374 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



June IG, 182C. 



NEW KNGLAND FARMER, p.ece ; and found that, at the same rate, an acre 

 ^__ would yield twelve tons of green fodder ; probably 



BOSTON, FRIDAY, JUNE 16, 1826. 



Q^At the Annual Meeting of the Massachu- 



«KTTS SorlETT FOR PROMOTING AGRICULTURE, 



held at the hall of the Massachusetts Bank, on 

 Wednesday the 14th inst. the following gentlemen 

 were chosen officers of the Society for the year 

 ensuing : 



Hon. JOHN LOWELL, rresidenf. 



His Hon. THO'S L. WINTHROP, Ike Pres. 



Hon. ISRAEL THORNDIKE, 2d Vice Pres. 



JOHN PKLNCE, Esq. Treasurer. 



Hon. RICHARD SULLIVAN, Cor. Secr'y. 



GORHAM PARSONS, Esq. Record. Sec?y. 



BENJAMIN GUILD, Esq. Assist. Rec. Sec'y. 



Trustees. 

 Aaron Dexter, Esq. 

 Hon. Peter C. Brooks. 

 Hon. William Prescott. 

 Hon. John Welles. 

 E. Hersey Derby, Esq. 

 Jonathan Ainory, Esq. 



(U'We are happy to state that Sir Isaac Cof- 

 fin, the munificent patron of the Massachusetts 

 Agricultural Society, has arrived at New York, 

 and intends to visit Boston, his native city. He is 

 suffering much from the gout and rheumatic com- 

 plaints. 



DROUGHT. 



Most of the papers which we receive state the af- 

 flictive effects of the dry weather in different parts 

 of the country. In this neighbourhood they have 

 been very severe, and we believe unparallelled. 

 We may have had as dry weather, but we have no 



a richer and more nourishing food than any other 

 known to the husbandman. And this quantity was 

 the growth of less than four montlis." .... " It , 

 lias appeared to me that the sort called su-eef corn 

 yields stalks of richer juice than the common yel- 

 low corn. It is also more disposed to multiply i 

 suckers, an additional recommendation of it, when 

 planted to be cut in its green state, for horses and , 

 cattle and especially for milch cows and the time ' 

 of planting may be so regulated as to furnish sup- 

 plies of food ju.n when the pastures usually fail. I 

 am inclined to doubt whether any other green ' 

 food will afford butter of equal excellence.'' | 



Col Pickering prefers planting northern corn to 

 southern corn when fodder is the object. He says 

 " the green stalks of our northern corn are incom- 

 parably sweeter than those of the southern states; 

 at least when both sorts are grown in the north." 

 A friend of the Editor, however, assures us it has 

 been found by experiment that the southern corn 

 when sown for fodder sustains the drought much 

 better than northern corn ; and it is probable that 

 tiie objection, which has been stated against the 

 corn of the south that the stalks grow so thick and 

 woody that cattle cannot well cat them, may be 

 obviated, in part, if not altogether by thick sowing. 



The author of a " Treatise on .\griculture" ori- 

 ginally published in the Albany Argus, says that 

 "corn is sometimes cultivated [in Italy] for fodder 

 only, in which case it is generally sown broad 

 cast-, at the rate of ten bushels to the acre and cut 

 ^reen." The Editors of the Mass. .■\gric. Repos. 

 vol. vi. page 380 observe " We think the writer 

 must have been mistaken in the quantity of corn 

 sowed broad cast on an acre. We are persuaded 

 that two or three bushels would be ample, better 

 than a larger quantity." Experiments may dceide 



REVOLVING TIMBER PLANE. 

 Mr Daniel N. Smith of Warwick, Mass. has in- 

 vented and solicited Letters Patent for a machine 

 for smoothing or planing timber, which he denom- 

 inates a Revolving Timber Plane. It consists of 

 a Platform and carriage, on which the timber to 

 be planed is placed, similar, but smaller, than those 

 of a saw-mill. The timber is planed by plane-irons 

 fixed in the side of the rim of a wheel which is set 

 in a vertical position, and revolves on a horizontal 

 axis. On this axis is a pinion wheel, giving motion 

 to the machinery, which causes the carriage on 

 which the timber is to be planed to traverse the* 

 platform, and to come in contact with the plane- 

 irons, on the rim of the wheel. It appears to us, 

 from a model which we have seen and specimens 

 of timber which were planed by its operation, to 

 be a cheap, simple and efficient labour-saving ma- 

 chine, worthy of the patronage of the public, and 

 which ought to be the means of making a fortune 

 to the ingenious inventor. 



recollection, nor any account of such e.xtreme 



drought so early in the season. It of course be- ' with regard to this point. If the ground should 

 comes our farmers to use the best means which be dry at the time of putting in the seed corn it 

 human industry and ing'enuity can devise to pro- will be well, if not indispensable, to soak it from 



vide some substitute for the deficiency of our usual 

 crop of hay ; and to prevent hoed crops from be- 

 ing dried up or blasted by the withering influence 

 of a cloudless sun, and a sky and atmosphere 

 which afford neither dew nor r.ain. 



