86 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE. 



These improvements are evidently of a character that pay, 

 though more time is required to enable us to fix their precise 

 value. "We are pleased to learn that Mr. Metcalf is al)out to 

 apply irrigation on a larger scale, and we hope he will give the 

 society the results. 



We may add that there is no sul)ject of greater importance 

 to jthe farmer than irrigation. Although its advantages were 

 set forth in strong terms in the report of the committee for 

 1859, we deem it proper to call attention to it. There is no 

 mode of improvement that can be adopted with such great 

 results in proportion to the expense, as this ; and yet, strange 

 as it is, none is so much neglected in this country. The fertil- 

 izing power of water seems almost wholly overlooked. In 

 other countries irrigation is much resorted to, and even in this 

 country we are not wholly without examples, which like that 

 of Mr. Metcalf, demonstrate its advantages. It should be 

 remembered that all the fertility, all the produce, obtained by 

 water, is clear gain — nothing else is diminished or in any way 

 injured by it. It is to be hoped that attention may be awak- 

 ened to this important subject, and that the water which is 

 now wasted may soon be made to produce crops worth to the 

 country millions of dollars annually. 



William Metcalf, Franklin, has made some experiments in 

 the cultivation of forest trees. It was the intention of some of 

 the members of this committee to have visited his plantation , 

 but circumstances prevented. Some of the members of the 

 society's committee having charge of this subject, examined 

 the trees, and will, probably, report on them. In a call at Mr. 

 Metcalf's residence for a few moments, — which was all the time 

 at our disposal, — we saw that he was entering considerably into 

 grape cultivation. The varieties adopted were mostly the best 

 wild ones, though the Concord, Diana, and others are culti- 

 vated. The vines are not yet fully established, but appear to 

 be doing well, and produced considerable fruit last season, 

 unfavorable as it was. 



S. W. Richardson, Franklin, president of the Farmers' Club, 

 has made some improvements on his farm which are worthy 

 of notice. Much of his land lies on the side of a considerable 



