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SECOND ANNUAL REPORT

SECRETARY

assacjjMtte ^xrarjdr jrf ^gnalto,

TOGETHER WITH

THE REPORTS OF COMMITTEES

APPOINTED TO VISIT THE COUNTY SOCIETIES,

WITH AN APPENDIX,

CONTAINING AN ABSTRACT OF THE

FINANCES OF THE COUNTY SOCIETIES,

BOSTON:

WILLIAM "WHITE, PRINTER TO THE STATE.

1855.

BOARD OF AGRICULTURE, 1855.

EX OFFICIIS.

His Excellency HENRY J. GARDNER.

His Honor SIMON BROWN.

EPHRAIM M. WRIGHT, Secretary of State.

APPOINTED BY THE GOVERNOR AND COUNCIL.

NATHANIEL WOOD, of Fitchburg.
EDWARD HITCHCOCK, of Amherst.
MARSHALL P. WILDER, of Dorchester.

CHOSEN BY THE SOCIETIES.

Massachusetts, . . ROBERT C. WINTHROP, of Boston.
Essex, MOSES NEWELL, of West Newbury.

■}

Middlesex, . . .
Middlesex, South, .
Worcester, . . .
Worcester, West, .

Worcester, North,

Hampshire,
Franklin an:
Hampden,

Hampshire,

Hampden,

Franklin,

Berkshire,

Housatonic,

Norfolk, .

Bristol,

Plymouth,

Barnstable,

SAMUEL CHANDLER, of Lexington.
WILLIAM G. LEWIS, of Framingham.
JOHN BROOKS, of Princeton.
WILLIAM PARKHURST, of Petersham.
IVERS PHILLIPS, of Fitchburg.

GEORGE W. HUBBARD, of Hatfield.

JOHN A. NASH, of Amherst.
FRANCIS BREWER, of Springfield.
HENRY W. CLAPP, of Greenfield.
JUSTUS TOWER, of Lanesborough.
JOHN WILKINSON, of Gt. Barrington.
BENJAMIN V. FRENCH, of Braintree.
J. H. W. PAGE, of New Bedford.
SETH SPRAGUE, of Buxbury.
C. B. H. FESSENDEN, of Sandwich.

CHARLES L. FLINT, Secretary.

SECOND ANNUAL REPORT

SECRETARY

BOARD OF AGRICULTURE,

To the Senate and House of Representatives of the Common-
wealth of Massachusetts : —

In a Report which I had the honor to submit to the Legisla-
ture in January last, I took occasion to say, that " the want of
reliable and accurate experiments in Agriculture is now very
generally felt, and it has been the desire of the Board to have
such conveniences as would enable them to conduct a series of
experiments in such a manner as to secure the confidence of
the community. Those made by individuals in various parts of
the State have been very valuable, and in some cases very
costly, but as long as there is no concert of action, our igno-
rance and confusion of ideas respecting the many questions
still remaining to be answered, in agricultural science, will con-
tinue. It has been thought that if a tract of land sufficiently
large, and with such a variety of soils as would make it con-
venient for carrying on experiments, could be provided, the
Board of Agriculture would be able to do something by which
these evils might be gradually remedied, and the wants of the
farming community supplied. No provision has, as yet, been
made to enable the Board to direct special attention to this
subject.'

2 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.

The Board had examined the farm connected with the State
Reform School at Westborough, and finding it -well adapted for
the purpose, and that the Trustees of that institution were de-
sirous to forward so important an object, resolved to petition
the Legislature for an Act authorizing the transfer of the farm
into the hands of the Board of Agriculture. This was accord-
ingly done by a committee acting in conjunction with a com-
mittee of the Trustees, and the following paper was presented

To the Honorable the Senate and the House of Representatives of the
Commonwealth of Massachusetts in General Court assembled: —

The subscribers, a committee of the Trustees of 'the State Reform
School, and a committee of the State Board of Agriculture, and in
behalf of said Boards, respectfully pray your honorable body to pass
an Act authorizing the Trustees of the State Reform School to place
the whole or any part of the lands at Westborough, owned by the
Commonwealth, under the charge of the State Board of Agriculture,
for such term and on such conditions as may be agreed upon by the
two Boards, and to authorize the Board of Agriculture to hold and
manage the same ; and also respectfully pray your honorable body to
grant an appropriation to the State Board of Agriculture of the sum
of thousand dollars, for the purpose of permanent improve-
ments and agricultural experiments, and to defray the ordinary ex-
penses of said farm for the current year.

And as in duty bound, your petitioners will ever pray.

Daniel H. Forbes,
Harvey Dodge,
J. II. W. Page,
Committee of the Trustees of the State Reform School.

Marshall P. Wilder,
Setii Sprague,
Simon Bhown,
Charles L. Flint.

Committee of the State Board of Agriculture.
January 26, L854.

The Committee of the Senate and House of Representa-
tives, to whom this petition was referred, made the following

SECRETARY'S REPORT.

R B P 0 R T .

The object of the State Reform School was the reformation of juve-
nile offenders. For the double purpose of supplying milk, vegetables,

and other needful agricultural products, and also affording useful and
healthful employment to the inmates, a farm was connected with the
school ; with some recent purchases, it now contains about 285 acres.

Its location is beautiful, and it embraces great variety of soil and
surface, is well adapted for the usual modes of cultivation and for ag-
ricultural experiments, and may be made both very attractive to the
eye, and very productive. By the Act establishing the State Reform
School, the farm is placed under the charge of the Trustees. Much
money has been expended upon it, very considerable improvements
have been made, and its products have been as great as could, \mder
all circumstances, be reasonably anticipated. But excellent qualifica-
tions for the oversight of the school do not necessarily imply either
taste or skill in agriculture, and, in point of fact, it is believed that the
appointments of Trustees have generally been made without any refer-
ence to experience or skill in agriculture, or ability to direct the con-
duct of the farm. The Trustees have found the charge of the farm a
hinderancc to them in the performance of their duties more immediately
concerning the school. It would be a relief to them to be permitted
to transfer to others that portion of their responsibilities. The build-
ings have bean enlarged during the past year, and now furnish accom-
modations for 550 or 600 inmates, and that number will probably
soon be reached. The faithful and judicious oversight and manage-
ment of such an institution demand as much time and care as the
Commonwealth ought to expect any unpaid Board of Trustees to de-
vote to a public duty.

Since the establishment of the State Reform School, the State Board
of Agriculture has been created. It is composed of men of science
and men of practical skill in agriculture, and all deeply interested in
that most important subject. The Board has also bedn fortunate in
securing the services of a competent, faithful and zealous Secretary,
well skilled both in the theory and practice of agriculture. If that
Board had existed when the Reform School was established, the con-
venience and propriety of placing the farm under its charge could not
have failed to attract attention.

The Board of Agriculture would be gratified to secure land upon
which various modes of cultivation may be thoroughly tried, and a
series of experiments instituted to test the value of the various con-
centrated and other manures which are so constantly urged upon the

4 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.

attention of farmers. Your committee are of opinion that the interest
and the wishes of farmers, as a body, require that such experiments
should be made, and reliable results ascertained. The farm at West-
borough is admirably adapted for the purpose.

The Trustees of the State Reform School and the State Board of
Agriculture are both children and agents of the State ; both Boards
were instituted and both labor for the same end — the good of the
State. The only question is, AVhich Board can most conveniently and
profitably have charge of a particular portion of State property ?

Heretofore the farm has been improved and cultivated at the ex-
pense of the State, and the State has furnished consumers of all its
products, with the exception of small quantities of fruit, &c, which
have been sent to market. A much larger amount of agricultural pro-
ducts will be required for the establishment, and it is believed that,
under the best management, a much larger amount may be produced
without proportionate increase of expense. Further permanent im-
provements are required, and ought to be made, under either Board.
As the State consumes all the products of the farm, no money can be
realized from their sale, and consequently the State must furnish funds
to make necessary permanent improvements and pay current expenses.

The members of the two Boards are unanimous in their views, and
an arrangement is contemplated by which the Trustees of the Reform
School will, at a stipulated price, furnish boys to work upon the farm,
and to a much greater extent than it has been heretofore found expe-
dient or profitable to employ them in agricultural labor ; and the Board
of Agriculture will supply the institution with milk, vegetables and
other needed products of the farm, do the cartage of coal, &c. Thus
the labor of the boys and the products of the farm will be applied for
the benefit of the State, substantially as heretofore, only under differ-
ent directions.

The bulk of the farm will imdoubtedly continue to be carried on
under the usual improved modes of cultivation, while a small portion
will be devoted to the experiments of which Ave have spoken.

George W. Hubbard, Chairman.

The Legislature, never slow to encourage the interests of
agriculture whenever the means are shown to bo judicious and
practicable, passed the following

ACT.

Sect. 1. The Trustees of the State Reform School arc hereby au-
thorized to place under the charge of the State Board of Agriculture

SECRETARY'S REPORT. 5

the whole or any part of the lands at Wcstborough, owned by the
Commonwealth, except such portion thereof as may be required for
the use of the school, for any term not exceeding ten years, and upon
such conditions as may be agreed upon by the two Boards ; and the
State Board of Agriculture is hereby authorized to take charge of and
manage said lands as fully as the said Trustees are now authorized by
law to do.

Sect. 2. For the purpose of permanent improvements upon said
lands and of agricultural experiments thereon, and to defray the ordi-
nary expenses of the same for the current year, said Board may, by
its Secretary, and as the same may be required, draw upon the Treas-
urer of the Commonwealth for a sum not exceeding in the aggregate
six thousand dollars, to be paid from such funds as may be in the
treasury ; and the Governor is hereby authorized to draw his warrant
upon the Treasurer for the sum of six thousand dollars, to remain in
the treasury, subject to the drafts above provided for.

Sect. 3. The Board of Agriculture shall, in the annual report re-
port required by law, make a full report of all sums expended upon
said farm each year that it may be under their charge, and of all their
doings in relation to said premises, and the results thereof.

Sect. 4. This act shall take effect from and after its passage.

Measures were immediately taken to effect a transfer of the
farm by a committee appointed for that purpose, to act with a
committee of the Trustees of the State Reform School ; and at
a meeting of the Board of Agriculture, held at the State House
on the 11th of April, that committee submitted the following

REPORT.

The committee to whom was referred the subject of the transfer of
the farm at Westborough, met a committee from the Trustees of the
State Reform School at the farm on the 24th of March, at which time
the writings were signed and the transfer was duly made, and on the
29th of the same month the same committees appraised the property
delivered into the hands of the Board of Agriculture. The committee
of the Board of Agriculture have contracted with the farmer employed
the last year by the Board of Trustees to continue in charge of the
same. The Act of the Legislature authorizing the transfer, the agree-
ment of the committees of the two Boards, and the details of the
appraisal of the property, are respectfully submitted.

Seth Sprague.
Simon Brown.

Boston-, April 10, 1854.

6 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.

The Act of the Legislature was formally accepted at this
meeting, and the agreement between the Trustees of the State
Reform School and the Board of Agriculture was approved.
The following is the

CONTRACT.

By authority of an Act of the Legislature of Massachusetts, entitled
" An Act relating to the State Reform School and the State Board of
Agriculture," approved by the Governor February 27, 1854, a cer-
tified copy of which is prefixed to this instrument, the Trustees of the
State Reform School do hereby transfer to and place under the charge
of the State Board of Agriculture all the lands and tenements at
Westborough, owned by the Commonwealth, excepting and reserving
the premises bounded, southerly by the lower edge of the embank-
ment in front of the main building of the State Reform School, as the
said embankment now is or may be made ; westerly by the fence near
the grove, and the line of said fence extended to the highway ; north-
erly and easterly by the highway ; and also excepting and reserving
the store-house east of the main building, the Peters House, so called,
and the shop on the easterly side of the highway, together with the
land under, and suitable land around said buildings, for the convenient
use of the same ; said Trustees also reserving to themselves and their
successors the right to have such portion of said premises as they may
see fit for the site and accommodation of such dwelling-houses or
other buildings as they may hereafter find it expedient to erect ; and
said Trustees also do hereby transfer to said Board of Agriculture all
the neat cattle, swine, implements of husbandry, horses, carriages, and
other personal property belonging to the Commonwealth, and now
upon said premises, excepting such horses, carriages, and harnesses
as said Trustees may elect to reserve for the immediate use of said
State Reform School; a schedule and valuation of all which real and
personal property so transferred shall be made by a committee of two
members of said Board of Trustees and two members of said Board of
Agriculture annexed to this instrument, and taken as part thereof*
And the State Board of Agriculture hereby assumes the charge of the
said real and personal property as fully as said Hoard is authorized to
do by the Act above referred to. The purpose of this arrangement is
to relieve the Trustees of the State Reform School of the care and
management of the agricultural portion of the establishment at West-
igh, tn provide an experimental farm for tin- Board of A.gricul-

■ Bee Appendix A.

SECRETARY'S REPORT. 7

tore, and to furnish greater facilities for the employment and instruc-
tion of the inmates of the Reform School in agriculture and horticul-
ture, in accordance with what are believed to have been the views
and wishes of General Theodore Lyman, the founder of the institu-
tion, while the products of the farm shall continue to be applied for
the use of the school substantially as they were while the farm was
under the immediate control of said Board of Trustees.

In order to carry that purpose into effect, it is agreed by and be-
tween the Trustees of the State Reform School and the State Board
of Agriculture as follows : The State Board of Agriculture shall cause
to be done all the teaming and transportation, except of persons, and
all other necessary out-door work for the Reform School ; shall furnish
for the school all milk, vegetables, and other products of the farm,
which may be desired by the Trustees, and not required for the use
of the agricultural department, for consumption on the premises ;
shall cause the water for the use of the institution to ba furnished by
the engine in sufficient quantities ; shall do for the school all such
necessary grinding and sawing as the mill may be capable of perform-
ing, and shall provide competent and suitable men to oversee and in-
struct the inmates of the school when at work on the farm, or other-
wise, under the direction of the Board of Agriculture. The Trustees
of the State Reform School shall furnish to the Board of Agriculture
boys from the school to work upon the farm, or to do other work,
under the direction of said Board, in such numbers as may be required
by said Board, to such extent as the condition of the school will ad->
mit ; reasonable notice to be given from time to time of the numbers
to be required. The Trustees of the State Reform School shall fur-
nish to the Board of Agriculture all the offal from the institution, to
be removed at reasonable and stated times by said Board.

Each of said Boards shall cause to be kept accurate accounts with
the other, with a debt and credit side, and the mutual accounts shall
be examined and adjusted, and the balance paid in cash, in the month
of November in each year, and also at the expiration of the term
herein-after limited.

The Trustees of the State Reform School shall charge the Board of
Agriculture three hundred and fifty dollars a year for said offal, ten
cents for each boy furnished to work for the Board of Agriculture for
each day of six hours, and an agreed price or the fair value for any
other thing that may be furnished by said Trustees to said Board of
Agriculture. The State Board of Agriculture shall charge the Trus-
tees- of the State Reform School eight hundred dollars a year for
pumping water, and keeping apparatus and pipe in order up to said
embankment ; and an agreed price, or, in the absence of any agreement,

8 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.

usual and current prices at Westborough, for grinding and sawing,
for all teaming and other work clone for, and for agricultural products
and other articles furnished to, the Trustees by the Board of Agri-
culture.

This arrangement shall go into effect on the first day of April, in
the year eighteen hundred and fifty-four, and, in order to give the plan
a fair trial, shall continue in force for the term of five years, subject
to such modifications as experience may suggest, and as may be mu-
tually agreed upon by said Trustees and said Board of Agriculture ;
any such modifications to be indorsed on this instrument : Provided,
always, that it shall be competent for the Legislature at any time to
annul this agreement, and to place said premises and property under
the charge of said Trustees as fully as the same were before said Act
was passed.

In testimony whereof, Harvey Dodge, Daniel H. Forbes, G. How-
land Shaw, and J. H. W. Page, a committee of the Trustees of the
State Reform School for this purpose specially appointed, and Mar-
shall P. Wilder, Seth Sprague, Simon Brown, and Charles L. Flint,
a committee of the State Board of Agriculture for this purpose spe-
cially appointed, have, in behalf of said Boards respectively, hereunto
set our names interchangeably, at Westborough, this twenty-fourtb
day of March, in the year eighteen hundred and fifty-four.

Marshall P. Wilder,
Seth Sprague,
Simon Brown,
Charles L. Feint,
Committee of the State Board of Agricultwe.

Harvey Dodge,
Daniel H. Forbes,
G. H. Shaw,
J. H. W. Page,

Committee of the Trustees of the State Reform School.

Subsequently to this agreement, it was thought desirable by
both Boards that the pumping of water for the institution
should be done under the direction of the Trustees of the
State Reform School, as also the sawing and grinding I'm- the
same; and these labors have accordingly been so performed,
that part of the above contract having been virtually annulled
by mutual understanding.

SECRETARY'S REPORT. 9

At this meeting, also, a series of By-Laws was adopted for
the management and regulation of the farm, as follows : —

Sect. 1. The principal objects of the Board of Agriculture are,
to relieve the Trustees of the State Reform School of the care
and management of the agricultural portion of the establishment at
Westborough, to provide a farm for the Board where experiments
may be made in stock and the various crops and fertilizers, and to
furnish greater facilities for the employment and instruction of the
inmates of the Reform School, in agriculture and horticulture, in
accordance with what is believed to have been the views of Gen.
Thodore Lyman, the founder of the institution ; and with a view to
carrying out these objects of the Board, and giving opportunity for
discussing its interests and maturing and carrying out its plans, the
annual meeting of the Board shall be at the State House on the first
Wednesday of January, at 10 o'clock A. M., at which time the
several committees of the Board shall be elected. Its quarterly
meetings shall be held on the farm, at Westborough, on the first
Wednesday of April, on the first Wednesday of July, and on the third
Wednesday of October, at 10 o'clock A. M. of each year.

Sect. 2. There shall be annually elected by the Board a Superin-
tending Committee of the farm at Westborough, consisting of eight
members, whose duty it shall be, in connection with the Secretary, so
far as the same may be consistent with a performance of his other
duties, to meet at said farm once in each month, and as much oftencr
as they may deem necessary, to make such arrangements and give
such directions to the former as the various crops, trees, stock, and
other interests of the farm may require, and shall make a full report
of their doings to the Board at its quarterly meetings. And said
committee may be subdivided into smaller committees, in such
manner as they may see fit, each of which shall keep accurate memo-
randa or records of their doings, and report the same, from time to
time, to the Secretary ; and it shall be his duty, from these reports
and such other means of information as he may possess, to keep a
record of the lots under cultivation, with their number and contents in
measure ; of the manner of draining, reclaiming, ploughing, cultivat-
ing and manuring, stating the kind of land in use, the kind and
quantity of the fertilizer used, when and how applied, the state of
the atmosphere when applied, and the amount of each crop gathered,
together with the results of the whole process.

Sect. 3. The Secretary shall notify members of the times of meet-
ing of the Board, call its committees together whenever three or more
members of a committee shall deem it necessary, keep a journal of
2

10 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.

the proceedings of each meeting, . and attend to such correspond-
ence as shall promote the objects of the Board. He shall pre-
pare, or cause to be prepared, all documents, statements and notices
which may directed by the Board or its committees, and communi-
cate to it all proceedings relative to its financial concerns.

Sect. 4. The Superintending Committee shall appoint a farmer,
and such other persons as they may think expedient, for the manage-
ment of the farm. The farmer shall have charge of all the farming
operations, and shall be responsible for the proper management, good
order and economical use of every thing connected therewith.

He shall carry forward such general improvements and make such
purchases of stock as the said committee may direct. He shall also,
under the direction of the committee, attend to engaging and dis-
charging the adult help that may be employed on the farm, and shall
be responsible for the character and conduct of the same, and shall
perform such other duties as may be assigned to him by the com-
mittee.

Every evening he shall make known to the Superintendent of the
Reform School what work he intends shall be performed by boys on
the following day, and the places where they are to be employed, in
order that, in assigning boys to the work, regard may be had to their
qualifications, character and exposure, and such assignment be made
as Avill most effectually guard against escapes, and also secure the best
advantage from their labor. He shall have charge of the boys while
employed on the farm, shall receive and return them punctually, as
required by the Superintendent, and see that the rules of the institu-
tion respecting their discipline are strictly observed while they arc
under his care.

He shall cause all merchandise, fuel, and whatever else is required
for the use of the institution, to be drawn by the teams of the farm,
and shall perform any other labor with men, boys and teams at the
request of the Superintendent of the school, when not inconsistent
with his duties upon the farm, and fully carry out the agreement made
between the Board of Trustees and the Board of Agriculture.

He shall keep a correct account of all receipts and expenditures
relating to the farm, and of all labor performed (hereon, and shall
furnish to the Board an annual report of the same, with schedules of
the articles purchased during the year, and of the stock and farming
implements on hand, and may communicate such other information,
and make such suggestions, as he may think will be useful.

He shall see that all the regulations of the Board and of the insti-
tution are strictly observed hy all persons employed bj him, and shall
promptly discharge any who refuse or oeglecl to comply with them
cheerfully.

SECRETARY'S REPORT. 1 1

Sect. ■'>. There shall ben Finance Committee of three persons,
whose duty it shall be to approve the drafts of the Secretary before
drawing money upon them from the treasury, and also to approve all
bills presented for payment.

Sect. 6. There shall be a committee of three persons to examine
and compare the vouchers returned by the Secretary, and audit the
accounts at the close of each fiscal year."*

Messrs. M. P. Wilder, B. V. French, Simon Brown, Moses
Newell, H. W. Clapp, J. A. Nash, John Brooks, and Seth
Sprague were appointed a Superintending Committee, to which
was intrusted the entire management and responsibility of the
farm.

That committee appointed four subcommittees. Messrs.
French and Brown, on general improvements, farm arrange-
ments, plans, <fec. Messrs. Brooks and Newell on stock, in-
cluding the sale, keeping, <fcc. Messrs. Wilder and Nash on
crops, including fertilizers, <fec. ; and Messrs. Sprague and
Clapp on labor. One of these committees was directed to
visit the farm each week, and report at the meeting of the Su-
perintending Committee at the beginning of each month.

It will be seen by the date of the contract that the season
was considerably advanced before the plans of the Board could
be perfected ; consequently, the labors of the present year
were conducted under great disadvantages. No arrangements
could be made, and no plans be formed, without a constant
reference to the wants and necessities of the Institution for
the supply of which that farm was intended.

The Board had no expectation of making what is sometimes
called a " model farm," nor indeed any desire to do so. Neither
the circumstances of the place nor the means at their disposal
were suitable to this. The greater part of the land was to be
cultivated in a plain, practical way, so as to meet the demands
for produce, while some part of the crops might be subjected
to experiments of various kinds, that, by their careful conduct,
some questions in which the community were deeply interested
might be settled.

For these reasons it is obvious that but few experiments

* See Appendix, B.

12 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.

could be advantageously made during the first year. More-
over, the character of the soil and its previous treatment were
in a great measure unknown; and owing to the lateness of the
season, all the work was necessarily crowded into a very short
time. The experiments that have been made, however, are not
without their interest and value. They will be found in detail
in the reports of the various committees hereafter. It is the
design of the Board to extend them, and to conduct them in
such a manner as to secure perfect accuracy.

To be of any value, experiments require the expenditure of
much time and labor, much skill, a constant watchfulness, and
many facilities which are not often at the command of an indi-
vidual. The State can make them at little expense, compara-
tively ; and though they must, for the reasons stated, be a
secondary object at the farm at Westborough, it is of the ut-
most importance to secure all possible accuracy In making them,
that they may have the respect and confidence of those inter-
ested in them.

It will be seen by the Report of the Committee on Improve-
ments, made at an adjourned meeting of the Board, held on tho
5th of December, that the wants of the State Reform School
have increased to such an extent, and the location of the farm
buildings is such, that it is very important to purchase land
adjoining the farm. This adjoining land can be obtained at a
reasonable rate, and it is evidently for the interest of the State
to secure it, both because it is really needed to enable the farm
to meet the growing wants of the Institution, and because it
would vastly improve the condition of the farm itself. This
subject is well alluded to in the following

REPORT.

Your committee had charge of the general improvements, farm
arrangements, plans, &c, on the farm at Westborough. They have
erected a piggery,* containing a commodious store-house ami slaughter-
house, 30 feet by 8G, with 14 feet posts, and so constructed as to
admit of storing straw, roots, &c, in the loft. They have converted
an old barn into a tool-house,* carpenter's shop, seed room, black-
smith's shop, &c. ; have laid drains in the barn-cellar to carry off the

* Sec Appendix, C.

SECRETARY'S REPORT. 13

spring water ; and have commenced to build two reservoirs for the
reception of the sewerage from the Institution.

The plan made from a survey of the farm induces your committee
to hesitate before proceeding further. By the plan it will be seen that
the farm is an ill-shapen affair, and is one that your committee would
not select as being likely to succeed as a model or experimental farm.

The barn is located on a point of the farm, instead of the centre ;
and the consequence is, that all the manure must be hauled a con-
siderable distance to the fields, and the hay and other crops an equal
distance to the barn. The cattle must be driven nearly half a mile
to and from the pasture ; and these operations, and many others like
them, involve much expense of time and labor. Your committee,
therefore, before recommending any course of improvement for the
coming year, would earnestly recommend the purchase of more land,
for the sake of improving the shape of the farm, as well as to bring
more tillage land near the barn. Such lands, moreover, are actually
wanted to increase the resources of the farm in some proportion to
the increase of the wants of the Institution. It is known to the
Board that we must have more farm buildings. The farm house is
wholly inadequate to the wants of the farm, and the workmen have
been boarded out, for want of accommodations, all the past sum-
mer. Your committee have taken measures to ascertain that much
of the land contiguous to the farm can be had at a reasonable
price. By the purchase of these lands some tenements and out build-
ings will be obtained, which, though not such as the committee would
desire, will yet answer the purposes of the farm for some years, till a
suitable farm house can be erected. It is a matter of great impor-
tance that these lands should be purchased immediately. Since the
State Reform School has been located on the grounds at great
expense, it is not probable that it will ever be removed. The number
of its inmates and its usefulness will, on the other hand, be greatly
extended. This additional land, also, will give employment - to the
boys for time to come, and the products will always be needed at the
Institution.

. Your committee arc, therefore, induced to await the decision of the
Board and of the Legislature before proceeding to lay out the general
improvements to be undertaken for the ensuing year.
. Respectfully submitted.

B. V. French.
Simon Bbown.

The remarks of the committee on stock will also show that
the resources of the farm, within its present limits, are not

14 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.

adequate to supply the wants of the school, and that it has
been found necessary to purchase hay and to hire pasturage to
keep even the number of cows already there. The experi-
ments made under the direction of this committee, though
necessarily limited in extent, are of great interest. They
appear in the following

RE PORT.

The undersigned, Committee on Stock, have attended to their duty as
diligently as circumstances would permit. They have charge of all
the stock of the farm, including farming utensils. Among the live
stock under their care they have had thirty-five swine and twenty-
three milch cows. The swine were valued, on the first day of April last,
at $575, and have mostly been sold, and their places made good by
their young descendants ; and their number had increased, on the first
of December, to seventy-five, and their value decreased to $558. We
have now on hand in value, of swine, within $17, as much as in April
last, and a considerable amount of pork has been sold. The cows
have produced, up to the first day of December, 6,4694- gallons of
milk and 511 pounds of veal.

The relation between the quantity and value of food consumed by
dairy cows, and the milk, butter or cheese produced, has never been
satisfactorily settled in this State ; and although we may believe that
cows in general consume food in proportion to their live weight, and
yield milk or some other product in proportion to the food consumed,
we have no satisfactory proof of the fact. In order to elicit some
information upon this subject, the undersigned obtained the consent, in
June last, of the superintending committee, to make such experiments
with the milch cows as they should deem expedient. In pursuance of
this consent, they directed Mr. White, the farmer, to weigh the milk
of each cow night and morning daily, and to weigh each cow on the
evening of the tenth and morning of the eleventh day of each month ;
but owing to the hurry of the Avork on the farm and other circum-
stances not under his control, he omitted to execute the order, and
the experiments are limited to the weighing of the milk for ten days,
from the twentieth to the thirtieth of June, and for ten days, from the
twentieth to the thirtieth of August, and the weighing of the cows on
the morning of the eleventh and tin' evening of the tenth of June ami
the evening of the thirty-first of Augusl ami the morning of the first of
September — too short a time to afford a hasis for conclusive deduc-
tions. They however afford, as will he seen by the tallies, some
useful information.

SECRETARY'S RHPORT.

15

Weight of licrnty-one Coivs, belonging to the Stale Farm, IVestborough, on the
evening of the 10th of June and the morning of the lllh ; also, a memorandum
of Milk given by the same Cows, in ten days, from the 20lh to the 30th of
June.

Names of Cows.

M

<

4I

■a

a*

*
to

a

e

a
3

to

a
'£
a
>

T3

a
«

sa

o 9
£'

to
sa

03 g

> s
<

C So

<u c

£ ■

•a
c

a

O CO

SE«
p

u

a

■6
o .

O.S

.c >

E-3

3 o

a

V

c

M

S

o .
■3 >/

a

o

2
">.

«

93

I J

? ►
° OJ

Gentle, . .

9

990

1,040

1,015

50

242

226

22.6

2.22

Fanny, . .

10

995

1,050

1,022

55

232

201.5

20.1

1.97

Flora, . . .

5

915

965

940

50

224

328.0

32.8

3.48

Rosa, . . .

9

940

990

965

50

216

216.5

21.6

2.24

Chamberlin, .

7

1,095

1,150

1,122

55

304

165.0

16.5

1.47

Delia, . . .

7

945

1,000

972

55

214

159.5

15.9

1.62

Redneck,

5

730

790

760

60

190

191.5

19.1

2.52

Haywood, .

9

940

995

967

55

224

156.0

156

1.61

Nancy, . .

9

940

1,000

970

60

168

158.5

15.8

1.63

Whiteface, .

5

720

785

752

65

202

198.0

19.8

2.62

Spot, . . .

6

840

890

865

50

120

109.0

10.9

1.26

Redheifer, .

5

815

870

842

55

60

319.0

31.9

3.79

Young Gentle,

5

920

980

950

60

29

348.5

34.8

3.87

Bunty, . .

5

830

900

865

70

108

349.0

34.9

4.03

Sawyer, . .

5

850

910

880

60

88

359.5

35.9

4.08

Kendall, . .

8

965

1,020

992

55

84

319.0

31.9

3.21

Dolly, . .

10

1,100

1,150

1,125

50

49

377.5

37.7

3.35

Grizzle, . .

9

1,020

1,080

1,050

60

65

226.0

22.6

2.16

Star, . . .

10

9G5

1,020

992

55

76

328.0

32.8 j 3.30

Nelly, . .

0

930

990

960

60

48

299.5

29.9 J 3.12

( 'herry, . .

5

760

820

790

60

63

278.5

27.8

3.52

16 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.

Average loss on each cow between evening weight, when full, and
morning weight, when empty, 56.66 pounds. Average loss per cent,
on evening weight, 5.83. Nine cows from eight to ten years old
inclusive, average age nine years and three months, and weighing
9,345 pounds evening weight, lost in the morning 490 pounds.
Average loss on each cow, 54.44 pounds. Average loss per cent, on
the evening weight of each of the nine cows, 5.24 per cent.

Twelve young cows, from five to seven years old inclusive, average
age five years and six months, and weighing 11,050 pounds evening
weight, lost in the morning 700 pounds. Average loss on each cow,
58.33 pounds. Average loss per cent, on evening weight of each of
the twelve cows, 6.33. The twelve young cows lost 1.09 per cent,
more between evening and morning weight than the nine old cows.
Six of the twelve young cows were milked both morning and evening
before weighing, and but two of the nine old cows were milked before
weighing. This may account in part for the greater loss on the
young cows.

The number of days after calving of the nine old cows was 150.6,
while the number of days after calving of the twelve young cows
was 137.5. This may be another reason why the young cows lost
more between morning and evening weight than the old cows. Aver-
age number of days after calving, 143. Daily average of milk 143
days after calving, 25.28 pounds. Daily average of milk on the aver-
age morning and evening weight, 2.83 per cent. The average time after
calving of the nine old cows was 150.6 days, and their daily flow of
milk was 2.37 per cent, on their average weight.

The average time after calving of the twelve young cows, 137 days,
and their daily flow of milk, was 3.30 per cent, of their average
weight. The daily flow of milk from the twelve young cows being
greater than that from the nine old cows, the difference between the
evening- and morning flow would be greater : hence, an additional
reason for the greater loss between the evening and morning weight.
of the young than the old cows.

SECRETARY'S REPORT.

17

Weight of seventeen Cows, belonging to the Slate Farm in Westborough, on the
evening of the 31s< of August and the morning of the 1st of September, and a
memorandum of mUk given by twelve of the same Cows, from the 20th to the
30ft of August, (ten days.)

Names of Cows.

o

u

<

f3
.""

to

O

Evening weight

•a

c
a

- V

> o

|i

c

a

" F"u>

M

%
1

:

o .

u ^
U.S

3 u

Yield of milk in ten j
days, in pounds.

c

Z

o

f.f

> 3

s

Bt

■g --■

° to

C <L>

O, ;,

r-J c
*- C

Fanny, ....

10

1,040

1,090

1,667

50

-

Flora,

5

1,020

1,075

1.047

55

-

-

-

-

Lady,

4

935

990

962

55

-

-

-

-

Bessey, ....

4

880

935

907

55

-

-

-

-

Redneck, . . .

5

845

880

862

35

250

96.80

9.68

1.12

Nancy, ....

9

1,035

1,080

1,052

45

228

109.40

10.94

1.04

Whiteface, . . .

5

795

840

817

45

262

110.60

1106

1.35

Redheifer, . . .

5

820

870

854

50

120

141.90

14.19

1.66

Young Gentle, . .

5

855

930

892

75

89

196.80

19.68

2.20

Sawyer, ....

5

900

950

925

50

148

143.10

14.30

1.62

Bunty, ....

5

855

905

880

50

168

173.70

17.37

1.88

Kendall, ....

8

9G0

1,000

1)80

40

-

-

-

-

Dolly,

10

1,115

1,175

1,145

60

109

171.40

17.14

1.49

Grizzle, ....

9

1,020

1,160

1,040

40

125

145.00

14.50

1.40

Star,

10

975

1,025

1,000

50

136

176.80

17.68

1.77

Nelly, ....

6

895

945

920

50

108

135.00

13.50

1.46

Cherry, ....

5

780

825

802

45

123

110.20

11.62

1.45

15,725

16,575

15,152

850

Average loss on each cow between evening weight, when full, and
morning weight, when empty, 50 pounds. Average loss per cent, on
evening wreight, 5.1l\

18 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.

Six cows from eight to ten years old, inclusive, average nine years
and four months, weighed 6,430 pounds evening weight. Loss on this
weight, in the morning, 285 pounds. Average loss on each cow,
47.50. Loss per cent, on evening weight, 4.43.

Eleven cows from four to six years old, average four years and nine
months, weighed in the evening 10,145 pounds. Loss on this weight
in the morning, 565 pounds. Average loss on each cow, 51.36
pounds. Average loss per cent, on evening weight, 5.56. The eleven
young cows lost 1.14 per cent, more than the six old cows.

The average numher of days after calving of the twelve cows that
gave milk during the ten days was 1554-. Daily average yield of milk
of the same cows, 14.30 pounds each. Average milk on average
weight of the same cows, daily, was 1.53 per cent. The average falling
off in milk of these twelve cows, since the thirtieth of June, is 1.63
per cent, of their average live weight.

The committee would suggest the expediency of an application to
the legislature for a grant of funds, to enable the Board to continue
the experiments, and to try others which are calculated to determine
the individual and comparative value of the different breeds of cattle,
and the comparative value of the several kinds of roots grown in the
State, with good English hay, corn-fodder and other substances usually
fed to cattle.

John Brooks.
Moses Newell.

The principal crops raised on the farm during the past
season were: 1,393 bushels of potatoes; 1,819 bushels of
Indian corn as taken from the field, or 909^ bushels of shelled
corn; 2,258 bushels of carrots; 70 tons of hay; 1,119 bushels
of ruta-bagas, and sufficient quantities of the various smaller
products, as pease, beans, beets, squashes, <fcc, for the use of
the institution.

The experiments detailed in the report of the Committee on
Crops will be found to be of great value and interest, though
not in all respects so satisfactory as they would have been had
the season proved more favorable. It lias been already stated
that the subject of fertilizers was put into the hands of this
committee. This is a matter of vast importance to the com-
munity, for on these depend the success and profit of every
operation on the farm. These experiments relate to the com-

SECRETARY'S REPORT. 1!)

parativc value of stable manure and guano, super-phosphate of
lime, potash, &o. They will appear best in the following

REPORT.

The undersigned, a sub-committcc of the Superintending Committee
of this Board for carrying on the operations of the State Farm at West-
borough, submit the following lleport

« ON CHOPS, INCLUDING FERTILIZERS, &c."

In pursuance of the duty assigned, your Committee visited the Farm
in the spring, and after consultation Avith Deacon White, the farmer,
in relation to the wants of the Institution, and the capabilities of the
soil, gave such directions as appeared to them to be the best adapted
to promote the interests of the Commonwealth and the objects of
the Board.

Among the latter were certain experiments with fertilizers, for the
purpose of ascertaining their value, and their adaptation to various
crops -and soils.

Before proceeding with a statement of the results of the experi-
ments, it should be mentioned that, from unforeseen and providential
circumstances, it was impossible to commence some of them until the
season was too far advanced for a favorable trial. Other difficulties
have since occurred, which were not anticipated, and which have
prevented so accurate and satisfactory a report as might be desired.
Among these may especially be named the unparalleled drought so
generally disastrous to vegetation throughout the country.

Your Committee herewith submit the subjoined statement of the
products derived from the department under their charge", without
estimating the cost of production or the value of the crops, since these
will be found in the accounts of the farmer, rendered to the Secretary
of the Board.

CORN CHOPS.

There were twenty-one acres in one field, and the soil was of a
light, loamy character. The crop for the previous three years had
been hay. The land was ploughed eight inches deep, and furrowed
both ways thirty-six by thirty inches. Fifteen acres of the above
were manured with manure from the barn, spread and ploughed in, at
the rate of twenty-five cartloads of thirty-four bushels each, or eight

20 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.

and one-third cords to the acre, a cord estimated to contain one hun-
dred and two bushels.*

The remaining six acres were divided into six equal lots, were
manured at equal expense, and subjected to the following experi-
ments : —

Lot No. 1. — This was fertilized with ten dollars' worth of reservoir
manure from the sinks of the institution, mixed with soil, estimated
at its comparative value with stable manure, and it produced 87
bushels of ears, or of shelled corn 43J bushels per acre.

Lots Nos. 2 and 3. — These were dressed with ten dollars' worth
of guano each to the acre, and produced 144 bushels of ears, or 72
bushels of shelled corn, being 36 bushels per aero.

Lot No. 4. — This was manured with ten dollars' worth of Mapcs'
super-phosphate of lime, and produced 85 bushels of ears, or of shelled
corn 424 bushels per acre.

Lot No. 5. — This was dressed with ten dollars' worth of De Burg"s
super-phosphate of lime, and produced 101 bushels of ears, or of
shelled corn 50^- bushels per acre.

Lot No. 6. — This was dressed with ten dollars' worth of ground
bone, and produced 90 bushels of ears, or of shelled corn 45 bushels
per acre.

On Lots Nos. 2 and 3 the seed corn was destroyed twice by the
strength of the guano, although it had been composted (see note) for
some weeks. f The crop was therefore late, and much injured by the
drought.

On lot No. 5, dressed with De Burg's super-phosphate of lime, the
corn was the heaviest and stoutest, yielding only one bushel of soft,
or pig, corn to the acre.

Thus it will be seen that of these lots, side by side, similarly con-
stituted and cultivated, and fertilized at equal expense, the results
were as follows : —

Guano, not fairly tried, produced . . . 36.6 per acre.

Mapes' super-phosphate of lime produced . . 12J

Reservoir manure produced .... I,;' "

Bone manure produced 45

De Burg's super-phosphate of lime produced . 50J

* The barn manure was composed of 120 cartloads of loam, and 10 do. of
meadow muck, to 220 loads of stable manure, and, when composted, estimated to
be worth one dollar a load, or three dollars per cord. The fifteen acres produced
1,312 bushels of ears, or G56 bushels of shelled corn, or at the rate of 43 11- lo
bushels per acre.

t The above fertilizers, previous to use, were mixed with live times their bulk of
meadow muck, and applied to the several lots in the hill.

SECRETARY'S REPORT. 21

But, for reasons above stated, these results, in a different season and
in other circumstances, may vary.

The weight of the stover, it will be seen below, docs not exactly
correspond with the grain, yet the largest yield produced also the
greatest amount of fodder.

Guano, ....
Reservoir manure, .

Mapcs' super-phosphate, .
De Burg's super-phosphate.
Ground bone, .

12,740 pounds per acre.

3,160

3,300

3,680

(Not weighed.)

Two acres of corn not included in the above were also planted with
different kinds of corn. One of these was mostly sweet. Of this
there was sold in the green state the amount of $41T2^. The bal-
ance at harvest time yielded 23 bushels of ears of sweet, 8 of pop, and
10 of a white corn, had of Rugglcs, Nourse & Mason. The other acre
was planted with seed corn from Hadley, Mass., and yielded 110
bushels of ears, of a very beautiful quality. These two acres were
fertilized with manure from the pigsty in 1853, at the rate of ten cords
to the acre, and the same quantity this year. Last year the product
was at the rate of 62£ bushels of shelled corn to the acre. This land
lies north of the institution.

POTATOES.

Of these there were nine acres in cultivation.

The following experiments were made on the Sibley lot, containing
five acres ; soil light — rather sandy ; ploughed seven inches deep,
furrowed both ways, thirty-six by thirty inches, and planted with the
St. Helena potato. This field produced corn in 1853, and was then
manured with about seven cords of barn manure to the acre. This
year the crop was hoed twice, but not hilled at all.

Lot No. 1. — This, like the others which follow, contained one acre.
It was manured with barn manure, one-half spread and ploughed in,
the balance put in the hill, at the rate of twelve dollars' worth to the
acre. Product, 5,189 lbs., or, at 60 lbs. per bushel, 864- bushels per
acre.

Lot No. 2. — This was dressed with twelve dollars' worth of guano,
and produced 5,535 lbs., or 92-J bushels per acre.

Lot No. 3. — This was dressed with twelve dollars' worth of Mapcs'
super-phosphate of lime, and produced 5,053 lbs., or 84J- bushels per
acre.

22 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.

Lot No. 4. — This was dressed with twelve dollars' worth of De-
Burg's super-phosphate of lime, and produced 4,641 lbs., or 77-|
bushels per acre.

Lot No. 5. — This was fertilized with super-phosphate of lime, at
half the expense of the foregoing, say six dollars per acre, and pro-
duced 3,637 lbs., or 60f bushels per acre.*

Further Experiments on Potatoes.

Two acres were planted on the Warren lot. This was dressed in
1853 with hog manure, at the rate of eight and one-third cords, and
about thirty bushels of coal-ashes to the acre. This year the land
received to the acre 400 lbs. of guano, applied in the hill. The
product was 359 bushels, or 179^ bushels to the acre.

Lot below the House. — This also contained two acres, and had been
mowed for three years without any dressing. Last year (1853) the
land was broken up and cultivated with corn for fodder, without
manure. This year it received, like the Warren lot, 400 lbs. of guano
to the acre, and produced 379 bushels, or 189^ bushels to the acre.

In all of the above cases the manure was applied in the hill.f

ROOT CEOPS.

Experiments on the Field by the Barn.

The soil was a deep, good loam, ploughed from twelve. to fifteen
inches deep. The previous crop, in 1853, was ruta-baga turnips.
The fertilizers named below were compounded with meadow muck
as before stated, and were spread and deeply ploughed in, the cost
of each being at the rate of twelve dollars per acre. Each lot con-
tained twenty-eight square rods.

CARROTS.

Lot No. 1. — This was dressed with guano, and produced 6,35 t lbs.,
or, at 55 lbs. per bushel, 115ff bushels, or 660 bushels per acre.

'<■ The potatoes on lot No. 1 were small, but numerous and good. Those of
Nos. 2, 3, 4 and 5 were all large and fine for the table.

t From these experiments, it will be seen that the results of these fertilizers in
the potato crop vary with the results in the corn crops. Dc Burg's super-phosphate
of lime, which produced the largest crop of corn, yielded the smallest crop of pota-
toes. Guano yielded the largest crop, even on land which had received 00
manure for four years, having been mowed three year.-, and last year cultivated with
corn for cut fodder. In this instance, ten dollars' worth of guano produced is:).',
bushels of superior potatoes per acre. Similar results in America and England
prove the value of this fertil/er, especially for potatoes.

SECRETARY'S REPORT. 23

Lot No. 2. — This was dressed with Mapes' super-phosphate of
lime, and produced 5,50-3 lbs., or lOO-j^ bushels, or a fraction less than
572 bushels per acre.

Lot No. 3. — This was fertilized with De Burg's super-phosphate of

lime, and produced 5,630 lbs., or 102T4T bushels, or a fraction less
than 585 bushels per acre.

Lot No. 4. — This was dressed with potash, and produced 6,046 lbs.,
or about 110 bushels, or at the rate of 628 bushels per acre.

Lot No. 5. — This was manured with barn manure, and produced
7,255 lbs., or 131-j^ bushels, or at the rate of 753 bushels per acre.

Experiments were also tried on two and a-half acres of old carrot
ground, upon which this root had been grown for seven years — soil
a light loam, ploughed ten inches deep.

Five-sixths of an acre was dressed with eighteen dollars' worth of
potash, dissolved and mixed with sixty bushels of coal ashes. The
product was 500 bushels, or 600 bushels to the acre, of as fine carrots
as were ever seen.

One and four-sixths of an acre was manured with reservoir manure,
estimated at its comparative value with barn manure, (say 8^ cords to
the acre.) The product was 900 bushels, or 540 bushels to the acre,
but the carrots were neither as large nor long as those dressed with
the potash and ashes.

From these experiments we learn that the various manures arrange
themselves as to their productive energy in the following order, the
cost of each being twelve dollars to the acre : —

Barn manure produced, of carrots, . . 753 bushels per acre.

Guano, 660 "

Potash, 628 "

De Burg's super-phosphate, . . . 585 "

Mapes' " " 572 "

Reservoir manure, ..... 540 "

The parsnip and onion crops were nearly a failure, occasioned by
stagnant water on the land soon after sowing.

Of ruta-baga and . other turnips, there were four acres, producing
1,119 bushels, or 279f bushels per acre. These were manured with
barn-yard manure, at the rate of 8£ cords to the acre.

The farm also produced crops of pease, beans, tomatoes, cabbages,
beets, pumpkins, squashes, and other vegetables ; apples, pears,
quinces, and other fruits, most of which have been consumed from
time to time on the premises, and of which the statistics need not
here be given.

41

tons

1,300 lbs

19

390 "

60

1,690 "

9

c<

0 "

23

(<

700 "

24 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.

From the memoranda of the farmer, the following statement is
collated in relation to the

HAY CROP.

English hay, ......

Meadow hay, ......

* Oats for fodder, ......

English hay, purchased standing on Fay Farm,

Total amount of fodder, ... . 93 tons 390 lhs.

In review of the foregoing statements, important facts may be
deduced in regard to the relative value of fertilizers. Stable manures
have always proved, and will doubtless continue to be, of standard
value. We would by no means detract from their worth, but would
urge the utmost care in their production, preservation and applica-
tion. But where these are insufficient, and cannot be easily applied.
others must be used, and it becomes a point of vast importance to
agriculturists to ascertain their comparative value and adaptation
to soils and crops. On this subject, our experiments, though tried in
an unfavorable season, and less satisfactory than we could wish,
reflect some light.

In relation to guano, they confirm the general sentiment which
has obtained, both in this country and in England, from its use, and
assign it a place among the most economical and valuable fertilizers.
It possesses peculiar advantages in humid climates and in clayey and
carbonaceous soils, where evaporation is less active than in thin or
silicious grounds. Hence in England its use has been continually
increasing ; and here, as there, it has proved not only useful for all
crops, but peculiarly successful in the potato and wheat crops. The
doubts which have been expressed in relation to its durability and
utility may be ascribed to its limited use and the want of scientific
application; and these remarks, to a greater or less extent, will apply
to all other concentrated manures. Much is yet to be learned,
and additional experiments are requisite to settle our opinions re-
specting them.

Therefore your committee recommend ;i continuation of similar
experiments (luring the next year, in the hope of a more propitious
BeaBon and more reliable results.

'•II of which is respectfully submitted.

M \ EISH v i i- I'. Wi i.ui:k.

John a. Nash.

* The oats were so injured by the drought that they were cut for fodder and
considered worth about the same as English hay.

SECRETARY'S REPORT. 25

The Committee on Labor also presented the following

RETORT.

The Committee on Labor have given as much time and attention to
the department committed to them as circumstances would permit.

It is a portion of farm operations of great importance, in an eco-
nomical point of view, as well as to the care and influence over the
boys when under the control of our men.

The rate of wages is necessarily high, in order to command men of
ability and character, calculated to improve the moral sense of the
boys, and to aid in carrying out the great object of the Trustees — their
reformation.

The men working by the month have boarded at the Institution, as
much to the annoyance and inconvenience of the Superintendent and
his family as to our own. We have repeatedly been requested to
provide some other place for them, and the Trustees have given notice
that they cannot board them another season. We have no building
at our command in which we can accommodate them. The conven-
ience and economy of having the men board with the farmer is so
apparent as to need no argument. It is for the Board to determine
what measures they will take in relation to this matter. The labor
employed on the farm is not only under the control of the farmer, but
he contracts with laborers, and discharges them at his pleasure. We
know little of them but through him. From the knowledge we have
on the subject, Ave think the farmer has been anxious to obtain men
who will do justice to the boys as well as perform their part in the
field.

The number of men employed on the farm, exclusive of those em-
ployed on permanent improvements, has averaged seven and one-half
for eight months from the first of April.

This included the gardener, who worked by the day, at one dollar
and fifty cents, and the farmer.

The wages given were $16, $18, $20, and $22 per month and board.

Amount paid monthly hands, .....

Mr. Doyle, as gardener, 160 days, at $1.50, .
Paid Institution for board of men, .....
Parmer's wages eight months, .....
Boys, average 42 a day, of 6 hours, at 10 cts., for 8 months,

$3,021 93

$872

07

240

00

602

43

433

33

874

10

26 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.

Paid for labor of hired men, exclusively employed on per-
manent improvements, . . . . . $616 75

Total paid for labor on the farm, .... $3,638 68

The labor on permanent improvements will, by the farmer's explana-
tion, exceed the amount above stated, and reduce the amount charge-
able to the farm, but not materially vary the result. The number
of men and boys thought to be necessary for four months to come, to
end the year, is four, two at $20 and two at $17 per month, and 20
boys daily.

Wages of men, exclusive of board, .... $296 00

Board four months, at $3 per week, .... 208 00

Farmer's salary four months, 214 67

Twenty boys at 10 cents per day, for four months, 208 00

$926 67
Add the amount for labor on farm before stated, . . 3,021 93

Total amount paid for labor on farm, exclusive of perma-
nent improvement, is $3,948 60

The income and other expenses your Committee have no knowl-
edge of, and it must be obtained from the legitimate sources.

Respectfully submitted.

Setii Speagtte.
H. W. Clapp.

December 1, 1854.

A committee was appointed, at this meeting, to confer with
the owners of the lands contiguous to the State Farm, and to
procure bonds from them for the sale of such lauds to the
Commonwealth, at any time on or before the first of April,
1 855, and this committee was requested to report at the next
meeting.

At the annual meeting of the Board of Agriculture, held at
the State House, on the third, fourth and fifth of January, Gov-
ernor Washburn was present, and presided until he was called
away to attend to his duties at the Council Chamber.

Before leaving the chair, he remarked that, as it was proba-
bly the last time lie should have the honor to meet with them,

SECRETARY'S REPORT. 27

he wished to say a Bingle word at parting. Ho should be doing
injustice to them individually, as well as to the cause in which
they wore engaged, if he forcborc to express to them the high
personal regard which his intercourse with them had so much
strengthened, and the interest he felt in the success of their
efforts to promote the agriculture of the Commonwealth.

It had been a source of profound satisfaction to him that he
had been permitted to take a humble part with them in urging
forward the work in which they were engaged. And he counted
it by no means the least of the honors or pleasures connected
with the place which gave him the privilege of meeting and
acting with them, that it had -brought him into so intimate
relation with gentlemen who constituted that Board, and to
know by personal observation their devotion to the purposes
for which the Board was created.

He was happy to believe that the interests of agriculture
were assuming that importance in the public mind which their
extent and magnitude demanded. Its position among the
other callings and pursuits of our citizens was becoming bet-
ter understood and appreciated in the Commonwealth than it
had hitherto been.

Not a little of this was owing to the character and influence
of the members of this Board, and men like them, who had
brought to it character, intelligence and practical experience.

The need of some measure to elevate agriculture, and pro-
mote its success in the Commonwealth, had long been felt.
How it could be best done, had long been a desideratum in the
policy of the government.

The plan which had now been adopted seemed to him, in
the present state of science and public sentiment, the best,
and perhaps the only one that could be devised. It brought
to the subject the combined knowledge and experience of gen-
tlemen from different parts of the Commonwealth, who, by
free conferences with each other, were able to test theories,
and elicit what the public want to know — the truth of these, as
determined by accurate experiment and sound observation.

It provided, too, for a body of men whose interests were the
same with those of every farmer in the Commonwealth, and

28 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.

whose judgment and accuracy could not be impeached by sus-
picion of improper bias or self-interest..

He could not but congratulate them that they had been made
the honored instruments in carrying out so interesting and im-
portant an experiment. He doubted not they would continue
to pursue the objects for which they had been appointed, and
that they would find their reward in a proper appreciation of
their services by a generous and confiding community.

In taking leave of his associates at that Board, over whose
deliberations he had been permitted to preside for a brief pe-
riod, he again assured them of his sentiments of high personal
respect, of his best wishes for their success in every pursuit
of life, and for their long-continued happiness and prosperity.

He thereupon left the chair, and took leave of the Board.

It was hereupon voted, that the thanks of the Board be pre-
sented to His Excellency Governor Washburn for the prompt
and efficient manner in which he has attended and presided at
its meetings, and that the Secretary be requested to transmit
to him a copy of this vote, and request of him a copy of his
remarks, to be entered upon the records, and to be printed.

The committee instructed to confer with the owners of lands
adjoining the State Farm at Westborough, and procure bonds
from them for the sale of such as are needed by the Common-
wealth, presented their report through Mr. Lewis, the Chair-
man, that they had attended to the duty assigned them, and
procured bonds running to the first of April, and amounting in
the aggregate to the sum of $19,340.

At this meeting it was voted, that a committee be appointed
to petition the Legislature to grant an appropriation sufficient
to purchase the additional lands, as recommended by the Com-
mittee on Improvements, and which the interests of the State,
and the increased wants of the State Reform School, require.

Messrs. French, Lewis and Brooks, were appointed as this
committee. Voted, also, that the same committee be instructed
to ask for an appropriation of six thousand dollars, for the pur-
pose of permanent improvements on the farm, and for agricul-
tural experiments.

The subject of the most judicious management of the farm
was now taken up and discussed ; and, on motion, it was voted

SECRETARY'S REPORT. 29

to appoint a superintending committee of eight to manage the
farm. This committee .was appointed, consisting of Messrs.
Wilder, French, Brooks, Newell, Sprague, Clapp, Nash and
Chandler.

A committee was appointed, consisting of Messrs. Brown
and Lewis, to consider what action should be taken with ref-
erence to the methods of awarding premiums by the societies.
This committee reported that some evils had arisen from the
practice which had grown up in some parts of the Common-
wealth, by which individuals claimed and received several pre-
miums on the same article from different societies, and that it
was expedient to petition the Legislature to pass a law by
which this practice should be prohibited.

In the preceding pages, I have laid before the Legislature
the principal doings of the Board for the past year. Much
time has been spent in the discussion and arrangement of mi-
nute details, which called for instant attention, and in the
investigation, by means of committees, of various subjects in
relation to which information seemed to be needed. These
could not well be imbodied in a general report ; but their re-
sults will, for the most part, be found in the account of the
management of the State Farm already given, and in the re-
ports of the various committees to which different subjects
were referred.

One great and important object, for which the friends of agri-
cultural improvement are now laboring, is to find means of
anticipating and guarding against the evils of a disastrous sea-
son like that which has just passed. From the nature of his
occupation, the farmer, like the sailor, must direct his course
somewhat by his judgment of the future. Indeed, so many of
the daily operations of the farm are dependent on the state of
the weather that he is of necessity a meteorologist ; and, from
his constant habit of observation, he often becomes more skil-
ful and more weather-wise than the scientific observer with all
the aids of science. Meteorology promises some happy results
for agriculture hereafter; but at present, investigators in this
department of natural science must be rather the historians of

30 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.

the past than prophets of the future. As meteorological ob-
servations are continued, however, from year to year, with the
aid of the vast facilities which science has given us, data will
probably be obtained, from which we may predict, with some
degree of certainty, the character of the coming season.

The climate of New England has never been sufficiently
studied by agriculturists. The almanac is the only work on
meteorology found on the shelf of the farmer. In this he now
and then notes down the state of the weather, but he rarely
attempts to keep accurate records of it from year to year,
from which some reliable general principles might be deduced.
So little attention has been paid to the difference between our
climate and that of England, whence most of our agricultural
precepts have been derived, that much unjust prejudice has at
times prevailed against scientific agriculture, or what has been
termed " book farming," when, in fact, an unexpected result
has frequently been owing to this very difference. I shall take
occasion to allude to this subject hereafter. For the present,
I propose to state some of the characteristics of our own cli-
mate, and to give the results of some investigations to which I
was led by the long-protracted and disastrous drought of the
past year.

Scarcely had the summer opened upon us when complaints
began to be heard in all parts of the country of the terrible
effects of a drought almost without a parallel in the annals of
agriculture.

To one wholly unacquainted with our climate, with its ex-
treme alternations of heat and cold, it would be difficult to
describe the effects of our droughts, or to give an idea of the
gloom which they cast over the face of nature. The heavens
over our heads are literally as brass. A look of despair takes
l he place of the green, smiling aspect of spring. The pastures
arc dried up, the leaves are scorched, and the flowers wither;
even the golden corn, the pride of New England, which so
generally luxuriates in the fierceness of our summer sun, curls
and sometimes withers beyond recover)'. Meantime, the power
of the cloudless sun is intense. The panting animals in our fields
vainly seek some shelter against the intolerable heat; the
springs die ; the lakes and ponds sink in their beds, or becomo

SECRETARY'S REPORT. 31

infected ; the living stream shrinks to a thread-like rill ; and the
very fishes die for want of water. There is no rain by day
no dew by night; for the refreshing vapor, we have but the
choking dust, which floats in the air till respiration even is
impeded, or falls on the parched and juiceless herbage, to rise
an impalpable powder at every step. And still day after day
the cloudless sun looks down upon the fainting earth, as if to
draw from it all strength for the present, all hope for the
future.

And while the fields are thus destroyed by the burning heat,
fires run through the forests with frightful and irresistible
rapidity, destroying the growth of centuries, and sweeping
away every thing in their course, till only the blackness of ashes
marks the site of bridges, houses and mills, and the hopes of
the farmer seem to be utterly prostrated. This is but a feeble
and inadequate picture of the suffering and despair which
attend a long-protracted New England drought.

But the immediate ill effects of a long drought are not its
only evil consequences. It is too often followed by a distress-
ing scarcity of hay, and materially raises the prices of all
provisions for the consumption of man, thus bringing great
suffering upon all not prepared to meet a long-continued
drain upon their resources.

But while, in many instances, the complaints and apprehen-
sions of a failure of the harvest arc real and well founded, it
often happens that a panic is created for the purpose of effect-
ing the prices of produce, or making a sale of large stores of
grain. The facilities for spreading such an alarm are great,
and there are always enough who are ready to use them. It
seems, therefore, peculiarly appropriate, at this time, to inquire
into the cause, the frequency and the severity of droughts, in
the past history of the agriculture of New England, that wc
may sec with what regularity the harvest follows the seedtime
in the fulfilment of the promise that they shall never fail, and
may appreciate fully the importance and necessity of guarding
against these seasons of suffering.

The difficulties of such an investigation cannot easily be esti-
mated by those who have never attempted it. No accurate
meteorological records were kept till within a comparatively

32 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.

recent period. The thermometer was not invented till the
year 1590, thirty years before the settlement of New England,
and "was not brought to any degree of perfection till the year
1700; and we cannot rely upon the accuracy of observations
made by it previous to 1750. But few meteorological journals
were ever kept in this State till within the last century. In
order, therefore, to bring together all the information of value
and interest on the subject, many old manuscript diaries must
be found, and carefully read from beginning to end, and com-
pared with each other. The information obtained in this way,
though it cannot be regarded as scientifically exact, will yet be
found to be sufficiently accurate for the purposes of this inves-
tigation. It will also give us a clear idea of some of the
trials to which the early cultivators of the soil of New Eng-
land were subjected.

The climate of New England is well known to be far drier
than that of England. The first settlers had some experience
of this, as early as 1623 when a drought commenced whose
severity was well nigh destructive to the hopes and plans of
the infant colony. The drought lasted from the third week in
May till the middle of July. Little rain fell for six weeks, and
the weather all the while was exceedingly hot. The corn,
planted, as usual, with fish in the hill, began to wither, and the
highlands all parched up.* After this it is probable that what
would now be called a severe drought did not occur for several
years. The dense forests that covered nearly the whole country,
the only openings being a few clearings made by the Indians for
cultivation, must naturally have afforded some protection against
the intense heat which we often feel. The hardest trials of
the early English settlers appeared in another shape, and it is
not till 1630 that we find it noticed that "the summer is a
good deal hotter than in Old England/' and from the fact that,
in 1634, it is recorded that "the summer is hotter than many

* The fish used were alewives, ;it that time called " shads."
" According to the maimer of the Indians, we manured our ground with her-
, or rather shads, -which we have in gri al abundance and take with greal ease
at our doors." "You may Bee in one township a hundred acree together, set with
these flsh, every acre taking a thousand of them; and an acre thus dressed will
produce and yield so much corn as three acres without fish." — Chronicles of the
Pilgrims.

SECRETARY'S REPORT.

before," we may infer that no great suffering had occurred
from droughts up to that time.

Several of the preceding summers, on the contrary, had been
exceedingly wet and cold, like that of 1632, causing "great
store of mosquitoes and rattlesnakes,'" while the worms made
extensive ravages on the corn.

The next drought of any severity was that in 1639, when
little or no rain fell from the 26th of April till the 10th of
June. There was a very general alarm. " The corn began to
wither, and great fear there was it would all be lost." A fast
being appointed on account of the drought, "the very day after
there fell a good shower." The other years in which droughts
occurred, previous to 1650, were 1644, 1647, and 1648; that
of 1647 causing great scarcity of provisions. But during
this time, more than one winter was remarkable for its severity.
In 1641-2, "Boston Bay was a bridge of ice as far as the
eye could see, and the Indians asserted that such a winter had
not been known in forty years." Men, oxen, horses and carts
passed over the ice with perfect safety for five weeks together ;
and in the spring of 1642, the price of cows, which had been
as high as £22, suddenly fell to £6, £7, and £8. The winters
of 1630, 1632, and 1639, also, are mentioned as very sharp and
" terrible cold ; " but it is probable that they were so only as
contrasted with those of England, or on account of want of
sufficient protection against their rigor. In 1645, the winter
was said to be " the earliest and sharpest since we arrived in
the country," while 1646 and 1649 were caterpillar years.

In the next ten years no considerable drought occurred.
But the severe winter of 1654 is worthy of notice, as it has
some relation to what follows. As early as the 16th of De-
cember, the cold was of sufficient intensity to freeze over Bos-
ton Bay, so " that in a very few days it was firm to pass betwixt
the town and Long Island, and so continued above a month."
The harbor was again frozen over in 1659. The canker worms,
in 1658, 1659, 1660, and 1661, made great havoc with the apples
in Boston and vicinity, and the trees looked in June as if it
were November. In 1658, the caterpillars, also, did great harm
to fruit trees.

Then came in 1662, early in the season, a very great drought,

5

34 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.

'• insomuch that the grass and corn were so scorched there was
little likelihood of any harvest." This continued till the 12th
of June.

.Most farmers have the impression that there was little diffi-
culty in raising good crops of wheat in the early periods of
New England; but from the testimony of many old diaries, it is
evident that it was always an uncertain crop. In 1663, early
in July, "the best wheat (as also some other grain) was
blasted in many places, so that whole acres were not worth
reaping. We have had much drought the last summer, (1662,)
and excess of wet several other springs, but this of blasting
is the first so general and remarkable that I yet heard of in
New England." But this blasting is not unfrequently mentioned
afterwards; for the very next year (1664) the wheat was very
generally blasted, " and in sundry towns scarce any left,"
while the latter part of the summer was very droughty, much
of the grass being scorched up. The blast returned again in
1665 and 1666 with great severity.

The next dry summer was in 1666, when most of the grain
was scorched up, and the Indian corn eaten by the worms.
The spring of 1669 was so dry that "the ground in some
places began to chop." This was followed in 1670 by another
dry summer.

June 14, 1672, was kept as a day of humiliation in all the
churches because of a great drought ; " and the Lord heard
prayer, and in hay time much hay was lost by an overmuch
rain." In the following year, (1673,) the months of March
and April being very cold, many cattle died in all parts of the
country for want of hay.

In 1675, there was some complaint of want of rain; and in
16.81, "in June, July and August, was a great drought through-
out the country, to the great loss in corn and grasses, valued
at many thousand pounds."

The summer of L685 was also dry. though not enough to do
any great injury to the crops. In August, L686, [ncn
Mather writes, "A great drought: swamps on lire iu many
parts of the country; could not be quenched. The lire burnt
under ground in some places six \\'c{." It began early in sum-
mer, and continued through June, and till the L8th of duly,

SECRETARY'S RKPORT. 35

after which it appeared again. The drought was called "grcal
and terrible." There were also severe droughts in duly,
1692, and in duly and part of August, L693. The cold winter
of 1697, resembling that of 1641, preceded a summer marked
by •■ a sore and long-continued drought" in duly and August.

Thus we It: ed over a period of eighty years of the

ntecnth century. The years remarkable for droughts were
L623, L639, L644, 1647, 1662, L664, 1666, 1669, 1670, 1672,
L681, 1086, 1692, 1693, and 1697, in all fifteen, though a few
other seasons, like 1 648, were marked by dry weather. This is
a smaller proportion than will be found in subsequent years, and
the difference may be explained by the fact that the settlers at
first had no means of observing accurately, and it is possible
that there were more droughts than we have any record of, and
that, on account of the small portion of the country under cul-
tivation, comparatively little harm arose .from an ordinary
drought, especially as the settlers relied very much upon the
salt marshes and the wet meadows for hay.

In 1704, there was a slight drought. In June, 1705, it was
so dry that "corn and grass perished pretty much;" and in
1707, "water was not to be had for man or beast without
great difficulty." In the year 1714, there was a drought of
unusual severity. The distinct recollection of it survived many
years after. In 1 748, we find it referred to as the Great Drought,
with which the one of that year is to be compared; and it is
known that the following spring, 1715, was one of very great
suffering, on account of the scarcity of provisions.

From 1720 to the present time we have somewhat more re-
liable statistics in the diary of the Rev. Thomas Smith, of Port-
land, the journals of Dr. Holyoke and Dr. Prince, of Salem,
Professor Farrar, of Cambridge, and many other sources.
From Smith we learn that, in 1722, there was in July " an ex-
ceeding dry time as ever was." In 1724, he says, July 23,
'•' Great drought ; every thing burnt up." This drought con-
tinued a long time, and was very general in the vicinity of
Boston.

The spring of 172(5 was wet and backward, so much so that
the peach and apple trees did not begin to blossom at Portland
till the 20th of May. Then followed a drought in dune, cans-

36 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.

ing a short crop of hay and great distress. In 1727 came
another severe drought. The hay crop was again cut short,
and many cattle died from starvation during the following
winter. The spring and summer of 1728 were also very dry.
especially in the month of June, when there began to be great
suffering for want of rain. Here we have three years in suc-
cession in which droughts occurred. In 1730, July 7, "The
drought came on very severely, and prevailed in such a manner
as was never known." November 5. — " There is, I think, more
grass now than in the summer."

The year 1737 was marked by its excessive dryness. Smith
says, April 21, "All the talk is, no corn, no hay, and there
is not a peck of potatoes to eat in all the eastern country."
April 25. — "No grass at all." May 17. — " The grass don't grow,
for want of rain ; hay very scarce." October 23. — " It was never
known to be so dry ; no sawing nor grinding." November 24. —
" No grinding ; we have had a bag of corn go from mill to mill
for about two months, and not ground yet." During the sum-
mer of this year there was great scarcity of corn, and many
went about begging their neighbors to sell them a quart at any
price, to keep them from starvation. In 1738, too, there was
a drought in some sections of the country, " in such a manner
as the like was never known."

The following spring (1739) was also very dry; there was
scarcely any rain for a month. Here we find another series of
three years of drought.

In 1743 there were "millions of devouring worms in armies,
threatening to cut off every green thing. Hay very scarce,
£7 and £8 a load." In the fall there was no rain for many
weeks, so that, in November, the mills were stopped.

June 26, 1746. — " It comes on a very dry time." July 9. — " A
melancholy drought advances." 31. — " The ground is exceed-
ing dry." August 15. — "It is thought the present is the
greatest drought that ever was in New England." August 24. —
" Plentiful showers."

This drought cut oil', to a great extent, both the corn and
the grass, and greatly increased the price of both. Corn rose
from ten to twenty-six shillings a bushel : and in November of
this year, hay sold in Boston at L'20 a load. During the an-

SECRETARY'S REPORT. 37

tumn of the next year (1747) there was no water in the streams
for grinding, on account of the dry weather; and in 1748, (to
show another series of droughts,) all accounts concur in say-
ing that the drought was unparalleled in the history of the
country, except when George I. was crowned, in 171-1. On
May 15, Smith says, ''Unusually hot, dry weather." 31. —
• Melancholy time ; all the talk is about the heat and drought ;
never the like." June 20. — "No rain except showers in the
country this year." July 10. — "Dying hot. It is a most mel-
ancholy dry time ; the grass in the pastures is till burnt up."
1". — "Steady rain." The English grass and the grain were
cut short, though the Indian corn stood it very well. Fires
raged in many places, and swept over many hundred acres.
The farmers long remembered the drought of 1748; and, from
all accounts, it seems never to have been equalled previous to
that time. Men were obliged, in many instances, to kill their
cattle for want of food. One farmer, who owned twenty cows,
was compelled to kill eleven, and many were wintered entirely
on rag-weed. The suffering during the winter was intense ;
and scarcely had the spring opened when (April, 1749) an
awful drought commenced, and drove the farmers almost to de-
spair. Cattle were every where suffering for want of food,
and were driven to browse in the woods, while many farmers
went from forty to sixty miles into the woods to cut meadows.
This continued through May and June. The Indian corn
was seriously injured, but a rain on the Gth of July revived
it. And while the drought threatened to destroy every thing,
the grasshoppers appeared in myriads, eating up whole acres
of potatoes. Smith says, July 3, " I reckon my poultry (about
a hundred) eat ten thousand grasshoppers every day." The
inhabitants of Xahant formed a line, and drove them with
bushes into the sea by millions. Meantime the heat was in-
tense. It was said to be "the most remarkable time that ever
we or our fathers saw;" and at Boston it was recorded, July
!. "Never more distressing time for pasture; only one-tenth
of a crop of hay." 18. — "Extreme hot, dry weather, such as
has not been known in the memory of man — so scorching that
the creatures can but just live for the want of grass." 24. —
••Thanksgiving for seasonable and refreshing rains." This

38 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.

summer was followed by so hard a winter in 1750 that it was
difficult to keep cattle alive, and many were left to take care
of themselves by browsing in the woods. Hay was imported
from England.

Dry weather began again in July, 1752, and seems to have
been severe and long continued; for Smith says, September 31,
" Dry, dry, dry ; melancholy drought.'' October 30. — li We won-
derfully fail in our sauce, by reason of the drought." And Mr.
Lane's diary, kept in New Hampshire, says, August 26, "A
severe frost, which killed the corn and almost every green
thing; there was scarcely any sound corn raised, and people
were put to great difficulty for seed corn in the spring; and
the spring following there was such a scarcity of provisions,
both corn and meat, that it would make the hardest heart ache
to hear the complaints of multitudes of people ready to perish
for want of food, and begging for a handful of corn." In the
summer it was imported and sold at forty-five shillings a bushel.

In 1754, Smith says, July 1, " I have no grass growing on
my mowing ground, and there is no feed on the Neck ; the rea-
sons are, the open winter, three weeks' early drought, and the
grasshoppers." 22. — "There is a melancholy drought." October
24. — "A great storm; the earth is filled with water." This was
one century ago.

Three years after, in 1757, he says, June 1, "Avery dry
time ; melancholy tidings of the drought from Boston and
vicinity." 19. — ''The drought awfully increases; the grain
and grass are much cut short."

The next three years were wet and cold, but fruitful. The
spring of 1758 was so backward that people did not generally
begin to plant till the end of May, and the corn was spoiled by
the dampness. " The corn being green, stunk in our chambers.
Corn sold at £4 per bushel." And in 1760 it was said, on
June 26, '■ There have been but twenty-four hours of hot weather
this year." And yet all these years are spoken of as remark-
ably fruitful.

It is a fact familiar to every farmer, that a low temperature,
evenly distributed over the spring and summer months, greatly
favors the production of grasses, because most plants neither
flower nor leaf out very abundantly without a large quantity

SECRETARY'S REPORT. 39

of moisture. The grass grows with such rapidity, when well
supplied with moisture, that iu Lombard}', where irrigation is
vi'iv general, they often cut four and five crops during the
summer, and this, though there are four or five months when
vegetation is at a stand. In our wet seasons it is not uncom-
mon to get two or three crops, while in very dry years we
may think ourselves fortunate if we can get one good one.

Smith says, in 17(11. June 25, "It is as melancholy dry a
time as I ever saw." July 5. — "As great a drought as in
1749.'" 7. — "Fast, on< account of the distressing drought/'
11. — -Gentle showers.'' August 1. — "The drought awfully
continues.'' 12. — " Xo feed on the Neck a great while." 1 6. —
" The drought increases." 19. — " Storm of rain."

The crop of hay was very much below the average, having
suffered excessively from the drought, and the grain was still
more injured. Corn could not be had the following winter,
and many who were accustomed to use it were obliged to resort
to biscuit and flour. And while the drought was burning up
the grass and the crops, fires raged in the woods, destroying-
mills and bridges, and doing much other damage. The rain
came on the 19th of August, and "remarkably renewed the
face of the parched earth."'

This year would doubtless have been long remembered and
referred to, as one of the most distressing epochs in the his-
tory of farming, but for the terrible drought of the next year.
(1762,) which exceeded every thing of the kind before known in
the country. This drought deserves a passing notice.

The winter of 1761-2 had been long and dreary, and the
snow, which began to fall as early as the third of December,
constantly accumulated till it was more than five feet in depth
on a level. In many places it had drifted until it was piled up
in mountains. It was a time of deep distress for the poor
every where. The drought of the previous summer had greatly
diminished the supplies of hay, and farmers had depended on
getting through the winter by browsing their cattle in the
woods. This hope was now cut oft" by the deep snow. The
poor, suffering, starving animals, cows, horses, sheep and swine,
died one after another, as if the cup of distress were not full
enough already. Hay sold at one hundred pounds a ton, and

40 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.

in many towns corn could not be bought, and it had to be dealt
out little by little, with fear that it would not hold out through
the winter. Passing from town to town was out of the ques-
tion ; indeed, there was no communication between different
parts of the same town ; and this difficulty continued far into
the month of March. Some huge mountains of snow lingered
even till the 28th of April. The spring, therefore, was very
backward; and this added much to the sufferings of the people,
already, it would seem, at their height.

At length a few vessels appeared in March, and people came
down from the country towns "and lugged the corn up through
the snow drifts, leading their horses." Corn sold at three
pounds fifteen shillings a bushel, and rapidly rose to six pounds
a bushel, even after the spring had opened.

All, rich and poor, were compelled to buy provisions. Nor
did the distresses of this memorable year end here. The plough-
ing could not be done in season in the spring, partly on account
of the loss of oxen and horses in the winter, partly from the
want of hay, which made the few which were left almost unfit
to work, and partly on account of the lateness of the spring,
which crowded all the labors of the farm into a very short
time.

When at last the corn was planted, millions of worms ap-
peared to eat it up, and the ground must be planted again and
again. Thus many fields were utterly ruined.

It was time now, in the month of May, for the drought to
take its turn in the work of destruction, and it set in with ter-
rible severity, even before there had been rain enough to settle
the ground after the frost. The grass dried up almost as soon
as it came out of the earth. In many instances people were
obliged to mow what little they had in June; and they had so
little that it sold for one hundred and twenty pounds a ton.
The stalks of the Indian corn dried up, and it was thought it
would die. Now fires raged with quenchless fury, spreading
fear and dismay in their course, and destroying property to ;i
vast amount. Fields were laid waste, barns and mills were
swept away, and families were driven from their houses. In
one town, no less than six houses and two sawmills, as well
as several barns and many animals, were consumed, and in

SECRETARY'S REPORT. 41

another six families were burned out. As early as the 5th of
July there began to be fear of an absolute famine, on account
of the -melancholy dry time." Smith says, July 7, "A fast,
on occasion of the grievous drought. Fires continue."' 22. —
"Fires continue." 28. — "Famine feared." .°>(). — "A steady
rain for several hours." But there was no very considerable
rain till the 18 th of August, "when a plentiful rain remarkably
renewed the face of nature.

The succeeding winter also was very trying. Our journal-
ist describes it as being as " severe as any we have had ; " he
says that " people were reduced to the last and extremest dis-
tress;" that there was " scarce a bushel of corn in the whole
eastern country ; " that there were "" deep snows and difficult
travelling ; " that " hay was scarce, and sold at one hundred
and twenty pounds a ton.'* But although the following sum-
mer (1763) was very wet, so much so, indeed, that on the 1st
of July we find the record, " No summer yet," and on the 14th,
" Not a hot night this summer ; indeed, no hot weather at all,
but constantly wet," and on the 21st, "There have not been
for two months past forty-eight hours of fair weather at one
time:'* and on the 9 th of August, "Weather continues foggy
and wet,*' yet we are told that every thing was "very plenty
except money."

A very dry time occurred again in 1764, beginning early in
August, and continuing through the month, and again in 1765,
in April and August. The month of July, 1767, was exceed-
ingly dry, and much alarm was felt. After this there was no
"very melancholy dry time " till 1770 ; in July and August of
that year came a drought of such severity that there was little
prospect of corn. The worms had done much injury in the
spring, and a "very uncommon sort of worm, called the canker
worm, ate the corn and grass all as they went, above ground,
which cut short the crops in many places." But rain fell on
the 18th of August.

In 1772 we find complaints of the drought in the vicinity of
Boston. In July the pastures were all dried up ; there was but
very little corn, and all kinds of grain suffered very much.
July, 1773, was also very dry, and in 1774 there was little or
no rain from the 7th of July to the 17th of August. The
pastures looked like winter, and very little corn was harvested

42 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.

on account of the drought. This was in the neighborhood of
Boston, but the suffering extended as far as Maine. Smitli
says, August 11, "A melancholy dry time." September 1. —
"Very hot and dry." 16. — "An exceeding dry time." October
10. — "Every day is unusually warm, and constantly dry."

The next three years were years of plenty and prosperity :
and it is a curious fact, that the springs of all of them were
late and backward, and the winters of 1776 and 1777 were of
marked severity, being among the coldest ever known. Smith
says, May 15, 1777, "The coldest weather and the most back-
ward spring that ever was." June 30. — " Cold, very cold ;
nothing like it through the whole spring; and yet every thing-
is nourishing except Indian corn." August 18. — "Never were
there such gardens, never such fields, never such pastures,
never such a year for every thing." September 2. — " The
earth is burdened with its fruits."

A cold and backward spring is often followed by a fruitful
summer. This is a fact familiar to every observer. In con-
sequence of the hard frosts we frequently have in May, it often
happens that fruit trees which have blossomed early are in-
jured beyond recovery ; while, on the other hand, if they have
been retarded by a cold and wet spring, they come on very
rapidly, and are as far advanced, on the whole, by the 10th of
June, as they would have been if they had started earlier in
spring. Thus, in 1824, the cherry trees blossomed on the 1st
of May, and the peaches on the 4th ; but a few days afterwards
a cold snap came, which killed the shoots of all tender trees,
so that the early warm weather was in the end really injurious
to the groAvth of the year.

In 1778 the winter was unusually severe, but the spring was
forward, and the weather fine, till July, when complaints began
to be heard. July 2. — "It is a very dry time." 18. — "The
drought awfully continues." 27. — "It is as grievous a drought
as ever was known." 31. — "People fear a famine. The In-
dian corn curls, and is like to come to nothing ; and there is no
prospect of any potatoes, nor turnips, nor any sauce at all."
August 6. — '• Plentiful rains."

Droughts of a limited extent are noticed in the summer of
1781, 1782, and 1786, but in neither of these years was there

SECRETARY'S REPORT. 43

much suffering from this cause; for, from 1779 to 1787, there
was a succession of favorable seasons, and the various crops
were remarkably abundant.

In the course of our examination, we arc led to the conclu-
sion, that a small amount of rain, evenly distributed over the
season, will afford sufficient moisture for the support of vege-
tation ; while, had the same amount fallen in a single shower, it
would have done comparatively little good. Thus, in 1791,
2.30 inches of rain fell in April, 2.55 inches in May, 2.G9 inches
in June, and but 1.79 inches in July.-" These amounts are be-
low the average of those months, and would have led to a severe
drought in July had not the distribution been very general over
the month. To show the distribution of rain in July, for in-
stance, when the smallest quantity fell, it may be stated, that it
rained on the 30th of June, on the 8th, 12th, 14th, 16th, 17th,
20th, 21st, 22d, and 24th of July; though, as will be seen from
the amount given above, no great quantity of rain could have
fallen at any time. And again, in 1792, the rains for July were
but 1.60 inches, and for August but 1.34 inches, but the distri-
bution over these months was as follows : In July, it rained on
the 9th, 10th, 16th, 17th, 21st, 24th, and 30th; and in August,
on the 6th, 12th, 13th, 14th, 24th, 25th, 28th, and 30th; and
we find, accordingly, no notice of any great difficulty from want
of rain in that year. But had the same amount fallen on one
day. and the other thirty days been clear, it is easy to see that
vegetation must have suffered severely.

Soils, it is true, differ greatly in character, and some are far
more liable to suffer from drought than others ; but all soils
depend more or less upon the amount of rain which falls, and
its distribution over the seasons, for their fertility. The
amount required differs of course with the nature of each soil,
the temperature of the atmosphere, and its power to promote
evaporation from the surface, and upon many other circum-
stances, which make all accurate investigations difficult and
complicated.

The earth, with our climate, should retain at least three-
hundredths of an inch of water to every inch in depth during

* As appears by a record kept by Dr. Prince, of Salem, which is now deposited
in the library of the Essex Institute.

44 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.

the scorching suns of summer, and it should not retain more
than nine-hundredths at any growing season. To maintain
this proportion of moisture, it is of the utmost consequence to
have a general and even distribution over the spring and sum-
mer months.

It has been found, by accurate experiment, that the depth to
which rain water penetrates in a clayey soil (composed of 43
parts of carbonate of lime, 33 parts alumina, and 20 parts
sand) equals six times the depth of water fallen. A rain of
.04 of an inch would penetrate .24 of an inch of soil ; a rain of
.5 inch would penetrate 3.0 inches of soil; and so on. This
supposes the surface nearly dry when the rain falls. But sup-
pose a rain to fall before the preceding rain has wholly evapo-
rated, that is, before the earth is dry ; the rain penetrates still
deeper than before, increasing the depth of moisture. And
these lower strata, when once saturated, retain their moisture
of course longer than the surface, holding in reserve a fund of
moisture for the roots of plants in times of drought.

During the winter months, or when the amount of evapora-
tion is not equal to the quantity of rain, all soils which retain
more than forty per cent, of water are wet. But when the
amount of evaporation exceeds or doubles the quantity of rain,
they dry up, and a drought succeeds. It is necessary, there-
fore, in order to know the severity of a drought, to study the
distribution of rain over the seasons, and the amount of evapo-
ration in the same seasons. The most serious droughts are
usually those that come in early spring, and after them those
that occur later in summer, during the ripening of grains.
Dry springs injure the grass and grain crops ; while an over-
abundance of rain sometimes causes the grain to blast, and the
Indian corn to turn yellow. Moist climates, like that of Eng-
land, are best for the grasses and root crops ; and those in
which such severe droughts occur, as in our own, require a
very different system of husbandry.

It is evident, also, that the inclination of the soil must exer-
cise a marked influence over the quantity of water which it
would require to prevent its being two moist or too dry.
Sands require more moisture than clays. This is so well under-
stood in countries where irrigation is practised, that it is known

SECRETARY'S REPORT. 45

to be sufficient to water stiff soils, which contain only twenty
per cent, of sand, once in fifteen days in summer ; if they con-
tain forty per cent, of sand, they arc watered every eight or
ten days ; if sixty per cent., every five days ; if eighty per
cent., every three days. From this it is plain that different
soils require different quantities of rain to insure them from
drought.

A drought of some severity is recorded in the year 1796,
continuing for more than a month, in August and September.
In the first of these months there were but two slight showers,*
and not an entire cloudy day in the whole month. July also
had been very dry. But little rain fell in June and July of the
next year, (1797;) and but for its general distribution over the
month, its small quantity would have occasioned much suffer-
ing. The amount in June was but 2.44 inches, and in July but
1.65 inches; yet it rained in July on the 8th,. 9th, 14th, 23d,
25th, 27th, and 28th.

The next bad drought was in 1805. The latter part of the
spring of that year was quite dry, and there was not an entire
rainy day from the 16th of May to the 29th of September. In
June there were slight showers on seven different days ; in
the whole month of July there was but one entire cloudy day,
and but four light showers, while there were no less that twen-
ty-two days on which not a cloud was to be seen. There were
showers in August on eight different days, which afforded some
relief, and more abundant rains set in on the 12th of Septem-
ber.

In August, 1808, there were but two light showers, and
but one entire cloudy day. In June, 1815, also, there was
much want of rain. In 1818, no rain fell, according to the
Journal of Dr. Holyoke, from the 3d of August till the 7th of
September ; there was but one entire cloudy day during the
whole month of August, and only a few days were even par-
tially cloudy.

The spring of 1825 was forward, but the drought of April
and May was exceedingly unfavorable to grass.

There were but two light showers in April, one of which
was on the 1st, the other on the 29 th, and but six cloudy days.

* Dr. Holyoke' s Journal.

46 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.

The month of May followed with only four slight rains and
seven whole cloudy days. In July vegetation suffered severe-
ly ; there were but five light showers in the whole month, two
of which were on the 1st, and only five cloudy days. It was
oppressively hot at the same time, the thermometer, from the
10th to the 21st, ranging from 95° to 97° in the shade.*
August was also exceedingly dry, there being but three rainy
days. In this year there were sixty-four days in which the
thermometer rose above 80°, twenty-eight of which were in
July. There were fifteen days on which it rose above 90°.
The drought was called very severe.

In 1826, the earlier part of the season was remarkably dry.
and the springs were lower than in 1825. There was no rain
in May till the 22d, and then but little. t

There were local droughts in August, 1828, when but .64 of
an inch of rain fell atWaltham; June, 1832, August, 1836,
July, 1837, and July, 1838.

The month of June, 1841, was very dry, only 1.17 in. of
rain having fallen in Waltham, and 1.65 in. at Amherst, but
no other general and excessive drought occurred till 1844.
That year was almost without a parallel in the eastern parts of
this State, and was marked by its excessive dryness through-
out the country. The water in many of our streams was lower
than it had been for years.:]: The quantity of rain during the
three summer months was less than it had been for many years.
As might have been anticipated, the crops suffered very much
in many places.

Avery dry time occurred in September and October of 1846,
another in the spring of 1847, another in April, 1848, and
another in 1853, when the quantity of rain which fell at
Amherst was but .95 of an inch.

But the drought of 1854 was undoubtedly more extensive
and more destructive than any of those which have preceded

• There fell at Waltham but 1.1 1 in. of rain, falling at Salem on the 1st, 4th,
(Ith, and 24th.

f Dr. Holyokc's Journal, Salem.

I But .67 inch of rain fell at Amherst in April of this year, and the whole
amount at Waltham for the summer months was less than it had been for many
years before.

SECRETARY'S REPORT. 47

it. Not confined to this State, nor indeed to New England, it
was felt in nearly every part of the Union. The loss from
this cause alone has been estimated at no less than one hun-
dred millions of dollars. From the 20th of June to the 25th
of August rain fell only in slight showers and at long inter-
vals, and in many localities there was none for two whole
months. The melancholy effects cannot be described. Wells
gave out that never failed before, ponds dried up, and streams
diminished to nothing. The excessive rains of the early spring-
had retarded the usual operations of the farm; but with that
exception, and after they had passed, the favorable character of
the earlier part of summer had created a general expectation
of an abundant harvest. But soon the earth was parched to
perfect dryness ; clouds of almost impalpable dust floated in
the air, descending upon the wiry, juiceless grass, and covering
the leaves of the trees, which began to fall to the ground, yel-
low and withered, in midsummer, and every plant seemed tried
to the utmost limit of its endurance. Fires, too, ran through
the forests and along the lines of our great railroads, burning-
over thousands of acres, and doing an almost incalculable
amount of damage.

Massachusetts, however, suffered less than most of the neigh-
boring States. On the seaboard particularly, the crops looked
pretty well in the midst of the drought, and in the deep soils
of the valley of the Connecticut they withstood the heat re-
markably well, considering its severity ; so that, on the whole,
the season has been much more fruitful with us than might
have been anticipated at some periods of its continuance.

The drought of the last year was the more injurious on ac-
count of the large quantity of rain which fell in April, and the
excessive wetness of the ground in consequence of it. The
seed was sown late ; and though some days of very favorable
weather occurred, the drought coming on so soon, checked the
growth of plants before they were well advanced. There was
nearly twice as much rain in April, 1854, as in the correspond-
ing month of any one of the preceding twenty years. The
amount at Amherst was no less than 8.33 inches, while the
largest quantity which fell there in any April during the last
eighteen years was 4.82 inches, (in 1843,) and the average of

48 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.

the Aprils of the same years was but 3.27 inches. April,
1854, was, therefore, a remarkable month in this respect. If,
now, we take the month of May, it appears that the amount of
rain at Amherst, in 1854, was 3.19 inches. The highest amount
for May at the same place, and during the same series of years,
was in 1850, (8.72 inches,) while the average was 3.91 inches.
Thus the rain for May was less than the average. The differ-
ence in June was still more marked. The amount for June,
1854, was but 1.75 inches. There were but two years in the
eighteen in which June was so dry; they were 1841 and
1849, when 1.65 inches and 1.53 inches of rain fell. The
greatest amount in June was in 1843, (5.18 inches,) while the
average was only 3.22 inches. The rain for June, 1854, was,
therefore, much below the average. The rains for April, May
and June, are more important than those of any other months.
It is also, as we have seen, a matter of the greatest consequence,
to all who cultivate the earth, that these rains should be distrib-
uted with some degree of equality.

The change from a great excess of rain to an equally great
suffering from the want of it also illustrates the fact familiar
to the observation of every farmer, that one extreme generally
follows another. In a long series of years or of months, we
know that we are to have about so much rain in a given num-
ber of months ; hence we may infer that, if an unusual quantity
falls in one month, far less than the average is to be expected
the next. In 1850, for instance, when there were 8.72 inches
in May, we had in June only 2.88 inches; and in 1844, when
only 0.57 inch fell in April, in May following there was the
unusual amount of 5.59 inches. Instances might be multi-
plied indefinitely to illustrate this general law.

In July, 1854, 3.52 inches fell at Amherst, the mean average
for eighteen years being 4.05 inches. During the same month
3.70 inches fell at Boston, and 2.16 inches at Waltliani. But
in August the amount was less than has been known in any
one month for many years. At Waltham it was but 0.57 inch ;
at Cambridge but 0.35 inch, at Boston but 0.38 inch. These
statistics will appear more distinctly by the aid of the follow-
ing tables.

The amount of rain which fell at Amherst since 1837, as

SECRETARY'S REPORT.

49

taken from the college record, furnished me by Professor
Snell, is as follows : —

Rain and melted snow fallen in Amherst, in inclics and

hundredths.

Total.

1837,
1838,
1839,
1840,
1841,
1842,
1843,
1844,
1845,
184G,
1847,
1848,
1849,
1850,
1851,
1852,
1853,
1854,

1.75
2.45

l.GG

2.42 2.65

4.33 5.76 4.49 7.35 2.57

1.67
1.75

1.69, 2.02 3.63 4.90 2.27 3.95

3.15 2.03
5.801 1.50
1.02 3.78
1.99 3.49

3.44
4.97
2.74
4.86
2.92
0.99
4.75
1.66
2.41
2.11
2.01

2.18

3.37

2.55

4.

2.60

0.99

3.56

5.08

3.35

1.69 4.14
3.18 3.98
2.85 4.52
2.39 2.92
5.73 4.82
4.12 0.57

I
3.49 3.301 9.56

3.56
4.35
3.57
3.03
4.21
1.86

1.70
1.54
1.41
1.55

1.91
3.47
2.40
2.09

4.60
1.65
3.18

3.34
2.55
1.95

2.51

6.82
3.18
7.42

1.07

2.06

6.38 4.12
2.82 1.78
5.20 5.04

1.90 2.3538.70
5.77 0.9639.81

5.18, 2.53 9.38
5.59, 3.00 3.81 4.93
2.42,2.57:3.31 2.79
4.33 3.10 3.25,2.44
1.91 4.44 4.48 4.06

3 50
3.23
1.57
1.84

2.58

3.73
2.84
9.45

3.04
4.60

2.80

7.0942.83
3.16 47.01
6.0841.63

3.73 3.1938.05

3.07 2.28 51.58
6.49J 2.12 2.49 40.58
4.66 3.S0 3.9139.74
0.47i 2.09 4.96 3.10 34.92
3.63 3.99 4.17 6.41 47.81

6.18

2.24 3.61
3.93, 8.72

2.58 4.72 1.53 2.49 3.75, 3.09 5.54 39.98

1.53 2.25 7.86, 1.40| 6.36 3.65
2.88 6.81 6.50 4.93 3.65 2.63

1.28 4.43, 4.07 3.69 4.31 3.03, 2.05
3.20 4.71 2.29,2.54 3.38 5.19 2.47

2.39

6.(59 2.39 3.79 5.40, 2.64 3.58 7.13 5.66

5.43 5.30
1.76 6.43
3.75 6.24

3.3638.45
5.37 55.59

3.17,43.50

I
4.88 42.68

I
1.83 51.21

4.53 3.10 8.33 3.19 1.75 3 52 0.99 5.46 2.30,7.48 2.39 45.05

From this it will be seen that the mean annual average is
43.84 inches. The largest amount of rain was in 1850, the
smallest in 1846. The smallest quantity for the three summer
months was in 1854, when there fell but G.26 inches.

7

50

BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.

Table showing the amount of rain in inches and hundredths
which fell in the summer months, at Waltham, since the
year 1823.

Year.

June.

July.

August.

Total for
Three Months.

1824, .

1.81

1.38

4.84

8.03

1825, .

5.07

1.14

5.95

12.16

1826, .

4.04

2.08

7.23

13.35

1827, .

2.14

2.71

5.59

10.44

1828, .

6.16

5.00

.64

11.80

1829, .

2.88

5.99

3.21

12.08

1830, .

4.0]

6.09

4.54

14.64

1831, .

4.42

5.13

3.41

12.96

1832, .

.54

3.23

5.83

9.60

1833, .

3.97

3.38

1.33

8.68

1834, .

3.69

4.88

2.65

11.22

1835, .

2.16

8.63

3.47

14.26

1836, .

3.73

2.40

.97

7.10

1837, .

4.06

1.66

2.32

8.04

1838, .

5.09

1.86

4.74

11.69

1839, .

3.16

3.71

4.83

11.70

1840, .

2.41

2.09

5.22

9.72

1841, .

1.17

2.42

4.84

18.43

1842, .

5.90

2.20

4.70

12.80

1843, .

3.73

2.77

8.(50

15.10

1844, .

1.26

2.44

2.85

<6.55

1845, .

2.63

3.84

3.30

9.87

1846, .

2.44

2.38

218

7.00

1847, .

5.94

2.36

4.18

• 12.48

1848, .

3.10

1.92

2.28

: 7.30

1849, .

2.00

2.16

5.36

9.52

1850, .

3.72

3.48

9.64

16.84

1851, .

1.64

2.23

.99

1.86

1852, .

3.26

2.11

7.69

13.06

1853, .

.95

2.72

7.78

11.45

1854, .

1.87

2.16

.57

4.00

Total, 31

years

98.95

96.55

131,73

327.33

Monthly average — June, 3.19 inches; July, 3.11 inches:
August, 4.25 inches.

Average for the three summer months, 10.56 inches.

Average for 1 854, 4.G0 inches.

The largest quantity in the series was in 1850, 10.84 inches.

The average for the month of August is about 33 per cent,
larger than for June and July.

SECRETARY'S REPORT.

51

Table showing the amount of rain and melted snoio in inches
and hundredths at North Attleboro1, in 1853 and 1854, as

kept by Henry Rice, Esq. : —

Yeak.

3

6

«

a

a
o

e.

i:

C

>.

i

So

3

a
E

o

u

Sl

s

>

s

«

-r

—

rS

<

rs,

•-»

1-5

<

t»

O

S5

o

H

1853, .

3. 10

5.97

1

2.02, 3.99 0.39 1.84 5.02

7.32 4.31 5.25

5.20 2.48 53.01

1854, .

3.41 5.26

2.91 6.72 3.70 2.32 2.15

0.55 0.10

&3.15

9.09 4.55 49.97

I

Table of rain and melted snow in inches and hundredths
which fell at Princeton, 1854, as kept by Hon. John
Brooks : —

b

.

•■'-

c

.3

C

a

g

3

a
a

3

3
3

3

3

3

3
en

3

■J}

.a

|

O

25

2.31

5.73

3.10

7.74

5.35

3.14

3.38

0.22

5.07

2.05

8.10

4 27

At Cambridge, on an average of years, the greatest quantity
of rain falls in December, and the least in April. In the east-
ern part of England, near London, the greatest quantity falls
in October, and the least in March.*

These tables show conclusively that the drought of the past
summer has not had its parallel for many years. Indeed, we
have no reliable records of one which can be compared with it.
Perhaps the famous drought of 17G2 was equal to it; possibly
that of 1749 was so; but we have no means of knowing with
certainty.

But however this may be, it is highly desirable to ascertain
its effects upon the staple articles of food, for on these all de-

* The average quantity of snow in inches and hundredths each month, for a term of
years, at Amherst and Boston, is as follows : —

Jan.

Feb.

Mar.

April.

Dec.

Year.

Amherst,

. 3.0

1.30

10.0

2.fi

14.0

42.fi

Boston,

. 0.6

8.5

1.0

0.2

4.0

14.2

Total snow, 79.. 30 inches; rain and melted snow, 51.20.

52 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.

pcnd. With the view of obtaining some accurate information
on this subject, and of eliciting some valuable suggestions and
useful facts in relation to others, the following circular was
addressed to intelligent men in every town in the State : —

commonwealth of massachusetts.

Board of Agriculture, State House, )
Boston, Sept. 15, 1854. )

Dear Sir: — Will you be so kind as to favor me with answers to the
following questions, together with such other suggestions as may be
of general interest or value to the farmers of this Commonwealth?

If not in your power to give the desired information, you will do
me a great service by interesting some one in your town who will
procure and send it to me.

1 . What has been the effect of the drought upon the Corn, Potato
and other crops, the present season, and what is their estimated yield
per acre ?

2. What has been the comparative effect of the drought on deep
and shallow ploughed lands ?

3. What has been the comparative effect of the drought on lands
where the manure was spread and ploughed in, and on those where it
was put in the hill ?

4. What has been the effect of the drought on forest trees ?

5. What is the best mode of guarding against the effects of droughts
like that of the present season ?

6. Have there been any experiments in irrigation in your town ?
and if so, with what result ?

7. To what extent has the disease affected the Potato the present
season ?

8. What is the estimated decrease in the quantity of Potatoes cul-
tivated, and the decrease, per acre, on account of the disease or other
causes ?

9. What has been the result of experiments this season in the use
of guano, superphosphate of lime, poudrette, or other concentrated
manures ?

10. To what extent is guano \iscd in your town, and on what soils
does it produce the best results ?

11. Have you used guano several years in succession on the same
soil? and if so, witli what apparent result on (he soil and crops ?

12. What is the comparative cost or value, per ton, of the differ-
ent kinds of manure used on the farm, and which produces the best
return ?

SECRETARY'S REPORT. 53

13. What is the best way of using swamp muck, and on what soils
should it be used ?

14. What, is the worth of dry swamp muck, per cord, for agricultu-
ral purposes ?

15. What is the average cost of raising and storing one acre of In-
dian Corn, Rye, Wheat, Oats, or Barley, in your town, the avei
yield per acre, and the price per bushel ?

16. How many pounds of Indian Meal are equivalent to one hun-
dred pounds of good English Hay, as food for stock ?

17. What is thought to be the value of Apples, cither for flesh or
milk, for stock, and the value of Cooked Apples for Swine ?

18. To what extent have the ravages of worms affected the orchards
this season ?

19. What number of mowing machines have been used in your
town, and with what success ?

20. What is the cost of raising a Horse up to the age of three,
four, or five years, and what is the average value at those ages ?

22. What proportion of the farmers of your town derive their en-
tire support from the farm?

23. Has the number of farmers in your town increased or decreased
within the last ten years, and how much ?

You will greatly oblige me by sending a reply before the first of
November.

Very truly, your obedient servant,
CHARLES L. FLINT,

Secretary of the Board of Agriculture.

As this was my only means of procuring these important
statistics, it was hoped that the farmers would cordially coop-
erate with me, and that the returns would be complete from
nearly every town to which the circular was sent. It is but
justice to say that my expectations have generally been answered.
These returns, coming as they do from every section of the
Commonwealth, imbody the opinions of the most intelligent
portion of the agricultural community upon the most important
interests of their occupation, and are second in value only to
accurate official statistics. The returns will be found con-
densed, and arranged for convenience, in the form of a table,
showing the estimated average yield and cost per acre of the
staple products of Massachusetts, as follows : — «

54

BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.

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SECRETARY'S REPORT. 55

This table is designed to show how much the crops have been
injured by the drought in different sections of the State. It
would have been more strictly accurate to give the returns as
made from each town; but the great space which would have
been required made it impossible, and they have accordingly
been condensed, and given for the counties, by means of the aver-
age of all the towns in each county. This will be found to be a
very near approximation to the truth.

It appears from this tabic, which has been very carefully
prepared from the original returns made by the farmers them-
selves, that the estimated average yield of Indian corn for the
whole State is thirty-one bushels per acre. Some counties
suffered more than others ; and the cost of raising per acre
is of course greater in some counties than in others, accord-
ing to the nature of the soil, the local prices for farm labor, and
other local circumstances.

Xo crop, on the whole, withstands the drought so well as
Indian corn. This plant possesses a wonderful flexibility of
organization, which adapts it to a great variety of climate and
soil. The yield the past year has been somewhat under the
average ; but, judging from the tone of the returns, it is of good
quality. A farmer of Middlesex County says, " Corn is quite
sound this year, and, with a little more rain in July, would have
been uncommonly heavy, as we have had uncommon heat."

For the last three years, this crop has been more extensively
cultivated than formerly, and it has now become the prime
staple product of New England. Owing to some cause at
present unknown, the disease which has attacked the potato
for the last few years has not made its appearance the past
year. This crop has therefore turned out better than for the
last nine years, notwithstanding the fears which were enter-
tained of its failure. But two or three instances of the disease
appear in the returns. But for some cause or other, still un-
known, the yield per acre, where not affected by the rot, is un-
less than it was in former years, when it was not uncommon
to get from 300 to 400 bushels from a single acre. An expe-
rienced farmer of Middlesex County says, " For twenty years
or more there has been a gradual decrease in the potato crop.
Under the same treatment for some years past, I have been un-

56 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.

able to obtain more than one-third the number of bushels from
the acre I had in former years, admitting them all to be sound.
The present year, my Long Reds, which were of good size,
required twenty-four hills to fill a bushel basket. I formerly
filled my bushel from eight hills, a little later from ten, then
from twelve; and so on, up to the present time, gradually
diminishing in yield." This has been the experience of most
farmers, some ascribing it to the exhaustion of the soil, but
most confessing an entire ignorance of the cause. Another
farmer of "Worcester County says, "The decrease is at least
one-fourth within the last ten years, or since the disease com-
menced. The decrease per acre, arising from unknown causes,
has been, within thirty years, more than one-half, saying noth-
ing about the disease.; i. e., one-half the potatoes in the hill."

There was probably a somewhat larger number of acres
planted the past season throughout the State than for a few
years past. This is alluded to by correspondents in different
parts of the State. A practical farmer of Worcester County
says, "Owing to there being a much larger area planted than
usual, and no rot, it is believed that twice as many potatoes
have been raised in this town and vicinity as in any year for
the last ten years. The decrease, on account of the drought.
I have already given as from 30 to 35 per cent. The quality
of potatoes was never better."

From another part of the State an intelligent farmer writes
as follows: "No complaint is made this year of diseased po-
tatoes; in fact, they have not been so good and sound for many
years as they are this season. The quantity of potatoes raised
now is not more than half of what it formerly was. Then 250
or 300 bushels to the acre was not considered an uncommon
crop; but now 150 bushels is called a good yield. The diminu-
tion in quantity may be attributed in a measure to the uncer-
tainty of the crop, in consequence of the prevalence of the
disease or blight." A farmer of. Essex County writes as fol-
lows: "Probably there lias been a decrease of nearly one-half
in the number of acres planted with potatoes, and about the
same decrease in the yield per acre. Formerly, before the rot
made its appearance, our farmers used to manure highly, and
the yield on good lands was about 200 bushels to the acre;

SECRETARY'S REPORT. 57

since then they have had an idea that manure increased the
rot."

Although the trees of the forest had generally made their
growth for the year before the drought commenced, yet our
returns show that they Buffered greatly from its effects; and
here we have another proof of its severity. When a drought
is prolonged, the leafy organs of all vegetables, not finding their
usual nourishment, and losing many of their own juices by
evaporation, must cease to carry on the processes of life with
vigor : in extreme cases they wither and die, and their loss
may even cause the death of the plant. In a very dry atmos-
phere, the evaporation from the leaves of trees sometimes has
a similar effect. These effects, the falling of the leaves, and
the check, to a considerable extent, of the growth of the tree,
were observed on shallow soils in all parts of the State during
the hot weather of the last season. One farmer of Worcester
County says : " It has retarded their growth, and caused their
foliage to fall prematurely. The mountain ash seems to have
been more seriously affected than any other tree that I have
noticed. The leaves were actually dead, and most of them
fallen, by the first of September." SoinEssex County, an ob-
serving farmer writes : " We feel confident that forest trees
have suffered to a considerable extent by the drought. In
some instances a whole acre looked as if a fire had passed over
it. This is not common." In Middlesex County, " The trees
on hills having a rocky substratum, had the appearance given
to a forest where a fire had been in its near vicinity, but had
not passed directly through it. The leaves turned early, not
assuming the usual autumnal tints, but a dingy brown or choco-
late color." Another says : " The drought appears to have
been very injurious to the walnut in particular. Very many
of these withered, and probably the coming season will tell
a sorry account of the influence of the drought on trees."
The results, except so far as they may be inferred from these
extracts, cannot now be known.

I have already enumerated the most injurious droughts which
have occurred in Massachusetts since its settlement, including
that of the last year, and referred to the sufferings which arose
8

58 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.

from them. It remains now to speak of the cause of droughts,
and the means of guarding against them.

There can be no doubt, as already intimated, that the de-
struction of our forests has much increased the severity of our
summer droughts, and this effect may have been produced with-
out any actual change in our mean annual temperature. All
growing vegetables, and dense forests in particular, have a ten-
dency to lower the temperature of the earth, by the large
amount of evaporation which constantly takes place from their
leaves, and by protecting the ground against the burning rays
of the summer sun. It is a fact well known to every farmer,
that deep snows lie much longer in thick forests than in the
adjoining open plains. It is also well established by direct
experiment, that the temperature of the soil, at the depth of
twelve inches, in a forest, in the summer, is no less than ten de-
grees lower than at the same depth in an open field adjoining.

The forests, moreover, play a much more prominent part in
producing rains than most persons, at first sight, would sup-
pose. This is particularly the case when they stand on hills
and elevated ground; in such situations their influence fre-
quently extends to a considerable distance. The sources of
rivers are found in them ; they also determine the direction of
the prevailing winds, and consequently the rains ; hence the
importance of protecting the forests which stand on land higher
than the surrounding country.

These are, it is true, but general considerations; but an
they explain, to some extent at least, the increase in the
frequency and severity of droughts, which must be apparent
from the sketch before given, I shall venture to extend them
so far as to give place to the remarks of a late eminent French
writer, whose statements show that the same causes have oper-
ated in the south of France, which is subject to droughts some-
what like our own. " The land," says he, " in most parts of
France, stripped of the forests which once covered it, now
presents a bare surface, which the clouds sweep over without
finding any obstacles to arrest their progress and resolve
them into rain. The soil, exposed to the rays of a scorching
sun, is penetrated to a great depth, the sources of streams
have dried up, and the rivers scarcely fill a third of their

SECRETARY'S REPORT. 59

channels during the summer. Moreover, the winds, having
no Longer to blow over those immense forests, under the shade
of which they were refreshed, and where they were impregnat-
ed during the dry weather with a warm moisture which they
spread over the country, no longer bear with them freshness
and life; forced, on the other hand, to blow over large extents
of country parched by the sun, they become hot, and bear with
them heat and sterility. Consider what North America was
on the arrival of the Europeans. The soil, covered with dense
forests throughout nearly its whole extent, offered to its occu-
pants only frosts and snows for half the year ; but the Euro-
peans changed this state of things ; the draining of stagnant
waters, and, still more, the clearing of woods, which, they
effected soon after their settlement, were not long iu dimin-
ishing the abundance of rains, and consequently drying the soil
and rendering it warmer. Now, the Americans enjoy the ad-
vantages of their labor and industry ; but let them take care
not to pass the line of demarcation, which indicates the quantity
of wood to be preserved, in order to have always the quantity
of water necessary to the fertility of the soil ; let them take
care, especially, not to touch those grand forests, which, by
their position, are in the way to arrest the clouds."

The grand old forests of Massachusetts have, unfortunately,
long since been " touched ; " and if they had not, the arm of the
government even could hardly protectUhem from the hands of
individual proprietors at the present prices of wood. The
remedy for this evil would be, as the writer just quoted sug-
gests, to form new plantations of wood in elevated places
from which it has been cut, and to increase it in others where
there seems not to be enough of it to produce the effect de-
sired. In some locations, it would be a source of profit to the
individual and the public to plant a large part of the poor soil
with forest trees. It is, however, a well-established fact, that
the forests of this State are at the present moment actually
increasing in extent, though most of them are of a young
growth.*

Professor Espy, whose Philosophy of Storms has given him

* A reference to my last Annual Report will show the manner of forming planta-
tions of pines.

60 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.

a wide reputation as a meteorologist, suggests that droughts
may be caused by the irregular burning of fallows or large
tracts of wood or prairie land in summer, and that man, by his
ignorance, may be the cause of them. " The summer rains at
present are local, and of very limited extent ; and though they
travel towards the east, like winter storms, they are not ex-
tensive enough to cover the whole country in their progress ;
hence, portions of the country are liable to be parched with
drought and hot weather. May it not be possible that this
irregularity is in part produced by the irregular burning of fal-
lows and prairies, thus producing partial and irregular rains,
interrupting the wide-extended and general rains which would
otherwise take place as they do in winter ? "

It is well known that the clouds which produce rain are com-
posed of vapor, created by an evaporation from the surface of
the earth, and from water, which takes place while the sun
shines by day, and is, for the most part, suspended when the
dew falls by night.

This vapor remains in the air until it is condensed into water
by a low temperature of the atmosphere, and then ordinarily
falls in rain. After it has thus fallen, the whole process of
evaporation or creation of vapor, formation of clouds, and con-
densation of the vapor into water, must be again gone through
with before there can be more rain. This, in summer, gener-
ally requires some time ; hence, immediately after a rain in
any given place, the air in that region is not likely to be in
such a state as is favorable to the production of rain.

The winds greatly hasten the process of evaporation, while
the clouds and the absence of the sun hinder or stop it alto-
gether. An increase of temperature, also, usually causes a
great increase of evaporation from the surface of the earth.
In the proverbially moist climate of England, where the
amount of evaporation must be far less than in our own, it is
sometimes equal to six inches a month; that is, to an amount
of vapor which, if condensed into water, would make six inches.
In our climate, of course, it must be much greater.

If, now, from some local cause, there is a shower of rain,
the moisture of the atmosphere, being collected and condensed,
moves on in the form of clouds till these clouds no longer find

SECRETARY'S REPORT. 61

sufficient vapor in the air to support them. If, just after this
local rain, a general storm begins, or one which might, under
other circumstances, have been general, it moves on till it ar-
rives at the place of the former rain. But this previous rain
has already exhausted the surplus of moisture which the air
at that place contained, and the second storm must come to an
end; whereas, if there had been no local rain in this first place,
there would have been sufficient moisture to enable the general
storm to continue on its course. On the other hand, if a gen-
eral rain occurs, extending over a large space of country, and
moving, as it does, from west to east, local rains cannot ordi-
narily take place within the same space for six or seven days,
on account of the scarcity of vapor in the air.

Now, on these general laws, Professor Espy has founded a
curious and ingenious theory for the production of artificial
rains, which shall be general, extending all over the country in
times of drought. These, of course, would render the practi-
cable precautions which I shall have the honor to suggest of
comparatively little importance. I will give his theory in his
own words : —

" Xow, if masses of timber, to the amount of forty acres for
every twenty miles, were prepared and fired simultaneously
every seven days in the summer, on the west of the United
States, in a line of six or seven hundred miles long from north
to south, then it appears highly probable from the theory,
though not certain until the experiments are made, that a rain
of great length, north and south, would commence on or near
the line of fires ; that this rain would travel towards the cast,
side foremost ; that it would not break up until it reaches far
into the Atlantic Ocean; that it would rain over the whole
country east of the place of beginning; that it would rain only
a few hours at any one place ; that it would not rain again un-
til the lower air becomes charged with vapor, and the upper
air has radiated off the heat which it received during the rain,
from the evolution of the latent caloric of the vapor, condensed
in the formation of cloud, which effects could hardly be pro-
duced in less than a week ; that it would rain enough, and not
too much, in any one place ; that it would not be attended with
violent wind, either on land or on the Atlantic Ocean; that

62 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.

there would be no hail nor tornado at the time of the rain, nor
intermediate ; that there would be no destructive floods nor
injuriously low waters ; that there would be no oppressively
hot nor injuriously cold weather ; that the farmers and mari-
ners would always know, in advance, when the rains would
commence, or nearly so, and when they would terminate ; that
all epidemic diseases originating from floods and droughts
would cease ; that the proceeds of agriculture would be greatly
increased, and the health and happiness of the citizens much
promoted."

As it is not probable that an appropriation will be made
sufficient to secure the success of the experiment, or that the

inhabitants of Berkshire will burn over their mountains for

*

the sake of watering the eastern parts of the State in dry
weather, it will be necessary to confine our attention to some-
what more practicable methods of guarding against the effects
of droughts. The importance of adopting them will be appar-
ent to all.

The first and simplest is, to reclaim and cultivate low lands.
The amount of swamp lands reclaimed every year in this State
is sufficient evidence that both the practicability and the profit
of this means are well appreciated. Eminent success has at-
tended every experiment of the kind which has come under my
observation ; and the statements made to agricultural socie-
ties abundantly show that these lands, when properly treated,
pay a large percentage of profit, larger, indeed, than any other
part of the farm. No encouragement is needed to induce the
intelligent farmer to engage in this enterprise. It tells its own
story in redoubled crops. The methods of reclaiming are so
well stated in the returns made to the Board every year that
it would be unnecessary to dwell upon them here, even if it
came within the range of this report. It is enough to say that
some methods speedily repay all advances made on them, while
others require a considerable expenditure, and make no return,
or comparatively little, for two or three years. The compound
interest which such improvements often pay at the end of that
time should, perhaps, satisfy any reasonable expectation; but
most men prefer to invest where they can get a speedy divi-
dend.

SECRETARY'S REPORT. . 63

A method ■which is found to be immediately profitable is
stated on the forty-sixth page of the Agriculture of Massachu-
setts for 1853. It requires, first, one or more main open drains,
if the swamp is large and very wet, to receive and carry off the
water at once. A thin coating of stable manure is then spread
upon the surface of the grass in spring, and on this potatoes
are dropped. Small ditches are then made, five or six feet
apart, the muck being thrown out upon the potatoes, to cover
them. This leaves the whole in long beds, some five or six
feet wide, on which the potatoes grow luxuriantly, no matter
how tough the sod with which they are covered. In the autumn,
when the potatoes are dug, the vines are thrown into the small
trenches, the whole surface is again levelled off, and grass seed
is sown. Some of the largest yields of grass ever known
have been obtained in this way. The drought never troubles
such land ; while, on the other hand, no injury can happen in a
wet season if the number of drains is sufficient in the begin-
ning. A thin coating of gravel, hauled upon the grass in the
fall or winter after it is sown, will be of great service. On
this subject, I must refer the reader to the section on reclaimed
land in the Report of last year.

Such lands can ordinarily be bought very low ; and if they
can be reclaimed at a trifling expense in the manner described,
or in any other way, they will not fail to pay a very large profit,
and that, too, year after year. They require less manure than
the light uplands, and [retain it longer. In fact, such swamps
are generally natural muck beds, being composed of the vege-
table growth of many ages, and are thus made up of the richest
mould, often extending to the depth of many feet. This is the
first and one of the most important practicable methods of
preventing suffering from droughts, and one which is within
the easy reach of nearly every farmer in Massachusetts.

The next mode is by irrigation. This is so dependent upon
circumstances, however, that it is not practicable for all j yet
many lands in this State are so situated as to make it not only
judicious, but truly economical. It has never been attempted
to any extent by the farmers of Massachusetts; but the few
instances which have come under my observation have been
successful and remunerative.

64 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.

Irrigation has been practised by successful cultivators from
the highest antiquity. Long before Europe was civilized, the
waters of the Tigris and the Euphrates were used in this man-
ner for agricultural purposes ; and in Mesopotamia, between
these two rivers, there were more than 250,000 acres of irri-
gated lands, not to mention similar works on the grandest
scale in China, India, the Assyrian empire, Nineveh, Babylon,
Egypt, Palestine, and many other countries of great antiquity.
Modern nations have also profited largely by irrigation, par-
ticularly Lombardy, Tuscany, the south of France and Spain.

I am not prepared to say whether, under similar circum-
stances of soil and value of lands, equally good results might
be anticipated here, where the climate is so different, and the
value of lands, and of labor in particular, is so much greater.
But every one is familiar with the fact that land is fertilized
by extraordinary supplies of water. This is too palpable
around the margins of every running stream to be denied ; and
while we are subject every summer to be visited by severe
droughts, no practicable means of guarding against them should
be neglected or overlooked.

The modes of irrigating are as different as the kinds of
water used and the principles on which it acts. To attempt
to state these modes, and the comparative advantages of each,
would require a distinct treatise upon this subject. It is suffi-
cient to enumerate the most common of them. Superficial irri-
gation was undoubtedly suggested by observing the wonderful
effects which arise from the occasional overflow of rivers. The
most remarkable example of this natural irrigation of arable
lands is to be seen in the annual overflowing of the Nile ; and
the main principles which regulate this kind of irrigation are
to be found in similar examples, where the overflowing is occa-
sional, and the water, instead of being left to stagnate upon the
surface, is moving gently over it, and depositing the alluvial
matter held in suspension. The most wonderful cases of fer-
tility on record arc illustrations of the benefit of these occa-
sional irrigations. The richness of the valley of the Mississippi
and of the Connecticut is to be ascribed to this source; and
these overflowings arc imitated in all attempts to irrigate the
surface by conducting water over it, by means of a system of

SECRETARY'S REPORT. 65

shallow open drains, which lead the water from its natural
channel, and keep a constant How, without allowing it to accu-
mulate in any part.

Another kind of irrigation consists in conducting the water
into, instead of upon, the land by means of open drains, into
which the water can be led and raised sufficiently to saturate
the whole area surrounded by the drain. If the field is level,
it is sufficient to fill the drain or ditch, and keep it filled till
the soil is moistened ; but if the land is sloping, the lower end
of the ditch is stopped till the land is saturated, and then let
off. It is ordinarily much less expensive than surface irriga-
tion, and has been practised with great success in Lombardy,
as well as in England and Scotland. This kind of irrigation
is more frequently used for cultivated annual crops than for
grasses.

The irrigation of grass lands is found to be very beneficial
in moist climates, and in such it greatly promotes the luxuri-
ance of the growth. But climate undoubtedly greatly modifies
the effects produced. It is the opinion of some that the' grass
which has been produced by irrigation is of an inferior quality.
This opinion is expressed by several farmers, in answer to the
sixth question of the circular, as to the results of experiments
in irrigation. This opinion is also expressed by Columella, a
celebrated Roman writer on agriculture. " Land/' says he,
" that is naturally rich, and is in good heart, does not need to
have water set over it; and it is better hay which nature of its
own accord produces in a juicy soil, than what water draws
from a soil that is overflowed. This, however, is a necessary
practice, when the poverty of the soil requires it; and a
meadow may be formed either upon a stiff or light soil, though
poor when water is set over it. Neither a low field with hol-
lows, nor a field broken with steep rising ground, is proper;
the first, because it retains too long the water collected in the
hollows; the last, because it make3 the water run too quickly
over it. A field, however, that has a moderate descent may
be irrigated if it be so situated as to admit of it ; but the best
situation is where the surface is smooth, and the descent so
gentle as to prevent either showers or the rivers that overflow
it remaining too long, and, on the other hand, to allow the
9

,66 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.

water that runs over it quietly to glide off." But though not
so nutritive as grass growing in the natural moisture, it is
probably not so much less nutritive as many would suppose.

Stiff soils are generally sufficiently moist without irrigating,
and light soils are more suited to this treatment. Sandy and
gravelly soils, with a porous subsoil, are greatly benefited
by it.

River water is most frequently used for these purposes,
though spring water may be used to great advantage ; and mud-
dy streams, containing a large amount of animal or vegetable
matter, are always eminently suitable for the purposes of irri-
gation.

But the value of irrigation does not depend solely upon the
supplies of moisture which it furnishes. " The mechanical
action of the irrigatory current of water, in exercising the
plants, strengthening their organism, keeping their stems and
root crowns clear of obstruction, promoting the equable circu-
lation of water and oxygen around them, and causing an equa-
ble distribution of the soluble materials of their food, probably
plays a considerable part in irrigatory fertilization. The
differences of effect, from the mere circumstance of fluence or
stagnation in the water, are prodigious ; for while flowing water
coaxes up the finest indigenous grasses of the climate, and ren-
ders them sweet and wholesome, and nutritious and luxuriant,
stagnant water starves, deteriorates, or kills all the good
grasses."

The process of surface irrigation is not so simple as many
would suppose. It requires great skill and practice, and the
farmer who attempts it without sufficient consideration is very
apt to fail. In cases where it is thought to be practicable, it
should be tried* at first only as an experiment, and not on so
large a scale as to involve great expense, unless there is a rea-
sonable prospect of permanent advantage. With respect to
its advantages, Sir John Sinclair says, "First, with the excep-
tion of warping, it is by far the easiest, cheapest, and most
certain mode of improving poor land in particular, if it is of a
dry and gravelly nature: second, land, when oner improved by
irrigation, is put into a state of perpetual fertility, without any
occasion for manure, or trouble of weeding, or any other ma-

SECRETARY'S REPORT. 07

terial expense ; third, it becomes so productive as to yield the
largest bulk of hay, besides abundance of the very best sup-
port for ewes and lambs in the spring, and for cows and other
cattle in the autumn of every year; fourth, in favorable situa-
tions, it produces very early grass in the spring, when it is
doubly valuable ; and fifth, not only is the land thus rendered
fertile, without any occasion for manure, but it produces food
for animals, which is converted into manure, to be used on
other lands — thus augmenting, in a compound proportion, that
great source of fertility."

The use of the hydraulic ram in raising- water for irrigation
will hereafter be better understood and appreciated. By
mCans of this simple machine sufficient water may be raised to
fertilize many acres, which are now comparatively worthless
through a considerable portion of every dry summer.

I shall take occasion, farther on, to speak of the difference
between the climate of England and our own; and the reader
will be able to judge for himself how far the difference in cir-
cumstances would be likely to modify the advantages derived
from irrigation in other countries. It may be stated, however,
that the south of France and Spain are subject to severe
droughts like our own, and that irrigation is there resorted to
as a remedy against them with great success, and with the most
satisfactory results.

I have dwelt at some length upon this subject, because so
little attention has been paid to it that its advantages are
either not understood or not acknowledged. Further experi-
ments are needed to settle the question as to how far irriga-
tion may be practised here with profit. In point of natural
facilities for obtaining suitable water, many parts of Massa-
chusetts are eminently fortunate ; and the time will undoubtedly
come when the waters of our streams will be regarded as of
inestimable value for agricultural purposes.

Another mode of avoiding the bad effects of our droughts
is by deep ploughing and it stirring of the soil in dry

weather. This will probably be found the most efficient and
practicable mode to be pursued in upland cultivation. Deep
ploughing and frequent stirring of the soil, is the answer made,
in nine cases out of ten, to the question as to what is the best

68 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.

mode of guarding against the drought. " Spreading and
ploughing in manure, hoeing often, exterminating every variety
of weeds, irrigation where it is practicable, and keeping the
ground light by deep ploughing on dry compact soils," says
one. "For corn and potatoes, plough deep, and use the culti-
vator and hoe frequently, and keep the surface nearly level,"
says another. Another practical farmer answers, "Deep
ploughing and good hoeing. Crops that have been hoed the
most have stood the drought the best." Another successful
farmer says, "Plant on swamp, or moist land well drained, if
you have such ; if not, plough deep on high land. If the uncul-
tivated swamp and bog lands were cleared and appropriated
to agricultural purposes, droughts like the one of the present
season might not be feared. Massachusetts farmers have yet
to learn that the most valuable lands are now neglected."

" I should say, first of all, deep and thorough ploughing, well
manuring, by spreading and ploughing in, as a general rule, and
frequently stirring the soil," says a Berkshire farmer of great
experience. And the return of a farmer's club of Middlesex,
says, in answer to the second question of the circular, " It is
now a practice with us to plough deeper than heretofore. Mr.
C. ploughs three or four inches deep. F. ploughs on precisely
the same kind of land, a stone wall only separating the fields;
nine inches deep. F.'s oats weighed thirty pounds per bushel,
while C.'s weighed but seventeen pounds ; both manured alike.
C.'s corn dried up, while F.'s was green and luxuriant."

There is, indeed, but little difference of opinion on the second
question of the circular, respecting the effect of droughts on
deep and shallow ploughed lands, and few extracts need be
given to establish the fact, that the crops on deeply ploughed
lands have suffered much less than on shallow ploughed. One
farmer of great observation in Essex County says: "The injury
to shallow ploughed lands has been much greater than to those
deeply ploughed, especially where the soil was well pulver-
ized, as is done by the Michigan sod and subsoil plough; we
look upon this as one of the most valuable implements in tfic
field. No farmer should be without one. It will more than
pay for itself the first season."'

The same testimony is given by a farmer of Worcester

SECRETARY'S REPORT. 09

County in the following words : " My experience and observa-
tion are confined to light soils, plains, so called ; and I find,
whenever the ploughing has been increased in depth from year
to year, with the view to improve, the condition of the soil, the
experiment has always proved successful. I have had a fine
field of corn this year, on light soil, ploughed, as deep as I could
well plough, with a double or Michigan plough."

From Berkshire we have the following : " It is, we are sure,
an established fact, and one which must have fallen under the
notice of every farmer, that deep ploughed and finely pulverized
lands are less liable to the injuries of long continued droughts
than lands ploughed shallow and left half tilled. The obser-
vations, not only of the last year, but of former years of ex-
cessive dryness, have shown this to be the case most conclu-
sively. Reason teaches the same fact. The more open or
porous any substance is the more readily it will absorb moist-
ure."

A farmer of Plymouth County says, "Deep ploughing is
favorable to retention of moisture in the soil, and shallow
ploughed and scantily tilled fields are the first to suffer by
droughts."

Another practical farmer in Worcester County writes, " The
drought has affected deep ploughed lands but very little ; on
those that have been faithfully subsoiled, the corn leaves did not
roll at all ; while on those that were shallow ploughed, the
crop suffered much ; other crops have been seriously affected."

Another successful farmer says, " The effects of the drought on
lands ploughed one foot deep are about the same as on those
ploughed eight inches deep. Land ploughed five inches deep
is more affected than that ploughed eight inches ; so that less
than eight inches is too shallow, and more than that of but
little use."

Another farmer of Worcester County says, " Thorough
ploughing, high manuring, and clean and frequent hoeing, and
stirring the land so as to keep it light and free from weeds
in all tillage land. On mowing land, spread compost and plas-
ter freely ; and on orcharding, plough among and dig around
trees."

One more extract will suffice to show the general impression

70 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.

on this subject. An intelligent farmer of Bristol County says,
"Plough deep, and thoroughly pulverize the soil, and in the
after cultivation keep the soil well stirred with the hoe, culti-
vator, plough, or any other tool Lest adapted to the nature of
the crop."

The returns received show most conclusively that the
farmers of Massachusetts, in general, fully appreciate the im-
portance of deep ploughing, notwithstanding the example set
them by the societies in offering premiums for ploughing five,
six and seven inches with single teams, and nine with double.
Many of the writers also advise the gradual deepening of the
soil, by ploughing a little deeper every year. The process is
made thus gradual to avoid bringing up to the surface too
much of the subsoil at one time, as, until it has been a year or
two exposed to tkc air, this subsoil may have a deleterious
effect on the crop. It may be said, in general, that deep plough-
ing is proper on all rich arable soils, and on all soils where the
subsoil is as rich as the surface, or nearly so. In these cases,
on most alluvial soils, the action of the Michigan or double
mould-board plough has been greatly and justly admired.

But this is not the place to discuss the question as to what
constitutes deep ploughing. The subject has been treated else-
where, and by the ablest practical and scientific farmers.
It may be said, however, in passing what is already well
known, that the depth of ploughing depends much on the char-
acter of the soil, and that no judicious cultivator would plough
to an equal depth in sand and clay. " Make heavy land lighter,
and light land heavier," is a maxim the soundness of which has
never been disputed.

There is also another practice which deserves notice in this
connection. It was formerly the custom to put all the manure
in the hill. Experience, however, which is always the best,
though sometimes the dearest, teacher, led some to the con-
clusion that it was better to spread it and plough it in. The
question proposed in the circular was, What /ins been the com-
parative effect of I In- drought on l<iu<h where the manure
was spread and ploughed in. anil on those where it was put
in the hill ?

Nearly every answer to this question has been in favor of

SECRETARY'S REPORT. 71

spreading the manure. One practical and observing farmer of
Berkshire says, " The crops on lands where the manure was
ploughed in were much better than where it was put in the hill.
On a field containing twelve acres, I spread over twenty ox cart
loads of green barn-yard manure, and ploughed it under, cover-
ing the manure about five inches deep. On half of the field I
used rotted yard manure in the hill, and on the other half ashes
and plaster in the hill ; and I judge the yield per acre, in favor
of the ashes, is full one-third greater than where the manure
was put in the hill. The same is true of other fields which I
have noticed."

The same view was taken by a writer in Barnstable County,
who says, "It is the general practice with us, when manure is
used for the corn crop, to plough it in. One of our farmers, on
a field of heavy land, ploughed in the manure on one-half of the
field, and manured in the hill the remainder. We saw a dif-
ference in yield. Our conviction is decidedly averse to placing
manure in the hill on dry soils; and, during the present season,
manure on such soils has proved an injury."

The testimony on this subject is uniformly in favor of spread-
ing and ploughing in the manure. I give a few more extracts.
The first is from the statement of a farmer of Hampshire
County : " On lands where the manure was ploughed in, not
only on my own farm, but also on those within my knowledge,
crops have been decidedly the best. On one field of corn I
suffered much, in consequence of putting manure in the hill.
One of my neighbors has for years ploughed his manure under,
although reluctant to believe it best. I have finally come to
the conclusion that to plough in manure is always preferable
for a corn crop."

Another, in Plymouth County, writes as follows : " In year3
past, I was in the habit of putting my manure in the hill ; but
for two or three years past I have ploughed the most of it in,
and put a small quantity of line manure in the hill. I am
Bensible that I get better crops, and the land is less exhausted,
and in a better state to produce a subsequent crop of grain or
grass."

The practice of spreading a part of the manure, and putting
a part in the hill, has proved successful in many cases ; but

72 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.

where the object is to guard against drought, it is found best
to spread and plough in the whole. Except in seasons like the
past, however, many seeds will be benefited by some stimulus
in the hill.

We have, then, these modes of avoiding or diminishing the
effects of droughts like that of the past season. I. To pay
more attention to the cultivation of low, swampy lands, first
draining and thoroughly reclaiming them. II. To irrigate
wherever it is practicable ; and where this method is adopted,
the land should always be carefully drained and properly pre-
pared, so that the water may run off, otherwise it will grow
stagnant and do much injury. III. To plough deep; spread
and plough in the manure rather than put it in the hill; stir
the ground very often with the hoe, cultivator, plough, or some
other suitable implement; and IV., for trees and shrubs, to
mulch with hay, straw, tan, &c, which, in the country, may be
removed in winter, to prevent the attacks of mice upon the
bark.

It may be well, however, to speak a little more at large upon
the importance of stirring the soil often, as it cannot be denied
that there is some difference of opinion in regard to it. All
know that dew is formed much more freely on some surfaces
than on others ; and hard surfaces, like a beaten road or a gravel
walk, gather far less dew than porous or grassy surfaces.
Tufts of wool or hair, or the gossamer threads of the spider,
collect moisture very readily; so does the grass; and so do all
porous surfaces which have the power of readily giving off
heat, Hence the importance of very frequent stirring of the
surface, in times of drought, as we thus secure all possible
good influence from the dew and moisture of the atmosphere.

But some may suppose that, as the soil is stirred and loosened,
the evaporation will be greater, on account of the greater
amount of surface exposed to the air. This is, to some extent,
true. The evaporation from the surface of the earth, and from
watery is rapid and constant during our hot summer days. The
amount of moisture sent up from a soil which had just been
saturated was found by careful experiment in France, in the
month of August, and with the temperature ranging from 73°
to 75° Fahr., to be as follows: —

SECRETARY'S REPORT. 73

Amount evaporated, in inches and hundredths, from the soil.

First Day. Second Day. Third Day. Fourth Day. Fifth Day. Sixth Day. Seventh Day.
.1614 .0984 .0708 .0511 .0511 .0472 .0511

The amount of evaporation from water, at the same time, was,

First Day. Second Day. Third Day. Fourth Day. Fifth Day. Sixth Day. Seventh Day.
.59 .53 .45 .47 .46 .43 .37

This shows how rapidly evaporation takes place from the
surface after a rain, more than a fourth of the whole amount of
moisture in the soil being raised the first day. As soon as the
earth becomes dry, the evaporation is scarcely appreciable.
At the end of the second day, at the temperature given above,
the earth will generally have become dry to the depth of from
.07 to .11 in. ; and after eight days, plants which do not penetrate
the soil more than four inches will begin to suffer from drought,
and require watering. In the higher temperatures which we
frequently have, evaporation is more rapid. But if a light rain
falls on a hard surface, it cannot penetrate to any great depth ;
while, on a light and porous soil, it is absorbed at once, and
will not evaporate so rapidly, since it is in some measure pro-
tected by the earth. So with dews. We have seen that on a
hard surface there is no dew, or but little ; and even if there
were much, it would very soon evaporate ; while on a mellow,
porous surface, much more is deposited, for the reason inti-
mated above, and it must remain longer in the soil. It is a
curious fact, also, that the most thoroughly drained land stands
the drought best. This is explained by the consideration that
the roots of plants can shoot down to a greater depth in such
land without finding substances injurious to them.

Now, our summer rains ordinarily come at considerable inter-
vals, and are immediately followed by scorching suns or drying
winds. Still more frequently they come in showers, followed
by an atmosphere as clear and unclouded as any in the world.
If the rain has penetrated through a light, porous soil, it may
evaporate sooner than the same amount of moisture distributed
through the same depth of a hard and impermeable surface ;
but we have seen that the same amount of rain does not pene-
trate the hard surface, or, if at all, only to a partial extent,

10

74 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.

and its evaporation consequently is as rapid as that from the
porous surface, or even more so.

There can be no greater mistake than to fear to injure the
crops by the evaporation gained by mellowing the soil. Plants
never suffer so much as when the surface becomes a little hard
and forms a thin crust, which cuts off all communication with
the air. But when this crust is broken, and the earth is loos-
ened, the dews reach the roots of plants, and are often suffi-
cient to support vegetation a long time without rain. Let any
one who doubts try the experiment, and he will be convinced
of the advantage of deep ploughing and frequent loosening of
the soil. I am the more anxious to recommend this practice
of frequently stirring the surface of cultivated lands, because
by means of the cultivator for the larger crops, like Indian
corn and potatoes, and the onion weeder, that indispensable
labor-saving machine for root crops, it may be done by every
farmer with very little expense.

The question has frequently been raised, whether our climate
has undergone any perceptible change within the last two hun-
dred years, or since the settlement of the country. The sub-
ject was so well treated in a communication to the Board of
Agriculture by the Hon. John C. Gray, and published in the
Report of last year, that I shall only briefly allude to the present
state of the question. Statistics give no good evidence of any
material change; but nothing is more common than to hear the
remark, that our winters arc not so severe, or that we never
have such severe storms, as formerly, while our summers every
year become more oppressive; or, in other words, that the cli-
mate is warmer than it was. We can hardly believe that an
impression which prevails so generally can be entirely without
foundation. Besides this, we know that causes have long been
in operation which tend to produce the effect in question.
These causes have incidentally been alluded to above, and need
not be dwelt upon here any further than to say, what has already
been intimated, that dense forests must prevent the snow from
melting and the moisture from evaporating within their limits,
and thus lower the temperature of the atmosphere within them,
making, as it were, a reservoir of cold air, from which a con-
stant current will be poured upon the surrounding country. In

SECRETARY'S REPORT. 15

the same way, they must protect the sources of our springs
and running streams, so that their destruction must increase
the liability to drought in the whole adjacent region. The
last effect has probably been produced in the manner indicated,
whatever may be our conclusion on the general question of cli-
mate ; and I think most men can call to mind streams which are
much smaller now than formerly, rivers that have dwindled
almost to brooks, brooks that have become little rills, and
rills that no longer exist. The same process is going on upon
the continent of Europe, and many of the large rivers there
have become perceptibly smaller, and probably from the same
causes, since it is pretty conclusively shown that the amount of
rain, so far from having diminished, has slightly increased since
the year 1689, when the positive data as to the quantity of
rain at Paris begin. The same slight increase has also proba-
bly taken place at Milan. Accurate observations were made
on the Oder from 1778 to 1835, and on the Elbe from 1728
to 1836, which establish a very considerable progressive dimi-
nution of water, and from which it appears that, if the diminu-
tion continues in the same ratio as since 1781, it will be
necessary, after 1860, to change the form of vessels used on
the Elbe, and to construct those of less draught. The de-
crease there is ascribed to the causes specified above, and
chiefly to the clearing up of forests, the draining of ponds and
marshes, and the reclaiming of swamps.

We have seen that no accurate records were kept in the
early history of the colony ; indeed, that there were no means
of keeping any till the middle of the last century. The diaries,
both manuscript and published, which have been consulted,
give some information on this subject, though it is more gen-
eral and less to the point than could be desired. We learn
from them that there were many winters when it was common
to pass with men aud teams to and from the islands in Boston
Harbor, Shirley Point, and across the river to Charlestown.
We find, too, that not unfrequcntly the snows were very deep
and the roads impassable.. But all deductions from such vague
accounts as those are unreliable, when compared with those
drawn from careful registers of the weather.

On the other hand, we may infer that our climate has not

76 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.

greatly changed within the last hundred years, from an exami-
nation of the following table of the mean temperature of the
summer months at Cambridge, near Boston, during the period
from 1742 to 1774, and that of the same months, from 1793 to
1812, and from 1841 to 1852, inclusive :—

1742-

-1774.

1790-

-1812.

1841-

-1852.

May,

58°.G6

May,

56°.66

May,

54°.71

June,

67°.26

June,

67°.36

June,

65°.75

July,

72°.92

July,

72°.44

July,

71°.25

Aug.,

70°.91

Aug.,

70°.66

Aug.,

68°.68

Sept.,

62°.01

Sept.,

62°.43

Sept.,

61°.31

These figures show a most striking resemblance between the
periods in question, and certainly give no color to the idea
that our summers have become any warmer.

It is proper, in this connection, to notice very briefly the
difference between the climate of England and our own. This
subject also was so ably treated in the paper above referred to
that it will not be necessary to dwell upon it at any length
here. I desire only to show how little we can rely upon the
results of experiments made in England, and how unsafe it
would be for us to follow implicitly, in every case, the precepts
of British agriculturists.

The climate of England is proverbially damp, with almost
constant cloudiness and rain; hence the greenness and ver-
dure of its fields, which are never parched up like our own.
The soil of any country, of course, will be moist or dry accord-
ing as its atmosphere is moist or dry. As the summer ad-
vances, and the heat increases, both will gradually lose their
moisture ; and the degree of dryness will be in some proportion
to the intensity and long continuance of the heat. Hence, as
the temperature never rises so high in England as with us, and
never continues at its highest point there as here, the English
farmer will never suffer from the droughts which oppress us.

The average number of days on which it rains in England
during the year is no less than 178 J, giving a monthly aver-
age of nearly fifteen days. In other words, it rains in England,
on an average, almost every other day. The following tables
give the average number of days on which it rains near Lon-

SECRETARY'S REPORT.

77

don for each of the several months during the ten years,
1807—1816, and during the period between 1817 and 1823:—

1807—1816

January,

February,

March,

April,

May,

June,

July,

August,

14.4
15.8
12.7
14.0
15.8
11.8
16.1
16.3

1817—18:

23.

January,

16.3

February,

14.3

March,

16.7

April,

15.7

May,

14.6

June,

11.9

July,

13.0

August,

12.6

September, 12.3
October, 16.2
November, 15.0
December, 17.7 =

178.1

September, 13.0
October, 16.1
November, 16.0
December, 15.4
Average per month, 14.6

But the average number of days per month on which some
rain or snow fell at Salem, near Boston, during the same years,
(1807 — 1823,) was as follows, including even the slightest
showers : —

1807-

-1816.

1817-

-1823.

Jan.

9.5

July,

9.7

Jan.

8.6

July,

8.3

Feb.,

9.9

Aug.,

10.7

Feb.,

8.1

Aug.,

8.0

March,

, 9.6

Sept.,

7.6

March

, 8.6

Sept.,

7.3

April,

8.2

Oct.,

8.2

April,

8.8

Oct.,

7.6

May,

11.8

Nov.,

9.6

May,

12.0

Nov.,

11.1

June,

10.8

Dec,

9.0

June,

9.0

Dec,

10.7

Or, to take a longer term of years, and, therefore, a more
accurate standard of comparison, we have the average number
of days on which some rain or snow fell at Salem, from 1786
to 1828, as follows:—

January, 10.1 days.
February, 9.5 "
March, 9.7 "

April, 9.2 "

July, 8.8 days.

August, 9.2 «
September, 7.9 "
October, 7.8 «

78 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.

May,

11.0 days.

November,

9.0 days.

June,

9.5 «

December,

9.6 "

Total annual average, 111.3 days.

These observations include those days on which slight show-
ers fell. It is hardly necessary to remark, that our showers
of summer rarely come so slow and drizzling as the short rains
in England. If we add up the parts of days on which it rained
or snowed in the vicinity of Boston, including, of course, those
days on which it rained or snowed all day, we find an average
of but 58.8 days, the largest number in any year of the series
of nineteen being 72 days, the smallest 45 days, and these
days are distributed among the several months as follows : —

January,

6.4 days.

July,

4.1 days

February,

6.5 «

August,

4.0 «

March,

5.4 «

September,

4.1 «

April,

4.9 "

October,

4.1 «

May,

5.3 «

November,

4.5 «

June,

3.8 "

December,

5.6 «

Or, to carry the comparison still farther, I take observations
made in Berkshire County in 1837 and 1838, regarding them
as average years, and find that the number of days on which it
rained or snowed in these two years was 98|-; or, leaving out
the days on which it snowed, we find that in 1837 it rained 38£
days, and in 1838, 32*-. In 1837 there were 157 fair and 157.1
cloudy days; in 1838, 203 fair and 114 cloudy days. These,
it should be noticed, were not excessively dry in that part of
the State, but on the contrary, with the exception of great
failures in wheat sown in competition for the State bounty,
they were marked by agricultural prosperity. The amount of
rain at Amherst, in the summer of those years, was, —

1837.

1S38.

April,

4.33 inches.

April,

2.02 inches

May,

5.76

May,

3.63 "

June,

4.49 «

June,

4.90 ' "

July,

7.35 "

July,

2.27 "

August, 2.57 " August, 3.95

SECRETARY'S REPORT. 79

These statistics show in the most striking light the charac-
teristic difference in the climate of the two countries. The
dry extreme, which never approaches the dry extreme of our
climate, occurs in England but once in five years ; the wet
extreme once in ten years.

But we must not assume that more rain falls in England
than in Massachusetts. The mean annual fall of rain near
London for the period of 35 years, from 1797 to 1831, was
25.42 inches; while the mean annual amount for 12 years at
Cambridge, Massachusetts, was 43.06 inches : at Boston, for
30 years, it was 42.43 inches; and at Amherst, for 17 years,
42 inches. Thus it appears most conclusively that we have far
more rain during the year than falls in the eastern parts of
England.

The mean temperature of England appears from observa-
tions made near London to be 48°.5 Fahr., the latitude being
51° 31'; while the mean temperature at Boston, latitude 42°
21', is 48°.9. The mean annual temperature of the summer
months in England is 61°.7; at Boston for the same months it
is 69°. 1. Thus the mean temperature of the two countries ap-
pears to be about the same, though the summer months present a
very marked difference. But our climate is subject to sudden
and marked changes, while that of England is comparatively
equable. We have many days in winter when the thermometer
falls far below zero, and in summer we frequently have it
above 80°, or even 90°, for several days in succession ; while
in England it very seldom rises above 80° in summer with-
out being followed very soon by thunder and rain, and very
rarely falls as low as zero in winter.

