field of
wheat daily after it has been sown, for ten days ; and considers the
practice of great utility. It quickens vegetation, by bringing the
earth to the sun and air. It is a custom in France, to harrow wheat
with a light harrow after it has attained a growth of four or five in-
ches. I have several times tried this method with great benefit.
The vegetation is greatly assisted by bringing fresh earth often to the
plants, and keeping the ground loose and fine ; or as farmers some-
times term it, alive, provided it can be done without inflicting too
great an injury on the small fibres and rootlets of the plants.

E. Post lost his first sowing of Italian wheat, which he attributes
to the exclusion of the wheat from the external air in tight casks, by
which he thinks its germinating power was destroyed ; and says he
knows facts, which go to confirm this opinion. O. Curtis, of Shef-
field, says much of his seed wheat was destroyed by being soaked too
long in the brine.* Mr. Hathaway, of Rome, N. Y., by whom the
Italian wheat was first cultivated in this county, says this kind is more
liable to injury from this practice, than other wheat. I mention
these opinions, not as endorsing them ; but as the observations of in-
telligent and observing men, and therefore deserving of consideration
and inquiry. Is it not possible, that Mr. Post's wheat may have
been put up in a damp state, and injured by being heated in the cask ?
Mr. Curtis's opinion is not according to the judgment of many farmers
who do not object to the wheat's remaining long in the brine, pro-
vided it is not exposed beforp ^nwing to the alternatives of drying
and wetting.

•Appendix F.

97

Levi Goodrich, of Pittsfield, showed me a field of considerable
extent, where in one part clover and grass followed corn ; in the other
part of the same field, and all other circumstances similar, clover and
grass followed potatoes. The grass after corn was excellent ; after
potatoes, not one-sixth as large. A result somewhat similar has fol-
lowed in respect to wheat taken after corn or after potatoes. The
testimony of the farmers, as given to the committee of the Agricul-
tural Society for viewing crops, and to myself likewise, is equally de-
cisive in this matter. The inference seems plain, that potatoes are
a much more exhausting crop than corn.

Tiie subject of the wheat-culture has, within two or three years,
attracted great and not undeserved attention through the state. The
causes of its failure have been matter of much inquiry and discussion,
xhe deficiency of calcareous matter, or the carbonate of lime, has
Leen confidently pronounced the great and sole cause. That some
portion of lime in the soil in some form is essential seems generally
conceded ; but that a certain amount of the carbonate of lime is in-
dispensable, is not so fully borne out by facts, as to be pronounced
unquestionable. On a soil in Chelmsford, wheat has been raised for
twenty years at the rate of from twenty to thirty bushels to the acre ;
and with but a single instance of failure during that time. From Dr.
Dana, who, with the most public-spirited views, is disposed to ren-
der any aid in his power to the cau?e ol' an improved agriculture, —
and few individuals in the country are capable of rendering so impor-
tant chemical services, — I have obtained an analysis of the soil of this
farm, which I shall subjoin in the Appendix.* It will be seen, from
that analysis, that " it contains no trace of the carbonate of lime."
This remarkable result shows the necessity of extreme caution in
adopting with confidence any theory on subjects so recondite
and mysterious as every thing in nature connected with animal and veg-
etable life, until at least we are able to say what, in either case,
life itself is. This is a matter in which the superficial may see no diffi-
culty of explanation ; but, in truth, it is a secret and mystery, the so-
lution of which the truly philosophic mind will perceive is not yet
even approached. That the application of lime to land has been often
attended with the most beneficial effects, facts demonstrating such re-

• Appendix D. Letter II.

13

98

suits, do not leave us room to doubt. In this place, however, it is
not convenient to me to go farther into a subject, which, in the pro-
gress of the survey, will receive its due share of attention.

My own belief is, that there is as much lime now in our soils as
was ever to be found there. Formerly, there was no difficulty in rais-
ing wheat here of the best quality. Now it is often raised successfully,
and always on newly cleared land, excepting only accidents, which
have no connexion with the soil, accidents from insects and changes.
or conditions of the weather. I believe therefore there is, in fact, no
difficulty, under proper management, in its cultivation ; and a crop
of wheat may be considered ordinarily as certain as other crops.
This the experience of many farmers confirms.

The great point to be aimed at is to bring a new soil to the surface,
on which to plant your wheat. Plough therefore deep ; completely
invert the sod, and keep it undisturbed. Bring a portion of the sub-
soil to the surface, to be operated upon by the influences of sun,
rain, air, and compost manure. Then make corn your first crop ;
and wheat your second ; or make wheat your first crop ; and with
proper seeding and tilth, there is reason to believe that your crop will
be as sure as human skill can make it. So many facts, confirming
the success of this process, have come under my knowledge, that I
feel if not an absolute yet a very strong confidence in it ; and urge it
upon the farmers to make a fair experiment.

Our cultivation is in many cases loo superficial. In the First Re-
port of the Agriculture of Massachuseus I took much pains to re-
commend the introduction of a subsoil plough^ of which I then gave
drawings and a full account. From farther inquiries and some ex-
periments, which have come within my observation, my convictions
of the great utility and importance of such an implement are strength-
ened ; and I earnestly request the attention of the farmers to the sub-
ject as therein treated, and to experiments with it, by which, under
proper management, I verily believe the productiveness of iheir soil
may be increased five and twenty or fifty per cent.; and many parts
of Massachusetts he rendered as productive in the bread-grains, as
those other parts of our country, which have been deemed singularly,
and in this respect almost exclusively, favored.

6. Wire-Worm. — Manning Brown, of Williamstovvn, says,

99

that in planting Indian corn upon green-sward, he has always suffered
much from the wire-worm ; but vviien he makes his first crop oats,
and his second corn, he has entirely escaped the injury from this
source. He has found, likewise, opening the corn-hills, and pouring
a spoonful of brine at the roots a remedy against their ravages. This
would be a tedious process.

Some of the best farmers in Massachusetts recommend, from their
own experience, late spring ploughing, as the great preventive of the
depredations of the cut-worm among corn. In the vegetation, which
is then turned under, the worms find sufficient feed to divert them
from the corn. Other farmers in this matter have recommended
ploughing early in the autumn, say in August ; and the grass which
has then time to start up among the furrows, supplies the worm, and
prevents his attacks upon the corn. But on various accounts, the
spring ploughing for this purpose is to be preferred. It seems to be
established, that a freshly turned soil is more favorable to vegetation
than one that has been longer ploughed ; and the seed should be de-
posited as soon as may be after the land is ploughed and prepared.
Mr. Keely's experiments in sowing rye, fully detailed in the re-
port of Essex county, strongly urge this point.

7. Grain-Insect — (Cecidomyia Tritici.) — Mr. Brown has
proved to his own conviction, the value of the application of newly
slacked lime upon his wheat, at the time of flowering against the rav-
ages of the grain-insect. " The field had just been visited by the
fly, when he gave his wheat a thorough coating of newly and finely
slacked lime while the dew was upon it. On a part of the field
no lime was put. On the parts limed, their ravages seemed
to have been stopped at once ; on the part not limed, the crop was
entirely destroyed." Mr. Brown's excellent husbandry gives a value
to his authority.

8, Grain-Worm — (Vibrio Tritici.) — I found in Egremont a
worm abounding in the grain in two cases, which none of the farmers
had been before acquainted with. It was of a brown color, and about
a third of an inch in length ; and when the wheat was threshed, it
was found in great quantities among the chafF. The threshing and
winnowing the wheat appeared to have thoroughly cleared it of them.

100

There was evidence that they had destroyed a great many heads ;
and had not the wheat been threshed and cleaned, their iujuries
would have been much more extensive. These two cases are the
only ones in which I had ever seen or heard of this worm.

It is, however, not unknown abroad. From plates and accounts
given in the Penny Magazine for 1833, Nos. 86 and 90, as well as I
can judge, the same insect is described as the Vibrio Tritici, and the
different stages of his progress are fully illustrated by plates ; I
shall make some extracts from it in the Appendix.* The account is
too long to be presented here. The paper says, " the existence of
this most extraordinary disease in wheat has been, comparatively
speaking, but a very short time known ; and it is only of a very re-
cent date that it has attracted the notice of the practical agriculturist
in this country." In the county of Kent, Eng., it seems, however,
to have been known for some years.

9. LocusT-RoRER. — Allen C. Metcalf of Lenox, washed his
locust trees with spirits of turpentine, and in that way, as he believes,
compelled the borer to leave them, after they had made severe rav-
ages. The trees, as I saw them, were much perforated, but there
were no where any signs of the presence of the worm.

XII. REPORTS OF FARMS.

I shall now give a few reports of farms in the country as illustra-
tive of the general condition of its husbandry. The numbers are a
mere index to the arrangement ; and express no preference of char-
acter or condition.

Farm I. — Wood 60 acres, tillage 30 acres, mowing 80 acres,
pasturage 180 acres. At a distance from home 200 acres in pastur-
age. Stock — sheep 1000, oxen S, milch cows 6, horses 3. In
1837-8, there were raised on this farm mainly for the consumption

* Appendix Q

101

of the stock : — ruta baga 1 acre and 2 rods, 1080 bs., English tur-
nips 5 acres, 4300 bs., potatoes 3 acres, 1244 bs. Total 6624
bushels.

I quote from the report of the above farmer as follows : " As to
the value of the respective vegetables for food, the following state-
ment will perhaps best exhibit it. I have commenced feeding, and
shall continue to feed
14 head of horned cattle each per day, widi 20 lbs. cut

straw at 4 cts. for each 20 lbs., ... 66

Also to each 113 lbs. roots grated mixed with straw,

3 cts. each, ..... 42

Allow 150 days for the season of feeding at 98 cts. is $147 00
The same stock would require 20 lbs. of hay each per
day ; for 150 days they would consume 42,000 lbs.,
equal to 21 tons, at the moderate price of $10 per
ton, . . . . . . 210 00

$357 98
Balance in favor of the root feed on 14 head is . $63 00

You will perceive that the value of vegetables for food is 6 cts. per
bushel, while hay is at $10 and straw at $4 per ton. The extra
cost in preparing the food is more than balanced, if proper care be
taken, by the extra quantity of manure made." The current year
1838-9, there are on this farm more than fifty acres under the plough.
In wheat 10 acres, in oats 20 acres, in ruta baga 2 or more — in car-
rots, potatoes, &.C. &c.

Farm II. — 200 acres exclusive of wood, horses 4, oxen 6, cows
8, sheep 700, swine 5, young neat cattle 12.

Mowing 40 acres upland, 2 tons to an acre, intervale alluvion 50
acres, two tons to the acre ; wheat 10 acres, 2 give 10 bs. to the
acre, 4 acres give 20 bs. to the acre ; Indian corn 3 acres, 2 give
58 bs. to the acre, 1 gave 9.3 bs. ; rye 14 acres, 16 bs. to the acre ;
potatoes 8 acres, 6 acres give 200 bs. to the acre, 2 acres give 450
each ; ruta baga 5 acres, 700 bs. to the acre ; pork 2000 lbs. ; aver-
age yield of wool 3 lbs. to a sheep.

102

Farm III. — Acres 102, tillage 23, mowing 14. Crops— hay 57
tons, 1 J ton to the acre ; wheat one acre, 28 J bs. ; Indian corn 6 J
acres, 390 bs., 60 bs. to the acre ; rye 3 acres, 56 bs. ; oats 245
bs. ; buckwheat 2SJ ; potatoes 1^ acre, 345 bs. ; turnips 100 bs. ;
ruta baga 60 bs. ; pork 3300 lbs. ; butter 481 lbs. ; new milk cheese
100 lbs. ; wool 600 lbs. ; cider 57 bbls. ; winter apples 40 bs. ;
lambs raised 76, valued at $1 75 cts. each ; calves raised 4, valued
at $6 each ; sheep sold 34 ; amount $65 50.

Stock on the above farm — horses 3, oxen 2, sheep 185, cows 4,
swine 15, young stock 4.

Farm IV. — Acres 153 exclusive of wood ; mowing 30, pasture
71. Stock — horses 3, oxen 6, cows 5, sheep 50, swine 19, young
cattle 10.

Products — hay 52^ tons. If tons to the acre ; wheat If acres,
35^ bs. ; Indian corn 343.J bs., 49 to an acre ; rye 2J acres, 60 bs.;
oats 15 acres 500 bs., 33^ bs. to an acre ; potatoes 1 acre, 320 bs.;
turnips i acre, 45 bs. ; beef 8100 lbs. ; pork 2147 lbs. ; butter
650 lbs. ; new milk cheese 558 lbs. ; wool 133* lbs. ; cider 18
bbls.; winter apples 20 bbls. ; straw 12j tons ; corn-fodder 3^ tons.
The amount of sales from this farm up to 9th of Jan., was $712 75.
The live stock raised on it was of the finest description.

Farm V. — Acres 209, of which 36 in wood. Stock — horses
4, oxen 4, cows 6, sheep 350, swine 48, colt 1, young neat stocks.

Products 1838 — hay 88 tons ; wheat 240 bs. ; Indian corn 710J
bs. ; rye 125 bs. ; oats 150 bs. ; pease and oats 90 bs. ; potatoes
700 bs. ; turnips among corn 75 bs. ; ruta baga 1500 bs. ; beef 3950
lbs. ; pork 7880 lbs. ; new milk cheese 1783 lbs. ; butter 540 lbs. ;
wool 962 lbs. ; cider 5 bbls. ; winter apples 40 bs.; straw 15 tons ;
corn fodder 12 tons ; manure made, 360 loads.

The amount of sales on this farm in 1838, were $1289 79.
The value of produce used or on hand was $2309 59.

Farm VI. — Acres 200. Stock — horses 3, oxen 4, cows 18,
sheep 50, swine 25, young neat stock 20.

Tiie return of produce given from this excellent farm is very im-
perfect. 23J acres were in winter grain, 14 acres in spring grain,

103

1^ acres of potatoes, J acre of turnips, Indian corn 20 acres at 75
bs. to the acre ; pork fatted 4500 lbs. ; butter 1500 lbs. ; new milk
cheese 4000 lbs.

Farm VII. — Acres 525 ; of this, however, 270 acres are in dis-
tant pasturing, and 100 in wood, leaving 155 in tillage, mowing,
orcharding, wet meadow, &c. &c. Stock — horses 4, oxen 4, cows
4, sheep 500, swine 15, young neat stock 28.

Products — hay 130 tons of best quality ; 30 tons of inferior ;
wheat 167 bs. ; rye 280 bs. ; oats 600 bs. ; potatoes 1300 bs. ;
turnips 250 bs. ; Swedish turnips 1440 bs. ; beef fatted 6000 lbs. ;
pork 1480 lbs. ; butter 360 lbs. ; wool 1280 lbs.; maple-sugar 150
lbs. ; winter apples 60 bs. ; apples for swine 200 bs. ; straw 20
tons ; wood sold 1 00 cords ; manure made 260 loads ; manure
bought 25 loads ; calves sold 6, $5 each ; 80 lambs raised this year
from 80 ewes.

Farm VIII. — Land which can be tilled 200 acres ; mowing 35
acres ; orcharding 3 acres ; wood 150 acres ; waste 75 acres.

Live stock — horses 4, cows 20, sheep 54, swine 16, young neat
stock 10.

Amount of sales in 1838, ^2250. Expenses — labor, board and
team, ^1 125.

Crops — hay 55 tons ; wheat 39 bs. ; Indian corn 300 bs. ; rye
300 bs. ; oats 1000 bs. ; potatoes 500 bs. ; rutabaga 100 bs., other
vegetables 30 bs. ; butter 300 lbs. ; beef 1500 lbs. ; pork 5200 lbs.;
new milk cheese 3000 lbs. ; wool 180 lbs. ; cider 40 bbls. ; winter
apples 100 bs.

XIII. AGRICULTURAL STATISTICS.

I might extend these reports, having through the kindness of many
friends in the county received a considerable number of returns.
These however, will be sufficient as specimens of the general hus-
bandry of the county. To these I subjoin a document which I am
persuaded will possess much interest. That is a complete return,

104

made with as much exactness as the nature of the case admitted, ol
the agricuhural produce of the town of Pittsfield. I was anxious,
in order to give a just and impartial view of the husbandry of the
slate, to obtain, from some prominent town in each county, such re-
turns as are here presented. I have, to a degree, succeeded, in re-
spect to Berkshire, f'ranklin, Middlesex and Worcester ; and I can-
not but express the hope that they will induce the Legislature to
procure such returns occasionally, say once in five years, from every
town in the Commonwealth. The value of such statistics to the
public would be very great ; and their influence upon the habits of
our farmers, in leading to exactness of measurement and calculation,
inquiry and observation would confer an immense benefit.

Inaccuracies may have crept into the estimates. This could not
be avoided ; and in a first attempt there are always difficulties to be
encountered, which disappear on a second trial ; but every effort has
been exerted to make it as true as under the circumstances it could
be. On the original document the name of every farmer is given ;
but as it might lead to invidious comparisons or remarks, or wound
the diffidence of some, if I should give the names to the public, I
avoid it. I am exceedingly desirous during the progress of the sur-
vey, that my intercourse with the farmers should be as free as possi-
ble ; I am desirous, likewise, that any statement which I give to the
public should rest upon responsible authority. But I shall never
give a name to the public without express permission, or in a case
where, I think, consent, if asked, would be withheld.

RETURNS

AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTS

PITTSFIELD. BERKSHIRE CO. MASS

THE YEAR 1838,

Procured at the request of the Commissioner of Agricultural Survey

14

106

Returns of Agricultural Products of

Farms.

No. of
Acres.

Hay.

Corn.

Wheat.

Rye.

Barky.

Oa;s.

Buck

Wh'U

Peas.

Pota-
toes.

Ruta
Baga.

1

374

150

100

140

600

1200

1800

2

10

3

3

100

15

60

13

60

60

5

100

20

4

100

15

50

4

60

120

4

40

5

130

15

80

100

6

30

5

20

10

50

7

80

18

75

ICO

100

50

8

100

20

175

12

10

12

650 100

10

400

9

4

2

10

75

10

50

4

50

100

11

8

3

5

25

25

12

35

12

20

35

40

13

56

6

45

70

14

5

2

6

20

15

100

25

20

80

100

16

42

10

10

12

100

22

10 450

17

22

6

35

7

9

200

18

80

20

65

6

15

250

19

27

7

25

30

20

40

10

20

50

150

300

21

215

45

40

25

40

80

20

150

200

22

128

35

35

10

40

150

23

36

20

50

26

120

300

300

24

19

8

30

6

50

75

20

25

250

40

35

6

20

20

250

8

14

400

300

26

135

30

15

15

75

200

107

Pittsfield, Berkshire Co., for the year 1838.

Carrots.

Wool.

Be..

Pork.

Butter.

Cheese.

Oxen.

Horses.

Cows.

St^i'^

Sheep.

400

2800

1400
250

936
160

350

6

4

1

6

1

3

1000

100

800

3U0

3

3

1

45

10

140

700

275

2

3

70

240

300
300

50
200

1
2

1
2

80

125

300

150

1

1

2

50

150

1100
300

150
150

4

1
1

95

75

400

300
100
150

25

300
150
150

2

1
1

1

2

2

1
1

1
4

10

140

400

300

1

2

40

800

500

300
150

1

2
1

2

75

700

350
300

150
200

2
2

2
2

2

33

10

600

500

225

2

4

1

800

800

200

3

1

2

300

500

800
800

500
625

300
150

4

1
2

6
5

5

90

40

400

200

1

2

150

1800

450

400

2

3i

1

84

55

450

400

100

2

3

4

6

108

Farms.

No. of
Acres.

Hay.

Corn.

Wheat

Rye.

Barley.

Oats.

Buck
Wh'L

Peas.

Pota-
toes.

Ruta
Baga.

27

60

18

15

20

400

28

80

20

30

20

50

25

350

29

73

20

40

14

200

60

30

200

40

100

30

50

60

300

31

18

8

32

83

40

60

15

i

20

50

33

20

24

60

1

1

375

34

325

90

80

80

!

500

30

700 700

35

100

40

80

15

30

50

20

350, 100

36

30

7

60

50

100

37

100

50

150

350

38

120

20

35

50

100

150

39

525

160

16

280

600

1300'l700

1

40

72

20

20

40

100

2

200

41

80

15

30

16

QOO

10

200

42

60

12

30

40

1

1 80

1

140

43

40

8

44

20

6

20

50

20

100

45

30

15

15

50

25

46

53

20

6

25

20

230

47

200

40

20

50

500

48

56

7

6

30

50

10

100

49

110

45

15

21

130

35

8

300

50

226

45

25

17

75

60

75

250

500

51

50

10

70

17

50

100

52

105

20

50

20

75

80

15

80

200

53

285

50

50

100

200

20

18

300

109

Carrots.

Wool.

Beef.

Pork.

Butter.

»«..

Oxen.

Horses.

Cows.

Young
Cattle.

Sheep.

25

300

200

2

3

1

10

80

600

800

100

100

2

1

2

30

30

800

600

150

2

2

4

10

300

4000

500
500
300

750

400
400
100
300

300
200

2

3

1
1

4
3

3

9

80

150

1400

1200

1300

450

2

2

4

2

500

300

1100

600

2

4

5

125

30

150

4

1

10

2400

750

200

4

3

7

50

550

665

200

200

3

3

4

23

1200

6000

1400

300

4

4

3

25

400

270

679
600

200
150

150

2
3

3
2

2

100

50

700

100

2

1

3

30

60

400

100

3

2

8

56

650

600

200

300

2

3

10

29

300

600

650

200

2

2

63

30

19

350

375

100

2

2

2500

600

700

1000

1

6

19

350

2400

800

100

2

2

1

50

300

100

3

1

1

15

100

700

100

300

2

5

4

40

150

1200

800

700

100

2

3

11

2

no

Farms.

No. of
Acres.

Hay.

Com.

Wheat

Rye.

Barley.

Oats.

^^^u

Peas.

Pota-
toes.

Ruta
Baga.

54

130

25

13

20

150

10

6

75

55

30

6

75

56

100

40

35

30

80

80

20

300

57

246

30

38

50

40

100

360

58

263

100

60

40

150

230

12

800

59

60

15

35

50

50

100

150

300

60

20

5

20

9

60

100

30

61

80

35

60

15

40

75

20

400

6-2

15

10

20

15

50

200

63

34

10

20

8

25

30

100

64

50

18

45

35

50

175

120

65

365

50

60

35

70

80

25

300

66

80

20

40

80

100

200

67

24

6

20

80

70

68

117

35

45

24

100

15

500

69

2a

2

5

30

75

70

38

7

100

71

20

5

30

70

150

72

67

16

30

8

20

150

73

n

6

30

10

12

60

74

2

2

20

40

75

2

100

400

76

180

60

80

45

150

30

500

77

100

25

100

50

200

300

78

75

10

20

12

12

100

79

2

2

15

5

100

100

80

2

2

50

Ill

Carrots.

Wool.

Beef.

Pork.

Butter.

Cheese.

Oxen.

Hor.ies.

Cows.

Young
Cattle.

Sheep.

120

700

250

200

50

3

2

43

30

500

250

100

1

1

3

13

550

300

300

300

2

1

3

8

50

6000

600

200

2

1

2

4

15

550

700

60O

300

300

6

3

5

8

230

120

600

750

400

300

2

2

5

4

14

25

175

260

175

2

1

1

9

300

550

900

500

700

s

1

5

1

110

50

300

500

300

2

2

15

20

600

300

400

4

9

10

100

900

300

300

2

^

3

43

500

1200

1900

700

500

2

8

9

200

60

800

1000

200

2

3

29

9

300

200

1

9

200

550
200

1000
275

500
600

500

100
200

300

2

2

3

1
1
2

103
3

235

650
200
300
230

300
100
150
100

1
1

2

2
2

1
2

120

450

500

600

400

2

2

4

8

150

150

800

700

400

2

4

40

60

300

75

1

2

1

22

40

500
250

300
100

200

2
1

1

13

12

Farms.

No. of
Acres.

Hay.

Com.

Wheat.

Rye.

Barley. Oats.

Buck

Wh'L

Peas.

Pota-
toes.

Ruta
Baga.

81

7

2

75

82

7

4a

30

25

125

100

83

130

25

20

70

12

25

4O0

84

75

15

25

16

300

33

30

250

85

5

2

30

25

50

86

100

25

60

26

300

15

300

1000

87

160

35

40

40

i 60

300

88

212

60

50

45

100

25

100

20

800

600

89

40

10

20

25

150

90

1

100

91

4

4

30

125

92

200

40

150

20

35

100

20

300

93

72

16

60

20

10

45

200

100

94

2

4

40

30

95

1

175

96

1

25

150

40

97

2

2

25

40

100

98

7

3

50

30

150

99

u

50

40

100

250

60

100

100

300

650

800

101

300

100

120

50

100

200

10

600

500

102

150

20

30

15

300

5

350

150

103

80

12

25

40

100

125

104

42

8

50

8

85

38

4

250

105

100

30

250

30

80

40

20

700

106

40

10

10

9

20

50

5

60

107

87

18

200

125

113

Carrots.

Wool.

Beef.

Pork.

Butter.

Cheese.

Oxen.

Horses.

Cows.

Young
Cattle.

Sheep.

125

1

400

300

300

2

150

800

600

300

2

2

60

30

420
200

200
100

4

1

2

1

1

6

175

800

1000

750

200

5

5

2

70

yoo

900

900

450

2

1

3

3

72

450

400

2500

600
330
274
400

6C0
50

150

a

2
2

1
1

4
I

1

125

400

700

900

600

3

4

2

175

150

500
500
600
600
300

300

250

400
150

100

2

3
4

2

1
1
2

1

55

9

500
700

300

1

2

3

3

1200

1400

1000

400

2

2

2

400

800

5500

1700

500

600

4

5

5

13

300

20

100

1500

2

3

8

12

50

550

250

75

3

2

3

39

40

570

600

200

1

2

2

15

300

100

2

130

700

600

400

2

'

2

2

50

2700

700

400

2

3

6

14

15

114

Farms.

No. of
Acres.

Hay.

Com.

Wheat

Rye.

Barley.

Oats.

Buck
Wh'L

Pease.

Pota-
toes.

Ruta
Baga.

108

80

20

80

8

60 7

200

109

135

20

30

100

150

300

50

110

20

6

40

1
20

10

200

111

125

30

80

25

75

100

10

280

112

86

25

30

18

75: 12

200

113

109

23

50

6

50

100

600

114

18

6

£0

100

115

100

14

60

20

40

llOj

30

200

116

43

10

12

60|

80

117

1

100

118

8

100

119

44

30

40

200

150

120

20

5

65

121

48

12

80

8

100

125

122

88

40

175

65

1

300

700J 200

123

4

40

1

1200

124

15

5

75

75

75

125

300

75

300

36

160

200

300

126

13

4

98

14

40

156

127

16

50

7

17

35

128

4

50

30

129

125

25

50

25

500

130

18

45

50

300

131

200

50

50

20

50

100

15

300

132

72

10

60

212

5

275

250

133

100

30

50

20

1

!

100

300

134

50

12

60

20

20

60

200

115

Carrots.

Wool.

Beef.

Pork.

Butter.

Cheese.

Oxen. Horses.

Cows.

Young

Cattle.

Sheep.

30

400

750

300

2

2

1

10

14

40

700

850

200

100

4

4

6

20

18

700

600

100

2

2

2

11

600

200

2

1

2

100

240

600

700

700

2

2

2

4

40

80

700

800
300

300
300

2

2

1

2
2

2

40

100

600

1000

200

200

2

4

1

60

20

300
300
400
1500
400
200

ICO
150
200

100

2

1

22

1

1
1
2
5
1
1

8

50

1700

1500
900
780

700

200

6

3

9

1

6

120

13,700

1100
680

500
200

400

2

2
2

5
2

22

60

5

150

160

100

3

2

2

40

250

300

2

1

100

40

1300
400

2400
1250

5
1

8
3

2

50

450

500

600

100

2

1

3

5

15

650

500

200

3

1

1

13

200

600

650

300

2

2

1

55

50

500

2

4

1

.14

116

Farms.

No. of
Acre*.

Hay.

Corn.

Wheat.

Rye.

1

Barley. Oats.

^'.?^

Pease.

P ta-

toes

50

RuU

Baga.

135

7

2

136

110

25

70

5

100

300

137

60

10

15

50

150

138

75

40

140

24

20

200

3

200

200

139

75

15

25

18

100

30

250

140

3

4i

20

55

27

50

141

95

50

40

10

230

2

300

142

80

15

35

50

50

100

150

30C

143

32

7

20

80

15

40

20

500

144

100

35

30

90

15

375

10

500

12C

145

4

40

5

8

75

146

150

40

50

50

400

300

147

5

50

200

148

80

18

80

50

30

350

149

400

118

380

70

57

300

750

30(

150

400

100

150

20

50

350

800

4(

151

500

250

50

150

120

500

1200

30(

15'2

206

59

30

110

200

212

600

153

80

12

10

14

40

9

100

154

148

25

65

45

400

30{

155

80

20

70

60

275

150

156

40

10

13

40

100

400

157

100

25

10

20

40

250

4(

158

7

5

40

125

159

70

10

1

6

130

160

150

40

60

40

120

22

350

161

130

15

50

35

250

400

117

Carrots.

Wool.

Beef.

Pork.

Butter.

Cheese.

Oxen.

Horses.

Cows.

Young
Cattle.

Sheep.

650

2

1

200

600

500
300

600
300

2

2

4
2

70

100

40

800

800

800

300

4

3

4

10

34

60

900

1000

300

2

2

4

30

700

560

400

1

2

1

700

600

625

1

5

6

120

600

750
600

400
300

300

6

3
2

4
2

5

18

100

700

500

600

2

1

5

6

32

200

1800

600
400

400
100

200
100

2

4

4

1

100

300

800

1200

1300

2

3

13

14

300

3800

400

700

1000

4

3

48

48

84

1000

4100

4000

600

800

8

5

15

14

100

700

4000

70C0

1200

2000

6

10

24

35

300

40

175

1300

2300
300
800
750

1000

725
125

400
200
300

1000

2

1

2
2
2

11
1
3
2
4

11
4
2
2
4

64
10

220

750
500

200
100

2

1
2

2

1
1

2

1

20

50

500

800

500

500

4

5

17

30

300

600

300

3

2

120

118

Farms.

No. of
Acres.

Hay.

Corn.

Wheat.

Rye. Barley.

Oats.

Buck
Wh't.

Pease.

Pota-
toes.

Ruta
Baga.

162

6

2

15

10

150

163

67

15

35

25

5

100 15

164

140

15

40

26

75

175

20

200

175

165

56

20

75

20

15 1 15

75

10

200

166

80

20

30

15

i

100

175

167

30

2

75

20

80

100

168

15

3

20

10

50

180

20

169

2

400

170

23

20

15

100

33

200

171

35

25

50

25

135

7

18

150|1100

172

36

8

15

8

50

100

173

200

100

200

50

100

300

45

2000 300

174

180

50

35

25

200

H

175

220

150

180

97

200

500

18

1500

1500

176

12

8

20

110

400

177

200

90

80

60

60

150

30

|300

178

150

50

100

25

100

350

179

90

30

65

20

250

250

180

35

10

30

150

250

J81

240

100

40

450

j 600

600

182

105

25

60

25

35

100

125

25

183

230

75

100

85

60

230

600

184

150

60

120

50

25

125

250

185

400

110

20

800

500

186

20

6

20

30

80

187

8

4

40

116

70

70

188

50

20

40

18

5

120

30

100

100

19

Carrots.

Wool.

Beef.

Pork.

Butter.

Cheese.

Oxen.

Horses.

Cows.

Young
Cattle.

Sheep.

400

100

1

1^

1

25

400

300

300

3

2

1

8

150

1400

800

1000

2

2

6

12

40

700

600

6C0

2

4

1

60

20

800
200
350

600
100
300

2

3

1
2

4

14

60

250

150

2

2

2

1

20

25

GOO

300

200

2

2

10

30

400

300

200

2

2

10

40

500

300

1

2

15

1000

4000

3000

1000

500

6

4

8

10

200

360

800

500

300

300

3

3

140

^50

1800

10,000

1400

800

800

4

4

8

11

700

300

900

350

2

4

150

2000

1000

600

8

3

5

15

50

420

450

900

1200

700

3

5

6

105

500

300

2

2

1

90

700

300

2

2

1000

2000

1400

500

2

2

5

8

350

50

800

200

100

2

3

5

4

16

450

1500

600

4

2

5

280

300

750

600

600

500

2

7

4

8

75

1500

4500

1000
500
400

500
300
300

300

2

2
3

4
2
2

4

1

650

150

600

300

100

3

3

2

G2

120

Farms.

No. of
Acres.

Hay.

Com.

■\VheaU

Rye.

1

Barley, i Oats.

Buck
Wh't.

Pease.

Pota-
toes.

^^

189

118

25

50

30

200 30

300

150

190

70

20

20

8

150 4

75

10

191

150

40

100

10

200

10

3C0

125

192

20

10

100

193

300

75

100

17

180

S50

194

127

40

25

12

500

10

500

100

195

150

40

80

75

110

6C0

196

30

4

200

197

100

15

150

200

198

90

15

10

30

175

200

199

230

90

100

12

150

150

250

200

200

40

50

20

20

100

25

15

400

201

160

30

70

10

110

100

25

300

202

80

40

100

25

50

150

10

5

4C0

203

200

90

100

30

15

200

400

204

87

20

100

20

150

10

10

100

205

24

5

15

16

5

70

206

10

300

207

6

2

120

208

350

80

175

25

25

450

550

175

209

300

80

100

60

25

180

800 100

210

ro

12

15

40

200

211

3.5

12

60

30

70

200

212

10

5

100

213

50

10

40

40

30

300

214

150

18

30

100

SCO

20

400

215

25

5

20

50

100

121

Carrots.

Wool

Beef.

Pork.

Butter.

Cheese.

Oxen.

Horses.

Cows.

Young
Cattle.

Sheep.

150

600

300

170

3

3

2

70

65

500

100

2

2

1

26

450

800
500

200

200

100

4
2

3
2

147

30

900

1000

450

428

2

4

3

350

300

1600

900

400

400

3

4

2

110

200

7C0

700

300

2

2

4

2

25

500

400

2

2

2

1

207

200

2

2

2

1

90

207

600

150

3

2

90

250

4700

900

300

700

2

3

6

20

140

275

800

400

200

3

3

7

100

45

500

300

150

4

1

3

4

14

450

500

200

100

4

3

3

150

275

550

400

2

4

3

100

140

550

100

2

1

3

200

600

700
450

300
250

2

8
2

2
2

3

1080

750

300

3

2

600

100

600

1000 1000

1500

200

2

2

10

2

280

30

600

100

1

1

10

40

, 300

100

1

1

15

500

1

2

300

300

200

2

2

100

1

100

800
500

500
100

500

2

1

4

1

I
1

40

16

122

Farms.

No. of
Acres. 1

1

Hay.

C rn.

Wheat. ,

Rye.

Barley. Oats. 1 ^^

: 1

Pease, f^-

Ruta
Baga.

216

45

15

40

10

100

350

217

100

40

60

'30

70

170

200

218

300

80

50

41

130

450

100

219

180

50

80

24

i

50j

' 10 400

500

220

ISO

50

150

80

50

50i

30 300

600

221

1
[

! 300

■

Kept by others than farmers, 20 Horses — 100 Cows.

AGGREGATE

Of the above Returns from Pittsjield, Mass. Procured by S. L.
Russell, Deccinber, 1S38.

No. of Acres,

20,260

Wool — pounds.

-

36,740

Hay— tons, -

5,058

Beef,

-

136,245

Corn — bushels, -

9,963

Pork,

-

133,513

Wheat, « -

3,674

Butter, "

-

58,046

Rye, " -

4,676

Cheese, "

26,048

Barley, " -

318

-

-

Oats, «

25,191

LIVE STOCK.

Buck Wheat, "

1,073

Horses,

-

475

Pease, " -

8-20

Oxen, -

-

183

Potatoes, "

59,311

Cows, -

-

812

Ruta Baga, "

17,256

Young Cattle,

-

625

Carrots, "

2,864

Sheep, -

-

13,687

123

Carrots.

Wool.

Beef.

Pork.

Butter.

Cheese.

Oxen.

Horses.

Cows.

Young
C ttlc.

Sheep.

200

700

800

800

2

5

3

60

200

750

600

600

400

2

1

5

7

80

600

1400

1000

300

2

3

8

4

200

175

500

700

400

1300

2

1

9

4

175

300

1300
500

400

300

2

4
12

5

11

110

NOTE.

It will at once occur upon examination, that the foregoing returns by no
means embrace the whole of the agricultural produce of the town. No
account is made of fuel and timber of various kinds ; none of milk used
in families; of poultry consumed and sold; of garden-vegetables; none of
fruit, cider, &c. &c.

No returns are made of corn-fodder, which, when well cured, most farmers
consider equal to the best of hay, ton for ton ; and which, allowing 35 bush-
els of corn and two tons of fodder to an acre, would amount to 568 tons.
No account is made of straw, which, allowing 25 bushels to an acre of
wheat, rye, barley and oats, and l.J ton of straw, would have amounted to
1971 tons.

Some small amount of maple sugar was made in the town — one farmer
having made six hundred pounds ; others, perhaps, as much. This, as I
shall show hereafter, is destined to become a valuable product of the state;
several towns, in the spring of IS'58, having made twenty, some thirty, and
some nearly forty thousand i)ounds. I have two returns, of over thirty
thousand pounds to a town, in Franklin county, ascertained. H. C.

124

XIII. AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY.

The county of Beiicsliire has been many years distinguished for its
agricultural society, which, in intelligence, enterprise, and public spirit
is second to none in the country. It is reniarkable likewise in respect
to this society that in every part of the county, among the farmers
themselves, who, as a class of men are generally distrustful of the advan-
tages of such associations, and seem in such matters oftentimes as well
skilled as their oxen in the art of " holding back," its utility is univer-
sally acknowledged and a strong interest felt in its success. They are
every where disposed in this good matter to pull together ; and it would,
as it seems to me, be difficult to find, what is technically termed an
" off" ox in the team. I regret that I cannot say the same things
of all the agricultural societies and all the farmers in the state. If
the farmers do not take a strong interest in these institutions, who
can be expected to ? The state has for a long time extended a lib-
eral patronage towards them ; and the mone}'^ bestowed, if properly
applied, would be productive of immense benefits.

All agree that in respect to the county of Berkshire, the best ef-
fects have resulted from its agricultural society. It has every where
excited and cherished a spirit of generous emulation ; and men of the
highest distinction in the county for education, character, political
standing and wealth give their time and zeal to its excellent objects.

The society called the " Berkshire Agricultural Society for the
promotion of Agriculture and Manufactures," was incorporated 25lh
February, 181 L It has received the annual grant of the govern-
ment amounting to 600 dollars per year ; and has bestowed it in va-
rious premiums upon stock, agricultural improvements, and crops.
Their first ploughing-maicb took place on the 7th October, 1819.
Since that time the society have held a cattle-show, exhibition of
domestic manufactures, and a ploughing-match every autumn. It is
holden for two days; and the farmers and the farmers' wives and daugh-
ters, lending their encouraging aid and presence to this rinal and de-
lightful festival, are congregated from all parts of the county. Ap-
plications for premiums on cultivation are made early in the sea-
son ; and a committee is delegated to visit the premises of ev-
ery claimant, and examine the growing or standing crops which are

125

entered for the honorary notice of the society. As I understood
the mode of examination adopted by the committees, it was much
more matter of judgment than of exact measurement. In all cases
of grain-crops or of other crops, vvhicli admit of an accurate ascer-
tainment, this should be insisted upon by the society before bestow-
ing the premium ; and where exactness cannot be reached, it should
be approached as nearly as possible. In addition to this, the claimant
for the premium should be required to give a full and detailed ac-
count of his cultivation, the nature and condition of the soil, the ma-
nures used, quantity and kind, the quantity of seed, the kind of seed,
its preparation and time and manner of sowing, the after-cultivation
of the crop, the mode of harvesting, the use and value of the crop,
the whole expenses, and every important circumstance connected
with it. So also in regard to dairy-produce, or the rearing of live
stock, the whole history of the management and manufacture and pre-
servation of the former, and the origin, good qualities and treatment
of the latter, should be given before a premium should be conferred.
I believe this is not done.

In regard likewise to the presentation of live stock for premium, it
seems to me, that the particular history of every animal should be
given before the animal can claim a premium. If a milch cow is
offered for premium the claimant should be required to state her age,
and parentage ; the qualities on the side of the dam for milk or butter, if
they can be ascertained ; the race by which she was sired ; the mode
of rearing her ; the time of coming in with her first calf ; the number
of calves she has had ; how her calves have proved if they have
reached an age to be tried ; her milk, its amount in any twenty-four
hours, or week, or month, in pounds or in cubic measure, and
whether ale or beer measure ; the amount of cheese made from her ;
or the amount of butter in any given time, or from any given quantity
of milk or cream ; and precisely the mode of her having been fed
during the time ; and how long she remains in milk. On these and
other particulars exact information should be sought and required.
So likewise in regard to a bull presented for premium, his history
and pedigree should be required ; and, if of an age to be ascertained,
the character of his stock should be reported ; their growth, thrifii-
ness, their feeding or milking qualities.

No fatted animal should receive a premium unless his age, his

126

weight, his gain for six months or a year, his mode and cost of feed-
ing are all given. No male animal of any kind offered as valuable for
propagation and so deemed by the committee, should receive a pre-
mium unless security is given that he shall be kept in the county for
a certain length of time for the benefit of the stock. I could not
learn that any such requisitions were made. It was said that such
requisition would diminish the competition ; and tiiat the premiums
were not large enougli to compensate for the trouble it would impose
upon the competitors. In regard to the latter objection, reduce
the number and increase the amount of premium. As to the former
objection, if such requisitions as are here suggested are not complied
with, the objects of the public bounty are not attained. Premiums
in such cases are not intended to reward the efforts of industry and
skill excepting as such rewards are adapted to excite the industry
and skill of others. They are designed to stimulate to trials and ex-
periments in order to ascertain or demonstrate what can be done ;
and secure for others the benefits of sucli experience by showing how
things can be done. A premium for example is offered for dairy
produce, for amount and quality. A claim is made on account of an
unusual quantity and extraordinary quality. The fact of an unusual
quantity being obtained is important as showing what can be done ;
but it is even more important to know how it was obtained. If a
premium is given for its superior quality, the principal object of the
premium obviously is to obtain for the agricultural public a knowledge
of the method by which such excellence can be attained.

It is an observable fact in the reports of the committees of the past
year, at the last cattle-show, in respect to crops for which pren)iums
were awarded amounting to the large number of thirty-nine, there is not
a single specification of the quantity raised to the whole field or on an
acre, excepting as relates to the products of some three fourths of an
ounce of mulberry seed ; nor the least intimation of the condition of
the land, the manures applied, the seed sown, the mode of cultivation
and many other particulars from information in regard to which the
farming community might derive the greatest advantage ; and indeed
the precise advantage for which the premium was designed.

So likewise in regard to animals with the exception of some cat-
tle, sheep, and swine presented merely for exhibition from New
York and Vermont, there is not a single instance in which any ac-

127

count is given of the origin, stock, weight, mode of raising, mode of
feeding, quantity of produce in milk, butter and cheese, and in truth
the proper object of such premiums, the extending of practical infor-
mation of which others might avail themselves, is not at all attained.
This is a material omission, which, I can but hope, a society so
eminently distinguished for its agricultural enterprise and improve-
ment as this, will see in its just light.

I shall take leave i^irther to suggest, that in my opinion, the sub-
jects of premium proposed by the Berkshire Agricultural Society,
are too limited, and might be extended with great public advan-
tage.

At the commencement of the institution, it appears, they began
with a special donation for the best farm — that is, in their own words :
" for the best cultivated and organized farm, the best arrangements
as to economy and cost of buildings, fences, farming utensils, farm
and fold yards, and other conveniences comprehending animals, and
the best systems of rearing and breeding, and the management of
manures, $35." This proposal seems to have been immediately
discontinued ; no decision upon it is recorded, and it does not ap-
pear to have been renewed.

Farm-management would be a very proper subject of premium.
But when it is proposed that it should embrace so great a variety of
matters as it is generally supposed to comprehend, and as would
seem to be expected in what should be considered a pattern-farm,
few farmers have the courage to enter the lists. Few or no farms
combine that variety of husbandry, which is thought to be expected
by the society, in any farm offered for its honorary notice. Indeed
a large portion of our farmers are so restricted in their means, and
have so much to do to sustain their families, and in general no spare
capital to invest, that few ever aim at what may be called complete-
ness in farming. Instead, therefore, of requiring for premium what
may be called a complete system of farming, or domestic manage-
ment ; it would be advisable to offer premiums for excellence or
distinction, skill, judgment, labor and success, in specific branches of
husbandry. The great agricultural interests of Berkshire, are, for
example, the sheep and the dairy husbandry. Let as large a premi-
um as can be afforded, be given to the best management in these de-
partments.

128

Let a standing premium be offered for the best sheep-farm, and
let the requisitions for success embrace all the items connected with
this subject on which information is most desired and needed ; as for

example : the number of sheep kept should not be less than ,

and the account required by the board should embrace their whole
history and management ; their kind ; tlie quality of tlieir wool ; the
amount of wool to a fleece ; their cost of keep ; their feed ; the
kinds of feed ; the quaniity required to any given number ; the value
of hay, straw, Indian meal, oil meal, potatoes, turnips, carrots, cab-
bages ; tiie number pastured on an acre ; the value of pasturage ;
the average number of lambs raised to any number of ewes or any
mixed flock ; the number of bucks required to a flock ; the time of
lambing ; the mode of managing sheep at the time of lambing ;
the comparative value of ewes and wethers ; the utility of salt-
ing or withholding salt from sheep ; the age to which sheep may
be advantageously kept ; the time of shearing ; the mode of washing
sheep ; the mode of preparing the fleece for market ; the loss in
weight, if any, which the fleece suffers from keeping ; comparisons
of profits or advantages among the different breeds ; the results of
crossing with different breeds ; the raising of early lambs for market ;
the fatting of wethers for market ; the most eligible condition, age,
modes of feeding, and kinds of feed ; the proper construction of
sheep-pens, racks, mangers, cots, houses ; the comparative ad-
vantages or disadvantages of housing or exposing sheep ; the ordin-
ary diseases and accidents to which sheep are liable, and the reme-
dies or preventives ; and many other particulars, which are impor-
tant, and would naturally suggest themselves to any practical in-
quirer.

The next subject of premium might be, for example, a dairy-
farm, whether of butter or cheese, and this likewise should embrace
its entire management. The number of cows should not be less
than . The competitor should be required to state their num-
ber, age, breed ; whether raised or not by himself; mode of raising
calves ; feed of cows ; pasturage ; value of land for pasturage ;
number of acres required for a cow ; winter-feed ; hay ; corn-fod-
der ; vegetables : such as turnips, carrots, parsnips, pumpkins, In-
dian, rye, oat, or oil meal ; their quantities and comparative value from
actual trial and observation ; cost of feed ; pounds of hay or vege-
tables consumed in any given time ; trials of cooked or uncooked

129

feed ; of simple or mixed ; cut or long feed ; time of milking ;
management of milk ; setting of milk for cheese ; mode of prepar-
ing and keeping rennet ; of breaking and draining curd ; of pressing;
best form of press ; time the cheese is kept in press ; coloring
cheese : anointing cheese ; capping or covering cheese with cloth ;
quantity of milk required for a pound of cheese ; mode of sending
cheese to market ; loss in weight by keeping ; value of whey for
swine ; butter from whey ; quantity obtained and uses to which ap-
plied ; number of swine kept compared with number of cows ; num-
ber of hands required in milking a given number of cows ; female
help required, and cost of such help in making and managing the
cheese. So likewise in regard to a butter-dairy, it should embrace
every important particular in the management of the stock or the
manufacture of the produce — as for example, in addition to the above
as far as they are applicable to butter, all the particulars should be
required as to the mode of salting the milk ; the kind of pans,
whether earthen, wood, or metal ; whether the milk be scalded or
not ; how long allowed to stand before it is skimmed ; whether but-
ter be made from milk or cream, and comparative advantages of us-
ing either ; temperature of the cream when churned ; usual time of
churning ; kind of churn ; cream, how kept ; milk-room or cellar ;
deep or shallow pans, and which most eligible ; advantages of put-
ting water in milk when set, if any ; of freezing milk, if any ; but-
ter, how worked when taken from the churn ; salt used ; quantity
and kind ; modes of preparing butter for market ; of packing butter
for keeping ; trials of the butter ; qualities of the milk of different
cows, by a lactometer or by weight ; quantities of milk or butter
made by individual cows ; quantity of milk or cream required for a
pound of butter ; and in all cases of application for a dairy-premium
samples of butter and cheese ; and of a wool-premium, at least a
whole fleece properly done up to be sent for the inspection of the
Board.

There are other subjects of premium of the highest interest and
utility ; premiums which should apply to matters of an experimental
character. The best experiment in fatting swine, with a view to as-
certain the comparative value of roots or grain, or different kinds of
roots and different kinds of grain ; the age at which they are best
fattened ; the gain in pastures, the gain in stye ; upon cooked food,
17

130

upon raw food ; the average gain per day, per week, per month ;
the best construction of a stye ; the best modes and macliines for
cooking food for swine ; the diseases and accidents of swine ; the
cost, and the profit and loss of such experiments. All these are matters
on which information of an exact and authentic character is greatly
needed ; and the obtaining of it would constitute a very proper sub-
ject of premium. So also the best experiments in raising early
lambs, and managing ewes ; in raising calves and young stock, and
in fattening cattle, with all the particulars and details incident to those
operations, being made matters of premium, might elicit the most
valuable information.

The application of manures, the composting of manures, the com-
parative efficiency of different kinds of manures, with exact records
and observations of their application, and their particular results on
different soils, are subjects on which information, practical knowl-
edge, is greatly desired, and should be sought after by every practi-
cable mode.

I might proceed to other matters of inquiry worthy of being sub-
jects of premium with this enlightened and enterprising society.
But after these suggestions it may be best left to their own judgment.
The great object of all agricultural premiums should be to awaken
agricultural experiment and enterprise, in cases where information is
most needed ; and to obtain that information in so exact, detailed,
practical and authentic a form that it can be made at once available
to all the farmers in the county. This rule being made paramount,
the lists of premiums in all our agricultural societies might be
amended and enlarged ; and a strong spirit of inquiry awakened by
the objects proposed, and the particular form of interrogatory in
which these proposals should be presented.

I know I shall not give offence to the public-spiriled and intelligent
farmers of the Berkshire Agricultural Society in directing their atten-
tion to these points, which I do with all possible respect.

The practice of giving the premiums in some durable form of
plate, and of announcing and bestowing them in public, is a peculiar-
ity of arrangement highly to be approved. It creates a strong interest
and excites a noble emulation. The usefulness and permanency of
the article of premium grealy enhances its value. I was often,
in my visits in the county, delighted with seeing these honorable re-

131

wards, in the form of spoons, or tumblers, or cream-pots, brought out ;
in remarking the honest and laudable pride with which they were ex-
hibited ; and in tiie agreeable reflection that they would go down as
valuable heir-looms to other generations and stimulate their generous
ambition. Agriculture in all its moral aspects recommends itself to
the regard of every good mind. Emulation in this business awakens
none of the bad passions, which are so often engendered by rivalry
in other departments of life. One man's success in agriculture never
injures his neighbor ; but always tends to the general benefit. There
is in agriculture no monopoly of improvements and advantages ; and
every effort, discovery, experiment, or invention by which the im-
provement of the art is assisted, its respectability advanced, and its
productiveness increased, is a direct, substantial, and permanent ben-
efaction to a town, to the country, and to the world.

XIV. MISCELLANEOUS MATTERS.

Mount Washington at the south-western extremity of the county
and of the state, seen in almost any aspect, is a noble elevation ; and
as you first come in view of it on the road from Stockbridge to Great
Barrington, presents an object of peculiar beauty and grandeur. The
ascent of this mountain either from Guelder Hollow on the north-east,
or the beautiful valley of Kopeck on the west, is long but not diffi-
cult ; and after having ascended about two miles you reach an ex-
tended area of rolling country surrounded on three sides by a line of
different summits, which appear from several points of view below as
forming only a single prominence. The whole mountain is compre-
hended in the township of Mount Washington ; and in this area there
are some valuable farms, mainly devoted to the grazing of cattle and
the sheep husbandry.

1. Manufacture of Charcoal. The growth on Mount
Washington is principally chesnut and white birch with some maple
and oak. A great business of the inhabitants on the mountain, and of
many persons in the neighborhood, is the conversion of this wood

132

into coal of which 1U0,000 bushels are stated to be annually made.
Two and a half cords of wood are required to make 100 bushels of
coal. By good management two cords will produce 100 bushels.
The wood standing is valued according to the accessibleness of the
situation, at from 50 to 75 cents per cord. A kiln of a common
size contains from 25 to 30 cords. The chopping of two cords for
a kiln is considered a day's work for a man. Collecting and draw-
ing together on good gound requires five days. The covering of a
kiln requires three days' work. The burning of a kiln is twelve
days' work. The coal brings 12i to 13 cents at Hudson, about 24
miles distance and 5J to 6^ at Riga Iron Works, near the northern
line of Connecticut. Many farmers engage in it only in the intervals
of their farm-work. One farmer in the neighborhood made the last
year 1200 bushels ; and another made and sold coal to the amount
of six hundred dollars, which was a convenient and pleasant item in
the products of his year's labor.

An experienced observer and farmer, who has lived under this
mountain for nearly half a century, says " that tlie chesnut wood
on land where it is cut off will replace itself in about thirty years."

2. Marble Quarries. The marble quarries in Sheffield are
well worth a visit. Here are obtained the stones for the Girard Or-
phan College in Philadelphia ; and the works are now prosecuted
with great spirit and labor. The blocks for the columns are to be of
an average measurement of six feet in diameter ; three feet in thick-
ness ; to be rounded and rough hewn. The undertaker pays the
workmen at the rate of 130 dollars per block when fitted for trans-
portation. The distance of land carriage to the Hudson is 24 or 26
miles. The cost of each of these blocks when delivered in Phila-
delphia is 500 dollars. They are taken by ox-teams over the moun-
tain about five miles ; and then by horse-teams to the river. They
are ingeniously raised, and suspended under wheels of large diameter
and great strength. Seven tons is not an uncommon load ; 13 tons
have been taken at a time. After the block is split from the quarry
one man is occupied about three weeks in rough hewing it. They
can now reach the rail-road from Hudson to Stockbridge in a dis-
tance of a few miles ; and will probably use this method of transpor-
tation. The number of horses kept for the conveyance of the stone,

13S

nine pairs of horses being not an infrequent team, and the men em-
ployed in quarrying the stone, have made large demands for agricul-
tural produce. In looking at the facts in this case, it is curious to
observe the chain of connexion running through the multiplied and
ramified interests and relations of human life ; how actions and affairs
of remote countries and distant times spread their roots in every di-
rection, and penetrate to a wide extent of time and place. Thus the
revolutions in St. Domingo, which occurred nearly half a century
since, and first laid the foundation of the mammoth foitune of this
Philadelphia merchant, are now setting in motion the industry and
increasing the comforts and wealth of the farmers of Berkshire ; and
promise to extend a beneficent action and influence upon the intellec-
tual and moral interests of mankind through the generations of all
future time. So full of importance and pregnant with incalculable
consequences is every event and action in human history ; a mixed
web, whose thread Omniscience only can trace and unravel. /

3. Natural Scenery. The natural scenery of this county
combines, in a high degree, the beautiful, the grand, and the pictur-
esque. There is an intermingling of so much that is charming and
tasteful in rural life with so much that is lovely, elevating, and mag-
nificent in the aspects of nature, that a benevolent and philosophic
traveller, in winding his way through the favored valley of the Hou-
satonic, finds his imagination aroused to its highest capacity of enjoy-
ment, and his benevolent and grateful affections continually warmed
and expanded. I have a strong faith in the influences of natural sce-
nery upon the mind and character. The grandeur of nature inspires
nobleness of thought ; and lofty thoughts bring in their train noble
and comprehensive affections. The sublimity of a towering moun-
tain makes the bosom heave with kindred emotions ; and a prospect,
which is bounded only by the horizon, gives an enlargement of mind,
which spreads by sympathy into every other department of thought
and feeling. What is immense and comparatively limitless in nature
powerfully stimulates the sentiment of religious veneration in the
heart ; and by a natural process conducts the mind to the contempla-
tion of the infinitude, the power, and the perfection of the Creator.

It is among these higli hills and mountains, where men are trained
in the habits of simple life and of self-reliance, that the spirit of free-

134

dom and independence may be expected to linger and retain a home,
if she should be put to flight in those parts of our country where,
among a crowded population, the low and stagnant air is poisoned by
avarice and sensuality. When driven from every other part of Eu-
rope, she took refuge in the mountains of Switzerland. Her flame
could not be quenched even among the glaciers of the Alps. It
burnt brightly in the bosom of the brave mountaineer, who, in look-
ing from his eyrie-nest upon the broad expanse below, above, and
around him, felt that liberty was the proper element of tlie human soul.
There, under this generous impulse, was raised that beacon-light of
liberty, which will serve as the signal of defiance and triumph to the
oppressed ones of the earth in all coming time. The county of
Berkshire is distiniiuished by a highly cultivated, intelligent, active,
enterprising, and truly republican population. They owe it to the
kindness of divine Providence, which has cast their lot in a signally
favored location, to encourage and stimulate to the highest degree,
among themselves, the spirit of agricultural, intellectual, moral and
social improvement.

4. The Giant's Staircase. Among objects of natural,
curiosity, there is one in the south-western part of the county, but
little known even among the inhabitants, which will amply repay the
labor and time required to visit it. It is on Mount Washington and
is designated by a vulgar Dutch name, which no one who understands
it, must ever be asked to interpret. Until a more classical name
is invented it may be called the Giant's Staircase. It is a deep and
tremendous chasm or cleavage in the rocks on the western side of
Mount Washington, which combines much that is grand and ter-
rific ; and is destined to become an object of great resort to the
lovers of the wild and romantic in nature. In the spring of the year,
the waters, from the line of summits before described, collect in the
central area and uniting their streams force themselves in a torrent by
several successive leaps, and down successive steps through this tre-
mendous chasm in the rocks into the Kopeck valley. I visited it
late in summer when the water was low and the stream small ; but
it was then exceedingly striking and beautiful. The lower fall where
the silver cascade descends perpendicularly in a glittering pillar of foam,
about seventy feet, resembling the inverted plumage of a bird of para-

135

dise, only of brilliant whiteness and filled with gems, is seen, to the best
advantage from below. The passage through the chasm, where you
are compelled to creep over an abyss of terrific depth, is in its
present condition sufficiently starding and perilous ; and not to be
advised until some means of security are furnished other than a
bridge of two decayed saplings extended over this chasm. But the
passage may at a small expense be made secure ; and will afibrd to
those who have a taste for such exciting objects great delight.
The lofty arched chamber of great dimensions, about mid-way
of the passage, is very grand. Several intelligent writers have
pronounced the Giant's Staircase as an object of curiosity, worthy
to be associated with some of the most picturesque and sublime ob-
jects in nature, which are to be found in our country.

XV. DESIRABLE AGRICULTURAL IMPROVE-

MENTS.

1. Agricultural Capacities of Berkshire. The county
of Berkshire is eminently designed for an agricultural county. It
abounds in excellent and permanent water-powers, and is already
thickly sprinkled over with manufacturing villages. These establish-
ments, as far as they call upon the farmer to supply from his industry
the raw materials of their fabrics tend directly to excite and reward that
industry. While they withdraw some considerable portion of the pop-
ulation from the labors, who are nevertheless to be sustained by the
products, of the field, and introduce a considerable population from
abroad, they present a quick and the best of all markets, a home-
market for his produce. Besides this, to a large portion of the coun-
ty some of the largest markets in the country are directly accessible.
The farmer in Berkshire raises nothing worth raising for which he
cannot find an immediate sale. The soil and climate are favorable to
cultivation. In ordinary years wheat is successful ; oats are abun-
dant ; potatoes and vegetable esculents yield an ample return ; and
with the exception of what are emphatically termed the cold years,
Indian corn has succeeded as well as in any part of the state. Rough

136

as some of the land is, there are few cases in which, where it can be
ploughed at all to advantage, a pair of horses will not plough more
than an acre per day. The sheep husbandry has been pursued with
great success ; and the best breeds of fine-wooled sheep are to
be found here. The dairy produce of many of the farms is not sur-
passed by at)y accounts of other parts of our country, or of foreign
countries, which I have been able to obtain. It will be seen like-
wise from the statements of the farmers of the county themselves,
and those certainly among the most intelligent and practical, that
there is no crop well cultivated, which does not yield an ample re-
turn and compensation to labor.

2. Exclusive Husbandry. Yet with all this it must be ad-
mitted that the agriculture of the county in extent and productiveness
is far below what it should be. As well as I could learn, Egremont
is almost the only town in the county, which raises not only its own
bread but has some for exportation. Vast amounts of flour, grain of
various kinds, pork and dairy produce are brought into the county
from the neighboring states of New York and Vermont. It was
asserted as a fact, and if so it deserves notice, that two years since
some families in one of the best towns in the county were without
bread of any kind for a time from the impossibility of obtaining it.
They were persons for example who worked for the large wool-far-
mers. They asked for money for their labor ; but money was not
to be had because the clipping of wool, owing to the derangements of
business, had not been sold. They asked to receive their pay in
grain ; but the wool-farmers had abandoned all cultivation for the
sheep husbandry. They asked for their pay in pork, but the farmers
who raised no grain could raise no pork. Now whether this be a
true history or fabulous, it illustrates clearly the error committed in
abandoning the production of grain. On a sheep-farm, especially, to
neglect all cultivation is evidently throwing away one of the great ad-
vantages which would accrue to an arable farmer from the abundant
supplies of manure, which the sheep might furnish. It may be said
that the manure made by the sheep is applied to the grass lands.
But it is clear to my mind that in this way it will produce little profit
compared with what would come from using il in a proper rotation
of cultivated crops. The same mistake is in some cases made by

137

the dairy-farmers in abandoning all cultivation for the dairy. Now to
say nothing of the advantages to be derived in the support of the
stock and the increase of the produce both on the sheep and the
dairy-farm from an abundant supply of esculent vegetables and grain ;
yet the neglect of the advantages to be gained in such cases from the
ample supplies of manure, which might be obtained by proper
management, is a great practical error. A stock farm and an arable
farm, unless in the most untoward circumstances, should be always
conjoined ; and thus the beneficent institution of divine Providence
be constantly regarded in causing the earth to be replenished and
enriched by its own products. This is one of the beautiful laws in
the constitution of nature ; and as certain in its operation as is man's
obedience to its dictates. When man performs his part, nature is
never wanting in hers.

3. Domestic Economy. In looking over my returns, I was
struck with the remark of a man of much practical wisdom and one
of the best farmers in the Commonwealth. He says " that a farmer
should produce upon his farm all those supplies for his family, which
the farm can be made to yield." In his case this is done within
doors and without ; for there the spinning-wheel has not forgotten to
turn round, nor the shuttle to speed its flight. In this cottage,
whose neat and beautiful arrangements cannot be surpassed, the
clothing, the bedding and the carpeting were all the product of their
own fields and flocks. I shall not soon forget the unpretending and
hearty hospitality of these enviable dwellings. I have slept many a
time under a silken canopy, and trodden many a carpet as soft as the
pride of eastern luxury could make it ; but never with any thing like
the sentiment of honest pride and independence with which I saw
here the floors spread with carpets made from their own flocks,
which for fineness and beauty the foot of a princess need not dis-
dain; and on a cold night slept in woollen sheets from their own looms
as soft as the shawls of Cashmere ; and wiped my face with towels
spun with their own hands from their own flax, of a whiteness as
transparent and delicate as the drifted snow. In such beautiful examples
of domestic management, it is delightful to see with how limited
means the best comforts and luxuries of life may be purchased.
Nor were these instances few. The county of Berkshire abounds with
18

138

examples of this domestic comfort and independence. Much ta
be regretted will be the change, which has already invaded many
parts of the state, when under the pretence of superior cheapness,
these household fabrics shall give place to the more showy but flimsy
products of foreign industry ; and the healthy exercise of domestic
labor and household cares shall be deemed degrading in our wives
and daughters ; and exchanged for the idleness and frivolities of
pride and luxury.

I agree entirely in the sentiment above expressed, that every farmer
should, as far as possible, supply the wants of his family from his own
farm. He should su})ply himself with bread, meat, vegetables, milk,
butter, cheese and clothing, as far as his farm can be made to do it.
He can almost always do it at a less expense than he can purchase
these supplies. The labor requisite for this purpose may often be
given at times when it would not otherwise be occupied ; and by
hands for which there might otherwise be no employment. The
sentiment of self-respect and self-dependance, inspired by such a
course, is a great gain. The satisfaction of eating bread raised by
one's own labor is not small ; and various and important moral influ-
ences, which I shall not now discuss, render it altogether desirable ;
though in some cases the same amount of labor consumed in their
production, if applied in other ways, would purchase a larger amount
of the same supplies. Though the supply of our own great wants
from our own farms might seem, however, in some cases to be ape-
cuniary loss, it is always in the end a moral gain, with which the
pecuniary loss is not to be put in competition.

4. Increase of Cultivation and Products. — The coun-
ty ought likewise to determine to supply their own wants, by their
own labor, and from their own soil. This is the only certain and
substantial independence. Instead of being in agricultural produce,
an importing, they might become an exporting community, of bread,
and beef, and pork, as well as of dairy-produce and wool. Instead
of raising one bushel of corn, they should raise ten. Instead of be-
ing satisfied with two hundred bushels of potatoes, they ought to
raise two thousand, and so in this proportion. The farming in gen-
eral, excepting some cases of dairy and sheep husbandry, is on too
small a scale to afford much profit. In all the statements of man-

13D

agemerit, addressed to the Massachusetts j\giicu]tural Society, by
those who have entered the hsts in the competition for the premiums
on farms the present year, every applicant, with hardly an exception,
seems to plume himself upon the small amount of labor with which
he has managed his farm. If the expense of labor is small, com-
pared with the amount of land cultivated, the improvements made,
and the products obtained, this may be matter of merit. But if it is
made a boast that little labor has been employed, because in truth,
litdc land has been cultivated, and little produce grown, it is rather
matter of discredit than of commendation. Agriculture can never
be eminently successful in Berkshire, until more capital is employed,
more labor expended, and more produce raised. The great object
of every farmer, I speak of men who pursue farming as merchants
pursue trade, and manufacturers pursue manufacturing, should be to
produce as much as they can ; and to spare no labor nor expense, ^
while labor and expense can be profitably applied to this single ob-
ject of production. The cultivation of esculent vegetables as food
for stock, ought to be a prominent object of attention to the Berk-
shire farmer. The amount of vegetables raised one year by a farmer
in South Lee, viz. two thousand bushels of ruta baga, from two and
a half acres of land, and twelve hundred of carrots from two acres,
and his opinion of carrots as food for stock, as given in page 92 of
this report, and the opinion of a farmer in Pittsfield, of the value of
vegetables for stock, in page 101, deserve particular attention.

5. Comparative value of Hay, Vegetables, and Corn.
— I wish briefly to draw the attention of farmers to the value of hay,
compared with other crops, for the feeding of stock. An acre of hay
yields one ton and a half of vegetable food. An acre of carrots or
Swedish turnips, will yield from ten to twenty tons ; say fifteen tons,
which is by no means an exaggerated estimate. It has been ascer-
tained by experiment, that three working horses, fifteen and a half
liands high, consumed at the rate of two hundred and twenty-four
pounds of hay per week, or five tons one thousand and forty-eight
pounds of hay per year, besides twelve gallons of oats each per
week, or seventy-eight bushels by the year. An unworked horse
consumed at the rate of four and one-quarter tons of hay in the year.
The produce, therefore, of nearly six acres of land is necessary to

140

support a working horse by ilie year ; but half an acre of carrots, at
six hundred bushels to the acre, vvitli tlie addition of chopped straw,
while the season for tlieir use lasts, will do it as well, if not better.
These things do not admit of doubt. They have been subjects of
exact trial.

It is believed that the value of a bushel of Indian corn in straw
and meal, will keep a healthy horse in good condition for work a
week. An acre of Indian corn which yields sixty bushels, will be
ample for the support of a horse througli the year. Let the farmer,
then, consider whether it be better to maintain his horse upon the
produce of half an acre of carrots, which can be cultivated at an
expense not greatly exceeding the- expense of half an acre of pota-
toes, or upon half an acre of ruia baga, which can be raised at a less
expense than potatoes, or upon the grain produce of an acre of In-
dian corn, or on the other liand, upon the produce of six acres of
his best land in hay and grain ; for six acres will hardly do more than
to yield nearly six tons of hay and seventy-eight bushels of oats.
The same economy might be as successfully introduced into the feed-
ing of our neat cattle and sheep.

These facts deserve the particular attention of the farmers who
are desirous of improving their pecuniary condition. It is obvious
how much would be gained by the cultivation which is here suggest-
ed ; how much more stock would be raised ; how much the dairy-
produce might be increased ; and how much the means of enriching
the land, and improving the cultivation, would be constantly extend-
ing and accumulating. But when we find on a farm of two hundred
acres, that the farmer cultivates only two acres of potatoes, one acre of
ruta baga, and perhaps a quarter of an acre of carrots, we call this
" getting along," in the common phrase ; but we can liardly dignify
it with the name of farming. I am aware that labor of a proper kind
is in n>any cases difficult to be procured, and with our habits, as dif-
ficult to be managed. Farming, likewise, can in few situations be
successfully managed, unless the farmer has capital to employ, equal
at least to one year's manure and one year's crops. A large por-
tion of our farmers, also, from the nature of their habits and style of
living, are so prosperous and independent, that they have no occa-
sion to extend their cultivation beyond what it now is, in order to
meet their wants ; and to incur all the trouble, vexation, and risk of

141

employing more labor, expending more capital, and increasing their
cares.

But it is not fair to produce such instances as any examples of the
profit or unprofitableness of husbandry, when carried on, as all other
branches of business, to be successful, must be carried on, with in-
telligence, skill, industry, enterprise ; and all the capital and all the
labor which can be advantageously employed in it. I will not, how-
ever, anticipate such general views of the subject, as I propose to
lake in the retrospect of the whole survey.

v

6. Apples. — I should recommend strongly to the farmers of
Berkshire, the cultivation of apples. The orchards are compara-
tively (ew, and many have been neglected from the best of motives,
an unwillingness to favor the facilities of intemperance. But the val-
ue of apples for fatting pork and beef and even for milch cows, so
well established by innumerable experiments, and in some cases rat-
ed as highly as potatoes, recommends them most strongly to increased
attention and universal cultivation. The borders of our fields may
be lined with them ; the road sides may be planted with them ; they
may be scattered over our pastures, with little or no injury to the
crops or the pasturage, if properly arranged.

7. Raising of Live Stock. — The raising of early lambs for
the New York market, and of fattening mutton, may be made sources
of much profit to the Berkshire farmers ; but many important facts
which 1 have on this subject, will be brought into another report.

Great success has attended the raising of neat stock in the county,
and finer stock of the kind, principally, though not entirely of the
Devon blood, than I found on the farm of George Hull, of Sandis-
field, and .John M. Hurlbui, of Great Barrington, is seldom to be
seen. They evince the very best management. I might mention
other cases ; and of course in my excursions I can have seen but
comparatively little of what exists there ; but these examples recur-
red strongly to my recollection. These gentlemen are well satisfied
with the profits of their stock-husbandry ; and the facts prove that
the raising of stock in Berkshire, with proper judgment in the selec-
tion, and care in the management, would afford an ample profit. The
Shakers have been eminendy successful both at Tyringham and Han

142

cock, in raising slock. Attempts have been made at crossing the
North Devon with the Imj)roved Durham, on the farm of the former
gentleman at Sandisfield, and it is said a superior milking stock has
been obtained. I have known other instances of this same cross,
with like success ; and in sotne parts of England it has been greatly
commended. The great difficulty to be contended with in the intro-
duction of the Improved Duiham Short Horns into our state, will
be found in the expensiveness of their keep, and the care which they
require. It is universally admitted by their warmest friends, that
they consume much more food than our common stock ; and cannot
flourish under exposure, and the neglect with which our stock is
usually treated.

Attempts have been made, likewise, in Otis and Sandisfield, to
introduce the long-wooled sheep, the Dishley or New Leicester.
Four bucks of this variety were exhibited at the cattle-show, in Pitts-
field, the last season ; and the joint live weigiit of two of these an-
imals was G40 lbs. A cross between the Leicester and the Merino
has been tried here, and is favorably reported. The experiment of
thus mixing the long and the fine and short wools together, has
heretofore been attempted. The first and second crosses have given
satisfaction ; afterwards it has not been approved. All highly bred
animals are of tender constitution, and require great attention to keep
up the improvement. A cross of the Dishley or Bakewell with the
large sheep of our native stock would be an undoubted improve-
ment.

8. Compost and Liquid Manures. Manures are the very
sinews of agriculture ; its food ; its life-blood. To this matter the
attention of the farmers of Berkshire cannot be too strongly directed.
1 have spoken urgently on this subject in another place ; but I am
extremely desirous that the farmers should be impressed with its
importance.

It is well established that all animal manures have most efficacy
when applied in the greenest state. They are then most active ;
and their chemical efiects upon the soil are inmiediate and powerful.
In a direct application to the soil, however, they cannot be very
thoroughly intermixed ; and on this account, without question, they
are less efficacious than they would be, if uniformly distributed and
thoroughly incorporated with the earth. To eflect this object in the

143

best manner it is desirable to form them in compost heaps, with
ctJier substances ; mud, scrapings of yards, scrapings of roads, sods
or decayed vegetable matters of every description ; and even simple
loam or mould, or any substance which will act as a retentive ab-
sorbent. Thus compounded the liquids of the manure will be re-
tained and the escape of the valuable gaseous effluvia prevented ; and
by being thoroughly and equally intermixed and diffused, the whole
mass becomes a valuable and efficacious manure. The amount of
manure in this way is greatly increased ; and it is believed, that one
part of green animal manure combined in this way with two parts of
mould, swamp-mud, decomposed peat, and even some portion of
clay, will prove quite as serviceable as if the whole mass were animal
manure applied in a raw and unmixed state. Some intelligent farm-
ers maintain that the proportion of animal manure or dung requisite to
impregnate a large mass in compost is much less than I have allowed.
This can be always favorably done in a well constructed barn-yard.
The bottom of a barn-yard ought always to be kept well covered
with loam or mud, or other matters to absorb the liquids of the yard.
But it may often be done to advantage, where the manure on a field
designed to be cultivated is seasonably carried out and mixed with
mould obtained from the headlands to form the heap, which being
turned over and worked up once or twice, will then be fit for use.

There is another matter, to which I invite the attention of the
Berkshire farmers ; that is, the saving of liquid manures. In the best
districts on the continent of Europe, the liquid parts of manure are
considered in every respect equal to the solid. There provision is
made for saving and compounding ihem with the greatest care ; in
stone and water-proof vaults formed under their cow-houses. In our
dairy districts especially, where large herds of cows are kept, a great
amount of this manure might be secured by vaults, formed undei- the
stalls with spouts leading into them. With a view to the same object
likewise, the cattle instead of lying in the yards at ni2;ht, should be
always tied in the stalls. If the barn is properly ventilated, and the stalls
littered, they will lay as comfortably and securely as in the yards ;
and the saving of manure would much more than pay for any extra
trouble, which it might be supposed to involve. These are homely
subjects but as important as they are homely. Doubling our ma-
nures is quadrupling our crops ; and whoever will look with disdain

:44

upon a manure-heap is indifferent to some of the most wonderful and
beneficent operations of the divine Providence ; and to the most iie-
markable and instructive lessons of religious philosophy.*

XVI. MACHINERY.

1. Drill-Barrow. A useful drill-barrow has been invented
by Samuel H. Bushnell of Sheffield, of a simple construction, and
small expense, by which the sowing of small seeds is well and expe-
ditiously performed. Indian corn may also be planted with it. A
good one has likewise been made by Allen C. Metcalf of Lenox,
both of which have received the honorary notice of the agricultural
society.

2. Threshi^jg-Machine. T^lie threshing-machine in general
use through the county is one made in Hillsdale, N. Y. I was not
able to learn, whether it was patented or not ; or any particular name
by which it is designated. It performs its work well and with de-
spatch. It is moved by three horses or by two yoke of oxen. The
thresher is placed on the barn floor, and is connected by a belt with
the moving power, to which the cattle are attached, in the yard.
The whole can be put into a small wagon and easily conveyed from
place to place. The cost is 75 dollars. With proper attendance,
I was told that 120 bushels of wheat or 300 bushels of oats might be
threshed by it in a day. The 300 bushels of oats seemed to me a
large statement ; and of course it must take several assistants to hand
and take away and tie up so many sheaves.

3. Smoke-House. Moses Spurr in building a smoke-house,
separated it into two parts by a brick partition, with openings in the
partition to admit the passage of the smoke. The meat is hung in
one apartment ; and the fire is made in the other. In this way the
bacon or meat is thoroughly smoked without any danger of dropping
or dripping into the fire, or of being injured by hanging too near the

* Appendix G.

145

fire. This is a small matter, but deserves notice. Many of the best
conv i.iences oflife are little matters ; an 1 any one can male? ;:n c^.
stand on the small end after being, shown how,

4. Water-Works. The barn of Cornelius Bassett at Lee,
wh )se farming is higlily creditable to him, stands on a side hill near
his house, at a distance of perhaps thirty or forty rods above a small
stream, which flows at the foot of the hill. On this stream he has
erected a wheel, which carries a forcing pump ; and ihroir^h logs the
water is thrown in a steady stream direcily into his barn-yard. This is
a miniature of the Fairmount Water- Wo ks on d;e .ichuylkill ; and a
pleasing and useful operation.

XV i I. CONCLUSIO :.

I am unwilling to protract this report, though I have necessarily
passed over many things deserving of notice, and have done imper-
fect justice to subjects vvhiidi I have treated ; but I have the less re-
luctance in the case, from the fact, that in other reports, shoukl the
Government deem the survey worthy of a continuance, I shall have
opportunities to recur to them.

I cannot close without expressing my pleasure in witnessing the
universal prevalence of a spirit of improvement throughout the coun-
ty, I should do serious injustice to my own feelings if I did not ex-
press, likewise, my grateful sense of the kindness and courtesy which
I every where experienced ; my high appreciation of the many val-
uable acquaintances and friendships, which I have formed ; and my
sincere respect for a people eminently distinguished by that intelli-
gence, refinement of manners, order, and good morals, which con-
stitute the honor and happiness of the social state.

19

APPENDIX

[A.]
METEOROLOGICAL TABLES.

I — Letter from Allen C. Metcalf, of Lenox, to the Commissioner of
Agricultural Survey.

