570 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



Dec. 



being a neck, and bare of wood, they are not 

 troubled with three great annoyances, of wolves, 

 rattlesnakes, and mosquitoes. These that live 

 here upon the cattle, must be constrained to take 

 farms in the country, or else they cannot subsist ; 

 the place being too small to contain many, and 

 fitted for such as can trade into England for such 

 commodities as the country wants ; being the 

 chief place for shipping and merchandise." 



It is quite remarkable that this writer, even 

 then, had a prospective view of the commercial 

 importance of Boston. If the inhabitants of that 

 period were not troubled with mosquitoes, it is 

 more than we can say of the present season, though 

 for rattlesnakes we must go as far as Milton, and 

 for wolves without the State. Writers suppose 

 that Mr. Wood was mistaken, when he asserts 

 that Siiawmut, or, as the English first termed it, 

 Trimountain, had no wood, though there was less 

 then in surrounding places. 



What Mr. Wood says at that period of the 

 neighborhood of Boston, indicated that it might 

 be distinguished as it has been for its agriculrure 

 and horticulture, as Boston would be for its devo- 

 tion to commerce. He says — " The inhabitants 

 ofRoxbury have fair houses, store of cattle, im- 

 paled corn fields, and fruitful gardens.'' Dor- 

 chester has " very good arable ground, and hay 

 grounds, fair corn tields, and pleasant gardens, 

 with kitchen gardens." Of Lynn he asserts, 

 " there is more English tillage than in New Eng- 

 land and Virginia besides : which proved, as well 

 as could be expected, the corn being very good, 

 especially the barley, rye and oats." 



We cannot tarry to trace the progress of agri- 

 cultural pursuits in Boston and vicinity down to 

 the close of the last century. Sufiice it to say, 

 that even this city has never been without its 

 small gardens, and orchards, which, ho^vever, 

 have grown less and less, as the ever increasing 

 wave of commerce has rushed upon them, and 

 finally flowed over them, until no vestige was left 

 of their former beauty. Even as late as the period 

 of John Hancock, it is said that " his lands were 

 originally of orchards and gardens." 



The formation of the Massachusetts Society for 

 the Promotion of Agriculture, in 1792, is due to the 

 influence of Boston and vicinity. Here its period- 

 ical, the Repository and Journal, was pnWfotied 

 and here was the f-PnH-o of operations. Hon. 

 Tho— .o nusscll was its first President, and among 

 its officers and members we find such men of Bos- 

 ton as Christopher Gore, James Bowdoin, Theo- 

 dore Lyman, Robert T. Paine, and Josiah Quincy. 

 And then the neighborhood gave the society John 

 Adams, Fisher Ames, Martin Brimmer, Elbridge 

 Gerry, and others. These were among the early 

 members of the society. 



A particular object of this society was to bring 

 to the attention of our farmers the agricultural 

 improvements of Europe, and to import from 

 thence the finest kinds of stock. This last work 

 has been continued to this day, and we owe it 

 much to this society, and, perhaps, we may say, 

 mainly, that we may see in Massachusetts fields 

 and barns the finest specimens of the Durham, 

 Devon, Ayrshire, Alderney and Jersey stock. 



In connection with this society, there were an- 

 nual exhibitions, or cattle shows at Brighton, for 

 many years. The society offered premiums as 

 high as $100 each for the best articles in various 



departments, or for some important agricultural 

 discovery. These shows were annual schools for 

 the people, and had a great influence in leading 

 to other and similar shows in various parts of the 

 State, and to the general improvement of agricul- 

 ture. It was, no doubt, through the influence of 

 this society, that the Middlesex Society of Hus- 

 bandmen was formed in 1803, and the Berkshire 

 Agricultural Society in 18 11 — which former claims 

 to be the first county society in the State, and 

 that county and town societies have been organ- 

 ized so extensively throughout the State. 



But, perhaps, as useful a movement of this so- 

 ciety as any was the publication of periodical 

 under its auspices, which began in 1814, and was 

 published on the first of January and July. The 

 vrork was exclusively devoted to agriculture, and 

 the papers were among the most able, thorough 

 and practical that we have ever seen on the sub- 

 ject of agriculture. This publication was termed 

 the Massachusetts Repository and Journal. 



After this, and, probably, stimulated by the 

 example of the first agricultural journal in Mas- 

 sachusetts, arose the New England Farmer, in 

 this city, in 1822, under the auspices of Thomas 

 Green Fessenden — a journal that exerted so wide 

 and beneficial an influence. Since that period, the 

 work has gone on until we have no less than four 

 weekly, one bi-monthly, and five monthly period- 

 icals in this city, and devoted to agriculture in 

 its various branches. These journals, especially 

 those published weekly, circulate very widely, 

 some of them issuing as many as 20,000 or more 

 each week. Such an influence is constantly go- 

 ing forth from Boston to promote good tillage ; 

 and hence large and valuable crops. And it is 

 generally agreed that the improvement of agri- 

 culture in New England and in the country, and 

 the wonderful improvement of the last twenty 

 years, is more to be attributed to agricultural 

 publications than to any other influence — and 

 some would say to all other. 



There is another influence which Boston has ex- 

 erted upon the agriculture of the country and the 

 world ; and that is, through agricultural stores. 

 The oldest agricultural otore established in this 

 city is thn<- oC Joseph Breck & Son, which was 

 opouecl in 1828. One store after another has 

 boon estalilished since, until there are now ten 

 agricultural and horticultural stons, that are 

 supposed, with the agricultural papers, to employ 

 capital to the amount of $1,000,000, and to do 

 an annual business of $2,000,000. Indeed Bos- 

 ton is the head-quarters of this business, having 

 larger and more important stores than any to be 

 found in this country. And it is asserted with 

 great confidence that the agricultural stores of 

 Ruggles, Nourse, Mason & Co. is the largest in 

 the world. Foreigners say as much, and the 

 Yankee who travels up and down the store over 

 the Quincy Market, will be pretty sure to guess 

 that it is the biggest in all creation. 



This firm is engaged in the manufacture, as 

 well as in the sale of every article that the farmer 

 and gardiner uses. In Worcester, where their 

 principal manufactory is, more than 200 men are 

 employed, and more than thirty are connected 

 with their sales-room in this city. In this busi- 

 ness they use from six to seven tons of iron daily, 

 Their plows, cultivators, mowing machines, clo- 

 ver, grass, garden and field seeds, etc., find their 