The difference in the amount of evaporation of the two coun-
tries is a fair index of the difference in the climate of these
countries. Evaporation will generally be found to be in pro-
portion to the height of the temperature and the extent of
water or land surface. Ordinarily, in temperate zones, it is
about 37 inches a year, but in the tropics it amounts to from
90 to 100 inches. The atmosphere when at the freezing point
contains about a two-hundredth part of its weight of water,
while at 52° it contains about a one-hundrcth part, at 74° a
fiftieth part, at 98° a twenty-fifth part ; and so on. The evapo-

80 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.

ration in our climate is of course vastly greater than in Eng-
land, and simply because our summer heats are greater. And
as the effects of evaporation upon the soil, and upon vegetable
and animal growth, can evidently, in a great measure, be con-
trolled by various operations on the farm, it follows that a
system of agriculture which might be best adapted to one cli-
mate might be very ill suited to a climate where the atmos-
pheric phenomena were so different.

This difference of climate becomes a matter of great practi-
cal importance when we take into view the influence which it
must have on the animals which we import from England.
Although there is no very great difference in the average an-
nual temperature of the two countries, we have seen that the
changes are far greater and more sudden with us ; and both our
summer heats and our extremely cold weather in winter are
vastly more severe than any that is ever known in the south
of England or in the Isle of Jersey. Moreover, our climate is
very stimulating, and a constant strong stimulus, applied to an
animal not accustomed to it, must greatly accelerate the action
of the heart, and thus affect the whole system. The change
acts so powerfully on the human system that the circulation is
quickened to the extent of fifteen pulsations a minute over the
usual number before being subject to this stimulus. Its effect,
must be as much more powerful and perceptible on the larger
animals, as their arteries are larger than ours. A similar
effect on cattle is familiar to drovers in some parts of our
own country, and particularly to those who drive from Ohio, or
from Kentucky, the climate of which is not very unlike that of
England, to the New Orleans market. The loss from this
cause became so serious as to excite the attention of physi-
cians, and a paper was prepared by a distinguished scientific
man, in which, after stating that a gradual and steady reduc-
tion of the animal energy should be produced, he says, " The
quantity of food which the system will in ordinary circum-
stances require must be diminished, and all the common excit-
ing causes of increased arterial action, such as the heat of the
sun, quick motion of any kind, be avoided. Besides, those med-
icines, which have a tendency to diminish the heart's action,
must not only on the first attack of the fever be resorted to,

SECRETARY'S REPORT. 81

but should, we think, even in a state of health, from time to
time be administered. Shade, a plentiful supply of water for
the animal to stand in during the heat of the day, I conceive to
be of all things the most essential."

It is well known that much disappointment has been experi-
enced in importing Arabian horses into England, where they
not unfrequently become wholly unfruitful, or give birth to a
progeny far inferior to themselves. It is by no means improba-
ble that a like effect will be produced on the sheep which have
been carried from the north to the south of our own country
within the last few years.

Animals should gradually be accustomed to a new climate,
otherwise deterioration must inevitably follow. This was
observed even by the earliest settlers of New England, and the
cows raised from those first imported were very soon found to
be smaller than their dams. If we consider for a moment the
distinguishing characteristics of animals which have been ac-
customed to a warm climate, and compare them with those of
the same variety after they have been long exposed to a colder
one, we shall see still more clearly the importance of care and
caution where the change is great. Animals bred in a warm
climate will answer in the main to the following description :
" Their skin is thin, supple and oily ; their hair scanty and fine ;
their limbs long, the tendinous parts distinct ; their horns hard,
dry and brittle ; the hoof contracted ; the feet narrow and sound ;
the muscles dry, and but slightly fat; and their temperament
rather sanguineous than lymphatic. The circulation of the
blood becomes accelerated ; they possess much ardor, energy
and courage ; while the several parts of their bodies seldom
acquire very voluminous proportions." If we look, now, at the
characteristics of the animals of a colder region, we find that
they have " more strongly marked proportions ; have their skin
thicker, harder and drier ; their hair longer, coarser, and more
bushy ; their extremities shorter, with the tendons less strongly
pronounced ; the horns softer and more spongy ; the feet larger,
broader, more flattened, and less compact; the muscles
stronger, closer, and well supplied with fat. Their tempera-
ment is rather lymphatic than sanguineous, their circulation is
slower, they possess less physical and mental energy, and may
11

82 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.

almost be said to consist wholly of matter, as they are visibly
deficient in ardor, energy and courage."

The descriptions given above apply respectively to animals
which live in very warm or very cold countries. Those brought
from England, France, or the Isle of Jersey, to New England,
do not find a climate entirely the reverse of their own, but
there is difference enough to make the change in some degree
injurious to them. Undoubtedly much may be done to facilitate
acclimation, and prevent ill effects from the change, by care in
providing suitable shelter in winter. It would be still better
to import them while young, when, from the greater flexibility
of organization at that age, they would more easily accommo-
date themselves to their new circumstances. Yet, with all the
precaution and care which can be taken, it must still be some-
what doubtful whether the delicate organizations of the thorough-
bred animals will be able to bear the extremes of the climate
of New England without injury.

There is another point of view in which this difference of
climate is worthy of consideration. I refer to the practice
of draining, and the great importance now laid upon it by most
theoretical writers on agriculture, guided very much in their
deductions by the results of this practice in England. It will
have been noticed by what has been said that more water falls
here than in England ; but it does not follow that our lands
are wetter, for we have seen that, while England has an atmos-
phere eminently foggy, we have one eminently dry, or, at least,
liable every year to cause the crops to suffer during the grow-
ing season for want of moisture. Evaporation here is very
rapid, while there it is comparatively slow ; and of course after
a rain the soil is much longer in drying, and consequently a
small amount of rain there may cause the soil to be wet and
cold. No one can doubt the propriety as well as the profit of
draining all wet and cold soils which it is designed to improve,
and particularly all lands where there is an excess of water on
the surface, all stiff, clayey soils, and loams in which clay pre-
dominates, and generally all springy soils. Draining and
loosening the soil allows the air to penetrate into it, and to
cause those chemical changes to take place which are neces-
sary to prepare the nourishment of the plant and to promote

SECRETARY'S REPORT. 83

its growth. But all plants require a certain amount of moist-
ure, in order to enable them to arrive at their perfect develop-
ment. Some soils have the ability to retain moisture enough
to supply this want, and some retain an excess, even in times
of drought. There is a constant evaporation or exhalation
from the surface in dry weather, and when the surface becomes
dry this exhalation arises from the lower strata, ascending
through those above, and so passing off from the surface ; and
there can be no doubt that this upward movement of moisture
from the subsoil is of great service in the vegetable economy,
and affords another strong reason for a frequent stirring of the
surface in dry weather, since this process greatly promotes the
upward tendency of the moisture of the lower strata.

It must be evident from what has been said that draining is
not so necessary here as in England, or in any country with a
moist climate. This remark is general, however, and does not
apply to our low, swampy lands, over which the fogs are often
seen to linger, and on which the water is allowed to stand and
stagnate, but only to such as dry early in spring, so as to
admit of being worked over soon after the snow disappears.

This brief notice of the climate in which we live may serve
to excite our interest in the subject, and a desire to pursue it
further ; and when it is considered that upon its climate depend
both the animal and vegetable productions of a country, and
that upon these depends the population of that country, the
importance of agricultural meteorology, as a branch of the
farmer's knowledge, will be apparent to all.

Some account has already been given of the results of ex-
periments with guano ; but the great difference of opinion
among farmers upon this subject, and the great importance of
arriving at correct conclusions in relation to it, seem to make
a somewhat more extended discussion of the qualities of this
manure not inappropriate in this connection.

The history of guano is already well known, and I need not
dwell upon it. It is found in immense quantities, the accumu-
lations of centuries, often two hundred feet in depth. Its vir-
tues are condensed into the smallest bulk. The best guano
comes from islands where it never rains ; but the very heavy

84 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.

dews which fall there moisten the surface of the deposits, and
the hot suns harden this damp surface into a crust, which en-
tirely prevents the escape of the fertilizing gases, thus preserv-
ing all the valuable qualities of the article as a manure. If the
guano were washed by the rains, and were exposed to the con-
stant evaporation which would follow without such a crust for
its protection, it would scarcely pay the expenses of transpor-
tation.

The past year has been extremely unfavorable for all experi-
ments with concentrated manures, tried merely as experiments,
and its experience can hardly be considered a fair test of the
merits of any manure, and especially of a manure which, from
its volatile nature, requires to be immediately dissolved by
moisture and distributed through the soil. It is desirable,
however, to know the risks which must be incurred, as well as
the profits which may be gained, in every operation of the farm.
If guano should be found to produce comparatively little or no
good effect in dry seasons, this consideration should have some
weight in our decision upon the expediency or inexpediency of
its use. Many failures have been brought to my knowledge in
various parts of the State ; of these, some probably arose from
the drought, others from want of knowledge or care in the ap-
plication. In seasons like the past, this manure frequently
does little good. There must be moisture enough after its
application to dissolve it. Having occasion to top dress an
acre of grass, seeded in September, 1853, 1 mixed 300 pounds of
guano with common garden soil in the proportion of one to
three, and sowed it upon the last light snow in April. The
subsequent rains dissolved it and carried it into the soil, which
was a very light, dry, gravelly loam, of no more than ordinary
fertility, situated upon the sea shore. The acre produced more
than two tons of superior hay. Without the guano, I do not
think the produce would have been half as good. If it had
been applied a week or two later, the effect would undoubtedly
have been far less perceptible.

I do not think it safe, as a general rule, to put it in the hill
and to plant corn or other crops upon it, or even to bury it, as
many do, to the depth of a half inch or more with soil, and
drop the seeds upon that. This method may succeed some-

SECRETARY'S REPORT. 85

times, but there are some objections to it. In the first place,
the guano should be in the ground, it seems to me, before most
crops are planted, that it may be so completely dissolved and
incorporated with the soil as to produce its full effect. In the
second place, the rootlets of plants in spring are exceedingly
tender ; and when they shoot down into the guano, as they will,
in most cases, before it is so mixed with the soil as to have
become harmless, they will inevitably be destroyed ; and if the
destruction of the whole plant does not follow, it will have but
a sickly and feeble growth. No guano is worth fifty dollars a
ton that will not produce this effect. In the third place, in
cases of drought, guano in the hill, however perfectly it may
have been prepared before its application, will ordinarily prove
an injury rather than a benefit. It seems difficult also to see
the advantage of this practice ; for we need have no fear that
the roots will not find the manure if it is mixed with the soil.

I do not wish to be understood to be opposed to the judi-
cious use of guano. It is now pretty generally agreed that
ammonia is the substance which stimulates most powerfully
the growth of plants ; and if the farmer has not enough of it in
his home-made stable manure, guano is the cheapest form in
which it can be bought. It not unfrequently happens that,
after using all possible means at command, by way of the muck
meadow, loam, leaves, and a thousand other things within the
reach of most farmers, for increasing his supplies, he still fails
to make as much as his land demands. It then becomes a
question of importance with the farmer where and how to supply
his wants the cheapest and with least labor. It is a question
of dollars and cents, and the man who knows his own interest
will study it out.

The farmer will sometimes prefer a cheap kind of guano to
the best Peruvian, simply because the price is a little less.
There can be no greater mistake. The properties of the best
guano are well known, and we can predict what results will fol-
low the application of a certain quantity per acre. With most
other guanos there is no certainty as to the results, and the dif-
ference in price is seldom proportionate to the difference in
quality. The risk in buying them is consequently much great-
er, and the farmer cannot ordinarily afford to sacrifice both the

86 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. •

price of the manure and the time and crops which he may lose
by his mistake. The only safety is in getting the best war-
ranted guano from dealers who can be relied on.

It often happens that the soil is of such a nature as to make
some change in its physical texture desirable. It is too stiff,
or too light. There are cases, doubtless, where a thorough
dressing of stable manure would be more beneficial than guano
or any concentrated manure. The farmer must decide all ques-
tions of this kind by the aid of a sound and enlightened judg-
ment. In most cases it is not well to use one kind of manure
on the same land many years in succession. Thus, on soils
where a coarse manure is needed, it will often be found useful
to mix guano with it, and an excellent compost may be made in
this way. The guano, when so mixed and ploughed in, is very
soon decomposed, and supplies the plant with food almost im-
mediately ; while the coarser manure, as its decomposition goes
on more slowly, becomes available at a later stage of vegetable
growth. This method of using guano, I think, should be adopt-
ed much oftener than it is.

There have been too few experiments to determine with cer-
tainty the effect of guano, when used for several successive
years on the same soil. I give below extracts from the state-
ments made by experienced practical men, which show not only
the results obtained, but the manner of preparation and appli-
cation. A farmer of Worcester county says: "Where guano
has been spread and ploughed in, the result is satisfactory ;
when applied to corn in the hill, in most cases unsatisfactory.
Experiments with phosphate of lime have generally been satis-
factory."

An experienced farmer in Middlesex county writes as fol-
lows : "The best results have been realized when it has been
sown on grass lands in the spring as early as the month of
March. Where it has been used for corn, some have succeeded
well ; others have not, for want of knowledge in using it."

Another successful cultivator says : " I have used it with plas-
ter on oats sown broadcast for fodder, and ploughed in two or
three inches deep, in the spring. It increased my crop of oats
fifty per cent. It is worth the most for any crop when put un-

SECRETARY'S REPORT. 87

dcr the ground two or three inches and well mixed with the
earth."

The return made by a farmers' club of Middlesex county, in
which the circular given above was taken up and carefully con-
sidered, contains the following reply on the subject of guano :
" J. P. B. applied 300 pounds per acre ; on the same land he
applied 20 loads of compost manure, and had one-sixth more
corn on the compost manure. J. H. got no pods on an eighth
of an acre of pease. J. B. M. sold $20 worth of pease from
one-sixteenth of an acre. He doubled his crop on guanoed
land, but found no effect on grass land. On poor sandy soil
E. W. B. found his corn, rye and grass improved ; guano saved
the corn. He got double the crop on grass land where guano
was applied in the autumn ; would always mix with charcoal,
plaster or muck, 60 pounds to the cord of peat muck. E. W.
found nearly a fourth more millet on seven-eighths of an acre,
where 25 loads per acre were applied, than where 300 pounds
of guano were applied. J. D. B. doubled his crop of potatoes
by the use of 300 pounds of guano per acre, applied on low
land in the hill."

Another practical farmer of Middlesex county says : " Guano
has been used by some few individuals to a limited extent.
In several instances it has proved an unprofitable invest-
ment, on account of the want of knowledge how to use it,
having placed the seed in too near proximity to the manure,
which, being very powerful, destroyed the germ, or prevented
its growth. Light or sandy lands seem to be most benefited
by guano, or its effects are more perceptible on such ground
than on land in a high state of cultivation. It has been said that
the first crop obtained by using guano was the best, and that
the third or fourth season there would be but a very meagre
one ; but I think that statement remains to be tested.

Different kinds ofland require different kinds of manure, as
is well known by most farmers. On cold, clayey soils, the
horse or stable manures seem to produce the best return, and
to leave the ground in a better state than some other kinds of
manure ; while on loamy, sandy, or gravelly soils, the barn
manure, formed into compost, is considered by most farmers as
best adapted to produce a crop. Much use is made of swamp

88 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.

muck in forming a compost for manuring loamy, sandy, or
gravelly soils, being worth for such purpose not less than $1
per cord ; and, especially where manure is used in the hill, the
muck is an almost indispensable requisite ; for the difference
between using clear manure and one half or two thirds muck
in compost would be in favor of the muck compost."

Another writer from Essex county says : " I have used two
tons the past season, which I think is full half used in town. I
applied it to some extent upon all crops raised upon my farm,
mixed in the proportion of one part guano to four of loam in
bulk, for grass land, and spread at the rate of 300 pounds of
guano per acre. It increased the product but very little on high
and dry land ; but on low, wet land, it more than doubled the
first and second crop of grass. On greensward land, where
15 loads of manure from the barn cellar were spread and
ploughed under, guano, mixed as above with meadow muck, and
applied in like proportion to corn, spread and cultivated in,
increased the crop full one-quarter ; but when put in the hill
and covered with one inch of earth it diminished the crop
about one-fourth, not more than three-fourths of the seed vege-
tating. I fenced in forty square rods of land from my pasture,
and divided it into four lots of ten rods each, the soil a strong
black loam, and rather moist the first part of the season. On
the 29th of April, during a north-east rain, I applied to lot No.
one 20 pounds of plaster; to No. two, 20 pounds of guano,
mixed with three times its bulk of loam ; to No. three, 20 pounds
of guano and 20 pounds of plaster; to No. four, not any thing.
The last of June following, the grass on lots Nos. one and two
was about alike, being nearly double of lot No. four ; but on
No. three the product was more than threefold. After that time
the cattle were allowed to feed upon it ; the season continued
so dry, I could not perceive much difference in the feed late in
the autumn."

A farmer of Barnstable county returns the following answer :
li I have used guano on grass lands, both swamp and upland,
with good success. To a limited extent it has been used by
others, on grass lands, with success — in small experiments
doubling the crop. On corn it lias proved, on the whole, inju-
rious. I have applied it on a section of corn land, in the hill,

SECRETARY'S REPORT. 89

with great loss — mixing it with dry peat muck before applying
it, and covering the mixture with two or three inches of earth.
The only missing hills in the field were in the guano part ; the
growth of stalk was promoted, but the yield of corn not so
good as when compost was put in alone. In the year 1853 I
used it on corn with similar results. I should discard it for
corn or garden crops, feeling more safety and confidence in
good compost manure. On a section of the above-named field
superphosphate of lime was used, applied in the hill. It pro-
duced an early, marked growth of stock, but on harvesting I
have no better result than on any other section of the field ; the
land was light, and the dry weather prevented a fair test. I
shall try it again next year ; I have more confidence in it than
in guano, as it can be safely applied."

A Norfolk farmer says : " When judiciously applied, guano
has resulted well, especially on mowing lands, doubling the
growth. In the cornfield I did not see a marked difference.
It was very favorable to oats and turnips."

Another in Worcester county answers: "I have applied
guano this season without any visible effect. Others have been
more fortunate. In some instances the benefit to the corn
crop has been very perceptible, increasing it twenty or twenty-
five per cent. About twenty tons were used in town last
spring. From the best information I have obtained, I think for
a crop of corn it is more beneficial on light land or pine plain ;
for grass, on land rather low and moist. Others within my
knowledge have used it in successive years, and generally witli
less success the following years than the first. In one case
that came under my observation, the crop the second year was
an entire failure."

From these returns, all of which come from experienced
practical men in various parts of the State, and from many
more like them which my present limits do not allow me to
give, we may deduce the following general principles : —

I. That guano generally succeeds better on light, loamy lands
than on stiff, clayey soils.

II. That it is not safe to use guano in the hill, unless it is
largely mixed with other substances, or intimately mingled
with the soil of the hill.

12

90 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.

III. That it may be spread and ploughed or harrowed in for
corn7 or other cultivated crops, to great advantage, particular-
ly in wet seasons ; and that it may be thus used with perfect
safety, without any previous preparation, except crushing or
pulverizing the lumps.

IV. That when it is to be applied as a top dressing it should
be well pulverized, and thoroughly composted with muck or
loam, and then be spread upon the land very early in the
spring.

These results, conflicting as they do with the experience of
some, cannot perhaps be regarded as fixed, since many more
experiments, accurately conducted under every variety of cir-
cumstances, are needed to enable us to fix any rufes for the
preparation and application of this powerful manure.

But almost inexhaustible supplies, of material for making ex-
cellent manure may be found in the swamps and bogs which
abound in nearly every part of Massachusetts. The term
muck is generally applied by New England farmers to the mass
of vegetable matter usually found in peat swamps in a state of
partial decomposition ; by English farmers, to rotting straw,
&c. ; and by the Scotch, to barn-yard manure. I use the word
in its common signification in this country, and mean by it the
dead vegetable substances described. These are the remains
of trees and plants, some of which must have lived ages ago,
more or less perfectly decomposed, and sometimes extending
to a depth of many feet. This substance is made up of dif-
ferent constituents in different localities, and its quality is
therefore very variable. Hence we find a great variety of
opinions as to the value of swamp muck as a manure. The
various estimates of the value of swamp muck range from 33
cents to $3 per cord, and give an average of $1.27: and as
there is no reason to suppose that the estimated value is not
the real value in each locality, it follows that no general real
value can be definitely fixed. This depends on its quality. ♦

Swamp muck is often cold and sour, and requires the addi-
tion of lime or exposure to the atmosphere and to frosts before
it can be advantageously applied as manure. There arc dif-
ferent modes of preparing it for use. The most common is to
dig it out, expose it to the frost through the winter, and then

SECRETARY'S REPORT. 91

put it into the barn yard to be composted with the stable
manure. The following statements arc from experienced prac-
tical men. and each gives the results of the observations of its
writer.

A Middlesex farmer says : u I use swamp muck most success-
fully composted with stable manure on different varieties of
soils, but think it docs best on high land of a loamy soil. 1
notice it is used very extensively by farmers with satisfactory
results when composted with other manures thoroughly." A
farmer of Worcester county says : " I use it extensively on my
hard, clay soils ; it works well on dry lands to keep them moist,
and on clay soils to keep them light." Another writer from
Dukes county follows : " It should be hauled out in the fall,
and exposed to the frost during winter, and mixed with stable
manure in the proportion of two parts muck to one of manure ;
it should also be used in the hog pen, barn yard, and barn cel-
lar. I have found it a good manure on loamy, gravelly, and
sandy land, especially for top dressing for grass, when com-
posted as above." A Norfolk county farmer, who has met with
great success, says : " The best way of using swamp muck is
to dig it and expose it to the sun, air, and rains one year,
and then, when in a dry state, place it in a barn cellar where
it will take the droppings of the cattle above until it is
thoroughly saturated : then mix it well, and it is ready for use.
It is good for all high lands." He estimates it at about three
dollars by the cord of one hundred and two bushels. A Mid-
dlesex farmer of great experience states that " swamp muck
is of different qualities, and varies as much as wood when used
for fuel. Peat mud, the older the better, consists principally
of vegetable matter. It lias most effect on high and dry ground.
Wood ashes arc the best article to correct its acidity."

Similar accounts come from every section of the State. From
Hampshire county we have the following : " The best method
of using Bwamp muck, judging from experiments of my neigh-
bors and my own, is to cart it out in the autumn, expose it to the
frost and snows, then spread and plough it in in the spring on
sandy, dry soils, or, in other words, on soils of an opposite
nature to its own. I ploughed in twenty-live loads on one-
quarter of an acre last spring, and planted it to early potatoes,

92 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.

corn, pease, cucumbers, squashes and melons. It was a great
preventive against drought. That ground has been sown to
rye, and it looks first rate." And from Plymouth county :
" Swamp muck, as also upland soils, are valuable to mix with
various kinds of manure to retain and absorb the salts. For
upwards of two years, I have adopted a different course with
my swamp land from any I know of. I employ men with
long-bitted hoes, and sward hooks, &c, to dig up the hum-
mocks and bushes, in bodies large and small, as is convenient,
and pile them in bunches for a few days to dry ; after which
I select a central bunch, in which I form a cavity or hole near
the bottom or surface of the ground. Then I set fire to some
of the dryest and most combustible, and as it burns I replenish
it from the other bunches, smothering in the coal-pit form,
though more combustible, till it is burned down to a perfect
body of ashes and sand. I have not carried ttie experiment
into full effect as I designed to ; but, so far as I have used
the ashes, they have given me entire satisfaction. Their
nature is to improve exhausted lands ; and my belief is that
they may be spread upon the same land upon which the ashes
were made, and increase the growth of English grass. Much
has been said upon the subject of reclaiming wet, swampy
lands ; but after all that has been done, as I understand it, a
coat of manure is required to produce a good crop of English
grass. Now, if our worthless swamp lands possess the very
article required to produce such grass by the simple process
as above named, I think it would be an improvement in one
point of agriculture."

A farmer of Barnstable county says : " The best compost
manure is made in our barn and hog yards, of swamp muck,
seaweed and animal manure. Swamp muck and seaweed arc
accessible to all who will take the trouble to procure them. My
barn and hog yards arc so excavated and dug as to absorb the
liquids passed into them. Every spring and summer, after my
barn yard is emptied, I replenish it from time to time with
swamp muck, peat, seaweed, and other materials from the
farm, which, with the animal manure produced by yarding my
cattle, furnish mc in the autumn with 200 loads of good com-
post, which I cither stack in the yard, or cart on to the land

SECRETARIES EPORT. 93

I intend to plant in the spring. I again replenish the yard,
giving me, with the proceeds of my hog yard, from 100 to 150
loads more in the following spring. In addition, I have for two
years past composted, in the field adjoining my peat bog, from
75 to 100 loads of peat (thrown from the pit in summer or
autumn) with sea and rockweed, or ashes and animal manure,
which I esteem of equal value to barn-yard manure. I esti-
mate the value of a cord, or four ox cart loads of barn yard
manure composted as above, at from $4 to $5. We esteem the
value of this for a corn crop and the improvement of land
higher than pure animal manure."

I give one more extract from a farmer of Berkshire County.
He says : " I have used swamp muck for a number of years
past with good results, hj mixing it with yard and stable
manures in the proportion of one-third to one-half muck, and
consider it worth one dollar per load to use for agricultural
purposes on soils that are a mixture of loam and gravel."

The testimony is uniformly in favor of composting muck
with other manures. Its power of absorbing valuable liquid
and gaseous substances is very considerable ; and this makes it
an excellent substance to mix with guano when the latter is to
be used as a top dressing. The importance of a free use of
dry swamp muck as an absorbent of the liquid manures of the
barn and stable can hardly be over-estimated. The loss
throughout the State from the neglect and consequent waste
of these rich manures, which, with a little care, might all be
saved, is almost incredible. The attention of farmers was but
lately called to this subject ; but the value of these substances
is acknowledged by some, and efforts are now made to save
them by means of the use of muck and loam, either properly
composted in the barn cellar, or supplied daily to the stalls
of cattle. No judicious farmer should neglect to save all such
substances as tend to increase the value and productiveness of
his lands. It is poor economy and bad calculation to buy con-
centrated manures, or to buy any manures abroad, till every
thing of the kind is saved at home.

From what has been said, we may infer that good dry swamp
muck is worth on an average, from $1.25 to $1.50 per cord;
that it is best on light, loamy, sandy, or gravelly soils ; and

94 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.

that it is valuable as a compost with barn-yard manures, or
with guano.

The introduction of improved machinery for farming pur-
poses marks the progress of agriculture, and foreshadows the
advantages to be expected hereafter from the application of
science to this art. Implements are now constructed on strict-
ly scientific principles. Among those lately introduced, by
way of experiment, is the mowing machine. About one hun-
dred and fifty of these machines have been used in this State
the last year. There is no doubt that such improvements
will be made in it as to make it exceedingly valuable,' and
indeed, on many farms, quite indispensable.

CULTURE OP THE HOP.

I have very often been applied to for information respecting
the cultivation of hops. The inquiry upon this subject has
become so great, and the sources of information are so few, on
account, probably, of its being a local product, that it seems
important to state the results of my studies and observation
upon it. Having spent the early part of my life in the immedi-
ate vicinity of a hop-growing district, and having subsequently,
in the course of my investigations, connected with official duties,
obtained many statistics and facts from successful growers in
this Commonwealth, I have determined to imbody them in the
form of a report upon this crop.

Its Natural History. — The hop [humulus) is a hardy, herba-
ceous plant, of the nettle order, constituting a genus by itself,
under the name of Lupulus. The common American name for
it is from the old Saxon hoppan, "to climb.-' and the generic
botanical term, humulus, is from the Latin humus, fresh, earth,
and applied to it on account of the natural habits of the plant,
when left to itself, of creeping along the -round. Its Bpecific
botanical name, Lupulus, was given it by the Romans, because
when growing among the willows it twined around and choked
them, proving as destructive as the wolf. The old English
name signified the "bane of the wolf."

The male and female plants are distinct from each other,
the cup of the former having five stamens or leaves, that of the

SECRETARY'S REPORT. 95

latter only one large oval leaf. The root generally sends up
many roughs flexible stems, which twine from left to right around
poles or upright supports to a height varying from ten to twenty-
five feet. The leaves are indented like a saw, shaped like a heart,
opposite to each other, and growing on small stalks, rough, or
covered with prickles like a nettle, and of a dark-green color,
sometimes entire, and sometimes divided. The flowers of the
male plant grow in clusters a little like currant blossoms, with
a calyx of five oblong sepals, and five short capillary filaments,
and upright double-celled anthers. The flowers of the female
plant are cones, strobiles, or catkins, of many scales, and
of an ovate form, pendulous, and slightly resembling the cones
of a pine. They are covered with a fine yellow powder called
Lupuline. The scales are of a pale green, overlapping each
other. It has two downy styles, shaped like an awl, and spread-
ing. The stigmas are simple. Each enlarged dry scale has a
single seed attached to its base, round, and of a brownish color,
having a sharp rim. The blossoms of the hop are bitter, and
slightly narcotic, and are the most valuable part.

But one variety of the male plant is known ; while several
distinct varieties of the female are well known, and have been
cultivated from remote antiquity. The chief varieties known
and cultivated in England are the golding hop, known and cul-
tivated here also ; the Canterbury grape hop, also grown on
rich' soils in the county of Kent ; the Mayfield grape hop, grown
on nearly all kinds of good soil ; the golden-tips hop ; the
Farnham, celebrated in some sections for its superior qualities ;
and the Flemish redbine, a coarse and hardy variety, more
nearly approaching the wild plant than the others. The grape
hop is common here."'

i ore is a plant improperly called the " tree hop," the fruit of which is sometimes
used as a substitute for the true hop. This is the Ptelea trifoliate of Linna'us. It
is the Shrubby Trefoil, sometimes called Swamp Dogwood, or Stinking Ash. It is
a beautiful shrub or small tree, with greenish-white flowers, growing in clusters,
and resembling the common hop. Its name is derived from a Greek word, signify-
ing to fly, from the resemblance of its fruit to that of the elm, being furnished with
a thin covering like a wing. Its bark and foliage are bitter and aromatic, acting as
a tonic. It has but few branches, brittle, and filled with pith. Its bark is of a
beautiful, smooth purple. It may be easily propagated by cuttings, seeds or layers.
It is an inferior substitute for hops, though often used for yeast and other purposes.

96 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.

Its History as a cultivated Plant. — The hop grows "wild in
Sweden, Germany, Switzerland, England, and in Massachusetts,
where it is indigenous. It is probably indigenous also to Eu-
rope, though supposed by some naturalists to have been brought
there by the Goths at a very early period. It was known,
probably, to the Greeks and Romans. It became more known
as a cultivated plant in modern Europe after the 8th and 9th
centuries. It was cultivated in Germany in the 14th century, and
introduced into England, but not much cultivated, previous to
1524. The prejudices against this plant were at first very
great, and Henry VIII. ordered the brewer not to put hops
into the ale. Its cultivation was afterwards encouraged br-
acts of Parliament. One of the first works published on this
subject was, "A Perfite Platforme of a Hoppe Garden " in
1578. The cultivation of hops in Sweden was regarded of so
great importance that every farmer was required by law to
have at least forty poles of them; and in failure of this he was
punished, unless he could show that his land was not capable of
producing them ; and the picking of them before they were ripe
was followed by a penalty. The cultivation was brought to
considerable perfection there as early as the close of the 17th
century. This plant was introduced into Massachusetts at a
very early date. " Hop rootes " were ordered by the Governor
and Company of the Massachusetts Bay in New England in
1628.

The cultivation of this crop in Massachusetts has grown up
for the most part within the last seventy years, and its history
is' so interesting as to merit a more extended notice than my
present limits allow.

In 1789 some eight or ten of the priucipal growers of hops
met at the house of Samuel Jaques, Esq., one of the largest
hop growers of Wilmington, for the purpose of ascertaining
the amount of hops grown in the State. The quantity was so
limited, and the number of growers so few, that those present
could name both the growers and the quantity each raised
throughout fin' whole country. Previous to that time only about
thirty thousand pounds had been grown in any one year in this
State, and by far the larger part of those was raised in Wil-
mington and a few adjoining towns in Middlesex county.

SECRETARY'S REPORT. 97

The mode of picking and drying was very defective. The
hops were picked in clusters, stems and leaves often thrown
in, and the drying was done by wood ; so that, when taken from
the kiln, they were "brown as a leg of bacon, and about as
much smoked."

Colonel Samuel Jaques, who may justly be called the founder
of this business, was the first in the country to dry hops with
charcoal, in September, 1791. At the suggestion of Robert
Laird, a Scotch brewer, who afterwards lived many years in
Newburyport, young Jaques, then a lad of fifteen, but already
sufficiently advanced to be intrusted, in the absence of his
father, with the responsibility of overseeing the harvesting of
the crop, gave directions to have the hops picked entirely free
from stems and leaves, sent at once to a neighbor's for a load
of charcoal, and produced the most beautiful kiln of hops that
had ever been dried in America. He was not only astonished
himself, but astonished all the neighbors. When his father re-
turned on Saturday night, and beheld what had been done, he
could hardly restrain his joy and delight, for a new era had
begun in his favorite pursuit.

The superiority of this mode of picking and drying was so
apparent that in 1792 it was pretty generally adopted, and has
been practised to this day; for, as this article became valuable
from these improved processes, the demand increased, doubled
and tripled, the culture extended, and the slips or cuttings to
form new plantations soon rose to exorbitant prices.

It was the universal custom at that time to pack the hops in
round bags, without any uniformity in length or size, by tread-
ing them down with the feet in the rude manner still practised
in England. The consequence was, that the tops were bruised
and broken, causing great loss in strength and value by evapo-
ration of the essential juices of the plant, its most valuable
properties, to say nothing of the impossibility of packing
closely for transportation. Young Jaques, leaving his father
after the harvest of the crop of 1797, came to Charlestown,
and soon commenced packing hops in square bales, by means
of screws. The superiority of this mode was so apparent that
it soon became general.

But difficulties often arose among merchants, from the fact

13

98 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.

that old or refuse hops were often found mixed up with good
ones. No proper distinction was made between the different
qualities. Vexatious lawsuits would sometimes occur, and
the price of the best hops was naturally lower than it other-
wise would have been. To remedy these evils, the Legislature of
Massachusetts created the office of Inspector General of Hops
in the year 1806. This was the first movement of the kind in
this country, and, so far as I know, the first provision for an in-
spection in the world. Col. Jaques was appointed inspector.
The office being new, there were no precedents for classifying
hops, and some system was to be adopted. But some hop
dealers and some hop growers were opposed to a high stan-
dard of inspection, and the inspector met, of course, with many
difficulties. It is but justice to him to say, that, by the con-
scientious use of his "first sort" brand, Massachusetts for
many years monopolized the trade in hops, for the character
of our hops became the best in the United States. His sys-
tem was complete, and the growers were soon brought to im-
prove their hops, in order to bring them up to a high standard
of perfection. Those who sent orders from Europe to agents
in this country required their hops to be inspected in many
cases in Massachusetts, and Col. Jaques' brand generally com-
manded a cent or two on a pound more than that of any other
State.

It was the pride of Col. Jaques that no bale marked as " first
sort " ever failed to prove so, and it was this high standard that
gained for the Massachusetts crop an enviable reputation both
at home and abroad, and there is no other means of securing
any permanent annual foreign demand ; while, the moment the
standard is lowered, the moment the dealers find bale after
bale branded as " first sort " when they should have been
" second," or branded " second sort " when they should have been
" refuse," they begin to look with distrust upon the whole. It
is, on the whole, for the interest, both of the grower and the
dealer, to maintain the highest standard of perfection, and
that the truth should be stamped on every bale.

The Legislature, in 1816, passed a law requiring all in-
spectors to make annual returns to the office of the Secretary
of State. But Col. Jaques, from the beginning, foresaw the

' SECRETARY'S REPORT. 99

want of more accurate and reliable statistics of all our staple
products, and, as early as 1806, adopted a system by which,
when these returns were required by law, he was enabled to
present them from the first year of his inspection, and by
these he could tell how many bags of hops were raised in
the State, by whom raised, and in what town, to whom sold,
the weight and the quality of each bag, the price, etc. In these
returns we have more perfect statistics of this crop for the
last half century than any other State in the Union. These
returns will be referred to in speaking of the cost and profits
of this crop.

Col. Jaques resigned the office of Inspector of Hops in 1842.
The crop ia Massachusetts, in 1840, was returned as 237,941
pounds, estimated to be worth to the growers no less than
$71,382.30. From that time the prices fell, till only 150,655
pounds were reported in the official returns of 1850, valued at
$37,663.75. The.average price per pound, in 1847, was but 6f
cents; and in 1848, but 7 cents. Among the reasons for theso
low prices was the fact that the quality of Massachusetts hops
had somewhat depreciated, and consequently their reputation
was greatly injured. The cause of the depreciation in quality
will be alluded to hereafter.

Location. — The land designed for a hop plantation should be
as free from exposure to the winds as possible, since at cer-
tain seasons it is liable to be greatly injured. Level ground
is better than a hillside.

The hop is said by some to flourish best in a moist climate.
The finest varieties are cultivated to the highest degree of per-
fection in England, the climate of which we have already al-
luded to in a former part of this Report. An English writer
affirms that the north of England and Scotland are too cold
for the successful cultivation of these varieties of the hop, and
suggests that if it is at all attempted on a large scale, or in
field culture, the coarse, hardy Flemish rcclbine be used. The
latitude of Edinburgh is 55° 57', that of Boston 42° 21'.
The mean annual temperature of the former is 47°. 1 F., that
of the latter 48°.9 — showing but a slight difference. But a
comparison of the mean spring and summer heat of the two
places shows a very marked difference. Our winters are far

100 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.

colder, and our summers far hotter, than those of Scotland ;
or, to resort to accurate statistics, the mean temperature of
the growing months for the two places is as follows : —

Edinburgh.

Boston.

April,

44°. 1 Fahr.

April,

47°.4 Fahr.

May,

50°.3 "

May,

56°.5 "

June,

5G°.0 "

June,

66°.2 «

July,

58°.7 "

July,

71°. 6 «

August,

56°.8 "

August,

69°.4 «

September, 53°.4 " September, 62°.2 li

October, 48°.8 " October, 51°.5 «

This shows a very marked difference in our favor, so far as
requisite heat is concerned ; and on this point there seems to be
no reason why we may not, by proper cultivation, grow the
finest varieties with complete success. It has been said that
the plant is indigenous to our State.

Soil and Mode of Culture. — The hop may be cultivated with
success in a great variety of soils ; but it flourishes best in a
deep, rich, mellow loam, with a subsoil of medium stiffness. In
general, it may be said that good corn land is good hop land.
The soil of Wilmington, one of the first and largest towns en-
gaged in hop growing, is generally of a poor and light descrip-
tion— a sandy loam ; and it is worthy of remark, that the hops
are better on soils which will raise only from a quarter to
half a pound to a hill than on those which raise a pound or a
pound and a half.

The roots of the hop extend to great depths when the soil
is of suitable character and properly prepared, and the best
cultivators take great pains to loosen and pulverize it thor-
oughly and to manure it well. The first ploughing should be
ten or twelve inches deep. The hop farmers of Kent and
Surrey, among the most noted hop districts in England, first
plough very deep, and plant with some cleansing crop, and then
manure with twenty-five or thirty loads of good barn-yard
manure per acre. The land is then frequently sown with tur-
nips, when sheep are folded upon it in the early part of winter ;
after which it is deeply trenched and thrown into ridges, to lie,
during the rest of the winter, exposed to the frosts and air.

SECRETARY'S REPORT. 101

The trenching is done with the spade, two spits deep, in the
most thorough manner; but a more economical method is by
the trench plough, or by the Michigan sod and subsoil plough.

The hop is commonly propagated from cuttings, and some-
times by young plants grown from the seed. The cuttings may
be taken fresh from the crown of the long roots, and planted
directly in land previously prepared for them ; or they may be
rooted after the manner of layers, and then planted ; or the
fresh cuttings may be rooted in a bed, and transplanted from that
to the place intended for them. Cuttings which have been
rooted generally grow more rapidly and arrive at maturity
earlier than fresh cuttings, which gives them an advantage.

When shoots are to be used as layers they may be twisted
at the joint above which they are to be buried in soil, and bent
down and fastened, and then covered up. This is usually done
in a careless manner at the first hoeing, the loose, straggling
vines being buried up without any particular regard to depth
or neatness; and when the vines arc covered in this manner,
they are not long in taking root. As soon as they have taken
root, they may be cut from the parent stalk and transplanted
into the ground prepared for them, each slip being six or eight
inches long, and having three or four eyes, or joints. When it
is designed to treat the cuttings in the nursery bed, they are
taken from the crown of the root or from the stalk of old
plants at the time of dressing in spring, which will be hereaf-
ter mentioned, and allowed to remain in the bed till they are
well rooted. The cuttings are made about eight inches long;
and if they contain more than four buds or joints, they are
trimmed. Care should be taken to allow only one male plant
to a field, and it may be set by the side of the road at consid-
erable distance from the field and left to take care of itself.
This caution cannot be too strictly observed ; for our hops have
deteriorated from too much seeding, which has arisen from
allowing the male plants to increase. Some allow one male
plant to fifty, and set it in the field with the rest. This is too
much ; for, where hops are over-seeded, they ripen prematurely,
and turn brown so fast as not to give time to pick them in the
proper state of maturity. If any male plants are allowed to

102 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.

stand in the field, one hill to five acres is enough, and care
should be taken to prevent them from multiplying.

The preliminary processes are well described in a letter
from a hop grower of great experience in the town of Wilming-
ton. " Deep, loamy soil," says he, " is the best for hops. Good
corn land is always good hop land. To prepare land for hops,
plough nine or ten inches deep ; spread eight cords of manure
to the acre ; mix it with the soil by cross-ploughing ; furrow or
mark out the land the same as for corn ; plant the hop roots
in every other row and every other hill; this gives three-
fourths of the ground for corn or potatoes the first year.
Hops have running roots, from one foot to three feet long, with
joints or eyes to them. These roots are cut from the old hill
every spring after they have been planted two years. The
joints or eyes are two or three inches apart. These are the
roots to plant ; cut them so as to have three joints to a piece,
and put three pieces to a hill. Cover them three inches deep.
The first year they produce no hops. The second year the
quantity and quality are likely to be as good as ever from the
same field. Hops are commonly planted at a distance which
gives eight hundred hills to the acre. They do not commonly
receive, after being planted, more than two shovelfuls of manure
to each hill. This makes about four cords to the acre. They
are on poles from thirteen to twenty feet long. There are
some farmers in the west part of our town who are making
some improvements in growing hops. As I pass by their yards,
I notice the poles are longer than they were in former years.

" In the early part of my life I lived with the largest hop
grower then in Reading. After leaving him I raised hops for
myself four years, and from experience I am satisfied that it is
as easy with new white birch poles twenty-five feet long, in-
stead of poles from thirteen to twenty feet long, and with
eight cords of manure to the acre in the place of four cords,
to raise from one thousand to sixteen hundred pounds to the
acre, as to raise one-half that quantity with the short poles
and small quantity of manure. The hoeing would be the same,
and the picking would be less. The long pole, if it has ever
so many hops on it, is always easier and quicker picked than
the short pole. It is seldom we sec first-rate hops growing on

SECRETARY'S RErORT. 103

a short pole ; equally as seldom do we sec refuse hops growing
on a long pole. It is said by some that long poles strain the
roots. I think it more straining to the roots to have vines go
beyond the top of the short pole, bend and split open, the sap
of the vine running out, and the hops starving for the want
of it. I once knew a man who tried the experiment of white
birch poles twenty-five feet long. The result was, that two
men built a hop bin in the morning, carried it out into the field,
and picked forty-two hills, which produced one hundred and
one pounds of first-sort hops, inspected by Col. Jaques, and
pronounced by him to be the best that season. Fifty pounds
would have been a great day's work of short poles."

Another practical hop grower, writing from Lunenburg, says :
"In answer to your request for information respecting the cul-
tivation of hops in this town, I would reply, that there are fif-
teen hop growers, and the quantity yielded the present year was
about fifteen thousand pounds. With respect to the mode of
cultivation, the ground is ploughed as early in the spring as it
can conveniently be done. The hills are then opened and the
running roots cut off. They are then manured upon the hill
with one or two shovelfuls of good compost manure, which is
immediately covered with the hoe. They are then ready for
the poles. After these are set, and the vines are of suitable
length for tying, this is done. They are then ploughed and
hoed. This is usually performed three times before haying,
and once after, this last being principally for the purpose of
keeping down the weeds. At the proper time, usually about
the first of September, picking is commenced. Some two or
three weeks after picking and drying they are pressed into
bales of suitable size, and are then ready for the market."

From what has been said, it will be seen that the proper
time for setting out the roots or cuttings is in the spring.
These do not grow luxuriantly, and need not be poled the first
year. Some cultivators are accustomed to cover the hills in
the winter with a shovelful of manure, to prevent any liability
to injury by the frost. What has been said above from prac-
tical and experienced cultivators in this State will give an iclea
of the mode of treatment during the first season, and to some
extent during subsequent seasons, of the hop plantation.

104 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.

From the following extract from the British Husbandry, it will
be seen that the practice is a little more thorough in England,
though substantially the same: ."When the spots for the dif-
ferent hills have been marked out, the earth is dug out of each
to the depth of about two feet, and of nearly the same width ;
and then, if a portion of fine garden mould can be got, or, if
not, a compost of well-rotted dung and earth, it is placed in
the holes, which are filled with finely-pulverized soil. The
plants are then put in. Some put three or more in a circle,
[hill,] others two, and some only one good plant ; but the most
general plan is to place three in each hole, at the depth of
about six inches, and great nicety should be observed in fixing
them. The holes made by the dibble for that purpose are in a
slanting direction, outward, so that the roots of the hop may
grow in an inclined position, in which the poles are afterwards
placed, without allowing their vines to be interlaced. Some
careful growers, indeed, put the fine mould gently in, around
and upon the plants, with the hand. The plants should also be
raised above the natural level of the ground, both in order that
the hop may rise high enough to form the hillock to be made
around them, and that the roots may have a great depth of
loose earth below them ; for, when the land is very open, they
penetrate so far into the soil that they have been found on a
very rich, deep loam, in the neighborhood of Farnham, to the
depth of twenty feet."

Setting the Poles. — The proper length of poles requires
much judgment. The vines themselves indicate sufficiently
how long a pole to use. The poles are of various lengths ;
and if the vines in a hill are very large and thrifty, they will
need a longer pole than if they are smaller and more feeble.
The quality of the land is also some indication, as well as the
quantity of manure used. If the land is very rich, it will pro-
duce a much more luxuriant growth than if of a poorer quality.
The expense for poles is a large item in the original outlay
for hop growing. It will bo seen, from the opinions of the
writer of the communication quoted above, that the method
of poling is a matter of considerable consequence. The Eng-
lish growers often use a much larger number to the acre than
experienced growers with us. It is very common in the Kent

SECRETARY'S REPORT. 105

and Sussex hop plantations to see as many as two thousand five
hundred or three thousand poles to the acre. Sixteen or eighteen
feet is as long as it is thought best to use them by many English
growers, and it is not uncommon to see them from ten to
twelve, or fourteen, feet; and the reason given for using
short poles is, that the use of poles longer than the natural
growth of the plant coaxes it too high, and stimulates it be-
yond its strength, and causes a feebleness in its roots the next
year; while, if the poles used are found in summer to be too
short, the tops of the vines may be supported by others. The
usual time for poling hops with us is in May; for plants grown
from cuttings, the second year of their growth; and for
plants grown from seed, the third year. The poles, two in a
hill, eighteen inches apart, are usually inclined a little outwards,
at the top, and towards the south, in order to give the greatest
freedom of circulation to the air, secure greater sunlight, and
a greater chance for the vines to swing free from the poles ;
and unless this inclination is given the tops of the poles, the
vines are said to "browse; " that is, they become matted to-
gether and injured, and are much more liable to blast. And
the same objection exists to the use of more than two poles to
a hill ; the vines are more apt to " browse.1' Cedar, hem-
lock, spruce, ash, chestnut, maple, pine, willow, and other kinds
of poles are often used, and in some locations in this State
the birch is not uncommon in hop grounds. This latter is con-
sidered bad in England. In many localities birch poles are
cheaper, and far more easily procured ; though, for lightness,
beauty, and durability, the cedar or the hemlock are preferred
by those who can procure them without too great expense.
The American hop seems to prefer to cling to a white birch.
The main objection to this wood is its rapid decay, making it
unsafe to use it more than one year. Perhaps, on the whole, if
the birch is not used and renewed every year, the spruce is the
neatest and cheapest, considering its lightness and durability.
It will last five or seven years, or even longer, and, when the
bottom is decayed, may be cut off and used shorter. The num-
ber to the acre will of course depend upon the number of hills,
which arc usually at least from six to eight feet apart, making from
fix teen to eighteen hundred poles to the acre. The farmer

14

106 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE,

already quoted sayg : "The poles are worth $2 or $2.50 a
hundred, ready for setting, and will cost, at sixteen hundred
per acre, from $32 to $40. But, as good poles will last ten or
twelve years, the expense per year will not be much in-
creased."

After the poles are set in the manner indicated, in rows per-
fectly straight both ways, two to each hill, and inclined a little
outward, and the vines are long enough, two or more of the
most thrifty stems should be selected and tied to each pole
by a woollen yarn, or soft rushes — great care being taken to
perform this operation at the proper time, and before they
have become too hard and confirmed in their inclined position
go as to be injured by slanting them up from the roots.

The English and French cultivators have adopted in some
cases, by way of experiment, a system of espalier training, by
which«the vines run in a horizontal direction on a series of
trellises five or six feet high. This is thought by some to
avoid the great expense of poles, and also the liability to in-
jury by high winds and storms to which long poles are subject.
Some have also recommended trellises of iron wire in France,
by which it is thought that a fifth part of the expense for poles
is saved; but, surrounded as most of our farmers are by
abundant and suitable material on their own premises, it is not
probable that any resort to such experiments will at present be
necessary.

Careful cultivation after the hops are poled — that is, the
second and subsequent years — is required to keep the ground
free from weeds and grass ; and during times of drought, the
more frequently the plough and the horse cultivator are used
both ways the better. From what has been said, it will be
evident that the plant comes to its most perfect development
in a soil thoroughly tilled and pulverized. The hop requires
frequent stirring of the soil in times of drought more than
many other crops. The plants are greatly invigorated by it.
The soil is hoed up around the hills in June or July, and many
cover the hills in winter either by ploughing or by manure.
Whether this is done or not, the hills are opened early
in spring, and the large part of the last year's shoots,
the running roots, cut oil' with a sharp knife to within an inch

SECRETARY'S REPORT. 107

or two of the stem. But the old bine, or the tap root, which
descends vertically into the soil, is not touched. The hills are
opened by back-furrowing from each row of hills both ways.
This brings all the soil into the spaces between the rows.
Before the first hoeing the back furrows are split with the
plough, which turns the earth back upon the hills. After the
hills are opened by back-furrowing, they are covered with a
shovelful or two of compost; or, in want of this, the finesl
and richest soil will be found useful.

It has already been seen that the hop vines are frequently
gathered up and burned on the ground in the winter or spring.
This may be done, and the ashes are of great value to the suc-
ceeding crop ; but perhaps one of the most valuable manures, as
well as the cheapest, is made of the vines, gathered into a
heap, and left to decompose and form a rich black compost, to be
applied in the spring in the manner indicated for other manure.
This use of the vines has been too much neglected. Not only
accurate experiment, but every principle of agricultural chem-
istry, shows at once how important this hop-vine manure is ; for
the vine contains in a concentrated form almost every con-
stituent which it has taken from the soil; and those parts which
are taken away in the seeds and strobiles of the plant can be
abundantly supplied by composting these vines, chopped up,
through the winter with barn-yard manure, woollen rags, fish, or
other nitrogenous substances. In this manner the land is not
only restored to the condition in which it was before the crop
was taken away, but made as much richer as the amount of
other manures used in the compost exceeds the amount carried
off in the seeds and fruit of the plant.

As soon as the shoots are of sufficient length the poling is
commenced, as has been said, and the vines are tied to the
poles. The shoots not tied to the poles are, as already
indicated, buried up in hoeing, and this whether they are
wanted to form layers or not, for otherwise they would shut
out the light and heat from the vines.

The hop blossoms early in July, and begins to show the seed
vessels in August. It is usually ripe enough to pick early in
September, and the picking should not commence till the ripe.
ucsb is ascertained. This is done by observing the change in

108 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE,

the color of the scales, from a pale yellowish, or straw color, to
a light brown j the seed, also, changes its color, and has a
strong, fragrant odor; while the scales haye some degree
of firmness, so as to be readily rubbed to pieces in the hand.
When picked just before this perfect maturity takes placer
however, they preserve their bright and beautiful color, and
appear a little better in the market, though not quite so valua-
ble for practical purposes as when the seed has grown to its
full weight. In perfectly ripe hops which have been impreg-
nated, a little yellow juice, or oil, forms at the bottom of the
scales ; and if the hops are picked as soon as this is discovered,
they preserve their bright beautiful color; while if left a little
longer, till the scales begin to turn brown, they acquire a little
more strength and weight. The hops do not all ripen at the
same time ; and some growers in England are accustomed to
begin the picking by selecting the ripest — beginning at the
bottom of the poles, and picking at different times. But this is
seldom done in this country. The picking here usually begins
as soon as the scales have that bright straw color, and
especially if the plantation is so large as to require some time
to finish. It is an error, however, to begin too early, and be-
fore the hops are ripe, though many justify it on the plea of
necessity. Picking before the hops are ripe causes the juice
or sap to run where the bine is cut. The bine is said to
" bleed." "When this is done, the shoots of the next spring are
far less vigorous and less productive. If picked before the
bine has come to maturity, the tips of the roots will generally be
found to turn black and decay up to the point at which the root
has matured. One prominent cause of the deterioration of
hops is traced to picking before they are ripe.

When the picking commences here no time >s to be lost,
since, in case of a rain or storm, great injury would be occasioned
by bruising them. They should be picked when the weather
is dry and fair, and never when the dew is on in the morning.

Great care should be taken in picking. The vines are cut
from one to three feet from the ground, and the poles pulled
up and laid over large boxes holding sometimes thirty or forty
bushels. If the pickers are hired by the day, it matters littfe
what sized bin is used,, though it 13 generally large enough to

SECRETARY'S REPORT. 109

enable three or four to pick into the same one ; but if they are
hired by the pound, as they are in many instances, the bins are
divided inside into three or four compartments, one of which
is allotted to each picker. Females are usually the most ex-
pert, and are more frequently employed, while one man or boy
attends to do the lifting. A good picker can pick from twenty
to thirty pounds a day. They are picked as free as possible
from stems and leaves. All unripe or worthless hops should
be thrown out. The boxes are emptied twice a day. The
process of drying should commence as soon as possible after
picking.

Drying. — Hops are dried, soon after being picked, in a kiln
constructed for the purpose. The kiln should be about four-
teen feet square at the top, twelve feet deep, and three or four
feet square at the bottom. The fire should be made of maple
charcoal, directly in the centre of the kiln, and it may be with-
out the use of stoves, pipes, funnels, or any thing else ; and
growers of the largest experience and most careful experiment
and observation confidently assert that the highest and best
flavor and quality of hops cannot be perfectly preserved in any
other mode. Thin joists should be laid across the top, edge-
wise, and laths or slats nailed to them, covered with tow cloth
or hair cloth. Care should be taken not to spread the hops
too deep upon this cloth covering, and not to stir them after
they are spread till they are dry, or nearly so, when they may
be carefully turned.

A farmer already quoted says : " Hops are dried on a kiln
over a fire made of charcoal. The kiln is stoned up, in the
form of a hopper to a grist mill, from seven to ten feet high,
and from nine to fifteen feet across the top. Small timber or
joists are placed across the top of the kiln, the smaller the
better, about two or three feet apart, and narrow slats fastened
to them. A thin tow cloth is drawn tightly over the slats, to
receive the hops for drying."

A writer from Northfield says : " The kilns for drying are
made now with an arch and hot-air chamber, under a room
where the hops are spread, and hot-air pipes regulating the
heat, which requires considerable experience to make them all

110 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.

first quality after being cured. They are then pressed with
screws into bales, and are ready for the market."

This foundation wall is sometimes made of brick, and plas-
tered inside. A furnace of stone or brick is placed in the
centre, at the bottom of the front wall, with an opening
through the wall to put in the coal. A funnel, winding round
within the walls, three feet from the top, and out at a chim-
ney, is sometimes used ; but it is thought by many of the best
growers to be quite unnecessary, and that, in fact, the simpler
the contrivance is, the better. There should be sufficient draft
to cause the fresh air to circulate freely within the walls. A
sort of roofing is built over the kiln to shed the rain, usually
with eight-feet posts, and having several doors or windows,
capable of being opened to admit the air to the hops, and to allow
the moisture which collects in the process of drying to pass off.
The kiln may be made capable of drying from fifty to one
hundred pounds of hops in twelve hours. The hops are spread
from six to eight inches deep. Some recommend to build a
kiln large enough to dry two hundred pounds at once ; but
nothing is gained, generally, by too large a kiln. If the plan-
tation is large, it is thought best to have two or three kilns,
and not try to dry too many at once. It is without doubt bet-
ter to have several small kilns than one large one, and the cost
of several small ones is but little more than one large one.

The kiln is often much more elaborately built, it is true, and
proportioned in size to the quantity of hops to be cured and
the ability of the grower. It should be so large, if there is
but one, as to be capable of drying the hops very soon after
being picked, and so as not to require them to accumulate
faster than they can be dried. The fire is kindled before the hops
are put on, though the kiln is to be slowly and gradually heated
at first. The fire is commonly kept up day and night. If the
hops are rusty, a little sulphur is burned under them, to
bleach them and improve their appearance. This is done as
soon as tl icy have begun to heat and feel moist; but if the
hops arc damp when first spread on the kiln, burn the brim-
stone immediately. No objection is now made to hops treated
in this way; indeed, their appearance is greatly improved.

Some make a practice of turning the hops as soon as the top

SECRETARY'S REPORT. Ill

becomes heated and the bottom part of the layer becomes
crispy, allowing the fires to go down a little ; but the turning
should not take place till the hops arc nearly dry. Much must
depend on the judgment and practice of the operator. The
turning is commonly done with a rake. With a steady heat,
well regulated, a kiln of hops is dried in ten or twelve hours ;
and if the fires arc kept up day and night, two kilns may be
dried in twenty-four hours. The operation of drying is one
of great nicety, and requires much care and attention. As
soon as the drying is complete, which may be known by the
brittleness of the stems and crispness of the scales, they are
removed to another dark room near by and left in heaps at
least twenty days, when the bagging commences. This last
room is called the press room.

Bali?ig, or Bagging. — As soon a3 the hops have become a
little softened by moisture acquired by lying from twelve to
twenty days in the heap, the process of bagging commences.
The bales used here ordinarily contain about two hundred
pounds. The great object in baling is to press the hops as
closely as possible, to prevent the escape of the fragrance.
The hops keep better for being well and closely pressed; and
for this reason screws are always used — sometimes in presses
made for the purpose, at others in the press of a cider mill.

The mode of baling, which was first used and suggested by
Col. Jaques, and now universally adopted by the best growers
in this State, is thus : One-half of the baling cloth is laid down
upon the floor, and a large square box placed upon it. The
hops are now put into the box, and trodden down till it is full.
The screws are now applied ; after which they may be raised,
if necessary, and more hops put in to fill up. The other half
of the cloth is now put over the top, in the same manner as the
first cloth was laid to cover the lower part of the bale. The
screws are applied till the pressure is sufficient, when the sides
of the box, which are movable, are taken away ; the bale being
still under the screws, the two cloths are brought together and
sewed as tight as convenient to do it. After the sewing is
completed the screws may be raised, and the bale is finished.

The process of baling among the hop growers in some parts
of England is still similar to the mode of baling here previous

112 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.

to the use of screws, though in some instances they have
adopted the hydraulic presses. "A circular hole, covered
by a trap door, and sufficiently large to admit the mouth of a
hop bag, is made in the floor of the storage room. A few
hops are tied tight in the lower corners of the bag, in order
that, when full, they may be lifted and removed with ease. A
hoop, rather larger than the circumference of the hole, is used
to stretch out the bag, by means of hooks on the outer side
of it — the inner side of the hoop, when the bag is let down
into the hole, either resting on the floor, or on a frame of wood
made over it. When the bag is thus stretched out and let into
the opening, the feeder throws down a few shovelfuls, and the
'bagster,' descending into the bag, with flat shoes or leather
socks on his feet, treads the hops regularly and carefully down,
especially towards the sides. More hops are then thrown
down, and closely pressed, until the bag is filled — the tighter
and closer the better ; for, the firmer they are packed, the longer
they will keep. The hoop is then loosened, the bag is let
down to the lower floor, more hops are tied into the upper cor-
ners, and it is sewed up as closely as possible — the whole
operation being generally completed within an hour."

The mode of pressure with screws is so far superior to the
baling described above that it is surprising that it has not been
universally adopted.

Cost and Profit of Raising. — The cost of cultivating an
acre of hops varies with the skill and labor applied, and of
course the profits will be regulated very much by these and
other circumstances. The writer from Lunenburg above
quoted says : " The average yield with us is about GOO pounds
per acre, and the cost, exclusive of the poles, about $55 per
acre, all told. The poles are worth $2 or, $2.50 per hundred,
ready for setting, and will cost, at sixteen hundred to the acre,
from $32 to $40; but as good poles will last ten or twelve
years, the expense per year will not be much increased."

The profit must depend entirely upon the price obtained for
them, and nothing in the whole range of farming varies more
in price than hops. For the last four years the price to the
grower has averaged 25 cts. per pound, or perhaps somewhat
more, leaving a considerable margin for profit; but for the pre-

SECRETARY'S REPORT. 113

ceding four years they were miserably low, not averaging much
more than eight cents."

A farmer, writing from Northficld, says there were thirty
acres of hops raised in that town the past year, yielding on an
average one thousand pounds per acre, worth forty cents a
pound, amounting to $400 per acre ; cost per acre in that town
is estimated at $40. Some growers have realized as high even
as $500 per acre. These estimates are far lower than the cost
of raising hops in England, where rent of land, taxes, tithes,
labor of cultivating, manures, <fcc, arc much higher than here.
The cost per acre there, up to the time of picking, is estimated
at about $150 ; while the cost of picking, drying, baling, storage,
cartage, etc., is estimated at about $175 more. The cost of
the kiln is often, to the English grower, not less than from
$1,000 to $1,500; while the cost of a kiln here is rarely more
than $75, and often less than $50, built as described above.
Our growers expect ordinarily about a pound to a hill. They
often get one and a half or even two pounds to the hill,
making from 800 to 1,200 pounds per acre. The general
average yield in England is about seven hundred pounds
per acre ; though, owing to many controlling influences, as
diseases and bad seasons, they sometimes fall far below,
and sometimes obtain much larger crops. The average of
many towns in Massachusetts is not over five or six hundred
pounds; but, under good cultivation, crops of one thousand
pounds are not uncommon. The original cost of a hop plan-
tation may bo set down at not less than $150 or $175 per
acre, including all the fixtures, poles, kilns, &c. ; and the annual
cost after the first year, including manure and interest on the
land, and labor of every kind, at from $50 to $100 per acre.

The average price of hops for the last fifty years was 14*
cents per pound. During the past year " first sorts " sold as
high as 45 cents per pound. The uncertainty of the foreign de-
mand is so great as to cause fluctuations in price which cannot
easily be calculated upon. This has deterred many from engag-
ing in the cultivation of a crop on which there is so little depend-
ence. The following table, giving the quantity of hops inspect-
ed in Massachusetts, will show these fluctuations for the last
half century : —

16

114

BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.

Year. Bales.

Pounds.

Av'ge Trice.

Value.

;
1800, . . . 910

278.221

15

$41,733 15

1S07,

1,167

369,496

11

40,644 56

1808,

1,071

322,976

10

32,297 60

1809,

993

280,063

10

28.006 30

1810,

1,124

299,500

27

80,865 00

1811,

1,519

416,050

n

31,203 75

1812,

1,267

322.913

124

40,364 12

1813,

967

243,242

22

53,513 24

1814,

767

179,640

25

44.!) 10 00

1815,

1,434

331,673

30

99,501 90

1816,

1,336

286,374

32

91,957 68

1817,

3,087

729,862

34

248,153 08

1818,

2,709

616,366

14

86.291 29

1819,

2,834

656,902

5

32,8,5 14

1820,

3,555

782,663

64

50,873 00

1821,

2,659

561,063

74

42,079 72

1822,

2.810

548,709

10|

57.(5 14 44

1823,

2,936

618,441

20

123,688 80

1824,

2,720

575,030

10i

60,378 15

1825,

3,054

621,241

15

93,186 15

1826,

2,134

409,007

15

61,351 05

1827,

3,7(56

752,140

7

52,649 80

1828,

3,312

662,334

6

39,740 04

1829,

2,710

541,632

84

46,038 72

1830,

2,832

566,489

11

62,313 79

1831,

2,513

505.251

104

53,051 35

1832,

2,063

400,543

234

94,127 60

1833,

3,535

698,724

16

111,795 84

1834,

3,782

722,596

14

101,163 44

1835,

3,479

695,800

94

66,101 00

1836,

4.461

847,590

74

(13.569 25

1837,

3,354

623,648

6

37,-118 88

1838,

1,885

359,992

15

53,998 80

1839,

1,654

283,691

15

42,553 65

1840,

1,480

279,833

30

83,949 90

1841,

1,607

306,099

124

38,262 37

1842,

2,3!).",

469,231

84

39,884 63

1843,

1,636

309,294

7

21,650 58

1844,

2,457

460,612

13|

49,932 34

1845,

1,852

345,106

18

62,1 19 08

1846,

2,381

486,899

94

46,255 30

1847,

1,760

329,185

6|

22,113 08

1848,

2,582

531,850

7

37,286 15

1849,

2,170

478,910

11

52,680 10

1850,

2,115

398,058

154

61,376 06

1851,

1,768

361,025

20

72,205 00

1852,

2,111

406,568

20

81,780 18

1853,

3,318

5S! »,038

30

176.711 40

1854,

4,626

812,930

26

211,361 80

| \ part of this table was published In the Transactions of the State Society of New Hampshire for
- ,:. and frptn thai transfer! ■ ■ ■ 1 1 < > the Agricultural Report of the Patent Office for I >3, without
ifassachusetts the credit i>t it. The whole of thai part, down t" 1828, Is due exclusively i" <'"i
with whom the table and the whole system originated 9 inspected, while In

I3.09S but;s. welahlUR 17.646.S61 imunds. and worth SJi.880.660.06.1

Willi wJl'Mii LIIU IQU1U lirm MM' *\ ll"ir ByaiuiU I'l lujnaiuu. * i

1,098 bags, weighing 17,646,561 pounds, and wortli 3iJ»li^U,<;tii>.0tJ. J

SECRETARY'S REPORT. 115

This tabic shows the importance of this crop as an item of
material wealth, and how fluctuating the prices arc. The hops
inspected in Massachusetts are not all raised here. Most of
those grown in Maine and Vermont are brought here for in-
spection. An inspection law was passed in New Hampshire
in 1819, though a part of the cr*op grown there has usually been
inspected in Massachusetts. It will be seen that the average
price for 1854 is stated at 26 cents per pound. Many of the
first sort sold much higher than that. Of those inspected,
there were 4,043 bags marked "first sort," and weighing
711,161 pounds; 401 bags marked "second sort," and weigh-
ing 71,526 pounds; 182 bags marked "refuse," and weighing
30,243 pounds.

The profit of raising hops in Massachusetts must depend
somewhat upon the extent and permanence of the foreign de-
mand ; and it must be evident that both the foreign and
domestic demand for Massachusetts hops must depend largely
upon their quality, and especially upon the standard of inspec-
tion already alluded to. . Let this standard be high, let it be
known that the Massachusetts brand is the best and the most
reliable in the country, and the market is safe. The brand is
only prima facie evidence of the quality, it is true; and hence
the grower should take pains to raise the " first-sort " hops,
if he wishes to secure honestly the " first-sort " brand, and it
is a short-sighted policy which would ask for it in any other
way.

Diseases. — The hop, like most plants, has its diseases and
its pests, in the shape of insects, which prey upon and essen-
tially injure it. Among the chief diseases, besides those in-
flicted by insects, are the rust, the blight, and the mildew. No
remedy is known against these, nor is the cause well known;
but they arc probably owing to influences of the atmosphere
not as yet very well understood. The mouldy fen, or red fen,
as it is often called, causes the leaves to turn brown, and, if
not checked as soon as discovered, is apt to overrun the whole
plantation. It has been known to visit the same ground for a
succession of years when neglected at its first appearance.
The means of guarding against it arc, to keep the ground in
good cultivation by frequent stirring, and to eradicate every

116 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.

weed, and to manure well with manure from the pigsty. No
well-understood remedy is known against the attacks of blight
and mildew. They most frequently infect the hop in seasons
when the days are hot and the nights dewless ; and a frequent
use of ashes is recommended as a remedy.

Besides the diseases which attack the hop, there are insects
which infest it; and among others the ghost-moth, [Hepiolus
humuli,) which lives in the root of the hop, and sometimes
proves very destructive. A small green fly also infests the
hop, and commits extensive depredations, sometimes even de-
stroying much of the crop. This insect appears at the end
of May, and in June. Syringing the field with tobacco water,
soapsuds, <fcc, has sometimes been resorted to. I would
suggest the use of quassia by way of experiment. This is the
infusion of the bark and wood of the quassia tree, from the
West Indies, of an exceedingly bitter taste. It may be ob-
tained at most of the drug stores, and applied with the syringe
with perfect safety and at small expense. A change of loca-
tion once in eight or ten years seems to be the only remedy
against the larva3 of some insects which attack the roots of
this plant.

The hop has sometimes been called an exhausting crop. I
know of no valid reason for this opinion other than the sup-
position, that, as the vines are large and luxuriant, they must
necessarily draw upon the energies of the soil. But when we
consider how large a proportion of their nourishment all
plants, and particularly all plants which spread out a large
surface of leaves, draw from the atmosphere, this supposition
seems to have little weight. Whether exhausting or not, it is
certain that after a hop plantation is discontinued on one spot,
which should ordinarily be at the end of about eight or ten
years from the time of setting, grass succeeds better than after
most other crops. Indeed, all crops grow with the greatest
luxuriance after a hop crop, and the soil is by no means ex-
hausted for the hop itself. The necessity for a change of location
arises mainly from the fact that insects are most apt to infest old
grounds ; and were it not for this reason, hops might be culti-
vated many years in succession on the same land. It is the
practice of one of the largest growers with whom. I am ac-

SECRETARY'S REPORT.

117

quaintcd to change the location of his hop plantation every
eight years ; and he assures me that a plantation seeded down
after the roots are removed will bear the stoutest grass for
twelve years in succession, at the end of which time he culti-
vates it in hops again.

The constituents which are taken from the soil may be seen
by the following analysis of the ash of the hop vine, including
the blossom : —

In 100 parts there are of

Silica, 13.24

Chloride of sodium, .

7.73

Chloride of potassium,

3.77

Soda,

0.13

Potash,

21.49

Lime,

34.79

Magnesia,

4.09

Sulphuric acid, .

4.63

Phosphoric acid,

G.34

Phosphate of iron, .

3.79

100.00

The ashes of the dried hops alone, which amount to one-
tenth of the whole weight, contain the following constituents,
in the percentage attached to each : —

Silica,

21.5

Potash,

25.18

Lime,

15.98

Magnesia,

5.77

Salt,

7.24

Phosphate of iron,

7.45

Sulphuric acid, .

5.41

Phosphoric acid,

9.8

Chloride of potassium, .

1.67

Alumina, and a trace of ins

mgan

esc.

It is safe to say that hops could be cultivated fifty years in
succession, and still leave the land in good heart. It has been
for many years one of the most profitable crops, on the whole,

118 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.

that have been grown in the State, averaging, under good man-,
agement, more than $100 per acre, often, indeed, amounting to
much more than that, and exhausting the soil less than any
other.

Uses. — The fibre of the hop resembles that of hemp, and a
strong, white cloth is manufactured from it, after being long
steeped in water. The root, stem and leaf may be used for
tanning leather, in the same manner as oak bark, sumac, &c.
Hops are also extensively used as medicines, having narcotic,
tonic, and diuretic properties of great value. They are often
used as a sedative. The lupuline, a fine yellow powder already
mentioned, contains, in 120 grains, 5 grains of tannin, 10 of
extractive, 11 of bitter principle, 12 of wax, 36 of resin, and
46 of lignin. All the astringency, as well as the aroma and
the bitterness, of hops, is found in the lupuline, which may be
easily separated from the strobiles by sifting; and as it weighs
but a sixth or eighth part of the whole, and occupies but a
small part of its bulk, it may be readily transported. Whether
these principles could be preserved in all their strength for
any length of time, when separated from the strobiles and
packed in tin cases, I do not know; but it is certainly worthy
of careful experiment, since, if they could, much of the labor
and expense of transporting hops might be avoided.

But by far the largest use of hops is for the preservation
of various malt liquors from fermentation, and to impart to
them a bitter taste. Many other plants arc, or may be, used
for the same purpose, but they are all thought to be inferior to
the hop. From forty to fifty thousand acres of hops are culti-
vated in England every year, although the product is subject
to a tax which, in 1844, amounted in the aggregate to £256,240
15s. 2jcZ., or about $1,281,200, on 44,513.] acres. The malt
charged with duty in the same year amounted to no less than
37,187,186 bushels, returning a duty of £5,027,061.

One object of the circular given above was, to obtain some
information as to the general condition of the agriculture of the
Commonwealth. As might be expected, i( differs very much
in different localities. In some sections all the fanners derive
their entire support from the farm; in others they depend, in

SECRETARY'S REPORT. 1 1 9

Home measure, on other occupations for a subsistence. Gen-
erally speaking, the western part of thn State, including- the
counties of Berkshire, Hampshire, Franklin and Hampden, is
more strictly agricultural than any of the eastern counties,
where comparatively few devote themselves exclusively to the
cultivation of the soil. In Barnstable county, which, with the
exception of Suffolk and the island counties, probably contains
a smaller number of farmers in proportion to its population than
any other county in the State, even those who have farms very
frequently prefer to plough such furrows as need no harrowing,
and give much time to other pursuits ; and in other eastern
counties the business of shoemaking is carried on to a consid-
erable extent, even in the farming towns, the summer farmer
becoming a shoemaker in winter. Hence, in many towns of
eastern Massachusetts, there is but little of the real farm-
ing spirit — the spirit of the profession ; while in the western
parts of the Commonwealth it is found in great strength.
Comparing eastern and western Massachusetts with each other,
we find that in the latter, in most places, the number of farmers
has slightly increased, or at least not materially changed ; while
in the former the manufacturing population is larger, and the
number of those who derive their entire support from the
farm is comparatively small, and in many cases the aggregate
number of farmers has actually decreased. Yet, on the whole,
the agriculture of the State was probably never in a more
flourishing condition than it is at the present day. Even those
towns which return a decrease in the number of farmers fre-
quently show an increase of agricultural products.

'•' The attention of persons in other pursuits has been direct-
ed to agriculture more from pleasure than profit, and the land
generally is more and better cultivated,"' says an intelligent
farmer of Essex county. But a report from Barnstable county
states that none of the farmers derive their entire support
from the farm, " as they are generally interested in vessels,
salt-works, or some other auxiliary employment for support
than the farm. But there has been an increase in agricultural
products during the last ten years. Less land is cultivated,
yet a better and more thorough culture prevails. While the
potato and rye crops have diminished, corn and hay Lave in-

120 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.

creased. The hay crop, we may safely estimate, has been
doubled in fifteen years, if not in ten, as some estimate.
Swamp lands have been reclaimed, and uplands by cultivation
and manure, have been converted into productive grass land."
In Middlesex, a farmer writes : " Three-fourths of our farmers
live by farming alone. The number has not increased, but
most of the old farmers are improving in their modes of hus-
bandry."

A farmer of Worcester county says : " The large farms have
been cut up into smaller ones. The population has increased,
the products of the land have increased, the number of cows
and horses has increased ; but the number of sheep and oxen
has decreased."

The prices of all the products of the farm have risen so
much within a few years as to induce many to turn their atten-
tion in this direction; and though the wages of the laborers,
who must be employed, have increased somewhat in propor-
tion, it is yet true that, with good management, farming will
pay as high a percentage on money invested in it as any other
occupation in which there is so little danger of ruinous loss
taken into account.

Probably the agricultural associations have been among
the most efficient instruments in raising the standard of Mas-
sachusetts agriculture. These societies are now seventeen in
number. The oldest of them, the Massachusetts, founded more
than sixty years ago by individuals residing in different sec-
tions of the State, has now a permanent fund of more than
twenty-four thousand dollars ; the youngest, the Middlesex
South, has started into life since my last report was presented,
and is exercising a marked and widely-felt iniluence.

The exhibitions held by the several societies during the last
year were unusually successful. The articles exhibited were
generally more numerous than on previous occasions, and the
attendance was larger than it has usually been. It was a very
common remark, that the societies seemed to have gained new
life and vitality. These exhibitions, indeed, have become the
grand holidays of the State; and the county fair is now gen-
erally regarded as the most useful and agreeable occasion
of the year.

SECRETARY'S REPORT. 121

The members of the Board of Agriculture have made it a
part of their duty to attend, not only the exhibitions of their
own county societies, but also those of the other counties, and
to report the results of their observations and inquiries to the
Board. These reports for the last year are appended to this
Report, and reference is respectfully made to them for further
details in regard to each exhibition. This practice has already
led to some valuable suggestions, and excited a useful spirit
of emulation among the different societies. It must have a
further good effect, both by extending the knowledge of all
that is worthy of imitation, and by bringing to general notice
all that should be condemned.

It has also been my intention to attend the exhibitions of each
society, so far as it could be done without interference with
other duties ; but it has frequently happened that several
of these exhibitions fell on the same day, which made it im-
possible for me to carry my plans into execution. The
subject of fixing times for holding these festivals in the dif-
ferent counties is now before the Board ; and it is to be hoped
that the societies will find it for their interest to adopt such
arrangements as may be presented for their approval.

The prosperity of the societies has continued to increase,
and many new members have been added.

The aggregate amount of permanent funds now

belonging to the societies is no less than . $99,193 35

Amount received from new members, and dona-
tions, for the year, ..... 6,604 10

Total amount received by the societies for the

year, 28,829 20

Total amount offered in premiums by the socie-
ties, 16,281 89

This shows an increase in the aggregate amount of perma-
nent funds during the year of $6,376.81.

The details of the finances of each society will be found in
the Appendix to this Report, to which reference is respectful-
ly made.

As may be inferred from what has already been said, the general

16

122 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.

condition of the agriculture of the State is highly gratifying.
Those who, from their situation and opportunities of observa-
tion, are the most competent judges, entertain the opinion that
there has been as much advance during the past year as could rea-
sonably have been expected ; and I may add, that the facts which
have fallen under my own observation have led me to the same
conclusion. The answers returned to the questions proposed
in the circular already frequently alluded to show at the same
time the deep interest taken in agricultural pursuits and the
skill and general intelligence of those engaged in them. Per-
haps it would be difficult to estimate too highly the importance
of doing all that can be done, by judicious action on the part
of the government, to keep alive and cherish an earnest desire
of constant progress in this department of industry. It should
be remembered that every improvement in the general system
of farming, by the great increase of agricultural products and
the consequent greater ease of providing the means of sub-
sistence, must contribute materially to the comfort and happi-
ness of every citizen of the Commonwealth, while it adds
vastly to the aggregate wealth of the State. The encourage-
ment that has hitherto been afforded by the government of
Massachusetts has been fully appreciated by the farming com-
munity, and has for a long time been, and still is, producing its
desired effect in increased crops and improved modes of cul-
ture. If we may judge of the future by the past, we cannot
doubt that a continuance of the same liberal policy will be fol-
lowed by similar good results.

CHARLES. L. FLINT,

Secretary of the Board of Agriculture.

Boston, January 10, 1855.

REPORTS OF COMMITTEES

APPOINTED TO VISIT THE

CiljiiiitinHs tiff lie Igrimlteritl hmki

SECRETARY'S REPORT. 125

ESSEX.

The Annual Exhibition of the Essex County Agricultural
Society took place at Lawrence on the 27th and 28th of Sep-
tember, 1854. The weather was excessively hot, the surface
of the earth parched and dusty with the long-continued drought,
so that neither man nor beast could show his best points, cither
mental or physical, as they might have done under circumstances
where the elements were more kindly disposed. But there
was, notwithstanding, a large concourse of people present.

The exhibition of stock was held on the Common. There
were several animals of the Jersey breed imported and exhib-
ited by George H. French, of Andover, which were fine specimens
of their kind. The collection of horses, fat cattle, working
oxen, steers, heifers, milch cows, bulls, swine and poultrj^. was
not so large, nor did it possess those high qualities, that we
have been led to look for in a county containing the ability to
produce the best, and, at the same time, having so many per-
sons earnestly engaged in the cause. If, upon comparison with
what has been presented in former years, it is found that there
was a deficiency in these prime articles of the exhibition, the
cause should be ascertained and represented, so that a proper
remedy may be devised.

The ploughing match was made up of four horse teams,
eight single ox teams, and fourteen double ox teams. The
ground was light, and could be well ploughed with ordinary
skill. Persons competing in the ploughing are usually skilful
in every part of the work. On porous and level land good
work may be performed, with a well-trained team, with little or
no skill at the handles of the plough. It is an interesting in-
quiry, whether the object desired is fully gained by the exer-
cise of the men and teams on light, level land, where an apt
youth of fifteen might be expected to execute the work well.
"Would not a more compact, uneven soil, dotted, perhaps, with
hassocks, and occasionally charged with stones or roots, call

126 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.

out the skill of both men and teams, and afford a better field
for competition than such lands as are generally selected ?

The spading match was contested by seven persons, all
Irishmen. One of the diggers was attended by his better half;
and her deep interest in the contest, as it progressed, was wit-
nessed with pleasure by all.

The drawing match was well performed ; but the trotting
horses around the course at the same time attracted by far the
larger part of the spectators.

The exhibition of fruits, flowers, vegetables, domestic manu-
factures, &c, was held in the City Hall, and was visited by
large numbers of people with evident satisfaction and profit.
The walls of the hall were covered with elegant specimens of
shawls from the Bay State Mills and prints from the Pacific
Mills.

The Address was delivered by Richard S. Fay, Esq., of
Lynn, and was one of the most practical and valuable that it
has been our privilege to hear.

The exercises at the dinner table were of the most interest-
ing character — the president, Moses Newell, Esq., presiding.
Several gentlemen from other States, among them the Governors
of New Hampshire and of Rhode Island, were present, together
with members of Congress, and a large number of ladies and
gentlemen from the contiguous counties.

In many particulars the show was successful; in some it
was deficient. The officers were attentive and obliging, the
speeches and sentiments at the table were of a useful and in-
structive character, and the social influences of the occasion
will be felt in every part of the county.

Simon Brown.

SECRETARY'S REPORT. 127

MIDDLESEX SOUTH.

The Middlesex South Agricultural Society was incorporated
by the Legislature of 1854, and organized on the 24th day
of April last.

The first meeting of Trustees was held on the 3d day of
May.

The act of incorporation embraces the towns of Framing-
ham, Ashland, Holliston, Hopkinton, Marlboro', Natick, New-
ton, Sherborn, Sudbury, and Wayland, in Middlesex county;
and Southboro', in Worcester county.

The society has purchased a beautiful tract of land contain-
ing five acres, lying about half a mile west of the centre
village in Framingham, and within that distance of a depot on
the Agricultural Branch Railroad, and it is bounded on two sides
by public highways.

The society has enclosed the lot with a substantial picket
fence, and furnished it with a large number of strong and con-
venient movable pens, and now proposes to erect a large and
commodious building upon it.

William Buckminster, Esq., the president of the society,
proposes to give them a lease for thirty years of a beautiful
grove containing four acres. The grove lies adjoining the
land of the society on one side, and the Agricultural Railroad
on the other.

Passengers can be landed from the cars on one side of the
grove, pass across it by a beautiful path to a gate, or entrance,
to the society's grounds. The main entrance for teams is on
" the Worcester turnpike." When the whole thing is completed
as contemplated, it will be a most convenient and complete ar-
rangement, and will be of great value to the society.

The property of the society, consisting of land, fixtures, and
money, amounts to about $3,500. The first public exhibition
of the society was held on the 26th and 27th days of Septem-
ber, 1854. The undersigned was present as a delegate from

128 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.

the Board. The first day was occupied by the committees in
making their examinations — spectators not being admitted to
the grounds. The second day was fair and pleasant ; a vast
number of people were drawn together, and all seemed well
pleased. About twenty teams were entered for the ploughing
match, which was well contested on a piece of ground well
adapted to such a trial, and the work was well done.

A gentleman who has resided in Cuba was there with his
Cuban plough and oxen, driven by a " darkie." He was
dressed in the style of the planters of Cuba, and gave us a
ludicrous specimen of the manner in which ploughing is done
in that " gem of the sea," and an opportunity of comparing
their mode of doing such work with the Yankee mode, which
was amusing and instructive.

The spading match was well contested by some of the sons
of the " Emerald Isle." The drawing, both with oxen and
horses, was good ; but in some instances there was lack of
good training, and quite too much use was made of the whip,
especially in backing the loads with oxen. There was a long
" town team " of fine oxen from Marlboro', which took the
first premium ; and another from Sherborn, to which the second
was awarded. Much attention has been paid to the improve-
ment of stock by the wealthy and enterprising farmers of this
vicinity; and this exhibition proves that they have been suc-
cessful. The show of stock was very superior.

The Jerseys, the Ayrshire s, the Durhams, the Devons, and the
natives were all represented, and all were creditable to their
owners. Messrs. W. G-. & A. S. Lewis are doing much to im-
prove the stock in Framingham ; and it is worth the cost of a
journey from any part of the State to see the fine stock of
Devons owned by the president of this society. There was
a good show of swine.

The geese, ducks, turkeys, and hens were there. There was
a good display of vegetables, and a very fine one of fruit,
especially of apples and grapes.

Wright's large tent was used — one part of it for the display
of vegetables, fruit, needlework, flowers, implements of hus-
bandry, etc., and the other part for a dining hall. A plain,
practicable, common-sense address was delivered in the Bap-

SECRETARY'S REPORT. 129

list Church, by Isaac IT. Wright, Esq., of Lexington, to a large
and attentive audience.

A good dinner was 'provided by Mr. Smith, of Boston. The
company of ladies and gentlemen at the table was quite large.
After dinner, speeches were made and the premiums were
announced. I noticed that several premiums were awarded
for specimens of nice butter, mostly to the fair ladies of South-
boro'.

This exhibition was a very successful one, and would have
done credit to a much older society. This society is well con-
stituted and favorably located. It embraces one of the best
agricultural districts in the State. The land in all the towns is
good ; nearly all of them are convenient of access from Boston
by railroad. The locations are healthy and picturesque, offering
strong inducements for gentlemen who do business in the cit}r,
and wish to spend a part of their time in the country, to pur-
chase and cultivate farms in the district. Many farms have
been already so purchased ; and the owners, while they are try-
ing experiments in cultivating their farms and raising stock,
instruct and benefit their neighbors. At the meetings of the
society, and especially at the " cattle show," the results of
their experiments are made known, and all get the benefit
of them. I think this society is destined to do much good,
and will furnish incontrovertible evidence that it is wise for
the State sometimes, as in this case, to grant aid to societies
embracing less territory than a county.

All of which is respectfully submitted by

Ivers Phillips.

WORCESTER.

Being appointed a delegate on behalf the Board, I attended
the Annual Cattle Show and Fair of the Worcester County
Agricultural Society, held at the city of Worcester on the
27th and 28th days of September.
17

130 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.

The days were pleasant, although quite hot and dry ; and
every thing went off in the usual agreeable style of this
ancient society.

The ploughing match was well attended, and the large sum
offered in premiums nobly contested for. A new plough, en-
titled the double swivel, which combines the side-hill with the
Michigan, just got up by that worthy firm, Messrs. Ruggles &
Co., attracted much attention — being drawn in one case by
two oxen, and ploughing ten inches in depth ; and the same
size plough, in another, drawn by six oxen, and ploughing
eighteen inches in depth, leaving the soil in perfect order for
the seed, with merely the brush harrow passing over it lightly.
The lot selected was not of the best quality to turn up and
appear well j but much skill was shown by the ploughmen.

The trial of draft oxen took place immediately after. Great
interest was manifested in this part of the exhibition. The
cattle appeared well, and seemed to draw and back as if from
choice, and not winking in continual fear of the lash, which
often very much mars the show of working cattle, and what
would be pleasure is turned to pity.

The cattle in the pens appeared well, considering the great
drought of the season. Some fine specimens of the Jersey
stock were exhibited. Mr. Paine Aldrich, of Worcester, ex-
hibited two full-blood Jersey cows, and twenty-four pounds of
superior butter made from the milk of one of them. . Mr. S.
Salisbury, of Worcester, also had some Jersey stock, which
promises well. Mr. John Brooks, of Princeton, exhibited one
fme, full-blood Ayrshire bull, and some excellent half-blood
heifers. Mr. Dodge, of Sutton, exhibited some fine Devon s,
full blood and grades.

Mr. Robinson, of Barrc, and Mr. W. S. Lincoln, of Worces-
ter, entered some superior cattle, which contended for the
State society's premium — the latter of which, being chiefly
Ayrshircs, obtained the first premium.

There were some fine Durham cows belonging to Mr. Ba-
con, of Barrc ; also some promising young stock. Mr. J. A.
Reed and Mr. W. W. Watson each exhibited a fine dairy cow.

Judging from the specimens offered, too little attention is

SECRETARY'S REPORT. 131

bestowed in this county upon swine. With this exception,
Worcester appears ahead of some other societies in stock.

The cavalcade and horse show seemed the great object of
attraction to many of the fast young men ; and truly a more
elegant display of horses it has rarely been my lot to witness.
With the exception of enc or two slight accidents from collision
while trying their speed, all went off well ; but the society's
grounds are hardly large enough to admit so many vehicles and
enjoy the race-course at the same time.

The society had just completed a beautiful building, about fifty-
five by one hundred feet, in the lower floor of which the manu-
factured and fancy articles were exhibited. Above, the dinner
was provided. This, having been disposed of, was followed by
an address by his Excellency Governor Washburn. Every
word seemed to the point — brief, able, and highly interesting.

The only objection to the otherwise perfect arrangement was
the absence from the table of the wives and daughters of the
members of the society, to whom much of the success of our
farmers is owing; and I must protest against the lords of
creation appropriating all the credit of our shows to them-
selves, while all the in-door manufactures are prepared by fe-
male hands, and by their patient toil brought before the public.

One fact is worthy of notice. The gathering was uncom-
monly large ; the utmost order prevailed throughout the city ;
hardly a case of intemperance or rowdyism (so common at
public gatherings and horse shows) met my eye. Yet no police
were visible, or wanted, except the officers upon the show ground ;
and the exhibition of well-behaved, steady New England farmers
and mechanics by far exceeded the fine display of the society's
products.

Respectfully submitted,

Wif. G. Lewis.

132 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.

WORCESTER WEST.

The subscriber, by request of this Board, visited the Cattle
Show at Barre in September last, and would report : That
the society is a new one ; but in the dairy, in the exhibition
of butter and cheese, it could not be excelled in any county in
the State. The cows generally appeared to be a grade
of Durham and native. The lands appeared in good farming
order ; the fields large, clean, and well enclosed by stone walls ;
the barns large, and well planned. The cattle seemed to have
suffered by the severe drought. The working oxen were not
so well matched or disciplined as in some other places.

The society is located in the most fertile part of the Com-
monwealth, and, with the intelligent farmers concerned in the
society, warrants a belief that it will soon rank with our best.

B. V. French.

HAMPDEN.

The undersigned, as appointed by this Board, attended the
Show of the Hampden County Agricultural Society on the 27th
and 28th of September.

The show of cattle was decidedly in advance of any before
held by that Society, so far as its former shows have been ob-
served by your delegate. More of the Durham blood appears
to have been infused ; and the cattle exhibited were generally
of a finer character and in better order than could reasonably
have been expected after the severe drought of the preceding
summer.

The exhibition of fruit showed progress in that department ;
and the show of vegetables was such as could hardlv be ex-

SECRETARY'S REPORT. 133

pected, even in the valley of the Connecticut, except in that
part about Springfield.

All the arrangements of the exhibition were such as to meet
the approbation of your delegate. The Hampden Society is
doing well. This brief statement is respectfully submitted.

J. A. Nash.

BERKSHIRE.

By an appointment of the State Board of Agriculture, I was
present at Pittsfield on the 4th and 5th days of October.

It was the forty-fourth anniversary of one of the oldest agri-
cultural societies in the State.

The morning of the fourth was dull and rainy. The farmers
came in slowly, and made their entries still more slowly. At
eleven o'clock there were but few specimens on the ground ;
but towards noon the clouds disappeared, the sun came forth,
and the effect was soon visible in every department of the ex-
hibition. A visit to the cattle ground at two o'clock showed
as fine a collection of animals as it was ever my good fortune
to behold. The show of fat cattle was good, and the working
oxen I have never seen excelled.

I would mention in particular those owned by Mr. Willis, of
Pittsfield, and Mr. Andrews, of New Marlboro' ; also a pair of
three-year-old steers, owned by the last-named gentlemen, all
of which were of large size, fine form, and superior quality — the
oxen named being but four years old, and weighing 4,000
pounds to the pair.

The exhibition of cows was large, and did credit to the
society. There was a respectable show of sheep.

The swine and poultry were by no means inferior. The ex-
hibition in the hall was uncommonly interesting. The quantity
and variety of domestic and fancy articles displayed the skill
and ingenuitv of the ladies.

134 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.

The show of fruit was not large. It consisted almost en-
tirely of apples. Fifty-six varieties, presented by Mr. Tuttle,
struck me as being particularly fine. The twenty-ounce apple
exceeded in weight the name it bears.

The display of horses was good, some of them being very
fine.

The second day commenced with the ploughing. Twenty
horse teams and six ox teams entered into the contest, and did
some very good ploughing.

Being obliged to leave before the close, I did not hear the
address delivered by Hon. Increase Sumner, nor see the awards
of premiums, consisting of silver plate, which will long be kept
as a memorial of the Berkshire Agricultural Society.

Joseph Smith.

BRISTOL.

The undersigned, agreeably to the appointment of the State
Board of Agriculture, had the pleasure of attending the Cattle
Show and Exhibition of the Bristol County Agricultural So-
ciety on the 27th and 28th days of September last; and he
now takes great satisfaction in reporting the results of his
observation.

The Show took place in the city of New Bedford, and was
conducted under the joint direction of the Bristol County
Agricultural Society and the New Bedford Horticultural So-
ciety, reflecting equal credit on both associations. It occupied
two days, both of which were fortunately among the loveliest
days of the season, and every way auspicious to the success
of the occasion.

The first day was opened by the customary ploughing match,
vhich was witnessed by a vast concourse of spectators, and
which could hardly have been exceeded in any part of the
Commonwealth for the depth and regularity of the furrows,

SECRETARY'S REPORT. 135

the thoroughness with which the soil was pulverized, and the
despatch with which the labor was accomplished.

A trial of draught oxen soon followed, which was well con-
tested, and of scarcely inferior interest.

This was succeeded by a display of horses of every variety —
some of them under the saddle, some of them drawing the
light gig or buggy, and some of them harnessed in teams to
the ponderous truck or wagon, and all moving in grand pro-
cession over the noble new road which has recently been con-
structed by the city of New Bedford along the borders of her
beautiful harbor.

Meantime the pens were filled with stock of every sort,
among which were many specimens of the choicest quality.
A grade Durham, or short-horn cow, of remarkable size and
beauty, and which was stated to have given the almost incredi-
ble quantity of nine thousand quarts of milk in sixteen months,
attracted much notice.

Three separate Halls of exhibition were also opened on the
occasion — one of them containing a show of domestic and
household manufactures ; another assigned to the display of
vegetables, the products of the dair}', and the implements
of husbandry ; and a third and larger hall devoted exclusively
to fruits and flowers.

Nothing could have been richer or more exquisite than this
last display. It was particularly remarkable for the great
variety and excellence of the apples, the staple fruit of our
country, and hardly second in importance and value to any
production of the soil.

In the Hall of Manufactures were exhibited several samples
of American linens from the factory at Fall River, which
gave the highest promise of future success in an article for
which we have heretofore been wholly dependent on foreign labor.

On the second day of the exhibition an able and interesting
address was delivered by the Hon. J. W. Miller, of Morris-
town, New Jersey ; after which the premiums were announced
at a most agreeable entertainment, which was graced by the
presence of ladies, and enlivened by wit, poetry, and eloquence.

ROBT. C. WlNTHROP.

13G BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.

BARNSTABLE.

The Annual Exhibition and Cattle Show of the Barnstable
County Agricultural Society were holden at Barnstable on the
11th of October, 1854. The day was mild, clear, and serene.
The streets were filled with a larger multitude of people than
I have ever seen there before, — men, women, and children, — all
wearing that aspect characteristic of the people of Massachu-
setts on " cattle-show " day — all manifesting a disposition to
be pleased, and to please others ; to be happy, and to make
others so.

The first part of the exhibition which I saw was the
ploughing match. Only three ploughs appeared upon the field,
each drawn by a single pair of oxen, without a driver. Of the
ploughs, one was Rugglcs, Nourse & Mason's; one Prouty &
Mears's ; and the other of a make not familiar to me, and its
style of work was such as not to make me desire to remember
it. The land was light and sandy — not requiring great skill
to plough it. The required depth was seven inches. The
work was performed in a creditable manner, both as to time
and execution. It is to be regretted that so few competitors
appeared, and to be hoped that this part of the exhibition will
hereafter become in Barnstable county what it is in other coun-
ties— one of the most exciting and attractive features of the
exhibition.

My attention was next called to the show of animals. The
pens were excellently arranged upon a convenient lot; but I
noticed one great omission — no label or description of the
animals was affixed to the pens, with a single exception, so
that one was left to guess as to their age, breed, and qualities.
I saw upon the ground eight yoke of oxen — some of which I
judged to be working oxen, and some for beef. There were
also about forty head of cows, bulls, heifers, steers, and calves.
I noticed but one milch cow ; and I think the committee re-
ported that only one was exhibited. The animals generally

SECRETARY'S REPORT. 137

were of respectable quality — probably mostly of native breed,
viih an occasional accidental cross. I saw but two apparently
thorough-bred animals — a two-year old Devon bull and heifer,
from the stock of B. Y. French, of Braintree. There were
also on exhibition fourteen horses, mares, and colts — some of
good quality: also a few sheep, swine, and fowls.

The exhibition of agricultural products, manufactures, and
fancy articles was in the Court House. In the court room,
upon the tables and desk, were exhibited a few articles from
the manufacturers and mechanics of the county, numerous
articles of the taste and handiwork of the ladies, and several
beautiful bouquets ; but, from the unfitness of the tables of a
court room for their display, the articles were imperfectly ex-
hibited ; and justice was not done, either to the exhibitors or
the spectators.

The butter, cheese, bread, &c., were placed in a small
and crowded room, in the rear of the court room. They de-
served a better fate. Of bread, white and brown, the exhibi-
tion was as good, and extensive as I have seen any where.
The samples of butter and. cheese were good, but not nu-
merous.

Fruits, vegetables, &c, were exhibited in the grand jury
room, mostly upon the floor, in baskets or otherwise, with nar-
row space for spectators, and no convenient opportunity for
examination. There were excellent specimens of several va-
rieties of apples and. pears, worthy of a place in any exhibi-
tion; also of Isabella and Catawba grapes.

The cranberries, corn, potatoes, sweet potatoes, (of which
one sample was exhibited.) beets, carrots, onions, and. other
agricultural products, though not in great abundance, were
of excellent quality, and would compare favorably with any
which I have seen at any exhibition. The drawing match I
had no opportunity to witness.

A good dinner, graced by the presence of a few ladies, was
partaken of by about one hundred and thirty persons at El-
dredge's Hotel. It was what may be called a business dinner,
as the address was to follow within three quarters of an hour
after taking our scats at the table.

At two o'clock an address was delivered by Hon. C. T.
is

138 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.

Russell, which was listened to with great interest by a crowd-
ed and attentive audience. After the address the Society
again met, and reports of committees were made and premiums
awarded.

I attended the cattle show in the same county a few years
ago, and, except in the ploughing match, a decided improve-
ment was observable at this time. The interest of the people in
agriculture and the agricultural exhibition is increasing in that
county as elsewhere. The farmers of Barnstable county have
the ability to make the annual agricultural exhibition the fes-
tival of the county. The inhabitants of Cape Cod are more
devoted to ploughing the sea than the land ; but they have much
excellent tillage land ; and if they will bring to the show what
they can, they have the power in that county to make a very
attractive exhibition in agricultural products, manufactures, and
mechanic arts, fruits, flowers, and especially in domestic manu-
factures.

I would respectfully notice one or two matters in which im-
provement is required.

The effect of the exhibition was frittered away by dividing
the articles into three separate rooms, no one of which was
suitable for the purpose. The articles exhibited this year, if
concentrated in one hall and properly displayed, would have
made an effective and gratifying show. It is to be hoped that
in future that subject will receive attention, and that greater
justice will be done to the society, contributors, and spectators.

As the exhibition was held only one day, there was much
hurry, and some confusion, as has been the experience else-
where. Much of the evil and inconvenience would have been
avoided if members of committees had been promptly at their
posts and attended faithfully to their duties. The society,
judiciously as it seems to me, decided to hold the exhibition
next year through two days.

Respectfully submitted,

J. II. W. Page.

SECRETARY'S REPORT. ' 139

FOREST TREES.

[The following communication, on the subject of Forest Trees, has been submit-
ted to the Board of Agriculture by the IIon. John C. Gray.]

If this country has been highly distinguished in any respect
by the bounty of Nature, it is in the number and variety of its
trees. If we were compelled to describe the territory of the
United States in a few words, we could not do it more philo-
sophically than in the language of Yolney, who represents it as
one vast forest, diversified occasionally by cultivated intervals.

With the exception of some of the prairies of the valley
of the Mississippi, I am not aware that there is any considera-
ble section within our present States which was originally
destitute of wood. Beyond the immediate vicinity of our
large towns we find every stream thickly shaded by overhang-
ing branches, and every mountain, with the exception of a few
of the highest, covered with a leafy screen of all varieties
of shade, from its base to its summit.

The progress of population and improvement, astonishing
as it is, has been insufficient to efface to any extent this distin-
guishing feature of American scenery ; and the striking picture
drawn by one of our own poets, of the native aspect of the
country, has not yet lost its general resemblance : —

" Then all this youthful paradise around,

And all the broad and boundless mainland, lay
Cooled by the interminable "wood, that frowned

O'er mount and vale, where never summer ray

Glanced till the strong tornado broke its way
Through the gray giants of the sylvan wild ;

Yet many a sheltered glade, with blossoms gay,
Beneath the showering sky and sunshine mild.
Within the shaggy arms of that dark forest smiled."

The extent of our woods is not more remarkable than the
various kinds of trees which compose them. It is stated by
Michaux, that in the United States there are one hundred and

140 • BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.

forty species of forest trees which attain a greater height
than thirty feet, while in France there are only eighteen of the
same description. Of the solid advantages which we derive
from this abundant variety I shall say nothing at present. It
needs only a cursory glance to perceive how much it enhances
the beauty of our natural scenery. " I was never tired," says
an intelligent English traveller, " of the forest scenery of
America, although I passed through it from day to day. The
endless diversity of foliage always prevents it from being
monotonous."

The variety of shape and tints in their green foliage is not,
however, the chief distinction of our woods over those of the
old world ; they surpass them far more in the rich and
various hues of their autumnal leaves. This, if not the most
striking, is certainly the most unique feature of an American
landscape. What natural scenery can surpass in beauty that
presented by one of our forests in one of the brilliant and
serene afternoons of our Indian summer, when the trees are
clothed with a tapestry of the richest gold, and purple, and
scarlet, resembling, and almost rivalling, the most gorgeous
hues of our autumnal sunsets ?

It is not the mere variety of coloring which is the peculiar
characteristic of our fading leaves ; this variety exists also
in European woods, though to a less extent; for, as has been
already stated, their catalogue of forest trees is far more
scanty than ours. But their leaves, in divesting themselves
of their summer green, lay aside also all their brilliancy, and
assume a complexion proverbially dull and faded. It is a pe-
culiarity, on the contrary, of many of our forest trees, that
their leaves, in changing their hue, lose little or nothing of their
brightness, and that their autumnal dress is not only far
richer, but scarcely less lively, than their freshest June liveries.
This circumstance is generally ascribed to some peculiarity In
our climate, and especially to the manner in which the cold
weather makes its first approaches. But this manner varies
almost every year, and yet our trees exhibit annually the same
splendid changes. For this, as well as For other reasons, we
are inclined to think that the peculiarity is not in the climate,
'nit in the trees themselves, and that it is one of those

SECRETARY'S REPORT. Ill

shades of difference which distinguish, in almost every instance,
the plants of America from their kindred species in the old
world. A transplanted American maple, for instance, would
probably undergo the same splendid transmutations in an Eng-
lish park as in ii forest. This supposition has been
formed on much consideration, and is, besides, sanctioned by
opinion of an eminent English botanist who has resided in
;his country for several years.

I have observed that scarcely any considerable portion of this
country is entirely devoid of magnificent forest trees. But what-
ever striking instances of the truth of this remark we may find
in Xew England, and more especially in Vermont and Maine, it
must be admitted that he who would behold sylvan scenery on
its most magnificent scale should cross the Alleghanics and
visit the great valley of the Mississippi. Here he will find
vast tracts into which the axe of the woodman has never pene-
trated. These are covered with a coat of vegetable mould,
exceeding in many places the depths of our richest soils. We
find accordingly a luxuriance of vegetation to which nothing in
our own State affords a parallel. It is true that with us there
is here and there a gigantic elm or buttonwood which might
take rank with the noblest specimens of western growth; but
in travelling in Kentucky or Indiana we find trees at every
step of six or seven feet in diameter; so that most of our
woods, compared as a whole with theirs, seem to be but the
product of yesterday- Every plant appears to partake of this
gigantic character. Thus the wild grape vine, which with us
rarely grows larger than a stout walking stick, in our Western
States sometimes surpasses in diameter the body of a full-
grown man.

The majesty of our western forests is not a little increased
by the circumstance that they arc generally free from under-
growth. The banks of the Upper Mississippi especially are
covered with trees of the largest size, shooting up to a lofty
height, from the smooth levels or gentle swells of the green
prairies beneath, like the oaks in the finest parks of England.
So tastefully are these trees grouped by the hand of Nature,
and so entirely clear is the green prairie grass from undcr-
jgrovthj that the spectator can hardly avoid imagining that he

142 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.

is looking, not at a new country, but at one which was once
peopled by a highly-cultivated community, who have been long
since swept away with every vestige of their wealth and refine-
ment except their stately groves and verdant lawns.

I have thus far spoken of our forests merely as a predomi-
nant and magnificent feature of American scenery ; but it is
scarcely necessary to say that they have other claims to our
attention of a far more solid character. It is to our forests
that we have been indebted for two hundred years for our fuel
and our shelter. How much of the progress of New England,
at least since its first settlement by our forefathers, has been
owing to the liberality of Nature in this particular ! What-
ever were the calamities, in other respects, of those much-
enduring men, they were at least exempted from the extreme and
probably fatal suffering to which they would have been subject-
ed in a thinly-wooded region. Had the aborigines possessed that
determined and unsparing hostility to large trees which seems
to have actuated many of their successors, it is probable that
these northern settlements would never have had a being.

One of the most remarkable of the forest trees of the
United States is the white pine — called in England the Wey-
mouth pine, and known by botanists as the Pinus strobus.
This tree must be familiar to many of our readers in various
ways, as it abounds in our neighborhood, and as its branches
are more frequently employed than those of any other tree for
the decoration of our Catholic and Episcopal churches. It
may be distinguished at first sight from every other evergreen
growing in this State by the lightness and delicacy of its
foliage, as well as by its less formal mode of growth. On
a closer view it is found to differ from all our other New
England pines or spruces in being what is called five-leaved —
that is, in putting forth its leaves in sheaths, each containing
five.

This tree is certainly the most majestic in the country when
it reaches its full growth in our forests. Though it does not
spread in a graceful sheaf like the elm, nor rise up in a regu-
lar spire like the fir, it more than compensates for the want
of these beauties by its loftiness. None of the productions
of the Atlantic States approach it in this particular. It is

SECRETARY'S REPORT. 143

sometimes said to reach the height of more than two hundred
feet; and Michaux actually . measured one which had been
felled, and which exceeded one hundred and fifty; and the
trunk is singularly smooth and straight.

A magnificent appearance is far from its chief recommenda-
tion. We know not that we in Nosv England arc equally in-
debted to any other production of our forests, not even to
the oak. Michaux remarks that throughout the Northern
States, except in the larger capitals, seven-tenths of the houses
are of wood ; of which seven-tenths, three quarters, estimated
at half a million, (this estimate was made nearly fifty years
ago,) are of white pine.

In the first part of this statement there is a mistake quite
remarkable in a writer of such singular research and accuracy.
If we except the larger capitals, we ought to say, not that
seven-tenths, but nine-tenths, at least, of houses in the northern
States arc wooden; indeed, the number of those of a different
description may be considered as too small to deserve notice;
and of these nine-tenths, the great mass are of white pine.
This tree owes its selection for this .most important purpose
to one quality in particular — the small expense of labor at
which it can be fashioned and put together.

While it is more durable and better able to bear exposure
to the fierce temperature and sudden changes of our climate
than any other pine which abounds in New England, it is also
lighter, softer, and more free from knots. In favorable situa-
tions the diameter of the trunk varies from three to seven
feet; and thus it furnishes planks of ample dimensions for
building. This tree has also one important quality, in common
with the locust, which is denied to many other of our best tim-
ber trees : we mean the great proportion which the heart, or
perfect wood, bears even in young trees to the alburnum, or
sapwood, being not less than eleven to one in trees of a foot
in diameter. In all timber, after felling, it is the sapwood
which is the first to decay, and which is as unfit for any useful
purpose as the unripencd products of Nature generally. Hence
it is an important element in the value of the white pine that
it ripens its wood at so early a period.

It is true, after all, that in point of durability, when freely

144 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.

exposed to the elements or when set in the ground, its timber
cannot compete with many of the harder woods ; but, if well
seasoned and kept carefully painted, it will endure for centu-
ries without any symptoms of decay, as we find attested by
many wooden houses, more especially in our large towns.

Where entirely covered, it seems to be incorruptible. But
were its durability less, the other qualities to which we have
adverted — namely, its lightness and softness — would form a
most liberal equivalent.

It is not easy to estimate how much the rapid advancement
of New England may have been owing to the abundance of this
valuable tree. The importance of shelter is a point which it
requires few lessons from our winter climate to set forth; and
by no tree with which we are acquainted could this want be
supplied so rapidly and easily as by the white pine. At the
value which human labor has always maintained among us, the
difference of expense to New England which would have result-
ed from the general employment of the oak, for instance, in-
stead of the pine, for our houses, would be enormous. In many
parts of the valley of the Mississippi, this pine, as well as al-
most every other species of pine, is exceedingly rare.

The settlers are in consequence obliged to substitute the
oak, both for their houses and their furniture. Their dwell-
ings (we speak of the new settlers) are generally of oak, filled
in with earth, and arc quite inferior, both in appearance and
comfort, to those which we find in the newly-cleared lands of
Maine. We arc scarcely less indebted to the white pine for
our commercial and naval than for our civil architecture. It
is this tree which gives us, not indeed the frames, but the
masts, of our vessels, for which it is admirably fitted, by the
degree in which it combines the qualities of durability and
lightness, as well as by the straightness of its trunk.

Its place for this purpose, in the Northern and Middle States.
could hardly be supplied. During our colonial existence its
value was fully appreciated by the mother country ; and, more
than one hundred years ago, some statutes were passed re-
stricting the cutting of trees proper for masts.

There is no evidence, however, that these statutes were ever
enforced ; and, however useful in their design, they would inter-

SECRETARY'S REPORT. 145

fere quite too much with private liberty to render their renewal
desirable, so far as respects the land of individuals. But it is
certainly well worthy the consideration of the legislatures of
many of our States, whether effectual measures should not he
taken for the preservation, and perhaps the propagation, of
valuable timber on the public lands within their jurisdiction.

The fame of the white pine has long since extended to Eu-
rope, principally by means of the stocks which have been
exported to England to supply in part her immense demand
for masts and spars.

The living tree has also been introduced into that country,
but is not highly appreciated, and we have found no English
writer who does it full justice. The truth is, however, that the
climate of England is not fitted to its development. The limits
within which it flourishes in this country are the 43d and 47th
degrees of latitude. Now, no part of the Island of Great Brit-
ain has a climate which answers to that of this region. The
northern extremity of Scotland, which lies in about the 58th or
59th degree of latitude, is visited with winters far less rigor-
ous than the great majority of our own. Besides, there are
few situations in Great Britain which furnish the soil in which
this tree chiefly delights. The most magnificent specimens of
the white pine in this country are found in the depths of our
forests, in a virgin soil, covered with the accumulated mould of
centuries, and above all on the banks of rivers, or in the beds
of large cedar swamps.

In pleasure grounds it seldom rises to its greatest height, or
at least requires a longer time to do so than has yet been al-
lowed in any instance within my knowledge. It grows, however,
with considerable rapidity, and soon acquires a loftiness and
bulk equal to that of most cultivated trees ; and its highly-
polished bark, and light, silvery foliage, render it, from the time
it springs from the soil, a desirable accession to every shrub-
bery.

The next of our principal forest trees which I shall no-
tice is the white oak. The general appearance of oaks is more
familiar to us of this region than that of any other class of
forest trees except the elm and the plane tree. The oak is
far less lofty than the pine, and has no pretensions to the

19

146 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.

elegance of the elm; but, as an emblem of robust vigor, it
stands, both in the old and new world, at the head of all the
sons of the forest. Such has been its character in all ages.
It is also supposed to be a tree of slower growth and longer
life than any other ; though its superiority in this last respect
over the chestnut is far from incontestable. The useful qual-
ities of its wood have also been appreciated from time imme-
morial in every country in the temperate zone. For these
reasons, probably, the oak has been regarded with a degree of
veneration from the earliest ages of mankind.

The first sepulchral monument on record was an oak tree.*
But in no country has it been more valued, more honored or
cherished, than in that of our forefathers ; and with abundant
reason, as forming the chief material of those wooden walls to
which they have more than once owed their national existence.
Hence it has long been recommended to us by many historical
and poetical associations ; and the achievements of our gallant
navy, as well as the vast benefits which we have derived from
our commerce, have given it a new and far stronger claim to
our veneration.

Of all the species of this genus which grow in the latitude
of New England, the most valued is the white oak, (Qtie?'cus
alba.) This is easily distinguished from every other tree
of the same kind in our vicinity by the whiteness of its bark,
and by the persisting, or holding on, of a few of the dried
leaves in the winter season. Its leaves are also without
prickles or bristles at the end of their lobes — a quality in
which it agrees with no large oak in this State except the
swamp white oak, (Querciis prinus discolor.) It bears a
greater analogy than any other oak to the celebrated oak
of England — European white oak, or Quercus pedunculata.
Which of the two trees furnishes the finer timber, is a ques-
tion which has been investigated with great care. It is stated
by high authority that the wood of the American white oak
is lighter, more elastic, and more flexible than that of the

* Gen. xxxv. 8. — "But Deborah, Kebekah's nurse, died, and she was buried be-
neath Bethel, under an oak; and the name of it was called Allon-bachuth " — i. e.,
the oak of wcqnmj.

SECRETARY'S REPORT. 147

English, but that it is, on the whole, weaker and less durable;
and this opinion is sanctioned by a large number of English
writers. The question has not been fully settled by facts ; for
some of those who have expressed such an opinion in strong
terms conclude by admitting that, after all, American vessels
might be no less durable than English, were their timber
equally well seasoned.

The white oak was largely employed in the frame of our
favorite frigate, which was built nearly sixty years ago. In
the course of the very thorough repair to which that vessel
was subjected about fifteen years since, many of the white oak
timbers of her frame were found in excellent condition ; and
it was stated on the best authority that in several instances
timbers of this description were sound, while others by their
side, of the southern live oak, had decayed.

Now, the superiority of the live oak, in point of durability,
over the oak of any other country has never yet been ques-
tioned. The English oak, however, if really superior, could
be easily multiplied in our Northern and Middle States. It
has been already introduced, and some fine specimens of more
than twenty years' growth may be seen in our neighborhood.

The timber generally selected for ship building is what is
called the pasture oak. This is greatly preferred to that
which grows in crowded forests, where the trees, from their
vicinity to each other, are robbed of much of the nutriment
which they derive from the soil, as well as of the genial influ-
ence of the sun and air. Hence the building of a single large
vessel requires the timber of many acres ; and as the white
oak is constantly felled in great quantities, both for home con-
sumption and for exportation, the period cannot be distant
when serious difficulty will be experienced in procuring a sup-
ply of this valuable wood.

In this connection it may be proper to make one or two
remarks on the felling of trees. It is generally agreed that
the durability of timber depends materially on the season
when this operation is performed ; but what that season is, is
a question on which directly opposite opinions are held by the
ablest writers. The principal cause of the decay of wood of
all descriptions is thought to be the sap which remains after

148 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.

felling ; and hence the desired object is, to procure timber as
free as possible from this ingredient. To this end it has been
recommended to fell the tree in the winter season, as it is then
deemed to contain the smallest quantity of sap ; and such, we
believe, is the general practice.

This doctrine, however, was opposed with great ability
by the late Cplonel Pickering, who states, and with truth, that
trees are not devoid of sap in winter, but that it exists in
abundance, though greatly thickened by the cold. He main-
tains, therefore, that it is much more difficult to expel than in
summer, when in a more liquid form, and that the proper time
for felling the tree is, not when it contains the least sap, but
when the sap which it does contain may most easily escape or
be expelled.

This opinion certainly seems to be the better one ; though
the winter season is so much more convenient on many ac-
counts than any other for the procuring of timber that the old
practice will probably maintain its ground. But whatever may
be thought of the correctness of Colonel Pickering's theory, no
one will question the propriety of the suggestion with which
he concludes his remarks, that the point should be determined
by actual experiments, under the direction of our navy board,
or some other high scientific authority.

Besides the white oak, there are four other species in our
vicinity which grow to a large size. Of these, the most valua-
ble are the swamp white and the black oak. The swamp
white oak is not abundant, and grows only in moist soils. It
has been less used than the white oak, partly on account of
its rarity ; but its timber is heavier, and it is thought that it
may be found, on accurate examination, to be superior.

The black oak is valued, not for its timber, which is of an
inferior quality, but for its bark; for it is this which furnishes
the quercitron, so much used for imparting a beautiful yellow
dye to wool, paper, &c*

* In a communication in the fourth volume of "The New England Farmer,"
made m \ ra] years ago by one of our most distinguished fellow-citizens, mention
is made of the trunks of several Luge oaks in Dorchester, in one of which he had
counted upwards of two hundred annual rings.

The largest oak, and indeed the largest tree, which 1 have seen in this country,

SECRETARY'S REPORT. 149

Next to the pines and oaks, there seems to be no tree in the
country of more extensive celebrity than the sugar maple.
The extraordinary neatness of its appearance, and the beauty
of its foliage, which in summer is of the liveliest green, and in
the autumn assumes the richest and most glowing red, are suffi-
cient to recommend it as a beautiful ornament in our gardens
and avenues. The branches are disposed with much regularity,
though without stiffness, and so arranged that their usual out-
line is'an elegant oval. It is to this tree we are chiefly in-
debted for the beautiful curled and bird's-eye maple employed
in cabinet work, which rivals, if it be not admitted to surpass, in
brilliancy and richness, the finest woods of tropical climates.
But the sugar maple derives its chief reputation, as well as its
name, from the qualities of its sap. A large portion of the
sugar used in many parts of the country, the western districts
of Vermont and New York, for instance, is derived from the
maple. Michaux remarked, nearly fifty yeai»s since, that at
least ten millions of pounds of this sugar were then annually
made in the United States. This quantity is far less than
might be procured from the same source in case of necessity.
According to Dr. Rush, the northern part of New York and
Pennsylvania alone contained at the same period thirty mil-
lions of sugar maple trees ; and if we suppose each tree to
yield on an average from two to four pounds of sugar annually,
the product would go far towards supplying the whole con-
sumption of the country.

The maple sugar can be made of a quality equal to the best
imported. It is, however, in a brown state that it is gen-
erally used; and, except in the districts where it is produced, it

is a white oak which I saw, in 183G, on the estate of the late James Wadsworth, Esq.,
of Genesee. The tree is from twenty-four to twenty-seven feet in circumference at
the smallest part of the trunk. Its age cannot he less* than five hundred years ;
and it must, therefore, have been a majestic tree at the time when Columbus dis-
covered the western world. It appeared to be in a vigorous and healthy condi-
tion, and bore on its exterior no marks whatever of decay. It is by no means
improbable that this tree exceeds in size many, both in Europe and elsewhere,
which are recorded as of greater diameter ; for, in the measurement of large trees,
it is of great importance to ascertain at what part of the trunk the measurement
was taken. Every one must have remarked the difference between the bulk
of such trees at the surface of the "round and at a few feet above.

150 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.

is less agreeable to the palate of consumers generally than the
product of the cane. To manufacture it requires a great ex-
pense, not only of labor, but of fuel ; and hence it probably
cannot be sold at a distance for a price which will enable it to
compete with the imported article.

The sap of the tree, or maple juice, as it is called, is greedily
coveted by wild and domestic animals, who break through en-
closures for the sake of obtaining it, and is generally an agree-
able and wholesome beverage. I have been informed, however,
of one instance in which it proved to be of a highly intoxi-
cating quality. This circumstance occurred about thirty years
since, in the western part of the State of New York. All the
sap procured from the maple trees of an extensive district
was found to have undergone a vinous fermentation, and chil-
dren who drank it freely were in some cases rendered de-
lirious for two or three days. I ,have heard of no other
instance of this phenomenon, nor have I learned that any
probable explanation has been given of its cause.

The last of our forest trees which we shall notice is one of
which we need say but little, either in the way of description
or recommendation; we mean our American elm. In a
strictly economical point of view this tree is of little value, as
neither its wood nor its bark is employed to a great extent in
the useful arts. It is subject to the disadvantage of being at-
tacked by the canker worm, and is one of the first trees to shed
its foliage in the autumn. It is a tree, also, which proves
rather a troublesome inmate in small gardens and enclosures,
as it spreads its roots far and wide, and frequently protrudes
them above the surface of the ground, so that it completely
monopolizes a large extent of soil. But where a proper space
can be allotted to it, there is no tree which rivals it in grace
and majesty. Michaux pronounces it to be decidedly the most
magnificent vcgctabre production of the temperate zone. Few
who have seen this tree in favorable situations will question
its right to this preeminence.

Every one must have noticed the noble elms standing singly
on the commons of so many of our villages. These are gen-
erally the relics of our original forests ; and the care with
which they arc now preserved and protected furnishes a strik-

SECRETARY'S REPORT. 151

ing and gratifying evidence of an improving taste for sylvan
scenery.

I have thus spoken of a very few of our native forest trees.
It might be gratifying to speak also of several of those of the
old world ; but to do so would extend this essay beyond the
proper limits.

I have already observed that the list of European forest
trees is far more scanty than ours, and there are very few of
them which would be a valuable accession to our botanical
treasures. Many of the most important classes, or genera, of
forest trees are common to both continents, such as the oak,
ash, elm, &c.

Those trees of the old world and the new which, bear the
same name generally resemble each other to a great degree ;
but, in almost every instance, the resemblance stops short of
complete exactness. Thus we find that the elms, willows, and
larches of Europe and America? though manifestly belonging
to the same class of vegetable productions, differ from each
other materially, either in their size, their beauty, or the value
of their timber.

This seems merely an application of the general law of Na-
ture, which leads her to avoid, in all her productions, any
thing like mathematical resemblance — a rule of which we have
a familiar proof in the fact that no two leaves can be found on
any tree which do not manifestly differ in shape and size.
There is. however, one tree of the old world which has been
rendered so familiar to our imaginations by early associations,
both of a poetical and sacred character, that I cannot forbear
to speak of it more particularly ; I mean the cedar of Lebanon.
It is classed with the larches — a place to which it is entitled,
among other reasons, by the shape and size of its leaves, and
the manner in which they are disposed on its branches. These
branches extend themselves to an uncommonly wide distance,
arc arranged in stages one above another, and are horizontal,
or rather slightly inclining to the earth — and thus form an
irregular penthouse.

In the opinion of the best judges, this tree owes its beauty
partly to this arrangement of its limbs, and partly to the den-
sity and the deep green of its foliage. But it is only in its

152 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.

native mountains that we can find any magnificent specimens
of this renowned plant ; and of these specimens the number is
small, and constantly diminishing. We are told that, in 1789,
there were only seven cedars on Mount Lebanon of a very
large size, one or two of which were found by measurement to
be thirty feet in circumference. These noble trees are proba-
bly the growth of several centuries ; but we should give our-
selves up quite too far to the guidance of our fancies if we
supposed, as many writers seem inclined to do, that they were
coeval with the days of Solomon.

The whole number of cedars on this spot, large and small,
is about a hundred ; and they are said to be annually honored
by a pompous religious ceremony, attended by several
thousand devotees. But however magnificent the appearance
of this tree, and however numerous and interesting the associa-
tions with which it is connected, we are compelled, by the tes-
timony of the best authorities, to deny to it some of the quali-
ties with which it has long been invested in popular estima-
tion. It has been called, for instance, a lofty tree. To this
title it has no pretension, as we have no well-authenticated
account of its exceeding the height of a hundred feet, and it
seldom rises to much more than half that elevation.

There is also a popular impression that its wood is distin-
guished by durability. This opinion is derived partly from
the representations of the ancients,* and partly from the fact
that the timber of its namesakes, the cedars of our own coun-
try, is remarkable for this quality.

According to the great majority of botanists, the wood of the
cedar of Lebanon is an inferior kind of deal, resembling some de-
scriptions of pine, but less durable. For the purposes of tim-
ber, therefore, this tree is unworthy of cultivation. "Whether its
beauty and its historical and poetical celebrity arc sufficient
recommendations for its introduction, is a question unfortunately

* It is 'well known that the ancients were far from accurate in their botanical
knowledge, and that, even in our day, nothing is more common or more vexatious
than tin; great confusion and numerous mistakes which result from describing
vegetable productions merely by their popular names.

There is much controversy among botanists whether the name of cedar was not
often given by ancient writers to some species of pine or cypress.

SECRETARY'S REPORT. 153

of little interest to us, as there is probably no part of the
United States where it could be raised to advantage in the
open air. It is true that in its native locality it is subjected
to a high degree of cold, as it grows immediately below the
covering of eternal snow which rests on the summit of Leba-
non. But the atmosphere even of England is unsuited to its
full development, on account of its want of sufficient moisture ;
and therefore it must be entirely out of the question to sup-
pose that it could flourish in our proverbially bright and dry
climate. It seems to partake of the nature of what are called
alpine plants ; and every gardener knows that such plants are
of all others the most difficult to rear, and that it is next to
impossible to supply them with a proper equivalent for the
constant shade and moisture which they enjoy on the cloud-
capped tops of their native hills.

It was my intention to have submitted in this place a few
practical hints on the subject of planting; but, as complete
directions may be found in books easily accessible, I have con-
cluded rather to give an account of the mode in which the
business of procuring timber and boards, commonly called
lumbering, or logging, is carried on in the principal timber
regions in Maine. This account was furnished me by a highly-
intelligent friend residing in Bangor, and I trust it will be inter-
esting from its own merit, as well as from the importance
of the branch of industry which it describes.

" When a lumberer has concluded to log on a particular
tract, the first step is, to go with a part of his hands and
select suitable situations for building his camps. In making
this selection, his object is to be near as possible to the best
clumps of timber he intends to haul and to the streams into
which he intends to haul it. He then proceeds to build his
camps and to cut out and clear out his principal roads. The
camps are built of logs, being a kind of log houses. They are
made about three feet high on one side, and eight or nine on
the other, with a roof slanting one way. The roof is made of
shingles split out of green wood and laid upon rafters. The
door is made of such boards as can be manufactured out of a
log with an axe. Against the tallest side of the camp is built
the chimney — the back being formed by the wall of the camp,
20

154 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.

and the sides made by green logs, piled np for jams, about
eight feet apart. The chimney seldom rises above the roof of
the camp ; though some who are nice in their architectural no-
tions sometimes carry it up two or three feet higher. It is
obvious from the construction that nothing but the greenness
of the timber prevents the camp from being burned up imme-
diately; yet the great fires that are kept up make but little
impression, in the course of the winter, upon the back or sides
of the chimney. A case, however, happened within a year or
two, where a camp took fire in the night and was consumed,
and the lumberers in it were burned to death. Probably the
shingle roof had become dry ; in which case a spark would
kindle it, and the flames would spread over it in a moment.

'•Parallel to the lower side of the building, and about six
feet from it, a stick of timber runs on the ground across the
camp. The space between this and the lower wall is appro-
priated to the bedding, the stick of timber serving to con-
fine it in its place. The bedding consists of a layer of hem-
lock boughs spread upon the ground, and covered with such
old quilts and blankets as the tenants can bring away from
their homes. The men camp down together, with their heads
to the wall, and their feet towards the fire. Before going to
bed they replenish their fire — some two or more of them being
employed in putting on such logs as with their handspikes they
can manage to pile into the chimney. As the walls of the
building arc not very tight, the cool air plays freely around the
head of the sleeper, making a difference of temperature be-
tween the head and the feet not altogether agreeable to one
unused to sleep in camps. A rough bench and table complete
the furniture of the establishment. A camp very similar,
though not so large in dimensions, is built near for the oxen;
on the top of this the hay is piled up, giving it some warmth,
while it is convenient for feeding.

" A large logging concern will require a number of camps,
which will be distributed over the tracts so as best to accom-
modate the timber. One camp serves generally for one or two
teams. A team, in ordinary logging parlance, expresses, not
only the set of four or six oxen that draw the logs, but like-
wise a gang of men employed to tend them. It takes from

SECRETARY'S REPORT. 155

three or four to seven or eight men to keep one team era-
ployed — one man being employed in driving the cattle, and the
others in cutting down the trees, shaping them into logs,
barking them, and cutting and clearing the way to each tree.
The number of hands required is inversely to the distance the
logs are to be hauled ; that is, most hands are required when
the distance is shortest, because the oxen, returning more
frequently, require their loads to be prepared more expedi-
tiously.

" Having built their camps, or while building them, the main
roads are to be cut out. These run from the camps to the
landing-places, or some stream of sufficient size to float down
the logs on the spring freshet. Other roads are cut to other
clumps of timber. They are made by cutting and clearing
away the underbrush, and such trees and old logs as may be in
the way, to a sufficient width for the team of oxen, with the
bob sled and timber on it, to pass convenientky. The bob sled
is made to carry one end of the timber only; the other drags
upon the ground ; and the bark is chipped off, that the log
may slip along more easily.

" The teams proceed to the woods, when the first snows
come, with the hands who are not already there and the sup-
plies. The supplies consist principally of pork and flour for
the men, and Indian meal for the oxen ; some beans, tea, and
molasses are added. Formerly hogsheads of rum were con-
sidered indispensable ; and I have before me a bill of sup-
plies for a logging concern of three teams in 1827-28, in
which I find one hundred and eighty gallons of rum charged ;
but of late very few respectable lumberers take any spirits
with them, and the logging business is consequently carried on
with much more method, economy, and profit. The pork and
flour must be of the best quality. Lumberers are seldom con-
tent to take any of an inferior sort ; and even now, when flour
is twelve dollars a barrel, they are not to be satisfied with the
coarser breadstuffs.

" Hay is procured as near to the camps as possible ; but as
most of the timber lands arc remote from settlements, it is
generally necessary to haul it a considerable distance ; and as
it must be purchased of the nearest settlers, they are enabled

156 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.

to obtain very high prices. From twelve to twenty dollars
per ton is usually paid. "When the expense of hauling it to
the camp is added, the whole cost is frequently as high as
thirty dollars a ton, and sometimes much higher. Owners of
timber lands at a distance from settlements may make a great
saving by clearing up a piece of their land and raising their
own hay.

" Some one of the hands, who has not so much efficiency in
getting timber as skill in kneading bread and frying pork, is
appointed to the office of cook. Salt pork, flour, bread, and
tea constitute the regular routine of the meals, varied some-
times with salt fish or salt beef. Potatoes are used when they
can be obtained. Now and then, perhaps, when the snow is
deep, they catch a deer, and live on venison.

" The men are employed through the day in cutting the tim-
ber and driving the teams. In the evening some take care of the
oxen ; some cut wood for the fire ; then they amuse themselves
with stories and singing, or in other ways, until they feel inclined
to turn in upon the universal bed. On Sundays the employer
claims no control over their time beyond the taking care of
the cattle, the fire, and the cooking. On this day they do their
washing and mending; some employ themselves besides in
seeking timber, and some in hunting partridges, while some
remain in the camp and read the Bible.

" They remain in the woods from the commencement of sled-
ding, some time in December, until some time in March, in the
course of which month their labors are usually brought to a
close by the snow, it becoming too shallow or too deep.
If there are heavy thaws the snow runs off, not leaving enough
to make good hauling. If, on the other hand, it gets to be
four or five feet deep, the oxen cannot break through it to
make the path which it is necessary to form in order to get at
each individual tree. The men and teams then leave the
woods. Sometimes one or two remain, to be at hand when
the streams open. I know one who last winter staid by
himself in the woods fifteen or twenty miles from the nearest
habitation for the space of twenty-eight days, during which
time he earned $203 by getting in timber with his axe alone,
being allowed for it at the same rate per thousand that the

SECRETARY'S REPORT. 157

lumberers were in getting it in with their teams. lie found
some berths in the 1 tanks of the stream, where all that was
necessary was, to fell the tree so that it should fall directly
upon the water, and there cut it into logs to be ready for
running.

•• When the streams are opened, and there is sufficient freshet
to float the timber, another gang, called ' river drivers,' takes
charge of it. It is their business to start it from the banks
and follow it down the river, clearing off what lodges against
rocks, pursuing and bringing back the sticks that run wild
among the bushes and trees that cover the low lands adjoining
the river, and breaking up jams that form in narrow or shallow
places. A jam is caused by obstacles in the river catching
some of the sticks, which in their turn catch others coming
down ; and so the mass increases until a solid dam is formed,
which entirely stops up the river and prevents the further
passage of any logs. These dams are most frequently formed
at the top of some fall ; and it is often a service that requires
much skill and boldness, and is attended with much danger, to
break them up. The persons who undertake it must go on to
the mass of logs, work some out with their pick poles, cut some
to pieces, attach ropes to others to be hauled out by the hands
on shore, and they must be on the alert to watch the moment
of the starting of the timber, and exercise all their activity to
get clear of it before they are carried off in its tumultuous
rush.

" Some weeks, more or less, according to the distance, spent
in this way, bring the timber to the neighborhood of the saw-
mills. A short distance from Oldtown, on the Penobscot, there
is a boom established, extending across the river, for the pur-
pose of stopping all the logs that come down. It is made by
a floating chain of logs, connected by iron links, and supported
at suitable distances by solid piers built in the river; without
this it would be impossible to stop a large part of the logs,
and they would be carried on the freshet down the river and
out to sea. The boom is owned by an individual, who derives
a large profit from the boomage, which is thirty-five cents per
thousand on all logs coming into it. The boom cost the pres-
ent owner about $40,000. He has offered it for sale for

158 BOAKD OF AGRICULTURE.

$45,000. It is said the net income from it last year was
$15,000.

" Here all the logs that come down the Penobscot are col-
lected in one immense mass, covering many acres, where is
intermingled the property of all the owners of timber lands in
all the broad region that is watered by the Penobscot and its
branches, from the east line of Canada, above Moosehead Lake,
on the one side, to the west line of New Brunswick on the
other. Here the timber remains till the logs can be sorted
out for each owner and rafted together to be floated to the
mills or other places below. Rafting is the connecting the
logs together by cordage, which is secured by pins driven into
each log, forming them into bands like the ranks of a regiment.
This operation is performed by the owner of the boom. The
ownership of the timber is ascertained by the marks which
have been chopped into each log before it left the woods, each
owner having a mark, or combination of marks, of his own.
When the boom is full only the logs lowest down can be got
at ; and the proprietors of other logs must wait weeks, some-
times months, before they can get them out, to their great
inconvenience and damage.

" After the logs are rafted and out of the boom, a great part
of them are lodged for convenience in a place called Pen Cove,
which is a large and secure basin in the river, about two miles
below the boom. From this cove they can be taken out as
they are wanted for the mills below. While in the boom and
at other places on the river they arc liable to great loss from
plunderers. The owners or drivers of logs will frequently
smuggle all that come in their way without regard to marks.
The owners or conductors of some of the mills on the river
are said to be not above encouraging and practising this species
of piracy. Indeed, timber in all its stages seems to be con-
sidered a fair object for plunderers/ from the petty pilferer who
steals into the woods, fells a tree, cuts it into shingles, and
carries it out on his back, to the comparatively rich owner of
thousands of dollars.

" When the logs have been sawn at the mills there is another
rafting of the boards, which are floated down the river to Ban-
gor, to be embarked on board the coastors for Boston. In

SECRETARY'S REPORT. 159

this process they arc subject to much injury : first, by the mode
of catching them as they come from the mill sluices, the rafters
making use of a picaroon, or pole, with a spike in the end of
it, which is repeatedly and unmercifully driven into the boards,
taking out, perhaps, a piece at each time ; secondly, by the
holes made by the pins driven into the boards in rafting; and,
thirdly, by the rocks, and rapids, and shallows in the river
breaking the rafts to pieces and splitting up the boards as
they descend. These inconveniences will be partly remedied
by the railroad now in operation, unless other inconveniences
in the use of it should be found to overbalance them.

" The kinds of timber brought down our rivers arc pine,
spruce, hemlock, ash, birch, maple, cedar and hackmatack.
Far the greater part of it is pine. The lumberers make about
six kinds of pine, though they do not agree exactly in the
classification or in the use of some of the names. The most
common division is into pumpkin pine, timber pine, sapling,
bull sapling,-" Norway, and yellow, or pitch pine. The pump-
kin pine stands preeminent in the estimation of the lumberers,
because it is the largest tree, and makes fine, large, clear boards.
They are soft and of a yellowish cast. The timber pine and
saplings are the most common. The former is generally pre-
ferred, as being larger and more likely to be sound ; yet the
saplings are said to make the harder and more durable boards.
The common sapling grows in low lands, generally very thick,
but much of it is apt to be rotten. The bull sapling is larger
and sounder, grows on higher land, and is mixed with hard wood.
The Norway pine t is a much harder kind of timber than the
others. It is seldom sawed into boards, though it makes excel-
lent floor boards, but it is generally hewn into square tim-
ber. In the Provinces it bears a higher price than the others.
There is not much of it brought to market, and it is not very
abundant in the woods. The yellow pine is very scarce, if to
be found at all, in that region.

" I will conclude with some remarks upon the different modes

* All the kinds here named, with the exception of the last tM'o, are varieties
of white pine.

t This pine is called also red pine, from the color of its bark.

160 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.

of operating made use of by owners of timber. These are
three. One is, for the owner to hire his men by the month,
procure teams, and furnish them with equipments and supplies.
A second is, to agree with some one or more individuals to cut
and haul the timber, or cut, haul, and run it, at a certain price
per thousand feet. The third way is, to sell the siumpage
outright ; that is, to sell the timber standing.

" The first mode is seldom adopted unless the owner of the
timber is likewise a lumberer and intends to superintend the
business himself. The second mode is very common. It is
considered the most saving to the owners, because the lumberer
has no inducement to select the best timber and leave all that
is not of the first quality ; to cut down trees and take a log,
and leave others to rot that are not quite so good, but which
may be well worth hauling. Its inconveniences are, that, as
the object of the lumberer is to get as large a quantity as pos-
sible, lie will take trees that are not worth as much as the cost
of getting them to market, and which, besides being of little
value themselves, render the whole lot less salable by the bad
appearance they give it. The owner, too, is subject to all the
losses that may happen in running the logs down the river.
Yery frequently he is obliged to make one contract to have the
timber cut and hauled to the landing-places, and another to
have it run down; for the river drivers are a distinct class
from the lumberers. Most of them, indeed, are lumberers ; yet
it is but a small part of the lumberers that are river drivers.
A great part of the lumberers are farmers, who must be on
their farms at the season of driving, and therefore cannot un-
dertake any thing but the cutting and hauling. They are paid
for the number of thousand feet they deposit at the landing-
places ; and the logs being surveyed, or scaled, as they are
hauled, their object is to get as many thousand as possible on
the landing-places ; while the river drivers may be very care-
less about getting them all down, and the owner may never
receive the whole quantity he has paid for cutting and hauling.
In operating in this mode, the owner usually furnishes the sup-
plies, provisions, &c, and the lumberer procures the teams and
hires the men. The owner commonly docs not bind himself to
pay before the logs get to market, and he frequently makes a

SECRETARY'S REPORT. 1G1

contract for his supplies on the same condition ; in which case
he has to pay from twenty-five to thirty-three per cent, more
for his goods than he would dealing on cash or common credit.
Sometimes, when there is no freshet, the logs do not get doAvn
until the second year; and then the trader and lumberer both
suffer for want of their pay.

" The third mode is the simplest and easiest for the owner.
He avoids all trouble of furnishing supplies, of watching the
timber on the river, and of looking out for a market. But he
must have a man of some capital to deal with, as he furnishes
his own teams and supplies,#and pays his men, receiving very
heavy advances. The purchaser of it has no interest to cut
the timber savingly, and he sometimes makes dreadful havoc
among the trees, leaving a great deal of valuable stuff on the
ground to rot. And if he selects only the best trees in a
berth, much of the timber left standing may be lost, because no
one will afterwards want to go into that berth from which all
the best trees have been culled. It is common now, in all
large concerns, for the owner to employ a man to pass the
winter in the camps, living alternately at one or another, for
the purpose of scaling the logs, keeping a correct account
of them, and seeing that the timber is cut according to the con-
tract. • But, after all, there is always found to be a considerable
difference between timber cut by the thousand and that which
is cut on stumpage.

" Each mode has its troubles ; but I think that owners at a
distance will manage their concerns with least vexation by
selling the stumpage, provided that they have honest men
to deal with."

The public attention is of late, we hope, more alive than it
has been to the value of our forests, to the necessity of
economizing what yet remains of these rich national treasures,
and of replacing what has been so carelessly wasted. This
necessity is every day making itself more manifest. Fuel has
already become scarce in our sea ports, or rather on our whole
sea coast — a fact worthy the serious consideration of those
who reflect that the sufferings of the poor from the want of
this article are probably greater than from all other causes
united.

21

162 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.

Our best timber also is becoming more and more costly, and
our civil and naval architects are constantly driven to the em-
ployment of that of inferior quality. The live oak of the
Southern States is already procured for our navy yards with
great difficulty, and in fifty years will probably disappear from
our soil ; and our own white oak, as well as our other most
valuable timber trees, must follow at no very distant period.
It is in the power of every one who possesses a few acres of
land to do much to arrest this mighty evil ; and what might not
be anticipated from a simultaneous effort on the part of culti-
vators in our Commonwealth, or even in a single county ! and
all this at the expense, on the part of each individual, of a few
shillings of money and a few hours of interesting labor. If
we owe any thing to posterity, in what way could we confer on
them so great a benefit at so cheap a rate ?

It is not, however, strictly true, or rather it is not the whole
truth, to say, with Virgil, that he who plants benefits his remote
posterity. A friend of mine once observed that those who set
out forest trees reminded him of the student, who, on hearing
that a crow would live for a century, bought a young one for
the sake of watching the experiment. As a stroke of humor,
this remark is privileged from criticism ; but as a statement
of fact, it must be received with much qualification. It
is no uncommon circumstance to find oaks of twenty years'
growth of more than a foot in diameter and of forty or fifty
feet in height; and I have seen an English willow of only
double that age, measuring, at several feet from the ground,
more than seven yards in circumference.

Were planting commenced at the time when our young men
usually enter on their professions or their business, how many
might live to enjoy the shade of majestic groves of their own
raising !

These remarks may derive some additional interest from tho
fact that a taste for rural occupations is rapidly springing up
and extending itself in our large cities, and that objects of
this description arc gradually absorbing more and more of the
capital as well as the intelligence of that portion of our com-
munity. Where, indeed, could they find a source of entertain-

SECRETARY'S REPORT. 163

merit more pure, more copious, or more beneficial to them-
selves or their fellow-citizens ? To say notliTng of the value
of forest trees for what are strictly denominated useful pur-
poses, let us ask, in what way any individual among us can do
more to decorate and beautify the country ? How many millions
have been devoted in this as well as in other communities to
architecture ! and yet how little have the results corresponded
to the time, the effort, and the money so expended ! For one
chaste and magnificent edifice we have ten irregular and dis-
proportioned piles, countenancing, and almost justifying, the
sweeping remark of a distinguished author, that the genius of
architecture had shed its malediction on America. But he
who rears a stately grove or avenue bestows an ornament on
his native land which none but a Vandal would wish to destroy.

How much has been done in Boston and its beautiful en-
virons by the taste and public spirit of a few individuals !
To pass over numerous other instances, we are indebted to
some unknown benefactor of former days for the chief orna-
ment of the city — the triple colonnade of weeping elms in the
Mall; and it is owing to the good taste of another accom-
plished individual of later days (the late G. W. Brimmer,
Esq.) that the majestic, or, as we may now call them, the
sacred, groves of Mount Auburn were rescued from the wood-
man's axe.

It is not merely, however, to those who are or may be
practically engaged in the propagation or preservation of
forest trees, though these I hope are not few, that these re-
marks are directed. Though comparatively a small number
may be the planters or the owners of groves or of gardens, all
may be admirers of forest scenery. For the indulgence of
such a taste we have the highest intellectual authority. " A
tree in full leaf,'' says Lord Bacon, "is a nobler object than a
king in his coronation robes." But it is in a community like
our own, above all others, that a taste for the beauties of for-
est trees, as well as an acquaintance with their nature and
uses, should be carefully cultivated. It is sufficient to recom-
mend it that it furnishes a never-failing source of occupation
and amusement to those who travel in this country, and a

164 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.

strong additional inducement to the general adoption of this
practice, so essential, and at the same time so neglected.

Personal intercourse, if not the only, is certainly the chief,
means by which the inhabitants of the different States of our
widely extended Union may be enabled to acquire a proper
knowledge of the wants and the character of each other, and,
above all, to cherish those feelings of regard so essential to
the prosperity, if not the existence, of our nation. The press,
however great the obligations we owe it, is of necessity al-
ways an imperfect, and sometimes an unfaithful, mirror of pub-
lic sentiment; and it is to personal intercourse, and to the
spirit of mutual fairness and friendship which such intercourse
will assuredly generate, that we must look to supply the
deficiencies and correct the aberrations of that mighty engine
of good and of evil.

It were to be wished, indeed, .that the practice of travelling
extensively in our own country were often pursued, at least as
a preliminary to a European tour. We should not find in
that case, as we think we now do in some instances, the most
incorrect representations of the character and manners of our
population, proceeding from the pens of our own tourists in
other countries. To many of our best educated and most ac-
complished men the interior of other States, if not of their
own, is a terra incognita, and this, too, in spite of those
facilities of communication which exist in the United States to
a greater degree than in almost any portion of the old world.