Lenox, Januarij 22, 1839.
Mr. Henry Colman :

Dear Sir, — In compliance with your request, I now proceed to give
you a recapitulation and results of my Meteorological Journal for the
years 1837 and '38, together with some miscellaneous observations
connected with it, relating to the progress of vegetation in the spring
and summer — the time of sowing and harvesting crops, &lc. &lc.

In reference to the place at which these observations are made, I
would state, that my location, as you know, is on elevated ground, not
subject to the scorching heats of summer, to which many places are
exposed, nor to the extremes of cold in winter, it being somewhat pro-
tected by surrounding trees. I have found, from observation and ex-
periment, that in very low situations the mercury indicates greater de-
grees of heat and cold than in more elevated, so that I consider my
situation favorable for obtaining the true medium temperature.

148

APPENDIX.

LATITUDE AND LONGITUDE OF LENOX.

Lat. 42° \S'—Lon. 73° 20'.

METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATIONS FOR 1837.

Mean Temperature and range of the 3Iercitry in each month. Weather.
No. of Days.

i

X

1

a

I
3

1

c

•s.

0^

5

1

= i

ii

si

- «-

REMARKS.

Jan.

V,

—1-2

1.5.39

17 63

16 51

59 1U15

4^

158

Feb.

4G

—12

18 33

20.1.8

19 40

38 8

16 2

2

] (58 Highest degree in the year, 90.

Mar.

.54

—10

-•2 2G

3163

26 94

6-1 11

12 4^

n

4.24

Lowest degree,— 12.

April

7(1

21

m

40 55

38 58

55 11

15 4

2.47

Whole range of ihe mercury, 102=.

Mny

Hd

24

49.2':

53 f3

51.38

62

13i

n

3

6.17

Greatest monthly range, 68.

June

sn

47

Gl 7.5

59.65

60.70

41

13

11

6

5 63

Mean lempcinture of the year, in-
clusive, 41 .09.

July

yo

48

(;2.23

6 ;.2r

G2.75

42

16^

8A

5

2,62

Warmest day, August 9th.

Aug. ;89

44

G5 21

61.13

63.17

4;

m

16A

4

2.08

Coldest day, February 13th.

Se|)l. 87

1

32

5GG6

52.38

54.02

35

21 A

7A

.99

First severe frost in Autumn, Sep-

Oct. ni

20

49.29

43 16

42.72

5";

15

15

2.C4

tember 2d.

Nov. !73

5

34.6G

3;49

34.33

G8

12J

\bh

1

.85

November the driest, and May the
wettest moiiih.

Dec. 56

— "

23.99

19.08

22.53

65

11 |18

1 1

2 10

Total fill! of Water,

Mean temperature of winter, includ-
ing Di'c. mber of the last vcar, . 20.17
Mean of spring. . ' . . :i8.96
Mean ol suinnn r, . . . 62.20
Mean ot au uu.n' . . . 43.76

Fair d

TVS in

the

year,

. 1.57

Cloud

days

. 157^

Rainy

days,

. 38^

Snowy days, .
Prevailing winds,— Norlh

March 30ih — Robins first seen.

" 24ih — Rlue-hiids first seen.
.April IGlh — I'Vogs first licard
May 18ih — liarn-swallnws seen.

" ISili — I'lums and cherries in blossom.

My observations for this year are not as full as will be found in the
year 1833.

P. S. — Observations at the thermometer taken at sunrise, and at one,
and nine, P. M.

APPENDIX.

149

METEOROLOGICAL JOURNAL, Lenox, If 38.

Recapitulation and Results.

Mean teinperaiure, r.nd large of ihe
mercury in each month.

Winds— No ofdays— from
each point of compass.

Weather — No. of
days.

GI

1

-5

i

1

i

J

66

2

Z
1

1

xn

"ii

^

~9d

c2

14

>>

1

\

i

i

January, .

32.53

25.52

29.03

2.46

February, ,

46

-3

. 9 1 10.90

14.14

49

3d

U

2i

1^

2

13

13d

12

2d

1.52

March, .

55

1

31.26 34 54

3:co

54

8

7

4

3

1

8

m

9

Id

.96

April,

65

16

31.87 i ! .[;^

35.[9

49

^

3^

h

31

Ji

2^

I

13d

15

12

•d

Id

1.30

May,

30

29

46.02 : 57.25

51.:;;;

51

H

4

2

s

1^

12

18d

6d

6

3.94

June,

86

50

63.59 66.0s'6)85

36

2^

3

1

4

8i

3^

1

6d

I8d

6d

^

363

July,

91

45

71.77 ,2 42 67.09

46

u

d

li

2i

3d

3

12d

24

6

1

3.64

August, .

86

45

67.28 63.83 : 65.65

41

2

H

i

^

^\

2

1

14

20^

7d

3

7.60

September,

77

37

53.10,57.^^ 55. "il

40

4

5

1^

^

%

li

I

8d

\%

8d

'

6.54

October, .

79

20

48.60 37.38 42 99

52

h

9

h

-

%

3d

Id

13d

lid

13d

'

1

5.04

November,

60

0

37.86 1 24.20 31.03

[

60

3

h

h

11.^

^■

1

13

14^

11

*

d

3.97

December,

40

-.

23.50 1 19.14 121.32

42

l-i

8i

5i

Id

14

'9d

3

4

.75

Whole range of the merrury in the

year, . . 9l)^

Highest desfrec, . . . 91

Lowest degree, . . . — 3

31eiiii tein|;erfllure of the year. . 42.74

Mc.ni tenipcrauire of winter, iiiclud-

iiijr DereinUer of last year, . 23^

Meai] lemper.iture of spring, . 40 14

Mean leinperature of sufliincr, . 66.13

Mean temperaiur(< of autumn, . 43.07

'i'here h ive been 203 fair days in the year — 114 cloud_v — 32^ rainy — and 15A snowy.
The summer of this year has been mo-ct delightful, and the fruits of the earth, particularly

In-Uan Corn, have come lo full nuuurilv.

I Warmest day in the year, July 10th.
j Coklesi day in the year, January 31st.

[ On 100 days the mercury rose to 70^ and
above — on 36 of which it rose lo 80"^ and
above— and on 4 to 90'^. At 11 different
times it .sunk lo zero and below.

Lightning- and thunder have been noticed
on ISdays. First on tlie23d of June — last on
the 23d September. Prevailing wind.s N . W,

Miscellaneous Observations.

March 2 — The trees beautifully ornamented
with frost.
" 22 — Singmg of birds first noMced.
" 23 — A (oggy morning — first Robin.
" 24 — Harrnwed ground ploughed in
aulunni.
April 6 — Commenced ploughing.

Apiil 7 — Sowed seeds in my hotbed —
Frogs first heard.
" 11 — Sowed wheat. 12ih — Sowed oats.
" 24 — Finished sowing thirteen acres of

oals.
'■■ 25 — Deep halo around the sun.
" 29— A fiue soft alJBosphere to-da^.

150 APPENDIX.

Miscellaneous Observations — Continued.

April 30 — A sudden change of 30° to cold, j July 5 and 20 — Sharp lightning and heavy

May 4 — Sowed wheal. 12th — ditto. [ thunder.

" 14^Corn planted in various places. | " 26 — Have cut twelve acres of hay up

" If) — Sowed wheat. 1 to this date.

" 17 — Planted Dution corn, which ri- i Aug. 4— Harvested wheat sown April 11.

pened finely. " 7 — Harvested oats sowed April 12,

" 22 — Plum and currants in blossom. 13.

" 23 — Lightning and thunder first no- ] " 18 — Harvested wheat sowed May

ticed. 16.

" 25 — A bright halo round the sun. " 26 — Frost in low grounds.

" 30 — Apples in blossom. Set out fir- ! " 29 — Finished haying.

trees. , Sept. 3 — A general white frost.

Planted potatoes 28lh, 30th, 31st i " 5— A dense fog.

of May, and 1st of June. " 13 and 15 — Northern lights.

June 4 — Apples in full blossom. •' 18 — Great eclipse of the sun.

18— Chilly east winds.
" 26 — Sowed buckwheat.
July 2 — A severe thunder-storm in the
night.

Oct. 9 — First severe frost.

" 31 — A light snow.
Nov. 18 — Snow.
Dec. 8— First sleighing.

Total fall of water, in 5 successive vears, has been as follows, com-
mencing with 1834, " . . . . 33.21 inches and lOOlhe.

1835 40.47 "

1836, .... 49.89 "

1837, 32.47 "

1838, .... 41.35 "

Total, . . 197.39 "

Mean fall of water, yearly, .... 39.47 "
Mean temperature of summer, 1837, 62.20— Of 1838, 66.15.

As to any agricultural experiments of mine, I have succeeded in
none worthy of notice that now occur to me, but will say a word con-
cerning the best situation for fruit and ornamental trees, which are
subject to being injured or destroyed by the extremes of cold in our
latitude.

Since the cold weather of January, 1835, when the mercury sunk
to 25 or 30 degrees below zero, and fruit and other trees were de-
stroyed in different parts of the country, I have been led to notice the
effects of severe cold upon trees in different exposures, and have found
almost universally, that fruit and other trees, standing in sheltered sit-
uations, have been killed, when those of the same kind, standing
exposed to a free circulation of air, have safely withstood the injurious
effects of frost. This has, I doubt not, been noticed by yourself and
others ; if so, then perhaps my observation will tend to confirm this
opinion.

One cause of this is supposed to be, that when a season of warm
weather occurs in winter, or early in the spring, (as it often does,) it
causes the sap to rise and the buds to swell prematurely in trees stand-
ing in sheltered situations — and then a sudden change to severe cold
checks this circulation, and freezes the sap in the capillary tubes, thus

APPENDIX.

151

destroying the vital principle of vegetation in the tree. So that upon
this principle it is advisable to plant such trees in open grounds.

There are undoubtedly other causes of trees in such situations being
injured or destroyed when others are not, but which I cannot satis-
factorily explain.

With regard to the destruction of the Borer, which infests the locust
trees, I will merely state the facts of an experiment I made in June,
1836.

In the early part of summer of that year, at the time when the locust
is usually growing most rapidly, I discovered that two beautiful trees
of the common locust, in front of our house, appeared pale and sickly,
and were not growing as others were, or as they had done the year
previous ; and on examining their trunks I found, to my grief, that
great numbers of the borer were committing their depredations upon
them, and that unless something could be promptly done to destroy
these invaders, I must lose my favorite trees. I immediately took a
half pint of spirits of turpentine, without diluting, (thinking I would
either kill or cure,) and washed the trunks of my trees therewith, at
the same time picking out with my knife and killing as many of the
insects as could be found. In a week's time, the appearance of the
trees was improved, though they did not grow much that year.

The next year I repeated the washing, though no borer could be
found, and the trees grew well ; and in June, 1838, they were growing
as finely, and looked as flourishing, as any other trees.

In case any one should wish to make the experiment upon a large
scale, the turpentine might be diluted with muddy water, (it would not
mix with clear,) and would undoubtedly answer every purpose, and go
much further.

It appears to me it would be a public benefit, and conduce much to
the advancement of science and the benefit of agriculture, if the Com-
monwealth should provide for the procuring of meteorological observa-
tions, and pay a suitable compensation for performing the labors of
such an office. The state of New York employs several such officers,
who are connected with the schools and colleges of the state.

If keeping such a journal is a public benefit, why should not our own
state patronize the object, and let it be connected with the agricultural,
instead of the academical department of science. If any benefit is to
be derived from observations on the various phenomena of the seasons,
let it be directed towards advancing the interests of the agricultural
community. The keeping of such a journal, is necessarily attended
with considerable expense of time.

152 APPENDIX.

T' at of making the daily observations is but trifling, but the carry-
ing of them out, and obtaining the various results, costs a good deal of
time and labor This, together with the purchasing of suitable philo-
sophical instruments, amounts to quite an item of expense ; but if one
could receive a moderate compensation for his trouble, he would be
induced to make other observations and experiments which might be
interesting and useful. As it is, I cannot well afford it. And for this
reason, I had discontinued my journal, as you know, but at your re-
quest commenced it again, and shall continue to keep it until I hear
from you upon the subject.

I would suggest the idea, if any thing should be done by the Legis-
lature on the subject, of having such a journal kept one at Boston, one
at Worcester, or Northampton, and one at Lenox. A barometrical
table should be kept in the journal.

Please excuse this long document.

Yours sincerely,

ALLEN C. METCALF.

APPENDIX.

153

II — Table from Memoirs of American Academy, Vol. IV, Part I.

Comparative time of Floicering of several Plants in the
Spring of 1817.

Cla^vlonia Spatulaia. Spring beamy.
Tussilago farfara. Garden colis'-fbol.
Ulmus americana. Elm.

" fulva. Slipper}' dm.
Poihos foelida. Skunk-cabbage.
Acer rubrum. Sofi maple. .

" saccharinum. Sugar-maple

Sanguiiiaria canadensis. Biood-root,

Hepalica Iriioba. Liverwort.

Callha palu.slris. Ccwslip. .

Alnus .serrulala. Black alder.

Eryllironiuni americanam. Adder
tongue.

Leonlodon laraxacum. Dandelion.

Anemone nemorosa. Anemone.

Aronia botryapium. Shad-flower.

Fragaria virginica. Strawberry.

Uvularia perfoliala. BeJl-wort.

Aquilegia canadensis. Columbine.

P^rus malus. Apple.

2G
" 30

.May 2

Apr 28

May 3

iMay 1

Ap:-.20

14

12 " 15

May 2

" 5

" 2

.

' 6

" 15

«•' 3

" IS

'■' 10

" 15

" 29

" 25

" '29

'•' 20
May 2

" 9
4

Apr

Vpr.20

Apr.lO

Mar. 13
Apr.lO

" 15

" G
" 22
Mar 24

Apr.14

20

164

[B.]
On Raising Calves.

Braintree, January 13, 1838.
Rev. Mr. Colman :

Dear Sir, — In answer to your inquiries respecting the mode vi?hich
I have adopted in raising cattle, I can merely say, that I have, for ten
or fifteen years past, preferred to raise calves that come in the fall of
the year, rather than those that come in the spring, for two important
reasons : the first, and equally important is, the great saving in ex-
pense. Those that I have raised within the above time, have not cost
me more than one quarter part so much as those that I formerly raised.
They used generally to be with the cow from eight to ten weeks.
The usual quantity of milk which they took, was about eight quarts
per day each ; the common price of milk has been twelve and one
half cents per gallon, and four cents per single quart, and more sold
by the quart than by the gallon. Upon a calculation, you will see,
that it would cost about seventeen dollars, upon the lowest price of
milk, to prepare a calf to go to pasture ; in addition, calves that are
raised in the spring, generally come in when two years old, which I
think too young; the cows are not so good nor so large, and will not
hold out so long, having come to maturity too soon.

Another difficulty which arises from letting the calves take the milk from
the cow, is, when you turn them to pasture they are very uneasy, con-
tinually bawling after their mother, eat but little, and fall away in flesh,
and are often stinted. Those that are raised in the fall or winter, do
not generally come in until they are two and one half years old, are
much larger, and continue good cows much longer. The expense of
raising them in the old way, has been so much, that scarcely a single
calf is raised in this vicinity. Consequently our farmers have bought
their young cattle from droves from different parts of the country, and
have had no opportunity to select the breed, the result of which is a
miserable breed of cattle. Now sir, the mode which I have adopted,
(with great success) is : I take my calves (that come in the fall or win-
ter,) from the cow when three or four days old, (as the case may be;)
I take a small quantity of good English h<j,y, and make a tea from it;
I add a small quantity of milk, and a very little molasses to it. The

APPENDIX. 155

calf drinks it freely, and very soon becomes very fond of it, and hav-
ing got the taste, will eat hay at three weeks old, with as much eager-
ness as a calf will usually eat grass at ten weeks old. As they in-
crease in age, I decrease in the quantity of milk, unless I hap-
pen to have a large quantity of poor milk. I make the tea
pretty strong, and give them about as much as they would usually re-
quire of milk, twice a day, with a few carrots cut up fine, and also, as
much good hay as they will eat. The hay that the tea is made of is
not lost, as the cattle will eat it all. I generally have a kettle with hay
in it on the fire all the time; a small quantity of hay will make
enough for morning and night. I have been very much indebted to
the Hon. John Welles, of Boston, for the breed of my cattle ; have
had them of him ; and without exception, I think his breed of cattle
is by far the best in this country. I have found no difficulty in selling
my cows, from fifty dollars to a much higher price. I think a calf
may be raised till it is ten weeks old, in the manner I have adopted,
for the small sum of three dollars — the trouble is but trifling. If the
above remarks, or any part of them, are of any service to the public,
they are at your service.

With much esteem.

Your friend, and

Humble Servant,

MINOT THAYER.

[C]
Cheese-Shelves.

"Wilbur's semi-revolving slide cheese-shelves is an admirable contri-
vance to save labor in the cheese-dairy. By it two men can easily
turn twenty-four heavy cheeses in a minute, and are enabled to rub
them without their being lifted from the shelves. The model consists
of an upright frame, suspended by an axis passing through its horizon-
tal centre; and into which slide eight pair of shelves, the distance of
which may be graduated to the size of the cheeses. The cheeses are
placed alternately above and below the axis. Slats are fixed upon the

156 APPENDIX.

back of the frame to prevent the cheeses falling out when the frame re-
volves. The frame is made stationary by a pin, and when this is
withdrawn, it is made to revolve half round upon its axis, which turns
the cheeses. The shelves over them, and upon which the cheeses have
lain the preceding day may then be withdrawn, and left to dry till the next
day, when they may be returned, the turning process repeated, and the
other shelves cleaned and dried in turn. The improvement is a valua-
ble one in large dairies. Henry Wilbur of Richfield, Otsego Co., N,
Y., is the inventor."

Extract from a Litter.

" The saving in labor and risk of the cheese are great, and the ex-
pense of fitting up a new room on this plan, would not greatly exceed
that, in common use, as the room may be much smal'cr. One rack
with six shelves, six feet long, twenty-four inches wide, set eleven
inches apart, will hold eighteen cheeses weighing from 100 to 140 lbs.
each, suspended by a wooden shaft two inches square, resting on two
rails extending the whole length of the room, three and a half feet
higii, or if only a single rack, on two posts; each rack requires about
four feet on the length of the rails, to turn well, — and its cost will not
exceed six dollars including the materials of which it is made. On
this system the cheese dries much faster, as it is turned on to the dry
side of the shelf every day, and has a sound and dry rind. He has
one set of extra shelves, which are slipped in close above the cheeses
before turned, on which shelf the cheeses lay when turned over; the
others are then liberated for another rack, and so on through the room.
By the aid of these six extra shelves, the cheeses in turning need not
fall but a trifle, if any."

157

[D.]
Letters from S. L. Dana, M. D., on Ashes, Lime, &.c.

LETTER I.

Lowell, February 16, 1839.

Dear Sir, — You have asked me how the action of ashes, leeched,
or unleeclied, whether of wood, peat, or coal, is to be explained on
my views of vegetation. The best answer I can give you, is to state
what is the composition of ashes, and to glance at my views. By the
last, I presume you refer to statements in Prof. Hitchcock's late re-
port. I have there said that fertility depends on salts and geinc.
Without the last there is no healthy vegetation. The great body of
the soil, in which salts and geine act, is only the comminuted remains
of rocks, usually called primitive. We have termed this "granitic
sand." We have thus three great, natural divisions of the ingredients
of soil : 1st. Geine, 2d. Salts, 3d. Granitic Sand. Strictly speaking,
we have two classes only, geine and salts, for the "granitic sand" is a
mass of suits ; a mass, in which silex acts as an acid, and alkalies, lime,
magnesia, alumine, metallic oxides as bases, a mass o{ silicates. I pre-
fer this term to granitic sand, and I shall heieafter use it. Let us now
glance at these three divisions.

1. Geine. — To my remarks, already published by Professor Hitch-
cock, I now add, that geine enters vegetables simply as geine, or as an
alkaline, earthy, or metallic geate, dissolved either in water or in alkali.
The organic and inorganic acids and salts of the plant, decompose
these varied forms. The elements of geine, its oxygen, hydrogen, and
carbon, play their usual part in vegetable economy. Acetic, and prob-
ably some of the other vegetable acids, do not precipitate the alkaline
solution of geine. In this case, it may still circulate in fluid form in
plants. The earthy and alkaline bases of the geates form the bases of
the various salts which plants afford.

2. Salts. — This class includes, first, compounds of geine ; second,
alkaline -salts, potash, soda, ammonia, and all their combinations,
known by the names of carbonates, sulphates, nitrates, muriates, &.C.,

158

APPENDIX.

as common salts, soaper's spent leys, consisting chiefly of muriate of
potash mixed with a peculiar organic compound called glyceine, salt-
petre, ashes leeched or fresh, urine, containing abundant phosphates
and aramoniacal salts, soot ; containing both ammonia and geine ; third,
lime, in all its forms, marl, shells, chalk, marble, air-slacked lime, plas-
ter, bones.

3. Silicates. — To have a distinct idea of this division of soil, let
ue tabulate the composition of argillite, and of the several simple min-
erals, whose aggregate composes primitive rocks. Though analyses,
imperfect as they are, have not yet discovered phosphoric acid in all
these aggregates, yet I doubt not, that accurate investigation will de-
tect its presence in all granitic sand. Phosphate of lime is by no
means an uncommon mineral in primitive rocks, and chlorides are
widely diffused.

Table of the constituents of the elements of silicated soils or granitic sand.

One hundred parts of

POtoSh

and
Soda.

SUex.

A,u.
mine.

Lime.

Magne-
sia,

Oxide

of
iron.

Oxide of
Mag.e-

Argillite, -

5 to 7

48

23

4

1.06

-

-

Quartz,

-

93

6

1

-

-

-

Mica,

8 to 9

47

34

-

-

lto2

1 to2

Felspar, -

13 to 14

66

19

4

-

1

h

Hornblende, (including Trap
Rocks,) -

.

42

12

11

2 to 3

30

i

Argillite contains notable portions of carbon. The source of this
not only in this, but in other primitive rocks, I shall show elsewhere, is
the geine and geates, held in solution in the water, from which these
sedimentary rocks were deposited.

Sulphuretof iron is abundant in primitive rocks. Its decomposition
produces with the silicates, sulphates of alkalies, earths, and oxides.
Keeping in view the remark on phosphates and muriates, and we have
then, at a glance, the inorganic elements of all plants.

Burning reduces these constituents to two classes : ashes and vola-
tile salts. The last are found in soot. The ashes are formed of salts
and silicates. These vary in quantity and quality, not only in different
plants, but, as is well known, in different parts of the same plant. Let
us take oak, beech, basswood, birch, as the types of the composition of

APPENDIX.

159

hard wood ashes, yellow pine, — (pinus ahies) — as the type of soft wood
ashes ; and wheat-straw as the type of the ashes of the grasses.

The average quantity of ashes, from 100 parts of dry oak, beech,
birch, &,c., is 2.87. Ashes are divided, by the simple process of leech-
ing, into two parts, soluble and insoluble in water. 100 parts of hard-
wood ashes thus afford — soluble, 13.57 ; insoluble, 86.43.

100 parts of the soluble contain ,

Carbonic acid,
Sulphuric acid.
Muriatic acid,
Silex, .
Potash and soda,

100 parts of the insoluble contain .
Carbonic acid, ....

Phosphoric acid, ....

Silex, .....

Oxide iron, .....
Oxide Manganese, ....
Magnesia, .....

Lime, .....

22.70
643

1.82

.95

67.96

99.86

35.80
3.40
4.25
.52
2.15
3.55

35.80

Pine, — (pinus abies,) — 100 parts dry wood afford only .0083 (yT/Wir.)
of ashes; of which, 100 parts afford, — soluble, 50; insoluble, 50.

Carbonic acid,

Sulphuric acid,

Silex,

Potash and soda.

Water.

100 parts of the soluble contain :

13.50
6.90
2.

69.70
7.90

Carbonic acid,
Phosphoric acid,

Silex,

100 parts of the insoluble contain :

100.

21.50
1.80
13.

160 APPENDIX.

Magnesia, ..... 8.70

Oxide iron, ...... 22.30

Oxide manganese, ..... 5.50

Lime, ....... 27.20

100.

Wheat straw, — 100 parts yield .044 of ashes ; 100 parts of which af-
ford,— soluble, 19; insoluble, 81.

100 parts af the soluble contain:

Sulphuric acid, ...... 0.2

Muriatic acid, ...... 13.

Silex, 35.6

Potash and soda, ..... 50.

100 parts of the insoluble contain:

Phosphoric acid,
Silex, .
Oxide iron.
Lime, .
Charcoal,

Peat-ashes abounds in carbonate, sulphate, and especially phosphate
of lime. I have always tracedy/'ce alkali in peat ashes ; but alkali ex-
ists in it, rather as silicate, as in leeched ashes. Anthracite coal ashes con-
tain a carbonate of lime, alumina, and oxide of iron. It is good, so far
as these abound.

The above are calculated on the analysis of Berthier, who has detected
soda in the ashes of ail plants. The elements are stated singly ; be-
cause we have thus at one view the amount of each, and, as I shall
show, it 13 the base chiefly which acts. The agricultural value of ashes
may be determined by reference to these tables. In what state these
elements may be combined in plants, we can only determine theoreti-
cally. Thus, the phosphoric acid, by its affinities, would be united in
the hard woods as above, with the lime and iron, — forming in each 100
parts of tiie insoluble portion of ashes, phosphate lime, 5.40 ; phosphite
iron, 1.86.

Of the various substances which chemistry detects in the ashes, iew
probably exist in the living plant, in that state of combination, in which

APPENDIX.

161

We find tliem iu ashes. Burning decomposes and recoinposes them
anew. We are by no means to conclude, because we find various salts
in plants, that they existed as such in the soil. Of the soluble alkalijie
salts, probably none exist in the soil. They are products of vegetation
educed from the composition of silicates and salts.

The composition of the insulublc part of ashes gives us nearly the
constituents of leeched ashes. If the soapboilers' process was as per-
fect as that which the chemist employs — still his leeched ashes would
show more lime, than the above tables, because he always employs a
portion of lime to make his lye caustic. This is a variable portion ;
whatever it is, it adds so much to the value of the leeched ashes.
Besides the soap-maker always leaves a portion of alkali, which is
combined with the silex. Exposure to air decomposes this, and then
the alkali can be extracted by water. This is one great source of the
active power of leeched ashes. The course of this wonderful power,
not only in fresh and in leeched ashes, but in some degree in all salts,
is to be found, in the action of the bases on geine and on silicates.

There is one great, simple principle running through all the classes
of soils. It is this, ilmt in all salts and silicates the action of the base
is ever the same in vegetation. The base of the silicates and salts acts
always in one uniform mode. Peculiarities of action depend on the
acid constituent of the salt. Lime, for instance, acts ever the same,
whether it is used as carbonate, sulphate, or phosphate, marl, plaster,
or bone-dust. The salt is decomposed by the living plant. The various
acids combine with the alkalies, as they are eliminated, from the decom-
position of the silicates, and the lime, liberated, acts ever os lime. It
acts in its caustic state, as a converter of insoluble into soluble
geine. If this does not exist in the soil, all the lime in the world would
not cause plants to grow. The base of the lime-salts acts primarily on
geine, either solving the soluble or converting the insoluble. The
same is true of alumine, iron and the bases of all salts. The same gen-
eral rule applies to all alkaline, earthy or metallic salts and to silicates.

The order in which the farmer may apply salts is the following.
Carbonate, phosphate, and sulphate of lime, carbonates, nitrates, mu-
riates, and sulphates of alkalies. No salts, excepting carbonates, can
be used in large quantities. The reason is at once explained by the
principle of unity of action of the bases. The acid of the salts, elimi-
nated, decomposes the geates, rendering the soluble insoluble, the
acid combines with any free base, produced from the decomposition
of the silicates, and thus prevents that forming soluble geine. Having
saturated the bases, any excess acts then as free acid, poisoning the
21

162 APPENDIX.

vegetable, as oil vitriol, or muriatic acid would animals. In carbonates^
the acid forms part of the food of plants. The alkaline geates are so
very soluble, that when alkalies, as ashes for instance, are freely used,
we lose a part, by its draining away, or in wet soils becoming too di-
lute. But a small dose produces all the beneficial effects of a large
dose of lime. We have in ashes, not only the alkali to solve geates,
but a very large portion of carbonate and phosphate of lime. Experi-
ments are wanting to prove the relative value of lime and ashes. I
should not deem it extravagant to say, that a bushel of ashes is equal to
a cask of lime. The alkalies and their salts act more powerfully than
any other substance, in solving and converting geine. Lime in all its
forms ranks next. These produce always decided beneficial effects
The alkalies never fail. Ashes show their effects at once, due to the alka-
line part, while their carbonate of lime produces more permanent effect.
Lime, from peculiar states of the soil, may not show any immediate
good result, but ultimately, this result is sure to follow. Permanent
barrenness never is produced by the free use of carbonates. It surely
follows the free use of all other salts, yet in small doses, they all and
ever act beneficially, wlienever their bases, combined with carbonic
acid, would be beneficial.

But how do the elements of soil act? As I have stated in the report
of Professor Hitchcock, by forming galvanic batteries with the roots of
living plants. The most active element in the pile is the root. The
soil, like the rocks from which it is derived, is slowly acted on by at-
mospheric agents. The effect of this action annually is imperceptible.

A single plant in one season will effect a greater amount of decom-
position of a given portion of soil, than that produced by all the atmos-
pheric agents in many years. The galvanic agency of plants is not
confined to the soil, in immediate contact with their roots. It extends
from these, in every direction, to undetermined distances. Hence there
is a transfer, as is usual in galvanic decompositions, of substances quite
remote from the plant. The whole plant contributes to this galvanic
agency. It never exists in full force, perhaps not at all, till the plant
has pushed above ground — acted on by air and light.

The soil, as we have explained, consists almost wholly of silicates,
though it has been proved, that carbonic acid slowly decomposes these,
and an argument, for the mutual action of the elements of silicates,
derived from their admitted electrical states, yet the amount of this ac-
tion is never measurable in one season. Being silicates, they have no
tendency to act on each other. We can only excite this action by in-
troducing new elements, salts, which in this sense only, can be said to

APPENDIX. 163

be excitants or stimulants. The silicates are the flour, the salts the
yeast. The galvanic agency is excited by the salts, but above all, over
all, and controlling all, this action of soils is the living plant. The
influence of the last unfolds the mystery of the often repeated experi-
ment of growing plants in pure water. Granting the water to have been
chemically pure, the galvanic agency of the vegetable would decompose
the containing vessel. The most barren sand would be made fertile by
living plants. Sand containing no appreciable quantity of geine, may
yet from its origin from sedimentary rocks contain carbon. Wa-
ter it, and grow in it plants. Let these perish. They return to the
sand, not only organic matter, the source of geine for a new crop, but
various salts, of whose previous existence in the same it required the
most delicate chemistry to detect traces. The living plant is a consum-
mate analyst. This is the process nature employs. Mr. Keely, acting
on this principle, and following out and assisting the natural mode, has
opened the whole soul of raising crops. The memorable experiment
of the Haverhill rye-field, ought to be engraved on the thresholds and
lintels of every farm-house in the country.* It teaches us that salts,
so important in agriculture, are within the reach of every farmer. Ev-
ery farmer has a lime-quarry on his own land. He ought also to have
constantly burning a lime-kiln. The farmer has on his own grounds,
lime sufficient for all wants. Let all brushwood, unfit for the kitchen,
be burned for the ashes. But let the soot too be saved. It is too val-
uable to be lost in air. Look at its composition as stated by Bra-
connot.

Geine 30.70

Extractive matter and nitrogen .... 20.

Carbonate of lime and traces of magnesia . . 14.66

Acetate of lime ...... 5.65

Sulphate of lime ..... 5.

Phosphate of lime and iron .... 1.50

Acetate of potash ..... 4.10

Muriate of potash ..... .36

Acetate of Ammonia ..... .20

Acetate of Magnesia ..... .53

Silex .95

Carbon ....... 3.85

Water . . . . • • • 12.50

100.

See Appendix E , page 113, First Report of Agriculture of Massachusetts.

164 APPENDIX.

I have nearly finished the analysis of Adams' soil. I will send it to
you next week, together with the composition of the substance used by
Webster, in Dracut.

With great respect,

I am very truly yours,

SAMUEL L. DANA.
Rev. H. CoL!\iAN, Boston.

LETTER II.

Lowell, March 4, 1S39.

Dear Sir — I omitted an answer to one of your questions, in my let-
ter of last week. I know of no particular affinity between plaster, or
ashes, and lohitc clover. The same crop follows a free use of bone-
manure. This effect is due in all cases to a peculiar development of
geine. This substance is probably, like many other hydro-carbon
compounds, an unstable chemical combination, capable of existing in
several definite portions of oxygene, hydrogene and carbon. Now
each of these may develope the germination of particular seeds. We
know that "Jnngi," always germinate best in decaying wood. Al-
ways we find crops o^ ''fungi," about the decaying stumps of trees.
I have noticed that the mops, which have been used for swabbing out
vessels, in which cloth has been dyed with madder, when thrown aside
in a moist, steamy room, often become covered with beautiful yw??^?.
I had occasion last fall, to make a decoction of a large quantity of En-
glish Hay. (It affords a permanent yellow, with alumina.) This de-
coction was made with a portion of alkali, and several times repeated.
The hay was then thrown aside in a pile out of doors. In a kw days,
it was filled in all parts with jiaigi, whose stems and roots were often a
foot long, mounting up through the pile, and raising tlie upper layer
of hay in large fork-fulls. Now, both here and in the madder, the seed
existed in the vegetable fibre. Its vegetating power was not destroyed
even by long boiling. It required only a jjarticular developincnt of
geinc, to stimulate the germinative jwioer of the fungus seed. The ex-
posed boiled hay rapidly developed this peculiar state. Probably the
seed, of each class of plants, requires a peculiar development of geine.
Let us understand, if we can, in what this consists, on what it depends.
It may be a state always under our control. If we can always, and at

APPENDIX. 1G5

will, induce the state of geine, best fitted for each plant, then adieu to
the doctrine of the necessity of a rotation of crops. The facts are al-
ready abundant to support the belief that rotation is unnecessary; and I
shall look with great interest for your next report, for a fund of infor-
mation on this point. That a peculiar state of geine is necessary for
each variety of crop, is therefore a point to which the attention of the
chemical farmer ought to be especially directed. It is this state, which
allows one farmer to raise wheat, while in the same season, with land
apparently the same, his neighbor fails.

I send you the analysis of Esq. Adams' soil.* It contains no trace
of carbonate of lime, nor of alkaline salts.

Soluble geine ...... 3.922S

Insoluble geine ...... 2.6142

Sulphate of lime ..... .7060

Phosphate of lime ...... .9082

Silicates (granitic sand) .... 91.8488

100.

The soluble geine of one analysis, 3.6914 grains, afforded

Geine . ..... 1.9258

Alumine and oxide of iron .... .7715

Phosphoric acid ..... .?.^15

Magnesia ...... .3"J96

Loss ....... .4230

3.6914

I presume that the soluble geine of all soils is similarly constituted.
All which I have examined afford these elements. I think you must
have misunderstood me in promising a written account of the effects of
using the residuum from our yard, by Webster. I know not so much
of the effects as you do. It contains a variable portion of phosphate
of lime ; and its average constitution is sulphate of lime 85, phosphate
of lime 15—100.

^ This refers to the farm of \Vm. Adams. Cheimsford, Middlesex Co., noticed in pnge 97.
His farm lies on the Merrimack river and embraces a large extent of alluvial land. On these
ETieadows, as he assured me, he had been in the habit for twenty years past of raising-
wheat : and that in the course of that lime he had suffered only from one failure. He stated
likewise that he had never applied any lime to his soil. H. C.

166 APPENDIX.

ft can therefore be easily imitated if necessary, by mixing plaster
and burned and ground bones in this proportion.

With great respect, I am

Your most Obt. Servt.

SAMUEL L. DANA.
Rev. H. CoLMAN, Boston.

[E.]

Feed for Swine.

From Arthur Young's Prize Essays on Rearing and Fattening Hogs.

Experiment II.
"At the same time (March, 176.5,) with the preceding trial, four
lots of pigs, that had been weaned three months, were equally drawn
from my farm-yard, five in each lot. They were confined as before,
each lot to a sty, and cleaned at the same time ; their food was as fol-
lows : —

No. 1. Bran (wheat) mixt with milk.

2. Boiled Potatoes.

3. Boiled Carrots.

4. Raw Carrots.

They were kept to this food thirty days, and then viewed them as
before with the same person.

No. 3. Much the best, — boiled carrots.

1. Next, — bran and skim milk.

2. Next, — boiled potatoes.
4. Worst, — raw carrots.

Boiled carrots appeared very clearly on this trial to be an admirable
food for hogs of this age ; — Boiled potatoes appear also a good food,

Experiment VI.
The month of December, [766, twenty pigs, that had been weaned
a month, were draughted into four parcels, and kept that month, sepa-
rately in the following manner.

APPENDIX. 167

No. 1. Boiled carrots.

2. Boiled potatoes.

3. Boiled turnips.

4. Boiled cabbages.

At the end of the month they were turned out and viewed atten-
tively. The result was : —

No. 1. The best, — boiled carrots.

2. Next, — boiled potatoes.

3. and 4. Equal, — all nearly dead.

Carrots continue in every trial superior to all common vegetable
food. I am not at ail surprised at the ill success of turnips and cab-
bages."

There are many other experiments detailed, giving similar results,
of which our limits forbid the insertion.

Experiment with different Steeps for Seed Whe.\t,

An observing farmer in Lowell, has sent me the results of some ex-
periments on the effects of different steeps upon the vitality of seeds
of wheat. In each experiment he took twelve seeds from the same
parcel of wheat ; and as near alike as he could select them ; and after
steeping, exposed them in planting to the same aspect and tempera-
ture. The heads of the columns will show the number of hours in
which each parcel remained in the steep ; the figures in the columns,
the number of seeds which germinated and came up.

TABLE.

16S

TABLE.

Urine,

Soap and Urine, .

Salt Pickle,

Salt and Urine, .

Water,

No. of Seeds come up.

The preparations of seeds for sowing, and the modes of keeping
seeds, are matters of great importance, especially as so many nostrums
are given for this purpose. The difficulty of importing mulberry-seed
from China to this country, so that its vitality shall not be lost, is well
known. Very little that has been imported has germinated, and the
most serious and vexatious disappointments have been experienced.
Great disappointments have occurred with some persons in their seed-
corn. I myself was so unfortunate in one case as to lose three bushels
of the seed of the Black sea wheat, from which I had with infinite pains
picked out all the oats, cockle, and foul stuff, with which it abounded,
by hand, fiom the man's having taken it without direction or leave,
to be passed through a smut-mill, by which operation, I suppose, the
skin of the seed was broken, and its vitality destroyed. The experi-
ment above given, is on a very small scale ; and cannot be deemed con-
clusive ; but I consider it worth recording; and in the strong hope
that it will lead to farther inquiries.

H. C.

APPENDIX. 169

[G-]
The Grain-Worm, [Vibrio Tritici.)

Extract from an article in the Penny Magazine No. 87, for 1838, on
the subject of the Grain-Worm, (Vibrio Tritici.)

Mr. Bauer, the naturalist says, " I have been enabled to ascertain
many important facts, respecting the nature and properties of the mi-
nute animals engendering this disease. These experiments establish
the fact, that the white fibrous substances, within the cavities of the
distorted grains, consist of real organized animals endowed with the
extraordinary property of having their power of motion suspended for
a considerable length of time, and of having it again restored by the
mere application of water."

He then goes on to detail some experiments, to show how these
worms were propagated, and how he succeeded in inoculating sound
grains with them, which I have not room to extract. He adds :

" The fact that at such an early stage of the vegetation of these in-
oculated seed-grains, such large worms were found, confirms my first
supposition, that it requires several generations of these worms to
introduce their eggs into the young germens; the large worms found
in the substance of the young stem, were undoubtedly some of the
original worms, with which the seed-corn was inoculated; for they
were on the point of laying their eggs in that stage ; and these eggs
being propelled by the rising sap a stage further, then come to maturity,
and again lay their eggs, and thus progressively reach the elementary
substance of the ear, where they are finally deposited in the then form-
ing germens, the whole probably requiring three or four such repro-
ductions."

" My experiments for resuscitating the grain-worms, I have repeated
almost every succeeding year to this day, and always with the same
success ; but I find that the longer the specimens are kept dry, the
grains require to lay in water a greater length of time before the
worms will recover; and that at every repetition of an experiment, a
smaller number of worms recover their motion; and that after the
same specimens (the produce of the grains inoculated in 1807,) had
been kept dry six years and one month, the worms were all really dead ;
this period is the longest, which I have as yet ascertained, that these
worms can retain their reviviscent quality. That this disease is con-
22

170 APPENDIX.

tagious, is sufficiently proved by the fact that it can at pleasure be in-
oculated on the soundest seed-corn. The infection, however, is not
so generally nor so readily communicated as the diseases occasioned
by the fungi of the smut-balls or dust-brand, a few infected ears of
which are capable of contaminating and affecting the whole contents
of a barn. Grains infested with these embryos cannot vegetate and
produce again diseased grains themselves, but can only communicate
the infection by coming in contact with the germinating seed-corn in
the soil, by the moisture of which the worms are revived, and extricate
themselves, which I have so often observed they do when kept some-
time in water. Steeping the seed-corn in lime-water, in the same
manner as advised for preventing the diseases occasioned by the fungi,
is the most efficacious method of preventing the spreading of this dis-
ease. I have repeated the experiment by inoculating, very strongly,
sound wheat-grains with the worms, and afterwards steeping them in
lime-water; and the affection was always prevented. I have, also,
steeped some sound wheat-grains in lime-water ; and after having kept
them in a dry state for some days, I inoculated them strongly with the
worms; but on examining the plants, not one instance of the affection
occurred. From these facts it is evident, that properly steeping the
seed-corn in lime-water before sowing, is a sure preventative of the
disease occasioned by the grain-worms."

[H.]

On Artificial Manure.

Lowell, March 6, 1839.

I. — Letter from S. L. Dana, M. D.

Dear Sir, — The first letter which I write to you, was penned at sev-
eral sittings — for my head was so very bad, that I was often obliged to
throw down my pen and busy myself for hours in darkness. This is
my apology for the patchwork I sent you. I kept no copy. In the mean
time to make the most of the present letter, I send you the following
recipe for a top-dressing, which 1 think will be next best to " Flanders
manure," Give it to the farmers, either through the N. E. F. or at
your agricultural meeting to-morrow, or in both ways, or in any way

APPENDIX. 171

you please, so that it can be extensively tried, and the result made
known. There is an alkali, now extensively imported from England,
called "white ash," a carbonate of soda, containing from 36 to 55 per
cent of pure alkali. It can be imported, cost and charges, for 4 cents per
lb. and may be had of Delano & Whitney, or Grant &. Daniels, Boston,
for 5 cents per lb. If this is not at hand, take our own pearl ashes,
or an equivalent in lye from ashes. Take 100 lbs. peat as sold, or the
fine part from the bottom of a peat-stack — at any rate bruise the peat
fine, put it into a potash-kettle, and 2 1-2 lbs. white ash, and 130 gal-
lons water ; boil for a few hours. Let it settle, dip off the clear for use —
add 100 lbs. more of peat, 2 1-2 lbs. white ash, fill up with water as
much as you have dipped off, boil again, settle and dip off. Add again
2 1-2 lbs. white ash, boil, settle, and dip off. This may be repeated
five times. How much oftener I know not, probably as long as the
vegetable part of peat remains. The clear liquor is an alkaline solu-
tion of geine. The three first boilings contain geine, alumine, iron,
magnesia, and sulphate or phosphate of alkali, potash or soda, accord-
ing as we have used tohite or pearlasli. The alumine and iron are
quite exhausted by the fourth boiling.

The dark colored brown solution contains about half of an ounce
per gallon of vegetable matter. It is to be applied by watering grass-
lands or grain-crops just after sowing, or in any other way a farmer's
quick wit will point out. The " dregs" may be mixed with other ma-
nure, or spread as a top-dressing ; or put in the hill. Experience will
teach — I only suggest. I don't pretend to turn a furrow, only to
scratch up the ground. Those who have a steam-apparatus, had better
put 75 lbs. peat, say 2 bushels, with I lb. 14 oz. white ash, and 50
gallons water inlo a hogshead ; let the steam into the water and boil up,
till the liquor increases to 100 gallons. Then repeat as above for the
proportions.

The " Flanders Manure" claims a large part of its active power
from its " tirca." This by exposure is changed into ammonia, and then
that acts as an alkali upon geine. In the recipe above, we have ingre-
dients equally as powerful in this action; a plenty of salts, and vegeta-
ble matter. The last goes into the plant as an alkaline geate. It is
then decomposed by the vegetable acids. The carbon, hydrogene and
oxygene of the geine, are disposed of as as the vegetable best knows
how; the alkaline base becomes sulphate, phosphate, citrate, malate,
tartrate, &c. of alkali, some or all of which are found in plants. Burn
the plant, we reproduce carbonate of alkali from the vegetable acid

172 APPENDIX.

salts. Carbonates of lime, probably none exist in plants, except in
some rare cases, (as in early saxifrage, " saxifragra vernalis) as an
incrustation on ihe leaves. Nor do I believe its existence in the soil
necessary to the growth of wheat.

But this is neither the time nor place to enlarge on this point.

Respectfully, I am

Very truly your friend and servant,

SAMUEL L. DANA.
Rev. H. CoLMAN, Boston.

II. — The Urine Cistern
From Radclife's Flanders.

The urine cistern is constructed to contain any given quantity.
The usual capacity of the vault is for 1000 ^onncawx (barrels containing
about 38 gallons, English) which quantity for the rape-crop, will ma-
nure little more than two bonniers, or seven English acres. But the
cistern under the stables is nearly of double size; from this the exte-
rior cistern is filled ; and between both the farmer can fairly count upon
manuring in the best manner, six bonniers or twenty-one English
acres ; or perhaps two bonniers in addition, of crops which do not re^
quire so much manure. The whole of this quantity (exclusive of farm-
yard dung, ashes, composts, &c.) is produced by eight horses and
thirty-six head of cattle, housed winter and summer in well constructed
stables, increased by the adventitious aid of the rape-cake and the
vidatiges from the privies. In a cistern of 1000 tonneaux, it is not
unusual to dissolve from 2000 to 4000 rape-cakes at 2 lbs. each.
Indeed neither industry nor expense is spared for the collection of ma-
nure, as upon that depend the produce and fertility of a naturally bad
soil. The farmer, who fails to make these exertions, is sure to be left
in the back-ground.

The cistern is for the most part formed under the range of stables
from each stall of which the urine is conducted to a common grating,
through which it descends into the vault. From thence it is taken up
by a pump. In the best regulated, there is a partition in the cistern,
with a valve to admit the contents of the first space into the second, to
be preserved there free from the later acquisition, age adding conside-
rably to its efficacy.

APPENDIX. 173

This species of manure is relied on beyond any other, upon all the
light soils throughout Flanders ; and oven upon the strong lands, orig-
inally so rich as to preclude the necessity of manure, is now coming
into great esteem, being considered applicable to most crops, and to
all the varieties of soil.

III. — Harley's Experience.

Harley who kept a dairy of a hundred cows, near Glasgow, says
" that the advantage of irrigating grass-lands with cows' urine, almost
exceeds belief. Last season, some small fields were cut six times, av-
eraging fifteen inches in length at each cutting ; and the swarth very
thick."

IV. — Experiments of C. Alexander.

The following extract transferred from the Farmer's Magazine
to that spirited and valuable agricultural work, Young's Letters of Ag-
ricola, is so important and instructive that I subjoin it :

" This intelligent farmer, Charles Alexander, near Peebles, Scot-
land, had long been impressed with the great importance of the urine
of cattle as a manure ; and he set about to discover, by a long and
well conducted series of experiments, the best method of collecting and
applying it. He began by digging a pit contiguous to the feeding-
stall, but distinct altogether from that which was appropriated for the
reception of the dung. The dimensions of this pit, according to his
own account, were 36 feet square, and 4 feet deep, surrounded on all
sides by a wall ; and the solid contents were 192 yards. Having se-
lected the nearest spot where he could find loamy earth, and this he
always took from the surface of some field under cultivation, he pro-
ceeded to fill it ; and found that, with three men and two horses, he
could easily accomplish 28 cubic yards per day : and the whole ex-
pense of transporting the earth did not exceed £41. 16s. When the
work was complete, he levelled the surface of the heap, in a line with
the mouth of the sewer, which conducted the urine from the interior
of the building, on purpose that it might be distributed with regularity,
and might saturate the whole from top to bottom. The quantity con-
veyed to it, he estimates at about 800 gallons; but as this calculation
was founded partly on conjecture, for he measured not the liquor, it
will be better and more instructive to furnish and proceed on data,
that are certain and incontrovertible. The urine was supplied by 14
cattle, weighing about 34 stone each, and kept there for five months

174 APPENDIX.

on fodder and turnips. The contents of the pit produced 288 loads,
allowing 2 cubic yards to be taken out in 3 carts ; and he spread 40 of
these on each acre, so that this urine in five months, and from fourteen
cattle, produced a compost sufficient for the fertilization of seven acres
of land. He states further, that he had tried this experiment for ten
years, and had indiscriminately used in the same field either the rotted
cow-dung, or the saturated earth ; and in all the stages of the crop, he
had never been able to discover any perceptible difference. But what
is still more wonderful, he found that his compost lasted in its effects
as many years as his best putrescent manure ; and he therefore boldly
avers, that a load of each is of equivalent value."

" Conclusions of vast importance are deducible from this statement :
and I cannot resist the feeling, of placing them in a strong and advan-
tageous light. They speak a volume of instruction ; and if we are
willing to learn, they must lead to a very material alteration in the
construction of our barns. It appears, then, that in five months, each
cow discharges urine which, when absorbed by loam, furnishes manure
of the richest quality, and most durable effects, for half an acre of
ground. The dung-pit, which contained all the excrementitious mat-
ter of the 14 cattle, as well as the litter employed in bedding them,
and which was kept separate for the purpose of the experiment, only
furnished during the same period 240 loads, and these, at the same
rate, could only manure 6 acres. The aggregate value of the urine
therefore, when compared with that of the dung, was in the ratio of 7
to 6 : so that we are borne out by these premises in this extraordinary
inference, that the putrescible liquor which in this province, and under
the management of our farmers, is wasted and annihilated as far as re-
gards any useful purpose, is intrinsically worth more than the dung, as
an efficacious and permanent dressing : and if we take into considera-
tion, that this latter manure is not treated with any skill and judg-
ment, it will not seem surprising, that the culture of white crops has
never been carried here to any extent, since we have despised and
neglected the only means of creating them."

[APPENDIX I.]

AGRICULTURAL STATISTICS.

RETURNS

BERNARDSTON, FRANKLIN CO.— MARLBOROUGH, MID-
DLESEX CO.— BARRE, WORCESTER CO.

176

APPENDIX.

1. Agricultural Products of Bernardston,

Farms.

Acres.

Hay.

Corn.

Wheat.

Rye.

Bar-
ley.

Oats.

Buck
Wh't.

Potatoes.

Ruta Baga

and
Turnips.

1

80

10

25

11

5

15

2

70

15

50

70

50

12

3

70

8

50

10

300

4

150

25

75

30

35

275

20

5

20

6

45

25

45

6

90

15

50

50

50

7

69

3

20

50

8

80

8

10

10

20

110

6

9

92

20

75

18

10

25

20

250

10

85

7

25

30

240

60

11

120

15

40

13

10

20

140

14

12

85

10

50

18

50

5

50

13

70

10

40

6

60

70

28

14

180

30

150

6

30

6

80

100

15

180

16

40

70

30

80

100

16

80

5

65

2

70

3

70

130

32

17

84

20

80

3

60

50

8

120

18

120

15

100

15

35

7 55

50

100

19

170

8

50

50

12

150

20

45

8

75

75

20

50

13

21

150

20

50

200

90

50

150

22

200

8

90

7

40

12

110

80

23

140

20

100

5

75

[ 46

21

125

24

200

12

80

30

80

50

200

25

140

12

50

50

30

10

70

APPENDIX.

Franklin Co. Mass., for the Year 1838.

177

Wocl.

Beef.

Pork.

Butter.

Cheese.

Horses.

Oxen.

Cows.

S'lieep.

Young Cat-
tle.

36

450

300

50

2

4

13

8

20

690

170

70

2

3

600

175

1

2

2

#

270

850

300

2

3

80

3

900

700

1

7

5

40

400

300

2

3

16

6

30

500

350

1

3

9

4

30

690

200

2

2

11

2

30

550

300

2

4

17

3

75

600

600

250

3

28

1

100

935

300

200

2

4

29

5

40

550

600

550

400

2

6

17

4

20

800

200

2

2

14

3

50

GOO

1780

600

1000

2

7

20

7

20

'

800

300

250

2

4

11

3

30

500

250

2

3

14

14

811

234

2

2

20

7

100

500

1025

275

150

3

4

3

40

8

800

400

200

2

2

4

30

7

30

600

150

2

2

2

10

20

1500

150

200

2

2

3

8

2

20

200

700

500

250

1

2

5

10

225

600

1582

300

ICO

1

2

3

100

8

80

500

22C0

300

100

1

2

5

20

10

30

1200

1200

325

40

1

2

4

15

5

23

' Kept several head at pasture for others.

178

APPENDIX.

Farms.

Acres.

Hay.

Com.

Wheat.

Rye.

Bar-
ley.

Oats.

Buck
Wh't.

Potatoes.

Ruta Baga
Turnips.

26

75

12

80

10

75

50

30

27

350

25

160

46

160

125

25

150

28

160

35

180

22

56

10

120

10

100

29

200

40

200

150

100

150

31

6

n

20

10

30

2

32

90

20

50

10

60

20

3

150

5

33

100

12

50

21

12

20

250

34

170

20

90

65

90

300

10

35

200

30

100

32

80

50

150

30

36

500

50

80

16

60

100

300

37

200

20

70

10

20

30

200

40

38

100

20

30

12

50

50

100

50

39

126

20

125

25

25

15

350

40

100

15

75

5

30

100

250

41

90

12

50

50

300

42

54

8

25

20

50

10

43

200

20

180

50

50

100

44

120

10

100

100

100

200

45

210

65

20

50

40

200

46

300

25

100

50

100

300

47

270

45

50

20

88

30

100

48

100

20

90

60

130

49

90

10

45

100

60

50

120

20

20

5

10

35

50

51

100

15

40

30

100

100

52

250

50

50

12

90

75

35

500

500

53

96

12

1 75

40

30

50

APPENDIX.

179

Wool.

Eeef.

Pork.

Eulter.

Cheese.

Horses.

Oxen.

Cows.

Sheep.

Young Cat-
tie.

GO

1100

200

2

.

16

3

90

3000

3-.i00

400

100

3

4

0

30

6

200

600

1450

300

200

2

4

5

60

7

80

3000
300

300
50

250

2
2

4

4

1

11

7

40

850

250

1

2

3

20

7

70

700

150

50

1

2

2

25

4

100

900

250

200

1

2

4

44

8

350

650

1700

350

350

3

4

6

115

7

300

1500

700

700

1

2

7

100

5

100

775

300

300

2

2

4

50

2

ICO

1100

350

200

2

2

2

50

3

65

700

250

250

1

2

3

19

4

66

1500

260

ICO

1

2

4

28

8

475

150

1

2

2

19

400

175

1

2

2

10

75

562

1000

300

1

4

4

25

12

75

1200

300

I

2

3

30

7

609

700

300

200

2

4

3

8

125

900

1000

200

400

4

4

4

50

50

450

1075

350

3

6

4

20

8

170

600

900
750

300
200

120

1
3

4

3
2

70

3

30

500

500

200

120

2

2

3

12

1

60

1000

350

234

1

2

2

23

6

1200

500

1500

200

100

2

4

3

315

15

150

1600

150

1

2

2

50

1

180

APPENDIX.

Farms.

Acres.

Hay.

com.

Wheat.

■Rye. 1^-

Oals.

Buck
Wh't.

Potatoes.

Ruta Baga

and
Turnips.

54

7

55

515

75

200

12

150

200

25

300

100

56

300

47

100

32

75

80

150

270

57

300

55

200

12

43

I'lOO

40

200

360

AGGREGATE

Of the above Returns from Bernardston, Franklin Co.

No. of acres in farms,

8289

Beef— pounds,

-

19,512

Hay— tons,

1129a

Pork,

- -

57,138

Corn — bushels, -

4090

Butter, "

-

16,498

Wheat,

368

Cheese, «

-

7010

Rye,

2274

—

Barley, "

46

LIVE STOCK.

Oats, "

3086

Horses,

-

82

Buck Wheat, "

639

Oxen,

-

132

Potatoes, "

8340

Cows, -

-

199

Ruta Baga and Turnips, -

1592

Young Cattle,

- -

252

Wool — pounds,

7185

Sheep,

- -

2635

The above procured by

December, 1838.

JOSEPH SLADE.

APPENDIX.

181

Wool.

Beef.

Pork.

Butter.

Cheese.

Horses.

Oxen.

Cows.

Sheep.

Young Cat-
tle.

1250

2500

2000

SCO

340

2

6

6

450

11

250

1100

2100

600

100

2

4

7

120

9

800

700

1500

500

1

4

5

300

9

NOTE.

No person, who has looked over the statistical returns of the manufactur-
ing and mechanical industry of the state, compiled the last year by the intel-
ligent and industrious Secretary of the Commonwealth, can have failed to
be astonished at their great amount. The result of inquiries into the pro-
ducts of agriculture, would, it is believed, produce equal surprise at their
large aggregate. We can scarcely be said to have made a beginning in taxing
the labor and skill of our husbandmen, and the capacities of our hard soil
Agriculture, with us, has been too much disdained ; and readier modes of
acquiring property have been greedily sought after, to the great prejudice of
the interests of agricultural labor. It is hoped a better day is dawning upon
us, and that the humbler but more substantial comforts of life, in the whole-
some rewards of rural industry and indejjendence, will be more justly esti-
mated. The returns, which I have been enabled to obtain, are necessarily
very imperfect. Many articles are entirely omitted, and the supplies for the
family, furnished by the farm a large part of the year, have not at all been
taken into the account. But enough is done, 1 hope, to convince the Gov-
ernment of the value of such returns, and to induce them to take effectuaj
and early measures to obtain such returns, from every town in the state,
with accuracy and fulness. Whatever serves to increase our estimate of
the productive capacities of our state, strengthens an attachment to our
native soil, abates envy and covetousness in respect to the advantages of
other climes and soils, and quiets or extinguishes the restless and infectious
spirit of emigration. H. C.

182 APPENDIX.

II. — Returns from Marlboro' for 1838.

Dear Sir, — In compliance with your request we make the following
statement :

Total number of acres in the town - - 19,480

In water 236 acres, in roads 597 acres - - 833

Improved and unimproved land - Acres 18,647

The number of farms is 227, which will give a little more than 80
acres to a farm. The farms are principally owned by those who occu-
py them.

We find, by the returns of the assessors, the following amount of
Live Stock :— Horses, 265 ; Oxen, 328; Cows, 1211; three years old,
91 ; two years old, 73; yearlings, 76; Sheep, 309; Swine, 539.
Butter made and sold ; made, 90,960 ; sold for $21,120

Calves fatted, 1037; calves raised, 100; valued at 7,259

Swine fatted, 539; at 300 lbs. each, 161,700 lbs.

Pork sold, including pigs fatted, and sucking pigs sold 12,170

Winter-apples, raised 3000 barrels; sold 2000, at 1.50 3,000

Cider, 5000 barrels sold at 1.50 7,500

200 tons of English hay sold at 15 dolls. 3,000

Also hay cut, sufficient to keep all the horses, cattle and sheep in
town, allowing two tons per head.

Beef-cattle fatted annually, 300 head, at 600 lbs. per head,
making 180,000 lbs., of which about 90,000 lbs. are sold
at 6.50 per 100 5,850

Vinegar made and sold annually, 1000 bbls. at 3 dolls. 3,000

Wood sold annually, 1000 cords at 6 dolls, per cord 6,000

Hops sold, 3000 lbs. at 16| per lb. 500

Beans, Peaches, Pears, Cranberries, duinces, Chesnuts,

Poultry, Eggs, &c. &-c. say 1,000

$70,399

Gr.\in raised annually.

Indian Corn, estimated at - - - bush. 17,000

Rye .... «« 3,000

Oats - - - - " 3,000

Barley - - - - " 5,000

Potatoes - - - . " 34,000

APPENDIX.

183

Wheat and silk not worthy of enumeration.

The above grain and potatoes are all consumed in the town. The
potato-crop falls short this year.

There were not so many swine, nor so much pork fatted this year as
usual in town on account of the corn having been cut short the two
last years.

Shoes, straw-braid, and barrels are manufactured in the town to a
large amount.

Cheese made is consumed in the town, and equals its wants.

The above statement is as correct as our time and means would
admit of our making.

(Signed)
M.\RLBORo', Dec. 29, 1838.

Rev. Henry Colman.

CALEB WETHERBEE,
ABRAHAM HOWE,
ELI RICE,

JABEZ S. WETHERBEE,
STEPHEN MORSE.

III. — Returns of the Agricultural Products of the town of Barre, in
Worcester Co., fur 1 838.

Number of acres — total
" Cows kept

" Oxen

" Young cattle

" Beef-cattle fatted

Indian Corn bushels

Rye do.

Oats do.

Barley do.

Hay tons

Pork, fatted lbs.

New milk Cheese do.

Skim-milk Cheese do.

Butter do.

Potatoes bushels

23,.579

1,635

432

1,080

286

13,316

3,932

15,653

1,803

6,453

193,196

305,731

29,060

45,143

42,465

Barre, Nov. 6, 1S38.

(Signed)

DAVID LEE.

184 APPENDIX.

GRAMINiE — Grasses of Berkshire County.

(From Profcssoi- Dttoey.)

ClNNA. 1. 2.

arundinacca. Indian reed. July. Low grounds ; woods.
Antiioxanthum. 3. 1.

odoratum. Sweet vernal grass. June. Meadows ; upland.
Oryzopsis. 3. 2.

asperifolia. Mountain-rice. April. Dry woods on hills.

melanocarpa. Black-fruited do. June. Dry hills.

DiGITARIA. 3. 2.

sanguinalis. Finger-grass. Aug. Roads and fields ; common.
Leersia. 3 2.

virginica. Cut-grass. Aug. Wet ; marshy.

oryzoides. do. do. do.

MUHLENBERGIA. 3. 2.

erccta. Dropseed-grass. July. Moist, low woods.
Trichodium. 3. 2.

laxijlora. Thingrass. do. Dry fields.

scahrum. do. do. Dry, open woods.

Agrostis. 3. 2.

vulgaris. C. Redtop. do. Fields ; light soil.

alha. White or yellow top. June. do.

lateriflora. Aug. Wet woods, swamps, &,c.

diffusa. do. Fields.

setosa. do. do.

sericea. do. do.

Arundo. 3. 2.

canadensis. Reed-grass. July. Wet ; marshy.

phragmitcs. Large do. Aug. Negro pond in Stoc.
Phleum. 3. 2.

pratense. C. Timothy grass. June. Fields.
Alopecurus. 3. 2.

geniculatus, True fi^xtail grass July. Wet, muddy bottoms.
Phalaris. 3, 2.

americana. Wild Canary grass. July. Marshy.

var. picta, C. Ribbon-grass. July. Gardens ; yards.

APPENDIX.

185

Dactylis. 3. 2.

glomerata. Orchard-grass.
PoA. 3. 2.

annua. Rooting grass.

compressa. Blue grass.

pratensis. Meadow-grass.

dentata. Wet do.

aquatica.
var. americana. Great do.

trioialis. False redtop.

nemoralis. do.

nervata. Large spear-grass.

elonsata.

Huge redtop.

Hair-grass,
do.

canadensis.

quinquefif/a
AiRA. 3. 2.

Jlexuosa.

truncata.
Festuca. 3. 2.

datior. Fescue-grass,

pratensis. do.

tenella.

jluitans. Sarge do.
Danthonia. 3. 2.

spicafa. Wild oats.
Trisetum. 3. 2.

purpurescens. False hair-grass
Bromus. 3. 2.

sccaUnus. Chess.

purgans. False chess.

cilialus. do.

piihcscens.
Arrhenatherum. 3. 2.

pennsylvcniicum. False oats.
LoLiuM. 3. 2.

perennc. Darnel-grass.
Triticum. 3, 2.

(Bstivam. C. Summer-wheat.

hyhernum. C. Winter wheat.

repcas. Wheat or quack-grass.
24

June. About yards.

May. Gardens and fields.

July. Dry soil

May. Fields ; meadows.

July. Muddy bottoms.

Aug. Wet meadows.

July. Moist meadows.

June. do.

June. do.

July. Bordeis of wet meadows.

do. do.

do. Wet places.

June. Dry, rocky hills,
do. Dry woods.

do. Wet meadows,

do. Dry banks of meadows.

July. Sandy soil,

do. Marshes and ditches.

do.

Sandy, dry hills.
June. High mead.

June.

May.
Aug.
do.

Cultivated fields.
Alluvial banks.

do. on streams.

do.

June. Light soil.
July. Roads and fields.

June,
do.
do. Gardens; fields.

Rarely growing wild.

186 APPENDIX.

AVENA. 3. 2.

sativa. C. Oats.

June.

Rarely grovi^ing wild.

sterilis. C. Animated oats.

July.

Gardens.

Secale. 3. 2.

cereali. Rye.

June.

Rarely growing wild

Elymus. 3. 2.

hystrix. Lime, grass. July.
villosus. Wild rye. do

\ Alluvial banks ; rivers,

canadensis, do. Lime-grass.

July.

do.

virginicus. do

June do. and dry hills.

glaudfolim. Great wild rye.

July.

do.

Panicum. 3. 2.

crus-galli. Cockfoot-grass.

July.

Cultivated fields,

latij^oUum. Panic-grass.

June.

Open woods.

capillare. Hairy do.

Aug.

Cultivated fields.

depaiiperatum. Short do.

July.

Moist pastures.

nitidum. Slender do.

June.

Fields and pastures.

glaucum. Bottle-grass.

July.

Cultivated fields.

italicum.. C. large do.

do.

Gardens.

Andropogon. 3. 2.

purpurescens. Broom-grass.

Aug.

Light sandy soil.

furcatum. Forked spike-grass, do.

Alluvial.

nutans. Beard-grass.

do.

do.

HORDEL'M. 3. 2.

vulgnre. C. Barley.

June.

Sorghum. 3. 2.

saccharatum. C. Broom-corn.

Aug.

Gardens and fields.

vulgarc. C. CofFee-corn.

do.

do.

Zea. 20. 3.

mays. C. Indian corn.

July.

JUNCI— (Rush-grasses.)

JuNCus. 6. L

effusus. Bull-rush.

June.

Wet places ; low streams.

setaceus. Slender do.

do.

Low meadows.

tenuis. Common bog-rush.

July.

Low grounds.

nodosus. Tall bog-rush.

do.

Low meadows.

bufonins. Frog-rush.

do.

Low, sandy wet places.

polycephalus. Strong bog-rush.

Aug.

Wet pastures.

piloms. Hairy-rush.

April.

Border of moist woods.

campestris. Large rush.

May.

Moist pastures.

APPENDIX.

187

AcoRus. 6. 1.

calamus. Sweet flag.
Tradescantia. 6. 1.

virginica. Spider-wort.
Helonias. 6. 3.

dioica. False unicorn-wort
Veratrum. 6. 3.

viride. Itch-weed. June.
Alisma. 6. 3.

plantago. Water-plantain.
Sagittaria. 20. 13.

sagittifolia. Arrow-head.

lali folia. do.

hetcrophylla. Diverse-leafed do

graminea. Grassy do.
SCHEUZERIA. 6. 3.

palustris. Flowering rush.
Eriocaulon. 20. 13.

gnaphaloides. Pipe-wort.

POTAMOGETON. 4. 4.

natans. Pond-weed. June.
jluitans. do. do.

gramineum. Grassy do. July,
perfoUatum. do.

May. Beside lowland brooks.

June. Gardens.

May. Moist woods ; Stockbridge,
Alluvial soil ; also on high brooks.
July. Low, wet places.

June. Low brooks,
do. do.

Aug. Pond on Taconic Mt.
do. do.

June. do.

July.

do.

Aquatic ; rivers, ponds,
do. do.

do. low, muddy bottoms
Ponds: Pittsfield,

ponda.

188

APPENDIX.

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APPENDIX.

189

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INDEX.

Letter to the Governor of the State,

Page 3

BERKSHIRE COUNTY.

I. — General Description,

6

1. — Boundaries and situation.

lb.

2. — Division of Territory, .

lb.

3. — General features and aspect.

7

4.— Soils,

9

5. — Markets and Manufactures, .

13

6. — Climate, ....

14

II.— Crops, .....

14

I. — Amounts, ....

15

2. — Rotation, .....

17

3. — Expenses and Profits,

18

4.-Teasels, .....

. ■ 42

5.— Flax, .....

45

III. — Dairy Husbandry, ....

45

Products and Expenses,

46

1. — Egremont, .....

ib.

2.— Otis, .....

47

3. — Lanesborough, ....

48

4.— Sandisfield, ....

ib.

5. — Tyringham, ....

ib.

6.— Sheffield, . . .

ib.

7 — New Marlborough, ....

49

8. — Great Barrington.

ib.

9.— Alford,

50

10 —West Stockbridge,

ib.

11.— Stockbridge, ....

ib.

12.— Lenox, .....

ib.

13.— Tolland, Hampshire Co., .

51

14.— Cheshire, ....

52

Charlestown, Mid

192 INDEX.

IV. — Dairy-Stock,

V. — Amount of Dairy-Produce,
1.— Cheshire, 1837-8, 1838-9, .
2.— Peru, 1838-9, .
3.— Sandisfield, 1837-8,

VI. — Neat Cattle,

1. — Extraordinary Cows,

2. — Improved Stock at Ten Hills Farm,

dlesex Co.,

3. — Cream-Pot Breed, ....

4. — Case of Dairy and Soiling of Cows, Waltham, Mass,
5. — Raising Calves, .....
6. — duality and Management of Dairy Produce,

VII. SwiNE, .....

VIII. — Manures. .

IX. Farm-Buildings,

X. Shakers' Establishments,

1. — Tyringham,

2. — Hancock and Pittsfield,

XI. — Experiments and Improvements,
1. — Potatoes,
2.— Carrots,
3. — Ruta Baga, .

4. — Oats, ....
5._Wheat,
6. — Wire-Worm,

7. — Grain-Insect, (Crridoniyia Tritici,)
8. — Grain-Worm, (Vibrio Tritici,) .
9. — Locust-Borer,

Xll. — Farm Reports,

I. Acres, 350, .

II. " 200,

III. '' 102, ...

IV. " 163,

193

V. Acres, 209, .....

VI. " 200, .....

VII. " 525,

VIII. " 463,

XIII. — Agricultural Statistics,

Returns of Pittsfield, Berkshire Co., Mass., 1838-9.

XIV. — Agricultural Society, .

XV. Miscellaneous Matters,

1. — Manufacture of Charcoal,

2. — Marble duarries,

3, — Natural Scenery,

4. — The Giant's Staircase, .

XVI. — Desirable Agricultural Improvements,
1. — Agricultural capacities of Berkshire,
2. — Exclusive Husbandry,
3. — Domestic Economy,
4. — Increase of Cultivation and Products,
5. — Comparative value of Hay, Vegetables, and Corn,
6. — Apples, ....

7. — Raising of Live Stock,
8. — Compost and Liquid Manures,

XVII. — Agricultural Machinery, .
1. — Drill-Barrows,
2. — Threshing Machine,
3. — Smoke-House,
4. — Water-Works, .

XVIII. — Conclusion,

102
ib.

103
ib.

103
105

124

.

131

ib.

,

. 132

133

. 134

135

ib.

136

. 137

138

Corn,

139

141

ib.

142

144

.

ib.

,

ib.

ib.

US

145

25

194 INDEX.

APPENDIX.

A I. — Meteorological Tables, from Allen C. Metcalf,

Lenox, ..... Page 147

II. — Table of Progress of Vegetation, by J. Bigelow,

M. D. . . 153

B Raising Calves, by Minot Thayer, Braintree, Mass., 154

C Patent Cheese-Shelves, .... 155

D On Ashes, Lime, &.C., by S. L. Dana, M. D., . 157

Letter I., . . . . . ib^

Letter II., ...... 164

E Trial of Carrots and other Feed for Swine, by A.

Young, . . . . . .166

F Experiment with Steeps for Seed-wheat, . . 167

G The GrainAYorm, {Vibrio Tritici,) . . .169

H Artificial and Liquid Manures, . . 170

I. — Letter from S. L. Dana, M. D., on artificial

Manure, ..... 170
II.— The Urine Cistern, . . . .172
III. — Harley's Experience of the value of Liquid Ma-
nure, . . . .173
IV. — Experiments of C. Alexander, of Scotland, . ib.

I Agricultural Statistics, .... 175

L — Returns from Bernardston, Franklin Co., 176
II.— " " Marlborough, Middlesex Co., . 182
III.— " " Barre, Worcester Co., . . 183
J Catalogue of the Grasses of Berkshire Co., from Pro-
fessor Dewey, ..... 184
K Tablesofthe Valuation Committee, 1831, . . 188

ERRATA.

Page 20 — line 13 — for " farm," read " farmer."
" 53 — line 22 — for " butter," read " cheese."

" 84 — line 34 — for " that native perception," read " those native perceptions."'
" 94 — line 10 — for " Sheffield," read " Great Barrington."
" 144— line 27— after " Ppnrr," read " of Sheffield."

THIRD REPORT

AGRICULTURE OF MASSACHUSETTS

SENATE No. 36.

THIRD REPORT

AGRICULTURE OP MASSACHUSETTS,

WHEAT AND SILK,

Br HENRY COLMAN,

COMMISSIONER FOR THE AGRICULTURAL SURVEY OF THE STATE.

BUTTON AND WENTWORTH, PRINTERS TO THE STATE.
1840.

Mar. 1840.1 SENATE— No 36.

Boston, M March, 1840.
To the Hon. Daniel P. King,

President of the Senate of Massachusetts :
Sir,

The Commissioner for the Agricultural Survey of the
State, has the honor to submit to the Senate a Re-
port on the Cultivation of Wheat in Massachusetts, pre-
pared in compliance with the order of the Legislature
of March 20, 1839, which is annexed.

The duty would have been sooner executed, but the
Returns were not accessible to the Commissioner, until
a considerable time after the passage of the order ; and
the season afterwards being that of active duty abroad,
he was under the necessity of postponing the report.
The number of individual returns to be looked over,
amounting to nearly four thousand, have necessarily
occupied a long time. The subject being of great im-
portance, he has devoted to it much labor and inquiry.

Though not within the terms of the order, yet the
Commissioner asks leave of the Senate to subjoin his
Report on the Culture of Silk in the State. The infor-
mation he proposes to give on this subject is of much
consequence. Knowing the importance of this subject,
and the impatience and curiosity of the public mind in
regard to it, the Commissioner travelled more than six-
teen hundred miles, the last autumn, that he might

4 AGRICULTURAL REPORT. [March,

make inquiries, in person, in places where Silk had been
produced, and obtain information, which he could pre-
sent in an authentic form. He desires, therefore, to
connect it with his Report on the Culture of Wheat,
instead of delaying it for his more general Reports.

He respectfully, through you, sir, submits the sub-
ject to the Senate ; and has the honor to subscribe
himself,

With the highest respect,

Your obedient servant,

HENRY COLMAN.

1840.1 SENATE— No. 36.

orommontDta^ltlj of J^assatftttfiietts.

In Senate, March 20, 1839.

Ordered, That the Governor be requested to obtain from the Ag-
ricultural Commissioner, a full report of the cultivation of Wheat, in
this Commonwealth, the last year ; in reference to all those particulars
specified in the act of 1838, offering a bounty upon the product of
Wheat ; which have a practical bearing on its culture ; collating such
facts from the returns, as will secure, as far as practicable, the great
object of granting the bounty, by gathering the experience of the past
year, as far as may be, to aid the future culture of Wheat in this Com-
monwealth ; with such other information respecting the cultivation of
Wheat, as may be deemed important ; and lay the same before the
Senate, when obtained ; and that for this purpose, the Agricultural
Commissioner be allowed the use of the Wheat Returns, in the office
of the Secretary of State, as far as they may be needed by him.

Sent down for concurrence.

CHA'S CALHOUN, Clerk.

House of Representatives, March 20, 1839.
Concurred.

L. S. GUSHING, Clerk.
A true copy. Attest.

JOHN P. BIGELOW,

Secretary of the Commomoealth.

AGRICULTURAL REPORT.

WHEAT RETURNS OF COUNTIES.
1838-9.

BERKSHIRE COUNTY.

ADAMS. — No. of Claimants, 10. Acres not reported. Product, 310i bush.
Average yield of 18^ acres reported, \\% bush, per acre.
Largest crop reported, 15 bush, per acre.
Remarks. One crop highly manured, 14^ bs. per acre, injured by insects.

ALFORD. — Claimants, 7. Acres sown, \7%. Product, 215 bush.

Average pr acre, 12^ bush.

Crops -20 bush. ; 18 bush. ; two 16 bush, each pei" acre.
Remarks. No manure for largest crop. In several cases 1.^ bushel of
plaster applied per acre, without marked results. Two cases of grain insect.

BECKET.— Claimants, 20. Acres sown, 33^. Product, 397 bush.

Average, 12 bush, per acre.

Crops, 20 bush. ; 18 bush, per acre.
Remarks. Seed, Tea wheat. Amount of seed generally, 1| bs. per acre.
In two cases, two bushels were sown to the acre, but without marked advan-
tage. One crop, 18 bs. received 20 bush, leached ashes; one, five loads
leached ashes. The application of lime, not exceeding four bushels to the
acre, without perceptible effect. Soil " loamy or sandy loam." Twelve
crops suffered from drought, and three from wire worm.

CHESHIRE.— Claimants, 21. Acres sown, 41. Product, CG6| bush.
Average per acre, \G^ bs.
Crops, 22 bs. 11) bs. ; four, 16 bush, per acre.
Remarks. Best crops, on "slate soil," and" black muck." Six crops
injured by grain insect. No lime excepting on the seed.

8 AGRICULTURAL REPORT. [March,

CLARKSBURG.— Claimant, 1. Acres sown, 3. Product, 40 bush.
Average per acre, 13| bush.
Largest yield, 5^0 bush, per acre.
Remarks. Seed, the Leghorn. Injury from hail.

DALTON.— Claimants, 16. Acres sown, 231. Product, 382 bush.

Average per acre, IS^ bush.

Crop?, 23 bush, per acre ; 22 bush. ; two 19 bush.
Remarks. Crop of 22 bush, with 15 bush, ashes per acre. Of 19 bush,
with 1 cask of lime and 6 bush, ashes, and six loads long manure. Three
cases of lime, two bush, per acre ; without advantage. Seed, tea-wheat.
Two crops blasted; four cases of grain worm.

