84 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



machine during the past season, and referred to by some of the 

 committees, is, that the fewer division fences on the farm the 

 better. It has been the custom from time immemorial, to dispose 

 of the stones turned out by the plough, in ugly-looking stone 

 walls, which mar the beauty of the farm, and occupy much land 

 which is now thought to be worth something for the purposes of 

 cultivation. The idea was to have a frequent change of pasturage 

 for cattle, rather than to allow them to range over a wide ex- 

 tent without much confinement. Of the many fields mown by 

 the competitors for the $600 prize offered by the Massachusetts 

 Society for the Promotion of Agriculture, the average size was 

 only/owr acres I and, leaving out the rich meadows of the Con- 

 necticut, the average would fall below that. This minute sub- 

 division of farms is a great impediment to the economical use 

 of machinery, and even of animal power to any great extent, 

 and many an old wall which was built fifty or a hundred years 

 ago, and has come to occupy twice or three times the space 

 originally allotted to it, is now being removed and buried be- 

 neath the surface or otherwise disposed of. With small lots 

 the farmer loses the time of turning, at every furrow in plough- 

 ing and other operations of a similar nature, like the use of the 

 mowing machine, the horse-rake, &c. There is one advantage, 

 however, of no small importance, in these division fences in New 

 England, and that is, the protection which they afford to the 

 field in breaking the fierce winds, in arresting leaves and dust, 

 which settle upon and fertilize the soil. 



Another important lesson taught us by the use of the machine 

 is, that the stouter the grass is, (other things being equal,) the 

 more easily and economically it can be mown, and hence the im- 

 portance of a high and thorough cultivation of all grasslands, — 

 not simply in the clearing away of stones, stumps or other ob- 

 structions, which the use of the machine will lead to, but in the 

 use of more manure, and the more complete and thorough til- 

 lage with the plough, the harrow and the roller. Many farmers, 

 in all parts of the State, have already taken the hint, and are 

 preparing their lands with reference to some future use of a 

 mowing machine. 



But the returns made to the Society by the competitors for 

 the premium, and my own observation of the use of the ma- 

 chine, establish conclusively that the machine can be used in a 



