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TWENTY-FOURTH ANNUAL REPORT

SECRETARY

Jpssstrtadtsj leant ufl Jgriculterc :

WITH AN APPENDIX,

CONTAINING

REPORTS OF DELEGATES APPOINTED TO VISIT THE
COUNTY EXHIBITIONS,

AND ALSO

RETURNS OF THE FINANCES OF THE AGRICULTURAL SOCIETIES,

1876.

BOSTON:

ALBEET J. WRIGHT, STATE PRINTER,

79 Milk Street (corner of Federal).

1877.

STATE BOARD OF AGRICULTJJRE-1877.

MEMBERS EX OFFICII^.

His Excellency ALEXANDER H. RICE.

His Honor HORATIO G. KNIGHT.

Hon. HENRY B. PEIRCE, Secretary of the Commonwealth.

WILLIAM S. CLARK, President Mass. Agricultural College.

CHARLES A. GOESSMANN, State Agricultural Chemist.

APPOINTED BY THE GOVERNOR AND COUNCIL.

Term Expires.

LEVERETT SALTONSTALL, of Newton . 1878

PAUL A. CHADBOURNE, of Williamstown, .... 1879
MARSHALL P. WILDER, of Boston, 1880

West,

Hampden,

CHOSEN BY

Massachusetts,

Essex, .

Middlesex,

Middlesex North,

Middlesex South,

Worcester,

Worcester West,

Worcester North,

Worcester North -

Worcester South,

Worcester South-East,

Hampshire, Franklin <Sf

Hampshire, .

Highland,

Hampden,

Hampden East,

Union, .

Franklin,

Deerfield Valley,

Berkshire,

Hoosac Valley,

Housatonic, .

Norfolk,

Hingham,

Bristol, .

Bristol Central,

Plymouth,

Marshfield, .

Barnstable, .

Nantucket,

Martha's Vineyard,

THE COUNTY SOCIETIES.
CHARLES S. SARGENT, of Brookline,
GEORGE B. LORING, of Salem, .
JOHN B. MOORE, of Concord, .
JAMES T. BURNAP, of Dunstable, .
ELIJAH PERRY, of Natick,
0. B. HAD WEN, of Worcester, .
ADDISON H. HOLLAND, of Barre, .
STEPHEN SHEPLEY, of Fitchburg, .
ENOCH T. LEWIS, of Athol,
NATHANIEL UPHAM, of Sturbridge,
WILLIAM KNOWLTON, of Upton, .
MILO J. SMITH, of Northampton,
HENRY C. COMINS, of North Hadley,
METCALF J. SMITH, of Middlefield, .
J. N. BAGG, of West Springfield, .
HORACE P. WAKEFIELD, of Monson,
FRANKLIN C. KNOX, of Blandford, .
ARTHUR A. SMITH, of Coleraine, .
E. C. HAWKS, of Charlemont, .
JOHN E. MERRILL, of Pittsfield,
WILLIAM E. JOHNSON, of Williamstown
DANIEL B. FENN, of Stockbridge, .
HENRY S. RUSSELL, of Milton,
EDMUND HERSEY, of Hingham, .
EDMUND H. BENNETT, of Taunton,
JOHN A. HAWES, of Fairhaven,
CHARLES G. DAVIS, of Plymouth, .
GEORGE M. BAKER, of Marshfield, .
S. B. PHINNEY, of Barnstable, .
ALEXANDER MACY, Jr., of Nantucket,
HEBRON VINCENT, of Edgartown, .

1880
1878
1879
1880
1878
1878
1878
1878
1880
1880
1879
1879
1880
1878
1879
1879
1880
1880
1878
1879
1879
1879
1880
1879
1878
1879
1878
1879
1880
1879
1880

CHARLES L. FLINT, Secretary.

TWENTY-FOURTH ANNUAL KEPORT

SECRETARY

BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.

To the Senate and House of Representatives of the Commonwealth of

Massachusetts.

The centennial year, with its excitements and its joyous
memories, has passed away without bringing any material
relief to the general depression of the business and financial
interests of the Commonwealth or of the country. Stagna-
tion in manufacturing, mechanical, and mercantile industries
implies wide-spread distress among those, comprising whole
classes of the community, who are dependent upon them, and
thousands able and willing to work have waited idly, with
whatever patience they could call to their aid, compelled to
witness the gradual dwindling away of their scanty accumula-
tions, and to look forward with anxious forebodings to the
untried future.

In the midst of all this distress, the farming population has
suffered less, comparatively, than any other class of people.
It has been a year of more than usual healthfulness. No
epidemic has decimated our flocks or our herds, and though
the excessive heat and drought of summer interfered with the
growth of some crops, causing losses here and there, no gen-
eral distress has followed. Abundant stores have filled our

6 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.

barns and our cellars, sufficient, at least, to remove any appre-
hensions of want for the winter. No greater proof is needed
of the stability of farming as an occupation, or of the sub-
stantial prosperity of an agricultural community.

The food effects of legislative action, designed to secure the
public against fraud in the manufacture and sale of fertilizers,
by providing efficient scientific inspection, are already appar-
ent throughout the State, and one of the striking features of
the past season was the greatly increased culture of Indian
corn, and the unprecedented use of commercial fertilizers as
compared with any previous year of our modern farming.
This itself shows an increased public confidence in these arti-
cles, an element that was wanting previous to the appointment
of a competent state inspector. The quality of the fertilizers
sold in our markets is unquestionably improved, and the
standard is much higher than formerly, while the farmer has
some protection against fraud in case he exercises ordinary
care in his purchases. The importance of this change, in
its influence upon the future of our agriculture, can hardly be
overestimated. Nothing is more certain than that successful
farm production of any kind here in New England, and,
indeed, with slight exceptions, the world over, depends upon
the abundant supply of plant-food in some form or other.
Nothing is more certain than the fact that the quantity of sta-
ble or barn-yard manures that can be made available on any
particular farm, is limited and falls far below our wants. If
the deficiency can be made up by concentrated fertilizers,
with economy and profit, the possibility of the production of
human food will be vastly increased and the general prosper-
ity promoted.

PUBLIC MEETING OF THE BOAKD

At WORCESTER.

The country meeting of the Board, for this year, was held
at Horticultural Hall, Worcester, November 14, 15 and 16.
The meeting was called to order at half-past eleven o'clock on
Tuesday, November 14, by O. B. Hadwen, Esq., of Worces-
ter, a member of the Board, representing the Worcester
County Society.

FARMING OF WORCESTER COUNTY. 7

Mr. Hadwen addressed the meeting as follows : —

Gentlemen of the State Board of Agriculture : — In behalf
of the committee of arrangements, and in conformity with a
custom which has grown into favor with these meetings, it
becomes my duty, as their chairman, to call this assembly to
order. I do this with the greater pleasure, as I am thus able,
personally as well as officially, to welcome you, gentlemen, to
the heart of the Commonwealth, the centre of agricultural
interests, second to none in variety and importance within
the limits of your official supervision.

I welcome you to the goodly city of Worcester, where almost
every industry thrives upon a patronage not limited by state
or national boundaries, — and I welcome you to Horticultural
Hall, the headquarters in this city of one of the interests you
have especially in keeping.

The time and place would inspire almost any other than
myself with words corresponding with the surroundings and
the occasion. I would I had the gifts upon which inspiration
moves and through which it makes itself interestingly mani-
fest ; then, gentlemen, the embarrassing duties of my position
here would lose themselves in the pleasure with which I
should address you in welcome.

I esteem it fortunate for the agriculture and the horticulture
of our county that the Board meets at Worcester and in this
our Horticultural Hall. Gathered as you are from every por-
tion of the State, your discussions will spread abroad useful
knowledge, coupled with descriptive experience, both tending
to develop those agricultural resources of the State and county
which are so essential to the happiness and prosperity of both.

I need not remind you of the benign influence such gather-
ings exert in promoting "the most healthful, the most useful,
and the most honorable employment of man."

Worcester County, lying in the central portion of the State,
traversing its entire width, compares favorably in respect to
its fertility of soil with any county in the Commonwealth.
The farming mostly pursued here is what is commonly called
" mixed farming," the dairy being the most prominent and
leading interest. All the cereals, fruits, roots and grasses
that this latitude favors, thrive here. In many towns, a high

8 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.

course of forming is pursued and lands are worked to produce
profitable crops.

We have been favored for a long series of years with men
who have devoted their lives to the progress of agricultural
pursuits, and their example and influence have led many to
take an interest in and obtain a living by agriculture. And
when we see so large a proportion of our people devoted to
this interest in all its legitimate phases ; when we recognize
the fundamental truth that the ground which we cultivate is
the primary source of all wealth; and more than this, when
we remember that without its annual products of grains and
roots and fruits and vegetables for the use of man, and the
herbage and grasses from which our stock gather their suste-
nance, all other interests would be paralyzed, we can at once
realize the importance of agriculture in relation to all other
industries in this county.

Among the most noticeable and cheering phases of advance-
ment among our farmers that forcibly strike the eye of the
observer, is the marked improvement in their grounds and
dwellings. Happily the era is fast passing away, in which
farmers, either rich or poor, in any section of our county,
deem it compatible with their interests, and with the dignity
of their vocation, to live in homes deficient in comforts or
embellishments such as the age now demands.

Grounds about their buildings are receiving more care and
attention, and are frequently embellished with trees and
shrubs and flowers, indicative of a growing taste and a love
for beautiful things. Great improvements are taking place
in our methods of farming, fruit culture is receiving increased
attention, and the general management of farms is continually
presenting evidence of general economy and thrift. Our
farmers have not been slow in introducing upon their farms
the improved machines and implements of husbandry ; the
best and purest seeds are eagerly sought for, and the best
live-stock is slowly but surely taking the place of inferior.

Several organizations in this county have contributed to
these results, and I believe I shall be justified in passing
them briefly in review.

The Worcester Agricultural Society, the oldest and for
many years the only Agricultural Society in this county, was

WORCESTER AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY. 9

incorporated February 23, 1818, having for its object the
promotion of agriculture within the county.

The first exhibition took place in the month of October,
1819, on the Common in front of this building, and its
annual cattle-shows have regularly continued, with one or two
exceptions, to the present time. Its exhibitions have been
attended with all the advantages, and probably more, than
could have been anticipated at its incorporation. By its long-
continued influence in bringing to its annual fair the best
stock and products, and by the liberal premiums offered and
paid for every breed of cattle and farm and garden product
deemed worthy of encouragement, it has accomplished untold
good.

It has thereby facilitated the introduction as well as the
breeding of the most desirable foreign and native breeds, and
has enabled the prudent and sagacious farmer to infuse into
his horses, cattle, sheep, swine, and poultry the best blood of
the world. There is, however, still room for improvement in
this department of our farming, and the next quarter of a cen-
tury will undoubtedly develop increased interest and more
beneficial results. The discoveries in the science of breeding
domestic animals, which is now in its infancy, will improve
and Americanize our live-stock, giving us such as are
especially adapted to our wants and climate, as well as such
as will please the eye of an educated fancy.

The society has about twenty-four acres of land about one-
half mile west of Main Street, on which is included a one-half
mile track and spacious buildings for the accommodation of
its annual exhibitions.

Five other agricultural societies, daughters I may say of this
society, with similar organization, and under the patronage of
the State, occupy points within our county at the north, east,
south, and west of us, while most of the prominent towns
have their local societies and annual shows of cattle, farm and
dairy products, fruits, flowers and manufactories; their influ-
ence has been manifest and permanent.

The Worcester County Horticultural Society, by whose
liberality we now occupy this hall, was organized in 1840,
and incorporated March 3, 1842. You will indulge me in a
brief allusion to the history of the society. In the year 1840,

10 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.

several gentlemen, desirous of forming an association for
encouraging: the cultivation of fruits and flowers, and exciting
a higher interest in the growth of all the products of the field,
the orchard, and the garden, and to disseminate and spread
abroad useful knowledge and the results of experience and
observation tending to improve and encourage horticulture,
made their first organization by choosing the late Dr. John
Green president, with the late Dr. Samuel Woodward and
the Hon. Stephen Salisbury vice-presidents, and ten trustees.

The society held its first exhibition on October 13, 14, and
15, 1840, in the Town Hall. The exhibition comprised little
else than a meagre and confused collection of apples and pears,
of which only a few were designated correctly by name, a
very few quite ordinary vegetables, with some fruits and
flowers contributed by gentlemen residing in the vicinity of
Boston.

The late George Jaques, while president of the society, in
his address before the society on the occasion of awarding
the premiums offered by the society in September, 1863, spoke
as follows in relation to the early period of the society's work,
in contrast with the results of the fair in which he was speak-
ing : " It is now twenty -three years since the preliminary
steps were taken toward the formation of this society.
Those who remember the condition of horticulture in central
Massachusetts then, in 1840, contrasted with what we may
well be proud of now, in 1863, will hardly accuse me of
extravagance in asserting, that the progress which we have
made in less than a quarter of a century, is greater and of
more value than all that horticultural science and industry
had previously accomplished here, since the wolf and savage
prowled over the grounds where all this profusion of beauty
around you was grown."

When we reflect that, for the period siuce 1863 to the pres-
ent time, the society's exhibitions have been regularly pro-
gressive,— when we reflect upon what has been accomplished
by the introduction of new fruits, many having their origin in
this county, that have won the admiration of horticulturists
wherever grown, — we surely have cause for greater encourage-
ment, and may hope for still greater acquisitions through the
influence of this society, — a society which the father of this

WORCESTER HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 11

Board, the Hon. Marshall P. Wilder, has from this platform
declared to be the second horticultural society in the world in
point of wealth and influence.

Elaborate and instructive reports emanating from the
accomplished pen of the secretary of the society have appeared
in the annual Transactions for the past fifteen years, portraying
the best means for improving the condition of the society and
stimulating the cultivation of fruits and flowers most desirable,
and discarding those that have proved worthless.

With the liberal bequests and contributions of many gentle-
men who have been favorably disposed toward the society,
this hall was erected in 1851, and since that time has been
twice remodelled to accommodate the growing wants and
interests of the institution, and now stands a fitting monument
in remembrance of those whose bequests and exertions have
successfully placed in the ownership of the society a building
so substantial, valuable, and convenient.

The library, in an adjoining room, is one of the most exten-
sive and valuable of its kind in the country, and will commend
itself to gentlemen who may take the trouble to give it an
examination. Every new work of known value is added to
it yearly, by an annual appropriation for the purpose.

Mechanical science, theoretical and practical, is so closely
allied to agriculture, that no power can separate them. He who
cultivates the soil must have implements, -working-tools, and
very many of the products of mechanical skill and indus-
try. He who works in iron or wood, or follows other pursuits,
must have the wherewithal to feed and clothe the body, the
productions of the farm.

So, allied in interest to our agricultural and horticultural
societies, we have a mechanics' association, in which all the
trades and industries of the city and county find representa-
tion.

The association owns the largest building and hall in this
city, has its annual course of lectures and its occasional exhi-
bitions which rival any local exhibitions in the land, and one
of the most extensive libraries in this city of libraries.

Then there is the lyceum and library associations, with a
natural history department and museum of natural curiosities,
in which may be found much to instruct the inquiring farmer in

12 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.

the line of mineralogy, eonchology, zoology, and, especially,
"bugology." He will be a poor observer if he does not rec-
ognize some friend and many enemies in the serried ranks of
this latter department.

I haven't time to speak fittingly of all the points and places
of interest which surround us here, but you must understand
we all have a commendable pride in the city of our homes.
Why shouldn't we ? You must understand that in the lifetime
of the speaker, this place has grown from a town of 3,500
inhabitants to a city of more than 50,000 people, having a
permanent valuation of $50,000,000, and an annual product of
$20,000,000 more. You must remember all this is the result
of active industry in various directions ; a pushing, driving
energy in every business relation.

You must remember that Worcester is, and has always
been, the head-centre for the manufacture of agricultural
implements. More practical inventions have, in this line,
emanated from her limits than, I had almost said, all the
world beside, — two hundred and twenty-five different kinds
of ploughs being made by one company within the past forty
years.

Here the invention of the first planing-machine made a revo-
lution in the business of building, and the first machine for
the working of leather made our large boot manufactures
possible. I believe it has been said truly of our city, that
if a machine or implement of any kind, for any legitimate
purpose under heaven, is wanted, one need only apply to a
Worcester inventor and mechanic and it will be forthcoming.
We do not claim that Worcester is the centre of the universe,
though the sky does shut down so nicely all around her ; but
we may claim that she is the centre from which many interests
radiate, and to which many connecting interests point as to a
mechanical and agricultural Mecca. All acknowledge her as
the " heart of the Commonwealth," whose pulsations are
healthy and strong, whatever may have diseased the body
politic or the business energy of the land.

The location of this city in the midst of an agricultural and
manufacturing region, with her system of railroads radiating
in every direction, has undoubtedly favored her growth aud
prosperity. And with her growth and prosperity have come

FRUITS AND FRUIT-CULTURE. 13

Jill the other advantages she enjoys. Look at the public
buildings and grounds, — her antiquarian and free public
libraries, where anything in the shape of ancient or modern
literature is accessible to the public ; her technical institute
for free education in scientific or mechanical pursuits ; her
normal school for the preparation of teachers for our common
schools ; her insane asylum, where the mind diseased is min-
istered to and restored ; her mammoth manufactories for the
working of iron and wood and leather, and fitting material
into myriad forms promotive of human energy and enjoy-
ment. Such, in brief, is the Worcester of this centennial
year, the city in which you are to-day assembled.

To her hospitalities we welcome you, gentlemen of the
Board of Agriculture. May the purpose of your coming be
accomplished in an outgoing and ingoing ratio, that while you
give us the words that shall proceed from the heart of a well-
developed experience, moving us to greater strivings after the
perfect of your ideal, you may feel the invisible and unspoken
pulsations of the "heart of the Commonwealth," by which
you are surrounded, moving you also to continued strivings
after those things which seem to you to be higher and better.

Mayor Jillson, who had been expected to address the
meeting, being detained at home by illness, the Board, at
the conclusion of Mr. Hadwen's address, adjourned to two
o'clock.

Afternoon Session.

The Board was called to order soon after two o'clock by
Mr. O. B. Hadwen, who stated that the subject for consider-
ation was "Fruit and Fruit-Culture," the discussion of which
would be opened by Mr. T. S. Gold, Secretary of the Con-
necticut State Board of Agriculture.

FRUIT AND FRUIT-CULTURE.

BY T. S. GOLD.

You will be disappointed if you expect from me an account
of any new or startling discoveries in fruit-culture ; but still it
may be profitable for us to spend an hour in reviewing this
old and familiar subject, perchance to root out some old

14 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.

prejudices, to break up some of our unthrifty habits, or more
firmly to ground ourselves in established truths, to thus make
our efforts in fruit-culture more agreeable and more success-
ful. Excuse personalities, for I come as an enthusiastic lover
of fruit, and somewhat successful cultivator, to talk of my
experience, but without any pet theories which alone must
be followed to insure success.

Fruit is too much considered as a luxury, and not enough
placed on the list of necessary and economical articles of diet.
It is not difficult to provide a supply of fresh fruit in succes-
sion and variety during the whole year. The strawberry comes
first, followed, without intermission, by the raspberry, cur-
rant, blackberry and whortleberry. Cherries, peaches, plums
and grapes cover the five months from July to November,
while the pear, beginning in July, is in season for six months ;
the apple, the most democratic of all, rounds out the year
with varieties, some of which are in perfection for the whole
twelve months, and we only tire of old apples because the
new are better. In most localities in New England, all these
fruits can be raised, and, in many cases, in a degree of per-
fection unsurpassed by many sections devoted especially to
fruit-growing, and which enjoy a great reputation for their
fruits.

Fruits are, to most persons, not only agreeable, but they
form an economical and healthful article of diet. They should
be used freely, raw or cooked, in a simple form, two or three
times a day. The substitution of choice fresh fruit for dessert
instead of the everlasting pastry that has done so much to
undermine the health of New England, not only gives us that
which is more economical, but more healthful. Baked apples,
of choice varieties, simple, or eaten with sugar and cream,
according to fancy, are within the means of every one, yet
they cannot be surpassed by any table luxury, the product of
any clime.

I have spoken of the healthfulness of fruit. Children who
have free access to, and indulge their appetites without reserve
in fresh fruit, enjoy the fullest measure of health. When the
supply is irregular, or the quality injured by keeping or
neglect, or it is imperfectly ripened, as is often seen in our
markets, and sickness follows its use, we are too apt to offer

QUALITIES OF FRUIT. 15

a wholesale charge against fruit, to condemn it utterly. Two
oranges eaten by me at once, when a boy, — peel and all, —
gave me such a surfeit of that fruit, that, for a long time, I
remained very shy of it.

As some persons take fruit in the morning, others at even-
ing, some before and some after meals, and some at intervals,
and others almost continuously, and these regular fruit-eaters
do this, not only without inconvenience, but evidently with
enjoyment and benefit, it would be id e to advise about the
proper time and manner o'' eating fruit; individual habits
and preferences will control, and must be allowed to have
their rights.

The varieties and condition of the fruit have more to do
with its healthfulness than the hour of the day, and the old
proverb of fruit, "gold in the morning, silver at noon, and
lead at night," must be laid up for use with many others, only
when it fits our case.

With only the old Orange or Sugar pear for summer, and
Choke pear for autumn, it is no wonder that pears had a
reputation of less healthfulness than other fruits, from which
they have not entirely recovered. Again, their period of
perfection is so rapidly passed, — bad when green, luscious,
melting and refreshing when just ripe, but cloying and dis-
turbing when past this point of perfect maturity, much
worse than when unripe, — this bad reputation attaches to the
whole family of pears, and even stains the whole catalogue
of fruits.

Again, with the apples — the tender, melting Fameuse, or
Snow apple, with its mild subacid juice, suits every stomach;
while a wilted, poorly ripened Spitzenberg is certainly no
more digestible than a raw turnip. The Yellow Bellflower
is an example in itself of the extremes of quality. Well
grown, upon a kindly soil and in a favorable season, it is one
of the most delicious and refreshing of apples, tender and
delicate in texture and flavor, its swol'en sides bursting with
juice. Poorly ripened, grown on neglected trees, it would
never be recognized by its best friends, whose acquaintance
with it was only when in prosperity. Even the swine refuse
it to the last in a mixed orchard, and would pass it as the
most unpromising wilding.

16 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.

In my mind, running over the long list of apples and pears,
— the Yellow Bellflowcr only appears as an extreme case, —
the same rule holds good with all in a greater or less degree.
A large part of the discrepancy that arises in our opinions of
the various fruits may justly be attributed to the different
conditions under which we plant them, even with the same
natural advantages. In grafting a Winter Nelis upon the
branches of a healthy tree that has attained bearing size,
we have fruit that ever places it upon our catalogue as
one of the most beautiful and delicious of pears. On the
other hand, received as a weak, crooked tree from the
nurseryman, with stem and shoots too slender for self-
support, planted in common soil, it grows and bears, it is
true, but its fruit fails to secure any notice, for it is unworthy
of it, and the variety is condemned. Again, the Vicar of
Winkfield, overbearing even when poorly fed, has no juice
but a sour water, and the farmer leaves it to the winter's
wind, as not worth the gathering, while well grown and well
ripened, it becomes one of the most refreshing of winter
pears. But it is useless to multiply examples. It is the
general rule with fruit-bearing plants, well fed and well cared
for, returning abundant crops of luscious fruit ; and because,
forsooth, they do not always die out immediately, or refuse
to bear at all, we tolerate this neglect, and get our half crops,
and even those just wThen fruit is too abundaut to be valuable.
The chance example of trees, that by accident enjoy favorable
conditions and make good returns to the careless cultivator,
with no efforts of his own, are not investigated, and con-
sequently we do not gain the instruction we should from their
teachings. Instead of learning from them how to treat a tree,
so that it may grow and bear choice fruit, we rather view
them as chance favors. Rather should we study the conditions
which surround every case, either of success or failure,
whether those conditions were accidental or the result of
design, and thence draw rules for our guidance.

It is all very well, some will say, for each farmer to
attempt to raise a supply of fruit for his own family, but as
for raising it for market, it will not pay, for it is only in the
barren years that fruit (apples and pears) is in demand;
when there is an abundance there is no sale. To meet these

APPLES FOR STOCK-FEEDING. 17

objections, we would have no barren years with our orchards,
with certain unavoidable exceptions, and we would use the
surplus in plentiful years for feeding our stock. Because an
occasional surfeit has dried up the cows, or a case of choking
has occurred, and there are men very fond of cider, we are
continually reminded of the danger of allowing cows to range
in orchards, and that little good can result from feeding them
to stock in any manner. Prof. L. B. Arnold, in a recent
article, estimated the value of apples for milch cows at twelve
and a half cents per bushel. This is when they are fed with
prudence.

From my own experience in feeding thousands of bushels,
not only as falling from the trees, but gathered in the barn-
cellar for winter stores, for neat-stock, horses, sheep and
swine, I would place their value nearly as high as does Mr.
Arnold. The sweet and firm-fleshed varieties would of
course be preferred, but a mixture of sour ones need not be
feared. In the extreme drought of the past autumn, the range
of an orchard, where the cattle could gather the falling fruit,
has been found a most valuable addition to the scanty herbage
of our parched fields. The possibilities of yield of an orchard
are such as to make its value for stock-feeding alone take
the very front rank among cattle foods. At the very moder-
ate yield often bushels per tree, forty trees per acre, we have
four hundred bushels, at one shilling per bushel, amounting to
fifty dollars per acre, as an addition to the crop of grass for
pasturage.

To prevent choking, we cut or crush the apples fed to cows
in the manger ; but with some twenty acres of orcharding, and
scattered trees in all our pastures, with nearly one hundred
head of neat-cattle, we have not in thirty years had a case of
choking from apples. Beginning to eat them when calves,
they never forget how to eat apples. I will now give, in
brief, my opinions on orchard-culture ; and first, as most
important, —

LOCATION.

Any good strong soil, adapted to corn or grass, is

suitable for an apple orchard. In those sections where

there is a hardpan, a tenacious subsoil, it should be dry,

either from natural or artificial drainage ; and from the

3

18 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.

experience of the last few years of drought, we would say-
it cannot well be too dry. For quality of fruit, as well as
thrift of the trees, the roots must not be soaked with standing
water ; yet gravelly soils, where there is no hardpan, seem to
teach a different lesson. In seasons of drought, the fruit
ripens and falls prematurely, and some varieties of apple-trees
utterly die out. The winter of 1872-3, that proved so fatal
to evergreens in our cemeteries and lawns upon dry soils,
also proved the death of thousands of apple-trees, mostly
Baldwins, in the State of Connecticut, in orchards located on
well-drained, gravelly soils, generally in the valleys, while
upon the hills, with a heavier soil, they escaped unharmed.
Sudden changes of temperature may have something to do
with it, circulation may have started and been suddenly
checked, but we think the trees died of the winter drought.
The evergreens upon our hills and valleys in their native soils
were unscathed, while the same, transplanted, and even well
established, were smitten. The life was dried out by those
piercing winds, when not sustained by moisture at the roots.

A sheltered hill for New England is better than a valley ;
we escape frosts. A reasonable circulation of air promotes
the health of the trees and fine color in the fruit, and prevents
that prematurity sometimes induced by a hot September.
Upon the hills, the east winds are more to be feared than
from any other direction, for with them come ice-storms, the
most fatal scourge that ever afflicts our orchards. Generally,
upon our strong soils, — not too heavy, — we have the best-
flavored fruit ; the exceptions being in regard to some varieties,
and to seasons wet and cold, when the warm, quick soils have
the advantage.

Having the field selected, the preparation of the soil for
planting will have much to do with our future success. It
should be not only good of itself, but in good heart; that is,
not exhausted by excessive cropping, or by previous occu-
pancy by orcharding ; and should be well fertilized with barn-
yard manure, or some other fertilizer of as permanent a char-
acter as can be obtained.

In planting an orchard last year, I applied to the field of
eight acres, eight tons of Peter Cooper's hair-manure, — the
refuse from the glue-factory, consisting of hair, a little lime,

VARIETIES OF APPLES. 10

and fragments of bones. I hope this, by slow decomposition,
will furnish food, as needed, for a term of years. One year's
culture with corn, or some other hoed crop, will fit the field
for planting. Plough the whole field, and mark the rows, at
least one way, with the plough, having previously laid them
out straight ; two rods apart is a good distance for the trees.
This gives forty trees per acre. Two by four rods is none too
far for the strong growers.

VAEIETIES.

In planting for market, select only a few standard sorts,
known to do well in the district. It will save great trouble
in the harvesting and sale of the crop. The only reason for
varying from this rule is, that, by variety, we have a greater
chance for fruit in unfavorable years. If the orchard is for
family supply, consult your own taste, and have as many
varieties as you choose. I have about one hundred varieties
of apples, and there are fifty of them that I would like to
retain, as each has some special merit.

In naming varieties, the Baldwin would take the lead,
except in those sections where it is tender. The Rhode
Island Greening is a general favorite. The Westfield Seek-
no-further is a slow grower, but a good bearer of smooth, fine-
flavored, handsome fruit. The Northern Spy is a fine grower,
and, when old enough, bears abundantly very fine apples, but
they do not always keep well. The Hubbardston Nonsuch is
a fine, smooth fruit, of superior quality, bears young and
abundantly, and the tree does not attain a large size. The
Hurlburt is a most rapid grower, a great and regular bearer,
and an excellent fruit. These two last are for early winter.
The Fameuse, or Snow apple, is still earlier, and the prince
of dessert apples in New England. If our orchard was con-
fined to one tree, it should be this. The Porter is ripe in
September, and the earliest apple we can send to market.
The Tallman Sweet is a good winter sweet apple. We would
recommend these eight varieties for any orchard, but, for
family use, would enlarge the list, beginning with the Early
Bough, Early Harvest, and other summer varieties.

If you make personal selection of the trees in the nursery,
you will be apt to reject some kinds, that have an unfor-

20 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.

tunate or feeble habit of growth, that the samples of fruit on
the exhibition tables would commend to you. If you leave
the selection entirely to the nurserymen, of course you will
get only the strong, vigorous growers ; and if you make your
own selection from the catalogue alone, you will have many
troublesome specimens. Having already a selected list, it
will be best to select, personally, in the nursery, choosing only
those with strong stems, well-balanced heads and roots, — the
best trees of each variety. Few will take this trouble, and a
still smaller number have the skill to make a judicious selec-
tion. All the best growers do not bear the best fruit, and in
our eagerness to get shapely trees, we may loose sight of our
ultimate object, — the fruit.

Nurserymen raise good trees, but we are not satisfied with
the way they are taken up ; many of the roots are so muti-
lated that the tree can never recover from the shock. We
can excuse them for mistakes about varieties, but we cannot
excuse their wholesale mutilation, amounting often to the
destruction of what they have propagated with so much care
and skill. Their only excuse is the press of business, — no
time to spend, and the difficulty of getting help that can be
trusted.

We prefer spriug planting, with no very satisfactory reasons
for the preference. If fall planting is undertaken, we would
attend to it early, so that the wounded roots might commence
repairs, and the earth become well settled before winter. At
planting, cut smooth all broken roots, and remove fully one-
half of the head by thinning out and cutting back. In the
mellow, well-ploughed soil, the holes need be only large enough
to receive the roots, carefully extended. Pack fine dirt around
the roots, avoiding manure, especially if fresh. The roots
should not be allowed to get dry, though the tree may live
and lose most of its roots ; yet a rainy day has no special
advantages for this work. At such times the sticky earth will
not pack about the roots, and spaces will be left, than which
nothing can be more fatal to success. Not one tree in a hun-
dred need be lost, yet it is too true that, taking into account
the losses from animals and insects, from freezing and drying
of the roots, and careless removal and planting, probably not
fifty of the fruit-trees raised in our nurseries are alive at

ORCHARD MANAGEMENT. 21

the end of five years from their removal. Every one expects
his trees to be the exceptionally successful ones, and so we
plant with the share for the brush heap in our full knowledge,
and we continue to furnish it.

We prefer young trees, two years from the bud, to those
that are older ; large trees suffer so much by removal that
smaller ones often outstrip them in growth.

The orchard should receive careful tillage for some time
after planting ; for how long will depend on circumstances, and
generous manuring will be required as long as it is expected
to bear fruit. This should not be excessive, but liberal and
regular. Wood ashes are preferred, but barn-yard manure as
a top-dressing will do well. Continuous surface culture may
be advised on level fields, but these fields are the exceptions
in New England. Upon all hillsides, our best orchard land,
the water will wash away the soil if grass is excluded. Deep
ploughing after the trees have attained some size is very bad
for an orchard ; a temporary growth is sometimes thus
secured, to be followed by a check, worse than the former
state.

We do not know of an orchard that has been ploughed after
maturity, that has been benefited, but the reverse has been
often true. All the most vigorous old trees that we have
seen, have stood in grass.

Not only is this ploughing detrimental to the thrift and
longevity of the trees, but it is injurious to the character of
the fruit. When we took possession of our farm, nearly forty
years ago, there were several old orchards, mostly of native
fruit ; one was in pasture, never ploughed, — too rocky ; one
ploughed, with succession of crops, as corn and potatoes, oats,
rye, then grass mowed for four or five years, then ploughed
again, but without manure; another, partly mowed, with
manure, the other part ploughed and cropped and then mowed
while in grass, without manure ; the fourth, divided by a lane,
so that a part was in permanent grass, mowed and manured,
a part pasture and the remainder pastured when in grass, but
often ploughed and cropped. As a boy, fifty years ago, I
remember them all as bearing abundantly, with fair fruit.
The next twenty years showed a marked decline in quantity
and also in quality for most of the trees, many of the trees

22 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.

also dying. Much of the fruit was cracked and spotted, and
this general decadence was most marked in the case of the
trees where ploughing was practised. The trees there never
attained the proportions of those standing where the plough
was never used. At that time we changed the system. Per-
manent meadow, with top-dressing, or permanent pasture, took
the place of the previous exhausting system.

Pasturage means manuring also, for the cows from a large
range prefer to lie in the orchard. The result has been, that
the trees not too far gone have taken a new lease of life, the
fruit has improved in quality, is less scabby and cracked, and
especially is this true of the orchard devoted to pasturage ;
and not only is there benefit in this direction, but also the
apple-worm or codling-moth is kept in check, as the cows
consume all the fallen fruit, and here we have our fairest
apples.

Young orchards, planted since, and coming into bearing,
have been pastured with swine, horses, or sheep, with satis-
factory results. They were allowed to limb out too low to
allow of pasturage by cows, till the fruit has been gathered,
when they are given the range.

As another illustration, two native trees were taken up
from the field and planted in the border of the garden, exposed
to the plough, a hundred years ago, on account of their choice
fruit. Thirty years ago this was worthless from cracking.
Permanent grass at that date took the place of the garden,
and one tree, still surviving, now bears fair fruit. These
results are not all due to a change in the seasons, and cannot be
accounted for, for we have had wet and cold years, favorable
to producing cracked and spotted fruit ; but must be explained
thus. It is dangerous to destroy the surface-roots and force
the trees to seek their food in the damp, cold subsoil. Sur-
face-roots should be encouraged, and their mutilation leads to
crippling the trees, promotes disease, in fact is destructive
both to the trees and their fruit.

Twenty dwarf pears were planted in a garden, which was
deeply cultivated, and only three survive. Of fifty trees
planted in the same garden, at the same time, and receiving
shallow culture, but few have died. There is only one fact
in this connection, that renders this experiment indecisive.

SHEEP AND SWINE IN ORCHARDS. 23

The fifty trees were mostly of those varieties, as the Louise
Bonne and Vicar of Winkfield, that thrive and endure as
dwarfs, while the twenty trees were early kinds that have not
established a reputation for succeeding as dwarfs.

Animals of any kind cannot be safely allowed in orchards
without watching. The surface-rooting of swine is good
tillage for the trees, and they also destroy myriads of insects,
but sometimes they bark the roots and trunks with a voracity
bordering on insanity. Sheep, usually harmless, sometimes
will rub against the trees, or bite the bark, even when the
trees are of considerable size ; and when the habit is once
acquired, it is apt to remain with the individuals of the flock.
Calves, sometimes harmless, are at others the most destructive
of animals. A dozen trees may be barked in a day when
they begin the attack. Colts have sometimes shown the same
propensity. Yet pasturage is better than mowing. The lush
growth of June, suddenly removed, followed by the heat of
July, is an extreme change. The grass forms a harbor for
mice, that in the winter often prove destructive to young
orchards.

Training and pruning the trees should begin at the begin-
ning. Avoid forked trees in the selection, and by judicious
training, prevent the formation of such a head, either where
the trees limb out, or among the branches. These forks split
down when the limbs are loaded with fruit, or ice and snow,
and form a favorite refuge for insects. Some trees grow
upward, as the Northern Spy, and others downward from the
point of limbing, and we should remember these peculiarities
in allowing the head to form. Four to six feet from the
ground is a good height for the springing of the branches.
If too high, the fruit cannot be readily gathered, and suffers
more in falling, and the trees are more rocked by the winds,
and the trunk and roots fail of a certain degree of healthful
shelter.

If too low, they are in the way of fruit-gathering, and
exposed to be broken by animals. The fruit, too, upon the
lower limbs, is mildewed and poorly ripened from want of
fresh air. Very little pruning is advised. Buds starting in
the wrong place should be rubbed off at any time, and at
least once a year the trees should be carefully examined, and

24 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.

all surplus wood removed, aud such limbs as throw the head
out of balance should be shortened in or cut away entirely.

Surplus wood means all sprouts that spring up at the base
of the tree, or on the trunk ; all water-sprouts that infest the
branches ; all ingrowing or crossing limbs, and those that
become feeble from want of light and air, and all dead wood.
Limbs that are cracked or broken by storms, or other causes,
should also be cut off. Now, this is more in the enumeration
than in the reality. Most of the advocates of non-pruning
will go thus far, and admit that so much is right and proper ;
but their principles lead them to the neglect of practice, —
resulting in forked trees, choked with water-sprouts at the
base and among the branches, with decaying wood, keeping
open sores to impede the vigor and destroy the vitality of the
trees, and to interfere with the gathering of the fruit. An
example of a vigorous, open grower is taken to show how
well a tree will do without pruning; and, indeed, it makes a
pretty good showing by the side of some other variety, even
with the best of training, for its short wood, backward growth,
and choked branches, can hardly be shaped so as to compete
with the natural growth of the other. With regular annual
pruning, the sap-sprouts will give little trouble. It is when,
after years of neglect, that trees receive a "good, thorough
pruning," that these are produced. Unless they are cut off
promptly, they take the sap from the bearing branches, and
they are impoverished. Sometimes the head of an old tree
may be renewed by encouraging a few of these vigorous
shoots, and cutting off the long arms, thus forming a new
head. As soon as they get proper maturity, they will bear
fruit, the same as grafts would do, and we have as it were a
young tree on an old trunk.

June is admitted to be the best month, but few farmers will
prune in June. We take the mild days in winter for pruning.
We take mild days, because pruning is a nice operation, and,
to do it well, it must be done carefully. Bad pruning may
maybe worse than no pruning. Cut the limbs off closely and
smooth, yet not too close. There is often a swelling at
the base of a limb of twice the diameter of the limb. We
would not cut into the swelling, as the wound would be much
larger. If it is very cold, the wounds will be rough, and the

ODD-YEAR BEARERS. 25

edges uneven and bruised. If delayed till spring, the sap is
liable to run out, shown by a black stripe down the tree, and
the wounds do not heal in a healthy manner. To settle the
question as to the best time for pruning, we have in progress
an experiment. From a thrifty young orchard we cut off a
few limbs, of one or 1 wo inches in diameter, each month,
marking the month. It is too early as yet to report any
results.

For several years there have been alternate seasons of
plent}' and scarcity of apples. Some few farms have been
exceptions to the rule, and have produced fair crops each
year, the money returns being much better in the so-
called barren years. We are the fortunate possessor of such
orchards ; but if urged to give a reason for this result, we can
only say, "Not prepared." All we know about it is, we have
young, vigorous trees, planted in different exposures, and
receiving their fertilization at different periods of the year,
and in different years, and a large number of varieties. Some
of these rarely bear, except in the even or abundant years. The
others bear as well, or better, in what are called the barren
years, which are now the odd years. We have taken no
special pains with ihis object in view. We believe that by
picking off the blossoms regularly from a young orchard in
the even years, and allowing it to bear only in the odd years,
.we may do something to encourage this habit in our trees,
and we shall do it in one recently planted.

Local hail-storms seem to have been the means of changing1
the habit of bearing, in some orchards, from the even to the
odd years. Whether it was merely the destruction of the
young fruit, or, in addition, the checking of the circulation
by the bruising of the bark and the stripping off the leaves,
we cannot tell. This much we know, that the free growth
of wood is not conducive to fruitfulness. Any cause that
checks this, whether it be borers at the root, ice-storms bend-
ing the boughs but not breaking them, a crooked or bruised
trunk, encourages the formation of fruit-buds, and, the other
conditions being favorable, we have the fruit. The frequent
occurrence of illustrations of this result renders any special
proofs unnecessary. They are familiar in the experience of
every fruit-culturist.

4

2G BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.

I will not attempt to discuss the various diseases to which
our fruit-trees and fruits are subject, or the noxious insects
that infest them. Some of the former are well understood,
and may be successfully avoided, and most of the latter can
be controlled by simple and well-known devices. It inures
to the benefit of the intelligent cultivator that choice fruits
require skilful care both in their propagation and management.
It is not a haphazard business, but the reward is for the per-
severing, the painstaking, for those who have the faculty for
fruit-culture. While all are fond of good fruit, but few succeed
in a marked degree. Not only must the farmer himself have
the skill, but all the laborers employed must get a tolerable
knowledge, or they will wreck the best laid plans. We would
not discourage any one who desires to raise good fruit ; for it
can be done, and here in New England, with the same degree
of skill that in Massachusetts is required to raise good crops,
or breed good cattle. Trees, as requiring a longer time to
grow and mature fruit, need more patience and a little
more enthusiasm to bridge over some disappointments and
failures.

We pass now to the gathering and preservation of fruit.
Summer apples, peaches, and plums should ripen fully on
the trees. They may ripen and improve after they are
gathered, but will not gain as they would upon the trees.
Pears improve by house-ripening, and sometimes when blown
off half-grown may be ripened up to a degree of color and
flavor they would never have attained on the trees.

Winter apples and pears should hang as late as the risk of
frosts and storms will allow. For this latitude it is not safe
to trust them later than the 10th of October, though usually
they will not take any harm before November. A slight
freezing does not hurt them, provided they are left undisturbed
while frozen. Yet that degree of frost which leaves no
apparent effects on the fruit, still in some degree changes its
nature, so as to make it not less palatable but less wholesome,
less agreeing with some persons. From the perfect health-
fulness of sound fruit, there is every degree of injury arising
from eating frozen fruit, down to that misery which afflicts
the school-boy who has gorged himself on frozen-thawed
apples. A little caution will save us here from much incon-

MANAGEMENT OF APPLES. 27

veuieuce, and the complaints against fruits are too often
derived from experience with such damaged specimens.

Summer apples may be allowed to drop, or be gently shaken
from the trees on to a mat of soft grass, or a mulch of fine
hay or straw. Fruit for keeping must be carefully hand-
picked, and when large and fine, must be handled as tenderly
as eggs. When gathered, apples may be safely placed directly
in the barrels where they are to remain, if they are sorted by
a careful hand ; another way is to carry them in baskets to
the fruit-house, or a clean barn-floor, which makes a very
good autumn fruit- room, and allow them to remain in heaps
till sold or danger of frost requires their removal to the cellar.

We adopt both methods. For our own use, the apples are
placed, when picked, of course in a dry day, in barrels in the
field and carried in a cart to the barn-floor, or some other
clean out-building, where they remain till in danger of freezing,
when they are carried to the cellar, which has been cooled
down as much as possible by keeping windows and doors
open. The barrels are not headed up, but placed in two tiers,
the upper, the earlier sorts, forming a cover for the later
keepers.

We use the different sorts when the season of their matu-
rity arrives. We seldom have occasion to pick over a barrel,
except with late keepers ; perhaps in April or May. We
keep the cellar as cool as possible and not freeze. It is
usually wet or damp, — more or less water flowing through it.
No onions, turnips, cabbages, or other fragrant vegetables
are allowed in it ; kerosene oil and allied articles are also
excluded. Fruit is almost as susceptible to influence from
odors — losing its own peculiar and delicate aroma and absorb-
ing that of other substances — as cream and butter, the most
delicate and sensitive of all articles of food. It cannot be
kept in a common house cellar, with vegetables, without acquir-
ing an artificial taste. A mouldy barrel will as surely com-
municate its odor to the apples as will a musty cider-cask to
its contents.

We keep in our cellar the Fameuse, or Snow apple, in per-
fection till December or January, the Greening and Seek-uo-
further till February or March, and the Russets till new
apples crowd them out. True, we lose a large per cent, in June,

28 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.

as soon as warm weather really sets in, but this does not
amount to much, for a small stock answers all demauds at that
season, as we do not need many apples after strawberries come.
Apples should remain in the cellar till the day they are to
be eaten. Then the glow of an open fire, — warming best
brings out the peculiar aroma or flavor of each, and fills their
plump skins with generous juice. Placed upon the well-
swept hearth, they absorb the life-giving heat, bursting to
reveal their treasured riches. It is here we find the poetry, in
the juice of this homely, that is, homelike, fruit. The credit
is due to our youthful friend of ennobling in poetry so humble
a subject.

" Poetry, poetry everywhere !
Yon breathe it in the summer air;
You see it in the green wild woods ;
It nestles in the first spring buds ;
You find it in the primrose rare ;
'Tis in the apple-blossom fair ;
It smiles in maidens and in youths ;
You taste it in the apple-juice."

Pears should be kept cool — not freezing cold — till the
season of their maturity arrives ; then placed in the dark, in
a warm room, for a few days, to ripen (they will rot without
ripening in the cold), — best wrapped in a flannel blanket.
A winter pear, brought into a warm room with a Duchess, in
October, will mellow up ; but there will linger about it a
certain smack of greenness which will disappear if kept there
till December.

Many of our farmers and their families have yet to learn
the luxury of a dish of well-ripened Winter Nelis or Lawrence
pears in December. Winter loses half its terrors when we
can secure luxuries like these, that equal any of the melting
fruits of autumn, the hearty relish and the leisure to enjoy
being added.

The farmer who neglects to provide for himself and his
family a succession of choice fruits for the year, each crowd-
ing upon the others, with no gaping intervals of dearth,
neglects the privileges of his birthright, and no wonder that
his children desert the old farm with no feeling of regret, for
it is to them a scene of privations rather than of enjoyments,
for they share the hard work and have none of the rewards
skilful industry should bestow.

HANDLING OF APPLES. 29

Mr. Kinney of Worcester. You say you carefully pick
up your apples, and then take them to your cellar in a cart.
What do you mean by that?

Mr. Gold. I find no way of transporting apples more
safely than in baskets placed in a common ox-cart carefully
driven. Sometimes they are taken in a wagon with springs ;
but that jolts them quite as much as a cart. A part of the
load is borne on the necks of the cattle. I do not empty
them into the body of the cart, and take them out again in
the baskets. It is very easy to have as many baskets as we
can set in the cart, and duplicate them, so that we transport
them in that way. Most of our fields are such that a cart is
the most ready means of transportation. We can shin around
the rocks better with that than with any other vehicle, and
we have a great deal of it to do. I have found no way to
transport them, with less bruises, than that.

Question. How many years do you plough round your
trees, after they are set out?

Mr. Gold. I have left that open, to be decided by circum-
stances. If the field is anything of a side-hill, the ploughing
cannot be continued, as I said, any length of time, without
great detriment to the soil, from its washing away. As soon
as the vegetable matter in the turf, that holds the earth
together, is decayed, it will wash, so as to prove fatal to the
fertility of the soil. If it is level ground, where there can be
no washing, there would seem to be no objection to culture
for a number of years, — encouraging the growth of roots near
the surface, however.

Question. When it has been seeded down, can it be cul-
tivated again ?

Mr. Gold. I should prefer the practice of top-dressing,
and keeping up the fertility in that way, to ploughing again.
As I remarked, ploughing gives a temporary start to the
trees, usually ; but it is merely temporary, and then they are
worse for it than before.

Question. You spoke of the varieties of apples you would
select. I would like to ask what the nature of your soil is,
where you have these varieties ?

Mr. Gold. Well, sir, we are on the southern limit of the
Green Mountain range. It is what we call a loamy soil. It

30 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.

is well adapted to grass, grain, and the natural forest-trees, —
the hickory, the oak and the chestnut, principally ; and the
natural wild bushes are the blackberry and the whortleberry.
There is an abundance of lime in the soil, although we do not
have limestone. It is the debris of the limestone region north
of us — Berkshire and that section — that furnishes us with
this lime. Ours is a granite formation.

Question. Have you ever had any experience in root-
pruning trees, to bring them into bearing? I have known
orchards that had not borne for a number of years — when
there seemed to be no reason why they should not bear — that
have been brought into bearing by severe root-pruning, and
then, by fertilizing, they have been kept along a great many
years.

Mr. Gold. I have never had occasion to resort to that
myself, but I have advised it. My daughter, who resides in
Indiana, has reported to me some fine pear-trees, which have
grown to be very large, but which have failed to bear, and I
have instructed her to have them thoroughly root-pruned,
with the expectation that it will secure some fruit.

Mr. . I think you said you did not head your apples.

I always head mine, as soon they become thoroughly dry. If
I were going to put Greenings into the cellar, I should head
them as soon as dry, and never open them until I wanted to
use them. That has been my practice, and I never have had
any trouble.

Mr. Gold. I remarked that I did not head my apples up
that I designed for use in the family. It saves the trouble of
heading and unheadiug them ; and then my men are obliged
to move the barrels with a little more care, when they are
not headed, than when they are. I set one barrel on top of
another, and that serves to exclude the air from the lower
barrel. There is no objection to heading the barrels up,
that I know of, if anybody wants to keep them in that
wa}'.

Question. Do not Western apples keep better than ours ?

Mr. Gold. As a general rule, I think they have that
reputation. They are picked quite early, and before the
fullest maturity, and the apples that are shipped to this
market grow in quite as northern a latitude, or a little further

KEEPING OF FRUIT. 31

north, than we are. That, also, has a tendency to make them
more enduring.

Question. I would like to ask whether fruit keeps best
in a moist or a cool and dry cellar?

Mr. Gold. I have never had any experience with a dry
and cool cellar. It is an impossibility, in our locality, to get
a dry cellar, unless you have a furnace in it. The nature of
the soil is such that the water rises up from below, and you
must have a drain to let the water run off from your cellar.
That is the rule, in nine cases out of ten, with cellars in our
part of the State of Connecticut.

Mr. Ware of Marblehead. I will say, that I have been
in the habit of growing apples, more or less, all my lifetime,
and that my cellar is dry. It has a cement floor, and no
moisture whatever comes from the earth. I have kept the
"Kilham Hill," which is a fall apple, in that cellar all winter,
and carried it to market in April, in perfect condition. It is
well known that that apple, when it arrives at a degree of
mellowness, turns mealy, and becomes of little or no value ;
but, as I say, I have kept them until April and carried them
to market in perfectly good condition, without any mellowness
whatever. My cellar is arranged especially for the keeping
of fruit, and I had in view thorough ventilation. There is a
window on two sides, so that in a suitable temperature I can
open the windows and thoroughly ventilate it. If the weather
is warm and damp, I then shut the windows and exclude that
kind of air, keeping out dampness, and keeping the tempera-
ture as cool as possible in the winter, — very near the freezing
point.

Question. Do you head your apples in ?

Mr. Ware. No, sir. As a matter of convenience, for
the purpose of stowing a large quantity in a small space, I
have had bins made that will hold from fifty to seventy-five
barrels each. They are made about two feet and a half
deep, — about the depth of a flour barrel, — and when I harvest
my apples, I pick them carefully by hand, pour them into
barrels carefully, and take them in spring wagons to the
cellar, and pour them carefully out of the barrels into the
bins, — not pouring them from the top down, but putting the
barrel down on the side, and tipping them out very care-

32 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.

fully. In that way, apples can be poured from a barrel
without bruising; and in order to have apples keep, it is
necessary that they should not be bruised. Therefore, I
have them handled as carefully as possible, and put them in
these bins, and they keep remarkably well.

Mr. Howe of Shrewsbury. I rise to ask a question, but
before doing so, I will state a little experience in regard to
the treatment of apples. Some years ago, I put four barrels
of apples in the extreme northerly corner of my cellar. I
selected them with great care, and did not allow a worm-hole
or a knurly place in one of them. When I put them up,
apples were worth about a dollar a barrel. Somewhere from
the first to the middle of January, a gentleman from North-
borough, being in town, came to me and asked me if I had
any apples to sell. I told him I had put up some barrels very
nicely, but I couldn't tell in what condition they were. He
said he would go and see them. So I went into the cellar,
and I turned the barrels over, — they were setting on their
heads. It was an extremely cold time, and I found that they
rattled; in other words, they were very much frozen. Said
he, "I don't want them." Said I, "Very well." I turned
them back, and they stayed there until about the first day of
April, and the same man came to me and wanted to know if
I had any apples to sell. I told him I didn't know whether I
had any or not ; I had four or five barrels in the cellar that I
had not looked at, and what condition they were in, I could
not tell. Apples were worth then some $2.50 a barrel.
"Well," said he, "I will go and look at them." We went
down cellar, and turned those same barrels over, and found
them perfectly full. Says he, "I will look at them." I
opened a barrel, and saw they looked very well. Said I,
"There are four barrels, and you may have two of them for
$2.50 a barrel, or I will pick them over, and you may have
them for $2.75 a barrel. Says he, "I will take them at
$2.50." He told me afterwards that he made money by taking
them as they were, for there was not more than a peck of
apples in the two barrels that were not perfectly sound. That
is my experience with apples.

Now, I simply want to make an inquiry in regard to trees.
I have spent considerable money on pear-trees, and I have

WESTERN TREES. 33

spent considerable money on Western trees. Those Western
trees looked very nice when I set them out, but the trunks
would not grow. Sprouts came up from the roots, which I
cut off two or three years, to let the original trunk grow, but
the trunk did not grow. I have some half-dozen trees, where
I cut the trunks off, and let the sprouts grow, and handsomer
trees, of two or three years' growth, there are not on the place,
— and I have some forty or fifty pear-trees. The question I
want to ask is, Why the sprout will grow when the trunk will
not grow? I can show you trees, in good bearing condition,
the original trunks of which are not much bigger than my
thumb, and the sprouts are as big as my wrist. That has
been my experience in buying Western trees. I will state,
further, that I bought some trees of Mr. Strong, at Brighton,
some years ago, and those trees went right along, the sprouts
were cut off, and I have the original trees.

Mr. Gold. That would appear to be a pretty strong argu-
ment in favor of purchasing home-grown trees. There is a
little dispute between Western nurserymen and our own nur-
serymen here in New England, about the comparative value
of Western-grown and native-grown trees. There have been
a great many cases where the trees seemed to need to be accli-
matized before they would grow in our soil, and the case the
gentleman names would seem to be one of that kind. The
roots were sufficiently vigorous to make a good sprout grow,
but the change between their previous location, and the one in
which they were planted, was too great for the trunks ; the
circulation in the stem was checked, and they became, what
we call, "hide-bound." Such trees are often renewed by
cutting back vigorously, — cutting back half the top, until you
come to a vigorous bud ; or, as this gentleman has found it
necessary to do, cutting clean back to the root. This is the
only explanation I can give of it, and, perhaps, it is not the
true one.

Mr. Howe. I would say, as far as my experience goes, —
and it extends over a period of some ten or fifteen years, — I
would advise every gentleman who purchases trees, to pay
fifty , seventy-five, or a hundred and fifty per cent, more for
trees that have been raised on the soil of New England, rather
than invest their money in Western trees. I presume there

5

34 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.

are gentlemen who have succeeded with Western trees. It is
well known to some gentlemen here that I live on a hill.
The soil is remarkably good. It is well adapted to the growth
of anything, — apples, pears, peaches, or anything else. But,
as the result of my experience, I advise any gentleman who
is about to purchase trees, to be sure to procure those that
were matured in New England soil, on New England roots.

Mr. Ware. I do not feel prepared to auswer the question
that has been propounded to my own satisfaction ; but I will
state one fact, which, perhaps, may draw out the information
desired, because this is rather an important question. I
remember that my father — whose advice and instruction in
regard to agriculture and orchard-culture I have ever found
valuable — said, "Never graft a sprout that comes up from the
root of a tree, for it will not make a good tree, and it will
continue to throw up sprouts, instead of throwing its strength
into the graft that you put in." Now, it has occurred to me,
whether or no the gentleman's trees, that he has spoken of,
may not have been grafted upon sprouts that had grown up
from the roots of pear-trees. I know that nurserymen — and
there are some here present — will say, that it would be foolish
to do such a thing as that, because it is so easy to get stalks
to graft into. That is true ; but there are times — I have seen
them myself — when there have been such thrifty and vigorous
sprouts coming up under the trees, that the temptation has
been very great to take those sprouts and set them out, and
graft them, or graft them in the place where they were, think-
ing to gain time by it. Whether or no those trees were prop-
agated in that way, the gentleman may be unable to answer ;
but perhaps some person present may have had experience in
that direction, and, if so, it might be the means of establish-
ing a certain principle, or fact, if it can be so established.

Mr. Howe. Of course, I cannot answer the question,
whether they were, or were not, grafted on sprouts ; but I
had those trees from a gentleman in my own neighborhood, a
man with whom I was well acquainted, who told me — and, of
course, I had no reason to doubt it — that he went himself and
selected those trees, and knew that they were budded from the
root. Some of them were dwarfs and some standards, and I can
show you to-day, on my place, the dwarfs and the standards,

TREES FROM SPROUTS. 35

and it has been invariably the case, that those trees that have
been purchased from Western agents have failed in the same
way. I will say, that those trees that have come from those
sprouts have proved true to their name, as far as I could
remember; or, in other words, they proved to be very fine
pears. I cannot remember all their names, because they have
such long names for some pears, that I would rather taste
them than remember their names, in order to test the quality.
I can show you some dozen trees that I bought for Mr. Sumner,
who lived, in the summer, on the place where I now reside, and
set them out myself, and there is not one original stock among
them, except four or five Bartletts, which are about as large as
my thumb, and the sprouts are much larger, and grow much
more vigorously. I have not cut them off. Mr. Sumner told
me to cut them off last spring; but I said, "Let them grow
another season. By digging around them, and manuring tbem,
they may be made to do something." I find that it would
have been far preferable to have cut those stocks off two or
three years ago. He would have had very nice and vigorous
trees now.

Mr. Gold. My opinion in regard to the relative value of
New England and Western trees is expressed pretty well by
the proportion in which I planted the two kinds for an orchard,
a year ago. I planted three hundred trees, and I got a dozen
from an agent from the West ; the rest I got from a Connect-
icut nursery. I wanted to try the experiment, but I did not
care to try it in any other proportions than that.

Mr. Goodnow of Princeton. In the region of country
where I reside, we are overrun with cider-apples, and the
question is, what to do with them. I have fed them, in former
years, to hogs. This year I have fed them largely to stock.
I have also fed them to sheep. The question with me is,
whether it will do to feed them to milch cows. I was offered
eight cents a bushel for them this year, if I would cart them
four miles. I could not see any great profit in that. And if
we undertake to make cider, it will not bring the cost of the
barrel.

Mr. Howe. A friend of mine has been feeding from
twenty-five to fifty bushels of apples a day to his milch cows,
and he told me he considered them worth more to make milk

36 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.

than potatoes, or even pumpkins, and he would rather have
them than either. So if Mr. Goodnow can find that gentleman,
he will perhaps find a purchaser who will give him more than
eight cents a bushel for his apples.

Mr. Perry of Worcester. It seems to me it is always a
good thing to establish one fact before you go to another.
Mr. Goodnow has asked a very sensible question in regard to
feeding apples to milch cows. That question is one which
interests most of us. I keep a large stock of cattle, I have
a large quantity of cider-apples, and I have fed them to my
cows regularly. I have given my cows about half a bushel a
day, and I think that those apples are worth twelve cents a
bushel, as we are selling milk now in this city.

Question. How much do you get a quart for your milk?

Mr. Perry. From six to eight cents. I presume back in
the country, where they make milk into butter, they are not
so valuable. But instead of selling apples at eight cents a
bushel, I should give them to my cows, because they not only
increase the quantity of milk, but they furnish nutriment for
the cows, and of course they require less of other articles
of food. So that, in my opinion, a bushel of apples is
worth, in my location, from eight to fifteen cents, to feed to
cattle.

Mr. Harlow of West Boylston. I think, as my friend on
my right has said, that it is wrell to settle one question before
we pass to another. I would like, as the preachers say, to
make a little personal application. We have the eminent
authority of Prof. L. B. Arnold, in support of the proposition
that apples are worth twelve and a half cents a bushel as food
for cows ; we have the opinion of the eminent gentleman
from Connecticut, that they are worth nearly as much in his
neighborhood ; and we have also the opinion of one of the
most sensible and level-headed farmers of Worcester County
that they are worth as much as that, or more. This being the
case, I would ask, in the name of good morals, why prostitute
the farming interest of New England to the debasing manu-
facture of cider? When our apples can be devoted to a
useful purpose, why should we lower our own calling, and
degrade the communities in which we live, by making cider,
to ruin our fellow-men?

GRAFTING CIDER-APPLE TREES. 37

Mr. Ware. The inquiry has been suggested to me, Why
not graft the trees, and raise Baldwins, Greenings, and other
choice varieties, and thus do away with this superabundance
of cider-apples? I infer that they are the natural fruit. They
may be refuse-apples from the orchards of good, grafted fruit.
If so, that is another thing. But I got the impression that
these cider-apples that have been spoken of, are native wild
seedling apples, of little value, except for cider or feeding;
and if the trees are not too old, — if they are young and vigor-
ous trees, — why not graft them with good, nice fruit?

Mr. Hicks. I have no definite figures to give ; but I will
say that we make a little butter, and we have fed a bushel of
apples a day to each of our cows for the last six weeks, — half a
bushel at night and half a bushel in the morning, and the
quality of the butter is better. I know that their feed has
not been as good as it was previous to our feeding the apples,
and I have no doubt that the butter is better, — its flavor is
better. I am satisfied that apples not only increase the quan-
tity of milk, but increase the quality also. I have no doubt
of it in my own mind, from our little experiment. We have
never fed them before, but made them into cider. This year,
we could not make them into cider, because it was so far to a
cider-mill, and cider was so cheap.

Mr. Ware has suggested grafting the trees. We have very
few cider-apples on our place, — that is, natural fruit ; but we
find this year that apples are so cheap, we have to carry the
very best to market, in order to get anything for them beyond
the expense of cartage. Therefore, even if you graft your
trees, and take the best care of them, you will have a certain
quantity of fruit that it will be necessary to dispose of, in some
way other than by the barrel, for eating and other purposes.

Mr. Goodnow. A large portion of my apples were grafted
fruit. I have young orchards coming up, and I have also
trees that my grandfather planted, which it is hardly possible
to graft, and I must either take the fruit as it comes, or cut
the trees down. I find this to be a fact, that apples that are
ripe and mellow, are worth nearly double for my cows what
half-ripe apples are worth. If that is of any benefit to any
gentleman here, I am very happy to communicate it.

Mr. Draper of Worcester. The number of varieties to be

38 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.

cultivated, the gentleman (Mr. Gold) reduced to eight. Now,
I think it is a matter of great importance to know, from the
experience of gentlemen here, which are the best eight vari-
eties for the market and for home consumption. He named
a list for Connecticut. I should name, here in Central Mas-
sachusetts, perhaps another list. Of course we should hold
on to the Baldwin ; but we must all admit that the Baldwin
is the cause of the glut in the market. I dare say that three-
quarters of the apples grown by the gentlemen present here
to-day are Baldwins, and they, unfortunately, bear on the
even years. If one-third of the Baldwin trees were grafted
with some other sorts, to reduce the glut in this one variety,
we should have less cause to complain of an overstocked
market. Mr. Gold named, in his list, the Porter. I think
gentlemen from Central Massachusetts would take exception
to the Porter, and put in its place the Gravenstein, which
was not mentioned by the gentleman. We found, last year,
the Porter small in size, and imperfect. This year, we find
it very fine, and well grown ; but it has this serious drawback,
— it is almost impossible to put the Porter into market with-
out its showing signs of bruising; whereas the Gravenstein,
when put on the market, is one of the most golden-colored,
handsome fruits that we have. I should hope that a little
time might be spent in naming the eight best varieties for
farmers to plant in this section. I should put in my claim for
the Gravenstein, as the head of the list, for the market.

Mr. Vincent of Edgartown. One remark of the gentle-
man who has just taken his seat has brought to my mind a
question which has attracted some attention in times past,
— and that is, how to provide for the non-bearing trees.
According to the best information I have, — and I would like
to hear the opinion of farmers who have large orchards,
as to whether it is a fact or not, — the Greening is the best
variety for non-bearing years, because it does bear consider-
ably every year.

Mr. Ware. It may be interesting to some here to know
my experience in endeavoring to remedy the difficulty that
arises from the non-bearing year of apples. That experience
conflicts somewhat with that of the gentleman who has pre-
sented us with the very able essay. It is with regard to the

CULTIVATION OF ORCHARDS. 39

cultivation of orchards. My orchards yield more apples,
usually, in the even years than in the odd years, but we have
a fair crop of apples in what are called the non-bearing, or
odd years, and it brings, perhaps, twice as much money as
the large crop does on the even years ; and I attribute my
success in raising apples the odd years to cultivation. I
have always felt the necessity of manuring and cultivating an
orchard as regularly and fully as I would cultivate for a crop
of vegetables, or anything else. I keep my apple-orchard
continually under cultivation. I do not plough very deep,
but I never allow an orchard to remain in grass for more than
a year or two, and to this constant cultivation, and constant
supply of fertilizers, I attribute my success in raising a fair
crop on the odd years. I have never taken any pains, in
any other direction, by picking off the blossoms, etc. My
orchard, at the present time, has been under cultivation, I
should think, for twenty years, with hardly any intermission,
— not more than a year or two at any time ; and I give it a
dressing of manure, if not every year, certainly every other
year, but usually every year, and I think by that means I
secure a fair crop of apples the odd years. If the ground is
so shaded that nothing will grow, I am satisfied with raising
nothing ; but if the trees are not so large as to cover the
ground fully, I raise, very frequently, fodder-corn. That is
something very easily handled, and requires little labor. It
is rather difficult to cultivate under apple-trees, on account of
the limbs interfering somewhat with the work ; but a crop of
fodder-corn requires very little culture, and I have usually
raised that. Sometimes, where the ground is not very much
shaded, I plant squashes, and in any open space that is allowed
between the trees, squashes will grow, and produce a good
crop. Where the ground is very thickly shaded, there will
be no crop ; but I am satisfied with taking whatever grows,
where the trees will admit sufficient sun to produce a crop.
But where the ground is completely shaded, so that no crop
will grow, I cultivate just the same. After putting in the
plough, it is very easy to keep down the weeds with the har-
row,— " scarifying," as we sometimes call it. It requires very
little labor to keep the ground clear under the trees, where
crops will not grow.

40 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.

Question. How far apart are your trees?

Mr. Ware. My trees are set out about forty feet apart,
each way. I have a younger orchard where I set the trees
nearer, thinking to experiment a little, but I am not satisfied
with the experiment of setting trees nearer than about forty
feet apart, each way.

Question. How do you prevent your men from letting
the whiffletree bark the trunks ?

Mr. Ware. That is very difficult, but I give them a
severe scolding every time ; and when they bark a tree, I tell
them to come and take a piece of skin off of my flesh, if it
will give them any satisfaction. My trees are not barked
much, but occasionally they get scraped a little. I prefer not
to plough too near the trees, because a large tree has large
roots, and as the roots grow in diameter they come quite
near the surface, and if the plough is run very near a large
tree, it is apt to injure those large roots, and therefore I
object to it. Therefore, I tell my men to go far enough from
the trees to prevent the whiffletree from striking them, and
to avoid injuring the large roots. It is necessary sometimes
to fork around a tree to prevent the grass from growing. It
requires very little labor to do that.

Mr. Fisher of Fitchburg. Is it desirable, or can we raise
small fruits in an orchard?

Mr. Ware. As far as my experience goes, they cannot be
raised where it is shaded quite materially ; but in a young
orchard, when there is quite a space between the trees, small
fruits may be cultivated to advantage.

Mr. Gold. Some of the most successful currant-culture
that I have seen has been in young orchards. The currant-
bushes get past their bearing, and need to be removed before
the trees get large enough to shade them or demand the
whole strength of the soil. The slight shade that they
receive from the young trees is favorable to the currants, and
the culture of the ground which the currants require during
the early growth of the trees, is favorable to the trees, and
the two seem to work well mutually.

Mr. Ware. A gentleman has just whispered to me a
question in regard to the method of planting orchards. He
asks me whether or not my trees were in one body. That I

ISOLATED TREES AND ORCHARDS. 41

consider a very important thing. My observation and expe-
rience convince me that a single row of trees set around a
field by the walls, or an individual tree by itself, will
not do as well in any respect as an orchard set out in
rows of trees forty feet apart, if }rou please, more or less.
The fruit that grows on a single row of trees, or on a single
isolated tree, is usually very wormy, crabbed, knurly, and of
inferior quality. And my observation is, that trees in that
condition do not produce so good crops. My explanation of
it is this : that in a given space there are a given number of
insects, and enough of them will gather on a single row of
trees, or on an isolated tree, to destroy perhaps the whole of
the fruit growing on those trees ; whereas, in the case of an or-
chard, the insects being distributed among so much more fruit,
their mischief is less noticeable, and we have finer fruit. On
my brother's farm, which adjoins mine, a single row of trees
was set out and arrived at full maturity at the same time with
an orchard adjoining. That single row of trees has been cut
down as a nuisance, from the fact that the trees bore no fruit,
or none of any value. I have seen a good many instances of
that kind. On the farm where I was born, there was a sin-
gle row of apple-trees that I remember from my boyhood up,
that never produced any crop of fruit, while orchards in the
neighborhood were loaded with handsome and good apples.

Mr'. Kinney of Worcester. I have a row of apple-trees
that produce more fruit in even years than an entire orchard
of three acres.

Mr. Sears of Worcester. I have planted apple-trees
around stone walls, and the like of that, and for the last six
years they have produced, in the bearing years, more than
double what my orchard has, where I have the trees set in reg-
ular rows, and cultivated with as much care as has usually been
taken with such orchards. I have in mind some trees that
were set out twenty-five years ago, of the Greening variety,
(which have not been great bearers with us here), and this
year, and two years ago, I picked from five to six barrels
from these Greenings when those in the orchard did not bear
more than half or two-thirds as much.

Mr. Warner of Sunderland. I suppose that apple-grow-
ing can only be done successfully on poor land. It would
6

42 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.

never pay to devote the land on Connecticut River to the
raising of apples. Where land is worth three or four hun-
dred dollars an acre, you cannot well afford to set out apple-
trees. On poor land, you might find it profitable to raise
apples, even if you could get only twelve cents a bushel.

The apple-trees which grow with us are the Baldwin,
Greening, Roxbury Russet, Nonsuch, Gravenstein, and Por-
ter. I have never seen any other variety that was sure to
produce a good, handsome, and well-ripened crop. The
Nonsuch, if it can be ripened, is one of the best fruits in the
fall. I do not know any apple that will bring so good a price
in the market as the Gravenstein, but I question whether it
can be grown well on our land. Perhaps the Northern Spy
can be grown in Connecticut ; I do not believe it can be
grown well and thoroughly in Massachusetts. I do not believe
that the Newtown Pippin, which is a very nice apple, and
a successful one in some sections, can be grown here, and
there are some varieties which do well in New York that are
not adapted to Massachusetts. Therefore, if I had poor land,
light soil, or side-hill that I could not cultivate, I should plant
apple-trees.

Mr. W. C. Strong of Brighton. I was very much inter-
ested in the suggestion of the essayist in regard to the quality
of fruit. I believe it has a bearing upon the discussion just
at this point. I think we are not by any means careful
enough as to quality, and I think this will apply even to the
apple. My impression is that Mr. Ware makes the culture
of the apple profitable even now, and if he does, it is simply
because he has a good quality of fruit. We have made it a
rule for a long time to pick off half the crop of pears, but we
go beyond that now. We say, " Pick off more than half,"
and when word is brought back that they have picked off
more than half, we say, "Pick off all there are, and what is
left will be sufficient." We do not thin our fruit nearly
enough.

Now, in regard to the apple, I know that it will not pay
to go round and pick off the common fruit, so that we may
have a moderate crop, and so that we may have a crop every
year. That will not pay. Can we devise any other method
by which we can reduce the enormous crop, or equalize it,

CARE IN SETTING TREES. 43

and raise the quality to such an extent that we can sell all
our crop as a market fruit? I think it is true to-day that
the great majority of our apple-orchards are neglected, and as
a consequence, they are not making wood. They bear enor-
mously in the fruit-bearing year; they bear all the crop they
can stagger under ; they exhaust themselves, and can neither
make wood nor fruit-buds for the next year, and consequently,
the next year they rest. If we can devise any means by
which we can improve this crop, I believe we can make it prof-
itable. Mr. Ware does it to some extent by manuring and
cultivating, so that his trees have a steady and moderate
growth, and while they are making this moderate growth,
they are also making a fair amount of fruit-buds, so that they
bear from year to year. I know that that is not the tendency
of the Baldwin apple, but I think the facts are beginning
to be sufficient for us to take the position that we can change
the bearing year of the Baldwin. I think, if we follow this
method of treatment, and try to keep at a moderate growth,
with a moderate crop, we can equalize this fruit, and make it a
profitable crop in New England. It is too bad that we should
pronounce a fruit as valuable as the apple, and so well adapted
as the apple is to New England, an unprofitable crop. I believe
it may be made a profitable crop, if we will take more pains
with it, if we will cultivate it better, and study to put our
brains into this crop, which has been for the past years so much
neglected.

Mr. Merrifield of Worcester. The question which was
asked by one gentleman in relation to his trees, has not been
answered, nor has any attempt been made,T think, to answer
it definitely. But I think it is an important question to
people purchasing trees and transplanting them. I suppose
it is well known to every horticulturist, that if he receives
shrubs or trees, although the roots may be well packed in
moss, and kept fresh, yet if the wood of the tree, plant or
shrub becomes dry, so that it shrinks from the bark, the
probability is that the tree or shrub, or whatever it is, will
never grow. By cutting it down, possibly, he may get a
tree from the root, but he will not be very likely to get a tree
from the top, if it has been so treated. That, I think, is the
difficulty with a great many trees that are purchased and set

44 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.

out. They are dead, or nearly so, before they are trans-
planted. There may be a feeble growth, and the tree may
linger along for a few years, and then die. The trunk may
throw out these sprouts to which reference has been made,
and if they are allowed to grow, they may produce the same
fruit that was grafted, because the sprout will be more likely
to start above the point where the graft was inserted than
below it. t

Dr. Fisher of Fitchburg. I think the gentleman last up
has touched upon a point which is the real explanation of the
difficulty. I have had considerable experience in setting out
home-grown trees and foreign trees, — trees from Western New
York, — and I have found somewhat the same difficulties that
one gentleman has spoken of. It seems to me that the trouble
is not in the trees, or where they grow, but it is in the way
the trees are treated when taken up, and the management
afterwards. In the first place, we buy trees one, two, and
three years from the bud. To begin with, you cannot take
up an old tree with the same success that you can a young
one. The general rule with nurserymen is to cut the roots a
certain distance from the trunk, no matter whether the tree
is young or old. You get about the same length of roots in
an old tree that you get in a young one, but there is a vast
difference in the character of the roots. In a yearling or two-
year old tree, you arc likely to get the whole system of roots,
but if you get a three or four year old tree, the roots are cut
oil* very short near the stem, and those trees dry up very
easily. I think if we should go and see the trees lying around
the nurseries, in sunny days, we should be likely to see where
some of the trouble comes from. Then they are on the way
from a week to ten days; then they are exposed, more or
less, to sunshine, when we set them out, unless we are careful,
and know what we arc about ; and then, worst of all, when
they are set out, the whole of the top is left on. If that is
not enough to kill a tree, it is because a tree has as many
lives as a cat. I think the advice of the gentleman who read
the essay was, to cut off a third of the top of a tree when
you -set it out. My advice is, buy young trees, and cut off
seven-eighths of the top. If a tree has been out of the ground
so long that the top is dry, I have no hesitation in cutting off

OVER-PRODUCTION OF APPLES. 45

the whole tree, because a single sprout, coming up from the
bottom, above where it was budded, is worth more than a
whole top which has been exposed until it has become dry.
What I want to buy is, simply the roots, in perfection. I
can make a top very fast, and just as I want it, whereas, the
Western nurserymen do not make it as I want it. So much
for that question.

Something has been said by Mr. Strong about the crop of
apples. The difficulty is, it seems to me, that poor apples
are too easily raised. There is the whole difficulty. It is
too easy to raise apples to make them valuable. There is an
over-production of apples, and the result is just the same as
it would be in the case of anything else. Suppose we should
make ten times as many shoes as the community can wear,
have we any right to find fault with the shoes because we
cannot sell them at a profit? If we produce more apples
than the community can consume, by eating and cooking, we
have no right to find fault with the apples if we cannot find a
market for them. We can and must produce something
else.

Now, there is no doubt that by cultivating our apples we
can make them much more valuable, and those people who
do will find their account in it. The Messrs. Clapp of Dor-
chester have practised that system for some years, and I have
no doubt it pays. I have no doubt it will pay anybody. I
know it pays with pears. The custom is with some growers
to throw out one-half or two-thirds of the crop. The Bartlett
will bear thinning just as much as the Baldwin. There are
certain varieties of apple which ought to be thinned ; for
instance, the Gravenstein. It is a very valuable apple, and
yet I would not recommend farmers to go into it. Poor
Gravensteins are just as poor as poor Baldwins ; it is only
the finest that pay. I have had Gravensteins this year that
were sold in the market for five dollars a barrel, right by the
side of other apples that could scarcely be given away.
Those were very handsome, very large, and perfect. If we
should all go to growing Gravenstein apples (I have no fears
that we shall), it would probably reduce the price of that
variety as low as the Baldwins. But the Gravenstein will
not grow without care. If you should neglect it as you do

46 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.

the Baldwin, it would be a very poor apple. The same is
true of many other varieties. They are only valuable when
grown under favorable circumstances, but if neglected, the
fruit is very poor. My advice would be to throw away all
your poor apples, and raise only good ones. If I were
afflicted with them, and could not sell' them, I would feed
them out. I have no doubt that they would make milk, but-
ter, and cheese. But I can tell you one thing : Baldwin
apples fed out before they are ripe, I don't think are worth
two cents a bushels. I would feed them out when they
mature, when they contain the greatest amount of sugar;
when you would eat them yourselves they are fit for cattle, and
when you would not eat them they are not. I know that, in
the case of the pear. I feed a great many Bartletts to my
dairy cows, and I find the Bartlett pears, falling early, are
good for nothing for a cow ; they dry her up. When they
begin to taste like pears, when they begin to be juicy and
sweet, when a man likes to get a bite out of one side for him-
self, then the cows will like them ; and when they become
mature, they will increase enormously the production of milk,
butter, and cheese. It is the same with apples as with pears.
You may feed fall Apples to your cows in the fall, and they
will like them, and produce a greater amount of milk and
butter. If you want to feed Baldwins, take them when they
are just ready to eat ; and the time to eat any apple is fif-
teen minutes before it begins to decay. It is not fit to eat
until it begins to decay, because it begins to decay as soon as
it is ripe. That is the time when it reaches perfection, and
then it is just fit to eat. Now, don't feed out apples next
spring with the expectation that they are going to make milk
as they did in November.

Mr. Kinney. There seems to be one point which is not
settled, which I am very anxious to see settled, if it can be
intelligently, and that is in regard to the production of a crop
of apples on the odd years. The Hon. J. F. C. Hyde, last
year or the year before, you will recollect, gave us a very fine
address upon apples, in which he spoke of visiting an orchard
that he had heard had been brought into bearing on the odd
years by some artificial means, and the man made the busi-
ness of raising apples very profitable. He said the man did

TO CHANGE THE BEARING YEAR. 47

not like to tell him how he did it, and all he could find out
about it was, that when the trees were small and he could get
at them, he picked the blossoms off in the even year, and that
brought them into bearing on the odd year, and they con-
tinued to bear in the years when apples were scarce and
brought a high price. If that is the case, those men who are
setting out young orchards can very easily bring their trees
into bearing in the odd years, when they can make their crop
profitable. Mr. Strong thinks it will be difficult to pick off
fruit or blossoms, but if it is done while the trees are young,
I do not see any difficulty in doing it, any more than with
pears or any other small tree. I am confident that will pro-
duce the result of a good crop of apples, when they will
bring a good price.

Mr. Hersey of Hingham. I wish to state a fact which has
come to my knowledge in regard to this subject of changing
the apple-bearing year. An acquaintance of mine, some
years ago, having two apple-trees which bore on the even
years, felt very desirous of changing the year of one of them,
as he had only these two trees. They were large trees,
bearing about three barrels each. As he was a man of leisure,
he did not think much of his time, and having read in some
newspaper this fact (if it be a fact), which has been stated
here, that by picking off the fruit-buds the bearing year
could be changed, he climbed his tree and crawled over the
limbs, and picked off every blossom on the tree, determined
to make a sure thing of it. Well, the result was, he said,
that the tree did not bear that year ; the next year, it did not
bear any more than the other ; but when it came the even
year, he had his six barrels of apples. You have this fact
for what it is worth. I know it to be a fact, as well as I
know anything, because it was a very particular friend of
mine, whose word I have no doubt of. I think that this
statement, which has been the rounds of our papers so many
times, cannot be relied upon. I believe that we must look
for some other plan to change the bearing year. In fact, as
soon as the fruit begins to form, I think gentlemen well
know that the fruit-buds are prepared for another year, and
if they are allowed to come out and blossom, the strength of
the tree, for the time being, is in a great measure spent, so

48 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.

th.it, if you pick off the blossoms, it is in no condition to
throw out another set of fruit-buds for the next year.

Now that I am up, I want to say a word about the cause
of the death of many of our trees which we transplant. I
believe that many young trees die in consequence of the
trunks being exposed to the hot sun of this climate. I
believe that a great mistake is made by our nurserymen in
trimming off all the lateral shoots, and thus stripping the
trunk of that protection which nature intended for it. My
way has always been to allow the lateral shoots to remain far
enough to shade the trunk with their leaves, cutting the lateral
shoots back within a few inches of the buds, and allowing
them to continue there until the tree is large enough to pro-
tect its trunk. In that way, I have never lost a tree in
transplanting. I would not give two cents apiece for apple-
trees that have all the lateral shoots taken off from the top.

Mr. Hillard. I would like to know whether scions taken
from trees that bear the odd years, would be any more likely
to produce fruit in odd years, than scions taken from trees
that bear on even years.

Dr. Fisher. I don't believe I know ; in fact, I know I
don't. I have heard it stated by gentlemen that they have
produced the result in this way : that they grafted one set
of trees one year, and another set the next year, and so on,
setting out the trees and grafting them afterwards ; and they
state that they come into bearing alternately ; those grafted
one year come into bearing one year, and those grafted the
next year come into bearing the next year. But that I do
not vouch for. 1 doubt if it is a question that can be very
readily settled. I know one gentleman in an adjoining town
who has a large crop of apples the odd years ; he had some
three hundred barrels of Baldwins last year, which he sold
for about $1,300. This year he has less. I asked him if he
knew anything about it, and he said he did not. He told me
they chose to bear so, and he had no objection. I have a
number of Rhode Island Greening trees, and two or three of
them have got into. the habit of hearing the odd years, without
any rhyme or reason. I never asked them to, or made any
suggestion of the kind ; but two or three of them bear the
odd years, although they were all set at the same time.

RESULT OF CHANGE. 49

Mr. Cheever of Boston. I want to reply, in part, to Mr.
Hersey's story of the apple-trees, from which the blossoms
were picked off. I don't know that I can explain it, but, if
not, I may give a parallel case, which I explain in my own
mind. In 1874, we had a full crop of apples. I had a
Graveustein tree that bloomed with the others, full. For
experiment's sake, I had the blossoms all picked from that
tree, expecting to get a full crop the next year. But the
next year I did not get any. I will state this as the explana-
tion, in part: that tree blossomed in 1875 as fully as it did
the year before ; the fruit set well, and the little apples grew
for a time. But the year before, with our great crop of
apples, we also matured a great crop of insects ; and the next
year, there being more blossoms on that tree than on any
other one on the farm, all the insects that matured the year
before went to that tree, as the only place they could go ;
and I could count twenty-five punctures to an apple. Of
course the}^ fell off. I think it is quite possible that other
gentlemen have had similar experience.

Now, we may possibly change the bearing year of one tree,
if there are no other trees in its vicinity ; but, if we have
orchards all around us that bore fruit the last year, and
matured insects that lie in the ground, in the bark, or wher-
ever it is their nature to lie, they will come out the next
spring and attack this one tree, and we shall lose the fruit.
There is the point of difficulty. If we are going to change
the bearing year, we must take care of the insects matured the
year before, and keep them out of the way of the crop on
the odd year. We owe to the insects, more than to anything
else, our large crops one year and small crops another, — to
the insects, and to the habit of over-bearing that certain of
our varieties have.

Mr. Moore of Concord. What did your tree do this year?

Mr. Cheever. That tree bore a fair crop again, as usual.

Mr. Moore. Perhaps there are no pear-orchards so good
in Massachusetts as you will find in the little town of Revere,
a town set off from Chelsea, close to the ocean ; and those
pear-orchards are, some of them, on reclaimed marsh-land.
This marsh-land is almost a clay soil. I visited the orchard
of Mr. Fenno of Revere, — which consists of some nine or ten
7

50 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.

acres, — in June, and also in September, and saw the whole
method. He grows his trees in this way : this land is very
wet, naturally, although there is an inclination to it, and it
has been thrown up in beds, — that is, it has been ploughed,
so that it is rounded up in beds, perhaps two rods and a half
wide, and, in what would be the dead furrows, stone drains
have been laid. These stone drains are not nearly as service-
able as tiles, and it is not economy to lay them ; as I sug-
gested to Mr. Fenno, it would be a great deal better to put
in tile drains. In the centre of those ridges is a strip of
ground, about ten feet wide, in which the trees are set. You
will observe that the trees, by that method, are very thick in
the row, one way, — I cannot say how thick, but there is a
wide space between the rows. Those trees, on that land, he
tells me, have not been manured for ten years, and were not
manured to any great extent when they were planted. How
they hold their vigor, is more than I can say, — perhaps it is
partly owing to the management. They are mostly on pear-
roots, and, being exposed to the wind, — Chelsea Beach being
a little way off, — they are kept headed down very low. I
should say, from one-half to two-thirds of the new growth is
cut from those trees every year. Then the pears are thinned ;
and although almost every tree, when I was there in Sep-
tember, had a large crop, there were no poor pears on those
trees, of any consequence. He told me that three-quarters of
them had been picked off. He is very careful, when thinning
pears, never to allow two to grow together, because, as any
grower will tell you, if you leave two or three pears in a
bunch, if there is a worm in that vicinity, he will get in
between those two pears, and spoil both of them. In this
way, he raises nothing but perfect fruit, and has been enabled,
to my certain knowledge, to get about double price, in Boston
market, for more than two or three thousand bushels of pears
this year. Mr. Fenno told me, last Saturday, that he had
got for his Beurre Clairgeaus — which is a reasonably poor
pear, one which I would not eat myself, but it sells in the
market — an average of $4.50 a bushel. In quality, the Beurre
Clairgeau is as good as Mr. Gold's Vicars, which are not good
for anything, in my judgment. I would not have them.
They are not good for cooking.

PEAR GROWING. 51

What surprised me in Mr. Fenno's case, was, that he could
raise that fine fruit without manuring. I said to him, "While
you raise very fine fruit without manure, I guess if you put
on about a hundred cords, you would get very much finer."
I think he has come to the conclusion that, perhaps, a little
manure would do a great deal of good there. But I was per-
fectly astonished that he was able to raise pears, without any
manure, fine enough to take first premiums almost every week
from the Massachusetts Horticultural Society.

I have quite a number of pear-trees, and can raise ordinary
fruit, but I have been exceedingly annoyed because I could
not raise just as good as anybody else. What the reason
was, I could not make out. I had manured the trees enough,
I had taken good care of them, and I got so out of patience
that I let the trees go, and made up my mind, some three or
four years ago, that I would never set another pear-tree ; I
would have nothing to do with them. But since water has
been introduced into the town, I have an abundance of
water in my garden, which is a sandy loam, and use it as
freely as I please, and I have been able, the last two years,
to grow some fine pears, and beat some of these men. I
had everything before, except water. I did not have water
enough.

Something has been said about the poor trees that are sold,
and all that. Trees are largely sold here now by men pur-
porting to be the agents of Western nurseries, or Western
New York nurseries. Well, to begin with, you may set it
down as a fact that not many of them are agents ; the}' are
simply speculators, doing business on their own account. I
have watched their course pretty carefully, and I think you
may set down nine-tenths of them as scoundrels, and the
other tenth will bear looking after pretty sharply. If you
want any trees, go to an honest, square nurseryman, and
pay a fair price for them. You will get them cheaper and
better than you can of these men. As Dr. Fisher says, buy
young trees. Buy of a man who is located somewhere, and
to whom you can go for redress, if he sells you poor trees.
You will never see one of these speculators around in your
vicinity again, after he has cheated you and your neighbors
once.

52 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.

Mr. Vincent. In regard to this matter of transplanting
trees, I think a great deal of the trouble arises from the fact
that the trees are left out of the ground too long before they
are reset, and the roots, which are cut off very short, die.
Now, I would say to every farmer, if you cannot get trees of
a near neighbor, have a nursery of your own and raise your
own trees, and when you take them out, put them into the
ground again as soon as you can.

Now, a word or two in reference to the remarks of Mr.
Moore, in regard to the raising of pears on that salt marsh.
The thought occurs to me, whether a certain amount of salt is
not adapted to the pear, and productive of its growth ; and
it occurs to me now there are two gentlemen in Martha's
Vineyard who have succeeded better than ever before by
applying a certain amount of slacked lime and salt, using
about one-third as much salt as lime. By this application,
they have succeeded wonderfully in the improvement of their
pears. The remarks of Mr. Moore on that point confirm me
in the opinion that it is an excellent thing. I hope you will
make a trial of lime and salt, and see if your pears are not
improved in quantity and qualit}". I have made a little
beginning, acting upon the teachings of these gentlemen, and
I certainly have had better fruit this year, on the few trees I
cultivate, than ever before. I am going to keep on, and
make a full trial of that matter.

Mr. Perry. I want to say a single word in regard to my
experience in taking grafts from trees that bore the odd year.
My brother and I, when we were little fellows, started a,
nursery. We had a large number of Baldwin trees, all but
one or two of which bore. the even years. We started an
orchard from the seed, and when the little trees got to be one
year old, we grafted them, taking the grafts from a tree that
bore the odd years. We were small boys then, and we rea-
soned that if we did that, we should have trees that would bear
the odd year. But the result did not prove that we were right
in our conjecture. I think that we raised on the old place this
year not far from a thousand barrels of Baldwins, and they came
mostly from trees grafted from that tree that bore the odd
years. We have also grafted over some twenty or twenty-five
old trees in the same way, taking grafts from the same tree,

PEARS AND APPLES. 53

but we never succeeded in raising many Baldwins the odd
years.

Mr. Chapin of Worcester. I want to ask one question in
regard to the pear. I want to know if there is any remedy
for the blight, except amputation ? What I mean by the pear
blight is, a limb or limbs will grow black, and there will be
an apparent wilting of the bark. It is well known here, and
I suppose gentlemen from other parts of the State must have
it in their orchards. I have seen pears apparently in good
condition at the end of a limb, but the leaves on the limb
were black, and there was this shrinking of the bark. The
only remedy I have found was to cut off the limb where there
was no indication of the disease.

The Chairman. The Chair will state that he never heard
of any other.

Mr. Harrison. I want simply to say that I budded eighty
trees of the Baldwin variety from a tree that bore the even
years. The result was, that two-thirds of the eighty trees
commenced to bear the odd year, and I felt as though I had
made a strike in the right direction. I also budded eight of
the Yellow Pearmain variety of apples, taking the buds from
a tree that bore the even years. The result was, that four of
them bore the odd year, and they have continued to do so up
to the present time. Last year, I took some six or eight
barrels off of those that bore the odd year. This year, they
did not bear. The Baldwin trees have mostly changed, and
I must say, I am glad of it, because, when I raise apples, I
want to raise those of decent quality. The fact is, that the
trees that bear the odd year take all the worms from the ter-
ritory around me, and the fruit is really almost worthless.
Unless we can change the trees over a large territory, it
seems to me it is hardly desirable for us to have our trees
bear the odd years, for certainly we should have to take all
the worms, and I would about as lief have no apples as to
have them full of worms.

Mr. Kinney. There is one little point, which, it seems to
me, has not been illustrated satisfactorily, and that is in
regard to producing fruit from fruit-buds. We are told that
grafts taken from odd-year bearers do not bear regularly on
the odd years. Is there not something in the age of the

54 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.

graft, and the time when it begins to bear? If it bears a
good crop of fruit the first time, it will not be likely to bear
the next year. It will bear alternately. The graft may bear
when it is three years old, and again when it is five, and so on.
If the graft is taken from a tree that bears on the even years,
if it begins to bear when it is three years old, it will bear,
whether it is the odd or even year, and so on ; and so with
those put in that are taken from odd-year bearers. There
may be something in that. Gentlemen who have practised
grafting perhaps can tell.

Adjourned to seven o'clock.

Evening Session.

The meeting was called to order a few minutes after seven
o'clock by O. B. Hadwen, Esq., chairman of the committee
of arrangements, who announced the subject of the lecture
as "The Climate and Resources of California," by Charles
L. Flint, Secretary of the Board. After dwelling briefly upon
the topography of the State, its size and general outlines, as
modifying climatic influences, giving some statistics in re-
gard to the productions and the wonderful vegetable growths
which characterize the Pacific slope, and alluding to the vari-
ety of drawbacks to farm life there, a great number of views
of natural scenery were presented, with the aid of the stere-
opticon. In the want of suitable illustrations of the striking
features of the Yosemite and the Sierra Nevada mountains,
and the noted points of interest along the line of the Pacific
Railroad, a report of the lecture is necessarily omitted.

POULTRY MANAGEMENT. 55

SECOND DAY.

The Board met at ten o'clock on Wednesday morning, and
Major S. B. Phinney of Barnstable was chosen Chairman for
the day.

BREEDING AND MANAGEMENT OF POULTRY.

BY I. K. FELCH, ESQ., OF NATICK.

Through the influence of the Board, the State has done
much for the other branches of her agriculture, and I am
pleased to see the attention of the Board called to the too long
neglected interest of poultry husbandry, which has been con-
sidered of minor importance by our farmers, fit only for chil-
dren to consider. Yet, in this poultry product of the land, we
see an interest second to none other considered under the head
of agriculture.

The census for 1870 informs us that the cotton crop was
3,011,996 bales; the corn crop, 761,000,000 bushels; the
wheat crop, 288,000,000 bushels; the value of all the cattle,
sheep, and swine slaughtered or sold to be slaughtered was
$398,956,376 ; the hay crop, 28,000,000 tons, valued at $14
(a high estimate), was $384,000,000.

The assertion that the egg and poultry produce of the
States exceeds either of these large products, is met with
derision ; yet it is true, and the produce finds no rival save in
the entire meat and dairy product combined.

Compute the nine millions of families in the States as con-
suming but two dozen eggs per week, and ($20) twenty dol-
lars' worth of poultry per year, and we have (computing
eggs at twenty-five cents per dozen) over $405,000,000.
Nor is this all. Large as it is, to it must be added the con-
sumption by the saloons, restaurants, confectionery establish-
ments, our thousands of hotels, together with the medicinal and
chemical and exportation demand, which will swell the amount
to not less than five hundred millions of dollars as the annual
product of the United States ; an interest worthy of our con-
siderate investigation. When we commence to make figures,
we become amazed at their magnitude ; and that you may not
underrate the hotel consumption, I will say that a New York

56 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.

innkeeper offers sixty cents per dozen for three hundred dozen
of eggs per day, if he can find the party Avho will guarantee
their delivery fresh ; and this is for the demand of three
hotels only. The consumption of meat to each guest per
day at the Grand Pacific, the proprietor informs me, is $2.50,
and two-thirds of that amount is for poultry and game.
Another item should be considered in this connection, and
that is, thousands of prairie farmers, who live so remote as to
make the running of meat-wagons unprofitable, are obliged
to rely on their farms for fresh meat, and it is a fact that two-
thirds of it is poultry and eggs. It is the custom with them
in early winter to kill and pack in snow and ice the supplies
of poultry for home use. This, with the richer third of the
population who consume far more than the estimate offered,
will more than make up for the poor of our Eastern cities,
who consider poultry a luxury and seldom indulge in its use.
With these items as data, I claim my estimate of five hundred
millions to be far less, rather than more, than the actual yearly
product, which, as I have said, makes the industry of poultry
breeding and keeping one of the largest in which our farmers
are interested. Like in comparison as the giant oak to its acorn
origin, is this large product, made up from the small collections
from the small flocks of fowls seen about the door of the hamlet
and the farmhouse, in numbers of 12, 20, 30, and 50, and
where a larger number is seen so rarely that they become
the exception. These flocks pay a large profit on their cost
of production, as may be seen by consulting the different
societies' reports. In 1858, we see that thirty-eight fowls,
kept in small yards, under unfavorable circumstances, with a
market at thirty-eight cents for corn, sixteen and two-thirds
cents for eggs, and fifteen cents per pound for poultry, yielded
a net profit of $1.38 per head. In 1861, Mr. Mansfield's
experiment with one hundred hens, having a free range of the
farm, consuming but ninety-three bushels of corn or its equiv-
alent, produced one hundred and forty-seven eggs each (no
chickens being raised that year) , and yielded a net profit on
eggs alone of $1.35 per head ; to which, had the value of the
guano been added, the figures would have reached the sum of
$1.60. These, and other statements, are to be found in the
Middlesex South Society's reports, of $2, $2.25, and $2.50

BREEDS OF FOWLS. 57

per head profit per annum ; and last, but not least, the banner
statement of Mr. Whitman in 1873. With fifty-one Leghorns,
which laid two hundred and seven eggs each, which he sold
for thirty-one cents per dozen, the cost of keeping the fowls
being $1.13 each, showing a profit of $4.04 per head, proves
conclusively that these small flocks pay much better with care
than do other farm stock.

All the different breeds will pay a handsome profit if fur-
nished quarters suitable for their condition, and properly cared
for; and, generally, it is best for the breeder to make a
specialty of the kind his taste shall dictate. But with my
twenty years' experience with all the so-called thoroughbred
varieties, I am led to advise, that, taking into consideration
the individual merit and associate worth, the selections of Light
Brahmas, Leghorns, and Plymouth Rocks will be found to pay
the best for extra care.

The Brahma is a superior winter layer, producing the larger
number of her eggs from October to May. As poultry, the
chicks have to be killed quite young, — say eight to ten weeks
old, as broilers; the most profitable time, as roasters, being
at eight months. This makes them late as poultry ; but to
make up for it in a measure, the virgin cocks are tender
enough for roasting: at even twelve to thirteen months, more
so than the native at seven and eight months, and in early
spring sell next in price to capons.

The Plymouth Rocks are good average layers, and excel-
lent mothers, their special merit being that they are rapid
growers, and make fine poultry for summer and early fall ;
and so Ions: as the breeders are content to have them fill this
middle ground between the small and the Asiatic breeds, so
long will they grow in public favor, and remain one of the
three best breeds for the farmer's use.

The Leghorns are a non-setting variety, and one of the
largest producers of eggs, being most prolific during the
warmer months of the year. Their chicks make nice early,
though small, broilers, and should be killed as such; for, as
roasters, their skin is tough and carcass too small, their chief
merit being in egg production alone. They are very quick
growers, many pullets commencing to lay at foiir months and
8

58 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.

«a half old, and there are cases on record, in my own yard,
where they have laid at three months and three weeks old.
I have also started with eggs and produced three generations
in three hundred and sixty-three days. This precocity enables
one to raise his stock-birds even after the season is too far
advanced to rear successfully the Plymouth Rock or Brahma.
Thus you see how peculiarly adapted one to the other the
three breeds are, and all of them are hardy, standing much
neglect. With them, the farmer easily caters to the wants of
the markets the year round.

With the above breeds as stock, the yearly product will
average one hundred and fifty eggs and eight chickens to each
hen, which will sell (taking Natick market for 1875- as a
basis) as follows : —

12^ dozen eggs, at 25 cts. per dozen, $3 12

4 pairs of chickens, 28 lbs., at 25 cts. per lb., . . . . 7 00
American guano, 25

Total, $10 37

The cost of producing the same being, —

Keeping of hen, $115

15 eggs for incubation, 38

Cost of growing 8 chicks to 35 lbs. live weight, at 9|- cts. per lb., 3 32

Interest on investment and casualties, 60

Total, $5 45

To notice some of the other breeds, I will say, "the
Hamburg family " is one of merit as egg producers, yield-
ing about one hundred and sixty-five eggs per year, as a
rule ; and there is a case on record where a single hen of
the golden-spangled variety laid one hundred and fifty-one
eggs in six months. As poultry, the meat and bone are
dark, so much so as not to be desired by market-men. The
race is delicate and hard to rear, but when six to eight
months old, seems to have become quite hardy, except it be
a predisposition to the disease called " black comb," — but
why the disease should be so termed I cannot understand.
To be sure, the comb turns black, but the causes come from
derangement of the egg-producing organs. I have seen them

SPANISH, DOMINIQUE, AND FRENCH. 59

lie down, their combs become black, and they, to all appearance,
dead, when all at once they would expel the egg, and in a few
moments they would be singing about the yard as well as ever.

The different varieties of this family are golden-spangle,
golden-pencilled, silver-spangle, silver-pencilled, — this last
being the old-time Bolton Gray, under which name it was first
imported into this country. The white and black varieties
are of more recent date than the first four named ; the black,
I think, the most hardy and prolific of them all.

The Spanish was long known as one of the best layers,
and, in fact, the old Minorcas were in every respect equal to
the Leghorns, but the breeding of the white face upon this
breed, has resulted in the fact that much of their merit has
been sacrificed. Their eggs are larger than those of any other
breed, but in number they fall much behind the average.
They are extremely delicate as chicks, but when once matured
they seem reasonably hardy ; and the contrast of a pure white
face and ear-lobe, with their metallic, green-black plumage,
makes them much admired. As poultry, here in America, we
would not concede, perhaps, that they were up to the average.
Their dark legs and white meat are not preferred by the
masses.

The Dominique is every way equal in merit as to number
of eggs, and in poultry equally as good, as the Plymouth Rock ;
it being rather under size, compels it to take a second place.
In all other points, what has been said for the Plymouth
Rocks, would apply to the Dominique.

The French class, comprising Houdans, La Fleche, and
Creve Cceur, while they are highly appreciated in France,
have failed to give general satisfaction in New England.
But Mr. Aldrich of Hyde Park has been successful with the
Houdans, and claims for them all that is excellent as table
fowls, besides being a good average producer of eggs : they
are more inclined to non-settins: than otherwise.

But the Houdan and Creve Cceur require warm, dry quar-
ters. They, like the Polish, are inclined to roup if confined
in damp quarters.

The La Fleche are the most delicate to rear of the whole
class, and in our northern climate are much troubled with a

60 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.

weakness in their limbs. A good healthy hen of this breed,
I believe, will lay more eggs from March to October than any
other breed, not excepting the Leghorn.

The Cochins are, in England, much preferred. They are
good mothers, being covered with long, fluffy feathers. They
are hardy, and as layers in winter hard to excel. Their eggs
are furnished with a thick shell, and in closely bred birds
extremely hard to hatch. I think more chicks die in the shell,
hatching, than do those of any other breed. There are the
partridge, buff, white, and black varieties, all having their
admirers; the partridge being the most beautiful, while the
black has undoubtedly the most merit, for they are good lay-
ers and fine poultry. For one dollar, the " American Standard
of Excellence" can be obtained, which gives a full description
of the different breeds. We therefore omit description of
breeds in this essay.

As a rule, a bushel of corn will produce nine pounds of
live weight in poultry, and, with good even care, one has only
to weigh his chicks to know their cost. When fowls are fed
sparingly, being kept short, they become an expense ; for
there is no stock that pays so poorly, if neglected, or as well,
if extra care is taken of them. A greater profit will be real-
ized on incubating breeds, if allowed to rear one brood of
chicks during the season ; for the incubating season gives the
laying functions rest, and you get more eggs, I am confident,
in the year, beside the care of the brood of chicks gratis ; and
as the chicks will pay one hundred per cent, profit on their
cost, you will find that many of the incubating breeds will
pay as well, and even better, than some of the non-setting
varieties. In all breeds, it will be found to pay to take pains
to make your selections from the best-laying families of the
breed, for there is as much difference in them as there is in
the Shorthorn breed of cattle for milk.

The smaller the flock, the greater will be found the individ-
ual yield ; but the most economical provision, taking into the
account the care of the flock and greatest comparative profit
compared to cost of provision made for them, will be found
in groups of fifty, for a greater number will not do as well
together. This number can be kept in health and a high pro-
ductive condition in a house with a laying-room fifteen feet

POULTRY HOUSES. 61

square, an open shed ten by fifteen, posts seven feet high, all
under one roof, which can be half-pitch, with a cupola-ventila-
tor twenty inches square. The exhalations from fowls are very
poisonous, and it is very essential that they have thorough
ventilation. At the same, time we must not expose the flock
to a direct draught of air. Fowls, left to themselves, will not
stand in a draught, and, when compelled to, they take cold as
easily as does the human family.

A window on the south side of the laying-room, six feet long
and four feet wide, the sill of which comes down to within
one foot of the floor, will warm and light the room, and keep
the gravel dry, which will help in the work of deodorizing the
droppings. Construct a platform twenty inches from the
floor, twenty-two inches wide, around the walls of the room.
One foot above the same, place the roost, which should be two
and a half, and, for Asiatics, three inches wide, — the corners
rounded of. Under the platform construct the nests by means
of a portable frame that will be fourteen inches deep, the front
made of two strips five inches wide, and a door nine inches
wide, which is to be let down to gather the eggs. This will
give a passage-way of eight inches in the rear, thus making
smooth work in front and giving seclusion to the nests, — the
same being easily removed to cleanse them. Avoid all per-
manent or box-made nests, which become harbors for lice.
Avoid, also, the old plan of an inclined plane for roosts, for all
the fowls will strive to occupy the highest perch, and many a
fight and fall will be the result, which will vastly increase the
list of casualties, while the low and level plan saves many from
lameness and internal injury ; for while a hen will walk up to
her perch, if she has the chance she will iuvariably fly down.
Roosting low makes them less breachy ; even the smaller breeds,
if reared on low perches, will not require a fence more than
four and a half to five feet hteh to fence them in. The floor of
the house should be kept covered three to four inches deep
with a coarse-fine gravel, not so fine as to be called sand,
yet having a loam mixture in it. This will deodorize all the
filth and stench — the bane of the poultry-house.

The floor should be raked over at least three times each week
(if it cannot be done daily), and all surface filth, with the
droppings from the platforms, removed, and the whole replaced

62 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.

with a fresh supply of soil twice each year. The fertilizer thus
manufactured will be found excellent for all root-crops, espe-
cially onions and carrots.

If the flock is to be confined, and on the least practical
amount of ground, each house and shed will need two yards,
two rods wide and ten rods long; the two being necessary, so
that while one is in use the other can be sowed down to forage
crops, thus furnishing the fowls with raw vegetable food, —
as much a necessity as grass for the cow, to secure the best
results.

In constructing these conveniences for your fowls, do not
think you can get along without the open shed, for experience
teaches that for a large production of eggs and security of
their hatching when set, that the fowls must have the open
air daily ; and a shed that protects them from the storm and
driving winds in winter, and furnishes a cool retreat in sum-
mer, will prove a most judicious expenditure. These numbers
and fixtures can be augmented to any number required, but
each fifty should be a community of itself. Add no more
than you can care for as well as you do the first fifty you
start with, and on which you have based your calculation of
success. The many failures are to be attributed to neglect
and failure to care for the many, with a generosity correspond-
ing to that given the first few.

The feed for fowls thus confined may consist of boiled
vegetables (parsley, cabbage, squash, seed-cucumbers and
potatoes), mashed with wheat-bran and corn-meal, while hot;
feeding the same at the morning meal in such quantities as
will be eaten up by nine o'clock, allowing the flock to forage
till four or five o'clock, when a full feed of small grain and a
small portion of corn may be fed to them, adding to the
morning meal fresh ground scraps or meat in some form,
three days in each week. This will be found sufficient till
the frost prevents the further growing of forage crops ; then
change the feed to what soft food they will eat up at the
morning meal, — small grains, sunflower seed, etc., at noon,
and what corn they eat at evening. This will maintain the
most even animal heat for the twenty-four hours ; it being
health and heat that produce the eggs, the hen being
simply a machine which, if carefully run, must produce the egg

COLONIES OF FOWLS. 63

or die. During the winter months, feed chopped cabbage
and turnips, and rovven hay. Eowen clover is an excellent
substitute for grass, and is the only thing we can feed that
will produce eggs that will make the golden sponge-cake and
custard like that seen in summer. They will eat from five to
six pounds per head during the winter, if fed in a rick, keep-
ing them constantly supplied ; while it increases their produc-
tiveness, it also increases the beauty of their plumage, making
it well worth one's trouble to supply the same.

The cost of keeping as above will be found to be from
$1.05 to $1.17 cents per head. The construction of such
quarters, and the purchase of natives or grade stock, will be
from $2.50 to $2.75 cents per head as capital invested.

In this connection, I would like to call your attention to the
many natural facilities now unimproved, by which the number
of eggs would be increased, and a portion of the food and a
large per cent, of the outlay described saved.

There is no reason why fifty fowls to the acre could not
range with the cattle in our pasture-lands, and both land and
cattle be benefited thereby.

When thus colonized, it is noticeable that certain fowls
adhere to certain members of the herd, busy in catching the
flies that pester them, and consuming the worms and insects
disturbed by grazing.

In most of our pastures there are dry knolls and southern
sloping hillsides, in which excavations could be made fifteen
by twenty-five feet, the ends and north sides walled up, leav-
ing but the two sides of the laying-room and roof to be built
of lumber ; even the roof could be thatched, or earth-covered.
All of which could be home-constructed, or by the employ-
ment of cheap labor. These habitations would be warmer in
winter and cooler in summer, and therefore better than the first
described. These quarters, located far enough apart to save
the expense of fencing for yards, would save the labor of
forage-crops and all meat- food, till the frost cut off the natural
supply.

No farmer should be excused from utilizing all such facil-
ities adjacent to his building, which, with the barn-cellar and
orchard, would, in most cases, enable him to keep at least two
hundred and fifty fowls, all of which could be cared for by the

64 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.

younger members of the family, and the profits would secure
older and abler help for the heavier work of the farm, and
many a boy would be made a thinking, practical farmer, happy
in his lot, who now is chafing under his hard home-life, wait-
ing only for age to liberate him.

Farmers of Massachusetts, this poultry-keeping has more
than a money value for you. Interest your boys in it, for
thereby they learn many of the principles that underlie the suc-
cessful breeding of stock, — fitting them, when older, the better
to manage cattle and horses. The rapid production of chickens
enables them to try as many experiments, in a few years, as
would take a lifetime with stock. In the breeding of fowls,
they learn that like produces like more surely, and only, as a
rule, where the stock is bred in line, and that to produce
chickens uniform in type and color, they must have, in both
sire and dam, a preponderance of the blood of the desired
type ; they must mate kindred blood judiciously, avoiding
too close relationship, — for by mating fowls of one blood for
three generations we produce sterility in the egg. They learn
that prepotency of sire i3 more marked in the mating of kin-
dred blood, and in the offspring of dams of weak constitution,
and when appearing in the coupling of radically different
blood, that it is an exception and not the rule. They learn that
the blood most difficult to subjugate, in the end has more
lasting quality, and does the flock the most good as a new
infusion of blood ; these interests, once awakened, cannot
slumber; the boys become thoughtful, and, as years increase,
you find in them a help not found in your hireling.

So far I have tried to show the best management of adult
fowls. But this stock, from year to year, must be renewed ;
for beyond the second year, younger stock will be found to
pay much better, and those birds that are coming two years
old in June, should be sold as poultry just before chickens
come into the market, when they bring a much better price,
aud their value will replace them with young stock. If the
young stock is to be reared on the farm, it will necessitate
the rearing of as many chickens as the breeding-stock num-
ber ; for chicks hatch nearly equal as to sex, which only
enables you to replace the two-year-old birds each year sent
to market.

SETTING EGGS FOR CHICKENS. 65

A sinsrle brood of chicks will thrive and take care of them-
selves. With even care, one hundred can be reared in a
flock, and all do well. But if more are to be reared, care should
be taken to confine those of the same age together, — the Feb-
ruary and March chicks in one field, April and May chicks in
another, and those hatched later in a third. Each lot will be
found to do well ; but, if running all together, the young ones
get trampled to death by the older ones. Suppose we should
rear our children as many do their chicks, the whole family
running over and stepping upon the nursling, should we
wonder if it grew up crippled and deformed?

Avoid huddling them together. Twelve to fifteen chicks
are all that should be allowed to brood in one coop. We are
apt to let the brood quarter in the chicken-coop till quite late
in the fall, when they outgrow the coop, and crowding into
it, they suffer from their own exhalations ; and the piling
one upon another causes, in many cases, the slipping down of
their hips and the one-sided appearance which so often comes
to our notice.

The best mode of setting hens is, to sink a barrel on its
side one-third into the ground, filling up with earth even with
the earth on the outside, using a small quantity of hay to form
the nest, especially in early spring. This, you see, will pre-
vent tbe cold air from reaching the egg through the hay from
the under side, and chilling them, while the earth in the bar-
rel becomes heated by the hen, which increases your chances
for an early brood. Place one of the chicken-coops described
in front of the barrel, and by the means of a slide-door admit
the hen to and from the nest. The coop becomes a feeding
and dusting yard for her while setting, and a home for her
and her brood when hatched, besides preventing her from
deserting her eggs. As the season approaches June and
July, pour into the barrel, before putting in the earth, a
half-pailful of water. The heat of the hen will draw the
moisture up, and prevent too rapid evaporation in the eggs,
and secure for you a better hatch.

By setting an even number at a time, and doubling up the
broods, you can reset the hens thus released (which generally
do better the second time), by which means you secure
eighteen clutches of chickens from twelve incubating hens,

66 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.

which will produce as a rule about one hundred to one hun-
dred and ten chickens that will be marketable. The overplus
will be found to not more than make good the casualties and
deformities.

This plan of hatching and rearing the chickens away from
your fowl -houses releases them from and prevents the incuba-
tion of millions of lice, which are generally produced by setting
the hens where they are in the habit of laying. If you wish
to see every louse and red-spider, which is the same as the bed-
bug for the human family, concentrated into twenty inches
square, just allow a few hens to incubate in the hen-house.
The best food for young chickens, for the first week or ten
days, is stale wheat bread, soaked in scalded milk, and occa-
sionally boiled chopped eggs ; millet and canary-seed will be
found quite forcing, and will give the brood a good start, and
it pays to use them for the first two weeks. This feed can be
followed by scalded oatmeal, wheat-bran, and corn-meal,
mixed, say one-third each, with cracked corn and wheat and
whole corn, as soon as large enough to eat it.

It is unadvisable to hatch chickens earlier than the season
will admit of getting them on to grass by the time they are
four weeks old. If they are hatched earlier than this, sow,
when the brood hatches, a frame of oats in your hot-house or
kitchen, and cut each day the green oats for them. In this
way you can carry the chickens over till the grass comes in
the spring, and the trouble thus taken will repay you in the
possession of early show birds, that generally sell for a much
larger price, according to their merit, then later birds ; and
only by such care can we hope to win the premiums in the
September exhibitions. Diarrhoea is the scourge of young
chickens in early spring. When the symptoms appear give
only scalded milk as drink, and none but cooked food, which
will be found generally to correct the evil.

At four to six months old separate the cockerels from the
flock, and feed mashed boiled potatoes, with meal and barley
and whole corn, thus fitting them for the shambles; and the
pullets at five months old place in your breeding-pens, where
they will soon commence to repay you for their care, and
most assuredly in a like proportion. In nearly all the cases
where we find people breeding in this practical way, we find

FIVE HUNDRED DOLLARS A TRIO. 67

them using only what we call native or mongrel stock. This,
I believe, is a mistake, for the thoroughbred is worth as much,
and many of the breeds far more, for this practical work ;
and should all use the thoroughbred, killing as now they do
one-third for poultry, using the poorer number left to produce
eggs for the market, using as breeders only the best they
raise, selling only for breeding purposes when a fair price
(say from two dollars and fifty cents to ten dollars each) could
be realized, they would in this way raise the standard and
come to realize that in every twelve fowls they kept they
had the value of a cow, and, caring for them as well, they
would find they paid as well.

Show me a farmer who is conscious of capital invested in
his fowls, and I will show you a farmer who makes money out
of them. The greater the number raised, the higher the price
you will be able to command for the best individual speci-
mens. This has proved true in cattle. (See history of Short-
horn cattle in America.) It is every day being repeated in
fowls. Twenty-five years ago, I sold Light Brahmas at one
dollar each, and the price was considered a fair one, the
native then selling for thirty-three cents. When the price
increased to twenty-five dollars per trio, it became the town
talk; but in the past three years, when I have sold cockerels
at one hundred dollars each, and trios at one hundred and fifty
dollars, it has ceased to be a surprise, and really it is not in
keeping with bulls at seventeen thousand dollars each. I
expect to live to see specimens of superior excellence sold as
high as two hundred and fifty dollars. Already, in England,
five hundred dollars a trio has been realized.

In setting up your boys in the business of practical poultry
keeping, or for breeding for the thoroughbred market, it is
well that they have a motive and aim in view, — something
that will interest and instruct, as well as make them money.
I will therefore give my rule to secure improved type and
color in breeding, or how to establish a strain of such blood,
hoping by interesting them in the theory, to interest them in
the practical workings of it.

The American people are lovers of " beauty " in everything ;
a beautiful horse, a beautiful cow, a beautiful fowl, all demand
a price far above those of equal merit that fail in symmetry.

68 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.

Then, in breeding, aim to attain : first, beauty or symmetry ;
second, color ; and both coupled with merit as egg producers ;
and as the first two are to be transmitted in a greater degree
by the male, it becomes of great importance that he should
possess those desirable features.

In selecting a sire, be sure that he is well bred, and comes
from a line of "good ones," a bird which is the counterpart of
his sire ; for then you have a double guarantee that he will
control the get. As a rule, the offspring breed back to the
grandsire. The sire and grandsire being alike, we start
with an almost certainty of success, if we do our part in the
mating. Having made our selection, we must put our foot
down and stand firmly to the rule of breeding to no sires but
this one, or males of his get, and none of them that do not
assume the likeness of the sire ; thus establishing a line, or
"strain of blood," which, in a single word, means uni-
formity.

In the hen, secure first, productiveness as to eggs; second,
a robust constitution, coming from a long-lived race; third,
color ; lastly, symmetry : and from this mating select the
large pullets that most resemble the sire, and breed them
back to the sire. This second crop of birds will be three-
fourths the blood of the sire you selected as founder of your
strain.

Now the more stubbornly the blood of the first dam gives
up to the blood of the sire, the more good it will do us when
subjected properly to him.

Many select well-bred hens of a weakly constitution to
make the first cross, for they assert, and truthfully, that
the sire being so robust and strong, nearly all the chicks
favor the sire. This is all true, but it is also true that the
blood used in the hen is weak and will fail in lasting quality.
I like strong blood ; that which in the first cross seems to fight
for the breeding influence ; that which has got to be bred back
to the strain desired, and the control given if only by a pre-
ponderance of blood. We then get a lasting good from the
cross. Constitution and vital force must come from the dam,
form and color from the sire ; and in all the matings, the
introduction of new blood must be with a thought to that
end.

MAXIMS OF BREEDING. 69

The crossing of two well-bred strains oftentimes produces
a distinct and new type which is very beautiful. To secure
this new type (which is in itself a fact that the two elements
producing were of equal strength, as neither controlled the
breeding), and to perpetuate it, it would in that case be wise
to select a dam of delicate though pure blood, thus giving
the sire all the chance possible to stamp its offspring ; then by
breeding his pullet back, to concentrate his breeding in his
grand-children, they also being his children; then we could
go on, by selections of coarser or stronger dams for new
blood for the strain. The American breeder is of a restless
nature; he wants something that is peculiar to himself ; some-
thing in which he can be identified. You find them all over
the country, chopping up the blood of their birds by the intro-
duction of new sires, first from one flock, then from another,
hoping thereby to have something different. They succeed ;
but when they have got it, they are disappointed because no
one else wants it, They then think the bottom has gone out
of the chicken business, and they curse the business and
retire. Of such I will say, the business is better off when
they do retire from it. Now, there is but the one way to
reach uniformity in breeding, no matter whether it is horses,
cattle, or fowls, and that is by "in breeding," and, like poison,
it may kill or cure, just according as we display good judg-
ment in its use.

Whenever we introduce new dams to a strain, breed their
get back to a sire of the strain, and never use sires from
this new introduction of blood until the blood has become
thoroughly subjected to the strain.

To explain : if the chicks of the mating of the pullets to
sires of the strain are not all in type like the strain, then
breed back again, and not use a male as a stock bird until the
desired affinity of the blood has been accomplished. As a
rule, use no male with less than seven-eighths of the blood of
the strain, nor females with less than three-fourths of the
blood of your strain as stock birds.

If all the breeders would adopt this plan of breeding, and
would keep a record, they would see then the importance of
pedigree, and how beautifully all these things are governed
by a natural law. We can mix the blood of our birds as

70 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.

easily as we mix the paints that give us different tints in color.
By adhering to this mode, one breeder becomes of benefit to
his neighbor breeder ; for by crossing the strains, the pullets
become of equal value to each : each breeding back to their
respective strains makes the blood of his neighbor's strain
feed the blood of his own. When breeders learn this, and
work together, and give up the jealousy that now exists, they
will all be better off, and may become founders of families in
fowls, as now breeders of Shorthorns become in cattle.

Mr, Flint. I have been exceedingly interested in the
paper which has been read by Mr. Felch. I am sure he has
come up to the expectations of those who had so much con-
fidence, when they invited him to prepare this paper. Mr.
Felch has had many years of thorough and careful experience
and accurate observation, and I am sure the principles which
he has enunciated in his paper will be of great interest and
great value to the large number of poultry breeders in this
State.

I should very much like to hear the experience and observa-
tion of those who are now engaged practically, every day, in
poultry breeding. There are a great many questions, I know,
that many persons wish to hear discussed, and there are
others here who can discuss them better than I can. I have
been a somewhat extensive poultry breeder in the course of
my life. I have kept a great variety of fowls ; too great a
variety, altogether, I am sure, for profit. I have generally
come to the conclusion, that where profit, for poultry and
eggs together, is concerned, the Light Brahma . is the best
breed ; but as egg producers, the White Leghorn, and perhaps
one or two other breeds, greatly surpass them. I know that
Dr. Fisher here has some stories which are quite remarkable
as far as the actual productiveness of White Leghorns is con-
cerned. I have seen his poultry, and the manner in which
he keeps them ; it is very admirable, and I am sure he will
be able to give us a statement which will be of great value.

So far as the feeding of poultry is concerned, I am pretty
well satisfied that farmers and those who keep poultry are
inclined to feed too much corn. Corn, as you all know, will
induce fat, and when poultry are to be fatted for market,

FEEDING OF POULTRY. 71

they can be fatted, probably, quicker and more economically
upon corn or corn-meal, heated, than upon any other sub-
stance ; but as far as my experience has gone, it is not
advisable to feed corn if you wish to get the largest number
of eggs ; it induces too great fat, especially if the hens are
kept in some confinement. Hens that are allowed the whole
range of the farm may be fed upon almost anything. They
run off what little extra fat they get, perhaps, by eating too
much corn ; but poultry that are confined, or partially con-
fined, ought not to be fed too much upon corn. Oats, or any
of the smaller grains, and vegetables, potatoes, fish, and that
class of food, it seems to me, are very much better.

As far as the feeding of fresh or cured rowen or young
clover is concerned, I have no doubt that what Mr. Felch has
said is correct.

Question. Is there any danger of making White Leghorns
so fat by feeding them on corn that they cannot fly ?

Mr. Felch. I don't think you can give them anything
that will fat them so that they cannot run or fly. But as egg
producers, there is no question that the White Leghorn family
is the best. They will forage for themselves, and pretty
thoroughly, and they are stronger in their feet than the
Asiatic breeds, if we are to judge by the damage they will
do in the garden.

Question. Do you have bottoms to your coops?

Mr. Felch. I do not. I have simply platforms for early
spring, on which to place the coops, in the summer allowing
them to set on the ground.

Question. How do you feed the clover rowen?

Mr. Felch. After curing it becomes brittle ; simply feed
in a rick, as to stock. If it is cut up too fine, and fed care-
lessly, they will waste it.

Mr. . I had two hens that destroyed themselves by

eating rowen this last season.

Mr. Felch. Clover rowen is very brittle. It is not like
the second crop of herdsgrass.

Question. Which is best, the Brown or White Leghorn?

Mr. Felch. I do not think any one would say one was
better than the other.

72 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.

Question. Do you have any difficulty in hatching chickens
from the eggs that are laid by the Asiatics?

Mr. Felcii. That is the danger of the whole business.
They sometimes become so very fat, that it will be almost
impossible to hatch an egg from them. Turn them right out
and give them food that will not fat them, and you will find
that the eggs will hatch well.

Mr. Hersey of Hingham. Mr. Felch says that close breed-
ing in and in tends to sterility. I would like to inquire if he
has had any actual tests of this, and if so, what difficulties
he has encountered.

Mr. Felch. What I mean by in-and-in breeding is breed-
ing birds of the same blood or pedigree together. I always
take pains when I am breeding in line, "breeding in," as I
term it, to so mate that there will be a change of blood, and
secure the chick in blood different from sire and dam. It
is always better to breed back to the sire than to breed the
chicks together. When introducing a new element of blood,
I find oftentimes that this works well. That is a rule I have
followed for twenty years. I believe I was one of the first
to adopt this course. I never buy a male bird, and conse-
quently I have been obliged to make this new blood for scores
of others ; and when I buy a new bird, I treat it in that way,
breeding the pullets of the first cross right back to a sire of
that strain, and never use a male bird until I have reduced
the foreign blood to one-eighth. Now, if you breed in and
in for three generations, that is, breed brothers and sisters,
in three generations it will be almost impossible to hatch an

ceo"

Mr. Hersey. Have you had any actual tests of it?

Mr. Felch. Yes, sir ; I believe, as a rule, the statement I
make will hold good. There maybe exceptions; there are
exceptions to all rules. But I think if any one follows that
rule, so that he will know exactly what he is doing, he will
find that I am correct. But the fact is, a great many don't
knowr. They will have a flock of birds, and they will save a
young cockerel from them and breed from them, thinking
they are all of one blood. If they will start from one single
dam and breed her chickens together, and their chickens, and
then a third lot, I am quite sure you will reach a point where

BREEDING IN AND IN. 73

the eggs will not hatch. Unless you have a flock of hens in
one inclosnre, you can see how easily you can lose the track
of them. Yon cannot get uniformity unless you keep to the
same strain of blood. I think any one who has tried it will
agree with me in what I have said on that subject.

