40 
THE CULTIVATOR, Jan. 
Notes on Massachusetts Farming. 
We had lately the pleasure of calling on a few farm¬ 
ers in Massachusetts; and from the many interesting 
matters, to which, in a hurried view, our attention was 
called, we offer the following brief notes: 
The farm of General Wm. Sutton, of Salem, con¬ 
sists of 300 acres. About 200 acres are woodland and 
rocky pasture, which has never been plowed. The re¬ 
mainder, though naturally rough, has been made very 
rich and productive. It has been fenced with stone 
walls, wh i will probably stand as long as fences are 
needed. Most of the boulders, with which the soil was 
formerly considerably filled, have been taken out, and 
the plow now passes without obstruction, over large 
and handsome fields. 
The principal surplus product of the farm is hay; 
but grain and vegetables, to the extent of the home 
consumption, are produced. The annual production of 
hay is 100 tons; of this, 60 tons are sold, at an ave¬ 
rage price of $13 per ton. The remaining 40 tons are 
required for the support of the stock kept on the farm, 
of which there are six oxen, six cows and four horses 
—besides twelve to fifteen cows taken in to pasture at 
$10 each, for the season. 
The team-work of the farm is done chiefly by oxen, 
and the three pairs kept here are noble animals, able to 
accomplish anything practicable in their line. They 
are from five to seven years old, and the weights of the 
different pairs, are 3,300 lbs., 3,600 lbs., and 3,800 
lbs., in good working order. 
Gen. S. takes particular pains to save all the ma¬ 
nure of his animals. It is mostly deposited in a cellar, 
over the bottom of which, as well as over the whole 
barn-yard, muck is spread to absorb the liquids. He 
has some advantages of making manure not usually pos¬ 
sessed by farmers. He uses the waste of a large glue 
factory. The animal substance in the process of being 
converted into glue, while in a half-fluid state, is 
strained Through straw; the refuse that remains, is, 
with the straw made into compost with peat, at the 
rate of three loads of the latter to one of the former. 
The mass remains one year before being used, during 
which time it becomes thoroughly decomposed; the 
straw is rotted, the peat, by fermentation, becomes 
fine, and is thoroughly impregnated with the gases and 
salts of the animal matter. This compost is found to be 
more powerful and lasting in its effects, than common 
barn manure, load for load. 
All Gen. S.’s buildings are of the most substantial 
kind. His barns, and the yards attached to them, have 
every possible convenience of arrangement, with water 
always at hand. His implements are the most perfect 
in their kind, and so complete is the assortment, that 
every description of work may be performed with its 
most appropriate tool. Every thing is kept in a place 
designed for it, and could be readily found by a person 
acquainted with the plan, in the darkest night. 
Taking the whole establishment together, it presents a 
model of neatness, system, convenience, and thorough 
management, which is seldom equalled. 
The farm of E. Hersey Derby, Esq., is in South 
Salem. Those who have been familiar with the vari¬ 
ous agricultural enterprises of Massachusetts for the 
last forty years, will at once recognize Mr. D.’s name 
in their connexion—especially as a prominent officer of 
the Massachusetts Society for Promoting Agriculture, 
an association to which the country at large is deeply 
indebted for much of its advancement in husbandry. 
We found him still active, personally superintending 
his extensive farming operations, and earnestly awake 
to every practical improvement. 
Mr. D. has a large garden, which is enclosed with 
a buckthorn hedge. He has used the buckthorn exten¬ 
sively for hedges, and his fences of this kind are among 
the most perfect w r e have seen. He is confident, after 
having made trials with several other thorns, that this 
is the only one suited to this climate. He states that 
all the buckthorns in this country, so far as he is ac¬ 
quainted, came from one imported tree, which stood in 
the garden of the late Dr. Holyoke, of Salem. We 
are aware that some regard the buckthorn as indige¬ 
nous to this country; but Emerson, in his “ Trees and 
Shrubs of Massachusetts,” says “it was probably intro¬ 
duced from Europe, where it is a native.” 
Mr. D. has introduced the English oak, and has a 
nursery of young trees of this kind, and several beauti¬ 
ful standard trees, from forty to sixty feet high, planted 
with his own hand. Indeed his grounds abound with 
fine trees of various kinds, all of which, with the ex¬ 
ception of one , he informed us, were put out by himself. 
Mr. D. keeps thirty cows, converting the surplus 
produce of his farm chiefly into milk, which is sold at 
six cents per quart, (beer measure) in winter, and five 
cents in summer. The average amount realized from 
each cow, is $100 a year. He raises vegetables— 
chiefly carrots and beets—on a large scale, for feeding 
the cows in winter, allowing each cow half a bushel 
per day, while kept on dry fodder. He prefers the 
carrot. The hay for all the stock of the farm, is cut 
in a machine. The cows are fed partly on upland, or 
fresh hay, and straw*, and partly on salt-marsh hay, and 
they do much better with this variety, than when con¬ 
fined to upland hay. 
Mr. D.’s barns are spacious, and well planned. The 
one w T here the stock is principally kept, has a cellar 
under the whole of it; a part of which is appropriated 
to manure, a part to storing vegetables, and a more 
dry and open part to the storage of farm implements. 
The farm of Geo. E. Adams, Medford, consists of 
160 acres. It is devoted chiefly to the production of 
milk and apples. The stock consists of 55 cows, a 
yoke of oxen and five horses. The annual sales of milk 
have amounted to $5,500, and in one year to $6,000 
(the prices as mentioned above.) The apple orchard 
consists of fifteen acres. The trees have been well 
managed—are large, and generally bear abundantly. 
The varieties are chiefly Russets and Baldwins. He 
has picked 1000 barrels of winter apples in a season, 
and one season sold that number at $2 per bbl. The 
Baldwins are usually sold to Messrs. Tudor, tf Bos¬ 
ton, and are wrapped in papers and sent to Calcutta. 
A large orchard of peach and pear trees has lately been 
set out, which has not yet come into bearing. 
Mr. A. is a young man who farms for profit , and the 
energy and economy with which his extensive business 
is carried on, bring a sure and satisfactory rew'ard. 
Much judgment has been shown in his buildings, several 
of which have been erected under his ow r n direction, 
and are of ample dimensions, convenient, and well fi¬ 
nished. As with all good farmers in this section, ma¬ 
nure is of the first importance. He saves everything 
of this nature, and has enough to keep up his farm to 
an extraordinary state of richness. His main barn is 
160 feet long and 40 feet wide, with a cellar under the 
whole. Marsh mud and “ sea-wrack,” (vegetable 
matter washed up by the tide,) are used as absorbents. 
Without these the manure, as the urine is saved, would 
be in too fluid a state to be readily portable. Water 
is brought to the buildings by means of a small wind¬ 
mill, which works a pump, and keeps a large reservoir 
constantly filled. 
On the farm of Mr. Harvey Dodge, Sutton, we wit¬ 
nessed some valuable improvements. The farm lies on 
a large swell of land, which is naturally very rocky, and 
quite wet. It was originally divided into very small 
lots, many of them containing only two acres each, and 
fenced with stone walls. One object of these small di- 