I need not state how thinly this country is peopled in com-
parison witli any other in an equal state of advancement, nor
repeat how large a portion of those wide spaces which
separate our principal settlements from each other is covered
with magnificent forests. The traveller who can relish the
beauties of these splendid collections of vegetable wonders
can have few intervals of idleness or weariness.

Vet, however valuable we may consider a taste for these
prominent beauties of our own scenery merely as a never-fail-
ing source of occupation and enjoyment, there arc still other
reasons of the highest moment why such a taste should be
anxiously cherished ; we mean as one of the principal sources

SECRETARY'S REPORT. 1G5

of an ardent and deep-felt patriotism. We trust that our
country lias, in the view of all of us, other qualities than the
beauties of her natural scenery to recommend her to her proper
rank in our estimation. There is in her institutions — politi-
cal, intellectual, and religious — more than enough to justify us
in the preference which we give to our native land over all
other*.

But patriotism, wherever it has existed in a high degree,
has been, I apprehend, a sentiment as well as a principle, and
is something more than a cold feeling of preference. It is, in
truth, an emotion of a complex character ; and if we would
cherish towards our country an enthusiastic attachment, we
should not suffer ourselves to be blind to those charms, whether
of nature or of art, which may recommend her to our fancy as
well as our sober judgment.

Why should not the mind of an American dwell upon those
majestic forests whose beauties are commemorated throughout
the civilized world with something of the feeling which stirs
in the bosom respectively of a patriotic Frenchman or Eng-
lishman when his thoughts revert to the vine-covered hills
and gay regions of France or the spreading oaks and verdant
lawns of merry England?

It is truly gratifying to reflect on the progress which has
been made within a very few years in the study and develop-
ment of the internal resources of this country.

In former times, the political condition of Europe, and the
embarrassments in which we were involved by the conduct of
the leading belligerents, formed not only the predominant, but
the sole, topics of deep public interest. Little time or thought
could be spared, little at any rate was spared, for the exami-
nation and improvement of our internal condition. What, for
instance, had been done for the advancement of our agriculture
and manufactures ? and what was known of our coal mines or
our quarries ? Such was the state of things from the very
foundation of our national government to the signing of the
treaty of Ghent. It is one of the chief national blessings which
have resulted from our present peaceful condition that we have
been enabled and induced to turn our thoughts inward ; that

16G BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.

the vast natural riches of our land arc no longer trodden un-
der foot without the slightest investigation, nor its majestic
and beautiful scenery passed by with a heedless glance.
Whether we regard this spirit of investigation merely as
political economists, or as moralists and patriots, whether we
look to its effects on the wealth or on the happiness of our
community, it is certain that to cultivate and to cherish it is a
sacred duty.

APPENDIX.

168

APPENDIX.

[A.]

Referred to on page 6.

Schedule and Appraisal of the Stock, Tools, and Implements, together
rvith the estimated value of the Land and Buildings referred to in the
agreement between the Trustees of the State Reform School at West-
boroJ and the State Board of Agriculture, received April 1, 1854 : —

l
3

25
2

1

2

35

12

8

1

h

4

500

40

500

160

4

1

12

12

20

9

12

7
3
1
1
3
2
S
6
3

Kate,

Pair Fat Oxen, .

Pairs Oxen— Red, $150

Cows, at $32 each,

Heifers, at $15 each,

Grade Devon Bull,

Horses— Charley, $150

Swine, .

Tons English Hay, at $1

Tons Meadow Hay, at $

Ton English Hay, at $17

Ton Straw,

Tons Corn Fodder,

Bushels Corn, at $1,

Bushels Oats, at 50 cts.,

Bushels Carrots, at 20 eti

Bushels Turnips, at 20 cts.

Straw Cutters, .

Feed Trough, .

Hay Forks, $3 ; 6 Rakes, $1

Manure Forks, .

Shovels, .

Spades, .

Picks,

Manure Troll, $1,

Iron Bars,

Stone Hammers,

Ox Wagon,

Horse Wagon, .

Carts,

Horse Carts,

Stone Drags,

Ploughs, *

Harrows,

Cultivators,

Hand Cultivators,

Ox Yokes,

Draft Chains,

Brindle, $160; Bay, $150,

$125,

$170 00

460 00

800 00

30 00

50 00

275 00

575 00

$204 00

64 00

17 00

5 00

24 00 314 00

500 00

20 00

100 00

32 00

50 00

4 00

4 00

12 00

5 00

5 00

12 00

1 00

7 00

6 00

40 00

20 00

70 00

35 00

5 00

30 00

12 00

4 00

4 00

10 00

8 00

APPENDIX.

169

4 Trace Chains, .
4 Stake Chains,
2 Ox Sleds,
2 Horse Sleds,
1 Buggy, .
1 Sleigh, .

Harness,

Stable Furniture, Buffalo Robes, &c.

Articles in the Toed Room,
1 Iron Roller,
1 Fanning Mill and Corn Sheller,

Seed Corn,
6 Bushels Beans, .

8 Door Chains,

1 Seed Sower,

2 Pairs Steelyards,
54 Bushels Potatoes,

150 Pounds Guano,
Superphosphate,
150 Strawberry Boxes,
17 Hoe», $3 ; 1 Drill, $2,
10 "Wheelbarrows, .

Beetle and Wedges, $2 ; Lot of Measures, $ 1,
Grass Shears, $1 ; Iron Bakes, $1,
4 Water Cans, $4 ; 3 Bog Hooks, $4,

9 Axes, $8 ; 3 Saws, $3, .

3 Ice Hooks, $1 ; Tongs, $2,
2 Cross-cut Saws,
2 Hand Saws,

12 Baskets, $6; 6 Scythes, $2; 12 Snaths, $6,
Grindstone, ....

REAL ESTATE
Land, supposed about 285 acres,
Farm Barn, ......

Two Dwelling-houses, ....

$8,400 00
1,600 00
2,000 00

$3

00

3

00

10

00

12

00

50 00

25

oo

65

00

15

00

10

00

20 00

12

00

4

00

10

00

2

00

5

oo

3

00

40

00

4

00

48

00

4

00

5

00

6

00

8

00

2

00

8

00

11

00

3

00

7

00

1

00

14

00

7

00

Total, .

$4,081 00

$12,000 00
$16,081 00

22

170

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APPENDIX.

177

[P.]

Inventory of Personal Property on the State Farm at Westboro\

Deceit

ber 1,

1854:

—

4 Yoke Oxen, ....

$665 00

23 Cows, .

805 00

1 Heifer Calf,

4 00

1 Full bloodJersey Bull,

150 00

3 Horses,

520 00

75 Swine,

558 00

43 Tons English Hay,

774 00

18 Tons Meadow Hay,

162 00

7 Tons Straw,

70 00

900 Bushels Indian Com,

900 00

2058 Bushels Carrots, 25 cts

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514 50

1025 Bushels Turnips,

170 83

20 Tons Corn Fodder,

120 00

4 Hay Cutters, .

50 00

1 Feed Trough, .

4 00

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5 00

18 Hay Rakes,

5 40

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28 00

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25 00

18 Spades,

15 00

18 Picks, .

18 00

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1 00

9 Iron Bars,

9 00

4 Stone Hammers,

6 00

1 Ox Wagon,

40 00

2 Horse Wagons,

70 00

3 Ox Carts,

70 00

2 Horse Carts, .

35 00

3 Stone Drags, .

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6 Ploughs,

30 00

4 Harrows,

15 00

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10 00

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i 00

8 Ox Yokes,

15 00

10 Draft Chains, .

10 00

4 Stake Chains, .

3 00

4 Trace Chains, .

2 00

2 Ox Sleds,

7 00

2 Horse Sleds, .

12 00

1 Buggy Wagon,

20 00

1 Sleigh, .

25 00

23

,

178

APPENDIX.

Stable Utensils, including Buffaloes, . . $15 00

Articles in Tool House,

10 00

1 Iron Roller, ;

20 00

Lot of Harness,

65 00

1 Fanning Mill,

12 00

4 Door Chains, .

1 00

1 Seed Sower,

5 00

Scales and Steelyards,

21 00

128 Bushels Potatoes,

76 80

1 Ton Guano,

54 00

100 Strawberry Boxes,

3 00

40 Hand Hoes,

12 00

1 Drill, .

2 00

8 Wheelbarrows,

8 00

Lot Measures and Gras

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2 00

1 Beetle and Wedges,

2 00

2 Water Cans, .

1 00

3 Bog Hooks,

4 00

9 Axes, .

5 00

4 Wood Saws,

4 00

3 Ice Hooks,

1 00

Ice Tongs,

2 00

2 Cross-cut Saws, ,

5 00

2 Hand Saws,

1 00

8 Baskets,

4 00

6 Grass Scythes, .

2 00

12 Grass Snaths, .

6 00

1 Grindstone,

7 00

6 Bush Scythes, .

4 00

2000 Clear Lumber, .

80 00

500 Spruce Lumber, ,

10 00

200 Pounds Nails, .

9 75

3 Buckets,

75

1 Surveyor's Chain,

2 00

1 Iron Ox Shovel, .

6 50

1 Spirit Level, .

2 00

1 Swill Cart,

42 35

1 Refrigerator, .

11 00

3,471 88

ABSTRACT OF AGRICULTURAL RETURNS,

180

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190

APPENDIX.

MISCELLANEOUS.

SOCIETIES.

Amount awarded for
Agricultural imple-
ments.

Amount awarded for
all other Agricultural
objects.

Amount awarded for
objects other than
Agricultural.

Number of persons
who have received
rremlums and Gra-
tuities for Agricultu-
ral objects.

Essex, ....

$60 00

Essay.

$10 00

$146 00

180

Middlesex,

3 00

-

39 00

132

Middlesex S.,

10 00

538 00

105 37

127

Worcester,

-

7 49

3 00

79

Worcester W., .

3 00

-

57 75

117

Worcester N., .

2 25

-

51 25

149

Hamp., Frank. &. Hampd., .

17 00

-

109 12

160

Hampshire,

6 55

56 25

39 55

207

Hampden, ....

11 00

5 5*0

101 25

100

Franklin, ....

5 00

-

G9 75

245

Berkshire, . .

6 00

-

105 00

253

Housatonic,

-

-

84 00

203

Norfolk, ....

21 00

-

54 00

102

Bristol, ....

-

34 50

133 75

171

Plymouth, .

5 00

770 25

-

357

Barnstable,

4 25

-

53 12

48

Totals, ....

$154 05

$1,421 99

$1,151 91

2,630

APPENDIX.

191

Names of Towns and Cities in ivhich Premiums and Gratuities
for Agricultural objects tvere distributed by each Society, and
amount to each town.

ESSEX.

Amesbury,

. $25 75

Lynnfield,

. $1 50

Andover, .

. 210 51

Marblehead,

. 34 00

Boxford, .

. 20 40

Methuen, .

. 27 50

Beverly, .

9 00

Middleton,

. 23 26

Bradford, .

. 21 48

Newbury, .

. 30 08

Boston,

.' 10 00

Newburyport, .

. 16 50

Danvers, .

. 91 55

Rowley, .

7 75

Essex,

. . 10 00

Salem,

9 00

Georgetown,

. 13 20

Salisbury, .

1 00

Groveland,

. 12 00

Topsfield,

. 27 65

Hamilton, .

8 00

Wenham, .

3 50

Haverhill, .

. 41 79

. 78 25

West Newbury,
Totals, .

3 70

Lawrence,

. $737 37

MIDDLESEX.

Ashby,

. $30 00

Charlcstown,

. $2 00

Acton,

. 24 50

Chelmsford,

2 00

Brighton, .

3 00

Dracut,

5 00

Billerica, .

1 00

Framingham,

. 39 50

Bradford, .

50

Groton,

. 45 00

Concord, .

. 203 50

Lowell,

. 28 00

Cambridge,

. 10 00

Littleton, .

. 19 50

192

APPENDIX.

MIDDLESEX— Continued.

Lincoln, .

. $18 50

Somerville,

. $1 oo

Lexington,

6 CO

Wilmington,

. 2G 50

Maiden, .

. 12 00

Wayland, .

. 22 00

Reading, .

5 00

Watertown,

. 18 00

Sudbury, .

. 32 00

. 19 00

4 00

Waltham,
Totals, .

. 12 25

South Reading,
Shirley,

. $589 75

MIDDLESEX SOUTH.

Ashland, .

. $2 25

Sherburn,

. $42 50

Framingham, .

. 301 00

Southboro', .

. 40 25

Holliston, .

3 00

Sudbury,

. 31 50

Hopkinton,

. 16 50
. 52 00

. 28 00

Wayland,
Total,

. 30 50

Marlboro,'
Natick,

. $548 00

WORCESTER.

Auburn, .

. $13 00

Leicester, .

. $24 00

Barre,

.. 147 00

Millbury, .

. 13 00

Berlin,

8 00

New Brain tree, .

. 18 00

Boylston, .

. 18 00

Northboro',

8 00

Charlton, .

9 00

Oakham, .

5 00

East Brookfield,

G 00

Oxford, .

. 10 00

Grafton, .

. 30 00

Princeton,

. 108 00

Ilarwick, .

. 10 00

Shrewsbury,

. 1-2 00

Ilolden, .

8 00

Sterling, .

!> 00

APPENDIX.

193

WORCESTER— Continued.

Sturbridge,

. $27 00

West Boylston, .

. $39 00

Sutton,

. 75 00

Westboro',

. 49 00

Upton,

1 00

7 00
6 00

Worcester,
Total, .

. 225 00

Uxbridge, .
Warren, .

. $897 00

WORCESTER WEST.

Athol,

• $3 00

Oxford,

. $2 00

Barre,

. 205 00

Petersham,

. 52 00

Bernardston,

4 00

Princeton,

. 44 00

Hard wick,

. 19 00

Phillipston,

5 00

Hubbardston, .

9 00

West Brookfield,

2 00

New Braintree,

. 33 00
5 00
7 00

Worcester,
Total, .

2 CO

North Brookfield,
Oakham, .

. $392 00

WORCESTER NORTH.

Ashby,

. $25 27

Sterling, .

. $17 46

Ashburnham,

8 37

Shirley

5 00

Fitchburg,

. 203 48

Templeton,

3 00

Gardner, .

3 00

Westminster, .

. 25 37

Leominster,

7 12
. 81 45

VVinchendon, .
Total, .

1 50

Princeton,

. $381 02

25

194 APPENDIX.

HAMPSHIRE, FRANKLIN AND HAMPDEN.

Amherst,

. $19 50

Leverett,

. . . $8 00

Belchertown,

4 00

Montgomery,

1 00

Conway, .

. 17 00

Northampton,

300 57

Chester, .

2 00

Norwich, .

. 25 92

Chesterfield,

1 00

Southampton,

, 49 87

Deerfield, .

17 04

South Hadley,

40 55

Easthampton,

19 25

Sunderland,

6 50

Granby,

21 00

Westfield,

44 12

Goshen, .

5 00

Whately, .

11 50

Hadley,

151 40

Williamsburg,

4 00

Hatfield, .

11 50

12 00

Westhampton,
Total, .

2 12

Heath,

$774 84

HAMPSHIRE.

Amherst, .

$140 00

Northampton, .

. $11 90

Belchertown,

17 10

New Salem,

5 00

Chester, .

75

New York,

20

Conway, .

2 00

Pclham, .

G 25

Deerfield, .

10 50

Prescott, .

2 65

Erving,

' 4 00

Shutesbury,

5 00

Granby,

35 60

South Hadley,

11 25

Greenwich,

3 00

Springfield,

3 00

Hadley, .

78 95

Sunderland,

128 55

Leveretl, .

12 50
6 50

Whately,

Total,

25

Montague,

$484 95

APPENDIX.
HAMPDEN.

195

Blandford, .

. $1 00

Wcstfield,

. $72 75

Chicopee, .

. 30 50

West Springfield,

. 67 50

Longmeadow, .

. 53 00

1 00

. 274 50

Wilbraham,
Total, .

. 64 25

Southwick,
Springfield,

. $564 50

FRANKLIN.

Ashfield, .

. $1 00

Leyden, .

. $9 00

Bernardston,

. 28 25

Montague,

5 50

Conway, .

7 00

Northfield,

. 20 25

Coleraine, .

6 12

New Salem,

. 16 32

Deerfield, .

. 77 60

Orange, .

2 00

Erving,

2 00

Sunderland,

. 16 20

Greenfield,

. 80 50

5 75

6 25

Shelburne,
Total, .

. 110 75

Gill,

Heath,

. $394 49

BERKSHIRE.

Adams,

. $11 00

Lanesboro',

. $191 00

Becket,

7 00

Lenox,

. 61 00

Cheshire, .

. 65 00

Lee, .

. 38 00

Dalton,

. 32 00

Monterey,

. 19 00

Egremont,

. 26 00

New Marlboro',

. 14 00

Great Barrington,

. 43 00

Other town3,

. 12 00

Hinsdale, .

3 00

Pittsfield, .

. 246 50

Hancock, .

2 00

Peru,

3 00

19G

APPENDIX.

BERKSHIRE— Continued.

Richmond, . . . $27 00

Stockbridge, . . .102 00

Sheffield, . . . . 42 50

West Stockbridge, . . 21 00

Windsor, .
Williamstown,

Totals, .

$18 00
15 00

$989 00

HOUSATONIC.

Alford, .

. $13 00

Pittsfield,

. $10 00

Dalton,

7 00

Richmond,

. 10 00

Egremont,

. 131 00

Sheffield, .

. 124 00

Great Barrington,

. 249 00

Stockbridge,

.. 64 00

Lenox,

. 40 00

Sandisfield,

. 16 00

Lee,

. 15 00

Tyringham,

3 00

Lanesboro',

1 00

. 77 00
. 20 00

West Stockbridge, .
Totals,

. 35 00

Monterey,
New Marlboro,' .

. $815 00

NORFOLK.

Braintrce, .

. $62 00

Others,

. $54 00

Brookline,

11 00

Quincy, .

. 31 00

Canton,

17 00

Roxbury, .

9 00

Dorchester,

114 00

Randolph,

5 00

Dcdham, .

108 50

Stoughton,

7 00

Dover,

. 41 00

West Roxbury, .

. 70 50

Medfield, .

58 00

Walpole, .

1 00

Mcdway, .

32 00
29 00
66 00

Wrentham,
Total, .

. 45 00

Milton,
Needham, .

. $761 00

APPENDIX.
BRISTOL.

197

Attleboro', .

$36 00

Norton,

$65 50

Berkley, .

. 12 50

Raynham, .

66 50

Dartmouth,

. 68 00

Seekonk, .

78 00

Fall River,

. 51 50

Somerset, .

19 00

Fairhaven,

. 36 50

Swanzey, .

16 00

Freteown,

. 18 50

Taunton, .

93 50

Falmouth,*

3 00

Westport, .

. 28 00

Mansfield,
New Bedford, .

34 00
. 146 75

Total, .

$773 25

Not in the County— Gratuity.

PLYMOUTH.

Abington, .

$5 75

Mansfield,

. $3 50

Bridgewater,

319 00

North Bridgewater, .

. 41 50

Carver,

18 00

Pembroke, .

. 16 00

Duxbury, .

6 25

Plympton,

, 18 50

East Bridgewater,

54 75

Plymouth,

. 24 75

Halifax, .

34 00

Rochester,

7 CO

Hanson, .

18 00

Scituate, .

3 00

Hingham, .

5 75

South Scituate,

3 00

Kingston, .

5 25

Unknown,

2 00

Lakefield, .

2 00
104 00

West Bridgewater, .
Total, .

. 83 25

Middlcboro',

. $775 25

198

APPENDIX.

BARNSTABLE.

Barnstable,

$169 12

Harwich, .

. $15 75

Brewster, .

4 25

Orleans, .

6 00

Chatham, .

3 00

Sandwich, .

. 26 00

Dennis,

19 00
1 00
1 50

Yarmouth,
Total, .

. 18 75

Eastham, .
Falmouth,

. $264 37

INDEX.

Abstract of finances,
Agriculture, encouragement of,

" in different sections, .

" influence of climate on,

Agricultural Societies, influence of,

" " exhibitions of,

"' " funds of the,

" products,
Animals, effect of change of climate on,
" characteristics of,
" when to be imported,

Barnstable Society, exhibition of, .
Berkshire Society, exhibition of, .
Board of Agriculture, Annual meeting of,
Book farming, prejudices against, .
Boston Bay frozen over,
Bristol Society, exhibition of,

Circular, copy of, .
Climate of New England, .

" " England,

" importance of difference in,
Colonists, trials of the,
Corn, experiments in cultivating, .
Crops, report of committee on,

" extent of injury by chmight,

" raised at State Farm,

Dew penetrates a mellow soil,

Draining not so necessary here as in moist

Drought, picture of a New England,

" of the past year,
Droughts, history of, in New England,

" cause of,

" modes of guarding against,

" effects of,

climates,

rage.

121, 180

122

118

82

120

120, 125

121

119

80

81

82

136

133

26

30

33

134

52

30, 32, 74, 76, 80

76,79

30, 80, 82

32

19, 20

19

54

18

73
82
30
30, 46, 51, 54
32
58, 60
62, 63, 67, 71, 72
30, 34, 37, 40, 47, 68

200

INDEX.

Espy, Prof. J. P., theory for production of rain,
Essex Society, report on exhibition,
Experiments, nature and requirements of,

" with milch cows,

" " fertilizers,

" want of, felt by the community,

Evaporation, amount of,
• " clouds produced by, .

Farmer, studies of the,
Fertilizers, experiments with,
Fish, manuring land with, .
Forests, injury by the drought,

" temperature of soil in,

" influence the rains,

" importance of extending, .

" the western,
Forest trees, Essay on,

" " destruction of,

" " variegated colors of, .

" " varieties of,

" " inducements to plant,

Gray, Hon. J. C, Essay by,
Guano, experiments with, . .

" how preserved where no rain falls

" mode of using,

" purchase of,

Hampden Society, exhibition of,
Hops, culture of, .

" natural history of, .

" varieties of, .

" mode of picking,

" inspection of,

" cost and profit of raising,

44 average price of,

" diseases of, .

" kiln for drying,

" analysis of, .

" uses of,

Improvements, report of committee on,
Indian corn, bushels of, per acre, .

« " withstands the drought,

Irrigation in early times, .

" modes -and advantages of,

« kind of water for,

" use of hydraulic ram for,

20,

Page.
61
125
12
15, 17
21, 22, 84, 87, 88
1, 24, 67
44, 58, 72, 73, 79
60

29

19, 24

32

57

58

58

59

141

139

74,74

140

142

162

20,

21, 23,

94, 9G,

99, 100,

98,

74, 139

24, 84, 87

84,89

85,89

85

132

102, 106

94

95

97, 108

114, 115

112, 114

113, 114
115

109, 110
117
US

12
55
55
64
64, 65, 66
66
67

INDEX.

201

Irrigation, is grass injured by,

" soils which need it most,

Jam, definition of a, . .

Labor, report of committee on,

Lebanon, cedar of,

Lumbering, mode of, . .

Manures, liquid, preservation of, .

" spreading of,
Maple, the sugar, .

" juice, intoxicating properties of,
Meadows, method and importance of reclaiming,
Meadow muck, meaning and value of,

" " mode of using,

Meteorology, agricultural, .
Middlesex South, exhibition of,
Milch cows, loss of weight from night to
Milk, quantity of at State Farm, .
Mowing Machines, number of,

New England, climate of, .

Oak, character and value of the, .
" varieties of the,

Pine, the white,

" varieties of the,
Plough, the Michigan,
Ploughing, depth of,

" importance of deep,
" match, .
Potato, disease of, .

" reports on the, . .

" experiments on the,
Potash, experiments with,
Premiums, method of awarding, .
Press, how to correct the errors of the,

Rafting, mode of, in Maine,

Rain, depth to which it penetrates,

" amount which fell at Amherst from 1837 to 1851,

" " in the summer months at "Waltham,

" how produced,

•• local and general,

" artificial production of,

" in England and New England,

" distribution of,
Root crops, experiments on,
26

rage.
65
66

157

25
151, 152

153, 160

93

68,71

149

150

62, 63

90, 93

91, 93
29

127

15, 17

14

94

30

146
148

142

159

69, 70

70

68

125
55,56
56
21
23
29

164

158
44
49
50
60
61
61

76, 77, 79
43
22, 23

202

INDEX.

Report on transfer of State Farm, .

«« « improvements at State Farm,

" " stock, ....

" " experiments with crops,

» " labor at State Farm,
Rural pursuits, increasing taste for,

Smith, Rev. Thomas, diary of,

Snow, difference in, between Amherst and Boston

Soil, character of, to resist drought,

" depth to which water penetrates the,

" frequent stining of, .

" evaporation from the,

" chemical changes in the,
Soils, what are wet,
State Farm, petition for transfer of,

" '* Act authorizing transfer of, .

« « agreement for transfer of,

" " by-laws for management of, .

" " superintending committee of, .

" " crops raised on,

" " labor on the, .

?• " necessary additions to,

" " buildings erected at, .
Stock, report of committee on, .

" influence of climate on,
Summers no warmer now than formerly, .
Super-phosphate of lime, .

Temperature of New England and England,
Thermometer, invention of,
Timber for ship building, .

" time for cutting, . .

Transfer of State Farm,
Travelling, influence of, .

Vapor, how formed,

Washburn, Governor, remarks of,

Water, amount which should remain in the soil,

Wheat, blasts of, ....

White pine, limits of its growth, .

White oak, description of the,

Worcester Society, exhibition of, .

Worcester West Society, exhibition of,

Page.
3
12
14
19
25
162

35
51

43,44
73

12, 83, 106

73

82

44,83

2

5

6

9

9, 11, 29

18

25

13, 18, 28

12, 172

14

80

76

20, 22, 23

79

32

147, 162

147

2, 3, 5

104

60

26
43
34
145
146
129
132

-
W

EH

pcj

CD

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M

pd

P i

en

i

1

THE

AGRICULTURE OP MASSACHUSETTS,

SHOWN IN RETURNS

AGRICULTURAL SOCIETIES,

1854.

EDITED BY

CHAELES L. FLINT,

Secretary of the Hoard of Agriculture.

BOSTON:
WILLIAM WHITE, PRINTER TO THE STATE.

1855.

PREFACE.

A careful examination of the returns of the Agricul-
tural Societies shows the importance of such revision in
the method of awarding premiums as to increase the
efficiency and influence of the bounty of the State. The
details of the system, though proper enough at the outset,
have not, in all cases, been adapted to the exigencies of
the times; and the influence of the society in such cases
has not reached so far as to awaken an interest in the
subject where little existed before, or to spread informa-
tion by means of carefully prepared Transactions dis-
tributed all over the county.

The agricultural bounty, small as it is, has without
doubt been of great and lasting good to the Common-
wealth. This was to be expected. But no society can
accomplish the highest good of which it is capable with-
out constant and unremitting efforts to excite and keep
alive the spirit of progress ; and the result of these efforts
should be seen on the fields of every farmer in the county.
One mode of doing this is by the publication and distri-
bution of reports, prepared with care and full of practical
information, among all the farmers within the limits of
the society, whether members or not.

iv PREFACE.

All but two of the societies have published their Trans-
actions for the past year. It is to be hoped there will be
no exception to this rule hereafter.

The practice prevailing in a few societies, of awarding
premiums twice on the same article, or, in some cases, of
taking the premium on the same article at two or three
different societies, has given rise to much very just com-
plaint, and should have been remedied by the by-laws of
all the societies at its inception ; for while the affairs of
any society are managed in a manner which does not com-
mend itself to the good sense and good judgment of hon-
est men, all good influences are paralyzed, and men lose
confidence in the disinterested purposes of the society,
and cherish prejudices which ought not to exist. To
remedy these evils, the present Legislature has passed the
following Act : —

Sect. 1. No incorporated agricultural societ}r, receiving the
bounty of this Commonwealth according to the provisions of
chapter forty-two of the Revised Statutes, shall distribute any
part thereof to any person, as first premium, for any animal or
article for which a first premium shall have been awarded by
that or any other incorporated society.

Sect. 2. No incorporated agricultural society receiving the
bounty of this Commonwealth shall award from such bounty
any second or third premium to any person for any animal or
article which shall have received the same premium from any
other incorporated society the same year.

Si:ct. 3. No incorporated agricultural society receiving the
bounty of the Commonwealth, which shall hereafter disregard
the prohibitions of this act, shall be entitled to receive any
part of said bounty for that year.

PREFACE. v

Sect. 4. Nothing* in this act shall be held to prohibit any
animal or article which receives a lower premium from being
entered with another society, or with the same society, on a
succeeding year, for a higher premium.

It was evidently the intention of the law that the funds
of each society receiving the bounty of the State should
be actually contributed, paid in, and put at interest ;
whereas, in some instances, societies have been satisfied
with the promissory notes of new members, and these
notes, taken in the aggregate, form what is called the per-
manent fund. I am aware of all the reasons urged
in favor of this course ; but, however necessary it may
seem to be, it can hardly be regarded in any other
light than an evasion of the law, and no society should
include property so invested as a part of its permanent
fund.

Much greater care is needed in the preparation of
the reports of committees ; and if some system should be
matured and adopted previous to the exhibition and ad-
hered to by them, more valuable results would be arrived
at and more information of general interest obtained, and,
what is of nearly equal importance, the Transactions could
be ready more promptly for distribution.

This is not the place to enter into the details of the
management of a county society; and yet it is from details
like these that its whole efficiency and aggregate influence
are made up, while their importance has been repeatedly
urged upon my attention during the preparation of this
volume, and so strongly as to seem to warrant this occasion
to call attention to them.

vi PREFACE.

I am indebted to several individuals who have kindly
furnished me with the plates of animals and buildings
which adorn the following pages.

The arrangement of the materials of which the present
volume is composed is in the main the same as that of
last year, which, on the whole, was found to be both more
logical and convenient for reference than any other which
could be adopted. A complete index will be found at
the end.

The financial returns of the societies will be found in
the Appendix to the Second Annual Report of the Secre-
tary of the Board of Agriculture.

C. L. FLINT.

Boston, April, 1855.

OFFICERS OF AGRICULTURAL SOCIETIES,

18 5 5.

MASSACHUSETTS.

President— JOHN C. GRAY, of Boston.
Secretary— BENJAMIN GUILD, of Boston.

ESSEX.

President— MOSES NEWELL, of West Newbury.
Secretary— ALLEN W. DODGE, of Hamilton.

MIDDLESEX.

President— SAMUEL CHANDLER, of Lexington.
Secretary— SIMON BROWN, of Concord.

MIDDLESEX SOUTH.

President— WILLIAM. BUCKMINSTER, of Framingham.
Secretary — C. C. ESTY, of Framingham.

WORCESTER.

President— JOHN BROOKS, of Princeton.
Secretary— WILLIAM S. LINCOLN, of Worcester.

WORCESTER WEST.

President— DAVID LEE, of Bane.
Secretary— EDWIN WOODS, of Barre.

WORCESTER NORTH.

President— MOSES WOOD, of Fitchburg.

Sec retary— THOMAS R. BOUTELLE, of Fitchburg.

viii OFFICERS OF SOCIETIES.

HAMPSHIRE, HAMPDEN AND FEANKLIX.

President— PAOLI LATHROP, of South Hadley.
Secretary— JOHN W. WILSON, of Northampton.

HAMPSHIRE.

President— W. P. DICKINSON, of Hadley.
Secretary— J. W. BOYDEN, of Amherst.

HAMPDEN.

President— FRANCIS BREWER, of Springfield.
Secretary — A. A. ALLEN, of Springfield.

FRANKEIN.

President— HENRY W. CUSHMAN, of Bernardston.
Secretary— F>. F. RAYMOND, of Greenfield.

BERKSHIRE.

Presidents- JULIUS ROCKWELL, of Pittsfield.
Secretary— ENSIGN H. KELLOGG, of Pittsfield.

HOUSATONIC.

President— HENRY SMITH, of Lee.

Secretary— JAMES SEDGWICK, of Great Barrington.

NORFOLK.

President— MARSHALL P. WILDER, of Dorchester.
Secretary— EDWARD L. KEYES, of Dedham.

BRISTOL.

President— J. II. W. PAGE, of New Bedford.
Secretary— L. T. TALBOT, of Taunton.

PLYMOUTH.

President— BENJAMIN HOBART, of Bridgewater.
Secretary— JESSE PERKINS, of North Bridgewater.

BARB s'i'A BLE.

President— CHARLES MARSTON, of Barnstable.
Secretary— GEORGE MARSTON, of Barnstable.

AGRICULTURE OF MASSACHUSETTS.

The field of most agricultural operations is the farm. In
the arrangement of this work, therefore, the general system
of farm management in the State, and the improvements which
have been made in it during the past year, seem first to claim
our attention. The frequent visits of the various societies to
the most skilfully conducted farms of each county by means of
their committees, and the faithful records of these visits, con-
taining suggestions of great practical value, bring to the knowl-
edge and consideration of all the best and most approved
practices prevailing in every part of the Commonwealth.

Following the order of counties adopted by the Legislature
from time immemorial, we have first the report of the Essex
Society on the improvement of

FARMS.

From the Report of the Committee.

The committee have had nothing to do under that branch of
their commission that contemplates the award of premiums at
the expiration of three years.

They have visited a few farms in West Newbury, Marble-
head, Danvers, and Lynn, but not enough to enable them to
speak with confidence of observations made on such visits.
One of their number has looked at several farms in the ex-
treme eastern section of the county, — a region that has hereto-
fore been little noticed in our transactions, — and herewith sub-

2 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE.

raits the result of his observations. If the same thing could
have been done by each member of the committee in his own
neighborhood, and if such observations could be continued for
a term of three years, a mass of information of much value
might be accumulated.

The truth is, farm operations need to be viewed by discrimi-
nating, careful, and disinterested observers. Statements of
experiments or products from the parties interested alone are
not always to be relied on with entire confidence.

Whether the present offer of premiums on farms shall be
continued, it remains for the Trustees to determine.* No
harm will accrue from a modification of it, if any improvement
can be suggested. In its present form, and as at present re-
garded, it is of little practical benefit. If one or more farms
could be entered and examined for three successive years in
each of the principal farming towns of the county — say New-
bury, Ipswich, Salem, Andover, and Haverhill — as they were in
olden time, much benefit might accrue. But, to have this faith-
fully done, the incidental expenses of travel incurred by the
Viewing committee should be met by the Society. The tax of
time spent is quite enough to demand of individuals.

J. W. Proctor, Chairman.

* The offer of premiums on farms was made prospective, extending over a period
of three years. It was in the following words : —

For the best conducted and most improved farm during the ensuing three years,
taking into view the entire management and cultivation for that period, including
lands, buildings, fences, orchards, crops, 6tock, and all other appendages, with
statements in detail relating thereto, —

First premium $100 00

For the second best 50 00

Note. — Competitors for these premiums must give notice of their intention to
the Secretary on or before the 15th of June next, and the farms entered for pre-
miums will be viewed by the committee twice in each year. Any person desirous
of having hi3 farm inspected, without entering the same for premium, may make
application to the Secretary, and it will be viewed and reported upon by the com-
mittee.

FARMS. 3

Letter to the Committee on Farms.
Hon. J. W. Proctor, Chairman, fyc. : —

Dear Sir: — Having unfortunately been denied tlie pleasure
of visiting, with the committee, the farm of Col. Newell at
West Newbury, and of Mr. Ware at Marblehead, I accepted
your invitation to visit a few of those in this vicinity as my
engagements have permitted. I believe that to yourself be-
longs the honor of having originated the plan of visiting farms
known to be well managed, but not offered for premium through
the modesty of the owner. There are certainly but few men
in our country, who, like Mr. Mechi, of Tiptree, in England,
would wish to '"'invite inspection, in order, by the force of ex-
ample, to give an impulse to improved cultivation." It will be
long, no doubt, before three hundred or three hundred and fifty
gentlemen farmers and statesmen, from remote parts of the
country, will be drawn together among us to see the crops and
the mode of management upon any farm, as was the case a few
months ago at the above-mentioned place. Not that I think
the English farmer has all the advantage on his side. It is
said he makes some failures — goes to work expensively some-
times ; and it seems to be intimated that, with all the good he
has done, his balance-sheet does not always exhibit the most
abundant income. Neither, since calling on some of our farm-
ers, am I willing to admit that Mr. Mechi is the only man
who can take his visitors, few or many, from field to field,
" explaining every thing upon which information is desired " —
not the only one who can, while making the round of the farm,
"deliver a succession of peripatetic lectures on almost every
point connected with agriculture." There are good humor and
volubility among American farmers, you may depend, as well
as over the water; and if Mr. Mechi's "field preaching is
worth travelling a long distance to listen to," so have I found
it in some of our own county, and that, too, without even so
much of a mixture of forth-putting as to allow them to do
more than merely consent to a visit actually sought by tho
committee as a privilege.

The only objection to this mode of obtaining information is

4 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE.'

one that cannot, from the nature of the case, be avoided ; viz.,
the want of perfect accuracy in stating the amount produced
or the amount of manure applied. The visits of the commit-
tee are made while the crops are growing, so that the amount
of grain or «iTass upon an acre cannot be determined. This,
however, does not preclude the possibility of obtaining the
most important information. And, without extending these
general remarks, I will proceed to say, that on the 10th of
September I visited the farm of Dr. Boy den, at West Beach,
in Beverly. The tenant is Lyman Mason, and he has been upon
it eight years. It was a farm of fifty acres till last year, when
eighteen acres were sold. Its previous condition I did not
loam. Its present state, however, I wish I were able to de-
scribe. Mr. Mason hires his son and a boy constantly, but no
other help except by day's work in haying time and harvest-
ing. He usuall}- obtains about fifteen loads of night soil as a
stimulant to give his crops a start, and has sometimes paid as
high as forty dollars a year for stable manure ; but his chief
reliance is upon the drift stuff from the beach. The amount
of the most admirable manure, chielly eel grass, obtained and
applied, he was not able to state ; but he dresses his lands with
thirty ox-loads to the acre — I mean a team of one pair of oxen.
It costs him four cents a load at the beach. A small part of it
is kept over winter in the yard, to be used in the hill for corn
ami potatoes. The clfect of the manure (the seaweed) is
admirable in resisting the drought. While almost every other
farm was exhibiting the yellow hue, this one was green and
gladsome. I was satisfied that Mr. Mason's three acres of.
corn had eighty bushels to the acre — 1 think more rather than
less. The ground was in potatoes and squashes last year, and
had been under the plough four years.

Mr. Mason has about one acre of cabbages, with about four
thousand handsome heads, worth from live to ten cents each in
the market; suppose seven cents on an average, ami we have
two hundred and eighty dollars for that acre. He has also
one and a half acre8 of onions, and has cut, he says, thirty tons
of English hay this year, and raised one hundred and fifty
bushels of rye. The gardes propor is large, but not measured.
1 have alluded to the necessary want of accuracy in the case,

FARMS. 5

and can only speak in general terms ; yet, when lie says that he
gathered twenty-two dollars' worth of melons in one day; that
he should not realize more than lour hundred and fifty bushels
of onions to the acre, on account of the drought, which that
crop feels sensibly ; that there are a dozen long red potatoes
in a hill of noble size, — I can very well believe it all, because I
saw, when upon the around and at the house, melons enough for
several more such days of picking; onions enough to make
well nigh or quite four hundred and fifty bushels ; and pota-
toes answering the manifest fully, when the hills were opened
to me.

The ftock kept upon the farm consists of one cow, one
heifer, four oxen, one bull, two horses, two shotes ; from which
it will at once be seen that the manure must come chielly from
some other source. The manure of Dr. Boyden's farm comes
chiefly from the sea-shore. This is the text — the farm itself
the comment. Now, while it is obvious that but a small part
of our farmers can have access to this source of fertilization,
it is nevertheless strange that so little account is made of
it when they can. The evidence to my mind is inevitable,
that for resisting drought there are few manures, if any, like
this. I do not pretend to have given the full account of the
crops upon this farm. As my visit was necessarily short, I
will close my account of it by expressing the hope that, should
the society send out a committee next year, they will make it
a point to visit Mr. Mason and report his doings at length.

My second visit was to the farm of Burlcy Smith, of Man-
chester, an aged but vigorous gentleman, who showed me the
only house in Manchester that was painted when he settled
there, and that tfas painted with fish oil and Spanish brown 1
1 ought to say that, with all the beauty of Mr. Smith's farm, he
would not probably claim for it the title of a fancy farm any
more than would Dr. Hoyden for his ; but, for profit, few will
compare with either.

Like the West Beach farm last described, this is manured
mostly from the sea. Mr. Smith thinks he gets about five hun-
dred tons of eel grass and rockweed from his half mile of
beach annually. Formerly his inner shore abounded with
muscle-bed mud ; but he docs not choose to draw too freely upon

6 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE.

that, in hopes to have it extend itself; yet he takes up from
fifty to one hundred loads a year of that fat manure. Only
seven acres of this noble farm of two hundred acres arc in salt
marsh, and seventy in pasture ; all the rest are tillage and mow-
ing, with some woodland. Formerly one man (himself) car-
ried on the whole; but recently he has divided it into three
parts, thus making three pretty distinct farms. Nearly one-
third of all the tillage land is in gardens. Two acres are in
onions — probably four hundred barrels on these two. The
grass laud shows the strength of sea stuff. Mr. Smith informed
me that he had cut three tons of well-made hay upon a measured
acre at one crop, and it would average two. Six tons of carrots
are an average crop, and so are sixty bushels of Indian corn.
Upon the whole farm, viz., the three divisions of it, there are
kept bat eight oxen, three horses, and eight to ten cows —
thus showing that, when farmers will avail themselves of sur-
rounding facilities for making manures, the crops need not be
consumed on the farm (or that purpose, but may be sold at mar-
ket and turned to ready money, i have said that this farm is
one for pro (it, and not for the looks alone. I ought to say that,
notwithstanding the venerable owner iias expended sonic sev-
enty live hundred dollars upon his buildings since he bought
the place, he is just about putting up other and new ones, and
pleasantly suggested that the full committee had better sus-
pend their visit until he should have put his farm into a shape
more agreeable to him self-
Mr. Smith invited me to visit his reclaimed meadow of seven
acres; and, as might be expected, it was his most productive
land, although reclaimed thirty years ago. This reminds me
of a noble example of the same kind which I inadvertently
omitted in speaking of the farm at West Beach. That was
one of fourteen acres, and though full of stumps of trees of
gigantic growth, alders, and standing or stagnant water, yet it
pays — as would almost any meadow any where.

Mr. Smith received my visit most cordially, though entirely
unsought and unexpected by him; and ray reflection on leaving
his noble farm and his excellent company was, that, with all
the dignity and eloquence of our regular-built cattle-show ad-
dresses, there is something rich and fascinating, as well as

FARMS. 7

instructive, iti a field lecture, where every statement can bo
verified by pointing at the crop itself on the spot. And if it is
but a poor account, after all, that we are able to convey to
others upon paper, for want of the data, which the reader
always demands, yet the defect is well made up to the sense of
Bight in those who will take the trouble to visit such farms as
the two above mentioned.

I regret not to have found time to see the farm of Daniel
Butler at the Cove, between Manchester and Gloucester, and
those of Mr. Patch and Mr. Pierce of Gloucester. Messrs.
Miles S. and Elihu Andrews, of Essex, have long been purchas-
ing manures largely for hay crops chiefly; and the result of
their experiment I should be happy to learn and communicate,
but have not found the time. Future committees will, I hope,
look after their farms and others in the eastern part of the
county and report them at length.

David Choate.

MIDDLESEX.

From the Report of the Committee.

Agreeably to invitation, we have inspected four farms, eight
apple orchards, and three bog meadows. The more important
details of what has passed under our notice will be given very
briefly.

At the Gov. Gore farm, so called, in Waltham, now in tho
possession of Miss Greene, and under the management of Mr.
Robert Murray, we witnessed some very gratifying results of
science, skill and perseverance. Like most of the farms in this
county, this showed very plainly the effects of the almost un-
precedented drought of the season. Still this could not pre-
vent our seeing the excellent results of Mr. Murray's manage-
ment. What we were especially pleased with, and what we
would commend to the imitation of our brother farmers, was
the perfect system which was introduced into all the operations
of this large farm. Amid a vast amount of work there was no
guess work. The laws of agricultural science were evidently
well understood and faithfully complied with. It would be

8 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE.

difficult to find upon any farm a happier combination of the
beautiful and the useful than appears under Mr. Murray's man-
agement.

The farm of Josiah Bigelow, in Groton, is an interesting in-
stance of the judicious outlay of money in the improvement of
land. From personal observation for a series of years, we can
bear witness to the constant improvement in the condition of
this farm. Bogs once almost impassable have been converted
into firm and very productive meadows. Orchards have been
planted, hills levelled, and a place naturally attractive has been
made superlatively beautiful by the hand of art and labor.
What we would especially commend to the attention of the
farming public, is the remarkable skill displayed in the location
and arrangement of the different out-buildings upon the place.
" Contrivance," it has been said, "is better than hard work."
We certainly think so, for here contrivances of various kinds
supersede much of the labor hitherto deemed unavoidable upon
a farm.

We visited in Westford the farm of Mr. L. H. Hildreth, the
same which took the second premium of this society last year.
The owner of this farm is illustrating, not so much the "pursuit "
as the application of "knowledge under difficulties," inasmuch
as he applies himself personally to his laborious work. Much
credit is due to Mr. Hildreth for his good judgment and per-
severance.

The farm of Mr. Francis Richardson, of Billcrica, is one of
great capabilities, which are just beginning to be developed
under the direction of its present owner. We were somewhat
surprised to find so extensive a tract of excellent land situated
so near a good market, and still remaining comparatively un-
improved. It is very satisfactory to know that it is not to
remain so any longer.

In closing their report, your committee arc happy to bear
witness to the signs of increasing thrift among the agricultural
portion of our community. The number of farms offered for
premiums has always been very small, and we somewhat fear
that our farmers are laboring under a mistake in this matter.
They seem to suppose that unless great show is made upon a
farm, such as wealth alone can accomplish, it is useless to enter

FARMS. 9

it. This is a great mistake. The bounty of the Common-
wealth, and the awards of this society, do not contemplate the
mere outlay of money. The combination of economy, judg-
ment, taste, and labor is what should be aimed at ; and other
things being equal, wc deem that the most meritorious case in
which much has been done with comparatively small means.
What we most desire is to see the farmer " magnifying his of-
fice," alive to all its dignity, facilities, and excellence. Believ-
ing, as we do, that there is no profession which requires more
good sense, and affords more real enjoyment, than this, we
earnestly wish that farmers, as a body, would seek a higher
development of their- own intellectual nature, while they ren-
der their farms more and more productive.

Charles Babbidge, Chairman.

Statement of Josiah Bigelow.

The farm I invited you to inspect, known as the " Dana
Place," in Groton, I purchased in the fall of 1849 ; it contained
about forty-eight acres — keeping at that time one horse, one
cow, and a few hens, and from it were sold yearly about
eight or ten tons of hay, and sometimes a few winter apples,
besides what were raised and consumed by the family. One-
half of the farm had, probably, never been ploughed, but was used
as mowing land, and the quality and quantity of hay was inferior.
The other half was considered by most people as rather dry
and poor land. The buildings were badly arranged, incon-
venient, and out of order, and the whole enclosed by an old
and weak rail fence. Every thing assumed an unpromising ap-
pearance except the location, which was good. I remodelled
the dwelling house, added two rooms, made a dairy, cellar, and
ice house in the north part, and a cistern capable of holding a
supply of water sufficient for the dryest time. I have made
about eighty rods of close board fence, five and six feet high,
with stone underpinning, to enclose about six acres with the
house and other buildings, and built a new barn, one hundred feet
long, now filled with hay, with a good cellar under the whole.
I have also put up a building for a granary, henery, and pig-

2*

10 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE.

gery. I have removed some unsightly elevations to fill up hol-
lows equally unsightly, to the amount of not less than two
thousand loads; have ploughed for the first time all the swales
and other lands never before ploughed ; and have enclosed the
farm with a substantial picket fence, with a stone underpinning.
I have set about one thousand fruit, besides some hundreds
of forest trees, buckthorn and arbor vitse hedges, shrubbery,
<fcc. : and all within four years from last spring, the time
I commenced my farming operations. I have also ingrafted
about fifty large apple trees, out of one hundred that had
ceased bearing, which give a very fair return this year, i On
what was considered the poorest land, I raised last year one hun-
dred and six bushels of shelled corn to the acre, for which
I obtained a premium. I have for the last two years raised
not less than three hundred bushels of shelled corn, and expect
as much this year, although an unfavorable season. I have
purchased thirty acres of land, which in part has been, and the
whole is intended for, a pasture, adjoining my farm, and a small
wood lot at a little distance ; but I have confined all my opera-
tions to about thirty acres of the first purchase, from which
I have cut about all my hay, say fifty-five to sixty tons. I hope
to have about six hundred bushels of carrots this year, about the
quantity I have had for several years before this on the same
piece of land, together with wheat, oats, corn, potatoes, &c.
I do not, by any means, think my farm in a high state of culti-
vation, as it could profitably be made to produce one-third more
than at present.

In 1852 I stall fed eleven thousand pounds of beef, and one
ton of pork; in 1853, six thousand pounds of beef, and three
thousand six hundred of pork ; and have fed out all the hay and
grain, thus far, that had been raised on the place. I hired a
pasture in the town, for which I paid seventy dollars per year,
this year and last. It may probably be asked how I procured
manure to renovate my farm in so short a time. The first two
years I purchased about twenty cords, at four dollars per cord,
which I intermixed with muck, (of which I purchased an acre
near by,) and of which I have used live or six hundred loads
within four years, which, together with what I have been enabled
to make in all ways, has amounted to a great deal each year.

FARMS. 11

I have used the meadow muck with very satisfactory results on
my dryest land, and never have applied it (after removing the
acidity by lime or exposure to the atmosphere) without being
favorably impressed of its utility on land of sandy loam, ap-
plied with or without other fertilizing matter. I have endeav-
ored to make manure in every possible way by giving swine a
good share of loam and muck, and helping them turn it over
with a fork. In this way I make three parcels in the year.
The same operation is gone through with in cattle yards, and
before winter sets in I have as much muck in the barn cellar
as will absorb all the moisture of the droppings, and no more
— as I find it lost time to cart in and out more than is wanted
for that purpose. As the cellar does not freeze, the manure is
worked over in stormy weather ; and I find that with what is
made by the house vault, the hens, and in all other ways, I have
pretty large piles in the spring. I have seen good effects from
guano and other concentrated manures when fortunate in the
application of them just before a shower. I have this year
one man and boy eight months, and one for the year, with ad-
ditional help in haying time, and a few days at other times.

Groton, September, 1851.

Statement of Robert Murray,

TOR MISS S. GREENE.

TJiis farm has been in the charge of the subscriber since the
year 1835. For convenience' sake, therefore, the report is
made in my name in behalf of Miss Greene, the proprietor.

The farm consists of one hundred and thirty acres. In 1835,
the first year I was upon the place, we cut not over three small
horse cartloads of very poor hay. No part of the farm was then
under cultivation except, of course, that part of the land ap-
propriated to the garden. There was no farm barn upon the
place, and no necessity for any. All the hay we cut was put
in one corner of the carriage house, and there was plenty of
room for it. In 1836 we built a barn sixty feet square. Since
that time we have added one hundred and ten feet of barn, with
cellar under the whole, besides two corn barns, and other build-

12 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE.

ings, as the increased productions of the farm required. I now
feel the want of still more barn room. The farm is divided as
follows : About twenty acres of woodland or ornamental forest
trees, eighteen acres of pasturage, and the balance tillage and
mowing. I have reclaimed four small lots of meadow, amount-
ing in the whole to about five acres. Each of the lots is small.
This fact, as a large proportion of the expense consists in the
drainiug, makes the cost of reclaiming these five acres much
greater than what it would be in ordinary cases. The average
expense has been two hundred and fifty dollars per acre. I
was obliged to build one hundred and sixty-three rods of cov-
ered drain, with stone, fifteen inches in the clear, covered with
slate stone brought from Newton, and placed so far beneath
the surface as to be out of the reach of the plough. If there
had been one hundred acres of meadow instead of five, the
same amount of drain might have been sufficient. I took my
levels in draining so as to be able to keep the water eighteen
inches below the surface. In this way I can make it either
tillage or grass land as I see fit. When in grass, I cut upon
the average two tons to the acre. Previous to the draining,
this land was entirely worthless. Since that time it has paid
at least ten per cent, upon the whole amount expended upon it,
and is decidedly the most productive land on the place.

All my manure is used in a compost state; the materials be-
ing barn manure, night manure, and meadow mud, all mixed
together, broken up fine and thrown into heaps at least four
feet high, using no more barn and night manure than will insure
a good fermentation. I always throw it over at least twice —
am not satisfied with the fermentation until I find the ther-
mometer rises to ninety degrees when plunged into the heap.
I then consider it fit for the land. For all crops I put upon
the land at the rate of seven cords to the acre; I spread upon
the surface, and either harrow or work in with the cultivator;
this last is preferable.

I seed down in the fall, from the first to the twentieth of
September, using three pecks of herds grass and half a bushel
of red top to the acre. I use no clover. I prefer abundant
seeding, giving a close surface, and leaving no space for weeds.
I work in the grass seed with the spring-tooth horse hay rake,

FARMS. 13

with birch branches tied on the teeth ; it does the work in a
better manner than the old-fashioned bush harrow.

I have sometimes used lime and plaster on the land as an
experiment, but never with any good success. Guano I con-
sider too expensive for a farm. I plough from ten to eleven
and a half inches deep with the Michigan plough. I consider
deep ploughing as absolutely essential to a good crop, particu-
larly in a dry season.

I kept the last season eight cows, one yoke of oxen, two
horses, and from six to ten swine. Each fall I am in the habit
of purchasing fifteen heifers with calf, to keep over, to eat up
the corn stover, oat straw, &c, and to make manure. These I
sell again in the spring at a liberal advance. To do the work
on the farm, I require and use one pair of horses and one yoke
of oxen. The kind of swine I prefer is a cross of one-half
native and one-half Suffolk. For cows, I have found the native
and Ayrshire half bloods the best for dairy purposes.

In 1853 my wheat field consisted of about four acres, from
which I received one hundred and two bushels of wheat, which
I sold for one hundred seventy-eight dollars and forty-six cents,
and the straw, of which there were six tons, for eighty-five dol-
lars and sixty-five cents, making the whole amount of receipts
from this single field two hundred sixty-four dollars and eleven
cents. My wheat I sow about the tenth of September, two
bushels to the acre. I do not approve of using manure as a
top dressing. I think that, by this mode of applying manure,
at least fifty per cent, of the strength is lost by evaporation.

I keep a journal of all my farming operations, under various
heads. The farm is divided into nine different lots. I keep a
separate account, debt and credit for each lot, charging it with
the amount expended upon it day by day, by way of labor, or
for manure and seed, and crediting it with the products re-
ceived from it. At the close of the year the balance is struck,
showing at a glance the gain or loss for the season.

In the statement below I give the result of my farming opera-
tions for the year 1853, taken from my books. The results of
the present year I, of course, cannot as yet ascertain ; I can
guess how much corn and wheat, <fec, I am going to have. But
as the committee observed, I have no column in my book for

14

MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE.

guesses ; and reports or statements made up upon mere con-
jecture are very unsatisfactory documents. The farm has suf-
fered very much from the extreme drought.

For reasons unnecessary here to mention, the quantity of
land under cultivation, in the year 1853, -was very small as
compared with former years ; our usual average of corn plant-
ed is from eight to twelve acres. The amount of receipts and
expenditures, for 1853, presents a fair average for the last five
years. I had one acre of corn, five of rye, four of wheat, six
of potatoes, roots, and vegetables. The present year I have
had eight acres of corn, one and a half in ruta-bagas, one and
a half in carrots, two in potatoes, one quarter in white pea-
beans, two in vegetables, one in strawberries, raspberries, and
other fruits, seven in wheat, five in rye, and a. half in green
corn for cows. I give below my receipts and expenditures for
the year 1853 : —

Receipts : —

Hay, 58i tons,

$1,372 25

Wheat, 102 bushels, .

178 46

Potatoes and vegetables,

334 00

Corn, GO bushels, .

63 35

Oats, 127 «

73 66

Rye, 97 "

97 00

Wheat and rye straw, 24^ tons,

, 360 68

Corn stalks and husks, sold, .

12 85

Ruta-bagas, 420 bushels,

168 00

Turnips and parsnips, 69 bushels, .

11 50

Fruit,

87 87

$2,759 62

Expenditures : —

The amount expended in labor of men and
teams, in manure and seed,

1,152 74

$1,306 88

WALTHAM, September 27, 185-1.

FARMS. 15

Statement of Lewis H. Hildreth.

The improvements on my farm, which you first visited in
the fall of 1852, have been so gradual, that when you were
here, I, being unwell at the time, did not call your attention to
them as I could wish to have done. One of my young apple
orchards, the trees of which were stunted by witchgrass in
1852, has since then made a good growth. Another, which
you did not see, has grown very thriftily, with the exception of
two rows on one end, the ground of which has not been kept
so constantly cultivated, showing conclusively to my mind that
if a man wishes to eat of the fruit from a young orchard, set
out by himself, he must either set it out while very young, or
keep his grounds cultivated.

Besides former ditching, I have dug another this fall, about
forty-five or fifty rods long, eight feet wide, and five feet deep.
This I dug for a threefold purpose : first, to obtain the mead-
ow mud, or peat, which is convenient to my barn and very valu-
able ; second, to drain the moist ground on either side, which,
I think, it will do thoroughly ; third, and not the least impor-
tant, to make a receptacle for the stones lying on the surface
of my land, of which I have a superabundance.

My mode of making covered ditches is to dig to a suitable
depth, from three to five feet, according to the amount of stones
which I wish to dispose of; these I haul to the bank of the
ditch, lay cobbles in the bottom at the distance of eight inches
apart, place over them flat stones, and on top of these fill in
with small stones to within fifteen inches of the surface ; I
then level up with the dirt dug from the ditch, and either spread
the remainder or cart it to my barn yard. I have found great
benefit from this course. The work of the farm has been done
out of doors by myself and two young boys, thirteen and ten
years of age, and in doors by my wife and daughter, five
years old.

I planted about five and a half acres of corn, including that
for fodder, which promises a good crop. I sowed about four
and a half acres of oats, all good, and one field very heavy.

My hay crop has been gradually increasing for the last nine

16 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE.

years, and I now cut nearly or quite three times as much
English hay as I did when I bought the farm. From one of
my cornfields I have cut and husked the corn that grew on
fifteen square rods. The product was nine and one-half bush-
els of sound corn, and one-half bushel that was not ripe ; equal
to one hundred and one bushels of ears of good corn, and a
little over ten of poor, to the acre.

My fruit, taking into account my trees that have been grafted
within the last seven years, will, I think, afford me more profit
than they have during any previous year, unless it were the
year 1852. I think that my crops as a whole have never been
so good before.

Westfohd, September, 1854.

Statement of Francis Richardson.^

The farm which I offer to your notice contains fifty acres of
land in all ; about twelve acres in wood, and the balance nearly
equally divided between upland and meadow. Forty acres of
it I purchased some fifteen years ago for five thousand five
hundred and four dollars. Little or no improvement had been
made on the land further than to lay some rods of stone wall
upon it. I purchased it in two parcels in the years 1847 and
1849, paying one thousand three hundred dollars for the same,
or at the rate of thirty-two dollars and fifty cents per acre.
When it came into my hands, probably not more than one ton
of market hay was cut on the whole place, the rest being white
weed and meadow grass of little or no value, with the usual
variety of brakes and bushes to be found in old fields, with the
exception of some eight acres of ordinary pasturage.

My first operation on the meadow was to dig two hundred
rods of blind and open ditches in the fall of 1849, and my ex-
periments have been confined to six acres of it. In the winter
of 1849-50 I carted upon one acre thirty-six squares of gravel
mixed witli loam from a knoll hard by, at an expense of thirty-
six dollars, spreading it three inches deep on the surface. In
this condition I left it until the succeeding fall of 1850, when
I top dressed with a compost, twelve loads to the acre, sowed

FARMS. 17

my grass seed, and harrowed it in, the whole costing forty-five
dollars. Since then I have cut about two tons of first-rate
English hay on the acre each season. I continue top dressing,
however, every fall.

In the fall of 1851 I turned over another acre with the bog
hoe, costing twenty-eight dollars ; the next two years manured
with ten loads, and planted with Chenango potatoes, which
paid all the expense of reclaiming the same. In August, 1853,
I seeded with grass, and this season cut one and a half tons of
good English hay from the acre.

An acre adjoining, but not quite so moist, covered with vari-
ous kinds of worthless bushes, I ploughed at the same time
when I bog-hoed the other, blasted and dug out a large quanti-
ty of rocks, planted with potatoes two years, manured as
above, which paid all expenses, and seeded to grass last fall.
This summer I cut one and a half tons of English hay on it.

In August, 1852, 1 ploughed one acre deep, turning it smooth,
and the next winter carted on forty loads of sand, leaving it in
heaps. The following spring, March, 1853, after levelling the
sod with the hoe, spread the sand evenly ; then, with a hand
barrow and plank, wheeled on, as I estimated, seven cords of
compost, first sowing the seed, and then spreading the manure
over it. The same season I cut two crops of very heavy grass
from it, and this season two tons of clover, red top, and herds
grass.

In August, 1853, ploughed two acres more, putting on sand
in parts, and manuring a part. This spring I planted with
corn and potatoes, and the part manured did the best. I shall
have a fair yield of corn. As to the potatoes, twelve hills
yielded a bushel on the moistest parts. This concludes my
experiments on six acres of meadow. I will add that the soil
on the above varies from nine to fifteen inches in depth.

As to the remaining ten acres, I purchased them two years
ago. The soil is light — a sandy loam — and has been very
much neglected, and has not been considered as by any means
valuable. Upon one hundred square rods of it, however, at a
cost of fifty dollars for labor and manure, I have raised and
harvested this season one hundred and seventy-five bushels of
prime silver-skin onions, worth four shillings per bushel, mak-
3*

18 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE.

ing one hundred sixteen dollars and sixty-seven cents, leaving
a profit of sixty-six dollars and sixty-seven cents on the lot, or
at the rate of one hundred and six dollars and sixty-seven
cents per acre, if I am correct in my figures.

Billerica, September, 1854.

WORCESTER.

Report of the Committee.

The committee on farms respectfully beg leave to report : —

Mr. Harvey Dodge, of Sutton, is the only person who has
entered his farm for the "Worcester County Agricultural Socie-
ty's premium the present year. Two of the committee, Messrs.
Reed and Brigham, visited Mr. Dodge and examined his farm
in June ; and Messrs. Reed and Bickford viewed the same in
October. Mr. Dodge's farm lies in the north-east part of Sut-
ton, on a slope of land descending towards the north, and con-
tains ninety-three and one-quarter acres and thirty-seven rods.
The general aspect of the soil is black mould, mixed with sand.
The subsoil is comminuted sand, mixed with clay, and is reten-
tive of water. For a more full description of his farm, and
the management thereof, reference may be had to Mr. Dodge's
statement, which is appended.

The claim of Mr. Dodge is for reclaiming his land by de-
stroying bushes, ploughing, summer tilling, removing dilapidated
stone walls, sinking stones, under-draining and irrigation. The
principle of Mr. Dodge's husbandry may be well upon his hill soil.
The expense of his labor is somewhat less than that of many of
our "Worcester county farmers to produce the same results, as
Mr. Dodge employs mainly foreign labor, and with his sound
judgment and eagle-like eye he has made his experience in
farming very profitable.

There arc strong doubts whether his mode of husbandry will
well apply to most of the hill land in "Worcester county, as the
subsoils arc essentially different ; we believe, too, that there are
many farms upon the hills where a suitable number of partition
wa'l fences arc truly necessary and useful to the farmer, so
much bo a^ to repay the expense of building. Trench out

FARMS. 19

the line for the wall fence say two and a half or three feet
deep, below the frost; then put in the large and quite small
stone, making a strong and firm foundation for a single parti-
tion wall ; in this way use as many of the surface stone as
possible ; then take the subsoil trenched out and grade up the
whole to a smooth surface. This being well done makes a
lasting wall.

Mr. Dodge's attention has been drawn mainly to the cultiva-
tion of root crops, fruit, and the grasses, in all of which he has
prospered well. But little of the grain culture does he present ;
consequently he has made but little account of the fattening of
pork, his farm being so well adapted to the grasses. From
the knowledge the committee have of Mr. Dodge's farm, we
think he is entitled to great merit for his untiring perseverance
in noble and valuable improvements made upon it.

The committee award to Mr. Dodge 'the society's first pre-
mium, of twenty-five dollars, for his example upon similar soiled
swells of land. i

To those who have the good of the great whole at heart, it
is gratifying to note the increasing interest manifested by the
community in the truly noble occupation of farming, and our
consequent rapid advancement in an agricultural point of view,
and to observe that, while in manufactures and commerce we
occupy a proud position, our agricultural interests are not for-
gotten or carelessly remembered. Although much has been
done for the encouragement of agriculture, and notwithstanding
many of our most intelligent and influential men are untiring
in their exertions to elevate and render attractive the occupa-
tion of the farmer, much remains to be done : and it is to the
young especially that we must look for the manifestation of
that worthy ambition and honest pride, unwearied zeal and
self-ennobling industry, which shall entitle our agriculturists to
the foremost rank among us. It is upon the products of the
soil that we depend for subsistence ; and surely the tillers of
the soil should not sink into insignificance. It is true that
mankind are in a great measure dependent upon one another ;
but it is generally conceded that the yeomanry of our land may
justly claim a larger share of social independence than any
ether class. And what employment can be more honorable?

20 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE.

Adam, the father of our race, was a husbandman ; and history,
both ancient and modern, furnishes us with a long catalogue of
glorious names, among them heroes, statesmen and poets, who
were also farmers. The noblest of them all, and the dearest
to our hearts, was the farmer of Mount Vernon — our own
Washington. Who can ask a nobler precedent ?

Respectfully submitted by

Jos. A. Reed, Chairman.

Statement of Harvey Dodge.

The farm which I offer for the Worcester County Agricultu-
ral Society's premium is located in the north-east part of Sutton,
one-half mile from the Sutton station, on the Providence and
Worcester Railroad, and an equal distance south from the Black-
stone River as it passes at that place. Its situation is about
two hundred feet higher than the bed of the river, and has a
gradual descent to the north of an inch to the foot.

An accomplished surveyor and draughtsman was employed to
make a survey of all my home lots by point and compass, and
draw a plan of them on a map, solely for my own use and
accommodation ; so that by reference to this map I am able to
speak with confidence, both in reference to the quantity of
land each lot contains and to the distances and degrees of rise
and fall. I mention this fact of survey, as I shall have occasion
to refer to it frequently in this statement, as I have had in all
my operations on the farm.

An accurate field survey is what no farmer should delay for
a single year. It shows him at a glance how much he has in
wood, in waste, in tillage, in pasture, and in mowing, and ena-
bles him the more readily to determine what he is able to plant
to corn, potatoes, vegetables, as well as other grains aud
grasses, by the quantity of manure he may have in his barn
cellar; besides, it will pay for itself each year, principal and
interest, in laying out the work necessary to be done on the
farm.

This firm has been in the occupancy of the family, on my
mother's side, for more than a hundred years. In 181G, at the

FARMS. 21

time my grandfather died, it was purchased by my father at
different times, more to keep it in the family than for his own
convenience; and as my father's residence was some two miles
distant, he was compelled to rent the house to a tenant, and
manage the land to the most profit, as was supposed, by sell-
ing off the hay and grain, or at least all that was salable, and
spending only the poorer quality on the farm. This continued
until the spring of 1828, twelve years, and I believe that hay
and grain enough had been sold or carried from the farm to
pay the original cost. I took the farm as a tenant in 1828,
and then and for several years afterwards the barn was not
more than half filled with all the hay that could be cut on the
farm. From 1828 to 1843 I occupied this farm as a tenant.
I spent all the hay and five times as much grain as could be
grown on the place during these fifteen years, and still found it
up-hill work to improve the condition of the land, much as I
was engaged in other business.

I bought the farm in 1843, and claim to have improved it —
first, by under-draining ; secondly, by irrigation ; thirdly, by
deep ploughing ; fourthly, by more thorough tillage and better
manuring ; and fifthly, by removing a large quantity of surface
stones, and old, useless partition stone walls, mostly by sinking
or filling into under-drainage ; and lastly, by setting some two
hundred and twenty apple, one hundred and thirty-five pear,
one hundred quince, several peach, cherry, grape, gooseberry,
and other small fruit trees, nearly all of which have been set
within the last five years, and have mostly fruited the past
season.

Your society's premium is offered "for the best managed
farm, regard being had to the value and extent of its improve-
ments and economy in its management in the last five years,
a particular account of the expense of which, as far as practi-
cable, must be given."

My farm contains by measurement ninety-three and one-
quarter acres thirty-seven rods, divided as follows : ten acres of
wood, ten acres of waste or not reclaimed, twenty-two acres of
pasture, six acres more for corn, potatoes, and carrots, and the
balance in mowing and orcharding. No other lands belonging
to mc do or have for the last five years contributed to the

22 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE.

support of tills farm, by the products being brought home and
spent, as sometimes is the case.

The road runs nearly east and west, and divides the farm
into about equal parts north and south ; and my buildings are
situated nearly in the center of the farm, and stand a few feet
higher than the east or west terminus of the road.

In September of 1849, twenty-four acres in front of the
buildings, on the south side of the road, were in eight different
lots, enclosed by more than two hundred rods of heavy, dilapi-
dated stone walls, which had been thrown up from time to
time from the adjoining lots, without any other apparent object
than to get rid of the small stones. About equal portions of
these eight lots were mowing and pasture alternately. The
twelve acres of pasture had been covered with brush and
stones, and were appraised by a former committee at seventeen
dollars per acre, as its only value for agricultural purposes at
that time.

In September, 1849, I caused a drain to be cut thirty-three
rods in length by three and one-half feet in depth and three
in width, and found the subsoil so very different in all respects
that my attention was called to other portions of these pas-
tures, until I finally determined to under-drain each of them.
In three years we had cut six hundred rods of this drainage,
and used all the surface stones, as well as the two hundred
rods of inner wall, to fill the drains. Several hundred larger
stones than could be used in the drains were sunk on the spot
by digging a hole by the side of them and rolling them in j
then small stones were used to fill the hole within twelve inches
of the top ; stumps and brush were put on to keep the dirt from
falling down ; then the soil that was thrown out was brought
back with an ox shovel, and the ditches were filled. The bal-
ance of the subsoil was used to grade up between the ditches,
which were principally cut six rods asunder. In this way all
was left smooth for the plough, which was successfully passed
through tlicse lands. They were left to summer-till for one
year by the aid of the harrow occasional!}', and after this
dressed with manure and sowed to turnips and grass — one part
in 1850-51 ; the last was seeded this year. The old mowing
part of this lot was ploughed ten inches deep with a Michigan

FARMS. 23

subsoil plough, the large stones sunk, and a liberal coat of ma-
nure spread on. At this time the whole twenty-four acres are
in one lot, all in grass, so smooth and free from stones that it
may be mowed with horse power, (if any land can,) and will
produce in its present condition forty tons of hay per annum.

But some may still be inclined to ask, Why under-drain such
land as this ? It is no more moist than the most of our "Worces-
ter county hill-lands, which are very retentive of water. My
answer is, In taking a thorough survey of these eight lots, en-
closed by two hundred rods of ill-shaped old walls, running in
all directions, enclosing them in unsightly forms, besides actually
standing on two acres of virgin soil, and considering the waste
of headlands, which on each side of these walls were the re-
ceptacles of brush and noxious weeds, using up full another
acre, and the damage to and time required in turning the
plough, the mowing machine, and the horse rake, I thought
these walls should be removed and all brought into one lot.

The drainage water on part of the lot is brought into an
open ditch by the side of the road which runs east and west,
and is carried on from thirty to fifty rods, thence across the
road in three culverts, twenty rods apart, and used for irrigat-
ing some sixteen acres of dryer mowing land, having a greater
fall than the above described. And the good effect of this water
for irrigation is apparent to all who have witnessed its appli-
cation. I have no doubt that the water alone has increased the
hay on the first eight acres a full half ton to the acre annually.
Besides these, a main under-drain is so constructed that it takes
all the surplus water not wanted for the purpose of irrigation
to an old, dry pasture, after taking in its way the drainage
from the buildings, causing the pasture to produce more than
twice its former crop.

The land on which my apple, pear, and quince trees stand
has been under-drained to some extent, and a very large num-
ber of bowlders, or stones larger than could be used in the
drains, was sunk on the spot. About six acres have been pre-
pare land set to trees, as above described, within the last
five year3, and many of these trees have borne the past sea-
son. Tais land was all ploughed or spaded to the depth of
fi teen inches before the trees were set out, and has been kept

24 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE.

in a constant state of cultivation, mostly to vegetables, such as
onions, cabbages, carrots, beets, turnips and parsnips — the
larger part for market, and the balance for stock. The original
cost of preparing these six acres and setting the trees was
about one thousand dollars. Manure has been liberally used
on these grounds, and remunerating crops have been produced
in return, all of which have been charged and credited to the
land, without reference to the growth of between four and five
hundred of these fruit trees, now nearly in a bearing state,
which promise to pay well for the care, patient labor and cost
bestowed upon them for the last five years. No pains were
spared in the selection of these trees, either in quality of fruit
or character of the tree. They were set in the spring, and in
no instance until the land was in a suitable state for plant-
ing. Holes were made two feet and a half deep and four in
diameter, and filled with rich surface soil, mixed with chips,
dung, or rotton wood, and about fifty pounds of waste bone to
each tree, evenly distributed beneath the roots. Care was
taken to set the tree no higher or lower in the ground than it
was in the nursery. All the pruning has been done from the
first of June to the first of August, and when the limb or twig
was so small that it would mostly heal over the first year.
Gum shellac, dissolved in alcohol, has been used to cover the
fresh wound as soon as the limb was taken off.

I will mention one fact in connection with my apple trees.
I do not wash my trees with any kind of akalics or any thing
else, believing as I do that it will be the death of the tree.
Deep and thorough cultivation of the land on which they stand
insures a healthy and vigorous trunk, branch and root. The
roots of my trees have been trained to find their subsistence
far below the surface — the surface roots having been cut off to
the depth of at least six inches. In this way they have not
suffered by drought, and it keeps them back until later in the
spring. My pear trees have all been set in the same way, ex-
cept six inches deeper in the ground, putting the graft or splice
six inches below the surface, and always using a richer compost
than for any other fruit. Trees on quince stocks I set ten feet
apart, and standards fifteen ; apple trees thirty-three feet apart.

Within five years past 1 have dug a cellar of ninety feet in

FARMS. 25

length under my stables, and built a cellar of stone and mortar
la rue enough to hold fifteen hundred bushels of roots. The
cellar under where my cattle and horses stand holds all the
liquids and solids dropped during about eight months of the
year. The bottom of the cellar is clay, and holds all the
liquids that are not absorbed. About two feet of loam are
placed on the bottom of the cellar, as soon as the manure is
carted out, in September of each year. My open barn yard
rests on a clay bottom, and is so constructed, by being lowest
in the centre, that all the washings, by rain or otherwise, con-
centrate there. Subsoil from my most clayed under-drainage
is carted into this yard each fall, and permitted to remain until
the following spring, where it receives the droppings of the
cattle, and mixes with the waste corn buts and straw from the
mangers. The yard is ploughed the last of May or first of
June, and fifteen or twenty ox cartloads of manure taken from
the barn cellar and laid in the centre of the yard lengthwise ;
an ox shovel is then used to bring the outskirts of manure into
a row in the centre of the yard ; common salt is dissolved in
water at the rate of a peck to the ox load, and thrown on to
the heap until it is completely saturated ; it leaches out into
the trenches by the side of the manure heap and is thrown
back on to the heap every few days, thus keeping the whole
mass wet until within a few days of the time it is wanted for
dressing grass or other crops. It is thrown over and permit-
ted to dry before carting out.

I should have stated that loam or subsoil was spread over
the yard, immediately after the above heap was scraped up, to
absorb the urine, while all the solids dropped by yarding the
cows for the four summer months were gathered up each morn-
ing and thrown on to the main heap of compost. About one
hundred and fifty loads are made in this way, and used princi-
pally for dressing my natural mowing, cither as a top dressing,
or where the old field has required re-sccding and ploughing.
That taken from the barn cellar, as well as from the pigsty, is
used for corn, potatoes, and other vegetables ; about one hun-
dred and fifty loads are annually made in these two depart-
ments. Other compost heaps are annually made with loam
and spent lye from the soap shop. Leached wood ashes from

26 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE.

this shop have been used for the past three years at the rate
of about fifteen hundred bushels annually, which are spread
broadcast, but never with animal manure of any kind, lest the
ashes should cause the manure to part with its ammonia,
either in the compost heap or open field, more rapidly than is
required to feed the plant.

The manure from a stable, where six horses have been kept,
has been added'to my compost heap at a cost of about thirty-
six dollars annually.

I have used for my different crops, though mostly for cabbages,
about two hundred bushels of common unleached wood ashes
per annum for the last three years with very signal success.
But few of the phosphates have been used on my farm. A few
hundred pounds of the super-phosphate of lime were used on
corn last year ; and up to the first of August the effect was very
apparent, but at harvest it was quite impossible to distinguish
any difference in the crop. This season guano, after being mixed
with five times its bulk of fine mould, was used in the hill at
the rate of five hundred pounds to the acre ; but for some
cause the corn did not come up, and planting over again
brought it so late in the season that the experiment was
any thing but satisfactory. This experiment was on corn
planted on an old worn-out pasture where no other manure
was used. I put the guano on the one part, and wood ashes, at
the rate of fifty bushels per acre, was put in the hill on the
other part, with very satisfactory results on corn and potatoes.

About one hundred rods of bank wall on the road side have
been set within five years at a cost of about two dollars per
rod ; no inner walls have been built or reset. I believe that
most of our Worcester county farmers have built ten rods where
they really wanted one. This has been continued from year
to year, and the whole farm divided and subdivided until the
walls cannot be reset for what the farm would sell for. But
Mr. A. asks what he shall do with the surface stones on his
fields ; Mr. B. thinks his cattle do best by change of pasture ;
and Mr. C. docs not know how he shall get the after feed in
his mowing field when a part is planted to corn.

I would state in reply to Mr. A., that in nine cases out of
ten the large stones on land can be sunk much cheaper than

FARMS. 27

they can be got out and drawn to where they would be wanted
for building wall ; and after the stones were drawn, the ex-
pense of building a substantial wall would be about equal to
the whole expense of simply digging by the side of the rock a
hole twice as large, tipping it in and covering it with the earth
dug out, taking care that the subsoil be on the top, and the turf
bottom side up next to the stones. In this way the land is
raised above the stones ; while on the other hand, if large stones
are dug out and carried off, the soil is lowered, and other stones
are soon exposed on the surface.

Many acres in our county of what is termed natural mowing,
or such as has never been ploughed, may be treated in this way,
and the surplus dirt used to fill up the cradle holes and make
all smooth for the mowing machine ; at the same time these
cavities act as under-drainers to a considerable extent. No
material equal to this subsoil can be used for the improvement
of the surface soil. I have used the subsoil as an absorbent in
all my yards, and in my barn cellars, for the last five years, not
from necessity, but from choice. The value of the subsoil may
be tested in the pig pen, sink drain, cow yard, or stable. It
shows itself possessed of five times the power of taking the
ammonia that surface soil has. A common flower pot may be
filled with surface soil from the cultivated field or garden, and
the black, turbid water from the barn yard filtered through
it, and it will lose but little of its color and smell; while the
same experiment with subsoil which has not been cultivated
will extract nearly all the color and odor out of the water —
showing that the subsoil will gather and retain ammonia from
both air and earth ; but the surface soil has lost this power of
retaining the ammonia. Hence the advantage of ploughing ten
inches deep on most of our worn-out hill lands. The subsoil
can rest, and gain strength and vigor, and the roots of grass
or grain are invited to a greater depth.

I have several acres of what we call natural mowing, land
that has never been ploughed, and it is some of the most prof-
itable and productive on the farm. Nothing has ever been
done to it except to put on a light top dressing once in four
or five years. These lands were very uneven and stony,, and
it was quite impossible to use the horse rake. Still they gave

28 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE.

us large annual returns, with but small outlay. But the horse
rake has for the last dozen years been speaking in language
not to be misunderstood. And now the mowing machines have
been brought into use, and will cut our grass at the right time,
and in the best manner, if we prepare a tolerably smooth sur-
face for them to work over. Several acres of this land have been
prepared in the manner above described, and now produce two
tons of good hay to the acre. Such lands were never designed
for the plough ; and in sinking the stones, we only wish to put
them just below the surface. Some are only pounded off with
sledge hammers, and the surplus of subsoil is used to grade
up. One peck of herds grass and twice as much red top are
then sown, and two cartloads of compost spread, and all
smoothed over with the bush harrow. Such lands as these
have suffered much by the mismanagement of inexperienced or
unskilful cultivators. This moist, stony ground has in many
cases been broken into with the plough, all the surface stones
taken out and made into costly division walls, when, in fact,
Nature had designed them for natural mowing. In England
the landlord, in his leasing of land, takes the precaution to
prohibit his tenant from ploughing certain lands, and they will
be good for generations to come.

All my fields designed for cultivation or for a rotation of
crops have been ploughed with a Michigan plough, to the depth
of from eight to twelve inches, for the last three years. This
can only be done with a strong team. In breaking up the sub-
stratum of these clayed soils to the depth of ten inches, where
they have never been disturbed more than half that depth be-
fore, it requires three times the strength of team that is need-
ed in shallow ploughing. The cost of ploughing in this way is
about six dollars per acre, while ploughing five or six inches
deep costs but three; but for all coming time the substratum
is broken, and the soils thoroughly mixed, without the aid of a
heavy iron tooth harrow. Five acres of my mowing land,
which had been grown to grass for from ten to twelve years,
have been most successfully ploughed with the Michigan plough
to the depth of ten inches. A light bush harrow was passed
through it lengthwise. Thirty ox cartloads, of thirty bushels
each to the acre, of the above described salted compost were

FARMS. 29

spread on, grass seed sown, the bush harrow used to cover the
seed and smooth down the land, and nothing more will be re-
quired but to run over a heavy roller in April or May. Two
acres of this land were treated to a pound of improved turnip
seed to the acre at the same time the grass seed was sown.
The turnip seed sprang up rapidly, and now promises to pay
for manure, ploughing, and re-seeding. The young grass looks
promising for a crop next year.

Four heavy-working oxen and three horses have been kept
for doing the work on the farm; though about one-half the
horse power has been used for carting ashes and soap for a
small soap establishment belonging to the farm and rented out,
and the waste ashes are taken for rent and horse hire. Milk
is sold, calves fattened or raised, to the amount of about three
hundred dollars a year. Young cattle, mostly of the North
Devon breed, have been bred to some extent, and sold for
breeding purposes. Cattle have, to some extent, been bought
in the fall to consume my surplus vegetables, such as would not
sell readily for table use, and others have been sold for beef
during winter. One man has been constantly employed on
the farm for the last five years. I hire him by the year, and
last year paid him one dollar per day, he finding his board and
lodging. Two other hands are employed for seven months in
the year, costing from five shillings to a dollar per day, in most
cases boarding themselves. My mowing the past season was
let out to be cut by the acre. The price paid was seventy-five
cents per acre, and it was done to my entire satisfaction. The
mowers found themselves.

Cheap tenements are furnished for the laborers on the farm,
convenient to the buildings occupied by myself, and no farm
laborer has boarded in my family except a chore boy who has
been with me several years. Formerly we furnished board
and lodging for the farm help ; but, all things considered, we
find it more comfortable, if not as profitable, to furnish cheap
tenements conveniently located, and let the men board them-
selves.

I will give the expenses and income of my farm the present
year ; and as your rules require me to make this return on or
before the first of November, I shall be obliged to estimate

30

MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE.

some of the late crops that have not yet been harvested; al-
though in these cases, such as carrots, turnips, and cabbages, a
square rod has been measured, and pretty correct estimates
thus made, and included in the account below.

Farm account, Dr., 1854: —

To interest on its present value, ....

Blacksmith's bill, ......

Leached ashes and other fertilizers,
Lumber and carpenter's work in repairing build-
ings and wear and tear of tools, and interest

on the same,

One man's wages for twelve months, . . $312
Board and wages of chore boy, . . . 150
Other labor by the job, day, week, and month, 212

$400 00

25 00

125 00

75 00

G74 00

The farm is credited, October, 1854: —

By 900 bushels of onions, 400 of which were sold

on the lot for 75 cents, the balance were

stored for winter sales,

100 bushels of beets, at 37 cents,

3,700 cabbages, at 4 cents, ....

150 bushels of French turnips, .

500 bushels of carrots, (three-fourths of an acre,

at 25 cents,

50 bushels of parsnips, at 25 cents, .
500 (estimated) bushels of flat turnips, at 17 cents
50 bushels of early potatoes, .

Saffron, ......

20 barrels of winter apples, 15 bushels

quinces, and 12 bushels of peaches,
140 barrels of late potatoes, at 50 cents, ,
Early apples, at $10, .
25 tons of hay for market, at $15, .
35 (estimated) tons of hay, same quality, worth

for home feeding, $8, .
15 bushels of rye,

. $675 00

. 37

00

. 148

00

. 50

00

. 125

00

. 12

50

3, 83

00

. 50

00

. 10
p

00

i

. 37 00

. 70 00

. 10

00

. 375

00

i

. 135

00

. 15

00

FARMS. 31

40 bushels of barley, $30 00

Corn and corn fodder, . . . 50 00
Milk sold and calves fattened while the cows

were at pasture, from June 1 to Nov. 1, 190 00

I have gone more into detail in my present statement than I
at first designed, more especially in relation to my orcharding,
undcr-drainagc, sinking of stones, and described the materials
which are used for my compost heap, and still I feel that I
have not done justice to cither.

Under-drainage and irrigation, or the free use of the sub-
soils for the compost heap in preference to the surface soils,
are, to a very great extent, practices almost entirely new in
our county. I think your committee will bear me testimony
when I say that this deepening of my soil promises to do all
that I have claimed for it. My crops of hay as well as vege-
tables have been increased within the last five years full fifty
per cent., and have been trebled within the last ten years ;
while the cost of producing, by way of labor, is not so much
as for smaller crops. Hay can now be made for one-half the
cost per ton before the fields were cleared of stone. A crop
of sixty bushels of corn to the acre requires no more hand
labor now than twenty-five bushels did formerly. Seven hun-
dred bushels of carrots per acre are quite as easily produced
as three hundred. The only difference is in harvesting; and
this is all overcome by the use of better machinery, which can
only be worked on land comparatively free from stones. The
horse rake, the horse hoe, the mowing machine, the onion hoe,
all of which are at this time too well known among the farm-
ers of "Worcester county to need any mention from me, were
all unknown a dozen years ago. These dumb machines have
done more by way of suggestion in cleaning our fields of rocks
than all other arguments put together. Who has ever used
the horse rake on stony ground and did not resolve to take
them out before his hay harvest came round again ?

So with orcharding ; the farmer cannot afford to buy trees
of second quality, and give them no other attention than to
place them in a shallow soil, and depend on a few bushels of
compost placed only close to the foot, or washing the trunk

32 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE.

occasionally. Such culture will not produce fruit fit for home,
or profitable for a foreign market. To produce profitable
fruit on our soils the land must be well located j a gradual
descent to the north, east, or west is to be preferred ; good
judgment is required in preparing the land and selecting the
kinds of fruit that are most profitable. In ploughing my onion
ground the past week, my attention was called by the plough-
man to the fact of the ground being filled with apple roots and
fibres, although he was then in the centre of two rows, full
sixteen feet from either tree. These trees had been set but
seven years, and it would be fair to suppose that they take
their nourishment now from all parts of the field. If so, why
put the compost near the but only, as recommended by some ?
This field has grown onions two years ; and the land not hav-
ing been ploughed deep last year, the weeds had taken the
liberty to come nearer the surface than I wish them to grow.

The committee will see that I have made no account of beef,
pork, and poultry, and this is produced, as well as milk, during
the winter, from the grain, &c, which has been spoken of.
Neither has mention been made of labor to the amount of
about a hundred dollars, which has been expended for perma-
nent improvements. Two thousand barrels of vinegar have
been put in the market, and as much more cider for the same
use has been manufactured the present fall. On the other
hand, my personal services have not been reckoned into the
amount.

I will mention, as I should have done before, that I have
been growing about the same crops, onions excepted, for from
three to five years, with an increased amount each year.

Sutton, November 1, 1854.

WORCESTER WEST.

From the Report of the Committee.

The encouragement of agriculture we believe to bo the first
jeot that should engage the attention of our agricultural
association. There lies the foundation of all our improvement;
and there wc sec and feci the greatest and best influence.

FARMS. . 33

The most humble farmer feels its benefit in the observation
and communication of such facts to the public as relate to im-
provements, 'to experiments, and their results. One farmer is
prompted by the example and success of another ; and so on
through a town more interest is manifested, as is evident from
general appearances, and the old superstitious notions of fol-
lowing in the footprints of their ancestors are thrown off.

The committee have been called to visit but one farm during
the past year, and that of the second grade for which the soci-
ety offer premiums, owned by J. Addison Merriam, of Barre.
We would gladly refer the whole subject matter Of this case
to the statement of Mr. Merriam which accompanies this re-
port, if in so doing we could feel our duty fully discharged.
But something further seems to be required. The committee,
on visiting this farm, had their attention directed to the im-
provements upon a few acres which appeared to be such as to
do great credit to the owner, and will go down to posterity as
a reward for his labors.

There was a doubt in the minds of the committee whether
or not it was good policy for a farmer to cultivate and improve
a few acres of his farm at the expense and neglect of the
many. Their conclusion was that it was an error that we see
too often, but hope the time is not distant when we shall see a
change in this respect. The man who improves his whole farm
is the one who ranks with the first class of farmers. We
should be glad to see more attention given by every farmer to
those expedients that dignify and adorn agriculture, so that it
should appear to the passer by, when he looks upon the neat
combination of shades and flowers, that a man lives there who
is something above a mere drudge and sloven — one, indeed,
who has taste and a cultivated mind.

A description of the farm to which the committee award
the premium of eight dollars, together with a statement of its
products, is given by Mr. Merriam, and is herewith submitted.

Josiaii White, Chairman.

Tet^iisuam, November 15, 1854.
5*

34

MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE.

Statement of J. A. Merriam.

My farm which is entered for the society's premium contains
sixty acres and thirty-eight rods, in two separate lots. The
home lot contains forty-three acres and one hundred and twen-
ty-seven rods, and is divided into nine acres and sixty rods of
woodland, twenty-one acres and five rods of pasture, nine acres
and thirty-six rods of mowing, and four acres and twenty-eight
rods of ploughing, and one lot containing sixteen acres and
seventy-one rods, of which about four acres are an alder
swamp and birch knoll, and all used for pasturing.

I

The valuation of the assessors is :—

Farm,

. $1,680 00

One horse,

25 00

Two oxen,

120 00

Eight cows, .....

230 00

One yearling, ....

8 00

One hog,

12 00

Interest on farm and stock, .

. $124 50

Taxes, ......

14 70

Blacksmith's bill, ....

8 00

Amount paid for labor, .

51 86

Value of labor done on the farm, .

150 00

Labor in the house,

100 00

440 OK

The produce of the farm is : —

18 tons of hay, at $15, . . . . $270 00
1 acre 130 rods of oats, S0\ bushels, at

55 cents, 44 27

1 acre 34 rods of corn, 58 ^ bushels, allow-

ing 80 pounds for a bushel, at $1.10, 64 35

128 bushels of potatoes, at 42 cents, . 53 76

2 tons straw, 10 00

Corn stover, 10 00

4 cartloads pumpkins, .... 6 00
733 pounds of husks, sold for mattresses,

at 2 cents, 14 66

FARMS

25 barrels of apples,
Cash for fruit at sundry times,
9| barrels of cider,
500 pounds of pork, at 8 cents,
1,455 pounds of cheese, at 11 cents
1*78 pounds of cheese, at 7 cents,
100 pounds of butter, at 22 cents,
87 dozens of eggs,
3 veal calves,
Value of produce consumed by four per-
sons in the family, at 75 cts. per week,

Deduct expenses, .

35

$25 27

4 86

9 50

40 00

160 05

12 46

220 00

16 16

30 50

156 00

-$1147 84
449 06

$698 78

I came upon my farm in the spring of 1842, and have spent
a good deal for seven years past in improving the land by
blasting and removing large rocks, carrying off small stones
from the fields, filling stone holes and hollows, levelling for
mowing, and have finished about six acres in this manner.
I have built two hundred and thirty rods of wall, estimated to
cost from seventy-five cents to five dollars a rod, and new
topped forty rods. I have grafted forty-seven apple trees, (a
part of them bearing,) four pear trees, and have a good supply
of other fruit. I bed my cattle in the stable with straw and
refuse hay, and throw it with the manure out of the window,
'and use it for surface-spreading on the mowing and tillage land
in the spring. In the summer I make about forty cartloads in
the barn yard, using loam and swamp mud, and cart loam
into the hog yard. I usually remove from it twenty-five or
thirty loads in the fall to the mowing ground, and spread it in
the spring. That removed from the barn yard in the fall is
used to put in the hills of corn and potatoes. For the last
three years I have not built so much wall as I did in the four
preceding years, having built about thirty rods of wall, ten
rods of it estimated to cost five dollars a rod after the stones
were blasted and drawn from beds. I have removed the
stones and filled up the holes on about two acres, and have

36 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE.

grafted about twenty apple trees. The water for the barn and
soft water for the house are brought in lead pipes from a well
in the orchard twelve feet deep, which usually failed in a dry
time, but has been made to supply us well by digging trenches
from the bottom of the well, five rods long, into the hill, and
fifteen feet deep at the upper end, stoning up a small channel,
"and then filling with small stones, and completing by filling
with the earth dug from it. I usually pasture from six to eight
cows and one horse. My oxen and other stock are kept on
hire. This year I milk six cows, one of them three years old,
and am raising three calves. The season has been unfavorable
for hay and grain, the ground being so wet in the spring it
could not be ploughed in good season. One lot was sown to-
wards the last of May, the other about the 10th of June. My
corn was planted the 1st and 2d of June, and the wire worms
destroyed about fifty rods before it came up, which were planted
afterwards with potatoes. Later in the season the hay and
grain were injured by dry weather.

Baree, October 31, 18p4.

HAMPSHIRE.
Report of the Committee.

The committee report that entries for premiums have been
made by Austin Smith & Sons, of Sunderland, and by The-
ophilus P. Huntington, "William P. Dickinson, and Royal W.
Smith, of Hadley.

The committee visited the farms of these gentlemen as di-
rected by the rules of the society ; and we take pleasure in
saying here, that the hospitality with which we have been re-
ceived lias been such as to induce the hearty wish that we
had as many premiums to award as there have been entries
made, so that none of our friends need go unrewarded.

Wo find, however, that there arc but two premiums — one of
twenty, and the other of ten, dollars. The first of these we
have awarded to Austin Smith & Sons, of Sunderland, and
we are confident that a discerning public will find reasons for
our so doing in the accompanying statement of these gentlemen.

FARMS. 37

So far wc found plain sailing, and if that course Lad brought
us into harbor we should have been glad ; but there were com-
petitors from Hadley, all of "whom exhibited good farming, and
so equally good that it was difficult to discriminate in favor of
cither against the others. In the farm management of Mr.
Huntington and in that of Wra. F. Dickinson we saw much to
commend. These men have exhibited the right spirit, and, so
far as we can judge, the right practice, with regard to the re-
claiming of waste lands. Our region of country would soon
be more beautiful and more productive, and, though now healthy,
would be still more conducive to health and long life, if all own-
ers of lands would farm them as well. Both in the reclaiming
of swamp land and in the cropping of their lands generally they
Save done well. Their practice proves farming to be a paying
business — more profitable than any other business equally safe.
Between them as compared with each other, and when both
were brought into competition with Mr. R. W. Smith, the ques-
tion was one which it seemed almost impossible to decide.
Your committee, however, believed that Mr. Smith's farm man-
agement was quite as good as theirs, and his statement was
somewhat full, conforming more nearly than theirs with the
conditions on which these premiums were offered ; which two
considerations, taken together, induced them to award the sec-
ond premium to Royal W. Smith, of Hadley, unless Mr. Hunt-
ington, whose farming we much approve, but whose statement
was very deficient, will consent to make out a new and more
full statement, one that shall be satisfactory to the executive
committee ; in which case we award the second premium to him.
We do not understand that the rules of the society require
long statements. It is, however, to be supposed that the man
who takes your premiums for good farm management is a good
farmer ; that his example is worth considering, at least, if not
worthy in all respects of imitation ; and if so, then it is incum-
bent on the competitor to make such a statement as would
enable other farmers to comprehend his proceedings, and to
imitate them if they choose. We specially commend that part
of Mr. R. W. Smith's statement which relates to the compost-
ing of manure for his corn.

J. A. Nash, Chairman,

Amherst, 1854.

38 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE.

Statement of Austin Smith 6f Sons.

The farm which we have entered for premium consists of
sixty-four acres, situated in Sunderland— ^twenty-six acres be-
ing contained in the homestead, and thirty-eight acres in the
two meadows in town.

The greater proportion of the soil is a sandy loam, the re-
mainder a clayey loam.

Fences are dispensed with, except on twenty acres of the
homestead, the remainder being employed in cultivating, in ro-
tation, the various crops raised upon the farm.

During the present year our farm has been cultivated as fol-
lows: Twenty-four acres in grass; fifteen in broom corn;
thirteen in Indian corn ; three in wheat ; four in rye ; two and
one-half in oats ; and one-half acre in potatoes.

It has been our aim to labor for the improvement of the
farm rather than the largest possible present crop. This we
endeavor to do by thorough cultivation and a continual effort
to increase the amount of manure made on the premises. "We
have made and applied the present season five hundred and
fifty loads of barn-yard and compost manure of thirty bushels
each, and have, besides, purchased and applied two hundred
bushels of ashes, seven hundred pounds of guano, ten bags of
euper-phosphate of lime, and one ton of gypsum — from each of
which we have observed very satisfactory results, with the ex-
ception of the guano. The ashes and super-phosphate of lime
were principally put in the hill at time of planting — the ashes
for corn, the lime for broom corn.

Our barn-yard and compost manures we apply at planting
time, harrowing in that which is well rotted, and ploughing in
the coarse. The manure from the horse stables is thrown into
the hog yard, and, with a frequent addition of muck or loam, a
large quantity of excellent manure is made. Our winter-made
manure is applied almost wholly in the spring, our practice in
this respect having undergone an entire change within a few
years.

We seed down to grass by four methods, according to cir-
cumstances: By hoeing in seed at the last hoeing of Indian

FARMS. 39

corn ; by sowing at the time of sowing oats in the spring ; by
harrowing in where rye was sown the autumn previous ; and by
turning over the turf on wet land in August, and harrowing in
a liberal coat of compost manure.

Our team work is done principally with horses, some pieces
of our land being from one to two miles from home.

We have fattened twenty swine during the past year, making
forty-five hundred weight of pork, feeding upon milk and slops
from the house, pumpkins, x refuse apples, soft corn, &c, and
fattening upon meal ground from a mixture of three parts of
broom seed and two of corn.

The crops raised on our farm are consumed entirely at home,
except the broom-corn brush.

* The amount of the products of the farm for the present year
is derive'd, considerably, from estimates made by a comparison
with the known produce of previous years.

The price of produce we have endeavored to fix at what it
would realize if sold on the farm. The broom brush having
been sold, is reckoned at what it brought.

We have included in the item for labor the estimated value
of our own and the expense of hired labor, with the addition
of board. We have considered that nothing is lost in employ-
ing so much help as to have farm work thoroughly done and
the various crops cultivated and gathered at the proper season.

Products of the farm : —

715 bushels of corn, at $1, . . . $715 00
12,000 pounds of broom-corn brush, at 9
cents, .....
1,050 bushels of broom-corn seed, at 40
cents, .....
37 bushels of wheat, at $2.25, .
90 « rye, at $1.17,

95 " rye and oats, at 75 cts.,

80 " potatoes, at 50 cents,

40 tons of hay, at $12,
30 " corn stover, at $G,
3} " wheat and oat straw, at $6,
3 " rye straw, at $5,

1,080

00

420

00

83

25

105

30

71

25

40

00

480

00

180

00

21

00

15

00

40

MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE.

50 bushels of apples, at 50 cents,
30 " " at 17 cents,

200 dozens of egg3, at 17 cents, .
20 loads of pumpkins, at $1,

550 " manure, at $1,
Improvement of farm, .

Expenses : —

Our own and hired labor,
Grass seed, ....
Seed corn, rye, wheat, &c.,
Ashes, 200 bushels, at 20 cents,
One ton of gypsum, .
Super-phosphate of lime, .
Guano, .....
Manure, 550 loads, .
Interest on land, at $100 per acre,
Taxes on the same, .

Net profit on 62 acres, .
" on 1 acre, .

Sunderland, October 9, 1854.

. $25 00

5 10

. 34 00

. 20 00

. 550 00

. 100 00

*Q 0,J4

90

o\j

'. $869 00

1 00

. 10 00

. 40 00

. 11 00

. 45 00 ■

. 20 00

. 550 00

. 384 00

. 25 60

1 955

60

\J\J

$1,989

30

31

90

Statement of T. P. Huntington.

My farm, lying on the Connecticut River, in Iladley, contains
forty-four acres, exclusive of a small wood lot on Mount "Warner,
nearly two miles distant. My homestead contains ten acres of
the first quality naturally ; but this land gives much better re-
turns with manure than without. Sixteen acres, farther back,
are well adapted to grass ; but the greater part is rather low
for corn. Of the remaining eighteen acres, ten are occasion-
ally tilled for rye, — though inado no account of in this state-
ment,— and eight have been left for a few years to Nature, in
part, being covered with a beautiful growth of valuable trees.

In considering the improvement upon the farm, as required
of competitors in the Hampshire Society's list of premiums, I

FARMS. 41

trust I shall be excused if, instead of including five years, I
commence still farther back, say fifteen years, when the build-
ings were all new, the ground comparatively bare of trees, and
a considerable debt was incurred.

My main object at that time was to clear off the debt. The
shortest way to effect this was adopted — viz., selling the prod-
uce,, hay and grain, keeping as little stock as possible, and
giving my labor to others, either in the way of days' works, or
by taking land to till on shares, so that I could raise corn for
market without furnishing manure.

The matter of the debt being disposed of in the course of eight
or ten years, some improvement being made at the same time
about the buildings in the way of painting, fencing, and setting
fruit and ornamental trees, a little land added, the farm stocked,
and farming implements purchased, I began to turn my atten-
tion to the improvement of the farm, my object being not
so much to make the land rich as to get the surface smooth
and into a fit state for comfortable culture. The result, ex-
cept with the sandy land, is entirely satisfactory to myself; and
I presume to flatter myself that your committee would ac-
knowledge no small improvement had they seen the ground
eight years ago. Others are ready to testify to the facts,
though I say it not boastingly.

In commencing this general improvement, my plan was to take
a portion yearly of the ten acres of sandy land and a portion
of the sixteen acres of low ground, and so to manage, by drain-
ing, ploughing, manuring and seeding, as not only to make it
pay in the way of crops, but to improve the value and appear-
ance of the whole in a series of years.

Upon the sandy hill I prepared large heaps of muck from the
low ground, mixed with manure, sometimes ploughing in this
compost, sometimes harrowing it in without any perceptible
difference in the result, sometimes planting Indian corn, some-
times broom corn, and some years white beans, each followed
with rye and clover seed. For want of sufficient manure made
upon the farm to carry out the experiment faithfully, I have
been obliged to rob other fields of their portion of manure, or
purchase it a mile distant. The crops, I think, have not paid
for the labor and manure ; the clover, if perchance it germi*

42 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE.

nates, rarely survives the first summer's sun, and then gives
place to a luxuriant growth of sorrel, and the soil is as poor as
when I commenced. Thus I consider my experiment with the
sandy hill a failure, so far as the permanent improvement of
the soil is concerned ; and I must look to others for instruction
in the matter, for with me it has been, in more than one sense
of the word, an up-hill business.

In the use of the low ground, as I have said, the result has
been satisfactory. I have made it a point to have the land,
before ploughing, thoroughly drained, making deep drains to
cut off the springs, and covering them when the quantity of
water was not too great to be carried off readily. These cov-
ered drains are made by laying two large rails at the bottom
of the ditch, one on each side, far enough apart to allow a water-
course between them, and and a third in the middle, resting
upon the two and keeping them apart. Another may be laid
on each side, and the whole covered first with a little straw ;
.then sods inverted, and the upper part filled with finer earth.
In this way I have made within a few years about seventy-five
rods, which do well. After these, deep main drains were prop-
erly made, all unnecessary ditches were filled, and then the
land was ready for the plough. I ploughed, for com, turf land,
in autumn, about seven inches deep, and prepared at the same
■time, if possible, a pile of compost manure of thirty-one
horse-cart loads for each acre, to be applied in the spring and
harrowed in. The ground being planted with corn and kept
even, I have succeeded in getting good grass by sowing seed
among the corn and working it in in August. Sometimes I
give the land a second ploughing and seed down with oats.
, In this way I have been over the sixteen acres, draining,
planting, and seeding. The last piece of rough, low, unproduc-
tive ground has been made smooth, and I trust will prove to be
productive by a different process, a plan recommended by Mr.
Buckminstcr, of the Massachusetts Ploughman — that of seeding
immediately upon the inverted sod, which cannot be too highly
recommended for low ground. As your committee saw this
ground before and after the operation, it is needless for me to
enlarge upon it.

While I have been engaged in carrying out thc3C principal

FARMS. 43

objects, I liavc been constantly experimenting on a small scale
for my own benefit; but, if .it will be proper here and of any
use to others, I will mention some, which, although they may
not have been made with that exactness which might be desira-
ble, yet are satisfactory to me. Some of the experiments have
already been mentioned, and I may add that my experiment in
subsoiling — though cattle-show orators may keep telling us to
plough deep, that we have strata of farms (no one knows how
many) underneath those we now till — has not been the most
flattering. I have no doubt that subsoiling upland, the present
year, would have operated well ; but, in ordinary seasons, low
lands deeply ploughed retain too much moisture, which retards
the ripening of the crop.

Ploughing in buckwheat or Indian corn to enrich sandy land
I am satisfied is a long process. Salt to kill worms, and oys-
ter-shell lime to cut up moss and make corn grow, may answer
in some locations ; but something else, or perhaps nothing, is
better. Guano harrowed in for corn has been dear manure to
me. Many think there is economy in boiling sour apples for
hogs ; but sour meal and milk make sweet pork fast enough.

I have been in the habit of keeping a good supply of earth
during the summer months in the bottom of the barn yard,
stable, hog pen, privy, and sink hole, to absorb the valuable
liquid and to be harrowed in with the manure for corn. The
winter-made manure is ploughed in on corn-stalk or stubble
land. I never mean to allow the air to become impure about
the buildings from the waste of fertilizing matter, but have
earth at hand to cover every foul spot — thus having the comfort
of a wholesome atmosphere, and at the same time saving food
for crops.

I have raised very little stock during the last five years,
though I have now five very promising yearlings of my own
raising — the main objection to raising stock in my vicinity
being the want of good pastures. The produce of the farm,
besides supporting the family, is principally fed to cows and
hogs. The amount of butter made last year was seven hundred
and twenty-five pounds, one yoke of oxen fattened, and twenty-
four hundred pounds of pork. I usually employ a boy seven
months in the year, besides myself, or a man half that time.

44 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE.

As to farming implements, I mean to keep along with the times
as near as the circumstances of a small farm will seem to au-
thorize. Going a little farther in this matter within the last
ten years, I succeeded at last in getting three acres of grass
cut at the very moderate sum of fifteen dollars — five dollars
per acre.

I am not aware of much improvement in the way of rail
fences, unless it is in laying them up in snug piles or upon the
barn beams for scaffolding.

One framed building has been added to the place within the
last five years, and paint and paper to the amount of some
eighty dollars. The paint upon the house being yet good, it
received last week a covering of oil, merely to preserve the
paint, and thus the timber. This is mentioned only as an item
in the " economy of farm management," as the expense did not
exceed five dollars, whereas a coat of paint two years hence
would probably have cost thirty.

Some sixty or more young fruit trees about the buildings, of
different kinds, merely for family use, constitute the orchard,
except fifteen or twenty older ones scattered upon the farm.

The income of the farm, or the produce of the present year,
at the market prices, with the expenses, will stand, I suppose,
nearly as follows : —

Products : —

Hay, estimated at 18 tons, at $12.50 per ton, $225 00

330 bushels of ears of Indian corn, at 50 cts., 165 00

4 tons of corn stover, at $5 per ton, . . 20 00

1,200 pounds of husks, at 75 cents per cwt, 9 00
Broom brush from 3 acres, estimated at 1

ton, at 10 cents, . . . . 200 00
150 bushels of broom seed from 3 acres,

at 2 shillings, 50 00

3 acres of oats, estimated at 100 bushels,

at GO cents, GO 00

Oat Btraw from three acres, estimated at 2

tons, at $5, 10 00

40 bushels of good Carter potatoes, at 75 cts, 30 00

20 " small « " at 25 cents, 5 00

FARMS. 45

7 bushels of early potatoes, at $1,

8 bushels of pcachblow potatoes, at 50 cents,
15 bushels of buckwheat, at $1,

Green peas, sold 10 bushels,

5 bushels of wheat, at $2,

30 bushels of turnips, at 2 shillings, .

Rowen, pasturage, and fall feed, estimated at

10 barrels of picked apples, at $1,

12 barrels of windfalls, at 60 cents, .

20 bushels of cider apples, at 10 cents,

Expenses : —

Manure, including guano, $93, say one-half
spent this year,

Labor by self, 8 months, at $30,

Labor by son, 12 years of age, 6 months,
at $10,

Use of horse, wagons, and tools,

$7 00

4

00

15

00

10

00

10

00

10

00

25

00

10

00

7

20

2

00

$874 20

$46

50

240

00

60 00

53

50

400 00

Profit, including interest and taxes, . . $474 20

Hadley, October 31, 1854.

Statement of R. Wales Smith.

The farm which I enter for premium is in Hadle}', and con-
tains eighty-five acres. It is divided as follows : Thirty-nine
acres of pasture, twenty acres of mowing, ten acres of tillage,
and sixteen acres of woodland. I have, within five years last
past, reclaimed twenty acres which were formerly overrun
with bushes and stumps, which cost me at the outset ten dol-
lars an acre. This lot is now under a high state of cultivation,
and is worth fifty dollars per acre. This improvement was
accomplished without any outlay of money, and principally by
my own labor. I have practised deep ploughing, usually from
seven to ten inches. Ten acres of the soil is a yellow loam,
underlaid with hard gravel, and the remainder is a clay soil.

During nine or ten years past I have composted manure, and

46

MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE.

find it equal to yard manure, and better for corn. I usually
make fifty loads of compost. I draw twenty-five loads of muck
to my cornfield in the fall. About the first of April following
I draw out to this muck heap twenty loads of barn-yard manure.
I add five hundred pounds of plaster and fifty bushels of oyster-
shell lime. As soon as the frost is out of the ground I mix
these ingredients. When the compost heap begins to warm I
pitch it over, to prevent burning. The manure will be well
rotted and fermented and fit for use by the time it is wanted
for planting. I have never failed of a good corn crop with this
manure. I compost all my manure, and usually make from two
hundred and fifty to three hundred and fifty loads annually.

I till about fifty acres in nine years, breaking up five acres
of sward land each year. My system of rotation is, first, a
corn crop, then oats, and lastly grass. .1 raise enough pota-
toes for my own use, and very little' rye.

My farm is usually stocked with twenty head of cattle in the
winter, of which about one-third are fattened and sold in the
spring.

My hay and grain are fed out to cattle on the place ; but my
dairy products, annually sold in market, average not less than
five hundred pounds of cheese and two hundred and fifty pounds
of butter.

During the present year I have cultivated six acres in corn
and potatoes, and four acres in oats, and mowed twenty acres.
The labor has been wholly performed by myself, except for
sixteen days in the hay season, when I hired a man to assist me.

Products : —

30 tons of hay, at $12.50, .

5 acres of grass, sold at $11.50,

250 bushels of corn, at $1,

150 bushels of oats, at G2i cents,

Pasturage of 13 horned cattle, 26 weeks, at

331 cents, ....
25 bushels of potatoes, at 50 cents,
20 bushels of apples, at 50 cents,
527 pounds of cheese, at 10 cents,
250 pounds of butter, at 20 cents,

$375

00

57

50

250

00

93

75

112

(j('>

12

50

10

00

52

70

50

00

FARMS.

47

10 tons of corn fodder, at $5, .

2 tons of oat straw, at $5,

250 loads of compost manure, .

Expenditures: —

My own labor, 225 days, .
Hired man 1G days in hay time,

Grass seed,

Seed corn, 1 bushel, ....

Seed oats, 10 bushels, at 62} cents, .

Seed potatoes, 2 bushels, at 50 cents,

1,000 pounds of plaster, .

35 bushels of oyster-Shell lime, .

250 loads of compost manure, .

Interest on G9 acres tillage and mowing

at $50,

jLaxes, ......

Xet profit,

Hadlet, October 4, 1854.

. $50 00

. 10 00

. 250 00

$1

324 11

.$225 00

. 20 00

6 00

1 00

6 25

1 00

4 50

. 12 00

. 250 00

\ 207 00

. 27 00

759 75

$564 3G

NORFOLK.

Report of the Committee.

The committee on farms announce with regret that but a
single farm in the county was presented for their examination.
.This fact would seem to indicate an absence of laudable pride
among the farmers of Norfolk. Scores of men show fine bulls,
cows, and calves, horses, poultry, and pigs, and receive, as
they deserve, commendation therefor,- but the possession of a
fine animal is, too often, a mere matter of accident, — a for-
tunate purchase, the happening in the neighborhood of a fine
bull or stallion, or the like, — and too seldom the effect of sys-
tematic and judicious breeding. In fine, a man may sweep the
show of prizes on stock, and yet be a very indifferent farmer ;
but when he exhibits a well-tilled and economically-managed
farm in proof of his claim to the honorable title of a good

48 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE.

farmer ; its every acre of ploughed land and meadow, orchard and
forest, hillside and plain ; its snug farm house and kitchen gar-
den, out houses and yards; its vehicles and farm implements;
the farm horses or oxen in good condition for labor ; the cows
clean as cats, carrying home daily gallons of good milk ; the
swine examples of contentment and obesity; the very house
dog, in his happiness, giving to his tail a hospitable wag, — all
these declare, in language that cannot be mistaken and cannot
deceive, the home of the thriving farmer.

Are there none such in Norfolk ? This volume of the trans-
actions of your society is your accredited ambassador to other
counties, states, and countries, charged, it is presumed, to give
as fair and favorable an account as facts will justify. The
silent but eloquent envoy points with pride to the thriving con-
dition of your association ; to the immense concourse of per-
sons who are annually attracted to your shows ; to the noble
array of live stock exhibited ; the groaning tables heaped with
luscious and tempting fruits, coaxed from an unfriendly soil, or
forced during an intemperate season; the many and varied
evidences of female taste, and skill, and perseverance ; but what
is said concerning the farms of Norfolk ? Scarcely a syllable.

Now, it is not the fact that there are no longer farms in
Norfolk county creditable to her farmers and worthy of com-
mendation. There are many such ; but their proprietors, we
fear, are determined to keep them profoundly secret.

Farm of Dr. W. T. G. Morton, at West Ncedham.

The only farm presented for examination belongs to Dr. "W.
T. Gr. Morton; and it happened, unfortunately, that it was not
presented within the time specified by the rules of the soci-
ety. The committee, in consequence, are unable to award any
premium.

They award to Dr. Morton a gratuity of twenty dollars.

The farm gave evidences of continued and well-directed
labor; the buildings were all good and in good condition; the
neat cattle were of excellent quality and in fine order ; the
swine, which are well and widely known in the United States,
made good their claim to their high reputation ; and the poul-

FARMS. 49

try, in many varieties and in immense numbers, did great credit
to the doctor's " selection, breeding, and management."

A full account of Dr. Morton's farm, with its expenses and
receipts, is appended. The minuteness of this account, and the
careful manner in which it has been kept, reflect great credit
upon Dr. Morton and Mr. G. H. P. Flagg, by whom it is pre-
pared.

William S. King, Chairman.

Statement of Dr. Morton.

Gentlemen : — In consequence of the prevalent idea among
farmers, that none but large and decidedly model farms are
considered worthy of premium, I feel a good deal of reluctance
in calling your attention to the small number of acres which I
cultivate. But experience and observation having taught me
that small farms make the largest relative dividend, I shall, in
conformity with these views, submit a sketch of my agricultural
operations for the past season.

My farm now contains sixty-six acres, and was the parsonage
of this parish before it came into the hands of my family. Our
first purchase included but six acres, whereon was a beautiful
site for a building. This land was covered with bushes, and
the low ground was miry. We immediately cleared and planted
it. The ground was elevated in the centre, and on its highest
point a thrifty oak, a foot in diameter, stood " solitary and
alone." Here a two-story Gothic cottage was erected, of con-
venient size and shape. At the top of this cottage is a large
reservoir, supplied with water by an hydraulic ram, raised thirty
feet, from a running stream of spring water on the premises.
This reservoir supplies with water the different rooms in every
story of the house, and also a fountain in front of the mansion.
It irrigates the flower and vegetable garden; supplies the ten-
ant's house and horse stable ; and, by the use of hose, can
throw a stream of water over nearly all the buildings, (which,
besides the above, consist of two tenements, a barn, horse sta-
ble, carriage house, tool house, piggery, henerj', ice house, &c.)
Some rods from the cottage, and on the north side, we erect-
ed the barn, fronting south, into a basin-shaped yard, con-
7*

50 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE.

nected with a roof over it of sufficient height to allow the sun
to strike under. On the south side of this yard is the piggery,
with sliding doors to connect with the barn yard. On the east
and west sides of this yard are gates, by which we pass into
one and drop the material for composting, and drive out of the
other. It will be seen, by the annexed statement, that a good
stock of hogs is kept through the year ; and we manage, by
scattering corn among the mud and manure, to make them per-
form most of the labor of composting. If they do not suffi-
ciently mix muck and manure, we shut up the hogs by the slid-
ing doors, and open both gates, and plough through and through,
and then let them on again. The shed is covered; and no
liquid but urine being there, any deficiency of moisture is made
up by letting in water from a four-thousand-gallon cistern, sup-
plied from the roofs of the out-buildings. These are so arranged
that the water is conducted from all of them into the cistern,
which is of wood, and stands above ground at a sufficient
height to discharge water through a pipe into a trough in front
of the cattle stalls, and also, when desirable, into the swill
boiler.

These improvements have all been so uniformly done in the
summer months, that, but for the stock, no help would have
been required during the winter. There not having been, for-
merly, stock enough on the place to occupy all of one man's
time, a lot of twenty acres (about half in wood) was purchased,
with the view of the laborer's time being employed in winter,
and cultivating the other half, which was done with great suc-
cess; which I think will be conceded by the committee when
they examine the annexed account of the results of the agri-
cultural operations on the limited scale of the two pieces of
land above mentioned.

With the view of arriving at definite conclusions as to the
profit of cultivating the different crops, I have caused to be
entered every night the labor and expense of each day in a
Farm Record. From this book I put the entries under the
separate hcad3, and have struck a balance, and transmit here-
with a copy of the same, embracing every entry in detail, which
the committee arc at liberty to make such use of as they
see fit.

FAEMS. 51

We have not, until this fall, come into possession of the other
part of the parsonage, embracing forty acres, a part of deep,
sandy loam ; the other part meadow, with plenty of muck, ad-
joining the six-acre plot; with mansion house, surrounded with
old elms, a barn, and out-buildings suitable for occupation by a
foreman, and at a convenient distance from the cottage.

The first step, this fall, on the forty-acre parcel, was to
plough one-half of it thirteen inches deep with three yoke of
cattle and dig five hundred cords of mud — which amount we
ascertained by measuring the ditches. This sufficiently drained
the low land. We are now carting it on to the light upland,
which has been literally skirmed for years; and the return-
ing carts convey sandy gravel from under the barn, which will
help reclaim the meadow, and leave a large manure and root
cellar under and adjacent to the barn.

Although I have devoted much attention to the manufacture
of composts, and intend in future to devote more, yet I have
been endeavoring also, to test the more recently introduced
fertilizers. In this connection I beg leave to introduce the
following : —

Hay. — For the purpose of testing the comparative value
of cow and concentrated manures as top-dressings for mowing
lands, one and one-fourth acres were selected that had been laid
down to grass three years, cutting, in ordinary seasons, from
one and a half to two tons per acre. There is a fair subsoil ;
the surface is black loam; the subsoil yellow loam, gravel
below. The land was divided into plots, and extended from
moderately high to low ground.

No. 1 was dressed with coarse compost, at the rate of fifteen
cords per acre. The expense in carting and spreading was
three dollars and seventy-five cents for twenty-four thousand
and seventy feet, or six dollars and seventy-five cents per acre.

No. 2 was dressed, while the snow was on the ground, with
one hundred and seventy-six pounds of guano, costing five dol-
lars and twenty-eight cents, or twelve dollars per acre — being
at the rate of four hundred pounds per acre.

No. 3 was left without dressing, to show the natural yield
of grass, and to give a standard of comparison.

52

MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE.

Results. — In the early part of July, the grass from each plot
was cured and weighed.

The grass from the manure plot shrunk forty-two per cent.
The grass from the guano plot shrunk forty-nine per cent.
The grass from the nothing plot shrunk fifty-two per cent.
The hay from each plot was weighed separately.

\

Xo. of plot.— Application to.

Cost per
Acre.

Lbs. Hay
per Acre.

Lbs.
App

gain pr.
lic'tion.

Loss per
Acre.

No. 1. 15 cords compost, one-half

remaining unspent,
No. 2. 400 lbs. guano, .
No. 3. Nothing, ....

$30 00
12 00

4,200
4,310
3,200

1,000
1,110

$22 00
3 12

Expenses of one acre of corn : —

15 cords of compost manure,

. $60 00

Carting out and spreading,

10

50

Ploughing and harrowing, .

6

62

Dropping manure, furrowing, and planti

ng,

11

25

Ashing corn, .....

50

Cultivating, .....

1

50

Hoeing first time, ....

4

00

Guano, super-phosphate of lime, and app

[yinc

i»

3

00

Cultivating, .....

1

00

noeing second time, ....

3

00

Hoeing third time, ....

2

50

Turnip seed and sowing, .

62

Harvesting, .....

7

00

Interest on land, ....

4 41

Taxes, ....

.

56

Products : —

71 bushels of corn, at $1, .
Husks and stalks,
One-half of manure unspent,

$71

00

10

00

30

00

$116 46

111.00

Loss,

$5 46

FARMS.

Expenses of half an aero of potatoes: —

5 cords of manure, ....

Carting out and spreading,

Ploughing and harrowing, .

Dropping manure, furrowing, and planting,

Seed,

Cultivating,

Hoeing first time,

Cultivating,

Hoeing second time,

Harvesting,

Interest on land,

Taxes,

. $20 00

3

50

5

00

5

75

5

00

1

25

5

00

1

00

3

00

7

50

2

20

28

$59 48

Products : —

98 bushels of potatoes,
One-half of macure unspent.

$147 00
10 00

$157 00
59 48

Profit,

$97 52

Expenses of half an acre of fodder corn

6 cords of compost manure,

Carting out and spreading,

Ploughing and harrowing, .

Dropping manure, furrowing, and planting,

Seed,

Cultivating,

Hoeing first time,

Hoeing second time,

Harvesting,

Interest on land,

Taxes,

: —

. $24 00

2

00

3

50

5

25

2

00

1

50

2

00

3

75

1

00

2

20

28

$47 48

54 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE.

Products : —

5| tons of corn, (green,) .
One-half of manure unspent,

$50 00
12 00

$62 00
47 43

Profit, ^

Expenses of half an acre of carrots

10 cords of compost manure,

Carting out and spreading,

Ploughing and harrowing, .

Dropping manure and preparing drills

Sowing seed by hand

Cultivating,

Weeding first time,

Weeding second time

Thinning out, .

Harvesting,

Interest on land,

Taxes,

Products : —

350 bushels of carrots, at 37£ cents, .
Tops, . . . . ' .
One-half of manure unspent,

Profit,

Expenses of the sauce garden : —

4 cords of compost manure,
50 pounds of guano and 50 pounds of super-
phosphate of lime, .
Ploughing, ......

Preparing ground and planting,

. $14 57

$40 00

3

75

4

00

14

00

4 00

1

00

6

00

8

50

1

50

7

00

2

20

28

$131

25

3

00

20

00

$92 23

$154 25
92 23

. $62 02

$16 00

3 00
2 50
2 50

FARMS.

55

Transplanting,
"Weeding and hoeing,
Harvesting,

Products : —

One-half of manure unspent,

1 bushel of peas,
3^ bushels of beans, .
58 ears of sweet corn,
3,126 cucumbers,
290 tomatoes, .
1,081 peppers, .
3 bushels of potatoes,

2 bushels of parsnips, beets, and

1 bushel of turnips, .
260 pounds of corn stover,

2 bushels of melons, .

carrots,

. $2

62

5

00

2

00

. $8 00

1

68

7

00

58

. 15

63

2

13

5

40

4

50

1

00

00

1

00

2

00

$33 62

Profit,

$49 42
33 62

$15 80

Total amount of produce, .
Value of my stock and expenses,

Net profit,

West Neediiam, 1854.

$6,045 37
4,635 33

$1,410 04

Besides the committee on farms, the Norfolk Society also
appointed a committee to visit the various parts of the county
for the special purpose of examining and reporting on the con-
dition of farms not entered for premium.

That committee made the following;

REPORT.

The object of this commission has not, it seems, been fully
understood. It has been blended with that of the committee
on farms ; and as some individuals are members of both, there

56 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE.

may be a confusion in their respective reports. Mr. King,
from whose character, acquirements, and position great advan-
tages might have been expected, has not been able, by reason
of the multiplicity of his engagements elsewhere, to be present
on several occasions when we have visited different sections of
the county. We lamented this circumstance, as we had antici-
pated much assistance from so distinguished a friend of agri-
culture.

Another member of this committee, a man of great practical
knowledge of farming operations, and deeply interested in the
progress of our society, has been prevented by sickness from
taking such a share in the work assigned us as he would gladly
have assumed until the larger portion of the season had passed.
The presence of both these gentlemen was indispensable to
the proper performance of our duties and to the fulfilment
of the society's expectations.

Notwithstanding these discouragements, enough has been
seen and done to justify the appointment of this or some simi-
lar commission. It furnishes the means of seeing many of the
best farmers in the county; learning their success, and the
methods by which it was attained; witnessing their experi-
ments and results; collecting and diffusing a knowledge of
various practices and opinions ; forming an acquaintance with
the different soils, capacities, and productions of different por-
tions of the county; studying the relations between agriculture
and the mechanic arts, in which so many of our population are
engaged; all of which objects are vital to the farming interests
of the count}'. To be visited by such a committee gratifies
many persons who from choice or by necessity seek retirement,
and are seldom seen from home — men deserving of encourage-
ment, and capable of imparting much sound agricultural infor-
mation. Distant from the busier scenes of life, they not only
foster the virtues essential to manly character, but they also
often attain great practical skill in their profession. To them
we arc indebted for many valuable suggestions. Such a com-
mission brings to many information respecting the society
which they would not otherwise have, interests them in its ob-
jects and operations, gives opportunities for inquiries, explana-
tions, and inducements to join us, and to make themselves and

FARMS. 57

their doings known by coming to the society's meetings and
exhibitions. It sometimes enables us to remove prejudices that
have been formed against the society through misapprehension
of its purposes. In many obvious ways it adds to the society's
strength, benefits, and general prosperity. "We have only made
a beginning, and would recommend that another committee be
appointed for the ensuing year, charged to commence opera-
tions in the spring and continue them to October; to make
diligent and minute inquiries and report them in detail.

This committee visited a number of the best farms, espe-
cially in the north and west portions of the county, and
gained valuable information respecting the cultivation of grains,
potatoes, grass, fruit, and vegetables. Wherever we went we
were courteously welcomed and hospitably entertained, and
every where found facilities for acquiring the knowledge we
sought. Our limited ability, arising from the circumstances
mentioned above, prevents us from making such a detailed re-
port as we could wish ; but we saw abundant evidences of the
improving condition of agriculture in the county. We saw a
general disposition on the part of farmers to avail themselves
of the agricultural information diffused by the society's reports
and by weekly papers devoted to this subject; a willingness in
many to overcome traditional prejudices, and to accept the
improvements suggested by modern science ; a desire to ex-
periment with new manures and to test the expediency of new
crops; a better appreciation of the importance of deep plough-
ing and thorough cultivation, and of the superior advantages of
high-bred stock for the dairy ; and a growing conviction that
under suitable conditions, which are within the reach of most,
farming may be a profitable business.

In some parts of the county less land is under tillage than
formerly, much having been suffered to run up to wood. In
poor soils this may be good policy ; but, as an offset, a good
deal has been effected in the recovery and cultivation of bogs
and meadows, which often prove the most productive and profit-
able parts of the farm. More than ordinary attention is paid
to the planting and care of orchards, as the farmers find a
ready and remunerating sale of their products. Our attention

has been called to several instances of eminent success in this
8»

58 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE.

department. It seems difficult, if not impossible, to overstock
the market with good fruit. Fruit trees yield cheap and abun-
dant increase of the common food for cattle and swine. Sweet
apples, in particular, are nutritious and wholesome ; milch
cows are benefited by them ; and we have seen beef of the
greatest excellence which had been fattened entirely upon
them. Farms well stocked with fruit trees are always more
salable, and at much higher rates, than others. Indeed, in-
stances are not wanting of farms in this county which have been
enhanced in value from ten to thirty per cent, by the addition,
within a few years, of a well-cultivated and thrifty orchard of
grafted fruit. A remarkable example is furnished on the farm
of Mr. Grant, in Wrenthamj which we mention because that
whole farm is a memorable instance of what may be accom-
plished by industry and economy. Ten years ago it was ex-
hausted and scarcely worth cultivating. Mr. Grant has brought
it into a highly flourishing condition; and every stranger no-
tices the orchard as one of the most striking improvements.
The improvement of pastures is going on extensively. A pre-
judice formerly existed against ploughing up old pastures,
however mossy and miserable ; but the impulse given to the
manufacture of butter by continued high prices has induced an
extensive and favorable change. Old pastures are ploughed,
manured, cultivated, and laid down, furnishing abundant feed
where once were only moss and weeds. Farmers are not so
easily satisfied as formerly with the amount taken from the
land. They have become better acquainted with the capabili-
ties of the soil and with improved methods of working it; and,
instead of thirty, they look for sixty bushels of corn at least
from the acre, and other things in proportion. Of corn this is
especially true. Besides those fields that were entered for
premiums, we have seen many that promised remarkably large
yields. Of these, we will specify (on account of its size and
excellence) that of T. Motley, Jr., Esq., of West Roxbury. Mr.
Motley had ten acres in corn, which it was thought late in
Si ptember would yield at least eighty bushels to the acre.
This, however, is only in keeping with other tilings on that
farm, which in almost every respect challenges competition.
Wc also find that more than usual attention is given to the

FARMS. 59

cultivation of roots, carrots, ruta-bagas, &c, a? food for cattle.
Farmers, like other men, experience difficulty in changing their
course ; and although practical men had learned that roots
could be raised at the rate of from thirty to fifty tons per acre,
and scientific men had proved that carrots from one acre •would
make more beef than hay from three, perhaps four, acres, still
farmers hesitated at making the experiment. This was natural
and right. The growing of roots is expensive; it was some-
thing to "which farmers "were not accustomed: and until the
experiment was successfully performed under their eyes, they
■were justified in going forward with great caution in the new
path. From the success that has attended the efforts of sev-
eral of our most distinguished cultivators, it may reasonably
be expected that more attention will be paid to this branch of
agriculture, and that it will prove eminently profitable.

In this connection we would mention Mr. Motley's last year's
crop of ruta-bagas — twenty-four hundred bushels from three
acres. We have also seen the same land devoted to the same
root this year. From its appearance in September, we judged
it might yield an equal amount. We have observed good fields
of ruta-bagas elsewhere, but, for extent, for evenness and
thoroughness of cultivation, for its clean and beautiful appear-
ance, none that equalled this.

We are gratified to notice the increasing patronage of agri-
cultural papers, and the multiplication of books treating of
farming, gardening, implements, and education. Farmers un-
derstand that, if they would improve their business, they must
first improve themselves, and learn to cultivate the soil on
principles established by science. The time has gone by when
men laughed at book-farming. Agriculture, as an art, cannot
be improved without a competent knowledge of its theory.
The practical sagacity that accomplishes so much in difficult
conditions has no insight into the mysteries of science. With
a soil but moderately fertile, with high-priced and incompetent
farm laborers, with the continued emigration of enterprising
young men to cities or to the west, the farmer would do well
to avail himself of all the resources of science, so that, with
the same labor and outlay, he may largely increase his crops.
Observation teaches that the best cultivated farms are the

60 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE.

most profitable ; that the land resents ill treatment ; that
money invested in manure, in deep ploughing, in minute pul-
verization of the soil, in repeated stirring of the surface devoted
to grain crops and potatoes, comes back with interest. Simi-
lar remarks might be made respecting the choice and treatment
of cows and cattle. Great light has been thrown on all these
topics by papers and books, and the farmers of this county
begin to appreciate the value of their instructions.

We have noticed that farming flourishes most in connection
with the mechanic arts. These introduce a numerous popula-
tion, which forms a home market for the productions of the
farm. In places where there is no such population, the number
of farmers decreases by emigration: the number of farms
diminishes while their size increases ; landed property accumu-
lates in fewer hands ; foreign laborers supply the place of na-
tives ; the number of persons profitably interested in agricul-
ture becomes smaller ; and the towns lose both wealth and influ-
ence. We consider it an advantage to the farmers to have so
many flourishing mechanical and manufacturing establishments
as now exist in this county. They furnish the farmers with
inducements' to cultivate the land in a better manner, to keep
stock of a superior quality, and to increase the amount of fruit
and vegetables, of milk and butter, for home consumption. A
dense population tends to sustain prices and to counterbalance
the present increased expense of farming operations.

We cannot but notice great improvements in the construction
of farm buildings in different parts of the county. We regard
this as an indication of increased interest as well as success in
agriculture, and of more study and reflection upon the best
methods of conducting its operations. Among those recently
erected, we might specify the bam of Hon. B. V. French, in
Braintree, as, for convenience and labor-saving, an almost fault-
less model. Few farmers, it is true, need or could afford so
expensive a structure; but we would advise all, of whatever
means, who intend to build, to examine Mr. French's barn, be-
cause, in our opinion, ii is excelled by none in the county.

We would also call the attention of farmers to the improved
implements of husbandry and labor-saving machines. This is
a matter of vital consequence. While the price of labor is so

FARMS. Gl

high and the necessity of more thorough cultivation so appar-
ent, it is of the first importance to obtain the best implements
for performing the work of the farm, and the most approved
machinery for saving the cost of it. The horse rake, which
but a few years ago was regarded with ridicule, is now almost
indispensable. The mower and reaper, though not yet fitted
for common use, will, in an improved form, be of invaluable
benefit and saving to every large farmer. The subsoil or subsod
plough, once having small favor, is now fast gaining friends and
advocates by its usefulness. Other improved implements are
brought into notice by the inventors or sellers of them ; and
we recommend the examination and trial of them wherever
they can be had.

"We believe that a new impulse has been given to agri-
culture among us by the formation of our society. By its
meetings, shows, premiums, and reports — by the intelligence
it combines and diffuses — by the enterprise of its leading mem-
bers— by the improvements it has suggested or made in the
quality of stock and swine — it has fully justified its existence
and merited the encomiums it receives from every quarter.
It is instrumental in inducing men of wealth and energy to
remove from the cities into the country — men who, by their
means and efforts, contribute largely towards carrying forward
the noble art which feeds the world. It is doing much in
redeeming agriculture from the charge of empiricism, and
advancing it, through its transitional states, towards the char-
acter of a perfected science.

Such are some of the reflections suggested by our recent
observations. There is no evidence that the value of agricul-
tural pursuits in Norfolk county has depreciated. On the con-
trary, it may safely be asserted, that, taking the whole body of
farmers together, there has been no time within our remem-
brance when their labor was better paid, or enabled them to
enjoy more of the comforts of life, or to give a better educa-
tion to their children. A very few get rich ; fewer still abso-
lutely fail ; while the many support themselves and families in
all the essentials of comfort and respectability. Can more be
said of any other calling ?

We consider it to be within the scope of our commission to

62 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE.

point out errors and deficiencies as well as excellences. It
was our design to do both more minutely and specifically than
we are now able to do. One or two instances have attracted
our particular notice, and are of common occurrence.

Farmers here, as elsewhere, attempt the cultivation of too
many acres with inadequate means. Large farms cannot be
profitably cultivated without large capital. Both labor and
fertilizing matters are lost by expanding them over too large a
surface. Many an acre in this county might be made to yield

double the returns now obtained from two acres cultivated in

■

the usual way, and at much less expense. No error is more
common, and none is at this time more hurtful to the farmer,
than the endeavor to realize greater profits from many, than
from few, acres.

Comparatively few farmers know the value of their business,
or the amount bestowed upon and taken from the land. This
results from the fact that they do not keep full and accurate
accounts, and, of course, do not know what farming costs nor
what it yields. A manufacturer of cotton cloth knows, to a
mill, what a yard of cloth costs. Where the profits are small,
it concerns him all the more to know this. Few farmers know
what a pound of pork or butter costs, or what amount of hay
and grain is required to make a hundred weight of beef. They
can make a tolerably good guess ; but an exact system of farm
accounts would go a great way towards determining such qucs-
tions, and, of course, towards settling the matter of the prof-
itableness or unprofitableness of their business. Indeed, there
is no other way by which a farmer can tell whether his plan of
operations is judicious and profitable, and wherein it is defec-
tive. As the merchant, at the close of the year, takes an ac-
count of stock, charges himself with the interest of his capital,
expenses, bad debts, losses, <fec, and credits his business with
goods on hand, profits, debts due, &c, so should the farmer, if
he would understand precisely the value of his operations.
Such a practice would tend to establish habits of order and
economy, and furnish an additional source of interest in every
operation connected with farming.

We have in mind an instance of such method and exactness
of farm accounts by a young farmer in this county, which re-

FARMS. 63

vealed to us at once the secret of bis apparent success. Hi3
example affords a rebuke to many, and an incitement to all.
So important to the farmer is the habit of keeping exact ac-
counts, that we recommend to the society to withhold any pre-
mium which would otherwise be given to an individual whose
accounts do not show the cost of the article presented for pre-
mium.

In connection with the cost of agricultural productions, the
question is suggested, Why do we so seldom hear of appren-
tices to farmers ? Is it because a knowledge of farming comes
by nature, or because young men think that the time spent
in apprenticeship would be lost ? The present unusually high
prices paid for ignorant and inefficient help would seem to in-
dicate a different conclusion. We pay too much for what life
and interest our common foreign laborers exhibit — too much
for what is actually done — too much in proportion to the prices
of what we sell from the farm. And as in all departments of
manufacturing and mechanical pursuits skilful labor is found
to be most profitable to the employer, may we not presume
that such would be the case in farming — most profitable and
most satisfactory to all parties ? If this presumption is just,
it would justify some of our enterprising young men in appren-
ticing themselves to the best farmers and gardeners, with a
view to become thoroughly acquainted with the business both
as an art and a science. We believe that ultimately they
would be gainers by this course — would find steady and re-
munerating employment. Calls are now occasionally made for
well-qualified young men to manage market-gardening estab-
lishments and large farms. And if such calls could be satisfac-
torily answered, no doubt they would be multiplied. With the
increased interest now felt in agriculture in this vicinity, and the
number of wealthy men engaged in it, there must be a growing
demand for skilful labor. And would not such labor on a farm
be as honorable as selling tape from behind a counter, and a3
profitable, in the long run, as mining in California ? Besides,
it would tend to raise and improve the character of all farming
labor — to make it as reputable as it is indispensable. By the
example and success of a few leading men, school teaching has
been elevated to the rank and pay of a learned profession, and

64 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE.

the eminent teacher takes his position among the foremost
classes of society. Farming demands learning and talents,
and will reward them. They will convert it from an empirical
trade to a noble and dignified pursuit, and it will crown them
with riches and honor. Our society will have gone a great
way towards fulfilling the wishes of its enlightened founders
when it shall persuade young men to devote to agriculture
years of earnest and serious study — when thought shall be
wedded to labor — when science applied to the cultivation of
the soil shall redeem from unmerited contempt one of the most
useful of human employments.

For the committee,

John" M. Merrick.

RECLAIMED MEADOWS.

MIDDLESEX.

Statement of Asa G. Sheldon.

The land I offer for premium was, in 1843, a blueberry
swamp, with some few maples and white pines, in value not more
than ten dollars per acre. I first dug a ditch through the cen-
tre of it, about forty rods in length, which cost sixty cents per
rod — making twenty dollars. Then I cut off the wood and
brush, which barely paid for cutting. In the fall the manure
was taken from the slaughter yard and barn cellar, teamed to
a side hill near the swamp, and mixed with one load of strong
manure and three loads of blue, clayey gravel. This was done
in September. In the winter, when the swamp was frozen, this
was teamed on, tipped up in loads, and then covered with sand.
In April, IS4 1, it was all overhauled. In May I commenced
digging over the swamp and planting potatoes, putting a small
shovelful of this compost in a lull. 1 found the deptli of mud
to vary from eighteen inches to nine feet. Where I found the
mud deep and good digging, 1 dug live or six feet deep, filling

RECLAIMED MEADOWS. 65

the holes "with blackberry roots, small stumps, and hassocks
within eighteen inches of the top, then covering it over with
mud from the next hole and planting potatoes upon it. The
clearing and planting were both done at once. The piece
managed in this way was not less than two acres. A man
would clear and plant from four to six square rods per day.
Wages at that time were a dollar a day. Cost of clearing
and planting, thirty-two dollars per acre ; cost of ditch, ten
dollars per acre — making in all forty-two dollars per acre.
The crop of potatoes was not less than two hundred bushels
per acre.

Grass seed was sown on the ground when the potatoes were
dug, and the ground raked over. In 1845-6-7-8 and 9, mak-
ing five years, it produced as good a crop of English hay as I
ever raised upon any ground, without any manure except what
was put on the first crop of potatoes. In 1850 the crop of
grass began to fail, and some wild grass came in. In Septem-
ber, 1850, I ploughed it by hitching the plough behind a pair
of wheels, so that the oxen could walk on the grass. In the
winter, when it was frozen, I teamed on manure, all kinds being
mixed, about four cords to the acre. I planted it in 1851 with
potatoes ; the crop was from three to five hundred bushels to
the acre. Finding this much more profitable than hay, I have
managed it in the same way until the present time. When the
potatoes have been dug early, before they got their full growth,
I have not obtained so large a crop. When they have been
allowed to remain in the ground they have never failed of
yielding three times as much as the upland.

The present season I invited the town clerk, with a number
of other gentlemen, to witness the measurement of the ground
and the digging and measurement of the potatoes. From this,
which I enclose, you will sec that the crop cannot be valued at
less than three hundred dollars per acre — many having now
been sold for more than one dollar and fifty cents per bushel.

Wilmington, October 2, 1854.
9*

6G MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE.

Statement of Joshua Webster.

The piece of swamp land inspected by you contains over ten
acres. The surface is peat mud ; the subsoil is a clean white
sand. It formerly had a thick growth of birch, alders, and
blueberry bushes. I commenced in 1851 to cut the birches
and alders into cord wood, and realized, net, about two hun-
dred dollars for the wood. I then commenced paring and
burning, filling the holes and low places with parings and small
bushes. I have planted most of it with corn and potatoes, and
have had rye on a part of it, which did not do very well, owing
to being sown too late. The corn and potatoes did very well,
particularly on parts where a small quantity of manure was
used. I consider the ditching very important, and should
probably have done better had I thoroughly ditched the whole
at the commencement, which I did not do. I have not kept an
exact account of the expense, but estimate that fifty dollars,
after deducting the crop, will cover the expense per acre. I
consider ploughing, where it is practicable, better than paring
and burning.

Malden, September, 1854.

Statement of William Buckminster.

I have taken three harvests of hay from the meadow which
I enter for premium since I converted it to English mowing,
and have secured not less than two tons of merchantable hay
to. the acre. My mode of turning this cranberry bog into Eng-
lish mowing ground was, to cover all the wild grass and vines
with gravelly soil from the islands in it and the adjoining higher
ground, having first cut ditches, to drain it completely, as near-
ly four rods asunder as the lay of the land would permit. I
bury the whole matter on the surface without cutting; and I
do this in August, because the loam, &c., carted on, kills out
the wild growth more effectually at that season ; and when the
tops are completely buried, the old plants die much sooner than
they would if cut with a scythe. I hauled on fifteen ox cart-
loads per acre of compost manure, and sowed one peck per

RECLAIMED MEADOWS. GT

of herds grass and two pecks of red top. Late in tlie fall
I sowed four quarts of northern clover, not meaning to have
this vegetate before spring. Since the first sowing I have put
on another dressing of compost equal to the first, and my crops
continue good. I have mown this for the last three summers.

The old pine swamp with a peat bottom, one arid a
miles off, was cleared in a different manner. The brush was
cut, dried, and burned, and the pine stumps were dug out
by the roots. This I find to be the only sure mode of subdu-
ing this swamp. The pine roots, extending far from the stump3
just under the surface, are poisonous to the good grasses, and
the low blackberry vine soon gets possession of the soil. I
have now about four acres which I have thoroughly subdued in
this way, and have taken from them three harvests of hay in
the last three summers. The cost of subduing in this thorough
manner, and sowing down, is full fifty dollars per acre, includ-
ing the draining. I have here two hundred rods of ditching;
and I have laid out the whole in plats of four rods in width.
The whole meadow has a deep peat bottom.

The cost of covering the cranberry meadow with gravel was
less. Some acres I can cover with earth for thirty dollars per
acre. Mine cost me between thirty and forty.

Framixgiiam, September, 1854.

HAMPSHIRE.
Report of the Committee.

It is peculiarly fortunate when the performance of a particu-
lar duty harmonizes with the tastes of those who have to fulfil
it; for then the mind, instead of dragging the slow length of
its ideas along, moves with alacrity, and imparts to others a
portion at least of the satisfaction which itself enjoys.

Such is the happy position of the committee. Merc swamps
had been cold, wet, and dreary ; but that word reclaimed not
merely made our duty less irksome, but rendered it positively
delightful. The idea of reclaiming any thing quickens the pul-
sation of every generous heart, because it presupposes a down-
ward career and a tendency to the region of hopelessness ; and

68 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE.

to be instrumental in the extrication of any thing, spiritual,
animal, or vegetable, from this dark abode, this mournful fate,
must afford satisfaction to any one possessed of right feeling.
The sensation of rescuing from hopelessness and restoring to
utility can be no other than a pleasing one. Is it nothing to
make the barren womb of earth to .rejoice by causing it to be
the fruitful mother of abundant produce ? We have authority,
which it would be impious to question, that there is more joy in
heaven over one sinner that repenteth than over ninety and nine
just persons that need no repentance. May we not reveren-
tially adopt this Heaven-born sentiment, and, in the appropria-
tion of it to our worldly affinities, venture to feel that there is
more joy, not only in making two blades of grass grow where
one grew before, but also in making one grow where none
grew before, than there is in beholding the vast, immeasurable
extent of indigenous vegetation, however luxuriant, that clothes
the western prairie ?

