8 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE. 



it was awarded, and give the reasons therefor. In many cases 

 this, of course, would be unnecessary or even impracticable ; but 

 where there are palpable reasons for the decision of a committee 

 that would be of interest to the public, the committee ought, we 

 think, to give them in connection with their award. 



Tlie only farm entered for our examination was that of Mr. 

 Abel F. Adams, of Fitchburg. We award him the first premium 

 of $15. Now, suppose we make no further remark. Mr. Adams 

 gets the $15, and that is all there is to it, except that the fact 

 becomes public, and people know where a premium farm is, 

 which they can visit if they please. The difficulty, however, is 

 that scarcely anybody pleases. Mr. Adams, in this dilemma, 

 volunteers a statement, which accompanies this report. Although 

 well enough, as far as it goes, it gives but a faint idea of what 

 he has done and is doing, as it appeared to us. A great many 

 statements, reading as well as that, might be made of farms all 

 about us, not one of which would deserve a premium ; and 

 therefore we feel that something additional should be said to 

 make the case a little clearer. 



We may safely say, that with Mr. Adams farming has been 

 one-sided and up-hill business. One-sided, because, on a hun- 

 dred-acre farm, his buildings are placed at the extreme end of 

 its longest diameter. Up-hill, for the reason that, although 

 compact, its altitude varies, as near as we could judge, about 

 two hundred feet. The greatest variation is across its shortest 

 diameter. His system of roads is such that these natural obsta- 

 cles of elevation are in part overcome. They run lengthwise of 

 the farm, in nearly parallel lines, so that most of his roadway 

 has but small grade to overcome. The greater part of the whole 

 area has a north-easterly slope, and its clean and well-kept sur- 

 face affords the writer, on an opposite rise, a perpetual feast for 

 the eye. The surface is divided into fields of four to six acres 

 or more by substantial stone walls, which must have required, 

 in the aggregate, a very great amount of labor in their con- 

 struction. We believe that very many interior walls on our 

 farms might be dispensed with at a profit. In Mr. Adams' 

 mode of farming they are perhaps necessary, as all portions of 

 his farm are used alternately for tillage, mowing and pasture. 

 His walls were all built of the stones lying on and in the soil, 

 and that used to be considered the best way of getting rid of 



