vol,. XIX.no. 14. 



AND HORTICULTURAL REGISTER. 



107 



For ihe New Engliind Farmer. 



ANNUAL MEETING OF THE RHODE IS- 

 LAND SOCIETY. 



The Kliode Island Society Cor the Encouragi^- 

 ment of Domestic Industry lield their annual meet- 

 ing at P^nvtuxet on the 2:k\ of Sept. inst. 



To their lienor be it said, that from a hifrh sense 

 of tlie moral obligation which was considered due 

 to the public, the standing committee agreed to 

 dispense with all sliow and parade, and substitute 

 a more mental and enlightened course: it being 

 admitted that no useful instruction can possibly re- 

 sult from the scramble of a ploughing match, or 

 from the exhibition of a few animals that were 

 reared in the immediate neighborhood : (for those 

 at a distance can not bo driven.) 



The time has long since passed when household 

 ntianufaclures required the fostering aid of a socie- 

 ty. As the staple products of the soil can not be 

 exhibited, written statements of the mode and cost 

 of cultivation are necessarily made out and for- 

 warded to the committee on agriculture : — butter 

 and cheese are examined at an appointed time and 

 place : — all agricultural experiments, for which 

 premiums are offered, are adjudged also from the 

 written statements of the applicants. 



Under this improved arrangement, the disgrace- 

 ful and demoralizing effect of drawing together, as 

 formerly, an intemperate rabble, is wholly avoided. 

 The Society have acted under the meritorious influ- 

 ence of this consideration, that whatever promotes 

 intemperance is wholly inconsistent with their pro- 

 fession of encouragement to domestic industry. 

 Perhaps on this ground it is not in the least objec- 

 tionable that they should deny the use of wine at 

 their annual dinners. Wine may promote convivi- 

 ality on festive occasions ; still it must be admitted 

 that excitement drawn from a higher source is pre- 

 ferable. The rising generation of young husband- 

 men have come to congratulate each other that 

 their fathers have elevated the standard of mental 

 improvement in the broad field occupied by the 

 yeomanry of our country. Their progress is and 

 must remain to be onward. Those benevolent spi- 

 rits who hail with delight every manifestation of 

 improvement that tends to exalt mankind, would 

 have mot a two-fold gratification at the Society's 

 dinner table. In addition to substantial viands, 

 might here be found a rare collection of choice 

 vegetables, several new and valu.ible kinds of po- 

 tatoes, beets, turnips, squashes, beans, tomatoes, 

 &c. &c., all presented in the most inviting style, 

 affording an instructive lesson even to the already 

 good housewife. The bountiful products of the 

 season, through the influence of the nymph Pomo. 

 na, gave the means of loading their table with 

 French and Isabella grapes, a great variety of 

 pears and apples, both foreigji and domestic, which 

 have been brought into notice of late by our inde- 

 fatigable horticulturists ; green and white fleshed 

 melons, from seed procured at Minorca, Alexandria, 

 Constantinople, Naples and Rome. The display 

 of peaches must at this season be limited t.j the 

 Heath, late York and some others. With a profu- 

 sion of such blessings before theui, no foreign aid 

 was required to bring out the Attic eloquence of 

 those who were called upon and encouraged by the 

 happy efforts of the venerable President: much 

 valuable instruction miiiht naturally be looked for 

 from such a body of practical farmers. Althouirh 

 their style of address might unavoidably be some- 



wliat colloquial, still the interest of tliose present 

 would be the more excited. This most important 

 class of our community possess a fund of common 

 sense, nay knowledge ; and clear and <listinct ideas 

 were never known to exist unattended by a com- 

 mand of language suited to their correct expres- 

 sion. 



This first experiment of the Society on their 

 new plan having met with (he deserved approba- 

 tion of the moral and enlightened portions of tlie 

 community, promises well for the future. 



Worcester, Sept. 29th, 1840. 



A SPECTATOR. 



For the N. E. Farmur. 



THE SCIENCE OF LANGUAGE USEFUL FOR 

 FARMERS. 



We once heard a disputation on the utility of 

 the knowledge of the languages for the farmers — 

 rather a novel subject to be sure, to call people to- 

 gether to listen to, yet it had the success to 'bring 

 out a full house,' and the spirit with which it was 

 pursued was of so calm, yet of so thorough a na- 

 ture, that the attention of the audience was actual- 

 ly held, though not ' in durance vile,' through the 

 whole of a session of several hours. And here we 

 anticipate that the kind reader of our essays will 

 begin to imagine that we are ' running off the 

 track ' — that language is not so much of a science 

 as it might be. We, however, as we pursue the 

 tenor of our way, can consider it in no other sense 

 than as belonging to a class of facts capable of in- 

 vestigation, and of being reduced to system and 

 order ; hence it is matter for scientific investiga- 

 tion. In favor of the proposition that a knowledge 

 of the ancicni classics was beneficial to those en- 

 gaged in terraculture, it was asserted that a man 

 would hoe his potatoes more thoroughly, and a wo- 

 man wash her dishes with greater speed and more 

 neatness, when well versed in the Greek and Latin, 

 than though they had no acquaintance with them. 

