HAMPDEN SOCIETY. 241 



Other parts of the exhibition were in their usual variety and 

 beauty, excepting fruits, which were scarce, as was expected. 



The annual address, before the society, was delivered by W. 

 C. Goldthwait, A. M., principal of the Westfield Academy. 



On Farms. 



The committee upon the management and improvement of 

 farms, present the farm of Frederick Fowler, of Westfield, as 

 entitled to the premium in their department. Several other 

 farms were offered for the inspection of the committee, but this 

 is the only one entered in time to comply with the regulations 

 of the society, in the competition for premiums, and is the only 

 one which has been examined by the committee. 



Notwithstanding the absence of competitors, the committee 

 did not consider themselves justified in recommending a premi- 

 um, without a faithful examination of the farm. They have 

 spent a day in going over the whole of it, observing the pro- 

 cesses of cultivation and improvement, and making an estimate 

 of time, value, and economy ; and they present the following 

 report of their observations. 



Mr. Fowler's farm consists of about two hundred acres of 

 land, under cultivation. It lies in separate parcels. About one- 

 half is plain land, of light, sandy soil, of the usual character ; 

 the remainder lies in different parts of the interval of Westfield, 

 and includes the varieties of its meadow land. 



In the cultivation of the plain lands, which compose so large 

 a part of this county, it too often happens, that those portions 

 of the land which are the hardest of cultivation, and at the 

 same time the richest, such as the margins of brooks, and the 

 hollows frequently found on the surface, which contain the 

 wash of the higher portions of the soil, are neglected and un- 

 improved. This fault cannot be found with Mr. Fowler's lands. 

 The committee went over a field of fifty acres of rye, every 

 where well got in, evenly sprouted, and in first-rate order. The 

 whole of it had been ploughed twice this season, and full one- 

 half of it is of that kind, ordinarily not ploughed at all. The 

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