THE FARMERS' MONIHLY VISITOR. 



181 



the production of grain, and by employing first rate 

 talent in developing the resources of the soil and 

 the best modes of cultivation. Her citizens feed 

 improvement as they fatten pork. The ancient 

 commonwealth gathers up precejits and holds out 

 practice to teach by examples. Great examples 

 and worthy of imitation, were fifteen swine of the 

 Old Bay State, from the Lunatic Hospital. The 

 principle that all things have beginning, middle, 

 and end, has some exceptions : the hogs of Massa- 

 chusetts seemed to be without particular beginning 

 or end, with nothing middling. They would have 

 been cubes of pork if they had not I)een rounded 

 into spheres for the more perfect symnietrv. They 

 were sober and solid, as all is belonging to the in- 

 stitution of which they are members. They were 

 bearers of despatches from the Snperintendcnt,com- 

 municating a remarkable instance of resistance to 

 the authority and order of their home. 



"Two of the fattest and best of the swine," 

 writes Dr. Woodward, in his letter bearing even 

 date with these presents, "remain behind." Before 

 they left tlie stye they manifested repugnance to the 

 excercise of the authc ity wliich disturbed tlieir re- 

 pose— they were urged to advance till they had 

 cleared the pen, when they turned up their noses, 

 planted themselves on broad constitutional ground, 

 and refused to advance. They were fluttered and 

 entreated without good effect, and finally were com- 

 manded, but to no good purpose. They seemed to 

 believe that they had state rights and could nullify 

 the measures of their general government. Their 

 pride could not be roused by the prospect of seeing 

 the public, or even by the promise of meeting the 

 "judges of swine" — nor could their sense of jus- 

 tice be excited by the argument that their good 

 keeping deserved from them cheerful acquiescence 

 in the arrangements of the great exhibition. So 

 far as their ideas could be understood by those who 

 had not studied their language of signs, tlieif did 

 not lihe the law which compelled them to remove 

 from their places of business where they had ac- 

 cumulated large personal estates — thev regarded it 

 Qs anti-sumptuary — and questioned the power as 

 well as the right to enforce such enactment." 



Tkese bold rebels have been placed in close con- 

 finementin the custody of a faithful keeper, there 

 to remain with no better food than bread and water, 

 until they should be converted to non-resistance. 

 Should they continue contumacious, they will be 

 brought to trial at the next December term of the 

 court, and the painful necessity will exist of in- 

 flicting capital punishment for their offences. 



It should be remarked, that to drive a pig pleas- 

 .intly is an accomplishment as rare as it is elegant. 

 . This branch of education has not yet been intro- 

 luced in the seminaries for instruction ;— it is not 

 aught in the Noimal schools, or the colleges of 

 "Jew England — it can only be learned in the uni 

 ersity of nature. Much liiischief and great diver 

 ity of practice have resulted from the negl*ct of 

 the study of the art. Some have attempted to en- 

 iice the pig into the way in wiiich he should go, bv 

 the moral suasion of meal : if he was of the gentle 

 Herkshire race, he would seriously incline his ear 

 lo an ear of corn, but not unfrcquently halted. — 

 C>thershave preferred the coercive process of fast- 

 ening the fifteen standard cord of compulsion around 

 Ilia nose : if the pig was ^'■striped" he would not 

 r.iove an inch on such terms. Neither time nor 

 place allow the discussion of the comparative ad- 

 '■an'ages of the two modes, or the attempt to recon- 

 le the discordant views in regard to being led or 



Some of the swine who obeyed the summons to 

 tome from the Hospital, looked as if they had for- 

 ffitten to bring their heads. The omission might 

 have been ccilsidered contemiit, and to have justifi- 

 ed sentence to a confinement as severe as that re- 

 nt ly endured by witnesses who have been unan- 

 vtr::l)lL- in other courts, to stand committed until 

 lerated by the habeas corpus, which enhirges the 

 'dy of poik from the prison of the barrel. But it 

 loeared that for the coavenicnce of travelling, 

 ey had 'packed their heads too deeply in their 

 unks lo be again taken out. The dissolution of 

 • e copartnership existing between head and body, 

 ■ the pressure of rojie or the motion of knife, is 

 it considered agreeable ; to have the chief end 

 ibalmed in pork must be delightful. While 

 ese animals, remair- under the care of Dr. Wood- 

 ward, the loss of the extremity is of slight conse- 

 quence. At the Hospital, second hand lieads are 

 cleaned, repaired, and refurnished, so that they go 

 af well as new ones, and perhaps the skill which 

 e.\ists in the institution, might take down a small 

 understanding and set up a lamer one. 