Mr. Hersey. I suppose we meet together here to gather
facts, and whatever the result of our experiments may be, it
is for our interest to know about them. I have had some
experience in this poultry business ; and I want to say at the
outset, that I went into it for my own pleasure and informa-
tion, and not for the purpose of bringing out any particular
result. I am not a poultiw breeder for the market. I say
this, so that no person will write me for eggs or for poultry,
for I am simply one who is seeking for knowledge.

Twenty-five years ago, I started for the purpose of demon-
strating, one way or another, whether we should be able to
breed in and in or not. I took a white native, and from that
white native I have bred for twenty-five years, and still the
eggs hatch. During the twenty-five years, only three times
have I introduced anything different, and those three times it
was done by eggs and eggs only, and the male birds were not
kept, only the females. But during the last two years, no
new blood has been introduced into my flock, and I have bred
in and in as closely as possible. And my poultry yard is so
situated, and so fenced in, that no other poultry can come near
them. Now, the result is, that my eggs hatch a great deal
better than my neighbors'. Three years ago (which was the
last year that I had the care of them myself), I set four
litters, of thirteen eggs each, and ever}'' one of them hatched ;
and of four others, eleven hatched. I think there was not a
single litter that year that gave less than six chickens from
thirteen eggs.

Now, I admit that 1 have been careful in breeding to take
only those fowls which were physically strong and perfectly
healthy. I think that that is a point to which we must look
carefully. I believe that healthy birds will bring healthy
offspring. But perhaps I ought not to say what I believe.
I only rose to state these facts. It is an isolated case, cov-
ering a period of about twenty-five years. If there were
twenty-five other individuals here who could stand up and say
10

74 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.

that they had tried the same thing, with the same result, we
might be able to come to some correct conclusion. Perhaps
a single experiment is not sufficient.

Now, if other people have tried the experiment of in-and-
in breeding, and failed, — if they have really tried it, and
not guessed at it, — of course that must count against the
experiment which I have made. But I hope that, if this
Board shall meet in this or any other hall ten years from this
time, there will be many individuals who will be able to rise
up and say, "I know from practical tests what the result is of
breeding in and in."

Mr. Felch. The gentleman who has just taken his seat
says that the introduction of blood was by eggs, saving the
females. That does not meet the case, for he put half a
dozen new elements into his stock every time he introduced
the eggs, which might have helped him out. I do not see
that his case touches the point which I advanced, for one
introduction of six pullets would have carried him through
the whole twenty years.

In regard to the question of the time that an egg is impreg-
nated, I have tried some experiments to determine that
question. I took three hens, after they had set and raised
their chickens, and put them with a cock for three hours.
Then I kept them by themselves until they had laid their
litters out. I found that it took forty-eight hours for them to
become impregnated ; that the eggs laid during the first forty-
eight hours did not hatch ; that seven-eighths of the eggs laid
during the next ten days thereafter did hatch ; and that all the
eggs laid after that time did not. That is a fact which it may
be of advantage to gentlemen to know, in mating their birds
for breeding the coming season. If they pen them ten days
before saving the eggs, they will secure purity of blood.

Mr. F. J. Kinney of Worcester. I have had a' little
experience in breeding poultry, and I will give the result of
my experience, and ask a few questions.

It is quite important to know what kind of soil you have.
I was very successful in raising poultry in Vermont, where
I came from, and never had a case of disease, or any trouble.
When I came to Massachusetts, my fowls were sick all the
time, and they died constantly, and it took me a year or two

THE BROWN LEGHORNS. 75

to find out what the trouble was. In Vermont, I used to live
on a gravelly soil, and when I came here I went on to a heavy
loam, and until I covered my ground four inches deep with
gravel I could not raise chickens, and my wife could not raise
them, so I made up my mind that they could not be raised.
Hence I think it is necessary to know what the nature of our
ground is, as we want to know what our foundation is before
we begin to build. Chicken-coops should always have board
bottoms.

Then there is another point. It has been suggested that
we dig into a hill somewhere in a pasture and make a place
in which to keep our chickens. There is no doubt that such
a place would be like the Irishman's woollen shirts, very cool
in summer and warm in winter ; but most hills will be damp
in winter, and that is what everybody wants to avoid. I
think, therefore, that it is absolutely necessary that a hen-
house should be built on top of the ground.

I am very glad to hear the subject of in-and-in breeding
discussed. I have had a little experience in breeding cattle,
and I know that those who have had the best luck in breeding
Shorthorns, to say the least, are those who have stuck to their
own animals, to the exclusion of all others. There is plenty
of evidence on that point. Twenty-six or twenty-seven years
ago, I commenced breeding Brown Leghorns, and during all
that time there has not been one drop of strange blood put
into the strain. I have known what I have been about, and
that strain has proved a very profitable and pleasant strain to
keep. Other strains I have crossed in various ways, but
every time I have lost by it. I started with the idea that I
would make those fowls lay almost every day, and I am
happy to say, that, although I have not been able quite to
accomplish that, I can show you the record of one hen, nine
years and a half old, that has laid over two thousand eggs,
has just returned from the Centennial, and is in good condi-
tion yet, and she has never had any strange blood in her. I
have bred from her, and the hens of that strain of blood
always lay more eggs by half than the hens of other strains
that I have got by crossing. I always lose whenever I make
a cross. I breed in close confinement, and when I get birds
from outside, I get birds that have been bred on farms, and

76 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.

they become weak. It takes me some time to get them used
to close confinement. I have several hens that are over eight
years old that are good layers now, and yet they never ranged
in their lives. My new house is 50 by 16 feet outside, with a
roof very steep ; rafters 16 feet long, — a very important point,
— and my room 6 by 12 inside, and my outside runs are 3| and
2| by 12, covered with slats. My chickens are kept fifty
together until they are three weeks old, and then I keep thirty
together until they lay. Mr. Felch says it will be necessary to
separate the two genders in from four to six months after they
are hatched. He knows very well that Leghorns have to be
separated in that number of weeks, instead of months. There
is abundant evidence that no Leghorns of any color will be
good for anything, either pullets or cockerels, if allowed to
run together until they are four months old, for at the age of
four weeks, the cockerels are treading not only the pullets but
the mother. I always take my cockerels, when they are three
or four weeks old, and put them by themselves, about thirty
together, and put the pullets together by themselves, and in
that way I get very fine poultry from my Leghorn cockerels.
AVhere they are allowed to run with the pullets, the cockerels
do not make good poultry, nor the pullets good layers.

In former times, it was thought that it was impossible to
breed chickens without a large range, and that a person must
have a big farm if he was going to have a thousand chickens.
I commenced with less than a sixteenth of an acre, and raised
a thousand chickens in one year. They did not go off of that
sixteenth of an acre until they were three months old, and
they were separated and placed in covered runs, two and
one-half feet high, three and one-half feet wide, and twelve
feet long, covering about a quarter of an acre, where they
remained until they went into their houses. Since then, I have
raised three thousand chickens on the same ground, and have
had no disease, unless when brought from some exhibition.

I farm chickens for their manure, and whether I get any-
thing else or not, they do not cost me anything. I make
their droppings pay their expenses. I do not say I could do
this by raising corn or potatoes, although good authorities
(George E. Warner for one) say it can be done ; but if you
raise strawberries, tobacco, or some other of the better paying

THE AMEKICAN GUANO. 77

crops, which it is remarkably well suited for, it will pay all
expenses, and then, if you get anything else, it is profit.
When I commenced, I cultivated two acres, and bought from
thirty to forty cords of manure a year. Now I cultivate eleven
acres, and buy none.

This matter of poultry droppings has received too little
attention. I have a few statements given by practical men,
but they are so indefinite that I have concluded to give you
only a few facts from my own experience. In 1870-71, I
had seventy-five hens constantly confined for one year. The
droppings were all saved by being kept perfectly dry. At
the end of the year, I found that I had one hundred and fifty
bushels of nearly pure hen-manure from the seventy-five hens,
which, after weighing two or three bushels, I estimated was
equal to 2,200 pounds. After pulverizing the droppings, I
mixed three hundred pounds of plaster and three tons of fine
loam, pretty dry and rather poor in quality, thoroughly with
the droppings, making (barring loss in mixing) four tons and
a half of American guano, as rich in nitrogenous and other
valuable qualities as would be bought in our market at that
time at sixty dollars a ton. I got two hundred and seventy
dollars' worth of manure, and the plaster, soil, and time of
preparing it cost about twenty dollars, leaving two hundred
and fifty dollars' worth of fertilizers from our seventy-five
hens in one year. This fertilizer (American guano) was used
in various ways, beside the best well-decomposed manures
to be had, and the best special fertilizers, and invariably I
have received the greatest benefit from the use of the Amer-
ican guano.

Since that time, I have used hundreds of tons of the same
fertilizer, on every kind of crop. I have put it on the surface
and harrowed it in, have applied it in a dry and a liquid state
in the hill, cautiously, and spread it broadcast on my old
strawberry-beds, and it has always given me satisfactory
returns. I have used manures for thirty j^ears, and am better
pleased with American guano than any other. I have found
that when my fowls were kept confined, they have always
averaged as much manure per head as they did in the year
specified ; i. e., three dollars. I can make more manure from
one thousand fowls, where they are confined in the way I

78 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.

have described, than any man can from five thousand, kept
in the usual way, and allowed a wide range, quality taken
into account.

Question. What do you feed to your poultry ?

Mr. Kinney. It would take me some time to tell what I
feed, but I can state my practice generally. My morning
feed consists of two quarts Indian meal, four quarts good
wheat shorts (the coarser the better), and two quarts ground
scraps. Beef scraps are best, thoroughly scalded by pour-
ing into the pails a good deal of boiling water, and stirring it
until well mixed ; then it is left to cool, and should be pretty
stiff when cool enough to feed. For a change, I use ground
oats instead of shorts once a week, and ground buckwheat
once a week. This amount feeds one hundred laying hens in
the morning, and they get as much more bulk of green food ;
also cabbage (green globe Savoy is the best variety) , or mashed
turnips, mangolds, or potatoes, raw. About half-past two
p. m., I feed the same bulk of dry food, — the coarse part of
cracked corn (I riddle out the fine part and scald it with my
morning feed), and wheat, equal quantities, and two quarts of
shelling, — pulverized oyster shells, bone, or old mortar, —
thoroughly mixed together and scattered amongst leaves or
straw, so the fowls will have to scratch and hunt pretty busy
to find it. Once or twice a week, I use buckwheat or oats
instead of wheat. I occasionally boil a mess of potatoes, and
mix my meal and shorts with them, and sometimes boil my
grain. They like most anything for a change. People who
have milk, can better afford to feed it to hens than hogs. If
you scald the feed with milk, they do not need much meat or
animal food. There are no two things nearer alike in their
constituent parts than eggs and milk, so what will make
milk will make eggs. Give your hens poor, mouldy grain
and dirty water, and they will give you poor eggs and few of
them, and the}- will become sickly, and it will take but little
to cause death. If hens are properly fed on strong, good
food, and properly watered, and otherwise cared for, they will
be well and strong, and lay good, nutritious eggs, and plenty
of them. Select your food for your fowls with as much care
as you would for yourself, and give them nothing to eat or
drink that you would not relish on your own table, and do

HENS AS INCUBATORS. 79

not confine them in quarters where you and your family could
not be comfortable.

Most people, especially gentlemen who keep fowls as
amateurs for pleasure, kill them with kindness. I once
went to a poultry -house near Boston, the owner of which told
me his fowls were constantly dying. I found that the coop lice
were killing them. It was an elegant house, cost a great deal
of money, and was finished nicer than any room in my house.
The fowls, as the gentleman supposed, were well takeu care
of; every particle of manure was taken out, but the house
perfectly swarmed with lice. I saw them strung all along the
under side of the roosts, where they had gone to digest their
food during the day. These parasites do not live on the
fowls, but they feed on them at night, and leave them during
the day. I set a great many hens, and I never have any
trouble from lice. I have seventy-five setting on a very small
space, and have set in same room and same boxes for several
years, and keep hens in same room in winter, and they are
not troubled. A very little sulphur scattered in the nest two
or three times a week will keep them off. Take a handful,
begin at the tail of the hen when on the nest, let your fingers
touch the hen's feathers and move the hand towards the head,
letting the sulphur scatter from your hand ; the hen will raise
her feathers and the sulphur will strike her skin.

There is another thing peculiar in my manner of raising
chickens. Seven years ago, I commenced making incubators
of hens. I lost a few until I learned how ; but for four years,
I have run from fifty to seventy-five of these incubator hens.
I have set them in February, and kept them at work until
August. The chickens, as soon as they are hatched, are
taken away from the hen, and placed in a clean box, in a
temperature of 100° to 103°, the bottom of the box covered
one-half with clean sand, suitable for the chicks to eat, and
the other half with flannel. They are allowed to run out in
small runs in the daytime. Chickens need only heat and
gravel for the first twelve hours, and then they will begin to
pick food. We feed the yolks of eggs, boiled hard and
mixed with Indian cakes baked hard and pounded up fine
(the first twenty-four hours they only need clear egg-}rolks
and sand), about one }:olk to a gill of fine cake. Feed often,

80 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.

and what they will eat up clean. When they are about thirty-
six hours old, they will drink water or milk ; we give milk to
drink, and mix our cakes with new milk. We increase our
egg-feed, putting two yolks to a gill in course of a week, and
six egg-yolks to a pint at one and one-half weeks, and begin
to feed cracked and whole wheat once or twice a day. At
two weeks old, we begin to feed boiled meat, and drop our
egg- feed, but continue our pounded cake once or twice a day
till the chicks are four weeks old, then use cracked corn as
the bulk of our feed after chicks are four weeks old, — feeding
boiled meat two or three times a day, in moderate quantities.
We riddle cracked corn, feeding the coarse part dry, mixed
with wheat, in the afternoon, and the fine, mixed with coarse
shorts, scalded together, in the morning ; change once in a
while, if chicks tire of the regular feed. We feed a good
many boiled potatoes, with corn-meal and wheat middlings
mixed, by mashing the potatoes, meal, etc., together, while
the potatoes are hot. We find boiled rice a cheap and very
desirable feed to change with. One pound of rice will take
in six pounds of water, and makes a good feed for fifty hens.

We use large boxes or small movable houses for the chick-
ens to roost in and run into in rainy weather, and keep these
roosting-rooms cleau and well littered, making the chickens
sit on the ground, or wide roosts, till they are four months
old, as roosting on small sticks will crook their breast-bones.
After chickens are two or three weeks old, they will begin to
eat green food, grass, oats, clover, cabbage (green globe
Savoy is the best variety), raw mashed mangold wurtzels,
onions, potatoes, etc. Our great study is to make them
comfortable, and furnish them some exercise to keep their
appetites good.

Chickens grown and cared for in the above manner will
weigh as much at three months old, as they would at six
months old if running about. Pullets will begin to lay at
three or four months old, raised in this way. You will under-
stand that I am speaking of Brown Leghorns. I do not
think that White Leghorns or Light Brahmas could stand the
confinement.

Question. How would you exterminate the red spider
(coop lice) and other vermin?

THE KED GAMES. 81

Mr. Kinney. If the gentleman near Boston, to whom I
referred, had taken a little of the tobacco which he had been
eating, and burned it in his poultry-house (first having made
it tight), he would have got rid of that pest. When I was a
boy, I used to read in the papers, "If you want to keep a hen-
house free from vermin, fumigate it," but I never heard what to
use until quite recently, when I have seen sulphur and tobacco
recommended. I have been in the habit, for more than
twenty-five years, of burning a few tobacco stems and leaves,
once or twice a week in summer, and once in two or three
weeks in winter, in my hen-houses. Tobacco smoke does
not hurt hens any more than people. I think that, like men,
they may learn to like it ; I think my old hens have. But lice
do not like it, and you will find that tobacco will kill the little
pests that kill your hens at night, on their roosts, and on the
setting nests, when you think they die by some disease.

Mr. Bill of Paxtou. I have had some experience in keep-
ing hens, but I rise chiefly to add a word to what was said
on one point by the gentleman who gave us the very
instructive and interesting essay, and that point is this. He
spoke of hen-houses in the sides of hills, near our farm build-
ings, so that the fowls might forage in the pasture with the
cattle. Now, he did not state what breed of hen would be
the best for that purpose, but I judge from my own experience
that a kind of hen not much in favor, perhaps, with most hen
fanciers, — I mean the Red Game, — is the one best adapted
to that purpose.

There is an impression abroad among hen dealers, and those
who have not inquired into the matter, that the Red Game, or
Game hens, are of little value except for their fighting
qualities ; but with all my keeping of the Red Game, I never
have seen one fight but once, and that was with a White Leg-
horn, and he got awfully thrashed; so I am not keeping him
for that purpose. But I find that in the pastures, the Red
Game have the foraging quality, and that is the point I rose to
make. I know tolerably well four or five kinds of Red
Game birds, and any one of them will walk off and feed by
themselves several hundred rods, — almost a quarter of a mile.

Another notion that is prevalent about them is, that they are
quite wild. That comes partly from the name — Red Game.
11

82 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.

But I find that the Red Games are as gentle, if you treat them
gently, as any hens I ever had anything to do with. As to
their laying qualities, I have kept them several years, and I
am confident that they do lay well. I would not say that they
are as good layers as the White Leghorn or the Brown Leghorn,
but I do not know any other family, except the Leghorn, that
excels the Red Game in laying qualities.

Another point about the Red Game is, that their eggs are
from a quarter to a third larger than the White Brahmas', or
than almost any of the pure-blooded hens with which I have
had anything to do, except the Leghorn.

Now, I wish to say that I have no eggs to sell, and do not
wish to buy, but I would like to ask a question about the
Black Spanish. What does Mr. Felch know about them, as
to their laying qualities, constitution, etc. ?

Mr. Felch. The Black Spanish, before the Leghorn came
into notice, was considered the best laying fowl. They lay
large eggs, but they do not lay a large number of them. I
think that a full-bred Black Spanish will lay about one hun-
dred and twenty-eight eggs in a year, — about what our native
fowls will do. Probably there is not half a dozen eggs a year
difference in what the Black Spanish, the Game, and native
fowls will lay.

Question. How do the Black Spanish stand the cold
weather in the winter?

Mr. Felch. Poorly. A Black Spanish chicken is a mis-
erable thing while growing, but when once grown, the fowl
seems to be quite hardy. It is a beautiful bird to look at;
there is no question about that. If a man does not care how
much it costs him to produce and keep a flock of Black Span-
ish birds, he can have them, and they will do very well, but
they are not profitable, managed in a practical way. I
tried to find the breed that a person with the least experience
could do the best with, everything considered, and that is
why I selected the Leghorn, Plymouth Rock, and Light
Brahma ; and here let me say, that, no matter what the breed
is, the Almighty has so fixed that thing that they will all pay
a profit, if properly managed. A man wants to take the
breed that pleases him, and if he does that, he will be likely
to take good care of them and make a profit. One man likes

THE BEST CROSS. 83

the Red Game, another the Brown Leghorn, and another the
Brahma. I do not agree with those who say that the Buff
Cochin is the best bird of the lot. The Buff Cochin is a
splendid hen to raise chickens, and they are handy to have for
that purpose. They look large, but they are not really so.
They are very full feathered, and their feathers make them
look large.

Mr. Vincent. The Black Spanish does not want to set.

Mr. Felch. No; the}r are of weak constitution. Still,
I can hardly say that, because, when once grown, they seem
to be hardy, if you can keep them away from the frost.
Their wattles and combs are easily chilled, and that seems to
take all the life out of them until spring.

Question. What do you consider the best cross?

Mr. Felch. I consider the best cross in the world is the
cross of a White Leghorn cock on a Brahma hen. I say a
White Leghorn, because that cross will produce a uniform
white color. There will be no party-colored feathers, which
is an advantage in preparing poultry for the market.

Question. What would be the quantity of eggs produced
by that cross ?

Mr. Felch. They will produce as much as either of the
thoroughbreds. I have birds in my family of Brahmas that
have laid for twenty-three successive months without setting ;
but that is unnatural. I have received several letters this
season from parties to whom I have sent birds of this family,
stating that their birds have laid the entire season without
wanting to set. The Brahmas, both dark and light, do not
lay in that way as a rule.

The Leghorn I call a hardy bird. The Black Spanish I
call a delicate bird, because they are predisposed to disease.
They must have dry, warm quarters, or they will have the
roup. They will have catarrh in the head, and roup follows,
and all the attendant diseases. They must have dry quarters.
You cannot put them in a damp place with impunity.

Mr. Cheever. Is there any limit to the number of eggs
that any one of the breeds of hens can lay ? I think I have
seen it stated in some paper, — from a French authority, —
that the ovaries are limited. Do you know anything about
that?

84 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.

Mr. Felch. I do not feel competent to answer that ques-
tion. I have seen it stated that a hen will not lay after it
gets to be four or five years old. But, two years ago, there
was a Light Brahma hen at the exhibition in Boston, that was
twelve years and three months old, and she laid three days
out of the week. I have had a Light Brahma in my yard this
year, — eight years old, — and she laid some forty odd eggs.
I believe, therefore, that hens will lay until they are pretty
old. I do not believe, as some do, that they will cease laying
at four or five years of age ; but, as a rule, birds, after they
are three years old, begin to fall off in the production of eggs.

Question. Are not pullets the most economical kind to
keep for eggs ?

Mr. Felch. The second year appears to be the year of
greatest profit. You may raise two chickens, — a pullet and
cockerel, — and the day they are twelve months old, the pullet
will have supported herself and the cockerel, and if sold at
the end of twelve months, that cockerel is net profit. You
may base your calculations of profits upon that, and you will
find it to be true. A Leghorn, when she commences to lay,
will lay, usually, until she moults, and, generally, will not
commence to lay again until the next spring. But you get
the start of a year, or longer, before it comes to that, if she
has good blood in her.

Question. If you were only keeping a few hens for eggs,
what kind would you select?

Mr. Felch. If I were keeping hens for eggs alone, I
should most certainly keep the Leghorn breed in preference
to any other. Keep the pullets up to the time of moulting,
and then sell them and replace them.

Question. Have you had any experience in regard to the
laying qualities of the Hamburg?

Mr. Felch. The Hamburg family will lay as many eggs,
probably, as the Leghorn. They are handsome birds ; and if
any one has an eye for beauty, and wants a few handsome
birds for eggs alone, I should recommend the Hamburg
family. They are a little tender in raising, but, like the
Black Spanish, they seem to become hardy afterwards. They
lay well. I have had Hamburgs that laid one hundred and
fifty-one eggs in six months. That is recorded in the report

THE TENDER DORKING. 85

of the Middlesex South Agricultural Society for the year
1858, and it is also reported, I think, in the State Agricult-
ural Report of that year. The Black Hamburg is, I believe,
the best of the family to raise chickens, and that, perhaps, is
attributable to a cross. I think there is a Black Spanish
cross that went into the original Hamburg, that produced the
Black Hamburg. The other varieties of the Hamburg family
are the silver and golden-spangled and the silver and golden-
peucilled. The white and black are two varieties of that class
produced within my recollection.

Mr. Hadwen of Worcester. I have bred and kept poultry
for nearly forty years, and I can truly say that I have no
prejudice against any of the breeds. If they are well cared
for, as Mr. Felch has said, they will all pay a person a profit.
But it is often a question what kind of poultry we shall keep.
Now, that depends upon various circumstances. In the first
place, AVhat do you want the poultry for? If you want eggs,
there are the egg producers, — the Black Spanish, the Leg-
horn, the Hamburg, — and that class of poultry. If you want
flesh only, there are the Dorkings, the Brahmas, and Cochins.
But formers want a kind of poultry that is adapted to the pro-
duction of es^s and flesh, and with a constitution that will
withstand our climate. Now, the question is, What kind of
poultry is the farmer to choose? The Englishman says, the
Dorkinsr. But it is a well-known fact that the Dorking is a
little tender in our climate, and requires a great deal of care.
The man who successfully raises a Dorking must feed that
chicken some eight times a day, and the last thing at night.
A gentleman once told me that he bred Dorkings successfully.
He said he had a man on his farm, and he lost quite a number
of chickens. Upon inquiry, he found that the man fed
them but three times a day, and he said to him, "Unless you
can feed those chickens eight times a day, you are not equal
to your place." When they received that food, he was
successful.

Now, a question has come up in relation to the roup. I
have no doubt there are many farmers present who do not
know what roup is. I kept hens for more than twenty-five
years before I knew what roup was ; but after I began to
exhibit hens at our exhibitions, I found out, and as long as I

86 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.

continued to exhibit, I knew what roup was by experience,
and had a great deal of difficulty. I have stopped exhibiting
fowls now, and I have no roup. I think the roup is a disease
that is contagious, and that is spread by our exhibitions. Our
recent exhibitions, it is well known, continue for several days ;
the poultry is brought together from all sections of the State
and country, and many of the birds are diseased, and the
disease is communicated to nearly the entire lot. It can be
cured, but it is attended with a great deal of difficulty.

I do not know that I have any more to say, unless I speak
briefly of a breed of poultry that has been bred for forty
years by a former member of the Board. This breed, which
is called the Wilbraham, has been kept upon one farm for
forty years. How they have been bred, I do not know, but
I know one thing, — it is the same breed. The birds are
white, with small heads and combs, — combs that will with-
stand our frosts without injury, — with yellow legs, full
breasts, and five toes. There is no doubt that there is an
infusion of the Dorking in the blood. I have tried this poul-
try as an experiment for the last two years, and I find it
eminently satisfactory. It is really the best poultry for farm-
ers that I have ever tried, and there are very few breeds
that I have not tried.

I do not say this because I have any to sell, for I have not.
I have never offered any for sale, and am out of the poultry
line, in a speculative way. But it strikes me that for farmers
who let their poultry run at large, this is a very desirable
breed. They are not susceptible to frost, they are good egg
producers, and reasonably good setters. I will not occupy
any more time.

On motion, the subject of Poultry Breeding was laid on
the table, and Mr. Flint read the following paper —

ON THE COLORADO BEETLE.

BY A. S. PACKARD, JR., M. D.

This beetle was originally described by Mr. Say in 1824,
having been found by him the year previous, when he
remarked, "This species seems to be not uncommon on the
Upper Missouri, where it was obtained by Mr. Nuttall and by

THE COLORADO BEETLE. 87

myself. The variety (white with two of the lines united,
probably the species juncta) I found on the Arkansas."
(Journal Academy of Natural Sciences, Phila., iii, 1824.)
This would indicate that its natural habitat was the plains of
Dakota, Western Nebraska and Kansas, Colorado, and, per-
haps, the western portion of Indian Territory and Texas.
Dr. G. H. liorn, the well-known coleopterist, writes me as
follows: "West of the Mississippi I have it from Texas. I
have never seen it from Mexico nor west of the Rocky Moun-
tains. If it goes west, I believe it will be through New Mexico
and Arizona, and not over the Rocky Mountains." Probably,
coextensive with the original distribution of the Colorado
potato-beetle, is that of its original food-plant, a wild spe-
cies of Solatium, concerning which Mr. Sereno Watson, the
botanist of the U. S. Geological Survey of the 100th Parallel,
thus writes me : "The Solatium rostratum ranges from Texas
and New Mexico to the Upper Missouri eastward of the
mountains. I have no evidence of its being found at all west
of the Rocky Mountains, and, indeed, the order appears to
be almost wholly wanting throughout the entire Great Basin."

In going to Colorado in 1875, while attached to Prof. F.
V. Hayden's Geological Survey of the Territories, I first met
with this beetle at Lawrence, Kansas, where Prof. F. H.
Snow told me it was chiefly confined to the Solatium rostra-
tum, a roadside weed which is now very abundant in Kansas,
and draws off the beetle from the potato, which consequently
suffers comparatively little from its attacks in that State.

The question arises whether the cultivation of this weed
around potato fields in the East may not be a means of relief
from its attacks, though it might breed in still larger numbers,
if that were possible.

In Colorado, I first noticed the beetle in the vicinity of
Denver, where it was not then common, but earlier in the
season had ravaged potato fields out of town. At Golden,
July 3, it was observed in abundance on Solatium rostratum;
not only the eggs, but the larvpe in all stages as well as the
beetles. I was told by one farmer that he had two rows of
potatoes devoured by them earlier in the season. Near Den-
ver, the potatoes had been injured by them early in the season,
and they had been abundant locally at Howardsville. It is

88 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.

evident that in Colorado the injury to the potato will always
be limited. Five or six miles up Clear Creek Canon, it has
injured the potato plants for five or six years, but nowhere
above an altitude of about seven thousand feet could I learn
that it occurred, and it seems indigenous only to the plains
and the canons among the foot-hills. None were to be seen
in Utah.

ITS JOURNEY FROM THE PLAINS EAST OF THE ROCKY MOUN-
TAINS TO THE ATLANTIC.

The history of the successive invasions of the prairies of
the Mississipi Valley and of the wooded district of the Mid-
dle and North-Eastern States, until only the ocean proved a
sufficient barrier to their advances, is a subject of a good
deal of interest to the naturalist, whatever may be thought of
the dismay with which Eastern farmers have looked upon its
arrival. Some years ago, it was confidently announced that
the Colorado beetle would not flourish in the damp, cold cli-
mate of New England ; that the summers were so wet that it
would die while lying as a pupa underground. But at the
present time of writing (Sept. 15, 1876), it is doing perhaps
as much damage in the North-Eastern States as in the West-
ern, and the newspapers report that it has crossed the Atlan-
tic and effected a landing in England. If this is so, for the
statement needs confirmation, there is no reason why it
should not overrun Europe, after successfully withstanding
the great differences in climate between the eastern and west-
ern regions of the United States. This insect, so indifferent
to ordinary climatic differences, may be compared to a weed
which, introduced in a new country, overruns and displaces
the native vegetation. Like weeds, the Colorado potato-bee-
tle, with a number of other widely destructive insects, may
be regarded as prepotent animals.

Fortunately for the historian of the movements of this
insect, the late Mr. B. D. Walsh, at an early date after it
began to spread eastward from the plains of Colorado, pub-
lished in the "Practical Entomologist," Vol. 1, No. 1, Octo-
ber, 1865, an account of its travels. In 1859, it had, in its
journey eastward, reached a point one hundred miles west of
Omaha, Nebraska. It appeared in Kansas and Iowa in 1861.

MIGRATIONS EASTWARD. 89

It entered South-Western Wisconsin in 1862. In 1864 and
1865 it crossed the Mississippi River, entering Illinois from
the eastern borders of North Missouri and from Iowa " upon
at least five different points on a line of two hundred miles."
Thence it has travelled eastward at the rate of a little over
seventy miles a year. In 1867, it had appeared in Western
Indiana and South-western Michigan, and in 1868 had gen-
erally overspread Indiana and appeared in Ohio. From the
statements of Mr. Riley, it appears that this insect entered
Canada in July, 1870, and swarmed in 1871 between the
St. Clair and Niagara rivers ; the same year, Dr. Trimble
reported its presence in Pennsylvania, and in 1871 it also was
seen in New York. A Southern column advanced eastward
into Kentucky, arriving there probably in 1869. In 1872,
it had reached Lancaster County, Pa., and Cattaraugus
County, New York; and in 1873, according to Mr. Riley, it
had pushed to the extreme eastern limit of that State. It
was reported in the same year to have been seen in the Dis-
trict of Columbia, according to the Monthly Report of the
Department of Agriculture for* August and September, 1873.
In 1874, it became well established in Connecticut, New
Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, and
Virginia (Riley's Seventh Report).

In the summer of 1874, it appeared at Williamstown,
Mass., in small numbers, as I am told by Mr. J. S. Kingsley.
Its first appearance in the centre of this State was in Belcher-
town, where, I am informed by Mr. L. W. Goodell, "a sin-
gle larva was found July 15, and was apparently the last one
of a brood, as several hills of potatoes near were entirely
denuded of foliage, and I could find no others, nor signs of
any, in that or other fields of potatoes in the vicinity, although
I searched carefully. The one taken was placed in a box of
earth, and immediately buried itself and was transformed
to a beetle eleven days thereafter. About this time I found
and killed some fifty of the beetles on the same potato-patch,
which were probably a part of the same brood. No more of
the larvoe were seen for about three weeks, when they made
their appearance in large numbers in several fields."

At the same time I learned from Mr. Isaac L. Ham of
Winchendon, Mass., a town about eighty miles west of Bos-

12

90 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.

ton, that eggs and beetles were found on the vines the 20th
of July, 1875. Beetles were seen at Lowell in August, 1875.
It appears from these facts that the beetles must have been
introduced along lines of railway in different portions of
Massachusetts in 1874.

When I visited these fields during the last of September,
1875, thousands of the larvae in different stages of growth
were to be seen on the vines. The present year (187G), the
potato-fields in the neighborhood of Amherst were overrun
with them soon after the plants came up, and in September, I
saw the beetles everywhere. In 1877, the yield of potatoes will
be undoubtedly very light, and potatoes high priced. During
the autumn of 1876, they were said to be unusually high.

Essex County, Mass., was overrun with the beetles during
the present year. They first attracted attention during the
first week in June.

In 1875, it appeared in the western part of Vermont, and
during the summer of 1876, has been reported as more or
less abundant in various parts of the State. In 1875, it
appeared for the first time in New Hampshire. In 1866, Mr.
Walsh predicted that it would reach Maine "in ten or twelve
years." His prediction has proved to be a true one. In
Maine, according to Prof. C. H. Fernald, it was first seen in
1875, and occurred not, so far as I can learn, on the south-
western border of the State, but in the central portion, and
this leads me to think that its appearance there, as well as in
New England generally, has been accelerated by its transpor-
tation on freight cars, which have been sent through from
different points in the West. It is a well-determined fact, that
the d illusion of noxious insects over the United States is
greatly promoted by railways and "through" freight cars, as
permanent tracks are thus made through forests and across
rivers, the natural barriers of insect life.

HABITS.

The habits of the Colorado potato-beetle are apparently the
same in New England as in Illinois or Missouri, where it has
been watched and studied for more than a dozen years. The
following account is based on the observations of Messrs. Walsh,
Shimer, Riley, Le Barron, and myself. The beetle having

NATURAL HABITS. 91

wintered a few inches under the surface of the ground, appears
above the surface before the potato-plants come up (in New
England early in May), and feeds on the young shoots, and by
the time the leaves are expanded, lays its eggs on the under-
side of the leaf in clusters of from thirty to forty, side by side,
the eggs standing on end. The eggs are oval-cylindrical, and
orange-red in color. Regarding the number of eggs laid, Dr.
Shinier writes as follows, in the "Practical Entomologist" for
1866 : " From an equal number of males and females, well fed
and made as comfortable as possible in confinement, I obtained
an average of seven hundred and nineteen eggs to each female ;
but in the fresh, pure air, sunlight, and freedom of nature,
under propitious circumstances, I have no doubt of its exceed-
ing a thousand. They laid some eggs every day for forty
days, commencing July 15, and ending on the 1st of Septem-
ber. The smallest average was in the first part of this time,
being seven and one-half eggs per day to each female ; the
greatest average was about the middle of the time, seventy-
five eggs ; the last day they averaged twelve and one-half
essfs."

The young grubs, on hatching out, are deep blood-red, but
of nearly the same form as the adult. They usually first
appear on the leaves, in New England, early in June. The
following summary of its habits is taken from Riley's Frst Re-
port, and applies to Missouri, Illinois and neighboring States :
" In the latitude of St. Louis, there are three broods during
the year, the last brood wintering over in the beetle state
underground. They are usually dug up in the spring of the
year in land that had been planted to potatoes the year before.
The beetles issue of their own accord from the ground about
the first of May, and the last brood of beetles enters the
ground to hybernate during the month of October. Though,
in general terms, this beetle may be said to be three-brooded,
yet it may be found at almost any time of the year in all its
different stages. This is owing to the fact that the female con-
tinues to deposit her eggs in patches, from time to time, cover-
ing a period of about forty days, and also from the fact that
among those larvte which all hatch out in one day, some will
develop and become beetles a week and even ten days earlier
than others. Thus it may be, that some of the late individuals

92 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.

of the third brood pass the winter in the pupa state, though
the normal habit is to transform to beetles. Each female is
capable of depositing upwards of a thousand e^gs before she
becomes barren, and in from thirty to forty days from the
time they are deposited, they will have produced perfect
beetles. These beetles are again capable of depositing eggs
in about two weeks after issuing from the ground, and thus, in
about fifty days after the egg is laid, the offspring begins to
propagate. It is formed in a little cavity which the larva had
made perfectly smooth and hard, and it is of the same color
as the larva. The beetle, on first emerging from it, is quite
pale and soft, without any markings whatever."

Although no species of this family are known to be poison-
ous, yet it is probably true, from the facts adduced by Riley
and others, that the fumes arising from the bodies of a large
number of them, when killed by hot water, produce sickness.
This is due, perhaps, to a volatile poison thrown off imme-
diately after death ; but, since fowl feed upon them to a large
extent, and no one has been known to have been poisoned, at
least severely, in handling them, there is no reason why hand-
picking should not be resorted to.

ENEMIES OF THE COLORADO POTATO-BEETLE.

Besides a number of bugs and beetles which devour this
beetle, a species of Lydella (L. doryphorce, Riley) is very
destructive to it. Mr. Riley sa}rs : - This fly destroyed fully
ten per cent, of the second brood, and fifty per cent, of the
third brood of potato-beetles that were in my garden. It
bears a very close resemblance, both in color and size, to the
common house-fly, but is readily distinguished from the latter
by its extremely brilliant silver-white face." No Ichneumon
parasite has yet been found preying upon it.

REMEDIES.

The surest and safest remedy is hand-picking. As soon as
the eggs are laid, they should be looked for on the underside
of the leaf, and the leaf torn off and burned. Afterwards, the
grubs and beetles should be picked off. The following extract
from a correspondent of the New York "Tribune" shows the
efficacy of this remedy : "From June 7 to August 17, I have

REMEDIES AGAINST THE BEETLE. 93

caught and killed, by actual counting, over eighteen thousand
(18,802) 'hard-shells,' without reckoning the eggs and young
ones, on less than a quarter of an acre of potatoes, so that not
a vine has lost its leaves. The bugs have stripped the neigh-
boring patches, and now come swarming on mine. My neigh-
bors Paris-greened, scalded, mashed and burned bus's till the
vines had blossomed, then let them live, grow fat and migrate.
Would it be feasible to fine the negligent, bug-catching farm-
ers next year, and offer medals to the diligent?"

While hand-picking should be practised, and, perhaps, state
bounties paid for the eggs, grubs and beetles, prizes might be
offered by agricultural societies for the largest- collections.
Cooperation among farmers and others should also be urged,
even if legislation should have to be resorted to. President
P. A. Chadbourne of Williams College advocates higher
culture. "Since," he has remarked, "it costs as much to
protect an acre of potatoes, yielding twenty bushels, as one
yielding oue hundred bushels, less land should be planted and
more highly cultivated, as, on soil properly tilled, it would,
perhaps, not cost more than five cents a bushel to protect the
potatoes." The aid of fowl should also be invoked, as chick-
ens freely feed on the grubs. In the Western States, the use
of Paris green is advocated. This is a preparation of arsenic,
and is a deadly poison. If used at all, it should be handled
with extreme caution, and only by careful persons, and in
gardens and farms where no children are about. One part
of Paris green may be mixed with about twenty of cheap
flour, and dusted over the vines early in the morning, while
the dew is on the leaves. The simplest way is to sift the
flour from a fine muslin bag attached to a pole, or from a
dredging-box. Various machines have been devised for use
on large farms, and liquid preparations and patent sprinklers
manufactured for the purpose. Those who are not inclined
to use Paris green may use carbolate of lime, made by mixing
in the proportion of half an ounce of crude carbolic acid with
a pound of lime, forming a powder which can be dusted on
the leaves. Others have used air-slacked lime with success.
Hellebore is ineffectual.

The following suggestions by Prof. H. H. McAfee of Iowa
Agricultural College are valuable : " We know that the Dory-

94 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.

phora 10-lineata can only remain healthy and increase rapidly
when feeding upon solanaceous plants. Cut off his rations
for any considerable length of time, and he will surely die.
Hence, if we plant only early potatoes, whose tops are all dead
by August 10, but few potato-beetles will be found alive on

your grounds next season A word as to how this

policy has worked in practice. During the season past, in
which I have grown twenty-one hundred bushels of potatoes
on the Iowa Agricultural College farm, the expense of keeping
potato-beetles in check by hand-picking, when they became
too numerous, has been less than two dollars, and no poison
has been used, and no late potatoes have been grown in my
department. Of course, where potato-patches are contig-
uous, any patch may suffer from the neighbors' bugs, so that
this policy of autumn starvation must be general to be most
effective."

Mr. Flint. I do not know very much about these beetles
myself, but I have seen them on potato-patches in Wisconsin,
where they were so thick that you could scrape them up by
handful s. I have seen them in all stages of their growth, in
immense numbers. We have had them in all parts of Massa-
chusetts, I think, this year, to a limited extent, and we shall
unquestionably have them to a vastly greater extent next
year. In the course of 1877, they will undoubtedly spread
all over New England, so that we are obliged to look this
fact in the face, and take the best precautions we can. I
think the suggestion to cultivate only very early potatoes is
a very good one ; but in order to be successful, it ought to be
done by all farmers. If one farmer raises early potatoes and
his neighbor raises late ones, the insect will be propagated
continually. It is better, therefore, to rely on Paris green.

Question. Will they not feed on other vegetables?

Mr. Flint. There are a few other plants, nearly allied to
the potato family, which they attack. They attack the to-
mato also ; but they generally prefer the potato.

Dr. Stuktevant of Framingham. On account of the
importance of this subject, — the Colorado beetle, — I would
like to make a few remarks in confirmation of the paper which
has just been read. There is no question that the Colorado

HAND-PICKING AND PARIS GREEN. 95

potato-beetle is a dangerous enemy, and the farmers of Massa-
chusetts cannot hope to meet him by any half-way measures.
The Western farmers have had experience with this pest, and
w7e can profit by their experience to save ourselves, instead
of paying for our own. Dr. Packard, in his essay, took the
opinion of Prof. McAfee of the Iowa Agricultural College.
That paper Dr. Packard quoted from the " Scientific Farmer "
of last month. The December number of the " Scientific
Farmer" will contain an article from the Professor of the
Iowa College, which shows that Prof. McAfee's claims are
entirely erroneous ; that you cannot kill out the beetle by
planting early potatoes ; that the only safety is in the use of
Paris green, etc. It is no use for Massachusetts farmers to
think that they can do anything, except by the use of poisons
or haud-picking. Any half-way measure will only result in a
greater loss and a larger destruction by the beetles. In the
ordinary working of nature, some insect-foe will appear that
will destroy this beetle ; but until that time comes, we have
got to fight it, and clear our own vines.

Mr. Paul of Dighton. I would inquire of the gentleman
who read the essay, and also of Dr. Sturtevant, if they think
hand-picking is going to accomplish anything, when they have
multiplied to the extent our Secretary says he saw them in
Wisconsin ?

Dr. Sturtevant. I will say that I do not think hand-
picking will ever be a popular remedy in New England. The
Western farmers may do it ; but I do not think, from what I
have seen of the beetle on my own plants, and from what I
have seen of it on other people's fields, and heard other people
say, that hand-picking will be a popular remedy in New Eng-
land. My own hope is in Paris green, which can be used
without any danger to the man who uses it. It is inexpen-
sive, can be used with very little care, is effectual, and never
poisons the potato-plant or potato. It must be applied when-
ever it is necessary, — three times, if necessary.

Mr. . I learn, through a brother of mine in South-
western Connecticut, that they hand-picked until they de-
stroyed the larger portion of them, and then one application
of Paris green was sufficient.

Dr. Sturtevant. One application will keep off one brood,

96 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.

but fresh broods come along through the season. I have been
out and examined my vines when I could not see the beetle,
nor a slug, near them. I have been out two days afterwards,
and seen them rolling on the ground, and found the leaves
perfectly covered with them, and the beetles marching along
seeking for new fields to conquer. It is useless to expect,
judging from the experience of the past, that anything but
Paris green will kill them. Mix it with flour, and put it in a
linen bag, tie the bag on the end of a stick, take another stick
in your hand and go along and scatter it over the vines. Or
take a tin box with some holes in it, — like a pepper-box, —
and do the same ; or adopt any way, in fact, that you think
will answer the purpose.

Question. Why not mix it with plaster of Paris?

Dr. Sturtevant. Plaster of Paris does not stick quite as
Avell as flour, and it does not adhere to the plant. Paris
green kills by adhering to the plant and being eaten by the
slug.

Question. It occurs to me that the bug may work on the
underside of the leaf, and in that case, would the application
of Paris green to the top of the leaf be sufficient?

Dr. Sturtevant. The bug is a Very voracious animal,
and will eat through the leaf without much trouble. I think,
if you put Paris green anywhere near the bug, he will eat his
way to it in a short time.

Dr. Wakefield. I have had some experience this year
with the Colorado beetle, and picking him from potato-vines.
I have some three or four hundred bo}rs, and I have kept
them at work this year picking the Colorado beetle. The
first Colorado beetle that I ever saw was early in May, in
Connecticut, before they appeared in Massachusetts in my
region. I live about forty miles west of this city, in the town
of Monson. I was down to Meriden, at the school there, and
I found the boys all picking Colorado beetles. I supposed
that when I returned home, I should have a job for myjtoys,
and it was not more than two weeks before I found that the
Colorado beetles were more numerous than my boys. I put
them at work and kept them at work for more than three
months, every day, or every other day, in my potato-fields.
I had something like five or six acres. I saved my crop of

HOW A CROP WAS SAVED. 97

potatoes this year. Whether it is going to have the same
effect another year, I am not able to say. Whether I could
have destroyed them by poison, I don't know. All I know
is, that I put my boys in there, and they picked for weeks.
They picked off the bugs in the various stages of develop-
ment, from the time they hatched until they became hardened.
We picked them in baskets, put them in piles, and then
carted them off and burned them, so that I knew that those
we caught were totally destroyed. Well, we had two broods.
After we had secured as many as we could of one, the
remainder went into the ground, and it was some three or
four weeks before another brood came ; but they came at dif-
ferent times in different fields, so that we had employment
the whole season.

Now, I suppose there are very few farmers who are so well
supplied with the material to pick these bugs as I am. Hardly
anybody in our State, probably, has three hundred boys.
I saved my potato-crop this year ; whether the same operation
will succeed next year, remains to be seen. I am sure, from
what I have seen in my own fields and in other fields, that the
beetle is going to prevail throughout Massachusetts. Whether
anything can be done to save the crop, whether we can pre-
serve it by poisoning the bugs, whether we can pick them off
and destroy them in that way, or whether we have got to give
up the production of the potato, and rely for our supply upon
some other place, I know not. But I am sure it is going to
be a serious evil,- and it is an important question how it is to
be met ; whether this beetle can be eradicated, whether we
have got to suffer from its ravages until nature provides a
remedy in some form, and whether we can do anything to
help ourselves. You have the experience of my boys this
year. They have saved the crop. If I had not done any-
thing, I should have had a very poor crop.

Question. How much do you value the work of your
boys ?

Dr. Wakefield. I have no doubt that if I had paid my
boys two dollars a day, the potatoes would not have paid.

Adjourned to two o'clock.

13

98 BOAKD OF AGRICULTURE.

Afternoon Session.

The Board was called to order at two o'clock by Major
Phinney, who stated that the subject for discussion this after-
noon was the Dairy.

NEEDS OF THE MASSACHUSETTS DAIRY-FARMER.

BY A. W. CIIEEVER, EDITOR OF THE "NEW ENGLAND FARMER."

Mr. Chairman, — Farmers of Massacliusetts : — According to
the programme announced by your Secretary, the subject for
discussion this afternoon is, "The Milk, Butter and Cheese
Dairy, and the Methods of Marketing," — a broad subject,
indeed, and one which might well occupy a whole week,
instead of a single afternoon, for the dairy lies very near to
the foundation of our present system of agriculture.

When the time shall come, if it ever does, that our earth
becomes so densely populated by mankind that there will be
no room for domestic animals; when steam, or other power,
shall replace that of oxen and horses, and when each individ-
ual shall be compelled to derive his food from the very smallest
possible area of land, then, if not before, the tillers of the soil
must become independent of animal labor, animal food, and
also of animal fertilizers as an aid in the production of food.

But with our present habits and customs, and with our
present limited knowledge of the laws of plant-growth and
soil-fertilization, it is difficult to realize to what an extent our
comfort and happiness depend upon our domestic animals,
and especially those which give us our milk, our butter and
our cheese.

I might refer to statistical reports, and read to you the
number of pounds of butter and cheese, and the number of
quarts of milk yearly consumed by the people of our State or
of the United States, — of the value of our dairy products
shipped to foreign countries ; but I will only allude to what
many of you, perhaps, already know, that the money paid for
the butter which we spread, ever so thinly, on our slices of
bread, exceeds the cost of the bread itself; that the butter
bills at large hotels and restaurants, and of the great majority

MILK, BUTTER AND CHEESE. 99

of the better class of private families, foot up at the end of
the year to a larger sum than any other single item of food,
except meat, — more than the flour, more than the sugar, and
more than the tea and coffee. Adding to this the cost of the
cheese which is found occasionally upon nearly every table,
and the value of the milk which is consumed by all classes,
from the richest to the poorest, and we can, perhaps, form
some faint conception of the vast importance of the dairy cow
in the domestic economy of our State and of the nation.

If you are familiar with the language of the grocery or the
retail provision store, you know that a rise of a few cents per
pound on the price of butter makes more talk among the
buyers than a proportional rise on any other article of food,
and that however contrary it may be to the rules of etiquette
to speak of the food at your friends' table, it is always in
order to praise the butter, if it will bear it, or to inquire the
prices paid and of whom purchased.

In fact, butter, which was scarcely known to the ancients,
and which has always been considered more or less a luxury,
has rapidly become, in our own country at least, one of the
every-day necessaries of life. Cheese, which, strictly speaking,
is really more of a food than butter, although consumed to a
large extent, has as yet become of far less importance to the
American family than butter ; but as improved methods of
manufacture may be discovered by which a soft, rich, but
pleasant cheese can be made and sold at moderate prices in
our home markets, its consumption will undoubtedly be
increased to an extent far beyond our present conceptions.

And milk, which is one of the cheapest foods sold in our
markets, is yet in the infancy of its production and use,
compared with what it might and should be, and to what it
would be, if it could reach the consumer in perfect condition,
as when drawn from the well-fed and well- cared- for cow.

On consenting to open the discussion of this subject, I
asked, "What can I say? What can I tell the dairymen
of Massachusetts that will help to make their lives more
pleasant or their business more profitable ? " A friend answers,
"Tell them what you know"; but it seems to me that to tell
what any of us know about milk, cheese or butter, would not
require a very long time in the telling.

100 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.

We arc often warned by agricultural writers and by agri-
cultural talkers, against spending our time in giving opinions,
when facts are what arc needed. The truth is, we have very
few facts to give. It costs something to collect facts, and
when collected they are worth but little until they are com-
pared and worked up by some one who is competent to use
facts, and to deduce from them results which may be of
practical use.

A cow of one of my neighbors came from the pasture the
other evening with an inflamed udder, and the milk, which
was thick and clotted, caused the cow pain in the drawing;
but after an application of a little salted lard or a bacon-
rind to the surface, and a spoonful of saltpetre in her feed,
followed by a good night's rest in a comfortable stable, she
came out in the morning all right again, and has had no
attacks of ijar^et since.

And so my neighbor tells me, or you, or he writes to his
newspaper, that salted lard, or a beacon-rind, rubbed on the
bag, with a spoonful of saltpetre given in the feed, cured
his cow of s^ar^et. This is one kind of a fact. The cow was
sick, certain remedies were applied, and she was well again.
But, on the same evening, one of my cows was attacked in
precisely the same way, and the next morning, she too was
all risrht ajjain, but without havinsr been doctored at all.
Now, which of these facts is worth the most, or is either
of them worth anything?

We are told that experiments are needed, and it is true
enough, they are needed ; but how many of us are competent
to make experiments that shall be worthy of the name, or of
the object sought ; and if competent, how many have the time,
the means, or the untiring patience required for such work?

The " Vermont Dairymen's Association " has reached its
seventh year, the "American" its eleventh, each holding pro-
tracted meetings where the most intelligent and the most
experienced dairymen in the Avhole country annually gather
to discuss those many knotty questions which practical dairy-
men constantly encounter while pursuing the daily routine of
the milk-farm, the butter-room, or the cheese-factory, and
yet I believe that the men who have attended those meetings
the most constantly are far more modest in their claims to

WANT OF UNIFORMITY. 101

knowledge, and are far less certain of the correctness of their
present opinions, than are the average farmers or dairywornen
who have learned all they know of butter or cheese making
in their own or their mothers' kitchens.

Those who have studied the philosophy of dairying the
most, and under the most favorable circumstances, realize
above all others how very little is really and absolutely known
that ought to be known about milk, butter, and cheese, and
the animals from which they are produced.

Go into any of our markets to-day, and how long will it
take one to find two cheeses or two packages of butter from
different dairies that are alike in texture, in color, and in
flavor? Go back to the forms, and how soon will you find two
dairymen who keep the same kind of cows and give them the
same kinds of feed, set the milk in the same kind of pans,
skim at the same age, use the same kind of churn and other
tools of the dairy- room, churn at the same temperature, salt
and work the butter by the same rules and methods, and, in
short, do everything from beginning to end that should be
done to make a uniform product?

One of the proprietors of a leading butter firm, doing busi-
ness in Boston, recently told me that during the many years
in which he had been handling butter, he had never yet
received butter from different dairies that was any more nearly
alike than were the men who brought it in, or the women who
made it. The products of every dairy have a character pecul-
iarly their own, which would hardly be the case if we all
understood our business, as marble-workers and bricklayers
understand theirs. But if these different products were all
good, and only varied as the character of different varieties
of good fruits vary, there would be less cause for complaint
than now, with one-half, or perhaps more, really unpalatable
to any but the coarser appetites. Now, what do these facts
prove? Simply this, that as dairymen we are yet very igno-
rant of the laws under which we are working. The hot horse-
shoe may not be used as frequently now as formerly for
driving witches from the churn, but how many of us do really
know just why the "butter don't come" as well in November
as in Juue, or why the milk sours most when lightning and
thunder shake the earth?

102 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.

How many can tell why cream is sometimes bitter in cold
weather, and what the remedy, or whence those little white
specks that are sometimes found in butter? These are ques-
tions which, with scores of others, are annually coming up for
discussion at our dairymen's meetings, and oftener in the
kitchen of almost every dairy farmer. One man may answer
some of them to his own satisfaction, but some one else will
bring forward facts which seem to overthrow all his philos-
ophy.

We disagree in our theories, we disagree in our methods,
and of course we disagree in our products, and this disagree-
ment is evidence conclusive that as dairymen we are ignorant
of our business, that we don't know enough to agree.

Some of you will remember with what a genuine air of
modesty our beloved Agassiz once said in a meeting of this
Board, "that everywhere differences — in matters of religion,
in matters of politics, in matters of science — arise from our
inability to know enough to agree with one another."

I might take up your time by giving you the details of my
own methods in the dairy-room, might tell you what kind of
pans I use, how often the milk is skimmed, at what temper-
ature the cream is churned, in what kind of a churn, how the
butter is worked, how much salt is used, how put up, and how
sent to market, and many other of the minor details of butter-
making as carried on in my own dairy-room every week in the
year, and which seem to me now of the highest importance,
although well knowing that others are equally successful while
adopting methods almost the exact opposite of mine, and
which I may within a year adopt in my own practice, and
cherish with the same ardor now felt for my present methods.

I own up to having once been a little conceited. I thought
I knew exactly how some kinds of dairy-work should be
doue. I thought that any cream, if brought to the proper
temperature, could be churned into butter ; but after taking
a job from a neighbor, whom I thought knew less than I, and
churning very steadily for nearly two whole days cream
which had been churned already (though not to my knowl-
edge at the time) more than a week, and then having to give
it up, completely exhausted and discouraged, I came to the
conclusion that I did not know it all, and that there were

METHODS OF MANUFACTURE. 103

some things back of my philosophy of which I had not yet
even dreamed.

For some years past my milk, in the winter season, has
been scalded before setting for the cream to rise ; but this
year I am trying to save that labor, and still make as good
butter as before, and the present indications are that the
experiment will be successful. So I am entirely unprepared
to lay down a set of unvarying rules for all dairymen to fol-
low, for there are so many varying conditions of which I could
have no knowledge, and over which I could have no control
that would effect results in different cases, that a rule which
might work well with one, might entirely fail with another.

Good butter and good cheese may be made by several
different methods. The milk may be set in large or in small
pans, in deep or in shallow vessels, in warm or in cold air.
Cream may be churned in five minutes, or in an hour. The
butter may be washed, or .it may be salted without washing,
it may be worked by hand or with paddles, and still be good.
Under certain conditions, one method may be vastly better than
another. One kind of cream may possibly be as well churned
in ten minutes as another kind would be in forty minutes.

There are, however, fundamental principles which underlie
the usual methods of manipulating dairy products, which every
dairyman should, if possible, understand. It is not enough
to know that a certain kind of work, done in a certain way,
proved successful once or twice, or a hundred times, if it has
ever, even in a single instance, failed, for the one failure
proves that there is something about it that we do not fully
understand.

Under ordinary conditions, cream churned for a half-hour
will reward the operator by changing to butter, but it does
not always do so. I think there are very few farmers, who
have made butter for a term of years, who cannot recall at
least one tedious season at the churn, and I doubt not that
some of you can remember several such unpleasant experi-
ences. These long, tiresome spells at the churn-dasher have
made inventors of a great many farmers' boys. They have
resolved that, when they become men, they would invent some
sort of a contrivance by which the butter should be made to
come in spite of the witches.

104 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.

Just how many different kinds of churns have been invented,
I have no means of knowing; but, some years ago, there had
been granted patents on over eight thousand in our own coun-
try alone, and there have been many others invented since.
Nearly all of these patent churns have been made, more or
less, upon the paint-mill principle, and are intended to force
or grind the butter from the cream, whether it is in the proper
condition or not.

Among the earliest churns were the goat-skin sacks for
carrying milk from place to place, and by the agitation of the
fluid in transportation, little particles of butter were gathered
together, which floated on the surface. This would only hap-
pen when the conditions were all right. Milkmen sometimes
find little lumps of butter floating on the milk in their cans,
which have been filled with milk warm from the cow, and
carried several miles to market. This shows us that cream,
or milk, may be churned without grinding the butter out of it ;
and, latterly, the tendency of butter-makers has been to study
conditions more, and patent churns a great deal less ; and the
churns which now give the best satisfaction to many of the
most successful dairymen, are those which act on precisely
the same principle which operated on the milk in the goat-
skins some centuries ago.

Both the science and the practice of dairying have made
rapid advances within the past ten years. Meetings like this,
where formers can come together and exchange opiriions even,
accomplish a great amount of good, by stimulating thought,
and by inducing both practical farmers and scientific investi-
gators to commence and to carry on experiments which shall
determine the whys and the wherefores of our usual dairy
practices.

However important the dairy industry of our State may be
to people of our cities and large manufacturing towns, who
annually consume more than fifteen million gallons of milk, at
a cost but little below four millions of dollars, yet, to the
farmer himself, it is of no less importance, so long as he is
dependent upon stock-feeding for the purpose of maintaining
the fertility of his farm.

Dairy farming allows all the hay and grain grown on the
farm to be consumed at home, and it must be poor land,

MILK-SUPPLY OF CITIES. 105

indeed, that cannot be kept up, at least to its present state of
fertility, where this practice prevails, and especially where,
besides feeding the home-grown products, large quantities of
grain are purchased from abroad.

The production of milk for towns and cities, not too far from
the farm, I have for many years considered one of the most
profitable branches of business that are carried on by the farm-
ers of the State. The sale of milk brings in a steady daily
income, while the manure made from the cattle gives the
farmer an additional advantage not realized by the grain-
farmer or the orchardist ; and nowhere in the State have milk-
producers been more successful than around this city of
Worcester. The land is excellent and the market is large,
while the purchasers are generally industrious and willing to
pay for what they buy ; but, better than all, they recognize a
difference between poor and good milk, and are willing to pay
an extra price for an extra quality.

Worcester is the largest city in the State where milk is
received from first hands, and where the producer is his own
middle-man ; and if it were possible for Boston, the great
market for half the State, to be supplied iu a similar manner,
the gain would be great both to the producer and to the con-
sumer. If I can read the signs of the times correctly, the
most pressing need of the Massachusetts dairy farmer of
to-day — except a more thorough knowledge of his business —
is a good, honest milk trade in the city of Boston ; and I hope
I may be pardoned if, while occupying your time a little lon-
ger, I speak more specially of the needs of the Massachusetts
dairy farmer, leaving those who may follow, liberty to give
the discussion such a direction as shall to them seem most
usetul.

Within the memory of men who are still making milk for
the city market, the people of Boston were furnished their
milk, as the people of Worcester are now supplied, by farmers,
who delivered their milk to the consumers directly from their
own wagons ; butas Boston grew in size, it outgrew the capac-
ity of its neighboring milk farms, and the aid of the railroads
was called in for bringing a supply from farms further back.
This required a division of labor, an agent to step between
the farmer and the consumer, and then as the business

14

106 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.

increased, a subdivision, with a contractor or wholesale dealer,
and the pedler or retailer ; and as the field of supply widened,
still another division, requiring a collector to gather the milk
from the farms, thus putting at least three parties between
the farmer in the country and the consumer in the city. But
this multiplying of middle-men, each of whom receives a
share of the proceeds, if not of the profits of the business, is
not the worst feature in this method of marketing the farmers'
milk, but it is the division of responsibility, in consequence of
which the consumer is liable to impositions without the power
of placing the blame where it may rightfully belong. Each
man's interest is too much a personal or a selfish interest.
The farmer cares onlv to have his milk clean enough and good
enough to pass the contractor ; the contractor only seeks a
full supply of such milk as his pedlers will buy ; the pedlers
are only anxious to secure enough of such milk as they can
sell and make the greatest profit.

Farmers who sell their milk for the city trade, expect, and
even require, the contractors to take all they produce during
the flush of the season, and to get along with a lesser quantity
during the seasons of short supply. The consumers require
a steady supply all the time, and an extra quantity whenever
they may have occasion to call for it. Now, what must be the
result? Either the contractor must provide for a fluctuating
market by engaging more than he ordinarily requires, or the
pedler must find some method of making his milk elastic, so
that what would go into a small cup to-day will fill a large
one to-morrow.

It is claimed by parties who ought to know, that Boston is
better accommodated in her milk-supply than any large city
in the country, and yet we have reason to doubt if there has
been even a single gallon of perfectly sound and unadul-
terated or "undoctored" milk sold in that city for years. This
seems to be the general opinion of the farmers ; the contract-
ors, so far as we know, do not deny it, and if we may believe
what "everybody" says, the pedlers know it, and the con-
sumers, with only an occasional exception, seem to have
accepted it as a matter of course, until they have actually for-
gotten how really pure country milk looks or tastes.

Now, until the consumers of milk in Boston learn what

BOSTON AND PHILADELPHIA MILK. 107

pure, rich milk is, and, like the people of Worcester, are
willing to pay for it according to its real value, and until the
farmers iu the country can learn to adapt their supply to the
requirements of the market, the middle-men will, as at pres-
ent, be obliged to fill the gap which distance has placed
between the farmer and the table of the consumer. A better
public sentiment and a better understanding of the whole
business is needed at both ends of the milk-route, in order to
secure at all times a full supply of pure milk to the consumer
and fair returns to the producer. Just how a reform in this
direction is to be brought about is beyond my present- power
of vision. Of one thing I feel sure, that the scalded skimmed
milk from my own dairy in the winter season, and the skimmed
milk from Mr. Ellsworth's dairy all the year round, for
butter-making, for cheese-making, or for human food, is equal
in value to a large proportion of much of the Boston milk by
the time it reaches the table of the poorer classes.

If this is a correct statement, then the people of Boston are
paying eight cents per quart for what would be worth less than
one cent for feeding swine. Understand me. I do not
object to the practice of selling cream from the top of milk-
cans. If a customer prefers cream to milk, I would have
him supplied with cream ; for selling cream is as honest a
business as selling butter or as selling milk. Nor do I ask the
people of Boston to buy my skimmed milk or Mr. Ellsworth's,
instead of whole milk, if they can get it ; but I do object to
selling skimmed milk, watered milk, and doctored milk at
whole-milk prices, and I object to that style of doing busi-
ness which recognizes no difference in the price of goods of a
widely different quality.

When in Philadelphia the past summer, I visited several
of the milk-supply depots of that city, and it does certainly
appear that the people of Philadelphia are much better served
than the people of Boston, and that the milk farmers who
supply that city are not brought into such close competition
with the pump and the aqueduct as are the farmers of our
State. The Philadelphia milk contractor receives his milk in
summer twice a day. It is brought in over the several rail-
roads as special freight. It is received from the farmers at
certain hours, transported by the quickest trains, and delivered

108 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.

at the city stations at other certain hours, from whence it is
taken in the contractors' wagons and usually carried directly
to the dwellings of the buvers. As it is cooled before leaving
the farm, and arrives in the city sweet and sound, there is no
necessity for keeping it in the hands of the pedlers another
whole day to cool, as is the practice in Boston. The con-
tractor lives in the city, often boards his pedlers, and has
large stables connected with his residence where the delivery
teams are kept. He contracts with the farmers for a certain
quantity of milk per day, and if he has at any time more
than he can sell, he sets it for butter-making.

At one of the large depots I visited in June, there were
several large barrel churns worked by steam power, and where
each day butter was made from the surplus milk which had
been engaged in the spring, in anticipation of an extra demand
for supplying the visitors to the Centennial Exhibition. The
price of milk at retail was eight cents per quart, the farmer
receiving about four cents, leaving the other four for defraying
the expenses of transportation, for selling, and for the profits
of the contractors. At that time there was a large surplus of
milk, and it was being made into butter at a loss, for milk is
not worth four cents per quart for butter-making, after being
carried from twenty to thirty miles over railroads, and jolted
and shaken in milk-wagons at each end of the route. The
contractors were, however, doing their best to save themselves
from loss. The best known methods of butter-making appli-
cable under the circumstances were adopted, and the butter
was sold at prices above the average, though not as high as a
few of the fancy private dairies.

A sign, neatly painted and lettered, hung over a side door
of the contractor's dwelling, on which were words something
like the following : —

Fresh butter, 40 cents per pound.

New milk, 8 " " quart.

Sweet skimmed milk, 4. " " «

Buttermilk, 3 " « "

Sour milk, 2 " " "

New milk, 2 " " glass.

Sweet skimmed milk, 1 cent " "

Cottage cheese, 2 cents " cup.

PURIFY THE MARKET. 109

And behind a little counter stood the wife or daughter of
the contractor, attending to the constant calls from men,
women and children of the neighborhood, bringing their
choppers and their tin-pails for their daily supply of new milk,
skimmed milk, buttermilk, or cup of Dutch cheese, according
to their several tastes or the financial condition of their purses.
Can any one doubt that these customers were well and honestly
served? Will men cheat where there is no temptation to
dishonesty ?

If the Boston milk market could be so purified that the
consumer shall receive just what he pays for, the consumption,
I believe, would rapidly increase ; for if honest, sweet skimmed
milk can be sold for half the price that diluted and adulterated
skimmed milk now sells for, it would soon take the place of
other foods and drinks to a very large extent, while if only
pure, whole milk were sold, the number of cows required for
producing it would be increased immediately ; and there are
plenty of farmers who are ready to increase their supply,
even at the present low prices, if they could have a steady
and reliable market, and could be dealt fairly with in every
respect. There is too little sympathy between the several
parties who furnish the city with milk ; but the great complaint
of the milk farmers of Massachusetts at the present time is,
that their milk is brought into competition with something
which sells for milk, but which is not milk, but something
that can be prepared at a much lower cost.

But so long as the inhabitants of Boston are satisfied with
what they receive, and acknowledge no difference between
different grades of milk, I see little chance for much improve-
ment in the demand for milk from the country. Without a
better demand, milk producers must, for a while longer, as
heretofore, make their milk and sell it at present prices, or
turn their attention in other directions.

The price of milk is low, but I can see no prospect of its
being much higher, even with an increased demand. Should
the price rise but one cent per quart, with a prospect for a
steady demand, the whole State would be turned into milk
farms. One of the largest milk producers in my own town
has told me, repeatedly, that if the price should go up only
one cent per quart, he should expect to see the business

110 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.

ruined within a year by the over-supply which would surely
follow.

It is true, that, aside from the profit on the compost-heap,
the milk producer who furnishes milk for the city is barely
able to get a new dollar for an old one ; but milk farming is
not the only business from which the profits are derived from
the saving of waste materials. The workers in gold and silver,
cutters of cloth and leather, pork-packers, soap-makers and
dyers often obtain a large share of their net profits from little
savings, and the economizing of materials which the more
careless would overlook or nesrlect.

Now, if we must increase our profits by improved methods
of production, rather than by higher prices for our products,
we need, first, better cows. I do not mean that farmers must
make better selections from the cows offered in the market,
but I mean that we must breed better cows. In the present
condition of the butter, milk and beef market, there is no
room in our State for poor cows.

And now I know that you will be hardly prepared to agree
with me, when I say that we need but one breed of cows in
Massachusetts ; but I believe that the statement will yet be
found a correct one. Of course, I am talking of cows for
business, such as the majority of the farmers of the State
would use, if they could obtain them, — a cow which, among
cattle, shall be to the dairyman what the "horse of all work"
is to the general business men of the country.

Massachusetts has no room for a breed of cows which are
worthless for any purpose except the production of beef, and
yet every cow should be capable of being profitably turned
into beef before her days of usefulness are passed. Nor does
Massachusetts, at the present time, need a breed of cattle
especially adapted to the yoke ; for horses are so rapidly
replacing oxen for nearly all purposes, on the road and on
the farm, that the average dairy cow will produce oxen fully
competent to do all that may be required of them on Massa-
chusetts farms at the present day. And with such numerous
and extensive markets for milk as we find within our own
borders, cheese-making can at present hardly become a lead-
ing branch of dairying in our State, and we need therefore
make no special effort in the direction of breeding cows which
are chiefly excellent only for that purpose.

THE MASSACHUSETTS COW. Ill

Our Massachusetts cow, when we get her, will be equal to
all the demands which will be made upon her for cheese-
making. But shall we not breed one kind of cow for the
milkman and another kind for the butter-maker? I say, No !
In the long run, a good article will always bring a better price
than a poor one.

I aglmit that the milk trade of the country is now in a
demoralized condition, chiefly because the public have taken
it for granted that one quart of good, honest milk is like every
other quart of good, honest milk, just as one dozen of eggs
in the grocer's market is supposed to represent every other
dozen of eo^s.

It is but a very few years since milk began to be studied
by the public. It is comparatively but a short time since we
were first urged to select special breeds for special purposes ;
since we were told to choose the Jersey for butter-making,
the Shorthorn or the Hereford for beef, the Dutch or Hollander
for the cheese dairy, and the Ayrshire for the milk-wagon ;
that, for butter, we want milk, rich in fat; for cheese, an
abundance of caseine, and, for the milk market, a superabun-
dance of water. And I think we have carried out this idea
of watering our milk, through our cows, about far enough ;
for you injure your neighbor none the less when you sell him
an undue proportion of water added by the cow, than when
you sell him that which is equally diluted directly from the
pump.

The time must come when milk will have a standard of
excellence, and when it will be sold according to its intrinsic
value, compared with that standard. Then good milk will
bring what it is worth, and the sooner this condition is brought
about, the better it will be both for the purchaser and the con-
sumer.

We have been trying to see how poor a grade of milk we
could produce and dispose of too long already, and I hope
about as long as the market will bear it. I know I am not
taking the popular view of this subject, but I believe my
position is the true one, and that he who would prepare him-
self for the future dairy market will strive to breed for a
richer quality of milk.

A uniform type of cows for the butter-maker and the

112 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.

milkman would work advantageously for both. I do not
suppose there is a milk producer in the State who can really
afford to raise his own cows, or who would do it if he could
readily buy such as would suit him.

The milk farmer has no milk which he can afford to feed to
his calves when young, and for rearing good, thrifty calves,
there has been nothing discovered or invented yet equal to
milk. The butter dairy affords an abundance of this, and I
can see no good reason why all the cows needed in the State
should not be raised on butter-producing farms within our
own borders. Such a disposition of the milk of a butter
dairy, I believe, would bring to the farmers of the State far
better returns than if fed, as at present, to swine.

With a uniform breed of cows throughout the State, the
milk farmers could generally find a supply of good ones for
sale at all times, and butter-makers could be drawn upon, at
a day's notice, for any unusual demand in the milk market,
while at present they refuse to sell their rich milk at prices
which milkmen will pay. Under such a condition, the butter
would be made and the cows reared in the more remote dis-
tricts, where pasture-feed and hay would be cheaper than near
the cities. Here breeding animals and young stock could
have that exercise which is so necessary to health, growth,
and hardy constitutions.

After reaching maturity, say at from five to seven years,
the cow could go to the milk farm nearer the city, and do
good service for a number of years under the soiling system ;
and then, while still thrifty and vigorous, be turned into good
beef for the city market.

Now, a breed of cows suited to such a system, should be
of good size, should give milk, not thin and watery, but rich
in fat, caseine, and sugar, should be hearty feeders, so that
before they reach far towards the down-hill side of life they
may be made into good beef without incurring an unwarrant-
able expense.

Have we such a breed ? Perhaps not, but we have plenty
of material for producing such. The Devons might perhaps
answer if they were a little larger. Undoubtedly they may
be increased in size by a judicious course of breeding and
feeding. The Shorthorns, which have been bred specially for

FEED OF DAIRY COWS. 113

the dahy, might do if they could be fined down a little. The
breeders probably think they are perfect now. The Jerseys
would give good satisfaction, could they be increased in size,
and yield a little plumper carcass for the butcher. Good
feeding would have a tendency in that direction.

Our Ayrshire friends may claim that they already have just
the breed that would fill the requirements ; but behind them
all, I think the farmers have a breed of animals encumbered by
no printed pedigrees, requiring no extravagant outlay of
money-, and from whose offspring there would be no tempta-
tion to save inferior calves because of their aristocratic origin
or connections, but a breed to which a rigid system of choos-
ing the best and weeding out the inferior could be applied
without causing feelings of sacrifice, as though costly blood
were being wasted ; for it is a lamentable fact that the inferior
calves from our fancy breeds are too often allowed to grow
up and bring reproach upon their kind, simply because the
owners cannot withstand the temptation to let some one who
is too ignorant to choose, pay an extra price above their real
worth because of their pedigrees.

I fear I am taking more than my proportion of the time in
this discussion, but I should leave the subject unfinished, did
I neglect to speak of two other needs of the dairy farmer of
Massachusetts.

And first, of feed.

Had the train which brought some of us to Worcester been
delayed at a way-station for an* hour or two, while the firemen
went to the woods for a supply of fuel with which to get up
steam to finish the journey, we should all have realized that
the time spent there was a dead loss, and should have felt that
we were seriously injured, especially if we found that the
managers of the road had employed men devoid of the judg-
ment needed for securing the necessary stock of fuel before
starting.

Now, if we start at the beginning of the year with a cow
or a herd of cows without providing for a sure and constant
supply of food for the whole time we intend to keep them, we
are in just the condition of a loaded train unprovided with
fuel. Yet, what proportion of the cows in the State are fully
fed all the year round ?

15

114 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.

Why, I heard, not many years ago, a president of one of the
best agricultural societies iu Massachusetts, apologizing to his
invited guests at the dinner-table, for the moderate number of
animals in the cattle-pens, and gave as a cause for it, that the
condition of the animals, on account of the summer's drought,
was such that the owners preferred keeping them at home to
exhibiting them before the public.

I do not refer to this particular case in a spirit of reproach
upon the farmers of that particular locality more than another,
for what the president said of their cattle might with equal
justice have been said of others through the State, and
throughout the whole country, as far as the drought extended.

Now, can we as farmers, or as dairymen, afford to rest our
chances of success on the hopes of an extra favorable or even
an average season ? Certainly not. We must calculate for
the worst, and then, if the season proves favorable, our profit
will be all the more satisfactory. Just how each one should
provide against these seasons of short supply, is a question
which each must solve for himself; but if he will set out
with the determination to feed his cattle all they need, every
day in the year, he will succeed, unless prevented by extraor-
dinary circumstances oyer which he would be expected to
have no control. We are too much in the habit of depending
upon the almost spontaneous productions of our pastures and
fields for keeping our stock, and we make too little preparation
for a reserve force in the shape of green rye, oats or barley,
and green-corn fodder grown specially for forage.

We also let our land lie idle too much of the time, when it
might be producing some kind of food for our cattle. We
get but one crop in a year, when there is ample time for two
or more, and thus secure but half the interest on our capital
that is due us, while at the same time we are using and paying
taxes on double the amount of acres required.

By attending to these and many other sources of waste, we
should be able to gain another point that is at present much
needed by the dairy farmer of Massachusetts, — that of reducing
the cost of production.

I have been talking — perhaps you may say dreaming — of
the future of dairying in our Commonwealth ; have indicated
the standard to which I believe we may honorably aspire.

AYRSHIRE COW'S MILK. 115

Perhaps my aim is too high for this generation ; if so, the
object sought is only postponed. It must be attained some
time, for people are not always going to buy water for milk,
nor eat poor cheese and raucid butter as a rule rather than
as an exception.

But to-day we must take things as we find them. If agri-
cultural products are low, are we sure they are not as high as
the great body of consumers can afford to have them? If so,
then we must continue to produce at present prices, or we
drive our customers to the necessity of becoming producers
of their own supplies, and, possibly, rivals in our own field.

Then let us imitate the example which competition has
obliged every manufacturer to set for us, and endeavor, like
him, to produce our goods at the lowest possible cost. But
we cannot do this by running our works on half-time, nor by
letting half our capital lie idle and unproductive ; but we
must study our business more, must know it better, and must
stop all the leaks. Then we shall have removed some of the
needs of the dairy farmer of Massachusetts. .

Mr. Gold of West Cornwall, Conn. My friend, Mr.
Cheever, invited me to make any criticisms upon the essay
he was about to read that I should see fit to make. It is
a very admirable one indeed, but there is one point to
which I should take exception. He holds the idea that
the farmers of New England are going to breed from our
native and mixed stock, a class of cows that shall be adapted
to all their wants, and that shall be superior to the different
breeds that now prevail. In making his argument, he took
for granted one point where the exception lies the strongest,
that the Ayrshire milk was the poorest in quality and most
abundant in quantity of any of the breeds that he named, and
of course selected by the milk farmer to furnish his supply of
milk for his customers. The Ayrshire breed has been raised
for the purpose of having a class of cows that would give an
abundant supply of milk of very satisfactory quality for a
certain purpose, the manufacture of cheese, and it has been
found, in connection with that, admirably adapted for the
production of milk to be sent to market. And why ? Not
because it is wanting in the caseine, or in the butter, or the

116 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.

other constituents that exist in milk at all, but because the
cream separates less readily from the milk, and the skim-
milk of the Ayrshire, when you have taken off the 'cream,
shows by its opacity that there is a large amount of nutritive
matter remaining in it. It is opaque, it is white ; it is never
blue, semi-transparent, like the milk of the Jersey. That is
admitted by the breeders of these classes of animals. And
he gives credit to the Devon as perhaps the animal that might
most perfectly answer that demand. I agree with him that
there is no class of cows in the world that gives milk for fam-
ily purposes, for all the wants required in a family, equal to
that given by the Devon. We have it rich in cream, rich in
caseine, and in all the elements of milk ; but the amount of
milk furnished by the Devons is in many families so little sat-
isfactory to the producers that they are not in credit among
farmers at present. There have been families of Devons that
have been remarkable milkers ; but they have been bred with
the idea of furnishing good working cattle until this milk-pro-
ducing habit has been somewhat left in the shade ; while the
Ayrshire has been bred, and bred successfully, with this very
object in view, and for long generations ; and the idea that our
farmers, at this day, are going to get from the native stock
and the grade stock, and compounding those animals, a good
and uniform breed, that shall be equal to the chance examples
that we have among them, I consider perfectly idle. It would
require time longer than any of us have been upon the earth
to begin to make any great progress in that direction.

It is well known that any two races will be prolific with
each other, but a third, or new race, cannot be formed from
two old ones, or two already in existence. This has been
tried repeatedly, and never yet succeeded; the progeny will
revert to one or both the original types or races. All that
can be done in the shape of improvement is to develop apti-
tudes, and have these become so well developed in a series of
generations that they will belong to and become hereditary as
transmissible qualities. The hereditary transmission of form
is one thing, and belongs to race, and the transmission of
qualities is quite another thing, and belongs to intelligent
breeding and care.

The difficulties ought not to discourage us from constant

MILK FOR THE WAGON. 117

effort for the improvement of our stock, it is true ; but they
should have the effect to control and guide our experiments
into practicable channels, and to accept some things as settled.

I heartily coincide with the general character of the essay,
but should take exception to that point made by Mr. Cheever.

Mr. Cheever. I do not claim that every position I have
taken is the best, nor that I have made my own ideas clear.
I do not want to be understood that I class the Ayrshire cow
as a water cow. The Ayrshire cow, I believe, is the best
cow now for the milkman who wants to give his customers
good milk. The point I wished most to impress, if I could
choose my language correctly, was, that farmers ought to be
in better business, and that the market ought to demand that
they should be in better business than trying to pick up those
cows that give the most milk, without regard to the quality.
The point that I wish to make, when I say that one breed of
cows is enough for the State, is, that the State is to be a
milk-producing State chiefly ; a butter-producing State only
to a small extent, and that of a first-class article, for the first-
class market ; that some uniform breed of cows should be kept
by Massachusetts, as the Island of Jersey has for ages kept a
uniform cow suitable to their wants, one that would be suita-
ble to our needs as a State ; one that would combine these
two points, — milk good and rich enough, the best that can be
produced for the use for which it is designed, the milk-wagon,
and, at the same time, milk from which butter of the best
quality can be made, that can be sold at prices that will pay
for making ; made for a class of customers who would not be
particular to have the very last globule churned in, if two-
thirds of the cream would make the butter better. The Ayr-
shire, I believe, will do this. The Jersey, as she is now,
hardly. I do not know as the Jersey could be a leading
breed for Massachusetts, a milk-producing State, because the
cream from Jersey milk rises quickly, and leaves what looks
blue. It is claimed by chemists and by cheese-makers that
the best cheese can be made from the milk of Jersey cows,
but that is not what they are sold for. I do not want to be
understood, either, that if I were going to fill my yard to-day,
I would prefer to go to what we all call, for the want of a
better name, native cows and native males, to build up a dis-

118 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.

tinct, separate, new breed, that is not recognized here ; but
until the prices for the best cows, if we know which they are,
come down to the farmer's means, until farmers can decide
which of these breeds they will use, so long as ninety-five or
ninety-eight per cent, of all the cows in the State are of that
unnamed breed, I would have men select their best cows and
use the best males they can decide upon for their own special
needs. But if there is a breed already started which can
more easily be made to fill these requirements, then we should
find which that is, and use it, as soon as it comes within our
means.

I have a fancy of my own, which I did not mean to speak
of here. I would not breed any cow that had a horn. But
there is no breed of nohorned cows that fills my demand fully ;
or, if it filled mine, it would not fill yours. It would not be
the cow that I have been talking about. I want the farmers
of Massachusetts to have, first, an honest milk market, if they
can get it, and then I want them to breed cows for their busi-
ness. I do not believe that the agriculture of the State is
quite on the right track, when we have one man claiming that
the Shorthorn is the breed for everybody, another claiming
that the Jersey is the breed for everybody, and all these
different breeds claimed as the best. I think we are on the
wrong track in taking that course for Massachusetts as a
State. I do not know as I can make my point clearer by
saying more.

The Chairman. There is a gentleman present from Barre,
a practical farmer and butter and cheese maker, who, I know,
can furnish the meeting with a good deal of information that
will be valuable to them. We shall all be glad to hear from
Mr. Ellsworth of Barre.

Mr. Ellsworth of Barre. The subject that has been so
ably handled is one that is very interesting to us all, and of
very great importance to the State, and to all the farmers in
the State. The gentleman told us we could make butter in
almost any way we had a mind to take hold of it ; that it did
not make much difference which way we went to work, butter
could be made, of first-rate quality, in any way that has been
tried. I am aware of that fact myself. But, meanwhile,
there has been a great deal of poor butter made in the same

A NEW METHOD. 119

different ways. What we want to determine at this time is,
how to make the best butter ; and I expected to hear from
the gentleman how he handled his own butter, but I did not
hear it. I am also aware that, in making butter, it makes a
great deal of difference how you begin, what kind of a cow
you have, and how she is treated. I think he told us that
there were good cows in all breeds, and that is undoubt-
edly true. The Jersey is a cow that is particularly adapted
to the production of butter ; and you can make good butter
from larger breeds, which are better adapted to the produc-
tion of beef. But that, I think, is not the side of the question
which we have before us to-day. If I recollect right, it is milk,
butter and cheese, and the marketing of these productions.

Since I have been dairying, the dairy cow and her habits
have been the study of my life. I have been handling milk for
a few years past differently from the way in which I ever
handled it before, and, perhaps, in a different way from that
in which it has ever been handled to any great extent, — and
that is, by heating it as it comes from the cow the year round,
in hot weather as well as cold, and I have made butter and
cheese from the same milk. The object of heating was to
make the milk perfectly sound, and keep it sound and sweet
and perfect, until I carried it through all the processes, and
got all I could from it. I have made butter from the milk
bj' first heating it to one hundred and twenty degrees, cooling
to about the temperature of atmospheric air, varying from
sixty-five to eighty degrees, and letting it stand from twenty -
four to sixty hours, according to the weather. I churn my
cream sweet, and adding the buttermilk to the skim-milk
sweet, I have brought out a very good article of cheese, — an
article that is pure, which will break down, and become an
article of food that is wholesome, digestible and nutritious,
and which gives satisfaction. Such a product as that can be
sold for a less price than whole-milk cheese, and to a class of
people who can buy it, which, I think, is quite as well as to
throw away that product — the skim- milk — as it has always
been thrown away. I did not aim to make a first-rate article
of cheese. I got all the best of the fat from the milk, made
a very good article of butter, and had enough left in the milk
to cure the cheese. Skim-milk cheese, with no fat in it, is a

120 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.

very poor article. The country has been flooded with it, but
it is a product that is really not fit to put on the market.
We used to call it "white-oak cheese," and it is not much
more nutritious, or fit to digest, in a common stomach, than
chips. That is not the kind of cheese I have been making.
The whey from this skim-milk cheese, fed directly, is a good
article of food for hogs. I have made some five thousand
pounds of pork from my whey, adding considerable meal,
however. But it is much better than common skim-milk
whey.

As for making milk for the market, if we can sell our milk
the year round to the milkman for the price he can afford to
give us, we can do better by making milk than any other
way. There is no doubt about that. If we could deal with
men who would promise to take all our milk the year round,
and return none of it, with the complaint that it was sour,
whether it was ever sour or not, that would be the most
profitable way in which we could use our milk. It makes a
great difference whether we sell it the year round, or only a
part of the year. At this season of the year, they commence
running a car to Barre, to take our milk ; but you do not see
them running a car up there in June, when there is a large
quantity of water in the milk. When there is a large amount
of nutritious matter in the milk, they know what they can do.
If they do not sell it to the milkmen, they can make butter.
The condensing companies can make butter in the fall, and they
do not care to run their condenser in June. So, I think, the
farmer must keep himself in such a condition, that he can say
what he will sell his milk for, and not be obliged to take what
the milk-purchasers will give.

The butter business has increased very much the last year.
There has been nearly six times as much butter shipped this
year as there was last, in the same time. That speaks well
for our export of butter. I helped build the second cheese
factory, I think it was, in Massachusetts, and I remember
that on talking it over with our farmers, they said at once,
"If we all go to work making cheese, we cannot sell it ; there
will be no market for it." But you are all aware of the number
of cheese factories that have grown up from that time to this,
and yet cheese now sells in New York better, probably, than

PEICE OF BUTTER. 121

any other product that the farmer raises. It is just so with
butter. Butter factories have increased all over the United
States about as rapidly as cheese factories, and still there is
an outlet for butter, and it brings a very fair price. We do
not all get the highest price. A few get an extra price, but
they do not get more than they ought to have. It is claimed
by many that we ought not to get seventy-five or eighty cents
a pound for butter; that it is not worth it. Well, whether it
is worth it or not, we all know that a piece of butter as big
as a walnut, just right to come on our table, is worth more
than a piece as big as a hen's egg that is not just right ; and
if it is as big as your fist, if it is off flavor, I do not want it.
So, when a dairyman makes a nice article of butter, and
delivers it fresh from the churn, twice a week, or once a
week, as may be, — perfectly sound, sweet, fresh butter, — he
will get his price for that butter, always. That will not drop
off. We would all like to have that, but as we cannot, we
will take the firkin butter. We cannot all get that kind of
butter, even at sixty cents a pound ; so that I think there is
no danger of overstocking the market if we continue, as
many of us as can, making cheese and butter.

Whole-milk cheese, that is made with all the fat in it, does
not keep as well as cheese made of milk from which a small
amount of fat has been taken. I have been told by chemists
that an excess of fat will throw it off flavor unless it is per-
fectly made. There is but a small amount of cheese in the
United States at the present time that is perfectly made, that
will stand six or nine months' keeping. Most of the cheese
that now goes to Liverpool as American fine cheese comes to
maturity in ten days ; is fit to ship and be called nice cheese
in ten days from the press. That cheese would not be fit to
be called a fair quality of cheese in three or six weeks, so
that there are a great many ways to handle cheese and get it
on the market as quick as possible.

Dr. Loring. I have listened with the greatest pleasure to
the paper which has been read here this afternoon by Mr.
Cheever, upon the question, as I understand, now under dis-
cussion,— milk, cheese, butter, and the dairy generally. There
were a great many good suggestions in his paper; there
were some intimations which I should hardly agree with, and

16

122 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.

which he has said were simply intimations brought out by the
haste with which his paper was prepared. But, gentlemen,
the dairy itself, and the position it occupies in the agricultural
community of the world, is really one of the most interesting
questions that a farmer can discuss. You know perfectly
well that you can turn your attention to the specific crops of
any land, and if you apply ordinary intelligence and skill,
you may be perfectly sure of reaping your reward. The
market gardeners around Worcester, if they apply their labor
skilfully, are sure to be compensated for that labor. He who
grows tobacco in Virginia knows that when his tobacco crop
reaches the market, it will usually compensate him for the
labor bestowed upon the crop. The sugar grower and the
cotton grower of the South, accommodating themselves to
the soil which they cultivate and the latitude in which they
live, and adapting their products to the markets they intend
to supply, know perfectly well that they will generally receive
an ample reward for their labor and their capital. That is
patent everywhere. But to the man who devotes himself to
the business of the dairy, the question becomes much more
uncertain and the results much more problematical, and so we
must govern ourselves by the best information we can obtain
on this question, with the entire understanding that even with
the best designs and obedience to the best laws, we are liable
to meet many difficulties and obstacles which would seem to
be almost insurmountable.

It is a curious fact, that the dairy section of the world is a
narrow section. I mean to say, that the belt of land which is
devoted to the dairy is a very narrow belt. It is confined
almost entirely to the northern portion of the temperate zone.
The arctic regions and the lauds at the equator have no dairy ;
nor have the southern portions of the temperate zone. It is
those latitudes that lie along the northern portion of the tem-
perate zone which are adapted to the dairy, generally. Now,
I think we can deduce from this a very excellent law to guide
us in our work. We know perfectly well that the extremes
of heat and cold in this belt of land of which I have spoken,
must generally be avoided, in order that the dairy may be
properly managed. In the extreme heat of summer, the same
difficulty exists with the dairy in the latitude to which I have

THE DAIRY COW. 123

alluded that would exist in the tropics. It is almost as hard
to make butter in Vermont in August, as it would be in
Louisiana. The condition of the climate, the condition of
the feed, the condition of the animal itself, are such, that the
processes of the dairy can hardly be carried on, and it is the
mean temperature of early summer and of early autumn, in
the latitude of which I have spoken, which is peculiarly
adapted to the production of milk, butter, and cheese. Now,
we live in that latitude, we live in that belt, and to us espe-
cially it is of the first importance to develop, as far as we can
possibly, some definite laws in regard to this business.

I conceive, therefore, that there are two laws which can be
laid down, if I can express them definitely, that may possibly
guide us in our work. In the first place, the condition of the
animal economy. A perfect condition of the animal economy,
not pinched by cold, nor weakened by intense heat, is neces-
sary for a good dairy. Take a cow in the month of June, — a
cow adapted to the dairy, — and her physical condition is
entirely in accordance with the physiological processes going on
to enable her to eliminate from the food she takes the largest
and richest amount of milk. There is no portion of the animal
economy so sensitive as that which a dairy cow employs in
the production of milk. There is none so easily affected by
heat ; there is none so easily affected by cold ; there is none
so easily overthrown by accident ; there is none so easily
destroyed by excessive muscular exertion. The fat-producing
functions or organs of the animal generally, perform their
duties with perfect ease. They are those organs which enable
you to fatten a hog at almost any season of the year. They
are those organs which enable you to raise Shorthorn beef
readily. A cold day, or a hot day, or a thunder-storm, does
not affect a Shorthorn bullock in the manufacture of beef;
nor does it affect a Suffolk pig in the manufacture of pork.
But the organs which a dairy cow uses in the manufacture of
milk are so sensitive and so nicely balanced, that a thunder-
shower suddenly coming up will throw them out of gear ;
exposure in a hot day will affect them ; a north-east storm
will affect them; a blow struck by a harsh attendant will
affect them ; a bad, stupid, or blundering milker Avill almost
destroy the capacity of a dairy cow. I say this to show you

124 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.

how sensitive this organization is, and how necessary it is
that the animal economy should be in the healthiest possible
condition in a dairy cow, in order that she may produce the
greatest amount of milk, and the best milk from a given
amount of food. So I say that the first condition is, that the
animal economy should be in perfect order, if you expect to
derive from the dairy cow what you ought in order to make
her profitable. She must not, then, have too much exercise in
feeding ; she must not be exposed to intense heat ; she must
not be exposed to intense cold. When Mr. Cheever told us
that it was more difficult at a certain time of year to convert
cream into butter, I thought, as far as the cow herself was
concerned, I understood somewhat of the difficulty. I do not
think it is possible for a cow to be half frozen in midwinter,
her stable covered with frost, the thermometer far below the
freezing point, with nothing but ordinary hay before her, to
keep her animal economy in such condition that she can in
any possible way create milk that is capable of making good
butter. In order to keep herself alive, she is continually
drawing upon her fat-producing functions and organs, whether
they are devoted to the manufacture of cream, or of that
adipose matter which constitutes an accumulation of fat. She
is continually drawing upon these organs to keep herself
warm, and how can she make milk, under these conditions, of
such quantity and quality that she shall be a profitable dairy
cow? I do not think it is possible for a cow, which, for a
period of twenty-four hours is exposed to intense cold in the
winter time, to produce milk that is capable of being manu-
factured readily into butter.

I think I am right in this.- When, therefore, I am told
that it is difficult to manufacture butter in the winter season,
I must know, in the first place, where the cow stands, and
how she is fed, which is called upon to make the cream out of
which that butter is to be made. If I find her exposed in a
cold stable, with the doors half open in the night-time, and
with wide cracks behind her, so that she is shivering in the
morning, I am pretty sure that the cream made by that cow
cannot be readily converted into butter. If you wish, there-
fore, to overcome the difficulties in the winter time which
have been so well set forth by the lecturer this afternoon, you

WARM FOOD IN WINTER. 125

must be sure that your cow is kept in proper condition, and
fed with food which does not chill her. Let her water and
her food be warmed, and under those conditions, you may be
sure that a cow which is a good dairy cow in the month
of June will be a pretty good dairy cow in the month of
January.

Speaking of this matter of warming food, I desire to state
a little fact that came under my own observation last winter,
which confirms the statement I have made. I am runninsf a
milk farm. I introduce no water into my milk except what
my cows drink. I have made that a rule. A year ago last
autumn, I introduced into my yard and barns the water from
the water-works of the city of Salem. I had had water in
my yard from a brook, I had had wells, etc., but I intro-
duced this water thoroughly through all my farm-buildings,
barns, stables, and farm-house. In the course of the winter,
when the weather was very severe, I had a boiler so set that
it was easy to draw water from it into the driukino;-trouo:hs
where the cows drink daily ; and when the weather was
intensely cold, I requested my foreman to supply these
troughs with an abundance of warm water. He soon found
that the milk of these cows was increased more than ten per
cent. ; that in cold weather, on account of the care which he
was led to take in watering those animals with warm water,
care which he did not take in milder days, he increased to
this extent the flow of milk from them. It was water as
warm as the water in a pasture in the summer season, and the
animals appreciated it accordingly. That fact strengthened
my faith in the law that I have been laying down in regard
to the animal economy.

Now, having said as much as I have in regard to the animal
economy and the proper conditions for a dairy cow, I think
every farmer will agree with me that you must not expect a
chilled and half-frozen cow to supply you with cream, or
even a liberal quantity of milk, in the winter season. You
cannot, moreover, make butter in midsummer, when the
heat becomes excessive, — in August or late July weather.
An enervated cow, dragging herself up from pasture in clog
days, is not in a condition to give good cream, and you need
not expect to have it. And so everybody will tell you, "We

126 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.

have got a supply of June butter, of September butter,"
made when the animal economy was in the best condition for
the production of cream, at a time when the cow was not
pinched by cold nor enervated by heat, but was in a sound,
strong, healthy condition.

I think we can hardly expect, Mr. President, to make
good butter, moreover, from cream that has been frozen.
Mr. Ellsworth stated a very remarkable fact with regard to
his preparation of cream for butter, when he said that he
scalded it, heating it, as I understand it, to the temperature
of one hundred and twenty degrees. I hardly understand
that, unless it facilitates the rising of the cream. It may be
that the heat drives the cream rapidly from the milk. That
may be the object of the process, and that gives him what he
so properly calls " sweet skim-milk." But I am perfectly
sure that milk should not be exposed to intense cold if you
expect to get cream from it, nor should it be exposed to long-
continued summer heat, which to a certain extent decomposes
it. I think that cream should be preserved in about a uniform
temperature, and we can never expect to get the globules of
the cream in a good, sound, healthy condition when they
have been exposed to long-continued heat. I do not say to
scalding; I say long-continued heat, say during the twelve
hours in which it rises ; or exposed to such intense cold that
it freezes. I think every dairyman will agree with me that
the cream globules are broken down by both these influences ;
first, by the frost, and secondly by the decomposition which
attends the application of long-continued heat. So I would
have the milk preserved from those influences. I think that
the milk from a cow fed and kept warm as I have suggested,
and itself kept at about the temperature of sixty degrees,
will almost always, at any season of the year, produce a nearly
uniform good quality of butter. I submit this to the gentle-
man who read the lecture, who has more time than I have to
investigate these matters, as a suggestion out of which he
may find some remedy for the difficulty which he has so well
set forth.

So much for the condition of the animal economy, and so
much for the condition in which cream should be kept during
the time when it is to be prepared for the manufacture of

THE "NATIVE" COW. 127

butter. In regard to cheese, I desire to say to the gentleman
from Barre, that I fear no wholesale manufacturer of cheese
will ever come up to his old domestic standard. I have had
two cheeses presented me by the farmers of Barre. One was
given me by Mrs. Ellsworth, whose courtesy and hospitality I
shall always remember with the most profound gratitude. It
was a cheese made in her own house, by her own hands, and
ripened as she knew how to ripen it. That was a cheese whose
quality and flavor rest in my memory still. The other cheese
was presented to me by the cheese manufacturers of the town
of Barre, as a specimen of the products of their factories. It
was a factory-niade cheese, and a very excellent result it was
of factory manufacture. I tried with all the skill that I had to
bring that cheese up to the genuine Ellsworth standard, but I
never got it there. Somehow or other, it was a little too
strong, or a little too sharp, or there was something about it
that was not just right. I never could ripen it up to the
standard reached by the products of our best domestic dairies.
So, I would say to you, when you want to get the perfection
of cheese, pass directly by the door of Mr. Ellsworth's cheese
factory, and introduce yourself to Mrs. Ellsworth's dairy-room,
if she still has one, and then you will find out what good
cheese is. I do not say this to disparage the cheese factory,
or to intimate that, like Peter Pindar's razors, factory cheese
is made to sell, but simply with the hope that the manufacture
of cheese in the factory will be brought to a uniform degree
of excellence, as high as the best of those brought out by
the most skilful dairy-woman before the factory was estab-
lished.

Now, with regard to the suggestions that have been made
here upon the question of the New England dairy cow. It is
a very important question, and many of the statements made
by Mr. Cheever are perfectly in accordance with my own
views. But I want to remind him, that the best cows in New
England that are called "native" cows, are those which, for
long generations, have been adapted to our soil and climate,
and have descended from some of the best recognized breeds.
If you take what are called "native" cows, you will find that
many of them (Mr. Cheever will excuse me for saying it) are
" hampered with a pedigree " and when we get them back to

128 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.

the best recognized families, then we find out what their merit
is. And it is surprising, too, how the soil and climate of any
section will arrange the animal economy so as to suit its
conditions. For instance, in Essex County, we have had a
great many Ayrshires introduced, both pure-bred animals and
grades, and they have laid the foundation of the most admirable
dairy herds we have ; and I am inclined to think, with all
deference to the opinions of others, that a good cow, a well-
balanced, well-organized, good dairy cow, converting all her
food most profitably into the products of the dairy, is what
would usually be called an Ayrshire cow. I give her that
name because I cannot hit it in any other way. I mean to say
that the cow that has the best head, the best neck, the best
shoulders, the best ribs, the best hips, and the best lacteal
functions for the dairy, is what is usually known as an Ayrshire
cow. That is the rule. Now, you come into Worcester
County, and wrhat do you see here? Long ago, there were
introduced into this county what were known as Durhams, or
Shorthorns. The climate and soil here have brought those
animals into the organization and condition of Ayrshires.
And when I have myself examined the herds of cattle in the
region in and around Barre and New Braintree, and have
found cows of about that proportion, size, shape and color,
which I should value in my own Essex County herd as an
Ayrshire cow, and have said to the owner, " What will you
take for that cow ? " the reply has been , " I don't want to sell
her. She is a good deal like an Ayrshire." I have heard
that over and over again. The gentleman from Barre (Mr.
Ellsworth) knows it. They are born a good deal like Ayr-
shires. The soil and climate have brought about a condition
of the animal economy in the Shorthorn, or Durham, which is
analogous to that of a good dairy cow, the animal to which
the Scotch farmers and breeders have devoted so much time
and attention. The Devon, under ordinary influences, graded
on other breeds, will produce somewhat similar effects.

I do not mean to say that pure-bred Devons will do it,
because they are not dairy cattle, and are not claimed to be in
England, where they are bred for beef purposes. There, the
Devon is one of the finest beef animals in the world. A
Devon breeder who called on me two or three years ago, told

THE COSMOPOLITAN COW. 129

me that a four-year-old steer often dressed for Christmas beef
fourteen hundred pounds. He said they were bred solely for
beef purposes. Yet the Devon, in certain parts of Connect-
icut (just as the Shorthorn and Durham in Worcester County
and the Ayrshire in Essex County) intermingled with dairy
breeds, has produced almost as good a dairy cow as we have
in New England. That somewhat broad-horned, well-shaped
red cow, with a white end to her tail, — everybody knows her,
— is about as good a cow as you can find. And what is quite
remarkable, she resembles, in color, shape, and size, the best
imported Ayrshire bull ever brought into New England.
That shows you, does it not, the correctness of that statement
of mine, that you can generally wind up the description of a
good cow, of any grade, by saying, "She is a good cow, for
she looks like the Ayrshire " ?

It is exactly so with the Jerseys. You get a pure-bred
Jersey, and she is as delicate as a child, almost; but you
can put that strain of blood into other breeds, to such advan-
tage that I have seen many and many a grade Jersey cow,
which, in general conformation and condition, was so analo-
gous to an Ayrshire that you would say, "Why, upon my
word, those Ayrshires must have some Jersey blood in them,
after all." You know, sir, that we can make Americans out
of any nationality in the world, if you will only give it time
enough to get a foothold on this continent. I have always
said that the American blood was the most cosmopolitan and
all-absorbing blood known. So I say that the Ayrshire cow,
as a dairy cow, is the most cosmopolitan and all-absorbing
cow on earth.

Now, a word in regard to the feed of these animals. I
have so often stated the law in regard to the feeding of dairy
animals that it seems hardly necessary to repeat it again.
I think that law is, so to keep your animal that is to be
engaged in the business of making milk, as not to rouse to
undue action the fat-producing functions at any period of life.
For instance, take a yearling heifer that has been kept in full-
beef condition up to a year old, and her life has been so
devoted to the business of making fat that it seems as if the
fat-producing functions had overrun the milk-producing func-
tions, and the chances are that she will not be worth a dollar
17

130 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.

when she takes to her business and work as a dairy cow. It
is almost invariably so. I would feed, therefore, with special
reference to the business in which the animal is to be engaged.
If I were growing a Shorthorn for beef, I would keep him
growing all the time. If I were growing a dairy cow, I
would feed with special reference to that part of the animal
economy which has to do with the production of milk. I
would keep the calf growing moderately, not overloading it
with food of too nutritious a quality. I would not give it any
great amount of oleaginous food, but keep it mainly upon
hay, with oatmeal, and perhaps a little corn-meal when neces-
sary. I would keep it growing moderately. I would not
stop it, but I would not give it any food that would appeal to
its fat-producing functions, endeavoring always to keep in
mind the object in view, that when the animal grows up, it is
to be a good dairy cow.

I think, if this law is followed, not only can the breeds
which are now recognized as dairy animals be improved, but
that a great improvement can be made in the general average
of our natives, and that the first step will be taken toward
accomplishing what Mr. Cheever has so well alluded to this
afternoon, — the production of a good, substantial, well-fash-
ioned Massachusetts cow, not singly, but in herds.

I have said, gentlemen, a great deal more than I intended
when I took the platform, and a great deal more, I have
no doubt, than you desired to hear. But it is a great
pleasure, I desire to say, to meet you again, and I am sure
that in whatever business I may be engaged, I shall never,
unless absolutely necessary, absent myself from the meetings
of the State Board of Agriculture of Massachusetts.

Adjourned to seven o'clock.

Evening Session.

The Board again met at seven o'clock, Dr. Loring in the
chair, who introduced as the lecturer, Donald G. Mitchell,
Esq., of New Haven, Conn.

THE FARMER'S HOMESTEAD. 131

THE FARMER'S HOMESTEAD, AND ITS RELATION TO FARM

THRIFT.

BY DONALD G. MITCHELL.

We may as well begin at the beginning, in this matter, and
talk, first, of the proper situation for a farmer's homestead.

It must be convenient, of course, and, to this end, centrally
placed ; not too near the highway, lest it forbid all homely
privacy, and not too far away from it, lest it involve the costs
of private road-making and of repairs, which, on many farms,
foot up uncomfortably large. The shelter of some flanking
hill is an excellent thing ; but this may be gained by adroit
establishment of outbuildings, by an old wood, or by judicious
planting. Dryness of site, and facilities for drainage, are
indispensable. I think it was Thoreau who said that it was
safe to build where a woodchuck dug his hole. He certainly
never runs the risk of having water settle in it ; he gets in a
good lee, and he secures a chance to bask in the sun near by.
A permanent, good view is worth having ; but it is paying
too dear for it, to climb to the top of a windy hill. The high-
road is a good neighbor, as I have said, if well kept ; but the
frontage of a house, in the country, should not be governed
by it. There may be a passer-by you may like to look out
for; but whoever it may be, the sunshine is a better man than
he, and the best windows should be opened to him freely.
The outer doorway, through which inmates pass oftenest,
should have a sunny aspect and a lee of shelter. Northern
doors, unprotected, and where ice forms easily upon the step,
and an aguish blast smites every outgoer, are great breeders
of domestic wrath, and the man who tolerates such deserves
— what he is sure to get.

Easy access to water is, of course, a matter of prime
importance in determining site. A spring, which will take
water into the house, is best of all ; a near brook, which will
admit of the same result, — by a ram, — is next best ; and an
unfailing well, next. Of the adequacy of such supply, and of
dealing with it, I shall have more to say when we come to
talk of the interior.

Second. After site is determined, the question of material
is in order. "Wood is cheap, is manageable, is dry, and, with

132 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.

watchfulness and renewal of paint (which is, in fact, a minute
coating of earth and oil), will last many years. Old timber-
houses of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, in many parts
of Europe, are still habitable. It is needless to say, how-
ever, they were substantially built, and most of them filled in
between the timbers with mortar. This device has never been
adopted with us, nor, though picturesque, is it commendable
in our climate ; the fierce suns of our summers occasioning
such a shrinking and swelling of the wood as displaces the
masonry, and opens gaps between it and the timber. If wood
is adopted, it is an excellent provision against cold, as well as
against heat, to fill in between the studding with brick, as in
many of the old colonial houses. In lack of this, the heavy
sheath ing-paper should be used under the exterior covering ;
or, what is still more effective, the walls may be back-plas-
tered,— that is to say, lathing should be cut in between the
studding, and a rough coat of plaster applied, in addition to
the final wall of plastering, some three inches removed from
it, and set up in the usual way. Such precautions are espe-
cially desirable upon the exposed sides of a house. We do
not take enough account of difference in exposures ; the very
trees should teach us a lesson, — the bark is thickest upon the
north side.

In many parts of the country concrete houses have latterly
come much into favor, and there is a great deal to be said
for them. They admit largely of home-work and unskilled
labor, the chief matters of importance being, that the lime or
cement should be the best, the sand sharp and coarse, while
the filling may be of pebbles, small bowlders, or, still better,
the debris of a quarry. The rougher the exterior is left, if
only uniform in surface, the better the effect.

An advantage urged in favor of the concrete house, is, that
it admits of plastering directly upon the interior surface, thus
operating a great saving of labor and of space. I should,
however, hardly count such a procedure wholly safe, except
there were a wide projection of the eaves, and a twelve-inch
course, in best water-cement, laid throughout the building,
two feet above the ground.

The popular idea with regard to a stone house in the coun-
try is, that it involves great cost in the shaping of the mate-

ECONOMY OF STONE HOUSES. 133

rial, and that it carries with it an unhealthy dampness. Where
such dampness exists, it must be due to faulty construction.
Our cousins, in England and in France and in Italy, have
been living quite safely in stone houses for a great many cen-
turies ; and the great cost alleged is due to such hammering
of the stones, or to such an over-smoothness of exterior as are
no way essential to a good, a substantial and a picturesque farm
homestead. There are thousands of acres in New England
which have stones scattered over the fields, which must be
removed for easy tillage, which ordinarily go to the construc-
tion of fences, or to lumber the sides of highways, and which
would furnish effective material, of varying tint, and without
a hammer's stroke, for the walls of a substantial house. If
those of regular angles are lacking for the corners and jambs,
hard brick may be substituted, which, so far from offering
ugly contrast, supplies the very one which they are just now
seeking for some of the elegant villas of Newport, and which
belongs to some of the most venerated old country houses of
England. A strip of blue stone will make sills, and, for
lintels, nothing can be stancher and more secure than well-
seasoned oak or chestnut timber.

Some sixteen or seventeen years ago, I had occasion to build
a small, one-story farm-house of some fifty feet in length
by twenty-seven in width, and used in the construction the
stones nearest at hand, being a bit of old fence which it was
necessary to remove. The stones varied in size from the big-
ness of my fist to those eight or ten inches in diameter. The
windows were thrown two into one, to avoid cost of unneces-
sary jambs ; and these jambs, and the angles of the building,
were of brick. The gables were constructed of wood , and over-
hanging the end walls by a foot or more, thus enlarging the
area of attic-floor and lessening cost of construction. This
building, whose walls are as stanch and strong as on the
year following their completion, was executed at a cost of
only $1,500, and a like sum would almost cover it now. No
building could be drier (of course, it is furred off some five
inches within), none could be warmer in winter or cooler in
summer. As for exterior, it has, certainly, a homely rough-
ness, which, I must say, I like, as a protest that will stand
against over-nicety.

134 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.

Another building which I had occasion to erect within four
or five years, of larger size, is of the same general character,
though the stones — still ordinary field stones — have been culled
with more care, and the pointing more considered. In this
case, a second story, of wood construction, overhangs the first
story of stone, and the chambers, thus being inclosed by
wooden walls, are, I observe, very satisfying to those who
cannot get rid of the old-fashioned prejudice, that stone
houses are, of necessity, damp. I have ventured to bring
before you this record of personal experience, in order to show
what may be done practically with very much of the rude
material which is lying about our fields. Those who insist
upon extreme nicety — which I think a very needless thing in
the exterior of a country homestead — might not be satisfied
with the result. But the work is strong ; the walls will endure ;
they mate well with any landscape ; they involve no constantly
renewing bills to the painters ; age will mellow them ; the
vines take kindly to them.

As for architectural style, whether of this name or that, I
think the less we worry about it the better. If we build for
good light, good air, good room, with windows where we
need them, chimneys where we need them, and porches
where they will be of real service, and if we could resolutely
do this, without cramping our wants to an architect's whim,
or to what he or we consider "style," I think we should come
to an honester and a better architecture. A broad, well-
pitched roof, and generous-sized chimneys, are full of homely,
hospitable expression, and are commended by the best of
practical reasons : such a roof disposing easily of snows and
moisture, thus lasting well, and offering security against
heated chambers ; and generous chimneys admitting of those
multiplied flues, which, with their fireplaces in all the chief
rooms, provide for the best of ventilation.

I know there is a sort of economy which suggests adherence
to conventional forms. Your builder has drawings (such as
they are) of your neighbor's house ; he engages to build one
like it, with a few minor changes, and you have no bother
Avith plans and their costs. But in a home where we and our
children are to be established, and to form habits for life, and
to put in shape our ideas of order and propriety and con-

HOUSEHOLD CONVENIENCES. 135

venience, we want a good fit. To secure this fitness, it is
quite essential that the homestead be planned and take shape
from the inside, and not, as in too many cases, from the out-
side.

Now, in nine cases in ten, in determination of the arrange-
ments which go to make up the fitness I have spoken of, the
wife will be the better judge, and it is she who should hold
court. Housekeeping in a farm homestead involves, at best,
a great deal of serious care and toil, and she who bears the
brunt of it should be put in possession of all those aids that
lie in easy juxtaposition of kitchen, pantry, stairs, presses,
bath-room. Whatever lessens the grosser labors in the home-
stead, civilizes and refines. The farmer is eager to lay hold
upon whatever will lighten his work in field and stable. He
does not keep to the old snathe, when he can put his horses
to a Buckeye. Is he eager as he should be to multiply aids
indoors? Take the water-supply, for instance; there is no
good reason, in this day of hydropults and of force-pumps, why
every farm homestead should not have its abounding supply
of water flowing into it, above and below. I would not,
indeed, advise such congeries of pipes as belong to the town-
houses, ramifying all over, exposed to every sharp change of
temperature, and involving attendance of those most expen-
sive of visitors — the plumbers. But oue pipe, near a flue,
and away from outer walls, with its proper attachments above
and below, and fed from a tank under the roof, supplied by
force-pump in well or cistern, or from a spring, would, at small
cost, give respite to many a weary one. All that relates, too,
to fuel, lights, and that dreadful harassment of "washing-
day," should be improved, and made easily manageable by
all the devices that town civilization supplies. There is no
possible reason for our living in the country in 1876 as we
lived in 1826. We cannot, indeed, have gas in the farm
homestead, — except what the campaign newspaper brings in,
— but with abundant kerosene, and the improved lamps, we
may have that best of civilizers, a full flow of light. But
after all, the best light is sunlight, and of that there should
be good store ; most of all in the room which is the living-
room and the home-room. And whatever may become of
parlor or of keeping-room, the living-room should be the

136 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.

sunniest, the largest, and the cheerfulest of the whole house.
Parlor means talking place ; and if you must have a starched
talk with your parson, a room ten by twelve is big enough for
that ; and if you must have a private gossip with a gossipping
neighbor, a room even smaller is big enough for that. Bet-
ter, by all odds, that your living-room were such as to entice
all comers, whether parson or gossip, and that they should
delight in its largeness and homely cheer. Kept rooms,
curtained and fine, and hung with photographs, and smelling
of the varnish of new furniture you never use, are dreadful
places. In the country, and everywhere else, they smack of
funerals, or of Dorcas societies, or of that starched ceremony
which is one of the worst country importations from the town.
Above all things, a good, honest farm homestead should have
the air of being " lived in " all over.

The farmer, from the necessities of the case, must be very
much at home. Whatever social growth or ripeness he may
come to, must be found there. Husband and wife are very
much thrown together. The resources in the town for "even-
inffs out," are not at his command. If the butter will not
come, or if he has forgotten to put that glass in the kitchen
window, he will be very likely to hear of it ! So, too, — for
almost everything has two sides, — if the heifer has kicked, or
if he has bought a spavined horse for a sound one, the mis-
tress will find that out, — and the humor bred of it. There are
no such lightning-conductors in the country as one encoun-
ters at street-corners in town — good, stolid fellows of the
opposite party — upon whom you can vent your spleen . Every-
thing comes home in the countrv. It is amazing how much a
contented wife and family — contented by reason of the cheery
surroundings — will take the gustiness out of a man, and stim-
ulate his better endeavors ; and it is not at all surprising how
much a discontented, querulous temper, that is bred of a
meagre, ill-ordered, dingy homestead, will keep a man's spleen
at fever-heat, and take all the bloom from his enjoyment of
life, — no matter what may be his successes out of doors.

I think a good word may be said for the farmer's larder, in
connection with the homestead. All nationalities, in their
growth away from barbarism, leave no more striking evidences
of advance, than in their modes of eating, and variety and

THE FARMER'S TABLE. 137

treatment of food. The days are changed since Peter the
Great grappled in his fists a knuckle of venison to satisfy
hunger. The farmer's larder ought to be full, and full of
good things. If he grows them, he may surely test them.
He ought to know a yearling Southdown haunch from a
pinched loin of an old Merino. He will need stronger
meats than the man who keeps within doors mostly ; but
they need not be gross. I think we incline to too much
of grossness in this, — making light of that larger variety,
and those multiplied delicacies which confront us in town.
I think we might well substitute tender and luscious fruits
for some of the heavier puddings and indigestible pastry
we incline to. There is no good reason why crisp celery,
mushrooms, and other such delicacies, not more diffi-
cult of growth than a tobacco crop, should be given over
wholly to townsfolk; and, if a brook is available, nothing is
simpler than to have a stock of trout at command. Such
appetizing dishes will commend the table to sons and daugh-
ters returning from school or city. It is not essential to farm
thrift that we limit ourselves to pork and corn-bread, royal
as these are in their places, nor should poultry be kept back
for the market only. A good broiler of Brahma or Dork-
ing, if always "put in the place where it will do most good,"
should surely find its way, sometimes, under a farmer's jacket.
We want to live up to the level of our work, and of our
produce, to get an appreciative sense of what it is really worth.
We expect a clergyman to live up to the level of his best
preachment ; we don't wish our legislators to ignore the laws
they make — except for back pay. We don't expect tailors
to be ill-dressed, nor should a farmer's homestead fail of being
well stocked with those riper delicacies, which, with his
improved breeds and new fruits, he is multiplying every year
for the denizens of towns. Whatever civilizing influences —
and who shall say they do not exist? — may belong to improved
marketing, belong, of right, and in fullest reach, to the well-
appointed farm homestead.

I come now to a very brief consideration of those interior
fittings of the farmer's homestead, which are more especially
under the control of the mistress of it ; and if I might venture
to address a word to these "parties of the second part," it would

18

138 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.

be to say, that while you secure all the needed conveniences
and appliances for comfort, from patent wringer to hot water
at command, by arguments you can best use (and which the
master had best listen to with docility), you set your faces
against such flimsy finery of all sorts as will bear no honest,
every-day handling. All material furnishing should have
such simplicity and strength as will invite use and ensure
comfort. Showy upholstery trappings are the poorest things
in the world to make a house really livable and cheery and
inviting.

Do not burden and chill a homestead with too starched a
law of order. If, in the living-room, the goodman wants his
desk, humor him; if the cat wants a lounge, humor her; if
some fussy, but kindly, Aunt Tabitha wants her rocking-
chair, do not say nay to this. Do not lay down any dreary
and unflinching law of proprieties. Do not stickle for abso-
lute agreement of parts ; let there be motley, if you like it,
or can put it to good, honest, every-day enjoyment. An old
settle, well-cushioned, if you like ; a home-wrought rug, if you
choose ; a grandfather's elbow-chair ; an open cupboard in the
corner, or in the wainscot, for the display of your best china.
Many of these things happen just now to be a fashion of the
city, so that, in thus decorating a homestead, you will be "in
the style," — a miserable argument, I grant, and not wTorth
considering for a moment, except real service and conven-
ience sustain their use.

Give flowers a chance to wanton in the window. Remem-
ber that, in your woods, you have ferns and mosses, easily
accessible, which are a passion with those who can hardly
secure them in the town. Let vines, too, toss on either hand
and embower your winter's look-out. These things will cost
only the lightest of care, and they will be needful, with many
other simple decorative features, for your daughter's delight.
You cannot send her to such schools as we have now, —
schools whose studies enlarge and refine every faculty, —
without somewhat more to feed her new-born appetites, and
the new ranges of an imaginative and inquiring mind, than
the old bareness of room and wall and window.

There may be something in the furnishing to stamp it as a
farmer's homestead. If you have some rare specimens of

ORNAMENTATION OF THE FARM-HOUSE. 139

maize that you are proud of, show them ; hang them over the
mantel ; group them, with rare wheat or barley heads, into an
ornament that will be richer than any the upholsterer could
devise. The grasses, both wild and cultivated, may be pre-
served and arranged as not only to make a charming decora-
tive feature, bat to serve as specimens whereby to determine
any question of habit or name. So, too, if you have rare
fruits, and your daughters are studying— as they do in these
times — the art of copying them in wax, — a very delicate and
pretty art, — place them on show as trophies. Or, perhaps,
the same daughter, or a boy with a taste for natural history,
has a knack (easily learned) of stuffing birds ; in which case
you cannot have a better ornament than a well-mounted owl,
or a brace of quail, or a group of our commonest songsters.
Then there ace the wonderful things to be done in colored
leaves and rustic-work in twigs, — all charming, and, if you
come to that, bearing their price in city shops, and eagerly
sought for.

Now, such things in the homestead not only carry an essen-
tial grace, but demonstrate a pride in the country life, and a
determination to have familiarity with it, and knowledge of
it, and carry, furthermore, evidence to all cultured people who
enter your homestead, of the opportunities within your range
of life for linking happily together minute knowledge and a
refined taste. To a home of such belongings, children coming
back from schools of whatever sort, will not find their minds
starved by contact with bareness, but piqued and gratified
and stimulated by its fresh and suggestive aspect. In gone-
by times, there were something coarser ways of finding enter-
tainment. There were the husking-bees and apple-parings,
— easy, jovial, kindly, in which young people all participated
with glee. Well, your daughters now, do not want to take
their tournures and trains into a barn. They have come by
schooling, reading, lecture-going (if you please), to a differ-
ent level. They perceive that the husking business is given
over to a different set of fellows, who do it for two or three
cents a bushel, and "be jabbers, are as good as iver the nixt
jintilman."

We cannot declaim against this new aspect of the family.
We cannot take our female country population out of their

140 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.

new plane, — out of their bustles, and land them in gingham
aprons ; — ask your wives if we can ! The old social zest that
lay in a pleasant coarseness will not come back ; but we can
lay the basis of a new and riper social zest, in making the
homestead, or its equipments, level with the education of
the day.

I could have wished, had time allowed, to say something of
the surroundings of a farm homestead, and how proper dis-
position of shade and shrubbery and walks may be made to
contribute to that cheery, comely air, which educates the
young, and which contents the old. But in these matters, no
more than in the fittings of an interior, would I urge an over-
finical nicety. I would not urge flowers, because such and
such colors are "of the style," nor paths trimmed and rolled
with soldier-like precision, nor turf shorn to the eighth of an
inch ; but I should say trees where you want shade or
shelter ; shrubbery where you want a screen ; flowers where
they are a positive delight to you or your friends, and where
you may cut them at will ; walks for a positive convenience,
— always dry, if not geometrically true, and always leading
where you want to go, and not foolishly trailing, under the
hands of town gardeners, where you never want to go.

Again, that portion of the high-road which is the former's
own should be looked to with care. The roadside is his ;
rights of travel over it do in no wise take away his propri-
etorship. To the eye of the world, it gives the first and
main test of his neatness and order ; if he abuses it, he
abuses himself, — a sort of self-abuse that I think our legisla-
tures should compel him to forego. There are townships in
New England which carry a barbarian look, by reason purely
of the uncomely stones and offal dumped upon either side of
the high-roads. It is needless to say that strangers are dis-
gusted, and the marketable value of adjoining lands sensibly
depreciated. Yet there are money-getting farmers, credited,
I dare say justly, with a coarse kind of "horse-sense," who
clear the fields, and, year after year, thus barbarize the high-
ways. In villages, they would not dare it ; but in remote places,
nobody sees, nobody cares, having grown up in such savagery.
Now, I think every farmer should treat his homestead and its
surroundings as if the world were to see it. I think every

MARKS OF CIVILIZATION. 141

man should live as if the world were to see him and his work ;
and for that matter, every woman, too.

Speaking of looks, reminds me that it may be urged, by
some overbalanced utilitarians, in regard to all the topics I
have brought forward, that they have no positive economic and
practical bearing; that they look, after all, to improvements
only in the general aspect of things, — to appearances, in
short. Well, all I have to say to this, is, that civilization, in
every step of its progress, must leave marks of its advance ;
and these marks of a progressive civilization are in every land,
and with every people, indicated by just such improved
appearances as I have brought to your notice. They are the
evidences of comfort, of culture, of wise thoughtfulness, of
the best sort of thrift. Science and skill and industry, as
they work out their triumphs in farming or in anything else,
and enlarge resources, and widen the range of action and of
thought, ought to have expression in the whole tenor of a
man's life. We want, if we want to do the best with a farm-
er's life and a farmer's calling, to make its every-day home
associations mate fairly with the best homes everywhere, —
mate with them in substantial comfort, in order, and in good
taste. We want, most of all, to demonstrate with reference
to our farm-life at the eastward, its range for the development
of a full and well-rounded manhood and womanhood ; with
graces of its own, and opportunities for culture of its own ;
and that the prevailing disposition to esteem it bare and dull,
has no foundation in the inevitable conditions of that life.
And nothing will more surely make this clear as such a well-
appointed homestead as I have figured, and which is within
easy reach of every man and woman who sets earnestly about
its establishment.

With such a homestead made good, with children cheered
by it and proud of it, with wife contented in it, the farmer
has surely won one of the largest results of a wise thrift.
And if it passes away from him, or he passes away — in the
final harvesting — from it, he may feel assured, that, though
he may not have lived an altogether good life, he has, at least,
left on record — a good sermon.

142 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.

At the conclusion of the lecture, the members of the Board
and others attending the meeting, by invitation of the Worces-
ter County Horticultural Society, repaired to the library-
room, where they were met by several of the prominent citi-
zens of Worcester, and some two hours were delightfully
spent in the enjoyment of a bountiful and elegant collation,
in listening to brief addresses from several gentlemen present,
and in personal questions and conversation. Wm. T. Mer-
rifielcl, Esq., of Worcester, "presided, and the speakers were
Hon. Henry Chapin and Hon. W. W. Rice of Worcester,
Judge Bennett of Taunton, Benj. P. Ware, Esq., of Marble-
head, Dr. Wakefield of Monsou, T. S. Gold, Esq., Secretary
of the Connecticut Board of Agriculture, Dr. Fisher of Fitch-
burg, Rev. Mr. Lamson of Worcester, Charles B. Pratt, Esq.,
and the Secretary of the Board. The occasion was an ex-
ceedingly pleasant one, and the thanks of the Board are due
to the gentlemen whose thoughtful kindness prompted them
to conceive and carry out so successful an entertainment.

