224 Review of the First Report on 



One great object of the agricultural survey, if no other, will 

 be, not only to dispel the idea that too many have, of the inutili- 

 ty of books; but, on the contrary, it will convince those, who have 

 heretofore held such opinions, of their error. It will, in truth, be 

 the means of causing farmers to think, as well as to act; and 

 that either the one or the other alone will avail him little in the 

 pursuit of the art. 



Another tendency that the survey of the state will have, is 

 that of making the occupation of the farmer more respectable 

 and respected than it has generally been considered. 



Too many are accustomed to consider the business of the far- 

 mer, as one requiring little judgment, or but a limited knowledge: 

 others view him as a mere digger of the soil. Such an idea of 

 the station of the. farmer has tended greatly to allure many from 

 its pursuit, who would have been zealous promoters of its cause. 

 This survey, we repeat, will do away in a great measure with 

 such ideas, and substitute in the minds of those who have such 

 opinions, the important place which the real farmer occupies in 

 the community. The agricultural survey of England, a few years 

 since, was attended with the most beneficial results, and we 

 doubt not the same will be the case in this country. 



The report commences with a description of Essex county, 

 the extent of its cultivated, pasturage, and other lands, and of 

 its peculiar soils. This is followed by a statement of the kinds 

 of crops most generally cultivated, with details of such as have 

 proved large and excellent. Next are reports of the dairy, sheep 

 husbandry, beef, swine, neat cattle, manures, fruit trees, forest 

 trees, fences, farm buildings, implements, weeds, bees, miscella- 

 neous matter, improvements, &c. &c. We have little room for 

 extracts, but the following description of Essex county may prove 

 interesting to many of our readers: — 



"Essex county lies at the northeastern part of Massachusetts; and 

 is bounded on the northwest by New Hampshire, on the east and north- 

 east by the Atlantic Ocean, and southeast by Massachusetts Bay, and 

 on the southwest by the county of Middlesex. It embraces in extent 

 360 square miles. Its population in 1830 was 82,887, its present popu- 

 lation 93,689; being about 260 inhabitants to a square mile. It contains 

 twenty-six towns. It is intersected through its whole width by the river 

 Merrimack, which empties into Massachusetts Bay at Newburyport, 

 and the rivers Shawsheen and Agawam or Ipswich. Parker and Sau- 

 gus rivers are likewise found, but are inconsiderable in length and mag- 

 nitude. 



"The general surface of the county is uneven; but there are no hills 

 of great elevation, and few which may not be cultivated to their sum- 

 mits. The county, for its whole length on the eastern side, is washed 

 by the Atlantic Ocean. Cape Cod, its eastern extremity, projects into 

 the sea, a distance of sixteen miles; and the coast is lined with a rooky 

 shore or extensive beaches, andj)ierced by innumerable inlets and creeks, 

 on which are extensive tracts of salt alluvial meadow. The county 

 abounds likewise in tracts of a greater or less extent, of fresh meadow 

 or peat-bog. A considerable amount of this land has been drained, antl 