It would be impossible in one day to express the 

 *cutiments of the committee in viewing the con- 

 gregation of swine. They can only hope to delin- 

 o the virtues of 81 hoga by appendiagSl motes, 



exhibiting portraitures of the manners, morals, feed- 

 ing, breeding and fatness of each. Compelled to 

 part abruptly from their friends, they can only state 

 generally — tliat the boars of Lowell Sibley, of Sut- 

 ton, halCRosebrook; of Joseph J^pherson, of North- 

 bridge, full blooded Leiccstersliire ; of Alfred Mow- 

 er, of Charlton, of the Berkshire family; of Amo- 

 ry Holman, of Bolton, one fourth Mackey and three 

 fourths Grass breed ; of Lewis Chapin, of Worces- 

 ter, native born; of John Barnard, of Worcester, 

 from the Bigelow stock; of Aaron Howe, of Shrews- 

 bury, half Berkshire and half Leicestershire ; of 

 Lovell Southwick, of Sutton, v/ith the Bedford 

 feather; of Eleazar Porter, of Worcester, one of the 

 headless hogs of the Hospital ; of Benjamin P. 

 Rice, of Worcester, a citizen of New England; of 

 Levi Bowman, of Westboro', of the Berkshire 

 breed ; and of Harvey Dodge, of Sutton, one fourth 

 Berkshire and three fourths Grass breed — have fail- 

 ed to obtain premiums ; not by reason of any defi- 

 ciency in their own merits, but by reason of the ex- 

 traordinary excellence of their successful Berkshire 

 rivals. We must not covet our neighbor's goods : 

 every member of the society might honestly desire 

 to have all the pigs of these gentlemen, and must 

 wish that each of them should receive thanks for 

 their exhibition of fine animals. 



Jt is necessary to be long where there is no time 

 to he short. Far towards the last in the order of 

 reports, come the "Judges" of the society and the 

 swine: in the order -if merit the last should be/r.sr 

 Bulls are good — oxen great — heifers graceful — 

 and all the ucut stock in and out of the husband- 

 man's household, elegant and amiable : Hoos are 

 ornamental and u.seful. They constitute the beau- 

 tiful of the farm yard. They filUhat remarkable 

 space, only one step wide, separating the sublime 

 from the ridiculous. The swine have stood in the 

 dignity of conscious worth while the whole delega- 

 tion to tlie annual county convention of herds and 

 flocks have gone by. It has been their consolation 

 under their preference given to others in the pro- 

 cession, that for them the post of honor was a sta- 

 tion in a private pig pen. There, surrounded by 

 attentive friends, with the affections of those who 

 have fed them and in their turn will be fed by them, 

 and the endearments of domestic circles, supplied 

 with happiness by the pailful three times a day, 

 they could fill large jjlaces in life, and fill many 

 plates of the hungry in death. 



If yesterday had been to-day, or to-day was to- 

 morrow, the report of the committee would have 

 been more brief; — in short, if this year had been 

 next year, the chairman would have had the honor 

 to report nothing. 



All which is respectfullv submitted. 



WILLIAM LINCOLN, Chairman. 

 Worcester, Oct. 9, 1^39. 



Important facts. 



We observe with astonishment and regret, the 

 conclusive evidence which appears in every direc- 

 tion, that the business of agriculture does not re- 

 ceive that attention due to it in this country, but it 

 is treated with absolute neglect, compared with 

 other pursuits. This ought not to be, and the in- 

 habitants of this country will yet learn, that they 

 have committed a gross error by abandonino- the 

 cultivation of the soil, for less independent and 

 more precarious modes of obtaining a livelihood. 



Who has ever heard of such a state of things as 

 now exists here.' Wo have a soil as fertile as any 

 that the sun ever shone upon : a country almost 

 boundlcjs in extent, and so cheap that any man 

 may purchase a farm with the proceeds of a few 

 mouths labor, yet wo are actually importing for 

 consumption, immense quantitiee of agricultural 

 products from foreign countries ! A people thinly 

 scattered over land unequalled in fertility, and ex- 

 haustless in its resources, are buying their bread 

 at enormous prices, from countries so overburthe'n- 

 ed with inliahitants, that political economists have 

 feared that the earth would fail to produce suffi- 

 cient to support them. Such an extraordinary and 

 unnatural circumstance should excite attention and 

 awaken the inquiry as to its cause. 



