74 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE. 



pays for his labor and other necessary expenses, and is con- 

 stantly making improvements upon his farm. We accordingly 

 recommend that the first premium of $25 be awarded to Mr. 

 Kilburn for the best cultivated farm. 



Abel F. Adams. 



Nathan Upham. 



Thomas Billings. 



IMPROVING PASTURE AND WASTE LANDS. 



ESSEX. 



From the Report of the Committee. 



The Committee on Improving Pasture and Waste Land have 

 had no entry for the former, and but one for waste land — that 

 of Richard Webster, of Haverhill. 



Tliree of the Committee visited this piece of land in Septem- 

 ber, and were pleased with the improvement made upon it. It 

 will be seen, by the statement of Mr. Webster, that he was lib- 

 eral in his expenses, having spent over twelve hundred dollars 

 for labor, seed and manure on less than three acres, in three 

 years ; but large as the expenditure was, the income was still 

 larger. We have looked at the amount of sales from this piece 

 for the three years with some care. It will be seen that the 

 prices were the highest retail ones, so that he must have carried 

 them to the consumer. He was fortunate in having a large 

 part of it planted with potatoes in 1864, which he sold for $430. 

 Again, in 1865, he was fortunate in having so many squashes 

 when they sold high. In 1866 his crops appear to have been 

 much larger, but his sales were not so great. He has not given 

 us any estimate of the expense of marketing the crops. In the 

 balance which he has struck, it appears that he has made 

 $965.15 by his operation. The Committee think that twenty per 

 cent, should be deducted for marketing ; and if we leave out 

 of the account the $350, the estimated improvement of the 

 land, we shall have about $350 gain. 



Mr. Webster says that he was not bred a farmer, but he 

 appears to have the faculty of disposing of his produce well. It 



