32 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE. 



occasionally. Such culture will not produce fruit fit for home, 

 or profitable for a foreign market. To produce profitable 

 fruit on our soils the land must be well located j a gradual 

 descent to the north, east, or west is to be preferred ; good 

 judgment is required in preparing the land and selecting the 

 kinds of fruit that are most profitable. In ploughing my onion 

 ground the past week, my attention was called by the plough- 

 man to the fact of the ground being filled with apple roots and 

 fibres, although he was then in the centre of two rows, full 

 sixteen feet from either tree. These trees had been set but 

 seven years, and it would be fair to suppose that they take 

 their nourishment now from all parts of the field. If so, why 

 put the compost near the but only, as recommended by some ? 

 This field has grown onions two years ; and the land not hav- 

 ing been ploughed deep last year, the weeds had taken the 

 liberty to come nearer the surface than I wish them to grow. 



The committee will see that I have made no account of beef, 

 pork, and poultry, and this is produced, as well as milk, during 

 the winter, from the grain, &c, which has been spoken of. 

 Neither has mention been made of labor to the amount of 

 about a hundred dollars, which has been expended for perma- 

 nent improvements. Two thousand barrels of vinegar have 

 been put in the market, and as much more cider for the same 

 use has been manufactured the present fall. On the other 

 hand, my personal services have not been reckoned into the 

 amount. 



I will mention, as I should have done before, that I have 

 been growing about the same crops, onions excepted, for from 

 three to five years, with an increased amount each year. 



Sutton, November 1, 1854. 



WORCESTER WEST. 



From the Report of the Committee. 



The encouragement of agriculture we believe to bo the first 

 jeot that should engage the attention of our agricultural 

 association. There lies the foundation of all our improvement; 

 and there wc sec and feci the greatest and best influence. 



