1856. 



NEW ENGLAND FAEMER. 



293 



it is generally used pretty freely by these travelling 

 ao'ents to induce others to buy, saying that Mr. 

 Such-an-one bought freely of him. The same can 

 safely be said of those who are out selling super- 

 phosphate, and guano, and other fertilizers. 



Respectfully yours, Harvey Dodge. 



SuUon, May 9, 1856. 



AGRICULTURAL ADDRESS. 



We have received an Address delivered before 

 the Windham County Agricultural Society at 

 Brooklyn, Conn., by the Rev. Alexander H. Vin- 

 ton, of Boston. We have often noticed Mr. Vin- 

 ton in the agricultural meetings at the State House, 

 and are happy now to find his light shining in a 

 more public manner. His address is written in a 

 pleasant, attractive style, and abounds with excel- 

 lent suggestions. The farmer is indebted, consid- 

 erably, to the physician for aid in agricultural pro- 

 gress, but more to the clergy than to any other 

 class. They have the opportunity and the intelli' 

 gence — where they have the taste — to work in ag- 

 ricultural matters more scientifically than most of, 

 us are enabled to do. With the pen always at 

 hand, also, they note the results they gain and are 

 able to give them intelligibly to the world. For 

 want of space we are obliged to content ourselves 

 with the following extracts from this excellent ad- 

 dress : 



"Agriculture has exacted tribute of mineralogy, 

 and has sometimes saved money by knowing the 

 difference between limestone and silex. Natural 

 philosophy has paid her tribute to agriculture, in 

 the shape of water-rams, and drains, and horse- 

 powers. Botany has taught her the principles and 

 laws of vegetable Hfc, and how to cross her breeds 

 or keep them pure. Entomology has lit its candle 

 and introduced her to the domestic manners and 

 habits of weevils, borers and caterpillars. It is not 

 quite time yet to say how much agriculture has 

 been aided by astronomy ; but if it shall be deter- 

 mined satisfactorily that pork shrinks in the pot, 

 or timber takes on decay according to the time of 

 the moon, then so much at least of astronomy will 

 be necessary to the farmer as to teach him when 

 that luminary is in her growth or wane. 



* * * * * 



"We have not time to extend the detail of agri- 

 cultural thrift, but there is one indispensable par- 

 ticular, without which no farmer can thrive as he 

 ought ; without which, one most important depart- 

 ment of his farm will be crippled and haggard ; 

 without which, if his purse grows full, his soul 

 grows lean ; without which, he will bring disgrace 

 on agriculture, and Nature will be revenged on his 

 unnatural state, in refusing Heaven's last, best gift 

 to man, a loving, prudent, first-rate wife. His 

 hired help may fail him, but he has this helpmeet 

 for him that never fails— heljiing his hands, helping 

 his head, helping his heart, and from being a mere 

 farmer makes him a whole man. Helping his 

 heart, I said — and this reminds me that the view 

 TPe take of agriculture is too often confined to the 

 mere question of dollars and cents 



ployment should be capable of nothing higher and 

 better. The moral value of agriculture, its use in 

 refining the sentiments and tastes, is, alas ! almost 

 universally ignored. With so much to improve 

 the more spiritual part of our nature, how often do 

 we see the farmer destitute of all sense of the beau- 

 tiful, and despising all those improvements of na- 

 ture which heighten her attractions and feed the 

 soul with associations of loveliness, that, mingling 

 with her toil, turn drudgery to delight, and add 

 pleasure to profit. If the farm were made as 

 tasteful as a pleasure-ground, and the dwelling 

 adorned as a grotto, the farmer's toil would be 

 compensated by cheerfulness ; his weary body be 

 beguiled by his pleasant mind, and above all, the 

 children would not grow up to hate their father's 

 employment, using their first freedom to try a pre- 

 carious substitute, and leaving the hearth and home- 

 stead to the stranger and foreigner." 



AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTS. 



D. J. Browne, Esq., Superintendent of the Ag- 

 ricultural Division of the Patent Office, has pre- 

 pared a table of the agricultural products of the 

 United States for 1855, and affixes a valuation to 

 the several products. However near he may ap- 

 proximate the amount, we think he has overshot 

 the mark in the valuation. For instance, he values 

 the whole crop of corn at 60 cents per bushel, 

 while 40 cents would be a good price. Other items 

 are as far wide of the mark. We publish the ta- 

 ble showing the amounts, and leave our readers to 

 figure out the value for themselves. 



^'EGETABLE PRODUCTS. 



Indian Corn 600,000,000 bug. 



Wheat 165,000,000 " 



Rye i4,noy,ooo ' ' 



Barley 6,600,000 " 



Oats 170,000,000 «' 



Buckwheat 10,000,000 " 



Potatoes (all sorts) 110,C 00,000 " 



Flaxseed 68,000 " 



Beans and peas 9,500,000 " 



Clover and grass seed 1,OijO,000 " 



Eice 250,000,000 lbs. 



Sugar (cane) 505,000,000 " 



Sugar (maple) 34,000,000 " 



Molasses 14,f 00,000 gals. 



"Wine 2,500,000 " 



Hops 3,500,000 lbs. 



Tobacco 190,000,000 " 



Cotton 1,700,000,000 " 



Hemp 34,500 " 



Flax 8 :0,000 « 



Hay and fodder 16,600,000 tons. 



DOMESTIC ANIMALS AND ANIMAL PRODUCTS. 



Horned cattle 21,000,000 head. 



Horses, asses and mules 5,100,000 " 



Sheep 23,500,000 '• 



Swine 32,0t0,0l0 " 



Butter and cheese 500,000,000 lbs. 



Milk 1,000,000,100 gals. 



Wool 60,000,000 lbs. 



Beeswax and honey 16,000,000 " 



Silk cocoons 5,000 " 



It must not be imagined that though the coun- 

 try has produced so abundantly the last year, that 

 the whole product will be realized. The loss by 

 wastage, rotting, accidents, disease, &c., takes off a 

 large percentage from this. The total estimated 

 value of vegetable products, is $1,355,887,500 — 

 animal products, &c., $1,352,005,000. 



Gardening for the South. — This is the title 

 "But it is a grievous pity if this God-given em- 1 of a new work, setting forth the best method of cul- 



