22 



MASSACITUSETTS AGRICULTURE. 



mud, loam, weeds, &c. My larii'ost barn is ninety by thirty 

 feet, with two shcnls adjoininc;. It has a cclLar under the wliole 

 of it ciii'ht feet deep. Jt contains stabling' for thirty head of 

 cattle and three horses. The main stable for cattle is n})on the 

 backside. The cattle enter the stables from the cellar at the 

 centre of the barn, and pass each way. The manure is passed 

 through the floor, and in (he summer season, is hnelled and 

 covered with mud or loam, once or twice a week. 1 have 

 another building fifty by thirty feet, used for l)arn, slaughter 

 house, and storage for carts, wagons, tools, &c. It has stabling 

 for ten cattle. ]\Iy aj)ple trees have been much troubled with 

 borers, and from some cause, many of them do not bear the 

 kind of fruit for which I ])aid the nurseryman. 1 usually hire 

 two men for eight months, paying fifteen or sixteen dollars per 

 month and board ; I also have occasional help by the day. I 

 sometimes employ one man in the winter, and occasionally get 

 along a ])art of the time alone. If my statement has not been 

 sufliciently explicit, a multiplicity of cares must be my a])ology. 



FiTciiiiuRG, September 10, 18o5. 



NORFOLK. 



Rcpori of the Vis it in i^- Committee. 



The committee upon the general condition of agriculture in 

 the county, arc obliged, from circumstances beyond their con- 

 trol, to make a limited and imperfect report. 



The high prices of all agricultural ])roductions last spring, 

 induced the farmers to bring into cultivation as much land as 

 their means woiild allow. Some went beyond this limit, and 

 reaped disappointment. Nothing is harder than to convince 

 men that the course they and their fathers have long followed, 

 may not be the best in the present circumstances ; or that the 

 profit from three acres iikiij be eijual (o what they have usually 

 received from five. No theory of farming, however cunningly 

 framed, can disturb the convictions of education and experi- 

 ence. It is only by noticing the results of their lunghbors' 

 cflbrts, that they can ap})reciate the importance of a method 

 different from that to which they have been accustomed. AVe 



