78 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE. 



improves ; and if an animal will get fat for the butcher at mid- 

 summer, instead of running the whole season, the keeping for 

 one-half the season is saved, while the beef usually sells then 

 at a higher price. 



Methuen, Nov. 15, 1853. 



Jacob Farnuni's Statement. 

 I present to your examination two pastures, one with fifteen 

 acres and the other with twenty- three. May, 1851, I spread 

 one ton of plaster on each pasture. In 1852, the expense of 

 cutting and pulling up savins was about ten dollars. First of 

 May I spread two tons on each pasture. Cost of plaster pur- 

 chased at Ilaverhill, was $5.50 per ton; cost of drawing and 

 spreading was $2.50 per ton. One pasture is very spongy; 

 the other is dry. I feel encouraged to try more on my other 

 pastures. 



Andover, Nov. 12, 1853. 



ORCHARDS. 



The interest in the cviltivation of fruit has increased to such 

 a degree that most of the societies offer premiums for orchards 

 of various kinds, leaving the examination to be made in some 

 cases by the committee on farms, and in others, appointing a 

 special committee for this purpose. 



MIDDLESEX. 



Amos Hagar^s Statement. 



' I submit the following statement in regard to the management 

 of my orchards. The first orchard contains, by estimation, two 

 and one-half acres, has a north-westerly slope. The soil is a 

 deep loam, with a clayey subsoil mixed with blue gravel. This 

 lot contains two hundred and thirty-four apple trees, set thirty- 

 two feet square, with one in the centre. One hundred seventy- 

 four trees were set out in the spring of 1844, twenty-five in the 



