BARNSTABLE SOCIETY. 191 



are to succeed each other ; to the reclaiming of swamps and 

 boggy lands and meadows, and the cultivation of trees and 

 shrubbery for use and ornament. The effects of these improve- 

 ments are visible in all our towns, in the appearance of the pas- 

 tures and meadows, of the crops, of the enclosures, and of the 

 grounds about the buildings. 



The attention of the people has generally been directed to the 

 utility of planting forest trees on the sandy commons and beaches 

 of this county. Forest trees improve the soil on which they 

 grow, and are a source of profit for timber and fuel ; but their 

 greatest use is, the protection which they afford to the cultivated 

 fields against the winds from the ocean, which stint and blast 

 vegetation exposed to their unbroken violence. The high price 

 of corn last spring, induced the farmers in this county to extend 

 its cultivation, and more land was planted with corn, than in 

 any one year for a long time past, probably more than was ever 

 planted. The crop is not so good as last year. Many complain 

 that the ears are not well filled ; but on rich, well-manured, and 

 well-cultivated lands, the yield proves abundant. The potato 

 crop is almost a total failure. The rot prevails in all the towns, 

 and the committee have scarce met with one who did not com- 

 plain of his loss. Nearly all the instances in which potatoes 

 have not suffered from the disease, are, where dry sea-weed was 

 used for a manure. Little fruit has been raised this year. The 

 trees, particularly the apple, have suffered from the depreda- 

 tions of worms and insects, some species of which have been 

 unknown in this county till within a few years. The commit- 

 tee cannot, in this report, refer to all who have made valuable 

 and economical improvements in the cultivation and manage- 

 ment of their farms and appendages. The following, among 

 others, they conceive to be deserving of particular notice. 



Thomas Lathrop has accomplished a task, which men of or- 

 dinary enterprise and industry would have considered imprac- 

 ticable or visionary. He has rendered fields, taken up in the 

 low lands, among the barren sands of Provincetown, fertile in 

 the production of corn, grass, and vegetables. 



John Doane, of Orleans, has, by skilful management, ren- 

 dered his farm five times as productive of grain and grass, as it 



