50 



tions that there is no necessity for extending our remarks. We 

 doubt Avhether the Commonwealth has larger, finer, better man- 

 aged or more profitable plantations of this valuable fruit than are 

 to be found in our own county. 



There is an increasing attention paid to good gardening for 

 domestic purposes. Farmers used to make this apology for poor 

 gardens, that they had no time to cultivate them, because their 

 field crops demanded all their attention. We are gratified to find 

 that the force of this apology is not so much felt as it used to be. 

 The example of the market gardeners has done much for us in 

 tins vicinity, by showing that a large crop may be grown on a 

 small space by high manuring and careful tillage ; and that by 

 these means alone a profit can be made. Still there are farmers 

 Avho do not seem to appreciate either the comfort or the pecuni- 

 ary advantage of a good garden. Instead of making it the earli- 

 est, they make it the latest of their spring labors. Hence they 

 have only a late and small supply of vegetables ; two or three 

 little rows of pease, a few beans, a small patch of sweet corn, &c., 

 whereas with a reasonable amount of labor, bestowed early upon 

 the garden, they might have an abundant supply through the 

 summer and fall. No part of the farm pays so well as the gar- 

 den, and if any part is to be neglected it must not be this. It 

 goes far towards diminishing the butcher's bill, and tends to good 

 health and to freedom from disorders occasioned by an almost ex- 

 clusively flesh diet. A good garden is eminently economical, to 

 say nothing of the pleasure of having a constant supply of fresh, 

 tender and wholesome vegetables and fruit of one's own raising. 

 Let the land be exposed to the sun, ploughed deep, manured well 

 and planted early. We have noticed in many gardens that the 

 onions did not bottom or grow large. In nearly every instance, 

 if not in all, we found that they were planted late. Onions 7miHt 

 be j)lanted early ; in our climate, from the middle to the last of 

 April, if a large crop is expected. 



Of market gardening it is not necessary to speak at length. 

 The skill and success of Norfolk gardeners are proverbial. We 

 visited several large market-farms in Brookline that were perfect 

 models of neatness, beauty and productiveness. Nothing could 

 exceed the thoroughness and carefulness of their cultivation. 

 Other and similar farms of great excellence are to be found in 

 Dorchester, West Roxbury, and the towns in the vicinity of 

 Boston. 



During the past year there has been a large number of imnatu- 

 ral deaths among swine, — uimatural for them because not by the 

 knife. We do not know that attention has been extensively called 

 to this subject, but wc ho])e in the course of another year to col- 



