202 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE. 



either, forces farmers to reduce it at the most unpropitious mo- 

 ment, on account of its poor condition and the low state of the 

 markets caused by the general necessity for selling. If we 

 manage, however, a little differently, sowing a few acres of corn 

 for fodder, and a still larger number in roots, beyond what is 

 needed for our usual stock, we shall then be in a position to 

 take advantage of the improvidence or want of foresight in 

 others, by buying cheap what they are forced to sell, and fat- 

 tening them for the butcher with the surplus product of our 

 farms. This is the true test of success ; and when one is in a 

 position to do this, he is on the sure road to wealth and pros- 

 perity. The reply of an intelligent Scotch farmer on my 

 remarking upon the great breadth of land he had in turnips is 

 as true here in its application as it is in Scotland. It was this : 

 If I did not cultivate at least one-sixth of my farm in turnips, 

 fattening stock upon them in the winter to be sold in the spring, 

 and purchasing bones, guano, and other fertilizers to bring the 

 land to the highest condition for their cultivation, I could nei- 

 ther farm to a profit nor pay my rent. 



From the Report of the Committee. 



Previous to speaking of the particular statements, the com- 

 mittee ask leave to say that there exists an inexcusable 

 degree of looseness in relation to the principles to be regarded 

 in making these awards. The committee are unable to find 

 any definite regulation as to the time of making entries of these 

 claims. It has been usual to give notice of such claims to the 

 secretary early in the season, that the committee may have an 

 opportunity to view the crops when on the ground ; but this 

 practice has not always prevailed, less the present season than 

 before, for the committee had no knowledge of these entries 

 until the statements came to their hands on the 15th of Novem- 

 ber; consequently their judgment must be based upon the 

 statements themselves, or upon information otherwise obtained. 



The statements of the extraordinary products on the farm of 

 Mr. Brown, of Marblehead, are truly astonishing. They go so 

 far beyond any thing of the kind ever before brought to the 



