270 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



June 



barn ; such being the case, the drive-way -woulcl 

 be only eight feet in width, which would be too 

 narrow for either barn or celhir. The drive-way 

 in the cellar being under the drive-way in the 

 barn, its entrance must, of necessity, preclude 

 the privilege of driving through the barn, which 

 is not good policy. The trap-door in the floor- 

 way should be dispensed with, and the cellar 

 should be of such depth as to admit of tipping a 

 cart. The "Model Barn" in the N. E. Farmer, 

 p. 272, vol. 4, embraces much that is economical 

 and convenient. Middlesex. 



Feb. 26, 1858. 



MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTUEE. 

 We have before us the fifth annvial report of 

 the Secretary of the Massaclmseits State Board 

 of Affriculiure, together with the reports of com- 

 mittees appointed to visit the autumnal exhibi- 

 tions of the several county societies last fall. The 

 volume is a handsome octavo of 371 pages, on 

 fine, white paper, is illustrated with excellent en- 

 gravings of horses, cattle, sheep, swine and agri- 

 cultural implements, — it is printed well, edited 

 with ability, by Mr. Secretary Flint, and is a 

 credit to the Board of Agriculture and to the 

 State under whose auspices it has originated. 



The volume opens with an account of the re- 

 cent operations of the Board of Agriculture and 

 of the State Exhibition last autumn, and its re- 

 sults, and incidentally giving an account of an 

 effort to organize a new Massachusetts Agricul- 

 tural Society. The Secretary then proceeds to 

 give a detailed account of the State Fair held in 

 Boston, last October, into which he has intro- 

 duced beautiful portraits of some of the stock ex- 

 hibited, among which are a Short Horn bull, an 

 Ayrshire bull, five portraits of horses, two groups 

 of Cotswold sheep and a Hereford bull and heif- 

 er, owned by the State, and kept at the State 

 Farm, at AVestboro'. The volume is also inter- 

 spersed with numerous engravings of agricultural 

 implements, articles used for dairy purposes, Szc. 

 In arranging the statements of the competi- 

 tors for premiums and the reports of the judges, 

 the Secretary has not contented himself with 

 presenting us a dull detail, merely, of these mat- 

 ters, but has enlivened them with a short, clear 

 and comprehensive account of the origin of the 

 animal under consideration, together with a brief 

 description of its characteristic points. These 

 terse essays, wrought in, as they are, among the 

 dry mass of heavy statements of fact, are like 

 gushing springs or green oases, in hot sands, kin- 

 dling and enlivening the whole work, and giving 

 it an attraction which it must have failed to pos- 

 sess without them. They are drawn with fideli- 

 ty, indicate corfsiderable research and industry 

 on the part of the Secretary, and we think may 

 generally be relied upon as correct ; while the 

 engravings of which we have spoken, are intro- 



duced among the descriptions, so that each may 

 give force to the other. Some of the subjects 

 considered are as follows : viz : — 



Improved Short Horns ; North Devons ; Ayr- 

 shires ; Herefords ; Alderney or Jersey Cattle; 

 Grade or Native Stock ; Milch Cows ; Working 

 Oxen and Fat Cattle. 



Then comes the subject of horses, and the fii'st 

 introdviced is the Thorough Bred ; then Roadsters 

 and Horses for General Utility. The same plan is 

 pursued with regard to Sheep, Swine and Poultry. 

 Agricultural Products, including the Dairy, are 

 also considered. The subjects of Agricultural 

 Implements, of Wine, of Entomology, each re- 

 ceives a liberal share of attention. A somewhat 

 detailed accomrt of the doings of the Board of 

 Agriculture on the State Farm for the last yeai", 

 closes the report of the Secretary. 



Some forty or fifty pages of this report are 

 occupied in a mere detail of enti'ies by the com- 

 petitors, and are then reported back again in a 

 different form by the judges. This is all proper 

 in this volume, but to repeat it in less than ten 

 years, would be a waste of space and energy. 

 Once, at the expiration of ten years, these details 

 will be valuable to afford a contrast and show 

 whether we are advancing or receding. As a 

 whole, the Report is one of much value, while 

 there is little, very little, to which reasonable ob- 

 jections may be urged. 



The second portion of the volume is made up 

 of abstracts of returns from the county agricitl- 

 tural societies of the State, and first, of extracts 

 from addresses delivered before them. These 

 extracts are of no ordinary character j they indi- 

 cate a wide range of inquiry and learning in their 

 authors, and, as literary productions,will compare 

 favorably with the literary labor of the best re- 

 views of the country. They are also remarkable 

 for their pure tone of morals, for the just and at- 

 tractive views of rural life which they present, 

 and for their earnest faith in the progress of ag- 

 ricultural art and its remunerative results. It 

 affords us sincere pleasure to bring together upon 

 this page the names of those persons who left 

 the feverish pursuits of commerce, physic, law or 

 other occupation, last autumn, to commune awhile 

 with Nature in her fresh and glowing walks, and 

 to instil into others the wholesome and charming 

 sentiments of which they are themselves the hap- 

 py recipients. We wish we could send to every 

 farmer's fireside in the Commonwealth, sorre one 

 of these Addresses, so full of well-tempered zeal, 

 so rich in encouragement, and so abounding in 

 common sense and high-toned morality, and firm 

 faith in Him who has promised us perpetual seed- 

 time and harvest. We now subjoin the names 

 of such persons as the Secretary has reported, 

 who have done themselves an honor, and their 



