26 



ON FARMS. 



Your Committee remarked ;vith satisfaction Mr. Hooper's 

 ])ractice of planting at intervals among his corn several rows of 

 potatoes, so as to afford a place for shocking his stalks and re- 

 moving them at pleasure, Avitliout the necessity of carrying them 

 by hand to a great distance where the field was large, or expos- 

 ing his corn to be broken down by going among it to bring them 

 out, when they should be fit to be carried to the barn. Your 

 Committee likewise remarked with great pleasure Mr. Hooper's 

 unusual attention and economical arrangements for making and 

 saving manure ; and strongly recommend his example to their 

 brother farmers. Manure must lay at the foundation of all suc- 

 cessful husbandry ; and it is impossible to condemn too severely 

 the apathy and negligence in this matter, which generally pre- 

 vail. 



Mr. Hooper, holding a large portion of his farm on a lease, has 

 little encouragement to attempt any laborious or expensive im- 

 provements. His several manufactures afford him singular ad- 

 vantages in obtaining for his farming operations any additional 

 labor which may be required on an emergency and in the busiest 

 season of the year ; and from the connexion of his mechanical 

 and farming operations your Committee felt the difficulty, ad- 

 mitted by. Mr. Hooper, of making a just estimate of the amount 

 of farm labor employed, and comparing it with the land cultiva- 

 ted and the produce raised. 



The farm of Jesse Curtis is in Marblehead, and is held on a 

 lease of seven years, five of which have expired. Under a land- 

 lord indisposed to allow any compensation for improvements, 

 Mr. Curtis has had no encouragement to make any ; yet he has 

 done much by his humble means to mend the condition of his 

 place, and his fields and buildings are in neat and good order. 

 His pasturage is excellent ; and his arable and mowing land, 

 where it is to be found among the rocks and cliffs, is of a superior 

 quality. His opportunities for procuring sea manure are very 

 good ; but with all these advantages, the amount of his produce 

 compared with the labor expended, and indeed the general con- 

 dition of his premises, showed that his labor was judiciously ap- 

 plied, and indicated industry and good management. His stock, 



