1878-Annual Report - Laserfiche WebLink

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29 or little; if the property was bought or sold every year, then it would properly be reckoned with the yearly expenses. The good order and quietness the past year at the Alms House has been all that could be expected. The Matron certainly deserves notice for her faith- fulness and devotion; she has consulted their wants, and has done all that was possible and in her power to render their situation comfortable and pleasant. The product of the farm the past year, was not as large as the previous one, the potato yield was materi- ally lessened by the depredations of the potato bugs; the fruit crop was a failure, the sale of pigs, in conse- quence of the low price, amounted to a less sum, than for previous years, the amount of hay and other fodder was much larger than ever before. About four acres of land has been seeded to grass,. which is better adapted to pasturage, than for hay; three acres were heavily manured and seeded, which will probably give a good yield next season; two acres of meadow were during the dry part of the summer,. bogged and turned over with the hoe, it being impos- sible to do it with a team, on account of the many springs ; this land after the action of the frosts during the winter, will be in good condition to either plant or seed down next season. Quite a number of acres connected with the Alms. House, need considerable labor and manure,before. bringing it to that state of cultivation, that remunera- tive crops can be gathered; nearly all the land belong- ing to the town is susceptible of being made productive 30 in a few years, by expending a few hundred dollars, in connection with the labor of the superintendent arid the inmates. NGS. It will undoubtedly be surprising to many that we should have continued keeping hogs, after speaking so disparagingly as we did in our report of last year. But chat seductive phrase, "there is money in it," which has been the cause of wrecking many a fond hope the world over, we must acknowledge has in- fluenced us to continue the keeping swine longer than our judgment approved; as the town had been to the expense of a piggery building and had a number of breeding sows, also a contract for offal, again as some still contended that there was surely money in it, we let the matter continue another year, with the hope, that a rise in the price of pigs and pork, might verify the statements of the advocates of keeping hogs. And now after the experience of another year, with no gratifying results, we begin to doubt the truthfulness of the old adage "every dark cloud has its silver lining." It is, however, hoped that our successors will succeed in finding the "silver Iining" in the pig business. On the loth of last March four small, ragged, dirty and barefoot boys, whose ages were from three to nine years, belonging to the Logan family, were found in the Rail Road depot in the centre of the town, where they had been sent by their father. There were at the same time three small children of the same family at the Alms House. It was ascertained that the father of these