140 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER, 



Xov. 21, 1S2S. 



SEEDS rOR SOWING. 



immediately bo trussed up, atid suspended in some 

 No part of the farmer's or gardener's business ' dry place, secure from rats and mice. Here it 



ought to bo more carefully attended to than the 

 procuring of proper seed ; the failure of crops in 

 ([uantity or quality, is as frequently to be attrib- 

 uted to neglect of this precaution, as to any other 

 cause. We recommend the judicious advico on 

 this head, given in a little work, entitled " The 

 New-Yorli Gardener," by P. Agricola, an excellent 

 little manual replete with sound maxims and use- 

 lijl information. 



" If the sce<ls of plants are in many particulars 

 like bird's eggs, you will see the necessity and im- 

 perieiice of ahvajs selecting the best and most 

 perfect of their kind for seeding. As you would 

 certainly choose the finest animals for breeders, so 

 let your vegetable stock spring from the soundest 

 and best seed ; for it is not sufficient that your 

 seeds come up ; they should come strong and vigor- 

 ous, if you would have tlieui grow with luxuriance. 



" Every year endeavour to improve your seed. 

 M6^ of our cultivated plants are found to degen- 

 erate, notwithstanding all the care we can bestow 

 upon them, uidcss their seeds are frequently 

 changed. This fact has been long noticed, al- 

 though the true cause may not yet be known. 



slioidd remain until wanted for use. When shell- 

 ed from the cob, reject the grains that grow upon 

 each end. These hints should never be neglect- 

 ed, nor should you plant seed corn that is more 

 than a year old, if new can be obtained. 



JV. Y. Farmer. 



PLYMOUTH COUNTY CATTLE SHOW. 



The annual Show was held this year at South 

 Bridgewater, on Wednesday the 5th inst. The 

 Show of cattle exceeded that of most former years, 

 and the concourse of citizens was uncommonly 

 large. An excellent dinner was served by Capt. 

 Pratt, of which 100 persons partook. After din- 

 ner, at two o'clock, a procession was formed and 

 proceeded to Rev. Mr Hodges' meeting house, 

 where the audience was amused and instructed 

 by a learned and eloquent address from Rev. Sam- 

 uel Deano, of Scituate, in which, says the Plym- 

 outh Memorial, " The orator happily illustrated 

 the advantages which had resulted to the commu- 

 nity from the establishment of agricultural institu- 

 tions recommended the encouragement of agricul- 

 tural publications, and of the mechanic arts — a ju- 



,, , , , ,, ^. , 1 dicious distribution of premmms tor unproved 



" And we are als) unable to say Irom what part . i ^^ ■ i j ■ , u j- ■ 



.cti,„ .11.1 111111 J modes ot agriculture, and condemned the disposi- 



ot the world they should bo brought, to produce . . ■ , ■, ,- .. 



.!.„ „.. t . T. • 1 11 ,■ J i tion which prevails among many tanners to add 



the greatest croi). It is, however, generally tound, , . ', ^ , , 



,v„. ,, ' , J • • ,' to their number of acres, rather than to improve 



that in all cases when vou desire a great weight; . i ,- i ■ , i n i 



/. . r ,. , " " , , ? 1 the qua ity ol what thev already possess. He also 



of roots or foliage, as beets, potatoes, cabbage, let- ' , . • 



iuce, etc., it is best to procure seed from a south- 

 erly climate. 



" Whenever you use seed brought frotn a dis- | 

 fance, let it be planted separate from any other of 

 ^e kind, and note down all the particulars relative 

 1o it, that you may learn whether it is truly an 

 improvement or otherwise. Much c.ire is also re- 

 quisite to prevent a dctetioration of your seeds. — 

 Whenever you would raise seeds from plants of 

 which there are diftisrent species, do not. set theni 

 within fifty feet of each other. 



"This precaution is parlicularly necessary, 

 whenever you would raise seed from any of the 

 brassica tribe. This family has more branches, or 

 varieties, than almost any other. 



Fi-oni the drum-head cabbage to the liumble 

 turnip, there arc many grades, all of which have 

 such seminal relation, that if permitted to ilovvcr 

 in the neighborhood of each other, an admixture j 

 of pollen, and consequent adulteraiioii, is certain; 

 lo ensue. I 



" The varieties of tl.e gourd funiily are also very , 

 numerous, and when you intend to iircserve the ; 

 seed of any of them in purity, or aim at iinprcvc- j 

 iiieiit, plant them in separate and distant sections i 

 I'Cthe garden. In particular, the cucumber and 

 melon should never grow together. They have 

 each their peculiar excellence, which is materially 

 injured by an union. So all the varieties of puir.|i- 

 kins and squashes are spoiled by an intermarriage. 

 And in like manner, all the kinds of Indian corn 

 will mix their qualities, if they grow within four or 

 five rods of each other. Your sweet corn will be 

 quite ruined, if only a few stalks of the hard kind 

 are permitted to grow near it, and what is singular, 

 the sweet corn alone will sutler from the adultera- 

 tion, the giains of which imraodiiitely lose their 

 soft, rich and saccharine quality vrhilo the otlur 

 appears not in the least affected. Your seed corn 

 .should always be gathered before the frost. — 



[ recommended, in strong tenns, an application to 

 our State Legislature for a geographical survey of 

 I the Commonwealth in order to aid the progress of 

 agriculture." 



