352 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE. 



BRISTOL. 



From the Report of the Committee. 



Although perhaps not quite in the line of our dutj^, we would 

 suggest to those engaged in the business of raising beef the 

 propriety and profitableness of planting such root crops as 

 ruta-bagas, turnips, beets, &c, sufficiently early in spring to 

 meet such an emergency as has occurred the past summer, and 

 is more or less liable to occur every year. By so doing, farm- 

 ers would be enabled to provide their stock with an abundance 

 of succulent food in a time when it is much needed, and the 

 quantity and quality of the beef would be much increased; and 

 they would be enabled to get their cattle to market earlier in 

 the season, and make a saving of hay and meal, the latter of 

 which has this year cost about twenty-five per cent, more than 

 usual. 



Thomas Almy, Chairman. 



nORSES. 



ESSEX. 



From the Report of the Committee. 



The chairman of the committee, having paid considerable at- 

 tention to the breeding and rearing of valuable horses, docs 

 not*feel willing to leave a subject of such vital importance to 

 the agricultural community without making a few general re- 

 marks, hoping that they may be instrumental in improving the 

 character and condition of that much-abused and long-neglected, 

 yet patient and faithful, friend and servant of man. Until quite 

 recently, very little attention has been given to systematic 

 horse-breeding in this country; and the consequence is, that we 

 have few or no horses among us which can be considered strict- 

 ly reliable for the purposes of breeding. Most of our valuable 

 horses arc the direct descendants of English stock that has 