THIRD DAY.

The Board met at ten o'clock, and Whitney L. Warner,
Esq., of Sunderland, was choseu Chairman for the day.

MANURES AND CHEMICAL FERTILIZERS.

BY HON. LEVI STOCKBHIDGE.

Mr. Chairman and Gentlemen of the State Board of Agri-
culture:— On former occasions like the present, I have had
the honor of addressing the Board upon the subject of manures
and chemical fertilizers, and the principles of plant-nutri-
tion. The statement has been made, that after long years of
experiment and examination, after the discussion of a variety
of opinions which had been received and discarded, after the
trial of many and exhaustive experiments, scientific men, at
the present time, were agreed, or in harmony, in the main,
practically, in relation to the principles of plant-nutrition,
and that the experiments at the Agricultural College had been
simply an attempt to see if these acknowledged principles

LAW OF PLANT-LIFE. 143

could be applied in practical agriculture. The statement of
principles has been, that scientific men know absolutely what
plants are made of; that the composition of perfectly mature,
healthy, well-developed plants is unvarying. The composi-
tion of plants is not an accident, but a design. The wheat
plant of to-day, in its composition, in obedience to natural
law, is practically the same thing that it was a thousand years
ago, and is in its composition to-day practically what it will
be a thousand years hence. Law, and not accident, controls
it ; and that is true in relation to all the plants of our fields.
The statement has been made, that, in relation to the materials
of which plants are composed, all, so far as the plants are
concerned, are equally important. If a plant takes a frac-
tion of one per cent, into its composition of soda, for exam-
ple, that one fraction of one per cent, of soda is just as im-
portant to the plant as ten or fifteen per cent, of lime or of
potash ; and so with every other element that enters into its
composition. To the plant, all the elements that enter into
its composition are absolutely essential, or a perfect plant
cannot be formed. It has been stated, that, so far as the
farmer is concerned, — the man whose business it is to feed and
to produce plants, — there is a wide difference in the importance
of the different elements which enter into the composition of
plants ; as, for instance, while every plant which is formed
must have a large per cent, in its composition of carbon, and
it cannot be formed without carbon, yet, so far as the farmer
is concerned, he may throw this part of the plant's composi-
tion entirely out of his account, and he need never feed a
plant with carbon. It has an exhaustless supply of this from
natural sources. So with the other orgauic elements of plant-
nutrition, with the exception of nitrogen. Nitrogen, which a
large proportion of our plants take in large quantity, the
plant cannot get its full supply of from natural sources,
although it may draw much ; and nitrogen the farmer must
supply. So with the other elements. While the plant must
have soda in its composition, yet, so far as the farmer is con-
cerned, soda can be supplied by the soil itself in sufficient
quantity for. all the plants that will probably be produced
upon it, and the farmer need never supply soda for the food
of plants. The standard of the maximum yield of crops on

144 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.

all soils is the minimum supply in the soil of any one of the
mineral elements which the plant requires.

So, too, in relation to the condition of the food of plants.
Scientists are perfectly agreed, I think, in this matter, that
the materials which enter into the composition of plants must
always be in a certain condition before the plant can appro-
priate them. You may give to the soil and to the plant an
endless supply, without limit, of raw, coarse, undecomposed,
bulky material, and yet, while you do that, you give to the
plant but a very small quantity indeed of plant-food that can
be available to it.

It can be of no sort of use in feeding the plant until this
coarse, raw, crude material has passed through a stage of
decomposition, and the elements of plant-nutrition contained
therein have been eliminated from the coarse material, and
made solvent in water. As a natural consequence, these
scientists believe, that if plants are fed with the right mate-
rials, in the right proportions, and in the proper condition, a
very small quantity of this material applied to the land will
produce as large crops, as perfect crops in all respects, as
immensely large quantities of coarse, crude, unprepared
material. In other words, scientists believe, that, so far as
plant-nutrition is concerned, a very small quantity of the
chemical materials which are the food of plants, properly
prepared, in a proper condition, and in proper proportions,
applied to the soil, will produce just as large crops, as large
quantities of coarse, crude, improper material, and that the
farmer may positively rely upon producing large crops from
small quantities of chemical materials, properly compounded,
prepared and applied.

These, gentlemen, in as few words as I can state them, not
to take your time in going over the whole ground, are sup-
posed to be, in the main, the scientific principles of plant-
nutrition. The experiments at the Agricultural College, as
has been already stated, have been simply an attempt to find
if those scientific principles could be applied in practical
agriculture ; to see if chemical substances could be combined,
and if, with those substances, we could produce the ordinary
crops of the farm. And for this purpose, to ascertain this
fact, from time to time, little by little, step by step, rules

THE STOCKBRIDGE FORMULAS. 145

have been laid down ; rules have, at the college, been grad-
ually, little by little, developed, until we have come to see
that certain elements, compounded in certain proportions,
will produce, if applied to the land, certain results, or approx-
imately certain results ; and these rules have come to be
called "formulas," and, in common parlance, through a large
portion of the Commonwealth, and in the papers of the
country, "the Stockbridge formulas." Now, I understand
that during the past year, certain scientific men, or certain
men who would appear very scientific, in certain quarters,
have said that those formulas, drawn down to scientific rule,
were incorrect. It has been said, and it has been published,
that those formulas or rules must be a humbug, because they
have been changed ; that the formula of 1875 was not like
the formula of 1874, and the formula of 1874 was not like
the formula of 1870. These statements have been publicly*
made, and I feel justified now in saying a word about the
formulas or rules which have been laid down for compound-
ing chemicals to produce various crops. Had a brother
farmer come to me in 1869, and asked me, "What are you
doing in the way of experiment ? " I should have told him
honestly exactly what I was doing. If he had asked me,
"What are you using?" I should have told him honestly and
plainly what I was using, and how I mixed it. If the same
farmer, or another one, had come to me in 1870, and said,
"What are you doing? What are you using? How do you
compound the materials?" I should have told him, and I
should have told the farmer in 1869 one story, and the
farmer in 1870 another. In 1871, I should have told him
another story ; in 1872, I should have told him another story ;
in 1873, I should have told him another ; but in 1875 and
1876, I should have told them all the same story, — the fact
being, that farmers and the public broke in on me in my line
of march and investigation. That is the fact. While other
men were talking about investigating, or basing their inves-
tigations on the investigations at the college, it should be
remembered that the investigations at the college were
moving right straight along, bound by no rule, bound by no
theory, but getting at the determined facts of each year's
experiments. We were inquiring in a new field, as it were,

19

146 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.

and what we ascertained to be a fact this year, we endeavored
to apply in the compounding of fertilizers the next year ; and
that is the reason, gentlemen, why the formulas have been
changed. It was supposed that they were to be changed ; I
believe they are to be' changed again ; I may be mistaken.
The experiments are not yet completed. Before I am done
to-day, I shall indicate the direction in which it is possible
these formulas may yet be changed, because there is yet a
broad field to be investigated in this matter. Thus much
pardon me for saying in regard to the " Stockbridge formu-
las," and the correctness of those formulas.

Now, I have stated that the experiments of the Agricultu-
ral College were simply an attempt to ascertain, if possible,
if the acknowledged principles of plant-nutrition could be
applied in practical agriculture. Since the last meeting of
'the Board, we have had another year's experience; we have
had another year for study, trial, and experiment, and I stand
here to say that this year's experience, trial, and experiment
has only served to confirm me in my previously expressed
belief in relation to this whole matter, and to enable me to
express in stronger language, and with more confidence, my
belief in the theory that has been advanced heretofore, than
I could use one year ago, and your attention will now be
called to some of the experiments at the Agricultural College
this year, from some of which nothing whatever has been
learned.; from others, certain things have been learned.

But before proceeding to give, in as few words as I am
able, the result of those experiments, I wish to say a word
about the season of 1876, and I preface it by this strong
statement. I do uot believe that the farmers of New England
have, in the crops of this year, received their money back for
the fertilizers that they have used, whether barn-yard manure,
the Stockbridge fertilizers, or any other fertilizer that could
be bought in the market. It has been a season of unparalleled
and unprecedented drought and heat, except in certain local-
ities, where there have been local showers to give relief.
Crops manured with all kinds of fertilizers have been injured,
and even deep-rooted trees have suffered from the dry weather,
until their leaves have been seared, their fruits have shrivelled
and dropped from the bough. This is the fact in relation to

INFLUENCE OF THE WEATHER. 147

New England. The same excessive drought has extended to
a greater or less extent in the Middle States. Maryland,
Virginia, and parts of North Carolina have been blessed with
abundant rains. South of that, Georgia, South Carolina,
Alabama, Florida, have suffered from drought. Now, remem-
bering this fact, with a few remarks that this- suggests to my
mind, I will come to the results of my experiments.

It occurs to my mind, because it has been mentioned to me
since I came to Worcester, to say something about the effect
of the weather on the use of chemicals as fertilizers. I have
been told here in Worcester that the professor of agriculture
made a statement at Haverhill, and made it in different quar-
ters a year ago, that if farmers would use chemicals, they
would be entirely independent of the weather. I do not
believe that the professor of agriculture ever made that state-
ment, or ever made one that any man could honestly construe
into that, because, in the first place, the professor of agricult-
ure, although not wise, is not so much of a fool. Any man's
common-sense, as well as his intelligence, teaches him that
the weather has much to do with the perfection of crops,
especially the rainfall and the heat. Now, the professor of
agriculture has stated, and he boldly repeats it here to-day,
and proposes to stand by it, that when he uses chemicals as
manures, the farmer is more independent of the changes and
vicissitudes of the weather than when he uses raw, coarse,
undecomposed, unfermented mauures ; and that in a season
when there is only an ordinary variation from the average
seasons, but a variation which would affect crops on coarse,
raw, unprepared mauures, the crops on chemicals, which are
absolutely plant-food, which are ready to feed the plant, and
therefore require no decomposition and little water, will not
be affected by such seasons. But where we have a scorching,
burning drought, or where we have a midsummer frost, no
man ever did, and no man ever will, find fertilizers that will
screen him from damage and loss from such seasons and such
weather. That is what the professor of agriculture believes,
in relation to chemicals as plant-food.

Now, I have made the statement, that the season of 1876,
in its effect upon crops, has been a remarkable one. I want
to be sure that I do not make any mistake in this matter, and

148 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.

therefore I will give you the result of the investigations at
Amherst in relation to the season, and, of course, its effect
upon crops. I desire to compare the rainfall and the temper-
ature. This tells the whole story in relation to the influence
of the seasons on our crops. The farmers in adjoining towns
say that we have been blessed with abundance of rain this
year as compared with them. We have thought they were
blessed with rain as compared with us. It is probable that
the average has been the same in all the towns. I think the
farmers in the valley of the Connecticut will bear me out in
saying that until this year, the year 1873 was one of the
severest seasons for crops that we ever knew. The rainfall
in Amherst, in 1873, during the months of May, June, July,
August, and September, was a little more than 16-^ inches.
The rainfall of those same months in 1876 has been 16|, and
a trifle more. It did not vary but jqVo °^ an mc^ m ^e ^w0
years. The temperatures of 1873 and 1876 are altogether
unlike. The average height of the mercury has been four
degrees higher in 1876 than it was in 1873. Therefore, we
have had this year unparalleled droughts, combined with
excessive heat, making it disastrous to our crops beyond the
year 1873 ; and the remarkable part of it has been, that in
the month of August this year, which was the month that did
the work of mischief, that killed the corn crop and destroyed
our fruit crop, — in the mouth of August, this year, in Am-
herst, we had only 2.072 inches of rainfall. It is a wonder
that the entire vegetation of the earth was not destined.
Now, I will compare 1876 with 1874, because that was the
year in which my experiments began on a broad scale, in the
open field, aud see how the two seasons compare. In 1874,
the rainfall of May, June, July, August and September was
26.369 inches ; in 1876, during the same months, it has been
16^ inches. During those months, we had almost ten inches
more rainfall in Amherst, in 1874, than in 1876. During
those two years, in relation to temperature, which enforces
the condition of rainfall, we have had an average temperature
in 1876 of seventy degrees, and in 1874 our average temper-
ature was less than sixty-five degrees. In other words, in
1874, when these open-field experiments began, we had
twenty-six inches of rainfall and a temperature of sixty-five

EXPERIMENTS AT THE COLLEGE. 149

degrees. In 1876, we have had sixteen inches of rainfall and
a temperature of seventy degrees. Now, gentlemen, it is fair
to say, that, notwithstanding all that may be said about chem-
ical fertilizers making crops independent of the season, such
wide variations in the season as these must effect crops upon
any fertilizers or upon any manures.

I come now to speak of the experiments, and I shall be as
short as I possibly can and give you any idea of what the
experiments this year have been.

The old series of experiments has been kept along, but a
new series has been commenced, and before I close I shall, in
connection with another matter, allude to this new series of
experiments.

Scientists agree, that plants can supply themselves with a
proportion of their needed nitrogen from natural sources. In
the air there is nitrogen in the form of nitric acid, in the form
of ammonia, and then that exhaustless supply of nitrogen,
the elemental nitrogen of the air. Without stopping to
inquire how it is that plants get their nitrogen from any
source, we agree that they do get a portion of nitrogen from
these sources. The all-important question to the farmer is,
How much ? Nitrogen being the most costly element of plant-
nutrition, if it were possible to know how much the different
plants and different crops obtained, and to reduce it to rule,
many hundreds of thousands of dollars would be saved to
the farmer. Therefore, to learn this thing, if it be possible
to learn it, a series of experiments was begun this year in
this direction. The crops taken were oats and corn to repre-
sent the grains, potatoes and mangolds to represent the root-
crops, and beans to represent the leguminous crops. To
each one of these crops we gave four plots of land. In each
case, one plot was planted without the fertilizers, to deter-
mine the general effect of the fertilizers ; and the other three
plots, while they had the same chemicals precisely, and in the
proper proportions, were fed with different proportions of
nitrogen. The crop was carefully tended in each case, notes
made of the influences acting upon the crop, the condition of
the crop as affected apparently by the weather, the crops care-
fully harvested, and the record made ; and we have learned
nothing, — nothing ichatever. There were sixteen plots, upon

150 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.

which a great deal of work and a great deal of thought and
care were expended, and we have learned nothing. The vari-
ations between the different plots with the different propor-
tions of nitrogen have been so small, that, in view of the fact
that the effect of the drought was different on the different
plots, and in view of the fact that the different plots might
have been of such different degrees of natural fertility as
would account for all the ascertained difference in the crops,
I should not be justified in saying that I have learned any-
thing. I only say in relation to this series of experiments,
that they have been carefully tried, the record has been care-
fully and correctly made, and it may require ten years of just
such labor and just such experiments to learn that we are on
a wild-goose chase, and never shall find out anything, or learn
anything valuable that we can apply practically.

The plots with which we have experimented in previous
years have been experimented with this year. It is a matter
of no great interest, but I will give the result of those experi-
ments, and draw my conclusions.

A plot of land which has been previously described — drift-
soil, full of round, water-worn stone — was planted in 1874, and
manured with chemical fertilizers, to produce fifty bushels of
corn to the acre above the natural yield. This, I say, was in
1874, the year spoken of, when we had twenty-six inches
of rain and an average temperature of sixty-five degrees.
Judging by a plot planted without manure, we called the
normal fertility of the land capable of producing thirty-four
bushels of corn to the acre. That was its product that year.
The plot to which the manure was applied produced that year
eighty-three bushels. In 1875, the same application was
made, and the manured plot produced seventy-four bushels ;
the unmanured plot, twenty-five bushels. In 187(5, the same
plot of land, manured in the same way, produced forty-eight
bushels ; the unmanured plot, nothing, — or, I have it here,
two bushels of corn. I may as well say nothing. I lay that
to the dry weather. I think the unmanured plot would have
produced, from its natural fertility, a little corn this year, but
of course everything was burned up by the dry weather.
The potato plot, in 1874, manured with material for one hun-
dred bushels of potatoes more than the natural yield, gave

THE COLORADO BEETLE. 151

two hundred and nineteen bushels ; the unmannred, one
hundred and twenty-six bushels. In 1875, the same plot,
manured, produced two hundred and eighty-nine bushels of
potatoes : the unmanured, one hundred and twenty-eight.
In 1876, the same plot, manured, produced eighty-four bush-
els ; the unmanured plot, forty bushels. The unmanured
plot had not one table potato upon it. I will say here, in
passing, what some other experimenter will deny, perhaps,
that in trying these two plots of potatoes, we discovered a
remedy for the Colorado potato-beetle. We did not want to
try it. The potatoes on the unmanured plot were extremely
feeble ; they hardly developed any leaves at all. The weather
was dry ; this was the third crop without manure. The plot
beside it, that had manure, developed a fine top, and the
beetles attacked it, and ate it all up, and not a bug touched
the unmanured plot. I suppose the fact to be, that the
potato-bug found no tender foliage on the vines of the unma-
nured plot, and therefore they attacked the manured plot,
and although they were fought vigorously and persistently,
they destroyed the foliage in spite of all that we could do.

The next plot has a lesson in it. It was manured in 1874
with a large quantity of chemicals, to see how much corn
could be produced on the acre. It yielded one hundred and
four bushels of shelled corn. The normal yield that year, as
you remember, was thirty-four bushels. The same plot in
1875, planted a second time to corn, and unmanured, yielded
sixty-four bushels. The same plot was planted in 1876,
without any manure, and yet, in this dry season, it has
yielded thirty-six bushels. The first year, one hundred and
four bushels ; then sixty-four bushels ; then thirty-six bushels
this season, with one manuring, and that in 1874. That is
the result of the experiment with that crop.

Mr. Slade. ' How much fertilizer was put on that first
year ?

Prof. Stockbridge. The first year, the amount of fertil-
izer put on was to make one hundred bushels to the acre, the
thing being done simply to answer this question, without any
regard to results, or anything else : "If you can make twenty-
five or fifty bushels to the acre, beyond the natural yield, why

152 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.

don't you make five hundred bushels to the acre and not till
so much land ? "

Mr. Slade. I wish to get at the value of the fertilizer.

Prof. Stockbridge. I cannot tell you anything about it.
These fertilizers were all bought in the market by myself, in
the elements ; but my impression was that the fertilizer put
on the first }rear, at the then price of the chemicals, saying
nothing of my labor in preparing (because they were all
mixed by myself), cost about $40 for the whole amount put
on that acre.

Question. Whether this was applied broadcast or in the
hill?

Prof. Stockbridge. Broadcast — that large quantity.

Question. How much laud in a plot?

Prof. Stockbridge. Each plot taken contained one-eighth
of an acre. The next experiment to which I call your atten-
tion is a continuation of the one reported last year on an acre
and a half of land. The land was taken up outside of the
college farm, because it was so poor that nobody tilled it,
and nobody cared for it. It had on it moss and hardback,
and was absolutely worthless for tillage. I squatted upon it,
and ploughed it, put the chemical fertilizers upon it, and pro-
duced, as you remember, sixty-two bushels of corn in 1874.
I continued the cultivation upon it in 1875, and the same
quantity of the same materials was applied, and it produced
seventy-eight bushels of corn. Grass-seed was sown in the
corn. It never had grown grass to my knowledge before ; at
any rate, not since I was acquainted with it. Last fall, a year
ago now, it looked splendidly, after taking off the corn. The
ground was bare nearlj' all winter, — a severe winter for new
seeded land, as every farmer knows, — and in the spring, it
looked brown, as if the seed was all killed : but when rain
came in April, it began to look green, and it yielded this year
two thousand five hundred pounds of good herdsgrass and
clover to the acre. The drought turned it brown in the month
of August, so that there was no rowen produced. At the
present time, it is looking green, and like a fine mowing field.
That was the result of the experiment with grass and corn,
for the three years. This is all I have to say about the specific
Agricultural College experiments.

LASTING EFFECT OF CHEMICALS. 153

Now, I desire to draw a fair and just conclusion from these
experiments last reported, and it is this : I honestly believe
they sustain the previously expressed opinion that lands could
be manured with chemicals, and improved year by year. The
question that the farmer asks is, "Will not the eiFect of the
chemicals be exhausted in the first year of application?"
These experiments show that the effect of the chemicals lasted
at least three years. They increased the crop three years.
Remember, gentlemen, that is not the way you farm lands.
You do not grow corn year after year on the same land. But
that is the way we tried it, and the result proves conclusively
that the effect of the chemicals, in the ordinary way of farming,
reaches over to successive years, and that we should be justi-
fied in taking up poor lands, planting corn with chemicals,
and seeding down, as we ordinarily do, and that we shall find
the effect of the manure in the after grass crops. I say, I
think the result of these experiments last detailed shows con-
clusively that we may use chemicals as we do barn-yard manure,
and that we shall not be disappointed in the results.

Now, do not understand me as saying that the effect of
chemicals in subsequent years will be as good as that of barn-
yard manure. I am not going to say anything about that.
I say, absolutely, that with chemicals used on lands, cropped
in the ordinary way, we found a very satisfactory result in
the grass crop the third year succeeding. I think the result
of the experiment justifies me in drawing that conclusion.

Question. If our barn-yard manure was as finely pulver-
ized as the chemicals, would it be likely to last any longer
than the chemicals?

Prof. Stockbridge. If you will bring barn-yard manure
into the absolute condition of plant-food, then they are alike.
The trouble is, that barn-yard manure will not, in one, two
or three years, get into that condition, in the ordinary way of
treating it.

Now, gentlemen, after all that has been said about these
little experiments at the Agricultural College, the great
experiments of this year have not been tried on the Agricult-
ural College farm. The great experiments with chemical
fertilizers, this year, have been tried all over this wide land,
on more than a thousand farms, under all possible circum-

20

154 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.

stances of diversity of soil and climate, drought and rain. A
year ago, come winter, it having become perfectly apparent,
that although the formulas from which these materials were
prepared were in the hands of all the farmers of the Com-
monwealth, and they could buy the materials and mix their
own fertilizers and try them to their heart's content, yet
various parties were about to engage in the business of man-
ufacturing and selling these fertilizers, the right to manufacture
and sell them was secured, as a guard against fraud, deception
and cupidity, and the right to manufacture was put into the
hands of a firm in Boston. It was put into their hands, first,
because they were supposed to be very intelligent; second,
because they were supposed to be perfectly honest ; and third,
because they were supposed, from long acquaintance, to have
a deep interest in agriculture and agricultural prosperity,
outside of any fertilizer or any commercial operation whatever.
Those gentlemen have informed me that they have sold the
fertilizers, this year, and that parties have bought the uncom-
pounded chemicals from various sources, to such an extent,
that I am justified in saying that more than four thousand
acres, this year, have been under experiment with chemical
fertilizers ; and that this use of chemical fertilizers has not
been localized here in Massachusetts, but they have been used
all over the country, from Maine to Louisiana, in almost if
not every State of the seaboard States of the Union. It is to
•these broad, open-field experiments, in the hands of all kinds
of men, intelligent and ignorant, — men who understood what
they were doing, and men who did not understand what they
were doing, — that I now call your attention in relation to the
results of the use of chemical fertilizers on the farm.

There have been failures, undoubtedly ; there have been
wonderful successes ; but, on the whole, taking into account
the failures of all kinds and descriptions, and the successes
of all kinds and descriptions, I shall feel justified when I
have called your attention fully to these experiments, in
drawing some conclusions. But I desire to put the experiments
themselves before you, that you may, independently of me,
draw your own conclusions.

The first experiment to which I call your attention, is an
experiment tried by the superintendent of the Agricultural

A SIDE JOKE. 155

College farm, and he is here, and will correct me if I do not
report the experiment aright ; for the farm superintendent
undertook to play a very nice game or ruse on the professor
of agriculture. About twenty acres of corn were grown on
the farm this year. The corn-field selected was good, warm,
sandy loam soil, in good condition. One field of ten acres
was manured with about twenty loads of good barn-yard
manure to the acre, ploughed in. Half of the field was then
top-dressed with a compost of night-soil, harrowed in with a
Randall harrow. The other half of this ten-acre field, after
having been ploughed and properly tilled, was manured in
the hill with Bradley's XL superphosphate. The other corn-
field and the farm had about twenty loads of good barn-cellar
manure to the acre, ploughed in, and Bradley's XL super-
phosphate put in the hill.

Question. How large were the loads ?

Prof. Stockbridge. The loads were drawn by a pair of
2,600 horses, — all they could put on, which means a pretty
good load.

Question. How many cubic feet, do you suppose?

Prof. Stockbridge. Probably a little less than half a cord.
That is about the amount of manure put on to each field.
Those fields were ploughed and planted in season. Every-
thing was done in order to those corn-fields. Then, in order
to test the professor of agriculture, the farm superintendent
went into the market and bought the Stockbridge fertilizer for
corn. Not such as I make. He did not come to the corn-
house, where I mix it; he did not want to let me know any-
thing about it ; but he went and bought it already prepared,
so that he should have such materials as others had. He
applied this to land that no farmer would say was fit to plant
corn in. It was not corn-land, but cold land, mucky land.
He ploughed it on the seventh day of June, after the other
corn was up and hoed. On this land he put the fertilizer for
seventy-five bushels of. corn, and harrowed it in with a Ran-
dall harrow, having ploughed the land about six inches deep.
There was just four-fifths of an acre of land, by measure,
exactly. He then gave the lot up to nature, and said, "Go
it!" He only hoed it once with a hoe; cultivated it twice,
and, last week, I think, he cut and harvested the corn there

156 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.

was upon it. On one side of the field; within ten feet of the
line of the ploughed land, was a large, beautiful, magnificent
elm, which gave picturesqueness to the scenery, but did not
improve the corn-crop a bit. On this one-fifth of an acre, the
corn on about four or five rods on one side of the field, that was
completely under the influence of this tree, died, so that the ears
all hung down. He harvested it and weighed it accurately,
and, on my solicitation, reported what the result was. He
got, on that four-fifths of an acre, sixty-nine bushels of shelled
corn. He reports that he had more corn on this four-fifths of
an acre than on the best acre of that manured with the barn-
yard manure ; not the average, but more than on the best acre
that suffered least from the drought ; the average of his other
fields being less than sixty bushels to the acre.

Question. How much did his fertilizer cost him ?

Prof. Stockb ridge. He reports that, taking into account
the cost of fertilizers, tillage, and everything, that corn cost
him forty-four cents a bushel.

Mr. Slade. Was not this piece better adapted to stand
the drought than his large fields that had manure?

Prof. Stockbridge. The large fields stood the drought
better than this small piece. This muck land dried up and
suffered severely. It was like powder in the dry weather.
As my friend knows, muck land suffers more from drought
than sandy land.

The next experiment to which I call your attention is one
where I know nothing whatever of the party or the section of
country. I cut it from the "Vermont Farmer." I do not
doubt that the gentleman referred to is an intelligent man ; I do
not say that his experiment was not fairly tried. Everything,
so far as the man is concerned, is all right, I have no doubt.

" Stockbridge Fertilizers for Corn. — Col. John B. Mead of
Randolph, who applied ' Stockbridge fertilizers ' to one acre of his
corn-field in place of barn-yard manure, reports that the crop so fer-
tilized was a failure. While that portion of the field having barn-
yard manure gave a good yield, the corn on the ' Stockbridge ' acre
was very poor in quality and small in quantity. It was so evident
that the thing was a failure, that he did not consider it worth while to
measure the crop before condemning the chemicals as worthless for
raising corn."

A BLOWING UP. 157

You have that just as I have it, and I desire to accept it
just as it is. I don't know anything about it.

The next experiment to which I call your attention (and I
do this with a great deal of seriousness ; I mean all I say in
relation to it), is the experiment of the Sturtevant brothers,
in Framingham ; gentlemen who are well known to you, and
who, through the columns of the " Scientific Farmer," are
month after month keeping you familiar with the experiments
that are being conducted on their farm in Framingham, which
are worthy of the attention and study of the farmers of the
State. They are experimenting in different directions, and
some of those experiments are of very great value. I should
say here, that Dr. Sturtevant is a little inclined to be after the
professor of agriculture about these matters, and he came to
Amherst a year ago last spring, stating that he had no faith
in this thing ; he wanted to try it ; he did not believe any-
thing until it was tried and proved. He did not want to take
anything in print ; he wanted it from a man's own fist, and
wanted his autograph under it. He wanted I should write
down what he should get to grow a crop of corn, and tell
him how much corn he should have, and then he would put it
to the test, and blow me up or blow me down (good-
naturedly, of course) , according to the result. So I put the
directions in black and white. I told him what to get, how
to mix it, how to apply it, and how much corn he should
have. Of course, I did not know anything about it ; but
that was all well enough. He went away and tried the exper-
iment last year. He tried it faithfully, and before telling the
experiment this year, it is necessary I should tell the result of
that experiment, because the experiment this year has been
on the same land. In 1875, he put on material for fifty
bushels more than the natural yield, and he got eighty-two
bushels to the acre of shelled corn. I think the committee of
the society who awarded him the premium, reported that the
yield was more than one hundred bushels to the acre, by
measuring single rods ; but he reports the yield of the eight
acres to be eighty-two bushels to the acre. I have not dared
to question him, lest I should be found at fault, but I believe
the report was, that on one field the crop was within two
bushels of the predicted yield, and on the other within six

158 BOAED OF AGRICULTURE.

bushels of the predicted yield. I do not know whether it was
two bushels more or two bushels less, or six bushels more or
six bushels less.

Dr. Sturtevant. We applied the materials for sixty
bushels of shelled corn to the acre, and the yield came so
near that amount that it scared me ! The variation from your
prediction was six-tenths of a bushel.

Prof. Stockbridge. I thought I was not overstating it.
Now for the experiment of this year. They have grown six-
teen acres of corn with chemicals, eight of which was the
same land treated with chemicals in 1875. They report a
yield of seventy-five bushels of corn per acre, grown at a
cost of forty-five cents per bushel. On eight acres of this
land, where they obtained the largest yield, the cost was
twenty-two cents per bushel.

The next statement which I wish to make, is this : A gen-
tleman in a town adjoining Amherst (I do not want to call his
name, for I do not think he would be willing to have me) sent
to Boston and bought the materials for fifty bushels of corn
to the acre for ten acres. Having purchased it, he came to
me to know if I thought he had done a foolish or a good thing,
telling me on what kind of land he was going to apply it, and
asking me how he should apply it. I told him how to apply
it, and at the same time told him that if the manufacturers
did their duty they would put upon the material (which had
not then arrived) full and distinct directions how to use it,
and to follow those directions or mine. I saw no more of
the man until July, when I met him one day and asked him
if he got the material, and how his experiment was proceed-
ing. "It is a total failure," said he; "it didn't amount to
anything." "What is the matter? Dry weather?" "I don't
know. It didn't amount to anything." "Well, what is the
matter?" "Well," said he, "perhaps I am a little to blame
about it. I got the material, got the land all ready, got it all
furrowed out, and, instead of spreading it on broadcast, I
thought I would strew it in the furrow. I was called away ;
my men went on and planted the corn, and I did not go near
the corn-field until I went to see if the corn needed hoeing,
and there were not ten spears of corn on the field. I found that
the men, instead of strewing the material in the furrow, had

THE NEXT EXPERIMENT. 159

dropped it in the hill, and planted the corn upon it. I had it
planted over again, and the corn had jnst started when the
drought came on, and it does not look as "if I should have much
corn." I saw him again this fall, and he told me he had con-
siderable corn, but the crop was so much less than he
expected that he would not measure it. He pronounced it a
failure, and so do I.

The next experiment to which I call your attention, was tried
on a piece of land upon Montague Plain, which, on an average,
produces twelve bushels of corn to the acre, and about five
bushels of rye ; my idea being to make fifty or sixty bushels
of corn to the acre on that land. The man reports that he
applied it as directed, and that the first of July no mortal
man ever saw such a stand of corn on Montague Plain as there
was there ; but it had then begun to suffer by drought, and
although, the last of July., the tassel was developed, yet it
dried up and died so quick that it never developed any pollen
at all, and there was not an ear of corn on the field. Now,
you men who reason about fertilizers, about the modes of
applying them, etc., can learn a lesson in a certain direction by
the result of that experiment. An enormous mass of foliage
was developed, the ears were set, the tassel developed, and
then it died so quick that no pollen was developed, and there
was no corn ; while a piece of corn on exactly the same land,
within thirty rods of it, manured with ashes, did not thus dry
up, and yielded twelve bushels of corn to the acre. Let the
experiment stand as the record is made.

The next experiment is one tried by Mr. John Turner of
Baltimore County, Md. He says that he purchased two for-
mulas for corn, two for oats, and two for Hungarian grass.
The fertilizers, he says, came too late, but he applied them
according to the directions, and, as a result, he had the best
two acres of corn, the best two acres of oats, and the best two
acres of Hungarian grass that ever grew in the State of Mary-
land. I am willing that should be taken down considerable,
because they have had good crops of corn and grass and oats
in Maryland before. But he was undoubtedly surprised at
the result of the experiment. The corn yielded eighty bushels
to the acre; the oats, sixty, and the Hungarian grass, three
tons, — there being six acres of the laud.

160 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.

Mr. William Birnie of Springfield tells me that he bought
$300 worth of this material, and the results were highly satis-
factory. He used $28 worth of it on an acre that would not
have produced fifty bushels of ears, and it produced one hun-
dred and seventy-five bushels of ears of sound corn. He
applied it to eight acres on a farm in West Springfield, and
had one of the finest fields of corn in that town. He applied
the chemicals to three acres for potatoes, but owing to bugs and
dry weather, they were a failure.

N. Austin Smith of Sunderland reports that he purchased
and used the chemicals this year for the third year ; that all
the crops on the Stockbridge fertilizer promised well early in
the season, but suffered terribly by the drought. He does not
think any man in the town, who bought that or any other
manure, has got his money back in the price of crops.

Chester Smith of Hadley says he purchased the fertilizer
for ten acres of land, two miles from the barn, to avoid draw-
ing manure that distance, and put the material on a piece of
clay loam land. He had a splendid crop of corn, although it
suffered severely by drought. He says he does not know why,
but it was altogether better than a piece of the same size
which he heavily manured with barn-yard manure.

R. J. Hadaway of Thomasville, Thomas County, Ga., says,
under date of November 6 : —

"I have this year used the Stockbridge formula for corn, and I am
able to report a favorable result. The crop was planted the 8th of
June, and had a long and severe drought to contend with ; but it gave
me forty-eight bushels of corn per acre. I am perfectly satisfied that
if it could have been planted in February or March, which is our
usual time of planting, it would have brought me seventy-five bushels
to the acre. I am so well satisfied with it, that I shall have more
next year."

S. G. Hurd, Esq., of North Hadley, writes : —

" I have used the chemical fertilizers this year on grass, corn and
tobacco, and in each case with as good results as the season would
allow. On three acres of light, sandy soil, I have harvested three
hundred and twelve bushels of ears of sound corn ; but I think the
smut and drought lessened this crop fifteen bushels per acre. On
one acre of moister land, which did not suffer so much by drought, I

A MATTER OF OPINION. 161

have harvested one hundred and fifty-eight bushels of ears, though
that yield was lessened one-fifth by smut. On my corn land, I
applied eighteen dollars' worth of fertilizers per acre. On grass, I
sowed ten dollars' worth per acre in the spring, and obtained my
money's worth the first crop. The drought nearly destroyed the sec-
ond crop. I used it on three acres of tobacco, mixing it with loam
and applying it in the hill. I have the best crop I ever raised, and
I think the fertilizer had something to do with it. I think this is
the best fertilizer that can be used in a .dry season, for it is actual
plant-food, and no mistake." [That is nothing but his opinion.]
"I have not been able to note a single failure among my neighbors
where this fertilizer has been used upon their crops, and I think I
have observed very closely."

The next experiment is one which is taken from the " Provi-
dence Journal." I know nothing about the man. I do not
know what his initials mean, or anything about it ; but it is
an experiment that has found its way into the papers, and so
I accept it. It is as follows : —

" Greenville, R. I., August 21, 1876.
" To the Editor of the Journal: — In April last, I purchased of
Messrs. Rice & Co. of your city Stockbridge fertilizers for several
crops, and for the benefit of farmers generally, I wish' to state my
experience with them. I used them on about an acre and a half
of ground, where there had been no stable manure of any kind put on
for six years, where the soil had been completely exhausted, and
under these unfavorable circumstances, I raised as good a crop as
any of my neighbors who used plenty of barn-yard manure and ashes ;
and for some unexplained reason, mine stood the severe drought
equally as well, if not better, than theirs, and it has 'certainly
exceeded my expectations in every way. While with many barn-
yard manure may be considered 'king,' in view of its high cost
and trouble of application, I shall continue to use the Stockbridge
fertilizers, for I have great faith in them for special crops. I
believe the Stockbridge theory is the correct one. j. a. b."

The next is from Raymond, Me., under date of November
7:—

" According to request, I send statement of my crop with these

fertilizers. I planted one acre of corn with these fertilizers — sandy

interval land — which .had not been ploughed for sixteen years. I

bought the land last spring. It had been mowed every year for the

21

162 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.

sixteen 3Tears. I mowed it myself two years ago for the man who
then owned it, and it did not cut five hundred pounds of hay to
the acre. On one side of the field there was a row of trees along
the bank of the river, and, on account of the shade and main roots,
I lost most of the corn of twelve rows on that side. In just ninety
days I cut it up and stooked it. We husked one hundred and eight
baskets, which we called fifty-eight bushels of shelled corn. I have
shelled some of it, and it holds out four quarts more than a bushel
to the two bushels of ears, besides shrinkage. If it is possible for
me to do it, if I can get the money next spring, I intend to invest
more largely in this material. Geo. W. Osgood."

Mr. H. C. Coinins of North Hadley, says : —

" I used the chemicals this year, according to the Stockbridge
formulas, for corn, onions, and cabbages." [I think he did not
buy them already compounded, but he bought the chemicals and
compounded them himself.] " To one acre of good level land,
which had been under cultivation six years, I applied the materials
for sixty bushels of corn. The crop was seriously injured b}- drought
and smut, but I harvested ninet3T-eight bushels of dry, sound corn,
allowing eighty pounds of ears for the bushel. On eight acres, I
applied the materials for fifty bushels of corn to the acre. One acre
of the eight was covered by an apple-orchard, which shaded the
land and destroyed the crop, and the whole field suffered by drought."

He thinks the crop was diminished one-fifth by smut, but
he harvested fifty-four bushels of shelled corn to the acre, on
the same basis, eighty pounds of ears to the bushel. He
applied seventeen dollars' worth of this material to one hun-
dred rods for onions. The crop suffered both by the drought
and maggot. He harvested one hundred and twenty bushels
of onions, but considers the experiment a failure. He used
one formula for cabbage on an acre and a quarter of land, and
the results were highly satisfactory. The heads were large,
sound and heavy, and he proposes to try the experiment
again.

Gentlemen, excuse me for reading this mass of stuff to you.
I felt it necessary to do it, that I might have a reason for
saying what I now desire to say. I never auticipated that
this material, compounded by anybody, or compounded by
each farmer on his own farm, could be. applied to the land,
and accomplish what some men have said that I predicted

WHERE CHEMICALS COME IN. 163

it would accomplish ; that it could be used in this promiscu-
ous way, as we use other manures and other fertilizers, and
every man could take his material for fifty bushels of corn
and apply it to his land, and invariably, without regard to the
vicissitudes of the season or the character of the land, get his
fifty or seventy-Jive bushels of corn to the acre. I never
made the statement that any man could do any such thing.
I have said that with the chemical fertilizers, compounded in
a certain way, applied in certain quantities, such a crop, or
approximately such a crop, could be depended upon. I never
anticipated, when I said* "Put on the material for fifty
bushels to the acre beyond the natural yield, aud you will get
fifty bushels to the acre more than the natural yield," that
anybody would come within an eighth of a bushel, as Dr.
Sturtevant did in his experiment. I believe that was the
extent. I did not want anybody to think that was strictly
according to scientific principles. The idea is this : that
here are commercial fertilizers, — I do not mean the Stock-
bridge fertilizers ; I do not care anything about the Stock-
bridge fertilizers, any more than I do about Bradley's fertil-
izers ; that is a matter of no account, — here are chemicals,
that, when barn-yard manure is exhausted, when all the
ordinary means of fertilizing your farms are used up, can be
compounded on certain principles, which any man can com-
prehend, and you can grow crops and improve your land ;
that you can take poor land and gradually bring it up, when
your barn-yard manure is gone ; that in an extraordinarily
wet or dry season, it is a safer material than the crude,
coarse, raw materials which we call barn-yard manure; and
that, on the whole, during a period of ten years, you can rely
on getting just about so much corn, so much grass, so many
bushels of potatoes, on the average, according to the quantity
of material you apply. You may give these fertilizers or
chemicals any name you please ; I do not care what you call
them; but this is the fact, that nitrogen, potash, phosphoric
acid, lime, and magnesia, for certain crops, compounded on
certain principles, in a soluble form, will manure your land,
make it rich and fertile, and you need not keep cattle on your
farms for the express purpose of making barn-yard manure.
But do not understand me as saying that I advise you first to

164 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.

throw your barn-yard manure away. Some meu have said,
that, because I recommend the use of chemicals, I do not
think it is best to save barn-yard manure. My opinion on that
matter is on record, and I do not feel inclined to change it.
Use barn-yard manure, because it is a waste product ; use the
waste of your slaughter-houses and manufactories, — use them
all, and then take the chemicals. Notwithstanding the failures
reported, notwithstanding the failures that are to be reported, —
for I doubt not there are gentlemen in this hall who have tried
these fertilizers this year and failed, and there are gentlemen
here who have tried them this year and succeeded, — notwith-
standing the failures, I say, I believe that you can use these
materials, and use them with success.

Now, then, I will venture to make another prediction, — and
if any man desires to carp at chemicals, I wish him to put it
down and either test it himself or allow me to test it, — I
venture the prediction, that I can take chemicals thus pre-
pared, and I cau take these old, worn-out, exhausted, brush-
producing pastures of Massachusetts, and by proper manage-
ment, I cau bring those pastures back to their pristine fertility,
and make them produce the grass necessary to produce the
fine stock and fine milk of former years. We can never
do it with anything else. We cannot cart barn-yard mannre
on to those pastures. A large proportion of our hill lands
are to be depopulated unless something is done ; but if you
can with chemicals bring the pasture land of New England
back to its former state of fertility, you may keep your boys
on the farm, keep the farms on those hills, and keep the
birches off of them. There is nothing else that will do it.
But I venture the prediction, that with these chemicals, — I
do not say the Stockbridge fertilizers ; I do not care anything
about that, — I say that with these chemicals, properly pre-
pared, those fields can be made to produce grass as they did
in the days of our fathers.

Having said this much, I feel authorized in saying something
more. What I am about to say is to the farmers I see before
me, and I desire to talk it straight to your understanding, as
I talk it straight into your ears. It is no part of my busi-
ness, gentlemen, as professor of agriculture at the Agricult-
ural College, to try experiments ; it is no part of the business

OUTSIDE WOEK. 165

of the professor of chemistry at the Agricultural College to
try experiments ; and yet the farmers of the Commonwealth
feel that that is to us the " chief end of man " ; that the pro-
fessor of agriculture and the professor of chemistry are there
to experiment for the farmers of the Commonwealth. I do
not object to your idea, farmers, that the Agricultural Col-
lege is there for the benefit of the farmers of the Common-
wealth ; but when you claim my services to work for you
directly in the way of experimenting ; when you claim the
services of the professor of chemistry to work for you directly,
I say we are private individuals. I have my specific assigned
duty at the college, and so has the professor of chemistry,
just exactly like the professor of modern languages and the
professor of English literature. Each one has his assigned
duty, every hour is occupied, and we are under the orders of
the governing powers of the college. They do not assign me
any time to experiment ; they do not assign Dr. Goessmann
any time to experiment. They do not pay any of the expenses
of my experiments ; they do not pay any of the expenses of
his experiments ; and yet I find Dr. Goessmann at work early
and late out in the vineyard, feeding grape-plants with this
and that ; I find him working early and late in the labo-
ratory, going through the most tedious and most exhaust-
ive analyses to learn certain things about feeding grapes with
certain elements ; analyzing the seed, the skin, the pulp, the
juice, and analyzing the vine. But that is no part of his busi-
ness as a college professor. He has all his hours employed
with his classes, and this is entirely outside work, simply
because the man has the love of the thing in him and cannot
let it alone. Wait, gentlemen, until he has had a few more
years to work, and you will have something from these experi-
ments with the grape that will be worth your while to know.
But that is the work of Dr. Goessmann as an individual, not
the work of Dr. Goessmann as professor of chemistry at the
Agricultural College. So with the professor of agriculture.
All his hours are employed in his specific routine work., He
is tied to the school-bell. All his experiments with fertilizers,
and everything else, are because he cannot let them alone.
That is the reason why.

166 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.

Now, I make these remarks for this reason. Experiments
tried in this way, breaking in upon the regular duties of the
college professors, must necessarily proceed very slow. The
farmers of this Commonwealth, I find, are all aroused to the
importance of these questions. We cannot work fast enough
to supply the demand. The farmers of this Commonwealth
could not wait for the results of these experiments with fertil-
izers. They jumped into my car. before I got half ready for
the load, and it will be so perpetually. It cannot be other-
wise. We cannot work fast enough, and we must have long,
long years to go through and complete these experiments,
before they will be ready for the public, as we are situated.
Now, what follows? The Commonwealth of Massachusetts
to-day demands an experimental station at the expense of
the Commonwealth. That is what we demand. I have begun
this year an experiment at the college that, work as hard as
I will, I cannot complete for the next ten years, working as I
do. Connecticut has her experimental station. I am glad
for Connecticut, but I am ashamed for Massachusetts, for we
ought to have been first in the field. And when I say Massa-
chusetts, I mean the men in State Street ; I mean the men,
women and children in your factories and your manufacturing
establishments all over the State, as well as the farmers who
are tilling the soil and growing the crops. Every man, woman,
and child in this Commonwealth is interested in the results
of experiments of this kind. Therefore, the Legislature of
Massachusetts should be called upon to establish an experi-
mental station, and thoroughly equip it to experiment, not
only with fertilizers, but with all our crops, with stock, with
dairy questions, and everything of this sort, and work them
out, and, as a result, every man, woman and child in the
State will be benefited.

Now, then, we have got through the presidential election,
brother farmers, — thank God for that ! It has been a sin for
a farmer to talk politics. I propose that for four years we
forget and discard general politics, mercantile politics, manu-
facturing politics, and that we have four years of agricultural
politics, and that farmers shall come to the front and say,
"We have rights and interests that other classes shall respect,

AN EXPERIMENTAL STATION. 167

and in our interests the interests of all classes in the com-
munity shall be promoted." Therefore, send your own men
to the Legislature. Not as politicians. If they want to go
for that purpose, kick them out. If they are willing to go
as men deeply interested in this primary and most important
pursuit of mankind, and ready to do everything according to
their intelligence to promote and to advance it, send them to
the Legislature, and then let us have this experiment station
in the interest of all classes. I know formers will say, "Taxes
are very high, we can't afford to make any additional tax,
even for the benefit of agriculture." If there is any man
who feels that way, who does not want to pay his share of
the tax to support a first-class experiment station in Massa-
chusetts, well equipped in every respect, if he will come to
me, I will pay his share, if he is worth ten thousand dollars,
and it will not cost me ten cents a year.

Now, I have put this matter before you. Think of it.
Think of the work necessary to prove facts in agriculture ;
of the experiments needed ; of the slow progress that, under
existing circumstances, we must make ; and say if wTe have
not force enough, intelligence enough, and will enough in
Massachusetts to have established for us, at the expense of
the State, an experiment station that will aid in all this work.
I thank you for your attention.

Mr. Moore of Concord. After the long and able defence
that the professor has seen fit to make of the Stockbridge
fertilizers, I do not know that I shall say much about them.
In regard to the claims of the farmers of Massachusetts upon
the professor of agriculture and upon Professor Goessmann, I
suppose they have no legal claims, and certainly it is to their
credit that they are willing to do something in the way of
experiment.

In regard to an experimental station, the trustees of the
Agricultural College insisted upon having four hundred acres
of land, and what was the reason they gave for wanting it?
Why, for the purpose of making experiments, to teach those
young men, and for the benefit of the farmers of Massachu-
setts. I know that to be so, because I was consulted in
regard to it.

168 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.

Now, as to the subject before the meeting, — manures and
chemical fertilizers. The professor has devoted most of his
time to the Stockbridge fertilizers, which is all very well ;
I have no fault to find with that. High culture is a necessity,
in my judgment, to make New England farming profitable.
You cannot have high culture without an abundance of manure,
and the trouble you encounter on the farm is, that you are not
able to get manure enough from the wastes of the farm to
supply this want, and hence the necessity for chemical fertil-
izers, sometimes called "commercial fertilizers," but "chemi-
cal fertilizers" is perhaps the more proper name. In my
judgment, farmers generally will be unable to get manure
enough without resorting to chemicals. First, you must use
all you can make and save on the farm, and then you must
resort to chemicals.

This matter of chemical fertilizers was brought very clearly
to my mind some twelve or fifteen years ago, by the transla-
tion of M. Ville's French work, issued by the Massachusetts
Society, which laid down the doctrine that plants took from
the soil certain amounts of phosphoric acid, potash and nitro-
gen. Those were the principal ingredients ; there were some
others, — magnesia, etc. Those theories of M. Ville were
substantially the theories of Professor Stockbridge, as nearly
as I can understand them ; I may be mistaken. I made a
great many experiments for my own satisfaction in connection
with these theories, years ago. I think it is true, that you
must supply substantially what the plant takes from the soil,
and to do that, as I have said before, you must resort to
something more than you are able to get on the farm.

Now, the fertilizers of four or five years ago were very
unsatisfactory to farmers. In the first place, they were abom-
inably adulterated. I say "abominably." I don't know as
that expresses it strongly enough. But since the enactment of
the law which was passed a few years ago, these fertilizers have
become very much better, under the demands of the people,
and under the analyses which have been made by Professor
Goessmann, as the chemist of the Board of Agriculture. And
I will say here, that the passing of that law was due to some
members of the Board of Agriculture and to the president
and faculty of the Agricultural College. I think they all had

NO NEW THING. 169

a hand in it. I know I had a finger in it, too, and a reason-
ably ugly fight on it in the Legislature. I say that, under
the effects of the law, and the light that has been thrown upon
the subject by Professor Stockbridge, Professor Goessmann,
and others, these fertilizers have become much better articles,
and more reliable thau before ; and the effect of attention
having been drawn to them has been not only to create a
marked improvement in the quality, but also a reduction in
the price, and that, together with Professor Goessmann's
experiments of last year and the year before, published to the
world, enables farmers to go into the market and buy the
cheapest fertilizers, no matter whether they are what are
termed the Stockbridge fertilizers, or any other fertilizers.

That is what you want to know. If you can buy a fertilizer
that is better aud cheaper than the Stockbridge fertilizer, you
want to try it. The Professor agrees to that, undoubtedly.
He cares nothing about what you buy ; he only wants you to
buy the best.

Now, let me say, further than that, that the Stockbridge
fertilizers, as they are called, are substantially the same things
which I, certainly, had used before, and I presume many
others had ; not, perhaps, in precisely the same proportions.
Professor Stockbridge does not claim that any of the articles
are new, but simply the combinations, as I understand it.
But Professor Stockbridge, in bringing this matter forward,
has certainly done a great deal of good, and is entitled to the
credit of it.

The Professor has given you to understand, that in seasons
like this, when there is a drought, you had better rely upon
chemical fertilizers, than raw, barn-yard manure. Now, I
simply wish to say, that that corn which I have in the hall, —
you know what it is, for you have seen it, most of you, — was
grown on raw barn-yard manure. As near as I can judge,
thirty-one horse-cart loads (almost five loads to the cord)
were applied to the acre, on poor sandy soil, on the top of a
hill back of my house. I cannot tell what the rainfall was,
but it was very small. It has never been estimated and put
down in inches to my knowledge. If on the college farm
they have allowed a piece of low mucky land, or any other
land, to suffer very much from drought, it seems to me it was

22

170 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.

partly their own fault. My corn, as I said, was planted on
gravelly soil, and manured with raw manure, which the Pro-
fessor says will not stand the drought so well as the chemicals,
and my corn never rolled up. I will venture to say that
there is not an acre of upland on that college farm that is not
far superior to this poor land of mine.

Prof. Stockbridge. What is the subsoil of your land?

Mr. Moore. It is first rate to make concrete of. It is
gravel mostly. It is not really good road gravel. There is
no clay to hold it together. It is seventy-five feet above every-
thing else there is around there. I was going to tell you how
to keep clear of drought. You cannot do it with every crop.
You cannot do it on that land with a crop of strawberries or
grass, but with a hoed crop, like corn, that you can run a
cultivator through, so as to keep the ground stirred up, you
are substantially independent of drought, because the effect of
stirring that ground is, that it becomes dry on top, which acts
like a mulch, and prevents the evaporation of moisture to a
large extent. It certainly prevented drought in that case, for
that corn never rolled up ; and if it is going to roll up any-
where, it will surely roll up there.

So much in regard to drought. Now, I have one experiment
that was made by Mr. Joseph A. Smith, a neighbor of mine,
in Concord. I watched the experiment carefully, and know
as much about it, perhaps, as he does. I do not know the
cost of ploughing the land, because that is not put in. He
planted three acres of corn. One was planted with Stock-
bridge fertilizer, costing $27.50, with the understanding that
he was to have fifty bushels of corn over and above the nat-
ural yield of the land. Two-thirds of that was sown broadcast,
and one-third was scattered in the hill or in the row. The
product of that acre was thirty-two barrels, weighing 2,964
pounds. When you make an experiment, you want to know
the number of pounds of the crop. You cannot get at it by
measuring an ear, reckoning so many hundred ears to the rod,
and so many quarts for so much length of ear. That is the
way the Middlesex South Society made their great error in esti-
mating Dr. Sturtevant's corn, which he corrected when he came
to get at it accurately. Then the next acre was manured with
Foote's phosphate. That cost $19.62, and was applied in the

COST OF CORN ON FERTILIZERS. 171

same manner, on the same day, and the corn planted the same
day. The fields were side by side, and the soil a light sandy
loam. The yield of that acre was twenty-nine barrels, — weight,
2,713 pounds. He says the fodder was about the same as on
the other field. He had another acre of corn planted with
manure. He says he has not husked that, and is unable to
give the amount. He goes on to say : "I think I should have
had more corn on Foote's fertilizer than I had on the Stock-
bridge, only the trouble that we ran against was, that we put
too much in a hill, and a great many hills were missing ; did
not come up."

Now, I find on looking that over and calling seventy pounds
of ears a bushel, that on the Stockbridge fertilizer he got
forty-two bushels, where he ought to have had fifty bushels,
besides the natural yield of the laud ; on Foote's fertilizer he
got 38§ bushels. The Stockbridge fertilizer, mark you, cost
him $7.88 more than Foote's, and on Foote's there was 3^
bushels less corn than on the Stockbridge ; so that Foote's
fertilizer would certainly be cheaper than the Stockbridge in
that instance. That is only one instance, and perhaps the
two fertilizers would not always show the same result.

Question. How deep was your land ploughed ?

Mr. Moore. I presume the piece was ploughed as deep as
ten inches. I do not ordinarily plough so deep as that. I do
not believe you gain much, if you waut to raise the greatest
crops, by ploughing very deep. I will say that most of my
land has been ploughed pretty deep. I had very deep plough-
ing on the brain at one time. I have got over that.

Question. Was your land greensward, and did you apply
the manure in the spring or fall ?

Mr. Moore. The raw manure was applied in the spring.
It was old land that had been stocked with something else.

Mr. Ellsworth. What kind of manure was it?

Mr. Moore. It was raw manure from my cows, and some
hog manure with it. I would like to add one thing in regard
to barn-yard manure. Its whole value does not lie, perhaps,
in the nitrogen, phosphoric acid and potash which it contains.
Its mechanical effect upon the land is worth a good deal.
For instance, Mr. Hill, one of the best market gardeners in
Arlington, who is in the hall somewhere, would tell you that

172 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.

on his sandy loam, where he raises the very best vegetables
and roots that are grown anywhere, he ploughs in raw horse-
manure. Where land has been cropped, and the vegetable
matter gone, the application of this strawy manure has a
mechanical effect upon the land which enables the farmer to
raise much better crops than he can with decomposed manure
alone.

Dr. Sturtevant. I agree in part with Prof. Stockbridge.
In all the details of his theory there are a good many things
I find we agree upon, and there are some things we do not
agree upon. But those things that we do agree upon are
things which have been determined by experience and practi-
cal results. I do not see that we gain anything by talking
about chemical manures and barn-yard manures as if they
were opposing substances, and necessarily in conflict. I do
not look upon the question in that way at all. Barn-yard
manures are good, are excellent ; we all know it. There is
no use discussing it. We all wish we had more of them than
we have. We can usually apply them to a profit. Wherever
any manure is worth anything, there barn-yard manure has a
value. There is nothing to be gained by underrating barn-
yard manure. . But what have we done? Our agricultural
meetings have talked of phosphates ; whether they were bet-
ter or worse than barn-yard manure. We have talked about
potash salts ; whether they were better or worse than barn-
yard manure. What is the result of this whole matter? Sim-
ply this : that barn-yard manure is a complete fertilizer. We
apply it to our soils, and we furnish to the plant all the food
elements that it requires, and we get our crops. We apply a
potash fertilizer to a soil which has an abundance of potash in
it, and which is deficient in the other elements, and the result
is failure; and a good many people say, "Well, that only
proves that potash is not as good as barn-yard manure." The
fact of the case is, that the two should never be compared
together. The only fair test is to compare one complete
manure with another complete manure, — barn-yard manure
which contains all the elements of plant-food with a chemi-
cal manure which contains all the elements of plant-food.
Then the question is, Which will produce the most, the chemi-
cal manure or the barn-yard manure? We want to use all

THAT IS THE QUESTION. 173

the barn-yard manure we can save and all we can make on
the farm, and use it in the most economical way. After we
have used that manure, the question occurs to us, How can
we get more manure ? We have used all we have ; we want
to get the largest profit from our farm by making every acre
productive, and by not having any idle capital in the land ;
therefore, we must have manure. What shall we do? Shall
we buy barn-yard manure, or shall we buy chemicals ? Chemi-
cals have been proved to produce results in crops, under cer-
tain circumstances, equal to barn-yard manure. Witness
Lawes and Gilbert's experiments in England, carried, on for
over thirty years. They applied fourteen tons of barn-yard
manure to one plot each year, and to another plot they applied
a certain mixture of chemicals each year. What has been
the result? For fifteen years the chemical manure has pro-
duced the same crop as the land manured with barn-yard
manure. In other words, there has been no difference in the
result. The chemicals and the barn-yard manure have both
produced the maximum crops on the land. There is a fact
that can be depended upon in our practice. Under the proper
conditions, chemicals and barn-yard manure will produce the
maximum crops on the land. There is no getting beyond
that. It is a fact, as definite and decisive a fact as we have
in agriculture.

Now, where does the question come? Here we are, in this
condition. We have used up all the manure we have. We
want to get more manure. What is the question ? The ques-
tion is, Where can we get the balance of the manure that we
need the cheapest ? If we can get barn-yard manure cheaper
than we can get chemical manure, then barn-yard manure is
the best. If we cau get chemical manure cheaper than barn-
yard manure, then chemical manure is the best. Then comes
in another question : Can we buy the chemicals at a price so
low that we can raise crops at a profit? On my own farm, I
have shown that it can be done, and no gentleman of the hun-
dreds who have been on my farm and looked over my fields
will deny it. You can see it. You can go into my corn
barns and measure the corn, and measure the fields. Those
fields have produced those crops. There is no question that
you can use chemicals and use them to a profit, provided they

174 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.

are complete fertilizers, containing all the elements of plant-
food. And, moreover, the land is improved by fertilizers, the
same as by manure. In raising my corn with chemicals, I
charge the fertilizer to the crop, the same as I do when I use
manure, because it has been proved that this fertilizer acts
just the same as manure. Where the first crop takes half,
the next year it may take half of the remainder, and the
remainder the year after. So you can manure for rotation
with chemicals as well as you can with dung. That has been
proved time and time again.

Now, under these circumstances, the only question for the
farmer is the question of profit. " When I have used all the
materials on the farm, and want extra manure, can I buy
chemicals cheaper than I can buy barn-yard dung, and can I
make a profit?" That is the only question. If he can make
a profit, then he can make a successful farmer by tilling all
his land which will admit of tillage.

Dr. Wakefield of Monson. I have instituted a set of
experiments this year on some eight or ten crops, at the farm
of the State Primary School, for the purpose of ascertaining
for myself whether I can afford to buy chemical fertilizers to
produce crops. I have the result here. There are some
failures and some successes. I have satisfied myself now
whether it will be of any use, and when this is submitted, you
can draw your own conclusions, as I did. In most respects,
I think the results will corroborate the Professor.

I will first give you the result with onions. My bed of
onions is from a third to half an acre. I have used this
fertilizer on the same ground, and have compared it with
the barn-yard manure which I use ordinarily on my crops. I
took one-sixth of an acre and applied one formula, which cost
me $6. I raised twenty-five bushels of onions. That is not
a great yield. The balance of the ground was manured at the
rate of sixteen cords per acre. I make my barn-yard manure
as good as I can make it, by combining with it all the urine
which it will absorb from the vault. It is as good, I think,
as can be got. I have set the price of that at $8 a cord.
Then the cost of the manure for an acre of onions would be
$96. At the same rate, the barn-yard manure for the one-
sixth of an acre where I used the commercial fertilizer would

Potatoes on fertilizees. 175

have cost $16. There is a balance of $10, besides the labor
of handling. The whole yield of this third of an acre was in
proportion of one hundred and fifty bushels to the acre. That
bed was sown early ; it had every advantage of cultivation
that I can give any crop, and I never saw onions come up
better ; but the dry weather struck them down. I have not
measured any of these crops, and I do not know how much
was grown on this sixth of an acre ; but I have measured the
whole field, and I give you my judgment, and the judgment
of my farmer, and everybody concerned. In that crop of
onions we could see no difference between the part of the bed
manured with the chemicals and the part manured with barn-
yard manure ; and there was a great advantage in the cost and
the labor of applying in favor of the chemical fertilizer.

Now, I will take potatoes. I had two fields. I took a quarter
of an acre and applied $9 worth of fertilizers, and that quarter
of an acre produced 55| bushels of " Suowflakes." That was
at the rate of 222 bushels per acre. The balance of the field
was manured at the rate of eight cords to the acre, "which, at
the same price, would be $48. The fertilizer, to have manured
an acre, would have cost $36, while this cost $48. I could not
see any difference in those crops when they were growing, nor
when they were dug. I should say that one was as good as
the other. That I consider a fair yield. I do not think that
crop suffered for want of water, although we were in just the
same condition in regard to rainfall as they were at Amherst.
We are only twenty miles from there. We keep a record of
the rainfall at our institution just as they- do at Amherst. I
have not the figures with me, but I can assure you that we
did not have a great quantity of rain, and I know you will
agree with me when I say that we had a very hot summer.
I have no doubt Prof. Stockbridge's figures were right, and I
have no doubt that our figures, if I had them, would be about
the same.

Then there was another lot of potatoes, which I consider a
failure. The ordinary land of the farm, as you know, is
good, and these potatoes were planted upon as fair a piece of
land, I think, as there is on that farm. I applied $15 worth
of the fertilizers to three-quarters of an acre, and I got fifty
bushels of potatoes, Brigham's seedlings. I will say here,

176 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.

that Snowflakes and Brigham's seedlings have produced, for
a great many years, larger crops than any other potato that I
could raise ; but they have run out, and I ought not to have
planted them this year. The yield per acre was 66§ bushels.
That is not a fair yield, and I attribute it a great deal to the
want of rain. You cannot raise a crop of potatoes, anymore
than you can a crop of hay, unless you have that fertilizer,
rain, applied to it. Nature generally gives us that iu suf-
ficient quantities ; but when it ceases to fall, you are just as
badly off as if you fail to apply manure. Nature has so
ordered it, that no crop can be produced without a certain
amount of rain. If that crop of potatoes was a failure, I
think it was a failure because of the want of rain.

Take next mangolds. I had a field of mangolds of about
four acres, and they produced at the rate of 620 bushels to the
acre. There were 2,480 bushels of mangolds on that four acres.
I took one end of this field, three-quarters of an acre (just the
same land as the other), and applied $21 worth of this fertil-
izer, and on this fourth of an acre I got 390 bushels. The laud
on which I raised the 620 bushels per acre was manured at the
rate of ten cords to the acre, making $80 per acre, at $8 per cord.
I could not see any difference where the fertilizer was placed,
with the exception of one corner, and I will tell you why I
think that was. I had not enough of the beet fertilizer for
that three-quarters of an acre, and, having some of the turnip
fertilizer, I used that on that corner. I knew there was not
enough potash in it, but I intended to make that deficiency
good by applying ashes. I consider that if I had given that
small corner piece a barrel of ashes, I should have had enough
of that ingredient that was wanted; but I had not enough,
and I only put on just one-half. I put on one-half of the
formula for turnips, instead of using, as I should, the whole
of the formula for beets. I could see that there was a decided
falling. off in that corner. I think the whole field suffered for
want of rain. I know it did, just as well as all the rest of
the crops in the region suffered ; but I could see that where
I applied the kind of fertilizer that I knew had not sufficient
potash in it, there was decidedly less crop. It could be seen
at the time of gathering ; it could be seen at the time of
growing.

ROOT CROPS AND CORN. 177

Then the crop of carrots. I raised an acre of carrots, and
I raised one-eighth of an acre on this fertilizer, which cost me
$6. There were 62± bushels on this eighth of an acre. The
yield per acre was 497 bushels. I call it 500 bushels to the acre.
The cost of the manure, at the price stated and the amount, was
$80. The fertilizers would have cost $48. Now, I am clear that
in the carrot crop there was a decided difference. You could
see it in the growth of the carrots, and you could see it after
the crop was gathered. After they were ploughed out, going
through them (they were planted on the ends of. the rows) ,
you could see that those grown with the fertilizer were larger
than the others. The cost of this fertilizer was only $48 per
acre against $80 for the other.

Then take the ruta-baga crop. I planted one-eighth of an
acre, and to that I applied one-half the formula for ruta-bagas,
which cost me $3. It produced 111| bushels. The yield to
the acre was 892 bushels. It was manured at the rate of five
cords to the acre, — $40. The fertilizer would have cost $24.
I could not see any difference in the crop. The ruta-bagas
raised on the fertilizer were just as good as those raised on
the barn-yard manure. The whole produced at the rate of
892 bushels to the acre.

Then I tried an experiment with corn. I never have raised
corn ; I thought I could not afford to do it. I wanted to
raise corn, because I wanted the fodder for my milch cows ;
but I never thought I could afford to do it. But'I tried the
experiment, because I had great confidence that other people
had done it, and I did not know but I could do it. I have
had to buy corn, but I supposed I could buy it cheaper than
I could raise it. The fertilizer cost me $13.50. I planted
half an acre, and raised forty bushels. When I gathered that
I weighed it, and, at the rate of seventy-two pounds of ears
to the bushel, I calculated there were forty bushels ; but to
make sure, I deduct two bushels and a half, and call it 37|
bushels. That is seventy-five bushels to the acre. Before I
decided to plant that corn, I had manured the land for pota-
toes, but I concluded to try this experiment, and so it had, in
addition to the chemical fertilizer, a cord and a half of barn-
yard manure, which, at $8 a cord, cost $12. The manure on
this half-acre cost $25.50. Thirty-seven and one-half bushels

23

178 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.

at seventy cents a bushel, would cost about $20.27. I did
not make a great deal, but I got my corn-fodder. I got at
the rate of two or three tons to the acre of corn-fodder, which
I suppose is worth some six or eight dollars a ton, perhaps
more. I consider that it is worth more to me for my milch
cows. I calculated to get one hundred bushels of corn to the
acre, and I believe that if we had had as much rain as we had
in 1874, I should have had one hundred bushels of corn to
the acre. Here is a specimen, gentlemen, of some of the
corn that I raised.

Question. Is that a fair specimen?

Dr. Wakefield. I calculated to pick out as good ears as
there were to be found. I did not bring down cow corn to
show. The seed of this corn I obtained of Mr. Hadwen. He
knows more about it than I do. It was the best corn that
I knew of when I sent for that seed. I had seen and known
something about his corn. I am inclined to think that if I
had seen Captain Moore's corn, before I planted, I should have
had his ; but I don't know ; I want to get the best I can.

Then, cabbage. I manured a quarter of an acre for cabbage,
at a cost of $10 for the fertilizer, and raised 1,150 heads. We
have an appraisal made every year of our products, and those
cabbages were appraised this year at four cents a head. Some
of them, I think, were larger than any you can see in the hall
upstairs, and I should be very glad to buy cabbages as large
as those at four cents a head, to feed to my cows. But that
is the appraisal, and the product of that quarter of an acre
amounted to $46. The yield per acre was 4,600 heads,
which, at four cents a head, would amount to $184. Barn-
yard manure, at the rate of eight cords to the acre, would
cost $64. The fertilizer would cost $40. Now, those cabbages
stand in the field to-day ; some of them I have put into the
ground, heads down; but while they stood there, no man,
unless he had more skill than anybody I know, could have
picked out the cabbages manured with barn-yard manure
from those manured with chemicals.

Now for the grass. I have no definite data to give you in
regard to that, only to say that I have used a ton of this
fertilizer this year. I have used it on my lands, and I have
used it on my grass fields, where I did not want to put

CHEMICALS ON PASTURE LAND. 179

manure. I cannot say how much additional hay it has given
me, because I have not measured it, but I can say this much :
every place where I put it, in the early part of the season,
before the drought came on, I could see where it went, just as
plainly as you can see, when you have sown a new field of
oats, for instance, where your hand went, — where the seed
was thick and where it was not.

I have tried an experiment with rye in reclaiming pastures,
and I will tell you what I meant to do, and what, I guess, I
shall fail to do. I took four acres of pasture, that had not
been ploughed for twenty-eight years. It was quite stony,
and when I went upon the farm, it was covered with brush,
beeches, birches, etc. I had pulled them out, but it did not
produce as much feed as I wanted it to. It had been improved,
and I thought it should do better. I thought I couldn't afford
to let it lie in that way. I turned it over, and took out rocks
enough to build a wall on one side. It was a piece twenty-
five or thirty rods square. I sowed it with rye, and thought
I would try this experiment, and see if I could not reclaim
this pasture. I sowed grass-seed with the rye, just the same
kind that I should if I had intended to mow it the next year.
I have let the cattle run on that field this fall, and it is looking
very finely now. I applied this grass fertilizer at the rate of
$10 worth to the acre. I calculated that the rye would take
care of itself, the cattle would eat it off, and that would be
an even thing, but I thought the grass ought to have some
additional fertilizer to that which nature had given, it having
been cropped by milch cows for a series of years. The rye
is looking so finely, and I have so much confidence in my
ability to raise corn with these commercial fertilizers, that I
have concluded to fence that piece of ground, and, in addition,
another piece which I have ploughed up, and I propose to
plant corn next year, and manure it with chemical fertilizers,
because it is way up on a hill, — although it is pretty flat when
you get there, — so that you cannot haul manure up there, but
you can take the fertilizers up on your back. I do not know
how the experiment will succeed, but I mean to find out
whether I can reclaim my pastures in that way. I think my
cattle have got as much feed from the rye as they would from
the pasture, provided it had not been turned over. What the

180 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.

result will be next year remains to be seen ; but I provided
for the pasture by applying ten dollars' worth of the grass
fertilizer to the acre, which, according to Professor Stock-
bridge, should produce a ton of grass to the acre for the next
crop. Whether it will do it or not, I do not know. That is
one of my experiments, and I shall watch it with interest, to
see the result. I am inclined to think now, the rye looks so
well, that if I keep the cattle off, I can get a good crop of rye
next year.

These things I have done for my own edification, to know
whether I can apply these fertilizers and raise crops. I am
satisfied that a man can raise a crop of mangolds or carrots
or cabbages with these fertilizers, and can afford to buy them,
after he has exhausted his manure. I think nobody can afford
to lose a particle of barn-yard manure. I think every man
should husband all the resources he has, and then he will not
have enough. I do not suppose anybody in the Common-
wealth has any better facilities for making manure than we
have at the school, and we do not have half enough. We
cannot make half as much as we want, and would like the
privilege of buying as much as we make. WTe make four or
five hundred cords a year, and we use it all, and then, as I
say, we do not have half enough. We applied, last year,
eight hundred cart-bucks to our mowing land, and it takes a
great deal of the manure that we make for our crops. We
keep fifty cows and over one hundred hogs, and all the
manure they make goes to our grass crop.

Now, I have tried this experiment, and I am satisfied from
the result this year, under these unfavorable circumstances
from drought, that you can afford to buy these fertilizers, and
that you will get a better remuneration than you can from
your barn-yard manure.

Question. Have you ever tried the Brighton fertilizer?

Dr. Wakefield. I tried that last year, and got good
results, but, I think, not as good as from the Stockbridge
fertilizers.

Mr. Moore. Mr. Thomas E. Payson of Providence, R. I.,
is here, and I thiuk this audience would like to hear from
him.

Mr. Payson. I did not expect to be called upon to say

STABLE MANURES AND CHEMICALS. 181

anything, and do not know that I have anything to say. I
have never used commercial fertilizers, in any way. I have
been so situated that I have had an abundance of valuable
manure, and, so long as I have that, I probably shall not go
into the market to buy fertilizers. We get an abundance of
manure in Providence. We make a great deal of manure,
and buy a great deal. We buy manure there for $8 a cord,
and we get good crops where we put on an abundance of
manure. The farm which I cultivate is not a very large one.
There are some twenty-five acres, and, in one way and another,
I manage to sell twelve or thirteen thousand dollars' worth of
stuff from it every year, beside what we consume.

Mr. Ball of Upton. I think the distinction between barn-
yard manure and fertilizers has been very clearly brought out
here. The question is not, Shall we discontinue the use of
barn-yard manure? It is, Can we use these fertilizers as
helps? There are many of us who cannot possibly make
manure enough, and these fertilizers come in as helps. It
seems to me that the experiments which have been made,
where they have been made with accuracy, will go very far
towards settling the important question of the value of chem-
ical fertilizers to the farmer, and, therefore, I have been
exceedingly interested in this discussion. We want to have
facts accurately presented. We want to be satisfied that the
experiments reported have been thoroughly and carefully
made. It makes a great deal of difference whether an experi-
ment is properly made or not ; whether you estimate a crop
or weigh it ; whether you know exactly what the cost is, and
exactly what the return is, in this matter of fertilizers.

I only rose to say, that in the town where I live, — a small
town, — we have a good deal of interest, just now, in agricult-
ure, and, of course, we are interested in chemical manures,
from the fact that we do not have enough barn-yard manure.
We cannot make enough, and, therefore, this is a question
that we are particularly interested in, — whether we can supply
the want by the use of chemical fertilizers. If I had as good
an opportunity to make manure as some gentlemen have, I
do not think I should go into the market to buy fertilizers ;
and yet it seems to me that there are times when we may use
chemical fertilizers that will do our crops more good than

182 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.

some barn-yard manure, as far as the first year's products are
concerned. I had a neighbor who kept one old horse and a
cow. He had a meadow of four acres that he cut evciy year,
and run the hay through his old horse during the winter, and
fed his cow on better hay, and he used to take the manure
from his horse and put it on his land. He never fed any
grain. Is it likely that an experiment tried with that manure
would show the same result as an experiment tried with
manure from good stock, fed on good hay and grain?

Now, as far as these experiments are concerned, I am going
to speak of number one in this matter, simply because we want
to talk about what we know, rather than what we gness at, and
I want to make this statement. In our town there are some
six or eight men who have made careful and thorough experi-
ments with regard to commercial fertilizers, during the past
year, and I give you this as the result for one. I looked
around for an acre of land, and I wanted to take land that
was as near waste land as possible. I did not find exactly
what I wanted, but I found an acre of land with gravelly
knolls in it. The soil was a sandy loam. What the subsoil
would be called, I have great question. It is leachy land. My
neighbor, Mr. Kuowlton, lent me an acre of land for this ex-
periment. It was in grass, and I asked him what the crop was
the year before. He said, "Not enough to pay for the mow-
ing. You may have as much of that land as you have a mind
to cultivate." I proposed to take just one acre. I went on
and measured off an acre exactly. It was ploughed six inches
and a half deep, aud turned over very handsomely, there
being no stone on the land, except those small gravel stones.
A light roller was put on, the sod was all rolled down, and
then harrowed with a Randall harrow, and the fertilizer sowed
on the land. I took a great deal of pains to have the fertil-
izer equally distributed over the acre. Then the harrow was
put on, and it was thoroughly harrowed, and then the rows
marked out with a plough, three feet apart each way. There
was nothing put into the hill, aud nothing put on the land
save the fertilizer, according to the Stockbridge formula,
which cost me $28.50 on the ground. Then the corn was put
in. It came up rapidly, though not so rapidly as it would if
I could have put some fertilizer or manure in the hill ; for

EXPERIMENT ON CORN. 183

right beside me my neighbor, Mr. Knowlton, planted his, and
put manure in the hill, and I noticed that it started quicker
than mine ; but after mine started there seemed to be great
growth in it. I could not help watching it with great pleas-
ure from the beginning. When the time came for hoeing, —
I was hardly aware that it had approached that point, — it was
some little distance from my house, and I found that it had
grown higher than I expected, — I ran my cultivator through it
both ways, and hoed it thoroughly. After that, I again found
that the growth had been so rapid, that I thought I could only
cultivate it another time, and I ran my cultivator through it
each way, and then put a man upon it, and he went through
the field almost as fast as he could walk, hoeing it the second
time, and that was all the cultivation that it had. My neigh-
bors laughed at me a good deal.^ One man said, "I knew a
minister who planted beans, and after they came up, he pulled
the beans up and stuck them in the ground again, thinking
they had come up the wrong way." My neighbor, who lent
me the land, said, "How is this? Do you carry your fertil-
izer in your pocket?" Another man came along and said,
"You have put your hills three feet apart each way. I guess
you will have a great crop ! " I bore it with all the equanim-
ity possible under the circumstances. When I harvested the
corn, I weighed every single bushel of sound ears, and found
that I had, reckoning seventy-five pounds to a bushel of
shelled corn, 60| bushels of shelled corn to the acre. That
was the result of my experiment.

My neighbors have had better success. Mr. Valorous
Taft, wrell known in this county, has made an experiment on
two pieces of laud, following nearly the same routine that I
have described with regard to my own experiment, and he has
raised at the rate of ninety bushels to the acre on one piece,
and on the other at the rate of sixty bushels per acre. I have
another neighbor who has tried different fertilizers, using the
Jackson fertilizer, the Stockbridge fertilizer and the Brighton
fertilizer. I will only say, that in all the experiments that
have been made, the results have come very nearly up to the
promise made by the formula when we started ; to wit, that it
would give us at the rate of fifty bushels to the acre, besides
the natural yield. But I want to say, that everywhere in

184 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.

our town, notwithstanding what ray friend Stockbridge has
said, we had fine fields of corn, whether raised upon barn-
yard manure or upon chemicals. Right beside me, I think, my
friend, Mr. Knowlton, had a crop nearly, if not quite, equal
to mine, raised upon his fine manure. He did not weigh the
crop, I believe, and therefore I am not able to say whether it
was exactly equal to mine or not. Until the drought of August
came, it seemed as if the crops planted with the fertilizer had
the start of those planted with manure. When the drought
came, as far as I could judge, the fertilizer did not seem com-
petent to carry through the crop any better than manure.

I have been interested in this matter a long time. Tbe
book to which Captain Moore alluded is a book that has been
in my library for years. I have read it with a great deal of
pleasure, but never until lately has this matter assumed such
a form that it seems to me it is in the power of every farmer
of ordinary intelligence to take these chemicals and go into
his field and expect, at any rate, a fair average result, and
nearly in accordance with the formula as presented ; and
therefore it seems to me that it is only just that these facts
should be collected from every quarter and brought together,
to show just what the law is that we can apply everywhere
and be sure of our results.

Mr. . I want to ask Professor Stockbrido;e how the

fertilizer should be applied to pasture land, and what is the
value of the fertilizer as compared with manure, at $8 a cord
for three years, provided the manure can be conveniently
obtained?

Prof. Stockbkidge. When the gentleman speaks of "pas-
ture land," I understand him to mean the old, rocky hillsides,
where we cannot draw manure, and which we cannot plough
and renovate in that way.

Mr. . I have pasture land that can be ploughed, —

sandy loam.

Prof. Stockbridge. On rocky land, over which you can-
not drive a yoke of cattle, I would sow the fertilizer, and then
haul an old-fashioned drag over it, to tear it up more or less,
and then I would sow grass-seeds, — both kinds of clover,
redtop, blue-grass, bent, and a very little herdsgrass.
would not sow the fertilizer on one of these old pastures with-

VEGETABLES AND MARKET-GARDENING. 185

out first tearing it up and reseeding. Now, about the land
which you cau cultivate, — land which is good land, which you
call pasture-land, — all you have got to do is to take it iu, and
make it a part of your farm, plough it, till it, seed it down,
and the work is done.

Adjourned to two o'clock.

Afternoon Session.

The Board met at two o'clock, and the discussion was
opened by a lecture on —

VEGETABLE-GARDENING AND ROOT-CULTURE.

BY BENJAMIN P. WARE.

Mr. Chairman and Gentlemen of the State Board of
Agriculture: — The subject of vegetable-gardening and root-
culture has twice been presented to this Board within six
years, — very ably presented, — first, in 1870, by J. J. H.
Gregory of Marblehead, and in 1874, by O. B. Hadwen of
Worcester, both gentlemen of experience and ability, and it
may seem useless, perhaps, to go over the same ground again ;
but I suppose the importance of the subject is the apology, if
any is wanted, for again presenting it to your consideration.
I have no royal road to offer by which you may avoid labor
or the risk of disappointment in the culture of these crops,
but I have a life-long experience, and hope I may be able to
show, by that experience, some improved methods of culture,
having in view especially the saving of labor, as the cost of
labor is, apparently, the great obstacle to the success of the
Massachusetts farmer ; and I shall endeavor in my remarks to
show you some methods by which the same results may be
obtained, with, perhaps, in many cases, one-half the labor.

I propose to speak upon the standard varieties of vegetables
that are grown, giving, as far as I know, the origin of them, the
most approved methods of culture, as I understand them, and
something in relation to the markets. First, 1 would like to
present to you the present condition of the market for vege-

24

186 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.

tallies. A great change has taken place within a few years
with regard to the demand and supply of what we call vege-
tables to supply the market. The facilities of transportation,
by the various lines of railroads and steamboats, permeating
all parts of the country, are now so great, that a deficiency in
one part of the country is immediately supplied by another.
Formerly, when a short supply occurred, the farmers were
enabled to obtain an increased price for their productions ; but
to-day, the perfection of transportation is such, that should
there be a short crop in one part of the country, it is imme-
diately supplied from another part where there is abundance,
so that at the present time there seems to be no chance for
growing any crop, — onions, if you pleasje, or other crops, — as
there has been heretofore, except at a small profit. It is not
many years since I unloaded loads and loads of squashes and
cabbages in Boston markets, and saw them filled into barrels
immediately, and marked "Worcester." But such a thing, as
you well know, never occurs now. I remember very well
furnishing cabbages and onions, and various other crops, that
were sold to go to Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont ; but
to-day these States not only supply themselves, but are
ready at any time to fill up any deficiency that may exist in
our market. Some years ago, the markets of New Orleans
and Mobile were the principal openings for our onion crop ;
but in a little while they were abundantly supplied from up
the Mississippi River, where they could grow them at a great
deal less cost than we could here in New England, and tloat
them down in their flat-boats, and that market was shut to us.
More recently, Philadelphia and New York have been the
great openings for the surplus of our crops ; but last year,
onions (I mention this crop especially to illustrate the change
in the market) started at $2.50 a barrel, and many were sold
to go to the Philadelphia market at that price ; but all at once
the Philadelphia market was glutted with onions from Michi-
gan, at a dollar a barrel, which knocked the price down at
once in our market, and we poor farmers of Essex County
were obliged to submit. A year ago, early cabbages were
bringing a handsome price, a remunerative price, in Boston
market, and farmers felt that they were going to be enabled
to reap a rich reward for their labor in the cabbage crop ; but

CHANGE IN THE MARKET. 187

all at once, two or three or half a dozen car-loads of cabbages
came in from Portland, knocked the price down at once, and
shocked the market in such a way that it never recovered. A
few years ago, the squash crop was one of our main depend-
ences. We were sure of a good market for any amount that
we could raise ; but of late years, the farmers of Michigan
and other Western States have been raising squashes, and they
frequently send them into Boston in such quantities as to glut
the market, and are obliged to sell them for what they can get,
which sometimes is so low that little or no returns are made
to them, and making the market very uncertain to us. So,
at the present day, it is almost as important to discuss what
shall we farmers grow, as it is, how shall we grow it.

This year, as you well know, we have all suffered very
seriously from drought. Many of our crops in Essex County
have been cut off entirely, and yet the price has not advanced
in proportion, because in other parts of the country the supply
is abundant, and for that reason there is no chance, as it
seems to me, for us to get the opportunities that we once had,
so that we must consider especially the wants of our home
•market. How best to supply that is the question. We must
wait, it seems to me, for future developments before we can
determine to what crops we may devote our energies to the
best profit. A few years ago, you farmers will remember,
it was quite important to get early potatoes into the market,
and early pease, but now it is useless for us to attempt to grow
either earlier than we can get the largest product with the
crop. What I mean to say is, that we must not endeavor to
put our crops in so early as to sacrifice quality for the sake of
getting them a little earlier, for the reason that early potatoes
and all early vegetables are coming in from Norfolk and the
South, and so along, following the shore, much earlier than
we can possibly raise them, and potatoes can be introduced
into our market ripe, and in first-rate condition before we can
possibly bring in our unripe and ill-grown early potatoes ; so
that it is not much use for us at the present time to attempt
to grow these things very much earlier than will enable us
to produce the best and greatest results.

I will say one word in regard to the potato. I am very
sure that, by high cultivation, — that is, by using an abundance

188 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.

of manure for the cultivation of the potato, — we seriously inter-
fere with the quality of the crop. We may get greater results,
but we have not the quality. We, in Essex County, who have
been in the habit of supplying the Boston market and others
with potatoes, have been anxious to produce as large crops as
possible, and as early ; but we do not pretend that we can
raise potatoes of such good quality as come from the State
of Maine and other places. I am satisfied it is the result of
over-manuring, for I know many cultivators who use little or
no manure in their small private gardens, who get potatoes
of very excellent quality, though very small crops. I will say
here, tnat it is a fact which I know to be true, that a good
quantity and quality of potatoes can be raised from Peruvian
guano alone, year after year, on the same land. That is a
fact worthy of consideration.

As to the method of cultivation, probably you are very
familiar with it, and I will only mark out, in a few gen-
eral remarks, the principal features. If any one cultivates
the potato very largely, he may use to advantage Drew's
potato-planter, which cuts, drops and covers the seed at one
operation ; but it would not, perhaps, be advisable for small
farmers, who do not have large fields, to incur the expense
of that. But potatoes can be grown with little or no hand-
culture, and the method is this : After ploughing the land,
spread the manure on the surface and harrow in ; furrow out
the rows three feet and a half apart, and have them as nearly
equal distances as possible ; drop the potatoes ; cut with two
eyes in a piece, ten inches apart in the rows, and then cover
them with a plough, and the planting is done. Just before
the potato comes up, go over the field with a drag, which I
will explain pretty soon, and level off those furrows, leaving
a smooth, plain surface, and destroying the first crop of weeds
that break the ground ; then, in a few days, the potatoes will
come up, looking fresh and bright. The after-culture may be
done with some of the various potato-hoers, or cultivators.
There are plenty of such, and it is not worth while for me to
go into a description of them. You are all familiar with the
different kinds. But the after-culture, as I say, may be
managed entirely with the horse and these potato-hoers, or
cultivators. Then, in digging, there are potato-diggers that

THE DANVERS ONION.' 189

work to advantage ; but if you do not think it advisable to get
a potato-digger, plough a furrow each side of a row, turning
it from the row of potatoes, and then with the potato-hoe, or
forked hoe, the digging is very easily done ; or you may go
through the centre with a double mould-board plough, and
throw them all out, and pick them up ; and afterwards go over
it again with a cultivator, and you may get nearly all the
potatoes with very little labor.

I think I will next take the onion crop, because the system
of growing the onion will apply to many other crops. In the
first place, I will remark, that we have an onion that was per-
fected in Danvers. By a great deal of care, the Dan vers
onion has been perfected, and probably it is the best onion
that has ever been grown for profit by the farmer. I will
admit that it is not quite so good in quality as the cracker
onion of Rhode Island, but for a crop for sale it is as near
perfect, I think, as can be obtained. You will observe that it
has a very fine, perfect form, small top, aud beautiful in ap-
pearance. Mr. Daniel Buxton of Peabody has the credit of
perfecting that onion. The best method, as I understand it,
of raising an onion crop, is this : Spread your manure in the
fall, and plough it in five inches deep. It is not well to plough
deep for onions. The best crops for the onion to follow are
carrot and potato crops. The onion may be grown on the
same land year after year. The longer they are grown on the
same land, the finer they are, the more perfectly they bottom
down, and the smaller the top. You will find in some cases
that your onions will not bottom down so perfectly and develop
so well as you desire to have them. You want to know what
is the matter. You have either got poor seed or your land is
not in proper condition ; that is, it has not been cultivated
long enough, or your manure is too green. I will say here,
that in my opinion (I know there are some who will differ
with me), to produce the best results with vegetables, it is
necessary to have fine, well-rotted manure. I* shall not dis-
cuss at all to-day the question of the use of fertilizers, but I
shall proceed to talk upon the raising of vegetables in the old-
fashioned way, with manure. Not that I would have it
understood that I am opposed to the use of fertilizers, for I
believe that great good will result from the introduction of

190 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.

fertilizers based on sound principles, like the Stockbridge
fertilizers, that have been discussed here this morning. But
to ensure good crops of onions, or of any vegetable, we must
have good manure, and plenty of it. We must have good
land, we must have good culture, and, above all, we must
have good seed, without which success is impossible.

I had got as far as manuring the land ■in the fall of the year.
If you have manure, put it on in the fall of the year, and
plough it in ; and. in the spring, as soon as the land is dry
enough to work in a comfortable way, — never work land in
the spring when it will work clammy, — go over the ground
with a revolving harrow (we call them pulverizing harrows),
which will do the work sufficiently, without any ploughing,
and do it very effectively, leaving the land in perfect condi-
tion for after-cultivation. After this pulverizing harrow has
done its work, then go on with the drag, which I shall explain
directly, drag the ground down smooth, and sow the seed,
sowing from two and a half to three and a half pounds to the
acre. After that, of course, the crop requires careful culture,
and I will pursue the weeding and harvesting of the onion
crop at this time, and finish it up, which will bring out an
explanation of some of the implements that are used.

I will commence with the drag. I have made a small model
of a drag, for the reason that I found it rather difficult by
words to make myself clearly understood by persons who had
never seen a drag of this kind. This model is supposed to
be eight feet long, and three and a half feet from that point
to this, in width. This turned part, representing the front
part of a sled, is one foot wide, made of two-inch spruce
plank. Here are three by four or three by five joist, spiked
across the drag at equal distance from the ends, with a staple
in each, to which the chain is attached. The horses are
hitched to the centre, the man riding here. This drag will
break up the lumps and leave the ground in better condition
than it can be put by raking, and with very little labor. And
above all, do not forget, in the construction of this drag, to
nail a narrow cleat lengthwise of the centre of the drag, which
may be a strip of board, one inch by three. The importance
of that is, that it fills all the tracks of the horses. That little
cleat drags the surface of the ground before it, and tills all the

HOME-MADE DRAG. 191

little irregularities. It will kill the first growth of weeds that
comes up, before the seed of potatoes, corn, pease and other
crops have appeared, and it answers the purpose of one hoeing.
You can hoe an acre the first time in an hour, or as fast as two
horses can walk. It will cover two rows at a time, and do
the work perfectly. This drag can be made by any farmer,
with an axe and a saw and one dollar and twenty-five cents'
worth of material, in an hour or an hour and a half, so that
every farmer can have one without going to his neighbor to
borrow. It takes a great deal longer time to go to a neighbor
and borrow a drag, and carry it back (which, I am sorry to
* say, is not always done), than to make one. So I advise you
all to make one for yourselves, and not depend upon your
neighbors. I believe there is no labor-saving implement of
greater importance to the market gardener than that simple
draff, which will cost not over two dollars, labor and all. I
have used one for many years, and am finding new uses for it
every year. I don't know how I could get along without it.

After the ground is prepared by the drag for the seed-
sower, sow your seed. I use, for sowing all kinds of garden
seeds, Willis's seed-sower. We farmers have found it neces-
sary not to depend wholly upon the agricultural-implement
makers for tools. They have made vast improvements, and
the agricultural stores have almost everything you can think
of, but they have not got some things that we farmers in
Essex County think we must have, and in order to get them,
we make them ourselves. I took Willis's seed-sower as a
basis, with which you»are all probably familiar, and made one
myself, for the purpose of using some of these new and
improved fertilizers. It is very important that the young
seed, when it first starts, should start with vigor and power.
Therefore, it wants a fertilizer that will act upon it immediately,
and give it a push forward that it will not forget through the
whole season. If you have your seed in a seed-bed, where it
cannot get at the manure for two or three weeks, the weeds
will get a start, and it takes a long while for the tiny vegetable
to get over that check which it has received. Therefore I
would urge the importance of applying a fertilizer that shall
be adapted to the immediate use of the crop, and be assimi-
lated immediately where the seed is dropped. In order to do

192 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.

that, I have made a machine with a double hopper. I put the
seed in one side and the fertilizer in the other. I have tins,
with holes of different sizes, so that I can put the seed in just
exactly as I want it, and with holes a little larger, I can dis-
tribute the fertilizer just as I want it. The seed and the
fertilizer go into the furrow at the same time, and are covered
at the same time. It is admirably adapted to the use of the
Stockbridge fertilizers, the Brighton fertilizer, and some of
the very best superphosphates in the market may be used to
advantage, but with which I have been sometimes so deceived,
that I have become somewhat discouraged in their use. But
1 think there is a brighter day dawning upon us, when we
shall be able to use some of these improved fertilizers, with the
assurance that we are getting what we pay for ; and for that
reason, I think this implement is exactly adapted to the wants
of farmers to-day.

I believe I have got the onions sowed now, and the next
thing is to take care of them and weed them. You have all
probably seen a truckle hoe, but I have never seen one in any
agricultural-implement warehouse that was nearly as good in
construction as that made by a wheelwright in Peabody,
where this implement which I show you was invented.
Although it is homely, it has been used a great deal. A
man can hoe between the rows of onions with this as fast as
he can walk, and do the work well. Then the next thing is
to weed these onions. We want a weeder to 'do it with, but
we do not want to go to an agricultural-implement store for
it, for it is not to be found there ; we must make it ourselves.
There is a little implement that I made in about fifteen min-
utes. Take an old hoop that has been on a paint keg, which
has exactly the bevel you want, as you will see here. [Mr.
Ware exhibited the implement, consisting of a hoop in the
shape of a triangle fastened to a short handle.] A man will
make half a dozen of these in an hour, and it is one of the
best things to weed with I have ever found. Perhaps many
of you may have something better, but this is the best thing
I know of. It is an article that we make ourselves, and it
answers the purpose admirably.

Question. How far apart do you plant onions?

Mr. Ware. Fifteen inches apart. Then, after the onions

THE ONION CROP. 193

have been weeded twice, they have got to be pretty good size,
you think you have got through your weeding pretty well
and can go haying, and feel very comfortable about it. You
go to haying, and after you get through, you will find purs-
lane so thick that you will be astonished. Here is another
implement which I have made, for there are none in the mar-
ket, for the purpose of weeding. It is an implement similar
to the truckle hoe I exhibited before, but with taller wheels,
and it is so arranged with small ploughshares that you can set
it narrower or wider as you wish, and by running it carefully
straddle of the row, you throw a little furrow up on each
side of the onions, or carrots, or beets, or whatever you have,
and throw a little dirt upon the small weeds and kill them.
But you may ask, "Will not the piling up of the earth kill
the vegetable ? " The vegetable must be large enough, so that
throwing up the furrow will not cover the eye of it. The
dirt should be thrown up so as to hill up the vegetable slightly.
Then, in a week or a little more, when the small weeds have
been killed and others have started again, just reverse it and
throw the furrow back again away from the vegetable, and you
do a day's weeding with this machine in a very short time, by
simply walking along. It does the work very well, and at a
season when you cannot well spare the time to do it in any
other way, — just as haying begins.

The onions are now, we will say, weeded sufficiently, and
if the seed is right, if the manure is right and the land is
right, in a little while the tops will begin to droop prepara-
tory to ripening off. But if you have made a mistake, if
your seed is not very good, if the manure you have used was
a little too green, or if the land where you have sowed your
crop has not been prepared properly by previous cultivation,
and by reason of this the onions are stiff-necked, proud,
haughty, will not yield to circumstances, and they stand bolt
upright, you must overcome them. Take an empty flour
barrel with two heads, and a hole bored through the centre of
each, with a hoe handle for an axle-tree and a handle on each
side, and use it like a wheelbarrow, walking over "the field of
onions and breaking down the stiff-necked ones, and then they
will be inclined to ripen off. They will not be so perfect as
they would if the tops had fallen naturally, but they will be

25

194 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.

good onions; whereas, if you do not pursue this course or
some other, they will be of no use whatever.

In harvesting onions, we pull them, putting six rows in
one, but not too thickly. If the ground is a little foul with
weeds at that time, we take an old scarifier frame, with the
teeth out, and go to the blacksmith's and have a steel cutter
made, as long as the scarifier frame is broad, and attach it to
the frame. Then, when we have cleaned the space of six
rows, we hitch a horse to that cutter, which works like the
truckle hoe, and go over the surface of the land, cutting about
two inches deep, and then rake up the weeds, and proceed as
before with six more rows. After the onions have remained
there a few days, or a week, if it is dry weather, they should
be turned over with a rake with wooden teeth, care being
taken not to let the rake-teeth pierce the onions, as they fre-
quently do, for every onion that is pierced is injured or
spoiled. When they are dried as thoroughly as possible,
they may be carted to the barn or shed. If 3^011 choose to
top them in the field, very well, but Ave generally gather them
into the barn. They will bear placing in piles three or four
feet deep if sufficiently dry, but they must be put in a dry
place, where the air will draw through them and continue to
dry them. Thorough drying is very important, and a neces-
sary preparation for keeping.

Question. Can anything be done for the blight?

Mr. Wake. There is one disease which appears to be a
blight, but which is not. The severe drought of last summer
brought what appeared to be a blight upon the onion crop,
.but by careful examination it was found to be caused by a
little insect, much like the aphis. I presume it is not the
aphis, although it resembles it very much. They always
appear in. a dry time, and multiply so fast that they will
spread over a whole field in a few days. I have seen an
onion field that appeared in a perfect condition of growth
entirely destroyed in ten days by the ravages of this insect in
a very dry time. If the gentleman alludes to smut, which
sometimes attacks the onion crop, I will say this : The smut
is a disease of the land, and after a piece of land has become
impregnated with the spores of the fungi that we call "smut,"
it is no use to attempt to raise onions there. It will not do

THE ONION MAGGOT. 195

to use a plough or any implement on that land and then take
it to another piece where you are going to have your onions
"without first perfectly cleaning it. The spores of the fungi
that cause smut in onions, which are invisible to us, can be
taken from one field to another, and are just as sure to be
propagated as the seed of anything else. Therefore, if you
have smut on a piece of ground (which is probably the blight
to which the gentleman alludes), stop growing onions there
for several years ; lay it down to grass, and raise your onions
somewhere else. And, as I said before, be sure not to let an
implement be taken from one field to another, or you will
carry the spores or seed of the fungi with it, and your other
laud will be impregnated with the disease. The wash from
high land where these spores exist will carry them to lower
land, so that you must exercise great caution in this matter.
These are the only two blights that I have in my mind.

Question. What is the remedy for the onion maggot?

Mr. Ware. The maggot has been and probably will be the
great curse of the onion grower. I know of but one remedy.
I will say here, that I believe, of all men in the universe, there
is no class who are so willing to unbosom themselves and tell
all they know, and perhaps a little more, as farmers, and I
believe that it is to that we owe, in a great measure, the
trouble I have spoken of with regard to marketing. There
is a great deal of information circulated by the reports of such
meetings as these, and by the transactions of the various
agricultural societies. In order to get a premium from the
agricultural society in Essex County, for instance, farmers
must make a clean breast of the methods by which they pro-
duce their crops, and that becomes public property. The
formers in Maine, Vermont and New Hampshire have thus
learned how to raise onions and other crops as we do in Essex
County. Therefore, our market is cut off. You here in
Worcester have learned how to do these things just about as
well as we in Essex County, and therefore we can no longer
supply your market with vegetables. However, I will say
that I believe I have discovered a remedy for the onion mag-
got. I have never said much about it, but I believe it is a
good thing. In the first place, the onion maggot is produced
by a fly resembling somewhat our house-fly, but smaller. You

196 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.

will see them in your field just before your onions come up, as
you walk along, and they will fly before you, but they will
not go more than six or eight feet before they will light.
As soon as the onion comes up, they will deposit their eggs,
six or eight in a bunch, either right on the little onion itself,
or on a small lump of earth near by. They seem to under-
stand the necessity of a favorable location. These eggs will
hatch just exactly at the right time. Then the little rascals,
so small that you can hardly see them, seek a livelihood, —
which is perfectly natural. They are not strong enough to
eat directly into the onion, but they seem to understand the
circumstances perfectly. They, will follow the side of the
onion down to get at the bottom, where the roots come out
from the onion. The onion is formed by layer after layer,
and right in the centre there is an opening directly into the
heart of the onion. There is naturally a little opening there,
so that these little maggots can crawl in without having to
eat in, and when they get there, they are perfectly satisfied,
and there they eat the heart of the onion. Their neighbors
will come in, and by and by one onion will have a dozen or
more maggots, and that is death to the onion. They wTill kill
one and go to the next, and so on. I have studied their
habits a great deal, and I felt that if a way could be discov-
ered to prevent their getting into the onion, it would be all
right. It occurred to me that if the seed of the onion were
planted so deep that these little maggots, that' are so delicate
and tender, would not be able to get down so deep to enter
the heart of the onion, they might be headed off and their
plans frustrated somewhat. Well, that is so. That is the
remedy. But in attempting to get the benefit of that remedy
you may lose your crop. If you plant your onion seed more
than two inches deep, the seed will not grow. We ordinarily
plant it about an inch deep, but it is safe to put the seed in
about one and a half inches deep, not more, and two if the
seed is first rate ; most of it will come up. In planting it that
depth, it is necessary to use a little more seed, because some
of it will not grow planted so deep as that ; but that, I believe,
is the only remedy against the onion maggot.

Question. Will you please state what kind of soil is best
for the growth of onions ?

USE OF SALT AND ASHES. 197

Mr. Ware. A soil with a little clay in it. Good corn
soil would be good land for onions. I have known very large
crops of onions grown on land that was clayey, that would
bake in a dry time. I do not recommend such land, because
it is very difficult to work it ; but I have known large crops
grown on such land. I will say here, that a crop of onions
varies all the way from 250 to. 1,000 bushels to the acre.
Five hundred bushels is a very good crop, I might say, a first-
class crop, but we do sometimes get 600, 700, 800, 900, and
even 1,000 bushels to the acre.

Question. Would not lime have a good effect upon smut ?

Mr. Ware.- I doubt it, but I cannot answer positively.
The better way is, if you have smut in a piece of land, to
change your onion field to another piece. If your laud is im-
pregnated with spores of the fungi, the smut will destroy your
whole crop, and you had better give it up, and take some
other land.

Question. Is salt a good fertilizer for onions?

Mr. Ware. Salt is a very valuable fertilizer for onions,
for carrots, for mangolds, and for cabbages. I do not know
that I should recommend it for other crops, especially. We
in Essex County use a great deal of salt manure in raising
onions, but I do not think that salt is so especially adapted as
a fertilizer to onions as to the three crops I have mentioned, —
carrots, cabbages, and mangolds.

Question. How is it with wood ashes ?

Mr. Ware. Wood ashes are good for anything, always,
every time ; the more the better. I will next consider the
carrot crop. I show you a sample of what we call the " Inter-
mediate." It is a hybrid between the short-horn and the long
orange carrots, very much better than either. The farmers
of Danvers and Marblehead have the credit of producing that
carrot. It was produced in both places about the same time,
probably from consultation and talking together, as farmers
do sometimes when they meet in the market-place. The
farmers of Danvers and Marblehead are wide-awake to obtain
new varieties, and you will find before we get through that
Marblehead has done a great deal towards producing many of
the very best of the standard vegetables in the United States.
This is a medium and fair sample of the Intermediate carrot.

198 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.

And I will say here, that no vegetable I have shown here is
an exaggeration, by any means. The drought has been very
severe in Essex County, and our vegetables have not been
overgrown. It has not been my endeavor to produce here
large specimens, but simply good specimens, showing the
varieties in perfection. This, I say, is a good specimen of
the new carrot. It has a small and short top, which is very
important. You will go by a field of carrots sometimes, where
the tops are up to your knees or higher, and you will think
that that man has an immense crop of carrots, but when he
comes to dig them, you will find they are almost all tops, with
very little bottoms. You will find a great many of those
carrots will have run up to seed, which they should not do.
That is the result of bad seed.

The gr.ound for carrots may be prepared very much as for
onions. It is not so important to put the manure on in the
fall ; but if you have manure, it is not a bad place for it. It
is not well to plough deep even for the carrot crop ; better
results are obtained by ploughing shallow. The manure
should be applied early, and ploughed in, I will say, six inches
deep, and then the land allowed to lie until about the 25th of
May. You may plough the land any time in April, when you
can best attend to it. By ploughing it then, and getting your
manure in, you get one good crop of weeds started before you
put your seed in at all, which is very important, and no labor
has been expended for it. Then, when you get ready, plough
your land the second time, which will put the manure near
the surface, where it belongs. Then harrow and drag, as I
explained before, and your land is in perfect condition for the
seed-sower. If you sow your seed accurately and correctly,
one pound of good seed is sufficient for an acre. If you put
in too much seed, a great deal of labor is required to thin out
the plants, more labor than weeding, so that it is very im-
portant to sow just the right quantity of seed. And I will
say just here, that the straighter you have the rows, and the
nearer they are of an equal distance apart, the more easy the
cultivation, and the better you can use the implements that I
have shown. It is very important to have straight rows in
order to use these implements successfully, so that care in
sowing is very important. I would sow the seed about the

SOWING CAEROTS. 199

25th of May ; but if you get them in by the 10th of June, it is
early enough, provided the weather is not very hot and dry
about that time. I have noticed that we are apt to have a
very hot spell about the 10th of June, and if it is very hot and
dry at that time, the little carrots are so delicate that the heat
of the sun will burn them up and kill them. Therefore, I do
not recommend waiting until so late as that. The 25th of
May is a very good time, or within a few days of it. They
should be carefully weeded and kept clean. About the time
of the second weeding, or perhaps the third, if the land is very
weedy, the carrot-tops get so large that they cover the ground
pretty well, and then the weeds will not grow. Carrots grow
rapidly. Late in the fall, as late as October, they will make
the largest part of their growth. The latter part of August,
these carrots that I show you had made very small growth.
They had come up and grown a little when the hot weather
and drought came, but they had no hold upon the ground, and
it hardly seemed as if one of them would live. • But as soon
as we had rain, along in the early part of August, they began
to start, and then we had a few rains, and those carrots made
all their growth after the 10th or middle of August, and most
of it in October.

Question. How much does it cost to grow and take care
of an acre of carrots, after they are planted, and pull them,
and put them into the cellar?

Mr. Ware. I cannot tell exactly, but I will tell you what
it costs to harvest them. Some farmers recommend sowing
carrots twenty-two inches apart, but I think that is a waste of
land. They will grow just as well in rows fifteen inches
apart as twenty-two inches or two feet. Carrots are so
constituted, that if there is a bunch growing together in one
place, they will crowd themselves out each way. I have seen
carrots so crowded that they would be square instead of
round. It is not well to have them so thick as that, but
where everything is favorable, if there is a bunch side by side,
they will crowd themselves out, and make room for each
other. Each one says to his neighbor, "Move a little," and
they elbow each other round and get room, and grow to good
size, even if they are pretty thick in bunches.

In regard to harvesting, I will say that my experience and

200 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.

observation warrant me in saying that it is safe to leave the
roots in the ground until the 13th of November. I have
known the ground to close up on the 13th, 14th, or 16th, a
great many times, but it is very rare indeed, in our part of
the State, that roots are not safe in the ground up to the 13th.
We may have a little freeze before, — perhaps we did this year,
— but it will be warm afterwards ; but it is not safe to run the
risk of the ground being open after the 13th of November.
Therefore, I commence harvesting my carrots about the first
of November. My method is this ; and I will be particular
in describing it, because I claim that it is a great improvement
over the common practice. In the first place, take a long-
handled square shovel, and grind it sharp. A man will go
along with that shovel and cut off the carrots, a row at a time,
as fast as he can walk. When the tops have been cut, rake
them up in piles and cart them off to your barn, and feed
them out to your cattle and horses. They are excellent food ;
if you do not need them for that, they make a good mulching
for anything you want to cover during the winter. When
you have got the top out of the way, then take a subsoil
plough to loosen the roots. And, by the way, that is the only
use to which I could ever put a subsoil plough, — otne of those
common, old-fashioned, lifting subsoil ploughs. Take two
horses, and run the plough just at the left of the row of
carrots. They are already topped, you will understand.
This subsoil plough lifts them out of the ground about two
inches. To do the work properly, you want four or five men
to a pair of horses. You will strike out as much land as you
think you can manage in one forenoon, go round that piece
with the plough, and have two men on one side of the land
and two on the other, with potato-diggers, or forked hoes,
and they will rake out the carrots each way. If the men are
smart, they will just about keep up with the plough. You
may work with your team until noon, digging out the carrots
in that way. Mind you, a hand has not been touched to
them yet. We will suppose this to be a dry day, as it should
be, and those carrots have been drying on the surface of the
ground all the forenoon. After dinner, have two teams, and
four men will fill one cart while the fifth man takes a load to
the barn cellar, and they will cart in the afternoon what they

HARVESTING CARROTS. 201

dug in the forenoon. By this method of harvesting carrots,
you can accomplish twice as much as in the ordinary way.
Any of you farmers who have had experience will admit that
for one man to dig, top and get into the cellar a ton of carrots
a day is a very smart day's work. By the method I have
suggested, you will have two tons or more in the barn cellar
for every man and horse that has been at work. There is a
saving of one-half. You remember that it has been said that
the man who makes two blades of grass grow where one has
grown before, is a public benefactor. I want to ask you
farmers if the man who will show you how to do two days'
work in one in harvesting your roots, when you are expectino-
a freeze every day, is not a benefactor to you? I claim that
he is.

Perhaps I may say a word with regard to the value of the
carrot crop. You have all probably had experience in feeding
carrots. I consider them very valuable for feeding to horses
and cows. I do not say that they will increase the milk verv
much, but they will produce a first-rate quality of milk and
a fair quantity, and keep the animals in a very healthy, sleek
condition. The effect of carrots on the hair seems to be
peculiar. They make the hair of animals very sleek. They
are not only valuable as food for cattle and horses, but they
are valuable to sell, and we want something to sell. With
us, carrots will almost always sell. There seems to be a
demand for all the carrots we can raise. We can sell them
without sending them up here to Worcester, or to Vermont
or New Hampshire. They will sell for from $8 to $12 a ton,
which makes a very good business.

Question. What do you call a good yield to the acre ?

Mr. Ware. With fairly good cultivation, you may expect
from twenty-five to thirty-five tons to the acre. I have grown
repeatedly more than thirty-five tons to the acre, reckoning
thirty-six bushels to the ton. Thirty-six bushels of this
variety will make a ton, while the long orange carrot requires
forty bushels. Therefore, you get a ton in a smaller space.
And this carrot, by the way, is a great improvement in quality
over the long orange, which has been so long in the market.
It is an excellent vegetable for family use, — tender, sweet,
and fine. Perhaps the short-horn might be a little more

26

202 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.

desirable for that purpose, but we grow them mainly as a
root crop for feeding purposes. But there is a constant
demand for them in the market, to be sold by the barrel, for
retailing purposes, and they bring for that purpose about two
dollars a barrel, which is a very good price.

Question. Where do you get the seed?

Mr. Ware. Grow it ; then I know I have got seed that is
good. And if any of you farmers want to get carrot-seed,
send down to Marblehead for it.

Question. Are they highly colored? There is a great
call for carrots, especially where they make butter.

Mr. Ware. These are high colored, and are especially
adapted to color the milk of Jersey cows.

Question. You give them to the cows first?

Mr. Ware. Certainly. I will now touch upon the turnip
crop. This is a second crop. We do not propose to grow it
except as a second crop. If you have a piece of land from
which a crop of potatoes, or pease, or any other crop, is taken
early, plough that land, harrow it, drag it, sow your seed, —
any time in August is early enough, generally, — and a good
crop of turnips is secured. Be careful not to sow too much
seed, because it is a great deal of work to thin them.

Question. How do you sow your seed ?

Mr. Ware. With the same machine, which can be adapted
to any kind of seed. It has a revolving brush inside that
will distribute seed of any kind and any size, through the
different sizes of holes. You cannot sow parsnip or carrot
seed, unless it is very nicely cleaned, with any other implement
with certainty. This will do it with certainty. The turnip
crop, as I said, is a second crop, and I consider it a valuable
crop to grow as a second crop. The specimen I have here is
the best variety. It is the purple-top, strap-leaf turnip. It
grows a small top and large bottom. It is a clean reot, sweet
and delicate, and if grown quick, it is a delicious vegetable.
I think it is valuable to feed to milch cows, and find it very
satisfactory. You have heard it said, and probably will
again, that the flat turnip is of no account; it is all water;
it has no meat-producing or milk-producing quality. In reply
to that, I will say that there is a man in my neighborhood who
fattened a pair of oxen one winter by feeding them three

THE FLAT TURNIP. 203

bushels of flat turnips a day. He worked them every day ;
the}r never had a spoonful of meal, they were turned out to
grass after the spring's work, and were so well fatted that
they took the first premium at our Essex County Cattle Show
for fat eattle. So that there is value in this turnip for feeding-
purposes.

The cultivation of the turnip is very simple. It requires
thinning and weeding once, and at the same time, cutting
through with the truckle hoe, and that is about all the attention
that it requires before harvesting, which should be as late as
weather will permit. You all know that turnips in the early
part of the season are sweet and nice, but later in the season
they become corky, and of little or no value as a vegetable.
If I can tell you how to keep your turnips so that in the
spring they will be just as sweet and free from corkiness as
in the fall, I have no doubt you will be glad. The cause of
this corkiness is the sprouting of the turnip. The moment
it begins to sprout, it begins to grow corky, and in proportion
as the sprout grows, the corkiness is more developed. In
order to avoid that, cut off the top, so as to destroy the
germs of the sprout, and cut off the root, so as to prevent
any little rootlets from starting, and the turnip will keep just
as fresh through the winter and along into the spring, as it
was in the fall.

Question. How do you prevent their wilting in the cellar ?

Mr. Ware. Keep them cool and do not allow them to dry
up in the cellar ; wilting is caused by drying. But if you
have but a small quantity, throw something over them ; a
little seaweed, a few carrot-tops, or anything of that kind, or
dry saud.

Question. Where do you get your seed ?

Mr. Wake. Set out a turnip like this in the spring, and
it will grow seed time enough to plant each year.

Mr. Dodge of Sutton. After four years, it loses its char-
acter entirely. Turnip and carrot seed should be imported
every year, or certainly once in four years.

Mr. Ware. I beg to differ from you. This turnip has
been grown in Marblehead more than a dozen years.

Mr. Dodge. I noticed that it was not a perfect turnip, as
compared with. those from imported seed.

204 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.

Mr. Ware. Well, sir, if you can show me one more
perfect than that, I would like to see it. That has grown
from seed grown year after year in Marblehead, for more
than twelve years. That turnip suits me very well. It seems
to me good enough.

Now, with regard to the machine I use ; Mr. Willis, who
invented the machine from which I took this idea, is in the
firm of Breck & Co., North Market Street, Boston. You
will find Willis's seed-sower there, and the inventor is there
now, I presume. They manufacture them, and they are the
only parties who do.

Mr. . The question I wish to ask is, whether a

brush-machine was not the only reliable machine.

Mr. Ware. I think it is. Other people may think differ-
ently. Perhaps gentlemen have not understood that the
machine I use is a double machine, designed to sow the seed
and fertilizer at the same time. They both drop into a hopper
that tapers down like a tunnel, and the seed and fertilizer are
delivered in the furrow together. Then it is provided with a
little drag, that covers the seed, and presses the earth down
upon it.

Question. Have you any trouble with the fertilizer killing
the seed ?

Mr. Ware. I would not use fertilizers that would injure
the seed. I would not use Peruvian guano alone ; I would
adulterate it somewhat. Perhaps the guano you buy in a
great many places would be adulterated enough ; but the
superphosphates that you buy, the Brighton fertilizer, and
many other fertilizers, used in such small quantities as I
apply, I think would be perfectly safe applied clear.

I will say one word in regard to the Swede turnip. It is a
very valuable vegetable, and the very best crop I ever grew,
and the best quality of vegetable, I sowed after a crop of
early potatoes. It must have been as late as the 25th of July ;
but that is a little too late to sow it ; ordinarily, it would not
succeed sown as late as that. But I should not recommend
sowing it as a first crop. The ground may be ploughed after
the grass is cut in June, or after some early crop has been
taken off, and this may be made to succeed well as a second
crop. It is a very valuable vegetable for feeding purposes.

FERTILIZER WITH THE SEED. 205

I do not grow it so much as I do the flat turnip and other
roots, from the fact that it is a second crop, and my land is
not usually at liberty quite early enough for the Swede, but
it is at liberty early enough for the flat turnip. I think this
is of as much value or more than the flat turnip, but it costs
more to raise it, and I consider the flat turnip well worthy of
cultivation for the cost that is incurred.

Question. How much guano or phosphate would you sow
with the carrot-seed ?

Mr. Ware. I cannot give you the exact amount of that
as to weight, but I should regulate my seed-sower so as to
distribute a small quantity of it. A person must use his
judgment about that. I cannot give any specific rule to be
followed. It would depend somewhat upon the strength of
the fertilizer. If the fertilizer was very powerful, I should
use less of it. But I would not use it very strong. If there
was any danger of killing the seed, I would adulterate it
somewhat.

Question. Can you grow the turnip on old land, after
other cultivation?

Mr. Ware. Yes, sir; I always grow it ou old land with
perfect success.

Question. How late can you sow the white turnip?

Mr. Ware. I should say you might sow it any time up to
the 20th of August. You would get a good growth, if the
season was favorable ; but if it should be dry and unfavorable,
as it was this season, your turnips would not amount to much.

Question. Would you sow them on the same land two
years in succession ?

Mr. Ware. I should not recommend that.

Question. Will the corn crop follow well a heavy crop of
potatoes ?

Mr. Ware. I am not prepared to answer that question,
from the fact that very little corn is raised at the present time
in my neighborhood.

Question. What is the best method of keeping the ruta-
baga?

Mr. Ware. It is important that the ruta-baga should not
be harvested until near cold weather, or be put in too large
piles. There seems to be a great deal of latent heat in them,

206 BOAED OF AGRICULTURE.

and they will produce fermentation and heat quicker than,
perhaps, any other vegetable ; but if they are not put in too
large piles, there is no trouble. I am careful, after harvesting
my vegetables, to open the windows, on cold nights, and cool
off the cellar as much as possible, not letting the roots freeze.

I came near forgetting the mangold-wurzel crop, which is
an important one, and I will touch upon that, as, at the pres-
ent time, I consider it a very valuable crop for farmers to
raise. In the first place, we can get a very large product
from an acre. There is no difficulty in getting fifty tons to
the acre. There was a gentleman here this forenoon who has
raised seventy-three tons to the acre, upon sea-kelp alone.
But he had an advantage, that, perhaps, no other man will
ever have, except in that particular location. He used sea-
manure, kelp and such like, in abundance, — he had all he
wanted, and the result was that enormous growth of seventy-
three tons. I have grown, myself, and I feel very sure of
growing, under favorable circumstances, fifty tons to the acre.
There is no difficulty in that, but it requires good land, good
manure, and pleuty of it. I laid out for a crop of sixty tons
to the acre this year, but did not get more than forty-five,
owing to the very severe drought. Here is a specimen of
the Norbiton red giant mangold-wurzel. I have already said
that it is necessary to have plenty of manure to grow this
vegetable. Perhaps it is unnecessary for me to say anything
about sea-manure, because, I presume, hardly any of you
have an opportunity to get it. But salt is good for this crop.
Green cow-manure is good for this crop. Any strong, nitrog-
enous manure is valuable for this crop, as it is a gross feeder.
My method of cultivation is in rows, twenty-two inches apart.
I sow with the brush seed-sower. Four or five pounds of seed
are required to the acre. It is a good plan to have seed
enough. You may not all have observed, that the beet-seed,
as we see it, is not the seed itself, but simply the hull, which
contains two or three seeds ; so that what appears to be one
beet-seed is, really, two or three. Therefore, the crop must,
of necessity, require thinning. They should not be thinned
the first weeding, because sometimes the cut-worm will destroy
a good many, and it is well to wait until the second weeding,
when the plants have attained a little size. If the season is

THE MANGOLD CROP. 207

favorable, they grow very rapidly, and do not require more
than two weedings. They soon cover the ground with their
tops, and then there is no further trouble. This root is very
sensitive to freezing, and should not be left out to be touched
with frost. It is a good plan to pull them and wring the tops
off. A knife should never be used in topping them, but the
tops should be wrung off by hand, and the beets laid in a pile
in the field. Cover them up with the tops a few days, to dry
them a little, and then they may be put into the root-cellar.
They keep remarkably well, and they are very valuable for
feeding. I will tell you one fact in regard to mangolds, that,
perhaps, many of you know. You may feed them, uncooked,
to store-hogs, such as breeding-sows, etc., all winter long,
giving them nothing else, and they will grow and thrive well,
and be in good condition in the spring. I have myself, for
years, given them nothing else, except the slops from the
house. If you get fifty tons to the acre, or even if you do
not get more than thirty, you are getting a vast amount of
food from a little land. It is a crop, too, that will always sell
readily in the market. We are selling them for from $10 to
$13 a ton. They bring a better price than carrots, and do
not require half the labor to raise them. It is a very valuable
crop, but I do not think mangolds are worth $13 a ton to
farmers to feed out, and when you can get that for them, you
had better sell them. I suppose if you farmers should all go
to raising them, I should not be able to sell any more. I
would recommend green manure for this vegetable, but not
for others.

Question. How applied?

Mr. Ware. Spread on and ploughed in.

Dr. Wakefield. How thick do you plant them?

Mr. Ware. In rows, twenty-two inches apart, and leave
them in the rows, when thinned out, eight or ten inches
apart.

Mr. Cheever. Don't you find it rather difficult to sow
beet-seed with that brush seed-sower ? It troubles me more
than any other machine.

Mr. Ware. Not at all. I will go on now to the cabbage
crop. I hold in my hand a very good specimen of the Stone-
Mason cabbage. It is not a large specimen, by any means;

208 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.

it is small, but it shows the characteristics of the cabbage. It
is, probably, the best cabbage that was ever introduced into
this country, all things considered. Its origin was this : A
paper of seed came from the patent-office, about forty years
ago, to John M. Ives of Salem. He gave one paper of seed,
among others, to John Mason of Marblehead, who planted the
seed. There were, probably, a dozen varieties of cabbage-
seed in that paper ; but John Mason was a good farmer and a
good judge of vegetables, and he was attracted to that cab-
bage, selected it, cultivated it for several years, and improved
it by careful selection. Afterwards, John Stone of Marble-
head went into the seed business, and he took this cabbage-
and improved it, perhaps, somewhat, and put it upon the
market. It took the name of the Mason cabbage at first, from
John Mason, and when Mr. Stone took it and put it upon the
market, he gave it the name of the Stone-Mason. The only
trouble with it is, it grows very solid, very hard, and if, at
the season of the year when they are hardening up and ready
for the market, the market is glutted, and we want to keep
them back for a time, in order to get a better price, they will
split open and spoil. Let me tell you how to prevent that.
Go along and pull them up a little. That will stop their
growth, and they will remain in that condition for perhaps
two or three Aveeks, whereas they would spoil in three clays,
if not pulled in this way. I think that is an important piece
of information, worthy of recollection. This has been raised
more extensively, perhaps, than any other cabbage ; but, of
late years, there has been another cabbage introduced by Mr.
Fotler of West Roxbury, who imported the seed about fifteen
years ago from Germany. He kept it to himself for several
years, but finally put the seed upon the market, at $16 an
ounce. It is called the Fotler Early Drumhead Cabbage. As
you see, it is a very handsome, showy cabbage. It shows
for a little more than it is, while the Stone-Mason does not
show for quite as much as it is. It is taking, it is showy,
and, surprising as it may seem, it is taking the place, in
Marblehead, of the Stone-Mason. And why ? Simply because
one shows for more than it is, and the other shows for less
than it is. That seems to be the way of the world. But
both of these are excellent cabbages. They are very sure to

ABOUT SQUASHES. 209

head, and they are, probably, the standard cabbages, and
good enough. These two will supply the great demand for
cabbages in the market, which demand comes from the foreign
population mostly. But, for a Yankee, who wants a very nice
and delicious article of cabbage, the Savoy is more desirable.
This has been improved by the Marblehead farmers. You
see, by this specimen, how small a stump it has, and what a
solid, hard head. It is sure to head ; just about as sure as
the others, to which I have referred. It is a very desirable
cabbage indeed. This will grow a great deal thicker than
the others, because it does not grow as large.

The Hubbard squash. I must say a word with regard to
the origin of that, because it claims its origin from Marble-
head, and so do I. In 1848, Capt. John Bridges brought
from the West Indies to Marblehead, two squashes. He cut
one up, and gave a piece to William Stanley. That piece had
some seeds in it. The quality being very choice, he planted
the seeds, and the product was the Hubbard squash, from
which have been derived the squash that we now call the
Marblehead squash, and some other varieties. The Hubbard
is now one of the standard squashes of the country. That is
the kind that comes here from Michigan, and, as I told you,
gluts the Boston market.

This is a specimen of the old Turban or " tea-kettle " squash,
improved. We have taken a great deal of pains to improve
it, and we have got it as near perfection as that. The quality
is very superior. For early eating, it is the best squash. The
Hubbard squash is the better for late in the season, com-
mencing after December, usually. The Hubbard does not
get its best quality until late in the season, while the Turban is
excellent in quality when it is half grown, or nearly so, and
continues to be first rate up to December, when it begins to
lose its best qualities. So the two are admirably adapted,
the one to follow the other.

The Marrow squash has been before the public for a long
time, and I must say a word about its origin. Some forty years
ago, John M. Ives of Salem received some half dozen squash
seeds from some source, I know not what, and gave three of
those seeds to Erastus Ware of Marblehead, who grew five
squashes. He gave two of those squashes to Mr. James

27

210 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.

Phillips, a near neighbor. Those two squashes yielded the
seed which produced the first Marrow squashes that were
ever introduced into Boston market. It has been changed
from its original type. It is larger, and not quite so fine in
quality, but it is admirably adapted to meet the wants of pie-
makers, and they prefer it to any other variety. There is
more of this squash sold, perhaps, than any other.

