174 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER, 



DEC. a, 18 40. 



and hokticulturai, register. 

 Boston, Wedsesday, Dec. 2, 1840. 



SOLTHBORO' AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



We Iiad the pleasure a f«;w d.Tvs since, of attending 

 the nioeiing of ihe Southbnro' Agriouilural Socirty, and 

 the opening ofihcir new Town Hall, designed (or the 

 trans;iction oC public businet^s, and as a Lyceum lecture 

 room. 'J'he Iowit ttory is appropriated to a high school 

 for both sexes, 'i'he building is a ne:it and convenient 

 structure; and does much credit to the lusle of ihe ar- 

 chitect and the public spirit of the town. 



The e.slubheihment of what are called Lyceums in our 

 towns and cities, is a remarkable feature in the condi- 

 tion of society among us, and makes an essential part 

 of the system of public education. To whom these in- 

 stitutions owe their origin is not fully determined ; but 

 we believe to Mr llolbrook, a diKtingnished scientific 

 lecturer, and now an inslructer of youth in the interior 

 of Pennsylvania. In this matter he has conferred an 

 eminent benefaction upon iho community. 



A Lyceum, in the modern sen-e of the term, is an as- 

 sociation of persons for mutual literary and scientific 

 improvement. It is understood in its most improved 

 form to comprehend a course of lectures on scientific 

 subjects or subjects of general instruction and utility ; 

 occasional and free discussions on subjects of this na- 

 ture, excluding always the two great bones of conten- 

 tion, religion and party politics; asocial library of prac- 

 tical and instructive books ; and a philosophical appara- 

 tus, designed for experiment and illustration. There 

 should be added to this u museun) of natural history, 

 embracing such specimens in mineralogy, geology, bot- 

 any and other departments of natural science as may 

 be interesting and instructive. 



Now we can conceive of no institutions better adapt- 

 ed to general improveiaent and social enjoyment ; and 

 the agreeable and beneficial effects of them, wherever 

 they have been iustituted and conducted with spirit, 

 have been all that could be expected. They require 

 the public spirited exertions of some leading individual 

 or individuals to get and to keep them under way; for 

 what is left as the concern of the mass will never be ac- 

 complished; and we have long since learnt that there 

 inust always be some fil-horses, upon whom the burden 

 of holding and drawing the load must fiill. It may be 

 attended with some expense; but the expense is com- 

 paratively trifling, and nothing in view of the advanta- 

 ges to be derived from the institution. Even where 

 the lecturers are paid, and in most pans of the country 

 their services are gratuitous, the expense divided among 

 numbers amounts to little. What mechanic in the 

 country cannot afford to give two or three days-works 

 in a year to this excellent object.' and what farinnr 

 cannot, without even feeling it, give a cneesc; or eight 

 or ten pounds of butler, or half a dozen bushels of pota- 

 toes or two bushels of grain to this most useful purpose. 

 Of all the complaints which are made of public burdens 

 and taxes, those certainly are the most unreasonable of 

 all unreasonable ones, which demur to such taxes as 

 these; and how few men are there among us, who 

 could not save out of their unnecessary, in many cases 

 foolish, in some, vicious and hurllul eipendilures, ten 

 or twenty times as much annually as would meet these 

 necessary demands. 



The meeting at Sontliboro' on ihi; evening referrfd 

 to, was the meeting of their Agricullnral Society; and 

 the address delivered to them on that evonimr look the 



place of a Lyceum lecture. Sontliboro' is essentially, 

 we had almost said entirely, an agricultural town, and 

 distinguished for its good and prosperous husbandry. 

 The principal farmers of that town, after the excellent 

 example of iheir neighbors in Weslboro', have associa- 

 ted themselves as an agricultural society, and design to 

 have frequent meetings for agricultural conversation 

 and inquiry. If well managed, they cannot fail to be 

 producli\e of the very best effects. There can be no 

 jarring materials in the objecis of their association, to 

 disturb their harmony The farmers will detail fully their 

 experiences and the actual results of their operations and 

 experiments. The meetings will serve to keep up a live- 

 ly inierest in this great subject. They will be the means 

 of exciting a strong emulation, which unlike emulation 

 in most other matters, can here produce no ill humor or 

 malignity; and they will be instrumental, and perfiaps 

 mote so tnan any other means which could be adopted, 

 of diffusing much valuable infinnalion. 



We wish such a society could be formed and conduct- 

 ed with a proper spirit and vigor in every town in the 

 commonwealth. We know no mean? by which we 

 should be likely to approach so easily and so nearly the 

 obtaining of correct .ind exact statistical returns. These 

 are particularly desirable ; and the great importance of 

 the agricultural interest can never be justly appreciated 

 until these are obtained. 



The practice, likewise, of holding town (battle Shows, 

 as has been done at Barre, Petersham, Hardwick, Wesl- 

 boro' and several other places, has been productive of 

 the best results We h'ipe ihey will be increased and 

 extended to most of the agricultural towns in the Com- 

 monwealih ; and respectfully conimend these sugges- 

 tions to our brother farmers. In some places merely 

 nominal distinctions and premiums have been awarded. 

