112 



NEW E N G L AND F A U M E R , 



OCT. as E 4 



MIDDLESEX CATTLE SHOW. 



The Concoril Fraeinan arives the followini; ac- 



SEKDI.\G PL.\NTS. 

 One of tlie gr-palest sources of iinprovement in 

 count of tlie Cattle Show of the Middlesex Socifty, ] cultivation is to be found in the proper selection of 

 lield on the 7th inst.: i plants to cultivaf ; and the law of nature is such 



" The number of people prestnt nt the Cattle 

 Show in tliis town on Wednesday, was larger, we 

 thinli, than for several years past, and the weather 

 was in every respect as deliLfhtful as could have 



been wished. The exhibition is spoken of in terms 

 of satisfaction. The entry of cattle in the pens 

 was much larger than at preceding exhibitions, and 

 the ploughinfT match went off well. The address 

 of Mr Hoar we li.-^tened to with pleasure, and be- 

 lieve all who heard it will agree with us that it was 

 a good and modest performance. Tlie only failure 

 was the exhibition of manufactnris, fruit, &c. at 

 the Court House, the entries being: very few to 

 what they might annually be, if the ladies would 

 take that interest in the matter they should. There 

 were some articles, however, worth seeing, among 

 which we noticed a very handsome hearth rujr, 

 made by the wife of Mr William Heard, of Way- 

 land, the same lady who last year received a pre- 

 mium for an article of the same kind. Mr Adams, 

 of this town, exhibited some specimens of his im- 

 proved wooden pumps, which we hope will be of 

 benefit both to him and others. Among the vege- 

 table prodigies we noticed a squash weighing lUC 

 pounds, and a sun-flower about the size of a lady's 

 parasol. 



Of the premiums awarded wo have this week 

 only room for the following, which we copy from 

 the reports of the committees. 



The Committee of the Massachusetts Society of 

 Agriculture on stock, awarded the premiums offer- 

 ed by that Society as follows: 



For the best bull, a premium of $50, to Orasmus 

 Wi'lanl, of Harvard. 



For the next best bull, a premium of $25, to Oli- 

 ver Barrett, of Bidton. 



For the best milch cow, a premium of $30, to 

 N. Johnson, of Lynn. 



For the next best, a premium of S20, to Horatio 

 C. Merriam, of Tewksbury. 



For the best lieifer, under -i years old, a premi- 

 um of $15, tn Orasmus Willard, of Harvard. 



For the neit best, a premium of .$10, to John 

 Laitlie, of Woburn. 



For the best boar, a premium of $15, to Horatio 

 C. Merriam, of Tewksb-jry. 



For the next best, a premium of $10, to John 

 Laithe, of Woburn. 



Foi the best breeding sow, a premium of §15, to 

 Abel Wheeler, of Lincoln. 



For the next best, a premium of .'J 10, to John 

 Moore, of Concord. 



The Committee of the Plnugliing Match with 

 single teams, awarded as lid lows : 

 1st premium to Stedman liultrick, of Concord, .$10 

 2d do to Edward Wheeler, ' ' S 



3d do to Henry Wilder, of Stow, 6 



4th do to Nath'l Hapgood, ' ' 4 



The Committee stale that they i-hnuld have a- 

 warded the third premium tn Mr James Baker, of 

 Lincoln, had he not received the Society's third 

 premium last year. 



The Committee on the Ploughing Match with 

 double teams, awarded ns follows: 

