REPORT 



AGRICULTURE OF THE COUNTY OF ESSEX, MASS. 183- 



Essex County lies at the northeastern part of Massachusetts ; 

 and is bounded on the northwest by New Hampshire ; on the east 

 and northeast by the Atlantic Ocean ; and southeast by Massachu- 

 setts Bay ; and on the southwest by the County of Middlesex. It 

 embraces in extent oHO square miles. Its population in 1830 was 

 82,887 ; its present population 93,G89 ; being about 260 inhabitants 

 to a square mile. It contains twenty-six towns. It is intersected 

 through its whole width by the river Merrimack, which empties into 

 Massachusetts Bay at Newburyport ; and the rivers Shawsheen and 

 Agawam or Ipswich. Parker and Saugus livers aie likewise found, 

 but are inconsiderable in length and magnitude. 



The general surface of the county is uneven ; but there are no 

 hills of great elevation, and few, which may not be cultivated to their 

 summits. The county, for its whole length on the eastern side, is 

 washed by the Atlantic Ocean. Cape Cod, its eastern extremity, 

 projects into the sea, a distance of sixteeri'miles ; and the coast is 

 lined with a rocky shore or extensive beaches ; and pierced by in- 

 numerable inlets and creeks, on which are extensive tracts of salt al- 

 luvial meadow. The county abounds likewise in tracts of a greater 

 or less extent of fresh meadow or peat-bog. A considerable amount 

 of this land has been drained ; and by the application of sand, gravel, 

 or loam to its surface, has been converted into profitable mowing. 

 Much of this same description of land remains to be redeemed ; and 

 will fully compensate for the expenditure, which this improvement 

 may require. There are considerable tracts on the Agawam river, 