It is gratifying to observe the progress made for some time
past in reclaiming waste and swamp lands. In the ten years,
between 1840 and 1850, not less than two hundred and thirty-
nine thousand nine hundred and eighty-seven acres were re-
claimed and made productive throughout this State. The pas-
ture land has been turned into mowing and tillage, and the
unimproved land into pasturage or tillage.

The profit arising from reclaimed land is said to be, on an
average, fifty per cent. ; in some cases it is very large, and
lands so reclaimed have become the best parts of the farms,
yielding, in general, two good crops of first quality hay in a
season.

A writer from Hampshire county, who is quoted by the Sec-
retary of the State Board of Agriculture in his First Annual
Report, gives the following process of reclaiming poor, worth-
less swamp lands: —

" In the first place," says he, "we drain them as dry as we can
conveniently, and then we cut the surface over as even aa
possible, and in sonic cases we plough and level it. Then we
draw on sand or gravel at the rate of about a cartload to a
square rod of ground, and then cart on fifteen or twenty loads
of* good manure to the acre, and spread evenly over the ground,

RECLAIMED MEADOWS. G9

and then harrow it thoroughly ; after that sow to herds grass,
clover, aud red-top seed. The latter part of August is consid-
ered the best time for seeding; but it will do very well later
in the season."

Joseph Smith.

Statement of Samuel Powers.

My piece of reclaimed swamp contains five acres, and it is
situated on the county road, leading from Hadlcy to Amherst,
at the foot of the hill, about half a mile from the former place.

Iu 1837 I became the owner of the above land in connection
with twenty acres, a part of which was improved land, and
worth what the whole cost, leaving the portion I am about to
offer for consideration, in its then condition, of little or no
value. This worthless part first engaged my attention. Its
soil is of that peculiar kind called peat, and is the product of
accumulated vegetable matter. I resolved, if it were a practi-
cable thing, to put it in a fit condition for cultivation ; and, on
taking its water level, I found that in a distance of sixty rods
there was a fall of about two feet. This fact encouraged me
to make the attempt to free it entirely of water. I cut a ditch,
three feet in depth, at the foot of the hill, which carried off the
water which the springs gushing from the hill sent forth. In
addition to this, other ditches of equal dimensions were dug,
encircling the entire piece, and one also through the centre.
These ditches cleared the swamp of water. After the land
had remained in this condition one year I proceeded to plough
it with a team consisting of three yokes of oxen, attended by
three stout men to guide the plough and turn the furrows.
Three days were consumed in ploughing one acre, at an expense
of twelve dollars. But the work was effectually done, the
heavy swamp sods being turned over and buried eighteen
inches deep after clearing the surface of the many roots and logs
scattered over it. A drag and heavy cultivator were next
applied, which gave the swamp before rough a smooth and level
surface. The following spring, a smaller plough, drawn by a
pair of horses, turned over the surface, not disturbing the thick
turf covered over the year before. I first planted to potatoes,

70 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE.

and obtained a large crop ; second year planted Indian corn,
and had an abundant crop ; third year planted broom corn, and
had an abundant crop. In looking over my minutes of the in-
come derived during the first three years of its improvement,
after making a fair deduction of all expenses for manure and
labor, I find that my receipts exceed the expenditure over
eighty dollars.

Since that time, a period of fourteen years, the land has been
constantly planted to broom corn, and has produced crops equal
in value to the best meadow soils, while only about five loads
of manure were used to the acre, and applied in the hill, which
has kept it in a good state of cultivation. It yields as good
crops, and is as beautiful in appearance, and as productive, as
any land in the vicinity.

Hadley, October 17, 1854.

Statement of John A. Morton.

My piece of meadow land contains one and a half acres.
The soil is in part peat mud and in part a clayey subsoil. It
was in pasture, covered with brush, coarse grass, and water.
In the fall of 1851 I ploughed the lot in which this land lies to
the depth of seven inches. I then cut drains around the wet
part, the ditches running north and south about two rods apart,
the fall being sufficient to carry off the water. I planted it to
corn in the spring of 1852, manured in the hill with ten loads
to the acre, and the yield was thirty bushels to the acre. In
the spring of 1853 I ploughed in fifteen loads of sheep manure
to the acre, and again planted to corn with ten loads of com-
post manure in the hill. The corn grew large, and was consid-
erably injured by the wind in August. The ground being soft,
the corn was turned out by the roots. I raised over fifty
bushels of corn per acre. I sowed the piece to oats the 1st
of June, 1854, and sowed twelve quarts of timothy grass seed
and three pounds of clover to the acre. The oats were light ;
the seeding looks well. The land I consider worth fifty dollars
per acre, which was nearly worthless when I came in posses-
sion of it. I think the great secret in reclaiming land is, to get

RECLAIMED MEADOWS.

71

off all the water, and then plough deep, and bring up the soil,
whatever it may be, to the action of the sun and air. I will
now give the value of the crop on one acre for the last three
years : —

Products : —

Two years in corn, 80 bushels, at 92 cents,
4 tons of corn fodder, at $5,
20 bushels of oats, at GO cents, .

Expenses : —

Cutting brush and preparing the la

plough, ....
90 rods of drain, at 12^ cents, .
Ploughing and harrowing, .
Seed corn and oats, .
Hay seed, ....

35 loads of manure, .
Planting, hoeing, and harvesting,

Profit on crop,

Increased value of the land,

id to

$73 GO
20 00
10 00

$103 GO

$5 00

11 25

G 00

2 00

1 25

35 00

15 00

75

50

9 m

$28

10

, .

40

00

Total gain,

. $G8 10

Statement of Avery D. Hubbard.

My swamp contains about five acres, one acre of which I offer
for the examination of the committee. Previous to my coming
in possession it was drained around the edge, and was so dry
as to permit a team on it in a dry time. It bore a small quan-
tity of coarse sage grass, barely sufficient to pay for cutting.
At that time I offered the land for sixteen dollars an acre.
Becoming satisfied that it was too wet to improve, I let a man
cut a drain for the muck, thus dividing my swamp, and leaving
little more than an acre in the lot I have reclaimed. On about
twenty rods of the least boggy part I cleared off the bogs and

72 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE.

wood, and carted on sand and a little horse manure, sowing on
a quart or two of herds grass seed, a kind of red top coining
up around the bogs. It has produced two heavy crops of grass
a year till this year, when the drought so affected the rowen
that I have fed it down. In the spring of 1853 I took twenty-
seven rods more, cleared off the bogs and wood, and planted
with potatoes, putting a little lime in the hill; and I had a fair
growth, though a good many potatoes rotted. In July, 1853, I
took off the sage grass from the remainder and set fire to it. In
about a week it had burned all over, and had also burned about
four inches of the muck. I thus entirely cleared the land of
bogs, and the stumps were so loose that a yoke of small cattle
removed them from the piece without difficulty. With a hoe I
levelled down where the roots came out, and, on the 9th of
August, sowed about a pint of turnip seed and six quarts' of
herds grass seed. There' was a fair crop of turnips, and the
grass looked fine in the fall. In May it looked well, and a
number of good judges who saw it said it promised fair to be
the heaviest crop of herds grass they ever saw. But the dry
weather hurt it. Still, a number thought it would yield two
tons to the acre ; but, being at quite a distance from any scales
it was not weighed.

The spring being very wet and backward, I did not plant the
piece I had potatoes on last year till the 13th of June. I
spread on about eight horse-loads of compost, made of muck
and sand, two bushels of ashes, one bushel of oyster shell lime,
twenty-five pounds of plaster, and half a cord of horse manure.
I also put in the hill four loads of sand and muck from the
drain. There were no weeds on the piece cither year; so I
used no cultivator on it.

Produce in 1853:—

Potatoes, (most of them rotting,) . $3 00

120 bushels of turnips, .... 20 00
1,000 pounds of hay, (two crops,) . . 4 50

$27 50

Produce in 1854: —
3,300 pounds of hay, . . . . $1G 50

RECLAIMED MEADOWS. 73

9 bushels of corn, $9 00

800 pounds of corn fodder, at $5 per ton, . 2 00

Fall feed, 2 00

i $29 50

$1

50

2

50

1

00

50

1

25

50

5

00

Total produce in 1853 and 1854, . . . $57 00

Expenses in 1853: —

Bogging, above the worth of bogs,
Planting, hoeing, and digging potatoes,
Seed potatoes and herds grass seed, .
Carting on sand and gravel,
Levelling and raking in grass and turnip seed,
Grass and turnip seed, ....
Pulling turnips, . . .

12 25

Expenses in 1854: —

Ploughing, carting on manure and sand, and

planting, . . . ■ .

Manure, ashes, plaster, lime, and seed corn,
Hoeing and harvesting corn,
Cutting, curing, and carting grass,

Total expenses in 1853 and 1854, .

Net gain on one acre,
Increased value of an acre,

Total gain, .... $100 00

Sunderland, October 16, 1854.

10

$2 00
2 75

2 00

3 00

9 75

•

$22 00

•

$35 00
G5 00

74 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE.

HOUSATONIC.

Report of the Committee.

E. F. Ensign, Ralph Taylor, and J. R. Lawton, a committee
appointed by the Housatonic Agricultural Society, in 1851, to
view and report upon the " greatest improvement made upon
wet,- swampy, and unproductive lands, by bringing the same
into a state of cultivation and productiveness with the least
expense," report : —

That five pieces of " wet and swampy " land were entered
for premium in 1851, and were viewed by your committee in
the fall of that year, and have been reviewed this year. We
premise by saying that none of the applicants have strictly
complied with the regulations of the society in keeping and
producing to the committee "a correct account of the expense
of reclaiming, a description of the manner of improving," <fcc.
Your committee believe the intention of the society to be, that
an account should be opened with each lot of land to be im-
proved, and that all expenses incurred, and the value of all
products received, during the three years' experiment, should
be accurately kept and exhibited to the committee, to enable
them to judge and report to the sociely the value of the im-
provement. Lands may cost, in the improvement, more than
their value after the labor is performed. The object of the
society in offering premiums is, not to encourage a mere taste-
ful expenditure of money to beautify the farm, but the far
higher one of making two spires of grass grow where but
one or none grew before — of removing the unsightly blotches
from our glorious landscapes — of encouraging industry and en-
terprise— and of proving to our young farmers that "virgin
lands," which have not been worn out by unskilful cultivation,
may be found without seeking the prairies of the west. In our
opinion, there arc many acres on nearly every farm in Berkshire,
now valueless by being drowned and covered with bogs, which
might, with reasonable expense, be made more productive than
the most cherished acres now in cultivation. To enable any
committee to judge witli entire satisfaction, and to recommend
the best mode of reclaiming lands, such an account as they

RECLAIMED MEADOWS. 75

have spoken of should be exhibited ; and they request all who
shall hereafter ask premiums to be careful to read the act
upon the " regulations " of the society.

E. F. Ensign, Chairman.

NORFOLK.

Report of the Committee.

The committee of the Norfolk County Agricultural Society,
upon improving meadow and swamp lands, respectfully re-
port : —

That B. F. Dudley, of Milton, has requested their attention
to a lot of land upon his farm in that town which he has re-
claimed, and for his results desires a premium. Mr. Dudley
requested the chairman to visit the land, which he accordingly
did on the 29th of June last, whilst the crop of grass was on
the land, after it was cut. It appeared of fine quality and in
great abundance ; and if Mr. Dudley can succeed in more thor-
oughly effecting his drainage through the adjoining piece not
belonging to him, there is reason to believe that his improve-
ment may be rewarded with permanent returns hereafter quite
as great as those of the present year. His statement is sub-
joined. In view of the success of Mr. Dudley, and of the pains
he has been at, as well as of the fact that this is the first ap-
plication that has been made for two years in the county for a
premium on this account, your committee recommend that the
premium of fifteen dollars be awarded.

C. F. Adams, Chairman.

Statement of B. F. Dudley.

The lot of land to which this statement refers contains one
and one-fourth acres and twenty-four rods. It is situated in
the midst of the most valuable part of the farm, at the base of
a steep hill. It was completely saturated with water oozing
from numerous springs.

The subsoil was clay, covered with a soil which appeared to

76 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE.

be composed of nearly equal parts of earth and vegetable mat-
ter, averaging about one foot in depth.

The natural products of this land were brake, meadow cab-
bage, moss, &c. It was free from stumps, bushes, and stones.

In September, 1852, it was ploughed nearly a foot deep, in
some places reaching the subsoil. Owing to a press of work,
the drains were not made until after the first ploughing. A
margin drain was cut along the base of the hill of sufficient
depth to cut off the springs ; also a centre drain three feet
wide and eighteen inches deep. Two cross drains were
opened from the margin to the centre.

The centre drain was left open; the margin and cross drains
were covered. About one-third of an acre of this land, lying
on the side of the centre drain, opposite the hill, was so situ-
ated that a margin ditch could not be cut; and it was, there-
fore, laid down in beds.

The meadow received no further attention until June, 1853,
when it was cross ploughed, and the remains of the turf piled
and burned. In August the large quantity of ashes remaining
on the ground was spread, the land manured, harrowed, and on
some portions of it the cultivator was used.

About the 15th of August it was sown with herds grass, red
top, and English turnip, bushed and rolled.

The crop of turnips was gathered the first of November.
June 28, 1854, I commenced cutting the grass. That which
was mown first remained in the field until the 3d of July, pro-
tected from the dew at night by hay covers.

The remainder was in the field five days ; and, the weather
being fine, the hay was thoroughly made.

September 1st the second crop was cut, and on the 8th it was
put into the barn.

The following is a statement of the expenses and value of
the crops : —

Expenses : —

First ploughing, $30 00

Second " 14 00

Draining, 16 00

Piling and burning turf, .... 6 00

UNDER DRAINAGE.

77

Three and one-half cords pig manure, and

carting, ....
Spreading turf ashes and manure,
Grass and turnip seed,
Sowing, harrowing, &c.t .
Harvesting hay, at $5 per ton,
" turnips,

Yalue of the crops : —

307 bushels of turnips, at 20 cents, .

4 tons and 1,862 pounds of first crop of

hay, at $21 per ton, ....
1 ton and 1,140 pounds of hay, at $19 per

ton,

Expense, .

Net profit,

Miltoit, 1854.

$21

00

1

50

3

12

5

00

32

50

6

00

$61 40

103

46

$135 12

29 83

— 194 69
. 135 12

. $59 57

UNDER DRAINAGE.

[From the Transactions of the Essex Society.]

It may not be improper in this connection to state the result
of an experiment in underdraining, entered for premium, but
too late to be examined by the committee. It being the first
of the kind ever presented to the society, it is submitted by
the secretary as a valuable and interesting paper.

Statement of Epliraim Brown.

The following is an account of an experiment in underdrain-
ing completed by me two years ago this fall; the accompany-
ing diagram is a representation of the land and the drains,
which, after two years' trial, have proved entirely successful.

78

MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE.

HIGH LAND

UNDER DRAINAGE. 79

Explanation. — K is the land drained. Formerly there was
an open drain where the main drain now is, running nearly the
whole length, to draw oil* the surface water. This drain caused
the loss of nearly a rod of land in width for its entire length,
besides being a great inconvenience in ploughing and working
around it, as it completely divided the field, and by no means
drained the land so as to admit of cultivating it. The soil was
so very wet and swampy that it was difficult to cross it with a
team, even in the dryest time, being at all times filled with the
cold water from the high land springs. In the spring it was gen-
erally covered with water, and, in fact, it was an entire waste,
besides subjecting me to the expense and inconvenience of this
open drain.

A is the main drain, four hundred and fifty feet long from
the drains B on the side of the high land to P, the harbor ; it
is about three and a half feet deep except between the harbor
and the drain E, where, in consequence of a swell in the land,
it is about six feet deep. This drain is made eighteen inches
wide at the bottom; jamb rocks are laid on each side and
bridged over with flat rocks, leaving a flue beneath. The whole
is then covered a foot deep with small stones, which being
again covered slightly with fine shingle ballast* from the beach
to prevent the dirt sifting among the stones, the earth is shov-
elled in and levelled off.

B B are two arms from the head of the main drain, each
seventy-five feet long, extending across the side of the high
land.

C is a drain one hundred feet long, extending into the side
of the high land.

D is a drain one hundred and twenty-five feet long, extending
along the side of the same high lands as C.

E is a drain seventy-five feet long, extending into the high
land on the other side of the main drain.

F is a drain seventy-five feet long, extending into the high
land.

H H are two arms from the head of the drain F, each seventy -

* Shingle ballast is the small stones worn smooth by the action of the wares
and driven upon the sea shore.

80 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE.

five feet long, and extend along the side of the high land. All
the drains leading into the main drain are from three to five
feet deep, and made from ten to twelve inches wide at the bot-
tom, with fiat stones placed carefully at the bottom, inclined
together at the top so as to form an opening for the water.
These are covered twelve to eighteen inches deep with small
stones, which are again covered slightly with the shingle bal-
last named above. The drains are then filled up with earth
and levelled off.

The land through which these drains are made, after getting
through the soil, is a very hard, gravelly subsoil, which has to
be all picked up with a pickaxe.

I did not keep an account of the cost of this drainage, as it
was all done by the men employed upon my farm ; but, consid-
ering the hardness of the subsoil and the unusual depth that it
was necessary to make there on account of the location, I think
they would cost one dollar per "rod.

These drains have admirably accomplished the purpose for
which they were made, having perfectly freed the land from all
the high land springs, and thereby leaving it the best land in
the field, so that it can be ploughed and planted with the rest
of the field. Last year I planted cabbages and carrots on this
land, and had good crops. This year I have carrots and onion9
on it, and part of the crop of onions which I have entered for
premium this fall grew upon this very spot, which, till last year,
has never produced any thing ; and I see no reason why these
drains should' not continue to produce the same results for all
time to come, as they are entirely below and out of the way of
all frost.

I put in about one thousand feet of under drains last fall, and
am putting in about four thousand feet this fall, the result of
which will appear hereafter.

Mahbleiiead, November 15, 1854.

PASTURE LANDS. 81

PASTURE LANDS.

ESSEX.

From the Report of the Committee.

The committee on improving- pasture lands report: —

That but one entry was made, and that at a recent date; to
the examination of this the attention of the committee was
called immediately after the notice of the entry was communi-
cated to the chairman.

This entry was made by Jonathan Berry, of Middleton,
whose statement, herewith submitted, will exhibit the former
state of the land, and the course of improvement adopted.

The land, located in a swale, is of oblong shape, bordered
on one side and end by highways, on the other side by the Es-
sex Railroad, and the remaining side by land of the owner,
partly reclaimed and partly in its natural state. It was in va-
rious states of improvement — from the rough state, after two
ploughings, to a smooth surface, well set in grass. The bushes
in all seemed to have been well eradicated, and the stones,
with the exception of a few scattering bowlders, removed from
their beds, and collected in locations convenient for removal,
or already taken from the lot, as the owner found opportunity
for sale or use.

This state of the land afforded the committee a favorable
opportunity of judging of its former condition, and of its prom-
ise of future production, and also of the adaptcdness of the
course of improvement adopted by Mr. Berry to produce the
desired effect.

The committee were fully of opinion that the course adopted
was judicious, and its execution thorough, but, upon consider-
ing what would be the future use of the land, were of opinion
that it would be better adapted for field than pasture cultiva-
tion. Upon this view of the case, and the probable meaning
of the society in offering the premiums on improved pasture
laud, doubts were entertained of the propriety of considering
this case as one contemplated in the offer — which doubts were
strengthened and confirmed by recurring to the opening re-
11*

82 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE.

marks of the committee published by the society in the Trans-
actions of last year.

Your committee, therefore, believing this case not within
the intent of the offered premiums of the society, but fully im-
pressed with the merit of the experiment, recommend that the
statement of Mr. Berry be published in the Transactions of the
society, and a gratuity of eight dollars be awarded to him.

While we are gratified in noticing improvements in tillage
and mowing land in various parts of the county, it is but sel-
dom we are favored with the sight of equal improvement in
grazing lands.

In a former report of a committee of this society on this
subject the deterioration of our pastures was adverted to and
enforced by noticing the increased allowance of land to the
animal; and, in a more recent report and accompanying state-
ment, remarks and facts are imbodied which may be useful
for the consideration of those of us who have deteriorated
pastures.

The writer of this was gratified to learn that one of the
trustees was about to try the effect of sheep grazing upon old
pastures, and has great confidence in the success of the ex-
periment.

As practical experience is more satisfactory than theoretical
speculations, the writer will only relate the experience he has
had in the amelioration of pasture lands, which, though only
partially applied on a small scale, may lead to more extended
and satisfactory experiments.

In the early part of the summer of 1853, guano, mixed with
an equal quantity of plaster, was applied as a top dressing to
pasture lands, with some visible effect on the herbage for that
season, and extended in a smaller degree to the present sum-
mer, but not in sufficient improvement to continue the experi-
ment under similar circumstances — it being applied after the
spring rains.

Plaster has also been applied on the surface without any
marked effect. Leached ashes have also been used as a top
dressing, with more marked benefit than cither of the others,
and had the effect of eradicating moss, and introducing white
clover, and materially increasing the grass where applied.

PASTURE LANDS. 83

Some small experiments in scarifying the surface and scat-
tering grass seed over it have also been made, with results
rather encouraging. With tools adapted to the purpose, it is
believed much may be done in this way to improve and reno-
vate our worn-out pastures.

This subject commends itself to the committee, as deserving
the continued, if not increased, attention of the society; and
it is hoped that the farmers of Essex may be stimulated to in-
creased efforts to improve in this branch of husbandry.

Josiah Little, Chairman.

Statement of Jonathan Berry.

The piece of land which I offer for your inspection, contain-
ing some six or seven acres, when I purchased the farm, in
1841, was of little or no value, as it was nearly covered with
alder, blueberry bushes, lambkill, brakes, besides rocks in any
quantity. In the first place I subdued the alders by mowing;
I then removed most of the large stones, and sold about
twenty-eight dollars' worth, which paid all the expense of
getting them out. In 1851 I ploughed about four acres. In
1852 I cross ploughed and harrowed the same. In 1853 I
ploughed two acres of the same, and spread on about twenty
loads of barn manure, and sowed it with millet. It yielded
three tons, the land being very uneven, and not fine enough for
so small a seed. In 1854 I ploughed four acres, and on the
two acres previously sown I spread one hundred and fifty
bushels of leached ashes, and sowed it with millet and hay
seed ; and I obtained four tons of millet. I planted one acre
with potatoes ; it yielded about thirty bushels, having suf-
fered severely from the drought. The remainder of the lot is
not fully subdued; but I hope, by continuing to plough, I shall
get it in good order. The lot will be seeded down and mown
until it is well swarded, and then fed as a pasture.

I have not kept any account of the expense, as I have done
the work as I had leisure, and have not thought, until recently,
of entering it for premium ; but I feel satisfied it will eventually
pay good interest. In 1843-4—5 I subdued four or five acres

84 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE.

similar to this, which I think have paid well, as the stones al-
ways sell when any one has them ready, and bring enough to
pay all the expense of getting them out, as on low grounds
they lie near the surface.

I have tried plaster on my pastures, but without receiving
any perceptible benefit.

Middletox, November 3, 1854.

ORCHARDS.

MIDDLESEX.

From the Report of the Committee on Farms.

In the apple orchards of Messrs. Brown and Buckminster, of
Framingham, Horace II. Bigelow, of Marlboro', Wm. B. Har-
risj; of North Woburn, Luther Adams, of West Townsend,
George M. Barrett, of Concord, H. C. Merriam, of Tewksbury,
Hiram Woodis, of South Reading, and Mr. Nightingale, of Gro-
ton, we had pleasing evidence of excellent success in the plant-
ing and training of fruit trees. Having in a former report
spoken of the deleterious eifect of strong alkaline washes upon
apple trees, we are inclined to believe that a better practice is
now prevailing in the use of washes, which, while they cleanse
the trees, do not act upon them chemically. An unnatural color
of the bark of a tree is, to our eyes, as offensive as a cosmetic
upon the face of beauty. In the orchard of Mr. Woodis, of
South Reading, we think may be seen the beau ideal of an ap-
ple orchard. If any thing can be objected to it, it is only that
it is a little " too fine." The uniformity of shape, exactness of
position, and correspondence in height afford an almost pain-
ful instance of monotony. We will only add that this orchard
was a kind of pet of tin- individual who set it out — Mr. Moses
Swcctscr, of South Reading, a gentleman of great taste and
skill in this department, and whose orchards, planted many
years ago, will long remain as beautiful monuments to his
memory.

ORCHARDS. 85

Statement of James W. Brown.

My orchard of four hundred and seventy-five apple trees was
set in the spring of 1847. The trees, at the time of setting,
were one, two and three years from the graft, about an equal
number of each. The soil is light and warm, with a gravelly
and sandy subsoil. The holes for planting the trees were dug
six feet in diameter and eighteen inches deep. The soil was
thrown in, and the trees were dressed with a compost of peat
mud, loam, dry ashes, and a small quantity of barn manure.
The trees have received, about five times in seven years, a light
top dressing of peat mud and loam. They have been washed four
times in seven years. In July last I applied a wash composed
of two gallons of water, one quart of soft soap, and one-fourth
of a pound of potash. This wash answers every purpose, and
does not in the least injure the youngest trees. I pruned the
orchard in June, and the largest cuttings are healing finely.
I have taken much pains to keep the trees clear of the cater-
pillars, and army and web-worm, the last two of which have
scarcely made their appearance with me this season. Late in
June I discovered a caterpillar's nest high up in one of the
largest trees. With difficulty I removed it, only on account of
its unsightliness, but found within the folds of the web forty-
two cocoons ready to send forth as many insects, to lay the
foundation of much mischief for the ensuing year. An old cat-
erpillar's nest should never be left upon the tree through the
season ; it shelters the cocoon and increases the labors of the
cultivator.

The drought during this season has been unprecedented.
We have had but one rain of any account for the past ten weeks.
My trees, however, are still growing, while the corn around
them is for the most part dead. This thriving condition of the
orchard is owing to deep ploughing in the spring and frequent
hoeing through the summer. The soil has been ploughed five
times during the seven years since the trees were planted. I
shall never lay it down to grain or grass.

I passed through the orchard to-day twice diagonally from
the four corners, and measured in course thirty-four trees each

86 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE.

way, and the growth of the limbs and circumference at the surface
of the ground. I measured no shoots or sprouts, — there are
none in the orchard, — but the ends of the limbs, pulled down
from as high as I could reach. The average growth the present
season of the sixty-eight trees measured — and they are a fair
average of the whole — is twenty and one-fourth inches. The
average circumference of the same trees at the ground is a
small fraction less than seventeen inches. The largest trees,
not falling within the diagonals, were not measured.

Last year I sold sixty dollars' worth of apples from these
trees, besides a large quantity kept for the use of my family,
twenty-five in number. At this time about one hundred and
twenty-five of the trees have apples upon them, and with ordinary
rains I think several of them would produce one barrel each
the present year. The principal varieties are the Baldwin,
Greening, and Hubbardston Nonesuch.

The orchard was planted, has been pruned, washed, and for
the most part hoed and kept clear of insects, by my own hands.

The Middlesex Agricultural Society awarded me the third
premium in 1849, and the second premium in 1851.

Framingham, August 23, 1854.

Statement of H. II. Bigeloio.

My apple orchard contains one hundred and ninety-two trees,
standing on four and one-quarter acres of land. The soil is a
deep, dark loam, and was very rocky before the trees were
set out. The land was dug and ploughed, the rocks re-
moved, and the holes dug for the trees in the fall of 1850, and
the trees were set out the April following. The holes were
dug about twenty inches deep, and from five to seven feet wide,
and two rods apart each way — the best part of the soil being
laid by itself, to put around the roots after mixing with it about
two bushels of compost manure to each tree. Care was taken
that the trees were set at the same depth they were before
being transplanted, and that the roots were spread and arranged
in their natural position. The land was planted with corn the
same year and the following, and hay was put round the trees

ORCHARDS. 87

to keep the ground moist; but I removed it in the fall for fear
of mice, and put compost manure instead, to support the trees
and keep the soil warm during the winter, spreading it upon
the land in the spring. I have washed the trees with potash
water once, one pound of potash to a pailful of water. I think
too frequent washing not good for the trees. I have trimmed
the tree3 thus far in the months of May and June. I never
was troubled much by borers or caterpillars. The trees are
mostly Baldwins, and were two years from the bud when set
out.

Maulboro', September, 1S54.

I

Statement of William Buckminster.

My trees are of the Baldwin variety, and were set in the
spring of 1852, three hundred in number, on about three acres
of land. I set my apple trees twenty-live feet asunder, and
keep the soil tilled while the trees are young.

When the trees were set, two years ago, they were all
mulched with straw and poor hay. This mulching around
the trunks three feet each way kept the soil moist and light
for the young roots to take hold and extend themselves, check-
ing the evaporation of the hot summer days, and supporting
the trees sufficiently without being tied to a stake.

I placed flat stones on the straw, &c, to keep the same in
place through the summer, and before winter I banked up many
of the trees, burying the straw so deep as to keep away the
mice. When I did not bury the mulching, I scraped it away
before winter so that the mice could form no nests about them.
I prefer banking up before winter to removing the mulching, as
it supports the tree, and assists in forming a light mould in the
spring, to be spread out in May.

In regard to trimming, you will see that I have left many
limbs till this time which are now to be trimmed. I choose to
have an abundance of limbs and leaves in summer, in case the
tree is well rooted ; for, the more healthy limbs and leaves you
have, the more will the trunk of the tree increase through the
summer season. But now the limbs will extend no more this

88 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE.

season ; and this is the time to thin out branches and reduce
the top. Now is the time when the greatest quantity of sap-
wood is made, and of course wounds heal sooner than at any-
other season of the year; yet I avoid excessive trimming at
any one time, and choose to lop off some of the branches annually.
A number of my trees are bearing fruit, though this is but
the third year of their standing in the orchard. Many of the
trees have not yet ceased to put out leaves, though the summer
has been excessively dry, and many of the trees have lost some
of their leaves. Cultivation alone has kept the soil moist
enough, for no artificial watering has been resorted to.

Framingham, September 5, 1854.

Statement of Hiram Woodis.

My orchard contains two acres of land, with one hundred
and three apple trees, all Baldwins except ten or twelve trees,
which are different kinds of fruit. They are set two rods apart,
with peach trees between part of them, and were set in the spring
of 1851. In shaping the trees I have taken off the centre stalk,
and trimmed them in such a manner that they resemble each
other, and the limbs are high enough to be ploughed under
with ease. The land is good, and has been kept in a good
state of cultivation, raising corn and potatoes, and this year is
covered with onions, cabbages, and sage. I make it a rule to
trim my trees every May or June ; of the two months, I prefer
June. I manure my crops liberally, and throw it about the
roots of the trees. The manure used is composed of muck and
barn manure, mixed together. I have never been troubled
with borers, and seldom with insects of any kind.

South Reading, August, 185-1.

Statement of George M. Barrett.

My apple trees, numbering about one hundred and seventy-
five, which I offer for premium, were raised by myself, and set
out when two years from the bud, in the spring of 1849, on a
piece of land containing about four acres of a sandy and grav-

ORCHARDS. SO

elly soil, which I considered worthless ; but as it lay right be-
fore my door, I thought I would cover it with apple trees,
and see if I could not make it look better, and have succeeded
beyond my expectations. The land was prepared by plough-
ing, and followed by a subsoil plough to the depth of about
twenty inches ; the trees were then set in rows, two rods apart
each way, and a little compost manure placed about them. I put
a little hay about the trees the two first seasons to keep tba
ground moist till they got well rooted, the land being very dry.
The land has been tilled with a crop of corn, potatoes, beans,
or something of the kind, every year, and has received a light
spreading of compost manure. I usually put two shovelfuls
of compost about each tree late in the fall, to protect them
against mice during the winter. *

Concord, September 4, 1854.

HAMPSHIRE.
Report of the Committee.

The cultivation of fruit trees in Massachusetts has not gen-
erally received the attention which so important a subject just-
ly demands. This will be found emphatically true of central
and western Massachusetts — the beautiful valley of the Con-
necticut not even affording a general exception to this remark.
The want of good fruit of the various species and varieties
has been suffered to continue quite too long. The spirit of
progress and improvement which so eminently marks the pres-
ent age is beginning to be felt in this direction. Here and
there may be found gardeners and farmers who have, within
the past few years, demonstrated that the luxury of good fruits
of the various kinds may be universally enjoyed. Let these
demonstrations, though few and far between, beget a speedy
determination in all the proprietors of the soil, that have not
already done so, to engage at once in the cultivation of fruit
trees, and thus secure as a home production what you are now
so fond of sharing with your more enterprising neighbors or
friends, whether in your own town or more remotely situated.

In looking over the report of the committee on fruit trees

12*

90 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE.

made last year by its accomplished chairman, Professor "W. C.
Fowler, and published in the Transactions of the Hampshire
County Agricultural Society for 1853, the present chairman of
your committee finds that the subject was treated on this wise,
to wit : I. Plant a nursery ; II. Select the ground for your
orchard and fruit garden carefully ; III. Prepare your ground
carefully; IV. Plant your trees carefully ; V. Tend your trees
carefully. He having considered these several topics in their
order, it is proposed on this occasion to present a few sugges-
tions concerning some of the more desirable varieties of fruits.
Some seem inclined to multiply varieties, more especially of
apples and pears, without paying due regard to the qualities
thereof.

Don, in his work on English Gardening, published in 1832,
gives fourteen hundred varieties of the apple. The number
has been greatly enlarged since, so that there are now about
two thousand cultivated varieties.

Before proceeding to the enumeration of certain varieties
which it is desirable to cultivate, it should be remarked that
every farmer, in making his selection, should be governed by
the use which he designs to make of them — how many, for ex-
ample, he wants for baking, drying, sauce, cider, dessert, and
for other uses ; also, if he designs to raise apples for the mar-
ket, to select such varieties as will sell most readily and for
the highest prices. Early fruits, if located near the place of
market, will be found most profitable ; but if remote from the
place of sale, autumn and winter varieties will be found more
profitable. In selecting, you should have regard to varieties
whose trees are vigorous growers ami good bearers. There
are some of the choicest varieties whose growth is feeble and
products meagre. The alphabetical list of the choice varieties
which follows will be found of service to all interested in fruit
culture in our society : —

Summer Apples. — American Summer Pearmain, ripe in Sep-
tember; Red Astrachan, ripe in August; Beuoni, ripe in Au-
gust; Large Yellow Bough, ripe in August; Bohauan, August
to October; Early Harvest, July ; Early Strawberry, August;
Early Joe, last of August; Lyman's Large Summer, August;
Manomet, August to September; Summer Bellefleur, (superior,)

ORCIIARDS. 91

late summer apple ; Sops of Wine, August to September ; and
Williams's Favorite, August.

Autumn Apples. — Autumn Swaar, known as " Sweet Swaar,"
ripe in October and November; Cooper, October to Decem-
ber,- Fall Pippin, October to December; Gravenstein, Septem-
ber to October ; Hawley, September to October ; Jewett's Red ;
Maiden's Blush, September to October; Northern Sweet, an ex-
cellent sweet apple ; Porter, September ; Republican Pippin ;
St. Lawrence, October ; Spice Sweet, September ; and Superb
Sweet, September to October.

Winter Apples. — American Golden Russet ; Baldwin ; Baily
Sweet, (superior,) October to January; Blue Pearmain, very
popular in market from October to January ; Bellflower, Yel-
low, November to April ; Belmont, October to February ; Dan-
vers Winter Sweet, keeps till April ; Dutch Mignonne, Novem-
ber to March; Fameuse, November to January ; Hubbardston
Nonesuch, November to January ; Jonathan, November to April ;
Lady Apple, November to May, sells for the highest prices in
market ; Lady's Sweet, November to May ; Mother, November
to January; Norton's Melon, (superior,) October to April;
Northern Spy, a superior apple, retaining its freshness of flavor
and appearance till July ; Newtown Pippin, November to June ;
Peck's Pleasant, November to April ; Pomme Grise, November
to April ; Rambo, keeps till February ; Red Canada, November
to May ; Rhode Island Greening ; Russet, Golden American ;
Swaar, November to May; Seek-no-farther, November to
February; Spitzenburg ^Esopus, November to April; Spit-
zenburg Newton; Tallman Sweeting, November to April;
Wagener, December to May ; Willow Twig, long keeper ; White
Winter Calville, November to March.

Apples for Ornament or Preserving. — Red Siberian Crab,
and Large do., ripe from September to October ; Yellow Sibe-
rian Crab, and Large Yellow Crab; and the Double Flowering
China, a beautiful ornamental tree.

Pears. — Very little attention has been given to the cultiva-
tion of this most delicious and desirable fruit. If you will
prepare your soil by supplying such manurial specifics as are
requisite, such as bone dust, ashes, salt, lime, &c, you may be

92 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE.

as certain of producing pears as apples. A short list of some
of the best varieties is furnished : —

Summer Pears. — Bloodgood, ripe in August; Beurre Gif-
fart, August; Dearborn's Seedling, August; Doyenne d'Ete",
August; Madeline, the earliest variety; Rostiezer Tyson.

Autumn Pears. — Beurre Diel, October and Noverriber;
Golden ' Beurre, of Bilboa, September and October ; Duchesse
d'Orleans, October; Doyenne, White, October and November;
Doyenne, Gray; Flemish Beauty, September and October;
Henry the Fourth, September ; Louise Bonne de Jersey, Sep-
tember and October; Napoleon, November and December;
Seckel; Stevens's Genesee, September and October; Swan's
Orange, October and November ; Bartlett, last of September.

Winter Pears. — Beurre d'Aremberg, December to January ;
Beurre, Easter, keeps till spring; Beurre Gris d'Hiver Nou-
veau, November to January ; Glout Morceau, December; Law-
rence, November to February ; Vicar* of Winkfield, November
to January.

For Cooking, cither Baking or Stewing. — Cattillac, Easter
Bergamot, and Pound, all keep through winter, if desired.

Nearly all these choice varieties may be grafted on the
quince, and succeed well. Would it not be well, then, for our
farmers to graft some of their quince trees ? It is hoped they
will do so.

Quinces. — This fruit is very common here. The best varie-
ties are the orange, pear-shaped, Portugal, and Angers — the
last being the best variety for pear stocks.

Peaches. — A few select varieties : Bergen's Yellow, Septem-
ber; Yellow Rareripe, September; Coles' Early Red, August;
Coolcdgc's Favorite, August; Crawford's Early, September;
Crawford's Late Melocoton, September; Early York, August;
George the Fourth, August; Grosse Mignonne, August; Jaques'
Rareripe; Large Early York, August; Late Admirable, Sep-
tember; Morris's White; .Morris's Red Rareripe; Red Check
Melocoton, September; Snow Peach, September; Weld's Free-
stone, October; Lemon Cling, September; Old Mixon Cling-
stone, September.

Grapes. — Selected. Catawba, Isabella, Black Cluster, Black
Prince, Black Hamburg, and White Sweetwater.

ORCHARDS. 93

In making this selection of the more choice and desirable
varieties of fruits, Barry's "Fruit Garden" has been frequent-
ly referred to — a work recommended to all fruit growers.

The committee desire, in taking leave of this fruitful subject,
to press home to the mind of every proprietor of a garden
spot or farm in western Massachusetts the importance of fruit
culture. Then, ere long, this region will become as noted for
producing an ample supply of the choicest varieties of fruits
as it has been hitherto for the lack of them.

L. Wetiierell, Chairman.

Statement of Theodore Pasco.

I have eighty-one trees of grafted fruit, in one location, on
an acre and a quarter of land. A part stand on loamy, and
the remainder on sandy, soil. I have also twenty-three scat-
tered and ungrafted trees. The trees in my orchard were
grafted, six or seven feet from the ground, twelve years after
they were set. Most of them are twenty feet apart ; but I
think it would be better if the distance was twenty-eight or
thirty feet. The land they stand on has never been ploughed
since they were set; for my opinion is, that turning over the
soil around the trees two or three feet from them, and throw-
ing on compost manure plentifully, is preferable to ploughing.
Young trees standing on land that is often ploughed at first
will look very thrifty and grow fast; but soon the roots are
badly injured, and the result is, the appearance of the orchard
is sadly changed. My varieties of fruit are Greenings, Bald-
wins, Roxbury Russets, Shaker Russets, Gillyflowers, Seek-
no-farthers, Winter Sweets, Golden Sweets, Gennetings,
Pumpkin Sweets, Spitzenburgs, Pound Royals, and several
varieties of early apples. I have gathered this year from my
grafted trees one hundred and eighty-one bushels of good win-
ter fruit, thirty bushels of fall apples, and one hundred and
fifty bushels of cider apples.

IIadlet, October 1G, 1854.

94 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE.

Statement of Nathaniel Smith.

My orchard, which I offer for a premium, has over seventy-five
trees. About twenty of them are thirty years old; but the re-
mainder are young trees, some of which are in bearing this
year. The old trees were grafted after they were set out.
The soil is sandy loam, deep and rich. The old part is in
grass ; broom corn is cultivated on the other part. The manure
used is common compost; and the quantity of apples is proba-
bly about one hundred and fifty bushels, valued this year from
forty-five to fifty dollars. The value of the fruit was much re-
duced by the hail storm in September. My varieties are, Early
Harvest, Porter, Congress, Greenings, two kinds of Russets,
Baldwins, Seek-no-farthers, Bellflowers, Little Core, Swaar,
Gravenstein, xEsopus Spitzenburg, Crows' Eggs, Golden Sweets,
and other varieties too numerous to mention.

I came in possession of the place last spring, and, therefore,
am not able to state the cost of the orchard.

Sunderland, October 17, 1854.

Statement of Avery D. Hubbard.

The land on which my orchard stands is sandy and light. I
have twenty-five trees which have been reclaimed. Their ages
vary from forty to more than a hundred years. Twenty years
ago they were almost worthless — grown up with sprouts and
dead limbs — not having been trimmed for many years — bear-
ing only a few " cider apples " — none of them having been
grafted or budded. The trees were thoroughly trimmed and
all the dead limbs cut off. We were careful to shape them
well and have handsome tops. The trees were scraped with a
hoe till all the old and loose bark and moss were removed,
and a compost of swamp muck, ashes, plaster, and lime, was
spread under the trees, and thoroughly mixed with the soil by
ploughing. Most of them stood on ploughed land.

In a few years a thrifty set of shoots came out, which were
grafted with Baldwins, Greenings, Spitxcnburgs, Seck-no-far-
thers, Roxbury Russets, Nonesuch, Boston Russets, Pippins,

ORCIIARDS. 95

&c. For several years they have borne apples enough for
our family use ; and I have sold some for several years till the
last year, when the worms injured them some, though not so
much but that we had a number of bushels of winter apples.
This year they have borne very full and very nice apples. The
number of bushels I am unable to state, as we have kept' no
account. We have some very early apples, which were ready
for market in July; and I am satisfied we have sold apples
enough this year to pay all the expense of reclaiming the or-
chard. In regard to manure, I have found that any thing that
will make corn grow will make apple trees grow and produce
apples. Work manure well into the soil, as far round as the
limbs extend. I think every farmer especially, and all who
own land, had better set out a young orchard, unless they al-
ready have done so. But if you have an old orchard, go to
work and reclaim it, and in a few years you may have all the
apples you will need in your family till your young trees begin
to bear.

Sunderland, October 1G, 1854.

Statement of Daniel Cowles.

I have about forty peach trees. The principal part of them
were grown from peach stones that I obtained of a grocer
in Springfield in 1839. He had saved them from a few very
choice lots of peaches that had been brought in to him. They
were planted in the fall of 1839 ; and in the spring of 1842 I
set them about the sides and terraces of my garden, where I
thought they would do the least damage. I have practised
putting ashes about the roots occasionally in the fore part of
the season. The greater part of the trees bear the early yel-
low peach. Some bear a peach very much resembling the
Early Crawford, and there are three or four varieties of later
peaches. I have a few young trees of different varieties —
the snow peach, the blood peach, etc. My trees have borne
well every year since they were three years old excepting
one, but not as well this season as last. I have had this sea-
son from fifteen to twenty bushels. The peaches were not as

96 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE.

large and good as usual this year — owing, I think, to the dry
weather.

Hadley, September, 1854.

Statement of Melzar Hunt.

My nursery contains one hundred and fifty" apple trees of
different varieties — the Baldwin, Greening, Roxbury Russet,
Hubbardston Nonesuch, Bellflower, Winter Sweet, Russet,
<fcc. Most of them are three years old from the bud or
graft.

My method of raising trees is, to sow the seed in the fall, in
drills — the rows three feet apart, and the trees six inches
apart in the rows. In April, after they have grown one year
from the bud, I transplant them, setting them two feet apart
in the rows. The budding is done when the trees are of a
suitable size, which is generally the second year. The ground
on which the trees are grown is spaded every spring, and hoed
as often as necessary to keep it from weeds. I cultivate some
other crop between the rows of trees, either carrots or pota-
toes.

Sunderland, October 15, 1854.

HAMPSHIRE, FRANKLIN AND HAMPDEN.
Statement of Edward Clark.

The young orchard at Rocky Hill was set out five years ago,
and contains two hundred and seventy-two trees, mostly Bald-
wins ; the old orchard has one hundred and sixty-eight trees —
making together four hundred and forty.

The manner of planting the trees was, to dig the holes four
feet in diameter and about two and a half feet deep. The poor
dirt was thrown aside, and the good soil returned, with about
a load of compost made from muck, warmed up with bone dust
and ashes. 1 think I have twice planted a few hills of potatoes
around each tree with good effect, as the crop more than paid
for the labor, and the trees were kept free from Avecds, which I
consider of great importance. Otherwise the laud has been

ORCHARDS. 97

cultivated in the usual way, with the exception of avoiding
crops of rye, which arc too exhausting for the orchard.

.Many years ago, a friend of mine set out eighty apple trees,
and employed a man, (an Englishman I believe,) well acquaint-
ed with his business, to do the work of planting. When his
first day's work was done, he asked him how many he had set
out. His reply was, " eight, sir." This seemed to his employer
so small a number that he paid him without allowing him to go
on with the work, but the next day engaged another man to
finish the job. When night came, he put the same question to
him. He replied that he had set out all that remained. As
time rolled on, the gentleman found that the first eight trees
were worth the whole seventy-two. I presume my trees were
set out after the manner of the eight.

The most of my trees were of the size costing from seven-
teen to eighteen cents each. Many of them now measure three
and a half inches in diameter, and but few probably less than
two and a half to three inches.

Northampton, October 2, 1854.

Statement of Benjamin Barrett.

The orchard to which your attention is called is situated at
the foot of Round Hill, directly in the rear of my dwelling
house, on Prospect Street, having a north-easterly and south-
westerly slope. Its position for the culture of fruit trees is
probably not surpassed by any locality in this part of the Com-
monwealth. The lot is very productive, and, at present, in a
high state of cultivation. The soil consists mostly of a rich
dark loam, mixed in some degree with gravel. In some places
is found a blue, clayey subsoil, and in others a wet, heavy soil.
Most of the lot, however, is of a warm and dry character and
of a highly productive quality.

My homestead, of which this orchard forms a part, consists
of four acres, and came into my possession in 1845, and was
purchased for the sum of five thousand dollars. The premises
are divided as follows : three acres are occupied by the orchard,
one-quarter of an acre by the buildings, and the remainder is
appropriated to the general purposes of a garden and fruit

13*

98 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE.

yard, in which are growing grapes, raspberries, gooseberries,
strawberries, currants, and other fruits.

At the time of my purchase of the place there was standing
thereon an orchard, consisting mostly of old trees, with a few
young grafted ones. My first effort was made to regenerate
the orchard, by reclaiming the unproductive land on which it
was situated, and increasing the wealth of the soil. To this
end blind ditches, three feet deep, were dug on intersecting
lines through the lot, filled with stone, carefully placed so as to
form a small culvert or open passage for the water throughout
the whole course of the drains. The surface was deeply
spaded and ploughed, and liberally supplied with sand, loam, and
manure of various kinds. The trees, which showed few signs
of vitality, were cut down and removed ; and the remainder,
under the process of scraping and pruning and by the improved
quality of the soil, were revived and stimulated to a vigorous
growth. Such as did not bear good marketable fruit were
grafted ; and several of the young trees, of a size from six to
eight inches in diameter, were successfully transplanted. All
survived the removal, and most of them were in full blossom
and bore fair fruit the first year. They were, however, taken
up, with very little disturbance of their roots, and removed
with great care.

This orchard has been constantly supplied from year to year
with new varieties of trees, some from my own nursery, and
others from other sources. Upon these varieties, introduced
since my purchase of the place, I mainly rely for my best fruit.

The orchard now contains one hundred and seventy apple
trees, two hundred and fifty peach trees, forty pear trees, one
hundred and twenty-five quince trees, thirty-five plum trees,
and twenty-five cherry trees, besides some apricots and Eng-
lish and common walnuts.

In the selection of trees, I have aimed to obtain such varie-
ties as would yield a constant supply of fruit through each
successive season of the year. My early fruit tiers are decid-
edly the most profitable — their fruit always commanding a
ready market and a good price. This season, my early apples
— which are the first in market — were sold, some at, one dollar,
and some at two dollars, per bushel; and most of my winter

ORCHARDS. 99

apples, such as the Baldwin, Russets, Greenings, Bellfiower,
and Newtown Pippin were sold on the trees for one dollar per
barrel. Pears and plums sold at one and two dollars, and
quinces at seventy-five cents and one dollar.

To enumerate the varieties of my apples, or to enter into a
detailed statement of expenditures bestowed upon the orchard,
would occupy too much of your attention. Suffice it to
say, that at the late fair in Northampton I exhibited eighty-
three varieties of apples, mostly grown on the premises above
described ; and allow me further to add, that the income of
last year — which is only an average with other years —
from the homestead, was seven hundred dollars. The first
crop of grass growing on the ground occupied by the orchard
yielded two and one-half tons per acre, and was sold standing
for seventeen dollars and fifty cents per acre. The second
crop yielded about two tons, and was sold for thirty-six dollars.

It is impossible for me to give you an accurate statement' of
the amount of expenditure I have made in bringing my orchard
into its present state of perfection. I consider the whole
estate as increased in value far beyond the measure of expend-
itures ; and I may be allowed to state, in evidence of this, that
in 1850 I received an offer of nine thousand dollars, and dur-
ing the last year one of ten thousand dollars, for the premises
— both of which offers were declined.

In order to secure success and profit in the cultivation of
fruit trees, a few things are deemed indispensable : —

1st. The Mode of Cultivation. — The process by which the
culture of fruit is to be carried on is precisely like that for corn
and potatoes. The ground must be well prepared and made
mellow by subsoiling and double spading. It is only by such
means that the roots of the trees are able to travel unobstruct-
ed in every direction in search of food, and that light and
warmth are admitted into the bosom of the soil in which they
find their residence and support. In young orchards the til-
lage should be deep and thorough, without fear of injury to the
roots ; with old trees, however, the treatment of the soil must
be more gentle ; and I would neither recommend the disturb-
ance of the ground to a great depth, nor ploughing near tho
body of the tree. These elder members of the family must not

100 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE.

be disturbed in their position and habits ; and you cannot de-
scend rudely among their unwieldy and full-grown roots with-
out injury to the health, if not danger to the life, of the tree.
Careful and repeated spading around the trunk, from three to
four feet distance, is, in my opinion, all that is safe or proper,
with perhaps occasional deep trenching at the extremity of the
roots.

2d. Appropriate Manuring. — This I regard as the sine qua
?ion, not only in fruit culture, but in all agricultural experi-
ment. The earth must be replenished with the appropriate
nutrition, and the elements fit and adapted to the growth and
development of the plant. No one can expect, with any reason,
to grow fine trees or good fruit without abundance of manure;
it is vital to their growth and flourishing condition. I freely
make the application of manure to my orchard every year, and
adapt its different kinds to the different portions of the ground
and kind of trees growing thereon, as shall best afford the ap-
propriate food. Compost manure and unleached ashes I have
used with great success. Every alternate year I spread broad-
cast over my lands, barn-yard manure to the amount of twenty-
five loads to the acre. Hen dung mixed with loam and vegeta-
ble matter is also applied more or less freely around and near
the roots of the peach trees; and coal ashes, also, I find very
valuable in destroying the worms. As advised, I have applied
iron filings about my pear trees. In all other respects my
peach and pear trees have been treated like the other trees in
the orchard. Frequently the surface of the trunks is scraped
thoroughly and well washed in soap and water, as I think with
great advantage to their thrifty growth. This year I have
placed about the body of the trees meadow muck ; the grass
and turf of which it was in part composed were turned under
so as to cover the mass — thus forming a warm bed for the roots
during winter, and forming a stock of food for the season of
rcanimation.

In the mode of cultivation thus adopted, my trees require but
little, if any, watering; and I have found no necessity of mulch-
ing— a process under ordinary circumstances beneficial, but, in
my case, incompatible with the ground crops.

No one, I believe, who has tried the experiment, will doubt

ORCHARDS. 101

the value and utility of abundant manuring on fruit-growing
grounds. Our orchards fail and their fruit deteriorates only
because of lack of nutrition and skilful treatment.

3d. Transplanting Trees. — The holes must be broad and
deep — three feet at least in diameter, and from one to two feet
in depth, varying according to the size of the tree and the
roots. The subsoil should be thrown aside, and the upper soil
reserved for the bottom of the hole. If the soil removed is
poor, or mixed with clay, the hole must be larger and deeper
for the admission of foreign loam and compost. The good
earth is then to be placed at the bottom of the hole to form a
basis for the tree. Carefully trim the top and roots with a
knife as far preferable to a saw. Then set the tree into the
hole just deep enough to secure the perfect covering of the
upper roots ; spread out the small fibrous roots in their
natural direction ; and then throw the rich loam and the upper
soil on and about the roots, carefully pulverized and pressed
in and among the same by the hand and foot. Then add the
subsoil, taking care, in finishing the work, to leave the surface
sloping towards the trunk of the tree. As to distance or
space between the trees, I recommend two rods for apple trees,
and one rod for peach and pear trees.

The practice of placing apple trees and peach trees alter-
nately I fully approve, for the reason that the peach tree is
short lived, and will ordinarily die out before the apple tree
becomes of sufficient size to be incommoded by their pres-
ence.

4th. Proper Pruning. — All harsh and indiscriminate trim-
ming and all deep and severe scraping must be avoided. The
true principle of pruning consists in so making removals that
all the remaining limbs and branches shall be left entirely free
and unobstructed in their movements, and that no opening
through to the light above be left clear and vacant among the
branches. All crotchets and double branches must be reduced,
even at the expense of half the limbs. The head of the tree
must be early and judiciously formed, well balanced and well
stocked for self-support, sufficiently elevated to permit culti-
vation and free passing under it. The body should be erect, the
branches regularly extended throughout, aud those protruding

102 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE.

too far should be shortened, to preserve uniformity in the shape
of the tree ; all friction among the limbs must be avoided by re-
moving the offending member. The top thus formed and disposed
will admit the rain and air and light upon the upper and lower
branches alike, thus distributing in equal and just proportion
the influences which are to mature and ripen the fruit.

Pear trees require little or no pruning except when young.
Young and thrifty peach trees should be pruned at least twice
a year. Early in June the exuberant growth should be checked
by topping, thus reserving the vital forces for the develop-
ment of buds and fruit nearer to the central strength of the
tree ; and again, in August, another topping should be resorted
to for a like reason. We wish to secure good, rich fruit in-
stead of wood and leaves.

These views are in accordance with my experience in the
management of fruit trees, and are submitted for the benefit of
any who may be disposed to make improvements in this useful
branch of agriculture.

FOREST TREES.

HAMPSHIRE.

Report of the Committee.

Notwithstanding the liberal premium offered from year to
year by the society for the best plantation of forest trees, —
consisting of white oak, yellow oak, locust, white ash, or white
pine, not more than three years old, and of not less than one
thousand trees, produced from seed, — no competitors have yet
appeared to claim it. Now, if he is worthy of being called a
benefactor who makes two blades of grass grow where but one
grew before, then should he be called a good economist, to say
the least, who causes to grow three thousand white pines on a
sandy acre that has not produced a single blade of grass for a
quarter of a century.

The whole area of the State is said to contain four million

FOREST TREES. 103

four hundred and nincty-onc thousand eight hundred and twelve
acres. 01' this, according to the returns made about ten years
since, from which we copy, there were seven hundred and
twenty-nine thousand seven hundred and ninety-two acres of
woodlands. Besides this there were reported nine hundred
and ninety-five thousand acres of unimproved lands, and three
hundred and sixty thousand of unimprovable; in all, two
million forty-four thousand seven hundred and ninety-two acres,
or nearly one-half of the entire area of the State not under
improvement — a remarkable fact, it would seem, in one of the
oldest and most densely-populated States in the Union.

It is deemed fair to state that a large share of this unim-
proved and what is denominated unimprovable land may be
rendered productive by planting suitable seeds of native trees.
The number of species of native timber-trees in Massachusetts
is greater than that of any kingdom in Europe. Of the oak
species there are nine, of hickories four, birches five, maples
three, ashes three, pines three, walnuts two, elms two, spruces
two, cedars two ; besides the beech, chestnut, hornbeam, lever
wood, tupclo, nettle tree, tulip, plane, bass, locust, hemlock
fir, hackmatack, cherry, holly, poplars, willows, and numerous
smaller trees. In addition to these, there are many of the
species of Europe that will grow here, besides others in the
Middle and Western States. In view of this great number of
timber aud wood-producing species, nearly every kind of unim-
proved, including much of what is denominated unimprovable,
lands can be rendered productive of wood and timber.

The quantity of wood and timber, owing to the great de-
mand, is annually growing less and less in this State, and con-
sequently timber and wood, and the lands producing them,
becoming more and more valuable. Hence a reason for forest-
planting and culture. There are many acres of unproductive
lands of diiFercnt kinds in western Massachusetts that might
in this way be made productive and valuable. In view of the
facts that the demand for wood and timber is annually increas-
ing, and prices advancing, and of there being so much unpro-
ductive land in the State, it is proposed to present considera-
tions which, if heeded, will convert the hundred s of thousands
of acres of unimproved and non-productive lands of the State

104 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE.

into wood and timber-producing lands — thus enabling the State
to produce within its own narrow bounds what is sought abroad
at high prices. By introducing this mode of improvement, the
lands are made better, and timber will, ere long, be furnished
for house-building, ship-building, fence-making, furniture, imple-
ments of various kinds, bark for tanning, and fuel for the fire.
These may be considered good and substantial reasons for
doing what has been done, and may, therefore, be done again,
under the direction and influence of knowledge, enterprise, and
enlightened public economy.

The subject is one of such immense magnitude and interest,
and the space allowed for this report so limited, that we can
present only a very few reasons for engaging in the economical
enterprise of forest-planting. There are many who will ob-
ject to this on the same ground that others have done to plant-
ing fruit trees, to wit : the fear that they shall not live to enjoy
the benefits of the improvement thus anticipated. How selfish
and narrow minded is such an objection ! Plan as if you were
to live always, and live as if you might die on the morrow.
Then will you prove yourself a benefactor of mankind, and po
terity will rise up and call you blessed. But your objection,
giving it all its force, is not well founded; for the first Duke
John of Athol, Scotland, saw a British frigate built of larch of
his own planting.

Athol, situated in the north of Scotland, latitude 57° north,
contained the estates of the dukes. Duke James planted, be-
tween 1740 and 1750, more than twelve hundred larch trees
in various situations, for the purpose of trying this species,
then new in Scotland. In 1759 he planted seven hundred
larches, over a surface of twenty-nine Scotch acres, intermixed
with other kinds of forest trees. This plantation was upon a
hillside from two hundred to four hundred feet above the sea
level. The ground was rocky, and covered witli loose masses
of mica slate, the whole ground not worth three pounds ster-
ling a year. His successor, John, first conceived the idea of
planting the larch, to the exclusion of all other species, upon
the hillsides about Dunkcld. Before his death lie planted over
four hundred acres on the sterile hillsides of his estate. His
son, Duke John, continued his father's plans. His father died

FOREST TREES. 105

in 1774, and in 1783 tlic young duke had planted two hundred
and seventy-nine thousand trees. Between 1786 and 1791 he
planted six hundred and eighty acres with five hundred thou-
sand larches.

Thus he continued to prosecute the work of larch-planting
upon the barren hillsides until 182G, when he and his prede-
cessors had planted more than fourteen millions of larch trees,
covering more than ten thousand acres. It is estimated that
a forest planted with larches will in seventy-two years from
the time of planting furnish timber for building the largest
ships. Before this time the trees will have been thinned,
leaving about four hundred trees to an acre. Allowing fifty
cubic feet of timber to a tree, at a shilling a foot, and you will
have the product of one thousand pounds sterling per acre, of
the poorest land, consisting of rocks and shivered fragments
of schist. It is stated that the white larch on the duke's
plantation, sixteen hundred feet above sea level, eighty years
after it was planted, produced three hundred cubic feet of tim-
ber tit for any use. The larch is superior to the Scotch pine,
and will in half a century make as much wood as the pine will
in a century. The Scotch larch resembles the American larch,
or hackmatack, as it is called.

There is much sandy land in central Massachusetts that
might successfully be planted with the seeds of the white pine,
which is a rapid grower. The cones mature so that they may
be gathered in the winter, and they do not open so that the
seeds can escape by Nature's processes until early spring — the
best time for artificial sowing. The seeds, says Loudon, re-
quire from thirty to fifty days to germinate, and sometimes do
not come up until the succeeding spring, and even later. Until
the fifth year they are of very slow growth, and require pro-
tection; after which the growth is rapid — increasing from one
to three feet annually. Moses Field, of Leverett, a member of
the committee, to whom we are indebted for specimens of the
annual growth of several species of forest trees, left with us a
white pine whose growth equalled two feet nine inches last
year, and two feet eleven inches the past season.

The white pine has been cultivated both in England and
France, and has been found to grow in height from fifteen

14*

106 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE.

inches to three feet annually for sixty years. A tree planted
near Paris grew eighty feet in height and nine feet in circum-
ference in thirty years. The whorl of limbs encircling the
trunk marks its annual growth. Says Mr. Emerson, in his Re-
port on Trees and Shrubs in Massachusetts, "In 1809 or '10, a
belt of pines and other trees was planted on two sides of the
Botanic Garden in Cambridge, to protect it from north-west
winds. When they had been growing thirty-one years, ten of
the white pines, measured by myself, exhibited an average of
twenty inches in diameter at the ground. The two largest
measured five feet seven inches in circumference at the ground.
One in Hingham, at the age of thirty-two, measured seven feet
in circumference at the ground and sixty-two feet six inches in
height — averaging annually nearly an inch in diameter and two
feet in height."

We might, did space allow, give the results of oak planta-
tions and trees of other species, all tending to encourage
forest-planting. In closing, we give, as one more incentive to
tree culture, the results of the growth of the different species
of an English plantation of six acres for twenty years. The
soil was wet and swampy, resting upon a substratum of gravel.

Lombardy Poplar, Populus dilatata,

Abcle, Populus alba,

Plane, Platanus occidentalis,

Locust, Robinia acacia,

Elm, Ulmus campestris,

Chestnut, Castanea vesca,

White Pine, Pinus slrobus,

Spruce, Abies communis,

Larch, Larix communis,

Who of the members of the society will commence an ex-
periment in forest tree-planting, and thus render productive his
worn-out and unproductive lands? By so doing he will render
the " old homestead " more of a gem, and prove himself a prov-
ident husbandman.

L. Wetherell, Chairman.

Average
feet in height.

Average
circum.
ft. in.

GO to

80

4

8

50 to

70

4

6

50 to

60

3

6

50 to

60

2

4

40 to

60

3

6

30 to

50

2

9

30 to

50

2

5

30 to

50

2

2

50 to

60

3

10

HEDGES. 107

HEDGES.

NORFOLK.

Report of the Committee.

The desire to combine the pleasing with the useful, to sur-
round one's self with objects which are agreeable to the eye and
gratifying to a refined taste, naturally springs up and strengthens
in the breast as man advances in intellectual culture. A perfect-
ly plain edifice may answer the bare wants of nature, may keep
out wind and rain; but if a little architectural beauty can be
secured, or a little ornament be added, without a sacrifice of
convenience, something is gained in point of rational enjoyment.
So in the disposition and management of grounds ; grace, pro-
portion, harmony, and variety of beautiful forms, secured by
the introduction of clumps of well-chosen trees and shrubs,
and in other ways, are deserving of attention, not only as fur-
nishing an innocent pleasure, but as tending to refine and ele-
vate the mind and feelings. The arrangements of a farm, even,
should give evidence of a regard to something beyond and
above the mere coarser wants of existence.

A well-set and well-kept hedge combines, in an eminent de-
dree, the two elements of utility and beauty. To an American,
the green hedges of Old England constitute one of the most
pleasing features in the landscape of that country, so fresh and
beautiful. Your committee rejoice to believe that there is a
growing appreciation of their advantages, and an increased
attention to their culture, among ourselves.

The abundance and cheapness of materials suitable for walls
and fences, with other considerations, will long prevent our
farms from exhibiting the tasteful appearance of those of the
her country, which have enjoyed the benefits of centuries
of culture and improvement. Still we have ornamental grounds,
and wealth will seek more and more to diffuse itself over the
surface of our soil in creations of beauty as well as of utility.
The taste for rural occupations and enjoyment of the pleasant
airs of the country will lead to improvements both attractive
to the eye and dear to the affections. There is no reason why

103 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE.

the beauty of a green and well-cut hedge, taking the place of
ugly walls and fences, should be overlooked ; and it will not be.
Foliage is always beautiful, and the eye seeks it and rests upon
it with delight.

In the discharge of the duty assigned them, your committee
have visited the grounds of two gentlemen — Capt. Daniel C.
Bacon, of Jamaica Plain, and C. B. Shaw, Esq., of Dcdham.
The hedges on these grounds have been all under the care of
Mr. Robert Watt, and bear evidence of his peculiar taste and
skill. Your committee took great pleasure in visiting both
these places. On both, the hedges exceed the length of one
thousand feet required for a premium.

The materials used by Capt. Bacon for his hedges are the
buckthorn, the privet, or prim, and the arbor vitoe. For divis-
ion lines between lots or contiguous grounds, the privet forms
a very pretty and graceful hedge. Its small, delicate leaves,
often thickly set, are pleasing to the eye, and have the advan-
tage of remaining on the stem and preserving their verdure
longer than those of most plants or shrubs. In parts of Eng-
land the privet is an evergreen ; and even here it is not uncom-
mon for branches which lie near the ground, where they are
well protected, to retain their verdure unimpaired through the
winter. In setting the hedge to which we refer, Capt. Bacon
used alternately a plant of the privet and one of the buckthorn.
But, notwithstanding the vigorous and hardy character of the
buckthorn, the privet now prevails ; and at the time of the visit
of your committee, (the 16th of October,) very little of the
foliage of the buckthorn was visible, but the leaves of the privet
clothed the whole surface with a soft, delicate green. The
hedge, which is extensive, is five years old.

The plants of the privet may be obtained at very little ex-
pense from England, or may be raised from the seed, or from
slips — the better method of the two. The only objection of
which we are aware to the use of this material for hedges is,
that, in certain positions, the plant, though in the main very
hardy, is, from sonic cause, subject to occasional blight or in-
jury. It thrives in almost any soil ; but dry, hot situations are
least friendly to its healthy growth and vigor.

Very fine specimens of buckthorn hedges may be seen in

HEDGES. 109

Dedham and elsewhere in the county; hut to give a detailed
notice of them would be impossible within the limits prescribed
for this report. The attention of your committee has been
directed particularly to hedges of the arbor vita?, which possess
some very decided advantages over all others. They are beau-
tiful through the year. In winter, it is true, they lose their
decidedly green color and assume a slightly brownish tint.
But still they are beautiful; while the buckthorn, with the loss
of its foliage, loses its whole beauty. There are few objects
in ornamental grounds on which the eye lingers with more
pleasure than on the thick, massive, and seemingly impenetra-
ble foliage of a well-cut arbor vitas hedge.

It is an advantage attending this material, too, that the
plants can be readily trained to any height almost one chooses,
from that of the common hedge to fifteen or twenty feet or
more, when a screen of that height is needed to conceal objects
unsightly to the eye. Careful and proper clipping, however,
is necessary, whether the plants stand alone, or are grouped in
clusters, or arranged in the line of a hedge, else the branches
will grow straggling and lose a great part of their beauty.

A hedge of arbor vitae is, of course, subject to injury from
cattle, which must be carefully kept from it. From its delicacy
and susceptibility to injury, too, it does not answer well on the
roadside, where passers by are liable thoughtlessly to pluck
branches from it — thus making holes, or giving it a ragged ap-
pearance, from which it may be some years in recovering.

There is no particular difficulty in rearing an arbor vitas
hedge if it can be secured against depredation from the horns
of cattle and from human hands. The tree is very tenacious
of life, and the expense of setting and rearing the hedge is very
little greater than is required to rear one of other materials, the
buckthorn or prim, for example. It was formerly thought that
the plants, which may be obtained in abundance from the for-
ests of New Hampshire and Maine, must be transferred from
the forest to the nursery before being used for a hedge. But
experience shows that, if taken up and packed with due care,
this is unnecessary. Hedges formed from plants brought di-
rectly from the forest will succeed very well with proper treat-
ment.

110 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE.

Capt. Bacon lias a large extent of arbor vita? hedge reared
from plants, brought, we believe, directly from the forest six
years ago. It borders on an avenue, from which it is separat-
ed by a bank wall, which secures it against depredation or
injury ; and on approaching the residence of the proprietor, it
forms a very attractive object to the eye. Capt. Bacon has, in
all, one thousand nine hundred and forty-nine feet of hedge.

To the beauty of Mr. Shaw's hedge of arbor vita?, all who
have seen it will bear testimony. It was begun five years ago,
the plants being taken from a nursery ; and nothing could be
more successful. It stands on the edge of a beautiful lawn
which spreads before his house, and is graceful in its form, pre-
senting easy curves, on which the eye dwells with peculiar sat-
isfaction. Mr. Shaw's hedge, in a continuous line, consisting
of arbor vita? and buckthorn, is one thousand one hundred feet ;
besides which he has another piece of arbor vita? hedges of
some length.

Eben Wight, Chairman.

Dedham, November 1G, 1854.

DEEP TILLAGE.
A Prize Essay, from the Transactions of the Essex Society.

BY DR. E. O. K.KLLKY.

Deep tillage is the sine qua non for immediate and permanent
success in horticulture, agriculture, and particularly arboricul-
ture. Under this head we include all deep working of the
earth, such as trenching, and trench-spading, draining, deep
ploughing, and subsoil ploughing; to be followed by deep tree
and seed planting.

The principle we arc about to advocate in the preparation
of the soil is not entirely new. The fanner who is proverbial-
ly prejudiced against any innovation on his long-established
customs will bear in mind that our first progenitor was ex-

DEEP TILLAGE. Ill

polled from the garden to " till the ground." While this word
"till" may lie applied to general husbandry, it is susceptible
in the Hebrew, as wc learn from good authority, of a more
special and profound signification, equivalent to deep culture,
digging, labor, producing the " sweat of the face," as we often
see in trenching.

Judging from the recorded characters of this first farmer,
and his oldest son, who was also bred a farmer, we may infer
that they refused to till as commanded, and consequently gath-
ered a meagre harvest. Hence, at the first agricultural exhi-
bition, when the latter presented the " fruits of the ground,"
these did not even command " respect." Nor has the occupa-
tion itself been respectable since in the minds of many. Thus
disappointed and mortified, the son at once, like most of the
sons of farmers, turned his attention to city life ; and, as is
too often the case, he did not appreciate the worthy daughters
around him, but married his wife in a foreign land, and even
named his first born after his favorite city. If, therefore, the
agriculturist would gain the respect and approval of man and
his Maker, please his wife with tempting fruits, keep his sons
at home, and marry his daughters, he must raise, decidedly, his
standard of excellence, of cultivation, and of refinement.

This first attempt to extend garden culture to the field
failed ; nor has it obtained to the present time to any great
extent. The modern horticulturist gives to his vines and choice
trees that thorough culture which every product of the earth
requires for its most bountiful yield. His few rods, well
drained and trenched, are more profitable than as many acres
of the farmer's unprepared land. Another class, as yet quite
too limited, can count their varieties of pears and apples by
hundreds, all under high keeping. Their taste and refinement
arc apparent by the order, neatness, and thrift of every thing
about their beautiful mansions, ornamental grounds, and gar-
dens, as well as their extensive fields and herds. We cannot
refrain from calling these the hortico-agriculturists of the coun-
try, connecting links between the two extremes, to whom the
mere routine agriculturist may well look for pecuniary, orna-
mental, and scientific improvement in his department.

To many farmers, mulching and irrigation are mysterious

112 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE.

words. But for the drought only are these serviceable, and for
this, even, they are not adapted to general use. Our theme, on
the contrary, is universal in its application, equally serviceable
for every vicissitude of weather and season, for all localities
and varieties of soil, and for every vegetable production. It
is a term familiar to all, if not in its qualification and details.

It turns the drought itself to good account, and renders
mulching and irrigation comparatively useless, or, if used, more
efficacious. During a dry spell and in trenched ground, roots
strike deeper in search of food and moisture, become more ex-
tensively ramified, and sooner find the rich loam and manure
intermingled deeply with the soil. The leaching process, as it
is called, is reversed, and takes place upwards more than at
any other time, or, in more scientific phrase, capillary attrac-
tion is increased. As each particle of moisture is evaporated
from the surface it is succeeded by another, and the whole soil
is filled with the ascending moisture and gases, which are ap-
propriated by the numerous rootlets as they have need.

The wet season is also a blessing to the deep cultivator.
The more rain, the more heat, ammonia, carbonic acid, and
other organic elements are left in the soil as it descends. As
each drop filters through, it is succeeded by another, or by air,
both essential to vegetation, and to dissolve, act on, or com-
bine with, the inorganic elements of the soil. As the water
drains off air is sure to follow; and this is the proper mode of
its circulation. Each is also generally at a higher temperature
than the undrained land, and the warmth of the under soil is
therefore relatively increased. The farmer often objects to
this waste of water, and would fain retain it for a dry time.
The trenched and porous soil holds water like a sponge, not-
withstanding the drainage. It retains or can command enough
for the wants of vegetation. But let us sec the operation on
the undrained land.

The farmer often speaks of his "cold, wet land." No varie-
ty of soil, in any location, is, of itself, colder than another.
The very water which trenching, draining, &o., allow to pass
off after imparting its virtues to the soil, if retained on or near
the surface by hard, impervious subsoil, becomes itself, by its
changes, the source of the coldness complained of. Instead of

DEEP TILLAGE. 113

running olT it evaporates, and by this process abstracts a great
quantity of heat from the soil and surrounding atmosphere.
The evaporation of a pound of water requires about one thou-
sand decrees of heat, — some authors stating it less and others
more, — or it reduces one hundred pounds of air forty-five dc-
grees. This is reversing the experiment of Professor Johnson,
in E.?py's " Book of Storms," where he says " a pound of vapor "
condensed to water "would heat one hundred pounds of air
about forty-five degrees." The ground to a considerable depth
is warmer, by many degrees, where the rain is drained oil' in-
stead of being allowed to accumulate and evaporate. Hence
this enormous loss of an invaluable stimulus to vegetation.

This chilling and deadly process of evaporation is going on
to excess from the time frost comes out of the ground in the
spring till freezing again occurs. At this period the undraincd
land, having the most water to freeze, becomes the warmest,
say in December, when of no value to vegetation, but rather an
injury. For once, forsooth, the undrained land is warmer than
the drained. But for this excess of heat in winter, this kind
of land must pay dearly in early spring. " How is all this ? "
inquires the farmer. Simply because water in congealing to
either ice or snow has its capacity for heat lessened about one-
ninth, and this excess is given off to surrounding bodies; or, in
other words, its latent heat is set free. On the other hand,
ice, or frost as it is called in the ground, in melting, demands
back this same heat, at the rate of from one-eighth to one-
ninth of one thousand degrees for every pound melted ; and
under the surface it does not obtain all this directly from the
sun, but through the soil. Therefore the more water, the cold-
er and longer cold will be the land in the spring. Now, let the
agriculturist go to work and make this " cold, wet, heavy land "
of his the very best he has for any product — trees, vegetables,
grains, or grasses. Expense is his next objection. To this
we will allude in passing.

Trenching. — This is understood to be simply inverting the
ground to a given depth, without change of material or place,
except for the mere facility of the operation. We generally
make the trenches three feet wide, and from two to three feet
deep, never less than two. The bottom of each, after being

15*

114 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE.

thoroughly loosened with spade or pick, should receive the
small stones, brush, horn piths, or any rubbish at hand, and then
the sod or surface soil of the next section should be shovelled
over. It may be necessary to vary the depth according to the
condition of the subsoil. If hard strata of sandy or clayey
loam are met with, they should be broken up for the free trans-
mission of water. In decidedly clay bottoms through which
water will not pass, we construct drains a foot below the grade
of the trenches, and twenty-five feet apart, and, if the inclina-
tion of the land will admit of it, at right angles with the latter.
After a trench is finished, these bits of drains are sunk, corre-
sponding with those of the preceding trench.

A man will trench about two square rods in a day, which, at
a dollar per day, amounts to eighty dollars an acre. But many
laborers are hired by the year, say at an average of thirteen
dollars per month, or at the rate of fifty cents per day, includ-
ing board, thus lessening the expense about one-half. It may
also be done early in spring or late in the fall, when other
work is not pressing, or at any intermediate leisure time.
This may be thought too expensive for common farming crops,
where other means and modes can be extensively employed ;
but it is indispensable for all garden purposes, for ornamental
grounds, and for trees of all kinds ; once done, it is done for a
lifetime. To us the expense is balanced by the gratification
in doing it, and in witnessing the subsequent increased growth
and produce of every thing cultivated. With what satisfaction
do we see " dog grass " plunged to the bottom of a trench,
never again to rise, along with the seeds of innumerable weeds,
accumulated by years of neglected cultivation, nevermore to
vegetate ! In fact, we think the time saved by thus obviating
the necessity of destroying weeds on many pieces of land
would, in half a dozen years, equal the time spent in trenching;
the soil in the former case not being permanently improved,
while the value of the trenched increases annually.

As the operation progresses, all the manure that can be
spared may be mixed with the soil or carted upon the new sur-
face after the ground is frozen. We also spread on limo or
ashes to neutralize any acids that may be in the yellow virgin
soil, already richer to us than if colored by the golden sands

DEEP TILLAGE. 1 1 5

of California. Wc are aware that many look upon this yellow
loam as being positively noxious, which we so much delight to
see upon the surface, to be enriched by the rains and snows of
summer and winter, and pulverized by the freezing and thaw-
ing of spring and fall, while the roots of our trees, strawber-
ries, and roses arc revelling in the rich loam beneath.

Trench Soiling. — We have presumed to coin a new term for
the process of deepening the soil while trenching. It might
more properly be called subsoiling if this were not already
used synonymously with subsoil ploughing. When the under
soil is not capable of being made productive it should be re-
moved, and turf, loam, muck, manure, or compost substituted.
We have often been surprised at the variety of subsoil in near-
ly the same location, not always indicated by the super-soil.
Gravel, stones, sand, or clay are not unfrequently a foot or less
below the surface. In trenching two acres we obtained an
abundance of the former for all our walks, and small stones to
drain an acre of wet land, and fdled their places with better
material. Portions with clay and sandy subsoil were trenched
both at the same time, and loads of each exchanged and mixed
— making some of our best land.

This made soil is still more expensive than the merely
trenched ; but land that is comparatively worthless is thus
rendered valuable. Land on which no dependence can be
placed for a crop in dry or wet seasons may be made the most
productive, and permanent success secured. Many trees which
flourish through a series of ordinary years die during the first
severe drought, as has been the case the past season. Let,
then, the cultivator make his soil of uniform quality and depth,
and be no longer liable to vexation, or doomed to disap-
pointment.

While land is being trenched or re-soiled, as above, it is a
convenient time to level or grade — and this has not been one
of the least of our objects. Any superfluous yellow loam
spread on grass land, or sand or gravel on clay land, will
well pay for the carting. The agriculturist has many opportu-
nities for improvement. While much of his work is laborious,
he is not usually as active and industrious as men engaged in
other business. Our early youth was spent on a farm, and wo

116 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE.

are now returning to our first love. Men of all pursuits and
professions seldom find a resting-place, mentally or physically,
till they own more or less of terra fir ma ; and we envy not
the person who does not enjoy improving and embellishing it.

Trench Spading. — The cultivator who makes no other extra,
and, to him, useless outlay, will find his reward with many gar-
den crops in what may be called double or trench spading.
We do it thus: Spade a cut in the usual way; then step into
the excavation at one end and work backwards, spading of
course at the bottom of the first cut, throwing the earth on
top of that first turned up, or leaving it in the trench. "We
prefer the former ; for, as the reader is already aware, we like
some poor soil at the surface. The next regular cut will then
fall at the bottom of this spaded trench. Twice the time is
required to spade in this manner, but double the crop will fol-
low in a dry season. Corn planted the past year on land so
prepared, and previously well manured, showed no signs of the
excessive drought, while our neighbor's crop was almost worth-
less. We might add, however, that this same land was subsoil
ploughed two years before.

Draining. — For wet, clayey, and extensive fields, intended
for grass or annual crops, under-ground draining and one
thorough subsoil ploughing will be found the proper treat-
ment, and somewhat less expensive than trenching. We have
had experience in less than two acres, drained witli brush
from the orchard and stones accumulated in trenching, and are
getting quite in love with the operation. We have five acres
of clayey land not yielding a ton of hay to the acre, but are
bound to have at least treble the quantity. There are two
ways for the farmer to calculate expense — that of doing, and
the virtual loss by not doing. A few years' profits would have
paid for draining this whole field; but want of time and tiles
have delayed it.

Drain tiles cannot, at present, be procured nearer than Al-
bany, but will soon be manufactured in this State, when we
trust our New England agriculturists will use them extensively.
There is ample evidence of their utility in England and in New
York. We dig the drains three and a half feet deep and
twenty-five feet apart. Owing to the dry season the clay bot-

DEEP TILLAGE. 117

torn became unusually hard, and, wages being high, wc paid
thirty cents a rod ; but they can be made for less under more
favorable circumstances.

Deep Ploughing. — This is the first step taken by farmers
in the course of innovation on their superficial culture. Many*
however, are still inveterately opposed to even this; but we
hope they will plough a few inches deeper every year, as has
been often modestly recommended. Before either the subsoil
or Michigan plough was heard of, we used to have our garden
ploughed twice in the same furrow, and with great advantage.
For this operation, very unreasonable to the man of the plough,
we had to pay more than doubly dear, and might not have
escaped mobbing had a dozen like fellows been at hand.

The Michigan, or double, plough is indeed a timely invention.
Its work is imperfect trenching. On land that would be im-
proved by draining, but neglected, the turning of the sod into
the bottom of the furrow, and bringing up the under soil, is
better than subsoil ploughing. The surface is left in fine tilth
for one ploughing, and the drainage effected by the greensward
beneath keeps it so ; and almost any crop will tell of its good
effects during the summer. But this is temporary. Deeper
and more permanent results will be effected by subsoil
ploughing.

Subsoil Ploughing. — This is ploughing through and loosen-
ing the substrata without bringing to the surface any of the
farmer's obnoxious "cold soil." It is not recommended on wet
land previous to draining by those who have had experience,
but afterwards its effects are said to be very marked. We
have subsoil-ploughed, to an average depth of twenty-two
inches, half an acre, with a hard, gravelly subsoil, intended
chiefly for a lawn. This land we cultivated with vegetables
one year prior, and two years since, with the addition of trees.
The comparative thrift of the former after the operation, and
the luxuriant growth of the latter during the summer droughts,
were remarkable. Some of the pear shoots measured from five
to six feet. It is on these not very unusual occasions of drought
that the importance of deep tillage in any form becomes most
apparent. But for no product of the earth is it more so than
in tree culture.

118 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE.

Tree Culture. — In this, deep tillage is of paramount impor-
tance, and the time to do it is before any trees are transplanted.
We are draining between the rows of an old orchard, on very
tenacious soil — the only sub-treatment that can now be given
without too much injury to the roots. To " dig round and
dung " these trees has been as fruitless as in the case of the
ancient fig tree, which was doubtless on untrenched soil !
Haste to get trees into the ground, to remain stinted for years,
and never after to thrive and produce as they would on prop-
erly-prepared land, is too often followed by regrets to the
present and subsequent owners and the early decay of the
trees.

Our plan has been, to be four years preparing and planting
four acres. We allow the land trenched in one season to set-
tle till spring; then, after levelling and manuring, if needed,
when not previously done, set out the trees. If all was imper-
fectly done in one year, a great source of enjoyment would be
lost. Next to the gratification in observing the vigorous
growth of one year's labor is that of preparing for the next
plantation. Employment, useful and with an object, is essen-
tial to our happiness.

Just now the universal caution is, not to plant deep. Why ?
Not because deep planting is not necessary in point of fact, but
for the reason that so many trees are buried in mere graves, to
die afterwards by stifling, thirst, and starvation. Where is
the tree or shrub, cereal or vegetable, that does not take deep
root if it can, and can find food there ? — yea, in preference to
superficial growing. Was there ever an old drain or vault not
permeated or filled with the roots of trees standing in the
vicinity ? We have found them eight feet from the surface. Who
has not noticed the rank growth of trees, briers, and weeds by
the railroad side? Rich loam and vegetable mould do not
abound there — mulching and manures are not applied. What
then is the cause but deep stirring and mingling of the earth,
its comparative light and porous condition, through which the
rains of heaven filter freely, imparting her special manures as
they descend, and descend but to return by the slow process
of capillary attraction, and by the very rootlets which feed
upon them ?

DEEP TILLAGE. 119

We have transplanted successfully hundreds of one of the
most superficial growers of the forest, the hemlock spruce,
{Abies canadensis,) setting them three inches or more deeper
than we found them, or sufficiently so as to smother the grass ta-
ken up with the trees. The common laurel, (Kalmia hit if alia.)
with which most people fail of success, has succeeded entirely
planted in trenched ground. These were taken from very poor,
sandy soil, where the roots ran near the surface, and planted
three inches deeper.

The farmer may boast of his natural soil, wet or shallow,
and trifle with the idea of an artificial one, or the benefits of
science. The sage nursery-man may direct to plant the tree
only as deep as natural, and in similar soil, heedless of the fact
that cultivation gives a second nature. With this word nature,
however, and its advocates, we have but little sympathy. What
was ever more fortuitous than the formation of soil on the face
of the earth, or the lodgment of seeds of the vegetable king-
dom ? Cultivation is artificial ; and the more art directed by
science, the greater the success. The progressive cultivator is
not to inquire what Nature does without the means to do with,
but what can, or rather what cannot, art accomplish with the
help of science, vegetable physiology, observation, and practical
experience. We have taken great pains to obtain peaty soil
for rhododendrons and other shrubs for which peat has been
recommended ; but all grow equally well planted deep in
trenched garden soil. We are therefore not an advocate for
special soils so much as for special tillage and manures.

The constitution and habits of all kinds of vegetation are
not very dissimilar. Why, then, should celery alone among
vegetables be cultivated in rich soil, trenched from two to
three feet deep, and its roots half that depth below the surface
for a long time, not only with impunity, but with the most
thrifty growth ? This is done ostensibly for bleaching ; but
who can fail to see the manifest good from its deep culture ?
What is this vegetable by nature, or in its natural soil ? Why
should the pear, and that only on the quince, be planted so
deep as to throw out roots from its own stock, and for that
purpose merely ? Is any tree more thrifty than this, thus
planted in rich, trenched soil ? What is the native by the side

120 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE.

of the improved or cultivated pear ? And what may not deep
terra culture yet accomplish ?

The tap root of a tree is cut off in the nurseries or destroyed
when taken up elsewhere ; then why may not the remaining
roots be set deeper as a substitute for the loss ? And if the
other roots are thrown out, what is the harm ? Indeed, why
has it a tap root at all, if deep rooting is not necessary ? Our
practice, however, is, to plant so deep that the existing roots
shall throw out laterals in all directions, but not to require
them from the collar of the tree. We never lost a tree by
deep planting. Some are thereby later putting out in the
spring; and we have adopted a plan in some instances of not
bringing all the earth around the tree till after the leaves have
started, and even much later, when it answers well for mulch-
ing. Planted in this manner, we have yet to learn whether the
late growth of wood will not ripen to withstand the winter.

Let us be understood as advocating deep planting only when
the soil has been properly prepared. We would sooner place
a tree on the surface of the ground and heap dirt around it
than thrust it in a hole barely large and deep enough to receive
its roots. We can conceive of no more certain way to destroy
a tree than this exposure to half a dozen mortal causes. A
tree set in such a basin, with a hard stratum beneath, is liable
to be drowned ; the water excludes the air, and the tree is
stifled. Even if good loam is put around the roots for early
use, when they are obliged to extend laterally into soil unfitted
for them the tree starves. When a drought occurs, the hard
ground at the circumference of the roots becomes dry first at
the very point where there should be the most moisture and
nourishment, and the tree is "withered, dried up from the
roots." Should it survive all these, the water freezing about
the roots may throw it from its position, or long-continued
stagnant water will end its days sooner or later.

The amateur cultivator occasionally loses some of his trees
in winter, both fruit and ornamental, and forthwith declares
such species or varieties not hardy. Wo doubt not many rare
and valuable trees and shrubs, deciduous and evergreen, not
now supposed to be sufficiently hardy to endure our climate, or
only half hardy, will be found, by repeated trials in thoroughly

DEEP TILLAGE. 121

drained .soil, to be perfectly hardy. We have some proofs of
this ; but present limits will not admit of details.

Deep Seed Culture. — We can only allude briefly to seed
planting. Often is the farmer obliged to wait till late in the
spring to plough much of his land. Ilis seed is planted, and
rots, or a few parching days prevent its vegetating. He knows
not which most to fear or guard against — a sudden wet or dry
spell. This uncertainty, and perhaps loss of crops, are obvi-
ated by some of the modes of treatment we have recommended.
Seeds always should be, and then can be, planted deeper than
is common. They will vegetate sooner, more uniformly, and
be followed by a more luxuriant growth.

Land well drained may also be cultivated much earlier, and
it is often quite an object to give some crops an early start.
If the tops are cut down by untimely frosts, life will not be as
often destroyed if deeply planted, as is the case with Indian
corn. Short and stocky stems above ground are also better
able to withstand the changes of wind and weather. It is not
unusual for grains and grasses to be winter-killed. If, howev-
er, the agriculturist will have the roots well covered by a deep
gauge of the seed sower, and well drained, he will not be likely
to lose his summer prospects in winter.

Another consideration is the hilling process. It will still be
found unavoidable to hill in the old-fashioned way if the plough
run3 but a few inches deep. Corn must have dry soil and
deep root ; and if the farmer will not work doivn, he must work
up. No practice, however, is more absurd and useless than
this, if abundance of room and ample drainage are provided.
Writers may discuss the pros and cons of its expediency; but
we believe it will be found to turn, finally, on this point of
deep tillage.

16 •

122 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE.

PLOUGHING.

WORCESTER.

Report of the Committee.

Your committee claim to be veterans in the ancient and hon-
orable occupation of ploughing — a large majority having seen
much field service, either as holder or driver, and frequently
serving in both capacities at the same time ; and some of us
claim the honor, pleasure, and profit of participating annually,
either as ploughmen or drivers, or of being chained to the post,
for a whole generation (of thirty years;) and they well recol-
lect the old wooden plough that was used here thirty-five years
ago at the society's first exhibition. It was then ride and tie ;
you ride, then I. Each owner of oxen had the privilege of
hitching his team to this one plough, and with a driver, and a
strong man to hold, bracing himself at an angle of forty-five
degrees. And the cry from the wondering spectators, as well
as marshals, was, —

Clear the brown path, to meet his colter's gleam ;
Lo ! on he comes, behind his smoking team ;
With toil's bright dewdrops on his sunburnt brow,
The lord of earth, the hero of the plough.

A generation has passed. We have ploughed in thirty-five
different fields, and on many of them now stand some of the
most costly dwellings to be found. And it is believed by your
committee that if at any time the good old Commonwealth
should find fault with the part of the bounty she has so liber-
ally bestowed on us for the promotion of this object, we could
easily show her that she, in turn, had been richly remunerated
for paying our tuition; for, wherever we have ploughed, good
crops have been sure to follow: first milk, then meat, then
men, not a few, nor of ordinary quality — three at least who
have most honorably and wisely administered her government
nearly or quite half of the years we have been ploughing. Be-
sides, our land has produced a larger crop of house and city
lots than can be found in any other agricultural society to
which she has extended her bounty. We have ploughed tho

PLOUGHING. 123

good old village of 1818 into the city of '54, and turned the
wooden instrument of that date into the beautiful and useful
one of to-day ; and, in turn, the city has turned us and our cat-
tle pens from our first love (the common) into the barn yard
belonging to the new farm ; but, they having kindly permitted
us to take our flocks and fatlings with us, we will not complain.

This morning your committee, encouraged by the past, start-
ed sixteen well-fed, well-trained strong teams. Fourteen ox
and three horse teams had been previously entered for the trial.
Sixteen promptly made their appearance. One of the delin-
quents came forward seasonably and stated that one of his
oxen had been lamed, and it was impossible for him to fulfil his
engagement. All the teamsters displayed a remarkable degree
of skill. No noise, no whipping, was heard. Every ox and
horse seemed to understand the arduous duties imposed on
him ; and to say that the skill and dexterity of the ploughmen
were in the least behind any former year, would be doing injus-
tice to their real merit.

The field on which the trial was had to-day was a favorable
one. The soil for the first five or six inches is a gravelly
loam, with a clayey, loamy subsoil, and of about the same
character as a large majority of our YF orcester county hill
lands, and should, in the judgment of your committee, be
worked to a much greater depth than any single team is able
to plough. And your committee would recommend that, in
coming years, a portion at least of your premiums be offered
to any team suitable to turn the furrow from eight to ten inches
deep, whether with the Michigan, subsoil, or other plough,
rather than as heretofore offered only for single teams, which
are never able to plough deeper than from five to seven inches,
and this for no length of time. Your committee all agree that
the day has passed when we should encourage shallow plough-
ing, certainly of such soil as was ploughed to-day. If Mother
Earth yielded her productions spontaneously to the inhabitants
of the garden of Eden, she is not so indulgent now ; for she
must be continually stirred and vexed by the plough, and more
deeply and thoroughly tilled and cultivated, or her children
will want. And your committee know of no instrument in use
that equals the Michigan plough for thorough cultivation and

124 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE.

pulverizing the soil, as well as to leave it in the best possible
condition for any crop which may follow.

We do not propose going into details as to whether this
plough requires more strength of team to turn the turf eight or
ten inches under and bring four inches of the subsoil to the
surface which had never been disturbed before; but reason,
and the experience of to-day, have convinced us that it requires
(certainly for the first deep ploughing) nearly three times the
strength of team, with any plough, to go ten inches in a clayey
soil than it does to turn six inches.

Our old friend Major Newton kindly furnished us with a
team of three good strong yoke of oxen; and after the other
(single) teams had finished their respective lots, this team of
three yoke was hitched to the Michigan plough, and we wit-
nessed with great pleasure a few rounds at the depth of ten
inches full — completely turning under every particle of grass,
and bringing up a portion of the subsoil to the surface, where,
if allowed to remain fallow a short time, it becomes as strong
and good as new. There has been a theory in times past,
and a very plausible theory it was, that the goodness of ma-
nures would be lost by deep ploughing, or rendered unavaila-
ble, as they must necessarily leach or filter away through the
substratum. Let any one who fears this calamity take turbid
or impure water of any kind and filtrate it through a common
filterer, or, in absence of this, a common flower pot, with a hole in
the bottom. Let him first put in his surface soil and apply his
turbid water, and he will soon discover that this worn-out soil
has not the power to deprive this barn-yard liquor or other
water of its color or odor, only in part; but if you fill the
filterer with the subsoil and run this liquor through, you find it
comes out robbed of its odor if not entirely of its color. Hence
the use of subsoil on all clayey lands, for the compost heap as
well as barn yards and pigsties, in preference to the surface.
We cannot close this report without urging our farmers to try
deep ploughing in almost any of our Worcester county soils —
certainly such as we have been ploughing to-day. This cannot
be too strongly urged if we would increase, by a large percent-
age, the amount of our crops.

Harvey Dodge, Chairman.

PLOUGHING. 125

HAMPSHIRE, FRANKLIN AND HAMPDEN.

Statement of Horace Kellogg, Jr.

No. 1 was a piece of gravelly land sown to spring wheat,
about half an acre subsoiled to the depth of fifteen inches.
I sowed about an acre without subsoiling, which ripened prema-
turely, on account of the drought, so as to be hardly worth cut-
ting ; while that on the subsoiled part was as fine wheat as I
ever saw.

No. 2. I planted ten acres of Indian corn — the soil a heavy
loam, ploughed to the depth of eight inches with the Michi-
gan plough. Subsoiled four acres of it to the depth of eighteen
inches. The corn on the subsoiled part evidently stood the
severe dry weather better than that on the land not subsoiled,
though I have not determined the difference by measurement.
I subsoiled a piece of heavy, wet loam for potatoes; but as it
was not sufficiently drained, it was an injury to the land. I
think, from my experience, it will not do to subsoil wet land
without first draining it sufficiently deep to carry off all the
water.

Amherst, October, 1854.

HAMPSHIRE.
Report of the Committee.

The preparation of the soil with the plough, an important
preliminary to the reception of seed, is, every thing considered,
the groundwork of farming. It lies at the bottom of the whole
subject, and is its grand basis. As we enter upon this theme,
a multitude of inquiries suggest themselves.

To a few of the most important we will give our attention.
Many thiugs are positively necessary in order to have the
work done properly and well. First, the quality and condition
of the soil are to be considered. If not already in a fit state,
the work of preparation should be thoroughly consummated.
Heaps of stones, rocks, and roots of trees and shrubs, and
every other impediment should be removed. The soil should

126 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE.

be neither too wet nor too dry. A suitable moisture is highly
necessary to a smoothly-turned furrow, and the work is done
with much greater ease. A day or two following a moderate
rain is a suitable period for ploughing, more particularly on
sward land. Secondly, the plough must be of the right kind,
and constructed on scientific principles. No man, however
skilful, can do the work well with a poor plough. And there
is no good excuse for using poor ploughs at the present day.
American ingenuity has brought the implement so nearly to
perfection that few more improvements can be made ; and the
prices are low enough, so that every farmer, however moderate
his circumstances, can own the very best. We have a great
many excellent varieties. There are so many that do the
work very perfectly that farmers can select without much
hesitation.

The different varieties have their peculiar excellences.
Some are more suitable for stony, others for sandy, land.
Some do the work best in light, others in heavy, soils. Anoth-
er is suitable for one section of country, while a different style
and size arc just the thing, where the first would do badly. All
latitudes, lands, and tastes can be suited and well served ; and
the ploughman, if he possesses a proper judgment, can easily
adapt his implement to the condition of his land.

Thirdly, a proper and well-trained team is an important
item in good ploughing. One that will go over the most ground
with a good deal of hawing, and geeing, and goading, is by
no means the best team. More land may be badly ploughed,
to be sure, by " cutting and covering," and leaving the work
half done ; but what arc the results ? The team, at night, will
be jaded; the ploughman hoarse and full of vexation by hal-
looing to his team, and lame in every joint ; and, worse than
all, the ploughed field will appear more like the " sea in a
storm " than a lot of well-turned furrows, and will be withal ill
prepared for future uso. One acre of sward land is enough
for two yoke of oxen to plough in a day. They should be
trained to work evenly and without fretting. They should be
of tlic right ago, condition, and strength to draw the plough
steadily along tho furrow. They should be well fed, kindly
treated, and have a suitable driver.

PLOUGHING. 127

The ploughman often drives himself, when ploughing with a
single, well-trained yoke of oxen ; but when more than one
yoke is required, a driver is necessary. Hoys arc sometimes
employed, restless, peevish, and ill tempered, and entirely unfit
for the business, not having half the discretion of the oxen
themselves.

They can shout haw ! and gee-up ! and flourish the whip and
use the goad to perfection. The well-trained and sensible an-
imals, not used to such company, fret and miss the furrow as
the lash is inaptly and untimely applied ; and, as a consequence,
the land is badly ploughed, and the animals injured. The lash,
and the goad to the backs of such boys, say we, and a good
discretionary driver for the oxen.

Finally, it requires an experienced and skilful ploughman
in order that the work be well and properly done. It actually
does require tact and experience to guide the plough hand-
somely and to turn a furrow cleverly. Other things being
equal, afresh and & green hand and an old, well-trained plough-
man will produce very different results.

Width of furrow, depth, completeness in turning the sod,
proportionate width and evenness of all the furrows, — all these
receive the attention of the experienced ploughman ; and when
his labors are finished he beholds his field with honest pride
a beautiful triumph of the plough and the laborer's skill.

The above requirements are positively necessary and essen-
tial to a well-ploughed field. There are other collateral cir-
cumstances and things of minor consequence that ought to
receive attention. The plough should be kept in good order,
and free from soil, rust, and corrosion. A rough, unsmooth
plough turns a furrow badly, and requires more power to oper-
ate it. Ploughs should be kept housed, well cleaned, and pol-
ished, and then they will be fit for use.

They should always be supplied with a proper point. Some

farmers use a plough until the point is worn out and as blunted

as a miser's conscience, and it is impossible for them to do

work even moderately well. This is poor economy, and smacks

of bad calculation and want of judgment. Fifty cents for a

new point, as often a3 the old one ceases to do well, is money

well applied.

David Rice, Chairman.

128 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE.

HOUSATOXIC.
Report of the Committee.

The ploughboys of southern Berkshire are not to be beaten.
They cannot well beat each other. Direct them to cut a fur-
row slice of precise width and depth; to lay it flat or oblique,
and the direction will be obeyed to a hair. They are experts
at the plough in the full sense of the term. With such facts to
act upon, how can a committee discriminate ? When all stand
upon equal footing, instead of making solemn award in respect
to distinction of merit, the attempt to do which must necessari-
ly be greatly perplexing, the juster and readier way would be
to permit the competitors to " draw cuts."

Forced, however, as the committee were to make discrim-
ination, they have distributed the premiums, in their judgment,
as properly as the difficult service would allow.

Our ploughing match, always interesting and exciting, oc-
curred this year under most happy auspices. The day was
beautiful. A great concourse of " our good people " attended
to witness the struggle. There was a sufficient number of
competitors to render the scene animating; capital order was
maintained. Inside the lists was witnessed the glorious tug
for victory; outside was the applauding multitude, ready to
give the " all hail " to each ploughman as he turned over the
last inch of his furrow. Away with

"The glory earned in deadly fray ! "

and give us forever the glory of the plough.

Not the least gratifying passage in the proceedings of the
day was the fact that the ploughing match was had upon our
own ground, purchased by the society — a fact worthy to be
noticed, as indicating the prosperity of the society.

The number of competitors was twenty-two — fourteen with
horse teams, and eight with ox teams. Land ploughed by each
team, one-eighth of an acre. Time allowed, without rest, thirty-
five minutes.

I. Sumner, Chairman.

SPADING. 129

SPADING.

ESSEX.

Report of the Committee.

Thirteen entries were made, but only seven men competed
for premiums, all of whom were Irishmen.

The ground selected was a soft loam, and, though somewhat
uneven, well adapted for digging, but rather too narrow to ac-
commodate the numerous spectators who crowded with great
interest to witness, for the first time in this county, a competi-
tion of strength and skill in this direction. Towards the close
the excitement increased to confusion, as the better half of one
of the competitors stepped forward and fanned him with her
shawl, as in a burning sun he strained every nerve to win one
of your liberal premiums.

Each of the lots contained sixty square feet, and the work
was performed in from eight to twelve and a quarter minutes.
Two of the lots, Nos. five and seven, were dug with shovels;
but as this was the first effort of the kind, and the men under-
stood that it was immaterial whether spades or shovels were
used, they were allowed to compete with the others.

Some of the men dug with a trench, laying aside the first
row of sods, with which they filled the trench at the close.
Those who did so, appeared to find less difficulty in covering
the sward than did the others, who placed each sod in the spot
from which it was taken. All the lots were dug too rapidly to
admit of much pulverization, though some were left in better
condition than others.

Towards the close, in consequence of the spectators crowd-
ing close upon the work, the committee found it difficult to ob-
serve so accurately as they wished, the manner in which the
work was performed.

17*

130 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE.

MANURES.

WORCESTER NORTH.

Statement of Joseph Upton, Jr.

Wishing last spring to try an experiment to test the value
of guano compared with compost manure from my barn cellar,
I manured one acre of land in the following manner : on two-
thirds of the acre I spread twenty common ox-cart loads of com-
post manure from my barn cellar, and ploughed it in. On the
other one-third I sowed two hundred pounds of guano, broadcast,
and harrowed it in. I then planted the whole acre with corn,
putting a small handful of plaster and ashes into each hill, and
cultivating the whole alike. On the 10th day of October the
committee on grain examined that acre ; and, in their judgment,
there was but very little difference in the corn on the two
parts. They selected one square rod, the ears on which
weighed fifty and one-half pounds, and they gave me the sec-
ond premium. As near as I can calculate, the expense per acre,
manured as the above two-thirds were, would be about forty
dollars, and the cost per acre, manured as the one-third was,
with guano, about twenty-five dollars, showing a difference of
fifteen dollars per acre in the expense in favor of the guano.

HAMPSHIRE.

Essay by L. Wet her ell.

Of all the numerous topics that concern the tillers of the
soil — those who have entered into partnership with Nature in
order to multiply and increase the products of the earth upon
which man and his various domestic animals are to subsist —
there is none, perhaps, that more intimately relates to their
prosperity and ultimate success as farmers and gardeners than
that which the executive committee of the Hampshire Agricul-
tural Society proposed in their last annual showbill for an
essay, to wit, " Compost Manures."

Homer, who lived many hundred years before the Christian

MANURES. 131

era, mentions an old kino; who was found manuring his fields
with his own hands. Whether this circumstance gave applica-
tion of the word manure, from manus, signifying the hand, docs
not belong to the essayist to determine ; neither is it of any
consequence in the present discussion, because every farmer as
well understands the meaning of the word as now popularly-
used by writers and speakers, as he would were the question
of its etymological derivation settled beyond a query by the
most learned English or German philologist.

Compost, in agriculture, is a mixture or composition of vari-
ous mammal substances for fertilizing land. Compost manure
may therefore consist, as it often does, of a mixture of vegeta-
ble and animal substances with lime or other earthy matter,
substances, or compounds.

Before proceeding to the discussion of the subject under con-
sideration, it may be well to review, briefly, its past history,
in order that all who feel interested may be able to mark the
progress made through a long series of ages.

We read concerning Adam, the progenitor of the human race,
that after he was created, even before his lovely and loving
consort was provided for him, the Lord God planted a garden
in Eden, and there put he man, whom he had created, to
dress and keep it — thus implying that a life of innocence,
even, was not a life of indolence nor idleness, but a life
of activity. Eden's garden was to Adam a place of pleasure
and delight, and yielded at first, no doubt, spontaneously, the
cereals and fruits upon which man subsisted. This early ac-
count of the first man would seem clearly to demonstrate that
his first employment was horticulture — a vocation than which
none, even now, can be found more consonant with man's purity
and innocence. In what place even now, in man's degeneracy,
does he find more exquisite pleasure and delight than in a
well-dressed and well-kept garden of beautiful flowers and de-
licious fruits ? In order, therefore, to enjoy this paradisiacal
delight and pleasure, designed for man by his Creator, it is
necessary that he should know how not only to dress and keep
the " planted garden," but how, also, to restore and replenish
its exhausted condition, caused by a successive cropping of
fruits, and grains, and pulse. No virgin soil, however richly

132 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE.

stored with the elements of plants, can long be annually
cropped without becoming sterile and unproductive. Hence
it is fair to infer that to dress and to keep the first garden
signified more than spading, or ploughing, and cropping. As
man multiplied upon, and replenished the earth, he would
come to see, as the process of soil exhaustion was going on
from year to year, as he observed the diminution of his harvest
from season to season, that some mode of re-fertilization must
be resorted to, or else he must frequently emigrate, and thus
carry forward the sure work of impoverishing desolation until
every fruitful field should be converted into a desert waste.

Man, being both an observing and reflecting creature, would
most certainly come to a knowledge of manurial specifics such
as would, if rightly applied, restore, and even improve, the
original state of his garden or farm. Thus from history may
this process be demonstrated. But in the course of time,
when the maximum of improvement in cultivating the soil
should be attained, as in Egypt, the work of emigration would
be as sure to go on as under the exhaustive and minimum
process.

Very little can be found concerning the modes of cultivating
and fertilizing the field and garden until the dawn of Grecian
history. It is said of Augeas that he was first among the
Greeks to discover the use of manure. If so, it was probably
subsequent to the time when he stipulated with Hercules to
clean out his stable in one day, — though it had not been done
for thirty years, notwithstanding he is reputed to have kept
three thousand oxen, — promising, if he would do so, to give
him one-tenth of his cattle. This Hercules is said t6 have
done ; not, however, after the way of modern times, but by turn-
ing the River Alpheus through the stable, which immediately
carried away the dung and filth. The condition of many a
modern farmer's barn would remind one of the Augean sta-
ble. So let it be cleansed, as by water, that none of the
excrcmentitious matter, whether solid or liquid, shall be lost,
but all so saved that it may be used to fertilize his gardens and
fields, whence comes his daily bread.

Zcnophon, who lived about four hundred and fifty years be-
fore Christ, recommends the use of earth that has long been

MANURES. 133

under -water, as a fertilizer of the soil — so that the use of peat
and mud from swamps and ponds is no new discovery. He
also recommends the growing of and the ploughing in of green,
leguminous crops as a manure, remarking, that they " enrich the
soil as much as dung."

Virgil, -who lived from seventy to nineteen years before Christ,
-wrote concerning the advantages to be gained by a rotation of
crops ; recommended nitrum,not saltpetre, as many translate, but
the carbonate of soda, or of potash, mixed with the dregs of oil,
as a preparation for swelling seed grain before planting ; sug-
gesting the advantage of scattering ashes over exhausted soils
— thus indicating no slight knowledge of the methods of arti-
ficial fertilization then known ; speaking not only of ordinary
manure, but of special manures, such as pumice stone, shells,
Arc. Pliny, who "wrote about one hundred years later, says,
" There are many kinds of manure, and the thing itself is very
ancient." Varro, one of the most learned men of Some, who
lived about one hundred years before Christ, was so minute in
his enumeration of animal manures as to mention the dung of
blackbirds, thrushes, and other birds kept in aviaries. Cato,
Theophrastus, and Columella display a knowledge of compost
manures that would be creditable to American farmers of the
eighteenth century — occasionally .throwing out suggestions that
would do credit to a Massachusetts or New York farmer even,
of the present day.

The Greeks and Romans very generally, at the commence-
ment of the Christian era, associated the ideas of successful
husbandry with the careful accumulation of manures and their
liberal use. They considered the application of manure as
one of the principal operations of agriculture, and placed it
next to ploughing. They were so sensible of the advantages
arising from the manuring of their fields that they were very
careful in finding out and collecting all such things as were
found proper for the purpose. They carefully gathered the
dung of their cattle — littered them with straw or stubble, which
they mixed with the droppings of the animals — collected all
kinds of ashes — different kinds of earth — burned trees, shrubs
and stubble in their fields for the ashes — and frequently sowed
pulse — not cereal grains — to plough in as a green manure. " You

134 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE.

may make manure," says Cato, " of stubble, lupines, bean
stalks, oak leaves, straw, and chaff. From the wheatfield pull
out the dwarf elder, hemlock, the tall grass, and reeds in the
willow plantations, and lay them below the cows and sheep."
Says Columella, " I am not ignorant that there are some farms
in the country so stinted that neither the dung of cattle nor
birds can be got. He is, however, a slothful husbandman that,
even under such circumstances, has no manure. For he may
collect many kinds of leaves, the cuttings of briers, and the rak-
ings of the highways ; he may cut ferns, which, though on the
fields of his neighbor, will rather be an advantage than injury
to him, and mix with the cleanings of the court yard ; he may
dig a hollow place, and throw into it ashes, the dirt of the ken-
nels, and jakes, all kinds of straw, and every thing that is swept
from the house." Again he says, " I think those husbandmen
are not diligent who from each of their lesser cattle in thirty
days make not a load of dung, and from each of their larger
cattle ten loads, and as many more from each of the men who
may collect not only what they make, but that which is pro-
duced daily in the court yard and house."

Says Theophrastus, " Some advise to mix earths of different
qualities — for example, light with heavy, and heavy with light ;
fat with lean, and lean with fat; and, in like manner, red and
white and whatever has contrary qualities; because this mix-
ture supplies not only what is wanting, but also renders the
soil with which another is mixed more powerful, so that what
is worn out, being mixed with a fertile kind of earth, begins
again to carry crops as if renewed, and what is naturally bar-
ren, as clay, if mixed, is rendered fruitful; for one kind mixed
with another serves in some measure in the place of dung."
" This suggested the idea of trenching every fifth or sixth
year," says this writer, "by digging as deep as the rains
penetrate — thus turning up the bottom mould by which the
wheat fields arc renewed, and thus bringing up the virgin
earth to take the place of that which had been partially ex-
hausted by cropping." Columella also mentions the practice
of mixing earths of different qualities as having been performed
with great success by his uncle — a learned, skilful, and inJus-

MANURES. 135

trious husbandman, who had thus enriched both his wheat-
fields and his vineyards.

The present age boasts loudly of its progress and improve-
ment over the past. How much improvement and advancement
have the farmers of this nineteenth century made, in the use of
barn-yard manure and the ordinary modes of composting, over
that in use by the Grecians and Romans two thousand years ago ?
The preparation of poudrettc from night soil was known long
ago to the Chinese. Ashes were used and preferred to barn-
yard manure long since by the Britons, as well as by the Ro-
mans. In the early part of the middle ages, calcareous sand
was used by the English farmers as a manure. Even sea sand
was employed as a fertilizer, in the counties of Devon and
Cornwall, for the improvement of their arable lands. Carbon-
ate of soda or of potash, we have seen from the history of the
past, has been used in steeping seeds and as a fertilizer; and
several kinds of saline substances and preparations have long
been used in Briton, both for preparing seeds and as fertili-
zers. An agricultural writer three hundred years ago made a
record that some farmers believed coleworts, a species of cab-
bage, grew best in salt ground ; and therefore they employed
salt as a manure, also saltpetre and ashes. A writer near the
close of the seventeenth century says, "Rains and dews, cold and
dry winters, with store of snow, I reckon equal to the richest
manures, impregnated as they are with celestial nitre ; and I
firmly believe that were saltpetre, I mean fictitious nitre, to be
obtained in plenty, we should need but little other compost to
meliorate our grounds."

A compound of lime and common salt, it is said, was recom-
mended more than two hundred years ago by Glauber, a dis-
tinguished German chemist, in his Hints on Agriculture, as most
fit for dunging lands, and to be used instead of animal excre-
ments ; and the same preparation was described and commend-
ed towards the close of the seventeenth century by Christopher
Packe, as the cheapest of all mixtures for the enriching of poor
and barren land.

Gypsum began to be used as a manure after the middle of
the last century ; so also did fish ; since when they have been
extensively employed. Guano, though universally used by the

136 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE.

Peruvians as far back as their history extends, "was not com-
mercially introduced into England till 1840. So of crushed
bones, and many of the artificial specifics, used as manures ;
some of them, being called composts, were not known until a
recent period.

Having thus briefly sketched the history of the subject un-
der consideration, it is time to proceed directly to its discus-
sion.

Manure is defined by Dr. Lieber, the author of a German
Lexicon, to be "vegetable, animal, and mineral matters, intro-
duced into the soil to accelerate vegetation and increase the
production of crops." Loudon, in his work on Agriculture,
says, "Every species of matter capable of promoting the
growth of vegetables may be considered as manure." Profess-
or Low, in his Elements of Agriculture, says, "All substances
which, when mixed with the matter of the soil, tend to fertilize
it, are in common language manures." Mr. Johnson, in his
Farmers' Encyclopedia, says a manure may be defined to be
any fertilizing element, whether a compound or simple ingre-
dient, if added to a soil of which it is naturally deficient. In
these definitions, Professor Licbig and Dr. Dana, two modern
writers on manurial specifics, agree.

Professor Low classifies manures as follows: 1. Animal and
vegetable manures ; 2. Mineral manures ; 3. Mixed manures.

They are also classified into organic, inorganic, and mixed ;
into animal, vegetable, and mineral; nitrogenous, carbonace-
ous, saline, and earthy ; general and special ; natural and arti-
ficial ; simple and compound ; massive, powdery, and liquid ;
diffused and concentrated; volatile and fixed ; ephemeral and
permanent ; chemical and mechanical ; top dressings, and incor-
porated and buried manures ; into such as contain the prepared
food for plants, and such as resolve themselves by decomposi-
tion into the food of plants ; such as partly or wholly combine
with ingredients in the soil, or the atmosphere, to form the
food of plants ; such as absorb and store up their food from
the atmosphere; such as eliminate their food from the soil;
such as increase the absorption and nutrition of plants by stim-
ulating or strengthening their organism; such as increase their
absorption and nutrition by improving the mechanical condi-

MANURES. 137

tion of the soil ; and such as increase the vigor and luxuriance
of plants by diminishing, modifying, or destroying substances
in the soil which are injurious to their growth. These classi-
fications, though from the nature of the subject necessarily
very imperfect, serve, nevertheless, to aid the inquirer in gain-
ing a knowledge of it, as well as the farmer and gardener in
the practical work of preparing and furnishing plant nutrition.

The art of rightly applying manures to different soils, and
for the promotion of the growth of different plants, as well as
the neutralizing of noxious agencies, requires no small amount
of careful observation, experience, and skill. The herdsman
that should feed his oxen with beans, the shepherd that should
fodder his sheep with rye straw, or the groom that should feed
his master's favorite horse on swamp hay and onions, would be
laughed to scorn by every body but the cockney. Yet worse
blunders than these are continually made by such as are called
farmers. It is just as important that the farmer and gardener
should know how to feed their plants as their animals. It is
no more certain of your Indian corn, if it be only half fed, that
you will gather more than half a crop, than it is of your cow, if
treated thus, that she will yield more than half a mess of milk. So
of your other crops and animals ; they must all be fed with food
precisely suited to their wants, such as is best adapted to pro-
mote growth and maturity. It would seem, then, if the farmer
only knew how, that he might prepare his ground here for pro-
ducing wheat or any other grain or product suited to our
climate, and be almost as sure of a bountiful harvest as of a
seed time.

The combinations of matter that enter into the organization
of plants are almost infinite, though the original elements are
few. Chemistry has discovered less than sixty elements in the
material world, called " simple substances," so named because
incapable of reduction. Of these, only four enter in any con-
siderable degree into the formation of plants — namely, carbon,
which forms from forty to fifty per cent, by weight of plant3
cultivated for food; oxygen, forming nearly one-half of the
crust of the globe, twenty-one per cent, of the atmosphere,
eight of every nine pounds of water, and nearly one-half of the
living organisms of plants and animals ; hydrogen, the lightest

18*

138 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE.

of known substances, constituting one-ninth part of the weight
of water, and entering but slightly into the composition of ani-
mal and vegetable bodies ; and nitrogen, constituting seventy-
nine per cent, of the bulk of the atmosphere, and forming a part
of most animal and vegetable substances. Plants, then, being
composed chiefly of carbon, oxygen, hydrogen, and nitrogen,
must be fed with these in due proportion in order to produce
a vigorous growth and an abundant harvest in return for the
labor, skill, and care of the husbandman. The carbon is de-
rived from carbonic acid, oxygen from the atmosphere, hy-
drogen from the decomposition of water, and nitrogen from
ammonia, absorbed by water, and received by the plants through
their rootlets. Earthy particles and salts are always present
in plants. In composting manures, the aim of him who engages
in it is, or should be, to provide food for plants by furnish-
ing them with carbon and ammonia, materials found in great
abundance in the decomposition of both vegetable and animal
matter.

The food of man and his domestic animals depends, chiefly,
both as to quantity and quality, upon his skill and industry, as
manifested in his cooperation with Nature in the production of
such vegetables as are needed for growth and nutrition in the
animal kingdom, such as are either immediately or mediately
dependent thereon.

It is a law of Nature, that the higher the grade of the animal,
and the more complicated its organism, the greater the neces-
sity of a corresponding' degree of food. Man is the noblest
creature that God has made on the earth, and, consequently,
has the most complicated and highly-wrought organization of
animated nature. How, or upon what, shall man subsist ? What
does the best economy of his system require ? A critical,
c cmical analysis of his body, fed and nourished under the
direction of knowledge reflected upon the subject by the light
of physiology, will show its composition, and, therefore, de-
monstrate what elements the soil needs to produce bodily nutri-
tion. Those elements will be found most important as fertil-
izers of the soil that enter most largely into the growth and
maintenance of the human body. Man, in his present state, is
both an hcrbiverous and carnivcrous auimal, being composed

MANURES. 139

organically of all those elements that enter into the various
organisms upon which he has subsisted, and still subsists.

The manures most common are animal, green crops, peat,
muck, mud, poudrctte, bones, guano, fish and animals, refuse of
factories, wool, soot, ashes, lime, marl, phosphate, superphos-
phate, gypsum, salt, and other specifics and compounds too
numerous to mention.

Composting consists of mixing the different manurial sub-
stances ; or, in other words, of converting the animal or stable
manures into compost, by mixing them with some or all of the
following — to wit, loam, peat, muck, pond mud, cleanings of
drains, wash of roads, leached ashes, using sandy loam or marly
clay, according to the nature of the soil where the compost
is to be used. Into your compost heap throw weeds before
the seeds form, straw, litter, animal excretions, night soil, the
urine of the stables and all that can be saved elsewhere, the
wash from the sink drain, the suds of a washing day, and cxqvy
thing else whose decomposition and fermentation furnish fer-
tilizers for the soil, and which would otherwise render your
premises filthy and stenchy.

Every farmer has ever-producing resources of some or all of
these manurial substances, which he cannot well afford to lose,
and which, if saved and composted, would enable him to make
several cords more of manure than hitherto every year, which
would readily sell, if he has no land upon which he wishes to
use it. Besides, he will keep his premises clean and free from
offensive smells, indicative not only of bad economy, but of a
very criminal disregard for health and comfort. There are
many who call themselves farmers that would consider them-
selves wronged if any one should question their claim to this
noble title ; who claim to be great economists, yet have never
learned the distinction between economy on the one hand, and
stinginess and parsimoniousness on the other, having no claim
to the former, yet possessing the latter in full exercise in all
that pertains to the mental improvement of their families ; that
suffer filth and nastiness of every kind to accumulate about the
" back door" and yard, being horribly offensive; with a drain,
perhaps, from both hogsty and barnyard, pouring the liquid
manure into the highway, a nuisance to every passer by.

140 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE.

Tho following directions for making compost manure are
taken from Sprengel's late work on Manures. The right was
patented in Germany : —

" First, take a layer of twenty inches in thickness of straw
dung, or straw, dry leaves, weeds, potato stems, turf, muck, or
marl. This is to be wet with dung water, or common water,
and covered with night soil, poultry dung, street sweepings,
pulverized bones, offal, kitchen slops, &c.

"Next, one-fourth of an inch of coal or wood ashes.

" Then three inches of good earth mould, or marl.

" Then eighteen inches of horse, sheep, or cattle dung — wet-
ting it again with urine or common water. Then cover with
a layer of pond mud, ditch scrapings, mould, muck, or marl.

" Next, one-fourth of an inch of coal or wood ashes ; and
then a second course of straw dung, ashes, mould, or marl,
horse, sheep, or cattle dung, with a final covering of mud, muck,
or marl. From two to three weeks in summer, and from four
to six weeks in winter, are required for the fermentation. If
in any part of the mass the heat be too great, it should again
be covered with loam or mud and wet with water. If any
part does not ferment, holes are made, that the air may reach
these parts. When the mass is properly fermented and the
substances decomposed, it should be well wet with water,
worked over, put up in heaps from six to eight feet high, and
covered with rich loam to the thickness of ten or twelve inches.
After standing a few days, it may be carried to the fields and
harrowed in with the grain, or ploughed in for other crops."

Farmers are not yet fully aware of the treasure they have
in their peat swamps. Dr. Dana, of Lowell, has done more,
perhaps, than any other scientific man to develop the value of
these collections of decayed vegetable matter. Experience
and science have taught the farmer how to use these vegetable
deposits of manurial substances. To bring out the ammonia,
tho muck, whether peat or mud, must be fermented — which
may be effected cither by the use of alkalies or compostiug
with fresh stable manures. Take from fifteen to twenty bush-
els of ashes, or potash ninety pounds, or soda about sixty, to
a ton of peat. Such a compost will contain about the same
amount of ammonia as cow dung. One of the best methods

MANURES. 141

of preparing peat is, that of mixing it in the yard "where cattle,
sheep, and hogs are confined. It thus becomes impregnated
with the urine of the animals, much of which would other-
wise be lost; and this renders the peat, as a fertilizer, equal
to the solid excrements of these animals; for, in addition to
the urine, it absorbs the leachings of the solid manures. Mr.
Phinney, of Lexington, says that a load of green dung will
convert two loads of peat, if well mixed, and make them equal
in value, as a fertilizer, to itself uncompostcd — that is, one
load of green dung, mixed with two loads of peat, will make
three loads of compost equal to three loads of green dung.
It is said of a farmer in Watertown that he makes no use of
his green dung as a fertilizer, though he keeps a large stock
of cattle. He sells it, and mixes the leached ashes from his
soap and candle factory with peat, in proportion to one part
of such ashes to three of peat — thus keeping his farm in a high
state of cultivation. He digs his peat in the fall, and in the
spring mixes the ashes with it by shovelling it over three or
four times.

It is claimed, by such as have experience, that peat should
be taken from the swamp in the month of August or Septem-
ber, and suffered to lie through the winter ; and in the spring
it should be opened and mixed as aforesaid, one part of green
dung to two of peat, or of leached ashes, one to three. Un-
slaked lime may be used to accelerate fermentation. Com-
posted thus, it will be ready for use in the fall. Peat or muck
for the hog yard or barn yard should, also, be taken from the
swamp about six months before it is put into the yards. Pond
mud, though not so rich in humus as peat or muck, is a valua-
ble fertilizer — its action being more immediate thau that of
unfermented peat, owing to its greater proportion of salts and
silicates.

In the winter of 1839-40, Mr. Whalcn, of Saratoga county,
New York, took from a pond on a creek one thousand loads of
pond muck, and put it on to a field of light sandy or gravelly
soil which had been thoroughly exhausted by cropping until it
produced nothing but sorrel and mullein. This muck was
spread and ploughed in, and the field planted to corn, which
yielded fifty bushels to the acre. The next winter he took out

142 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE.

seven hundred loads, and applied it to two other fields with
similar results. He has also taken muck from an ash swamp
with similar results. This mode of fertilization has caused
these worn-out fields to produce good crops of oats and grass,
as well as corn, where nothing scarcely grew before.

Every farmer should place swamp muck or peat — and if he
cannot obtain these, loam will do — under his stable floors to
save the urine, most of which otherwise will be lost. Proper
economy will enable many farmers that think they are very
saving to make double the manure every year that they now
do. If the old maxim — " Money saved is as good as money
earned" — be true, then it is equally so, manure saved is as
good as manure bought.

It was recently stated in an agricultural journal that the
United States now import about two hundred thousand tons of
guano annually, at an expense of two million six hundred thou-
sand dollars, furnishing, probably, not more than one farmer in
a hundred thousand with this costly fertilizer. To prevent this
importation, as well as the necessity of the purchasing of super-
phosphate and other expensive artificial fertilizers, it is proposed
that every family of four persons shall, by the due exercise of
the virtue of cleanliness within doors and about the immediate
premises, make annual^, or rather save, what shall equal a ton
of guano. Thus might two hundred thousand families save by
skill and care what now costs the country two million six hun-
dred thousand dollars. Add to this what might be made by
those who keep a cow, hog, and horse, with the poultry yard,
and you would have what would equal another ton for every
family establishment. Thus might be saved, were this econ-
omy introduced throughout the United States, a quantity of
manurial substance equal to two hundred thousand tons of
guano, which, at fifty-eight dollars per ton, the price of guano,
would equal eleven million six hundred thousand dollars per
annum.

Thus it would seem that if every farmer and consumer of
Earth's products would save all, by taking heed that nothing
which can be use I as a fertilizer of the tilled and cropped
soil be wasted, the necessity of importing manures or pur-
chasii aosphate would soon be known only as con-

MANURES. 143

nectcd with the history of bad economy. The sources of foreign
manures arc by no means inexhaustible, and, if resorted to, to
any considerable extent, would soon be exhausted; besides, it
is bad, exceedingly bad national policy to purchase of a for-
eign government what care and attention might secure at home.
He who suffers his crops to waste away and return to the earth
and air whence they came, when ready to harvest, is not re-
garded cither as a good or provident husbandman. Neither
should he be who fails to save, and compost, and return to the
field those elements necessary to feed, nourish, and promote
the luxuriant growth and maturity of such plants as are culti-
vated and produced for the growth and sustenance of both
man and beast. May this subject be duly considered by all
who are engaged in farming and gardening.

O <D CD CJ O

Having thus presented the subject of manures, composting,
<fec, it is hoped that the farmers of the Hampshire Agricultural
Society will here find such facts and suggestions as shall serve
to incite them to the exercise of greater diligence, economy,
and skill in saving, composting, and applying specific manures.
Manure is to plant-culture what food is to your stock. Be as
eager, then, to save and provide manure to feed your plants
as fodder and provender for your cattle and hogs. It is no
more essential to your thrift and prosperity as a breeder of
stock that you should know how to feed your animals so as to
promote their most rapid growth and maturity than it is that
you should know how to cultivate and manure your land so as
to secure the greatest possible return in crops for the capital
and labor invested. In other words, it is as essential that you
should know how to feed your plants as your animals. Neither
will grow and mature to perfection unless rightly fed and nour-
ished. Both the quantity and quality of what the farmer and
his domestic animals subsist upon, from his tilled acres, will
depend chiefly upon his skill as a husbandman.

In order to compass the end that every good farmer should
have in view, to wit, to secure the greatest possible return for
labor and capital invested in farming, he should read and study
carefully the best-written treatises on agriculture ; read the
most intelligibly-conducted agricultural journals ; converse
with his neighbor farmers, such as are actively engaged in

144 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE.

improving their soils — such as produce the largest crops, the
best cattle, the finest and fleetest horses, the most profitable
sheep, the most desirable breed of hogs, the choicest varieties
of the different species of poultry, <fcc. ; also concerning the
best and most economical methods of farm management, in-
cluding the implements, so as to be able to select the best kind
of plough, seed planter, cultivator, mowing machine, horse rake,
&c. ; also to learn the art of ploughing different soils, whether
deep or shallow; whether it is cheaper to use oxen or horses
as a team ; the mode of seeding with grain ; when ; and whether
it be better to sow grass seed in the fall or spring; how to
save, mix, compost, and multiply manures so as to produce the
greatest possible amount from the materials employed; ascer-
tain how to use them on the soil to the best advantage ; in the
rotation of crops, learn whether it be better to take two crops
of corn in succession from the same field than one ; how to
employ all labor-saving machines, so called, in order to cheapen
labor by gaining or saving time ; also to learn something every
season by careful and intelligent experimenting and observa-
tion,— so that his growth in knowledge, experience, and wis-
dom in his noble vocation shall more than keep pace with the
progress and improvement annually developed in the skilful
management of his farm. Then will farming not only pay, but
will become, also, a source of pleasure and delight akin to
that enjoyed in horticulture before man received the sentence,
" In the sweat of thy brow shalt thou eat bread." The hand,
when guided by a well-instructed mind and pure taste, all un-
der the influence and promptings of a good heart, will so beau-
tify the farm acres as to render every farmer's home a fit
dwelling-place for Nature's truest nobleman — the farmer.

Report of the Committee.

What your committee find specially to commend in the prac-
tice of Mr. K. Hubbard is, that lie digs up and brings to his
pig pen and yard, in those parts of the year when farm work
is least pressing, sufficient swamp muck to completely deodo-
rize the excrements of the animals, and to retain all their fer-
tilizing properties till wanted by growing plants — thus doubling,

MANURES. 145

and in some cases quadrupling, the quantity of manure, without
detracting much if any tiling from its quality.

J. A. Nash.

Statement of Kelita Hubbard.

I have tried several methods of composting manures, with
swamp muck, by mixing it with barn-yard manure, ashes, plas-
ter, &cv and I find it profitable. But on my swamp I have a
large quantity of sage bogs, which I have found very difficult
to work into manure, and had considered them worthless un-
til I commenced throwing them into my hog pen. I have found,
for three or four months in a year, the hogs would work them
to pieces, and make some of my best and cheapest manure.
My practice is to commence about the first of August, and cart
them green to my hogpen, throwing in daily as many as they
will work up. I have eight shotes, which will usually demolish
a cart buck full in two days, varying according to circumstances
of feed, state of the bogs, &c.

These shotes make manure in three or four months

worth $35 00

Cost of getting the bogs, above the benefit hogs re-
ceive from eating the roots, of which they are
very fond, . . ' 5 00

Net gain, annually, $30 00

Sunderland, October 18, 1854.

Statement of Avery D. Hubbard.

The question is often asked, " How can we take a crop from
our land every year, and keep it as good as when we com-
menced?" And "How shall we obtain a good crop and im-
prove our land ? " is a still harder question to answer. I have
become satisfied that the way in which most land is managed,
after taking off a crop of grain in the summer, does not tend
to improve it. Most land that is to be cultivated the next
19 •

146 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE.

year, after taking off a crop, will produce a heavy coat of
weeds, which, if turned under, will be destroyed and the land
benefited. But, some say, we do not like to have our land lie
exposed to a hot sun three or four months. Then sow on a crop
of rye immediately ; it will cost but little. A good deal of seed
scatters when you gather the grain, in many instances ; so that
less than one-half a bushel will be enough seed for an acre,
and the feed in the fall more than pays the cost of seed and
ploughing. You will have a green crop of rye to turn in as
manure in the spring, worth, according to my experience, five
or six loads of manure to the acre. I would say, then, to
brother farmers, Turn over your stubble land, where you intend
to cultivate next year, as soon as possible, and scatter on a
little seed, and you will see a marked change in the land. It
will produce a heavier crop of corn, or rye, or oats, with the
same manure, and* you will receive some indirect benefits in
many ways, some of which I will name : —

1. You will thoroughly pulverize the land, so that you will
save more in fitting your land for a crop, and in first hoeing,
than all it cost you the year before.

2. You will destroy the seeds of all noxious weeds by turn-
ing them under before they ripen.

3. You will be very apt to plough deeper. The team, having
become thoroughly rested since you finished your spring work,
will take hold with a " will; " and if the plough goes into the
old "hard pan" which has been formed in years back they will
not stop, but turn up two or three inches of it, and so give the
roots a chance to run down, which I have found to be of great
benefit the past dry summer.

Sunderland, October 10, 1854.

WORCESTER WEST.

From the Report of the Committee.

As to the best mode of adding to the quantity and quality
of manure, we arc of the opinion thai barn cellars arc the most
proper place. Your committee, having had some experience,
speak with confidence upon the subject. We would, therefore,

MANURES. 147

urge upon the farmers, large and small, the necessity of having
barn cellars ; especially would we urge this upon those about
to build.

Job Ranger, Chairman.

Statement of B. F. Hamilton.

My manner of making compost manure is as follows : My
cellar is one hundred feet long and forty-two feet wide. I
commence by laying loam to the depth of about two feet on
the bottom of the cellar, directly under the stable where the
cattle and horse stand. When a sufficient quantity of manure
and urine has dropped from the cattle to receive another layer
of loam, I apply it, and continue in this manner until I turn my
cattle out to pasture. I then have it all shovelled over and
mixed together as much as possible, and let it remain until I
want to apply it to mowing lots and fields where I intend to
plant the next season, as I have a year's stock on hand. The
part of the cellar where I keep my hogs I manage in the same
way, except that they work it over free of charge, and make a
large amount of the best kind of manure for the farm. I have
increased my crop of hay very much, and enriched my ploughed
fields, by applying manure in the above manner. I do not be-
lieve there is a good farmer who would not have a cellar under
his barn if he were sensible of the benefit it would be to him.
I make three hundred and fifty loads yearly of the best kinds
of manure. My barn is so constructed that I can drive directly
through the whole length of the stable on the north side, and
drop the loam through the scuttle down into the cellar just
where I want to use it. I have a scuttle in the centre floor,
where I drop the loam or muck for my hogs. It is thus but
very little labor to furnish loam to mix with the manure, and
also for my hogs to work over, as they are always very glad to
get fresh loam, and are sure to put it to the best possible use.

148 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE.

PLYMOUTH.

From the Report of the Supervisor.

Five claims have been entered to the premiums offered for
the greatest quantity of the most valuable compost manure,
and statements made. The applicants return a less number
of loads than was common in former years. The manure, no
doubt, will produce more visible effects per load than that in
which greater quantities of surface soil and swamp muck are
incorporated; but the remote effects will be far less. The
vegetable mould in soils is annually lessened in the growth and
removal of crops. When little is applied besides excrementi-
tious matter, we fail of restoring the loss. We want the sub-
stances which Nature has lodged in numerous reservoirs, some
of which are found on almost every farm, not as rich as depos-
its of Peruvian guano, but abounding in the component sub-
stances of plants. We think it highly important to the pros-
perity of farmers to encourage an extended use of swamp muck.
The influence of the atmosphere, with a small portion of alka-
line matter, will often convert it into a valuable and enduring
dressing for land. The salutary and abiding effects of meadow
mud are clearly seen in the renovation of a very barren tract
of land by Mr. Littlejohn, of Middleboro'. On fields which
formerly would have produced not more than twenty-live bush-
els of Indian corn to the acre he now reaps more than eighty.
His mowing grounds and pastures were, the past season, green
and flourishing, while neighboring lots were parched with
drought. The use of concentrated manures has a tendency to
confine our attention to the influence on a first crop ; the true
interests of the farmer demand attention to ulterior influences.
The land, like the human body, may be essentially injured by
too frequent and copious administrations of powerful stimu-
lants. It should be our purpose to incorporate in the materi-
als of every dressing a large portion of the elemental sub-
stances of plants; therefore great heaps of compost should be
encouraged.

There has been great similarity in the operations of the
competitors in composting, with one exception. Mr. Roberts

MANURES. 149

makes all his manure under cover, and seems unreasonably
afraid of the influences of the sun and atmosphere on the com-
post heap. Excrementitious matter is manifestly impaired in
exposure to sun and air ; but in well-managed compost heaps
other materials are kept on the outside, and such as sun and
air constantly improve. We think a good farmer will every
year make more compost than even the largest cellar would
contain, and believe it practicable for him to compost in the
open air without much loss. Swamp mud, recently dug, needs
greater action of the atmosphere than it will have in the barn
cellar.

Statement of Amasa Howard.

As a competitor for the premium on manure, I will state how
mine was composted. From two pens, where I have kept on an
average eight swine, I have made seventy loads, one of the
pens being connected with the sink drain from the house. My
stable has been occupied by from two to four horses, and from
the cellar I obtained one hundred and twenty-two loads. I
have kept one yoke of oxen, four cows, two heifers, and one
horse, through the winter, in my barn, and the oxen are kept
there through the year. In that and in the yard adjoining
I have made three hundred and twenty-two loads ; and in my
compost heaps, composed of muck, loam, soil, ashes, lime, and
other materials, I have ninety-seven — making in all six hundred
and eleven loads of forty cubic feet each.

Statement of Jonathan Copeland.

I make the following statement of the manner in which my
manure was made : The most of it was made in the barn cel-
lar ; meadow muck and upland soil, mixed together, were the
principal. My stock last winter consisted of six oxen part of
the winter, four oxen all winter, four cows, one two-year old,
one horse, and five swine, kept in the barn cellar all winter on
the droppings of my cattle and horse. The remainder was
made in the hog yard near my house, where it had the wash of

150 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE.

the sink, with mud, loam, weeds, ashes, &c. We have kept
from five to ten swine the past season, and made and applied
to my farm three hundred and seventy-six loads, of forty cubic
feet per load.

Statement of Orsamus Littlejohn.

My swamp mud, is of that kind in which skunks' cabbage de-
lights to grow. My barn cellar, yards, and vaults are kept
well supplied with this muck, to absorb all the liquids that
should be saved for the compost heap and keep the air pure.
These vaults, &c, are cleaned out twice a year, and heaped up
with more muck, rich loam, (to give weight,) burned oyster
shells, refuse salt, ashes, and water sufficient to thoroughly wet
the whole mass. It is then covered over with dry mud, coal
dust or soil, and left to ferment and become healthy for the
soil and crops. In this way I have made, the past year, three
hundred and twenty-five loads (of forty cubic feet) of manure,
worth more for porous soils and rotation of crops than com-
mon stable manure is, in my opinion, but costing less than one
cent the cubic foot. I charge nothing for the droppings of the
stock or the mud, as it lies in the meadow.

Statement of Nahum Snell.

Having entered as a competitor for the premium offered by
the Plymouth County Agricultural Society to the person who
shall make the greatest quantity of compost manure, I will
state, that I have drawn out the past year three hundred and
fifteen loads of manure, made from the droppings of ten head of
cattle and four horses into a barn cellar, where have been
kept from ten to twenty hogs, and carting muck from a swamp,
and loam sufficient to absorb the moisture ; then I had the ben-
efit of four privies, together with a quantity of ashes col-
lected from turf and bushes, which I drew from a swamp where
I collected muck.

MANURES. 151

Statement of Austin J. Roberts.

Being a competitor for the greatest quantity of compost ma-
nure, I have drawn up the following statement : My barn, sixty
by forty feet, contains a cellar, extending' its whole length and
width. This cellar is divided into various compartments for
swine, and is used entirely and exclusively for the whole of our
summer and winter accumulations of manure. A large barn
yard is attached to the cellar, which is, however, of little or no
use in the manufacturing of manure, as, from repeated trials, I
have found the value of dung greatly enhanced by being secured
from the effects of the sun in summer, and of frost and the
drenching rains in winter. Our horses and cattle are well lit-
tered or bedded down with straw and coarse hay the year
round. Their droppings are thrown into the sties in the cellar
below, there to be worked over and incorporated by the hogs
with muck, peat, straw, dirt, and refuse vegetable matter,
weekly thrown in. On all this, barrels of chamber lye, and the
suds of the wash house, are poured from time to time. I con-
sider that manure is one of the most important objects in the
business of rearing swine, and. think that, by proper manage-
ment, store pigs will pay for their keeping by the manure they
make. My practice is, to haul out all the manure required for
the crops into the fields where it is to be used, and there
to compost with muck, dug the autumn of the previous year.
This is usually done in March ; and a compost thus made of one-
third muck and two-thirds manure is the best that can be applied
to sandy loams. My compost manure, since November, 1853,
amounts to three hundred and three loads of forty cubic feet.
On account of being housed and well prepared, I consider the
quality of my manure far better than that made in the ordina-
ry way.

152 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE.

INDIAN CORN.

ESSEX.

Statement of Charles Holt.

I offer for premium one acre of Indian corn — part of a field
containing three and a half acres — on the town farm in Haver-
hill. The land is interval, of good quality, has been in grass
ten or twelve years, and in 1853 yielded from three-quarters
to one ton of hay. It was ploughed last fall ten inches deep,
and in the spring seven and one-half cords of barn and hog
manure were well mixed with the soil, by drawing a large cul-
tivator across the furrows, without disturbing the sod. It was
planted, the 20th of May, three feet ten inches apart each way,
four or five kernels to a hill, of large eight-rowed corn. The
field was hoed three times, and a cultivator run through it
twice each way. Early in August the suckers were cut out to
feed cows ; and it was harvested in the usual manner on the 3d
of October, yielding one hundred and fifty-seven baskets of
sound corn. But the appearance of the ears indicated that
the crop was somewhat injured by the drought. On the 6th of
November, two baskets were found to contain sixty-eight pounds
of shelled corn.

Haverhill, November 6, 1854.

WORCESTER NORTH.

From the Report of the Committee.

In looking over-the several fields entered for premiums, and
comparing the weight of each, the committee are satisfied that
many of the farmers do not plant their corn near enough to-
gether, while others plant too near. Had Mr. Joel Ilayward,
instead of planting twenty-one hills to the rod, planted thirty,
he would have taken a premium this year; and had Mr. Benja-
min Wyman, instead of planting thirty-eight hills to the rod,
planted thirty, he would have had as much as he now has, with
less expense in cultivation.

INDIAN CORN. 153

Statement of Lewis G. Tuttle.

The ground on which I raised my best piece of corn was
broken up in the fall, cross ploughed in the spring-, about twelve
loads to the acre of green manure being turned under. It was
planted about the 25th of May, and about two-thirds of a shovel
full of compost put in each hill. Thirty pounds of guano and
eight bushels of ashes were applied to the corn just after it
came up. The corn was hoed three times. I estimate the
labor of cultivating the crop at twenty-one days' work. Weight
in the ear, to the square rod, fifty-five pounds. Number of
hills, to the square rod, thirty. The variety was Tuscan white.

FlTCHBURG, 1S54.

Statement of Joseph Upton.

The ground on which the acre of corn grew, which you ex-
amined on my farm, was mown last year, and ploughed up in
the fall nine or ten inches deep. Last spring it was cross
ploughed about the same depth. Wishing to try an experi-
ment with guano in raising corn, I manured that acre as fol-
lows : On two-thirds of it I spread twenty cartloads of manure
from my barn cellar, and ploughed in lightly ; on the other one-
third I sowed two hundred pounds of guano, and harrowed it
in. I then planted twenty-three hills in rows one way, with
corn called the Tuscan white, putting a small handful of plaster
and ashes in each hill. I hoed it but twice, the first time abous
the middle of June, the second about the first of July.

The expense of cultivation is as follows, calling labor one
dollar per day : —

Ploughing, three times, ....

Harrowing and furrowing,

Twenty loads of manure,

Carting and spreading the same,

Two hundred pounds of guano,

Plaster and ashes, .....

Hoeing and ploughing twice, .

20 * $47 00

$7

00

1

00

20

00

3

00

6

00

4

00

G

00

154

MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE.

Statement of Benjamin Wyman.

The acre of land on which I raised the crop of Indian corn
entered for premium the present year is of a gravelly soil, and
was planted last year, partly with corn and partly with pota-
toes. It was manured with about twenty-five loads to the
acre. The present year I spread thirty-five loads of winter
manure, and dropped fifteen loads of compost manure in the
hill, to the acre, twenty-five bushels to the cartload. I ploughed
the land twice, and planted it on the 23d and 24th days of
May. It was hoed but twice.

The expense of cultivating the acre is as follows : —

Fifty loads manure, $50 00

Carting and spreading the same, . . . . 10 00

Ploughing twice, man and oxen, . . . . 4 00

Harrowing and furrowing, ..... 1 00

Two days' planting, ...... 2 00

Hoeing and ploughing twice, ..... G 00

Deduct two-thirds for manure not exhausted,

$73 00
33 66

$39 34

Yield, forty and and one-half pounds to the square rod, each
rod containing thirty-eight hills.

