150 Reviews. — Fourth Report of 



idly and powerfully. He has seen the powerful effects of night- 

 soil more than five years after its aj)piication; but it was in this case 

 applied liberally; and it must never be used without composting. 

 For ashes he has a high estimation, and when the soap-boiler calls 

 to buy his ashes for the customary price of ten cents a bushel, he 

 replies by offering the soap-boiler twenty cents a bushel for all he 

 has, and buys them, if he can. I give his opinions as those of a 

 strictly practical man, of much experience, and perhaps inferior to 

 none in the admirable skill and success of his cultivation. It is pret- 

 ty evident that he does not wait in the morning for the sun to call 

 him. 



"In referring to these extraordinary results, it would be idle to think 

 that they are reached without skill, judgment, energy, perseverance, 

 and toil. But it is a skill which sharpens the wits; and a toil, if not 

 excessive, which quickens the appetite, and strengthens the muscles, 

 and keeps off idle dreams. The earth is a good paymaster; but it 

 does not acknowledge any obligations to those to whom it owes 

 nothmg." 



The remarks on Orchards are interesting, and some ex- 

 cellent hints are included: with this extract we shall con- 

 clude our notice of the Report; not, however, without re- 

 cording our opinion that it is one of the most plain, con- 

 cise, and truly valuable contributions to our agricultural lite- 

 rature that has yet been made. 



Mr. Colman has left us, to reside in another State, but he 

 carries vvilh him the best wishes of every friend of agricultu- 

 ral improvement, for his future health and prosperity. 



"The cultivation of apples in Middlesex county is carried on to a 

 large extent, and might be increased with great advantage. Great 

 pains are taken to produce the very best engrafted fruit, especially 

 for winter, and among these, the Baldwin apple and the golden rus- 

 set are in most esteem. The Porter apple, which is an early autum- 

 nal fruit, is greatly valued. It would be out of my province to go 

 largely into this subject. The amount of sales, however, from some 

 of the farms in the county are quite large. A farmer in Walthani 

 is accustomed to put up for market, from 500 to 700 barrels. On a 

 farm in VVoburn, which has been almost created by the labor of its 

 present proprietor, now in a green old age, enjoying the fruits of his 

 indomitable industry, the sales of apples the year before the last 

 amounted to 1200 dollars. There are other farms where the pro- 

 duct in fruit is greater than here, but as I have not the precise ac- 

 counts, I do not state them. These results may surprise many of 

 the farmers in the interior. I hope they will surprise them into the 

 imitation of such industry and enterprise. To many of the farmers 

 in the interior, the extension of the railroads will afford, in this mat- 

 ter and in many others, an opportunity of coming into equal com- 

 petition with the farmers in the immediate vicinity of the capital. 

 There are new reasons for the cultivation of apples since their value 

 for the feeding of swine and cattle has been discovered. If they 