EGREMONT.— Claimants, 27. Acres sown 52]. Product, 788^ bush.

Average, 15 3-10 bush, per acre.

Crops, 24 bush. ; 20 busji. ; 19^ bush.; two, 18 bush.
Remarks. Largest crop, with ten loads stable manure, on gravelly loam.
Plaster customarily applied ; 1^ bush, per acre. Three cases grain insect;
four of cut worm ; one smut-wheat rolled in lime, but not soaked in brine ;
one case rust, one mildew. The soil of Egremont peculiarly favorable for
grain. Five loads of coarse straw applied to an acre ; the yield, 10 bushels.

FLORIDA. — Claimants, 2. Acres sown, 4^. Product, 73 bush.

Average per acre, 17 1-6 bush.
Remarks. Crop of 20 bushels per acre, with 50 bushels leeched ashes^
and 2 bushels lime per acre.

GT. BARRINGTON.— Claimants, 54. Acres, 122 11-24 bs. Product, 1764 bs.

Average, 14| bush, per acre.

Crops 26^ bs. ; 25^ bs. ; three, 21 bs. ; 20 bs. pr. acre.
Remarks, Crop of 20 bushels per acre with 4 loads of light rotten ma-
nure spread on the grain. Twenty-eight crops with plaster ; 1 h bushels
per acre; twenty -nine cases of grain insect. ; one of worm at the root ; one
of grasshoppers.

HANCOCK.— Claimants, 13. Acres sown, 17f. Product, 285;!. bush.
Average per acre, 16 bush.
Crops, 24 bush. ; 22; 21 ; 20 bush, per acre.
Remarks. Crop of 24 bushels, had 8 bushels of ashes per acre ; 21 bush-
els, 15 bushels ashes, per acre ; of 19 bushels with 3 bushels'gypsum and 2 of
ashes. With 8 bushels ashes, crop 15 bushels per acre.

HINSDALE.— Claimants, 28. Acres sown, 44^. Product, 683| bushels.
Average, 15A bush, per acre.

Crops, 28 bush. ; 25 bs. ; 24 bs. ; two, 22 ; 21 ; two, 20 ;
19 ; 18 bush, per acre.

1840.] SENATE— No. 36. 9

Remarks. Crop of 28 bush, with four bushels of lime per acre. Of 21
bushels with 25 loads of manure in 1837. One case of ashes, the crop 14 2-5
bushels per acre. One case of smut: the seed limed, but not soaked in
brine.

LANESBORO'.— Claimants, 45. Acres sown, 85 1. Product, 1183^ bs.
Average crop, 13 bs. per acre.
Remarks. With 100 bushels lime per acre, the yield ]1| bushels per
acre. Saltpetre and lime applied, but quantities not given. Yield 15 bush-
els. In one case, land manured the year of the wheat. Plaster in 16 cases,
1 to li bushels per acre. No definite results.

LEE.— Claimants, 29. Acres sown, 59 1 Product 80G^ bushels.

Average crop, 13| bs. per acre.
Crops, 2G| bs.; 24 bs. ; two of 18| bs.
Remarks. With 20 bushels lime to 1^ acre, crop 11:^ bushels; suffered
from drought Three ap])lications of plaster, but no perceptible result.
With four bushels of ashes to the acre, the crop 125 bushels; suffered from
drought. On the same farm, one acre of spring wheat, gave 18 bushels; 2
of winter wheat, 5 bushels each. Three cases of grain insect ; one of rust
from late sowing ; one of smut ; the seed soaked in brine, and rolled in
plaster.

LENOX.— Claimants, 50. Acres sown, 108:^. Product, 1413 bushels.
Average crop, 13A bs. per acre.
Crops, 26 bs. ; three of 20 bs. per acre; two of 18 bs.

Remarks. Crop of 26 bushels, with si.x loads yard manure, and ten bush-
els of lime and ashes, amount not stated; sown on 30th April. Soil, a dark
loam. Prevailing rocks of this locality, mica slate.— A second piece on the
same farm, with six loads of barn manure, and ten bushels of lime, and two
bushels of plaster, produced 12^1 bushels to the acre ; sown on 22d May.

This farmer, Eldad Post, harrows his wheat repeatedly, after sowing, even
after it has germinated ; considers the exposure of the seed and soil to light
and air, highly beneficial. His cultivation usually successful ; two years
since, his spring wheat was more than 34 bushels peracre.^Results in these
returns quite various. One acre, with five bushels lime, and two bushels of
gypsum, produced 11| bushels to the acre. One with 60 bushels lime, 13
bushels wheat. Twelve cases of grain insect; four worm at the root. One
of smut; seed rolled in lime, but not soaked in brine.

NEW ASH FORD.— Claimants, 12. Acres sown, 22. Product, 366 bs.
Average crop, 16 7-11 bs. per acre.
Crops, 20 bs.; 16 bs.
Remarks. Excepting one case, manured previous year. Six crops
« shrunk."

10 AGRICULTURAL REPORT. [March,

N. MARLBORO'.— Claimants, 2a Acres sown, 46. Product, G69^ bs.

Average crop, ]4| bs. per acre.

Crops, 29 bs. ; 20 ; lOA ; two, 18 bs.
Remarks. Crop of 29 bushels, winter wheat, on new land. Soil, " sili-
ceous." Crop of 20 bushels, winter wheat ; part of the same piece in spring
wheat. The spring wheat failed to come up; no manure in either case.
Soil, « a dark loam." Plaster applied ; in one case, 5 bushels of lime, and
1 bushel of piaster; in one, 12 bushes of ashes; without apparent effects.

OTIS. — Claimants, 4. Acres sown, 7t. Product, 117ii bushels.

Average, Ifi^ bs. per acre.
Remarks. Crop, 23 bushels ; chip manure and lime; quantity not stated.
Chip manure is the refuse of the door yard, impregnated with soap-suds, and
the usual varieties. To the crop, llA bushels per acre, lime and ashes ap-
plied ; quantities not given.

PERU.— Claimants, 11. Acres sown, 14^. Product, 243 bushels.

Average crop, IG 1-5 bs. per acre.
Crops, 24 bs.; 22 bs. ; 17 bs.
Remarks. Largest crop, with 6 loads sheep manure, and 1.5 bushels ashes
to the acre. With 15 loads of stable manure, and 20 bushels of ashes per
acre, product, 10 bushels. Seed, in this case, three bushels. Two cases
20 loads of long manune, and 4^ bushels of lime, and 15 curds of y-d ma-
nure, and 2 loads uf refuse lime ; crop 15 bushels each per acre. Best crop,
red bearded. Others, the tea wheat. No accident. Peru is among the most
elevated lands in the State.

PITTSFIELD.— Claimants, 57. Acres sown, 1421. Product, 1934 bs.

Average crop, 13| bs. per acre.

Crops, 4 of 20 bs. per acre ; 4 of 19 bs. i)er acre; 7 of 18
bs. per acre ; 5 of 17 bs. per acre.
Remarks. Crop of 17 bushels, received 5 bushels ashes per acre. An-
other piece with 6 bushels of ashes per acre, gave 14 bushels. Tea-wheat,
not injured by grain worm ; bearded wheat suffered on same farm. With
12 bushels of ashes, crop H bushels. With 20 bushels per acre of ashes, crop
19 bushels per acre. With 10 bushels of ashes per acre, crop !5 bushels.
With 15 bushels of ashes, crop 10 bushels. With 4 bushels ashes per acre,
and 10 loads manure, crop 12 bushels. With 7i bushels ashes per acre,
withoiit manure, crop 135 bushels. In 9 cases, plaster without manure, the
crops from 12 to 14 bushels. Several cases of grain insect. The ap{! 'ca-
tion of the marls in this vicinity has yet been followed by uo mai'ked bene-
fits to the wheat crop. Much is still hoped from them.

RICHMOND— Claimants, 23. Acres sown, 80. Product, 117Gi bs.
Average crop, 14 7-10 bs. per acre.
Crops, 22 bs. ; 3 of 21 bs. ; 20 bs. ; 19 bs.

1840.] SENATE— No. 36. 11

Remarks. Largest crop with lime, ashes and plaster, quantities not stat-
ed. With 20 bushels of ashes, crop 14 bushels per acre ; much injured by
grain insect. Crop of 21 bushels per acre, was with horse and sheep man-
ure, and 100 lbs. plaster. Fifteen crops with gypsum, but no definite re-
sult. Winter wheat injured by frost Ten cases of grain insect. Three
rust. Two drought.

SANDISFIELD.— Claimants, 7. Acres sown, 11^. Product, 157^ bush.

Average per acre, 13^ bush.

Crops, 22| ; 20 ; 193, bush, per acre.
Remarks, Crops of 22| bush, received 27 bush, ashes per acre, on dry
loam. Crop of 20 bush, on moist loam, with one bushel gypsum. Crop of
195 bush, to the acre, with 12 bush, ashes and 23 bush, of lime on 146 rods
of land. On same soil, gravelly loam, six loads of leached ashes on 212
rods, produced 15 bush, per acre ; 2 loads of leached ashes on 140 rods, pro-
duced 6| bush, per acre. The town of Sandisfield is elevated. Leached
ashes freely used in every case but tr^-o. No injury or accident.

SAVOY.— Claimants 8. Acres sown, 11 J. Product, 167 bush.

Average, 15 bush, per acre.

Crops, 22 ; 20 ; 19; 17 ; bush, per acre.
Remarks. Seed soaked in beef brine twenty-four hours, crop slightly
smutted. Of seed without preparation, one fourth smutted. • Stable man-
ure, nine loads, and .ii.een loads, per acre.

SHEFFIELD.— Claimants, 73. Acres sown, 249^. Product, 3902 bs.
Average, 11^ bush, per acre.

Crops, 31 ; 25; 24i ; five of 24 ; one of 22i ; one of 20^ .

ten of 20 bush, per acre.

Remarks. Largest crop, mostly winter wheat, with 15 loads of manure ;

" injured by the spring." Crop of 25 bs., with 10 loads of manure. Crop

of 2Qh bs. with 20 bs. of lime and one of plaster, per acre. In one case

grain was winter-killed ; thirty-five cases of grain insect.

STOCKBRIDGE.— Claimants, 29. Acres sown, 67J. Product, 95 | bs.
Average, 14^ bush, per acre.
Crops, 22 bs. ; 20 bs. ; two 18 bs., per acre.
Remarks. In one case winter wheat produced 12 bs., spr. wheat llf bs.
In " » « " 16 bs., » « 12 bs.

In " " « « 10 bs., « " 22 bs.

In " « " " 14 bs., « " I6i bs.

One case bearded wheat injured by grain insect ; tea wheat not. Wheat
seeded, 55 qts. per acre, " suffered from thick sowing." A farmer states lie
can raise more busiiels of wheat than of rye on same land. His soil is clay
and sandy loam. He uses a small quantity of barn manure ; and a top-
dressing of one bushel of plaster and ashes, quantity not stated.

12 AGRICULTURAL REPORT. [March,

Q5^An entry made here, and premium paid, on 17^ bushels of India
Wheat, i. e. Tartarian Buck Wheat.

W. STOCKBRIDGE.— Claimants, 27. Acres, 90 13-16. Prod. ]246i bs-

Average, Vi 11-15 bs. per acre.

Crops, 28 bs. ; 24 bs. ; 22 bs. ; 20 bs. ; 19 bs.
Remarks. Crop of 28 bs. on loam, and ^ a bushel lime and plaster. —
Other large crops without manure. In five cases, U bushels of plaster ap-
plied per acre, without marked difference. Nine cases of grain insect One
of smut ; wheat simply rolled in plaster.

TFllIxNGHAM.— Claimants, 13. Acres sown, 14^. Product, 2G7i bush.

Average, 19 bush, per acre.

Crops, 20 bs. ; 17 bs. ; two IG^ bs. per acre.
Remarks. Ten bushels lime applied, crop 16^ bushels; thirty bushels
lime applied, crop 13 bushels ; crop of iiO bushels, manured with 20 loads
chip manure. One case of grain insect.

WASHINGTON.— Claimants, 14. Acres sown, 23]. Product, ^39 bush-
Average, 14 i bush, per acre.
Crops, 2U bs. ; 20 bs. ; 19 bs. ; 18 bs., per acre.
Remarks. Crop 21^ bs., land the previous year had 20 loads of manure ?
20 bs., land the previous fall had 15 loads manure, 5 bs. asiies. Laud with
20 loads manure, 3 bs. lime, 5 bs. ashes, gave 14 b.s, wheat. Soil sandy.

WILLIAlMSTOWN.— Claimauts, 5(>. Acres, 140^. Produce 1731 bush.

Average, 12 21-70 bush, per acre.

Crops, 23| bs. ; three of 20 bs. ; two of 19 bs. ; five
of 17 bs.
Remarks. Crops sowed from 12th of 3Iay to 1st of June, suffered from
late sowing. Largest crop grown on a "slaty gravel." Four cases of wire
worms ; two in clay soil ; one in green sward. Twelve cases of plaster, but
no marked effect. One case of lime applied on the wheat when in flower
for destruction of grain insect ; the crop injured by the insect, but no parti-
culars given of the lime, quantity, or manner of application. Late sowing
strongly disapproved by the reports of this town.

WINDSOR.— Claimants, 17. Acres sown, 18|. Product, 374i bush.

Average, 18^ bush, per acre.

Crops, 28^ bs. ; 26.i bs. ; 24 bs. ; 22 bs. ; 21| bs. ; 21 bs. per
acre.
Remarks. Crop 28 bush, on a daik red loam and light dressing of slieep
manure. 2(i4 bush, willi sheep manure and 15 bush, ashes. 24 bush, with
mai.ure from cattle. The crops of 22 bush., 215 bush., 20^ bush, two of
18.| bush. 17^ bush, with 12 or 15 bush, ashes. In Windsor a crop of Indian
corn of IIG bs. ])er acre, received a premium from the Berkshire Agricultural
Society, 'ihe success attributed to abundant application of leached ashes.

1840.1 SENATE— No. 36. 13

FRANKLIN COUNTY.

ASHFIELD.— Claimants, 59. Acres sown, 80^. Product, V^'i9k bush.

Average per acre, 15 47-80 bush.

Crops, 21 bs. two of 20 bs. one of 19 bs. three of 18 bush.

per acre.
Remarks. Largest crop without manure . Lime three bs. per acre, and
ashes applied, but no results given ; three cases of grain insect ; four cases
of injury by drought. The soil clayey loam.

JBERNARDSTON.— Claimants, 9. Acres sown, 12|. Product, 244 bush.

Average per acre, 19 bush.

Crops, 26 bs. 25i bs. 2^\ bs. one of 22 bush, per acre.
Remarks. Largest crops without manure. Two bs. lime and plaster ap-
plied; crop, 10 bs. Three cases of grain worm. Where winter and spring
wheat on the same farm; the winter wheat gave 19 bs. the spring 18 bs per
acre.

BUCKLAND.— Claimants, 11. Acres sown, 16 41-60. Product, 256 bush.
Average per acre, 15 .3-16 bushels.
Largest crop, 21 bush, on an acre.
Remarks. This crop received 15 loads of barn yard manure. 5 cases of
grain insect.

CHARLEMONT— Claimants, 17. Acres sown, 26 25-48. Product, 4 1 4i bush.
Average per acre, 15^ bush.

Largest crops, 22^ bs. 22 bs. 21 i bs. three of 16.J bush,
per acre.
Remarks. The largest crop, 10 loads of stable manure, on a "red loam."
500 lbs. plaster, and 1 hhd. of lime applied to 2 acres ; crop, 7^ bs. per acre
This was winter wheat ; and suffered much from grain insect Land highly
manured the previous year, and 20 bs. ashes upon \^ acre, crop, 15 bs. per
acre. iNine cases of grain insect.

C0LERAL\E.— Claimants, 29. Acres sown, 46. Product, 709| bush.
Average per acre, 15 19-46 bush.

Largest crops, 21 bs. seven of 20 bs. one of 19 bs. three of
18 bs per acre.
Remarks. Largest crop without manure ; crop of 19 bs. with 30 loads
compost, and 30 bs. of ashes, on l:t acres; soil, dry loam. Four cases of
grain worm. Several crops suffered from hail storm.

14 AGRICULTURAL REPORT. [March,

CONWAY. — Claimants, 32. Acres sown, 49. Product, 666 bush.

Average per acre, 13 3-5 bush.

Crops, 24 bs. 23 bs. two of 20 bs. one of 19 bs. four of 18 bs.
per acre.
Remarks. Largest crop, with 8 loads barn manure, and 9 bush, leached
ashes. Crop of 20 bush, no manure. Two cases of smut ; the seed not
steeped. Three cases of grain insect. One case of wire worm.

DEERFIELD.— Claiinauts,59. Acres sown, 149 73-480. Product, 2311 bush.
Average per acre, 15^ bush.

Largest crops, 28 bs. 26 bs. 25 bs. two of 23^ bush, per
acre.
Remarks. Crop of 28 bs. on rich alluvial land, sown in October. Crop
of 18 bs. with thirteen loads of muck. One of 23 received 20 loads of ma-
nure on rich alluvial land and after clover. One of 26 bs. after corn crop.
Five cases of grain insect. One of smut, seed not prepared.

ERVING.— Claimants, 3. Acres sown, 4i. Product, 64!^ bush.

Average per acre, 13 bush.

Largest crops, 18 bs. 15 bs. 11 bush, per acre.
H"MARKS. Crop of 18 bs. had 18 loads of manure. One farmer reports
uniform success in growing wheat, for three years. His wheat follows corn
well manured. One case of smut ; seed washed in cleai* water.

GILL. — Claimants, 12. Acres sown, 20|. Product, 293 bush.

Average per acre, 14 1-20 bush.

Largest crops, 23 bs. 205 bs. 18 9-32 bs. one of 17 19-32 bush per
acre.
Remarks. Crop of 23 bs. with 26 loads of manure. One crop sowed
late in October, winter killed, crop 6 bs. u])on half an acre. Five cases of
grain insect.

GREENFIELD.— Claimants, 8. Acres sown, 16|. Product, 228^ bush.
Average per acre, 13^ bush.

Largest crops, 16 bs. two of 15 bs. one of 13 bs two of
12 bush, per acre.
Remarks. Largest crops on new land ; with 5 bs. plaster and 20 bs of
ashes upon 2 acres ; crop, 12 bs. per acre. Five cases grain insect

HAWLEY.— Claimants, 17. Acres sown, 251. Product, 301 bush.

Average per acre, 13^ bush.

Largest crop.«!, 27 bs. 20 bs. 18 bs. two of 17 bush, per acre.
Remarks. Largest crop 27 bs , with 8 loads manure, and 25 bs. of lime
per acre. Crop of 20 bs. with 18 loads of manure. Two farmers in this
town have produced a prolific and superior wheat, by a selection of promis-
ing and fine heads ; and carefully sowing from their product. H. C.

1840.] SENATE— No. 36. 15

HEATH.— Claimants, 44. Acres sown, 60 9-16. Product, 1006 bush.

Avei-ajje per acre, 16^ bush.

Largest crops, 25 bs.; two 24 bs.; four of 22^ bs. ; one of 21 J
one of 21 bush, per acre.
Remarks, Largest crops without manure this season ; but followed com
or potatoes well manured. Two cases of 30 bs. ashes applied ; crops 15i
bs. per acre. Crop of 25 bs. Italian ; crop of 24 bs. Black Sea variety.
Two hundred bs. raised more than returns, that were not in quantities to
secure the bounty. Large portion of crops injured by smut ; in such cases
the seed not steeped in brine, but simply rolled in ashes.

LEVERETT.— Claimants, 3. Acres sown, 6. Product, 79| bush.

Average per acre, 13 1-6 bush.

Crops, 16 bs. ; 15| bs. ; 12 bs. per acre.
Remarks. The crop of 16 bs. with two bs. of lime, and one of plaster.
Crop of I5| bs. with 13 loads of manure per acre. One injured by drought.

LEYDEN.— Claimants, 22. Acres sown, 37^. Product, 518^ bush.

Average per acre, 13 25-37 bush.

Largest crops, three of 19 bs. ; one of 18| bs. ; two of 18 bs. ;
one of 17i bush, per acre.
Remarks. Crop of 17^ bs. with 30 bs. ashes per acre. Others wthout
manure.

MONTAGUE.— Claimants, 9. Acres sown, 11 7-12. Product, 171 bush.
Average per acre, 14i bush.

Largest crops, 20 bs. ; 17 bs ; 16^ bs. ; 16 bush, per acre.
Remarks. Crop of 20 bs. received one cask of lime.

MONROE.— Claimants, 2. Acres sown, 2|. Product, 40 bush.

Average per acre, 13 5-6 bush.
Crops, 15:i bs. ; 13h bs. per acre.

NEW SALEM.— Claimants, 9. Acres sown, 12 1-6. Product, 203 bush.
Average per acre, 16 bush.

Largest crops, 30 bs. ; 20 bs ; 18 bs. ; 16^ bs. ; two of 16
bush, per acre.
Remarks. Largest crop without manure. Twenty loads of common
manure applied ; crop, 10 bs. Two crops injured by drought, one lodged.

NORTHFIELD.— Claimants, 42. Acres sown, 82?. Product, 1100 bush.
Average per acre, 13^ bush.

Largest crops, two of 21^ bs. ; two of 20 bs.; one of 19i
bs. ; one of 19 bush, per acre.

16 AGRICULTURAL REPORT. [March,

Remarks. Largest crops without manure. A crop of winter wheat gave
1 1^ OS. without injury. Another crop of winter wheat gave 20 bs. without
injury. The applications of plaster and Hme in small quantities give no dis-
criminating results. In case of 12 bs. of ashes, 16 bs. of wheat were ob-
tained. In case of 9 bs. of ashes and lime, 17 bs. of wheat were obtained.
One crop winter killed ; sown 20 Sept.

ORANGE.— Claimants, 23. Acres sown, 29. Product, 493 bush-

Average jier acre, 17 bush.

Largest crops, 25 bs. ; 23 bs. ; three of 20 bs. ; one of 19 bush,
per acre.
Remarks. Largest crop had 15 loads of stable manure. Crop of 23 bs.
without manure ; no accident or injury.

RO WE.— Claimants, 16 Acres sown, 22 2-5. Product, 353 bush.

Average per acre, 15^ bush.

Largest crops, 22 bs. ; 19^ bs. ; 18^ bs.; 18 bush, per acre.
Remarks. Largest crops without manure. The soil of Rowe is exceed-
ingly rich in vegetable matter. Where 25 loads of barn manure applied, the
product 15 bush.

SHELBURNE.— Claimants, 36. Acres sown, 59 5-12. Product 973 bush.
Average per acre, 16 17-59 bush.

Largest crops, 37^ bs ; 25 bs. ; 22§ bs.; 22 bs. ; one 2U bs.

per acre.

Remarks. The largest crop is reported without remarks; but the farm

presents a deep, rich, argillaceous soil and is exceedingly well managed. H. C.

Crop of 25 bs. without remarks. Crop of 20 bs. received 20 bs. of ashes

per acre.

SHUTESBURY.— Claimants, 2. Acres sown, 3|. Product, 46 bush.

Average per acre, 12 bush.
Crops, 14 bs. ; 11 J bush, per acre.

SUNDERLAND.— Claimants, 20. Acres sown, 32^. Product, 502 bush.

Average per acre, 15 11-32 bush.

Largest crops, 30 bs. ; 24 bs. ; 21 bs ; 20 bush, per acre.

Remarks. Largest crop without manure; soil sandy loam. With 10

loads compost manure, the crop 17 bs. Several cases of the use of ashes,

plaster, and lime; without discriminating results. Two cases of injury

from worms, one fiom drought.

WARWICK.— Claimants, 29. Acres sown, 39^. Product, 675i bush.

Average jter acre, 1C| bush.

Largest crops. 28 b.s. ; 22| bs. ; 22^ bs. ; 22 bs. ; one 21 k bs.
p er acre.

1840.] SENATE— No. 36, 17

Remarks. The largest crop with 1(5 bs of ashes. The crop of 22^ bs.
with thirty loads green barn manure, and seven bs. of lime. Another crop
■of '22% bs. without manure. One case of grain insect. Soil " dry and vai ious."

WENDELL.— Claimants, 2. Acres sown, 5. Product, 55^ bush.

Average jjcracre, 11 bush.
Cro])s, 14;:^ bs. ; 9 bush, per acre.

WHATELY.— Claimants, 4. Acres sown, 8. Product, 89 busk

Average per acre, 1 1 ^ bush.

Largest crops, IG bs. ; IJg bs. ; 10 bs. per acre.
Remarks. Largest cro]) had 12 bs. lime and ashes. One crop injured by
worm; tiu-ee by drought; ten bushels of lime per acre; yield nine bush.
Five loads of stable manure and six bs. of ashes ; crop, ten bush.

HAMPSHIRE COUNTY.

AMHERST.— Claimants, 38. Acres sown, 7G 5-12. Product, 1211 busk

Average per acre, 15 15-19 bushels.

Largest Crops, 32 bs. ; 27 bs. ; 25^ bs. ; 24 bs. ; 23^ bs. ; 23 bs. ,•

two 22 bs. per acre.
Remarks. 21 crops of winter wheat— one crop injured by grain-worm —
one by storm, without other accident or injury. Largest crop of 32 bushels
spring wheat — the other largest crops, winter wheat. The winter wheal,
sown between 15th Sept. and 2Gth Oct. One acre with 10 loads yard ma-
nure and 10 bush, of ashes — Crop 23 bush. One with 9 loads of muck—
Cro() 24 bush. Two crops'of 21 bush, each with 4 bush, of lime each. Lar-
gest crop, 32 bush, on an " old loam" ; no manure. Two cases of smut, seed
not prepared — one, where it was soaked ami limed ; but the kind of steep
not mentioned. The soil is various — gravelly, clay loam, and sandy loam^
Two or three crops shrunk — one injured by storm. Spring wheat sowed
from 31st March to 3d May.

BELCHERTOWN.— Claimants, 13. Acres sown, 3U. Product, 464i bs.

Average per acre, 143 bushels.

Largest crops, 22^ bs. ; 20 bs.; 12 bs per acre.
Remarks. The largest crop with barn-yard manure — quantity not stated.
Returns imperfect.

CHESTERFIELD.— Claimants, 42. Acres sown, 85. Product, 1333 bush.
Average per acre, 15 J bushels.

Largest crops, 25 bs. ; 21 bs. ; five 20 bs. ; four 19 bs. ;
seven 1 7 bs. per acre.
3

18 AGRICULTURAL REPORT. [March,

IiEMARKS. Larj^est crop without inanine ; i\ gravelly Icam. With 15 loads
sheep manure and 5 bu&h, ashes, yield 21 bush. One case of smut, seed
" brined and limed." — 14 bush, of lime in one case ; croj) S^ bush per acre — wO
bush, ashes, the yield 20 bush, per acre — 20 bush, in another case, the yield
17 bush, per acre.

CUMMINGTON.— Claimants, 47. Acres sown, 78h. Product, 1211 bush.

Avernge per acre, 15f bushels.

Largest eroi)s, 24 1)S. ; 23J bs. ; 22 bs. ; 21 bs. ; two SO

bs. per acre.
Remarks. — Largest crop with five loads long manure, aud seven bs. ashes.
Two cases of smut; seed steej)ed in brine, not limed. One case of smut, no
preparation of the seed. The soil here rests on mica slate. The manures
applied to the crop of corn or potatoes of the preceding year. In two cases
the seed steeped in a solution of" vitriol." Two cases of injury from grain-
worm; several by drought. The seed used, the Leghorn or Tea Wheat.

EASTHAMPTON.— Claimants, 15. Acres sown, 273 . Produce, 535 bush.

Average per acre, 19 ()-27 bushels.

Largest crops, 25 bs. ; 23 bs ; four of 20 bs. ; two of 19

bs. i)er acre.
Remarks. Fourteen cases of winter wheat — sowed from 17th Sept. to
2d Oct. No accident. Largest crop on sandy loam without manure.

ENFIELD.— Claimants, 3. Acres sown, 5:i. Product, 75 A bush.

Average per acre, 14 bushels.
Crops, 17 3-5 bs. ; li>?i bs. ; iJ| bs. per acre.
Remarks. Largest crop with 15 loads barn-yard manure — '• badly shrunk."

GOSHEN. — Claimants, 32. Acres sown, 52. Product, G4G bush.

Average per acre, 12 11-2G bushels.
Largest crop.«, 1(5 bs.; 15^ bs. ; 15 bs. per acre.
Remarks. One case of injury from drought. Returns imperfect.

GRANBY.— Claimants, 3. Acres sown, 3. Product, 44^ bush.

Average per acre, 14| bushels.

Crops, 20 bs. ; jG^ bs. per acre.
Remarks. One crop, only half the seed vegetated — seed steeped, but no
particulars given.

GREENWICH.— Claimants, 7. Acres sown, 12|. Product, 14G bush.
Average per acre, lU bushels.
Largest crops, 2G bs. ; 21 bs. 28 qts. jier acre.
Remarks. On largest croj), 50 lbs. of piaster, sown after it was up. Win-
tar wheat gave 12 bush, per acre — without injury.

1840.] SENATE— No. 36. 19

HADLEY.— Claimants, 59. ^Acres sown, 140 19-24. Product, 18131 l>ush.

Average per acre, \2 5-7 bushels.

Largest ci-ops, 2 Ji bs. ; two of 2i bs. ; one 21^ bs. ; two 20 bs.

per acre.
Remarks. Largest crop without manure ; six busli. lime applied ; blasted.
Nineteen crops of winter wheat ; one injured by winter. Two cases of smut ;
seed rolled in lime, not steeped. Two cases of Italian wheat ; one kept in
brine 30 hours ; one said to have been injured by steeping. This agrees with
the experience of some of tiie farmers of Northampton, who think that the
seed of the Italian wheat, being thin skinned, is injured by remaining a
long time in tiie brine. The Italian, in this case, yielded but 2{ bush — the win-
ter wheat, on the same farm, sowed Sept. 2'i, produced 10 bush, per acre. Three
cases in this town of the cultivation of 5 acres and upwards by a single firm-
er. The soil a sandy loam and alluvial — one case with 20 busli. lime, plas-
ter and ashes per acre — crop blasted.

HATFIELD.— Claimants, 39. Acres sown, 102. Product, 1559 bush.

Average per acre, 14 1-5 bush.

Largest crops, 25i bs. ; 2:3^ bs. ; 22 2-13 bs. ; 201 bs. ;
20 2-5 bs. per acre.
Remarks. Largest crop on alluvial, rich loam ; six bush, ashes. Crop in-
jured by clover sowed with it. Another crop is stated to have been much
injured by grass, (we su[)pose, sowed with it.) Three cases of winter wheat,
from quarter to half killed by winter. Seventeen cases of winter wheat re-
ported ; most of them in same field with spring wheat, but no comparative
results given, except as above. Several cases reported in which a |iart of the
field niaiiured and part without manure; yet no comparative results given,
but all reported as one. These were favorable cases lor determining impor-
tant points ; but we are left in the dark. A crop sowed Wih Nov. gave heavy
growth of straw, but "did not fill."

It is much to be lamented, that, with the Hatfield farmers among the best
in the State, with so many fiivorable opportunities of arriving at important
comparative results, the accounts are not definite and e.-tablish nothing.

MIDDLEFIELD.— Claimants, 14. Acres sown, 18 G-8 Product, 282 bush.
Average per acre, 15 5-18 bush.

Largest crops, 21 b.s. ; 20 bs. ; 18 b.>. ; 10 bush. pr. acre.
Remarks. Largest crop with seven loads manure and seven bs. of lii7ie,
Applications of lime in small quantities; but no decisive result. One case
of smut ; seed rolled in lime ; not steeped.

NORTHAMPTON.— Claimants, 59. Acres 170 5-12. Product, 1938^ bush.
Average per acre, 10 21-22 bush.
Largest crops, 20 bs. ; 19^ bs. ; 18 bs.; two of 17^
bush, per acre.

20 AGRICULTURAL REPORT, [March,

Remarks. Largest crop without manure on sandy loam. Sixteen loads
of barn manure and four bs. of aslies upon two acres ; crop, 16 bs. per acre.
Several cases of application of lime; no decisive results. No accident or
injury.

NORWICH —Claimants, 14. Acres sown, 22^. Product, 2G9 bush.

Average per acre, 11 17-22 bush.

Largest crops, 20 bs. ; 19 bs. ; 18^ bs. ; 15 bs. ; 13 bush, per
acre.
Remarks. Crop of 20 bs. with two bs. of lime and ten of ashes. No ac-
cident or injury.

PELHAM.— Claimants, 2. Acres sown, 3|. Product, 31 bush.

Average per acre, 9§ bush.
Crops, 21^ bs. ; G bush per acre.
Remarks. — In case of largest cro]), })art manured, part without manure ;
both after corn ; no difference observable in the yield.

PLAINFIELD.— Claimants, ] 6. Acres sown, 26 13-24. Product, 372 bush.
Average per acre, 13 1 1-13 bush.

Largest crops, 21| bs. 21 bs. 20 4-5 bs. 18 bush, per acre.
Remarks. Largest crops without manure. Three cases of smut; one,
seed without prei)aration ; one, seed steeped in water and rolled in lime,
one, seed soaked in brine.

PRESCOTT.— Claimants, 3. Acres sown, 2 9-80. Product, 52 bush.

Average per acre, 24 J bush.

Largest crops, 34 bs. per acre ; one 18 bs. to 108 rods.
Remarks. Largest crop on black loam with four loads green manure, and
100 lbs. plaster.

SOUTH HADLEY.— Claimants, IG. Acres sown, 41. Product, 612 bush.
Average per acre, 14 38-41.

Largest crops, 25 bs. ; 20 bs. ; two of 16 bush, per
acre.
Remarks. Largest crop without manure. A crop stated to yield from
10 to 25 bs. per acre, received one bushel of plaster, and forty bs. of ashes
upon five acres. Five cases of grain worm.

SOUTllAMPTOxN.— Claimants, 10. Acres, 2H. Product, 280 bush.

Average per acre, 13 2-21 bush.
Largest crops, 20^ bs. ; IG bs. ; 14 bs.; 1 1^ bs. ; 11|
busli. per acre.
Remauks. Largest crop without manure. Si.xteen loads of manure, and
two bs. of ashes per acre ; yield, 16 bush.

1840.1 SENATE— No. 36. 21

WARE.— Claimants, 10. Acres sown, 16. Product, 204| bush.

Average per acre, 12| bush.

Largest crops, lUi bs. ; one 16| bs. ; one of 15 18-32 bs. ; one of
13 3-5 bush, per acre.
Remarks. Largest crop with eight loads of stable manure, and two bs.
of lime. Seven loads of stable manure, and ten bs. of ashes ; yield, 15^ bs.
per acre. One case of grain insect.

WESTHAMPTON.— Claimants, 12. Acres sown, 19 J. Product, 228 bush.
Average per acre, 11 9-19 bush.

Largest crops, 18^ bs. ; 17^ bs,; 16 bs.; 15 bush, per
acre.
Remarks, Largest crop with a compost of ashes, earth and lime.

WILLIAMSBURGH.— Claimants, 9. Acres, 18 67-120. Product, 239i bs.
Average per acre, 13 2-9 bosh.
Largest crops, 21 bs, ; two of 16 bs. ; one of 15 bs, ;
14^ bush, per acre.
Remarks. The largest crop with 14 bs. of lime to the acre. One case
of smut; seed without preparation. With one exception crops suffered se-
verely by drought.

WORTHINGTON.— Claimants, 59. Acres sown, 85. Product, 1487| bush.
Average per acre, 17.J bush.

Largest crops, 26^ bs. ; two of 25 bs. ; one of 23^ bs. ;
22^ bs. ; 22 bush, per acre.
IJemarks. The largest crops without maimre. The soil " loamy." No
accident nor injui-y.

HAMPDEN COUNTY.

BLANDFORD.— Claimants, 14. Acres sown, 19 1-10. Product, 272 bush.

Average per acre, 14 6-19 bush.

Largest crops, 22 bs. ; 21 bs. ; 20 bs, ; 19 bush, per acre.
Remarks. No manure on largest crop ; 2 bs. of ashes. Crop of 21 bs.
with 18 loads barn yard manure. 20 loads of yard manure upon two acres,
gave 8 bs. per acre ; sowed from 1 to lOlh May.

BRIMFIELD.— Claimants, 10. Acres sewn, 17. Product, 214^ bush.
Average per acre, 12 10-17 bush.

Largest crops, 18^ bs. ; two of 17 bs. ; two of 15 bs ; one
of 12 bush, per acre.

22 AGRICULTURAL REPORT. [March,

Remarks. Largest crop no manure. Twelve loads of compost per acre ;
crop, 17 bush. Seven cases of rust,

CHESTER— Claimants, 25. Acres sown, 39 11-J2. Product, 554^ bush.
Average i)er acre, 13 34-39 bush.

Largest crops, 2 J^ bs. ; three of 18^ bs. ; Ilk bs. ; 17 bush,
per acre.
^Remarks. Largest crop with seven bush, of ashes ; no manure. Eight
loads of coarse manure ; crop, 13 3-5 bush. One case of being lodged. One
of being shrunk.

GRANVILLE. — Claimants, 2, Acres sown, 3|. Product, 35h bush.

Average per acre, 9| bush.
Crops, 20 bs. ; 6| bush, per acre.

LONGMEADOVV.— Claimants, 13. Acres sown, 30^. Product, 349 bush.
Average per acre, 1 1 ^ bush.

Largest crops, 21^ bs. ; 17 bs. ; three of IG bs. ; one of
15^ bush, per acre.
Remarks. Largest crop on sandy loam ; sowed after corn ; winter wheat.
Two cases of smut; no preparation of the seed. Six cases of winter
wheat.

LUDLOVV.—Claimants, 3. Acres sown, 5 23-40. Product, 107ii bush.

Average per acre, 18 .'J-5 bush.

Crops, 2G bs. ; 18 bs, 20 qts ; 14 bush, per acre.
Hemarks, Largest crop on loamy old land; after corn which had 35
loads of manure per acre. All the croj)s affected by worm.

MONSON.— Claimants, 5. Acres sown, 11^. Product, 149 bush.

Average per acre, 12 7-11 bush.

Crops, 24 bs. ; 17 bs. ; 11 bs. ; one of 10 bush, per acre.
R.-- MARKS. Largest crop with 4 loads of horse manure on | of an acre.
Four crops suffered by drought.

MONTGOMERY.— Claimants, 10. Acres sown, 22.J. Product, 256 bush.
Average per acre, II 2-11 bush.

Largest crops, 17 bs. ; IG bs ; 14 bs. ; 13 bush, per acre.
Remarks. The largest crop without manure.

RUSSELL. — Claimants, 1, Acres sown, IJ. Product, 15^ bush.

Average per acre, 11 11-^32 bush.
Crop, 11 14-32 bush, per acre.

1840.] SENATE— No. 36. 23

SPRINGFIELD.— Claimants, 14. Acres sown, 31 f. Product, SCOj bush.

Average i)er acre, 17 i9-3l bush.

Largest crops, 40 bs. ; 26 bs. ; 25 bs. ; 23 bs. ; three of
20 busli. per acre.
Remarks. Tlie largest crop, ])robably the largest grown in the state, was
winter wheat sowed last of September on common loam, and dressed with
fifteen or sixteen cart loads of common yard manure on lA acre. One
crop injured one half by the winter, sowed on 10th October. One case of
injin-y by grain worm. The other ci-ops without injury. Seven crops on
" intervale."

TOLLAND.— Claimants, 4. Acres sown, 5.1. Product, 72 28-32 bush.

Average per acre, 12 2-5 bush.

Crops, 20 bs. ; 17^ bs. ; lOi bush, per acre.
Remarks. Largest crop with 4 loads of barn manure, and 4 of leached
ashes. One case of smut ; seed soaked in brine.

WILBRA 11 AM.— Claimants, 19. Acres sown, 39i. Product, 545 bush.
Average ])cr acre, 13g bush.

Largest crops, 201 bs. ; 20 bs. ; 19^ bs. ; 18^ bush, per
acre.
Remarks. Largest crop with 15 loads of barn yard manuie per acre, and
1^ bs. of j»laster sown with the wheat. After it came up one bush, more
applied.

One case of smut followed no preparation of the seed.
" " " " steeping G hours in waier and ashes applied.

" " " " steeping in ley ashes and rolling in plaster.

" " " '• steeping in brine and rolling in i)laster.

" " " " scalded in brine and rolled in plaster and sowed

immediately.

WESTFIELD.— Claimants, 20. Acres sown, 38 1-24. Product, C23 bush.
Average per acre, 16 5-38 bush.

Largest crops, 30 bs. ; 28 bs. ; 27 1 -5 bs. ; 23 bs. ; one 22
bush, per acre.
Remarks. Largest crop on "meadow land" without manure; winter
wheat. Twelve crops of winter wheat sowed from 1.5 Sept. to Nov. 10,
without injury from winter. One case of blight. One of grain worm. 110
bs. leached aslies per acre applied on "plain land," On 5 acres, product 21
bs. per acre.

W. SPRINGFIELD.— Claimants, 58. Acres, 110 93-160. Prod. 2336^ bs.
Average per acre, 21 1-25 bush.
Largest crojjs, 35 bs. ; two of 28 bs. ; one of 26^ bs. ;
24 A bs. ; 24 bush, per acre.

24 AGRICULTURAL REPORT. [March,

Remarks. Fifty-three of these crops winter wheat. Largest crop fol-
lowed corn which had been manured with eight loads per acre ; sown the
2d Oct. The time of sowing of the crops varied from 15th Sept. to Kith
Oct. The amount of seed varied liom IjJ to 2 bs. per acre. In one case on
alluvial land, \2 Tons yard manure ai)i)lied upon li acre; crop 24 bush,
per acre. In three cases the wheat injured by winter ; 18 cases of injury
from grain worm. Several by drought. One crop choked by weeds. In
one case of '27 bs. the crop dressed with '• fine manure." 150 bs. of leached
ashes applied in one case ; the yield IG bush.

COUNTY OF WORCESTER.

ASHBURNHAM.— Claimants, (54. Acres sown, ICO|. Product, 1459^ ba.
Average, 14^ bs. per acre.

Crops, two of 23 bs. each ; one 22 bs. ; two21i bs. ; two
20 bs.
Remarks. One of the largest crops with 8 loads compost manure. The
other none, and condition of land not given. 21^ bushels with 8 bushels of
ashes, and one cask of lime. Five cases of smut.

ATHOL — Claimants, 13. Acres sown, 19|. Product, 318i bushels.

Average, IG^ bs.

Crops, two of 24 bs. ; one, 20 bs. ; 19 bs. per acre.
Remarks. Eight bushels of lime and 8 bushels of bone manure applied;
the crop 15A bushels; the soil wet and hard. Two cases of smut. In one,
seed prepared in ashes. In other, washed in salt water.

AUBURN.— Claimants, 1. Acres sown, 3^. Product, 34 bushels.

Average, 9 5-7 bs.
Remarks. 2h casks of lime applied to whole ground. On one half an
acre 2;U bushels obtained from one bushel sown of the Black Sea variety.
Soil, sandy loam. Land manured the previous year.

BARRE.— Claimants, 33. Acres sown, 40^. Product, 840^ bushels.

Average 20^ bs.

CrojiS, 32i bs. ; 32; 28; 27 bs. ; two of 24 bs. ; one of22bs.;
one of 21^.; five of 20 bs. ; one of 19^ bs.
Remarks. Largest crops with compost, 10 to 20 loads per acre. 42
loads of compost applied ; the crop 1 1| bushels. 12 bushels ashes, the crop
14 bushels. The land in some parts of Barre, is a deej) rich loam, charged
with vegetable matter, and strongly tenacious. The plain lands near the
factory, light and sandy. Small applications of lime and plaster, but no de-
cisive results. Two cases of grain-woi-tn. One of injury from Roman
wormwood. Four badly lodged. One blasted.

1840.] SENATE— No. 36. 25

BERLIN.— Claimants, 3. Acres sown, 5^. Product, 93 bushels.

Average, ISh bs.
Crops, 20i bs. ; 20 bs.
Remarks. 200 lbs. plaster spread ; crop injured by drought.

BOLTON.— Claimants, 14. Acres sown, 234 bs. Product, 353^ bs.

Average, 15 1-G bs. per acre.

Crops, 21 bs.; 19i bs. ; 19 bs ; two of 16 bs.
Remarks. Largest crop with 20 loads of manure and 8 bushels of lime.
With 25 bushels ashes, product 16 bushels Crops suffered much by drought.
Several applications of lime ; the results are different, and determine noth-
ing as to its efficiency.

BOYLSTON.— Claimants, 12. Acres sovvi!, 12. Product, 225 bs.

Average, 181 bs. per acre.

Crops, three of 21 J bs. ; two of 20 bs. : one of 18 bs.
Remarks. With 15 bushels ashes, the yield was 15 bushels. Crops of
2H bushels, with 8 loads of barn manure. The soil loamy.

BROOKFIELD.— Claimants, 19. Acres sown, 2.5|. Product, 486i bs.

Aveiage, 194.

Crops, 28 bs. ; 20 bs. ; 25 bs. ; 24 bs. ; two of 22 bs. per ac.

Remarks. — Largest crop without manure on sandy loam. Crop of 19J

bushels had 7 loads of compost manure. Six bushels of lime, the crop 17^

bushels per acre. One case of grain insect. One rust. The hill lands in

Brookfield, if properly cultivated, are favoraljle to wheat.

CHARLTON.— Claimants, 16. Acres sown, 18^. Product, 337 bs.

Average, ISi bushels per acre.
Crops, 23A bs.; 21 bs. ; 20 bs. ; three of 18 bs.
Remarks. Largest crop with "30 loads of summer manure, and 30 loads
of green manure." The land is designated dry or moist ; but the observa-
tions indefinite.

DANA. — Claimants, 6. Acres sown as returned, 5J, the whole not reported.
Product, 100 bushels.
Average, 13 bs.
Largest crop, 15 bs.
Remarks. Two hundred lbs. of plaster applied, the crop, 11 bushels.

DOUGLAS.— Claimants, 3. Acres sown, 4|. Product, 66^

Average, 13^ bs.
Largest crop, 17^ bs.
Remarks. Largest crop manured with 7 loads of long manure.
4

26 AGRICULTURAL REPORT. [March,

DUDLEY— Claimants, 1. Acres sown, l.J. Product, 23i bushels.

Average, 15| bs, per acre.

F1TCHI3URG.— Claimants, 51. Acres sown, 84 5-6. Product, 1352 bs.
Average, 15^ bs. per acre.

Crops, m bs. : 2G bs. ; '.» 1 bs. ; 23 bs. ; 22h bs. ; 22 bs. ; two
of 20 bs.
Remarks. Crop of ."iO bushels of the Black Sea raricty ; soil, deep loam ;
with six loads liarii manure. This was on land of Payson Williams, who
introduced the IJIack Sea wheat inti. the country, and received a premium
from iMassachnsetts Society fur a product of 55 bushels of this kind of wheat
per acre. In the applicalion of 6, 15, 8, and 20 bushels of ashes to the acre,
thecro|)s varied from 8 to 18 bushels jier acre, without observable relation to
amount of ashes ai)|)lied. With 30 bushels of lime and '<J5 loads of manure,
the yield IGA biisliel.<. In most cases, the land manured liberally the jire-
vious year. The Black Sea wheat gave, in general, the best crops; but it
was not invariably so ; in one it gave a crop of only 8 bushels, on a moist
Soil without manure.

GARDNER. — Claimants, 11, Acres sown, 14. Product, 272| bushels.
Average, 19 3-7 bs. per acre.

Crops, 28 bs. ; 26 bs. ; 25 bs. ; two, 22 bs.; one, 21 bs.
Remarks. Crop of "28 bushels, no manure this sea.son. Of 'iG bs., lOIoada
compost. Of 22 bushels, 3G loads of compost. 7 bushels lime and one of
plaster without manure, the product 18 3-5 bushels. Six crops suffered by
drought.

GRAFTON.— Claimants, 12. Acres sown, 18^. Product, 246 bushels

Average, 131 bs. per acre.

Crops, 23^ bs. of 17^ bs. per acre.
Remarks. Largest crop on hill land, without manure, one bushel of
slacked lime sowed upon it, when three inches high, in potatoes j)revious
year highly maniucd. With 15 loads of barn manure, yield 13 bushels.
One case of rust, and one of wheat insect.

HARDWICK.— Claimants, 37. Acres sown, 45^. Product, 872 bs.

Average, 18 7-9 bs. per acre.

Crofis, 4 of 2G bs. ; two of 25 bs. ; two of 24 bs.; three of
22 bs. ; two of 21 bs. ; five of 20 bs. per acre.
Remarks. Largest crops had no manure ; but on one, one cask of lime
and five bu.<h«^ls of plaster applied. Large ])art of the cro|)s lodged. The
soil in Hardwick is deep, Inaniy, aiul productive, fidl of stones ; and no
where is there more agricultural zeal, nor more resolution and industry in
ovcrcotains the liatmal obstacles.

1840.] SENATE— No. 36, 27

HARVARD.— Claimants, 31. Acres sown, 54. Product, 75]^ bs.

Average, I. "3 J percent.

Crops, 22^ ; two crops of 22 hs. ; one of 19 bs.
Remarks. Lands Jiiglily manured ; wheat followed corn or potatoes.
Crops suffered from drought. With 20 bushels ashes on a sandy loam crop
22 bushels On a gravelly loam with 17 bushels of ashes crop 12 5-G bush-
els per acre. Crops suffered from worms and drought.

HOLDEN.— Claimants, 12. Acres sown, 21 J. Product, 28G\ bushels.

Average, 17 bs. per acre.

Crops, 2.5 bs. ; 24 bs. ; 21 bs. ; two of 20 bs.
Remarks. With 05 loads of manure, 19 bushels per acre^ 25 loads of
manure 18 bushels per acre.

HUB13ARDSTON.— Claimants, G. Acres sown, 7^. Product, 1.30 bs.

Average, 17^ bs. per acre.

Crops, 20^ bs. ; two of 20 bs. ; two of 15 bs. per acre.
Remarks. Crop of 2.") j, and 20 bushels, each jeu loads of comj)osl ma-
nure. Crop of 20 bushels, no manure.

LANCASTER.— Claimants, 24. Acres sown, 51^. Product, 640 bs.

Average, 12^ bs. per acre.

Crops, 23 bs. ; two, 20 bs. ; one, 19 bs. ; two, 18 bs.
Remarks. Largest crop on alluvial land without manure. With 20 loads
of manure on one acre of sandy loam ; crop, lOil bushels. Two crops
overrun with wormwood. JVlany suffered by drought. With 275 lbs. [blas-
ter applied, crop, 12 bushels,

LEICESTER.— Claimants, 4. Acres sown, 4}. Product, G8h bushels.
Average, IG 1-7 bs. per acre.
Remarks. Largest crop, 17 bushels, manured with 15 loads compost.

LEOMINSTER.— Claimants, 80. Acres sown, liS^. Product 2411 bs.
Average, 1G3 bs. per acre.

Crops, 34^ l)^:. ; 28 bs. ; 2>> lis. ; two of 25 bs. ; one, 24.i bs ;

three of 23 bs, ; seven of 22 bs. ; two of 21-3 bs. ; twelve

of 20 bs. per acre.

Remarks. The largest crop on a deep loam. Four cases of the application

of horn shavings ; but how a[)plied or precisely what quantity not stated.

On a deep loam, they yield 21^ bushels per acre. On a gravelly loam, 17

bushels. Two ioads of horn shavings applied on a gravelly loam, the crop

was IG lbs. per acre. These applied to the preceding crop. Seven cases of

grain worm.

2B AGRICULTURAL REPORT. [March,

LUNENBURGH.— Claimants, ay^. Acres sown, 52;!. Product, 972 bs.

Average, I8i per acre.

Crop 34 l)s. ; 26| bs. ; 26 bs. ; 24^ bs. ; three of 20 bs. ;
two of Ui^ bs. ; two of 19 bs. per acre.
Remarks. Largest crop Black Sea wheat ; land manured the previous year ;
3C0 lbs. plaster on the grain. Crop of 2G| bushels manured with 180 bushels
leached ashes. Of 2(j bs. bad 4 loads of barn manure and 8 bushels of ashes.
24^ bushels i)er acre had 2 loads of barn manure and 120 bushels of leached
ashes. 50 bushels of lime applied to an acre of yellow loam ; the crop 17
bushels.

MENDON.— Claimants, 5. Acres sown, 7. Product, 99| bushels.

Average, 14 2-7 bs. per acre.

Crops, 21 bs. ; 18^ bs.
Remarks. The largest crop on a black loam, with 9 loads compost, and
24 bushels ashes. With 20 loads coarse manure, and one hhd. of lime, on
light loam, crop 14i bushels per acre.

MILFORD. — Claimants, 4. Acres sown, 6|. Product, 76i bushels.

Average, \}^ bs. per acre.

Lai-gest crop, 18 bs.
Remarks, Infested by an insect which ate the stalk off, under the first
joint, (the Hessian fly.) Black sea-wheat and common spring wheat sown
upon the same land ; the latter blasted, the former sound.

MILLBURY.— Claimants, 13. Acres sown, 20^ Product, 2587 bush.

Average, 19 7-10 bs.

Crops, 20 bs.: 18^ bs. ; two of 18 bs, per acre.
Rfmakks. With 8 cords stable manure, and one cask of lime, on a light
soil, crop 18 bushels. In other cases, no manure; and only two failures
which were by drought.

NEW BRAIN TliEE.— Claimants, 12. Acres sown, 15^. Product, 265^ bs.

Avei'age, If) 4-5 bs. per acre.

Crops, 21^ bs. ; 20^ bs. ; two of 20 bs.; one 18 bs.

Remarks. Largest crop with two loads of manure on dark loam. Crop

of 20 bushels received 'iO loads of manure. Crop of 20 bushels with ten

loads of manure. One crop of 20 bushels, none. Two cases of grain insect.

NORTHBORO'.-^- Claimants, 10. Acres sown, 24. Product, 341 bs.

Average, 14 1-5 bs. per acre.

Crops, 18 bs. : 17^ bs. ; 17 bs.
Remarks. Crop of 18 bushels with 10 loads barn manure; of IG bushels
with 15 loads to the acre.

1840.] SENATE— No 36. 29

NORTH BROOKFIELD.— Claimants, 3. Acres sown, 4. Product, 60;! bs.
Average, 15 bs. per acre.
Kerlarks. Crop, 17^ bushels with two hogsheads of lime per acre.

OAKHAM. — Claimants, 2. Acres sown, 1|. Product, 35 bush.

Average, 20 bs.
Largest crop, 21^ bushels.

OXFORD.— Claimants, 6. Acres sown, 7i. Product, 134 bushels.

Average, 17 2-7 bs. per acre.

Crops 34 bs. ; 18^ bs.
Remarks. Soil on which the largest crop, a gravelly soil ; but no ma-
nure. With thirty loads green manure, one bushel lime and 7 bushels of
ashes, on a gravelly soil, crop 15 bushels. Crops all sound.

PETERSHAM.— Claimants, 49. Acres sown, 75i-. Product, 1304 bs.

Average, 17;^ bs. per acre.

Crops, 30 bs. ; two of 2G bs. ; one of 25 bs. ; 24 bs.
Remarks. The largest crop sown on 30th April ; clayey soil ; without
manure. The two crops of 2G bushels on a dry loam without manure; on
one, two bushels of lime applied. The crop of 25 bushels with 12 loads
green manure. Three cases of smut ; in each, the wheat sown dry.

PHILLIPSTON.— Claimants, 31. Acres sown, 3i)h. Product, 722| bs.
Average, 184: bs. per acre.

Largest crop 34 bs. ; two of 30 bs. ; one of 28 bs. ; three
of 22 bs.
Remarks. Largest crop on deep loam without manure.
One crop of 30 bush, on a clay loam with 2G loads of manure,
do. do. on light loam without manure,

do. of 28 do. on " loamy land," without manure,
do. of 22 do. on " " with six loads green manure.

Where 10 bushels of ashes spread at time of sowing the crop, IG bushels.
Six crops suffered from drought ; one by wire worm ; one sown May lOth,
by frost.

PRINCETON.— Claimants, 38. Acres sown, 58^. " Product, 987 bs.

Average, 17i| bs. per acre.

Crops, 30 bs. ; 26 bs ; two of 25 bs.; three of 23 bs. ; one
of 22 bs. ; four of 21 bs. ; five of 20 bs.
Remarks. The crop of 30 bushels on a loamy soil without manure.

" " of2G " " " "

With 8 loads of rotten manure to the acre, crop 14 bushels.

30 AGRICULTURAL REPORT. [March,

One case of injury from ■wheat insect.
" " " " striped worm — ?

ROYALSTON— Claimants, 42. Acres sown, GO. Product, 101 li bush.
Average, 1G| bs. per acre.

Crops, "JO bs. per acre ; 23 bs. ; 22i bs. ; 21^ bs. ; two of
20 bs. per acre.
Remarks. Crop of 30 bushels bad 14 loads of green manure. Two oth-
er cases 20 loads of green manure a{)plied per acre, the yield 13^ bushels ;
one 14i bushels per acre. One case of smut, the wheat soaked (it does not
name the steep) and brined ; and one, the wheat sown dry.

RUTLAND.— Claimants, 22. Acres .sown, ;j8. Product, 501| bushels.

Average, 15^ bs. per acre.

Crops, 30 bs. ; 25 bs. ; 24^ bs. ; two of 24 bs. ; two of 23 bs, ;
two of 22 bs.
Remarks. Largest croj), with one load of manure and one hlid. of lime.
This " bearded wheat," which is no designation. Second crop of 25 bushels,
with 20 loads of compost and one hhd. of lime. This, Black Sea wheat.
One case of ]20 loads of horse manure, in a green state, to five acres of
land; crop 15 1-5 bushels to the acre. One case of smut; wheat washed
in water and limed.

SHREWSBURY.— Claimants, 28. Acres sown, 44 5-0. Product, 587| bs.

Average, 13 bs. per acre.

Crops 19i bs. ; two of 18 bs. ; one of 17J bs.
Remarks. Largest croj), manured wiiii 20 loads compost, 2 bushels of
plaster, and G of ashes, upon 2% acres. Two acres 1-lG of the crop smutted,
where the seed soaked in brine 24 hours.

SOUTHBRIDGE.— Claimants, 22. Acres sown, 315. Product, G2Ii bush.
Average, lOf bs.

Crops, 29 bs. ; two of 24 bs. ; one of 23 bs. ; 22^ bs.

22 bs. ; two of 20 bs. ; one of 19 bs.

Remarks. The soil, on which 29 bushels to an acre, a hilly loamy soil ;

without manure. In a case of api)lication of 8 bush, of ashes, crop 17 bush.

" " of ;?5 loads of swamj) mud, the

crop 20 bushels; the condition of mud not given

SOUTHBOROUGH,— Claimants, 24. Acres sown, 88^. Product, G14^ bs.

Average, 15.^ bs. per acre.

Crops, 22i bs.; 21 bs. ; three of 20 Iks. ; one of ItJ bs.

Remarks. Largest cro]) without manure on " loam." Seed, tea wheat.

Crop of 21 bushels with 20 bushels of lime, |)laster, and ashes mixed in equal

proportions, and seed of the Black Sea wheat. Soil, a gravelly loam. Three

1840.] SENATE— No. 36. 31

crops of 20 bushels each, without manure, and of the Black Sea variety. Sev-
eral crops "slightly blasted and crippled." The latter designation not clear-
ly understood.

SPENCER.— Claimants, 4. Acres sown, J3i. Product, 867 bushels.

Average, 24^ bushels per acre.

Crops, I'j^ii bs. per acre ; 2-ih bs. per acre ; 20 bs. ; 18 bs.
Remarks. — Largest crop after corn which received 20 loads of manure
and one hogshead of lime. The wheat in general lodged. The soil, a deep
loan mixed with gravel. Much agillaceous or clayey matter in these soils.

STERLING.— Claimants, 49. Acres sown, 103i. Product, 1413 bs.

Average, 13 8-9 bs. per acre.

Crops, 25 bs. ; 21 bs. ; four of 20 bs. ; four of 19 bs.; one
of 18ij bs. per acre.; nine of 18 bs. per acre.
Remarks. — Largest crop on moist black loam, with 80 bushels horn shav-
ings. Ih acres with GO loads of compost, light and dry soil, gave 21
bushels per acre. Three cases of smut; seed sown dry or rolled in lime
or plaster, without other prejjaration.

STURBRIDGE.— Claimants, 29. Acres sown, 41^. Product, 620^ bs.

Average, 141 bs. per acre.

Crops, 25 5-7 ; two of 24 bs. ; two of 22 bs. ; one of
20 4-5 bs.; one of 20 bs.
Remarks. Largest crop, a black rich hill soil without manure. With 9
and 10 loads barn manure, crops l"^ and IG bushels per acre ; soil light loam.
No experiments with lime or pla.ster, except application in one instance of
one peck of lime ! Two cases of smut, seed soaked in brine and rolled in
plaster. One case of injury from worms. Seven cases of blast without
specification.

SUTTON.— Claimants, 24. Acres sov/n, 24 77-240. Product, 42G bush.
Average per acre, 17i bush.

Crops, 24 bs. ; one of 23 bs. ; one of 21 1 bs, ; one of 21 J bs. ;
one of 20 4-11 bush, per acre.
Remarks. Largest crop with ten loads of hog manure. Soil, yellow
loam. Crop of 21§ bs. no manure. Soil, black loam. Crop of 20 bs. with
13 bs. of ashes ; soil, black loam. Crops almost universally good.

TEMPLL^TON.— Claimants, 27. Acres sown, 28 31-40. Prod. 545 bush.
Average per acre, 11^ bush.

Crojis, 28 bs. ; one of 2G bs. ; one of 25J bs. ; one of 25
bush. })er acre.
Remarks. Largest crop with tliree loads of manure. One case of inju-
ry from worms, and five from drought.

32 AGRICULTURAL REPORT. [March,

UPTON. — Claimant, 1. Acres sown, 1. Product, I5| bush.

Average per acre. 15| bush.
Largest crop, 15^ bush.
Remarks. Two bs. of plaster on the crop ; moist soil.

UXBRIDGE.— Claimants, 7. Acres sown, 14^. Product, 199 bush.

Average per acre, 13 3-7 bush.

Crops ; 28 bs. ; one of 14 bs. ; one of 11| bs. ; two of 10 bs.
per acre.
Remarks. Largest crop with 18 loads winter manure. With ten loads
of barn manure and three hhds. of lime per acre, on light, loamy clay : ci'op
10 bs. Every crop suffered from drought.

WAR.^EN.— Claimants, 15. Acres sown, 17?. Product, 277^ bush.

Average per acre, 15^ bush.

Crops, 19 bs. ; two of 18i bs. ; one of 18 bs. ; six of 16 bush,
per acre.
Remarks. Four crops suffered from drought.

WEBSTER.— Claimants, 5. Acres sown, 7i. Product, 106| bush.

Average per acre, 13i bush.

Crops, 19^ bs. ; one of 19 bs.; one of \5i bs. ; one of 15 bs.
per acre.

WESTBORO'.— Claimants, 17. Acres sown, 30 7-12. Product, i(\Gi bush.
Average per acre, 15 1-10 bush.

Crops, 21^ bs. ; one of 20 bs. ; one of 18| bs. ; one of 17J

bush, per acre.

Remarks. Largest crop without manure. Crop of 20 bs. 10 loads of

green manure per acre. 15 bs. received two loads of mud per acre.

Black sea wheat with 10 bs. lime and one of plaster per acre, produced

16 5-G bs. per acre.

W. BOYLSTDN.— Claimants, 15. Acres sown, 27§. Product, 3G9 bush.
Average [)er acre, 13J bush.

Crops, 22 bs. ; one of 21 bs. ; one of 18 bs. ; one of 17
bush, per acre.
Remarks. Largest crop on a very wet soil with ten loads of spring ma-
nure. Ten loads of spring manure from under the barn windows, gave 12
bs. on hilly land. One crop eaten by worms.

WESTMINSTER —Claimants, 32. Acres sown, 47. Product, 771 bush.
Average ])er acre, 16 19-47 bush.
Crops, 26 bs. ; one of 23 bs. ; one of 22 bs. ; one of 21
bush, per acre.

1840.] SENATE— No. 36. 33

Remarks. Largest crop no manure ; the soil loamy. The crops of 23
and 22 bs. no manure ; the soil " loamy." Two cases of blight.

WINCHENDON.— Claimants, 42. Acres sown, (36 5-24. Product, 972^ bs.
Average per acre, 14| bush.

Crops, 25 bs. ; two of 24 bs. ; one of 22 bs. ; one of 21

bush, per acre.

Remarks. Crop of 25 bs. was on loamy soil with five loads of good

manure. Twenty loads of barn manure and 20 bs. of ashes on three acres,

on a deep loam; crop, thirteen bs. to an acre. Crop of 24 bs. no manure.

The crops injured by drought.

WORCESTER.— Claimants, 27. Acres sown, 32^. Product, 749 bush.
Average per acre, 14 1-7 bush.

Largest crops, 29| bs.; 22^ bs. ; one of 191 bs ; one of
19^ bush, per acre.
Remarks. Largest crop of the Black Sea and Italian variety on a clayey
soil without manure. With 2~t bs. of ashes and 20 loads of barn manure
upon four acres ; 14} bs. per acre. With 100 bs; leached ashes upon two
acres on a gravelly loam ; crop, 1 1^ bs. per acre. With 10 bs. ashes and 10
loads manure per acre ; crop, IG bs. With 74 loads of night soil, ]h bs. of
lime, and U bs. of ashes, the crop 144 bs. per acre on dry loam. With 7.J
bs. ashes and 1 half hhd. of lime per acre on dry loam; the crop 10 bs.
One case of grain worm Several cases of injury by drought and worms.

3IIDDLESEX COUNTY.

ACTON.— Claimants, 6. Acres sown, 16^. Product, 1784 bushels.

Average per acre, 104 bs.

Crops 17 bs. ; 135 bs. ; 13 bs.; 12 bs. per acre.
Remarks — Crop of 17 bushels per acre had ten loads of manure, loamy
soil. Crop of 13 bs. on moist loam, ten loads of manure per acre. Crop on
dry soil with ten loads of manure, gave seven bushels per acre.

ASHBY.— Claimants, 69. Acres sown, 128|. Product, 1718| bushels.

Average per acre, 14 13-128 bs.

Crops, one of 28 ; two of 20 ; three of 19 ; three of 18 bs. per ac.

Remarks. — In largest crop the soil "loamy;" and fifteen loads of barn

manure applied. In most cases, lands highly manured with barn manure.

No ajiplications of alkaline manure deserving notice. Thirty-five cases of

injury by drought. Six cases by grain insect.

34 AGRICULTURAL REPORT. [March,

One case of injury from smut ; seed soaked in brine and limed.
Two " " « «' limed.

" " " " " without preparation.

BOXLBORO'.— Claimants, 2. Acres sown, 4. Product, 45 bushels.

Average per acre, 11| bs.

Crop, 13 3-5 bs. ; 10 2-1 1 bs. per acre.
Remarks. Both crops with green manure, 8 loads per acre ; one suf-
ered from drought.

CHELMSFORD.— Claimants, 2. Acres sown, 5. Product, 83 bushels.
Average per acre, IG 3-5 bs.
Crops, 21 ; 9 bs. per acre.
Remarks. This largest crop on intervale land on the Merrimack. 20 cords
of manure applied the previous year. The crop injured by drought. This
farmer has been eminently successful in his wheat crop on his lands for
twenty years. The soil, as analyzed by Dr. Dana, the result given in the
Commissioner's Second Report, is destitute of the carbonate of lime, and
contains a slight portion of lime, in the form of sulphate and phosphate. H. C.
Seed wheat, soaked in lime water, and rolled in plaster. The smaller
crop was on a highly manured " light soil," and very much injured by
drought.

CONCORD.— Claimants, 6. Acres sown, 15^. Product, 137^ bushels.

Average per acre, 8 13-15 bushels.

Crops, 25 bs. ; lOi bs. ; 10 bs. ; 6| bs. per acre.
Remarks. — ^In largest crop, land manured with stable dung the previous
year, and 2? casks of lime applied to the acre. Soil, a dark loam. All the
crops suffered from drought. From the raiser of crop above referred to, it
is presumed it was on the margin of the finely redeemed meadows in this
town, where the soil is deep and full of vegetable matter. H. C.

DRACUT. — Claimants, 8. Acres sown, ioi. Product, 174,i busliels.

Average per acre, 1 1 bs.

Largest crops, two of 20 bs. ; 12 3-10 bs. ; 1 1| bs per acre.
Remarks. One crop of 20 bushels received .50 loads of barn manure, and
one cask of lime. The crop injured by grain insect. Some smut likewise -
the seed soaked in water and roiled in ashes. The soil alluvial, on the
banks of the Merrimack. In another case, 30 loads of manure and 2 hhds.
of lime ; the crop, 10 2-5 bushels. In another case of 20 bushels per acre, "a
light intervale," no manure applied. With this exception, the crops all repre-
sented as " shrunk."

DUNSTABLE.— Claimants, 3. Acres sown, 3 97-165. Product, 62 bs.
Average per acre. 16^ bs.
Crops, 1 9 bs. ; 1 7 bs. ; 15 bs. per acre.
Remarks. Nothing definite stated ; and no accident nor injury.

1840.] SENATE— No. 36. 35

FRAMINGHAM.— Claimants, 21. Acres sown, 37h Product, 454 bush.
Average, per acre, 12 bush.

Largest crops, 18 bs. ; 17 bs. ; 16^ bs.; 1<3J bush, per
acre.
Remarks. Nothing definite in regard to cukivation or manures, excep*
in one case ; 9 loads of manure applied and the land '' limed ;" the crop 16
bs. per acre.

GROTON-— Claimants, 2. Acres sown, 3^, Product, 51^ bush.

Average per acre, 13 bush.

Crops, 15 bs. ; 14 bush, per acre.
Rf.marks. Crop of 15 bs. with 12 loads barn yard manure. Crop of 14
bs had 12 loads from hog's pen. No accident nor injury. Much soil of this
highly improved town is favorable to wheat. H C.

HOLLISTON.— Claimants, 13. Acres sown, 20^. Product, 292 bush.

Average per acre, 14 l-IO bush.

Largest crops, 22 bs. ; 21 ^ bs. ; 20 bs ; 1G| bs. per acre.
Remarks. Largest crop with eleven loads of green manure per aci'c.
Crop of 21;J bs. with eight loads green manure per acre. Five casks of
lime and twenty loads of manure in another case ; crop, 12§ bs. Three
cords of green manure and 15 bs. ashes ; crop, 1(J bs. per acre. No accident
nor injury. The soil represented " good ; " in one case " clay ; " in one " san-
dy ; " and " dry."

HOPKIN TON.— Claimants, 7. Acres sown, 16 9-10. Product, 205 bush.
Average per acre, 12 bush.

Largest crops, 21 ^ bs. ; 14^ bs. ; 13 bush, per acre.
Remarks. Crop of 21^ bs. with 1^ cords of green manure per acre.

LITTLETON.— Claimants, 11. Acres sown, 12 5-G. Product, 216 bush.

Average per acre, 16^ bush

Largest crops, 19^ bs. ; 15 bs. ; 14 bs. ; 13J bush, per acre.
Remarks. One case of smut ; no preparation of seed. Small amount
of lime applied in one case on sandy loam, " but no difference in this case
perceptible" between the limed and the unlimed.

MARLBORO'.— Claimants, 7. Acres sown, 13. Product, 184 bush.

Average per acre, 14 2-13 bush.

Largest crops, 17 bs. ; three of 16 bs. ; one of 14| bush,
per acre.
Remarks. The soils in this town in many parts of superior quality ; but
no extraordinary attention paid to this crop. H. C.

36 AGRICULTURAL REPORT. [March,

NATICK. — Claimants, 4. Acres sown, 4 J. Product, 65 bush.

Average per acre, 16 bush.

Crops, ]C^ bs. ; I6k bs. ; 15^ bs. ; 14 7-10 bush, per acre.
Remarks. The crop of lOi bs. with 5 cords of stable manure and two
casks of lime. The crop suffered from weeds ; flour " of the best quality."
In one case the seed prepared in lime water, the crop perfect ; but where seed
sown dry, the crop "blasted." In every case the lands heavily dressed with
green stable manure ; in three cases an average of two hhds. of lime per
acre. Three cases of blight.

NEWTON.— Claimants, 5. Acres sown, 9i. Product, 1 10 bush.

Average per acre, 1 1 1-9 bush.
Crops. 15 bs. ; 14 bs. ; 12| bs. ; 10 bush, per acre.
Remarks. One case of smut; seed without preparation.

PEPPER ELL.— Claimants, 15. Acres sown, 26^. Product, 428| bush.
Average per acre, IG bush.

Largest crops, 28 bs. ; three of 20 bs. ; two of 18 bs. ; two
of 15 bush, per acre.
Remarks. Largest crop with 20 bs. of ashes and 200 lbs. Gypsun) ; suff-
ered much from drought. One crop of 20 bs. on. 1 ^ acres, with 15 loads
of green manure. One crop of 20 bs. on 1 acre, with 2 hhds. of lime. A
case in which the seed was much smutted but before sowing soaked 18
hours in salt brine ; the crop, healthy and fair. In one case in the same
field, "the Black Sea wheat was plump ; the bald blighted."

READING.— Claimant, 1. Acres sown, 2. Product, 28 bushv

Average per acre, 14 bush.
Remarks. 0;;j^The crop here to which a premium was paid, was " Indian
wheat," that is, Tartarian Buck wheat.

SHERBURNE.— Claimants, 6. Acres sown, 15^. Product, 159^ bush.

Average per acre, lOJ bush.

Crops, 16 bs. ; 13i bs. ; 12 2-5 bs ; 12 bush, per acre.
Remarks. In three cases 6, 8, and 12 loads of unfermented manure ap-
plied ; wheat suffered from rust. One sandy loam with five hhds. of lime
per acre ; the produce 8 bs. In one case lialf the wheat was winter-killed.

SHIRLEY.— Claimants, 13. Acres sown, 27. Product, 369^ bush.

Average per acre, 13 18-27 bush.

Largest crops, 20 bs. ; two of 18 bs. ; one of I6i bs. ; 15^ bs.

per acre.

Remarks. Crop of 20 bs. land higlJy manured for previous crop. The

crop of 18 bs. on land the previous year nianiued with 30 loads to the acre

of good manure ; and the year of the wheat crop with 6 bs. of lime and

one of salt. No accident nor injuries. A " strong yellow soil."

1840.] SENATE.— No. 36. 37

STOW.— Claimants, 19. Acres sown, 27h. Product, 398J bush.

Average per acre, 14 18-27 bush.

Largest crops, four of 20 bs. ; one of 19^ bs. ; two of 19 bs. ;

two of 18 bs. per acre.

Remarks. Crop of 20 bs. manured with 25 loads of green manure and

5 bs. of lime. One crop of 19 bs. with 20 loads of green manure. One

crop of 19 bs. with ten loads of gi-een maimre. One case of grain worm.

One of smut; seed rolled in lime, but not steeped.

TEWKSBURY— Claimant, 1. Acres sown, 1|. Product, 24 bush.

Average per acre, 19| bush.
Crop, 19^ bush.
Remarks. No manure ; soil, gravelly loam.

TO WNSEND.— Claimants, 12. Acres sown, 25 19-32. Product, 235i bs.
Average per acre, 9 1-6 bush.

Largest crops, 16| bs.; two of 16 bs. ; two of 14 bs. ; one
of 11 1-7 bush, per acre.
Remarks. Crops highly manured ; suffered universally from drought.
With 12 bs. aslies per acre; the crop 11 1-7 bs.

TYNGSBORO'.— Claimants, 5. Acres sown, 7 1-12. Product, llOi bush.
Average per acre, 15 5-7 bush.

Largest crops, 20 bs. ; \Sh bs. ; 17| bs. ; 13 3-5 bush, per
acre.
Remarks. On largest crop 1 cask of lime sown in June. On crop of
18i bs. one third loss on account of lodging early.

WATERTOWN.— Claimants, 2. Acres sown, 3|. Product, 59 bush.

Average per acre, 16 bush.
Croi)s, 20,i bs. ; one 16^ bush, per acre.
Remarks. Crop of 20i bs. on a dark loam with 150 bs. of soapboiler's
waste. Crop of 16^ bs. with 20 bs. bone manure ; soil, dark loam. Seed —
Black Sea wheat.

WAYLAND. — Claimants, 8. Acres sown, 5|. Product, 77^ bush.

Average per acre, 13 bush.
Crops, 15i bs. ; 13^ bs. ; 13 bush, per acre.
Remarks. Crop of 15i bs. no manure. Other crops largely with green
manure.

WESTFORD.— Claimants, 4. Acres sown, 7^ Product, 98 bush.

Average per acre, 12 4-7 bush.

Crops, 16i bs. ; 14i bs. ; 14^ bs. ; 12J bush, per acre.
Remarks. Two applications of lime in small quantities without effect.

38 AGRICULTURAL REPORT. [March,

COUNTY OF ESSEX.

BOXFORD.— Claimant, 1. Acres sown, 3^. Product, 44 bushels.

Average per acre, 12 4-7 bs.

Crop, 15 bs. per acre.
Remarks. Half the crop destroyed by the grain insect Seed, Black
Sea variety. Sowed April 15th.

GEORGETOWN.— Claimants, 2. Acres sown, 2i. Prodijct, 33 bs.

Average per acre, 13 1-5 bs.
Crops, 15 bs. ; 12 bs. per acre.
Remarks. 1^ cask of lime applied to an acre on crop of 15 bushels. On
second crop, three cords barn manure.

HAVERHILL.— Claimants, 14. Acres sown, 22 1-20. Product, 394 bs.

Average per acre, 17^ bs.

Crops, 24 bs, ; 21 bs.; 20 bs. two of 19 bs. per acre.
Remarks. Largest crop in clay and loam. 20 bushels lime and ashes
mixed, applied upon li acre. Seed, Black Sea variety. Crop of 21 bushels
without manure, dark yellow loam. Crop of 20 bushels, 5 cords of stable
dung, and 7^ bushels of ashes. With two exceptions, crops suffered from
drought and grain insect.

METHUEN.— Claimants, 3. Acres sown, 3. Product, 48| bushels.

Average per acre, IG bs.

Crops, 20 bs. ; 164 bs. ; 12^ bs. per acre.
Remarks. Largest crop, without preparation of seed or land, on a loamy
soil. One case of grain insect.

NEWBURY.— Claimants, 14. Acres sown, 35 7-24. Product, 390 bs.

Average per acre, 10 0-7 bs.