Westminster, 1854.

HAMPSHIRE.

Statement of Austin L. Clark.

The piece of corn I oiTer for premium contains one acre of
land. It was an old pasture, that was never ploughed within
the memory of the " oldest inhabitant." In May I ploughed it
about six inches deep, turning in ten loads of barn-yard manure.
I then harrowed in eight loads of compost manure. On the
26th of May it was planted. Eight bushels of leached ashes
were dropped in the hill. The corn was hoed twice. The

INDIAN CORN.

155

hills were not raised, and were three feet apart each way.
The soil was a clayey loam. On the 14th of September the
crop was harvested.

Value of crop : —

Seventy-five bushels of corn, at $1,

Four thousand eight hundred and ninety-five

pounds of fodder, at $G per ton,
Four and one-half bushels of soft corn,

Expenses : —

Eighteen loads manure,

Eight bushels leached ashes,

Ploughing, harrowing and hauling manure,

Planting and seed,

Hoeing and ashing,

Cutting and stacking, .

Carting and husking, .

Interest on land,

$75 00

17 47

1 12

. $18 00

80

6 00

1 25

3 50

2 00

6 00

5 00

$90 59

42 55

Net gain,

Sunderland, October 25, 1854.

$48 04

Statement of Chester Coioles.

I offer for premium a crop of corn raised on three acres. It
was old pasture land. I seeded it down and mowed it two
years. In November, 1853, it was ploughed with the double
Michigan plough. In the spring I harrowed it over. I then
carted on my barn-yard manure at the rate of fifteen loads per
acre. I then spread it and harrowed it again. The corn was
planted by the hoe on the 10th of May. It was hoed three
times after the first hoeing. I put on plaster and ashes mixed
together. In the second week of September I harvested the
crop.

15G

MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE.

Value of crop : —

One hundred and eighty bushels, at $1,
Eight baskets of soft corn, .
Corn fodder, estimated,

Expenses : —

Forty-five loads of manure,
Ploughing and spreading,
Seed and planting,
Hoeing and cultivating,

Cutting and stacking,
Carting and husking,
Interest on land,

$180 00

2

00

18

00
i

$45 00

17

00

4

00

23

00

7

00

15

00

18

00

$200 00

129 00

Net gain, .

Amherst, November 14, 1854.

$71 00

BERKSHIRE.

From the Report of the Committee.

Forty-five pieces were entered for premium. On three-acre
pieces we gave H. D. Palmer, of Stockbridge, the first premium ;
L. Foot, of Lee, the second ; and G. W. Wood, of Lanesboro', the
third. Mr. Palmer's field contains four acres, and was in corn
last year. It received twenty-five loads of compost per acre.
This year thirteen loads of compost per acre were harrowed in.
Thirty-one and one-fourth hills to the rod gave fifty-four and
three-fourths pounds. Mr. Foot's land was in oats last year;
no manure was used. This year twenty loads of long manure
ploughed in, and ten loads of short put in the hill, per acre ;
one-half the field was planted to eight-rowed and the other half to
twelve-rowed corn, thirty-two and one-half hills to the rod, giv-
ing fifty-three and one-half pounds. Mr. Wood's ground was
sward land, ploughed six inches Avith ten loads of manure spread
on; and one hundred and fifty pounds of plaster, per acre, put
in the hill ; forty hills to the rod gave fifty-three pounds.

INDIAN CORN. 157

For the best one-acre pieces we gave Rev. J. V. Ambler, of
Lanesboro', the first premium ; Henry Smith, of Lee, the second;
0. J. Farnum, of Lanesboro', the third ; Edmund Joyncr, of
Egremont, the fourth; Cyrus Crosby, of Stockbridge, the fifth.

Mr. Ambler's ground waa meadow, one-half of which was
ploughed last fall and again this spring; the other half was
ploughed this spring ; all eight inches. We could discover that
nothing was gained by ploughing last fall. Twenty-five loads of
long manure were harrowed in. I planted 27th of May ; leached
ashes, twelve bushels per acre, were used on the hill before
hoeing ; the cultivator used first, and the plough at the last, hoe-
ing ; it produced sixty-one and one-fourth pounds. This field
was tended almost wholly by a man above eighty years of age,
who showed that, in his second boyhood, he had not forgot-
ten what he had learned in his manhood. Mr. Smith's corn was
on meadow ground. Thirty-five loads of long manure were
ploughed under eight inches, ashes and plaster used in the hill,
and plaster after hoeing the first time. Planted, 25th of May,
with twelve-rowed Dutton corn, thirty-six hills on a rod, and
produced fifty-eight and three-fourth pounds. Mr. Farnum's
ground was in corn last year. This year ten loads of compost
and seventy-five pounds of plaster were used. Planted, 25th
of May, with twelve-rowed corn ; hills three feet by two and
one-half; cultivated and hoed twice ; hills raised, thirty-two
and one-half on a rod, and produce fifty-two and three-fourths
pounds. Mr. Joyner's corn was on greensward. Ploughed
ten inches; a few loads of hog manure harrowed in; one and
one-half bushels of plaster and ashes were used in the hill.
Planted, 26th and 27th of May, with twelve-rowed corn,
twenty-seven hills on a rod, and produced forty-seven pounds.

NORFOLK.

From the Report of the Committee.

The committee on grain crops report only five entries of
Indian corn. Many excellent fields of this staple production
have been grown in various parts of the county ; but the severe
drought so discouraged the farmers as to deter them from

158 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE.

entering their fields for premium. "We know of several lots
that yielded, with one exception, crops fully equal to those to
which premiums were assigned, that were not entered. We
are happy to state that the drought was less injurious than
had been anticipated. The crop, though smaller than that of
last year, is fully an average one, and, on good land well cul-
tivated, amply repays the labor and expense bestowed upon it.
We are aware of diversities of opinion respecting the profita-
bleness of Indian corn, some farmers having discontinued rais-
ing it on account of its small returns ; others affirming that it
is less profitable than grass,* others that it is the best crop
they raise. A distinguished farmer grows no corn because in
former trials he could get no more than sixty bushels from an
acre ! Others are satisfied with forty as a remunerating yield.
We believe that on this subject most farmers have yet much to
learn, especially in regard to what the yield may be when the
land is properly prepared and cultivated. We apprehend that
few know what their grain crop costs ; at least their knowledge
is so indefinite as to furnish no satisfactory opinion of its prof-
itableness. By this we mean that they keep no exact account
of their expenditures. The corn in the bin speaks for itself :
but how much the land is worth ; how much is spent for labor ;
how much for manure ; what is the value of the stover, — these
have scarcely ever been accurately ascertained. And without
this knowledge it is impossible to determine what the corn
costs. One farmer says that corn may be raised in Norfolk
for fifty cents a bushel ; another, that a dollar will hardly cover
the expense. But neither knows what it docs cost, for want of
a system of farm accounts. The difference in their opinion
looks very much as if they contented themselves with guessing.
Some of our most judicious farmers, however, assure us in gen-
eral terms that nothing pays better than corn, both in the crop
itself and in the preparation of tho land for grass. We have
found the most favorable opinion on this subject in men who
have taken the most pains ; who have expended the most labor
and money; who have ploughed deep and manured well; who
have kept their laud in the best condition. They certainly arc
the most competent judges. They observe that method of
cultivation which in other things pays a good interest. No

INDIAN CORN. 159

satisfactory inference against the profitableness of this crop
can be drawn from the results of careless or superficial cul-
ture.

We are happy to observe that the spirit of improvement
noticeable in other departments of agriculture has reached the
cultivation of corn ; that more inquiries arc made as to the
best methods of proceeding; that greater attention is paid to
the selection of seed — a very important point, and one that
hitherto has been much neglected; that the relative values of
different varieties are carefully considered ; that manure is
more generally spread and ploughed in, while the quantity is
increased and the quality improved ; that high hilling is more
discountenanced ; that frequent stirring of the land by the cul-
tivator and hoe is believed to be the surest preventive against
the effects of long-continued drought ; and that the old preju-
dice in favor of the widest distance between the rows is abat-
ing. The consequence is, that greater crops are raised from
the same extent of land, and the question of profitableness is
brought nearer to a definite solution. Some of the most rigid-
ly conservative farmers admit that probably the highest results
are not yet attained, and that the time may come when, with
better knowledge applied to the culture of corn, eighty bushels
may be grown upon the acre that now yields forty or fifty. It
will then be found that no more profitable field crop is raised
in New England.

J. M. Merrick.

Statement of B. N. Sawin.

The field entered by ine for premium measures one acre and
three-quarters. Though lying in one lot, yet for purposes of
cultivation it may be considered as divided into two parts, one
containing an acre, the other three-quarters of an acre. The
acre lot was in corn in 1853. In December last I carted on
to it three and one-half cords of compost manure from the
barn cellar, and ploughed it in. In May I carted on three and
one-half cords of unfermented manure, spread and ploughed it
in, putting no manure in the hill. The other lot was ploughed,

160

MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE.

in November last, with Prouty & Mears's No. 3G plough. Iu
May I harrowed across the furrows. I used four and one-half
cords of unfermented manure, putting it all in the hill. On the
whole field the furrows for planting were two feet six inches
apart each way from the centre. Commenced planting the
small, eight-rowed, yellow corn on the 24th of May, putting
four or five kernels in a hill. A cultivator was passed between
the rows before hoeing. The corn was hoed twice. The sur-
face of the ground was left level. I should have said before
that the ground was ploughed eight inches deep. The stalks
were cut the first week in September. On the 7th of October
Messrs. Sawyer and Merrick selected one rod, which was con-
sidered a fair sample of the field. The corn, when shelled,
measured sixteen quarts, and weighed twenty-seven pounds.
At fifty-six pounds to the bushel, (the society's standard,) this
would give seventy-seven and one-seventh bushels per acre.

The expense of the crop was as follows, namely : —

Interest on value of land,
Taxes, ....
3* cords of manure, at $4,
8 " « « $5,

Carting and applying manure,
Ploughing and harrowing,
Furrowing and planting,
Seed, twenty-one quarts,
Crow line round the field,
Cultivating and hoeing, .
Cutting and binding stalks,
Harvesting, .

Cost,
The value of the crop is as follows :-

$5 25

54

14 00

40 00

14 12

4 50

4 75

84

12

7 17

4 00

9 00

. $104 29

Stalks, ....

. $11 44

Eusks, ....

. 13 50

Naif of the manure unspent,

. 27 00

Corn, 135 bushels, .

. 135 00

<

$1SG 94

INDIAN CORN. 1G1

Amount brought forward, $186 04
Subtract the cost, . . 104 29

Leaves as profit, . . $82 65, or $47 24 to the acre.

Dover, October, 21, 1854.

j Mr. Sawin afterwards modified his statement by saying:,
" Since my statement was made I have finished husking;, and
find by actual measurement two hundred and thirty-two baskets
of sound corn. I have shelled several baskets, and found them
to yield twenty quarts each of shelled corn — which result gives
one hundred and forty-five bushels on the one acre and three-
fourths."

We have examined Mr. Sawin's farm-account books, not only
in reference to this crop, but to all his operations, and have the
satisfaction of saying that he has the means of knowing exactly
what he expends upon his farm and what he receives from it.
His practice in this is worthy of imitation by every farmer in
the county.]

Statement of William Pierce.

The acre of corn entered by me for premium was in corn last
year. The soil is a light loam. It was ploughed, about the
first of May, ten inches deep. On the 20th I spread six cart-
loads of green manure, from twenty-five to thirty bushels to
the load, and ploughed it in six inches deep, furrowing one way
with the plough. The rows were three feet apart. Put one
shovelful of compost manure in the hill, and planted the corn two
and one-half to three feet apart in the rows, four or five ker-
nels to the hill. Ploughed twice between the rows, and hoed
twice. Harvested about the middle of October. One rod
was selected by the committee which was considered as a fair
sample of the acre. This rod yielded 26 | pounds of shelled
corn.

Expense of cultivation : —

Interest on land, at $80, $4 80

Ploughing, 3 00

21*

162 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE.

Half the manure, .....
Carting and spreading manure, and planting,
Ploughing and hoeing, ....
Cutting stalks and harvesting,

Value of crop : —

76| bushels of corn, at $1,

Stalks and husks, .

$15 00

. 5

00

. 4

00

. 7

00

$38

80

$76

87J

. 14

00

90 871

Subtract cost of crop, .... 38 80

Profit, .

Needham, October 25, 1854.

Statement of C. Breck.

[The committee on grain crops have received the following
letters from Mr. Charles Breck, which are considered worth
publishing — inasmuch as they show an extraordinary yield of
corn that was raised without special effort, and with no view
to a premium :] —

Mr. Merrick, —

Sir : — I promised to send you an account of two rare pieces
of corn which were raised in my vicinity the present year.
The first was raised by Messrs. E. and J. Sias on a farm for-
merly belonging to H. Inches, Esq. As the land was rough
and rocky, and as nothing extra was expected, no particular
account was kept. Noticing that it was more than a usual
crop, I requested Mr. Sias to keep an accurate account of the
quantity ; which he did. There were one hundred and seventy-
eight baskets of ears. On the 25th of October I assisted in
weighing some of the shelled corn, and found that a basketful
of cars gave thirty-six and one-fourth pounds of corn and ten
and three-fourths pounds of cobs. We then took the same
weight of corn on the car (forty-seven pounds) and laid it by
itself to dry more if it would. November 14 I weighed this same

INDIAN CORN. 163

basket of cars, and found that it had lost three pounds. We
then shelled the corn, and there were thirty-seven pounds of
corn and seven pounds of cobs — the latter having lost three
and three-fourths pounds, while the corn had gained three-
fourths of a pound. I have measured the land — one acre and
twenty-eight rods. At fifty-six pounds to the bushel, the yield
is one hundred and seventeen and six-tenths — a fraction over
one hundred bushels to the acre. The corn was the Plymouth
county, or smutty white. Mr. Sias says that last year, as the
land was very rough, with many fast rocks, and a part covered
with slate ledge, it was manured very lightly, and yielded a
very small crop ; or as Mr. S. expressed it, " We slighted the
corn, and the corn slighted us."

This year we put on seven cords of manure, part from the
piggery, and part from the barn yard. The rows were about
three and a half feet apart, hills two and a half feet apart in
the rows. Before we had finished planting, our old manure
was gone, and on one-eighth of the field we put into the hills
manure green from the barn windows. On that part the corn
did not come up. We planted a second time, which greatly
reduced the yield, as, being later, it was more affected by the
dry weather, and did not fill out half as well as the rest. A
part of the field for several rods was a slate ledge, upon which
we carted several loads of loam to cover the corn with. This
portion was also much injured by the dry weather. Consider-
ing both of these things, and also that the dry season must
have had a bad effect upon the whole field, and that the whole
field was measured, and the whole corn in the field instead of
that from a single rod, and the calculations made from actual
weight, the crop must be regarded as an extraordinary one.

The other field belonged to Mr. J. F. Twombly, and, as you
saw, is on the southerly side of Milton Hill. I did not see
the corn until after it was harvested. As it lay on the floor, it
appeared to me so large a crop that I offered to assist in meas-
uring it and the land. On the 25th of October we measured
the whole, except six or eight baskets that were in another
place, weighing one basket in every ten or fifteen. There were
two hundred and two baskets, which weighed, on an average,
thirty-eight and a half pounds, the basket we used being a

164 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE.

small one. "We put one by itself to dry. November 14 I
shelled it, and found that the corn weighed twenty-eight and a
half pounds, and the cobs six and a quarter pounds, the whole
having lost three and three-quarters pounds in drying. Adding
the other six baskets, we have two hundred and eight, which,
at twenty-eight and a half pounds each, would give one hundred
and five and eighty-five one-hundredths bushels of shelled and
dry corn. The land measuring one hundred and eighty-six
rods gives ninety-one bushels to the acre. Of this piece no
particular account was kept, as nothing extra was expected.
A fair lot of manure was used, part in the hill, part ploughed
in. The corn was planted in drills, rows from three to three
and a half feet apart, the kernels about six inches apart in the
drill. The manure falling short, a cord of green manure from
the piggery was put in the drills on a part of the field. This
manure was so strong that the corn did not come up, and
had to be planted over again, and some of it a third time,
which made it late ; and consequently there was a large quantity
of pigcorii, I should judge twenty or more baskets. But for
this circumstance, the field would, without doubt, have yielded
more than one hundred bushels to the acre. If after these,
and the still greater report which you will make of Mr. Rug-
gles' corn, any person doubts that one hundred bushels can be
raised on an acre, I hope that the next time I have two hundred
and two baskets to pick up and move in one afternoon he may
not only " be there to see," but to help do the work, and he will
probably be satisfied.

Milton, November 15, 1854.

Statement of Philemon Ruggles.

The acre of land entered by me for premium was surveyed
I))- Mr. Charles Breck. The land was cultivated in one direc-
tion only, the seed having been planted in drills, the kernels
dropped six inches apart, alternately on each side. I have
found, by several years' experience, that this is a profitable
mode of planting, provided you have the same number of stocks
as if the seed were planted in hills. The rows run north and

INDIAN CORN.

165

south, three and a half feet apart. I cut out the suckers as
food for cows. I have not found that cutting the suckers affects
the crop materially, unless the corn is very stout, and then it
improves the crop by letting in more sun. Some farmers im-
agine that when the sucker is fully grown its nutriment returns
to the main stock, and so to the ear. No experiment has satis-
factorily proved this point, any more than that the nutriment
which supported a limb returns to the trunk when the limb has
decayed. Three-fifths of the acre were in corn last year, the
remainder in pease and potatoes. That part which was in corn
did as well this year as last. The whole was ploughed in the
spring. I spread and ploughed in six cords of common barn-
yard manure, made chiefly by cows — then harrowed. After a
few days I ploughed again, and let it remain in the furrow, that
it might lie more loose than it would be if harrowed after the
last ploughing. I put four cords of manure in the drills, two
of piggery manure and two of barn-yard, mixed together by
shovelling over two or three times. Planted on the 18th and
20th of May, leaving the soil as light as possible over the seed.
The seed was soaked three clays ; and if the corn was sprouted
a little, so much the better — it would get up the sooner. Hoed
twice — the first time I ploughed, the last time I merely went
through with the hoe. I cut the suckers soon after the silk
appeared, and the stalks after the corn turned hard. The corn
was the variety called smutty white.

Expenses : —

Interest on cost of land,
Taxes, ....

Manure, two-thirds exhausted,
Seed, ....

Drawing and spreading manure,
Ploughing and manuring in drills,
Planting and hoeing eight days,
Cutting suckers and stalks, .
Husking and getting in fodder,

$9

00

1

00

31

G7

75

4

00

8

00

10

00

5

00

7

50

<

$76 92

$116

87^

8

(xT

15

00

10

00

$

149

874-

76

9fi

166 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE.

Value of crop : —

One hundred and seventy baskets of corn,
each weighing 45 pounds, cobs 6 * pounds,
corn 38|- pounds, equal to 116|- bushels,
ill. ip i , . • . < • • .

Suckers, .......

Two tons of stalks, .....

Two tons of stover and husks,

Subtract cost,

Profit,. . . $72 95

Milton, November 8, 1854.

BRISTOL.

Statement of John B. Newcomb.

The land on which I raised my corn is a dry, loamy soil,
somewhat gravelly, and had lain in grass for the last eight years,
without any manure, except some droppings from the cattle
during the winter season ; it did not cut more than eight hundred
of hay last season. In April, 1853, carted on about two cords
of stable manure, and spread on the most gravelly part.
I ploughed the 3d of May, with one of Ruggles, Noursc, and
Mason's double ploughs, full eight inches deep, and then carted
on about six cords of manure, composed of fifty bushels of
leached ashes to 'four cords of swamp mud ; the other two cords
were principally loam and swamp mud from the hogpen, after
having been worked over by the hogs about one year. The
manure was spread evenly over the whole piece, and then har-
rowed and bushed in; it was then furrowed about three and
one-half feet apart, two inches deep, and chained across the
furrows, eighteen inches apart. Planted on the 6th and 7th of
May, three kernels in a hill. The corn is the eight-rowed yel-
low, sometimes called the Winncconet corn. Just before the
corn came up I bushed it over nicely, which gave me about a
week the start of the wee1

INDIAN CORN. 1G7

It took about eight quarts of seed to plant the piece. The
first week in June, ploughed and hoed. The last week in June,
cultivated and hoed the second and last time. Topped the
stalks .about the 1st of September.

September 30, Mr. Andrew II. Hall came and took out an
average rod, and found it to weigh forty-one and three-quarters
pounds. Mr. Hall came again in December to measure it. We
found it to weigh thirty-three and one-quarter pounds, and
measure sixteen quarts and one pint.

Expense of the crop : —

Eight cords of manure, ....

Carting, spreading, etc., ....

Ploughing, .......

Harrowing, furrowing, bushing, and chaining,
Planting, .......

Seed corn, .......

Ploughing and hoeing first time, .
Cultivating and hoeing second time,
Topping stalks and harvesting, .

Value of crop : —

Eighty-two and one-half bushels of corn,
Fodder,

$20

00

4

00

3

00

1

00

1

50
25

2

50

2

00

G

75

§41

00

$82

50

20

00

102

50

Profit, $61 50

Statement of Andrew H. Hall.

The land on which I raised the corn entered by me for pre-
mium is a deep, moist loam, situated near the river, and most
of it is flowed by high freshets. It was in grass, and cut about
one ton of hay to an acre, in 1852. Some years there had
been more. May 10, 1 853, ploughed seven inches deep, turning
the furrows flat ; then spread six and one-half cords of manure,
and ploughed it in about four inches deep ; furrowed one way,

168 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE.

(north and south,) making five rows to average one rod in
■width. In these furrows were put three and one-half cords
fine manure, making the hills from fifteen to twenty inches
apart ; two or three kernels were dropped in a hill, in most hills
but two. Used nine quarts of seed; the kind was a large,
eight-rowed, yellow corn. Finished planting May 21 ; about
one-eighth was planted a few days before. June 13, 1 ploughed
two furrows in a row, turning them from the corn, and went
through the rows twice with a small harrow before hoeing. It
was hoed on the 20th and 21st of June, making the land near-
ly level. Harrowed twice after hoeing, June 25 and July 4.
July 21, pulled and dug up weeds three-fourths of a day.
Cut the stalks the first week in September; harvested from
15th to 20th of October. The field measured one acre one
and a quarter rods.

Before harvesting Mr. Gilmore viewed the corn, and ordered
three rows, in different parts of the field, to be saved and meas-
ured as an average for the whole. The rows selected were
the centre row and eighth from each side, and averaged thir-
teen rods in length ; making thirty-nine rods, or seven and four-
fifths rods of land. There were fifty-seven rods of the same
average length, and eleven rows six rods long, making eight
hundred and seven rods of rows in the field.

The corn from the rows selected was shelled about the mid-
dle of December. The cars weighed three hundred and thirty-
four pounds ; the cobs fifty-one pounds ; the corn two lmudred
and eighty-three pounds. Mr. Benjamin F. Dean saw it meas-
ured soon after it was shelled ; there were four bushels and
three pecks, making ninety-eight and one-fourth bushels on the
lot, and ninety-seven and one-half to an acre. If the standard
adopted by the State (fifty-six pounds of shelled corn to a
bushel) had been used instead of a measure, there would have
been one hundred and three and three-fourths bushels instead
of ninety-seven and one-half to the acre.

Expenses : —

Ploughing, $3 00

Ten cords of manure, 40 00

Carting, spreading, and ploughing in manure, 5 00

INDIAN CORN.

1G9

Furrowing and planting,

Ploughing and harrowing among the corn,

Hoeing,

Pulling weeds, .
Cutting stalks, .
Harvesting,
Seed corn, .

Value of the crop : —

9S| bushels of corn, at $1, .

Corn fodder, ......

Whole expense on 161^ rods of land,

Profit and use of land,

Tavnton, 1854.

$3 00

2

00

2

00

75

3

00

6

00

25

$98

25

20

00

$65 00

118 25
65 00

$53 25

Statement of Samuel S. Pratt.

I hereby certify that Andrew H. Hall measured and marked
off in my field of corn one acre. It was greensward in the
fall and produced about one thousand pounds of hay. I ploughed
the last of November. Three cords of horse manure, put in
heaps, was spread the last of April and ploughed in, then fur-
rowed about three feet eight inches each way. Put about two
cords of well-mixed hog and privy manure, with loam, in the
lull. I planted the yellow, top-over corn, five kernels in a hill,
about the 15th of May. Hoed twice; used a cultivator; har-
vested the 12th of October. Andrew H. Hall cut up one rod;
husked, and counted the ears the 10th of October; dried and
shelled in December. Measured seventy-seven and one-half
bushels per acre.

Expenses : —

Ploughing, .....
Planting and manuring in the hill, .
Hoeing twice, ....
Pulling up weeds and cutting stalks,

22*

$3 00
4 00
4 00

2 00

no

MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE.

Harvesting,

Horse manure, three cords, .

Two cords of manure put in the hill,

Yalue of the crop : —

771 bushels of corn,
Top stalks, .
But stalks, one ton,
Pumpkins, two cartloads,
One bushel of beans, .

Net profit,

Subtract profit on beans and pumpkins,

Leaving .....

Raynham, 1854.

$6 00

19 50

4 00

$77 50

7 00

7 00

4 00

2 00

$42 50

- 97 50

$55 00

6 00

$49 00*

PLYMOUTH.
Statement of Spencer Leonard, Jr.

Having entered as a competitor for the greatest crop of In-
dian corn on one acre, I will state that the ground produced a
crop of rye last year, and in September the stubble and weeds
were ploughed in and sown to rye ; and this year, in May, there
were nine cords of good stable manure spread and ploughed
in with the rye ; it was then well harrowed, and planted, May
22, with smutty-white, sometimes called Plymouth County,
corn, putting no manure in the hill. I do not think manure ap-
plied in the hill, in seasons like the present, of much advantage,
and in many of our sandy soils it is a positive injury.

Immediately after planting, a handful of leached ashes was
applied on the top of each hill. It was cultivated four times
and hoed twice, and about the first of August the weeds were
pulled up. The stalks were cut about the middle of Septem-
ber. The seed was selected at the harvesting of my last year's
crop, taking the best ears from stalks which bore two or more
ears.

INDIAN CORN.

171

Expenses : —

Ploughing and sowing rye, in 1853,

$3 50

One bushel of rye sown

1 17

Ploughing in rye, May 19, 185-1, .

2 50

Harrowing and seed corn,

1 50

Planting, ......

3 00

Cultivating four times, ....

1 00

Hoeing twice, .....

6 00

Pulling weeds, .....

50

Cutting stalks, .....

3 00

Nine cords of manure, carting and spreading,

45 00

Ashes, and applying, ....

7 00

Harvesting, ......

7 00

Interest on land,

4 50

$85 67

Income :—

One-half of the manure and ashes still in the

ground for the use of future crops, . $26 00

102 bushels of corn, as measured by the super-
visor October 9, at $1, . . . . 102 00

21 tons of corn fodder, at $8 per ton, . . 20 00

148 00

Net profit, .

$62 33

Statement of Ira Conant.

As respects my crop, the ground was rough and somewhat
rocky. The expense of ploughing is not commonly more than
three dollars and fifty cents per acre. I had four men and four
oxen two days ploughing and taking out the stones that were
under the surface. The manure spread on the surface was
twenty-four horseloads, I think about seven cords; this was
made in winter, in my barn cellar, from horses, neat cattle, and
shotes, occasionally putting in loam. My ground I ploughed
ten inches deep ; I then harrowed it, furrowed a good depth,
and then put ten loads in the hills of compost manure made

172 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE.

the summer previous. The expense of drawing out manure,
harrowing, furrowing, and planting, was eight dollars. The
corn was planted the 29th of May; the 21st of June I culti-
vated twice in a row, and had two men commence hoeing ; they
went over the ground in six hours. July 1, hoed the corn,
and the third hoeing was done the 4th of August. The cost of
the work, after planting, was nine dollars and fifty cents. The
ten loads of compost were ox-cart loads, probably three cords,
making in all ten cords. This I could have sold for thirty
dollars.

Expenses : —

Manure, $30 00

Labor in breaking up one and one-eighth acre, 17 50

$47 50

Quantity of corn raised, one hundred and one bushels per
acre.

Statement of Alonzo P. Benson.

The acre of corn that I enter was planted on sward land,
on which last year I cut ten hundred pounds of hay. The qual-
ity was inferior, somewhat mixed with meadow. I ploughed on
the 15th of May eight inches deep; the soil was black loam,
with hard, stiff subsoil. I carted on forty loads of manure,
making about eight cords in bulk of manure, which was made
from two cows and one horse in a year. It was mixed with
sand in about equal parts, which came from under my barn
floor in making a cellar under the floorway. The sand was
good plastering sand. I spread the forty loads above named
on the furrows, then ploughed it in four inches deep, then went
over it with a bush ; furrowed about three feet, three inches
apart; the hills were two feet apart; put in four kernels of
corn to the hill, and a shovelful of the same kind of sand that
two cows were yarded up on nights for two Bummers, the solid
being taken off every morning.

Hoed the corn twice, ploughing between the rows onco in a
row the first hoeing, and with cultivator the second time.

INDIAN CORN.

173

Expenses : —

The expense of ploughing first time,

Spreading the manure and second plougl

Furrowing and bushing,

Carting sand and dropping it in hil

Drawing forty loads,

Dropping and covering the corn,

First hoeing,

Second "...

Interest on land, .

Half a bushel of seed corn,

Eight cords of manure,

mg,

$3 00

1

25

G2

2

50

3

75

2

00

3

00

2

50

63

2

00

24 00

$45 25

I have charged the labor at ten cents per hour as near as I
could.

The kind of corn planted was the smutty white and yellow,
mixed. It has been planted in this way for two years before
this. I selected the ears in the field before harvesting. Quan-
tity raised, ninety-three bushels per acre.

Statement of George W. Wood.

The acre of land entered by me for premium for Indian corn
is a clayey loam. It has been in English grass since 1847;
cut in 1853 about three-fourths of a ton of hay. In the winter
of 1854 I carted from the manure heap thrown from the barn,
where I fed out my corn fodder and fresh hay, the buts and
the waste part of the hay, all thrown out together, amounting
to twenty loads of manure, and dropped it in loads. The
18th of May I spread the manure and ploughed in. I also
spread about half a ton of fresh hay on a part of the acre.
Where I spread the hay the corn did not suffer so much as the
other part of the piece. After ploughing, harrowed and culti-
vated until the soil was very fine, and furrowed a little more than
three feet apart, dropping twenty loads of fine compost manure
in the hill ; put the hills two feet apart ; the corn was planted
on the 19th and 20th of May. Soon after the corn was up I
went through with the cultivator, and in the course of the

174

MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE.

season it was cultivated four times and hoed twice. I went
through it the last of July and cut up the weeds, but did not
cut the stalks until the corn was nearly ripe. I cannot state
precisely the cost of cultivation. I ploughed the ground with
one yoke of oxen, about nine inches in depth. I will state the
expenses as near as I can : —

Expenses : —

Ploughing, ......

. $2 75

Harrowing and cultivating, .

3 00

Carting and spreading the manure,

3 00

Carting and dropping in the hill, .

2 50

Planting, (four kernels in the hill,)

3 50

Cultivating four times, ....

1 67

Hoeing twice, .....

5 50

Cutting up weeds, .

1 50

Seed corn, ......

50

$23 82

The corn was the smutty white, or, as some call it, the
Whitman corn. Selected the corn at harvest time from the
stalks that grew two ears and nearest the ground. The cost
of harvesting I make no charge of, as I think the corn fodder
is worth as much as the labor of harvesting. Quantity raised,
eighty-nine bushels per acre.

Statement of Calvin Leavitt.

The land on which I raised my Indian corn was in grass last
summer, and produced about one ton per acre. On the 18th
of May I carted on thirty-three loads, of forty cubic feet each,
of first-rate stable manure, and ploughed on the 20th, about
eight inches deep. It was planted on the 24th and 25th with
the Hill, a premium corn, four kernels in a hill, twenty inches
apart one way, three feet four inches the other; then run a cul-
tivator through my corn three times, and hoed twice, the last
time on the 15th of July. The extreme dry weather n fleeted
my corn very much ; I think I am one-quarter short on that
account. I raised, as per measurement, eighty-nine bushels
and thirty-live pounds per acre.

INDIAN CORN.

it:.

Expenses : —

Carting manure, .....

. $5 00

Ploughing and spreading manure, .

4 00

Harrowing, furrowing, and planting,

5 50

Hoeing and cultivating,

5 00

Manure,

. 35 00

Income : —

89 bushels and 35 pounds of corn, at 90 cents
per bushel, ......

Profit,

$54 50

80 53

$2G 03

I have not made any account of harvesting, as I think the
fodder will amply pay for the same. I have not given the corn
crop credit for one-half the manure not exhausted, as many do,
for it is a great tax on any other crop to find this other half,
after raising a hundred bushels of corn per acre.

Statement of Orsamus Littlejohn.

The land on which my acre of corn grew this year is a
sandy loam ; has been in grass three or four years past, with
rather light crops. Owing to the backward spring, and to the
distance of the field from the barn, and the greenness of the
manure, it was carted on before the ground was ploughed,
which is not my usual practice.

May 17, ploughed with two horses, about seven inches deep.
May 22, planted four or five kernels in the hill; hills three feet
three inches apart each way. The corn did not grow so well
as it should at first. The seed is a mixture of the Plymouth
County white corn with a yellow that resembles the white in
every form except its hard core, which the white lacks. The
object in mixing is to get a good core to the white corn. The
seed was selected at harvest from small stalks with large ears.
Twelve of these ears and buts (the top stalks being cut)
weighed twelve pounds fourteen ounces. The ears without
the buts weighed ten pounds ten ounces. The crop has been

176

MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE.

cultivated and hoed three times. It was planted too far apart.
The cultivation, charging but half the manure to the crop,
cost twenty-five dollars, harvesting included.

MlDDLEBOK.0', 1854.

Statement of Daniel Alden.

Having entered my name as a competitor for the premium
offered by you for the best field of Indian corn of not less than
three acres, I now proceed to give an account of my manage-
ment and expenses. The field upon which the corn grew con-
tains about three and one-fourth acres of land ; it was ploughed
from greensward in the fall of 1853, it then having been in
grass five years, without any manure after it was laid down.
The soil is a sandy loam. I commenced drawing manure about
the first of May, and drew on thirty-nine cartloads, of thirty-
five bushels each, which I put in the hill. I then furrowed it
three feet six inches apart, and on the 10th planted it with
flesh-colored and yellow corn, putting five kernels in a hill ; it
was cultivated and weeded out about the 20th of June, and then
cultivated twice after.

Expenses : —

Manure, thirty-nine cartloads,

$40 00

Drawing the same,

7 00

Ploughing, per acre, $2, .

6 50

One and one-fourth bushels, .

1 50

Planting, .......

10 00

Hoeing and cultivating for the season, .

10 00

^75 00

Deduct half of the expense of the manure

for future crops, .

20 00

Profit,

$55 00

Statement of Amasa Howard.

Being a candidate for the premium offered for the greatest
crop of corn produced on two acres of land, I send a statement
of the trial I made.

INDIAN CORN. 177

The laud was light and loamy, having been used as a pas-
ture for some years. About the middle of May I drew on
forty-six loads of green manure and ploughed it in, then forty-
five loads, making ninety-one, dropping it in the hills. Planted
it the 23d and 24th of May, three feet one way, and eighteen
inches the other, with three kernels in a hill. The 19th and
20th of June it was cultivated and hoed once.

Expenses : —

91 loads of manure, at 75 cents, .

$68 25

Carting, spreading, and ploughing in the same,

12 48

Planting, .......

5 00

Cultivating and hoeing, ....

5 00

$90 73

Half the manure not exhausted,

34 12

$56 61

Statement of Horace Collamore.

The two acres entered by me for the premium for the best
field of Indian corn was in grass the last year. It is a grav-
elly loam, rather inclined to clay. About the 10th of May
about forty loads of barn manure were carted on, spread, and
ploughed under, from seven to nine inches deep, with the Michi-
gan double-mould-board plough, when it was rolled, and forty
loads of mud compost carted on and harrowed in.

It was planted the 24th and 25th of May, three and one-half
feet one way by eighteen inches the other, three kernels in a
hill. About weeding time, a handful of ashes and plaster,
mixed, was put round each hill of corn on a part of the field ;
on other parts super-phosphate of lime and plaster ; and on
other parts another preparation, which will not be likely to be
extensively used, viz., plaster, rotten eggs and ashes ; the latter
gave evidence of being the best fertilizer; but the drought and
worms put an end to my anticipations of even an ordinary
crop ; and on harvesting, I think it was cut short more than
half.

An explanation may be necessary in regard to my new fer-

23*

178 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE.

tilizing agent, viz., rotten eggs and plaster. Late last spring
I purchased one hundred and thirty-two boxes, in each of which
ten dozen of eggs had been packed in plaster for the Califor-
nia market. An opportunity for shipping them did not offer
till the eggs were spoilt. I purchased them for about what
the boxes were worth, and as yet have used but a small part ;
shall experiment another season on various crops.

BROOM CORN.

HAMPSHIRE.

Statement of Avery D. Hubbard.

The land on which my crop of broom corn was raised con-
tains just one acre, and is of a light, sandy soil. In 1852 a crop
of corn was raised, of about twenty bushels to the acre. In
the fall of the same year it was sown with rye, and had a fair
crop of about ten bushels to the acre. No manure of an}r kind
was used on it in 1853. The land is light and mellow, and is
easy to cultivate. Ten cartloads of compost manure were
spread upon it just before ploughing. The manure was made
the winter previous in my hogpen, which is directly under my
home barn. It is composed of about two parts of swamp
muck to one of horse manure, all thoroughly worked together
by the hogs, and did not cost over fifty cents a load, though I
have set the price a little higher. I ploughed about the 20th
of May, and planted on the 23d with Woodward's improved
planter, dropping about one-half bushel of super-phosphate of
lime in the hill. The rows were about three feet apart, and
the hills two feet apart. The corn was well stocked and very
even. The drought affected the crop but little, the land being
ploughed deep. The crop was gathered about the last of Sep-
tember, and has been scraped and the seed cleaned up. I have
made no account of carting or spreading the manure, as I think
it improved the land more than what the manure cost.

BROOM CORN.

179

Value of crop : —

700 pounds of broom brush, at 10 cents,
52 bushels of broom seed, at 40 cents,

Expenses : —
Ploughing and harrowing,
Seed and planting,
Phosphate and manure,
Interest on the land, .
Hoeing three times,
Harvesting and scraping,
Cleaning the seed,

$70 00

20

80

$1

G2

1

00

9

00

2

40

4

38

6

50

1

50

$90 80

26 40

Net profit on one acre,

Sunderland, November 15, 1854.

$64 40

HAMPDEN.

Statement of Sumner Chapin.

The crop of broom corn which I offer for premium weighed
four hundred and seventy-five pounds, grown upon eighty rods
of ground. One-half of the land was mown in 1853, and the
other half was planted with tobacco, upon which I spread half
a cord of manure. In May last I ploughed and planted it with
broom corn, without any manure ; and I have harvested from it
four hundred and seventy-five pounds, worth ten cents per
pound.

Value of crop,
Expenses : —

Ploughing and harrowing,
Hoeing and harvesting,
Scraping, .

$47 50

$1 50

10 00

2 00

13 00

Net profit,

$34 00

180 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE.

FRANKLIN.

Statement of Elihu Smith.

The piece of broom corn which I enter for premium, con-
taining one acre and nine rods, is situated in the north meadow
of Sunderland, and is a part of five acres which I cultivated in
the same manner, as follows : —

The previous fall and winter I drew to the piece twenty
cords of muck, which I mixed with five and one-half cords of
sheep manure. In April the whole was turned over and mixed,
and eighteen bushels of ashes added. About the first of May
it was turned the second time,' and on the 15th of May was
applied to the land by harrowing in. The piece was planted
with Woodward's corn planter, and one hundred pounds of
super-phosphate of lime put in the hill. The land was culti-
vated and hoed four times, and yielded, by estimation, eight
hundred pounds to the acre. Broom corn had been grown on
the land the two previous years.

The crop raised on the acre and one-eighteenth, which I enter,
yielded of brush one thousand and twenty-five pounds, and of
seed sixty-seven bushels, weighing forty pounds per bushel.

Value of crop : —

1,025 pounds of brush, at 10 cents, .
67 bushels of seed, at 40 cents,

Expenses : —

Ploughing, harrowing, and planting, .
Manure, .......

Hoeing,

Harvesting, scraping and cleaning the seed,
Interest on the land, .....

38 50

Net profit, s'.tO 80

$102

50

26

80

$129

30

$2

50

12

00

7

00

10

00

7

00

BROOM CORN.

181

Statement of Kelita Hubbard.

The piece of land on which this crop of broom corn was
raised contains one acre. Previous to 1853 it had been mown
fox several years ; it was turned over in May of that year and
planted with Indian corn, fifteen dollars' worth of compost
manure being- ploughed in, and a single handful of a mixture of
twelve-sixteenths ashes, three-sixteenths lime, and one-sixteenth
plaster dropped in the hill. The crop was good, yielding six-
ty-two bushels of shelled corn to the acre. The land is sandy
loam, with a gravelly subsoil, inclined to be wet from springs
above — so wet I could not plant until ^he last of May. In 1854
I manured it in the hill with ten cart bucks of compost manure,
worth six dollars, and planted the seed on the manure ; hoed
three times and harvested about the first of October. I have
scraped seven hundred pounds, and think there will be one
hundred more.

Value of crop : —

800 pounds, at 10 cents a pound,
70 bushels of seed, at 40 cents, .

Expenses : —

Ploughing and harrowing,
Manuring in the hill, .
Seed and planting,
Hoeing, .

Harvesting and scraping,
Manure and interest on land,

$80 00

28

00

$1

50

2

00

2

00

5

00

10

00

10

00

$108 00

30 50

Net profit,

$77 50

182

MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE.

WHEAT.

FRANKLIN.

Statement of D. D. fy J. Whittemore, Jr.

We offer for premium a crop of wheat raised in Sunderland
on one acre and forty-one rods of land. The soil is a dark,
sandy loam. In 1851 the piece was sown with barley and
seeded with clover. In 1852 we cut two good crops of clover.
In 1853 we ploughed in the second crop of clover and sowed
two varieties of wheat, namely, bald and bearded white Flint,
one bushel of the first, and one and one-half of the latter, har-
rowed well, and in the spring sowed on the piece three bushels
of salt, two bushels of plaster, and five barrels of slaked oys-
ter-shell lime.

Our wheat suffered from the severe winter and from drought.
We judged that full forty per cent, of the winter wheat was
killed. We harvested in July, and for want of barn room had
it threshed immediately with a flail; consequently a large per
cent., estimated at from three to five bushels, remained in the
straw. Of the bearded we had nineteen bushels ; of the bald
we had six ; giving us twenty-five bushels of clean wheat free
from all other seeds.

Value of the crop : —

25 bushels of wheat, sold at $2.50,
Straw, valued at .

Expenses of cultivation : —

Ploughing, sowing, and harrowing,
Paid for seed wheat,
Lime, salt, plaster, and appliance, .
Harvesting and threshing,
Interest on laud, .

$62

50

7

00

$3

75

3

37

5

35

8

00

5

00

$G9 50

25 47

Net gain,

s! I 03

WHEAT. 183

"We will also say to the committee, that there is on the ground
on which this wheat was raised an orchard of apple trees of
nine years' growth.

BERKSHIRE.

F?'o?n the Report of the Committee.

But one crop of winter wheat was entered, and that hardly
worth a premium. The wheat was sown, after corn, the last of
September; two and one-fourth bushels of blue stem were
sown to the acre, and one bushel of plaster sown with the
seed; it was ploughed six inches deep and harrowed three
times. This field was highly manured last year, and produced
about eighty bushels of corn to the acre. Mr. Curtis informed
the committee that it produced about fifteen bushels of wheat
to the acre. A part of the field was badly winter-killed, and
that saved it from the ravages of the insect, the part that did
not winter-kill being nearly destroyed by its ravages. As this
is so uncertain a crop, and is raised in so small a section of
the county, and by so few persons, your committee doubt the
propriety of the society's encouraging its cultivation.

There were fifteen entries of spring wheat, and decidedly the
best was that of Mr. Jason Clapp, of Pittsfield, which would have
taken the first premium if it had been entered in accordance
with the regulations of the society.

Mr. Coman's wheat, for which the first premium is awarded,
was on ground that received about twenty-five loads of compost
from the hog yard last year, and produced seventy-five bushels
of corn to the acre. For the present crop no manure was
used. It was ploughed seven inches deep, harrowed, and the
seed ploughed in. Two and one-fourth bushels of Mediterra-
nean wheat were soaked in brine over night and rolled in
lime and then sown.

Mr. Hinckley's wheat, for which the second premium was
awarded, was on ground that received twenty loads of long
manure ploughed in, and ten loads of compost spread on and
harrowed in last year, and produced one hundred bushels of
corn to the acre. This year it was ploughed once six inches

184 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE.

deep, and sown, 13th of May, with two and one-fourth bushels
of Mediterranean wheat to the acre.

Mr. Tyrrell's crop, on which the third premium was awarded,
was sown after corn that received twenty-five loads of hog
and compost manure to the acre last year, and produced eighty
bushels per acre. This season it was ploughed twice, seven
inches deep ; sown 5th of May, two bushels of Mediterranean
wheat, and three pecks of plaster, per acre, being used.

Mr. Richard's wheat, which received the fourth premium,
was on greensward ploughed last fall. Seven loads of long
manure ploughed in this season; sown 10th of May; two bush-
els of Italian wheat per acre.

We saw fine fields of spring wheat in every section of the
county we visited ; and, so far as our observation extended, it
had escaped the ravages of the insect with a single excep-
tion— that of Mr. Russell, of Pittsfield.

PLYMOUTH.

Statement of Joseph Kingman.

The ground on which my wheat grew, for which I entered a
claim as one of the competitors for the society's premium, con-
tains one acre and twelve rods, as surveyed by Mr. Copeland.
It is high, warm land — a sandy loam. It had been planted the
two years previous — the first to corn, the next to potatoes.

The 15th of September I sowed five pecks of the white Flint
wheat. I put on twenty bushels of ashes and three loads of
compost manure on the poorest part of the lot at the time of
sowing. I had manured the land for each of the previous crops
with about twenty ox-cart loads from my barn yard.

My wheat stood the winter well, and looked finely in the
spring and first part of summer. It suffered very much from
the drought of July, and a portion of it somewhat from blight
or rust on the straw. These two causes, I think, reduced the
amount of wheat one-fourth or more ; but, notwithstanding, I
had twenty and one-fourth bushels of handsome wheat. I
would remark, that I was unable to get it threshed until the
22d of September. Had it been threshed immediately after

RYE. 185

harvesting, I should probably have had another bushel, as the

fowls devoured some of it.

I threshed out nine pecks for sowing before the machine
arrived. The remaining eighteen bushels were threshed by Mr.
Killbrick, of Pembroke, whose machine for threshing grain of
all kinds is the most perfect I have ever seen.

RYE.

HAMPSHIRE.

Statement of George Dickinson.

The land on which my crop of rye grew is of the second qual-
ity of meadow land, lying directly on the bank of the Connecti-
cut, in Iladley. In the spring of 1853 it was ploughed from
seven to eight inches deep. Twelve loads of manure were ap-
plied to the acre and harrowed in. Corn was then planted and
thoroughly cultivated. The corn was cut up the second week
in September, and yielded at harvest fifty bushels per acre.
The ground was again ploughed from eight to nine inches deep,
and sown with a bushel and a half of white rye per acre, at
seventy-five cents per bushel. The crop was harvested the
13th- and 14th of July.

Value of crop : —

Sixty-five and a half bushels of fifty-six pounds, $76 63
Three and a quarter tons of straw, . . 19 50

$96 13

Expenses : —

Ploughing and sowing, . . . . $3 00

Three bushels of rye, 2 25

Ilarvc sting and housing, . . . . 5 00

24*

186 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE.

Threshing and cleaning, . . . $6 00

Interest and taxes, 15 00

$31 25

Net profit, $64 88

Hadley, November, 1854.

Statement of Chester Coicles.

The land on which this crop was raised contains two acres.
In 1853 it was planted with corn, and manured at the rate of
twenty loads to the acre, spread on and harrowed in. After
rny corn was harvested I sowed my rye, at the rate of one
bushel to the acre. I harvested in July. The land was
ploughed deep and thoroughly harrowed.

Value of crop : —

50 bushels, at $1.25, ....
Straw, by estimate, ....

Expenses : —

Seed,

Ploughing, harrowing, and sowing,

Harvesting and threshing,

Interest on land,

Net profit, .... $52 23

PLYMOUTH.

Statement of Nahiun Snell.

The land on which I raised the rye which I entered as a
competitor for the society's premium consists of gravelly loam,
rather uneven, on which was rye in the year 1853 ; it was sown
to rye in September, 1853, the second year, on which I carted
fifty loads of compost manure, consisting of about one-half

$62

50

15

48

$77

98

$2

25

<•>
o

50

8

00

12

00

■2'o

75

RYE.

187

meadow muck, and sowed two bushels of rye upon one acre
two quarters and thirty rods of land, according to the certificate
of the surveyor, on which I raised forty-nine and a half bushels
of good rye, threshed in August

Statement of Spencer Leonard, Jr.

Having entered as a competitor for the premium offered for
the best experiment in raising rye, I will state that the land on
which it grew has a warm, light, sandy soil, and has been in
grass three years, producing the last year about half a torn
It was ploughed in August, and the rye was sown in Septem-
ber. One hundred bushels of ashes were spread broadcast,
and on one-half acre of it about one hundred pounds of guano ;
and on one-quarter of an acre eight loads of mud, or muck, which
had been exposed to atmospheric influences for two or three
years, were spread ; the other quarter being a better quality of
soil, nothing was applied but the ashes ; it was then all well
harrowed and rolled.

Expenses : —

Ploughing, .
Ashes, and applying,
Muck, " "

Guano, " "

narrowing and rolling,
Harvesting, .
Threshing and cleaning,
Interest on the land.

Income :-

26 bushels rye, at $1.25 per bushel,
1 ton of straw, at $10 per ton,
One-half the ashes not consumed,

$2

00

15

00

1

50

3

50

1

50

5

00

5

50

2

00

$36 00

82

50

10

00

7

50

$50 00

188 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE.

BARLEY.

BERKSHIRE.

From the Report of the Committee.

This crop is raised quite extensively in the north and middle
sections of the county, and the soil seems to be well adapted
to its growth. It requires a strong, moist soil. "We gave Sey-
mour Wilcox, of Lanesboro', the first premium ; B. F. Mills,
of Williamstown, the second ; Ansel Prince, of Windsor, the
third; and Joshua Tillotson, of Lanesboro', the fourth. Mr.
Wilcox's field contains twenty acres; it was in corn last year,
and had a top-dressing of ten loads of manure per acre ; no
manure used on the present crop ; it was ploughed seven inches,
the seed rolled in plaster, and sown, 18th of May, with three
bushels of six-rowed barley per acre ; seed raised in Wisconsin.
Mr. Wilcox has been in the practice of raising barley a number
of years, and thinks that seed from the west produces a better
crop than seed raised here. Mr. Mill's ground was in corn
last year ; it received twenty-five loads of manure to the acre,
and produced sixty bushels of corn per acre. For the present
crop it was ploughed seven inches, and three and one-half bush-
els of six-rowed barley were sown on the 13th of May, and on
the 30th of June, two hundred pounds of plaster. Mr. Prince's
barley followed potatoes ; twenty loads of manure were used
last year, and twelve this; it was ploughed six inches, and
sown 22d of May, with three bushels of six-rowed barley.

BRISTOL.

Statement of George R. Leonard.

On the last of April, 1853, I ploughed one acre of ground,
on which I raised, the year previous, one hundred and fourteen
bushels of corn. On the 20th of May I spread three cords of
stable manure, and cross-ploughed in the same. On the 21st
of .May I sowed three bushels of barley, which I harrowed and
bushed in.

I weighed the crop after cutting and drying four days, and

BARLEY.

189

had five tons thirteen hundred and sixty pounds. I threshed
said crop of barley the last of December aad first of January,
and measured forty-seven and one-fourth bushels from the
same. The lodging of the barley before cutting, together with
the trampling and pecking of the fowls, probably destroyed a
number of bushels of the crop.

Expenses : —

Charged for two ploughings, .
Three cords of manure,
Drawing on and spreading manure,
Sowing, harrowing, and bushing, .
Three bushels of barley,
Harvesting, .....
Threshing and winnowing,

Income : —

47| bushels of barley, at $1 per bushel,
Straw, after threshing,

$2 00

12

00

1

06

1

90

2

25

3

04

5

20

$47 25

32

00

$27 45

79 25

Balance in favor of crop,

Nobton, 1854.

$51 80

PLYMOUTH.

Statement of Spencer Leonard, Jr.

The acre of land on which I made an experiment in raising
barley has a loamy soil, of good quality ; it was planted to
corn last year. It was ploughed the last of April, "this year,
and on the 10th of May the barley was sown and well harrowed.
There were two hundred pounds of Peruvian guano, well mixed
with soil and charcoal dust, sown broadcast before the last
harrowing ; the ground was then rolled. The barley was cut
and housed in July, and the 9th of October it was threshed, and
measured thirty-six bushels.

190

MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE.

Expenses : —

Three bushels of barley sown, at 90 cents,

Guano, and applying,

Ploughing,

Sowing and harrowing, .

Rolling,

Cutting and getting in, .

Threshing and cleaning,

Interest on land, .

Income : —

36 bushels of barley, at 90 cents, .
One and one-fourth tons of straw, .

$2

70

6

75

2

00

1

40

25

2

75

4

75

6

00

$32

40

10

00

$26 60

42 40

Net profit, $15 80

The guano caused a very luxuriant growth of straw, some of
it measuring more than four feet high ; but the grain was not
equal to the straw, as some of it fell before ripening.

OATS.

WORCESTER NORTH.

From the Report of the Committee.

The specimen of oats exhibited was raised by Mr.' Charles
Flagg, of Sterling, being fifty-seven bushels per acre, and weigh-
ing thirty-two pounds to the bushel. The whole expense of
cultivation, including seed, he estimates at fourteen dollars :
the fifty-seven bushels of oats, at fifty-live cents per bushel,
would amount to thirty-one dollars and thirty-five cents ; deduct
the fourteen dollars for cultivation, and you have left the sum
of seventeen dollars and thirty-live cents, not including the
value of straw, which he did not estimate, nor did lie charge for
manure applied the previous year. And your committee award
to him the first premium.

Edwin Upton, Chairman.

OATS. 191

HAMPSHIRE.

Statement of Albert Montague.

The acre of land on which I raised my crop of oats is a
Bandy loam. I have planted it for two years previous — the
first year upon turf, manuring in the hill. Last year I ploughed
in twenty loads of green manure and put a little compost in
the hill. My land was not in condition to plough for spring-
grain as early by fifteen days as the average of seasons. The
crop was not as good as it would have been had the land been
in condition to sow as early as usual. I ploughed my land and
sowed my oats on the 10th of May. I sowed four bushels to
the acre. Unless sown very thick, my oats are apt to fall
down. I harrowed thoroughly, and then rolled them with a
heavy roller. I harvested the 29 th and 31st of July, and
threshed in September, and had sixty and one-half bushels. I
cut them when they were about one-half white.

Yalue of the crop : —

601 bushels of oats, ....
1]- tons of straw, .....

Expenses : —

Ploughing and sowing, ....

Seed,

Harvesting and threshing,

Interest on land, .....

Net profit, .... $26 25

Sundeeland, November 1, 1854.

PLYMOUTH.

Statement of Daniel Alden.

The land on which I raised the crop of oats entered by me
for a premium is a sandy loam ; in 1852 it was in grass ; in May,
1853, it was ploughed with the Michigan plough, nine to ten

30

25

9

00

iioa

25

$2 00

2

00

4

50

4

50

- 13

00

192

MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE.

inches deep ; then I applied seventy-five loads of good compost
manure to the acre, and planted it to corn. In the fall of
1853 I cross-ploughed it. April, 1854, ploughed the ground;
then harrowed, and sowed three bushels of seed, which came
from the westerly part of New York some three years ago.
Sowed the oats the 20th of April; then harrowed and rolled
the ground ; I cut the oats the last of July, and in September
threshed and cleaned them with a machine.

Income : —

63i bushels of good clean oats, at 67 cents,
li tons of straw, at $8 per ton, .

Expenses : —

Ploughing, .......

Harrowing and rolling, ....

Three bushels of oats, at 67 cents per bushel,
Cradling, .......

Raking, binding, and getting in oats,
Threshing and cleaning oats,

$42 37

12

00

$2

00

1

50

2

00

1

25

1

50

$54 37

G 00

14 25

Net profit,

$40 12

GRASS SEED.

HAMPSHIRE.

Statement of Oliver Williams.

I have raised, the past season, two bushels of herds grass
seed on thirty-five rods of ground. A sample of the seed I
had on exhibition at the late fair. The land on which the seed
grew was a light loam. This piece was selected from three
acres, which, in 1852, were sown with rye and oats, my usual
spring grain. The field — aside from these thirty-five rods —

GRASS SEED. 193

was cut about tlie 7tli of July, the remainder about the 1st of
August. I consider the hay, after threshing off the seed, worth
about half price. I recommend to all farmers to raise their
own grass seed. My yield was worth at the rate of twenty-four
dollars to the acre.

Value of the crop : —

Two bushels of seed, at $3, . . . . $6 00
Hay, 2 00

$3 00

Expenses : —

Grass seed, .... $0 50

Ploughing and harrowing, . . . . 76

Interest on land, at $50, .... 75

Cutting and threshing, 1 00

3 00

Net profit, $5 00

Sunderland, October 16, 1854.

FRANKLIN.

Statement of O. $• F. H. Williams.

The piece of ground on which we raised two bushels of
herds grass seed contains thirty-five rods. The piece had been
down to grass two years. Soil of a sandy loam, and not in a
high state of cultivation. At the rate which we have received
on thirty-five rods this year, one acre would produce nine bush-
els of seed.

Expenses : —

Ploughing, $0 50

Sowing, 50

Seed, 25

Harvesting, 1 00

$2 00

25*

194 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE.

Income : —
Two bushels of seed, $6 00

Profit, $4 00

Sunderland, 1854.

BEANS

BRISTOL.

Statement of Samuel Carpenter.

I hereby present a claim for a premium for the best crop of
white beans, raised on forty-one rods of ground the last sea-
son. The land the year preceding the spring of 1853 was a
pasture. It was plain land, of a light and sandy soil, and had
not been ploughed for about fifteen years previous. I first
ploughed it in September, 1852, turned the sward at that time,
and let it so remain till the next spring, (1853;) then harT
rowed it all over thoroughly with a horse harrow. I then
spread on two cords of manure, mostly from the barn yard,
with scrapings around the door yard, not very rich, and then
ploughed the ground once with a light horse plough, covering
the manure. I then furrowed it one way less than three feet
wide, and the last of May planted the beans in hills about a
foot apart in the furrows, using four quarts of seed.

After the plants had been up a few weeks I cultivated be-
tween the rows with the common cultivator, and hoed them
once thoroughly, taking care to kill all the weeds. This was
all I did to them till they were harvested, haying been allowed
to stand till they were ripe.

The expense of cultivation (not including the value of the
manure) was, as near as can be ascertained, (the ground
having been ploughed in connection with adjoining land,)
$5.25.

The quantity raised was six bushels two and a half quarts
of good beans, a sample of which is herewith exhibited.

BEANS.

195

Statement of John B. Newcomb.

The land on which I raised my beans is a very light soil, and
lias been in pasture for the last seven years. In the fall of
1852 I ploughed it up, when scouring ploughs for cattle show.
In May, 1853, 1 carted on something less than a cord of manure,
composed of the following ingredients : One cartload of stuff
from the hen roost, one load from under the stable floor, and
one load of mud and ashes.

May 28 1 furrowed it out three feet apart and dropped the
manure in the furrows. Planted one foot apart, four beans in
a hill. Cultivated and hoed them about the middle of June.
October 3 I harvested the crop, and found it to measure four
and three-quarters bushels.

Value of the crop : —
Four and three-quarters bushels,

$9 50

Expense of the crop : —

Manure and carting,

$3 00

Furrowing and planting,

50

Cultivating and hoeing, .

50

Harvesting,

50

Seed beans,

25

4 75

Profit,

$4 75

PLYMOUTH.

Statement of Horace Collamore.

The half acre entered for premium on white beans was of
gravelly loam, "high and dry; " it was planted with potatoes
the last year. About eight loads of compost manure, mixed
with about thirty bushels of leached ashes, were carted on the
last of May and ploughed in and harrowed. The beans were
planted on the first day of June, two and a half feet one way

196 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE.

by fifteen inches the other, six beans in a hill; a handful of
ashes and plaster mixed was put in each hill on about three-
quarters of the lot; on the other part a less quantity of " Coe's
super-phosphate of lime " and plaster.

The beans came up well, and were remarkably vigorous till
the drought commenced, when they suffered severely ; it proba-
bly lessened the crop more than one-third. That section
dressed with super-phosphate of lime was evidently the best.

This is the only crop on which the beneficial influence of
phosphate of lime has been equal to ashes and plaster, and I
have tried it on nearly all my crops the present season.

Statement of Abiel Bassett.

The quarter of an acre of land on which I raised the crop of
white beans entered by me for premium is a light, sandy soil.
The first of May we hauled on ten loads of compost manure
and ploughed and harrowed the ground. May 22 the ground
was furrowed, two feet between furrows, and planted with
white beans ; the beans were cultivated once and hoed ; it being
a light loam, it was affected by the drought. October 2 the
beans were threshed and cleaned, and measured four bushels
and a half.

MIXED CROPS.

NORFOLK.

Statement of Chcever Nciohall.

In order to ascertain whether or not Indian corn and cab-
bages could be grown together in alternate rows profitably, I
selected what I supposed to be one acre of good clayey loam,
which had been in grass seven years, and had been mown and
pastured every year. Tlii.j was ploughed in the month of May,
nine inches deep, with a Michigan plough; eight loads of night
soil, after being thoroughly mixed with about four cords of

MIXED CROPS. 197

loam from the same field, "were spread evenly over the surface
and well harrowed in. On the 1st day of June the land was
marked out with a plough exactly six feet apart, and cabbages
set in the furrows two feet apart ; three or four days after-
wards corn was planted between each row of cabbages, in hills
twenty-two inches apart, five or or six kernels in a hill; at the
first hoeing it was thinned out, leaving four stalks in each
hill. Both the cabbages and corn were hoed twice only.

The cabbages were marketed in September and October,
and sold for one hundred and fifteen dollars.

In the month of August twelve barrels of the corn were
gathered green and sold in Boston for fifteen dollars ; the re-
mainder of the crop was cut up near the ground about the 15th
of September, and shocked upon the field. The first week in
October it was husked, and produced eighty-eight baskets of
corn on the ear. On the 11th of November one basket was
shelled, and weighed thirty-eight and one-half pounds, making
three thousand three hundred and eighty-eight pounds, which,
divided by fifty-six pounds, the standard for a bushel, give
sixty and one-half bushels, which, together with the twelve bar-
rels sold green, supposed to be equal to one and one-quarter
baskets of ears to each barrel, or fifteen baskets of thirty-eight
and one-half pounds each of shelled corn, making five hundred
and seventy-seven pounds of corn, which divided by fifty-six, give
ten and one-quarter bushels, or seventy and three-fourths bushels
on thirty-eight thousand four hundred and eighty-four square
feet of land, being a fraction over eighty bushels per acre, or
more properly a half acre, as the corn occupied but one-half of
the land.

Since the crops have been taken off, the land has been sur-
veyed.

Expenses : —

Ploughing the land, ....

Eight loads of night soil,
Composting, carting out, spreading, and har
rowing, ......

Planting corn, .....

Setting out cabbage plants, .

. $7 00

. 24 00

. 16 00

. 2 50

. 3 00

198

MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE.

Cost of cabbage plants and seed corn,
Marking out, ....
Cultivating and hoeing twice,
Cutting up and housing corn,
Husking corn, ....
Marketing cabbages and green corn,
Interest on land, ....
Taxes,

Value of crop : —

Sixty and one-half bushels of corn,
Twelve barrels of corn sold green,
Corn fodder, ....

2,476 cabbages, ....

$3 37

75

10

00

4 00

4 00

21

67

18

00

1

50

$60 50

15

00

15

00

115

00

$115 79

205 50
115 79

Net profit on 1411 rods, .

Dorchester, November 13, 1854.

71

ROOT CROPS.

ESSEX.

From an Address by R. S. Fay, Esq.

I propose to call your attention to the growth of roots, as
an indispensable part of every good system of cultivation. This
is very much neglected by us, although much of our soil is ex-
tremely well calculated to produce them. A neighbor of the
late Daniel Webster, who was certainly one of the best farmers
New England has ever produced, once applied to him to know
how he should proceed to improve his farm, which, as lie said,
without doubt very truly, " was pretty much run out ; " that is
to say, it had been cropped without system and without manure
until nothing would grow upon it, while side by side were the

ROOT CROPS. 199

luxuriant Holds of Mr. "Webster. His reply was, " Grow tur-
nips." This laconic answer neither edified nor satisfied the
querist. He wanted to know what wonderful virtue there
could be in a turnip which was to work such remarkable
changes on his farm, only knowing the vegetable to be a very
good accompaniment to a leg of boiled mutton, or a tolerable
addition to a broth. He asked, therefore, naturally enough,
what growing turnips had to do with making his farm more por-
ductive. Mr. Webster replied, that he had not then time to go
into the matter, as it would embrace the whole science of farm-
ing. He could only say this : To grow turnips, the land must
be well ploughed, highly manured, and kept free from weeds.
It was a crop which, in a proper rotation, prepared the land in
the best manner for those which follow it; more than this, it
would do well on his light loams, although perhaps better
adapted for a heavier soil. Its yield was large and bulky ; and
to dispose of it to the best advantage, it ought to be fed off
the farm to the cattle during the winter. To do this he would
be forced to increase his stock ; and in this way he would aug-
ment his barn-yard manure, which in its turn would add to the
fertility of his soil. He would have better cattle, better and
more pigs ; and if he kept a few sheep, as every farmer should
do, his lambs would come earlier to market, and would be in
good condition and command high prices, instead of being sold
for their pelts.

This recommendation to grow turnips must not exclude, nor
was it intended to do so, the cultivation of other roots. Beets
and carrots, for some lands, are more profitable than turnips,
besides being better food for milch cows. Every farmer can
soon learn by experience which root thrives best on his land ;
and having learned this, he will be blind to his own interest if
he does not cultivate it. In England and Scotland the turnip
takes precedence of all other roots ; and, from being originally
cultivated as the best fallow crop before wheat, rather than
from its intrinsic value, it is now the most important one
grown.* A leading English agriculturist has said, I believe

* In Haddingtonshire, Scotland, in 18.50, one-sixth of the entire arable land was
in turnips, exceeding the number of acres in "wheat, which is the money crop, by
nearly one thousand acres.

200 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE.

with perfect truth, that the failure of the turnip crop in that
country would be a heavier blow to its prosperity than the
failure of the Bank of England. It is owing principally to the
liberal use of the turnip that English cattle and sheep have
reached their present high state of perfection, making the land
support four times the number that could be maintained under
the old system of hay and pasture feeding. If we should adopt
their practice in this respect, there is no reason why we should
go abroad to purchase, at enormous prices, animals which in
all essential qualities are no better than, if as good as, our
native stock.

There is a reason for extending the cultivation of the turnip
which no farmer who has felt and witnessed the present sum-
mer's drought will think lightly of. Our climate is one of vicis-
situdes, more extreme in their character than any other under
the sun. The old saying, that " it never rains but it pours," is
strictly true of New England. It is either a deluge here or a
drought ; and the most weatherwise of us cannot truly foretell
what the coming month shall bring in the way of heat or cold,
sunshine or rain. We are tolerably certain, however, of one
thing, that a " dry time may be expected " during the summer.
It is therefore important that we should vary our crops as much
as possible, so that the periods of their planting and maturing
may run through the entire season. The fate of the hay crop
is pretty well settled before the turnip is even planted, and a
drought that may cut short our maize may pass away in season
to give us a good field of turnips. We may thus have some-
thing to hope for in them long after we despair of every thing
else. ,

The value of turnips as food for cattle and sheep, compared
with other vegetable products, has been ascertained by a series v
of well-conducted experiments in feeding, the correctness of
which chemical analysis has fully confirmed. One pound of hay
of the best quality is about equal to five pounds of turnips ; and
as twenty tons of the latter may be easily grown to the acre,
it will be seen that we have the power to increase very materi-
ally the nutritive products of the soil by the cultivation of this
root, leaving the land in better condition than after any other
crop. For it must be borne in mind that the turnip, when it

ROOT CROPS. 201

has been brought into leaf, takes a great portion of its nutri-
ment from the atmosphere, leaving a large part of the manure
which lias been necessarily applied to it to force its early-
growth for the crop that shall follow. The expense of cultiva-
tion need be no greater than for any crop of half its value, if
proper drills and horse hoes are used;* and there is nothing
which repays the care and attention bestowed upon it so well.
The advantage to the farmer by the cultivation of roots has
been briefly but exceedingly well stated in the Report of the
Secretary of the Board of Agriculture for the present year,f
while at the same time we learn from it how completely it is
neglected. The smallness of the prizes offered by our agri-
cultural societies for root crops is also another indication of the
little attention that is given to them.:}:

It follows of necessity, almost, that if we increase the cultiva-
tion of roots we shall likewise add to our stock of cattle and
sheep, with a view to the most profitable disposition of them.
Under our present system, where we rely entirely upon our
pastures in summer, and on hay and corn fodder in winter, to
keep our stock, it not unfrequently happens that a failure in

* Turnips are sown in England by a drill drawn by horse power, sowing several
rows at the same time, and manuring by the same operation. After they have
come into the rough leaf they are horse hoed, the machine used being worked by one
horse, the wheels running the same width as those for the drill machine, and hoe-
ing perfectly the same number of drills. The same instrument can be widened or
narrowed to work across the drills, cutting out the plants at equal distances, so that
nothing more is required to be done by hand than pick out the few plants left too
close together after the cross hoeing. This instrument works so accurately that it
is used between the rows of drilled wheat, barley, rye, and oats. It will weed thor-
oughly eight or ten acres in a day, and is drawn by one horse, and attended by one
man, with a boy to lead the horse. With these two machines twelve acres of turnips,
at least, can be cultivated at an expense of labor not much greater than we should
be forced to apply to one, in order to have the work as well done. The same ma-
chines can be altered to sow corn and to hoe it, or any other kind of grain or seed.

t There is an evident misprint or omission in the valuable Report of the Secre-
tary of the Board of Agriculture at page 37. It reads, " Nearly three millions of
acres (in England) are annually appropriated to the turnip crop, and the annual
value of this crop amounts to nearly two millions." It should probably read two
hundred millions.

% The prizes awarded for crops in Massachusetts for 1853 amounted to two thou-
sand seven hundred and eighty-four dollars and sixteen cents, of which turnips
received thirteen dollars and fifty cents.
26*

202 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE.

either, forces farmers to reduce it at the most unpropitious mo-
ment, on account of its poor condition and the low state of the
markets caused by the general necessity for selling. If we
manage, however, a little differently, sowing a few acres of corn
for fodder, and a still larger number in roots, beyond what is
needed for our usual stock, we shall then be in a position to
take advantage of the improvidence or want of foresight in
others, by buying cheap what they are forced to sell, and fat-
tening them for the butcher with the surplus product of our
farms. This is the true test of success ; and when one is in a
position to do this, he is on the sure road to wealth and pros-
perity. The reply of an intelligent Scotch farmer on my
remarking upon the great breadth of land he had in turnips is
as true here in its application as it is in Scotland. It was this :
If I did not cultivate at least one-sixth of my farm in turnips,
fattening stock upon them in the winter to be sold in the spring,
and purchasing bones, guano, and other fertilizers to bring the
land to the highest condition for their cultivation, I could nei-
ther farm to a profit nor pay my rent.

From the Report of the Committee.

Previous to speaking of the particular statements, the com-
mittee ask leave to say that there exists an inexcusable
degree of looseness in relation to the principles to be regarded
in making these awards. The committee are unable to find
any definite regulation as to the time of making entries of these
claims. It has been usual to give notice of such claims to the
secretary early in the season, that the committee may have an
opportunity to view the crops when on the ground ; but this
practice has not always prevailed, less the present season than
before, for the committee had no knowledge of these entries
until the statements came to their hands on the 15th of Novem-
ber; consequently their judgment must be based upon the
statements themselves, or upon information otherwise obtained.

The statements of the extraordinary products on the farm of
Mr. Brown, of Marblehead, are truly astonishing. They go so
far beyond any thing of the kind ever before brought to the

ROOT CROPS. 203

knowledge of your committee that they could not at first credit
them entirely. A particular examination of the facts by some
of your committee, who went upon the ground, has resulted in
the conviction that, if the mode of measurement adopted by Mr.
Brown can be approved, his statements may be credited. The
certificate of the foreman on the farm is attached, who proba-
bly knew much better than Mr. Brown himself, who is not pre-
sumed to have had any hand in the growing or measuring of
the crops. The general mode of measurement adopted was, to
select a small parcel of land presumed to contain an average
of the field, ascertain the exact quantity grown on this space,
and then compute the entire field as yielding accordingly. As,
for instance, four rods of a field of onions were found to have
yielded twenty-five bushels ; then eighty rods, or half an acre,
would be taken to have yielded five hundred, more or less, as
the fact may be. This will do, if the parcel to average is judi-
ciously selected ; but who is to judge of this ? Surely not the
claimant or his hired laborers ; nothing less than persons of
experience in such matters entirely free from bias. This con-
sideration applies with full force to the several statements
presented by Mr. Brown. The committee have felt it due to
truth and propriety to present this matter distinctly, that it
may be passed on at the present time, and that a rule may be es-
tablished for future guidance. The committee have no reason
to believe that Mr. Brown intended to mislead their judgment
as to his crops ; still they think his standard of measure alto-
gether too loose to be relied on. In the opinion of the com-
mittee, " averages are at best but guesses ; " and they think
very few claimants will guess against their own interest.

" Where self the wavering balance shakes,
It's rarely right adjusted."

Mr. Brown's crops were as follows : —

Squashes. — Thirteen and one-half tons to the acre, of a kind
called marketable, by which we understand a kind that would
sell — supposed to be a mixture of the marrow with the African,
growing much larger than the genuine marrow, but not of so
good quality. This was a large produce indeed — larger than
your committee ever knew of the marrow. Of the value of this

204 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE.

variety the committee have no definite knowledge, and there-
fore do not think proper to award it a premium.

Cabbages. — Four thousand four hundred heads to the acre,
using about ten square feet to each plant, many of which
weighed twenty pounds and upwards. This was indeed a
mammoth crop ; it was seen by the committee, and in their
opinion was well entitled to the premium of six dollars.

Turnips. — Blue Swedish, a handsome variety and fine growth ;
yield thirteen tons and more to the half acre. These were
seen by the committee, and in their opinion are well entitled
to the premium of six dollars.

Carrots. — Estimated to be more than thirty-four tons to the
acre. They were indeed a magnificent crop ; but how many
there were, the committee have no satisfactory means of deter-
mining, as when last seen most of them were in the ground.
They cannot, therefore, recommend the award of a premium
for this crop.

Onions. — These were shown to the committee in a pile in
the barn; they were large and fair. The committee do not
doubt that a few rods were found yielding in proportion as
stated by Mr. Brown ; but that a half acre was so found to-
gether they cannot credit, with their recollection of the appear-
ance of the field.

Potatoes. — Two hundred and sixty bushels from nine and a
half bushels of seed, was indeed a fine crop ; how much land
they grew upon, the committee have no satisfactory means of
determining. But as this is the only crop of potatoes reported
for years, they recommend that the premium of six dollars be
awarded to it.

The committee recommend that Mr. Brown's statement be
published in full, that he may be heard for himself. They have
felt constrained to remark upon some features of it, that Mr.
Brown and others hereafter may make their statements more
explicit. Mr. Brown knows very well how to do this.

The committee received from Benjamin Huntington, of Dan-
vers, a .statement of the produce of half an acre of onions —
three hundred and eighty bushels, a part of a field of one and
three-quarters acres, which they think deserving the premium of
six dollar,-:, and award it accordingly. The committee received

ROOT CROPS. 205

from James Manning, of Hamilton, a statement of Lis crop of
carrots, for which they award a gratuity of six dollars.

The committee have much more to say on the culture and
measurement of root crops, but forbear to say it, lest by many
words they should give offence where none is intended.

J. "W. Proctor, Chairman.

Statement of Epltraim Brown.

I herewith submit a statement of the following crops, which
I enter for premium, viz. : One acre of squashes ; one acre of
drum-head cabbages ; one-half acre of ruta-baga turnips ; one-
half acre of carrots ; and about one acre of black Chenango
potatoes. Specimens of the first four of the above-named
crops were exhibited at the fair at Lawrence.

1st. The land on which the squashes were planted was
broken up last fall, manured in the spring with a liberal dress-
ing of rotten kelp, spread on and ploughed in by cross-plough-
ing the land. The squashes were planted the 25th of May,
eight feet apart each way, with two small shovelfuls of old
barn manure in the hill. The bugs were not so numerous on
my squashes this year as usual, although I was somewhat trou-
bled with them. The method I adopt to keep them off is the
use of air-slaked lime and ground plaster, sifted on the plants
till they are large enough to be out of the way of insects. I
place five seeds in the hill, and leave three plants at the last
hoeing. I commenced gathering for market the middle of Au-
gust, and finished the last of September. Yield, thirteen and
one-half tons of good marketable squashes.

2d. The ground on which the cabbages were raised has been
planted with onions the last six years, and has been well ma-
nured with rotten kelp and compost manure each year. This
year I gave it a good dressing of rotten kelp ; ploughed it in
and manured in the hill with a small shovelful of old barn ma-
nure ; planted the seed in the hill on the 25th of April, and
commenced cutting for market the 9th of August. Marketed
four thousand four hundred heads.

3d. The land on which the turnips were raised was broken

206 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE.

up last June, and manured with a very heavy dressing of kelp
and green barn manure, about ten cords per acre spread On the
grass and turned under the sod. The ground was then har-
rowed and cultivated well, so as to make a surface of fine soil
before planting. The seed was sown the 28th of June, with
the drill, in rows three feet apart, and the plants, left standing
in the rows one foot apart. The crop was gathered and
housed on the 9th of November. Yield, four hundred and sixty-
two bushels, weighing sixty pounds per bushel.

4th. The ground on which the onions were raised was broken
up in the spring of 1851 and planted with cabbages; in 1852
planted with squashes; in 1853 planted with carrots. It was
manured liberally each year with barn manure and rotten kelp;
about eight or ten cords per acre. This year I put on about
twelve cords per acre. Sowed the onions the twelfth of May.
Yield on half an acre, five hundred thirty-seven and a half
bushels, weighing fifty pounds per bushel.

5th. The land on which the carrots were raised was also
broken up in the spring of 1851 ; planted then with ruta-baga
turnips ; in 1852 with squashes ; in 1853 with ruta-baga turnips ;
and manured each year about as the onion land spoken of above.
This year it was manured with rotten kelp and green barn ma-
nure, (by which I mean barn droppings,) from ten to twelve
cords per acre. Planted the 31st of May. Yield, thirty-four
thousand nine hundred and seventy-four pounds, or six hundred
and thirty-five bushels and forty-nine pounds.

6th. The land on which the potatoes were raised was not all
in one field, a small part of the seed being planted in two rows
around the sides of another field. I am not therefore able to
state precisely the quantity of land ; but from the seed planted
(being but nine and a half bushels) it could not have exceeded
an acre — probably less. The yield was two hundred and sixty
bushels of the finest quality of potatoes I have ever raised.
The land was planted with potatoes in 1852; sowed in the
fall with winter rye, which I took off the following summer ;
ploughed the land in September, and turned in quite a crop of
green grass and weeds; ploughed it again last sp ring, after
spreading on eight or ten cords of good barn compost manure.
The potatoes were planted in May.
Mahulkiiead, November 13, 1854.

ROOT CROPS. 207

Statement of Benjamin Huntington.

I take the liberty of presenting to your notice a statement
of the culture and product of one-half acre of ground, on which
onions were raised the present season. The land is situated
in the south-easterly part of Danvers, near Gardner's farm. It
was formerly a part of Whittredge's orchard, a few of the trees
remaining. It is a strong dark-colored soil, and has always
borne good crops of whatever was put upon it. It has some-
times been in grass, and at other times under culture. The
entire piece on which onions were planted contained about
two acres. I had gathered five hundred and fifty bushels
when it was suggested to me by a gentleman long interested in
your society that I had better measure exactly the amount
grown on half an acre. Accordingly I selected a square piece,
and had one half acre measured off by Joshua Buxton, Jr., a
competent surveyor. From this I gathered three hundred and
seventy-nine bushel baskets full, as they were sorted and
cleaned for the market. I have no doubt they would have
measured four hundred bushels as usually shovelled from a pile
together. The onions were large and plump, and as fair look-
ing as I ever saw. The seed I raised myself. I applied about
six cords of well-rotted stable manure to the acre ; sowed in
rows fourteen inches apart and kept the ground clear of weeds.
On one corner of the field the trees impeded the growth of the
crop considerably. There may have been superior crops in
this neighborhood, but I have never seen one that I thought
was better.

Danyeks, October 1, 1854.

Statement of James Manning.

I have this season planted on the field belonging to Messrs.
Sanders and Roberts, in Hamilton, one and one-tenth acres with
carrot seed. I sowed one and a half pounds of seed. The
land is low and level ; for three or four years past it has had
but little manure; but this season I spread on about three
cords of horse manure and ploughed it in. Value of manure,

208 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE.

twenty dollars. After raking the ground, I then planted it in
rows with long orange carrot seed, and finished gathering the
crop November 9. Value of labor, forty dollars. The yield
was about twenty tons. I have weighed and sold, or otherwise
disposed of, thirty-nine thousand six hundred and twelve
pounds, which, at fifty-five pounds per bushel, give seven
hundred and twenty bushels and twelve pounds.

Hamilton, November 13, 1854.

WORCESTER.

Report of the Committee.

The Committee of the Worcester Agricultural Society on
Root Crops have attended to their duty. The work has not
been very tedious. Three entries only were made to the sec-
retary for premiums, and those exclusively of carrots — no
entries for potatoes, turnips, or any other root crops having
been made, owing, probably, to the potato rot for years past,
and the severe drought the latter part of the past summer and
fall. The committee deeply regret that their duties were so
light that they are obliged to report so small a number of en-
tries on the carrot crop in the large county of Worcester, and
hope that in future a much larger number will be filed with the
secretary, not merely to compete for small premiums, but to
give light and information to Worcester County and to the
world, through their statement of particulars in the different
experiments in the cultivation of the carrot crop, the most im-
portant of all root crops since the appearance of the potato
disease. The three competitors who made returns to the sec-
retary were Harvey Dodge, of Sutton, William T. Merrifield
and Samuel Perry, of Worcester. A day was appointed for
the examination of the carrot fields entered for examination ;
but the chairman soon received notice that one of the commit-
tee, the Hon. John Brooks, of Princeton, was absent on duty as
one of a committee from Massachusetts to the United States
Cattle Show. On the appointed day the other two of the com-
mittee carefully examined the three lots of carrots aforesaid
by digging them up in different parts of the fields, where, stand-

ROOT CROPS. 209

ing in all their different positions in the several rows, some were
one and some twelve inches apart. The carrots entered by
Mr. Dodge were on half an acre of land on which corn grew
the year before. The land was ploughed ten inches deep, one
part manured with green manure, at the rate of forty common
cartloads to the acre, and the other part with leached ashes,
at the rate of three hundred bushels per acre. That part ma-
nured with the ashes produced the largest crop. The rows
were from sixteen to eighteen inches apart, and the carrots in
the rows standing, generally, at a distance from each other of
from one to four inches, and in many places in bunches, crowding
each other for their rights — probably belonging to different
political parties. The length of the carrots was from six to
nine inches. Mr. Dodge cultivates his land between the rows
with a cultivator drawn by a horse trained to the work, so as
seldom if ever to step on the rows. He lets out the weeding
of the carrots to boys by the job, at so much per acre. His
half acre of carrots weighed twenty-one thousand two hundred
and seventy-five pounds, grown at a cost of fifty dollars and
fifty-four cents, and sold on the lot for one hundred and six
dollars and thirty-seven and a half cents, leaving a balance
for profit of fifty-five dollars and eighty-three cents.
For a more particular description, we refer to the

Statement of Harvey Dodge.

The land on which my crop of carrots was grown the present
year is composed of a light loam to the depth of twenty inches,
resting on a gravel substratum, entirely unlike the most of my
other soils, which, as I have often stated, rest mostly on clayey
subsoil, and arc more retentive of moisture. This lot has
always been productive when in grass, grain, or potatoes, but
had never been worked deep enough to give what would be
termed large crops of any kind. This lot was ploughed in
1846, manured with forty ox-cart loads of stable manure, and
planted to corn; in 1847 it was sown with oats and grass seed,
and was kept in grass, yielding about two tons to the acre,
until 1851 ; in 1852 the grass did not yield more than one ton
27*

210 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE.

to the acre ; in the spring of 1853 I determined to throw down
a division wall, separating this from a three-acre lot on which
I was growing table vegetables, and in trenching and sinking
the large stones I had a chance to learn the character of the
soil; the 1st of Ma}'-, 1853, forty loads to the acre of manure
from my barn cellar were carted on and spread, and turned un-
der invariably to the depth of nine inches. A bush harrow
was used to smooth down the furrow ; the furrows were made
three and a half feet apart, and corn planted the 20th of May,
eighty bushels of leached ashes being spread broadcast on
one part, and one hundred pounds of super-phosphate of lime
on the other — the limed portion keeping the start conspicu-
ously until August, when all its virtues were lost sight of — no
traces being found at harvest.

By referring to my books the account with this lot stands
as follows : Cost for labor and manures, fifty-two dollars and
thirty cents ; the harvest, seventy-five bushels of corn, was worth
sixty-six dollars and thirteen cents per acre. May 5, 1854,
two hundred bushels of leached ashes were carted and spread
on one part of this half-acre, and four ox-cart loads (of thirty
bushels each) of stable manure on the other part, spread and
ploughed in with two strong yoke of oxen, the plough running
twelve inches deep. After lying in the furrow until the 27th
of May it was cross-ploughed, the plough not running so deep
with one yoke of cattle. It was then permitted to dry two
days, when the surface was made smooth with a bush harrow,
ready for the seed to be sown.

Expense of cultivating eighty rods of carrots : —

May 5, 200 bushels of ashes, carting and spreading,
7 loads of manure, carting and spreading, .
Ploughing with double team,
27, Ploughing with single team,

Harrowing and preparing for the seed,
29, 1.] pounds of long orange carrot seed and
sowing the same,
June 10, Two hands, half day, hoeing between rows,

I <_) It it li a u

26, Hoeing with onion hoc one-half day, .

$14

00

8

50

o

00

1

00

1

50

2

00

1

25

1

25

G2

ROOT CROPS. 211

July 3, Five hands one-half day weeding and thinning, $4 17

26, Cultivator drawn by horse, two hours, myself

and horse, ...... 50

Aug.l— 15, Three hands thinning and weeding one day, 3 75
Nov. 1-7, Digging out and topping, equal to three

hands two days, . . . . G 00

Two hands two days, loading carrots in the

field, 4 00

$50 54

Income : —

21,275 pounds of carrots, sold on the ground for half

a cent per pound, $106 37 J

Help for loading was furnished in all cases to those who
came after the carrots ; and in the few cases where my team
was used for carting, a reasonable rate was charged. My only
reason for selling so low as ten dollars per ton was, that it
was much cheaper and more convenient to weigh in large quan-
tities ; besides, this half acre was not my whole crop — the bal-
ance, which was intended for my own stock, not yet being har-
vested ; and I had also a large quantity of refuse table vegeta-
bles, such as beets, parsnips, turnips, and cabbages, which we
expect to store for winter use in the barn cellar.

I have made no reckoning for use or interest of land ;
but against this I put the tops, which are quite valuable for
green feed for soiling cattle ; and it was formerly thought that
one half the value of the manure was left for future crops. I
can only say, in answer to this, that I would gladly give the use
of all my land for at least one year, the tenant agreeing to
cultivate it all to carrots as well as the above-described was.

Deep and clean culture, and doing all the work while
the sun shines, are the chief requisites for profitable carrot
growing. My expenses have been somewhat increased the
present year by the higher rates demanded for field labor. I
seldom, if ever, worked my usual farm laborers on this crop,
other than carting manure and ploughing, fitting the ground,
sowing the seed, and assisting at harvest. Young and cheap
help, good for nothing in haying, offer their services for tend-

212 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE.

ing this crop, and they are always more expert than our best
hay hands in weeding and tending. For this reason I have
found it difficult after driving hay harvest to get good hay
hands to work on vegetables in fine weather, and in foul I had
rather they would rest. The rows were about sixteen inches
apart, and the plants were about ten or twelve inches. In this-
way I can grow more weight and sounder roots. In order to
insure a sufficient number of plants, I sow three times the quan-
tity of seed I formerly did, and let all grow till the second
weeding, when they are thinned to my liking. It dosts no more
to pull a carrot root than a weed, and the ground is perforated
to the advantage of the standing plant. Prepared manure, of
whatever kind, is the only fertilizer to be used. The compost
may be saturated with salt brine strong enough to kill the weed
seed there may be in its ingredients.

The rates, as given in the bill of costs, it is believed, will
entirely cover all expenses. The land was measured by Mr.
Sibly, a practical surveyor. The entire crop was actually
weighed as the loads were sold, and all certified to but one
load, which was weighed in baskets.

Sutton, November 7, 1S54.

Mr. Merrifield's carrots offered for premium were on half
an acre of ground, ploughed twelve inches deep, manured with
ten common ox-cart loads of barn-yard compost manure, spread
and ploughed under the fall before the sowing of the seed.
This crop of carrots was the third or fourth crop in succession
grown on the same land. The rows were about thirteen inches
apart, and were situated in the rows similar to Mr. Dodge's,
except some few vacant places where the seed did not vege-
tate, and with the exception, also, that the carrots were more
interested in the subsoil, at the same time taking as great an
interest in the frccsoil as Mr. Dodge's, if they did not crowd
quite so hard for their political rights. The length of the car-
rots was from seven to ten inches generally. The labor of
hoeing and weeding was performed by Irish laborers by the
day, under the direction of the owner, but only occasionally in
his presence, he I 1 in other business besides farin-

Mr. Merrifield's half acre, although managed by men who

ROOT CROPS. 213

were most of the time their own masters, produced twenty
thousand three hundred and eleven pounds of carrots, at a cost
of fifty-one dollars and fifty cents, and worth, as appears by his
statement, one hundred and thirty dollars — leaving a balance
of profit of seventy-six dollars and fifty cents.

Statement of William T. Merrijield.

The crop of carrots which I enter was grown on a lot meas-
uring one-half acre. In 1853 the land was under a state of
good cultivation, and was manured with fifteen loads of compost.
Twenty thousand pounds of carrots were raised on three-fourths
of the half acre. In the spring of 1854 the land was in about
the same condition as it was in 1853. After harvesting last
year, ten loads of barn-yard manure were put on, spread, and
ploughed in, and this season seventeen ounces of good quality
orange carrot seed put in. The seed was sown with a machine
on the 13th of June, and the carrots weeded with hoes in July
and August. Every tenth row was weighed when harvested ;
and taking them for average, the crop weighed twenty thousand
three hundred and eleven pounds. The ploughing and sowing
occupied four and a half days, the weeding ten days in July
and ten days in August, and the harvesting sixteen days. The
seed cost one dollar, the manure ten, and the labor forty dollars
•and fifty cents. The total value of the crop was one hundred
and thirty dollars. In 1852 there were raised on the same lot
thirty-one thousand two hundred pounds.

Mr. Perry's field of carrots offered for premium contained
half an acre of land, ploughed twelve inches deep, and manured
at the rate of about fifteen common ox-cart loads of green ma-
nure annually to the acre. Carrots and other root crops had
been raised on the same ground three or four years in succes-
sion previous to this crop. The hoc was the only implement
used among his carrots except fingers ; and the labor of hoeing
and weeding was mostly performed by boys ten years of age,
for recreation during the recess of their school days. His car-
rots came up more even in the rows than the other two lots,
which made their arrangement in the rows of a more suitable

214 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE.

distance from each other. Their average length was from six
to ten inches. Mr. Perry's carrots have long been at work
under ground silently and secretly ; and had his statement been
filed with the secretary in time, they probably would have made
as clean a sweep on the root crop premiums of Worcester
county as the Know Nothings have of the other political parties
in Massachusetts. The weight of his carrots was twenty-one
thousand three hundred and sixty-seven pounds, and sold at the
rate of one hundred and six dollars and ninety-eight cents for
the lot. Cost of raising the same, forty-five dollars, leaving a
balance for profit of sixty-one dollars and ninety-eight cents.
Mr. Perry thinks his crop would have been larger if it could
have remained in the ground a few days longer ; for, on trying
an experiment with a wire around one of his carrots one and a
half inches in diameter, he found its increase in circumference
from November 1 to November 4 to be one-third of an inch.

Could not Mr. Perry, and all others, find a remedy for the
above difficulty in sowing their seed earlier in the season ?
Notwithstanding Mr. Perry's crop of carrots was of more
weight, and raised at less expense, than the other two competi-
tors, he is debarred from a premium by reason of his delay of
one day in filing his statement with the secretary. Therefore
the committee recommend that a gratuity of four dollars be
paid to him out of the society's funds.

The committee, after taking all the different facts into con-
sideration, award the first premium of six dollars to Harvey
Dodge, of Sutton, for the best crop of carrots raised on his
half acre of land; and five dollars to William T. Merrifield, of
Worcester, for the next best crop of carrots on the half acre
entered by him.

Statement of Samuel Perry.

The half acre of carrots which I enter for the society's pre-
mium for 1854 has had carrots in it, with some variations, for
three previous years, having had beets, parsnips, and oats on
some parts, without showing any perceptible difference between
the crops of carrots following these various other crops and
that on land occupied by carrots for four successive years.

ROOT CROPS.

215

The following is the result of this year : —

I spread on eleven loads of barn-yard manure, bushed with
heavy Lush, ploughed deeply, then harrowed and bushed thor-
oughly. I raked it over, and sowed the seed on the 1st of
June ; weeded the latter part of June, and again the latter part
of July. I pulled out the weeds in August and September;
commenced harvesting November 4, and finished November 9.

fit

2

00

2

00

2

00

6

00

5

00

1

50

Expenses : —
Eleven loads of manure, .
Drawing and spreading the same,
Ploughing, harrowing, and bushing, .
Raking and sowing, ....
Hoeing and weeding in June, .
Weeding again in July,
Pulling weeds August and September,
Harvesting half acre — 10 days' work, at $1.25 per
day,

Value of tlie crop : —

Ten loads of carrots, sold for ten dollars per ton,
weighing twenty-one thousand three hundred and
ninety-seven pounds, or ten tons thirteen hun-
dred weight and ninety-seven pounds,

12 50

$45 00

106 98

The chairman of the committee having visited several fields
of carrots not offered for premium, within a few weeks, hopes
to be indulged a few moments in giving the conclusions arrived
at from the facts in the case, although he may differ from many
farmers in these enlightened days of agriculture. The several
fields visited were found to be ploughed or dug up from six to
twenty-four inches deep. Some carrots were found growing-
very thick and some very thin in their rows, but all rows about
the same distance from each other. Some were manured with
green manure and some with compost, but all were cultivated
or taken care of in about the same way. In most cases the
shortest carrots were found on land ploughed the deepest,

216 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE.

while those on land ploughed six inches deep were of a greater
length, and those on land of eight or nine inches, of the greatest
length. From the facts above named, and many others that
could be mentioned, he has arrived at the conclusion that land
ploughed eight or nine inches deep, manured with long or green
manure annually, and sown with carrots for years in succession,
will produce at the least expense, with the least labor, and to
the greatest profit ; and that carrot rows eighteen inches apart,
with the carrots often so near as to crowd each other a little,
and about eight inches in length, on land ploughed and manured
as aforesaid, will produce the greatest weight of carrots to the
acre, and of the best quality. A few of the reasons, not
before named, for such a conclusion, are these : That land
ploughed eighteen inches deep requires double the manure that
nine inches does, and also double the labor in ploughing, con-
sequently doubles the expense in fitting the land for the seed ;
that it is natural for heat to ascend, and not to descend ; that
the nine inches receives nearly as much of the sun's heat as the
eighteen inches ; that eighteen inches cannot all be sufficiently
warmed by the rays of the sun, but in part by warm water, and
when that fails, as in case of a dry season, a sufficient quantity
of heat cannot be furnished to those lower regions; that the
weight of the carrot is in the first eight inches from the top,
while the part below is slender and light ; that the carrot which
strikes a stone in running down six inches will grow larger in
diameter and of about equal weight to that which runs down
ten inches; that it is natural for roots of trees, corn, potatoes,
plants and vegetables, to run near to the top of the ground in
search of light and heat; that nine inches will stand i\\o
drought or the flood as well as eighteen inches. This state-
ment, made in so much haste, is not intended for a guide, but
only for a hint from which other experiments may be made and
reported to this society. The object of the society is agricul-
tural improvement; and without experiments, hints, reports,
conversation and meetings, improvements in agriculture will
advance but slowly towards perfection.

Charles Biugiiam, Chairman.

ROOT CROPS. 217

WORCESTER NORTH.

Statement of C. M. Woodward.

Potatoes. — I hero present for your consideration the fol-
lowing- statement of an experiment in raising potatoes the
present year. The land upon -which my potatoes were raised
was broken up on the 5th of June last with a Michigan plough,
ploughing very deep. Young apple trees had previously been
placed in the piece, at the distance of thirty-six feet each way.
The different squares between the trees, which contained about
four and four-fifths rods each, were planted on the 6th of June,
and treated alike in every way except in the application of dif-
ferent manures. Two squares were manured by a small hand-
ful of plaster in each hill at the time of planting. In the next
one I put the same quantity of plaster, and, in addition, one table
spoonful of guano, placing the plaster under, and the guano
over the seed. On the next square only guano was used, be-
ing applied in the same way as the plaster. On the fifth square
no manure of any kind was used. The potatoes were hoed
twice, and dug on the 17th and 18th of October.

The average amount dug from four and four-fifths rods, on
which plaster alone was used, was four and four-fifths bushels,
or at the rate of one hundred and sixty bushels to the acre.
The amount raised on the piece on which both plaster and
guano were used was six bushels, or two hundred and eight
and two-thirds bushels to the acre. On the piece on which
only guano was used there were five bushels, or one hundred and
seventy-three and eleven-twelfths bushels to the acre ; and on
the piece on which no manure was used were three and three-
fourths bushels, or one hundred and thirty and ten-thirteenths
bushels to the acre.

The potatoes were of the kind called "round reds." They
were large and fair, though much larger where the manure was
used than where it was not. The seed potatoes were very
small ones, having been separated from the good potatoes last
year.

The cost of the manures I am not prepared to give, but it
could not have been very large. The difference in the products

28*

218

MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE.

of the several pieces can be attributed to nothing except the
manure, as the land was of about the same quality, being a
light, deep loam upon a clay subsoil.

HAMPSHIRE.

Statement of Calvin D. Eaton.

Potatoes. — I offer for premium a crop of potatoes raised on
one acre of land in Pelham. The piece was old pasture land,
with some brush on it. In May I ploughed it twice, then harrowed
and planted with peachblow potatoes. I used no other manure
than one hundred and twenty-five pounds of plaster, and hoed
only once. I dug the potatoes about the 12th of October. I
used two barrels of dry ashes before hoeing. My crop was
one hundred and seventy bushels of extremely large potatoes,
many of them weighing over one pound.

Value of crop : —
170 bushels, at 40 cents,

$68 00

Expenses : —

Interest on land, .....

$1 20

Ploughing and harrowing,

6 00

Planting,

4 00

Seed and plaster, . . . ' .

7 00

Hoeing and digging, ....

8 00

26 20

Net profit, ....

$41 80

Pelham, October 30, 1854.

Statement of Chester Cowles.

The land on which this crop was raised contains one acre.
It is old pasture. I ploughed it in May and planted eight
bushels to the acre, and harvested in October. I put on the
manure at the rate of twelve loads to the acre.

•ROOT CROPS.

210

Value of crop : —
150 bushels, at 50 cents,

Expenses : —

Seed, ....

Ploughing and harrowing,

Manure,

Spreading and harrowing,

Planting and hoeing, .

Digging and carting,

Net profit,

Amheest, November 14, 1854.

$75 00

$4 00

o

50

12

00

1

50

6

00

8

00

34

00

$41 00

HAMPDEN.

Statement of J. H. Demond.

Carrots. — I herewith furnish you my account current with
the crop of carrots raised by me on eighty rods of ground the
present season. The soil appropriated to this crop is a sandy
alluvial, a portion of which was covered with corn sown in
drills, and used while in a growing state as extra feed for my
cows the previous season ; the remainder was mowing turf. In
preparing for the present crop I used fifteen loads of compost
manure, thirty bushels to the load. This was evenly spread, and
on the ploughed part was turned under twelve inches deep, but
on a portion of the turf land it was covered ten inches, and on
the remainder the manure was harrowed in upon the reversed
sod. After being well harrowed, long orange carrot seed was
sown, in drills eighteen inches distant, about the middle of May.
The growing crop required very little labor in the cultivation.
It was hoed but twice during its growth, and was uncommonly
free from weeds." In harvesting, a one-horse plough was passed
as near the rows as possible, removing the earth from the car-
rots. By this process the labor of lifting them was greatly facili-
tated and rendered much easier; and they were all gathered

220

MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE.

on the 1st of November, measuring four hundred bushels, and
weighing fifty pounds per bushel.

Expenses : —

Cultivating and harvesting,
One-half manure expended,
Interest on land,

Value of the crop : —
400 bushels of carrots, at market price, 33 cents,

Springfield, November 25, 1854.

$18 00
8 00
6 00

$32 00

$132 00

Statement of Sumner' Chapin.

Carrots. — The lot on which the crop of carrots which I enter
for premium was grown contains eighty-four rods. I raised on
the same lot last year (1853) tobacco and cabbages, about one-
half devoted to each. It was well manured, and gave me a good
crop. About the first of May I ploughed the lot and put on
eight cords of manure, a part of which was spread on and
ploughed in, aud the remainder was spread in the drills before
sowing the seed. The amount of product was four hundred
and twenty-five bushels, and weighed twenty thousand eight
hundred and twenty-five pounds; and the amount of labor per-
formed, with cash expenditures and value of crop, was as fol-
lows : —

Expenses : —

Ploughing and preparing the g

Sowing,

Weeding aud harvesting,

Cost of seed,

Cost of manure,

round,

$3

00
50

35

00
75

is

00

$57 25

ROUT CROPS.

221

Value of the crop : —

Carrots, at thirty-seven and a half cents per

bushel, . . . . . . $159 38

Tops, . . . . " . . . 4 00

-$163 38

Net profit,

$106 13

FRANKLIN.

Statement of Elihu Smith.

Carrots. — The piece of ground upon which my carrots were
grown lies with a gentle slope towards the east of from two
to four degrees. It had been down to grass for several years
previous to 1853, with occasionally a top-dressing of manure,
when it was ploughed, turning under at the rate of twenty loads
of manure to the acre, and then planted with corn. The worms
destroyed much of this crop, so that the yield was no more
than an average one. In the spring of 1854 manure was again
ploughed under, at about the same rate as last year, and in
some of the last days of May it was sown to carrots.

Used one of Ruggles, Nourse & Mason's seed sowers ; left the
rows from one-half to two feet apart, and the carrots in the
rows within from three to four inches of each other. By meas-
urement the piece contained twenty rods, or one-eighth of an
acre. On harvesting, (allowing fifty pounds for a bushel,) the
yield was one hundred and thirty bushels, making at the rate
of one thousand and forty bushels per acre.

Expenses : —

Three loads of manure,

$3 00

Ploughing, ......

25

Preparing ground, sowing and seed,

1 50

Weeding and thinning out six clays,

6 00

Harvesting four days, ....

4 00

*] I 75

222

MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE.

Value of crop : —
130 bushels of carrots, at 25 cents per bushel, $32 50

Profit, $17 75

Sunderland, 1854.

(Statement of O. $f F. H. Williams.

Carrots. — The ground on which we raised the crop offered
for premium measured one-half of an acre. It was of a light
loam, turf land, had been down to grass three years, and was
in good condition. Ploughed eight inches deep with Michigan
double plough. The manure which we applied was composted
with dirt, about one load of the latter to two of the former,
making in all twelve cartloads.

Expenses : —

Ploughing, .......

Harrowing, ......

Manure, eight loads, .

Carting and spreading, ....

Planting with planter, one^and a half feet apart,

Half pound seed, .

Hoeing first time, three days,

" second " four days,

" third " two days,
Ploughing between rows,
Harvesting, .
Interest on land, .

Value of crop : —
33G bushels, at 25 cents per bushel,

Profit, ....

wn, 1854.

$1 00

1

00

8

00

1

00

25

40

3

00

4

00

2

00

25

G

00

3

00

$29 90

84 00

$54 00

ROOT CROPS. 223

Statement of Aaron O. Buddington.

Carrots. — The amount of land sown for this crop was nine
rods, on which carrots had been raised four years. The general
state of tin1 land was good. In 1853 it was manured with fif-
teen loads of stable manure, and produced three hundred and
sixty bushels of carrots. In the spring of 1854 I manured with
fifteen loads of stable manure, forty bushels to the load ; spread
the manure, ploughed as deep as I could, rolled the land, and
sowed with one and a half pounds of orange carrot seed. It
was sown on the 25th of May, and harvested with the spade.
Four hundred and fifty-six bushels were raised, averaging fifty
pounds to the bushel. The expense of the seed, manure, labor,
and cultivation was forty-five dollars. The value of the product
of 1854 was one hundred and fourteen dollars.

Lkydex, 1854.

Statement of O. iy* F. H. Williams.

Turnips. — The piece of ground on which we raised our tur-
nips this year contained fifty-two rods. The soil is of a light
loam, having been down to grass three years. After taking off
a crop of grass, we turned the sward over without manure eight
inches deep. In this way we obtain two crops a year. The
land was not in a high state of cultivation.

Expenses : —

Ploughing and harrowing,

$1 00

Drilling with machine two feet apart,

25

Seed,1'

m

Ploughing between rows,

25

Gathering crop, three days,

3 00

$4 G2i

Value of crop : —
61 bushels, at 25 cents per bushel, . . . 15 25

Net profit, $10 G2

224 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE.

Owing to the extreme dry -weather, our crop was unusually-
light.

Sunderland, 1854.

BRISTOL.

Statement of Henry D. Deane.

Ruta-baga. — I offer for premium a crop of ruta-baga turnips,
raised on forty-three and nine-tenths rods ; the product being
two hundred and fourteen bushels, weighing forty-eight pounds
per bushel ; the weight of the crop amounting to ten thousand
two hundred and seventy-two pounds.

The soil is a gravelly loam. A crop of carrots was taken
from the land the preceding year; the manure applied was
twenty bushels of leached ashes. This year it had twelve
bushels of dry ashes spread on one-half of the land, and three
loads of compost manure on the other, after it had been
ploughed ; then it was thoroughly cultivated in. I then sowed
the seed, with a seed sower, eighteen inches between the rows.
The plants were thinned and hoed in July. The crop was
much injured by the drought.

Yield, 214 bushels, worth 30 cents per bushel, . $64 20
"Expense of cultivation, . . . . . . 15 4 2

Profit, • . . $48 78

Mansfield, 1854.

Statement of Richard A. Leonard.

Turnips. — I submit the following statement in relation to
the manner in which I obtained ninety-eight bushels of English
flat turnips from one-quarter of an acre of land. The land was
sward, and I spread on it a cord and a half of stable manure,
and then ploughed it about eight inches deep, on the 20th of
June. I sowed it broadcast on the 20th of July, and hoed and
thinned in August. The turnips were pulled the 1st of No-
vember.

ROOT CROPS. 225

Value of crop, $30 00

Whole expense, 10 50

Net profit, $19 50

Raynuam, 1854.

Statement of Abiel Bassctt.

Onions. — The quarter of an acre of land on which were
grown the onions entered by me for premium has been sown with
onions for a number of years. The last of April I carted on
ten loads of stable manure, and ploughed and hand-raked the
ground smooth. April 26 I sowed with a seed-sower, fourteen
inches between the rows. The seed came up and grew well
until the drought, which affected the crop very much. Yield
one hundred and fifty bushels.

Statement of D. 6f R. Perkins.

Carrots. — The quarter of an acre of land entered by us for
premium on carrots is a sandy loam. It was planted to pota-
toes last year. About the 10th of May we put on fifteen cart-
loads of compost manure, ploughed nine inches deep and hand-
raked it, and planted the orange variety with a seed-sower, in
rows eighteen inches apart. Owing to circumstances unfore-
seen when we entered for premium, we found it expedient to
plough it again and re-sow, which we did on the 15th of June,
the same as at first, thinning them out in the rows about four
inches apart. The plants suffered much from the drought the
first of the season, but are doing well now, (9th of October.)
and we think growing as fast as at any time. Had the visit
been a few weeks later, we think there would have been quite
a difference in the product of the rod selected and weighed.

Expenses : —

Ploughing, raking, and sowing, . . . . $1 75
Hoeing, weeding, and thinning out, . . . 10 00

$11 75

29*

226 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE.

We think the tops given to our cattle will fully pay for har-
vesting the crop. Yield, one hundred and sixteen and three-
fourths bushels.

Statement of Nahum Snell.

Carrots. — The quarter of an acre of land on which my car-
rots were raised, which were entered for premium, consists of
yellow loam, on which I drew eight loads of good compost ma-
nure. It was in corn in 1853. It was sown about the 20th of
May with orange carrot seed. It was ploughed twice with a
heavy sward plough and raked smooth ; then sown on a level
surface with a seed-sower/in rows fifteen inches one way, and
as thick the other as they could grow to advantage. Owing to
the dry weather, some parts did not come up well. The yield
was one hundred and thirteen and three-fourths bushels.

Statement of Spencer Leonard, Jr.

Turnips. — Having entered as a competitor for the premium
offered for the best crop of ruta-baga or French turnips on a
quarter of an acre, I will state that the ground was sown to bar-
ley in 1853, and produced a fair crop. In June of this year there
were spread upon the stubble two cords of good stable manure,
which were ploughed in. Twenty-five bushels of leached ashes
and sixty pounds of Peruvian guano were spread upon the fur-
rows and well harrowed. The seed was planted on the 21st
of June with a seed-sower, in rows thirty-four inches apart, oc-
cupying about one hour. In about four weeks they were thinned
out and hoed, at a cost of two dollars and seventy-five cents.
Eighteen days after the first hoeing they were hoed again, at a
cost of one dollar and seventy cents.

Expenses : —

Two cords of manure, and applying, . . . §10 00

Twenty bushels of ashes and applying,
Sixty pounds of guano and applying,

Ploughing,

Harrowing and sowing seed,

3 00
2 00

50
75

CRANBERRIES. 227

Hoeing, twice, . . . . . $4 45

Seed, 20

$20 90

Yield, one hundred and sixty-six and three-fourths bushels,
or at the rate of six hundred and sixty-seven bushels an acre.

CRANBERRIES.

BARNSTABLE.

Report of the Committee.

The committee on cranberries have attended to the service
assigned them, and beg leave to say that there has been of late
so much said and "written respecting the cultivation of cranber-
ries that they do not deem it necessary, at this time, to offer
much on this subject.

We would say that it continues to be a profitable business to
those who have entered into it in good earnest, and have been
willing to labor and toil to accomplish the desired end as
they would in every other enterprise in which they expected
success.

We are fully of opinion that, for the first two years after the
vines are set, or until they become strong and matted together,
the utmost vigilance in most cases is necessary to keep them
free from grass, brakes, and rushes ; and without such vigilance
a few only can expect to succeed.

The crop this season in this county has been rather smaller
than usual — owing, we think, mostly to the unusual height of
water in the swamps and ponds in the early part of the season,
and the severe drought in July and August. We have, how-
ever, examined some lots which would compare favorably, as to
the quantity and quality of the fruit produced, with any we have
ever seen in years past.

The specimens displayed on this occasion were very good ; but
as the society's rules with regard to the manner of cultivation.

228 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE.

quantity of land, expense of culture, &c, were not conformed
to, tlie committee do not deem it their duty to award any pre-
miums.

All which is respectfully submitted,

Obed Brooks, Jr., Chairman.

October 11, 1854. .

FARM IMPLEMENTS.

ESSEX.

From an Address by R. S. Fay, Esq.

The first great difficulty which a New England farmer has to
contend with, at the present time, is the difficulty of procuring
labor, and its excessive dearness. It is a fact, too, strange as
it may appear, that the quality of labor has deteriorated in an
almost inverse proportion to its demand and price. We pay
double the wages of twenty years since, and we receive not
much more than half as much labor in return, and at the same
time the general products of the farm have not materially ad-
vanced in value. This state of things must lead to one of two
results : we must cither supply the place of much of this labor
by machinery, or we must give up our farms, allowing them to
return to their original waste. We are forced to do that
which sharp competition and the desire of gain have accom-
plished in all other industrial pursuits, by calling to our aid
mechanical skill, and applying, wherever it is possible, its labor-
saving power to the operations of the farm. Yankee farmers
should certainly verify, to the fullest extent, the old proverb,
that "necessity is the mother of invention," for there is no
place where the dejiiaml upon her prolific powers is more
argent than upon New England soil.

It is a melancholy and mortifying truth, however, that we
do not take advantage of the labor-saving implements iu suc-
cessful operation elsewhere. Other countries, ami some of our
sister states, are before us in this respect. In Great Britain,

FARM IMPLEMENTS. 229

where labor is comparatively abundant and cheap, the increased
use of labor-saving machinery within a few years past has been
most remarkable. All the principal operations of the farm,
such as planting, hoeing, weeding, threshing, hay-making, and
harvesting, are now greatly aided by labor-saving machines.
Indeed, it would be a rare sight there to sec any kind of seed
sown by hand, or its subsequent culture carried on by mere
manual labor ; and whatsis still more to the purpose, the work
is much better done now than it could possibly have been under
the old methods.*

In comparison with English and Scotch farming, we are in
our infancy in this respect, and we have a vast deal of lost
ground to make up before we shall reach their high standard.
It is quite time that our agricultural societies should give a
strong impulse in this direction. It will not do for us to sit
longer with folded hands, and allow ourselves to be outstripped
in the race of improvement, contented to live on under a repu-
tation for skill, energy, and intelligence which we have well
nigh lost. Although we have not set the example and shown
the way, we are not too late to follow that of others, and per-
haps not yet too late to take the lead.

This county is eminently a hay-producing one. It is the
money crop on which many farmers rely principally for a cash
return to meet the outgoes of the season's work. Although I
do not consider it a profitable crop, under any circumstances,
to the extent to which it is usually carried, yet it must always
hold a very important place in point of value among our prod-
ucts. Labor-saving machinery can be made to play a most
important part in the management of this crop ; and by lessen-
ing the cost of harvesting it, the increased profit will invite to
a more varied course of cultivation, even if it be only with a
view to increase its amount. There are many disadvantages
incident to the hay crop, especially when it forms a large pro-
portion of the produce of the farm. It is bulky, and requires
a large force to make it ; the time for harvesting it in proper

* I speak with some confidence upon this point, having resided lately for nearly
two years in a rural district in England, and during that time being in constant
intercourse with practical farmers as well as scientific agriculturists.

230 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE.

order is short, making it difficult to procure sufficient labor at
the right moment to secure it in good condition. The work
comes in the very hottest season of the year, and the exposure
under our burning July suns costs annually many valuable lives.
Philanthropy, as well as self-interest, therefore, should stimu-
late us to adopt every method calculated to save as much of
this labor as possible.

That this may be done to a very considerable extent, has
been demonstrated during the past summer. The mowing ma-
chine has been introduced into our fields, and has worked quite
as successfully as could have been expected at this early stage
of its career. The objections to it are mostly of a nature
which practice will readily overcome, and doubtless many im-
provements are yet to be made in it. Much depends upon us
in order to give this implement a fair trial ; and we should en-
deavor, each one by his actual experience, to point out how it
can be further improved. There are some who object to its
use on account of the smallness of our enclosures and the
roughness of our fields ; but to my mind these are arguments
in its favor, since, if it be necessary to have larger enclosures
and smoother fields, we shall only be forced to do that in order
to work it which, as good farmers, we ought to do under any
circumstances. So, too, another objection, not unfrequently
made, that it requires a skilful man to direct its operation, is
equally in its favor, for it will bring that skill to our farms
which is now so greatly needed. You may rely upon it, that
labor connected with the exercise of intelligent skill will never
be a want in this country. Our farms have ceased to be a
favorite scene of labor to our young men, because the work to
be performed is mere drudgery, without pleasure or excitement
to the mind, but full of weariness to the body. If, however,
you will bring to the farm the steam engine or horse power,
and the various implements they put in motion, our children
will gladly remain upon the homesteads they now desert for
the factory, the machine Bhop, and the railroad, lie who delves
and digs the earth from morning till night has little time and
less inclination for thought — he becomes a mere toil-worn ma-
chine at last; but if he is connected with an implement, the
working of which he is to guide and direct, his position is com-

FARM IMPLEMENTS. 231

pletely changed; lie is then a master over a slave — a truly
soulless slave, that labors without sweat to do his bidding.

There is another labor-saving implement, connected with the
hay crop, quite as important to the farmer as the mowing ma-
chine ; this is the hay-maker. It has been long known and
universally used in England, and is now coming into notice in
this country, much simplified in its construction, and in conse-
quence much cheaper in price. It is easily worked by a single
horse, and will save the labor of five or six men. This imple-
ment, with the mower and the horse rake, will make the hay
harvest an easy and comparatively inexpensive task, saving the
cost of all three of them on some farms in this county in two
or three years.

But, in recommending the adoption of these and other labor-
saving implements, I may be told that they are expensive, and
will not therefore save labor enough to make it an object to
purchase them, except upon very large farms ; that a farmer,
for example, who cuts one hundred tons of hay may save by
their use ; but, for one who cuts only twenty or thirty, the outlay
would be out of proportion to the saving to be accomplished.
This objection is certainly a serious one, though capable of
being obviated in most cases. Massachusetts is a land of small
farmers, and we must therefore resort to the principle of asso-
ciation, so well known and practised upon for various other
purposes, to accomplish what is beyond our individual means.
We must combine together in the purchase of expensive agri-
cultural implements, and arrange for their use in a way to se-
cure perfect fairness and equality. This is only one of the
many ways by which the cost of them may be very much re-
duced. If sufficient encouragement were given, persons could
be found in every community to work them on their own ac-
count, going from farm to farm as a regular business, profitable
to all parties. This is practised to a very considerable extent
among the small farmers in England. It is not unusual there
to see a travelling steam engine on wheels, going through an
extensive district, threshing wheat and performing other work
which does not occur often enough to make it an object for the
farmer to purchase such expensive machinery for his own use.
Mowing machines have been worked in this way during the

232

MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE.

past season in some of the neighboring States, and have been
found a very great saving of time and labor. What a blessing
a steam engine, force pump, and a few hundred feet of leading
hose would have been to many farmers during the late drought
for the purposes of irrigation, where the land was so situated
as it respects water to admit of its being done ! Many crops
could thus have been saved which the drought destroyed, and
others rendered sufficiently more abundant to have paid the
cost of its use.

I would most earnestly impress upon the society the impor-
tance of increasing the amount and number of prizes for imple-
ments, with a view of encouraging their exhibition at our shows.
Farmers can only learn in this way how much there is within
their reach to enable them to carry on their operations at the
least cost. Books and newspapers describe the principle of a
machine well enough ; but it requires to be seen, and, if possible,
put to work, to convey a just idea of its value and importance.
Nothing that I have ever seen surprised me more, or gave
me greater pleasure, than the implement department at the
English agricultural shows,* outnumbering and surpassing in
actual value every thing else, fat cattle and still fatter pigs in-
cluded, and demonstrating, in the most unmistakable manner,

* At the Gloucester Royal Agricultural Show, 1853, the number of implements
exhibited was 1,803 ; number of exhibiters, 121 ; total declared value, $120,000 ;
average cost to purchase, ,f 66.

At Lincoln, this year, the number was about 3,000. A comparison of the last
four years of the number of implements exhibited at the Royal Agricultural Socie-
ty's Shows with the corresponding year of 1840 will convey a correct idea of the
great attention this subject is exciting in the best cultivated country in the world.

101U.

1841.

XNumuer oi
<<

imp

1KIEW11S

exmuueu, . .
<<

on
312

1842.

<<

II

<(

455

1843.

<(

<<

<< ,

508

1844.

it

<(

<<

943

1850.

(i

<(

ii ,

1,197

1851.

None this year.

.

.

-

1852.

Number of

implements

exhibited, .

1,722

1853.

ii

II

ii

1,803

1854.

(<

<<

<«

3,000

The prizes awarded for the agricultural implements in 1853 amounted to forty
per cent, of the total awards for that year. The prizes awarded for agricultural
implements in Massachusetts were only one and one- fourth per cent, of the total
awards for the same year.

FARM IMPLEMENTS. 233

the important position that machinery now takes on a well-
managed farm. The show yard for implements occupies sev-
eral acres, regularly laid out, leaving wide spaces between the
rows of temporary buildings erected to contain them, so that
every opportunity is afforded for examining each article and to
learn the principles of its construction and its method of working.

ESSEX.

From the Report of the Committee.

The exhibition of farming implements was much less exten-
sive than it ought to have been, and much less than was ex-
pected, considering the assurances given by those who had it
in their power to exhibit. But as " beggars should not be
choosers," we will make the best we can of what we saw.
There was an entire failure on the part of claimants to conform
to the conditions on which premiums were offered ; so that no
one will have any good reason to complain if no award is made
in their favor.

Several mowers or machines for the cutting of grass by the
power of horses or oxen were presented. One by Ruggles &
Co., of Boston, a new machine, made by Ketchum, of Buffalo ;
one other of Ketchum's machines by W. F. Porter, of Bradford,
which had been used on his farm the past season ; and one by
Fisk Russell, of Boston, claiming to be an improvement on
Ketchum's. The committee took much pains in the course of
the season to witness the practical operation of these imple-
ments. On the farm of Mr. Waters, in Beverly, they saw this
operation more extensively than any where else. Mr. Waters
thus describes it: —

" One of your committee used Ketchum's two-horse mower
the past season, and mowed over lifty acres with great satisfac-
tion. All the different varieties of English grass were cut with
it; and it operated well on all, especially on heavy grass of two
or more tons to the acre. It surprised many who witnessed
its operations to see with what facility it cut over uneven sur-
faces where before trial it was supposed it could not be made
to work. The horses used were common farm-horses, the pair

' 30*

23-4 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE,

weighing about one thousand nine hundred pounds. While be-
ing operated it frequently eame in contact with fast stones and
stumps of trees, and proved itself equal to the encounter, re-
ceiving no injury -whatever. The points or guards have a won-
derful effect in protecting the cotters from injury."'

General Sutton also operated one of Ketehum's mowers on
his farm to his entire satisfaction. He used a pair of active.
seven-foot cattle, by the aid of which he was able to cut an
acre of heavy grass in one hour, and to continue to work so for
four or five successive hours, and this. too. on uneven land not
well adapted to this kind of operation.

The committee took pains to ascertain the operation of this
imp".'. d the Pickman farm in Salem, on Porter's farm in

Bradford, and on Barker's farm in Andover : and generally,
wherever it was tried, and wherever those who undertook to
manage it knew how to use it. they found it well spoken of.
Most of the imperfections with which it was charged were to be
attributed to the want of artistic skill in those who used it,
bringing to mind the folly of employing an ordinary blacksmith
to repair a delicate watch.

With experience in the use of this implement, the committee
were prepared to express an opinion of it as a highly valuable
implement, which, when perfected as it admits of being, is wor-
thy the attention of our farmers.

The committee found a frequent objection to the mower that
it required too much power to operate it. and thus fatigued the
animals. This was true only when the knives were not as sharp
as they should be. or when some part of the machinery was
sprung from its proper position, which might well happen when
struck against a fast rock, stump, or tree, as before mentioned,
even without being observed at the time.

On the day of the exhibition the committee were taken quite
aback in the opinion they had formed of mowers by the presen-
tation of an improved implement by Mr. Russell, of Boston,
moved also by horse power, but cutting on a different principle.
The committee witnessed the use of this implement, and were
highly pleased with it. They were informed that the inventor
intended to secure a patent for it. Out had not yet done so.
They do not, therefore, feel at liberty to describe its peeuliari-

FARM IMPLEMENTS. 235

ties. In view of the several mowers presented to their notice,
the committee are free to say that they believe the time is not
far distant when the grass on New England farms will be main-
ly cut by implements of this description. They therefore rec-
ommend that there be paid to William F. Porter, of Bradford,
and FiaTi Russell, of Boston, gratuities of ten dollars each for
the mowers exhibited by them, as a trifling compensation for
their efforts to gratify the public curiosity by a sight of these
novel machines.

The attention of the committee was called by Mr. Bryant to
one of Emery's threshing machines that he had been using on
farms in Boxford and vicinity to the entire satisfaction of those
for whom it was used. No opportunity was given to see its
practical operations, any further than to see the principle by
which it operated. With this the committee were well pleased,
and recommend that a gratuity of five dollars be paid to Mr.
Bryant for his trouble in exhibiting this valuable implement.
We hear it spoken of with approbation by men in whose judg-
ment we have much confidence.

A portable cider mill was exhibited by El bridge A. Howard,
of North Reading. The prejudices of the committee against that
much-abused article, good cider, are not so strong as to prevent
their examining impartially any improved implement for the
making of it. So long as there shall be any occasion for
the use of vinegar, so long it is believed will cider be es-
teemed of value, to say nothing of other uses that those who
love it have a right to make. But we must be satisfied that the
machine is a decided improvement. This we cannot say of Mr.
Howard's mill. That it will cut apples into small particles we
have no doubt; but that as much juice can be pressed from
these particles as from the pomace when passed through a well-
constructed mill, carried by horse power, we have great doubt.
We therefore say nothing in favor of this cider mill.

The attention of the committee was called to a com planter,
carried in the hand, and used for the distribution of the kernels
of corn and covering them. It may probably be applied to a
useful purpose in some cases ; but it appeared to be a small
affair, scarcely worthy any special notice of the committee.
The whole expense of the implement is live dollars.

236 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE.

A double plough, No. 33, and a horse hoe, No. 1, made by
Ruggles <fc Co., were exhibited by one of the committee. They
appeared to be first-class implements of the kind, highly credit-
able to the skill and ingenuity of those who made them. Of
this form of plough the committee have heretofore, more than
once, expressed a decidedly favorable opinion.

The committee were instructed by the committee of arrange-
ments to examine a steam engine planned and constructed by
two lads of Lawrence. This engine is thus described by the
boys : —

"During the second year of our apprenticeship, in the sum-
mer of 1853, having determined to build an engine, after some
deliberation we selected a design that seemed to possess what
we desired. We began at once on the drawings and working
plans. In the fall and winter of 1853 and 1854 we finished
the plans, and with some assistance completed the patterns
and got ready the castings by the first of April. We then com-
menced building the engine, and completed it ready t) run by
the first of July. We were interrupted somewhat durirg the
time, so much so that we worked only fifty-five days each from
the time it was commenced until it was completed. The de-
sign of the engine is similar to the machines built at the Law-
rence machine shop — of horizontal bed and cylinder. The cyl-
inder is of three-inch bore and nine in stroke, furnished with the
common slide valves, driven by eccentrics on the main shaft,
connecting with rocker arms placed on the side of the bed.
The cut-off valve shuts off the steam at one half stroke. The
fly wheel is three feet in diameter, three inches wide on the
face, and weighs, finished, one hundred and ten pounds. The
power of the machine, running one hundred and twenty strokes
per minute, is from two to three horses. Total weight of en-
gine is three hundred and sixty pounds.

F. M. Tower.

W. S. Kimball.

To Mn. Piioctoh, Chairman of Committee, &c."

The committee have groat pleasure in noticing this specimen
of artistic skill. They think it highly creditable to the young

FARM IMPLEMENTS. 237

men who made it neither of wliom, as they are informed, ex-
ceeds eighteen years of age. They have never seen any thing
presented at any of our shows more worthy of commendation.
They recommend that a gratuity of five dollars be paid to each
of the young men, and that the expense of placing the engine in
the hall for exhibition (as it may be certified by Mr. W. M.
Kimball, father of one of the young men) be paid by the treas-
urer of the society. Also that a complimentary diploma, signed
by the president and secretary, with the seal of the society an-
nexed, be prepared and presented to them by the secretary, as
a perpetual memorial of their early promise.

The committee are happy in being able to inform the trustees
that, in addition to his other munificent efforts in aid of the ob-
jects of the society, they have received from Richard S. Fay,
Esq., an offer of two hundred dollars, as a donation to be ap-
plied, under the direction of the trustees, for the best use of a
mowing machine on not less than fifty acres, in the county of
Essex, in the season next ensuing. The letters of Mr. Fay
containing this offer, addressed to the chairman of this commit-
tee, will be deposited with the secretary.

J. W. Proctor, Chairman.

WORCESTER.

From the Report of the Committee.

The articles exhibited under this class were, with one excep-
tion, from the establishment of Ruggles, Nourse, Mason, & Co.
Too much praise can hardly be awarded to this firm — and it is
the only prize which your committee are able to bestow — for
the variety and perfection of their articles, and their public
spirit in contributing so materially to the interest of the exhi-
bition.

The assortment of ploughs was very large, and fully sus-
tained the reputation which this establishment has so long
maintained for excellence in this department of agricultural
tools.

Your committee desire to call particular attention to the

238 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE.

double swivel plough aud the steel plough. The report of the
committee on the ploughing match has already given you the
result of the trial of these ploughs in the field.

Among the churns exhibited was a thermometer churn, which
so regulates the temperature of the cream as to make butter in
the shortest time and of the best quality. Your committee
recommend this churn to the attention of our farmers, as being
superior to those in common use.

Many other articles, such as corn shellers, fanning mills, car-
rot weeders, meat cutters, &c, were exhibited to your commit-
tee, and all seemed to them worthy of a more extended notice
than the proper limits of this report would allow.

But the mowing machine, made and exhibited by the same
firm, deserves more than a brief and passing notice.

With the exception perhaps of McCormick's reaper, your
committee are of the opinion that no more valuable improve-
ment in agricultural tools has been introduced to the public for
many years. A majority of the committee have seen experi-
ments made with the machine under circumstances well calcu-
lated to test its utility. They do not hesitate to say that in
the saving of labor, in the thoroughness and perfection and
rapidity with which the work is performed, it presents to the
farmers of this county advantages over the old method of mow-
ing which can hardly be over-estimated. An acre of land has
been well mown by the machine in thirty minutes — from forty-
five to sixty minutes is its ordinary work. With a single span
of horses, from ten to fifteen acres may be mown in the usual
working hours of one day. With a single horse, about two-
thirds of this amount of work can be accomplished. Your com-
mittee take the liberty to say, that, for ordinary work in the
county, machines with a single horse will be found sufficiently
effectual. Wc are informed by the manufacturers that three
hundred of these machines have been sold in New England
during the present Beason, and that the reports from fare
who have u^^d them are highly favorable to their utility.

And in this connection the committee desire to say a word
in favor of the hay-making and spreading machine made and
exhibitedby Ruggles, Nourse, .Mason, <£ Co. This improvement
is of recent date, and may have been suggested by the one of

FARM IMPLEMENTS. 239

which we have just been speaking. Its practical working is
stated by those who have seen it in operation to be most success-
ful. It is thought that in favorable weather, by the use of these
machines and of the horse rake, grass may be mown, spread,
converted into hay and stored in the barn in a single day.
This simple statement, of the correctness of which we have no
doubt, is sufficient to commend these machines to every farmer
who has any considerable amount of mowing land.

Your committee cannot close their report without expressing
their regret that a larger number of specimens under this class
was not presented for their examination. In a department so
important it might have been hoped that there would have been
a full and valuable collection. Perhaps some explanation of
the deficiency may be found in the fact that this building is not
yet quite completed, and that the facilities even now afforded
for an exhibition were not generally known. We venture to
express the hope that, on the next anniversary of the society,
the number, variety, and value of the agricultural tools pre-
sented for exhibition will leave nothing to be desired.

James Deaper, Chairman.

HAMPSHIRE.
Report of the Committee.

'•Mind makes the man." It may be said with as much truth
that mind makes the community or nation. The Yankee mind
is said to be peculiarly inquisitive. Whether inquisitiveness
and inventive genius are necessarily copartners, we will leave
for doctors and philosophers to decide, inclining, however, to
the opinion that they are. The live Yankee, with his bosom
companions, a jackknifc and pine stick, almost invariably pro-
duces something both novel and useful. Be this as it may, we
may rest assured, in this age of mechanical fairs, agricultural
societies, and baby shows, that the genius of America is inven-
tive.

The character of our inventions, whether in science or art,
is eminently practical, adapted to our wants, and calculated to

240 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE.

elevate all classes and conditions of society. Other nations
may have excelled us in matters of taste and luxury ; but it
is only in countries like our own, with its vast territory and
unbounded resources, where minds, always busy and uninflu-
enced by the vagaries of olden time, are so eager in the search
after wealth and progress, that invention assumes its true char-
acter of administering to the wants of all. As a natural re-
sult of our wants as a nation, our efforts have been eminentl
successful. American genius has controlled that mighty power,
steam, and demonstrated its great superiority as a propelling
power, thus rendering it subservient to the wants of man. It
has tamed the fury of the lightning's power, and bidden it go on
messages of mercy rather than of vengeance. It has tunnelled
mountains, levelled hills, filled up valleys, explored the bottom
of the sea, dug deep into the bowels of the earth for hidden
treasures, and visited the starry spheres above.

It has become a matter of history, a " living epistle, known
and read of all men." In the brief interval from one agricul-
tural fair to another we may *not perceive any remarkable
change ; but when we look back for but one-half century, who
can fail to observe the " signs of the times," and to look for-
ward with renewed hope and confidence into the future ?

In improved implements of husbandry, there has been a
marked advance within a few years. Science has thrown her
light upon the farmer's pathway, rendering his occupation both
pleasant and profitable. The drudgery and monotony of the
farmer's life are fast wearing away under the potent influence of
mowing, winnowing, and threshing machines, seed-sowers and
planters, corn-shellers, patent churns, and patent cow-tail hold-
ers. Necessity, "the mother of invention," has caused great
improvements to be made in all the implements of husbandry;
and the farmer can give no satisfactory reason why his work
should not be done in its season, and well done. Yet we fear
there are many, who, from mistaken notions of economy, or
fear of spending the "almighty dollar," follow in the beaten
track of their fathers and grandfathers. Such would prefer
the Syrian plough of old — which was made of the branch of a
tree, cut off below some crook and tipped with iron, and drawn
by a small cow or ass, merely scratching the surface of the

PLATE VII

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FARM BUILDINGS. 241

ground — to the double, cast-iron plough of the present day, that
is capable of pulverizing the soil to the depth of twelve or
fourteen inches. No good farmer will fail to employ these aids
to labor, which, as experience has taught, tend to improve the
condition of all classes and to advance civilization. The farm-
er and mechanic are bound together by the strongest tics of
interest, and whatever contributes to the prosperity of the one
operates equally to the advantage of the other. We cannot
forbear, here, from alluding to the too common practice of fur-
nishing our youth with worn-out or refuse tools, and then
requiring too great an amount of labor, or finding fault with
its execution. We need not wonder that they look upon agri-
culture as servile or slavish, and on its votaries as mere serfs,
and leave the old homestead, with all its hallowed associations,
in pursuit of other occupations. Encourage them, not only by
precept and example, but by surrounding them with those com-
forts and conveniences, which none but the husbandman can
enjoy, which are so well calculated to secure that greatest of
earthly blessings — a contented and happy mind.

Charles H. Field, Chairman.

FARM BUILDINGS.

The committee of the Norfolk Society, appointed to visit
various sections of the county to ascertain and report on the
condition and prospects of its farming, speak as follows:
" We cannot but notice great improvements in the construction
of farm buildings in different parts of the county. We regard
this as an indication of increased interest as well as success in
agriculture, and of more study and reflection upon the best
methods of conducting its operations. Among those recently
erected we might specify the barn of Hon. B. V. French, in
Braintree, as, for convenience and labor-saving, an almost
faultless model. We would advise all, of whatever means, who
intend to build, to examine Mr. French's barn, because, in our
opinion, it is excelled by none in the county."

31*

242 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE.

The plan of this barn is presented in the adjoining cut.

The barn stands on a triangle at the junction of two streets,
the ends being nearly east and west, the sides north and south,
the land descending somewhat to the east.

The scale of plate I. is that of forty feet to the inch. It
represents the first story, or manure cellar, seventy feet by
fifty-seven, the walls being laid in solid masonry, with a floor
laid with split stone, inlaid with cement and mortar, a a, doors
to the cellar, fourteen feet wide. The door on the north side
is kept closed in winter. Spaces d and 30 by 42, are filled
up by an embankment of earth, e 26 6 represents a wall
embankment, with a post at the end. Another embankment is
seen at e 36 6. There is a gradual ascent over these em-
bankments to the doors entering into the linto for the cows.
There is a slight ascent also from a to the dotted line,
representing Elm Street, north of the barn, and also from a
through the yard, and out at 12 into Adams Street, on the south
side of the building, c is an aqueduct of running water from
a mill stream, and supplying water in the yard. // b is the
foundation at the west end of the barn, built of solid stone
masonry ; the walls on the sides, being thirty-five feet, sixteen
feet, and ten feet, are bank face walls, with posts at the end,
filled in and graded so as to give a gentle ascent over it into
the third story, where all hay, &c, is unloaded.

Plate II. The second story is drawn on a scale of twenty
feet to an inch, too small be well understood, m, shed, open
for carts and wagons to remain under cover, thirty by fifteen.
I I I I I I, bins for vegetables to be filled through scuttles from
the floor of the third story. It is surrounded by solid walls.
The area of this whole floor equals one hundred feet by fifty-
seven, k, open space, and nearly on a level with the cow
chamber, through the door p. s, stairs to third story and to
the cellar, d d d, passage next to the walls, five feet wide
and nine inches above the dung pit. c e c, dung pit, two feet
wide, and seven inches below the floor where the cattle stand.
The manure drops from this pit into the cellar below, five feet
from the walls, and quite round the cellar, c c c, plank floor
for cows, four feet six inches long, b b b, stalls for three
yoke of oxen on a platform five feet six inches long, n n, calf

FARM BUILDINGS. 243

pens, r r, feeding troughs for calves. The feeding boxes arc
made in the form of trays, with partitions between them, and
each animal has its water constantly before it. The water
is brought from a well, at a distance of eight hundred feet,
by a lead pipe to cistern a. This cistern is regulated by
a cock and ball, and the water flows by dotted lines o o o to
the boxes, and each box is connected by lead pipes well se-
cured from frost. /, scuttle by which sweepings, &c, may be
put through into the cellar, g is a bin receiving cut hay from
third story, or hay room, h h h h h h, bins for grain feed, i is
a tunnel to conduct manure or muck from the hay floor to the
cellar, j j, sliding doors on wheels.

Plate III. The third story floor is one hundred feet by forty-
two, the bays for hay, ten on each side, being ten feet front and
fifteen feet deep, and the open space for the entrace of wagons,
carts, &c, twelve feet wide, b, hay scales, c, scale beam.
m m m in in m, ladders reaching almost to the roof. I, scut-
tle holes for sending vegetables direct to the bins III, Sfc,
below, a a b b, rooms on the corners for storage, d, scuttles,
four of which are used for straw, one for cut hay, and one for
muck for the cellar, n and the other small squares are eighteen
feet posts. /, passage to the tool house, a room one hundred
feet long by fifteen wide, o, stairs leading to the scaffold
in the roof of the tool house, i i, benches, g, floor, h,
boxes for hoes, shovels, spades, picks, iron bars, old iron, <fec.
j j j, bins for fruit, k, scuttles to put apples into wagons, &c,
in the shed below. On one side of this tool house are put
ploughs and large implements, hay rigging, harrows, &c.

Plate IV. Front, or view of the west end, in which a small
chimney is seen on the roof leading up from the vegetable cellar
below, a, window, b b, windows, c, door entrance, d, en-
trance to tool house. All the doors to the barn slide on rollers.

Plate V. On the north side of the barn are seen windows,
doorway, &c. The stone work which is seen at the west end
on the second story should have been placed fifteen feet farther
back under the barn. The space which seems to be occupied
by it is the shed for the housing of carts, &c. The ventilator
contains on the top a lightning rod, points of the compass,
and weather vane designed to imitate a Devon ox.

244 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE.

Plate VI. represents south view, where is seen the chimney
in the roof, c c, windows in third story, b, windows to corn
room and vegetable cellar, d, door to vegetable cellar, a,
door to cellar.

Plate VII. represents a transverse section of the cow room.
a, walk five feet wide, b, dung pit. c, cattle stand, d, feed-
ing trough, with the bottom on a level with the platform where
the cattle stand, k, open area forty-three by fifty-six. This
room is furnished with a clock and thermometer, and is admira-
bly ventilated, while at the same time it is sufficiently warm
for the health and well being of the cows. The water in this
room has not been frozen during the past severe winter, with the
exception of that in a small box near the door. The manure in
the cellar is levelled down once a week and covered with muck.
The cellar being tight, all the liquid fertilizing matter from the
floor above can be used to the best advantage.

The barn is simple in its construction, not expensive for its
size, and well adapted to the purposes for which it was designed.
It is especially adapted to the ground on which it stands ; and
though not every farmer could aiford to build at the same cost,
it contains many improvements on most other plans which could
be brought within the means of most who intend to build. It
will be seen that, including the three stories, this barn contains
facilities equal to a barn two hundred feet long by fifty-seven wide.

The cost of this structure cannot be exactly known, since a
good deal of the work was done at various times by laborers
on the farm, and no exact account was kept of the amount
of this labor. It is supposed to have exceeded six thousand
dollars. This barn stands near the station in Braintrec,
where it may be seen and better understood.

WORCESTER NORTH.

From the Report of the Committee on Experiments.

The committee on " Experiments connected with the Pursuit
of Agriculture" have attended to the duty assigned to them,
and herewith present their report.

The offer of a premium for experiments, the specific charac-

FARM BUILDINGS. 245

ter of which is left to the experimenter, is a new feature in
the proceedings of this society ; but we are inclined to hope
and believe that, though the first, it may not be the last time
at -which it will occupy a position among the bounties annually
distributed.

That individual who thoroughly and understandingly insti-
tutes or conducts an experiment, and gives to the public a care-
ful and reliable report of it, adds something to the general
stock of information, and more especially if such experiment
be an original one. The whole of our knowledge, not only
agricultural, but that pertaining to every department of life, has
been slowly and laboriously derived from the results of a con-
tinued succession of experiments ; or, in one word, from expe-
rience. It is immaterial whether Nature, unaided, places the
experiment before us, or whether she merely suggests. If we
are but able to grasp the whole in such a manner as to learn
the lesson which she is capable of teaching, we can then com-
municate it to the world as so much experience or knowledge.

While very few persons are able to originate an experiment
of any importance, almost any one can carry it through when
full directions are given for the purpose. Many, however, per-
form any thing of the kind in such a careless manner that their
results are worth little or nothing when obtained. This arises
from the fact that such persons are not in the habit of making
observations upon any subject with the care that is requisite
for success in cases of this kind. Every agricultural operation,
the results of which are to be recorded for the benefit of others,
should be carried on with all the precision and exactness which
characterize the chemist in his operations in the laboratory.

Every complete experiment in the cultivation of crops should
be performed comparatively, in order to make it of any use.
Because one farmer raises a superior field of grain, or other
product, under the use of some special manure, it does not
necessarily follow that the manure is to account for that supe-
riority. It may have been that differences in soil, locality,
season, cultivation, or some other influence, has contributed to
bring about this result.

Not only should the experimenter use every precaution in
conducting his labors, but he should confine himself to the strict

246 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE.

letter of truth in making up his record, and he should be as
willing to give the public the statement of an unsuccessful ex-
periment as where the result is of the opposite character.
Says Von Thaer, " Science would have made much greater
progress if the false shame with which agriculturists conceal
every unsuccessful experiment, and the exaggerated manner in
which they often relate all those in which they have succeeded,
had not retarded its progress."

Your committee regret that there have been but three entries
made for their consideration; but they are disposed to think
that another season will witness an increase in the number of
experimenters, and, as a consequence, an increase in the inter-
est and value of a report.

The first entry was that of the chairman of this committee,
relating to his farm buildings, a statement concerning which
accompanies this report. The subject of this experiment is of
a character that should interest every one who contemplates
building, either now or in the future. If the work is permanent
and durable, — and we see no reason to question it, if due care
is exercised according to the suggestions of that statement, — it
is certainly a very important matter. There are very few farms
in this region of our country which would not afford the principal
materials required, merely for the picking up and carting, suffi-
cient to construct all the ordinary buildings desirable. And
when the house or barn is completed it is not a perishable
wooden structure, requiring frequent repainting, but it appears
to be of such a nature as to equal brick or stone in its durability.

Statement of Jabez Fisher.

I submit for the consideration of the " Committee on Exper-
iments connected with the Pursuit of Agriculture " my farm
buildings, with reference mainly to the materials of which they
are constructed.

I do not pretend to any thing like originality in this experi-
ment, but merely claim to have demonstrated, to any one who
will take the pains to examine the work, the feasibility of the
plan as first published to the world by 0. S. Fowler, in a work
entitled "Homes for All."

FARM BUILDINGS. 247

In some of the practical details I have differed somewhat
from the plans as laid down by the author of that work, but in
the main leading features we are agreed. I propose, however, to
offer some general considerations, such as have been suggested
by my experience, and at the same time point out certain diffi-
culties which might occur to the embarrassment of the builder,
and which would tend to destroy the confidence of the public in
the whole plan.

Instead of the ordinary quality of shell lime recommended, I
would use in all cases, where it could be obtained, the best of
stone lime, as being the more profitable article. After slaking
this lime in the manner proposed, instead of adding the stones
and gravel together, I should prefer, unless the stones were all
quite small, to add the gravel alone, in the proportion of eight
or ten parts to one of unslaked lime. The gravel ought to be
coarse and sharp, free from fine sand or any thing of the char-
acter of loam. After being thoroughly mixed, I shovel a layer
of this mortar into the mould in which the wall is to be formed,
some two or three inches deep. Stones of any shape or size,
limited only by the thickness of the wall, are then bedded firm-
ly into the mortar in such a manner that the stones may occu-
py all the space possible, with only just enough of the mortar
to bind the whole firmly together and render it solid. A second
layer of the mortar is then put in as before, followed by more
stones, and this process is repeated until the mould is filled.

If the ground be of a wet or springy nature, the wall, as
high as the top of the ground, or at least for a foot or two,
might be formed in the ordinary manner — of large stone. A
preferable mode, however, would be to under-drain the land so
as to render the cellar bottom always dry. One material ad-
vantage possessed by the gravel wall for enclosing cellars,
aside from the great saving in expense, is to be found in the
perfect protection which it affords against the depredations of
rats and other vermin, which are entirely excluded by it.

