1856. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



61 



The experience of the past season has proved most 

 satisfactorily that thorougli draining is the most 

 effectual protection that we know against the ef- 

 fects of drought. By furnishing "far more food to 

 plants, it enables them to strike their roots deeper 

 into the soil, and by increased vigor, to resist much 

 longer the influence of the drought." This fact, in 

 addition to often the demonstrated truth, that it 

 "changes swamps, that ha\e hitherto been a nui- 

 sance upon a farm, to most valuable and pro- 

 ductive portions," proves abundantly its importance 

 as a means of agricultural imjjrovement. 



Irrigation, also, is a means of improvement, 

 •which we are happy to know is engaging the atten- 

 tion of Massachusetts, as well as New York farm- 

 ers. Says one New York farmer, "it is now about 

 four years since I turned a stream of water over 

 about thirty acres of my farm that were conveni- 

 ently situated for the purpose, and the consequence 

 has been that the yield of my grass and hay crops 

 has been more than doubled, and much of it upon 

 the gravel soil, four times told more than ever be- 

 fore." 



Reports respecting the use of special manures 

 should always exhibit, not only the results of the 

 produce raised by these means, but the actual cost 

 of the manure used. Suppose a piece of ground 

 produces 2000 pounds of hay; by the addition of 

 400 pounds of guano, you get 4000 pounds of hay, 

 you have doubled your crop. But if the hay is 

 worth but $8,00 per ton, which is the case in large 

 sections of the interior, and the guano costs $10, 

 does it pay ? This is the real question, after all, 

 upon which the question of the use of special 

 manures must turn. 



We learn from the report that the Legislature 

 appropriated $25,000 for the erection of a building 

 at Albany, for the use of the Society. Li the mu- 

 seum of this building, it is designed to preserve 

 farm implements now in use in the State and in 

 the country, and which may hereafter be introduc- 

 ed, and a complete collection of grasses and seeds. 

 The insects, also, which are common, will be cor- 

 rectly arranged and named, with the plants, leaves 

 and twigs upon wliich their depredations are most 

 commonly committed. Choice and rare plants will 

 also be preserved, and their method of culture ex- 

 hibited. Such a museum must be of immense and 

 constantly increasing value, not only to the State 

 by whose liberality it is established, but to the 

 country at large. 



From the treasurer's report it appears that the 

 income of the Society for the year was $22,546, and 

 its expenditure $19,982. This munificent sum in 

 the hands of the public spirited and energetic men 

 who have the control of it, has enabled them to 

 produce the results which this volume exhibits. 

 One thousand dollars was appropriated to sustain 

 the labors of Asa Fitcii, M. D., the State Ento- 



mologist ; and when we learn that the destruction 

 of wheat in the State was estimated at $9,403,012 85, 

 during the last year, we may well believe that we 

 need to know more of the insects injurious to vege- 

 tation, and that liberal appropriations, which tend 

 to increase this knowledge, and our security against 

 their ravages, will be the truest economy. We 

 hope that the incoming legislature of our own State 

 will not fail to make an appropriation to reprint 

 Harris's work on this subject, with such alterations, 

 colored illustrations, and other additions, as he may 

 be called on to prepare for it. 



We will occujjy no space with the State Fair, as 

 we did this, to some extent, at the time of its oc- 

 currence. 



In the Horticultural report, a page is appropri- 

 ated to the Concord grape, and the superintendent 

 of the exhibition says : "All candid men will agree 

 in saying that it is a most valuable addition to our 

 native grapes. Mr. Bull has rendered horticul- 

 ture a good service by the introduction of this fine 

 grape, and I hope he will be encouraged to contin- 

 ue his experiments in raising vines from the seeds." 



The various scientific treatises, prize essays, reports 

 of the several county societies, addresses and dis- 

 cussions in the State House, and at annual meet- 

 ings, descriptions of farm implements and mechan- 

 ical labor-saving machines, and reports of individu- 

 al stock-raisers and farmers, contain matter of very 

 great interest, and show a rapid development of 

 the resources of the Empire State. 



And, although there is something — considerable 

 even — which we think may well have been omitted, 

 yet we shall often recur to this vobmie with the 

 certainty of deriving from it pleasure and instruc- 

 tion. 



For the New England Fanner. 



RED CEDAR. 



Friend Brown : — In riding, both by rail-road 

 and county-road, my observation has been directed 

 to the rapid increase of this tree. In Medford they 

 seem to be covering the pastures, and the roadsides 

 are lined with them. In many towns near the sea- 

 shore, I think their number is five times what it 

 was ten years ago. If this be correct, it shows that 

 the climate favors their increase. They do not ap- 

 pear to be confined to any particular soil. They 

 grow on rocky hills, and pine plains, on dry and 

 moist, rich and poor lands. But wherever they are 

 the land is enriched by them. Their timber is val- 

 uable for fence posts, and rail road ties, and both 

 limbs and boughs are excellent oven wood, either 

 green or dry. Their branches aie numerous, and 

 small, extending but a short distance from the body 

 of the tree, and producing a large amount of^ seed. 



Although I have been acquainted with this tree 

 more than sixty years, I have no recollection of see- 

 ing a branch broken by the wind, or a tree blown 

 down, or one of any bigness bent b)- the snow ; 

 therefore it is a very safe tree to cultivate on the 

 line of railroads. 



My object in writing the above, is, that railroad 



