125 



The crop where no fertilizer was used, was fifteen hundred 

 pounds per acre. 



The experiment with potatoes cannot be reported, as they 

 were so largely destroyed by the rot. 



The Farm may be considered in satisfactory condition in 

 most respects, at present. Thirty acres have been seeded 

 to grass, the past season, with a good catch assured on 

 most of the land. The walls around the pasture have been 

 poled and repaired. The woodwax partially checked, by 

 mowing : and an attempt made to carry on the place in a 

 workmanlike manner. There have been eighteen cords of 

 manure used on the farm, and nearly two tons of fertilizers. 

 No rent has been received from the house, which has been 

 unoccupied. 



C. J. Peabody. 



FARMERS' INSTITUTES. 



The first Farmers' Institute held by this Society was 

 held at Plummer Hall, Salem, March 18, 1879, and was 

 opened at 9.30 A. M. on the subject of "Vegetables aud 

 Seed," by Hon. J. J. H. Gregoiy, and in the afternoon on 

 the "Planning and Management of Farms." 



The 52d one was held March 25, 1887, (at the same 

 place as the first), which not only shows that this Society 

 complied with the order of the State Board of Agriculture, 

 " that each Society receiving the State Bounty should 

 hold at least three farmers' institutes within its limits in 

 the course of a }'ear," not as a matter of compulsion, but 

 because it early found that the}^ were of great value to 

 the agricultural interests of the county, and as such should 

 not be limited to a sufficient number to satisfy the require- 

 ments of the State, and has therefore set apart since 1878 

 an average of six and one-half days annually for institutes, 

 holding two meetings on each day, each meeting, in most 

 cases, being devoted to different subjects, and held where 

 the different agricultural sections of the county could be 



