70 MASSACnUSETTS AGRICULTURE. 



Tlie committee liad the pleasure of an interview witli the 

 venerable proprietor of this farm, who, at the age of nearly 

 ninety years, retains a good degree of the interest he has always 

 felt in agricultural improvement. He informed us that the 

 dwelling in which he resides, was built by his grandfather in 

 1760 ; that he began agricultural operations here in 1797. The 

 long and beautiful avenue of trees leading from the highway to 

 the house, which attracts the attention of every passer-by, was 

 planted by him. He built the principal barn on the farm in 

 1808. For many years it was regarded as the best in the State, 

 and is yet well worthy of examination, both on account of the 

 convenience of the original plan, and the extensive accommoda- 

 tions it affords through additions which have been made. It 

 will hold two hundred tons of hay and shelter one hundred 

 cattle. Mr. Quincy early turned his attention to the keeping of 

 live stock on the soiling system, and in 181-1 adopted it for all the 

 stock kept o!i the farm. Many of the results of his great expe- 

 rience on this subject are embodied in an essay which he kindly 

 furnished for the Transactions of this Society for 1852, and iu 

 a previous essay published in the Journal of the Massachusetts 

 Society for Promoting Agriculture for 1820 ; both of Avhich, 

 with other observations, are comprised in a work prepared by 

 him in 1859, entitled " Essays on the Soiling of Cattle, Illus- 

 trated from Experience ; and an Address containing Sugges- 

 tions which may be useful to Farmers." It may be safely 

 assumed that Mr. Quincy has done more than any other man to 

 introduce the soiling system into this country. 



As before stated, the farm is now managed by Mr. Quincy, 

 Jr., who pursues essentially the system formerly followed by his 

 lather. His principal object is the production of milk, which is 

 taken to Boston, — the price, at the barn, per can of eight and a 

 half quarts, being twenty-eight cents in summer and thirty-six 

 cents in winter. He keeps seventy-two cows. At the time of 

 our visit, 26th of July, fifty-four cans of milk (of the size just 

 mentioned) were obtained daily. But we cannot state the 

 length of time the cows had been in milk, or their nearness to 

 calving, which, of course, affect the quantity they would give. 

 The mode of feeding was as follows : once a day on hay, twice 

 on green fodder, and once on chopped hay with two quarts of 

 cotton-seed meal to each cow, — the meal mixed with the hay. 



