Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1873-02-01

IunlpklnS III inc COrni S.OU
Total receipts, $4,000
Net profits, $3.50
This was not large yield, for he
had raised seventy or eighty bushels
at the above expense.
He then made estimates of an, oat
crop following corn:
Ploughing, sowing, harro wing, &C., s. 90
Manure left from the corn, $50
Harvesting, Zone acrc) 800
Seeding down TO grass, 200
Seed. 200
Threshing, 2.50
Total cost, $4,000
Fifty bushels of Oats at so cents, $500
Straw, 500
Total yield, $4,000
Net profit, $500
For the last fifteen years he said
he had not got less than fifty bushels
to the acre, and sometimes had har-
vested as high as eighty-five bushels.
He then took wheat, the expense
of which was the same as oats except
the seed and harvesting, which he es-
timated at $4.00 more, making the
cost to be $24.00.
Crop of Wheat, 20 bushel, at $3.50
per bushel, $4,000
Straw, 500
Total cost, 49,. 90
Net profit, $ll00
The wheat exhausted the soil less
than oats; the grass catch was better,
as was every successive hay crop.
The ground thus seeded down should
yield for four years an average of
l IL tons of hay. The cost Of this
was:
For manure left on the farm, $500
Cutting and storing, 900
$500
By II tons of Hay at $l2 per ton, $500
Net profits per year, $1,000
All these crops gave good interest
on the land at 500 per acre. The
society could judge of the correct
ness of his estimate. With regard to
the varieties of oats, he said that sew
eral years ago he bought two bushels
of Excelsior oats, which produced
enormously. The next year he SOW
ed them on the best Connecticut river
land, which was in perfect condition.
The. straw was thick and heavy, but
the grain was light and the crop near
a failure, while from the common oats
he had got good yield, both as to
weight and measure. For the last
twelve years he has sown the common
kind, often mixed with the black
hearted, changed his seed frequently,
and got yield never less than fifty
bushels, and often as high as eighty
five per acre. When he first began
farming his crops of this grain were
not satisfactory. He had sown the
oats which were grown on the place.
On the suggestion Of friend he
changed and got his seed from dis
lance, with the most satisfactory re-
suits. He had also changed his seed
potatoes with equally good consequent
ces. Wheat for seed should be hand
threshed, and sown early as possible,
on good, well-tilled upland, and as it
has been the last few years yield Of
twenty bushels TO the acre was pretty
certain. When the exhaustion of the
soil and the grass crop following were
considered wheat was better crop
than oats.
Mr.. Weeks next took up the grass
crop. He had estimated the returns
of this crop at what it was worth to
feed out, and growing on land that
could be run over with machine.
The present season it brought $500
ton. All farmers had more or less
swale land, much of it grown up to
bushes, that would produce good
stock hay, at the rate of ton to the
acre. This was worth $40 and could
be cut at an expense of 81, leaving
Sc for profit, making the land worth
from $50 to 500 to the acre. A good
grass crop, of all others, was the
most important.
Next to grass, and standing first
among cultivated crops, were pota-
toes. No one need fear injuring the
land where they used plenty Of man
ure and ashes, although he would not
plant them on old, well-tilled land, to
any great extent. We have rough
land that we may wish to bring under
cultivation, old pastures, and espe-
cially old sheep pastures, that can be
cropped with potatoes and be made
to yield large returns without dam
age to the soil. He made the follow
ing estimates for an acre:
Manure per acre s25 taken up in crop, 2O,0O
Breaking land, 400
Preparing ground and planting, 600
| Cultivating, 600
| Seed 100
| Digging and marketing, 1000
|
Total cost SOB
Crop 200 bushels, at 80 cents, $4,000
|
Profit, $3.50
This was small, provided the crop