48 ESSEX SOCIETY. 



importance, viz. ; the manner of making and applying manure, 

 and the cultivation and amount of his crops. They recommend 

 that he receive the sum of ten dollars. 



Having visited Mr. Poor's farm, the attention of the com- 

 mittee was called to the farm of Josiah Crosby, of North An- 

 dover. His land, like Mr. Poor's, is a deep rich soil, rather 

 moist, well adapted to the cultivation of hay, which has been 

 almost his sole crop. He has made considerable improvement. 

 Land which a few years since was covered with bushes, now 

 produces a fine crop of English hay. He observed that he had 

 hauled sand three-fourths of a mile, and considered it profitable 

 for top dressing. He, as also Mr. Winkley and Mr. Poor, has 

 a cellar under his barn, for the purpose of keeping swine and 

 making manure. 



There seems to be a gradual improvement among a large 

 portion of our farmers, but not so much as their interest re- 

 quires. There is the material on almost every farm, if judi- 

 ciously applied, to enrich itself; compost of mud should be 

 used on high warm land, and subsoil on low moist land ; sand 

 should be used on clay, and clay on sand, thus by changing 

 the soil it increases its fertility. But in most cases, too much 

 land is cultivated. It does not necessarily follow that because 

 a man cultivates a large quantity of land, that he is a good 

 farmer. Neither is he the best farmer, in all cases, that grows 

 the largest crops, for although he may raise a large crop, yet 

 the expense may exceed its value, which is not, (in ordinary 

 cases,) good farming. But he is the best farmer who will 

 raise the greatest crop under the same circumstances, with the 

 least expense. 



JOSEPH HOW, Chairman. 



Appleton Moore's Statement. 



The farm examined by the committee, and which is ofiered 

 for premium, contains thirty-eight acres, mostly of what is 

 called plain land — either sandy or of a sandy loam, underlaid 

 with gravel. — The remainder, (about nine acres,) is a gravelly 

 loam, underlaid with clay pan ; the whole, with the exception 

 of about six acres, which is too steep for easy cultivation, and 



