88 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE. 



fruit ; has a handsome young apple orchard, fine young pear 

 trees, &c., and various kinds of grapes. Some fine specimens 

 of the Catawba, very well ripened, showed the favorable char- 

 acter of the locality for the growth of this fruit. He showed 

 us a handsome sample of Java spring wheat, of which he raised 

 the past season twenty-eight bushels to the acre. His barn is 

 convenient, and kept in neat order. There is a cellar under the 

 whole, and much attention is paid to the saving of manure, 

 though Mr. Richardson considers himself under a disadvantage 

 in having no muck on his farm. The top soil, where walls 

 arc built, and the coarse grass, from wet places, are used as 

 absorbents of urine. 



The committee regard it as not beyond the sphere of their 

 legitimate duties to notice some improvements, which, though 

 they differ from those elsewhere spoken of in this report, are 

 deemed of considerable importance. A few years since, Eli- 

 phalet Stone, of Dedham, sold to Irish and German laborers, 

 portions of a tract of land, most of which had been considered 

 of very poor quality for agricultural purposes. It is situated 

 near Mill Village, and most of the purchasers are operatives in 

 the manufactories there. The lots sold vary from a quarter 

 of an acre to an acre, and the price paid was from ^1 00 to $oOO 

 an acre, — the latter price referring to lots very favorably situ- 

 ated. Cheap, but decent cottages have been erected. Colonel 

 Stone having, in most cases, assisted the purchasers in build- 

 ing, and they have improved the land chiefly for the production 

 of vegetables. It has been a matter of no little interest to 

 witness the success which has attended these operations in 

 " cottage gardening." They have presented an answer, in 

 part, to the question sometimes asked, — How can land be 

 improved when there is no capital to begin with ? These cot- 

 tagers started with only such means of fertilizing their land 

 as their families, and, perhaps, a pig, afforded. It was but 

 a small spot that could be made productive at first, but the 

 produce of this enabled them to increase the means of fer- 

 tilizing a larger breadth. They produce most of the vege- 

 tables needed in their families, and a surplus which would 

 feed another pig, or aid in supporting a cow, — thus increasing 

 their quantity of manure, and enabling them to till more 