The fault, as we have seen, is not in the soil, 

 nor is the country overrun with inhabitants. It is, 

 therefore, evident that the cultivation of the soil is 

 neglected, otherwise we should bo exporting agri- 

 cultural products, but it is easier to show thp fiict, 

 that agriculture is neglected, than to find a sufii- 

 cient reason for this neglect. We apprehend, how- 

 ever, that it will be found to spring in a great 

 measure frr.m the same causes which have produc- 

 ed much evil in the country, and the bitter fruits 

 of which we are now reaping. The first and chief 

 of these causes, is the inordinate thirst for wealth, 

 which pervades every class of society, and induces 

 Bien to abaadoa Ikeir lagitimate business to en- 



gage in some wild, hazardous speculation, in the 

 hope of becoming suddenly rich. It is also too 

 often the case that the farmer becomes tired of the 

 moderate and gradual accumulation of property by 

 the products o,f his land, and leaves the cultivation 

 of it to engage in the business of commerce or man- 

 ufactures, lie finds out his egregious mistake 

 when it is too late. The property he had accumu- 

 lated is often squandered and lost in consequence 

 of his ignorance of his new business, and he again 

 sighs for the cheerful and independent mode of 

 life whicli he has abandoned, when it is out of his 

 power to resume it. We have in our mind num- 

 berless instances of this kind, where industrious 

 and prosperous farmers have been lured to their 

 ruin, by being induced to lay aside the implementa 

 of husbandry, and engage in the universal .scram- 

 ble after sudden wealth. 



There is anotlier great error prevalent upon this 

 subject and that is, the business of agriculture is 

 generally looked upon as less respectable than that 

 of commerce, manufactures, or the professions; .and 

 wealthy farmers, instead of teaching their sons 

 their own business, most usually transform them 

 into n.erehants, lawyers, doctors or doniinees. — 

 This is all wrong. Agriculture is the very back- 

 bone of all business, the mainspring of all wealth, 

 and should be regarded as a profession of the high- 

 est respectability It gives those engaged in it a 

 feeling of independence, genuine nobleness with- 

 out ostentation, honor, honesty, and firmness, well 

 calculated to perpetuate the free institutions of our 

 happy country. The truth of the eloquent pane 

 gyrics of the ancients upon this employment, may 

 be more easily realized here, than in any other 

 country upon earth. We confidently hope" to see 

 public opinion speedily righting itself upon this 

 subject, and to find people seeking their perma- 

 nent interests, and advancing the prosperity and 

 glory of our wide domain, by engaging more gen- 

 erall}' in this healthful, honest and independent, 

 business. — V. 1'. Sun. 



T e S Beet. 



The culture of this root has, in many instances, 

 been attended with the most extraordinary success. 

 The Harrisburg Keystone gives, in the following 

 extract of a letter from Judge Lewis, some imper- 

 tant testimony upon the subject : 



" In the month of April last, 1 planted about an 

 acre of sugar beets, for the purpose of feeding tha 

 cattle during the v/inter season. The ground con- 

 sisted of several patches, some of which had been 

 used for potatoes fhe year before. After it was 

 properly prepared, deep furrows were run through 

 it two feet apart, ;n which manure was afterwards 

 deposited, which was covered by running a furrow 

 on each side of the first, and thus forminir a small 

 ridge over the manure. Along this the beets were 

 dropped and covered by means of a species of hand 

 drill of my own invention, composed of a piece of 

 2 inch plank, about a foot long, in the shape of a 

 triangle, with three old harrow teeth formed like 

 small shovels of the proper shape, and a handle of 

 about 4 1-2 feet long, with a calibre about the size 

 of a rifle bore, through which the seed were made 

 to descend into a furrow formed by the front tooth ; 

 they v/erc covered by the two hind teeth. Tha 

 seed were dejjos-ited in tlie row about a foot apart. 

 On the first of Nov. instant, the beets were taken 

 up. The product of 44U feet was weighed on the hay 

 scales, and amounted to 6^0 lbs., which counting 

 60 pounds to the bushel, would be 13 1-2 bushels. 

 The whole product of the acre at this rate is 1353 

 bushels. This will ensure me plenty of good milk 

 and butter during the winter, and may serve to 

 show that the beet is Avorthy the attention of far- 

 mers who have no intention to make sugar. I con- 

 sider a bushel of oeets nearly equal in value to a 

 bushel of oats. i353 bushels at 30 cents would 

 make the yield ot an acre J«^405 90."' 



As. we ourselvei.. dabble a very little in farming, 

 ve will add the particulars of an experiment of our 

 own in raising th-~ sugar beet. 



A patch of three quarters of an acre was twice 

 ploughed very d^isp and very richly manured with 

 stable manure, atter having been well limed (100 

 bushels to the acre) the preceding ycdr. 



The seed waa planted by hand in drills, and 

 when the plants xvere up, they were thinned out by 

 hand, so as to leave them about a foot apart in tha 

 drill. 



The ground was kept tolerably free of weeds 

 till the plants had obtained a considerable growth, 

 after whicli they were not much attended to. 



The beets were gathered during the first week 

 of this month, and the produce was 650 bushels-- 

 %veighing fourteen tons six hundreds ! 



The hoga and r.ne cows eat them greedily either 

 raw or boiled. T' e horses as yet,Tefu3e,althougk 



