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j^'EW ENGLAND FARxMEH. 



June 22. 1827, 



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BOSTON HOUSE OF INDUSTRY. 



directors' annual r.EPORT. 



There were in the House, on the SOlii April, 

 1826, 407 inmates ; since wliich time, there have 

 been admitted 009, born in the Houso 10, dis- 

 charged 310, deserted, moilly while on Ic'.ive of 

 absence 19c<, bound out as apprentices 11, died 

 99, leavini; now in the Houee -108 persuris, for n 

 more particular account of whom, reference may] 

 be had to the accompanying table, marked A. 



In the document marked B. is contained an ac- 

 count of the manner in which tho inmates are 

 employed during the summer months ; the number 

 in each department, varying occasionally, as cir- 

 cumstances require ; in winter a much larj;or pro- 

 portion arc employed in picking oakum, &c. 



The schedule marked C. contains a statement 

 of all the property on hand, on the 30t!i April, 

 1897, amounting to $12,^(13 53. There is due to 

 the City, (and cash in the hands of the Treasurer 

 of this Board) from Towns, for the support of 

 their poor, about $.500, wliich will bo shewn by 

 schedule U ; but as the charges are in some cases 

 disputed, that amount cannot be considered as 

 available. There has been placed to the credit of 

 'he City, since the last annual Report, by the 

 Commonwealth, for the support of their poor in 

 the House from the 1st of January, 182(), to May 

 31; the sum of $3420 G7 ; and from Juno 1, to De- 

 cember 31, 1826, the sum of .f4132 27, total a- 

 mount of e.xpenses for the State Paupers from 

 January 1, to May 3!, 1827, will probably exceed 

 $3000. 



Since tho last auuual Report the Stockade 

 Pence round the Farm has been completed ; the 

 building formerly used as the Public Schoolhouse 

 at South Boston, has been located at the Gate, 

 and rendered fit for the occupancy of a family. 

 Five hundred foot of drains have been laid, and 

 two large reservoirs have been dug and stoned ; 

 the building heretofore used as the carpenter's 

 shop, has been altered for, and is now occupied 

 13 a School Houso, by the children of both sexes, 

 belonging to the House. A well has been dug 

 at the v/est end of the house for the convenience 

 of the westerly wing, and the house for female 

 blacks. Thiee large Tombs have been built at 

 the north westerly corner of the Farm, in which 

 have been interred, since January 1, 1827, iiC 

 bodies, by which a saving had been made to the 

 City, of $54, which is more than 25 per cent on 

 the cost. Porches and out doors have been plac- 

 ed to all the entries to the House, which has caus- 

 ed a great saving in fuel ; tho chimnies have been 

 '.opped, to prevent smokiug ; and tho side walks 

 iiave been rel.iid, and repaired. Within tl;e House, 

 two galleries have been built in the Chapel ; a 

 large room in the basement story has been floored 

 and ceiled, for the accommodation of the Irish 

 females ; .i.nd a Pump has been placed in the 

 kitchen, communicating by 80 feet of suction, 

 with the well in the front yard. Coffins have 

 been made by tho inmates, for those who died in 

 the House ; and the Overseers of Ihe Poor of the 

 City have been supplied, for out door paupers, to 

 the amount of $130. The House for the Employ- 

 ment and Reformation of Juvenile Offenilers, has 

 been supplied with books, school desks, tables, 

 "^hoomr.ker's benches, and other carpenter work, 

 to tii-3 amount of $238 08. 



The foUowinn; improvements have been made 

 on the Farm: the old Fort near the sop. shore, 



has been levelled and prepared for cultivation ; of the citizens of Boston, your Committee feeltijbal ' 



about 300 fruit trees have been set out ; about 

 half an acre of land been planted with asparagus 

 roots, and the garden and farm generally, put in 

 a fit state of cultivation. The whole premises 

 have been surveyed, and an accarate plan of tho 

 same executed. 



The Crops raised during the last year, are es- 

 timated as follows : 4 tons Barley, cut green at 

 $16 per ton ; 4 do. Hay, 20 ; 3 do. Rowen, 18 ; 1^ 

 do Millet, 8 ; Corn Fodder, 2G0 ; 80 bushels Corn, 

 90 c. ; 2162 do. Potatoes, 42 c. ; 330 do. Cariots, 

 33 c. ; 300 do. Mangel Wurtzcls, 33 c. ; 300 do. 

 Turnips, 16 c. ; 341 do. Beets, 50 c. ; 1800 Cab- 

 bages, 4 c. ; Peas, Beans, small vegetables and 

 Fruit, sold, or consumed in the House, about 500. 

 Total $2448 44. 



During the last autumn, 118 Cattle were pur- 

 cliased, the cost of which was $3023 56 ; and the 

 hides and tallow have been sold for $1137, 03 ; 

 !iuU beef and offal consumed in ths House, to the 

 amount of $750 ; and the residue has been salted 

 and packed, to the number of 235 barrels, of 200 

 lbs. each, which, at $8 per barrel amounts to 

 $1880 ; by this operation, about $700 have been 

 saved to the City. 



