xlii Premiums proposed by the 



Live fences are of such high importance, in our old settle- 

 ments, where the timber is daily decreasing, and the expencc i 

 of inclosure becoming so very serious, that the society cannot 

 sufficientl)7^ express their wishes, that some spirited and ex- 

 tensive measures may, without loss of time, be commenced 

 on this momentous subject. The present generation may re- 

 ceive incalculable advantages from successful experiment and 

 practice, in a desideratum so eminently interesting to them. 

 But posterity will bless the memory of those, of whose genius 

 and labours they enjoy the fruits. They will gratefully feel 

 the benefits of durable inclosures, commenced, if even not 

 entirely perfected, in our day : and while they inherit these 

 safe guards to their property, they will perceive the insur- 

 movmtable difficulties to which they would have been expose<fI, 

 by a neglect on our part, to establish and provide them. 



A gold or silver medal — according to the merit and extent 

 of the experiment or practice. 



8. Clearing' and cropping nexu Lands. 



For the best essay, practical and theoretical, founded on 

 experience and facts, as well as calculation and investigation, 

 of the most approved and beneficial mode of clearing and 

 cultivating new settlements, in an unseated, and theretofore 

 uninhabited part of this state, or one in its neighbourhood. A 

 gold medal. 



The practice heretofore used of girdling trees, can only 

 be justified by the necessity of doing it, through want of la- 

 bourers, by those who first enter a wilderness. But if lands 

 are inviting, population soon increases, and yet the practice of 

 girdling the timber continues. One part is girdled after 

 another, without foresight or precaution. Timber is wan- 

 tonly, because lavishly and unnecessarily destroyed ; and be- 

 comes in a few years scarce, where its abundance was at first 

 accounted a burthen. Culmiferous cns/?^ [plants composed of 

 Straw and chaffy husks for the grain] follow one another in 



