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OFFICERS OF AGRICULTURAL SOCIETIES,

1855.

MASSACHUSETTS.

President JOHN C. GRAY, of Boston.
Secretary-BENJAMIN GUILD, of Boston.

ESSEX.

President-MOSES NEWELL, of West Newbury.
Secretary-ALLEN W. DODGE, of Hamilton.

MIDDLESEX.

President-SAMUEL CHANDLER, of Lexington.
Secretary-SIMON BROWN, of Concord.

MIDDLESEX SOUTH.

President-WILLIAM BUCKMINSTER, of Framingham.
Secretary C. C. ESTY, of Framingham.

WORCESTER.

President-JOHN BROOKS, of Princeton.

Secretary-WILLIAM S. LINCOLN, of Worcester.

WORCESTER WEST.

President-DAVID LEE, of Barre.

Secretary-EDWIN WOODS, of Barre.

WORCESTER NORTH.

President-MOSES WOOD, of Fitchburg.

Secretary-THOMAS R. BOUTELLE, of Fitchburg.

HAMPSHIRE, HAMPDEN AND FRANKLIN. President-PAOLI LATHROP, of South Hadley. Secretary-JOHN W. WILSON, of Northampton.

HAMPSHIRE.

President-W. P. DICKINSON, of Hadley.
Secretary-J. W. BOYDEN, of Amherst.

HAMPDEN.

President FRANCIS BREWER, of Springfield.
Secretary-A. A. ALLEN, of Springfield.

FRANKLIN.

President-HENRY W. CUSHMAN, of Bernardston. Secretary-E. F. RAYMOND, of Greenfield.

BERKSHIRE.

President-JULIUS ROCKWELL, of Pittsfield.
Secretary-ENSIGN H. KELLOGG, of Pittsfield.

HOUSATONIC.

President-HENRY SMITH, of Lee.

Secretary-JAMES SEDGWICK, of Great Barrington.

NORFOLK.

President-MARSHALL P. WILDER, of Dorchester. Secretary-EDWARD L. KEYES, of Dedham.

BRISTOL.

President J. H. W. PAGE, of New Bedford.
Secretary-L. T. TALBOT, of Taunton.

PLYMOUTH.

President-BENJAMIN HOBART, of Bridgewater. Secretary-JESSE PERKINS, of North Bridgewater.

BARNSTABLE.

President-CHARLES MARSTON, of Barnstable.

Secretary-GEORGE MARSTON, of Barnstable.

AGRICULTURE OF MASSACHUSETTS.

The field of most agricultural operations is the farm. In the arrangement of this work, therefore, the general system of farm management in the State, and the improvements which have been made in it during the past year, seem first to claim our attention. The frequent visits of the various societies to the most skilfully conducted farms of each county by means of their committees, and the faithful records of these visits, containing suggestions of great practical value, bring to the knowledge and consideration of all the best and most approved practices prevailing in every part of the Commonwealth.

Following the order of counties adopted by the Legislature from time immemorial, we have first the report of the Essex Society on the improvement of

FARMS.

From the Report of the Committee.

The committee have had nothing to do under that branch of their commission that contemplates the award of premiums at the expiration of three years.

They have visited a few farms in West Newbury, Marblehead, Danvers, and Lynn, but not enough to enable them to speak with confidence of observations made on such visits. One of their number has looked at several farms in the extreme eastern section of the county,-a region that has heretofore been little noticed in our transactions, and herewith sub

mits the result of his observations. If the same thing could have been done by each member of the committee in his own neighborhood, and if such observations could be continued for a term of three years, a mass of information of much value might be accumulated.

The truth is, farm operations need to be viewed by discriminating, careful, and disinterested observers. Statements of experiments or products from the parties interested alone are not always to be relied on with entire confidence.

Whether the present offer of premiums on farms shall be continued, it remains for the Trustees to determine.* No harm will accrue from a modification of it, if any improvement can be suggested. In its present form, and as at present regarded, it is of little practical benefit. If one or more farms could be entered and examined for three successive years in each of the principal farming towns of the county-say Newbury, Ipswich, Salem, Andover, and Haverhill-as they were in olden time, much benefit might accrue. But, to have this faithfully done, the incidental expenses of travel incurred by the Viewing committee should be met by the Society. The tax of time spent is quite enough to demand of individuals.

J. W. PROCTOR, Chairman.

The offer of premiums on farms was made prospective, extending over a period of three years. It was in the following words :—

For the best conducted and most improved farm during the ensuing three years, taking into view the entire management and cultivation for that period, including lands, buildings, fences, orchards, crops, stock, and all other appendages, with statements in detail relating thereto,

First premium,

For the second best,

$100 00

5000

NOTE.-Competitors for these premiums must give notice of their intention to the Secretary on or before the 15th of June next, and the farms entered for premiums will be viewed by the committee twice in each year. Any person desirous of having his farm inspected, without entering the same for premium, may make application to the Secretary, and it will be viewed and reported upon by the committee.

Letter to the Committee on Farms.

HON. J. W. PROCTOR, Chairman, &c. :—

Dear Sir: Having unfortunately been denied the pleasure of visiting, with the committee, the farm of Col. Newell at West Newbury, and of Mr. Ware at Marblehead, I accepted your invitation to visit a few of those in this vicinity as my engagements have permitted. I believe that to yourself belongs the honor of having originated the plan of visiting farms known to be well managed, but not offered for premium through the modesty of the owner. There are certainly but few men in our country, who, like Mr. Mechi, of Tiptree, in England, would wish to "invite inspection, in order, by the force of example, to give an impulse to improved cultivation." It will be long, no doubt, before three hundred or three hundred and fifty gentlemen farmers and statesmen, from remote parts of the country, will be drawn together among us to see the crops and the mode of management upon any farm, as was the case a few months ago at the above-mentioned place. Not that I think the English farmer has all the advantage on his side. It is said he makes some failures-goes to work expensively sometimes; and it seems to be intimated that, with all the good he has done, his balance-sheet does not always exhibit the most abundant income. Neither, since calling on some of our farmers, am I willing to admit that Mr. Mechi is the only man who can take his visitors, few or many, from field to field, "explaining every thing upon which information is desired " not the only one who can, while making the round of the farm, "deliver a succession of peripatetic lectures on almost every point connected with agriculture." There are good humor and volubility among American farmers, you may depend, as well as over the water; and if Mr. Mechi's "field preaching is worth travelling a long distance to listen to," so have I found it in some of our own county, and that, too, without even so much of a mixture of forth-putting as to allow them to do more than merely consent to a visit actually sought by the committee as a privilege.

The only objection to this mode of obtaining information is

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