 A little liberality on the part of the farmers of a town, 

 or of two or three towns united, would make up a small 

 parse, which would enable them to bestow premiums 

 more substantial, and consequently much more inspirit- 

 ing. This project of town societies for agricultural pur- 

 poses is not novel. Several years since, the Massachu- 

 setts Agricultural Society addressed a series of most im- 

 portant inquiries to several town societies in the Com- 

 monwealth, to which ihesociety at Marlboio', at Shrews- 

 bury, at IJanters, and at Newbury gave valuable an- 

 swers, which aie to be found in their memoirs. Some 

 of these societies undertook the establishment of agri- 

 cultural libraries. It would be happy for Ihe Common- 

 wealth if this plan could be every where revived and 

 extended. 



The farmers owe it to themselves to do every thing 

 which lies in their power to elevate and improve their 

 profession. This can be done only by improving them- 

 selves ; their own minds. The long winters of New 

 England afford the most favorable opportunities for this 

 improvement; and the nuiltiplication of Lyceums and 

 the cheapness and abundance of books, bring the facili- 

 ties ol knowledge within every man's reach. 



H. C. 



His remarks in the present case upon the improve- 

 ment of the breed of horses and' the present condition of 

 the Arabian horses, generally supposed to be the best 

 horses in the world, are very striking. His comparison 

 between the prices of labor in this country and in Eng- 

 land, and the profits of farming in the two countries, 

 equally deserve attention. 



There can be no reasonable doubt that agriculture, 

 even in New England, pursued with skill, enti rprise 

 and a proper measure of industry, with as much cajntal 

 to bo employed as the case will warrant, affords as cer- 

 tain and reasonable a profit as any btanch of industry 

 among us. 



We congratulate this gentleman upon having both 

 the taste and the ability to retire from the perplexities 

 and embarrassments of financial concerns and the stor- 

 my sea of politics, to the peaceful pursuits of husbandry 

 and the cultivation of his own beautiful farm on the 

 banks of the Delaware. H. C. 



MR BIDDLE'S AGRICULTURAL SPEECH. 

 We give today a portion of a speech made by Nicho- 

 las Biddle, E^q., at the late agricultural exhibition in 

 Philadelphia. It does him great honor. It is perspicu- 

 ous, sensible, instructive, and abounding in humor. We 

 commend it to our readers as matter of rich entertain- 

 ment. Mr Biddle some years since delivered a very 

 sensible and agreeable speech on a similar occasion, 

 which, if we could lay our hands upon it, we should be 

 very happy to give it to our readers, as we recollect 

 reading it with great pleasure ; and it was never repub- 

 lished here. 



CLOSE OF THE SEASON. 

 The 20th of November, when it is understood that 

 pasturage in New England ceases and cattle come to 

 the barn, has already arrived, and the impetuous year 

 is hurraing on with an unrestrained and unrestrainable 

 rapidity. The month of November just closed, has been 

 only a succession of stcrms, tains and snows, and as 

 well as we can remember, we have had not a single 

 fair day. We shall soon have a report of the quantitj 

 oj rain which has fallen within the month, and there 

 can he little doubt tliat it will prove as large an amount 

 as has ever been known to fall in the same lengtii of 

 time. The rain, however, did not begin until the crops 

 were every where secured ; and larger crops or crops 

 in better condition were never before gathered. We 

 have been repeatedly asked in a complaining tone, 

 what are we to do with tlie abundance on our iiands ? 

 There are, indeed, many persons whom no condiiiun of 

 things will satisfy, and therefore they need no counsel, 

 fur it would be only casting pearls before swine. But 

 to the pious, grateful and benevolent, to whom the ac- 

 cumulation of money is not the business and end of 

 life, we only say, keep that which will keep, and which 

 is beyond your necessities, until a time of scarcity ; of 

 your abundance give the more freely to those who want; 

 and above all things be thankful that, by the abundance 

 of the earth and the consequent cheapness of pioviMons, 

 the comforts of life are widely extended among the poet 

 and with that class of jiersons to whom such abundance 

 from its rareness is so much the more valued. — H. C. 



SUICIDES. 



The papers of the last week recorded in melancholy 

 succession four remarkable cases of suicide. We deem 

 it proper enough to announce the deaths in such instan- 

 ces; but that is all that should be done. It is neither 

 necessary nor useful to state even the fact that tliey were 

 suicidal ; but we deem it an absolute offence against 

 good morals and humanity to go at all into the details. 

 Nothing is gained by so doing, but to administer to a 

 morbid curiosity ; and it seems cruel to the friends to 

 blazon such melancholy lacts abroad, and cruel to the 

 public to place such dieadful pictures before the imagi- 

 nation, when no possible advantage ran arise (rom it. 

 Indeed much positive evil may grow out ol it, lor who 

 can doubt that persons are led by the recital cmitiiiuing 

 to haunt the mind, to the imitation of such friglitlul ex- 

 amples. 



In the particular cases referred to, it would -eom that 

 each individual was blessed not only with a competen- 

 cy but an abundance and profusion ; and stood well 



