REPORTS OF COMMITTEES. 11 



used to be considered the best way of getting rid of them. 

 Having built all the wall he desires, Mr. Adams some years 

 ago established a stone " depot " in a favorable location, 

 where he has deposited, literally, thousands of loads of stone 

 the product mainly of his manner of plowing. 



Mr. Adams' forte lies in the manufacture of soil, so to speak. 

 An unproductive spot is a continual eye sore to him. If he 

 discovers anything of the kind on any one of his acres, he 

 straightway leaves the ninety and nine and devotes himself to 

 the barren fraction until it becomes fitted for the companion- 

 ship of its associates, and worthy of its owner. So far does 

 he carry this passion, that he has actually dug out the bottom 

 of a pond, and then what lay below it, all for the purpose of 

 rendering the tops of ledges whereon it was spread, produc- 

 tive. In so doing he has obtained satisfactory success, but 

 we cannot help thinking, at too great a cost. We do not 

 believe that the end quite justifies the means. It might be 

 for his interest if his limits could be circumscribed and the 

 barren spots left out in the cold, only that his occupation 

 would be gone. We like his method of thoroughly doing 

 whatever he undertakes. There are no bushes, briars or weeds 

 allowed to grow near to, or in the corners of his walls, but 

 everything is kept clean. He believes such crops to be un- 

 profitable, inasmuch as they are expensive to raise, and bring 

 but a poor price in the market. 



We consider it great praise to be able to say of this farm, 

 that we could find nothing from first to last that we should 

 be ashamed to exhibit if we owned it. There are very few 

 farms of that kind. The greatest want that we discovered 

 was that of a good mowing machine. Mr. Adams has not 

 had encouraging success in consequence of using poor ma- 

 chines, and has come to speak with satisfaction of his mow- 

 ers upon legs that are always in order. We believe however 

 that no man growing twenty or more acres of grass can 

 afford for a single season, in these times, to cut his grass by 

 hand. To say nothing of the increased cost, the deterioration 



