306 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



class of manures, it is true that upon these light lands they 

 usually produce far better results than upon heavier and richer 

 soil. 



The grass crop is of the first importance, considering its cost, 

 whether it bo for market, or for consumption upon the farm. 

 An average crop may be one and one-half tons per acre. 



Hampden County is not favored with flowed meadows, to the 

 extent of the sections lying north of us. Yet by manuring for 

 tobacco and other crops, and by frequent re-seeding, heavy crops 

 are often obtained. 



The stock in the towns near market, beside teams for doing 

 the farm work, (which is done mostly by horses,) is cows, for 

 the production of milk. Few of these are bred here, and con- 

 sequently arc of no particular type or breed. Each of the pure- 

 breeds are represented to some extent within the county. 



I have not succeeded in obtaining the number of thorough- 

 bred animals in the county, or a full list of breeders and owners 

 of such stock. The Devons are bred in Wilbraham by Messrs. 

 H. M. Sessions, and D. B. Merrick, who now have about fifteen 

 head each. William Birnie, of Springfield, is the largest 

 breeder of Ayrshires, having a fine herd, numbering, at this 

 time, forty. Messrs. M. S. Kellogg, and H. 0. Chapin, of 

 Chicopee, each have fine animals of this breed. Shorthorns 

 are bred by Messrs. Root, and Moseley, of Westfield, Wilson, of 

 Agawam, Harvey Smith and Son, of West Springfield, and P. 

 Stedman and Son, of Chicopee. 



Herefords were formerly introduced into the western part of 

 the county, from an importation by the Massachusetts Society. 

 Some of the grades are still kept in Montgomery and other 

 towns in that vicinity. A. N. Merrick, of Brimfield, has some 

 animals of pure blood. 



P. Stedman. 



FRANKLIN. 



The variety of soil in Franklin County is considerable, but it 

 may be divided, definitely enough for present purposes, into two 

 kinds, the alluvial soils in the Valleys of the Connecticut and 

 Decrfield Rivers, warm, fertile and easily worked, and the stony 

 soils of the hills, which make up, substantially, the rest of the 

 county, for the most part cold, and only moderately productive. 



