46 THE MASSACHUSETTS SOCIETY 



cial value of this garden novelty, nor had any pro- 

 phetic vision of the staggering wains that now daily, 

 in the season, go forth from thousands of farms in 

 Massachusetts towards the nearest market, laden with 

 the gooseberry substitute. 



Efforts to solve the wheat-growing problem did not 

 cease, and in 1814, four members reported in the 

 Journal their success, and described the method, in 

 raising a large crop free from "rust" (a blight which 

 the grain was thought to be specially liable to in sea- 

 shore towns) , namely, John Lowell at Roxbury, Josiah 

 Quincy at Quincy, Peter C. Brooks at Medford and 

 John Jenks at Salem. In 1814 a gold medal, of $50 

 value, was given to Andrew Haliburton of Ports- 

 mouth, N. H., for his newly invented, but not patented 

 churn. In principle, though not exact form, it was the 

 same as the rotary churn now in use. The value of 

 cut feed for cattle was becoming understood and in 

 1815, the trustees awarded Elisha Hotchkiss of 

 Brattleboro, Vt., the highest premium for his hay or 

 straw cutter, and bought of him his patent right for 

 the State of Massachusetts. Certificates granting 

 liberty to use the apparatus were freely given by the 

 secretary of the society to persons in this State, on 

 application. Two years later another patented cutter 

 appeared, which was an improvement, and embodied 

 the main principle of that now in use. 



In 1814 an article appeared in the Journal, with 

 cordial editorial commendation, relating to the mangel- 

 wurzel beet. It was a translation from "the most 

 approved work in agriculture in use in France." The 

 vegetable is termed in literal translation "the root of 

 scarcity," which seems a quaint if not ambiguous 

 name, until the text explains it. The statement is 

 that the Germans, and the French who copied their 



