ESSEX SOCIETY. 59 



manured so highly as it ought to be, and it consequently fails 

 to produce remunerating crops. 



As a general maxim, it may be asserted that land poorly 

 manured impoverishes its cultivator, land moderately manured 

 yields a moderate subsistence, whilst land that is highly ma- 

 nured, pays liberally for its liberal treatment. This is true not 

 merely in regard to tillage crops, but also to grass lands and 

 orchards, and the committee would say, cultivate only so much 

 land as can be cultivated well, — a proposition so just that it 

 will be assented to by nearly every farmer, and yet is practised 

 upon by only a few. A good illustration of the benefits of 

 high and careful culture, is furnished by the market gardeners 

 here in our own county, who, on a few acres, raise crops of 

 onions, cabbages and squashes, that yield them a net profit of 

 hundreds of dollars per acre. But most of our farmers spread 

 their manure and labor over so large a surface, that both are 

 frittered away and nearly lost. Until more judicious economy 

 is practised in this respect, we may expect to hear from the 

 mass of our farmers, as we do hear, a negative response to the 

 question, " Is farming profitable ? " 



In November, the committee, by invitation of the Overseers 

 of the Poor, visited the Town Farm in Danvers. This farm, 

 under the management of Adino Page, superintendent of the 

 almshouse establishment there, who has often been a success- 

 ful competitor for our premiums for grain crops, is conducted 

 with good judgment and skill, and, in connection with other 

 industrial operations carried on there, is made so productive as 

 to reduce the cost of supporting the poor at the house, deduct- 

 ing outside expenses, to tvvcnty-eight cents a week for each 

 inmate. The soil is light and very gravelly — truly a hungry 

 soil ; and yet by deep ploughing and liberal manuring, it yields 

 crops above the average of the best lands in the county. 



Large quantities of offal are purchased at the slaughter 

 houses in Danvers, and brought to this establishment. Here 

 the heads and shins are boiled, — the tallow is saved for the 

 curriers, and soap and candle makers ; the neats-foot oil for 

 the harness makers; the bones for the button manufacturers, 

 and for other purposes ; the bits of skin for the glue-makers ; 

 and the refuse of these, with the blood and entrails, are thrown 

 into the large yard adjoining, as a rich, though not very deli- 



