:300 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



JVLY 



MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTUHE. 



Before us, we have the "Third Annual Report of 

 the Secretary of the Massachusetts Board of Agri- 

 culture, together with the Reports of the Commit- 

 tees appointed to visit the County Societies," and 

 giving some account, also, of their condition. The 

 volume opens with a list of the persons composing 

 the State Board. The report of the Secretary fol- 

 lows, and presents a statement of the management 

 of the farm at Westboro' during the past year, to- 

 gether with tables showing the amount of food and 

 milk of cows for definite periods. The general im- 

 provements of the farm, the amount and kind of 

 crops, and the experiments with manure, are given 

 at some length, and are accompanied by such judi- 

 cious remarks of the Secretary as seemed to be 

 necessary to a clear understanding of these several 

 topics. Considerable space is devoted to a descrip- 

 tion of certain farm implements, and with illus- 

 trations of them. Under this head the short essay 

 on the structure of the plow, and the application 

 of the draft, should be read with care by all who 

 either direct, hold the plow, or drive. In this por- 

 tion of the report we find several replies from men 

 of experience, in various parts of the State, to inqui- 

 ries of the Secretar}-, in relation to the practicabili- 

 ty and expediency of using the mowing machine. 

 The writers — -we believe all of them — favor its use. 

 Valuable remarks and suggestions upon these re- 

 turns are made by the Secretary ; and these, with 

 the report of the committee appointed by the Mas- 

 sachusetts Society, who offered a premium of $600 

 on a mowing machine, give such descriptions of 

 their use as to enable one to form a pretty correct 

 judgment of them as labor-saving machines for the 

 farm. 



The Secretary states that from the office of the 

 Board he has distributed many thousand packages 

 of seeds of different varieties, and that hereafter 

 this will be made a more prominent object of atten- 

 tion. He also suggests that a regular system of ex- 

 change is highly desirable, by which plants, fruits, 

 &c., which have been found to succeed in one sec- 

 tion could be brought to notice in other sections. 

 His remarks on this topic are pertinent and worthy 

 of consideration, and with an excellent letter on the 

 subject of the destruction of birds on our annual 

 Fast day, which was sent into every part of the 

 State, he closes his report to the Board. 



The next division is the reports of committees 

 from the Board, to visit the several county exhibi- 

 tions. The plan is an excellent one, for several 

 reasons. If the reports are impartial and faithful, 

 they give a synopsis of all our exhibitions. They 

 should never flatter, but commend what is worthy, 

 and point out plainly what seems erroneous, or 

 where obvious improvement may be made. Know- 

 ing that a person of experience and keen observa-, 



tion is to be present for the very purpose of noting 

 merits or deficiencies, a society will make greater 

 efibrt to call out the products of thd county, and 

 to have every department of the show properly 

 arranged, and in order. These visits prompt a 

 wholesome ambition, while they are, in themselves, 

 or should be, a sort of review of the transactions of 

 a particular society for the year. But as a general 

 thing, the}- do not go far enough ; Mobile they tell 

 us that a county has made great progress in the 

 breeds of its cattle or horses, and in the aggregate 

 of its grains and grasses, we want to know, also, 

 what influence these operations have had upon the 

 homes and hearts of the people ; whether the ad- 

 vancement is strictly confined to the specific ob- 

 jects set down in the bill, or whether a better 

 knowledge and practice of these specific things has 

 awakened a general desire for improvement in 

 whatever goes to make up the sum of human com- 

 fort and happiness. Is there a general better cul- 

 tivation of the soil ? Are the tables of the com- 

 mon farmer supplied with a greater variety, and a 

 better quality of vegetables and fruits than they were 

 ten or twenty years ago ? Is farming now better un- 

 derstood as an art, and a science, by those who di- 

 rect its operations ? Are inquiries on foot, and in- 

 vestigation encouraged? Are women interested 

 and contented in the occupation ? These, and ma- 

 ny other inquiries, should be suggested to the dele- 

 gate by the scene which he visits, and the influence 

 of these operations upon the condition of the people 

 should be made known to the Board ; and in or- 

 der to accomplish this, the delegate should pass 

 two or three days among the people, whose exhi- 

 bition he %dsits. We have read all these reports 

 with some care, and have been gratified in the oc- 

 cupation. 



The next general subject is on agricultural sta- 

 tistics ; this we shall pass over now, and bye-and- 

 bye give a page or two in full. They will be found 

 of great value and imi)ortance. 



The returns of societies, analysis of crops, mete- 

 orological observations &c., the reader must exam- 

 ine for himself. 



The abstract of returns of the county societies 

 presents a mass of valuable and highly interesting 

 matter. It has been dipt of its redundancies by 

 the Secretary, and presented to the reader in a 

 terse, compact, and vigorous form, and occasionally 

 accompanied by suggestions or remarks from his 

 own pen. These abstracts alone would make a 

 volume of permanent and practical value. Some 

 of the reports on neat stock, on fruits and flowers, 

 and on domestic manufactures, are admirable. 



One hundred and twenty-nine pages are then oc- 

 cupied by extracts from addresses delivered before 

 the various agricultural societies of the State dur- 

 ing the last year, and they contain an amount of 

 suggestion, varied information and practical good 



