120 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



March 



a general rule, what crop was most profitable, as 

 adjoining farms differed so much. He had visited 

 a majority of the towns in the county last sum- 

 mer, and was surprised to see so many good 

 farms. He spoke of the fine fattening land in 

 Hingham, and so far down as Marshfield and East 

 Bridgevvater. He complained that the farmers in 

 his county did not make as much as they could 

 from the marine manures, and hoped there would 

 be more advantage taken of this cheap fertilizer. 

 He said that they derived an advantage of absence 

 from frost of G weeks over Berkshire and Wor- 

 cester counties. He thought it would be well to 

 find out how much manure could be judiciously 

 expended to produce the best grass crop, and in 

 this connection he spoke of a lot of meadow land 

 owned by Mr. Boynton, of Sandwich, consisting 

 of 4i acres, located behind his livery stable in 

 which he kept 15 horses. The whole manure 

 from his stable was put on this land, which was 

 top-dressed in November, and he had cut from 

 26 to 34 tons of hay a year, last year cutting 26 

 tons the first crop, and from 7 to 10 tons the 

 second. He said that on land which was fit for 

 grass they could raise grass, or its equivalent in 

 fodder, and do better than with anything else ; 

 but where this could not be done, nothing paid 

 better than keeping sheep. 



Mr. SniON Brown, of Concord, being called 

 up for Middlesex county, said the county was 

 singularly situated, as she has a market at her 

 doors, having large cities and towns close at hand. 

 In consequence of this, large quantities of vege- 

 tables were raised, principally asparagus, celery, 

 turnips, beets and potatoes. They commenced 

 taking potatoes to market by team about the mid- 

 dle of August, and continued this until October, 

 when the crop came in from the North and East. 

 The farmers keep their horses and boys on the 

 road to market, and by this means there are from 

 $8,000 to $10,000 worth of potatoes sold at good 

 prices from some of the small towns where they 

 are raised. Asparagus was also extensively cul- 

 tivated, and a good deal of money was made by it, 

 by sending to Boston, Lowell, Worcester, Law- 

 rence and other large places in Essex county. 

 Milk was another large source of revenue to the 

 farmers of the county, and from Concord alone 

 from 50 to 100 barrels were sent to Boston per 

 day through the year. To supply this, they had 

 to raise a good many roots, and this gives em- 

 ployment to a great many people. The stock of 

 cows has been so essentially improved, as to nearly 

 double in value, within the past ten or fifteen 

 years, and at the same time the farmers have in- 

 creased in wealth and their farms in fertility. 



Mr. Brown then spoke of the raising of fruits 

 in Essex, Norfolk and other counties, and said 

 that some of the finest orchards in the State were 



to be found in Middlesex county, and before "the 

 yellows" destroyed the peach crop, the town of Lin- 

 coln alone realized from $8,000 to $9,000 from 

 this crop. Li other high lands in the county good 

 crops of peaches are now grown, and a dealer had 

 told him last year more came to market from the 

 town of Westford than from all the other towns in 

 the State combined. He spoke of the excellence 

 of the apples raised in this county, particularly 

 those grown on granite bottoms, and said that the 

 dealers preferred these as they were more crisp, 

 and kept better, and to obtain these they were in 

 the habit of going to New Hampshire for them. 

 Middlesex county, said he, as a whole, is improv- 

 ing in her agriculture, and this was evident in the 

 better appearance of her farms, the buildings were 

 better, the barns were improved, the fences were 

 good, and on entering the houses you find better 

 furniture, more books, and more of the comforts 

 of domestic life than Avere to be found ten years 

 ago. He closed by urging on the members of the 

 Legislature and the farmers of the State the im- 

 portance of attending and taking part in the dis- 

 cussions at these meetings, as in his journeyings 

 through the State he had found an intense desire 

 to know what was done at them by those for 

 whose benefit they were held. 



Mr. Tyler, of Somerville, said that from his 

 experience he was satisfied the saving in cutting 

 hay would more than pay the expense incurred 

 for fattening cattle, and Mr. QuiNCY entirely co- 

 incided with him. 



Prof. Clark, of Amherst, being called on, said 

 he had no idea that a man known not to be a far- 

 mer would be allowed to speak at these meetings, 

 but he would say that the discussion he had heard 

 showed that there was a great amount of practi- 

 cal information which, if it could be put in form, 

 would be of incalculable service to the rising gen- 

 eration. We have heard, said he, of stock raising, 

 about manures, the dairy and the raising of cran- 

 berries, and he would earnestly recommend that 

 more attention be paid to the raising of farmers. 



Mr. AxwATER, of Springfield, said that the 

 farmers in his county had latterly paid great at- 

 tention to rotation crops, and in doing this were 

 using all their available manures, turning their 

 fields to grass until the yield falls below 1^ tons 

 per acre. They are also draining the low lands 

 successfully. On the sandy lands they are doing 

 well by sowing two crops of buckwheat and red 

 top afterwards. In the hilly parts of the county, 

 hay, gathered at an expense of $3 per ton, is a 

 leading crop, and then follows corn. Attention is 

 particularly turned also to ascertaining the actual 

 cost and profit of each crop, and he hoped this 

 would be more generally followed throughout the 

 State. 



Dr. LoRiNG, of Salem, said that to a certain ex- 



