IGO MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE. 



for animals than a diet of any one article. Yarious ingredients 

 enter into tlic composition of tlie body, — oil, fibrin, earthy phos- 

 phates, lime, Arc., — and to produce these, different articles of 

 food are requisite. Neither starch, nor oil, nor grain alone, 

 will increase the weight and preserve health and the ca})acity of 

 labor. Fat may be laid on while the health of the animal suf- 

 fers, and this process may be carried so far as to render the 

 animal unfit for human food. For fattening purposes, for 

 improving the quality of milk, and as alterative for horses, 

 carrots may be regarded as occupying the first place. 



"Within a few years a new impulse has been given to the cul- 

 tivation of cranberries, and many trials arc made of upland and 

 of artificial meadow culture. Some of these experiments are 

 on a large scale, and promise the best results. On some natu- 

 ral meadows the crop has, this year, been injured by worms. 

 One farmer, whose annual yield averages three hundred bushels, 

 had, this season, but thirty. This was almost a solitary instance 

 of such extremely unfavorable result. Generally the crop>was 

 good, and though selling at a less j^rice than last year, amply 

 repays the expense of cultivation. Some growers, fearful lest 

 the early frosts should injure the cranberries, gather them long 

 before they are ripe, in consequence of which they lose much of 

 their value. But such accurate and ample information touch- 

 ing tlie cultivation of this crop is contained in former reports, 

 and in separate contributions, tliat there is no necessity for 

 extending our remarks. We doubt whether the Common- 

 wealth has larger, finer, better managed or more profitable 

 plantations of this valuable fruit than our own county. 



There is an increasing attention paid to good gardening for 

 domestic purposes. Farmers used to make this apology for 

 poor gardens, that they had no time to cultivate them, becaiise 

 their field crops demanded all their attention. We are gratified 

 to find that the force of this apology is not so much felt as it 

 used to be. The example of the market gardeners has done 

 much for us in this vicinity, by showing tliat a large crop may 

 be grown on a small space by high manuring and careful til- 

 lage ; and that hy these means alone a profit can l)e made. 

 Still, there are farmers who do not seem to appreciate either 