Crops, 15^ bs. ; two of 13 bs. ; three of 12 bs. ; one of 10|
bs. per acre.
Remarks. In largest crop, 16 bushels leached ashes applied. Three
loads of ashes and 9 casks of lime applied to a sandy soil of 4 acres. The
yield was 12^ bushels per acre. In one case, 5 loads of coal ashes, (by this
1 understand hard coal,) applied upon a dark loam, of 1| acres, yield 11^
bushels. Only one crop escaped the grain insect and drought ; and " the
farmers are of opinion, that by these causes their crops were diminished
from one fourth to one half."

ROWLEY.— Claimants, 3. Acres sown, Sj. Product, 5Ci bushels.

Average per acre, 10 bs.
Crops, 11 bs, ; 10;^ bs. ; 8 2G-32 bs. per acre.

1840.] SENATE— No. 36. 39

Remarks. Largest crop, on a sand soil, with five cords of compost, one
cask of lime, and ten bushels of ashes. Other crops well manured. In a
case where red wheat soaked in brine, and tea wheat in a dry state were
sown, the tea wheat injured by smut, the red wheat good.

WEST NEWBURY.— Claimants, 15. Ac. sown, 40 93-160. Pro. 422| bs.

Average per acre, 10 3-10 bs.

Crops, 161 bs. ; 15 bs ; 14^ bs. ; 14 bs. per acre.
Remarks. Largest crop on a gravelly loam, with 4 cords of muck and 2^
casks of lime upon !| acre. One half the crop destroyed by grain insect.
The grain insect was observed to make his appearance about the middle of
July. The Black Sea and the tea wheat, planted in the same field, on the
20th of April ; the Black Sea yielded 16 bushels per acre, the tea wheat less
than two bushels. The crops in this town, without exception, injured se-
verely Ijy grain insect or drought. West Newbury, one of the most favora-
ble locations in the State for the production of wheat, and for years an
article of export from the town, to small extent. Soil, a deep, rich loam
inclining to clay ; the cultivation of the town highly improved. Loss by grain
insect might liave been prevented, had remedies been taken in season.

COUNTY OF NORFOLK.

BELLINGHAM.— Claimants, 4. Acres sown, 4 15-16. Product, 7ih bush.

Average, per acre, 15 lis.

Croj)s 21 1)S. ; two of 14 hs. per acre.
Remarks. Largest crops with 18 loads of green barn manure. One case
of smut ; seed wet and rolled in lime.

BROOKLINE.— Claimants, 2. Acres sown, 4. Product, 70^ bushels.

Average, per acre, 17^ bs.

Crops, 18 bs. ; IGA bs. per acre.
Remarks. Largest crop with one cord of loam and five casks of lime on
three acres.

DORCHESTER.— Claimant, 1. Acres sown, 1. Product, 17 bushels.
Average, per acre, 17 bs.
Remarks. With barn manure, injured by rust.

DOVER.— Claimant, 1. Acres sown, U. Product, 22 bushels.

Average, per acre, 17 3-5 bs.
Remarks. Manured with barn manure.

FOXHORO'.— Claimants, 2. Acres sown, 5. Product, 45 bushels.

Average, per acre, 9 bs.
Crops, 10 bs. ; 8 bs. per acre.

40 AGRICULTURAL REPORT. [March,

FRANKLIN.— Claimants, 12. Acres sown, 22^. Product, 293 bushels.

Average, per acre, 12 19-22 bs.

Crops, 20 bs. ; 13 bs. ; 12^ bs. ; eight of 12 bs. per acre.
Remarks. Crop of 20 bushels, with 28 loads of green manure, and one
bushel of lime on three acres. No disease nor accident.

MEDFIELD.— Claimants, 6. Acres sown, lOi. Product, 151 bushels.

Average, per acre, 1 4 2-5 bs.

Crops, 24 bs. ; 17 bs. ; 15^ bs. ; 13| bs. per acre.
Remarks. In one case, on two pieces growing side l>y side, one manured
with ten loads of green bai-n manure per acre, and the other with eight loads
of rotten compost to the half acre, tlie latter gave at the rate of 24 bushels
per acre ; the former, at the rate of 13| bushels per acre. Soil, in former
case, was a " yellow loam ;" in the latter, " greeu sward."

MEDWAY.- Claimants, 8. Acres sown, lU. Product, 147 bushels.

Average, per acre, 12^ bs.

Largest crops, 20 bs. ; 19 bs. ; three of 18 bs. ; one of 13i bs.
per acre.
Remarks. Crop of 20 bushels with seven bushels of ashes, and four casks
of lime per acre. Crop of 19 bushels with 12 loads of green manure, and
one cask of lime. Crops of 18 bushels with 15 and 16 loads of green winter
manin-e. The seed steeped in lime water 36 hours, and " pai't of it never
sprouted."

NEEDHAM.— Claimants, 5. Acres sown, 11 4-10. Product, 92| bushels.

Average, per acre, 8 2-11 bs.

Crops, 14 bs.; 11| bs. ; 8 bs. per acre.
Remarks. Crop of 14 bushels with ten cart loads per acre of barn ma-
nure.

RANDOLPH— Claimants, 3. Acres sown, 4. Product, 53 bushels.
Average, per acre, 13| bs.
Crops, 18 bs. ; 16 bs. per acre.
Remarks. Largest crop without manure. In one case, two casks of lime
and 15 bushels of ashes put on two acres, after the wheat was sown ; yield,
9;^ bushels per acre.

ROX BURY.— Claimant, 1. Acres sown, 3. Product, 39 bushels.

Average, ])er acre, 13 bs.
Remarks. Soil liglit ; the land in previous season in potatoes ; suffered by
drought.

1840.] SENATE— No. 36. 41

WALPOLE.— Claimants, 21. Acres sown, 39|. Product, 450^ bushels
Average, per acre, Hi bs.

Largest crops, 18 bs.; IG bs. ; 14f bs.; two of 14^ bs. per
acre.
Remarks. With 12 casks of lime to 2i acres; yield 12^ bushels.

WEYMOUTH.— Claimant, 1. Acres sown, i}. Product, IG bushels.

Average, per acre, 12 4-5 bs.
Remarks. Two cordis of barn manure and two casks of lime applied.

WRENTIIAM. — Claimants, 5. Acres sown, 8|. Product, 94^ bushels.
Average, per acre, 10 2G-"'.'> bs.
Crops, 15 l)s. ; HA bs. ; 11 bs ; 10 bs. per acre.
Remarks — Largest crop with jard manure, amount not stated. Seed
prepared by steeping in a solution of vitriol; tJie crop "perfectly clean."
Crops suffered by drought.

COUNTY OF BRISTOL.

ATTLEBORO\— Claimants, 4. Acres sown, 10^. Product, G7 bs.

Average per acre, G 4-10 bs.
Crops, 1 1 bs. ; G bs. ; two of 5 bs. per acre.
Remarks. No manure; injured by drought.

I5ERKLEY. — Claimants, 1. Acres sown, 3. Product. 19 bushels.

Average per acre, GJ bs.
Crop, Gh bs. per^cre.
Remarks. Ih cask of lime per acre. Injured by drought.

DARTMOUTIL— Claimants, 8. Acres sown, 20J. Product, 314 bs.

Average per acre, 15 3-5 bs.

Largest crops, 24 bs. ; 19 bs. ; 17^ bs. ; IG bs. per acre.
Remarks. Largest crop, with eight tons of "sea muck and barn ma-
nure," and 1$ barrels of lime on | of an acre. One crop with ICO bushels
of ashes, and ten casks of lime ])er acre, yield 12 bushels Suffereti from
rust. With 35 tons of stable manure and " drift stuflj" (sea wreck,) crop 19
bushels.

EASTON.— Claimants, 3. Acres sown, 3^. Product, 51i bushels.

Average per acre, 15 3-7 bs.
Crops, 17 3-5 bs. ; 15| bs. ; 13 bs, per acre.
Ri'MARK?. Largest crop with eight loads of '■ tu.ssac ashes," (presumed
the ashes from tiie paring of bog meadows.) Second crop had 24 one lioi'se
loads of barn and hog manure.
6

42 AGRICULTURAL REPORT. [March,

FAIRHAVEN.— Claimants, 6. Acres sown, 9 107-l(iO. Product, 117 bs.
Average per acre, 12^ bs.

Crops, two of 16 bs. ; 12 l)S, ; two of 10 bs. per acre.
Remarks. Que crop of 16 bs. had no manure.

" " '■ " six tons of "lish and dirt," on an acre.

" " 12 " thirty loads of '• fish and dirt" upon

2 27-160 acres. AH suffered from drought

FALL RIVE II. — Claimants, 3. Acres sown, 4^. Product, 77 bushels^
Average per acre, 8 5-i) bs.

Largest crops, two of 18 bs. ; one, 17 bs. per acre.
Remarks, First crop of 18 bushels without manure.

Second " " with common barn manure.

FREETOWN.— Claimants, 7. Acres sown, 161. Product, 138 bs.

Average per acre, 8 J bs.

Largest crops, 16 bs. ; 14 bs. ; 12 lis. ])er acre.
Remarks. The largest crop manured with 85 barrels of fish mixed with
earth. The grain "perfect." One case of smut; seed soaked in lime
water; one, where seed was "brined and limed," Five crops suffered from
drought.

MANSFIELD.— Claimants, 2. Acres sown, '21. Product, '.]5i bushels.
Average per acre, llf bs.
Crops, I4i bs. ; 10 bs. per acre.
Remark. Suffered from drought.

NEW BEDFORD.— Claimants, 7. Acres sown, 15i. Product, 172 bs*
Average )ier acre, 10 12-15 bs.

Largest crop, 23 bs. ; 16 1-5 bs. ; 13 77-100 bs. ; 12 4-10

bs. per acre.

Remarks. Largest crop, without manure; yellow loam and gravelly

soil. With 112i bushels of ashes, and 5| casks of lime upon an acre, the

yield 74 bushels ; sti uck with rust. Excepting above case no disease nor

accident. With 20 tons stable manure, the yield 16^ bushels.

PA WTUCKET.— Claimant, 1. Acres sown, U. Product, 26h bs.

Average, per acre, 17^ bs.

Crop, 17^ bs. per acre.
Remarks. Five and a half cords of hog manure on gravelly loam. In-
jured by drought.

feAYNHAJVl.- Claimant, 1. Acres sown, 2^. Product, 15* bushels.

Average [)er acre, 6 8-9 bushels.

1840.] SENATE— No. 36. 43

REHOBOTH.— Claimants, 4. Acres sown, 8 3-20. Product, 77il bs.
Average per acre, 9 70-160 bs.
Crops, 105 bs, ; 10 bs. per acre.
Remark. Suffered severely from drought.

SOMERSET.— Claimants, 1. Acres sown, IJ, Product, 18i bushels^

Average per acre, 12^ bs.

SWANSEY.— Claimants, 3. Acres sown, 6. Pi-oduct, 74| bushels.

Average per acre, I2h bs.
Crops, 15 J bs. ; 1 1 2-5 bs. per acre.
Remark. Suffered from drought.

WESTPORT.— Claimants, 2. Acres sown, 2d. Product, 33 bushels.

Average per acre, 13 1-5 bs.

Crops, 18 bs. ; 10 bs. i)er acre.
Remarks. Largest crop had 0 loads hog yard manure and 4 caslis of
lime. Crops suffered from drought and rust. In both cases, the best wheat
on the liigh and dry land.

COUNTY OF PLYMOUTH.

ABINGTON.— Clahnants, 9. Acres sown, 20. Product, 221 Ijushels.

Average pei- acre, 11 ^ bs.

Largest Crop.s, 2(H bs. ; i:}| Its.; I-4| !)s. ; 12J I)^-. per acre.
Remarks. Largest crop, rich loam, with 46 loads compost with lime per
acre. On the same farm, 40 loads barn manure applied to 2^ acres, on a
sandy soil ; the yield 85 bushels. With 2 cords slaughterhouse manure on
3 acres ; product \2\ bushels per acre. No accident nordisease recorded.

BRIDGEWATER— Clahnants, 30. Acres sown, 56-^. Product, 703 bs.
Average per acre, 12 5-14 bs.

Largest crops, 22 bs. ; 20 bs. ; 19| bs. ; 17^ Irs. per acre.
Remarks. Largest crop with 26 loads of good stable manure upon 2-3
acres. With 25 loads of soil from under a barn, upon liacre; yield 10|
bushels. With 400 bushels ashes and 10 casks lime on 2| acres ; the yield
12| bushels With 40 loads of compost, and 12 casks of lime upon 2 acres*
yield 1 1 i bs. per acre.
One case of smut, seed sowed with dry lime.

" " " wet and dried in unslacked lime.

« " " soaked two days in water and dried in ashes.

Crops suffered by drought and grasshoj»i)ers. On gravelly clay with 10
casks of lime on 1| acres : the crop suffered from rust and s[)indle worm.

44 AGRICULTURAL REPORT. [March,

DUXBURY.— Claimants, la Acres sown, ID 7-12. Product, 220 l&.

Average per acre, 1 1 1 bs.

Largest cro|ts, ID bs. ; KJJ lis. ; IG bs. ; J5i bs. per acre.
Remarks. Largest crop with '<:0 loads of compost. Second crop of 16
bs. with 15 loads of barn manure. With 50 loads of compost, the yield llf
bushels. With 45 loads of compost and eight casks of lime, the crop Iff
bushels.

EAST BRIDGEWATER —Claimants, 4. Ac. sown, 7 29-40. Prod. 104 bs.
Average per acre, ]:i 1-7 bs.
Crops, 17 bs. ; IG bs. ; 12 bs.; 9^ bs. per acre.
Remarks. Crop of 17 bushels, with soap-boilers' waste at 175 bushels
per acre ; seed. Black Sea wheat. This respectable farmer has undertaken
the purchase of ashes and the manufacture of soap, that he may have ad-
vantage of the leached ashes upon his farm. The effects on his grass are
very encoin-aging

HALIFAX —Claimants, :'',. Acres sown, 8 95-160. Product, 07 bs.

Average per acre, 7| bs.
Crojjs, Klg bs. ; 7 bs. per acre.
Remarks. One crop six bushels jjer acre. Suffered from frost in June.

HANOVER.— Claimants, G. Acres sown, Hi. Product, 101 bushels.

Average per acre, D bs.

Crops, 14 bs. ; 10 0-7 bs. ; four of 7^ bs. per acre.
Remarks. Largest crop with 12 loads of compost from the yard. Crops
suffered from drought.

HANSON.^Ciaimants, 5. Acres sown, I.'JS. Product, J 15 bushels.

Average per acre, 8h bs.

Cro|)s, IQi bs ; 8h bs. ; two of 8 bs. ; 7| bs. per acre.
Remarks. Barn manure applied with great liberality. The crojjs injured
by drought

KINGSTON — Claimants, 7. Acres sown, 20. Product, 140 bushels.

Average per acre, 7 G-20 bs.

Largest crops, lOf bs i)er acre; 9 lis.; S l-IO bs. per acre.
Remarks. "In the crop of nine bushels per acre, twenty tons of compost
manure jter acre were ap|)lied on half an acre being the lowland; and three
hundred bushels o( leached ashes per acre on one and a half acre, being the
sandy, loamy, gravelly and low land. The wheat was badly shrunk by the
drought; " that on the low land suffering most." Crops suffered severely by
the drought.

1840.] SENATE— No. 36. 45

MARSHFIELD.— Claimants, 7. Acres sown, 12|. Product, 158 bs.

Average per acre, 12 5-G 1)S.

Crops, VJi bs. ; two of W bs. ; one of 14 bs. ; 12i bs.
per acre.
Remarks. The largest crop had seven loads of barn manure and fi bush-
els ashes. Crop of 14 bushels with 20 loads barn and sea manure. Crop
was smutty ; the seed washed in clear water. Ten tons of kelp applied in
one case ; yield 12^ bushels.

MIDDLEBORO'.— Claimants, 64. Acres sown, 120 1-12. Product, 1441 bs.
Average per acre, 11 1-10 bs.

Largest crops, 23 bs. ; 215 lis.; 21^ bs, ; 10 bs per acre.
Remarks. Largo^t crop on land with 40 loads of " common" manure,
2 hogsheads of lime and 4 bushels of ashes upon 1 J acre.
One crop of 2l| bushels with 10 loads of compost per acre.
" 21^ " 14 " hog manure per acre.

Crops suffered from drought.

N. BRIDGEWATER.— Claimants, 8. Acres sown, 14|. Product, 157.^ bs.
Average, per acre, 10| bs.

Largest crop, 2:} bs. ; 19 bs.; 18| bs. ; I5;i bs. ; \'Si
bs. per acre.
Remarks. Largest crop with .5 cords of compost, and 4 casks of lime,
injured iiy drought. Crop manin-ed with 4 cords compost, produced i)J bs.
per acre. With exception of this latter crop, injured by drought.

PEMBROKE. — Claimants, 3. Acres sown, .5. Product, .')2 busliels.

Average, per acre, 10 2-5 bs.

Crops, two of 1 1^ bs. ; one of 10^ bs. ; one of 10^ lis. per
acre.
Remarks. The largest crops on land dressed the previous year with 30
loads mud compost, and one cask of lime per acre. Soil, a sandv loam.
The crops injured by drought, rust, and grasshop[)ers.

PLYMOUTH —Claimants, 9. Acres sown, 12 43-48. Product, 204 bs.

Average, per acre, IG 1-12 bs.

Largest crops, 25 bs. ; 195 bs. ; two of 16 bs. ; one of 15|
l)S. per acre.
Re-\i.4^rks. Largest crop on sandy loam, with si.xteen tons of barn manure.
A dark loam manured the previous year with twenty tons of kelp, yield 13J
bushels. With two exceptions, the crops suffered by drought.

PLYMPTON.— Claimants, 2. Acres sown, 5^. Product, 41 bushels.

Average, per acre, 7 4-5 its.

Croj)s, 8 bs. ; 7| bs. per acre.
Remarks. Crops suffered from an " unfavorable season." No manure
applied.

46 AGRICULTURAL REPORT. [March,

ROCHESTER.— Claimants, 7. Acres sown. 12 6-20. Product, 146 bush.

Average, per acre, IH bushels.

Largest crop, 20| bs. ; 17 bs. ; 14 bs. ; 13^ bs. per acre.
Remarks. Largest crop with 2 casits of lime, 20 loads of stable manure,
and five bushels of ashes upou an acre and 7 rods. Soil, a moist loam.
Crop of 17 bushels with five casks of lime. With 20 loads cattle and swine
manure, mixed with 20 casks lime, and 20 loads swamp mud to 2h acres,
product, 7 bushels and 12 quarts per acre. The crops with one exception,
suffered severely from drought. Lime was applied in ail cases ; manuring
with above exception, very liberal.

SCITUATE.— Claimants, 11. Acres sown, 14i. Product, 209| bushels.
Average, per acre, 14| bushels.

Largest crops, 19 bs. ; 1 5| bs. ; three of 1 5 bs. ; one of 14 bs. ;
j)er acre.
Remarks. The crops, with exception of three, with barn manure. No
marked difference in the results. The crops with the same exceptions, had
lime, but no quantities given. The reports imperfect.

W. 13111DGEWATER.— Claimants, 8. Acres sown, 10 11-24. Prod't. 153 bs.
Average, per acre, 14 1-10 bs.

Largest crops, 21 7-10 bs. ; two of 16 bs. ; one of
15 bs. ; 13^ bs. per acre.
Remarks. Largest crop with 20 loads compost. With 300 bushels of
leached asiies to an acre ; yield 16 bushels. Crops suffered from drought.
One case of smut, the seed without preparation.

COUNTY OF BARNSTABLE.

BARNSTABLE.— Claimant, 1. Acres sown, 1. Product, 15| bushels.
Average, per acre, 15| bs.
Crop, 15| l)s
Remarks. Eighty loads of marsh mud compost applied.

SANDWICH.— Claimants, 10. Acres sown, 18 33-40. Product, 187^ bs.
Average, per acre, 10 bs.

Largest crops, 20 4-10 1)S. ; J(i 4-5 bs. ; 10^ bs. ; 15 bs. per
acre.
Remarks. Largest crop with 15 loads barn manure, and 6 bushels lime
per acre. On a sandy loam in two cases, 50 liarrels of fish used per acre.
In one, return was 8 bushels per acre; in the other, 7 1-9 bushels. One
crop with 20 loads compost and 50 of swamp niud, the crop much injured
by worms at the root. All suffered by drought and rust.

1840.] SENATE— No. 36. 47

FALMOUTH.— Claimants, 12. Acres sown, IGJ. Product, 225A bushels.
Average, per acre, 13 7-1 G bs.

Largest crops, 21 bs. ; 20 bs. : 18 bs. ; 17 bs. per acre.
Remarks. Largest crop with 12 loads barn manure. On sandy loam,
stable manure applied, and IGO bushels ashes, yield 18 bushels. Sea weed
and harn manure applied ; the yield 17 hushels. Eighty tons of sea weed
used; the crop injured by worms, product, 11 bs. Thirty-five tons of sea
weed applied ; the yield 16 hushels.

DUKES COUNTY.

CHILMARK. — Claimants, 3. Acres sown, 4^. Product, .55 bushels.

Average, per acre. Mi hs.
Crops, L3i bs.; 12 1-10 bs.; 11 bs. per acre.
Remarks. All suffered by drought.

EDGARTOWN.— Claimants, 2. Acres sown, Ah Product, 55 bushels.

Average, per acre, 12 1 -5 bs.

Crops, 13 bs.; 11 bs. per acre.
Remarks. The largest crop with 52 bushels ashes per acre. The other
crop with 12 loads hog manure per acre. Seed of one crop, without prepar-
ation ; blighted.

TISBURY— Claimants, 4. Acres sown, 6^. Product, 78 bushels.

Average, per acre, 12 bs.
Largest crops, 15 bs. ; two of 12 bs. per acre.
Remarks. Largest crop with five barrels of ashes.

COUNTY OF NANTUCKET.

NANTUCKET Claimants, 5. Acres sown, 15 1. Product, IGO bushels.

Average, per acre, lOf bs.

Largest crops, 29 bs.; 19 bs. ; 12 bs. per acre.
Remarks. Largest crop with GO common cart loads (one horse cart pre-
sumed,) stable manure per acre. One crop with 50 cart loads stable manure
and four casks of linie ; yield 19 bushels.

COUNTY OF SUFFOLK.
SUFFOLK — Claimant, 1. Acres not given. Product, 35 bushels.

48

AGRICULTURAL REPORT.

[March,

NUMBER OF ACRES AND AVERAGE YIELD OF WFIEAT,
RAISED IN THE RESPECTIVE COUNTIES.

BERKSHIRE, 15G9 3-5 14 2-5 bushels.

FRANKLIN, 8605 l^l

11AMPSHU{E, 1005 1-20 ! 14 1-40 "

HAMPDEN, i 450 1-2 i;3i

WORCESTER, !ir)9ll7-20 15 0-7 «

MIDDLESEX, - - - - - -14:57 7-20 i:j 1-2 «

ESSEX, 109 il2i

NOI{FOLK, i 12G3-5 12 2-5 «

URISTOL, I03J 111-5

PLYMOUTH, 3iiOJ 113-5 "

BARNSTABLE, i 35 19-20 1132-35 "

DUKES, j 15 1-2 II 1-5 «

NANTUCKET, j 15,^ 10 1-5 «

SUFFOLK, ------ - JNo.ofacres Amount raised

jnot given. 35 bushels.

SUMMARY

Whole number of Acres sown — Suffolk not included, ----- 6850

Wo. bushels
produced.

No. of Claimants.

BERKSHIRE,
FRANKLIN,
HAMPSIIIUE,
HAMPDEN, -
WO la: ESTER,
MIDDLESEX,
ESSEX.
NORFOLK, -
BRISTOL, -
PLYMOUTH,
BARNSTABLE,
DUK ES,
NANTUCKET,
SUFFOLK, -

27,784^
13,50 1 ji
15,035
6C91J
28,0081

1388

14741

12331

42451

4281

188

160

35

l(i8,570g

G46

519

522

198

1099

247

52

72

53

196

23

9

5

1

3642

From the above are to be subtracted, in Stockbridge, 17^ bushels:
Reading, 28 bushels of Buck Wheat.— Total, 45 A bushels.

-In

Errata — on page 28 — 1st line — for 39i read 39.
u 24th " " 2587 « 258i

1840.] SENATE~No 36. 49

REPORT

CULTURE OF WHEAT

IN MASSACHUSETTS, 1838.

The Senate, by their order of 20 March, 1839, having re-
quired of tlie Commissioner of Agricultural Survey, an exami-
nation of all the ^vheat returns made to the Government, with
a view to obtain ihe bounty of ered by the law of 1838, and with
reference to any improvements which the culture of wheat in
the Commonwealth may admit of, the Commissioner has de-
voted much time to that subject; and herewith respectfully
submits his report — in the preceding analysis of the returns of
all the towns, and in the subjoined general remarks on the
whole subject.

The number of individual claimants, whose returns have
been examined, have exceeded three thousand six hundred.
The amount of bushels of wheat, upon which a bounty has
been paid, is more than one hundred and eight thousand. The
sum paid for this object by the State in the first year of the
law, is $9,280 14 cts.

The objects of the law, proposing a bounty upon the raising
of wheat in the Commonwealth, it is presumed, were two fold ;
the first, to ascertain the capacities of the State to produce this
crop ; the second, to learn the common modes of cultivating
it, that if possible they might thence determine the best mode.
It was therefore required, that claimants should report not only
the number of bushels raised, but also the extent of land sown ;
7

50 AGRICULTURAL REPORT. [March,

the average yield per acre ; the quantity of seed sown to an
acre ; the kind of wheat sown ; the time of sowing ; the
nature of the soil ; the amounts and kinds of manure applied ;
the use of lime, gypsum, or ashes ; and any disease or accident
by which the crop was affected. For this purpose, prepared
blanks were furnished to the several towns by the Secretary of
State, and the returns made, with as much exactness as was
to be expected.

From these returns, it appears, that the crops suffered almost
every where from drought. The season in this respect was
singularly unfavorable ; the summer having been one of the
hottest sum^mers upon record, and the drought severe, long-
continued, and universal. It appears, likewise, that the crop
suffered severely from the grain insect or wheat fiy — a scourge
which until recently was not known in this State ; but which
seems to have widely extended his devastations. There were
also many instances of smut ; and of blight from unknown
causes.

It appears, also, from the returns, that there is scarcely an
instance named in which the use of lime or plaster has given
any decisive and well authenticated favorable results. Wood
ashes have been frequently used, and large crops have followed.
Many cases, however, are reported in which their application
also seems to have been without advantage. Large crops are
returned where no manure whatever is reported to have been
applied in the season of the wheat or the preceding season.
No exact average of the amount of crops can be formed. I
have carefully collated all the returns, and have obtained an
average yield of each town and likewise of each county, dividing
the number of bushels produced by the number of acres sown.
This, however, will not give a just comparative result, as the
result must be varied by the number of crops or number of
acres sown. For example, in a town where two acres were
sown, giving one 30 bushels and the other 15 bushels, the
averD're would be called 23 bushels ; but in another town, pre-
sent^Uj^ four claimants of an acre each, one producing 30 bush-

1840.] SENATE— No. 36. 51

els and three producing 16 each, the average of the town would
be stated at 19 bushels only per acre. An approxhnation to
exactness is, therefore, all which is to be looked for in the case.
The average yield per acre through the State, may be set
down as about fifteen bushels.

The bounty granted by the State has not been without its
use. Advantages are likely to accrue from it, which will ulti-
mately prove more than an equivalent for the expenditure.
Public attention has been particularly called to the cultivation
of wheat — a product of general and necessary use ; and one of
the most valuable crops which can engage the attention of far-
mers. Though to a certain extent the crop of this year may
be considered a failure, yet this fact will itself awaken intelligent
inquiry into the causes of failure ; and, it is hoped, in the end,
lead to its successful cultivation. There are few parts of the
State where it cannot be cultivated ; but, if we look for a
profitable return, it must be under a ditferent course of hus-
bandry from that now pursued. It is my firm conviction, that
there is indeed, allowing always for some particular local ex-
ceptions, nothing in the soil, or climate, or agricultural condi-
tion of Massachusetts, which forbids its extensive and profita-
ble production. I shall ask leave, under the order of the Leg-
islature, and as Commissioner for the agricultural survey of the
State, to submit my views on this subject at some length.

The importaiiCe of the wheat crop to Massachusetts is very
great. It is not necessary to go into any statistic^ returns of
the number of pounds or barrels of wheat or wheat flour,
which are brought from abroad an"", annually consumed in the
State. Every one must perceive, that the amount is enormous,
since the consumption is universal, and the quantity produced
in the State can do little towards supplying the demand.*
Public manners in this matter have undergone a considerable
change within the last quarter of a century. Bread made of
rye and Indian meal, was then always to be found upon the
tables in the country ; and, in parts of the State, was almost

* Appciidiic A.

52 AGRICULTURAL REPORT. [March,

exclusively used. Wheat flour was then comparatively a lux-
ury. Now brown bread, as it is termed, is almost banished
from use. No farmer gets along without his superfine flour,
his bolted wheat ; and the poorest family are not satisfied, and
will not be satisfied, without their Avheat or flour bread. This
general change in the habits of the people was nearly contem-
poraneous with the completion of the great Western Canal
in New York, by which the abundant products of those rich
wheat districts of country, which the canal opened, became
accessible ; and the supplies of their finest wheat and wheaten
flour were brought directly to our doors, and carried, at the
expense of a heavy freight, into every part of the interior of
New England, even to distances of more than a hundred miles
from the sea shore. The brands of the Rochester mills are
almost as familiarly known on the upper waters of the Con-
necticut as on the Hudson ; and are found as constantly in the
gorge of the White Mountains and the valleys of Vermont as
in the stores of New York and Albany. Indeed, wheat flour
has become among us as much an article of first necessity as
meat and clothing, and therefore, on grounds of sound political
economy, it is matter of the highest consideration to supply, if
practicable, our own wants.

This position has been strongly controverted. It has been
maintained, that instead of attempting to raise wheat, it wcmd
be better to apply ourselves to some branch of mechanical or
manufacturing industry, which v/ould give us the means of
purchasing our bread from countries whose climate and soil are
more congenial than our own to its production. There is
some plausibility and a measure of truth in this position ; but
it cannot be admitted without material qualifications. The true
prosperity either of an individual, a family, or a larger commu-
nity, is not to be measured by any standard of dollars and
cents. We know to what a great extent an opposite opinion
has prevailed among us, and how disastrous its influence has
proved upon our habits and morals. Severe experience, it is
hoped, will disabuse us of this error ; and we shall presently come

1840.] SENATE— No. 36. 58

to understand truths long since established, and which are of
the highest practical moment, that the money which is not
industriously earnt is seldom wisely expended ; and that the
real prosperity of individuals and nations, is not in the accu-
mulation of mere wealth, but in those habits of industry, fru-
gality and self-dependence, wiiich spring from the necessity of
labor and enterprise ; and such a struggle with obstacles and
difficulties as will awaken, and strengthen, and expand all our
physical and intellectual energies. Temperance and frugality
likewise lie at the foundation of all substantial prosperity ; and
neither the happiness nor the morals of men are safe, but where
there exists an imperious necessity for the exercise of these
virtues. Under such circumstances, it is clearly a principle of
cardinal importance in private and public economy, that indi-
viduals and communities should, as fir as possible, depend
upon themselves for the supjily of thr ir own wants ; should
seldv:)m go abroad for ttiat whi^^ii they c^n produce without loss
at home ; and in respect to matters of primary necessity,
c-hould endeavor, though it might seem at first to be attended
with . a pecuniary loss, to create resources within themselves
rather than live in habits of dependence on others.

If we look at families, Ave shall find that those are in truth
most prosperous, who rely most upon tlieir own exertions,
enterprise, and skill. While it often happens, that persons
possessed of large estates, which have come to thom by inher-
itance, accident, or some fortunate speculation, and who, be-
cause they have never known the necessity, have never formed
the habits of labor, in the inevitable vicissitudes of human
afiairs, are wrecked and rcdncod to a condition of dependence
and beggary, the former have known neither want nor fear.
Rich in habits of labor, temperance, and frugality, of which,
without their consent, no one can deprive them, they have rode
out in safety the severest storms.

These principles, though they may seem remote, have a di-
rect connexion Avith the subject under consideration. The
moral welfare of a community is always advanced by the ne-

54 AGRICULTURAL REPORT. [March,

cessity aiid the habits of self-dependence. As an agricultural
community especially, the people should, as far as possible,
produce every article of first necessity, which they require for
consumption. There may be products utterly unsuited to their
soil and climate. It would be folly, where it is hopeless, to
contend against nature. But in all cases, and always, where
there is no obstacle absolutely insurmountable to persevering
labor, success is always a moral gain.

In a pecuniary view, however, there can be no doubt that
Massachusetts would find her account in producing her own
bread from her own soil. Vast amounts of money are now
sent out of the State for bread. This capital applied to the cul-
tivation and improvement of her soil, would immensely increase
its productiveness. Mechanical labor, in general, terminates in
the article produced. Labor, judiciously and liberally applied
to agriculture, produces not merely the immediate and particu-
lar crop which is sought after ; but has a cumulative influence
in preparing the same land for other and larger products. The
value of the land thus cultivated, is often doubled, quadrupled,
and increased tenfold, by being thus rendered the more produc-
tive.

It must be considered likewise, that where a community de-
pends upon exchange or barter, for the supply of its primary
wants, as, for example, where it exchanges its manufactured
articles, or the cash proceeds of these articles, for bread, this
bread must be subjected to the charges of freight and com-
mercial commissions, and to the support of a class of men
whose whole business consists in the transfer and exchange of
these commodities. Now, without derogating at all from the
respectability of this class of our fellow-citizens as a class, and
from the usefulness and necessity of their agency, to a certain
degree, wherever trade exists ; yet it is plain that they are not
a productive class ; but that their support is itself a tax upon
the labor and industry of the country. In an economical view,
it is therefore desirable, that they should exist in no larger
numbers than is necessary to transact the indispensable trade of

1840.] SENATE— No. 36. 55

the country ; and it will be acknowledged that the country has
already suffered much from the fact of large and disproportion-
ate numbers having been withdrawn from the laborious and
productive classes in rural life, to engage in the unproductive
pursuits of trade, far beyond what the commerce or mercantile
business of the country require.

There are other considerations connected with this subject,
especially in a moral aspect, upon which it seems excusable
and seasonable to dwell. It may be assumed as an incontro-
vertible fact, that Massachusetts, throughout her whole territory,
with a few inconsiderable exceptions, affords, always, to labor
intelligently and skilfully applied in the cultivation of the soil,
an ample reward. It is not pretended, that her soils yield as
large a return in quantity as the fertile alluvions of more genial
climates. I do not say that agriculture, even under the most
favorable circumstances, will produce as much money as many
branches of mechanical industry. I am aware that it offers
none of the chances of sudden and great accumulation, which
speculation and commerce sometimes, perhaps not infrequently,
present. But the rewards of agricultural labor in Massachu-
setts are ample, in that an industrious man may obtain by skil-
ful and active agriculture, not only a comfortable subsistence,
but his gains will prove so much more than his real and reason-
able wants, that in ordinary circumstances, he may early, as is
constantly done, enjoy the satisfactions of a domestic connex-
ion, have the means of healthful and innocent luxury, raise and
well educate a numerous family, exercise a generous hospitality,
and lay up a competent provision against the casualties of hu-
man affairs and the decline of life. All this may be done in
the exercise of a good conscience, with a single pair of hands ;
and with no other than the joint aid of a loving and growing
household, and, in such cases, the ever sure blessing of a kind
Providence. Hundreds of instances, throughout our favored
Commonwealth, display these beautiful and enviable results.
It is on this account, then, that agriculture deserves every en-
couragement which the State can give. It has likewise an in-

56 AGRICULTURAL REPORT. [March.

timate connexion with good morals, and the support and purity
of our repubhcan institutions.

Rural life in New England, where every man may be a free-
holder, tends to inspire and encourage an honest pride of char-
acter, and a self-respect, which is a strong security to virtue.
It is favorable to sobriety, industry, and an attachment to good
order and quiet. It is exempt from those moral perils which
exist in crowded villages ; which are found in the concealment
practicable in populous cities ; in the indifference to the value
of human life, which prevails there ; and especially in the cor-
rupt associations and multiplied crimes and vices, which there
inevitably abound. It is more favorable to the manly spirit of
liberty, and to the sentiment of a moral and political equality,
than where the extremes of human condition, enormous wealth
and abject poverty, power and dependence, luxury and squalid-
ness, pride and servility, are, as in cities, brought into constant
and immediate connexion.

Agriculture, in the view of every sound political economist,
is the foundation of national wealth. It is not easy to see how
trade or foreign commerce, legitimately pursued, contribute in
any way to the actual increase of the wealth of a country, un-
less it be in the value of the labor employed when an equiva-
lent is obtained from a foreign country for that labor. Agricul-
ture creates wealth ; and gathers its treasures without injury
or diminution, from the exhaustless bounty of the Divine Prov-
idence in the earth and air. Every agricultural production is
therefore a direct creation of so much additional wealth. This,
however, is not all. IL is not, as in manufactures, the mere
using up of the raw material ; but under good cultivation, the
soil itself is put in a condition to become more productive.
The land is raised in value, in proportion to the increased in-
come, which can be obtained from it. Labor thus applied,
may be regarded as a sure and permanent investment of a pro-
ductive capital. It is known, that in many parts of the State,
under a liberal and judicious husbandry, lands in a measure
worthless, or valued at not more than five and ten dollars per
acre, by improvements, the expense of which, the first crops

1840.] SENATE— No. 36. 57

oftentimes fully repay, are made to yield an income equal to
the interest on a capital of one and two hundred dollars per
acre ; and to pay at the same time, the expenses of keeping
them in a productive condition.

In considering the moral influences of agriculture, the con-
sciousness of independence, resting upon the basis of a con-
scious ability to supply our own wants, is not to be overlooked
as a sentiment in the highest degree favorable to good morals.
This conviction calls out the best powers of our physical and
intellectual nature. There is a rich pleasure, not unmingled
with an honest pride, in eating bread raised by our own hands.
There is a duty and a pleasure in encouraging domestic indus-
try under any and every form. The supplies of the products
of foreign labor, come to us too often mingled with the painful
associations of oppressed, defrauded, and unrequited toil. The
products of our own honest industry and free labor, are subject
to none of these painful abatements. Massachusetts will find
the true foundation of independence only in rendering her soil
productive ; as far as possible cutting off her reliance upon for-
eign supplies ; and abating, or supplying from her own re-
sources and soil, those wants, which render her dependent upon
a foreign power, for that which her own soil is capable of pro-
ducing.

Above all things else, she should determine with honest
pride, to raise what she eats ; or else, to eat what she raises.
She can produce her own wheat. On new lands there is sel-
dom any failure, unless one, which proceeds directly from ne-
glect; or from atmospheric influences, which no sagacity can
foresee or control, and which are peculiar to no country. To
accidents of this nature, all crops are liable. Wheat in general
is, in all countries, considered a less hardy plant than many
others ; yet I have the settled opinion of at least six intelligent
and practical farmers in the State, that, as far as their experi-
ence goes, and it has been the experience in each of these cases
of nearly a quarter of a century, wheat with them is as certain
as almost any crop which they cultivate. The returns will

58 AGRICULTURAL REPORT. [March,

show, even under one of the most unfavorable years which we
ever have, that many crops yielded twenty and twenty-five, not
a few exceeded thirty, and some rose to forty bushels per acre,

I shall now proceed to speak of the causes of failure, and of
the improvements which may be made in the cultivation, by
which, in my opinion, the certainty of the crop in ordinary cases
may be secured, and its product vastly increased.

Causes of Failure. — The causes of the failure of the wheat
crop are various. It fails from rust, smut, mildew, blight, the
wire-worm, the Hessian fly, the grain insect, drought, wetness,
character of the soil, condition of the soil, improper or imper-
fect manuring, and sundry errors of cultivation, which I must
class under a general head. I shall speak of these in detail ;
and then proceed to point out the improvements which are de-
sirable in our cultivation.

Rust.— The subjects of rust, smut, mildew, and blight,
have occupied greatly the attention of intelligent observers ;
but the true causes have as yet eluded their inquiries. Rust is
a well known disorder, in which the wheat-straw or culm be-
comes covered with a red powder like the rust of iron ; the
growth of the plant is stopped, and the grain is shrivelled and
imperfect. This is found to occur under two conditions. The
first is in severe drought, when the plant appears to suffer from
want of nourishment. There is of course no remedy for this,
unless the plant should be grown like corn in drills, and at such
distances that the ground could be cultivated between the
drills. This is a mode not likely to be adopted ; and which is
scarcely practicable for wheat on any large scale.* The second

* Of course no one can think here of cultivating wheat in drills, and
ploughing between it ; nor is it likely that the expensive scarifiers or culti-
vators used in England ior stirring the land between the drills of wheat will
be soon introduced among us; but 1 may here with propriety allude to the
ascertained effects of such operations, and leave the principle implied in it
to be considered and a])plied as any iarmer may think best.f

Speaking of a crop of cabbages, Mr. Curwen says — " In the first week in

June, the ploughs were set at work. As they started, Mr. was present

and saw the crop. It was with difficulty the ground was fii-st broken ; but

t Appen<1ix B.

1840.] SENATE— No. 36. 59

case ill which rust appears, is where the plant seems to be
excessively forced by high manuring and a peculiar state of the
weather. Where the growth of the plant is very luxuriant,
and there occurs a kind of weather common in July and
August, half rain and half sunshine, oftentimes the sun and
the rain alternately contending for possession and the heat
intense, vegetation then is forced to its utmost speed, and it
would seem as though the sap vessels were burst by repletion ;
and the exudation of the sap causes the rust which then ap-
pears upon the stalk. Against this there is no remedy known.
This same disease or accident is common with herds-grass or
Timothy, in time of drought, especially when the crop is thin
and the ground light and scantily manured.

Mildew. — The second disease is blight or mildew, in which
the plant assumes a purple or bluish cast, resembling the mould
which collects in damp places in houses upon articles of furni-

by the end of the week it was brought into fine tilth. Notwitlistanding the
whole week had been dry with a strong sun and a sevei-e east wind, yet
sucli was the progress in growth of the cabbages, that wlien seen again by
that gentlemen on the Saturday he could scarcely be persuaded they were
the same plants. During these operations, I had been making constant ex-
periments with glasses contrived for the purpose, to ascertain the quantity
of evaporation from the land, which I ibund to amount, on the fresh-
ploughed ground, to nine hundred and fifty pounds per hour on the surface
of a statute acre, while on the ground unbroken, though the glass stood
repeatedly for two hours at a time, there was not the least cloud upon it
which proved that no moisture then arose from the earth. The evaporation
from the ploughed land was found to decrease rapidly after the first and
second day, and ceased after five or six days, depending on the wind and
sun These experiments were carried on for many months. After July
the evaporation decreased, wliich proves that though the heat of the atmos-
phere be equal, the air is not so dense. The evaporation, after the most
abundant rains, was not advanced beyond what the earth afforded on being
fi-esh turned up. The rapid growth of my potatoes corresponded perfectly
with the previous experiments ; and their growth in dry weather visibly ex-
ceeded that of other crops where the earth was not stirred. The compo-
nent parts of the matter evaporated remain yet to be ascertained ; the
beneficial eflfects arising from it to vegetation cannot be doubted or denied •
but whether they proceed from one or more causes, is a question of much
curiosity and importance." — Curwen^s Hints, p. 274.

60 AGRICULTURAL REPORT. [March,

ture. This is supposed by many to be on the wheat a parasiti-
cal plant or species of fungns. After this disease attacks the
wheat, the leaf presently turns black ; the health of the plant
is ruined, and the grain is shrivelled and Avorthless. This dis-
ease seems to be wholly atmospherical, or developed by the
state of the air. It is produced by, or rather seems to follow
excessive moisture or heavy dews, which collect and remain
on the plant. It is most likely to occur to wheat growing in
confined places, where the air has not a free circulation. The
only remedy which has come within my knowledge, has been
the sweeping of the field with a rope in the morning, when it
is wet, and thus brushing off the wetness. This method is
not unknown abroad ; and is stated in my first report to have
been successfully practised by a careful farmer in Essex Coun-
ty. By these means he has saved his wheat, when that of his
neighbor was destroyed. Undoubtedly the best preventive,
which could be adopted against this injury, would be the sow-
ing of wheat in high situations where it might have the advan-
tages of a free circulation of air.

Smut. — Another disease to which wheat is subject is smut.
This is of two kinds. I shall enter into no minute examina-
tion of its character ; nor into the conflicting opinions of many
profound scientific observers as to its true nature. This the
most critical observations have not yet fully determined. I
shall deal only with its obvious and familiar appearances, and
with remedies which experiment has found effectual.

The first kind of smut is often seen soon after the wheat
has begun to form its grain in single heads scattered over the
field. This gives no alarm to an experienced farmer. He re-
gards it rather as an indication of the luxuriance of his croj).
The heads of the affected plants soon entirely disappear, and
leave nothing but the naked culm. It is seldom that a field is
so extensively affected in this way, as in any considerable mea-
sure to diminish the crop.

The second kind of smut infects the ear with a black dust, and
spreads itself throughout the field. The grain is not destroyed

1840.] SENATE— No. 36. 61

by it ; but the seed is covered with this black and offensive
powder, and produces an impure, discolored and unhealthy
flour. It can be to a degree removed from the grain by wash-
ing it after it is threshed ; but this is an inconvenient and trou-
blesome process, and not altogether effectual. This disease, as
well as smut and mildew, has been attributed to the attacks of
insects or animalcules ; but late discoveries strongly lead to the
belief that it is a species of fungus, the seeds of which become
attached to the seeds of wheat, and are carried by some un-
known process into the heads of the wheat, where they perfect
themselves.

Against this accident or disease, there is a preventive which
may almost be pronounced certain. The seed is to be soaked
in strong brine, or in stale urine, and, while wet, sprinkled with
finely slacked lime, and left in this state twenty-four hours
before sowing. It is stated that its germinating power will be
injured if it lays too long in urine ; but this is not the case
with brine, unless the temperature of the weather is very warm.
Others recommend a solution of copperas or arsenic ; but salt
brine being a more simple preparation, and easily accessible to
every farmer, is to be preferred. This application seldom fails
to be an effectual preventive of smut. There are indeed, as
will be seen, some few cases of smut stated in the reports in
which the wheat is represented as having been brined and
limed ; but more exact statements are Avanted, before we dis-
trust the efficacy of this preventive, which has been established
by rmmerous experiments of the most decisive character. Per-
sons often question the rule, when the experiments, which they
make, are too imperfect to test it. For example, they will
brine the seed without liming it ; or they will merely wet the
seed in pure water and apply lime to it ; or they will soak it
in brine and apply ashes or gypsum to it. None of these modes
are a security against smut. But where the seed is thoroughly
steeped in strong brine, sprinkled with caustic or quick lime,
and allowed to remain some hours after being thus dressed, and
not suffered to become dry before it is sowed, the preventive,

62 AGRICULTURAL REPORT. [March,

though it may not be absokitely infallible, may be relied upon
with almost entire confidence.

That the two kinds of smut are different in their nature, is
evident from a well established fact. An attempt to commu-
nicate the disease to other plants of wheat, by sprinkling the
powder of some of the first kind of smut upon them, was not
successful. But the application of the powder of the latter
kind of smut referred to, has, in repeated trials, proved infec-
tious.

There are other diseases to which wheat is subject, which
may be only dilFerent aspects of those to which I have alluded ;
or which arise from causes not well ascertained. Natural
science has done something in the investigation of their nature ;
but as yet, amidst the conflicting theories and conjectures
which have been started, there is little solid ground to rest
upon.

Insects. — Wire Worm. — Wheat, besides being subject to
various diseases, has enemies to contend with among the insect
tribes, which are formidable and often destructive. The wire-
worm is well known to farmers ; and several cases of injury
from his ravages are mentioned in the reports. These are prin-
cipally found in lands, which have been some time in grass and
newly broken up. On this account where they abound, to
sow wheat on green-sward ploughed up, would not be advisa-
ble. A farmer in Williamstown, whose land was much infest-
ed with these worms, and whose corn crop always suffered se-
verely from them when it was planted upon grass land newly
broken up, found great advantages in ploughing his land in the
fall, by which operation he thought many worms were des-
troyed by the frost ; and then taking a crop of oats, which
they were not likely to injure, before he took any other crop.
This was followed by corn, and then by wheat. They are
not disposed to stay in cultivated land, but prefer that which
is in grass. Another farmer in Templeton, whose statements
seemed entitled to confidence, is in the habit of putting some
salt in the compost heap, with which he manured his corn.

1840.] SENATE— No. 36. 63

He says in this way his corn has escaped the depredations of
the wire-worm, while his neighbor's corn over the fence, would
suffer severely. He has been accustomed to do this for several
years, but could give me no definite rule as to the proportion
of salt used in the heap. As well as I could gather from his
statements, however, it was not large. To all soft-skinned
worms, such as slugs, &c., the application of caustic or quick
lime, if a small amount comes in contact with them, will prove
destructive ; but this does not seem to be the case with those
which are encased in an armor of horn. The application of
lime, therefore, in the hill with corn, is not found a preventive
against the injury from the wire worm.

E. Phinney, of Lexington, whose authority is entitled to
the highest respect, " advises in the ploughing of green sward,
to turn it over in the spring, say from the first to the middle
of May, after the grass shall have started a few inches. The
reasons are, that generally a greater quantity of vegetable mat-
ter is turned under ; the sod will turn over smoother in the
spring than in the autumn, the grass is much less likely to
spring up between the furrow slices, which materially injures
the crop ; and lastly the worms which commonly abound in
grass ground are less likely to injure the crop. The reason
must be obvious. Finding no green substance in land turned
over in the fall to feed upon, they invariably seize upon the
growing crop. Where the green sward has been thus turned
over in the spring, after the grass has started, it is affirmed
upon experience that injury from the worm does not occur,
but when this is done in autumn, it is rarely otherwise."

N. Bennet, of Framingham, thinks " turning over green
sward in August, a perfect remedy for the corn or cut worm,
which is the wire worm here referred to. By ploughing so
early in the season, the grass has time to spring up and grow
before winter between the furrows ; and when he cross-ploughs
in the spring, the young grass furnishes a sufficiency of food
for the worms, and therefore the corn is not injured by them."
Robert Colt, of Pittsfield, whose farming as well as that of

64 AGRICULTURAL REPORT. [March,

Mr. Bennett, has been honored with the premiums of the Mas-
sachusetts Agricultural Society, says "that he is satisfied from
experience, years since, that the ploughing of green sward or
stubble in the autumn, is a loss in the following crop of at
least ten per cent. Sward lands, that are ploughed in the fall
become compact during the winter ; the finer parts washed
between the furrow slice, excluding the air, and preventing-
the surplus water from draining off, consequently the turf lies
heavy and dormant, with but little benefit to the crop. On
the other hand, if ploughed in the spring, the soil is light and
receives the harrow kindly ; and the furrow slice does not
become so compact as to prevent the circulation of the air,
and allows the excess of water to take its proper course ; and
the sward, when the crop comes off, will be in a more forward
state of decomposition than if ploughed the fall before."

These various opinions, coming from practical men of much
intelligence and long experience, deserve" attention. It would
not answer to delay the sowing of wheat until the middle of
May, as there would be great risk in our climate of its suffering
from mildew. If wheat is to be sowed on green sward, it
should be ploughed much earlier. But this would not in that
case afford the protection against the wire worm to which Mr.
Phinney refers. I must dissent from the inference, (at least, I
hold my judgment in suspense until I have farther light,) that
this late spring ploughing is to be deferred on account of the
superabundance of vegetable matter then' to be turned under.
Theory and experiment in this matter conflict with each other.
I have been always inclined to the belief, which generally pre-
vails, and which Mr. Phinney maintains, that the higher the
state of luxuriance in which vegetable matter is turned in by
the plough, the more the land will be enriched by it. But the
experience of one of the best farmers in the State, has satisfied
me, especially as it has been confirmed by another equally
intelligent farmer, and wholly unbiassed by the judgment of
any other person, that the land is more benefited by the turn-
ing in of the clover crop after it is dried than when in a state

1840.] SENATE— No. 36. 65

of greenness and full of sap. The opinion is, that if green it
creates an acidity in the soil prejudicial to the succeeding crop.
I do not know whether this theory be sound or not ; but I have
seen an experiment tried with a view to this point, in two
adjoining lots of ground in the same field ; and the result was
conclusive in favor of turning in the crop when dried. Mr. Colt's
opinion in favor of spring ploughing or against fall ploughing
bears on the same point. The conclusion, which seems to
follow from these premises, is against sowing wheat upon green
sward, on account of the wire worm. In such case, corn or
oats then should be taken as a first crop ; and corn may be
taken, as Mr. Phinney advises, on a late ploughed sward, as
the disadvantage, if there be any, in the comparison between
turning in the herbage in a green instead of a dried state, may
be more than compensated by the protection which it furnishes
against the worm ; but if wheat is to be sowed, on green sward
or stubble, on account of the results of Mr. Colt's expe-
rience, whether his notions be well or ill founded, it is to be
advised to plough in the spring ; but then as early as possible ;
because, as 1 am satisfied, of the expediency under all circum-
stances of sowing spring wheat as early as possible. In this
case, the chances of the worm must be encountered, unless the
mixture of salt with the compost, as mentioned above, may
afford a security against him.

Hessian Fly. — The Hessian fly is another enemy from
which wheat has heretofore suffered a great deal. His ravages
constituted a principal reason many years since for relinquish-
ing the cultivation of wheat in several parts of the State. This
scourge was supposed to have been introduced into the country
in the baggage of the German soldiers, who came as the mer-
cenaries of the British, in the time of the American Revolution.
Yet no such insect was known in the province of Hesse, from
which these soldiers came.

The maggot is found between the leaf and the culm in the
first joint of the plant ; and beds himself in the stalk at that
place, by which it is destroyed. At his first coming in the
9

66 AGRICULTURAL REPORT. [March^

country, his ravages were extensive and alarming ; but his ap-
pearance is now of comparatively rare occurrence. Two broods
are hatched in the course of the year. Late planting, both in
respect to winter and spring wheat, seemed sometimes to carry
the wheat beyond the time when from the habits of the fly,
the plant was most exposed to injury, or when the fly was in
a condition to inflict the injury ; but no certain protection
against this destructive insect is known. In some of the re-
ports, the wheat is stated to have been injured by the Hessian
fly ; but I believe in all these cases, from some confusion of
names, the grain insect is referred to.

Grain Insect. — The grain insect, as he is termed, is com-
paratively of recent appearance. He has extended his devas-
tations very widely over the country. The reports abound
with complaints of the injuries produced by him. In the re-
port, which I had the honor to submit to the Senate by their
order on the subject of Spring Wheat, I referred to this insect ;
and notwithstanding luimerous cases of injury to the crops are
reported, I am confirmed in the conviction, that a perfect rem-
edy is within the reach of the farmers.

In the year 1835, I had the pleasure of submitting to the
agricultural public through the columns of the New York Farm-
er, then pubhshed in the city of New York, what I believed
one of the most important discoveries ever made ; and whose
value must be to the country that of untold millions ; that is,
an etfectual security against the ravages of the grain insect.
Letters received by me from the interior of New York, Sara-
toga, and Rensellaer counties, and from some of the most in-
telligent wheat growers in that part of the country, spoke of
the ravages of this insect as utterly discouraging ; and expressed
their serious apprehensions that the cultivation of this crop
must be abandoned until the pest should be stayed. One farm-
er in Rensellaer county, who had sowed thirty bushels of
wheat, on threshing his crop obtained seven only ; and the re-
sult with many others was similar. In a journey afterwards
to the head waters of the Connecticut, and thence into the

1840.] SENATE— No. 36. 67

north-easterly part of New Hampshire, I found the ravages
committed by this insect most extensive ; and, in some cases,
fields, which promised an abundant yield, were cut up for litter.

These facts were seriously alarming, but an observing and
experienced farmer in the interior of New Hampshire, informed
me, that he had in two instances, prevented the ravages of the
fly, by the application of lime, as I shall presently explain.
Another farmer had tried this method with success, and showed
me in a field of rye a perfect demonstration of its efficacy ; the
part, which had been limed, was free from the insect, while that
part of the same field, to which no lime had been applied, had
been severely injured by it. Soon after this publication, a dis-
tinguished friend of agriculture in New York, expressed his
distrust of the efficacy of this preventive. But this was with-
out having fully tried it, and a few months before his lamented
death, he gave me to understand that his views on this subject
were somewhat changed ; and that he had received so many
testimonies from farmers, entitled to the highest confidence, of
its efficacy, that he could not gainsay them.

The evidences, which I have received in the course of my
inquiries, being the result of the experience of several trials,
leave no doubt that the preventive, if not infallible, may be re-
lied on with strong confidence. The preventive consists in
giving the grain a thorough coating of newly slacked lime,
just as it is coming into flower, and while it is wet with dew
or rain. It may be necessary to repeat this ; but one applica-
tion has proved eflectual.

The fly is seen at a certain season, hovering over the field
in thick multitudes. It is supposed he then deposites the germ
of the maggot, which in the form of a little yellow worm, resem-
bling a pepper-grass seed, are found afterwards in the heads of
the wheat after having entirely destroyed the grain. It may
not be easy to account for the operation of the lime. Whether
by its caustic properties it destroys the egg, or whether it pre-
vents the fly from alighting on the grain, or in what other way
it operates, are interesting inquiries, which close observation

68 AGRICULTURAL REPORT. [Marcli,

may presently solve. This, however, is of little moment,
compared with the fact of its efficacy against this scourge.

There are other causes of the failure of the wheat crop,
which the cultivator may guard against to a certain extent.
Wheat is liable to suffer much from drought. Without doubt,
where the early southern clover is sown with this grain, it will
cover the ground, and operate, in a degree, to protect the plant
from the heat of the sun. Spring wheat requires to be sown
thicker than winter wheat, because it has not the same length
of time to grow, and does not spread or tiller so much upon
the ground. Where the crop is thin, the ground, of course, is
liable to suffer more from drought than where it is thickly sown.
The most successful farmers in Great Britain, seldom sow less
than three, and sow ofter four bushels of winter wheat to the
acre. The thinner the plants stand upon the ground, the more
likely are they to suffer from drought. But where such heavy
sowing as this takes place, the land should be in high condi-
tion.

Wheat often suffers from being lodged. This frequently
happens, where the growth of the plant has been stimulated
by green manures, or by weather, which gives an extraordinary
impulse to vegetation. The stalk does not gain strength or
stiffness in proportion to its expansion and growth, and is liable
to become lodged, after which it will not ripen nor fill. Some-
times the wheat is blown down by strong winds. The only
remedy 1 have known used in such cases, I have heretofore
spoken of, where the farmer is in the habit of going into his
fields, and with a rake-handle, carefully lifting the plants which
are blown down. He says that in such case, a little aid given
with much care, will so raise the plant that its seeds will per-
fectly ripen. This remedy would seem impracticable to any
large extent.

Having spoken of causes and circumstances operating against
the production of wheat, which may be considered as specific^
and, in a popular sense, accidental, I proceed to treat of more
general causes of failure. I must, however, in passing, express

1840.] SENATE— No 36. 69

my conviction that, separate from the causes to which reference
has been made, wheat of the best quality, may be grown among
us, with as much certainty, as any other crop cultivated, and.
that the prominent occasion or ground of failure, is imperfect
or deficient cultivation.*

Soils for Wheat. — With respect to soils suitable for wheat,
experience proves that some are more favorable to the growth
of wheat than others ; but experience has equally proved, that
there are few or none on which a crop cannot be obtained un-
der proper management. It will grow luxuriantly upon a pure
peat meadow, if it be perfectly drained and thoroughly culti-
vated and reduced to a finely comminuted state ; or it will grow
upon pure sand with the application of manure, provided a suf-
ficiency of moisture can be seasonably applied. It will grow
likewise upon clays, if a due portion of animal or vegetable
manure is furnished ; the soil freed from superfluous moisture ;
and at the same time reduced to such fineness as to be permea-
ble to the minute and fibrous roots of the plant. I do not
mean to say, that in the cultivation of wheat, the particular
kind of the soil is matter of indifference, or that the sole design
of the soil is to furnish a mechanical support for the plant ; but
that the growth and health of the plant more than any thing
else depend on the finely divided state of the soil, so that the
fibrous roots of the plant may freely extend themselves in every
direction ; and upon the manure applied, by which I mean de-
cayed organic matter, either or both vegetable or animal re-
mains, in sufficient quantity and well distributed in the soil.
Further it is especially requisite that the soil by careful cultiva-
tion, be laid open as far as possible to the reach and powerful
influences of light, air, and moisture.

Philosophy of Vegetation. — I shall not enter deeply into
the philosophy of vegetation or the nature of soils ; but it is
safe to say, however mortifying to our pride to realize the con-
viction, that a solution of many of the mysteries of nature, in
the vegetable or animal world, is as yet not even approached.
Theories respecting the different operations or influences in

^ Appendix C.

70 AGRICULTURAL REPORT. [March,

nature are easily framed ; but experience, confirmed by the
long and repeated accumulation of facts, presents itself as our
only safe guide. We advance in our speculations to a certain
point, and then an impassable barrier rises before us. We
eagerly grasp at explanations which have a measure of plausi-
bility ; but if we examine them they are in truth no explana-
tions ; and we are as far as ever from the unravelling of the
problem whose solution we seek. There is a point where
ignorance and philosophy are upon a level ; because the dark-
ness is so intense that neither of them can see at all. If we ascer-
tain, for example, that the material creation is held together,
and its wonderful relations and beautiful harmonies maintained
by the force of gravitation, and by a centrifugal force, which
balances the power of central attraction, where this power
would act with too much strength, we certainly have made
great advances in knowledge and achieved an attainment of
immense practical value and utility, because we apply this
truth at once to most important uses. But in what this secret
force consists, and how it operates, even under the laws of quan-
tity and distance, which we understand, we are as ignorant as
when born into the world ; not even a plausible conjecture can
be started. So likewise when we are told that vegetation is
the result of galvanic or electric influences operating upon the
roots of the plant, I cannot see that any real knowledge is
gained until I know what galvanism or electricity consists in.
Still less, if possible, is the science of life approached. What is
done when this bodily frame starts into life, and all its multiplied,
wonderful and labyrinthine circulations begin their amazing
round ; what is done when, at a touch, the current of life is
instantly stopped, or what takes place when the moistened and
swelling seed rises from the ground in the form of a beautiful
plant, pours out its fragrance and matures its fruit, and then
passes into decay and dissolution, no mind is acute enough or
sagacious enough to discover or imagine. It is with a similar
conviction of ignorance that we look upon the contradictory
opinions respecting vegetable physiology ; and the confident

1840.] SENATE— No. 36. 71

theories, as unsettled as they are confident, advanced respect-
ing the peculiar nature and composition of soils, and the effects
of manures.

How much science has done is wonderful ; how little she
has done, or rather how much remains to be accomplished, is
still more wonderful ; it is overwhelming. Mechanical chem-
istry has made great progress ; and in all mechanical opera-
tions and many of the arts, an immense amount of power
has been gained, which is constantly applied to useful purposes.
In what may properly be termed vital chemistry, she has ad-
vanced no farther than to discover the circulation of the blood,
and the ascent and descent of the sap. In respect to all
organic matter she is impotent. What demonstrates her igno-
rance is, that, while she assumes to be able to resolve every
thing into its original elements, she cannot put together what
she takes apart. She reduces every thing to a few simple
principles ; and yet the composition of things is variously diver-
sified, where the original elements exist in almost the same
proportions. She can analyze the blood and the flesh ; she can
tell the constituents of bones and of leaves. But she cannot
make a drop of blood nor an atom of flesh ; nor a bone nor a
bud ; nor at her pleasure throw the coloring into a single leaf.
These things are not said to undervalue or discourage the
eff'orts of science, but in order to direct the attention of far-
mers to facts in cultivation and vegetation, which their own
observation and experience must supply. The capacity of soils
for the production of particular crops can be certainly deter-
mined only by experiment. The farmer should be often mak-
ing these experiments, assured that the instructions which he
gathers from them will be his safest guides. Agricultural
chemistry may detect mineral ingredients in soils, which are
poisonous to some plants ; but there are facts which confound
all her pretensions and assumptions, for she sees different plants
extracting from the same soils opposite and entirely different
properties, so that on the same spot and their roots interming-
ling, shall spring plants which are full of nourishment, and

72 AGRICULTURAL REPORT. [March,

those whose use would be fatal to animal life. Plants like
animals have their instincts and aversions ; and there is a secret
power, whose foot-prints are not visible to mortal observa-
tion, which controls every thing. This ordinarily places
within the reach of the plant, and directs its pursuit after that
peculiar nourishment, which its peculiar nature demands, and
teaches it to obtain from the earth, or the air, or the light, or
the rain, the particular elements which belong to it, and ar-
range them under such forms and modifications as constitute
its proper character, and, if we may so speak, its personal
identity.

It is happy for us, that it is not necessary, in order to a suc-
cessful cultivation, to be able to explain these subtle mysteries
of nature ; but it would be folly or infatuation to disregard
actual knowledge and facts, which experience in multiplied
forms and places has fully determined, whether we are able or
unable to explain their causes and modes of operation.

Varieties of Wheat.-— The plant of wheat, perhaps more
than any other, requires careful cultivation. Its history is
not known. It is classed in the family of the grasses, and
is supposed to have been brought to its present condition
by careful culture. This theory probably is mere assump-
tion, as it is not unlikely that it was in the beginning a
bread grain ; but without doubt careful selection and culture
have multiplied the varieties and improved the quality. It is
found under two forms — the flint or dark colored ; the white
or thin skinned. It is sometimes found bearded or the seeds
covered with long awns, and sometimes bald or without awns.
Some varieties are early, and accomplish their growth in three
and four months, while other kinds do not perfect their seeds
under a period of eleven months. Of these varieties, it is
believed, after careful observation, that the white and soft-
skinned varieties succeed best in dry soils and warm climates.
The red and flint varieties prefer a moist soil and a cool tem-
perature. The downy varieties are more exposed to suffer
from mildew from the circumstance of their retaining the mois-

1840.] SENATE— No. 36. 73

ture longer ; but the bald varieties seem more liable to the
attack of the wheat insect ; though this fact is not fully estab-
lished. It appears from the reports, that in the same field one
variety suffered from blight while another escaped ; but this
seems to have been accidental and not attributable to any
known causes. The difference in the product in flour of differ-
ent varieties of wheat is very considerable, in some cases
equal to at least five bushels in a hundred. This may de-
pend somewhat upon the cultivation ; but it is well ascer-
tained that the white varieties produce more fine flour to the
same weight of grain than the red wheats.

The soil on which wheat is cultivated is not matter of indif-
ference. As I have said, it will grow upon any soil which is
not too wet, and which is reduced to a sufficient degree of fine-
ness ; yet, beyond question, a strong and tenacious soil, which
is inclined to clay, is most favorable to its growth. Experi-
ence has well established this point ; and though pure clay
would be as unfavorable to the growth of wheat as pure sand,
yet the best soils for wheat are those which are tenacious and
unctuous, or soapy to the feel.

Manures for Wheat. — The soil for wheat cannot be too
rich, by which I intend, that it cannot abound too much in
vegetable matter, if it be perfectly decayed and thoroughly
incorporated with the soil. The use of long, green and unfer-
mented manures — though there are cases which seem to form
exceptions — is highly unfavorable to the crop. It forces the
growth of the plant too much, and renders it liable to blight
and to become lodged. The land should be enriched by pre-
vious crops ; and if any manure is applied in the year of rais-
ing the wheat it should be thoroughly decomposed and mixed
as evenly as possible with the soil. Fresh liquid manure of
urine, has been tried on wheat ; but though it increased very
much the growth of the straw, and gave it a deep green color,
it was not found to fill out as well as was expected, and the
wheat was not of a good quality. This is a remarkable but
not unobserved fact in vegetable economy, that the luxuriance
10

74 AGRICULTURAL REPORT. [March,

of the growth of the straw, even where no accident occurs^
does not insure the crop. The growth of the straw, and the
iilhng or perfection of the grain, depend on different principles
or conditions, not yet understood. This is a subject which
deserves much investigation, but in regard to which we have
nothing more certain than conjecture to rest upon.

Lime. — It is with some diffidence that I come in the next
place to speak of hme in its apphcation to the soil for wheat,
because I shall be obliged to differ in opinion from gentlemen
for whom I have the highest personal respect. But the object
of all sound and useful philosophy is truth, and no authority
whatever can rise above facts.

It appears from the returns presented, that lime has been
frequently applied, but in no such form, as far as the informa-
tion given extends, to lead to any decisive inferences in its
favor. When lime is applied to a crop in conjunction with
mamire, unless comparative experiments are made under the
same circumstances, by which it can be decided whether it
were the lime or the manure which produced the effect, or
whether it were from the combination of the lime and manure,
no certain conclusion is reached. From personal inquiries
made in various parts of the State and among farmers of great
intelligence and observation, I have not found a single case
where any direct benefit has been traced to the application of
lime to the soil for wheat. I am not, however, disposed to
question its utility ; and while I care nothing for any purely
theoretical views, I shall proceed to state what I think may be
relied upon respecting it.

It has been said that calcareous matter has been exhausted
from our soils by cultivation ; and this is the reason why our
wheat crops fail where they formerly succeeded. It is matter
of reasonable inquiry whether there is much foundation for
this opinion. It does not appear from any analysis of soils
which has been made, that there is more pure lime existing in
soils which are comparatively new, than in those which have
been some time cultivated. It does not appear that even on

1840.] SENATE— No. 36. 75

the rich alluvions of the western prairies, where it is said that
sometimes sixty bushels of wheat are produced to an acre, that
there is a larger proportion of lime in any form, than in the old
soils of this vicinity. In an analysis by the geological sur-
veyor of the State, of five specimens of the best soils of Illi-
nois, the highest amount obtained of the carbonate of lime
was 3.3 out of 100 parts. But, in Massachusetts, several soils
have been found in parts of the country longest cultivated,
where the amount of the carbonate of lime has been in a hun-
dred parts as 3.- 5.- 5.4. No one pretends that any earth can
ever assume a gaseous form ; or in truth that the nature of this
earth can ever be changed, so that with whatever else it may
be combined it shall cease to be lime. But if absorbed or
taken up by plants, since those products are again returned to
the soil, it does not appear how the original quantity should be
exhausted by the growth of plants. It may have been swept
away in many situations by rains, which, where lands are
under cultivation, carry away lai-ge portions of the enriched
mould on the surface to deposite them on meadows and allu-
vions below. In this case, undoubtedly, many newly cleared
lands and side-hill situations have suffered a material deteriora-
tion, and the lime has passed off with other fertilizing portions
of the soil. Yet it will be admitted, at the same lime, that
our alluvial meadows, according to the analyses given, present
a less proportion of lime than many other lands.

It has been said that lime is indispensable to the production
of wheat, because it is always found in the wheat plant. Of
the sulphate and phosphate of lime, some portion is found in
wheat, so also in rye, in Indian corn, in the haulm of potatoes,
and in various other plants, especially in clover ; but these
exist in either case in extremely mJnute quantities ; and as
it respects the existence of any earthy carbonate in wheat, it is
not understood to be found at all in the grain ; and in the
ashes of wheat straw, it is found only in the proportion of
eleven parts in a thousand.

But, in truth, there is no deficiency of lime in our soils, so

76 AGRICULTURAL REPORT. [March,

far as it may be demanded as a constituent of wheat. In
some plants, as 1 have said — in clover, for example — lime in
one combination, is found in abundance. But lime is one of
the most generally diffused substances in nature. The sea
abounds in it. The land abounds in it. The learned geologi-
cal surveyor states that lime in some form is to be found in
every soil which he has examined. We have other facts
which demonstrate its universal diffusion. Our wells abound
in it. The hardness of a large portion of our waters, which
renders them unfit for the purpose of washing, is commonly
owing to the presence of lime. The bones of all animals are
composed of fifty per cent, of the phosphate of lime. The shells
of birds and of domestic fowls are composed of lime. So that
in truth there is no deficiency ; and it seems an established
principle in chemistry, that lime, in whatever combination it
may be found, whether used as a carbonate, sulphate or phos-
phate, marl, plaster, or bone dust, acts always the same.*

It has been stated on high authority, " that a soil is incapa-
ble of producing wheat of good quality, that does not contain
carbonate of lime." This position is at least questionable ;
since on the farm of Wm. Adams, of Chelmsford, Middlesex
county, where wheat has been successfully cultivated for many
years, it appears from a chemical examination of the soil, that
not a trace of lime in this form is to be found. In the report
of the Geological Survey of Maine, it is stated that forty-eight
bushels of wheat have been raised to an acre ; but it seems that
the carbonate of lime is not found in the soil on which this
wheat grew ; and in the form of a phosphate it was found, only
in the small amount of 1.5 in 100 parts. These cases, as well
established as any thing of the kind can be, seem decisive on
the point of its indispensableness in our soils to the production
of wheat beyond what is already found there. Of its general
usefulness in many soils, though its operation is as yet only
matter of conjecture, there can be no doubt.

That the amount of lime required to produce an effect upon

* See Second Report of Agriculture of Massachusetts. Appendix, p. 161.

1840.J SENATE— No. 36. 77

vegetation is very minute is established by the effects produced,
beyond all question, by the application of even so small an
amount as half a bushel of the sulphate of lime or gypsum to
an acre. It is a wonderful fact, and sufficient to confound the
presumption of man in attempting to explain with confidence
many of the mysteries of nature, " that in experiments made
by Sir John Herschell, it was found that minute portions of
calcareous matter, in some instances less than the millionth part
of the whole compound, are sufficient to communicate sensible
mechanical motions and definite properties to the bodies with
which they are mixed."*

The deficiency of lime in the soil is not, therefore, the cause
of the failure of the wheat crop among us. Proofs of this
might be multiplied, if there were occasion. Yet, on the other
hand, it will not be denied that the application of lime to some
soils, unless the application be to a much greater excess than is
likely to take place among us, produces a decided improvement.
I have no theory to establish on the subject ; and it cannot be
denied that even with professed chemists, the particular opera-
tion of lime upon the soil is as much matter of debate and
controversy, at this very time, in Scotland and in England,
where it has been for many years, and most extensively applied,
as any subject whatever connected with agriculture. Any so-
lution of the mode of operation of gypsum, or the sulphate of
lime, whose effects are often so astonishing, is not even ap-
proached. But I shall proceed to state some points which
seem to be well established in regard to lime. It has been
said that gypsum benefits vegetation by its attraction of mois-
ture from the atmosphere. It does indeed attract moisture, but
it holds it fast and does not give it out. Its effect on vegeta-
tion in this respect, therefore, must be the reverse of beneficial.
It has been supposed to assist the putrefaction or decomposition
of animal or vegetable substances. But this theory experiment
has wholly disproved. It has been supposed to form a necessary
food of plants ; and some portion of it is always obtained in the

" Roget, Vol. II. p. 38.

78 AGRICULTURAL REPORT. [March,

ashes of certain plants, especially clover. This use of it, there-
fore, seems established. It has been maintained that it acts as
a stimulus to vegetation ; but this is wholly conjectural, and
in fact explains nothing. It is saying merely in other words
that it promotes vegetation, for as to any direct agency in
quickening the circulations of the plant in the proper sense of
stimulus, this at least has not yet been detected. Its efficiency
in many cases is demonstrated ; but the soils which particu-
larly demand its use, and the manner of its application, can on-
ly be determined by actual experiment.

Lime, if applied in a quick or caustic state, and in sufficient
quantities, has a tendency at once to consume all soft or putre-
scible matters, of an animal or vegetable nature, by combining
with the acids or the water which exist in these substances ;
but how next it operates to assist vegetation is not so easily
determined. The woody fibre of vegetables it does not alter,
or at most in a very small degree. Undoubtedly in this opera-
tion many gaseous substances are evolved, which pass ofi' in the
air without affording any aid to vegetation. To animal ma-
nure or putrescible matters, whose decomposition it is desirable
should go on gradually in the soil, this application therefore is
not approved. But where there is a superabundance of vegeta-
ble matter in the soil, or where there are acid plants, whose
sourness it is desirable to correct, such an application will be
beneficial. Glnick lime, likewise, may be useful in the de-
struction of all soft skinned insects with which it may come in
contact.

The action of effete lime or the carbonate of lime is undoubt-
edly very different. Gluick lime, if applied to sandy soils, if
water were present, would tend to combine with the sand, and
form an insoluble substance like mortar. If applied to clay,
its operation would be different, as it would tend to divide and
reduce it to a fine state. This would be the effect of effete
lime or powdered limestone ; and, for ought as yet ascertain-
ed, these mechanical effects of lime upon tenacious soils, are
the principal benefits to be derived from it. The particles

1840.J SENATE— No. 36. 79

becoming divided, the soil is rendered permeable to the roots
of the plants, and accessible to air and moisture. What influ-
ence the plant itself exerts upon the carbonate of lime, or upon
lime in any other form of combination, is not determined.
The amount of any earthy matter taken up by the plant is a
very small quantity ; and it is not supposed that the plant has
the power of changing its nature. The carbonate of lime is a
substance scarcely soluble in water, or under any common at-
mospheric influences ; but it can be taken into the roots or ves-
sels of the plant oifly in the most minute state of division.

The whole subject, indeed, is as much open to investigation
as in the beginning. Beyond a certain quantity, the applica-
tion of lime is decidedly prejudicial to soils, and the farmers in
the best agricultural districts of Scotland, acknowledge that
their soils have been materially injured by the application of
lime to their farms. There, however, it has been applied in quan-
tities of hundreds of bushels to the acre, and much beyond any
amount in which it is ever likely to be applied here.

Berkshire Marls. — The application of the Berkshire marls,
which contain more than ninety per cent, of carbonate of lime,
has not been attended with those beneficial efl'ects, which were
anticipated. The experiments have as yet by no means been
decisive. As yet these marls have availed little, but a hope
is expressed that they may hereafter prove beneficial. The
application has been made to gravelly loams, where the effects
could not have been expected to be so beneficial as upon clay
or peat soils. In the latter case, if applied, it may be expected
to assist much in producing a fine division of the soil.

This mechanical division of the soil by the application of
finely powdered carbonate of lime, either after it has been com-
minuted by calcination, and the pure quick lime has passed
into the state of a carbonate, which it will soon do after being
exposed to the air, or in the condition of finely powdered lime-
stone, is that which is chiefly to be relied upon. The carbon-
ate of lime is scarcely soluble in water, though it is decompos-
ed by the access of several of the vegetable acids, and by the

80 AGRICULTURAL REPORT. [March,

carbonic acid which exists in rain water ; but, as to its chemi-
cal operations, in the form either of a carbonate, sulphate or
phosphate, science has not yet reached any satisfactory conclu-
sion. She has knocked at the door, but has gained no admis-
sion ; nor even been permitted to look through the key-hole.
This, however, should not discourage her importunity.

