42 



and nothing is better to spread on the hen-house floors to absorb and mix with 

 it than the coal ashes which are so difficult to utilize in any other way. 



After the Address by Mr. Hyde, the President called for 



Remarks from Prof. S. T. Frost of New Marlboro. 



Professor Frost did not propose to introduce a new subject, but would 

 like to utilize some thoughts already advanced. One is fruit culture. He can 

 remember the time when huckleberries were the principal fruit raised in the 

 Hudson River valley. A few years have chauged all that. The business began 

 with huckleberry picking, then blackberries, then Ant werps were planted, then 

 strawberries and other small fruits, until now wUole cargoes are taken to the 

 markets, and there are barges known as berry barges, devoted entirely to that 

 business. Peaches raised in the Hudson River valley are worth one and a half 

 more than from other localities. The conditions there are similar to those^of 

 the Berkshire valley, and with the same care should produce like results. Al- 

 lusion has been made to the Delaware and Virginia nurseries. But the appear- 

 ance of them is unfavorable, and the trees sickly looking, and there should be 

 as line fruit raised here as there. True, there are conditioDS to regulate ; the 

 climate is more even there, but we are more convenient to market, and the su- 

 perior skill with other care,' will compensate for difference in location. Some- 

 thing must be 'done. We must utilize that skill that New England is celebrated 

 for. Sorry that one important feature is lacking now-a-days; that is, large 

 families, for that incentive is astonishing in its resources in necessities. In 

 raising various crops, as tobacco, for example, a knowledge of agriculture is 

 required up to a certain point, after that the utmost skill is necessary. New 

 England excels in that feature, and will lead to wealth. Berkshire cheese com- 

 mands a better price, on account of its superior quality. The pure springs and 

 delicious grass of Berkshire have much to do with its value. 



With sorrow it must be told, within one day's ride, 1,000 farms can be 

 bought for less than the buildings and fences cost. One year ago he would not 

 have told it, for it would have been a family secret we were ashamed of. But 

 looking forward, it offers better opportunity for profit during the next twenty- 

 five years than may be again presented for a long time, and a man who tells of 

 it twenty-five years hence would be called a fool because he didn't buy. 



A word concerning our waste. The contents of the ordinary privy vaults, 

 one of the sources of disease as generally managed, ought to be utilized as all 

 other manures. Also the contents of beneries. Plaster is good to mix with it ; 

 common soil is excellent, also coal ashes sifted. Gathering leaves pays for the 

 labor. Even to draw dirt on other earth results in improving it. 



At the request of the President, M. I. Wheeler, of Great Barrington, ex- 

 plained some of the peculiarities and advantages of the Cooley system in the 

 care of milk and cream. 



After parsing a vote of thanks to the citizens of Sheffield for their generous 

 hospitality, the Institute was dissolved. 