 1st premium to Elislia Wheeler, of Concord, $10 

 2d do to Richard Birrelt, ' ' 8 



3d do to Fraiicis Wheeler, ' ' (i 



4th do to Joseph Derby, ' ' 4 



that the opportunity for selection, and consequent 

 improve'iient, is almost infinite. The seeds of 

 plants may he said to rarely produce plants precise- 

 ly like the original stock, and this is owing to a 

 now well understood cause, tlie mixture of pollen 

 from several varieties of the same plant: in sow- 

 ing seeds, therefore, and cultivating the seedlings, 

 we establish new varieties, superior in some re- 

 spects, and perliaps in many to the old. As in- 

 stances of this, we may refer to the strawberry, po- 

 tato, pear, and apple. So improved has the straw, 

 berry been in size and flavor, that the original plant 

 is now rarely or never cultivated. The Methveii, 

 Wilton, Knight's seedling, &c. have been propa- 

 gated from seedling plants ; and it is but a few 

 days since it was announced that a new variety, a 

 seedliuL' in a garden near Boston, had proved it- 

 self superior to every known variety of this deli- 

 cious fruit. The potato also, has proved the value 

 of seedlings, in the now and excellent varieties to 

 which sowing the seeds has given rise. As a proof 

 of this we need only mention the Rohan. By sow- 

 ing the seeds and cultivating the seedlings of the 

 pear, the celebrateil Van Mons of Belgium, has 

 originated several hundred new varieties of pears, 

 many of which are the finest fruits, and promise to 

 supercede nearly all others in cultivation. Every 

 one can recollect some superior apple cultivated 

 from seedlings, and in our orchards there are many 

 apples that are of the first quality almost wh^dly 

 overlooked, because they have no sounding name, 

 and are only the " natural fruit." We have in our 

 orchard a seedling tree that produces a sweet ap- 

 ple which for winter use is superior to any sweet 

 apple with which we are acquainted. It is of mid 

 dling size, yellow, with a tinge of red when ripen- 

 ed, keeps till March, is a good bearer, and highly 

 esteemed for the dessert or for cooking. We have 

 also some grafts now bearing, from a seedling tree 

 in the orchard of a friend, and which for distinc- 

 tion's sake, we call Parsons' Fall Greening. It is 

 a good sized, round apple, deep green, smooth skin- 

 ned, uniformly fair, ripe in October, flesh juicy, 

 yellow, slightly acid, and of fine flavor. Nearly 

 every seedling orchard can produce some variety 

 wortliy of e.yteiisive cultivation, and while there is 

 no excuse tor the allowing orchards of such misera- 

 ble fruit to exist as are now seen, the growers ol 

 seedling fruits or orchards, may reasonably expect 

 to find in the collection many which will amply re- 

 ward by their excellence, the labor bestowed on 

 them. All onr best fruits are from seedlings, and 

 let it be remembered that every new fruit of supe- 

 rior quality produced, is only preparing the way for 

 a future crop of still greater value. — .itbany Cult. 



COOKED AND UNCOOKED FOOD. 



There is in the Maryland Agricultural Reports a 

 record of an experiment conclusive in favor of 

 the cooked lood ; though from some cause, the gain 

 in either case was not sucli as oiigtit to take place 

 when hogs are well fed. This defect was probably 

 owing tothe breed, as it is well known that some 

 breeds lake on flesh with more than double the ra- 

 pidity of others. We give in a condensed form, 

 the -Mibstance of the report. 



On the first day of December, four slioats of the 

 same breed and nearly of the same size, were se- 



lected from a lot of 90 lio^s; two of which, weigh- 

 ing l^.^ pounds, vvere put by themselves, and "were 

 fed on one gallon ol shelled Indian corn, weighiiior 

 seven pound-, to each, for every S-J lioiirs, and as 

 mu(d) water as they wanted." This was a full sup- 

 lily, and thonah not always all consumed, was gen- 

 erally so. " For the two pigs whose weight to- 

 gether made 173 pounds, seven pounds of good In- 

 dian corn meal, by measure ten |iints, were made 

 into good mush or hasty pudding, and divided be- 

 tween tliOKi, for every 24 hours." Thus these last 

 had exactly half the amount of corn given them 

 that the first received. The cooking was done 

 daily, and took an hour and a half. The seven 

 pounds, or ten pints, when made into pudding, 

 weighed an average of thirty pounds, and measured 

 three gallons. The evening feed of mush was 

 usually warm — that of the ni(u-niiig cold. Between 

 the two pigs fed on cooked food, there was a dif- 

 ference of nine pounds, and while the allowance 

 of fifteen pounds to the smallest, was as much as 

 he could eat, the other was always greedy and 

 sharp set. 



Before being killed, on the 4lh of January, they 

 were all again weighed ; and those that had been 

 fed on the corn were found to have gained, one 

 five pounds, and the other twenty, on the same dai- 

 ly allowance of seven pounds each. Of the pair 

 fed on cooked food, or mush, and the daily allow- 

 ance of which was 3 1-2 pounds of meal each, the 

 greedy one had gained 23 pounds, and the other 

 21 pound.s. This is no groat gain, to be sure, but 

 taken in connection with other experiments ot the 

 kind, it gives rise to the important question, wheth- 

 er, when so much corn is annually fed to hogs, if a 

 saving of one half can be made by cooking it, is it 

 not well worthy the attention of farmers to adopt 

 such a mode and provide a proper apparatus ? — Cult, 



AYRESHIRECAITLE. 



Among the fine animals which were in the pens 

 at Worcester on the 14tli inst., was a fine bull of 

 the Ayreshire breed, which has been presented by 

 Mr J. P. dishing, of Watertown, to the Worcester 

 Agricultural Society. i he animal is of remarka- 

 ble beauty and of excellent stock. Tlie sire and 

 dam were imported in lij35 ; and the latter receiv- 

 ed the premium in lt-34 at Kilmarnock in Scotland, 

 as the best milch cow of three years old : she give, 

 an hour be:orc the usual time of milking, eight 

 Scotch pints, nearly four English gallons, and has 

 generally given from Hi to 20 <iuarts in the begin- 

 ning of the summer when the feerl is good. The 

 sire brought with him the following certificate of 

 good character, from a Scotch agriculturist liaving 

 the love of fine cattle: 



"May 1, 183G. The bull is c insidered the best 

 in Ayreshire: the only fault i find with him is that 

 he is too large. I have seen his sire and dam : 

 they both show much breeding: the dam is a deep 

 milker: the sire took th'.' first premium at the coun- 

 ty show at Ayr for the lest two year old bull last 

 June, and was intended tube shown at Kilmarnock, 

 June coining, for the premium lor the best bull of 

 any age: an article in the reguiatioii compels the 

 winner to keep the animal witliin the ccmnty of' 

 Ayr, one year after, for the good of the uelglibor- 

 liond : the sale of course prevented his buiiig ex- 

 hibited as intended." 



The munificence of ilr Cusiiin;; has been al- 

 most unbounded. An Ayreshire heifer wnlcli he 

 sent for exhibition, is a ]ierfect beauty. — .V«/io)i«/j 

 JEa-is. 



