NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



423 



ing over a meadow where portions of it are too 

 soft to allow the team to pass over it, good work 

 may be done by covering such spots with loam, 

 sand, chip manure, or even fine gravel. A mix- 

 ture of these would be excellent, and productive of 

 heavy crops. A depth of two or three inches is 

 necessary — four would be better. After spread- 

 ing the sand, add finely-composed manure for the 

 seed to catch in. 



HOW WONDERFUL IS INSTINCT. 



While sojourning at the east a few days last 

 summer, we were informed by a friend, who is a 

 close observer in some of the departments of Nat- 

 ural History, that a pair of robins had built their 

 nest and raised their young for several years in 

 succession in an apple tree in his garden, very 

 near the house. He observed one day that the 

 male bird came home to the nest, which contained 

 the young just from the shell, and appeared to be 

 very much excited. The gardener watched the 

 bird, supposing that something had happened. 

 After having made several movements, hither and 

 thither, the bird took one of the young ones from 

 the nest and carried it a short distance, to an oak 

 tree where another robin had just hatched a little 

 brood, and placed it in the nest, and then returned 

 and reinovedanotherinthe same way. The third, 

 for there were three in the nest, was dead. 



The person who observed this transaction, as- 

 certained that the mother robin of the first mated 

 nestlings had been destroyed in a neighbor's gar- 

 den. This to us is an exceedingly interesting fact 

 connected with the prescience of instinct, if we 

 may so speak. That there is a difference, and a 

 wide one, between reason and instinct, we must 

 fully believe. 



It requires a clear minded metaphysician, like 

 Coleridge, to distinguish readily between all the 

 acts of reason and understanding, as between the 

 manifestations of reason and instinct. How did 

 this male robin know that he could thus remove 

 his little remaining family into a neighbor robin's 

 house 1 This should be a lesson to some of that 

 species of animals that monopolizes reason, and 

 call themselves Christians, yet, unlike the robin, 

 shut their doors against the orphan and the poor. 

 — Rural New-Yorker. 



WEIGHING POTATOES. 



The law at present requires potatoes to be 

 weighed and sixty pounds to be given for a bushel. 

 When this law is observed, both buyer and seller 

 should be mindful of certain things. A bushel of 

 large, handsome carters fully ripe will weigh about 

 fifty-six pounds. A bushel of the round, flesh- 

 colored or Burr potatoes, large and small mixed, 

 from eight to twelve pounds more. A bushel of 

 assorted potatoes will weigh less than when they 

 are taken of all sizes. In sale by measure, the 

 farmer loses very little by separating his potatoes. 

 If from twenty bushels as ordinarily taken from 

 the field, two bushels of the smallest ones betaken, 

 the remainder will measure about nineteen bush- 

 els ; but by the present law a measured bushel of 

 all sizes will cost the purchaser several cents more 

 than one of all large tubers, the nominal price be- 

 ing the same. It is sometime since we have 

 weighed a bushel of potatoes and we may not be 



right in the weight of the different kinds, but the 

 principle is correct, and we think worthy of atten- 

 tion. — Guitarist and Gazette. 



STATE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



The second meeting of the Massachusetts Board 

 of Agriculture was held at the Council Chamber, 

 in Boston, at 10 o'clock, August 5, 1852. 



The records of the first meeting were read by the 

 Secretary, after which he announced that he had 

 been officially notified of the election of William 

 Parkhurst, of Petersham, to fill the vacancy in 

 the delegation from the Worcester "West Agricul- 

 tural Society. 



All the members of the Board were present ex- 

 cept the Lieut. Governor and Messrs. Hitchcock, 

 Lawton and Parkhurst ; Seth Caldwell, Esq., of 

 Bane, appearing as a substitute for the latter. 



Mr. Wilder, from the committee appointed to 

 consider the subject of appointing a Secretary, and 

 defining his duties, submitted the following report : 



The undersigned, a committee of this Board to pre- 

 scribe the duties of its Secretary, and to present the 

 name or names of a person, or of persons, suitable 

 for that office, having attended to the subject, Re- 

 port, as follows, upon — 



THE DUTIES OF THE SECRETARY. 



1. To make a faithful record of the meetings of this Board. 



2. To keep a journal of all important communications, made 

 to or l>y the Board, in relation to the progress of his and their 

 labors, and of the art and science of Agriculture. 



3. To open and conduct a correspondence with such practi- 

 cal and scientific cultivators, or other eminent individuals, and 

 with such Agricultural Associations in our own country, and 

 in other lands, as may be deemed expedient. 



4. To collect Agricultural statistics, pamphlets and publi- 

 cations; to catalogue and arrange the same, together with 

 such books, maps, charts, documents and olhei articles, as 

 may be given to or acquired by this Board, in a manner con- 

 venient for reference and consultation. 



5. To obtain and preserve, so far as may be found expedi- 

 ent, and as may be deemed convenient for examination by our 

 farmers, such seeds and specimens of the various grasses, 

 grains, vegetables, fruits and other agricultural products, as 

 are now grown in this commonwealth, or as may be, hereaf- 

 ter, introduced into it, and to distribute such new or approved 

 varieties of these, as may be adapted to its soil and climate. 



6. To collect and disseminate such information in relation 

 to the best breeds of domestic animals, and the management 

 of the same, as may be suited to promote this most important 

 branch of husbandry. 



7. To investigate, as far as practicable, the elements and 

 character of the soils in this State; their adaptation to differ- 

 ent crops, and to preserve for exhibition and instruction sim- 

 ples of the same. 



8. To endeavor to discover and successfully to apply, such 

 mineral, vegetable and animal fertilizers, as may be found 

 within our territorial limits, or as may be profitably intro- 

 duced from other localities. 



9. To receive, preserve, and under the direction of this 

 Board to report upon, such approved agricultural implements 

 as are now in use, or as may be, herealter, advantageously 

 introduced among the farmers of this commonwealth. 



. 10. To visit, by the advice of this Board, the various agri- 

 cultural districts of Massachusetts, and to give lectures on the 

 practice and science of Agriculture, whenever and wherever 

 they may deem the same most desirable. 



11. To attend, as far as practicable, the Exhibitions of the 

 incorporated Agricultural Societies receiving the bounty of the 

 State,— to receive their returns,— to make an Abstract of the 

 same for publication, in connection with his Annual Report, 

 and to perform such other duties as are specified in the act es- 

 tablishing this Board. 



12. To co-Of erate with the Secretary of the Board of Edu- 

 cation, so far as may be found expedient, for the introduction 

 and study of Agriculture and kindred branches in the educa- 

 tional system of the commonwealth, and finally, to promote 

 the objects of this Board by such other ways as he may sug- 

 gest, or they approve. 