 We certainly believe, that a well educated man 

 will discharge all the duties of life, however meni- 

 al they may be, more to his own mind and interest 

 and to the general acceptation of others, than one 

 whose days of childhood and leisure moments of 

 youth and maturer years, have been spent in a sort 

 of ' brute unconscious gaze,' investigating nothing 

 unless the things that it is least necessary for them 

 to know ; and as for an ignorant woman, ah, she is 

 a perfectly unendurable commodity, one that we 

 can in no wise fellowship — in far too many cases 

 an invidious gossip, a thing pretendedly well ac- 

 quainted with all of other people's matters, and 

 much better acquainted with their needs and wants 

 than themselves. 



A knowledge of the ancient languages is essen- 

 tially necessary, to some extent at least, for all 

 who would familiarize themselves with the natural 

 sciences. Herbs and plants, and indeed every 

 subject of natural history may, and indeed in innu- 

 merable cases do, have different provincial names, 

 in all regions, varying frequently in passing over a 

 very small extent of territory. With such a state 

 of things existing, it would be almost impossible to 

 arrive at a proper conclusion with regard to things, 

 were there no remedy. The Latin and Greek very 

 happily lend their aid to extricate us from this state 

 of things, for to a greater or less extent they are 

 languages studied by all civilized nations. Hence 

 they are common languages, known and understood 

 everywhere; and for this reason the scientific 



names of the subjects of history are given in them, 

 merely to prevent a confusion of tongue. We 

 now take it for granted that a farmer should be ac- 

 quainted with the natural sciences, and if so, a 

 knowledge of the languages may be conceived in- 

 dispensably necessary to his success. But of all 

 things a man should be thoroughly versed in the 

 knowledge of his own tongue. What horrid absur- 

 dities would often escape his utterance if this were 

 invariably possessed by him I What 'running to 

 and fro' and gathering together of misplaced words 

 and unmeaning sentences would be avoided if this 

 were the fact I Let it be invcistigated as a science, 

 let all its parts and bearings be brought together, 

 and fach part put in its appropriate place, and the 

 beautiful system of facts whicli science every where 

 developes, will appear. 



But there are excellencies found in the study of 

 the classics, aside from those which their use in the 

 other sciences require, which render them worthy 

 of investigation. They have a style worthy as a 

 model for present times ; their historical relations 

 are of a pure and interesting character, possessing 

 excellencies of which they are sadly shorn in most 

 translations. The Georgics of Virgil, though they 

 may contain some antiquated notions, appropriate 

 to the age and country in which they were written, 

 should be known and read by every farmer in their 

 original dress, not only as relics of an age long 

 since buried, but as containing, at least, sound max- 

 ims, worthy to be enforced by a people who claim 

 higher precedence to knowledge and experience 

 than he who wrote them, and his approving con- 

 temporaries. 



Yours, truly, W. B. 



Mount Osceola. 



For the New England Partner. 



DESTRUCTION OP ROSE-BUSH INSECTS. 

 Windham, M H., Sept. 30, 1840. 



Messrs J. Breck S,- Co. — Gentlemen — The name 

 of the Chairman of the Committee on Flowers of 

 the iMass. Horticultural Society not being by me, 

 I address you, with a certain prescription for the 

 deslrultion of insects attacking rose bushes, leav- 

 ing the bush unharmed, which has been tested by 

 several years experience. 



When the stock, stem and leaves have been lite- 

 rally covered, a sprinkling of Scotch snuff, alias yel- 

 low snuff, has dispossessed them. If possession is 

 regained, which has very rarely occurred with me, 

 a second dose has ended the contest. 



Why should not snuff be effective, when the na- 

 sal twang of the human subject, under the volunta- 

 ry infliction of this narcotic poison, bears such sad 

 testimony of its destructive power ? 



Yours, S. FESSENDEN. 



Silk. — The importance of the manufacture of 

 silk is shown by the annual official statement of 

 the commerce of the United States. From that 

 document it appears the value of silks imported 

 during the year ending the 30th of September last, 

 was $23,139,823 



Sewing silk, 809,534 



Total, $33,949,357 

 This is nearly double the amount of any other 

 article imported in the United States, and an enor- 

 mous sum to pay for a single article in one year 



A*, y. Sun. 



