68 • MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE. 



only in a liquid, soluble form. And Dr. Dana tells us that the 

 salts and eartlis form voltaic batteries ivitli the roots of groiving' 

 plants, to 1)6 brought in contact with the " salts " and " earths " 

 of a clay bed so as to get the benefit of the " Toltaic battery," 

 unless you first open a way for them by some process as 

 natural and practicable as that of the freest use of sand. 



But, as before mentioned, the prospects before the farmer, 

 and consequently the county itself, are bright, and full of 

 encouragement. When the nation's last fight is to be fought, 

 and her last victory won, we have no possible means of fore- 

 telling ; but long after that time shall have come, the triumphs 

 of willing science over unwilling soils will be but just begin- 

 ning. So long as our own county can show such farmers as 

 Loring, and Sutton, and the Wares, father and son, and Ives, 

 and Page, — the acting and ex-Presidents of the Agricultural 

 Society, — with many, many others all ready and anxious to fol- 

 low where our distinguished county chemist, Dr. J. R. Nicliols, 

 leads, so long old Essex may rightfully boast, not only of what 

 it is, but of what it is to be. And we by no means admit that 

 this is, as the British Reviews say, rearing a fictitious capital of 

 renown which our posterity are to pay off; for the present 

 generation of Essex farmers, we believe, will do a good share 

 of it themselves. 



Interesting communications to me from Mr. Rogers and Dr. 

 Merriam, members of the committee, whose valuable sugges- 

 tions I have incorporated in this report, sustain me in my 

 views ; and they urge particularly a competition among the 

 smaller farms of the county, wiiere the chief agricultural 

 interest lies, for the premium of the society. With these 

 introductory remarks I present the statement of Dr. Loring. 



David Choate, Chairman. 



Statement of George B. Loring. 

 The farm which I enter for premium is situated in Salem, 

 and is known as tlic Pickman Farm. It contains four hundred 

 and twenty-eight acres, lying in a body in the south-easterly 

 part of the city. It came into my possession April 1, 1857 ; 

 since which time I have added to it about seventy acres of 

 pastui'e-land, lying in the towns of Boxford and Middleton, and 

 known as Bald Hill. 



