FARMS. 71 



cred more than one hundred bushels of pears, in good condition, and 

 in the highest state of perfectiop, and among them some varieties not 

 successfully cultivated in this part of the county. 



L. 31. BRADFORD. 



J. A. MARSHALL. 



FARMS. 



The Committee appointed by the Trustees, in 18G9, to award tlie 

 Premiums of the Society for the best cnltivated Farms for the years- 

 1869-70-71, submit the following report : 



That only two Farms were entered to compete for the Society's pre- 

 miums; one by Daniel S. Eaton of Fitchburg, the other by Aldert 

 Derby of Leominster, These Farms have been visited by your Com- 

 mittee annually and inspected in their various departments, that we 

 miojht have a o-eneral knowledo;e of their manaojement. But the two 

 farms are so dissimilar and require a management so unlike each other, 

 thai we shall be excused for entering more minutely into detail. Mr. 

 Eaton's farm contains sixty acres and is well fenced with stone-walls, 

 and is managed by his own labor, and when he finds it necessary to 

 have some additional help, he exchanges and w^orks for his help to pay 

 them, so that no part of the income of his farm has to be appropriated 

 to pay running expenses for labor, which circumstance is of very rare 

 occurrence nowadays. He has imearthed the boulders and smaller 

 stones from his fields, made the rough places smooth in his mowing lots, 

 so that the Mower will run to advantage on all his grass lots, with a 

 very small exception. He cultivates wheat, barley, Indian corn, pota- 

 toes, turnips, beets, and other vegetables, keeps his fields clean of 

 weeds, keeps four or five cows, makes butte^ for the market, has au 

 apple orchard, keeps swine, some for market, also about three dozen 

 hens, selling one hundred dollars w^orth of eggs in a year, has pears, 

 grapes and peaches, sufficient for his family use. 



Living on "Alpine Hill," any one looking around from his stand- 

 point might suppose him to be " monarch of all he surveys." We 

 noticed a nice field of German Sweet Turnips growing beside Ruta 

 Bagas ; the Sweet Turnips are much more thrifty than the Bagas, 

 showing a decided superiority over them, with the same culture. Also, 

 "we noticed this year a prolific field of the Common Flat Turnips adjoin- 

 ing the above. 



We might go on and make an extended report of Mr. Eaton's farm- 

 ing operations; but his written statement accompanying this Report, 

 will amply suffice. 



Mr. Derby's Farm contains about one hundred and seven acres and 

 is managed in a manner that requires much extra help. Mr. Derby is 



