141 



employing more labor, expending more capital, and increasing their 

 cares. 



But it is not fair to produce such instances as any examples of the 

 profit or unprofitableness of husbandry, when carried on, as all other 

 branches of business, to be successful, must be carried on, with in- 

 telligence, skill, industry, enterprise ; and all the capital and all the 

 labor which can be advantageously employed in it. I will not, how- 

 ever, anticipate such general views of the subject, as I propose to 

 lake in the retrospect of the whole survey. 



v 



6. Apples. — I should recommend strongly to the farmers of 

 Berkshire, the cultivation of apples. The orchards are compara- 

 tively (ew, and many have been neglected from the best of motives, 

 an unwillingness to favor the facilities of intemperance. But the val- 

 ue of apples for fatting pork and beef and even for milch cows, so 

 well established by innumerable experiments, and in some cases rat- 

 ed as highly as potatoes, recommends them most strongly to increased 

 attention and universal cultivation. The borders of our fields may 

 be lined with them ; the road sides may be planted with them ; they 

 may be scattered over our pastures, with little or no injury to the 

 crops or the pasturage, if properly arranged. 



7. Raising of Live Stock. — The raising of early lambs for 

 the New York market, and of fattening mutton, may be made sources 

 of much profit to the Berkshire farmers ; but many important facts 

 which 1 have on this subject, will be brought into another report. 



Great success has attended the raising of neat stock in the county, 

 and finer stock of the kind, principally, though not entirely of the 

 Devon blood, than I found on the farm of George Hull, of Sandis- 

 field, and .John M. Hurlbui, of Great Barrington, is seldom to be 

 seen. They evince the very best management. I might mention 

 other cases ; and of course in my excursions I can have seen but 

 comparatively little of what exists there ; but these examples recur- 

 red strongly to my recollection. These gentlemen are well satisfied 

 with the profits of their stock-husbandry ; and the facts prove that 

 the raising of stock in Berkshire, with proper judgment in the selec- 

 tion, and care in the management, would afford an ample profit. The 

 Shakers have been eminendy successful both at Tyringham and Han 



