MIDDLESEX SOCIETY. 131 



ment, which is recommended to the attention of his cotempo- 

 raries in the practice of husbandry. 



The next farm, visited by the committee, was that of WiUiam 

 Gibbon, in Marlboro', which contains thirty-seven acres, — 

 mowing, pasturing and tillage. It has been in the possession 

 of Mr. Gibbon since 1833. At that time, it kept for stock, 

 three cows and a horse. It now maintains six cows, a yoke of 

 oxen and a horse, and produces four or five tons of hay for sale, 

 beyond the quantity required for the support of the stock. 

 The farm is fenced with stone wall throughout, most of which 

 Mr. Gibbon has relaid, or made. He has set out and grafted 

 two hundred and fifty apple trees, one hundred peach trees, 

 forty quinces, most of which are in a bearing state. The av- 

 erage annual produce of the farm, he estimates as follows : — 

 apples, one hmidred barrels ; cider, ten to twenty barrels ; 

 quinces, six to ten bushels ; corn, fifty bushels ; potatoes, one 

 hundred bushels ; oats, thirty bushels ; carrots, one hundred 

 and forty bushels. For the last five years, he has sold his milk 

 at the door, and received in 1848, for milk and calves, |^220 00. 



William Buckminster, of Framingham, invited the committee 

 to visit his farm, and presented to them a statement, which, 

 after investigation, they found to be a fair representation of 

 what has been done, and what may reasonably be expected, 

 from Mr. Buckminster's well known industry, guided as it is, 

 by intelligent experience and persevering study. 



From Framingham the committee proceeded to Lincoln, to 

 view the farm of Daniel Weston, for a general description of 

 which, the committee refer to his statement. The committee 

 were much pleased with the arrangement of Mr. Weston's 

 barns and sheds, the cellar for the saving of manure, and the 

 conveniences for watering cattle. In the autumn he throws 

 into the barn-yard from seventy-five to one hundred cart loads 

 of meadow mud, — which, as his cattle never leave the yard for 

 drink, receives all their droppings. His barn cellar is forty 

 feet long and twelve feet wide, sufficient to contain all the 

 droppings of the cattle, which are kept in stalls during the 

 night. He keeps seventeen head of cattle in summer, and ten 



