334 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER, 



APRIL Zl, 1841. 



a.ni> horticultural register. 

 Boston, Wednesday, Apbil 21, 1841. 



NATIONAL AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



Several able and spitiicil cDminunications upun this 

 subject, have recently appeared in the columns of the 

 Albany Cultivator. They breathe ihe spirit of hearts 

 most deeply interested in the agriculture of Ihe country, 

 and indicaie a praiseworthy desire to act for the good ol 

 this great br.nnch of nalional industry. The authors de- 

 serve the thanks of the public for their intentions, what- 

 ever may be ihe {»ener;il opinion as to the seasonablenejs 

 or wisdom of their recommendations. The eilitors i.l 

 the Cultivator tliinlv that the time has not yet come for 

 the formation of such a society. 



The National Intelligencer, of April 17, contains a 

 communication, which stales that an attempt " will prob- 

 ably be made during the extra session of Congress to 

 get up a National Society o( Agriculture." The fur- 

 ther information is given, that " there are hopes of es- 

 tablishing an agricultural school and experimental farm," 

 and that the Smithsonian legacy may be appropriated lo 

 this object. This communication indicates the city of 

 VVa-hington as the proper place (or the intended opera- 

 tions. 



Our sympathies «ro with those who wish to extend 

 knowledge of the science of agriculture, and who would 

 be glad to render the art more intellectual and altrac- 

 live. We are ready to lend whatever power we possess, 

 lo any association or institution, which shall seem to us 

 fitted to give dignity and new charms to the cultivation 

 of the soil. Should the wisdom which resides in a mul- 

 titude of counsellors, and which dwells in riper heiids 

 than ours, deem the formation of a national society 

 more wise and useful than any other measure that may 

 be sufo-ested, then wo shall proffer to such an institu- 

 tion our !;ood wishes and our aid. Many agriculturists 

 in this vicinity, think favorably of the propositions con- 

 tained in the Cultivator, and some of them will gladly 

 meet their brother farmers of other States in convention, 

 to deliberate upon the matter. 



There do not occur to us any objections to immediate 

 action. Tho present is as favorable as any future day 

 that is likely to arrive. But after much reflection upon 

 the subject, we cannot reason away so.iie weighty ob- 

 jeclionB to a national society, or to the having an experi- 

 mental (arm in or near the city of Washington. 



It is presumed that no one can wish it to be in any 

 measure the creature or the tool of the National Govern- 

 ment ; that no one would be willing lo expose it to ihe 

 disturbing and blighting influences of party strifes and 

 favoritism. It should be the cliild of agriculturists ; and 

 these parenis should support and control it at their own 

 expense. Now we have no faith (hat a sufficient num- 

 ber of competent men exist, who can and will command 

 the lime and means necessary for procuring a represen- 

 tation from each of our many States for any length of 

 lime. The immense teriilory over which iho officers 

 and members must be scattered, (if it be national in any 

 thini' but name,) will render ii unwieldy and inefficieni. 

 Anolher difficulty we find in llie great dissimilarity of 

 climate, soil and productions of the seveial sections of 

 the Union. For we cannot anticipate haimonious action, 

 where it would be natiual lor northern mombers to occu- 

 py time and appropriate funds for gaining information 

 upon tho subjects most important to their iiilerKstii, while 

 southern members would as naturally seek for ihat 

 which would be peculiarly serviceable where rice, and 



cotton, and cane are grown. More limited associations 

 will answer our purposes better. 



The tBuggestion that a national school and pattern 

 farm should be in the District of Columbia, does not 

 strike us favorably. For the North, a school is wanted, 

 where its members can work — where the expenses of 

 living will be moderate — where temptations to immo 

 rality will be few, and where the crops of our northern 

 latitude can be cultivated. In the Dislrict, cuslom re- 

 quires that manual labor shall be performed mostly by 

 the colored population, and this, in connection with the 

 warmth of the climate, would deter the sons of New 

 England intn from labor; the cost of living there would 

 be too great for the sons of northern farmers ; the habits 

 of the rity in winter (vve say it with sorrow,) would be 

 too dissipated for us to be willing that our sons should 

 be exposed to its allurements; and the produclions of 

 tliat climale and soil, would fail to afford all the experi- 

 mental lessons, which would be liighly essential to one, 

 who intended to devote himself to husbandry in Yankee 

 land. Thn inhabitants of the extreme South and West, 

 would make similar objections. The country would be 

 more highly benefited by several schools in different 

 sections. 



Nothing can be farther from our design than to throw 

 obstacles in the way of those, who would arouse the 

 public to action upon ihe subject in question. Our re- 

 marks are only an avowal of the results of our reflec- 

 tion upon the subject. All that we ask for them is, a 

 candid consideration. If they are approved and regard- 

 ed, we s'hall deem the public wise and prudent ; if they 

 are rejected, we shall not call inquestiiui the soundness 

 of that discretion which sets them at nought, but shall 

 favor what we judge to bo a lesser good, if we cannot 

 obtain the greater. 



[Communicated.] 

 LIEBIG'S AGRICULTURAL CHEMISTRY. 