Ashes. — With respect to wood ashes, there remains no doubt
of their extraordinary efficacy in promoting the growth of wheat
crops. Whatever theory may be adopted, the effects are almost
certain. These ashes were themselves the constituent parts
of plants, and reduced to a state of extreme fineness by incine-
ration. They may well, therefore, serve to be taken up by
other plants, or may be expected to furnish some of the ele-
ments which the plants require. They likewise attract mois-
ture from the air, and mixing with vegetable acids, it is rea-
sonable to believe, that combining with other substances in the
soil, they may prepare them likewise to become the food of
plants.

The theory of their operation is of little importance com-
pared with the facts of their efficiency. The ashes of sea-
weeds, what is called in Europe kelp, and in the shops the
carbonate of soda, have proved of great efficiency. I am not
aware that it has been used here, to any great extent ; but the
accounts given of its use abroad commend it most strongly.
One of the best writers known, on the subject of the wheat
culture, says, " that two or three pounds worth of it (he means
pounds sterling) per acre, spread about two months before sow-
ing time, would always more than repay itself. It attracts
moisture from the atmosphere ; it materially increases the vol-
ume of the grain, and the fineness of the sample ; but does not
add to the weight of the straw, though rendering it whiter and
more novu'ishing to cattle. It causes the wheat to assume a
rich, healthy appearance, and is an excellent application after
a crop of potatoes or parsnips, both of which require land to be
richly dressed with stable or other strong manures, and has not
the eff"ect of decomposing them, (might he not say of consum-
ing them ?) as lime docs."

1840.] SENATE— No. 36. 81

" It is also destructive to insects, and to their eggs which lie
ill the soil or turf. It forces the earth-worms and wire-worms
from their lurking places, to come to the surface and die, par-
ticularly when laid on in a larger quantity than I have named ;
some farmers being in the habit of patting on double and even
treble the quantity above stated ; but, I believe, without hav-
ing produced proportionately larger crops from inferior land ;
though it has been asserted that its effect is very permanent,
being especially apparent on the succeeding clover crops."*

These statements come from the very highest practical
authority. Whether our farmers would think of incurring so
large an expense in manuring an acre of land, as is here men-
tioned, is doubtful. The expediency of its application must
depend altogether upon the returns obtained from it. This
with us can only be settled by actual experiment. The mate-
rial is easily procured, and it is hoped that trials of it, at least
on a small scale, will be made.f

Green Crops for Manure. — 1 pass now to the enriching land
by green crops ploughed in. No experiments of this kind are
reported in the returns, but the practice has prevailed in many
cases, with apparently great advantage. Several remarkable
instances of its advantages have come within my own observa-
tion. Clover has been denominated the mother of wheat. In
many places it is the practice to sow clover with all grain
crops, to be ploughed in with the stubble, and grain has been
repeated on this land with supposed advantage. Under such a
husbandry, it has been thought that the land was placed in a
course of improvement. Some things in this matter are settled,
and therefore deserve the particular attention of farmers.

Clover ley, as it is termed, seems to be a better preparation
for wheat than any other green crop. The roots of clover are
abundant and furnish a large amount of vegetable matter to the
soil. In the next place the tap-root of clover penetrates the
soil deeply, and the ground is kept more loose and friable than

* Le Coteur. t Appendix D.

11

82 AGRICULTURAL REPORT. [March

with any other grass. Clover, indeed, never forms an imper-
vious sward. Tliere may be other reasons, but they are alto-
gether matter of conjecture. If clover is to be ploughed in,
however, it is advisable that it should be done after it has been
killed by the frost, rather than while in a state of greenness
and luxuriance. 1 do not undertake to assign any reason for
this ; but actual observation of the comparative effects of the
two methods of ploughing in the crop green, or ploughing it
in after being killed by the frost on the same field, has sat-
isfied me which is to be preferred. The superior ease with
which the crop turned in is covered by the plough after it has
fallen, is another circumstance which recommends the practice.
It is a remarkable fact, already referred to in page 64, that in
a conclusion so different from the popular opinion, two highly
intelligent farmers in the State, situated many miles from each
other, and without any intercommunication, should have
strongly coincided.* There is a strong objection to waiting
for this perfect maturing of the clover crop where winter wheat
is to be sown, because it would carry the time of sowing too far
into the autumn: but this objection does not apply to the
ploughing in of clover for spring wheat.

It is, after all, questionable whether any other crop^'should
be sown with the wheat. There can hardly be a doubt that two
crops of any kind on the same land abstract from each other.
With our habits of sov/iug not more than one and a half bush-
els of winter, and two of spring wheat, to an acre, it is not so
objectionable to sow grass seed, as if we followed the practice
of many of the English farmers and sowed three and four
bushels of wheat to an acre.

Rotation of Crops. — -The change or rotation of crops, is a
subject, which among our farmers has received little attention ;
but if any truth is well established in husbandry, it is that two
crops of the same kind should not be allowed to perfect their
seed in succession on the same land. It is well ascertained
that a change even of the kind of wheat sown is preferable
to no change,

" Appendix E.

1840.] SENATE— No. 36. 83

The importance of a rotation of crops is explained by a re-
cent and curious discovery in vegetation, which striking and
satisfactory experiments seem to have verified. The dis-
covery, to which I refer, is that of the celebrated botanist
De Candolle, in relation to the excrementitious powers and
habits of plants. Of the nutriment, which they receive and
digest, they exude an inconsumable or innutritive portion by
theft roots. This excrementitious matter, is supposed to unfit
or poison the soil for a second crop of the same kind, until it is
either consumed or neutralized by cultivation. But this very
matter may prove nutritious to a different kind of plants.
That plants discharge by their roots an excrementitious matter
of the kind referred to, careful experiments have placed beyond
a doubt ; and it is, in his opinion, for these reasons that one
white crop should not succeed another. This matter is un-
derstood to be discharged mainly when the seed is formed ;
but this point is not conclusively established. It is ascertained
that it takes place more by night than by day.

One consideration ought not to be lost sight of. Wheat
should never follow a crop which has not been thoroughly cul-
tivated and in the cleanest manner. For this reason it is pro-
bable that it has been found to do better after a crop of corn
than after a crop of potatoes, for with but few exceptions, noth-
ing is more slovenly among us than our cultivation of potatoes.
I have seen with chagrin many crops of wheat, which other-
wise might have been expected to yield abundantly, completely
smothered by a profuse growth of weeds.

Selection of Seed. — I come next to speak of the selection
of seed wheat. More than one hundred and fifty distinct varie-
ties have been ascertained, but the cardinal distinctions are few,
and may be summed up into the flint and the thin skinned,
the bearded and the bald kinds. These seem to be original
distinctions ; but the matter of one kind ripening in a shorter
time than another is probably tlie effect of selection and cul-
tivation. A spring wheat may be changed into a winter grain ;
and a winter grain into a spring grain, by careful selection.
How much may be accomplished in this way, is well illustra-

84 AGRICULTURAL REPORT. [March,

ted by an experiment made by the Rev. Dr. Freeman, in Dor-
chester, some years since, who, with great care in selecting the
earhest ripe for planting, actually forwarded the ripening of the
common case-knife garden bean, and obtained his crop in twen-
ty-seven days less than the season required for its maturity
when he began the experiment. After repeated trials he found
he could not go beyond this, and came to the conclusion there-
fore that he had reached the ultimate practicable limit.*

In respect to the selection of seed, nothing can be worse than
the habits of our farmers. In this respect, however, two far-
mers in Hawley, Franklin county, have set a laudable exam-
ple. By a selection of the best heads of wheat they could find
in their fields, and planting these seeds by themselves, they
have succeeded, after three or four years' care, in obtaining a
superior variety ; and have now not only enough for their own
use, but to sell. They raise wheat now in abundance, and of
excellent quality ; all the product of the careful selection of
seed wheat from superior heads, in their own fields.

Wheat diflers in its season of ripening ; some winter wheats
being much more forward than others, and so with summer
wheats ; in the length of the heads ; in the hardiness of the
plants ; in liability to disease or to blight ; and to the attacks of
insects ; in amount of yield, some kinds being much more pro-
lific than others ; and especially in the quantity and quality of
the flour yielded from the same amount of grain. In all these
respects, there are cardinal differences which materially affect
the value of the crop.f These differences can be ascertained
only by careful trial ; but where these trials cannot be made
we may avail ourselves of the experiments of others, upon
whose authority we can place reliance. In most cases among
us seeds are very much mixed. Different kinds are found in
the same parcel. It would be worth a great deal of pains to
obtain a pure crop. But this can only be done by a laborious,
patient and careful selection ; and the cultivation of selected
varieties, under such circumstances that they cannot mix, either
in the flower or the seed, and the best plants of these varieties.

* Appendix F. t Appendix G.

1840.] SENATE— No. 36. 85

Nothing is more emphatically to be condemned, than the
planting of imperfect or blighted seed. A deterioration in the
crops must inevitably take place. The blasted wheat will
germinate, but it will give an inferior yield. The plant of
such wheat will come up feebly, for the wheat plant, in its
first germination, is nourished by the milk placed by nature in
the seed, for the early sustenance of the plant until it rises to
the surface and extends its coronal roots, as they are termed,
in search of food. If the seed be imperfect or shrivelled, it
can yield this first and indispensable nourishment only in a
very imperfect degree. Experiments in relation to this matter
as stated in my former report, have shown, in the most decisive
manner, that no practice can be worse than that of planting im-
perfect seeds. The great rule in relation to animals holds per-
fect in its application to vegetables. If you desire to breed the
best races, you must breed only from the best animals ; for de-
fects and imperfections have always a tendency to propagate
themselves, and are always in a greater or less degree trans-
mitted.*

Quantity of Seed to an Acre. — With respect to the quan-
tity of seed to an acre, it has been already remarked, that the
practice of farmers, from the reports, is to sow two bushels of
spring wheat, and one and a half of winter wheat, to the acre.
In this case something may depend upon the condition of the
ground, and the time of sowing. If the wheat is planted
early, it will have more time to tiller, that is to spread its roots
and throw up shoots ; but I believe that in all cases where the
condition of the land will admit of it, it would be better to
seed our land more liberally than we are accustomed to do.
The more thickly the wheat stands upon the ground, the short-
er will be the culm or stalk, and the less likely is it to become
lodged and broken down.f

Whether summer or winter wheat is to be preferred, is a
question on which there has been not a little disagreement of
opinion. Winter wheat, when it survives the winter, yields
better, produces heavier grain and better flour, but the danger of

* Appendix H. t Appendix I.

86 AGRICULTURAL REPORT. [March,

being killed by the frost has very much discouraged the culti-
vation of winter wheat. The returns, however, specify seve-
ral abundant crops of winter wheat, and in some towns they
have prevailed. I have no doubt that, were the cultivation of
winter wheat, among us, as careful as it should be, it would be
as safe as any crop that we raise. It would be sometimes advi-
sable, where winter wheat has been killed in patches upon the
field, to harrow the whole field in the spring and sow spring
wheat ill the vacancies. It is plain, however, that from such a
crop as this it would not be expedient to obtain the seed of a
succeeding crop.

Depth of Sowing. — With respect to the depth of sowing,
several things are to be considered. The seed requires air,
moisture, heat, and the exclusion of light, in order to its germi-
nation. The wheat plant has two roots, the first what are
called the seminal roots, which are thrown out from one end
of the seed ; and there is provided in the seed the nourishment
for the throwing out of these roots and the support of the stalk
until it approaches the surface ; when it throws out another set
of roots, denominated the coronal roots, which extend them-
selves laterally in search of the nourishment in the soil. If the
seed be planted too deeply, it sutlers for want of air and mois-
ture, and the nourishment or milk in the seed becomes exhaust-
ed in bringing the shoot to the surface, and it comes up in a
weakly state. If it is planted too shallow, the coronal roots
are thrown out on top or above the ground, and often perish
from drought or frost ; besides, in such case the seminal roots
being too near the surface, they also sufter from exposure to
atmospherical influences, and the plant is imperfectly fixed in
the ground. The precise depth cannot be fixed, but these
things are to be taken into consideration. If it be winter
wheat, it should be sown more deeply than in the spring, as in
such case the plant is less likely to be thrown out by the frosts.

It is true, that at any depth at which wheat is likely to be
sown, when frozen the roots would he v,s likely to be broken
in the one case as in anotlier ; but if broken when sown deeply,
they would be less exposed to the external frost than if planted

1840.] SENATE— No. 36. 87

near the surface and consequently liable to be thrown entirely
out. There is clanger, however, of sowing too deeply, so that
the seed is placed beyond the reach of the warmth of the sun
and air, as without this warmth no healthy vegetation can take
place. From two to three inches would be deep enough, if it
were practicable accurately to reach that depth.

It is often a question, whether wheat should be ploughed in
or simply harrowed. Where the crop is to be winter wheat, it
is well, when the ground is prepared and the wheat sowed, to
plough it in at right angles with the course of the prevalent
winter winds. In this way, the seed will be thrown into the
furrow, and when it comes up will be sheltered and protected
in a degree from the cold.

Winter wheat, after the ground becomes dry, and especially
if the soil is close and heavy, may be harrowed in the spring,
even once or twice, to advantage. Some of the plants may be
torn up by the operation ; but I know, from repeated trials,
that they will be many fewer than Avould generally be appre-
hended ; and a most ample compensation will be found in the
loosening of the ground about the others, and rendering it open
to the admission of light, and air, and warmth.

With respect to spring wheat, it is greatly benefited by the
fine tilth of the ground, so that it may extend its roots freely :
and by the accession of the air, from v/hich it may imbibe the
oxygen, which it then particularly needs. This solves the
secret of the success of the farmer in Lenox, in harrowing his
spring wheat for several days in succession after it was sown
and after it had germinated, and thus keeping the ground quite
loose and open. A very intelligent and successful farmer in
Sheffield, upon whose authority I place great reliance, says,
that by this process wheat may be forwarded in its growth at
least five days beyond what it would be if left untouched.
This renders it a matter of much importance.

Ploughing for Wheat. — Questions have arisen respecting
the mode of ploughing for wheat ; some preferring to have the
furrow shut in so that the ground may be laid completely
flat ; and others preferring that the furrows should be laid lap-

88 AGRICULTURAL REPORT. [March,

ping upon each other. For fall ploughing and winter wheat
my opinion is, that the latter method is decidedly to be pre-
ferred. If the ploughing is well done, and the ground thor-
oughly harrowed, there is no more evil to be apprehended from
the starting of the grass, than in cases where the furrow slices
are completely shut in. But it will be seen, that by this mode
of ploughing a larger extent of surface is at first exposed
to the influences of the atmosphere, which are unquestion-
ably beneficial ; and, in the next place, the land will lay
more lightly, be less liable to suffer from wetness, which is
always extremely prejudicial to winter wheat in particular;
and the land in the spring may be more finely harrowed.
Whether it would be equally advisable for spring grain, which
it is not expedient should be planted quite as deeply as winter
wheat is not so plain. In any case, however, the ground can-
not be brought into too fine tilth ; and, as the plant depends
mainly for its nourishment upon its coronal roots, which are
thrown out near the surface, it is plain that the manure, if any
is applied, should likewise be kept near the surface.

Time of Sowing. — In respect to the time of sowing, winter
wheat should be got in by the middle of September, that it
may be well established before winter ; and spring wheat can-
not be got in too early after the ground is opened and suffi-
ciently dry for the plough. It has been said that late sown
spring wheat has escaped injury from the grain insect, when
early sown wheat has been destroyed by it, the flowering sea-
son of the wheat having been coincident with its appearance.
This has no doubt been the case. But the risk of mildew in
late sown wheat is great ; and as I conceive there is a simple
and almost infallible preventive of injury from the grain insect
within the reach of every good farmer, the sowing of wheat
should not be delayed on that account. The chances are
very many against the success of late sown spring wheat.
Of the preparation of the seed, I need add nothing to what
has been said in speaking of smut. Excepting for this object,
it is not advisable to apply any steep ; but thoroughly brining
the seed and coating it with quick-lime, finely powdered before

1840.] SENATE— No. 36. 89

sowing, and allowing it to remain in this condition some little
time before sowing, will in general prove a certain preventive
of smut.

Cleanness of Cultivation. — With respect to cultivation,
too much stress cannot be laid upon having the ground as clean
as possible from weeds. In this matter we are grossly negli-
gent. In several parts of the State, I have seen frequent cases
in which a crop of wheat of luxuriant growth has been
destroyed by weeds. This often comes from the use of
green manure directly from the barn yard, which is surcharged
with the chaff of the barn floor. The practice, therefore, of
applying manure in that state, is to be strongly condemned.
But unpleasant as the statement of the fact may be, it cannot
be denied, that little of our cultivation is of that clean charac-
ter which it ought to be ; and it would be better in many
cases to have a naked fallow than to plant after a crop
which has been infested with weeds. It is idle to expect to be
successful in our wheat crops under such circumstances. But
there are various crops, susceptible of a perfectly clean cultiva-
tion, which might precede wheat without losing the use of the
land by a fallow, if we will only do justice to the cultivation.
In this respect, the carrot crop may be strongly recommended ;
for besides the clean and rich cultivation to which it is, to say
the least, entitled, its tap root serves to divide the soil and
reduce it to a fine tilth.

Draining. — Another fault in the cultivation of wheat is the
neglect of draining our soils. This is done to no considerable
extent among us. The least measure of superfluous moisture
or what amounts to wetness, is exceedingly prejudicial to
wheat. Under ground draining is scarcely practised among
us ; and the practice of laying our wheat land in ridges, so
that the rain may immediately pass into the intervening hol-
lows, is not at all attended to in Massachusetts. This, indeed
is a poor substitute for thorough underground draining, and is
attended with considerable loss of surface besides rendering
the crop uneven from the accumulation of the rich mould in
12

90 AGRICULTUKAL REPORT. [March,

the centre of the ridges. Little hope of success is to be enter-
tained in the cultivation of winter wheat without provision
against standing water upon the field : and to spring wheat it
is of almost equal importance.

Deep Cultivation. — But I pass to a point more material
than any other to the success of the wheat crop as the most
decisive experiments in this country and abroad seem fully
settled ; that is, the furnishing to the wheat crop deep cultiva-
tion, dry cultivation, and a fresh soil. The earthy constitu-
ents of the soil are, under certain qualifications, of little con-
sequence, provided there is a sufficient tenacity to retain mois-
ture, though not to excess, which would be positively inju-
rious ; and provided likewise the soil be reduced to that fria-
ble and permeable state that the roots can fix and spread
themselves freely, and light, and air, and moisture have free
access. The beneficial agency of light upon vegetation after
the germination of the seed has been completed, has been
established in the most decisive manner ; and the part per-
formed by air and moisture is too well settled to be brought
into discussion. Several plants are known whose roots never
touch the ground, and whose whole dependance is upon air
and moisture.* A soil composed of one simple earth, wheth-
er pure clay, or sand, or chalk, is unfavorable to vegetatioUj
though plants will live aud grow in them where they are
abundantly supplied with air and moisture. The intermixture
seems most favorable of sand enough to render the clay per-
meable, and of clay enough to be tenacious of moisture.
The growth of any vegetable must depend, in a great meas-
ure, upon the amount of decayed vegetable or animal matter
in the soil ; and of this, undoubtedly, light, air, and mois-
ture, are the most powerful solvents. Nothing can be taken
up by the roots of the plants unless it be in a state of perfect
solution, and nothing can be absorbed by the leaves or the
stems of the plant unless it be in a gaseous form. The
great agents of vegetation then are not the earths — though
these perform their parts — but air, light, heat, and moisture

" Ajipendix J

1840.] SENATE— No. 36. 91

and that cultivation which readers the earth most accessible to
these great agents, will beyond question prove most efficient.*
I have already stated my conviction of the propriety and ex-
pediency of a rotation of crops, on the ground of the excre-
mentitious matter ejected by a plant being unfavorable to the
successive growth of the same plant or one of the same family
on the same land. This, then, is also to be kept in view.

In my former report on the cultivation of spring wheat, I
expressed my opinion of the necessity of deep ploughing for
wheat, and the necessity of furnishing a fresh soil for its roots.
This has been fully confirmed by the experiments and success
of highly inteUigent and practical farmers.

Recent English Improvements. — In my first report, too, I
had the pleasure of laying before the government the extraor-
dinary benefits produced by subsoil ploughing, and gave at
that time a model of Smith's subsoil plough. Since that time
the success which has attended this mode of cultivation, has
fully confirmed all the notions and theories which I then gave
on the subject ; and is effecting a revolution and an improve-
ment in the agriculture of England as extraordinary as has
ever taken place in any of the arts, and which bids fair in its
effects upon the agricultural welfare of the country, to rank
next to the introduction of steam into the mechanic arts.

This improvement consists, in the first place, in a thorough
draining of the soil by under-ground drains, which are sunk to
the depth of three feet, and then filled up with loose stone to
the depth of a foot ; or the drain is made with tile resembling
half a circle in their shape, and laid down directly at the bottom
of the ditch. x\fter this is done, the soil is ploughed and the
ploughing is followed by a subsoil plough, which loosens the
lower substratum without bringing much of it to the surface.
At successive times more of this lower soil is mixed with the
top mould, and the cultivation is constantly deepened and the
ground enriched. On such soils, after careful cultivation, the
crops of wheat are in many cases actually trebled, and the val-
ue of the land is vastly increased. The philosophy of its oper-

'* Appendix K.

92 AGRICULTURAL REPORT. [March,

ation is understood to be, first ; the perfect draining of the land,
so that no superfluous moisture remains at the roots of the
plant, second ; the fine tilth and division of the soil, by which
the roots of the plants are enabled to fix and expand themselves:
third ; the access of the air and light and warmth to the soils,
by which simple process even the coldest and most gravelly
subsoil becomes enriched and cabable of sustaining and nour-
ishing a healthy vegetation. The bringing up of the subsoil,
and the intermixing of it with the surface mould, must be done
gradually and not in too large quantities at once. These im-
provements are placed beyond all doubt. The experiments
have been made for a course of years in the most conclusive
and satisfactoiy manner. The most incredulous are convinced.
Examinations have been made before committees of both houses
of Parliament, and leave not a doubt on the subject.*

Agricultural Improvements. — There is no circumstance in
the condition of Scotland or in that of Massachusetts, which
would not render the same system applicable to us. Fifty
bushels of wheat to an acre, weighing 62 and 64 lbs. to the
bushel, are not uncommon under this system of cultivation.
The proceeds of the land early defray the expenditure made in
its improvement. The crop of wheat is as important to us as
it is to any country. We have only to see our interest in its
true light. We want only the courage to invest capital judi-
ciously in agricultural improvements. As yet this has scarcely
been done at all ; but in the few cases where it has been done,
even to a small extent, — the returns will be admitted to have
proved as productive as in any investment whatever. The
day is not distant, we express the strong hope, when Massachu-
setts will understand her duty and her interest ; and for bread,
the great and first necessary of life, will not rest satisfied under
a precarious and exhausting dependence upon a foreign supply.
The great objection likely to be made to the cultivation here
proposed, is in the labor and expense required to render our
lands thus productive. This objection may arise from timi-

* Appendix L.

1840.] SENATE— No. 36. 93

dity or miscalculation, or want of calculation ; but much often-
er from indolence and deficiency of enterprise, which are always
barriers to the progress of any useful art, agriculture as much
as any other, and to any distinguished improvement. Liberal
returns can be obtained only from liberal cultivation. The
traveller might, with equal reason, expect that his horse, with-
out attention, and provender, without being carefully curried,
and seasonably fed, and kindly lodged, would perform a long
and laborious journey well, as the farmer to see his fields wav-
ing with luxuriant crops, and returning their golden harvest
iuto his lap without cultivation, and cleaning, and draining, and
eiu'iching.

I should be among the last persons to recommend to the far-
mers any lavish expenditure of time or money in the improve-
ment of their l^nds, without a prospect of remuneration. But
I can say in truth, that in my various explorations in different
sections of the State, I have not yet found a single well con-
ducted instance of improvement or redemption of land, v/hich
has not given an ample return ; and in instances without num-
ber it has happened that not only has the whole expense of
the improvement been rej)aid by the first or the two first crops,
but the land itself has been increased ten fold in value, esti-
mating its value by its prospective returns for years to come.
In all enterprises of permanent improvement of the land, the
simple questions to be asked are, will the enterprise or project
prove effectual ? is it the best that can be undertaken ? will it
remunerate the expei^se? will it be profitable ? Now there is
scarcely a farm in Massachusetts, where improvements may
not be made, and even at a heavy expense, in which every one
of these questions would not be answered emphatically in the
affirmative. Many a farmer in the State, who is careful to in-
vest his moderate earnings of a few hundred dollars in bank
stock or in private notes, where, making no allowance for the
various risks incidental to all such operations, the most that
he can expect is a return of six per cent, interest, by a prudent
and judicious investment of the same in the redemption of his

94 AGRICULTURAL REPORT. [March,

peat-bogs and low meadows, or the general improvement of
his arable lands, would often obtain a return of four times that
amount in their increased and improved production.

I should regret, in this case, to be misunderstood. Agricul-
tural improvements may be divided into two classes, productive
and unproductive. With respect to the latter class, such as the
erection of buildings beyond the absolute needs of the farmer,
and of expensive and ornamental fences, where a plainer and
much cheaper erection would serve every purpose of enclosure
and protection, or any work of embellishment, they are only
eligible under peculiar circumstances. They may add sub-
stantially to the intrinsic value of the farm, and be strongly
commended where the rights of primogeniture and entail pre-
vailed, and the estate was likely to remain in the same family
through successive generations ; yet in the moderate circum-
stances in which most of our farmers are placed, and under the
rapid changes of property, which are continually goiug on
among us, they can hardly be advised. On the other hand,
where the means are ample, we hardly know a better appropri-
ation of money, within reasonable limits, than to the purposes
of rural embellishment ; or one more gratifying to a cultivated
and refined mind. But with respect to improvements, which
may be denominated productive, the propriety and expediency
of making such, resolve themselves entirely into a question of
pecuniary profit or loss. In ihis matter, then, the Massachu-
setts farmers have an important lesson to learn. They have
seldom, and in very infrequent instances, regarded agriculture
as a proper subject for the investment of capital ; but their great
object has been to keep down their agricultural expenditures
to the lowest scale. There are, indeed, some honorable excep-
tions. In my first report,* I referred to a case of this sort, re-
markable for the boldness and success of fhe enterprise, and es-
pecially as having been undertaken by a poor man, who had
to rely upon the credit of lii.s induslry and perseverance for the

'' First Rnporl of llic- Agrirnllnro .'I ,Mas-:n(linseltS, p. 79.

1840.] SENATE— No. 36. 95

means of accomplishing it. At that time the work was in
progress. It has since been completed, and I shall subjoin in
the appendix a detailed statement of its course and accomplish-
ment.* It cannot fail to be read with great interest and in-
struction, as showing what great obstacles spirit and persever-
ance can overcome ; and with what confidence, under the guid-
ance of sound judgment, even a comparatively large amount of
capital may be applied to agricultural improvements.

I am, in conclusion, satisfied, that Massachusetts is capable of
producing her own bread ; and of producing it to advantage. I
do not say that this can be done under our present imperfect
and stinted modes of cultivation. I do not pretend that it is to
be accomplished without labor, and capital, and time, and skill.

Agricultural improvements usually proceed at a slow pace ;
and farmers are proverbially among the slowest in the commu-
nity to change their habits or practices. I do not look forward
to wheat being raised among us beyond our own domestic
wants, although, to those, who wait a quarter of a century,
such a fact may not be surprising. I do not consider the wheat
plant, as upon the whole, in all its uses and results, to be placed
before Indian corn. But, under good and liberal cultivation, it
will be found to succeed as often as most crops. Its great value
is not a matter to be questioned ; and it ought to have its place
in a systematic rotation of crops. Indian corn, indeed, has
proved an excellent crop to precede wheat ; and where an early
kind is cultivated, it may be ripened and harvested, so as to
afl"ord an early sowing of a wheat crop, where it is desired to
cultivate a winter variety. The advantage of Indian corn as
preceding wheat, lies to a considerable extent in the cleanness
of its cultivation, as there are few crops grown among us, where
in general the weeds are more thoroughly subdued, than in a
well cultivated field of Indian corn.

But the wheat crop may be made a safe and most valuable
crop among us. With the exception of those influences and
dangers, which no human sagacity or power can control, there

' Ap()endix M

96 AGRICULTURAL REPORT. [March

is no peculiar impediment, none certainly which is insurmount-
able, to its cultivation. It does not ofteuer fail than a crop of
rye. With the proper choice of soil, the careful selection and
preparation of seed, the due preparation of the land, so as per-
fectly to drain it, to reduce it to a fine tilth, to have it well ma-
nured for the previous crop, and then deeply turned, without
bringing the sub-soil suddenly to the surface ; and by the ad-
dition of lime, where hme abounds, to clayey soils, or in a
caustic state to land too abundant with crude or acid vegeta-
ble matter ; and especially by a liberal application of wood
ashes, there can scarcely remain a doubt, that the best of wheat
may be raised among us at a fair agricultural profit, and to an
extent to supply in a great measure our domestic wants. It is
easy to see at a glance, that such a result would prove an
immense gain to our comforts, to our pecuniary condition ; and
to our political and moral welfare.

Note. — It will be seen, upon examination, that there are several
points in relation to the wheat crop, which, in the foregoing discussion,
I have not touched, and others upon which I have remarked cursorily
and slightly. The apology for this will be found in the fact, that, at
the time of the passage of the law ordering a bounty upon wheat, I
submitted by order of the Senate a full report on the cultivation of
spring wheat, which was published and widely distributed ; and I have
deemed it proper, as far as I could do so, to avoid a repetition of the
remarks then given.

1840.1 SENATE— No. 36. 97

REPORT

CULTURE OF SILK

I. History of the Silk Culture in the United States. —
The production of silk in this country has been repeatedly
brought before the public ; and presented in various forms as a
subject of general interest to the agricultural community.
When the state of Georgia was settled, silk and wine were re-
commended as particular objects of culture. In Virginia meas-
ures were taken as early as 1063 to encourage the general pro-
duction of silk ; and the failure to plant mulberry trees at the
rate of ten for every hundred acres, was made by the laws a
penal offence. In 1760, the society in London for the encour-
agement of arts, manufactures, and commerce, offered liberal
premiums for the production of silk in Georgia, Pennsylvania,
and Connecticut. " The society propose to give for every
pound weight of cocoons produced in the Province of Con-
necticut in the year 1759, of an hard, weighty, and good sub-
stance, wherein one worm only has spun, three pence ; for every
pound weight of cocoons of a weaker, lighter, spotted, or bruised
quality, though only one worm has spun in them, two pence ;
for every pound of cocoons, produced in the same year, where-
in two worms are interwoven, one penny. These premiums
will be paid on condition that a public filature be established
in Connecticut, and that each person bring his or her balls to
such public filature." This invitation, says Jared Eliot, in
his remarkable essays on Field Husbandry in New England, is
13

98 AGRICULTURAL REPORT. [March,

not to a business to which we are wholly strangers ; it is not to
an empty, airy, and untried project ; for there has been some-
thing of this manufactory carried on for sundry years, and by a
number of our people in divers of our towns by which we are
assured that it is practicable.* As early as 1747, the governor
of Connecticut, Mr. Law, wore the first coat and stockings
made of New England silk ; and in 1750, his daughter wore
the first silk gown of domestic production.

In an almanac of Nathaniel Ames, for the year 1769, it seems
the subject had been matter of much public discussion, and "a
gentleman, whom posterity will bless, deposited one hundred
dollars in the hands of the selectmen of Boston ; forty dollars to
be given to the person, who in the year 1771, shall have raised
the greatest quantity of mulberry trees ; thirty dollars to him
that shall have the next greatest number ; twenty to the next ;
and ten to the next ; certificate being produced from a justice
of the peace of the number, and that they belong to Mas-
sachusetts Bay." It is added that, " Justinian, the emperor,
looking upon it as a great hardship that his subjects should
buy the manufacture of the Persians at so dear a rate as a
pound of gold for a pound of silk, dispatched two monks into
India to discover and learn how the silk trade was managed
there ; and to bring a quantity of those insects from whom he
was informed the silk was produced, when they brought at a
second voyage, great quantity of silk worms' eggs." This
writer adds, " It is but of late years that the Europeans fell
into the way of cultivating any quantity of raw silk. The
Italians led the way ; and they have been followed with great
success by the French ; and the advantages thereof to these
nations are amazing, as they supply Great Britain with raw
silk for the thousands of spinners and weavers constantly em-
ployed in Spitalfields. It being certain that raw silk is plenti-
fully raised in much more northern climates than this, we
have a most promising prospect of one day turning the constant

p. 129.

1840.] . SENATE— No. 36. 99

course of prodigious sums of money from Spain, France, and
Italy into America."

It is further stated by Eliot, in 1702, '• that by a late ac-
count from Georgia, it appears that the silk manufactory is in
a flourishing way. In the year 1757, the weight of silk balls
received at the filature, was only 1,050 ; last year produced
7,040, and this year already about 10,000 ; and it is very re-
markable that the raw silk exported from Georgia, sells at Lon-
don from two to three shillings a pound more than that from
any other part of the world."* It is stated by president Stiles,
that in 1762 Georgia exported to London 15,000 lbs. cocoons,
deemed sufficient to make 1500 lbs. of silk.

Other remarks of Eliot, considering the time when he wrote,
are particularly deserving of attention. He commends espe-
cially the cultivation of silk to the northern colonies, " who are
destitute of any staple commodity by which they could make
an immediate and direct return to England, for such goods as
we want, and must always want, more abundantly than we
have means at present by which we can refund. This seems
to be the state of Georgia, Pennsylvania, and Connecticut."
The cultivation of the great staple of cotton was not pursued
then to any extent in the southern states.

He goes on to say that, " those among us, who raise silk,
say, that it is more profitable than other ordinary business.
Some years past, I asked a man of good faith and credit, who
had then made the most silk of any among us, what profit
might be made of it. His reply was that he could make a
yard of silk as cheap as he could make a yard of linen cloth of
eight run to the pound. A woman of experience in this busi-
ness told me, that, in the short time of feeding the worm and
winding the silk balls, she could earn enough to hire a good
spinner the whole year. I have not the least scruple of the in-
former's veracity, but how far their capacity might serve for an
exact calculation, I know not."

" We labor under such difficulties to make returns for goods

* Eliot's Essays, p. 154.

100 AGRICULTURAL REPORT. [March,

imported, that many have thought it would be best that we
should make our own clothes ; and by this means lessen our
importation, which indeed would be better than to run into an
endless and irrecoverable debt ; but there is now a way
opened by which, if we are not wanthig to ourselves, we may
not only continue but increase our importation, for if the same
cost, labor, and time, which we expend in making one yard of
cloth, if laid out in raising silk will procure two yards of the
same sort of cloth, and manufactured by more skilful hands, it
is easy to see which is the most eligible method."

In 1772, as appears from the manuscript journal of president
Stiles of Yale College, his family engaged, to some extent, in
the culture of silk, and their production was sent to England
to be manufactured, a sample of which cloth, presenting a sin-
gularly beautiful fabric, together with the journal itself, is now
in my possession.

About the year 1770, a filature was established in Philadel-
phia, and it is a remarkable fact that from the 25th of Jime to
the 15th of August 1771, 2,300 pounds of cocoons were
brought to the filature to be reeled, or were bought by the
managers. These came from Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and
Delaware.*

About the year 1760, the culture of silk was introduced into
Mansfield, Conn., and some of the neighboring towns. It has
been pursued ever since that time, to a small extent, in several
other places in New England ; but it cannot be said to have
maintained its foothold in any other situation than in Mans-
field. In other places, where it planted itself with every
favorable prospect of success, it presently expired. In Mans-
field, Conn., it has continued to be pursued to the present time.
The largest amount of raw reeled silk reported to have been
produced in any one year in Mansfield, as was stated to me in
that town, has been about seven thousand pounds. In general,
however, it has notT exceeded three thousand pounds per year.
The inhabitants of Mansfield have been wholly dependent upon

* Hazard's Register of Pennsylvania, p. G4.

1840.] SENATE.~-No. 36. 101

the white mulberry for feed for their worms ; and a large pro-
portion of these were destroyed by the severe winter of 1834-5.

The silk culture became again strongly the subject of public
attention in 1826. Congress encouraged it, by the publication
and distribution of large editions of manuals and treatises, pre-
pared with great care and fullness, and giving all the directions
and details necessary to the prosecution of the business, from
the raising of the trees, to the preparation of the article for use.
The vast amounts of money annually sent abroad for the pur-
chase of this article of universal use and almost of necessity,
the increasing use of the article among all classes of people,
and to an extent probably not known in any other country ;
and, at the same time, the acknowledged capacity of the coun-
try to produce silk, and of the best quality, gave new promi-
nence to the subject in the community, and drew the public
attention to it with an intense interest ; but with no greater in-
terest than in an economical view, in the opinion of many in-
telligent men, its national importance may justly claim.

In 1830, the introduction of a new plant into the country,*
which promised from its extraordinary capacity of rapid multi-
plication, and its productiveness of foliage, to furnish superior
advantages for the prosecution of the silk culture, gave a new
impulse to the cause, and aroused public enthusiasm to a high
degree of fervor. The disappointment occasioned by the al-
most universal destruction of these plants by the frosts, pro-
duced a revulsion in public feeling ; and the progress of the
silk culture was again arrested and set back in a strong ebb.

It does not fall within my province to detail more particu-
larly the history of events in relation to this subject. The
introduction of this extraordinary variety of the mulberry, the
Morus Multicaulis or many stalked mulberry, or, as I think it
should be called after the name of the spirited individual who
brought it into Europe, the Perottet mulberry, led to the intro-
duction of other valuable varieties. About this time the erec-
tion of a cocoonery at Northampton, in Massachusetts, of ex-

* The Perottet mulberry, or Morus Multicaulis.

102 AGRICULTURAL REPORT. [March,

traordinary dimensions and expense, and the reiterated and
extravagant calculations of profit, which were to follow from the
culture of silk, continually given to the public in the most im-
posing forms, and the establishment of societies in all parts of
the country, with large capitals for this object, kept the curiosi-
ty and interest of the public constantly upon the stretch. The
announced introduction of varieties of the mulberry, of such
hardihood as to brave the severity of our climate, and especial-
ly the adoption of a plan for taking up the tender varieties and
resetting them, or laying them down in the spring ; and the
practicableness in this way of obtaining in the same season
from trees thus managed, an ample supply of food for the
worms, seemed to give strong assurance that the bright hopes
which had been indulged on this subject, were at least, in some
degree, on the point of being realized.

In the year 1838, a new chapter in the history of the silk cul-
ture was to be unfolded. There is little reason to doubt, that,
at this time, a conspiracy or combination of some principal in-
dividuals, deeply interested in the Multicaulis in the United
States, was formed, in order to force the sales of this tree at
high prices. By every species of finesse, and by the grossest
impositions, the public pulse was quickened to a rapidity and
intensity of circulation almost unparalleled in the history of the
excitements of the human mind. The selling of spurious seed,
the disposal of trees under false names, the selling for Multi-
caulis that which did not even belong to the species of the
mulberry, and especially the villany, for it deserves no milder
name, and should shut out its perpetrators from all community
with honest men, of getting up extensive auction sales of Multi-
caulis trees, which were purely fictitious, and this with no other
view than that of fraudulent wholesale imposition upon the
public, present facts in the history of our community equally
remarkable and disgraceful. They are instructive monuments
to mark the extremes to which, under the influence of an un-
bridled avarice, the cunning of some men will proceed, and
the credulity of others may be led. In these circumstances
the public attention was directed exclusively to the growing of

1840.] SENATE— No. 36. 103

trees. The production of silk did not enter into the calculation.
Thousands and thousands of acres were planted with the Perot-
tet mulberry ; and immense importations of these trees have
been made from foreign countries.

By the caprices and fluctuations incident to all human af-
fairs, and by no means unexpected in a case of such violent
and extravagant speculation, as that of %vhich I have been
speaking, it has happened that the ebb has gone down in pro-
portion to the elevation of the flood. This speculation is at
an end ; and though all the growers and speculators in Morus
Multicaulis from Florida to Maine should pump at the bellows
together, they are much more likely to blow out the last em-
bers that remain on the hearth, than to fan them into a flame.
It is feared that in too many cases the exposure of the specula-
tion, as it was termed, would present only humiliating examples
of fraud and credulity ; and it would be an invidious and ungrate-
ful task to rake open the ashes for the sake of seeing the burnt
bones and carcases of those, who have perished in the flames.
The Multicaulis is no longer in quick demand, and maybe
purchased at a price far below its actual and intrinsic value.
The tree having ceased to be an object of speculation, it is now
hoped that public attention will be directed to the production
of silk. The best trees of the best descriptions being obtain-
able, even by persons of the most limited means, it becomes
matter of important inquiry, whether, to what extent, and un-
der what circumstances, the silk culture may be conducted and
encouraged as a profitable branch of agriculture.

II. Patronage of the State. — The State having in this
matter ofl"ered the most liberal bounties,* it is on this, as well as
many other accounts, a subject, which, in my official relations
to the State, demands my particular attention. This has in-
duced me to visit all the principal parts of the State, where
silk has been cultivated ; and as well as possible to possess my-
self of the best information which I could obtain from practi-
cal and experienced men.

* For Laws of the State, see Appendix N.

104

AGRICULTURAL REPORT.

[March,

The amount of silk produced in the State, and the amount
of bounty paid under the law awarding a premium on its pro-
duction, are given in the subjoined tables, showing also the
largest amount of silk and of cocoons produced by any one
mdividual in each year.

Amount of Silk and Cocoons, produced in Massachusetts, and
bounty on the same ; as obtained from the office of the Secre-
tary of the State.

Year.

Large

St quantity.

Lbs. Silk.

Lbs. Cocoons.

Ami. Bounty.

By one person.

By one person.

lbs. oz.

lbs. oz.

is.%

9 lbs. Silk

29G !bs. Cocoons

36 10

613 02

585 20

1837

32^ " "

2-10 " "

109 01

1,001 08

137 51

1S38

39 " "

311 "

184 01

1,854 15

350 52

C 1839

52i " "

G15 " «

190 6

2,631 0

397 99 ;>

\

15 0

270 0

42 00 3

1840

I9j - "

235 "

222 06

4,719 8

815 62

Lbs. 757 8

Lbs. 11,090 1

51,878 84

in. Mulberry Trees. Varieties. — In the silk cuUure it is
perfectly obvious that the tree is matter of primary considera-
tion. There are several varieties of the mulberry, on which
the worms can be subsisted and made to produce silk, but the
trees are of very different values.

1. The Black Mulberry, which is indeed a native of some
parts of the country, is of different varieties, and will produce
silk though not equally well ; but the silk made from worms fed
upon this tree is harsh and coarse. The tree will endure our
climate well, but for the reasons above given, it is not an eligi-
ble variety.

2. The White Mulberry is not indigenous in the country ;
and was imported into Europe centuries ago from Asia, but it
has now been for years so widely extended, that it is as famil-
iar as any of our native trees. It is universally conceded that

1840.] SENATE— No. 36. 105

the leaves of the white mulberry are as favorable to the health
and growth of the worms, and to the production of silk, both
in respect to quantity and quality, as any which is known.
The white mulberry is comparatively a hardy tree, though in
severe winters it is generally killed at the extremities of the
smaller branches ; and in the cold winter of 1834-5, when a
great amount of the tender varieties of the apple were destroy-
ed, the white mulberry suffered as severely as other trees. At
this time nearly two thirds of the white mulberry growing in
Mansfield, Conn., and, even trees of an advanced age, were ut-
terly destroyed.

Among the white mulberry trees valuable selections in re-
spect to the size of the leaf may be made with great advan-
tage. Its thriftiness, like that of other plants, depends upon
its cultivation, and it is susceptible of great improvement by a
careful engrafting of scions from the best kinds, into others of
the same species. This mode of improvement has been long
practised by European cultivators, and with great success.
Among the French, engrafting is considered indispensable.

3. The Broussa mulberry is a variety introduced into the
country from Smyrna and Constantinople, and propagated with-
out difficulty from the seed. The leaf of this tree is not larger
than that of the white mulberry. Its foliage is very thickly set
on the branches ; and the leaves are thick and heavy, as well as
abundant. They are healthy for the worms. They produce a
good silk. They endure the climate of New England without
injury. I have not seen trees of this kind of any large size j
but those, which I have seen, threw up very numerous branch-
es from the root, and yielded a large amount of foliage.

4. The Alpine denotes another variety, which has been
greatly commended. The designation of this variety, if it is
to be called a variety, belongs to this country. Samuel Whit-
marsh, of Northampton, who has been prominent in his enter-
prising attempts to introduce the culture of silk into the Uiiited
States, in 1834, visited Italy and France for the purpose of ob-
taining from the fountain head, and in the most authentic

14

106 AGRICULTURAL REPORT. [March,

form, the desired information in regard to the silk culture. In
visiting in Italy the neighborhood of the Alps, he found there
a species of the mulberry, said to have been introduced into
that country from China, and called the Chinese mulberry,
which was in high repute among the silk growers, and which
had proved capable of enduring without injury the rigors of a
climate as severe at least as that of New England, He brought
a considerable quantity of the seeds to this country, and they
have been extensively diffused. It is understood that, from the
product of these seeds, he has made abundant selections, which
he denominates the Alpine, by which name these trees are now
generally known. The results from the planting of this seed
have not every where given equal satisfaction, and many con-
tend that they are not superior to the white mulberry. It is
not for me to become a party in these disputes. There is little
reason to suppose that the trees now called Alpine are an origi-
nal variety. The leaf is of a large size, generally heart-shaped,
but many of them with deep indentures or lobed. They en-
dure the winter well. Of their influence upon the health of
the worms, and of the quality of the silk, which they produce,
I have as yet, no satisfactory information. I have not been
able to hear of any exact experiment in the use of them ; ex-
cepting a small one, to which I shall presently refer.

5. The Perottet Mulberry, or the Morus Multicaulis,
that is, the many stalked mulberry, denotes another variety of
which I have already spoken, and of such pre-eminent noto-
riety, that it is destined to be immortalized in the history of
commercial transactions, if not of agriculture. This tree was
brought from Manilla to France by M. Perottet, in the year
1820 ; and to this country more than ten years since. It is
remarkable for its rapidity of growth and the shoots v/hich it
throws up ; and from this circumstance derives its name. Its
leaf is plainly distinguishable from other kinds of mulber-
ry leaf It is heart-shaped, and has a flaccid, loose, and on its
upper side a concave appearance, looking as if the ribs of the
leaf were not sufficiently spread to allow of the surface to be

1840.] SENATE— No. 36. 107

stretched to its full extent, which gives it the appearance of
dried clothes before they are ironed. It hangs vertically upon
the plant, and to an inexperienced eye, would appear like a
leaf in which the circulation had been arrested. I have seen
silk of the finest description made from worms fed upon the
leaves of this tree. This silk would not suffer by comparison
with any other. The worms devour the leaves of this tree
greedily, and as far as it has been tried here, it seems favorable
to their health and growth. The leaf often acquires a large
size, though the foliage would naturally be larger while the
tree is small, and formed upon recently grown wood, than it
would be if the tree were allowed to form a standard tree, and
should attain several years' growth. The great advantages,
which are relied upon in respect to this tree, are in the rapidity
of its growth, the ease with which it can be multiplied, the
abundance of its foliage, and the great facility with which
the leaves may be gathered.

This tree has been so much the subject of speculation, that it
has become matter of no little difficulty to determine what is
true in respect to it. Individuals, under the influence of pri-
vate interest, have indulged in calculations respecting it, so ex-
travagant, that all sobriety seems at once distanced, and we
are transported into the upper regions of pure fiction. The
extraordinary value of the tree, however, is unquestionable ;
and the introduction of it into the country, must be considered
a distinguished benefaction ; but that it is the best tree for the
cultivators of silk in New England, is not so well established.

The tree does not appear to be used, certainly it is not pre-
ferred, in China. A gentleman in the vicinity of Boston, who
had been himself a resident in Canton for many years, and
who could command the services and influence of the most
intelligent and influential merchants of that city, ordered two
thousand of the most valuable tree used in the country, to be
shipped to him. Five hundred of these survived the passage ;
but the Multicaulis is not among them. The American mis-
sionaries, who have sent to this country seeds of the best mul-

108 AGRICULTURAL REPORT. [March,

berry which they could procure, did not, it is understood, find
the MulticauHs in use in China for the production of silk.
The proximity of Manilla, where this tree was found, to Can-
ton, and the constant intercommunication between the two
places, would long since have caused the introduction of this
tree into China, had it been preferred ; but it is understood to
have been carried from Canton to Manilla. It is valued, but
certainly is not preferred in Italy ; nor in Germany, where the
silk culture, which was given up about half a century since, is
now reviving and strongly urged upon the people on the same
grounds of public and private economy, on which it is ad-
vocated here.

I take the liberty of subjoining, on this subject, an extract
from the private journal of a highly intelligent friend, entirely
disinterested in the case, who with his family, have recently
returned from Europe, and who made the silk culture matter
of particular but merely incidental inquiry.

" When visiting the botanic garden, at Montpelier, Professor
De Lisle gave us his decided opinion against the Morus Multi-
cauHs as food for the silk worm. One of his reasons was that
the leaves, in comparison with those of the French mulberry,
are thin and weak, and will not bear a single day's wilting
without becoming dry and crisp, and unfit for the worm. Al-
though the Multicaulis is prolific, and the leaves are large, still
it produces less in weight than the common French, which
bears a red or black fruit, grows freely at Montpelier, sending
up straight shoots even from old trees that have been topped
down, as they generaily are there. Of course the leaves are
easily gathered by a sweep of the hand along the branches, an
object of importance there, and still more so where labor is
dear.

" The professor's reasons for condemning the Multicaulis is
more important there than elsewhere, because the leaves when
gathered are sold by the pound to the worm feeders ; and a
leaf which lasts good only one day is objectionable. The tender
character of the tree too, is an objection at Montpelier, because

1840.] SENATE— No. 36. 109

though the dimate is milder than in the northern parts of
France, the sudden changes from heat to cold in the 'early
spring are too severe ; whilst further north the leaves start late
and suffer less in consequence. If the Morus Multicaulis
suffers thus at Montpelier, how much more objectionable would
it be in our climate that is so liable to these changes."

I will add in this place a quotation from a private letter from
France to a commercial house in Philadelphia of the highest
respectability, received last autumn :

" The mulberry tree, known by the name of Morus Multi-
caulis, which has been shipped from France to the United
States in a very large quantity, and sold there to farmers
throughout the country by speculators as the best species, is
considered by the French and the Italians as the very Avorst ;
and it is now grown only to sell, not to cultivate, at the request
of these crazy American speculators. There is no demand
whatever for this tree to plant in Europe. It is throwing both
money and time away to attempt the Morus Multicaulis."

The Chevalier Soulange Bodin, one of the highest authori-
ties in Europe, in a recent private letter, speaks of the " Morus
Multicaulis as a tree of which much good and much evil has
been said ; but like other gifts from heaven it is requisite that
it should be managed with discretion, which is also a gift from
heaven. The rapidity of its multiplication, the abundant pro-
duct of its leaves, and the facility of collecting them, have
certainly very much contributed, whatever may be the final
result, to aid in the happy solution of a great question in agri-
cultural and commercial economy, which has agitated with
equal emulation the new as well as the ancient world."

These testimonies are certainly disinterested ; and I shall
leave them to have what force they may upon the minds of
the inquisitive and intelligent. It is certain that the tree is not
capable of enduring the rigors of our climate, under our pres-
ent modes of cultivation. In this state it has been repeatedly
killed, and in this way great losses have been sustained. I do
not despair, however, of its being acclimated here. The peach

110 AGRICULTURAL REPORT. [March,

in its origin, is a tender plant from southern Asia ; and as that
is now sufficiently sure to warrant its cultivation, we may hope
that the Perottet mulberry may in like manner become a deni-
zen of our soil. The plant is, in itself, after all reasonable
abatements are made, of such extraordinary value that every
inquiry and effort should be made, by which its security might
be accomplished.

The hazard of its destruction is not in proportion to the
intensity of the cold. The season of greatest danger seems to
be at the first coming of frosts. Then if the growth is luxu-
riant and the wood has not become matured, it perishes with
the cold. Attempts have been made to preserve it by cutting
the shoots near the ground in the autumn, and then covering
the root with earth ; this has not succeeded to secure them.
Yet there are well authenticated cases in which the trees have
been taken up, and then deposited under a wall with the roots
merely covered with earth, and they have survived the winter
well. This was done in Manchester, Conn. On the same
farm, an attempt was made by cutting off the shoots and leav-
ing the roots in the ground without covering, to test their
hardiness. It was unsuccessful. The farmer attributed their
loss in a degree, to a heavy rain immediately after they were
topped, by which he supposed the cut ends became saturated
with water which was followed by a severe frost. The fact
of their destruction was undoubted.

John Macomber, in Westport, Bristol County, whose nursery
I visited, reports, that in the cold year of 1835-6, about one
half of his Perottet mulberry survived the winter ; and of
those which were engrafted upon the white mulberry, not
more than eight out of a hundred perished.

William Kenrick, of Newton, near Boston, whose experi-
ence and skill, as a nursery man, are well known, in a recent
private letter to me, says, " I have several trees of the Morus
Multicaulis, standing on Nonantum Hill, in an elevated and
bleak situation, trees now of considerable size, which, unpro-
tected, have borne well the severity of our late winters. In

1840.] SENATE— No. 36. Ill

March, of this present year, two gentlemen of Windham
County, Conn., called and desired to look at my trees, and
brought me in a twig cut from the top of one of the trees,
which had ripened to the very tip, and had stood the last most
severe cold winter uninjured. Yet I have since discovered
that in some parts of the tops of these same trees, some of the
young wood did not wholly escape uninjured. Yet in all the
low valleys of the northern rivers which have their sources
near the boundaries of Canada, and in the low and extended
plains of New England, the Multicaulis is liable to be injured
in its tops by the extreme severity of the winter. In spring
they rise up with a luxuriance of vegetation the most extraor-
dinary. Hence the mulberry should be kept low like planta-
tion of raspberries, as is the case in China and in India. In
this last named country, the mulberry tree in all its varieties is
an ever-green tree, but a deciduous tree in temperate regions.
This same system is now extending itself in France, as has
already the system of close planting and of low training, been
adopted almost universally as to the vine in vineyard culture,
in all the north and middle sections of that country."

Mr. Kenrick adds, '' In my frequent visits to Portsmouth in
lower Virginia, in lat. 37° 12', in the years 1838 and 1839,
both durii]g winter and summer, I have particularly observed
extensive plantations; the trees at that place, in their hardi-
hood, bearing perfect resemblance to the oak, the wood of the
second year ripening to the very tip. At Middletown, in Mon-
mouth County, N. J., lat. 40° 22', this same mulberry equally
defies the severity of all their winters. This is nearly opposite
Staten Island."

" The Morns Multicaulis is the only species of mulberry
known which grows equally as freely from the cuttings as the
willow. The variety called Canton roots not near so freely
either from cuttings or from layers, while the Alpine, so called,
is still more difficult to strike root, either from cuttings or
layers."

Mr. Kenrick has been a highly successful cultivator and

112 AGRICULTURAL REPORT. [March,

seller of the Perottet mulberry. His character, where he is
known, is a guaranty against any intentional misrepresentation
on his part. His good fortune in the sale of his trees has
enabled him, if so he pleases, to change the plain steel bows
of his spectacles into golden ones ; but whether it has had
any effect upon the glasses themselves, we must submit to the
judgment of others.

The Northampton cultivators, as far as I know, universally,,
and Timothy Smith, of Amherst — upon whose careful judg-
ment and experience much reliance may be placed, as well as
Calvin Haskell, of Harvard, who has been a long time engaged
in the cultivation of the mulberry — unite emphatically, in the
opinion that the Perottet is not sufficiently hardy for our cli-
mate ; and that to cultivate it with any view to leave it ex-
posed to the rigors of our climate would be a hazardous, and in
all probability an utterly futile attempt. The testimony of
many other cultivators of the Perottet mulberry, in this State,
entirely concur in the opinions expressed above.

With respect to the value of the Multicaulis leaf as feed for
the worms, D. McLean, of New Jersey, expresses the opinion
that it may be too succulent for the health of the worms ;
though it does not appear that the worms fed by him on the
Multicaulis or Perottet mulberry suffered in this way. This is
the opinion of other cultivators of silk ; but farther experiments
are desired before this point can be established.

Miss Gertrud Rapp, of Economy, Penn., in a letter to the
editor of the American Silk Journal, says :

" In regard to the mulberry, I would earnestly recommend,
especially to the silk growers of the northern and middle states
not to neglect the cultivation of the white Italian or a similar
mulberry tree, as by raising the Multicaulis only, the best crops
(which are produced in the fore part of the summer,) are lost.
The Multicaulis is a most excellent addition to, but not a per-
fect substitute for, the other kinds. They ought to go together.
Several years ago, we received among others a kind of mul-
berry under the double name of morus broussa or expansa,

1840.] SENATE— No. 36. 113

which we now endeavor to muhiply (by grafting) as fast as
possible, as it possesses all the excellent qualities of the Italian,
besides having large, heavy, glossy leaves, which are gathered
with less than half the labor of the white Italian. Such silk
growers as possess this kind, would undoubtedly do well to
propagate it as fast as possible along with the Multicaulis."
Miss Rapp's authority on this subject is as high as any in the
country. The inorus hroiissa and the inorus expansa, or Ro-
man mulberry, which have come under my observation, are
quite different varieties.

Among us in general, the Perottet mulberry has been culti-
vated in low, moist, and rich soils, in which case the growth
is continued until very late in the season, and the wood is not
sufficiently matured to withstand the frost. If placed, how-
ever, in situations less favorable to a luxuriant growth, and
to the thriftiness of the tree, the size of the leaf and amount
of foliage will of course be lessened.

It is somewhat difficult, in respect to the hardiness of this
plant to reconcile these conflicting testimonies, and I shall not
attempt to do it. Without impugning, in any measure, the
credit of any, however different the results to which they
come, we may refer these different results to differences in
aspect, soil, location, and cultivation ; and encourage the hope
that presently the tree may become naturalized and safe
among us.

The weight of evidence, however, upon as fair a review of
the case as I can take, and from my own extended personal
observation, is altogether against its suitableness at present in
a permanent plantation for the climate of Massachusetts. I
shall speak presently of other modes of managing with it, by
which the signal advantages which it proffers may be realized.

6. The MoRUs Expansa or Roman Mulberry is another
plant which has been introduced among us, producing a large
leaf, and of a hardy character. I have not known the leaf
used in any instance for feeding worms, unless the case of
Miss Rapp before referred to, is one ; and though I have seen a
15

114 AGRICULTURAL REPORT. [March,

good many trees of this kind, yet they have all been subject
to a decay or sort of gangrene in the bark, which, unless a
permanent remedy can be discovered, will effectually discour-
age their cultivation.

It does not comport with my particular objects to treat at
large of the various kinds of mulberry known ; but only of
those grown among ourselves, and upon whose culture and use
for the feeding of worms experiments have been made.

7. The Canton Mulberry is that which I shall next speak
of. This is an admirable plant. The history of the introduc-
tion of this tree into the country I am enabled to give in the
most authentic form. D. Stebbins, of Northampton, the intel-
ligent and active secretary of the Hampshire, Hampden, and
Franklin Agricultural Society, and ready to lend his service to
any and every good work, desired some of the American mis-
sionaries to China, to procure some seed of the best tree culti-
vated in that empire for the feeding of worms. They trans-
mitted parcels of this seed at two or three different times, from
which this tree has been grown. In another case, John P.
Gushing, of Watertown, a long time resident in Canton,
ordered a shipment to be made to him from Canton of two
thousand of the best tree for feeding worms, known in that
country. Of this importation, five hundred only survived the
voyage. These have been carefully nourished ; and with a
liberality and public spirit, which has distinguished all Mr.
Cushing's efforts to advance the cause of an improved agricul-
ture, he has distributed these plants among his friends and
others, and the tree has become extensively diffused. This
tree produces a large, heavy, and beautiful leaf I measured
one among many equally large upon the same tree, which was
thirteen inches in length by twelve and a half in width.
Perhaps, in general, they are not so large as the Perottet mul-
berry, but they are in this respect little inferior ; and, in pro-
portion to their size, they are considerably heavier. An acre of
the Canton mulberry would undoubtedly produce a greater
weight of foliage than of the Perottet. They are a tender

1840.] SENATE— No. 36. 115

tree but more hardy than the Perottet ; and they may be propa-
gated with about the same facility. There is little doubt that
this tree may be acclimated among us ; and it will then prove
the most valuable tree, as yet known in the State, for the cul-
ture of silk.

Dr. Stebbins, who has entered largely into the cultivation of
this tree, passes very high encomiums upon its merits. He
writes me, under date of 9th November last, " I have preserved
the foliage of the large leaf Canton in preference to the Perot-
tet, having thought that leaf best adapted to the feed of
worms, for by experiments of the present year, the result has
been as 5 to 8 in favor of the Canton feed." This result was
obtained by weighing in accurate scales the cocoons made from
each kind of leaf He adds, " that of the cocoons obtained
by feeding upon the Canton exclusively, and the white mul-
berry exclusively, those from the Canton leaf were one third
heavier than the other." Another person from Ohio writes to
him, *' that the produce of the Canton by the acre is twice as
much as that of the Multicaulis."

These are strong encomiums ; but I believe not undeserved,
from what in regard to the cultivation of the tree has come
under my own observation. I might add other testimonies in
favor of the Canton ; among others that of Edwin Newbury —
a very exact observer and cultivator of Erooklyn, Conn. ; and
that of Timothy Smith, of Amherst, Mass., both of whom,
from repeated experiments, give their decided preference to
the Canton mulberry over all others.

Many persons are inclined to believe that the Canton is not
more hardy than the Perottet ; Mr. Smith's experience leads to
a different conclusion. I have also the pleasure to add here the
actual experience of D. Haggerston, of Watertown, the farm
manager of J. P. Cushing ; and on whose knowledge and skill
in the management of these plants as much reliance can be
placed as on those of any man in the country. His testimony
likewise must be regarded as entirely disinterested.

He states, that, with him the Perottet mulberry has been

116 AGRICULTURAL REPORT. [March

killed three winters out of five, root and branch ; and two
winters to the ground. The Canton trees on the same lot,
with the same exposure, have stood the winter, having been
killed not below a foot from the ground. He adds, likewise,
that of some Canton, which were taken up the last fall, and
the roots only covered, in other respects exposed to the weather,
all are now (March, 1840,) whohy miinjured. The Canton
trees, which were not covered have come out better than those
which had some covering thrown over them, besides having
their roots buried. Of the trees referred to in the first case,
two hundred of the Canton were left exposed and about
twelve of the Perottet. Some of the Canton referred to were
from seed imported from Canton ; the remainder were part of
the original importation of trees, of which I have before
spoken. Upon weighing twenty leaves of the Canton and
twenty of the Perottet, taken as nearly alike as possible, the
difference in favor of the Canton was nearly an ounce. The
Canton is as easily propagated as the Perottet ; and as a plant
nothing can be more beautiful. The leaf is large, lustrous,
heart-shaped, and serrated ; it is not pendant like the Perottet,
and is not so thickly set on the tree as the Broussa.

In this discussion, however, having no private interests or
partialities, I have nothing to keep back; and I must add,
therefore, that there are some cultivators, who still deem it as
tender as the Perottet. This may be accounted for, perhaps,
in its particular location, if it be placed in a humid and rich
soil, and in a situation liable to early frosts. The climate from
which it comes is far north of that from which the Perottet is
derived. Though from my own observation, and the numer-
ous testimonies given me in the case, I cannot doubt its supe-
rior hardiness to the Perottet ; yet it is not as yet to be regarded
as acclimated ; and it would be rash to expose any large plan-
tation of the trees to the rigors of winter, until the habits of
the plant are better understood.

The singular fact stated by Mr. Haggerston, that those Can-
ton trees, whose tops were left uncovered, suffered more than

1840.] SENATE— No, 36. 117

those whose roots and branches were both covered, is in a
degree confirmed by a statement of Mr. Stebbins. " The last
winter," he says, " I left out about half an acre of Canton
roots, of some of which I covered the stumps with turf, grass
under ; others, with yard manure ; others, with earth ; others,
with a little grass, hay, or leaves ; and others had no covering ;
and these last were the best preserved ; and the next, those with
the slightest covering ; and those with the deepest covering
were most injured ; and some entirely destroyed by heat."

The extraordinary and luxuriant growth of which these
trees are susceptible under favorable circumstances, is illus-
trated by a fact communicated from the missionaries at the
Sandwich islands in the Pacific ocean. " To show how fast
trees grow here," the writer of the letter, to whom some Can-
ton seed had been sent from this country, says, " a tree came
up in my garden on the 9th of April. At the end of four
months, measuring all the branches, it had grown 87 feet and
had 533 leaves. At the end of six months, it had grown 153
feet, and had 939 leaves. It has now (9 January) been grow-
ing 9 months and 21 days • and has grown 461 feet and is now
growing at the rate of two feet per day, which at the same
rate would give 601 feet of wood to the year ; has two main
stalks from the ground ; one is 53 inches in circumference ;
and the other 5^. The greatest height is now 15^1 feet."

8. Share^e's VARiExy. — I will in this place speak of a variety
of the mulberry, which promises to afford what is much de-
sired in Massachusetts ; that is, a large leaf, suitable for the
feed of the worms, and which also will endure the rigors of
our winter. This is a tree which originated from seed im-
ported from Canton and planted in Belchertown, Mass., ten
years since. The original tree stood by the road side. The
extraordinary character of the tree attracted the notice of Elias
Sharpe, of Chaplin, Conn., who by budding and engrafting
has considerably multiplied its product ; and it is now desig-
nated as Sharpe's new variety. It produces a large and heavy
leaf, heart-shaped — at least those which I have seen — and

118 AGRICULTURAL REPORT. [March,

strong ; and is relished by the worms. The tree is nearly of
an average size with the Multicauhs. Its growth is most lux-
uriant, where I have seen it engrafted into the stocks of
the white mulberry, many of the upright shoots the last
autumn measuring from nine to eleven feet, and the side
shoots six and seven feet in length. This was the growth of
the summer. The tree, from the testimony of the original
proprietors, though standing in a most exposed location, has
never suftered from the winter ; and within my own knowl-
edge the last autumn, after a frost which destroyed the Perottet
mulberry to the ground, the shoots of this tree were unin-
jured even at the very points or tips. The specimens of
reeled silk and of cocoons, which have been produced from
the foliage of this variety, have been excellent. This tree
appears to be an accidental variety ; and should the expecta-
tions which have been formed of it be to any considerable
degree realized, it will prove an acquisition of the most emi-
nent importance and value to New England. It has been
propagated hitherto only by budding or engrafting ; and the
plants, which I saw at Chaplin, in Conn., had been engrafted
into stocks of the white mulberry three or four years old.*

IV. Mode of Managing and Cultivating the Improved
Varieties. — It will be proper in this place that I should speak
of a mode of management both in respect to the Perottet and
the Canton, by which the caprices and rigors of the seasons
may be defied. This consists in taking up these trees in the
autumn and burying the roots in sand in the cellar for the winter ;
or in burying the roots and covering the branches, or indeed
without covering the branches, burying the roots in some part of
the field where they grow, where they will not be liable to be
flooded with water, and especially to the alternations of freezing
and thawing. For this purpose, a rough board shed would be
highly useful. In the spring, the trees may be replanted.
Thus the branches or shoots may be cut off, the root set out,
and the branches laid down, in which case every bud may be

* Appendix O.

1840.] SENATE— No. 36. 119

expected to send up a shoot ; or the whole tree may be laid
down in the spring. The plants will then form a kind of
hedge, and a crop of foliage will be easily obtained for the
feeding of the worms in that season. Until the foliage is
ready for the worms, however, the hatching of the eggs must
be kept back by a process which 1 shall hereafter describe. In
this way a good crop of silk may be obtained, as I have seen
in several instances, in the same season.

The idea of extraordinary trouble attending this process at
once creates apprehension and objections. But the trouble
is not beyond what the occasion will fully warrant. If the
plants stand in a line, a plough in the autumn may easily be
passed along near to them, and they may be pulled out by the
roots, and covered in the field as I have described. In the
ensuing spring a furrow may be opened, and the trees laid
down root and branch in the furrow, and covered The cover-
ing must be done lightly at first, and after the buds have
started, a little more covering must be given to them ; and for
this extra labor, which will not indeed be much more than har-
vesting and planting and manuring an acre of Indian corn,
there will be found a compensation in the great facility of
gathering leaves from this low hedge of trees, instead of being
obliged to climb a large standard tree. Indeed a child in this
case would be able to gather as much foliage in an hour, es-
pecially as the young wood is flexible and can be bent by the
hand so as to be stripped with facility, as a man would gather
in six hours from a standard tree. If it shall appear upon
further experiment, that the roots can be safely left in the ground,
and the shoots taken off and secured in the cellar in the autumn,
the advantages of such management may be preferred ; but if
otherwise, the removal and resetting of the shrub annually,
need not be dechned on account of the labor attending it. The
experiment has been repeatedly and successfully made, and at
the rate of fifty pounds of silk to the acre of the very best
quality, as I have seen, have been obtained from the foliage of
the Perottet mulberry, planted or laid down in the same sea-

120 AGRICULTURAL REPORT. [March,

son. This is a degree of despatch and facility in the produc-
tion of silk highly encouraging. I will remark here likewise,
that the roots of these trees, set out in the spring, have pro-
duced foliage much earlier than has been obtained from roots,
whose shoots were cut off in the fall, and they left in the
ground, in those cases where they have survived the winter.
In the management above spoken of, the intervals between
the rows may be three to four feet, and the trees when laid
down in the furrow may be placed so that the top of one may
extend to the root of the other ; or perhaps it may be more
proper to say that they may be laid at full length in the fur-
rows in close succession. Under such circumstances, we may
avail ourselves with great advantage of these extraordinarily
valuable mulberries, both the Canton and the Perottet. The
Canton may be propagated as the Perottet, by layers and cut-
tings ; and the seed is procured without difficulty. The seed
of the Perottet, which is a hybrid plant, is not to be depended
upon to produce its like. Calvin Haskell, of Harvard, Mass.,
who has an experience of several years both in the growing of
trees and the production and manufacture of silk, had two
plants of the Perottet mulberry from among the first, which
were brought into the country. From the seed of one of these
trees, he has produced trees, which give a leaf not so large as
the parent tree, but of large size, abundant, and excellent for
the feeding of worms. These Multicaulis seedlings, as he de-
nominates them, after being housed the first winter, endure
the climate, are easily propagated, and yield abundantly. I
shall give in the appendix some extracts of Mr. Haskell's letter,
fully explaining his management.*

From the best information that I can obtain, the Perottet
mulberry can be expected to become acclimated only by grow-
ing it in high and dry situations, by avoiding to force its
growth with too liberal manuring, and especially by preventing
any water settling upon its roots. It is not safe to expose
any seedling mulberries, certainly those of the tender varieties,

* Appendix P.

1840.] SENATE— No. 36, 121

to the cold of the first winter. There are few, even of the
hardy kinds, which are not likely to snffer by such exposure.

Private interests have been, and are still so much mixed up
with the subject of mulberry trees, that great differences of
opinion may be expected to exist. Without having the inter-
est of one cent in any mulberry speculation whatever, I have
endeavored to collect the most authentic information which I
could obtain on the subject ; and in cases where what I have
stated has not been verified by my own personal observation,
I have relied upon persons in whose credibility I know that
I can place confidence.

V. Mulberries from Seed. — In attempts to produce mul-
berry trees from seed, severe disappointments have been often
experienced. New varieties are often produced ; but inferior
plants likewise often show themselves. G. B. Perry, of Brad-
ford, in an excellent essay on the culture of the mulberry, giv-
en in the Essex Agricultural Transactions for 1839-40, ex-
presses an opinion that this may often arise from sowing im-
proper seed, or the seed of inferior plants ; and in a German
treatise on the silk culture, which I have recently received,
a caution is given not to sow seed from plants whose leaves
have been stripped for feeding the same year. These are rea-
sonable and valuable suggestions.

As far then as the trees are concerned, the farmers of Massa-
chusetts have within their reach the best varieties yet known.
These may be propagated with perfect ease and to an indefi-
nite extent. It would be desirable even to increase these vari-
eties ; and for every farmer engaged in the culture of silk to
cultivate some of the earlier kinds as well as the later, that he
may begin the feeding of worms early, or that in case his eggs
should prematurely be hatched, he may have a supply of food
at hand before it can be expected to be obtained from the ten-
der varieties. This is recommended by the experience of Miss
R-app, already referred to, as well as of many others.

It is not within my province to give a full treatise on the
16

12^ AGRICULTURAL REPORT. [March,

culture of silk ; and from the mulberry I pass on to other sub-
jects, in respect to which information of a practical nature
seems to be mainly desired.

VL Amount of Silk to an Acre, and Cost of Production.
— (Questions of great importance come up here, respecting the
amount of silk which may be produced upon an acre of ground,
and the cost of production at the rates of labor existing among
us. On these subjects conjectures abound ; and calculations
respecting the amount to be obtained so enormous and extrava-
gant, that they are much better suited to form a chapter in the
Arabian Nights' entertainment, than to enter into the thoughts
of any sound mind. Conjectures, however, in matters of this
kind, are not what we want ; and it does not belong to me
to present them to the farmers of Massachusetts. I have to
lament, however, that few exact experiments in this case have
been made in the country ; and that many points, the decision
of which, in my opinion, is more likely to have a favorable
than an unfavorable influence upon the silk culture, remain to
be determined. In my intercourse with the agricultural com-
munity, the mortifying conviction is continually forced upon
me, of the very small number of persons, upon whose authority
any strong reliance can be placed for that exactness of observa-
tion, which constitutes the first element of all true science, and
all useful and practical information. It is said that in the map
of the world in use among the Chinese, and to which they go
to study geography, the empire of China occupies about two
thirds of the whole surface. Too many of our farmers in their
sketches of their own domains, and their own operations, are
too prone to measure things by this Chinese scale. I shall
have the pleasure, however, of referring to some authorities en-
titled to entire respect and confidence, to the extent to which
they go.

1. Timothy Smith, of Amherst, who has had considerable
experience in the production of silk, says in a letter to me,
" I consider that one acre of white mulberry, set in hedge rows,

1840.] SENATE— No. 36. 123

will yield foliage for fifty pounds of silk ; and presume to say
that an acre of Multicaulis (Perottet,) will yield double the
quantity to an acre of white. I consider that reeled silk cost
me about two dollars per pound, not over ; although it was a
year of experiments ; but feel confident that in two or three
years, by using the best kinds of mulberry and the better econ-
omy, that silk can be made for one and a half dollar per
pound."

In a subsequent letter, Mr. Smith remarks, " I consider the
Multicaulis the most tender variety of any that I have cultiva-
ted. I consider the Canton as my best mulberry tree for rais-
ing silk, taking into consideration the hardihood of the tree,
and the quantity of foliage it yields. I like the Italian white ;
and think it best to cultivate some of each variety."

I understand Mr. Smith here to estimate, in the cost of the
silk, the value of the labor only ; and to charge nothing for
the use of the land and the cost and care of the trees ; nor any
rent for his cocoonery. These items would add something to
the cost of the silk, but it is not easy to calculate them, from
the imperfect elements which are given. It will be seen in
this case, that although Mr. Smith has had some experience in
the production of silk, yet that his statements are somewhat
conjectural. In his supposition, likewise, that he could obtain
one hundred pounds of silk from an acre, planted with the
Perottet mulberry, and that he hoped to reduce the cost of the
production of reeled silk to one dollar and a half per lb., a little
allowance is perhaps to be made for the quickness of pulse,
which in that time of excitement was felt by every cultivator
of mulberry trees in his visions of the profits of the Multicaulis.

2. The next approach to the actual cost of the production, is
presented by James Deane, M. D. of Greenfield, Mass. His admi-
rable letter to me on the subject, I shall give in the appendix.*
He estimates the cost of producing reeled silk at from two to
two dollars and a quarter per pound. He produced the last
year several pounds of silk of as fine a description as could be

* Appendix Q.

124 AGRICULTURAL REPORT. [March,

made. When he undertook the cuUure of silk, he had never
seen a silk-worm nor a silk reel. He constructed a reel admi-
rable for its simplicity and eiRciency, of which I shall give an
engraving ;* and his operations from the beginning to the end
were crowned with perfect success. This demonstrates the
great simplicity and feasibleness of the operation. Dr. Deane
is so remarkable for his carefulness, that his statements, where
statements are given, may be implicitly relied on. The cost
of producing the silk, however, is with him rather a matter of
estimate or judgment, than of a careful observation of every
minute charge ; and, like Mr. Smith's, embraces only the labor
applied.

3. The next authority to which I refer, is, that of D. V. Mc
Lean, of Freehold, Monm. Co., New Jersey. No experiment
has been given to the country so numerous in its details and
instructive in its results, as this. From the time employed and
the wages paid for the production of twelve pounds of silk, he
comes to the conclusion, that raw silk may be produced and
reeled at the rate of two dollars to two dollars and one quarter
per pound, though he admits, that " his cost him much more
than this." This likewise is to be understood as the cost of
the labor only applied to the production of the silk from the
eggs ; and without any allowance for land, trees, or cost or rent
of cocoonery.

4. In Mansfield, Connecticut, it is customary v/ith those wiio
have trees, to furnish the eggs, to board the woman employed
in the process, and to allow her half the produce in silk. She
performs all the work, from the hatching of the worms to the
reeling of the silk. The board of a woman in this case is esti-
mated at one and a half dollar per week. I have no means of
ascertaining how many worms a woman would be able to man-
age. The general estimate is, that one woman will feed
60,000 worms. It has been stated to me, that in one instance,
one woman took the care of 120,000 worms ; but I am unable
to obtain the particulars of the case ; and to learn whether she
had any aid in picking the leaves or not. In the commence-

* Appendix R.

1840.] SENATE.— No. 36. 125

ment of the feeding, the time of one woman would not be oc-
cupied entirely by an amount of worms, which at the close of
the feeding season would require her whole and exclusive at-
tention. Various circumstances, likewise, must come into the
account ; such, for example, as the facilities for feeding the
worms ; whether the leaves are to be gathered from high stand-
ard trees or from shrubs ; and whether they are to be plucked
from the white mulberry or the improved varieties. In the
improved cocooneries small cars fixed upon a rail-road are used
to convey the leaves from one end of the room to the other ;
and at a great saving of labor and time. The use of hurdles,
likewise, so as to facilitate the cleaning of the worms, will serve
to lessen the labor. Practice and experience, as in all other
cases, may be expected to bring with them their usual advan-
tages. Under these circumstances, it is not easy to determine
how large a family of these industrious and hungry operatives
may be placed under the stewardship of one person. In Mr.
Smith's operations, two women were occupied about five weeks
in feeding the worms for the production of about twenty pounds
of silk ; but how long was required for the reeling is not stated.
They received three dollars each per week, and board, which
must be rated at one dollar and a half each per week. In Mr.
McLean's experience, the labor of two women and a man
twelve weeks each, would be required to attend upon one acre
or 160,000 worms ; and he estimates their expenses, including
board, at three dollars per week each. These wages might be
deemed ample for a woman's labor, but it is not more than half
of the cost of man's labor in Massachusetts. Mr. McLean's
cocoonery, which I had the pleasure of visiting, combines
many advantages of construction ; and his foliage was gathered
from the Perottet mulberry, planted the same spring, and grow-
ing luxuriantly directly in the vicinity. His experiment, how-
ever, though conducted in a manner creditable to his remarka-
ble intelHgence and public spirit, cannot be said to determine
in a satisfactory manner the cost of production ; though I think
it fully decides the question at the present prices of raw silk

126 AGRICULTURAL REPORT. [March,

and of sewings, in favor of the profitableness of the cnlture,
within reasonable limits ; and at a fair value of land, labor, and
trees. Any very great increase of production must of course
be followed by a reduction of price.

