SECRETARY'S REPORT. 27 



in with the guano. In all fifteen acres, the sowing of which, 

 with the seed, cost the Board |75, and the committee have 

 valued it at that sum in the inventory. 



The amount charged to improvement during the year, is 

 11,664.47. Of this simi, $336.60 worth of the labor lias been 

 done by boys and men from the institution, free of expense to 

 the Board, reducing the amount charged for improvements to 

 $1,327.87. 



John Beooks. 



JosiAii White. 



Jabez Fisher. 



Simon Brown. 



Thomas J. Field. 



Oliver C. Felton. 



Edward W. Gardner. 



John C. Bartlett. 



The preceding pages will give a correct general idea of the 

 operations of the Board upon the State Farm, at Westborough. 



It will be perceived that much of the time and labor spent 

 there have been devoted to the development of the capacities 

 of the farm, and that there has been a progressive increase in 

 the productions upon it. Some of the lots which are now among 

 the most productive and valuable, were perfectly useless for 

 any purposes of profitable cultivation, five years ago. The lot 

 directly in front of the farm house, the Warren lot, and some 

 acres lying west of the garden in front of the institution, may 

 be mentioned as examples of this. These lots were so imbedded 

 in fast rocks as to be nearly worthless and incapable of tillage. 

 Thousands of tons of such rocks have been removed, either by 

 blasting or sinking beneath the surface, so as now to be out of 

 the reach of the plough ; and the land, now comprising several 

 acres, is some of the best, and will soon be the most productive 

 on the farm. To facilitate the clearing of these lots, a machine 

 was constructed, by means of which rocks of from four to six 

 tons could be easily lifted from their original bed and removed to 

 any desirable point where they would be most out of the way. 

 This machine is represented in Fig. I. It is simply constructed 

 and may be furnished with a purchase so powerful that two 

 boys can lift a rock of six tons weight, which, with suitable 

 wheels, one yoke of oxen can remove far more easily than a 

 much larger team attached to the common drag loaded with the 

 same weight. 



