BARNSTABLE SOCIETY. 551 



in mere labor ; and, except the value of land, the present plan- 

 tation is wholly the result of labor. I gather the seed of the 

 pine from trees in October, extracting it from the cones at 

 leisure moments during the winter, and plant in April. 



My mode of planting has been to make holes with a com- 

 mon hoe, about four feet apart, without ploughing ; the earth 

 being loosened for each hill about one foot square. The seeds 

 are then planted by hand, about half an inch deep, say two or 

 three seeds in a hill. Nothing is done afterwards in the way 

 of cultivation, but the plants take care of themselves. They 

 attain only a height of about one inch the first year, and 

 grow more rapidly every succeeding year. According to my 

 experience, pines do better in a loamy soil than one that is 

 sandy. 



Sheep and Swine. 

 [The committee on sheep and swine, after having glanced at 

 many circumstances connected with the past history of that 

 valuable animal, the sheep, conclude their able report as fol- 

 lows :] 



With these "backward looking thoughts," we come to con- 

 sider the only question of practical significance which really 

 belongs to this occasion, whether the culture of sheep at this 

 day, in this county, is deserving of encouragement ? And to 

 this we certainly are inclined to reply affirmatively. 



In the first place, there is a large proportional quantity of 

 land in our county, suited to the purposes of pasturage, and of 

 raising the necessary crops for winter sustenance. By far the 

 largest portion of the farming land of the Cape is of the char- 

 acter said to be best suited to the production of the best quality 

 of wool. It has been ascertained that fleeces grown on argil- 

 laceous soils, or soils on which clay enters as an ingredient, are 

 much softer, and better in other respects, than those raised on 

 calcareous soils, or those intermixed with lime in its various 

 states. Thus the Leicester sheep, of England, which shear 

 the long, combing fleece, thrive better in the northern counties, 

 while the South Downs, which " crop the grass that grows on 

 the thin soils over beds of chalk in Wiltshire, Hampshire and 