5. Calculations made by John Fitch, of Mansfield, Connecti-
cut, are as follows. I have not the pleasure of a personal
knowledge of Mr. Fitch ; but his reputation is a guarantee for
the correctness of his statement. It is, as will appear, some-
what matter of judgment, but, I presume, founded upon expe-
rience.

One acre of full grown trees, set one and half rod apart, will
produce forty pounds of silk.

The labor may be estimated as follows.
• For the three first weeks after the worms are hatched, one
woman who is acquainted with the business ; or children, who
would be equal to such a person.

For the next twelve or fourteen days, five hands, or what
would be equal to five, if performed by children. In this peri-
od, two men with other help would be employed to better ad-
vantage, than all women and children. This period finishes
the worms.

For picking off" the balls, and reeling the silk, it will require
about the same amount of labor, for the same length of time,
as the last mentioned period, which may all be performed by
women and children. The aforesaid labor and board may be
estimated at eighty dollars ; spinning the silk at thirty-four dol-
lars ; forty pounds of silk at the lowest cash price, is now
worth two hundred dollars, which makes the following result:

40 lbs. of Silk at $5 per lb. $200 00

Labor and Board, $80

Spinning, 34 114 00

Net profit per acre, $64 00

The principal part of the labor may be performed by wo-
men and childcn ; but where the business is carried on to a

1840.] SENATE— No. 36. 127

considerable extent, it is considered more profitable to employ-
some men for the last period of the worms."

This account of Mr. Fitch, it will be seen, makes no al-
lowance for any capital invested in trees, land, or buildings ;
or for expenses which the care of the trees, land and buildings
may require ; and it refers only to the use of the white mulber-
ry as standard trees.

6. The calculation of an intelligent silk-grower at Manchester,
Connecticut, and who is a cultivator of the Perottet mulberry,
is as follows. He estimates the value of the trees at 25 cents
each, and he requires three thousand to stock an acre.

Cost

Of trees for an acre, . . , $750 00
Value of Land, . . . . 100 00

Capital invested, , , . {^850 00

Interest on 850 . . . , 51 00

Labor in picking leaves, . . 25 00

Labor of feeding worms, and reeling silk, 50 00
Extra manure for land, . , . 20 00

Return.

#146 00

50 lbs. of Silk at |5 per lb. . . 250 00
Deduct charges, . . , 146 00

104 00

The labor here is undoubtedly underrated. The number of
trees upon an acre, 3,000 is also underrated, unless upon the
presumption that these trees are counted before they are laid
down ; if laid down in a furrow they would be multiplied
many times. In Mr. McLean's case, there were 5,500 trees
upon a quarter of an acre, or, 22,000 upon an acre. The price
of silk, is in a considerable degree, capricious. The quantity pro-
duced upon an acre is matter of fair calculation. I do not rely

128 AGRICULTURAL REPORT. [March,

with much confidence upon this statement ; but I give this ex-
ample for the sake of showing liow difficult it is, even with
observing men, to arrive at any certain result.

7. T. W. Shepard, of Northampton, fed worms to an amount
not known, but supposed from 75,000 to 100,000. Commenced
feeding about the middle of August ; and the worms wound in
about five weeks. The worms were of the two crop kind. About
2,150 lbs. of leaves were picked from small Alpine and white mul-
berry trees ; all the leaves were stripped off with many of the
small branches ; and owing to the lateness of the season, many
leaves were very rusty. All the labor of picking leaves, tend-
ing the worms, and preparing bushes for winding, was per-
formed by one man in five weeks, except paying a boy three
dollars for picking leaves ; and the first two weeks, the man
was not engaged more than half the time. The cocoons mea-
sured twelve bushels ; one bushel was saved for seed ; and the
remainder reeled by a young girl, totally ignorant of the busi-
ness, having never reeled an ounce before. The amount of
silk reeled was eight pounds. Under the most favorable aspect,
the cost in this case, cannot be considered less than three dol-
lars per lb. for labor only.

VII. Product of an Acre. — Of the yield to an acre, the most
various calculations have been made. I should deem myself
poorly occupied to go into the extravagances of some persons
whose brains on this subject seem to have been turned, if in
truth they had any brains to be turned ; and should, in the
present condition of the silk culture, deem it safe to rely only
upon what has actually been accomplished.

Joseph Conant, of Mansfield, Connecticut, trained to the
culture of silk from his childhood, and upon whose intelligent
and calm judgment, 1 should place much reliance, says, that
an acre of land may be expected to produce from thirty to fifty
pounds of silk. D. V. McLean obtained at the rate of 48 lbs. ;
or, allowing for waste and accident, at the rate of 50 lbs. to
the acre. He adds, that he should utterly despair of obtaining
104 or 128 lbs. to an acre. Mr. McLean's product, under the
circumstances of the case, may be regarded as a medium pro-

1840.] SENATE— No. 36. 129

duct ; but how much more may be obtained it would be idle
to state, until some exact experiments have determined this im-
portant point. I have before me various calculations of 100
lbs. 150 lbs. 167 lbs. 185 lbs. 333 lbs. 6G6 lbs., to an acre ; but I
have little sjanpathy in the hallucinations of those minds which
prefer moonlight to clear sunshine. Fifty jx)unds of silk to an
acre then affords the only safe basis on which at present we
may make our calculations as to the profit of the business.

VIII. Quantity of Leaves to a Pound. — There are some
other points connected with the culture of silk, to which it seems
proper to refer. In all cases of this nature, well established
facts are what we mainly seek after. When I speak of well
established facts, it will be understood that I do not estimate
testimony merely by the number of witnesses ; for with re-
spect to agricultural matters, as in other matters, a large portion
of mankind in what they state only echo the sentiments of
others, and they perhaps persons not very competent to teach ;
and are like parrots, who can utter only what they have heard
others say.

It is often stated that one hundred pounds of leaves will
feed worms which will make 1 lb. of silk. Aaron Clapp, of
Hartford, states, that 80 lbs. of the Perottet mulberry leaves
will do it, and this is asserted by many others. I do not learn
from Mr. Clapp's convei-sation or his book, that this result has
been reached by actual trial ; but like the boy, who had learnt
his multiplication table, when asked if he had been through
his arithmetic, replied that he had been so far as to see through.
The problem, however, has, perhaps been more nearly solved
by some others, and to their authority we shall defer.

Ralph Storrs, of Mansfield, Connecticut, states, that it requires
200 lbs. of the white mulberry leaves for one pound of silk.
Joseph Conant of the same place, says, from 100 to 120 lbs. of
leaves will make one pound of silk. I cannot reconcile the dif-
ference in the testimony of these two gentlemen, both of whom
are experienced in tiie silk culture; but by supposing that they
have never made an exact measurement in the case ; or that the
17

130 AGRICULTURAL REPORT. [March,

former in the weight of leaves included the weight of small
branches or twigs, which were collected with the leaves,

I have, however, two testimonies, which rest upon exact
measurement. Mr. McLean says, that the Avhole number of
worms fed upon his quarter of an acre was 40,000. The
weight of leaves consumed, 2,576 lbs. Amount of cocoons
produced, 130 lbs., weighed just as taken from the shelves,
without sorting or flossing. After they were sorted and flossed
there was 1 lb. of floss and 4 lbs. defective cocoons, leaving
126 lbs. of cocoons. These produced 12 lbs. of merchantable
reeled silk, 16 oz. to the lb., and 1 lb. wastage, ends, &c.
From the above statement it will be seen, that it required be-
tween 19 and 20 lbs. of leaves to make 1 lb. of cocoons. Of
these cocoons, without flossing or sorting, it required 10 lbs.
and 10 oz. to make 1 lb. of reeled silk. After they were floss-
ed and sorted, it required 10 lbs. and 5 oz., or about 214 to 215
lbs. of leaves, to make 1 lb. of reeled silk. These were the
leaves of the Perottet mulberry. After making various allow-
ances for waste leaves, Mr. McLean thinks it may require 190
lbs. of leaves to make 1 lb. of silk. The first statement is the
result of an actual trial ; the latter is matter of opinion.

Mr. Shepard, of Northampton, in an experiment made by
himself, the last summer, found that it required 240 lbs. leaves
and twigs of the Alpine and white mulberry to 1 lb. of silk.
He adds, that had all the leaves been free from stem and rust,
probably 200 lbs. would have been an ample supply for a pound
of silk. These are the statements of a gentleman of perfect
credibility, and the result of exact experiment. They are to
be disproved only by more full, more exact, and repeated
trials.

To his account Mr. McLean adds ; " last year I produced at
the rate of 510 lbs. of cocoons to the acre ; this year I produc-
ed at the rate of 520 lbs. ; and my deliberate opinion is, that
more will fall below this standard than will exceed it ; and in
one case, where a less quantity of leaves will give the above
quantity of silk, two cases will occur that will require a greater."

1840.] SENATE— No. 36. 131

The exactness, caution, and frankness of this gentleman are
worthy of all praise.*

IX. Varieties of the Worm. — Of the worms used for the
production of silk, there are several varieties ; some distinguished
by the shorter or longer time in which they perform their work
and pass the period of their existence ; and others for the qual-
ity of the silk made from them. The sulphur cocoon makes a
coarser thread than some other varieties. The six weeks worm
will yield the most silk. The three weeks worms can be made
to produce two crops, if they are carefully managed ; if not
particularly attended to they will require four weeks in which
to complete their winding. The mammoth white require four
weeks ; and make two-thirds as much each time as the six
weeks worm. A new and beautiful variety, forming, from its
being depressed in the middle, what is called the pea-nut co-
coon, has been much approved, both from the beauty of the silk
produced from it as well as from the little waste to which it is
liable in winding, it running off in reeling almost without leav-
ing any thing.

X. Quantity of Cocoons for one pound of Silk. — Of the
number of cocoons required to weigh a pound, or the number
required to produce a pound of silk, very different statements
have been made. Cocoons are measured in Mansfield, Conn.,
by the bushel. The measures are evened, or as sometimes
termed, struck, and four quarts additional are allowed to each
bushel thus measured. The weight of a bushel of cocoons
will vary from seven to nine pounds. The quantity of silk to
be obtained from a bushel of cocoons will depend on the quali-
ty of the cocoons. The weight of cocoons will be affected by
the time which has elapsed after the stifling of the moth or
chrysalis.

With Mr. Smith, of Amherst, one bushel of pea-nut cocoons
gave one and a half pound of reeled silk. Of the sulphur co-

* Appendix S.

132 AGRICULTURAL REPORT. [March,

coons, one bushel produced one pound of reeled silk. This
shows an extraordinary difference. Mr. Haskell, of Harvard,
requires ten to twelve pounds of cocoons to make one pound of
silk. With Mr. McLean it rcquiied It) lbs. 10 oz. of cocoons
without flossing or sorting, and 10 lbs. 5 oz. after they were
flossed or sorted, to produce a pound of reeled silk. He found
likewise, that it required 19 to 20 lbs. of leaves to make 1 lb.
of cocoons. With Mr. Shepard 13 bushels of cocoons produc-
ed 9 lbs. of silk. In Mansfield it is considered a fair task for a
girl to pick 60 lbs. of leaves per day ; this, it is understood, is
from standard trees. From trees in a liedge row, or accessible
from the ground, a very much larger amount can be gathered.

XI. Natural and Artificial Management. — We may yet
expect great improvements in the culture of silk. The method
of culture to which I have referred is denominated the natural
method. In Mansfield the fixtures are of the most simple char-
acter. A rough shed or barn is used for a cocoonery ; and no
provision is made for artificial heat beyond the closing of the
window shutters in damp weather. It has been said that elec-
tricity will sometimes destroy the worms. Mr. McLean in-
formed me that a heavy thunder storm occurred during his
feeding, and the lightning struck in the immediate neighbor-
hood of his cocoonery, but his worms experienced no injury.
In Mansfield the worms are ordinarily cleaned three times in
the course of feeding, and are fed three times a day. The
Mansfieldians are of opinion that a cold is more favorable to the
production of silk than a warm season.

By what is called the artificial process, pursued with extra-
ordinary success at the experimental farm in France, under the
direction of M. Camille de Beauvais and with the patronage of
the government, the whole operation is much abriged in re-
spect to time, and the quantity of silk produced from the same
number of worms is considerably increased. The plan is to
keep up an even temperature in the cocoonery as high as 75°
Fahrenheit, and to feed the worms day and night to the full
extent which they can be made to consume. I shall sub-

1840.] SENATE— No. 36. 133

join to this report a table most ingeniously drawn up, in which
every step in the process is minutely and clearly detailed.
Tliis, in my opinion, Avill be almost invaluable to the cultiva-
tor of silk, as condensing in a small compass, the most impor-
tant and useful information.*

The Messrs. Cheney, of Burlington, New Jersey, have ex-
perimented upon this artificial process, the last year, with suc-
cess. The worms completed their winding in twenty-four
days ; and they have strong hopes to reduce the time required
to twenty-two days. It is stated that, in proportion to the
shortness of the time occupied in conducting the worm to ma-
turity through the various stages, by incessant care, and the
most liberal feeding, the quantity of silk is increased and its
quality improved.f

In the German pamphlet to which I have referred, it is
stated that " by this mode of management, M. Beauvais has
obtained from every half ounce of eggs, sixty-eight pounds of
cocoons, whilst, in the south of France, they commonly ob-
tained only twenty-five pounds, and in the north of Germany,
with proper care, from forty to forty-five pounds." By this
method, they can bring four generations of silk worms to spin
in one year, and so have four silk harvests.

These are certainly great points to be attained. Such re-
finements in the cultivation, and so much pains-taking, may,
by some, be regarded as discouraging ; but they involve no
mystery, and the extraordinary advantages to be obtained
promise an ample compensation for much expense and labor.
How far they may be suited to what may be strictly called
household arrangements, or where the silk culture is pursued
altogether as an incidental or subsidiary branch of husbandry,
is a matter of easy calculation, and which any one may deter-
mine for himself

XII. Provision for Winding Cocoons. — For the use of the
worms in the winding of their cocoons, various arrangements
have been made. In some cases, strips of lathes raised upon

* Appendix T. f Appendix U.

134 AGRICULTURAL REPORT. [March,

a board, leaving about an inch space between them and the
board, and placed at proper distances apart, have been adopted ;
in some, small branches of rye straw, tied near the middle and
spread at each end so as to form a shape like an hour-glass and
forced between the shelves so as to spread the ends, have been
much approved. Mr. McLean preferred oak branches, and
Mr. Deane hemlock branches laid for the worms, as being a
more natural resort for them, and occasioning little loss of
silk in removing the cocoons. Benjamin Benson of Smyrna,
Delaware, was kind enough to show me an invention for wind-
ing the cocoons, simple in its construction, and which is ex-
ceedingly well contrived. The subjoined is his description
of it.

" Take two strips of board equal in length to the hurdle on
which the worms are, and four inches wide ; nail common
plastering laths on the edge of these boards ; the laths must be
just as long as the hurdles are wide — to be one and a half or
two inches apart ; nail a lath at each end of the top edge of
the boards ; cut common wrapping paper into strips one and a
half inch wide, and sufficiently long, and hang them over
each lath about two inches apart, until the whole frame is
filled ; take waste paper or muslin, or any other material that
will suit, and paste over the top, and on the laths and paper,
which serves to darken the inside and secure the strips of pa-
per ; drive a small peg in your spinning frame at each bottom
corner, which will bring the spinning frame near the top of
the hurdle ; when the worms wish to spin, slide in the frame
upon the hurdle." 1 am doubtful whether this description will
make the matter plain ; but to me, the machine itself, if so it
may be called, seemed extremely well designed and adapted
to its objects.

XIII. Improved Cocooneries. — The same person has in-
vented what he calls a revolving hurdle bottom, of which I have
seen only a model. This is designed, by means of an apron
or cloth performing an endless revolution to accomplish with

1840.] SENATE— No. 36. 185

great facility the cleaning of the litter of the worms, and at the
same time serving to ventilate them. This is adapted to perform
in a few minutes the labor of hours under the old system.

Its utility, from trial, has been certified by the most respect-
able references. As well as 1 could judge from the model ex-
hibited, it offers a great improvement in the management of
the worms. It is difficult to describe machinery of this nature
so as to be perfectly intelligible ; but Mr. Benson has promised
me a model of his revolving hurdle and other ingenious ap-
paratus, which I shall take pains, as well as I can, to exhibit
hereafter to the farmers of Massachusetts. They seem to me
Aveil deserving of their attention.

XIV. Mode of delaying the Hatching of the Eggs. — In at-
tempts to raise worms upon the leaves of the improved varieties,
such as the Canton or the Perottet mulberry, and from trees planted
or " layered" the same season in which the foliage is expected
to be used, as in Mr. McLean's experiment, it will be important
to keep back the hatching of the eggs until the leaves are ready
for use. This has been a matter of no little difficulty. In Mr.
Cheney's case, he speaks of having kept them in a refrigerator,
an article of furniture well known. Mr. McLean's method of
keeping them is well described by himself

" My eggs were saved with great care from my best cocoons
on muslin, the pieces of muslin rolled up in the fall or soon
after the eggs were laid, and placed in a common farm bag,
and this was hung to a beam in the cellar. In March, the
muslins were folded up ; and laid one on top of another in a
small tea chest lined with lead, this was placed in another of
the same kind, but a little larger ; and the space between the
two was filled with pulverized charcoal. Then a few thick-
nesses of old flannel were laid loosely over the top of the smaller
chest, and a loose board over the larger. Then the v/hole was
set in a still larger rough box with a loose board on the top,
and this was put down in the ice house, so that the ice sur-
rounded the sides of the box. In the inner tea chest was a

136 AGRICULTURAL REPORT. [March,

thermometer ; the box was examined every week ; and the
mercury was not allowed to rise above 45° Fahrenheit. The
above plan succeeded with me to perfection ; the last hatching,
on the 27th of August, was as perfect as the first."

The same method was adopted with like success by a gen-
tleman at Bristol, Pennsylvania, who informed me that he kept
his eggs perfectly until September. I have known severe dis-
appointments and losses experienced by bringing the eggs too
suddenly from the cellar or ice house to a high temperature.
The transition must be gradual or it may be fatal to the worms.
In some cases the hatching has been commenced before the
eggs were transferred to the ice house. This of course would be
fatal. The eggs are hatched at a temperature of 82° to 86°
Fahrenheit.

XV. Destruction of the Moth. — To destroy the chrysalis
or moth various modes have been tried. The exposure to a hot
sun will generally kill them, though this mode is not always
certain. Baking them in an oven after the bread has been
drawn, is sometimes done, though the silk is liable to be injured
in such case by an excess of heat. I have known the moths
destroyed by the steam of boiling water. In this case the
cocoons are put into a sieve and covered with a cloth, and held
a short time over the steam of boiling water ; after which they
must be dried. Putting them in a tin vessel and plunging them
into a vessel of water heated to 202° Fahrenheit, will be found
a convenient and effectual mode. Gertrud Rapp, of Economy,
Penn., who, as much as any one, is in this case entitled to speak
with authority, prescribes another method.

In a letter dated in February of this year, to G. B. Smith of
Baltimore, the editor of the American Silk .Tournal, a gentleman
entitled to the highest praise for the intelligence, perseverance,
and public spirit, with which for several years ho has urged the
introduction of the silk culture into the country. Miss Rapp
says ; " Since we are killing our cocoons with camphor, we find
them as easy to reel, at any time after the regular season, as

1840.] SENATE— No. 36. 137

when freshly taken from the spinning shelves. We do it as
follows ; for 100 lbs. of cocoons in the floss, we take a well
made box large enough to hold them ; then we take about three
ounces of camphor, which we moisten with as much alcohol
as is necessary to rub it into a powder, a part of which we
sprinkle on the bottom of the box. Then we fill the box by
making five or six layers of the cocoons, and spread a propor-
tional part of the camphor between each of them ; then we screw
on the lid and paste strips of paper on all the splits and joints
to make it air tight. After three or four days we take them
out and dry thein in the shade, until perfectly light. They
must be assorted before camphoring, or else the bad cocoons
will spoil the good ones." It would be desirable, if possible,
to reel the cocoon immediately after the winding is finished,
without the trouble of killing the chrysalis ; but this, where
any considerable amount is produced, cannot be always done ;
and a mode therefore of killing the moth without injuring the
reeling of the silk, like that recommended by Miss Rapp, de-
serves consideration.

I have spoken of the high authority of this lady in what per-
tains to the silk culture. No individual in the country has pro-
bably done so much ; and, in what she has done, has done so
well. I have a vest pattern of black silk velvet, and as many
as ten different patterns of wide silk ribbons, the material and
the manufacture the produce of her own labor and skill, which
for their texture, lustre, coloring and finish, would not suffer in
comparison with the best foreign fabrics of the same descrip-
tion. I have great pleasure in paying this deserved tribute to
distinguished industry and enterprise, much too rare not to be
admired, in this most useful art.

XVI. Reeling and Reels. — The reeling of silk is not a diffi-
cult but a very nice operation. The objection to American silk
has been in the imperfection or faults of the reeling. The perfec-
tion of reeled silk consists mainly in the evenness of the fibre.
To effect this requires not only care but judgment. The worm
18

138 AGRICULTURAL REPORT. [March,

in forming his cocoon, pours out the viscid matter from which
the silk is made from his nose, and this becomes hardened in
the air. At its first coming out it is in its largest form, and
becomes gradually more attenuated as the worm becomes ex-
hausted. The filament or thread from a cocoon is from 750 to
1150 feet long. Whatever number of cocoons are taken,
to form a thread, it will be larger at first than it would be
afterwards unless care and judgment are used in uniting addi-
tional cocoons as the original fibre diminishes in size, in order
to keep up the evenness and equality of the thread throughout.
In doing this as it should be done, and in carefully uniting the
filaments when by any accident they become broken, or are
run off, consists the perfection of the art of reeling.

Various reels have been invented for the purpose of execut-
ing this work. I have seen three only in operation. The
Piedmontese reel is universally admitted to combine simplicity
of form with excellence of execution. Adum Brooks, of Scit-
uate, Mass., has invented an ingenious reel by which the reel-
ing and spinning are performed by one operation. It has much
merit ; but is liable to the objections, which usually apply to
machines, which attempt too much. In performing two opera-
tions it does neither of them so well, as if only one were un-
dertaken at once. The third reel to which I refer, is one
made by James Deane, M. D., of Greenfield, of which I have
already spoken. It is beautiful from its simplicity and the per-
fect manner in which it executes its work ; and it is likewise
recommended by the smallness of its cost. We must not,
however, expect to find any machine so complete as not to
require a vigilant and intelligent superintendence. Even the
human hand, that most perfect of all machines, can very poorly
discharge its office without the light of the eye and the
guidance of the judgment.

XVII. Domestic Industry. — Mrs. Brooks, who claims some
share in the Scituate reel, to which I have referred, has distin-
guished herself for her zeal and success in the culture of silk, in
which for ten years she has been more or less engaged. She mer-

1840.] SENATE— No. 36. 139

its most justly a part of that brilliant eiiloginm, which the author
of the book of proverbs has pronounced upon a good woman.
I do not say that she has not just claims to the whole ; but it
is not within my province to adjust that account. " She layeth
her hands to the spindle ; her hands hold the distaff. She
maketh herself covering of tapestry ; and her clothing is silk
and purple."* Mrs. Brooks has produced and completed from
the egg three full gown patterns of silk ; and considerable
quantities of sewings. She surprised me by saying, that if her
silk cloth could be sold for one dollar per yard, taking in the
whole affair of production and manufacture, she could get one
dollar per day for her labor. My surprise, mingled with some
incredulity, has not wholly ceased. Her veracity is beyond
question ; but something must be allowed for the enthusiasm
with which success has insjiired her ; and if there be no error,
yet I fear there may be a little poetry in the calculation. It is
almost universal since the introduction and extraordinary im-
provements of manufacturing machinery, to mourn over the
decline of household industry properly so called ; to speak of
it as we are accustomed to speak of the existence of some
ancient cities, as a thing that was, but which has now be-
come purely matter of history ; what our grandtnothers per-
formed witii their own hands, as only suited to point the moral
of some story in a winter evening ; to consider it now not the
province of women to make the clothes but to wear the
clothes ; and like other beautiful flowers, referred to in the
sacred book, with which nature is adorned, thougli they may
array themselves in the gorgeousness of regal magnificence to
regard them as no longer doomed " to toil and to spin." The
eminent industry of Mrs. Brooks and ]\Iiss Rapp will do some-
thing towards redeeming the character of our own country-
women from a reproach but too often cast upon them by those
who seek to find an apology for tlieir own indolence, extrava-
gance, and want of enterprise in the imagined and magnified
deficiencies and fauls of others.

* Prov. xxxi. vs. 19, 22.

140 AGRICULTURAL REPORT. [March,

XVIIL Manufacture of Silk. — It does not properly belong
to my report to say much of the manufacture of silk, excepting
so far as it is a household concern ; and as a manufacturing estab-
lishment would afford to the farmers a market for their cocoons.
In some places, this would be a great advantage. Several
establishments for the manufacture of silk have been erected
in Massachusetts and New England. Many manufacturing
establishments in New England, some silk among others, have
been undertaken upon too large a scale, and too far in antici-
pation of the actual wants or capacities of the community.
Some of them being thus top-heavy have fallen by their own
weight ; and others have remained like the leaning tower of
Pise, the wonder of spectators, how they sustained their posi-
tion. The extraordinary caprices of public affairs, and the
embarrassments and fluctuations of the currency, and the
explosions of many of the banks, which like the bursting of
pieces of cannon, prove often most destructive to those who
have the handling of them and scatter their bleeding fragments
in the air, have operated greatly against many manufacturing
establishments among us.

The policy of the government has not been favorable to the
production of silk, if an impost is to be considered as favora-
ble. The removal of all duty upon silks, other than sewings,
excepting a merely nominal duty of ten per cent, upon those
from beyond the Cape of Good Hope, favors the cheap, ill-fed
and unrequited labor of Europe and Asia; but it destroys all
competition on our part. The imposition of the enormous
duty of forty per cent, on sewings, which it was thought from
its magnitude would amount to a virtual prohibition, in its large
amount defeated its very object ; for in an article embracing so
large a value in so small a bulk, and so easy of being smug-
gled, it amounted, virtually, to a premium on its illicit intro-
duction.

I had, however, the pleasure of visiting a manufactory of
silk at Nantucket, on a small scale, but Avell conducted ; and
which it is thought will demonstrate the practicability of man-

1840.] SENATE— No. 36. 141

ufactiiring silk to a profit. The cost of the establishment in
this place is about $15,000. It is calculated under full way,
to manufacture 175 lbs. per week into sewings. It is under-
stood that the investment in machinery should pay from nine
to fifteen per cent. ; that nine per cent, should be charged on
the buildings ; fifteen per cent, on all perishable articles ; and
six per cent, on the active stock. The cost of manufacturing,
including all extra expenses, is estimated at $1,26 per lb. ; or
the manufacturer professes himself willing to take a lease of the
establishment from the owner, paying as rent $2 per pound for
the silk manufactured. The raw silk purchased from Smyrna,
costs in Boston $4,28 per lb. cash ; the manufactured silk sells
for $8,10, and a credit of four months is allowed. What is tech-
nically called the weighting of silk, is increafing its weight by
the dye-stuff, which is used. By the use of sumac, the weight
is increased from 2 oz. to 3^ oz. per lb. It is said that abroad,
a preparation of lead is often used with sewings, both to in-
crease the weight of the silk, and render it more glossy and
brilliant. I suppose this may be mentioned with safety, for
certainly such an honest people as the Yankees, will never
think of adopting the tricks of the old countries. It is grati-
fying to be told that this establishment is expected to give a sat-
isfactory remuneration both to its conductor and proprietor.
Yet with these favorable prospects, it does not appear to me,
that a sufficiently long trial has been had to determine the
points at issue.

The account of J. H. Cobb, of Dedham, which appears to
be made with exactness, gives a somewhat different result as
to the cost of manufacturing sewing silk- He makes it, after
detailing all the various processes, $2^55 per pound ; and here
no consideration is made for interest upon the stock, for super-
intendence, or for any commissions ; and undoubtedly, as in
all such cases, there are a great many incidentals, which must
somewhat increase the cost. We believe this gentleman was
soon satisfied that this manufacture could not be carried on to
advantage.

With respect to the introduction of silk manufactures, other

142 AGRICULTURAL REPORT. [March,

than seAvings into the country, as long as foreign fabrics are
admitted free from Europe, and from China paying only a
small duty, it must be despaired of as matter of profit. The
silk manufacturers in Europe, if we except the worms them-
selves, are the poorest fed and the poorest paid of almost any
class of manufacturing operatives on the continent. In 1834, the
prices of labor for weaving galoons f wide, was one shilling
one farthing sterling per groce ; this would be a great day's
work. At Huddersfield, where 13,000 persons, mostly females
were employed, the wages averaged 2^d. per day. At Tot-
maston, where they worked 14 hours per day, men's labor was
at one shilling sterling per day. In the county of Kent, 30,000
persons were employed in the silk business, at 6d. per day.
The prices, it is presumed, have not since advanced. In Ly-
ons, the wages of men in the silk business, is less than six
shillings sterling per week, and of girls not more than three
shillings per week. The salary of an overseer is about seven-
ty-five cents per day. The wages in the silk districts in Eng-
land, when the condition of the business is spoken of as pros-
perous, varies for an adult, from three shillings to eight shillings
sterling per wcik ; and as the article is matter of mere luxury,
though of almost universal use, the fluctuations in their condi-
tion to which these poor creatures arc subject, from the changes
and caprices of fashion, often reduce them to extreme distress.
We can easily suppose, that in some cases, they may wish they
had the power of the humble insect, whose winding sheet they
unravel, of enclosing themselves in a cocoon, from whence
they might emerge with wings which should bear them away
from their ill-requited toils and unpitied sufferings.

We cannot contemplate such facts without exulting with re-
ligious gratitude, in the superior compensation, and, in general,
the extraordinary prosperity of labor, in our own country. But
if we undertake the manufacture of silk, while trade is free,
we must come in competition with such rates of labor. Is it
to be supposed that we are ready for this? The benevolent
mind would reluct at taking the bread from those mouths
which get nothing, excepting bread, and scarcely enough of

1840.] SENATE.— No. 36. 143

that to keep their teeth bright, or their hearts from aching ; es-
pecially when our country offers to those who will work, fields
of labor far more favorable to health, comfort, competence, and
morals.

I am not disposed to enter upon any of the vexed questions
of political economy. One great reason of the high price of
labor among us is its scarcity, compared with the opportuni-
ties for its employment. This, to a considerable degree, is
felt throughout the country. While as yet mechanical skill
is so inventive and active ; such an infinite variety of arts and
trades are put in constant requisition, and private and public
improvements are every where advancing ; and especially while
as yet the immense and fertile prairies of the unpeopled West,
offer such powerful temptations to swarm from the parent hive,
we ought not lo lament that the manufacture of silk cannot ad-
vantageously be introduced among us. Certainly it need not
be desired, u!;til we ourselves produce the raw material in suf-
ficient quantities to supply such establishments.

In discussing the expediency or inexpediency of introducing
the manufacture of silk among us, I mean of course upon an
extended scale, and not merely as a branch of household indus-
try; it is folly to overlook the differences in the condition of
the people of this country and of the old world. Here the
population is sparse ; there overflowing. Here it is difficult to
find hands for the work ; there as difiicult to find work for the
hands. Here it is what will men do ; there, what can they do.
Here in truth the laborer commands the employer; there the
employer commands the laborer, and takes him up or throws
him off at his pleasure. The sun shines upon no spot of this
earth, where, with reasonable desires,- and virtuous habits, and
moderate and healthful industry, the means not only of sub-
sistence but of competence are more attainable than in our own
Massachusetts. What occasion then for the introduction of a
branch of business, the manufacture of an article of mere lux-
ury, which, carried on in the old world with all the advantages
of centuries of experience and the most improved machinery,
has made the most meagre and uncertain returns to those who
have performed the labor ! The Chinese are not surpassed in

144 AGRICULTURAL REPORT. [March,

the skill and beauty of their silk fabrics. Yet, I have it from
the unquestionable testimony of a gentleman long a resident at
Canton, that no class of manufacturers is to be found more se-
verely tasked or more wretchedly sustained. The products of
this labor therefore, unless prohibited by the government, must
come into our markets at the very lowest prices.

That silk fabrics, being altogether an article of luxury, should
pay a duty for revenue, would seem to be dictated by a wise
policy, placing articles of necessity, which we cannot produce
ourselves, for such tea and coffee have become almost as much
as bread, within reach of the great mass of the people, bur-
dened as little with expense as possible. To attempt by heavy
impositions to prohibit silk fabrics, and so force the manufacture
of silk among us, would be a mistaken policy. It would present
in the first place, from the facilities of unlawful introduction,
strong temptations to smuggling. It would withdraw from pur-
suits of primary importance labor that is now well applied, and
direct it to a business, which, if it should pay well at first,,
would, just in proportion as the manufacture should become
extended, decline in value.

We hear, continually, of the immense importations of silk
into the country, involving us in a heavy debt to Europe.
This creates an enormous drain upon the country, and is
perfectly wasteful and prodigal. But would the production
and manufacture of silk among ourselves, remedy this evil ?
If the persons, who mainly consume these articles, would
themselves produce them, no one could doubt the immense
saving and gain to the country. But who is insane enough to
expect this ? The persons, who must produce the silk, if it
is produced at all, belong to that industrious portion of the
community, who are now fully employed ; and whose labor, if
it is used at all in the manufacture of silk, must be abstracted
from employments where it is now much needed. But as to those
who merely flaunt in silks and satins, the children of mere lux-
ury and fashion, the gay birds of paradise, we must be satisfied
with the ornament and embellishment, which their graces and
elegancies give to society, without expecting from them any
more substantial contribution. Happy will the farmer be if

1840.] SENATE— No. 36. 145

this spirit of luxury and indolence makes no inroads upon his
own domains, and do not paralyze his own means of livelihood
and success. •

The increase of luxury among us, especially within a
few years past, is most remarkable ; and I may be allowed
to refer to it, as not without a powerful influence upon the
agricultural community and interests. We hear great and con-
stant complaints, of the vast sums of money which we send
abroad, or of the debts we contract to foreign nations, for silk
and other articles of mere luxury. I agree in reprobating, with
all the emphasis that can be used, the folly and criminality of
such conduct. But the mistake lies not in the introduction of
silk more than in any other article of mere luxury. The folly
and the criminality lie not in buying silk, but in buying any
thing which we can live without, and running in debt for any
thing which we have not the means of paying for ; and with the
present habits of the community, are not likely to have the
means of paying for.

The secret of much of the adversity of our condition, for it
must be called adversity with nations as with individuals,
whenever they are in debt and find it inconvenient, difficult, or
impossible to pay, is our own neglect of production. Labor in
some form or another is the creator of wealth. All wealth
must come out of the earth or the sea. Credit is not wealth.
Luxury and labor will seldom be found to subsist together.
Luxury does nothing for its own support, but it is a parasitical
plant, which, like the misletoe, draws its nourishment from that
to which it attaches itself, always to the injury of the health,
and too often to the destruction of the life of the tree on which
it subsists. Luxury is a direct tax upon labor. It can be sus-
tained only by the fruits of labor. Now what is the state of
things among us, of which we hear so much complaint ? We
are largely in debt to Europe. We are deeply involved at
home. We have imported and consumed to an enormous
amount, silks, laces, wines, artificial flowers, feathers, and gew-
gaws. Luxury of the most extravagant character has paralyzed
19

146 AGRICULTURAL REPORT. [March,

the arm of industry. We have been living, in a considerable
degree, upon mere credit ; for all currency which is not con-
vertible into specie, or which does not represent Specie, or oth-
erwise available property of a productive character, or of a per-
manent value, is only credit. More than two-thirds of our
population, including children and aged persons, idle young
men, who do not earn the cigars which they smoke, and idle
young women, who hardly mend, much less knit, their own
stockings, and many of the professional classes and the trading
classes, who, though to a certain extent, among the most use-
ful in the community, and often among the most industrious
yet are to be placed with the unproductive, produce nothing.
Not more than one third of our population, this, indeed, is
probably not an unfair estimate, can be considered as productive ;
and upon them devolves the necessity of supporting the rest.
Now if the luxurious, or those who consum.e these articles of
luxury, could be induced or compelled by their own labor to
supply them, it would be indeed an immense saving to the
country ; and an immense gain in every way to the productive
classes, whose labor, much of which now goes to pay for these
luxuries, might then be determined into some more useful
channel. But who can expect this ? In the present condition
of things nothing is less likely, and nothing will bring men to
a sense, and what is of much more importance in the case, to
the performance of their duty, but absolute necessity. The
luxurious and spendthrift classes, who are the great consumers
of these foreign luxuries, will not work ; they will not produce
the silks they wear. The production, then, if produced at all
among us, must be from the laborious classes. There is, I admit,
a large portion of labor which against its inclination is unavail-
able ; or which would be applied if it could be profitably used.
This I except, and of this I shall speak presently. The question
then resolves itself into this. Shall our labor, now profitably
occupied and in full demand through every part of New Eng-
land, and where not even one tenth of our soil in Massachusetts
is cultivated, and that which is cultivated not one fourth so

1840.] SENATE— No. 36. 147

productive as it might be rendered, be diverted to the produc-
tion and manufacture of an article of mere luxury ? But sup-
pose we should undertake and succeed in producing and manu-
facturing our own silks, so, as some lunatics imagine, not only
to supply our own wants, but to make it a matter of large ex-
portation. How are the luxurious to pay the produ(iers here
any better than they can pay the producers abroad ? If the
laboring and productive classes will be satisfied with a cur-
rency of which we have had too much, and we are to make
money at our pleasure, and the luxurious and spendthrift classes
can pay for their indulgences, and get on in their indolence and
dissipation and wastefulness, with paying in borrowed notes,
which in some parts of the country represent nothing but the
promise to pay, written on the face of them, we can get along as
we have done. But if, on the other hand, the experience we have
had of the injustice, madness, and wickedness of such a course,
has taught us any thing, we cannot get along as we have done.
The laboring and productive classes will not remain satisfied
that men should, at their pleasure have the means of expendi-
ture and luxury, who do nothing towards earning or producing
them; and they will require that that which passes as the
representative of value, should not be a mere fiction, but in
truth represent that which has a fixed, convertible, available,
and permanent value, either in the form of specie or other real
property.

The production and manufacture of silk among us beyond
the availing of that kind of labor to which I shall presently
refer, is not the remedy then for the evils of which we com-
plain, the evils of involving ourselves in debt through the
excessive consumption of foreign luxuries or even of home-
grown or home-made luxuries. The evil consists in our using
that which we have not earned ; that which we do not pay
for, and which we have not the means of paying for, and
which we are not willing to labor that we may have the means
of paying for. The production and manufacture of silk,
unless it can be done by labor not now employed and yielding
no profit, will not relieve us from our embarrassments. In-
deed, try what art we will, there is only one effectual remedy.

148 AGRICULTURAL REPORT. [March,

and that is, the abandonment and disuse of these kixuries until
we are able and have the means to pay for them ; or by honest
and productive industry, acquiring the means to pay for them.
/ The notions, too, entertained by many, of our making raw
silk an article of export, and of our undertaking to supply
Great Britain and France at an enormous profit, with a large
amount of the millions of pounds of raw silk which they
consume, seem closely bordering upon visionary. We can-
not, even had we produced a large surplus, come into the
European market with our silk without coming in competition
with the cheap labor of Italy, France, Germany, India and
China. Besides this, the culture of silk, with the advantages
of the improved varieties of mulberry, has made an auspicious
beginning in the Sandwich Islands, and large contracts for
trees, if report be true, have been made in the British West
India Islands, where the climate admits of getting three to four
crops per year. Now", under such circumstances, is it to be
supposed that we can go largely into the cultivation of silk
with any expectation of prices remaining as they are. There
is another law of trade, which necessarily applies itself here.
In the first production of some extraordinary article, it may
command a high price ; or where by any peculiarity of loca-
tion or any peculiar art or skill in cultivation, it can be pro-
duced with a degree of perfection, to which other persons or
other places cannot attain, there a sort of monopoly may exist,
and a high price be maintained. But an article of general
production, and which may be grown to an unlimited extent, in
almost an unlimited number of places will ordinarily bear a price
proportioned to the cost of production and but little above it.
If it fall below the cost of production, it will cease to be culti-
vated ; if it rise much above it and pay the large profits with
which alone the imaginations of some men can be satisfied, an
extended production, stimulated by this high price, will soon
bring it down to its level. It is worse than idle to delude
ourselves with false expectations. The laws which regulate
the affairs of men, which are indeed none other than the laws
of Divine Providence, and which extend to all the departments

1840.] SENATE— No. 36. 149

of life, are fixed and unalterable. Like water, they never cease
their movements until they find their level. To attempt to
interfere with their operation, or to control them in order to meet
our wishes, is like attempting to bend by our own force a strong
tree to the ground. We may break it, and then we get a
severe fall ; or its elasticity may presently cause it to rebound,
and throw the person, who was thus trying his power, where
he can make no further experiments. I am well aware that
these views will not coincide with the popular sentiment ; but
having no party predilections and no private views to answer,
I am willing to submit them to the calm judgment of the
intelligent and reflecting, and to the sober results of experience.

XIX. — Raw Silk. The production of raw silk, is, pro-
perly speaking, an agricultural operation. The inquiry whether
this may be made profitable, concerns directly the agricultural
interest ; and, under what circumstances it should be encour-
aged, is a question which I propose to consider.

It has been confidently stated, as I have already shown, that
raw silk may be produced among us at current prices of labor,
for two dollars or two dollars and a quarter per pound. In the
cases referred to, however, no allowance was made for land,
buildings, trees, manuring, and the superintendence of the pro-
prietor ; but only for the actual labor applied ; and in Mr. Mc
Lean's experiment, the labor of the man was rated at not more
than half its customary value. In Mr. Smith's case not only
were these items not charged, but likewise the board of the
young women employed was not brought into the account. It
seems to me then only fair to rate the cost of raw silk at three
dollars or three dollars and fifty cents per lb. At 50 lbs. of
silk to an acre, this would be a liberal compensation for labor ;
and any increase of this product would be an increase of profit
without a corresponding increase of the cost of production.
But this again is making no allowance for accidents. With
our inexperience in the silk culture in this country, we are not
prepared to say what allowance should be made on this account.
The worms are liable to various accidents. They are some-

150 AGRICULTURAL REPORT. [March,

times swept away by disease in vast numbers, to the sad disap-
pointment and loss of the industrious cuhivator. Hitherto,
however, as far as my own knowledge extends, few such mis-
fortunes have occurred. The profit upon the production of
sillc, must depend, of course, not merely upon the price of labor,
but upon the value of the article in the market. This will of
course again depend somewhat upon the supply. Any consid-
erable increase of the product would, as I have attempted to
show, inevitably reduce the value. Prices, too, are fluctuating,
especially where there is a mixed currency ; that is, a specie
currency and a paper currency, which does not represent
specie ; and when promises to pay are interpreted and qualified
at the pleasure of those who make them. No class in the
community is more interested in a sound currency than those
farmers, who are obliged to hire any labor, and are depend-
ant upon the sales of their produce. The constitution of
the country having fixed a standard of value in gold and silver,
every other currency is sound so far as, and no farther than, it
represents gold and silver. The defiance of their obligations,
which has characterized some of the monied institutions of the
country, and the persevering attempts in some parts of the
country to uphold and force a purely paper currency upon the
commmiity, produce disastrous fluctuations ; disturb all the
sound calculations of honest industry ; and in proportion to
his means and concerns, the small farmer suffers as severely
as those most extensively engaged in commercial pursuits. It
is to the deluge of an irresponsible currency, which was by
some institutions at one time poured out like water, that we
must in a measure attribute those speculations in the Multi-
caulis mulberry, which brought ruin upon thousands. At-
tracted by the glittering illusion of sudden wealth, like insects
round an evening bonfire, they rushed into the flames, where
many perished, or escaped with their legs burnt off" or their
wings singed, maimed and crippled for life. To the same
cause we owe every where the interruption and desertion of
the quiet pursuits of wholesome rural industry, for the hazard-
ous, and in many cases the immoral pursuits of speculation.

1840.] SENATE— No. 36. 151

Under these circumstances, whether we undertake to manufac-
ture or to produce raw silk, we can at present make no very
safe calculations for the future of what the price of labor will be ;
or what will be the value of the article after it is produced. The
attempt, therefore, to produce silk on any large scale, as well
as the attempt to manufacture silk, even sewings, must at the
present be an undertaking full of uncertainties, but one can
hardly say, of doubtful result. The absence of all duties,
upon foreign fabrics, exposes us, also, to all the caprices
of foreign labor, capital, and cupidity, and the ebb and flood of
foreign markets are felt equally upon our shores. Within the last
few months, as I have remarked, the prices of many articles of
silk have experienced a decline of more than fifty per cent.
The best of sewing silk which not long since commanded nine
dollars, now sells for six. Ribbons and lutestrings are even
much more reduced.

Some persons, on this subject of the profits of the silk cul-
ture, have had their imaginations raised almost to a white heat,
and have thought that the product of raw silk in the northern
states, might soon be made to equal the product of cotton in
the southern portion of the Union. Certainly they do not
mean in pounds, but in the value of the article produced. But
is it not obvious that any such increase of the product of the
article would proportionately reduce the price, though this
would again be affected to a degree by another element, which
must come into the calculation ; and that is, the increased use
of the article which would follow any considerable reduction
of its price. This would not, however, raise the price, because
its free use depends on a low price, and bears a direct relation
to the diminution of the price. There is, however, no suffi-
cient reason to think that raw silk can maintain its present
price in the country, certainly not in the face of any con-
siderably increased production. The present price of raw silk
from Smyrna is not much above $4 per pound. Bengal silk is
lower.

But our silk is said to be much superior to the India silk,
as it is said, likewise, that silk raised in the norihcrn provinces

152 AGRICULTURAL REPORT. [March,

of China is much superior to that in the south. I have not
been able fully to satisfy myself of this fact ; nor, if true, can
I ascertain whether it be attributable to the influence of the
climate, or the superiority of the reeling ; but an intelligent
manufacturer has stated to me, that, in his opinion, the Bengal
silk would be found equal to any other but for the imperfection
of its reeling. It is stated, likewise, on the most disinterested
testimony, that the silk formerly raised in Georgia, whose cli-
mate, we know, is of a high temperature, was pronounced in
England of an excellent quality. The perfection of the Italian
silk is generally ascribed to the admirable manner in which it
is reeled. It is at the same time, however, only just to state
that the silk already produced among us, has fully demonstrat-
ed our capacity of producing as good an article as has as yet
been seen.

In our calculations as to the price which silk is likely to
maintain, we must take into consideration many new facts.
The introduction of improved varieties of mulberry into Eu-
rope, and the great improvements which have been made in the
engrafting of choice varieties upon the white mulberry, are not
without their influence upon the silk culture, both in France
and Italy. No longer ago than this very day, on which I pen
this paragraph, I have received through a friend, direct infor-
mation from one of the most distinguished agriculturists and
horticulturists in France, of the introduction of a new species
of mulberry from the northern parts of China, of a perfectly hardy
character, furnishing an abundance of foliage, and promising,
in its various good qualities, the most eminent advantages to the
silk culturists of France. If the tree fulfils the promises, which
are held out, it will soon be ours. It is said not to be propa-
gated with as much facility as the Perottet mulberry, yet, it may
be propagated without difficulty by engrafting. In the present
condition of society, all monopoly of advantages or improve-
ments, excepting those, which, from the nature of the case, cannot
be transferred, are at an end. Continents are brought into near
vicinity to each other. The papers come to us from Europe,
scarcely dry from the press ; and the leaves of plants from the

1840.] SENATE— No. 36. 153

gardens of the old world will hardly have time to wither, be-
fore they strike their roots anew into onr own soil. This
brings men into one common brotherhood ; and what a de-
lightful and mutual interchange of advantages will be contin-
ually extending itself, while the path over the hitherto track-
less waters, is now easily marked out, as to the ancient Israel-
ites, by a curling cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night ;
and a voyage which was of months, is now measured by days
and hours.

The improvements likewise made in the management, or as
it is professionally termed, the education of the silk worm, on
the experimental silk establishment of M. Beauvais, to which
1 have already referred, and by which four harvests may be
obtained in a year, and a larger yield from the number of
worms fed than by any other process, will be extended, and
produce their natural effects. It has occurred to me, likewise,
that the culture of silk is likely to be increased in British
India. Not an inconsiderable amount of persons in these prov-
inces have been engaged in the production of opium, with a
view to the Chinese market. If the noble effort of the Chinese
sovereign to arrest this dreadful scourge, which has opened
such a flood of misery upon his dominions, are to be successful,
and a nation of barbarians are able to put a stop to the nefa-
rious efforts of the agents of a nation calling itself Christian
to force this deadly physical and moral poison into their veins ;
then the cultivation of this drug in British India, will be much
abated ; and why should not the labor of this population be
turned into some other channel ? Great Britain imports an-
nually about 28,000 bales of raw silk of 162 lbs. each, or, in
gross numbers, over three million and a half of pounds. Now,
with the power, recently understood, of propagating the best
varieties of the mulberry with a rapidity, which almost exceeds
belief, and in a climate favorable to this kind of tree, where
three harvests may be easily gathered in a year, why should not
a portion of this population be turned to the cultivation of silk
and cotton, with both which they are familiar ? In the pre-
20

154 AGRICULTURAL REPORT. [March,

sent condition of society, who can calculate the changes which
may occur ?*

The cultivation of silk is making great advances in Ger-
many. It was commenced many years ago, and then was sus^
pended for nearly half a century ; but the success of the cul-
ture in France has attracted attention strongly ; and it is now
pursued with great vigor and success. Indeed, it may be
considered as greatly on the increase in all the countries of
Europe, where the condition of the country admits of its cul-
tivation, with the exception of those which have been for a
long time the theatre of the tragic exhibitions and cruelties of
civil war.

Under these circumstances, I see no very strong encourage-
ment for the erection of large establishments either for the man-
ufacture or the production of silk. The country, indeed, has
neither the experience, which is desirable in such case, nor
labor enough to manage them to advantage. We have not the
population to fill them, and are not likely to have for some years
to come in New England. In what country does the price of labor
bear a comparison with the price of labor among ourselves? Such
establishments are in no respect to be desired ; and are likely
to fail from the extent and complexity of the business. When
men talk about feeding several millions of worms in a year, they
are in danger of deceiving themselves in regard to the amount

* " To shov/ in a most instructive manner the changes which may occur
under the active progress of improvement in the civilized work!, of which
indeed, we may have our full share of advantage as well as others, and
which no peo|ile can mono])oIize to the exclusion of others, I refer to the
changes, which have taken place in the manufacture of lace. This should
at least admonish us that all mechanical ingenuity is not confined to our-
selves.

"Such has been the progress of irnprovement and economy in this
manufacture, that the cost of labor in making a rack, which was twenty
years ago, \ls. 6d., or 42 pence, is now not more than one penny. The pri-
ces of this beautiful fal)ric have fallen in an equally remarkable manner.
At the former periods, a 24 rack piece, five quarters broad, fetched 17 L
sterling, in the wholesale market; the same is now sold for 7s. I" — Ure on
Manufadurts, p. 733.

1840.] SENATE— No. 36. 155

of labor required ; or these calculations are too often the strata-
gems of purely interested persons, who have only some private
ends to accomplish, and are for inducing others to beat the bush
that they may catch the bird. A highly enterprising and
industrious cultivator told me, two years since, that the ensu-
ing year he designed to make 5000 lbs. of raw silk. He cer-
tainly had no intention to deceive, and I believe deluded no
person of sound mind but himself The year passed on. but
not 50 lbs. were made. He has since somewhat modified his
expectations, and calculates this year upon making 2000 lbs.
When the silk comes to be weighed, we can best determine
the fulfilment of the prediction. Most certainly I should re-
joice in such splendid results of domestic industry, if labor
can be thus applied to advantage ; but with the liberal boun-
ties of the state, offering two dollars a pound upon reeled and
thrown silk, sufficient as has been confidently stated to cover
the entire cost of production, we have not yet reached in the
whole State one quarter of that product in a year. This
dreaming with our eyes open is prejudicial to the substantial
and permanent success of any good enterprise. Successive
disappointments and losses, almost inevitable under such cir-
cumstances, produce universal discouragement ; create disgust ;
and throw back the cause, which occasions them, almost as far
beyond its true position as the expectations of its friends had
placed it in advance. The largest amount, as far as I can
ascertain, ever made by any individual in the country, in any
one year, was made by William Atwood, of Mansfield, Conn.
This was one hundred and eight pounds. Such an amount
has rarely been approached by any other person.

The attempts made to force the silk culture by legislative
encouragement, bounties, and penalties, in Georgia, Virginia,
and Connecticut, in former years, though urged by the same
eloquent arguments by which its friends now commend it,
proved utter failures. The country was not then, and it is not
now, prepared to go into the cultivation of silk upon that ex-
tended scale to which the imaginations of some men, whose

156 AGRICULTURAL REPORT. [March,

good intentions and public spirit I do not doubt, would carry
it. I should anticipate the same results, which followed in
former cases, from any extravagant attempts to force its produc-
tion at the present time.

It is said that the silk culture in France yields a profit of 20
to 40 per cent. But from the condition of things in France,
we can predicate nothing of our own community. When we
can obtain men's labor for ^1,25 per week, and women's labor
for sixty cents, and children's labor for a few sous and the la-
borers provide for themselves, and can be sure of obtaining the
high prices, which silk now commands, there is no doubt that we
could produce and manufacture silk to equal advantage with any
nation. But let the profits be as they are described to be in these
countries, who gets these profits ? Not the growers of the silk ;
not the operatives in these establishments ; but the owners of
these large filatures and manufactories. They skim the cream ;
the producers of the silk, the operatives in these foreign manu-
factories, the living machines, they must be satisfied with the
skim-milk, and that oftentimes somewhat diluted. It is not so,
let us thank God, with us. Labor is not so abundant with us, that
it cannot command a full compensation ; nor as in the crowded
manufactories of Europe, that it surrenders all claims to the
perfected article, though perfected by its own toil, and is satis-
fied with the ends and the waste. In our favored country,
manufacturing labor has been most liberally compensated. But
it is said that our people do much more in a day than the labor-
ing classes in Europe. If the labor consists mainly in attendance
upon machinery, there can be no great difference, where the
same number of hours is given. In Lyons, the silk manufac-
turers work 14 hours per day, exclusive of meals. In other cases
of labor, the operatives orEuropean laborers, do less because they
are paid less, and miserably fed and housed. If we get more per-
formed by an equal number of hands, the cost of this labor is
increased in proportion. But it is said that we have superior
advantages to counterbalance the comparative dearness of our
labor, in what we are pleased to call Yankee ingenuity and con-
trivance. We should be led to infer from the style of .speak-
ing adopted, and too current among us, that no other people

1840.] SENATE— No. 36. 157

on the globe ever had any ingenuity or contrivance, but our-
selves. This comes of our ignorance and self-conceit. It is
time we cultivated more a just self-respect, and abandoned a
habit disreputable and offensive. We may boast indeed of a
Franklin, a Whitney, a Fulton and a Perkins ; and so may
other nations boast of an Arkwright, a Watts, a Wedgewood,
a Babbage, a Fisher,* and a Jacquard. These men belong to
no geographical location. Such minds are the common prop-
erty of human nature. The curious invention in 1830, of the
loom, which bears the name of its inventor, M. Jacquard, of
Lyons, constitutes one of the most important steps that has
ever been taken in the silk manufacture, and the manufacture
of other figured goods. Its ingenious mechanism, is not often
rivalled, and scarcely exceeded in any country. But with all
our ingenuity and contrivance, how far are we at present from
being able to produce the exquisite and beautiful fabrics of
civilized Europe, or even of barbarous China and Japan.

W"e are often admonished of the enormous amounts expended
for the introduction of silks into the country. During the preva-
lence of that terrible epidemic, which prevailed throughout the
country in the year 1836, the speculating brain fever, our im-
ports of silk rose to the extraordinary amount of $22,000,000 ;
some years they have reached to $12,000,000 and $13,000,000,
but ordinarily, they may be set down as from $7,000,000 to
$9,000,000. If silks were an absolute necessary of life, we
ought, by all means, to be able to produce them, as otherwise,
we might under contingencies, suffer through want of them.
But as matter of mere luxury, though a useful luxury, there
are not the same strong reasons for urging the culture and
manufacture of silk against so many disadvantages. Should
the government see fit to afford such a protection as the culti-
vators of silk might desire for their purposes, this would be a

* " Bobbinet may be said to surpass every other branch of human industry
in the complex ingenuity of its machinery ; one of Fisher's spotting frames
being as much beyond the most curious chronometer, in muhiphcity of me-
chanical device, as that is beyond a common roasting-jack." — Ure on Manu-
factures, p. 730.

158 AGRICULTURAL REPORT. [March,

hindrance to its manufacture. Should they, on the other hand,
attempt by high duties, to protect the manufacture of silk,
they must leave the admission of raw silk free, which would
proportionately discourage the cultivation. A system of utter
prohibition of foreign silk, or foreign silk goods, would be likely
to result no better than did the same system of prohibition and
monopoly, which was pursued in Great Britain for a very long
period of years. It would enhance the price, but diminish the
consumption. It would check enterprise and ingenuity in the
improvement and the manufacture. It would tend to divert
much labor into new channels of industry without any corres-
ponding advantage. So far from putting a stop to smuggling,
the temptation to the illicit introduction of silk would be vastly
increased.

To the laying of a reasonable duty upon imported silk, wheth-
er raw or manufactured, for revenue, there can be no sound objec-
tion. Silk being wholly a luxury is a fit subject of tax, as the tax
must of course fall upon those who are best able to pay it.
But beyond this, any legislative enactments with a view to force
its culture here, would be met by attempts to defeat or evade
the law, which in such an article as silk in any form, from the
small space which it occupies in proportion to its value, would
be but too successful. As I have already remarked, the exor-
bitant duty of thirty-six, or forty per cent, as it was a short
time since, upon sewings, has served not to benefit our own
manufacture, but rather materially to injure the sale of the
article, by the inducements offered, and the consequent illegal
introduction of the foreign article.

XX. — Calculations respecting Silk Products. — I am
aware that I oppose the popular opinion in speaking thus dis-
couragingly of the manufacture of silk in our country. It
would be more agreeable to float with the tide than to struggle
against it ; but whether the oi)inion of an individual be of little
or much weight in the community, he is bound to respect his
own judgment, and is at liberty to utter only his honest convic-

1840.] SENATE— No. 36. 159

tions. Public sentiment and public actions can be affected but
in a slight degree by the opinions of any individual ; and ad-
dressing one's self to intelligent and reflecting minds, no evil can
result from the freest discussion. No good will come from
creating false expectations ; and I should be glad to disabuse
the public mind of some of the gross illusions by which it has
been willingly imposed upon. In some of the documents before
me, and those published under authority, it has been confi-
dently stated, that an acre of land planted with mulberry trees,
may be expected to produce the first year one hundred pounds
of silk, and afterwards be increased to 333 lbs., and even to
666 lbs. ; and that the profits of such cultivation would be
$1170 per acre. Another person goes on to calculate that one
hundred acres even at ISO lbs. to the acre, and silk at 4 dollars
per lb., might be made to afford an income of ,f 72,000. At
present these must be considered as mere dreams. If this be
practicable, why has it not been done ? There has been ample
time in other countries, and in this country, to have done it, if
it could be done. There have been trees enough, and land
enough, and capital enough ; and in some of the states a bounty
has been offered for some years on the production of silk, ad-
mitted by the most ardent friends of the cultivation, to be suffi-
cient to cover the whole expense of production. In what
country, at what time, was ever such encouragement to pro-
duction held out before ? But no such returns have been
obtained or even approached ; and with the exception of Mr,
Atwood, before referred to, and Miss Rapp, at Economy, who,
until new claimants appear, must be allowed the rank of queen
of this branch of domestic industry, it would be difficult, I
imagine, to find half a dozen individuals in the whole Union
who have produced, either of them in one year, one hundred
pounds of silk. I myself know not of one. I should have been
glad of the honor of recording the names of hundreds who had
accomplished it, if they were to be found. Mr. McLean, who
has approached more nearly than any other man in the coun-
try towards determining what can well be done, admits, with

160 AGRICULTURAL REPORT. [March,

the most creditable frankness, that he despairs of ever seeing
104 or 128 lbs. of silk produced upon an acre. I cannot say
with him, that I despair of such a result ; but I shall wait for
further trials before I am prepared to say, with confidence, that
more can be done than what his remarkable intelligence, skill,
and enterprise have effected. In respect to the actual cost of
producing silk, that as yet is by no means settled. Mr. Mc
Lean's experiment, which has come the nearest to determining
this matter with exactness, is, as I have shown, far from doing
it. First, he made no allowance for land, trees, rent of build-
ings, cultivation and superintendence. Second, he charged
the man's labor and board at half the price, three dolls, per week,
which it would cost with us. Third, he states distinctly, that
his silk cost him much more than two dollars a pound, though
he thinks it may be produced for this sum ; that is, as I under-
stand it, the mere labor of producing it can be paid for by that
sum, in his judgment.

XXI. — Manufacture of Silk. — With respect to the manu-
facture of silk, except in a small way, the attempt in New Eng-
land, thus far, must be pronounced a failure. It has been fol-
lowed by loss and bankruptcy in almost every instance where
it has been undertaken. Unless the government should utterly
prohibit its importation, it cannot be otherwise ; and if the gov-
ernment should attempt this, and nothing is less likely, the rise
in the price would product only new efforts for its illicit introduc-
tion, which, as remarked, wnth an article admitting of so easy
concealment as silk, would not be difficult, in a country accessi-
ble at so many points as ours. But would the introduction of
the silk manufacture among us be desirable? I think not, in the
present condition of our population. The manufacturers of
silk in Great Britain, and on the continent, are wretchedly paid
and wretchedly fed. Whatever wealth may have been accu-
mulated, or whatever success may have attended the operations
of the proprietors of these silk establishments, the wretched

1840.] SENATE— No. 36. 161

men, women, and children, who i^erform the labor, have little
more than sufficient to sustain life. In a business so liable
to be suddenly and deeply affected by the caprices of fashion,
they are exposed to the most painful revulsions, and are often
reduced to the extremes of want and misery. Can we desire
to see any of our own population placed in the same condition ?
Yet how otherwise can we come in competition with this
foreign population in an article of this sort? Nothing can be
more absurd than to suppose, that if the country were to go
largely either into the manufacture or production of silk, as is
proposed by some persons, that present prices could be main-
tained. In countries, where men are trained in particular de-
partments of labor from their childhood, v/ithout any expecta-
tion or any practicability of a change, a different state of things
exists from that which exists among us. Here, men at their
pleasure can change, and are perpetually changing their condi-
tion. Here, excepting those pernicious influences, which result
from a disturbed currency, and an uncertain standard of value,
the relations of labor and its compensation in the various em-
ployments of industry will be continually seeking a level, and
maintain a uniform proportion. If any particular branch of
business promises extraordinary profits, and by extraordinary, I
mean a larger compensation for labor than other employments
aftbrd, men will rush into that, until its profits are equalized
with those of other pursuits.

I am not an enemy to manufactures ; very far otherwise ; but
I believe no sagacious mind can doubt, that with a sound cur-
rency any considerable extension of them among us must tend
to reduce the wages of manufacturing labor. In our condition of
population, I have not been able to perceive the direct benefits of
manufactures to our agriculture, excepting as far as they increase
the productive capital of the country, from the manufacture of
any article among us. the raw material of which we do not pro-
duce ourselves. If this capital were directly applied to the ex-
tension and improvement of our agriculture, the benefits would
be obvious ; but this has been the case to a very small extent ;
21

163 AGRICULTURAL REPORT. [March,

and, in one respect, manufactures, by withdrawing a large portion
of labor from our farms, and by the high wages, which by the
amounts of artificial capital existing among us the manufacturers
have been able to pay, have tended rather to the discourage-
ment of agriculture in the Slate than to its extension. I do
not mean that our agricultural interest has been depressed ; but
so large a portion of our population have turned their attention
to manufactures, that our population and even many of our
farmers have depended upon foreign sources, other states and
other countries, for the supply even of the first necessaries of
life ; and cultivation and improvement have been narrowed
rather than extended.

With our present population, a larger proportion are now
occupied in manufacturing pursuits than can be spared from
agriculture, without injury to its interests ; and as, in the pres-
ent state of things, is for the interest of the manufactures
themselves. Our cotton manufactures certainly do not desire
their extension. Our woollen manufactures cannot get on
without a reduction of the price of labor with which the
laborers are not satisfied, or of the price of wool with which
the farmers are not satisfied. Why, under these circumstances,
should we wish to see the manufacture of silk introduced—
an article, in a great measure, of mere luxury.

XXII. Manufactures in England. — But the prosperity of
England, we are constantly told, has been bassed upon her
manufactures. It will not be questioned, that they have been
to her the source of immense wealth. But who has had this
wealth? Who has been benefited by this signal prosperity?
Not the laborers themselves, whose toil has created it. They
have seen the mountains of wealth rising up among them ;
and they have brought their contributions to increase these
masses in the hands of the great proprietors ; but they them-
selves have scarcely been permitted to reserve from the pro-
ducts of their own toil the means of sustaining life. Broken
down with excessive toil they have been crushed between two
mill-stones, low prices for labor on the one hand, and high

1840.] SENATE— No. 36. 163

prices of bread on the other ; for in an artificial system like
theirs, the agricultural interest claims protection as well as
the manufacturing ; and corn laws must be maintained, the
hardships of which fall almost exclusively upon the laboring
classes. Under such circumstances, the only sovereign remedy
against the complaints of their starving crowds has been
bayonets and balls. Now with all her wealth and all her
machinery, and all her magnificence, w^here, all circumstances
considered, where on earth exists a more wretched, miserable,
vicious, squalid population than are to be found among a large
portion of the manufacturing population of Great Britain ?
We may add likewise the silk manufacturers of Lyons. Who
would desire to see a standard of wages introduced among us
like that which prevails in England or among the manufactur-
ers on the continent ? Hitherto among us, for various reasons,
which it is not necessary to discuss, and especially from our
sparse population, from the demands for labor made from other
sources, and from the cheapness of land, manufacturing labor
has been most liberally and sometimes exorbitantly paid. But
in proportion as manufactures are extended among us, unless
under a high tariff, amounting almost to a prohibition, the stand-
ard of wages must be in some measure conformed to that of
Europe. It is idle to think of introducing the manufacture of
silk unless we can produce it at the rates of labor which are
paid there.

XXIII. Our own Condition. — But how are we to pay for the
silks which we import from Europe ? We cannot honestly pay
for them. We ought not to use them. In our present condi-
tion we have no right to them. The enormous extravagance
and luxury which have prevailed among us, have occasioned
the bankruptcies and the distresses, and many of the flagrant
crimes which darken the history of our community for the few
past years. But cannot we make them ourselves ? As I have
already said, the luxurious and spendthrift classes might do it,
if they would ; but no one expects this of them. But may
not much of the labor, which is now applied to other purposes

164 AGRICULTURAL REPORT. [March,

be withdrawn from them and applied to the exchisive produc-
tion and manufacture of silk ? Not without taking it from
more important objects ; and not without consenting to much
lower prices for labor than we now receive.

But may not the production of raw silk be made profitable
among us ? I think it may. I recommend its introduction and
culture ; and I will show under what circumstances it may be
pursued to advantage. But let me first premise that I have no
confidence in any such enormous products and profits as have
been predicted. 1 believe, under some circumstances, it will
pay not only a fair, but a liberal compensation for labor. With
this, we ought to be satisfied. I believe that more than fifty
pounds of silk to an acre, can be produced, but I shall assume this
amount as a safe basis of calculation, because this has actually
been accomplished. I will suppose, likewise, in the calcula-
tion, that by the increased product of silk, a price is obtained
for it barely sufficient to cover the expenses of production. It
is often asked, whether, if we should go to producing raw silk,
we should be able to find a market for it ? This cannot be
doubted, provided we are willing to sell as cheaply as other
producers. The raw silk produced among us is universally
admitted to be of a superior quality. We shall go into the
market of the world, then, with this advantage ; but we must
come in competition with other growers of silk ; and take such
a price as the market offers. What this may be there are no
means of determining. The demand for raw silk is not unlim-
ited, but the use of the article is gradually increasing ; and in
proportion to its increased production and consequent cheap-
ness, the demand may be expected farther to increase. It has
one advantage, which is not to be overlooked. It is an imper-
ishable article ; and the sale of it, other circumstances being
favorable, may always be discretionary ; and it may be kept
without other loss than that of interest on the cost for a good
price.

XXTV. Production of Silk in Massachusetts. — Under
what circumstances, then, may the silk culture be urged upon

1840.] SENATE— No. 36. 165

the farmers of Massachusetts. There is, then, in the first
place, no diiRcuhy in raising the hardy kinds of mulberry in
any part of the State. There is good reason to believe, that
the tender varieties may be naturalized ; and they may at least
be cultivated to a certain extent, by taking them up in the fall
and resetting them in the spring. Every farmer, therefore, in
the State may have, at a small expense, his one, two, three, or
more acres of mulberry trees, the leaves of which he may use
as he pleases. A permanent plantation being once well estab-
lished, it will require little care to keep it in good order, and
the trees will endure for several generations. If he does not
choose to use the leaves himself, there may be a market for
them with those who are willing to use them. In France, the
leaves are picked and carried into market for sale, as much as
other vegetables. As in Mansfield, persons may be found,
who will be willing to take the trees and eggs, upon condition
of returning a third or two-thirds of the product in silk, as may
be agreed upon. In this way the cost of the trees and the ex-
pense of setting and cultivating them will prove a profitable
investment. Further, the trees may be planted at the road
sides as ornamental trees, occupying no land to the disadvan-
tage of any other purpose ; and in this way may be made pro-
ductive. The planting of the trees, therefore, the white, the
broussa, the Alpine, or Sharpe's variety, ought every where to
be undertaken and encouraged ; and the tender varieties de-
mand the particular attention of persons, who have the means
of cultivating and using them. A mulberry orchard ought to
be found upon a farm as constantly as an apple orchard.

The expense of other fixtures need not be much. Though
undoubtedly the most perfect way of pursuing the business is
the best way, and, as we see illustrated in the mode of treat-
ment adopted by M. Camille Beauvais, which I shall give at
large, effects a great saving of time and labor, and a larger
amount of produce, than by what is called the natural method ;
yet the business may be pursued advantageously, because it
has for years been pursued advantageously in Mansfield, with-

166 AGRICULTURAL REPORT. [March,

out any expensive fixtures. Vacant rooms in the house, vacant
sheds or portions of the barn may serve as a cocoonery, or as
the French often call it, a magnanerie or feeding house ; and
though artificial heat and an equable temperature to the co-
coonery are desirable in order to the most perfect results, yet no
such processes have ever prevailed in Mansfield, and therefore
are not indispensable to a fair product. A cocoonery may be
built upon a farm at a small expense, which may serve the
double purpose of a feeding house for the worms and a granary.
Mr. Haskell, of Harvard, has erected a building of this des-
cription, which is well contrived and not expensive. The di-
mensions of such a building may be forty feet by twenty, two
stories in height, with a cellar under the whole ; and the farmer
will find it useful for various purposes.

XXV. Labor applicable to the Silk Culture. — Having
the trees and the buildings, there remains only the labor to
be applied. Now in almost every farmer's family in the coun-
try, there is considerable labor, which is comparatively una-
vailable. There are persons advanced in life, who have passed
the season of severe labor. There are children, whose services
might be made productive. There are young women, who
cannot, or who, from filial duty or various considerations, are
unwilling, to leave the paternal roof. There are many, who
are averse to go out to service, and equally averse to go into a
factory at a distance from home. There are many young wo-
men occupying a standing in society which, in the present
condition of public manners, a condition which we cannot alter
or transcend at our pleasure, necessarily shuts them out from
various employments, of which otherwise they might avail them-
selves to aid in their own support ; who are now comparatively
without occupation, and whose necessary expenses it may be
difficult for them and their parents to meet. Public opinion
or fashion, is a despotic tyrant, whose rule is sovereign and in-
exorable. It must be considered likewise, that the introduc-
tion of machinery, the use of water power, and the large cot-

1840.] SENATE.— No. 36. 1G7

ton and woollen establishments raised up in different parts of
the State, have entirely destroyed what may properly be called
household industry. Even the humble knitting-needle, is in
many cases, completely displaced by machinery. We complain
that the music of the spinning-wheel, and the flying of the
shuttle are no longer heard in our farm houses. We cannot ex-
pect it to be otherwise. This is not because our women are
not as much disposed to be as industrious as their grandmoth-
ers, but because, in truth, it would be almost folly to contend
by the ancient arts against the modern processess of manufac-
ture. Then again, for want of this opportunity of domestic
labor, thousands and thousands of our young Avomen, forsake
the parental hearth, and fly in crowds to our cities, to seek
employment in the various trades and arts which are there prac-
tised ; and, where unprotected and removed from the restraints
of parental care, amidst the dreadful perils which surround
them, they but too often find the grave of their honor and vir-
tue : to themselves, and to those, whom they leave behind,
a more dreadful sacrifice than that of life. To all these de-
scriptions of persons, the culture and reeling of silk may fur-
nish a necessary, easy, respectable, and profitable employment.
Many a small farmer in the State, without difficulty, without
expensive investments, without using any but the services of
his own family, and without, in any measure, interfering with,
or deranging his farming operations, may, under proper arrange-
ments, produce his fifty, hundred, or two hundred pounds of
raw silk per year. This, even at two and a half or three dol-
lars per pound, a price below which it is not likely to fall,
would afl'ord a convenient and agreeable addition to his income.
This seems to be entirely practicable. Here the calculations
are all closely restricted ; and founded not upon conjecture, but
upon actual experience and determined results. This supplies
a want, which is deeply felt throughout the country ; and opens
views most grateful to the philanthropic mind. In Italy and
France, as I am informed, the production and reeling of silk,
are almost wholly conducted in this domestic way. The ag-

168 AGRICULTURAL REPORT. [March,

gregate amoimt in such a case throughout the State, would be
immense ; and this all obtained without any expensive advances
or any great risks, or any labor, but that which is now compar-
atively unproductive and otherwise unavailable. It may be
considered in such case, as almost a clear gain ; and whether it
pays as well for labor, as other branches of agricultural or man-
ufacturing pursuit or not, is of little consideration, compared
with the fact, that it pays something and a reasonable compen-
sation, where otherwise nothing would be obtained.

XXXII. Silk Culture FOR THE Clergy. — L There is another
class of persons, to whom the culture of silk would afford peculiar
advantages, and prove in no way inappropriate to their condi-
tion, or inconsistent with their duties ; I mean the clergy.
Every intelligent person, acquainted by experience and inter-
course with society in New England, especially in its rural de-
partments, knows what an invaluable blessing, viewed merely
in a social aspect, this order of men together with the religious
institutions, which rise or fall in a measure as they rise or fall,
have proved to the community ; and how much it is indebted
to them for the good order, the good manners, and the highly
improved condition which distinguish it. But that the min-
istry may be useful, it must be, in a degree, independent ; and
that, at the same time, it may retain its hold upon the commu-
nity, it must not be felt to be burdensome. In the present
condition of society, nothing has become more precarious than
the tenure of the ministerial relation ; and nothing more dis-
couraging in the discharge of their responsible duties, than the
state of dependance upon public caprice, not to say public
charity, in which they are now placed. To a truly pious and
benevolent mind, it will be always grateful and delightful to
dispense the gospel, as far as possible, without charge ; and, if
an apostle, that he might do this, served at his trade of tent-
maker, a good minister will esteem it a privilege to be able,
where it can be done without interfering with his professional
duties and improvement, to supply, in a measure, by his own

1S40.] SENATE— No 36. 169

manual exertions, his own and the wants of his family. To a
clergyman, then, in the retirement of the country, living upon
the uncertain, scanty, and too often begrudged support, which
is allowed him, what a vakiable resource may the cultivation
and care of this invaluable insect afford. — By the labor of
a few Aveeks in a year, and then only a part of the day, he
may, with the aid of an industrious family, procure by his hon-
est exertions, a sum perhaps equal to that which his people
feel able to afford; and thus obtain for himself, the means of
many an innocent indulgence ; perhaps too, of educating his
children, and of providing for a dependant family, a comforta-
ble subsistence in the event of his removal or death. I hope,
my brethren of the clergy, will not consider these suggestions
as in any measure disrespectful. They are dictated by a feel-
ing, totally opposite to this. I should be the last to recom-
mend to them the silk culture or any other business, as matter
of mere pecuniary gain, but only on the ground of a just re-
gard for their own comfort and that of their families. A lit-
tle knowledge of human nature, will convince them that their
people will be always the more ready to help them, as they find
them able and ready to help themselves. The clergy, from
the earliest times, have been the pioneers in agricultural im-
provements in our country ; and among a rural population, I
know not how, in a secular view, a minister can render a higher
service to his people, or make a stronger claim upon their res-
pect and gratitude, than by promoting among them the study
of the natural sciences, the exercise of the mechanic arts, and
giving them an example of sound domestic economy, and fru-
gal, intelligent, skilful, and improved husbandry. There are
too many such laudable examples within my own knowledge,
to allow me to doubt that this may be done without in any
measure interfering with his own intellectual improvement and
the most conscientious, faithful, and useful discharge of his sa-
cred duties.*

2. For Pauper Establishments. — I cannot doubt, likewise,
that the culture of silk may be introduced with advantage into

* Appendix V.
22

170 AGRICULTURAL REPORT. [March,

many of our pauper establishments, where farms are connected
with them. Here, often, there is a great deal of light labor
available, which it is difficult and impossible to apply to ad-
vantage in the common field operations of agriculture, and
which, now applied to the picking of oakum or to knitting,
amounts to little. This labor, under judicious superintend-
ence, might be advantageously applied to the production of silk.

