Page images
PDF
EPUB

· EXPERIMENT WITH THIRTY-SIX VARIETIES OF TOMATOES.

QUALITIES OF THE VINE.

[merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small]

The varieties are marked on the scale of 10,-the best

marked 10, the poorest marked 1, the others, intermediate.

[blocks in formation]

Productiveness--based upon the am't borne, whether ripened or not.

[merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small]
[blocks in formation]
[blocks in formation]

Seeds plant'd Apr.10; transplanted and set

4 in. apart April 23; set in open May 20th.

ground

sandy soil; the with the addition stable manure.

[blocks in formation]

Large Red,

College No.

Baird's, ......
Fanueil Hall Market,.

Eureka,
Red Plum,.

Yellow Plum,.
Red Cherry

Grape,

...... College No. 3,

• White,

Large Yellow,

Chiuahua,.

>Tree,........

[merged small][merged small][ocr errors]

Strawberry, (Physalis alkekengi,). * Seeds planted April 17th; transplanted April 27th; set in open ground May 20th.

69

[ocr errors][merged small][ocr errors][ocr errors]

CHARACTERISTICS OF THE SEASON OF 1868.

The active operations of husbandry were delayed by the low temperature of April and May. The planting of Indian corn was not completed in the central part of the State till the first of June. The ground was then, in some cases, closely packed from pretty heavy rains that fell towards the end of May, and from that cause and the cool weather, germination and the early growth of plants was very slow. The temperature of June being tolerably favorable, and the supply of moisture seasonable, the progress of vegetation was quite rapid. With July the temperature became still higher, and the growth of many things, particularly Indian corn, was very luxuriant during the first part of the month, or until rain was needed. The drought, however, became very sharp before the close of the month, and almost all crops suffered, unless growing on land specially favored as to moisture. Winter wheat and early sown spring grains, were so far advanced as to be little affected by the drought which commenced in July, but later crops were more or less injured.

Indian corn, in many instances, did not recover from the check it received, and root crops were much lessened in yield. The first crop of grass was tolerably good; meadows yielded little or no second crop, and pastures remained comparatively bare after the middle of July. A comparison of the rain-fall, in inches and fractions, from May to November, inclusive, for the years 1866, '67, and '68, as shown by the Meteorological Journal kept at the State Agricultural College by Prof. Kedzie,

will show to what extremes our seasons run in respect to moisture:

[blocks in formation]

The years 1867 and '68 were remarkable for the small quantity of rain which fell, after the month of June. Streams and wells were very low during the winter of 1866-7, occasioning much inconvenience for want of water for domestic animals and for household purposes. But the scarcity for the following winter was even greater. Wells which had long been depended on as "never failing," became exhausted, and new ones had to be dug at that inclement season, to obtain the necessary supply of water.

What may be called the "growing season" of 1868, was very short. It scarcely began till June, and on the morning of the 16th of September there was a general frost, damaging more or less, buckwheat, Indian corn, and potatoes, as well as putting a stop to the growth of squashes, melons, cucumbers, tomatoes, &c. Forward fields of Indian corn were ripe enough to cut up and shock when the frost came, and considerable had been thus secured. Most of that which was standing was injured in the fodder, and the later fields were hurt in both fodder and grain. Indeed, if the month of July had not been unusually warm, the corn crop would have been a failure. The mean temperature of this month was 77.20, the average of the last five years being 71.91.

« ՆախորդըՇարունակել »