A word about the cultivation. The squash wants land such
as we call good corn land, with manure spread on and ploughed
in, — not very deep. After the ground is harrowed, mark it
off with furrows eight feet apart each way ; or you may drag
a chain, if you please, to mark the rows, just eight feet apart,
but it is necessary to have the rows true and straight ; then
throw a little night soil, that has been nicely worked up, or a
little manure, or superphosphate, or something of that kind,
in the hill, and mix thoroughly with a fork, and plant your
seed. Instead of dropping the seed and covering them with
the hoe, when I get the ground prepared, I stick the seeds in
the hill, five in each hill. I am particular to put them in
point down, because, if the ground becomes a little baked on
the surface, it is sometimes very difficult for the seeds to
come up. They have got to turn over before they can come
up. I stick them down, therefore, the little bud first, so that
they will start right, which makes a difference of three or
four days in their coming up, and that is quite an important
difference.

, The squash has three enemies. One is the striped bug,
which attacks it as soon as it comes up. The usual remedy
for that is to take an empty tomato can, punch holes in the
bottom, put in air-slacked lime, which is finely pulverized,
and sprinkle it on the plants. It is very little trouble to
provide against the striped bug. Then we have the large
black bug, the one that does not smell good. Set a trap for
these bugs by sticking a shingle in the ground at an acute
angle at night; they will crawl under that shingle, and in the
morning you can kill them and get rid of them in that way.
Then there is the maggot, which enters the root of the vine,
and will kill a single vine entirely. I know of no remedy ; but
by putting five seeds in a hill, if the maggot kills but one or
two, there will be enough remaining.

THE CROOKNECK SQUASH. 211

Either of these squashes may produce about teu tons to the
acre, which is a first-rate crop.

Question. What is your plan for keeping them through
the winter?

Mr. Ware. We have squash houses for the purpose of
keeping them, arranged with shelves inside, and provided
with thorough ventilation, and means of keeping a fire most
of the time, to keep a dry, even temperature all the time.
We watch them closely, and just as soon as a squash begins
to rot, it is taken out, because the fungus that makes the
squash rot is producing spores continually, the air becomes
impregnated with the seed of that rot, and it will permeate
the whole house. You will smell it when the rot has just
commenced. Hunt out the infected squash and remove it.
The longer it remains in a room, the more the rot will spread.
It is like an infectious disease. It is like the smut in an
onion field. You must look out for the spores of the fungus
which produce this rot. The way to preserve squashes is to
keep an even, dry temperature, without much variation.

Question. What time do you plant?

Mr. Ware. The 15th of May is about as early as it is
safe to plant, and they may be planted from that time up to
the 10th of June.

Question. What is your opinion of the crookneck?

Mr. Ware. We do not grow that very much, from the
fact that the demand is very limited. The crookneck is just
as good as it ever was, but the new squashes are so much better,
that there are few persons who care for the crookneck squash.
I will say here, that the crookneck differs from the other
varieties of which I have spoken, inasmuch as it does not
send roots down from the stem into the earth to feed the
squash, as the others do. In fact, it is a different species.
The crookneck squash will not mix with these squashes ;
there is no family relation. They will not unite ; but all
these others will mix with eaeh other, and also with the
different varieties of pumpkins.

Mr. Moore. I desired to talk a little here this afternoon
on the importance of procuring good seed, but it is so near
car time, that there will be hardly any time for discussion. 1
feel bound to say this in regard to the machines that the

212 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.

gentlemen has spoken about : the seed-sower, for instance.
If you are going to buy a seed-sower, look around before
you buy that one. I have used it myself from the first, and
it is a good seed-sower ; but some three or four years ago, I
said to a gentleman from Arlington, — and let me say here,
that when I speak of the best market gardeners of Arlington,
I speak of the best market gardeners of Massachusetts, — I
said that Willis's seed-sower was the best. I really believed
so, and I believe Mr. Ware believes so. But it is not so.
I had to back down. There is a machine that will do the
work better, and with less labor.

Then in regard to the wheel hoe. I said the same thins:
about the wheel hoe, and I had to back out of that. A
gentleman made this remark to me when Mr. Ware was
speaking of the wheel hoe, that it went out of fashion about
the same time with pod augers.

Mr. Ware. Other garden hoes of different variety have
been tried in our neighborhood, but no one will use them in
preference to the truckle hoe. I have got half a dozen
varieties.

Mr. Moore. You can sow larger seed with the one to
which I refer than you can with Willis's, and do the work
better.

Mr. Flint. I wish to say one word in regard to what Mr.
Ware has called a "drag." I have no doubt that it is very
valuable for the purpose he has described ; but I have seen
the machine used also as a substitute for a roller, and I took
pains to make one. It is a good substitute for a roller, to
use on a field after grass seed has been sown. I would
not be without it on a farm. It is one of the cheapest and
most useful implements on the farm, and will often save the
expense of a roller, that a great many farmers cannot afford
to buy.

Dr. Wakefield. Before leaving this hall, I think the
Board ought to tender their thanks to the citizens of Worces-
ter for the entertainment they have given the Board, and for
the accommodation they have afforded us by this hall. I
move that the thanks of the Board be tendered to the citizens
of Worcester for their courtesy towards us.

CATTLE COMMISSIONERS' REPORT. 213

This motion was carried unanimously, and the Board then
adjourned, sine die.

ANNUAL REPORT OF THE CATTLE COMMISSIONERS.

To the Honorable the Senate and House of Representatives of the Common-
wealth of Massachusetts.

The Commissioners on Contagious Diseases among Cattle,
in making their Annual Report, have occasion to congratulate
the people and stock-owners that during the year no con-
tagious or prevalent disease has afflicted or decimated the
herds of the State. Twice during the year application was
made to the Commissioners to visit and examine herds which
it was feared were sick with contagious pleuro-pneumouia ;
but the examination proved in one case to be ordinary
pneumonia, and in the other a catarrhal difficulty, with a
sympathetic affection of the lungs. Some loss resulted to
the owners, but the alarm created by the report subsided
after the visit of the Commissioners. The Legislature, by
recommendation of the Commissioners, in 1876, passed an
Act, with penalties for its infringement, forbidding all persons
and corporations from driving or transporting into this State,
Texas cattle, between the fifteenth day of May and the first
day of November, unless such cattle had been kept north of
the line of the Ohio River through one winter ; and made it
the duty of the Commissioners to carry out and enforce the
provisions of the Act. In discharge of the duty required by
the Act, the Commissioners, in May, caused the law to be
published in a sufficient number of newspapers in the State
to give it publicity, and sent circulars containing the same to
the officers of such railroad corporations as engage to any
extent in cattle transposition, and to many of the great cattle-
dealers. At intervals during the warm season, one of the
Commissioners visited our great cattle-marts to ascertain if
the law was complied with, and though there were vague
rumors that such was not the fact, yet no proof could be
found of a single infringement. And it is believed that both
transporters and dealers in cattle have in good faith complied

214 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.

with the provisions of the Act. As a result, the attention of
the Commissioners has not been called to a single case of
Spanish fever, and it is believed that such an one has not
occurred. The expense of " carrying out and enforcing " the
provisions of the Act, has been but forty-five dollars and
thirty-five cents ($45.35). The last Legislature appropriated
five hundred dollars to enable the Commissioners to discharge
the needful duties of their office. Of this sum but about one-
fifth has been expended, and it is hoped that the unexpended
balance will be abundantly sufficient for the current year.
Therefore no appropriation by the present Legislature will be
required.

Levi Stockbridge,
E. F. Thayer,
E. W. Jordan,
Commissioners on Contagious Diseases among Cattle.

ANNUAL MEETING OF THE BOAKD.

The Board met at the office of the Secretary, in Boston, on
Tuesday, the 6th of February, 1877, at twelve o'clock, His
Excellency, Governor Rice, in the chair.

Present : Messrs. Bagg, Baker, Bennett, Chadbourne,
Davis, Dwight, Fenn, Goessmann, Hadwen, Hersey, Holland,
Knox, Ladd, Loring, Macy, Merrill, Moore, Peirce, Perry,
Phinney, Rice, Saltonstall, Sanderson, Shepley, Milo J.
Smith, Stone, Vincent, Wakefield, L. P. Warner, W. L.
Warner and Wilder.

Messrs. Wilder, Moore and Chadbourne were appointed a
committee to consider and report on the order of business.

This committee subsequently submitted the following re-
port : —

1. Reports of Delegates.

2. Report of Committee on the Agricultural College.

3. Report of the Committee of Arrangements on the Country
Meeting at Worcester.

ANNUAL MEETING OF THE BOARD. 215

4. Report on Subjects assigned for Essays.

5. Miscellaneous and Unfinished Business.

6. Appointment of Delegates to Societies.

Marshall P. Wilder.
John B. Moore.
P. A. Chadbourne.

The Report was accepted, when, reports of delegates being
in order, Mr. Baker reported upon the Essex Society ; Mr.
Saltonstall upon the Middlesex ; Mr. Stone upon the Middle-
sex North ; Mr. Peirce upon the Middlesex South ; Mr.
Macy upon the Worcester ; Mr. Perry upon the Worcester
West ; Mr. Knowlton upon the Worcester North-West ; Mr.
Wakefield upon the Worcester South ; Mr. Sanderson upon
the Worcester South-East ; Mr. Dwight upon the Hampshire,
Franklin and Hampden ; Mr. Hawes (read by the Secretary)
upon the Hampshire ; Mr. Shepley upon the Highland ; Mr.
L. P. Warner upon the Hampden East ; Mr. Hadwen upon
the Franklin ; Mr. Holland upon the Deerfield Valley ; Mr.
W. L. Warner upon the Berkshire ; Mr. Chadbourne upon
the Housatonic ; Mr. Stone upon the Norfolk ; Mr. Vincent
upon the Bristol ; Mr. Smith upon the Plymouth ; Mr. Phin-
ney upon the Hingham ; Mr. Fenn upon the Barnstable ; Mr.
Merrill upon the Nantucket ; and Mr. Knox upon the Martha's
Viueyard.

A committee of three, consisting of Messrs. Moore, Hadwen
and Macy, was appointed to consider and report upon the
time and place for holding the next country meeting.

The Committee on Credentials was constituted by the
appointment of Messrs. Phinney, Wakefield and Fenn.

Mr. Dwight presented and read an essay upon the —

SIZE AND CONDUCT OF FARMS IN MASSACHUSETTS.

What I may have to say is from my own experience and
observation. The proper size of farms in Massachusetts
depends very much on the location, and so does their manage-
ment. For instance, a farm of a few acres near a city, town,

21(3 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.

or a large manufacturing village, where there is a ready market
for every kind of garden vegetable, would be sufficient, and at
the same time do a large business.

At an agricultural meeting a short time since, I heard a
gentleman say that he sold from his form of about thirty-five
acres, some $13,000 worth of produce annually ; and another
gentleman remarked that he sold from seventeen acres, from
$5,000 to $7,000 worth annually. Their farming was in the
line of market-gardening, and this requires a great deal of
labor and high cultivation.

Some have advanced the idea that ten acres is all that any
one ought to cultivate, and " ten acres enough " has been a
popular cry. In this case, every foot of land is turned to
account, and large incomes are realized ; garden vegetables
and the small fruits are cultivated, and placed in the market
early and fresh. But not having any practical knowledge of this
particular branch of farming, I shall not enlarge on this point.

On the other hand, I have seen farmers, more distant from
market, upon farms of fifty acres and apparently pleasantly
situated, keeping two cows and a horse, getting a comfortable
living with little expense, and not much income. Others,
more distant from market, have one, two, three, and some
five hundred acres, and a few still more than that, with cattle
counted by scores and sheep by hundreds grazing thereon,
some for the dairy and some for the shambles, at all seasons
of the year.

On such farms ten, or even twenty, acres of corn, rye, oats,
barley, and potatoes, in rotation, with hard labor, will return
a fair income.

The hay-fields, in some cases ten acres in extent, in some
fifty, and in others even one hundred acres in area, yield
usually one crop, sometimes two, which afford enough hay for
home consumption, and a surplus for the stable-men, miles
away.

A farm of two hundred acres (without a mortgage), back
in the country among the hills and valleys, with good farm-
buildings, located near a small village, churches, school-
houses, post-office, stores, and situated not very far from a
railroad station, is the most desirable of all places for a
growing family, and is a convenient size for proper manage-

SIZE AND CONDUCT OF FARMS. 217

* i

ment. Such a farm, if conducted on good, practical, scientific
principles, can be made profitable, — and it is to such farms
that the sons of our Massachusetts farmers will cling, if
properly encouraged. A thorough and high cultivation of
our lands is at the present time most desirable. A farm of
two hundred acres may be equally divided into mowing,
tillage, pasture, and woodland. It will be very convenient
to clear about one acre of woodland every winter ; in so doing
one will have plenty of fuel, and lumber for repairing buildings,
and a few cords of wood for the market.

The fifty acres of mowing should furnish one hundred tons
of hay, and this, with the corn-fodder and straw the farmer
will also have, will keep fifty head of cattle at least six months
in the year. The fifty acres of pasture will keep the cows and
young cattle the other six months. The fifty acres of tillage
will, if well cultivated, furnish all the corn, rye, oats, barley,
potatoes, and beans that would be needed for home consump-
tion ; and every farmer should raise all the grain and potatoes
that he needs, aud have a good surplus for the market. When
corn can be raised for forty or fifty cents per bushel in
Massachusetts, we need not depend on the West.

Every farmer should be careful in selecting his live-stock.
First, he should select those breeds adapted to his locality ;
and, second, those particularly adapted to his wants. If for
cheese or milk for the market, choose Durhams or Ayr-
shires. If for butter, Jerseys or Devons would be the
favored ones.

Sheep and swine, of the best breeds, should be reckoned
with the stock.

A pair of horses and yoke of oxen are always needed on a
farm of this size.

The three essential things in Massachusetts agriculture, in
all its varieties of the field and the garden, are quality of pro-
duction, quantity of crops, aud economy of culture. Our
proficiency in these particulars measures our ability to com-
pete with rival producers West and North.

Next to hay, the corn crop is of the most value to the
farmer, where the chief product is milk. Moreover, the
annual product of hay will be greatly increased, if the culti-
vation of corn is pursued ; for it may safely be said that no

28

218 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.

other crop which does not require higher treatment and better
tillage, so well prepares land for grass.

The treatment of mowing land varies. Dry hill land, sandy
soil, needs ploughing often, while moist, heavy, black loam,
with an occasional top-dressing, will hold good for years.

Another point is this : Keep the cattle from the mowing-
field, and let the aftermath remain to protect the grass-roots
during winter, and, as a general thing, the sward will hold its
own. On the other hand, if the fields are grazed, give them
a top-dressing every year.

If twenty cows are kept, as there should be, and $75
profit from each is realized, there will be an income of
$1,500 from the cows alone ; some claim to realize $100 profit
per cow, and others still more.

Twenty fat hogs and ten veal calves sold, will add about
$600 more to the income from the farm ; and twenty pigs
should be raised and sold, adding at least $100 more.

Ten beef cattle sold will make $500 more ; meanwhile ten
calves should be raised to replace those sent to the butcher
annually.

When the sheep are clipped and the lambs sold, at least
$200 should be realized from them ; and all these, together
with the poultry and eggs sold, will easily bring up the total
income from the farm to the sum of $3,000.

These few items I have named are comparatively few to
what might be given.

Two hired men will be required to carry out this plan, — one
for the year, the other for eight months, — and they will cost
about $500; and a servant girl $200 more. With all this
theory, the proprietor must have a clear head and a practical
hand to engineer.

Every farmer should be careful of the wastes of the farm ;
all the manure, both solid and liquid, should be collected in
the barn-celhir for composting. The droppings from the hen-
roost, most valuable of all, with the privy, should have a fresh
supply of earth often. The sink-drain should be carefully
scraped out to replenish the compost heap ; the wood-yard
cleared up, the wash from the road-side, and leaves from the
grove, all should be saved. Finally, everything of a fer-
tilizing character should be economized and composted in the

IMPROVEMENT OF SALT-MARSHES. 219

barn-cellar. This will furnish a supply for top-dressing ready
at all seasons of the year.

Another source of income is the apple, pear and peach
orchard, which requires close attention and careful treatment.
Pigs may run in the orchard during the fall, when they can
obtain their own living from the fruit that falls. The pigs
will keep the soil loose around the trees, and destroy the
grubs and worms that infest an orchard.

Farmers, to avoid the expense of too much hired labor,
should avail themselves of all needful improved agricultural
implements to expedite their work, not only in the hay-fields,
but in the corn-fields, and in the cultivation of the root crops.
If the land is not already cleared of stones and rocks it
should be done at once, so that the machines will work in
every corner.

Daniel D wight.

The essay led to discussion, in which Messrs. Chadbourne,
Smith and others participated, when it was laid over.

Professor Goessmann then presented his Third Annua!
Report —

ON THE IMPROVEMENT OF SALT-MARSHES.

The recent progress in the cultivation of the reclaimed salt-
marshes in the town of Marshfield, has been, on the whole,
quite encouraging, in spite of an unfavorable season. The
dike has done its business thoroughly during the past year,
and is in good condition. The water in the river has stood,
most of the time, from five to six feet below the surface of
the meadows, and has risen only in exceptional cases — after
freshets and heavy rainfalls — to within two feet of the latter.
No general system of drainage has yet been adopted, and but
little has been done during the past season in regard to a
more extensive draining, beyond the clearing out and. the
deepening of old ditches. The character of the spontaneous
vegetation has, for this reason, varied but little, in many local-
ities, from that noticed during the preceding year.

The unusual drought of last summer caused a more exten-
sive destruction of the indigenous, worthless surface-growth,

220 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.

by lowering the level of the subsoil water, and thereby
increasing the chances of a more rapid decay of the accumu-
lated vegetable matter, which serves still, generally, as the
main support of the former. Although various grasses made
their appearance spontaneously here and there, to a limited
extent, a dense vegetation of everlasting ( Gnaphalium poly-
cephalum, Mich.), and other upland plants, as a general rule,
continue to spread rapidly over an extensive area of the
reclaimed marsh-meadows. A large proportion of the latter,
which had been sown to grass in previous years, — by sowing
the seed merely upon the original sward, which had for sev-
eral seasons produced a most excellent crop, — succumbed to
the late drought, and proved a total failure ; a small portion
of them only yielded good, stout grass.

Wherever the lands had been drained, either along the
river, by natural advantages, or by ditches, with outlets to-
wards the latter, the grass lands have produced, as a general
rule, remarkably well, provided the surface portion of the
soil remained compact ; whilst in those cases where the imme-
diate support of the old sod has acquired a spongy condition,
the late severe drought has not only destroyed the expected
grass crop, but also largely killed the roots. It seems but
reasonable to assume, that the winter frost will operate in
the same direction, and thus increase the serious effects of the
late drought. Results like these will attain, from year to
year, larger proportions, until the soil, in consequence of
ploughing and harrowing, shall have become sufficiently homo-
geneous and compact to start, not only a vigorous grass growth,
but to protect it also more efficiently against the extremes of
the seasons. A compact soil, in a good mechanical condition,
aside from an efficient drainage, is one of the essential require-
ments for the development of a healthy, dense sod.

All the grass thus far grown upon the marshes has been
raised, either by sowing the seeds without any previous prep-
aration directly upon the old sod, or, in more exceptional
cases, after harrowing merely the latter, before seeding.
Since the construction of the dike, several hundred acres
have been cultivated for grass in that manner. In the major-
ity of cases, as stated above, the crops have soon failed to be
satisfactory, either on account of a deficient drainage, or in

CEOPS IN SALT-MARSHES. 221

consequence of a rapid disintegration of the organic matter
below the surface, and subsequent breaking up of the original
sward, — a change which the severe drought of the present and
previous years has generally favored. Most lands which have
yielded thus far, annually, good returns, are liable, for similar
reasons, to fail at any time.

The best results with grass have been obtained with " red-
top " seed (Agrostis vulgaris, With.), although "herdsgrass"
(Phleum pratense, L.) has been sown to some extent. A
measured acre of " red-top," grown upon harrowed land, pro-
duced during the late season nearly three tons of hay. Six-
teen rods of land, sown three years since, yielded during the
past summer at the rate of over three tons and a half ; the
grass was three feet high when cut. These returns may not
'be superior to those in other cases ; they are stated in detail,
because pains had been taken to ascertain exact figures. Mr.
Thomas B. Williams of Boston raised about twenty tons of good
English hay ; other parties have harvested from one to fifteen
tons. The entire hay crop in the marshes has, the past year,
amounted to fifty tons of English hay.

Very little of the ploughed land has yet been sown to grass.
A lot of about one acre, ploughed and harrowed thoroughly,
which was sown during the past year, looked remarkably green
and well before the snow covered it. This is the first attempt
in that direction. In the last report it has been stated that
Mr. Williams and others had ploughed during the autumn of
1875 about fifty acres of the former marshes, and proposed to
use them for the cultivation of grain. Some of that land was
sown at once to grain, the larger portion had been reserved
for the past spring to be used mainly for oats. Rye, oats and
garden vegetables are the main crops upon the ploughed lands,
and the results have been, on the whole, very encouraging.
Mr. Williams raised one hundred and eighty bushels of rye,
three hundred and fifty bushels of oats, besides some wheat ;
Mr. Edward White raised about fifty bushels of oats. An
island in the river, about one-half an acre in size, has proved
a very profitable garden in the production of melons, squashes,
cucumbers, beets, potatoes, corn, beans, pease, etc. No fer-
tilizers of any description have been, thus far, applied. The
rye and oats were, at the close of July, in every respect equal

222 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.

to the best upland grown grain, although some of the former
had been sown so late in autumn that it did not show itself
until spring. The oats were largely sown upon lands after
the first ploughing, where the turf was too tough still to pul-
verize to any extent when harrowed. The surface was thus
very much broken up, and quite unsuited for a uniform growth.
The rye, at the time of cutting, stood between five to six feet
on a level, with specimens six and a half high and bearing
well filled heads, seven inches long. The oats were three and
a half feet on a level. A suggestion of Professor Henry
Mitchell of the United States Coast Survey, to send a collec-
tion of these crops to the Centennial Exhibition, where they
would compare well, in his opiniou, with those raised upon the
rich Western prairies, failed to be acted upon, on account of
some oversight in the packing of the samples. collected for that
purpose ; they did not leave Boston, being found in a damaged
condition. Responsible parties state that an acre of rye has
produced, on an average, thirty-four bushels of grain and five
thousand four hundred and fifty-tour pounds of straw ; one
acre of oats, on an average, forty bushels. The bushel of rye
sold at eighty cents, the bushel of oats at fifty cents ; the ton
of rye-straw and the ton of hay each at twenty dollars. The
gross receipts of the produce of one acre of rye, as above
specified, are as follows : —

34 bushels of rye, at 80 cents per bushel, .... $27 20
5,454 pounds of rye-straw, at $20 per ton, 54 45

Total $81 65

The average cost of ploughing per acre has been ten dol-
lars, and for harrowing, five dollars. The "Holbrook Swivel"
plough is generally used, requiring two yoke of oxen for
working. Ditches two feet wide at the top and four feet
deep, have cost about seventy-five cents per rod.

The late success has evidently stimulated the enterprise.
Over one hundred and fifty acres of the reclaimed marsh lands
have been ploughed during the past season by the following
parties : Thomas B. Williams of Boston ; Th. P. Ford,
Edward White, Stephen Henry, M. Goodhue and others of
Marshfield. About fifty acres of these were sown to rye
during the late autumn, and the balance will be largely sown

SOIL OF SALT-MARSH. 223

to oats during the coming spring. The feet, that of late but
a few changes in the ownership of the reclaimed marsh lands
are recorded, may also be considered a favorable indication
of an increasing confidence, on the part of the present pro-
prietors, in the ultimate pecuniary advantages of the investment.
I have taken pains, during a visit to the marshes, in the
month of August, 1876, to inquire into the character of the
soil and of the subsoil water, in localities remarkable for their
barrenness in the midst of a vigorous and valuable vegetation.

I. A sample of soil taken from a field but six to eight
rods from the main river, in the middle of the marshes, upon
which oats had failed during the last year, contained, in its
dried state, 6.50 per cent, of chlorine, which is equal to 10.73
per cent, of chloride of sodium or common salt.

II. Water taken from an isolated ditch, about four feet
deep, and from twelve to sixteen rods distant from the main
river, contained 1.84 per cent, of chlorine, which is equal to
3.034 per cent, of chloride of sodium or common salt.

III. Water taken from a main branch of the river, in the
middle of the marshes, near the localities where samples Nos.
I. and II. had been secured, contained but 0.23 per cent, of
chlorine, which is equal to 0.35 per cent, of chloride of sodium
or common salt.

These results demonstrate quite conclusively that deficient
drainage, even in the vicinity of the river, remains still, in
many instances, the main cause of failures of valuable crops.
Cooperative arrangements among the present owners of the
marshes become, from year to year, more desirable in the
interest of the highest attainable pecuniary success. All
attempts at introducing a rational system of tillage will fail
in the same degree, as an efficient drainage shall be neglected.
United action on a well digested plan, suitable for the entire
area of the reclaimed lands, would not only bring speedy suc-
cess to all parties interested, and thereby secure better chances
of a fair interest on the investment to all concerned, but also
greatly reduce the actual expenses for the work ultimately
required of all. Those whose property is located along the
river and its various branches, ought to lead in the enterprise.

As long as more detailed examinations regarding the level
of the meadows, the character of the soil, and the general

224 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.

condition of both, do not reveal circumstances which are
varying from the present information, it seems but proper
that the Green Harbor River, with its extensive ramifications,
should be converted into the common receiver of the drainage
waters of the entire marshes. The periodical rise and fall of
the level of the river would favor, in an unusual degree, the
diluting and final replacing of the strong saline subsoil water.
The main drain ditches should, for obvious reasons, start from
the river, and branch off in continuous lines to the interior
termination of the marshes ; for ditches without any outlet to
the river can be of but little benefit, except they occupy a
large area, and even then can only partly perform the work
needed. Many of the old and isolated ditches might, after
some cleaning out, be made serviceable as links or parts in a
more general system of draining. In case an attempt to
introduce a general plan should be delayed, or fail entirely,
decidedly better results might be secured from a comparatively
large area in the vicinity of the river by connecting many of
the already existing old ditches with the river, and thereby
opening outlets for injurious, strong saline solutions, similar
to that described above as sample II. In many instances,
where indications are of local obstructions in surface-
drainage, due to intervening, impervious layers of clayey
deposits, much benefit might be secured by cutting simply
through the soil-mass to a depth of from four to five feet, and
subsequently filling up the excavation with coarse materials,
stones, etc. The existence of such condition of the tidal-
water deposits within the marshes, and their serious effect on
the vegetation, has been discussed already in detail in a
previous report.

The late success upon the drained and ploughed lands is a
substantial indorsement of our previous advice to use the
plough effectually as soon as the soil foils to produce a good
grass crop in consequence of a breaking down of its sod.

Some of the most enterprising, and at the same time most
successful, local managers of the marshes, concede the correct-
ness of our opinion, that the unusual exposure of the grass-
roots is the main cause of a reappearance of a worthless
growth in places where for a few years past valuable crops
had been secured. An early ploughing of these tracts can

ORGANIC MATTER IN SALT-MARSHES. 225

but bring about a more reliable condition for future cultiva-
tion, by converting the differently composed surface-layers of
the marshes into a more homogeneous agricultural soil ; a
judicious management will find in the material obtained, in
consequence of the construction of drain-ditches, a valuable
resource for the improvement of that portion of land which
is still overcharged with partly decomposed, coarse vegetable
matter. In addition to rye and oats as first crops, it might
be well to try barley. and buckwheat instead of wheat, for a
raw and still saline soil is more congenial to the former than
to the latter. As soon as the soil is more capable of a
thorough pulverization, a mixture of valuable grasses ought
to be thoroughly tried.* They would produce a more compact
and vigorous sod, if selected with reference to their peculiar
growth and a uniform period of maturing. It will also be
advisable, for a few years to come, to select the crops with a
view to improving the mechanical condition of the soil ; beets
and potatoes are known to yield well in soils like that in
drained marshes. As the accumulated organic matter, in its
various stages of disintegration, must necessarily continue
to alter the chemical and physical condition and thus the
general character of the soil for some years, it needs scarcely
to be mentioned, that in each case the exact condition
of its soil ought to be carefully consulted in the selec-
tion of crops. A due appreciation of these circumstances
renders it inadvisable to advocate, in the present stage of the
enterprise, a more definite system of cultivation, — beyond the
general remark, that the selection of the rotation of crops
ought to be made, not only with a view to economize the
latent plant-food, but to aim also at the preservation of a
liberal amount of organic matter in the soil, which will secure
to it good retentive qualities.

Ch. A. GOESSMANN.

S. B. Phinnev.
Geo. M. Baker.

* The following mixture of grass-seeds is highly recommended for conditions of
soil like the one here under discussion : Per acre, a mixture of nine pounds of
meadow fescue and six pounds of June or Kentucky blue-grass; six pounds
of orchard-grass; six pounds of tall oat-grass; six pounds of meadow soft-grass;
three pounds of tall fescue ; three pounds of crested dog's-tuil-grass ; one and a half
pounds of timothy or herdsgrass ; one and a half pounds of yellow oat-grass.
29

226 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.

The essay was read and laid over, under the rule, to come
up for a second reading, when the Board

Adjourned.

Second Day.

The Board met at ten o'clock, a. m., Hon. Marshall
P. Wilder in the chair.

Present : Messrs. Bagg, Baker, Bennett, Burnap, Chad-
bourne, Comius, Davis, Fenn, Goessinann, Hadwen, Hersey,
Holland, Johnson, Knowlton, Knox, Lewis, Loring, Macy,
Merrill, Perry, Phinney, Saltonstall, Shepley, Arthur A.
Smith, Metcalf J. Smith, Milo J. Smith, Upham, Vincent,
Wakefield and Wilder.

The Committee on Credentials presented the following

REPORT :

The Committee appointed to examine the credentials of
newly elected members, have attended to that duty, and re-
spectfully report that the following are duly elected : By the —

Massachusetts, . . . . • . . Charles S. Sargent.

Middlesex North, James T. Burnap.

Worcester North-West, .... Enoch T. Lewis.

Worcester South, Nathaniel Upham.

Hampshire, Henry C. Comins.

Union, Franklin C. Knox.

Franklin, Arthur A. Smith.

Hoosac Valley, ...... William E. Johnson.

Norfolk, . Henry S. Russell.

Hingham, Edmund Hersey.

Barnstable County, S. B. Piiinney.

Martha's Vineyard, Hebron Vincent.

Appointed by the Governor and Council, . Hon. Marshall P. Wilder.

S. B. Phinney,
Horace P. Wakefield,
D. B. Fenn,

Committee.

The report was accepted.

TREE-CULTURE. 227

*

The Committee to consider and report upon the assignment
of Delegates was constituted by the appointment of Messrs.
Knox, Phinuey and Shepley.

The Committee to consider and report a List of Subjects
for Investigation was constituted by the appointment of
Messrs. Chadbourne, Loring and Fenn.

The Committee to nominate two members of the Standing
Committee on the Examination of the Agricultural College
was constituted by the appointment of Messrs. Had wen,
Knowlton and Baker.

Mr. Smith of Middlefield then presented a report as dele-
gate to the Marshfield Society ; Mr. Moore reported upon
the Hampden, and Mr. Bagg upon the Bristol Central.

Mr. Hadwen made a verbal report as Chairman of the
Committee of Arrangements for the public meeting at Worces-
ter, a written report to be submitted before the close of the
session.

Voted, That hereafter the Committee on Meetings be re-
quested to submit a report in writing at the annual meeting.

Mr. Hadwen then submitted and read an Essay upon

THE IMPORTANCE OF ARBORICULTURE TO THE AGRICULT-
URAL COMMUNITY.

It would seem almost superfluous to add anything to the
elaborate essay of last year. But if it is the mission of this
Board to foresee the wants of generations to come, and to
educate the public taste in the direction of tree-culture, we
ought to add "line upon line." With the progress of civiliza-
tion forests are rapidly disappearing, and ultimately few will
be preserved, except those receiving the fostering care of
man.

The early and pioneer settler found it necessary to cut
away a portion of the original forests to obtain land for the
growth of crops to sustain his family and stock, and after
having obtained a sufficient area, the remaining forests were,

228 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.

as a rule, scrupulously cared for ; but succeeding generations
found the forests' of great pecuniary value, and they were cut
away as if they were the product of a season instead of cen-
turies. The result is that thousands of acres of lands that
were once covered with forest trees, are now comparatively
unproductive.

We have many acres that never have produced, and, in the
nature of their situation, never can produce, any crop but
forest trees, that will return any profit to their owners.

Trees that are indigenous to the soil and climate of the
State, are so abundant, and some kinds introduced from
foreign countries grow and thrive so well, that there seems
to be nothing but encouragement for owners of waste lands to
plant trees.

An abundant supply of forest trees is essential to the pros-
perity and wealth of every civilized community. The forests
have contributed more material for the rapid construction of
buildings, both in country and town, than was ever obtained
from other sources. Our productive industries are so largely
dependent upon wood in their large and varied manufactures,
that its scarcity should be guarded against, and the supply
made equal to the demand.

The home supply is not now, nor has it been for many
years, equal to the amount annually used in the State. We
obtain our lumber, of almost every description, from distant
forests, and they are yearly growing more distant, and the
lumber more costly, owing to expensive freights, which are
the legitimate result of long transportation.

Nature seems to have wisely intended and adapted trees
and soils for the best results, but trees often grow and thrive
in soil naturally most congenial to their growth ; there is
comparatively a very small area of land in the State upon
which some of the forest trees will not thrive.

The time has come when the price of lumber will justify
the planting of forest trees as a legitimate and profitable busi-
ness. On many lands in the State trees spring up spontane-
ously, and on rich lands their growth is very rapid ; but upon
the poorer lands artificial means for the propagation of forests
should be used. Our useful forest trees have seldom received
the care which is given to fruit trees, and have seldom been

VARIOUS USES OF WOOD. 229

subjected to any great change from their natural condition and
growth. They rarely receive, outside of the nursery, either in
forests or grounds, artificial manuring for the purpose of stim-
ulating rapid growth and early maturity. They are, however,
equally benefited by liberal cultivation, as are other crops,
and amply repay by rapid growth. It has been found that
forest trees, when planted under the most favorable circum-
stances, will attain double the height and diameter of trunk
in a few years of those uncared for.

It will require time to induce owners of land to plant trees
for the benefit of future generations ; but no farmer can afford
to hold unproductive lands, subject to annual taxation, and
although the growth will not pay the owner a semi-annual
dividend, still, if forest trees are cared for as other crops, the
annual growth for a term of years will re urn a larger
per cent, than do many of the lands now used for farming
purposes.

There are but few soils in which some of the many kinds
of trees indigenous to our climate will not grow and thrive.
In some portions of the State forest trees have been exten-
sively planted, and have grown with profitable results on lands
that were comparatively unproductive, and many individuals
have lived to gather the harvest who little expected to do so
at the time the trees were planted.

'From boyhood we have been interested in the planting and
cultivation of trees ; they have added to our enjoyment for the
past forty years more than any other branch of agriculture.
They are always present, and in their variety some are enjoy-
able every day throughout the year.

Each variety of trees has its distinct symmetry and shape,
and the wood of each is especially adapted to some important
use. For timber to be used for building purposes, the chest-
nut, spruce, larch and hemlock are good ; the larch, perhaps,
growing most rapidly.

The oak, ash, walnut, elm and bass are used largely in the
manufacture of carts, wagons and carriages ; the pines fur-
nish the best plank and boards ; cedar is extensively used for
shingles ; while the maples, butternut and black walnut are
adapted to the use of the cabinet-maker and inside finish of
our buildings.

230 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.

All of* these grow and thrive in the climate and soil of the
State, and will repay well for cultivation, as the days of cheap
lumber have passed and cannot return, at least for many gen-
erations. The above-named trees may be designated as those
most easily grown, and they are most prominent as contribut-
ing largely to our general use. They are cheaply and readily
grown from seed, but it requires experience to obtain the best
results.

The soil to be used for growing should be finely prepared
and well enriched as if for garden purposes ; and the seed may
be planted in beds or in long rows, where grown largely, and
so that horse labor may be used in their cultivation. The seed
and nuts of trees may be planted as they come to maturity.
When nuts are to be used for planting they should not be per-
mitted to become dried, but should be placed in the ground
immediately after being gathered.

The seed of the pines, spruce and larch should be planted
where the young plants can receive shelter from the sun's
rays during the early stages of growth. They seem to flourish
iu the shade and under a moderate degree of temperature. In
fact, the sun's rays will destroy nearly all of the young plants,
if allowed to shine upon them with full power. As a pro-
tection, cotton cloth affords a cheap and effectual shade for
seedlings, and is very largely used by nursery-men whose
specialty is growing evergreens for forests and ornamental
purposes.

The seeds of the elm, walnut, oak, ash, maple, beech, and
chestnut are usually planted in beds, and they should be
transplanted annually during the first three years of growth.
These trees are more hardy, and resist the sun's rays better
than the evergreens, and require but little shelter in the early
stages of growth.

The transplanting of both deciduous and evergreen trees,
when young, is of the utmost importance ; it causes their roots
to grow more fibrous, thereby lessening the risk of transplant-
ing when they are of larger growth, as well as increasing the
rapidity of growth, for the first few years. As the roots and
tops are dependent the one upon the other, both should
receive the same care. Trees may be planted at all ages ;
small trees, however, are the better, being more rapidly and

TRANSPLANTING TREES. 231

easily handled. Large trees can be successfully transplanted
where the immediate embellishment of grounds demands, but
the expense is very largely increased.

It would be impossible to name fixed rules for planting
trees, when the work is to be done under varying circum-
stances ; practical experience is alone reliable. Ordinarily
speaking, large holes in proportion to the size of the trees
should be dug, with a mound of earth raised in the centre of
the hole for the tree to rest upon ; the roots should be arranged
so that they may fit the hole and maintain their natural
position and tendency, and the tree will stand alone before any
support is given it. It is always expedient to prune the roots
with a sharp knife immediately before planting. Good, fine
soil should be thoroughly and firmly incorporated among the
roots, and, if the soil is friable, it may be pressed about the
roots ; if wet, no pressure should be used.

If the trees are large and require separating, hooked stakes
may be driven into the ground, the hooks holding the largest
roots in their places : if large stones are at hand they may be
placed on the surface of the ground around the tree until the
roots grow into the soil.

In transplanting the larch, great care is absolutely necessary
to ensure success. For transplanting large trees we recom-
mend the autumn, as the roots will not bear exposure to the
sun or weather. If planted in the spring it should be done as
soon as the frost is out of the ground ; a few warm days bring
the larch too forward to plant. If the larches live and grow
the first year, we have never known them to die afterwards.
In our experience no other tree is more likely to do well and
make rapid growth, if successfully planted. We regard the
European larch as one of the best trees to be grown for tim-
ber, and it is very desirable as an ornamental tree, coming
next to an evergreen for shelter, its habit of growth being
like many of the evergreens. The larch affords the best
shelter for orchards, and grows freely in all soils.

Evergreens, as a rule, like a deep, moist loam, and should
be planted with balls of earth adhering to the roots, if pos-
sible. Their roots will not bear exposure to the sun or air.
Cloudy weather is the best time to plant them. Aside from
their great value for timber, they are indispensable for shel-

232 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.

tering our habitations from bleak winds, and they are objects
of beauty the year round. The best of the evergreens for
timber and ornamental purposes are the pines, — the white,
yellow, Weymouth, Austrian, Scotch, Cembra, all these are
hardy. The Norway, white and hemlock are the most desir-
able spruces, and each and all are valuable.

A very important point in tree-culture is pruning. This,
if judiciously done, assists trees to early development, and
proves a remedy against the large knots so often found in
lumber. General rules can be applied, each to produce cer-
tain results. The force of growth in young trees should be
given to the leading shoot, and strong side branches should
be removed in trees designed for timber, but are generally
allowed to remain on trees for ornamental use. In pruning
evergreens, the limbs should be cut a few inches from the
trunk, and on the next year, they may be knocked off.

In taking the measure of the circumference of some of the
trees planted by our own hands twenty and twenty-five
years ago, which have been growing in belts and under nearly
the same circumstances as far as soil, care and cultivation
have contributed to their growth, we are surprised at the
comparatively slight difference in their girth. The results of
their measure is as follows : Elm, five feet four inches ; Nor-
way spruce, five feet three inches ; bass, five feet two inches ;
white pine, four feet six inches ; sugar maple, four feet five
inches; oak, four feet three inches; European larch, three
feet ten inches ; shellbark walnut, three feet nine inches ; and
there is but a little difference in their height, averaging forty-
eight feet. In estimating the feet of lumber in our trees now
growing in belts, which were mostly transplanted from past-
ures, solely for the purpose of affording shelter and embel-
lishment, we find that we have now growing more feet of
lumber than would be required to replace our farm buildings
if they were destroyed by fire. Fully realizing the comfort
we derive from their shelter, we doubt if we could have the
fortitude to cut our trees for timber, unless the want were
imperative, although the timber has been cheaply and easily
grown.

We consider our trees absolutely necessary, too, in embel-
lishing and sheltering our habitation, the orchard, the crops,

SOMETHING ABOUT BUDS. 233

and the herds, as well as lending a charm to the landscape
and shade to the wayfarer. Belts of trees should be planted
on the outskirts of the farms, and the fields and orchards, to
screen from view unsightly places, and waste spots, however
small, should have trees growing on them.

Trees growing in belts are less liable to be injured by fire,
especially in the vicinity of cities, towns and railroads, than
trees occupying larger areas.

The absence of coal-beds in the State, the necessity of a
supply liable to occur from various causes, and the immense
amount of fuel annually consumed, admonish all to be well
prepared for any and all contingencies that are liable to arise.
Wood, from the nature of our situation, must be largely used
as fuel ; and, although the area of woodlands is yearly increas-
ing, still the time is coming when it will all be wanted, at
remunerative prices. In fact, from the outlook at present, it
would seem that forest-tree planting is well worthy the earn-
est consideration of the capitalist and all owners of unpro-
ductive lands ; and may we all hope that the intelligence of
those who, having the facilities, will speedily adopt, tree
planting as one of the necessities for the future prosperity of
the State. O. B. Hadwen.

The Essay led to a lengthy discussion, in which Messrs.
Loring, Shepley, Moore and others participated, when it
was laid over for consideration.

Voted, That the Committee appointed at the last annual
meeting to confer with the committee of the Legislature in
reference to the reclamation of salt-marshes, be continued.

Voted, That a committee of three be appointed to hear and
consider any requests for changes in the times of holding
fairs. Messrs. Wakefield, Hersey and Davis.

Pres. Chadbourne then presented and read an Essay upon —

BUD S.

When the subject of "Buds" was first assigned for an essay,
President Clark was named as chairman of the committee, and
it was understood that he would be able to carry out certain
experiments to settle questions suggested by himself and other

30

234 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.

members of the committee. As he has been called to such
work as has prevented these investigations, I propose to pre-
sent a few thoughts at this time, and make some suggestions
to direct our observations aud experiments, if we are unable
to give any time to experimenting.

Buds are a provision of nature for the production of new
individuals.

In the tree we regard them as a provision for branching.
But every branch is a new individual, which draws its nutri-
ment from the parent stock instead of from the earth by its
own individual roots, so that every tree, which we often regard
as one individual, is an aggregate of individuals, its trunk and
root being the joint product of all the leaves and branches it
has ever borne, itself being at any one time an aggregate of
as many individuals as it has living buds upon it. The trunk
of the tree is like our federal Union ; its branches like the
States. The tree is one, not as an individual, but as our
country is one.

The bud, we have said, is a provision of nature for a new
individual. The fact of reproduction by buds and seeds we
know, but we know nothing of its cause. Every bud origi-
nates from a cell and from a cell in a particular place or under
peculiar conditions, and each plant is subject to a mathemati-
cal law according to which all its buds appear. But why all
trees of one species place their buds according to one law
and all the trees of another species adhere rigidly to another
law, no man can tell, probably no man ever will tell.

The leaf-bud, so called, develops into a branch, and, as is
well known, can be transplanted into other kindred trees, for
budding and grafting are simply the transplanting of buds and
grafts into trees where nutriment is already elaborated for
them, rather than the transplanting of them into soil where
they must elaborate for themselves, if they live at all. Other
buds we call flower-buds. They develop two distinct kinds
of organs, and the great mystery of sex is manifested here, —
a wonderful provision that seems to appear in some form, not
only among the lowest animals, but among plants also. We
have learned under what conditions flower-buds will form, and
that is all we know. There is a law here so deep that we
cannot fathom it, but it is well to note the facts.

INFLUENCE OF CROSS-FEETILIZATION. 235

When a tree is able to take and prepare more food than it
can readily use in forming wood, it uses this surplus in making
fruit — young apple-trees that are about to die from injury to
the trunk or roots are apt to spend what little strength they
have in producing blossoms and fruit, and I notice now, as
our beautiful maples are dying from the action of the borers,
that the year before they die they are perfectly loaded with
fruit. The fact seems to be that all organisms are so consti-
tuted that when they must soon pass away by natural causes,
the very process by which they pass away hastens in them
the production of seed, so that the species may be preserved.
It is through the flower-bud mainly that we secure variation,
and certainly in this light alone, the sexuality of trees and
other plants is a wonderful provision for man, giving him
such marvellous power over them. President Wilder and
others have done so much for us in this direction that I
need say no more on this point. But there is one suggestion
that I wish to make for your observation and experiment.
We accept the fact that the seed is changed by cross-fertiliza-
tion, but we seem to take it for granted that the covering of
the seed, that is, our "soft fruits," are not affected by cross-
fertilization. I am disposed to think this is a mistake, that
the fruits of certain plants are sensibly affected by the pollen
from others.

Mr. Darwin has given * apparently well authenticated cases
of the influence of pollen in changing the character of the
covering of the seed in plants of very different kind, aspease,
palm-fruit, oranges, melons, and grapes. The paragraph
relating to apples we quote as follows : —

"No case of the direct action of the pollen of one variety on
another is better authenticated, or more remarkable, than that of the
common apple. The fruit here consists of the lower part of the
calyx, and of the upper part of the flower-peduncle, in a metamor-
phosed condition, so that the effect of the foreign pollen has extend-
ed even beyond the limits of the ovarium. Cases of apples thus
affected were recorded by Bradley in the early part of the last cen-
tury ; and other cases are given in old volumes of the Philosophical
Transactions ; in one of these, a russeting apple and an adjoining
kind mutually affected each other's fruit ; and in another case a

* Animals and Plants under Domestication. Vol. 1, pp. 479-81.

236 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.

smooth apple affected a rough-coated kind. Another instance has
been given of two veiy different apple-trees growing close to each
other, which bore fruit resembling each other, but only on the adjoining
branches. It is, however, almost superfluous to adduce 1hese or
other cases after that of the St. Vallery apple, which, from the abor-
tion of the stamens, does not produce pollen, but, being annually
fertilized by the girls of the neighborhood with pollen of many
kinds, bears fruit differing from each other in size, flavor, and color,
but resembling in character the hermaphrodite kinds by which they
have been fertilized."

It is not to be expected that the fruit of all trees of the
same species, as the apple for instance, would be equally sen-
sitive to the action of foreign pollen. The seeds of all varie-
ties of the same species are not equally affected by cross-fer-
tilization. In the case of Indian corn, where cases of mixture
of varieties are very abundant, it is well known to observers
that the kernels of some varieties are much more affected in
form and color by foreign pollen lhan of others. An analo-
gous difference among animals of the same species is observed
by breeders. Some mares give colts like the sire, while
others stamp upon the young their own characteristics.

It is not probable that the St. Vallery apple is the only kind
that is specially sensitive to this action of foreign pollen.
Reasoning from the cases that are known of the change of the
fruit-covering by cross-fertilization, and from analogy in the
case of animals, we should infer that some trees would bear
better fruit when planted in orchards by themselves, so that
every tree could be fertilized by pollen from trees of its own
variety, than when surrounded by trees of inferior kinds.
This question of affecting the covering or soft fruit directly,
for better or for worse, is entirely distinct from the question
of benefiting the stock by crossing. That is a question of
affecting the stock through new power, given to the seed by
crossing with another variety ; this is a question of affecting,
through the action of pollen, the covering of the seed for a
single year, through the influence of the same pollen that
affects the seed itself.

When trees bear but few apples they are seldom as good
as when there are plenty, though we might argue that a tree

SPORTING OF LEAF-BUDS. 237

with but little fruit would be likely to bring it to greater
perfection than when loaded with it.

May not this deterioration of fruit, when it is produced in
small quantities, be in part due to the fact that when there
are but few blossoms on the trees, each tree receives pollen
from many trees through the action of the insects, while,
when blossoms are abundant, the bees fertilize most of the
flowers on a tree with pollen from other flowers on the same
tree ?

Although we in general rely upon the flower-bud of our
fruit-trees for the productTon of new varieties, and upon the
leaf-bud for the sure propagation of the variety when produced,
yet the leaf-bud itself sometimes Sjjorts, in the language of the
gardeners ; that is, it gives a branch entirely different from
the rest of the plants, so marked, in some cases, as to consti-
tute a new variety. This is likely to occur in plants that are
highly cultivated, and have been produced as the result of
many variations from the original stock. Such sports I have
seen also among geraniums and potatoes. The farmer some-
time's finds potatoes in his field, such as he knew he did not
plant, and such as he knows cannot be seedlings. As the
potato-plant has produced many varieties, it naturally has a
tendency to sport ; and as the potato originates from an
underground bud, and not from a root, and is itself a stem
with regular buds or eyes, it is not strange that some of those
buds should vary, and thus new kinds of potatoes appear to
surprise the farmer who does not know this fact in plant-
life.

Of the structure and nutrition of buds and the production
of adventitious buds, I have not time now to speak. The
subject will undoubtedly be carried on by President Clark,
as he intended to carry it on when the committee was first
named. P. A. Chadbourne.

After some discussion, the essay was laid over.

Mr. Mooee, from the Committee to consider and report
upon the time and place of holding the next public meeting,
submitted a report as follows : —

The Committee appointed to fix the time and place for the

238 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.

next public meeting of the Board, have considered the subject
assigned them, and make the following —

REPORT :

They have received applications from the Middlesex North
Society to hold their next meeting at Lowell, and from the
Waltham Farmers' Club to hold their meeting at Waltham ;
and after a full consideration of the subject in all its bear-
ings, recommend that the meeting be held in the town of
Waltham on the fourth, fifth and sixth days of December next.

John B. Moore.
O. B. Hadwen.

The report was accepted, and the place and time fixed
accordingly.

Voted, That the Secretary be requested to invite contribu-
tions to an exhibition of plants, fruits, vegetables, etc., at
Waltham, similar to that at Worcester.

Dr. Wakefield, for the Committee on changes in the times
of holding fairs, submitted the following : —

The Committee to whom was referred the petitions for
alterations in the times of holding the meetings of several
agricultural societies, would report that they have heard the
parties so petitioning, and ask leave to submit the following —

REPORT :

Deerfield Valley shall be held on the second Thursday after
the first Monday of September.

Hampshire, on the third Tuesday.

Essex, on the third Tuesday, after the present year.

Hampden, on the fourth Tuesday.

Hampden East, on the third Tuesday.

The report was accepted, when the Board
Adjourned.

ASSIGNMENT OF DELEGATES. 239

Third Day.

The Board met at ten o'clock, a. m., Col. Leverett Sal-
tonstall in the chair.

Present : Messrs. Bagg, Baker, Bennett, Burnap, Chad-
bourne, Comins, Davis, Fenn, Goessmann, Had wen, Hersey,
Johnson, Knowlton, Knox, Lewis, Loring, Merrill, Moore,
Perry, Phinney, Russell, Saltonstall, Arthur A. Smith, Met-
calf J. Smith, Milo J. Smith, Upham, Vincent, Wakefield
and Wilder.

Mr. Knox, for the committee appointed to report upon the
assignment of delegates, submitted the following : To the —

Essex, . .' Alexander Macy, Jr.

Middlesex, Geo. B. Loring.

Middlesex North, Metcalf J. Smith.

Middlesex South, John E. Merrill.

Worcester, J. N. Bagg.

Worcester West, Milo J. Smith.

Worcester North, H. P. Wakefield.

Worcester North-West, Arthur A. Smith.

Worcester South, Henry C. Comins.

Worcester South-East, Henry S. Russell.

Hampshire, Franklin and Hampden, . . John A. Hawes.

Hampshire, Hebron Vincent.

Highland, Elijah Perry.

Hampden, Chas. G. Davis.

Hampden East, Edmund H. Bennett.

Union, Nathaniel Upham.

Franklin, Geo. M. Baker.

Beerfield Valley, Jas. T. Burnap.

Berkshire, A. H. Holland.

Hoosac Valley, E. T. Lewis.

Housatonic, William Knowlton.

Norfolk, E. C. Hawks.

Hingham, Paul A. Chadbourne.

Bristol, William E. Johnson.

Bristol Central, O. B. Hadwen.

Plymouth, . D. B. Fenn.

Marshficld, S. B. Phinney.

Barnstable, Edmund Hersey.

Nantucket, F. C. Knox.

Martha^s Vineyard, Stephen Shepley.

240 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.

The report was accepted, and the assignment made accord-
ingly.

President Chadbourne, on behalf of the Committee ap-
pointed to report a list of subjects and committees, submitted
the following : —

1. Saving and Preparation of Manures on the Farm. — Messrs.

Wakefield, Fenn and Burnap.

2. The Improvement of Salt- Marshes. — Messrs. Goessmann, Baker,

and Davis.

3. Field and Garden Seeds. — Messrs. Moore, Hadwen, and Hol-

land.

4. The Sources of Agricultural Improvement. — Messrs. Loring,

Bennett, and Metcalf J. Smith.

5. The Claims of Ornamental Gardening upon Farmers. — Messrs.

Saltonstall, Perry, and Moore.

6. Experiments in Potato Culture. — Messrs. Knox, Shepley, and

Comins.

7. What has Chemistry done for Agriculture? — Messrs. Chad-

bourne, Goessmann, and Saltonstall.

8. The Legal Rights and Obligations of Farmers. — Messrs. Ben-

nett, Davis, and Arthur A. Smith.

9. The True Means of Promoting the Efficiency of Agricidtural

Societies. — Messrs. Moore, Wakefield, and Baker.

10. Farmers' Institutes. — Messrs. Bagg, Macy, and Upham.

11. Green Crops as a Manure. — Messrs. Merrill, Milo J. Smith,

and Knowlton.

12. Shallow and Subsoil Ploughing. — Messrs. Fenn, Johnson, and

Shepley.

13. The best Methods of Offering Premiums by Agricultural So-

cieties.— Messrs. Hersey, Moore, and Sargent.

14r Reclaiming of Swamp Lands as to Profit and Effect upon
the Health of Communities. — Messrs. Sargent, Russell, and
Hawks.

15. Jersey Cattle, their Introduction, and Dairy Interests in the
State. — Messrs. Sargent, Hadwen, and Knowlton.

INSPECTION OF FERTILIZERS. 241

The Committee to nominate two members of the Examining
Committee of the Agricultural College, submitted the names
of Charles S. Sargent and J. N. Bagg. The nomination was
confirmed.

Professor Goessmann then submitted his —

FOURTH ANNUAL REPORT ON FERTILIZERS.

To the Stale Board of Agriculture.

Gentlemen : — An impartial examination into the late his-
tory of our home trade in commercial fertilizers cannot foil to
show a favorable change in the commercial management of
this important branch of industry as compared with previous
periods. The expectation that our laws for the regulation
of the trade in these articles would ultimately revolutionize
the hitherto customary mode of selling fertilizers is already
realized to a considerable extent, even at this early stage of
operations. To sell all commercial fertilizers with reference
to the amount and peculiar condition of the essential elements
of plant- food which they contain, receives additional indorse-
ments from year to year from those who desire to have the
competition of their articles of merchandise carried out on
the same conditions which control commercial transactions
in the general market. Subsequent detailed descriptions fur-
nish ample proofs in that direction. Voluminous business
circulars, tilled mainly with a more or less arbitrary selection of
accounts of results obtained by the use of the particular
fertilizing material recommended, and at the same time con-
spicuously deficient in the more important information con-
cerning the chemical composition and the character of its
proximate constituents, meet deservedly with less favor on
the part of intelligent farmers who have of late sought to
ascertain rather the amount and the form of each essential
element of plant-food present as well as the price charged per
pound of phosphoric acid, potassa and nitrogen, than to
depend on indorsements, however flattering. The readiness
shown by the majority of manufacturers, importers and
dealers to comply with the requirements of our fertilizer laws
has apparently greatly increased the confidence of the farming

31

242 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.

community in the quality of the articles presented for their
patronage. There are, however, a few noted manufacturers
and dealers, mostly outside of this State, who have thus far
disregarded their obligation to secure a license for their
agents. As ignorance concerning our laws cannot any longer
be consistently considered an excuse for their proceedings, it
becomes an act of justice towards those who comply with
our restrictions that the agents of unlicensed parties should
be held and made responsible for their unlawful sales. A
publication of the names of those manufacturers and others
who have been selling during the past year through agents or
resident dealers, without having previously secured a license,
would serve as a warning to the latter, reminding them of the
responsibility they incur in thus acting.

The question regarding the pecuniary advantages resulting
from a judicious application of the commercial fertilizers in
our farm industry has received during the past year an
increased attention, and there are fair prospects of an active
demand for these articles to test their respective merits more
thoroughly under varied circumstances. The preparation of
waste products of various branches of industry engaged in the
working up of vegetable and animal products has received
more care, and they are thus better qualified to be sold by
chemical analysis. Extensive bat guano deposits, which have
been known for some time to exist in some of the Southern
States, have attracted considerable attention during the past
year, in consequence of numerous analyses published by Pro-
fessor McMurtrie, chemist to the National Department of
Agriculture at Washington, D. C. The prices of many com-
pound standard fertilizers have been lowered, and their market
value has thereby been brought in better harmony with the
cost of phosphoric acid, potassa and nitrogen in their main
staple resources, for general supply. The indications are
that the retail prices, as subsequently stated, of these three
chief ingredients have reached a point which in all prob-
ability will remain stationary for some time to come. We
expect to dispose of all we have at home, and our present
prices offer no particular inducements for exportation to
foreign countries.

The following statement of prices is mainly based on the

PRICES OF MATERIALS. 243

ruling retail market prices during the past year in Boston and
New York City :—

Price per pound.

I. Nitrogen, in form of ammonia and nitric acid, . . 25 cents.

in form of dried ground meat and blood,
finely pulverized steamed bones, finely
ground fish-guano, Peruvian guano, urates,
poudrettes, and artificial guano, . . 20 to 21 "

in form of fine ground bones, fine ground
horn, and wool-dust, 18 "

in form of coarsely ground bones, horn-
shavings, and woollen rags, human ex-
cretions and barn -yard manure, fish-
scraps, animal refuse-matter from glue-
factories and tanneries, etc., ... 15 "

II. Phosphoric acid, soluble in water, as contained in alka-

line phosphates and superphosphates, . 12.5 "

in Peruvian guano and urates, ... 9 "

in form of so-called reduced or reverted acid, 9 "

in precipitated bone-phosphate, steamed fine
bones, fish-guano, according to size and

disintegration, from 5 to 6 "

in form of boneblack waste, wood-ash, Car-
ibbean guano, ground bone-ash, coarsely
ground bones, poudrette, barn-yard ma-
nure, etc., 5 "

in form of finely ground South Carolina and

Navassa phosphates, 3.5 "

III. Potassium oxide, in form of muriate of potash or

chloride of potassium, .... 6 "

in form of sulphate of potassa in kainits, . 7.5 "
in form of higher grades of sulphate of

potassa, 9 "

Some dealers have published valuations of their own, to
show the superiority of the articles they offer to their custom-
ers. Wherever they are of a general interest, they have been
mentioned in connection with the description of the fertilizers
they refer to. Our farmers do well to render themselves
familiar with the market prices of our fertilizing materials,
and to study statements like the preceding one. As the law
requires of all dealers in fertilizers to attach to each package
of those which sell at more than $15 per ton, a specified
printed record of the amount and the form of phosphoric
acid, of potassa, and of nitrogen which they contain, an

244 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.

acquaintance with the ruling market values of their ingre-
dients will enable them to ascertain for themselves the com-
parative pecuniary values of the various fertilizers presented
for their patronage. Every intelligent commercial business
transaction necessitates some figuring ; we cannot expect to
secure the best and cheapest without taking some trouble.
The future success of our fertilizer laivs, which are designed
to secure good and cheap fertilizers to the farmers and a fair
chance of establishing a good reputation to the skilful manufact-
urer and the honest dealer, depends in a controlling degree
hereafter on the interest which our farmers will take in seeing
to it that the one provision of our laws in particular is com-
plied with, which demands that an intelligent analytical state-
ment, as specified in section 1, shall accompany each package,
and thus render the dealer responsible for a definite character
and value of the purchased fertilizer. Farmers ought to
refuse to buy of dealers who try to evade responsible sales.
Nothing short of this will secure to them the full benefit of
our laws.

Within the subsequent pages are recorded the results of from
60 to 70 analyses, which have been made during the past year.
The chemical analytical examinations have been extended, as
in previous years, as far as chance and time has permitted,
over a larger field than the law prescribes, for the purpose of
entering on file the chemical composition of all kinds of waste
products resulting from our various branches of home indus-
try, which may find a useful application for manurial purposes
and may thus assist in increasing our resources for home-
made fertilizers. The subjects are treated in a similar order
as in previous reports.

I. — Potash Fertilizers.
The consumption of the various kinds and grades of the
German potash-salts is steadily increasing. The lower grades,
known by the names of "natural and artificial kainits"
represent during the past as in previous years, the main quan-
tity used. One firm alone, in Baltimore, claims to have sold
over ten thousand tons of the former. The "muriate of
potash" on account of its high concentration and its compar-

THE POTASH FERTILIZERS.

245

ative low cost, has been more generally applied than before.
The higher grades of the sulphate of potassa have been in
considerable demand for the cultivation of tobacco, potatoes,
and other special crops. The supply of this kind of potash-
salts from Germany has been insufficient, and at the same
time it has been of a doubtful character. To meet an urgent
demand, quite a considerable quantity of the muriate of pot-
ash has been converted, by parties in Boston and New York
City, into sulphate of potassa by means of sulphuric acid.
Some of these products contained as high as 78 per cent, of
sulphate of potassa, or 42 to 43 per cent, of potassium oxide ;
many, however, only from 30 to 35 per cent, of the latter.
The subsequent analytical statements give a fair representa-
tion of the character of the various qualities of the German
potash-salts sold within the State.

A. — Muriate of Potash.

Potassium oxide,

Sodium oxide,

Chlorine,

Moisture,

Insoluble matter (in water),

I.

ii.

in.

50.70

52.89

50.42

7.84

7.20

8.73

49.33

-

47.94

2.60

2.50

3.67

0.80

—

-

52.40

8.89

0.44

These samples were obtained from dealers in Boston (I., II.,
IV.) and in Greeufield, Mass. (HI.) ; their stated composi-
tion corresponded quite closely with the represented value ;
they contained from 80 to 84 per cent, of muriate of potash,
or chloride of potassium, and from 13 to 16 per cent, of chlo-
ride of sodium or common salt ; their retail price has been from
$55 to $60 per ton of 2,000 pounds, or from 5.5 cents to 6
cents per pound of potassium oxide, making the muriate of
potash one of the cheapest sources of the latter for general
agricultural purposes. The prospects are, that in case of
a European war, its price will be raised in consequence of an
increased demand for the manufacture of saltpetre for gun-
powder.

246

BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.

B. — Sulphate of Potassa.

I.

II.

in.

IT.

Potassium oxide, .....

35.44

33.40

30.82

32.50

Sodium oxide,

5.50

4.50

8.59

2.17

Calcium oxide,

trace.

trace.

trace.

0.62

Magnesium oxide, .

trace.

trace.

trace.

0.28

Sulphuric acid,

52.10

59.30

42.34

45.10

Insoluble matter (in water),

0.44

0.88

0.60

9.04

Moisture,

0.20

0.19

—

~

These samples are taken from home-manufactured articles ;
Nos. I., II., III. are produced from the muriate of potash, as
above mentioned, by means of sulphuric acid ; No. IV. comes
evidently from some other branch of chemical industry. They
consist mainly of the sulphates of potassa and soda, besides
more or less of free sulphuric acid, or acid sulphates ; namely,
from 57 to 65 per cent, of neutral sulphate of potassa, and
from 5 to 20 per cent, of neutral sulphate of soda, besides
from 5 to 24 per cent, of sulphuric acid. The potassium
oxide contained in these salts has been sold in small lots at
from 8.5 to 9.5 cents per pound ; or from $60 to $65 per ton
of 2,000 pounds of the salines.

C. — Magnesia containing Potash-salts (Kainits).

Potassium oxide,
Sodium oxide,
Magnesium oxide
Calcium oxide,
Sulphuric acid,
Chlorine,
Insoluble matter (in water),
Moisture, .

25.02
_*

8.40

2.92

17.62

_*

2.90
5.50

24.82
7.17

11.97
_*

17.20

5.40

9.69

16.36

4.54

1.61

9.86

_*

5.17
10.00

* Not determined.

Samples I. and II. are artificial kainits, or calcined potash,
refuse-salts; No. III. represents the composition of Stassfurt

STASSFURT POTASH-SALTS. 247

dung-salt; the former were obtained of dealers in Boston, the
latter of a dealer in Springfield, Mass. Every one of these
three articles contained from 4.5 to 5 per cent, of chloride of
magnesium ; Nos. I. and II. contained from 14 to 15 per cent,
of chloride of sodium or common salt, whilst No. III. con-
tained from 30 to 31 per cent, of that compound. All three
salines were fair specimens of their kind, yet they did not
contain the entire amount of potash in the form of sulphates,
as represented in the analysis of the dealer. This fact
appeared not less surprising to the importer than to the cus-
tomer, for the cargoes from which they had been taken were
certified to by Dr. Ulex of Hamburg, Germany, as sulphates
of potassa. Having good reasons to believe in the fairness of
the latter, I decided to ascertain his opinion regarding the
management of the trade in Stassfurt potash-salts at Ham-
burg. As the courteous reply of Dr. Ulex contains some
statements which are of interest to importers and dealers in
German potash-salt, I enter here on record his remarks regard-
ing the question under discussion : —

" Our exporters of the Stassfurt potash-salts distinguish between
' muriate of potash,' ' kainits,' and ' dung-salts.' The percentage
of potassium oxide is determined in every one of these cases as
potassium, platino, chloride. The results thus obtained are stated
in the case of the muriate of potash as chloride of potassium, whilst
in the case of dung-salts and kainits they are calculated as sulphate
of potassa. No particular attention is directed to the exact amount
of the electro-negative or acid-constituent of the potassium com-
pound, for the latter element is considered the essential constituent
of the potash-salts. There can be scarcely any doubt that in some
cases a part, although quite small, of the potassium in the muriate of
potash will be present as sulphate of potassa, whilst in dung-salt
and kainit, sometimes the amount of sulphuric acid may not be
sufficient to entitle it to the assumption that the entire amount of
potassium found is present as sulphate of potassa. The above
stated practice to represent the character of the potash-salts has
been adopted since the beginning of the trade in these potash-salts,
and has not been criticised until quite recently. During the present
year a complaint has been made by another part}' in America, regard-
ing our above-mentioned mode of representing the quality of our
potash-salts. On that occasion I have advised the parties interested
to signify in the future the quality of salts they wish to buy, and to

248 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.

insist upon getting an article which contains enough of sulphuric
acid to warrant the character of the potash they bought."

This communication leaves no doubt about the question who
will be considered responsible hereafter for not furnishing to
the fanners the articles desired by them. The issue at stake
is not whether the dealers consider the chloride of potassium
as good and efficient in the end as the sulphate of potassa,
but that the purchaser gets what he wants and pays for.
Nobody denies the great agricultural value of both the artifi-
cial and native kainit ; yet, however valuable the accumulated
practical experience of European agriculturists regarding the
action of these potash-salts deservedly ought to be considered,
it does not relieve us from the task to study carefully their
successful modes of operation upon our soil, and under the
influence of different climatical conditions. In view of the
daily increasing evidence, that the peculiar form in which the
potassium is applied, as well as the character of its associated
compounds, not unfrequently exerts a more or less favor-
able influence on the crops raised under their treatment, it
becomes very desirable that a fair chance should be secured,
particularly in our present still limited state of experience at
home, to experiment with potash-salts of a reliable, definite
character.

Ashes of the Hulls of Cotton-seeds.

Potassium oxide, 21.30 percent.

Sodium oxide, 7.80 "

Calcium oxide, . . ' 10.58 "

Magnesium oxide, ........ 3.90 "

Sesquioxide of iron, 1.50 "

Phosphoric acid, 9.86 "

Moisture, 9.20

Insoluble in acids, 13.20 "

This valuable ash was sent on for an examination by parties .
outside of the State, with the information that it was offered
for sale at New Orleans, La., at from $15 to $20 per ton of
2,000 pounds. Now and then cargoes of similar articles are
sent to our Northern seaport cities, where an ash, like the
above described one, if guaranteed, is worth nearly twice the
amount mentioned.

POWDER-MILL WASTE.

249

Refuse-salts from Gunpowder-works.

i.

ii.

Potassium oxide,

Sodium oxide,

Nitric acid,

Sulphuric acid,

Chlorine, .........

Moisture,

23.24
25.57
12.69

_*

_*

4.24

23.44

25.50

12.40

_*

_*

* Not determined.

The above sample came from a factory in the eastern part
of the State. Like all refuse materials, it is liable to vary
seriously in composition in different lots. Containing, as
above reported, 23 per cent, of potassium oxide and 12 per
cent, of nitric acid, its commercial value is equal to from
to $40 per ton of 2,000 pounds in our market.

Saltpetre Waste.

Potassium oxide, 30.94

Sodium oxide, 22.08

Calcium oxide, 0.83

Magnesium oxide, 0.09

Nitric acid, 11.50

Chlorine, * 37.66

Sulphuric acid, 4.85

Moisture, 2.00

The sample was collected at a store in Springfield, Mass.,
and represented to be a refuse article from a saltpetre manu-
factory in Connecticut. It consisted mainly of potassium
chloride and nitrate, besides some 40 per cent, of sodium
chloride and sulphate. This salt is evidently resulting from
the treatment of chloride of potassium and nitrate of soda,
for the purpose of manufacturing saltpetre. It is worth in
our market from $44 to $45 dollars per ton of 2,000 pounds.
Salines like this deserve a recommendation as special fertiliz-
ers for the production of grain crops, as well as grass and
forage crops in general. The only objection which might be
raised against its reliability consists in the unusual variations

32

250 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.

in composition which have been noticed in these refuse salines.
Saltpetre waste can only be relied on when accompanied with
a specified analysis regarding its percentage of nitric acid and
potassium oxide.

Waste Lime from a Gas-house.

Moisture and volatile organic matter, . . . .21.60 24.00

Calcium oxide, 44.28 40.00

Sulphur (=n sulphuric acid, 5.0 — 4.35), . . . 2.00 1.74

Insoluble in mineral acids, 5.28 15.00

The waste lime from gas-houses varies to a considerable
degree in regard to the absolute quantity, as well as to the
relative proportion of its essential constituents ; the state of
moisture usually controls the former ; while the quality of the
quicklime used, and the way in which it has been turned to
account, decides mainly the latter condition. The essential
constituents of gas-house waste lime in its fresh state, are
carbonate of lime, hydrate of lime, sulphide and hyposulphite
of lime, with a varying, yet small quantity of the products of
dry distillation of coal, — as carbolic acid and higher hydro-
carbons, etc. This waste* material ought to be well exposed
to the action of the air before it is applied as a fertilizer, for
it is desirable that the sulphur should be higher oxidized,
to sulphuric acid, on account of the injurious action of the
sulphur, and its lower oxidations on growing plants. For
this reason it is safest to cast it broadcast during the autumn,
and plough, or rather harrow it under during the early part
of the spring. The action on the soil and the vegetation is
similar to that of air-slacked lime and sulphate of lime ; and it
deserves, therefore, a recommendation for some meadow
lands, — for clover, tobacco, beans, pease, beets, etc., — as a
special fertilizer.

Ward's Fertilizer.
The material which served for the following analysis was
collected of O. B. Hadwen, Esq., of Worcester, Mass. It

GAS-LIME AND WASTE SALT.

251

consisted of a coarsely ground mass of white and black par-
ticles, and smelt of the product of a dry distillation of coal.
One hundred parts contained the following constituents : —

Calcium oxide (lime) , 23.93

Sodium oxide, 14.57

Chlorine, 15.59

Phosphoric acid, 0.90

Sulphuric acid, 1.40

Insoluble in mineral acids, as sand, etc., 11.80

Moisture at 100° to 110° C, 16.36

These analytical results leave but little doubt that the fer-
tilizer under discussion is, in the main, composed of waste
lime, from gas-works, and refuse salt, — about 22 to 23 per
cent, of the latter. Farmers can do much better than pay
$15 for a mixture of 500 pounds of burnt lime and 480
pounds of refuse salt. An article prepared in that way
could be furnished at from $5 to $6, and would be decidedly
more reliable.

Sulphate of Ammonia.

I.

ii.

hi.

Nitrogen,

Ammonia,

Sulphuric acid,

20.57

25.00

59.30

2.70

20.60
25.18

21.00

25.50

60.00

2.00

Samples No. I. and II. were obtained from a dealer in
Boston ; No. III. from a dealer in Greenfield, Mass. All
three samples were of good quality. The supply of the
sulphate of ammonia has fallen short of the demand during
the past year, causing a considerable advance of its price.
At the beginning of the spring it sold at $95 per ton of
2,000 pounds, and it rose subsequently to $110 for the same
quantity. The price per pound of nitrogen in that form
has thus varied from 23.8 to 27 cents. The market value
of the sulphate of ammonia depends, to some degree, on its
demand in other brauches of industry, where, at times, higher

252 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.

compensations can be realized for it than the farmers can
afford to pay.

Although our chances for the manufacture of ammonium
sulphate from the gas-house liquors and from the production
of animal charcoal have not yet been exhausted, it is plain that
the late cost of this article has reached a point where farmers
do well to look for more economical substitutes. The sulphate
of ammonia is a very efficient and also a very convenient form
of nitrogen for experimental purposes, when the cost of
material is still a matter of secondary consideration. Its
importance as a source of nitrogen for general farm purposes,
as far as quantity is concerned, has not materially changed
from the position it occupied more than twenty years ago,
when Von Liebig remarked, " Profitable farming will surely be
a failure in case its success depends on an adequate supply of
sulphate of ammonia." As soon as our farmers begin to ap-
preciate the importance of preparing the various kinds of
nitrogenous refuse material within their reach by a suitable
mode of composting during the autumn for a more immediate
action on the crops during the succeeding spring, there will be
much less need for paying for high-priced ammonia com-
pounds. By adopting more generally that course, large
quantities of active nitrogen compounds of an equally efficient
character may be secured, as a general rule, at more than
one-third less cost per pound of nitrogen ; for instance, from
blood, refuse, bones, and meat, from slaughter-houses and
glue-factories, animal waste matter of tanneries, fish, etc.

Nitrate of Soda ( Chili saltpetre) .

Nitric acid, 60.82 per cent.

Sodium oxide, 35.68 "

Calcium oxide, 0.13 "

Magnesium oxide, 0.04 "

Chorine 0.46 "

Sulphuric acid, 0.08

Insoluble matter (in water), 0.24 "

Moisture, 2.00 "

The sample was taken from the storehouse of a dealer in
Boston ; it contained 96.2 per cent, of nitrate of soda. The
standard strength prescribed by the Peruvian government is

DRIED BLOOD AND WOOL-WASTE.

253

95.0 per cent, of that compound. The amount of nitric acid
present is equal to 19.16 of ammonia or 15.77 per cent, of
nitrogen. As the Chili saltpetre has been sold during the
larger period of the past year at four cents per pound, or
$80 per ton of 2,000 pounds in the retail trade, the nitrogen
in that form has cost 25 cents per pound. The use of this
nitrogen compound, as a top-dressing, after manuring with
phosphates, receives increased attention.

Dried Blood.

i.

ii.

in.

Moisture at 100 to 110° C.,

Ash constituents, . ......

Nitrogen in organic matter, ....

Phosphoric acid in ash,

18.50
76.83

4.65
10.70

1.53

8.46
75.89
4.80
9.14
1.60

12.25

78.21
9.54
9.06
2.46

Sample No. II. was sold by a dealer in Chicago, 111. ; No.
I. and No. III. were taken at a storehouse in Boston ; No. III.
consisted, as stated, of ground meat and blood, manufactured
by a firm in Pawtucket, R. I. These articles have been used
quite extensively as a source of nitrogen in compound com-
mercial fertilizers ; they are a very valuable material for that
purpose, provided they have not been scorched by the use of
too high a temperature during drying. As they disintegrate
quite readily at ordinary temperature in the presence of
moisture, they furnish during the first year of application a
valuable source of nitrogen plant-food. One pound of
nitrogen in the form of dried blood and dried meat has been
sold at from 20 to 21 cents. There are several grades of
dried blood in our market, as has been stated in previous
reports.

Wool-waste.

The material which has served for the subsequent analysis
was obtained from a mill at Franklin, Mass., and consisted
mainly of a coarse wool-refuse, apparently the sweepings of
the mill. The sample tested lost at 100 to 110° C. about 10

254 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.

per cent of water, and contained in its air-dry state 5.0 per
cent, of nitrogen. Allowing from 14 to 15 cents per pound
of nitrogen, which is its usual valuation in coarse wool-waste,
the commercial value of the above sample would be $15 per
ton.

The manurial value of the wool-waste depends upon its
mechanical condition and on its percentage of nitrogen, which
may vary as much as 100 per cent, from each other in different
lots. To render coarse wool-refuse ready for assimilation
requires a more thorough process of disintegration than in
case of tine wool-dust. The latter, if incorporated in the barn-
yard manure during the autumn, will yield freely its nitrogen
for plant-growth during the succeeding summer season.
Coarse wool-refuse has been successfully composted with
burnt lime, by forming alternate layers of both substances
and covering the entire mass with moist earth from four to
live inches thick. The compost thus prepared at the close of
the year is, after a few turnings during the winter season, tit
for an efficient spring application. Some recommend to work
the wool-refuse with waste, containing sulphuric acid (1.5 to
1.6 specific gravity) at ordinary temperature into a paste, and
to keep the mass from time to time stirring until the wool
turns slimy, then to add subsequently for every 100 pounds
of sulphuric acid used, 200 pounds of tine ground bones with
a sufficient amount of water to merely moisten the entire
mass. The material resulting is, after a week or two keeping,
ready for use, and deserves no doubt a high recommendation,
wherever rich nitrogenous phosphates are needed for a
successful crop.

Fine Horn- waste.
The sample came from a factory at Leominster, Mass., and ,
consisted of a white, fine powder. It contained in 100 parts, —

Moisture at 100 to 110° C, 10.27 per cent.

Ash constituents, . . . . . . . . 1.05 "

Organic matter, 88.68 "

Nitrogen in organic matter, 16.10 "

Clean horn- waste is a rich nitrogenous substance, yet diffi-
cult to decompose ; it ranks for this reason among the lowest in

HORN SHAVINGS AND ANIMAL DUST. 255

commercial value among our animal refuse substances ; about
15 cents per pound of its nitrogen, provided it is in a good
mechanical condition. One ton of the above sample is worth
from $46 to $48. A thorough composting with barn-yard
manure renders its nitrogen, under ordinary circumstances,
best available.

Horn shavings, and the coarser refuse material of the same
kind, are best subjected for a few bours to the action of
steam of from three to four pounds of pressure, and subse-
quently dried and ground. Thus treated, they are easily
ground, and act more rapidly on the vegetation.

Animal Dust.
I.— Brighton Animal Dust.

Volatile and animal organic matter, ....

70.08

71.76

Ash constituents

29.92

28.24

Phosphoric acid in ash,

9.97

9.80

Nitrogen in animal matter,

5.82

6.96

Moisture at 100° to 110° C,

17.57

11.92

Sample No. I. has been secured at the storehouse of Messrs.
Bowker & Co., and No. II. at the store of Messrs. Hovey &
Co., both in Boston. The mechanical condition of both
articles was very good. Assuming them of the same state of
moisture, their composition is as closely alike as can be
expected under the circumstances, which are unavoidably
connected with the management of a branch of business like
the manufacture of fertilizers at the Brighton Abattoir. No.
I. is too moist to keep well ; the percentage of moisture in
No. II. is more favorable for keeping without moulding,
whilst in their original package. The articles sold per ton of
2,000 pounds at $40. Allowing for the phosphoric acid
present the same price per pound as in the case of bones,
namely, six cents, we find the cost of the nitrogen per pound

256

BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.

in an average sample of both to be 22 cents. A well-
prepared animal dust of the above composition, at $40
per ton, deserves a liberal patronage as an efficient, rich,
nitrogenous phosphate. For speedy action it needs, how-
ever, a previous composting for a month or two.

II. — Acidulated Brighton Animal Dust.

(Messrs. Hovey & Co., Boston.)

Organic animal and volatile matter,

Ash constituents, .

Total phosphoric acid,

Soluble

Reverted " "

Insoluble " "

Total nitrogen,

Moisture,

76.30 per cent.
23.70

8.45

6.72

1.13

0.60

6.00
15.75

This preparation differs from the previous ones in that it
contains its main amount of phosphoric acid in a soluble form,
and is thus better fit to meet the immediate wants of the
crops. Its commercial value would be from $48 to $50 per
ton, allowing ordinary rates of valuation in our market. It
is offered at $45 per ton at the Brighton railroad depot.

Animal Fertilizer (Tankage).

Volatile and organic animal matter, 65.40

Ash constituents, 34.60

Phosphoric acid in ash, 14.60

Nitrogen in animal matter, 7.48

Moisture (at 100° C), 5.46

This material consisted of the refuse meat and bone mass
from a rendering establishment in Chicago. I enter the
results here on record for the same reason that some other
analytical statements of fertilizing substances have been
reported in the present report ; namely, to render the agricult-
ural community more and more familiar with the character of
the various articles, particularly refuse materials, offered for
manurial purposes. Many of them may be secured at low
rates. Always buy with reference to composition !

ABOUT BONE MEAL.

257

Ground Bones.

I. — Fine Bones for Fertilizers.

(Messrs. L. B. Darling & Co., Pawtucket, R. I.)

Moisture and organic matter,
Ash-constituents, .
Phosphoric acid in ash, .
Nitrogen in animal matter, .
Moisture (at 100°-110° C), .

42.88

57.88

23.74

3.68

4.06

48.36

51.64

21.60

4.34

5.18

Sample I. was collected at the storehouse of Messrs. Bow-
ker & Co., Boston, and sample II. at the storehouse of Messrs.
Bagg & Batchelder, in Springfield, Mass. Both samples
were of a good mechanical condition and a good compositipn ;
they sold at $40 per ton of 2,000 pounds.

II. — Fine Ground Bones for Fertilizer.

(Mr. John Bangs, Springfield, Mass.)

Moisture and organic matter, . 56.88

Ash-constituents, 43.12

Phosphoric acid in ash, 22.07

Nitrogen in animal matter, 3.38

Moisture (at 100°-110° C), 7.46

This article was sent on for my examination by a party in
Springfield. It proved to be genuine bones, rather of coarser
quality than the above two samples.

III. — Fine Bones for Fertilizers.

(Cumberland Company, Portland, Me.)

Moisture and organic matter, 48.70

Ash-constituents, 51.30

Phosphoric acid in ash, 21.90

Nitrogen in animal matter, 3.78

Moisture (at 100°-110° C), 7.90

These bones were of a similar character as the preceding
sample ; they were collected at the store of Messrs. Arms &
Co., Greenfield, Mass.

33

258 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.

IV. — Flour of Bone for Fertilizers.

(Mr. Benjamin Randall, South Boston.)

Moisture and organic matter, 44.10

Ash-constituents, 55.90

Phosphoric acid in ash (total), 21.94

" " soluble in citrate of ammonia, .... 6.34

Nitrogen in animal matter, 3.58

This sample was sent on by the manufacturer ; it deserves
notice on account of its fine mechanical condition and its com-
parative large percentage of soluble phosphoric acid.

V.— Steamed Bones and Meat.

(Mr. James Byrnes of Springfield, Mass.)

Moisture and organic matter, 48.38

Ash-constituents, . . 51.62

Phosphoric acid in ash, 21.90

Nitrogen in animal matter, 3.86

Moisture (at 100°-1 10° C), 6.05

This material was collected from a large stock at the factory ;
its general physical conditions were very good and its com-
position equal to the guaranty stated.

The phosphoric acid in the bones, steamed and raw genuine,
is valued according to the mechanical condition of the bones ;
the same rule applies with equal force to the valuation of the
nitrogen in their nitrogenous matter.

Per pound.

Phosphoric acid of bones soluble in citrate of ammonia, 7 @ 8 cents.

Phosphoric acid in finely granulated steamed bones, . 6 cents.
Phosphoric acid in coarsely ground bones, 5 "

Nitrogen in finely granulated bones, 18 "

Nitrogen in coarsely ground bones, 15 "

Farmers do well to take these points into consideration
when buying their ground bones for fertilizing purposes.
The composition of the above six samples differs not more
than different lots of bones will be found to do. All, with
but one or two exceptions most likely, have been rendered
before being ground. Fine ground steamed bones have sold
in small quantities at $40 per ton of 2,000 pounds. Unadul-
terated ground bones are furnished at that price, a valuable

BONEBLACK AND ITS VALUE. 259

phosphatic fertilizer at a reasonable cost. Applied in time,
they are more reliable in their influence on the crops than the
common class of superphosphates, for the quality of the soil
interferes, as a general rule, less with their action, than with
that of the superphosphates.

BONEBLACK WASTE.

The sample was secured at the storehouse of Messrs. Bagg
& Batchelder, Springfield, Mass. ; it contained 33.71 per cent,
of phosphoric acid, which is equal to 73.60 percent, of bone-
phosphate or tricalcic phosphate. A boneblack waste, like
the one here stated, sells at $30 per ton. One pound of phos-
phoric acid sells thus, in that form, at 4.5 cents. Boneblack
waste for agricultural purposes is best changed into a super-
phosphate.

Dissolved Boneblack.

This name was given to a concentrated superphosphate
obtained by the treatment of boneblack with a sufficient
amount of sulphuric acid to render the entire amount of phos-
phoric acid present soluble in water. The article tested was
collected at the storehouse of Messrs. Bowker & Co., Boston,
Mass., where it served as a source of soluble phosphoric acid
for the manufacture of compound commercial fertilizers. It
was represented to contain from 14 to 16 per cent, of soluble
phosphoric acid. The analysis proved that 15.03 percent, of
phosphoric acid was soluble in water ; the insoluble phos-
phoric acid present amounted to 0.8 per cent. The article
sold at $36 per ton of 2,000 pounds, or 12.5 cents per pound
of soluble phosphoric acid.

Caribbean Guano. — ( Orchilla . )

Phosphoric acid, 27.12 per cent.

Calcium oxide, 34.91 "

Magnesium oxide, 2.63 "

Sulphuric acid, 2.36 "

Moisture (at 100° C), 12.50

This mineral phosphate consists of phosphate of lime, sul-
phate of lime, carbonates of lime, and magnesia, with some

260 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.

organic matter. It is of a very friable character. Its retail
price has been $25 per ton of 2,000 pounds in Boston. The
main agency for this and similar phospho-guanos is in Bal-
timore, Md. The sample was taken at Messrs. Bowker &
Co., Boston.

I. — Brockville Mineral Phosphate.

(Brockville Chemical and Superphosphate Works, Brockville, Ontario, Canada, A.

Cowan, Manager.

Phosphoric acid (insoluble), 35.21 per cent.

Matter insoluble in hydrochloric acid, .... 6.46 "
Moisture, 2.50 "

It consisted of the very fine pulverized phosphatic rock
apatite, which serves for the manufacture of superphosphates.

II. — Brockville Superphosphate.

(Mr. A. Cowan, Manager.)

Total phosphoric acid, 21.30 per cent.

Soluble phosphoric acid, 13.31 "

Reduced " " 0.69

Insoluble " " 7.30

These two samples were kindly presented by Mr. A. Cowan ;
they were accompanied with a few specimens of apatite, as
found near Brockville. The superphosphate is a good article
of its kind ; it is offered for sale at the works, in small lots, at
$30 per ton of 2,000 pounds ; counting the soluble phosphoric
acid at 12.5 cents per pound, the article represents a market
value of from $33 to $34 per ton. The insoluble acid is here
of but little value, and ought not to enter into the valuation.

Peruvian Guano.

I.— (Messrs. Bagg & Batchelder of Springfield, Mass., March 27, 1876.— Old Lot.)

Volatile and organic matter,

Ash-constituents,

Total phosphoric acid,

Nitrogen (= ammonia 13.70),

Potassium oxide,

Sand, etc.,

Moisture (at 100° C),

64.71 per cent.

35.26

14.52

11.26

1.89

1.54
22.61

RECTIFIED PERUVIAN GUANO.

261

II.— (Messrs. Breck & Co. of Boston, May 1, 1876.)

Volatile and organic matter, 51.24 per cent.

Ash-constituents, . . 48.76 "

Total phosphoric acid, 18.87

Soluble " " 5.00

Reverted " " 6.11

Insoluble " " 7.76

Nitrogen (= 9.74 ammonia), 8.02 "

Potassium oxide, 3.06 "

Sand, etc., 6.00

Moisture, 18.73

III.— (Messrs. Arms & Co. of Greenfield, Mass., May 25, 1876.)

Volatile and organic matter, 46.60 per cent.

Ash-constituents, 53.40

Total phosphoric acid, 14.00

Nitrogen (=: 9.6 ammonia), 7.85

Potassium oxide, 4.08

Sand, etc., 10.52

Moisture (at 100° C.) 12.28

64.52

pei

cent

35.48

Cl

14.35

IC

11.26

u

2.03

46

1.06

66

8.86

"

1.92

«

IV. — Rectified Peruvian Guano.
(Messrs. Bowker & Co., Boston, April, 1876.)
Volatile and organic matter,
Ash-constituents,
Total phosphoric acid,
Soluble "
Reverted " "

Insoluble " "

Nitrogen (:= 10.7 ammonia),
Potassium oxide,

In my third official report (1875), I called the attention to
the announcement of the agents for the consignees of the
Peruvian government, Messrs. Hobson, Hurtado & Co. of
New York City, that they proposed to distinguish, hereafter,
between —

A. — Raw genuine Peruvian Guano; and
B. — Rectified genuine Peruvian Guano.

Samples Nos. I., II., and III. above properly belong to the
first class of genuine guanos, and No. IV. to the second class.
The rectified Peruvian guano is guaranteed to contain 10 per
cent, of phosphoric acid soluble in water, 10 per cent, actual
and potential ammonia, and 2 per cent, of potassium oxide.
The sample tested (No. IV.) exceeds the guaranteed value.

262 BOAED OF AGRICULTURE.

Allowing 12.5 cents per pound of soluble phosphoric acid, 20
cents per pound of nitrogen, there are but 6 cents left per
pound' of potassium oxide (in the form of sulphate) to make
up the price of the rectified genuine Peruvian guano to $60
per ton of 2,000 pounds, the amount charged for it in the
retail trade at the office of the agents, No. 63 Pine Street,
New York City. This new form of the Peruvian guano takes
thus a foremost rank in the present condition of our trade in
commercial fertilizers, — among the rich nitrogenous super-
phosphates,— on account of a reasonable price, as well as a
suitable condition of its constituents for immediate action.

Encouraged, it seems, by the general favorable criticism
which the introduction of a guaranteed rectified genuine Peru-
vian guano has received, on the part of all progressive agri-
culturists throughout the entire country, as well as animated
with the intention to meet the more exacting regulations
regarding the trade in commercial fertilizers, the parties
interested in the sale of the genuine Peruvian guano are
induced to make for the future some important concessions
to their patrons at large in regard to the sale of the raw
genuine Peruvian guano, which cannot fail to engage the
serious attention of the farming community, as well as of the
dealers in commercial fertilizers. A disinterested considera-
tion of the stand-point assumed in two previous reports
regarding the condition of our supply of Peruvian guano,
renders it but an act of justice on my part, that any improve-
ment in the mode of selling it should be promptly recognized,
for the mutual benefit of dealers and consumers. To meet this
obligation in the most acceptable way, I propose to enter here
on record an abstract from a business circular, as far as it
bears on the main question under discussion : —

"Peruvian Guano Guaranteed. — The guano found in the deposits lately
discovered in Peru and on the Lobos Islands, contains the same fertilizing
ingredients that characterized the Chincha and Guanape guanos, though in
different relative proportions. The new guanos, as a general rule, contain
less ammonia, but at the same time are considerably richer in phosphoric
acid and potassa. It is a most noteworthy fact, which experience, as far
as it goes, has established, that even among samples of guanos taken from
the same locality, the loss ammonia they contain, the larger is the propor-
tion found in them of phosphoric acid and potassa. To such an extent is
this the case, that, within certain limits, all Peruvian guanos are of the
same agricultural value.

TREATMENT OF PERUVIAN GUANO. 263

" However, as these facts were not suspected, and it had been the custom
of the trade to sell Peruvian guano according only to the ammonia it con-
tained, it was determined about a year ago, when the new guanos were
placed on this market, to adopt guano of 10 per cent, ammonia as a stand-
ard, and to fix the wholesale price of this grade at $55 per ton, allowing a
reduction of $3 per unit of ammonia (or 1 percentage of ammonia, mak-
ing 20 pounds of ammonia less per ton of 2,000 pounds) on all grades
below that standard. Formerly all guano below 13 per cent, of ammonia
(= 10.7 per cent, of nitrogen) was sold at the uniform price of $58.50,
gold, per ton ; and only when it was of a higher grade was a larger price
demanded for it. . . . Farmers have complained that they find stones
in the guano, which, to a limited extent, is true. These stones proceed
sometimes from the ballast of the vessels in which the guano is imported,
and at other times they drift from the sides of the ravines in which the
guano is contained in some of the southern deposits ; but what is mostly
looked upon as stones, is nothing but hardened or petrified guano, layers
of which partially cover some of the new deposits. Farmers also com-
plain of the lumpy condition of a portion of the raw guano, which
requires crushing before being used, entailing both labor and expense.

" Scientists, on their part, contend that to place the fertilizing trade on
a satisfactory basis, all fertilizers should be sold according to analysis,
assigning to each of the fertilizing ingredients a fixed value ; and these
opinions are maintained with an array of arguments that cannot be con-
troverted.

" Now, in order to remove all cause of complaint on the part of farmers,
and to meet the views expressed by scientific men, and also to silence
malicious reports from parties interested in the manufacture of fertilizers,
the undersigned have resolved to offer to the public any desired quantity
of Peruvian guano, in an unobjectionable form, while they will continue
to sell the raw guano as imported under the established terms, to those
who may wish to purchase it in that condition.

" To carry out the proposed object, individual cargoes will be dealt
with in the following manner: —

" The guano will, in the first place, be screened, to separate the lumps
and stones, if any. The latter will be taken out by hand, and the lumps
will be crushed by machinery. Afterwards the entire mass will be thor-
oughly mixed to render it uniform, and samples will be judiciously
selected and analyzed to test the uniformity of the mixture. This being
obtained, the guano will be put into bags of 200 pounds each, on one side
of which will be printed the usual lettering in a circular form ; viz. : —

Warranted No. 1 Peruvian

Guano,

Imported into the

U. S. by

Hobson, Eurtado & Co.,

Agents

for the

Consignees of the

Peruvian Government.

264 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.

" On the other side, the following trademark will be stamped :

SjOJVIAN GUAHo

Guaranteed.

"Below this trademark will be printed the analysis of the guano, indi-
cating the percentage of ammonia, soluble phosphoric acid, reverted* phos-
phoric acid, insoluble phosphoric acid, and potassa contained in the guano,

" Lastly, below the analysis, will be marked the price of the ton of
2,000 pounds, calculated after the following rates:—

" The ammonia will be valued at the rate of . . . $3 50 per unit,

soluble phosphoric acid will be valued at the rate of 2 00 "
reverted phosphoric acid will be valued at the rate

of 1 60

insoluble phosphoric acid will be valued at the rate

of 40

potassium oxide acid will be valued at the rate of . 1 50 "

" These values correspond to —

" For ammonia (or nitrogen, per pound, $0.21|),
soluble phosphoric acid, ....
reverted phosphoric acid, ....
insoluble phosphoric acid, ....
potassa (as phosphate of potassa),

" The prices established as above, and stamped on the bags, will be the
retail price in all ports in the Atlantic States.

" It must be evident to every one, that Peruvian guano, treated as herein
explained, and which will be called '■'Peruvian Guano Guaranteed,'''1 will
be free from the complaints which farmers have sometimes made against
the raw article sold as imported. Nor is the guaranteed guano liable to
be misrepresented by those interested in depreciating all fertilizers,
except those they are interested in.

* By reverted (or reduced) phosphoric acid is understood phosphoric acid which,
although not soluble in water, becomes so under the chemical conditions of the soil.
The test of this is, that the phosphoric acid be in a state to promptly dissolve in a
solution of citrate of ammonia, and such is the case with the greater part of phos-
phates contained in Peruvian guano.

. $0 171

per

P

. 0 10

IC

. 0 08

EC

. 0 02

tt

. 0 071

IC

GUARANTEED GUANO. 265

" Lastly, the system of selling this fertilizer according to analysis, so
strongly advocated by scientific agriculturists, is here carried out in the
most complete manner. In purchasing ' Guaranteed Guano,' the farmer
will for the first time, as in the ' Rectified Peruvian Guano,' know pre-
cisely what he buys and exactly what he pays for it.

" It is neither intended, nor can it be expected from what precedes, that
all guaranteed guano shall be of the same grade ; that is to say, shall
show the same analysis. But a cargo being thoroughly mixed and sam-
ples from it analyzed, the lowest analysis obtained will be the one adopted
for stamping on the bags ; so that the contents of each bag are guaranteed
to analyze as well, if not better, than marked upon it. No range, no
margin is in this respect claimed in favor of the seller.

" Should any one wish to convince himself how cheap the fertilizing
ingredients are sold in the guaranteed guano without consulting the
tables formed for this purpose, let him take any of the good brands of
fertilizers and ascertain its analysis. Now, to estimate what such a
fertilizer would be worth, at the rates at which the same kind and
quantity of plant-food would cost in guaranteed Peruvian guano, proceed
in the following manner : —

" Multiply each unit, or the percentage of ammonia in the fertilizer by
$3.50 (or if instead of ammonia the percentage of nitrogen be given,
allow $4.25 per unit). Multiply the percentage of soluble phosphoric
acid by $2 ; multiply the percentage of reverted phosphoric acid by $1.60
and the percentage of insoluble phosphoric acid by forty cents ; for potas-
sium oxide, if any, multiply the percentage by $1.50. Add together these
products, and the sum will be the value of the fertilizer at the rate that the
same ingredients can be purchased in Peruvian guano guaranteed.

" Now, if the value of the fertilizer in question, according to the above
rule, be less than its retail price, the difference between the two will show
how much dearer per ton the fertilizer is than the same quantity of plant-
food in Peruvian guano guaranteed. If, on the contrary, the estimated
value of the fertilizer were greater than its retail price, the difference
would show by how much a ton of the fertilizer would be cheaper than
the same amount of plant-food in the guano.

" Particular attention is called to the fact that the guaranteed guano
undergoes no other preparation but such as the raiv article would receive
from the farmer himself, previous to applying it to the soil ; viz., taking
out stones, if any, and crushing the lumps ; but this being done by
machinery, it is much more effectually accomplished than could be
performed on a farm, and it enables the sellers to offer the article in
unobjectionable condition, and to guarantee the analysis of each bag.
Furthermore, in order to prevent, if possible, the adulteration of guano, —
a practice which has, unfortunately, been carried on to some extent, — the
twine with which the mouth of the bag is sewn will have a lead seal
attached to each extremity, so that if the bags be tampered with it may be
easily detected.

"Thus every means has been adopted and every precaution taken to
satisfy the legitimate expectations and pi-otect the interest of farmers
who employ Peruvian guano as a fertilizer.
34

266 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.

" As a specimen of the composition of the ' New Peruvian Guano,' we
subjoin the analysis and estimate of the retail ijrice per ton of the Jirst
cargo offered for sale, now on hand : —

" Cargo A.

" Ammonia, 6.80 per cent., at $3 50 = $23 80

" Soluble phosphoric acid, . . 3.80 " at 2 00= 7 60

" Reverted phosphoric acid, . . 11.50 " at 160= 18 40

" Insoluble phosphoric acid, . . 3.00 " at 40 = 1 20

"Potassa (phosphate), . . . 3.70 " at 1 50 = 5 55

" Estimated retail price, $56 55

" Marked on bags for sale, $56.

" The analysis of subsequent cargoes of guaranteed Peruvian guano as
offered for sale will be published from time to time.

" N. B. — The sale of No. I. raw Peruvian guano of 10 per cent, ammo-
nia standard is continued under the same terms and conditions as
heretofore.

"HOBSON, HURTADO & Co.,

" Government Consignees of Peruvian Guano.
"New York, July, 1876."

This circular, it must be conceded, is one of the most
encouraging signs during the past year regarding a healthy
development of our home retail trade in commercial fertilizers.
Publications of a similar character regarding their valuable
fertilizing material on the part of some of our leading manu-
facturers of home-made fertilizers, as fish guano, animal dust,
bones, standard superphosphates, etc., would greatly aid to
shorten the time for placing the entire trade in commercial
fertilizers on the basis justly desired by the farmers ; namely,
a practical responsibility on the part of the dealer regarding
the guaranteed composition, and also a proof that the prices
charged for their various essential constituents shall be within
a reasonable limit of those recognized in the general market.
These two conditions are indispensable for a successful use of
commercial fertilizers ; farmers cannot afford to be satisfied
with less concessions on the part of the dealers in those mate-
rials. Nothing has kept down the trade in commercial fertil-
izers as much as the want of confidence in the articles offered
for sale. Those who invite impartial investigation in their
transactions base their future business operations on the most
promising foundation, for the call for reliable fertilizers is

MANURE OF BATS.

267

steadily increasing, the resources of the farming community
to ascertain their true character becomes daily more systema-
tized, and thus the time is fast approaching when increased
patronage will recognize true merits, and thereby repay for
the exertions made. There is no reason why the fertilizer
trade, once carried on on the same principle which secures
success in other branches of commercial industry, should not
bring a satisfactory return for risks incurred and skill dis-
played in its management.

Since the above-mentioned circular has been issued, another
cargo of guaranteed Peruvian guano has entered our market ;

it is offered for sale at $70 per ton of 2,000 pounds ; its com-
position is stated to be as follows : —

Cargo B.

Ammonia,

Soluble phosphoric acid,

Reverted " "

Insoluble " "

Potassa,

11.50 per cent.

5.40

10.00

1.70

2.30

The safest course for farmers hereafter is to buy only those
kinds of Peruvian guano which are sold as guaranteed articles.
Nos. I., II., and III. of the samples above were collected before
the circulars came to hand. No I. was represented as an old
lot on hand ; No. II. was sold as No. I. warranted ; the same
was the case with No. III. They differed somewhat in com-
position, rather in favor of the consumer than the dealer;
they were fully worth the money paid for them, when calcu-
lated according to ruling market prices.

Bat Guano.

i.

ii.

in.

Volatile and organic matter, ....
Ash constituents, . . . . .
Phosphoric acid, ....;..

Nitrogen,

Moisture (at 100° C),

Sand, etc.,

89.40

10.60

3.84

9.69

29.65

0.20

94.50

5.50

2.81

10.51

10.25

0.60

82.67

17.33

5.54

7.86

29.88

0.87

268 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.

The samples which served for these analyses were stated
to have been taken from three different deposits in Texas.
The first information regarding such deposits within the
country I received at an early date in 1875, through a letter
from a party in Austin, Texas. The following description
was given : —

" The lands upon which the bat deposit is located are situated
on the southern line of Llano County. The deposit exists in a cave
in carboniferous limestone, and extends about three-quarters of a
mile into the mountain ridge, where it is made by millions of bats
covering the ceiling and walls of the cave. The guano looks like a
sample of Peruvian guano now before me. A superficial examina-
tion has convinced me that it contains a considerable proportion of
nitrate of lime. Exposed to moist air it becomes sour ; the floor
of the cave, which consists of limestone, is everywhere impregnated
with nitrate of lime. During the war, it is stated, attempts were
made to turn the guano and its surrounding limestone to account for
the manufacture of saltpetre for gunpowder. The deposit amounts
to at least one thousand tons."

Professor McMurtrie, the able chemist to the National
Department of Agriculture, has published in the department's
report of May and June, 1876, a very interesting paper on
the occurrence of bat guano deposits within the United States.
According to his statement they are quite numerous, extend-
ing over an extensive area from Virginia to Texas. Short
descriptions are given of deposits in Virginia, Kentucky,
Tennessee, Alabama, Arkansas and Texas. The analyses of
samples from seven different deposits show a great variation
in composition and value ; the latter varies from $15 to $55
per ton. The variation is largely due to differences in moist-
ure (from 2.5 to 44 per cent.), and to admixtures of sand,
etc. (from 0.46 to 62 per cent.). The main constituents of
a bat guano are the excretions of these animals, which con-
sist largely of the wings and other scaly parts of the insects
they feed on, besides the remnants of decaying bats. The
large amount of nitrogen which the former contain causes
the value of the bat guano in most instances. Bat guano has
been used for years for agricultural purposes in Europe and
elsewhere. Large deposits have been found in Poland, Hun-

AMMONIATED SUPERPHOSPHATES.

269

gary, Italy and Egypt ; the bat guano from the latter country
has been found to contain in some cases as high as 37.2 per
cent, of nitrogen, whilst some samples from Hungary contained
but 1.8 per cent, of nitrogen in the presence of 11.54 per
cent, of insoluble phosphoric acid. From what has been
stated in this connection it is scarcely necessary to add
that none but guaranteed articles ought to be bought by
farmers.

The samples which served for my examination I owe to
the kindness of Professor Win. McMurtrie of Washington,
D. C. and W. H. Bowker, Esq., of Boston, Mass. Their
respective commercial value, allowing 18 cents per pound of
nitrogen and five cents for one pound of phosphoric acid,
varies from $33 to $38 per ton of 2,000 pounds.

Ammoniated Superphosphates and Superphosphates.

I. — Ammoniated Superphosphate of Messrs.

Boston.

O. Foote & Co.

(Collected of Messrs. W. H. Bowker & Co., Boston, Mass.)

Total phosphoric acid, 11.93 per cent.

Soluble " " 6.17

Reduced " " 4.69

Insoluble " " 1.07

Nitrogen, 1.48

Moisture, 33.48

Valuation per ton of 2,000 pounds.

123.4 pounds of soluble phosphoric acid,
93.8 " of reduced " "
21.4 " of insoluble " " .
29.6 " of nitrogen,

$15 42
8 45
1 28
6 22

$31 37

II. — Pure Combined Guano of Messrs. Williams & Haven.

(Collected of Messrs. Bagg & Batchelder, Springfield, Mass.)

Total phosphoric acid,
Soluble "
Reduced " "

Insoluble " "

Nitrogen, .
Potassium oxide,
Moisture, .

15.85

per cent

0.64

u

-

it

15.21

t(

2.33

it

0.69

k

14.45

it

270

BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.

Valuation per ion of 2,000 pounds.

12.8 pounds of soluble phosphoric acid,
304.2 " of insoluble
13.8 " of potassium oxide, .
46.6 " of nitrogen,

$1 60

18 25

1 04

9 79

$30 68

III. — Sea-Fowl Guano of Messrs. Wm. L. Bradley & Co.

(Collected of Messrs.

Bagg

& Batchelder

, Springfielc

1, Mass.)

Total phosphoric acid,

15.33 per

cent

Soluble

" "

8.04

'

Reduced

it X

,

1.90

i

Insoluble

U l(

,

5.39

i

Nitrogen,

.

.

2.69

'

Potassium

oxide,

,

2.23

C

Moisture,

.

.

19.08

t

Valuation per ton of 2,000 pounds.

160.8 pounds of soluble phosphoric acid,
107.8 " of insoluble

38.0 " of reduced

53.8 " of nitrogen,

44.6 " of potassium oxide, .

$20 10

6 49

3 42

11 30

3 36

$44 67

IV. — Superphosphate XL of Messrs. Wm. L. Bradley & Co.

(Collected of W. S. Westcott, in Amherst, Mass.)

Total phosphoric acid, 14.50 per cent.

Soluble " - 8.51

Reduced " " 1.09

Insoluble " " 4.90

Nitrogen, 2.50

Moisture, 21.16

Valuation per ton of 2,000 pounds.

170.20 pounds of soluble phosphoric acid,
21.80 " of reduced
98.00 " of insoluble
50.00 " of nitrogen,

\2l 27

1 96

5 88

10 50

$39 61

ANALYSES OF FERTILIZERS.

271

V. — Tobacco-grower of G. F. Wilson, Providence, R. I.

(Collected of Messrs. Bagg & Batchelder, Springfield, Mass.)

Total phosphoric acid,
Soluble "
Reduced " "

Insoluble " "

Nitrogen, .
Potassium oxide,
Moisture, .

Valuation per ton of 2,000 pounds.

132.60 pounds of soluble phosphoric acid,
5.20 " of reduced "
45.60 " of insoluble " "

71.82 " of nitrogen,
47.20 " of potassium oxide, .

9.17 per cent.

6.63

0.26

2.28

3.42

2.36

9.17

$16 58
47

2 74
15 08

3 54

41

VI. — Ammoniated Superphosphate of Messrs. Bosworth &
Brothers.

(Collected of Mr. J. P. Eaton of Auburn, Mass.)

Total phosphoric acid, 8.30 per cent.

Soluble " " 6.85

Reduced " " 0.05

Insoluble " " 1.20 "

Nitrogen, 1.49

Moisture, 7.46 "

Valuation per ion of 2 ,000 pounds.

137.00 pounds of soluble phosphoric acid,
25.00 " of insoluble
29.80 " of nitrogen,

$17 13
1 50
6 25

VII.— Pacific Guano; John M. Glidden, Esq., Boston, Mass.

Total phosphoric acid,
Soluble "
Reduced "
Insoluble "
Nitrogen, .
Potassium oxide,
Moisture, ■ .

12.99

per cent

5.70

St

0.64

It

6.65

u

2.34

"

0.35

It

22.78

u

272

BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.

Valuation per ton of 2,000 pounds.

114.00 pounds of soluble phosphoric acid,

12.80 " of reduced
133.00 " of insoluble

46.80 " of nitrogen,
7.00 " of potassium oxide, .

$14 25

1 15

7 98

9 83

43

$33 54

VIII. — Bay State Superphosphate of J. A. Tucker, Esq., Boston.
(Collected of Mr. H. A. Parker, East Pepperell, Mass.)

Total phosphoric

acid, . . . .

. 14.20

per cent

Soluble

i<

6.50

it

Reduced "

(1

5.51

(i

Insoluble "

u

2.19

u

Nitrogen, .

2.80

cc

Moisture, .

. 17.22

It

Valuation per ton of 2,000 pounds.

130.00 pounds of soluble phosphoric acid, $16 35

110.20 " of reduced " " 9 92

43.80 " of insoluble " " 2 63

56.00 " of nitrogen, 11 76

$40 66

IX. — Original Coe Superphosphate of Bradley Fertilizing Co.,

Boston.

(Collected of Mr. A. H. Parker, Pepperell, Mass.)

Total phosphoric acid, 13.70 per cent.

Soluble " " 7.81

Reduced " " 0.73

Insoluble " " 5.16

Nitrogen, 2.11 "

Moisture, 20.37 "

Valuation per ton of 2,000 pounds.

156.20 pounds of soluble phosphoric acid,
14.60 " of reduced " "

103.20 " of insoluble "
42.20 " of nitrogen,

$19 53
1 32
6 19
8 86

$35 90

ALL KINDS OF SUPERPHOSPHATES.

273

X. — Granite State Superphosphate of Bradley Fertilizing

Company.

(Collected of Mr. A. H. Parker, Pepperell, Mass.)

Total phosphoric acid, 14.56 per cent.

Soluble " " 8.64

Reduced " " 2.19

Insoluble " " 3.73

Nitrogen, 2.34

Moisture, . ., 19.56

Valuation per ton of 2,000 pounds.

172.80 pounds of soluble phosphoric acid,
43.80 " of reduced
74.60 " of insoluble " "

46.80 " of nitrogen,

$21 60

3 95

4 48
9 83

$39 86

XI. — Superphosphate XL of Messrs. Wm. L. Bradley & Co.

(Collected of Messrs. Parker & Gannett, Boston, Mass.)

Total phosphoric acid, 12.58 per cent.

Soluble " " 7.62 "

Reduced " " . 0.46 "

Insoluble " " 4.50 "

Nitrogen, 3.15 "

Moisture, 25.00

Valuation per ton of 2,000 pounds.

152.40 pounds of soluble phosphoric acid, ....

9.20 " of reduced " "...-..

90.00 " of insoluble " ".....

63.00 " of nitrogen,

$19 05

83

5 40

13 23

51

XII. — Cumberland Company's Superphosphate, Portland, Me.

(Collected of Messrs. Arras & Co., Greenfield, Mass.)

Total phosp'

joric acid,

14.15 per cent

Soluble "

u

4.87

Reduced "

u

3.08

Insoluble "

(C

6.20

Nitrogen, .

.....

2.45

Moisture, .

.

. 23.02

35

274 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.

Valuation per ton of 2,000 pounds.

97.40 pounds of soluble phosphoric acid, $9 98

61.60 " of reduced " " 5 55

124.00 " of insoluble " " 7 44

49.00 " of nitrogen, 10 29

$33 26

XIII.— Enoch Coe's Superphosphate.

(Collected of Messrs. Arms & Co., Greenfield, Mass.)

Total phosphoric acid, 11.02 per cent.

Soluble " " 8.32

Reduced " " 0.19

Insoluble " " 2.51

Nitrogen, 3.11

Moisture, 21.93

Valuation per ton of 2,000 pounds.

166.40 pounds of soluble phosphoric acid, $20 90

3.80 " of reduced " " ... .35

50.20 " of insoluble " " 3 02

62.20 " of nitrogen, 13 07

34

XIV. — Russel Coe's Superphosphate.

(Collected of Messrs. Belcher & Whittemore, Boston, Mass.)

Total phosphoric acid, 9.80 per cent.

Soluble " " 8.51

Reduced " " 0.97

Insoluble " " 0.32

Nitrogen, 2.06 "

Moisture, 30.08

Valuation per ton of 2,000 pounds.

170.20 pounds of soluble phosphoric acid, $21 27

19.40 " of reduced " " 1 75

6.40 " of insoluble " " 39

41.20 " of nitrogen, 8 66

$32 07

THE STOCKBRIDGE FERTILIZER.

275

XV. — STOCKBRIDGE FERTILIZER FOR CORN. MANUFACTURED BY MESSRS.

W. H. Bowker & Co., Boston.

(Collected of Mr. W. S. Westcott of Amherst, Mass.)

Found.

Represented.

Soluble phosphoric acid,
Reduced " "
Insoluble " "

Potassium oxide, .

2.56 per cent.
1.60
1.24
7.88
9.75
13.65

2 to 4 per cent.

6 to 8 per cent.
6 to 8

Valuation

per ton

of 2,000 pounds.

51.20 pounds
32.00 "

of soluble phc
of reduced

>sphoric

acid,

1C

$6 40
2 88

24.80 "

of insoluble

it

((

1 49

157.60 "

of nitrogen,

....

33 10

195.00 "

of potassium <

jxide

> •

•

14 63

$58 50

XVI. — STOCKBRIDGE FERTILIZER FOR BEETS. MANUFACTURED BY

Messrs. W. H. Bowker & Co.

(Collected of Mr. W. S. Westcott of Amherst, Mass.)

Represented.

Soluble phosphoric acid,
Reduced "
Insoluble "
Nitrogen, .
Potassium oxide,
Moisture, .

2 to 4 per cent.

5 to 7 per cent.
12 to 15

Valuation per ton of 2,000 pounds.

32.00 pounds of soluble phosphoric acid,

20.00 " of reduced " "

26.00 " of insoluble "
127.00 " of nitrogen,
263.00 " of potassium oxide, .

$4 00

1 80

1 56

26 67

19 73

$53 76

276

BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.

XVII. — Stockbridge Fertilizer eor Onions. Manufactured by
Messrs. W. H. Bowker & Co., Boston, Mass.

(Collected of Mr. W. S. Westcott, Amherst, Mass.)

Represented.

Soluble phosphoric acid,
Reduced " "

Insoluble " "

Nitrogen,
Potassium oxide, .
Moisture,

2 to 3 per cent.

5 to 7 per cent.
4 to 6 per cent.

Valuation per ton of 2,000 pounds.

59.60 pounds of soluble phosphoric acid,

36.60 . " of reduced
5.80 " of insoluble " "

147.20 " of nitrogen,
166.60 " of potassium oxide, .

$7 45

3 30

34

30 92

12 45

$54 46

v

t,

Q

u

o

o

o

o

J=

Si

o

a.

O.

p,

essential con-

o

J3

O

o

o

to

o

a

2 a

Ph

Ph

•-.

a

stituents . •

■6

S 2

■a

•P -a

2

.5

go

3 -

.2 P"

'il °

•2 3

<o o

z<

o-*

"§<?

%<

c S

"3 ef

H

cc

w

M

H

Ph

s

>

I.

Ammoniated Superphos-

phate ; Messrs. Oscar

Foote & Co., Boston, .

11.93

6.17

4.69

1.07

1.48

-

33.48

#31 37

II.

Pure Combined Guano;

Messrs. Williams &

Haven, New London,

Conn., ....

15.85

0.64

-

15.21

2.33

0.69

14.45

30 68

III.

Sea-Fowl Guano ; Messrs.

Wm. L. Bradley & Co.,

Boston, ....

15.33

8.04

1.90

5.39

2.69

2.23

19.08

44 67

IV.

Messrs. Wm. L. Bradley

& Co. (XL),

14.50

8.51

1.09

4.90

2.50

-

21.16

39 61

THE WHOLE STORY.

277

ESSENTIAL CON-
STITUENTS.

o

o
,d

c
o

Ph

■a

o <
H

o
o

a,
o

3 2

o <
w

o
&
a,

o

a
Ph
•a

S 's
M

JO

Q
P.
O

Ph

a

a

o
u

%

"3

o

c5
•a

'5
o

a

a

CS

o
Ph

O

O

So

OT O

3

O

a

o

a, g

13 2
o —

♦3 o
a o
3 "R.
3"

V.

G. F. "Wilson's Tobacco
Grower,

9.17

6.63

0.26

2.28

3.42

2.36

9.17

$38 41

VI.

Ammoniated Superphos-
phate ; Messrs. Bos-
worth & Brother, Put-
nam, Conn., .

8.30

6.85

0.05

1.20

1.49

7.46

24 88

VII.
Pacific Guano ; Pacific
Guano Co., Boston,

12.99

5.70

0.64

6.64

2.34

0.35

22.78

33 54

VIII.
Bay State Superphos-
phate; J. A. Tucker,
Boston, ....

14.20

6.50

5.51

2.19

2.80

17.22

40 66

IX.

Original Coe Superphos-
phate; Bradley Fertil-
izing Co., Boston,

13.70

7.81

0.73

5.16

2.11

20.37

35 90

X.

Granite State Superphos-
phate; Bradley Fertil-
izing Co., Boston,

14.56

8.64

2.19

3.73

2.34

19.56

39 86

XL

Wm. L. Bradley's XL
Superphosphate, .

12.58

7.62

0.46

4.50

3.15

_

25.00

38 51

XII.
Cumberland Co. Super-
phosphate, Portland,
Me., ....

14.15

4.87

3.08

6.20

2.45

23.02

33 26

XIII.

Enoch Coe's Superphos-
phate, ....

11.02

8.32

0.19

2.51

3.11

21.93

37 34

XIV.

Russel Coe's Superphos-
phate, ....

9.80

8.51

0.97

0.32

2.06

30.08

32 07

XV.

Stockbridge's Corn Fer-
tilizer; Messrs. W. H.
Bowker & Co., Boston,

6.40

2.56

1.60

1.24

7.88

9.75

13.65

58 50

XVI.

Stockbridge's Beet Fer-
tilizer; Messrs. "W. H.
Bowker & Co., Boston,

3.90

1.60

1.00

1.30

6.35

13.15

16.93

53 76

XVII.
Stockbridge's Onion Fer-
tilizer; Messrs. W. H.
Bowker & Co., Boston,

5.11

2.98

1.83

0.29

7.36

8.33

13.31

54 46

278 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.

The valuation of this class of fertilizers, as above carried
out, is based on the supposition that their essential ingredients
are present in equally efficient condition. While there can
be no doubt about the correctness of this view, as far as the
soluble and reduced phosphoric acid is concerned, it must be
conceded that the assumption, with regard to the source of
nitrogen, and in particular that of the insoluble phosphoric
acid, becomes somewhat arbitrary. In sight of the practi-
cal difficulties of discriminating more satisfactorily in each
individual case, it seems to be safest not to buy superphos-
phates which contain more than 2 per cent, of insoluble phos-
phoric acid, and also those which contain a larger quantity of
animal matter like hair, skin parts, pieces of horn, etc. The
prices adopted in the above calculation are the following ruling
market prices of the past year : —

Soluble phosphoric acid, per pound, 12.5 cents.

Reduced phosphoric acid, per pound, 9.0 "

Insoluble phosphoric acid (of bones), per pound, . . .6.0 "
Nitrogen (of meat, blood, fish, guano, etc.), per pound, . 21.0 "
Potassium oxide (kainit) , per pound, 7.5 "

The mechanical condition of most of the samples tested
was very satisfactory as compared with former years.
Although the chemical composition of some of the leading
brands of the ammoniated superphosphates has been improved
of late, it is a matter of regret that the change for the better
is not more general ; the value of some is still greatly
impaired by a large percentage of insoluble phosphoric acid
in some instances, and by an objectionable excess of moisture
in others. As long as these conditions exist, it becomes of
the utmost importance that farmers should always buy with
a definite guarantee of composition. The law for the regula-
tion imposes upon all fertilizer dealers the duty to state on
each package the quantity of the essential constituents of the
article it contains. There is no redress for losses suffered,
except the sales are made with reference to articles of a speci-
fied composition.

The above-stated values refer to the retail price, which the
various articles may claim, at the storehouse of the manufact-
urer, without charges for transportation. A recent consulta-

VIRTUE IN FISH GUANO. 279

tiou with Professor W. O. Atwater, director of the Con-
necticut Experimental Station at Middletown, has convinced
me that they express fairly the ruling market values, not only
of Massachusetts, but also of the adjoining States, during the
past years.

Fish and Fish Guano.

The following statement regarding the condition of the fish
fertilizer trade has been kindly furnished by H. L. Dudley,
Esq. , Secretary of the United States Menhaden Oil and Guano
Association : " The total amount of fish guano made in the
season of 1876 was 54,650 tons. This represents the crude
fish scrap ; but a larger proportion was dried than in any
previous season. The demand from manufacturers and con-
sumers each year is increasing for dried material. The
amount of scrap now on hand is 4,275 tons, not including
about 3,000 tons in Maine, which is being dried for export."

It is gratifying to learn from this communication that the
consumption of fish refuse is rather increasing than decreasing
as compared with previous years. As a nitrogenous phos-
phate, it is second to none of our home-made fertilizers, if
properly applied. The only objection which can be raised
agaiust its use, in many instances, still is due to its inferior
mechanical condition and its varying state of moisture.
Farmers ought to buy none but those articles which are guar-
anteed to contain a specified amount of nitrogen and phos-
phoric acid, and are well ground.

Charles A. Goessmann,

State Inspector of Commercial Fertilizers.

Amherst, Mass., February 1, 1877.

280 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.

APPENDIX.

Composition of some Compounds in Fertilizers.

100 parts of nitric acid contain 26 parts nitrogen.
" of ammonia " 82.35 " "

" of nitrate of potassa contain 46.6 parts potassium oxide.
" " " (or saltpetre) contain 53.4 parts nitric acid.

" of nitrate of soda contain 36.75 parts sodium oxide.
" " " (Chili saltpetre) contain 63.25 parts nitric acid.

" of sulphate of potassa contain 54.9 parts potassum oxide.
" " " " 46.0 parts sulphuric acid.

" of sulphate of lime (free of water) contain 41.0 parts calcium

oxide (lime).
" of sulphate of lime (free of water) contain 59 parts sulphuric

acid.
" of sulphate of lime (with water, gypsum) contain 32.5 parts

calcium oxide (lime).
" of sulphate of lime (with water, gypsum) contain 46.5 parts

sulphuric acid.
" of sulphate of lime (with water, gypsum) contain 21 parts

water.
" of bone phosphate (or tricalcic phosphate) contain 54 parts

calcium oxide (lime).
" of bone phosphate (or tricalcic phosphate) contain 46 parts

phosphoric acid.
" of carbonate of lime contain 56 parts calcium oxide (lime).
" " " " 44 parts carbonic oxide.

" of chloride of potassium contain 52.4 parts potassium.
" . " " " 63.1 parts potassium oxide.

" " " " 47.6 parts chlorine.

EXHIBITION AT WORCESTER. 281

Voted, That the laws relating to the agricultural societies
be printed in connection with the Secretary's Report.

The legislative Committee on Agriculture were invited to
appear in conference with the Board. The chairman of that
committee, Hon. James J. H. Gregory, stated the several
points on which the committee would like the opinion of the
State Board of Agriculture. The various subjects presented
were fully discussed and acted upon by the Board, when the
committee withdrew.

Voted, That the Board approve of the application of the
ustee
lature.

Trustees of the Agricultural College for aid from the Legis

Voted, That the Committee on Printing of last year be
continued.

Voted, That any delegate who may be unable to attend the
exhibition to which he is assigned, be requested to notify the
Secretary in season to arrange for a substitute.

Mr. Hadwen, chairman of the Committee of Arrange-
ments, presented the following report : —

THE EXHIBITION AT WORCESTER.

The invitation of the Board of Agriculture having been
extended to all, to exhibit at the country meeting of the Board
the products of the farm, garden and orchard, brought out a
large and select contribution of fruits, vegetables, flowers,
and trees and plants for ornamental use.

This being the first exhibition held under the auspices of
the Board, and contributed by gentlemen who are practically
interested in agriculture and horticulture, their generous
efforts and intelligent skill and cultivation brought together,
from all parts of the Stat*, a display of rare excellence.

No premiums or gratuities were offered or expected. The
exhibition was purely a work of love and enthusiasm, to
bring together, for comparison and other tests, the best
products of the farm and garden.

36

282 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.

Ample accommodation for the display was provided by the
Worcester County Horticultural Society, which gratuitously
placed its Hall of Ceres at the disposal of the Board for the
display of fruits and vegetables, cereals, etc. The flowers and
conifers were placed on side-tables in the Main Hall of Pomona,
where the meeting was held, and they proved an attractive
and pleasing feature.

Mr. William C. Strong of Brighton Nurseries contributed
twenty-five varieties of evergreens in pots. Among them
were many new and rare plants from Japan. The display
was the most interesting of its kind ever seen in the halls of
the Society.

Captain John B. Moore of Concord had a rare and interest-
ing display of cut-flowers, which were much admired ; and
the exhibition, in its several features, proved very attractive
to all who attended the meetings.

The Committee deem it impracticable to particularize the
merits of the many contributions, but will mention some dis-
played on the tables as follows : —

To the exhibition of apples was contributed, —

By C. L. Hartshorn of Worcester : The Danvers Sweet,
Old Nonsuch, Talman Sweet and Northern Spy.