One other consideration to which I will allude is that re-
garding the season of the year at which this work ought to be
performed. The proper and best time is during the hot sum-
mer months. It should not only be begun during this time,
but completed. My own work was deferred too long, and has

248 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE.

suffered in consequence. The whole of the outside ought to
be finished before the time of the fall rains, and especially the
grading which is to turn the water from the building.

The last subject to which I will refer is that which relates
to the cost. This, of course, varies in different localities, ac-
cording to the price of lime, the facilities afforded for obtain-
ing gravel and stones, and the price of labor. I used the Pitts-
field and South Adams lime, at an expense of about two dollars
per cask. My gravel I was obliged to draw one-fourth of a
mile. The stones were obtained in clearing the surface of the
farm. The labor was all done by ordinary farm hands, no
masons being employed except in putting on the finishing coat.
My estimate of cost does not exceed five cents per cubic foot
for the rough wall, and from one and a half cents upward per
superficial foot for the covering, according to the kind of mate-
rial and style of workmanship. This makes a saving of at
least one-half as compared with wood, in the ordinary style of
finishing a dwelling house ; and it would not differ materially
from the cost of barn walls well boarded and matched or bat-
tened. As compared with brick, by which it is not surpassed
in any respect, there is a saving in expense of from two-thirds
to three-fourths of the entire cost, so far as regards the walls.

The composition and style of finish of the outside coat may
be varied according to the taste or means of the owner. Or-
dinary plastering mortar costs perhaps the least, is quite dura-
ble, and by a little skill may be made to look like hammered
granite. A coat of water cement resembles sandstone. Hard
finish may be made to imitate marble. Mastic cement, although
rather expensive, makes a very durable and beautiful finish, re-
sembling some of the best specimens of sandstone.

As no mere statement of this kind will enable any one to
judge fully of the character of the work, or to gain much infor-
mation of the detail of its construction, I would invite the com-
mittee, and all others interested, to visit and examine the build-
ings at any time when it may meet their collective or individual
convenience. The location is a mile and a half northerly from
the village in Fitchburg.

FARM BUILDINGS. 249

Barn of David Leavitt, Esq., Great Barrington.

This building is admitted to be one of the largest and best
adapted to the purposes for which it is intended of any in the
country, and in point of adaptation and convenience of arrange-
ment is, perhaps, not excelled in the world. It is two hundred
feet long and forty feet wide ; the whole height is about one
hundred and twenty feet.

As will be seen by reference to the engraving which accom-
panies this statement, it has three stories accessible with teams
at either end. The manure vault is in the lower story, or
basement; the second is mainly devoted to stabling; the third
to the storage of hay, grain, machinery, etc.

The site of this building is as novel as it is convenient. The
building spans a ravine two hundred feet in width and thirty
feet in depth, and forms the wall of a dam bridling a fine stream
which runs through the ravine, and elevating the water so that
it is applied to a thirty-six horse-power water wheel, twenty-
two feet in diameter, which is placed in the basement of the
building, and affords ample power for wood and saw-mill saws,
a planing mill, (one of Woodworth's largest,) a lathe, grind-
stones, and feed mill, a corn sheller, (Reading's patent,) which
shells and cleans and bags five hundred bushels per diem, and a
thresher, cleaner, and elevator of the same capacity as the corn
sheller.

The thresher used is Zimmerman & Co.'s, made in Charles-
town, Ya. The threshing and straw cutting is done simul-
taneously.

The feed mill used is a self-sharpening iron mill, capable of
grinding fifteen bushels per hour, patented January, 1855, and
made by A. Felton, Troy, N. Y. The hay is pitched from the
vehicles to the mows by the same power, by which arrangement
four tons may be unloaded in one minute. A line shaft is ex-
tended into an adjacent arched dairy cellar, twenty by seventy-
eight, in which the churning is also done by water power.

The minuteness of the description of the various machines
used at this model farmstead is for the benefit of such of our
readers as may require similar ones, as those described have

32*

250 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE.

been selected from the country at large, regardless of expense,
by Professor Wilkinson, who is the steward as well as the
architect at Brookside, and who, having spent twelve years as
a teacher of practical and scientific agriculture, is perhaps as
well posted up in such matters as any man in the country.

A description in detail of this mammoth building, with all its
appurtenances, would occupy more space than we have to de-
vote to it. Suffice it to say that no farmer who has not exam-
ined it, would, after visiting it, regret the time or expense in-
curred in so doing.

True, there are few who would attempt to duplicate, on the
same scale, all that they may see there ; but the principle on
which it is constructed, in any or all its respective parts, is
adapted admirably to the wants of farmers who may desire to
erect new buildings or remodel old ones.

STOCK.

MASSACHUSETTS.

Report of the Trustees.

The course pursued by the trustees the past year varies so
little from the reports of the last ten years, that, after exami-
nation of their records, they arc of opinion that the best
mode of fulfilling their duty is, to return the two reports fol-
lowing, made by two gentlemen of the Board of Trustees, and
containing almost the entire transactions of the society for the
past year.

The first report is that of committees of which the Hon.
R. C. Winthrop was chairman, on the subject of premiums to
be offered for distribution through the medium of the county
societies.

Report of R. C. Winthrop.

Agreeably to the suggestion of the President of the Middle-
sex County Society, the trustees of this society have oifered

STOCK. 251

premiums to the amount of six hundred dollars during the past
year for the best dairy stock. These premiums were offered
through the medium of the Middlesex, Berkshire, Worcester,
and Bristol County Societies, to whom it was left to decide
upon the details of the competition and to adjudicate between
the competitors. In Berkshire and Worcester the premiums
were awarded and paid. In Middlesex no stock was exhibited
which was considered worthy of a prize. In Bristol there was
no competition.

The trustees of this society have recently resolved to con-
tinue these premiums in Bristol and Middlesex counties for
another year, and also to offer them in Norfolk county, in Es-
sex county, in the three river counties combined as one district,
and in Plymouth and Barnstable united as a single district.
For this purpose they have appropriated the sum of nine hun-
dred dollars for the present year.

With a further view of testing the effect of competition in
improving the breed of dairy stock, they have voted to make
arrangements for a general show of dairy stock from all parts
of the State for the year 1856 under the direction of the
Worcester County Agricultural Society, at which premiums will
be offered of an amount not less in the aggregate than twelve
hundred dollars.

The trustees have also taken pleasure in complying with the
request of the Board of Agriculture by placing one of their
finest Jersey bulls at their disposal, to be kept at the farm
connected with the State Reform School, and also by contribut-
ing by vote of a hundred dollars towards the expense of agri-
cultural lectures.

It is hoped that in this brief statement there will be found a
sufficient assurance that the State Society is disposed to co-
operate with the Board of Agriculture to the extent of its
means in promoting the great interests in whose behalf both
associations were established, and which are vitally connected
with the prosperity and welfare of our beloved Commonwealth.

The Jersey stock belonging to the society still continues
under the care of Mr. Motley. The following communication
from that gentleman furnishes additional evidence in proof of
the value of that breed for the dairy, as well as of its endur-

252 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE.

ance of our climate. The trustees have found no reason to
question the correctness of the opinion entertained by many
eminent farmers, both here and in England, that the excellence
of this breed, in these very essential particulars, must render
its introduction an important service to our agriculture. They
feel assured that this society could not well render a more im-
portant service to the community than by bringing this opin-
ion to the test of a thorough experiment.

Report of Mr. Motley.

I beg leave to submit the following report in regard to the
breed of Jersey cattle. In making this report I shall speak of
the full-blood animals belonging to the society, and also the
full-blood and grade animals belonging to myself. They are
all in fine health and condition ; and I consider the fact fully
settled now, that they can bear our winters quite as well as
any other breed of cattle. I have raised calves dropped in
each winter month, and they have all done well without any
other shelter than a tight boarded barn, without clapboards or
shingles save on the roof. From an experiment made about
the middle of November last with a herd of thirteen cows for
one week, viz., —

Nine full-blood Jersey cows and heifers from two to eight

years old ;
One grade Durham cow thirteen years old ;
One three-fourths Ayrshire cow five years old ;
Two half-blood Jerseys two years old, —

it gave the result of a pound of butter from seven quarts of
milk, on the following feed — about twenty pounds of hay and
one peck of carrots per day. From the above herd one cow
dropped a calf within thirty days after the trial, and the others
are to calve in May and June next.

The quality of the milk is most excellent, and quantity very
fair, and they hold out longer, so far as I know, than any breed.
The butter made from the milk of Jersey cows will always
command the highest price, and is of a rich gold color and fine
flavor, even in winter.

STOCK. 253

They arc daily growing in favor with onr farmers and milk-
men; and the time has already arrived when a Jersey cow is
appreciated in Massachusetts and in very great demand.

These reports are respectfully submitted,

John C. Gray, President.

Benj. Guild, Recording Secretary.

The following statement of the pedigree of Kirkleavington
1st (11,640) has been furnished me by Paoli Lathrop, Esq., of
South Hadley : —

He was bred by George Vail, of Troy, N. Y. — light roan ;
got by imported Duke of Wellington, (3,654,) dam (Lady Bar-
rington 3d) by Cleveland Lad, (3,407,) g. d. (Lady Barring-
ton 2d) by Belvedere, (1,706,) g. g. d. (Lady Barrington)
by a son of Mr. Mason's "Herdsman," (304,) g. g. g. d. (Young
Alicia) by Wonderful, (700,) g. g. g. g. d. (Old Alicia) by
Alfred, (23,) g. g. g. g. g. d. by Young Favorite, son of Favor-
ite, (252.) His blood is one-quarter Short Tail, out of Duchess
(32) by Belvedere, (1,706;) one-quarter cow Oxford, out of
Matchem cow by Duke of Cleveland, (1,937;) one-quarter
Lady Barrington, (2d,) out of Lady Barrington by Belvedere,
(1,706;) one-quarter Cleveland Lad, (3,407,) out of Matchem
cow by Short Tail, (2,621.)

It will thus be seen that this animal is as full of the best
blood of the herd of the late Thomas Bates, of Kirkleavington,
England, as any bull in this country, except two or three which
were out of Duchess cows. — Ed.

Tlie Oakes Prize Cow.

So much has been written and said about this celebrated
animal that it has been thought desirable to state what is
known of her origin and history.

She was purchased by Mr. Caleb Oakes, of Danvers, in the
year 1813, then five years old, having been originally bought

254

MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE.

by Mr. B. Goodridge, of Danvers, at the age of two years, from
the drove of a Mr. Copp, drover, from Randolph, Vt.* She
was recommended to Mr. Copp as being one of a breed cele-
brated for its milking qualities. She was of a dark-red color,
rather under size, and described by Mr. Goodridge as " high
and broad behind, having a straight back, large belly, small
neck and head, line horns, bright eye, and in all respects sym-
metrical and handsome." "While in possession of Mr. Good-
ridge she had her first calf, which at the age of four weeks
made first-rate veal, weighing over twenty pounds the quarter.
Mr. Oakes made from her the first year, and without over-feed-
ing, no less than one hundred and eighty pounds of butter. In
the next year (1814) he gave her ten or twelve bushels of
meal, and made three hundred pounds of butter. In 1815 he
gave her from thirty to thirty-five bushels of meal, and made
over four hundred pounds of butter. In 1816 she calved on
the 5th of April, and the calf, being very fine and fat, was
killed on the 8th of May ; after which she had good pasturage
all the season, and was allowed one bushel of meal a week, to-
gether with all her skimmed milk. In June of that year Mr.
Oakes weighed her milk, and found that she gave ten quarts
at night, weighing twenty-six and a half pounds, and seven
quarts in the morning, weighing eighteen pounds ; in all, forty-
four and a half pounds a day.

The quantity of butter made in the year 1816 was as fol-
lows : —

Before the calf was

killed

)

17

May 15, .

. 14}

« 22, .

16

« 28, .

17}

June 5, .

19

" 12, .

18i

« 19, .

17

" 26, .

18

* It was stated on page 270 of the Agriculture of Massachusetts for 1853 that
this animal was bought from a drove from the Kennebec. Such lias been the gen-
eral impression. The account given above, however, is believed to be the true
state of the case.

STOCK.

255

July ;>, .
« 10, .
« 17, .

-jit, .

» 31, .
August 7,

" 14,

« 21

« 28,
September 4,

" 11,

» 18,
25,
October 2,
" 15,
» 21,
« 29,
November 7,
" 18,
" 23,
» 30,
December 10,
« 20,

Total, .

18
17

pounds
it

1G

u

16

((

16

a

15

it

15

a

16

a

15

it

15

it

16

tt

12

it

15

a

16|
15

16

it

16

a

16

a

18

u

10

a

13

a

14

a

10

tt

484J

ti

As late as the 28th of December she gave eight quarts of
milk per day. While in the possession of Mr. Oakes she had
four calves, and suckled each of them over four weeks, besides
furnishing to the family one quart of milk per day. The butter
made from her was of a superior quality.

This cow received the prize of the State Society at the
Brighton Show in 1816. She was purchased of Mr. Oakes by
lion. Josiah Quincy, who afterwards sold her to Colonel Sam-
uel Jaques, of Ten Hills Farm, Charlcstown. The cut which is
here presented is pronounced by these gentlemen to be an ac-
curate and admirable likeness of this remarkable animal. It is
well known that she never produced offspring equal to herself
for milking qualities. The effect upon her constitution by sur-

256 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE.

feiting and over-feeding, for the purpose of increasing her
milk, in all probability, materially affected the character of her
progeny, none of which are known to have been raised till after
the year 1816. — Ed.

BRISTOL.

From the Report of the Committee on Breeding Stock.

A sincere desire on the part of your committee to awaken
an interest in the breeding of good stock, and a wish to impress
upon the farmers of Bristol County a sense of the importance
of attention to blood, induce them to prolong this report even
beyond the usual limits.

We have valuable materials at hand, and it is only necessa-
ry for them to be known and appreciated by our farmers, to
make stock-growing vastly more remunerative in Bristol Coun-
ty than it ever yet has been.

There are among us intelligent farmers, who have added to
practical skill and long experience the fruits of study and re-
search in the broad field which the agricultural literature of the
day opens to them. To such men the teachings of your com-
mittee will not be necessary. Nor do we address the " old
fogy," whose ambition does not soar above the results produced
by his great-grandfather. The narrow-minded farmer who is
content to jog on, wrapped in a mantle of stupid prejudice, un-
mindful of the advantages which new usages and discoveries
offer to him, — who is satisfied to live in a world of progress,
yet clinging obstinately to the past, — will probably close his
ears to all advice, and pursue his own policy, right or wrong,
until the day when he is called upon to leave a world which
has received no new beauty from his hands.

But there is still another class — fortunately a numerous one
— to whom a word of advice may not appear impertinent. This
class is composed of young men who are intelligent and enter-
prising, but whoso opportunities for study have been limited,
and whose habits of observation have never been properly cul-
ed. Such men are anxious to improve, but hardly know
how to begin.

STOCK. 257

Who is there, who lias mingled with New England farmers,
who has not frequently heard men say, " Our native cattle
are good enough; " " Why should we go to England for cattle
to improve what is already good enough ? " " There is Mr.

*s cow ; she's nothing but a native ; and where'll you find a

better ? ,; Such remarks as these are made every day in every
town in New England. They are founded not on prejudice
alone, but on ignorance of the principles of breeding.

No one will dispute that scattered throughout New England
are very many good cows, possessing, in a remarkable degree,
excellent dairy properties. Many of these have no known
pedigree, nor have they any mark that indicates the presence
of foreign blood. They stand before us simply as good native
cows. The owner of one of these cows, recognizing her value,
is anxious to perpetuate her virtues, and retains her as a breed-
er. Having this good foundation for a valuable family of stock,
how is he to proceed ?

We do not propose to enter deeply into scientific breeding,
though well aware that it is a subject of great interest, and
deserving the earnest attention of stock growers. For such as
desire to study it, there are books of great value, well worth
the very reasonable prices at which they are sold ; and there
are agricultural papers scattered broadcast over the land, full
of information derived not only from the works of those who
have in past years devoted their strong minds to this subject,
but from living breeders, who, with true public spirit, delight
to contribute to their brother farmers the results of their
studies and experience. Our purpose is to present a few hints
to those whose attention has not been directed to blood, and
to endeavor to point out how the materials within our reach,
as farmers in Bristol County, may be applied to the substantial
improvement of our stock.

The fact that a cow is a good one is not enough, of itself, to
warrant the hope that her progeny will equal her in excellence,
unless care is used in the selection of the bull to which she is
bred. It is only when, by a long course of careful breeding,
certain properties have become impressed upon a tribe of ani-
mals,— have become characteristics of the race, part of its
blood, as it were, — that we can feel in any degree sure that an

33*

258 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE.

individual of that tribe will reproduce itself in its offspring.
This is true of every one of the distinct breeds of cattle, and
indeed of every species of our domestic animals. It is as true
of the gamecock or the dorking as of the racehorse or the
pointer. The distinct breeds or races of our cattle are all the
result of attention to this great principle. Some of the breeds
are more artificial than others where care has alone been ob-
served to keep pure the blood of a family originally strongly
marked. These more artificial breeds have been the result of
greater care and skill on the part of the breeders, and their
excellence has in many cases been proportionate to the care
bestowed upon them. They are none the less entitled to the
distinction of being thorough bred than are any of the older
breeds, since their characteristics are as thoroughly impressed
upon their tribes, and are as surely transmitted.* As a rule,
an animal of one of the distinct and recognized breeds of ani-
mals is sure to impress upon its descendants the characteristics
of its own breed or blood. So unerring is this transmission of
inbred qualities, that a good breeder would on no account use
the services of a bull not thorough bred, preferring the use of
an inferior animal of undoubted pedigree to that of a bull of
impure blood, though perhaps the more elegant and apparently
more valuable of the two. Of course there are occasional ex-
ceptions to this, as to most general rules. In the hands of un-
skilful breeders, under the influence of accident, undue exposure,
unfavorable circumstances of feed and climate, and perhaps
other causes, individuals, and indeed whole families, of a cer-

* In explanation of our meaning, we may, as examples of what we style an
original breed, point to the Devon cattle and the Arabian horse ; while the short-
horn and the English racer may be styled more artificial. In the cases of the for-
mer animals, the memory of man does not extend to the time when they were not
marked and distinguished by their present characteristics ; while the racehorse and
the short-horns have been moulded by the skill and science of intelligent breeders.

A writer upon sporting dogs, remarking upon the power man in his intelligence
possesses over even animal matter, illustrates the impression made upon the nature
of the pointer dog, whose standi points are so remarkable. Originally the dog
paused when scenting his game, preparatory to making a spring. Men, observing
this habit, endeavored to train him to stand firm. They succeeded; thus, as the
Writer wittily adds, " converting the semicolon of nature into the full stop of civil-
ization." The same course, pursued for generations, has impressed this habit upon
the race.

STOCK. 259

tain breed may degenerate. Even these, however, can be more
easily brought up again than low-bred animals; for blood will
tell. Meanwhile the great principle remains the same. In
proportion as an animal is full bred, or full blooded, is it prob-
able that he will mark his offspring with his own characteristics.
A recognition of this principle is of the first importance; and
it cannot be too often or too strongly urged upon all who de-
sire to breed good stock.

Let us now return to the owners of the before-mentioned
'•'good native cows." What are they to do to perpetuate their
good qualities ? How, with such a foundation, is a valuable
family of stock to be created, to do credit to the owner's skill
and put money in his pocket ?

The "old fogy," who turns up his nose at "book farmers,"
and scorns "foreign cattle," and recognizes no principle beyond
saving an immediate penny even at the sacrifice of a prospec-
tive pound, drives his cow to the cheapest bull — some misera-
ble, low-bred, mongrel beast, whose only power, perhaps, is
that of impressing upon his get a portion of his own ugliness.
" Old fogy " has paid but a quarter of a dollar, it is true ; but
he has a calf of but little value. This course is pursued for
years, until the old cow dies and her virtues are all lost; while
her owner attributes the success of others to mere luck. Is
not this sort of breeding common ? Is there not an instance
of such a system to be found in every town ?

How different from the course of the "old fogy " is that pur-
sued by the intelligent, enterprising farmer, who knows the
value of blood — who has studied the great principles of stock-
breeding ! He makes himself acquainted with the merits and
history of the best bulls within his reach. He knows their
breed if thorough bred, and their grade if only partially bred.
He selects the bull most likely to impart to his get his own
virtues and increase the good qualities of the cow. He pays
more than twenty-live cents for the services of such an animal;
but he rears a calf whose market value repays the outlay ten-
fold, while he has made a direct step upwards in his work of
improvement. He feels encouraged to persevere. He watches
carefully his herd, and step by step progresses, until his reputa-
tion as a breeder and his heavier pocket book attest his success.

260 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE.

The question may be, and often is, asked, " Why not begin
with our native cattle, and, by careful and skilful breeding, rear
a breed of natives which shall equal any foreign breed ? It is
acknowledged that our cattle are good : why not bring them up
to an equality even with short-horns ? Can we not do what
others have done ? "

We are doubtless a great people, we Yankees ; but we should
hardly give evidence of our sagacity, if, confining ourselves to
native cattle, we should begin now to create a new breed.
True, our successors might, a century hence, point with pride
to their thorough-bred " Native Americans ; " but, while glory-
ing in the excellence of the cattle, they would be apt to doubt
the acuteness of their Know Nothing ancestors, who had neg-
lected to avail themselves of the experience, knowledge, and
practical results of generations of breeders, who had devoted
themselves to the creation and improvement of breeds of cattle
that in 1850 equalled, if not surpassed, the Native Americans
of a century later.

The fact is, the English have been for centuries a stock-
breeding people, and have brought their cattle, horses, sheep,
swine, and other domestic animals to a high degree of perfec-
tion. It is for us to avail ourselves of their experience, and
ingraft upon our own stock the scions of their improved culture.

Perhaps a brief consideration of the merits and history of
some of the prominent breeds of cattle — especially of those
likely to come under the observation of the farmers of Bris-
tol— may be interesting and serviceable to those who have not
heretofore given much attention to the subject.

First, let us pass in review our native cattle. These can
hardly be called a breed, presenting as they do so few marks
of breeding, so great a diversity in appearance and quality, and
possessing so little of that power of begetting their own like-
ness which is inseparable from animals really well bred. Our
native cattle arc not indigenous to the soil, but arc descended
from animals brought to America by the early settlers. As a
large proportion of the earlier immigrants were from Devon-
shire and the south of England, where the Devon cattle were
even then popular, and where that breed had been long estab-
lished, it was doubtless from that breed that the earlier cattle

STOCK. 261

brought to America were principally selected. Even in the ab-
sence of documentary and historical evidence of this fact, the
color and general appearance and characteristics of our cattle
would warrant this belief. Other breeds, however, were not
unrepresented in our early settlements. We have traces of
several, including the Hereford and Galloway.

As among the immigrants many were men of very moderate
circumstances, and others wholly unacquainted with agricultural
pursuits, it is probable that many of the cattle were not ani-
mals of pure blood and high cost. Doubtless many were not
selected with any reference to their breeding, but merely good
cows picked up at the port of embarkation.

On their arrival in America these animals had doubtless
to share the privations borne by their owners. They suf-
ered from the effects of a severe climate, most unlike that of
southern England. They had short commons and poor shelter.
Add to these circumstances the probable inattention on the
part of the masters to careful breeding, and there is no room
for surprise that the cattle, as a race, degenerated, and lost all
title to the dignity of being styled a breed.

In spite, however, of their degeneracy, our native cattle are not
without great merit ; and we may well congratulate ourselves
on the possession of hardy cows, perfectly acclimated and ac-
customed to our New England pastures, from which we can
easily select breeders of value, and from which, by the» aid of
good bulls of one of the imported breeds, we can raise up a
stock of valuable cattle suited to our wants, whether required
for draught, the dairy, or the shambles.

During the greater part of the present century importations
have from time to time been made of thorough-bred Devon cat-
tle. Latterly these importations have been frequent ; and this
stock is now widely spread through the Northern States. The
Devon is probably the oldest of the English breeds of cattle,
and possesses such intrinsic excellence that it would doubtless
become a favorite in New England even if its color, size, and
style did not appeal to a long-established local prejudice. It is
from this breed that our cattle arc mostly descended, and it is
to it that most New Eneland farmers will look for materials to
improve their stock.

262 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE.

The tlio rough-bred Devon is a beautiful creature, of medium
size, but of such nicely-balanced proportions that he usually
weighs more than an eye accustomed only to our native animals
"would suspect. The color is commonly a deep mahogany red,
with usually a white tip to the tail, a white stripe along the
belly, and white about the udder of the cows.

Within a few years importations of Devons have been made
whose color varies from the long-established type in being a
light red. This novel color at first gave rise to questions as to
the purity of their blood ; but this is now, we believe, admit-
ted. Much as we regret this innovation in point of color, we
consent to it the more readily since among these light reds are
animals of unsurpassed excellence, and bred by the best Devon
breeders in England.

The head of the Devon is small, with a forehead broad and
somewhat concave or dishing ; muzzle fine ; nose of an orange
hue ; and a ring of the same color is around the eye. The
horns are clear and waxy — smooth, of a yellowish- white color,
and elegantly turned upwards. In form the Devon is compact
and symmetrical. His limbs are light, but with bone enough
for activity and strength. The skin is of a clear orange color,
covered with an abundance of soft, thick hair. As a breed they
are good feeders, and produce beef finely marbled and very del-
icate.

They»are not deep milkers ; but they yield well, and their
milk is of excellent quality. It is as the best breed to produce
working cattle that the Devon is chiefly remarkable. No other
breed so uniformly gives such active, docile, light yet strong and
hardy-working oxen; and their resemblance to one another
makes it easy to match them. No one who has seen a team of
well-bred Devon oxen can fail to appreciate its elegance.

Private enterprise and the liberality of the Massachusetts
Agricultural Society have introduced good Devons into this
State ; and here, in Bristol county, we have Devon bulls well
worthy of the attention of all who desire to introduce this val-
uable blood into their yards.*

* "We arc not, wc think, going 1 icy. mil propriety in pointing "at tin bulb of Mr.
Allen, of Attleborough, Colonel ]'agc, of Nt"\v Bedford, and Mr. Knight Day,

STOCK. 2G3

"We now turn to the noble " short-horns," — or Durhams, as
they wore formerly called, — a race that lias received more at-
tention from eminent breeders than any other, and has proba-
bly produced more distinguished animals than all others to-
gether. Xo animals command such enormous prices as are
constantly paid for short-horns, and no breed has greater
merit.

Though not so old as the Devons, the short-horns are a
breed of greater antiquity than is generally supposed, and were
of great excellence a century before Colling, in 1784, com-
menced those experiments that resulted in the marked improve-
ment of the breed, and made for himself a proud name in the
annals of English agriculture. The work of Colling has been
going on and continued to the present day, and at this moment
occupies the attention of the most scientific and experienced
breeders on both sides of the Atlantic.

proofs of the antiquity of the short-horns, we may ad-
duce not only reliable documentary and traditionary evidence,
but we may appeal to the almost unerring certainty with which
a short-horn marks his descendants with the characteristics of
his race. This certainty is only to be found in individuals of
long-established breed.

The short-horns are a showy family ; and a well-bred speci-
men cannot fail to please the most fastidious taste. Their ele-
gance and varied colors may perhaps partially account for their
favor in the eyes of wealthy fanciers ; but it is owing more to
their intrinsic excellence that they are so eagerly sought for
and command such enormous prices. Gentlemen of wealth
alone can afford to purchase and import the finest animals; but
few, even of such as can afford it, would lavish such sums as
have within the past three years been paid for short-horns, but
for their faith that the value of the animals warrants the
outlay.-'

of Mansfield. The committee anticipated pleasure in examining a thorough-bred
Devon bull, from the Webster stock, entered by Messrs. Lawton and Wilbar, of
Somerset; but owing to the non-arrival of the Fall llivcr cars on the morning of
the exhibition, lie, as well as other fine animals, did not appear upon the ground.
The bull is represented as an uncommonly line specimen of the breed.

* Mr. Jonathan Thorne, of Dutchess County, in 1851, expended more than sixteen

264 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE.

The short-horns are of every color between a rich creamy-
white and a deep red. Commonly, however, they bear the two
colors pied or blended into every imaginable shade of roan.
Other' colors than red or white, simple or in one of these com-
binations, are marks of impurity of blood. No black or brown
hair is to be found on a well-bred short-horn.

The horns of this breed are short and thick, of light color,
clear and waxy. They are not delicate and graceful, like the
horns of the. Devon, but rather clumsy, turning towards one
another, and often drooping low. The neck is delicate and
clean ; brisket large ; chest wide and deep ; back straight and
broad ; form well spread and symmetrical, capable of sustaining-
great weight of carcass. The skin is mellow and covered with
soft hair. As handlers they are preeminently fine.

The short-horn matures very early, and attains great size.
The beef is of fine quality, and they tallow largely. The
weights attained by animals of this breed are enormous. A
three-year-old heifer, fed on grass and hay alone, weighed one
thousand two hundred and fifty pounds. A calf seven months
old weighed four hundred and seventy-six pounds. A four-year-
old steer, fed on hay and turnips, dressed one thousand eight
hundred and ninet}7- pounds ; and we constantly see recorded
weights of short-horns not less astonishing.*

The short-horns are as a breed remarkable for their milking
properties, though some families surpass others in this respect.
That all do not milk equally well is probably owing to the va-
riety of systems observed by breeders. A herd in which milk
is only desired as food for calves is not unlikely to fall off in

thousand dollars for eight short-horns, paying one thousand guineas in England
for the bull Grand Duke, and prices in proportion for other animals. Mr. Thome
is a gentleman of large fortune, and doubtless finds a gratification in the possession
of the finest animals in the world ; but even he would hardly have made such an
outlay had lie not been convinced that the value of the animals would warrant the
investment. Mr. Thome may not himself realize great profits from this operation,
but the benefits which the country will derive from his enterprise are incalculable.
The descendants of his short-horns will be spread far and wide, and long be rc-
garded as a monument to the liberality and public spirit of an enlightened Amer-
ican gentleman.

* The young bull shown by Mr. Alden at our recent exhibition was fifteen
months old, and weighed one thousand three hundred and twenty pounds.

STOCK. 265

milking quality. The calves arc allowed to run with their
dams, taking what they please for four or five months. No
care is taken to drain the last drop from the udder, and the
cows arc early dried off. This course naturally impairs the
secretive powers of the cow, and affects the offspring in a like
manner ; though so thoroughly impregnated is the breed with
the characteristic of good milking that it is probable that this
quality could with care be restored to the family.

It may be considered as a settled point, notwithstanding in-
dividual exceptions, that the short-horns are superior milkers.
Not a year passes that the extraordinary doings of some
thorough-bred short-horn cow are not chronicled in the agri-
cultural periodicals and certified by names of unimpeachable
credit. We hear of cows giving from twenty-five to thirty
quarts of good milk per day, and making two and one-half to
three pounds of butter, and this upon no extraordinary feed.*

Grade short-horns are almost universally good milkers, not
behind the thorough-breds. They are much sought for among
the best dairy farmers in various parts of this country and in
England. So common is it to hear of great milkers among
these grades, that, whenever any remarkable statement of but-
ter and milk is published, we are prepared to learn that the
cow was of short-horn blood. t It is notorious in England, that,
when a breeder desires to improve the milking property of his
herd, he resorts at once to a short-horn bull.

We have dwelt thus particularly upon the merits of the
short-horns, to combat the unfounded prejudice against the
breed which exists in the minds of farmers ignorant of their
true character, who object to large animals, and obstinately and
absurdly adhere to one color — the common red of our section.
There is no blood that can be mingled with that of our native

* Mr. Allen's fine cow, which took the first premium at our recent show in New
Bedford, made over fourteen pounds of hutter a week on ordinary feed, and when
not in her deepest milk. " Ituby," the grandam of the bull shown by Mr. Alden,
took the first premium at the New York State Fair in 1850 as a milch cow. She
made, from the 10th to the 20th of June, and from the 10th to the 20th of August,
— a period of twenty days, — more than forty pounds of butter.

t It is worthy of remark, that, of the five fine cows offered for premium at our
recent show, one was a thorough-bred short-horn ; three were known to be grades
and your committee could not doubt the presence of the same blood in the fifth.
34*

266 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE.

cattle more capable of improving them in respect to milking
properties than that of well-bred short-horns. This cross, too,
in improving the style and colors of milch cows, will enhance
their market value in the large towns ; for it cannot be denied
that the more wealth)7 cow owners fancy a large and shoiuy
animal, whatever may be the prejudices of the country farmers,
and they are willing to pay for what gratifies their taste.

The Devons will long continue favorites among the breeders
of working cattle, and in this respect they deserve the first
rank ; but the accomplishments of short-horns under the yoke
are by no means contemptible ; while their early maturity, apti-
tude to fatten, and large size, render them profitable beasts
for the grazier.

The high price of well-bred short-horn bulls will, probably,
for some time to come, prevent their introduction in any great
number among us ; but we have one, at least, in the county, of
great merit and unquestionable pedigree, coming from a good
milking family, and having in his veins some of the best blood
in the country.* Besides this animal, there are, we understand,
other good bulls of this breed, and high and valuable grades ;
and we cannot too strongly advise the farmers to avail them-
selves of their services.'!'

Since the importation of Ayrshires in 1842 by that spirited
breeder, the late Capt. George Randall, of New Bedford, that
breed of cattle has been pretty well known and generally ap-
proved in the southern part of the county, and deserves our
attention. The claims of the Ayrshires to the title of a distinct
breed are still questioned by stock men, many of whom con-
tend that they are nothing more than high, carefully-bred grades,
a cross of thorough-bred short-horn bulls upon the small cows
of the south of Scotland. The investigations of men of repute
seem rather to confirm this opinion ; while the general resem-
blance of Ayrshires to good grade short-horns, and the want
of uniformity among them, mark them as a recent breed, prob-

* The bull " Young Favorite," owned by E. G. Altlen, Esq., of Boston, and
kept in the vicinity of Taunton.

I Mr. (jrinncll, of Dartmouth, is the owner of a young bull, " Potoniski," seven-
eighths short-horn and one-eighth Alderney. He was bred by Mr. Hodman, and
comes of superior milking stock.

STOCK. 267

ably of short-horn descent. However this may be, the merits
of many Ayrsliires of •which we have knowledge cannot be
questioned ; and their reputation as dairy stock is considerable
in this country. For our present purpose, it is proper to con-
sider them as a distinct breed. As before remarked, the best
Ayrsliires arc not unlike diminutive short-horns in general ap-
pearance, though they present a diversity in form and color not
to be found in the older breed. They are commonly red and
white, though black and brown hair often enters into the com-
position of their coats. As handlers they are deficient, and
they are too small ever to become popular as working cattle
or as subjects for the butcher.* It is as dairy stock alone that
the Ayrsliires have for some years maintained their reputation
at home ; and in that respect alone have they been considered
worthy of attention on this side of the Atlantic. They are
small and hardy, thrive on very moderate feed, and yield an
abundance of good milk. This is the character claimed for
them by their friends ; and to a certain extent they have, in our
own neighborhood, verified this reputation. They have so
recently appeared among us that it is impossible to pronounce
decidedly upon their power to permanently improve our native
stock. But they certainly deserve a fair trial; and bulls of
this family arc doubtless far superior to the miserable native
mongrels so commonly employed by our farmers.t

The faruiers of Bristol County, in common with their breth-
ren throughout the country, have had few opportunities to make
themselves acquainted with the excellences of the Alderney;
but as several gentlemen about New Bedford have become in-
terested* in this breed, and there is a probability that at no
distant period the blood will not be uncommon in the county,
it is proper to call attention to them in an article which pur-
ports to point out the materials for improvement existing in

* It is notorious that well-bred short-horn bulls are to be found on the estates of
the Ayrshire breeders in Scotland, confessedly for the purpose of getting stock for
the butcher. Their presence on such estates must have the effect of strengthening
the faith of those who question the claims of the Ayrshire cattle.

t Colonel Page, of New Bedford, has a full-blooded Ayrshire bull of the liandall
stock ; and Jonathan Tripp, of Dartmouth, has a handsome grade Ayrshire from the
blood of the Cashing importation.

268 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE.

our midst. The Alderney cattle are natives of Jersey and the
Channel Islands, where they have been bred from time imme-
morial. They are very small ; usually of a fawn and white, or
brown and white color ; though animals nearly black are not
unfrequent. If we except a bright eye, delicate muzzle, and a
sharp little horn, which give them a certain game look, these
raw-boned little creatures can hardly be deemed beautiful.
Probably four out of five of our farmers unacquainted with
their merits would pass them by with derision, regarding them
as ridiculous monsters in ugliness, if not in size. But let any
one of these farmers behold a few pans of Alderney milk upon
which the golden cream had risen, or spread upon bread the
delicious butter made by his thrifty wife from that same cream,
and these little cattle will be clothed with a beauty that the
eye alone was unable to discover.

The Alderney cattle have always, as far back as their histo-
ry extends, maintained an unrivalled reputation as producers
of delicious cream, from which is made the finest butter. It is
said that, wherever they have been introduced, these cattle
have never failed to sustain their home reputation. Their
yield in milk is never very large ; but the milk is always ex-
ceedingly rich, producing rarely less than twenty-five, and often
thirty-five, per cent, of rich cream, always of a deep golden
hue. For a long period Alderney cows have been kept upon
the estates of the nobility and wealthy gentlemen in England,
to supply the tables of the proprietor with cream and butter of
the finest quality ; but they have never been kept in any con-
siderable numbers by the farmers, who have found other breeds
more profitable. Latterly, however, dairy farmers have be-
come satisfied that they were doing well in giving a strain of
this blood to their milking herd. Many years ago small im-
portations of Alderney cattle were made into the United States,
and their descendants are still known and appreciated. With-
in a few years these importations have been numerous, and we
can now, by personal observation, test their good qualities. In
1851, Mr. Thomas Motley, Jr., of Jamaica Plain, was sent
abroad by the Massachusetts Agricultural Society for the ex-
press purpose of selecting Alderney s to be introduced among
the cattle of the State. How well he executed his mission,

STOCK. 269

may be seen in the herd now under his charge in West Roxbnry.
These animals are, by and by, to be distributed among the
county agricultural societies of the State for the use of the
public; and #they cannot fail to prove of great value. Mr.
John Wood, of New Bedford, exhibited a fine cow and calf of
this breed at the recent cattle show. These were imported
for Mr. "Wood by that well-known stock breeder, John A.
Taintor, Esq., of Hartford, and arc, doubtless, superior speci-
mens of the breed. We had reason to regret that the confu-
sion attending a crowded and ill-arranged show ground pre-
vented many from giving these interesting animals the exami-
nation they deserved ; and we regret, too, that Mr. Wood failed
to give us the result of his experience thus far in the value of
his stock. Another year, we trust, will remedy these defects ;
and we cannot doubt that the lactometer and the churn of Mr.
Wood will tell a story that will astonish the " natives " and
their uncompromising advocates.* As a cross, the virtues of
the Alderney are conspicuous in the richness and yellow color
imparted to the milk. This improvement is observed even in
remote connections — a convincing proof of the long establish-
ment of this quality as a characteristic of the race, and of the
certainty we may feel that the distinctive features and excel-
lences of thorough-bred animals will be impressed upon their
descendants. t

* Mr. Motley's imported Alderney cow, " Flora," made five hundred and eleven
and three-fourths pounds of butter from May 10, 1853, to April 26, 1854. For
three consecutive weeks in June she made fourteen pounds of butter per week,
never giving over fourteen quarts of strained milk in a single day. For several
weeks she made an average of one pound of butter from five quarts of milk ; and
even a little less has made a pound of butter.

Mr. Motley found that, in a herd of thirteen cows, — one short-horn, one Ayrshire,
two half-breed Alderneys, and nine full-breed Alderneys, — an average of seven
and a half quarts of milk made a pound of butter in the month of November ; feed,
hay and one peck of carrots per day.

One Alderney cow made six pounds of butter in a week, in March, nine months
after calving. A four-year-old heifer, of the same breed, made in the month of
April twelve and a quarter pounds of butter three weeks after calving. She gave
milk to within thirty days of calving, and never less than three quarts per day.

These are facta, and speak volumes in favor of the Alderney when we remember
that animals of this breed are very small, and consume but little food compared
with the larger breeds.

t Mr. Hodman's cows have never lost the evidence of their partial descent from
the Alderney, though many of them have now but a remote relation to that stock.

270 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE.

We have now passed in review the native, Devon, short-horn,
Ayrshire, and Alderney breeds of cattle, with such reflections
as their adaptation to the wants of our Bristol County farmers
seem to demand. We have pointed out, as briefly as possible,
the distinctive characteristics of each breed, that all who de-
sire to improve their stock may know to what source they must
turn to impress upon their herds certain desired qualities.
We think we may say with confidence, that the statements we
have made may be verified by reference to the stock-breeding
literature every where available, and to the practical experi-
ence of stock men of established reputation.*

Before closing, we desire to make one practical suggestion
to the farmers of our county. Few of us are wealthy enough
to purchase high-priced bulls of the best breeds ; but that is no
reason why we should continue to resort to the miserable mon-
grels, of no earthly merit, that are so common in every town-
ship. In sections where no good bulls belonging to private
individuals can be used at moderate price, what is there to
prevent the formation of clubs for the purchase of desirable
animals ? Ten or a dozen farmers can easily raise their pro-
portion of the cost of a good bull, to be used by themselves or
let to their neighbors. It costs but little more to keep in good
order a well-bred animal than it does to maintain a worthless
beast ; while the effect upon the stock of the neighborhood will
more than repay the extra cost of keep and attention, and re-
turn a handsome interest on the investment. We recommend
this course emphatically to our brethren in the county, as wor-
thy of their serious consideration.

In conclusion, we desire to congratulate the members of the
Bristol County Agricultural Society upon the success that
crowned their exertions to render the recent cattle show one
of unusual interest. That it did surpass all previous meetings

* For interesting and very valuable artielcs upon stoek, and indeed upon every
branch of agricultural economy, Ave desire to recommend the "American Agricul-
turist,"— a weekly publication, conducted by Messrs. A. B. Allen & Co., of New-
York, — the editors of which are not only scientific but practical farmers. Indeed,
valuable information on this subject may be i from almost all the northern

farming papers, one of which al uld be in the hands of every intelligent

farmer.

BULLS. 271

of the society, in the quality of the stock upon the ground, in
the attendance of an interested multitude, and in other novel
and interesting features, is conceded on all hands; and this
fact is in itself an ample reward to all those who, in various
departments, gave their time and energy to the arrangement
and accomplishment of its details. But, while we have good
reason to be pleased with this result of our past labors, we
must not close our eyes to the duties which this very success
imposes upon us. We have, as it were for the first time, be-
come conscious of our own power. We have developed our
resources, and ascertained the abundance and excellence of the
materials within our reach. Shall we fail to avail ourselves of
these advantages ? or shall we demonstrate to the world a de-
termination to press forward in the work of improvement until
we reach a point of excellence commensurate with the blessings
by which we are surrounded ?

Christopher A. Church, Chairman.

BULLS

ESSEX.

From the Report of the Committee.

There were seven entries of bulls of foreign breed, viz. :
three of the Jersey, or Aldcrney, and four of the North Devon.
Of Jersey, one by Richard S. Rogers, of Danvers, seventeen
months old, from the stock imported by the late Daniel Web-
ster; and two by George EL French, of Andover. one sixteen
and the other fourteen months old. Of North Devons, one by
Charles Ilarriman, of Groveland, three years ; two by A. P. Bate-
man, of Georgetown, one two years and the other one year
old; and one by Charles Nelson, of Georgetown, for exhibition
only. All were judged fair specimens of their breed, and gave
much interest to the show of cattle. The first premium being
confined to bulls of foreign breed, brought up the question,

272 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE.

■which of the two breeds was to be preferred for general use
in this county. The Jerseys were all young, not of mature
age, and the committee did not presume to judge whether they
were superior specimens of that breed. There were four cows
in an adjoining pen, from Mr. French's stock, which seemed
well to sustain the high reputation of that breed for their milk-
ing qualities. The thanks of the society are due to the gen-
tlemen who have introduced this stock into the county and
given us an opportunity to examine them this day. Aside from
their milking qualities, they do not seem to possess the other
requisites for general use. They have not sufficient bone and
muscle for labor; nor does it seem that, when well fed, the
butcher would find as many good pieces as in some other
breeds.

Dean Robinson, Chairman.

MIDDLESEX SOUTH.

From the Report of the Committee.

The committee beg leave to suggest a few practical hints in
relation to our farm stock, that our farmers may become aware
of the great loss that is suffered by us all yearly for want of a
better system, or rather a system, for there seems to be no
system at present with most people in regard to this subject.

It becomes us, in the first place, to discard all those refuse
bulls which the stock growers of Vermont and other States are
ashamed to have with their herds, and so have sent to our mar-
kets, to be picked up by the penny-wise farmers of our State, to
be associated with our herds. When we demand a better kind
of stock, stock growers of other States will be compelled to
furnish it.

It is well understood that the issue of any class of stock de-
pends on the sire more than on the dam ; so that, with proper
regard to the blood of a certain class, or any class, a system
can be brought about which shall be perfectly adapted to the
various purposes of our farm stock, whether it be for the milk
dairy, butter dairy, veal, or beef, or all combined. Every
farmer with a herd of cows depends more or less, as a source

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BULLS. 273

of profit, on his veal calves; but how unpardonable, in this
in, has this part of our interest been neglected by our
fanners, for the saving of a few cents in the outset, in keeping
such ugly specimens of the race to herd with their cows! If
none of the pure bloods are best adapted to thi3 particular, let
us try for the best cross with our native stock; and then let
our society, in their annual exhibitions, regard and encourage
such a cross, if it prove to be adapted to the purpose intend-
ed, and not otherwise. If our farmers are disposed to think
and experiment in this matter like our English cousins, we can
breed as correctly as they; for it is as true in this department
of Nature's laws as in any other, that whatsoever we sow, that
shall we also reap.

Elias Grout, for the Committee.

HAMPDEN.

From the Report of the Committee.

The committee to whom was referred this class of animals
report that sixteen entries were made, only eleven of which, of
one year old and upwards, came under their notice. This very
important, and what ought to be every where a prominent, de-
partment of agricultural interest is, in the opinion of the com-
mittee, too much neglected by the farmers of Hampden, es-
pecially in the production of pure, high-bred animals. It is a
well-known fact among growers of fine stock, particularly in
land, that, to obtain the best, the sire should be a pure,
thorough-bred animal, as calves from one of an opposite char-
acter almost invariably show the defects of an imperfect pedi-
gree. Another fact, equally well established, though it may
appear strange to some, is, that calves frequently possess the
distinctive traits of character which obtained in the animal
that first impregnated the heifer. These, and many equally
important facts, render it of the first necessity to obtain thor-
ough-bred animals for the improvement of stock, either for dairy
purposes, or for the rearing of that noble animal, the ox, so in-
dispensable for farm service. Owing to the exceeding high

274 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE.

prices which dairy products and cattle for slaughter now com-
mand, the importance of producing stock that shall be free from
all mixture claims our immediate and earnest attention. The
committee are gratified in the assurance that some of our
enterprising stock growers are already on the right track,
and they hope ere long to find many more emulating the ex-
ample.

The show of bulls on the present occasion was, with some
exceptions, rather inferior to that of last year. Of the ani-
mals present with their credentials, and subject to the commit-
tee's examination, there were only three. A beautiful two-
year-old Devon bull, sired by Norfolk, of the Massachusetts
Society's stock, was exhibited by D. Rrainard Merrick, of Wil-
braham, and bids fair to improve his race. Another of the
same breed, and one that has contributed to the interest of
former exhibitions, was shown by H. M. Sessions, of South
Wilbraham. The greatest attraction in this class of animals,
and one which bore away the palm, was a magnificent Durham
bull, (see ante, page 253,) four years old, from the celebrated
stock of Mr. Vaille, of Troy, N. Y., and exhibited by Paoli Lath-
rop, of South Hadley, and owned by him and George M. At-
water, of Springfield. This bull, being descended directly from
an imported pedigree, shows us at a glance the vast superiority
of English stock as compared with our own, and should stimu-
late us to immediate effort, in order to obviate, at the earliest
possible moment, the necessity of importing John Bulls bulls.
The thanks of the society are due to Mr. Lathrop for his
trouble in exhibiting this animal ; and under its provisions for
encouraging the introduction of imported stock, we think him
entitled to the first premium on Durham bulls. A very fine
red bull of the Ayrshire breed, three years old, and of mam-
moth proportions, was shown by Royal Rindge, of Wilbraham.
Another, deserving of commendation as a mixed breed, was ex-
hibited by William Pynchon, of Springfield; also another by
Daniel Prince, of West Springfield ; nor should wc omit to
mention the city bull, which has headed the list in two preced-
ing exhibitions, and therefore could not be justly entitled to
further award.

11. E. Moseley, Chairman.

BULLS. 275

NORFOLK.

From the Rcpo?%t of the Committee.

The committee are happy to report that there was, in the
present exhibition, a marked increase over that of any former
year in the number, as well as improvement in the character, of
this class of animals. By a rule of the society, only such ani-
mals as are of pure blood are allowed to be competitors for a
premium. Of the wisdom and justice of such a rule there arc
undoubtedly different opinions. This rule was not adopted,
however, without consideration ; and an adherence to it, at least
for the present, seems to be justified by the character of the
stock exhibited to-day. Our pens were never before filled so
largely with fine specimens of the Ayrshire, Devon, Durham,
and Jersey breeds. Of the Devons and the Jerseys, in partic-
ular, there were several animals which attracted the notice and
commanded the admiration of every visitor.

An impulse has now been given to the improvement of stock
in this county which it is of the greatest importance to encour-
age. "Whether this can be done most effectually by introducing
extensively the best foreign breeds, or by causing a more care-
ful and judicious selection from our native breeds, — though
not a matter of doubt with the majority of the committee, — is
questioned by many intelligent farmers. Certainly there are
instances enough in proof of the benefit of judicious crossing of
the native and foreign breeds to authorize continued endeavors
on the part of the society to enlarge their number, by awarding
premiums only to the best bulls of strictly pure blood. Where
such crossing is practised,-: as well as where only animals of
pure blood are kept, improvement is observed at once, both in
the character of the dairy and of the calves fattened for slaugh-
ter; and this improvement is sufficient to show the absurdity,
on the score of profit, of the common mode of selecting and
rearing stock. Whether it may not be expedient to encourage,
at a future day, the crossing of different breeds upon a more
extended scale, by offering premiums for the best grade bulls,
is a point worthy of discussion. To many there seems to be no
good reason why a race may not be propagated, by careful se-

276 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE.

lection from our native breeds, or by judicious crossings, which
shall be better adapted to our climate, soil, and keeping than
is any purely foreign breed ; no good reason why, if England
has her Devons, Durhams, and Herefords, and Scotland her
Ayrshires, and Ireland her Kerries, and Jersey her Alderncys,
which are worth importation at enormous cost, America may
not have a breed of peculiar form, size, beauty, and excellence,
adapted to her peculiar climate and soil — home-bred, and there-
fore better fitted for home-keeping. We hope that profitable
suggestions upon this whole subject may hereafter be given to
the society by some one whose experience and study shall lend
authority to his words.

Meanwhile we would encourage the rearing of the best
classes of stock upon the farms of Norfolk county, confident
that such stock may be kept here more easily and with better
results than any which is purchased elsewhere.* At the same
time we would insist that the utmost care and attention should
be bestowed on the selection and rearing of all stock. We
sometimes hear it said that a bull is a bull, and that any chance
offspring is as good for the farmer's stock as that of the best
selected breed, whether of pure or mixed blood. Such a be-
lief, and the practical conclusions drawn from it, must forever
prevent the improvement of the dairy and the comfort and
profit of farming.

Mr. Coleman remarks, in his European Agriculture, that the
" South Devons,"' which he distinguishes by very marked differ-
ence from the beautiful " North Devons," "are animals indcnti-
cal with the great mass of cattle to be found in New England."
" In respect to them, as far as I could learn, no particular pains
have been taken to improve their breed, and to see what could
be made of them, as in the ease of the short-horns, the Here-
fords, and the North Devons." May not this remark be made,
with equal fitness and force, respecting the mass of the cattle
now in New England? And in the beauty and excellence of
the line North Devons, Durhams, Ayrshires, and Jerseys exhib-

* Animals arc wont to thrive better at home than from I oi te. The most cele-
! foreign bn L to "do much better in their own locality than when

removed."

MILCH COWS. 277

itcd to-day, have we not Bufficient encouragement to attempt
the improvement of our native breeds in a rational way ?

Charles C. Sbwall, Chairman.

MILCH COWS.

ESSEX.

Front the Report of the Committee.

The committee were pleased to find so many competitors for
these premiums ; but they were sorry to find so few of them
giving full and particular statements in regard to the produce
and feed of the cows. It is desirable that claimants for these
premiums should furnish the society with a full and accurate
account, not only of the food given, but the particular manner
of feeding. We are aware that the rule requiring statements
of the produce of particular cows has given those who keep
but one or two cows a better chance for obtaining the premi-
ums than those which keep a large number; for it is not only
more convenient for those which have but one cow to keep an
account of the produce, but a cow that is kept alone will pro-
duce more than she will when she goes in a large flock. Why
it is so, we are not wise enough to say. However social the
cow may be in her disposition, she proves that she is no social-
ist, for she produces more when alone than when in a com-
munity.

The committee were pleased to find in the pens a lot of Jer-
cows, exhibited by George H. French, of Andover. What-
ever difference of opinion there may be in regard to the differ-
ent breeds of cattle, we trust every member of the society and
every friend to the advancement of agriculture will feel grate-
ful to Mr. French and other liberal individuals, who are dis-
posed to bring among us the best cattle of the most approved
breeds of other countries. It gives, in some good degree, to
each one of us an opportunity to compare the merits of the

278 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE.

different breeds of cattle. While on the one hand we would
guard against neglecting our native cows, and lavishing our
care upon an imported breed, which in the end may prove far
inferior, yet we would deprecate the confident spirit which
some manifest in saying that our native cows cannot be beaten ;
for this spirit, if indulged, would put a check upon the improve-
ment of our milch cows. Let those who are disposed, import
and rear their favorite breeds, and give the result of their
experiments to the public; and if they should fail to meet
the importer's expectation, the individual loss would, in some
measure, be a public gain.

From whence shall the farmers of Essex County obtain their
cows, is a question that is becoming every year a more impor-
tant and difficult one to settle. In former years we have been
able to buy two-year-old heifers, from the droves from Maine,
New Hampshire, and Vermont, cheaper than we could raise
them ; but the comparative value between veal calves and
two-year-old heifers has altered much since railroads have
come into use. A few years since we could buy the best of
heifers from the droves in autumn for about twice the price of
a good veal calf in the spring. Then it was better for us to
buy heifers than to raise them ; but now we find but few good
heifers in the droves. Either they are not sent here, or the
high price of beef has caused the butchers to get the best of
them; so that all we get are those whose hides are so close to
their ribs that the butchers dare not attempt to separate them.
If this state of things continues, we shall be obliged to some
extent to raise stock in this county.

It may be well for us to consider the merits of the different
breeds of cattle, and see if any can be found better adapted
to our wants than those commonly called " native cows." Al-
though there are many individuals among them of superior
milking qualities, yet where is there a flock of native cows
from which we could raise their calves with any degree of cer-
tainty that their offspring will possess the milking properties
of the parents ? From the imported stock which has been
long and thoroughly bred we may raise stock with some such
certainty. It may be asked, What have the Jersey cows to
recommend them ? There is nothing in their size, form,

MILCH COWS. 279

color, or external appearance, that would captivate any one.
From what we have seen of them when well fed, we should
think that if a flock of them were kept in our dry, bushy pas-
tures in summer, and then exposed to the severe cold of our
winter, fed on as poor fare as many of our native cows get,
they would be as ill-shaped, ghastly-looking animals as could
well be imagined ; and if he who, in his dream upon the banks
of the Nile, saw the ill-favored and lean kine rise up before
him, could, when he awoke, have seen a flock of these cows, he
would have said that it was no dream, but a living shadow.
But if upon a fair trial we find them giving better milk and
making more butter in a year than any other breed upon the
same expense of feeding, we shall learn to judge, not by the
outward appearance, but by their real merits.

There are some objections which may be raised against them ;
they are not so valuable for beef, and their calves for veal will
not be so good as some other breeds. It is said by the im-
porters of this breed that they continue to give milk all the
year. It may be desirable for a family cow to have one that
will give milk all the year; but upon a farm, either for making
butter or selling milk, if we can have the same amount of milk
in eight months as in twelve, we should prefer the cow that
would give it in eight months, and go dry the other four months,
for the expense of feeding is less when dry.

In the statements which we have of the cows exhibited, the
owners have said but little of the quality of the milk — a point
that needs more attention from those farmers who make butter.

We have often heard the remark, that a cow gives good milk
because she had a fat calf. Our experience has led us to think
that the calf is no criterion by which we may judge of the
butter qualities of the cow, for we have known many cows that
had fat calves which made but little butter. If any one will
carefully notice the milk in a lactometer, he will find a great
difference in the appearance of the milk of different cows after
the cream has risen. One may have a thick, yellow cream, and
the milk at the bottom will be thin, and nearly as blue as the
sky j while another may give but little cream, and the niiLk will be
nearly the same color. Thus we see that the milk of a cow may-
be good for fattening the calf and for family use, and yet not

280 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE.

raise a thick cream ; and hence we see that there is some truth
in the remark which we sometimes hear, " that my cow's
skimmed milk is about as good as my neighbors' new milk."
It is only by careful attention to these points that we can
select and rear a stock of cows that will be adapted to our
wants.

Wm. R. Putnam, Chairman.

Statement of John Perkins.

J. present for examination a " native " cow, five years old.
I have owned this cow three years. She had her third calf the
19th of last March. From that time to the present she has
given two thousand four hundred and eighty-four quarts of
milk. I have measured her milk morning and night, as I sold
it to my neighbors. It is of good quality. Her feed has been
good hay and eight quarts of shorts per day ; when turned out
to grass, four quarts of shorts per day.

In June she gave fifteen quarts per day; she now gives ten
quarts per day. She would not go dry at all if I continued to
milk her; but it was thought best to dry her about four weeks
before calving.

Danvers, September 27, 1854.

Statement of Lorenzo Dow.

The average yield of milk per day from the cow presented
for premium for each month, commencing the 1st of March, was
as follows : —

Average for March,

" « April,

« May,

" " June,

« " July,

u " .August,

" " September, thus far,

I set seventeen and one-half quarts of milk, and churned the

m

quarts

per day.

12

(i

11 It

IS J

a

it it

16

a

a a

15j

it

tt u

12

a

u u

12A

a

a it

w

00

' MJJ ?wr

MILCH COWS. 281

cream from the same, and it yielded three pounds of nice
butter.

Methuen, September 26, 185-i.

Statement of Eben G. Berry.

I offer for premium four cows, from six to eight years old,
that have been in my possession more than three years ; each
of them has given milk more than one year, and all will be in
new milk again in November and December. When in new
milk in the spring, two of them have made ten pounds of butter
each per week, in the month of June. Either of them will
make eight pounds during the same time. With the exception
of this month, their milk has been sold daily through the year.
Three of them will give milk through the year, and one will go
dry ten weeks. Their feed is grass only, and the product of
their milk this day is as follows : first, six quarts ; second, five
and one-half quarts ; third, four quarts ; the fourth being dry.
The greatest quantity of milk for any number of weeks is, first,
sixteen quarts; second, fourteen; third, thirteen and one-half ;
fourth, fifteen quarts per day.

The fourth cow is the most strongly marked for a model as I
understand Guenon's theory, but is the poorest of the lot in all
respects.

North Daxvees, September 26, 1854.

MIDDLESEX.

Report of the Committee on Dairies.

It was a general remark, as well by the visitors as in the
committee, that the exhibition of cattle this year was much in-
ferior to that of the last and of the several preceding years.
No doubt this was owing to the effect of the severest drought
ever remembered in the country, which in many towns cut off
the common and by far the best food of the cattle, reducing
their yield of milk, and severely injuring their appearance.
Ample and well-watered pastures seem to be essential to the
production of the best and largest quantity of milk and butter,

36*

282 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE.

and equally so to the health of the cow. Soiling, feeding out
grains, &c, can seldom be resorted to with profit when the
farmer has at his command sufficient pastures for his cows (o
range over and feed at will. It is to the above cause, no
doubt, that the liberal premiums offered by the Massachusetts
Society for Promoting Agriculture failed to bring out the show
of stock that our society confidently hoped to have seen at this
exhibition. Let us hope that the effect of these premiums
which are to be offered, until they are awarded, will another
year be such as to satisfy the expectation of the public, and as
to induce the trustees of the Massachusetts Society to repeat
them. We may mention in this connection that the same soci-
ety has decided to extend premiums of similar amount, to such
other county societies throughout the Commonwealth as have
not already received them, the next year, and the large sum
of twelve hundred dollars is to be competed for under the au-
spices of the Worcester Society, at Worcester, by all the coun-
ties in 1856.

There were five dairies of cows offered this year for premi-
ums. One of these, Mr. Buckminster's fine herd of Devons,
was decidedly admired by every observer, but could not be
considered by your committee, because the proprietor failed to
make any statement of its history or products as required by
the regulations of the society. Four other gentlemen also ex-
hibited cows, but as they, with one exception, also failed to
comply with the regulations prescribed by the society, the com-
mittee could not consider them in reference to premiums, how-
ever well they might be thought to merit them. Only one of
these dairies produced butter — that of Mr. A. G. Sheldon, of
Wilmington. His carefully prepared statement was read with
interest and profit; but, in the opinion of the committee,
the produce was not sufficiently large to entitle him to a pre-
mium. It will be seen that for his butter, which is certified by
competent judges to have been of the finest quality, he received
only thirty cents per pound, although prepared in the best man-
ner, and laboriously stamped. This should not be so. Many
consumers in Boston pay from forty to fifty cents a pound, be-
sides in some instances paying expenses by express from Phil-
adelphia, for butter no better, to say the least, than his. If

MILCH COW,-. 283

he, or others who feel a just pride in producing- the best butter,
would also take a little pains in marketing it, they would be
more justly paid for their exertions. His cows are all described
as " natives." We suggest to him to add one Aldcrney to his
herd. Her cream will give color and character to his butter,
and enable him to advance his prices from one-third to one-half
in a market where it would be appreciated, and where there is
a demand far exceeding the present supply. Mr. Viles, of
WaJtham, exhibited a dairy of eight cows, partly natives and
partly grades of Ayrshire. His account of their produce
was truly extraordinary. The dairies of Mr. John B. Moore
and of Mr. George M. Barrett, of Concord, were of a high or-
der, showing well-selected stock and great production of milk.

And here we may be allowed to express some doubts wheth-
er the statements of extraordinary produce of cows, as given
by amateurs in the public prints, and which sometimes find
their way into agricultural reports, have not done something to
discourage the efforts they are intended to stimulate. In a
late number of the journal of the Royal Agricultural Society of
England there is a communication from Col. Le Couteur, of Jer-
sey, giving the produce of his celebrated prize cow " Beauty,"
and of several others of the best specimens of the Jersey or
Aldcrney cows. He says that "Beauty," in her best milk,
yielded eleven pounds thirteen ounces of butter a week from
one hundred and thirty-three quarts of milk, (nineteen quarts a
day,) being a pound to about eleven quarts. Some of the other
cows gave twenty-six quarts of milk a day for a short period,
and fourteen pounds of butter a week, or a pound to thirteen
quarts of milk.

This contrasts strangely with the frequent statements made
of the products of the same breed of animals here. From four
to six quarts of milk, it is often said, give a pound of butter;
and these statements come from parties whose accuracy and
truthfulness no one can for a moment doubt. But what are
the circumstances ? Is this extraordinary amount of butter
made soon after the dropping of the calf and on good pastur-
age only ? or is it made from farrow cows, or the strippings
or morning messes ? and are the cows highly fed with stimu-
lating food? No doubt these statements, made sometimes

284 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE.

without all the details necessary to make them well under-
stood, have had a serious effect on the competition for our
prizes. Would it not be well to make it a condition that cows
offered for premium shall in the trial months, say from May to
September, have no other feed than pasturage and green fod-
der ? Without such a general rule, it is to be feared that there
can be but little fair competition, and that many people will
decline it altogether for whose advantage it is especially pro-
posed. In this department, as well as others, careful readers
cannot fail to observe that amateur, and not practical, farmers
generally bear off the prizes, to the disappointment, and often
permanent disgust, of less-favored competitors. These gentle-
men amateurs would add greatly to the obligations they have
already laid the community under if they would enter their
fine stock for exhibition only, and leave the prizes to parties
to whom they are a pecuniary object as well as a proper ambi-
tion.

The committee have observed with great pleasure the suc-
cessful efforts of many gentlemen in the county to introduce
the best foreign stock to their neighbors and the public. Al-
ready the effect is obvious to the observer when passing over
the county in any direction. Fine cattle of the Jersey, Ayr-
shire, Devon, and Durham breeds are often seen mingled with
the best native stock. Much of this improvement is also to be
attributed to the " Massachusetts Society for Promoting Agri-
culture," which has with well-conducted liberality placed bulls
of various breeds in different parts of the Commonwealth for
public use.

James Brown, Chairman.

MIDDLESEX SOUTH.

Statement of Obcd Winter.

The cow I offer for premium brought a fine heifer calf the
10th of March last, which took one-half her milk, and at five
weeks and three days old was sold for over eleven dollars for
veal.

The first week in June she gave one hundred and twenty-

MILCn COWS. 285

nine and one-half quarts of milk — average, eighteen and a half
quarts per day. I sold and made use of one-half the milk ; the
other half made eight and a quarter pounds of butter, being six-
teen and a half pounds per week. The average weight of milk
vas forty-seven pounds per day.

The first week in September she gave ninety-one quarts —
average, thirteen quarts per day. One-half the milk made six
and a half pounds of butter, being thirteen pounds per week.

She went to pasture about the middle of May. The first
week in June I gave her one quart of meal per day only. In
September I fed her with corn fodder, and no meal.

The milk used for butter was about the same proportion of
night and morning milk. I found in June eight quarts of milk
made one pound of butter; in September, seven quarts made
the same.

The average quantity of her milk through May was sixteen
quarts per day; in June, eighteen quarts per day; in July, six-
teen quarts per day ; in August, fourteen quarts per day ; in
September, thirteen quarts per day. The whole number of
quarts she has given from the 10th of March to September
25 is two thousand six hundred and one, besides what the
calf took.

Framingham, September 26, 1854.

Statement of Abiel S. Lewis.

I offer for your consideration my half Ayrshire and half Jer-
sey cow, Victoria, five years old. She calved in March. Her
product for ten days in June was three hundred and seventy
pounds of milk, and for ten days in September two hundred
and eighty-three and a half pounds of milk, which yielded one
pound of butter to fourteen pounds of milk.

My Durham cow, Eugenia, six years old, calved in April.
Her product for ten days in June was four hundred and five
pounds of milk, and for ten days in September three hundred
and three and a half pounds of milk, seventeen pounds of her
milk making one pound of butter.

My three-quarters native and one-quarter Devon cow, Rosa,

286 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE.

four years old, calved in March. Her product for ten days in
June was three hundred and four and a half pounds of milk,
and for ten days in September two hundred and three pounds
of milk.

My Ayrshire cow, Fanny, three years old, calved in August,
1853. Her product for ten days in June was two hundred and
sixty-one pounds of milk, and for ten days in September one
hundred and forty-six pounds of milk. She is to calve again in
December. My imported Hungarian cow, Briska, averaged
twenty-five pounds of milk per day in September. My Hun-
garian heifer averaged sixteen pounds of milk per day in Sep-
tember.

The only feed my cows have had is very poor pasturing, with
some corn stalks at night in September.

WORCESTER.

From the Report of the Committee.

We feel gratified to be able to state that a gradual improve-
ment is visible, and that that spirit which incites the farmer to
the amelioration of the cow continues to grow stronger.

In connection with many fine features we noticed one fine
lot of cows, twelve in number. This collection was introduced
by our secretary, Wm. S. Lincoln, Esq. They were not offered
for premium, but for exhibition. Mr. Lincoln informed us that
it was his intention, originally, to offer these for premium, and
took them under his immediate supervision and regularly milked
them for a time ; but unfortunately his hand became disabled,
when he was obliged to give up the charge ; and as his motive
was that of the true Yankee, " cither to hold the plough or
drive," he relinquished his first intention.

We also noticed several of the Alderncy breed, whose su-
periority consists in the richness of their milk. For the intro-
duction of this valuable stock your society arc greatly indebted
to the exertions of our esteemed fellow-citizens, Hon. Stephen
Salisbury, and Payne Aldrich, Esq. There were five exhibited.
The two belonging to Mr. Salisbury were of his own importa-
tion at great trouble and expense. The one owned by Thomas

MILCn COWS. 287

Drew was purchased at Marslificld, being a living memento of
that lively agricultural interest which was ever evinced by its
former owner, the lamented Daniel Webster. The two owned
by Mr. Aldrich were purchased by him in New Jersey — one of
which, called Asia, was the recipient of the first premium at the
New York State Fair in 1852. The other, called Duchess,
since she has been in the possession of her present owner, gave,
in six successive days, eighty-four quarts of milk, being an aver-
age of fourteen quarts per day, which produced twelve and a
half pounds of butter, averaging one pound of butter to seven
quarts of milk. Mr. P. Aldrich informed us that the milk from
these cows sells readily for twelve and a half cents per quart
for particular uses. Your committee would recommend the
Alderney breed for family use, but in no case to form a part of
a dairy where the milk is sold ; for we entertain strong fears
lest the worthy introducers of the Alderney would receive it as
an insult, inasmuch as our city brethren do strongly hint that
the milk which they receive is indissolubly associated with the
pump and powdered chalk. Surely it would be disrespectful to
Nature to adulterate milk of such rich qualities. It is the opin-
ion of Messrs. Salisbury and Aldrich that a crossing of this
breed with others would produce a stock superior in all re-
spects to any yet known.

Messrs. Harvey and Nathaniel Dodge, of Sutton, whose deep
interest in the prosperity of our society has been manifested at
our former shows, exhibited a fine specimen of the Devon. Mr.
Harvey Dodge exhibited one full and one half blood — Mr. Na-
thaniel Dodo;e one full blood. This breed is a perfect model of
beauty and symmetry, and compares favorably with other breeds
in quality and quantity of milk.

The following named gentlemen offered for premium some fine
stock : Amos F. Knight, of WestBoylston, one one-half Ayrshire;
seven years old; Rufus Holman, of Leicester, one native, four
years old ; Gorden Woodward, of Leicester, one one-third Dur-
ham, four years old; Joseph P. Reed, of Princeton, one one-half
Ayrshire. All of the above were fine looking, and presented a
noble appearance, and, judging from the external qualities, were
all good milch cows. Your committee exceedingly regret their
inability to award a premium in each of these cases ; and we

288 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE.

■would respectfully recommend that the unsuccessful competi-
tors, and those who offered for exhibition, be allowed compen-
sation for travel.

"We would here say that we have dwelt more particularly in
our comments upon the Alderney on account of its being a stock
unknown in this community until quite recently.

The show of 1854 is rendered prominent by many desirable
features which are convincing proofs of the ability and good
will of our young men.

Otis Adams, Chairman.

Statement of William Robinson, Jr.

My dairy consists of sixteen cows — fourteen new milch, and
two farrow. They are of all grades of Durham breed, from
one-fourth to three-fourths, and their ages are, respectively, one
nine years ; one, eight ; three, seven ; six, six ; three, five ;
one, three; and one two years old. They were mostly raised
by me. Of the five offered for premium, three were raised
by me, one by David Lee, and one by Elias Ayres. The first
cow dropped her calf on the 28th of March, and the last
on the 18th of April. The calves were all raised. One
was a bull, and sold at two days old for ten dollars. The
others were heifers of a superior character. They were dried
in February, and two of them will calve in March, and the other
three in May. They were turned out to pasture on the 8th of
May, and fed with hay night and morning till the 15th. Two
quarts of corn meal per day were fed to them, and corn fodder
twenty-three days.

The following table shows the weight of milk : —

For the first ten days in June, . . 2,10 7| pounds.
" « " in September, . 1,440 Jg- "

I made two hundred and twenty-one and a quarter pounds of
new milk cheese from the milk of the five cows in the first ten
days in June, and one hundred and fifty-five pounds in the first
ten days in September. No milk was sold or used. We made,
from the time of turning the cows to pasture till September

MILCH COWS. 289

12, four thousand nine hundred and two pounds of new milk
cheese. Sixteen hogs fed on the waste of the dairy till August
1 ; since then they have had fifty bushels of provender. I have
made during the season six thousand nine hundred and thirty-
five pounds of cheese, and have sold three calves, from two to
ten days old, for thirty-two dollars.

Barre, 1854.

Statement of William W. Watson.

The cow offered for premium gave the first ten days in June
thirty-five pounds of strained milk per day, and it made twenty
pounds of butter. The first ten days in September she gave
thirty-four pounds per day, which made fifteen pounds of butter.
The milk was all put into skim-milk cheese.

I offer for premium also six other cows, one of which is ex-
hibited. They gave thirty-two pounds of milk each a day the
first ten days in June, and made ninety pounds of butter. The
first ten days in September they gave twenty-two pounds each.
a day, which made seventy pounds of butter.

In June, July, and August I kept the morning's milk twenty-
four hours, and the night's milk twelve hours. In five months
the six cows made one thousand four hundred and ninety-seven
pounds of skim-milk cheese, which has been sold so as to average
seven and a half cents per pound in market. The cows have
had good pasturing, and been driven one mile to pasture each,
day, and have had no extra feed. Two of the cows calved in
February, and four in March. I have raised five of the calves.

Barre, 1854.

Statement of William Eames.

The cow I offer for premium is five years old, and is one-half
Devon and one-half Durham, raised by myself. She calved on
the 10th of May. Being in want of milk, I sold the calf at a
week old; it was an ordinary bull calf, got by accident. I
dried her off the 1st of March, and she is expected to calve
again the middle of April. She has run in a good pasture with

37*

290

MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE.

three other cows, and had no other feed till August 15, when
I fed her freely on corn fodder. The first ten days in June she
gave three hundred and twenty-seven pounds of milk, which
produced fifteen |and a half pounds of butter. The first ten
days in September she gave two hundred and fifty-eight
pounds of milk, which produced twelve and a quarter pounds
of butter.

My dairy came in late, as follows : First cow, May 10 ;
second, June 21; and two three-year-old heifers, the 3d and
5th of July. Their calves were all males, which I sold at
three days old. From June 1 to July 10, from one cow were
made forty-one pounds of butter. From July 10 to September
12, from four cows were made two hundred and thirty-one
pounds, making two hundred and seventy-two pounds of but-
ter. I have kept one sow and seven pigs.

Worcester, 1854.

Statement of Amos F. Knight.

I hereby certify that during the present season I have kept a
dairy of ten cows. The time of their last and next calving
was and will be as follows : —

One cow, .

Feb'y 15,

1854.

Feb'y 19,

do.

March 3,

a

March 14,

do.

" 4,

a

" 3,

do.

" 6,

a

Feb'y 19,

do.

April 25,

a

'March 19,

do.

May 6,

a

« 7,

do.

June 8,

a

May 2,

One two-year-old heifer,

April 24,

a

April 13,

do. .

June 14,

a

May 24,

One thrce-y'r-old in June, September, 1853, Feb'y 11,

The committee will perceive that one cow and one heifer did
not calve until after I commenced trying them, and the three-
year-old heifer was only a farrow one. The keeping has boon
common pasture, with the addition since the 8th of August of

MILCH COWS. 291

corn fodder once a day, given at night. For the past three
weeks it has been fed to them both morning and night.

Quantity of butter made from May 22 to September 22 : —

9 I ti pounds, sold at 27 cents per pound, . . $255 01
One hundred pounds four-meal cheese made, . 8 00

We used two quarts of milk per day in the family.

I -would say that the calves dropped on the 25th of April,
6th of May, Sth and 14th of June, I raised, giving them new
milk for the first ten days ; after that the milk stood from
twelve to twenty-four hours.

West Boylston, September 2G, 1854.

Statement of Nathan B. Reed.

My dairy is composed of six cows, aged, respectively, eleven,
ten, seven, six, four, and three years. They are the Ayrshire
and Holderness breeds, and in part '•' natives," raised by myself.
They dropped the last calf April 19. The cows were dried in
January, and will calve in May. They were turned to pasture
the first of May, and had a small quantity of corn fodder in
addition to pasture feed, and have been fed once a day since
the first of August. The cow gave during the first ten days in
June three hundred and thirty and a half pounds of milk, and
in the first ten days of September one hundred and ninety-three
pounds. Each cow made during the first ten days of June
eighteen and a half pounds of butter, and during the ten days
in September thirteen and a half pounds. I have sold five hun-
dred and thirty-nine quarts of milk, and used what we needed
in our family of six persons. The whole amount of butter
made from the time of turning to pasture till September 12
was two hundred and seventy pounds ; and of cheese we made
one hundred and fifty-six pounds of new milk, and one hundred
and twelve pounds of four-meal. My cows were driven half
a mile to pasture. I raised all my calves, and have kept six
swine.

292 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE.

Statement of Joseph P. Reed.

My cow is six years old, half Ayrshire and half Holderness
breed, and was raised by myself. On the 26th of April she
dropped a good heifer calf, which I am now raising. The cow
was dried in February, and is expected to calve in March. She
Was turned out to pasture on the 1st of May, was fed with corn
fodder, and since the 20th of August has been fed with other
food once a day. During the first ten days in June she yielded
three hundred and twenty-two and a half pounds of milk, which
made seventeen and a quarter pounds of butter ; and in the first
ten days of September she gave one hundred and eighty-two
and three-quarters pounds of milk, from which were made
twelve and three-quarters pounds of butter. She has been
kept with six other cows, and driven half a mile to pasture.
The milk has not been kept separate except during the times
specified.

Princeton, 1854.

WORCESTER.

Report of the Committee on Products of the Dairy.

Upon the schedule presented by the secretary are the names
of five competitors, three only of whom have filed in specifica-
tions agreeably to the rules of the society — namely, Amos F.
Knight, West Boylston; William S. Lincoln, Worcester; and
Henry Boyles, Princeton.

A brief synopsis of the statements filed by those to whom
premiums were awarded will be given.

From the statement of Mr. Lincoln, it appears that his dairy
consists of thirteen cows, twelve of which arc kept for dairy
purposes, and one for family use ; that for trial these cows have
been divided into two lots of six each; that in the first lot
were one full-blood Ayrshire and one half-blood, one Devon,
one thorough-bred Ayrshire, and two commonly called "na-
tives."

From the 22d of May to the 22d of September, a period of
four months, the product of butter from these six cows amount-

MILCH COWS. 293

ed to seven hundred and eighty-two and one-half pounds, which
is an average to each cow of one hundred and thirty and one-
half pounds in one hundred and twenty-three days, being equiv-
alent to one pound and one ounce to each cow per day during
the entire period of four months. In the market, this butter,
at twenty-seven cents per pound, would amount to two hundred
and eleven dollars and twenty-eight cents ; averaging thirty-five
dollars and twenty-one cents to each cow as the product of
four months. This must be regarded as a very extraordinary
result, especially when it is remembered that, during a large
portion of the time, a severe drought prevailed, cutting off the
feed in the very season that is usually the most favorable for
the product.

Upon this statement the committee did not hesitate to award
to William S. Lincoln, Esq., the first premium of twenty-five
dollars.

For the premium of ten dollars, to be awarded for the best
product in butter or cheese from one cow, there was only one
competitor — Amos F. Knight, of West Boylston. But, from the
following statement filed by him, your committee believe the
society will agree with them that Mr. Knight is fairly entitled
to the prize.

Mr. Knight, in his statement, says that his cow is nine years
old, one-half Ayrshire and one-half "native ; " has had the same
keeping with the rest of the herd, in common pasture, with the
addition since the 8th of August of corn fodder once, and for
the last three weeks twice a day; that in four months, com-
mencing May 22, she has produced one hundred and fifty-six
and three-fourths pounds of butter, a specimen of which was
exhibited and pronounced good. This product averages one
pound and four ounces per day during the whole period of four
months. During the first four weeks she produced fifty and
one-half pounds, averaging one pound and thirteen ounces per
day. At twenty-seven cents per pound, the product of this cow
amounted in four weeks to thirteen dollars and sixty-four cents.

From these data the committee agreed unanimously to award
to Amos F. Knight, of West Boylston, the second premium of
ten dollars.

To the intelligent farmers of Worcester County, such facts

294 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE.

as these here recorded need no comment." They speak louder
than any words of labored argument possibly can of the impor-
tance of keeping the best dairy stock that can be obtained.
The product of the cow above referred to, at fourteen dollars
nearly, would, in four months, pay the ordinary price of a cow ;
while the price of keeping her was very little, if any, greater
than the rest of the herd.

A. H. Waters, Chairman.

Statement of William S. Lincoln.

My dairy consists of thirteen cows, twelve of which are kept
for dairy purposes, and one for the use of my family.

Since the 1st of August, the cow reserved for the family
giving an insufficient quantity of milk, one milking of one of
the twelve cows, daily, has been taken from the dairy for
family use.

I have one full-blood Ayrshire, one full-blood Devon, two
thorough-bred and six grade Ayrshires, and three called
"natives."

Of these I have raised five, the rest having been purchased
by me at different times.

One is two years old, and one three, each with her first calf.

From the 1st of January to the 24th of April, inclusive, I had
made four hundred and twenty-two pounds and eight ounces of
butter.

For the purpose of another trial, I divided my dairy into
two lots, of five cows, and six cows and heifers. For the last
five months each cow has been milked separately, and the
cream of each lot of cows churned by itself. The product
was eight hundred and fifty-four pounds and eight and one-half
ounces of butter.*

The food of these cows was pasture till the 1st of August.
At that time for about two weeks they had corn fodder in the
barn at the times of milking. Subsequently, the corn fodder
having been all fed out, they have picked all they got from the

* A detailed statement of the product of this dairy will be found on a subse-
quent page.

MILCH COWS. 295

pastures. Early in April I was incapacitated from milking,
and since then have had eight different milkers. My stock has
Buffered severely from this fact, and the yield of milk was seri-
ously affected by it. As an instance, the first week after I left
off milking, my yield of butter was some eight pounds less than
the preceding one, although another cow had been added to
the dairy.

If I have made no mistake, these cows have been milked for
an average period of four months and twenty-one days, and for
that period averaging a little "more than a pound of butter
daily for each.

My butter is worked twice thoroughly. In the manufacture
of it, a " butter worker," or " butter table," is used, by which
every particle of buttermilk is removed. The sample on exhi-
bition is made as ordinarily, no unusual pains having been taken
with it.

Woucester, September 25, 1854.

Statement of Henry Boyles.

I hereby certify that I have made from my dairy, from the
1st of May to the 20th of September, ten hundred and eighty-
four pounds of butter, and sold two hundred and thirty-nine
quarts of milk, and used in my family five quarts per day, and
that my dairy has consisted of six cows and four heifers, as
follows : —

Xo. 1 cow calved March 28; calf taken off May 9; farrow,
dried September 1.

Xo. 2 cow calved April 1 ; calf taken off May 9 ; will calve
June 1.

Xo. 3 cow calved April 4; calf taken off May 9 ; farrow.

No. 4 cow calved March IT ; calf taken off April 23 ; farrow.

Xo. 5 cow calved March 15 ; calf taken off April 23; killed
August 1.

Xo. G cow calved March 7 ; calf taken off April 8 ; will calve
April 1.

Xo 7, three-year-old heifer calved March 3 ; calf taken off
April 8 ; will calve May 10.

296

MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE.

No. 8 three-year-old heifer calved March 6 ; calf taken off
April '29 ; will calve May 15.

No. 9 two-year-old heifer calved May 28; calf taken off
July 2 ; will calve April 20.

No. 10 two-year-old heifer calved June 12 ; calf taken off
August 1 ; will calve May 1.

No. 1 cow,

milked from May 9 to September 1.

2 cow,

3 cow,

4 cow,

5 cow,

6 cow,

7 three years old,
" 8 three years old,
" 9 two years old,

" 10 two years old,

May 9

to September 20.

May 9

to September 20,

April 23

to September 20,

April 23

to August 1.

April 8

to September 20,

May 8

to September 20,

May 20

to September 20,

July 2

to September 20,

August 1 to September 20,

Five swine were kept through the summer almost exclusively
on milk.

The above dairy was kept on hay through the winter, with
the addition of two quarts of cob meal daily to the cows and
three year olds, from the time of calving to the middle of May;
since then they have had nothing but common pasture feed, with
the addition of a few cornstalks daily since August 19 ; fed in
the morning.

Princeton, September 26, 1854.

Statement of Amos F. Knight.

The cow which I present for premium is one of a herd of ten
kept by myself the present season. Age, nine years. Breed,
one-half Ayrshire and one-half " native." Calved April 25 ;
time of next calving, March 19. Keeping, the same as the rest
of the herd — common pasture, with the addition, since the 8th
of August, of corn fodder once, and for the last three weeks
twice a day.

MILCH COWS. 297

Quantity of butter made for four months, commencing the
2 2d of May:—

lbs.

oz.

lbs.

oz.

May 22 to May 29,

12

8

July

21 to July 28,

8

0

May 29 to June 5,

13

0

July

28 to Aug. 4,

7

0

June 5 to June 12,

12

8

Aug.

4 to Aug. 11,

6

12

June 12 to June 19,

12

8

Aug.

11 to Aug. 18,

G

8

June 19 to June 2 L,

9

0

Aug.

18 to Aug. 25,

G

8

June 24 to July 1 ,

11

10

Aug.

25 to Sept. 1,

5

4

July 1 to July 7,

11

6

Sept.

1 to Sept. 8,

5

4

July 7 to July 14,

8

12

Sept.

8 to Sept. 15,

5

8

July 14 to July 21,

8

0

Sept.

15 to Sept. 22,

6

8

"Whole amount, . . . 156 12

A sample of this butter is exhibited.

West Boylston, September 26, 1854.

Report of the Committee appointed to award the State Premi-
ums on Dairies.

The trustees of the Massachusetts Society for the Promotion
of Agriculture, in a spirit of large and enlightened liberality,
having placed at the disposal of the Worcester Agricultural
Society generous premiums for the encouragement of the dairy ^
Levi Lincoln, of Worcester, John Brooks, of Princeton, Thomas
W. Ward, of Shrewsbury, Charles Demond, of Westboro', and
David Lee, of Barre, were appointed by the trustees of the
latter society to receive and examine the claims of the compet-
itors, and to determine the award of these premiums, and, hav-
ing given to the discharge of the duty assigned them all the
attention and carefulness in their power, respectfully submit
their report.

" The dairy," in its broadest signification, is a term of large
comprehensiveness. It embraces the animals, their manage-
ment and their treatment; their product in calves and in milk;
the care, use, and disposition of the milk; the manufacture of
butter and cheese ; the dairy house and its utensils ; the keep-
ing of swine; indeed, in one word, the dairy comprises the

38*

298 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE.

cows and their product and profits, however obtained and in
whatever they may consist.

Rural encyclopedists have divided the dairy into three class-
es— the milk dairy, the cheese dairy, and the butter dairy.
All these were put within the scope of our commission. The
trustees of the State Society made no limitations and prescribed
no regulations for our inquiry. Their proposals were for the
three best dairies, each " of not less than six cows in number,
which shall have been owned by the exhibiters respective-
ly, and kept within the county, not less than five months pre-
vious to the cattle show." In the construction given to these
proposals by the trustees of the county society, which are made
the warrant and rule for the judgment of the committee, it is
assumed that the purpose obviously was, "to encourage the
better attention to the business of the dairy, and, in return for
the premiums, to secure the most varied and largest amount of
information in its successful and faithful management ; " and it
is further declared, that " this object is best to be promoted by
leaving each competitor to pursue his own course of manage-
ment at the peril that some other mode may be more produc-
tive under the conduct of some other competitor. Should
special and particular regulations, to be observed by all alike,
be prescribed, a compliance with these would indeed show who
was most successful in conforming to them, but would furnish
little or no information of better success under a different course
of practice. It was, therefore, only required, as a general rule,
but to a compliance with which competitors were to be rigidly
held, that " they exhibit their dairy of six cows, for which they
claim the premium, on the society's grounds at the cattle show,
and accompany the entry, made on the day before the exhibition,
by a statement in writing, under oath, of their management on
the farm, and their product during the season of trial, with all '
such particulars as will enable the committee of judges to de-
cide satisfactorily, not only upon the relative claims of the
several competitors for the premiums, but upon the management
and absolute product in weight and profits of each dairy, re-
spectively, whether in butter, cheese, or milk, through the as-
signed period of trial, to wit, for five months before the show.

Accordingly, under the above-recited rule the committee have

MILCH COWS. 299

directed their examinations and exercised their judgment in
deciding upon the claims of the only competitors for the pre-
miums. It was equally matter of regret as of surprise to the
committee that but two persons had made their entries within
the time prescribed by the trustees, and but one other person,
although not conforming to the required time of notice, had
sought to be admitted to the competition. The sums offered
as inducements to the trial seemed to be most liberal, and, re-
garded merely in the light of promised rewards for attention
and labor, were certainly sufficiently remunerative. It was
hoped, too, that the known good management and high charac-
ter of the dairies of the county of Worcester would have ren-
dered the required account of their treatment and product both
easy and pleasant to their owners, and the honest and laudable
pride of the farmer be gratified in his opportunity of compar-
ison with like interests in other sections of the Commonwealth.
The competitor was constrained by no precise exaction of ser-
vice, nor trammelled by conformity to prescribed rules of con-
duct, but the whole business of the dairy was submitted to his
own judgment; and all that was asked was a statement of what
he had done, and with what success it had been attended. The
occasion may never again be so favorably presented of justify-
ing the reputation of our dairy farmers, and advancing that
interest in rural economy which unites with the improvement
of the farm the surest and richest compensation for agricultural
labor.

The two entries to be considered by the committee, in refer-
ence to the premiums, were made by William Robinson, Jr., of
Barre, and William S. Lincoln, of Worcester. Each of these
entries was in season, and accompanied by minute statements,
in substantial conformity to the requirement of the trustees.
Each dairy consisted " of not less than six cows in number, and
had been owned by the exhibiters respectively, and been kept
within the county, not less than five months previous to the
cattle show," in accordance with the proposals of the pre-
miums.

Mr. Robinson's whole dairy consists of sixteen cows, from
which, at the commencement of the season, he selected six for
the trial. His farm contains about two hundred acres, and is

300 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE.

principally cultivated for the uses of the dairy, the product of
which is its greatest profit. The milk is almost exclusively
manufactured into cheese ; and from the reputation for excel-
lence which this has acquired, he is able to obtain for it the
highest prices of the market. It appears by his statement
that his cows were a cross of the improved short-horns, being,
in his own language, " grade Durhams, one-half and three-fourths
blood," and were from six to nine years old. They all calved
between the 28th of March and the 19th of April, so -as to
bring them in milking nearly together, and give the full benefit
of the whole season for the product. Mr. Robinson states
that these cows "were kept with his dairy of sixteen cows in
a good pasture of natural pasture land, on which there has
formerly been plaster of Paris, or gypsum, applied, but not for
two years past ; that they have each had two quarts of Indian
meal per day for the past five months, and had green corn fod-
der given them, for twenty-three days, the latter part of August
and first of September." He also states that " they had two
quarts of provender per day during the preceding winter."
They were milked twice a day, during the season of trial, regu-
larly between five and six o'clock, morning and evening, and;
with the exception of two instances, always by the same milker.
The trial commenced on the 24th of April ; and Mr. Robinson
gives the daily aggregate weight of milk of these six cows,
weighed morning and evening, during the entire period of the
five months. From these daily accounts it appears that the
greatest amount in any one clay was on the 30th of May, two
hundred and seventy-one pounds, and the smallest amount on
the 15th of August, one hundred and sixty pounds. The cows
were uniformly driven back to the pasture after being milked ;
and it is quite noticeable how nearly equal in quantity were
the morning and evening milkings, very clearly showing the
benefit of the night pasturage over the too general practice of
yarding the cattle at the barn. It cannot be otherwise, that,
in the Long and hot days of the season, cows early relieved of
the milk in their distended udder (turned to feed on the

fresh herbage of the field in the cool shade of evening, and after-
wards left quietly to repose on the clean greensward, will yield
more to the pail than when confined over night in close yards,

MILCH COWS. 301

often made foul and uncQmfortable to the animals, for the sole
purpose of adding to the manure heap. The first requisite to
id dairy is cleanliness; and if a farmer will make a sterco-
ral- of his barn yard for the improvement of his crops, he
should bear in mind that neither the dung hill nor the compost
pit is a lit place for the stock which furnishes direct supplies to
the churn and the cheese press.

The whole product of Mr. Robinson's dairy of six cows, for
the period of five months, is given by him at two thousand nine
hundred and seventy-four pounds of cheese. Of this quantity
he states that one thousand six hundred and twenty-
three pounds were sold at eleven cents, producing . $177 55

And one thousand three hundred and fifty-one
pounds on hand, (after allowing for shrinkage,) to
be delivered at the depot on the 1st of November,
at twelve and one-half cents, is . . . . 162 18

In addition to which, he made seven pounds of
butter on the last day of trial, .... 1 75

Making an aggregate yield of the value of . . $342 48

Mr. Lincoln's dairy, offered in competition with that of Mr.
Robinson, likewise consisted of six cows, selected from his
stock of twelve cows and heifers kept together during the
season. This dairy is exclusively for the making of butter for
the supply of private customers, to whom it is previously en-
id. His farm is a large one, of about two hundred acres;
but a considerable part of it is in wood, and a still greater pro-
portion in an interval mowing lot, cultivated by irrigation from
the waters of the Blackstonc. The pasturage is upon high and
light land, productive early in the season, but soon affected by
dry weather. His cows are of different races, one being a full-
blood Ayrshire, two half Ayrshire, one believed to be a cross
with the Durham, one a thorough-bred Devon, and one " native,"
and their ages, respectively, from five to ten years. They
calved at different dates from January 28 to May 20 — thus be-
ing in milk for very unequal periods of time during the season.
Their keeping, as stated by Mr. Lincoln, was on pasturage alone,
with the exception of corn fodder for about three weeks in

302 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE.

August. The feed, part of the time, was " unprecedently short ;
and the season, as a whole, has been a bad one, below the av-
erage, for making butter." Mr. Lincoln states that, owing to
an accident and peculiar circumstances, he was necessitated to
change his milkers frequently, and that the yield, from this
cause, was greatly diminished. His cows were milked regu-
larly at six o'clock, morning and evening, and after being milked,
as with Mr. Robinson, were returned to the pasture.

Mr. Lincoln furnishes a very minute and instructive account
of the treatment of his cows in the stable, of the order of milk-
ing, the disposition of the milk, the care and management of
the dairy room and its utensils, and of the process of manufac-
turing the butter, by the thoroughness of which he has at all
times been able to command the readiest sale and the highest
price for the commodity. He gives as the actual product of
his six cows for the five months, in butter, accurately ascer-
tained by weight at each churning, an aggregate of eight hun-
dred and fifty-four pounds and eight and one-half ounces. This
was all sold to customers, and produced, at thirty-three and
one-third cents per pound, two hundred and eighty-four dollars
and eighty-three cents.

It appears, however, from Mr. Lincoln's statement, that the
trial commenced on the 24th of April with but three of six
cows in milk, and that, owing to the irregular times of their
coming in, the dates of which are particularly noted, there was
consequently within the five months an average period of milk-
ing, for six cows, of four months and twenty-one days only, and
that, had they all been in milk the full period of five months, at
the rate of yield for the time of actual milking, they would have
given nine hundred and twenty pounds and four and one-half
ounces, producing three hundred and six dollars and seventy-
five cents. The greatest amount of butter made in one week
was fifty-seven pounds and eight ounces, or an average of nine
pounds and nine and one-third ounces to each cow, and this
upon pasture feed alone. A sample of Mr. Lincoln's butter
was exhibited to the committee, and fully justified the reputa-
tion of his dairy. He also furnished a statement of profits
from swine, kept exclusively upon the wash of the dairy and
house, with the addition only of a small quantity of refuse ap-

MILCH COWS. 303

pics, since August. Mr. Robinson gives no account of Lis swine.
Each gentleman raised an equal number of calves from their
cows.*

Upon carefully comparing the claims of Mr. Robinson and
Mr. Lincoln, the committee find that Mr. Robinson's dairy gave
a product, for the entire period of five months, in milk manu-
factured into cheese, inclusive of a few pounds of butter from
the milk of one day, of three hundred and forty-two dollars and
forty-eight cents. Mr. Lincoln's cows, in four months and
twenty-one days, in milk manufactured into butter, gave a
product of two hundred and eighty-four dollars and eighty-three
cents, which for the remaining ten days, at the same average
rate, would have been increased to three hundred and six dol-
lars and seventy-five cents.

The cows of each had about the same amount of green corn
fodder fed to them ; but Mr. Robinson states that his cows had
each two quarts of Indian meal per day through the season of
trial, having also been fed with provender the preceding win-
ter. The cows of Mr. Lincoln, by his account, had no meal or
provender at any time.

In determining the profits of these respective dairies, the
committee are of opinion, that, admitting the pasturage and
corn fodder to have been equal, the extra expense of Indian
meal fed to the cows of Mr. Robinson should be deducted
from his account. Two quarts per day, for five months, would
give fifty-seven bushels and nine quarts, which, at the price the

* In reference to the keeping of swine, as an accompaniment of the dairy, no
reference is made in this report, inasmuch as, from the omission of Mr. Robinson to
include such keeping in his statement, the committee had not the means of compar-
ison between the competitors. Mr. Lincoln states that he derived from this source
considerable profit. The committee cannot doubt that, by tbe whey of a cheese
dairy, or tbe buttermilk of a butter dairy, great advantages may result in the rais-
ing of swine. There is also much value in the skimmed milk of a butter dairy,
which may be applied to various domestic uses, or, near populous places, be readily
and fairly sold at its worth, and add sensibly to the net income of the concern.
The relative value of this refuse of the milk pan and the cheese press has never, to
the knowledge of the committee, been ascertained by actual trial ; but in any future
experiments, a fact so important in the economy of the farm should not be over-
looked.

304 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE.

past season, would cost fifty-seven dollars and thirty-one cents,
and, deducted from

$342 48
57 31

Leaves to Mr. Robinson $285 17

Against Mr. Lincoln's account of 306 75

Or two hundred and eighty-four dollars and eighty-three cents
actual proceeds for four months and twenty-one days only.
The pasturage of Mr. Robinson is represented by him to have
been good, while Mr. Lincoln complains that his was severely
pinched with the drought of the season. The feeding of meal
to Mr. Robinson's cows may have improved the condition ofv
the animals, but does not appear to have added, in any degree
corresponding with the cost, to the quantity or quality of the
milk ; and with good pasturage, the committee cannot recom-
mend the practice.

The cows of both dairies were exhibited at the cattle show
on the 27th of September, in compliance with the proposals, and
were examined by the committee. They were, without excep-
tion, fine animals, having all the points of good milkers. Those
of Mi\ Robinson were obviously the largest and heaviest, as
might be expected from their Durham blood, without regard to
any difference in their feeding.

In the sale of their commodities both gentlemen obtained
unusual high prices; but in the ratio of three pounds of cheese
to one pound of butter, which has long been considered as the
just equivalent of the one to the other, Mr. Robinson seems to
have had the advantage in the market, inasmuch as his three
pounds of cheese gave an average price of thirty-four and one-
half cents, while Mr. Lincoln's one pound of butter obtained
but thirty-three and one-third cents. It would be a most de-
sirable and curious experiment to ascertain the result of the
reciprocal conversion of the milk of each of these daries to the
uses of the other, as it would tend to settle, more satisfactorily
than in any other manner, the much-vexed question, whether the
same animals are equally profitable for both productions.

The committee, taking into consideration the unequal period
of the calving of Mr. Lincoln's cows previous to and during

MILCn COWS. 305

the time of trial, their unquestioned inferior pasturage, and
the difference in expense of keeping in the meal fed by Mr.
Robinson, in connection with the absolute product and profit of
each dairy, are unanimously of opinion tjiat William S. Lincoln,
of Worcester, is entitled to the first premium offered by the
trustees of the Massachusetts Society for the Promotion of
Agriculture, " For the best dairy of cows, not less than six in
number, which shall have been owned by the exhibiter, and
kept within the county, not less than five months previous to
the cattle show," seventy-five dollars ;

And that William Robinson, Jr., of Barre, is entitled to the
premium " for the second best," fifty dollars ; and the committee
adjudge the premiums accordingly.

The committee, in justice to these competitors, cannot for-
bear to add, that, in the careful attention manifested by them
in the selection of their cows for the products of their dairies,
respectively, in the order, system, and good management of
these daries, the method and precision of their accounts, and
the value of the facts and observations conveyed in their sev-
eral communications, they have fully earned the pecuniary re-
ward of their experiments, and especially deserve the thanks
of the agriculturists of the State. These gentlemen are among
the best farmers of the county, and their farms, within the per-
sonal knowledge of some of the members of the committee, are
conducted with skill, orderly arrangement, and good success.
They are both in the prime and vigor of life, and afford exam-
ples of personal industry, assiduity, and intelligence, in the
direction and application of labor to the cultivation of the
earth, well worthy of notice and imitation by the young yeo-
manry of the country.

In addition to the dairies before mentioned, for which pre-
miums are awarded, Mr. Lincoln gives a detailed account of
the separate product of six other cows and heifers of his stock
the past season. The information will be useful as the result
of further careful attention to the properties and profits of this
description of animals ; but the proceeds being less than from
his older cows, it is not necessary to enter into the particulars
of the comparison.

Mr. William W. Watson, of Princeton, on the day of the

39*

306 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE.

show, offered to the committee an informal and imperfect ac-
count of his dairy of six, cows the past season ; but as he had
not given seasonable notice of his intention to become a com-
petitor in conformity with the requirement, he had been ex-
cluded by a special vote of the trustees. The committee, how-
ever, that no injustice might be done to his merits, took the
pains to examine his statement, and regretted to find that, had
his claims been received in time, he had not entitled himself to
be regarded as a competitor. Indeed, it was manifestly ap-
parent, from the statement itself, that his attention had been
directed to the proposals of the County Society for " milch
cows." He gave the product of butter for ten days only in
June, and ten days in September, together with a quantity of
skim-milk cheese made and sold during the season. There
was no such account furnished, according to the rule, as would
enable the committee of judges to decide satisfactorily, not
only upon the relative claims of the competitors for the premi-
ums, but upon the management, and absolute product in weight,
and the profits of each dairy ; nor did he furnish any informa-
tion of value for communication to others. The limitation of
the time of notice was therefore of no prejudice to his chance
of success as a competitor, having brought himself within none
of the requirements or conditions for obtaining a premium.

There being no competitor for the third premium, the com-
mittee make no recommendation for its bestowment.

The committee are fully and gratefully sensible to the obli-
gations of the agricultural community for that beneficent and
enlightened liberality which prompted the trustees of the State
Society to make this attempt to improve the dairy husbandry
of Massachusetts. However less multiplied or satisfactory
have been the experiments than might have been anticipated
from the munificence of the proffered inducements, yet it is
hoped that such as have been made the subject of this report
will not be without their advantages. They assuredly cannot
fail to convey to the mind of the practical farmer lessons of in-
struction in the care and attention to dairies, and great encour-
agement to this branch of rural economy in its productiveness.
Especially, in the present universal demand for good butter and
cheese, and the high prices which they command, for family use,

MILCH COWS. 307

the prudent and thrifty housewives of the yeomanry of New
England may derive a profit from the labors of the household,
in their manufacture, which no other occupation will afford.
There is health and satisfaction, too, in the business of the
dairy. It necessarily exacts exercise and industry, and in-
duces to habits of order, neatness, and regularity in the fam-
ily. There is no domestic service more remunerative for
the time it occupies, and none less objectionable in the char-
acter of the employment. The committee cannot feel that
they discharge their duty without adding an urgent recommen-
dation that these trials be encouraged, either under the good
auspices of the state or of the county societies.

The chemical constitution of milk shows the same properties
in very different proportions in different milking animals. The
butteraceous principle prevails largely in the yield of some
cows, while the caseous and serous predominate in others.
It is obvious, then, that the particular purpose of the dairy,
whether for the making of butter or cheese, should be primari-
ly regarded in the selection of the stock best adapted to the
object to be pursued. But has this consideration been suf-
ficiently attended to, or indeed at all understood, by our pro-
fessed dairymen ? It is generally known that the milk of some
cows will give little or no butter ; but is it as well known that
the same milk will produce plentifully the curd of cheese ?
And what farmer knows how to adapt his dairy to its appro-
priate productiveness, or can answer the question, from any
experiments made by himself or others, of which of the races,
Durham, Devon, Ayrshire, or Alderney, come the best dairy
stock, or by what distinctive marks to select the best individ-
uals from either race ? On these most interesting subjects
there is a lamentable want of practical information ; and it is
surely through the encouragement and intelligent direction of
appropriate associated public bodies that such knowledge can
best be obtained. The committee are well assured that, with
the interest excited by these premiums, and the publication of
the reports, and by an earlier and more extended previous no-
tice another year, with more precise regulations and require-
ments as to the time and manner of conduct and trial, and de-
tail of results, a much greater and closer competition would be

308 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE.

produced, and that in no way would the husbandry of the coun-
try, in one of its leading and highest interests, be more effectu-
ally promoted.

The particular written statements of the competitors are
herewith also submitted.

For the committee, and by their order,

Levi Lincoln, Chairman.

At a special meeting of the trustees of the Worcester Agri-
cultural Society, November 16, 1854: —

The report of the committee on premiums for dairies, offered
by the trustees of the Massachusetts Society for the Promotion
of Agriculture, was presented by the chairman ; and having been
read and considered, it was accepted, and thereupon ordered,
That the secretary certify the awards of premiums made by the
committee to the secretary of the Massachusetts Society ; and
that he also transmit therewith a printed copy of the report,
with the statement of the competitors accompanying the same,
to be laid before the trustees of said society.

Statement of William 13. Lincoln.

To the Committee of the Worcester Agricultural Society, ap-
pointed to award the premiums for dairies offered by the
Massachusetts Society for Promoting Agriculture : —

As a competitor for the premiums at your disposal, I offer
for your examination twelve animals, constituting my dairy.
One other cow has been kept with these during the summer ;
but, as she has been kept exclusively for the use of my family,
she is not exhibited. Having determined, early in the season,
to become a competitor for our own society's premiums for
dairies, it was necessary to divide my stock ; and the milk of
each, as well as the product of such milk, lias been kept sepa-
rate during the assigned period of five months.

Informed by the circular issued by authority of the Board of
Trustees, that the purpose was to " encourage the better attcn-

MILCH COWS. 309

tion to the business of the dairy, and in return for its premiums
to secure the largest and most varied amount of information in
its successful and faithful management," — which purpose was
best to be promoted by leaving each competitor to pursue his
own course of management, at the peril that some other mode
might " prove more productive under the conduct of some other
competitor," — I deemed it best, and likely to be more satisfac-
tory, to keep along in my regular system, deviating in no de-
gree from that course which is practised by me every day of
every season.

Thus the committee will perceive that I render no account
of the quantity of milk, either in weight or measure, yielded by
any one or more of my cows for any one or more days ; for,
though a statement that a cow has given a specified number of
quarts or pounds of milk for a given number of days might
gratify the curious in statistics, the experience of no inconsid-
erable number of years has convinced me that this was of no
value in testing the worth of an animal for butter.

The return, then, which I submit will be merely a statement
of the mode pursued by me in the management and feeding of
my stock, of the care of the milk, with the dairy utensils, and
the amount of butter produced during the required period of
trial.

The trial began on the 25th of April last, before turning to
pasture.

Management of Stock while stalled. — In the management of
my stock the utmost gentleness is observed, and exact regular-
ity in the hours of feeding while confined to the stable, and of
milking throughout the year.

The stock is fed regularly three times a day.

In the morning, as soon as the milking is over, each cow (hav-
ing been previously fed and her bag cleaned by washing, if ne-
cessary) is thoroughly cleaned and groomed, if the expression
may be used, with a curry-comb, from head to foot, and, when
cleaned, turned out to drink. The stable is now cleaned out,
the mangers swept, and the floors sprinkled with plaster ; and
as the Cows return, which they do as soon as inclined, they arc
tied up and left undisturbed until the next hour of feeding,
which is at noon.

310 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE.

The cattle at tins time are again turned out to drink, and,
after being tied up on their return again, fed. Of course the
stable is at this time again thoroughly cleaned. And so again
at night the same course is pursued. At this time a good
bedding is spread for each cow, and, after all are in, they are
fed.

At six o'clock the milking commences, and at its termination,
after removing from the floor whatever manure may have been
dropped, the stable is closed for the night. If carrots are fed,
which is the only root allowed to my cows in milk, they are
given at the time of the evening milking.

"Whatever material is taken for bedding (such as corn stalks,
husks, &c.) is passed through a cutting machine, and composes
the noon feed, such portions as are not consumed by the cows
being used for bedding. The additional labor of cutting up is
amply compensated by the reduced amount of labor in working
(loading) and ploughing under the manure.

While I consider it highly desirable that the cows, during
the period they are stabled, should be kept warm and dry, I
regard it as indispensable that they should be perfectly clean;
and although the stock is stabled the whole time, care is taken
that there is a sufficient degree of ventilation.

Milking. — As before observed, this takes place throughout
the year at six in the morning and six in the evening.

As a general rule, each cow is milked separately, her milk
strained and set separately. With heifers this is invariably
done, as I believe there is no other reliable mode of determin-
ing the value of an animal for butter ; and in this way, and a
separate churning also, is it determined whether to retain in
my dairy or sell to some milkman such heifers as I may raise.

The same regularity is observed in the order in which the
cows arc milked as in the hours of milking.

The milk, as soon as drawn, is taken to be strained and carried
into the milk room. Here it stands from twenty-four to thirty-
six hours, (in some months of the year forty-eight hours,) at
which time it is removed to an adjoining room to be skimmed.
In this way the room is free from those odors which always
follow the spattering of milk or cream upon the lloor or shelves
of the dairy. We mean to skim sioeet milk.

MILCH COWS. 311

The milk room is upon the second floor of the house, and
miming its whole width, ventilated by windows at the north
and Bouth, and in the winter months warmed to a proper dc-
gree by a stove.

Tin pans arc used in which to keep the milk, filled generally
to a depth of two or two and one-half inches.

The cream,, as it is skimmed, is poured into stone pots, which
in warm weather are kept in a refrigerator, and during the
winter stands in the milk room.

The times of churning depend upon the quantity of cream.
During this summer there have been four churnings a week.

The time usually occupied in churning is from fifty minutes
upwards. This is deemed a matter of importance. We con-
sider it much better to bring the cream to the degree of
temperature necessary to the formation of butter by a steady,
moderate agitation, than to use artificial heat to take it to that
point before commencing to churn. By such moderate, long-
continued agitations, we think the butter has a firmer, more
waxy consistence than it can have by more rapid churning.
The churn used is " Gait's." Numerous trials have been made
with many of the other kinds of churn in comparison with
this, and the result has been uniformly favorable to this pat-
tern.

When the butter has come the buttermilk is drawn off, and
the butter, after being thoroughly worked, is salted with from
one-half to three-fourths ounces of salt to the pound. It is
now set away for twenty-four hours, when, it is again worked
over thoroughly and made into pound lumps with wooden
" spatters." After standing another twenty-four hours it is
sent into market.

In " working " butter we use a table over which a fluted roller
is made to pass, rolling out butter into a thin sheet, and com-
pletely and entirely depriving it of buttermilk.

From many years' experience, the observation is warranted
that by no other process of manufacture can the buttermilk be
so completely extracted.

I am aware of the truth of the objection made, that the
shrinkage occasioned by its use is too great; yet there is in
fact a difference in the worth of the butter made upon it, over

312 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE.

that manufactured in the ordinary way, quite equal to the loss
in weight occasioned by it.

As has been stated, my stock was divided at the beginning
of the trial into two lots of six each. The account of the prod-
uct of butter is given according to this arrangement.

The entries for the premiums at your disposal, as made by
me on the 23d of April last, were one dairy of cows and heif-
ers six in number, and a dairy of eleven in number.

Such a division of my stock was not deemed improper in
view of their time of calving and their age.

The dairy of cows consists of

Flora McDonald, a full-blood Ayrshire, from the stock of Mr.

Randall, of New Bedford, six years old.
Wilcox, half Ayrshire, by McGregor, five years old.
Shrewsbury, called "native," believed to be Durham, eleven

years old.
Cherry, Devon, six years old.
Lexington, Ayrshire, bred by Mr. Phinney, of Lexington, nine

years old.
Springfield, " native," from Vermont, ten years old.

Flora McDonald calved May 20, and was served July 29

Wilcox " April 17, « " June 5

Shrewsbury « February 2G, " " July 2

Cherry « May 2, " " June 30

Lexington " January 28, " " July 18

Springfield " May 2, « « June 10

It will be seen that the trial commenced with three of the
six cows giving milk. The periods of churning and the quan-
tity of butter made at each time are stated below : —

Churned May 1, 19 pounds 2 ounces,

« " 8, 20 « 3 «

» « ' 15, 32 « 5 "

« " 22, 39 "13 «

« " 29, 44 " 9 « 15G 00

MILCH COWS. 313

Churned June

1,

25 p<

)undi

! 7 ounces.

u

tt

8,

56

it

0

tt

u

it

12,

32

a

Hi

a

tt

it

15,

24

a

n

a

..

tt

19,

29

it

9

a

u

a

22,

21

a

13

a

it

a

26,

28

it

7

a

ti

tt

29,

21

tt

8

it

240

4

a

July

3,

27

a

15

ti

a

a

1,

18

tt

11

a

a

tt

10,

24

a

2

a

n

tt

13,

16

a

8

a

it

a

n,

22

ti

7

a

tt

it

20,

15

it

8

a

it

tt

24,

18

a

5

tt

a

ti

27,

14

tt

7

a

it

a

31,

18

it

14}

a

176

131

it

Aug.

3,

13

it

6

a

..

a

X

17

a

0

ti

it

a

10,

17

a

5

it

ti

it

14,

25

a

8

a

tt

a

17,

18

u

11

a

a

a

21,

23

«

5

it

a

it

25,

14

a

9

a

a

a

28,

17

a

9

a

147

5

a

Sept

■ 4,

36

a

7

a

n

it

11,

34

a

9

it

it

a

18,

32

u

15

a

it

it

23,

30

a

3

it

134

2

854 8j

It will be seen that three of the cows have been milked five
months, two four months and seventeen days, and one four
months and two days. In all there has been an average pe-
riod of milking of four months and twenty-one days, and an
average daily amount of little over a pound of butter to each
cow for the whole period of entire milking. The greatest
amount in any one week was fifty-seven pounds eight ounces,

40*

314

MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE.

or an average yield of nine pounds nine and one-third ounces
per cow for the week. This was upon pasture feed alone.
The lot of young cows and heifers consists of

Lexington, five years old, thorough-bred Ayrshire, bred by Mr.
Phinney, of Lexington.

Princess, three years old, with her first calf, a half-blood Ayr-
shire and half Devon.

Cora, five years old, three-quarters Ayrshire and one-quarter
Durham.

Red Bird, four years old, one-half Devon and one-half Ayr-
shire.

Flirt, five years old, one-half Ayrshire, by McGregor.

Beauty, two years old, three-quarters Ayrshire.

Lexington calved February 4, and was served March 15,

Princess

u

March 26, '

a

June 10,

Cora

ct

May 2,

a

June 5,

Red Bird

it

June 19, "

a

August 14,

Flirt

u

June 26, <

a

July 18,

Beauty

a

August 2, '

(C

September 1

In this case the trial commenced with but two animals giving
milk. The period of churning, and the product of butter of
each churning, is given below : —

Churned May 1, 8 pounds 6 ounces.

11

a

8,

9 <

2

a

(C

15,

12 <

< 12

a

a

22,

18 <

< 13

it

it

29,

21 <

< 11

a

June 5,

26 <

1 13

u

u

12,

19 *

1 15

a

a

15,

9 '

1 11

u

a

19,

13 <

1 1

a

u

22,

12 *

< 4

u

a

26,

16 <

« 3

u

u

29,

13 <

' 12

70 12J

■111 11

MILCH COWS. 315

Churned

July

3,

21

pounds

12i

ounces.

u

u

6,

15

a

14

it

ti

a

10,

19

tt

7

n

u

it

13,

14

a

1

a

it

it

n,

18

it

11

tt

u

a

20,

12

a

12

a

it

tt

24,

16

tt

5

a

it

tt

27,

13

a

1

a

a

ti

31,

16

a

13

a

148

12i

it

Aug

. 3,

12

n

8

it

it

it

7,

16

tt

0

a

ti

a

10,

16

a

10

it

a

tt

14,

22

a

3

a

tt

a

IT,

16

a

14

tt

a

tt

21,

19

a

15

tt

it

n

24,

11

a

7

a

tt

a

28,

15

a

14

a

131

7

a

Sepl

;. 4,

31

a

5

a

tt

it

11,

27

tt

8

a

n

a

18,

27

tt

11

it

a

a

23,

28

ti

7

a

114

15

577 12

Of this lot two animals have given milk the whole period,
one four months and seventeen days, one three months and
two days, one two months and twenty-six days, and one one
month and seventeen days, making an average period of three
months and twenty and one-third days, and an average daily
yield of fourteen and ten-twelfths ounces of butter to each cow
for the above peried. The greatest amount of butter in any
one week of the above period was thirty-seven pounds ten
and one-half ounces from five cows, or an average of seven
pounds eight ounces to each animal. This was also upon pas-
ture solely.

Should the committee be of opinion that this division of the
dairy is not in compliance with the spirit of the offer, the aver-
age period of time of milking the cows comprising the whole
dairy will be four months and a little more than twelve days;

316 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE.

with a total yield for said period of one hundred and nineteen
pounds eight and one-third ounces to each cow.

In addition to this product nine calves have been raised, and
three sold to be fatted. Five shotes have been sold for forty
dollars ; two pigs at ten dollars ; and there is now on hand five
late spring pigs, three old hogs, and four sucking pigs. The
swine were kept exclusively upon the wash of the dairy and
house till the last of August ; since that time a small quantity
of refuse apples has been added to their food.

The pasturing was good early in the season, so far as quan-
tity went. But, although its quantity was sufficient, it was of
poor quality for the purpose of the dairy.

My pastures are upon the south slope of a hill, early to start,
but easily affected by drought.

This year the feed has been unprecedently short, and for
weeks my animals might almost be said to suffer. There was
no green thing in the pastures, nor would the mowing fields af-
ford a bite.

I had no corn fodder till about the fifth of August, and then
so limited a supply that it was consumed in less than three
weeks.

The season, as a whole, has been a bad one — below the
average for the production of butter.

Additional to this, my own dairy has suffered from a change
of milkers. Men to work on a farm have been scarce ; of ac-
tual help there has been none. Early in the spring I was inca-
pacitated from milking, and continued so for months. My cows
were badly treated and worse milked. As an instance, the
week after I was compelled to give up milking, although one
more cow was milked than before, the yield of butter was di-
minished eight pounds and a fraction.

I ought also to state that from the first of August one milking
of one of the cows has been taken from the dairy for family con-
sumption, thus diminishing what would have been the actual
yield of butter from the whole dairy. A sample of butter, as
ordinarily made, is submitted for the examination of the com-
mittee.

MILCH COWS. 317

Omitting fractions, my dairy of six cows, had they been
milked the full period of five months, at the rate of yield for
the time of actual milking, would have given nine hundred and
twenty pounds four and a half ounces of butter. It will be re-
membered that this was upon pasture feed alone.

Different families in this city, and at Boston and Dorchester,
have been supplied by me the past season ; and the average
price of the butter has been two shillings per. pound, amounting
to three hundred and ninety-six dollars and seventy-five cents,
or sixty-one dollars and fifty-eight cents per cow for the five
months.

Commonwealth of Massachusetts.

Worcester, September 25, 1854. — Then appeared the
above-named William S. Lincoln and made oath that the fore-
going statement, by him subscribed, is true.

Before me,

John A. Dana, Justice of the Peace.

Statement of William Robinson, Jr.

I offer for the State Society's premium six cows, three of
which were raised by me ; two are seven years old, one six
years. The three were raised, one by Elias Ayres, formerly of
this town, and now located in Virginia, and is nine years old ;
one by David Lee, and is six years old ; and one by Harrison
Bacon, and is eight years old. They are all grade Durhams
from one-half to three-quarters, and five of them were sired by
bulls brought to this town from Albany by Elias Ayres. There
were four of them brought up, when calves, on whey, and I be-
lieve all of them, though I am not able to state positively in
reference to two of those which I bought. Those I raised
had calves when two years old, and the others I do not know
about.

These cows have been pastured with my dairy of sixteen
cows in a good pasture of natural land, on which there had
formerly been plaster of Paris, or gypsum, applied, but not for

318

MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE.

two years past. They have had two quarts of Indian meal a
day during the past five months, and had green corn fodder for
twenty-three days the latter part of August and the first part
of September. During the winter they were kept on poor fod-
der, and had two quarts of provender per day till the 1st of
March, when they had good hay, as much as they would eat.

The cows calved from the 28th of March to the 19 th of
April. They were turned out to pasture on the 8th of May,
and fed with hay morning and evening till the 15th of May,
after which they were driven back to pasture after milking.
They were milked twice in twenty-four hours, between four
and five o'clock, by one milker, except in two instances. They
were all dried in February, and during the time they yielded in
milk and cheese as per table below : —

te.

Milk Weighed.

Date.

Milk Weighed.

Pa

Morning.

Evening.

Total.

Morning.

Evening.

Total.

April

24,

1045

1055

2104

Ma)

'22,

119

1355

2545

U

25,

1065

1015

2084

a

23,

1274

1324

260

U

26,

97|

1035

2014

a

24,

1255

1285

2544

((

27,

1141

1035

2184

(!

25,

1205

127|

2484

u

28,

1075

1005

2084

((

26,

1244

128

2524

u

29,

1005

935

1944

U

27,

121;

I3>1

257

u

30,

1035

98|

2024

U

28,

12 11

1305

2554

May

1,

1005

93|

194 4

((

29,

123 i

1185

2424

it

2

98|

985

1974

((

30,

137 i

1334

271 i

i>

3,'

10(15

1105

2174

((

31,

I24|

1315

2564

a

4,

1085

1045

2134

June 1,

127

1315

2585

a

5,

1041

1015

2064

M

~5

122}

L30i

2524

a

6,

1055

!'7:i

2034

K

3,

126

133^

2591

a

7,

1005

96|

1974

K

4,

[25|

123

2481

u

8,

945

955

1904

((

5,

1245

1374

262*

K

9,

915

!!H:i

190,1

((

6,

117.1-

134

251. i

((

10,

1005

955

196jS

u

7,

118

i-2r,;

2435

a

11,

1025

1015

2044

u

8,

1284

129

257i

a

12,

LOU

1061

2084

u

9,

120.J

129

2 1! 14

a

13,

LOU

1075

2094

u

10,

117

128|

245j

a

1!,

1115

1083

22(14

u

11,

1234

I28j

252

u

15,

1171

1193

2374

u

12,

1224

[32jJ

255

u

16,

ll.Yl

1211

235

(i

13,

111

100

211

it

17,

119|

1203

2404

«

14,

1304

I25j

256

M

18,

124

1 25

219

u

15,

1214

1273

249|

u

19,

127|

127*

II

16,

121.'.

1293

251 1

((

20,

129

125

25 1

((

17,

120

1313

2515

((

21,

1324

1264

((

18,

124

1293

2534

MILCH COWS.

319

Ta hle — Contin ucd.

c.

Milk Weighed.

Date.

Milk Weighed.

Da

Morning.

Evening.

Total.

Morning.

Evening.

Total.

June

19,

1234

131}

2543

Aug

. 7,

83

96

179

u

20,

122

1303

252;J

u

8,

94

94

188

it

21,

im

1293

2424

(«

9,

88

101

189

u

22,

121|

129i

251

(1

10,

94

100

191

u

23,

1214

1255

247}

u

11,

96

102

198

H

24,

1124

124

236*

u

12,

95

93

188

U

25,

117

121}

238*

K

13,

100

96

190

u

26,

110

1254

2354

u

14,

92

100

192

M

'-'7.

113

126$

2393

((

15,

95

103

198

((

28,

112

1194

2314

i«

16,

94

85

179

u

29.

112

124}

2364

((

17,

86

104

190

«

30,

108

122}

230}

u

18,

92

95

187

July

1,

112

1153

2273

u

19,

102

98

200

«

2,

107

115

222

CI

20,

93

98

191

u

3,

103

122

225

((

21,

96

98

194

a

4,

100

119

219

K

22,

97

103

200

<(

5,

104

112

216

u

23,

93

101

194

u

G,

104

115

21!)

<(

24,

89

96

185

(i

7,

100

107

207

a

25,

90

90

185

u

8,

103

110

213

U

26,

88

88

176

u

9,

99

105

204

a

27,

89

83

172

((

10,

103

110

213

a

28,

93

90

183

((

11,

99

105

204

a

29,

82

94

176

«

12,

100

102

202

u

30,

90

96

186

(«

13,

97

105

202

u

31,

90

91

181

l(

14,

99

105

204

Sep

t. 1,

90

90

180

(1

15,

96

97

193

u

2,

96

88

184

(I

16,

99

96

195

u

3,

98

86

184

(C

17,

112

99

211

u

4,

91

88

179

((

18,

100

107

207

((

5,

84

81

165

((

19,

98

111

209

«

6,

85

82

167

K

20,

98

107

205

a

7,

89

85

174

((

21,

92

96

188

u

8,

85

80

165

((

22,

93

90

183

a

9,

87

83

170

U

23,

95

91

186

«

10,

82

78

160

U

24,

93

95

188

«

11,

95

85

180

U

25,

93

95

188

si

12,

88

87

175

it

2i ;,

88

95

183

u

13,

87

87

174

u

27,

88

95

183

u

14,

87

89

176

u

28,

92

100

192

u

15,

90

88

178

u

29,

95

92

187

u

16,

87

87

174

u

30,

94

95

189

u

17,

88

87

175

u

31,

90

93

183

((

18,

90

81

171

Aug.

1,

91

92

183

((

19,

90

81

171

u

2

92

91

183

«

20,

82

92

174

(1

3,

86

92

178

u

21,

89

94

193

CI

4,

9.1

90

185

l(

22,

93

94

187

((

5,

6,

92

Mr,

96

87

188
182

it

23,

97

92

189

Total weight of milk for five months, 32,069 lbs.

320 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE.

I have sold at the different dates stated in the foregoing ta-
ble seventy-nine cheeses, one thousand six hundred and twenty-
three pounds, which brought me, delivered at the depot in
West Brookfield, eleven cents per pound, within a fraction,
say $184 53

I have on hand seventy-six cheeses, one thousand
three hundred and seventy-nine and a half pounds,
on which I expect to realize twelve cents per pound,
at the depot, the 1st of November, which, deducting
the shrinking on those not now merchantable, say
twenty-eight pounds, will amount to . . . 162 18

I made butter from the milk the twenty-third day,
and it yielded seven pounds, which, at twenty-five
cents per pound, amounts to ... . 1 75

$348 46
I sold one of the calves, and raised five of them.

Worcester, ss., September 25, 1854. — Then personally ap-
peared the before-mentioned William Robinson, Jr., and made
oath that the foregoing statements, by him subscribed, were
true.

Before me,

Edwin Woods, Justice of the Peace.

Barre, 1854.

Statement of William W. Watson.

I offer for premium six cows, one of which is exhibited.
They gave thirty-two pounds of milk each a day the first ten
days in June, and made ninety pounds of butter.

The first ten days in September they gave twenty-two pounds
each a day, which made seventy-one pounds of butter.

In June, July, and August I kept the morning's milk twenty-
four hours, the night's milk twelve hours. In five months the
six cows made one thousand four hundred and seventy-seven
pounds of skim-milk cheese, which has been sold so as to average
seven and a half cents per pound in market. The cows ha\re
had good pasturing, and been driven one mile to pasture each

MILCn COWS. 231

day, and have had no extra feed. Two of the cows calved in
February, and four in March. I have raised five of the calves.
They calved in March and April.

Barre, September 19, 1854.

Commonwealth of Massachusetts.

Worcester, ss. September 2G, 1854. — Then the above-
named William W. Watson made oath that the above state-
ment, by him subscribed, is true.

Before me,

John A. Dana, Justice of the Peace.

HAMPSHIRE.

Report of the Committee.

The rearing of good dairy stock is an object of great impor-
tance to the farmer. The cow ranks high among our domestic
animals. Probably no other is of more importance to us. She
furnishes both the necessaries and the luxuries of life. To the
farmer she is a source of both luxury and profit. How desira-
ble, then, that, in rearing dairy stock, he should produce ani-
mals of the best qualities for his purpose ! And the question,
how this can be best accomplished, is one of much interest to
breeders of neat stock. If " like produces like," too much care
and skill can hardly be exercised by the breeder in the selection
of his breeding animals. He should select such as have the
style and qualities desired in their offspring.

In rearing heifers for the dairy, such should be chosen as
have descended from good milking stock. It is not only im-
portant that the dam should have been a good' milker, but
equally so that the sire should have been bred from a good
milking race. It is generally believed by breeders of experi-
ence that the male has as much influence upon the milking
qualities of the progeny as the female. Hence the necessity
of having well-selected males, as well as females, in attempting
to rear good stock for the dairy. The breeder should not
41 •

322 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE.

only use superior animals to breed from, but reserve for him-
self the better portion of their progeny. If a heifer shows an
aptitude to fatten easily, she is generally considered worth
more for the shamble^ than the dairy, and, consequently, goes
into the hands of the' butcher; while some hard-hided one,
which could not easily be fattened, is reserved for the milk
pail.

The opinion is very prevalent among farmers, that a heifer
which takes on flesh rapidly will not make a good milker.
Perhaps the fact that most good milkers become thin of flesh
when in full milk leads to this opinion. But such cows generally
fatten quickly when dry. It would seem that the fact of a
heifer's fattening easily should lead to the belief that she
would make a good cow for butter, her aptitude to fatten show-
ing her system to be such that all the carbon of her food is
not required for heat and respiration.

G. C. Munsell, Chairman.

HAMPDEN.

From the Report of the Committee.

The competitors for premiums of this description will ordi-
narily be found to be resident within a few miles of the place
of exhibition, as it is undoubtedly true that driving cows a
great distance is always attended with hazard, and not unfre-
qucntly productive of manifest injury. According to our rec-
ollection, all the cows exhibited were from three towns.

It might be desirable to stimulate a farmer in Chester or
Brimfield to raise and keep good cows, even although he should
feel unable to drive or transport them to a central point of the
county. Might not the directors properly be authorized to ex-
amine, by some one or more of their number, all milch cows
outside of an area of eight miles from the place of exhibition,
and a class of premiums bo provided for them ? It strikes us
that such an arrangement would have a direct tendenc}', not
only to improve the character of the mothers of the unborn
calves that may hereafter be found in Holland, Russell, Tol-
land, and Wales, but also to increase the list of members from

MILCH COWS. 323

those towns. Wc know that they already have excellent cows
there ; but the number of such should be increased.

We would add a general suggestion, whether competitors
should not be required in all cases to set one or more days'
milk, and to state the quantity and quality of the butter produced
therefrom. Your present regulations put a cow whose milk
has such limited butteraceous properties that a fly might swim
the entire first day of June through a pan of it, without clog-
ing his limbs, upon a perfect equality with one whose milk may
raise a cream as thick as the lid of a churn. It may be asked
in reply to this proposition, Why make any further regulations,
if those heretofore adopted are not observed? The proper
answer, as it appears to us, is, that public notice should be
given that all persons who desire to compete for these premi-
ums must apply to the secretary on or before the 15th of May,
when the circulars could be delivered.

N. T. Leonard, Chairman.

Remarks hy the Directors.

It will be seen by the above report that the committee have
been compelled to renew the annual complaint of non-compli-
ance, on the part of those competing for the premiums offered
for this class of animals, with the conditions prescribed by the
society. It is a source of deep regret to the directors that the
cause for such complaint should still exist. It has for many
years been a matter of deep solicitude with this society to
avail themselves, through the statistics anticipated upon this
subject, of some reliable data of facts and figures upon which
some correct estimate might be established in relation to the val-
ue of the different breeds of cows for the dairy. This fact alone,
once established, would be worth more to the members of the
society than the whole amount of premiums offered upon the
entire class of milch cows. To obtain these facts, and others
most intimately connected with the subject, a circular, em-
bracing certain interrogatories calculated to draw out such in-
formation, has been furnished to every one desirous of contest-
ing for the premiums, with this provision : No premium will be

324 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE.

awarded by the committee, or approved by the directors, ex-
cept upon satisfactory evidence in writing. Now, then, this be-
comes a matter of bargain and contract between the parties;
and is there any just claim upon the society until the condi-
tions are fulfilled ? The bare declaration, that a certain cow
has produced twenty pounds of butter in one week, is unsatis-
factory testimony, not because it is doubted, but because it is
not sufficient. The breed of the animal, her age, the quantity
of milk in quarts and pounds daily, and how she was fed during
the time of trial, are a part of the evidence, as full of impor-
tance to the society as the fact of her uncommon product of
butter. These are the facts which we should feel proud,
through our annual report, to communicate to the Board of
Agriculture ; and if they exist, there is no satisfactory reason
for their concealment.

The remark often made as an apology for non-compliance
with the requirements of the society, that it is too much trou-
ble, or it was not convenient, is too puerile for any judicious
person ever to offer. If the premium were even a gratuitous
oifering, the individual would be amply compensated for all his
time and trouble in obtaining the facts by the possession
of them. Had one of the successful contestants given his
assertion, and pledged his integrity to the committee for its
veracity, that the product of milk from his cow for one year
had realized to him more than two hundred dollars, it might
have enlarged the pupils of their eyes, but it would have caused
a tingling in their ears. Sustained as the declaration is by
figures, it now becomes a fact on sight ; and the statement is
given in detail, that every one disposed may estimate for him-
self the " trouble and inconvenience " of keeping such a memo-
randum for twenty days, as also the value of the reward of-
fered for it in the premium list. Most of the statements fur-
nished give only the number of pounds of milk per diem ; some
state that the milk was sold, but whether by the pound or quart
is not mentioned. One-half of the trouble of keeping a memo-
randum was thus overcome by weighing it; the remainder
when the milk was sold, if sold by measure.

The suggestion oflercd by the committee, that all competitors
should be required to give one or more days' milk to a trial of

MILCH COWS. 325

its buttcraccous properties, is entitled to the consideration and
the action of the society. The directors are only the executors of
the will of the society : what they determine, is ours to execute.
The society has spoken it, that no premium shall be awarded
without satisfactory evidence of the fulfilment of the conditions
prescribed. Sustained in our conclusion by the opinion of the
awarding; committee, and by the decision of the trustees of
other societies under similar circumstances, the directors have
decided that the premiums recommended by the committee
cannot be approved by them, except in the case of A. M. Carle-
ton and J. H. Demond, whose satisfactory evidence entitles
them to receive the premiums awarded.

Statement of Amos F. Carleton.

In reply to the various interrogatories of the society, I will
state that the cow which I offer for premium I have owned for
two years and seven months. She was six years old last Jan-
uary. She is of Durham and Ayrshire stock. I have usually
sold her milk, but have tried it for butter, and found the prod-
uct of seven to eight quarts to be one pound of butter ; her
feed has been good pasturage during the summer, green corn
fodder and pumpkins in the fall, and good English hay, with
some dry corn fodder and about a peck of common turnips per
day and no meal in winter ; and the price I have obtained for
her milk, all of which I have sold except what was required for
my family use, has been four cents per quart for four months,
and five cents for the balance of the year, taken at my house.
The cow calved on the 19th of August, and her calf was sold
on the 22d of August, for the purpose of being raised. In the
following table will be found a statement of the product of the
cow, in conformity with the rules of the society : —

3.

Morning.

Night.

Total

2\

[ lbs. to the quart.

10,

14 pounds

, 19 pounds

,33

pounds.

, 14| quarts.

11,

16 "

17 "

33

it

IA1 u
X^3

12,

15 "

19 «

34

a

151- u

13,

151 u

1°2 "

35

ii

15| "

14,

15 "

2(T «

35

u

15$- "

326 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE.

1853.
Sept. 15,
" 16,

Morning.

l«il

Night.

pounds;19 pounds
« 20 «

Total.

',35i]
351

2| lbs. t(

aounds,15|
15i

a

18,

16
IT

a
it

18i
«*

a
a

34^

341

a
ti

15*
15*

a

19,

16

tt

19*

a

35i

a

15f

a

20,
54.

16

It

20

a

36

it

tt

16

18

381

169J

June

10,

11

It

15

a

26

a

11*

il

11,

12

a

15*

a

271

a

12f

tt
t(

12,
13,

101
11

a
a

15
15

a
tt

251
26

a
n

Hi
llf

il
It

14,
15,

i°*
n

tt
a

15
141

2

a
a

25}

25*

a
it

Hi
11*

tt

16,

il

a

15

a

26

a

llf

11

n,

10

a

15

a

25

a

11*

tt

18,

12

a

12

a

24

a

lOf

it

19,

11

a

13

a

24

tt

10|

It

20,

11

tt

13

a

24

u

io|

279 " 124

Below I give the product of my cow for one year from the
time of taking off the calf: —

1853.

Days.

Av. qts.

Total qts

.

Aug. 2 to Sept. 1,

9

I4*

130i-

at 4 cents,

$5 22

Sept. 1 " Sept. 10,

9

141

1301

it

5

a

6 52

« 20 " " 30,

10

15£

155

a

5

tt

7 75

Oct. 1 « Oct. 31,

31

15.1

4801

a

5

a

24 03

Nov. 1 « Nov. 30,

30

16J

465

a

5

a

23 25

Dec. 1 « Dec. 31,

31

13

403

a

5

a

20 15

1854.

Jan. 1 « Jan. 31,

31

"J

356^

u

5

a

17 82

Feb. 1 " Feb. 28,

28

10

280

a

5

a

14 00

March 1 « March 31,

31

10

310

u

5

a

15 50

April 1 " April 30,

30

11

330

a

5

a

16 50

MILCH COWS. 327

18o3. Days. Av. qts. Total qts.

May 1 to May 31, 31

13

403

at 4 cents

,$16 12

June 1 « June 10, 9

12

108

« 4

a

4 32

« 21 « « 30, 10

10

100

a 4

a

4 00

July 1 « July 31, 31

7

217

a 4

a

8 68

Aug. 1 " Aug. -2'2, 22

5

110

« 4

u

4 40

Add 169i qts., Sept. 10 to 20

, 1653,

1691

" 5

a

8 47

« 124 « June 10 to

20

1854,

124

42721

« 4

a

4 96

$201 69

Hdr time for calving this season expires the 29th inst. She
has been milked regularly, morning and evening, until this
morning, when I milked her for the last time before calving ;
and she gave two quarts this morning.

Chicopee Falls, September 25, 1854.

Statement of J. H. Demond.

In compliance with the request of the president of the society,
I furnish you with a statement of the product of my Pynchon
cow, which was on exhibition only at the late cattle show.
She attracted much attention and received many compliments ;
in return for which she presented me with a fine calf a few
hours after the show. Her daily product of milk for the month
of October, 1854, was as follows: —

Oct. 1, measured 20] quarts. Oct. 17, measured 22 quarts.

" 2,

a

21

u

tt

18,

it

211 u

" 3,

it

21*

u

it

19,

it

211 «

" 4,

a

21

u

a

20,

n

22 «

" 5,

ii

21i

a

a

21,

u

22 «

« 6,

a

22

a

a

22,

a

22]- u

" 7,

a

22

it

a

23,

tt

21

" 8,

u

22i

(i

a

24,

a

211 u

" 9,

it

22

u

:t

25,

a

22

" 10,

(i

21.]

u

a

26,

a

22 "

"11,

(t

22|

tt

a

27,

a

2U «

- 12,

a

21

a

it

28,

u

22 «

328 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE.

Oct. 13, measured 22 quarts, Oct. 29, measured 22 quarts,

« 14,

«

22-1

a

" 30,

(i

21*

a

"15,
« 16,

22J
22

« 31,

a

22-t

u

6751

a

Making a total of six hundred and seventy-five and one-half
quarts, which was sold at five cents, amounting to thirty-three
dollars and seventy-seven cents. The cow weighed on exhibi-
tion day one thousand five hundred and fifteen pounds ; and her
milk for the month of October, at two and a quarter pounds
per quart, weighed one thousand five hundred and nineteen
pounds, and this without extra feed.

The two-year-old heifer (No. 5) offered by me for premium
was from my own stock, sold when a calf, and purchased back
when a yearling for the sum of thirty dollars. She is now two
years and three months old, of mixed breed, Durham and "na-
tive," principally Durham. She calved in May last, has fed
with my herd of fifteen cows in ordinary pasturage, has had no
extra feed except in September, when, in common with the
others, she received a share of green corn fodder daily. Her
product of milk from the 10th to the 20th of June, 1854, and
from the 10th to the 20th of September, 1854, is subjoined: —

June 10, weighed 34 pounds. Sept. 10, weighed 23 pounds.

a

11,

a

341

tt

it

11,

a

L'-.i

u

It

12,

tt

35

a

a

12,

a

23

a

it

13,

Cl

341

(i

tt

13,

a

23

a

it

14,

tt

341

tc

a

14,

a

09]

it

it

15,

a

->•■> i
oo-2-

tt

a

15,

it

21

it

it

16,

a

34

tt

a

16,

it

21 J

a

it

n,

a

33j

tt

a

n,

a

- 1 -■>

it

a

18,

a

33"

tt

it

18,

it

21

tt

tc

19,

a

33i

a

a

19,

tt

21

a

340 " 220 "

This quantity, at two and one-fourth pounds to the quart,
gives one hundred and fifty-one and one-ninth quarts. Sold at
four cents per quart, amounting to six dollars and four cents

MILCH COWS. 329

for the ten days of June, being an average of fifteen and one-
ninth quarts per day ; and for the ten days of September the
total is ninety-seven and seven-ninths quarts, sold at five cents
per quart, and amounting to four dollars and eighty-eight cents,
being an average of very nearly ten quarts per day, making a
total of ten dollars and ninety-two cents.

Spbingfield, September 26, 1854.

BERKSHIRE.

From the Report of the Committee.

Our farmers of late have made very great improvement in
the breed and quality of their cows. This is as it should be.
Many cows may now be found that will produce from ten to
fifteen pounds of butter per week, for two or three months, on
grass alone ; but no farmer has a whole herd of such cows.
Our good cows are mostly cows of accident. These things
ought not so to be. There are some honorable exceptions,
however, among our most intelligent farmers. The Ayrshire
stock has, in a few instances, been introduced, and it is be-
lieved will prove beneficial to the dairy farmers of the county.

Of milch cows, we have awarded the first premium to A. "W.
Kellogg, of Pittsfield, for a Durham cow seven years old, nine
dollars. This cow calved the 3d of May last, and averaged in
the month of June fifty-two and a half pounds of milk per day, and
made the first week in June seventeen pounds thirteen ounces
of butter. She averaged in September forty-four pounds of
milk per day, and the first week in September made sixteen
pounds four ounces of butter. Her keeping was good pasture
in June, and meadow and pasture in September.

E. Axtell, Chairman.

Report of the Committee appointed to award the State Premi-
ums on Dairies.

The Berkshire Agricultural Society received a very generous
proposition from the Massachusetts State Society of one hun-

42*

330 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE.

dred and fifty dollars, to be divided into three premiums, of
seventy-five, fifty, and twenty-five dollars each, for the best ex-
hibition of a dairy ,of not less than six cows, and a written
statement answering the interrogations accompanying the prop-
osition.

The Executive Committee of the Berkshire Agricultural So-
ciety appointed a special committee, consisting of Justus Tow-
er, of Lanesboro', Robert Colt, of Pittsfield, and D. D. Kendall,
of Lenox, to carry out the wishes of the State Society.

After attending to the duties assigned us, we would report
that there were four competitors, all of whom did great credit
to themselves by the exact manner in which they answered the
interrogations propounded by the Executive Committee ; also
by the exhibition of six cows each from their respective dairies,
on the show ground, at the society's annual fair.

After a thorough investigation of all the statements of each
competitor, and examination of the cows exhibited, we were
unanimous in our conclusions in awarding the premiums as fol-
lows : —

J. D. Northrup, of Lanesboro', for the best exhibition from
his dairy of six cows, and for the best return of profits and
good management, seventy-five dollars.

S. W. Lincoln, of Cheshire, for the second best do., fifty dol-
lars.

Henry Dresser, of Stockbridge, for the exhibition of six
beautiful blooded cows, and best experiment in making butter,
twenty-five dollars.

Accompanying this document are the written statements of
the competitors : —

Statement of J. D. Northrup.

My dairy consists of twenty-four cows. Most of them are
the so called " natives," with a cross of the short-horn Durham,
which I consider a decided improvement for milk. Nearly all
dropped their calves in April.

I milked from the twenty-four cows in seven days, commen-
cing the first week in June, five thousand three hundred pounds

MILCH COWS. 331

of milk, and used in my family forty-nine pounds, leaving- five
thousand two hundred and fifty-one pounds, from which I made
four hundred and sixty-seven pounds of cheese and ten pounds
of butter. The night's milk was set in tubs over night, and
the cream taken off in the morning,- the milk was then made
into cheese with the morning's milk, the twenty-four cows mak-
ing a cheese weighing. sixty-seven pounds per day, which is two
and three-quarters pounds to a cow, and taking eleven pounds
of milk to one pound of cheese, weighing the cheese at twenty-
eight days old. One gallon of milk will make a pound of
cheese from the press. My cheese nets me nine and a half
cents per pound, and butter twenty cents per pound.

467 pounds of cheese, at 9J cents per pound, . $44 36
10 pounds of butter, at 20 cents per pound, . 2 00

$46 36

Making the income of each cow one dollar and ninety-two cents
per week, or twenty-seven and a half cents per day.

I milked from the twenty-four cows in seven days, the first
week in September, three thousand three hundred and sixty
pounds of milk, and made three hundred and thirty-six pounds
of cheese and ten pounds of butter — ten pounds of milk to one
of cheese.

336 pounds of cheese, at 9 J cents per pound, . $32 02

10 pounds of butter, at 20 cents per pound, . 2 00

$34 02

making one dollar and forty-one cents per week, or twenty
cents per day, to each cow.

The six cows I offer for premium were selected from my
dairy of twenty-four cows. I commenced the first week in
June and September, and weighed the milk seven days in suc-
cession.

332 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE.

No.

Age.

1, 8

Weight per
day in June.

37

Per week.

259

Weight per
day in Sept.

24

Per week,

168

u

2, 8

35

245

25

175

a

3, 8

45

315

30

210

It

4, 10

471

332^-

27

189

(I

5, 11

6, 12

391
43

276i
301

mds,

26J
31

1851
217

1,729 poi

1,145}

Making in June 157 pounds of cheese, at 91 cents

per pound, $14 91

4 pounds of butter, at 20 cents per pound, . . 80

$15 71
Making in September 114} pounds of cheese, at 9}

cents per pound, ...... 10 80

41 pounds of butter, at 20 cents per pound, . . 90

$11 70

In September, ten pounds of milk made one pound of cheese.

My pastures arc upland, and yield sweet feed. I fed, in the
month of June, all the whey from the milk made into cheese?
without any meal. In September, my pastures being very much
dried up, I fed all the whey, with one quart of meal to each
cow, and also ten pounds of corn fodder to each cow per day.

