92 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE. 



FARMS. 



ESSEX. 



From the Report of the Committee. 



Notwithstanding the urgent calls of the committees, and the 

 liberal offers of the society for the last few years, the number of 

 farms entered for premium is by no means increasing. The 

 general business of farming which prevailed until a recent pe- 

 riod, and which developed some of the finest specimens of mixed 

 farming in the Commonwealth, is now displaced, to a consider- 

 able degree, by a special attention to particular crops, or by a 

 tasteful improvement of valuable estates. The production of 

 garden vegetables for the market, both early and late, occupies 

 the attention of most cultivators residing near our large cities. 

 And as the wealth of our county increases, the number of ele- 

 gant residences, ornamented by landscape gardening and sur- 

 rounded by fields subjected to expensive culture, increases also. 

 Meanwhile, the farms which were once managed by husbandmen, 

 who took pride in their working oxen and dairy herd, in their 

 ample fields of corn and grass and potatoes, in their orchards 

 bending beneath the weight of fruit, and who sent beef, and 

 hay, and pork, and butter, and cheese, and apples, and cider, to 

 the market, are fewer than they once were, and are not, in 

 many instances, conducted with the industry and skill of former 

 times. While this change in the condition of agriculture has 

 been going on, agricultural emulation and rivalry have declined, 

 and the business of horticulture has become more prominent. 



The importance of encouraging this modern system of farm- 

 ing should not be lost sight of. The devotion of lands, in small 

 parcels, to special crops, is especially necessary where a large 

 portion of the population is occupied in mechanical and manu- 

 facturing operations, and own no land, raise no vegetables and 

 fruit for their own consumption, and should find a well-supplied 

 market. Vegetables and small fruits are produced in such lim- 



