ON FARMS. 27 



particularly his cows, most of which have been raised by him- 

 self, is of an excellent quality; and his dairy, for the exemplary 

 neatness of its management and its amount of produce, is cer- 

 tainly not surpassed and scarcely equalled by any within the 

 knowledge of your Committee, his cows within the present sea- 

 son without any extra feeding having yielded more than 169 lbs, 

 of butter to a cow. Mr. Curtis' farming is on a comparatively 

 small scale ; his means are very limited ; he is exclusively a 

 farmer ; and his husbandry affords a creditable example of econ- 

 omy, neatness, and well-directed industry. 



Your Committee being of an opinion that their highest pre- 

 mium should be bestowed only In a case where farming is the 

 exclusive object of pursuit, and pursued on a scale so extensive 

 as to embrace all the most important branches of husbandry, and 

 at the same time to present examples of experiments and im- 

 provements in agriculture, did not feel at liberty In either of the 

 above cases to bestow it ; and experiencing some difficulty In 

 fairly adjusting the respective claims of these two competitors 

 so as to give a preference to either, they decided unanimously 

 against making any distinction between them, and voted there- 

 fore to divide the second and third premiums equally between 

 the two claimants ; which they -acicordlngly recommend to the 

 Society. 



Your Committee visited the farm of Jededlah H. Barker, 

 in North Andover. Feeling no disposition to censure, they owe 

 it to themselves not to commend without just grounds of com- 

 mendation. The condition of Mr. Barker's working cattle did 

 him much credit ; in other respects your Committee saw nothing 

 in his husbandry, difFering from the management of the majority 

 of the farmers In the county, or which should In any respect 

 entitle him to a preference over them. His returns are made 

 with little exactness ; but it is obvious that the amount of labor 

 employed and produce obtained are small compared with the 

 size and capabilities of his ftirm. It presents one of those cases 

 too frequently to be met with, and based upon a mistaken eco- 

 nomy, in which an attempt seems to be made to ascertain with 

 how little labor the farm can be srot alone;, rather than how nmch 