I commence feeding my cows in the spring, before calving,
with three quarts of meal each per day, until the feed in the
pasture is good.

I consider the best mixture of grain, ground into meal, for
milk, is equal quantities of rye, buckwheat, and oats. For the
last ten years I have not made less than live hundred pounds
of cheese and twenty pounds of butter to each cow; and one
year I made six hundred and forty pounds of cheese and twen-
ty pounds of butter to each cow.

A cow will give more milk on good fresh grass than any
other feed. When the grass begins to fail, I make up the de-

MILCTI COWS. 333

ficiency by extra feed of meal and corn fodder. I feed all my
whey to my cows. I let them run dry four months, and during
this time I give them no extra feed, always keeping salt before
them.

Process of making Cheese and Butter. — At night the milk
is strained into tubs of twenty gallons each. During the warm
weather I use cans holding about fifteen gallons each, filled
with ice or cold water, and put one into each tub of milk. In
the morning the cream is taken off the milk, and the morning's
milk is added to it, which warms it sufficiently to receive the
rennet. In thirty minutes it is stirred up; then the whey is
dipped off. It is heated to one hundred degrees for scalding
the curd, and then stands thirty minutes longer ; the whey is
then drained off and stirred thoroughly, and then salted with
one common tea-cup full of salt to sixteen pounds of curd, and
put into the press. In four hours it is turned, and pressed
twenty hours longer ; then put on the shelf, dressed and turned,
until fit for market.

One process for making butter is this : After the cream is
taken from the milk it is put into a stone jar, and kept in the
ice house or cellar, and churned as often as once a week. Af-
ter the butter is taken from the churn it is rinsed in cold water
to get out the buttermilk, and then worked over three days
in succession, properly salted. It is then ready for use or
keeping.

Lanesboro', October 2, 1854.

Statement of S. W. Lincoln.

The six cows presented for your examination were bred and
raised by myself and others in this vicinity. They are what
we call the "natives/' crossed a little with English blood.
They dropped their calves from the 10th of April to the 22d
of -May. Below you will find their ages, and the average
amount of milk each cow gave per day for seven days, com-
mencing the first day of June and September : —

334 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE.

Names of cows. Age. Pounds per Pounds per Average per Pounds per

day in June.

■week.

day in Sept.

■week.

Jenny Lind,

8

36

252

23i

164|-

Mayflower,

7

36

252

22

154

Eliza,

8

36

252

19

133

May Bell,

5

32

224

20

140

Little Eva,

4

34

238

19i

136|

Victoria,

3

301

214
1,432

17i

122J

850^

Averaging thirty-four and a half pounds per day in June, and a
little over twenty pounds of milk per day in September, for
each cow.

This is making in June, out of fourteen hundred and thirty-
two pounds of milk, one hundred and sixty-five pounds of cheese,
at nine and one-half cents per pound, equal to fourteen dollars
and eighty-five cents ; and making in September, out of eight hun-
dred and fifty and one-half pounds of milk, one hundred and six
pounds of cheese, at nine and one-half cents, equal to ten dol-
lars and seven cents ; taking less than nine pounds of milk to
one pound of cheese. I weighed the cheese at fourteen days
old. It made in June twenty-three and nine-sixteenths pounds
per week to each cow, — a little short of four pounds per day, —
and in September fifteen and two-sixteenths pounds per week
to each cow, or two and one-half pounds per day.

I fed to my cows in June four quarts of wheat shorts, with
whey, per day to each one of them. In September, two quarts
of shorts wet in water and a handful of corn fodder each.

I feed in the spring, before and after calving, two quarts of
meal (rye and oats ground together) to each cow. My pasture
produces good sweet feed ; it suffered with the drought after
June. The six cows have made this year, up to the 1st of Sep-
tember, two thousand five hundred pounds of cheese, and thirty
pounds of butter to each cow, and will make one thousand
pounds more of cheese. I have made, for the last five years,
five hundred and iif'ty pounds of cheese to a cow, and thirty
pounds of butter.

MILCH COWS. 335

Statement of Mrs. S. W. Lincoln.

Manner of making Cheese. — The milk at night is set in
tuba : and if the weather is warm coolers are set into the milk,
filled with cold water or ice. In the morning the cream is
skimmed off, put into milk and warmed, and then mixed with
the night's and morning's milk, and warmed by pouring in hot
water to a temperature of eighty-six degrees. Rennet is then
added, sufficient to produce a thorough coagulation ; then, in
about forty minutes, the curd is cut into fine square pieces, and
remains until the green whey begins to rise ; then it is broken
up with the hand. This operation is performed with great
care, letting the curd pass gently between the fingers without
squeezing it in the hand, as that would decrease the quantity
of cheese. After settling, a quantity of whey is put into a ket-
tle and warmed, and put into the curd, making it ninety-five
degrees warm. Then the curd is again broken, the whey heat-
ed and put into the curd, so that the heat will be raised to one
hundred and six degrees. It then remains, being stirred occa-
sionally, until the curd becomes elastic, and, as old cheese
makers say, " squeaks between the teeth." Then the whey is
again drawn off, the curd cooled with cold water, and then
salted with a tea-cup full of salt to sixteen pounds of cheese.
It is then pressed twenty-four hours, being turned over in the
time, and then removed to a cool dairy room, greased, colored
according to fancy, and turned every day until cured.

Cheshire, October 3, 1854.

Statement of Henry Dresser.

My cows were bred and raised in Stockbridge. No food
was furnished except good quality of old pasture.

Ruth, one-half " native " and one-half Durham, five years of
age, calved May 23.

Primer, " native," Durham, and Devonshire, aged five years,
calved March 2G.

Betsey, one-half « native " and one-half Durham, aged five
years, calved April 2.

336 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE.

Nancy, "native," aged five years, calved April 5.
Twins, " native " and Durham, aged seven years, calved Feb-
ruary 7.

Weight of milk : —

June 1st. June 2d. Sept. 1st. Sept. 2d.

Ruth, 47|- pounds. 491 pounds. 37 pounds. 35 pounds.

Primer, 44

«

43

a

251

a

251- «

Betsey, 342-

u

351

i

a

25i

a

25J «

Nancy, 38

a

32

u

22

u

24

Twin, 32

a

30^

a

26i

a

27

Twin, 31

a
it

29i

u

26^

u

2 8 J- »

227

u

219-L

u

163

u

1651 «

"Whole amount of milk from six cows in June : —

June 1, 217^ pounds.

" 2, 206f «

" 3, 200J «

" 4, 215f «
Whole amount of milk,

June 5, 2221 pounds

« 6, 229f «

» 7, 2331 »

1,525| «

3 in September : —

Sept. 5, 150 pounds.

« 6, 1571 «

" 7, 1741 «

Sept. 1, 163 pounds.

" 2, 165^ «

« 3, 171f «

" 4, 1771 «
Whole amount of milk, . . 1,159 "

Milk used for butter in June, one thousand four hundred and
three and one-fourth pounds ; in September, one thousand one
hundred and fifty-nine pounds.

Amount of butter made the first seven days in June, fifty-
eight pounds ; first seven days in September, forty-five and one-
fourth pounds. No cheese was made.

The milk used for other purposes in June amounted to one
hundred and twenty-two pounds ; in September, none.

Stockmudge, October 23, 1854.

MILCH COWS. 337

It appears from the above statement that it takes twenty -five
pounds of milk for one pound of butter. This is as "well as the
genera] average. Take a good, fair quality of milk, and good
facilities for keeping it in the right temperature for raising
cream, and twenty pounds will produce one pound of butter;
and of some cows' milk sixteen or eighteen pounds will pro-
duce a pound of butter. There are not pains enough taken in
this county, or, generally, in the State, in preparing a suitable
place for the setting of milk, in order to obtain the greatest
possible amount of cream. In order to do this, a right tem-
perature should be maintained and proper quantities put into
each vessel. From sixty to sixty-five degrees is generally thought
to be the right temperature to be maintained to produce the
greatest quantity of cream from the milk in the shortest time :
and the sooner it can be extracted and made into butter, the
sweeter and better it is.

It also appears from the foregoing report that two and one-
half pounds of cheese were made from the same quantity of
milk that it took to make one pound of butter by Mr. Dresser.
Mr. Lincoln made more; but he weighed his cheese at fourteen
days old, and Mr. Northrup at twenty-eight days old ; and in
taking out the shrinkage of fourteen days it amounts to about
the same ; and by these two experiments we may consider it
well established, that ten- pounds of milk will make one pound
of cheese at one month old, and eight pounds from the press ;
and the same quantity of milk that makes two pounds of cheese
will make one pound of butter.

All these experiments are worthy of comment, the competi-
tors having been exact and very satisfactory to the committee.

Mr. Xorthrup's manner of conducting is worthy of imitation
and special comment. From his twenty-four cows he looks for
the income of his farm. All he raises, with the exception of
what the family and team consume, is given to his cows to
swell the amount of milk. His first care is on his cows and
the manufacturing of cheese, and all other business is made
subordinate to this one interest. His cows arc milked regu-
iarly morning and evening, and as regularly fed. If he has a
poor cow she is sold, and a better put in her place. He raises
calves from his best milkers; and in this way he has a reliable

43*

338 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE.

dairy of cows. He lias this year, and for several years past,
realized from his twenty-four cows one thousand two hundred
dollars per year, or fifty dollars to each cow, which pays him
as good a percentage on capital invested as the best stock
companies in the Commonwealth. In the opinion of your
committee, there is a great failure with most of our farmers
in not concentrating their business — turning their particular
attention to one department, and making all others contribute
to that. Thus he has a home market for all his grain and
roots, and the slops of his house to swell the products of the
dairy, the sheepfold, beef, or pork.

Mr. Lincoln's experiment is very full, and shows him to be
master of his business and successful as a dairyman. We think
his recipe for making cheese as good a one as we have ever
met with, and worthy of commendation.

Mr. Dresser's experiment on making butter is a very good
one. He made in June about nine pounds to a cow, and in
September seven and one-half pounds to a cow, per week, with-
out extra feed. His cows were the handsomest blooded ones
on the ground, and added much to our exhibition. The com-
mittee would have been highly pleased, if, accompanying his
statement, there had been a full account of his process in
making butter.

In closing this report, we cannot refrain from alluding to the
importance of still greater improvement in this department of
agriculture. The products of the cow add much to the neces-
saries and luxuries of life. Milk and butter are indispensable in
the department of cooking; and upon the table there is nothing
sought for with more care, and enjoyed with better relish, than
good milk, butter, and cheese. Berkshire has been celebrated
many years for her good butter and cheese ; but there has been
a marked improvement the last twenty years, both in quantity
and quality. There has been an increase from three hundred
to five hundred pounds and upwards to a cow. There is more
system in manufacturing cheese, more care in raising good
milkers, and greater attention to learn the best manner of
management, so as to derive the greatest possible profit.
Much depends upon the feed, and as much in the manner of
feeding. A good milker will always repay the extra feed and

MILCH COWS. 339

good care. She should never be under restraint or receive
harsh treatment. Grass is the most natural food for milk. A
little meal gives heart to the cow, and adds to the quantity and
quality of the milk.

The so called native stock, or a cross of one-quarter Durham, is
generally liked best by our dairymen. High-blooded cows arc
but little sought after. A handsome, well-built cow is not a
certain indication of a good milker; broad hips and heavy
hind quarters are one of the requisites to a good cow. Some
of our most ordinary -looking cows prove the best milkers. A
good cow for milk will, in almost all instances, grow poor in
flesh during the time of a good flow of milk, and will have the
appearance of a hard-worked ox in the fall; and the best of
care and good feeding will not prevent her losing flesh, al-
though they may keep her in good condition. This is a true
and reliable indication of a valuable cow. The food increases
the milk instead of the flesh; but when cows are dry, they in-
crease in flesh very fast. The dairymen of Berkshire are be-
coming good judges of cows, and are skilful in their selections.
A poor cow will run a man in debt; while a good cow is profit-
able to every family.

The committee very much regret that there were no more than
four competitors. It was owing to its not being fully understood
by our dairymen in season to commence their experiments.
We have a large number of dairymen in our county. Had they
all become competitors, they would have stood as good a
chance as those who carried off the prizes ; and should another
opportunity be presented, the number of competitors would be
large.

While we investigate any of the departments of agriculture,
we find that improvement is becoming a characteristic of our
farmers, and that the great bustle and onward march of the
age is not independent of their aid and cooperation. They
are the true stability, and on them depends the prosperity of
our country, for they arc the producers. How important, there-
fore, and honorable their calling! And while the mechanic
and manufacturer are in deep study to investigate and make
improvements in their calling, and the philosopher and vigilant
student in solving problems in Nature and opening wide the

340 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE.

laboratory of Science, may not the husbandman, too, participate
in the stirring events of the age, and, by the aid of science and
practical experiments, learn to reclaim his farm, and produce
two spires of grass where but one grows now ?

Most respectfully submitted,

Justus Tower, Chairman.

Lanesboeo', October 26, 1854.

HOUSATONIC.

From the Report of the Committee.

The subject presented for the consideration of this commit-
tee is one of vast and increasing importance to the farmers of
Berkshire County ; and we could wish it had fallen to abler
hands to decide its merits, and present the subject in its true
lidit before the members of this association.

Although we cannot compete successfully with our neighbors
of the vast west in the raising of grain to any great extent,
yet we may rely upon the productions of the cow, and find a
ready market at home for our improved stock, butter and
cheese. These facts, we doubt not, are understood by most
farmers ; and hence the great increase in the number of cows
within the limits of this society. • But it is evident that there
are other facts, which, although known, are not applied and
brought into practice to such an extent as the importance of
the subject demands. We refer to the difference in value be-
tween a good cow and an ordinary one, and the importance of
breeding from stock possessing high milking qualities ; and it
will not be disputed that, while a good cow may have a bad
calf, a poor cow is much more likely to have one. "We will not
attempt to prescribe rules or define marks for the breeding
and selection of cows, but venture the assertion, that, no indi-
vidual who has observed closely, and has bred and selected
with reference to good qualities, has failed to find his reward.
Neither do we attempt to give the comparative value of a good
cow and an ordinary one ; but usually the difference in value is
far more than the difference in price.

MILCH COWS. 341

The whole number of entries for cows was twenty-three —
all good ones ; and your committee regret that the means of
the society do not allow them to do justice to all the competi-
tors.

The whole number of entries of heifers having had calves
was eight. There were none of an inferior quality, and all of
them of superior merit, of comparatively large size, and of
great beauty of form and color. They presented a gratifying
improvement over previous years.

Elias Wright, Chairman.

NORFOLK.

From the Report of the Committee.

The Committee on Milch Cows have the satisfaction to report
at this time that the contribution of stock, both in numbers
and in point of excellence, has been superior to that of any
former year. The whole number entered for premium was
twenty-one. And although in this respect we may not suffer in
comparison with older societies, still we cannot but feel that it
is not what it should be, nor what we have a right to expect
from Norfolk County ; for, considering the ability and means
that we so largely possess, together with the great inducements
in a pecuniary point of view, it is but fair to say that we should
equal at least, if not excel, any other county; for by our near
proximity to the Boston market, together with those in our own
immediate neighborhoods, we are enabled to realize as large, if
not a larger, profit from the dairy, either by the sale of butter
or milk, than almost any other section of the State. And cou-
pled, too, with this, is another important consideration ; which is
the high price of good selected stock in our vicinity, enabling
the farmer to go extensively and profitably into the rear-
ing of blood and native stock of the very best that this or
any other country affords. The supply of choice milch cowe for
sale never equals the demand. We are now importing from
abroad blood stock at a cost of from two hundred to three hun-
dred dollars per head, not a whit better than can be bred at
home for half that money. It is with pleasure, however, that

342 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE.

we can say that an interest is being awakened in this behalf,
both as a matter of profit as well as for the gratification it af-
fords. Much valuable stock is now being introduced that will
be a credit to our county.

In the report of last year the committee endeavored to show
the great importance attached to the care and keeping of stock,
inasmuch as, by a proper regard to these, in the way of gentle
treatment and judicious feeding, an ordinary quality of stock
even may be so benefited and improved as to become profitable ;
while, on the other hand, by neglect of these, a stock possessing
a high degree of excellence naturally may be so impaired and
injured as to render it not only unattractive to the taste,
but, as a matter of business, unprofitable and disastrous in its
results.

As has been before stated, the exhibition, in point of excel-
lence, as a whole, may be considered superior to that of any
former year. Very fine specimens were presented of the Jer-
sey, Devon, Ayrshire, Durham, and native stock. But it would
perhaps be presumptuous, at any rate hazardous, to venture a
decision as to which particular breed is entitled to the largest
share of credit and confidence, inasmuch as each has its pe-
culiar characteristics, as well as its ardent admirers. We
will be content to give a passing notice of some of the most
prominent.

And first, it may be said that the Jerseys are growing very
much in favor in this vicinity. And although in quantity their
yield of milk may fall below the average of any other breed,
yet in quality it probably vastly excels all ; so that this alone,
other things being equal, must give this breed a commanding
prominence with stock growers. Some very fine specimens
were presented by Mr. Edward King, of Dorchester, Dr.
Morton, of West Needham, and Mr. C. L. Cunningham, of Wil-
ton. Those owned by Dr. Morton had not been in his posses-
sion long enough to entitle him to the society's premiums ; but,
in view of their beautiful proportions and apparent merit, the
committee have awarded a gratuity.

Of the Dcvons, there is much to be said in their favor.
They arc good feeders, of hardy constitution, and generally
very handsome in their proportions. For the yoke, this breed

MILCn COWS. 343

i3 probably unequalled by any other; and for the dairy, partic-
ularly in the product of batter, they may lie said to take a high
stand: but their yield of milk, in quantity, as a general thing,
•will fall below either that of the Ayrshire or Durham. Benja-
min V. French, Esq., of Braintree, exhibited a fine specimen of
the Devon, and also a grade cow of great apparent excellence,
Loth of which, from the representations given, entitle them to
a very hfgh rank in the class to which they respectively be-
.

Of the Ayrshire, some very fine specimens were exhibited by
Mr. Samuel J. Capcn, of Dorchester. It may be said perhaps
with great truth of this breed, that, as a whole, they are prob-
ably not excelled in their yield of milk by any other. They
are hardy, easy to keep, and generally docile and of good pro-
portion.

The Durham s presented by Mr. Capen were also possessed
of much excellence. This is a breed of large growth, and gen-
erally require, to produce an equal quantity of milk, a more
generous feed than perhaps any other breed ; but by attention
and liberality in this respect they may be made to yield in
full proportion to their extra cost of keeping. Appended is a
statement from Mr. Capcn of the yield of one of his cows, to
which we have awarded the first premium. Enoch Train, Esq.,
of Dorchester, presented a Durham cow and calf of high ap-
parent rank ; but as no written statement was submitted as to
her yield, she was necessarily placed under another list of the
society's premiums. Of the native and grades, some very fine
animals were on exhibition.

Thus the committee have passed upon the different breeds
without, as before said, feeling especially called upon to
give an opinion as to which, all things considered, is entitled to
the highest rank. Each has its peculiarities; and what by
some would be considered a defect, would by others be over-
looked as of no importance or objection ; but that some breeds,
taken as a whole, do possess substantial advantages over
others, is a fact that, in the opinion of the committee, cannot
be denied ; and hence grows the necessity of a judicious selec-
tion, not only of a particular breed, but the most desirable and

344 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE.

valuable animal in each of its respective breeds; for upon this,
in a great measure, depends the success of the stock-grower or
milk-producer.

Competitors should be reminded that, under the head of
': Milch Cows," where the product of milk or butter is the cri-
terion upon which to decide of their merit, that, by the rule of
the society, a written statement is required in relation thereto ;
and in no case have the committee awarded a premium where a
compliance with this rule has been neglected ; so that, of the
twenty-one on exhibition, only four were put into this list, from
the fact that only four statements in writing were submitted,
excluding, undoubtedly, stock of high rank, and that, but for
this omission, would have been placed in competition, under
this head, for the society's premiums. It is to be hoped that
this will be remedied in future.

For, stock, under the head of the different breeds, no certifi-
cate is required ; but here, even, it would be of great service,
inasmuch as the committee are obliged to rely almost entirely
upon their own judgment and observation ; and in very many
cases, where the stock to be passed upon would seem to be of
nearly equal worth, it must be obvious that to discriminate and
judge justly is a most difficult undertaking. The number and
amount of premiums at the disposal of the committee may be
said to be liberal; yet we have indulged somewhat largely in
the award of gratuities ; it is believed, however, only in pro-
portion to the amount of excellence of the stock exhibited.

There are other points that might be dwelt upon with profit
in connection with this subject, but which, perhaps, would be
more proper to come from some other source and in some
other form. It is to be hoped that an elaborate and well-de-
fined theory may be presented at some future time by the so-
ciety upon the selection of breed, rearing and mode of keeping
milch cows. At present there is so much difference of opinion
upon these points, among even our most prominent and well-in-
formed stock owners, that the conclusions to be arrived at arc
confused and unsatisfactory. There is also the subject of the
comparative value of roots for winter feed with that of corn or
other meal. It would be doing good service to have these, and

MILCH cows.

other points that might be named in connection with the sub-
ject, considered and reported upon to the society.

John IT. Robinson, Chairman.

Statement of Mr. Capen.

The cow offered for premium by me is of the Durham breed,
nine years old. She calved on the 30th of September, 1853.
From the 15th to the 25th of the next October she averaged
twenty-four quarts of milk per day, weighing fifty-four pounds.
She was fed on grass and two quarts of meal and four quarts
of shorts per day. From the 15th to the 25th of January she
averaged sixteen quarts of milk per day.

Dorchester, September 2G, 1854.

Statement of Mr. King.

The Aldcrncy heifer exhibited by me I imported in July,
1853. She had a very long passage, (over fifty-five days,) and
was extremely low in flesh on her arrival. She dropped her
calf February 1, 1854, which is also on exhibition. I think,
from observation, she is a fine specimen of the breed. The
quantity of milk which she has produced from February 1 to
September 25 averages a fraction over nine and a half quarts
per day. I am not able to state the quantity of milk to make
one pound of butter; but this I will vouch, that a quart of her
milk will yield much more cream than any cow I ever owned or
ever knew.

Dorchester, September 2G, 1851.

BRISTOL.

From the Report of the Committee.

The committee call particular attention to the rules of the
society respecting milch cows. At the recent show only five
exhibitors placed in the hands of the committee statements
concerning the yield in milk of their cows ; and of these five

44*

346 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE.

only two — Mr. Allen, of Attleborough, and Mrs. Andrews, of
Dartmouth — testified as to the butter qualities of their cows.
It is absolutely necessary that the committee receive evidence
of the quality of the milk ; for upon that, rather than its quan-
tity, must they rely to form a true opinion upon the merits of
a dairy cow. The yield in milk can be increased by certain
descriptions of feed to an almost incredible extent; but the
cream, the truly valuable part of the milk, cannot be increased
proportionably.

The committee were much interested in examining a lot of
some fourteen cows exhibited by several persons, but all bred
by Benjamin Rodman in New Bedford. These cows present
a uniformity in points of excellence and general appearance
that would be extraordinary if we attributed their resemblance
to one another to mere accident ; but it is easily understood by
any one who has been accustomed to consider the value of at-
tention and adherence to blood. The character of this family
of stock has been established and maintained for many years.
The cows are almost invariably good milkers, produce superior
butter, and command good prices.

The feeling that a knowledge of the means by which one
man has produced a desirable result can but be serviceable to
others, warrants, your committee believe, a particular notice
of a family of stock which has long maintained a good reputa-
tion, and, being reared in the county, can at any time be exam-
ined by all who desire to inform themselves of its merits.

The stock of Mr. Rodman presents to the farmer a plain,
practical lesson on the value of blood.

Some twenty-five years ago Mr. R. owned a valuable Alder-
ney cow. This cow was bred to Devonshire, a thorough-bred
short-horn bull, imported by Mr. Rodman from the (at that
time) famous herd of Mr. Whitakcr, one of the most distin-
guished breeders in England. The produce of this cross was
a cow which lived to a great age, and was invaluable as a dairy
cow. From herself and her first calf, by Carlos, arc descended
all the animals of this family which we saw at the recent show.
They were got by Ayrshire bulls of acknowledged excellence.
The two original cows were alive until very recently. Neither
of them overproduced an indifferent milker; and their dairy

WORKING OXEN. 347

qualities have been transmitted to their descendants even dis-
tantly removed. From Whitaker's Bhort-horna they inherit

deep milking qualities; and from the Aldcrncy, cream of rich
color and delicious quality. Can the same be said of any yard
whose owners have depended upon chance cows and drove
bulls?

C. A. Church, Chairman.

WORKING OXEN,

ESSEX.

From the Report of the Committee.

The committee, in witnessing the performances, were con-
vinced that it is not best, in order to test the merits of the
oxen, that too heavy a load should be put to them, but one of
such weight as to be hauled comfortably without too much
forcing, and then the committee will be enabled the better to
judge of their training.

The committee are sensible that many inconveniences attend
the trial of working oxen at the time now appropriated for that
purpose. It comes immediately after the ploughing match, and
many of the oxen that are engaged in that are to compete in
the trial of drawing; and, coming as it does in the middle and
heat of the day, those cattle that have ploughed are not in
the condition to compete with those that have not been thus
exercised. Therefore those that come fresh to the work have
the advantage over the others. There were many other incon-
veniences that arose in the minds of the committee; and if the
exhibition in future is to continue two days, they would inquire
whether an alteration of the time for the trial of working oxen
is not worthy of consideration.

Nathan Tat-ley, Chairman.

348 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE.

HAMPDEN.

From the Report of the Committee.

The committee feel warranted in the assertion, that scarcely
a single part of an agricultural exhibition is calculated to excite
more attention, or is in itself more worthy of it, than long lines
of thrifty and noble-looking working oxen. Town teams fur-
nish one of the tangible indications of the standard of enter-
prise and improvement attained by the farmers of a town, ex-
hibiting their progress in the same ratio that single entries of
oxen show that of individuals. If it be an honor for one farmer
in a town to excel in the exhibition of oxen worthy of premium,
your committee deem it a far greater credit for a town to win
public award, inasmuch as it gives pleasing evidence that the
worth and valuable labors of the ox are suitably appreciated.

Alvin Fowler, Chairman.

FRANKLIN.

Report of the Committee.

The Committee on Teams have to report that but four teams
were exhibited, and only three of those came within the rules
of the society as competitors for premiums — that is, numbering
twenty yoke.

The rain storm doubtless prevented other towns from par-
ticipating in the chances for premiums, thus adding greater in-
terest to the exhibition.

The one hundred and twelve yoke from Dccrficld, Shclburne.
Bernardston, and Montague, all showed great excellence ; many
yoke were very superior, and doubtless received due praise
from the various committees on cattle for the stall and for fat
cattle.

Your committee arc unanimous in the opinion that the soci-
ety is now old enough and strong cnougli to class the neat
cattle equitably and satisfactorily; and they would most re-
spectfully suggest the propriety of lessening the number of
yoke to draw premiums, and, in future, of classing town teams as

WORKING OXEN. 349

working oxen ; for it is manifest that most of our farmers do
not feci any inducement to compete with a few towns, who can
cheaply send their fat cattle, and make, in the words of the so-
ciety, " the best string of twenty yoke."

All that can be done should be, to induce our farmers to
appreciate duly the great importance of exhibiting annually
from every town in the county a sample of their best oxen
before their natural forms are concealed by fat, when they
are, in farmers' phrase, " in working order."

Of so much importance have well-formed working and other
cattle been deemed by the French, that, at their first agricul-
tural exhibition in 1850, fat cattle were entirely excluded; and
the competition, so far as animals were concerned, was confined
to breeding stocks and male and female horned cattle. The
result is, the French shows from the first have been continu-
ally progressive. This success a recent English agricultural
writer attributes to the fact that the French have wisely
avoided the English error of bestowing too great a share of
attention to over-fed stock— an error which the writer says
brought much well-founded censure and ridicule upon the Roy-
al Agricultural Show in England respecting the neat cattle
there exhibited.

Our National Society, at its exhibition of cattle this month in
Springfield, Ohio, in its instructions to judges, says, "We have
the greatest regard to the symmetry, early maturity and size, and
the judges are expressly required not to give encouragement
to over-fed animals."

Your committee hope that every town in the county will, in
future, be represented by at least twenty oxen in working con-
dition. Surely the farmer raises no animal in favor of which
so much can be said, nearly all of whose parts, with scarcely a
particle of loss, can be applied to some useful purpose. In no
way so cheaply and so conveniently as by such a representa-
tion from every town in the county can our farmers and cattle
dealers judge which town in Franklin has oxen the best for
work, the best in form and color, the best profitably to make
''the most blood for chemical uses, the most hair for the use
of the mason, the most fat for tallow, hide for leather, horn

350 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE.

and bones for combs, knife-handles, ivory-black and manure,
and the best flesh, the most substantial of all our dishes."

Your committee do not desire to have fat cattle excluded
from our exhibitions or premiums : they only desire greater
attention should be paid to, and a greater interest manifested
in, town teams or working oxen.

Henry W. Clapp, Chairman.

FAT CATTLE.

HAMPDEN.

From the Report of the Committee.

The committee are unwilling to permit the opportunity to
pass without calling the attention of the farmer to the impor-
tant subject suggested by an inspection of these animals.
Hampden County has for years furnished her full proportion
of first-class cattle for the New England markets ; but this can
be done in future only by selecting the purest stock from which
to rear our supply. The question, therefore, as to what breeds
are most valuable for this purpose, is one of vital importance,
and should enlist the most careful investigation ; so that every
farming man or boy who undertakes to rear a yoke of oxen
will be thus enabled to make a judicious selection from those
steers whose well-proportioned and perfect forms will best in-
sure a compensating return for the labor and expense bestowed
upon them. It must be admitted by every intelligent and prac-
tical observer that any requisite or given quantity of hay or
meal fed to cattle of this description will produce a much
greater percentage of profit than when fed to small, ill-shaped,
and disproportioncd stock, which, like the lean kine in Pha-
raoh's dream, will consume years of plenty, and be, after all, of
little value. The selection of the best stock for maintaining an
improved supply that will be equal to the demands of our day
is therefore an indispensable condition of success.

Cyrus Frink, Chairman.

FAT CATTLE. 351

FRANKLIN.

From the Report of the Committee.

The great secret of successful feeding is to produce the
largest amount of the best beef at the least expense; and to
obtain the information necessary to accomplish this, or a near
approximation to it, we must have the combined experience of
a large number of the most successful feeders. That this infor-
mation may be in the hands of all our farmers, we "would rec-
ommend to all competitors for premiums to furnish for the
committees an accurate statement of their mode of feeding from
calves, if raised by themselves, till their animals are fitted for
the stall. The meagre statements that were furnished for the
committee we consider of but little value ; but a well-defined
account of their whole treatment and mode of raising we think
would be of great practical importance.

The committee, in their reports, may tell you how a thing
may be done ; but we would rather be told how a thing has been
done. .

There were seven pairs of oxen presented to the committee
for premiums whose average weight was four thousand and fif-
teen pounds per pair, all good cattle. There was a pair of five-
year-old steers presented by Samuel Fisk, of Shelburne, whose
peers it would be difficult to find, the expense of raising which,
as stated by Mr. Fisk, besides hay and pasturage, could not
exceed fifteen dollars. They were worked till the 1st of June
last; weight four thousand three hundred and ten pounds.
Moses Stebbins, of Deerfield, presented a fine pair of seven-
year-old cattle, whose weight was four thousand two hundred
and seventy-five pounds. D. D. and J. Whittemorc, Jr., of
Whately, and Almond DeWolf, of Deerfield, presented each a
fine pair of five-year-old cattle. Whittcmore's weighed four thou-
sand and eighty pounds; DeWolf's four thousand and thirty
pounds. Upon the last two pairs the committee were divided —
two to three.

Joseph Anderson, Chain nan.

352 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE.

BRISTOL.

From the Report of the Committee.

Although perhaps not quite in the line of our dutj^, we would
suggest to those engaged in the business of raising beef the
propriety and profitableness of planting such root crops as
ruta-bagas, turnips, beets, &c, sufficiently early in spring to
meet such an emergency as has occurred the past summer, and
is more or less liable to occur every year. By so doing, farm-
ers would be enabled to provide their stock with an abundance
of succulent food in a time when it is much needed, and the
quantity and quality of the beef would be much increased; and
they would be enabled to get their cattle to market earlier in
the season, and make a saving of hay and meal, the latter of
which has this year cost about twenty-five per cent, more than
usual.

Thomas Almy, Chairman.

nORSES.

ESSEX.

From the Report of the Committee.

The chairman of the committee, having paid considerable at-
tention to the breeding and rearing of valuable horses, docs
not*feel willing to leave a subject of such vital importance to
the agricultural community without making a few general re-
marks, hoping that they may be instrumental in improving the
character and condition of that much-abused and long-neglected,
yet patient and faithful, friend and servant of man. Until quite
recently, very little attention has been given to systematic
horse-breeding in this country; and the consequence is, that we
have few or no horses among us which can be considered strict-
ly reliable for the purposes of breeding. Most of our valuable
horses arc the direct descendants of English stock that has

IIORSES. 353

been bred with the utmost care and study for centuries; and
unless the strictest attention and judgment be given to the
crossing of these animals, they very soon lose their most desi-
rable qualities. Let us cross the best English stock with our
best native stock, and we can create a class of animals adapted
to our peculiar wants.

There arc, at the present time, three prominent classes of
horses in great demand with us. First, the gentleman's and
business man's elegant, fast-trotting, powerful roadster, which
can trot twelve or fourteen miles within the hour, or a single
mile inside of three minutes. Second, the farmer's horse-of-all-
work, which can plough, reap, mow, and go to mill and to meet-
ing. Third, the slow, heavy, stout, and steady puller, which,
whether hitched to the stone drag, the railroad car, or even to
the trunk of an oak tree, is sure to start at the word. Each
of these classes differs very materially from the others, and
should never be crossed with each other.

The fast and elegant trotting horse, whose pedigree proves
him to have been bred from trotting stock for several genera-
tions, when crossed with a mare of similar qualities seldom or
never fails to communicate to the offspring the qualities of the
parent. But when the fleet roadster is crossed with the draught
horse the offspring is neither a roadster nor a draught horse,
but a miserable, uncomfortable, and useless thing. Such
colts are almost invariably foaled with an overgrown body,
and with legs altogether too light and weak to support it.
Being consequently too lazy or too clumsy for the carriage, too
feeble or too nervous for the plough or the drag, they pass their
whole lives in the hands of jockeys, and are " dickered " from
one to another, till at last death comes to their relief and con-
signs them to their proper receptacle — the compost heap.

It is as easy to raise a good horse as a bad one, and a thou-
sand times more agreeable, as every one who has tried it knows.
But, in order to do this, we must be sure upon the start that
the fountains are pure, or all is labor lost, and worse than lost.
If we wish to raise a perfect colt, we should shun the mare or
horse which has a spavin, ringbone, curl, chest-founder, con-
tracted feet, or any disorder that is capable of being transmit-
ted to the offspring. Many will say that they have raised sound

45*

354 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE.

colts from unsound stock. But be not deceived by such state-
ments. The principles of breeding are fixed and immutable ;
" like will produce like ; " and although a sound foal may
occasionally be dropped from an unsound mare, yet the unsound-
ness is born in his flesh and is lurking in his veins, and sooner
or later will start out and claim its victim. Where one escapes
a hundred fall. Breed from sound stock, and nothing else.

In regard to the class of horses that command the highest
prices in the market there can be but one opinion. It is un-
questionably the class of fast-trotting horses ; and in support
of this assertion I have only to say that there are at this mo-
ment, within four miles of Boston, three horses, whose respec-
tive prices are three thousand, five thousand, and seven thou-
sand dollars. I refer to the "Black Hawk Maid," "Know
Nothing," and " Ethan Allen," all of which are colts of the Ver-
mont "Black Hawk," which, take him for all in all, the world
never produced his equal. He has proved himself the horse
of horses, the ne plus ultra of the equine race. Breeders
who are raising colts of his get out of sound, fast, well-formed
and good-blooded mares, may rest assured that they have ani-
mals of no ordinary value.

We are now living in the age of steam and electricity. It
is emphatically a fast age. The days of slowcoaches are past
and gone ; and the stubborn man who still persists in driving
his own slow team is left to experience chagrin and mortifica-
tion when he finds himself distanced and doubly distanced by
the fast nags that shoot in ahead of him. There is most un-
questionably a growing demand throughout the country, by all
classes, for elegant and fleet horses. Time was when the
demand came only from the fancy and sporting circles: but it
is not so now. It is no uncommon thing for merchants and
professional men in our large cities to pay a thousand dollars
for a horse ; and the demand is more than equal to the supply,
even at such prices.

Years ago, when railroads were first going into operation,
we were told that there would be no more call for roadsters;
but, from that time to the present, no man has ever seen the
day when the supply of licet roadsters was equal to the de-
mand. Unlike almost every thing else, a good horse can

HORSES. 355

always find a purchaser. The saying, that " a good horse will
always sell," has become proverbial ; and I candidly believe
that if a Horse Breeders' Joint Stock Company should be
organized, with a capital of one hundred thousand dollars, and
managed by skilful and experienced breeders, it could lie made
to declare in a few years larger dividends than any cotton or
woollen manufactory in the country with the same amount of
capital.

I have been informed by the owner of Black Hawk that
he has for several years received annually for the services of
that horse upwards of twenty-five hundred dollars, which would
be the interest of more than forty thousand dollars. The cele-
brated mare Lady Suffolk has just dropped a foal sired by
Black Hawk; and I have not the least doubt that the owner of
this colt could receive for it, as soon as it is weaned, one of
the best farms in Vermont. Lady Suffolk and Black Hawk are
both American bred horses, strongly tinctured with English
blood, and are probably the best horses in the world. But
there is no reason why others cannot be raised which shall
equal, or even surpass, them ; and if breeders will go to work
systematically, and use as much capital, judgment, skill, and
experience as are used in most branches of business, they can-
not fail to be amply remunerated.

Why will not some of our wealthy Essex County farmers, who
are fond of making good investments, show us at our next
agricultural exhibition one of the best stallions that can be
bought in America ? — such a one, for instance, as will answer
the following description : His weight must be not less than
one thousand pounds, nor over eleven hundred pounds. For
color, black, bay, or chestnut would be preferable, without a
white hair, if possible. His age may be any where inside of
twenty years, if healthy and vigorous. He must have a sharp
ear, bold eye, placed low down in the head, wide forehead,
large nostril, sharp shoulder, long, wide hip, sloping gradually
towards the tail, full across the loins, full breast, wide knee,
low hock, wide, flat cannon, pastern tolerably long, hoof wide,
but not flat. He must be able to trot a mile in two minutes
and forty seconds; and his pedigree must be traced back
through five generations, all from stock of good blood and per-

356 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE.

fectly sound. If such a horse were brought into this county
he could easily earn two thousand dollars per year, and would
be to the agricultural community of inestimable advantage and
value.

I am aware that some conservative friends of agriculture
(judging from the tenor of my remarks) will pronounce me a
fast reporter. And, in reply, I have only to say that my aim
has been simply to point out to the breeder the safest course
for him to pursue, so far as the investment of his money is
concerned. This mania for speed may result in good or evil,
according to the use or abuse that may be made of it.

Josiah Crosby, Chairman.

WORCESTER.

From the Report of the Committee.

It is only within a very few years that the attention of our
farmers has been turned to the breeding of horses, or that any
exhibition of which the society would not be ashamed could be
produced in the class of breeding mares and colts ; but now,
all over New England, an unparalleled interest has been ex-
cited, and no agricultural fair is thought worthy a moment's
notice which has not provided the means to show and test the
qualities of the horses and colts. Our society, ever watchful
of the interest of the agriculturist, in whatever channel his
efforts shall be turned, has, just at the right time, lent its aid
to this branch of his production, and has offered him the same
tangible inducements to excel in this as in any other depart-
ment of his skill and labor.

The forty-one entries which this year appear on the list of
the committee show, on the part of the farmers, that their
efforts are appreciated, and give an earnest that the third year's
show will exceed the present as much as this has the first ; and,
for the credit of the exhibitors and further encouragement of
the society, your committee would distinctly state that not a
single animal has been entered for their examination which did
not reflect credit upon its owner and upon the society which
we represent.

HORSES. 357

Besides the increasing interest which this year's exhibition
manifested in the rearing of fine horses, the committee notice
with great pleasure the pains taken by the exhibitors to breed
their mares to stallions of substantial (Qualities, good pedigree,
and superior speed and strength.

Not a single weedy, leggy full-blood has been represented
here to-day. And though the committee would by no means
decry blood as the bar to all improvement in stock, yet for
trotting stock, which is the sole staple of our market, too close
breeding to racing stock has not shown sufficient substance
and constitution to answer the demand of the New England
breeder, whose object must be, the production of that race of
stout-limbed, hard}7, compact roadsters, known the whole world
over as American fliers and Yankee trotting horses.

Rufds Woodward, Chairman.

BERKSHIRE.

From the Report of the Committee.

The Committee on Horses present the following report : —

There was an unusually large number of horses entered for
premium this year, plainly showing the increased interest in
the rearing and training of this- noble animal.

There were three stud horses, fifteen single horses, and sev-
enteen pairs of horses, in all fifty-two horses, entered and com-
peting for seven premiums.

The committee consider it the best show of horses ever
exhibited here, and feel that possibly they may have erred in
giving their awards ; but it must be considered that it was ex-
tremely difficult, with the limited time they had, to satisfy
themselves fully as to the merits of so many horses. The
number of premiums may be thought quite too small for so large
an entry as was exhibited the present year ; but the bringing
together of so many fine animals, and exhibiting them to the
public, is of far more value than the mere award of a premium.
The community cannot be otherwise than benefited by such a
show.

Socrates Squier, Chairman.

358 ' MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE.

HOUSATONIC.

From the Report of the Committee.

The exhibition of this year in our department was better
than ever before. The entries were far more numerous than
usual ; and, in point of quality, we think our horses will suc-
cessfully compete with those of more pretentious exhibitions.

In awarding premiums upon the fine display of carriage
horses, we have regarded age, style, speed, size, action, train-
ing, and general movement. Many pairs of horses may show
finely in a half day's exhibition, and still give manifest evi-
dence of the want of essential excellence and value. Of car-
riage horses there were six entries ; and your committee had
much difficulty in coming to a satisfactory result when called
upon to select for superior excellence.

Of farm horses there were sixteen entries, many of the span
of marked superiority. We regarded all those combined
qualities which to some extent, independent of merely showy
characteristics, would render them practically useful and valu-
able harnessed to the wagon, the plough, the sled, or the car-
riage, for market or meeting. We ask, for easy and manage-
able action, strength and endurance, combined with the well-
known points which give value to the matched team, whether
designed for the uses of pleasure, convenience, or simply agri-
cultural labor.

Of single horses there were seven, and of single marcs eight,
entries.

The beautiful and convenient grounds now provided for the
exhibition, and, we are proud to say, the property of the
society, afforded the best opportunity to display horses ; while
the race track gave " ample room and verge enough " to show
their speed and movement. We doubt not that many of the
horses exhibited to which we have awarded no premiums might
make "better time" than some more successful; but, with all
deference to the sports of the turf, we shall not be called upon
to make that clement alone our criterion until our friends and
brother farmers exchange their day books for betting books ;
which may Ileavcn forbid.

Joel Baldwin, Chairman.

SHEEP. 359

SHEEP.

ESSEX.

Report of the Committee.

There were three entries of sheep, two of which only were
for premium. A lot of Chinese lambs were presented for
exhibition by Wm. and T. Johnson, of North Andovcr. They
were dropped on board the ship Fleetwood, on her passage
home from Shanghae, when seventy days at sea. These lambs
evidently have no relationship to either of the varieties of fat-
rnmped sheep which prevail in China, but belong to a class of
sheep smaller in size, lighter in carcass, shorter in the leg, and
more European in character. They produce a tolerably fine,
and in that country very useful, long wool. The committee
saw nothing in them to recommend above our own sheep.
They are peculiar for their fecundity; but, in a country where
sheep are generally so poorly fed that they are hardly able to
mature one fat lamb, this may be an objection rather than a
recommendation.

A buck and ewe, (imported from Seville in 1853,) with twin
lambs and a pair of twin cossets of the same breed, were pre-
sented for premium by Jarvis Slade, of North Andover. These
belong to the division of Spanish sheep termed stationary, and
are of the Chunab breed, entirely different and distinct from
the merino. In fact they are their antipodes — being taller,
larger, with heads smaller and free of wool. The staple of
their wool, indeed, approaches very near to hair, being six or
eight inches in length, almost devoid of curve, and consequently
of very inferior quality. This breed of sheep exists along
with the merino throughout the entire extent of Spain, but has
never been introduced either into England or the United States,
except as an object of curiosity. Being regarded by the com-
mittee in that light, and not as a breed profitable to be adopted,
they do not recommend them as entitled to a premium. The
owner, however, should have the thanks of the society for
adding so much to the interest of the show.

The other lot of sheep (a buck and ten ewes) were pre-

3G0 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE.

scnted by Jacob Farnum, of the same place. These ewes pos-
sessed no extraordinary merit; but Mr. Farnum had begun to
show a disposition to improve in the selection of his buck.
He was half South Down. We can tell Mr. Farnum that he
would do a great deal better should he procure a full-blood
South Down buck. Then probably most or all of his lambs
would be as good as the buck he now has, while the get of
his half-blood will be very uncertain in character. For this
slight disposition to improve, and because your committee be-
lieve that the raising and keeping of sheep should be encour-
aged in this county, they recommend that the first premium of
six dollars be awarded to Mr. Farnum.

Upon the subject of sheep husbandry, so far as our county
is concerned, the committee feel bound to say a word. The
first question to be answered is, whether the raising of sheep
is profitable or not. If we theorize only upon the matter, we
shall answer the question in the affirmative. Sheep demand
less care than any of the domestic animals; and therefore less
labor, in comparison, is needed for them than for any other
stock. They are less dainty than any other animals — feeding,
as experiments show, upon one hundred and more species of
plants which cattle and horses refuse. They must, therefore,
improve pastures by clearing away many foul and useless
weeds and plants which cattle avoid. The tastes of men have
changed somewhat; and the meat of sheep, whether lamb or
mutton, is in much more demand than formerly. Their carcasses,
therefore, must meet a ready sale at remunerating prices.

But why speculate upon a matter which is capable of proof?
— and that, too, by the best evidence possible — the testimony
of experience. This testimony is all one way, so far as the
information of your committee extends ; and that is, that sheep
arc very profitable animals in Essex County to the general
farmer. Not only has this been the case since the demand for
lamb and mutton has increased and the prices of wool have
sometimes ranged high, but, taking all things into the account,
it has always been true. A member of our Board of Trustees,
lately deceased, whose opinions always received, as they de-
served, great consideration, and were seldom found to be
wrong, used to say that a pasture which would carry twenty

SHEEP. 361

head of full-grown cattle, and for which that number was suf-
ficient, would carry twenty sheep besides, without detriment to
the cattle, and with positive benefit to the pasture. However
this may be, it is conceded on all hands that a small flock of
sheep are as pro Citable as any stock a farmer can keep. Admit
this to be so, and it is easy to make them far more profitable.

We have had heretofore, witlTvery few exceptions, what are
termed the old-fashioned breed of sheep — which is no breed at
alb or rather a mongrel intermingling of several breeds, some
with long wool, more with short wool, others between long and
short, but all of them deficient in what is most and perma-
nently profitable — to wit, weight of carcass. The raising- of
sheep for their wool mainly, or exclusively, must be left to dis-
tricts of country where pasturage abounds, and which are
remote from markets. With us the carcass is to be looked to
rather than the (leece. This deficiency of carcass can be en-
tirely remedied with very little trouble or expense. Sheep of
improved breeds, introduced from England by men of ample
means and enlarged views, have become so numerous that any
farmer can improve his Hock almost without money — certainly
at a very moderate price. The Leicesters and South Downs
or grade animals largely impregnated with their respective
blood, can be obtained any where, and any of them would give
increased value to the progeny of our ordinary sheep. The
Leicesters have long headed the list of English sheep ; but
recently either some of the less aristocratic families have
stolen a march upon them, or the taste of John Bull has
changed, for the mutton of the black-faced breeds is worth in
Smithfield market a halfpenny per pound more than the Leices-
ters. We take it that the English are the best judges; and,
following them, South Downs are to be recommended as more
valuable to us here than Leicesters. They certainly are to be
so recommended if the fashion of feeding, or more properly
starving, sheep, hitherto often practised, is to be continued; for
they have "a patience of occasional short keep, and an endur-
ance of hard stocking, equal to any other sheep."

But the best sheep (in the opinion of those of your commit-
tee who have seen them) which have yet been introduced to the
United States are those lately imported by Mr. Fay, of Lynn — a

46 •

362 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE.

gentleman to whom our society, for his pecuniary liberality, is
under many obligations, for the benefit of his suggestions, and
examples, far more. After very particular and extensive obser-
vation of different breeds and different flocks of the same
breed, Mr. Fay selected these as, in his opinion, the best
English sheep to send to his farm in Essex County, both for
profit and improvement. These sheep have been by him
named " Oxfordshire Downs." They are cross bred between
the Cotswold and pure South Down, inheriting from the former
a carcass exceeding in weight that of the South Down from
one-fifth to one-quarter, a fleece the fibre of which is some-
what coarser and stronger, it is true, but weightier than the
South Down by one-third to one-half; from the latter the
rotundity of form and fulness of muscle in the more valuable
parts, with the brown face and leg, so that they may not be
very inaptly termed South Downs enlarged and improved.
We should suppose that the live weight of either of Mr. Fay's
imported bucks would exceed two hundred pounds. The ewes
are larger than pure South Down ewes in like proportion.
"We recommend to those farmers of the county who are inter-
ested in sheep-breeding to look at these sheep. The sight
will well repay the expense of a visit from any part of the
Commonwealth.

With these various and abundant materials for improvement
within our reach, and with the certainty that the raising of
sheep, even unimproved, is profitable, we must be blind to our
interests not to take advantage of the opportunities within our
reach. Hundreds of acres of pasture land in the county
partially worn out, and full of shrubs which the cattle reject,
may be improved by stocking with sheep. At the same time
the animals themselves will probably pay a better profit than
any other farm stock.

There are two ojections sometimes urged against the breed-
ing of these useful animals. One is the risk of loss from dogs.
We have not time to go into a dissertation on dogs. Those
only arc valuable which remain at home. From such, properly
restrained, there i3 little danger. Roving dogs arc dangerous
and without value. To kill all such is doing injury to nobody,
but rendering their owners and the public a positive service.

SHEEP. 3G3

If farmers -would act in concert in this matter the risk of loss
from these nuisances would be very little, for the nuisances
themselves would be soon abated. The other objection is in-
sufficiency of fence. Formerly, when sheep in much larger
numbers than at present were kept in the county, our fathers
kept them within their own enclosures. It is but a poor com-
mentary on this age of improved farming to say that Ave can-
not keep in repair the fences which they built. And yet who-
ever travels over Essex County will be forced to admit its
truth. If our pastures are not fenced so as to secure sheep,
they ought to be. The improved breeds of sheep give us an
advantage in this respect, too ; for, being heavier than the old
racers, they do not leap fences half so readily, and arc, there-
fore, restrained with comparative ease.

Every farm is not adapted to sheep-breeding. Those best
adapted to the purpose are where there is an extent of ele-
vated pasture such as we see in all parts of the county, being
overrun with moss and worthless bushes. The improvement
of such would add much to the agricultural value of the county.
In the opinion of your committee, the stocking of sheep would
bring about this result.

In short, your committee recommend to every farmer, whose
land is adapted to them, to make trial of a few sheep. Give
them a fair chance in summer — bestow upon them moderate
care at all seasons; but at yeaning time give them your undi-
vided attention. Feed well afterwards, particularly if the
lambs are dropped early in the year; and we think they will
amply repay the pains and expense which may be bestowed
upon them.

T. E. Paysox, Chairman.

WORCESTER.

From the Report of the Committee.

«
The number and variety of this excellent and useful domes-
tic animal on exhibition were too limited to warrant an occasion
for boasting. It is hoped that the farming interest located in
the heart of the Commonwealth will look to it that stock so

364 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE.

susceptible of profit as an article of sale and of improvement
to soil will no longer be so sparse on our hills and about our
lawns, and that these peregrinating exterminators of ox-eye
daisy and St. John'swort shall find a welcome admission on
many of our degenerated pastures and fields.

These fleecy friends inhabit constantly the parks and lawns
of the larger land proprietors of France, England and Ger-
many, in close proximity to their residences. Why should we
expatriate them to the prairies of Illinois and the pastures of
the far West ? And now that the prices of mutton and beef
are assimilated, let the farmers of our county again try the
experiment of raising sheep for the carcass as well as for the
wool.

Submitted for the committee by

Peter T. Homer, Chairman.

FRANKLIN.

Report of the Committee.

There were but twelve, entries ; not as many by far as there
should have been, or as many as we hoped to see. We know
there are many very fine flocks both of line and coarse wool
sheep in this county, and wc regret that there were not more
specimens presented for exhibition. Those that were entered,
we arc happy to say, were of very good quality, consisting of
Silesians, Saxon, French and Spanish merino, South Downs, and
mixed breeds.

A statement from Thomas J. Field, of Northfield, of a flock
of three hundred and one fine wool sheep, shows the sale of
wool and increase of flock to amount in one year to $1,026.55.
Mr. Field also submitted a statement of sales of lambs from
some Lots of South Downs at five dollars each, and the wool,
which averaged about four pounds.

It is readily seen that there is great profit in raising either
of the above-mentioned breeds of sheep ; ami we wish the farm-
ers of Franklin County would give more attention to them

SHEEP. 365

than they have heretofore. If there is profit in raising any
kind of stock, (and we arc sure there is,) it is raising a flock
of good, not ordinary, shoe]).

There were no entries either for the shambles or stall feed-
ing. Of course we could award no premiums to those classes.
We regret it; for we know there are many very fine sheep in
our immediate vicinity which would have given a creditable
representation for both the stall and the shambles.

Charles Pomeroy, Chairman.

Statement of Thomas J. Field.

Flock March 1, 1853: —
100 ewes, .......

40 " old ones,

160 yearlings and two-year-olds, .

1 buck, .......

$400 00

120

00

400

00

80

00

$1,000 00
Sold :—

61 fat sheep for the market, after shearing,

50 old ewes, in October, ....

1,101 lbs. of wool,

$912 55
Deducting cost of a cosset bought, that was sold

with the 61, 10 00

186

00

121

00

605

55

$902 55

March 1, 1854:—
134 ewes, .... $536 00
38 fat sheep, . . .133 00
142 yearlings and two-year-olds, 355 00
3 bucks, .... 100 00— $1,124 00

Cr. For increased value of flock, . . . 124 00

Total, $1,026 55

366 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE.

My increased value was mostly on account of my having no
old ewes and from my fat wethers. Had the year been out in
April after I had sold my fat sheep, instead of March, it would
have given me $39 more gain on my flock.

SWINE.

ESSEX.

From the Report of the Committee.

The Committee on Swine regard the duty of awarding pre-
miums upon the animals presented for their inspection as im-
portant, and requiring the closest and most candid attention;
and they have endeavored to bestow such attention in the pres-
ent case. This duty, however, may properly be considered as
subordinate to the great matter constructively committed to
them — viz., to aid in determining what breed of swine is best
adapted to the County of Essex. And having disposed of the
matter of premiums, the committee devoted as much time to
the subject referred to as they were able to — without, however,
arriving at any conclusion fully satisfactory to themselves. It
is a great question, deserving the attention of every agricultu-
ral society ; and we arc happy to perceive it is receiving the
attention it deserves.

It may be, and may remain, a general truth, that, in the lan-
guage of the chairman of the Hampshire County Committee of
last year, " no one breed is best adapted to all locations and
circumstances." It can hardly be credited, however, for a mo-
ment, that the answers to inquiries of the United States Com-
missioner of Patents some two years ago, making a different
and distinct breed necessary for almost every State, are to be
taken as literally true. May it not be questioned whether
there arc as many distinct breeds of swine as is supposed?
Might not a better knowledge of animal physiology aid us
in accounting for the fact that different breeds of swine are

SWINE. 3G7

so often recommended for the same or a neighboring locality ?
Or, to be more explicit, has it not often been found true, that
of the same litter of pigs some die and some live, and of those
that live a part shall do well and the rest shall not ? And
what butcher of swine is not familiar with the fact that the
post mortem examination often reveals the diseased liver, with
its large or small ulcers, or worms in the intestines, requiring a
considerable part of the food taken by the animal for their
support, or other diseased organs, not easily detected even
when the animal is slaughtered, and almost always unsuspected
till then ? In short, may not adventitious circumstances have
often, most undeservedly, given complexion to our ideas of the
value of our breeds of swine ?

If a distinguished theologian at the commencement of the
present century could say, " It is for want of information that
we see so many new things," may it not be for the same reason
that such an otherwise unaccountable diversity of opinions on
the subject of the breeds of our swine continues to prevail and
to keep up the confusion ? A good judge of stock it may be, and
a known friend to its improvement, has a pure Suffolk hog that
does not and will not thrive ; and the same pen may contain an
"old-fashioned" hog that does thrive. In this state of things
he receives a circular from the Commissioner on Patents con-
taining the usual inquiry, "What is the best breed of hogs?"
He sits down and writes for answer just about what has devel-
oped itself in his own sty. This goes into the annual agricul-
tural report of the department, and is thence sent out over the
whole country. It is by no means intimated that this is always,
or even often, the case ; but when it is, of how much value is the
document ?

The following, from the Agriculture of Massachusetts for
1853, compiled by our indefatigable secretary, Mr. Flint, page
364, will show how little reliance can be placed upon opinions
often formed and expressed upon this subject. The question
put to gentlemen in different parts of the country contained in
the United States Commissioner's circular was, "What is the
best breed of hogs ? " And, says the writer, " New Hampshire
answers, 'The Suffolk;' Connecticut, 'A mixture of the old-
fashioned hog with the Berkshire and the China breed does very

368 • MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE.

well ; ' New York, by three of her citizens, separately, says,
' Berkshires and Leicesters ; ' New Jersey answers, ' A cross
with the Berkshires;' Pennsylvania says, 'Across of the Berk-
shires and Chester County;' Virginia says, 'Irish Grazier and
mixed Berkshire are our common stock ; ' Georgia answers,
' The best breeds for the climate are the Woburn and Grazier ; '
Mississippi says, ' The best hogs I have tried are the Berk-
shires;' Texas, 'Irish Grazier;' Tennessee says, 'The com-
mon old Grazier mixed with the Hindoo breed.' " And, with-
out following the language too literally, it may be added, that,
while Kentucky is satisfied with the " Woburn" only, her more
voracious neighbor, Ohio, must have the " Leicester," "Bed-
ford," "Chinese," and the "Calcutta;" and while Missouri takes
a cross of the "black Berkshire " and the " white Irish," Flor-
ida says, that, " for the range or shift-for-yourself system, the
long-nosed Pike stands A No. 1."

And when it appears, as it does from the same source, that
a hundred pounds of corn yield in some cases " but eight pounds
of pork," and in others " forty pounds," it would seem that
there must be something more than the peculiarities of breed
to be taken into the account in explaining these results. Not
indeed, let it be distinctly understood, that the accidents of
diseased organs, &c, referred to, would account for all thi3
variety of opinion, and least of all would we intimate that
gentlemen answer the commissioner without suitable reflection;
but, great as is the confusion and apparent number of breeds
and the mixing up of breeds, there might be found to be less
of both, we think, if the "accidents " were fewer, or if we were
better able to detect them.

It is a fair question, and an important one to begin with,
What and how many breeds of hogs arc there really distinct?
Some are so, clearly ; but the question is not easily deter-
mined, and no discussion of it is proposed in this report. The
generally received opinion is that the Suffolk is a distinct,
original breed. Let it be so considered. Now, is it the best
breed for general use in the county of Essex ? It is not, even
though it is true that the pork of this breed is much esteemed,
and generally commands from one to two cents a pound extra
in Boston market. The reason is obvious — they come to

SWIXK. • 3G9

maturity at a very early age, and never, or rarely, weigh more
than two hundred and fifty or three hundred pounds. There is
a real difficulty in keeping them from taking on fat, it is said, in
order to their getting any considerable growth at all. Dr. J.
Kittredge informed the committee, while examining his pure
Suffolk boars, that he could with difficulty keep them low enough
in flesh to answer for breeders or to bring to the show. Their
keeping had been one quart of meal a day, with the house
slops, and raw apples, both sweet and sour; and upon this
keeping they were fat, notwithstanding the large one had served
for forty-two sows, and the small one for twenty or thirty, since
last spring. It seems, therefore, now clear, that the Suffolks,
being easy to fat, (indeed, being always fat, it is said, after
bciivj.- a month old,) are a suitable breed to cross with.

The only remaining difficulty is, to know and obtain the best
breed for crossing with them. And, first, it should not be the
Chinese, because they incline to fatten too much on the belly
and too little on the back ; and besides, according to Youatt,
they are too oily, and do not make good bacon. Neither should
they cross with either the Berkshire or Byfield, because both
are too small and snug boned to make a large hog. But proba-
ably. to put a case within the reach of all, almost any of the
large kind, the " old-fashioned kind," would make a good cross-
ing with the Suffolk.

To be definite, however, the committee have been exceed-
ingly pleased with the sow of Mr. Foster, of Andover, exhibited
this year at Lawrence, and her four pigs. This sow is the
result of the crossing with a pure SutTolk boar and a large
breed of sows, called sometimes the Chester, and sometimes
the Westchester, breed. The committee are unable to learn
whether this last breed is common in our county. The
mother of Mr. Foster's sow referred to was a large, long-
sided animal, as we were informed, owned by a Mr. Kimball, of
Bradford. One such case, of course, is not sufficient to deter-
mine a question of so much consequence; but if Mr. Kimball
could be induced to keep his sow for breeding, and Dr. Kit-
tredge his pure Suffolk boars for the same purpose, much would
be done towards determining the matter. Nothing in the pens

47*

370 . MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE.

at our show could begin to compare with the sow of Mr. Fos-
ter referred to.

One fact, going to show the accidental diiferences in different
animals of the same breed, has come under the notice of the
committee, and goes to confirm the theory above suggested —
viz., that hidden, occult causes may be at work on a part of
the individuals of the same species, and not upon others. The
Chester sow, mother of Mr. Foster's, above mentioned, was,
as the committee were credibly informed, large, long, and rather
coarse. But no sooner had we fixed in our minds the leading
properties of the Chester sow than we met in the very next
pen (Mr. I. Osgood Loring's) a Chester breeding sow, thirteen
months old, with her four pigs, eleven weeks old. The sow,
however, had no resemblance to the mother of Mr. Foster's
as it had been described to us, being small and neat, and in
many points resembling the Suffolk. If Mr. Loring's is a genu-
ine Chester breed, then the mother of Mr. Foster's could not
be ; and, in any way, a crossing of the pure Suffolk and Mr.
Loring's breed could not be recommended. Perhaps the com-
mittee erred in listening to any hearsay statements respecting
the Chester sow of Mr. Kimball, (mother of Mr. Foster's,)
especially to make use of knowledge so obtained as a basis for
an opinion upon a question of this kind; but we could not
resist the desire to know something more of the parentage of
Mr. Foster's sow. Let those get a better crossing who can.

The large native sow of Jacob Farnham also attracted the
favorable notice of the committee, and would no doubt make a
good crossing with Dr. Kittrcdge's Suffolk boar. Such a cross-
ing we would strongly recommend.

The committee can but admire the method of Dr. Kittredgc —
which is, to procure the best breeds within his reach, and to
keep them for the public good.

As the " Agriculture of Massachusetts," by Mr. Flint, re-
ferred to in the early part of this report, is not likely to be
seen by all who may see our County Society's Transactions, it
may not be amiss to draw upon the Report of the Norfolk
County Society's Committee on Swine for the last year in
relation to one point. It is a report prepared with great care,

SWINE. 371

and contain?, moreover, a treatise upon swine, by Sanford How-
ard, of unusual value.

The point about to be mentioned, taken from the report
referred to, is discussed by another writer. This writer starts
the idea, and refers to " Giles, in Philosophical Transactions
for 1821," as an authority for the theory, that the male by
whom the female is destined to receive her first progeny
stamps a character upon every subsequent produce, even by
other males ! As no facts are cited in support of this theory,
it will be doubted by many, of course. If, however, it should
have the effect of inducing those having valuable sows to be
careful in selecting the boar to which the young sow shall go
for the first time, the hint will not be lost. And to apply the
rule in our county, it would seem a clear case, that if those
having large-framed sows of any breed, and living within a
reasonable distance of a pure-blooded Suffolk, would take the
pains to carry them to such boars, they would be well compen-
sated by the extra price they would obtain for their pigs, or
by the quantity and quality of the pork, if they should keep
them or sell them at market.

David Ciioate, Chairman.

HAMPDEN.

From the Report of the Committee.

In discharging the duties assigned us, your committee are
aware of the prejudice in many minds in favor of different
breeds of swine ; yet, conceding to every breed its just merit,
and to every man's opinion all that is due, we claim for our-
selves no exemption from like preferences. Our prejudice,
however, instead of favoring any particular one, is against all
swinish breeds as food for man, especially in consequence of
its known injurious effects upon scrofulous systems. "N^ith this
frank and respectful deference to the judgment of all who may
differ from us, the society, we trust, will bear with us in the
free expression of our own belief. While we are compelled
from necessity to decide against the use of pork as a promi-
nent article of food for ourselves, we are quite ready to waive

372 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE.

our private opinion for the gratification of those who can use
it with apparent impunity, because we know it to be for our
pecuniary interest as farmers to keep and deal in swine.
Hence our position will favorably aid us in drawing an impar-
tial portraiture of character.

The hog is reputedly a dirty, loathsome, greedy animal;
though often made so, not by choice, but by the manner in
which he is kept. He is often reared, too, simply because it
can be done so cheaply. Being a voracious animal, he greedily
devours bugs, worms and carrion, and is turned off with the
trash from orchard and garden, with the refuse scraps of the
kitchen, the sweepings of the barn, and offal of the market.
Absorbing such ingredients, it is by no means a wonder that
his flesh is rejected by ■ Grahamite epicures. His organs of
digestion are powerful; and to the extent and perfection of
these, and of his respiratory powers, he is indebted for his
loathsome voraciousness. And may not his filthy habits be in
a great measure accounted for from the fact that his sense of
touch is so very acute, rendering heat extremely oppressive,
and the least contact from insects equally annoying — thus in-
ducing a resort to water for the purpose of cooling himself,
and to a coat of mud for self-protection ? Adapting himself
to every variety of climate, being in this respect a perfect
cosmopolite, a citizen at large, coming to maturity early, and
being easily improved by the breeder, he is more quickly ren-
dered suitable to the purposes required than any other de-
scription of live stock. From no other source can the poor
man so readily supply his table with meat; and no branch of
farm husbandry pays so well for the required care and atten-
tion as the raising and fattening of swine for the market.
Young porklings arc always lively, happy, and full of innocent
sport; and in their little domestic arrangements each chooses
his teat, and ever after retains possession of it, the compact
(which is always more faithfully maintained than in the human
family) providing that every one shall keep on his own terri-
tory, without abrogation or compromise — a regimen under
which they attain about as high a scale of mutual courtesy and
regard as do some of the human race; for, with the latter,
might too often makes right. Such, briefly, is the minority of

SWINE. 373

porkdom ; but the exact period at which a pig becomes of age,
or, in other words, a hog, has never been decided; though from
early infancy his hoggish propensities, like tliose of some per-
sons we wot of, are considerably developed.

According to medical men, scrofula means " little pig; " and
it is well known that pork is difficult of digestion, and liable to
produce cutaneous diseases, especially in scrofulous systems,
and persons thus circumstanced crave it continually. Pork
was much used by the Jews ; yet they seemed to understand its
effect upon the system; for, by the stringent laws of Moses, it
was strictly forbidden in cases of leprosy — that being a disease
of the skin. Some have considered it more healthy to eat
pork in winter than in summer, in cold climates than in warm;
and there is a reason for it. Physicians say that the constant
use of pork in warm weather tends to produce bilious com-
plaints ; but in cold weather the system requires more carbon
than in warm, in order to keep up the proper degree of animal
heat; and oily substances of every description contain a large
proportion of carbon, as do wood, charcoal, and other com-
bustible materials. The union of carbon and oxygen creates
heat ; and it matters not whether that union is conducted in the
fireplace and lampwick, or in the lungs of animals or human
beings. In either case the action (the union of the carbon, in
the wood, oil and blood, with the oxygen of the air) and the
result (the production of heat) are one and the same. Hence
the Esquimaux quaffs his liquid whale oil with apparent gusto;
his system requires it, and his lamp of life will not continue to
burn without it. And like the lampwick, which is so saturated
with oil that it will flicker and soon be extinguished, is the man
who, in warm climates or in warm weather, loads his stomach
with greasy pork, that will either not digest, producing dyspep-
sia, or, if digesting, will so overcharge the blood with carbon
that the oxygen of the air in the lungs cannot in any manner
unite witli it. Hence it is that impurities inevitably collect in
the lungs, causing consumption, while the blood is returned to
the system in an impure state, producing diseases of all kinds.
Thus much of medical comment.

If swine are allowed to feed on grass, without much other
nutriment, the effect of constantly reaching down is to lengthen

374 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE.

the snout ; and following the law of habit, by which a limb is
increased in length and strength in proportion as it is exer-
cised, Lamarck, an infidel philosopher, would seem to have had
some slight foundation for his theory of the development of
creation, according to which man was first a clam, and, after
passing through different grades of improvement, emerged at
last from the monkey and orang outang into a full-grown
specimen of humanity; and the elephant, which was first a
mouse, transmigrated through successive generations, and
finally assumed the form of a hog, from which, with his tusks
and snout lengthened by continually feeding on herbs, and his
size increased by favorable climate and luxuriant living, he has
now become an elephantine monster ! In a wild state the hog
has been known to live thirty years ; but in domesticated exist-
ence he is usually killed at two years of age. In referring to
history, we find the wild boar was a very common inhabitant
of the forest in the British isles previous to the civil wars.
From him probably all the different varieties now in those
islands have originated. The principal English breeds have
been named after the counties in which they have been chiefly
raised, as the Berkshire, Essex, Suffolk, <fcc. The Chinese and
improved Suffolk are best adapted for table pork ; the Norfolk
and some others, among them those which we call natives, are
more suited for bacon.

The improved Suffolk originated in a cross of the Chinese
and Berkshire with the old Suffolk — a large-boned, long-eared,
coarse hog ; the cross with the Berkshire having hair, and that
with the Chinese having comparatively none. The improved
Suffolk are often rejected because judged of by the old breed,
(as are the improved Devonshire cattle ;) while their good quali-
ties are overlooked, or not acknowledged, by persons thus
prejudiced. There is perhaps no better breed than the Suffolk
for our New England farmers. Animals from this stock are
well formed, compact, prolific, and very hardy. They are
easily kept in fine condition, and fatten readily wliilc young.
Tf they attain less size and weight than other breeds, they also
consume less food. It is a question, whether the amount of
food required to make five hundred pounds of pork in a large
hog would, if fed to two Suffolks, make as much or more in

SWINE. 375

weight The experiment could easily be tried ; and would it
not be well for our agricultural societies to encourage such
experiments, not only with the different breeds of swine, but
with all other stock, especially cattle ? It is also a question, to
be answered by experiment, whether more beef cannot be
made from Devons by the use of a certain amount of food
than from any other breed. And the same proposition applies
with equal pertinence to the rearing of Suffolk pigs.

The consumption of pork in the United States far exceeds
that of any other country, to say nothing of the large amounts
exported — a fact which lias, and should in future, stimulate
much attention to the improvement of swine. In 1840, the
number of swine in the United States was 26,300,000. Ten-
nessee had more than any other State, her number being
over 2,900,000*; Ohio had over 2,000,000; New York over
1,900,000; and all the New England States combined only
850,000. In 1850, there were 30,315,700 swine in the United
States. Tennessee had over 3,100,000 ; Kentucky over
2,800,000, standing second on the list ; Ohio and New York
had not increased ; and the New England States had decreased,
and probably stand now in the same proportion. Taking the
average at $10 per head, the value of the hogs in the United
States would be $303,157,000 — certainly an item of sufficient
importance to encourage increased enterprise and effort among
growers of this class of stock.

In awarding premiums on this occasion, we have estimated
the combined qualities of the several animals presented, the
various breeds having distinct points adapting them to different
uses and for different markets ; and where these were all
embraced in one class, the committee found it no ordinary task
to arrive at just conclusions. Aware that persons entertaining
diverse opinions and prejudices, as in times past, would per-
haps have decided differently, we feel relieved from exposure
to any just accusation of partiality. What we have accom-
plished wc have done with the best intentions to serve the
society and promote the interests of agriculture.

H. M. Sessions, Chairman.

376 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE.

NORFOLK.
From the Report of the Committee.

The display of swine at the Norfolk Agricultural Fair was
one of the finest ever seen in Massachusetts. The attention
of farmers in Norfolk County seems to have been especially
directed to the subject of swine. The Suffolk breed, in partic-
ular, is regarded with much enthusiasm.

The First Annual Report of the Secretary of the Board of
Agriculture of Massachusetts, 1854, says, page 93, " We see
that the Suffolk, or rather a cross of the Suffolk with some
other breed, holds the highest place in public estimation in all
parts of the State."

It is claimed, and coincides with the views of your committee,
that, in point of economy, this breed of hogs is much easier
kept, and takes- on fat faster, and at less expense, than any other
known. There is much less waste in cutting up for the barrel ;
the pork is sweeter and more delicate. They are docile,
thrifty, and mature early, weighing, at from twelve to eighteen
months, from two hundred to four hundred and fifty pounds,
and occasionally as high as five hundred. The extent to which
these weighty considerations have a bearing upon the Massa-
chusetts farmers cannot be better conveyed than by instancing
the fact that the committee saw a few days since, at the farm
of Dr. Morton, in West Needham, a pair of pure Sufifblks, im-
ported from the yard of Prince Albert for the sole purpose of
getting a different strain of blood into his herd of Suffolks,
which have already carried more prizes from the Norfolk
County Show than any others in it, and from which a boar and
a sow each took your Society's first premium at their last ex-
hibition.

The profit in raising swine by the New England farmer is
not in the breed alone; there should be warm, comfortable pig-
geries, with conveniences for manufacturing manure. This is
one of the largest sources of profit, and one which is entirely
lost sight of by many.

Hiram W. Jones, Chairman.

FEEDING STOCK. 377

FEEDING STOCK.

ESSEX.

From the Report of the Committee.

We regret to say that, at our late annual fair, the results of
no experiments, successful or unsuccessful, were presented for
your committee's consideration. But we should regret still
more to think that this fact is an indication of the real interest
which the farmers of Essex County feel on the subject, and to
be forced to believe that the matter is at rest. We apprehend
that this subject is of vital importance where good beef and
pork are spoken of as being plenty or scarce and at high or
low prices ; but how the prime or indhTerent article gets there
is another question, with which few are disposed to trouble
themselves, except they are engaged in the business. As, how.
ever, our best cattle and swine do not " rain down " nor run
wild in the forest, there is need of expending a portion of our
time and capital for the supply of our markets with these sta-
ple products, that the business may be a remunerative one to
the producer.

And here we need the light of experience other than that
which has yet been gained. What is requisite is, that we pos-
sess a knowledge of carefully-conducted experiments respect-
ing the laws of nutrition, health, and the best process of fatten-
ing animals whose flesh is so nutritious. For it is well known
that long practice may of itself only confirm wrong views and
habits ; and it is evident that for some reason there is a de-
ficiency, both in quantity and quality, in the cattle and swine
now furnished for our market. Complaints are every where
rife on this subject. There are many whose powers of masti-
cation groan under the attempt to subsist on tough beef and
Western pork. We believe that there are evils somewhere,
which need to be sought out and remedied. Those of us who
were not born Grahamites are well persuaded that there is a
reason for the difference between the hale, hearty, jovial look
of the farmers of Essex County, and the lean, lank visage of

48*

378 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE.

those of some of the other occupations. Our farmers have
Yankee enough in them to know what good meat is, and ability-
sufficient to make use of such for their tables.

But the question recurs, What is to be done in order to make
the best of beef and pork abundant ? We say that, first of all,
there must be sought out by experiment, and then carefully
practised, better and cheaper modes for fattening animals.
We believe the thing is feasible — that proper effort in this di-
rection will be successful. We would at present only hint at
the subject. The question is not so much how we may fatten
our best breeds of cattle or the young and most thriving ani-
mals,— though in regard even to these great improvement may
doubtless be made, — but the chief difficulty lies in fattening
better and cheaper our oxen that have been inured to hard
labor, and our cows that have become too old to become prof-
itable in the dairy. It is desirable that the farmer should have
the profit and the honor of selling them for first-class beef, and
that the consumer should have the comfort of eating the same.

We have no doubt that proper trial can show how this can
be done. For example : Our aged cow, whose appearance indi-
cates that she was fit for little else than "crow-bait," has been
taken about the first of May, and in the course of a month, by
bleeding, nursing and careful feeding, put in a thriving condi-
tion. In another month she was made fair-looking beef, and
before the month of September was sold for a good article.
If beef that is speedily fattened is better, and if our ordinary
grass-fed cattle could be prepared for market in one-half the
usual time by daily additional feeding with meal during the
summer months, there would evidently be a good gain to the
farmer.

Another important question pertaining to this subject is the
fattening of swine. We believe that, aside from a careful se-
lection of the best breeds, attention should here be chiefly
directed to three points — the health, the comfort and the dis-
position of the animal. Much lias been .-aid about warm and
convenient pens, cleanliness, ventilation, &c, which needs to be
put in practice. We should like to have set before us a series
of more careful experiments in the regular feeding of swine
than have yet been made. We believe important knowledge

POULTRY. 379

may be elicited, by experiments in feeding the uneasy and
troublesome that are to be fattened, by feeding them regularly
four times a day instead of three — the usual method. Respect-
ing the disposition of the animals we would only now say, that
the feeder must carefully study the habits and character of each.
Let the turbulent be provided with a quiet resting-place, the
quarrelsome be separated from each other, and let the exces-
sively greedy have the temptation of a competitor in eating
removed out of sight. On these and numerous other points
we want careful and protracted experiments by our intelligent
and enterprising farmers. ^Ye hope that another year will find
some of them ready to receive, not only the liberal premium
offered by the society, but the thanks of the community, for
their efforts.

M. G-. J. Emery, Chairman.

POULTRY.

ESSEX.
Report of the Committee.

The Committee on Poultiy, having attended to the duties
assigned to them, and having had their eyes carefully cocked
over a considerable collection of closely-caged and cooped,
clawed and calcarated, captives, clamorously crowing, cackling
and clucking, candidates of scratching, corn-catching, cocks-
combical, cockadoodledoodom, continually calling on the commit-
tee for conscientious consideration, feel spurred to concoct the
following report : —

They found upon the field of display, and upon a range of
platforms, running, to the best of their judgment, in a line
from X. X. W. to S. S. E., and in plain view of the "proud
bird of America," (whose gilded wooden

"eyes were open, though their sense was shut," — Macbeth,)

perched on the summit of the tower of the City Hall of Law-

380

MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE.

rence, a goodly variety of coops and cages, some prepared
with taste and judgment, and some with no taste nor judg-
ment at all, and containing a varied collection and some excel-

WILD COCK OF INDIA.

C^«>

lent specimens of the gallinaceous race, as well as some rather*
ish indifferent samples thereof; so that, in the words of the
immortal Shakspeare, by the mouth of Macbeth to Banquo, they
might say, —

" So fair and foul (fowl) a ' show ' we have not seen,"

POULTRY. 381

Having made their tour of inspection along the whole line of
coops, penetrating with no little difiiculty the dense mass
which thronged around admiring the committee, (N. B. — The
comma after "committee" should be after "admiring!")
unanimously agreed to recommend that a premium be awarded
/ to S. Southwick, of Danvcrs, for his seven well-prepared
coops of excellent fowls, containing specimens, " in good
order and well conditioned," of Brahmapootras, Red Shang-
haes, Black Spanish, and Black Bantams, White Poland ducks
and China ducks, all in first-rate keeping, and fully justify-
ing the wish of the committee that they could be present
with sharp teeth and sharper appetite, and, hearing what Byron
calls

" the all- soft' ning, overpowering knell,
The tocsin of the soul — the dinner-bell,"

sit down at the " festive board," with

" clang of plates, of knife and fork,
And merciless fall, like tomahawk to work," — Peter Pindar,

on just such samples, " done brown on both sides " — claws
uppermost, and bellies all dilate with a spicy compound of
bread and sweet marjoram. Your committee, believing them-
selves fully adequate to such an occasion, would do the feast as
ample justice as did the Trojans in Italy when their ravenous
appetite carried them to such an extreme that their youthful
leader, Ascauius, exclaimed, —

"Heus, etiam mensas consumimus." — Virgil.

"Which one of your committee, an old pedagogue, interprets to
mean, —

" Halloo, my lads ! your appetites, so rare,
Eolt meats and bread, nor e'en the tables spare."

Also to Charles Barker, of Andover, a premium for his
half-breed wild geese. These were as splendid birds as ever

" gabbled o'er the pool,
When noisy children are let loose from school."

— Goldsmith transposed.

382

MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE.

And, besides that, were beautiful and touching illustrations of
the omnipotent tyranny of love over the wildest wanderers of
wild-goosedom.

«' Quis enim modus adsit amori ? " — Virgil.

" What limit to the power of love ?" Shakspearc says, —

" It may transform a man into an oyster."

r%0£L MARSH «i^5^

What man or gander can oppose a breast adamantine enough
to stop a single bolt from Cupid's bow ? Your committee, in
their day, have had experience of some pretty tough samples
of goose-breast, but none whose

"tough, impracticable heart,
"Was proof against great Cupid's dart." — Old l^ocm.

These birds, too, proved conclusively that Tom Moore had
more poetry than truth in his noddle when he sang, —

" The bird let loose in Eastern skies,
When hastening fondly home,
Ne'er stoops t<> earth his wing, nor flics
Where idle warblers roam."

rOULTRY. 383

Since here, - visible to the naked eye," was a slap-in-the-mouth
contradiction thereof; for

" from his aerial career,
A monarch of goosedom, stern, long-necked and high, — Street varied,

allured by the siren hiss and quack of some seductive voice,
sweetly sibillating, in dulcet notes, —

" O goosey, goosey gander,
"Whither do you wander r "

stoops down to earth and

" Stamps an image of himself,
A sovereign of a frog pond." — Dryclen varied.

But our love-striken gander was not without high precedent
and classic example in his amorous dallying with a daughter of
earth. Great Jove, the Thunderer, himself, the Greek mytholo-
gists tell us, assumed the shape of a swan, and descended to
earth to greet fair Leda,

" Sparta's beauteous queen."

Hear what poor old Jack Fal staff says, in the " Merry "Wives
of Windsor: " —

" O powerful love ! You once, O Jupiter, were a swan for the love of Leda !
O omnipotent love ! How near the god drew to the complexion of a goose !
Think on't, O Jove ! a fault in the semblance of a fowl ! a foul fault ! "

Now, every schoolboy, not wholly oblivious of his Horace,
knows that this same Leda, after this visit, laid a couple of
splendid eggs, from which were hatched those splendid fellows.
Castor and Pollux, redoubtable knock-down heroes in their
time, and now fixed in constellation among the starry host.
And if these things were so, (and who dare say they were not,
against the august authority of Hesiod and Homer, and
Horace and Ovid, and JackFalstaff,) who can blame an honest,
simple-hearted gander for taking the great god for a leader,
when the great god himself had a Leda (leader ?) of his own
following ?

384 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE.

But, leaving the delightful and seductive fields of classic lore,
let us proceed with our report.

To E. G. Berry, of North Danvers, for his bantam hen, with
her three broods of chickens, all of the present " year of
grace" 1854, she having hatched no fewer than twenty-six
chicks at her three several settings. Now, here is a bantam
" as is a bantam," an example to all clucking hendom for per-
sistent practice in the vocation whereunto she was born.
Surely, if the younglings had been asked, " Does your mother
know you are out ? " they must have given a negative reply ;
for what mother's memory could be equal to knowing it of
such a multitude ?

To E. C. Bartlett, of Lawrence, for his bantam cock, accom-
panied by eight chicks, which said tender and chicken-hearted
cock cared for, brooded over, fed, nursed and reared, when
forsaken by their unnaturally cruel mother, who had scarcely
'' found them out " of the shell when she forsook them to the
cold charity of an unfeeling world. And yet in justice to her
it must be said, that, if cold in her affections, she was warm in
her ovarium ; since, immediately on hatching and deserting her
brood, she returned to her nest and became fertilely parturient
and oviparous. Instances of this paternal maternity are not
uncommon in' the gallinaceous race. In the July number of
the " Cottage Gardener," (1854,) an excellent work, published
in London, mention is made of a brooding Shanghae cock which
took charge of a brood of chicks whose mother left them at a
fortnight old. In the August number of the same work two
young cockerels are noticed, which were brooding Dorking,
Chittiprat, Spanish and Cochin chickens, from three weeks to
two months old. And in the September number a correspond-
ent speaks of a white Shanghae cock, to whose care some
chicks were delivered as an experiment, and who clucked and
called and scratched for and fed them with the greatest care,
carrying them on his back and comforting them in every possi-
ble way by day, and at night brooding them under his wings.
The reverse of this, in the crowing of hens, is also not un-
common. The writer remembers one among some liens kept
in Boston by his father. So then we have cock-hens and hen-
cocks ; and Nature is not always true to herself; though that is

POULTRY. 385

her affair, and not ours ; and if she chooses to let the hen occa-
sionally " wear the breeches " and crow, and

" Mothers monsters prove,"

and if she permits the cock to become tender-hearted, and warm-
breasted, and philoprogenitive, and a nursing father, gentle as
a " sucking dove," the committee have nothing to say against it.
TVc say nothing of the practical good to be derived from an
extensive cultivation of fancy birds of any sort ; yet, as a
pleasant accompaniment about the house and barn, equally in-
teresting to the "old folks at home" and to the "bonnie
bairns " about the homestead, nothing surpasses the race of
the Columbida3 ; and they have been kept and cosseted in all
time, and consecrated as emblems of innocence, harmlessness
and peace, disposed to " rough and tumble " only in their
name. They are almost sacred birds, and seem to have been
so regarded from the earliest antiquity. Noah, after his forty
days' wandering upon a " sea without a shore," where

" Angels did tire their wings, but found no spot whereon to rest," — Byron,

felt his first flush of hope when his returning dove brought the
olive token in its mouth. So, too, throughout the records of
the first dispensation, we find them chosen offerings in the tem-
ple services of the Jews ; and in the second, and perfected, and
crowning dispensation of God to man, the dove was the sacred
emblem of the Holy Spirit, resting upon the well-beloved Son
when

" O'er his head, that humbly bent,
The Baptist poured the wave." — Fletcher.

Equally, too, was it held in veneration by the Gentile nations ;
and the poetry of Greece and Rome is filled with allusions to
the dove, and always, as in the sacred writings, as emblematic
of affection, innocence, and love.

Glorious old Virgil, who, in the midst of a corrupt, and de-
bauched, and licentious age, wrote not a line " which, dying, he
could wish to blot," and whose poetry we put, without hesita-
tion, into the hands of our children at school, has made fre-
quent allusions to the dove, and always in a delightful way.
Who can forget what Melibceus says to Tityrus ? —

•49

386 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE.

Here shall the primer sing his merry lay
While 'mid the vines he toils the livelong day ;
Here, too, the dove his tender mate shall woo,
Nor, from the elm, the turtle cease to coo.

Eel. I. 57 — 60. Done into English by the Committee!

And again : —

A gift I've found for her my soul loves best,
"Where the wild pigeon builds her lofty nest.

Eel. III. 68, 69. Do. by the Committee !

So, too, jolly old Anacreon, whose poety we commend as poe-
try, but whose moral influence was decidedly vinous and villa-
nous, says, in his exquisite " Ode to the Dove," (done so well
into English by Tom Moore that the committee venture not
upon it,)

" Tell me, whither, sweetest dove,
Tell me, whither do you rove ?
Shedding through the air, in showers,
Essence of the balmiest flowers."

And so in numberless other quotations might we show how
great a favorite in all time this charming tenant of the wood, the
field and the homestead, has continued to be. But, commend-
ing its culture as a source of innocent amusement, we pass on.

There were mingled amongst the birds of which we have
spoken some animals which the committee thought a little out
of place, since, from the fact of their having four legs instead
of two, they were not supposed to be legitimate ornithological
specimens. These were rabbits, Guinea pigs, et id omne
genus — that is, " all that sort of thing." Especially was there
a bicipitous abomination, a

" Monstrum informc, ingens, with a head twice as big as it should be,

Virgil varied,

or rather with two heads instead of one, rivalling in ugliness
that usurping King of England, wicked Richard III., who con-
fessed himself not to be

" shaped for sportive tricks,

Nor made to court an amorous looking-glass ;
Cheated of feature by dissembling Nature;
So lame and so unfashionable
That dogs do bark at me." — Shakspcare.

rOULTRY. 387

The committee passed it by in unutterable loathing and dis-
gust, expressing their decided and unanimous conviction that
such bestialities as two-headed, and six-legged, and double-tailed
calves, centaurs and cerberuses, multicipital serpents, Joice
Ileths and woolly horses, should be frowned down by a discern-
ing indignant public sentiment, or turned over to Barnurn.

" Hence ! of blackest midnight born,
In Stygian cave forlorn,

'Midst horrid shapes, and shrieks, and sights unholy —
Hence ! and in dark Cimmerian desert ever dwell." — Milton.

Your committee cannot refrain from expressing their great
regret that no specimens of the native farm-yard fowl were
present at the exhibition. Every thing offered was of the fancy
stock, a good deal of which stock is " far-fetched and dear-
bought," and not worth the inflated prices which are asked, and
not unfrequently paid, for it. Some bold-spoken proverbialist
has put forth a saying, that has more truth than beauty in it,
about " a fool and his money," etc. Perhaps this is carrying
the reproach a little too far; though occasionally an energetic
medicine may be needed to cure a violent and obstinate fault.
Now, it is well known that, in these latter times, there have
been paid to fancy fowl breeders as high as $25, $35, and even
$50 the pair for birds of foreign stock. At a sale in England
in April last, six Shanghae chickens, three months old, brought
$55; a lemon-colored hen brought $77; a lemon-colored cock
brought $135 ; and a buff cock, called "Nelson," weighing thir-
teen pounds, brought $215, and after the sale a nobleman of-
fered $250 for him ! A Spanish hen brought $55, and a cock
brought $60. At this sale one hundred and eighty-two lots of
birds were sold, and the sales amounted to $3,872.50 ! Should
any incredulous Sadducees think that your committee are
" drawing the longbow " in these statements, and taxing the
credulity of those who may read them a little too heavily, they
are referred to the "Cottage Gardener" for April, 1854,
whence the above prices were copied. One would half suppose
that some of the hen-excited fanciers would, as "honest Iago"
said,

" Drown themselves for the love of a Guinea hen." — Shakspeare.

388 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE.

Certainly, before they attended the sale, they had greatly
needed to have taken the same worthy gentleman's advice to
Roderigo, wherein he often counselled, —

"Put money in thy purse, I say — put money in thy purse." — Shakspeare.

But such prices are an unnatural inflation, and must collapse.
Who can possibly imagine that a Shanghae cock, or any other
biddy in all cockdom, is intrinsically wt)rth $250 ? " Thou tor-
turest me, good Tubal," said Shylock; "it was my turkois.
I would not have given it for a whole wilderness of monkeys."
But fancy and fashion both run into wild extremes ; and, as long
as purchasers will pay such prices, there will never be wanting
sellers who will be willing and even glad to accommodate them.

For ourselves, we do not believe that the fancy poultry in-
troduced within the last ten years is so vastly superior to the
native stock when well cared for. The truth is, that when a
man has, at a great expense, bought a flock of these high-priced
birds, he cannot afford to neglect them as he may, and almost
always does, neglect the common fowls of the dunghill. He
bestows extra pains upon them. He gives them better shelter
and better food, and better results are the natural and obvious
consequence ; and then, " behold ! he boasteth great things "
of his fancy stock. Yet we venture the assertion, that, were
better food and shelter given to the native birds, they might be
improved to the extent of giving as favorable results, both in
flesh and eggs, as any foreign stock ever imported. We do not
mean to disparage the latter; there are many excellent varie-
ties and beautiful birds among them; and, to our thinking, none
are before the Black Spanish, the English Dorkings and the
Bolton Grays, of all which three varieties we had capital sam-
ples at our fair. These are all good layers, naturally healthy.
of tender, and juicy, and sweet flesh, and a valuable acquisition.
Cocks of these varieties introduced among the common fowls
of the farm yard would greatly improve the stock. Indeed, a
crossing between any foreign cock and the Barn Door (that is,
the fowl, so called, not the door — "the thing of life," not the
thing of hinges) is manifestly much better than in-and-in-breed-
ing. In fact, it is this continual in-and-in-breeding that has

TOULTRY. 389

caused the common fowl to deteriorate; and in this view the
efforts of the fowl fancier are of great merit, because ho pro-
vides the means of improving the ordinary stock; and all at-
tempts to establish good breeds, at once hardy, white ileshed,
quickly fattened, and steady and abundant layers, are entitled
to praise. Yet our taste would hardly lead us to discard the old
stocks wholly and substitute the new. Especially would we not
give them up for any of those huge, awkward, ungainly, cow-
ardly, gormandizing and insatiate gluttons of the Chittagong,
Shanghae, Brahmapootra, Cochin and Malay races.

Were they cocks of these hideous breeds that were conse-
crated to Mars, Apollo and Mercury ? Was it their doleful
groan that presaged the victory of Themistocles over the Per-
sians ? Was it a short- winged cock of these breeds that flew
up to the maintopsail yard of the ship of the gallant Macdon-
ough, and there crowed with lusty lung and clarion voice, dur-
ing the fury of the fight on Lake Champlain ? No, no ; it is
your good old clear-toned, gallant Greek, and English cock that
has the mettle for such daring. Why, there is but small cour-
age or pluck in them, and no comeliness either before or be-
hind, especially the latter. Their gait is awkward, and shuffling,
and laborious, and they waddle like an over-fat drake, yet with
none of his small grace of motion. Neither is there a cock
among the whole of them that knows how to crow as a " cock
of the walk" ought to crow.

Whenever he attempts it your ears are regaled with a dole-
ful, long-drawled, lugubrious, droning cadence, compound of the
tones of a cracked Chinese gong, a stuck calf, a battered fish
horn, and the dismal "childish treble " of an old singer's fading-
bass, with a penny whistle wind-up at the end thereof. The
very attitude in which he crows shows that the effort distresses
him, from the tip of his beak to the end of all the tail he has,
and that tail " no great shakes " after all. Compared with
this, how carols to the morn the old English

" cock's shrill clarion " {Gray's Elegy)

of which wrote Shakspearc ! —

" Hark ! hark ! I hear
The strain of chanticleer ! "

390 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE.

And again : —

" The cock, that is the trumpet of the morn,
Doth with his lofty and shrill- sounding throat
Awake the god of day." — Hamlet.

No, no ; the cock of English song, —

" The cock that doth crow
To let you know,
If you are wise,
'Tis time to rise," — Old Primer,

is the chap that Dryden describes, whose

" Comb was high and coral red withal,
In dents embattled, like a castle wall ;
His bill was raven black, and shone like jet ;
Blue were his legs, andorient were his feet ;
White were his nails, like silver to behold ;
His body glittering like the burnished gold."

We like to see a cock of that high tone and lofty bearing ;
and many such a one have we seen about the farm houses of
the county, strutting through the barn yard, uxoriously cluck-
ing, and calling to choice tidbits his whole harem of wives,
polygamous Turk as he is — feathering with drooping wing,
fondling over them as they coyly resist, and cooing about them
so daintily and proudly that his legs seem to scorn, in toto,
the dusty soil beneath his toes.

The committee, in conclusion, earnestly recommend to the
farmers of the county to give greater heed to the improvement
of their poultry. The birds of the barn yard are a mixed-up
race ; and though, in some instances, large and handsome birds
may be found, such as those kept by Mr. Frost, of North An-
dover, yet too often they are small and inferior. Mr. Frost's
fowls are large and well proportioned-birds, the cocks being
particularly handsome; and this superiority has been attained
by care in the breeding and keeping of them. They are sup-
posed to be the native bird, improved by care in the manage-
ment; yet their size and color, and the complexion of the shell
of their eggs, seem to indicate the presence of foreign blood.
They are a good sample of what may be accomplished by the
right course of treatment. No fowls can thrive, nor do them-

POULTRY. 391

selves justice in meeting the intention of their being kept, un-
less some small thought and care in providing be had for them.
In summer they need a good range, a chance for scratching
and burying themselves in the warm sand ; and, in winter,
warm and comfortable shelter from the cold and snow. Noth-
ing is so baneful to them as cold and wet; and no creatures
more quickly and certainly show the good effects of proper
protection, comfortable housing, and good food. Yes, —

When the winds whistle cold,
And the stars glimmer red ;
"When the flocks are in fold,
And the cattle in shed ;
AVhen the hoar- frost is chill
Upon moorland and hill ;
When the wintry blasts blow
O'er the wild- drifting snow, —

then shelter, comfort, and protect the poor biddies, and let not

" the winds of heaven

Visit their face too roughly." — Hamlet.

Give them a warm nook, warm food, and enough of it, clean
water, dry sand to wallow in, and lime cleanings to pick
amongst, that they may not lack the raw material for the eggshell.
An occasional chance at raw meat is very good for them; and
if you will roast the refuse bones from the kitchen, and crush
them, and mix with them meal dough, it will prove a highly ac-
ceptable tidbit for them. They will amply repay your care, in
being in better health, better flesh, and better able to stand
the cold of our severe winter, and they will earlier begin and
later continue their laying of eggs. Introduce to your stock,
if they be native birds, a cock of some of the best approved
foreign varieties, and fancy runs towards the Dorking and
Spanish more particularly ; though, if aiming at increased size,
you may look to some one of the East India monsters. At any
rate, do the very best you can with the breed you may happen
to have, and do the best you can to improve the quality of
that breed. To be sure, as Virgil (whom we like to quote)
says of the culture of bees, —

" In tenui labor, at tenuis non gloria, si quem
Nuniina laeva sinunt, auditque vocatus Apollo."

392 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE.

"Which our aforesaid committee-man, the old pedagogue, inter-
prets to mean, —

" A toil on trifles ; yet no trifling gains,
If Heaven assist and Phoebus help our pains."

Iii conclusion, your committee recommend an entire change
in the method of premiums in this department of the society's
exhibition. At present the money awarded is in the shape of
gratuities rather than of distinct premiums ; and we advise
that it should take the form of the latter, and that distinct
sums should be awarded for the best and second-best specimens
of distinct varieties, and that special pains should be taken to
bring out the best possible specimens of the native stocks, and
specimens of that stock crossed on some of the foreign and
fancy stocks. We certainly think that this course, if adopted,
will be productive of good results.

The committee here close ; although their report has by no
means exhausted the fertile subject which they have discussed.
What they have written, and a great deal more that they might
have written, both original and in the way of quotation, is most
respectfully submitted.

Henry K. Oliver, Chairman.

MIDDLESEX.

Statement of James A. Barrett.

The fowls which I offer for premium are a part of my (lock,
consisting of one hundred and two in number, with which I
began the year. They have been fed upon different kinds of
grain and a plenty of oyster shells, earthen and some animal
matter. I have at the present time about forty-one old fowls
on hand, and have averaged about seventy-four. They have
lain four hundred and seventy-eight dozen of eggs; and the
receipts and expenses for nine months, since the first of Jan-
uary, have been as follows : —

POULTRY.

Expenditures : —
One hundred and two fowls on hand January

1, at G2| cents, $G3 75

Cost of keeping, 85 84

393

$149 59

Receipts : —

Received for eggs, poultry, etc., . . . $124 44
Thirty-seven hens on hand, at 62£ cents, . 23 12
Fifty chickens, at 62^ cents, . . . 31 25
Guano sufficient to manure seven acres of

corn in the hill, 25 00

203 81

149 59

$54 22

Which is a little more than eighty-five per cent, on the first
cost.

Concord, October, 1854.

ENGLISH GAME.

50*

394 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE.

MIDDLESEX SOUTH.

From the Report of the Committee.

When the " hen fever " was at its height it was an easy
matter to write a report on fowls. The chief requisites were,
to describe and recommend some new variety or varieties,
monstrous in size, and prolific of eggs, with an outlandish name,
and the public ear and mouth were open. The more extrava-
gant the statements respecting size and productiveness, and
the less said about cost of keeping, and fineness of flesh, and
hardiness to endure our climate, the better.

But with people in general this day is past. Our common-
sense farmers, and indeed men of every calling who take an
interest in this business, have become cautious and incredulous.
Perhaps prejudice against the larger and rarer varieties is now
tending to a hurtful extreme ; but in time this matter will regu-
late itself.

No one can deny that the efforts made within the past few
years, by gentlemen of means and taste, to import and breed
foreign stock, and even the lavish and often profitless expend-
itures of the mere amateur, have been productive of great
good. Some really excellent varieties have been introduced ;
and the public attention has been awakened, and careful inves-
tigation made, till now the principles of successful breeding
are well understood. The old proverb, "Don't reckon your
chickens before they are hatched," is now effectually repealed;
and the experienced breeder can calculate on the number and
the profits of increase with as much certainty as the breeder
of Jersey cattle or Suffolk swine.

The same general principles apply to poultry breeding as to
the rearing of stock of any class. Skill in selecting perfect
birds, a dry, warm shelter, and an airy range, suited to the
nature of the fowl, regular feeding, and a variety of food, are
some of the indispensable requisites to success. A damp, cold
nest or roost will ruin the best fowl, in spite of good feeding;
and irregular feeding will counteract the advantage of a good
shelter.

The skilful poulterer will adapt his choice of kinds and his

POULTRY. 395

feeding to the end he has in view. If rearing for the table, lie
will look for plump bodies, fine-grained and flavored flesh, and
early maturity, and will give hearty food, and keep his fowls
quiet. If rearing for eggs, he will ehoose the kind which lays
the largest number of rich, heavy eggs, and has least tendency
to set, and will feed on stimulating food, and give his fowls
abundant scratching room.

The different grains are to be chiefly depended on for food
for fowls ; certain proportions of raw vegetables and animal
food are also necessary. In summer, if allowed a free range,
they will obtain sufficient quantities of both the latter. In
winter, the hen especially requires a regular portion of raw
vegetables. Late-cut rowen hay is probably the best and
cheapest article of this kind for hens. They eat it greedily,
and will need no other.

Fowls of all kinds should be under the charge of one and
the same keeper, with whom they may become acquainted.
They soon learn his looks, and ways, and calls, and when to
expect food, and are not disturbed when he enters the yard or
house. The feeling of security and quiet thus insured has
much to do with the prosperity of the flock. Equally essential
is it that the keeper should understand the peculiar nature and
habits of the fowl he tends. Their natural mode of nesting,
the first indications of a desire to set, their habits of perching
and sleeping, and the various symptoms of disease to which
they are subject, are points of seemingly trivial consequence,
yet essential. Ignorance on such points is a prominent cause
of the failure of so many poultry experiments.

J. H. Temple, for the Committee.

HAMPSHIRE.

Report of the Committee.

The question, whether the farmer can afford to spend much
time or money in this department, is one which is not very
definitely settled. That it is a very comfortablejuatter to have
a generous number of eggs and fat chickens and turkeys dur-

396 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE.

ing the year, and especially about Thanksgiving time, is a point
about which there is probably very little dispute ; but when we
come to the question, whether, in view of the dollars and cents,
we can actually afford to have them, the subject seems at pres-
ent to be an open one.

That there is as much pleasure to be derived from the prose-
cution of labor in this department as from any other connected
with the farm, we believe to be susceptible of abundant proof.
Indeed, what can be more beautiful than a flock of fowls, where
every tint and shade of color are presented in the very perfec-
tion of beauty to the eye of the beholder ? And yet this perfec-
tion, with comparatively little care in " crossing,'" is easily ob-
tained. Again : what farmer would be willing to dispense with
the call of the noble " farm cock " at the earliest dawn of each
returning day ? Or who can be insensible to the value of a
flock of fowls in destroying worms and insects, which other-
wise might exert a very deleterious influence on the growing
crop?

One of the competitors at the fair remarked to the commit-
tee, that, in his opinion, (and he has devoted as much time to
this subject as any man in this vicinity,) " the good thus accom-
plished would more than compensate for the damage which
they would naturally do to the crops, either in the garden or
upon the farm."

But is there an actual profit in raising poultry ? "We are
constrained to answer this question in the affirmative ; and, in
confirmation of our views, we wish to introduce some statistics,
very kindly furnished by Mr. L. P. Warner, of Sunderland,
showing the value of his flock of hens during the past year.

On the 1st of January, 1853, Mr. Warner valued his stock
of hens at $23. 25, and at the close of the year at $24, He
thinks the average number through the year would be about
sixty. His largest number of laying hens at any one time was
seventy-five. The largest number of eggs in any one day was
seventy.

To these hens he fed, during the year, food worth $39.45,
consisting of corn, potatoes, meat and bone meal. The whole
number of egu-s produced was live thousand four hundred and
fifty-one, which were sold for $00.70. The receipts for poul-

POULTRY. 397

try sold were $30.28, amounting- to $91.07. If from this sum
we subtract the whole expense for feed, we have in round num-
bers $51.62 as the clear profit on the $23.25 — the capital in-
vested. We arc aware that we have not estimated the interest ;
neither have we spoken of the item of manure, which must
have been an important one, and, if added to the seventy-five
cents in our favor at the close of the year, would pay the inter-
est on the capital invested, and swell the amount of clear profit
very considerably.

"We perhaps ought, also, to state that the expense of the
outfit was next to nothing.

In view of facts like the above, we feel ourselves justified in
calling the attention of farmers to the importance of giving
more attention to this subject. It must be apparent to every
one that the profit, in proportion to the amount invested by
Mr. Warner, was enormous. Whether others would be alike
successful, experiment alone can determine.

N. G. Trow, Chairman.

BERKSHIRE.

From the Report of the Committee.

A farm yard without poultry is like an unfurnished house.
The great variety of purposes to which domestic fowls may be
applied, in their contributions to the table, is well known to all.

There have been introduced into this county several valuable
foreign varieties. Among them are the Chinese fowls — which,
however, are not esteemed quite so much upon trial as they
were upon their first appearance. They have good points, and,
with some, retain their estimation; but other breeds are more
popular at present. The trim and beautiful Bolton Grays are
esteemed the most industrious layers, but, from their want of
size, are not so good for the table. The silver pheasants arc
showy and splendid fowls, but serve rather as ornaments of the
farm yard than for any other purpose, not being remarkable as
layers nor as fowls for the table. The Golden Hamburgs are

398

MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE.

very beautiful — better for eating than the Bolton Grays, and
by many considered nearly as good for laying. Upon the
whole, the committee are of opinion that there should be in

■&*&&&&*&*.

BLACK SPANISH.

BOLTON GRAYS.

every farm yard a number of pure-blooded Bolton Grays for
laying, together with our native breeds, which are much better
for hatching and rearing than any of the new varieties.

James D. Colt, 2d, Chairman.

POULTRY. 39!)

BRISTOL.

From the Report of the Committee.

Although poultry has for very many years been considered a
favorite and delicate article of food, it is only within a com-
paratively short time that the attention of agriculturists has
been turned to the introduction of new breeds of domestic
fowls, or to the improvement of those already well known.
But, of late years, the subject of raising poultry has received
much attention; the number of breeds has been largely in-
creased ; and it is now generally understood that the poultry
yard, properly and judiciously managed, will contribute its full
proportion to the profits of the farmer ; while, as a branch of
rural economy, it is exceeded in the interest and pleasure de-
rived from it by no other pursuit peculiar to his occupation.
The statistics on this subject are probably far from perfect ;
but enough is known, not only to surprise those who have paid
no attention to it, but to show clearly that the value of the
poultry stock in the United States is no small item of the
national wealth. The whole value of the poultry in the United
States at the present time cannot be less than twenty millions
of dollars, and the amount would probably exceed this sum.
That of the State of New York alone, in the year 1840, was
over two millions of dollars, and was greater than the entire
value of the sheep raised in the same State in that year, and
nearly five times the value of the horses and mules raised within
her borders. It is estimated that the city of New York alone
expends nearly a million and a half of dollars annually in the
purchase of eggs. The estimates of the value of the poultry
in the country are taken from the United States census for the
year 1840, and are perhaps to be almost doubled to give the
correct result at the present time.

Since that time several choice foreign breeds have been in-
troduced, and an impetus has been given to this interesting
branch of agriculture, which had before been almost wholly
neglected. Conventions of the feathered tribes have been
held, at which were assembled together specimens of what ovir

400

MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE.

grandfathers would with difficulty recognize as belonging to the
hen family; and strange noises were heard at these assem-
blages, not such as were emitted from the throats of the cocks
who awakened them from their slumbers at early dawn.

But the " hen fever," as it has been deridingly termed, is
now subsiding, yet not without having produced beneficial re-
sults. From the various breeds which curiosity or ambition
has brought among us our farmers have had an opportunity of

DORKINGS.

selecting those which are best adapted to our climate and most
profitable — those which lay eggs most abundantly, and those
whose flesh is the best for the table.

Your committee were highly pleased with the number, the
choice varieties, and the beauty of the fowls presented at the
fair. They are satisfied that the farmers of Bristol County
are fully aware of the importance of this branch of agriculture,
and that they yield to none in the attention and care they
bestow upon it.

II. B. Wetherell.

POULTRY.

401

Statement of Robert Mansfield.

I send you the following statement of the income from five
fowls the present season. There was a daily memorandum
kept of eggs laid, of the time of three of the hens' setting, the
number of chickens raised, &c. My fowls were not entered
for premium ; but this statement is submitted for publication,

GALLTJS BANKIVA,

i/tf^-^ggg*

if worthy. I believe the equal to the production of these fowls
has never been published. They have averaged more than
three eggs in four days to each hen when not setting or going
with the chickens. Here is the result : —

March 28, 1854.
To one rooster, half game, half native, .
To four hens, half Spanish, half Poland,
To four dozen eggs to set, .
To five bushels corn, ....

ol*

$0 50

2 00

72

5 00

*8 99

402

MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE.

Credit.

By 441 eggs,

. $6 61

By one rooster, used at home,

50

By two chickens used,

80

By eight chickens,

. 3 20

By sixteen chickens,

. 3 20

By four hens, at 50 cents,

. 2 00

$16 31

8 22

$8 09

This account commenced the 28th of March, 1854, and closed
the 26th of September, 1854.

SH ANGHAE.

BEES. 403

BEES.

NORFOLK.

Report of the Committee.

Owing to the want of a premium, or some other cause, there
was a great apathy among bee owners in presenting any thing
for our consideration. And yet, agriculturally, pomologically,
scientifically, or si^/ichologically considered, we might suppose
many would wax warm upon the subject. The raising of buck-
wheat or white clover in preference to other grains or other
grasses may depend on the prior question, whether one intends
to keep bees or not; and this gives the subject its agricultural
aspect.

The raising of thin-skinned peaches and juicy pears, in pref-
erence to such as are woolly as serge or have a skin like the
rhinoceros, may depend on whether one keeps bees or not ;
and that gives it the pomological aspect. The cellular mem-
brane of a hive, for the secretion of honey, gives it the scientific
aspect ; and the looking for a heavy produce in the cells, and
discovering simply the depredations of the bee moth, presents
the s/o7ichological aspect — not to mention certain regrets inci-
dent to an awkward handling of the insects. A full and can-
did treatise on the bee is a desideratum yet. We want to
know all the facts. Our friend Dr. Eddy has not discussed
the subject in reference to the injury of fruit, on which the pub-
lic mind is distressingly divided. It has been declared bees
will not injure fruit ; and we verily believe they will not injure
the shagbark nor the watermelon any more than they would
hurt a horseshoe or a gutta percha walking stick. But if the
fellows will not revel in a Bolmar, Washington plum or a Bart-
lett pear, then our eyes and cars, and fingers too, have deceived
us. We might as well say (some of us think) that a cow will
not meddle with vegetables in the garden because she does not
graze tomato plants, or that a yeoman does not like fruit be-
cause he refuses olives, as that a bee does no mischief because

404 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE.

it does not do every conceivable kind of mischief on every con-
ceivable kind of fruit.

But we are not writing a prize essay, and therefore return
to the exhibition itself, to express our opinion of what we saw
in your exhibition hall.

We saw Dr. Eddy's Protective Bee Hive, and Dr. Eddy him-
self, and Mr. W. S. Damrell's bees in the hive, and some beau-
tiful drawers of honey, belonging either to the bees or Mr.
Damrell, as sound ethics may determine. "We heard the state-
ments of the doctor concerning the hive, and are prepared con-
scientiously to say that we believe he has accomplished a work
in which all others have failed — that of protecting the bee from
the moth. No intelligent miller would attempt an invasion.
Every joint is secured ; or if by inadvertence one little crevice
is exposed, he could penetrate no farther than a Jew can pene-
trate the Mosque of Omar. He might perchance smell the
honey ; but to reach it is a stubborn impossibility. Further-
more, the doctor has provided for a most judicious ventilation,
which, equalizing the temperature of the hive, is well adapted to
preserve the operatives in an amiable spirit and excite them to
an exemplary diligence — two objects to be attained in respect
to other hives.

"We think Mr. Damrell's bees did creditably and profitably,
and presented an interesting feature of your exhibition; and
we think also that the whole subject of raising honey is yet
open to discussion, experiment, and the establishing of facts.
We have not altered, however, but rather cling more tenacious-
ly to, our opinion, that ambitious fruit growers may observe
caution in regard to the bee enterprise.

We make these strictures, however, as applicable to Norfolk
County, and those around Boston particularly, and not applica-
ble to our central or western counties.

The bee loves the clover field (the white clover) as the hum-
ming bird loves the honeysuckle, and will forsake many a fruit
and many a flower for a sip out of the chalice of the clover. It
loves also the buckwheat ; and, when the field is fair and beau-
tiful with its blossoms, your car may catch the constant hum of
the bee in drowsy sweetness, lulling the senses into quietude
and peace. Raise your honey where the clover and the buck-

PRODUCTS OF THE DAIRY. 405

wheat fields abound, and it will have amber clearness, and save
your Bolmars, your Gages, your Bartletts, and your patience.

For the Committee,

L. B. Babcock, Chairman.

Dbuham, October 6, 1854.

PRODUCTS OF THE DAIRY.

ESSEX.

From the Report of the Committee.

The committee have been unable to make any award of the
society's very attractive premiums offered in the third and
fourth articles under the head of Dairy, as no competitors ap-
peared for them. This is greatly to be regretted. The ob-
jects aimed at in these articles are among the most desirable
that can be attained on a farm, viz. : 1st. How to produce the
greatest quantity of milk from a given number of cows at the
least expense ; and, 2d. How to produce the greatest quantity
of butter from the least amount of milk. There are a great
many interesting points of information connected with these
two questions. There are doubtless great differences existing
in the degree of intelligence and success attained on different
farms in this matter. If, by drawing the attention of our farm-
ers to the subject, competition for the premiums could be ex-
cited at future fairs, very valuable information might be elicited,
and a wholesome emulation arise which would lead to very
happy results in dairy management.

The committee would cordially recommend to the milk farm-
ers to attend to this subject. The greatest difficulty which
stands in the way of improvement in this, as in other branches
of agriculture, is the reluctance on the part of the farmers to
keeping a set of farm accounts. It would require but a few
minutes each day to make the necessary entries. Each cow

406 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE.

should be named or numbered, her milk measured, and the cor-
responding entry made in the book daily, together from time
to time with the manner and expense of feeding. Thus a com-
plete history of the animal would be had, which would enable
the farmer to judge accurately of his progress and success.

On the subject of butter, it is to be regretted that such great
amounts of an inferior quality should continue year after year
to be produced and thrown upon the market. Butter-making is
a delicate art, it is true ; but, when once understood, it requires
very little, if any, more labor or expense to produce a good
than a poor article. The good butter always commands a
ready sale, while the poor is poor indeed. Why should not
our farmers take a similar pride, and show as general a skill,
in producing a good article from the raw material in this branch
of their art as that evinced by mechanics in the various products
of their labor ? The farmer can no more expect a handsome
result by careless and slipshod management than the carpenter,
shoemaker, or. hatter; and the one should be quite as much
ashamed of inferiority as the others.

To ascertain what is the best management of dairy farms is
a very interesting question. Amidst our numerous growing
cities and towns, and in the dense population of old Essex,
it will not do for the farmer to go listlessly along in old
beaten tracks. Study and inquiry arc necessary. New cir-
cumstances require new measures ; and the farmers of our
neighborhood who the most intelligently inquire after, and
earliest obtain the products best adapted to the wants of our
community, can inevitably reap a rich harvest from their prox-
imity to our ready markets. The products of good farming,
especially of the dairy, probably secure better prices than any
other branch of common industry.

Charles H. Bigelow, Chairman.

Statement of Charles P. Preston.

I offer for premium one box of September butter, containing
fifteen pounds, being a sample of eight hundred aud thirty-eight
pounds ; to which I will add two hundred and twenty-four pounds

PRODUCTS OF THE DAIRY. 407

which could have been made from one thousand seven hundred
and ninety-one quarts of milk otherwise disposed of — making
ten hundred and sixty-two pounds, from an average number of
eleven cows, between May 25 and September 25 of the present
year.

The cows have been kept after the usual manner — viz., com-
mon pasture feed till August 1 ; afterwards corn fodder in ad-
dition.

Process of Making. — The milk is strained into tin pans in
a cool cellar, where it remains from thirty-six to forty-eight
hours, when the cream is taken off and kept cool until it is
churned, which is twice a week, in order to have it as sweet as
possible. The cream is churned in the " same old churn,'' with-
out the addition of a " thermometer," having ascertained by
experience that the temperature of sixty-two degrees is not
the proper temperature in the summer months, but that the
cream should be rendered as cold as it can be made in the
coldest cellar before churning, in order to have the butter of
a proper degree of hardness. It is well, however, in the spring
or late autumn months, to dip a common thermometer in the
cream and bring it to sixty or sixty-four degrees of tempera-
ture.

After churning the butter is thoroughly worked by hand,
salted with from three-quarters to an ounce of salt to the
pound, and passed through the mould for market.

North Danvers, September 25, 1S.54.

Statement of Elijah Pope.

I present for examination two pots of June butter, being a
sample of one hundred and twelve pounds made between the
2d of June and 9th of July; and fifteen pounds of September
butter, being a sample of three hundred and ninety-one pounds
made between the 2d of June and 25th of September, made
from four cows, besides six hundred and twenty-four quarts
of milk used and sold.

Process of Making. — The milk is strained into tin pans. It
stands about forty-eight hours, when the cream is taken off, put

408 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE.

into tin pails, and stirred every day. During the warmest
weather the cream is placed in the well about twelve hours be-
fore churning. "We churn once a week. The buttermilk is
thoroughly worked out, and the butter is salted with about one
ounce to the pound.

The cows have had common pasture feed till August 1 ; since
then corn fodder once a day.

Danvers, September 26, 1854.

Statement of Mary Ann Ordway.

I present for examination a jar of September butter, con-
taining .eighteen pounds, being a sample of two hundred and
six pounds, made from the milk of two cows from the 15th of
May to the 18th of the present month. "We have used what
milk we wanted, averaging about three quarts a day. The
cows have had common pasture feed only until the middle of
August ; since that time they have been fed once a day either
with apples or corn fodder.

Process of Making. — The milk is strained into tin pans and
placed in a cellar ; the cream is taken off into stone jars when
changed a little, and stirred daily. During the warmest weather
the cream is set in cold water about twenty-four hours before
churning. We churn once a week. As soon as the butter
comes the buttermilk is worked out with the hands, and the
butter salted with about one ounce and a quarter of salt to a
pound, varying in some measure according to the state of the
butter. After standing about twenty-four hours it is again
worked over, and is fit for use.

West Newhury, September 28, 1854.

HAMPSHIRE.

From the Report of the Committee.

Believing that among so many specimens there must be some
nearly perfect, wc agreed upon certain qualities which should
be indispensable to insure the award of a prize for butter.

rRODUCTS OF THE DAIRY. 409

The first requisite should be cleanliness. This is necessary
through the whole process, from the milking of the cow to the
finishing stroke of the butter paddle. Any suspicion of un-
faithfulness here cloys the appetite at once, and makes one per-
fectly willing to eat his bread alone, rather than entertain a
doubt whether he is taking into his mouth what properly be-
longs to the barn yard or the scavenger.

Closely connected with this is the absence of all foreign
taste in butter. Many housewives, who perhaps are not justly
chargeable with want of neatness, suffer this important arti-
cle of manufacture to go from under their hands sadly inter-
mixed with substances entirely foreign to the pure article.
Salt is one of these ; and, though necessary in certain propor-
tions, it will hardly do to adopt the principle in regard to its
use, that there cannot be too much of a good thing. We be-
lieve that one grand defect here is, that cream is kept too long,
especially in the summer season, before it is churned. Few arc
aware, perhaps, how soon putrefaction takes place in milk in the
hottest weather in summer. Undoubtedly the most satisfac-
tory results arc obtained where the churning is performed every
day. This is not practicable in many of our small dairies ;
but, where a tolerable article is expected, it should be done as
often as two or three times a week. Butter seems to possess,
in a remarkable degree, the power of appropriating to itself
the flavor of substances with which it is in near contact. One
of your committee, anxious to protect his butter from the fine
dust which is apt to settle upon it while on exhibition, procured
a box, which w&s to be covered with glass. The box, for want
of other material, was made of some sort of pine wood. In
order to test the matter, and ascertain whether the butter
would take any taste from the wood, a small lump was put upon
a plate and placed in the box. In twelve hours it had im-
bibed so much of the flavor of the wood as to become strong
and acrid even to the taste. In the examination made by the
committee to-day the importance of this matter was amply il-
lustrated— much too large a proportion of the lots exhibited
having a taint of some foreign substance. While on this point
it may bo well to say that the quality of cream is sometimes
materially damaged by being kept in a close vessel. This is

o2 •

410 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE.

probably in consequence of the confinement of certain gases,
which operate injuriously, and which would escape if there were
opportunity. Another of our requisites is color and density.
The color, common consent declares, should be yellow; and it
is useless to argue the question why it is so. It is granted
that this is not a matter wholly within the dairywoman's power ;
but then, if she has a husband, and knows how to manage him,
she may not find it so very difficult to induce him to make a
trial of his cows, and keep only such as shall, by the aid of her
facile hands, crown his board with a production as pleasing to
the eye as it is tempting to the appetite.

T. Gr. Huntington, Chairman.

FRUITS.

ESSEX.

From the Report of the Committee.

Considering the extreme heat of the past summer, with the
drought of August, causing so many trees to shed their fruit
prematurely, your committee were apprehensive that the show
would come short of previous exhibitions of this society. They
were, however, agreeably disappointed in finding the quantity
and quality of the fruit, on the whole, superior to any previous
year — there being upon the tables .one thousand and thirty-
eight dishes and baskets from one hundred and thirty contrib-
utors. The apples were particularly fine, and less wormy
than in former warm and moist seasons, which give rise to
myriads of those minute foes, from the caterpillar to the almost
invisible fly of every genus. We were pleased with the num-
ber of dishes of grapes shown, and trust that we may yet
succeed ld producing a hardy variety answering the conditions
required in the oiler for a seedling grape, as we have already
done in the plum which took the first premium in a neighboring
State.

FRUITS. -Ill

The variation in size and appearance of the same varieties
of apples and pears from different localities in the county
demonstrates the ity of ascertaining the conditions of

our several soils. The Williams' Favorite and the Pickman
apples cannot be well crown but upon a strong retentive soil,

as also the Lewis and Wilkinson pears.

In regard to fruit for market culture, we would suggest the
importance of raising winter varieties in preference to fall and
summer fruits. Fall apples, ripening at the time of our best
pears and peaches, must necessarily have a limited sale. This
is well shown in the Gravenstein, which is one of our best
apples ; but ripening- as it does at the time of the Bartlett and
other fine pears, as well as the Crawford peaches, the demand
for it is small. As to the best winter apples for Essex County
culture, it may be considered, as we think, a fixed fact, with but
two or three exceptions, that by far the greater number of
line winter apples which are considered the best for our culture
are those which have originated on the soil of Xew England —
the Nonesuch, from Hubbardston; the Mother, from Bolton;
Baldwin, Roxbury Russet, Rhode Island Greening, Danvers
Winter Sweet, Haskell's fine Sweet, Minister, and the Murphy.
These are all such as we would commend lor general culture.
Of the finest winter pears, we should enumerate for table fruit
the Winter Nelis, Lawrence, and Lewis ; and for cooking.
" Vicar of Wakefield," Black Pear of Worcester, Pound, and
Catillac. For peaches, Crawford's Early and Late Mclacoton,
and the Red-Cheek Melacoton.

There seems to be an increasing desire among many of our
farmers to grow the best varieties of apples ; and we trust the
time is not distant when our fine New England apples shall
take the place of old varieties, such as the York Ru called

Cat Ilea'!.; the Blue Pearmain, and other indifferent winter
apples.

Although fruit is not absolutely indispensable to the support

of human existence, it is a useful and wholesome article of food,

and should be ranked among the best gifts of Providence. Mr.

■11 observed, that the " palate which relishes fruit

eldom pleased with strong fermented liquors. Good fruit,

therefore, operates favorably both on the physical and moral

412 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE.

health of the people," and it is quite as easy to cultivate the
best kinds as those of an inferior quality. Among the fruits
exhibited at this show were the finest specimens of large sweet
apples that we have been accustomed to see. One from Hiram
Webster, of Salem, N. H., marked Pumpkin Sweet, was very
fine. There were three distinct varieties marked " Pumpkin
Sweet." We have not as yet been able to identify the true
Pumpkin Sweet from the above sorts. These were severally
from Georgetown, Beverly, and Newburyport.

From the limited time your committee had for their exami-
nation, and the opening of the hall for visitors before they had
finished their preliminary business, they cannot be expected to
have performed their duty in the most satisfactory manner —
at least to themselves. Still, among the varieties of fruit upon
the tables they noticed fine Hubbardston Nonesuch apples from
Moses Newell, T. S. Carlton, E. G. Jackman, and C. F. Putnam ;
superior Roxbury Russets from various towns ; peaches of seven
varieties (a large collection) from Harrison Eaton, of Haver-
hill. These Merrimack River peaches were of the high New
Jersey flavor, as we have always found this fruit grown around
the Merrimack.

In the presentation of fruits, and particularly pears, it has
been usual to exhibit those varieties which are described in
foreign catalogues as "desirable," (but when received and
tested on our soils are found worthless, or nearly so,) in order
that individuals may have an opportunity to see for themselves,
and thus avoid the trouble and expense of importing them.
But we apprehend that it is no longer desirable to offer such
varieties, year after year, after they have been proved and
rejected.

John M. Ives, Chairman.

Report of the Committee on New Fruits.

The only fruits submitted to the committee for premium were
two seedling grapes from James Blood, of Newburyport,
These same grapes were offered fir premium last year, when
an account of them, a.-; received from .Mr. Blood, was submitted

FRUITS. 413

to the trustees of the society in the report of the committee of
that year, and is now repeated. Mr. Blood states, " These
two specimens of grapes were raised from the seed of Malaga
raisins, and cultivated in the open air, and ripened by the last of
August. The vines have been in bearing nine years, and have
never failed to produce a good crop in the natural soil without
any nursing, such as bone manure, guano, etc. Their great
recommendation is, that they ripen four or five weeks earlier
than the Isabella. Slips from these vines have proved as pro-
ductive in Vermont and New Hampshire, and ripen as early, as
in the county of Essex." The two specimens were entered by
Mr. Blood for the two premiums offered by the society. At
the request of Mr. Blood, your committee visited his garden
September 7, when they were told by him that he considered
his grapes ripe; and subsequently, on September 15, they
received from him specimens of the fruit.

The committee found the vines from which the grapes offered
for premium were produced growing in a sheltered situation
on a trellis in the garden of Mr. Blood. The vines did not
appear to have received any particular cultivation ; and Mr.
Blood stated that the only manure applied to them was that
received from a slight mulching of their roots. There was a
good crop of fruit upon the vines. It did not appear to your
committee, at the time of their visit on September 7, that the
grapes were fully ripe ; although in that opinion they differed
from Mr. Blood, and in which they were subsequently confirmed
by tasting the grapes September 15, when they had acquired
additional sweetness and llavor. Your committee feel that
implicit confidence is to be given to the statements of Mr.
Blood in every respect; and they do not intend to be under-
stood as questioning his account of the origin of these grapes
by imputing to him a possibility of error, when they state, as
they feel constrained to do, that every thing about his vines.
both the fruit and the foliage, — an unerring indication, — tended
to prove that they were, let their origin be what it might, of
the same species as the native grape of our woods. And this,
so far from deteriorating from their value, rather serves to en-
hance it; for seedling grapes of any of the foreign varieti*
though they may for a time do well in certain situations, are

41-1 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE.

so subject to mildew as to be, let their quality be what it may,
entirely Avorthlcss for general cultivation.

The grapes of Mr. Blood are, as he states, much earlier in
ripening than the Isabella, as is evidenced by comparing them
with those of that variety grown under similar circumstances.
Your committee found in the garden of Mr. Blood an Isabella
grape vine growing in a situation not more unfavorable to the
ripening of its fruit than that occupied by his seedlings ; but of
that the fruit was quite green when the fruit on the seedlings
was ripe, or nearly so — thus affording a satisfactory proof of
their earliness of ripening as compared with the Isabella ; al-
though, in a far less degree, the seedlings of Mr. Blood have
the same pulpiness that distinguishes our native grapes, the
correction of which is so desirable and so essential to entitle
a grape to the character of great excellence.

Mr. Blood's grapes, when thoroughly ripe, or as ripe as the
specimens presented on September 15, were juicy, sweet, and
pleasant, but lacked sprightliness and flavor. In forming an
opinion of their quality, your committee adopted as a standard
the Isabella ; and with fruit of this variety, of which ripe
branches were obtained from vines growing in a situation fa-
vorable to their early ripening, a comparison was made, the
result of which was not favorable to Mr. Blood's seedlings. •

The premiums offered by the society arc " for a new variety
of native or seedling grapes, of decidedly superior quality,
ripening in this count}7, in the open air, by the middle of Sep-
tember, prolific and suitable for the table — the same to be
tested by the committee two years." It seems to be evidently
the object of the society to endeavor to obtain from seed a
grape superior to any now possessed, and that to none other
would the award of premium so large in amount be justifiable.
Independently of the requirements of the society, a due regard
for the public should deter the committee from the award of
any premium when that award might give rise to subsequent
disappointment.

The seedling grapes of Mr. Blood have been tested two
years in succession, as required by the society; and, so far as
earliness is concerned, they seem to comply with that one of
its conditions which requires that the grape, to be entitled to

FRUITS. 415

the premium, should ripen in the open air by the middle of
September; but they do not, in the opinion of your committee,
possess that other equally essential and perhaps more impor-
tant requisite, 0/ being of a ''decidedly superior quality," with-
out which no grape can come within the rule by which your
committee are restricted in making their awards.

In the opinion of Mr. Blood, his seedlings were not ripe so
early this season as usual, owing to the backwardness of the
spring, and he thinks also that their quality was injured by the
severe drought of the past season; but, making all due allow-
ance for these unfavorable circumstances, your committee be-
lieve that, while Mr. Blood is entitled to the merit of having
produced from seed grapes that are a very decided improve-
ment on the native grape of the county, such do not excel, or
even equal, some already in general cultivation, as the Isabella
or Diana, to say nothing of some other seedlings of recent ori-
gin not yet so generally known.

Entertaining these opinions with respect to the grapes of
Mr. Blood, and no other competitor having appeared for the
liums offered for grapes or other seedling fruits, the Com-
mittee on the Introduction of New Fruits have made no award
of the premiums placed by the society at their disposal.

Joseph S. Cabot, Chairman.

HAMPDEN.

Report of the Committee.

It affords the committee pleasure to sec so good a display
of fruits upon the society's tables, especially as fears had been
expressed that the recent hot and dry season would prove un-
favorable to the fruit crop.

The drought undoubtedly impaired the size of the fruit and
caused it to drop from the trees prematurely ; but, on the
whole, that exhibited was fair and of good size.

Although there was a large number of varieties of the pear,
yet these were contributed by half a dozen individual.-. This
delicious fruit should be more Hy cultivated than it now

is. The fact that the raising of pears has required more care

416 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE.

and attention than that of apples has deterred many from un-
dertaking their culture. It is certain that the pear will not
grow by merely putting the tree into the ground and leaving it
to take care of itself. A knowledge of the kind of soil best
suited to its culture must first be had, then care in planting,
and afterwards such attention as will insure a healthy growth
of the tree, and the cultivator will be most fully rewarded
for all his trouble.

The person who raises good winter apples may be sure of a
good market and a profitable return. The demand for apples
that will keep well will undoubtedly increase at home ; while
new inducements to enterprise constantly present themselves
in the increasing demand for exportation for foreign supply.
We say, then, to the farmers of Hampden County, exclude from
your premises the worthless varieties that take up the room
which by right belongs to their " betters," and raise none but
those kinds which will command a fair and remunerating price
in the market.

Above all, take care of your orchards and fruit yards, and
do not suffer them to "go to grass" or become covered with
moss, but bestow upon them the same care that you do upon
your Indian corn and other crops of less value. A little atten-
tion every year will give you fine healthy trees, with smooth
bark, free from suckers and thick-growing branches, and freight-
ed with large and well-ripened products, such as none of us
would object to having in our fruit cellars.

The committee are satisfied that great progress has been
made in this department of horticulture in Hampden within a
few years ; and they cherish the hope and expectation that the
county will ere long be in no respect behind her sister counties.

Richard Bliss, Chair/nan.

FRANKLIN.

From the Report of the Committee.

We are glad the attention of the farmers is now turned so
generally to the cultivation of good fruit, partly because we
regard it as one of the most lucrative employments in which they

FRUITS. 417

can engage. There is no longer any force in the old objection,
that there is no use to raise good fruit, because there is no
market. Now the market of the world is open to the Ameri-
can orchardist. The shipment of American apples of the finest
quality to England is now a regular and profitable branch of
commerce. Downing says that no apple that is sent from any
part of the continent of Europe commands more than half the
price in London that is readily paid for Newton Pippins.

We rejoice in this increased attention paid to the raising of
fruit, because it is one of the most attractive and interesting
occupations of the farmer. If one would strongly attach him-
self to his home, let him engage in the culture of choice fruit
of every variety. He will find pleasure and excitement in it ;
he will watch the growth of each tree with interest; it will
hold to him the relation of personal friend. Even the fruitful
prairies of the West will hardly tempt him away from the New
England hillside, where he must leave behind him these objects
of his watchful care.

We are glad to see so much fruit raised, because we believe
fruit to be a natural and wholesome article of food, of which
most families partake only too sparingly. The reason they
assign is, that they are not fond of fruit ; which is not strange,
when the poor quality of most of that with which they have
had experience is considered.

The committee first gave their attention to apples, of which
a truly beautiful display was made. We are pleased to know
that so many of our farmers can show from twelve to twenty,
and even more, varieties of apples of first quality — apples
which it did our eyes good to see, and which will gratify other
senses than the sight in the course of the coming winter.

John F. Moors, Chairman.

RERKSHIRE.

From the Report of the Committee.

The increased attention to the culture of fruit in Berkshire
County is a matter of congratulation. Believing, as your com-
mittee do, that our soil and climate are well adapted to the

53*

418 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE.

culture of choice varieties of apples, pears, and peaches, and
that from no other product can equal profit be realized, we con-
fidently commend the subject to further attention. For the
first time, so far as we are advised, peaches have this year been
exported as an article of commerce from the county ; and the
product of one of our farmers has amounted to one hundred
bushels. Fruit has the advantage of most products in finding
a market. The demand is always greater than the supply.
Few are furnished with all the fruit they desire ; and an in-
creased consumption will tend to the profit and pleasure of the
consumer. The product of our orchards this year is unusually
good, and the contest for premiums spirited.

Alexander Hyde, Chairman.

HOUSATONIC.

From the Report of the Committee.

Such was the general excellence of the varieties of fruit
offered, that it was difficult to make any decision entirely satis-
factory even to the committee themselves. The display of
fruit was large and tempting. The peaches, in particular, were
unusually large and of a delicious flavor. There is no reason,
in the opinion of your committee, why Berkshire should not
compete, and successfully too, with more southern latitudes in
the production of this crop. We trust that the old notion
which has too long prevailed, that it is useless to attempt
any thing serious in fruit culture, will have soon exploded. It
has, in years gone by, been customary for our farmers to stick
a peach tree in some forsaken corner where nothing else would
grow, and draw from its unproductiveness the inference that
the crop in this region must necessarily be a failure. It is well
for the interests of agriculture that all crops are not simi-
larly treated.

Francis Eddy, Chairman.

FRUITS. 41<J

NORFOLK.

From the Report of the Committee.

In the last Annual Report of the Fruit Committee of this
society, the vast importance of fruit culture was urged on the
ground of economy in living, of health, of refreshment, and of
enjoyment, in hopes to stimulate to an increased planting and
cultivation.

It has been found by observation and experience, —

1st. That fruit is a very economical article of food when
compared with meats and mixed dishes, even at its present
scarcity and consequent high price.

2d. That it is not only the most conducive of any arti-
cle of diet to the general health of families, particularly of the
young, but that it is a panacea in many diseases, and that it is
the most salutary and strengthening medicine for invalids.

3d. That to all, young and old, and of every condition and
stage of life, fruit of various kinds forms a delicious refresh-
ment, and that it is a universal delight.

4th. That it is a diet most of all favorable to mental activity,
and contributing, in a high degree, to liveliness of spirits and
serenity of mind.

And, besides these reasons for its more extended culture and
use, it should be observed, that, as fruit is thus the principal
food of a highly-cultivated, refined, and paradisiacal state of
society, it will be more and more in demand continually ; and
the wise agriculturist and thrifty farmer will find his account
in making large plantations of various fruits. In New England,
fruits of all kinds, save apples, are still extremely scarce and
high; and even this more common fruit, the year preceding,
was beyond the reach of the great mass of people. During
the last year, and in fact we may say in most years, peaches in
this part of the country are by the many wholly unattainable as
an article of regular common food, however they may be in New
Jersey and its highly-blessed neighborhood; and at no time
can eatable pears be purchased in our market save at most
exorbitant prices. And yet there is no reason why, in heavy,
clayey soils, properly drained and manured, — for such soils

420 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE.

doubtless are most desirable, being native and specific to the
pear, — or in any well-tilled soil that is retentive of moisture,
orchards of this so various and delicious fruit might not be
grown as easily and as universally as those of the apple, and
made to bear more regularly and abundantly, as is the nature
of the pear to do. And we believe that a large orchard of
Bartletts, Andrews and Flemish Beauties, or a plantation sev-
eral acres in extent of Onondagas, (Swan's Orange,) Lawrences,
and Columbias, would be one of the grandest and most glorious
horticultural experiments that could be tried in New England,
and would in the end bless the originator with the richest golden
harvest ; and we hope speedily to see encouraging prizes offered
by our various agricultural societies for such orchards and
plantations of pears. We have space, however, in this report
to dwell only upon one point in fruit culture, suggested partly
by the past season, which has been so peculiarly distinguished
by the excessive coldness of its winter, and the severe, long-
protracted, and extensive drought of its summer; and this is
the subject of " mulching " our fruit trees.

There are three grand difficulties that beset the common
farmer \n his efforts for the growth and perfection of his fruit
trees and fruit, from which, indeed, the most learned, skilful,
and accomplished fruit grower cannot wholly escape : —

1st. The labor, expense, and difficulty of properly enriching
and tilling the soil around his trees.

2d. The great severity of our winters ; or, more correctly,
the violent changes from warmth to cold, and the sudden and
alternate freezing and thawing that distinguish the wet season,
or the winters and springs, of our climate, and that often prove
so destructive to trees and vines of various kinds.

And the 3d, and perhaps greatest trouble of all, the frequent
length of our dry seasons, and the excessive severity of our
droughts.

It would be difficult, perhaps impossible, to name any one
thing that would prove a perfect panacea for all these evils, and
that could cure them all by one and the same application ; and
yet we will venture to assert that the practice of thoroughly
mulching our trees will approach nearer to such a panacea, and
will prove more effectual in the removal of these difficulties,

FRUITS. 421

than any thing- else that conld be devised. As much as we our-
selves have said, as much as has been written, in regard to the
matter, we think the subject is by no means exhausted, and that
the various benefits of mulching arc but very little understood
in regard to its action upon fruit trees and fruits.

1st. In regard to its effect upon the tillage of the soil. If
the farmer has little time and means to expend in enriching
the ground about his trees, let him cover the surface above their
roots with fresh-mown grass or leaves, — the best mulching, —
or with hay, straw, shavings, chips, or sawdust, and he will find,
not only that the moisture that contains the food of the tree
will be preserved, but that the earth is kept as light, as friable,
and almost as pulverulent as though it were continually tilled.
And when the mulching has become sufficiently decayed he can
increase its beneficial effects by turning it under, previous to
applying new. A gentleman whom I have long known as a
very intelligent, skilful, and highly-successful arboriculturist, —
I allude to Henry L. Penniman, Esq., of Dedham, — makes no
other application than that of new-mown grass to his thrifty
and productive trees. Nature herself, in her fresh, green,
waving groves and gigantic forests, often growing out of the
bed of decaying rocks, always thus mulches and nourishes her
trees and keeps them flourishing and vigorous. This kind of
nourishment, though deficient doubtless in exhausted soils in
certain necessary elements of growth, has the advantage of
never being injurious to trees by its over-stimulating qualities,
as is the case sometimes with stable manure, super-phosphate,
guano, &q.

2d. The protection afforded to the roots of trees in winter
by mulching is such as to prevent the violent action of heat and
cold, that so often proves fatal to the peach especially, and not
unfrequently, in high northern latitudes, to the quince and pear.
Indeed, few peach orchards or pear orchards will be allowed to
remain in coming times without this protection.

3d. Mulching in times of drought prevents evaporation, and
thus secures sufficient moisture, and a consequent abundant
supply of the gaseous elements contained in the moisture,
which compose the food of plants aud trees ; for, deprived of
the nutritious elements thus held in solution in water by the

422 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE.

drying up of the soil, the young tree, recently planted, withers,
fades, and dies ; the larger trees languish, the leaves grow yel-
low, the fruit is either for the most part knurly and imperfect,
or drops prematurely from the tree, while that which remains
and matures goes swiftly to decay after it is gathered. Of
these evils, mulching is the greatest cure yet discovered, and
its effect always is to produce a healthy, thrifty, generous growth,
with fair, juicy, abundant', and lasting fruits.

James Richardson, Chairman.

Statement of A. W. Stetson on the Method of preserving

Apples.

The fruit must be taken from the tree by hand, wrapped in
paper, (common " tea paper" is preferable,) and put in cork
dust, which costs about $1.25 per barrel. One barrel of cork
dust is sufficient for four barrels of fruit. It is not necessary
to head the barrel. By this method apples will retain their
flavor for six or eight weeks longer than by the ordinary way.
It is perhaps unnecessary to say that the fruit must be sound,
and not over-ripe, when put in. The fruit, when barrelled,
must be kept in a cool place ; but, from my experiments, it is
a matter of indifference whether it is damp or dry. I have
tried this method of preserving my apples for three years, and
have, from time to time, exhibited them at the Horticultural
Rooms. The cork dust will retain its efficiency for some years.

BRISTOL.

From the Report of the Committee.

Our spacious City Hall was well and amply filled with the
varieties of the fruits and flowers which the season affords.
Although the general prematurity of the fruits of the pre- out
year had nearly deprived us of some of the varieties which
usually occupy a conspicuous place in our exhibitions, yet, under
this disadvantage, the display, both in quantity and quality, was

FRUITS. 423

a marked advancement over that of last year. Indeed, the ev-
idence which our exhibitions furnish of the gradual improve-
ment, year by year, of fruit culture in this county, is the most
satisfactory feature attending them.

The time of year selected for this agricultural anniversary
is not that in which flowers are to be found in their greatest
perfection. Their season is mainly over; they have most of
them already withered on their stems ; and they necessarily
become a less prominent feature of an autumnal than they would
be of a spring or of a summer exhibition. The display, how-
ever, of flowers yet in season was very creditable. There
were some rare and choice specimens of plants in pots from
gardens in this vicinity. Many beautiful varieties of the dahlia
— queen of our autumnal flowers — were exhibited ; while the
verbenas from the garden of John B. Burgess, who has been
quite successful in the production of new varieties of this deli-
cate little flower, are entitled to especial notice.

But it would ill become us to assume too much ; for, however
well we may have done in the few years which have passed,
this is no time for resting on our laurels. There is a wide
field for improvement yet open before us ; and there must be no
relaxation in our endeavors. Other sections of the country
are advancing with at least an equal rapidity ; and earnest ef-
fort alone will prevent us from falling behind them in the race.
Let us be careful, then, to do our part in showing that it de-
pends more upon the industry and enterprise of the people
than upon the quality of the soil whether our fields shall be
neglected and covered with brambles, or at best be only half
tilled, or whether they shall be made to rival in productive-
ness the gardens and vineyards of the more highly-cultivated
portions of the older world.

Thomas A. Greene, Chairman.

424 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE.

VEGETABLES.

ESSEX.

From the Report of the Committee.

Your committee see no possible reason why this department
of agricultural industry should not be suffered to be more fully
represented, the more especially when they reflect how much
indebted the farmer is to this branch of culture. A scale of
the comparative value of each kind of vegetable to the Essex
County farmer might be carefully instituted, which should serve
for some guide in offering pecuniary or honorary encouragement
for the production of new varieties. Are roots better adapted
to our hard and stony soil, or rather to the average soils of
our county ? If so, what kinds should take precedence ? This
determined, let it stand at the head of the list, and let it be
represented under its very best conditions. Can it be im-
proved ? Experiment will only decide ; and where sufficient
encouragement shall be presented, the experiment will be read-
ily essayed. "What next should occupy the second place in the
series ? what the third ? and so on. Thus an approximation
to the capabilities of the soil of the county can be ascertained,
and a promising result, in the long run, be anticipated, while at
the same time a system may be established. To systematize all
kinds of labor has been always found advantageous. Why
should it not obtain equally here ?

Your committee would suggest to the consideration of the
society the expediency of offering premiums for the introduc-
tion of new varieties of vegetables, to be awarded after a suf-
ficient time has elapsed to test their desirableness for extended
cultivation. Perhaps, should a liberal premium be given for
the best seedling potato raised in the county, — one that would
not be liable to the rot, of a large yield, and combining other
good qualities, — a great desideratum would be supplied ; also
the introduction of new varieties of other esculents, to take
the place of some which upon repeated trials are proved of an
inferior quality, or not adapted to this soil and climate. Many

VEGETABLES. 425

of our vegetables may be improved in quality and quantity, and
made to ripen earlier, particularly those that arc raised from
the Beed by a proper selection of seed gathered from the
healthiest and most advanced plants.

