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NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



For the New England Farmer. 

 HAWAIIAN AGRICULTURE. 

 [The following interesting communication is from 

 the pen of one of the most distinguished jurists 

 and law writers of our country, a gentleman, who 

 having gained the highest honors of professional 

 life, finds, in later years, as he says in an accom- 

 panying note, that his " early taste for Agricul- 

 ture has greatly revived, giving it the highest in- 

 terest of all merely secular employments." Thus 

 much have we ventured to say, and we regret that 

 we cannot feel authorized to affix to the letter the 

 name of its respected author. The testimony of 

 one, who in his early youth, " put his hand to the 

 plow," and labored diligently upon the soil of his 

 native New England, and who has since so suc- 

 cessfully labored in other fields, and still " remem- 

 bers his first love," to the importance of the objects 

 to which our paper is devoted, is exceedingly 

 gratifying. We welcome his article to our col- 

 umns, and hope we shall hear often from its 

 author. — Ed. N. E. Farmer.] 



Messrs. Editors : — The increasing interest ev- 



y where manifested in the advancement of agri- 

 cultural science cannot but arrest the attention of 

 the philanthropist. It is a remarkable sign of the 

 times, that the practical farmer has become a sci- 

 entific farmer ; and that from a position of com- 

 parative inferiority, he now, in our country, holds 

 a rank equal at least to that of any other class of 

 the community. The discovery is made, that la- 

 bor, applied to the soil, is the original and true 

 source of national wealth ; and consequently labor 

 is held in honor. It is not the soft hand and the 

 hard heart, but the hand hardened by honest labor, 

 and the heart soft with humane and generous 

 affections, that deserve to be respected. 



Agriculture is receiving similar attention and 

 honor in England; and on the continent of Eu- 

 rope the same light is beginning to dawn. But 

 I have been both interested and amused to behold 

 it breaking forth in the isles of the Pacific, as ap- 

 pears by the " Transactions of the Royal Hawaiian 

 Agricultural Society" for 1850 and 1851, which 

 have recently been received in this part of the 

 country. From the preliminary proceedings of this 

 society it appears to have originated with the for- 

 eign population, our northern Yankees bearing a 

 conspicuous part. How much merit in this good 

 work may be due to the circulation of your excel- 

 lent paper in those Islands I cannot say ; I only 

 know, Messrs. Editors, that your " New England 

 Farmer" has long since found its way there, and I 

 dare say has had its influence in awakening and 

 promoting the spirit of agriculture. 



The preliminary meeting was held April 20, 1850. 

 in Honolulu, and resulted in the issue of a circular, 

 calling an agricultural convention to bo held in the 

 same place on the 12th of August following. This 

 circular address was signed by a committee, con- 

 sisting of Messrs. Stephen Reynolds, \\ r . New- 

 coinb, J. F. B. Marshall, R. W. Wood, and Wm. 

 L. Lee. The latter is Chief Justice of the Supreme 

 Court of the Hawaiian Islands, and was from 

 western New York, but received his professional 

 education at the Law School in Cambridge. At 

 the general convention thus called, which was held 



four days, and- conducted with great spirit, the So- 

 ciety was formed, with a Constitution; an able 

 and eloquent address was delivered by Judge Lee, 

 who was elected President of the Society ; a memo- 

 rial to the government was adopted, praying the 

 grant of a fund for premiums ; and very interest- 

 ing reports were made and acted upon, relative to 

 the progress of agricultural science ; to reminis- 

 cences of Hawaiian agriculture; the benefits of 

 agricultural associations ; the value of science ap- 

 plied to agriculture ; the manufacture of sugar ; 

 the culture of the vine and tobacco ; on fences, 

 and on the produce and exports of Maui. The 

 first annual meeting was held in August, 1851, and 

 continued five days ; during which an address was 

 delivered by the Hon. Luther Severance, our Com- 

 missioner to that government, a public exhibition 

 or show of products and stock was held, and up- 

 wards of forty premiums were awarded, for the 

 best specimens of stock, sugar, sugarcane, syrup, 

 coffee, vegetables and fruits. Among the latter, 

 besides the grain and vegetables common in New 

 England, we notice pine apples, mangoes, pome- 

 granites, bananas, figs, cocoa and arrow-root. Sev- 

 eral interesting communications and reports were 

 read on various agricultural subjects, and commit- 

 tees were appointed on all the subjects usually re- 

 ceiving attention at a New England agricultural 

 meeting. To what extent the native population have 

 participated in this movement we are not informed ; 

 but on the committee on swine we observe the 

 names of A. Paki and Z. Kaauwai ; and among 

 the members, J. Ji, and G. L. Kapeau. The re- 

 ports of the various committees evince an amount 

 of zeal and research which would do credit to sim- 

 ilar committees in any part of our country. 



The reflections to which these facts give birth 

 are of the profoundest character. Fifty years ago 

 those islands were peopled with countless multi- 

 tudes of naked savages, of the lowest grade ; igno- 

 rant alike of the culture of the earth and of the God 

 who made it. The Anglo Saxon came among 

 them ; and though the native population has 

 dwindled to a comparative handful, it has become 

 Christian ; Christianity has reared her temples; 

 the heathen tongue has been taught to sing the 

 praises of God ; native nakedness is clothed ; the 

 wilderness has been made to blossom as the rose, 

 and the earth to pour forth of her abundance ; 

 and the nation, having exhausted the powers of 

 native government, and emerged from semi-barba- 

 rism into the light and rank of a civilized commu- 

 nity, is beginning to seek admission into the family 

 of American republics. z. 



For the Neiv England Farmer. 

 STUFFING BIRDS. 



My Dear Brown : — As Mr. Noyes suggests in 

 the last weekly number of the Farmer, there was 

 rather an Irishism as my receipt was published, 

 for making arsenical soap to be used in preserving 

 stuffed birds. 



Two-thirds arsenic and one-third soap and one 

 ounce of camphor gum makes certainly an ounce 

 more than the whole! However, no great nicety 

 is required in the matter. The arsenic, which has 

 powerful anti-septic qualities, is the main tiling. 

 The camphor is valuable from its anti-bug proper- 

 ties, and the soap is merely a convenient materi- 

 al, for combining the other two ingredients in a 

 Form for preservation and use. 



