190 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



April 



For the Neio England Farmer. 

 TOWN ASSOCIATIONS. 



Mr. Editor : — I feel rather sleepy to-day, but 

 not enough to prevent me from believing that 

 you and others are striking the right key-note by 

 advocating the formatioa of farmers' clubs and 

 town associations. I trust that your State will 

 move forward in this matter, so that Maine may 

 follow after in the course of twenty years. 



There are county societies throughout the 

 State that give premiums, but these are usually 

 received by two or three towns in the vicinity of 

 the fair. The Androscoggin River runs nearly 

 50 miles through Oxford County, and has very 

 many excellent farms its whole length, but they 

 scarcely receive a dollar in premiums. The rea- 

 son is obvious. It costs something to drive cat- 

 tle, or to carry articles twenty or twenty-five 

 miles to the fair, and be on expense for two or 

 three days, and perhaps return without a premi- 

 um. This is the case to a certain extent all over 

 the State. What we want, is some plan matured 

 in your State that shall equalize the benefits to 

 be bestowed. Moving the fair about effects noth- 

 ing. It seems to me that town associations must 

 be established for this purpose. Many towns in 

 Maine now have their town fairs. We had one 

 last year, as on previous years. The stock, neigh- 

 borhood teams, were very fine, and all the farm 

 productions, and the ladies' conlribjtions were 

 in abundance. Committees were raised, and re- 

 ports made, but without premiums. Everybody 

 went home happy ; yet we had, at the same time. 

 State Agricultural and Patent Office Reports 

 sufficient to have given every successful compet- 

 itor a copy. Had we done it, the charm would 

 have been broken. A few would have been sat- 

 isfied, the rest would have grumbled. We chose 

 to give away these books, where we thought they 

 would do the most good. I acknowledge myself 

 an earnest advocate of the farmer's interests, but 

 these interests need equalizing all over the coun- 

 ty. I admired the grit of a young man, a year 

 ago, when at a club m.eeting the expense of rais- 

 ing potatoes was discussed, at the close of the 

 meeting, he remarked, "I can show you next year 

 that potatoes can be raised cheaper than thai," 

 and he did doit, by raising 1500 bushels the last 

 year at one-half the expense estimated by some 

 of his neighbors. He cared nothing about a pre- 

 mium. 



You need, and so do we, a man to canvass the 

 State, lecture and form clubs in every agricul- 

 tural town. I have more faith in that agency, 

 than in all the premiums the State can bestow. 

 I would not overthrow the County or State soci- 

 eties ; they would be the stronger, by the move- 

 ment. Don't send a white-kidded gentleman 

 among farmers, but an intelligent, practical, com- 

 mon sense man, such as will at heart sympathize 

 with the farmer, and the work is done. 



Now, Mr. Editor, I am fairly waked up, and 

 will review what I have written. N. T. T. 



Bethel, Me., Feb. 18, 1859. 



miums, as now awarded, and of big cattle shows, 

 as now conducted, are nearly at an end. There 

 must be more personal effort, and less show and 

 bluster, and less talk for "Buncombe." You must 

 go to the neighborhood or home of the farmer, 

 and excite him there, among his neighbors — ex- 

 cite them all, once or twice, and then they will 

 excite each other. Cattle shows, properly con- 

 ducted, are well enough for some things, but they 

 are spasmodic, and do not go deep enough with 

 the masses. 



Remarks. — Glad you are awake, sir — wish 

 there were ten thousand more in the same condi- 

 tion. Your hammer strikes right, and hits the 

 nail on the head. The beneficial results of pre- 



DECEEASB OF WATER ON THE GLOBi3. 



At a late meeting of the British Association, 

 a iNIr. Galton read a paper by Mr. J. Spotswood 

 Wilson, "On the General and Gradual Dessicca- 

 tion of the Earth and Atmosphere." The writer 

 drew attention to the fact that those who had 

 travelled in continental lands, especially in or 

 near the tropics, had been forced to reflect on 

 the changes of climate that appeared to have oc- 

 curred. There were parched and barren lands, 

 dry river channels, and waterless lakes, and not 

 unfrequently traces of ancient human habitations, 

 where large populations had been supported, but 

 where all wtis now desolate, dry and barren. 



After quoting largely from the works of vari- 

 ous travellers and writeis, (among the latest of 

 whom was Dr. Livingston,) and giving interest- 

 ing descriptions of dried up rivers and desolate 

 tracts of country in Australia, Africa, Mexico 

 and Peru, which had forroer'y been inhabited by 

 man, Mr. AVilson concluded that there was a grad- 

 ual solidifying of the aqueous vapors, end conse- 

 quently of water, on the face of this terrestrial 

 world, which he inferred was approaching a state 

 in which it will be impossible for man to continue 

 an inhabitant. Yet, he added, v.-e should feel sat- 

 isfied with the prospect that the term of our oc- 

 cupation is not yet half expired. Races preced- 

 ed us in the chain of existence, and there was no 

 reason to suppose that others would not follow. 

 Indeed, some of those that are destined to suc- 

 ceed seem to be already in existence, and have 

 their home in the icy sea, v/here they enjoy a cli- 

 mate that exceeds man's endurance Vaiious 

 considerations lead to the c nclusion that the fit- 

 ness of the earth for man may extend to a period 

 much longer than that in which it has been occu- 

 pied by him ; nor will that term end till after the 

 Polar bear, the walrus and the narwal have be- 

 come inhabitants of the tropics. 



For the New Englartd Farmer. 

 SEA KALE. 

 I beg to say a few words upon the cultivation 

 of sea kale, a vegetable of great excellence, and 

 requiring but little care when a bed is once 

 formed. It is perfectly hardy, grows on any light 

 soil, requires no manure, indeed, it does better 

 without it, and is perennial. It may be grown 

 from seed or from the root, and fifty plants occu- 

 pying a small space, will supply a small family. 

 In its taste it resembles the cauliflower, and 

 should be cooked in like manner, by boiling. 

 It comes in season a month before asparagus, 

 and may, by protecting the bed with a heavy 



