clude my dairy cattle from them, of course they are applied to my horses, sheep and feeding cattle: the consumption of pasture by these I believe generally equals that of my dairy stock, therefore I suppose it a just inference, that one hundred and twenty acres (clear of garlick) would support my dairy stock, under my present mode of management, but as my arrangements of business are much blended, I find it difficult to ascertain with precision the quantity of land appropriated to my dairy cattle, for the part devoted to the dairy stock, is also allotted to cultivation, and divided between pasture, mowable, and ploughed land. I would have the above considered rather as an opinion, than an exact statement. If from it, you can collect such information as may in any-wise answer your purpose, I shall feel fully gratified; ever remaining, Yours &c. ALGERNON ROBERTS. JAMES MEASE, M. D. Account of the produce of wheat and rye, during 16 years in Lower Merion township, Philadelphia county, and times of harvesting, &c. By Algernon Roberts. Wheat, 24 sheaves to a bushel. Rye, 19 sheaves to a bushel. The foregoing table exhibits an account of the quantity of wheat sown for sixteen years, the times of sowing and harvesting, together with the quantity raised. The quantity sown per acre, was one bushel. Preceding the year 1794, the wheat was sown on indian corn ground: but in that year, on a clear fallow, and the suc ceeding years, it was sown after oats: a manifest advantage is shewn in favour of an open or clear fallow. If it should be asked, why pursue a mode so injurious, as preceding wheat by oats, my answer is, that my ground being infested with garlic, and a dairy my chief object, oats is made a fallow crop, as the greatest enemy to garlic, that I have yet discovered. [In forming an average result per acre, the calculation should commence with the year 1794, because previously to that year, it appears that the bad system of sowing wheat among the maize was pursued. Neither ought the result, whatever it may be, to furnish a rule to judge of the crops in Pennsylvania, because Mr. Roberts acknowledges the necessity he unfortunately labours under, of continuing a practice, which his own experience, and that of every other farmer, who has made a comparative experiment, proves to be bad farming, viz. sowing wheat after an exhausting crop of oats. Could other statements, equally accurate as those of Mr. Roberts, be obtained, of crops raised upon land in our fertile counties, which are under a regular improving course of wheat on a clover lay, a great difference would appear. Instances might be produced, in the same neighbourhood, of crops repeatedly producing 60 to 80 shocks, and this year, (1807) 100 shocks or dozen sheaves per acre. The practice is, ploughing often, timing the stirrings, so as to destroy weeds, and deeper ploughing, avoiding an intermixture of corn and small grain crops, and never sowing, except when the earth is in a state to receive the seed advantageously, both to its cover, and vegetation. A small quantity of land thus managed, will produce more grain, with less manure, than large fields ill farmed. - The average result of the rye, will give still less than the wheat, because it was sown upon unmanured ground, as is common, while the wheat received all the manure he could make. The dates of harvesting will be found useful, in assisting to form an opinion of the variation in our weather, and may be compared with the table, taken from M'Mahon's American Gardener, which the reader will find among the selections in this work. Statements similar to that furnished by Mr. Roberts, from other districts of this State, or of the United States, will be highly acceptable to the Society, as they may serve to furnish a basis for a calculation, highly desirable, with respect to the average produce per acre, of our lands. They are therefore earnestly solicited from our agricultural proprietors.] On Live Fences. By John Taylor, of Port Royal, Caroline County, Virginia. [The following communication from a distinguished citizen, and very intelligent and extensive cultivator, on a subject highly interesting, is not only meritorious, as it respects the execution of a plan on a scale so extensive: but affords a practical proof of the ease and profitable effect, with which other native productions may be used, as substitutes for the thorn. This valuable paper will pass under the respectful notice of the Society, when Premiums are the subject of consideration. In the mean time it is entitled to their approbation and thanks; and cannot fail to recommend itself to imitation.] Read August 11th, 1807. About 12 years past, conceiving that cedar was well adapted for live fences, I planted 10,000 on the interior declivity of the banks of ditches, cut in the outside of fields (so that the cedars were within) two feet apart; but a removal of my residence compelled me to relinquish the experiment. The appearance of those cedars at this time evinces, that by proper culture they might have been formed into a good live fence. In 1799 I recommenced the experiment at the place whereon I now live, by planting cedars round a stable yard, containing about an acre, and in each succeeding year along the ditches inclosing my farm; so that now they inclose an area of above six hundred acres, except a part, the fence of which is a river. The distance |