By Newell Wood of Millbury : The Lovell, Yellow Bell-
flower, Northern Spy, Peck's Pleasant, Roxbury Russet,
Red Russet, Stockwell Winter Sweet, King of Tompkins
County, Fameuse, Hubbardston Nonsuch and Baldwin.

By E. B. Rice of Worcester : Gillyflower, Sweet Russet,
Fallawater, Blue Pearmain, Baldwin, Rhode Island Greening,
Roxbury Russet, Grafton Sweeting and Red Stripe.

By J. F. Allen of Worcester : A seedling of the Northern
Spy, and the Newark Pippin.

By O. B. Hadwen of Worcester : the Baldwin, Vaudervere,
iEsopus Spitzenberg, Ladies' Sweeting, McClellan, Hub-
bardston Nonsuch, Bailey's Sweeting, Sutton Beauty, King
of Tompkins County, Cogswell, Jewett's Fine Red, Twenty
Ounce, Smoke-house, Northern Spy, Mother, Sheppard's
Sweeting, Leicester Winter Sweeting, Yellow Bellflower,
Holden Pippin, Washington Royal, Rhode Island Greening,
Roxbury Russet, Hunt Russet and Old Nonsuch.

APPLES AND PEARS. 283

By Mrs. G. A. Chamberlin of Worcester : The Gloria
Mimdi, Yellow Bellflower Sweet, Northern Spy and Old
Nonsuch.

By John B. Moore of Concord : Hubbardston Nonsuch.

By B. P. Ware of Marblehead : The Pickrnan Pippen and
Drap d'Or.

By H. C. Sargent of Worcester : The Yellow Bellflower,
Hubbardston Nonsuch, Liscomb and Mother.

By William Eames of Worcester : The Northern Spy, Yel-
low Bellflower, Hubbardston Nonsuch, Mother and King of
Tompkins County.

By George S. Coe of Shrewsbury : The Winter Sweet,
American Beauty, Red Russet, and English Golden Russet.

ByT. S. Gold, West Cornwall, Ct. : Hubbardston Nonsuch,
Burnham Sweet, Excel and Hurlburt.

By J. F. Brown of Lunenburg : Apples for name, very
fine.

By Sylvanus Sears of Worcester : The Hubbardston Non-
such, Gravenstein, iEsopus Spitzenberg, Northern Spy,
Royal, Blue Pearmain, Westfield Seek-no-further, Baldwin,
Pound Sweeting, Fall Harvey and Mother.

By C. T. Foster of Holden : The Sweet Russet, Gloria
Mundi, Mother, Northern Spy, Holden Pippen, Liscomb
and Fameuse.

By Asa Clement of Dracut : The Mother, Talman Sweet,
President, Nod Head, Maiden's Blush, Gravenstein, Roxbury
Russet, Baldwin, Danvers Winter Sweet, Lyscomb, Canada
Russet, Cogswell, Fallawater, Hubbardston Nonsuch, Ameri-
can Eagle, King of Tompkins County, Northern Spy, Twenty
Ounce, Foster Sweet, Holden Pippin, Ladies' Sweet and
Yellow Bellflower.

Of pears, the lateness of the season prevented a large
exhibition, but those shown were finely grown.

E. W. Lincoln of Worcester exhibited Josephine de
Malines and Winter Nelis.

John B. Moore of Concord had specimens of Beurre
d'Anjou, Le Cure, Urbaniste, Beurre Diel, Beurre Langlier
and Lawrence.

Stephen S. Foster of Worcester showed Doyenne de Com-

284 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.

mice, Winter Nelis, Glout Morceau, Beurre d'Anjou, Dix,
Lawrence, and three sorts unnamed.

Loren Coes of Worcester exhibited Doyenne de Commice
and Duchess d'Angoulenie.

O. B. Hadwen of Worcester had Vicar of Winkfield,
Benrre Gris d'Hiver, Due de Brabant, Lawrence, Beurre
d'Anjou and Onondaga.

Among the contributors of vegetables, —

Benjamin P. Ware of Marblehead had Boston Marrow
Squash, Turban Squash, Hubbard Squash, Danvers Onions,
Mangolds, Norbiton's Giant, Intermediate Carrot, Improved
Savoy Cabbage, and Stone Mason.

J. B. Moore of Concord exhibited Weathersfield Red
Onions, Danvers Yellow, White Portugal, Turban Squash,
Early Vermont Potatoes, White Winter Wheat, Field Corn,
two traces, and early Concord Sweet Corn.

Sylvanus Sears of Worcester had specimens of Inter-
mediate Carrot, Yellow Ruta-baga Turnip, Shamrock, Swede,
and R. I. Premium Corn.

Wm. J. Ross of West Boylston exhibited Prolific Corn,
twelve ears from one seed.

N. S. Walker of Oakham exhibited Java Wheat, Belgium
Oats, Field Corn, Short-horn Carrot, two traces, and Cracker
Onions.

Sturtevant Bros, of Framingham presented Waushakum
Corn, eight rows.

Thomas A. Dawson of Worcester exhibited Short-horn
Carrots, Orange Jelly Turnips, Corn, five ears to the stalk.

S. W. Howe of Shrewsbury had Field Corn, Sweet Corn,
and two-rowed Barley.

H. C. Sargent of Worcester exhibited Field Corn, Vege-
tables and Cereals.

S. Reed of Shrewsbury exhibited Western Dent Corn,
twenty rows.

George Hill of Arlington had four roots Boston Celery.

F. J. Kinney of Worcester had three Marblehead Squashes.

J. W. Pierce of Worcester exhibited three Hubbard and
three Butman Squashes.

D. Dwight of Dudley had Field Corn, R. I. White.

RELATION OF THE ARTS. 285

Joseph S. Perry of Worcester exhibited three Cabbages,
Mangolds, English Turnips, Swedes, and Carrots.

Joab Hapgood of Shrewsbury had Field Corn, eight-rowed.

J. P. Eaton of Auburn exhibited Field Corn.

George H. Rice of Worcester had specimens of Citron.

For the Committee,

O. B. Hadwen, Chairman.
The report was accepted.

Mr. Vincent presented the following essay upon —

ART AND AGRICULTURE— THEIR RELATIONS TO EACH OTHER.

A false notion has gained possession of many minds in
regard to the respectability of the farmer's occupation,
especially as relates to the actual work of tilling the soil.
We say it is a false notion, for farming is a heaven-originated
employment, just that to which man by his constitution was
adapted and that to the pursuit of which he was directed.
So, not only Adam was a farmer, but also Cain and Abel, his
sons ; the latter, it would seem, in the stock-raising depart-
ment, and the former in the real cultivation of the ground.
Aud thus, as the world progressed, agriculture in its varied
forms became the chief employment, and, we think it legiti-
mate to conclude, the most ennobling to which mankind
could have been assigned.

While in tropical regions almost all needful plants and
fruits grow spontaneously or with comparatively little care,
in the temperate and colder climates the chief peaceful avo-
cation of men has been that of agriculture. As evidence of
this, we find in the Book of books frequent reference to acts
and scenes in husbandry. The Psalmist speaks of "the hand-
ful of corn in the earth upon the top of the mountain," the
fruit whereof should "shake like Lebanon." In one of the
parables of the Great Teacher, it was said of the seeds sown,
that "some seed fell by the way-side, . . . some fell upon
stony places, . . . and some fell among thorns ; . . . but
other fell into good ground." One speaks of "the earth
which drinketh in the rain that cometh upon it, and bringeth

286 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.

forth herbs meet for them by whom it is dressed." Another
says, "And strangers shall stand and feed your flocks, and
the sons of the alien shall be your ploughmen and your vine-
dressers." And another, "First the blade, then the ear, then
the full corn in the ear." It is announced, "And I will send
grass in thy fields for thy cattle." Again, "For thou shalt
eat the labor of thy hands." Yet again, "Aud Joseph gath-
ered corn, as the sand of the sea, very much, until he left
numbering."

Such are a few of the many declarations and sayings in
sacred history. Elsewhere we find corroborative references
in abundance. Historians have written and poets have sung
the praises of agriculture. Chief among the latter in the
olden time were Theocritus of the Greeks and Virgil among
the Romans. Much of their writings related to the tending
of flocks and herds; but the "Georgics," as the word indi-
cates, dwell upon the cultivation of the soil.

Through all ages agriculture has been relied upon for sus-
tenance, and some of the noblest minds have been engaged in
the furtherance of its work. Its progress in this country
during the last century has been most ably sketched, as we
all well recollect, by the worthy Secretary of this Board, as
printed in the state report for the year 1873-4.

The relative importance of agriculture as it stands in the
list of the greatest industries of the world was truly rated
(as often quoted) by the great statesman, Daniel Webster,
when he placed it above both manufactures and commerce.
For what could others do without this ? And this reference
leads us to one of the topics intended, the relations which
art and agriculture bear to each other.

First, to follow out the above comparison, without agricult-
ure, and that on a large scale, we could have but little com-
merce (which implies art as well as trade), both because it
supplies many articles for transportation, and because most
of the material for the construction of ships and cars — the
great carriers — must be supplied from the forests of the
farmer. On the other hand, it is true, the former is depend-
ent upon these means of transportation to get the ordinary
products of his land to a market. And so while the arts of
ship-building and car and cart making are of the highest

PRINTING AND AGRICULTURE. 287

importance in their relations to agriculture and the commu-
nity, the farmer not only supplies freight for these carriers, but
also food for the merchants and men who by their money and
muscle construct them, and the same for both those who navi-
gate and work the water-craft, and those who run the land
conveyance, whether on road or rail.

So of the manufactures. While the farmer is dependent
upon the manufacturers' arts for the cloth he needs to wear,
and to sundry other arts for the articles needful for domestic
use, the artisans who furnish him with these things are depend-
ent on the cotton and wool growers, and the forest and min-
eral land holders, as the case may be, not only for the raw
material to run through their varied processes, but, as in the
other case, for the cereals, roots, bulbs, and meats on which
to subsist, and wood and coal to carry on the arts of cooking
for them the year round, and to keep them warm in winter.

So we may say of the arts and mechanisms which furnish
the very implements of husbandry, on the one hand, and the
rural supplies needful for cunning workmen, on the other.
The exercise of the arts and trades which provide axes, hoes,
shovels, forks, ploughs and harrows, mowing-machines and
raking-machines, and other needful implements of husbandry,
is indeed indispensable in this age, particularly in these
higher latitudes, to the successful processes of agriculture ;
while the artisan and mechanic, whether the master workman
or the journeyman, but for the farmer who both pays them for
their wares and sells them his produce, would be minus their
bread, butter, beef, and cheese, so needful for the inner man,
to say nothing of wool and hides to be converted into cloth-
ing and shoes for the covering of their households. Much
more might be added here, in following out the detail — dress,
travel, pleasure, education, attending cattle-shows, etc., all
come in.

But we pass to notice briefly another of the arts as related,
interchangeably, to agriculture ; namely, the art of printing.
The writings of ancient times on such material as was then at
hand, — prepared animals' skins and barks of certain trees, —
and the hieroglyphics and other inscriptions on walls, metals,
and rocks, although a slow and imperfect way of disseminat-
ing light and truth, were, for the transmission of historic facts,

288 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.

great improvements on mere oral traditions. But the art of
printing, a discovery of the Middle Ages, was the morning star
throwing out its mellow light at the dawn of a brighter his-
toric day. The growth of this art to a state of comparative
perfection, and the increased power of its machinery and
appliances, have been truly wonderful. The mammoth
presses and binderies now send forth papers and books, scat-
tering them like the leaves of autumn over lands civilized, and
over parts of heathendom. Works treating of other arts, of
the sciences, of religious topics, and those merely literary,
are in almost countless numbers of copies wafted to the homes
of the millions. The art of writing precedes, and necessarily
supplies matter for this. The art of printing has thus enlisted
the contributions and cooperation of the brightest geniuses of
the modern ages. Poets have sung for it, divines, statesmen,
orators, and literary persons generally, have furnished mate-
rial for it to work upon, and colleges and seminaries of learn-
ing have developed minds to cater to its demands. It sheds
its benign light upon peasant as well as prince, and its adver-
tisements of the products of the farm are far more influential
than are those of all other n^eans.

This art so inspired the genius of Benjamin Franklin as to
prepare him for those great discoveries in science which have
since associated his name with the names of Sir Isaac Newton
and Robert Fulton, and for those views and reflections on
political economy which have placed him in history by the
side of a Solon, a Lycurgus, and a Napoleon Bonaparte. And
this same art is doing quite as important a work in these later
times, by aiding such minds as those of Agassiz and Goess-
mann in the detection of those forces in nature which are to
assist agricultural operations to a degree unknown before,
while the toiling millions will be guarded against impositions,
such as those to which, in quite too many cases, they have
been subjected. Public addresses have, it is true, been useful
in this work, and will doubtless still be so ; but the press is
the great power through which such minds are making the
nobler achievements in the agricultural as well as in other
interests.

On the other hand, agriculturists supply not only the
material on which, when prepared, those "words that bum"

THE SIAMESE TWINS. 289

are printed, but .also the means of subsistence, and the mate-
rial for apparel to the many tens of thousands, both of those
who provide, and those who work the machinery, as well as
those who finger the type. Thus, while one does not live
alone and without the other, but the doings of each contribute
to the needs and profit of all others, interchangeably, the
yields of the farm constitute the real sine qua non, that with-
out which nothing can be done.

So of other arts, including those which result from discov-
ery, as that of steam-power; now, indeed, the great power
utilized by the printer as well as by others. Agriculture
itself is an art, which, aided as it is in its processes by science,
contributes ill multitudinous ways to its own development,
furtherance and growth, as well as to remuneration. And
therefore, whatever tends to the cultivation of and improve-
ment in this art, — such as the organization of agricultural
societies, the constituting of state boards of agriculture, the
founding and supporting of agricultural colleges, and espe-
cially the annual society, state and national reports, which
are the mouthpieces of all our doings, — all this is bringing
wealth to the body politic, as well as substance to the farmers
themselves, the laborers, the mechanics and the tradesmen of
the Commonwealth and of the country at large.

Nor should horticulture be forgotten here, for it is linked
with agriculture, like one Siamese twin to the other. It is
the Cullura Agris as truly as the other, only it is usually
worked on smaller lots. It was first practised in the Garden
of Eden. It was prosecuted on the hanging gardens of Baby-
lon, and has flourished more or less in all lands where enlight-
ened husbandry has been prominent ; but in no time probably
to so great and useful an extent as within the last century.
In the published Transactions of the Massachusetts Horticult-
ural Society, printed in the year 1852, is an historical sketch
of that society, written in 1850, by Gen. H. A. S. Dearborn,
its first president. In that sketch is the following paragraph : — >

" The science and art of horticulture, even in the oldest and most
enlightened nations of Europe, had not claimed that earnest atten-
tion to which they were eminently entitled before the middle of the
last century ; and it was not until the commencement of the present
that a zealous spirit of inquiry was excited and efficient measures
37

290 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.

adopted for accelerating their development by accurate experiments
in a manner commensurate with that which had been realized in all
the other great branches of industry."

And here we think it fitting to add that, while horticulture
is the handmaid of agriculture, and with it is very influential
in its interchanges with other arts and trades, to no man do
we owe more for the perfecting and consequent usefulness of
this department here in Massachusetts — unless, possibly, it
may have been to Gen. Dearborn himself — than to the honored
member of this Board, Col. Marshall P. Wilder.

And here, too, we may add, as elsewhere intimated, that
agriculture operates interchangeably with all the arts and
industries, and that we think we may truthfully say it is the
basis of support to them all, not excepting the fine or lib-
eral arts. For while the poets, like Homer and Virgil of the
ancients, and Scott, Burns, Young, Tennyson, Longfellow,
and numerous other of the moderns, have been composing
their immortal verse, the bronzed-faced yeomanry have been
at work in the vineyard or in the field, producing food, not
only for themselves, but for the multitude of admiring ones
whose long hours and days are beguiled and charmed by their
works. So of another class. Beethoven, Handel, Hastings,
Mason and others practised their enchanting art (for music is
an art as well as a science) to the delight of the multitudes,
many of whom lived by the sweat of their faces, and rendered
back freely of the fruits of their hard toil to these masters of
song. While Phidias and Powers are plying the chisel, bring-
ing out of the unseemly block of granite or marble the beau-
tiful eiy-w (image), the practical farmer is toiling on in part
to raise the means with which to pay for the sight-seeing,
or, perchance, to purchase the polished form. And while a
Raphael, a Michael Angelo, or a West sits at his easel put-
ting the delicate touches of his brush upon a most beautiful
work of art, the farmer is delving in the field to feed the
artist, and it may be to adorn his cottage with some of the
productions of his genius. So, in like manner, is recipro-
cated the work of the master and his men who place in and
upon otherwise plain structures, the ornamental in archi-
tecture.

DEPENDENCE OF THE ARTS. 291

It seems appropriate in this place to consider agriculture
briefly with respect to its relative importance as a producer.
There are many departments of business which are not pro-
ducers at all in the proper sense of the term, and there are
many arts that are producers, but in a different sense from
that of agriculture, and ordinarily in a much less degree than
this. As to the first, it may be said that the person who
sells a lady's dress, or a chest of tea, and even he who sells
a house or a farm, does not produce anything ; the articles
merely change hands, and so does the money : there is no
more of the one or the other than before. So a merchant loads
his ship with goods and sends her to a foreign port, where the
cargo is disposed of, and payment made either in goods in
exchange or ill money at an advance upon the cost here.
Nothing really is produced by the operation ; there are no
more of the goods, if exchanged, on either side, or, if paid
for in money, there is no more of that than before. Things
have merely changed hands. These are not arts, but simply
transactions in certain business occupations. Real arts do
produce something to which a value is attached, and they thus
have a relative importance as producers. A man who makes
an axe-handle or a boat's oar utilizes the wood which he either
purchased or received as a gift from some one who probably
obtained it of the landholder. The ship-builder and the
house wright do a similar thing on a larger scale. So the
men who work in mints utilize the valuable ores drawn by
other hands from the mines, the river's brink or the quartz
beds. But the farmer grows corn and fruit where noth-
ing like corn or fruit existed before, with the exception of the
germinating and fertilizing elements as they existed uncom-
bined in the soil and in the atmosphere.

The artist who paints a peach or a pear is dependent on the
grower for the original, and but for which he could not have
made the resemblance. So when he paints the flower or the
cluster of flowers. He does not make the original, and but
for the florist many of the most valuable kinds he never could
have to imitate. Indeed, for the beautiful landscape scene
which he pencils or paints, he is in great measure indebted to
the hand of cultivation. And let no one imagine that these
remarks are inappropriate in this connection, for the floral

292 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.

families are all grown from the same kind of soil as the root
and the grain.

And here, again, looking at the high degree of importance
which we accord to agriculture among the producers of the
world, we are to keep in mind that its forces do not come
altogether of themselves, nor do they mature at once. The
truth is far from either of these ideals. Agriculture has its
small beginnings and is a thing of progress, just as truly as
anything in nature or in art. As the child, physically, grows
to the proportions of a man, and as in mind there is the intel-
lectual bud, flower, and fruitage, in order to a ripe manhood,
so in the processes of agriculture the desired end is not
reached all at once. The bulb, the seed, or the cutting must
be put into the ground, and the tender plant, spire, or shoot
nurtured, before it can become a mature plant, stalk, or tree.
In the field, the ground must be ploughed, its surface pulver-
ized, the seed sown or planted, and the hills cultivated, or the
harvest will never be gathered. And still, the faint-hearted
look upon the soil of New England, and say, How can we
succeed here ? Answer, first : The harder the soil the better,
it may be, for both mind and muscle. And secondly : What
unaided labor cannot accomplish, science and art come in to
assist in doing. The time is come when the helpers of the
soil in the production of grasses and grains, and of plants in
general, are more than ever in the past, coming to be known
and appreciated. The abattoirs and the compost heaps are
doing much. Then the strong, educated minds are at work
for us. One by patient investigation tells us of the powers
and processes in the germination and growth of plants ; and
by long-continued and persistent experimenting, he demon-
strates the functions of roots and rootlets, and the periodical
upward and downward flow of sap, and thus.the laws of tree-
growth. Another tells us, specifically, what elements and in
what chemical proportions, compounds or mixtures must be
made in order that nature may respond to our requests the
most liberally in crops. Another analyzes soils and fertili-
zers, and thus aids improvements on waste lands, and protects
the farmers against imposition. And yet another instructs us
in all that conduces or appertains to success in the dairy.
Thus on to the end of the column.

STOP THE COLORADO BEETLE. 293

Having thus briefly, and it may be imperfectly, sketched
the relations subsisting between art and agriculture, and there-
by shown, in a measure, the relative importance of the latter,
and its great consequence among the industries of mankind,
■we shall be richly repaid for the attempt, if we shall have
induced any one to place a higher and more adequate estimate
upon it as a life-work, and shall thus, in any measure, have
encouraged the intelligent cultivation of the soil.

Hebron Vincent.

President Chadbourne stated that he wished to say a
word in addition to what was said at the public meeting at
"Worcester in reference to —

THE COLORADO BEETLE {Potato-Bug).

Experience is the best teacher in dealing with this pest, as
in other matters. And experience has demonstrated the de-
cided success of hand-picking. To those who have seen the
armies of bugs on neglected potato-fields, or have heard of
their immense numbers and know nothing definitely of the
habits of the bug, hand-picking would seem like an attempt
to bail out the ocean w7ith a bucket. But the bugs are large
insects, and can be readily seen ; and they never attempt to
escape from you. In the spring they are comparatively few
in number, and they make their way promptly to the first
.potatoes that appear, so that by concerted action of the potato-
growers of a neighborhood, in planting a few early pota-
toes in every field which is to be used for producing a late
crop, and destroying the bugs as they congregate on these
early vines, a very large proportion of the bugs can be
destroyed before any eggs are laid. It will be a light job
then to clear the field of the first crop of bugs. If any broods
hatch, their presence can be detected at once, and the leaves
and larvse be removed together. A boy who understands his
business can examine three or four rows each time that he
passes through the lot, and by taking the work in season, as
I have explained, he can clear a large piece in a day. If the
work is done thoroughly, it will be safe to leave the crop for
a week at least. It \i probably best to pass through it once

294 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.

a week until the tops fire fully grown. It was found on the
Wisconsin University farm, where the bugs fairly swarmed,
that potatoes, rightly cared for, could be protected by haud-
picking for less than $5 per acre. I think this can be done in
any place.

If the bugs are neglected for a time until the larva? abound
on the vines, then there is no remedy but poison. But if one
neglects his field so as to render poison necessary, the work
will probably cost him more than the hand-picking would have
cost, if rightly applied. Besides, poison must kill some bene-
ficial insects as well as the injurious ; and many people object
to buying potatoes on which poison has been used. Probably
no injury is done to the potato by the poison used upon the
vine, but it will be well for the dealer to be able to say that
no poison has been near the potatoes he offers for sale.

A man can protect himself in spite of his careless neigh-
bors ; but the work is much easier when all act together.
One acre of potatoes neglected will raise bugs enough to
stock a township. It should be an indictable offence for a
man to plant potatoes and then suffer them to become simply
a nuisance to his neighbors. He can kill the bugs with poison,
if in no other way ; and he should be compelled by law to do
so, before they scatter in the fall. The accounts we have of
such immense multitudes of bugs moving in the fall, simply
show that many farmers, discouraged by the multitude of bugs,
have given up their crops without a struggle, — have fed a
multitude of pests to annoy themselves and other people the
succeeding year. It is useless to talk of "starving these bugs
out" by planting only early potatoes. They will eat egg-
plants, bell-peppers, wild solanums and, when hard pushed,
will try the tomato-vines. I have seen them feeding vigor-
ously upon the tender leaves of the mullein and pasture-thistle.
Doubtless many other plants help them out when the potato
tribe fails. The statement that the full-grown bugs never eat
seems strange to one who has seen them eating all the plants
here named, and also gnawing away at the potatoes left in the
field, especially upon those turned green by exposure to the
sun while growing.

It is evidently more advantageous than ever before to raise
as many potatoes as possible upon the acre. It will not pay,

PRACTICAL SUGGESTIONS. 295

as formerly, to plant land that will raise only a small crop.
Yet it is to be remembered that any manuring that produces
very abundant vines, makes more difficult the fight with the
bugs. The potatoes should be planted a little farther apart
than we are accustomed to plant them, and such manures
should be used as will not promote an excessive growth of
vines. Finally, to sum up, —

1. Plant a few potatoes in your field as early as possible,
and destroy the bugs as they appear on them.

2. For the main crop, plant at good distance between the
hills and manure well with ashes or such manures as do not
specially promote the growth of vines.

3. Pass through the field, after the potatoes are up, once a
week until the time of blossoming, picking all bugs, larvae
and eggs that appear.

4. If for any reason the bugs get beyond the hand-picking,
use poison till every bug is destroyed, if not for your own
crop, for the benefit of others.

5. As bad as the potato-bug is, remember that no other
injurious insect can be more surely kept in subjection and
destroyed than it ; that those who are determined to raise
potatoes can raise them at an extra expense of not over five
cents per bushel, in spite of the bugs and their allies, the indo-
lent farmers, who feed them.

6. Do not wait till the second crop of bugs appears, and
then try to demonstrate that hand-picking is powerless against
such an army ; because that is conceded in the beginning,
without any waste of words.

7. If you are not determined to kill by hand or poison,
every bug that appears on your crop, then do not, as a good
neighbor, plant at all.

The several reports of Delegates, and the Essays presented,
were read a second time by their titles, and accepted ; when
the Board adjourned.

It will be recollected that in my report for 1872, the
twentieth of the series, I took occasion to controvert the false
assertions, based on the United State census of 1870, that
the agriculture of this State was declining. Such assertions

296 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.

were made not only by the press of this State, but especially
by writers in other parts of the country and abroad, where they
were exultantly circulated, very greatly to our injury. They
were exerting a very depressing influence upon the farming
community, — leading young men to leave the farm under the
impression that it was hopeless to link themselves to failure
in a pursuit that was fast losing its relative importance among
the great industries of the Commonwealth, and where the
avenues to prosperity appeared to be rapidly closing up.

In the report referred to, on pp. 7 and 312, I showed con-
clusively that the census of 1870, the ninth of the series, was
not only grossly inaccurate, so far as it applied to Massachu-
setts, but so mischievously careless and injurious to the
interests and reputation of the State as almost to deserve the
term fraudulent; and that it di'd not offer us even an approx-
imation to the truth. I stated that, "So far from there being
any reason for circulating the falsehood that there had been
any decline, the aggregate value of the farm production of the
State has largely increased, even though a few of the old staple
crops may have fallen off." And again : "The census of 1850,
for example, states the number of farms as 34,0G9 ; that of
1860, as 35,601 ; while that of 1870 gives only 26,500,— a
difference of 9,101 farms since 1860. Now, apart from the
fact that the same causes were operating to increase the num-
ber from 1860 to 1870, as from 1850 to 1860, we know that
the selectmen and assessors of taxes in each town are far more
likely to be correct than the United States marshals. According
to the Statistics of Industry of 1865, the number of farms in
the State at that date was 46,904, which would leave the
number of farms that were overlooked in gathering the census
of 1870 still greater than that stated, or more than 20,000
instead of 9,000."

In the same report it was also stated that, " The large
number of farms entirely overlooked in gathering the statistics
of the census, vitiated all the agricultural returns of every
description. That such is the case appears from the fact that
the total number of acres recognized in the census, including
woodland and all improved and unimproved land of every
kind, is little more than half the actual acreage of the State.
The area of the State, for instance, is about five millions of

THE UNITED STATES CENSUS OF 1870. 297

acres, or more accurately, 4,992,000 acres, while the number
of acres embraced in the census is only 2,730,283, a discrep-
ancy of over 2,260,000 acres, altogether too large to be
accounted for on any other supposition than a failure to find
a large number of farms, a fact which appears also plainly
enough on a comparison with the official returns of this
Commonwealth."

I stated also that "so far as a few items are concerned, we
have a still better means of comparison, for the assessors, in
May, 1870, returned the number of cows taxed in the State
as 161,185, and in May, 1871, as 162,782, while the census
of 1870, taken at the same time, the different sets of officials
often crossing each other's track, returns only 114,771, — a
discrepancy of very nearly 50,000, which can be accounted
for in no other way than on the supposition that a large num-
ber of farms were entirely overlooked. Again, the assessors,
in 1870, return the number of horses as 107,198, and in 1871
as 112,782, while the United States census of 1870 returns
only 41,039. Now, if it be said, in explanation, that the
number given in the census includes only horses kept on
farms, it does not help the matter any ; for the census states
the number of horses not on farms as only 45,227, making the
total number in the State 86,266 only, still leaving a discrep-
ancy of 26,516 on the large number of farms whose statistics
are not included in the census, having been entirely over-
looked. Moreover, these gross discrepancies run all through
the agricultural productions, as given in the census returns of
this Commonwealth."

These Tacts were stated simply from the figures printed and
circulated in this State and all over the country. They were
stated without blaming anybody, without even criticising any-
body, and without the slightest reference to the superintendent
of the census, and simply as a matter of duty to correct the
false impressions that had gained currency in all parts of the
country, purporting to be based on the census of 1870.

I allude to the subject in this connection, to call attention
to the state census of 1875, prepared under the direction of
Col. Carroll D. Wright, Chief of the Bureau of Statistics of
Labor, which has just been issued, and to say that it com-
pletely sustains the position I maintained in the report already

38

298 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.

alluded to. This state census of 1875, universally admitted
to be by far the best planned, the most accurate and the most
trustworthy of any ever taken either by the State or by the
United States, gives the number of farms in Massachusetts as
44,549 ! Of this result we know that one thiug is certain.
The statement as to the number of farms is absolutely correct,
in one respect at least — the number is no less than that given.
There may be, and probably are, a few more ; the amount
and value of products, if not correct, are the results of the
certified statements of the producers themselves; and, from
all the collateral evidence at hand, it is believed that the total
amount of farm products, as stated in the volume, does not
vary very materially from the positive facts, and the amounts of
products stated are, of course, less rather than more than the
truth. Here we have abundant evidence that the number of
farms is nearly, if not quite, 20,000 greater than that given
in the United States census of 1870 : —

The total area of the State is 4,992,000 acres.

Included in farms, .... 3,402,368 acres.

in lakes and ponds, . . 93,000 "

in rivers, .... 200,000 "

in cities and villages, city
and town lots, cemeter-
ies, parish and associa-
tion lands, etc., . . 550,000 "

in 1,837 miles of railroad, in-
cluding stations,

in 20,000 miles of highways,

in detached and non-resident
lands, ....

in reservoirs,

Total,

There is still, it will be seen, a very considerable area not
very clearly accounted for. A recapitulation of the State by
counties shows that while the total domestic products reached
$7,078,004, as stated, the purely agricultural products reached
$34,443,795; total domestic and agricultural product of the
farms of Massachusetts for the year ending May 1, 1875,
$41,521,799. These values are currency; in gold they are,

20,000

IE

140,000

it

81,759

U

32,367

If

4,519,494 i

icres.

CHANGES AND IMPROVEMENTS. 299

respectively, $6,319,646, $30,753,388, and $37,073,034. In
1865 there were, in gold, domestic products, $3,678,087 ;
agricultural products, $28,349,734 — total domestic and agri-
cultural products, $32,027,821 ; a gain over 1865 of $5,045,-
213, or nearly 16 per cent.

In agricultural products Worcester County leads the State,
returning $6,960,777 worth ; Middlesex comes near to
Worcester, producing $6,272,089 worth; Hampshire ranks
third, $3,066,833; Essex fourth, $2,974,659; Berkshire
fifth, $2,794,545; Hampden sixth, $2,774,297; Franklin
seventh, $2,593,738; Bristol eighth, $2,411,305; Norfolk
ninth, $1,696,338; Plymouth tenth, $1,646,260; Barnstable
eleventh, $547,613; Suffolk twelfth, $473,630; Dukes thir-
teenth, $135,022; Nantucket fourteenth, $96,639.

The details of _the statistics show that our agriculture has
been changing, a fact that has long been perfectly apparent
and which was easy to be accounted for in the rapid increase
of the number of manufacturing villages and local markets.
The egg and milk products, for example, exhibit wonderful
progress, the latter growing from 2,850,412 gallons in 1845
to 35,698,159 gallons in 1875.

But the statistics also show a vast progress in the direction
of improved tillage. An examination of the relation of
quantities raised to acres tilled convinces one that the farmers
of Massachusetts have learned the important lesson of tilling
less land and tilling it better, for we find that even in the
crops where loss in the aggregate occurs there has been a
great improvement in results. In 1855 it took 4, 9711- acres
to produce 99,430 bushels of barley ; and in 1865, 7,103§
acres to produce 138,524 bushels; while in 1875 it took but
1,828.! acres to produce 46,884 bushels; an increase in the
average yield from 20 bushels to 25^ bushels to the acre.
The beet crop increased from 193|- to 244| bushels per acre
from 1865 to 1875. The product of corn per acre grew from
28| bushels in 1865 to 35| bushels in 1875. Onions, an im-
portant product, made an increase in quantity per acre, and
the average yield of oats per acre increased from 211 bushels
in 1855 to 31| bushels in 1875 ; and potatoes from 91 bushels
per acre in 1865 to 108 in 1875, and wheat from 15| in 1855
to 20 J- in 1875.

300

BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.

Some of the more important tables are presented in the
Appendix to the second part of this Report, to which reference
is respectfully made. I can do little more in this connection
than to call attention to a few of the leading features of the
census, and to suggest that the official returns are worthy of
careful study on the part of all who wish to become familiar
with the present condition of our agriculture.

Under the head of farm property, the following table is
given, showing the number of farms, their acreage, average
acreage, total value and average value, by counties : —

Average

Average

Number of

Total acreage in

Total value of farms

COUNTIES.

acreage

value of

farms.

farms.

in farms.

(land and buildings).

farms.

The State,

44,549

3,402,368|

76

$182,663,140

$4,100

Barnstable, .

721

59,914

83

1,615,418

2,240

Berkshire,

3,791

470,594

124

15,073,948

3,976

Bristol, .

3,570

217,368

61

11,881,683

3,328

Dukes, .

371

33,945

91

678,890

1,830

Essex, .

3,282

179,6831

55

14,213,235

4,331

Franklin,

3,956

350,443f

88

11,352,503

2,870

Hampden,

3,736

316,015^

85

14,496,445

3,880

Hampshire, .

3,666

316,9911

86

12,260,330

3,344

Middlesex, .

6,085

362,945£

60

36,375,185

5,978

Nantucket, .

105

15,973

152

182,966

1,742

Norfolk,

2,331

135,112}

58

10,746,735

4,610

Plymouth,

3,587

200,193

56

9,257,524

2,581

Suffolk, .

369

8,203^

22

10,891,373

29,516

Worcester, .

8,979

734,987}

82

33,636,905

3,746

Included among the farms of the State are the market-gar-
dens, the total acreage of which is 3,989 ; total value, $1,147-
200 ; average value per acre, $288 — the latter rising as high
as $1,101 in the county of Suffolk. Of the whole number of
farms in the State, only 1,054 are carried on by parties w7ho
hire, while 43,495 are carried on by the owners. On the
44,549 farms of Massachusetts there are 43,620 dwelliug-
houses and 46,848 barns. The whole number of farms is
1,549 less than in 1865, when it was 47,014. This is
accounted for by aggregation and the growth of cities
encroaching upon the suburbs.

The land of the farms for 1865 and 1875 is divided into
four classes, as follows : —

OUR DOMESTIC ANIMALS.

301

1865.

Acres.

1875.

Acres.

Land under crops, .
Unimproved land .
Unimprovable land,
Woodland,

Total,

881,402
1,052,374-|

282,359
1,019,843$

3,235,479f

912,521

1,469,988|

89,4574,

930,402|

3,402,36gi

Hence it will be seen that the proportion of improved and
cultivated laud has considerably increased during the last ten
years.

The aggregate value of farms, with all their appliances, is
found to be as follows : —

Land $116,629,849 00

Buildings, 66,033,291 00

Fruit trees and vines, 4,674,188 00

Domestic animals, 17,316,381 00

Agricultural implements, 5,321,168 00

Total for 1875, $209,974,877 00

Total for 1865 176,579,965 00

Increase in ten years, f 33,394,912 00

By a reference to the tables of domestic animals, it will be
seen that the horses on farms number 53,218, the whole num-
ber in the State being 129,969. The number of cows on
farms, including heifers, 154,091 ; of milch cows, 126,034.
Whole number of cows in the State, including those not on
farms, 148,395. A large proportion of the fruit trees of the
State are to be found in small gardens and orchards not con-
nected with farms, and hence are not included in these return.

The total number of persons employed on farms is 35,488 ;
this number includes only those who have been paid wages for
their labor. The entire number engaged in agriculture is

DO O

70,945 ; but this includes proprietors or owners of farms as
well as the farm hands. Deducting the former from the latter,
we have 35,457 to represent the number of proprietors. In
1865 the total number engaged in agriculture was 68,538.

302 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.

The total wages paid for farm labor during the last census
year was $5,000,919. The wages for previous years have
not been reported, and no average can be given, owing to the
desultory nature of the employment.

An examination of the table which gives the domestic and
agricultural products by name, with the towns where they were
produced and also a table of comparison showing the quan-
tity, value, average value and acreage (when applicable) of
the chief products of the State for the years 1845, 1855, 1865
and 1875, making due allowance for fluctuations in the cur-
rency, shows the changes in crops, in value, in acreage, in
average yield per acre, and the increase or decrease in the
leading crops. The result is gratifying in many respects, for
while it is seen that there is a loss in the great staple products
of barley, corn, oats, potatoes and wheat, there is for each of
these crops an increased yield per acre ; the lighter crops,
beans, beets, carrots, cranberries, onions and turnips, show
large increase generally, uot only in amount raised, but in
yield per acre ; the hay crop has increased in quantity and in
average yield per acre. The butter product, 8,000,000
pounds, does not vary much in quantity from that of 1845
and 1855; but it is more than double that of 1865, and has
also more than doubled in price and aggregate value during
the last thirty years, the latter amounting to $2,747,878 in
1875. The total product of cheese for 1875 was 3,067,017
pounds, valued at $405,293. This item of cheese includes
only that made on farms, but to make a fair comparison of
our products at the present time with any former period, the
very considerable amount now manufactured in cheese fac-
tories ought to be added.

There is another consideration which should be kept in
mind, and which does not come strictly within the range of
the census returns, and that is the greatly increased intrinsic
value of our stock, arising from the general progress of
improvement and more skilful breeding. Our dairy stock,
especially, has undergone a very marked change in the last
twenty years. In 1855, for example, the number of pure-
bred cows in the State was comparatively small. The num-
ber of pure Jerseys could scarcely have exceeded a hundred,
all told, whereas now there are single herds that number as

NOT DOWN IN THE CENSUS. 303

many, and there are few sections of the State where they are
not common. The dairy stock has a far higher standard of
quality, and money value, though this quality does not, of
course, appear in the returns. In a vast number of cases the
mere number is all that is thought necessary to give, and the
increased money value does not clearly appear. In the eyes
of an assessor or a census taker, apparently, a cow is a cow,
whether she is worth $20 or $200, and yet every farmer
knows that one cow may differ very much from another cow
in intrinsic and money value. In other words, quality, or
purity of blood, now has a great money value, vastly greater
than it had twenty years ago, and this is not, in the nature
of things, accurately represented in any census, as it is com-
monly taken.

There are many other directions in which great improve-
ments have been made, which add greatly, not only to the
comforts of modern life, but to the ease and efficiency of work
on the farm, and which are not fully recognized in* any census,
such as the improved machinery by which economy of labor
is secured, saving the wear and tear of human muscle and, at
the same time, accomplishing greater results ; improvements
which have a money value far higher than that expressed in
the mere value of the machines or implements themselves, as
they appear in the enumeration.

There is another respect in which vast improvements have
been made, but of which we find no evidence in the census.
The resort to manufactured and commercial fertilizers for the
supply of plant-food is not only of modern date, but it may
be said to have assumed its present important aspect wholly
within the last ten years. Previous to the enactment of what
is commonly called the fertilizer law, the farmer had no pro-
tection against fraud. There was no well-recognized stand-
ard to which commercial products of this character were
required to conform. Failure after failure, due sometimes to
the dishonesty of manufacturers or dealers, and to adultera-
tions which there were no adequate means to detect, some-
times to improper modes of application and treatment, had
led to a universal distrust and want of confidence in the value
of such fertilizers, and their use was, in consequence, very
limited. The law now gives a reasonable degree of protec-

304 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.

tion to every former who birys with ordinary care, and the
standard of quality is not only far higher but the means for
ascertaining this quality very much more within the farmer's
reach. This will be seen, on a moment's consideration, to be
a most important step in the way of progress. When the
production of farm crops was dependent chiefly on the manu-
rial supplies of the farm alone, there was a limit beyond
which no farmer could go in the profitable production of
human food. A perfected system of artificial supply of plant-
food, such as we have reason to anticipate in the not distant
future, will vastly increase the possibilities of production, and
place the practical pursuit of farming on a level with any
other branch of applied chemistry. Then capital will find
not only a safe, but a desirable and profitable investment in
farm operations, and thus aid in developing the productive
capacities of the Commonwealth.

CHARLES L. FLINT,

Secretary of the State Board of Agriculture.

Boston, January, 1877.

wmmm

APPENDIX.

ii EEPORTS OF DELEGATES.

EEPOETS OP DELEGATES

APPOINTED TO VISIT THE

AGRICULTURAL EXHIBITIONS.

ESSEX.

It was my good fortune to be assigned as delegate to the Essex
County Society, which held its annual fair in Danvers, September
26 and 27, 1876.

This Society has several characteristics that distinguish it from
others in the Commonwealth. It is one of the oldest, having cele-
brated its fifty-sixth anniversary the past year. It has no abiding
city or permanent locality for its exhibitions ; but having remained
in one part of the county for a year or more, it then folds its tents
and moves to pastures new, where it may scatter its benefactions
over some other section of its domain.

The expediency of this course may be questioned in some of its
relations. But while many of the agricultural societies are largely
in debt, — having all their funds, and more, locked up in expensive
grounds and buildings, from whence little benefit is derived, save in
their use at the annual fair, — the Essex has its mone}r invested
where it will do the most good in annual interest, and where it is
available for use whenever needed.

Its income from that source in 1875 was $1,969.68, or nearly one-
half of the amount received by all the other societies, the same )Tear,
as income from their property, if we except the Massachusetts,
which holds no exhibition.

Another peculiarity worthy of note, is the fact that no premium
has ever been paid b}' the Society for speed in horses.

While it is claimed by many that no agricultural society can
long be successful and draw the people, without the excitement of
the sports of the turf, the Essex, for more than half a century,

APPENDIX. iii

has disbursed large sums in premiums, — has drawn crowds of
people to its annual fairs (it was estimated that 10,000 witnessed
its last exhibition), — has a fund of over $25,000, and it stands to-
da}* second to few, if an}T, in the Commonwealth in what constitutes
a model agricultural society.

The show of animals was somewhat smaller than usual, but the
quality was creditable.

The ploughing-match was spirited, being participated in by 23
teams, and viewed by a large crowd of interested witnesses.

The exhibition of fruits, flowers, and fancy-work, in the hall of
the Peabody Institute, was exceptionally fine and attractive.

As we glanced over the beautiful hall and its contents, — the tables
loaded with tempting fruits, the walls adorned with varied colored
fabrics of utility and beauty, — the handiwork of the fair daughters of
Essex Count}-, — all being embellished with a profusion of flowers and
rare plants, skilfully arranged, — the display produced a scene pleas-
ant to view, and profitable to contemplate.

The portrait of one of the founders of the Society, that adorned
the walls, seemed to look with complacenc}' on the results which he
initiated.

The vegetable department was full, and of first qualit}\ And it
was claimed that, although some were of mammoth size, there was
not a "dead beat" in the collection.

The annual address was made by C. M. Tracy, Esq., of Lynn,
on the relation of agriculture to the best and highest civilization.
The close attention of the intelligent audience was a true test of its
interesting character and excellence.

Last, but not least, was the public dinner of the Society, which
was ample in quantity and excellent in quality, as evinced by the
alacrity with which some 500 persons partook of the repast. Of
the intellectual dessert that followed, it is sufficient to say that His
Excellency Governor Rice, Geo. B. Loring, Charles P. Thompson,
Allen W. Dodge, and others, furnished each a choice offering for the
occasion ; at the close of which your delegate left, well pleased
with what he had witnessed, and thankful for kind attentions and
courtesies received.

Geo. M. Baker.

MIDDLESEX.

The Middlesex Society held its fair on the 28th and 29th of
September. I had the honor to attend it as a delegate, and take
pleasure in bearing witness to its excellence, in most respects. The

iv REPORTS OF DELEGATES.

«

delightful weather made every one inclined to enjoy and look favor-
ably upon all things, so that, I fear, were there anything to which
your delegate should object, he would have been blind to it on that
exquisite da}r.

My long drive to Concord, across the valley of the Charles,
and over the historic ground near Concord, put me in a most
favorable mood for viewing the various pleasing features of the
exhibition.

Mr. Moore kindly received and showed me over the grounds.
The herds and swine, of various breeds, filled the sheds. Horses
for agricultural purposes were not, as I regret to say is usually the
case at our agricultural fairs, to be seen.

The tables in the hall were covered with a magnificent display of
vegetables, fruits, and flowers, with some samples of butter, also of
good quality. This part of the exhibition was worthy of all praise,
and I passed a most delightful hour in examining it. Seldom
have I seen a more varied and beautiful array of the treasures of
autumn.

The show of poultry in the basement was small, but good.

The tables in the upper hall were well filled, and the crowd
of happy faces around the board was the pleasantest sight of all.
After the cloth was removed, the Rev. Dr. Hosmer of Newton enter-
tained the people with an extempore discourse, which was as genial
as the expression of his pleasant face.

And then came the great and exciting feature of the day, — the
horse-trot, — which, to my mind, is wholly foreign to the spirit and
intention of the founders of these societies, and to the grant made by
the Commonwealth for their encouragement. The assurance that no
portion of the bounty of the State goes to the support of these poor
shows, is certainly some consolation to the mind of the conscientious
delegate from this Board. If the trotting were confined to horses
exhibited by the members of the Society, it would afford a plaus-
ible excuse for the entertainment ; but the lot of poor hacks which
generally are dragged from their hiding-places to travel over the
countiy, and, by previous agreement between their owners, divide
the small purses among them, are but a sorry sight to him who
wishes the agricultural societies to assume their true place, as insti-
tutions elevating the taste and educating, and not simply amusing,
the people.

It was a pleasing contrast to be called from the race-course by
Mr. Moore, and, in company with Mr. Hove}-, to be driven through
the shady streets of Concord, by the old battle-ground, out to his
delightful farm, and shown those gardens, green-houses, and
meadows where he grows his fine vegetables, flowers, and fruits,

APPENDIX. v

*
and to enjoj^ the intelligent discourse of these gentlemen on their
various modes of cultivation and propagation.

The Middlesex Society is in excellent condition, and well deserves
the bounty of the State.

Leverett Saltonstall.

MIDDLESEX NORTH.

The exhibition of this Society took place on the 26th and 27th of
September, 1876. The weather was anything but pleasant, — rain
and mud, and mud and rain. People cannot feel good under such
circumstances. Still, they brought together quite a respectable
show, and every department was more than middling. There were
many fine specimens of dairy stock, and a fair show of working and
fat cattle.

The show of vegetables, fruits, and flowers was excellent, and a
large collection of wild flowers attracted much attention, and they
were worth}7 of a higher premium than they received.

Tbe show of poultry was fine, and the minor departments were
respectable.

The horse was the principal attraction on the outside, and occu-
pied the spare time of the Society. The attendance was in sympathy
with the weather.

After dinner, speaking from the judges' stand.

The Society deserved a better success. The officers have my
sympathy and my gratitude for their attentions to your delegate.

Eliphalet Stone.

MIDDLESEX SOUTH.

The twenty-third annual cattle-show of the Middlesex South Agri-
cultural Society was held at Framingham, September 19 and 20,
and the undersigned was designated to represent the "State Board,"
in place of the delegate regularly assigned, who was unable to
attend.

The display of stock was veiy fine. Sturtevant Brothers of South
Framingham entered a herd of 20 Ayrshires. The "Happy Fam-
ily" of Jerseys, exhibited by Mr. S. F. Twichell, consisting of
mother, three daughters, three grand-daughters, and son. was an
interesting feature. The Jersey stock exhibited by Mr. E. F. Bow-

vi EEPORTS OF DELEGATES.

ditch of Framingham was very creditable. Mr. W. P. Perkins of
Wayland entered a Guernsey bull and five heifers. Several Natives
were exhibited by Mr. John Johnson, and there were other noticeable
entries, consisting of Dutch and Holstein stock, fat cattle, working-
ox on, etc.

Of horses, there were single roadsters, matched carriage-horses,
family horses, breeding mares with foal, colts, and farm-horses.

The swine exhibit, though not extensive, was very good, Mr. W.
G. Lewis of Lawn Farm, Framingham, showing 20 specimens of
the Eden's breed, among which was a boar, imported in 1874, the
first one of the breed. There were other creditable exhibits by
Messrs. L. and G. W. Chadwick, E. F. Bowditch, J. W. Walkup,
P. McMahan, Charles Cutting, and E. R. Warren.

There was a fine display of fowls, Mr. A. F. Stevens of Natick
showing 12 pairs of Bantams (Bristol game), which were beauties.
Messrs. J. E. Fisk, H. B. May, D. E. Wheeler, and M. L. Brown
of Natick, and G. H. Woods of Wellesley, and others, exhibited a
variety of poultry. Mr. Ramsdell of Natick contributed 35 pairs
of Carrier Pigeons, which attracted universal attention.

There were 110 entries of fruit, 62 of seed grain, and 37 of veg-
etables.

Among the other articles on exhibition may be mentioned a good
display of flowers, a splendid collection of stuffed birds, etc., exhib-
ited by Mr. J. W. Giles of Marlborough, a fine-art department, con-
sisting of 23 entries, comprising crayon, water-colors, hair-work,
penmanship, etc., a tempting display of honey, jelly, and preserves,
a department of fancy-work, worthy of careful study ; and last, but
not least, a centennial antiquarian department, containing a valuable,
interesting, and extensive collection of relics. Your representative
was obliged to confine his visit to a few hours upon the second day,
and was therefore unable to witness the several trials of speed
between the horses entered.

His Excellency the Governor, accompanied by several members
of his staff, arrived at noon, and was escorted to the hall, where an
excellent dinner was served. After dinner an address was delivered
bjT His Excellency, which was followed b}* an original poem and
several short speeches, interspersed with music by the Framingham
brass band. The day was rainj", and the attendance not large, in
consequence ; separate from this fact, the exhibition should be chron-
icled as a success, and }Tour delegate is under obligations to the
President, Mr. Johnson, and others, for courtesies extended during
his brief sta}\

Henry B. Peirce.

APPENDIX. vii

WORCESTER.

The fifty-eighth annual fair and exhibition of the Worcester Agri-
cultural Society was held on Thursday and Friday, September 21
and 22, on the Society's grounds.

The weather was damp and chilly at the opening on the first clay
of the fair, but there was a good attendance of those who were inter-
ested in the fine display in the hall, of fruits, flowers, vegetables, and
the mechanic arts.

The show on the ground was excellent. At the head of the list
of neat-stock ranged the famous Swiss herd of 24 in number, entered
by G. D. Aldrich of Auburn. They were a fine-looking breed, but
did not comprise half the herd now owned by Messrs. Aldrich and
David G. Hall of Providence, R. I., and kept on the farm of Mr.
Aldrich. This herd of European cattle was originally imported from
Switzerland by Mr. H. M. Clark of Belmont. We learn from a
statement by the proprietors, that every animal has fourteen distinct
marks, found by experienced breeders in all thoroughbred animals,
showing the milk and butter qualities and the purit}- of the race.
The bulls and heifers, when two years old, weigh from 1,000 to
1,400 pounds each ; cows, from 1,500 to 1,600 pounds per cow ; and
matured bulls, from 2,000 to 2,700 pounds. They are said to be
thrifty, hardy, and mature early. A record of the product of milk
shows 196 quarts from one, " Geneva," in seven successive days,
and 175 quarts from "Christina" in the same time. It took from
seven to eight quarts of milk, on an average, to one pound of butter.

The next in order was a fine show of Shorthorns, by Wm. S.
Slater of Webster. Some of them were imported, and were very
large, well-formed stock. One bull weighed 2,700 pounds. J. S.
Ellsworth exhibited a herd of 13 of this breed, and several Short-
horn grades. Darling Brothers of Auburn also had several head
of this class.

The Ayrshire exhibition consisted of 27 head, by Messrs. B. F.
& H. A. Harrington. The cows were fine-looking. There was a
thoroughbred bull, " Duncan," in this collection. Chamberlain had
nine cows of this class. Harvey Dodge of Sutton had an excel-
lent herd of Devons on exhibition. The herd of Jerseys, by O. B.
Hadwen of Worcester, merit more than a passing notice. There
were 18 head, the progeny of one cow. They were strongly marked
with shade, form, and other remarkable points which characterize
this excellent breed, and were very creditable to the skill and genius
of thorough-breeding. William T. Merrifield of Worcester and Wm.
P. Knight of Grafton had fine shows of Jerseys, of beautiful shades.

viii REPORTS OF DELEGATES.

There was a native herd, by Elbridge Hewitt, who had a fine-
looking bull. The above classes of entries comprised about 200
head.

The show of oxen was very good. The exercises of the class of
trained steers were exceedingly interesting and attractive, illustrating
the wonderful power of kindly influences in the treatment of domes-
tic animals, to inspire them with love and confidence. The noble-
ness of man seems to humanize the animals under his care.

The display of sheep was very limited in numbers, but of good
blood, being Southdown and Cots wold grades. The swine were
Suffolk, Chester, and Sheffield breeds. The exhibition of sheep
and swine at our county fairs is diminishing in interest and numbers
annually, — probably the results of the fact, that they can be raised
with more profit in other States than ours, and imported by us.

There were 53 entries of poultry and pet stock. Among the
poultry there were a number of excellent imported breeds, showing
an increasing interest in this, as well as in other counties in the
State, in the improvement of this class, to render it more interest-
ing and profitable.

The show in the hall was very good, considering the exhibition in
a similar department which was held at the Horticultural Hall during
fair-days, and tended somewhat to divert the interest and attraction.

The exhibition of fruits, flowers, butter, cheese, bread, fancy arti-
cles, and vegetables compared favorably with former years.

The exercises of the day opened with a ploughing-match. The
work was well done by the teams, and trials of working-oxen and
steers were perfectly satisfactory. At noon we were regaled with a
sumptuous dinner in the upper hall. Several hundred were present
on the occasion. The President, Charles B. Pratt, Esq., presided.
After dinner, an hour was pleasantly passed with an intellectual
feast, from addresses on the topics of agriculture and social culture,
by several attractive speakers. Then followed the concomitant
exercise in the bill of fare at our county cattle-shows, — " the horse-
trot." If not possessing the instructive features of others, it has the
merit of rare attractiveness, and an absorbing interest unequalled
by any, or all other departments, of the exhibition.

Thus passed the afternoon of the first day. Friday, the second
day of the fair, was ushered in by a bright sun and serene sk}\
"Old Probability" marked down a delightful "Indian Summer"
day in the calendar. The exercises of the day began with the exhi-
bition of brood mares and colts, after which the family-horses were
driven around the track, showing excellent action and style. There
were some noble stallions of Hambletonian, Messenger, arid Morgan
stock shown, which were very creditable to their breeders.

APPENDIX. ix

*

At noon His Excellency Alexander H. Rice and staff arrived at
the grounds, and were guests, with other distinguished personages,
including the Secretary of State, Henry B. Peirce, Esq., and Hon.
Ginery Twichell of Brookline. They repaired to the upper hall and
partook of a generous dinner, in company with several hundred mem-
bers of the Society and their guests. After which His Excellency
Governor Rice was loudly called to the front, and was introduced
to the audience by President Pratt.

He responded with an excellent characteristic address, on the
thrift and prosperity of Worcester County, and on the benefits of
small farms ; that Massachusetts had a national reputation from her
fanning industrj", on account of her agricultural products ; an
enlightened policy in farming and social culture tends to the
enlightenment of the nation, to advancement in arts, and sciences,
and civilization, and the nation which excels in these respects will
be foremost ; he saw no reason why the United States should not be
in this desirable position. Others followed with fine addresses.

The remainder of the day was devoted to the exercises of the
track. The time made was deemed excellent \>y the judges ; as was
expected, a large and enthusiastic gathering was on the ground to
witness the speed of the horses. The Worcester brass band was in
attendance during the fair, and enlivened the scene by their fine
music.

Your delegate is greatly indebted to Messrs. Charles B. Pratt,
the President, G. H. Estabrook, the Secretary, O. B. Hadwen, and
others of the committee of arrangements, for information given him,
and courtesies extended during his visit to the fair, and is well satisfied
to recommend the Worcester Agricultural Society to the favorable
notice of the State Board of Agriculture, as entitled to credit for
their untiring interest in the prosperity of the Societ}T, and their
ardent desire to perpetuate the benefits which they have enjoyed
during the past half-centuiy to their successors to the future cen-
tennial.

Alexander Mact, Jr.

WORCESTER WEST.

Having been appointed by the State Board to attend as a dele-
gate the Worcester West Society at Barre, September 28 and 29,
and knowing that there was a railroad called the Boston, Barre and
Gardner Railroad, I supposed, of course, I could reach Barre some
time in the early part of the forenoon, so I managed to get the first
2

x REPORTS OF DELEGATES.

train, and was left at the Hubbardston station, eight miles from
Barre, where, by chartering three different carriages, I arrived at the
cattle-show grounds at 12.15 p. m., deposited a 25 cent scrip, and
passed into the gate, and made my way directly to the exhibition-
hall, where, as I had anticipated, I found a very fine show of arti-
cles, such as are usually exhibited in such shows ; in particular, the
butter and cheese was very fine.

After leaving the hall, I started to take a look at the cattle ; met
the President of the Society, passed the time of day with him, and
passed on alone. The dairy stock was good, yet the majority was
rather thin of flesh, owing to the extreme dry weather, which had
shortened the pastures.

The working-oxen and steers made a fine show. The four teams
of five pairs of oxen and steers each made a very fine appearance,
and were creditable to the owners. The trained steers from Charl-
ton, Sutton, and Southbridge made a fine appearance, and were
worthy of special mention. The time allowed me for looking over
the stock department was so short, that I cannot specify as I would
be glad to.

My friend, A. H. Holland, of this Board, escorted me to the
dinner-table, where was provided an excellent and bountiful dinner,
which was enjoyed by some four hundred ladies and gentlemen, who
seemed to enjoy the dinner and the after-dinner speeches. Presi-
dent Ginery Twichell presided, and introduced the speakers very
pleasantly.

As I was obliged to leave at noon, the second clay, I cannot sajr
so much about the horse-show as I would like to, but it seemed to
me, as a whole, that the Society sustained its former good reputa-
tion.

I shall ever feel grateful to friend Holland and his famiby, for the
kindl}' treatment I received at their hands while with them.

Elijah Perry.

WORCESTER NORTH.

In obedience to the wishes of this Board, I attended the twent}T-
fourth annual exhibition of the Worcester North Agricultural Soci-
ety, held on the Society's grounds, at Fitchburg, September 2G.

The day was quite unfavorable. The signs of the early morning
indicated rain, which did not, however, put in an appearance to
any extent until late in the afternoon.

The attendance was quite good, notwithstanding the threatening
attitude of the weather ; but this might have been partially attributa-

APPENDIX. xi

ble to the presence of the Chief Executive of the State and other
public men.

A person passing through this region and seeing the hillsides
dotted with farm buildings, stretching their rich pasture and meadow
lands out before him, and finding upon some of them such herds of
blooded stock as those of Miles and Whitman's, naturally expects
that an exhibition of stock here would be one of great merit, but on
this occasion he would have been disappointed.

The show in the department of neat-stock was quite inferior to
what it should have been, even for a rainy day.

I saw a few good cattle from the estate of E. T. Miles ; also two
or three herds of verj' good Jerseys, and a very good pair of cattle
from Daniel North of Leominster. The town of Leominster exhib-
ited the only town team, consisting of 19 yokes, which to us seemed
a rather slim affair. We saw no sheep. There were a few swine,
among which we noticed some very fine specimens of the Berkshire
breed, exhibited by Stephen Shepley of Fitchburg.

The poultry department wras well filled, and, all things considered,
equalled our expectation. At the " ploughing-match," we saw no
ploughing, and afterwards heard it announced as a failure. We
saw some very good horses ; but .this department, like that of neat-
cattle, was not what one would expect from Fitchburg and its sur-
roundings.

The agricultural department of the hall likewise showed the
damaging effect of drought, lowery weather, or, possibly, what is
worse, a lack of interest.

The officers showed commendable zeal, and nothing seemed to be
left undone by them. The trouble, evidently, was a lack of cooper-
ation on the part of the members of the Soeiet}\ We learned that
some of the towns within the bounds of the Society held exhibi-
tions of their own, which might have lessened their interest in the
parent society. My impression, however, is, that such shows should
produce an opposite result.

We thought we discovered a desire on the part of some to make
the occasion one for political demonstration, and, viewed from that
stand-point, it was, perhaps, quite as successful as an agricultural
show.

The encouragement given by the presence of Governor Rice, his
manifest interest in agriculture, and words of cheer for farmers,
was worthy of commendation, and gave an impulse in the right
direction.

Perhaps the almost unparalleled drought of the past season, and
the all-absorbing political excitement of this centennial year, in
addition to the unfavorable state of the weather, might furnish a

xii EEPORTS OF DELEGATES.

sufficient excuse for any shortcoming on the part of the members of
the Society.

The thanks of your delegate are due to the officers of this Society,
and others, who kindly afforded him every facility for obtaining
information, and provided abundantly for his personal comfort.

,E. C. Hawks.

WORCESTER NORTH-WEST.

We arrived on the grounds of this young and vigorous Society,
at Athol, on the morning of Tuesday, the 3d of October, the
first day of the fair. The land occupied by the Society, comprising
twenty-eight acres, lies something over a mile from the railway
station, and is quite elevated, giving an extended view of the sur-
rounding countiy. It was bought and fenced six years ago, when
suitable buildings were erected for the use of the Society, and a con-
venient track laid out and graded for the display of horses.

The Society appears to have the elements essential to prosperity,
— a good location, active and intelligent officers, and all the appli-
ances for conducting a successful show. This exhibition was the
tenth since the Act of incorporation was granted in 1866, but several
exhibitions had been held previously by a voluntary organization of
a few citizens of Athol and vicinity, beginning as early as 1856. In
1858 a permanent organization was formed, and eighty-one life-
members were obtained, each paying one dollar, and from that date
fairs were held annually, till the Societ}- sought and procured its
charter of the Legislature, with the designation of the Worcester
North-West Agricultural and Mechanical Society. A committee
was at once appointed to examine different locations, with a view to
purchasing and laying out grounds, and these were occupied for the
first time in 1869. Since then the Society has been, constantly
making additions and improvements, and steadily increasing in
numbers. It has, at the present time, about eight hundred life-
members, and has grown from a little town-show to an exhibition
that is patronized by a large circle of towns in its vicinity. It dis-
tributed in 1876 over $1,300 in premiums, among more than two
hundred contributors.

So far as we could learn, from conversation with intelligent per-
sons familiar with the past history of the Society, it has exerted a
very marked influence upon the agriculture of Athol and the sur-
rounding towns. Very little, if any, pure-bred stock was owned or
raised in the vicinity at the time of the first exhibition, twenty years

APPENDIX. xiii

ago. At the exhibitions now, a ver}r large number of excellent pure-
bred animals, of several of the prominent breeds, appear every year,
and the farmers of the neighboring towns now take more interest,
and give more attention, to breeding choice stock, than they ever did
before. The grade and common stock which we saw on exhibition
plainly show this. The quality of many of the dair}T-cows and
working-oxen was such as to have done credit to an}^ exhibition of
the kind in the country. The amount offered for live-stock, on this
tenth anniversary, was $663, and of this sum, $499 was actually
awarded.

The attendance on both days of the exhibition was very large
and satisfactory, and the people all appeared to enter heartily
into the spirit of the occasion, and not only zo enjoy the sights,
but to study and profit by a careful examination of all parts of the
show.

The display in the hall was very extensive and fine, especially in
the department of fruits, the dairy, and domestic manufactures.

On the 'second da}T, the exhibition was honored by the attendance
of His Excellency Governor Rice and staff, and many other distin-
guished guests. Though I saw some things to criticise in the man-
agement of the exhibition, my visit was, on the whole, highly satis-
factory.

William Knowlton.

WORCESTER SOUTH.

The twenty-second annual exhibition of the Worcester South
Agricultural Society was holden at Sturbridge, September 14 and
15. The days were fine, yet crisp, while a small shower in the night
of the 14th served to lay the dust on the track and grounds, which
were then suffering, like the country surrounding, from a long and
excessive drought. An early start from home, and a ride of fifteen
miles over hill and through valley, past the ripening corn and the
orchards, which were bending under their enormous fruitage, by the
forests and hillsides, which were just beginning to put on all their
varied hues, brought me to the grounds in time to take a cursory
survey of the premises and surroundings before the exercises of the
day commenced.

Nathaniel Upham, Esq., the President of the Society, and a mem
ber of this Board, was at his post, and afforded your delegate, every
facility to obtain all information, and a view of every feature of the
show.

The ploughing-match opened the exercises of the day. The most

xiv REPORTS OF DELEGATES.

objectionable feature was the dryness of the ground, — the sward
would break ; still, the work was well done, and the match was
sharply contested. Six premiums were awarded to the veterans
in this art, and three to the boys. If more farmers would thus
encourage their sons, there would be less occasion for complaining
that the boys rush to the cities, leaving the old homesteads deserted
when the present generation passes off the stage, or to return to the
primeval forest.

The working-cattle were shown in three classes, — working-oxen,
working-oxen four years old, and working-steers. These several
classes did themselves, their owners, and their drivers credit.

The exhibition of stock, trained for the yoke, was of a high order,
and seldom excelled in any part of the State.

The milking-stock consisted of Ayrshire, Durham, Jersey, Devon,
and their grades. Some of these were good dairy-cows, a few deep
milkers ; but, as a whole, the cows were inferior to the oxen.

Seven pairs of steers and calves contested for the premiums
offered for those best trained. Why this class should 'be styled
" fanc}r trained," I am at a loss to conjecture. The propriety
thereof I question. It is a class of cattle that alwaj-s attracts atten-
tion and excites interest. While such training of the calf and steer,
by the word and motion of the bo}r, tends to benefit and perfect both
trainer and trained, to amuse and entertain the beholder, the great,
paramount good arising therefrom comes from the fact, that, a more
docile, confiding, and obedient team is provided for the tillers of the
soil, and carries proof positive to the keepers of all kinds of stock,
that gentleness with decision, and docility with firmness, are traits
necessary for the best control of our domestic animals. If every,
dairy-cow were thus trained, cared for, and caressed, the tendency
of her udder would be more toward butter globules and less toward
garget.

The Society has a large and commodious hall, and it was well
filled with the fruits of the orchards and gardens, the vegetables of
the fields, the handiwork of matrons, and the needle-work of the
maiden.

The show of swine proved that this class is appreciated in this
region.

In the class of sheep, the cossets, bucks, and ewes carried off six
prizes, and were respectable specimens of their kind.

In poultry, the specimens were not numerous, although there were
good birds on exhibition.

The bread, butter and cheese were good and attractive.

The flowers in the hall, artificial and cut, — those naturally grown
and those in pots, — made an attractive show ; while the productions

APPENDIX. xv

of the nimble-fingered lassies, in the shape of tidies, mats, pillows,
etc., absorbed the attention of all.

The music was furnished by the Southbridge Mechanics' Band,
and the dinner was served in the lower hall, where were gathei'ed
the farmers and their wives, who seemed to enjoy the good things
provided by Caterer Oakes. After the appetite was appeased, all
gathered in the upper hall, where no formal address was delivered,
but the audience listened to a free and easy talk from the delegate
of the Board, N. S. Hubbard of Brimfield, an ex-delegate and mem-
ber of this Board, and others, who discussed grasses, milch cows,
and feeding the same, root crops, fertilizers, and kindred subjects, in
which farmers have a common interest. Some specimens of D3T-gone
days, in the hall, reminded the antiquary that this was the centen-
nial 3'ear, and manifested that the good old times of our ancestors
were remembered, and their relics sacredly cherished.

The second day of the fair was the horse-day, and a grand caval-
cade ushered in the exercises of the morning. Interest was mani-
fested in the colts, turn-outs, family-horses, and trotters, and yet it
did not seem to eclipse that of the previous day. The races showed
some light-footed, fine-stepping, square-trotting animals, and the
prizes were won by " John Henry," " Fearless," and " Emperor."

The assets of the Society are $13,900, the liabilities $4,243.50,
and the relative standing is about $400 better than last year.

This fair seemed to be the farmers' holiday. The mechanic, the
merchant, the operative, all joined in the festival. Considering the
show in all its departments, we came to the conclusion that the
Society is doing a good work for the farmers, and the tendency of
the fair is to foster agriculture, the object for which this Society was
incorporated.

Horace P. Wakefield.

WORCESTER SOUTH-EAST.

The seventeenth annual fair of the Worcester South-East Agri-
cultural Society was held at Milford, September 26, 27 and 28.

How a fireman's muster can be run in connection with an Agri-
cultural Society was shown most successfully on the first day. Six
hundred dollars were awarded in pi*emiums. This left to the Soci-
ety, net, the sum of $1,000. Financially, this was a good beginning.

During the night previous to the second da}r, a heavy rain-storm
prevailed. But the morning ushered in a bright and cool autumn
day. My attendance was only on this day. This day's exhibition

xvi REPORTS OF DELEGATES.

commenced with the ploughing-match, a mile from the fair-grounds.
It was contested with skill and spirit by the ploughmen, and was
witnessed by a large number of spectators, with apparently much
interest. Twenty-four teams in all were entered. Six of these
were spans of horses. Of oxen, seven were double, and eleven
were single yokes.

The grand line of march leading through Main Street, was then
taken up, with marshals and music. Arriving at the fair-grounds,
the trials with working-oxen and steers commenced, and occupied
a large part of the day. There were over thirt}T, in five classes.
A number of ox-wagons appeared, loaded with stairs, wheels, stools,
hoops, etc., with which to exhibit trained steers. This novel exhi-
bition was quite successful ; many of the feats were as remarkable
as those of trained circus-horses. I saw much in this to admire,
and nothing to censure. Persevering firmness and kindness were
the means used. I think the large and admiring crowd of spectators
must have had a better appreciation of the brute animals than
before. Good working-oxen and trained steers seem to be a spe-
cialty in some towns in this vicinity. What was offered in pre-
miums for oxen and trained steers, in their several classes, indicates
more interest taken by the farmers in these than in other classes of
stock. There were, however, about 50 head of cows and heifers, of
fair quality, but not quite up to what should be the standard in this
part of Worcester Count}7. A few sheep and swine were present in
their various classes. A due amount of interest, in the poultry
department was manifest by the number and qualit}r shown. The
horses and colts were mostly reserved for the third day. I did not
witness this day's proceedings, and cannot report.

The hall was well filled with a good displa}' of apples, pears,
grapes, vegetables, and other farm products, witnessing to the full and
ample fruitfulness of the year, and the industry and interest of the
farmers therein. The hall was not wanting in the miscellaneous
articles which usually make up this part of the fair, and was a scene
of much interest.

The dinner in the upper hall of the Society's building was well
appointed and served. Hon. William Knowlton, President of the
Society, presided, with appropriate ceremonies. The music was of
high order, by the Milford band. Here followed a good farmers'
talk. Addresses were made by Rev. George S. Ball of Upton, Hon.
Valorous Taft, also of Upton, Dr. Pratt of Hopkinton, B. D.
Godfrey of Milford. Chaplain Ball's address was well calculated to
move the farmers to a better appreciation of their privileges and
duties. Mr. Taft, and others, referred to the marked success which
wras attending the use of Professor Stockbrido'e's mineral fertilizers

APPENDIX. xvii

in raising corn. Mr. Taft thought money was easier made in raising
corn in Worcester Count}' than in Illinois.

It is much to be regretted that an intellectual entertainment like
this draws the attention of so few of the farmers and others. There
were man}' vacant seats at the table. This should have been the
great attraction of the day. Men are awaking to a better system
of husbandry. I ask the farmers and others to see well to it that
an intellectual banquet of high order is always provided for their
annual festival, and then grace it with their presence and hearty
sympathy.

I wish here to record my grateful remembrance of the hospitality
and kindness extended to me by the President and his family, at
their pleasant home.

C. Sanderson.

HAMPSHIRE, FRANKLIN, AND HAMPDEN.

The fifty-eighth annual exhibition of the Hampshire, Franklin,
and Hampden Agricultural Society was held on Wednesday, Thurs-
day and Friday, October 4, 5 and 6. The weather on the first day
was very favorable, but the second and third were very rainy, the
attendance was very small, and, finally, the Society was obliged to
adjourn all proceedings until fair weather. The receipts at the
gate were, in consequence, very small.

On my arrival on the ground, I was introduced to the President,
Secretary, and a number of other gentlemen, who escorted me around
the grounds with much attention.

My first object was to examine the stock. First, my attention
was directed to the herd of Milo J. Smith & Son, consisting of
one bull, the "Baronet," six years old, weight, 1,800 pounds, sired
by the 14th Duke of Thorndale ; also, eleven cows, nine heifers, —
all thoroughbred Shorthorns, and animals of great merit.

A. T. Judd of South Hadley showed a herd of fifteen Shorthorns :
one bull, "Oxford Chief," three years old, weight, 1,900 pounds;
a bull-calf, eleven months old, weight, 850 pounds ; twelve cows and
heifers, — all fine animals.

S. A. Bates of South Hadley exhibited a herd of fifteen head of
thoroughbred Shorthorns, — and a fine lot, too. The herds of Mr.
Smith, Mr. Judd and Mr. Bates would be a credit to any state
show.

There was only one herd of Ayrshires, and that was exhibited by
John F. Thorp. Mr. Thorp's object is to furnish milk for the
market, and his herd is well adapted for the purpose.
3

xviii REPORTS OF DELEGATES.

H. C. Haskell of Deerfleld exhibited a herd of eleven thorough-
bred Jerseys. Mr. Haskell's herd was a cattle-show of itself. Quite
a good number of grades of the different breeds were on exhibition, —
very creditable animals.

The State Lunatic Hospital sent down four yoke of oxen, fat,
sleek, and well fed. Their weight was, respectively, 4,010, 3,860,
3,790, 3,730.

The number of entries of stock is as follows : working-oxen,
14 pairs ; steers, 2 pairs.

Miscellaneous stock, 26 entries. Seven herds, consisting of 97
head ; 35 thoroughbred milch cows ; 8 grade cows ; 4 grade heifers ;
17 thorougbred heifers; fat cattle, 3 entries. Bulls, 12 entries.
Swine, 16 entries. Sheep, 20 entries, including bucks and lambs.
Town team, one entry.

The show of horses was very much dampened by the rain.
Nevertheless, there were stallions, pairs of gentlemen's driving-
horses, family-horses, breeding-mares, draught-horses, and colts of
different ages. Some trotting was anticipated, but the track was so
wet it was postponed until a future day.

I am sorry to sa}r that there was no provision made for ploughing.
This I consider an important part of an agricultural exhibition, and
the foundation of all true culture.

Of swine, Poland, China, and Chester Whites were the most
numerous, and were very fine specimens.

Of sheep, a fair lot were on exhibition, some So.uthdowns and
other mixed breeds of the Leicester. Whole number of sheep on
exhibition about 150.

Poultry : In this class there were 56 entries. Among the
varieties were found Light Brahmas, Buff Cochins, Pat. Cochins,
American Dominiques, White Dorkings, Black Spanish, Golden-
Spangled Hamburgs, Games, Bantams, Plymouth Rocks, Brown
Leghorns, White Leghorns, Dominique Leghorns, Houdans, Silver-
Spangled Hamburgs.

Among the miscellaneous entries were found pigeons, geese,
ducks, rabbits, squirrels, etc.

The hall was located near the entrance of the park. Its dimen-
sions are 110 feet long, 45 feet wide, two stories high. It was very
tastefully trimmed with evergreens by Mrs. Stebbins, wife of the
President of the Society, and Edward B. Strong, the general super-
intendent of affairs inside.

The principal feature was the fruit. This was tastefully arranged
on three tables, running through the hall, and presented a mag-
nificent appearance. The Northfield collection consisted of 275
plates, and the Hatfield collection 175 plates. The collection from

APPENDIX. xix

Sunderland, 150 varieties and 160 plates. Hadley sent 43 plates,
North Hadley 42 plates. E. H. Judd of South Hadley exhibited
25 varieties of pears. Henry Dikeman of Northampton had on
exhibition a large variety of grapes, pears, and peaches. H. C.
Conrins of North Hadle}' made a splendid display of twenty-six
varieties of canned fruit and 11 varieties of jelly.

The exhibition of vegetables was a good one. W. L. Warner of
Sunderland, and H. C. Comins of North Hadley, were the principal
contributors, — 158 varieties in the former, and 87 in the latter.
Mr. Comins exhibited a lot of corn, which he estimates to yield at
the rate of 105 bushels of shelled corn to the acre, — a result which
he attributes to the virtues of the Stockbridge fertilizer.

There were several mammoth squashes; the largest weighed 115
pounds. There was quite a displa}^ of centennial articles and farm-
ing implements, which added much to the show. This portion of
the exhibition was very fitting and proper on this centennial year.
One Bible, 277 years old, was worthy of note, containing the record
of the Clark farniby, shown by Calvin W. Phelps, whose wife is a
member of that family. Mr. Stebbins, President of the Society,
brought down from Deerfield an old-time sleigh, made for a single
person, and, probably, used by the village doctor more than 100
j^ears ago.

There were several lots of butter on exhibition, — gilt-edged, and
tastefully moulded, which spoke well for the farmers or farmers'
wives of the county. Every sample of butter was accompanied
with a statement of the method by which it was made.

The cheese of the county was absent.

Of bread there was a large contribution, and if the inside of the
loaves tasted as well as the outside looked, it certainly would be all
that could be desired.

Of fancy articles there were 154 entries, consisting of bed-quilts,
rugs, lamp-mats, paintings, drawings, shell-work, wax-flowers, and
tidies of all descriptions ; and a multitude of other articles, too
numerous to mention.

This Society is one of the oldest in the State, and is located as it
were in the garden of New England, owning a fine park and a
commodious hall, with a slight embarrassment or debt of about
$5,000, which, I hope, they will be able soon to wipe out. The
officers of this Societ}' seem to be live, energetic men, and bound to
succeed.

In closing this report, I feel under obligation to the President
and other officers of this Society, for their attentions during my
sta}- with them.

Daniel Dwight.

xx REPORTS OF DELEGATES.

HIGHLAND.

The annual show of the Highland Agricultural Society was held
at Middlefield on the fourteenth and fifteenth days of September.

The first day the weather was fine, and the number of people in
attendance compared favorably with previous years.

About 200 cattle were on exhibition, consisting of thoroughbred,
grades, and natives, — all in good condition, especially the 'working-
oxen, which had received unusual care and attention.

The drawing-match was a severe and exciting contest, and was
won by a pair of grade Herefords, owned and driven by W. H.
Hawley, of Sandisfield.

The show of sheep was larger than usual ; that of swine small,
but it included some animals of marked excellence.

In the hall was to be seen the usual display of domestic manufact-
ures, paintings, and fancy-work, samples of butter, cheese, maple
sugar, and grain. Also a generous share of fruit of all kinds
which can be grown in the vicinity, and an abundant supply of
vegetables.

The exhibition of potatoes made by Mr. C. C. Thompson de-
served and received special attention. There were more than 20
varieties of his own growing, and among them the native South
American, which the contributor said was the original stock from
which all our cultivated varieties came.

In the evening there was a gathering in the town hall, which was
filled to its utmost capacity. President Bowen successfully called
for music, song, and speeches, which kept the company in a pleasant
mood till a late hour.

On the second day the exhibition continued at the hall ; but the
attraction of the day was the collection of horses on and about a
rough, uneven, rocky track, where a large number of fine ani-
mals, representing all classes, were to be seen, and their merits
discussed.

The trials of speed, which are so frequently connected with " sin-
ful games," appeared to be conducted by the managers with an
honesty and a fairness which would do credit to a board of school
committee.

The annual address was made by L. H. Gam well, Esq., of Pitts-
field, and was a strong plea for industry, economy, and simple tastes.
At its close, the Secretary of the Society read the list of premiums,
and the Treasurer paid the awards.

This cattle-show day is the gala day of all the year for the people
of the country round about. The farmers come and bring their

APPENDIX. xxi

families, and all make the most of it now, and look forward with
pleasure to the next meeting.

In iny judgment this Society promotes, very materially, the inter-
ests of agriculture in the district of its location.

Stephen Shepley.

HAMPSHIRE.

" Rain, of course," was the general sound from lips of all inter-
ested in the show at Amherst on the first day of the exhibition ; but
the ardor of the workers was not dampened, for, upon arrival at the
grounds, }*our delegate soon found he was in the region of " Short-
horns." To him it was a rare sight, for, in his section of the State,
a full-blooded " Durham " is a rara avis. The collection was
large, and the best specimens of the breed were there in large num-
bers. Where so many were collected together, it would not be fair,
were it possible, to say which was the best ; although a breeder of,
and believer in, "Jerseys" for family cows, that day sure he Mowed
with Shorthorns. Your delegate was in the care of Professor Stock-
bridge, of the Agricultural College, and those who know him will be
sure that all the good points were shown, and no invidious distinc-
tion made. Long lines of noble-formed and well-cared-for oxen con-
tentedly chewed their cud, and, obedient to the voice of the drivers,
went over the usual course. But after a brief look at the out-door
exhibit, the rain drove us within doors ; and in the lower story of
the building the examination of flowers, fruits and vegetables, and
other collections, was made. Large collections of vegetables, very
tastefulh7 displayed, were made by Mr. W. L. Warner and others
whose names have escaped my memory. The whole display was
very creditable, and some portions hardly ever surpassed by any
Society.

Contrary to usual custom, the Society dinner was held the first
day. Your delegate, supposing it would be the second day, had
made his arrangements to be absent from dinner, and reserve his
speech for some very distant occasion ; but he was caught, and
sandwiched between Mr. President Seelye and Professor Stockbridge ;
so %vou will understand that the inner layer was very thin. After
dinner, Professor Stockbridge, in a pouring rainstorm, took your
delegate over the grounds, and through some of the buildings of the
Agricultural College. Your delegate never before had much faith
in that experiment, and in his legislative action had, with many
twinges of conscience, voted for state appropriations ; but as he saw

xxii REPORTS OF DELEGATES.

what had been and was being accomplished upon the grounds and
educational department, a change came over him, and his conscience
was eas}- as to the votes he had given for state pecuniary assist-
ance, and he believes it to be worthy the fostering care of the Com-
monwealth.

To one accustomed in his daily round of life to look upon level
fields, with poor soil, the eye would seem never to tire viewing the
hills and valleys of Amherst and vicinity ; and your delegate brought
away with him a pleasing recollection of the apparent success of the
exhibition of the Hampshire Society, and the beauties of Hampshire
scenery.

John A. Hawes.

HAMPDEN.

The undersigned, appointed to visit the Hampden Agricultural
Societ}', reports that business prevented him from attending but one
day of the thirty-second annual exhibition of the Society, which was
held at the city of Springfield on the third and fourth days of October
last.

The day was pleasant, and everything, so far as depended on
the weather, was favorable for the occasion.

Your delegate considered that his duty consisted in making, so
far as appeared to him, an accurate report of the above-named
exhibition to the Board. First, there was an extensive show of
agricultural implements ; these were shown on the grass near the
grand stand, and the gentlemenly owners and their assistants were
constantly showing and explaining their particular points to all who
desired to know about them.

In the pens there were about two hundred animals, including four
pair of oxen, eleven pair of steers, and a few sheep. Colonel
James Thompson exhibited 27 grade cows, — all very fine animals.
H. M. Sessions had a herd of Devons. Phineas Stedman & Son,
W. R. Sessions, and Ethan Brooks, herds of Shorthorns. The
steers were well matched, handy, and docile. The above-named
animals, taken as a whole, would be a credit to any society in the
State.

Now, the other side of the story is, that the cattle are only required
to be on the grounds four or five hours of the first day ; no properly
sheltered pens are provided to keep these fine cattle comfortable
during a storm, or to shelter them from a burning sun ; and it
appeared to me so strange that these really fine and useful animals
should be so treated, when in marked contrast on the same grounds,

APPENDIX. xxiii

and, as I understand, provided from the same funds, were luxurious
stalls for horses, in some cases, whose only merit is that they can
trot in the twenties or thirties. This comprises what I saw at
Hampden Park the first day ; and, with the exception of the
exhibitors* and members of the committees, there were but few
visitors in attendance.

In the city hall I found a show of poultry of various kinds ; also,
of fruits, vegetables, fancy articles from the ladies, and various
miscellaneous articles. The show of fruits and of vegetables did
not meet rny expectations, coming from a rich valley and vicinity
of a populous city like Springfield.

According to the programme, the second day at the park is
entirely devoted to the horse. This, I think, is wrong. It is
giving the whole of the second day — the important day, as the
Society must regard it, as they do not charge any admission fee for
any other day — to one interest, and giving that interest an impor-
tance that does not belong to it. Now, I admire a good horse as
much as an}' one, but, at the same time, I trust I have a proper
regard for good cattle, and other agricultural interests. What is
the remedy? First, concentrate the show at one place. Second,
provide sheltered pens for the stock, and have them kept on the
grounds during the exhibition, not only to instruct and gratify the
lovers of good stock, but if they must devote a whole day to the
horse, keep the cattle to give an air of utility and respectability to
the occasion. Third, make the exhibition attractive to the ladies,
and be assured that if you can attract to the exhibition the intel-
ligent ladies of Hampden County, }rou will have no reason to com-
plain of the want of attendance of the men.

John B. Moore.

HAMPDEN EAST.

The twenty-fourth annual exhibition of this Society was held
Thursday and Friday, September 21 and 22.

The chill autumnal breezes of the first day may have detracted
somewhat from the exhibition, but the effect was more in the line of
sight-seers than with contributors, or seekers after knowledge.

There appeared to be a good degree of interest in each of the
several departments of the fair, and it would be difficult to select
one in which there was not considerable competition.

Among the pure-bred animals, there were 31 Ayrshires from the
State Primary School, exhibited by Dr. Wakefield of that institu-
tion ; 20 very fine Devons entered by Mr. H. M. Sessions of

xxiv EEPORTS OF DELEGATES.

Wilbraham, a former member of the State Board of Agriculture,
and Mr. A. C. Burleigh showed both Jerseys and Durhams.

In addition to these, there were several herds of high grade
animals, which showed the exercise of good judgment in breeding
and skill in feeding.

There were swine in abundance, of the finest type ; one litter
of nine, six months old, averaging 250 pounds each, exhibited by
Mr. Collins ; also two litters from the State Primary School, which
were among the best specimens of porkers we often find.

Mr. J. K. Knox exhibited 38 Cotswold sheep, Dr. Wakefield
11, and other exhibitors made up an excellent show in this depart-
ment.

The show of poultry was very good, much better than at some
former fairs of the same Societ}'.

In the hall everything was properly arranged, and each article
could be easil}' found by the examining committee, which cannot be
said of all exhibitions.

Fruits were exhibited in abundance ; H. M. Sessions and A. B.
Howard were perhaps the largest contributors, yet other parties
showed very fine specimens of several kinds.

Vegetables were plenty, and most of them of a verj" fine quality ;
also seed-corn of several different varieties.

Cut-flowers, handsomely arranged, were exhibited by a number of
contributors ; among which was Mr. A. B. Howard of Belchertown,
who showed 150 of his 2,000 varieties of verbenas.

The exhibition of bread, butter, cheese, wine, and canned fruits
was good, and in the class of domestic manufactures there were
many articles of real merit.

There was about the usual number of entries of agricultural
implements and machinery, consisting of mowing-machines, stump-
puller, etc.

If we compare the contributions of to-day with those of the first
annual fair of the Society 24 years ago, we shall be convinced that
good progress has been made, and the money given by the State
has been judiciously expended.

Levi P. Warner.

FRANKLIN.

A report of the doings of the Franklin Society, to be commensurate
with the occasion, would not be in accordance with the expressed
wish of the Board ; i. e., concise.

The Society held its twenty-seventh annual exhibition in the new

APPENDIX. xxv

park, situated nearly a mile from the centre of the town of Greenfield,
upon an elevated plateau of ground, which seemed to be well chosen
and naturally adapted for these exhibitions. The grounds have
been put in good condition, with a half-mile track. Buildings,
sheds, and pens for stock, and a grand stand to witness the exhibi-
tion of horses, have been erected. Beneath the stand is a large
hall, with other rooms desirable for the wants of the Society. A
beautiful grove of trees occupies the northerly portion of the
grounds, affording shade as well as shelter, and certainly a charm-
ing, as well as a useful, feature in the park. Good weather, which
is always requisite to the best success, favored the Society, and the
enthusiasm which is enlisted by new grounds and buildings, brought
to the fair a large attendance of people.

Cattle, horses, sheep, swine, and poultry — and all these of supe-
rior excellence, well worthy the pride and ambition of their owners ;
and good specimens as well as herds, of nearly all the pure breeds, —
were on exhibition. Farmers brought, with commendable pride, the
breed which seemed to them best adapted to their respective wants,
and we are informed that the pure breeds are 3'early increasing at
exhibitions. There were also grades of the several breeds, which,
for all purposes (except breeding), seemed to meet the wishes and
wants of their owners. The farmer who keeps and cares for stock
well, is preeminently qualified to keep the higher grades and pure
breeds successfully.

Horses, also, are receiving considerable attention in this section,
and there were many fine animals shown ; a goodly number of
colts promising well ; but, as far as we were able to learn, horses
for speed were receiving the most attention. And the horse for
business, and those adapted for general use, are becoming scarce,
and are supplied from the West. Sheep were shown in goodly
numbers, and many were superior, judging from their mutton and
wool qualities, and their breeding seems intelligent on the part of
the owners.

The show of swine was not only quite large, but of high merit, —
blood tells in swine as clearly as in other stock.

The poultry was a prominent feature of the fair. There were
upwards of 150 entries, nearly all of the pure breeds ; and the pens
contained birds of rare excellence. We have seldom, if ever, seen
a better display of poultry at an agricultural fair.

The town hall contained the exhibition of fruits, flowers, vege-
tables, grains, articles of domestic manufacture, paintings, and
almost every conceivable article both for ornamental and domestic
use. The hall was the centre of attraction in the evening, being
filled with people who were highly entertained, not only by the
4

xxvi REPORTS OF DELEGATES.

exhibition but by vocal and instrumental music. The display of
fruits was an attractive and interesting feature of the exhibition.
Apples and pears were shown in great variety, comprising all the
well-known sorts, and some of local origin which were promising.
Grapes were abundant, and some new seedlings were very fine.

The cereals were very prominent, the corn being displayed in traces
that were truly imposing. The vegetables were in good condition,
were true of their type and sorts, and but few were overgrown.

The exhibition in the hall was of high order of merit, most admir-
abl}T arranged, and interesting and instructing to all. If we are to
judge the farming interests of Franklin County b}r the show of live-
stock and products of the farm as we saw them on exhibition, we
must conclude that a high course of agriculture is pursued, at least
by those who exhibit their products and live-stock at the fair of the
enterprising Agricultural Society of Franklin County.

O. B. Hadwen.

DEERFIELD VALLEY.

This enterprising Society was fortunate, " as usual," in having
two pleasant da}'s for their sixth exhibition.

On arriving at the ground rather earby on the morning of the first
day, I found the President, Mr. David L. Smith, at the gate, active
in assisting and giving directions, and, during my stay, I was pleased
to observe the readiness and efficiency with which the officers dis-
charged their various duties.

Concerning the interest taken in the Society, it may be sufficient
to say, that there were entries of 200 head of neat-stock, 275 of
sheep, and 110 of horses and colts. Of swine, there were 8 entries.
Of poultry, 20. In the hall, 503. Other departments, 29. Two hun-
dred and sixty persons received premiums and gratuities. Notwith-
standing the severe drought had left its mark on much of the stock,
still the exhibit was creditable to the Society.

Of the classes of neat-stock, perhaps the most noticeable were the
oxen and steers, — good, straight, well-bred and well-kept animals.
Some j'earling steers, by W. S. Williams, and Thompson and Hill-
man, were well worthy of the prizes they received.

The town of Heath provided the only town team, — sixteen pairs
of very fair-looking oxen.

The entries of pure-bred bulls and cows comprised five animals in
each class, some of them good specimens of the breeds the}r rep-
resented.

Dairy-cows — entered as such — were not quite so numerous as I

APPENDIX. xxvii

expected to see at a show of this Society, yet there were a number
that appeared to be well bred and good milkers.

Among the other classes of stock were many valuable animals.

The pens allotted to sheep were well filled with the breeds known
as fine, long, and middle woolled, and grades. A considerable
number of the flocks were very superior. This section of the State
appears to be well adapted to sheep husbandry, and judging from
the exhibition of sheep, it should be profitable.

The show of swine was small, but good.

Poultry was represented by most of the prominent breeds.

The exhibition of trained oxen and steers was, as it deserved to
be, one of the attractive features of the show. At the drawing-
matches, the stone-boat, or drag, was used, which does not afford a
chance to test completely either training or fitness for various kinds
of work. The trials showed that the animals did the best they could,
and were willing to try to do more. But on account Of the excessive
loads, we regret to say that, in our opinion, this part of the exhibi-
tion was hardly creditable to the Society.

The display of fruit, vegetables, and grains was good.

Some excellent samples of butter and cheese were shown, but the
fame of this region for butter-making had led us to expect a sharper
competition for the prizes.

The ladies' department, in addition to an abundance of good,
wholesome bread, contained many things that required care, patience,
skill and industry to produce. The offerings indicated that the
ladies were not unmindful of the prosperity of the Society.

In the youths' department were numerous contributions, possessing
merit, and giving evidence of much that is hopeful for the future.

The address of G. T. Barker, Esq., of Pittsfield, was an eloquent
effort, in which the orator alluded to those well-worn subjects, the
importance of agriculture, and the felicities of a farmer's life.

The exhibition of horses on the second da}7 brought many fine
animals to the grounds, with the usual gathering of eager spectators.
At the trials of speed, and at the other trials, where to "go" was
not regarded as so much importance ; the drivers, ladies and gentle-
men, lads and misses, showed much address in management, and a
commendable consideration for their horses.

As might be expected from the favorable weather, the energy of
the officers, and the interest manifested in the Society, the fair was,
financially, satisfactory, and we think that the endeavors of the
" executive committee to keep up the credit of the Society for a well-
balanced cattle-show and fair," were reasonably successful. Our
associate, Mr. C. E. Hawks, and his estimable lady, have my sincere
thanks for hospitality and kindness shown me.

A. H. Holland,

xxviii REPORTS OF DELEGATES.

BERKSHIRE.

The sixty-seventh annual exhibition of the Berkshire Agricultural
Society was held October 3, 4 and 5, upon its own grounds, pleas-
antly situated in a delightful valley lying among, or close to, the
Green Mountain range, whose hills were covered with the bright
autumnal leaves, making it one of the most beautiful places the eyes
ever rested upon.

The weather was what would be called " cold, cloudy weather" ;
not what the officers and members desired. "Where a Society gives
so liberally in premiums, and depends upon its receipts, it needs at
least one pleasant day. Yet the Society is strong and well managed,
and there is no danger but that it will always make a creditable
show, in its finances as well as in its public exhibitions.

The Society is the first that ever awarded premiums, and from its
commencement it has increased steadily and surely ; to-day it is one
of the best-managed and strongest societies in the State.

The exhibition, I was told, was not up to some of the former
displays, yet it was good. I cannot well designate the contributors'
names, or the articles upon exhibition, although there were many
entries worthy of mention.

The exhibition of neat-stock was quite large, and many valuable
animals were exhibited, among which were the Holsteins, which
appear to have a strong hold with the farmers of Berkshire. Dur-
hams, Devons, Alderneys and Ayrshires, were exhibited in good
numbers, all having their warm friends.

Milch cows, sheep, and swine were well represented, and were an
attractive part of the exhibition.

Poultrj- was well represented, showing many fine birds. The
Society will see the need of having platforms, so that fowls can be
shown to better advantage.

The exhibition of horses was good, both in quality and in number,
showing that the people are interested in raising and using good
horses.

The hall was full, too full to show to advantage. The vegetables
were of the best kind. I have never seen so many well-ripened
vegetables at any exhibition. Butter and cheese were also the best
I have ever seen. They all showed evidence of labor and care, and
were attractively displayed.

The display of fruit was not large, hardly what I should expect,
from the abundance of the present year. The fruit was shown under
glass, in unoccupied spaces about the hall, and in that manner
could not be displayed to advantage.

APPENDIX. xxix

Much credit is due the ladies. The*ir department was full and
complete, and had suitable space been allowed them to exhibit their
work, they could have made one of the finest displaj-s ever seen ; I
will not except that in the ladies' pavilion at the Centennial.

The Society will see that some few additions could be made to
advantage, such as platforms for poultiy, and some little additions
to the hall ; also in the arrangement of stock by placing each class
by itself. However, with all the little faults, the officers and mem-
bers ma}r congratulate themselves upon their success, as their exhi-
bition is among the best in the State.

Thanks to the officers for their cordial attention while with them.

W. L. Warner.

HOUSATONIC.

By a mistake for which j'our delegate, or some other person, was
accountable, he did not learn of the time of the Housatonic exhibi-
tion until he saw the account of the first day's work in the paper.
Making the most of the time that remained, he visited the grounds
on the last day of the fair. From the large number of people pres-
ent, and the evident satisfaction which all persons interested in
the work manifested, your delegate has good reason to think that
the exhibition was an entire success, as securing the purpose for
which it was held.

Many relics of revolutionary times were on exhibition, showing
the great advance made in *the last century in all that pertains to
the improvement and comfort of the people.

In the afternoon, a very able address was delivered by H. J. Can-
field, Esq., of Stockbridge. Your delegate was forced into this ser-
vice, also, as he generally is, — a fact that would have been passed
over in silence, were it not that he wishes to compliment the Society
on the admirable arrangement which they always make for the
speakers on such occasions, — a pleasant contrast to the miserable
disorder which prevails in some societies, where there is comfort
for neither speaker nor hearer.

Although regretting his ability to give a detailed account of the
agricultural products, your delegate has nothing but good words for
the Housatonic Society.

P. A. Chadbourne.

xxx REPORTS OF DELEGATES.

NORFOLK.

At the request of Dr. Loring, he being absent at the Centennial, I
make this report to the Board.

The twenty-eighth annual exhibition took place on the 28th, 29th
and 30th of September. The weather was pleasant on all three
days. The exhibition, in all its departments, was fully up to the
standard of former years. All the cattle-pens were filled with ani-
mals creditable to the Society.

The show of swine was very superior in all respects.

The show of horses, probably, never was excelled at any county
exhibition within the State.

Fruit, vegetables and flowers were in profusion, and of a high
order.

The ladies' rooms were well filled with their handiwork. There
were forty entries of bread and butter, and poultry in great variety.

Shaw & Brother of West Roxbury exhibited a newly invented
swivel-plough that drew the attention of fanners, and received the
first premium on the field.

A pair of beautiful twin heifers, Jerseys, two years old, with
calves by their side, from the Blue Hill Stock Farm, was admired
by all.

Gentlemen : The record of this Society for twenty-eight years
stands to-day without a blemish. Much of the seed sown is bearing
fruit to the honor and interest of the community, and of the noble
State that has given her her fostering care. Whatever her destiny
may be in the future, the charge of meanness cannot be laid to her
door, either to her patrons or to her sister societies. Her fault, if
an}T, has been in bestowing too liberal awards and in her manage-
ment, and if any are to suffer from her misfortunes, it will not be
the State or the community, but individuals of the Society.

Eliphalet Stone.

BRISTOL

The report of the Bristol Count}' fair last year, from the fertile
brain and pen of the talented delegate, was so ornate in its descrip-
tions and exhaustive in its delineations, that I need say but little
more than that the show this year was regarded as quite the peer of
that in several departments one of peculiar excellence, and as a
whole, equal to any of its predecessors.

But for other pressing duties, I should have been upon the

APPENDIX. xxxi

grounds promptly the first day. Arriving on the second, which is
the great day, I learned that the ploughing took place on the first,
that a large number of teams competed, and that the work, which
was in sward land, was well done.

Inside of the hall, the vegetables, grains, fruits, flowers and
needle-work, were in profusion, of fine qualities, and advantageously
displayed. Crayon-work, paintings, shell-work, sewing-machines,
carpeting, silver-plated ware, a counterpane with 81,988 stitches,
made in three weeks, by Mrs. Mary Turner, a lady seventy-two
years old, and various other nice articles, had been contributed.
Implements of husbandry of improved styles, the products of the
foundry and of the cotton mill, carriages, and specimens of finely
wrought marble, were not wanting. Bread, butter, and cheese were
to be seen as usual. The hall is large, and it was well filled.
Altogether it was a fine exhibition.

Outside there was an excellent show of stock of several of the
thoroughbred classes ; it is said there were over 200 head in all.
Town teams were there in considerable numbers. The show of
horses was pronounced the best the Society has ever made, both
in the number and the value of the animals shown. There were
splendid males ; and the brood-mares and colts were in such numbers
as to demonstrate that the farmers in Bristol County did not mean
to depend upon Canada and Vermont for a supply of good horses.
One of the reporters present said, that such was the display of
swine, it was " enough to drive a Jew crazy with horror." Cer-
tainly the Essex specimens were about as near our ideal of perfec-
tion, in this kind of animal, as we could expect to see.

The sheep were good-looking, and the feathered tribes were very
numerous and of multitudinous varieties, — some fancy and some
otherwise. There were fine arrangements for the accommodation
of all.

At the proper hour we were ushered into the upper hall by the
stirring music of the Lyceum band, and found ample tables spread
with good things for the inner man. At the conclusion of the
repast, the band and chairman upon the platform, called attention
to the speaking. Edward L. Pierce, Esq., of Dorchester, who was
the orator of the day, gave a very excellent and timely address on
the necessity of making the farmer's calling more attractive. The
greatest fault of the address, if fault there were, was that it was too
short. This, however, was attributable not so much to the speaker
as to the audience, who were leaving their seats at the tables almost
continuously from the beginning to the end of the address ; hurrying
out to be present in season at the " Polo " on the race-grounds ; so
that, after the distinguished gentleman sat down, and }'Our humble

xxxii REPORTS OF DELEGATES.

delegate was called upon for some remarks, the number of persons
remaining, in addition to the gentlemen upon the platform, was so
small, that there was a very obvious reason for brevity.

The " Polo " came off, viewed by the multitudes, interrupted for
awhile b}- a shower of rain, although the da}-, on the whole, was
ver}7 favorable. It was estimated that during the day there were
nearly 15,000 people upon the grounds, a few of whom, I judged,
had access to a beverage somewhat stronger than pure water ; but
in general, good order prevailed. Some trotting on the course took
place after the pla}*, and the third day, as I learn, was mainly given
to performances of the same.

The Bristol is one of the old and strong societies of the State,
this being its fifty-third exhibition. This last affords abundant
evidence of the continued vigor of the institution, and contributes
its quota of proof that in New England agriculture is still vital
and progressive. Its finances are in good condition, the amount of
awards large, and there can be no doubt that the Society is well
worthy of the continued bounty of the State.

It is but just that I acknowledge the kind attentions of gentle-
men connected with the fair, especially those of Judge Bennett of
Taunton, — our brother member here, — of our old friend and co-
laborer, Mr. Slade of Somerset, and of the Secretary of the Society,

Mr. Rhodes of Taunton.

H. Vincent.

BRISTOL CENTRAL.

I had the honor of attending the agricultural exhibition of the
Bristol Central Agricultural Society, at Myricksville, on the 13th
and 14th of September last, and saw much that was enterprising and
commendable, and some things that were very novel.

The Society has ample and commodious grounds and buildings
for its exhibition, and everything seemed convenient and sub-
stantial ; but the sparse population in its vicinit}', and the dry and
comparatively barren appearance of the surrounding country, led
me at first to exclaim, Where are the people coming from? Nothing
but a single track, and a small railway station near, seemed to war-
rant the large outlays made on the park there, and even the potency
of the little railroad looked doubtful. But on further acquaintance
and inquiry, I found that the Bristol Central was rightly named.
On the one side lies busy Taunton, and on the other the factories
of Fall River, about seven miles equidistant from Myrick's, while
New Bedford, fifteen miles to the southward, brings up the rear,

APPENDIX. xxxiii

and, perhaps, foots some of the bills, and furnishes the means of
lubrication. Captain Hawes of Fairhaven, an experienced naviga-
tor and amateur farmer, fitby occupies the wheel-house of this Society,
and, like Palinurus of old, it is believed, is safely steering this craft
between the Scylla and Charybdis of hard times, into the large, open
sea of improvement and success.

The exhibition opened with a ploughing-match, in which there
were thirteen competitors, half of them driving oxen. The lands were
an eighth of an acre each, to be ploughed inside of fifty minutes by
the oxen, and forty minutes by the horses ; but the ground was too
dry and baked to show good work.

There was a good show of cattle, chiefly of the Alderney and
Ayrshire persuasion. The sleek and portly Shorthorns, which so
largeby make up the exhibitions of Western Massachusetts, were
wanting. A few thin specimens of this breed from Bridgewater
were the only ones we noticed. The fearful drought, which was at
its height at the time of this exhibition, doubtless had considerable
to do with the appearance of the stock and the scarcity of this
particular breed. The City Farm of Fall River, and the Riverside
Stock Farm of West Bridgewater, sent thither large and creditable
herds.

Half a dozen pens of sheep, and nine of swine, the former largely
Southdowns, and the latter Chesters, furnished the attraction in
these departments. The City Farm of Fall River was accredited
with two porkers, weighing respectively 940 and 560 pounds live
weight, with fat enough on them to satisfy a moderate pauper.

The show of poultry, 140 coops strong, was very creditable, and
the breeds were of the more fashionable and fancy kinds.

The horse exhibition was comparatively good, but decidedly
leggy. A few breeding animals and good colts were shown, and
some stylish carriage-horses. But the offer of $180 in premiums
for speed the first day, $185 the second day, and $405 the third
day, made the sports of the turf preeminent.

The displa}T of the premium stock on the track, with badges,
indicating their rank, while the crowd halted in front of the grand
stand to hear the awards read by the president, was to our mind
one of the chief attractions of the occasion. First came the marshals
mounted ; then the New Bedford Band, in which were four buglemen
that followed General Sherman in his matchless march to the sea ;
then sixteen horses led by grooms ; then eleven bulls of various ages ;
then six yoke of oxen on a single cart, ornamented and overhung with
vegetables ; then four specimens of fat cattle ; then milch cows and
heifers ; then the steers and baby calves ; and lastly, a pair of large
draught horses finished the enchanting picture. The animals were not
5

xxxiv REPORTS OF DELEGATES.

allowed to depart immediately, as is the case in some societies, but
were remanded to their stalls and pens to await further and closer
inspection from the public, which was to us a novel and pleasant
opportunity.

The hall exhibitions were like those of many other societies,
meagre in spots, and ample where you would least expect them.

The centennial department, by which is meant the display of
antiquities, was very large and interesting. One gentleman from
Taunton got together 146 articles of this kind, and he had several
rivals.

The ladies showed their hands nobly in various departments, of
which mankind are supposed to know but veiy little.

As a whole, we should say the exhibition was well worthy the
bounty of the State, and highly creditable to the people of Bristol
Centre, and the improvement and elevation of the masses by it are not
to be computed. The loss of the late Dr. Durfee is deeply felt by this
Society, and fortunate will it be when another benefactor like him
arises.

The committee on flowers fitly said : —

" The brilliant contributions of the late lamented ex-president and
devoted friend of our Society, Hon. Nathan Durfee, for the first time in
the long series of our annual exhibitions, have ceased to add lustre to the
display of fruit and flowers which he loved so well.

" The vacant space which he would so nobly fill if living, is more
eloquent in its pathos than any words of eulogy which your committee
could bestow. Though we may never hope to rival the exquisite displays
which alone ensured the success of this department, their memory will
serve as a perpetual incentive to emulate his example."

J. N. Bagg.

PLYMOUTH.

The fifty-seventh annual fair of the Plymouth County Agricultural
Society was holden at Bridge water on September 20, 21 and 22. Your
delegate arrived on the grounds of the Societ}^ on the first day of
the fair, while a cold north-east storm was prevailing, and everything
looked cheerless indeed for a successful show ; but events showed
that the Plymouth County people were not to be debarred from the
pleasure of their annual holiday from fear of threatening clouds or
damp feet. The Societ}' have one of the best-arranged halls for
holding exhibitions there is in the State. They expended within
the last j'ear, some eleven or twelve thousand dollars in enlarging
and improving their hall. It is situated on a slight eminence over-

APPENDIX. xxxv

looking their grounds of fifty-five acres, with a beautiful grove on
one side. It has a basement for the reception and exhibition of
agricultural implements. On the gTQund-floor is a large, well-
arranged hall for the displa}- of the products of the farm, the dairy,
the workshop, and the ladies' department. On the floor above, they
have a large, commodious dining-hall, and a reception-room for hold-
ing society meetings, etc.

The exhibition of fruits, vegetables, and the dairy were very
creditable.

The ladies are entitled to great praise for the magnificent display
of flowers. It was one oblong pyramid, reaching nearly the length
of the hall. It was just splendid.

The ploughing-match took place on the first da}\ There was
quite a competition for the honors of that department. There were
seventeen entries for the match, — eight of ox and nine of horse
teams, with different patent ploughs. The ploughmen understood
their business, and did good work, showing the great improvement
that has been made in the plough, and its work, in the last sixty years.
There is no part of the farm-work of more importance than good
ploughing. When well done, there are many points gained towards
a successful crop.

There was a good display of cattle, horses, sheep, swine, and
poultry. Among the cows, the Jerseys were the most numerous.
Owing to the excessive long drought, the cattle in general were
not in good show condition. The storm continued through the
second day, but there was quite a good attendance of people. At
the hour for dinner, there was a tolerably good assembly gathered
round the festive board. After which good cheer prevailed, and
humorous speaking by members of the Society and invited guests.

On the whole, we think the old Plymouth County Society is
among the prosperous ones of the State. I hold in pleasant remem-
brance the reception and attention given me by the officers of the
Society, and the kind entertainment I received in the pleasant home
of Mr. J. E. Crane and his lady.

Milo J. Smith.

II I N G II A M

The eighteenth exhibition of the Hingham Agricultural and
Horticultural Society was held at Hingham on the 27th and 28th of
September, 1876, and, in many respects, it compared favorably with
those of any former year. The weather was propitious, and the

xxxvi REPORTS OF DELEGATES.

management such as to attract a large attendance. The first day
was principally occupied in arranging the products in the hall for
the full exhibition on the succeeding day.

The interest which attaches to this Society is such as to render it
always one of special attention. Its record is one of unusual value,
from the fact that its early founders and patrons were men who
attached large importance to agriculture, and aided in applying their
intelligence and industr}^ to the soil.

The entry-books gave assurance of a most successful exhibition
in all departments. The hall was opened to the public at an early
hour, and presented an attractive appearance. Notwithstanding
the severe drought of the summer months, the apples were large
and plentiful, and those exhibited by Fearing Burr, Amos Bates,
Albert F. Whiting, Andrew Cushing, Jeremy Murphy, Charles W.
Cushing, and John R. Brewer, were of excellent quality.

The display of pears was large, the principal exhibitors being
Mrs. Fiske, 25 varieties ; Charles W. Cushing, 20 ; Amos Bates, 25 ;
J. Murphy, 15 ; H. L. Fearing, 25. Excellent varieties were also
exhibited by Albert Whiting, Alfred Loring, William Fearing, and
Charles and Andrew Cushing.

The display of grapes was not so large as usual. Some of those
grown under glass, however, would compare favorabby with the
exhibits of the State Society. Henry L. Fearing, Joshua Tower,
Alfred Loring, Mrs. Sarah D. Fiske, Alexander Anderson, Andrew
Cushing, and Amos Bates were among the most successful.

Tables running the entire length of the spacious hall were well
filled with the products of the farm and garden vegetables. John
R. Brewer, Esq., sent from his model farm, the largest collection and
the greatest variety of vegetables on exhibition. They were worthy
of special notice. Ezra M. Whiting had two -marrow squashes,
weighing 149 pounds, grown on a vine not over three feet long.
William and Dana Fearing and Loring Jacob also exhibited excel-
lent squashes. Among other exhibits were those of Henry D.
Hyde, C. W. Cushing, L. R. Hall of South Weymouth, and a
number of juvenile gardeners, — bo3's and girls, — whose industry
was rewarded by nice little crops of pop-corn, potatoes, and other
edibles.

The show of flowers, because of the extreme dry weather, was not
large. Several ladies, however, offered designs which were very
beautiful. There was a large and excellent display of pot-plants by
Mrs. John R. Brewer. The ladies of Hingham always make a credit-
able exhibition of their handiwork in worsted and embroidery ; and
the cases of bread and butter and cheese attested to their skill in the
dairy and kitchen as well.

APPENDIX. xxxvii

Hingham takes the lead, in the Old Bay State, in the manufact-
ure of buckets and children's wooden toy ware. In this department,
Corthell & Cushing occupied a considerable space. The South
Shore Mills of Frederick Long & Co. exhibited fancy knit-goods in
great variety.

A large room in the exhibition-hall was devoted to the exhibit of
antiquities, revolutionary relics, and curiosities, in which this ancient
town is peculiarly rich. This drew a large crowd throughout the
da}*, and was one of the most attractive and interesting features of
the occasion. Hon. Solomon Lincoln, the historian of the town,
contributed a collection of ancient books and a pewter baptismal-
basin which was used in time of Rev. Peter Hobart, the first minis-
ter in Hingham. Reverend Dr. Miles exhibited old books, printed
in 1488 and 1523 ; pay-rolls of Capt. Fearing's company, which
went to the terrible bloodless war in Cohasset, 1814 ; bed-quilts over
200 3'ears old ; a halberd used in the Revolution ; a crayon-portrait of
Paul Revere ; a chair formerly belonging to John Hancock ; linen
napkins, spun and woven in Hingham from flax raised there ; and
original bills of sale of negroes in Hingham, etc.

The ploughing-match, upon the grounds of the Society, took place
on the morning of the second day. The work done would do credit
to farmers in any part of Massachusetts, and attracted large num-
bers.

The cattle-pens were well filled with some fine and well-bred stock ;
the entries including 25 cows, 10 bulls, 20 working-oxen and steers,
and a goodly number of sheep. John R. Brewer and Daniel Cush-
ing exhibited several pairs of well-looking working-oxen, and Charles
W. Cushing his splendid Devon bull "Choctaw," two years old.
Grade sheep were also shown*by Mr. Brewer and James F. Leach of
Bridgewater. It is evident that much attention has been given here
to wool-bearing sheep by farmers who appreciate its importance.
The display of poultry and pigeons was good.
Premiums were awarded to David Cushing and Philo Leach for
best draught-horses ; for best Devon cow, to C. W. Cushing ; for
best grade cow, to Erastus Whiston ; to Henry W. Burditt and J. T.
Thompson, for best herd of cows. Best beef cattle, to Mr. C. W.
and David Cushing. First premium on swine to Erastus Whiton
for best show of fat hogs, and to Oliver L. Jones for five shoats and
forty pigs.

The great outdoor attraction, on the forenoon of the second da}T,
was the parade of the "Madawaska Cavalry," numbering about one
hundred and fifty men and boys, each of whom was mounted on a
tame steed, and accoutred in the most grotesque style, with old
swords, saddles, and uniform coats and hats, which had, apparently,

xxxviii REPOKTS OF DELEGATES.

been buried in dust for half a century. The members of this corps
uttered their dread war-whoop, to the gi'eat delight of the youngsters
and the amusement of their elders. The command of this valiant
corps devolved upon Gen. Ebed L. Ripley, supported by a large
and efficient staff. After making a detour of the town, they pro-
ceeded to the fair-grounds, where they performed a series of evolu-
tions and sham-fights for the edification of the crowd.

The annual dinner took place at twelve o'clock, a procession hav-
ing been formed under the direction of Col. John C. Whiton, chief-
marshal, and marched, under the music of the Hingham Brass Band,
to the spacious hall. Nearly five hundred persons were seated. At
the close of a sumptuous dinner, Edmund Hersey, Esq., President of
the Societ}', presided, and in his opening remarks spoke of the dis-
play of the products of the farms, and compared the rude imple-
ments of their fathers with the improvements of the present, and
said we were encouraged to persevere in the progress which has
placed this country foremost among the nations of the earth. Ad-
dresses were also made by Charles G. Davis, Charles Hale, Edward
L. Pierce, Gen. E. L. Ripley, Rev. Henry A. Miles, D. D., Samuel
Downer, Hon. John D. Long, and your delegate, who closed with a
sentiment to the "Hingham Agricultural and Horticultural Society :
It has become distinguished for its agricultural and other industrial
pursuits. As the farmers' home, it has become the abode of indus-
try, peace, comfort, intelligence, and happiness."

This Society has been fortunate in securing the services of the
ablest and best men for its officers, who do not fail to dispense
largely of their wealth and influence to promote its interests and the
interests of the county and town. The business of the Society is con-
ducted with promptness and fidelit}', a*nd its management is such as
to be a sure guarantee of success.

The President and John R. Brewer, Esq., together with its officers

and members, have my hearty thanks for their kind attentions and

hospitality.

S. B. Phinnet.

MARSHFIELD.

It was my pleasure to attend the tenth annual exhibition of the
Marshfield Agricultural and Horticultural Society on the fourth and
fifth days of last October.

Arriving on the grounds at 10 a. m., of the first day, I found a busy
state of preparation for the exhibition, and entries in all depart-
ments continued to be made till quite late in the day. Coming from

APPENDIX. xxxix

a section of the State where stock-raising is a prominent feature in
agriculture, I naturally examined the cattle, horses, sheep and
swine first.

The entries of cattle seemed more numerous than usual, for several
new pens were improvised to receive late and unexpected additions.
The impression received from a somewhat careful examination of
the stock was, that the farmers within the limits of this Society,
while raising abundance of stock, are doing so in a haphazard way,
or at least, with only a very partial application of the laws of
scientific breeding. Yet, in conversation with prominent exhibitors,
I learned that a marked improvement was apparent from year
to year in the quality of premium stock ; so it seems that this
Society, in giving premiums to pure-bred breeding animals onby, is
giving an impetus in the right direction to a community who have
followed, to a very limited extent, the practice of pure breeding.

On entering the hall, a most attractive display met the eye on
every side. Apples and pears seemed to be literally showered
down. Quinces and peaches were as scarce as apples and pears
were abundant. Grapes of the common varieties were exhibited,
and eleven entries of very handsome cranberries were shown by
exhibitors from Marshfield and Duxbury.

The floral display was exceptionally fine, and was made doubly
attractive by the offering of Mr. Alfred Phillips, representing a
fountain, most happy in design and skilful in execution.

Domestic manufactures and fancy articles showed an endless
variety of shapes and remarkable fertility of invention, as well as
taste and skill in fabrication.

In the basement there was a display of agricultural implements,
stoves, and vegetables. This last department was very full and
attractive. A small section was devoted to the products of Green
Harbor Marsh, and the samples of squashes, pumpkins, beets,
potatoes, tomatoes, cucumbers, oats and rye, raised without any
fertilizers, suggested astonishing possibilities for this famous
marsh.

Through the courtesy of President Baker and Dr. Henry, I visited
this marsh in compan}* with the Doctor and Mr. Edward White,
and there saw what is being done towards reclaiming those thousands
of acres. ' From Mr. White I obtained a few facts, and saw his hay
raised at the rate of 5,470 pounds to the acre ; examined his oats
yielding at the rate of 40£ bushels to the acre ; his rye, at the rate
of 34]- bushels per acre. I saw the ground from which these crops
were taken. This was the first breaking-up of the ground, and the
crops were quite irregular from the difficulty of covering the seed.
A load of hay from the marsh was on the ground for examination,

xl REPORTS OF DELEGATES.

and when fed to cattle, was eaten with readiness, showing a keen
appreciation of its good qualities.

Another unusual feature of the exhibition was the collection in
Antiquarian Hall of various old-time relics, forming a very respect-
able museum of curiosities. The Old Colony abounds in articles of
this nature, and these were willingly loaned by their owners for the
purpose of adding interest to the fair. The articles were, for the
most part, well arranged and labelled, so that it was an easy matter
to see and understand this exhibition of reminders of bj'-gone da}^.
Very noticeable were the souvenirs of Webster, his trusty gun and
sporting implements, the sword of Washington worn by him at
Braddock's defeat, and a powder-horn bearing the date of 1756.
Old books and papers were collected on a table in the centre, con-
spicuous among them Bibles bearing the imprint 1599 and 1619.
A Greek and Latin lexicon printed at Antwerp in 1588. In a locked
glass case were collected and arranged many articles of much his-
toric value. Among these I noticed the inkstand of Peregrine
White ; a hammer brought over in the "Mayflower" ; tongs, sugar-
spoon and steel}Tards recently excavated from the cellar of the old
Governor Winslow's house in Marshfield ; a brass box bearing the
date of 1497, with a cover curiously divided, suggesting some
scientific purpose.

The hundreds of articles like thpse mentioned, and the courtesy
and consideration of those in charge in explaining and adding a
needed word of information, made Antiquarian Hall a very inter-
esting, enjoyable, and profitable part of the fair.

The after-dinner speeches were introduced by President Baker,
who stated that this Society, in its ten years' histoiy, had secured a
membership of 1,029, disbursed in premiums $6,500, possesses prop-
erty valued at $12,820, and has a debt of $5,087.

The Marshfield Society is a standing proof that a really first-class
exhibition can be maintained for a series of years, and draw large
crowds, without the questionable features of the track and horse-race.

All honor to the officers of this Society, who are thus conscien-
tiously and perseveringly maintaining a higher standard of moral
excellence in the management of its fairs, than prevails in most of
our societies.

Metcalf J. • Smith.

BARNSTABLE.

The thirty-third annual fair of the Barnstable County Agricultu-
ral Society was held on the society's grounds at Barnstable on the
nineteenth and twentieth days of September. The weather was

APPENDIX. xli

fine the first day until near evening, when a fine shower was gladly
received.

The morning of the second day was not favorable to a large
attendance ; it was somewhat shower}7, with a cool north wind.
The train from the West brought but few ; that from the East was
well filled.

The undersigned arrived on the morning train from Boston the
first day, and proceeded at once to the hall and ground of the exhi-
bition, spending his time in examining the various animals as they
arrived, and in the hall where persons were constantly arriving with
the greatest number of articles and things for exhibition.

The annual meeting of the Society was held at Masonic Hall dur-
ing the morning hours, and I was informed passed off harmoniously.

The exhibition of animals was not as large as your delegate antic-
ipated. The pens were filled with 28 cows and other cattle ; 7 yoke
of oxen ; 4 pens of sheep and 11 lots of swine. Among the cows
were some fine Jerseys and Ayrshires ; the Jerseys were superior
animals, and their progeny bid fair to rival their clams. The oxen
were of fair size and form. A fine fat ox was exhibited, weighing
1 ,825 pounds. One fine Jersey bull and an Ayrshire bull were exhib-
ited ; quite superior animals.

The poultry-show was small, — 6 coops of hens, 3 of ducks, 2 of
geese and 2 of turkeys ; all very good specimens.

Of horses there were but few on exhibition ; some good ones, though
not calculated to attract the envy of the sportsman or the farmer.

The ploughing-match excited but little interest. Four ox-teams
and one two-horse team competed for the prizes. The work was
well done and in a reasonable time, considering the nature of the soil.

Vegetables. — In the hall the whole number of exhibitors was
twenty-seven, many entering a large number of varieties of potatoes,
onions, squashes, beets, etc. The display was a great surprise, con-
sidering the unprecedented drought of the season, and suffered but
little in comparison with exhibitions in more favorable localities.

The exhibition of cereals was small ; fine specimens of rye, oats
and corn were exhibited.

Fruit. — The table devoted to fruit was loaded with the choicest
varieties of apples, pears and grapes, all of the different varieties,
and tempting to look upon, even to a modern Eve. Canned fruit
and jellies were there in abundance. Bread and butter graced one
end of the table, which, to the eye, was equal to any heretofore
seen, and witnessed to the skill and judgment of the exhibitors.

In the floral department both wild and cultivated flowers were
arranged with exquisite taste, skill and judgment, making the dis-
play a most attractive feature of the exhibition.
6

xlii REPORTS OF DELEGATES.

Of domestic manufactures the hall was literally filled ; more
than three hundred specimens were exhibited, — sewing, knitting,
braiding and embroidery. Of ornamental works, there were paint-
ings, wax-flowers, hair-wreath, shell-flowers and Sepoj- work, with
many pictures, not suffering in comparison with the best exhi-
bitions.

The antiquarian exhibition, though not as extensive as expected,
showed some most interesting articles, which attracted universal
attention. Among them, two silver spoons belonging to the mother
of Benjamin Franklin. Also a child's cradle, made from a pattern
brought over on the " Mayflower," which has been in one family and
descendants over two hundred years, with other and numerous
articles of interest.

There were some fine musical instruments on exhibition, and agri-
cultural implements, especially the strawbeny cultivator.

After a careful examination of all things in the hall, dinner was
announced in the upper room, where plates were laid for about four
hundred guests, and all were filled.

The dinner, where Hon. A. T. Perkins, President of the Society,
presided, was a good one for the occasion, as all who partook will
attest. After the dinner, which was a most social one, the doors of
the hall were thrown open and filled to overflowing with an anxious
crowd to listen to the addresses of the Hon. Geo. A. King and
others.

It was with great regret }rour delegate was compelled by indispo-
sition to leave before the address was closed. The undersigned
would here express the great pleasure and instruction he derived
from his attendance, and especially to Hon. S. B. Phinney and Dr.
A. Eldridge, to whom he is indebted for a ride through the village
and to his delightful home in Yarmouth, where he had the pleasure
of spending a pleasant hour, are his thanks due. The great interest
manifested by all who attended gave assurance to the undersigned
that a bright future awaits the Societ}\

D. B. Fenn.

NANTUCKET.

The twenty-first annual exhibition of the Nantucket Agricultural
Society was held on the 6th and 7th of September, it being about
three weeks earlier in the season than last year.

On account of a change in the time for the steamboat to leave
Wood's Holl, I did not arrive at Nantucket until four o'clock in the
afternoon of the first day of the fair. The President of the Society,

APPENDIX. xliii

Andrew M. Myrick, Esq., met me at the landing and took me in his
carnage to the fair-grounds, about one mile from the village, where
I found that the officers of the Society had detained the cattle,
sheep, swine and poultry, that I might see what a good show of
stock the Nantucket Society had on exhibition.

There were some good cattle of several different breeds entered
for premium, but owing to the very dry season, the cattle were
rather thin in flesh. There were some fine Jersey and good Ayr-
shire cows, that were well worth}' of notice.

The stock was well arranged and convenient for committees and
spectators to examine.

There were entered for premium ;. Of the Jersey breed, 6 thorough-
bred cows, 26 grade cows, 8 heifers, 3 bulls. Of the Ayrshire
breed, 4 thoroughbred cows, 17 grade cows, 12 heifei's, 4 bulls.

Of native stock there were 26 cows, 9 heifers, 3 yoke of oxen, 5
pair of steers, 48 swine, and several sheep. Also a number of
coops of poultry.

The ploughing was on the enclosed grounds, the first day of the
fair, comprising three horse-teams and two ox-teams, and was
well done.

