110 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE. 



The upland was partially covered with small pitch-pines and 

 bushes, which I caused to be removed in the fall of 1869, 

 afterwards grading the whole by covering the low portions to 

 the depth, in some places, of 12 inches, with sand carted 

 from the upper part and from the higher ground adjoining. 

 The clearing and grading cost $115. In the spring of 1870, 

 I set out the vines twenty inches apart, at a cost of $25. 

 Vines were scarce and not easily procured, or I should have 

 set them nearer, and the dry weather prevented their spreading 

 as they should have done. For these reasons the crop has 

 been light as yet, the yield the present season being only 

 nineteen bushels. But from comparison with other meadows 

 upon the same brook, heretofore set, I think mine will here- 

 after prove productive and profitable, the fruit being seldom 

 injured by frost, and the vines when well rooted, finding ready 

 access to spring- water as it passes beneath the surface, from 

 the adjacent upland to the brook. 



Benjamin W. Robbins. 



STOCK. 



ESSEX. 



From the Report of the Committee. 



When will exhibitors understand that they "are required to 

 give a written statement of pedigree," and that the judges can- 

 not receive a bull as thoroughbred, simply because that word 

 is prefixed? It would be well for competitors to remember 

 this, if they expect premiums. 



This rule, if adhered to, will, in the course of years, do 

 more for the encouragement of breeding good stock than it is 

 possible for our Society to do in any other way. That there 

 is sound reason for this rule hardly any one at the present time 

 would care to dispute. Merely to strengthen our position, I 

 shall quote from a little book, entitled, "Cattle and Cattle- 

 Breeders," by William McCombie, M.P., a breeder of many 

 years' experience, one who bred for profit ; and also from the 

 writings of the "Northern Farmer," published in the "Farmer's 



