.28 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



or towns. Upon the whole, after a careful consideration of 

 the official returns, and of the testimony of the most competent 

 individuals in all sections of the State, one is forced to the 

 conclusion that the increase has been but slight, and that the 

 average yield of this crop, per acre, does not much, if at all, 

 exceed one ton, though, as one very sensible correspondent 

 remarks, " No man who calls himself a good farmer, would 

 feel satisfied with that amount." 



In addition to the upland mowing, to which reference is 

 made, the number of acres of fresh, wet meadow, was estimated, 

 in 1840, at 184,822, yielding 135,930 tons of meadow hay; 

 whiles in 1850 it was 180,490, yielding 133,821 tons. 



The salt marshes of tliis State are worthy of special men- 

 tion. Susceptible as they are to vast improvements, and at 

 reasonable expense, it is a subject of astonishment that they 

 are comparatively so much neglected. They produce, on an 

 average, little over three-fourths of a ton to the acre, a 

 large proportion of that being of inferior quality. It is be- 

 lieved that both quantity and quality may be greatly improved. 



There are no less than 40,667 acres of salt marsh in this 

 State, as appears by official statistics, and these produce but 

 about 33,575 tons of hay ! Situated as these marshes often 

 are, at a distance from the owner's residence, often requiring 

 great labor to make and secure the hay upon them, they can 

 hardly be said to be of any real value in their present condi- 

 tion, the cutting, curing and carting home, costing more than 

 the value of the crop of hard and wiry hay, little relished by 

 the cattle along the shore, which are obliged to consume a 

 large proportion of it. 



There are other marshes, however, much superior to those, 

 very frequently met with, tlie hay from which is excellent, nu- 

 tritive, and much relished l)y animals fed upon it. To show 

 what may be done in this important line of improvement, 

 attention is respectfully called to the following statement from 

 a farmer of Norfolk County, whose marsh, of fifteen acres, is 

 situated on the Neponset River, in Dorchester. He says : — 

 '' It was owned, for many years, by one of the best farmers 

 in the county, (now deceased,) who expended nothing to improve 

 its value. It was similar to other marshes in the vicinity, that 