During the day, the Athenreum Hall was being filled with fruits,
flowers, fancy articles, household manufactures, bread, honey, butter,
vegetables, etc., for the premiums offered by the Society. The hall
was finely decorated by the ladies, with appropriate mottoes hanging
on the walls. The evening was devoted to the examination of the
many articles entered for premium by the ladies. The hall was filled
with people enjoying the holiday of the year b}' a good social time.

There were a large number of entries in the different divisions of
household manufactures, all of which were worth}' the prizes offered
by the Societ}\ Some fine specimens of carved work were exhibited
by James W. Folger.

The exhibition of fruit was not as large as it probably would
have been if the fair had been two or three weeks later in the
season. There were five entries of butter, all good.

The vegetables occupied a good space in the hall, and all of them
were well worthy of the premiums offered by the Society.

The music furnished for the occasion did its share towards making
a perfect success of the fair.

The second day was devoted to the show of horses. Five entries
of mares and colts ; 5 of colts ; stallions, 1 entiy. Family-horses,
7 entries ; draught-horses, 3 ; walking-horses, 2 ; trotting-horses, 2.
The most of which were fine animals.

The people assembled again at the Athenaeum Hall in the evening
of the second day of the fair for another social interview, which was

xliv REPORTS OF DELEGATES.

enjoyed by all present. The ladies are deserving of great credit
for the large exhibition of household manufactures, flowers, etc.,
nicely arranged in the tastefully decorated hall.

The officers and members take great interest in the Societ}'. It
really is the holiday of the year with them, and a majority of
the inhabitants on the island lend a helping hand for the benefit of
the Society. The weather has been pleasant, and the fair has been
one of success, in every respect.

Thanks to Andrew M. Myrick, Esq., and lady, and Alexander
Macy, Jr., President and Secretary, for their kind attention to me
while in Nantucket.

John E. Merrill.

MARTHA'S VINEYARD.

The annual cattle-show and fair opened Tuesday, October 3, for
the celebration of its nineteenth anniversary.

Producers from all sections came together to present their choicest
products for each other's inspection, and compare the results of
their year's labors.

The season has been a trying one for the farmers, and no one
expected the show of this year would be quite up to the average,
and, probably, in many respects it was not. But the display was,
nevertheless, very creditable.

The first day was assigned for the show of cattle, sheep and
poultry. The entries of cattle were as follows : herds, 4 ; working-
oxen, 6 pairs; cows, 26 (of these, 16 were grade Ayrshires) ; fat
cows, 5 ; young cattle, 27. The animals exhibited were, for the
most part, quite inferior in quality. But the shortness of hay-
crops and pasturage for the past two seasons is, doubtless, sufficient
to account for this in part. Still there were some specimens worthy
of mention ; namely, a fat cow entered by Herman Vincent, and a
pair of working-oxen b}r J. Allen ; some very good three-year-old.
steers, by John Johnson and Elliot Mayhew ; milch cows, by Will-
iam Cottle and T. Whimpany.

The show of sheep was very good, there being 6 entries of bucks
and 81 of ewes and lambs.

The show of poultry is seldom equalled at a county fair, there
being 16 coops, composed of Light Brahmas, White and Brown Leg-
horns, Hamburgs, Bantams, and grades. One coop contained 22,
and none less than 6.

The products of the field and garden were excellent ; a few
specimens well worthy of mention. Such, for instance, are some

APPENDIX. xlv

large pumpkins, shown by some eight competitors ; some winter,
Hubbard and other squashes, — one weighing 44 pounds ; some
watermelons,— one weighing 33 pounds, being one of 8 grown on
one vine, and whose aggregate weight was 176 pounds.

The show of corn was very good.

Apples, pears, grapes, cranberries, quinces, potatoes, onions,
beets, carrots, turnips, cucumbers, peppers, and other articles too*
numerous to mention, found a place upon the fruit-tables.

The different kinds of domestic manufactures and fancy articles
exhibited by the ladies (the work of their own hands), gave the
best evidence of their qualifications to discharge their duties as
prudent, faithful, and industrious housekeepers. This department
was truly a success.

In the evening, a grand concert, under the direction of Prof. G.
C. Wheeler, was given, which was numerously attended and heartily
enjoyed.

The second day there was quite a large number of entries of
horses and colts in the different classes, and about twenty premiums
awarded.

Believing, from the best evidence we could obtain, that the show
for the third and last day would be a success, we took our leave of
our Vineyard friends. And to the officers of the Society our acknowl-
edgments are due, and most cheerfully tendered, for their courteous
attention during the fair.

F. C. Knox.

xlvi

PREMIUMS AND GRATUITIES.

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lvi

PREMIUMS AND GRATUITIES.

Analysis of Premiums and Gratuities — Concluded.

MISCELLANEOUS.

S

6*

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SOCIETIES.

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or objects
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Massachusetts,

_

$3,000 00*

_

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$750 00

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Essex, .

$33 00

30 00

$25 00

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251 75

375

Middlesex,

26 50

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$475 00

104 50

156

Middlesex North,

18 00

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$4 00

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321

Middlesex South,

25 00

60 00

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450 00

82 75

174

Worcester, .

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11 00

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425 00

18 80

180

Worcester West,

20 00

30 00

10 00

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580 00

84 00

228

Worcester North,

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140 00

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180

Worcester North- West,

14 25

30 00

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643 00

118 75

239

Worcester South, .

25 00

35 00

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440 00

22 00

174

Worcester South-East,

3 00

30 00

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550 00

87 50

330

Hampshire, Franklin, )
and Hampden, . )

20 25

10 00

-

-

618 00

50 75

156

Hampshire, .

14 00

16 00

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270 00

191 53

246

Highland,

3 50

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57 00

90 95

232

Hampden,

34 00

30 00

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50 00

-

69

Hampden East,

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25 00

86 00

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200 00

52 75

96

Union, .

6 25

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7 00

103 00

48 25

202

Franklin,

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10 00

5 00

-

795 00

83 00

256

Deerfield Valley,

5 00

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76 29

262

Berkshire,

31 00

-

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-

318 75

492 00

575

Hoosac Valley,

19 00

-

14 00

24 00

905 00

276 50

327

Housatonic, .

28 00

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-

30 00

465 00

385 50

708

Norfolk,

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40 00

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-

870 00

-

185

Hingham,

6 00

-

-

3 95

-

217 00

284

Bristol, .

22 00

30 00

60 00

94 00

1,448 00

359 75

725

Bristol Central,

-

-

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-

656 00

223 65

294

Plymouth,

10 00

60 00

-

23 00

954 00

191 24

532

Marshfield, .

5 00

50 00

-

18 00

-

193 20

636

Barnstable, .

5 00

7 00

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10 00

50 00

159 15

350

Nantucket, .

-

23 00

16 00

-

-

101 35

179

Martha's Vineyard,

6 00f

11 00

-

-

20 00

180 20

416

Totals, .

$415 25

$3,613 00

$216 00

$213 95

$11,482 75

$4,893 11

9,057

* For the planting of trees on not less than five acres, to be paid in 1887.
t Awarded and paid out for raising trees.

J.H.BIake,Des.

FIG 1-3 RYE SMUT.
„ 4-5 ONION SMUT.
„ 6 SPORES OF CORN SMUT.

s e c: p k

ABSTRACT OF RETURNS

AGRICULTURAL SOCIETIES

MASSACHUSETTS.

18 7 6.

EDITED BY

CHARLES L. FLINT,

SECRETARY OF THE STATE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.

BOSTON:

ALBERT J. WEIGHT, STATE PRINTER,

79 Milk Street (corner of Federal).

1877.

PREFACE.

My thanks are due to Edward A. Samuels, Esq., for the beautiful
chromo-lithograph of his Plymouth Rock fowls. This breed is
essentially American in its origin, and it is rapidly growing in
popularity, promising at no distant date to become the favorite
breed for general utility for the farmer. Among the essentials
requisite in a good and profitable breed of poultry in this country
are the following : —

Hardiness ; early maturity, and the development of a large and
full breast, thus affording an abundance of "white meat" as a
table fowl ; good laying qualities, and good setting and motherly
instincts in the female bird.

In respect to hardiness, the "Plymouth Rocks" are almost
unequalled ; they are early fledgers, the chicks being full feathered
when Brahma chicks hatched in the same brood are running about
almost naked. This trait in the " Plymouth Rocks " places them
among the most desirable breeds for early hatchings.

The greatest profit in poultry-raising comes from the birds that
are large and heavy enough for " broilers " by the middle of
June ; early hatched chickens of the ordinary kinds receive many
checks and pull-backs from exposure to inclement weather and cold
storms ; breeds having a large infusion of Asiatic blood are
especially liable to these mishaps, because of their callowness, their
nakedness between the down and feather periods. I have known
of many instances of whole broods of well-grown Brahma chickens
receiving chills in many storms, and dying, when, had they had a
coating of feathers heavy enough to repel the rain and cold, they
would have suffered no serious mishap.

The "Plymouth Rock" chick feathers at a very early stage of
its existence, and while its more tender and less lucky neighbors are
suffering from cold and dampness, it runs about in severe weather
bright and active, and suffers nothing from a cold, late spring.

The matured " Plymouth Rock" fowl is unequalled for hardiness ;
it is thickly feathered, closely built, very full bodied, and is alto-
gether a model New England fowl.

IV PREFACE.

As regards early maturity, I think it is generally admitted that
no breed of fowls can put on as much meat when young, in a
given time, as the " Plymouth Rocks." It is astonishing to see
what full-bodied, heavy birds they are, and when they are com-
pared with the scrawny, lank Asiatics of their own age, they
appear to the very best advantage ; they are, perhaps, not quite
so large, but they are astonishingly compact and solid.

The laying qualities of this breed, I believe, are not so marked as
those of the Leghorn and some few other non-setters. Probably,
taking the year through, the " Plymouth Rock " fowl will lay more
eggs than any of the so-called Asiatic breeds. The eggs are not
quite as large, but are better flavored.

I am indebted, also, to Charles O. Ellms, Esq., of Scituate,
for the admirable cut of his pure-bred Jersey cow, " Jersey Belle,"
No. 2463, A. J. H. B. Her sire was "Victor" (1256); dam,
"Jennie" (2462), by. "Victor" (1256); grandam, "Fannie"
(2460), imported. " Victor " (1256) was sired by " Pilot " (163) ;
dam, "Minnie" (2461), by "Dick Swiveller"; grandam (im-
ported), cow " Duchess." " Jerse}' Belle" is five years old. Mr.
Ellms says she made, in March, 19£ pounds of butter per week;
in June, 16 pounds ; in September, 14 pounds per week, and in
December, ten months from calving, she was making one pound per
clay, and due to calve in two months. Five quarts of milk made
a pound of butter all through the summer, and in December, four
quarts made a pound of butter. Her feed in summer, common
pasture, kept in the barn over night, and had two quarts of shorts ;
in the winter, she was fed on rowen hay and two quarts of shorts
per day. It is a very remarkable j'ield.

My thanks are due, also, to the Massachusetts Society for Pro-
moting Agriculture for the admirable plate illustrating the valuable
essay on onion-smut.

The laws relating to the State Board and to the agricultural
societies will be found in the Appendix, where they will be con-
venient for reference.

CHARLES L. FLINT.

OFFICERS OF THE AGRICULTURAL SOCIETIES- 1877.

MASSACHUSETTS.

President— THOMAS MOTLEY, of West Roxbury.
Secretary— EDWARD N. PERKINS, of Boston.

ESSEX.

President— BENJAMIN P. WARE, of Marblehead.
Secretary— CHARLES P. PRESTON, of Danvers.

MIDDLESEX.

President— JOHN CUMMINGS, of Woburn.
Secretary— RICHARD F. BARRETT, of Concord.

MIDDLESEX SOUTH.

President— DAVID NEVINS, Jr., of Framingham.
Secretary— ABEL F. STEVENS, of Natick.

MIDDLESEX NORTH.

President— JOHN A. GOODWIN, of Lowell.
Secretary— E. T. ROWELL, of Lowell.

WORCESTER.

President— CH AS. B. PRATT, of Worcester.
Secretary— GEORGE H. EASTABROOK, of Worcester.

WORCESTER WEST.

President — GINERY TWICHELL, of Brookline.
Secretary— HENRY J. SHATTUCK, of Barre.

WORCESTER NORTH.

President— JOHN B. PROCTOR, of Fitchburg.
.Secretory— EDWARD B. SAWTELL, of Fitchburg.

WORCESTER NORTH-WEST.

President— JEROME JONES, of Boston.
Secretary— E. T. LEWIS, of Athol.

WORCESTER SOUTH.

President— SAMUEL N. GLEASON, of Warren.
Secretary— A. C. MORSE, of Sturbridge.

VI OFFICERS OF THE SOCIETIES

WORCESTER SOUTH-EAST.

President— WILLIAM KNOWLTON, of Upton.
Secretary— CHAS. J. THOMPSON, of Milford.

HAMPSHIRE, FRANKLIN AND HAMPDEN.

President—J. H. DEMOND, of Northampton.
Secretary — L. C. FERRY, of Northampton.

HAMPSHIRE.

President— FLA VEL GAYLORD, of Amherst.
Secretary— EDWARD E. WEBSTER, of Amherst.

HIGHLAND.

President— CHARLES FAY, of Chester.

Secretary— JONATHAN McELWAIN, of Middlefield.

HAMPDEN.

President— WILLIAM PYNCHON, of Springfield.
Secretary — J. N. BAGG, of West Springfield.

HAMPDEN EAST.

President— HORACE P. WAKEFIELD, of Palmer.
Secretory— GEORGE ROBINSON, of Palmer.

UNION.

President— HENRY K. HERRICK, of Blandford.
Secretary— ENOS W. BOISE, of Blandford.

FRANKLIN.

President— D. ORLANDO FISK, of Shelburne.
Secretary— JOHN A. AIKEN, of Greenfield.

DEERFIELD VALLEY.

President— DAVID L. SMITH, of Coleraine.
Secretary— M. M. MANTON, of Charlemont.

BERKSHIRE.

President— THERON L. FOOTE, of Lee.
Secretary— WM, H MURRAY, of Pittsfield.

HOUS ATONIC.

President— -J. L. MILLER, of Sheffield.

Secretary— HENRY T. ROBBINS, of Great Barrington.

HOOSAC VALLEY.

President— O. A. ARCHER, of Blackinton.
Secretary— R. CLAY BLISS, of North Adams.

OFFICERS OF THE SOCIETIES. vil

NORFOLK.

President— HENRY S. RUSSELL, of Milton.
Secretary— HENRY O. HILDRETH, of Dedham.

BRISTOL.

President— THEODORE DEAN, of Taunton.
Secretary— J). L. MITCHELL, of Taunton.

BRISTOL CENTRAL.

President— JOHN A. HAWES, of Fairhaven.
Secretary— CHARLES DURFEE, of Fall River.

PLYMOUTH.

President— B. W. HARRIS, of East Bridgewater.
Secretary— LAFAYETTE KEITH, of Bridgewater.

HINGHAM.

President— EDMUND HERSEY, of Hingham.
Secretary— WM. H. THOMAS, of Hingham.

MARSHFIELD.

President— GEORGE M. BAKER, of Marshfield.
Secretary— FRANCIS COLLAMORE, of Pembroke.

BARNSTABLE.

President— AUGUSTUS T. PERKINS, of Boston.
Secretary— T. B. GOSS, of Barnstable.

NANTUCKET.

President— RICHARD E. BURGESS, of Nantucket.
Secretory— WENDELL MACY, of Nantucket.

MARTHA'S VINEYARD.

President — J. N. LUCE, of Edgartown.
Secretary— B. T. HILLMAN, of Chilmark.

AGKICULTURAL EXHIBITIONS-1877.

Essex, at Lawrence, ....
Middlesex, at Concord,
Middlesex North, at Lowell, .
Middlesex South, at Framingham,
Worcester, at Worcester, .
Worcester West, at Barre,
Worcester North, at Fitchburg,
Worcester North-West, at Athol,
Worcester South, at Sturbridge, .
Worcester South-East, at Milford,
Hampshire, Franklin and Hampden,

Northampton, .
Hampshire, at Amherst, .
Highland, at Middlefield, .
Hampden, at Springfield, .
Hampden East, at Palmer,
Union, at Blandford, .
Franklin, at Greenfield, .
Deerfield Valley, at Charlemont,
Berkshire, at Pittsfield, .
Housatonic, at Great Barrington,
Hoosac Valley, at North Adams,
Norfolk, at Readville,
Bristol, at Taunton, .
Bristol Central, at Myriclc's,
Plymouth, at Bridgewater,
Hingham, at Hingham,
Marshfield, at Marshfield,
Barnstable, at Barnstable,
Nantucket, at Nantucket,
Martha's Vineyard, at West Tisbury,

. September 25 and 26.
. September 27, 28 and 29.
. September 25 and 26.
. September 18 and 19.
. September 20 and 21.
. September 27 and 28.
. September 25.
. October 2 and 3.
. September 13 and 14.
. September 25, 26 and 27.
at
. October 3, 4 and 5.
. September 18 and 19.
. September 13 and 14.
. September 25 and 26.
. September 18 and 19.
. September 19,20 and 21.
. September 27 and 28.
. September 13 and 14.
. October 2, 3 and 4.
. September 26, 27 and 28.
. September 18 and 19.
. September 27 and 28.
. September 25, 26 and 27.
. September 12, 13 and 14.
. September 19, 20 and 21.
. September 26 and 27.
. October 3, 4 and 5.
. September 18 and 19.
. September 5 and 6.
. October 2 and 3.

AGRICULTURE OF MASSACHUSETTS.

THE RELATIONS OF AGRICULTURE TO
CIVILIZATION.

From an Address before the Essex Agricultural Society.

BY CYRUS M. TRACY.

The civilization of to-day is no doubt better than any the
world has seen before. To say that there is no better still
beyond and to come, would be too much ; yet no man knows
of it save by conjecture. We have to do with that of to-day
as the best yet devised, and that for the security and promo-
tion of which we are all obligated and responsible. If we
analyze it, it is a composite thing, multiplied in parts, and
full of dependencies. To deal with it in every aspect is more
than enough for the wisdom of every statesman, and the
acumen of every teacher. Yet, like all stupendous existence,
the more it is studied the better it is known ; and it may be
more useful to work awhile at a few of its most salient points,
and try to understand them, than to do nothing, on one hand,
or, on the other, seek to do the whole when we cannot. And
thus, considering the relations of agriculture to the best
civilization, let me say, at the outset, that it is the nurse of
its truest liberty.

There may be in it something of imagination, but to me it
always seems as if each craft of mankind bore upon its very
face something of its spirit and social tendency. The arti-
san, even in his freest condition, acts and moves like a man
employed under another, and too often, more than this, under
l*

2 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE.

the surveillance of his fellow-workmen also. The mere day-
laborer — though with us the fact is denied — still wears the look
that tells of submissive, unthinking muscle, and too nearly
affiliates him with the beast he drives. The artist and man
of imagination, with face half-spiritualized, shows yet in that
face the deep uncertainties of his own living. And so of the
rest. But he who stands upon his own acres bares his brow
to heaven with another aspect. He stands nearer to a cer-
tainty. So far as human hands may hold it, the key of his
life and welfare is in his own grasp, and he knows it. And
thus he meets the world half-way ; able, if need be, to retire
to the fastness of his own economical home, and there defy
the besiegers. They may sit before his walls while they will :
but the rain and the sunshine are his, and the earth, despite
of foes, shall give him always meat and drink in its season.

To prove the husbandman the original freeman might seem
superfluous. The examples of the world and of history are
almost too many. The freest people of Europe have perched
themselves upon the Alps, where, though the cultivated crops
are slender, the true agricultural spirit leads them, with free
breath and step unfettered, to pasture their herds, and sing
their Ranz des Vaches on the grassy slopes of Mount Rigi
and the Matterhorn. And shall we not recognize the fact,
that those time-honored stern barons of England, who gave
such resistless dicta to King John that he ground the chips of
the wayside between his teeth for rage when he dared not
deny them, — shall we not recognize in them the landed agri-
culturists of that day, and the progenitors of those whose
influence has since turned that land into a garden of fruitful-
ness, and her laws into institutions of liberty?

I anticipate here an objection. It has been repeatedly said,
for years past, that our Southern States stood, as an agricult-
ural community, opposed in nature to the manufacturing
people of the North. Indeed, we well remember the boast of
secession, that they were thus agricultural, and such a people
could not be subjugated. Yet it was this same people who
gave to the world the revolting spectacle of domestic slavery,
and a great civil war waged for its defence.

But I see no incongruity. It is not fortunate for the body
politic when any one industry grows to an inordinate or

AGRICULTURE AND CIVILIZATION. 3

disproportionate bulk. The agriculture of the South was
certainly in this position. There were not wholesome manu-
factures enough joined with it to make a stable combination,
but it stood as a wall made wholly of mortar, an earthwork
merely. And it were no wonder, if, on an agriculture thus
overgrown and heedless of its natural associations, there were
ingrafted the false branches of oppression, fictitious license,
and unlawful ambition. Had it kept to its true relationship,
as that of our own section had been allowed to do, we should
not have seen it fostering slavery, discouraging manufactures,
nor despising liberal arts and education, even as it more than
despised a free government and the rights of the people.
But I hasten forward. A sound agriculture appears as the
best friend of honest trade.

The highest civilization among men can, probably, never
overtop the necessity of commercial traffic. No speculations
of Fourier, no Republic of Plato, or Utopia of Sir Thomas
More, has yet been able to explain away the need of mercan-
tile exchanges of some sort among the people, and if so,
there is almost as great need that they should be honestly
conducted. And here I will ask only your attention to the
facts, since I have not time to enter upon the argument a priori.
Said the great Webster, in one of his moments of triumph,
"There is Massachusetts, look at her ! " Adopting his thought,
I say, "There is American Agriculture, look at her!" What
is her position before the world to-day, in the time when dis-
honesty and brazen robbery have almost their own way, and
more is written and printed upon financial criminality than
was upon the breadth of the civil war a dozen years ago?
What shall we say less than this, that the robbers and embez-
zlers, the rogues, burglars and defaulters, have not been found
among her followers! We will not overpraise the former;
but there is something about his calling that keeps him,
apparently, out of, and aloof from, most of such criminalities
as these. What it is, you can say as well as I; but certain
it is, that this infection has broken out, specially, rather
among the classes that cannot afford to wait for gain to grow
by any natural seedtime and harvest, but thirsting, like Orto-
grul of Basra, for that golden stream which is quick and
violent, have broken away from the trammels of the even life

4 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE.

of the husbandman, and thrown themselves into the vortex of
speculation, high contract, and jobbery. A pure-spirited
agriculture is too good a friend to honesty to satisfy such ;
they turn their backs on the farms of inner New England,
and, pressing into the cities and greater towns, seek for that
fevery meat that alone can answer the appetite of a Tweed or
a Winslow. I say that the fact that husbandry owns almost
none among such misdoers, is enough to raise more than a
presumption that the field and the pasturage are not good
soils in which to grow a first-class rascality. The motive to
all this obliquity seems, mostly, to be a restless haste for
premature wealth ; but the atmosphere of the farm is, doubt-
less, always rather that of contentment. There is meanness
enough, usury enough, hard bargaining enough, among the
agriculture of our country ; but it does not tempt the cupidity
of man like the brokers' board or the stock office. The
narrow-souled man may rot his apples rather than lower his
price, or bargain his corn to the whiskey-maker for a slight
advance over the hungry of the land, — these are bad enough, —
but they are legitimate and fair beside the traffic in building-
jobs, the clandestine trade in patents and pardons, the corners
in fancy shares, and the flying of "kite-paper." And again I
say, the art of the husbandman is blessedly removed from
these by its nature, and its influence on him must always
be in the direction of an honest trade, that seeks to render
equivalent for equivalent, and thus only. But I hold that
agriculture is related to civilization, as the promoter of its
education.

I am not about to open again the debates that have distin-
guished Massachusetts for the last thirty years, nor to bring
forward for fresh worship the idea that teaching is good only
in proportion to its magnificence. I think no one will oppose
me if I say that I recognize a true, real, natural education
of youth, before, above and beyond all special systems yet
enunciated. It is that education that seeks to develop the
young man or woman symmetrically, to give broadening and
deepening views of life, its method, and its needs. It is that
which tells the boy that patient growth is earliest perfect,
but that soon ripe is soon rotten. It is that which encourages
him to be excellent in something, but not wholly ignorant in

AGRICULTURE AND CIVILIZATION. 5

anything. It is that which shows him that he has a perfect
right to be president, but lays its hand on his head, and prays
God he never may wish to be. In a word, it is that which
can instruct the child, and will, wherever it meets him, —
whether in the school-room, palace, or the factory at noontime ;
whether in the woods by the sled, with the oxen chewing
stalks in the snow, or at mother's knee by the fireside, where
Doddridge learned the story of the cross, and West earned
the loving kiss that "made him a'painter."

Such, reduced to simple facts, is nearly the education that
our own Essex has alwaj^s encouraged. I will put this state-
ment on trial -for its verit}^, and any one may look up the
evidence. We have not despised the college or the classics ;
yet, the young men who, from our midst, have entered on
them, have carried thither more of sound and useful education
than they added thereafterward. It was learned at home, by
snatches, after supper, or in the little common school, a mile
from the house in summer, but surely two when the snow was
deep. It was learned because it was hungered for, and not
because it was fashionable ; because the boy verily thought
that strength and wisdom were the noblest attributes of man,
and to these he labored gloriously to aspire. Such motives
have, for two hundred years, urged the youth of Essex forward
toward learning, and the result — is it not written and laid up
in the archives of the nation and the world ? Yet, all this is
not the way of merchants and manufacturers. It is hardly
the method of the counting-room or the quarter-deck. But
where you see the cows thick on the pastures, where you can
count the corn-rows a mile off, in spring, for freedom of
weeds, and the apples are heaped under the autumnal trees
as if busy ants had piled them, — there are boys who demand,
and find out, why they carry one for every ten, and girls that,
being taught the revolution of the earth, would at least get
an idea that it turned over. But a step beyond this shows
agriculture as (he stimulus of science.

The world is to-day proud of its science, — proud of what it
has learned of the laws of nature. It is so proud and so
pleased with its scales and measures of the inanimate world,
that it aspires to place them on the pinions of life, the rain-
bow of the mind, and even the still small voice of Deity. I

6 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE.

am not about to declaim at all against its follies, nor utter
loud warning against its excesses ; for that which is true shall
alone endure, and that which it builds of stubble will surely
come to naught. That the verities of science are a benefit to
humanity, one must be weak, indeed, to deny; and of these,
no oue is better prepared to see the value in practice, than the
tiller of the ground. For if it be the province of a true science
to investigate and expound the laws of nature, surely the man
who, of all, stands most near to her side, will be the best
customer in that mart. He talks with botanists, for he needs
to know more and more of the structure and style of vegeta-
tion. He consorts with geologists, for the' rocks are the
original of soils, and to know something of the material is to
command a surer result. He can welcome the chemist at all
times, for what part of his calling does not need his lessons ?
— and whoever can teach him of climate and the atmosphere,
is a friend in need, whether for drought or storm.

We may say that some special lines of study fit better some
other pursuit than this. The mariner has greater need of
astronomy and the mathematics than the farmer ; nor will the
latter be urgent after the finer engineering, nor, perhaps, the
profounder optical and electrical studies. But for science in
general, and, especially, all that treats of organic and living
existences, he is the man of strongest and most abiding
appetite.

Let me be understood. Much has been said of " book-
farming," and, if I mistake not as to its present popularity,
the nays have it by a plain majority. Yet this term, applied
as it usually is to a merely theoretical agriculture, has no
connection with science as I speak of it. For agriculture, of
all the arts in the world, is, and ever must be, thoroughly
empirical. No rules for it can be stated beforehand that shall
be general ; no methods contrived that will work well always.
The cultivator must experiment and try ; compare and study
results, and try again. He will not long believe with Liebig,
that the ashes of a plant contain all things needed for its
growth ; nor with later chemists, that the analysis of a handful
of soil would give a certain indication of the composition of
the whole field. He sees, with the plain eye of common-
sense, that, in such a pursuit, an infinity of causes must be

AGRICULTURE AND CIVILIZATION. 7

concerned, and therefore the joint effect cannot be predicted,
but must be always found by observation. And thus he is
the man to encourage the study of all natural science, whether
in the mutations of temperature, the probabilities of weather,
the habits and movements of insects, the knowledge and
agency of beasts and birds, the reactions of all chemical forces,
and the growth of every green thing, from the hemlock to the
herdsgrass. I might dwell here long ; but I hasten to say
that agriculture is the encourager of art.

Possibly I may here encounter a doubt ; for one may ask if
the painter, the poet, and the sculptor were not always more
at home, and better welcomed in the city than the country, in
the palace more than the homestead? This may be, and yet
be more a statement of what has been, than of what might,
or ought to be. For.it is still true, that if the patronage of
the artist be in the metropolis, his best inspirations are far
oftener than otherwise drawn from nature unsubdued, or the
gentleness of country life. And considering the insatiate and
immortal character of that aspiration that makes the artist
to be what he is, may we not reckon that as much for his
encouragement that gives him food and material for thought,
as that which buys his works at a price in the shambles? Yet
even this is not all my argument. I look out on the innumer-
able scenes of the country and the farmstead, full of beauty
and significant of all that is lovely, and I say, if the undevout
astronomer is mad, what shall be said of the unartistic farmer?
I know the yeoman is not blest with much leisure fur the
study of Raffaelle or Mendelssohn ; he is not very familiar
with the dialect of Tennyson, or of the sculptor's modelling-
room ; but he as well as any one — nay, better — can and does
appreciate the sublime truth, that art is, rightly, only the
visible expression of beauty, and that beauty is a high gift of
God, which let no man despise.

It is the most cruel uucharity to assume that the heart of
the husbandman is hard against the loveliness of art. I have
been among such all my life, and know better. I heard a
wealthy manufacturer say, that he had been in the famous
gallery at Dresden, but whether he saw the Sistine Madonna,
he was not sure, for it rained, and he was looking after his
umbrella ! I do not believe any farmer of Essex would have

8 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE.

missed that picture, though some might have gaped a very
little while they admired it. For who, of all our people, seize
most greedily upon all such refinements, when available, if not
these? Who likes best to improve his place, and make a
graceful drive up from the highway to its door? Who will
try to set his trees to the best advantage, and dispose his
flower-beds well before the house, for the finest effect of the
posies that grow there, and of the matrons and maidens that
tend them? Who buys a good picture, when he can, and a
handsome book often, and is even willing to dare to look on
a premium chromo, rather than have nothing of the kind?
Take your fine performers, and go among the farms of New
England, with a choice entertainment. You will bring to your
hall twenty cultivators for one of other callings, and their pro-
portion to the whole population will be fifty per cent, greater
than in any city you can visit. The man who has all these
things crowded and piled along his daily path, gets indifferent
to them ; but the yeoman's appetite is always sharp, and, more
than that, it is rarely unnatural.

After this outline of a proof that need not be further
detailed or extended, I will leave it for your own judgment
whether the natural influences of agricultural pursuits are not
related to a high civilization in a way most favorable to the
latter. Nor will I advance the question, almost impertinent
here, whether such a civilization be not the most desirable of
all things for human beings, dwelling together in anything
called society. But a plain conclusion must follow. It may
not happen, as matter per consequence, that the thoughts and
habits of the yeomanry of the country will be fully up to the
natural and theoretical demands of their pursuit. And there-
fore am I here to-day, not to deck your farms with rhetorical
rainbows, nor flatter you with high commendation, but to
show you that you have a duty, and that the circumstances of
the age are making it more and more imperative.

The common trite expressions" as to the antithesis of town
and country, are not necessary to be here repeated. We are
all well aware that the correcting, revising, recuperating force
resides in the country, for the restraint of the hot and seeth-
ing evils that breed so fast and foully in the cities. Nothing
to-day holds the vicious multitudes of New York in check

AGRICULTURE AND CIVILIZATION. 9

but the salutary thought and strong hand of the country
behind it ; and were that country more like New England in
social character, there might be found resemblances between
the two capitals where now there are only contrasts.

I speak for another reason. The next great period will no
doubt witness large changes from the present social condition.
For twenty years past, at least, the country and its pursuits
have been constantly drawn upon, depleted, robbed of their
natural reproduction by the factitious attractions held out by
the denser communities, to induce the young to forsake the
plough and hay field, and join in the chase after wealth in an
hour, and eminence in six lessons without a master. To such
an extent has it gone that a smooth-faced boy, even, seeing
in his folly no quicker method, resorts to train-wrecking,
thinking in this bold w.ay to force a large and sudden income
without labor. But it seems as if the insane thirst that had
driven men away from the sure and peaceful path, and made
them cry, as did a distinguished politician of Maine, that he,
"within four years, would be either in hell or in Congress,"
must soon experience a crisis. The land is, meanwhile, starv-
ing for labor ; the sod gets thick on the old cornhills, and the
fields that would give the tiller a safe and not too toilsome
living, run to bushes, because he has gone to the city for
more than a living and got considerably less than one. It is
against this unnatural distribution of things that your efforts,
O husbandmen of Essex ! may well be directed. You are
in part responsible for the leaning of this social tower, that
threatens more its fall than does that of Pisa. The jobbing
and managing crowds of State Street and Wall Street may
boast of refined manners and elegant homes ; I do not care :
theirs is not a high, a noble, a beneficent civilization. They
may display wealth and feed fat in luxury ; but so could the
courts of Pharamond and Charles II., and both were cursed
with a corruption to which our own erratics even now seem
tending. In your hands, I say again, is the medicine for such
frenzies, if you stand for the interests of agriculture, and if
you deserve the character I have drawn ; and the nation shall
hold you responsible if it is not applied. The elements of a
high civilization are nowhere more developed or more in the
hands of the agricultural class than in Essex : let us see you
2»

10 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE.

strike an early blow at the false life that usurps the true
vitality of the people. Open the resources of your lands and
the encouragements of your towns, and try to draw back
within wholesome and unfevered influences those who, in
delusion aud mistake, are thronging the streets of our cities,
and daily falling backward in all that belongs to a lofty social
culture. Cry to them, as you can well afford to do, that
when God made man to dress the soil, he proved his perfect
and sufficient wisdom. If you have in time past showed
discontent yourselves, and told your boys that farming was
poor business, retrieve your error before they are far gone in
business worse than any farming can be. Call to them that
contentment dwells indeed in the homestead ; and as the
faithful spies said of the promised land, " Come up and possess
it, for we are well able to overcome it." Then, when by your
judicious efforts, you have drawn back to your side some of
those who have wandered away, may we begin to breathe a
clearer atmosphere, and feel that the simoom that is called
enterprise and means madness, has passed us with its deadly
heat. Then, if you have reasonable success, and others
follow your example, when the great art of agriculture, first-
made of the Almighty, has come more nearly to its true esti-
mation among the people, may we hope for a pure and lofty
civilization, for the prosperity of liberty, uprightness, edu-
cation, science and art, and that good religion of God that
surmounts and includes the whole !

NEW ENGLAND FARM-LIFE. 11

ADVANTAGES OF NEW ENGLAND FAKM-

LIFE.

From an Address before the Franklin Agricultural Society.

BY L. F. MELLEN.

It is evident that a wise providence directed our Pilgrim
Fathers, as tillers of the soil, to land on the rocky coasts of
New England, selecting the then most unpromising part of
the New World for their future homes, that by faithful industry,
combined with moral principles, they might establish model
homes that should thereafter be represented in their descend-
ants. Had the Pilgrims landed upon the banks of the Missis-
sippi, these hills would never have been dotted with churches,
school-houses, and homes, and a race of men, partaking of
the hardy character of New England, would never have been
born to preserve the Republic and christianize the world.
New England, with its variety and fertility of soil and health-
fulness of its climate, gave the Pilgrims and their descendants
an advantage which, in comparison with other sections of the
United States, was important. These advantages, it can be
fairly claimed, it still maintains.

In the report of the Massachusetts Board of Health for
1875, statements are made, that the value of its farm products
is greater, both per farm and per acre, in this State, than any
other in the Union, outside of New England. The nearness
of the farm to the market is one reason given for this remark-
able fact. This is not the only blessing, for the same report
says, in regard to life and health, the fanners of Massachu-
setts live, on an average, about sixty-five years, which is
nearly fourteen years beyond the average life. The luxury

12 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE.

of farming, as compared with other professions, has often
been pictured in too fanciful colors. Incident to every busi-
ness pursuit, there are pleasures to enjoy, difficulties to be
overcome, and hardships to be endured. The merchant talks
of bad debts, constant confinement to his store, and sleepless
nights. The mechanic will tell you there is no demand for
his labor, on account of dull times. Men of salary fear another
day will find them out of employment, and other professions
tax mind and body to obtain a livelihood, and all com-
plaining because they have none of the quiet and independ-
ence of farm-life. Of all occupations, farming seems to be
the safest.

Does farming pa}^ ? That is a question that bothers many
here in the Connecticut Valley. If we look at it in a money
point of view exclusively, I suppose the majority of farmers
will say it does not pay. Farmers may not always become
rich, but most of them rnaua^e to obtain a living for them-

7 © ©

selves.and their families, which is more than can be said of
many other pursuits. There are successes and failures in
every calling. It is a well-known fact, that ninety out of
every hundred merchants fail during their business life. It
was a rare thing for farmers to become bankrupt, in this sec-
tion, until within the last two or three years. No business
occupation or employment is so sure to be remunerative as
farming, if the necessary conditions of success are complied
with. And I venture the statement that farming offers more

©

attractions than any other pursuit to laboring men of moderate
means, provided, always, that the}' have the necessary knowl-
edge of the business. A small capital will secure the posses-
sion and permanent control of a farm, without financial danger
or loss, while trade and manufacturing require large invest-
ments, with large risks.

In a moral point of view, the life of the agriculturist is the
purest of any class of men. Man seems to have a natural
love for mother earth, and the young man who goes to the
city to live, or accepts any other vocation or profession, looks
back with longing eyes to -the old homestead in some rural
spot in the country, and, as he turns back to visit it, — it may
be after many years, — what memories crowd upon him, in
his anticipation of seeing his old home once more !

NEW ENGLAND FARM-LIFE. 13

" Ah ! here it is, that dear old place,

Unchanged through all these years ;
How like some old, familiar face

My childhood's home appears.
The grand old trees, beside the door,

Still spread their branches wide ;
The river wanders, as of yore,

With sweetly murmuring tide ;
The distant hills look green and gay,

The flowers are blooming wild,
And everything looks glad to-day

As when I was a child."

Home is the largest part of this earth, if we choose to make
it so. The French have no such word as " home " in their
language, and certainly have not, as I can testify by observa-
tion, in their experience and habits of life.

The ownership of a home is something of which neither the
Irish peasant nor the German laborer has any conception.
The desire to own the roof under which one sleeps is distinctly
an American characteristic, and seems, by nature, adapted to
the growth which is raising us, as a nation, to importance in
the scale of nations. Our American homes can be made still
more attractive. The truest and pleasantest homes are often
houses not especially " well kept," as some would term it,
but where the comfort and happiness of the inmates are best
secured. The pleasantest room in the house should be used
as the living-room, with free access to all the members of the
family. Some housewives think that certain things and apart-
ments are too good for daily use ; hence, furniture is covered ;
the parlor is closed, except for company and special occasions,
and there is a kind of. sacredness about that dark and musty
room, which, when entered by the children, they feel as if
they were treading on holy ground. If the blinds are opened,
the carpet may fade ; if the windows are opened for fresh air,
a fly may appear. Lavish expenditure in decorating the
house with costly furniture, — too good to be in constant use,
— is not, necessarily, evidence of taste, refinement, intelli-
gence or happiness. It is the duty of the farmer to study his
home, as well as the soil and elements of his farm, searching
in every direction for appliances to improve and beautify it.
A few dollars spent in the purchase of pictures, plants and
flowers, will add much to the soul and pleasure of what we
call home. External adornments are in the province of the

14 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE.

farmer's department ; shade-trees, green lawns, flowers, and
good fences around the house, will excite admiration, while
the owner and his family will all be more happy, and have
more pride and true self-respect for their position than if
the place had been left bleak and barren, without shrub or
flower.

The farmer's wife — the mistress of the home — often has
burdens greater than she can bear. She frequently works
fifteen or sixteen hours a day, having scarcely any time for
improvement or recreation. But if a woman marry she
becomes an active partner with her husband, her share of the
business falls most conveniently in the domestic labor of the
household. We do not expect, nor do we want to see women
doing the drudgery of the out-door work of the farm, as I
have seen them do in many parts of Europe ; but an hour or
two once or twice a week, spent by the housewife in the open
air, making the door-yard look tidy, and in the cultivation of
flowers and small fruits, is time profitably spent. Home is
thus made attractive to all the members of the household, and
emulation is kindled in the hearts of neighbors and friends.
It is a matter of fact, that, in many instances, while the farmer
himself and his good- wife are struggling from year to year
to make money and improve the farm, their sons and daugh-
ters are constantly learning to dislike the occupation and all
connected with it. They paint to themselves, in imagination,
the less laborious, more agreeable, and profitable occupations,
and the more cheerful homes, and they long for the day to
come when they can enjoy more leisure and more privileges,
than they now have on the farm. We see young men pushing
everywhere into trade, into mechanical pursuits, into insig-
nificant clerkships, and salaried positions of every sort, that
will take them into towns and cities. How are we to keep
the young men on the farm ? One way is for the farmer to
have a greater respect himself for the business in which he is
engaged. Another is to make home attractive to them.
Why not give them a direct interest in the products of the
farm? It will be an incentive for them to work better, save
more, and plan as though it was to be a permanent arrange-
ment. Do not ask your sons to wait until you are dead
before they can own anything. " Waiting for dead men's

NEW ENGLAND FARM-LIFE. 15

shoes " requires too much patience for youthful minds.
Amusements, healthful and mirthful, should be provided. In
short, a farmer's home should be equal or excel in attractive-
ness that of any other calling. If you have such a home,
your sons will not be likely to leave the farm, aud you will
not hear your daughters saying, "Well, I will never marry a
farmer." The social intercourse of the " Grange," farmers'
clubs, the meetings of neighbors and friends for mutual
improvement, should be encouraged by the farmer and his
family. Unless the farmer does this, — if he lives an isolated
life, — his sons and daughters will say, "The country is dull,"
and will fly to the village for their social food.

Agriculture, as a whole, does not hold the same high posi-
tion in this country as in Europe.

Let us devote our best energies towards elevating the busi-
ness, enjoying it as we go along, leaving behind us, as we
look back upon a well-spent life, some monuments of our
faithful labors, in what we have contributed to make home
and farm life attractive.

16 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE.

THE ESTABLISHMENT AND GROWTH OF
AGRICULTURAL SOCIETIES.

From an Address before the Housatonic Agricultural Society.

BY HORACE J. CANFIELD.

Agricultural societies have iucrecased with the general
increase of the nation. They are now counted by hundreds.
Every year they gather millions of property and hundreds of
thousands of members and spectators within their hospitable
gates. But the parent of this numerous progeny first saw
the light in Pittsfield, and its first-born, springing to life
here in this town of Great Barrington, and named from the
"Housatonuuk River of our pride," has grown to a vigorous
maturity, and, in the great family of agricultural societies,
stands second to none in the elements of beauty, prosperity,
and beneficence. Pondering such facts as these, you may
suppose that I was not careless of the responsibilities devolved
upon me, and at once chose a subject, — The Law of Heredity,
— exactly suited to the time and place. But let me remind
you that just then the notes of preparation for our National
Centennial, which had been for so long a time sounding fitfully
and spasmodically in the ear of the world, became sharp,
distinct and clear. As the time approached, the omens all
assumed encouraging and cheerful aspects. The national
heart filled and overflowed with a pride and an enthusiasm
which were genuine and not unwarranted. The world, with
generous sympathy, approved the spectacle. The whole
atmosphere was charged with patriotism, and we all felt and
yielded to the influences of the time. Then came the "Fourth,"
— the Centennial Fourth, — with its pomp and pageantry, in
many cases, brilliant, beautiful and inspiring with its blare of

•• GROWTH OF AGRICULTURAL SOCIETIES. 17

brazen metals, and the glare of bonfires and illuminations ;
and, better than all, — more soul-stirring than all, — that under-
tone of song and eloquence which, all over the country, in
fervent verse and dignified prose, recited the mighty deeds
wrought by our wise and heroic fathers in the brave days of
old. And here, permit me to pause a moment to recall to
your recollections the name of that noble poet, whose vener-
able age almost spans the entire duration of our government,
whose admirable life is honorable to human nature, and whose
fame is one of the most excellent possessions of the Republic.
His youthful mind was formed amid the scenery of Berkshire.
As a citizen of your beautiful town, he made him friends of
mountain and of glen, of brooks, and birds, and of flowers ;
and here and there, bit by bit, in a name, in a single phrase,
or, now and then, in a poem, he has given the features of this
lovely scenery an exquisite setting in his enduring verse.
Bryant has friends the world over. Wherever literature is
cultivated, and the noblest qualities of manhood respected,
there is his name honored and beloved. But nowhere does
he find a heartier appreciation than among the denizens of
Southern Berkshire, who walk the paths which he once
trod so lovingly, who hear the music of the same mountain
streams, who pluck the asters and the golden-rod by the way-
side, who climb to the same wood-crowned summits, who
look in dreamy ecstasy across the wide expanse of flowery
meadows, and gaze with equal admiration — though lacking
the poetic gift — upon the splendors of our "Autumn Woods,"
when —

" Ere, in the northern gale,

The summer tresses of the trees are gone ;
The woods of autumn, all around our vale,.
Have put their glory on."

His voice, too, was heard amid the chorus of our national
festivities, and I repeat his centennial ode here, as forming,
in some sort, the key-note of my address. The verses are
familiar to you all. He turns, in a few stanzas, to the past
and to the future. He utters words of thankfulness, of warn-
ing, and of hope. He recalls the blood- and fire, the strifes
and hopes of bygone years. He is not forgetful of our pres-
ent greatness, he is grateful for our past success ; but, with

3*

18 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE.

the enlightened vision of the true seer, he beholds in the
dawning century the possibility of fairer, happier times.

" Through storm and calm the years have led
Our nation on from stage to stage,
A century's space, — until we tread
The threshold of another age.

" "We see there, o'er our pathway swept,
A torrent stream of blood and fire,
And thank the ruling Power who kept
Our sacred league of States entire.

" Oh, checkered train of years, farewell,
"With all thy strifes and hopes and fears ;
But with us let thy memories dwell,
To warn and lead the coming years.

" And thou, the new beginning age,

Warned by the past, and not in vain,
"Write on a fairer, whiter page
The record of thy happier reign."

And so, with these influences all around me, — with the
most resolute determination to do a yeoman's duty here to-day,
— I was swept away upon the current, and borne into the
very centre of the patriotic maelstrom. My notes upon the
"Law of Inheritance" lie tucked away, dust-covered, in a
neglected pigeon-hole, and I am here to address you rather
in your general character of citizens of " The Great Republic,"
than in your more special character as farmers.

One hundred years of independence ! A hundred years of
toil. A hundred years of manly and successful toil, crowned
all along by golden and abundant harvests. The Centennial
of American Independence ! Let us rejoice that we behold
this epoch, so freighted with refreshing remembrances of the
past. A thought-compelling time. An era of memory, of
recollection ; recalling a long line of generous and heroic
deeds ; suggesting thoughts of triumphs ; but not so much
the brutal triumphs of the battle-field, as those better victo-
ries of peace ; — triumphs of industry, of commerce ; triumphs
of the will over obstacles ; of the mind over nature ; of con-
science over animal impulses ; triumphs of benevolence and
humanity. It is a-time of good words, of congratulations and
of eulogy. Let us drink inspiration from the inspiring past ;
and, being contented in the present, let us be fearless of the

GROWTH OF AGRICULTURAL SOCIETIES. 19

future, while resolving to do as our fathers did, to uphold the
right at all hazards, and to overcome the evil with the good.

While contemplating the higher aspects of our civilization,
the grandeur of our achievements, the might of our power,
and the splendor of our wealth, we must be careful not to
take too narrow a view. We must accord in some sort to
others, that which we claim for ourselves. We must recog-
nize the fact, that this hundred years, which has done so much
for us, has been, likewise, to the nations of Europe, a cycle
of unprecedented expansion. The whole civilized world has
partaken of the impulse imparted by the invention of steam.
There has been a general improvement, a general advance-
ment, a general amelioration. We are called upon to recog-
nize a universal benefit, to rejoice in an almost universal joy.
"Commerce," as John Stuart Mill has nobly said, "first
taught nations to see with good-will the wealth and prosper-
ity of one another. Before, the patriot — unless sufficiently
advanced in culture to feel the world his country — wished all
countries weak, and poor, and ill-governed, but his own. But
commerce has changed all that, and is leading up to a general
recognition of that generous doctrine of the solidarity, the
fellowship, the common brotherhood of man." The Christian
Church claims this doctrine as its own. But it is one thing to
have an elevating theory, it is another to live in accordance
with it, to pray for it, and, better still, to labor for it ; because
actual striving towards a good thing is the better part of
prayer. The physical world, when properly interpreted,
reacts healthfully upon the moral world. A healthy material
progress leads to better living and better doing. Commerce
becomes the handmaid of conduct when she knits peoples
together by the bonds of common interest. Nations, brought
into closer relations, are learning slowly, perhaps, but still
surely, to sympathize with one another's sufferings and dis-
tress. They also partake of one another's prosperity, and are
co-workers in the task of diffusing comfort and happiness
among men. Learning, as we are learning in this age, to
entertain a broad and generous sympathy ; rejoicing, as we
are learning to rejoice, in the general prosperity of all, we
are yet confronted by the fact that some races do not progress ;
that some never advance beyond the condition of savages ;

20 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE.

that others, like the Asiatics, reach a condition of barbaric
splendor, and then stop. We cannot discuss the point, but
the Aryan, — a larger term for what we generally style
the white race, — the Aryan race does progress. This race
developed the civilizations of India and of Persia, of Greece
and Rome, of Germany and France, of England and the
United States. Whatever is most valuable among the posses-
sions of mankind to-day, is the product of their active brains
and industrious hands. From the remote past to the living
present they have been toiling and striving, waging a cease-
less war against nature and circumstances, —

" Ever reaping something new,
That which they have done but earnest of the things that they shall do."

The struggle has been long, but what is strange, the Aryan
race has gone forward more rapidly in the last hundred years
than in all the past centuries of its history. Mr. Gladstone
said, not long ago, that England had amassed more wealth in
this century than in all the previous eighteen hundred years of
the Christian era. Our own government has been founded, and
our wealth developed, in the same period. Consider for a mo-
ment what this implies. Call to mind the number and extent
of our canals ; our steamboats, which have come into existence
and have developed all their value, speed and beauty in one
hundred years ; our railroads, telegraphs, mills, factories,
furnaces, machines, gas, chemicals, the products of one hun-
dred years. The mind staggers under the magnitude of our
achievements. To use a favorite phrase, we cannot "realize
it" at a glance. The American boy looks out upon the world
and feels that it always was as he beholds it. His aged
grandfather takes his seat in a palace car and forgets that his
birth was. coeval with the steam-engine.

Mr. Hittell, a very valuable writer, recently gave some
curious statistics relating to the world's progress in the last
hundred years. In the middle of the last century a turnpike
covered with gravel or broken stone was a rarity, even in the
neighborhoods of the great capitals of Europe. Travellers
then usually went on horseback. Not a hundred years have
elapsed since the owners of riding-horses petitioned the
English parliament to forbid the establishment of a stage-

GROWTH OF AGRICULTURAL SOCIETIES. 21

coach line, which had lately been started and was ruining
their business. In 1760, England began building canals, and
now six thousand miles have been constructed by the AryaDS,
at a cost of $500,000,000. The shipping of Christendom
has risen from fifteen hundred thousand to fifteen millions of
tons. Railroads, one hundred and forty thousand miles in
length, have been constructed at a cost of $2,000,000,000.
So also the gain in the materials for commerce has been
immense. Steam-engines furnish a power estimated to be
equal to that of three hundred million workingmen, and the
saving of labor by other machines is probably almost as
much. The annual consumption of iron has increased from
two hundred thousand to twelve million tons. Our houses,
our tools, our clothing, our food, our trades, and our pro-
fessions, are different in many important points. Farmers
have thrown aside the wooden plough within a hundred years.
The wooden mould-board was excellent as compared with the
barbaric plough which had no mould-board, and did not throw
a furrow to one side, but merely scratched the ground, mak-
ing a ridge on each side of the plough-point. While oak was
the material, the farmer usually hewed or chopped out his
own board, aud fastened it on his plough ; but both the shape
and the adjustment were bad, and the surface, from the nature
of the material, would never "scour" well in the moist earth.
The iron mould-board was first appreciated and perfected, if
it was not invented, in the United States. The superiority
of the iron plough made a vast saving in friction ; the furrow
was turned over more regularly ; the weeds were killed more
thoroughly ; the pulverization was better ; and the working
capacity of the ploughman, and the productive capacity of
the soil, were each nearly, if not quite, doubled ; so that now
France, with a smaller number of men engaged [n the busi-
ness, yields three times as much wheat at an average harvest
as it did about 1770.

Now, since the farmers are the largest class of producers,
and the basis of national prosperity, and since ploughing is
the most important part of their labor, the invention of the
iron mould-board deserves to be considered one of the
greatest contributions to modern civilization, ranking next to
the steam-engine and to movable type, in its influence on the

22 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE.

general condition of mankind. The impulse imparted to
commerce by the introduction of the steamboat and the rail-
road is something marvellous. In 1770, the exports of Great
Britain amounted to $65,000,000 ; in 1870, to $1,220,000,000.
The shipping owned in England has increased from half a
million to seven million tons. The amount insured — just
think of this — the amount insured rose from $850,000,000 to
$6,800,000,000. These figures are so vast that they make
but a slight impression upon the mind. The intellect is con-
fused and bewildered, as when it seeks for the first time to
grasp the duration of the geologic periods, or the distance of
the stars. With all this material development there has been
a corresponding intellectual development. A large majority
of our most instructive books are the product of the last one
hundred years. Nearly all our prose romances, and most of
our poetry, history and miscellaneous literature belong to this
same glorious epoch in origin and spirit. We now write ten
times as many books, and publish fifty times as many volumes
annually, as they did in the last century. The United States
turns out two thousand, and Great Britain four thousand new
books every year, and the other Aryan nations probably bring
the total figure up to fifteen thousand, whereas, before the
middle of the last century, the number was probably not
more than fifteen hundred. Besides the books, we have now
seven thousand newspapers which are new, and in the
aggregate furnish as much material for reading, and con-
tribute nearly as much to education, as the books. But there
is another point, interesting and of vital significance, to be
noticed here. With this increase of material and intellectual
riches, there has been a corresponding increase in the num-
bers of this active, energetic, and brilliant Aryan race.
Within a hundred years it has increased from one hundred
and twenty millions to three hundred and sixty millions.
This is something altogether remarkable. Nothing of the
kind has taken place before since the historical era began.
The Roman empire had about one hundred and twenty mill-
ion inhabitants, and the same territory, after a lapse of
eighteen hundred years, had no more. Egypt, three thousand
years ago, and Spain and Mexico before the Spanish conquest,
had more inhabitants than now. This wonderful increase is

GROWTH OF AGRICULTURAL SOCIETIES. 23

due chiefly to the invention of steam. "As a general rule,"
says Hittell, "population has been nearly stationary ; century
after century has passed, with little difference, until we come *
within the magic influence of steam, and then suddenly the
Ay ran race, acquiring the power to draw larger crops from
the soil, to distribute them more evenly, thus preventing
disease and famine, and also to visit new and more profit-
able fields of industry, multiplies so as to keep pace with the
increased supply of food, and with the demand for labor."

But with all this development, with all this unparalleled
progress within one hundred years, there are elements of
weakness in our civilization. Let us consider for a moment
some of the characteristics of this Aryan race. It is not only
the most active and intelligent, it is also the most stalwart of
races. More even than this, the Aryan of to-day is more
robust than his Greek and Roman predecessors. His civiliza-
tion is more destructive, but his power of resistance is greater.
Luxury is not enervating. A proof of this is seen in the fact
that wherever the modern Aryan goes, among inferior races,
he destroys them. Such was not the case in ancient times.
We read of conquests then ; of whole provinces overrun and
subdued, but the inferior race survived ; yes, survived, and
assimilated with its conquerors. Now it is destroyed ; it
disappears not by the agencies of force, of cruelty, of blood-
shed, but by simple contact with a superior civilization. In
the words of Mr. Bageshot, " Savages waste away before
modern civilization ; they seem to have held their ground
before the ancient. There is no lament in any classical

writer for the barbarians Modern science

explains the Avasting away of savage men ; it says that we
have diseases which we can bear, though they cannot, and
that they die away before them as our fatted and protected
cattle died out before the rinderpest, which is innocuous, in
comparison, to the hardy cattle of the steppes." Mr. Francis
Galton, upon the same point, though in a different vein,
remarks : " The number of the races of mankind that have
been entirely destroyed under the pressure of the require-
ments of an incoming civilization reads us a terrible lesson.
Probably in no former period of the world has the destruc-
tion of the races of any animal whatever, been effected over

24 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE.

such wide areas, and with such startling^ rapidity, as in the
case of savage man. On the North American Continent, in
the West Indian Islands, at the Cape of Good Hope, in
Australia, New Zealand and Van Diemen's Land, the human
denizens of vast regions have been entirely swept away, in
the short space of three centuries, less by the pressure of a
stronger race, than through the influence of a civilization
they were incapable of supporting. And [he continues] we,
too, the foremost laborers in creating this civilization, are
beginning to show ourselves incapable of keeping pace with
our own work. The need of centralization, communication
and culture calls for more brains and mental stamina than the
average of our race possess. An extended civilization like
ours comprises more interests than the ordinary statesman or
philosophers are capable of dealing with, and it exacts more
intelligent work than our ordinary artisans and laborers are
capable of performing. Our race is overweighted, and
appears likely to be drudged into degeneracy by demands
that exceed its powers."

Now, the currents of thought set in motion by such reflec-
tions as these, are manifold ; but we must necessarily direct
attention to one or two. Of their general truth there can be no
question. That not only our statesmen and philosophers, but
our average citizens, need a greater fund of ability and mental
stamina, is manifested by the want, the misery, the degradation
and the filth which exist in all the cities of Christendom, and
which offend the taste and conscience of all self-respecting
men. Yet the intelligence of man would seem to be sufficient
to deal with these. Turn where we will, we can find defects
and evidences of incapacity ; and yet, when we view closely
and calmly even the most flagrant examples of our shortcom-
ings, they seem to take their origin in moral rather than in
mental insufficiency. The profouudest miseries which either
individuals or nations suffer from, arise from mistakes of con-
duct. And these mistakes arise not so much from weakness
of intellect, as weakness of will. It may be true, that, —

"The hands that rounded Peter's dome,
And groined the aisles of Christian Rome,
Builded better than they knew."

GROWTH OF AGRICULTURAL SOCIETIES. 25

But the average man, and the man of lower abilities, act
below their knowledge of the right. If statesmen compounded
their conduct of conscience and capacity in equal parts, nations
would be happier. And if the controlling notion in the per-
formance of all work were the duty which one owes to others,
rather than the advantage which may accrue to himself, our
daily lives would be fuller of comfort and content. Our
intelligence is limited, but still its boundaries are large, and
its powers for good or evil incalculable, aud a greater propor-
tion of its strength should be turned to the controlling and
the taming of our selfishness. Selfishness, though it be natural
and the strongest, is yet the most ruinous aud destructive
element in human nature. Though it has its origin in the
brute instinct of self-preservation, and though it be a neces-
sary adjunct of human character, yet in civilized societies it
should be tempered and refined by the strictest conceptions of
justice and duty. From the very beginning of history, man's
knowledge has been better than his conduct, and the hundred
years just past have not differed in this respect from their
predecessors. Let us take at random a few illustrations which
exhibit some of the blots upon our civilization. We have
read of mills in which stones are ground for the adulteration
of flour ; of plaster of Paris in mustard, which breeds wasting
ulcers in the stomach ; of candies and wall-papers colored with
poisons. Consider for a moment the power for evil which
the science of chemistry puts into the hands of immoral men.
In its present state, chemistry is a new science. Its knowl-
edge, properly used, brings with it beneficence and wealth.
It ministers to all our industries, and to suffering and stricken
man it comes like the spirit of God, with healing on its wings.
But used by selfish men, swayed only by selfishness and
greed, it becomes a gigantic instrument of disease and
death. It adulterates, with injurious substances, our foods.
It mingles subtle poisons with our drinks. There are acids,
deadly poisons from which the whole body of brandies, wines,
and cider are made. A leading newspaper said only a few
days ago : " It is a truth which needs to be brought to public
notice occasionally, that the brilliant-colored fluids which
decorate the average bar, derive the least of their flavor from
either grape or grain, but are the fabrication of so-called

4*

26 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE.

' liquor compounders,' and are in reality mixtures compared
with which the ' hell broth ' of Macbeth's witches might be
called an innocent and nutritious soup."

This is very bad, but the same kind of selfish immorality

is found in every walk of life You hesitate now

about taking stock in any company. The reason is well
understood. You have lost confidence. The career of the
great railroad men and speculators in Europe and America,
in part, explains the cause. How many corporations have
been wrecked, how many families have been broken up, the
happiness of how many individuals destroyed, by the specula-
tions and the "corners" in Wall Street? Such transactions
are entirely illegitimate. What is a " corner " but an attempt
by men who have capital, and a certain knowledge, to rob
those who have capital but not the knowledge? And we
have " corners " in silk, " corners " in grain, " corners " in coal,
" corners " in the luxuries and the very necessities of life.
Last summer, when a yacht was wrecked off Staten Island,
and a young, generous and wealthy merchant perished while
endeavoring to rescue his wife, a sentiment of pro found
though smothered indignation pervaded the neighborhood for
some time. Why was this? There exists a ferry-boat
monopoly which oppresses the people who pass daily from
Staten Island to New York, and this wealthy gentleman had
established an opposition line for the relief of those people.
It was believed that his yacht was wrecked designedly ; that
he, in a word, was assassinated, with his wife and friends, by
the company which he had opposed. This suspicion was
undoubtedly not true. But the astonishing thing is that it
could be harbored ; that public sentiment could be in such
a state as to entertain such a suspicion, not deeming it
improbable.

One more observation, and we have done. Alfred Wallace,
one of the noblest spirits of modern times, spent several years
among the savages of the Malay Archipelago, and contrasting
the moral condition of those savages with the morality prac-
tised in Christian lands, he freely remarks: "It is not too
much to say that the mass of our populations have not at all
advanced beyond the savage code of morals, and have in
many cases sunk below it. A superficial morality is the

GROWTH OF AGRICULTURAL SOCIETIES. 27

great blot of modern civilization and the greatest hindrance
to true progress. During the last century .... our
mastery over the forces of nature has led to a rapid growth
of population and a vast accumulation of wealth ; but these
have brought with them such an amount of poverty and crime,
and have fostered the growth of so much sordid feeling and
so many fierce passions, that it may well be questioned whether
the mental and moral status of our population has not on the
average been lowered, and whether the evil has not over-
balanced the good. Compared with our wondrous progress
in physical science, and its practical applications, our system
of government, of administering justice, of national education,
and our whole social and moral organization, remain in a

state of barbarism And if we continue to

devote our chief energies to the utilizing of our knowledge
of the laws of nature with the view of still further extending
our commerce and our wealth, the evils which necessarily
accompany these, when too largely pursued, may increase to
such gigantic dimensions as to be beyond our power to

alleviate Our vast manufacturing system, our

gigantic commerce, our crowded towns and cities, support
and continually renew a mass of human misery absolutely
greater than has ever existed before. They create and main-
tain in life-long labor an ever-increasing army, whose lot is
the more hard to bear by contrasts with the pleasures, the com-
forts and the luxury which they see everywhere around them,
but which they can never hope to enjoy, and who, in this
respect, are worse off than the savage in the midst of his

tribe This is not a result to boast of, or to be

satisfied with ; and until there is a more general recognition
of this failure of our civilization, resulting mainly from our
neglect to train and develop more thoroughly the sympathetic
feelings and the moral faculties of our nature, and to allow
them a larger share of influence in our legislation, our com-
merce, and our whole social organization, we shall never, as
regards the whole community, attain to any real or important
superiority over the better class of savages."

There is food for serious reflection in all this. Our moral
theories have a very exalted character, but our practice is
bad — very bad. Christians believe in the heinousness of sin.

28 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE.

They bold, for instance, that it were better for the sun and
moon to drop from heaven than that one soul should commit
a trivial sin, tell one wilful falsehood, although no one should
be harmed by it. In contrast to this, Mr. Lecky says, "The
time will doubtless come, when the man who lays the founda-
tion-stone of a manufacture, will be able to predict with assur-
ance in what proportion the drunkenness and the unchastity
of his city will be increased by his enterprise. Yet he will
still pursue that enterprise, and mankind will still pronounce
it to be good." .... Now, there is a great and hideous
discrepancy here ; one for which there is but one remedy.
Will society ever shape its conduct by the golden rule?
"Love one another," — not with word and tongue, but in deed
and truth, — says the Christ. But what force have these com-
mands upon society, as a whole? How far have they ever
permanently influenced the rulers, and the legislators, the
general politics, and the commerce of any country or of any
age? When have the favored classes — the cultured, the
intellectual, those rich by inheritance, and those preeminently
successful in trade — shown an unselfish spirit? Aud yet
society exists to secure the happiness, or, better, "the bless-
edness," of all. Ah ! we are reminded here of some verses
by a poor and suffering woman, — a child, rather, of sixteen
years, — a "crazy" poetess, who had looked, however, deep
into the heart of Christ, and then was frenzied by the cold
selfishness of his Christendom : —

"They cry, 'He comes, —
The signs are sure : The mystic number is fulfilled, —
He comes.'

We answer : O, that He would come. We want
The Christ ! We Avant a God to burn the truth
Afresh upon the forehead of the world !
We want a Man to walk once more among
The wrangling Pharisees, to drive the beasts
And money-changers from the temple courts ;
To bring the Gospel back again, and prove
How all unlike the churches are to Christ !
We want that Christ to tell again the ' saints '
Their sins, — that they were sent to bless the poor,
And they have sold themselves unto the rich ;
That they were sent to preach the works of peace,
And they have filled the world with war of words ,
That they were sent the messengers of love,
And they have driven love out of their creeds ;
That they were sent to teach men not to lie,
Nor tremble when their duty led to death.

GROWTH OF AGRICULTURAL SOCIETIES. 29

O, for the Christ again !

Already Christ is coming. Hear ye not

The footfalls of the Lord ?

He comes, the spirit of a riper Age,

When all that is not good or true shall die, —

When all that's bad in custom, false in creed,

And all that makes the boor and mars the man,

Shall pass away forever. Yes, he comes !

To give the world a passion for the truth,

To inspire us with a holy, human love,

To make us sure that, ere a man can be

A saint, he first must be a man."

It was Mr. Buckle who first drew a startling contrast
between our intellectual progress and our stationary morals !
He asserted that moral motives had exerted an extremely
small influence over the progress of civilization ; " for," he
says, "there is unquestionably nothing to be found in the
world which has undergone so little change as those great
dogmas of which moral systems are composed. To do good
to others ; to sacrifice for their benefit your own wishes ; to
love your neighbor as 3'ourself; to forgive your enemies ; to
restrain your passions ; . . . . these, and a few others,
are the sole essentials of morals ; but they have been known
for thousands of years ; and not one jot or tittle has been
added to them by all the sermons, homilies, and text-books
which moralists and theologians have been able to produce.
. All the great moral systems which have exercised
much influence, have been fundamentally the same ; all the
great intellectual systems have been fundamentally different.
In reference to our moral conduct, there is not a single prin-
ciple now known to the most cultivated Europeans which was
not likewise known to the ancients. In reference to our intel-
lectual conduct, the moderns have not only made the most
important additions to every department of knowledge .
. . but they have created sciences, the faintest idea of which
never entered the mind of the boldest thinker antiquity ever
produced."

Now, all this is true, — true beyond a cavil, true beyond the
peradventure of a doubt. But when Mr. Buckle goes on to
say, that, "although moral excellence is more amiable than
intellectual excellence, it is far less permanent and less pro-
ductive of real good," we dissent. Nothing has a right to be,
nothing has a claim to be, respected, which has not some prin-

30 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE.

ciple of good as its essential element ; and when an active
moral intention shall enter into all our thoughts and words
and works, we shall approach more nearly to the "ideal social
state." We need no new moral inventions ; we need to apply
morality to conduct. One thing we must always bear in
mind. Man's course is progressive. The vanguard of human-
ity is always passing — slowly, but surely, passing — from
lower to higher, from glory unto glory. But many things
which have served us in the past, retard our growth under
new and higher conditions. In the last century, we erected a
banner of "rights," and under that sign we conquered. "We
hold all men heirs to certain inalienable rights," says the Dec-
laration of Independence, and the formula has stimulated us
to glorious achievements. But we should now take another
step. The doctrine of rights has had its day. The doctrine
of duties should be advanced to the front; and, with "duty"
as our watchword, we shall advance to still grander and nobler
victories. The highest right of man, is the right to do his
duty.

I did not deem it out of place on such an important occasion
as this to make a practical and philosophical .review of our
condition. Evils to be cured must be earnestly criticised. I
have faith in the future, faith in humanity, faith in our country.
I believe that man will enter upon a new and yet higher phase
of action ; that he will devote a larger share of his intelligence
to the practice of morals ; that he will yet ultimate his moral
formulas in conduct.

CHANGES IN AGRICULTURE. 31

CHANGES IN MASSACHUSETTS AGRI-
CULTURE.

From an Address before the Norfolk Agricultural Society.

BY GEORGE S. BOUTWELL.

Farming, in the country sense of the word, is no longer
a leading pursuit among you, and its relative importance
diminishes each year. The farms have been divided for
country residences and market-gardens, and the culture of
the great staples of agriculture has been transferred to the
interior of the State, and to remote sections of the Union.
Land is too valuable for corn, grass, wheat, cattle in great
herds, and even for the coarser and least valuable fruits and
vegetables.

The changes of which I speak will continue, and coincident
with them are two other changes calculated to exert consider-
able influence upon the fortunes and character of the people.
There is a disposition among the farmers to abandon the habit
of isolated family life, and to gather in or near the villages.
This change springs not merely from the discomfort and
exposure of isolated homes, but also from an increasing desire
for education, for the education furnished by society, as well
as that furnished by the schools. In the expressive language
of the country people, the "outskirts" are to be deserted,
and farms will be converted into pastures or surrendered to
forests. These changes are not to be deplored.

Generally the best lands are in or near the villages of the
farming towns, the selection of the site for the "meeting-
house " having been the consequence of the selection of lands
by the "most discreet of the freemen," which meant those

32 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE.

having the keenest eyes for good land. Frequently, generally,
the outlying lands fell to those who were least capable of
managing them, and they have become exhausted by negligent
culture. Until farming lands are quite valuable, nature can
restore them more economically by a growth of wood than
they can be restored by human skill or labor.

Fortunately for New Englaud, we have for many years
been surrendering our exhausted pastures and worn-out farms
to the forests. Forests upon the tops and sides of hills and
mountains are a certain source of moisture and nourishment
to the fields below ; they increase the quantity of rainfall ;
they add to the beauty of the landscape ; they check the
sudden flow of water to the valleys in the spring freshets, and
they diminish the severity of the droughts in the summer and
autumn.

Secondly, farming is becoming more and more an intel-
lectual pursuit, and the aggregation of farmers in the villages
is almost a necessary condition of progress. Not only are the
children better trained in schools, but the men and women are
insensibly educated by contact with each other, and especially
are the men prepared for the successful prosecution of their
business by conversation, by lectures, and by club meetings,
which are now common among the farmers of Massachusetts.
As the villages multiply in number and increase in size, the
deserted lands may be again cultivated, and occasionally they
will be purchased in large estates and devoted to raising
cattle and grain. The tendency at present is clearly in the
right direction.

I venture the suggestion that agriculture in Massachusetts,
including market-gardening and fruit-raising, depends chiefly
upon our capacity to gain and keep the lead in the applica-
tion of scientific knowledge. In beef, pork, and mutton, in
the culture of the grains, in the products of the dairy, we
are in competition with the North-West and the West, even to
California ; while in horticulture and vegetables we are in
competition with the Bermudas and the coasts of the United
States, even to the tropical savannas of Florida. This is a
serious competition, a perpetual competition. Railways and
steamships have contributed to the growth — rapid growth — of
cities and towns, but they have widened the field of compcti-

CHANGES IN AGRICULTURE. 33

tion and made it everywhere active. It is a competition of
life, however, and not of death. The merchant and manu-
facturer must meet it ; the farmer must meet it. Your markets
are larger, but the supply and the sources of supply are
larger also.

The three essential things in Massachusetts agriculture, in
all its varieties of the field and the garden, are quality of
production, quantity of crops, and economy of culture. Our
proficiency in these particulars measures our ability to com-
pete with rival producers, West and South. Assuming that,
as farmers, we have capacity to use what is furnished, we
must rely upon the inventor in the shop, and the scientist in
his laboratory, for the chief aid in yet further advancing the
art of agriculture. The improvements in tools have benefited
every branch of agriculture, but more especially the great
operations of the prairies, as compared with the culture of
the gardens and small fields of the East. These advantages
are likely to continue, and they may even increase. On the
other hand, I anticipate that the application of science and
scientific discoveries to agriculture will inure more largely to
the advantages of the East, — to the small farmers and market-
gardeners of the country.

Perhaps I ought, without an if, to say that Prof. Stock-
bridge's discovery of a special fertilizer for corn will yield a
return to the State in excess of the cost of the Agricultural
College ; but as a phrase" of caution, I say, if, after a reasonable
trial, which shall decide, among other things, the effect of
successive crops upon the productive powers of the soil, the
claim now made for it shall be sustained, its value to the
State will far exceed the cost of establishing and maintaining
the college at Amherst.

I believe that the average farmers of Massachusetts, and
especially dairy farmers, who use corn as feed for cows, have
erred in abandoning the crop. Next to hay, the corn crop is
of the most value to the farmer whose chief product is milk.
It is adapted to many varieties of soil ; it is subject to but
few casualties ; almost uniformly it is proof against disease
and insects ; the straw, if properly treated, is almost as valu-
able as hay, and the grain, after making all proper charges and
5*

34 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE.

deductions, cau be raised at a cost not exceeding the average
cost of Western corn.

Moreover, the annual product of hay will be greatly
increased if the cultivation of corn is pursued, for it may
safely be said that no other crop which does not require
higher treatment and better tillage so well prepares land for
grass. This statement I base upon the common system of
culture ; but should the claim for the Stockbridge fertilizer be
sustained by experience we may defy the competition of the
West as far, at least, as our own wants are concerned.

My confidence, however, goes far beyond what is estab-
lished or even claimed for science in its relations to practical
agriculture. I now see, what in the beginning I did not see,
that the apparent value of the Agricultural College will be
greater in the region of scientific discovery and invention,
and their application to practical agriculture, than in the
preparation of young men for the management of farms. The
latter idea was the English and continental idea, and in the
beginning it was the American idea.; but the indications are
that the advantages will be more largely in a quarter which
at that time was not much considered by most of us.

I have recently returned from Central New York, where I
was assured by persons of respectability and information that
the advantages of the investigations and teachings of the
professor of the Cornell University, in the department of the
dairy, would far exceed the cost of th*e Agricultural College.
These are the beginnings, and we may safely prophesy that
the agriculture of the future will be, in its main and most
profitable branches, only a system of applied chemistry.
This does not imply that every farmer is to be a chemist, nor
indeed that any farmer need concern himself with the science
at all. But as every farmer will be called to consider the
value of the science in its applications, it will follow that
many, and especially many young men, destined to engage
in agriculture, will become interested in and students of the
science.

The knowledge of a valuable thing is of the first impor-
tance, but second only is its diffusion among those who can
derive advantage from it ; and especially its diifusion in an
authoritative and a responsible manner, so as to command the

CHANGES IN AGRICULTURE. 35

confidence of those who are concerned in its application.
For the most part, farmers have neither the disposition nor
the means to try experiments, and they have so often been
the victims of imposition that they are suspicious of new
projects, and they hesitate to engage in new undertakings.

For the first time Massachusetts was this year visited by
the Colorado beetle, and our farmers were left to experiments
and to crude suggestions, when, as I am informed, the best
methods of resisting its ravages were understood in the West,
and particularly by the officers of tho Agricultural College
of Michigan. The absence of this information, which might
have been given with authority, so as to have commanded
universal confidence, must have cost the State many thousand
dollars in crops and in fruitless experiments.

The Agricultural College at Amherst is in existence, and
it should be made as beneficial as possible to the interest
which it represents, and which it is designed to promote.
The suggestion which I make to-day to the farmers of Nor-
folk is, that they consider whether the power of the college
may not be greatly increased without serious additional
expense to the State. Whether its force of professors might
not be so enlarged that a number, three or more, might be
constantly employed among the farmers of the agricultural
sections of the State. The summers could be devoted to
observations and to examinations of soils, crops, tools, cattle,
modes of culture, markets, and, indeed, to anything touching
the production and disposal of farm products ; and the win-
ters to lectures and conversations to and with the formers in
the agricultural districts upon every topic concerning their
progress and prosperity.

The farmers are already active in the work of self-culture,
but they cannot take the lead in improvements which are
purely scientific, nor can they always wisely judge the value
of suggestions made by others. Scientific men, accredited
by the State and by the college, would be entitled to their
confidence, and I cannot doubt that the results of the labors
of a small number of such men would many times exceed
the cost. The competition of the hands — of the hands merely
— is nearly over in this country, and in the countries with
which we are in commercial relations. The competition is

36 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE.

moral and intellectual, and, other things being equal, or
nearly so, those States and nations will take and keep the
lead, where the people enjoy the highest average moral and
intellectual culture.

We must not, as a nation, accept the Asiatic idea, now
largely controlling and crippling Europe, that an increase of
population is necessarily attended by a reduction of the
wages and the comforts of the mass of the people, and their
gradual decline in intelligence and morality. These tenden-
cies cannot be arrested by the government, if its form alone,
as whether it is a republic or a monarchy, be considered ; our
chief ground for confidence must spring from institutions and
policies promotive of universal education and the general
diffusion of knowledge.

ORIGINATING NEW POTATOES. 37

OKIGINATING NEW POTATOES,

ESSEX.

An Essay by James J. H. Gregory.

Since the general prevalence of the disease popularly known
as the " potato rot," which virtually annihilated some standard
varieties, and so seriously affected the health of others as to
render profit in their cultivation precarious, the public have
given great attention to the originating of new kinds, with
the object of obtaining in these a constitutional vigor that
should manifest itself in greater productive powers, better
quality of tuber, and greater capacity to withstand disease.
The result of these most laudable efforts has been to give,
within the past dozen years, thousands of new varieties of
potatoes.

Among these, about two dozen stand out prominently as
decided acquisitions, and have nearly replaced all the kinds
known previous to that time as standards. How vast a gain
these new varieties, from their greater productiveness, have
been to these United States, may be inferred from the fact,
that an annual difference of but a few bushels to the acre
makes au addition of millions of dollars in the agricultural
returns. Another fact bearing on the importance to agricult-
ure, of encouraging the originating of new varieties, is found
in the fact, that, at the present day, most if not all of them
appear to be so far weak in their constitutions, that they dete-
riorate either in yield, quality, or keeping properties, earlier
in their history than was the case with the standard kinds
before the dread "potato rot" appeared. There being, there-
fore, this necessity for new varieties, it appears but wise
that all who make efforts thereto should be informed of such
facts as observation and experience have to contribute. It is
therefore proposed in this paper to contribute a few facts,

38 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE.

observations and reflections bearing on this subject, to the
end that efforts to produce new seedlings may be more intelli-
gently directed than is often the case.

If the various new seedlings that have become established
in the community by reason of their real merits be classified,
it will be found that nearly all of them originated in a latitude
north of Southern New York. If, with this fact, we connect
one other ; viz., that the natural home of the potato is on the
high, cool table-lands of South America ; and yet a third fact,
that taking any variety of the Irish potato, we find that, all
other conditions being equal, the farther north it is grown,
the better is its quality, I think we may conclude that to
develop the best results possible in raising new seedlings, the
experiments had best be confined to latitudes north of Central
New York. If, now, we analyze this matter a little farther,
and classify the various new sorts that have become stand-
ards, and do this in the light of the number of seedlings
raised by seed cultivation, to each new one of real merit
obtained, we shall find that by far the greater success has been
achieved in the northern section of this area. In support of
this position, we need only take for illustration the experiments
of the lamented Goodrich of New York, and of Albert Breese
of Vermont. Mr. Goodrich, out of thousands of seedlings,
obtained half a dozen standard kinds, while Mr. Breese, out
of less than a dozen, obtained at least three seedlings, that,
either universally or in large sections of country, are recog-
nized as standard varieties. Such wonderful results as were
obtained by Mr. Breese, are, it is true, rare ; but taking the
fact in connection with another, that so many of the standard
seedlings, now and formerly before the public, such as the old
Chenango, Orono, Excelsior, Early Vermont, and Snowflake,
originated in the northern portion of this area of country, I
think we may advance a step farther in our suggestions, and
state that, within the area north of the latitude of Southern
New York, those dwelling in the northern portions have,
probably, the best chances to originate first-class seedling
potatoes.

We now propose to discuss : 1st. What is required in a
new seedling to make it an acquisition ? 2d. What steps are
most likely to produce such a seedling?

ORIGINATING NEW POTATOES. 39

1. What is required in a new seedling to make it an
acquisition? The requirement in a potato, to be accepted by
the public as a standard, is, that while it equals standards
already accepted in other characteristics, it shall also excel
them in one or more. Now, the characteristics that make up
a model variety, relate to yield, quality, flavor, freedom from
rot, shape, size, color of skin, number of eyes, depth of eye,
color of flesh, keeping properties, soundness at the heart,
earliness or lateness of maturity, manner of distribution in
the ground, and habit of growth of the vines. I think that
it may be assumed that, before any originator has the right to
send forth any new variety as an acquisition, he must be able
to demonstrate that his protege is a decided acquisition in
some one of these characteristics, and fully up to the average
in the remainder. In determining this, he must make more
than a comparison on his own grounds, for, from the discrep-
ancy between the results that some originators state they find
in a comparison between their seedlings and the standard
sorts, and the results that others find when they make the
same comparison, it is evident that it is true of seedling pota-
toes as with seedling strawberries, new varieties will often
do their best on the land where they originated. I would
here suggest, that it may be a wise step for growers of new
varieties to state the kind of soil in which they originated, as
the point is not yet settled as to whether or not new sorts do
their best in the same soil on which they originated.

From an expedience in testing hundreds of seedlings sent
to me from different States, in the course of several years,
almost all of them claimed as decided acquisitions by their
sanguine originators, I deduce the following suggestions rela-
tive to the various characteristics required in a new seedling
before its claim to be admitted as a standard variety should
be allowed. Taking them in the order given, the yield, under
good cultivation, should be at least two hundred bushels to
the acre. Fancy cultivation of small area will at times give
a yield of three or four hundred bushels to the acre, when the
same variety, on good potato soil, with good average manur-
ing and cultivation, will fail of yielding two hundred bushels.
The flavor and quality, by which latter word I more especially
mean dryness, should be up to such a standard as the Jackson

40 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE.

White or Chenango of olden time. For a standard of shape,
a medium between the standard oblong and round varieties
is most desirable, as there is the least waste in the paring of
potatoes of this form, while a larger proportion of the smaller
ones will be marketable. Here let me remark that I have
noticed that oblong |)otatoes that are usually equally large at
each end, oftentimes under unpropitious circumstances, grow
smaller in the middle than at the ends, which makes any
potato unmarketable. Another fact noted is, that any variety
that tapers to a small and rather projecting point where the
stem is attached, is apt to sport in its form, and is unreliable
as a cropper. Another fact is, that while all varieties of
potatoes that have had their growth stopped by drought
before maturity make the remainder of their growth when
they start anew after a rain by additions which farmers
designate by the word "prongy," some varieties are far more
inclined this way than others. In size, while it is absolutely
necessary that they shall average as large as the average of
accepted standards, it is also necessary that the large ones
shall not be excessively large, and the small ones not more
numerous than those of the average of received standards.
The color of the skin is much a matter of fashion. When
the Early Rose first came before ihe public, many prominent
dealers said it would not be accepted, as the public wanted a
white-skinned potato, after the style of the Orono. Now, I
have a letter of inquiry for a potato equally good as a white
variety, cultivated by an extensive grower, but with a change
of the color of the skin to red, as the Early Rose has trained
the public to red as the standard of color. Of the eyes, an
unusual number, and especially an unusual depth, is undesir-
able, from the greater difficulty and greater waste to the
housewife when peeling for the table. The color of the flesh
should be the most snowy white, except it may be when
designed for a Southern market, where I understand the
general preference is for a yellowish fleshed potato of a waxy
structure.

Hollowness at the centre, except in overgrown specimens,
should be a fatal fact. Good keeping properties demand that
they should not acquire bitterness with age, the capacity to
keep free from sprouting, other conditions being equal, turn-

ORIGINATING NEW POTATOES. 41

ing, as far as my experience goes, on the eavliness or lateness
of the variety. Of the distribution of the potatoes in the
hill, compactness is desirable, as the labor of dinging: is much
lessened, and also the liability to cut the tubers. This com-
pactness of the Early Rose, lying in a mass as in a pocket,
is an excellent characteristic, while the Shaker Fancy is
an illustration of an erratic distribution. Of the habit of
growth of the vine, the short-jointed, compact growth, of
which the Excelsior is a good illustration, is desirable, as
such a habit admits of greater ease in the cultivation of the
crop.

While these are the desirable qualities in every new seed-
ling which applies to be admitted as a standard, and while
many of these characteristics are absolutely essential, yet
were a variety presented that excelled to a remarkable degree
in the leading points of a good potato, the public would be
ready to waive many minor points in its favor.

The late Mr. Goodrich, who had a far larger experience in
producing new seedlings than any other man in the United
States, gave, as the result of his observation, that a seedling
potato was liable to sport in shape until the fourth year ; in
other words, it did not acquire its true normal shape until the
fourth year from the seed. From Ihe great number of seed-
lings introduced the third year from the seed, it is to be pre-
sumed the public lack either faith or information on this
point.

Having presented the characteristics of a seedling potato
w7orthy to be admitted among the standard kinds, the question
naturally arises, Can experience or science help the persever-
ing cultivator to the attainment of such a model? I think
each can help somewhat. In my own experience, I have
found that there is a great tendency in some varieties to
repeat themselves ; such, for an instance, as the Orono. And
here let me put in a word of advice. It is not desirable to
have a seedling follow too closely its parent, for the result is
apt to create confusion and dissatisfaction with the public.
It is unfortunate that that excellent variety, Early Vermont,
should so closely resemble Early Rose ; and for this same
reason, a dozen or more seedlings of Early Rose, which I
have tested the few years past, with the single exception of

6*

42 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE.

Early Ohio, have differed so little from their progenitor as to
be practically worthless.

The procuring tubers of the native wild stock, on the pla-
teaus of Peru, and the raising of seedlings from these, has
not, so far as my knowledge goes, given the satisfactory
results anticipated. In Mexico, varieties of potatoes are
grown which have never suffered from the rot. Should this
great plague again become prevalent, this may be a good
source to obtain potatoes from which to raise new seedlings.

Science suggests that the pollen of choice varieties might
be crossed, and thus choice seedlings be ensured, and I have
known of one experiment in this direction which promises
well ; yet the sum of extensive experiments in this direction
may be like those of the distinguished Van Mons of Belgium
with the pear, — from many thousands of trials he secured
as result but two or three high-class pears ; while another
cultivator, among comparatively a few chance seedlings,
produced more and better varieties than his distinguished
cotemporary.

CROPS AS FOOD FOR CATTLE. 43

COMPAKATIVE VALUE OF CKOPS AS
FOOD FOE CATTLE.

ESSEX.

An Essay by Ansel W. Putnam.

During the year 1875, the "American Agriculturist," in
articles from Professor Atwater, gave to practical farmers
the fundamental principles by which they may determine the
value of crops as food for cattle.

The corner-stone upon which economical feeding rests, has
been discovered, and is composed of albuminoids and carbo-
hydrates, mixed in certain proportions. For dry cows, and
oxen at rest, the ratio may be one of albuminoids to eight of
carbo-hydrates. For oxen at hard work, and milch cows,
one of albuminoids to four or five of carbo-hydrates. Ger-
man experiments have proved that it is as important to have
these elements in about the right proportion, to get good
results from feeding, as it is to have lime and sand in about
the right proportions to make good mortar.

If crops, having an excess of albuminoids, are fed by them-
selves, a part of the albuminoids will be lost for the want of
carbo-hydrates to unite with, as a part of the lime will be
lost in making mortar, if there is not the proper amount of
sand for the lime to unite with. Also, if crops, having an
excess of carbo-hydrates, are fed by themselves, a part will
be lost.

As it is a loss to the bricklayer to have pebbles in the
mortar that he must pick out from under every brick, before
it can be laid, so it is a loss to have large amounts of indigest-
ible material mixed with cattle-food.

Perhaps good food for cattle may be defined as that in
which the albuminoids and carbo-hydrates are in the right
proportion, and a large per cent, of the fodder digestible.

44 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE.

By mixing cotton-seed meal with wheat or rye straw, all
the digestible carbo-hydrates of the straw can be utilized ;
but as about one-half of the straw is indigestible, under any
conditions, it will not become first-class food, even with the
cotton-seed mixed with it.

The scientific question of to-day is not, "What is any crop
worth when fed by itself, as compared with good English
hay?" but rather, "How can we grow, harvest and mix other
crops, so as to make them equal to English hay?" Good
pasture-grass — that is, grass that is eaten in a week after it
is grown — is the most perfect food for cattle. The elements
are in the right proportion ; it is easily digested, and a very
large per cent, of it is digestible. Very early cut, well-cured
English hay is the best dry food, if but one kind is to be
used.

For making milk, in ripe hay, — except, perhaps, that made
from Hungarian grass, — in corn-fodder, and in corn-meal,
there is not enough of the albuminoids to use up all the carbo-
hydrates. It is probable that a part of the, nutritive value
of much of the corn-meal, corn-fodder, English hay, — from
being too ripe, — salt hay and fresh meadow hay, fed in Essex
County to-day, is lost for the want of albuminoids.

Professor Atwater says, "There are two great sources of
loss in our common systems of feeding. One is, that we often
fail to h ive enough albuminoids in the food to secure the most
complete digestion. Another is, that forage crops are not
cut when young and easily digested, but are allowed to stand
until they are nearly ripe, and much of their material has
become indigestible, and, of course, nearly useless as nourish-
ing food."

I look upon the discovery of this loss in stock-feeding,
together with the discovery of how this loss may be saved, as
one of the greatest discoveries of modern times.

Decorticated cotton-seed meal and Hungarian grass are
sources from which plenty of albuminoids may be drawn to
utilize our carbo-hydrates. One hundred pounds of the best
cotton-seed meal has twenty-eight pounds of digestible albu-
minoids and seventeen of carbo-hydrates. Now, as it needs
but four pounds — even when used for making milk — of albu-
minoids for its own carbo-hydrates, it has twenty-four pounds

CROPS AS FOOD FOR CATTLE. 45

of surplus albuminoids in every one hundred pounds that may
be used to utilize the carbo-hydrates of crops deficient in
albuminoids. Take first-quality salt hay, for example. It
has 3.4 pounds of digestible albuminoids and 41.6 of carbo-
hydrates in one hundred pounds. It needs, say ten pounds
of albuminoids to make its 41.6 pounds of carbo-hydrates
available for making milk, or about six pounds in one hundred
short. The twenty-four pounds of surplus in one hundred
pounds of cotton-seed will supply what four hundred pounds
of salt hay needs to make it good milk-making food.

Hungarian grass has nearly twice as much albuminoids as
it needs for its own carbo-hydrates ; therefore, a ton of good,
early cut Hungarian grass, mixed with a ton of good salt
hay, will probably make as much milk as two tons of average
English hay.

There is much probability, as yet, about the proportions in
which to mix our crops to get the best results ; the quality of
crops varies so much, when grown and harvested under so
many different conditions, that there will be many problems
for each farmer to work out for himself, after getting all the
information he can from the chemist and the experiment-sta-
tions. My object in writing is to induce the farmers of Essex
County to work out the problem, how best to utilize the fod-
der they have, or can get most conveniently. Let each one
solve the problem for himself, and follow the practice best
suited to the conditions of his farm.

I wish to call attention to principles, and do not intend —
for I am not prepared — to give rules for any one to work by.
Dr. E. L. Sturtevant, in the July number of the " Scientific
Farmer," gives us a very valuable article on Hungarian grass,
and says, "As the feeding values of articles are usually cal-
culated on the percentage of albuminoids, these analyses
would indicate a higher feeding value than we usually see
ascribed to millet. It is hard to believe, but it must be at
least equal, and probably better, than grass; but, if to such
an extent as is here shown, whence the discrepancy of opinion
in the practical estimates ? " As I understand the principles
given us by Professor Atwater, the analysis of Hungarian
grass does not show that it is better, or even equal, to grass,
if fed exclusively by itself; for then about one-half of its

46 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE.

albuminoids is lost. The beauty of the value of good grass
is, that the nutritious elements are in the right proportion ; it
is good food by itself; it asks nothing from any other crop,
and it has nothing to give to any other crop. But to get the
full benefit of Hungarian grass, it must be used with some
crop deficient in albuminoids.

Dr. Sturtevant asks, "Whence the discrepancy of opinion
in the practical estimates?" I answer, because of the differ-
ent conditions under which it is grown, harvested and fed.
Some let it get quite ripe, — think it better so than green, —
and if it is to be fed by itself, it may be well to let it stand
longer than most crops, for, after it is ripe, it probably has
enough albuminoids to utilize all its carbo-hydrates ; but
there is a loss in letting it ripen, because a much larger per
cent, becomes indigestible. A better way is to cut it young,
and then feed it with something that needs what it has to
spare.

One important and fundamental principle which underlies
the securing of good fodder, has been discovered and clearly
proved to be correct by the German experiments. It is this :
the younger any crop is cut, the greater its ratio of albu-
minoids, and the greater the per cent, of digestible to indi-
gestible matter. This shows us why it is that our cows give
us most milk in June, when the grass is growing fast enough
for them to fill themselves one day with what grew a few days
before. They always eat the youngest that is to be had, and
the younger the grass they eat, the more milk they will give.
I know Dr. Nichols, a chemist and practical farmer, and Dr.
Loring, a practical and scientific farmer, have taught the
reverse of this.

Dr. Nichols, at the meeting of the State Board of Agri-
culture, at Fall River, said: "I find that corn-fodder, sown
broadcast, is perfectly worthless. I demonstrated that prac-
tically by experiments upon my herd of cows, and I demon-
strated it positively by an analysis of the plant. The results
of my observations and researches, up to the present time,
have been these: that in raising fodder-corn, we must allow
it to reach a certain point before we cut it. In the first place,
we must sow it in drills ; it must have access to sunlight and
air, and it must be allowed to proceed to a certain stage, —

CROPS AS FOOD FOR CATTLE. 47

and that stage is the formation of the ear, — before we begin
to cut it. Corn-fodder fed to animals before that period, will
not increase the milk."

At the same meeting, Dr. Loring said : "Now, every kind
of grass has just so much nutriment in it. You want to get
rid of the refuse, the woody fibres, and save the sugar, starch,
and soluble salts, that go to make up the nutritive properties

of the plants Immature grass is very deficient

in the nutritive elements that I have spoken of; every chemist

knows it You cut, for instance, a large crop of

rowen, which is entirely immature, and every farmer knows
that it is the most unprofitable thing he can put into his
animal. An animal fed on rowen will make an abundance of
every thing else but milk or meat."

Thus Dr. Loring and Dr. Nichols, in 1871, called both
chemistry and practice before the State Board as witnesses
to prove that immature grass and immature fodder-corn arc
not good. Although the testimony of these witnesses now
looks to us practically erroneous, yet, from a certain scientific
stand-point, they were then, and are now, scientifically cor-
rect; and my object in making the quotations, is to show
wherein they are correct, and where erroneous. Take the
corn sown broadcast, for example. It may be very thick, and
it may be of the Southern or Western variety, and both
practice and chemistry have proved that it may be cut young,
and make first-quality milk-producing food ; but let the same
crop stand a few weeks longer, and it will get into a con-
dition that "will not increase the milk."

There is a time in the growth of the corn plant, when it
has grown all the leaves that belong to the butt-stalk. Up
to that time it has been the work of the plant to grow leaves
filled with elements to be used later in the growth of the
plant. After all the leaves that belong to the butt-stalk are
grown, then the process of hardening the stalk begins.
Indigestible matter is rapidly formed, the nutritive matter
that was in the leaves is rapidly drawn upon by both stalk
and root, and the leaves become like a honey-comb, with the
honey drawn out. Now, if we wait until this change has
taken place before we use our thickly sown fodder-corn, it is
nearly worthless ; but if we use it before it has finished

48 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE.

growing its butt-stalk leaves, every part of it, from tip to
root, is as good as any part is when the ears are formed.

There are two ways to grow good fodder-corn, and the
way Dr. Nichols recommends is one of them. He says, "We
must sow our corn — the sweet variety — in drills, and not sow
it too thick." One reason why we get good fodder in this
way is, by sowing thin in drills, the corn has a chance, after
it has grown its butt-stalk leaves, to go right on growing top-
stalks and husks, and if we begin to use it before the top-
stalks and husks have poured their contents into the ear, we
get the same quality of fodder that we get before the butt-
stalk leaves discharge their contents.

Another reason is, by using the sweet variety, the stalks
do not become as hard and indigestible as when the harder
varieties of corn are sown.

But my cows, and the French chemists, tell me there is a
way to get as good fodder, and in about one-half of the time,
and that is to sow Southern or Western corn thick, and use
it before it has finished growing its butt- stalk leaves.

There are two ways to have very poor fodder-corn. One
is to sow it thick and not use it before the stalks have hard-
ened. If the corn is very thick, it cannot go on and make
the perfect growth of top-stalks and husks which make such
good food when it is thin.

Another way is to sow the Western corn thin, and let it
stand until the ears are formed, and the butt-stalks are too
long for cordwood, but not quite large enough for good saw-
logs. The same principle of discharging the contents of the
leaves applies to Dr. Loring's rowen. As I understand the
laws of growth, the object of the first growth of leaves in
the season is to help grow seed-stalks and mature seed ; but
as far as the welfare of the plant is concerned, the late growth,
or rowen, is mainly to strengthen the roots for the next
season.

Mr. Johnson of Framingham, at the same meeting in Fall
River, said, "August is the time for our grass to start for
next year." Very few farmers as yet give the grass roots the
benefit of that start, or anything as a substitute for it. Rowen
may become over-ripe for fodder, as well as the first growth,
or as fodder-corn may ; but the contents of the leaves, instead

CROPS AS FOOD FOR CATTLE. 49

of going into stalks, return directly to the roots to be utilized
in the spring, by giving the plant a thrifty start. If we wait
until this return process has taken place before we cut our
rowen, we have a lot of empty cells. But cut it when the
leaves are full, dry it well, and it will be as palatable and
profitable to the cow that eats it as the full honey-comb is to
the dearest lover of sweets that can be found.

Two years ago I was sadly disappointed by losing the milk
from a heavy second crop on a field mowed early in June,
and which I intended to feed down close and plough in the
fall. The season was wet, grass grew finely through the
summer, and as I had plenty of green food without pasturing
that field, I thought I would save it till after I cut and fed the
rowen on the later-cut fields. When I turned the cows into
that lot, I supposed I should get an increase of milk ; instead
of that, ten cows shrunk twenty quarts a day — an average of
two quarts each. It took me some time to answer to my own
satisfaction why. The solution, as I understand it, can be
gathered from what I have #aid about over-ripe rowen.

All difference of opinion as to the comparative value of
crops as food for cattle, will be harmonized when all condi-
tions relating to the different crops are well understood, and
all will be found valuable when we know how best to utilize
the good that is in them. The questions that arise about full
and empty leaves are important, and we need more knowledge
before they can be correctly answered. The mixing of differ-
ent crops to utilize the surplus elements of each, is a very
important matter, and I wish particularly to call the attention
of such as have salt hay and river meadow hay to use, to the
fact that if cut at the right time and well cured, the carbo-
hydrates in them are worth as much per pound as in English
hay. The best quality of mixed salt hay, according to Pro-
fessor Storer of the Bussey Institute, has 41.6 pounds of
carbo-hydrates in one hundred pounds ; black grass has 43.8
pounds ; best upland hay has 43.1 ; medium quality has 41.1 ;
fresh meadow hay has about the same ; the best upland hay
has about nine pounds of albuminoids in one hundred pounds ;
and the best salt hay and meadow hay have about three
pounds. Six pounds of albuminoids in one hundred pounds
7*

50 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE.

is mainly what makes the best upland hay better than the
best salt hay. Medium quality of upland has 5.4 pounds of
albuminoids, 41.1 of carbo-hydrates, ratio about one to eight,
— the proportion that is right to keep dry stock in fair condi-
tion. Practice for years has proved that dry stock will do
very well on plenty of medium quality upland hay. As salt
and meadow hay need but two pounds additional albuminoids
per one hundred pounds to make the ratio right for dry stock,
and as cotton-seed meal has twenty-six pounds in one hun-
dred to spare, if fed to dry stock, it follows that thirteen
hundred pounds of salt hay, or good river meadow hay,
mixed with one hundred pounds of cotton-seed meal, is
equal to fourteen hundred pounds of medium quality upland
hay. If this is so, — and I ask the farmers of Essex County
to prove that it is or is not, — then it must be economy
for those farmers who have been in the habit of wintering
their stock on salt and meadow hay, and have them very poor
in the spring, to sell part of their hay, buy cotton-seed,
utilize the carbo-hydrates of what they do feed, and have
their stock fat, sleek, healthy and happy, profitable to their
owners, and a credit to the county. If this essay shall be
the means of leading one farmer to feed his stock so as to
better supply their wants and make them more comfortable,
the writer will be well paid. It is well to know the con-
ditions under which wheat-bran is more economical than
corn-meal.

When they are fed so as to utilize all their nutritious ele-
ments, their value is as five to seven ; thus, if wheat-bran is
worth $20 per ton, corn-meal is worth $28 per ton ; but as the
bran has a surplus of albuminoids, there may be conditions
in which a ton of wheat-bran will make more milk than a ton
of meal ; thus the farmer needs to know the composition of
the material he is to feed with his grain, before he can tell
which it is best for him to buy, at the market price.

Knowledge of how and when to use roots for stock, is
important. To feed any of the beet family with average quality
English hay and corn-meal, is very unprofitable, because beets
are deficient in albuminoids, much more so than turnips, but
all roots can be used to the best advantage with poor hay and

CROPS AS FOOD FOR CATTLE. 51

straw, together with grain rich in albuminoids. This is so,
because iu poor hay and straw the per cent, of indigestible
organic matter is large, in all root crops it is small, and by
feeding them together, the per cent, of indigestible matter is
reduced ; and if care is taken to get the proportion of albu-
minoids and carbo-hydrates right, roots are profitable. This
shows us why it is that the English buy so much of the Ameri-
can oil-meals. Their climate is well suited to turnip growing ;
they feed turnips with their straw to get the proportion of
digestible matter right, and feed oil-meal to get the proportion
of albuminoids right. Whether it is economy to grow roots,
depends upon what one has to feed with them.

There are other branches of this subject which it would be
pleasant to follow, but space forbids.

52 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE.

SOILING CATTLE.

HAMPDEN.

From an Essay by A. L. McKinstry.

How Six Acres can Summer Twelve Cattle. — My stock
consists of ten milch cows, a three-year-old bull, and a year-
ling calf, all more or less of the Alderney breed. They were
first turned to pasture May 15th last, in a lot that was being
ploughed, and they received a little meal each day.

May 25, commenced mowing and feeding green rye, and
so continued till 1| acres had been fed, or till June 15, when
it being too tough to be relished, the balance was hayed.

June 15, the cattle were turned into a two-acre pasture
near the barn, and this was used for a pasture through the
summer. June 24 to July 7, mowed and fed three-fourths
of. an acre of green oats, when they became hard, and the
balance, one-fourth of an acre, was hayed. From July 7
to 14, green grass was mown and fed. Commenced on
fodder-corn July 14, and this, with the help of an acre of
clover, mown from the oat stubble, lasted till October 5.
From this last date till they went into winter quarters, rowen
hay, cabbage-leaves and turnip-tops were given them.

To make this more plain I will state that one and three-
fourths acres of rye lasted twenty days ; two acres of pasture,
nine days ; three-fourths of an acre of oats, twelve days ; and
one-half acre of grass mown and fed, seven days. The first
acre of corn was consumed in twenty days.

From the 25th of May to the 5th of October, a period of
one hundred and thirty-three days, the crops from nine acres
were consumed, which showed as follows: 1|- acres of rye,
three-fourths acres of oats, 31 acres of grass, including the
pasture and three acres of corn. But as all but three acres
produced two crops during the season, the actual amount of

SOILING CATTLE. 53

land used was six acres. It may be well to state the following
particulars in regard to the soiling crops.

One acre of the land which was in turnips was sowed with
rye, a cultivator being passed between the drills to cover the
seed. The other acre of rye followed potatoes, and was
sown so late that it barely sprouted before winter. It came
to maturity late, as was expected, and was withal a poor crop.
The acre of oats received six cords of manure. On one side
it was ploughed in, but on the other side of the piece it was
harrowed in. Three bushels of seed proved to be the right
quantity. We found the best looking clover where the harrow
was used to bury the manure, but the oats were the best on
the other side. The first corn was planted at the rate of two
bushels of Northern corn per acre, in drills three feet apart,
which were manured with three cords of manure in the drill.
Sweet corn was used entirely for later planting, with the
exception of a little Southern corn, which was planted July
20. We commenced cutting rye and oats as soon as the
first heads began to appear. As the crop approaches matu-
rity, it becomes woody, and the same bulk produces less
milk. It is therefore an object to select a dry day and mow
a quantity, which after it is wilted may be made into small
cocks, where it can remain a number of days until needed.
Neither of these crops should be allowed to blossom. Corn
should be planted, as some of our countrymen are charged
with doing their voting, early and often. We have found
sweet corn to come on a little later than the common variety,
but it produces more fodder, and is always eaten up clean.
The management of our stock during the summer has been
as follows : they are fed in the barn at night and in the
morning following with fodder which was cut in the middle
of the day so as to avoid the dew. The cows are let out into
the pasture, where they spend the middle of the day. We
have found that cattle, like their owners, tire of one kind of
food, and if allowed to feed by the roadside, as we sometimes
did for an hour, it gave them a relish for their ordinary diet.
The cows were confined in the stables by stanchions. In
their rear was a water-tight gutter, two feet wide and one
foot deep; this usually received, every second day, ten
wheelbarrow-loads of dry muck. This was just equal to the

54 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE.

task of absorbing the liquid and keeping the stable passably
dry. The foregoing outline of our practice, I think, might be
improved by adding, during the summer, a daily feeding of
wheat-bran, which would supply the manure with phosphates
that are carried from the farm in the milk.

In regard to the economy of soiling, it can be said that it
effects a saving of land and manure, but requires an increased
expense for labor. An observing neighbor remarked with
reference to the production of milk, that in May and June
the advantage was with the pasture, but thought he obtained
more milk in the course of the season by soiling and feeding
in the barn. The epicure remarked, while helping himself to
the middle of the fish, that the good lay between the two
extremes. It may be so in this case, and we would advise
every farmer, no matter how extensive his pastures, to pro-
vide some forage crops which shall supply what the pastures
will lack during the months of August and September.
Doubtless the farmer of the future, when population shall
have increased and land also risen in value, will find soiling
not only an economy but a necessity.

ON FARMS. 55

ON FAEMS.

ESSEX.

From the Report of the Committee.

The Treadwell Farm. — The experiment begun two years
ago, for the purpose of showing the comparative value of
barn-yard manure, and of two popular commercial fertilizers,
has been continued this year. By referring to the reports of
the two years previous to this, it will be seen that one acre of
land was divided into four equal lots. Number 1 was manured
with an amount of Russell Coe's superphosphate, which should
equal in cost barn-yard manure at the rate of eight cords to
the acre. Lot number 2 was manured with Brighton Abattoir
fertilizer, of the same cost. Lot number 3 was manured with
barn-yard manure, at the rate of eight cords per acre. Lot
number 4 had no manure at all. All the above fertilizers
were applied the first year, with nothing else. The product
of the lots, for each of the years, is as follows : —

Lot Number 1.

First year, 1,510 pounds of barley.

Second year, 400 " hay.

Third year, 130 " "

Lot Number 2.

First year, overgrown with charlock

Second year, 1,200 pounds of hay.

Third year, 460 " rowen.

" " 280 " hay.

Lot Number 3.

First year, 1,890 pounds of barley.

Second year, 1,300 " hay.

Third year, 530 " rowen.

" " 375 " hay.

Lot Number 4.

First year, 1,310 pounds of barley.

Second year, 382 " hay.

Third year, 75 "

56 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE.

An experiment with the so-called Stockbrklge chemical
fertilizer has been conducted on the farm during the last
season, upon a piece of thin, plain land that had not been
manured for several years, — land that would probably not
yield over 20 or 25 bushels of corn per acre, without manure.

The formula for. 50 bushels corn per acre, in addition to the
natural production without any fertilizer (which cost $27),
was applied to a part of the land, and on an adjoining part of
the same quality, green barn-yard manure was applied, at the
rate of five cords per acre. The part manured with barn-yard
manure ripened somewhat earlier, and, when harvested, the
stover was somewhat drier than the other part ; so that really
there was but very little difference in the amount of stover
grown upon the different lots. One-quarter acre of that
grown with the chemical formula produced 35 bushels of ears,
at the rate of 70 bushels shelled corn per acre, and 1,005
pounds stover. The quarter-acre grown upon the barn-yard
manure produced 45 bushels ears, at the rate of 90 bushels
shelled corn per acre, and 920 pounds of stover.

The total amount of products of the farm the last year, is
as follows : —

1 acre of cabbages, . . yielded 2,522 heads.
1^ acres of carrots, ..." 820 bushels.

1 acre 30 rods mangold-wurzels, " 480 "

2 acres of potatoes, . . " 119 "

,, c f GO barrels first quality.

H acres of onions, . . . " ( 28 " small.

f 630 bushels ears.
., c ..I 100 " beets.

5J acres of corn, . . . i 30 barrels apples.

[ 70 bushels cider apples.

f 5 tons.

10 " corn stover.
2 acres of Hungarian grass, . " ■{ ' 4 " corn fodder (cured).

18 " English hay.
[ 19 " meadow hay.

There have been applied to the farm 266 ox-cart loads of
barn-yard manure, equal to 99| cords ; 20 bushels ashes ;
$80 worth of commercial fertilizers.

Benjamin P. Ware, Chairman.

ON FARMS. 57

ESSEX.

From the Report of the Committee.

Your Committee have had but one application to examine
farms, entered for premium, and this was visited but once (in
July) during the year. This farm (if it may be called such)
is situated in the western part of Haverhill, and belongs to
Mr. Rufus Goodwin, and consists of about ten acres, nearly
all of which is under cultivation. In addition to the statement
of Mr. Goodwin, which is presented herewith, your Com-
mittee desire to say that, in awarding to him the society's
second premium of $20, it is not given because of any results
attained of a magnitude corresponding with such as have
been reached by many farmers in the county, but because his
work indicates the possession of a desirable faith in soil cul-
tivation as a remunerative pursuit, and because he has shown,
in a comparatively small way, what may be accomplished by
intelligent industry, patience, and perseverance in the pur-
suits of husbandry. Mr. Goodwin is a machinist by trade,
and leaving the shop where he was employed at high wages,
in 1872, he entered upon the work of clearing his ten acres
of land of bushes and rocks, and bringing it into good tilth.
The results of his labors for three years abundantly proved
that it is safe for mechanics and others engaged in industrial
labors to throw down their shop tools and take up the " shovel
and the hoe" on the land. He has proved that "ten acres is
enough " to support a good-sized family, and leave something
in the bank each year for " wet days " in life. He has turned
his rocky land into what may be called a garden, or what
promises to be a garden after a few years more of labor are
bestowed upon it. In accomplishing this result, great good
is done, inasmuch as it encourages others, who have small
means, to turn in the direction of the land for support. If
it is proved that five, six or eight hundred dollars a year can
be realized from the cultivation of a small homestead in
Massachusetts, in Essex County, it surely must attract atten-
tion, and lead to the rapid taking up of the tens of thousands
of acres of cheap but good lands, which are now entirely

58 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE.

neglected. Mr. Goodwin enters largely into the cultivation
of fruits and vegetables, which find a ready sale in the near
cities of Haverhill and Lawrence. His fruit-trees are young,
but very thrifty, and his vines give promise of heavy crops
in the coming years. There are many hundreds of acres of
good pasture land in the county, — land as good as that upon
which Mr. Goodwin is at work, — which cau be purchased at
about $25 per acre ; and to these neglected acres special
attention is called. The Chairman of this Committee pur-
chased, a couple of years ago, sixty acres of most excellent
land, at a cost of $20 per acre, and this is situated not more
than two miles from the city hall in Haverhill, with a popula-
tion of 15,000. It is this class of lands, of which there is
an abundance, which invites the attention of young men and
mechanics who do not find constant employment. It is hoped
that the farm committees will have in the coming years many
" farms " to inspect, which are now comparatively unpro-
ductive and valueless, and that Mr. Goodwin's example will
be largely followed.

Jas. R. Nichols, Chairman.

Statement of Rufus Goodwin.

I bought my place, which contains ten acres, in October,
1871. I did not go on it myself till April, 1873. Three
acres of the land were under a fair state of cultivation ; the
remaining seven acres were pasture land, rough and stony,
woodland and scattering trees, amounting to 25 cords of
wood.

I have cleared the laud, sinking aud blowing out 200 large
stones ; have dug and built 175 rods of stone wall, and put in
75 rods of underground drain. I should think I have used
40 cords of manure, 75 bushels of salt, and from 6 to 7
barrels of superphosphate. I have set out 180 pear-trees, 30
apple-trees, 85 peach-trees, 10 quince-trees, 100 gooseberry
bushes, 100 currant bushes, 1,000 raspberries, 300 hills rhu-
barb, 250 asparagus roots, and 300 grape-vines.

In 1873, I sold from my place $412.58 worth of produce.
In 1874, $708.94 worth. In 1875, $841.58 worth. In July
and August of this year, I have sold $229.42 worth.

IMPROVING WET MEADOWS. 59

IMPKOVIKG "WET MEADOWS.

ESSEX.

From the Report of the Committee.

Meadow land, where the mud is deep and thoroughly
drained, is liable to suffer from drought like other land, and
your Committee were of the opinion that, in some cases, such
meadows might be benefited by damming the water at certain
seasons of the year, at the outlet of the ditch, and retaining
such an amount of water in the ditch as may be necessary to
keep the land moist, or to some extent guard against drought.

Meadows require some dressing from the upland in shape
of sand, gravel, loam, or something of the kind. Most per-
sons use such material as may be nearest at hand, or can be
used with least .expense, and if a person is successful, he is
apt to think that the material he used is the best, hence there
are different opinions on the subject. Sand can be used with
considerable less expense than gravel, as it is much easier
shovelled. I have been informed by those who have used
both sand and gravel on the same meadow, that gravel is
decidedly the best. For myself, I have had considerable
experience in cultivating meadow land, but never used sand,
as I had access to none within a reasonable distance. I should
recommend, however, that persons who have access to differ-
ent material, try the experiment and judge for themselves.

It is an old saying that experience is the best schoolmaster.
The writer therefore proposes giving some of his own expe-
rience in cultivating meadow land, believing that he has had
longer experience than most others, although it may not be
so instructive.

Fifty years ago my father had a few acres of meadow land
in the central part of his farm, adjoining the road and near
his buildings, which he considered of but little value, as it

60 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE.

produced but little hay, and that of poor quality. He often
said it was an eyesore to him, and that he would gladly
give it away, if it could be removed, and his hill land (as he
called it) could be moved to take its place. The most of the
year it was covered with stagnant water ; in winter it was
covered with ice, where the boty-s congregated to play and
skate ; in spring it was made hideous with the croaking of
frogs and paddocks, and in summer the blackbirds built their
nests in the tall grass. In the year 1827 (I think it was), my
father being feeble, I concluded, with his consent, to take one
step at least toward removing the nuisance, which was to dig
across the road six or seven feet deep, make a new bridge,
and thence into the land of my neighbor, to drain off the
water. This work I accomplished, and spread the contents
taken from the road on the borders of the meadow, which
produced large crops of hay.

The next year, the water having drained off, I dug a ditch
across the deepest part of the meadow, and found the greatest
depth of mud about three and a half feet, but the outlet
across the road was not sufficiently deep to draw the water
more than about three feet from the surface. I also dug
some ditches in the other direction, as circumstances seemed
to require.

In the spring of 1829, my father died, and I came into
possession of the farm, by purchase from my brothers and
sisters. Now, in regard to the meadow, thus far I had been
successful ; the stagnant waters had been drawn off, and the
noxious reptiles had abandoned it ; and the question now was,
How can it be improved and made profitable ?

I attempted to plough it, but was unsuccessful, as sedge-
beds were scattered over the meadow, which, in addition to
cranberry-vines, made it impervious to the plough. Again,
the question came back, How can I improve the meadow?
There was no precedent, to my knowledge, as draining and cul-
tivating meadows were entirely a new thing, and my neighbors
were like Job's comforters, — had no faith in my success, and
thought it had better go to cranberries, although they were
of but little value. The next two years, I did little to the
meadow, except draining it more thoroughly, as circumstances
seemed to require, by cutting off the cold springs on every

IMPROVING WET MEADOWS. 61

side, and spreading the subsoil on the surface, which, with
hay-seed being sown, caused good crops of English hay, with-
out manure.

In 1833, 1 built a new barn, eighty-four by forty feet. The
cellar was dug where the old barn had stood for sixty or
seventy years. The contents of the cellar, a gravelly loam,
were removed into a large heap, mostly by the plough and
ox-shovel. The ground was strongly saturated to the depth
of four or five feet with the leachings of the manure-heap and
the urine from the cattle, where they had been stalled 'for so
lon» a time.

In the fall, and during the next season, the contents of the
barn-cellar were spread on the meadow as top-dressing, on
which I sowed herdsgrass and red-top seed. The grass soon
sprang up rank and strong, and the next year it produced a
good crop of hay. For several years after it produced two
large crops per year without more top-dressing.

I think there was more hay produced on that meadow for a
series of years, than on any land that I have ever known in
the same length of time. I never have known, but once, the
amount per acre that it produced at one crop ; that must have
been some years after I commenced mowing it. That was
sold from the field, and went to the stable in the village.
Two loads, about three tons, Avere carried away. I then sur-
veyed the land that produced it, and found it less than one
acre. I then computed it, and found the product per acre
sixty-seven hundred and sixty-five pounds. I thought at the
time that the crop was not so heavy as it had produced some
previous years. The mud in the meadow has settled one-half
since I first commenced draining it, and it requires much
more top-dressing now than it did in the early years of its
improvement, to produce a like crop. It rarely suffers from
drought, as there is usually water in the main dftch coming
from a spring not far distant.

The most of the ditches are kept open. Some of the ditches
that I first dug were filled to within about eight inches of the
top of the ground Avith small stones, after making a small
culvert at the bottom for the water ; then covered the ditch
with gravel. The most of the ditches that I have filled with
small stones, as above named, have become clogged and filled

62 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE.

up, and it has been necessary to dig new ones. I have sup-
posed that rnuskrats and meadow-moles, in some cases, have
had something to do in filling up among the small stones on
meadow land, where there is a small depth of mud. On
higher land, the woodchucks will sometimes burrow and clog
up the ditch.

I have used a large amount of stones for underdraining,
and, in some cases, it has been done to good advantage, as
the subsoil would pay for throwing out for top-dressing, and
the sniall stones were buried out of sight. I should, however,
in most cases, recommend tile for underdraining, where they
can be buried sufficiently deep to protect them from frost.

I have extended these remarks far beyond what I intended
when I commenced, and will now close.

Joseph How, Chairman.

Statement of J. J. H. Gregory.

The improved wet meadow I enter for your examination
is a tract of about a dozen acres, located on the Glover Farm
in Marblehead, and bordering on Atlantic Avenue, which
extends from Marblehead to Swampscott. The meadow is
muck, from two to six feet deep, resting on clay. Previous
to reclamation, the tract was of but little value for any pur-
pose ; it was wet, rough, and mostly covered with rushes and
coarse grasses. About twenty-five years ago there was an
attempt made to reclaim a small portion of it, but there then
being insufficient drainage, it was a failure. The first step
taken was to open a deep ditch of about eight hundred feet
in length, which was walled with stone its entire length, at
the cost, when finished, of about a dollar a linear foot. The
design was that this ditch should serve to drain not only the
meadow, but a large tract of low land in the rear of it. The
second step was to lay tile or hemlock boards from several
springs to the main ditch running through the middle of the
meadow. These steps having made the meadow sufficiently
dry, the hummocks, hillocks, and tussocks were now attacked
with picks and " tormented " with the harrow until the surface
was made comparatively smooth. In the course of the work,

IMPROVING WET MEADOWS. 63

some of the rougher material we carted off and burned. ( The
meadow, during this and subsequent treatment, was handled
in four sections of about equal area, divided by the road
running through it, and the main ditch cutting the road at
right angles. One of these sections was the first season
ploughed and planted to cabbage, and gave an excellent crop.
Two of the other sections, in the course of the next two
years, were also put under the plough, and yielded, with
about the usual quantity of manure, excellent crops of man-
gold-wurzels and squashes. Potatoes have succeeded well
in dry seasons, but in wet seasons are more affected with rot
than those grown on common soil. Carrots, when tried in a
dry season, are much inclined to grow "prongy." About a
quarter of the area, after applying to the surface gravelly
loam or sand at the rate of about seventy-one horse-cart loads
to the acre, has been planted to onions with excellent success.
Heavy crops of hay have been taken from every portion of
the meadow, usually two crops each season. In the early
handling of this meadow, considerable clay taken from the
bottom of the main ditch was spread over the surface.

64 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE.

IMPKOVING PASTURE AND WASTE LAND.

ESSEX.

From the Report of the Committee.

On the 28th of July, your Committee visited the farm of
Joseph Hortou, Ipswich, to examine a piece of land entered
for premium.

The Committee would suggest that one item of expense,
the carting off of the sods, etc., might have been saved by
burning on the land. One of the Committee remarked that
he thought the burning might have been omitted, and that the
simple turning over of the sods and bushes would have been
sufficient to reclaim the land.

This brings in discussion the comparative merits of burning
and non-burning ; that is, merely ploughing. Where there
is a superabundance of vegetable matter, as on peat land and
on some clay soil, burning has proved of much advantage.
Mr. Horton's land seemed to be somewhat of a clayey nature,
though not decidedly clay land, yet a certain admixture of the
latter with gravel and loam. We should also judge that it
was lacking in humus or vegetable matter.

We think a combination of the two methods mentioned
would have been the best ; that is, to have burnt the toughest
sods and bushes, which would have taken a long time in rot-
ting, and to have left all grass or pliant sods on the land.
The process which Mr. Horton pursued is called " paring
and burning," and is more common in England than in this
country. Mr. Colman, in his "European Agriculture,"
devotes some attention to this subject. He says : " The
process of paring and burning the surface of land has been
practised with great, though not always with equal success, in
many parts of the country. The objects of it are threefold :
first, to reduce the coarse vegetable matter on the surface to

IMPROVING PASTURE AND WASTE LAND. G5

a state of decomposition, that it may be supplanted by a more
profitable vegetation ; the second, to destroy grubs, insects,
and the larvae of insects, which infest the soil and are pernicious
to the cultivated crops ; and the third, to convert the coarse
vegetable matter on the surface iuto ashes, for the nutriment
of the crops which are to follow. This process is not to be
confounded with that of burning clay for the purpose of
manure, and of rendering the soil friable and pervious to the
roots of plants." The mode of burning described is the same
as practised by Mr. Horton, — that of slow, mouldering fires, —
but the burning itself seems to have taken place on the land.

Mr. Colman quotes the following, which certainly seems a
remarkable statement : " An acre of land from which the turf
was taken in the common mode of paring and burning,
appeared to have produced an average of 2,060 bushels of
ashes, which, at their mean weight of sixty-five pounds to a
bushel, when dry, would give 172,900 pounds, or rather more
than seventy-seven tons per acre."

We hardly know how to estimate the quantity of ashes
produced on Mr. Hortou's laud from the information given.
He says, twenty loads. Without knowing the size of the
loads, we shall estimate that each load contained fifty bushels,
which would give a total of one thousand bushels, and at
twenty-five cents a bushel, would be worth $250.

Mr. Colman also goes on to state what has a very impor-
tant bearing on the subject, that " it has been said that the
destruction of vegetable matter in the soil must necessarily
impoverish it ; and that it would be much better to bury this
vegetable matter, where, by a slow decomposition, it might
serve to afford nutriment to the crops to be cultivated. There
are, iu the first place, some mechanical difficulties in the case.
Where a piece of heath land, covered with coarse grasses and
low bushes of furze or fern, is ploughed, it is extremely diffi-
cult, even by the most severe process of pressing or rolling,
to make it lie flat, and so consolidate it that it can be culti-
vated to advantage. This is stated to have been the fact, on
an extensive heath in Surrey, where cultivation under the
practice of paring and burning succeeded well, but very
ill where the land was only turned over without paring
and burning."

9* i.

6Q MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE.

"There are certainly strong reasons, in such cases, for
paring and burning fields of this description ; but they do
not apply to those lands where the vegetable matter is of a
different description, and would, by being covered over, be
speedily brought into a state of decomposition. In the
process of burning, it is evident that none of the earthy or
mineral constituents, or what are called inorganic portions of
the soil, are consumed. But all the vegetable matter, with
the exception of that portion which has become charred in
the process, is destroyed."

" The humus of the soil serves to render it more friable ;
it absorbs moisture from the atmosphere,. and it retains heat,
and, in these respects, if in no other, contributes to vegeta-
tion. In dissipating this matter, then, by burning, we must
look for some compensation in the ashes which are produced,
or in the mechanical effects which this burning operates upon
the soil. The ashes themselves are powerful absorbents and
retainers of moisture, and they answer a valuable purpose in
the disintegration, or loosening, of the soil. They certainly,
in many cases, operate as an efficient manure."

"The expediency of paring and burning land must, as I
have remarked, depend upon the nature of the soil which is
to be subjected to the process. On light, sandy, or gravelly
soils, where the vegetation is thin and sparse, it is strongly
objectionable."

After having given Mr. Colman's instructive analysis of the
subject, we shall only add that we would suggest to Mr.
Horton that the ploughing under of several green crops, like
clover, would be likely to restore any loss of vegetable matter
which may have been incurred in the process of burning.

J. D. "W. French, Chairman.

Statement of Joseph Horton.

As the land that I have offered for the society's premium,
having been inspected by you, received the same treatment
as a parcel offered last year, I quote in full from the
"Transactions" of 1875, my method in detail of treating
such lands : —

IMPROVING PASTURE AND WASTE LAND. 67

" STATEMENT.

" The land upon which I operated was about two and one-half
acres of old pasture. The surface was raised into ridges and
hillocks, and, for the most part, covered with bushes. Treatment :
by ploughing, I levelled the ridges, tore up the bushes, getting out
what roots I could. I then carted the whole into a pile, and started
a fire, which I kept going until all were consumed. The field was
then ploughed again, and seeded to grass. Twenty cart-loads
of ashes — the amount obtained from the fire — being applied for
dressing. But, as a great part of this dressing was blown off b}r
the wind, I afterwards applied four cords of stable manure as a
substitute.

