124 ON FARMS. 



that it will be assented to by nearly every farmer, and yet is 

 practised upon by only a few. A good illustration of the ben- 

 efits of high and careful culture, is furnished by the market 

 gardeners here in our own County, who, on a few acres, raise 

 crops of onions, cabbages and squashes, that yield them a net 

 profit of hundreds of dollars, per acre. But most of our far- 

 mers spread their manure and labor over so large a surface, that 

 both are frittered away and nearly lost. Until more judicious 

 economy is practised in this respect, we may expect to hear 

 from the mass of our farmers, as we do hear, a negative re- 

 sponse to the question, 'Is farming profitable ?' 



In November, the committee, by invitation of the Overseers 

 of the Poor, visited the Town Farm in Danvers. This farm, 

 under the management of Adino Page, superintendant of the 

 Alms House establishment there, who has often been a suc- 

 cessful competitor for our premiums for grain crops, is con- 

 ducted with good judgment and skill, and, in connection with 

 other industrial operations carried on there, is made so produc- 

 tive as to reduce the cost of supporting the poor at the house, 

 deducting outside expenses, to twenty-eight cents a week for 

 each inmate. The soil is light and very gravelly — truly a 

 hungry soil ; and yet by deep ploughing and liberal manuring, 

 it yields crops above the average of the best lands in the county. 



Large quantities of offal are purchased at the slaughter 

 houses in Danvers, and brought to this establishment. Here 

 the hea.ls and shins are boiled, — the tallow is saved for the 

 curriers, and soap and candle makers ; the neats-foot oil for 

 the harness makers ; the bones for the button manufacturers, 

 and for other purposes ; the bits of skin for the glue makers ; 

 and the refuse of these, with the blood and entrails, are thrown 

 into the large yard adjoining, as a rich, though not very deli- 

 cate, food for the hundred or more swine, which devour all of 

 it that is eatable, and, with a plentiful supply of meadow mud, 

 work up the rest into the richest of food for the grain and oth- 

 er crops raised on the farm. Five hundred cart-loads of ma- 

 nure are thus made here annually, and never have we seen a 

 more thrifty and profitable set of hogs, in any enclosure. The 

 large cellar under the barn, which is connected with the hog- 



