118 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



March 



and uninhabitable countries of Europe. There is surprised to hear that cattle have to resort to the 

 an enormous granite rock cut up into sharp peaks cane-brakes and swamps for sustenance. Pray, sir, 

 and deep precipices, and to add still more to its did you not find this Avhite grass on the mountain 

 ruggedness, extending into the most northerly lat- [ peak instead of pasture land, and was it as poisonous 

 itudes. More than three-fourths of the Highlands ! to grasshoppers as cattle ? However, there may be 

 are uncultivated, and the small portion which it is some barren spot of the kind that has not yet come to 



possible to work, requires all the industry of the 

 inhabitants to produce any thing. 



Even the Lowlands of Scotland are far from 

 being every where susceptible of cultivation. Nu- 

 merous ridges cross the country. Out of ten mil- 

 lion acres, five are nearly unproductive ; the other 

 five million exhibit almost everywhere prodigies of; 

 the most improved farming, but only two million 

 and a half are of rich and deep soil ; the rest is 

 poor and thin. As to climate, snow and rain fall 

 in great abundance, and the fruits of the earth have 

 only a short and precarious summer for bringing 

 them to maturity. Edinburgh is in the same lati- 

 tude as Copenhagen, and Moscow. 



Of the two divisions of Ireland, that of the north- 

 west, embracing a fourth of the island, and com- 

 prehending the province of Connaught, with the 

 abjacent counties of Donegal, Clare, and Kerry, re- 

 sembles Wales, and, in its Avest parts, the High- 

 lands of Scotland. Here, again, are five million of 

 unsightly acres, the frightful aspect of which has 

 given rise to the proverb, "Go to the devil or Con- 

 naught." The larger or south-east division, em- 

 braces three-fourths of the island, and includes the 

 provinces of Leinster, Ulster and Munster, and 

 equal to about fifteen million of acres, is at least 

 equal in its natural fertility to England proper. It 

 is not, however, equally good, and the amount of 

 humidity there is even greater than in England. 

 Extensive bogs cover about a tenth of its surface 

 and tracts of mountains another tenth. In fact. 



my knowledge ; if so, and "R. B. H." is the unfortu- 

 nate possessor of it, I would advise him to burn it, 

 or abandon it for the West at once. 



Judas Wild. 



THIRD LEGISLATIVE AGRICULTURAL 

 MEETING. 



Kkported for the Farmer iiy E. H. Rockwell. 



[The first meeting of Itiis series was held at the State House, 

 on the evening of Tuesday, Jan. 15, and was organized by the 

 election of an "Executive Committee," to give direction to 

 the business of the meeting. This committee consists of Messrs. 

 Charles L. Flint, Secretary of the Board of Agriculture, 

 Messrs. Jabez Fisher and Velokous Taft, of the Senate, and 

 Messrs. R. P. Waters, Samuel I.. Parsons, and Edwin Coolet, 

 of the House. No definite subject for discussion having been 

 announced, remarks upon several topics were made by Messrs. 

 Parsons, of hudlow, Taft, Choate, Hall, Darlinq, Maks- 

 FiELD and Fisher. 



The second meeting took place on the 22d inst , and the sub- 

 ject discussed was Farm lmjjlcme7its. Mr. Flint illustrated a 

 lecture on Plows and Plowing by various diagrams of plows 

 and other implements, and Messrs. Proctob, Dobge, Wituer- 

 ELL and Parsons, of Ludloiv, engaged in the debate.] 



The third regular meeting of the Legislative Ag- 

 ricultural Society was held in the Hall of the 

 House of Representatives, on Tuesday evening, at 

 7 o'clock. 



The nuniber in attendance at the hour appointed 



, , 1,. ,. , .,,. , was very good. The subject presented for the con- 



only twelve and a halt or the twenty millions of j • , 



acres in Ireland are cultivated. 



I think I have shown from the above, that, from 

 whatever causes, the agriculture of Great Britain 

 excels that of other countries, as it certainly 

 does excel the agriculture of all other countries, 

 its excellence is not owing to the natural fer- 

 tility of the soil, nor to the climate of the British 

 Islands. 



Having shown this fact, I shall now ])roceed to 

 show how it is that the agriculture of England is 

 richer than that .of any other country, and then 

 inquire why it is so. M. 



For the New England Farmer. 



PASTURES m CHESHIRE CO., N. H. 



Mr. Editor : — On seeing an article in your last, 

 bearing the signature of "R. B. H.," concerning the 

 land in Cheshire County, N. H., it occurred to me 

 that I might give the gentleman some information 

 on the subject desired. I was born and bred in the 

 "Old Granite State," have lived twenty-five or thir- 

 ty years in a town adjoining Jafi'rey, and my busi- 

 ness has been such that I have had occasion to vis- 

 it that town, as well as others in the county ; have 

 visited the Monadnock a number of times, and call 

 myself well acquainted with the land in this vicini- 

 ty. If New Hampshire makes less butter and 

 cheese than she did 'brm.erly, it is no doubt owing 

 to the increasing manufactures ; but, the pasturing 

 around the Monadnock, in my opinion, has been, 

 and now is, in good condition. I was very much 



eration of the meeting, was, "Farm Implements. 

 Plows, and the Preparation of Land." 



The meeting was called to order by Dr. FisilER, 

 of Worcester, a member of the Executive Commit- 

 tee who introduced to the meeting, Fra>X'IS De 

 Witt, Secretary of State, as the President of the 

 meeting, who briefly stated the subject proposed 

 for discussion, and invited gentlemen to express 

 their news upon it. 



C. L. Flint, Secretary of the Board of Agricul- 

 ture, suggested that at the last meeting there were 

 some doubts expressed as to whether tlieVe had 

 been any actual improvement in plows, for the last 

 hundred years or more, and he believed there 

 might be some one now present who would give 

 some reason for those doubts. 



Mr. John Brooks, of Princeton, said that he 

 did not call all changes improvements, and he did 

 doubt whether even going back a century, there 

 had been as much improvement in plows as was 

 sometimes claimed. The Roman plow was made 

 to turn the furrow from the land plowed. Perhaps 

 our modern plow would do it better, but he was 

 not quite sure of it. He vf as not sure that on some 

 sandy land, like that of Cape Cod, the old Roman 

 plow would not be better than the modern ])low. 

 Sixty years ago, or more, Mr. Jefferson v.rote a 

 (letter to Sir John Sinclair, giving a descrintion of 



