244 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE. 



cellent, and from what the committee could gather, those birds 

 can be reared, hj every one who cultivates land, with great 

 profit. They are easily managed, cheaply fed, very prolific, 

 and find a ready sale, if not needed at home. The sweepings 

 of all poultry houses, properly composted, is nearly as fertiliz- 

 ing as any imported guano — and the Egyptians obtain all their 

 manure from their pigeon houses. Ammonia, uric acid and 

 albumen are found in the droppings of every description of 

 poultry. 



Domesticated rabbits were exhibited in great variety. In 

 several European countries, and in the vicinity of New York 

 city, these animals are cultivated in large numbers, their amaz- 

 ing fecundity rendering a "warren" very profitable. Those 

 who have kept them in this county say that any one, who will 

 manage them properly, can obtain from one buck and four does, 

 fed at an average expense of four cents a day, two plump young 

 rabbits, fit for the table, each week. Your committee, however, 

 did not award small gratuities for the best rabbits, or for a cu- 

 rious white woodchuck exhibited, because they were convinced 

 of their actual utility. Such a test would exclude most of the 

 fancy articles from the attractive exhibition of ladies' work, and 

 it Avould hardly do to apply it to the fancy horses, the ornamen- 

 tal carriages, the costly fruits, or the rare flowers. The com- 

 mittee saw interested crowds w^atching the specimens of the 

 animals of our county, and thought that small gratuities should 

 reward the bright-eyed lads who exhibited them. 



There is, unfortunately, little exertion made to interest the 

 farmer's boy. He is forced to " do the chores," or to labor with 

 worn-out tools, and he never has an opportunity to earn dis- 

 tinction or pocket money. Easy communication with the cities 

 and manufacturing towns presents to his mind the apple of 

 discord as well as of temptation. The clerk and the apprentice, 

 better dressed, tell him of their library associations, their debat- 

 ing societies, and their opportunity to make money by overwork 

 or perquisites. Is it strange that so many country-born boys 

 run away from the old homesteads, or persuade their parents 

 to find tliem situations in the city ? 



It is diflerent in England. Nor is her agricultural glory 

 attributable to her scientific farmers, to her physiological herds- 

 men, or to her practical chemists. Her sons are retained in 