" This method has decided merit over all others that I have tried,
as it thoroughly, and at once, clears the land of all noxious growths,
works the soil, leaves it in such a condition that it can be treated
readily, and in a first-class manner, and as it furnishes its own
manure, comparatively cheap. In regard to the chemical properties,
or value of these ashes, I can give no information. I simply know
that the land upon which- they were used does well, and, as }'et,
shows no sign of running out.

Expense of Improvement.

Ploughing and cleaving, $20 00

" and preparing for seed, 20 00

Seed, 3 00

Four cords of manure, 28 00

Total, $71 00

Income the first year, 4| tons of hay, at $25 per ton, . . . $112 50
li beyond expense, 41 50"

OBSERVATIONS ON THE ABOVE STATEMENT AND REPORT.

The reading of the above report gave rise to considerable
discussion at a meeting of the trustees of the Society, when
reports of committees wrere under consideration, and I was
requested to append to the report some remarks.

I desire to call attention briefly, first, to the written state-
ment of Mr. Horton, and second, to the observations of the
Committee, and the extract presented from Mr. Colman's
"European Agriculture." The points in Mr. Horton's state-
ment wmicli seem extraordinary, relate not so much to the
simple method adopted in clearing his land, as to the alleged

68 . MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE.

ash results obtained and their assumed fertilizing influence
upon the field. To obtain "twenty cart-loads of ashes from
two and one-half acres of pasture land," it would be necessary
for Mr. Horton to cut down in bushes, and dig up in roots,
and haul to his "pile," at least five hundred "cart-loads" of
the material. This is apparent from the fact that such woods
contain only about two and one-half per cent, of ash constitu-
ents. A "cart-load" of ashes maybe assumed to be forty
bushels, weighing forty pounds to the bushel ; this gives in
weight to the load sixteen hundred pounds, and to the twenty
loads, thirty-two thousand pounds. It seems utterly impos-
sible to obtain thirty -two thousand pounds of ashes from bushes
and roots taken from " two and one-half acres of old pasture
laud"; and, if obtained, the dressing would be enormous.
Another inexplicable point in this statement is, How could
Mr. Horton plough the Jaud, cut down the crop of bushes,
dig up the roots, and cart away the immense amount of
material , at a cost of only twenty dollars ? As a " great part
of the dressing (ashes) was blown off by the wind," the fertil-
ity of the field is presumably due to the manure applied. The
loss of twenty "cart-loads" of dry wood-ashes, is a serious
one, the cash value being, upon the estimate above given, at
thirty cents a bushel, $240, — more than twice the value of the
hay crop secured.

It only need be said, that it requires but a glance at this
statement to learn that it was prepared in a hasty manner,
and without due consideration. There is, probably, no inten-
tion of inaccuracy of statement, and these strictures are kindly
made, with the view of securing in the future more exact and
reliable accounts of the farm labors and farm improvements.
The estimates here made differ from those of the Committee,
in item, cost, etc., but not essentially in general result.

As regards the astonishing yield of ashes from an acre of
land, alluded to by Mr. Column, and quoted by the Commit-
tee, it may be said that that ash result came from the burning
of turf, and the ash was composed of at least ninety per cent,
of silica or sand, and therefore it was comparatively value-
less. Pure peat ashes, I have found to give, upon analysis,
eighty-one per cent, of silica, which accounts for their small
value as plant-food. Turf is sand, with a small amount of

IMPROVING PASTURE AND WASTE LAND. 69

vegetable matter diffused through it, and when it is burned,
the sand remains behind in a heap, resembling pure ashes.
Mr. Horton's experiment is different ; he alleges that his
ashes were the result of the burning of bushes and roots.
The "heath" and peat lands of England and Ireland are very
different from our waste lauds, and the methods of treatment
for recovery cannot well be the same.

The treatment pursued by Mr. Horton is essentially that
which was adopted by our forefathers one and two hundred
years ago. A rare old book may be found in the library of
the Essex Agricultural Society, entitled, "Essays upon Field
Husbandry in New England, by Jared Elliot, A. M.," pub-
lished in 1760, in which a statement is made, on page 6, of
experiments in reclaiming waste land, which in methods
adopted closely resemble those of Mr. Horton. It is to be
regretted that we have so little which is new to present upon
so important a branch of husbandry.

Jas. R. Nichols.

HAMPDEN.

Statement of H. M. Sessions, South Wilbraham.

The success that has attended the experiments in draining
on different sections of my form, can be better understood
by actual observation on the premises, than by any descrip-
tion that can be given on paper. There are nine separate
lots, or sections of lots, that have been drained at different
times,' running back over a period of twenty-six years. A
map has been drawn of the different lots drained, giving a
view of the exact locality of each drain, both open and
covered. The plan first adopted is essentially the same as
that now practised, with such improvements as have been
suggested by actual trial. Underdrains of stone have been
most generally used ; though open drains are used in some
sections, for want of time to fill them ; and in other sections
they have been used in preference to covered drains, to carry
off the accumulated surface-water, and to receive that from
the underdrains. The construction of these underdrains
varies. A few have been laid in the form of a culvert, but

70 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE.

generally small stones have been tipped in promiscuously
from the cart, and levelled by throwing the largest to the
bottom. The ditches have been dug from two to three feet
wide at the top, and from one to two feet at the bottom, and
two and a half to three feet deep, the width and depth varying
according to the nature of the soil and the undulations of the
surface, an even and gradual descent always proving the
most effectual. Where the soil was soft and loose, as in sand
or muck, the ditches were dug three feet wide at the top, and
two feet at the bottom. If dug narrower, the mud and sand
would work in, and soon stop the water. In hard-pan, two
feet wide at the top, and one foot at the bottom, is all that is
necessary. These ditches were filled with two feet of stone
and one foot of earth. In a few cases, litter or swamp hay
has been used to cover the stones before the dirt was put on,
but generally it was filled in with a common road-scraper,
without any covering.

Drains constructed in this way in 1849, are to-day as
effectual as when first made. The upper end of blind ditches
should never be left open, nor should there be any other
opening to receive running streams, or periodical surface-
water ; for, if so, they will soon fill with sediment and be
rendered of no account. In only three instances have these
drains failed. The first was where the fall was so slight, that
in high water they were clogged by sediment setting back
from the brook. The second was where either the frost or
meadow moles, or both, caused leaks in the sides of the ditch,
where located on the side-hill, allowing the water to follow
their tracks instead of the line of the ditch. This has occurred
only where the fall was made very slight, in order to carry
the water high up on the dry land for the purpose of irrigating
as large an area as possible. The third was where too large
stones were used in a narrow ditch, and it soon clogged.

Lot No. 1 is a rock-maple swamp of about ten acres, used
for a pasture and for mowing litter. The attention of the
Committee is more particularly called to this lot, for an
opportunity to see the immediate effect of draining. In this
lot there are one hundred and sixty-two rods of open ditches,
and in 1875 twenty-seven rods of open drains were con-
structed, and three acres thoroughly reclaimed and seeded

IMPROVING PASTURE AND WASTE LAND. 71

with grass for permanent mowing. One acre of the above
was stocked with buckwheat, half-acre with turnips, the rest
with grass alone. The amount of grass-seed sown per acre
was as follows : two pecks herdsgrass, one peck northern red-
top, half-peck southern red top, half-peck of fowl-meadow,
with several barrels of chaff saved from the cattle's mangers,
and sweepings of the feeding floor, in addition.

The yield of grass on this reclaimed lot, in 1876, was from
two to three tons per acre of the very best quality of hay.

During the summer of 1876, twenty-two rods of under-
drains were constructed on this lot, and twenty-four rods of
ditches dug. About three acres additional have been reclaimed
and seeded ; a part with buckwheat, and a part with grass-
seed alone, using orchard-grass and Alsike clover in addition
to the varieties sown last year.

Lot No. 2 is a section of two acres, adjoining the maple
swamp on the north, and has fifty-three rods of covered and
thirty-nine rods of open drains. It was cultivated two years
with hoed crops, and seeded with oats, and has now been in
mowing eighteen years, the underdrains as effectually carry-
ing off the water as when first constructed.

Lot No. 3, on the east bank of the brook, was drained in
1855 ; eight rods of open ditches and forty-two rods of under-
drains were laid on one and a half acres ; the land planted
with potatoes, and the next year seeded to grass with millet
for mowing. One of these ditches only has failed, having
been duo; too narrow and filled with too large stones.

Lot No. 4, a lot on the west bank of the brook, contains
one and a quarter acres. Iu 1859, seventy-two and a half
rods of underdrains and four rods of open drains were made.
This lot was thoroughly ploughed and planted with potatoes ;
the next year heavily manured and seeded to grass with
buckwheat.

Large crops of grass have been cut from this lot ever since,
with only two or three top-dressings of manure during the
time, the lot receiving the wash from the upland above. A
number of these ditches have failed from the setting back of
the brook.

Lot No. 5 contains about three-fourths of an acre on the
side-hill adjoining the last lot. Thirty-seven and a half rods

72 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE.

of underdrains were laid in 1862 ; the land planted with
potatoes two years and heavily manured each year, and the.
next year stocked to grass with oats, for permanent mowing.
Two crops have been cut from this lot each year since. Most
of these drains are doing good service to-day.

Lot No. 6 is a swale in the centre of the barn lot, of about
three-fourths of an acre. Forty rods of underdrains were
constructed in 1849 and 1850. The land was never ploughed,
but levelled by bogging. With an annual top-dressing, two
heavy crops of grass have been cut each year since. In 1876,
twenty-one and a half rods of underdraining were laid on this
lot to remedy the failure caused by meadow moles, at the
following expense : —

Digging ditch, at 25 cents per rod, $5 37

Drawing 45 loads of stone, 12 50

Filling ditch with road-scraper, 4 00

Total, $21 87

Lot No. 7 is a section north of the last, in the same lot, of
half an acre. Twenty-five rods of underdrains were laid in
1851, with the same treatment and results as iu lot No. 6.
These drains in No. 7 are in as perfect condition, apparently,
as when first constructed.

The water from the drains in the last two lots is conducted
in open ditches to irrigate the adjoining dry land.

Lot No. 8 has seventy-three and a half rods of covered
drains and forty and a half rods of open drains, made during
the years of 1858 and 1860, and are working well. The lot
was cultivated with corn and potatoes, thoroughly enriched
with manure and seeded with grass, and set with apple-trees
for an orchard. The trees have done well, especially near
the underdrains, and the lot has produced an extra quality of
hay, with an occasional top-dressing of manure.

Lot No. 9 is a meadow of about four acres further up on
the brook, and is annually overflowed. It was never
ploughed, although it has been mowed ever since the first
settler occupied the farm.

In 1875, half an acre of this lot was ploughed, highly
manured, and reseeded with herdsgrass, redtop, Kentucky
blue-prass, and fowl-meadow.

IMPROVING PASTURE AND WASTE LAND: 73

Forty rods of this lot were seeded the middle of August,
and the remainder about the middle of September, it being
too wet to seed with the first lot.

July 7, 1876, the 40 rods first seeded were mowed, and
November 27, it was sold to J. S. Carr, of Springfield, for
$21 per ton. It weighed 1,550 pounds, and amounted to
$16.27, or at the rate of 3^ tons and $65 per acre.

During the past summer (1876), about two acres of this
meadow have been ploughed and reseeded.

Thirty-five rods of underdrains have been laid, and 34*
rods of ditches dug, but not covered.

The plough used was Whitteinore & Belcher's side-hill
plough, No. 1,000, with meadow point, the wings of which
were ground twice a day in order to cut the bog-grass roots.

During the time above named, 298 rods of underdrains have
been constructed, and 249^ rods of open drains have been
dug. In 1876, 79 rods of covered and 58^ rods of open
drains have been made, making 377 covered and 307| open
drains, or 684| in all.

FRANKLIN.

Statement of Alonzo Graves of Greenfield.

The piece of land I have entered for premium contains four
and three-fourths acres. In 1866 two-fifths of it was covered
with a young growth of wood, with occasionally an old forest
tree ; the remaining three-fifths with large clumps of willows ;
the whole was very uneven and extremely wet, pond-holes
standing on part of it the whole of every year. In the spring
of 1866, I cut all the wood, and dug up all the willows; I
mowed the brush and coarse grass every summer after that
until the spring of 1873, when I dug and pried up all the
stumps and ploughed with one yoke of cattle the two-fifths ;
in September following harrowed, levelled, ditched, manured
and sowed to grass-seed, herdsgrass, clover and redtop. The
three-fifths my children called the checkerberry lot, as these
and blueberries covered nearly the whole of it. This, in the
fall of 1874, I ditched, ploughed, harrowed, levelled, and
manured and then harrowed again ; then sowed herdsgrass
and redtop ; the next spring, clover on the snow. I manured

10*

74 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE.

at the rate of fourteen cart-loads to the acre, which was taken
from my barn cellar, where hogs had worked on it. The east
and north side of this piece is bordered by an open ditch,
thirty rods of which was an old one I reopened in 1866, and
I dug thirty rods more new; also, in 1873-74, I put in fifty
rods of underground ditch, running in various directions, to
tap the quag-holes. This ditch was dug fifteen inches wide,
about two and one-half feet deep ; it was constructed by
putting two dead white-pine poles, about four inches in
diameter, at the bottom, and covering, cross-wise, with inch
boards, made from chestnut logs sawed fifteen inches long
and split; I filled it by throwing in weeds, brush, bark, etc.,
to break joints, then covered with earth. This drained the
land to perfect satisfaction.

There were two pond-holes that had such a depth of muck
that it was impossible to drive over it, or do anything with
it, until we had drawn on three or four inches of clay ; then
we seeded top of the clay. The result was we cut the stout-
est grass there.

I estimate the cost of improvement to be, —

Digging stumps, $20 00

Ditching, 60 00

Ploughing, . .• 20 00

Harrowing, 20 00

Levelling, 20 00

Manure, 100 00

Drawing clay, 15 00

Grass-seed, 15 00

Total, $270 00

The return was two-fifths mowed three years, and three-
fifths two years, which I estimate to have produced twenty-
six tons of hay, at $15 per ton, standing $390. Net profit,
$120.

DEERFIELD VALLEY.

Statement of E. G. Hawks of Charlemont.

The reclaimed swamp land entered by me, is a part of a
marsh of several acres lying south of my house, near the foot of
the hill, on the road from Charlemont to East Hawley. Fifty

IMPROVING PASTURE AND WASTE LAND. 75

years ago, this land was covered with timber, mostly black
ash, with a few huge pines. There was much fallen timber
imbedded in the muck, which might have been there for centu-
ries. About five years later, this portion was cleared of these
obstructions, with the exception of a few large pine stumps.
An open ditch was dug along the north and east sides ; two
ditches were also opened across the central portion, and inter-
secting with the ditch on the north side at right angles. For
many years these open ditches have proved very ineffectual,
that on the east side being nearly filled up, and the land so
saturated with water as to be of very little use for farming
purposes. The soil is a black muck, from two to seven feet
in depth, with a subsoil of clay and sand. In the autumn of
1872, I commenced to reclaim this portion of the swamp,
which was yielding only about one-half ton per acre of water-
grass, fine brakes and vines, which was used for bedding. At
that time a portion of the ground was so soft that I could not
drive upon it with my team. The old ditch, on the north
and east sides, was settled to a depth of two feet, and a stone
drain laid, on plank covered with stone ; two lateral drains
were cut, of about five rods each, and laid with two-inch
horseshoe tile. This tile was laid upon boards, the muck
being so soft that the tile would not keep its place. The piece
was turned over with the plough, except the softer portion,
which was done with the spade. It was then levelled, and
received a dressing of ten loads of chip-dirt, and seeded to
timothy. In the spring of 1874, I found much water standing
on the surface, in the vicinity of the tile drain. On examina-
tion I found the tile had been displaced by cattle passing over
it while the ground was soft. I then caused the tile drains
to be relaid, placing a board above the tile, as well as below,
since which time it has given me no trouble.

The cost of 17 rods of stone drain, $17 00

" of 10 rods of tile drain, 7 00

Ploughing, fitting and seeding, 7 00

Grass-seed, 1 00

Ten loads of chip-dirt, 5 00

Relaying tile, . 1 00

Total, $38 00

76 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE.

n^of-1874,. . . . . . }Jg P"»^} weOpoond

Hay of 1875, 2,630 " \ . ,R() „

Rowen, " 1,950 " / 4'0SU

Hay of 1876 1,950 " \ 9 100 t{

No rowen, on account of drought, 1876, . . / '

Total, 9,440 pounds.

At $16 per ton, this would amount to $75 52

The crop can now be secured by machinery at an annual
cost of about $1.50.

BRISTOL.

Statement of Peter C. Thayer of Taunton.

The half-acre of grass I enter for the Society's premium
has been in grass ten years, was reclaimed swamp, ploughed
after roots had been torn out about six inches deep, and a
coat of sand about two inches thick, with about six cords of
manure and half a ton of bone to the acre, and sowed to
herdsgrass, twelve quarts to the acre, and harrowed in.

I have given it a top-dressing every year since, of about six
cords of stable and hog manure per acre, the cattle having
been bedded with sand, and four years ago I gave it a second
dressing of half a ton of bone and twenty bushels of un-
leached ashes per acre. Last March I gave it a top-dressing
of about six cords of stable and hog manure per acre, and
the first of May I gave it a light dressing of night-soil.

My first crop of hay was cut and taken away by the com-
mittee on crops June 21 ; second crop cut July 24 ; third
crop cut September 12 ; each crop was taken away and dried
and weighed by the committee.

The committee selected one rod as a sample of the half-
acre, and after taking away the first cutting told me that the
rod they had selected should be the sample rod for the
season, and told me to do anything to the rod I pleased,
and requested me to try and see how much I could raise
on the rod.

The day the first crop was cut I gave the sample rod a top-

IMPROVING PASTURE AND WASTE LAND. 77

dressing of fine manure, and about sixty gallons of water,
and I continued to water it through the season, using about
eighty gallons of water per week.

I gave the rod between June 21 and September 10, two
days before the last (the third) crop was cut, fifteen pounds
of guano dissolved, half a bushel hen manure dissolved, one
peck of soot dissolved, two pounds of saltpetre, four quarts
of air-slacked lime, four quarts of plaster and one quart of
ammonia.

The hen manure and guano were dissolved together, and
were used once a week, with a large amount of water ; the
saltpetre and ammonia were used each once a week. The
soot, lime and plaster were all used at the same time, and
but once, two days after the first crop was cut.

The committee reported to me that the —

First crop (after being dried to their satisfaction) weighed, 47^ pounds.

Second crop weighed (dry), 454, "

Third " " " 57 "

Total, . 149| pounds.

The above is the result of the sample rod, and I have no
means of telling the exact amount grown on the whole half-
acre. At the first cutting the rod was a fair sample of the
half- acre ; the second and third cuttings were not, but were
forced for the purpose of seeing what amount could be raised
from a rod. The half-acre was not surveyed, because there
was an acre so nearly the same yield that the committee did
not deem it necessary.

78 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE.

FRUIT-CULTURE.

ESSEX.

From the Report of the Committee.

It was almost impossible that full justice to all should be
done, with five hundred and fifty-eight plates of apples of
such good quality and of so many different varieties, scat-
tered, as they were, among pears and other fruits, over six
long tables, without regard to kinds. Is it not too much to
expect, and too much to impose upon this or any commit-
tee, in the limited time assigned them? We at least think
so, and as Chairman of this Committee, this year's experience,
added to the experience of last year as chairman of com-
mittee on grapes, peaches and assorted fruits, causes me
here and now to protest against the manner of arranging and
displaying the fruit upon the tables of the Society, causing
such laborious and unsatisfactory work for your committees,
who believe it a necessity that a radical reform should be
made in this direction, if it expects faithful service from its
committees, and justice dealt out to its exhibitors.

We therefore would recommend, what hns already been
adopted in some societies, the plan of having stands set upon
the tables, labelled with the variety or kind of fruit there
exhibited, with rods to lay across the table to separate each
variety. By having all of each variety by themselves so
labelled, the kind of fruit and variety can be easily found,
and when found the best can be easily selected, as all the
plates of that variety are together for comparison ; while, as
the tables are now arranged, it is simply impossible for any
committee on fruits to perform their duty in the time
allotted for it, and do justice to all the exhibitors ; the labor
being so tiresome and tedious that it is a wonder that men
are found interested enough to undertake it. We consider
that an exhibitor obliged to exhibit fruit in a round dish, or

FRUIT-CULTURE. 79

emptied loose upon the table, is not treated with equal fair-
ness with those using the regular plates of the Society ; and
therefore the Society should provide plates enough of its own
for all to use, and we would recommend that it do so before
another season. We also think more notice ought to be taken
by the trustees of the reports of their committees, and
where recommendations are made in them, they should be
noticed and acted upon, even if not adopted. Where such
notice is not taken, you add another discouragement to a
faithful committee.

About apples and their culture, your Committee, through
their Chairman, tried to get the experience of every exhibitor,
that their statements might be condensed and put in tabular
form, that comparisons could be made more readily, and the
information desired found separated like grain from its chaff;
but the responses made to the questions, ashed of all, have
been so few that these statements are appended to this Report
for its readers to do their own sifting, which will be found to
recommend as the best and most profitable apples for raising
in this county, the Baldwin, Hubbardston Nonsuch, Graven-
stein, Rhode Island Greening, Danvers Winter Sweet, Red
Astrachan, Hunt's Russet, Roxbury Russet, Porter, and
Williams Favorite.

Coal ashes have been tried on their apple- trees, by some,
with very satisfactory results. The reports on peaches last
year, showed that coal ashes around peach-trees had proved
beneficial. If more experiments were made with coal ashes,
we should find more virtue in them for tree and plant life
than they have been supposed to contain. Salt has been used
in manure with beneficial results to the trees.

We are led to think that pine-trees are a great preventive
of the ravages of the canker and currant worm, as some
orchards with plenty of pines near them are not visited by
them. Will our apple-growers notice this, and if such is
generally the case, make it known to our secretary, that
experiments may be made with pine boughs as a preventive.
Printers' ink is universally considered the best protector yet
known for apple-trees. Mathews' protector has proved itself
an injury to the trees, in one locality at least, trees having
been badly injured by their use.

80 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE.

Your Committee found, among the others exhibited, a most
excellent apple, very large and handsome, crisp and juicy,
with a very fine flavor ; it was entirely unknown among the
fruit-growers present, who, with the Committee, tested its
eating qualities. The name given to it by the exhibitor being
considered incorrect, your Committee unanimously decided to
name it for one so long identified with and loved by our
Society ; we therefore gave it the name of the Sutton apple,
and as such it will be extensively cultivated for its worth.

The exhibit of apples by our Society, in size and good
looks, was worthy a place second to none we saw at the Cen-
tennial Exhibition, though the average size of some may have
been larger from the States in the prolific West ; yet, in
beauty and keeping qualities, our apples beat them. Canada
made a fine show of apples, and in plums she excelled all
competitors, showing that ice may hope yet to regain here this
delicious fruit, ripening between the cherry and the apple,
which has been so profitable in this county in the past,
and which our Society should otfer special inducements to
promote the cultivation of, that eventually a remedy for the
curculio and black knot can be found.

A variety of opinion prevails in regard to the expediency
and benefit of root-pruning. We have found in ploughing
an old orchard, breaking off roots of various sizes, that the
trees since have started with fresh vigor in growth, producing
much larger apples, with less tendency to drop than before.

We have also found an excellent preventive from the rav-
ages of ground mice on young trees, to be a couple of shovel-
fuls of fresh cow manure put around the butt of the tree late
iu the season.

We were in hopes to draw out from the experience of so
many different fruit-growers individual experiments and
results, which would in the aggregate furnish information to
our Society of the most valuable kind ; but the exhibitors
were not so interested in furnishing it as your Committee in
seeking it, although we believe it one of the requirements of
the Society. However, enough valuable information has been
furnished to interest and instruct others, and we trust that
hereafter exhibitors, especially those receiving awards, will
feel it a pleasant duty to forward to the chairman of the

FRUIT-CULTURE. 81

Committee, soon after the close of the annual exhibition, an
unsolicited statement in regard to their exhibits, whether it
be fruits or anything else, with items of their own experience
which may benefit others, thus adding to the stock of knowl-
edge, for the procurement and dissemination of which our
Society was formed.

David W. Low, Chairman.

Statement of Mrs. Lucy J. Pratt of Danvers Centre.

Apples. — Our orchard is small, only about thirty-four
apple-trees, with some fourteen varieties. The soil is heavy
and black. The trees are all in a mowing field, and no par-
ticular enriching is used, except an occasional top-dressing
of good stable manure ; no digging round the roots or other
means are used, — they are simply let alone.

Some half-dozen of the trees are quite old, but the remain-
der are young, very fair-shaped, flourish well, and bear well.
Of the starting of the orchard I cannot say, except that no
particular pains were taken with it above the average.

The pill we prepare for caterpillars is simply a bristle brush
on a pole, — give it a few good twists, and step on them.

The way we doctor canker-Avorms is much the same as
everywhere, but ours "may differ in some respects. We use
for protectors, instead of the tarred paper, enamel cloth, such
as wagon-tops are made of; then spread on the printing ink
as often as it requires, being sure, however, to keep it moist
all the time. Our neighbors use the paper, and are obliged to
renew it every year, while our enamel cloth will last two
years, and perhaps longer. The cost of course is more in
the beginning, but we think will be cheaper in the end. I
think no others have used this cloth in our neighborhood,
except on my father's and our own trees. But little prun-
ing is done, enough to keep them in pretty good order and
shape. The wormy fruit we keep picked up, and it is used
for animals.

To the question of the five varieties considered the most
profitable, with my limited knowledge I would say, for early,
the Astrachan would lead. It is well and favorably known, —
n*

82 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE.

good cooking and good-looking, as well as good selling, but
rather short-lived. Of early fall, the Gravenstein js our par-
ticular favorite, being of handsome color as well as a beautiful
eating apple, and for cooking seems to us to be unsurpassed.
We had some thirty-seven bushels from our little orchard this
year, and they would sell in market when others would hardly
get a passing glance. They are very free bearers, and we
think they are the fall apple.

The Hubbardston is a fine large apple, also a very free
bearer. What it lacks in richness of color it makes up in
size; finds a ready market and cooks well. This year ours
have been uncommonly good. Williams Favorite is as
bright an apple as one would wish to see, and is good to eat,
too, but needs to be eaten raw. Danvers Sweets are, ac-
cording to our judgment, good as any, but sweet apples never
seem to be very profitable. People do not seem to have any
idea what a variety of uses can be made of them in cooking.

Of winter apples, we are still old-fashioned enough to cling
to the Baldwin, which seems to me to be an apple that one
does not tire of as we do of many of the newer sorts.

To speak lastly of a good winter eating apple, none is in
such favor in our immediate vicinity as the Hunt Russet, —
a smallish russet apple, smooth and fair, and very uniform in
size. It will keep good until apples "come in the summer.
This kind cannot be too highly spoken of. It sells as readily
as bakers' turnovers at a cattle show, — which is saying a good
deal for an apple. Of the ten varieties, I should say, Astra-
chans, Williams Favorites, Gravensteins, Hubbardstons, Dan-
vers Sweets, Fall Harveys, Sweet Baldwins, Baldwins, Rox-
bury Russets, Hunt Russets, Greenings.

These seem to us to be the leading kinds, but there are
hosts of others with which I am not familiar, that may be bet-
ter than many of those I have spoken of; but I think I was
only asked to tell what I knew, so I think my duty is done.

Statement of Francis S. Lovett, of Beverly.

I have sixty-five trees. Fifty are young, on light land,
with sand or gravelly subsoil. Fifteen old trees are on a
rocky piece of land. I have thirteen kinds ; have not ma-

FRUIT-CULTURE. 83

mired the old trees, but the young orchard I have ploughed,
manured and planted, as much as possible. I came here
about ten years ago, found the trees in grass land, growing
but very little. I ploughed it up, and have kept it ploughed
up since then. I cannot tell how the orchard was started.
The trees have grown finely, and bear well, an extra quality
of apple, mostly Baldwins. I have not been troubled by cau-
ker-worms, but have a few borers in old trees, and have had
an extra quantity of caterpillars this year, especially this fall.
I think the best way to get rid of them is to kill them, morn-
ing and evening, when in their web, as soon as they make their
appearance on the tree. I do not believe in too close prun-
ing ; would prune about the first of June, as the wounds heal
better at that time. My wormy apples are fed to cows and
pigs ; when the apples are fit they are made into cider.

I should say Early Bough, Red Astrachan, Hubbardston
Nonsuch, Graveustein, Hurlburt, Minister, Ladies' Sweet-
ing, Baldwin, Northern Spy, Roxbury Russet and Hunt Rus-
set, are the most profitable in this county. The best for the
table are Early Bough, Williams Favorite, Hubbardston Non-
such, Graveustein and Minister. Early Bough is one of the
best sweet apples ; a good, constant bearer. Williams Favor-
ite is a splendid apple, but requires strong soil and high cult-
ure to perfect the fruit ; it is very apt to be wormy in some
locations ; it is a good bearer. Hubbardston is a fine apple,
and an extra good bearer (with me bears every year) ; keeps
well ; I have seen apples of this variety as late as March.
Gravenstein is a very fine apple, good bearer, will sell as well
or better than most any other variety. Minister is a thin-
skinned, tender, acid apple, very nice when well ripened ;
an enormous bearer : requires very careful handling ; will not
do to "hand-pick" off the grass, as a great many have done
this year. The Northern Spy and Roxbury Russet are both
open to objections ; both require a strong, rich soil to get
fine fruit. A more juicy, better flavored apple than the
Northern Spy cannot be found ; good for cooking as soon as
it is large enough, and will keep until June or July, with a
good, fresh, brisk flavor. Roxbury Russet is apt to be small
and wormy on old trees ; still it is so well known that there
is no trouble to sell good ones at any time. Hunt Russet is

84 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE.

a great bearer ; a fine, tender apple, objected to by some as a
market apple on account of its size ; a fine apple to keep.

Statement of Peter Wait of Danvers.

I have about forty apple-trees and twenty or more kinds of
apples. My soil is mostly gravelly, with a strong clay sub-
soil. In regard to enriching, I think one of the best fertil-
izers is glue-dross. I have used much tan-yard waste, such
as old tan, lime, and hair, but to quicken and warm up my
trees, I use night manure. I apply it in the foil as a top-
dressing.

My trees are mostly thirty years old, and upwards. In
regard to planting, I made use of no science, but simply dug
a hole sufficient to receive the roots, without manure or any
previous preparation. My treatment ever since has been top-
dressing, keeping them cleaned and well pruned. The borers
have been quite a trouble to me. I consider them the most
destructive enemy to the apple-trees we have to contend with.
The best treatment for them is a free use of soap about the
time they hatch.

After using Mathews' protector for two or three seasons, I
have resorted again to printers' ink for the destruction of the
canker-worms. The caterpillar with me has almost become
extinct. Cluster-worms and fall caterpillars are easy to de-
stroy. *

I prune my trees any time when convenient, except large
limbs, which I cut generally in the fall or early winter. I
keep my trees well pruned, taking off all useless twigs and
spurs. Wormy fruit I collect some three or four times in the
course of the season. I sell the best for what I can get, and
what is not sold or given away to those that have none, is
thrown into the hogpen.

As the best apples for cultivation, all things considered,
I give the following : Baldwin, Rhode Island Greening,
Danvers Sweet, Seaver Sweet, Fall Harvey, Sweet Bald-
win, Hunt Russet, Roxbury Russet, Northern Spy, Garden
Apple, Hubbardston Nonsuch, Ben Apple, Gravenstein and
Porter.

For table use, I give in order as they come : Early

FRUIT-CULTURE. 85

Harvest, Red Astrachan, Porter, Gravenstein, Fall Harvey,
Minister, Hubbardston, Baldwin, Greening and Hunt Russet.
I will not speak of the peculiarities of any except the Gar-
den Apple. This apple seems to be but little known, yet I
knew it when a boy, but, like the Hunt Russet, it was kept
in obscurity. I believe I was the first to introduce the Hunt
Russet into the nursery. In its season the Garden Apple is
the best for culinary purposes, growing very large and fair,
and a great bearer. They come early into use, and last until
Thanksgiving. It is highly worthy of cultivation, aud should
be encouraged by our Society.

Statement of George W. Taylor of West Peabody.

I have some three hundred apple-trees on my premises,
of which there are about thirty varieties. My soil is a deep
loam, rather rocky, with many large bowlders. The subsoil
is a gravelly loam, which is underlaid by a pan of clay gravel
that is almost as hard as the stone itself. A smart blow
with the pick cannot penetrate it more than an inch or so.
My land is not very apt to suffer much from drought. I have
not been in the habit of applying any special manures to my
orchard or among the isolated trees that are scattered over
my farm.

When I plough up the ground among the trees, I usually
plant some crop, such as corn, corn-fodder or potatoes, for a
year or two, then lay it down to grass. All the manure my
apple-trees ever get is applied when my land is under the
plough. Before leaving this portion of the subject, I will add
my word in favor of mulching among trees. Too much, in
my opinion, cannot be said in favor of the practice, and no
work in the orchard will repay the owner so large a percent-
age on time and expense. Any old rubbish that is always
accumulating about a farm will answer, yet we prefer old hay
or weeds. Any of the following substances might be em-
ployed for this purpose : potato-vines, cornstalks, wood-wax
or old tan, and I have known the pomace from the cider-
press to succeed admirably. One of my neighbors has used
this for several years as a mulch, and I have noticed that his
apple crop has been much improved, both as to size and quan-

86 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE.

tity, where he liberally mulched his trees. I knew an instance
where the ground under quite a large apple-tree was covered
over with slabs for several years, and it produced enormous
crops of fruit much larger and fairer than that produced be-
fore the slabs were piled under the tree.

There are trees on my place, ranging from those but a few
years set up to the old hoary-head that must have stood the
wear of time for a century at least. There is a young orchard
of about seventy trees, that was set out in the years from 1855
to 1860. These trees were purchased from the proprietor of
a nursery adjoining the lot upon which my orchard stands.
This orchard has been cropped ever since being set out, either
with hoed crops or grass.

I have never been bothered much with the borer or cater-
pillar. Either can easily be gotten rid of, if proper care is
taken at the proper time. To prevent the borer, it is of the
utmost importance to keep all the grass and weeds removed
from near the trunk of the trees, thereby destroying all
chance for a safe harbor for the embryo borer. Caterpillars
can be destroyed by two or three thorough cleanings of the
trees. But canker-worms are worse than all the other ene-
mies of the apple combined. No remedy that is within the
reach of farmers has as yet been discovered that will effectu-
ally keep them down. The patent tree-protectors are much
too costly, and require too much tending to ever become of
much benefit to the fruit-grower. They may do well in small
private gardens, where the owner has an eye on them several
times a day. Tar, or printers' ink, applied to the trunk of
the tree, is the cheapest, most effectual and surest method
that can be adopted to rid the apple orchard of the scourge.
I am of opinion that it would be of decided advantage to all
concerned if one-half at least of all our apple-trees were cut
down and removed. I believe that an apple-tree lasts and
bears fruit with any profit to the owner for only one genera-
tion. Even if they do live along and produce, it is only as
an unsightly and hollow-hearted nuisance, where grubs and
vermin of all kinds seek a home to breed their kind, and from
which to sally forth and attack the young orchards. Better
far it is to remove the old, worn-out trees, and take better
care of the young and vigorous.

FRUIT-CULTURE. 87

As to pruning, a little each year is the best ; thereby
avoiding the necessity of removing large branches, which
leave wounds that it takes years to heal over. As to time,
let the grower be guided by his own inclinations ; it is better
at any time of year than not to do it at all ; still, I am satisfied
that the last of May or early in June is a good time to perform
the operation. This, however, has a serious objection ; it is
the season when farmers are most busy, and can ill afford the
time to attend to it.

Soon after the leaves of the blossoms have fallen, the fruit
commences to form and set on the tree. One after another
of the embryo fruit becomes crowded out and falls to the
ground ; this is continued from the time when the fruit first
commences to grow till the last apple is plucked from the
tree. A great deal of this imperfect fruit is fit for no purpose
whatever, and lies and decays on the ground where it falls ;
later in the season the fruit grows larger, and is gathered up
and fed to the cows or to hogs. Some benefit is claimed,
even if the flow of milk is not increased ; the cows seem to
have such a love for apples that they will not content them-
selves to feed until they have visited each tree within their
reach and secured every apple that the breeze may have
caused to fall. Hogs are also passionately fond of apples,
especially the sweet varieties, and have in some instances
been fed for weeks on little else, and still have thriven
well.

The ten varieties which have proved themselves to be enti-
tled to the rank of best in Essex County are the Baldwin,
Rhode Island Greening, Hunt Russet, Gravenstein, Red
Astrachan, Hurlburt, Porter, Hubbardston Nonsuch, Danvers
Winter Sweet and Williams Favorite. These ten varieties
embrace those which have proved themselves the most prolific
and constant bearers, and whose fruit is the most sought for
by those who have to buy. There are, however, other kinds,
which might be added, that rank high, and which we would
scarcely be willing to omit ; yet we are constrained to say
that for profit our belief is that a few varieties of those kinds
which are most prolific and reliable, well cared for, would be
of far more profit to the owner than an increased number of
sorts.

88 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE.

A gentleman of ray acquaintance, who has given his atten-
tion to the cultivation of fruit for the last sixty years, tells
me that he would sooner have less than more than ten varie-
ties, for any purpose either for pleasure or profit.

For table fruits, we should say the five best would be,
Williams Favorite, Gravenstein, Hubbardston Nonsuch,
Baldwin and Hunt Russet. I have named them in the order
that they are ripe and ready for use. We would gladly add
the names of the Hurlburt, Eustis, Drap d'Or, Sweet Baldwin,
Ramsdell's Red and Gillyflower, but among the hundreds of
varieties to select from we become bewildered, and are quite
willing to leave it to each person to select such as suits his or
her taste, well knowing that the most fastidious can be suited.
All of the varieties I have named are abundant bearers, the
Baldwin, Gravenstein, Hunt Russet and Hubbardston Non-
such particularly so.

The Baldwin I have placed at the head of all the varieties.
We are free to grant it the title of king of all the apples, for
our soil and climate. While the other sorts, some of them,
contest the title and vie with it for the honors of royalty,
still the Baldwin wears the crown, for productiveness, long-
keeping, general uses, and for market.

While all the apple-trees are alike in one sense, and have
the same nature, the ash of the wood and foliage beins; identi-
cal, and scarcely differing in the most minute particular, still,
like men and animals, each variety seems to have eccentricities
and peculiarities of its own. Some, like the maple, lift high
their erect and shapely branches. Others, like the oak,
spread wide their limbs, and shade the soil for rods around.
Others still, are crooked and gnarled, suggestive of sour and
crabbed fruit. Some are sleek and smooth of limb, while
others wear a rough and scaly coat, but boast of blossoms
fair, and luscious fruit. Some have pendulous branches, like
the willow, and their fruit hangs swinging with every breeze,
and joyfully seems to pass the time from summer to harvest.
The fruit-spurs of some are stiff and strong, aud the fruit
adheres closely to the branches and remains stationary till
suddenly disturbed. All of these different habits or pecul-
iarities are so marked and distinct, that the cultivator can
easily determine by the tree just what kind of fruit it bears,

FRUIT-CULTURE. 89

and in his selection of trees in the nursery, can decide the
different varieties by the color of foliage and general habits
of growth.

There is much that mi^ht be said and written in favor of
the cultivation of the apple ; there is no fruit that so largely
enters into all the different uses to which we are in the habit
of putting fruit. For culinary purposes the apple is far
ahead of all other fruits ; for the table it is not surpassed ;
for preserves and drying, no other fruit is so universally used.
In fact the apple is. our constant friend ; from July to July
again we have it on our tables, and with us it is a joy forever.
Year after year we are greeted with the rich abundance of
our orchards. When the trees of the Old Bay State fail to
give us returns, we turn to the Empire State and the great
West for a supply, and seldom look to them in vain. If the
trees in one section of our country fail to produce an abun-
dant crop, those of other sections fail not, and transportation
from one place to another makes the supply universal, and
distributes the luxury with a balance as just as the wants of
demand and supply call for.

Statement of T. C. Thurloiv of West Newbury.

We have now about eight hundred apple-trees, and over
twenty-rive varieties. The soil is generally a good gravelly
loam, with a sandy or gravelly subsoil. A very large propor-
tion are Baldwins, — budded trees taken from our nursery, and
planted in orchard-rows from 1850 to 1855. The orchards
were for several years cultivated, — two or three times planted
with corn or potatoes ; but for the last sixteen or seventeen
years have been down to grass, and for ten years or more
pastured with sheep. The trees have not been enriched in
any other way, except a small portion of the orchard, which
has been partially cultivated, and two or three dressings of
barn-yard manure, ploughed in.

Occasionally, we see a borer, which is, or ought to be,
immediately dug out, or killed with a pointed wire. When
our trees were young, they were washed every year in June,
with soft-soap and water (half-and-half), which killed all the
borers' eggs (if there were any), and was otherwise beneficial

12*

90 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE.

to the trees. Of late years this has been neglected ; hence the
increase of the borer.

We have been troubled with canker-worms since 1860.
More than half our trees were entirely ruined by them within
five or six years of their first appearance, and our apple crop
reduced to merely nothing, — from eight hundred barrels a
year before their appearance, to less than a single barrel of
all kinds six or seven years afterwards, — and our trees
reduced from four thousand in 1860 to eight hundred at the
present time ; although they were planted much too thickly
at the commencement. After trying various remedies, we
have decided that printers' ink, applied fall and spring, is
the cheapest and most effectual. Our trees this year produced
over nine hundred barrels of good merchantable apples. The
tent caterpillar is at all times very troublesome, but can easily
be taken off", when small, with the hand or a stiff", conical brush.
No other insects to any extent trouble our apple-trees. The
field-mice did considerable damage to our young trees during
one or two winters, but care should be taken not to allow
grass or other rubbish to accumulate around the trees, and
thus afford them a shelter.

We try to prune our trees a little every winter ; should
prefer the mild weather during February and March. For
young orchard or nursery trees, would trim in June. The
wormy fruit that drops is generally disposed of by the sheep
and other animals.

For the ten most profitable apples for this county, I would
name the following (the most valuable first) : Baldwin, Hub-
bardston Nonsuch, Roxbury Russet (for heavy land), Hunt
Russet, King of Tompkins County, Rhode Island Greening,
Red Astrachan, Gravenstein, Porter, Danvers Winter Sweet.

For five best varieties for table use, I would suggest Will-
iams Favorite, Large Yellow Bough, Gravenstein, Hunt
Russet and King of Tompkins County. They are all good
bearers. There are probably many other excellent varieties
that would do well in this county, but these are old and tried,
and no one would go very far astray in planting them. Some
of these will do well on a light soil with very little cultivation,
while others require a rich soil and very high cultivation.

FRUIT-CULTURE. 91

Statement of a Gentleman of Groveland.

I have perhaps fifty apple-trees, consisting of Northern
Spy, Hubbarclston Nonsuch, Baldwin and Roxbury Russet,
for winter use, and Gravenstein and Porter for the fall, grow-
ing on a variety of soil, with a subsoil of slate or gravel,
with no especial pains to enrich, but growing upon the natural
soil. My trees are most of them thirty or more years old;
some of them, however, have been grafted within ten years,
and upon these I have had the best crops.

While all around me the canker-worm has been busy, I
have as yet escaped, but until this year have had plenty of
caterpillars, but consider them of but little account and easily
managed when compared with the canker-worm. I know of
no way to get rid of the borer or the latter worm when once
they favor you with a call.

Upon the question of priming, I know there exists a variety
of opinions. I always prune when I see the need, without
regard to time of year, preferring to do so when the tree is
bare ; if done in the spring or summer, when the tree is full,
of sap, very much care must be used to prevent the bark
from being injured.

You ask what disposition I make of the wormy fruit that
drops. The most profitable use I can make of such apples is
to sell them to some neighbor who appreciates early-made
cider.

Of the five best varieties, for this part of the county at
least, I would name first the Gravenstein, then the Northern
Spy, Baldwin, Roxbury and Hunt Russets. I am of the
opinion that Northern Essex is the most favorable section to
be found for the first-named variety. I have visited many
times the exhibitions of the Massachusetts Horticultural
Society, and very many of the county exhibitions in various
parts of the State, also the state fairs of New Hampshire and
Maine, and have never seen so good specimens as are here
grown. My trees of this variety are upon grafts say from
six to ten years old, put into vigorous trees, which bore pro-
fusely this year bushels of apples that would measure twelve
inches in circumference each.

The Northern Spy, for a late apple, is my favorite. I had

92 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE.

been fearful this variety would be a failure with us, and some
parlies had begun to graft them over on account of their
slowness in coming into bearing, and the fruit rotting on the
trees, their ill shape, their lateness in putting out in the
spring; but this year they have redeemed themselves, and
take the first rank, have all produced heavy crops of choice
apples, and at this date outsell any other variety by fifty cents
to a dollar a barrel.

Statement of R. G. Ware, for B. P. Ware, of Marblehead.

We have three hundred and thirty trees, of twenty-six dif-
ferent kinds. The soil is a loam, with gravelly subsoil and
clay below the gravel ; the trees manured with compost in
the spring. They are treated very much like other crops,
and are from fifteen to fifty years old. The young orchard
was started by setting the young trees twenty feet apart ; the
trees were budded when two years old. The orchard has
been cultivated ever since .the trees were set out, and the
trees severely pruned, with the hope of keeping them small
and of bringing them into early bearing. The trees, however,
wouldn't be kept small, and are now so thick that nearly every
other tree will have to be removed this year.

We have very little trouble from borers. They are some-
times hunted with a pliable stick or wire. Caterpillars are
kept down by picking off the young nests. Canker-worms
are kept off by tarred paper and printers' ink, applied fall
and spring ; otherwise the leaves would be all eaten off the
trees by these worms. The trees are pruned nearly every
April. No special care is taken of wormy fruit that drops.

Baldwin, Pickman Pippin, Drap d'Or, Roxbury Russet,
Danvers Winter Sweet, Sweet Baldwin, Greening, Early
Williams, Gravenstein, Porter, Shepard's Sweeting, Kilham
Hill, Peck's Pleasant, Phillips Pippin and Lyscom, are all
good varieties ; but Drap d'Or, Pickman Pippin, Baldwin,
Early Williams, Roxbury Russet and Sweet Baldwin are the
most profitable to raise for market.

For table, Early Williams, Porter, Gravenstein, Drap
d'Or, Lyscom, Kilham Hill, Baldwin and Roxbury Russet
give a constant and excellent supply from August 15 to June 1.

FRUIT-CULTURE. 93

The Drap cl'Or is a very abundant bearer, the others quite
good. The Lyscom and Kilham Hill are of little value,
except for table, and are not profitable for market. The
Pickman Pippin is considered the best cooking apple in the
market, by those who know it. It is veiy tart, high flavored,
fine grained, and of good size ; it keeps until February. The
trees come into bearing late, but bear pretty well after they
begin. The Drap d'Or is a very large fall apple, tart, but
excellent for eating as well as cooking. It keeps well until
the middle of November. The trees come into bearing young,
and bear very heavily. As the trees grow older, the apples
do not grow quite so large.

I will add the following remarks as the result of my
observation : Trees not in an orchard seldom bear. Trees
that do not bear good apples are worse than useless. There
are only a few varieties that pay. It is better to raise only
those varieties that do pay. Where there are only a few
trees of a kind, there are not enough of that kind of apples
raised to pay for marketing, consequently they are often
wasted. An apple that is unknown in the market is hard to
sell. Neglected trees are of no use.

Statement of J. B. Marston of Danvers.

I have grown in my garden a few apple-trees of about fif-
teen years' growth. I have but four different kinds. The
soil is well fertilized. The subsoil is loam. With regard to
the treatment of young trees, I believe in thorough tilling of
the soil, and keeping the ground light about the roots, and
free from weeds. To fertilize the soil, I use a compost of
animal manure and decayed vegetation, together with a lib-
eral share of superphosphate of lime and wood ashes. This
is applied to the land in planting time, in the hills and rows,
with a portion around the trees, dug in with a fork. My
plan of preparing the manure is to fork over the compost-
heap in early spring, adding by degrees the superphosphate
and ashes, until the whole is well mixed. Then leaving it
awhile to ferment and heat through, it becomes in good con-
dition for use.

It is of the first importance, in my opinion, in the cultiva-

94 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE.

tion of apple-trees, to take care of the roots. It is well to
look after and destroy the insects ; but if tlie roots are neg-
lected, I think that we shall tind worms more plenty than
fruit. I don't believe in the way that some have of tearing
up the roots with a plough. It is better, I think, to keep the
ground light by digging around the trees with a fork.

As for the insects, I am not much troubled with borers of
any kind ; when I find any in my apple-trees, I choke them
with hard soap. The caterpillars are exorcised on the point
of a long pole, and the canker-worms are treated to a coat of
tar. My trees are pruned (but not excessively) in the month
of May ; the cuts on the larger branches I cover with paint.
My wormy fruit I bury deep in the ground, away from the
trees. With regard to the choice of apples, I think that
must depend principally on the taste and fancy peculiar to
each individual, and among the great varieties of apples pro-
duced, it seems as though every one ought to be gratified. It
is well, perhaps, that personal tastes and fancies differ, as
otherwise some things now considered very choice would be
entirely neglected.

Statement of James Flint of Middleton.

I have about five hundred apple-trees ; about one hundred
are old ones, that were on the place when I took it; the rest
I have set myself. I have over forty different kinds, which
are more than I wish I had. I do not think it a good plan to
have so many varieties. I have in my orchard loam and grav-
elly subsoil, enriched by barn-yard manure in the spring of
the year. I commenced, about thirty-two years ago, by set-
ting over a hundred, and have set some occasionally since,
until within ten or fifteen years. I ploughed the land deep
before setting, by going twice in the same furrow, digging
large holes and keeping the ground cultivated, washing occa-
sionally, when small, with potash water.

I am troubled some with the borer, not with the canker-
worm or caterpillar, or much with any other worm. The win-
ters have hurt my trees more than anything else. Take the
borer in season, with a knife and wire, and you can soon fix
him. I trim my trees late in the fall or early winter, cutting

FRUIT-CULTURE. 95

off the dead wood and limbs that cross each other. I have
found by sad experience that it is injurious to trim after the
sap begins to flow. The last day of June may be as good a
time, but we are apt to be more busy, and in fields that are
in grass it is not so convenient. The wormy fruit I sell or
make into cider.

The ten or more varieties of apples to cultivate in this
county, are : 1, the Red Astrachan, — an early variety, a good
bearer, and good for market; 2, Williams Favorite, — a very
showy apple, a good bearer, and finds ready market ; 3, Grav-
enstcin, — a very superior apple, but not a great bearer, or
very salable fruit ; 4, Porter, — profitable for cultivation, and
a good bearer; 5, Hubbardston, — a very superior apple, a
great bearer, and in eating just before the Baldwin, one of
the best; 6, Hurlburt, — a very good apple, and worthy of
extensive cultivation, resembling the Gravenstein ; 7, Danvers
Sweet, — a very good sweet apple, though it water-cores in
some soils ; 8, Sudbury Sweet, — a very superior apple for
baking, or boiled in molasses water, after paring and taking
out the cores ; I always found a ready market for it; 9, Ed-
wards Russet, — a very good apple, large size, and a great
bearer; it bears every year with me; 10, Baldwin, — a very
good apple, and will recommend itself, though I think it af-
fected by cold winters more than almost any other variety ;
11, Ramsdell's Red, — a very showy apple, resembling the
Williams Favorite ; a very great bearer, good eating, and
good for market ; 12, Rhode Island Greening, — a very sala-
ble fruit ; I think it requires a very strong soil ; it does not
bear as well with me as I should like ; 13, Fall Harvey, — a
good apple for cooking or table, and of excellent flavor where
the soil suits it ; I find great difference in that respect ; 14,
Ladies' Sweet, — a very good apple, and valuable for its late
keeping ; a great bearer.

The five or more varieties which are best for the table, are,
Williams Favorite, Porter, Gravenstein, Hubbardston, Hurl-
burt, and Baldwin. I find that to raise good apples they
must be well taken care of, and the better they are cultivated
the better apples you will get ; and I have learned by my own
experience, and that of my neighbors, not to sow small grains
among them, and allow them to ripen among them. It is

96 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE.*

very injurious, especially when they are young, rye in partic-
ular. I had an orchard that I wanted to lay down to grass,
and I sowed oats, calculating to cut green for fodder. It so
happened that I did not cut them until ripe ; the trees were
not very large ; the bark on the south side was sun-scalded, so
that it killed a good many, and the rest were not good for much.
As to grafting, I have had considerable experience, both
for myself and others, and I find that sour apple grafts put
into sweet stocks are not apt to do so well as those of a sweet
or a milder flavor. I think it best to take only those limbs
you want to graft, so as to make a well-balanced head, and
leave the rest on the tree till another year. I think it best
not to take off too much at once.

Statement of John H. Sears of Danvers.

I have two hundred and fifty apple-trees under cultivation,
and fifty more (most of which are grafted) in pasture land
(fifteen varieties). Our soil is from six to fifteen inches dark
loam, underlaid by yellow loam of from one to four feet in
depth. The next lower deposit is a very hard loamy gravel.
This soil may be considered as the general form of that of
North Danvers. Young trees, in my experience, should be
kept under cultivation for twelve or fifteen years, for the
plough will keep the surface roots thinned out, and those
directed down in the subsoil, which arc its principal source of
nourishment during our seasons of drought, grow deeper
and stronger, giving a firmer support to resist the power of
the high winds, which will, if the roots are more on the sur-
face, so rock the tree as to displace the roots, and, as is often
the case, overturn it. For old trees, once in five years is
often enough to turn the sod over, and if it is well cultivated
the first year to corn, the second to potatoes, the third to
Hungarian and grass-seed, which crops can in most orchards
be successfully cultivated, it will be in good condition, as far as
the roots are concerned, to reward the owner with good crops.

Our trees are nearly all in bearing. One orchard of one
hundred trees, which, when planted, in May, 1858, were one
inch in diameter, New York trees, are now some of them
eight inches in diameter. The soil is rich loam, but very

FRUIT-CULTURE. 97

shallow, the ledges often coming to the surface. Borers,
caterpillars and canker-worms destroy the beauty of most
orchards in this neighborhood. I dig out the borers with a
sharp knife, or probe for them with a piece of small-sized
wire, partly hooked at the end, whenever I see any signs of
them. Caterpillars are quickest destroyed by gathering their
eggs after the leaves have fallen ; as they are usually on the
ends of the branches they are easily detected, and after I
gather them I burn them up.

The canker-worm is the worst pest to deal with. She
must be kept down from the trees, for she will deposit her
eggs under the loose scales of bark, either on the body or
limbs of the tree, and so many of them that it is impossible
to destroy them. I have tried several methods to keep the
grubs from going up, and I think that a strip of tarred paper
tacked around the body of the tree, and the preparation called
printers' ink, thinned with petroleum, put on with a brush, if
attended to, will destroy as many grubs, and with less damage
to the tree, than any other mode.

In pruning trees, I take off a limb at any season of the
year when I see a chance to improve the shape of the tree,
or when one limb interferes with another. If trees have not
been pruned gradually, as they have grown, and want much
wood removed at once, I usually take the month of March, as
the dry winds at that time will dry the cut wood, causing it
to shrink, and affording a good chance to heal over. Our
wormy windfalls we grind and turn to vinegar, or throw them
to the hogs.

I consider Tompkins County King, Baldwin, Rhode Island
Greening, Hubbardston Nonsuch, Roxbury Russet, Danvers
Sweet, Tolmau's Sweet, Gravenstein, Red Astrachan, Will-
iams Favorite and the Gillyflower, eleven excellent varie-
ties, both as good bearers and fine fruit. As a late winter
apple, Tompkins County King stands in advance for the table ;
as a late fall, Hubbardston Nonsuch and Tolman's Sweet ; as
an early fall, Williams Favorite or Gravenstein; and for an
early apple, Gillyflower or Red Astrachan. The Gravenstein,
in this section, when grafted on a young stock, is apt to be a
short-lived tree, and on the other hand, when grafted on

13*

98 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE.

limbs of large trees, it continues healthy many years. The
Blue Pearmain, though a fine-flavored apple, soon commences
to decay.

Statement of Benj. F. Huntington of Amesbury.

Strawberry Crop. — The crop of strawberries which I
present for premium, was raised the present year on ninety
rods of land which were the preceding year planted with
potatoes, and in the spring of 1875 were manured with five
cords of stable manure and fifty bushels of ashes, which
I estimate at one-half the cost, the other half remaining in
the soil for future crops. The plants were set in May, 1875,
in rows three feet apart and twenty inches apart in the rows,
making beds five and one-half feet wide and paths one and
one-half wide. The runners were allowed to grow and fill the
space between the rows. In the autumn, about the middle
of November, the whole piece was mulched with a light coat
of pine leaves, which was left on the following summer. On
top of the pine leaves was put a good coat of meadow hay,
which was removed about the middle of April.

The manure was harrowed in with a Randall harrow
(which, by the way, is an excellent tool to have on a farm).
When I entered my crop (about the middle of June), the
plants were looking finely, but soon after, the rust injured
the vines very much, so that I cannot report over two-thirds
of an average crop.

The following is the cost of cultivation : —

Dr.

Preparing ground, setting plants, weeding, etc., 33 days, . . $19 50

Picking 2,700 boxes, at 2\ cents, 67 50

Marketing, 15 00

Manure and ashes, 25 00

$157 00
Or.

By 2,700 boxes of berries, at 15 cents, . . . . . .$405 00

2,500 plants sold, 12 50

$117 50
Balance in favor of crop, $260 50

FRUIT-CULTURE. 99

PLYMOUTH

Statement of Lysander R. Hall of Bridgewater.

Strawberries. — The plot on which my strawberries grew

is a dark moist loam, and contains sixty-three rods. It was

in corn in 1873, manured with five cords of barn-yard manure

to the acre, and yielding about forty bushels of corn to the

acre. April, 1874, ploughed seven inches deep, and harrowed

and furrowed. Six loads of manure were then put in the

furrow and covered up. The plants, Downer's Prolific, were

set one foot apart in the furrow. Cultivated and hoed five

times. The vines were covered with leaves in the winter of

1875.

Product.

1,200 boxes in 1875, sold at an average of 17 cents per box, . $204 00
1,056 " in 1876, that turned me in 157 50

Making, for both years, $361 50

Expenses.

Ploughing, etc., $3 00

Manure, 6 00

Plants and setting, 5 00

Cultivation, 10 00

Covering with leaves, 2 50

Picking in 1875, 24 00

in 1876, 11 00

Total, $61 50

Leaving a profit of $300 00

Statement of John F. Alden of Middleborough,

The plot on which my strawberries grew is a light, sandy
loam, and contains forty-two rods. Planted with beans in
1874, applying five bushels of ashes. May 1, 1875, it was
ploughed nine inches deep, harrowed and furrowed four feet
apart ; three loads of stable manure were put in the furrows
and covered over. Twenty-six hundred and forty plants, of
the Wilson variety, were set in the furrows about thirteen
inches apart. Cultivated and hoed twice. Mulched lightly

100 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE.

with brakes the last of November, the most of which was
allowed to remain through summer. I picked this season
350 boxes, and shall probably get, next season, 175 boxes.
The plants are looking well now, for plants raised by this
cheap method of culture.

Expenses.

Ploughing, $1 25

Manure, 6 00

Plants and setting, 10 25

Cultivation and mulching, 4 00

Picking, 5 25

Total, $26 75

INDIAN CORN.

101

INDIAN COEN.

MIDDLESEX SOUTH.

Statement of Sturtevant Brothers of South Framingham.

The eight-acre field which we offer for your consideration,
in competition for the premium offered for the best experiment
in raising corn, is the same field which received the first pre-
mium last year, and its history is furnished in last year's
report, to which we refer you.

We consider the fact that this field was in corn last year as
part of an experiment, testing the values of commercial fer-
tilizers for the farmer's use. The crop reported last year was
82| bushels, and the fertilizer used was the Stockb ridge
formula for corn, at an expense of $30.70 an acre.

We commenced operations this spring on April 3, and on
this day and April 12 we broadcasted 2,158 pounds of aramo-
niated superphosphate, at an expenditure for labor of eight
hours of man and sixteen hours of horse. May 1, we com-
menced ploughing, using the gang plough, and this took 22|
hours of man and forty-five hours of horse labor. As this
was experimental work, more time was occupied than other-
wise would have been necessary. May 11 and 17, we
expended eighteen hours of man and thirty-six hours of
horse labor in broadcasting, and 14|- hours of man in hill
distribution of the following fertilizer : —

Sulphate ammonia,

Dried blood,

Muriate potash, .

Nitrate of soda, .

Rectified guano,

Sulphate of potash,

Ammoniated superphosphate,

The cost of this fertilizer was $336.86 for the whole field,
or $42.10 per acre. This fertilizer was harrowed in, the

1,200

pounds

2,400

«

1,150

u

650

u

1,120

u

1,140

"

800

"

102

MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE.

time occupied being twelve hours of man and twenty-four of
horse. We commenced planting May 15, using a home-made
machine which planted in drills three feet apart, and dropped
the corn, one kernel every six inches in the drill. The time
occupied was eight hours of horse and sixteen hours of man
labor. May 17, we expended five hours of man labor, and
on May 25, two hours, applying fertilizer which was left over
to the drills.

The cultivation used was Rosa's system of horse-hoeing.
We occupied 15^ hours of man and 153, hours of horse labor
for cultivating, and 35^ hours of man and the same of horse
labor for the horse-hoeing, and 9| hours of man and horse in
hilling. We commenced cutting and stooking the corn in
this field, September 7, and the time occupied was in all 185
hours.

Our labor this year has not cost us over $1.50 a day, and
we have hired some for less. We estimate the cost of har-
vesting the stover and grain as two days labor of man and
horses per acre. Let us now present our result in tabular

form : —

For Eight Acres.

Man Labor.
Hours.

Horse Labor.
Hours.

Cost.

Ploughing,

Harrowing,

Applying fertilizer, ....

Planting,

Cultivating and hoeing,

Cutting and stooking, ....

Estimate for harvesting,

22£

12

±n

24
68f

185
160

45
24
52
16
68|

160

$6 75

3 60
11 02

4 80
15 47
27 75
36 00

Total labor,

5193

365$

$105 39

Cost of fertilizer, .... ....

Add husking, 1,928 baskets, at 4 cents, ....

$336 86
77 12

And we have for total cost,

Or, per acre, .....

•

•

$519 37
64 92

We therefore present the following account

INDIAN CORN. 103

Dr.
Cost of crop, $64 92

Cr.
Fodder, 4.82 tons, at $8, 38 56

Total cost of 1201 bushels corn (85 lbs. per bush.), . . $26 36
Or, cost, per bushel, 21T8g

All which is respectfully submitted, the crop given being
in accordance with your finding.

HAMPDEN.

Statement of H. M. Sessions of South Wilbraham.

The five acres of corn inspected by your Committee were
planted May 24 and 25. The crop was preceded by a crop of
corn and potatoes. Seventy-five two-horse loads of manure,
or about twenty-five cords, were ploughed under in the spring,
and a compost of plaster and sheep and hen manure dropped
in the hills. The improved eight-rowed Demond corn, a pre-
mium string from West Springfield, was the seed used ;
planting by hand in rows three feet apart each way. The
piece was cultivated both ways and hoed the last week in
June. The second hoeing was done entirely with a horse-
hoe. I cut and shocked the corn the first week in September ;
it was husked in October for five cents a bushel by contract,
492 bushels of ears. On the first of December, two bushels
of ears yielded 70^ pounds of shelled corn, the cobs of the
same weighing 14| pounds. At that rate, the yield would
be 57^ bushels per acre.

On half an acre of this field, and near the middle, about
four-fifths of the formula of the Stockbridge fertilizer, for
twenty-five bushels above the average yield, was applied, at
an estimated cost of $11.20. This half-acre produced 721
bushels of ears, or at the rate of 85^ bushels per acre. In
other words, about 13| bushels of shelled corn on a half-acre,
above the average yield, resulted from the Stockbridge fer-
tilizer. How much the drought lessened the effect we cannot
say. My statement is as follows : —

Cr.

290 bushels of corn, at 75 cents, $217 50

Corn-fodder, 60 00

Total, $.77 5U

104

MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE.

Dr.

Fitting ground and planting, . . . . . . . $17 50

Hoeing and cultivating, 25 00

Harvesting, 15 00

Husking, 24 60

Manure, 112 00

Total $194 10

Balance, §83 40

This corn cost, therefore, 471 cents per bushel.

HAMPDEN EAST.

Statement of Horace Wattis, Jr., of Holland.

My field of corn contains one acre of land. In 1875, it
was sward laud; ploughed and planted with potatoes, with
fifteen loads of barn-yard manure, spread and ploughed under
seven inches deep, and with a small handful of plaster in each
hill. In 1876, it was ploughed once eight inches deep;
fifteen loads of compost manure ploughed in, and fifteen loads
put in the hill. It was planted the 27th of May, rows three
and a half by three feet apart ; hoed three times.

Cost of manure (30 loads,

Ploughing,

Harrowing,

Furrowing,

Seed-corn,

Planting,

Hoeing three times

Harvesting,

Interest on land,

Total cost,

), one-half to benefit the corn crop),

$30 00

3

00

1

00

75

40

2

00

7

00

10

00

3

00*

$57 15

I have harvested my corn, and find that it yields 8611
bushels per acre, 72 pounds to the bushel. The whole crop
was weighed.

Worth of corn per acre, 86|i bushels, at $1 per bushel, . . $86 31
Corn-fodder, . 20 00

Total, $106 31

Cost, 57 15

Balance in favor of corn, $49 16

INDIAN CORN. 105

DEERFIELD VALLEY.

Statement of Frederick W. Hawks of Charlemont.

The amount of land upon which the crop of corn was
grown, was one acre ; the soil heavy, sancty loam. The crop
of 1874 was grass ; no manure was used that year. The crop
of 1875 was grass, and no manure used. In preparing my
ground for the present crop, I ploughed once, five inches
deep, and harrowed once with Randall's pulverizing harrow.
Cost of ploughing and other preparations, $3.50. I used 22
loads, of 30 bushels each, of sheep manure ; this was spread
evenly upon the surface, and worked into the soil with the
pulverizing harrow. The value of the manure upon the
ground was $42. I planted the 17th of May, by hand; cost
of seed and planting, $3 ; distance in rows, 3| feet; hills, 2\
feet ; cultivated three times with a common cultivator, twice
with Ross's horse-hoe, and once by hand. Cost of cultiva-
tion, $6. Harvested the 28th of August.

Cost of Crop.

Cost of ploughing, planting, cultivating, etc , . . . . $12 50

Cost of harvesting, husking, etc., 10 00

Manure removed by crop, 21 00

Total cost of production, $43 50

Value of Crop.

95 bushels shelled corn, at 80 cents per bushel, . . . $76 00
4,000 pounds of fodder, 15 00

Total, $91 00

Profit, $47 50

PLYMOUTH.

Statement of George W. Humphrey of Rochester.

Grain Crops. — Mr. Humphrey planted about fourteen
acres to corn, about one-half being a heavy, gravelly loam,
and the balance mostly a light, sandy soil. The larger part

14*

106 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE.

has been in grass several years without manure, and nothing
but commercial fertilizers have been applied the present year.
In his statement, Mr. Humphrey says : —

" I am fully satisfied that corn may be grown b}r the use of fertil-
izers for fifty cents per bushel, or less. In order to do it, however,
labor as well as fertilizers must be applied judiciously. It is not
fair to spend days cultivating around rocks, and grubbing up hedge-
rows by the side of walls around small fields, and charge it all to the
corn crop. It costs much less to cultivate one field of ten acres than
ten fields of one acre. The less angles per acre the better, as much
more can be accomplished in ploughing long furrows than short
ones, as much less time is consumed in turning at the ends. And
the same holds true of nearly all other operations required in raising
a crop. The most improved implements should also be used, and as
little hand labor employed as possible. I have removed and re-
arranged walls and fences, until I have one field of five, one of
twelve, one of fifteen, one of twenty, and one of nearly forty acres.
The appearance of the place is much improved, and furrows one-
third of a mile in length can be drawn without a turn.

" In raising my corn, I used four and one-half tons of the Brighton
fertilizer, a portion of it having an addition of potash, and twenty-
seven dollars' worth of the Stockbridge formula for corn. When I
applied these three kinds, I did so with the intention of testing their
comparative merits. But the season has been very unfavorable for
any experiments of this nature, as the different varieties of soil, and
the difference in location, whether on a knoll or in a hollow, has
caused some portions of nry field to be affected b}T the drought much
more severely than others. I am unwilling, therefore, to express an
opinion upon their comparative merits. Perhaps the best return
was derived from a portion of the field where the Brighton fertilizer
was used, and which had had an application of seventy-five bushels of
ashes per acre six years ago. This result I account for, in part, by
supposing that a portion of the potash of the ashes still remained in
the soil, and, uniting with the nitrogen and phosphoric acid of the
Brighton, formed a complete fertilizer. I think that when the Brigh-
ton is used, potash, in some form, should also be applied, in order
to secure the best results. The kind of corn I planted is called, in
this section, Rhode Island White ; and, as it is used for making
bolted meal, will command several cents per bushel more than the
common kinds. I planted about fourteen acres, and harvested
1,047 baskets of ears, weighing forty pounds each, making about
493 bushels of shelled corn, which, —

INDIAN CORN. 107

At 90 cents per bushel, amounts to $443 70

There were 20 tons of stover, worth $8 per ton, .... 16000

Making the total product, $603 70

Expenses.

Ploughing and harrowing, $40 00

Fertilizers and application, 210 00

Cost of seed and planting, 8 00

Cultivating and hoeing, etc., 30 00

Cutting up and shocking, 25 00

Harvesting and storing, 50 00

Total, $363 00

Profits of crop, less the interest on investment, .... 240 70

Statement of Henry M. Porter of Halifax.

The acre on which my corn grew is a dark, sandy loam,
and was in grass without dressing in 1874. In the spring of
1875, I spread forty loads of manure from my barn cellar,
and planted it to corn. Last May, thirty loads of manure,
of thirty bushels each, were spread on and ploughed in seven
inches deep. It was then harrowed once and furrowed one
way, and ten loads of manure put in the hills, which were
two and one-half feet apart. On the 20th of May, it was
planted with smutty white corn, using about twelve quarts,
and putting four kernels in the hill. It was cultivated twice
with a horse-hoe, and hoed twice by hand. October 12, the
supervisor selected and harvested two rods, the weight of
which was 93^ pounds, being at the rate of 88 bushels to the
acre. I estimate that there were two tons of top-stalks and
two and one-half tons of butts.

Expenses.

Ploughing, etc., $6 00

Manure, 40 00

Seed and planting, 4 00

Cultivation 10 00

Harvesting, 14 00

Total, . .' $74 00

108

MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE.

Statement of Josiah L. Bassett of Bridgewater.

The acre of corn entered by me for premium is a sandy
loam, inclining to clay in some portions, and was in grass in
1874 and 1875, without dressing. Ploughed in the fall of
1875, about seven inches deep. Early last May, I applied
twenty-five loads of good stable mauure, one hundred and
fifty bushels of ashes, and one hundred pounds of bone, which
was well worked in with a harrow. May 12, furrowed three
and one-half feet apart each way and planted with the smutty
white corn. It was cultivated and hoed three times. Two
rods were harvested by the supervisor, October 11, which
weighed 81| pounds, or at the rate of 77^ bushels per acre.
There were, I think, about two and one-half tons of corn-
fodder, worth $12 per ton.

Expenses.

Ploughing, etc.,

Manure, .

Seed and planting, .

Cultivating and hoeing,

Harvesting,

Total,

$5 00

71 00

3 00

7 00

11 00

m oo

I think about one-half the value of the manure still remains
in the ground.

SMALL GRAINS. 109

SMALL GKAINS.

DEERFIELD VALLEY.

Statement of D. Canedy of Heath.

Wheat. — The piece of land upon which the wheat was
sown contained one acre. The crop of 1874, grass, 1,000
pounds per acre. No manure was used that year. The crop
of 1875 was corn and potatoes, manured with twelve cords of
stable manure. The land was ploughed the foil previous, and
the manure spread on in the spring of 1875. The soil is a
gravelly clay loam ; the stone, mica slate. For the present
crop the land was ploughed once, six inches deep, and
harrowed once. Cost of ploughing and other preparations,
$3. No manure was used for the present crop. For seeding
I used two bushels of spring wheat. Cost of seed and sowing,
$5. Preparatory to sowing, I soaked my seed in strong brine
the last day of April, and, the land being wet, it was not
sown until May 16. I used the brine as a preventive against
smut, none of which appeared in the field. The crop grew
finely and promised a large yield, but the drought coming on
just as it was in the milk, the grain stopped filling, and con-
sequently, the berry was small. It was harvested August 15,
at a cost of $7, including storing and threshing.

The product of wheat was 1,140 pounds, worth .... $38 00
Two tons of straw, at $10 per ton, 20 00

Total value of crop, $58 00

Cost of production, $15 00

Interest on land, 3 00

Total, $18 00

Profit, $10 00

110 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE.

PLYMOUTH.

Statement of Charles M. Reed of West Bridgeivater.

Rye. — The land on which the rye that I entered for pre-
mium grew is a clay loam, and measures one acre and ninety-
eight rods. It was in grass in 1874, cutting about one and
one-half tons per acre. In 1875, about one-half was planted
to potatoes, and the balance, after mowing, was ploughed
and sown to Hungarian grass, June 25. Three cords of
barn-yard compost were applied to the potatoes and four
cords to the part sown to the Hungarian grass. One hundred
and forty bushels of potatoes and two tons of Hungarian hay
were harvested that year. September 15, it was ploughed
seven inches deep, eight hundred pounds of Davis's super-
phosphate sown, and well harrowed. Four bushels of rye
were sown September 24, and harrowed in. The rye was
mown by hand, July 11, and yielded 51 \ bushels of grain,
or 31-j8^ bushels to the acre ; and 3|- tons, or 4,341 pounds

per acre of straw.

Expenses.

Ploughing, etc., $5 00

Eight hundred pounds of phosphate, 18 00

Seed and sowing, 10 00

Harvesting and threshing, 17 65

Total, $50 65

The profit, per acre, as I figure it, is nearly $10 00

Statement of Spencer Leonard of Bridgeivater.

The land on which my rye grew contained 165^- rods, was
planted to Early Rose potatoes in April, 1875, was well
manured, and produced a good crop. It is a sandy loam, with
very few stones or rocks. About the first of September, it
was ploughed seven inches deep. Sixty bushels leached ashes
and three hundred pounds ground bone were spread broadcast,
and five pecks of rye sowed, and the ground harrowed and
rolled. The rye came up well and looked very vigorous until
winter. It took an early start in the spring, and grew very
rapidly. The dry, hot weather of the last half of June and

SMALL GRAINS. Ill

first of July, I think, reduced the amount of grain several bush-
els. It was mowed, bound and shocked from the 10th to 12th,
and threshed the 2,5th to 28th of July. Product : 1,825| pounds
of grain, or at the rate of 31^2q bushels per acre ; and 4,270
pounds of straw, or at the rate of 4,128 pounds per acre.

Expenses.

Ploughing, harrowing, etc., $4 00

Seed and sowing, 1 65

Dressing, 25 00

Harvesting and threshing, 12 50

Interest on land, 4 50

Total, $47 65

Statement of James Howard of West Bridgewater.

The land which grew my rye crop, containing one acre and
three rods, is a rolling gravelly loam, and from its location
and the texture of its soil, is very seriously affected by con-
tinued dry weather. I think the crop this year was several
bushels less than it would have been with an ordinary degree
of moisture. The field was in grass in 1874. Immediately
after being mowed, it was ploughed and sown to Hungarian
grass, with an application of one barrel each of Brighton and
Davis's phosphate. It was in potatoes in 1875, manured in
the hill, one-half with leached ashes and phosphate, and the
rest with phosphate and German potash, mixed. September
30, 1875, it was ploughed about six inches deep, and, Octo-
ber 2, was sown with five pecks of rye. The time of sowing
was later than I would recommend. In November, after the
grain was up, about five cords of manure from the barn cellar
were applied as a top-dressing. It was mowed and bound in
bundles, July 8. Product : 1,392 pounds, or at the rate of
24| bushels per acre, nearly ; and about 3,500 pounds of

straw.

Expenses.

Ploughing, $3 50

Manure, 25 00

Seed and sowing, ' 4 00

Harvesting and threshing, 10 00

Total, $12 50

112 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE.

Statement of Albert Thomas of Middleborough.

Oats. — I have raised the present year 41T7g bushels of oats
upon 163 rods of land, being at the rate of 40f bushels
per acre, nearly. The land, a sandy loam, was planted to
corn in 1874, using forty loads of barn-cellar manure, and to
potatoes in 1875, using six loads of manure. Last April, it
was ploughed twice, eight inches deep, no manure being
applied, and three bushels of common oats sowed. The oats
were cradled in July.

Expenses.

Ploughing and harrowing, $6 50

Seed and sowing, 4 00

Harvesting and threshing, 7 50

Total, $18 00

There was about one and a half tons of straw.

Statement of Augustus H. Soule of Middleborough.

Barley. — The crop of barley which I entered for premium
was raised upon one acre of gravelly loam, on grass for nine
years, without manure. In 1875, it was planted to corn,
manured with thirty loads of barn-cellar manure. In April,
1876, I applied ten loads of manure, ploughed six inches
deep, and harrowed once before sowing, and once after. May
1, sowed two bushels of two-rowed barley. It came up well
and grew rapidly — until the dry weather came on. Owing
to its long continuance, the crop was ripened sooner than it
ought to have been, and the yield was considerably dimin-
ished in consequence. It was harvested about July 20,
threshed in August, and yielded 26| bushels of grain, and
about 1,500 pounds of straw.

Expenses.

Ploughing, etc., $4 00

Manure, 10 00

Seed and sowing, ... 3 00

Harvesting and threshing, 5 00

Total, $22 00

ROOT CROPS. 113

EOOT CEOPS.

ESSEX.

From the Report of the Committee.

On reading the statements of the cost of producing the
crops entered for the premiums of the society, this question
naturally suggests itself. For what purpose does the society
offer these premiums ? Is it simply for the pleasure of pay-
ing out the amount awarded the successful competitor ? or
does it rather expect in return tljat their statements shall
furnish some new ideas or information gained as to the cost
of producing the crop in question?

No new information can be acquired unless we step out of
the old routine, and endeavor by carefully conducted experi-
ments to determine whether the new idea is an improvement
on the old, or the new method demonstrated to be a success
by the results.

If by using any of the many different kinds of concen-
trated fertilizers now in the market, we can produce as large
a crop as we can by using barn or stable manure, and at
one-half the cost of the latter, it is certainly a step in the
right direction, — a step which we are all in favor of, that of
decreasing our expenses, and increasing our receipts.

If, by taking a few hundred pounds of a concentrated fer-
tilizer, and applying it by a few hours' labor to an acre of
land, we can produce as large a crop of potatoes, squashes,
onions, cabbages, or turnips, as could have been produced
by the old and more laborious method of applying six cords
of stable manure to the same, we have demonstrated practi-
cally a fact which commends itself at once to every farmer.

Many farmers do not know the cost of raising any given
crop ; keeping no record whereby they can judge whether
they have made or lost by the operation. Many labor on in
the old routine of applying a small amount of barn manure
yearly, and adopting the old methods of cultivation, trusting
to a propitious season to produce a paying crop.

15*

114 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE.

At the present low rates which farm produce is bringing in
the markets, the farmer of this vicinity must of necessity
avail himself of every opportunity to lessen the cost of the
same, if he would compete successfully with the more favored
farmers who cultivate the fertile lands of the West.

Two years ago, in some experiments made to determine the
comparative value of the following kinds of manure : muriate of
potash, Brighton fertilizer, barn-cellar manure, for cabbages, —
I broke up a piece of light loamy soil, on the twenty-sixth day
of July, and harrowed and furrowed it on the 27th. On the
28th I manured six rows with a tablespoonful of muriate of
potash, and six rows with a handful of Brighton blood fer-
tilizer to each hill, mixing both kinds well with the soil. On
the remaining six rows I put a good shovelful of fine barn-
cellar manure to each hill. On the same day I set the whole
piece to Fottler's Improved Brunswick cabbage plants, two
and one-half by three feet apart. The plants all started
finely, but those on the potash soon went ahead, showing
very plainly that the potash was better adapted to their wants
than either the blood or the barn-cellar manure, although
they were doing very well. The piece was cultivated and
hoed twice.

On harvesting the crop, almost every plant grown on the
potash had a large solid head, with but very few loose leaves.
Those grown on the Brighton blood fertilizer had done well,
about three-fourths having made good-sized, solid heads.
Those grown on the cellar manure had done very well, but
evidently needed longer time to form as solid heads as those
grown on the other two kinds of manure.

On the next season (1875) , I tried the same kind of manure
on the same piece of land, but changed the crop to potatoes,
using the manures in the same manner as on the previous
year. Planted the Late Rose in the second week in May.
During the season they were cultivated and hoed twice. The
result was somewhat changed ; those on the blood fertilizer
taking the lead, followed by the cellar manure, — the potash
evidently being too caustic, the vines not looking thrifty.
On digging, I found the crop a third larger on the blood
manure than on either of the other two ; the potatoes were
larger, fairer, and more in a hill.

ROOT CROPS. 115

The experiment on cabbages, in 1874, having been so
marked, to test it more fully, I again, in 1875, tried the same
kinds of manure, but on a heavier soil. The piece was broken
up about the 20th of July, and treated in the same manner
as that the year before. The plants were set on the 25th.
They started well, but were followed by very dry weather, so
that no part of the piece did as well as the year before ; still,
those on the potash showed the best result.

I again tried the same experiment the past season, but
varied it by sowing the seed in the hill on the 10th of June.
The seed came up nicely, but the extreme dry weather that
followed through June and July was very unfavorable to the
young plants, especially to those on the Brighton fertilizer, a
large part of the plants dying for want of moisture. Those
sown on potash and barn manure withstood the drought much
the best, and have yielded a very good crop.

In all three cases, the muriate of potash has produced the
most satisfactory results, giving each time the largest product
for the least expense.

We would respectfully suggest to members of the society,
who intend to compete for premiums in the vegetable depart-
ment, that instead of waiting for a crop that has happened to
be better than usual (but why, they cannot tell), they select
a piece of laud of the required dimensions, dividing the same
into as many parts as convenient, manuring each part differ-
ently, with such manures as convenience or fancy may sug-
gest. Keep a careful watch throughout the season, noting
particularly any difference which may appear in the several
parts, whether for or against the crop, and tracing it, if pos-
sible, to the original cause, whether that may be owing to the
manuring, depth of planting the seed, or varieties of the
same, manner of cultivation, dryness or wetness of the sea-
sou, or many other causes which may appear small in them-
selves, but which, combined, go far toward making the crop
a success or a failure.

It is only by following such methods we can acquire the
necessary information to conduct farming intelligently and
profitably, and which every farmer should endeavor to obtain
from his own experience.

Aaron Low, Chairman.

116 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE.

Statement of H. A. Stiles of Middleton.

English Turnips. — Having entered for inspection and
premium my crop of summer English turnips for the market,
it becomes my duty to report some of the obstacles encoun-
tered in growing this vegetable the present year. In no sea-
son within the history of my experience of twenty years in
turnip-culture, has it come so near a failure as the present
one.

Turnip-seeds were sown the last days of April and the first
of May, and, germinating rather quickly, which is favorable to
growth, seldom appeared more promising for a bountiful har-
vest. The time of harvesting and marketing the early turnip
is from the 20th of June until the 20th of July, and before
the former period the effects of dry weather were visible on
portions of the crop, which continued with extreme heat to
check the growth, injure the quality of the turnip, and seem-
ingly lessen the quantity fully one-half of what it would have
been with seasonable rains.

The most important requisite to the successful culture of
the crop, is suitable land. Gardeners sometimes assert that
they can raise just as good, clear and nice a turnip in autumn
as can be grown. True, they may be grown clear upon laud
unfit for the early turnip, but a difference may be noticed in
the quickness of growth, fineness of texture, and in its buttery
flavor and glossy whiteness.

The best varieties for table use are the strap-leaved, white,
and red-top. Questions are often propounded, like the fol-
lowing : What kind of land do you have ? Do you use barn
manure or fertilizers? Do you sow in drills or broadcast?
Do you salt your lands ? You must have some secret, of which
you will not inform us, for we cannot get an early turnip fit
to eat.

Having no secrets to reveal, I will briefly state my method
of culture this year. In the first place, my land is light,
sandy, loamy, and leachy ; it is quite level and free from
stones, and has been under cultivation a hundred years or
more.

Lot No. 1 contains about one hundred rods. Ploughed
April 20, using the Michigan sod-plough. It has been in

ROOT CROPS. 117

grass for the last eight years, with no manure. Ploughed to
the depth of nine inches. Applied evenly upon the furrows
about three cords of barn-cellar manure, made fine, and har-
rowed it in with the Randall harrow. Applied two hundred
pounds of Bradley's superphosphate of lime, harrowing again
with the Randall, and smoothing the surface with the brush,
the land was ready for the seed. Sowed at the rate of one
pound to the acre, of seed,, in drills eighteen inches apart,
and, after the rough leaf appeared, the plants were left six
inches apart.

Lot No. 2 contains eighty-seven rods. This lot has been
in turnips two years. Applied two and one-half cords of
barn manure with one hundred and seventy-five pounds of
Bradley's superphosphate of lime, giving the land the same
treatment as No. 1.

Lot No. 3 contains eighty rods. This lot has been in tur-
nips one year. No barn manure was used on this lot. After
harrowing with the Randall, I spread, by hand, broadcast on
fifty rods of this lot, one bag of the Stockbridge fertilizer, of
the formula recommended for the ruta-baga turnip. Weight
of bag, two hundred pounds. Cost, $6. On the remaining
thirty rods, spread one hundred pounds of Bradley's super-
phosphate, and harrowed both lots with the Randall harrow.

There was not much difference to be observed between the
turnips, side by side. Have formed a favorable opinion of
the Stockbridge fertilizer, and think it fully equal, if not
superior, to Bradley's, for turnips. Turnips are taken from
the ground when about three inches in diameter. After being:
trimmed and washed — using a brush, — are put in bunches,
containing five in number. June 20, took from the ground
forty bunches, and about six hundred before the fourth of
July.

Sold, mostly in Lynn and Boston markets, about six
thousand bunches, for which I received $300. Gathered in
October, for stock-feeding, one hundred and fifteen bushels.
Value, in cellar, twelve and a half cents per bushel. Total,
$14.37^.

Judging from the past, and taking an average season, about
ninety bushels, or four thousand bunches, would have been fit
for market in July.

118 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE.

Dr.

Cost of ploughing 267 rods, $8 00

of barn manure, 5^ cords, and applying the same, . 50 00

of fertilizers . . . 20 00

of weeding and hoeing, 50 00

of cleaning turnips and marketing, 70 00

Total, $198 00

Cr.

By 6,000 bunches, ... $300 00

115 bushels, at 12£ cents, 14 2,1\

Total, $314 37i

Balance, . $116 37^

Statement of Francis R. Appleton of Ipswich.

The half-acre of ruta-baga turnips, which I enter, was a
part of a field of about one acre. They were planted in the
middle of June, in drills two feet and a half apart. The soil
is a heavy clay loam, thoroughly drained with tile, and has
been in grass for the previous years. It was ploughed last
fall, and again this spring, and thoroughly harrowed. To
prepare the land for the seed, trenches were made with the
plough, and barn-yard manure put in them, — twelve ox-cart
loads in all, — for the half acre. These were then covered by
the plough, making a ridge where before was a trench, and
rolled. Just before the trenches were covered, there was
sown upon the barn-yard manure a mixture of ashes, super-
phosphate of lime, plaster, and Brighton manure, in all, six
bushels. The seed was put in with a hand-drill, care being
taken to do this immediately after the rolling. It is impor-
tant that the above operations should follow one another in
quick succession, leaving the least possible interval between
the stirring of the soil and the planting of the seed. The
plants were thinned to about ten inches distance from each
other. They were cultivated by a horse once, and the thin-
ning and weeding was done by a man with a common hoe.
The yield from the half-acre was two hundred and fifty-six
bushels ; weight, sixty-three pounds per bushel, or over eight
tons in all for one-half acre.

This result is not satisfactory, nor does it equal the average
crop of this farm, owing to the long drought. No rain of any
account fell for two months after the seed was planted.

ROOT CROPS. 119

HAMPDEN.

Statement of H. M. Sessions of South Wilbraham.

Potatoes. — The one and one-half acres of land on which
the crop was raised has been in pasture for eighteen years,
and is situated on a dry hill of red sandstone soil, mixed with
mica and hornblende slates. Twenty-five loads of stable
manure (or about eight cords) were ploughed under, the first
week in May. Planted the 10th and 12th of May, in drills,
three feet apart, and twelve to fifteen inches in the drills ; one
to two eyes in a piece, and one piece in a hill. A small
handful of compost (made of sheep and hen manure aud
plaster) was dropped on the potatoes before covering, and
before the first hoeing, three barrels of ashes and plaster were
applied to the plants. The varieties planted were the Early
Vermont, Snowflake, White Peachblow, and a new seedling,
known as the Copperhead. They were hoed twice, chiefly
with a horse-hoe, the middle of June and the middle of July.
The Early Vermonts were dug the 20th of September, the
other varieties the middle of October. The potato bugs did
not trouble the Early Vermonts and Snowflakes at all, nor
the others until after the 1st of September. The crop set out
for a large yield, but the bugs or drought, or both, checked
their growth, and left a large quantity of small potatoes.
They are all of good quality.

Cr.

132 bushels merchantable potatoes, at 90 cents, . . . . $118 80

65 " small potatoes, at 20 cents, 13 00

Total bushels, 197, $131 80

Dr.

Carting and spreading manure, $10 00

Ploughing, harrowing and marketing, 8 00

Twelve bushels seed, 6 00

Planting, 13 50

First hoeing, 15 00

Second hoeing, 5 00

Digging, sorting and housing, 24 50

One-half the manure, 16 00

Total, $98 00

Balance, $33 80

120 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE.

HAMPDEN EAST.
Statement of Horace Wallis, Jr., of Holland.

Potatoes. — My field of Chili potatoes, entered for a pre-
mium from your society, contains one acre of sward land.
It was ploughed and planted the last of May, with fifteen
loads of barn-yard manure spread and ploughed under, seven
inches deep, and with a small handful of plaster in each hill.

Cost of manure, 15 loads, $30, one-half for the benefit of the

potato crop, $15 00

Plaster, 1 50

Ploughing, 3 00

Seed-potatoes, 12 bushels, 40 cents per bushel, . . . . 4 80

Planting, • 3 00

Hoeing twice, 4 00

Harvesting, 10 00

Interest on land, 3 00

Total cost, $44 30

I have harvested my potatoes, and find that the "Chilis"
yield, per acre, 159 bushels, —

At 85 cents per bushel, $135 15

Cost, 44 30

Balance in favor of potatoes, $90 85

The treatment and cost of the seedling potatoes on the
home farm were the same as that of the potatoes on the Jones
farm, $44.30.

The seedlings yield per acre 133 bushels, at 85 cents per bushel,

amounting to $113 05

Cost, 44 30

Balance in favor of potatoes, $68 75

Statement of Horace P. Wakefield of Monson.

Carrots. — I submit a statement of a field of one acre of
carrots. This field has been in grass for six or seven years.
It was ploughed in August, 1875, manured slightly, and sown
to English turnips. It was ploughed, harrowed, dragged,

ROOT CROPS.

121

and sowed, in rows sixteen inches apart, and four pounds of
seed to the acre, in May. It was manured at tke rate of ten
cords to the acre, from the barn-yard, spread on and ploughed
in. The crop was weeded by hand, and harvested in October.
The product was five hundred bushels on the acre.

One-eighth of this was manured with six dollars' worth of
Stockbridge fertilizer, and I think the difference in yield, if
any, was in favor of that manured by this fertilizer.

The crop, as inventoried by the appraisers, was ... $225 00
Cost of ploughing, weeding and harvesting, . . . $4.0 50

Manure, 70 00

Fertilizer, 6 00

116 50

Apparent net profit, $108 50

Deducting, however, from the cost of the manures, one-
third thereof which remains in the land, the actual profit will
amount to $134.83.

Mangolds. — I hereby submit a statement of a field of
mangolds, containing four acres. It was planted with pota-
toes in 1875, ploughed twice in May, 1876, and harrowed,
dragged, and sowed, May 20, in rows, thirty inches apart,
and four pounds of seed to the acre. The cultivator was run
through the field as often as the weeds sprang up, and the
remainder were pulled by hand.

The crop was harvested the last week in October, and the
product amounted to 2,480 bushels. Three-fourths of an
acre on one end of the field was manured with Stockbridge
fertilizer, at a cost of $21.

The appraised value of the crop was

Cost of Raising

Cost of barn-yard manure,
of fertilizer,
of seed, .
of ploughing,
of hoeing
of harvesting,

1,116 00

$250 00
21 00
3 00
28 00
60 00
60 00

Apparent profit,
16*

422 00
$694 00

122 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE.

Adding to this amount one-third of the value of the manures
which remain in the land, $90.33, gives the actual profit of
$784.33.

FRANKLIN.

Statement of F. H. Williams of Sunderland.

Turnips. — The land upon which his crop was raised, was
about one hundred rods, and was in grass, in fair condition,
in 1875, upon which was used twenty one-horse cartloads of
horse, hog, and muck compost, ploughed July 21, about six
inches deep, laying the furrows flat, and after beating so that
no sods should turn up, was well harrowed, the manure being
covered with a tobacco ridger and sowed in drills on these low
ridges, two and one-half feet apart, with the strap-leaf variety,
one pound of seed to the acre. Cultivated the crop once,
hand-hoed once, and thinned. One rod of ground produced
271^ pounds = 27,125 pounds on the one hundred rods, the
tops having been cut before harvesting. Two rows were
hauled together with a potato hook, then gathered into the

cart.

Cost of Crop.

Seed, . . . $0 75

Manure, 20 00

Labor, 10 00

Harvesting, 10 00

Total, $40 75

5421 bushels, at 20 cents, 108 50

Profit, $67 75

DEERFIELD VALLEY.
Statement of E. C Haivks of Charlemont.

Turnips. — The land on which my crop of turnips was grown
— which I have entered in your society for premium — was
Deerfield River bottom land, and nearly all sand, which had
drifted upon it in the freshet of 1869. The crop of 1874
was potatoes, manured with stable manure, at the rate of ten
cords per acre. The crop of 1875 was turnips, manured with

ROOT CROPS. 123

stable manure, well composted with sandy loam, at the rate of
eight cords per acre. For the present crop the land was
ploughed but once, and that about the 10th of May, to a
depth of about nine inches. The land was thoroughly pulver-
ized with Randall's cylinder harrow, and finished with a
common seed harrow. All coarse manure and cornstalks were
then raked off, and the land rolled with a heavy roller. The
cost of ploughing, harrowing, rolling, etc., was $5. I applied
eight cords of long manure per acre, being well mixed with
cornstalks, at a value of $40, upon the land. It was planted
about May 20, with Harrington's seed-sower, in drills, fifteen
inches apart. The seed was the Sweet German, used at the
rate of one pound per acre. Cost of planting and seed, $1.75.
It was cultivated three times with Harrington's hand culti-
vator. Cost of cultivating, weeding, and thinning, $12. The
crop was harvested November 13. The tops were cut off
with a sharp hoe, and raked off. The roots were pulled with
a strong potato-hook. Cost of harvesting and storing, $9.50.
Weight of turnips on one-fourth acre, 14,780 pounds, or 2461
bushels. Cost of raising, per bushel, about seven cents.

Statement of George Howes of Ashfield.

Carrots. — The piece of land contained forty- four • rods ;

the soil a clayey loam. The crop of 1874 was corn and

potatoes ; used one and one-half cords of stable manure.

The crop of 1875 was beets and carrots; used three cords of

stable manure. For the present crop used three cords of stable

manure, which was spread on the surface and ploughed under,

May 24.

Cost of Crop.

Value of manure upon the ground, . . . . $5 00

Ploughing and other preparations, $6 64

(Sowed the 25th of May, in rows two feet apart. The variety
of seed sown was the shorthorn and scarlet-horn.)

Seed and sowing (cultivated by hand), 1 05

Cultivation, including weeding, etc., 4 97

Harvesting (harvested Oct. 10), 4 20

Value of manure left in the ground, 2 50

Interest on land, 75

Total cost of production, $20 11

124 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE.

Value of Crop.

150 bushels, at 40 cents per bushel, $60 00

Value of tops for fodder, 2 50

Total value of crop, $62 50

Profit, ' $42 39

BRISTOL.

Statement of Nathan B. ' Gardner of Swansea.

Beets. — Area, one-quarter of an acre. The soil is a strong
loam. I ploughed in the fall of 1875, and again the first of
May, seven inches deep, and applied one-fourth ton of fish
guano in the fall. Five loads of raked seaweed, and three
loads of stable manure, were ploughed under in May. Fifty
pounds of sulphate of potash (eighty-five per cent.), and
Stockbridge's fertilizer for 167 bushels, were sown broadcast,
just before planting. I planted, May 11, with Holbrook's seed-
planter, in drills, thirty inches apart, two pounds of seed, of
a variety called Norbiton's Giant. It was cultivated with
horse cultivator twice, and hoed three times, and thinned to
ten inches apart in the rows.

In raising beets I intend to apply to an acre sufficient nitro-
gen, and potash, and soluble phosphoric acid for 1,500 bushels ;
then give clean cultivation, and trust to Providence for the
result. According to Professor Stockbridge's formula, one
hundred bushels of beets require eleven pounds of nitrogen,
twenty-five pounds actual potash, and six pounds of soluble
phosphoric acid.

Expense.

Ploughing, $1 50

Manure, 32 00

Seed and planting, 1 50

Cultivation, 4 50

Harvesting, 5 00

Total, $44 50

Yield, 23,040 pounds.

ROOT CROPS. 125

PLYMOUTH.

Statement of Spencer Leonard of Bridgewater.

Turnips. — The ground which my turnips covered was forty
rods, and the preparation of the ground was the same as for
my potatoes, except that I spread upon the turnip ground
twenty-five bushels of leached ashes. The turnips were
planted June 24 with a machine, in rows thirty-four inches
apart. Owing to the dry weather, they were slow in coming
up, and in many places did not come up at all, and others
were transplanted to fill up the vacant places. After the roots
got hold, they grew vigorously, and the tops seemed to entirely
cover the ground. November 1, one rod was harvested which
weighed 273 pounds, or at the rate of 728 bushels to the
acre.

Expenses.

Ploughing, etc., $3 00

Manure, 21 00

Seed and planting, 50

Cultivation, 8 00

Harvesting, 5 50

Total, . . ■ $33 00

Statement of James Howard of West Bridgewater.

Mangolds. — The plot on which my beets grew is a stiff
gravelly loam, with a slight mixture of clay. The crop of
1874 was onions, manured with five cords of stable manure
to the acre, with some salt, and manure from the poultry-
yard. The crop of 1875 was the same as, and the treatment
very similar to, that of 1874. Last April, twelve horse cart-
loads of stable manure were ploughed in six inches deep, and
eighty-five pounds of Bowker's fertilizer spread on top aucl
worked in. April 28, sowed with a machine three-quarters
of a pound of Long Red Mangold seed. Cultivated with a
Ross cultivator, and hoed twice. Harvested the latter part
of October. One rod, weighed by the supervisor, weighed
502| pounds, equal to 1,340 bushels per acre. This crop, in

126

MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE.

the early part of the season, looked very promising, and, I
think, in an ordinarily wet season would have been one-third
larger than now. Soils like this seem to bake in a severe
drought, and suffer much more than more sandy loams. I am
often asked at what time to plant this vegetable, and would
say, as early as the land is in suitable condition.

Statement of Josiah L. Bassett of Bridgeivater.

Mangolds. — The land on which my beets grew has been
used as a garden and for the cultivation of roots, for the last
two years, and has been liberally manured. The soil is a
dark sandy loam. Last spring, eight loads of compost were
spread on, and ploughed in about eight inches deep. It was
then furrowed twenty inches apart, and eight loads of com-
post, with two hundred pounds of ground bone, put in the
furrow. Planted May 16, by hand, using about one pound
of Long Red Mangold seed. Cultivated and hoed three times.
October 11, one rod was harvested, which weighed 482^
pounds, or at the rate of 1,286| bushels per acre.

Expenses.

Ploughing, etc.,

Manure, .

Seed and planting, .

Cultivation,

Harvesting,

Total,

$4 00
28 00

5 00
12 00

8 00

$57 00

Statement of Heman Copeland of West Bvidgewater.

Carrots. — The plot on which my carrots grew is a
heavy loam, in potatoes in 1874, and in cabbages in
1875, being well manured both years. The first of last
May, two cords of manure were ploughed in eight inches
deep, and 375 pounds of phosphates harrowed in. May
11, sowed with a machine, using three-quarters of a pound
of Danvers Orange seed. Shuffle-hoed three times, and
weeded by hand twice. October 17, the supervisor bar-

ROOT CROPS.

127

vested one rod, which weighed 409 pounds, or at the
rate of 1,189|-| bushels per acre.

Exx>enses.

Ploughing, etc.,

. $1 50

Manure,

. 29 00

Seed and sowing,

1 75

Cultivation,

5 25

Harvesting,

5 50

Total,

. $43 00

When this plot was planted, I supposed it contained forty
rods, and expected to weigh the whole crop as the product of
forty rods ; but when measured by the supervisor, it was
found to contain but thirty-five rods.

Statement of Albert Thomas of Middleborough .

Potatoes. — The eighty rods on which my potatoes grew is
a strong sandy loam, and was in grass, without dressing, in
1874. Last year I planted it to corn, using about forty loads
of barn-yard manure to the acre. Last May, it was ploughed
twice, about nine inches deep, turning under ten loads of
manure to the acre, and harrowed and furrowed. It was
planted the last of May with the Early Rose and Davis Seed-
lings, about eight bushels to the acre. One-third was manured
in the hill with hen manure and plaster, and one-third with
plaster. The hen manure and plaster produced the best
crop.

Cultivated and hoed twice. October 3, harvested one

rod, which weighed 103 pounds, or at the rate of 274| bushels

per acre.

Expenses.

Ploughing, etc., $5 00

Manure, 8 00

Seed and planting, 5 00

Cultivation, 2 50

Harvesting, 5 00

Total $25 50

128 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE.

Statement of Spencer Leonard of Bridgewater.

Potatoes. — The ground where my potatoes grew contained
eighty rods ; had been in grass several years without dressing.
It was ploughed September 1, 1875, and sowed to rye, putting
on eight hundred pounds of ground bone per acre. May 20,
ten loads of stable compost was spread on, and, with the rye,
ploughed in seven or eight inches deep, well harrowed and
bushed, and planted with Davis Seedlings. The potatoes came
up very quick and even, and grew remarkably well for awhile;
but the dry weather of July, August and September checked
the growth of the tubers very much, reducing the amount of
potatoes, I should judge, nearly one-half. The Colorado
beetle appeared upon the plants in fair numbers, late in the
season, but I do not think caused much injury to the crop.
September 25, one rod was harvested that weighed 78|
pounds, or at the rate of 209 1 bushels to the acre.

Expenses.

Ploughing twice, harrowiug, etc., $6 00

Manure, 32 00

Seed and planting, 5 50

Cultivating and hoeing, 2 75

Harvesting, 6 00

Total, $52 25

MARTHA'S VINEYARD.

From the Report of the Committee.

Potatoes. — The potato is a native of America, having been
found growing spontaneously near Valparaiso in about the
year 1550. It has since been found growing wild in the
mountains of Mexico and Central America.

The sweet potato originated in Asia, and was imported into
Europe long before the American or Irish potato. Sir Walter
Raleigh first carried potatoes into Ireland and planted them
in his garden in 1610. It was many years afterwards before
they were planted in fields for a crop. They were carried

ROOT CROPS. 129

over into Scotland about 1725, but met with strong opposition
from the various religious factions, because not mentioned in
the Bible. The people of France were alao opposed to their
introduction, and looked upon them with great aversion. The
nobility unsuccessfully attempted to make them popular. At
last notices were posted around a field planted with them, near
Paris, that whoever stole any should be severely punished.
The planters had the right view of human nature, for very
soon they were all stolen and carried away by the common
people. Henceforth they were popular. The most important
constituents of the potato are starch and albumen. The
amount of starch increases as the season advances. The
potato is especially adapted to be eaten with meat, which
contains much nitrogen, as it supplies the elements wanting
in that food.

It is useless to attempt to lay down any arbitrary rule for
the culture of the potato. Farmers are placed under such
different circumstances that different practices must prevail in
different localities.

The best potato land is said to be a sandy loam, recently
burned over. We have but little such land with us, and
perhaps the next best is a light, loamy sward ; say a mellow
piece of old pasture, moist, but not too damp^ and fertile
enough to yield two hundred bushels to the acre with the
aid of some alkaline fertilizer in the hill, than which there is
none better than decomposed or composted rock-weed and
kelp, which abound upon our shores.

The potato will not bear strong manure in the hill without
bad results. Oftentimes strong manure may be used to
promote a quick, early growth, but for late potatoes the seed
should not be in immediate contact with strong manure.
It is the opinion of most writers that manure should be sown
broadcast on the furrows and harrowed in. This thoroughly
mixes it with the surface, aud the after-cultivation fully pre-
pares it for plant- food.

Potatoes are of better quality on light, mellow land than
on a heavy, damp soil.

Potato land should be carefully ploughed and thoroughly
harrowed. If planted in drills they should be made about
three feet apart aud the seed dropped at intervals of one foot,
17*

130 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE.

but at this distance not over two stalks should be allowed to
stand in a place. If planted in hills they should be two to
two and a half feet each way. The seed should be covered
quite deep, generally about three inches.

When the tops appear and can be easily traced, a cultivator
should go over the field, between the rows, each way. This
will destroy the weeds just growing and loosen the earth
around the hills. When plants are sufficiently advanced, the
process should be repeated, and finished up with a hand-hoe.
The rows should not be hilled up much on dry ground, but
more on damp or clayey.

Seed potatoes should be selected with care, of medium to
large size, and from a not over-ripened crop. Potatoes that
are not over-ripe contain more life and vitality than those left
until the tops are entirely dead.

Cut seed should be used, for economy, if for no other
reason. Two or three good stalks in each hill always yield
much better potatoes than a larger number. The tendency
of all potatoes is to fall back to their wild state, and only by
carefully selecting seed can any variety be kept pure.
Always use good potatoes for seed. Put in each hill two
pieces each with a single eye, or if in drills, one piece at each
interval. Cut with a sharp knife and handle carefully.
There is always danger of over-seeding, and seldom of using
too little. Over-seeding is certain to produce a larger pro-
portion of small potatoes, while light seeding yields less in
number, but much larger and nicer.

Wm. J. Rotch, Chairman.

VEGETABLES. 131

VEGETABLES.

ESSEX.

From the Report of the Committee.

Vegetables. — After some discussion as to the meaning of
the paragraph which accompanies the list of premiums, and
which reads, "No competitor for premiums to exhibit either
more or less number of specimens of any vegetable than the
premiums are offered for," its meaning was clearly understood.
It seemed to be more the province of the superintendent to
enforce this rule, than of your Committee.

A number of competitors had displayed more specimens
than are required, while others had shown too few. In the
former case the competitors would have made an equally
worthy show, had they selected the requisite number of the
best specimens, and they would thus have prevented all chance
of overcrowding the tent, and enabled the visitors to go away
better instructed, and without having been deceived by inferior
specimens. To cite an example of the latter case, a sample
of less than twenty-five ears of field corn appeared most
favorably to your Committee, but they could give it no pre-
mium, and could give it only a gratuity.

The Committee believe the rule excellent, and, that it may
be strictly adhered to, I would recommend that the superin-
tendent of vegetables be instructed to see that only as many
vegetables are placed on exhibition as will conform to the
rule of the society above quoted.

Some exhibitors did not follow the rules of the society as
to size and weight of vegetables, but premiums were in no
case awarded contrary to your rules in this respect. It was
our endeavor to award premiums to vegetables that were best
suited to the purposes for which they are used, due regard
being paid to the cost of cultivation.

The present manner of arranging the vegetables entered

132 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE.

for premiums, can be greatly improved upon by adopting the
plan which the Massachusetts Horticultural Society followed
this year for the first time, and which has been generally pro-
nounced most desirable by connoisseurs. That society no
longer exhibits by collections, but by specimens, so as to have
all mangolds together, all flat turnips together, etc., etc.
Thus the committees can do their work most justly, and much
more quickly. All specimens should be distinctly numbered
with the exhibitor's number as contained in the list of entries ;
and no vegetable should have the owner's name attached until
after all awards have been made.

The Committees, having the list of premiums, as contained
in the printed "Order of Arrangements," and a sufficient
number of premium and gratuity cards, then begin their
work. They see before them, in examining, for example,
the mangolds, all that have been entered, without having to
wander all about the tent to find them ; and they can at once
examine and place the premium card where it belongs, at
the same time making a note of the number attached to the
specimen, for future guidance. So on till all the awards have
been made.

The owners' names have not yet been known by the com-
mittees, so that no one can have the chance of saying that any
partiality has been shown. It is now the time when the
superintendent of the hall should be instructed to give the
chairman of the committee the book which contains a list of
exhibitors, with their number prefixed to their names, and a
complete list of the articles each exhibits, following his name.
Then let the chairman write on each premium card the exhib-
itor's name and the name of specimen for which the award
was made.

It would be well to provide cards twelve inches long by
three and a half inches wide, on each side of which should be
printed the name of every vegetable for which premiums are
offered ; these to be placed in a slit, made in the end of a
round stick, one-half an inch thick, and the whole supported
on a round base one inch thick and five or six inches in diam-
eter. If these are placed near what they represent, and the
card at right angles to the length of the tables, we shall have
given to our visitors the means of ascertaining at a glance, up

VEGETABLES. 133

or down the tables, where everything is. This plan would
also be especially good, if used in the display of fruit, which
is always fine at our shows, and would be the means, among
both vegetables and fruit, of acquiring for our exhibitors even
more credit than they can possibly derive at present. These
opinions are most respectfully submitted by the Chairman of
this Committee, and are based, not only upon his experience
and observation in serving at our last show, with a number of
gentlemen most admirably qualified for the place, but also
from what he has seen at many other shows in this country
and in Europe.

The Massachusetts Horticultural Society had not concluded
to fully adopt this plan until this centennial year ; why cannot
we begin the new century by adopting it before our next
show?

Francis H. Appleton, Chairman.

Statement of Hay den A. Merrill.

The piece of cubage which I enter for premium, was on
broken up sod, and was planted about the first of June with
Fottler's Brunswick, with the exception of about one-fourth
part, which was set out with plants of the same variety, which
I procured of one of my neighbors.

I used two cords of compost in the hill. The compost con-
sisted of one-half muck, the balance being horse and cow
manure, night soil, fish waste, sea manure, with about 175
pounds of muriate of potash, the whole being well mixed
and fermented. The cost of the compost could not, to the
best of my calculations, have been over six dollars a cord.
And the same estimate would apply to the squashes, with the
exception of the cost of the potash.

I have marketed only one hundred and fifty of the cabbages,
they bringing eight cents each. They were sold two weeks
ago, and would probably at this time have brought from $10
to $12 per hundred.

I have counted the heads, and find 1,200 that would sell
for about $10 per hundred (the average weight of which was
sixteen pounds, four hundred that would sell for about $5 per
hundred, one hundred that would sell for about $2 per hun-

134 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE.

dred, and a few that would not be marketable, they being
hills that, owing to the dry weather, had to be set out twice,
and did not therefore have time to mature.

The piece was measured by Mr. Appleton, and, according
to the certificate, measured one-half acre.

Cost of Raising Cabbages.

To ploughing and preparing land, $4 00

sowing seed and setting plants, 3 00

cost of seed, 1 25

cost of manure, 17 25

hoeing twice, 5 00

cost of marketing, and estimated cost of marketing the rest, 24 00

Total, . . . . $54 50

Value of Crop.

To 150 heads, at 8 cents per head, $12 00

1,050 at 11 " " 115 50 '

400 " at 5 " " 20 00

100 " at 2 " " 2 00

fodder, 12 00

Value of crop $16150

Cost of raising, 54 50

Net profit, $107 00

Squashes. — The piece of squashes, according to statement
of H. A. Appleton, sworn surveyor, measures ninety-five
rods. On this I have grown seven tons of marrow squashes,
which, with the exception of one-half ton, have been fine,
marketable squashes. I sold the earlier squashes, about two
tons, at $1.50 and $1.25 per cwt. Then sold at $1 about
one and one-half tons. The remaining three tons were sold
at $15 per ton. The remaining one-half ton was sold at less
price, and fed out to the cows.

I used four cords of compost, spreading on and harrowing
in with Randall's harrow, three cords, and putting the
remainder in the hill. The compost consisted of one-half
muck, with the balance made up of horse and cow manure,
night soil, and a small amount of fish waste. It was well
thrown over and pulverized. The land has been up for

VEGETABLES. 135

several seasons, and was a very dry piece. The latter fact ,
considering the dry season, was against the raising of a larger
crop.

Cost of Raising Squashes.

To ploughing and preparing land, $6 00

sowing seed, 50

cost of seed, 2 00

value of manui'e, 24 00

hoeing twice, 5 00

harvesting and marketing, 25 00

Total, $62 50

Amount of Crop.

Two tons, at $37.50 per ton, $75 00

One and one-half tons, at $20 per ton, 30 00

Three tons, at $15 per ton, 45 00

One-half ton, at $10 per ton, 5 00

Value of crop, $155 00

Cost of raising, 62 50

Net profit, $92 50

Statement of Daniel Carleton.

Onions. — The half-acre on which my onions grew was
divided into two pieces by your committee, — one piece of
forty-one rods, and one of thirty-nine rods. On the first piece,
the crop of 1874 was onions. Barn-cellar manure, at the rate
of about twenty-five loads, and Cumberland superphosphate,
at the rate of half a ton per acre, were used. On the second
piece the crop and manure for 1874 were the same as on the
first. In 1875, the crop on both sides was onions; the first
piece was manured with Cumberland superphosphate alone,
at about twelve hundred pounds per acre. The second piece
was manured with barn-cellar manure alone, at about thirty
loads per acre. For the crop of 1876, the first piece was
manured with about twenty-five loads of thirty bushels each
per acre, being a compost of meadow muck, and cattle, horse
and hog manure, ploughed in, in the fall of 1875. The yield
on this piece was 158 bushels and a fraction over.

136 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE.

For 1876, the second piece was manured with Cumberland
superphosphate alone, at about fifteen hundred pounds per
acre, applied just before sowing the seed, and raked in.
The yield on this piece was 136 bushels.

The soil of both these pieces is a dark, strong loam, with a
rocky subsoil. The land was ploughed once in the fall of
1875, and twice this spring, at the last time ploughing six
furrows at a time, and then raking level with a common hay-
rake. The seed was sown on the eighth day of May, writh Mat-
thews' seed-drill, in rows fourteen inches apart, using four
and a half pounds of the yellow Danvers seed per acre. The
crop where the superphosphate was used ripened the earliest.
Where the manure was used, the onions had been just pulled
when viewed by your committee, and then looked rather
green, but they all dried off, so that they were housed before
the close of September. The onions were harvested by pull-
ing them by hand, and throwing three rows together, and
letting them lie a few days ; then turned by raking six
rows together, and, when thoroughly dry, carted to the
barn, where they were topped, and every basket of onions
weighed, allowing fifty-two pounds per bushel. The yield
of the crop was somewhat affected by the ravages of the
maggot.

The onions, however, were very sound and hard, and of
good size, there being but few small ones, and scarcely any
scullions.

The cost of raising crop on the half-acre was as follows,
viz. : —

Cost of Crop.

To ploughing and preparing land, $9 00

sowing seed, 1 00

cost of seed, 3 50

superphosphate, 8 50

value of manure on the land, . .... 16 00

weeding five times, 25 00

harvesting, 20 00

Total, $33 00

Amount of crop, 294 bushels, at 75 cents, 220 50

Net profit, '. $137 50

VEGETABLES. 137

HAMPSHIRE, FRANKLIN, AND HAMPDEN.

From the Report of the Committee.

Vegetables. — The methods and practices of our New
England farming, for the last ten years, have developed many
radical changes, which, in our view, must result most disas-
trously to the farming interest, unless some radical cure
springs up to offset it. It is patent to all, that we grow less
beef, less mutton, and less pork, every year. Why? The
farmers say they cannot afford it. Can they afford to put all
their earnings into the butcher's cart, to send West every
year, and let their pastures lie idle ? Is it better economy, in
the long run, to get nothing for the use of their scant pastures,
than to take three per cent, where they were used to gaining
six or more per cent. ? Is it better to buy Western corn at
seventy cents, and earn the money to pay for it in some other
direction or pursuit, letting their lands lie idle, than to raise
it at seventy-five or -eighty cents even? These are only small
items compared with the whole. Step into one of our grocery
stores, and look over the shelves, and what do you find?
Canned fruit, canned vegetables, canned fish, canned meats ;
in fact, almost all varieties of food canned for the table.
Look farther, and you will find most of them are canned
West or South. Temptingly put up, with handsome labels
outside, toothsome food inside. The farmers buy because it
is cheaper than to raise. The word "cheap" has a more
potent effect on the times than any Presidential election.
What is the remedy ? If we cannot grow the meat, we must
have more and better vegetables. In our exhibition, there
was a noticeable absence of two very important vegetables, the
pea and the tomato. In years past, some English and Scotch
gardeners have been experimenting in the growth of the pea,
with marvellous success. Varieties have been produced that
should never be absent from the daily board of the farmer's
meals. The tomato is equally as good, in its way. It won't
stick to one's ribs (as the Irish say of the parsnip and the
cabbage). For all that, it, like the pickle or preserve, is a
toothsome condiment. The onion, also, in many farmers'
families, is considered more a luxury than a useful vegetable.

18*

138 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE.

If we are to regard the opinions of eminent physicians, the
onion is a great corrective and alterative of the human sys-
tem, when freely consumed, and is a preventive, as well as
remedy, for some affections of the kidneys, that are becoming
so alarmingly frequent among our active men of middle life.
The same influence upon the liver is attributed to the free
use of the tomato. Equally effective is the celery plant upon
the nervous system.

But outside of any medicinal virtues which our common
vegetables may have, nearly all of which have been per-
verted by quacks and nostrum venders to strange uses, the
great questions of food and economy are the ones which
come nearest home. It is of no use to talk of the heart
aud the moral sense until the stomach is right. To have
that right, it must be well filled. If the farmers of New
England, and particularly those within the limits of this soci-
ety, are short of money, short of beef and pork, and cannot
see their way clear to grow more of those articles on their
farms, they must eat more and better vegetables. The list is
large, succulent and healthy. Judging from the specimens
before us, they can be grown successfully, not only for
summer, but for winter consumption ; and let our wives and
daughters wear one less plaited flounce, and devote a little
time to preparing them for winter use in the family. It is
pleasant to talk about the dignity of labor. It is pleasant
to think of removing the drudgery of work. It is pleasant to
know that farmers, aud their wives aud daughters, can go to
the Springs ; or the sea-side. Pick out and set aside all who
are actually able to do so, and a large, very large number
cannot do so. We must stay at home and work, work or
starve. We have so burdened ourselves with business and
superfluities, that a goodly portion of our vital forces are
expended in taking care of things, instead of procuring food
and raiment. We repeat, then, we must work. We might as
well accept the situation and, when spring opens, begin at the
garden, and let our tables groan, if need be, with the ful-
ness thereof.

A. P. Peck, Chairman,

VEGETABLES. 139

PLYMOUTH.

From the Report of the Committee.

Too many farmers act on the principle that nature is not to
be trusted, and manure too lightly. Deep and careful culture,
with heavy manuring, will pay better than any other system,
and once having been adopted, no other will be followed.
The reasons are obvious. The work in cultivating: is not
much greater when you raise sixty bushels of corn to the
acre, than when the yield is thirty bushels. You will remem-
ber the story of the man that continually -divided his estate
every time he gave a daughter in marriage, until he had
disposed of more than half a dozen, yet he still prospered,
and raised better crops than at first. This lesson has not
been lost on English farmers, when the amount invested in
fertilizers, machines and tools equals the value of the farm.
In a highly manured soil, insects injurious to vegetation can-
not thrive in their mischievous work, as in the unfertile land
of the careless cultivator. The vigorous plants, with rapidly
forming cells, many times push away and destroy the work of
insects when growing in a generous soil. If the soil is poor
and thin, this result is not to be expected, and is rarely seen.
I except the ravages of the Colorado beetle, which, if hungry,
might eat wood. It is a question for us to solve as to how
many acres of this Plymouth County soil it is desirable for
farmers to cultivate. I have no doubt that as a rule farmers
have too much land. There is too much silex in Plymouth
County for the best results. Clay is not only needed, but is
an absolute requisite to success. Harris Lewis of New York,
stated in an address before the Massachusetts Board of Agri-
culture about two years ago, that when he was destitute of ♦
manure, in some cases he irrigated the fields with muddy water ;
i. e., he mixed soil and water together, and then applied it to
his land. One or two applications he considered would give
a good crop of grass. This statement seemed to me a
remarkable one when I heard it, as I thought that in Plymouth
County two-thirds of the soil would hardly color the water
when mixed. But the soil of which Mr. Harris speaks is
largely made up of clay, and when diluted with water, and

140 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE.

charged with the fertilizing properties of the atmosphere, is
absolutely, to a certain extent, liquid manure. Now I wish
the farmers of Plymouth County to remember, those of you
at least who own light land, that a good coat of clay, say one
inch in depth, will give it a strength or body, and power for
crops that nothing else will. It is stated — and doubtless
with truth — that in one ton of good manure all the fertilizing
elements are contained in less than one hundred pounds.
Consequently, it has been assumed that the other nineteen
hundred pounds are comparatively useless, and are a burden
to be lifted and carted over the farm, using time and labor to no
purpose. The answer may be to this, that while the theory
may be correct, with our present knowledge, one hundred
pounds of concentrated fertilizer will not do the work of crop
stimulation and encourage plant-growth to the same extent that
one ton of the best manure will. Hence, all available sources
of supply must be sought out, and then, and not until then, put
out your money for special manures. But do not forget the
clay for your kitchen-garden, and then if you are satisfied that
it pays, the same application can be made to your fields. It
is not an extravagant statement to say that a garden, in the
best condition, will produce three times as much per square
rod as one in the average condition. Is it not a remarkable
fact that farmers, while recognizing, to some extent, this fact,
by the more liberal care and manuring given the garden,
should have in so few instances carried the principle into field
culture? A kitchen-garden, well kept, is a blessing to the
whole family, physically and sesthetically, and I might also
add, pecuniarily.

To be well, we must eat vegetables to some extent, and
tender, succulent ones are always to be preferred to those
stringy and woody fibered often raised as well as purchased.
If farmers wish the same results that market-gardeners expect
and get, they must imitate them by deep culture and liberal
manuring ; and then — and I fear not till then — will our exhi-
bition in this department be what it ought. A kitchen-garden
is better with a southern exposure, and if it is just a little
sloping it improves it. No trees or shrubs should be tolerated
in the vicinity. It should be spaded or ploughed to the
depth of not less than twelve or fifteen inches, two feet would

VEGETABLES. 141

be better, but it must be well drained in order to give early
crops. If sloping, it would probably be naturally drained,
but in a flat or level section, unless attended to, the best
results must not be expected. The amount of manure to be
used will be indicated to some extent by the kind of vegetable
cultivated. A garden may be too rich in fertilizing elements
for some vegetables, but, as a rule, the more manure used
the larger the yield, and corresponding satisfaction to the
owner.

Loring W. Puffer, Chairman.

NANTUCKET.

From the Report of the Committee.

Vegetables. — The raising of vegetables requires so much
intelligence, skill, and large experience, that many fail in their
attempts. There are departments in agriculture, whose treat-
ment would fill many volumes, and yet leave much unsaid ; such
is the subject of manures. Their various kinds and the cheapest
way of securing them, the best method of application, the
condition of the soil calling for several varieties, the succes-
sion of crops as connected with nutritive ingredients present
in the soil, or already taken from it, the precise effects of
different kinds of manures, and the circumstances under
which they finally exhaust the soil, are themes for profound
philosophy and research. There is not a single crop which
does not suggest curious and practical inquiries as to the vari-
ety of seed to be chosen, its method of selection, the condition
of the soil, and the details of cultivating the plant.

The soil with which the farmer deals is more like a living
than a dead agent. It is found that plants feed with the same
daintiness, and require the same skill of preparation in their
food, as animals. The effect of thorough pulverization, of air,
of moisture, of length of time, and the form in which manures
have lain in the ground, are to be considered, and render it
impossible to apply a chemical theory without testing it prac-
tically at every step. While rules greatly aid us, they must
fall into intelligent hands to be entirely successful ; they
cannot travel from farm to farm, from field to field, without

142 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE.

modification. Thus agriculture remains an art as well as a
science. The law of agricultural labor, as contrasted with
manufactures and mechanical labor, differs ; this class of labor
should be concentrated, rather than scattered ; gathered into a
few acres, rather than spread over many. Don't till more
land than your capital and labor will enable you to produce,
under favorable circumstances, a maximum crop. As the
farmer increases the ground under cultivation beyond a fixed
standard for the best of cultivation, every step is attended
with reduced profit. Many till four hundred acres with labor
and means not more than sufficient for one hundred ; and
one hundred acres with means suited to twenty-five. Hence,
if we are told that an income of one thousand dollars was
obtained from one acre of land, we should feel quite sure
that a large part was profit, perhaps sixty or eighty per cent.
If told that a similar revenue was obtained from ten acres,
we should be certain that the profits had fallen to twenty-five
per cent. ; and if we were again informed that such an income
was realized from one hundred acres, that the labor must
absorb nearly the whole, and the profits sink to four or five
per cent. The quantity of land to be tilled must ever be
limited by the amount of labor and capital, to realize the
greatest return from highest manuring and most thorough
tillage, regardless of expense. Why cultivate four acres to
obtain the same amount of vegetables that can be produced
from one?

It has been found from experience that the tissues of plants
absorb, and take into their growth, the finest and most dissol-
uble portions of manure ; hence the finest and most dissoluble
are the best fertilizers. Finely pulverized, and those in a
liquid form, contain a much larger percentage of nutriment,
and it would compensate the farmer for the labor and expense
of reducing all his manures to that condition.

The earth is like a pair of lungs, requiring to be kept open,
so that the air may circulate freely through them, which is
most essential to a healthy condition of the body which they
support. Like the surface of the body, it has pores through
which air, light, and heat enter, to warm and nourish the
plant rootlets below. In order to have a good, open, well-
pulverized, friable, and nutritious soil, which is especially

VEGETABLES. . 143

needed in severe droughts, nothing is more desirable than
thorough and careful ploughing. The deeper the soil the
more plant-food, and the lower the roots penetrate. To obtain
a steady and quick vegetation the ground should be pulver-
ized to a depth sufficient to accommodate any length of root
the plant may grow under any circumstances. The more room
provided, and the lower the water stratum is rendered, the
greater number of roots will grow. The depth of the water
stratum determines the length of plant roots ; they will never
penetrate below this, but will continue stretching down until
they reach it, if it is three feet from the surface. If they are
allowed to descend only six or eight inches, the quantity of
root will be too small for the upper portions of the plant ; but
if they are unlimited, they will, other things being equal, be
capable of sustaining the plant at almost any time ; for this,
the increased root augments the quantity of moisture taken
up, and sustains it under the sun's heat. Deep ploughing has
never been justly appreciated, and is a matter that claims the
attention of all farmers, who should use every means of work-
ing against severe droughts.