This day published, by J.Owen, Cambridge, and for 

 sale at the principal bookstores, " Organic Chemistry, in 

 its applications to Agriculture and Physiology — by Jus- 

 tus Liebig, F. R. S., Professor of Chemistry in the Uni- 

 versity of Giessen. With an Introduction, Notes and 

 Appendix, by J. W. Webster, M. D., Professor of Chem- 

 istry in Harvard University." 



" This work is written with a rare degree of sagacity, 

 and is full of immediate practical applications of incalcu- 

 lable importance. From its appearance we may date a 

 now era in Agriculture, and the imagination cannot con- 

 ceive the amount of improvement which may be ex- 

 pected from the application of the principles here devel- 

 oped." — Dr. W. (Gregory's Remarks to the British disso- 

 ciation for the J}dvancement of Science, Glasgow, Sept. 

 1840. 



.ftpril 19(A,1S41. 



Qj^'Phis coinmtinication gives us desirable informa- 

 tion. We are happy in the opportunity now afforded 

 for obtaining a work which we have for many weeks 

 been anxious to perifte. We expect lo find in the vol- 

 ume much valuable matter ; but we must withhold all 

 expression of our own opinion until we shall have ex- 

 amined the work.— Ed. N. E. Fab. 



NORTHERN AND SOUTHERN CLOVER. 

 One of our oldest and most respectable merchants, 

 after reading a paragraph which we copied from the 

 Maine Cultivator, respecting the comparttive value of 

 Northern and Southern Clover Seed, wishes us to say, 

 that when he was in trade he bought and sold large 

 quantities of the various kinds of grass seeds, and that it 

 was well known then lhat tho Southern Clover Seed 

 was not suited for use in this climale. All that he 

 could sell to New-England farmers was brought from 

 the states of New-Hampshire ai'd Maine. The South- 

 ern seed was considered worse than none. 



Tho above from the Boston Courier is in accordance 

 with the opinion of many of our farmers. Our private 

 opinion accorded with the above until within two or 

 three years. Within that period we have noticed, that 

 though the Northern gives a larger produce the first 

 season, it does it at the expense of the herds-grass and 

 red-top in years following. We believe now, that where 

 l.ind is lo continue in grass for three years, the produce 

 will be as abundant, and the first year's growth will be 

 finer and better, to use the Southern than the Northern. 

 It is the opinion of some of the very best farmers in the 

 vicinity of the city, that ihe Southern is the " only kind 

 the farmer should ever sow." This opinion is extend- 

 ing: whether correct or not, is yet perhaps undetermined. 

 Our object in noticing the remarks in the Courier, is 

 to say lo the Editor and to his respectable informant, 

 that an opinion, once universal, may not be sound; 

 and that the opinion in question is loosing its hold in the 

 minds of many observing agriculturists. After listen- 

 ing to the discussions upon this subject at the Slate 

 House, and making inquiries of many whose experience 

 is valuabli!, we have come to the conclusion that the 

 one may be as profitable as the other, and therefore, for 

 our own ufw the present season, have procured the 

 Southern seed because it comes much cheaper. 



TRANSPLANTING TREES. 



Many trees are lost by setting them too deep in their 

 new bed. There is a natural anxiety lo do all that can 

 be done to make a young fruit or ornamental tree live 

 and flourish. By this anxiety many people are influ- 

 enced to place the roots deep, and to make a hollow or 

 cup of larlh around the trunk, thinking thus lo give 

 roots greater protection and abundant moisture. Per- 

 haps the particular objects they have in view are thus 

 accomplished. But they, by this course, place the roots 

 where they are too cold, and cannot perform their prop- 

 er offices. The most experienced nursery-men in 

 this vicinity inform us that the latteral or horizontal 

 roots should be placed about on a level with the sur- 

 face of the ground ; and that the other roots should b£ 

 allowed to lake the same relative position in the ground 

 that they occupied before the tree was taken up. After 

 the iree has been properly placed, earth up over the 

 roots letting the ground slope from the trunk. It is a 

 good course to dig a large and deep hcle, and to fill it 

 up by replacing the earth, or putting in other earths 

 more fertile. Small stones, in the bottom of the holes, 

 have been found eminently serviceable to the growth 

 and health of trees. Orchards have flourished well 

 where the trees have been placed upon the surface of 

 the ground without digging, and then a load of soil put 

 upon the roots ofeach tree. Avoid getting them much 

 below the surface of the surrounding soil. 



TRANSACTIONS OF THE ESSEX AGRICULTU- '• 

 RAL SOCIETY. | 



We are indebted to J. W. Proctor, Esq., the attentive 

 and efficient Secretary of the Sitciety, fir a copy of the 

 Transactions for 1840. It contains the able and sound 

 Address of A. Hunlington, Esq , which we noticed and 

 copied in part several weeks since. Then follows the 

 instructive letter of E. Phinney, Esq., which we insert 

 today. The reports of commitlees and the valuable 

 communication of Dr. A. Nichols, we intend to notice 

 in suliseqiieiil numbers. 



[Want of s|)ace compels us to omit the remainder oi 

 the editor's remarks. — Print.'] 



The publicalion of our paper is delayed this week on 

 account of the funeral solemnities in the ciiy yesterday. 



