6 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE. 



are milked at' four o'clock in the morning tliroiigli the summer, 

 and at twelve o'clock at noon, at which time they are fed witli 

 corn fodder. The milk is taken from his place immediately 

 after milking, by the buyer, who carries it to market. 



The committee are aware that a feeling of dissatisfaction may 

 arise on account of the imj3erfection of this statement in one 

 respect, viz. : the results of Mr. Putnam's farming. This, 

 however, as remarked last year by the chairman, in a letter 

 published in the Society's Transactions, is unavoidable, because 

 a large part of the crops were still growing. There was one 

 attempt made to obtain the opinion of the committee, relating 

 to the amount of Indian corn upon an acre. No one put it at 

 less than seventij-five bushels when shelled, nor more than 

 eighty. It was a noble crop. But clean culture, a long war 

 with weeds every where over the whole farm, was most manifest. 



From the farm and hospitable mansion of Mr. Putnam, the 

 committee, with other gentlemen in attendance, proceeded, on 

 invitation, to the place of A. G. Bradstreet. Mr. B. has four 

 acres only, but it paid well for the time. The lot is chiefly or 

 wholly in orcharding. One fact affords a key to the whole, 

 showing the most careful and judicious selection. There was 

 room for -iOO peach trees in the orchard, but 1,600 had to be 

 sifted in order to find them. The planting out was no doubt as 

 easily done, the subsequent washing in soft soap and sand, fre- 

 quent stirring of tlie entire surface of the field, all go to 

 account for the fact, that each tree produced three dollars 

 worth of peaches in three years from the bud. Even in this 

 almost peachless year, the trees were well fruited, many of them 

 very well. The early York peach tree, says Mr. B., winter- 

 kills more than any other. Mr. B. has eighty apple trees all 

 planted twenty-eight feet apart, with a peach tree between every 

 two. The peach trees yielded two hundred and fifty dollars 

 worth of fruit for the market two years ago. Seventy-five 

 pear trees are growing and thriving upon the same four acres. 



"With a horse, one cow, and two pigs, well supplied with 

 meadow mud, Mr. Bradstreet makes ten cords of manure 

 annually. The chairman regrets that on account of the short 

 time devoted to this farm, so few facts were collected for the 

 benefit of the public. And the same remark may be made with 

 regard to the farm of Francis Dodge, situated near the two 



