1838] 



FARMERS' REGISTER. 



97 



of the land in tlie coimly is already under partial 

 improvement or susceptible at |)rcsent prices of 

 labor, while present prices of produce remain, of 

 profitable culture. 



The county is well watered; and contains seve- 

 ral ponds of some extent, the scenery in the ncinrh- 

 borhood of which is picturesque and beautiful. 

 Some of the situalionson the Merrimack and ma- 

 ny on the sea-shore arc commandinij^ in their |)o- 

 sition, and present views of large extent and great 

 variety and beauty. 



The firmers in Essex are particularly favored in 

 respect to markets. Boston is easily accessible to 

 most parts ol' this county, being from its tiirthest 

 point not more than forty miles distant; and the 

 large commercial and manufacturing towns of Sa- 

 lem, Lynn, Newburyport, Marblehead, Danvers, 

 and Lowell, furnish a ready demand for whatever 

 (he farmer will produce. 01' the whole popula- 

 tion in Essex, there is reason to believe that not 

 one-fifth part are engaged, properly speaking, in 

 agriculture. The remaining four parts are con- 

 sumers, not producers. The county of Essex is 

 essentially a commercial and manufacturing dis- 

 trict. Besides what may be called marketing, in- 

 cluding the selling of hay, she sends no agricultu- 

 ral produce away ; and she imports largely of 

 bread-stuffs, vegetables, dairy-produce, mutton, 

 beef and pork, together with a greatamount of oats 

 and corn for horse-feed. Rye is cultivated to a 

 small extent, and tlie bread of the population is 

 almost entirely corr.posed of the superfine flour 

 of western New York and the middle states. 



Size of farms. — The average size of the farms 

 in Essex, will not exceed one hundred acres, and 

 farms of three or four hundred acres are scarcely 

 to be found. The population of the county be- 

 coming daily more numerous, the land is continu- 

 ally undergoing subdivisions; and a large propor- 

 tion of the persons engaged in the manufacturing 

 and mechanic arts, are anxious to secure to them- 

 selves small parcels of land, for the sake of keep- 

 ing a cow or raising their own fruits and vege- 

 tables. 



Farming in the county is scarcely pursued as a 

 distinct or exclusive profession; but as subsidiary 

 to some other business or pursuit. In this way it 

 has been eminently conducive to health, and pro- 

 ductive of innumerable comforts; but no fair ex- 

 periment has been made of it under the fair ad- 

 vantages of capital and labor and exclusive en- 

 terprise and attention, as matter ol' pecuniary in- 

 come and profit. 



From the same. 



SALT HAY, 



A large amount of salt hay is cut in the county. 

 The marshes in Saugus, Lytm, Essex, Ipswich. 

 Rowley, Newbury, and Salisbury, are extensive 

 and productive. 



The grasses produced on the salt marshes are 

 various m kind and value. I prefer to give the 

 common names, though these names may be re- 

 garded as local and provincial. 



Black grass — deemed the best product: grows 

 on the higher parts of the marsh, where it is only 

 occasionally flooded by the tide; it is often thick 

 and heavy, and it is desirable that it should be cut 

 early. When well cured it is much relished by cat- 

 Vol. \T-13 



tie; and deemed of almost equal value as tlie best 

 English hay. I have seen this grass growing 

 luxuriantly high up on the upland, where the seed 

 was dropped from the cart; ana it vvould be well 

 worth tiie experiment to lest its value as a culti- 

 vated urass in such locations. A liu-mcr in Ips- 

 wich is of opinion, that if tiiis grass is not cut very 

 early, it should be cut very late, after the season of 

 the Hy has passed, which is apt to impregnate it, 

 and occasion maggots in the mow, oH'ensive to 

 cattle. Other farmers deem this matter of little 

 moment. The cattle themselves ought to be 

 judges in the case. 



The next grass is the red grass or fox grass, a 

 very fine reedy grass, abundant and excellent. 



The next is goose grass, deemed excellent, but 

 not abundant. Sheep, it is said, will entirely de- 

 stroy this grass, if sufi'ered to feed on the marshes. 



Branch grass, a short reedy grass, resembling 

 much the tbx grass, and by some persons pro- 

 nounced the same; it branches much, and from 

 this circumstance derives its name; it is not abun- 

 dant, but the hay is much valued. 



Sedge, a pointed long flat- leaf, grows in low 

 places and on the sides of creeks, much valued 

 when not too large. 



Thatch, a grass differing little from sedge, which 

 grows in creeks as high as the tide rises; and is cut 

 principally lor litter or manure. 



The average ])roduct of well-managed salt 

 marshes is from three-fourths of a ton to one and 

 a quarter ton. The hay is valued at half the price 

 of English hay. In Salem and Boston markets, 

 where it'is purchased for a change of diet or to be 

 mixed with English, it usually bring two-thirds 

 of the price of English. 



The farmers in the interior of the county, even 

 at a distance of fifteen miles or more from the 

 sea-shore, are glad to own or hire a piece of salt 

 marsh, considering a portion of this fodder of great 

 service to the health of their stock. A shrewd 

 farmer in Lynn considers salt hay as worth five 

 dollars a ton, merely to spread upon his grass land 

 for manure. His judgment is to be relied on. It 

 is stated likewise that those fiirmers, who carry it 

 into the interior in a green state and cure it in 

 their fields, find this process almost equal to a top- 

 dressing of maimre. This comes undoubtedly 

 from the salts, which it deposites. The quantity 

 of salt hay which is cut, enables the larmers to sell 

 much of their English hay, without injury to their 

 farms. These lands, according to their situation, 

 are valued at from ten to fii'ty dollars per acre. 

 Their value is likely to be much increased in many 

 places from improvements of which I shall speak 

 presently. 



Considerable quantities of fresh meadow or 

 swale hay is cut; but it is composed of aquatic 

 plants, which contain little nourishment; and is 

 of comparatively little value. The manure of 

 cattle liid upon it or littered with it is of inferior 

 quality. 



From the same. 



ASHGS AS BIANURE. 



The farmers on Long Island have been accus- 

 tomed to send to towns on our sea-shore, to Mar- 

 blehead lor example, to purchase for their wheat 

 fields, our leeched ashes, at ten cents per bushel; 