The number of contributors to this department was sixty-
eight, as follows: From Lawrence and Methucn eighteen each;
Andovcr. eleven; Haverhill, five ; Danvers, four ; Georgetown,
three ; Beverly, Marblehead, and Topsfield, two each ; Brad-
ford, Boxford, and Lynnfield, one each. It will be perceived
that only twelve of the thirty-two cities and towns in the coun-
ty were represented; and of these there were very few con-
tributors except from those in the immediate vicinity of the
place where the exhibition was held. This should not be the
case ; a more general interest ought to be awakened, and every
town be represented. Those residing at a distance, and par-
ticularly not on the line of a direct railroad communication,
are obliged to undergo some inconvenience in forwarding spe-
cimen-;, and also to the attending of their removal after the
exhibition. This may be obviated in a great measure if an ar-
rangement can be made by which the articles thus exhibited
can be sold under some prescribed regulations of the society,
and the proceeds accrue to the benefit of the contributor. The
excellence, beauty, and intrinsic value of the specimens exhib-
ited would attract many who would wish to buy, and thus re-
lieve the trouble of removing the articles by the exhibitors.
To secure the most efficacious plan for the subsequent display
of a more extended character in the vegetable department,
some such scheme might be adopted ; at least it is deserving
of consideration. Your committee trust that the above sugges-
tions, if deemed impracticable or inexpedient, will induce those
upon whom this duty may devolve to devise some other plan or
plans that will not only retain the present degree of interest
in this department, but lead to the gradual extension of its im-
portance and of its utility to the productive industry of our
county.

Respectfully submitted,

Henry "Wheatland, Chairman.

54*

426 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE.

MIDDLESEX.

Report of the Committee.

When we take into consideration the vast amount of vege-
tables consumed as food, both by man and beast, we think the
importance of their extensive culture can scarcely be over-
estimated. Your committee, therefore, are highly gratified in
being able to state that the display at the society's room on
this occasion, notwithstanding the protracted and severe
drought which prevailed during the season just past, and which
must have retarded their growth to a considerable degree, will
compare favorably with the exhibitions we have had on pre-
vious years. The display of potatoes, well-grown ones too, has
seldom, if ever, been excelled within our recollection. More
beautiful specimens of beets, turnips, parsnips, carrots, and
squashes we do not often see. In view of these facts, your
committee are unanimously of the opinion that there are culti-
vators in Middlesex County who understand the advantages to
be derived from deep ploughing, manuring well, and in giving
their crops clean cultivation. Noxious weeds should never be
allowed to grow among vegetables or plants of any sort. Stir-
ring the earth often is not only advantageous in destroying
weeds, but especially is that mode of treatment necessary on
the approach and during the prevalence of such a season as we
have just experienced. Not that your committee arc of the
opinion that frequent stirring enables the soil more readily to
absorb the dews, — which idea has been advanced by some indi-
viduals,— but that keeping the surface of the earth light cuts
off in a measure the communication between the earth and the
atmosphere, checks evaporation, and, as it were, compels Moth-
er Earth to retain her moisture much longer than when she re-
mains undisturbed. More on that head we should like to say;
and, to do any tiling like justice to the subject, we could not
say less.

Asa Clement, for the Committee.

Coxcokd, October, 1854.

VEGETABLES. 427

WORCESTER NORTH.

From the Report of the Committee.

Your committee have not thought it their duty, or the Lest
method of promoting the objects of this society, to encourage
by their premiums the growth of merely mammoth specimens,
especially since most vegetables of that description are really
less desirable and lesa valuable for use than well-grown speci-
mens of medium size and of a vigorous and natural growth. It
is well understood to be an easy matter to force the growth of
vegetables as well as of plants; and we have felt it our duty
to award the funds appropriated by the society for specimens
of fair and smooth exterior and solid character, grown in the
ordinary manner, and the results of judicious cultivation, rather
than for merely large specimens — nothing being known of the
manner of cultivation or of the quantity and quality of the
whole crop compared with the expense of raising it.

Among other things deserving special remark, your commit-
.tee believe the exhibition of potatoes and squashes — which are,
perhaps, the most important of the products of the garden — to
be remarkably good, whether we consider the variety or the
quality of the specimens. We have rarely seen potatoes of
better appearance — and this, too, notwithstanding the peculiar-
ly unfavorable nature of the season for their production and
growth.

Moses G-. Lyon, Chairman.

HAMPDEN.

From the Report of the Committee.

There is perhaps no department of agriculture that better
remunerates the tiller of the soil than the culture and growth
of vegetables, especially in the vicinity of our large towns and
cities, where a greatly increased cultivation of them is of late
very visible. What farmer in our county, fifteen years since,
thought of giving the labor of one man, one day of each week,
to raise " garden sauce " for market ? The pioneer who led in

428 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE.

this branch of agriculture was the late Richard Bagg, Jr.,
whose memory will long be cherished by the members of this
society for the active interest he ever manifested in its welfare,
and also by the community in which he lived as an intelligent
and worthy citizen, whose varied operations combined more of
method, of science, and of system than is often found united
in any one farmer. His was an example well worthy of imita-
tion by our young men, and especially our farmers.

Among the rare specimens in the exhibition of the present
season was a variety of corn, the seed of which was obtained
from the Island of Cuba, and one of the stalks of which was
sixteen feet in height, the ears being eleven feet from the ground.
It would seem to be peculiarly adapted to those localities
where little or no grass is grown, and where, as a substitute
for hay, the leaves of the corn stalk are plucked and cured. A
specimen of Japan pease was also shown, and is evidently well
adapted to our soil and climate. Some fine sweet potatoes
were also exhibited ; and the committee would remark, that
the success with which this vegetable has been cultivated of
late years in northern latitudes shows that we have all around
us a soil admirably suited to its growth, and that our light,
barren, sandy plains, when stimulated by manures, will produce
this esculent in perfection. The three products above named
were grown and exhibited by Philos B. Tyler, of Springfield,
and were attractive objects in the display of vegetables.

Jehiel Abbott, Chairman.

ECOXOMV OF AGRICULTURE. L29

THE ECONOMY OF AGRICULTURE.

A Prize Essay, from the Transactions of the Hampsliire Society, 1853.

1! Y L . HETUEKELI,

The word economy, at the present day, lias a great variety
of applications. The ancient Greeks used it only with refer-
ence to domestic affairs, never applying it to agriculture as
now employed, but using the word gcopouks whenever speaking
of what related to the tillage of the earth. From the word
husband, which means a farmer, or cultivator of the soil, is
derived husbandry, which signifies the business of a farmer, or
of one engaged in agriculture; so that all that is contained in
the expression, "economy of agriculture," is imbodicd, or
nearly so, in that good old Saxon household word, •• husbandry,"
which is perfectly familiar to all whose mother tongue is the
Anglo-Saxon.

Knowledge gives power to those who enter into partnership
with Nature for the purpose of multiplying those products upon
which man must subsist while a denizen of earth. Such knowl-
edge as is derived from experience and observation is unlike
that which is obtained from theory predicated of hypothesis,
founded upon speculation. Theory is only valuable when
founded on inferences drawn from principles established upon
facts derived from experience and careful observation in the
laboratory of Nature. Theory, in this sense, is true science,
which is to know — or, in a more general sense, certain knowl-
, comprehending such facts and truths as will enable even
a novice to practise the art with a good degree of success.
Theory, in any other sense, is science, falsely so called. Thou-
sands, after having seen the end and folly of hypothetical theo-
ries, arc led to denounce all theory; which is about as wi
it would be to refuse all coin because of the equally well-known
fact that there is counterfeit coin in circulation. Such show

430 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE.

greater weakness in this case than they did by suffering them-
selves to be imposed upon by a mere charlatan at the outset.

The " application of knowledge derived from experience " is
as essential to the agricultor as to the lawyer, the physician,
the clergyman, the statesman, or those engaged in any other
vocation where these elements are considered requisite and
necessary to prosperity and success. Knowledge derived from
tradition, it will be admitted, has had, and is still having, too
much influence in most of the arts and professions. Do not
eschew knowledge because it comes to you through the medium
of tradition, neither receive it because it claims experience as
its indorserj for, in either case, you may be deceived. The
Baconian, or inductive system, as it is popularly denominated,
is almost as fruitful of imposture, as now held and practised, as
the old system of philosophy which it supplanted. The rapid
generalizations and hasty conclusions denominated "knowledge
derived from experience " constitute one of the great evils of
the present age ; and no vocation or profession, perhaps, is
more infested with pseudodoxical experimentists, or self-styled
inductive teachers, than that of husbandry.

Agriculture as an art has always been found in the highest
state of perfection where the greatest advancement in civiliza-
tion and enlightenment have been made. In tracing the history
of civilization in connection with agriculture, it is found to
consist of four distinct periods — viz., that of the hunter, the
shepherd, the farmer, and the gardener. Hunting, in the first
period, was practised for the purpose of procuring the means
of subsistence. The comforts, and pleasures, and luxuries of
life are almost unknown in this state of society. Caves and
caverns, in northern latitudes, are to the people as houses, to
protect them from the inclemency of the weather and the pclt-
ings of the storm. Lot dwelt in a cave — he and his daughters.
From the savage life to that of the shepherd, or pastoral, the
benefits or advantages over the former are of a positive kind.
A home, a more certain subsistence, and more leisure for intel-
lectual pursuits are enjoyed. The life of the shepherd is less
the life of a wanderer than that of the savage, ami, without
mental culture, tends to indolence. The prescriptive right of
the shepherd tended to bring about the permanent division of

ECONOMY OF AGRICULTURE. 431

land into farm?, and to establish the right every individual lias
to the fruit of li is own labor. Thus dawned apon the pastoral,
or shepherd life, the agricultural, which was Boon succeeded by

the horticultural period, which is the highest state of terra-
culture, and with it is generally found associated moral and
intellectual culture, and, necessarily, a highly enlightened and
advanced state of civilization.

Hence it may be inferred, that, whether a knowledge of
agriculture and horticulture was originally imparted to man by
his Creator, and partially lost by the fall and the barbarism
which succeeded, or whether it is man's discovery, its introduc-
tion among savages has a tendency to produce civilization.

The conquests of Caesar introduced agriculture into Gaul,
and converted her woods and marshes into fertile and fruitful
fields. Thus have war and conquest on both continents been
succeeded by a higher state of civilization; and so has been
partially realized the fulfilment of the prophecy, that the sword
and the spear shall be converted into implements of husbandry.

It was the boast of Pliny the historian that the arts intro-
duced by the Roman conquests had diffused happiness over the
earth. Modern testimony tends to confirm this statement.
Visit the islands of the sea; and where you find the people
skilled in the art and practice of agriculture they will be found
subordinate, docile, and gentle.

This art, which has had so powerful an influence in the civil-
ization of man, lies at the very foundation of both individual
and national growth and prosperity. The economy of such an
art is, truly, worthy of consideration ; for whatever tends to
increase the productiveness of agriculture communicates hap-
piness to individuals and energy to the state.

A complete knowledge of "■ the economy of agriculture " is a
desideratum that has been long and diligently sought, but, like
the philosopher's stone, still remains hidden in the dark recesses
of Nature. It is true that some progress has been made in
the art of cultivating the soil ; yet it is equally true that
much remains to be known before the most economical mode
of changing inorganic bodies into organic can be successfully
practised, or, in other words, before the shortest and best way
of changing earth into trold is attained.

432 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE.

No specific science has done more to reveal the hidden mys-
teries of both the organic and inorganic kingdoms than that of
chemistry. But chemistry, even with all its power of analysis,
fails to gain access to the penetralia of Nature's hidden mys-
teries, concealed where neither the eye nor human reason can
ever penetrate, how eager soever they may be in their toils and
analyses.

The " economy of agriculture," if duly studied, will guide a
man in the investment of money or credit ; in the purchase of
land which it is proposed to work; in the locating and con-
structing of the buildings thereon, or, if they are already erected,
in rendering them convenient and suitable in every respect
to compass the end for which they were built ; in fencing ; in
stocking, if a grazing farm, whether with sheep or some other
animals ; if cows, in selecting with reference both to the quan-
tity and quality of milk produced. So of sheep, with reference
to the fleece ; if a grain farm, in the selection of all the farm
implements ; teams for work, whether horses or oxen ; grain
to be used for seed ; the right time to plough, the depth, the
number of times; what manures or other stimulants shall be
employed, how much, when, and how ; when to sow ; how to
cultivate, and shield, and preserve from the destructive ravages
of insects ; when to harvest, as well as how ; when to market,
as well as where, by whom, and to whom. So also with regard
to the products of the dairy, if a dairy farm ; or the fruit, if
raised in abundance. And so of every thing, whether bought or
sold. Be able to nick the time, and never have occasion to say,
Had this, that, or the other thing been known, a better crop
might have been produced, or a better breed of cattle pur-
chased for stock raising, or a better method of fattening ani-
mals employed, or, when fattened, a better time for selling
for the shambles selected. These arc a few of the numerous
topics of which the " economy of agriculture " should take
cognizance.

By it a man should determine whether, in the selection of a
farm, it will be better for him to purchase a grain farm or a
grass farm. If, in the light of economy, he shall determine on
a grazing farm, some of the inquiries which immediately pre-
sent themselves are, how to produce the greatest and best

ECONOMY OF AGRICULTURE. 433

amount of grass; how to obtain such cows as shall, from the
consumption of a given amount of grass, produce the greatest
and best quantity of milk for butter or cheese; whether it is
better to sell the milk, or convert it into butter or cheese ; or
whether it be better to do all at different periods daring the
season — the end in view always being to secure the greatest
dividend for the money and labor invested; whether it will be
better to soil the cows, or turn them into the lot to feed upon
the grass themselves ; whether it will be better to raise the
calves, or send them to the butcher as soon as they arc old
enough for the market.

Every farmer needs to know, in order to derive the greatest
gain from keeping stock of any kind he may choose, how to
select with reference to the end in view. If he raise sheep,
he needs to know how to select that variety which shall con-
vert the feed consumed into the greatest return, whether of
wool or mutton ; if cattle for the stall, how to select such as
shall convert their feed into the 'greatest amount of muscle and
tallow with the least waste ; how the feed shall be prepared
for the animals in order to do this. Reference is to be had, also,
to the temperature and ventilation of the stable where the ani-
mals are kept during the days of fattening. Experience, obser-
vation, and the fruit of right experiment can approximate very
near the truth in all these matters. With reference to the
breed of cattle, the great inquiry is, not, necessarily, which will
grow the largest, but which will, without reference to size, con-
vert grass and grain into gold fastest ; for what else is an ani-
mal, in the all-comprehensive view of economy, but a machine
to be employed for this very "purpose ? All else is mere fancy.

In order to reach the highest perfection in the economy of
agriculture, it is necessary that the tiller of the soil should be
the proprietor of the same. Man labors more intensely when
working for himself, and those directly and rightfully depend-
ent upon him, than under any other conceivable circun

The great improvement in the art of tilling and reclaiming
the soil in Flanders is owing chiefly to peasant proprietorship.
The Flemish people have practised, for centuries, rotation of
crops and economy of saving and making manures that are in-
troduced as modern discoveries in English farming, about which

55*

434 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE.

so much is said and written at the present day. It is conceded
by English writers even that Flemish agriculture is now su«
perior to that practised in England. The English do not hes-
itate to say that the cultivation of a poor, light soil is supe-
rior in Flanders to that of the most improved farms of a
similar kind in Britain. We greatly surpass the Flemish farm-
er, say they, in capital, in implements of tillage, in the choice
and breeding of domestic animals generally, though it is con-
ceded that the Flemish excel in cows. The British farmer is
better educated than the Flemish; but in the minute atten-
tion to the qualities of the soil, in the management and appli-
cation of manures of different kinds, in the judicious succession
of crops, and especially in the economy of land, so that every
part shall be in a constant state of production, we have still
something to learn from the Flemish — not from an instructed
and enterprising peasant here and there, but from the great
mass of the workers of the soil.

The most highly-cultivated portions of the country consist
chiefly of farms owned and cultivated by peasant proprietors.
Spade husbandry is either wholly or in part employed by them.
Whether the land is cultivated by the spade, or plough, all the
members of the family engage in it — children doing the lighter
work, such as weeding, hoeing, feeding the cows, and such like.
Suppose the farm to consist of six acres — which is a common
area for a farm in Flanders. One man and his family can man-
age it. If he has a wife and three young children, all of whom
are considered equal to three and a half grown-up men, the
family, according to the authority quoted, will require thirty-
nine bushels of grain, forty-nine bushels of potatoes, a fat hog,
and the milk and butter of one cow. An acre and a half of land
will produce the grain and potatoes, and allow some corn to
finish off the fattening of the hog, kept on the extra buttermilk,
<fcc. Another acre in clover, carrots, and potatoes, with the
stubble turnips, will more than keep another cow. Two and
a half acres of hind thus suffice to furnish this family with food ;
while the produce of the remaining three and a half acres may
be sold to pay the interest of the purchase money invested,
wear and tear of implements, extra manure, clothing for the

ECONOMY OF AGRICULTURE. 435

family. A'c. Thus it is Been how a family can live and thrive
on a farm of six acres of moderate land.

This is a brief detail of one six-acre farm in Flanders, given
in order to show what peasant proprietorship is < 1 < > 1 1 > «_r and
demonstrating on the side of economy in agriculture, more
especially where the soil tilled is owned. Give a man the
ownership with a title deed of a Hat rock, and he will convert
it into a fruitful field : but give him a ten-years' lease of a well-
cultivated farm, and, nine chances to one, he will convert it into
a fruitless waste. Wherever ownership vests in the soil in
Europe it has stimulated the poor man, or the laborer rather,
to work it even to the conveying of earth in'baskets upon the
back, far up the mountain side, where Nature had denied a soil,
in order to render it fertile and productive of the substantiate
of animal nutrition.

Circumstances which will suggest themselves to the reader
make a difference, it is true, between proprietorship in the soil
here and ia Flanders. These, however, do not essentially
vary the economic bearing of the facts quoted.

Perhaps there is no department of the economy of agricul-
ture where farmers and gardeners suffer so much direct loss
as that which pertains to animal excrements and urine. There
are very few farms in any country that will produce good
crops for any length of time without the application of manure.
The farmer in New England is ready to admit that he has no
reason to expect a plentiful harvest where he has not made a
plentiful use of manure. This being granted, all animal excre-
tions are, or should be, regarded as being of too great value to
the husbandman to lie suffered to be lost, wasted, or improper-
ly employed. After having made such arrangements with ref-
erence to savim: them that nothing be lost, the-next important
consideration is how to use them, various and unlike as they
arc in their qualities, so as to derive the greatest returns in
crops for their expenditures.

This knowledge can only be obtained by experience — the
great teacher in terra-culture. In experimenting, the intelli-
gent manipulator may derive some aid from the science and art
of chemistry, as well as from direct experiment and observa-
tion. If the farmer can know what the elements of animal ex-

4-36 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE.

cretion are, when he knows how the animal has been fed, much
is gained. That he can acquire this knowledge from chemical
analysis very nearly, will be generally admitted. Analytical
tables to which farmers have access have been made, exhibit-
ing the elements of the excretions of different animals. The
urine is said to be far richer in nitrogen, alkalies, and alkaline
salts than the solid excrements ; yet how few of the farmers
save it in such a way as to be able to use it on their soil as a
fertilizer ! The humus-forming substances abound much more
plentifully in the solid excrements than in the liquid. It is the
remark of a modern writer and chemist, that " the solid excre-
ments of herbivorous animals are rich in humus-forming (or-
ganic) and seed-forming substances, (phosphoric acid, lime, and
magnesia,) but poor in forcing and leaf-forming substances,
and that the urine of the same animals is rich in substances
forming stalks and leaves, (nitrogen, potash, and soda,) but de-
ficient in the seed-forming mineral nutrients," and is better
adapted for forcing purposes. The quantity, quality, and con-
dition of the food, whether cooked or not, as well as the tending,
treatment, and employment of animals, all have an influence
upon the excrements which are to be employed as stimulants
for the soil.

Every farmer should have a tank, or tanks, conveniently lo-
cated for the immediate reception and preservation of all urine
until required for use. This is one kind of economy that has
been almost entirely overlooked by farmers. Facts will justify
the assertion, that the best of our agriculturists lose nearly
half the fertilizing elements of the animal excrementitious sub-
stances before employing them upon the soil. To show the
importance of urine, read the following statement concerning
it:—

If the urine of a cow, for a year, were collected, it would
furnish about G72 lbs. of solid extract, which contains as much
nitrogen alone as 5 GO lbs. of the best guano, and so large a
quantity of potash, that, by combustion, it will yield about 170
lbs. of potash, worth, in commerce, from $20 to $25. In view
of these facts, ^ the annual urine of a cow is taxed at three
guineas, or about $15, in Flanders, where agriculture has
reached its highest perfection. A celebrated English farmer

ECONOMY OF ACIil CULTURE. 437

states that in manuring meadow land lie has obtained far
greater effect from 175 lbs. of sewer water from the city of
Edinburgh, consisting for the most part of urine, than from
336 lbs. of stable manure, and the same quantity of guano as

stable manure, with which he manured three equal parcels of
land.

In view of such facts, every reflecting farmer must concede
that he loses annually a large amount of fertilizing elements
in not Baving all the urine of his establishment. In addition to
this, much that is poured into the drain at the " back door," to
putrefy, would, if poured into a tank and saved, furnish, in the
course of a year, a large amount of valuable liquid manure.

Stable manure, by being kept in pits prepared for the pur-
pose, would be worth far more than when exposed, as it too
often is, to sun, wind, and rain. Under-ground stables protect
it somewhat ; but these are objectionable. The fumes rising
from the accumulated and accumulating droppings, lying be-
neath the floor, constantly diffuse themselves throughout the
stable where the cattle are kept, and thus make the stable air
exceedingly bad — rendering it impossible to give the animals
any thing like a healthful atmosphere. Another objection is,
having the cattle stand so far from the ground. Pits for the
reception of the solid excrements and tanks for the liquids
should be provided, so that all can be saved in such a way as
not to be offensive cither to man or beast, for the cultivated
fields need them.

When all the animal excrements are saved to the best ad-
vantage, and sufficient knowledge derived from experience is
gained so as to use them in the way that shall render them in
the highest degree productive in the return of crops, it will be
found that farmers still need more. What shall be done?
They must next resort to artificial manures, as auxiliaries to
gain the end desired — to wit, the maximum production of every
cultivated rod of ground that they till. A Saxon agriculturist
of much practical experience on this subject says, " The more
extended employment of artificial manures is an advance in
farming that has already opened a new era. By this means the
business of a farmer is becoming more closely approximated
than formerly to that of a manufacturer ; for, whilst formerly

438 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE.

our farming arrangements were conducted in the manner which
the quality of manure produced on the farm itself prescribed?
we are now free to cultivate, as may seem most profitable, ev-
ery plant which is suited to the soil. Yea, still more : we can
produce, as it were, with a single effort, fine harvests from
worn-out fields ; we can, in such a case, secure, in twb or three
years, the same results for which formerly ten or twelve years
were required."

Every farmer should, in addition to the animal excretions
which he possesses, be in the way of employing such artificial
manure as he can most readily and cheaply furnish himself
with. The following, by way of suggestion, is copied from an
English farm journal : Guano, urate from the London poudrette
manufactory, bone-dust, super-phosphate of lime, humus, rape-
cake, woollen rags, sulphate and muriate of ammonia, saltpetre,
Boast's mineral manure, alkaline manure, soda, soap-boilers'
ashes, gypsum, chloride of lime, &c. Here the intelligent tiller
of the soil has a fruitful theme for reflection and experiment —
to wit, to learn the effect of these several manures upon his
soils, and how to supply them in producing his various crops,
so as to learn which of all these varieties, with others not
named here, he shall, in the light of economy, procure.

The great end to be reached by the use of manures is, such
a stimulation of the soil under cultivation as to obtain from
any given area the greatest possible amount of produce adapt-
ed to the feeding of man and beast, both being alike dependent
for nutrition on the vegetable kingdom. The art of feeding
animals, like that of plants, is but poorly understood, even by
the best agriculturists, at the present day. "Knowledge de-
rived from experience " has been kept in the background by
prejudice and superstition — guides of a stumbling and perverse
people. There seems to be very little more known to-day on
these subjects, notwithstanding the boast of progress in these
latter times, than was known to Abraham, Job, and Jacob. Yet
it would seem that many of these great problems, that lie at
the very foundation of agricultural economy, might be solved
in one generation, and even in less time, by experiment — -just
such as the most common farmer can make. The speculations
of the man of science in the laboratory can never do it, else a-

ECONOMY OF A( .'KM CULTURE. 439

Licbig would have attain. id unto it ore this. The chemist has
done something, it is true, by way of analysis, but irery little
by way of didactic teaching. Such knowledge as the farmer
needs and must have, in order to advance the art of agriculture

and perfect its economy, can only be obtained by careful obser-
vation and experience in the great laboratory in which Nature
works, and works to some useful purpose — where her experi-
ments are synthetical rather than analytical — where she pro-
duces something, when supplied with the right elements, that
gladdens and enriches him who engages in partnership with
her. He who, by observation and experience, has learned how-
to raise the maximum number of bushels of wheat, or corn, or
any other grain, upon an acre, and can so employ his knowledge
as to produce the given result whenever he has the opportu-
nity, knows what is of infinitely greater value to the world, when
imparted, than to be able to analyze a kernel of wheat and tell
the staring crowd of what chemical elements it is composed.
As an aid, every intelligent man welcomes Chemistry ; but let no
one be misled by her claims as set forth by some theoretical
pretender who is ignorant of the very first rudiments of good
farming. Nature abounds in mysteries which no science can
ever fathom ; yet forget not that science will aid you in exper-
imenting in the art of plant culture. What the fanner needs
to know beyond a wherefore is, how to furnish manures con-
taining just those elements which the seeds, planted or sown,
after germination, shall need to nourish and supply them until
matured and ready for the harvest. This knowledge can be
gained by experiment. So, again, when the crop is harvested,
how he shall feed it, if to be given to brute animals, so as to
derive the greatest possible profit from such an expenditure;
for both the plants and animals thrive best when supplied with
such nutrition as is best adapted to their own peculiar want-.
Nature, both in animals and plants, discovers wonderful powers
of adaptation to circumstances. A plant grown in pursuit of
proper nutrition under difficulties will he but a poor Bpecimen
from Nature's workshop. Hence it is reasonable to infer that
all medium crops, as well as those below this standard, are
specimens of this kind of production. The proposition, then,
that medium farming does not pay, will need no argument to

440 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE.

establish its truth. No man can long afford to be a medium
farmer. No man would long be contented with three per cent,
interest on stocks or money loaned when he could just as well
have six per cent, and a better security. Good agricultural
economy is that which ends in maximum harvests from minimum
expenditures, and nothing short. It boasts not of its great
number of acres under cultivation, but of the quantity pro-
duced per acre. Quantity and quality relative to the area are
its pride, rather than the great number of acres tilled. No
man can afford to raise seventy-five bushels of carrots per acre,
when the same area, if well tilled, would produce one thou-
sand ; nor three bushels of rye per acre, when forty should be
produced on the same surface ; nor one-half a ton of hay per
acre, when four can be produced ; nor wheat at ten bushels per
acre, when sixty may be produced under right culture ; nor corn
at fifteen bushels per acre, when the best culture produces one
hundred and fifty.

There are numerous other kindred topics that might be pre-
sented for consideration in connection with agricultural econ-
omy— such as labor, whether performed by man or by beasts
trained for the purpose, or by some other agent of power, as
steam ; the planting and cultivating of orchards ; draining and
irrigating ; liquid manures as a substitute for those in common
use ; the employment of lime, how, when, and where ; the rota-
tion of crops ; subsoil-ploughing ; the number of times a field
should be stirred with the plough before planting or sowing
the seed ; whether fall ploughing shall be abandoned ; the mode
of tilling with the hoe or cultivator, or both ; the surest method
of destroying noxious weeds ) the best way and time of har-
vesting corn and other grains ; when to cut grass to be made
into hay, and how to make it so as to render it the most nutri-
tious; the cooking of food for swine and other domestic ani-
mals ; and, in fine, geognosy, geoscopy, meteorology, botany,
zoology, ornithology, and entomology, so far as these relate to
the economy of agriculture. But, instead of an essay, these
topics would furnish matter, if rightly discussed, — to wit, in
the light of " knowledge derived from experience," — sufficient to
make volumes. They are all, it will be admitted, intimately
related to the topic under consideration ; and the completion

ECONOMY OF AGRICULTURE 441

of the science and the perfecting of the art of the economy of
agriculture will never be reached until these relations, as afore-
said, are all studied and learned in Nature's great Laboratory.

An attempt has been made in this brief essay to awaken the
attention of farmers and others to the importance of the econ-
omy of agriculture — the economy of an art that has done, and
is doing, more for the advancement of civilization and the per-
fection of man as a social being than any other of the great
family of industrial arts — an art which in ancient times engaged
the attention and occupied the time of patriarchs and prophets
— (men who lived in close communion with God, and from which
Jesus, both the Example and Savior of man, drew his most
striking and instructive parabolic lessons of infinite wisdom) —
an art that has had attractions for a Xenophon, a Virgil, a Cato,
Cicero, Cincinnatus, and a long line of names down to our own
ever-honored Washington and Webster — all men who es-
teemed agriculture most worthy of their patronage, and felt
honored by it, as the most ancient, as it is the most noble and
honorable, of earth's vocations. The perfecting of the science
and economy of such an art is worthy of engaging the attention
of the best intellects of the race ; for the time of universal
peace on earth and good will among men will not be enjoyed
until the perfection of that art, which underlies all real pros-
perity in every other, be attained. This is to be reached, if at
all, by knowledge derived from experience and observation in
the laboratory of Nature rather than that of the chemist.
Hence the importance of every farmer's keeping an exact rec-
ord of all his doings — thus accumulating facts from experience
and observation such as will aid in the completion of the science
and art of husbandry and of rural economy.

56*

442 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE.

THE USE OF MANURES

From an Address before the Essex Society.

BY RICHARD S. FAY, ESQ.

We must bear in mind that the manure from well-sheltered
and well-fed cattle possesses far greater fertilizing properties
than that from those which suffer in cither of these respects.
Self-interest, therefore, as well as humanity, demands from us
more care and attention in guarding our stock from the effects
of the extreme heat and cold which eminently distinguish our
New England climate.

An abundant supply of manure is an absolute necessity to
profitable results iu agriculture. Possessed of this, almost any
soil, if cultivated with a moderate degree of judgment, can be
made to produce good crop?. This is a plain simple truth
about which there is no question; but the moment we come to
apply it to practice we are beset with difficulties. There has
been so much said and written upon this subject, and so many
theories propounded, that it is almost impossible to know what
to believe or how to proceed. The action of manure is as puz-

and as unsolved to the farmer as the law of perpetual mo-
tion to the philosopher or the squaring of the circle to the
mathematician. If one attempts to* inform himself from books
he soon becomes involved in a labyrinth of contradictions*; and
if he consults his neighbors he will rarely find any two to agree.
One is for long manure, another for short; one is loud in

e of guano; while another thinks it hurts the land, recom-
mending phosphates, salt, soda, lime, ashes, bones, or some
other fertilizer as the only valuable addition to his home-made
manure; while still another condemns them all, having, per-
haps, a nostrum of his own which he considers the only one
worth using. Nevertheless, we have some well-established

USE OF MANURES. 443

facts to start with ; and if we keep them in mind wc cannot go
very wrong in practice. For example : few, if any, will deny the
superiority of barn-yard manure over all others as a means of
fertilization; and the reason seems to be obvious enough, since
it returns to the soil more nearly than any other all the prin-
ciples withdrawn from it, in the best condition to insure re-
production. But, where the soil has become impoverished from
neglecting this obvious truth, something more may be needed
to restore it to a remunerative degree of fertility beyond what
our barn yard can supply — in which event we must resort to
foreign and artificial manures.

In a case of this nature there is a very safe rule of practice
which may always be followed. In the first place we must as-
certain from the best received authorities, unless our own ex-
perience has taught us, the relative value of the special fertili-
zer which we propose to make use of compared with barn-
yard manure, and the number of tons of the latter which should
be applied to the acre. Having ascertained the extent of our
deficiency, if wc compost with what we have so much of the
special fertilizer as will make it equal to a full supply of barn-
yard manure, and apply them together, we shall derive the full
benefit of both. There is something quite consonant to reason
in the composting together all the fertilizing ingredients at our
command. We know that plants require many kinds of food
for their perfect growth and development, some undoubtedly
taking more of one than another. If, however, in the cultiva-
tion of one kind, some of the fertilizers thus composted are not

It does not follow that they are lost; thi In in-

corporated with the soil, ready at a future period to yield their
food each to its appropriate plant. If wc cultivate, therefore,
in a proper rotation, then all that wc deposit in the soil under
the general term manure will be ultimately developed and re-
store! to as in succeeding crops.

The unexampled drought of this season will not have been
without its advantage if we act upon the lesson it has taught
every observant farmer upon this point. Those crops the ma-
turity of which was hastened by good culture and high manur-

red but little, while those which received only common
attention were very seriously diminished. Two or three addi-

444 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE.

tional cords of manure to the acre would have secured in al-
most every case quite a full average crop thoughout this coun-
ty. The difference of expense and the difference of result in
the two cases is a good profit in the one and a considerable
loss in the other. Our farms are too small for expensive
works of irrigation ; and we must rely, therefore, principally
upon our manure heap to guard against the ill effects of
drought. It serves us here as a balance wheel in agriculture,
warming and invigorating the soil when suffering from too
much humidity and cold, and tempering the heat and attracting
moisture when the soil becomes from natural causes too dry.*

The great diminution of sheep husbandry in this State is
very much to be deplored ; it is a striking indication of dete-
rioration and decay in our agriculture, unless we find that
something more profitable has taken its place. We shall look,
however, in vain for any thing of the kind ; every sheep, there-
fore, lost from the census of 1850, as compared with that of
1840, is a dead loss to the agricultural wealth of the State.
Sheep are among the most active and profitable agents in the
work of amelioration and farm improvement. Valuable as fer-
tilizers when folded, they likewise improve and renovate pas-
ture lands, brought as ours have been by neglect to a state
bordering upon entire non-productiveness.

Two objections are commonly made to keeping sheep : one is,
that they are difficult of restraint; and the other, that they are
very liable to be worried and destroyed by dogs. With regard
to the first objection, it may be said that there are breeds of
sheep so docile and quiet that they only require the usual

* The following table gives the relative value of certain manures, and the proper
quantity of each that should be applied per acre on medium soils for the growth
of maize and roots : —

Farm-yard manure, - 20 tons - per acre.

Night "soil, ... 10 " - "

Crushed bonea, - - 7 cwt. - "

Woollen rags, - - 12 " - "

Guano, - - - - 3 to 4 " - "

Nitrate of soda, - - 1 to :} " with half the weight of salt.

Lime, - - - - l '. tons per acre,

If every farmer would prepare a table of this kind, adding to it those fertilizers
which his experience bad proved to be equivalent to a given amount of barn-yard
manure, the information to be gained from the imbodiment of it in one report
would he very valuable.

USE OF MANURES. 445

fences to keep them within bound. The second objection is a
much more serious one, because we have not the remedy in
our own hands, unless we keep constantly on the watch against
trespassers. Our agricultural towns, however, can aid the
farmer very much in this matter. There is no more reason
why they should not prohibit dogs from running at large than
cattle or any other animal liable to do injury, witli such penal-
ties attached to the infraction of any law passed for preventing
this nuisance as to insure a proper obedience to it. In many
parts of Rhode Island, where sheep husbandry has increased
very much of late, the farmers have united together to keep off
dogs, allowing no person to go over their land if accompanied
by one. Many suffer their dogs to roam about, or to be their
companions in the field and on the road, from inconsiderateness ;
and when once they come to know the injury caused by them
they are quite ready to join in preventing it.

There is another subject which does not appear to have
received the attention of this society to the extent which its
importance would seem to demand. I refer to a well-considered
system in the rotation of crops best adapted to our soils, cli-
mate, and markets. Chance or convenience is apt to determine
our course of cultivation, in total disregard of all the principles
connected with vegetable habits and growth. Every farmer
knows that a continuous cultivation of any plant takes from the
soil those qualities essential to its healthy growth, and that to
reproduce it year after year requires the highest manuring possi-
ble, and which, however scientifically applied to meet its wants,
fails at last to produce a profitable result. We know, too. that
certain crops impoverish the soil more than others ; that all
plants ripened for their seed exhaust the land more than those
consumed upon it or removed in a green and incomplete state
of growth; that some crops require deeper tillage and are
capable of closer and more constant cultivation than others,
which cannot be worked upon until ready for the harvest. These
arc some of the leading facts taught by long experience, which
should govern us in establishing certain rotations in crops, with-
out which a high state of fertility cannot be maintained.

The shortest rotation worthy of mention is the four-years'
course ; that is to say, the whole farm passes under the plough

446 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE.

and a summer fallow once in four years. The portion which
is in roots the first year is in grain the second, the third in
grass, the fourth in grain again, and then goes back to roots,
which is the fallow crop — the land then being deeply ploughed
and brought to its highest condition, and the bulk of the manure
of the farm applied to it. Where the land is not sufficiently
strong to bear such repeated croppings the same course is pur-
sued, with this difference, that the land is allowed to remain
longer in grass, which, if properly managed, rests it, and pre-
pares it again for another course of tillage. Instead of a four-
years' rotation it may thus be extended to any number of years,
which is equivalent to having less breadth of land under the
plough.

To adapt this or any other system to our farms, we should
be forced to extend the time of the rotation very considerably,
and to substitute in most cases maize for wheat. This would
be an advantage to the land, however, because maize has sev-
eral of the properties of a summer fallow, being a crop requir-
ing careful culture and a plentiful supply of manure. We can
therefore lengthen our rotation without injury, and probably
with profit, if we divide the time the land is to remain in grass
by cultivating on the same portion at the Avidest intervals the
roots and maize. In pursuing some such system as this we
Id probably receive the largest return for our manure
and keep our land in a good state of fertility.-'

* The mildest rotation that can be established as the practical result of these
remarks would be a tei arse, which would be based upon the cultivation

of one- tenth of the farm in roots; one-fifth or two- tenths in rye, oats, or barley;
one-tenth in maize ; and six-tenl . Under this course each tenth would

be successively cultivated as follows : —

Turnips, or oilier roots.

Oats, rye, or barley.

Grass.

Gi

Grj

Mi

Oats, rye, or barley.

Grass.

Gra .
If the manure heap will adi tit of it, or fertilizi

r with the rye, oats, or
barley; but this should not b apted without v i aanuring and thorough

cultivation.

1st

year,

2d

<(

3d

"

4 th

it

5th

{<

6th

ii

<<

<<

9th

II

II

REWAEDS or AGRICULTURE. 441

REWARDS OF AGRICULTURE.

From an Address before the " ' Society.

JW EKV. GEORGE E. ELLIS.

Iii that inspired record which tlic world reveres we read
the solemn sentence uttered to Adam: "Cursed is th<
for thy sake : thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to
thee*: in the sweat of thy face shalt thou cat bread." The
genius of the Hebrew Ian as well as the comment which

Ion-- experience has written upon that sentence, allows us a
considerable range of freedom in interpreting it. What does
it mean ? "Were the seeds of thorns and briers created after
Adam's sin, to abate the glory of the first garden, to fret and
aggravate the stern tasks of man, and to lacerate the hands
which must toil for the body's sustenance ? It would be hard
to believe that, especially hard to ascribe the vengeful infliction
to a good Being, unless some ulterior purpose of bio ; ig be
concealed behind the curse. Rather should we say that the
sentence indicated a removal from a sheltered garden of ease,
and indolence, and unpurchased fertility to the open fields of
the world, where the germs of thorns and thistles had been al-
ready sown with those original growths whose seeds are in
themselves upon the earth. Certain, however, it is. that, if the
necessity of toiling amid thorn- and thistles is a part of a curse,
a compliance with its terms is the condition of the highest
earthly 1 known to man. It would be no difficult task,

it would require no special pleading, no ingenious tricks of ar-
gument, to prove that all human knowli , art, cul-
ture, and skill, with some of the richest of happii
have come to man directly through the tillage of the earth.
The moment man undertakes to pierce the soil he com
the uso»of some tool instead of his own hands, and lie del

448 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE.

one, then better and better ones, till art in this direction reaches
perfection. How carefully, too, does the husbandman learn to
watch all weather signs, the changing aspects of the skies, till
he learns the laws of climate, and, if he have a brain capable
of philosophic processes, becomes an adept in meteorology and
astronomy ! The experience which he acquires about the com-
position of soils and the rotation of crops is the basis of the
noble science of chemistry, and of all the individual and nation-
al thrift expressed in the word economy. What an ingenious
process is involved in the simple practice of budding and graft-
ing ! What a skilful combination of elemental qualities is
shown in the mingling of barren sand, gravel, or clay with the
cold and dank soil of the meadows ! And as Agriculture has
served as the inventive energy to all arts and sciences, — includ-
ing even Commerce, which exchanges her productions, — it is
but meet that all arts and sciences should in turn serve
Agriculture, as they now do. And this is, on a grand scale,
one of the most striking and beautiful illustrations of that law
of reciprocity of service which the Creator has established be-
tween all men and all things, including all the stars of heaven
and himself. There is not a single science or art which is ex-
empt from this service ; and all of them are tributary to Agri-
culture. Even some of the most retired and speculative men,
whose bodily labor you would not conceive to be worth their
daily food, are employed upon such ingenious mechanical ques-
tions as will inform you, on scientific principles, what are the
proper proportions for the size of the hub, the spokes and the
rims of your cart wheels, where the line of draught is in a
plough for various soils and depths, how thick should be the
handle of a spade or a pitchfork, and how to arrange the cur-
rents of air for ventilating your barns.

Nor, in this enumeration of the blessings that owe their
prime source to the tillage of the soil, ought we to omit that
continual demand for industry and hard labor which is the root
of so many virtues. Industry and effort are severe conditions
sometimes; but how rich their gains, from the health that
bounds through the red tides of life within the frame to the
stores of the well-filled garner and the joys of a happy home !
All the useful discoveries and inventions have come from parts

REWARDS OF AGRICULTURE 449

of the globe where hard labor in agriculture has been essential
to support life : not a single one of the glorious acquisitions of
human skill, and intelligence, and inventiveness has originated
in the tropics. More than this : where the hardest labor has
been necessary, there, precisely there, has been the most of
thrift, and happiness, and virtue. Holland, which by incessant
industry reclaimed its soil from the sea and banked out the
ocean from her rich meadows ; Switzerland, where the flocks
and herds have to find their sustenance in three ranges of ele-
vation in the course of a year; England, with her splendid
agriculture : and New England, with her rocks, and bogs, and
barrens, are proofs of this, that, the harder the conditions
of toil, the richer and more various the blessings that spring
from it.

I recently overheard in a railroad car the conversation of two
young- men, one of whom — perhaps both — was evidently on a
visit here from the "West. It was when the drought of the last
summer was doing its worst. They were looking out from the
windows of the car upon the successive patches of sand, gravel,
rock, scrubby woods, and mullein through which the road wound
on. It must be confessed that the region wore rather a hard
aspect, and that even the cattle which we occasionally passed
seemed to be meditating upon the poverty of the soil ; while
the chickens were making the most of the grasshoppers, run-
ning off what little flesh they had in the effort to get a little
more. The travellers made themselves merry over these
scenes, where the very ribs of the starved earth seemed to have
broken through its lean skin, and they uttered their sharp criti-
cisms accordingly. At last one of them flatly affirmed that he
would rather own a ten-acre lot in Wisconsin or Illinois than
the land of the whole State. At this point, feeling a little dis-
turbed by their reflections on my native soil, I wanted to ask
the youth what brought him here. What was he after here ?
As I did not put the question to get an answer, I imagined
what his answer would be. Perhaps he came to see his par-
ents— a noble motive, and probably a welcome visit to them
if he was a steady youth, even though he may have needed to
receive from them the money to come and go. Perhaps he
wanted a wife ; and if he was worth having as a husband, he
67*

450 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE.

could easily find a good one. Indeed, it is possible that, if he
has gone back, he has taken with him the daughter or sister of
some one of you farmers. If so, I hope he has got one of the
best — " a real, genteel, well-informed, and pleasant-tempered
and handsome wife," and one used to hard work, for she will
find enough occasion for it at the West — a smart, noble, exem-
plary young woman, —

" The fairest garden in her looks, —
And in her mind the wisest books."

Perhaps the youth came to seek out a schoolmaster for the
West, where schoolmasters occasionally die before their time,
as victims of chivalry. Perhaps he wanted a minister, or an
engineer, or an engine, or an invoice of shovels, or of clocks,
or of medicines for fever and ague, or funds for a church, a col-
lege, a bank, or a railroad, where the money and the directors
often run off faster than the cars. On either of these errands
that young man may have come ; and my hope was that, after
he had stared the rocks and the mullein out of countenance, he
might reason with himself thus : " If this soil has produced
New England fathers and mothers, good wives, schoolmasters,
churches, books, engines, and all sorts of notions, including my-
self, it must have some credit; and though I am too poor, or
lazy, or ambitious to stay here, I shall always be proud to hail
from it."

There is a robust strength of character, and a common-sense
philosophy, and a healthful development of all the human facul-
ties, to the production of which agriculture is more favorable
than is any other occupation of life. If one should spend a
week of familiar intercourse with a scholar, and another with a
clear-headed farmer, lie would be struck with the differences
manifested between them at almost every point. In rugged-
ness and robustness of frame, in their bodily and nervous sen-
sations, in the practical character of their information and in
their views of life, they would stand distinguished. Even if
they knew sonic of the same things in common, the different
ways in which they have learned them would make their knowl-
edge seem different. Our old farmers used to carry in their
heads a vast deal of information of their own getting, which a

REWARDS OF AGRICULTURE. 451

young generation cannot carry in their heads though we take
the trouble to put it into them in our schools. Our old farm-
ers could stand in their fields, and, pointing off in all directions,
— north, south, east, and west, — could tell you " the lay of the
land," the boundaries of towns and states, the course of
streams, the signs of the weather, and the fair promise of a
crop. Our children have all this information given them in
maps and books ; but not one in twenty of them can impart it out
of school. Such is the difference between having knowledge in
your head or in your hands. Practical skill, ingenuity in devising
makeshifts, the habit of making cautious calculations, the slow
but safe wisdom that is matured, not in one season, but gener-
ally before the head is bald or whitened by the frosts of age, —
these are the valuable talents of an intelligent farmer. Leave
New England to the guidance of its old sterling principles, with
the infusion from year to year of that wisdom which is left after
the fermentation of old follies, and here shall be scenes of hap-
piness for ages to come — of such happiness as the world any
where is designed to afford — of such as the thoughtful know is
alone good for them. And the hardest tasks on the hardest
materials will still be found by the Creator's sovereign law to
be the most rewarding. The richest and fairest spot of earth
that lies on the whole twenty miles of road over which I trav-
elled in riding here from my home this morning was, a few
years ago, a foul and dreary bog. New England will yet find
a use for every rock and cobble stone over all her fields. This
is but a specimen piece of the whole condition of human existr
ence, where we labor upon rough, and hard, and often con-
demned materials.

452 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE.

THE POSITION OF AGRICULTURE.

From an Address before the Middlesex South Society.

BY HON. I. H. ■WRIGHT.

The great interest of this country, beyond the power of man
to change it, is agriculture. The climate, soil, tenure of the
land, wants of the people, political institutions, hereditary pur-
suit, and relations to other countries, all combine to stamp the
United States of America with the indelible character of an
agricultural country. And most fortunate is it for this people
that an all-wise Providence has thus cast their lot ; for in this
pursuit is found the greatest share of human happiness.

The health-giving, ennobling, and elevating influences of this
employment have ever been the theme of wise and philanthrop-
ic men, and its beneficial results, in establishing the wealth,
power, and true glory of a nation, as well the favorite topic of
the political economist and statesman.

The growth and progress of the United States, from the time
of the first settlement of the country by civilized man to the
present day, is one of the most remarkable phenomena in the
history of the human race. That a wild and rugged country,
remote from the civilized world and overrun by fierce and war-
like savages, should, within a period of time so brief as to re-
quire but little more than two centuries for its measure, become
the happy home of nearly thirty millions of the human family,
enjoying the blessings of civilization, reared in high moral and
mental culture, governing themselves by wise and equitable
laws of their own establishing, procuring an ample support
from the moderate and beneficial exertion of their labor, and
constituting a nation that ranks as an equal with the most pow-
erful and older nations of the earth, while it exercises a wider
and deeper influence upon the people of the old world than

POSITION OF AGRICULTURE. 453

any of the nations of Europe — that such a country should thus,
as it were, in a day in the life of nations, become the seat of a
great and prosperous people, is truly among the "wonderful oc-
currences in the history of the world. And yet agriculture
has done all this for our country. Out of the bounteous soil
have the materials been wrought which have built up the wealth
and power of our country and ministered to the comfort and
happiness of its people. True, the bravery and powers of
endurance of our forefathers were exerted against the savage
as well as the civilized foe in the foundation of this mighty
empire and the establishment and defence of its free institu-
tions; true, the busy hands of the artisan and the mechanic
have turned the free mountain streams and subdued the fiery
vapor to their use in the production of innumerable fabrics that
conduce to the wealth and prosperity of the country ; true, the
busy marts of trade have drawn together from all parts of the
land, as with magnet power, the productions of the soil and the
fabrics of art, and the winged messengers of commerce have
scattered them throughout the markets of the world, and
freighted to our shores in return the riches of foreign climes ;
but, had not the soil been tilled, our forefathers would have
had no country worth fighting for, the artisan and mechanic no
food to sustain life, and no material upon which to bestow their
ingenuity and labor, the trader no goods upon which to exercise
his vocation of bringing about an exchange of products, and
the ships of commerce no freights for foreign lands. So true
is it that the agricultural interest of our land is the basis and
support of every other interest, whether trade, manufactures,
or commerce, and so dependent are they upon the prosperity
of this great fundamental pursuit for their encouragement and
success. We hear much said about the duty of government to
foster trade, protect manufactures, and promote commerce;
and it is well that government should direct its measures with
reference to the benefit of these interests; for they arc the
handmaids of Agriculture, and render beneficial service in the
use and dispensation of her products. But no action that will
promote the real interests of agriculture can be otherwise than
beneficial to trade, manufactures, and commerce ; and, for this
reason among others, the devotees of these pursuits should

454 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE.

ever favor whatever government measures will promote those
interests. That such is not the usual course of those engaged
in other pursuits than those of agriculture is sufficiently appar-
ent from the whole tenor of government action in this and
other States and in the United States. While the statute books
abound with acts designed for the promotion of trade and
commerce and for the protection of manufactures, — acts that
in their operation not unfrequently bear with severity upon the
agricultural interest, — it is with extreme difficulty that any
legislative action can be obtained calculated to benefit directly
the cause of agricultural improvement.

The injustice and impolicy of such a niggardly course in ref-
erence to this paramount interest becomes still more apparent
when we consider that, besides furnishing to a great degree the
actual and substantial wealth and capital of the country, agri-
culture is the employment which engages more than three-
fourths of the whole population of the country, and is the great
reservoir of labor. Wise statesmen profess that it is the great
duty of government to protect the labor of the country ; that
is, to secure to it employment and remunerating prices against
the competition of labor in other countries. How better can
this policy be carried out than by promoting the cause of agri-
culture, since that pursuit is the great employment of labor ?
If this interest is fostered and encouraged by government, the
laborers engaged therein will thrive and benefit in proportion :
their labor will be rendered lighter, their time spent to more
profit, and the income of their labor enhanced. As agriculture
is confessedly the great reservoir of labor, by the rise or fall
of which all other labor is affected, and to some extent regu-
lated, is it not, then, apparent that whatever benefits the labor
employed in agriculture, whether it be legislative or social
action, must produce a corresponding improvement in the con-
dition of all other labor, however employed ?

Of late years this great and all-important interest of agri-
culture has received more of the attention of prominent and
influential men in our community than heretofore ; and the di-
rect consequence thereof has been the application of science to
its operations to an extent never before known, and with the
most beneficial results as to the improvement in the character

POSITION OF AGRICULTURE. 455

of productions and the increase in the value thereof. The pro-
found researches of the geologist have thus been made useful
and productive of great pecuniary value, fully appreciable in
dollars and cents, by indicating the origin and nature of soils,
the component materials beneath the surface, and the sources
from which deposits may be drawn to improve the character
of land and render it better adapted to the use of the farmer.
In this manner, also, have the great attainments of the chem-
ist been made to subserve the interests of the farmer, by point-
ing out to him the cause and manner of those operations of
Nature which result to his benefit or injury, and teaching him
by what processes to promote the former and prevent the lat-
ter. So, too, has the learned lore of the meteorologist brought
light out of darkness for the farmer, by giving him the fixed
laws of Nature as his guide for seedtime and harvest instead
of the charlatan predictions of almanacs or the wise saws of
village oracles. And thus has the physiologist been made the
willing and useful schoolmaster of the farmer, to teach him
" the why and the wherefore," and the proper indicatives of
good and of bad stock, and the sure modes of securing the one
and of improving the other. The botanist, too, has contribut-
ed the results of his observations and minute researches into
.the hidden mysteries of Nature, and taught him the mode of
the formation and growth of the plants which he rears, the ma-
terials which compose their structure, and the food which they
require for their proper development. The entomologist has
investigated for him the nature and habits of the insects which
infest his grounds and destroy his crops, and instructed him in
the way to render them innocuous, or to exterminate them.
The ornithologist has studied into the habits and means of sup-
port of the birds which visit his fields, and, by pointing out those
species that are a benefit to him and those which work him in-
jury, corrected many a vulgar and injurious error respecting
the operations of the winged inhabitants of the air, and taught
him how to protect his crops and preserve them from depreda-
tion. Not the least among the votaries of science who have
thus been enlisted as helpers to the farmer is the philosophical
mechanic, who has displaced the rude and inefficient implements
of agricultural labor by the admirable inventions which his pro-

456 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE.

found researches into the doctrine of mechanical forces, his
scientific tests of the strength and durability of materials, and
his wise application of the laws of motion have enabled him to
bring to the aid of the farmer. By this means have the plough,
the reaper, and the rake been so much improved that work be-
fore impossible of accomplishment with remunerative returns
has now become habitual with enterprising farmers, easy of
performance, and highly profitable in its results.

The benefits thus secured to agriculture by the application
of science are not to be disputed; there is nothing chimerical
or even problematical about them ; they are around us and
about us, on every hand, and must be apparent to any man who
has his eyes open, and sufficient power of memory to call to
mind what he saw twenty years ago in the way of farms, agri
cultural produce, and stock, and sufficient judgment to contrast
that with what he now sees.

But the efforts of prominent and influential men do not stop
here ; they are not satisfied with what has been done in the
way of agricultural improvement, nor yet with demonstrating
that much more may be done. They are desirous to have the
knowledge upon this subject which has already been obtained
widely diffused over our whole country and put into general
practice, and as many as possible of the strong, active, and in-
quiring minds of our farming population enlisted in the further
pursuit of knowledge upon this important matter, that the
means of developing and applying scientific truth may thus be
greatly multiplied. They are therefore exerting their influence
upon the public mind, and through that upon the government of
the State, to the end that agricultural education may be fur-
nished by means of suitable and adequate provisions for agricul-
tural schools, where the practical sciences may be taught to
the young farmers of our State, and their application to the
processes of cultivation demonstrated and explained by actual
experiments upon the soil. Is not this a wise and worthy ob-
ject to strive for, eminently practical in its nature, and sure to
be productive of the most important public benefit if carried
out? Let us, then, all of us, old and young, humble or exalted,
farmers, traders, mechanics, lawyers, doctors, or divines, what-
ever be our calling in life, give the full measure of our influence

TOSITION OF AGRICULTURE. 457

and active aid towards furthering the great and all-important
object of establishing these schools in Massachusetts. United
and vigorous action is necessary to accomplish what is desired;
and the energetic pioneers who have gone forward in this good
work should be promptly sustained by all good citizens. The
underbrush of prejudice is to be cut away, the rocks of opposi-
tion are to be drilled by reason, blasted by conviction, and re-
moved by patriotic public spirit, the yawning chasms of de-
spondency to be bridged over by the sturdy tree of knowledge,
and the road to success thus made broad and plain, so that
this ancient and honorable Commonwealth may go forth in
all the pride of conscious strength to the establishment of
institutions which are to be for the benefit of the farmers who
till her soil, which will adorn her farms with well-stored grana-
ries, and make her waste places to blossom like the rose.

Truly a great work is yet to be accomplished in bringing
about the application of science to agriculture ; and in the
judgment of wise men who have bestowed much thought upon
the subject, and garnered up much valuable experience by the
devotion of many hours of severe labor and the expenditure of
much money, this great work can be best accomplished by the
establishment of public schools for agricultural education.
That this enterprise is not a hopeless one is demonstrated to
some extent by the action of the last Legislature in the appro-
priation of a portion of the State lands at the Westboro' Re-
form School to the experimental uses of scientific agriculture,
and the assignment of the sum of six thousand dollars from the
State treasury to the same object — the whole to be under the
direction of the Massachusetts Board of Agriculture. The aid
thus given by the State towards this object is small indeed
compared with the magnitude of the object and the importance
of the results sought for to the wealth and prosperity of the
State. But still it is a beginning in the right direction, and
therefore a cause of hope to the advocates of agricultural edu-
cation; and if the aid thus furnished by the State be wisely
improved, as we cannot doubt that it will be, under the super-
vision of the Stafn Board of Agriculture, the successful results
which even this limited effort in behalf of scientific cultivation
will produce will have a powerful effect in demonstrating the

58*

458 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE.

soundness of that policy which would provide the whole State
with adequate institutions for the instruction of our youth in
all those arts and sciences which are essential to improvement
in the business of agriculture. Let us, then, hope for a happy
issue for this first experiment of our Commonwealth in the ap-
plication of science to agriculture, and press on in the good
work of advocating the adoption of that policy which, while it
would enrich the minds of our young men with the best kind of
practical knowledge, would at the same time increase by many
fold the valuable productions of the soil, and thereby add
greatly to the wealth and power of the State.

MASSACHUSETTS FARMER. 459

THE MASSACHUSETTS FARMER.

From an Address before the Worcester Society.

BY HON'. KMOHY WASHBURN'.

"While I would speak of the condition of the farmer of Mas-
sachusetts as it is, and of what should be done to improve it,
I propose to call your attention to what I regard as the two
great sources of discontent on his part, growing out of in-
dulging the habit of contrasting and comparing his condition
with that of others : first, in respect to the corresponding
classes at the South and West ; and, second, in respect to those
engaged in other pursuits at home.

If we turn our attention for a moment to the attractions
which the South or "West hold out to the farmers of New Eng-
land, I am far from admitting that he acts wisely who abandons
a comfortable home here in the hope of finding a better or an
easier one there. Grant that he would have a richer soil from
which to reap a more abundant harvest, at a far less amount of
labor, in that region which promises to be the granary of the
world, than here ; grant that its progress in wealth and popu-
lation is outrunning the calculation of the wildest dreamer, and
that upon the millions that are gathering there depend the fu-
ture destinies of our country; grant, even, that from the sur-
plus population of the North there will eventually grow up
along the rich prairies of the West peaceful and prosperous
communities, in which New England sentiments and New Eng-
land habits may stamp a New England character upon the peo-
ple of that region. I am far from seeing in any or all this a
cause for envy or discontent on the part of the owner of a snug
farm in the county of "Worcester.

I speak not, of course, of what lies far down the vista of
future generations, but of our own — of institutions and privi-

460 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE.

leges which are now enjoyed. And in this view I see little to
tempt the farmer of New England to exchange what he has
here for a something which he hopes to enjoy elsewhere here-
after.

The crowning glory of New England is her institutions and
the moral and social influences which they exert. And these,
it should be remembered, are the growth and development of
two centuries — rendering her unsurpassed, as a moral, intelli-
gent, and independent community, by any other on the globe.
And what does a man gain in exchange for these in the new
regions to which he is invited ? what for the schools, the
churches, the public libraries, the good neighborhood, the good
roads, the mills, the workshops, the health that nerves his arm,
and the neatness and comfort with which he is surrounded here ?
Harvests whose very abundance impoverishes the owner by
depressing prices in the distant markets to which he must look
for a return for his labor ; a population almost necessarily too
sparse to share adequately in the benefits of schools, collected
from every quarter of the globe, which a century will hardly
assimilate or reduce to a common tone of sympathy or feeling ;
disease in its various forms lurking unseen, and scattering its
subtile poison along some of the richest valleys and through
the most tempting portions of that fertile region ; while the
means of moral and intellectual culture of the young are neces-
sarily limited, and the temptations to ease and indolence must
be always such as a feasible and fertile soil never fails to hold
out to the farmer who tills it. These are some of the incidents
which must for years, and perhaps generations, attend the sac-
rifice of a New England home for the chance of raising a larger
crop of corn or wheat than ordinarily waves along the furrows
of a New England farm.

There is, however, one spot in that region which holds out
to the true-hearted man of the North attractions beyond the
teeming harvests with which a virgin soil allures the emigrant,
not in the ease which he is to earn there, but in the deeds
which he is to do. I refer to that spot now memorable in the
history of political affairs, once consecrated to Freedom, but
now to be desecrated by the accursed institution of Slavery
unless preoccupied by the homes and institutions of freemen.

MASSACHUSETTS FARMER. 4G1

To such as arc willing to give up the priceless blessings
which New England oilers, to go forth and plant a race of free-
men there, there is not a heart that ever felt one glow of gen-
erous enthusiasm that docs not bid them God speed in their
enterprise. Let them go; let them by their presence turn that
wretched blunder of slave propagandism into a barren tri-
umph ; and when in after ages that beautiful region shall be
teeming with its millions of freemen, the memory of these
pioneers of Freedom will be dear to a grateful nation.

I had thought of speaking of the sunny South, and the at-
tractions it holds out to those whose energies have been fed
and nursed by the winter storms that sweep along these rugged
hill tops ; but the fascinations that may have once tempted, the
love of ease and the hope of wealth, which are common to all
men, to such a land of promise, where the magnolia towers in
its beauty and the orange groves load the air with their fra-
grance, have been growing weaker and weaker as the character
of her "peculiar institution" has become better understood by
the people of the free States. To say nothing of its moral
and political effect, its influence upon the character of labor is
enough to render it odious if tried only by the test of political
economy.

Labor has been made by Providence the law of man's condi-
tion ; it is the price at which whatever is valuable in life must
be earned ; and yet, though originally pronounced as a curse,
it becomes, under proper regulations, the surest source of pos-
itive blessings to man. In whatever field of honest effort it is
exercised, it brings with it, as its reward, the self-respect of
the laborer, as well as the respect of all true men with whom
he is associated.

Whatever, therefore, degrades labor as the business of life,
or renders it distasteful or dishonorable, does violence to our
social laws no less than to a wise economy. If the labor of a
community is thrown, as a burden, upon a degraded class, — be
it the helots of Sparta, the slaves of Rome, or the slaves of the
Carolinas, — it becomes in itself a degraded pursuit, till the
masses of the community grow luxurious and corrupt, or idle
and degraded, themselves. They may boast of their chivalry
aud pure blood ; but the chivalry and blood of such a people

462 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE.

grow weaker and less pure together, till redemption comes,
if it come at all, in some form that restores to labor its true
dignity and influence. It may be by revolution, or it may be, as
we trust it will be in our land, by the conviction forced at last
upon the universal mind of a nation that slavery as an institu-
tion is no less hostile to the development of the physical pow-
ers of a people than it is to the dictates of a common humanity.

However tempting, therefore, may be the cities and villages
of the South as marts of trade for our young men, there are
fewer attractions every year for our farmers of the North in
the cotton fields or rice plantations, where the white man is
ashamed to toil, and the unrequited labor of the j,black man is
wrung from reluctant sinews by the terrors of the lash.

There is one other comparison which the farmer of Massa-
chusetts is apt to make, which creates a competition with his
own chance of happiness stronger than any I have mentioned ;
it affects him not only individually, but enters into his social
relations, and shapes in no slight degree the education and
prospects of his children; and that is, the comparison which is
made between the business and position of agriculture as a
pursuit and the various other callings and pursuits into which
the people of New England are divided. It is the farthest
from my intention to speak disparagingly of the honest pursuit
of any man ; and my object is, to ask the farmer to pause a
moment and look calmly at both sides of the picture which the
varied life of industry in New England presents before he is
ready to forego the certain sources of independence which he
enjoys for the fancied advantages which others possess.

Men judge too often from outside -appearances. The bright
and yellow metal that so many are striving to grasp does not
always turn out to be gold. The grand house and beautiful
garden may serve as a pretty toy to the man of trade or com-
merce on which to expend the surplus of his fortunate gains,
and his fancy may be tickled with the idea of possessing what
others shall envy or admire so long as he is building or perfect-
ing it; but when he lias gained the object of his life, and grown
familiar with the pet of his riper childhood, he finds too often
that one docs not always exchange a life of toil for one of hap-
piness with case.

MASSACHUSETTS FARMER. 463

The great difficulty in the way of a farmer's contentment is,
that, -while he toils for a respectable independence, his gains
are necessarily somewhat slow in their accumulation, and he is
too ready to assume that those who put on the outside marks
of competency are, in fact, more successful and more favored by
Fortune than himself. He allows himself to be led away by
that haste to be rich with which so many are infatuated.

He sees, perhaps, the merchant, the professional man, or the
speculator dressing in the style of a gentleman of fortune, liv-
ing in a showy house, or sharing more liberally than he in what
the world calls its honors, and he looks for some similar chance
for success in life for his children instead of training them up
to his own pursuit, though a hundred times more certain of
ultimate success. His great mistake consists in confining his
observation to the fortunate experience of a few individuals
instead of regarding the history of these employments as
classes. Of the many who enter these walks of life, he does
not stop to inquire how many fail ; how few, compared with the
farmers as a class, attain to even a comfortable independence.
The instance of an industrious farmer becoming bankrupt is a
rare phenomenon; but for him to want the means of giving his
wife and children the real comforts of life, and of fitting the
latter by education for any ordinary position in life to which
they may aspire, is still more rare in Massachusetts.

The statistics of success in life in the various callings and
pursuits in which men engage would furnish a curious study for
speculation if they could be accurately reached.

At one of our legislative agricultural meetings, a few years
since, some statements were made upon this subject which will
serve to illustrate what I have said. " Of all the merchants,"
said one of the speakers, " who have done business on a certain
wharf in this city (of Boston) within forty years, only six per
cent, have become independent : the remainder failed, or died
destitute of property. Of one thousand merchants with whom
accounts had been opened at one of our principal banks, within
the last forty years, only six of the number were ascertained
to have become independent." Another highly-intelligent gen-
tleman, from our own county, who had been both a merchant
and farmer, stated " that from actual investigation it had been

464 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE.

estimated that in every hundred traders but seven succeed in
acquiring wealth."

Of eleven hundred and twelve bankrupts who took the benefit
of that law in Massachusetts, he stated that only fourteen were
farmers ; and of twenty-five hundred and fifty bankrupts in New
York, only forty-six were farmers.

And when I turn to the personal history of my own profes-
sion in this county, it is painful to recall the number who, within
the limits of my own memory, have toiled through life in a
constant struggle to sustain an appearance which public opinion
imposed upon them, and left, at last, little else as an inheritance
for their children than the name which they had striven to pre-
serve from oblivion.

And in respect to one other of the professions, I apprehend
the language of one of the earliest and most distinguished of
their number might be borrowed in respect to the acquisition
of wealth : " If in this life only they have hope, they are of all
men most miserable."

What I mean by these remarks is, that the man who allows
himself to be dazzled by the brilliant success of another in
some different calling from his own, and is thereby led to in-
dulge in feelings of discontent, acts against the light of reason
and experience ; and, above all, that the farmer who yields to
such a weakness overlooks altogether the means of independ-
ence which lie within his grasp.

Nor do I in this measure life by mere worldly goods — by
tons of hay, or bushels of grain, or heads of cattle. I do not
test its value by a reference to the books of the assessors to
ascertain the actual value of the acres he may own, or the
amount of money for which he may pay taxes. I take a young
man, as I find most of our farmers' sons in New England, care-
fully trained in morals, well taught in the rudiments of knowl-
edge at our free schools, and his common sense sharpened by
the very expedients to which his parents may have been obliged
to resort in bringing up a large family upon the income of a
little farm, and I send him into the world with nothing, if you
please, but his hands and a hopeful heart; and with these he is
to win his way in the world. lie finds labor honorable and
well rewarded; he finds in an old community like ours accumu-

MASSACHUSETTS FARMER.

latcd wealth that is ready to seek investment; he finds men
wise enough to prefer the security which a young man offers,
in his manly frame, industrious habits, and good morals, to
the venturesome speculator or artful schemer; and by the
aid of these he is soon able to become the most independent
of created beings — a young, hopeful master of his own acres,
with a roof to shelter himself and the wife who in the confi-
dence of woman's love has joyfully embarked with him on the
ocean of life.

It is not indeed to the spot where he plants himself that he
owes this sense of independence which lie feels. He may ei
it here ; he cannot lose it altogether, let his home be ever so
remote. It springs up within him from the seed that is sown
and the germ that starts in the home of his childhood. Who,
while travelling through the great West for instance, on stop-
ping at the hospitable door of a farmer, has been told, in answer
to his inquiry, with that ready alacrity that marks a generous
pride in giving it utterance, that its master had emigrated from
the county of Worcester, has not seen stamped upon every
thing around that farm house something to mark the origin of
its owner ? Years may have passed away ; his name may have
been forgotten in his native village ; but in and around that
western home which he has planted for himself there will be
that which a practised eye cannot mistake; and the trees that
shelter it, the school house by the roadside, and the modest
church in the distance that marks where a village is clustering,
arc but counterparts to the features in the landscape on which
his young senses first opened.

And yet these are not the fruits of the wealth he carried out
from the paternal roof, but of the training of his boyhood, of
the school house where he studied his arithmetic, and the
church where he sat by his mother's side and heard the solemn
but often rugged truths that settled deep in his memory, and
sometimes more deep from the very struggle which his own
young will held with such sturdy dogmas. Such men are ii
pendent where they are ; but they would have been no
independent had they never left the soil of New England.

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466 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE.

THE ECONOMY OF SCIENTIFIC AGRICULTURE.

From an Address before the Hampshire Society.

BY KEV. W. CLIFT.

In calling your attention to tho economy of scientific agri-
culture, it is hardly necessary to remark that the science of
this art is yet in its infancy, if, indeed, it can be said to be born.
Very few cultivators are able to give a reason for the faith that
is in them; and the most enlightened of the calling are gener-
ally most cautious in assigning the causes of the facts that come
to light in their art. Yet there are certain principles of great
practical value, so far established as to be safe guides, that
ought to be every where disseminated. The tiller of the soil
should know, so far as he can, the causes of those beautiful
processes in Nature on which success in his art depends.

It has been often asked, ''What is the use of educating a
boy who is to till the soil? He is going to be nothing but a
fanner." And the question shows both a low estimate of the
occupation and of the qualifications for it. " Can he lift a big-
ger stone, or lay a smoother furrow, or drive a team any the
better for his learning?" Though it be somewhat heretical, I
venture the opinion, that an educated farmer can do the most
common farm work all the better for his education. It is mind,
enlightened by science and disciplined by the study of the
schools, that has given us all the improvements in the imple-
ments of husbandry and in the methods of culture that we now
enjoy.

What is meant, then, by a scientific farmer? I do not mean
simply a bookworm, who 1ms gone through the routine of col-
lege studies. The discipline of college is desirable, if a man
would make the most of himself, in any calling; and. were I
shaping my own course for this occupation, I would not forego

SCIENTIFIC AGRICULTURE. 4G7

this discipline if it were within my reach. 3Jut this is not ne-
cessary that science may bring its blessings to every farm.

Nor is a scientific farmer necessarily a man of wealth and
intelligence, retired from professional life, or some other cull-
ing, to amuse himself in rural occupations. There are such
mm, wise in other things, but sciolists in the cultivation of the
earth, who spend a hundred dollars to get a crop worth lifty
from the soil. They are generally the laughing stock of all
common-sense farmers in their neighborhood, and arc thought
to be a standing refutation of the utility of book farming. But
this argument is not fair. Agriculture is not their business,
but their amusement, and they do not conduct their operations
at all with reference to profit. No farmer understands the
science of his business until he sees his way clear to get back
every dollar of capital that he expends upon his soil, with a
large increase. He is a man who understands both the science
and the practical details of every operation upon the farm.
He can tell you, not only why a thing should be done in a given
way, and how to do it, but he can do it himself. He is a scep-
tic as to the wisdom of his grandfather, and believes that even
all agricultural knowledge did not die with his father. He is a
man who knows something about his business, and looks for
new revelations in the future.

The man of science upon the farm, in the first place, knows
something of the composition of his soils. These are the ma-
terials on which he is to display his skill, and out of which he
is to rear his harvests. There is a great difference in these ;
and, without a proper knowledge of their ingredients, he can-
not tell how to grow a crop to good advantage. It is all a
matter of experiment whether or not he have a remunerative
harvest. Without this knowledge, too, he is unable to tell
what amendments his soils require, even when the chemist has
made an analysis of them. A farmer who does not understand
this is as poorly fitted for his business as the smith would be
who did not comprehend the different qualities of metals, or
the carpenter who could not tell the difference between white
oak and white pine. The mechanic who should give you a pine
plough beam or a chestnut axe helve would be called a bungler
or a knave. And yet his case would be parallel with that

468 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE.

of the farmer who attempts a grain crop on a field that has
lost its potash or its phosphoric acid. The folly, in either case,
is transparent. You have the form and semblance of strength
in the pine plough beam, but no toughness or durability. You
have the stalks and the heads of the wheat or the rye, but no
grain. Both are shams, because bunglers have made them. In
the case of the grain crop the blame is thrown upon Nature,
and it is declared that the wheat blasted. The poor man does
not suspect himself of a vain endeavor to rival the Almighty —
to make something out of nothing; and yet that is practically
the policy of the farmer who would grow a crop without know-
ing whether the elements of that crop are in his soil.

There is a direct pecuniary benefit to society in scientific
agriculture. It would bring cheaper food, and of much better
quality, to every man's door. In the absence of famine, we
forget that famine would now exist were it not for the improve-
ment already effected by the application of science to agricul-
ture. It is this alone which has enabled England to double her
population within a century. It is this alone which enables us
to keep so much of our population upon the sea board, and
which can keep it against the strong competition of the new
lands of the West.

What science has done for British agriculture it can do for
ours. There is no magic in great crops, and no miracles
wrought in God's rain and sunshine. " He sendeth his rain
upon the just and upon the unjust." The man who knows how
to make his acres produce maximum crops will get them, and
he only. Providence will help those who learn how to help
themselves. There is a wide difference between good and bad
husbandry, visible to all who look at it. There is a still great-
er difference between that which now prevails and that which
is attainable by all.

It is speaking far within bounds to say that the present agri-
cultural population of Hampshire County is capable of produ-
cing from the same farms now cultivated twice the amount of
meat and breadstuff's now grown here. Many a farm, under
improved husbandry, has increased its productions three and
fourfold. But suppose the products of this county arc only
doubled by this process. The result is a gain to every mem-

SCIENTIFIC AGRICULTURE. 469

ber of the community who consumes these products. The but-
ter, cheese, beef, pork, and lard which enter into the yearly
bills of every family would be furnished a little cheaper. The
vast quantities of Hour and grain which now come to you from
the West might just as well be raised at your own doors and
be furnished at a cheaper rate. All these articles arc increas-
ing in price from year to year mainly because consumers in-
crease faster than the agricultural skill of our farmers. Farm-
ers here have long since ceased to supply eastern markets ;
and we have to import the deficiency from abroad, and pay a
profit to the shippers and merchants, who stand between us
and our producers. There i3 no remedy for this high price of
provisions but in a more skilful cultivation of the earth. This,
then, clearly, would be a direct pecuniary advantage to all
classes in society.

470 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE.

BRITISH AND AMERICAN AGRICULTURE.

From an Address before the Hampden Society.

BY PROF. J. A. NASH.

To be particular, and to make the subject as practical as
possible, I will refer you to some practices of British agricul-
ture which are to be avoided by us because wrong in them-
selves ; to others which, although they may be right in that
soil and climate, are to be avoided because they would be
wrong in ours ; and to others still which are right under all
circumstances, and so should be carefully copied into our hus-
bandry. In speaking on these topics I may as well pursue the
order of Nature. The farmer begins with his soils and ma-
nures ; he proceeds with his crops ; and he ends with his beef,
pork, butter, cheese, and other marketable products. I will
pursue a like order with the few topics on which the remaining
time will permit me to speak.

With regard to soils, — their neat, cleanly cultivation, and
their appropriation to this or that rotation of crops, as they
are found by experience to be better adapted to one or anoth-
er,— the farmers of Great Britain are, as might well be expect-
ed, in advance of us. There it is pretty generally understood,
not only for what course of cropping each district, but every
farm in each district, is best suited. Some lands, for instance,
have come, by accumulated experience, to be regarded as more
profitable for perpetual pasturage than for any thing else. Of
these some arc devoted almost exclusively to the fattening of
beef, others to dairy purposes, and others to sheep culture. It
is not that these lands are unfit for the plough. Some of them,
many even, very large tracts, are the most beautiful lands 1 have
ever seen. They would very soon feel the plough but for the
settled conviction that such is their aptitude for producing the
natural grasses that they arc worth more for that than for any

BRITISH AGRICULTURE. 471

thing else. So it is with lands for cultivation. Some are
found to be such, that, with a given mannring, not very expen-
sive, they alternate wheat and clover perpetually, and are worth
more for that severe rotation than for any other purp
Others cannot, by any reasonable expense of manure, produce
continually such exhausting crops. They are more profitably
subjected to a rotation of three years, giving one crop of wheat
in that time, and requiring but light crops the intervening
years. Other lands,, still lighter, are more profitably subjected
to a four-years' rotation, others to a five-years' course, and
others to one of six years, giving wheat but once in those times
respectively. The farmers of those islands have studied the
fitness of their soils for this, that, or the other purpose ; they
have studied it with reference to the nearness or distance of
markets ; and they have studied it with reference to the natural
fertilizers obtainable in each locality. In Cornwall there is a
large tract of land worth fifty dollars a year for raising pota-
toes. It bears two large crops of potatoes each year ; has
borne nothing else these many years past; and probably will
bear nothing else for many years to come. The reasons of
this are, that on one side of that land is an ample market for
all the potatoes that can be grown upon it, and on the other
side is a kind of shell sand, so adapted to this soil that a dress-
ing of it each year is found to make the land produce great
crops of potatoes twice a year, without being itself exhausted,
and without diminution of the crop. British husbandry is doing
much towards turning each acre to the best possible account.
It is no disgrace to us that our husbandry is not yet as acute
and far-seeing. Hitherto there have been good reasons for our
being behind in this matter. But these reasons will not last
always. We should not too much blame our fathers if they did
as their fathers did b< fore them without asking why : but if our
children should do as we are doing, let us hope at least that
they will have a good reason for it. Let us study our soils ;
let us ascertain for what each is best suited ; and, as far as
iblc, let us put each acre to the best use.
In Great Britain, as in our own country, but far more inex-
cusable there than here, you see considerable careless, slipshod
cultivation. You sec poor implements, poor teams, the work

472 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE.

slatternly done, every thing of a cast that you could not com-
mend. You see also there, as here, a better species of culti-
vation, in which the farmer is neat, is industrious, does every
thing in a way which would have been up with the beginning, but
is not up with the middle, of the nineteenth century. You could
not commend this to our imitation. Why should not the farmer,
whose profession is sufficiently laborious and not too lucrative,
avail himself of the very latest improvements ? Especially
now, when thought, inquiry, intellect are brought to bear on
his employment, should the farmer be up with the times.

But aside from that careless, slovenly farming, which was
never fit for any age, and that listless, uninquiring course,
which, to say the least, is unfit for the noon of the nineteenth
century, there is a great deal of the cultivation of the soil in
Great Britain which you would admire. The land is ploughed
deeply — so deeply as to afford all but an absolute guaranty
against injury from too much or too little rain,* it is so pulver-
ized as to furnish an almost perfect seed bed ; the manure, if
not put in the drill, is so perfectly mixed with the whole body
of the soil that no root or rootlet need go out of its way in
search of food. I am aware that, in consequence of the dear-
ness of labor, it may not be wise, in many cases, for us to cul-
tivate with the same nicety that some Englishmen and Scotch-
men do ; but certainly the time has come for us to inquire
whether good cultivation, even at " a dollar a day and found,"
is not more profitable than running haphazard over the ground
and doing nothing as it should be done.

Hardly any thing in the farmer's calendar is so important as
the management of manures. I have been into barns in Eng-
land where the air was so completely charged with ammonia
that its effect on the olfactory nerves was like that of Scotch
snuff. Its effect on the eyes was enough to make tho hardest-
hearted man in the world weep living tears. If some of the
real Scotch yellow were to blow into the eyes, it would hardly
produce a more speedy lachrymation. I have been into other
barns, where scarcely an offensive odor could be detected.
Now, what made the difference ? The barns were tight in both
cases; they were not very well ventilated in cither; but in one
case nothing had been done to prevent the waste of manure

BRITISH AGRICULTURE. 473

and the injury to the eyes and general health of the animals.
In the other case, a little swamp mud, a few shovelfuls of clay
loam, some powdered charcoal, a few pounds of plaster, or a
little copperas dissolved in water, -whichever had been most
easily obtained in the place, had been daily thrown in; a pro-
cess of composting had been attended to simultaneously with
the deposition of the manure; the whole had been kept suffi-
ciently moist to prevent any violent fermentation; and the
consequence was, that the manure in and about these barns was
much more valuable than at the others, and the cattle could not
fail of doing better.

Again : I have seen in that country barn yards sloping down
to a run of water which by its color I could plainly see was
carrying off the soluble salts of the yard. A little variation
in the surface of the yard, making the middle the lowest, would
have completely prevented the waste. I have seen other yards
so arranged that it was clear that immense quantities of manure
were there composted, and partially fermented and fitted for
the soil, without the waste of a particle.

It may be said that these are small matters — hardly worth
bestowing thought or attention upon. It is not so. The dif-
ference of result between the good and bad management of
manures on a farm of one hundred acres is all of one hundred
dollars a year. Let one farmer of a hundred acres manage
well in this respect, and let his neighbor on a similar farm man-
age badly in the same respect, and at the end of thirty years,
other things being equal, there will be a wide difference be-
tween them. The crops of the one will be in the ascending,
those of the other in the descending, scale; and while the farm
of one will be constantly increasing in value, that of the other
will be diminishing, or but hardly holding its own. "Wasteful-
ness in the management of the farm fertilizers is one of the
greatest obstacles to prosperous farming. Many a farmer has
come out badly, who, if he had corrected a fault here thirty
years before, would have come out well.

A scrap of Grecian literature has come down to us, which
relates that a wine cask, which had been filled to the brim, was
found partially empty. A bystander suggested that an exami-
nation be made, to see if there were not a leak at the bottom;

60*

474 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE.

whereupon a scholasticus, which, according to niy best recollec-
tion of Greek, means a dandy, gave it as his opinion that the
leak could not be at the bottom, for it was not the lower, but
the upper, part of the cask that was empty. If the boys in
those times used straws in the wine casks, as we have known
them to in cider barrels since, he may have been right in sup-
posing that the leak was at the top ; for in that case the cask
may have leaked upward. At any rate, a manure heap, left in
sun, wind, and rain to its own course, will leak upward, and
downward, and all around till nearly half its value, like the
upper part of the wine cask, is found wanting.

With regard to 'the sewage of cities and large towns, it is
rather the fault of the British government than of British farm-
ers that it is in a great measure lost to agriculture. It is not
wholly lost ; that cannot be ; for there is a government above
all human government ; and God has ordained physical laws by
which the errors of man are sometimes counteracted. Such is
the case with the sewage of English cities. So far as hu-
man agency goes it is permitted to flow into large rivers, and
thence into the ocean ; but here the divine laws take effect, and,
in spite of man's error, they restore a portion, it may be one-
half of it, to the land. Some of it comes back in the form of
spray driven landwards from the ocean; some in the form of
fish, which is made directly or indirectly to enrich the ground ;
much in the form of shells, which are burned into lime for the
soil ; and more in the form of seaweed, shell sand, and other
fertilizers along the shore. But, after all, a considerable por-
tion of it, not less probably than half, is irrecoverably lost to
agriculture. And now let us see what the extent of the loss is.

When a farmer who provides for a large family, and feeds a
great stock, sees his sink spout always running, and the suds
often pouring from his laundry, he calculates that by the end of
the year there will be accumulated on his premises a large
amount of fertilizing materials for his fields. But the popula-
tion of London is two and a half millions — about one-twelfth
of the population of the United Kingdom, and equal to two
hundred and fifty thousand families of ten persons each. They
consume twenty million bushels of wheat annually, besides
other cereals. There is, of course, a proportionate consump-

BRITISH AGRICULTURE. 475

tion of meats, groceries, fruits, and vegetables. As milk i re-
quired, large dairies are kept in and about the city; and the
number of horses that are kept either for business or pleasure
is very great. All this, you perceive, implies a large consump-
tion of farm produce. But, with the exception of solid ma-
nures from the dairies and liveries and of a part of the street
sweepings, the whole sewage of this immense city flows into
the Thames. It has been said that an equivalent for the ele-
ments of a hundred million bushels wheat are here ingulfed
annually ; and such is the dark, dense turbidness of the Thames*
that you would be ready to believe the estimate. But suppose
that no more than half as much guano flows into the Thames,
and that one-half of this finds its way back by the operation
of those higher laws before alluded to ; even then an equiva-
lent for twenty-five million bushels of wheat — something which
would increase the wheat crop of Great Britain to that extent
if incorporated with the soil — is lost to the agriculture of the
United Kingdom. If to this be added the wastes of a hundred
smaller cities and towns, the amount is enormous.

It is different with the cities ©f the European continent.
France is wiser in this respect. The cleanliness of the Seine
is in striking contrast with the filthiness of the Thames.
France suffers but little of the fertilizing elements of her cities
to be washed away in her rivers, and Belgium literally nothing.
Her rivers, though small, are hardly strained in passing through
a city of a hundred thousand people. Nothing is tolerated in
the streets of Belgian cities which could by possibility fertilize
a foot of ground in the country. But England expends millions
for Peruvian guano, and sutlers scores of millions' worth of
like materials to pollute her rivers. "We, being yet in our in-
fancy, and having a virgin West to fall back upon, are more ex-
cusable ; but the time will come, if it has not come already,
when it will be far wiser for us to withhold the sewage of our
eastern cities from the Atlantic Ocean than to send our ships
round Cape Horn for guano ; and when this is done, there can-
not be the least doubt that the agriculture of these Atlantic
States will be prosperous. Our farmers are now paying twelve
millions a year for guano. If one-half as much could be ex-
pended in wisely-conducted measures for saving and rendering

476 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE.

portable the sewage of our cities, a far greater return would
be received.

British farmers do not generally work with their own hands.
There are gardeners, and there are some small farmers, who do
all their own work ; but, as a general rule, farmers of a hun-
dred acres or more seldom handle a tool. They are all over
their premises, sometimes on foot, sometimes on horseback,
and very often on a pony so small that they seem practising to
ride and go on foot at the same time. They think that the
transaction of the general business and the oversight of the
labor are enough for one man. It might be asked why they
should do more in a country where labor is so plenty. Why
should the farmer plough, hoe, and mow, when there are so
many who desire that work, even at the small pay there given?
If he could get a comfortable living without labor, it would
almost seem as if charity would require him to withhold his hand
in favor of those who cannot. There are those about him who
would call him a niggard if they were to see him doing jobs
for which they feel that he ought to pay them. Such is the
state of things there. May it long be otherwise here; long
may labor be regarded honorable for all; and long may those
who labor for wages receive a reasonable compensation. But
I have thought that some American farmers run into an oppo-
site extreme — do as much work as they would require of a
hired man, and then have as much more to do in the way of
business, oversight, and nameless matters of economy, which
hired men do not trouble themselves about. This may be an
error that leans to virtue's side ; but it is an error still; for
no man can long pursue such a course without seriously injur-
ing himself.

Under-draining is a point on which British and American
practice most differ. Owing to climatic differences, certain
qualities of land may lie benefited by draining there, while the
same quality could not profitably be drained here. Soils there,
from the most clayey, up through the various loams, to the
most sandy, are more compact than those which bear the same
name among us. There is no doubt that lands from which the
surface and the siibsm face water does not pass downward
freely need draining. It is hardly possible to over-estimate

BRITISB AGRICULTURE. 477

the importance of draining such lands. There are lands in
western New York, either of a clay soil or having a more po-
rous soil resting on a clay subsoil, which arc worth little with-
out draining, but arc of great value when thorough-drained.

There arc such in other parts of New York ; and there arc
here and there such lands in New England — lands which must
be drained in order to be of much use. But these are the ex-
ceptions, and not the general rule. In Great Britain the re-
verse is true. The general rule is, that lands are improved by
draining; and the exceptions arc of lands not benefited by it.
Some there have gone so far as to say that there are no excep-
tions— that all lands are improved by draining, even the dryest.
But never was a more nonsensical doctrine put forth. It is suffi-
ciently absurd when applied to that country, and is so regarded
by the best farmers there, but ten times more absurd in its ap-
plication to this country. I have often described our most
common qualities of New England soils and subsoils to Eng-
lish farmers, and asked what would be the effect of draining
such land ; and I have received for reply, that it would but lose
to the owner all the money expended in the operation. The
truth is, that land which, owing to a too retentive surface soil
or an impervious subsoil, does not pass the water readily
through it, is greatly benefited by draining ; but it is true, also,
that most of our New England farms are naturally drained in
the best possible manner. In other words, the Almighty has
done this work so well that the owners need expend nothing
with the hope of doing it better. To be, as some arc, always
prating about draining our ordinary uplands, is just about as
reasonable as the raving of a man in the delirium tremens about
pulling off the snakes, since it is as true that there is no excess
of water to be got rid of in one case as it is that there are no
snakes to be pulled off in the other.

McCulloch sets down the fallows of Great Britain at two
million of acres. The Bummer fallowing of land is another prac-
tice which may be well enough for English fanners, but cannot,
except to a very limited extent, be well for American. In our
dry climate we can hardly conceive how difficult it is, how al-
most impossible, by any other means, to keep their Gelds from
grass and weeds. In addition to this, their soil, being cooler

478 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE.

and more compact than ours, by reason of frequent rains,
parts with its organic matter less readily ; so that, however
wise the practice of summer fallowing may be there, it can
hardly be wise here, unless in case of our heaviest and most
clayey lands.

British farmers raise turnips in immense quantities. Their
patches of turnips and rape cover annually five million of acres
— a territory of the size of Massachusetts. I have no means
of knowing what proportion of this is covered with turnips.
It may be three million of acres. As you traverse their coun-
try you see turnips before, and behind, and on every side. One
who has not witnessed it can hardly realize the extent and
beauty of their turnip fields. The cultivation in many parts,
and especially in Scotland, is exquisitely nice. It has seemed
to me as if there was but one weed on a thousand acres, and
as if there were as many as three women and half a dozen
children after that one.

The turnip culture is the true policy for our British brethren.
They need the turnip both for purposes of feeding and to make
out the rotation by which the ground is to be prepared for the
wheat crop. We have no special need of it for either of these
purposes. Besides, their climate is probably the best in the
world for the turnip; ours is perhaps the worst. Still it may
be that we ought to cultivate the turnip more than we do. I
wish every farmer would try the experiment for himself. A sin-
gle acre is as good for the trial as more. Let it then be made ;
let it be repeated ; let results be compared ; and if we are to
go into the turnip culture to some limited extent, as I think it
highly probable may be found wise, let it be from proof posi-
tive, gathered on our own soil, that such is our true policy.

It is an important fact that Indian corn is a most valuable
crop for all feeding purposes. Our English brethren are slow,
almost provokingly slow, to learn its worth. They seem to
think it fit only for lean pigs and starving Irishmen. If they
could grow it as Ave can, and then could get their eyes open to
its value, you would hear very little crowing over their turnips ;
and on the other hand, so long as avc can grow it with almost
entire certainty, failing less than once in a quarter of a ccntu-

BRITISH AGRICULTURE. 479

ry, we need not much regret if the growing of turnips should
be found relatively less important for as than for them.

The farmers in Great Britain, for the most part, build no
barns, according to our understanding of the terms. Their
barns are small — mere stables — wholly inadequate to contain
the produce of the farm. However, you every where find great
stacks of hay. and large ricks of wheat, barley, oats, and beans,
•surrounding their cattle yards. In their climate, and especial-
ly as lumber is scarce and high, this may be good policy for
them ; but it would be miserable economy for us. With them
the farm house is generally the largest building on the prem-
ises ; with us the barn, in nine cases out of ten, is larger. This
is as it should be. It is well for us to build our farm houses
snug and cosy — concentrating in them and gathering about them
every possible comfort. Let them be as neat and as tasteful
as possible. Their very aspect should proclaim that no one
has a better right to live in a style of rural elegance than the
farmer. But, our winters being long and cold, and lumber be-
ing here comparatively cheap, it is our true policy to build our
barns sufficiently large to contain all the produce of the farm,
with plenty of stable room, having a cellar under the whole —
the cellar »to be open on the sunny side, and to form a part of
a capacious and warmly-enclosed yard. We should make them
labor-saving and manure-preserving — studying that construction
which will render the stowing of produce, the feeding of cattle,
and the preservation of manures as easy and as light as possi-
ble. Whatever English books may teach or English practice
commend, the Xew England farmer who docs not provide him-
self with such a barn runs against his own interest and sets a
bad example to his neighbors. He makes farming a need-
lessly up-hill business.

480 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE.

THE DEMANDS OF AGRICULTURE.

From an Address before the Berkshire Society.

BY HON. INCREASE SUMNER.

Our farmers seem too much to act upon the erroneous and
hurtful principle, that the fertilizing capacities of the ground
are all self-creating. The great fact, true beyond all contra-
diction, that every crop harvested from the field takes from
that field forever a portion of its fertilizing properties, is a fact
not theoretically appreciated, and practically it is disregarded.
For the abstraction of these properties, thus made, restitution
is demanded. The demand is unheeded ; and impoverishment
and sterility are the results. Let us view these results. Take
Massachusetts. She has an area of seven thousand two hun-
dred and fifty square miles. The facts imbodied in a resolve
of our Board of Agriculture will be all that is needed in this
connection. Referring to the Report of the Valuation Com-
mittee to the Legislature in 1851, the resolve states that "it
will be seen that, although there have been added to the lands
under improvement since 1840 more than three hundred thou-
sand acres, and although the uplands and other mowing lands
have been increased more than ninety thousand acres, or nearly
fifteen per cent., yet the hay crops have increased only three
per cent. — showing a relative depreciation of twelve per cent. ;
and although the tillage lands have been increased more than
forty thousand acres in the same period, yet there has been no
increase in grain crops, but an absolute depreciation of six
hundred thousand bushels; and although the pasturing lands
have been increased more than one hundred thousand acres,
yet there has been scarcely any augmentation of neat cattle ;
while in Bheep there has been a reduction of more than one
hundred and sixty thousand, and in swine more than seventeen

DEMANDS OF AGRICULTURE. I E 1

thousand." And upon these premises the Board justly urge
the necessity of agricultural education.

Let us examine the State of New York, with her area of
forty-six thousand square miles. In that State, in 1845, there
were under improvement eleven million seven hundred and
thirty-seven thousand nine hundred and sixty-eight acres; in
1850, twelve million four hundred and eight thousand nine
hundred and sixty-eight acres — making- a gain in live years of
six hundred and seventy-one thousand six hundred and ninety-
two acres. With uniformness of fertility during these year.-,
all vegetable and animal productions should have gained propor-
tionally with the increased area of cultivation. Allowing the
seasons of 1845 and 1850 to be equally favorable, if a greater
amount of productions were yielded per acre in 1850 than in
1845, this would prove an enhanced productiveness; but if the
productions were less per acre, then the inference is that the
land must have parted with more of its fertilizing properties
than it regained.

The following is a statement of the decrease of crops and
animals, comparing 1850 with 1845: —

Potatoes, 7,255,056 bushels; pease and beans, 1,182,054
bushels; flax, 1,956,485 pounds; wool, 3,793,527 pounds; wheat,
270,724 bushels ; buckwheat, 450,724 bushels. In regard to
animals, they diminished in numbers in the above years thus :
Horses, 58,141; cows, 68,066; other cattle, 127,525 ; swim',
566,092 ; sheep, 2,990,624. There was an increase in the crops
of corn, rye, oats, and barley, falling greatly short, however, of
the proportionate requirement.-'

If we were to extend our examination throughout the North-
ern and Middle States, results not more flattering than those
adduced would be discovered.

The facts in regard to agricultural improvement in our South-
ern States are not more gratifying. But on this subject let a
distinguished southern agriculturist be heard: "The great
error," says our author, "of southern agriculturists is the
general practice of exhausting culture — the almost universal
deterioration of the productive power of the soil — which power

• Patent Office Report for 1852-53.
61 •

482 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE.

is the main and essential foundation of all agricultural wealth.
* * * The recuperative powers of Nature are indeed con-
tinually operating, and to a great effect, to repair the waste of
fertility caused by the destructive industry of man; and but
for this natural and imperfect remedy all these Southern States
(and most of the Northern likewise) would be already barren
deserts, in which agricultural labors would be hopeless of re-
ward, and civilized man could not exist."

In support of the allegations thus brought into view a mass
of evidence might be adduced and a variety of illustrations
presented and enforced ; but it can hardly be deemed necessary
to do so.

It is a singular fact, that, whilst suggestions of improvement
in the commercial and manufacturing departments of industry
are almost instantly appreciated and put in practice, those re-
lating to agriculture, no matter how valuable, are often for a
long time discarded. When Eli Whitney tendered his cotton
gin, preeminently beneficial to southern planters, they should in-
stantly have crowned him with riches and honors. He died in
indigence ; but the glories of his memory will not perish.

When Jethro Wood tendered to the northern ploughmen his
cast-iron ploughshare, how often was heard the cold, incredu-
lous remark, " It may possibly work in some lands, not gener-
ally; the old-fashioned plough is, after all, best; it is not so
heavy ; there isn't so much iron about it to break; and besides,
the wooden chip and mould board of the old plough won't
rust " ! Thank Heaven, the iron plough is now the plough of
the age, and Jethro Wood deserves a place in history among
the benefactors of the world.

Thirty-four years ago, Henry Clay, himself an ardent lover
of agriculture, in one of his eloquent speeches on the protection
of home industry — a topic forever worthy of being pondered
and studied by American citizens and American statesmen —
spoke thus : " In one respect there is a great difference in favor
of manufactures when compared with agriculture — it is the
avidity with which the whole manufacturing community avail
themselves of an improvement. It is instantly communicated
and put in operation. There is an avidity for improvement in
the one system — an aversion to it in the other. The habits

DEMANDS OF AGRICULTURE. 483

of generation after generation pass down the long track of time
in perpetual succession without the -lightest change in agricul-
ture. The ploughman who fastens his plough to the tails of
his cattle will not own that there is any other mode equal to
his. An agricultural people will he in the neighborhood of
other communities who have made the greatest progress in
husbandry without advancing the slightest degree." There is,
perhaps, some comfort in the subsequent remark he makes —
namely, that " many parts of our country are one hundred years
in advance of Sweden in the cultivation and improvement of the
soil."

We doubt not our farmers of the present day, compared with
their predecessors, are mending in regard to the accepting of
improvements ; but their tastes and habits in this respect are
greatly susceptible of advancement and further culture.

Agriculture is a great national concernment. It has a right,
therefore, so far as it is constitutionally practicable, to require
the fostering care of government; and that this care, to a
greatly beneficial extent, may be given, need not be disputed.
Permit me here to present the sentiments and language of the
'•'father of his country." Says Washington, in his message to
Congress in December, 1796, "It will not be doubted that,
with reference either to individual or national welfare, agricul-
ture is of primary importance. In proportion as nations ad-
vance in population and other circumstances of maturity this
truth becomes more and more an object of public patronage.
Institutions for promoting it grow up, supported by the public
purse ; and to what object can it be dedicated with greater
success than the establishment of boards composed of proper
characters, charged with collecting and diffusing information,
and enabled by premiums and small pecuniary aids to encour-
age ami assist a spirit of discovery and improvement? This
species of establishments contributes doubly to the increase of
improvement, by stimulating to enterprise and experiment, and
by drawing to a common centre the results every where of in-
dividual skill and observation, and spreading them thence i
the whole nation. Experience accordingly has shown that
they are very cheap instruments of immense national bene' .
And he then proceeds to urge upon the consideration of Con-

484 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE.

gress the expediency of establishing a national university, doubt-
less embracing within its scope the promotion of agriculture.

Since the day Washington thus spoke fifty-eight years have
rolled away, and no such care as he urged has been afforded.
If the requirement was judicious then, is it not pressing now ?
From unquestioned, governmental authority we have the fact
that the existing millions in the country, by improvident and
unskilful management of the soil, have reduced its natural fer-
tility one-third. This is a startling fact. What are the prom-
ises for the future ? If twenty- two" millions of people destroy
one-third of the fertilizing capacities of the lands, forty-four
millions at the end of another quarter of a century may con-
sume the residue. We are said to be a nation of farmers.
Are we a nation of farmers scourging the earth ?

The rapid growth of our population, the present condition
and prospective state of the nation, call for a great national
agricultural reformation, aided by the countenance of the gen-
eral government.

WASTES OF AGRICULTURE. 485

THE WASTES OF AGRICULTURE.

From an Address before the Housatonic Society.

BY HON. GEO. S. BOUTAVELL.

Farmers cultivate too much land. This observation is
old ; for it is so true, and its truth is so apparent, that it must
needs be old. For the reason that the manufacturer econo-
mizes his power of water or steam, or the trader his capital
by diminishing his credits, or the merchant his voyages by in-
creasing the speed of his vessels, the farmer should limit the
amount of land in cultivation as far as practicable.

It is true, to an extent much beyond the common opinion,
that the cost of a crop per ton or bushel is diminished as the
aggregate per acre is increased ; that is to say, a bushel of
corn at twenty per acre costs more than a bushel at eighty.
The same observation is true of every product of the land.
The agriculture of Massachusetts from 1840 to 1850 was a
process of deterioration and exhaustion.

It was altogether a retrograde movement, and the lessening
crop per acre, year by year, was so serious as to threaten the
existence of the interest. It is hoped that the present decen-
nial period will show a better result. In the year 1850 we
cultivated two million one hundred and thirty-three thousand four
hundred and thirty-six acres ; and allowing one acre for twen-
ty bushels of wheat, for fifteen bushels of rye, for sixty bushels
of corn, for forty bushels of oats, for one hundred and fifty
bushels of potatoes, for thirty bushels of barley, for one and
a half tons of hay, for one hundred dollars' worth of orchard
products, for two hundred dollars' worth of garden products,
and seven acres for the pasturage of every horse, five for every
ox, four for every cow, two acres each for young cattle, one
acre each for sheep, and allowing liberally for other crops and

486 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE.

uses, the product of that year ought to have been obtained
from one million seven hundred and seventy-two thousand five
hundred and eighty-one acres — showing a loss of the use of three
hundred and sixty thousand eight hundred and fifty-five acres —
equal to about seventeen per cent, of the land in cultivation.
This loss is obtained upon the aforegoing calculation of crops ;
but, as I shall have occasion to say hereafter, the loss will ap-
pear much greater if compared with the returns of 1840, when
the actual results exceeded the estimate I have now made.
The first waste to be pointed out is the use of this large quan-
tity of land, which, if allowed to run to wood merely, would
yield an annual average of one cord per acre, or three hundred
and sixty thousand cords per annum. If this wood be estimated
at one dollar and fifty cents per cord, you have an annual loss,
or waste, of five hundred and forty thousand dollars. In the
next place, this great quantity of land would be much benefited
by allowing it to lie idle ; for it is a general rule that Nature
yields a growth and improves the land at the same time,
while what often passes for husbandry leaves the land poorer
than it finds it. Now, then, let this area of land rest for forty
years untouched by the hand of man, and it will yield an ag-
gregate of twenty million dollars, while its productive power
for the future will be greatly increased.

Then, as a consequence of this system, the farmers of Massa-
chusetts fence, plough, sow, and mow six acres, when they
ought to fence, plough, sow, and mow but five ; and, in fine, they
extend all their agricultural operations over seventeen per
cent, more land than is necessary to the result they attain.
Here is a manifest loss of labor — a waste where there ought
to be the strictest economy. It may not be easy to estimate
this waste accurately ; but it is plain that it materially dimin-
ishes the profits on this branch of industry. We have already
estimated the entire cost of our agricultural labor at sixteen
million five hundred thousand dollars. It is moderate to say
that one-eighth of this is wasted in the cultivation of seven-
teen per cent, more land than is necessary to the crop; but,
to avoid any unreasonable calculations, it may be well to put
the loss at one-sixteenth, or one million dollars. J>e it remem-
bered that the gross proceeds of agriculture do not exceed

WASTES OF AGRICULTURE. Is 7

twenty million dollars; and of this, at least one million is
wasted in the misapplication of labor. Nor lb this all. We
shall have occasion to say that this misapplication of labor is
followed by a more serious loss — in the exhaustion of the land.
But what would be said of a manufacturer who should be guil-
ty of wasting one-twentieth of his whole product in the appli-
cation of his labors ? If his labors finally resulted in bank-
ruptcy, would he be entitled to public sympathy? or would ju-
dicious men condemn the business because it failed in such
.lands ?

It is a duty to economize labor. Labor is the scarcest and
dearest commodity in the market; and so it is likely to con-
tinue.

Again : this waste of labor is followed by a waste of land.
When we cultivate more land than we ought for the crop we
get, the process of cultivation is necessarily defective and bad.
This was the character of our farming during the whole of the
last decennial period. .

As the land under bad cultivation loses heart and strength,
more and more is required to meet the demand we make. So,
then, from 1840 to 1850 we not only cultivated more land than
we ought, but we actually consumed it at the rate of many
thousand acres a year. The produce of 1840 was much great-
er than that of 1850; yet we had two million one hundred and
thirty-three thousand four hundred and thirty-six acres in culti-
vation at the latter period, and only one million eight hundred
and seventy-five thousand two hundred and eleven acres at the
former. The product of 1840, at the rates before named,
would have required two million three hundred and seventeen
thousand six hundred and ninety-six acres, while they were
really produced from one million eight hundred and Beventy-
five thousand two hundred and eleven acres — showing that my
estimate of the capacity of our soil under ordinary care was
too low. If you take the excess of the crop of 1840 over that
of 1850, and, according to the rates before named, find the
quantity of land necessary to produce thatexcoss, and add that
quantity to the acres in cultivation in 1850, you will have two
million five hundred and seven thousand three hundred and fif-
ty-three acres, or six hundred and thirty-two thousand one hun-

488 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE.

drcd and forty-two acres more than were cultivated in 1840.
These statistics, though not altogether reliable, demonstrate
two facts — one absolutely, and the other approximately. First,
that during the last decennial period our lands continually de-
preciated in productive power; and, secondly, that that depre-
ciation was equivalent to the annihilation of sixty-three thou-
sand acres of land a year, or nearly three per cent, of the
value of the farms of the State, exclusive of buildings and
woodland. In fine, it appears that in 1850 we were cultivating
six hundred and thirty-two thousand one hundred and forty-two
acres more than we should have been if the production of 1840
had been sustained ; three hundred and sixty thousand eight
hundred and fifty-five acres more than would have been neces-
sary at the rates before assumed; and also that the impover-
ishing culture from 1840 to 1850 was equal to an annual waste
of sixty-three thousand two hundred and fourteen acres, which
was apparent in the diminished total product and in the in-
creased quantity of land in use.

This waste may be estimated with considerable accuracy.
The farms of the State were valued at one hundred and nine
million seventy-six thousand three hundred and seventy-seven
dollars. Two and nine-tenths of one per cent., the exact pro-
portion which the annual waste of land bore to the quantity in
cultivation, is three million one hundred and sixty-three thou-
sand one hundred and forty-five dollars. But if you allow that
one-half of the total value of our farms is in woodland and
buildings, the depreciation was one million five hundred and
eighty-one thousand five hundred and seventy-two dollars per
annum. But, whatever may have been the exact depreciation,
it is plain that our culture from 1840 to 1850 was an exhaust-
ing one — the acres continually increasing, and the production
diminishing. These facts demonstrate what it is unpleasant to
believe, and yet more unpleasant to say, that the farmers of
Massachusetts of that period could not, as a class, be called
good farmers. Good culture benefits land; bad culture ex-
hausts it. During the ten years to which our statistics refer
the culture of the State was bad. Land reclaimed from the
water and the forest was not used to increase production, but
its native fertility was required to supply those crops which

WASTES OF AGRICULTURE. 489

our exhausted and abused fields refuse to furnish. The process
of our agriculture was that of a corporation which uses its
capital in dividends, or a merchant who lives beyond his means,

and it tended to the same result — bankruptcy. The idea that
cropping hind necessarily exhausts it is an erroneous one; and
it is, moreover, a reflection upon the Creator, who has provided
for the support of his children, and not for their extinction by
the exhaustion of the powers of Nature.

The good farmer will so manage his acres that their produc-
tive power will yearly increase ; and this he should do, even
though his acres in cultivation diminish.

I beg, in concluding this part of my address, to present an
aggregate of the wastes to which I have already called your
attention : —

1st. The annual income from the growth of wood
on three hundred and sixty thousand eight
hundred and fifty-five acres of land more than
was necessary for the crop of 1850, . . $540,000 00

2d. Loss of labor in cultivating this excess of

land, 1,000,000 00

3d. Loss of land per year by exhausting culture, 1,581,572 00

$3,165,572 00

This waste is equal to two and nine-tenths of one per cent.
on the value of the farms ; and if it had been saved and added
to the actual income, that income would have amounted to five
per cent, a year. Admit that the calculations I have pre-
sented arc true; and admit also, what I am sure is not true,
that all the wastes have been stated and all the profits of
farming enumerated ; and even then the result to which we
come is not an unsatisfactory one; for we arc to consider that
an invest incut in land which pays for the labor and other ex-
penses bestowed upon it, and yields an annual income of live
per cent, besides, is as good an investment as can be made.
There is no risk of frauds and bankruptcy as when you pur-
chase stocks or lend money.

It is to be considered that this result has been attained with-

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490 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE.

out reference to an improved cultivation, which is to follow the
dissemination of scientific and practical knowledge among
farmers. The view taken contemplates only that amount of
skill which the farmers of Massachusetts are known to possess ;
and it is my desire further to show that its proper exercise
will place them above the evil of low profits.

In farming, three things are necessary — skill, labor, and im-
plements. Proceeding upon the basis that the skill of our
farmers is sufficient for the present inquiry, I have next to say,
that there is as much labor employed upon the farms of Mas-
sachusetts as there ought to be, when we consider the claims
of other branches of industry. The great practical question
is, how to economize it so as to produce the best results. The
skilful farmer makes a judicious selection of his implements
and keeps them in good order. He can no more afford to
work with poor tools than the manufacturer can afford to use
worn or antiquated machinery.

Among the agencies, if not among the implements, employed
in agriculture in this region, we are certainly to reckon ma-
nures. They are to the farm what water or steam is to the
mill. As the want of these, or their excessive cost, ruins the
manufacturer, so the want of manure, or its great cost, hurries
the farmer to the same end. The advance made in agricul-
tural knowledge in the last five years has changed public
sentiment on this point ; yet it is feared that the remedy has
been found in the purchase of expensive manures from abroad
rather than in the prudent husbandry of the resources we have
at home. And the conclusion of this address will be devoted
to ant-inquiry into the amount of waste in this respect in Mas-
sachusetts. If it is profitable farming to purchase guano, phos-
phate, and animal manures from abroad, there is certainly no
excuse for neglecting the means which every farmer can com-
mand at a small expense, ne who neglects his harvest is hard-
ly distinguished from the criminal ; yet it is common to neglect
the preparation on which the harvest depends. A waste of
the manure is a waste of the elements, and renders it impossi-
ble for us to add to our crops or to improve our land. The
first thing to be done, then, is to economize the manure we
have at home, and there may then be hope of general and per-

WASTES OF AGRICULTURE 491

mancnt improvement. It. may l>c better to import manures
than to be without them ; but of all importations it is the least

creditable to the country while the present customs remain.

By the census of 1850 it appeared that there were seventy-
five thousand barns in the State; and the Secretary of the
Board of Agriculture estimates the quantity of manure at five
cords each, worth three dollars per cord — making a total of
one million one hundred and twenty-five thousand dollars. If
we assume, what appears liberal, that one-fourth of the barns
have cellars, it follows that three-fourths of this manure arc ex-
posed to atmospheric and other deteriorating influences. Many
competent persons estimate the loss from this cause at one-
half; but if it is only one-third, we show a waste from the ex-
posure of manure of 'two hundred and eighty-one thousand two
hundred and fifty dollars per annum.

Nor is this all. Without a barn cellar it is impossible to
secure the stale, which is nearly equal in value to the solid,
manure. Stockhardt estimates that, of the manure of neat cat-
tle, fifty-three per cent, is solid, and forty-seven per cent, i
stale. Farmers who neglect the latter ought not to be pur-
chasers of foreign manures. If the calculation of the Secre-
tary is accurate, this waste is three-fourths of forty-seven per
cent, of one million one hundred and twenty-five thousand
dollars — which is seven hundred and forty-eight thousand two
hundred and thirty dollars. There is, then, an aggregate waste
in the State, in the matter of manures, of one million twenty-
nine thousand four hundred and eighty dollars, which might and
ought to be saved. It may be mentioned incidentally as the
observation of a practical farmer, and its truth has been estab-
lished by experiments, that gravel or subsoil is a much better
absorbent than soil which has been cultivated.

There are other losses of manures which amount to as much
as that which has been mentioned.

A hv^ farmers have built reservoirs for the waste water of
their houses; yet much the larger number neglect this means
of wealth altogether.

I think it safe to say that the farmers of Massachusetts neg-
lect and waste more manure than they use ; and the loss of a

492 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE.

million of dollars in manure is followed by a loss of much labor
and many millions in the crop.

It is also practicable and economical for many farmers to
avail themselves of manures or fertilizers from the shops and
mills of the manufacturers. The dirt and waste of woollen
factories are found to be a superior manure for potatoes.

The liquor and deposit of the rag bleacheries are of inesti-
mable value. They contain lime, soda, and whatever may be
extracted from the rags. The value of this composition is ap-
parent, and must be great in most sections of New England.
An intelligent manufacturer and farmer, who has had many
years' experience with this fertilizer, writes that, where used
upon land in the immediate vicinity of the bleachery, its value
is equal to the cost of the lime and soda. There are also many
other manufactories from whose ordinary operations wealth, or
the means of wealth, may be derived.

SAYING OF MANURES. 493

SAVING OF MANURES.

From an Address before the Notfolk County Society.

13Y HEY. JAMES IUCHARDSON".

Treasure up every particle of liquid or solid matter that can
enrich and nourish your lands ; let nothing escape you. Forest
leaves, wash of the streets in the wayside gutter, turf and sods,
decayed wood and brush, chips and shavings, earth from the
wood shed and bam yard, the drip and cleanings of stables,
hog pen, vault, pigeon house, poultry yard, and ash bin, and, on
the coast, the precious kelp, and even the seaweed, witli the
choice bones, oyster shells, and clam shells, waste of woollen
factories, scraps of leather, and even coal ashes, — all have their
uses, all are to be considered manures, or matter capable of
enriching in some way the soil, and all are to be carefully
economized. I have known a coarse, sedgy marsh to be re-
claimed and brought to yield good English hay by the mere ap-
plication of coal ashes. And care must be taken in the proper
preparation as well as saving of these materials. See to it
that your stables, vaults, poultry houses, &c, are filled with
proper absorbents, or materials to hold the liquid and volatile
portions of the manure — such as clay, plaster, charcoal, and es-
pecially peat earth and ditch mud mingled with leaves and chips,
that also contain a valuable supply of carbon, etc. The manure
of a dozen fowls, well saved and mixed, is sufficient dressing
for a large garden; and that from a goodly flock of liens and
pigeons, properly composted, will abundantly enrich a small
farm. The inhabitants of the Celestial Empire, or, as they
name it, " the Central Flowery Land," the most famous agricul-
turists and horticulturists of all the world, in whose territory,
from reverence to our primitive, fundamental, and rigl

V

494 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE.

art, the emperor himself holds the annual plough, — whence come
the floral splendors of Azalea and Camillia, Aster and Peony, and
choicest roses, — employ as their only manures the excrements,
solid and liquid, that have been allowed among us of the Occi-
dent for centuries to escape and taint the household air from
long, fetid, and pestilent vaults, and that we have in past ages
discarded as useless. And, had I the direction of the agricul-
tural societies in our land, I would offer the first, and by far
the largest, premium for the best mode of saving, preparing,
and applying this manure, and the second for the economy and
preparation of each and every kind of nutritious compost.
Then fill up your barn cellars, and vaults, and sink drains with
clay, peat, mud, &c, that shall absorb every particle of the
liquid and gaseous elements, and thus fulfil the Scripture pre-
cept— " that nothing be lost; " and remember to keep always a
barrel to dissolve your bones and shells in moistened ashes.

Next comes the proper application of manure ; and here
what the envious hour forbids me to speak, that I shall ask
you, brother farmers, to read in print at your homes. And
with the application of manure rises the consideration of the
analysis of soils, the doctrine of specifics; and so on. And
here I catch a faint muttering in the corner from my gruff
old friend, to whom book learning and book farming were
so distasteful, in which, however, I am able to distinguish the
phrase, " new-fangled humbugs." Allow me, however, to say,
my friend, there is no humbug about it. How are you to know,
I pray you, what elements your soil needs unless you have as-
certained by analysis what it already contains? I grant you
there may be careless examinations by unscientific men; but
would you forever be carrying coals to Newcastle, the mother
of coals, or ship lime to Thomaston ? What would you think
of a farmer who was carting ashes on to a tract of new land
just burned over, spreading gypsum on a calcareous soil, or
teaming ditch mud on to a peat meadow? It may be that a
certain piece of land only requires one single additional ele-
ment,— lime or potash, carbon or ammonia, perhaps, — and has
a surplus of the other elements necessary to vegetable growth.
What use, then, of wasting your time, labor, and manure in
adding to that .surplus, when a little plaster, a little super-phos-

SAVING OF MANURE? 105

phate, or a little ashes, perhaps, would be amply sufficient, and
the <inly thing required? Some clement,-' — Bucb as the phos-
phates for example, those abounding in virgin soils — have been
well nigh exhausted in lands long tilled. What marvellous
tales they tell of the prolific character of the new soil of
California! "Whcatficlds producing at the rate of seventy-five
bushels to the acre ; potatoes, one of which makes a meal for
a large family; beets bigger than babies ; carrots the length of
tall men ; with cabbages of sufficient size to take the place of
a farmer's family dinner table ! What equally wonderful stories,
and all true, they told, a quarter of a century ago, of Ohio and
the West ! And what wheat crops, what great healthy po-
tatoes, were raised by our fathers here in New England
formerly, which we can't raise now, and that at an era, too,
when they despised all manure, and when it was poison to the
land ! And where is it gone, this land, that yielded of yore the
rich harvests of wheat ? Over the back of old roan, or the bay
mare, our grandsires carried it in bags. It has all gone to mill
years and years ago. Out of it have been manufactured the
heavy oxen, the bones and bodies of milk-giving cows ; from it
the strong stalwart forms of our fathers were well knit to-
gether, and the rounded, seemly shapes and glowing cheeks of
fair matrons and gentle maidens. Gone to mill, ground and
eaten up has the land been, long ago — those elements of it, at
least, strong for wheat, and productive of the rich full cars of
heavy grain, and none of it was ever carried back and replaced.
And the question arises, How shall we bring back this scattered
soil? Plainly by ascertaining what these lost elements are
that have thus been carried away and consumed, and returning
them or their like again to the soil. An old farm is like an
old wagon or an old house. I don't know that it is ever quite
so good as when it first epmes from the maker's hand.

But we have got the old house; and what shall we do with
it? Let us examine it thoroughly and sec. It is strongly
built, and the sills are still good ; but the old roof may have to
come off, and the clapboards be renewed; or perhaps a good
coat of paint is all that is needed to make it quite as spruce
and genteel as the little light-framed thing there over the way.
Some grand old houses do I know, here and there, made over

496 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE.

and a little modernized perhaps, that, ten to one, you "would
call splendid new mansions. And so, my friends, with our old
farms. We must look them over, and examine them thorough-
ly, and see what is wanting; the old sills, the foundation,
rocks, and subsoil there is no fear of. On some places the
shingling of vegetable mould has been washed away ; but the
paint that makes them fresh and new, the elements that touch
them with hues of deep and living green, that give the bright?
rich, luxuriant aspect, are wanting. Perhaps a mixture of a
little lime and carbon, or ammonia and phosphate, will furbish
up the ancient farm, and make the old acres look up bright and
shining again. Don't be afraid of modernizing the old house,
the old land, making continually new improvements, and re-
turning the lost elements of the once virgin soil, that shall
bring back to it its early paradise. It is through such exami-
nation and analysis of the old soil alone that we can make the
proper, necessary, and economical application of manures to
our well-worn fields, and reap again luxuriant, bountiful crops.
The whole subject of specifics we are driven to pass here,
with the single remark, — from which may easily be gathered
the whole philosophy and its application, — that every member
of the vegetable kingdom has its own peculiar soil, in which it
best flourishes. Some belong to the marshes ; some revel in
the mountains ; others love the sands ; and still others the rich
intervals of the fertile rivers. And while certain elements
contribute to the growth and ripening of fruits, others tend
only to leaves and wood. The principle is true in regard to
vegetables and animals ; it is also true in regard to man.

AMERICAN AGRICULTURE. I'JT

AMERICAN AGRICULTURE.

From an Address before the Bristol S ■

BY HON". J. W. MILLER.

The extent and fertility of our lands have produced new
striking developments in agriculture. Operating upon a
as bountiful as it is boundless, and aided by great variety in
climate and soil, its productions arc not only vast and varied,
but of a character and kind to satisfy the wants of the world.
Art and labor had well nigh exhausted their powers in meeting
the pressing demands for food and raiment. A more red'
source for the supply of grain, and a cheaper raw material for
manufacturers, were the two great necessities of the world.
The agriculture of the United States has met the emergency ;
and Indian corn and American cotton have relieved the wants
of humanity.

Agriculture, under these enlarging influences, assumed a con-
trolling position. No longer a new employment, it has become
a power in the state. It is a great conservative power, founded
upon the land and regulated by the owner of the soil ; giving
stability to government and progress to the people ; checking
the fury of democracy, thwarting the wild Bchemes of politi-
cians, relieving the disasters of domestic trad plating
the balance of foreign commerce. It is a grand industrial,
productive power, which, year by year, not only Bnstains in
comfort and luxury twenty-five millions of people at home, but
also Bupplies the annual demands of foreign countries, and out
of its inexhaustible granary relieves the famine of nations.

But the high and influential position to which agriculture lias
attained in the United States has tlms far been rather the w
of Nature than of Art. We have been reaping a new field and
gathering harvests from a virgin Boil : and, though the Held may

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498 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE.

be wide and the soil deep, Nature, in her greatest exuberance,
may be exhausted by extravagance or wasted by neglect.

Our land policy is governed more by the spirit of acquisition
than by the duty of improvement. Annexation, and not cultiva-
tion, is the great effort of both government and people. Such a
system may acquire a wide domain, where millions of men may
for a time luxuriate upcm the bounties of Nature and erect
temples to Liberty and altars to Bacchus ; but without the
educated efforts of an intelligent yeomanry to apply the aids
of arts and science, to renovate the soil and multiply its pro-
ductions, temples and altars, like the shrines and palaces of
Rome, may survive in majestic poverty the productive energies
of the land, and these great acquisitions become a barren
domain of worn-out lands — a mighty waste of Nature disfigur-
ing the map of the world.

The danger which threatens the prosperity of our agricul-
ture lies in the superabundance of its resources. Ignorance
and indolence may enjoy, in common with intelligence and in-
dustry, the overflowing fountains of Nature ; the abundance of
our lands and the liberal policy of our legislation may give to
every man a farm ; but neither land nor laws can make every
man a farmer. Nature, more prudent than governments, hus-
bands her resources, and will only continue to yield her treas-
ures when sought for by the cunning hand of skilful labor.
Barbarians may for a time feast upon the primeval fruits of
the earth, and the brute force of a higher association, sufficient
to deal with Nature's rough and rugged materials, may clear
the ground of trees and rocks, and gather large crops from new
lands ; but progressive husbandry requires other and higher
agencies ; art must come to the aid of manual labor, and science
to the relief of exhausted nature. The farmer must be educated,
and his employment elevated to its appropriate sphere as a
liberal art, that our fields may be saved, not only from reckless
waste and premature decay, but renewed and strengthened in
their productive powers, to meet the wants of an increasing
population.

Under this comprehensive view agriculture presents itself
to the contemplative eye in three distinct aspects — as a neces-
sity, as an art, as a science. When viewed as a necessity, the

AMERICAN AGRICULTURE.

mind is carried back to the cloudy period of unwritten history,
when, the forest.and the chase not sufficing for his want.-', man
was constrained to solicit vegetable diet from the bosom of his

bounteous mother — Earth.

The origin of government, the dawn of legislation, the crude
elements of civilization, and the first essays of the plough are
nearly contemporary. Situated within the terra incognita of

primeval antiquity, let us bequeathe such theories to the specu-
lations of philosophy, and pass on to that epoch when a >till
augmenting population demands a commensurate Bupplyof food.
The rude cultivators of this second period, living dispersed at
wide intervals, without communication by roads, and isolated
within the seclusion of a domestic circle, suffered the disadvan-
tage of knowing nothing beyond the results of Ife'eir own indi-
vidual experience. Gradually this obstacle to progress -was
removed : neighborhoods and villages brought their knowledge
into a common focus.

Various contending practices were contrasted. The head
was now summoned to cooperate and act in unison with the
hand; and agriculture thus became an assemblage of customs,
habits, and traditions, unconnected by any pervasive theory.
And for thousands of years did agriculture thus continue a
mere art, — embellished, indeed, by Virgil in all the fascination
of poetry, — yet still a shapeless, empiric art,without connection,
rotation, mutual dependence, or principle. During this pro-
longed period the human mind seems to have slumbered in
stupefied fascination over every subject of inquiry. Men talked,
argued, imagined, supposed, but never dreamed that lac!.
periment, demonstration were the sole basis of rational general*
ization. Hacon struck out this fundamental truth: and hence-
forward the researches of philosophy were guided in a new
path, and science awoke to renovated life.

This may lie called the transition period, at which evi
ect of human inquiry assumed a fresh character and aspect.
And Agriculture, pursuing slowly but steadily the upward path,
now stands proudly with Chemistry on her right hand and
Mathematics on her left, sending Commerce to the Pacific in
qn '-t of manures, employ ing Hydrostatics to drain ami irrigate,
and Mechanism to contrive implements of incredible potency.

500 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE.

Perhaps, in strict parlance, agriculture is too practical, and
not sufficiently abstract, to be classed among .the sciences. It
is rather a concentration of principles and facts collected from
every source and applied to the most extensive and beneficent
of possible purposes. If not a veritable science, it is an art,
upon which every science has set its seal to certify the beauty
and dignity of this foster-mother of mankind. The bird which
perches upon any branch of the tree of knowledge is, and has
a right to be, esteemed noble. Whence comes it, then, that
the votaries of a pursuit, demanding industry, learning, and in-
telligence, fail to enjoy that deferential regard which envelops
the learned professions in an atmosphere of respectful consid-
eration ? Before an answer could be framed for this query, it
is necessary to clear away an impediment which obstructs the
very threshold. A cant phrase has of late become current
among demagogues, who burn incense before a wooden idol,
which they are pleased to christen as the " dignity of labor."
This complimentary adulation may catch voters at the polls, but
conveys a fallacy inadmissible when we are in search of ster-
ling truth. There exists neither dignity, nor a phantom of
dignity, in labor unconnected with intelligence. On the con-
trary, sheer muscular effort converts a man into a machine —
the instrument by which the power of inertia is overcome, and
particles of matter removed from one position into another.
This function may be performed by every mule, water wheel,
and steam engine in the land ; but when strength is actuated
by a laudable object, and guided to its intended results by
combined intellect and knowledge, then indeed labor becomes
venerable. Only as the joint offspring of mind and matter is
it clothed with dignity. To consummate this nuptial union of
action with study and reflection, to connect labor, thought, and
science by a holy alliance, and thus to confer a real dignity and
efficiency upon three-fourths of the human race, is the high
problem reserved for solution by this nineteenth century. Let
us review some of the means of achieving an enterprise which,
if any thing mortal can be so characterized, is indeed godlike.
Had man been created without the gregarious instinct, he would
ever have remained a mere barbarian. The ideas and experi-
ence of a solitary savage perish with him; the ideas and expe-

AMERICAN AGRICULTURE. 501

rience of millions of congregated during thousands of

years, thrown by juxtaposition into one fermenting ami teem*
ing mass, have transformed this Bavage into a philosopher.
Armed with the telescope and the microscope, the chemical bath
and the electric battery, the pristine barbarian now unveils
Nature, traces her combinations on this our globe, ami an-
nounces her laws amid the inaccessible orbs of the Milky \
The smooth marble is not self-polished, but derives its lustre
from the friction of another similar fragment. The rough mind
becomes polished by friction against other minds equally rough.
Association, then, reciprocal movement, interchange, are the
sole basis of improvement, alike in rational and material, in
mental as well as in physical, constitution.

The operation of this gregarious tendency is counteracted
among farmers by the very nature of their pursuits. Their
residence must necessarily be separated by considerable dis-
tances; and the brief intervals of labor can be enjoyed only
occasionally in familiar intercourse.

Hence the distinction between urban and rural population —
between the acute, bustling, sharp-witted, speculative artisan,
and the slow, steady, reflective, sagacious husbandman. To
compensate this disparity, the social principle must be sum-
moned into activity; and agricultural societies seem the best,
nay, the only, practical remedy. Celebrations, then, such as
this, which now concentrates a wide district, may be considered
as the preliminary step towards the realization of the true dig-
nity of labor. Remote friends are here collected to interchange
ideas and experiences, to compare machinery and practices, to
distribute novel seeds or exhibit choice animals, and, beyond
all, to exalt the intellectual faculties by emulation and re-
ciprocal contact. This goodly company is a whetstone to
sharpen ingenuity, a stimulant to amicable and honorable
rivalry, a friction of mind against mind, polishing and in
rating at every encounter.

Thus can the union be consummated between reflection and
action, between acute mind and indefatigable body. The dig-
nity of labor will cease to be mere cant when the sound mind,
actuating a robust body, reconciles the maximum of produce to
the minimum of effort.

502 ' MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE.

It would be impertinent to enlarge upon the subject and
merits of universal education while I stand upon the soil of
Massachusetts, and amid a people whose high fame it is to be
foremost, as well for liberality as for wisdom, in scholastic insti-
tutions. The paths to honor and fortune are so multiplied
that a wide bird's-eye view of literature and science is the best
preparation for active life ; yet it might be possible to ingraft
upon such a course of study the actual operation of agriculture.
A farm and school were first associated in Switzerland. The
idea has been adopted in many instances in America. And
among the innumerable endowments which confer lustre upon
your citizens, why are there none for the education of farmers,
where young men can be taught, not only to work, but to know
when, how, and why to work ?

HIGH FARMING. 503

HIGH FARMING.

From an Address before the Plymouth Society.

BY It. MORRIS COPELAND, ESQ.

High farming means good farming, thorough cultivation, a
comparative disregard of drought, large crops, well-filled barns,
and happy faces ; and as it matters not how much manure you
put upon badly-prepared land, or what seed you sow, we will
devote the balance of our time to a few considerations as to
the best method of getting the land itself into the best possible
condition. The greatest obstacle in the path of successful
culture is the excess or want of water ; and if any means can
be found to render us independent of it, the remainder of good
culture is easily learned. No idea now is more generally prev-
alent than that if we should abandon, perhaps, the cultivation
of some of our barren uplands, and subdue the rich lowlands,
we should more rapidly increase the yearly balance ; and this
is very true ; and yet but few have any real idea how or why
lowlands can be made the best part of all our farms.

The Report of the Secretary of the Board of Agriculture
says that six thousand acres are annually reclaimed, and when
properly reclaimed will be able to yield from two to three tons
of hay to the acre per anmuin. As hay has had in the eastern
part of the State, for the past few years, a net value of ten
dollars, this land would yield as interest upon the cost, then,
from twenty dollars to thirty dollars per annum ; and yet it
would be safe to say that not five hundred of those acres are
properly reclaimed or capable of doing their best. Drain-
ing is the chief step in improving our land. The removing
Standing water is not the whole effect. There is a meaning
to draining much deeper than is commonly supposed ; and

504 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE.

more than one-half of our upland farms would be drained to
advantage.

Wet lands are technically termed cold and sour. Carbonic
and other acids prevail largely, and prevent the generation of
a healthy vegetation. When air can penetrate under the sur-
face certain chemical changes take place, which render those
gases innocuous, and which so decompose many of the com-
pounds of minerals and salts as to alter their hitherto injurious
natures and make them directly conduce to vegetable growth.

But more than this : without warmth there is no vegetation ;
and in cold lands only a few crops will mature. Of course, so
long as the sod is full of water, air cannot penetrate or carry
in the sun's warmth, whilst under the sun's rays evaporation is
rapid.

The absorption of water into the soil expands it; upon its
evaporation it contracts and cracks, — peaty soils to the amount
of one-fifth, — and rapidly bakes into a hard crust ; for, in pro-
portion as the water evaporates, the earth tends to return to
its original structure ; and as the presence of water forbids
the entrance of air, and as contraction keeps pace with evap-
oration, when the water is fairly gone the earth is closely
locked up.

But by thorough drainage the water is drawn away early, so
that the warm spring air may sweeten and enliven the whole j
then the plough may go down as far as the ploughman wishes,
and the growing grain delights the beholder.

In a climate like ours, and particularly with such a spring as
that last past, no means for the early disposal of superfluous
water should be lost. It has been found by accurate experi-
ment that the difference of season between parts of the same
land drained and undrained was two weeks.

The past season has called the attention of every one to the
necessity of some changes in our culture that may enable us
to withstand the evils attendant upon water, whether its excess
or absence.

The spring of the present year was rendered extremely late
by its coldness and wetness, so that in some places vegetation
was delayed several weeks, and had hardly got established
before it was seized by the summer drought. Now, the qucs-

HIGH FARMING. r,o:,

tion is, before manures and every thing else, How can we rem-
edy this difficulty? By drainage in the lowlands, and some
dressing for the uplands that will condense moisture and retain
manures. Every evil in nature has its remedy. Not only can
we make our peaty lowlands fertile as gardens by drainage,
but this very peat is the true regenerator of your sandy soils,
together with the after-application of carboniferous manures
and kelp.

I will not detain you by a description of the process of evap.
oration and its effects upon the matter whence the water is
taken away, nor make any explanations to fix these facts in your
minds; for the following comparison between a solid substance
like a brick, and a loose one like peat, will tell the whole story.
Take a brick and a mass of peat of equal weight and dryness
and get them equally hot. The brick is very close, and will
hold its heat a long time, as you know ; the peat is loose, and
will soon lose it by radiation ; the structure of peat allows the
cold air to enter freely where it will become warm, and it will
then rise and give place to colder air from above ; nor, from
the equilibrium of things, can it get warm without taking a pro-
portionable amount of heat from the peat. Now, as you know,
the air always has some moisture in it, and, when it is perfectly
full, will deposit it as rain.

The capacity of air to hold water depends on how hot it is ;
for, if you put a dish of cold water in with hot air, it becomes
steam, and by some invisible means is conveyed out of the dish
and out of sight. The air which was filled partly with moisture
now has just as much more in it than before the water evap-
orated as the bulk of the water was. But, as you know, when
air is subjected to heat it expands, so that our heated air might
have been of much less compass once, and by cold may be again,
If, then, we bring it into connection with a cool body, the par-
ticles of air will become cooled, reduced in volume, and unable
to retain the same amount of moisture as before, and will there-
fore deposit it upon this cool substance. This is the proi
of every summer night. The earth cools by radiation, or evap-
oration; the air next to it becomes cool and unable to retain
its moisture, which it deposits upon the surface as shown.

By following me through these steps, you have Been why the

04*

506 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE.

brick, and dry earth like it, from their impenetrability to air,
are less easily cooled and attract less clew than the peaty earth,
and why it is desirable to prevent the surface from becoming
hard during the spring evaporation, lest it become too hot
afterwards.

This radiative and evaporative power, in connection with a
capability of absorbing moisture, is the chief test of the value
of soils for cultivation. You thus see that our peaty meadows,
to be rendered desirable in spring, must be relieved of their
superfluous water, not only because the process of evaporation
is extremely slow, but because its effects upon the summer
drought are disastrous, and, when properly relieved of their
water from their absorptive powers, (that is, the tendency to
attract and condense moisture,) are extremely desirable for
summer culture ; and therefore the relative value of soils de-
pends upon their relative power of absorption and evaporation
in the same time.

We thus see why the light, sandy soils of Plymouth County
are the least desirable for summer tillage, and also how best to
improve them, by the addition of clay, next peat, and last car-
boniferous manures. Peat or clay makes a matrice or bed in
the sandy soil, and will hold not only the manures applied, but
will also very much increase the moisture during the summer
and moderate the tendency to excessive heat. I have put clay
first for sandy soils because its powers of absorption surpass
that of all other bodies. It would seem that, because dark
colors most readily become heated, peaty soils would soon
become hot ; but, as I have said, the mechanical nature and high
evaporative powers of the material prevent this ; and whilst the
dark color would tend to warm them more easily in the spring,
the peculiar texture particularly attracts the moisture in sum-
mer. Thus, if you would be good farmers, care less at first
about manure ; get the peat from the meadow, the clay from
the bank, and give your soils as good dressing as is possible for
the basis of all future operations.

It is generally supposed that a peaty soil is good for nothing
but grass, and meadows, therefore, are almost always laid down
to grass ; but such is not true. A well-drained, deep, peaty

HKJIL FAEMING. .'1)7

soil is better for general crops than any other, the circumstai
being the same.

In several of our Massachusetts towns, the heaviest corn
crops, and those which have taken the premium, have been on

reclaimed meadow land; but, whilst many now admit the
benefits of under-draining, few arc aware how best to go to
work, or are willing to pay others for the information, where
meadows are surrounded by upland, and there is sufficient fall
to carry oil" the water.

It seems a simple matter to arrange the drains for the best
effects ; and yet such is not the case. I have never seen more
than half a dozen well-drained fields.

In draining it is not enough to know that land is wet, or
how to build the drain, or from which side of the field the
water comes. The efficiency of drains depends quite as much
upon the nature of the subsoil as the right location and con-
struction; and a wise farmer would never hesitate to pay an
agricultural engineer liberally for his services in pointing out
the best localities and kinds.

My time is drawing to a close ; and I have hardly mentioned
one of the various improvements agriculture owes to the efforts
of men of learning and book farmers. Had I time I could
show you how, by a proper attention paid to the manure heap
and the sewage of the house, the resources of the farmer might
be more than doubled ; how the innutritious portions of indi-
vidual and animal food, by a wise provision of Nature, are ena-
bled, by judicious application, to produce the food necessary to
support that creature's life ; how the manure crop is quite as
valuable and important as the hay crop, and ought to be as
carefully saved and garnered.

Perhaps you ezpect one who proclaims at start his adher-
ence to books and theories to urge you to have scientific an-
alyses made of your fields, which, followed carefully, would in
the end be sure to fill your barns, or to buy and apply BpeciaJ
manures, &c.

No; Buch is not my intention. I would urge upon each of
you to carefully improve what you have got to the utmost be-
fore you begin to buy more.

Remember that peat and clay will render the most barren

508 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE.

sands fertile, which no manure alone can; remember that
drainage will put your peat and clay into a condition to yield
the largest crops with but little manure, which, without drain-
age, will be never benefited by all the manure you can apply ;
and, finally, remember that no manure returns more than five
per cent, of its value in the crop, and that, therefore, no matter
how wet or dry your land may be, you cannot increase the
relative yield due manure above five per cent., and that the
surest way to get the most value from your manure is to so
highly improve your land as to be able to get maximum crops
with as nearly as possible minimum dressings of manure.

INDEX.

Agriculture, American, .

Wastes of, .

Economy of,

Rewards of,

Position of, .

Encouragement of,

Economy of Scientific,

of Great Britain,

of Elanders,

Demands of,
Agricultural Experiments,
Alderney, or Jersey Cattle,
Apples, Varieties of,
Ashes, Use of Leached,
Ayrshires, the Breed of, .

Barley, Mode of Culture,

Statements on,
Barn Cellars,

of David Leavitt,

of B. V. French,
Bees, Ileport on, .
Beans, Statements on,
Breeding, Progress in,
Broom Corn, Mode of Culture,

Profits of, .
Bulls, Ileports on,
Butter, Mode of Making,

Cabbages, Culture and Profit of,
Carrots, Culture of,

Statements on, .
Cheese, Mode of Making, .
Climate of New Rnglandj
Compost, Meaning of the term,

ee of Forming,
Cranberries, Culture of, .
Cows for Dairy purposes,

268, 27

11,2

4-59, 483, 497

. 485, 489

. 429,431

447

452

. 450, 483

. 466, 504

470

433

480

245

2, 277,

279,

283, 286, 342
90, 94, 411
. 154, 170

. 266,

267,

286, 343, 345

188
. 188, 189

5, 116,

U7,

149, 151, 491

249

. ^11,244

403

. 194, 195

. 271, 272

178

. ISO, 181

271, 273, 216

311

, 406 407, 108

4

196, 201. -'n.',

19, 204,

206,

209, 211. 215

331, 333, 335
200

. 131, 13!)

[G, 140,

115.

117, 119, 150
227

13,

.77, 321

510

INDEX.

Dairy, Statements on the,

Products of the,

State Premiums on the,
Deep Ploughing, Importance of,
Devons, Importation of, .

Definition of the, .

Management of the,
Drains, how made,
Draining, Soils Improved by,
Drought of 1854, .
Durhams, Qualities of the,

Elements of Plants,

Farm Buildings, Structure of,
Accounts, .
Implements,

Premiums on,
Farmer, Studies of the,

the Massachusetts,
Farming, Progress of,

Profits of,
Farms, Visits to, .

Prospective Premiums on
English, .
Premiums on, how awarded,
Statements on,
Size of,
Fat Cattle,

Fences and Division Walls,
Forest Trees, Varieties of,
Growth of,
Fruits, Report on,

Mode of Preserving,
Fruit Trees, Setting out, .
Pruning of, .
Purchase of, .
"Washes for, .
Mulching of,

Grapes, Varieties of,

Grass, time of Seeding down to,

Grass Seed, Statements on Raisin

Quantity used,
Gypsum, or PLster, use of,
Guano, use of,

Hedges, Varieties and Cultivation of,
High Farming,

Page.

294, 296, 308, 317, 320, 330

292, 295, 313, 315, 319, 334, 337, 405, 408

282, 297, 329

13, 24, 27, 85, 110, 117, 124, 216, 472

. 261, 342

297

409

15, 22, 42, 76, 98, 507

. 477, 505

85, 157, 174, 178, 182, 232, 415, 443

263, 265, 343

137

. 60, 241, 246, 249

13, 50, 62, 71, 158

60, 228, 232, 240

232, 237

144, 467

459

19, 61, 159

47,63

1, 4, 56

2

3

9

9,11

15, 16, 20, 34, 37, 38, 40, 45, 49
33, 49, 62
. 350, 351
IS, 20
. 103, 119
100
410, 412, 416, 419, 422
422

24, 85, 86, 90, 96, 97, 101, 118
24, 85, 87, 88, 101
31
84, 85, 87
87, 89, 420

92

12, 39, 65

192

12

135

13, 26, 43, 82, 130, 136, 153

. 107, 108
603

INDEX.

511

Horses, Reports on,
Classes of,
Breeding of,

Indian Corn, Statements on crop of,
Mode of Planting,
Profits of, .
Large Crops of,

Irrigation, Practice of,

Kirkleavington I., Pedigree of,
Larch, Growth of the,

Manures, Economy of,

Liquid, importance of saving,

Classification of,

"Waste of,

Use of, on the Farm,

Manufacture of,
Meadows, Improvement of,
Milch Cows, Statements on,

Feeding of, .
Milk, Difference in,
Milking, Care and Regularity in
Mixed Crops,
Mowing Machines, use of,

Experiments with,
Muck, Value of, .
Mulching, Effects of,

Oakes' Prize Cow, Origin of,
Yield of,
Oats, Statement on,
Onions, Culture of,
Orchards, Treatment of, .
Oxen for Work, .

Pasture Lands, Improvement of,

Peaches, Varieties of,

Pear-, Van ti.ee of,

Pine, drouth of the White,

Ploughs adapted to boQ, .

Pork, Consumption of,

Poultry, Treatment of,

ort> on,
Potatoes, Culture of,

352,

.

. 162, 168
|62, 169, I'll, 173, 17 .

158, 160, 166

. 162, 197

2:}

268

104

25, 33, 133, 143, 172, 403
. 25, 43, 147, 436

. ia

. 143, 172
6, 51, 130, 438, 112
11, 12, 43, 46, 134, 14S, 151
16, 37, 64, 66, 68, 7!
277, 281, 2S1, 289, 321, 323, 327
309
307, 323, :;m
. 310, 316
196
28, 230, 233, 238
. 234, 237
11, 140, 142, 144, 148, 151, 506
421

26 1
191

20'
1, 84, 98, 100,

. :;i7, 318

SI

91, 92
105
126

;.;, 375

379, :; y '. >"i

Quinces, Varieties of,

92

512

INDEX.

Page.

Root Crops, Culture of, . . . . . 5

9, 198, 199, 201, 213, 215

Importance of, . . .

200

Premiums on, . . .

. 201, 202

Rotation of Crops, ....

133, 445, 446, 471

Rye, Statements on, ....

. 185, 186

Salt and Lime Mixture, ....

135

Seaweed, Value of as a Manure, .

4,5

Scientific Agriculture, ....

137

Sheep, Reports on, .

359, 363, 364

Profits of keeping,

360, 361, 362, 365

known as " Oxfordshire Downs,"

362

Decrease of,

. . 444

Spading, Report on, ....

129

Squashes, Yield of, ... .

203

Steam Engine, .....

236

Stock, Reports on, ....

250, 252, 256

The Breeding of, . . . . .

257, 272, 321, 344

Value of blood in, ...

. 258, 346

Management of,

309, 334, 342, 377

Importation of, ....

341

Feeding, .....

" 377

Stones, Removal of, .

27, 28, 35

Subsoil Ploughing, ....

. 117, 125

Use of as manure,

25, 27

Swine, Reports on,

366, 371, 376

Breeds of, ....

. 368, 374

Care in Breeding requisite,

371

Statistics of,

375

System on the Farm, ....

7

Top Dressing, Experiments in, .

51

Trenching, Mode of, .

113

Cost of, ... .

114

Turnips, Culture of, . . . 199, 2C

1, 204, 205, 223, 221, 178

Nutritive value of,

200

Under-draining, ..... 1

5, 21, 31, 42, 77, 116,476

Statement of E. Brown, .

77

Vegetables, Reports on, ....

424, 426, 427

Walls, Division, .....

. IS, 26, 35

Waste of Manures, ....

473, 490, 493, 507

Wheat, Culture of, ....

13, 183, 184

Statements on, ....

182

Working Oxen, .....

. 347, 349

Wool, Raising of, .

361

I