ESSEX AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY 15 



He kept 4 oxen, 2 horses, 12 cows and 12 sheep. Amos 

 Gould bought his first hundred acres of the Turner Hill 

 farm, now owned by Charles G. Rice, in 1810, gradually 

 enlarged it and built 700 rods of stone wall. He kept 20 

 to 30 horned cattle, 1 horse and 20 sheep. 



But Thomas Chase of West Newbury made the most 

 extraordinary statement of hard work, its routine and 

 its results, on his farm in 1833. His working force in- 

 cluded himself, his son, and one hired man at $11 a month 

 for eight months, and 29 days at one dollar a day, and 

 a young woman 24 weeks at a dollar a week. "Our cus- 

 tom," he says, "is to drive the cows to pasture and feed 

 the swine before breakfast and to go to field in summer 

 at six o'clock. Luncheon with tea or coffee between nine 

 and ten. Dine at half -past twelve — our drink cider and 

 coffee; tea at 5, if desired, milk after; beer, water and 

 milk and water is all the drink required in the field." 



The faiTner himself had been confined to the bed with 

 a fractured hip since October 5th and in December was 

 able to do only light work. He kept 4 oxen, 9 cows, 1 

 horse, 5 swine ; cut 44 tons English hay, 13 tons meadow 

 hay, and 18 tons of salt hay on his 12-acre marsh, which 

 was six miles distant. He planted 4 acres of Indian corn 

 and potatoes and 4 acres of potatoes, which yielded 1,128 

 bushels, produced 674 lbs. of butter, 2,033 lbs. of cheese, 

 29 barrels of cider, and in addition to the regular round 

 of farm work, took down and rebuilt a barn, made and 

 new laid 50 rods of stone wall, dug 120 rods of ditch, of 

 which 70 rods measured 3 feet by 2, set 200 apple trees 

 and 400 grafts. No alcoholic liquor, he says, was served. 



During this first decade of the active life of the Agri- 

 cultural Society, Rev. Henry Colman, formerly a Salem 

 clergyman, later an enthusiastic student of agriculture 

 and experimental farmer, and eventually a State Secre- 

 tary or Commissioner of Agriculture, contributed to the 

 Transactions a series of papers of great value on many 

 themes of current interest, the dairy and improved breeds 