Tlio value of the swine on the Farm, on the 

 30th April, 1826, was $856 20, and 201 have since 

 been purchased, the cost of which was .$1 163 75 ; 

 and there have been slaughtered for the use of 

 the House, to the amount of $689 80 ; sold $176- 

 8 27; remaining on hand. 38 hogs aud 20 pigs, 

 valued at $476; leaving a gain of ^914 23 ; be- 

 sides the value of a large quantity of manure 

 which has been put on the Farm, the benefit of 

 which is yet to be realized. 



In the Internal Department of the Institution, 

 the wants of the inmates have been carefully at- 

 tended to, and their comforts promoted, and a I 

 very general satisfaction has been expressed ; and | 

 your committee cannot omit this opportunity of 1 

 communicaiing to the board, the grateful sense 

 entertained and m.iiiifested by the paupers, for 

 the very munificent gift of a pair of fine cattle, 

 by Ward Nicholas Boylston, Esq. to furnish them 

 with a dinner for Thanksgiving and Christmas 

 Days. 



For a particular account of the Medical De 

 partment, reference may be had to the Report of 

 the Physician to the Establishment, herewith sub- 

 mitted, ma.rked E. 



Your Committee would here state, that owing 

 to tiie very unfavorable weather, experienced the 

 last season, the produce of the Farm was not so 

 great as was expected ; added to which, the most 

 available labour of the inmates has been appropri- 

 ated to completing the stockade fence, leveling 

 the old for', planting trees, constructing a glacis 

 in the garden in the front of the Houso, and oth- 

 er objects which being improvements of a per- 

 manent nature, will in future .years, enable the 

 Directors to apply the whole force of the inmates 

 to the cultivation of the Farm. A reasonable ex- 



incumbent on thorn to express their opinion, t: 

 tho utility and success of the establishment, i| 

 in a great measure to be attributed to the 

 wciiried care and attention, with which the 

 crtions of this Board havo been seconded by tl 

 Superintendent and Mistress of the House. Ill 

 believed that method, good order, and a fair prl 

 spect of progressive improvement, prevail ; ail 

 your Committee trust, that under the protecticl 

 care of Divine Providence, the Institution mil 

 continue to be an Asylum for the virtuous, ageij 

 infirm, and industrious poor. 



All which is submitted. 

 Boston, April 30, 1827. 



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ORCHARD GRASS. 

 As an instance in addition to those which 

 have already noticed, of the productiveness of 

 present year, we were shown on Saturday last,' 

 bunch of Orchard Grass, raised upon the farm o 

 Johu Hare Powel, Esq. of Powelton, containin)i| 

 several stalks that measured live feet four inchei 

 higl. It was taken from a field of thirty acres o 

 the same kind of grass, much of which we are inil 

 formed is but little inferior to the specimen abovtl 

 mentioned. [Phila. pa.] 



MILLET. 

 As the prospect is that hay will be cut early 

 this year, we would i:i!gge3t to farmers the oxpd'- 

 diency of ploughing those parts of their fields' 

 which bear light crops of grass, and sowing tbettJ 

 with millet. Ifnown the last of this month, it may 

 probably be taken in before the autumnal frost, 

 and will yield two or three tons of good fodder to 

 the acre. — About three pecks of seed to an acre 

 will be sufiicieut ; it may be procured at the New 

 England Farmer Office, North Market-street, 

 Boston. [Lov oil Journal] 



LARGE GOOSEIltRRli^S. . ^ 



We have just seen a sample of Gooseberries' 

 from the Garden of Mr. Kilgour, of this city,'i 

 which surpass any thing of the kind we have ever , 

 witnessed. The least of them measured upwards " 

 of three inches in circumferance one way, and 

 two inches seven-eights the other. Twelve of 

 them weighed two and a half ounces. 



[Cincinnatti Com Reg.] 



PEAS AND BEANS. 

 Mr Knight, an English Jiorticulturist, has give'.i 

 a curious experiment in impregnating tlie blos- 

 soms of one variety of pea with the farina of an- 

 other. He says, treatise on apple and pear, page 

 42, " Blossoms of a small white garden pea, in 

 which the males had previously been destroyed, 

 were impregnated with the farina of a large clay 

 coloured kind, v/ith purple blossoms. The pro- 

 duce of tiie seeds, thus obtained, were of a dark 

 gray colour, but these, having no fixed habits, 

 were soon changed by cultivation into a numerous 

 variety of very large and extremely luxuriant 



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pectation may therefore be entertained, that the white ones, which were not only much larger and 



produce of the labour of the inmates, may go far 

 towards supporting tho Institution. 



In presenting this Report, your Committee take 

 the opport'jnity of repeating the satisfaction, 

 which tliey havo no doubt the Board feel, in com- 

 mon with themselves, at the success which has at- 

 tended the Institution, during the past year. And 

 while it ranks in the estimation o*' the friends of 

 humanity, as a noble monument of the liberality 



more productive than the original white ones, but 

 the number of seeds in each pod was increased 

 from seven to eight, or eight to nine, and not un- 

 frequently to ten. The newly made gray kinds, 

 I tound were easily made white again, by impreg- 

 nating their blossoms with the farina of another 

 white kind. 



The fifth volume of the Bath papers, contains a 

 siniibr cxoeriment with beans. It is related, that 



