FOR PROMOTING AGRICULTURE. 27 



strong beer. This addition might seem anomalous on the 

 part of a clergyman at this day but it is to be considered 

 that but little use was made of tea and coffee by farmers at 

 that period, because of the cost, and that small beer, or as 

 it was usually called, " home-brewed beer," was in almost 

 universal use among them. 



In the latter part of the year 1795 the society issued its 

 first pamphlet. It contained the rules and regulations ; a 

 list of officers and members ; a list of premiums then 

 pending ; the two premium essays on the canker worm ; a 

 'history and description, with results of experience in Vir- 

 .ginia, respecting the then newly discovered " forward 

 wheat ; " the premium essay on compost by Rev. Mr. 

 Whitney; a carefully prepared and clear account of the 

 method of making maple sugar, by a farmer of Northfield, 

 Mass., who dates the paper Feb. 4, 1794 ; home communi- 

 cations relating to the management of cows and sheep, and 

 to butter making and tree cultivation ; and selections from 

 foreign publications descriptive of the then recent and 

 novel successes of Robert Bake well in England, in breeding 

 cattle and sheep, and of the methods in use in England for 

 making Stilton and Cheshire cheese. One or two other 

 articles were in the contents. 



Much attention was given by the society at the beginning 

 to the subject of wheat cultivation. The possibilities of 

 grain transportation, now so familiar, were then not only 

 beyond conjecture but beyond belief. A prediction of 

 them would have been classed with the story of 

 Aladdin's lamp. It was doubtless supposed that the 

 main reliance for wheat supply must be the home fields. 

 Earnest efforts were accordingly made to get the best 

 and most manageable and productive seed wheat. The 

 records prior to 1800 have mention of several distribu- 

 tions of seed-wheat among members of the society. A 

 favorite seems to have been the Early Virginia wheat, pro- 

 duced from a native seed, and on one occasion 845 was 

 paid from the funds for a quantity of it. Samples were 



