ESSEX SOCIETY. 21 



all sorts, hay, pasture, and potatoes ; and whether on loams / 

 thin clays, sand or gravel, at least equally well with farm yard 

 manure, and at the same time it alters and amends the texture 

 of the soil. 



Mr. King has made experiments with guano, salt, saltpetre 

 and ashes. On one acre of meadow, upon which 300 lbs. of 

 guano were spread in April, and sown with oats and grass seed, 

 the crop of oats was heavy, and the grass seed has taken well. 

 Indian corn grown upon guano was not as good as some grown 

 beside it upon his compost manure. This, as the season has 

 proved, was better than any fertilizer with which he experi- 

 mented. Your committee were pleased with the clean culture 

 of his hoed crops, with the smooth and workmanlike manner of 

 inverting the sod, and re-seeding his grass lands after haying, 

 and with the good condition of his working oxen and farm. 



The farm of Mr. How is in Methuen, and consists of one 

 hundred and seventeen acres ; the soil, a gravelly loam, inter- 

 mixed with stone, and good for grass. Some parts of the farm 

 rise into large swells of considerable height, affording good pas- 

 ture, and good crops when under cultivation. The ground at 

 the base of these hills is too moist in the spring to admit of hoed 

 crops, but produces large crops of English hay, and is kept in 

 good condition for grass by an occasional top dressing. 



Since 1819, when Mr. How came in possession of his farm, it 

 has been increased from about fifty acres to Its present extent, 

 and from that time, when the place kept but six head of cattle, 

 such has been his addition of uncultivated lands, and his im- 

 provement upon the whole, that he is now able to winter from 

 twenty to thirty head of cattle, and to sell hay the last year to 

 the amount of $600. The addition which Mr. How has made 

 to his farm, and the great improvement upon it, is the result of 

 well directed and persevering industry. Your committee regret 

 that so good a farmer should be unable to give a precise state- 

 ment of the expense of conducting his farm ; but one thing he 

 is certain of, — that no claims are allowed to stand against him 

 unsettled. 



The farm of Mr. Holt is situated in the South Parish, in An- 

 dover, and contains about sixty acres. He has been engaged in 



