192 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE. 



tude of societies like our own in almost every neighborhood, 

 our farmers are thoroughly intelligent in all branches of their 

 vocation. Agriculture is now a science. Wherever we turn 

 the eye in our county, we meet the most unmistakable evidences 

 of thrift, intelligence and prosperity in the agricultural commu- 

 nity. 



Elegant residences and spacious barns, airy and well-venti- 

 lated in summer, and warm and comfortable in winter, and 

 combining every accommodation that the most fastidious stock- 

 breeder could wish, meet the eye in all directions in the rural 

 districts. It has been remarked that the barns of New Eng- 

 land farmers form a most important feature in their agriculture. 

 Thousands are annually built on the most improved plan for the 

 storing of hay and other crops, and for the shelter of cattle and 

 the saving of the manure. In this Commonwealth alone, in 

 1860, there were 84,327 barns, an increase of more than 10,000 

 during the ten preceding years. 



Our own county is not a whit behind any other in the State, 

 if equalled by any, in the excellence of its barns. In our stern 

 climate such spacious and comfortable shelters for neat cattle 

 augur well for the future of our stock. These barns, in con- 

 nection with good feed, judicious ventilation and proper care, 

 will guarantee to us a constantly improving stock. 



It is hardly necessary to say that the milk dairy is a leading 

 agricultural interest in a county like this, full of manufacturing 

 villages and cities. It has been well said, after making proper 

 allowances, that the consumption of milk as food is of much 

 greater importance than its manufacture into cheese and butter, 

 in populous industrial communities like our own. Butter and 

 cheese can be brought from great distances ; but the milk 

 demanded as food must be produced within a comparatively 

 short distance of the place of its consumption. If conveyed by 

 wagons, fifteen miles is about the limit of its cartage. The 

 shorter the distance between the place of production and that 

 of consumption, the better for the consumer, as the jolting of 

 the wagon precipitates the richness of the milk to the bottom of 

 the can. The produce of milk as food has attracted the 

 special attention of our Middlesex farmers, and has abundantly 

 rewarded their labors. 