12 to 24 hours. With regard to hoed crops, it is 

 well ascertained that the oftencr and the deeper 

 the ground is hoed and ploughed about the plants 

 the better they will sustain the drought. The 

 ground which is stirred and made fine or pulveriz- 



ened into cakes or masses which can neither at- 

 tract m.oisture from the heavens above or the earth 

 beneath. One good hoeing is, generally, worth 

 half a dozen waterings ; though sometimes the 

 latter is necessary. 



With regard to a substitute for hay, we know ed.not only attracts moisture from the atmosphere, 

 of nothing so promising as Indian corn, planted | but by something like what philosophers call cap- 

 very thick or sowed broad cast. Perhaps it is net ; illary attraction, draws moisture from the earth 

 yet too late to raise a good quantity, at least of! below it. It prevents the soil from becoming hard- 

 stalks and leaves, which will be useful for fodder, 

 though the ears may not have time to ripen. For 

 this purpose, it may cither be sowed broadcast or 

 planted in driUs. The former is the least trouble, 

 but the latter the most pro-'uctive ; and leaves the 

 land in the best order. If sown broad cast, from -i 

 to -3^ bnshels to the acre are saiJ. to be tlie proper 

 quantity of seed. If planted, it may be well to 

 place it somewhat nearer together than in cases 

 where fodder is not the principal object. In an 

 Address to the Essex Agricultural Society, Col. 

 Pickering has the following remarks, which may 

 be well repeated at a time when it seems necessa- 

 ry to put in requisition all the resources of tlie art 

 and of the science of iiusbandry. 



" Every fanner knows how eagerly cattle de- 

 vour the entire plant of Indian corn in its green 

 state ; and land in good condition will produce 

 heavy crops of it. Some years ago, just when the 

 ears were in the milk, I cut close to the ground 

 the plants growing on a measured space, equal as 

 I judged to the avertge product of Uie whole 



REW.\RD OF INDUSTRY. 



We have seen a beautiful Silver Medal, present- 

 ed by the Franklin Institute of the state of Penn- 

 sylvania for the promotion of the Mechanic Arts, 

 to the Amesbury Flannel Manufacturing Compa- 

 ny of Massachusetts for the best piece of flannel 

 offered at the second exhibition of said Institute, 

 held at Philadelphia the Cth, 7th, and 8th of Octo- 

 ber last. The Medal has on one side " Franklin 

 Institute of the State of Pennsylvania, 1824" — on 

 tile other side, " Reward of Skill and Ingenuity — 

 To the Amesbury Flannel Manufacturing Compa- 

 ny, l(<-^.i." The Medal presents a very fine speci- 

 men of skill in the arts, and is a very appropriate 

 reward for kindred e.xcellciice in another bianch 

 of manufactures. 



MASSACHUSETTS LEGISLATURE. 



Sfnate, June 7 — A committee was appointed to 

 report what provisions, if any, ought to be made 

 to cause a uniform and more equal representation 

 in the House of Representatives. — A committee of 

 the .Senate and the House was appointed to report 

 on the expediency of taking a new census of the 

 Commonwealth, with such statistical views thereof 

 as may be deemed useful, and of causing a survey, 

 map, &c. to be made. 



June 9 — The Hon. Nathaniel Silsbee was chosen 

 a Senator of the United States. 



June 10 — Win. Lawrence and others petitioned 

 to be incorporated as the Boston Steam Boat Com- 

 pany. 



• IIi.usK, yun* 7 — Mess Dana ofGrotnn, Slieplierd 

 of Northampton, and Turner of New Marlborough 

 were appointed a Committee on the Inspection of 

 Wool — The Committee on Education w as instruct- 

 ed to report on the expediency of consolidating 

 some of the existing Academies, with a view of 

 making them Institutions for instruction in the 

 Practical Arts and Sciences. 



I June 9 — A bill to provide for the Stapling and 

 Inspection of Wool, was reported and ordered to 



I be printed. — An order passed both liouses instruct- 

 ing the Committee on the Library to consider the 

 expediency of subscribing for one or more copies 

 of the "Letters and Reports" of Win. Strickland, 

 Esq. upon subjects connected w ith Internal Im- 

 provements and Civil Engineering, to be placed in 

 the Library. 



June 10— The Hon. Nathaniel Silsbee was chos- 

 en United States Senator. 



FROM GREECE. 

 The last intelligence is highly favourable to the 

 Greeks. Ibraiiiui,coramander of the Egyptian forc- 

 es, made an asosauR on Missolonghi on the 24th of 

 ' March, in which he was mortally wounded, and his 

 I troops repulsed with great slaughter. During the 

 heat of the action 8000 Greeks arrived, cominand- 

 ! ed by Col. Fabvier. Ibrahim received liis wound 

 : from the musquet of a soldier, while giving orders 

 Ito his troops. The state of things in the Polopon- 

 nesus is improving every day. 



A letter from Zante, dated April 5th, says.every 

 thing is still in favour of the besieged. The cani]* 

 of Ibrahim has been burnt and his troops discour- 

 aged. At this moment we hear a heavy cannon* 



