388 REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER OF AGRICULTURE. 



twelve bushels of ashes. This is pat up in layers, sods being placed on 

 the outside to hold the mass. In a few days it will heat, when it is 

 worked over, and in a few weeks the' entire mass will be about the con- 

 sistency of leached ashes. This is applied to land for graiu and grass. 

 Put on to grass-land in October, it had given two loads of hay that year on 

 land that the previous year gave but one ; and on a field that had not been 

 plowed for ten years, and had yielded but two or three loads, applied as 

 above, it had this season given seven loads. The heap will compost 

 more readily if built up high than if spread out broad, and will take 

 about ten days or two weeks to become fit for use. The scrap costs at 

 the factory $10 per ton from the press, or $12 per ton if packed in bar- 

 rels. In this connection it should be mentioned that an article by Sec- 

 retary Boardman, on the menhaden and herring fisheries of Maine in 

 connection with agriculture, appears in this volume. The paper is a 

 very elaborate one, occupying 64 pages. 



Eeports from the various counties of the State show that upward of 

 forty associated dairy companies were in operation during the year. 

 The secretary closes his condensed report as follows : 



The year has been oue of fally average returns, and the farmer may well be satis- 

 fied with the results of his labors. Our flocks and herds have been free from plague 

 and disease, our staple crops generally spared from blight and the ravages of insects, 

 and on the whole contentment and comfort have waited on industry, crowning it with 

 satisfaction and plenty. No one has lost faith in farming, but, on the contrary, faith in 

 intelligent, systematic, and well-directed farming has steadilj'' gained ground every 

 day during the year, and more men are in love with it, believe in it, and are following 

 it now than formerly. Many farms, it is true, have been deserted ; but all over our 

 State men are returning from the city to the farm, and, putting into operation busi- 

 ness principles and intelligent direction, are working out good results and stimulating 

 improved farming throughout large sections. 



The transactions for 1875 of the Maine State Pomological Society fill 

 172 pages, and the second annual report of the Maine Dairymen's Asso- 

 ciation 42 pages, with interesting matter. 



MASSACHUSETTS. 



The twenty -third . annual report of the State Board for the year 1875 

 is one of more than average interest. It contains elaborate papers on a 

 variety of important subjects and exhaustive discussions participated in 

 by many of the most prominent agriculturists of Kew England. 



The secretary, in his preliminary report to the legislature, states 'that 

 the year has been i^rosperous and favorable for most branches of farm- 

 ing industry. The presence of heat and moisture, distributed with some 

 degree of uniformity throughout the season of most active vegetation, 

 furnishes the conditions favorable for a productive year on the farm. 

 In this respect the season was more than usually propitious, no drought 

 of any severity having occurred to injure the crops or cut short the 

 period of vegetable growth. 



Among the enterprises of an agricultural character that are especially 

 worthy of mention is that of diking in and reclaiming extensive tracts 

 of salt-marshes along the sea-shore. Green Harbor Marsh, situated in 

 the town of Marshfield, has been shut off from the tides of the ocean at 

 an expense exceeding $30,000, and over 1,400 acres have been thus put 

 into a condition to add materially to the productive wealth of the State. 

 Extensive and careful scientific investigations have been instituted, 

 under the direction of the State board, to ascertain ti)o changes which 

 take place in the soils of reclaimed marshes, with the hope of rendering 

 efficient aid to those who have undertaken this great public work. 



