GARDEN AND VEGETABLE FARMING. 23 



roads and planted shade-trees beside them, and utilized the 

 brooks to adorn their estates, without changing the agricul- 

 tural character or appearance of the town, and added new 

 beauty to the natural attractions of the place. 



Good roads are necessary to the prosperity of any place. 

 And the excellence of our roads, and the mode of caring for 

 them, have been commended in town, state, and national 

 reports. 



We welcome you to this town, for we know your presence 

 will be profitable to us. And we will endeavor to make 3^0 ur 

 visit pleasant to you. If you can find time from the duties 

 of the meetings to visit some of our farms and manufactories, 

 we shall esteem it a pleasure to afford you every facility for 

 gratifying the wish. 



Afternoon Session. 



The meeting was called to order at two o'clock, by Capt. 

 MoOEE, who stated that the subject for consideration was 

 Market-Gardening and Vegetable Culture, and introduced, as 

 the essayist of the afternoon, Williajvi D. Philbeick, Esq., 

 of Newton Centre, who read the following paper : — 



MARKET-GARDENING AND VEGETABLE CULTURE. 



BY WILLIAM D. PHILBRICK. 



The essential things for a good market-garden are nearness 

 to a good market, a good soil, and sufficient capital. A good 

 gardener should have a natural tact for the business, which 

 will include habits of industry and a keen, observing eye, 

 and should have some years' experience ; for it is a trade that 

 cannot be learned wholly from books and papers, but needs 

 practical acquaintance with the many details of the work for 

 success. Many of the failures in attempting this trade are 

 due to want of capital, but perhaps more to want of the 

 necessary experience or of natural tact. 



The distance from market will control, in great measure, 

 the nature of the crops that can be profitably grown. Within 

 six miles of a large city, the manure-wagon and market-wagon 

 can make two trips in a day if needful ; and this nearness 

 gives a very great advantage where a large amount of manure 