The cultivator and the hoe are also effective implements for
pulverizing and stirring the soil. Especially are these methods
of culture beneficial, if the soil is inclined to bake or crust,
as it very often does in severe droughts. Science, with prac-
tice, must be the motto in raising good vegetable crops. The
advice of the old painter to his pupil, to "mix brains with his
colors," is equally applicable to the gardener, the vegetable
producer, "mix brains with the soil." Do nothing vaguely or
indefinitely ; calculate closely, exactly, and determine the
result of every step, and success will attend the labor.

Albert C. Baetlett, Chairman.

144 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE.

MANUEES.

ESSEX.

From the Report of the Committee.

The successful prosecution of agriculture lies in a knowledge
and supply of those iugredients to the soil which are found,
by oft-repeated experiments, to be most conducive to the full
development of cultivated plants.

The discoveries of chemistry show that all plants are built
up of organic and inorganic materials. Their organic part
consists of about nine-tenths of their weight, or that part
which can be consumed by fire, and the inorganic that which
remains in the ash.

Their organic elements are derived from the atmosphere ;
viz., carbon, oxygen, hydrogen, and nitrogen. Over these
man has no control, for when the present harvest is consumed,
or decays, these elements, without loss, return to the atmo-
sphere, and are laid up for future use. Hence it is seen, that
in the divine economy the same materials are worked over
and over again, in the annual harvests forever.

But it is the inorganic elements of plants with which the
cultivator has to deal, and over which he has control ; for the
living plant draws from the dead earth those materials which
are indispensable to its healthy growth.

If, therefore, certain plants require in their growth, potash,
soda, lime, sulphuric acid, or any other inorganic constituent,
and the farmer repeatedly raises the same crops upon the
same ground, without returning the inorganic matter which
he removes in each successive harvest, it is obvious that his
:rops must diminish from year to year, for it has been found
;hat however small the inorganic matter which a plant re-
mires, if it cannot be found in the soil, the plant sickens
jmd dies.

MANURES. 145

Here is a striking instance of failure of grass upon a portion
of a piece of peat meadow, which we reclaimed a few years
since : the meadow was drained, the surface levelled, and in
winter, when frozen, about one hundred ox-cart loads of gravel
were hauled upon it to the acre. In the following summer,
this was spread, covering what grass was growing. In the
autumn, a compost was spread upon it, and grass-seed sown.
The next summer the crop of hay was two and one-half tons
to the acre.

The herdsgrass stood four feet upon a level upon the
lot, with the exception of a small piece upon one end, on
which no gravel was spread ; upon this part of the meadow, —
clear peat, with the exception of the compost, — the grass
attained but half the height of the gravelled part, was very
soft, and fell to the ground, for want of silex to give strength
to the stem. It is thus seen that for the want of a single
element of inorganic matter in the ground, the crop failed
one-half.

There can be but little doubt that many of the cultivated
fields of the county, which produce but a scanty crop without
being enriched by stable or barn-yard manure, might be greatly
improved, at a comparatively small expense, by the applica-
tion of some inorganic element of manure (for any matter
which makes land productive is manure), like lime, potash,
soda, or any other inorganic element of plants, of which the
soil has been robbed by long-continued cultivation.

There is ground which at sight looks as if it might be
naturally productive, but which scarcely produces grass
enough to form any sward. Here, perhaps, one or two
simple elements of plant-growth are wanting, which, if sup-
plied, might render the land productive.

It is hoped that cultivators the coming season will make
careful experiments with the mineral preparations which are
for sale, and which are said, in some instances, to double the

crops.

J. Newhall, Chairman.

19*

146 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE.

DAIEY STOCK.

ESSEX.

From the Report of the Committee.

No matter how good-looking the individual animals in a
herd may be, it is their record which ought to govern the
Committee more than anything else, in judging.

Statements in regard to keep and yield of cows are of
comparatively little value, unless they enter into the details,
as to the measure or weight of food, measure or weight of
product, manner of preparing and kind of food, time of
feeding, etc. Moreover, the time of calving should be always
stated.

On such a basis as this, the record of two or more herds
may be easily compared, and a fair judgment arrived at; but
if loose statements and guesses are allowed, the comparative
merits are not easily recognized, and the public are taught
nothing: which can be relied on.

We have always supposed that the object of this society
was, on the one hand, by awarding premiums, to encourage
the exhibitor ; on the other, by publishing reports, to endeavor
to instruct its members by giving trustworthy and valuable
information. That both purposes may be accomplished more
fully, the Committee recommend the alteration of the rule in
regrard to herds of milch cows, as follows : —

For the best herd of milch cows, not less than five in
number, to be exhibited at the show, and a correct statement
in writing of manner of keeping and yield for any successive
six months between January 1 aud September 20 of any
year. Each cow must have been in milk at least three months.
The statement must give every detail possible, — the measure
or weight of grain or roots, an estimate of quantity or weight
of hay, the measure or weight of product in milk or butter,
manner of preparing and kind of food, hours of feeding,

DAIRY STOCK. 147

when last calf was dropped. The weight or measure of milk
must be taken each week and stated in writing, then an aver-
age of the whole time may be given. An exact record of the
daily yield of each cow would be preferred. First premium.
$18 ; second premium, $12 ; third premium, $10.

An additional premium is also recommended. For the
best herd of milch cows, not less than five in number, with
statement as above, only extending over the period of one
year. Each cow must have been in milk at least six months.
First premium, $20; second premium, $15.

If we make a comparison between the two statements
handed to the Committee, we find that Mr. Peabody enters
more into the details of management, etc., gives the time
when the last calf was dropped — a very important matter.
His cows yielded 378 pounds of butter and 550 quarts of
milk. Allowing 12 quarts of milk to one pound of butter,
the whole yield in milk would be 5,086 quarts. Supposing
the record of yield was made up to about September 20, —

Cow No. 1 would have been in milk . . . . 150 days.

2 " " " 160 "

3 " " " 125 "

4 " " " 128 "

5 " " " 180 "

Total, 743 days.

Reckoning 5,086 quarts as the yield of one cow for 743
days, we have an average of 6.84 quarts, or nearly seven
quarts per day. For 365 days, or a year, the product would
be 2,555 quarts, or 5,493.25 pounds, — a fair record. We
must bear in mind, however, that this was not the yield of
one individual cow ; but the concrete yield of five cows soon
after calving.

Mr. Russell's foreman, Mr. Reynolds, stated verbally that
three of his cows calved in January and two in June. Con-
sidering three cows to have been in milk 180 days, and two
90 days each, total 720 days, at his average of 11 quarts per
day, would give a total yield of 7,920 quarts, or 17,028
pounds.

Since August 1, Mr. Reynolds fed two quarts of meal and
four quarts of shorts, besides corn-fodder. Since August 1,

148 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE.

Mr. Peabody fed four quarts of fine feed, besides corn-
fodder.

Mr. Russell's cows' yield in milk far surpasses that of Mr.
Peabody's, and reckoning 7,920 quarts as the yield of one
cow for 720 days, or 4,015 quarts for 365 days, would be
considered a very large record for one individual cow.

The Committee make this report, without entertaining the
slightest ill-feeling toward the exhibitors, or any member of
the society ; but simply for the reason that they consider the
"rule" is not clear in its meaning, and, moreover, does not
enter sufficiently into the details of management, etc., which
are necessary for the enlightenment of the public, and also
for the basis of a fair judgment.

The Committee hope that the trustees will, at least, take
such action as will make the matter clearer than it is at pres-
ent, for the benefit of future exhibitors and judges.

J. D. W. French, Chairman.

WORCESTER.

From the Report of the Committee on Heifers.

In view of the fact that the improvement of dairy stock is
of vital importance to the success and prosperity of the New
England farmer, and also when we remember that in localities
like our own, and in all localities which are looked to by our
great cities as the source from which must come their supply
of milk and butter, — it is, we say, in these localities, that we
find the finest herds of dairy cows in New England.

Not that these particular localities have produced the finest
herds, but they have procured them, — they have gleaned them
from the surrounding country, — gleaned, because from their
superior location, from their convenience to a market, they
could afford to offer a larger price than the owner could afford
to refuse.

But what is the tendency of this course of procedure ? As
time passes on, these animals, so carefully selected, pass away
one after another, and we find it necessary to fill their places
with others. And we again look to the source from which

DAIRY STOCK. 149

they came, for other animals to fill their places ; but as we
look over the territory which we had before gleaned, do we
find the progeny of these fine animals to select from ? Not at
all. These fine animals, of which we were justly proud, have
passed away on our own dairy farms, together with their
progenjs and we are left to glean from the progeny of the
animals which we had culled and rejected before, aud this only
to be repeated as each animal shall fulfil its mission and pass
away.

And here the question very naturally presents itself, —
What is the remedy ?

Your Committee would first mention some of the objections
farmers make to raising stock : And first, they say it does
not pay, — we can buy our cows cheaper than we can raise
them. We want to economize our barn-room ; a young heifer
occupies as much standing-room in my barn as a milch cow,
and although she may be improving in size, and increasing in
value, a milch cow will pay better, and so we are content to
look quietly on and see our dairy stock degenerate from year
to year, congratulating ourselves with the gratifying thought
that we have saved a few dollars on the first cost of each
animal.

And now let us look to some of the reasons why we cannot
afford to raise our own cows ; and your Committee verily
believe that the man who shall demonstrate that it will pay to
raise dairy cows on our milk-producing farms, will be as great a
benefactor to the farmer as the man who invented the mowing-
machine or horse-rake.

The calf is generally taken from the cow when three or four
days old, and if milk is bringing from five to seven cents
per quart, it seems a waste to allow a calf to drink it ; and
so hay tea, milk and water, porridge, oatmeal, etc., is resorted
to, to take the place of milk. The result is, as we ought
naturally to expect : the calf, instead of thriving, drags out a
miserable existence for the first six months of its life, and we
find it at that time small of its age, poor, and perhaps more
or less diseased, and in every way in an unfavorable condition
to pass the first winter of its life, and with a flattering pros-
pect of its taking the next two years and a half, at least, to
develop an animal suitable for a milch cow ; and yet there are

150 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE.

farmers who, after stinting their animals for the first two
years, if they then feed them so that they are in tolerable
good flesh when they come into milk, at three years, they
feel that they have produced them at the least possible cost,
and yet they feel that it has not been a paying operation.

But now, suppose we were to try this over again, beginning,
as it were, at the other end, — that is, feed them well on the
start, and if we are to stint them at all, do it after they are
two years old.

The younger the animal, the more care and attention it
requires, and the more care and attention it gets, the faster it
develops and matures. Not unfrequently, when noting an
animal reared under these conditions, we hear the remark
that "this yearling is large enough for a two-year-old," — a
statement which would be literally true, if the "two-year-old"
were raised by the first-mentioned plan ; and let us not forget
just here, that if the cost of the first year is a little more, we
produce the cow in two years, and make a saving of what a
two-year-old animal would consume during one year ; and
what is still better^ we have the satisfaction of feeling that it
has been a paying operation.

Thomas S. Eaton, Chairman.

HAMPSHIRE, FRANKLIN, AND HAMPDEN.

Statement of Henry Shepherd.

The cow I offer for premium is high grade Devon, eight
years old. I have owned her about a year, and she is the best
of many cows I have owned. She calved last December ; her
calf, at six weeks old, weighed two hundred and forty pounds.

This cow was fed upon rowen hay the first five months, consum-
ing, by actual weight, 225 pounds per week, or more than ~2\

tons, at $20 per ton, $50 00

And 20 bushels roots, potatoes, carrots, beets, etc., . . . 5 00
And has consumed about the same value in rowen hay, grass,
cornstalks, apples, pumpkins, waste vegetables from the house,
in the last five months, say 55 00

$110 00

DAIRY STOCK.

151

The cow has all the time been kept in the stable, has not

eaten any grain or meal, which probably would not have cost
more than the hay, and her product and profit increased.

The average quantity of milk per day during —

December and January, was 16 quarts, milk measure, . . 992

February and March, " 14 " ... 840

April and May, " 13 " ... 793

June and July, " 12 " ... 732

August and September, " 12 " ... 732

Average number of quarts, 4,089

4,089 quarts, or 32 barrels of milk, at 6 cents per quart, . . $245 34
Amount of profit, if all the milk had been sold, as most of it was,

at 6 cents per quart,- 135 34

Butter of best quality was occasionally made from the milk.
I have taken care of this cow myself, and know the above
statements are correct.

Statement of H. C. Haskell of Deerfield.
My grade Jersey cow, "Beauty," twelve years old, the
second week after calviug, produced twelve and three-fourths
pounds of butter, and six months after produced twelve and
a quarter pounds. The following is a copy of my record of
sales of butter aside from all used in family, for a period of
seven years, each cow counted as one in the herd, whether
she be dry or in milk, and part of which were heifers which
came in at two years of age : —

YEARS.

No. of Cows.

Average lbs. of
Butter.

Average Receipt
per Cow.

1866,

6

276

$140 40

1867,

6

305

135 90

1868,

6

2871

137 65

1869,

6

289

147 81

1870,

7

289

133 27

1871,

7

285

121 28

1872,

8

279

133 30

The above were all thoroughbred and grade Jerseys. Have
not kept a record for the last four years, but think that the
amount of butter is fully equal to the foregoing years, but the
cash receipts have fallen somewhat.

152 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE.

I consider the following near the cost of keeping a cow for
the year with me : —

Pasture, 28 weeks, at 75 cents per week, $21 00

1| tons hay, at $20 per ton, 35 00

20 bushels coi-n, at 60 cents per bushel, 12 00

Total, $68 00

DAIKY PRODUCTS.

WORCESTER.

From the Report of the Committee.

In making prime butter or cheese, it is absolutely neces-
sary to have good milk. Cows fed on cold, sour grass, noxious
weeds, or coarse bog hay, and having impure or stagnant water
to drink, will produce a quality of milk that will make a very
poor quality of butter or cheese ; therefore, the cows should
have sweet, nutritious food, pure water to drink, and pure
air ; where there are bad odors in pastures, such as carrion, it
has been known to affect the milk, so that it very essentially
affected the cheese that was made from it. Therefore, it is
requisite to have perfect cleanliness in butter and cheese
making. There should be cleanliness in the pasture, in the
stable, and in milking ; and all utensils used about the dairy
should receive great care, as I have known a small can of sour
or decomposed milk to taint a large vat of milk so that it
would nearly spoil the cheese. The situation of the milk-
room for making butter, when milk is set in pans, is of
importance ; a northerly aspect, where the air is pure and not
exposed to the odors of stagnant waters, cow-yards, pig-
sties, or any impurity from vegetables, cellars, or drains
about the house, is very desirable. The milk-room should be
kept at a temperature of about 55 or 60° F., and equalized by
steam-pipes, hot-air, or stoves, with ventilation to give an
equal circulation of air. The warm part of the season the

DAIRY PRODUCTS. 153

milk may be cooled by running spring or ice water around the
pans or vats, or by placing tubs of ice in the room to keep
the temperature about 60°. The cream should be about 60°
F. when put into the churn ; the churning should be done with
care, the stroke should not be too quick, but uniform. When
the cream first shows signs of butter, the sides of the churn
should be freed from adhering cream, so as to be mixed with
the other. If the butter appears soft, add cold water to make
it more firm ; when the buttermilk is drawn off, rinse the but-
ter with cold water, and draw it off immediately. Great care
should be exercised in working the butter, or the grain will
be destroyed. I think I saw one such lot on exhibition last
year.

Most of the butter made now is worked with a butter-
worker. When butter is packed for the market, or to keep
over the season, it should be put into either cedar, oak, or ash
tubs, or stone jars, and pressed in solid, and a fine cloth cut to
fit the top of the jar or tub, and placed smoothly on the top of
the butter, and that covered with a layer of salt so as to
exclude the air. Though cheese requires the air, butter should
be closely covered, that it may not become air-slaked, or lose
its nutty taste, or absorb bad odors.

J. W. Powers, Chairman.

20*

154 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE.

HOUSES.

WORCESTER.

From the Report of the Committee on Brood Mares.

Horse-breeding as a pursuit, in New England, is usually
pronounced a failure. It is held not to pay, in a money point
of view ; and the stock bred has not been, of late years, a
credit to the breeders. The reasons for this lack of success
seern to be, — want of knowledge of the business, and misdi-
rectiou of energy. Breeders have groped in the dark, with
no standard of excellence, knowing no law of selection.
Instead of breeding with a clearly defined purpose, a horse
for cart, or saddle, or carriage, a quick-maturing, well-sized,
fine-tempered animal, "a farmer's colt, and a rich man's
horse," they have had vague dreams of Dexters and Gold-
smith Maids to be got by breeding worn-out and usually
unsound mares to horses with a track record, or often to
horses only related in blood to some that have had track
records. Is it strange that such ill-founded expectations have
ended in disappointment and disgust ?'

Such has not always been the story of New England horse-
breeding.

We had, in the last generation, a family of horses of wide
renown for beauty of form, docility of temper, high courage
and endurance. The Morgan family not only brought money
but also honor to the farmers of Vermont. These excellent
horses were, according to their various grades, light carriage-
horses, elegant, good-sized coach-horses, and the best stock
for rapid draught, that ever bore a resolute and nervous
shoulder against the collar.

In the later days of stage-coaching, the various Eastern
lines were horsed from this admirable family.

In 1837, during the Canadian Rebellion, the First Dragoon
Guards came out from England dismounted ; horses for them

HORSES. 155

were bought in Vermont, aud also for the artillery. They
were carefully selected Morgans, and the officers declared that
they were equal to the best English troop horses. Until about
1858, the express companies in Boston and New York were
supplied with Morgan horses of superb quality. These horses
were of a type well remembered by horsemen, — high crests,
thin withers, well set, lean heads, short backs, round barrels,
clean legs, with powerful hocks, good feet and steady tempers.
Farmers bred them with certainty. There was no money
wasted in track-handling, and the colts were not hammered to
pieces to show speed when their constitutions were half-formed.
Everybody wanted such horses then, as they do now, and they
put money into the farmers' purses.

Breeding in-and-in, selling the best and largest of the mares,
and failure to replenish the fountain of thorough-blood, from
which the race sprung, were the causes of their decline, so
that to-day the name of Morgan has no spell to conjure with ;
nor has the family an existence, except in the fervid imagina-
tion of some stallion owners.

Of late years, the only idea of the breeder has been to get
"a fast trotter." All other virtues have been overlooked.
Failing to strike upon this accidental quality, he has been left
with a "scrub," upon whose "handling" twice the value of a
good horse has perhaps been spent.

We are thus overrun with trotters that cannot trot ; or if
they have been forced up to a factitious speed, they have not
blood enough to "stay," and must be put into the category of
failures. While we are thus supplied with what no one wants,
never was there such a scarcity of fine coach-horses as now.
A dealer looking for matched horses, a well-made, fast-walking
saddle-horse, a powerful, quick horse for a coupe or T cart,
or horses used for park tandems, or the class of high-bred
animals able to take a heavy four-in-hand coach from Madison
Square to Jerome Park, might search New England in vain
for them. At the same time he could buy droves of light-
muscled, coarse-headed, flat-ribbed, round-legged creatures,
whose puffs and sprung knees tell of the vain attempts
that have been made to "develop speed" for a mile. Fail-
ing in this, they have no quality that fits them for genteel
service.

156 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE.

If the cost of trotter-breeding was merely for the fee of the
sire, the time of a mare and the keeping, of a colt, it might be
repaid, even by the services of a brute fit for a horse-car or
cheap livery ; but the cost of breeding is only the vestibule
of this temple of expense. Each of these animals has been
"handled for speed." One season in the hands of a profes-
sional horse-puller, with all the expense of sulkies, blankets,
sponges, toe-weights, bo.ots, constant changing of shoeing,
etc., will take the cost of a trotter up to a figure that he will
never realize in the prosaic form of a mere horse.

Even when the best mares have been bred to the luckiest
cross of stallions, it is conceded by thoughtful horsemen that
the chance of record speed is as one to a hundred ; so that in
the hap-hazard method, it is a bucket of water to the broad
Atlantic. But if the exceptional low-bred horse develops
speed that survives training ; if his feet withstand the ignorant
shoeing that coutracts the hoof, and his muscles bear the
hammering that commonly puffs them, and his joints do not
stiffen from sweats and over- working, there is another trouble
that confronts us, — the change in the times has so reduced the
finances of the average trotter-buyer, that there is no market
for the colt when his owner is ready to sell.

In proof of this, one need only refer to the sales at auction
of trotting stock, during the year past, and to the fact that
city boarding stables have been full of horses, unfit for heavy
work, that have been abandoned for their board bills.

If a man breeds from curiosity, or to gratify a whim, and
can afford the expense, he has a right to do so. To this class
we would not venture to offer advice. But to the farmer we
may say that horse-breeding is a safe, easy, and legitimate
branch of his business.

Colts are not more liable to accident than horned stock, and
they are not so subject to disease. They are raised as cheaply
in respect to food, and they clo not require more room. It is
easy to handle and teach them. Well-bred colts mature early,
and at two years of age should pay their way with the light
work of the farm. The French breeders of the Percherons
make them earn their living at eighteen months of age.

The writer has seen three-year-old thoroughbreds ploughing
as merrily as they afterwards ran races ; and at Waterloo, the

HORSES. 157

Duke of Wellington rode a three-year-old colt, "Copenhagen,''
all day, — till Blucher, night, and victory came. Blood shows
in nothing so much as in early maturity. Mares should not
be too old, nor worn out with hard work. They must be
sound, good feeders, and with room enough to carry a foal,
and they do better if carefully worked until very near the
time of foaling.

High breeding, good size, not less than fifteen hands three
inches, with beauty of form and docility of temper, must
invariably be had in the sire. Like produces like. The
Arabs claim that the foal follows the sire, and there is a great
deal of argument to be adduced in support of that theory,
though the writer knows that a good mare must be had also.

Size, color, beauty of form and temper, can be bred with
almost absolute certainty, and these qualities secured, a profit-
able colt is the invariable result. Nor is there any mystery
about the business, as many writers and amateur horsemen
are fond of asserting that there is. Any man who is fit to be
a farmer, can raise a horse and handle him. If he breeds a
proper mare to a proper sire, he can readily get a good,
salable animal, and secure as great a percentage of profit as
he expects from any of the commoner avocations of his
business.

John E. Russell, Chairman.

158 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE.

POULTRY.

NANTUCKET.

From the Report of the Committee.

Poultry. — We would suggest the propriety of breeding
only choice .fowls until every valuable species be intro-
duced into our county. It costs just as much to raise common
fowl as pure breeds that are adapted to our situations, and
the returns, both in eggs and poultry, are greatly in favor of
the latter. The first consideration, with regard to breeds, is
whether eggs only are the chief object, or poultry, or eggs
and poultry combined. The intelligent breeding of poultry
is, we are convinced, of far greater utility than many are dis-
posed at first to concede. It has been said, and with much
truth, that "Massachusetts beats the world in poultry." The
skill and nice power of observation which is requisite in a
successful poultry fancier, must be invaluable Avhen applied
in the direction of other live-stock. The same habits of
careful and attentive observation of the points and strains,
of color, form, size and production of one class, obtains,
as in the other. All breeding is done by this sagacity and
keen observation. The highest authorities recommend the
" Standard of Excellence " as the best work on the points of
poultry.

Leghorns, Hamburgs, Houdans and Plymouth Rocks are
recommended as the most desirable laying fowls. If layers
and large size are desirable combined, light and dark Brahmas
and Buff Cochins are ranked first, the latter very remarkable
for size and weight.

Poultry-yards should be dry, gravelly soil. Cleanliness
and ventilation are most indispensable requisites in roosting-
houses. They should be warm in winter and cool in summer,
and can be so rendered by having glass sashes on three sides
of the main room, making it so warm by the sun's heat during

POULTRY. 159

the bleak days of winter that scarcely any ice will be formed
for the season. Where it is practicable, a cellar three or four
feet in depth will cause a warmer temperature in winter and
a cooler in summer. These sashes can be opened when
desirable, and the roost aired and cooled.

After three or four years the old hens should be replaced
by pullets for laying. The old adage is truthful, "Young
hens for eggs and old hens for chickens." The same rule
holds good with regard to breeding poultry that does with
our thorough-breeding cows and horses. Thorough-breeding
is simply breeding with such care and attention that all suc-
ceediug progeny shall be improved, perfect types. It can be
done in any herd of native cows, by selecting a well-known
cow, of excellent parentage and qualities, and breeding from
her and her offspring, rejecting all unlikely ones. In twenty
years a thoroughbred herd can be produced, which, if not
equal to Jersey or Ayrshire, will be an excellent one.

The same rule with fowls. Select hens of superior' qualities,
and raise none but the finest ; and an excellent thoroughbred
flock can be had. Thoroughbred fowls are distinguished for
marked qualities. Some are superior layers, like the Ham-
burgs or Bolton Greys, but very delicate. These can be
improved by crossing with more hardy stock, and produce a
desirable combination. In raising poultry don't do anything
indifferently ; there is too much farming . and stock-raising
done in our country without thought or calculation of the
results, without system or design. Calculate, figure, mark
down a programme, count the cost of everything, if you desire
gains in any enterprise. There is no department of rural
economy, if rightly managed, which will pay a higher per-
centage on the investment than poultry. The consumption
of eggs is increasing slowly but surely in our country. Take,
for instance, the New York market, the great business centre
of the country. In New York City alone, the sale of eggs —

In 1870, was 19,900,700 dozen, which, at wholesale prices,

would amount to . . $4,928,919 20

1871, " 25,912,210 " amounting to . . . 5,661,973 85

1872, " 28,360,410 " amounting to 6,292,250 27

1873, " 31,148,070 " amounting to 6,976,603 35

160 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE.

These statistics show an increase of nearly fifty per cent, in
three years.

The kind of poultry one keeps is fast getting to be the
index of his intelligence, general culture and taste. The farm-
house that is without them lacks one of the most essential
elements of rural beauty and comfort. Multiply the objects
of interest on a farm, crowd it with all the beauty you can,
whether of flower, shrub, bird or beast, and the investment
will pay in added enjoyment, especially to the young. In the
language of Dickens, "The wings of our agricultural enjoy-
ments should never be permitted to moult a feather." The
cultivation of a taste for choice poultry will develop one for
other blooded stock, from which alone certain results can be
obtained.

Fancy poultry, like thoroughbred stock-raising, or fancy
farming, has its grand purpose, to divert those who have
means, from too close attention to the counting-room and
the warehouse, to the free and pleasing occupation of ex-
perimental farming, with its variety of pursuits, and its
healthful and sanitary relaxation.

Alexander Macy, Jr., Chairman.

BREAD. 161

BREAD.

MARTHA'S VINEYARD.

From the Report of the Committee.

Bread is the most important article of our food. The term
bread is sometimes used to express all of our food. God
said to Adam, "In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread."

The invention and manufacture of bread are of very ancient
date. The Chaldeans and Egyptians practised the art of
bread making, and at a later period the Hebrews found it
essential not only for food, but the priests were commanded
to offer it at their sacrifices. They had various methods of
making their bread. They took " wheaten flour tempered
with oil, kneaded it," and baked quickly, on the coals or
under the warm ashes. This primitive mode of cooking
bread is still practised among the Arabs. This bread, we
may suppose, was the unleavened bread which was so often
used.

At the feast of the passover the children of Israel were com-
manded thus: "Seven days shall ye eat unleavened bread.
Seven days shall there be no leaven found in your houses."
For the sacrifice of thanksgiving it was commanded to offer
leavened bread ; this leaven was probably similar to the
yeast-cakes in present use.

There has been, perhaps, no time when so much thought
and attention has been given to the bread question by scien-
tists and medical men as at the present time. Agriculturists
feel the importance of it, and for that reason offer generous
premiums and awards, hoping to stimulate wives and daugh-
ters to renewed efforts at improvement in making sweet,
wholesome bread, which is the reasonable and desired result
of the improved wheat crops and milling, derived from earnest
thought and hard labor.

21*

162 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE.

" Dyspepsia is our national curse. It is the source of the
greatest suffering and the greatest weaknesses of the Ameri-
can people, and it is generally conceded that among the factors
of our national diseases none is so important and none so
universal as the bad quality of our national bread."

We cannot expect or hope that great improvement will be
made in the essential art of making wholesome bread, unless
the ignorance and failures are exposed, equally with the
success and knowledge gained by careful experiment.

From the many specimens before us we perceive that there
is a commendable ambition among the ladies of Dukes County
to excel in making bread. The greater part of it is delicious ;
some of it a failure, owing, not to lack of labor or a desire
to excel, but to lack of knowledge gained by practical inform-
ation. The loaves of brown bread and of corn-bread were
well made and baked, with a few exceptions. There were
several loaves of very good bread without the statement of
the manner of making it, or the name of the maker.

Bread made from wheat is more desirable than bread made
from any other grain, because the proportions and character
of its constituent parts are better suited for food, for brain
and muscle. The chief constituents are gluten and starch,
gluten belonging to the muscle-forming group, starch to the
fat-formers. Flour with the most gluten is most economical
and sweetest. It is quite a matter of importance to be able
to judge of its richness in gluten. There is a marked differ-
ence between the nourishing qualities of flour from Southern
and Northern wheat.

The Report of the Patent Office for 1848 states that the
Alabama flour yielded twenty per cent, more bread than
flour from Cincinnati. It is said that the gluten of Southern
wheat does not, to so great an extent as in Northern wheat,
reside in a crust around the surface of the grain, but is more
enclosed in the starch in the centre ; this may account for the
superior richness of Southern flour.

There are at the present day many experiments in flour-
makinc. The " attrition flour" made in Chicago is obtained
from the best quality of wheat. The flouring of the wheat
is done at one operation, in large and powerful currents of
cold air, and no bolt is used to separate the outside covering

BREAD. 163

of the berry, in which reside the rich nitrogenous and phos-
phatic principles. This flour is several shades darker than
that in common use, and notwithstanding its superior rich-
ness, it cannot be a favorite.

It is said that French bread is much better than American
bread. English bread is no better than ours; but German
bread is very superior, owing largely to the superiority of
their wheat, although the proprietor of the Vienna Bakery
declares that the bread which he now makes from the " new
process" flour from Minnesota is as good as any in Germany.

Aside from the influence of the wheat and the flour, the
great difference in the bread rests with the maker of it*

There is no better bread than that made with fresh hop-
yeast, and none so wholesome or inexpensive.

If the bread is rightly made it needs neither shortening nor
soda. A barrel of flour made into bread with soda and cream
of tartar, or with Hosford's yeast-powders, has an additional
cost of twenty-five cents to every twenty-five pounds of flour,
besides the butter or lard which must be used to make the
bread palatable. This is no small item in the cost of bread.
The superiority of yeast-bread is apparent, and the method of
making it very simple. A few years since, not more than two
or three loaves of yeast-bread were found on the society table.
It was difficult for some persons to believe that good bread
could be made without butter, lard or soda. There is a
decided improvement at the present, nice light loaves of
delicious bread are now exhibited, showing that we are not
slow in improvements, if we have the opportunity to learn.

EECIPE OF PREMIUM LOAF.

Three quarts flour, two-thirds cup potato-yeast, water
sufficient to make stiff, set over night. In the morning add
flour enough to knead and put in pans. Bake quickly in
hot oven.

Mrs. John Pierce, Chairman Com. on Bread.

164 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE.

MASSACHUSETTS.

THE ONION-SMUT.*

By W. G. Farlow,

Assistant Professor of Botany in Harvard University.

Not quite two years ago, our attention was called by Pro-
fessor W. H. Brewer of New Haven, to a disease of onions,
popularly known as the smut, which was causing great injury
in some parts of Connecticut, particularly near Wethersfield,
where, as is well known, the onion forms the most important
crop. We were not successful in obtaining any specimens
of the disease until the spring of 1876, when we received some
young onions affected with the smut, from Mr. S. B. Sherwood
of Green's Farms, .Conn., and Mr. S. M. Wells of Wethersfield.
From the letters of Professor Brewer, and the statements of
Mr. Sherwood and Mr. Wells, it seems that the smut makes
its appearance in May, sometimes when the plants are only
an inch high, but often not until they have reached a larger
size. In some cases the bulbs do not grow at all, in others
they grow to be as large as one's fist, but are "diseased between
the layers." The injury to the onion crop is estimated by
the gentlemen just mentioned at several thousand dollars a
year in the region of Southport and Wethersfield, Conn., and
they agree in stating that no application of sulphate of copper
or similar substance to the seed has proved of any use where
the disease has once got into the soil.

More recently, we have had some conversation with Mr.
Benjamin P. Ware of Marblehead, Mass., who is an extensive
cultivator of onions, and has suffered at times severe pecuniary
loss in consequence of the injury to the crop caused by the
smut. Mr. Ware makes the statement that his onions are
attacked by two distinct diseases, one of which is found on
the plants which are going to seed, the other on the young
seedlings. The former appears like a white flocculent mould,

* See Plate, frontispiece.

THE ONION-SMUT. 165

which afterwards becomes blackish, and which is found prin-
cipally on the seed-stalks. Of this disease wo have seen
no specimens, and cannot, of course, tell whether it is caused
by a fungus or not. As it is said to occur in midsummer, and
at rather dry seasons, we might suppose that, if caused by any
fungus, it would probably be some species of Erysiplie. Mr.
Ware is certain that the disease is more likely to occur in
plants which have been bruised or handled so that the
powdery coat, the glaucous covering of the leaves, has been
removed. It is not impossible, judging from Mr. Ware's
description, that it may be the same disease which is known
in Europe to be caused by Peronospora Schleideniana ; at any
rate, it needs farther investigation.

The second of the diseases described by Mr. Ware is the
smut, as it is called in Massachusetts and Connecticut. It
occurs at Marblehead and at several localities in Essex County,
Mass., and, according to Mr. Ware, it has been known for a
number of years at Danvers, where pnions have been largely
cultivated. Mr. Ware agrees with the statements of Messrs.
Wells and Sherwood as to the early period at which the smut
attacks the onion-plants, and says that, in some cases, the
seedling continues to grow until the bulb has reached a
diameter of about two inches, when the bulb as well as the
leaves are affected by the smut ; usually, however, if the bulb
attains any size, it is not smutty throughout, but only in
portions. The disease is first recognized by the appearance
of a black substance in the central part of the leaves, the
epidermis of which is soon ruptured, showing the centre of
the leaf to consist of a black powder, traversed by a few
stringy fibres.

If we consider the question, How long has the disease
called the onion-smut been known in New England? we must
come to the conclusion, if we can trust the different agricult-
ural journals, that it is of recent origin. We limit the
consideration of the question to New England, because, with
the exception of certain parts of New York,* we cannot learn
that the disease prevails in other parts of our country ; at
least an examination of the different state agricultural reports

* We learn, however, from Mr. C. H. Peck, State Botanist of New York, that he
is not aware that the disease occurs in that State.

166 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE.

has failed to show any reference to it. As, however, some
of the reports are not fully indexed, it may be that some such
references have escaped our notice. Looking at New Eng-
land alone, we find the references very scanty, and confined
to the last ten years. It is rumored that the disease has been
known for a good many years in some localities, as Danvers,
but of the truth of these reports we have no assurance,
inasmuch as all notices of the onion crop in the agricultural
journals, until within the last few years, have not only been
silent with regard to any disease, if we except the onion
maggot, but have uniformly represented the crop as large
and healthy. In fact, of the numerous references to the
onion crop, contained in the "New England Farmer," from
1830 to 1845, one is astonished to find nothing but repeated
assurances of enormous crops, with statements of the excellent
results of sowing onions on the same spot year after year, and
rare allusions to the trouble caused by the maggot. There
is not a hint of trouble from the smut, and in only one
instance is there any reference whatever to any disease
caused by a fungus. In the "New England Farmer" * is the
following paragraph : —

" This (onion) crop, which is very extensively cultivated in
Danvers, has, during the rains and fogs of the month, been struck
with a mildew which has entirely checked the growth. We noticed
last week that a large part of the crop was already pulled. The
size of the onions is apparently from half to two-thirds what they
would have attained without this check."

This paragraph points with considerable probability to an
attack of JPeronospora Schleideniana, or some allied fungus,
but certainly could not have been anything like the onion-
smut. More recently, we find a writer in the " American
Agriculturist" of March, 1861, asserting that the onion crop
of that year at Danvers was large, and that good crops had
been raised on the same spot for twenty consecutive years.

Within the last ten or a dozen years, however, the onion
crop has not been as large as formerly, and within this period
we have definite accounts of injury done by the smut.
Exactly when and how the smut made its appearance, is

* August 31, 1842, Vol. XXI., No. 9, p. 70.

THE ONION-SMUT. . 167

difficult to decide. In the Report of the Massachusetts State
Board of Agriculture for 1869-70, Appendix, p. 10, is a
report of an address delivered by Mr. Benjamin P. Ware, at
Newburyport, in which he speaks distinctly of the smut as
doing great injury. The same gentleman, however, in a
discussion in 1866,* makes no mention of the disease, which
he would probably have done had it prevailed extensively at
that time. In the Report of the Agricultural Department,
Washington, 1869, p. 224, it is stated that " the onion is
subject to few diseases, the fungus or smut being the only
one which has caused any serious difficulty in its cultivation
in this country." In the Report for 1872, p. 193, the smut
is again referred to, and the experience of Mr. Ware is quoted.
An examination of the Reports of the Connecticut State
Board of Agriculture fails to show any reference to the smut,
and as late as 1871, Mr. T. B. Wakeman,f writing from
Westport, Conn., states that "onions are the most profitable
crop a farmer can raise." Yet, in spite of this statement, in
June, 1876, Mr. S. B. Sherwood writes from Green's Farms,
in the immediate vicinity of Westport, that "the smut causes
an injury of several thousand dollars annually to this town,"
and he implies that it has been known for several years.
From such conflicting statements we can hardly do anything
more than infer that, in spite of its virulence, the smut is
limited in its range, and that, although it may have existed
for some time, it certainly has not, until within the last ten
years, been so serious as to attract marked attention.

As we have already said, in the spring of 1876 specimens
of smutty onions were received from Green's Farms and
Wethersfield, Conn., and, with this material, we have exam-
ined the fungus producing the smut. The fungus, which is
peculiar to America, has, as far as we know, never been
described. In June, 1876, we received some specimens from
Mr. C. C. Frost of Brattleborough, Vt., bearing the manu-
script name of Urocystis Cejmlce, which name we will adopt
in speaking of the fungus. The specimens first received were
three or four inches long, and some were examined at once,
whilst others were placed in alcohol for future study. The

* Vide Report of Massachusetts State Board of Agriculture, 1866-67, p. 176.
t Vide Report of Connecticut State Board of Agriculture, 1871, p. ^75.

168 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE.

specimens, although but little distorted in shape, were seen to
be diseased, by the black color of the interior, which could
readily be seen through the nearly transparent outer portion
of the leaf. When split in two, it was plain that the outer
and larger leaves were more diseased than the inner ones,
some of which, as far as the naked eye could detect, seemed
sound. The specimens which were received early in June
had attained a height of from six to eight inches, but the bulb
was not more than half or three-quarters of an inch in diame-
ter. The outer part of the leaves had broken open, and the
inside was seen to be composed of a stringy mass, covered
with black powder. In some places almost all traces of the
leaves had disappeared, nothing remaining but a shapeless
mass of black dust, held together by a few threads. Where
the leaves were comparatively sound, the epidermis was rupt-
ured in streaks, which ran parallel with the length of the
leaf. The young bulbs were marked on the outside with
black streaks, which were smaller than those on the leaves,
and some of the inner coatings were streaked, while others
were comparatively sound. Fig. 4, frontispiece, represents a
young plant where the disease is not very far advanced, and
the epidermis is ruptured, showing the black smut inside.

A microscopic examination of the black dust shows it to
consist of spores, characteristic of the genus Urocystis. Three
such spores are seen in fig. 5. Each spore consists of a single
dark round central ceil, the spore proper — rather rarely of
two cells — surrounded by a number of small cells of a lighter
color and thinner substance, each one being flattened on the
side where it is in contact with the spore proper. The term
applied to the smaller bodies is accessory spores, the neben
sj)oren of German writers. A microscopic examination of
the threads show a mixture of the tissue of the onion with
the mycelium and spores of the Urocystis.

Returning to the leaves, which appear nearly sound, we
find, at the distance of one or two inches from the black
spots, that the tissue of the leaf is invaded by the mycelium
of the Urocystis. It is most abundant near the vessels of the
leaf, extending in tangled masses upwards and downwards,
and giving off branches which run outwards, parallel to one
another. Until the disease is far advanced, the outer portion

THE ONION-SMUT. 169

of the leaves is nearly free from mycelium ; but as the disease
advances, the mycelium is found in the leaves, bulbs, and
roots, — everywhere but in the epidermis. The threads of
which the mycelium is composed are transparent, divided by
frequent cross-partitions, branch in all directions, and unite
with, and are twisted about, one another, so as to form a most
intricate network. The mycelial threads are always between
the cells of the onion-plant, and never penetrate into them.
We have never been able to discover any suckers (haustoria).
Of the mode of production of the spores from the mycelium,
we shall say a few words later.

Some of the spores were sown on moist glass slides to
ascertain the mode of germination. Those sown in June
were kept about three weeks, when they became so mouldy
that there was no possibility of being able to observe the
germination, and they were consequently thrown away. No
change had taken place, except that some of the accessory
spores had dropped off from the spore proper. Later in the
summer some of the spores were placed on moistened slides
and in watch-glasses, where they were allowed to remain for
six weeks, when the observations were necessarily interrupted.
At the end of that time they had not germinated, although a
large share of the accessory spores had dropped away from
the spores. It would seem, from these unsuccessful attempts,
that germination only takes place after a certain interval of
rest of the spores.

From the brief description just given, it appears that the
onion-fungus belongs to the order Uslilaginece, as usually
understood, to which also belong the smut of Indian corn,
rye, etc. Botanically considered, very little is known about
the development of the plants of this order ; but it is not sup-
posed that they pass through different stages, found upon
different plants, as is believed to be the case with the rust in
grain. By smut is generally meant, in this country, Ustilago
Mayidis, which causes the smutty ears in Indian corn. The
spores of that species, represented in fig. 6, are destitute of
the accessory spores found in the onion-smut ; they are much
smaller, and are covered with fine points. The onion-smut
resembles more closely the smut of rye, Urocyslis occulta,
which is common near Boston in the month of June. Fig. 3

22*

170 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE.

represents the spores of the rye-smut, which are somewhat
larger than those of the onion-smut ; and instead of there being,
as is most frequently the case with the last-named fungus, one
central spore, there are usually two or three clustered together.
Figs. 1 and 2 represent the rye as it appears when attacked
by Urocystis occulta. The fungus generally affects the stalk
of the ear so that, as the disease advances, the ears fall over
by their own weight, the stalk, which has been burst open by
the disease, not being strong enough to support them. This
drooping of the ears is very characteristic, and by it the
presence of the disease in a field of rye can be recognized
even at some little distance.

The genus Urocystis, as generally defined, differs from
Ustilago, to which the corn-smut belongs, by the presence of
accessory spores, as we have described. Thecaphora, a rather
rare genus, of which the only American representative, growing
on a grass-like plant, is Thecaphora aterrima Tul, found by
Professor C. E. Bessey on a species of Carex at Ames, Iowa,
has spores united in clusters like the central spores of Urocystis
occulta, fig. 3, but destitute of accessory spores. Of the
species of Urocystis, besides U. Cepulce, found on onions, and
U. occulta, already described on rye, there is a third species
common in New England, U. pompholigodes, found on the wood
anemone, in the stalks and leaves of which it produces blackish
purple swellings. The two last-named species are also found
in Europe, but U. Cepulm is found only in America. The
question arises, Where can U. Cepulaz, the onion-smut,
originally have come from? Certainly not from Europe, for
it is unknown there. Then how does it happen that, on a
cultivated plant introduced from Europe, there is found a new
and peculiar fungus which, as far as we know, has never been
found on any plant native to America? Spontaneous genera-
tion is, of course, in the present state of science, quite insup-
posable, nor can we say that the Urocystis on onions is only a
variety of that found on rye or the wood anemone, for apart
from what seem to us specific anatomical differences, it is true
that the species of Urocystis on rye and the wood anemone are
as common, or more common, in Europe than in America, and
yet no smut is found on the onion in Europe which comes
from the same stock as our own.

THE ONION-SMUT. 171

The most probable supposition is that the onion-smut came
originally from some of our wild species of onion ; for although
it has never yet been found on any wild species, it must be
borne in mind that the fungi of this country have as yet been
but very imperfectly explored. The species of Urocystis
most nearly related to U. Cepulce, is, perhaps, U. Colchici of
Europe. We cannot find any record of the Golchicum having
been introduced into this country, and it is, therefore, futile
to discuss the question of the connection between U. Cepulce
and U. Colchici. Recently,* Mr. Worthington G. Smith has
described a new species of Urocystis, which produces a disease
of gladiolus bulbs. Judging from his figure, however, it
would seem to differ essentially from U. Cepulce in having a
number of spores packed together in one mass, whereas the
onion-smut has generally only one, or, at the most, two spores
united together.

Having thus passed in review the history of the disease,
and examined the fungus which causes it, let us consider the
application of the facts already enumerated to the method of
checking the disease. We have seen from the character of the
fungus, that we are not to expect to find any secondary, or
hibernating, stage of the fungus in any plant growing with or
near the onion crop. On the contrary, the complete growth
and development of the fungus is in the onion-plant itself, or
possibly also in some of the wild species of onion, although
the last has not been proved. It is evidently a wise pre-
caution to destroy wild onions when growing near cultivated
fields. As a matter of fact, the wild onions of New England
are not sufficiently abundant to be much feared ; but farther
South, in Southern Pennsylvania and Virginia, they prove
very common and troublesome weeds. It seems to have been
considered a fact by the farmers of the Southern Middle
States, that onions cannot be as easily cultivated with them
as farther East. It would be interesting to know whether
there is any connection between the greater difficulty ex-
perienced in raising onions in the South, and the greater
abundance of wild onions. If the smut came originally from
the wild onion, we should expect such to be the case.

* Vide Gardener's Chronicle, 1876, p. 420-22, and Monthly Microscopic Journal,
December, 1876, p. 304.

172 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE.

In speaking of the means of checking the disease, we must
necessarily consider two questions : first, is the smut prop-
agated by the onion-seed ; and, secondly, is it brought on
by the exhaustion of the soil by continued crops. With
regard to the first question, we can state that there is very
little chance of the smut being propagated by seed. Very
few of the plants affected by the disease ever ripen seed, and,
of the seed-plants, the fruit does not ripen until the smut has
mostly disappeared from neighboring plants, so that there is
little chance of the ripe seeds having the spores of the smut
blown upon them. It would be well to let the seed soak in
water for some hours, that if by any accident any spores are
adhering to them, they may be washed off. With regard
to the second point, without losing sight of the fact that a
feeble plant is more likely, in general, to contract any disease
than a thrifty one, it is certain that no amount of exhaustion
of the soil will bring on the smut unless the spores of the
Urocystis are present, and, if the spores are present, the smut
will follow, no matter how good the soil. So far, the object
of the onion-raiser has been, by a change or increase of fer-
tilizers, to try to get rid of the disease. This is a mistake.
The thing is not to introduce any new substance into the soil,
but to get rid of something which is already there ; viz., the
spores of Urocystis Cepulce. Nothing which can be put into
the soil in the way of manure is at all likely to kill the spores.
A glance at fig. 5 will show that the spores of the onion-
smut fungus are extraordinarily well protected ; in fact, there
are scarcely any spores of fungi so well protected as those of
the species of Urocystis. A comparison of fig. 5, which
represents the spores of the onion-smut, with fig. 6, which
represents those of the corn-smut, will show why the former
should be more difficult to destroy than the latter. Besides
the tough nature of the spores proper, they are surrounded
by a layer of tough cells already described as accessory spores.

The expression used by all persons with whom we have
corresponded in relation to the smut, that the disease is in the
ground, is well founded. The disease, — that is, the spores of
the fungus, — is in the ground, and there it will stay unless
removed mechanically, for no substances which can be used at
all as manure can be expected to destroy it. Theoretically,

THE ONION-SMUT. 173

it would seem to be well to pull up and destroy plants as soon
as the smut makes its appearance. Practically, as Mr. Ware
suggests, the disease first appears when the plants are so
small that they cannot well be pulled. It is, however, very
desirable to pull up and burn all plants which reach any size
and are affected by the disease. The best plan is to burn over
fields where the disease has appeared. This is best done in
June, but it may also be done with advantage in autumn.
In neither case should the soil be previously dug up, for,
by so doing, the spores, most of which are on or near the
surface, are only the more likely to be removed beyond reach
of the fire. To prevent the spread of the disease, all agri-
cultural implements which have been used iti soil where the
smut exists should be thoroughly cleansed before using again
elsewhere.

After all, the means of checking the disease which we have
just mentioned, are only partial. Some of the spores will
have remained behind in spite of all care; enough, perhaps,
to cause the next onion crop, if planted on the same spot, to
be diseased. The great question is, What becomes of the
spores which remain behind ? If an onion crop is started on
the same spot the next year, the spores may germinate and
reproduce the disease. If other crops are planted, of course
no harm is done. Then comes the all-important question,
For how many years do the spores of the smut fungus retain
their germinative power, and how many years after one onion
crop, which was affected by the smut, must one wait before
again planting onions on the same spot? On this point, testi-
mony is conflicting ; but about four or five years is apparently
the limit, for although some gentlemen, who have been so kind
as to communicate their views on this question, believe that
the smut has- reappeared in fields after twenty years' freedom
from onion crops, yet we must believe that, unconsciously,
these statements are much exaggerated.

Mr. B. P. Ware assures us that the farmers of Essex
County, Mass., have found by experience that four years is
the limit within which it is unsafe to repeat the crop, and, by
a coincidence which would seem to warrant the accuracy of
the statement of Mr. Ware, Wolff states that the spores of
Urocystis occulta, the rye-smut (which, in their germinating

174 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE.

power, very much resemble those of the onion-smut), retain
their germinating power for only four years. We must con-
fess that we are skeptical as to the accuracy of statements
made about the smut twenty years ago, because, as we
remarked in the beginning, we have not been able to find in
the journals any record even of the existence of the disease
at that date, and it is hardly to be supposed that, if the dis-
ease was not prevalent and general enough to cause some
passing notice in the journals, that any systematic observa-
tions about its effects on the soil would have been made at
that remote period. In short, we may say that the smut will
cause comparatively little harm if onions be not replanted on
any spot until after an interval of four years, and if the pre-
cautions which we have advised, against the spread of the
disease, be adopted. It is fortunate that the diseased plants
are generally so small that the greater part of the spores fall
upon the ground, and are not carried. any distance by the
wind, it being probable that the disease is carried from one
field to another by means of passing animals and farm-
ing implements, quite as frequently as by the wind. In fact,
it does not spread with great rapidity, and, although we may
expect that eventually it will be found all over the country,
yet by proper care such need not be the case.

The disease is at present limited to Massachusetts and Con-
necticut,* but no very serious trouble is experienced except
in towns like Wethersfield and Westport, where the onion is
almost the exclusive crop. In such towns, it is almost hopeless
to expect much relief, because the formers over any extensive
tract of land are unwilling to give up their favorite crop for
so long a time as four years. Some good, however, may
arise from the precautions we have enumerated. In places
where the disease has just appeared, it is as much the duty of
the town officers to compel persons, on whose farms the smut
has appeared, to burn the land and afterwards avoid planting
onions for at least four years, as it is to remove patients with
the small-pox, or to compel children, in families where there
is scarlet fever or diphtheria, to keep away from school.

* We arc not sure whether the specimens sent by Mr. C. C. Frost of Brattle-
horoush were collected in Vermont.

THE ONION-SMUT. 175

NOTE.

Inasmuch as the fungus causing the smut has not,* as far as we know,
been as yet scientifically described, a word or two on its botanical rela-
tions will not be out of place. The species of Urocystis are distinguished
principally by the characters of the spores, which consist of spores proper
and accessory spores. The onion-smut may be described as follows :—

Urocystis Cepul/e.— Frost, mscr. Spores globular, from .0012 mm.
to .00155 mm. in diameter, composed of, generally, one, occasionally of
two, dark brown spores proper ; surrounded by numerous, twelve to twenty,
accessory spores. Germination unknown. Mycelium, about .00018 m.m.
in diameter. In leaves and bulbs of cultivated onions. Spring and early
summer.

This species differs from Urocystis occulta and U pompholigodes in the
smaller size of the spore masses, the spores proper being generally single
instead of united by twos and threes, and in the smaller size and usually
greater number of the accessory spores.

In recent times a discussion seems to have arisen as to whether the
species of Urocystis should be considered as related to the Uslilacjineoz, or
rather as mere sclerotioid forms of unknown species. The present state
of mycological science would hardly seem to justify any pronounced
expression of opinion. Accepting, however, the excellent observations
of Wolff on the germination of the spores of Urocystis occulta, we must
confess that the formation of the spores in Urocystis hardly seems to jus-
tify referring the genus to the Ustilaginea', even if the germination points
in that direction. On the other hand, if we may judge by Urocystis Ccpula-,
to consider the genus a form of sclerotium hardly seems allowable.

An examination of the mycelium of the onion-smut shows the follow-
ing manner of formation of the spores : There first appears a small lateral
swelling of the hypha, which divides by a partition at right angles to the
length of the hypha into two cells, or else, as is not unfrequently the case,
the two cells arise from the hypha simultaneously and close to one another.
Figs. 1 and 2. Of the two cells which thus arise, one enlarges so as to
become nearly spherical, whilst the other elongates into a worm-like
body which bends over the surface of the other cell. In a shoi-t time the
worm-like thread is divided into a number of cells by partitions at right
angles to its length. Fig. 3. The cells into which the worm-like body is
thus divided then bud out at the sides and grow down in a winding man-
ner so as to cover the original globular cell. By subsequent division of
these winding cells the accessory spores are formed. This process, in its-
initial stage, reminds one of what takes place in Podospha;ra. There is

* In the Report of the Agricultural Department, Washington, 1872, p. 193, is a
short notice of the onion-smut, accompanied by a figure in which, amongst other
objects, some spores of Urocystis Copula are represented. The accompanying descrip-
tion is, where not hopelessly confused, entirely incorrect. The fungus is called a
Peronospora; to which genus, however, the figures do not bear the least i-esemblance.
It would be quite impossible to recognize the fungus from the description given.

176

MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE.

here, howevei*, nothing like a conjugation, and the worm-like body can
in no sense be considered a pollinodium. In Urocystis C epulis, at any
rate, the theory that the accessory spores are formed by the indefinite
interlacing of the hyphae around the globular cell, is not true. They
arise from a single definite, worm-like thread.

In this connection may be allowed a few words about a fungus which
we have twice found on mouldy bread in connection with Mucor stolonifer.
The mucor seemed to be destroyed by a brownish purple mould, which,

Fig. 1

Fig. 2.

Fig. 3.

Fig. 4.

Fig. 5.

at first sight, was mistaken for the chlamydospores of the mucor. Micro-
scopic examination showed a fungus bearing a strong resemblance to
Corda's figure of Papulaspora sepcdonioides. In the present case we
wish merely to refer briefly to the formation of the fruit, which is evi-
dently sclerotioid in nature. When ripe, it bears a very close resemblance
to the spores of a Urocystis. The spore proper, although usually single,
as in fig. 5, is sometimes double. The hyphae, fig. 4, coil spirally, not
crozier fashion, as might be supposed from the figure; they are then
divided by cross-partitions into cells, from which bud-like projections,
a, b, c, fig. 4, are given off. One of the lower of these, as a, pushes up
into the interior of the spiral, grows into an oval form, and becomes the
spore proper ; and the others, b, c, etc., wind round it, forming ultimately
the accessory spores. The resemblance, both in the mode of formation
and the conformation of the ripe spores, between the present fungus and
a species of Urocystis, is certainly not very remote, but this is not the
place to discuss the subject in detail.

In conclusion, allow me to return my sincere thanks to Professor Brewer
and Messrs. Sherwood, Ware, and Welles for the materials and informa-
tion which they have kindly furnished me.

APPENDIX. 177

APPENDIX.

LAWS RELATING TO THE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.

[General Statutes, Chapter 16.]

Section 1. The governor, lieutenant-governor, and secretary
of the Commonwealth, one person appointed from and by each agri-
cultural society which receives an annual bounty from the state,
and three other persons appointed by the governor with the advice
and consent of the council, shall constitute the State Board of
Agriculture.

Sect. 2. One-third of the appointed members of the board shall
retire from office on the first Wednesday in February in each year,
according to their appointments. The vacancies thus occurring
shall be filled by the governor and council or the agricultural socie-
ties as the offices were before filled, and the persons thus appointed
shall hold their offices for three years from the expiration of the
former terms. Other vacancies may be filled in the same manner
for the remainder of the vacant terms. The present members of
the board shall continue to hold their offices during the terms for
which they were appointed.

Sect. 3. The board shall meet at the state house at least once
in each year, and as much oftener as may be deemed expedient.
No member thereof shall receive compensation from the state,
except for personal expenses when engaged in the duties of the
board.

Sect. 4. They may appoint and prescribe the duties of a secre-
tary of the board, who shall receive a salary of two thousand dol-
lars a 3-ear ; and who at such times as the board approve may
employ a clerk at a salary not exceeding six hundred dollars a year.

Sect. 5. They shall investigate such subjects relating to improve-
ments in agriculture in this state as they think proper, and may
take, hold in trust and exercise control over donations or bequests
made to them for promoting agricultural education or the general
interests of husbandry.
23*

178 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE.

Sect. 6. They may prescribe forms for and regulate the returns
required of the different agricultural societies, and furnish to the
secretaiy of each such blanks as they deem necessary to secure uni-
form and reliable statistics.

Sect. 7. They shall annually, on or before the fourth Wednesday
of January, b}7 their chairman or secretary, submit to the legisla-
ture a detailed report of their doings, with such recommendations
and suggestions as the interests of agriculture may require.

Sect. 8. The secretary of the board shall in each 3-ear cause to
be made and published for distribution as full an abstract of the
returns of the agricultural societies as he deems useful.

Sect. 9. He may appoint one or more suitable agents to visit
the towns in this state, under the direction of the board, for the ■
purpose of inquiring into the methods and wants of practical hus-
bandry, ascertaining the adaptation of agricultural products to soil,
climate and markets, encouraging the establishment of farmers'
clubs, agricultural libraries and reading-rooms, and of disseminat-
ing useful information in agriculture by means of lectures and
otherwise. Such agents shall annually, in October, make detailed
reports to the secretary of the board.

[Acts of 1866, Chapter 263.]

Section 1. The board of agriculture shall constitute a board of
overseers of the Massachusetts Agricultural College, with powers
and duties to be defined and fixed by the governor and council.
But said board of overseers shall have no powers granted to con-
trol the action of the trustees of said college, or to negative their
powers and duties, as defined by chapter two hundred and twenty of
the acts of the year eighteen hundred and sixty-three.

Sect. 2. The board of agriculture is hereby authorized to locate
the state agricultural cabinet and library and to hold its meetings in
said college.

Sect. 3. The president of the Agricultural College is hereby
constituted a member ex officio of the board of agriculture.

[Acts of 1874, Chapter 206.]
Sect. 4. The chemist of the state board of agriculture shall
be ex officio a member of said board and state inspector of fertil-
izers. It shall be the duty of said inspector to analyze one or
more specimens of every kind of commercial fertilizer coming
within the provisions of this act, which may be offered for sale
within this Commonwealth, and of which he shall be informed by
the secretary of the state board of agriculture ; and for this pur-
pose he is authorized to take from any package or packages of said

APPENDIX. 179

fertilizers which maj* be in possession of any dealer a sample not
exceeding one pound in weight. He shall report annually to the
state board of agriculture the results of his inspection and the
analysis made by him, and furnish to the secretary of said board
such important information in regard to commercial fertilizers as he
may from time to time obtain.

Sect. 6. It shall be the duty of said inspector upon ascertaining
any violation of this act to forthwith inform the manufacturer and
the secretary of the state board of agriculture in writing thereof.
And it shall be the duty of said secretary to immediately institute
proceedings against all parties violating this act.

180 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE.

LAWS RELATING TO AGRICULTURAL SOCIETIES.

[General Statutes, Chapter 66.]
Section 1. Every incorporated agricultural society which has
raised by contribution of individuals and put out at interest on
public or private security, or invested in real estate, buildings and
appurtenances for its use and accommodation, the sum of one thou-
sand dollars, as a capital appropriated for the uses of the society,
shall be entitled to receive, in the month of October annually, out of
the treasury of the Commonwealth, the sum of two hundred dollars,
and in that proportion annually for any greater sum so contributed
and put at interest or invested ; but no society shall receive from
the treasury more than six hundred dollars in one year.

Sect. 2. Every society which claims said bounty shall annually,
on or before the tenth day of December,* file in the office of the secre-
tary of the board of agriculture a certificate signed by its president
and treasurer, specifying under oath the sum so actually contributed
and put at interest or invested in real estate, buildings or appur-
tenances for its use and accommodation, and then held so invested
or well secured as a capital stock.

Sect. 3. The amount of bounty to which a society is entitled
for any year shall be ascertained by the certificate last filed by it
under the preceding section.

Sect. 4.| No society receiving the bounty shall distribute any
part thereof for an animal or article for which a premium is awarded,
unless it was produced within the limits of the society, or the animal
has been owned and kept within its limits, by the person to whom
the premium is awarded, for three months next preceding the
award. And no animal or article for which a premium has been
awarded to the owners by any such society shall be considered a
subject for any further premium of the society, except for qualities
different from those for which the former premium was awarded, or
for a higher premium, and no animal or article shall be offered for a
premium at more than one such society in the same }"ear ; but
nothing in this chapter shall affect, restrain or limit a competitor for

* Changed in 1874 to January 10.

t This section was repealed in 1865. See Laws and Resolves, 1865, chapter 90.

APPENDIX. 181

premiums offered by the state board of agriculture or the Massa-
chusetts society for the promotion of agriculture to be awarded
within the incorporated county agricultural societies, but such pre-
miums shall be subject to the rules and regulations prescribed by
said board or the trustees of said Massachusetts society.

Sect. 5. Every such society shall annually, on or before the
tenth day of December,* make a full return of its doings, signed by
its president and secretary, to the secretary of the board of agri-
culture, embracing a statement of the expenditure of all money,
specifying the nature of the encouragement proposed by the society,
the objects for which its premiums have been offered, and the per-
sons to whom they have been awarded, and including all reports of
committees and all statements of experiments and cultivation
regarded by the president and secretary as worthy of publication ;
and shall accompany the same with such general observations con-
cerning the state of agriculture and manufactures in the state as it
may deem important or useful. The returns, whether in printed or
manuscript form, shall be marked in such manner that those pas-
sages in the several reports and statements deemed by such officers
most worthy of public notice, study and application may be easily
distinguished.

Sect. 6. A society which neglects in any year to comply with
the laws relating thereto, or with the regulations of the board of
agriculture, shall not be entitled to the bounty of the state the
year next succeeding.

Sect. 7. Every society which receives said bounty shall offer
annually, by way of premiums, or shall otherwise apply for the
encouragement or improvement of agriculture or manufactures, a
sum not less than the amount so annually received, and shall offer
such premiums for agricultural experiments and in such manner as
the state board of agriculture requires.

Sect. 8. Every such society shall annually offer such premiums
and encouragement for the raising and preserving of oaks and other
forest-trees, as to it seems proper and best adapted to perpetuate
within the state an adequate supply of ship-timber.

Sect. 9. All money offered for premiums which is not awarded
or paid shall be put out at interest and added to the capital stock of
the society.

Sect. 10. The foregoing provisions shall not extend to an agri-
cultural society incorporated for any territory less than a county,
except by special enactment for that purpose.

Sect. 11. Incorporated agricultural societies may by their
officers define and fix bounds of sufficient extent for the erection of
* Tenth day of January now ; changed in 1874 by Act of Legislature.

182 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE.

their cattle-pens and yards, and for convenient passageways to and
about the same, on the days of their cattle shows and exhibitions,
and also for their ploughing matches and trials of working oxen ;
within which bounds no person shall be permitted to enter or pass
unless in conformity with the regulations of the officers of such
societies.

Sect. 12. "Whoever, contrary to the regulations, and after notice
thereof, enters or passes within the bounds so fixed, shall forfeit a
sum not exceeding five dollars.

Sect. 13. The foregoing provisions shall not authorize a society
to occupy or include within such bounds the land of any person
without his consent, nor to obstruct the public travel on any turn-
pike or public highway.

Sect. 14. The officers of each society may appoint a sufficient
number of suitable persons, inhabitants of the county, to act as
marshals at cattle shows and exhibitions, who shall have and exer-
cise all the powers of constables in relation to the preservation of
the public peace, and the service and execution of criminal process
within the respective towns where such shows and exhibitions are
held, and which process may be directed to them accordingly ; and
they shall exercise their office from twelve o'clock at noon of the
day preceding the commencement of such shows and exhibitions,
until twelve o'clock at noon succeeding the termination thereof, and
no longer.

Sect. 15. No incorporated agricultural society shall award a
premium for a field crop, without satisfactory evidence under oath
presented to its committee or other officers, that the whole mer-
chantable crop entered for premium was weighed when harvested,
if a grass or root crop, and when threshed or husked if a grain or
corn crop ; but such society may require further modes of ascer-
taining the merchantable amount of product, either at the time of
harvesting or at other times.

Acts and Resolves, 1861.

[Chapter 127.]

Sect. 1. Any agricultural society or farmers' club shall have
power and authority to establish such regulations as it may deem
necessary and expedient for the preservation of peace and good
order of said society at its regular or annual meetings, shows, fairs
or exhibitions, or for the protection of the interests of the same
during such shows, fairs or exhibitions : provided, that such regu-
lations shall not be repugnant to the laws of the Commonwealth ;
and provided, also, that said society shall cause at least five copies

APPENDIX. 183

of its regulations to be posted in as many public places on the
grounds of said society, not less than forty-eight hours before the
time of holding its meetings.

Sect. 2. No person shall, during the time of holding any cattle
show, fair or exhibition, or meeting of any farmers' club, establish
any tent, booth or vehicle of any kind, within one-half mile of the
place of holding said shows or meetings, for the purpose of vend-
ing any goods, wares, merchandise, provisions or refreshments,
without the consent of the proper authorities having charge of the
same ; nor shall any person be allowed to engage in any gaming, or
horse racing, or to exhibit any show or play during the time of
holding any cattle show, agricultural fair, or meeting of any
farmers' club at any regular or stated time : provided, that any
person having his regular place of business within such limits is
not hereby required to suspend his business.

Sect. 3. If any person shall violate any of the provisions of
this act, he shall forfeit for each offence a sum not exceeding twenty
dollars.

[Chapter 180.]
Sect. 1. The premiums offered by any agricultural society
receiving bounty from the treasury of the Commonwealth under
the provisions of the sixty-sixth chapter of the General Statutes,
shall be subject to the competition of every citizen of the county
in which such society is established. And every such society shall
admit as members, upon equal terms, citizens of ever}7 town in the
county in which the same is located.

Laws and Resolves, 1865.

[Chapter 67.]

The ninth section of chapter one hundred and sixty-seven of the
General Statutes shall not be so construed as to make unlawful,
trials of the speed of horses for premiums offered by legalby con-
stituted agricultural societies.

[Chapter 90.]

Sect. 1. Agricultural societies receiving bounty from the Com-
monwealth shall make such rules and regulations in the distribution
thereof, as shall in their opinion best promote the improvement
of agriculture ; subject, however, to the restrictions of sections
six, seven, eight and nine of chapter sixty-six of the General
Statutes,

184 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE.

Laws and Resolves, 1866.

[Chapter 189.]

Sect. 1. No agricultural society, not drawing bounty from the
state, shall hereafter be entitled to such bounty as allowed in
chapter sixty-six, section first, of the General Statutes, in case
the grounds and buildings for holding exhibitions of said society
are within twelve miles of the grounds and buildings of any other
society now by law entitled to such bount}\

Sect. 2.* Any agricultural society publishing its transactions
and making its returns to the secretary of the board of agriculture,
as provided in chapter sixt}r-six, section fifth of the General Statutes,
shall be entitled to a delegate to said board, under the provisions
of chapter sixteen of the General Statutes ; and it shall be the duty
of the secretary of said board to notify any society which has com-
plied with the above requirements, that it is empowered to choose
the delegate aforesaid.

Sect. 3. The state board of agriculture shall have power to
fix the days on which the agricultural societies shall commence their
annual exhibitions.

Laws and Resolves, 1870.

[Chapter 258.]
Chapter sixty-six of the General Statutes is hereby so altered
and amended that no agricultural society shall be entitled to receive
a larger amount from the treasury of the Commonwealth, in any
one year, than it shall have awarded and actually paid in premiums
during the year last preceding.

Laws and Resolves, 1874.

[Chapter 182.]
Section five of chapter sixty-six of the General Statutes is hereby
amended by striking out the word "December" in the second line
of said section, and inserting in place thereof the word " January."

* Repealed 1869, chap. 128. Laws and Resolves,

APPENDIX. 185

REQUIREMENTS OF THE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE,

In the Report of the Secretary of the Board for 1866, page 307,
is the following preamble and vote : —

" Whereas, The State Board of Agriculture is of the opinion that the
Legislature intended, in return for the bounty granted to the agricultural
societies by the State, that the societies should, by their printed reports,
as well as by other means, furnish to the people valuable information
concerning the subject for which premiums are offered by them ; and,

" Whereas, Their reports are generally deficient in this respect, owing
principally to the neglect of committees in elaborating their reports to
the societies by describing more fully the objects in competition, the
reasons of success or failure ;

" Voted, That the several agricultural societies receiving the bounty of
the State be required hereafter to offer, annually, three premiums of not
less than eight, six, and four dollars, respectively, for the best reports of
committees who recommend the awards of premiums.

In 1870, the Board—

" Voted, That no society receiving the bounty of the State shall, after
the present year, bestow any premiums or gratitudes on grade or native
bulls.

" Voted, That the various agricultural societies of the Commonwealth
be requested to organize an annual meeting for lectures and discussions
at such time and place as may be convenient to each society ; these meet-
ings to be denominated The Farmers' Institutes of Massachusetts.

In 1872, the Board—

" Voted, That in the opinion of this Boai'd it is very desirable that the
various agricultural societies in this Commonwealth maintain scholar-
ships at the Agricultural College, and select the young men who are to
receive the benefit of the same by competitive examination, and so far as
practicable, from those who intend to become farmers or gardeners.

In 1873, the Board—

" Voted, That, hereafter, the Secretary be insti-ucted to withhold his
approval of the payment of any state bounty to any society which shall
bestow any premiums or gratuities on grade or native bulls,
24*

186 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE.

STATISTICS OP MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE.

Allusion is made elsewhere in this Report to the very carefully
prepared Census of Massachusetts for 1875, prepared under the
direction of Col. Carroll D. Wright. The immense mass of material
it contains, and the admirable system under which it is arranged,
gives us at a glance the actual condition of Massachusetts agri-
culture of to-day. Col. Wright, ina the introduction to the volume
on agricultural products and property, says : —

" Great care has been taken in the presentation ©f the purely agricult-
ural products to correct all inherent errors, especially in the relation of
values to quantity, and to this end much research and investigation have
been undertaken, and with the best of results. Occasionally it may be
found that the quantity of grain, potatoes, or other product is out of pro-
portion to the value ; but this, if it occurs at all, is either explainable by
peculiar local influences, or by some extra quality, or else it is error. For
instance, the value of apples in some towns in the State, as given, bears
no relation to the values given in other towns ; but the value given by
the producer was that realized, and that depends not only upon the time
of year he disposed of his apples, but their kind and quality. Two dol-
lars per bushel for some kinds of apples might seem high, and yet the
report be true. A town may raise principally apples of some extra grade,
while the apple crop of another town might be in cider apples of little
value. Again, in the examination of the milk yield: in a few towns the
price will be found to be as low as six or eight cents per gallon, a figure
much too low, and which calls for special reasons, and they are found in
the fact that the milk crop as reported includes skimmed milk sold by the
producer at low rates for special purposes ; this, of course, in a few
instances operates to bring down the average for such localities, and
affects, to a slight degree, the general average for the State. So in all
other products, variations will be found in comparing one town with
another."

The following table gives the agricultural products for 1845, 1855,
1865, and 1875. The returns in 1865 included "other esculent
vegetables " with beets, and in 1845 and 1855 they included " poul-
try" with eggs and "eggs" with poultry; in 1865, also, "tomato
plants " were included with tomatoes ;— ■

APPENDIX.

187

Agricultural Products.

Products.

1845.

1855.

1865.

1875.

Apples, . . bushels,
Total value,
Value per bushel, .

_

$1,121,262

$1,244,420

3,252,957

#1,450,252

#0.45

Barley, . . bushels,
Total value,
Value per bushel, .
Acreage, ....
Bushels per acre, .

121,931

$72,261

$0.52

99,430

$110,158

#1.11

4,9714

20

138,524
$184,343
$1.33
7,1031
194

46,884
#47,655
#1.02
l,828g
254

Beans, . . bushels,
Total value,
Value per bushel, .
Acreage, ....
Bushels per acre,

-

-

6,389^
$22,468
$3.52
1494
421

41,879

#97,052

#2.32

1,354&

31

Beef, . . . pounds,
Total value,
Value per pound, .

#225,918

-

70,825,396

$8,188,564
#0.12

12,258,542

#1,068,154
#0.09

Beets, . . bushels,
Total value,
Value per bushel, .
Acreage, ....
Bushels per acre, .

-

-

133,589

#117,161
#0.88
690
1934

237,880
#116,091
#0.49
974J
244§

Buckwheat, . bushels,
Total value, . t
Value per bushel, .
Acreage, ....
Bushels per acre,

32,274
$15,099

$0.47

-

64,259
#64,621
#1.00
4,606|
13|

52,127
#46,911
#0.90
3,6093
13f

Butter, . . pounds,
Total value,
Value per pound, .

7,688,556

$1,116,709

#0.15

8,116,009
#1,678,558

#0.21

3,745,293

#1,3Q0,248

#0.36

7,922,431

#2,747,878

#0.35

Cabbage, . . heads,
Total value,
Value per head,

~

-

#184,869

7,660,722

#440,691

#0.06

Carrots, . . bushels,
Total value,
Value per bushel, .
Acreage, ....
Bushels per acre, .

-

632,117

$148,041
$0.23
1,479*
427|

225,015

#105,695
#0.47
623|
3601

191,646

#86,503
$0.45
4393
436

Celery, . . bunches,
Total value,
Value per bunch, .

-

_

#2,750

627,329

#49,614

#0.08

Charcoal, . . bushels,
Total value,
Value per bushel, .

775,925

$48,477
$0.06

2,657,212

$237,469

$0.09

2,301,245

#250,424

#0.11

1,015,073

#120,556
#0.12

Cheese, . . pounds,
Total value,
Value per pound, .

7,262,637

$398,174

$0.05

5,762,776

$464,251

$0.09

3,560,481

$582,353

$0.16

1,280,234

#162,826

#0.13

Cider, . . gallons,
Total value,
Value per gallon, .

-

-

271,680

$21,764

$0.08

5,613,846

#668,809

#0.12

188

MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE.

Products.

1845.

1855.

1865.

1875.

Corn, Indian, . bushels,
Total value,
Value per bushel, .
Acreage, ....
Bushels per acre,

1,985,215

$1,352,677

$0.68

2,595,096

$2,820,109

$1.09

91,056

28£

2,015,771
$2,953,067
$1.46
70,1414
28|

1,040,290

$1,006,384

$0.97

29,1935

353

Corn, Green, . bushels,
Total value,
Value per bushel, .

_

_

-

199,496

$134,170

$0.67

Cranberries, . bushels,
Total value,
Value per bushel, .

-

$135,200

34,621

$101,538

$2.93

110,184

$288,113

$2.61

Cucumbers, . bushels,
Total value,
Value per bushel, .
Number, ....
Value of above,
Value per hundred,
Total value,

—

-

1,000

2,365,030

$35,627

38,236

$43,844

$1.15

37,414,726

$119,490

$0.30

$163,334

Eggs, . . . dozen,
Total value,
Value per dozen, .

$25,891

$52,688

$372,912

3,446,530

$903,357

$0.26

Grapes (ordina-
ry), . . bushels,
Total value,
Value per bushel, .

-

-

877

19,836

$32,635

$1.65

Grapes (best, in-
cluding hot-
house),. . pounds,
Total value,
Value per pound, .
Total value,

-

-

24,415
$40,100

267,617

$34,624

$0.13

$67,259

Hat, clover, . tons,
Total value,
Value per ton, .
Acreage, ....
Tons per acre, .

-

-

-

3,443

851,903

$15.07

2,959

1.13

Hat, English, . tons,
Total value,
Value per ton, .
Acreage, ....
Tons per acre, .

-

487,344£

$7,362,006
$15.11
498,480|
.98

479,837

$10,537,789

$21.96

507,163}

.94

526,490

$9,106,159

$17.30

509,294

1

Hat, meadow, . tons,
Total value,
Value per ton, .
Acreage, ....
Tons per acre, .

-

129,151}
$1,054,743

$8.17

115,447

$1,274,956
$11.04
142,193}
.80

116,211

$1,225,456

$10.55

130,792

.88

Hat, millet, . tons,
Total value,
Value per ton, .
Acreage, ....
Tons per acre, .

1,339

$8,476
$6.33

$5,509
303}

-

2,418

$41,918

$17.33

1,619

1.50

Hat, salt, . . tons,
Total value,
Value per ton, .

Acreage

Tons per acre, .

_

32,115

$285,568

$8.89

29,147

$339,659

$11.65

31,477

.92

22,568

$234,832

$10.46

23,519

.96

APPENDIX.

189

Hat, all kinds, .
Total value,
Value per ton, .
Acreage, .
Tons per acre, .

Ice,
Total value,
Value per ton, .

Lettuce,
Total value,
Value per head,

Manure, .
Total value,
Value per cord,

Milk, •
Total value,
Value per gallon,

tons

tons

heads

cords

gallons

Mutton,
Total value,
Value per pound,

pounds

Oats, .
Total value,
Value per bushel,
Acreage, .
Bushels per acre,

bushels

Onions,
Total value,
Value per bushel,
Acreage, •
Bushels per acre,

bushels

bushels

Parsnips, .
Total value,
Value per bushel, .
Acreage, .
Bushels per acre,

Pears, . . bushels
Total value,
Value per bushel, .

Pork, . . . pounds
Total value,
Value per pound, .

Potatoes, Irish, bushels
Total value,
Value per bushel,
Acreage, •
Bushels per acre,

Poultry, .
Total value,
Value per pound,

pounds

PUMPKIN8, .

Total value,
Value per pound,

pounds

604,821

$5,222,833

$8.63

2,850,412

$304,917

«0.11

1,238,159

$405,657

$0.33

4,767,115

$1,309,030

$0.27

$25,891

648,610?
3,707,826
$13.42

387,100

$639,100

$1.65

3,300,916

$755,888
$0.23

792,982
$563,729
$0.71
37,623i
21?

240,971

$187,446

$0.78

769J

313

1875.

3,144

3,991,456
$2,521,906
$0.63
41,982$
931

624,431

$12,152,404

$19.46

680,833|

.92

650,359

$735,077

$1.13

10,079,180

$1,956,187

$0.19

8,989,506

$1,090,368

$0.12

678,779
$587,133
$0.86
28,6 10i
232

210,831
,412
$1.53
8393
251

$243,068-

29,440,447

$4,596,433

$0.16

3,832,523

$2,499,845

$0.65

42,082!

91

$217,991

671,130
$10,660,268

$15.88
668,183

1

395,184

$500,666
$1.27

2,683,211

$96,410

$0.04

422,478

$2,321,373

$5.49

35,698,159

$5,934,671

$0.17

589,323

$55,374
$0.09

457,710
$314,202
$0.69
14,614^
3li

359,706

$338,205

$0.94

1,045

344|

30,377
$24,977
$0.82
137|
221|

59,259 •
$118,302
$2.00

12,786,062

$1,272,409

$0.10

3,630,546

$2,349,815

$0.65

33,616

108

1,206,098

$263,395

$0.22

4,214,881

$37,789

$0,009

190

MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE.

1875.

Rye, . . . bushels
Total value,
Value per bushel, .
Acreage, .
Bushels per acre, .

Seeds, garden

and flower, . pounds
Total value,
Value per pound, .

Seeds, grass, . bushels
Total value,
Value per bushel, .

Squashes, . . pounds

Total value,
Value per pound,

Straw, . . tons
Total value,
Value per ton, .

Strawberries, . quarts
Total value,
Value per quart,

Tobacco, . . pounds
Total value,
Value per pound, .
Acreage, .
Pounds per acre,

Tomatoes, . . bushels
Total value,
Value per bushel, .

Trees, Fruit, in

nurseries, . number
Total value,
Value each,

bushels

Turnips,
Total value,
Value per bushel, .

Veal, . . . pounds
Total value,
Value per pound, .

Wheat, . . bushels
Total value,
Value per bushel,
Acreage, .
Bushels per acre,

Wool, merino, . pounds
Total value,
Value per pound, .

Wool, Saxony, . pounds
Total value,
Value per pound, .

446,925

$328,033

$0.73

$4,721

265,560

$16,686

$0.06

47,986

$54,502

$1,14

487,050
93,218

523,777

$560,201

$1.07

42,143

m

$57,474
421

523,735

$116,351

$0.22

41,003
$73,928
$1.82
2,600i
151

188,504

14,549

271,016

$400,140

$1.48

24,205

11

$12,545

2,175

$2,941

$1.35

3,611

104
$1,420
$13.65

$30,728

9,306,067

$1,577,100

$0.17

5,615£

1,657

$23,160

$10,650

534,096

$187,913

$0.35

4,977,436

$562,895

$0.11

39,709
$79,562
$2.00
2,6675

i4

236,103

$196,198

$0.83

12,789

$6,718

$0.53

250,113

$248,437

$0.99

21,351

113

28,307

$43,310

$1.53

2,300
$4,041

$1.76

6,978,689

$147,124

$0.02

18,865

$267,066

$14.16

1,156,801

$214,940

$0.19

5,993,666

$1,032,262

$0.17

3,757|

1,595

230,565

$137,945

$0.60

215,770

$88,526
$0.41

697,501

$252,222

$0.36

3,598,942

$363,517

$0.10

13,749
$23,105
$1.68
6774
20|

70,927

$30,061

$0.42

6,430

$2,798

$0.44

APPENDIX.

191

Products.

1845.

1855.

18G5.

1875.

Wool, other, . pounds,
Total value,
Value per pound, .

Wool, all kinds, . pounds,
Total value,
Value per pound, .

435,962

1,018,230

#365,136

#0.36

213,103

416,156

#155,046

#0.37

361,363

#262,225

#0.73

610,255

#465,141

#0.76

129,578

#51,704

#0.40

206,935

#84,563

#0.41

Col. Wright, in reviewing these tables, says : —

In the foregoing table we have the true basis of comparison, quan-
tity, and when it applies, acreage ; the values are interesting as indicating
the value of same quantity at different periods. For 1845 and 1855 gold
was the standard, and of course for 1865 and 1875 the values should be
reduced to a gold basis ; this is done by dividing the currency value for
1865 by 1.57, and for 1875 by 1.12. The table just given shows only the
chief products, and principally those where comparisons could be made
for some or all of the years named. Very many products returned in
1875 found no place in former censuses, and are not mentioned in the
table.

Much can be drawn from the foregoing table ; it teaches the changes
in crops, in value, in acreage, in average yield per acre, and the increase
or decrease in the leading crops ; the result is gratifying in many
respects, for while it is seen that there is a loss in the great staple prod-
ucts of barley, corn, oats, potatoes, and wheat, there is for each of these
crops an increased yield per acre ; the lighter crops, beans, beets, carrots,
cranberries, onions, and turnips, show large increase generally, not only
in amount raised, but in yield per acre ; the hay crop has increased in
quantity and in average yield per acre.

The item of cheese in the foregoing table includes for 1875 that made
upon farms only, while for the other years it comprises the total product
of cheese, not only on farms, but from factories. The total product of
cheese for 1875 was 3,067,017 pounds, valued at $405,293.

The egg and milk products exhibit wonderful progress, the latter grow-
ing from 2,850,412 gallons in 1845, and 10,079,180 gallons in 1865, to
35,698,159 gallons in 1875. Accompanying the great increase in the
milk product will be noticed the decrease in the beef product, dropping
from 70,825,396 pounds in 1865 to 12,258,542 pounds in 1875.

Tobacco loses, many farmers, during the past five years, having aban-
doned it as a crop. Raising small fruits, pears, etc., will be found to
occupy considerable attention now, and their product has been returned
for 1875, but there are no statistics of former years with which compar-
ison can be made.

An examination of the relation of quantities raised to acres tilled con-
vinces one that the farmers of Massachusetts have learned the important

192

MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE.

lesson of tilling less land and tilling it better, for we find that even in
the crops where loss in the aggregate occurs there has been a great
improvement in results. In 1855 it took 4,971£ acres to produce 99,430
bushels of barley; and in 18G5, 7,103| acres to produce 138,524 bushels;
while in 1875 it took but 1,828| acres to produce 46,884 bushels ; an
increase in the average yield from 20 bushels to 25^ bushels to the acre.
The beet crop increased from 193^ to 244f bushels per acre, from 1865 to
1875. The product of corn per acre grew from 28| bushels in 1865 to
35| bushels in 1875. Onions, an important product, made an increase in
quantity per acre, and the average yield of oats per acre increased from
21| bushels in 1855 to 31} bush«ls in 1875 ; and potatoes from 91 bushels
per acre in 1865 to 108 in 1875 ; and wheat from 15f in 1855 to 20£ in
1875.

The agriculture of Massachusetts can hardly be said to be on the
decline with the facts before us ; and the only statement which can tempt
one to such belief, is the superficial one relative to what has been con-
sidered the important crops. It must be conceded, however, that the
important crop is the one which soonest and surest brings substan-
tial returns to the farmer ; and if milk, eggs, or small fruits, or the lead-
ing fruits, will do this, then they become the important crops.

It is to be considered that the rapid growth of manufacturing vil-
lages has created numerous local markets, and our agriculture has
adapted itself to their wants.

The following tables of aggregates give us, in a very compact
form, the farm property of the State : —

Number

Total

Average

Total Value of

Average

COUNTIES.

of

Acreage

Acreage

Farms (Land and

Value of

Farms.

in Farms.

in Farms.

Buildings).

Farms.

The State, .

44,549

3,402,368J

76

$182,663,140

$4,100

Barnstable, ....

721

59,914

83

1,615,418

2,240

Berkshire,

3,791

470,594

124

15,073,948

3,976

Bristol, .

3,570

217,368

61

11,881,683

3,328

Dukes, .

371

33,945

91

678,890

1,830

Essex, .

3,282

179,683}

55

14,213,235

4,331

Franklin,

3,956

350,443|
316,015}

88

11,352,503

2,870

Hampden,

3,736

85

14,496,445

3,880

Hampshire,

3,666

316,99l|

86

12,260,330

3,314

Middlesex,

6,085

362,945£

60

36,375,185

5,978

Nantucket,

105

15,973

152

182,966

1,742

Norfolk, .

2,331

135,112}

58

10,746,735

4,610

Plymouth,

3,587

200,193

56

9,257,524

2,581

Suffolk, .

369

8,203£

22

10,891,373

29,516

Worcester,

8,979

734,987}

82

33,636,905

3,746

Included among the farms of the State, are the market-gardens,
with acreage, value and average value per acre, as follows : —

APPENDIX.

193

COUNTIES.

Total Acreage

in

Market-gardens.

Total Value of

Land In
Market-gardens.

Average Value
per Acre.

The State,

Barnstable, .
Berkshire, .
Bristol,
Dukes,
Essex,
Franklin, .
Hampden, .
Hampshire,
Middlesex, .
Nantucket, .
Norfolk, . \
Plymouth, .
Suffolk,
Worcester, .

3,988|

21

73
348

41
428
214i
464J

894
1,233$

10|
319|
111
233
402J

$1,147,200

1,957

93

12,033

165

39,867

114

1,030

25

78,563

183

12,448

58

54,325

117

18,220

205

497,079

403

1,560

152

65,703

205

15,997

144

256,580

1,101

91,838

228

Of the whole number of farms in the State, 44,549, only 1,054
are carried on by proprietors who hire, while the great majority,
43,495, are carried on by the owners.

Agricultural Products.

Products.

Quantity.

Value.

Average
Value.

Apples, ....

. bush.,

3,252,957

$1,450,252

$0 45

Apricots,

. bush.,

3,978

1,955

49

Asparagus, .

. b'ches,

521,408

55,669

11

Barberries,

. bush.,

1,299

2,745

2 11

Basket ■willow,

. lbs.,

6,300

240

04

Beans, string and shell,

. bush.,

37,603

45,325

1 21

Beef, ....

. lbs.,

12,258,542

1,068,154

09

Beeswax,

. lbs.,

11,596

2,058

18

Beets, mangel-wurzel, .

. bush.,

22,140

6,676

30

Blackberries, .

. qts.,

93,164

12,728

14

Blueberries, .

. qts.,

219,483

20,156

09

Butter

. lbs.,

7,922,431

2,747,878

35

Butternuts,

. bush.,

5,559

3,313

60

Cabbage, ....

. heads,

7,660,722

440,691

06

Cabbage plants,

83,400

629

007

Carrageen

. lbs.,

128,430

2,372

02

Cauliflower, .

. heads,

108,601

10,758

10

Celery

. b'ches,

627,329

49,614

08

Celery plants, .

31,910

1,865

06

Charcoal,

. bush.,

1,015,073

120,556

12

Cheese

. lbs.,

1,280,234

162,826

13

Cherries,

. bush.,

5,441

15,124

2 78

Chestnuts,

. bush.,

3,046

8,362

2 75

Chiccory,

. lbs.,

2,046

170

08

Cider, ....

. gals.,

5,613,846

668,809

12

Citron melon, .

. lbs.,

400

13

03

Corn, broom, .

. lbs.,

63,821

5,075

08

Corn, green, .

. bush.,

199,496

134,170

67

Corn, pop,

. bush.,

8,582

13,809

1 61

Crab-apples, .

. bush.,

2,313

3,446

1 49

Cranberries, .

. bush.,

110,184

288,113

2 61

Cream, ....

. gals.,

4,470

4,487

1 00

Cucumbers,

. bush.,

38,236

43,844

1 15

Cucumbers, .

37,414,726

119,490

003

25*

194

MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE.

Quantity.

Average
Value.

Currants,

Dandelions,

Eggs, •
Eggs, fancy,
Eggs, game,

Feathers,

Flax,

Flowers, leaves and vines, cut,

Fodder, barley,

Fodder, corn, .

Fodder, oat,

Fodder, rye,

Game, wild,
Gooseberries,
Grapes, .
Grapes, .
Greens, beet,
Greens, cabbage,

Hair, for plastering.

Hemp,

Hides,

Honey, .

Hop poles,

Hops,

Horse-radish,

Huckleberries,

Ice, .

Leeches, .
Lettuce, .

Mangoes,
Manure, .
Manure, hen, .
Manure, sea, .
Melons, .
Milk,
Millet, .
Mutton, .

Oyster plant, .

Parsley, .

Peaches, .

Pears,

Pease,

Pease, green, .

Pelts,

Peppers, .

Plants, flowering and other
greenhouses,

Plums,

Pork,

Potatoes, sweet,

Poultry, dressed chickens,

Poultry, dressed geese,

Poultry, dressed turkeys,

Poultry, dressed, other than chick-
ens, geese and turkeys,

Pumpkins,

QuincSs

. lbs.,

. bush.,

Radishes, b'ches,

Raspberries, qts.,

Rhubarb, lbs.,

Roots and herbs, medicinal and

aromatic, lbs.,

qts.,

bush.,

dozen,
dozen,
dozen,

lbs.,
lbs.,

tons,
tons,
tons,
tons,

. qts.,

. bush.,

. lbs.,

. bush.,

. bush.,

. lbs.,

. lbs.,

'. lbs.,

.' lbs.,

. lbs.,

. qts.,

. tons,

. dozen,

. heads,

. bush.,

. cords,

. bush.,

. cords,

. gals.,

. bush.,

. lbs.,

. bush.,

. bush.,

. bush.,

. bush.,

. bush.,

. bush.,

. bush.,

bush.

lbs.,

bush.

lbs.,

lbs.,

lbs.,

82,538

7,188

3,446,530

1,010

40

15,985
520

91

15,863

2,634

17

9,800

19,836

267,617

340

2,882

8,136

8

5,355

70,717

126,345

22,133

245,892

337,777

395,184

312
2,683,211

33,531

422,478

357

21,670

298,136

35,698,159

1,250

589,323

180

3,704
15,942
59,259

5,490
68,294

1,957

4,984

1,769

12,786,062

267

876,955

35,170

241,317

52,656
4,214,881

3,011

90,527

67,109
350,478

$10,605

7,021

903,357

1,160

240

3,834

86

167,422

1,371

162,448

44,538

292

2,6.75

1,101

32,635

34,624

428

2,586

265

2

23,512

20,331

2,629

7,556

10,262

26,826

500,666

1,863
96,410

14,659

2,321,373

201

30,587

25,109

5,934,671

1,806

55,374

183

2,640

44,893

118,302

9,164
96,512

2,190

5,499

203,535

3,481

1,272,409

369

193,210

7,164

51,955

11,066
37,789

9,334

4,480
14,214
6,573

16,199

$0 13

26

1 15

6 00

24

17

15 07

10 24

16 91

17 18

11

1 65

13

1 26

90

03

25

4 39

29

02

34

04

08

1 27

5 97

04

44

5 49

56

1 41

08

17

1 44

09

1 02

71

2 82

2 00

1 70

1 41

1 12

1 10

1 97

10

1 38

22

20

22

21

009

3 10

05

21

02

APPENDIX.

195

Products.

Quantity.

Value.

Average
Value.

Seeds, garden and flower, .

lbs.,

28,307

$43,410

$1 53

Seeds, grass, ....

bush.,

2,300

4,041

1 76

Shellbarks, ....

bush.,

1,190

2,764

2 32

Shrubs in nurseries,

256,056

14,919

06

Skins, calf, ....

75

135

1 80

Spinach, .'....

bush.,

6,094

6,498

1 07

Squashes, ....

lbs.,

6,978,689

147,124

02

Straw,

tons,

18,865

267,066

14 16

Strawberries, ....

qts.,

1,156,801

214,940

19

Teasels,

lbs.,

1,800

200

11

Thimbleberries,

qts.,

200

20

10

Tomatoes, ....

bush.,

230,565

137,945

60

Tomato plants,

25,112

851

03

Trees, fruit, in nurseries,

215,770

88,526

41

Trees, ornamental, in nurseries,

224,982

36,004

16

Tripe,

lbs.,

115,128

7,567

07

Turnips, ruta-baga,

bush.,

2,427

545

22

Turnips, table,

bush.,

697,501

252,222

36

Veal,

lbs.,

3,598,942

363,517

10

Vines in nurseries,

60,789

12,478

21

Watercress, ....

b'ches,

3,500

280

08

VVool, merino,

lbs.,

70,927

30,061

42

Wool, Saxony,

lbs.,

6,430

2,798

44

Woo), other than merino anc

Saxony, ....

lbs.,

129,578

51,704

40

Agricultural Products (with Acreage).

Products.

Quantity.

Acreage.

Value.

Average Yield
per Acre.

Average
Value.

Barley,

bush.,

46,8S4

1,8281

$47,655

25£

$1 02

Beans,

bush.,

41,879

1,354|

97,052

31

2 32

Beets (table), .

bush.,

215,740

S84g

109,415

244

51

Buckwheat,

bush.,

52,127

3,609$

46,911

14|

90

Carrots,

bush.,

191,646

439}

86,503

436

45

Corn (Indian), .

bush.,

1,040,290

29,1933

1,006,384

35J

97

Hay (clover), .

tons,

3,443

2,959

51,903

l|

15 07

Hay (English),

tons,

526,490

509,294

9,106,159

1

17 30

Hay (meadow),

tons,

116,211

130,792

1,225,456

.88

10 55

Hay (millet), .

tons,

2,418

1,619

41,918

H

17 33

Hay (salt),

tons,

22,568

23,519

234,832

.96

10 46

Oats, .

bush.,

457,710

14,614}

314,202

311

69

Onions,

bush.,

359,706

1,045

338,205

344}

94

Parsnips, .

bush.,

30,377

137|

24,977

221}

82

Potatoes (Irish),

bush.,

3,630,546

33,616

2,349,815

108

65

Rye

bush.,

250,113

21,351

248,437

11|

99

Tobacco, .

lbs.,

5,993,666

3,757|

1,032,262

1,595

17

Wheat, .

bush.,

13,749

677}

23,105

20|

1 68

196 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE.

Domestic Animals— Aggregates by Counties.

COUNTIES.

Bees
(Swarms of).

Bulls.

Calves.

(Jolts.

Ducks.

No.

Value.

No.

Value.

No.

Value.

No.

Value.

No.

Value.

The State,

8,365

$49,846

5,312

$188,260

38,099

$371,009

4,254

$389,066

9,884

$6,845

Barnstable, .

91

736

71

2,365

501

4,503

37

3,350

992

548

Berkshire,

1,339

7,438

932

26,918

4,708

38,732

843

71,445

571

355

Bristol, .

850

4,477

209

6,780

2,364

21,824

199

24,102

1,939

1,370

Dukes, .

3

20

29

649

212

1,588

32

1,681

141

65

Essex,

441

3,152

278

11,141

2,500

23,752

241

23,093

1,184

853

Franklin,

722

4,764

453

16,046

4,336

43,814

627

52,352

220

157

Hampden,

905

4,956

573

18,238

3,033

28,826

305

23,953

540

372

Hampshire,

667

3,588

546

17,322

3,603

33,959

418

35,261

284

194

Middlesex,

939

5,855

560

24,086

4,506

52,296

455

51,900

952

728

Nantucket,

18

196

29

794

125

869

19

1,720

78

54

Norfolk,

327

1,922

127

4,639

1,242

10,571

119

10,990

639

524

Plymouth,

627

3,527

149

5,993

1,532

14,960

158

12,987

971

607

Suffolk,

14

101

18

1,280

127

1,328

25

3,250

87

67

"Worcester,

1,422

9,114

1,338

52,009

9,310

93,987

776

72,982

1,286

951

Aggregates by Counties — Con.

Milch Cows.

Mules.

Oxen.

Pigs.

Sheep (Me-
rino).

COUNTIES.

No.

Value.

No.

Value.

No.

Value.

No.

Value.

No.

Value.

The State, .

126,034

$6,054,136

203

$20,887

16,308

$1,345,204

41,009

$241,368

14,456

$58,290

Barnstable,

1,211

49,676

-

-

145

10,435

445

2,438

257

1,260

Berkshire,

15,527

714,185

25

2,525

1,422

105,781

3,694

19,025

7,675

29,165

Bristol, .

7,502

364,748

11

640

1,158

96,877

4,026

24,323

194

840

Dukes, .

552

19,322

13

1,130

133

7,880

156

809

127

346

Essex,

9,151

471,401

24

2,145

1,762

149,522

2,008

15,079

26

203

Franklin,

10,271

415,39S

8

690

1,692

148,120

3,707

19,905

2,611

10,104

Hampden,

9,891

447,119

10

. 1,750

1,955

149,047

2,443

13,813

563

2,449

Hampshire,

9,806

448,886

15

1,605

1,104

95,037

3,639

19,564

2,530

11,325

Middlesex,

20,244

1,068,223

31

3,170

1,206

105,358

7,522

46,752

63

424

Nantucket,

376

13,950

-

-

31

1,861

145

742

11

215

Norfolk,

5,743

274,019

18

2,582

367

29,790

3,088

17,800

36

96

Plymouth,

5,006

231,369

9

580

1,064

84,475

1,689

11,147

48

178

Suffolk, .

496

30,344

3

300

22

2,125

336

2,084

-

-

Worcester,

30,258

1,505,496

36

3,770

4,247

358,896

8,111

47,SS7

315

1,685

APPENDIX.

Domestic Animals— Aggregates by Counties.

197

Geese.

Heifers.

Hens and Chick-
ens.

Hogs.

Horses.

Lambs.

No.

Value.

No.

Value.

No.

Value.

No.

Value.

No.

Value.

No.

Value.

7,003

$8,O0S

28,057

$667,355

1,012,784

$575,374

42,255

$721,955

53,218

$5,805,485

29,294

$115,001

76

103

340

6,924

36,862

16,489

574

10,194

763

73,158

330

1,296

644

937

3,967

86,843

78,678

38,527

3,831

64,320

5,635

625,343

7,421

25,064

1,389

2,216

994

25,444

144,360

89,584

3,513

64,775

4,109

430,240

913

3,877

90

S5

172

3,422

10,322

5,089

158

2,616

307

26,520

1,438

2,213

230

437

1,426

33,881

77,185

45,518

2,343

46,125

4,067

483,50S

538

2,441

199

340

3,348

80,883

57,680

27,810

3,441

50,019

4,098

423,298

8,049

34,898

253

414

2,445

51,141

70,419

37,009

3,410

51,256

4,151

431,363

2,617

10,534

105

149

2,832

63,563

57,839

30,294

3,898

63,057

4,388

467,288

3,610

13,951

209

302

3,451

91,524

147,165

91,417

7,543

134,621

8,716

1,032,929

385

1,889

14

21

89

1,502

3,392

2,582

127

3,295

122

15,450

521

1,688

114

150

732

20,258

48,334

30,776

2,917

50,072

2,742

300,559

170

1,061

3,101

1,794

827

20,820

87,429

51,134

2,357

45,552

3,357

356,009

1,174

6,033

5

5

61

1,505

5,165

3,622

5S1

10,240

580

96,845

-

-

576

1,055

7,373

179,645

187,954

105,523

7,562

125,813

10,183

1,042,975

2,128

10,056

Aggregates by Counties— Con.

Sheep (Sax-
ony).

Other Sheep.

Steers.

Turkeys.

Other AkAials.

Total Value
of Domestic

No.

Value.

No.

Value.

No.

Value.

No.

Value.

No.

Value.

Animals.

1,631

$7,993

42,686

$179,934

10,448

$354,924

23,738

$32,542

39,582

$122,899

$17,316,381

22

125

294

2,588

137

3,539

216

253

270

1,081

191,061

769

3,261

8,400

41,550

1,540

51,511

3,980

4,681

1,897

9,285

1,966,891

54

418

1,096

4,427

216

8,093

1,725

2,891

2,814

9,391

1,187,337

-

-

9,087

18,297

141

3,498

329

474

109

255

95,959

9

88

586

3,470

274

9,695

972

1,378

3,011

7,313

1,334,195

232

1,020

8,475

39,673

2,092

68,868

2,156

2,848

1,289

9,833

1,450,840

16

120

3,284

15,007

1,278

47,320

3,684

5,316

13,351

12,275

1,352,278

189

1,028

5,292

23,453

1,524

48,920

1,544

2,510

1,416

10,116

1,391,070

8

60

608

3,646

281

10,801

1,816

2,181

5,030

21,557

2,749,719

-

-

1,287

4,561

33

905

191

245

12

11

50,661

2

10

502

2,151

18

790

157

273

1,663

6,067

765,100

131

632

1,442

7,703

260

10,090

1,454

1,901

3,021

8,256

875,747

_

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

373

2,113

155,209

199

1,231

2,333

13,408

2,654

90,894

5,514

7,591

5,326

25,346

3,750,314

198 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE.

Farm Property Aggregates.

Number of

Number of

Value of Build-

Counties.

Acres of Land.

Value of Land.

I arms.

Buildings.

ings.

The State, .

44,549

118,063

$66,033,291

3,402,368|

$116,629,849

Barnstable,

721

1,820

771,939

59,914

843,479

Berkshire,

3,791

12,149

5,004,277

470,594

10,069,671

Bristol,

3,570

10,096

4,641,818

217,368

7,239,865

Dukes,

371

978

247,432

33,945

431,458

Essex,

3,282

8,294

5,321,407

170,683}

8,891,828

Franklin, .

3,956

10,223

3,967,091

350,443|

7,385,412

Hampden,

3,736

9,645

5,104,606

316,015}

9,391,839

Hampshire,

3,666

9,627

4,788,319

316,991^

7,472,011

Middlesex,

6,085

15,984

13,808,976

362,945i

22,560,209

Nantucket,

105

286

72,475

15,973

111,491

Norfolk, .

2,331

5,571

4,496,075

135,112}

6,256,660

Plymouth,

3,587

9,406

4,373,259

200,193

4,844,265

Suffolk, .

369

678

1,469,025

8,203i

9,422,348

Worcester,

8,979

23,303

11,973,592

734,987}

21,663,313

Counties.

Value of Farms

(Land
and Buildings).

Value of Fruit
Trees and Vines.

Value of Domes-
tic Animals.

Value of Agri-
cultural Imple-
ments in Use.

Total Value
Farm Property.

The State,

$182,663,140

$4,674,188

$17,316,381

$5,321,168

$209,974,877

Barnstable,

1,615,418

44,280

191,061

48,722

1,899,481

Berkshire,

15,073,948

399,584

1,966,891

469,073

17,909,496

Bristol, .

11,881,683

186,448

1,187,337

333,645

13,591,113

Dukes,

678,890

9,926

95,959

14,508

799,283

Essex,

14,213,235

486,429

1,334,195

483,869

16,517,728

Franklin,.

11,352,503

27U.514

1,450,840

438,127

13,511,984

Hampden,

14,496,445

257,782

1,352,278

394,355

16,500,860

Hampshire,

12,260,330

271,988

1,391,070

455,998

14,389,386

Middlesex,

36,385,185

1,049,884

2,749,719

957,653

41,132,441

Nantucket,

182,866

234

50,661

8,784

242,645

Norfolk, .

10,746,735

230,797

765,100

263,816

12,006,448

Plymouth,

9,257,524

237,501

875,747

209,932

10,580,704

Suffolk, .

10,891,373

114,2U8

155,209

64,682

11,225,472

Worcester,

33,636,905

1,114,613

3,750,314

1,176,004

39,677,836

Persons Employed in Agriculture: Wages, Number of Farms, and
Acres of Cultivated and Uncultivated Land.

Farm

Land.

Persons Employed.

"2 5S

os goo

tc~**

CULTI-

COUNTIES.

of

VATED.

VATED.

males.

FEMALES.

1-cS

Farms.

Total.

-■a tfl

Under

Above

Under

gss

S = s

15.

15.

15.

15.

The State,

44,549

912,521

2,489,847?

2,136

24,961

805

7,586

35,488

$5,600,919

Barnstable, .

721

11,861

48,053

49

380

36

205

670

38,180

Berkshire, .

3,791

131,035

339,559

186

2,560

77

1,119

3,942

523,177

Bristol,

3,570

51,555

165,813

219

2,032

94

425

2,770

378,107

Dukes, .

371

4.N'.r,

29,052

16

132

-

90

238

6,523

Essex, .

3,282

66,104}

113,579

171

2,332

23

418

2,944

551 1,744

Franklin,

3,956

79,8718

270,572

173

1,910

80

923

3,086

324,490

Hampden,

:;.?:;•;

79,726}

236,289

190

2.042

106

711

3,049

445, 220

Hampshire, .

3,666

98,31ll

218,680

161

1,978

56

790

2,985

3S5,551

Middlesex, .

6,085

120,160|

242,7851

315

4,225

102

999

5,641

1,204,796

Nantucket, .

105

1,6803

14,292}

1

45

-

1

47

10,720

Norfolk,

2,331

36,559

'.is, ;,;,:;>

91

1,421

13

112

1,637

374,305

Plymouth! .

3,587

40,666}

159,5263

86

1,249

13

229

1,577

248,967

Suffolk,

369

4,1641

4,039jj

13

379

3

70

465

143,918

Worcester, .

8,979

is;,, '.i.;:; <

549,054

465

4,276

202

1,494

6,437

965,695

APPENDIX.

199

Aggregates of Farm Ppoterty.

Farm Property.

Number.

Value.

Average
Value.

I.— FARMS.

Farms containing less than 3 acres, .

724

" " more than 3 and less than 5

acres,

896

" " from 5 to 10 acres (both inclu-

2,694

" " more than 10 acres,

40,235

$182,663,140

Farms, all sizes. [The value given is that of )
land and buildings combined.] . . j

44,549

$4,100 27

II.— BUILDINGS.

43,620

46,848

2,899

56

325

1,480

1,057

Greenhouses,

277

127

263

44

3,950

13,383

2,610

94

293

20

144

571

$66,033,291

118,063

III.— LAND.

Cultivated — Land under crops, . . acres,

882,178.1

$57,961,529

$65 70

Market-gardens, . . acres,

3,988|j

1,147,200

287 62

Nurseries and seed-gardens, acres,

736|

335,179

454 86

Orchards, .... acres,

25,6171

2,643,801

103 20

Uncultivated — Unimproved land, . acres,

1,466,615*
92,830$

32,058,448

21 85

Unimprovable land, . acres,

414,534

3 70

Woodland, . . . acres,

930,402|

22,069,158

23 72

Land, all kinds, .... acres,

3,402,368|

$116,629,849

$34 28

IV.— FRUIT TREES AND VINES.

Apple trees,

1,861,204

$3,656,271

$1 96

Apricot trees,

11

14

1 27

Butternut trees,

24

34

1 42

Cherry trees, .

12,040

31,517

2 62

Chestnut trees,

13

60

4 61

Crab-apple trees, .

1,131

2,013

1 78

Fig trees, . . ,

50

250

6 00

Fruit trees, not designated,

26,820

36,067

1 34

Hickory trees,

4

25

6 25

Mulberry trees,

8

20

2 50

Nectarine trees,

5

18

3 60

Peach trees, .

82,884

93,871

1 13

Pear trees,

231,229

601,138

2 60

Plum trees, .

3,958

7,363

1 86

Pomegranate trees,

8

50

6 25

Quince trees, .

6,120

8,918

1 45

Shellbark trees,

221

632

2 86

Walnut trees,

121

163

1 35

Grape vines

224,352

235,764

1 05

Fruit trees and vine

s, al

kin<

Is, .

$4,674,188

200 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE.

Recapitulation of Aggregates — Concluded.

Fakm Property.

Average
Value.

V.-DOME8TIC ANIMALS.

Asses,

Bees (swarms of),

Buffalo, .

Bulls,

Calves, .

Colts,

Dogs,

Ducks, .

Geese, .

Goats, .

Guinea fowls,

Heifers, .

Hens and chickens,

Hogs,

Horses, .

Lambs, .

Milch cows, .

Mules,

Oxen,

Pea fowls,

Pigeons, .

Pigs,

Sheep, merino,

Saxony,

other, .
Steers, .
Turkeys,

30

8,365
1

5,312
38,099

4,254
11,489

7,003

201

3,102

28,057

,012,784

42,255

53,218

29,294

126,034

203

16,308

389

24,370

41,009

14,456

1,631

42,686

10,448

23,738

$1,600

49,846

100

188,260

371,009

389,066

110,877

6,845

8,008

872

2,129

667,355

575,374

721,955

5,805,485

115,001

6,054,136

20,887

1,345,204

666

6,655

241,368

58,290

7,993

179,934

354,924

32,542

$53 33

5 96

100 00

35 44

9 74

91 46

9 65

69

1 14

4 34
68

23 78

57

17 08

109 09

3 92
48 03

102 89

82 48

1 71

27

5 88

4 03
4 90
4 21

33 97
1 37

Domestic animals, all kinds, .

$17,316,381

INDEX

TO THE SECRETARY'S REPORT,

Tage

Agricultural College, examining committee for 1877 241

Agricultural exhibitions, times of holding certain, changed, .... 238

Agricultural statistics from Massachusetts census, 1875, 295

American guano and its value, 77

Ammoniated superphosphate and its value, 269

Animal dust as a fertilizer, 255, 25G

Annual poultry pi-oduct of the United States, 55, 60

Apple orchards, should they be ploughed ? 21, 38, 39

Apple orchards, soil and location for 17

Apples, best varieties of, for New England orchards, . . .19, 20, 38, 42, 46

Apples, how produced in odd years, 25, 26, 38, 39, 47, 52

Apples, how they should be gathered and handled, 26, 29, 31

Apples valuable as a feed for milch cows, 17, 36, 37, 46

Apple-trees around walls not so profitable as in orchards, .... 41

Arboriculture, importance of, to the agricultural community, .... 227, 229

Art and agriculture, essay upon, 285, 293

Ayrshires, and their value for the dairy, 115, 117, 128

Bat guano 267, 268

Best method for setting hens, 65

Best varieties of apples, 19, 20

Black Spanish fowls and their characteristics, 59, 82

Board of Agriculture, country meeting of, at "Worcester, first day, ... 6

Board of Agriculture, country meeting of, at Worcester, second day, . . 55

Board of Agriculture, country meeting of, at Worcester, third day, . . . 142

Board of Agriculture, country meeting of, for 1877, place of, .... 238

Bone-meal as a fertilizer, 257

Boneblack and its value, 258

Brahma fowls, characteristics of, 57

Breeding and management of poultry, 55, 70, 80, 86

Breeding in-and-in, effect of, among ponltry, . 72, 73

Brighton animal dust as a fertilizer, 255, 256

Brockville superphosphates and their value 260

Buds, essay upon, 233, 235, 237

Butter, want of uniformity in manufacture of, 101,119,121

Cabbages and their cultivation, 207, 209

Cabbages, experiments with fertilizers on, 178

Caribbean guano, 258

Carrots and their cultivation, 197, 198, 201

Cattle commissioners, annual report of, 213

Chadbourne, Prof. P. A., essay by, on buds, 233, 235, 237

26*

202 INDEX TO THE REPORT.

Page

Change in the market for vegetables within a few years, 187

Cheever, A. W., lecture by, 98,105,115

Chemical fertilizers and their value, . 142, 153, 158, 162, 170, 174, 180, 182, 241, 256

Chickens, how to feed 79, 80

Chili saltpetre, analysis of, ■ 252

City milk 105,-106,107,109

Cleanliness essential in poultry husbandry, 60, 61

Cochin fowls and their value, 60

Colonies of fowls 63, 64

Colorado beetle, enemies of, 92

Colorado beetle in Massachusetts, 86, 90, 94, 95

Colorado beetle, habits of, 90, 91

Colorado beetle, history of its migrations, 88,89

Colorado beetle, remedies against the ravages of the, . . 92, 93, 96, 151, 293, 295

Concrete houses, value of, 132

Confines of the dairy section, • . . 122

Corkiness in turnips, how to prevent, 203

Corn, yield of, and cost of raising per bushel, . . . 156,158,160,171,178,183

Crookneck squash, little demand for, 211

Cross-fertilization, influence of, 235

Dairy cows, and how they should be fed, 113, 114, 123

Dairy farming and its importance, . . . . . 103,105,112,116,117

Dairy products and their management, 102,110,116,120,123

Dairy work, how it should be done, 102, 119, 123

Danvers onion, qualities of, 189

Delegates to exhibitions in 1877, appointment of, 239

Dominique fowls and their characteristics, 59

Dorkings and their value, 85

Drought of 1876 and its influence on crops, 146, 148

Dwight D., essay by, .... 215, 218

Essays, subjects for, in 1877, 240

Examining committee of the Agricultural College for 1877, .... 241

Exhibitions in 1877, appointment of delegates to, 239

Experimental station desirable in Massachusetts, 165, 166

Experiments with commercial fertilizers, .... 148, 151, 153, 168, 171, 174

Farmer's homestead, relation of the, to farm thrift, 131,142

Felch, I. K., lecture by, upon poultry husbandry, 55, 65, 70

Fertilizers, their value and application, . . 148, 151, 162, 170, 174, 182, 241, 256

Fertilizer from ashes of hulls of cotton-seeds 248

Fertilizers, potash, 244, 246

Fertilizers, report of Prof. C. A. Goessmann upon, . . .241,250,256,260,279

Fisb guano, value of, 279

Food for poultry should be of a varied character, 62, 63, 78

Fotler early drumhead cabbage, history of, 208

Fowls, how to breed improved varieties of, 68, 69, 70

Fowls need a gravelly soil, 75

Fruits and fruit-culture 13, 20, 28, 35, 40, 45, 50, 53

Fruit, how it should be gathered and kept, 26, 27, 28, 31

Fruit-cellars, and how they should be managed, 27

Game fowls and their characteristics, 81

Goessmann, Prof. C. A., report on fertilizers by, . . . 241, 250, 256, 260, 279

Goessmann, Prof. C. A., report on salt-marshes by 219,223,225

Gold, T. S., lecture by 13, 20, 28

INDEX TO THE REPORT. 203

Page

Gravelly soils best for fowls, 75

Ground bones as a fertilizer, 257, 258

Guanos and their value, 259, 260, 261, 265

Hadwcn, 0. B., address by 7, 10, 13

Hadwen, 0. B., report by, 227, 229

Habits of the Colorado beetle, 90, 91

Hand-picking the Colorado beetle efficacious, 96, 97

Hamburg fowls and their characteristics, 58, 59, 84

Hens, period in which they are profitable layers, 84

Hens, the best method of setting 65

High prices for poultry, 67

Horn-waste as a fertilizer, 254

Houdan fowls and their value, 59

Household conveniences should be cared for, 135

How to breed improved varieties of fowls, 68, 70

How to feed young chickens, 79, 80

How to grow good potatoes, 188, 189

How to train and prune orchard trees, 23, 24, 44, 45

Hubbard squash and its cultivation 209

Influence of the sire in poultry-breeding, 68,74

Improvement of salt-marshes, report on 219, 223, 225

Isolated apple-trees not so profitable as those in orchards, .... 41

Jerseys, and their value for the dairy, 117, 129

June the best month to prune apple-trees in, 24, 25

Leghorn fowls and their characteristics, 57, 70, 71, 75, 83

Mangolds, cultivation and yield of, 206, 207

Mangolds, experiments with fertilizers in cultivating, 176, 177

Manures and chemical fertilizers, 77, 142, 156, 170, 184

Manures for apple orchards, 19, 21, 43

Marrow squashes and their cultivation, 209

Massachusetts, desirable breeds of cows for, 110,111

Migration eastward of the Colorado beetle, history of, 88, 89

Milch cows, and how they should be fed, 113,114

Milch cows, value of apples as food for 17,36,37

Milk-supply, growth of the 105, 106

Mitchell, Donald G., lecture by, 131,139

Muriate of potash, analysis of, 245

Native cows and their utility, 127

Needs of the Massachusetts dairy farmer, lecture on, .... 98,100,115

Nitrate of soda, analysis of, 252

Nitrogen necessary to plant-life, 143, 149

Odd years, how apples are produced in, 25, 38, 47, 48, 52

Onion-maggot, habits of the, and remedy against 195

Onions and their cultivation, 189, 191, 193

Orchards, and their management, 13, 20, 28, 39, 44, 46

Organic matter in salt marshes, 225

Packard, A. S., Jr., essay by, on the Colorado beetle, .... 86, 90, 94

Pasture land, experiments with chemical fertilizers upon 178, 179

Pears and pear-growing, 32, 33, 50, 51

204 INDEX TO THE REPORT.

Page

Pear orchards, utility of manuring, 50

Peruvian guano, 260,261

Plant-nutrition, principles of, 145, 146, 147

Ploughing of orchards, is it injurious ? 21, 39

Plymouth Rock fowls, value and characteristics of, 57

Potash fertilizers and their value, 244, 246

Potatoes, experiments with fertilizers in cultivating, 174, 175

Potatoes, how to grow, 188, 189

Poultry, breeding and management of, 55, 70, 80, 86

Poultry-house, plan for the construction of, 61,62,63,76

Poultry manure pays the cost of feed for fowls, 76, 77

Profits of poultry -keeping 56,57,76,77

Public meeting of the Board in 1877, place of, 238

Rectified Peruvian guano and its value, 261

Remedies against the ravages of the Colorado beetle, 92, 93

Roup and its contagiousness, 86

Salt-marshes adapted to pear-growing, 50, 52

Salt-marshes, report on the improvement of, 219, 223, 225

Saltpetre-waste as a fertilizer, 249

Salt valuable as a fertilizer for onions, 197

Sea-fowl guano, 270

Size and conduct of farms in Massachusetts, essay upon, 215, 218

Spring the best season for planting apple-trees in, 20

Squash-bugs, how to destroy, 210

Squash-houses, 211

Squashes and their cultivation, 209, 210, 211

Soil of salt-marshes, character of, 223

Statistics from Massachusetts census for 1875, 295

Stockbridge fertilizers and their value, 145, 156, 159

Stockbridge, Prof. Levi, lecture by 142, 148, 152

Stone houses, economy of 133

Stone-Mason cabbage, origin of, 207, 208

Subjects for essays in 1877, 240

Sulphate of ammonia, analysis of, 251

Transplanting forest trees, best time for 231

Treatment of Peruvian guano, 263

Trees from sprouts not desirable, 35

Turban squashes and their value, 209

Turnips, and how to grow them 202, 203, 205

Vegetable-gardening and root-culture, 185, 200, 213

Vegetable market has changed, 186, 187

Vermin on poultry, how destroyed, 66, 79

Vicar of Winkfield pear, characteristics of, 16

Vincent, Hebron, essay by, 285, 293

Ward's fertilizer of little value, 250, 251

Ware, Benjamin P., lecture by, 185, 200, 213

Warm water best for cows in winter 125

Western fruit-trees undesirable for New England orchards, ... 34, 35, 51

Wool-waste as a fertilizer, 253

Worcester, exhibition at, in connection with the meeting of the Board, . . 281

Yield of corn in various experiments, . . . 156, 158, 160, 171, 177, 178, 183

Yield of mangolds to the acre, 206

Yield and cultivation of onions, 197

INDEX TO ABSTRACT, OR PART SECOND.

Page
Agricultural College, Mass., value of, and how it could be made more useful, 31, 32,33, 35
Agricultural societies, establishment and growth of, . . 16, 18, 21, 25, 29, 30

Agriculture in Massachusetts, changes in 31, 36

Agriculture, progress of, in the last one hundred years 21, 27

Agriculture, relations of, to civilization, 1, 7, 10

Albuminoids, necessity of, in cattle foods, 44, 45

Alden, John F., statement of, 99

Apples, best varieties of, and their cultivation, . 81, 82, 84, 89, 91, 92, 94, 96, 98

Appleton, Francis H., statement of, 133

Appleton, Francis R., statement of, 118

Barley, statement on, 112

Bartlett, Albert C, statement of, 141, 143

Bassett, Josiah L., statement of, 126

Beets, statement on, 124

Best varieties of apples and their cultivation, . . .81, 82, 84, 89, 91, 94, 96, 98

Boutwell, Geo. S., address by 31,36

Bread, report of committee on, 161

Cabbages and their cultivation, ' . 133

Canedy, D., statement of, 109

Canfield, Horace J., address by, 16, 18, 21, 25, 29, 30

Carleton, Daniel, statement of, 135

Carrots, statements on, 123, 126

Colorado beetle, ravages of, in Massachusetts, 35

Copeland, Heman, statement of, 125

Cotton-seed meal rich in albuminoids, 44

Dairy products, report of committees on 146, 148

Dairy stock, reports of committees on, 146,148

Dairy stock, statements on, 146, 147, 149, 150, 151, 152

Eaton, Thomas S., report by 148, 150

Establishment and growth of agricultural societies, . . 16,18,21,25,29,30

Farlow, W. G., essay by, on onion-smut 164, 168, 173, 174

Farms, reports of committees on, 55, 57, 58

Fertilizers, experiments with 55, 56, 101, 102, 104, 106, 121, 124, 125

Flint, James, statement of, 94

Fodder-corn, how and when valueless, . . . . . . . 46, 47, 48

French, J. D. "W., report by, 146

Fruit-culture, 78, 81, 82, 84, 89, 91, 92, 94, 96, 98, 99

Gardner, Nathan B., statement of, 124

Goodwin, Rufus, statement of, 58

206 INDEX TO THE ABSTRACT.

Page

Graves, Alonzo, statement of, 73

Gregory, J. J. H., essay by, on originating new varieties of potatoes, . . 37, 42
Gregory, J. J. H., statement of, 62

Hall, L. R., statement of, 99

Haskell, H. C, statement of, 151

Hawks, E. C, statement of, 74, 76

Hawks, Fred. W., statement of, 105

Heifers, report of committee on, 148

Horses, report of committee on, 154, 157

Horton, Joseph, statement of, 66

Howard, James, statement of, Ill, 125

Howes George, statement of, 123

How six acres can summer twelve cattle, 52, 54

Humphrey, George W., statement of, 105

Hungarian grass rich in albuminoids, 44, 45

Huntington, Benjamin F., statement of 98

Improving pasture and waste lands, 64, 66, 69, 73, 74, 76

Improving wet meadows, report of the committee on, 59,62

Improving wet meadows, statement on, 62

Indian corn and its cultivation, 101, 105, 108

Laws relating to agricultural societies, 180, 184

Laws relating to Board of Agriculture, 177, 179

Leonard, Spencer, statements of, 110, 125, 128

Lovett, Francis- S., statement of, 82

Low, Aaron, statement of, 115

Macy, Alexander, Jr., report by, 158, 160

Mangolds and their cultivation, 121, 125, 126

Marston, J. B., statement of, 93

Manures and their application, 55, 56, 101, 103, 106, 121, 125, 144

McKinstry, A. L., essay by 52, 54

Mellen, L. F., address by, 11, 15

Merrill, Hayden A., statement of, 133

Newhall J., statement of, 144

Oats, statement on, 112

Onions, cultivation of, and cost of raising, 135, 136

Onion-smut, essay on, 164, 167, 171, 174

Peck, A. P., statement of, 137, 138

Pierce, Mrs. John, report by 161, 163

Poultry and their management, 158, 160

Potatoes and their cultivation, 37, 42, 119, 120, 127, 128

Potatoes, essay on originating new varieties of, 37, 42

Potatoes, natural home of, 38

Potatoes, proper localities for growing, 38

Potatoes, statements on, 119, 127, 128

Powers, J. W., report by, 152, 153

Pratt, Mrs. Lucy J., statement of, 81

Puffer, Loring W., report by, 139, 141

Putnam, Ansel W., essay by 43, 48, 51

Reed, Charles M., statement of, 110

INDEX TO THE ABSTRACT. 207

Page

Requirements of Board of Agriculture, 185

Root crops, reports on, 113, 115

Roots and their value for cattle food, 50, 51

Rotch, Wra. J., report by, 128,130

Russell, John E., report by, 154, 157

Ruta-bagas and their cultivation, 118

Rye, statement on, 110, 111

Salt hay, value of, as a cattle food 45, 49

Seedling potatoes, where best originated, 38

Sears, John H., statement of, 96

Sessions, H. M., statements of, 69, 103, 119

Shepherd, Henry, statement of, . . . . 150

Soiling cattle, 52, 54

Soule, Augustus H., statement of, 112

Special fertilizers and their value, . . 55, 56, 101, 102, 103, 104, 106, 121, 124, 125

Squashes and their cultivation, 134

Statistics of Massachusetts agriculture 186

Stiles, H. A., statement of, 116

Stockbridge fertilizers, value of, 31, 32, 103, 106, 121, 124

Strawberries and their cultivation 99

Sturtevant Brothers, statement of, 101

Taylor, George W., statement of, 85

Thayer, Peter C, statement of, 76, 77

Thomas, Albert, statements of, 112, 127

Thurlow, T. C, statement of, 89

Tracy, Cyrus M., address by, 1, 6, 10

Treadwell farm, report on, 55, 56

Turnips, best varieties and cultivation of, ...... 116, 122, 125

Vegetables, reports of committees on, . . . " . - • 131,137,139,141

Wait, Peter, statement of, 84

Wakefield, Horace P., statements of, 120, 121

Wallis, Horace, Jr., statements of, 104, 120

Ware, R. C, statement of, '92

Wheat and its cultivation, 109

Wheat bran, value of, as a cattle food, 50

Williams, F. H., statement of, • 122

Young grass richest in albuminoids, 46, 49

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