FOR PROMOTING AGRICULTURE. 37 



United States, was chosen. Mr. Adams was president of 

 the society until 1813 and Dr. Aaron Dexter was his suc- 

 cessor. In 1812, Josiah Quincy, who for a considerable 

 period had been a member, was elected a trustee of the 

 society. Evidences of his vigor and versatility appear fre- 

 quently in the record of the next fourteen years. In 1813 

 he contributed to the official publication of the society an 

 account of his method and success in cultivating a hedge 

 fence of American thorn on his farm in the town of 

 Quincy. It was four-fifths of a mile long and in five 

 years had attained a height of five feet, and was dense 

 enough to prevent the passage of cattle. The experiment, 

 he said, was designed to show what would be practicable 

 and economical in those parts of the State where there is 

 a scarcity of stone for building walls. This scarcity is, of 

 course, no part of the fame of the town of Quincy. His 

 next important experiment was, however, intended for 

 local instruction in the first instance, though by publish- 

 ing the result in the society's Journal in 1816, the 

 instruction became general, and has ever since been 

 followed by the farmers of the State. He had observed, 

 he said, " a universal prejudice " among farmers against 

 the cultivation of carrots for winter feed of cattle. This 

 aversion was based upon the amount of labor found nec- 

 essary in raising a small quantity of carrots for culinary 

 purposes in a garden bed. Being, as it would appear, 

 something of a " book farmer " for he disclaims any orig- 

 inality in the method he prepared and ridged, substan- 

 tially as the work is now done, two tracts of 3i acres each, 

 keeping exact record of labor and other cost. The result 

 was a yield of 2,562 bushels of roots on the two lots at a 

 cost, including allowance for rent of land, of ^322. Al- 

 lowing a value for 16 tons of carrot tops, as fodder, he . 

 figured the cost of the roots at eleven cents per bushel. 

 He adds that the farmers of his vicinity had taken up the 

 practice and admitted that the labor is not greater than in 

 raising potatoes and the feed better for cattle. 



