NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



91 



EASTHAM. 



According to Pratt's History of Easthain, just 

 published, this is the only town in Barnstable 

 county that raises grain sufficient for its own con- 

 sumption. More than a thousand bushels of corn 

 are sent to market. 



There is a pear tree, now standing on the farm, 

 formerly of Governor Prince, near the spot where 

 his house stood, which was planted by himself — 

 probably two hundred years ago. Mr. Prince was 

 first elected governor of the colony in 1G34. 



In 1651, it was ordered by the Colony Court, 

 that if any lazy, slothful, or profane persons, ne- 

 glect to come to the public worship of" God, they 

 shall forfeit for every default, ten shillings, or be 

 publicly whipped. 



In 1652, the town ordered that the constable 

 have power to collect the fines on persons, who 

 were negligent in coming to town meetings, on in- 

 formation being given by the town clerk ; the con- 

 stable to have one half, the town the other. 



In 16G2, the town agreed that a part of every 

 whale cast on shore be appropriated for the sup- 

 port of the ministry. 



In 1G64, it was agreed between Mr. Samuel 

 Freeman and the town, that he should pay the 

 rate, for which the town was prosecuted by the 

 Court, as their part of the expenses of the govern- 

 ment, one half in money, and the other in peas 

 and wheat ; and for so doing, he should have a 

 black horse running at large at Pamet, it being 

 the town's property ; and that he also should servo 

 as a trooper for the town three years. 



In 1665, the town voted that all the horses be- 

 longing to the inhabitants should be marked on 

 the fore shoulder with the letter E, to distinguish 

 them from those which belonged to the inhabitants 

 of other towns, they having a different mark. 



It was also voted by the town, that all persons 

 who should stand out of the meeting-house, during 

 the time of divine service, should be set in the 

 stocks. 



In 1G72, the town voted that every house- 

 keeper should kill twelve blackbirds, or three 

 crows, which did great damage to the corn ; and 

 this vote was repeated for many years. 



ence confirm the popular saying, that water is the 

 "first necessary of life." — Quarterly Review. 



PREDOMINANCE OF WATER 



IN THE COMPOSITION OF VEGETABLES AND ANIMALS. 



Potatoes contain 75 per cent, of water (by 

 weight,) and turnips no less than 90 percent., 

 which explains, by the way, the small inclination 

 of turnip-fed cattle and sheep for drink. A beef 

 steak, strongly pressed between blotting-paper, 

 yields nearly four-fifths of its weight of water. Of 

 the human frame (bones included) only about one- 

 fourth is solid matter (chiefly carbon and nitrogen,) 

 the rest is water. If a man weighing ten stone 

 were squeezed flat under a hydraulic press, seven 

 and a half stone would run out, and only two and 

 a half stone of dry residue would remain. A man 

 is, therefore, chemically speaking, forty-five pounds 

 of carbon and nitrogen diffused through five and a 

 half pailfuls of water. Berzelius, indeed, in re- 

 cording the fact, justly remarks, that "the living 

 organism is to be regarded as a mass diffused in 

 water;" and Dalton, by a series of experi- 

 ments tried on his own person, found that of food 

 with which we daily repair this water-built fabric, 

 five-sixths are also water. Thus amply does sci- 



SECOND AGRICULTURAL MEETING, 



At the State House, Jan. 20, 1852. 



Subject for Discussion — The best mode of ad- 

 vancing the interests of the farmer. 



The second Agricultural meeting of the present 

 series was held on Tuesday evening, — II. W. Cush- 

 man in the Chair. 



The Executive Committee, to whom was assigned 

 the duty of preparing rules for the future govern- 

 ment of the meetings, and a list of subjects to be 

 discussed, reported through John W. Proctor, of 

 Dan vers, as follows : — 



Rules and Regulations for the Legislative Agricul- 

 tural Meeting's. 



1. A permanent Secretary shall be appointed, to observe 

 and keep a record of the doings of the meetings. 



2. The Execuiive Committee shall select subjects for dis- 

 cussion, and shall procure persons to preside at the several 

 meetings; and the gentleman who is to preside, and the sub- 

 ject fir discussion, shall be announced at a previous meeting, 

 when practicable. 



3. These meetings shall be limited to twelve — and no gen- 

 tleman shall occupy more than fifteen minutes time, except 

 the presiding officer — who shall not occupy more than thirty 

 minutes time. 



4. The Editors of Agricultural and other papers are in- 

 vited to make reports of the doings of these meetings, and to 

 publish the same in their respective papers. 



5. All gentlemen interested in the subjects discussed at 

 these meetings, are invited to attend and take part in the dis- 

 cussions. 



6. The time of opening these meetings shall be a quarter 

 past seven o'clock, P. M., and the time of closing shall be nine 

 o'clock, until otherwise ordered. 



7. The Committee propose Mr. Stephen N. Stockwell. 

 as permanent Secretary. 



Subjects for Discussion. 



1. The best mode of advancing the interests of the farmer. 



2. Plowing, and kindied operations. 



3. Manures. 



4. Farm stock. 



5. Grasses and grain crops. 



6. Cultivation and preservation of fruit. 



7. Draining, and the improvement of meadow and swamp 

 land. 



8. Sub-division of lands and fencing. 



The report was unanimously accepted. 



The Chairman then announced the meetino- as 

 being open for remarks upon the subject assigned 

 for discussion. Mr. Proctor rose and said, that 

 the question proposed includes the whole subject 

 of farming in its broadest sense. It had seemed 

 to him that the best mode of advancino- the inter- 

 ests of the farmer, is, in the first place, to prepare 

 the young farmer for his task ; to instruct him 

 properly in what he is to do. And how shall this 

 be done? Shall it be done by setting him at work 

 upon the land without direction ; to learn what 

 his fathers have learned by their own experience ; 

 or by placing him in a situation where he can reap 

 the benefit of the experiments made by those who 

 have gone before him 1 The task of the farmer is 

 one of the most difficult to learn ; one of the most 

 comprehensive, of all employments. Before the 

 young farmer can go upon his land and proceed to 

 work it correctly, he must understand the ele- 

 ments of the soil he has to work upon, its charac- 

 teristics and peculiarities ; what it is fitted to pro- 



