58 ESSEX SOCIETY. 



The committee on farms report that their attention has been 

 called to only one farm entered for premium, that of Joseph 

 Holt, Jr., in Andover, in the South Parish. This was visited 

 by a majority of the committee in June last, and the day was 

 spent in viewing the improvements effected by its owner. 

 These consist principally in removing large quantities of rocks, 

 and placing them in deep trenches and substantial walls, and 

 in this way reclaiming land from pasture into mowing and til- 

 lage, and fencing it in the most durable manner. This work 

 has been done principally by Mr. Holt himself, but in the 

 minds of the committee there were strong doubts whether the 

 labor was so judiciously applied, as it would have been in the 

 higher cultivation of land already fitted for the scythe and 

 plough. It was stated, however, by Mr. Holt that the farm 

 came into his possession by inheritance, and that from ances- 

 tral associations he had been induced to expend so much labor, 

 in subduing ground so rough and stony. 



Mr. Holt's farm is small, consisting of less than thirty acres 

 in the homestead, and, including meadow and woodland, eighty 

 acres in all. Its management appears to be marked by neat- 

 ness, skill and industry, and doubtless it yields as good an 

 income as similar farms, under the like management. There 

 is a convenient cellar under the barn, but v/e noticed nothing 

 peculiar in the arrangements of the buildings or the yards, or 

 in the cultivation of the crops, from which we think any new 

 information could be derived for the benefit of other farmers. 

 But the pattern Mr. Holt presents of a hard-working and an 

 economical farmer, and the improvements he has effected, con- 

 sidering the means at his command, entitle him to the com- 

 mendation of the society, and a gratuity of $15. 



Mr. Holt's land, like much that we see in the county, would 

 be greatly benefitted by a more liberal outlay for manure, 

 either by manufacturing it from peat, leaves and head-lands, 

 composted with barn-manure, or by purchasing stable-manure, 

 night-soil, ashes, or other fertilizers. In the opinion of the 

 committee, not one farmer in ten, in the county, lays up ^100 

 a year for the proceeds of his farm, over and above his ex- 

 penses, principally for the reason that the land cultivated is not 



