12 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



loam, loam, clay loam, clay, peat, and considerable tracts of 

 a very light sandy soil hardly fit for cultivation. The first two 

 largely predominate ; the first three are well adapted to mar- 

 ket gardening. Through it flow the Merrimack, Nashua, 

 Concord, Charles, Mystic, Shawshene, and other rivers. In 

 the valleys of these rivers, there are a great many acres of 

 interval lands, some of which are quite productive, although 

 by no means equal in that respect to such lands on the Con- 

 necticut River. 



As you leave the valleys of the Nashua and Merrimack, the 

 country becomes hilly and broken, and not so readily culti- 

 vated, much of it being interspersed with ledges and bowlders ; 

 some of this land, more particularly the hillsides, being well 

 adapted to the growth of the apple. 



The sandy loams, gravelly loams, and loams, are well 

 adapted to growing all cultivated crops and for market 

 gardening, and the clay loams are very productive when 

 well drained. 



The farming of the northern part of the county is prin- 

 cipally dairy farming : a small portion of the milk is used for 

 butter-making, but the larger part of it is sent to market by 

 milkmen. This, with fruits, grains, beef, pork, and vegetables, 

 in a smaller way, make the principal products of the farms. 



The central part produces milk for the market very largely, 

 but does not use much for butter. The milk from this 

 section finds a market principally at Boston. There are also 

 grown fruits and vegetables to considerable extent, and what 

 are termed the small fruits quite largely : these also find a 

 market at Boston. The southern part of the county also 

 produces large quantities of milk, which is used almost 

 entirely for the market ; but here the vegetables and fruits, 

 both large and small, are the leading crops. Stock-raising in 

 Middlesex, so far as relates to neat-cattle, except the raising 

 of heifers to replenish the stock of cows on the dairy-farms, 

 is nearly abandoned, for the reason that it can be done more 

 economically where land, hay, and pasturage are cheaper. In 

 the breeding of these heifers, there has been a large admix- 

 ture of the Ayrshire, Jersey, and more recently of the 

 Dutch or Holstein blood, by crossing with the best cows on 

 the farms, and with marked benefit in the increased produc- 

 tion of milk. Within the county there is quite a number of 

 herds of Ayrshires, Jerseys, and Dutch cattle. 