3. For the Shakers. — I take particular pleasure in recom-
mending the culture of silk to my respected friends the Sha-
kers. They have every element of success ; intelligence,
skill, exactness, perseverance, abundance of labor, land enough ;
and buildings already prepared for their operations. They,
of any among us, would be the fittest persons to undertake
the artificial method of M. Camille Beauvais. Their female
aid is of the best description for this culture. They may pur-
sue it to any desirable extent ; and I cannot have a doubt, if
they should undertake it witii their usual care and determina-
tion, their enterprise would be crowned with success.

4. For Schools. — Attempts have been made in diiferent
parts of New England, to get up manual labor schools; that
is, schools designed to aid poor young men and women in get-
ting an education, by making their expenses light, and allow-
ing them to defray a portion of these expenses, by some labor,
rendered daily or occasionally, either in a work-shop, or a farm
attached to the institution. This is a benevolent design. That
it has not hitherto succeeded as well as could be wished, is not
the fault of the scheme, but comes from improper management.
Into such an institution, the silk culture may be introduced with
singular advantage, if pains are taken previously, to have a
sufficiency of food for the worms. The labor would be light.
It would occupy, excepting for two or three weeks, a small
amount of time. It may be expected to yield as fair returns
as any branch of agriculture, which could be connected with
such an institution. It may, under some circumstances, be fa-
vorably introduced into other schools. The occupation would
prove as conducive to the intellectual and moral as to the phy-
sical health. The study of nature, in all her departments, is

1840.] S ENATE— No. 36. 171

among the most interesting and valuable of all pursuits to the
young mind. Every thing that brings the young more imme-
diately into connexion with other living beings, and especially
makes demands upon their prudence, providence and kindness
becomes at once an effectual teacher of the most practical, the
most valuable, and the highest virtues.

XXXIII. Conclusion. — I have, as will be seen, mainly confin-
ed myself to the discussion of the silk culture in Massachusetts,
and with our present knowledge of the business, and our present
prices of labor. Under how much more favorable circumstan-
ces it may be pursued where slave labor abounds, where the
climate admits of obtaining three or four harvests a year, and
where the best trees require no care nor labor to protect them in
Avinter, I shall leave others to determine. How well adapted
this product must be to those farmers, whose situation is remote
from market, and with whom the common agricultural pro-
ducts are too heavy to be transported, but with great loss and
toil; how advantageously it might be substituted for that odi-
ous plant tobacco, which is an impoverisher of the earth as
well as a poisoner of man, and which holds the miserable pre-
eminence of standing next to that curse of curses, intoxicating
drinks, it is not necessary for me to say. How much more
productive it may hereafter prove than we have at present any
certain grounds for calculating, will presently be determined ;
and I entertain the sanguine hope, under an improved cultiva-
tion, of a greatly increased yield.*

If under the circumstances which I have stated, and under
the qualifications named, it can be introduced and extended in
Massachusetts, not as a principal, but as a collateral and inci-
dental branch of husbandry and domestic industry, it must
prove a source of eminent comfort and wealth. That the ma-
chinery for reeling is simple and cheap, that the operation in-
volves no mystery, and may be learnt and performed by a
child, are other circumstances which commend it. Mas-
sachusetts, then, I cannot but hope, will see in this case both
her interest and duty. As she increases her productions

* Appendix W.

172 AGRICULTURAL REPORT. [March,

and her wealth, she increases her real power ; strengthens the
attachments of her children to their home, and abates the de-
sire of emigration. In introducing this article, so emphatically
of domestic and household industry, she multiplies the sources
of domestic comfort and competence ; and affords no small nor
inefficient contribution to the cause of good morals and philan-
thropy.

I should do injustice to my oAvn sense of grateful duty,
if I did not call the attention of my readers to the mir-
acles of divine Providence in this wonderful animal, the
silk worm ; at his entrance into life, among the smallest of
living existences, which come within the cognizance of our
senses ; in six weeks, at farthest, completing his work ; and by
his humble and unobtrusive labors, contributing largely to the
clothing of half mankind, and creating yearly millions and mil-
lions of wealth. It would be curious to calculate the hands he
fills, the mouths he feeds, the wheels he sets in motion, the
ships he loads, and the vast riches to which his annual labors
amount. This reads a striking lesson to the reflecting mind,
on the immense results which spring from regular and combin-
ed, though minute and often a disdained labor. Nor are his
changes the less extraordinary or striking to the thoughtful
mind. Nature is every where full of mysterious transforma-
tions, which show that the power of death has its limits, and
indicate the wonderful progress of animated existence. Having
accomplished his appointed task, he wraps himself in his silken
shroud, and with him death is only a transient sleep. If left
to himself, he soon emerges from his tomb, no longer a reptile,
but a winged chrysalis, to enjoy another existence. In the cu-
rious transformations of this humble insect, man may see an in-
structive indication and testimony of the progress of being ; and
a proof that death is not annihilation. May we, as men, exult
in the hopes, gathered from such beautiful examples in nature,
and confirmed by divine revelation, that with man also, death
is only the threshold of life ; and that for him to burst these
cearments of the grave, is not like the silk worm, to pass rap-
idly through another form of being, but to enter upon an
immortality.

1840.] SENATE— No. 36. 173

APPENDIX

A.

ANNUAL IMPORTS OF BREAD STUFFS.

*'It is ascertained that the flour imported into Boston in one year,
amounted to 418,000 barrels, and corn with other bread stuffs to
2,000,000 bushels. This quantity is the average annual amount import-
ed into Boston for three successive years, by an accurate abstract from
the documents. To this quantity must be added one third for the out-
ports, which is a low estimate. At the price of 87 75 for flour, and 80
cents per bushel for corn ; it would amount to 86,453,333 paid by the
State in a single year. This was for the year 1S3G. The importa-
tions were larger in 1837 ; and at the prices then paid of $11 per bar-
rel for flour, and one dollar per bushel for corn, with the addition of
one third for the outports, the amount would be 88,797,338 paid for
bread stuffs in that year. The western parts of the State are supplied
directly from Albany, and the towns upon Connecticut river by way
of Hartford. We may, therefore, estimate the sum paid by two thirds
of the population of the State, in a single year, at nearly nine millions
of dollars."

The imports of flour into Boston in 1839 was 449,068 barrels, and
of corn 1,607,492 bushels.

B.

ON SOWING WHEAT IN DRILLS OR BROADCAST.

I subjoin here some extracts from an account of an experiment on
the difference between drilled wheat and wheat sown broadcast, given
in Hunter's Georgical Essays, vol. iii. p. 528 :

" On the 12lh October, the land was measured and equally divided;

174 APPENDIX. [March,

on the 14th, began to sow broadcast, under furrow, with the usual
quantity of this county, viz. two bushels and a half per acre ; (our
bushel is eight gallons and three quarts measure,) on the 15th, finished
the broadcast ; the two following days the six acres intended to be
drilled, were ploughed, in order to give both an equal quantity of work,
into lands nine feet six inches wide, a proper width for Cook's drill ;
and drilled accordingly a few days after, with one bushel per acre of
the same measure as above. To do the drill justice, I must observe
that the young plants suffered very much from the rooks picking the
grain out of the drill, which left the land so thin of plants that some
of my neighbors went so far as to say I should have no crop. It was,
also, I believe, injured one acre in six by a leading land ditch stopping,
which overflowed that part of the field with water for some time, and
being directly across the headlands, hindered me from scarifying as
soon as I should have done.

During the winter the broadcast had by a great deal the best ap-
pearance; but in a little time, after the drilled wheat was scarified,
which was done the second week in March, it evidently got the lead,
being then of a darker green and more healthy color. In April, the
drilled wheat was horse-hoed ; at the same lime the broadcast wheat
was hand-h(5ted ; and in May the drilled wheat was hand-hoed, as at
that time I had not a horse-hoe of my own, nor could I at that time
borrow one. The drilled now beat the broadcast much. It tillered
well. I told from twenty to thirty stems from a single plant, with
wonderful ears, containing from twenty to one hundred kernels in an
ear. The broadcast became ripe first ; but both were cut at the same
time; that is, the same men cut tlie drilled immediately after it. The
broad-cast was carted two days before the drilled ; but both were got
without any rain, and laid in the same barn with a layer of drag-rak-
ings between them, in order to thresh them separately. Both crops
were threshed by the same man with great exactness. The produce
of the six acres drilled, was twenty-five quarters six bushels ; the pro-
duce of the broad-cast, twenty-four quarters one bushel and a half.
Produce of the drilled per acre, thirty-four bushels one peck and four
quarts; produce of the broadcast per acre, was thirty-two bushels one
peck ; that is, two bushels and one quart in favor of the drilled, which
with one bushel and a half of seed saved, is three bushels and a half
and four quarts in favor of the drill.

This, though considerable, is but trifling compared with the benefit
the land has received from being scarified and horse-hoed, which was

1840.] SENATE— No. 36. 175

very visible when the crops were cut, the drilled stubble being very
clean, and the broad-cast foul. I am decidedly of opinion that if I
had not hoed the broadcast, and if the drilled had not suffered by the
rooks, and by being overflowed with water as mentioned, the drill
would have beat the broad-cast at least one fourth part."

I add an interesting experiment of much more recent date, on nar-
row and wide drilling of wheat, which the intelligent inquirer will find
highly interesting.

"Trial of nai'roio and tcide drilling of wheat on the I5th October,
1833. — The quantity of land drilled, was 7 roods and 27 poles, half of
which was drilled with 13 rows on a stitch 10 feet wide ; the other
half with 19 rows on the stitch, the land being divided into 4 stitches.

The same quantity of seed was used at the rale of 3 bushels per
'acre which produced from the

Bushels. Pecks. Stones. Lbs.

19 rows 348 sheaves 23 If weighing net 106 8

13 " 374 " 21 Oa " 96 8

Bushels, 2 1 Stones, 10 0

The 4 stitches were along side of each other, and were all cut by
the same men; and no perceptible difference in the size of the sheaves.
The 13 rows did not stand so well as the 19 rows; but were a fehade
the better sample, weighing about one sixth of a pound per bushel
more.

The soil was mixed. The sort of wheat was Golden Drop."

Journal of Eng^ Ag. Soc. v. iii, p, 24.

c.

ON THE CULTIVATION OF WHEAT BY ELIAS PHINNEY.

Lexington, Feb. 1, 1840.

Dear Sir, — Your favor of the 25th ult. was duly received. You
ask my opinion as to the probable success of the wheat culture in Mas-
sachusetts, and request me also to give the results of my own expe-
rience in the cultivation of this crop. Allow me, my good sir, the
yankee privilege of answering one question by asking another. Why
may not wheat be successfully cultivated in our State ? It succeeds

176 APPENDIX. [March,

east, west, north, and south of us, and why not here ? Our climate is
certainly as favorable as that of any part of the country, and as far as
atmospheric causes have a bearing, we have as little to fear from that
source as the most favored region on earth. I am aware it may be
objected that our lands are not so new as that of many parts of our
country where wheat is grown, and that most writers upon the subject
consider a granite or light free soil as less favorable to the growth of
this crop, than a strong, deep aluminous or clayey soil. Supposing
these objections to be well founded, they can be at once obviated ; the
first by deep ploughing, and the second by the application of manure
and lime. Our old fields which have been subjected to the immemo-
rial usage of shallow ploughing and stinted manuring, will neither pro-
duce wheat nor any other crop that will pay the expense of cultivating.
The farmer suffers no greater loss from a blighted field of wheat, than
from a starved crop of corn. I would recommend then, to farmers
who would succeed in the cultivation of wheat, or any other crop, to
plough deep, turn up and keep at the surface a liberal portion of the
subsoil which our fathers have left undisturbed, let them nourish their
hungry and exhausted fields with a bountiful supply of manure and
lime, and rely upon it, they will no longer complain of blighted crops
and unproductive harvests.

The parable of the " sower who went out to sow," contains much
agricultural as well as moral and religious instruction. The seed that
" fell upon stony ground which had not much earth," like that which
is sown upon our shoal ploughed fields, sprung up and grew the better
at first, " by reason of its having but little depth of earth," but as
soon as the sun was up and the season advanced, " it was scorched,
and because it had no root it withered away." Here is an admirable
lesson for farmers, and the reasoning of the sacred teacher is as sound
and unanswerable in an agricultural, as it is in a moral and religious
point of view. Let the farmers then sow their seed upon " good
ground," deeply ploughed and liberally and rightly manured, and we
shall hear no more of the necessity of legislative bounty as an induce-
ment to the culture of wheat.

My opportunities, however, for noticing the results of the attempts
of others in the cultivation of wheat, and my means of judging of the
causes of their failure, where they have been unsuccessful, may per-
haps be considered too limited, to authorize me to express a decided
opinion or enable me to become a safe adviser on this subject. It is,
sir, to your experience, to your careful and laborious researches, that

1840.] SENATE— No 36. 177

the agricultural community must look for much valuable and satisfac-
tory information in a matter in which their interest as farmers is so
deeply involved. Allowing me, however, to judge from my own expe-
rience, I say without hesitation I have no doubt as to the successful
culture of this valuable crop in all parts of the Commonwealth; I mean
with a due application of skill in the management and cultivation of
our grounds.

The soil of my farm consists of a thin loam upon a hard, gravelly
subsoil, being what geologists call a granite soil, and is similar to that
of a great part of the Commonwealth ; and Lbelieve by adopting a
correct mode of culture, is capable of producing wheat with as much
certainty as any other crop.

My first attempt in the culture of wheat was twelve years ago, upon
a field of two acres. The soil, a pretty deep loam upon a gravelly sub-
soil. The field had been planted for two or three years previous with
corn and potatoes. T ploughed shoal, and not knowing the necessity
oflime, lused none. The crop failed, yielding me but little more
than twice the quantity of seed sown. The seed was a common kind
of wheat procured in the neighborhood. Three years after, 1 com-
menced again sowing wheat, but with a different method of culture,
and for nine years past have not failed in a single instance of having
a good crop. I will give you the result of my practice for the three
years past.

In the spring of 1837, I sowed a field of six acres. The field hav-
ing been then recently set to an orchard, had been under the plough
for two or three years and planted with corn and roots. Early in the
spring the field was ploughed deep, bringing to the surface a consider-
able portion of the fresh earth which had never before been disturbed.
Two bushels of Black Sea wheat having previously been steeped twen-
ty-four hours in strong brine, and rolled in slacked lime, were sowed
to the acre upon the furrow. At the same time I had spread upon the
field 100 bushels to the acre of lime and peat ashes, an equal part of
each, which had been mixed and lay in a heap for some weeks. The
field was then well harrowed and rolled. There was no appearance
of blight or rust. At the time of harvesting, I gathered and threshed
one acre, probably the best, and it yielded 25 bushels of remarkably
handsome grain.

In 1838, I sowed a field of the same number of acres, which was in
grass in the spring of 1837. The soil, a thin vegetable mould resting
upon a gravelly subsoil, and alternately under the plough and in grass
23

178 APPENDIX. [March,

for near a century. In the spring of that year, 1837, the sward was
turned over flat, the plough running deep and bringing to the top from
one to two inches of subsoil, which had never before been disturbed,
and by never cross ploughing, this fresh earth was kept at the surface.
The field was then rolled and harrowed, and twenty loads of compost
manure spread to the acre, harrowed again, and planted with corn.
I put in the drills which had been marked out for the corn, twenty
bushels of lime and plaster of Paris. I had a pretty good crop of corn,
seventy bushels to the acre. In the cultivation of the corn, not a foot
of the sward was suffered to be turned back or disturbed. In the
spring of 1838, the field was made smooth by the use of the cultivator
and harrow, and two bushels of Black Sea wheat, prepared as in the
previous year, three pecks of herds grass, and one bushel of red top
seed sowed to the acre. I then spread on fifty bushels of slacked lime
to the acre, and the whole was harrowed and rolled. The straw was
large and clean. In consequence of heavy rains followed by strong
winds, about the time of filling, it lodged in some places, and the pro-
duce was in some measure thereby lessened. It gave me, however, over
twenty bushels to the acre of well filled grain.

In 1839, I sowed a field of eight acres, which until 1838 had been
pastured for twenty-five years. The soil, an exceedingly thin and
light one, with gravelly bottom, yielding hardly herbage enough to
form a sward. Thin as this soil was, in the spring of 1838 I had it
ploughed from four to six inches deep, turning it over as flat as the
nature of the ground would admit. So much of the gravelly and ap-
parently unproductive material was brought to the surface, that it gave
the field a very unpromising aspect. After ploughing, it was rolled
and harrowed, about twenty loads of manure from my hog-pens put on
each acre, and planted with corn, which was cultivated without break-
ing up the sward. I had forty bushels of corn to the acre. A small
crop, but considering the very poor quality of the soil, it was as great
as might reasonably have been expected. The method of cultivating
this field was more with a view to future operations than for the imme-
diate crop. In the spring of 1839, I broke up the corn-stubble, and
loosened the surface with the cultivator and harrow, spread one hun-
dred bushels to the acre of barilla ashes, fifty per cent, of which was
lime, sowed two bushels of the same kind of wheat to the acre, having
previously steeped it fourteen hours in a strong pickle, and rolled it in
lime. Intending the field for pasture, I sowed a large quantity of all
he kinds of grass seed that could be procured, and finished with the

1840.] SENATE— No. 36. 179

harrow and roller. There was no appearance of blight nor rust upon
the wheat. Though the heads were short, owing to the thinness of
the soil, the kernel was plump and well filled, and makes as white and
fine flour as the best Howard street. I cannot state the quantity pro-
duced on this field, as it is not all threshed. I judge there will be at
least from fifteen to twenty bushels to the acre.

I have now given you, my dear sir, all the practical information
which I possess on the subject of the wheat culture, and leave it for
you to judge whether my opinion as to its eventual success is well
founded.

With me, the wheat crop has as seldom failed, as any crop which I
am in the habit of growing. Less liable to be injuriously affected by
the vicissitudes of the season, or the alternation of dryness and mois-
ture, than a crop of corn or potatoes.

With great respect,

Your obedient servant,

E. PHINNEY.
Mr. Henry Colman.

Exti-act from a Letter of Z china Stehhins, of Deer field. Mass,
" Mr. H. Colman :

Sir, — Agreeable to your request, I transmit you some particulars of
my success in raising wheat. In January, 1838, I was induced to send
to Oneida county, N. Y., for some of the Italian spring wheat. I pro-
cured and sowed nine bushels upon six acres, soaking it in brine and
rolling it in lime; and harvested twenty bushels per acre, of very fine
plump berry, though the land was rather inferior, having received very
little manure the previous year.

I was induced to extend the cultivation still further the last year.
At Lockport, N. Y., in the fall of 1838, I purchased ten bushels of
seed, of the Indiana winter wheat. In October, I sowed six bushels
of this seed on three acres of new land, merely dragging it in, (har-
rowing.) From this I harvested 92 bushels of as handsome wheat as I
ever saw. This wheat I sowed without any preparation of the seed.
I also sowed, the same fall, about six acres more with winter wheat, on
old land turning under a second crop of clover. This wheat was very

180 APPENDIX. [March,

badly winter killed ; still I think I should have had a very good crop
had it not been for the warm rains about the time of the filling of the
berry, when it appeared to shrink one third ; the straw was stout
enough.

In the spring of 1839, I sowed seven and one half acres with the
Italian wheat, soaking it in brine and rolling it in lime, as above stated.
When the wheat began to spread, I sowed on about three bushels of
wood ashes per acre. This was all the application I made to it. The
land was planted with corn the previous year, and received about ten
loads of manure per acre. I would observe that I have for a number
of years practised overhauling my manure early in the spring, and
mixing lime with it. This I think has been a great help to my corn
crop ; also to the succeeding crop. Thus, the last year, I harvested
sixteen and one half acres of wheat, from which I have threshed 346f
bushels, and have received a bounty from the State of $18 50. I
think, though some of my winter wheat was blasted, it has been as pro-
fitable as any crop I have raised. The price of wheat here now is
$1 50 per bushel. Of Indian corn, 83 cts. Of oats, 45 cts. The
wheat will average 30 dollars per acre. Forty bushels of corn is a
fair crop for this part of the State, and at 83 cts. would amount to
about 33 dollars per acre ; and taking out the extra labor for corn, and
the balance would be in favor of the wheat crop. Oats would yield
50 bushels per acre. This is still a poor crop. I do not say that all
wheat will yield as much as mine. Still we may generally calculate
upon a fair crop. We sometimes fail in a corn crop as well as in
wheat. On the whole, I think that by liming our lands and practising
turning under green crops, we may restore the wheat qualities to our
land which has been worn out by the old way of farming."

March, 1840.

D.

MANURES FOR WHEAT.

" The effect of different manures on wheat is very remarkable. Sta-
ble manure will in ordinary good soils have the effect of causing the
plant to tiller much, or to make straw and grass, thereby diminishing
the produce in grain and meal considerably."

•' Liquid manure, one third stable drainings and two-thirds water,

1840.] SENATE— No. 36. 181

which I caused to be poured over wheat that was just tillering, made
the straw grow rank and coarse ; the grain of every variety of wheat
was dark and thick-skinned, hence containing less meal. The same
quantity and mixture of liquid manure, poured a second time over an-
other portion of wheat caused it to grow rank and full of leaves rather
than straw, that only a few of the plants produced ears of wheat, some
having run up into sharp points, with merely the rudiments of ears in-
dicated. The few ears that produced corn, displayed it in its worst
form, hardly in the shape of meal, of a doughy, soft texture, evidently
unfit for the food of man, besides some of them were smutty. Thus
an over application of manure, excellent when judiciously applied, be-
comes a poison, precisely in the same manner as in the human consti-
tution a surfeit is usually the parent of disease."

" The wheat on either side of these experiments, which had only been
manured with the ashes of kelp or sea-weed was healthy, productive,
and farinaceous in the highest degree. Kelp or the ashes of rock sea-
weed, that which is cut is the best of all."

" I am inclined to believe, that paring and burning an old ley, will
almost produce as equally good effect, where the land is suited to it,
with the ashes of kelp ; for although the ashes may not be of that su-
perior quality or possessing all those virtues peculiar to kelp ashes,
still the much greater portion of ashes, that can by this means be
spread, may make amends in quantity and quality."

" Kelp ashes should lay on the surface of the soil a month or two pre-
vious to sowing, in order to weaken their caustic power, or they are
otherwise apt to burn the young and tender shoots of the corn as well
as the larvGB of insects ; but by laying a certain length of time on the
surface exposed to the action of the atmosphere, or perhaps what
would be a better practice, merely lightly turned into the soil, they be-
come eminently beneficial."

" From lands in a very bad state, infested with couch grass in 1832,
by means of paring and burning previous to taking a crop of potatoes,
which produced thirty-four thousand eight hundred pounds of saleable
potatoes to the acre ; and with an after dressing of forty bushels to
the acre of kelp or sea-weed ashes, I raised forty bushels of fine wheat
to the acre. One season I raised fifty-five, and last season fifty-one
bushels ; this year I hope to have reaped as much with drill husban-
dry, though on land in a very bad state, which had been much neg-
lected."— Le Coteur.

182 APPENDIX. [March,

" Kelp, in commerce; the ashes of sea-weeds or fuci. {Fucus ser-
ratus and F. vesiculosus.) The species used in the manufacture of
this article, grow attached to rocks between [high and low water
mark, and are often termed rock-weed. On the Scottish coast, the
sea-weed is cut close to the rocks, during the summer season, and after-
wards spread out upon the shore to dry, care being taken to turn it
occasionally, to prevent fermentation. It is then stacked for a few
weeks, and sheltered from the rain till it becomes covered with a white
saline efflorescence, and is now ready for burning. This is usually
accomplished in a round pit, lined with brick or stone ; but the more
approved form for a kiln is oblong, about two feet wide, eight to eigh-
teen long, and from two to three deep ; the bottom of this is covered
with brush, upon which a little dried sea-weed is scattered, and fire is
applied at one extremity ; the sea-weed is now thrown on gradually,
rs fast as the combustion reaches the surface, and should there be
much wind, it is necessary to protect it by covering the sides with
sods ; after the whole is burnt, the mass gradually softens, beginning
at the sides, when it should be slowly stirred up with a heated iron
bar, and incorporated, till it acquires a semi-fluid consistence. This
part of the process requires considerable dexterity ; and, if the mass
continues dry, a little common salt should be thrown on, which acts as
a flux. When cold, it is broken up, and is now ready for sale. Not-
withstanding that kelp contains but two or three per cent, of carbon-
ate of soda, while Spanish barilla often contains twenty or thirty, the
manufacture of this article has increased prodigiously on the northern
coasts of Great Britain and the neighboring islands. Small farms in
the Orkneys, which formerly rented for <^'40 a year, have now risen
to c£300, on account of their kelp shores ; and so much importance is
attached to this branch of business, that, along sandy shores, stones
have been placed within the flood-mark, which, in a short time, be-
come covered with sea-weed. Many thousand tons are thus manufac-
tured annually, and are sold in the various ports of Great Britain, at
the rate of from 7 to <£10 per ton." " New England being the only
part of the United States which has a rocky coast, would seem to be
the only part of our country fitted for the manufacture of kelp. The
greater rise of the tides north of Cape Cod, and especially in the more
eastern parts, is also a favorable circumstance ; indeed, this branch of
business has been carried on in the state of Maine."

The carbonate of soda comes to us under the name of barilla from
Spain; and the ordinary article is made abundantly on the shores of

1840.] SENATE— No. 36. 183

Scotland and the islands of Jersey and Guernsey. Whether it can be
purchased at a rate which will warrant a farmer here in applying it, can
bo determined only by trial, and the current price of the article at the
time. I believe the ordinary article may often be purchased at a low
rate ; and I hope the experiment will be made. It may certainly be
safe on a small scale.

Of the use of sea-weeds in a crude state, I shall treat fully hereafter.

"Leached ashes are found to succeed best on dry loamy lands, or
loam mixed with sand. It is considered the cheapest manure that can
be applied. Ten loads of this manure on poor land will produce, or-
dinarily twenty-five bushels of wheat. The land is then left in a con-
dition for yielding a crop of hay. No manure continues so long in
the ground as ashes." — Ncio York Agrl. Snc. Trans. 1792.

On the use of ashes as a manure, I beg leave to refer to the very in-
structive letters of Dr. S. L. Dana, in the appendix to the second re-
port of the Agriculture of Massachusetts, p. 157.

A. Nichols' statement to the Committee of the Essex Agricultural So-
ciety on manures :

Persuaded of the importance of the discoveries made by Dr. Sam-
uel L. Dana, of Lowell, and given to the world through the mediuni
of the reports of Professor Hitchcock and Rev. H. Colman, to the
Legislature of Massachusetts, concerning the food of vegetables,
geine, and the abundance of it in peat mud, in an insoluble state to be
sure, and in that state not readily absorbed and digested by the roots
of cultivated vegetables, but rendered soluble and very easily digesti-
ble by such plants by potash, wood ashes, or other alkalies, among
which is ammonia, one of the products of fermenting animal manures,
I resolved last year to subject his theories to the test of experiment the
present season. Accordingly I directed a quantity of black peat mud,
procured by ditching for the purpose of draining and reclaiming an
alder swamp, a part of which I had some years since brought into a
state highly productive of the cultivated grasses, to be thrown in heaps.
During the winter, I also had collected in Salem, 282 bushels of un-
leaclied wood ashes at the cost of 12^ cents per bushel. These were
sent up to ray farm, a part to be spread on my black soil grass lands,
and a part to be mixed with mud for my tillage land. Two hundred
bushels of these were spread on about six acres of such grass land

184 APPENDIX. [March,

while it was covered with ice and frozen hard enough to be carted
over without cutting it into ruts. These lands produced from one to
two tons of good merchantable hay to the acre, nearly double the crop
produced by the same lands last year. And one fact induces me to
think, that being spread on the ice, as above mentioned, a portion of
these ashes was washed away by the Spring freshet. The fact from
which I infer this, is, that a run below, over which the water coming
from the meadow on which the largest part of these ashes were spread
flows, produced more than double the quantity of hay, and that of a
very superior quality to what had been ever known to grow on the
same land before.

Seventy bushels of these ashes, together with a quantity not exceed-
ing thirty bushels of mixed coal and wood ashes, made by my kitchen
and parlor fires, were mixed with my barn manure, derived from one
horse kept in stable the whole year, one other horse kept in stable dur-
ing the winter months, one cow kept through the winter, and one pair
of oxen employed almost daily on the road and in the woods, but fed in
the barn one hundred days. This manure was never measured, but
knowing how it was made, by the droppings and litter or bedding of
these cattle, farmers can estimate the quantity with a good degree of
correctness. These ashes and this manure were mixed with a suffi-
cient quantity of the mud, above mentioned, by forking it over three
times, to manure three acres of corn and potatoes, in hills four feet
by about three feet apart, giving a good shovel full to the hill. More
than two thirds of this was grass land, which produced last year about
half a ton of hay to the acre, broken up by the plough in April. The
remainder was cropped last year without being well manured, with
corn and potatoes. Gentlemen, you have seen the crop growing and
matured, and I leave it to you to say whether or not the crop on this
land would have been better had it been dressed with an equal quan-
tity of pure, well rotted barn manure. For my own part I believe it
would not, but that this experiment proves, that peat mud, thus man-
aged, is equal if not superior to the same quantity of any other sub-
stance in common use as a manure among us ; which, if it be a fact,
is a fact of immense value to the farmers of New England. By the
knowledge and use of it, our comparatively barren soils may be made
to equal or excel in productiveness the virgin prairies of the West.
There were many hills in which the corn first planted was destroyed
by worms. A part of these were supplied with the small Canada corn^
a part with beans. The whole was several times cut down by frost.

1840.] SENATE— No. 36. 185

The produce was three hundred bushels of ears of sound corn, two
tons of pumpkins and squashes, and some potatoes and beans. Dr.
Dana, in his letter to Mr. Colman, dated Lowell, March G, 1839, sug-
gests the trial of a solution of geine as a manure. His directions for
preparing it are as follows: " Boil one hundred pounds of dry, pulver-
ized peat with two and a half pounds of white ash, (an article im-
ported from England,) containing 36 to 55 per cent, of pure soda, or
its equivalent in pearlash or potash, in a potash kettle, with 130 gal-
lons of water; boil for a few hours, let it settle, and dip off the clear
liquor for use. Add the same quantity of alkali and water, boil and
dip off as before. The dark colored brown solution contains about
half an ounce per gallon of vegetable matter. It is to be applied by
watering grain crops, grass lands, or any other way the farmer's quick
wit will point out."

In the month of June, I prepared a solution of geine, obtained not
by boiling, but by steeping the mud as taken from the meadow, in a
weak lye in tubs. I did not weigh the materials, being careful only to
use more mud than the potash would render soluble. The proportion
was something like this: peat IOC lbs., potash 1 lb., water 50 gallons ;
stirred occasionally for about a week, when the dark brown solution,
described by Dr. Dana, was dipped off and applied to some rows of
corn, a portion of a piece of starved barley, and a bed of onions sown
on land not well prepared for that crop. The corn was a portion of
the piece manured as above mentioned. On this the benefit was not
so obvious. The crop of barley on the portion watered was more than
double the quantity both in straw and grain to that on other por-
tions of the field, the soil and treatment of which was otherwise pre-
cisely similar.

The bed of onions which had been prepared by dressing it with a
mixture of mud and ashes previous to the sowing of the seed, but
which had not by harrowing been so completely pulverized, mixed, and
kneaded with the soil as the cultivators of this crop deem essential to
success, consisted of three and a half square rods. The onions came
up well, were well weeded, and about two bushels of fresh horse ma-
nure spread between the rows. In June, four rows were first watered
with the solution of geine above described. In ten days, the onions
in these rows were nearly double the size of the others. All but six
rows of the remainder were then watered. The growth of these soon
outstripped the unvvatered remainder.

Mr. Henry L. Gould, who manages my farm, and who conducted all
24

186 APPENDIX. [March,

the foregoing experiments, without thinking of the importance of
leaving at least one row unwatered, that we might better ascertain the
true effect of this management, seeing the benefit to the parts thus
watered, in about a week after, treated the remainder in the same man-
ner. The ends of some of the rows, however, which did not receive
the watering, produced only very small onions, such as are usually
thrown away as worthless by cultivators of this crop. This fact leads
me to believe that if the onions had not been watered with the solu-
tion of geine, not a single bushel of a good size would have been
produced on the whole piece. At any rate it was peat, or geine ren-
dered soluble by alkali, that produced this large crop.

The crop proved greater than our most sanguine expectations.
The onions were measured in the presence of the chairman of your
committee, and making ample allowance for the tops which had not
been stripped off, were adjudged equal to four bushels to the square
rod, or at the rate of 640 bushels to the acre. In these experiments,
7 lbs. of potash which cost 7 cts. a pound, bought at the retail price,
were used. Potash, although dearer than wood ashes, at 12^ cents
per bushel, is, I think, cheaper than the white ash mentioned by Dr.
Dana, and sufficiently cheap to make with meadow mud a far cheaper
manure than such as is in general used among our farmers. The ex-
periment satisfies me that nothing better than potash and peat can be
used for most, if not all our cultivated vegetables, and the economy of
watering with a solution of geine, such as are cultivated in rows, I
think cannot be doubted. The reason why the corn was not very
obviously benefited, I think must have been that the portion of the
roots to which it was applied, was already fully supplied with nutri-
ment out of the same kind from the peat ashes and manure put in the
hill at planting. For watering rows of onions or other vegetables, I
should recommend that a cask be mounted on light wheels, so set that
like the drill they may run each side of the row, and drop the liquid
manure through a small tap hole or tube from the cask, directly upon
the young plants. For preparing the liquor, I should recommend a
cistern about three feet deep, and as large as the object may require,
formed of plank, and laid on a bed of clay, and surrounded by the
same, in the manner that tan vats are constructed ; this should occupy
a warm place, exposed to the sun, near water, and as near as the.se
requisites permit, to the tillage lands of the farm. In such a cistern,
in warm weather, a solution of geine may be made in large quantities
with little labor and without the expense of fuel, as the heat of the

1840.J SENATE— No, 36. 187

sun is, I think, amply sufficient for the purpose. If from further
experiments it should be found economical to water grass lands and
grain crops, a large cask or casks placed on wheels and drawn by oxen
or horse power, the liquor from the casks being at pleasure let into a
long narrow box perforated with numerous small holes, which would
spread the same over a strip of ground, some six, eight or ten feet in
breadth, as it is drawn over the field in the same manner as the streets
in cities are watered in summer.

The piece of land mentioned in the foregoing statement, contained
two acres, three quarters, thirty-one rods.

Danvers, December, 1839.

ON PLOUGHING IN CROPS FOR MANURE.

Boston, March 25, 1840.
Dr. S. L. Dana,

Dear Sir, — Two successful and experienced farmers one in Frank-
lin and one in Berkshire county, have come to the conclusion, that,
in turning in crops by way of enriching the land, more benefit is de-
rived, that is, the fertility of the land is more advanced by ploughing
in a crop^after it has become dried or dead, than by turning it in in its
greatest luxuriance and greenness. One of them showed me the re-
sults of an experiment tending to this point, which appeared strongly
to favor his conclusions. A well-established fact is better than the
most elaborate hypothesis; and prejudices, however strong, must yield
to facts.

Allow me under these circumstances, to inquire whether, upon your
principles or philosophy of vegetation, there occur to you any good
reasons for a result so much at variance with popular opinion. Your
views in full on this subject, will add to the obligations under which
you have already laid the public and your respectful friend and servant,

HENRY COLMAN.

188 APPENDIX. [March,

Lowell, March 28, 1840.
Dear Sir, —

The results referred to in your letter, are opposed to the common
opinion. Common opinion, especially in agriculture, is not always
founded on observation. It is oftener prejudice, than opinion ; and,
when inconsistent with well known facts, has not its source in obser-
vation or experiment. The whole resolves itself into this, dry plants
GIVE MORE GEiNE THAN GREEN. This follows from the little we know
of the process termed "fermentation;" I use the term as commonly
expressive of the spontaneous decay of vegetables. It includes the
three stacres of vinous, acid, and putrefactive fermentation. These
are not necessarily dependant, following in regular progression. They
are not cause and effect. Putrefaction may commence first, and it is
so different from the other two, in all its stages and products, that the
term " fermentation" ought never to have been applied to it. The
greater part of vegetables are susceptible of putrefaction only, a small
number become acid at once, and a still smaller number ever under-
go vinous, acetous, and putrefactive fermentation. Fermentation
then, in its widest sense, will help us to understand how dry crops may
be better manures than green. Let us glance at the principles and
products of fermentation.

1st. What vegetable substances are susceptible of the vinous fer-
mentation, and what are its products?

The juices only which contain sugar, or starch, convertible first into
gum and then into sugar by the action of azolizc'd vegetable principles,
especially gluten. Pure sugar never ferments. The vinous fermenta-
tion must be excited by some substance containing nitrogen. There
are three things essential to vinous fermentation, air or oxygen oras,
moisture in due proportion, and a temperature never below 50° F., nor
above 86° F. The products of this process are gases, ferment or
yeast, and vinous liquor. The gases are carbonic acid, and hydrogen.
The yeast proceeds from a change in the organization of the gluten
and albumen ; some late French experimenters think it proceeds from
a continued evolution of infusorial plants, hence yeast begets yeast,
like sowing crops of seed. However, let us leave speculation. The
main facts are as above stated. If, then, we plough in green plants, we
put them in a temperature favorable to the commencement of vinous
fermentation ; we bury them full of sap — the requisite moisture for vi-
nous fcrinciit^lion ; — we cover thera, whilst their saccharine principle

1840.] SENATE— No. 36. 189

is in its perfection. Every thing favors vinous fermentation. The
sugar and starch of the plant fermented by its gluten and albumen, are
converted into gases and alcohol, the former are lost in air, the last,
washes away or is changed to vinegar. All that remains for the farmer
is the altered gluten and albumen, which soon putrefy and form geine.
All the starch and sugar of the plant are thus lost.

2d. What vegetable substances are susceptible of the acid fermenta-
tion, and what are its products 1

The substances are, first, sugar, which, in certain cases, becomes
acid, without undergoing vinous fermentation ; second, gum. The
circumstances essential to acid fermentation are air, moisture, and a
temperature from 65° to 70° F. ; acetic acid is itself the proper fer-
ment of acid fermentation. Vinegar, as is well known, singularly pro-
motes the formation of vinegar in vinous liquors. The products are;
carbonic acid, acetic acid or vinegar, and some other acids, especially that
called nanceic or zumic acid, which if not lactic, is perhaps only ace-
tic acid, holding in combination, some azotized substance. This
acid combines with the alkaline and earthy ingredients of plants and
soils, and forms very soluble salts. Green plants, ploughed in, are at
once placed in a situation most favorable for undergoing acid fermen-
tation. We suffer a loss of a part of the carbon, and in addition to
the sugar and starch, we now lose the gum of the plants. All these
are capable of producing geine, and hence in ploughing in green
crops, we lose a portion of manure.

3d. What are the vegetable substances susceptible of putrefaction,
and what are its products?

With the exception of oils, resins, 6lc., every organized part of
every vegetable may putrefy. The circumstances essential to this pro-
cess, are air, a temperature not below 45°, and moisture. No perfect-
ly dry plant ever putrefies, nor will a moist one, if air is excluded. 1
have had a capital example of the last, in a piece of a white birch tree,
dug up from a depth of twenty-five feet below the surface in Lowell,
this winter. It must have been inhumed there probably before the crea-
tion of man, at least at a time " whereof the memory of man runneth not
to the contrary," yet this most perishable of all wood is nearly as sound
as if cut from the forest last fall. A dried plant has parted with most
of its sap, thr.t moisture, essential to the commencement of vinous and
acetous fermentation. During the very act of decay, from the moment
when its living functions have ceased, new combinations of its ele-
ments begin. It has already begun to be destroyed by the very agents

190 APPENDIX. [March,

which gave it life. This is the beginning of putrefaction. Let us not
be deceived by a name. Putrefaction we always associate with dis-
gusting effluvia. But in the wide sense we have defined it, it includes
also the fragrance of new hay. Whenever bodies consist only of oxy-
gen, hydrogen, carbon, and a trace of azote, their putrefaction is fra-
grant, or inodorous ; when, in addition to these, bodies contain large
portions of azotized matter, gluten, albumen, or sulphur, and phos-
phorus, putrefaction evolves abominable odors. To the agriculturist,
putrefaction is always a wholesome process, beneficial to his best in-
terests, when promoted and controlled. There is only one case, where
this process produces loss. This may be termed destructive putrefac-
tion ; it is produced by heaping together green plants, or sometimes by
moistening dry vegetable substances. Here oxygen is rapidly absorbed,
and finally the mass takes fire, and burns. Up to the momentof inflam-
mation this is putrefaction. New hay, stacked too green, is a familiar
example. Volumes of steam are evolved, which proceed partly from the
decomposition of the plant ; decompositions, and recompositions rapidly
ensue; these are the ferment, which keeps up the action till the plants
burn. Doubtless, all green plants, ploughed in, undergo to a greater or
less extent destructive putrefaction, which succeeds the vinous and acid
fermentations, perhaps caused by the very rapidity of these processes.
Hence, in addition to the sugar, starch, and gum of the plant, we lose
a large portion of its other substances, by turning it in green. The
products of this rapid fermentation have been but little studied. Happy
the farmer who never M'^itnesses the process. He should never induce
it, and may generally prevent its extension, when once begun. It is a
dead loss to him ; but in all other cases of putrefaction, the products
are valuable. These vary according as the process takes place : 1st,
in air ; 2d, at the surface of the ground ; or, 3d, deep in the interior of
the earth. The last need not detain us — it produces all the varieties
of coal.

1st. In the free air, having access to all parts of a plant, putrefac-
tion produces carbonic acid, nitric acid, and water. But ordinarily,
in the air, as oxygen does not find ready access to all parts, a portion
of the hydrogen of the plant combines then with the carbon, sulphur,
phosphorus and azote of the plant, and we have carburetted, sulphur-
etted, and phosphuretted hydrogen, and ammonia produced. Now, as
these exist but in small quantity in vegetables, the loss of hydrogen
will not be very great by drying the plants, and it is possible, that the
removal of these, may cause the other elements to enter into more

1840.] SENATE— No. 36. 191

stable combinations, better fitted to produce geine. In all cases of
putrefaction in the open air, oxygen is absorbed, and an equal bulk of
carbonic acid given out, while, at the same time, the oxygen and hy-
drogen of the plant escape as water. The result is, that in the sub-
stance left, carbon exists in a greater portion, than in an equal weight
of fresh vegetables. In all cases of putrefaction, new products are
formed ; these again resolve into others; and this action goes on till we
have no longer any organic products ; we have only binary or inor-
ganic substances left. All our researches into the philosophy of the
changes in fermentation, terminate in these binary products, that is,
in compounds, consisting of only two elements. During all these
various chancres, a variety of substances must, of course, be formed.
As the elements of living, so the elements of dead plants, are contin-
ually changing into new forms. Nature is admirably simple, and never
so learned as our books. We ought not to dignify with a new name,
every new product of putrefaction, which we may fortunately arrest.
However various these products may be, whether products or educts
of putrefaction, or of our analytical methods of separating them, all
putrefaction at the surface of the earth, ends by forming a brownish,
black, powdery mass, which combines with the alkaline, earthy and
metallic bases in the plant. This substance has been called " Geine."
As I have elsewhere defined it, it is the decomposed organic matter of
the soil. It is the product of putrefaction ; continually subjected to air
and moisture, it is finally wholly dissipated in air, leaving only the in-
organic bases of the plant, with which it was once combined. Now,
whether we consider this as a simple substance, or composed of sev-
eral others, called crenic, apocrenic, puteanic, ulmic acids, glairin,
apotheme, extract, humus, or mould, agriculture ever has, and proba-
bly ever will consider it one and the same thing, requiring always sim-
ilar treatment to produce it ; similar treatment to render it soluble when
produced ; similar treatment to render it an effectual manure. It is
the end of all compost heaps to produce soluble geine, no matter how
compound our chemistry may teach this substance to be.

Among the many economical modes of producing geine, the plough-
ing in of vegetable matter, has held a high rank. Nature teaches us
to turn in the dried plant. Dried leaves are her favorite morsels, and
the very fact, that Nature always takes the dried plant, from which to
prepare the food of growing vegetables, should have taught us long
ago, the wisdom of ploughing in dry crops. The careful collecting
and husbanding of dried leaves, their superior efficacy in forming

192 APPENDIX. [March,

compost, bears witness to the facts stated in your letter. That the use
of dried leaves for compost, has not led to the turning in of dry crops,
has probably arisen from the consideration, that a greater quantity of
geine may be produced, by turning in two or three green crops in a
season, than by one crop of dry. This needs experimental confir-
mation. The very act of tillage, on Mr. Keely's plan, by exposing the
insoluble geine of one crop, to air, renders it soluble, while, at the same
time, two or three green crops must form a greater quantity of salts
If only one crop can be turned in, let it be dry. All our philosophy,
and the late experiments of your agricultural friends, confirm this
view.

With great respect,

I am very truly, yours,

SAM'L L. DANA.
Rev. H. Colman,

Agricultural Commissioner.

F.

EXPERIMENT IN FORWARDING SEEDS.

The subjoined experiment rests upon unquestionable authority. No
one could be more relied upon for exactness and care, than the emi-
nent man who made it. It is a most striking result. What is applica-
ble to one kind of seeds is doubtless applicable, in a degree, to all
seeds ; and nothing can more emphatically illustrate the importance
of care in the selection of seeds. H. C.

Experiment, shoicing the Importance of selecting the first ripe Seeds,
communicated to the Trustees of the Agricultural Society, by James
Freeman, D. D., Sept. 1, 1805.

To ascertain whether the ripening of seeds can be forwarded, by
sowing those which are the earliest ripe, I have made experiments, all
of which have been successful, on several different sorts. It will be suf-
ficient to mention one only.

In the year 1801, I planted the case knife bean. The pods first

1840.

SENATE— No. 36.

193

formed, which are commonly those nearest the root, were reserved ;
and when about the quantity of a peck was fully ripe, they were gath-
ered on the same day. The largest and fairest of seeds were planted
the next year, and the first-formed pods reserved as before. The same
method has been pursued without any variation, till the present year ;
by means of which, whilst the bean has not degenerated in its quality,
the ripening of the seeds has been forwarded twenty -six days ; as will
appear from the following table.

Planted.

Gathered.

No. days.

1801, May 20,

September 9,

112

1802, - 11,

August 21,

102

1803, " 10,

8,

90

1804, - 8,

4,

88

1805, " 6,

July 31,

86

The first column denotes the time of planting the seeds; the se-
cond, that of gathering the seeds, which were first ripe; and the third,
the number of days which elapsed between the time of planting and
the time of gathering.

As in the second and following years, I anticipated the time of
planting the seeds, (by which means fourteen days have been gained,
in addition to the twenty-six noted above,) to determine what effect
later planting would produce, by giving the seeds more advantage from
the heat of summer, in the years 1804 and 1805,1 put into the ground
a quantity of seed, about a week later than that which was first planted.
The event which took place, is exhibited in the following table.

Planted.

Gathered.

No. days.

1840, May 14,
1805, " 13,

August 8,
" 6,

86
85

As very little time has been gained in the present and in the pre-
ceding year, I suppose 1 have now reached, or nearly reached, the ne
plus ultra. I delay not, therefore, to communicate to the Trustees
25

194 APPENDIX. [March,

of the Agricultural Society, the result of an experiment, which con-
firms the imj)ortant truth, taught in various parts of their useful publi-
cations. That, to ensure an early and good crop, the seeds reserved
for future sowing should be those, which are the first ripe, and which
are, in other respects, the most perfect.

Extracts from a letter of Joseph Cooper, of New Jersey, in 1799.

* * "This kind of corn I have continued planting ever since, se-
lecting that designed for seed in the manner I would wish others to
try, viz. — When the first ears are ripe enough for seed, gather a suf-^
ficient quantity for early corn, or replanting; and at the time you
would wish your corn to be ripe generally, gather a sufficient quantity
for planting the next year, having particular care to take it from
stalks that are large at bottom, of a regular taper, not over tall, the
ears set low, and containing the greatest number of good sizeable
ears of the best quality, let it dry speedily, and from the corn gath-
ered as last described, plant your main crop, and if any hills should
be missing, replant from that first gathered, which will cause the crop
to ripen more regularly than is common, which is a great benefit. The
above mentioned I have practised many years, and am satisfied it has
increased the quantity, and improved the quality of my crops beyond
what any person would imagine, who has not tried the experiments.'*

" For many years past, I have renewed the whole seed of my win-
ter grain, from a single plant which I have observed to be more pro-
ductive, and of belter quality than the rest, which I am satisfied has
been of great use, and I am fully of opinion, that all kinds of garden
vegetables may be improved by the foregoing methods."

G.

ANALYSIS OF DIFFERENT VARIETIES OF WHEAT.

To show the extraordinary exactness with which experiments have
been made in this matter, I subjoin the following tables. The weights
given in the first table are apothecaries', and " gros" means drams.

1840.]

SENATE— No. 36.

195

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19& APPENDIX. [March,

The straw of wheat is generally reckoned to be about double the
weight of grain — an acre producing twenty-four bushels of wheat of
ordinary quality, may then be presumed to yield about twenty-six hun-
dred weight of straw. This rule, however, is not certain.

Some exact experiments as to the relative amount of straw to wheats
have given the following results ; avoirdupois weight.

No. I. gave 3 lbs. 3 oz. of wheat ; 3 lbs. 9 oz. of straw.
" II. " 2 lbs. 12 oz. " ; 3 lbs. 4 oz.
" III. " 6 oz. more straw than grain.

" IV. " 4 lbs. 4oz. " ; 3 lbs. 13 oz. of straw.
" V. " 2 lbs. 9oz. " ; 3 lbs. 1-5 oz.
" VI. " the grain 7 oz. more than the straw.

I insert also two other tables, exhibiting the results of other ex-
periments on the values of different wheats. These from the Jour-
nals of the English Agricultural Society.

References to Table II. — " Proceeding thus, the whole ground was
finished, and then one grain of wheat was dropped into each hole. The
rows were thus exactly 6 inches apart, and the grains in the rows
were 3 inches from one another. The regularity with which the plant-
ing was performed was thus mathematically accurate. The ground
was 67 feet in length; and 3 rows of each variety of wheat were plant-
ed, except the first and last numbers, of which there were 4 rows. The
outer row of each of these, however, was not taken into account, be-
cause their roots had a much greater extent of ground for their growth
than the others, whose roots touched one another all round. The
end plants of each row were also rejected for the same reason. Sixty-
six feet in length of ground were thus taken up, and 3 rows of each
variety occupied in width H foot : the ground occupied by each va-
riety was thus 99 square feet, the 440th part of an acre.

(On page 198, is a tabular account of this experiment.)

The seed from which the first 10 varieties were raised, was carefully
selected from specimens of each obtained in the ear. The others
were from samples, and here, also, the greatest care was taken that
the seed from which each was raised, should be the best and plumpest
that could be obtained.

The first four columns need no explanation beyond what is given at
the head of each : the fifth shows the number of grains lost from casu-
alties. If the frost had been the only agent in the destruction of so

1840.J SENATE— No. 36. 197

many of the seeds, this column might have been considered as a very
accurate index of the relative hardiness of each variety. This, how-
ever, is not the case, for the havoc which the birds made must also be
taken into account. It was thought at the time, that more injury was
sustained, from the latter cause, by those varieties planted, on the 21st,
than by any of the others ; but this does not appear to have been the
case, for, if the great loss sustained by these had been wholly owing
to the havoc committed by the birds, it is evident that the varieties
marked Nos. 12 and 15 would not have been so slightly injured, while
Nos. 11, 13, 14, and 16, suffered so severely. The figures in this col-
umn may, therefore, be said to indicate with tolerable accuracy the
relative ability of each variety to withstand the effects of a severe and
changeable winter, such as that during which the experiment was
made.

The number of plants of each variety which came to perfection, is
placed opposite the name of each in the sixth column. This was
ascertained by pulling each as they respectively ripened, and counting
the plants of each before proceeding to the others. In this way, by a
simple substraction, the numbers contained in the fifth column, also,
were ascertained.

When all the plants of any variety had been pulled, the number of
ears, also, belonging to them was counted, and the results are placed
in the seventh column.

By dividing these by 99, the number of square feet which each va-
riety occupied, we obtain the number of ears in each square foot; and
this is placed opposite the name of each wheat, in the eighth column.

The average number of ears to each root, ascertained by dividing
the number of ears by that of the roots, is placed in the ninth column.
This column shows the degree in which each species possesses the
important property of spreading and shooting out stems, or, as it is
technically termed, o^ tillering ; and it will be seen that they vary
in this respect greatly.

After having been palled and dried, the wheat was carefully rubbed
out; and the light and imperfect grains had been separated, the weight
of the remainder was taken, and placed opposite each sort, in the
tenth column.

The twelfth column contains the number of bushels per acre
raised from each variety. The amount per acre allowed at the rate
of 64 lbs. to a bushel.

The weight of straw, which is placed in the fourteenth and fifteenth
columns, was ascertained after the roots had been cut off, and after it
had remained out sufficiently long to dry it perfectly."

198

APPENDIX.

[March

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1840.]

SENATE— No. 36.

199

TABLE III. — From Le Couteur's Prize Essay.
Comparative Statement of the results of different WJieats.

Soil.

Manure.

1

1

i i.

.5

s

1

Produce per acre.

Produce
per acre in

i

J

J
1

1

1

4i

= 1

II

|i
f

While
lowny.

Arajillace's

Schist,

light and

rich.

Kelp ashes,
9qrs.

2 bush.

Jan. 29

Aug.16.

bush
48

lbs.
4557

lbs.
315

lbs.
62

lbs.
2402

lbs.
542

lbs.

25

Jersey
Daniziz.

Ditto.

Ditto.

Ditto.

Ditto.

Aug.n.

43^

4681

430

63

2161

606

25|

Whiiing-
ton.

Ditto on a
red clay
bottom.

2 hhds. lime,
6 qrs. lime
ashes, 5 qrs.
kelp ashes,

3 bush.

Jan. 8.

Aug.24.

33

7786

483

61

1454

524

23|

Belle-
vue Tal-

Ditto.

Ditto.

3 bush

Feb. 3.

Aug.17

52

5480

282

61

2485

626

25

avera.

1

" One ear of a superior variety of wheat, sowed grain by grain, and
suffered to tiller apart, produced four pounds four ounces of wheat ;
whereas another of an inferior sort treated in the same manner pro-
duced only one pound ten ounces." — Le Couteur on Wheat, p. 11.

" The pains I took in making those first selections amply rewarded
my labors, as the produce of my crops was increased on an average of
about twenty-three to twenty-five bushels an acre to thirty-four, and
since 1 have raised wheat from single ears, or carefully selected sorts,
I have increased my crops to between forty and fifty bushels the acre."

Ibid, p. 14.

" No. I , produced 3 lbs. 3 oz. from Gl grains, and 3 lbs. 9 oz. weight
of straw of a beautiful white color ; whereas, No. 14, a red variety,
only produced from 59 grains, 1 lb. 10 oz. of wheat, and 2 lbs. 5 oz.
of straw.

"No. 8, a downy variety, was still more productive than No. 1, as
fifty-five grains produced 41bs. 4oz. of wheat, and 3 lbs. 13 oz. of
straw, its average of tillers being 11 ; the straw of a fine color, and the
sample very beautiful, though scarcely so fine, or thin-skinned as No. 1.

200 APPENDIX. [March,

This produced nearly three times as much corn (grain) as No. 14, and
a third more straw." — Ibid, p. 24.

" From careful observation, it appears that some varieties, if sown
the second day, differ in their period of flowering, many days ; even
ten or twelve intervening." — Ibid, p. 64.

H.

ON USING THE BEST SEED.

" Some people have recommended the sowing of blighted and mil-
dewed wheat, because it will vegetate, though certainly the recommen-
dation, if carried into practice, would be attended with imminent
danger to those who practise it. That light or defective wheat will
vegetate or produce a plant, we are not disposed to contradict ; but
that it will vegetate as briskly, or put out a stem of equal strength,
and capable of withstanding the severe winter blasts as those produced
from sound seed, we must be excused from not believing. Let it only
be considered that a plant of young wheat, unless when very early
sown, lives three or four months, in a great measure, upon the nour-
ishment which it derives from the parent seed, and that such nourish-
ment can in no view of the subject be so great when the parent is lean
and emaciated as when sound, healthy and vigorous. Let it also be
remembered, that a plant produced from the best and weightiest seed,
must, in every case, under a parity of other circumstances, have a
stronger constitution at the outset, which necessarily qualifies it to
push on with greater energy when the season of growth arrives. In-
deed, the economy of nature would be overturned if any other result
followed." — Brawn on Rural Affairs, Vol. ii. p. 31.

" An experienced agriculturist asserts with confidence, that he has
seen fields partly sown with sound and partly with mildewed wheat,
and that the difference was discernible at one glance even in the win-
ter months, during the first stage of their growth."

I give below, a decisive experiment in favor of using perfectly
ripened and well-harvested seed wheat, in preference to that which is
light or imperfect.

"The late Benjamin Bell, Esq., in October, 1783, sowed a field of
twelve acres at IJunthill, in Roxburghshire, with 54 bushels of wheat,

1840.] SENATE— No 36. 201

of which 12 bushels were the best that could be procured in the Lon-
don market of crop 1783, 30 bushels were from East Lothian of crop
1783, 6 bushels the best wheat in the London market of crop 1782,
and 6 bushels produced near Edinburgh in that year 1782. It must
be remarked, that 1782 was a season generally unfavorable to raising
Avheat in perfection, but that in 1783 the grain was sound and of good
quality. The field on which these parcels of wheat were sown had
been well fallowed, was equally manured with dung, and the whole of
these seeds were sown in the beginning of October, all of them having
been washed in strong brine, and afterwards dried with powdered
quick-lime. The English seed of crop 1783 was sown on one side of
the field ; three bushels of the Mid-Lothian seed of crop 1782 were
sown on the next three ridges; to this succeeded the English seed of
crop 1782; then the East-Lothian wheat of crop 1783; and, lastly,
the remaining three bushels of Mid-Lothian seed crop 1782.

" The field being all in good condition, the wheat appeared early
above ground, and the shoots were every where strong, except on
those ridges which were sown with the Mid-Lothian seed of crop
1782, on which the plants were weak and not very numerous; neither
did these spread or <?7/er like the others; so that during the winter
and spring months, the wheat on these ridges had a weak appearance ;
in harvest the straw was thin and short, and the ears were short and
small, the grain likewise being not so large or heavy as on other parts
of the field. On being threshed and measured, the produce of the 12
bushels of seed, crop 1782, both the London and the Mid-Lothian taken
together, was only 66 bushels, or 5i after one. The produce of the rest
of the field was fully 15 bushels for every bushel of seed. The differ-
ence in value was also considerable, as the produce of the seed from
crop 1782 sold almost a shilling the bushel lower than the other." —
Sinclair s Report of Scotland, vol. i. pp. 479, 480.

I.

QUANTITY OF SEED TO THE ACRE.

*' We have stated it as our opinion, that farmers generally err on the

side of sowing too profusely. The practice, however, has been still

further extended by the recommendation of Mr. Coke, of Norfolk, on

whose estates wheat is now sown at the rate of four bushels to an acre.

26

203 APPENDIX. [March,

The quantity used, should be in a great measure governed by the state
and quality of the land upon which it is sown. Soils naturally rich or
such as are improved by cultivation and manure, will require much
less seed than those in an unfertile state : on the contrary, the lighter
and the less cultivated the soil, the greater will be the quantity of seed
which it requires. The reason is obvious, plants tiller more in rich
and strong than in unfertile soils, and therefore occupy respectively a
greater space ; they are less liable to be killed on good soils in the
winter months : and every plant generally comes to maturity ; the
straw also becomes more luxuriant and consequently requires a greater
circulation of air to preserve it in health and vigor; whereas the
plants on light soils will but weakly and partially tiller ; this deficiency
of stock on the land must be supplied by producing a greater number
of plants , and as the straw will not be so liable to rot or mildew on
light soils, little danger need be apprehended on such from growing
too thick a crop." — British Husbandry, p. 147.

These are the opinions of an experienced cultivator. Undoubtedly
there may be an excess of seed, but the habits of our farmers are in
almost all cases to sow too little seed. An experienced and successful
farmer, in Hampden County, says he has found great advantages in
sowing a liberal quantity of seed. Formerly, he sowed not more than
three pecks or one bushel of rye to an acre, now he sows three bushels
to an acre on the intervale land of Connecticut river, and finds an
advantage in it.

Mr. Coke was led to adopt the practice of sowing very liberally
from accidental circumstances, which I shall give an account of in the
words of his steward.

" In this case, at Holkham, Eng., the wheat was drilled, distance not
given. The first was on a field of thirty acres. One drill man de-
posited four bushels to the acre; the other gauged his drill wrong and
deposited only three bushels to the acre. The four-bushel-seedino-
escaped the mildew and was a very fine crop ; the three-bushel-seeding
was mildewed and was th% only thin wheat, and the only mildew wor-
thy of notice on the farms.

The other experiment was in a field of thirty-five acres. Part of
the field was drilled with five bushels to the acre, and part with four
bushels. Many practical men gave it as their opinion, that the five
bushels seeding was the best in the field." — Blaikie on Mildew quoted
in British Husbandry, p. 140.

1840.] SENATE— No. 36. 203

J.

FOOD OF PLANTS.

"The chief source from which plants derive the materials for their
growth is the soil. However various the composition of the soil, it
consists essentially of two parts, so far as its solid constituents are con-
cerned. One is a certain quantity of earthy matter, such as siliceous
earth, clay, lime, and sometimes magnesia ; and the other is formed
from the remains of animal and vegetable substances, which, when
mixed with the former, constitute common mould. A mixture of this
kind moistened by rain affords the proper nourishment of plants. The
water, percolating through the mould, dissolves the soluble salts with
which it comes in contact, together with the gaseous, extractive and
other matters which are formed during the decomposition of the ani-
mal and vegetable remains. In this case it is readily absorbed by the
roots and conveyed as sap to the leaves, where it undergoes a process
of assimilation."

" But though this is the natural process by which plants obtain the
greater part of their nourishment, and without which they do not arrive
at perfect maturity, they may live, grow, and even increase in weight,
when wholly deprived of nutrition from this source. In the experi-
ments of Saussure, sprigs of peppermint were found to vegetate in dis-
tilled water ; and it is well known that many plants grow when merely
suspended in the air. In the hot house of the botanical garden of
Edinburgh, for example, there are two plants, species of the fig tree,
the Ficus aiisti-alis and the Ficiis dustica, the latter of which has been
suspended for ten, and the former for nearly sixteen years, during
which time they have continued to send out shoots and leaves." — Tur-
ner's Clumistrij, p. 565.

" There are some plants that fasten themselves and grow upon the
most barren rocks, deriving from the surrounding air and from rains,
all the nourishment required by them; of this number are the mosses,
the lichens, and the fleshy plants. Their growth is slow; their trans-
piration almost nothing, and their color remains nearly the same all
the year round, so that they constantly absorb water, and carbonic
acid ; and assimilate their constituent principles." — Chaptal, p. 92.

204 APPENDIX. [March,

K.

CHEMICAL PHENOMENA IN GERMINATION AND VEGETATION.

" The conditions necessary to germination are three fold ; namely,
moisture, a certain temperature, and the presence of oxygen gas. The
necessity of moisture to this process, has been proved by extensive ob-
servation. It is well known that the concurrence of other conditions
cannot enable seeds to germinate, provided they are kept quite dry."

A certain degree of warmth is not less essential than moisture.
Germination cannot take place at 32° ; and a strong heat such as that
of boiling water, prevents it altogether, by depriving the germ of the
vital principle. The most favorable temperature ranges from 60° to
80° ; the precise degree varying with the nature of the plant ; a cir-
cumstance that accounts for the difference in the season of the year at
which different seeds begin to germinate.

That the presence of air is necessary to germination, was demon-
strated by several philosophers, such as Ray, Boyle, Maschenbroeck,
and Boerhaave, before the chemical nature of the atmosphere was dis-
covered ; and Scheele soon after the discovery of oxygen, proved that
beans do not germinate without exposure to that gas. Achard after-
wards demonstrated the same fact, with respect to seeds in general,
and his experiments have been fully confirmed by subsequent observ-
ers. It has been even shown by Humboldt, that a dilute solution of
chlorine, owing to the tendency of that gas to decompose water, and
set oxygen at liberty, promotes the germination of seeds. These cir-
cumstances account for the fact, that seeds when buried deep in the
earth, are unable to germinate.

It is remarkable that the influence of light, which is so favorable to
all the subsequent stages of vegetation, is injurious to the process of
vegetation. Ingenhouz and Sennebier, have proved that a seed germi-
nates more rapidly in the shade, than in the day-light; and in diffused
day-light, quicker than when exposed to the direct solar rays.

From the preceding remarks, it is apparent that when a seed is placed
an inch or two under the surface of the ground in the spring, and is
loosely covered with earth, it is in a state every way conducive to ger-
mination. The ground is warmed by absorbing the solar rays, and is
moistened by occasional showers ; the earth, at the same time, protects
the seed from the light, but by its porosity, gives free access to the air."
Turner's Chcmistnj, p. 562.

1840.] SENATE— No. 36. 205

ON DRAINING AND SUBSOIL PLOUGHING.

The statements, which I give below, are from an examination had
before a large committee of the British Parliament, relating to draining
and subsoil ploughing. I at first intended to give only a short abridg-
ment of them ; but they are of such remarkable importance, that I have
chosen to give them at large. I know they will be read with the
greatest interest.

As my report is going through the press, it gives me pleasure to
say, that Messrs. Ellis &< Bosson, in North Market Street, Boston,
with a commendable and patriotic enterprise, have imported one
of Smith's subsoil ploughs, of which I gave an account and an en-
graving in my First Report of the Agriculture of Massachusetts. Its
construction is altogether peculiar ; but with sufficient power, there is
no doubt it will prove effectual. It is an expensive article to be im-
ported ; but it is probable, especially as they are not patented, that
they will be manufactured here at a reasonable rate. If the system is
faithfully carried out, there cannot be a doubt, of its extraordinary and
most beneficial effects. It is only due to these gentlemen, to add, like-
wise, that they have imported a great variety of wheats, other grains,
and grass seeds, with samples, also, in the straw, of the finest kinds,
and which must prove of eminent utility to our agriculture.

Our distinguished fellow citizen, Mr. Webster, of the United States
Senate, likewise, in his recent visit to Europe, took pains to bring
home, at considerable personal trouble and expense, large samples of
wheat, oats, barley, beans, vetches, and turnips of the best kinds, culti-
vated in England, which were placed at the agricultural establishment of
Messrs. Breck &. Co. in N. Market Street, Boston. This is conferring
an eminent benefaction upon the country, and essentially addinor to the
great obligations which his fellow citizens are under, to his intelligence,
public spirit, and patriotism.

Statement by T. F. Kjinnedy, Esq of Dunurc, former ly 31. P. for the
Ayr Burghs, respecting his experience of the System of Draining
and Sub-soil Ploughing, recommended by Mr. Smith, of Deunston,
in the county of Stirling.

May, 1836.
I have practised Mr. Smith's system of draining and sub-soil plough-
ing upon my farm, in the county of Ayr, during the last three years,

206 APPENDIX. [March;.

and^the result has fully justified every anticipation of benefit. It is
applicable to all soils not rocky which have not an absolutely porous
sub-soil, the great object being, that the sub-soil should be rendered
artificially porous, and that all rain-water should sink on the spot on
which it falls, and that no running of water should take place on the
surface.

There was, at the outset, considerable difficulty in having the work
executed ; it was arduous, and those engaged in the superintendence
and labor were adverse, because they did not see the principles of the
system, or the advantages which were likely to arise. A little encour-
agement and a distinct intimation that there must be perseverance,
overcame every difficulty. This observation applies to the sub-soil
ploughing, while some difficulty attached to the perfect execution of the
drains, in having them made of the full depth of 30 inches, and filled
neither too much nor too little, and with all due care in all particulars
which must be attended to to secure permanence in the effiscts. I have
invariably made the drains twelve feet apart, in order to secure the
effect being complete; being much impressed with the folly of spending
a considerable sam per acre in the operation, and still failing to obtain
what I may term perfection in the system. I have also used broken
stones as the material when they could be obtained within such a dis-
tance as to prevent the expense of cartage being excessive ; in other
cases I have used tiles, with a layer of three or four inches of stones or
gravel over them. When stones alone were used, the drains have been
uniformly thirty inches deep, leaving 16 inches for the operation of the
plough and sub-soil plough ; where tiles have been used, the depth has
been about 24 inches, the same depth for the ploughs being left as in
the other cases. A crop of oats has generally been taken after the
drains have been executed, and the land has been comparatively dry ;
but even the visible effect has been very imperfect until the sub-soil
plough has been applied. By means of this plough the whole obdurate
undercrust of the soil has been broken up, and all water has instantly
escaped, and, after six or eight months of the alternations of heat and
cold, wet and dry, a most remarkable change has appeared in the con-
dition of the soil ; what was before obdurate and retentive has become
comparatively mellow and friable, and the longer the time since the
operation has been performed, the greater has been the perceptible
progressive effect. The operation of the sub-soil plough has produced
cracks and crevices and interstices to the depth of 16 inches; through
these the rain passes off with rapidity, and these crevices are imme-

1840.] SENATE— No. 36. 207

diately filled by the air of the atmosphere, and during dry and hot
weather these cracks and crevices are multiplied to an indefinite ex-
tent, and in clay soils to an extent quite remarkable. Instead of re-
suming its original tenacity, there seems to be a decided change
effected in the character of the component parts of the land to the
depth the plough has reached. It is for the skilful farmer to apply
manure judiciously according to the state of each field. Drilled green
crop has followed a crop of oats, and the land which before was unfit
to grow turnips has become fitted for that crop, although, perhaps, a
little rough and cloddy during the first year. Next has come a crop of
wheat, and in it has been seen the great and remarkable effects of the
system, in the condition of the soil and the quantity of produce. Land
which was before, in truth, unfit to carry wheat from extreme wetness,
has become altogether the reverse, being sown wiih wheat without
ridges and furrows, being perfectly porous; all rain disappearing as it
falls, and being carried off" by filtration to the many drains, and each
drain having little more than a thread of water to carry off". Possibly
the land of which I speak might have previously yielded a precarious
produce of 20, or at the utmost 24 bushels of wheat per imperial acre,
while in its improved state, the actual produce of the crop of 1835 has
been 40 bushels thrashed out, a few bushels of which were not very
good in quality, owing to what is now to be mentioned. The fault of
the crop was, that it was too strong, and theie being much rain while
it ripened it was laid down. Had this not occurred, the quality of the
whole would have been good, and there is no doubt that six or eight
bushels more per acre would have been obtained. The facts, there-
fore, are most satisfactory, because the result in the first wheat crop
may truly be said to be twenty bushels of wheat of extra produce, in
return for an expense of 10^. 10s per acre, which was the cost of the
drainage and the extra expense of sub-soil ploughing. It ought to be
stated, that with the turnips, the land was well manured, and subse-
quently abundantly. After the wheat was carried, and during the
winter, the field was ploughed about nine inches deep with the ordi-
nary plough, and remained rough until the month of March, the whole
rains of winter, which were excessive, sinking as they fell. Towards
the end of March, the field was harrowed, drilled, and sown with
beans, without any manure. The crop is promising, and there can be
no doubt that the powers of the soil which have now been brought into
action, will render it abundant. The soil is so powerful, that it is in-
tended to take a crop of wheat after the beans, without any manure,

208 APPENDIX. [March,

but taking care to make the land perfectly clean ; and there is little
doubt that the wheat crop of 1837 so treated, will be more productive
than that of 1835, because it will be less superabundant in straw, and
incur less probable injury from being laid down.

My experience, on a moderate scale, leads me to say, that the sys-
tem is the greatest discovery which has been made in agriculture (be-
cause it is applicable to soils hitherto almost intractable and most ex-
pensive to cultivate,) provided it be applied only where the altitude
justifies the undertaking, by securing a climate suitable to valuable
crops. It, in truth, converts almost the worst into the best land, that
is, the most powerful in respect of production, because the quality of
land to which it is applicable, the heavy clays and retentive sub-soils,
will yield heavier crops after such treatment than the lighter loams and
many of those varieties of soil which hitherto have been so pleasant to
the agriculturist to cultivate.

The reformation which the system effects on lands, which previously
were looked on as hopeless, is quite surprising, and no one believes it
until it is seen ; but again I say, that the whole success depends on the
perfect and complete manner in which the operations are executed, as
any thing merely being an approximation to the system will end in
disappointment. The expense of what is perfect must not be grudged,
and as surely as it is liberally given will it be abundantly repaid. I
would also say, that th€ effects of the draining and sub-soil ploughing
are dependent on each other ; the one is comparatively worthless with-
out the other ; the ploughing would be thrown away without the pre-
vious draining, and the draining is a poor improvement compared to
the combined effect with the sub-soil ploughing.

I may state, that my bailiff and the ploughmen who worked the sub-
soil plough, certainly in the outset thought my orders almost foolish,
(who nevertheless carried them into effect faithfully,) but now see the
effects of the system, and are fully sensible of the extraordinary benefits
resulting from it.

The various views of the advantages might be multiplied to any ex-
tent, but a concise statement of them seems to be, that the most ob-
durate and intractable soils assume a friable and mellow character, and
at the same time are rendered permanently most productive, A sys-
tem which is applicable to 10 acres is equally so, in its principle, to
10,000 or 100,000 acres, and consequently the system becomes a most
important national consideration. My decided impression is, that cap-
ital judiciously applied in the execution of this system may yield a

1840.] SENATE— No. 36. 209

return varying from 10 to 40 or 50 per cent., according to the various
circumstances attending the infinite variety of cases in which the sys-
tem may be carried into effect. Every thing depends on the mode
and perfection of execution, if any one thinks of limiting the expense
of complete execution, he may rest assured, that the recompense will
be still more restricted, and that it is more judicious to improve one
acre well, than to deceive himself by a superficial operation on a
more extended surface.

A remarkable effect is, that the harvest is considerably earlier on
land so treated than on the same land in its previous state, and it
is scarcely necessary to remark, that there will be a constant return
for the same seed and labor and manure far greater than when they
are applied to land in a naturally wet condition.

Evidence of James Smith, Esq., inventor of the Sub-soil Plough.

Chairman. You live at Deanston ? — Yes.

Where is that? — In the western district of Perthshire in Scotland.

Do you occupy a considerable farm in that part of Scotland ? —
About 200 acres.

Have you improved your farm lately? — I have.

In what way ? — Chiefly by thorough draining and sub-soil plough-
ing.

What was the nature of the soil upon your farm ? — It was various ;
there is some part of it rather light soil, some of it gravelly upon the
edge of the river, and some lightish loam, with rather a tenacious bot-
tom, and in other parts a stiff sandy clay.

Is it a stiiT sub-soil ? — Some part of it very stiff.

And it was all subject very much to wet? — The greater part of it
was covered with rushes and bent before being drained.

Will you describe to the Committee your mode of draining? — The
principle upon which I drain is to put in drains frequently, so that there
may be opportunities for the water to pass off. because I find that in
our climate the cliief injury arises from the water that falls from the
heavens.

Are those drains placed up the furrows or across the land ? — They
are placed in the same direction that the furrows were before, but I
have now no furrows. I lay all my fields down without any furrows.
27

210 APPENDIX. [March,

I object to furrows, because water is allowed to collect in a body, and
thereby ruins the soil.

The fact is, that those drains are so frequent, that they answer the
purpose of furrows 1 — Yes ; they answer the purpose of furrows.

How far are they apart ? — Twenty-one feet, and two feet six inches
deep to the bottom.

Do you drain with stones or with tiles? — Chiefly with broken stones^
because I have stones upon the land.

You spoke of sub-soil ploughing ; you are the inventor of a sub-sail
plough? — I am.

Do you use it after draining? — After draining. I first take a grain
crop, and then after the separation of that crop from the ground I
sub-soil plough.

How far do you fill up the drain with stones? — I put in 12 inches
of stones, leaving 18 inches between the upper part of the drain and
the surface of the soil, and then I cover them most carefully with very
thin sods, overlapping at the joinings, because it is of the first impor-
tance to prevent the soil which has been recently removed from run-
ning into the drains. There are many drains destroyed by means of
the soil getting in at the top.

The water comes in at the side of the drains ? — Yes, by fissures in
the sub-soil.

Will you describe the operation of the sub-soil plough ? — I have
got a plate of it here (producing the same.)* The principle upon which.
I constructed that plough was this, that I saw it was of the greatest
importance to break up the sub-soil, especially where it was tenacious.
I saw that the common trench plough, when used to break up the
sub-soil, at the same time turned over the recently moved sub-soil to
mix with the surface soil, which induced a sort of partial sterility for a
time. 1 then bethought me of having a plough that would move the
sub-soil, still retaining the active soil upon the surface, and I consid-
ered how I should construct it to have the least draught, so that the
horses might easily draw it, because I was aware that it would require
considerable force. I therefore made the plough as thin as possible
in its transverse section, and the share of the plough, which is us-
ually made with a free point not touching upon the lower part of the
plough, and I found it was apt in stony land to get knocked out of
its place, and therefore I made a mortice in the sock, and inserted the

* See First Report of Agriculture of Massachusetts, p. 1.

1840.] SENATE— No 36. 211

point of the share in this mortice: then in order to move the sub-soil
as much as possible, I placed an oblique spur upon the one side of the
plough, which throws up the subsoil after the furrow has been divided
and breaks it, but does not throw it further up than the bottom of the
furrow of the active soil.

Mr. Hadley. Does not the spur increase the draught? — It does
not materially.

How many horses does it require to work that plough ? — Generally
four horses in ordinary sub-soils, but upon some it has been neces-
sary to use eight horses.

How deep do you plough ? — Sixteen inches from the surface.

Mr. Loch. What is the depth of the original furrow ? — Six in-
ches ; we first go on with the common plough and turn over a fur-
row of the depth of six or eight inches, and then the sub-soil plough
goes and stirs up the bottom without bringing the soil further up than
its original position, then when the common plough comes round
again, it throws the active soil upon that part which has been sub-
soiled.

Then the advantage of stirring up the sub-soil is that the water
which falls gets down to the bottom of the second furrow so as to
relieve the upper soil from the effects of the rain that falls ? — Yes ;
besides there is a constant operation of the air upon the sub-soil, which
converts it into soil.

Mr. Cayley. Is it with a view to draining principally ? — With a
view first to draining, and then to converting the sub-soil into a fit
soil for growing plants.

It makes the soil more permeable ? — Yes.

How long have you been doing this? — About twelve years.

In the first instance, if you were to turn up that sub-soil, it would
not be a productive soil, and therefore you prepare it by this course
for subsequent turning up when it is prepared? — Yes.

When you conceive it to have come into a proper state for vege-
tation, do you turn it up at once or gradually ? — At once.

Do you find that the soil will be very productive the first year after
it is turned up ? — I find it so.

