172 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



APRUi 



Mr. Bkooks strongly urged the importance of 

 saving manure, so as to produce larger crops. We 

 are trustees of the land, and we have no right to 

 starve our children who are to inherit it. The far- 

 mer is the first man in the world ; everything de- 

 pends upon him. It is important that he should un- 

 derstand the theory of soils and manures, and know 

 their chemical elements. All knowledge may be 

 brought into use in farming. He did not quite 

 agree with the lecturer that in every case, corn 

 should not be hilled. He had tried hilling and 

 leaving corn to grow without it, and had found that 

 which was hilled to stand best when exposed to the 

 wind. 



Mr. Sbiox Browx, of Concord, expressed his 

 gratification with the lecture, and especially with 

 that part which related to the education of the 

 young farmer. He thought much of the education 

 of the child who is intended to be a farmer to be 

 wrong. Instead of selecting the brightest boy of a 

 family to educate at College, he should be the one 

 who is instructed in farming. Of all professions, 

 there is none which requires such varied and deep 

 learning as that of the farmer. But the method 

 now pursued is to push aside the boy who is intend- 

 ed to be a farmer, so that he loses many opportu- 

 nities which others enjoy. He has fewer holidays, 

 and he does not enter into company so often as the 

 child of the mechanic. The same is true of the 

 daughters of farmers. There should be a change in 

 the manner of educating young farmers. 



Agricultural Colleges and schools are important, 

 doubtless, but there are schools enough around us 

 all the while, which are" not used. Every gentle- 

 man present might set in motion a school in his 

 own neighborhood by collecting together some doz- 

 en young men around his parlor fire, and encour- 

 aging and instructing them in agriculture, and by 

 providing them with such periodicals as will in- 

 struct them. That has been done in one town, and 

 it has altered the whole face of things in a few 

 years. Every one can do much in that way. 



The Chairman said he hoped they were not so 

 much behind the age in his vicinity as had been 

 suggested. He did not think the farmers' daugh- 

 ters worked any harder than girls did in former 

 times. 



Mr. Dodge, of Sutton, corrected a statement 

 made by him at a former meeting, in which he had 

 put the number of barns in the State at thirty-six 

 thousand. He had been since informed by the 

 Secretary of the Board of Agriculture, that there 

 were seventy-six thousand. He took occasion also 

 to re-affirm that in his opinion, the business of ag- 

 riculture has depreciated within the last twentv 

 years on this side of the Connecticut river. The 

 importance of saving everything in the shape oj 

 manure of any kind, was also urged. He was de- 

 cidedly of opinion that composting was unprofitable. 



any further than was necessary to catch and save 

 liquid or other manures that would otherwise be 

 lost. To use his own language, "this composting, 

 or using phosphates, is all gammon. We don't 

 know anything about it in our section ; nor are we 

 ignorant," 



A farmer in his vicinity, who has read the discus- 

 sion here, on the subject of the application of ma- 

 nures, expressed his surprise that there was so 

 much said m favor of composting. He said that he 

 applied his manure in a fresh state, and then after 

 spreading upon the surface, plowed furrows, just 

 far enough apart to cover it — cut and cover, he 

 called it — and leaving the si)ace between the raised 

 furrows for the water to subside into. The manure 

 thus covered was composted in the soil, and none 

 of it was lost. 



• The farmers of Massachusetts are as intelligent 

 as any class of peoj)le, and they bring up their sons 

 and daughters in a manner as reputable to them as 

 any other profession. 



With regard to the cultivation of corn, he said he 

 had no doubt it could l)e raised here with more 

 profit to us than it could be to any farmers at the 

 West, if they have to come here for a market. 



Mr. C. L. Flint then rose, and expressed his 

 pleasure with the lecture of Mr. Waring, and of- 

 fered the following resolution, which was unani- 

 mously adopted. 



Resolved, That the thanks of this Legislative 

 Agricultural Society, be and are hereby paid to 

 George E, Waring, for his able and very inter- 

 esting lecture on Agricultural Education at the 

 State House, Feb. 26th, 1856. 



The subject for discussion at the next meeting 

 was announced to be, " Grasses and Small Grains." 



Far the Nezc England Fanner. 



NEW IDEAS IN AGRICULTURE. 



Pumpkin seeds should not be fed to milch cows, 

 unless you wish them to decrease in milk. A gen- 

 tleman in this vicinity has tried it, believes it, and 

 would have made it known earlier, but for fear of 

 ridicule. 



Girdling an a])ple tree the last of June, or when 

 its fruit is of the size of a common walnut, will not 

 kill the tree, but improve the fruit. 



A close chamber is a better place to keep apples 

 than a cellar. Apples bear freezing once without 

 injury, if they are not handled till thawed. Linen 

 cloth laid on or around apples prevents injury from 

 freezing. Apples have been found in good order 

 in the spring, that have lain in barrels under the 

 trees all winter, lloxbury Rubsets are considered 

 the longest keepers. 



Gathering fruit from the apple and cuiTant trees, 

 when green, or before they are fully ripe, makes 

 them more prolific the following year. 



Trees designed for clayey soils do best when 

 transplanted in the spring. 



Currants bear in three years from cuttings. Ap- 

 ples bear in ten or fifteen years from seed, usually 

 in about twelve vears. J. N. Bagg. 



