738 MASS. BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



admit that I was astonished by the number raised by the Pro- 

 fessor. I remember to have heard the late E. H. Derby say 

 there was no crop that could be so advantageously grown for 

 the feeding of stock, as cabbage. This he said after many 

 years' experience on his extensive farm in Salem. The best 

 approved method, as far as I know, of raising cabbages, is that 

 practised by Mr. Mason. He turns over the sward, to the 

 depth of eight or nine inches ; applies a liberal coating of well 

 fined compost, made in his barnyard, from material collected 

 on the beach, intermingled with the other materials there 

 gathered ; harrows the land until the manure is completely im- 

 bedded in the soil ; furrows at such a distance as will admit a 

 cultivator to pass between the rows ; plants the seed in hills 

 about one foot apart ; when the plants are fairly started, thins 

 them out, leaving only the most vigorous one in the hill; and 

 subsequently keeps the ground well stirred and free of weeds ; 

 always resisting the first beginnings of the worms. In this 

 way he secures a crop with heads as uniform as so many peas. 

 Such culture I have repeatedly witnessed, and know there is 

 no fiction about it. The fertilizing properties disengaged by 

 the decomposition of the verdure, overlaid by the inverted fur- 

 rows, keeps the plants in healthy condition through the 

 droughts of August and September, and the rich coating of 

 manure applied gives vigor and health to the whole plant. I 

 have never seen a handsomer growth of vegetables than 

 Mason's fields of cabbage. 



ONIONS. 



No story of Essex vegetable culture will be complete that 

 does not embrace the onion. This was so fully treated in an 

 essay on this subject in 1845, (see Essex Transactions,) then 

 extensively circulated, that I can do little more than reaffirm 

 what was then said. Scarcely anything new in relation to 

 this culture has come to my knowledge, excepting new and 

 multiplied devastations of insects. Every year brings these to 

 view, and through their agency the fond hopes of the laborer 

 are often disappointed. Still, as a whole, there is no crop that 

 pays so well as the onion ; often yielding a clear profit of 

 more than one hundred dollars to the acre, after deducting all 

 incidentals. The present year our grounds have yielded four, 