Do you stir it up with the old soil ? — I sub-soil it only once. I then
take a green crop, followed by a grain crop ; then it lies three years
in grass ; and then after that, I take a crop of oats; and then after, I
turn it up to the depth of sixteen inches.

Then it takes about three or four years to bring the sub-soil to a
proper degree of preparation ? — It does.

212 APPENDIX. [March,

After the sub-soil has been brought into a proper degree of prepar-
ation for vegetation, have you ever tried the experiment of bringing
in a certain proportion, say a fourth part of the sub-soil after it is
prepared, into Qo-operation with the active soil 1 — I have, and it an-
swers very well.

Do you consider that the bringing into play the whole of the sub-
soil at once is a better thing and more productive than holding in re-
serve a portion of the sub-soil ? — I think it is.

After turning up the sub-soil, how many years have you grown
crops upon it 1 — My mode of cropping is a seven years' shift, and I
have now four fields undergoing a second shift.

Have you had the experience of what the condition of the previous
active soil becomes, from being in a state of rest for several years ? —
It is all mixed together.

Then the effect of your system is to produce a new soil instead of
the old one I — Yes.

Mr. De7ii$on. According to your plan, supposing you were not
to have turned up any of this sub-soil, but merely to have had your
sub-soil plough pass through it, and were to go on cultivating with-
out any thins being turned up to the top, instead of producing steril-
ity, would even that produce an improvement of the crop ? — It would,
and a continued improvement.

After getting upon land that has been sub-soil ploughed, and then
ploucrhing it up again, do you find that the sub-soil continues fria-
ble?— I do to the bottom.

With strong tenacious soils you do not find that it is run together
again ? — No.

Mr. Hcathcote. You have no furrows, and you plough IG inches
deep in all parts of the farm 1 — Yes.

Do you find that the water stands at the bottom of the furrow any
lentrth of time before it gets into the drain? — I do not think it does,
but I cannot see the bottom of the furrow.

When you turn it up how do you find it? — I find it particularly
dry, and sometimes, where the land has been poached in consequence
of takinw off a green crop, still it is perfectly dry at the bottom of
the furrow.

You do not find that the treading of horses has any effect upon
it at that depth ? — None whatever ; the effect of the most thorough
poaching does not go beyond six inches, and below that it is found
quite dry.

1840.] SENATE— No. 36. 213

Will this sub-soil ploughing apply to all species of soils ? — I have
never yet seen any soil that it would not apply to.

The most retentive stiff soil 1 — Yes ; and the deep bog as well.

Mr. Dtnison. After breaking up the sub-soil, but without turning
it up to ihe top, suppose the farmer was to continue to plough it seven
or eight inches, in that case how long do you think the operation on
the sub-soil would remain effectual, or how soon do you suppose it
would run together again? — I think it wozild never run together in a
solid form, because, token it has been turned up there is a constant cir-
culation of the water and the air, which prevents running together
again ; and token soil is laid in a dry position and exposed to the at-
mosphere, it stems to get some sort of attractive quality ; if you look at
any mould you will find that it is all in little globules, and those are
gathered together in large masses, forming larger globules which keep
the soil open.

Do you think that the mere operation of allowing water and air to
pass among the soil at a considerable depth in the ground would, to
a certain degree, produce that effect upon solid clay of converting it
partially into soil ? — I think it would.

3Ir. Lock. What was the nature of that soil which you said was
covered with bent before you ploughed it up ? — A great part of it I
did not think worth more than 5s. an acre.

In consequence of what you have done to it, what is it worth now?
— I consider that it is worth 2/. an acre to any farmer.

What was the course of cropping that you adopted in the improve-
ment of land? — At first I was rather undecided with regard to the ro-
tation I should follow, till from observation I formed a judgment what
was the best course. The mode of rotation I generally followed was
this: I drain always, if possible, in the lay or grass, because by drain-
ing in the lay the work is more neatly done ; then having completed
the drains, I take a crop of oats the next year. Upon the greater part
of that farm I have been obliged to plough very shallow furrows for
the first crop, because there was not more than three or four inches of
soil that I dared turn up ; then I took a crop of oats, and upon some
of the fields I had not more than from 24 to 30 bushels of oats. After
the separation of that first crop from the ground, I applied the sub-
soil plough. Then I gave it another ploughing, and had a green crop ;
potatoes upon some parts, and turnips upon others.

Could you have attempted any of those crops previous to the sub-
soil ploughing ? — Not to advantage.

214 APPENDIX. [March,

How long had it been in grass before you turned it up ? — Some of
it 15 years.

What is the next crop after the turnips and potatoes? — I then lay
down what 1 have had in potatoes with wheat ; I sow wheat in the
end of the season, as soon as I can get the potatoes up ; what I have
had in turnips I grow barley upon in the spring, and I sow grass seeds
upon both.

You could not have attempted barely upon that soil before 1 — Not
with any success, and not wheat, because the land was so full of mois-
ture that it honey-combed by frost, and so threw out the plants. There
was one field especially, after a very severe winter, and with a frost,
there was sometimes a space of 20 or 30 square yards from which
every plant or vegetable had been thrown, not a bit of grass remaining
upon it.

After the wheat what do you take ? — I sow grass and barley.
Do you cut the grass for hay 1 — Some ; the other is pastured from
the beginning.

What is the nature of the grass it produces? — Very good, and very
heavy crops of hay ; T have generally about 300 stone, which is about
three tons per acre.

Do you think that any improvement is likely to be so valuable for
general purposes as frequent draining and sub-soil ploughing for strong
land ? — None.

That, you think, is the most important thing for general purposes
of farming that you are acquainted with ? — Decidedly.

And applicable to more qualities of soil than any thing else? — Ap-
plicable, I should say, to all qualities of sub-soil.

And equally applicable to England as to Scotland ? — Equally so,
and very much wanted. I have a friend who has made an experiment
under my directions in Cheshire, upon very stiff land, Mr. Barton ; it
is the most thorough brick clay I ever saw ; an extremely sterile farm
in its original state. Mr, Barton has been completely successful ; he
has thoroughly drained the ground and sub-soil ploughed, and it is
now laid down without furrows, and I there saw a large field of this
extremely stiff clay with a beautiful seed surface upon it.

Mr. Denison. Do you think that it is applicable to a soil where
there is a bad gravelly sub-stratum ? — I think so ; I think any sub-
stratum, if it is exposed to the atmosphere for a sufficient length of
time, will become fertile. In the most barren country, if you see
where a ditch has been dug, on the soil which has been thrown up
you will generally find a richer verdure and strong weeds growing.

1840.] SENATE— No. 36.

WJiite's account of Draining, on Smith's plan.

215

MAIN DRAIN.
15 In,

SMALLER DRAINS.
J2 In

Broken stones.

laid on their edge.

6J/1

The main or leading drains are cut 3 feet deep, 15 inches wide at
the top, taper to 6 inches at the bottom, and filled up with stone from
15 to 18 inches. The smaller drains, leading into the main, are 2 feet
6 inches deep, 12 inches wide at the top, taper to 3 inches at the bot-
tom, and filled with stone 13 inches, with turf upon the stone. The
stone is first placed on edge, about 6 or 7 inches, and the remaining
part covered with stone broken to 2^ inches ; a section of these drains
is given — the drains are parallel to each other. The sub-soil varies
much ; the price for cutting the whole, breaking the stones, and filling,
has invariably been Id. per yard ; some part has worked better than
others, and, upon the whole, I think the work cannot be done for less.
With regard to the distance between the drains, in this part, the work
must be put out according to circumstances, which requires much
attention, as great expense might unnecessarily be incurred, or the
object fail. When the land is ready for the operation of the sub-soil
plough, a man with a pair of horses turns out the first furrow from 10

216 APPENDIX. [March,

to 12 inches wide; then follows the sub-soil plough to the depth of 14
inches, taking care not to stir the turf covering the stones in the drains ;
it is worked at right angles of the drains, and drawn by six horses,
two and two abreast. The plough is drawn from an axletree, with
double shafts and low wheels ; the horses draw perfectly even, and by
this mode it is no more than ordinary work.

An account of the application of the Sub-soil Plough to a dry soil at
Heckfeld, Hants. By Charles Shaw Lefevre, Esq. 31. P.

Although the effects of the sub-soil plough in the improvement of
wet and tenacious soils are well known, I am not aware that any one
has as yet applied this valuable implement to soils of a totally opposite
character : I will therefore state the result of an experiment which I
have tried upon land in my own occupation.

I have a field of 6 acres, which for many years has been scarcely
worth cultivating. It consists of a light sandy soil, from 5 to 7 inches
in depth, covering a stratum of hard gravel. This stratum varies in
depth from 8 to 12 inches ; and below it there is a yellow sand, with a
very slight admixture of loam.

There are no springs in the field ; but, in wet seasons, on those
spots where the surface of the field is uneven, the water is retained in
pools until it has evaporated. In other parts of the field the same
passes off immediately, without being retained or absorbed by the sub-
soil ; and, consequently, in dry seasons the crop is invariably parched
and burnt up. It occurred to me to apply the sub-soil plough, which
had worked such wonders in a clay soil, to a dry burning gravel.

The eflfect of my experiment will be best explained by a short state-
ment of the produce of the field, for a series of years, up to the present
period : —

YEAR.

CROP.

PRODUCE PER ACRE.

In 1832, -

- - Oats, - -

- 4 sacks.

1833, -

- - Turnips,

- Not quite 2 tons.

1834, -

- - Barley, - -

- Not quite 4 sacks.

1835, -

- - Clover, - -

- 2 tons on the whole field,

183G, -

- - Wheat, - -

- 3 sacks.

In the autumn of 1836 it was ploughed with the sub-soil plough, at
a cost of 30»;. per acre.

1837, - - - Turnips, - - 8 tons per acre.

1838, - - - Barley, - - - 10 sacks per acre.

1840.] SENATE— No. 36. 217

In other respects the land received the same treatment during the
whole of this time. There is at present a fine plant of Dutch clover
in the ground, which promises to prove an excellent crop.

Extracts from the Speech of Daniel Webster, of U. S. Senate, at
the agricultural meeting in Boston, 13 January, 1840.

Mr. Webster proceeded to state, that one of the things which now
attracted much attention among agriculturalists in Eugland, was the
subject of tile draining. This most efficient and successful mode of
draining is getting into very extensive use. Much of the soil of
England, as he had already stated, rested on a clayey and retentive
sub-soil. Excessive wetness is prejudicial and destructive to the crops.
Marginal drains, or drains on the outside of the fields, do not produce
the desired results. These tile drains have effected most important
improvements. The tile itself is made of clay, baked like bricks;
about one foot in length, four inches in width, three fourths of an
inch in thickness, and stands from six to eight inches in height, being
hemispherical, or like the half of a cylinder, with its sides elongated.
It resembles the Dutch tiles sometimes seen on the roofs of the old
houses in Albany and New York. A ditch is sunk twenty-four
inches in depth, and these drains are multiplied, over a field, some-
times at a distance of only seven yards apart. The ditch; or drain,
being dug, these tiles are laid down, with the hollow side at bottom, on
the smooth clay, or any other firm sub-soil, the sides placed near to
each other, some little straw thrown over the joints to prevent the
admission of dirt, and the whole covered up. This is not so expen-
sive a mode of draining as might be supposed. The ditch, or drain,
need only be narrow, and tiles are of much cheaper transportation
than stone would be. But the result is so important, as well to justify
the expense. It is estimated that this thorough draining adds often
twenty per cent, to the production of the wheat crop, A beautiful
example came under his observation in Nottinghamshire, not long
before he left England. A gentleman was showing him his grounds
for next year's crop of wheat. On one side of the lane, where the
land had been drained, the wheat was already up, and growing luxu-
riantly ; on the other, where the land was subject to no other disad-
vantage, than that it had not been drained, it was still too wet to be
sowed at all. It may be thought singular enough, but it was doubtless
28

218 APPENDIX. [March,

true, that on stiff clayey lands, thorough draining is as useful in dry,
hot summers, as in cold and wet summers ; for such land, if a wet
winter or spring be suddenly followed by hot and dry weather, is apt
to become hard and baked, so that the roots of plants cannot enter it.
Thorough draining, by giving an opportunity to the water on the sur-
face to be constantly escaping, corrects this evil. Draining can never
be needed to so great an extent in Massachusetts, as in England and
Scotland, from the different nature of the soil ; but we have yet quan-
tities of low meadow lands, producing wild, harsh, sour grasses, or
producing nothing, which, there is little doubt, might be rendered most
profitable hay fields, by being well drained. When we understand
better the importance of concentrating labor, instead of scattering it ;
when we shall come to estimate, duly, the superior profit of " a little
farm well tilled," over a great farm, half cultivated and half manured,
overrun with weeds, and scourged with exhausting crops, we shall then
fill our barns, and double the winter feed for our cattle and sheep by
the products of these waste meadows.

There was in England, another mode of improvement, most impor-
tant, instances of which he had seen, and one of which he regarded
as the most beautiful agricultural improvement, which had ever come
within his observation. He meant irrigation, or the making of what
is called water meadows. He had first seen them in Wiltshire, and
was much struck with them, not having before understood, from read-
ing or conversation, exactly what they were. But he had afterwards
an opportunity of examining a most signal and successful example of
this mode of improvement on the estates of the Duke of Portland, in
the north of England, on the borders of Sherwood forest. Indeed, it
was part of the old forest. Sherwood forest, at least in its present
state, is not like the pine forests of Maine, the heavy hard wood for-
ests of the unredeemed lands of New Hampshire and Vermont, or the
still heavier timbered lands of the West. It embraces a large extent
of country, with various soils, some of them thin and light, with beau-
tiful and venerable oaks, of unknown age, much open ground between
them and underneath their wide-spread branches, and this covered with
heather, lichens and fern. As a scene to the eye, and to the memory
by its long existence and its associations, it is beautiful and interest-
ing. But in many parts, the soil is far enough from being rich
Upon the borders of this forest, are the water meadows of which he
was speaking. A little river ran through the forest in this part, at the
bottom of a valley, with sides moderately sloping, and of considerable

1840.] SENATE— No. 36. 219

extent, between the river at the bottom and the common level of the
surrounding country above. This little river, before reaching the
place, ran through a small town, and gathered, doubtless, some refuse
matter in its course. From this river the water was taken, at the
upper end of the valley, conducted along the edge, or bank, in a canal
or carrier, and from this carrier, at proper times, suffered to flow out,
very gently, spreading over, and irrigating the whole surface, trickling
and shining when he saw it, (and it was then November,) among the
light green of the new-springing grass, and collected below in another
canal, from which it was again let out, to flow in like manner over
land lying still further down towards the bottom of the valley. Ten
years ago, this land, for production, was worth little or nothing. lie
was told that some of it had been let for no more than a shilling an
acre. It has not been manured, and yet is now most extensively pro-
ductive. It is not flooded ; the water does not stand upon it ; it flows
gently over it, and is applied several times in a year, to each part, say
in March, May, July and October. In November, when he saw it,
the farmers were taking off the third crop of hay cut this season, and
that crop was certainly not less than two tons to the acre. This last
crop was mostly used as green food for cattle. When he spoke of the
quantity of tons, he meant tons of dried hay. After this crop was off,
sheep were to be put on it, to have lambs at Christmas, so as to come
into market in March, a time of year when they command a high
price. Upon taking off the sheep in March, the land would be watered,
the process of watering lasting two or three days, or perhaps eight or
ten days, according to circumstances, and repeated after the taking off
of each successive crop. Although this water has no doubt consider-
able sediment in it, yet the general fact shows how important water is
to the growth of plants, and how far even it may supply the place of
other sources of sustenance. Now we, in Massachusetts, have a more
uneven surface, more vallies with sloping sides, by many times more
streams, and such a climate that our farms suffer much oftener from
drought than farms in England. May we not learn something useful,
therefore, from the examples of irrigation in that country.

220 APPENDIX. [March,

M.

redemption of bog meadow.

Rev. H. Colman,

Dtar Sir: — At the request of Mr. Brown, I forward you this paper.
It is well worth notice. I have rarely seen labor more successfully
applied. I saw the field in the month of August, and I have no ques-
tion of the correctness of the statercent.

JOHN W. PROCTOR,
Secretary of ihe Essex Agricultural Society.

I have myself been at the place two or three times, and witnessed
with the highest pleasure this valuable improvement ; not so extensive
as many in the State, but remarkable for the good judgment, persever-
ance, and labor, which its execution evinces.

H. C.

" The swamp in which I have been engaged for two years past, is
situated in Saugus. Between 5 and 6 acres of it I have wrought upon.
The mud or soil varied from two to twelve feet in depth. Two years
ago, this land was so thickly covered with briars and bushes, that it
was almost impossible for a dog to pass through it. These bushes
were mowed and burnt on the ground. There were so many stumps
and logs that it was not possible to plough ; so I commenced cutting
the turf or sods into squares, about 15 inches over, and then with
forked hoes, made very strong, pulled them up; and at the same time
cleared out the stumps and logs, also cleared out all the small roots
with the hoes, and replaced the sods the other side up. This part of
the work w.?s done in strips of about one rod in width. I conmienced
a year ago last August. I mowed the bushes and dug one ditch in
1S3G. 'J'he stumps and logs were cleared out without the help of
oxen. Some of the stumps had nearly half a cord of wood in them.
There were many trees blown down, and the meadow had formed over
them. Many of them were sound, and some measured 60 feet in
length. The stumps were very numerous. In some places, apparently
three tiers, one above the other; and under the bottom one, lay a pine
log, that had been on tire. The expense of clearing the land as above
described, and of digging the necessary ditches to drain it, and to
protect the adjoining land from fire, in burning the bushes, I estimate
to have been $504. In the winter I took oflf the wood and piled it up
for coaling. The largest of the roots I collected for my own fire.
The small ones were burnt upon the ground. This part of the labor

1840.] SENATE— No. 36. 221

I estimate at $35. In the spring, as soon as the frost began to come
out of the ground, I commenced harrowing the land. The sods being
fastened down by the frost, and the harrow passing over the upper
side; they mouldered away as fast as the frost would admit; and when
the harrow had got to the depth of the sods, they were worked up
pretty fine. The frost below facilitated the passing of the teams. This
part of the expense I estimated at §12. About the first of May, I
began planting the potatoes, without any manure. I cut the seed very
fine, and planted them near together. I merely marked the hills with a
hoe; then a man followed after with the seed; then another to cover
it. I calculated to have the seed one inch from the surface. I used
89 bushels of seed. I should not have seeded so light, had it not been
for the uncertainty of obtaining a crop without the use of manure.
There was but one man who gave me any encouragement. Many said
I should lose my labor. But to their astonishment I harvested 927
bushels of excellent potatoes. The expense of planting, cultivating
and harvesting this crop, I estimate at $117. My land is now in a
condition that I can plough it when I please. On a small piece, I
planted corn, without manure, and it ripened well. I sowed a small
piece with wheat, but it did not come to any thing, either in the straw
or grain.

The wood procured from the stumps and logs, I made into charcoal.

In 1S37, I coaled 1201 bushels, which sold in market for §166 40.
Expense of coaling and marketing $40. In 1838, I coaled 4200
bushels, which sold on the hearth for $333 33 ; but I afterwards ascer-
tained from the purchaser, that it sold in Boston market for $630.
The expense of coaling this lot, I estimate at $100. I sold wood to
the amount of $50. 1 estimate the fuel that I used on my own fire to
have been worth $50 more. I have on hand 100 cart loads of the
bottom of the coal pits, which I value at $75, having some knowledge
of its virtue as a manure.

The result may be stated as follows, viz. :

Proceeds of coal in 1837, $166 40

1838, 333 33

Value of crop of potatoes, 027 bushels, . . 463 50

" the remains of the coal pits, . . 75 00

'• wood sold, 50 00

" fuel used, 50 00

Increased value of land, the same being now esti-
mated at $125 an acre, .... 565 00

Gross amount of receipts, .... $1702 23

222 APPENDIX. [March,

Clearing the land, as stated,
Carting roots, ....
Harrowing, ....
Planting, hoeing, harvesting, &:-c.,
Coaling and marketing coal.

$504 00

35 00

12 00

117 00

140 00

$808 00

Estimated balance in my favor, as the result of

the experiment, $894 23

My potatoes grew finely, and it was observed by many, that they
never saw a handsomer field. This crop being cut off in most other
places, in this vicinity, induces me to value them at 50 cents a bushel —
which I know to be above the usual price in common seasons.

I have about two acres more of similar land, which I intend to
m.inage in the same way. It requires much hard labor, but it pays
well for it.

Respectfully yours,

TIMOTHY H. BROWN."
Saugus, Dec. 7, 1838.

N.

CHAPTER 206.

N ACT FOR THE ENCOURAGEMENT OF THE CULTURE OF SILK.

Sect. 1. There shall be allowed and paid out of the treasury of
the Commonwealth, for every ten pounds weight of cocoons of silk,
the produce of silk worms raised within this Commonwealth, the sum
of one dollar, and in the same proportion for any larger quantity of
cocoons, to be paid to the owner of such worms, or his legal represen-
tatives.

Sect. 2. There shall be allowed and paid out of the treasury of
the Commonwealth, to every person who shall reel, or cause to be
reeled, and to every person who shall throw, or cause to be thrown,
in this Commonwealth, from cocoons produced from silk worms,
raised in this Commonwealth, a merchantable silk capable of being
manufactured into the various silk fabrics, or to the legal representa-
tives of such person, one dollar for every pound of silk so reeled and

1840.] SENATE— No. 36. 223

thrown, and fifty cents for every pound of silk reeled without being
thrown.

Sect. 3. When satisfactory evidence, by the oath of the party, or
otherwise, shall be exhibited to the selectmen of any town in this Com-
monwealth, that any person, being an inhabitant of such town, is en-
titled to claim the bounty or bounties, provided for in the first and
second sections of this act, they shall give a certificate thereof, in
writing under their hands, stating the quantity of cocoons produced,
or of silk reeled or thrown conformably to the provisions of said sec-
tions, and that such claimant is entitled to the bounty or bounties
therein allowed ; and when such certificate shall have been filed in the
ofiice of the secretary of the Commonwealth, the governor, with advice
of the council, is hereby authorized to draw his warrant on the treas-
urer therefor.

Sect. 4. If any person shall claim a bounty more than once for
the same cocoons, or silk so reeled or thrown, or obtain any bounty
under this act, through fraud or deception, such person shall forfeit to
the use of the Commonwealth, a sum not more than one hundred dol-
lars, in addition to the amount of any bounty he may have receiv-
ed, to be recovered by indictment, in any court proper to try the
same.

Sect. 5. This act shall take effect in thirty days from the time of
passing the same, and continue in force during the term of seven
years from the time of its going into operation; and an Act entitled
" An Act to encourage the reeling and throwing of silk," passed the
seventh day of April, in the year one thousand eight hundred and
thirty-five, be and the same hereby is repealed ; but nothing herein
contained shall affect the right of any person, entitled to any premium
under the said act.

Sect. 6. The provisions of this act shall not apply to bodies politic
and corporate. [April 11, 1836.]

0.

MULBERRY. SHARPE S VARIETY.

As my Report is passing through the press, 1 have received the sub-
joined certificates, in reference to the tree mentioned in the text.

224 APPENDIX. [March,

Windham, April Sth, 184U.
Mr. Colman :

Dear Sir, — The trees that stand in the nursery at E. Sharpe's, are
perfectly sound, while every other variety around them are killed near-
ly, or quite to the ground ; they can be examined at any time, also
those referred to in the following certificates, by the incredulous.

Very respectfully, yours,

GEORGE. W. BENSON.

Shorcham, Vermont, March 23c?, 1840.

We have this day critically examined a mulberry tree called Sharpe's
new variety ; grown from one bud the last season in this place, which
has been standing without any shelter or defence whatever. And al-
though it was grafted late in the season, and did not soon commence
growing, yet the main branch grew over seven feet, and notwithstand-
ing its late and rapid growth, it has well endured the winter, and ap-
pears equally as well adapted to our climate as apple trees.

MIRON POND, MUNSON POND,

M. \V. H. WRIGHT, ALANSON J. TREADWAY,

GEORGE FARNUM, ASA. B. MOSES.
REUBEN COOK,

Pomfret, Conn. April ilh, 1840.

This certifies, that 1 engrafted two scions of Sharpe's variety of
mulberry, in this town, last spring ; both of them endured the winter
well, without any defence or shelter, and are perfectly adapted to a
northern climate. Their growth has far exceeded any other tree I
ever saw in like circumstances.

BENJAMIN SEGUR.

1840.] SENATE— No. 36. 225

P.

C. HASKELL S LETTERS.

The subjoined are extracts from letters received by me from Calvin
Haskell, of Harvard, Mass. He has had considerable experience in
producing silk in a household way ; and the information given by a
man so practical, vk^ill be duly esteemed.

Letter I.

Mr. Colman, —

Harvard, March 9, 1840.

Dear Sir, — I commenced about twelve years since, by sowing the
seed of the white Italian mulberry. I set the trees, some in hedges
and some twelve feet apart, for standard trees. I prefer the hedge to
the large trees, on account of the convenience of gathering the leaves.
By cutting off the tops, they are kept within reach. I have never lost
any by being winter killed. About the year 1829 or '30, I purchased
a few trees of the Morus Multicaulis, which were imported from
France. I set them out and let them remain through the two first
winters, without their being essentially injured, but those that were
grown from cuttings were invariably killed. This induced me to take
up the old trees in the fall, and re-set them in the spring. 1 tried vari-
ous ways to protect them that I left out during winter, by enclosing
some in straw, some with the boughs of pine, and by heaping the earth
around the bodies and roots of the trees, but all were lost that were ex-
posed to the winter. 1, however, left out two of the old trees during
the winters of 1833 and '34 ; they were but little injured, and in 1835
they blossomed and bore fruit, which in appearance resembled the
common low blackberry, excepting their being somewhat longer. I
watched them with great care, and was enabled to save only 30 of the
berries. From them I obtained seed which the next year produced
about 500 seedlings. From that time, with the exception of the sec-
ond year of their growth, 1 have multiplied them by laying them in in
the usual way. The seedlings differ from the parent trees, the leaf
being smaller, although in rich ground they approach near the size of
the real Morus Multicaulis. They are more rapid in their growth,
having in all cases with me, out grown them when set in rows togeth-
29

226 APPENDIX. [March,

er. The leaves, although not so large as the original tree produces,
are larger than any other kind I have seen ; and I think will produce as
much weight per acre as the parent tree. They appear to be much
more hardy, some of them have stood out without protection the three
past winters without being injured. I would state, however, that the
severe frost we had last fall killed the tops of many of the young trees,
the bark on the bodies of the trees being started, while the tops were
uninjured. The roots were not hurt, and have stood the past winter
without further damage. Those trees that have not been taken up the
two last years, are nearly large enough to produce seed ; and I expect
the next generation will be as hardy as our native trees. The two
trees that produced the seed were killed in the winter of 1835, one en-
tirely, the other all but the root. The latter started many sprouts,
which I have multiplied by laying them in. I am preparing to set one
acre this spring, in order to remain. If the tops should be destroyed
the first year, I feel confident the roots will not be, and I have not had
them hurt after the first year. I have the Canton mulberry, which
was grown from seed obtained at Northampton. I have found them
quite as tender as the Multicaulis.

I have made selections from the white mulberry, which I think are
valuable, and by engrafting on the more ordinary trees, much improve-
ment can be made. I engrafted some last spring with my seedlings,
and from the selected white mulberry ; both kinds grew well, and have
not been injured by the past winter, excepting being somewhat broken
by the snow.

I have tried the various kinds, except the Alpine and Broussa, for
feeding the worms, and do not perceive any difference in the worms, as
it respects their growth, or health. I have but one objection to the
Multicaulis, and that is, they do not come forward soon enough to be
depended upon in all cases. I think, in order to raise silk to the most
profit, we want some kind that has a large leaf, and that is hardy, to
commence with, as early as the fore part of June, and take the Multi-
caulis for the last crop. I have found that the worms that were fed
early in the season, have produced the heaviest cocoons, the first
weighed some over 4 lbs. per 1000, while those that wound up as late
as the 10th of September were but about one half as heavy. They
ought to finish their labor at least as soon as the first of September;
they will then generally escape the cold storms, which are essentially
injurious to the worms."

1840.] SENATE— No. 36. 227

Letter II.

" March 15, 1840.

I intended to state that the severe frost of last fall destroyed some of
my young trees down to the roots, the part that appeared to he most
affected was the bodies of the trees ; the bark was started and disco-
lored. The branches of the trees, however, remained green, and did
not appear affected by the frost. I considered the trees as completely
killed as though the branches had been as much affected as the bodies.
I left standing out in my field about 1500 of the trees, including some
of those that were injured and some that were not ; they have remained
out through the winter, and do not appear to have suffered by it.

By young trees I mean those of one year's growth from layers.
The trees that have stood out the two past winters, were not affected
at all by the frost, and are now in good order, although they have had
no protection whatever.

The reason for thinking them more hardy than the Multicaulis is,
that I have lost, I should think, nearly nine tenths of the Multicaulis
that were left out during winter, but the seedlings have never been de-
stroyed by it. If the tops should be destroyed, and the roots should
not be, I think them valuable for the raising of silk, as the sprouts start
early and grow more rapidly than from layers, and we can commence
feeding much sooner.

It has been the practice of those who have raised the Multicaulis
and other kinds of the mulberry, in this vicinity, to set them in a very
rich soil, and to urge the growth as much as possible. Such a course
might be profitable where the trees are to be taken up in the fall, but I
think the trees much more tender than they would be when set in a
poorer soil, and more liable to be winter killed."

Mr. Colman

Q.

LETTER OF JAMES DEANE, M.D.

Greenfield, April 7, 1840.

Dear Sir, — For a considerable period, my attention has been di-
rected to the patriotic exertions made to introduce the culture of silk

228 APPENDIX. [March

into this country, but falling in with the prevailing opinions of the day^
I have regarded the establishment of this important branch of agricul-
tural pursuit as visionary and impracticable.

To satisfy myself as to the feasibility and profits of the silk culture, I
have made such practical experiments in feeding worms and reeling
silk, as to leave no doubts upon my mind, regarding these points.
Throughout the wonderful mutations which occur in the brief existence
of these precious insects, although a perfect novice, my success was
complete. There is no secret, no complexity, or mystery in the art,
but far otherwise. It involves but few principles, and those of great
simplicity. The entire range of fundamental regulations are embraced
in a sufficient allowance of space for the insects, and abundance of
fodder for their consumption, a constant supply of pure air and unre-
mitting diligence in regard to cleanliness. In our auspicious climate,
an intelligent observance of these rules will surely lead to successful
results.

You are probably aware, that there are two systems of rearing silk
worms, the natural and artificial. The first was adopted by myself and
is the one in general use, being the simplest in its details, and there-
fore the easiest in practice. It is adopted by those who engage in the
culture of silk to a limited extent, or as a collateral branch of agricul-
ture. It dispenses with the complicated preparations of a systematic
course of rearing, and adapts itself to such ready means as the tenants
of the soil possess. By the appropriation of a moderate space of ground
for leaves, a crop of ten to fifty pounds of silk may be reeled, without
essentially interfering with the farmers' legitimate plans. Through the
operations of this system, the European markets are mostly supplied ;
the feeding season embracing but a brief portion of the year. Silk is,
therefore, an integral production of the soil, a surplus commodity,
which finds its way every where, and enriches the producer, for every
body is the consumer.

The artificial system is conducted on strict scientific principles. Its
prevailing features consist in maintaining an artificial temperature at
the exact degree best adapted to develope the vital energies of the silk
worm ; in neutralizing the extremes of humidity and aridity; in inces-
sant feeding by night and by day; and by observing such other regula-
tions as best promote the health of the establishment, abridge its labors,
and the while yielding the greatest amount of silk. Of course this
plan is only chosen when the business is prosecuted on an extensive
scale, for the cost of buildings and fixtures, the laborious service and

1840.] SENATE— No. 36. 229

degree of skill it demands, are very considerable. The cocooneries
are fitted in a permanent style, with every appliance for pushing its lit-
tle tenants through their rapid evolutions in the shortest possible period.
For not only by accelerating the labors of the silk worm, do we abridge
the period of its life at least one-third, but we augment its produce in
a corresponding ratio. We positively obtain in twenty-four days a
quantity of silk greater in amount and superior in quality than when
the process is protracted through forty days ; for it seems to be a law,
that the nearer this precious insect is kept to a certain point of tem-
perature, and the more assiduously its wants are supplied, the more per-
fect will be its developments and valuable its products. It unquestionably
is so, and it would seem, therefore, that this method alone would be
selected. But it must be remembered, that its application is calculated
for an exclusive business, which contemplates the culture of immense
numbers, and the expectation of corresponding profits. In cutting
short the period of feeding we do not thereby diminish the quantity of
forage ; for, in large establishments, stimulated by the excitement of
an elevated temperature, the consumption of leaves is enormous. In the
natural system, we bestow upon a brood of silk worms no more than
ordinary attention to its wants ; we feed them, protect them from their
enemies and the vicissitudes of climate, and leave them to that unerring
instinct which impels them to construct their silken spheres. When
the culture of silk is merely an incidental branch of domestic industry,
it is no advantage to abreviate its labor, at the expense of other inter-
ests, and where great numbers are not involved, it would be far from
repaying the extra cost. The artificial system is a beautiful result of
philosophical experiment, and, under all circumstances, the more near
we approximate its regulations, without incurring its expenditures, the
greater will be our success.

Whether we adopt the natural or artificial methods, it is a precaution
of vital consequence, that the larvse be distributed over an area of space
corresponding to their rapid growth, taking care that they never be
crowded. It matters not how well all other rules are observed, if this
be disregarded, they sicken in great numbers, or, at best, spin but a
worthless cocoon. To promote in them the highest state of health,
free space and pure air, are indispensable. The atmosphere of the
building must be kept pure by cleanliness and uninterrupted ventila-
tion. When an abundant supply of leaves are superadded to these
requisitions, we never hear in this climate of the loss of silk worms by
disease. This is the secret of cultivating silk, every step of which,

230 APPENDIX. [March,

from the first existence of the worm to the filature of its precious co-
coons, is, with singular fitness, adapted to the comprehension and powers
of the young, and to the infirmities of maturer age. The in-gathering
of leaves, the management of feeding and the filature, are performances
that do not exceed the strength of childhood. In the silk districts of
Europe, the insects are reared, and the silk reeled almost exclusively
by women and children. In an ethical sense, it is an occupation that
elevates the virtues and appeals directly to the attention of philanthro-
pists. It is a study of nature, full of instruction, that neither hardens
the heart nor corrupts the conscience, by an overreaching spirit of ava-
rice, and it should therefore be the concern of our patriotism, to cher-
ish and encourage an enterprise, that, while it administers to our hap-
piness, does not debase the heart. Unlike the great staples of rum,
sugar, and cotton, which are extorted from unwilling labor by coercion
and blood, this pursuit is destined to find welcome and peaceful recep-
tion in this region of our country, which is unsurpassed in its genial
condition of soil and climate, by any other on the face of the earth. If
there be those who doubt the profits of this culture, a multitude of facts
might be easily adduced to overthrow their skepticism and dissipate the
errors they have imbibed. But there are those who will not be con-
vinced, though one rise from the dead.

I am persuaded, sir, that silk of the finest description can be pro-
duced in New England for two dollars and fifty cents a pound, in the
first year of planting, and in the infancy of our knowledge. This esti-
mate has been made again and again by intelligent men, and a book
might be filled with reports based on actual experience, to confirm its
truth. Can it be otherwise? Every variety of mulberry flourishes in
our climate; and from the freedom of our atmosphere from too abund-
ant moisture, its warmth, electricity and purity, our country is unsur-
passed for the perfection of the silk worm. It is impossible that the
culture of silk will not become established on a sure basis; an event,
from its enormous magnitude, of momentous concern to a nation
which has been drained, in a single year, of twenty-two millions, for
this article of pride and comfort alone. With such propitious advan-
tages, with such a consumption, and with the unconquerable energy of
the American people, encouraged and protected by our Legislators, it
is impossible that success will not crown this delightful pursuit.

If the art of rearing be then so easy of comprehension and practice,
it is, nevertheless, exceeded in simplicity by the art of reeling the co-
coon. I found that the difficulties of reeling had been exaggerated.

1840.] SENATE— No. 36. 231

To produce a perfect filament from the material of wool or cotton,
requires the perfection of skill and machinery, but we have made to
our hands a filament so perfect, that no human ingenuity can ever ap-
proach it, and all we have to do consists in laying a number of these
filaments together and drawing them out by the reel, and by maintain-
ing a uniform thread, by adding new fibres, as others become exhausted.
No one need be dismayed by imaginary difficulties in reeling, for they
always vanish before a spirit of determination to overcome them. All
who raise silk should reel silk also. It furnishes profitable employment
for young women, and by reason of the delicacy of their fingers, their
ingenuity and perseverance, they will readily acquire perfection in the
beautiful art that should engage their especial attention.

I am, dear sir,

Yours, respectfully,

JAMES DEANE.

232

APPENDIX.

[March,

R.

DEANE'S SILK REEL.

The furnace ^.— The boiler B.— The filaments first pass the guides C, each thread by
itself,— they then converge and pass the guide D together. Both divisions are then wound
u;->on each sufficiently to insure firmness, roundness, and smoothness of thread, and they
then separate, eacli one passing its appropriate guide E, and is then gathered upon the
reel. Jt is spread upon the reel l>y a vibrating movement of the rod F, having its fulcrum
at a, the alternaling movement being given by a groove in the shaft of the pulley wheel at
b. This groove receives a pin from the vibrating rod. The skeins are disengaged in the
following manner: The two arms of one division of the reel are set inside of the other, and
slip through a mortice in the shaft of the reel, and are retained by two keys driven at right
angles with the arms. By starting these keys, the arms slip through the mortices, and the
tension of the skein is at once relieved — To lay out the groove, proceed in this wise : At
one of the limits of the intended groove stick a pin; then just half round the shaft at the
other limit stick another. A straight line from one pin to the other, and back again on the
opposi'.e side, is the track for the groove. — 'I'he guides should be made of brass or German
silver, by drilling a fine hole and sawing a slit to it, all made perfectly smooth. German
silver neither rusts nor corrodes. James Deane.

1840.] SENATE— No. 3G. 233

S.

EXPERIMENT OF J. V. McLEAN.

The following extracts are from the account of his experiment given
by Mr. McLean to the American Silk Society. Mr. McLean's ex-
periment was made in Freehold, Monmouth county, New Jersey. Mr.
McLean is a clergyman, and a gentleman of great respectability. I
had the pleasure of seeing his silk. It was excellent, and universally
admired.

"The weight of the silk in the case which accompanies this paper, is
TWELVE POUNDS, Sixteen ounces to the pound, and is the product of one
QUARTER of an acre.

The soil on which my trees were grown is a heavy clay — three or
four years ago, the land would not have produced 20 bushels of corn
to the acre. The two previous seasons, the lot on which iny experi-
ment was made had been very moderately manured — the present sea-
son it was covered with what might be considered a good coat of marl
and barn-yard manure mixed.

The 20th to the 23d of April last, I planted a half acre lot with Mo-
rns Multicaulis roots, cuttings, and layers. 'J'he roots were of the
previous season's growth, taken from trees that did not exceed 2.^ feet.
The top was cut off within two inches of the root, and the roots were
laid horizontally in the row, about ten inches apart. The cuttings
were from the tops of these trees, with one bud to each, and were
planted six inches apart in the rows. The layers were small trees, six
to eighteen inches long, and were laid continuously in the row — the
root of one touching the top of another. The rows were 2i feel apart.
The length of the lot, as planted in trees, is 288 feei, and the width
75 feet. I expected to have had roots sufficient to plant half of this
lot, or a quarter of an acre — they planted, however, only 2G feet in
width, and 288 in length. In making out my quarter of an acre, there-
fore, I was obliged to include eleven feet and eight inches in width
from the layers — so that the dimensions of the lot was 288 feet in
length, and 37 feet 8 inches in width.

I regretted that I had not roots for the whole quarter of an acre, as
the roots afforded much more leaves than the layers. Owing to close
planting and the nature of the soil, the trees produced were small — sav
30

234 APPENDIX. [March,

an average of three and a half feet. The present growth on the quar-
ter of an acre does not exceed .5,500, all counted, large and small.

My cocoonery is 'Mi by 18 feet, '2 stories high. I fed almost entirely
in the second story. There are two tiers of shelves three feet wide by
twenty-four feet long — the shelves rise one above another — one foot
apart, seven shelves in each tier. The second story contains 13 glass
windows, with Venitian blinds. My eggs were of my own producing
the previous season. They were saved with great care from my best
cocoons, on muslin, the pieces of muslin rolled up in the fall, or soon
after the eggs were laid, and placed in a common farm bag, and this
was hung to a beam in the cellar. In March the muslins were folded
up and laid one on top of another, in a small tea chest lined with lead,
this was placed in another of the same kind, but a little larger; and
the space between the two was filled with pulverized charcoal. Then
a few thicknesses of old flannel was laid loosely over the top of the
smaller chest, and a loose boaid laid over the larger. Then the whole
was set in a still larger rough box, with a loose board on the top, and
this was put down in (he ice house, so that the ice surrounded the
sides of the box. in the inner tea chest was a thermometer — the box
was examined every week, and the thermometer was not allowed to
rise above 45o Fahrenheit. I am thus particular as to the mode of
preserving eggs, which has succeeded so well with me, because so
much disappointment has been experienced in regard to eggs. Other
modes equally good may doubtless be adopted for retarding the eggs —
the above plan, however, succeeded with me to admiration — the last
hatching, the 2Tth of August, was as perfect as the first.

July !;?th, I hatched some two or three thousand mammoth white.
July 2G, five or six thousand sul|)hur. July 31, two or three thousand
sulphur. August 19th, over 20,000 sulphur — and August 27th, hatch-
ed the last, say 5 to 8,000, sulphur. The mammoth white worms
wound in 24 to 28 days — the sulphur 28 to 33 days. A few lingered
to 3G or 41) days.

Green oak bushes were used for the worms to wind in. Last year I
had plasterers' lathes fastened under the shelves, one and a half inches
apart. I found difficulty, however, in getting the worms to ascend
well. This season I used straw at first, tied up in small bundles and
set on the shelves, but this did not answer as well as I had been led to
expect. At length I threw every thing aside and took the oak bushes.
These have succeeded with me better than any other contrivance.
They seem natural to the worms, and I have never seen them mount

1840.] SENATE— No. 36. 235

any thing so readily as green bushes. The only objection I see to
them is, the cocoons cannot be taken from the bushes with quite the
same facility with which they may be removed from straw, or some
other fixtures. A little more experience, gathered from different sec-
tions of the country, will enable us to adopt the most approved plan
for winding. Of the mammoth white cocoons, it recjuired an average
of 317 to the lb., weighed just as taken from the shelves; of the sulphur
it required 390. 2S8 of the largest white made one lb., and of the
largest sulphur 247. The worms were fed on the shelves without hur-
dles, and the litter was removed from the shelves about every fourth
day. Sometimes they went from one moulting to another without
having the shelves cleaned. The shelves were cleaned without hur-
dles, in the following maimer. The attendant had a thin half inch
board, planed smooth, 18 by 24 inches After the worms ap|)eared to
be through their moulting, fresh leaves were given them, the attendant
took up these leaves, the worms adhering, and laid them on the board
which she held in her hand, and thus removed them to clean shelves;
if all did not attach to the first leaves, others were strewed on, and
generally the second time going over all were removed. Many objec-
tions may be urged against hurdles. 'I'hey are expensive. Hurdles to
feed 1,000,000 of worms will cost several hundred dollars. TW\s ex-
pense is by no means counterbalanced by the labor which they will
save, for it admits of doubt whether, after all, there is much labor sav-
ed. The worms w/// no/ r/// ascend on the fresh hurdles, and if the
policy of throwing away all that do not a.-'Caid readily, is adopted,
probably one half the worms will be thrown away; if this is not done,
leaves must be thrown on after the hurdles arc removed, and the worms
must be taken off as they are without the hurdles. Another objection
is, the difficulty of preventing the worms from winding under the hur-
dles and around them, among the litter. Besides the plan of feeding
\vithout hurdles is much more simple, and on this account to be re-
commended to the great mass of persons who will feed. My worms
were fed as often during the day as they needed it, say five or six
times ; they were 7icvcr fed at night. During the whole time of feed-
ing, the weather was very variable, the thermometer ranged from 60°
to 90°, with frequent easterly storms of several days continuance; one
storm lasted eight days, from August lf)th to xAugusl 23d, itirlusive.
Several storms were accompanied with severe thunder and lightning.
August 13th, a br.rn w.is struck with lightning and burnt to the ground,
less than one hundred yards from the cocoonery. The worms appear-

236 APPENDIX. [March,

ed to experience no injury whatever from the thunder. The d.nmp wet
weather undoubtedly retarded them in their operations. At such times
they were not so vigorous and active, but every crop was perfectly
healtiiy ; few, if any, were lost the whole season by disease. At one
time my shelves were more crowded than they should have been, and
worms would frequently full to the floor. These seldom wound after
they were returned to the shelves; in this way I may have lost nearly
or quite the amount of one lb. of reeled silk.

In order to be prepared for cold wet weather, I fitted up a furnace
in my cellar, with flues leading up and around my upper room. I did
not use artificial heat, however, more than a few times when the morn-
ings were a little cool.

'j'he whole number of worms fed on my quarter of an acre was
about 4D,000. The weight of leaves which they consumed was 2,576
lbs. The amount of cocoons prodiiccd was 130 lbs., weighed just as
taken from the shelves, without sorting or flossing. After they were
sorted and flossed, there was 1 lb. of floss and 4 lbs. defective cocoons,
leaving J'26 lbs. of cocoons. These produced 12 lbs. of merchantable
reeled silk, IG ounces to the lb., and 1 lb. wastage, ends, &.c. The
silk was reeled on the Piedmontese reel; the water heated in kettles, set
in a furnace ; one kettle was used as a heater, and the other to reel
from.

From the above statement it will be seen, that it required between
19 and 20 lbs. of leaves to make 1 lb. of cocoons. Of these cocoons,
without flossing or sorting, it required 10 lbs. and 10 ozs. to make 1
lb. of reeled silk. After they were flossed and sorted, it required 10
lbs. and 5 ozs., or about 214 to 215 lbs. of leaves to make 1 lb. of
reeled silk. This shows a greater amount of leaves necessary to make
1 lb. of cocoons, and a greater weight of cocoons necessary to make 1
lb. of reeled silk, than the estimates published in various quarters, and
greater than experiments said to have been made actually required. I
was often obliged to feed lod leaves owing to the frequent long storms,
and the worms appeared to experience no injury whatever from this.
Still I did not consider it safe to feed leaves gathered in the storm,
and dripping wet ; and in our attempts to dry the leaves, some became
wilted and were thrown away. The worms also were always abundantly
fed, and a pattial waste of leaves frequently, no doubt, occurred in this
way. These things, together with the loss of perhaps the value of near
1 lb. of reeled silk, by worms falling from the shelves, would vary the
result a little, and might show that 190 lbs. of leaves would produce 1
lb. of reeled silk.

1840.] SENATE— No. 36. 237

I do not doubt, but that under the most favorable circumstances, a
few pounds of cocoons might be produced on 10 or 12 lbs. of leaves to
the lb. of cocoons. Nor do I doubt that 1 lb. of reeled silk may be
produced from S lbs. of cocoons, or even less. Much depends on the
quality of the cocoons, and more on the time when they are weighed,
whether in a fresh and green, or entirely dry state. I could have se-
lected from my lot, even in a fresh state, 8 lbs. of cocoons, which
would, beyond all question, have produced 1 lb. of reeled silk — but
this would be no test of the profit of the business.

Last year I produced at the rate of 510 lbs. of cocoons to the acre
— this year I produced at the rate of 520 — and my deliberate opinion
is, that more will fall below this standard than will exceed it — and in
one case, where a less quantity of leaves will give the above quantity of
silk, two cases will occur that will require a greater.

Greatly will it be for the interests of the community, if it shall be
found on farther experience, that 80 or 100 lbs. of leaves will make 1
lb. of reeled silk, instead of 214 or 215, as required in my experiment;
for my quarter of an acre did produce 2,576 lbs. of leaves, and the
trees were not stripped remarkably close either — then the amount of
reeled silk per acre would be the handsome yield of 104 to 128 lbs ! !
A result I utterly despair of seeing realized.

The above shews us 48 lbs. of reeled silk, 16 oz. to the lb. as the pro-
duct of an acre. If this is worth, as I understand it now is, $6 per lb.,
then the gross proceeds of an acre will be ^288. The first year, let it
be remembered. Or if it should be worth but $4.50 per lb., which is
undoubtedly the safest price at which to rate it, the gross proceeds of
an acre will then be §216.

In regard to the cost of production, it is confidently asserted by
many, that it can be produced for S2 per lb. Mine cost me much
more than this. My experience, however, satisfies me that it can be
produced for f2.25 per lb., and I incline to the belief that it 7?iai/ be
produced for $2. Produced on a farm in a small way, the cost will
be next to nothing — the whole product will be clear gain. Now take
the product of an acre as above stated, at $288, and allow this to be
made at an expense of $2 per lb., you have a net profit of 8192 per
acre ! ! Allow the cost of production to be 82.25, and you still have
a net profit of $180. Again — take the product at $216, (allowing the
silk to be worth only $4 50 per lb.) and let the cost of production be
$2, it gives a net profit of $120 per acre — but allow the cost of pro-
duction to be $2.25 per lb. — the sum at which I know it can be made

238 APPENDIX. [March,

— and it still affords us a net profit of $108. This last, I am persua-
ded, will be found more nearly to correspond with actual results. If
the price of the silk is more than |4 59 per lb., and the cost of
production less than $2.25, so much the better for the culturist.
But the above results, very nearly, are produced in another way. The
amount of help necessary to attend to one acre, or to 100,000 worms,
would not exceed the value of two females, 12 weeks each, and one
male, the same time — indeed, I do not believe it would require so much
help — but admitting it should, the maximum average value of this help
would be, here, $3 per week, including boarding — and then, the
cost of producing 48 lbs. of silk would be $108. And the value of
that silk being, as above stated, $288, the net profit would be $180 ! !
Or the value being only $4.50 per lb., or the gross amount of $216,
still the net profit would be $108 per acre — exactly tiie result before
stated — and this, let it be observed, is just $4 more than the result
shewn by my experiment of last year. I believe, therefore, I have
demonstrated, not hy fgures and on paper only, but by the actual
production of the silk, that every prudent culturist may safely rely on
realizing a net profit of at least $108, the first year, or $180 while the
price of raw silk continues what it now is. And I ask, is not this suf-
ficient! ought not any reasonable man to be satisfied with this? I
wish, indeed, I could have made the profits a little larger, but / could
not do it.

Much is said in various quarters respecting the different varieties of
mulberry trees as food for the silk worm. By some it is confidently
asserted that the Multicaulis is inferior to the broad-leaved Canton, to
the Broussa, and to the hundred and one other varieties for which
names are invented. Others go still further, and assert that the Multi-
caulis is itjferior to all other species, the paper mulberry alone ex-
cepted, which the worm will not eat at all ; and that good silk cannot
be made from the Multicaulis, that it is the least hardy of all species
of the mulberry, (which, however, has never been proved,) and that
the quality of the silk will always be in proportion to the hardiness of
the tree from which it is made.

Other species of the mulberry may be good, as 1 have no doubt
they are ; they may even be better than the Multicaulis for any thing I
know to the contrary. One thing I do kmw. the worms devour the
Multicaulis leaves with great avality — grow well — continue healthy —
make good silk, in sufficient quantities to yield a net profit per acre of
$108 to $180. This they have done for me two years in succession.

1840.] SENATE— No. 36. 239

As to the quality of the silk, I do not profess to be a judge. It ob-
tained the gold medal, at the fair of the American Institute in October
last, and intelligent judges pronounced it superior.

Now I say other varieties of the mulberry may 7nalie more and better
silk than the Multicaulis. But lias any individual actually produced
more and better silk from any other tree, from a quarter of an acre?
Until this is done, the public will be slow to believe that so many
intelligent men are deceived, and that the Multicaulis is good for
nothing.

It is my deliberate conviction, that the Morus Multicaulis will be the
prevailing tree for silk in this country, as well because it is peculiarly
adapted to the silk worm, as because great expense will be saved in
gathering the leaves. The same amount of foliage can be gathered
from the Multicaulis, with probably half the expense, that it can be
gathered from any other variety of the mulberry.

I entertain now an unwavering conviction that the silk business will
triumphantlif succeed in our country. That it promises to do more
for the comfort of the indigent and dependent portion of our commu-
nity, especially for indigent females, and to add more to the wealth of
the nation than can now be told."

[T. — For Table, see end of the Report.]

u.

MESSRS. Cheney's experiment.

The Messrs. Cheney have favored the public with an account of their
experience in feeding silk worms, after the plan of M. Catnille Beau-
vais. I subjoin il as a highly interesting and valuable document, and
showing remarkable results. The cocoonery of Messrs. Cheney, at
Burlington, New Jersey, which I had the pleasure of visiting, is on the
most approved plan.

I subjoin a comparison of the two results from G. B. Smith, of
Baltimore, to whose intelligence, activity and ability, in relation to this
important branch of industry, the agricultural public are largely in-
debted.

" We followed, as near as circumstances would permit, the plan re-
commended by M. C. Beauvais, an account of which we have pub-
lished, and succeeded in terminating the crop in twenty-four days ; and

24a

APPENDIX.

[March,

we venture to say, that firmer and larger cocoons have not been pro-
duced by any silk grower this season. The silk reels admirably, and
is strong, lustrous, and of a superior quality.

June 27th, the eggs were taken from the refrigerator, where they
had been kept since the first of March, at an average temperature of
40° Fahrenheit. They were placed upon a shelf in the cellar, where
the temperature was 60°. On the 29th, at 4 P. M., they were taken
to the cocoonery, the temperature at that time being 78^. All worms
found upon the cloths, upon their removal from the cellar, (being but
a small number) were destroyed before the cloths were placed in the
cocoonery. 80,000 worms hatched on the 30th of June, which we
reserved for the experiment.

Inlernnl

Externnl

— b(

■ o £

Temperalurc.

Teinppfaiure.

^1

4

REMARKS.

Date.

6

A.M.

12m

6

P.M

12m

6

12

6

12

lbs.

June 30

~

"^

77

78

70

78

"to"

68

13

2

July 1

78

78

78

78

62

78

77

68

18

4

Morniii» cool — used heat.

2

76

78

78

78

70

77

71

69

18

8

The weather clear in the
morning, and the worms
lively; in the evening- rain;
wind .S. E.

3

76

77

79

76

66

76

79

67

2

Worms rommenred moulting.

4

75

76

75

75

65

76

75

60

12

16

Worms fiiiisiied moulting.

5

72

72

76

73

56

70

72

60

12

Cllenr— wind ^. W.

6

72

75

76

73

55

72

73

65

12

30

Wind E. — brisk fires during
ilie day.

7

73

76

78

77

60

80

70

68

2

Commenced moulting.

8

72

77

78

75

65

78

76

70

12

14

Finished moulting.

9

74

76

77

76

66

78

76

70

12

30

10

71

79

82

79

65

80

82

72

12

80

ClPar— wind S. W.

11

76

82

80

75

71

87

74

68

6

(^)mmenced moulting.

12

72

75

74

73

65

74

72

62

9

80

Finished moulting.

13

72

75

75

75

64

78

70

67

9

130

14

72

75

75

74

68

76

74

67

9

200

15

72

76

75

73

67

78

72

65

9

I3V

16

70

75

76

72

64

79

78

64

10

Commenced moulting in the

17

74

76

75

76

69

80

73

67

Quite dormnnt — not fed.

18

70

78

80

77

68

84

85

72

8

140

Finished moulting early in the
morning.

19

72

82

84

79

68

88

90

76

8

260

20

76

82

82

78

76

86

82

74

8

400

2!

75

79

78

78

73

80

76

7.1

8

680

22

74

82

82

79

74

>.8

82

79

8

920

23

73

79

82

77

75

8"]

86

75

8

600

Shewed signs of winding —
food dimiiii^herl.

24

72

79

77

73

70

86

75

73

8

200

Commenced winding.

The worms were what is generally termed the ' six weeks sulphur,*
and it will be seen by the above statement that they terminated their
labors in twenty-four days. The amount of cocoons was 3o6 pounds.

1840.] SENATE— No 36. 241

and it required 225 to weigh a pound. The amount of leaves fed out
was 3,970 pounds, which gives II pounds of leaves to a pound of co-
coons, and 9 pounds of cocoons being required to produce a pound of
silk, it will be seen that by this system of feeding, 99 pounds of leaves
only are necessary for one pound of silk."

"In the natural system, 40,000 worms consumed 2,576 pounds of
leaves ; in the artificial system, 1,985 lbs. These worms produced 130
pounds of cocoons in the natural system, and 178 lbs. in the artificial.
The cocoons weighed at the rate of 300 to the pound in the natural
system, and 225 to the pound in the artificial. It required 10 lb. 5 oz.
of cocoons produced by the natural system to make a pound of silk ;
and 9 pounds of those by the artificial. The 40,000 worms fed on the
natural system made 12 pounds of raw silk ; the same number fed on
the artificial system, made 19| lbs. The natural system required an
average of fully one week more time to produce the cocoons than the
artificial system occupied."

V.

MANAGEMENT OF JOSEPH FIELD.

I have the pleasure of subjoining the account given by Mr. Field, of
Charleniont, Franklin county, Mass., of his silk culture. His is one
of the clerical examples to which I refer in the passage to which this
note belongs ; and his intelligence and excellence of character entitle
his statements to entire respect.

Letter I.

Mr. Colman :

Sir, — I will, by your suggestion, submit a few hints, as the result
of six or seven years experience in the production of silk, in the town
of Charlemont, Franklin county, Mass. One who has tested the art
of managing the silk worm, only by experimenting upon a thousand or
two at a time, has no high claim to be looked to for instruction, where
large establishments are in operation. In small parcels none of the
principal difficulties present themselves, which are to be encountered
by the cultivator who, in one season, rears his hundreds of thousands
in a single laboratory. My experience has been within the range of
31

242 APPENDIX. [March,

from 10,000 to 50,000 per annum. To carry on the business to a
much larger extent, with equal success, proportional caution and care
will be required. In this communication I will consider the evils and
hazards to be guarded against ; and the process by which the desired
end may be insured.

Well made, perfect cocoons are as essential to profit in this branch
of industry, as full plump grain in wheat and other bread stuffs, in-
stead of that which is blighted and shrivelled. To accomplish this,
nothing is wanted but a vigorous and healthy worm. The art to be
mastered and studied, is such a treatment of the worm, commencing
at its earliest existence and continuing to the end, as is found to be
the surest preservative from feebleness and disease. The difference of
skill or assiduity, (making allowance for the difference of temperature in
the seasons,) with which this husbandry is managed, will be apparent
from the proportion of worms that fail, either wholly or in part, of
yielding a perfect and sound product. It can never be safely calcula-
ted that a whole brood will go through without loss, under the best
regimen that prudence can adopt. But when (there being nothing pe-
culiarly adverse in the season) the labor bestowed ends, as sometimes,
in the entire loss of one quarter or more, dying when they ought to be
spinning their cocoons, or the scarcely less revolting spectacle of co-
coons scarcely begun and there left for want of power to do more,
others half finished, and the rest, though somewhat nearer to perfec-
tion, barely worth reeling; it may be presumed that the undertaker of
the enterprise began without being sufficiently aware of the nature of
his task. The rearing of silk worms differs from many other employ-
ments, which, in the last result, do not materially suffer by occasional
errors or neglects, they being susceptible of remedy in some after sta-
ges of the process. The worms that suffer by bad treatment or unfor-
tunate circumstances, at any period of their existence before their
work is done, are liable, more or less, to disappoint the hopes of a sat-
isfactory return ; and among other considerations not to be overlooked,
there is that which relates to atmospheric temperature. Although con-
siderable changes may be endured without proving fatal, yet the loss
of time, which is unavoidable so long as the mercury stands much be-
low 70<^, is not the worst effect produced by such an occurrence.

By some, the necessity, or even usefulness of an apartment impervi-
ous to cold air, as a place for feeding the worms, is disregarded. Ex-
perience, however, during the late cold summers, has made it certain
to my mind, that he is not prepared to prosecute this business under

1840.] SENATE— No. 36. 243

the most promising auspices, who has not a dwelling place for these
tender objects of his charge, in which he can raise the temperature of
the air to the necessary point, when it has fallen below; and thus keep
the wheels in motion, or restore at once to vivacity, the torpid animals
whose faculties are benumbed and labors suspended by cold. Stove
heat is perfectly adequate to this want.

Being prepared with a proper receptacle for the young caterpillar,
when it shall break its shell, and vegetation having advanced fiir
enough to furnish the needed nutriment, the little embryos are to be
called forth, by exposure to the influence of a summer atmosphere.
The process of hatching in the warmth of early June, out of the sun's
direct rays, is ordinarily effected within from five to ten days. Then
commences the business which may not be intrusted with impunity to
truant or slack hands ; but for the encouragement of promptness, in-
dustry and attention, will find its reward at the end of twenty, thirty or
forty days. Tender leaves should be laid for the worms as soon as
they appear, and that will be in the morning, for two or three succes-
sive days. The |)roduct of each day should be kept by itself, if con-
venient, that there be no unnecessary assemblage of those of different
ages. The expenditure of feed is very small during the first days of
the worm; but care must be taken to serve them with fresh leaves as
often as they need, and to see that none of them lose their chance of
thriving by being buried in rubbish, or retarded in growth by being
crowded out of their right through the greater strength and activity of
their fellows. Chopping the leaves puts them in a good condition for
the worm, until its powers and voracity give it an easy mastery of any
thing that contains the material of silk fibre.

Through the successive ages of the worm, an eye is constantly to be
had to the convenient arrangement of hurdles or shelves on which the
worms are placed ; the seasonable and judicious distribution of feed;
their preservation from unwholesome effluvia, and from suffocation in
their own litter ; and other useful matters essential to their cleanliness;
and such purity of air as health requires, whether in men, beasts or
reptiles. As to the kind of platform upon which a discreet cultivator
should deposite his little passive animals, to receive their daily suste-
nance, and go through their successive ages, to the production and
maturity of the golden apple, every man's ingenuity will decide. Fresh,
pure air, circulating freely about the bed on which the worm reposes,
and which he never leaves at his own choice, is always important ; and
provision should be made accordingly, for ventilation, especially where
the atmosphere becomes hot and sultry.

244 APPENDIX. [March,

In their food, consisting of clean mulberry leaves, not too much
withered and shrivelled by drying, two cautions are to be observed, re-
latinor to time and quantity. Some contend that they should be served
by weight, according to a prescribed rule, varying the quantity from
time to time. My practice has been to do by them as I myself like to
be done hj ; that is, to measure out a portion suited to the demands of
appetite, studiously avoiding irregularity and unseasonableness in the
ministration. They should be fed early and late, not unnecessarily
subjecting them to long intervals of fasting. Five meals a day, at least
when they are in a mood promptly to dispatch what is set before them,
or laid upon them, are not too much. They are not to be urged to
gluttony beyond their inclination, and thus obliging them to leave a
residuum to be wallowed upon rather than devoured. There are whole
days when they do not eat at all, at the periods of moulting, or casting
the skin, when they should not be disturbed until they have disencum-
bered themselves ; and their appetite returns. Much depends, unques-
tionably, on preserving the silk worm, in all its stages, from the deadly
influence of sickly, unwholesome air, arising, it may be, from a variety
of causes, one of which is likely to be the accumulation of litter on
the shelves, if care be not taken to remove it before moisture and de-
composition render it pestiferous. Another evil, from permitting litter
to grow into a pile, is often the loss of worms buried in their own rub-
bish, which, if extricated, can never be restored to vigor sufficient to
finish their task and produce a crop. Sickness and death may come
in consequence of a culpable inattention to cleanliness. The sick
should be removed to some sequestered spot, where they may be res-
tored by sweet air and tender nursing, and the dead thrown away. In
removing worms to give them a clean bed, unnecessary handling of
them should be avoided. While their size will admit of it, they may
be removed by branches laid down, on which they readily fasten.

After nearly attaining their size, it will be found necessary to use
the fingers, which should be done with -gentleness. Rough handling
does not comport with their soft texture. Peculiar care to keep them
from falling to the floor from the hurdle is important. When they
manifest a disposition to spin their cocoons, which some ordinarily do
in about thirty days, no time should be lost in freeing them from all
the filth and rubbish remaining under them. This being done, prepar-
ation must be made for their accommodation, with a convenient and
eligible cabin, in which they may accomplish their last labor and house
themselves in their silken tissue, until a mysterious metamorphosis shall

1840.] SENATE— No. 36. ^ 245

enable them to emerge into the light of day, prepared for procreation ;
and to leave behind them at their death not many days afterwards, the
foundation of a progeny, to be the subject and hope of another year's
culture.

Various articles are used for a refuge to the worm where it may build
its cell. Oak branches answer well ; but rye straw, set up at con-
venient distances among them, in small handfulls tied, is as good and
on some accounts better than any other arrangements. Cocoons being
perfectly formed and ripe, which is effected in three or four days, are
to be gathered and stripped of their floss or loose silk, preparatory to
reeling. If there be occasion to delay this operation more than eight
or ten days, the chrysalis within the cocoon must be stifled with heat,
by being baked in a moderately heated oven, or by the action of
steam ; and the cocoons spread out in a safe place to dry until wanted
for reeling or sale.

The cultivator may now wish to order things the most wisely for the
ensuing season. To keep on the ground of experience, I state my
own mode of doing the business. The best cocoons for seed, all
scientific and practical men will say, is a rational maxim. Shall we
therefore take the best part of our crop, cocoons yielding the most to the
reeler and set them apart for seed ? Instead of this, we reserve for
reeling, such as are best for that operation, which will yield their silk
the most readily ; but those which we call dupions or double cocoons,
and which are incapable for the most part of being reeled, we devote to
propagation, and find no perceivable inferiority in the product. The silk,
after the escape of the butterfly, is used to good profit by being cleansed
of its gum by boiling in soap and water, and then spun like flax on
the little spinning wheel, yielding an article for hosiery of excellent
quality. The eggs deposited on cloth or paper, are preserved during
winter from too much frost and the depredations of mice, and will be
ready in spring, to be put to their proper use.

Whether the above sketch can be applied to any useful purpose in
aiding the silk culture, I leave entirely to you, confiding in your judg-
ment as to the best means of diff'using knowledge among those who
look to you for instruction in what pertains to agricultural pursuits

With high esteem, your servant,

Boston, Jan. 24, 1839. JOSEPH FIELD.

246 APPENDIX. [March,

Letter II.

Charlemoni, April, 1840.
Rev. Mr. Colman,

Ml/ Dear Sir : — My last letter enclosed samples of four varieties of
mulberry leaves, White, Multicaulis, Canton and Broussa — all produced
last season on the same patch of ground ; by inspecting which I
think one would come to the conclusion, that the more modern
fashionable leaves, after all, have little or no pre-eminence to the white,
beinfT little larger in size, and, as to compactness and firmness of tex-
ture, manifestly inferior. I have formed no judgment, from my own
experience, whether there would be economy in substituting other
kinds for the Italian white mulberry; for I have not had sufficient
opportunity for a test. There is one consideration not to be over-
looked. According to the proposed modern plan of silk production^
viz., by taking up the trees in the autumn and housing them, and re-
setting them in the spring, their foliage will be later, and require that
the latter rather than the former part of summer be the season for
rearin-T the worm. Now experience has established us in the opinion
that the earlier months are incomparably preicrable to the later for
rearing healthy worms, and, consequently, for producing good cocoons.
Trees, which will not endure the winter, must be waited on for their
harvest, until those of a more hardy race have matured their crop and
given it into the hand of the gatherer. If the importance of early
fecdino- he not a prejudice, every one must see, that trees which stand
the winter, must, other things being equal, be entitled to the prefer-
ence. When acclimation shall remove the objection which lies
against the larger leafed species, they may command respect, and even
pre-eminence ; but, to continue their triumph by acclamation, is not to
be expected. If the leaves I forwarded to you are minutely examined,
it will be judged, I believe, that the cultivators of the mulberry tree
have good encouragement, even if their preferences cling to the Multi-
caulis, still to regard the white with favor, so much as to allow it
crenerous fare ; not to be turned off with a seat at the second or third
table ; or, still worse, to be denied every indulgence and kindness. A
rich soil is alone able to clothe the mulberry with a rich foliage, and,
for a liberal allowance of sustenance, even the common sort, so de-
graded and scorned, of late, will yield a noble and satisfactory return.

Most sincerely yours,

JOSEPH FIELD.

1840.] SENATE— No. 36. 247

W.

THE SILK CULTURE IN FRANCE.

Deeming Ihem both interesting and useful, I subjoin some minutes
respecting the silk business in France from a high authority— Ure's
Dictionary of Manufactures. The product mentioned of Mr. Folzer
indicates a high degree of improvement in the management of the
worm.

" Eighty pounds French, (88 lbs. Eng.) of cocoons are the average
produce from one ounce of Eggs ; or 100 from one ounce and a quar-
ter ; but Mr. Folzer of Alsace, obtained no less than 165 pounds."

" The silk husbandry, as it may be called, is completed in France
within six weeks from the end of April, and thus affords the most
rapid of agricultural returns, requiring merely the advance of a little
capital for the purchase of the leaf. In buying up cocoons, and in
the filature, indeed, capital may often be laid out to great advantage.
The most hazardous period in the process of breeding the worms is
at the third and fourth moulting; for upon the sixth day of the third
age and the seventh day of the fourth, they in general eat nothincr at
all. On the first day of the fourth age, the worms proceedinor from
one ounce of eggs will, according to Bonafous, consume upon an
average twenty-three pounds and a quarter of mulberry leaves; on the
first of the fifth age they will consume forty-two pounds ; and on the
sixth day of the same age they acquire their maximum voracity, de-
vouring no less than 223 pounds. The space which they occupy on
the wicker tables being at their birth only nine feet square, becomes
eventually 239 feet. In general the more food they consume, the
more silk will they produce."

" A mulberry tree is valued, in Provence, at from 6r/. to lOrf; it is
planted out of the nursery at four years of age; it is begun to be
stripped in the fifth year, and affords an increasing crop of leaves till
the twentieth. It yields from 1 cwt. to 30 cwt. of leaves, accordino- to
its magnitude and mode of cultivation. One ounce of silk worm eggs
is worth in France about 2J francs, (about 50 cents:) it requires for
its due development into cocoons about 15 cwt. of mulberry leaves,
which cost upon an average, 3 francs, (about 60 cents) per cwt. in a
favorable season. One ounce of eggs is calculated to produce, as I
have said, from 80 to 100 pounds of cocoons, of the value of one franc

248 APPENDIX. [March, 1840.

52 centimes per pound, or 125 francs (25 dollars,) in the whole.
About 8 pounds of reeled silk, worth 18 francs, (about $3 60,) is ob-
tained from these 100 pounds of cocoons. " There are three denom-
inations of raw silk, viz. ; organzine, tramc (shute or tram,) and floss.
Organzine serves for the warp of the best silk stuffs, and is considera-
bly twisted ; tram is made usually from inferior silk and is very slight-
ly twisted, in order that it may spread more and cover better in the
weft ; floss or bourse consists of the shorter broken silk which is.
carded and spun like cotton. Organzine and trame may contain from
3 to 30 twin filaments of the worm ; the former possesses a double
twist, the compound filaments being first twisted in one direction, and
the compound thread in the opposite; the latter receives merely a
slender single twist. The quality of raw silk depends very much
upon the skill and care bestowed upon its filature. The softest and
purest water should be used in the cocoon kettle."

Note. — On page 152, some little doubt is suggested whether the acknowl-
edged superiority of silk produced in northern China and Italy, over that
produced in southern Asia, be owing to climate or to the better manner of
reeling. Since writing this, 1 have received such information from a gen-
tleman familiar with silks of every description, and long a resident in China,
that 1 have no longer a doubt in the case. The perfection of silk depends
essentially upon the reeling; but silk raised in cold latitudes has always
more substance and firmness than that which is produced in a hot climate.

INDEX

Letter to the President of the Senate, ... - page 3

Order of the Legislature, ------ 5

Analysis of the Wheat Returns of Counties, - - - 7

L Eerksliire, 7—12

2. Franldin, 13-17

3. Hampshire, ------- 17 — 21

4. Hampden, 21—24

5. Worcester, 24—33

6. aiiddlesex, 33—37

7. Essex, 38—39

8. Norfolk, 39—41

9. Bristol, -_----- 41—43

10. Plymouth, 43—46

11. Barnstable, :6— 47

12. Duke's, ....--- 47

13. Nantucket, "

14. Suffolk,

Number of acres and average yield of W heat in the Counties, - 48

Summary, ---------

Report on Culture of Wheat in Massachusetts, - 49

General Considerations, ------ 49 — 58

Causes of Failure, -------58

1. Rust,

2. Mildew, 59

3. Smut, GO

Insects, .--.----62

1. Wire Worm, _ . . . . - "

2. Hessian Fiy, 65

3. Grain Insect, __.... 66

Soils for Wheat, 69

Philosophy of Vegetation, -------

Varieties of Wheat, -----.-72

Manures for Wheat, --.--- -73

1. Lime, -..-.-- 74

2. Berkshire Marls, ...... 79

3. Ashes, .-.-.-- 80

4. Green Crops for Manure, - _ - - . 81

3-2

250 INDEX.

Rotation of Crops, ------ page 82

Selection of Seed, - ------83

Quantity of Seed to an acre, ----- 85

Depth of Sowinj^, -------86

Ploughing for Wheat, ..-.-. 87

Time of Sowing, _._-.. -88

Cleanness of Cultivation, - - - - - 89

Draining, ..------«

Deep Cultivation, ...----90

Recent English Improvements, ..... 91

Agricultural Improvements, ----- 92

Note, 96

Report ow the Culture of Silk, - - 97

I. History of the Silk Culture in the United States, - - "

II. Patronage of the State, ----- 103
Amount of Silk and Cocoons produced for bounty, from

183G to 1840, inclusive, - - - - 104

in. Mulberry Trees. Varieties, - . - - "

J. The Black, "

2. The White,

'3. The Broussa, - - - - - - 105

4. The Alpine, -------

5. The Peroltet or Multicaulis, - - - - 106
G. The Morus Expansu or Roman, - - - 113

7. The Canton " " - - - 114

8. Sharpo's Variety, 117

IV. Mode of Managing and Cultivating the Improved Varieties, 118

V. Mulberiy Trees from Seed, .... ]21

Vi. Amount of Silk to an Acre and Cost of Production, - V22

1. Timothy Smith's account — Amiierst, Mass. - - "

2. James Deane's " —Greenfield, Mass. - 123
:]. J). V. McLean's « —Freehold, N. J. - - 124

4. Calculations in Mansfield, Conn. ..."

5. John Fitch's statement— Mansfield, Conn. - - 126

6. Calculations in Manchester, Conn. - - - 127

7. 'IV W. Sliepard's acco-mt— Northampton, - - 128
VJI. Product of an Acre, ...--"

Vli[. Quantity of Leaves to a Pound, - - - - V29

IX. Varieties of the VVoi m, ----- 131

X. Quantity of ("ocoons for one Pound of Silk, - - "

XI, Natiu-al and Artificial !\lanagement, - - - 132

XII Provision for Winding Cocoons, - - - - 133

INDEX. 251

XIII. Benson's Improved Cocooneries, - - - page 134

XIV. Mode of Delaying the Hatching of the Eggs, - - 135
XV. Destruction of the Moth, ----- 136

XVI. Reeling and Reels, 137

XVII. Domestic Industry, ------ 138

XVIII. Manufacture of Silk, 140

XIX. Raw Silk, 149

XX. Calculations respecting Silk Products, . _ _ 158

XXI. Manufacture of Silk resumed, - - - - 160

XXU. Manufactures in England, 162

XXIII. Our own Condition, 163

XXIV. Production of Silk in Massachusetts, - - - 164
XXV. Labor applicable to the Silk Culture, - - - 166

XXVL Silk Culture, 168

1. For the Clergy, _..--«

2. For Pauper Establishments, - - - - 169

3. For the Shakers, ----- 170

4. For Schools, -------

XXVIL Conclusion, 171

APPENDIX.

A. Annual Imports of Bread Stuffs, _ - _ _ 173

B On Sowing Wheat in Drills or Broad-cast, _ _ - «

C. On the Cultivation of Wheat— by Elias Phinney, - - 175

« « — by Zebina Stebbins, - - 179

D. Manures for Wheat, ------ 180

A. Nichols' Experiment on Manures, - - - - 183

E. On Ploughing in Ci'ops for Manure, . - - - 187
Letter from S. L. Dana, - - - - - 188

F. Experiment in Forwarding Seeds — by James Freeman, D. D. - 192
Extracts from a letter of Joseph Cooper, - - - ]94

G. Analysis of Different Varieties of Wheat, - - - 194

I. Table from Le Couteur, ----- 195

11. Table from John Morton, 198

IIL Tahle frojn Le Couteur, ----- 199

H. On using tlie best Seed, 200

1. Quantity of Seed to the Acre, ----- 201

J. Food of Plants— from Turner and Chaptal, - - - 203

K. Chemical Phenomena in Germination and Vegetation — Turner, 204

L. On Draining and Sub-soil Ploughing, . - - - 205

1. Statement by T. Kennedy to Committee of Parliament, - "

2. Evidence of James Smith, inventor of the Sub-soil Plough, 209

3. White's account of Draining on Smith's plan, - - 215

253 - INDEX.

4. Sub-soil Plough applied to a Dry Soil, by Chai'les S. Lefe-

vre, JM. P. - - - - - page 216

5. Extract from Speech of Daniel Webster, 13 January, 1840, 217
M. Redemption of Bog Meadow. — T. H. Brown, - - - 220
N. Act for the Encouragement of the Culture of Silk, - - 222
O. Alulben-y — Sharpe's Variety, - ... - 224
P, C. Haskeu s letters on Cultivation of the Mulberry, - - 225

1. Letter, --.._._"

2. " 227

Q. Letter of James Deane on Culture of Silk, - - - «

JR. Deane's Silk Reel, 232

S. Experiment of D. V. McLean, 233

T. Beauvais' Synoptical Table. — See end of the Report.

U. Messrs. Cheney's Experiment, ----- 239

V. Management of Joseph Field — Charlemont, Mass. - - 241
1. Letter, ----..."

II. « 246

W. The Silk Culture in France, - - - - - - 247

Note, 248

ERRORS AND CORRECTIONS.

Page 103 — line 2^ from top, for " occasioned llie bankruptcies and the distresses, and many of tlie
flagrant crimes," read " occasioned many of tlie bankruptcies, distresses and flagrant crimes."
Page 168— line 11th— for " XXXIl," read " XX VJ."
Page 171— line 8th— for " XXXlIf," read " XXVII."
Page 172 — line 4th from bottom, for " of life," read " of a new lile."
Page 233— line 3, for J. V. McLean, read D. V. McLean.

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