23 



cut round and through it, and already the change for the better 

 is quite obvious. A portion of it, — about three acres, — has been 

 set to cultivated grasses, and produced this year from three to four 

 tons of hay to the acre. Mr. C. has obtained such control over 

 the water, that there -will be no difficulty in bringing the whole 

 tract into a high state of productiveness. 



Mr. Clap uses many labor-saving implements, among which 

 may be mentioned the Buckeye mowing machine, Bullard's hay- 

 spreader, Palmer's horse-pitchfork, the wheel horse-rake, &c. 

 He is well pleased with all these, but especially so with the hay- 

 spreader and pitchfork. The former, he says, will save the labor 

 of many men, besides drying the hay more rapidly than it can be 

 done in any other way ; and the latter is a great saving in the 

 time required to unload hay, and a no less saving of human 

 strength usually required in the operation. At a trial witnessed 

 by some of the Committee, a ton of hay was pitched off in six 

 minutes. The force engaged v^as a man on the load, Avho man- 

 aged the fork, a horse which lifted the hay by a pulley, and a 

 boy to lead the horse. Two men took away the hay as it was 

 dropped from the fork. 



Water is brought to Mr. C.'s buildings by a hydraulic ram, 

 from a stream about eighty rods distant. All the water required 

 for the stock, cooking for the swine, (and nearly all their food is 

 cooked,) washing dairy utensils, &g., is thus supplied. The ram 

 has been in operation for two years, and has not required a cent's 

 worth of repairs. This is a convenient and cheap mode of con- 

 veying water, and might be more extensively adopted by our 

 farmers with advantage. 



It should be remarked that the cooking of the food for the 

 swine is done by steam, and that the boiler by which the steam 

 is produced, is placed in a building one hundred feet from the 

 piggery, where the cooking is done. The steam is conveyed this 

 distance by a pipe laid under ground, and the food is cooked in 

 large wooden vats. By this plan, the danger arising from having 

 fire near the barn is obviated. 



A portion of the Committee visited, unofficially. Rev. C. C. 

 Sewall, of Medfield, the Corresponding Secretary of the Society. 

 Mr. Sewall's farm is mostly of rather light soil. It produces 

 readily good crops of Indian corn and rye. Spring wheat has, 

 also, been cultivated with general success for several years. On 

 some portions of the farm, more moist than the rest, very heavy 

 crops of hay are produced. 



Mr. Sewall's stock consists mostly of cows, the milk from 

 which is devoted to making butter. It will be recollected that 



o 