The following premiums were awarded viz. 

 Alpheus Forbes of Bridgwater, for the best crop 

 of English hay, having raised 9262 lbs. per acre 

 on 3 acres of land, $10 



Also for the best crop of Rye, having raised 26 

 bush. .3 p. 29 qts. per acre, 8 



Thaddeus Howard iz. of West Bridgewater, 

 best crop of Indian Corn, 109 2-3 bush, on one 

 acre, 10 



Abram Washburn, 2d of Bridgewater, best crop 

 white beans, 16 bushels and 2 qts. on one acre of 

 land, 8 



Peleg Barker of Pembroke, best fat Ox, S 

 Avery Forbes of Bridgewater 2d best do, 6 

 Solomon Perkins for tho best milch Cow, 8 

 Morrill Allen of Pembroke, for 2d best do, 6 

 Aniasa Alden of Bridgewater, for best Heifer, 5 

 Also for the 2d best do, 3 

 I Galon Howard of West Bridgewater, for best 

 : Bull, 8 

 I Lorenzo Wood, 2d best do, 6 



.John Tilden, Jr. of North Bridgewater, fir the 

 best Bull Cnlf, 5 



Abruni Washburn of Bridgewater, 2d best, do, 3 

 Also for 1st and 2d best Heifer Calves, 6 

 j Sam'l F. Sanger of Bridgewater, for best Pigs, 5 

 ' Charles Packard of North Bridgewater, for the 

 best yoke of Oxen, 8 



i Solomon Copcland of West Bridgewater, 2d 

 best do, 5 



Ebenezcr Pratt of Bridgewater, for best yoke of 

 Steers, 6 



Ebenezer Alger of West Bridgewater. 

 do, 4 



to about a million of dollars. The leather is sold 

 to the shoe manufacturers in New York, New Jer- 

 sey, Connecticut, Virginia, Ohio, Canada, &c 



About 250,000 hides are imported annually into 

 the city, cliiefly from .South America ; and over 

 100,000 hides are purchased for the numerous 

 tanneries in Greene county, (near the Catskill 

 mountains.) There are almost inexhaustible for- 

 ests of hemlock in that county, and the fact has 

 been established by repeated experiments, that 

 hemlock bark contains a greater weight of tannin 

 than oak bark. There is a prejudice in favor of 

 the color of leather tanned by oak bark, but it is 

 well ascertained that the ilurability of both kinds 

 of leather is the same. The leather is returned 

 to market in ten months from the purchase of the 

 raw hides in the city. The process, for manufac- 

 turing with more speed, has been abandoned 



The longer the leather is in a process of manufac- 

 turing, within due limitations, the better it will be. 



Hampshire Gazette. 



SHOOTING MATCHES. 



Shooting matches, viewed in their best light, 

 are a just theme for reprobation. In the first 

 place, the sport is cruel, and therefore cannot be 

 justified. Any amusement which causes pain to 

 any part of the animal creation, is so far wrong — 

 for although the brute species are given to man 

 for subsistence, their lives are by no means to be 

 made the subject of wanton sport. But the evil 

 effects of these shooting matches upon the morals 

 of the community are incalculable. Every autumn 

 is closed with these brutalizing sports. The young 

 men, and even some of the old ones, abandon the 

 useful and necessary labors of the field and the 

 workshop, and congregate by hundreds to shoot 

 at a miserable victim of a turkey cowardly tied to 

 a stake, or to look on and witness the sport. Ma- 

 ny of these are poor men — day laborers or me- 

 chanics — who will lay out their earnings in pow- 

 der and ball, and spirituous liquors which are 

 drunk on the occasion, while their creditors are 

 defrauded of their just dues, and their families are 

 suffering at home for the mere necessaries of life. 

 And then the scenes of drunkeness and quarrelling 

 which so frequently attend on these occasions, are. 

 an outrage upon decency, and a blot upon human- 

 ity. And all this, that some petty dealer in grog 

 may bring together crowds of peo|)le who will fill 

 his coffers by emptying his bottles, or that some 

 miserly farmer, who has raised a brood or two of 

 turkies, may have more money out of them than 

 the honest market price. The above is no exag- 

 gerated picture of shooting matches in their best 

 estate. But if we add to it the danger to human 

 life, and the many fatal accidents that actually oc- 

 cur, the picture is sufliciently appalling to deter 

 every man of decency and good iieelings from en- 

 gaging in such sports. — Berkshire American. 



LEATHER 



The following facts are derived from the New' accident happened 



The Thames Tunnel is now entirely at a stand. 

 A brick wall has been completed at the further 

 extremity of the excavation, which being made 

 water tight, prevents any water oozing in that 

 part, and also does away with the fear entertain- 

 ed, that if left in its unfinished state, another break 

 911 . 1 in of the river might be the consequence. The 

 I water the Tunnel makes (if we may use the e\- 

 ' pression) at present is very trifling, and the whcli 

 I of the interior is as fresh and firm as before an} 

 The workmen with the ex- 



ijjearch for such stalks as bear two or more ears, i York .lournal of Commerce. The sales of sole ceplion of a very few hands who are eiii)iloyed m 

 •Hid take the largest of them for seed. Let tbeui ; leather in the city of New York aiHonnt annually thoroughly rciauviiig every appearance ot the late 



