212 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



Mat 



cattle and horses, &c. &c., being consumed by 

 fire, with all its contents, last fall, I have been 

 under the necessity, for the first time in my life, 

 of keeping my cows and oxen exclusively on corn 

 butts and turnips ; and I do not see, but what 

 they will compare favorably, and look as well in 

 the meantime, as any around that have been 

 feeding on English hay and grain, which con- 

 firms me still more in the faith, that rutabagas 

 are worth raising, notwithstanding all that has 

 been written and said against them lately. 



Thomas Cruickshank. 

 Beverly Farms, Feb. 14, 1859, 



For the New England Farmer. 

 FARMERS' CLUBS OR TOWN AGRICUL- 

 TURAL SOCIETIES. 



Mr. Editor : — I learn from your interesing 

 paper, that you are still wide-awake, and active, 

 too, on the subject of Farmers' Clubs or Town 

 Agricultural Societies. You have visited, it 

 seems, several towns in Cheshire County, N. H., 

 and endeavored to create a deeper interest in 

 the subject of farming. Had you given previous 

 notice, in your paper, of your intended visit, and 

 of the object you had in view, we should, sever- 

 al of us, have been there to see and hear for our- 

 selves, and you would probably have received an 

 invitation to address our own town society, which 

 has now been in existence and in successful oper- 

 ation a little more than a year. I say in successful 

 operation; because, though we have done little 

 more than hold discussions on subjects of the 

 highest importance to us as farmers, yet our dis- 

 cussions have been listened to, and participated 

 in, by a class of persons who never would have 

 been benefited by the discussions of a county or 

 State societj'. In fact, we have made up our 

 minds that, if the people will not go to hear the 

 discussions, then the discussions must be brought 

 home to them. Our field of missionary labor is 

 at home, and every farmer is expected to take a 

 part in it, at least to give his opinion upon every 

 subject under discussion. In this way, we com- 

 pare notes with each other, and make a profita- 

 ble exchange of our experience. Though there 

 is a good degree of harmony existing among us, 

 and a very general interest manifested in the at- 

 tendance upon our meetings, yet we do not al- 

 ways agree upon every subject, because we are 

 not all equally well-informed upon every subject, 

 have not all enjoyed equal advantages for infor- 

 mation, and our individual experiences have been 

 different. Still, I would mention as the result 

 of our last year's discussion on one topic, "the 

 cutting and securing of the hay crop," that it was 

 better done, and in better season, than in any 

 previous year ; and the crop of hay is worth more 

 money. Now, if we can only make an equal im- 

 provement in some other branch of husbandry 

 every year, we shall be doing very well ; and 

 some of us have faith to believe, that we shall 

 even do better. Be this as it may, we are deter- 

 mined to do our best. 



I have made the above few hasty remarks, not 

 as an act of laudation upon our own humble ef- 

 forts in forming a town society for the discus- 

 sion of agricultural subjects, but to encourage 

 similar efi"orts elsewhere. I regard these town 



associations as a kind of normal school for the 

 education of the great mass of the people, in 

 which the old and the young enjoy equal privi- 

 leges, and may be each other's instructors, and 

 helpers of each other's joy and labors ; and where 

 old fossil pi-ejudices may be compelled to give 

 way to clearer views and better practices on the 

 subject of farming. These social gatherings will 

 be the means of creating a more general and 

 deeper interest in the subject, and of diff"using 

 throughout the length and breadth of our land a 

 greater taste for agricultural pursuits. These 

 little town societies, though humble in their ori- 

 gin, are the fountains, from whence are to pro- 

 ceed all the streams of scientific, experimental 

 and practical knowledge, which are to elevate 

 the character and extend the influence of farm- 

 ers. These are the fountains, I say, whose streams 

 running through every vein and artery of the 

 body-politic, are to give energy and respectabil- 

 ity to our calling; and, without whose vivifying 

 influence, the science of agriculture will contin- 

 ue to be greatly neglected, if not despised. 



It is true, that farming is a humble, toilsome 

 and laborious occupation. With many, the till- 

 er of the soil is regarded somewhat in the char- 

 acter of a slave, as low-born and low-bred. This 

 is the opinion of the frivolous and the ignorant, 

 who still continue to depreciate and despise ru- 

 ral pursuits and pleasures. But it should be 

 borne in mind that they equally depreciate and 

 despise all labor, all industry, all enterprise and 

 all effort. There is nothing in farming inconsis- 

 tent with great intellectual and moral cultivation ; 

 and there is no pursuit that rewards so liberally 

 with health, and wealth, and honor, as farming. 

 John Goldsbury. 



Warwiclc, Feb. 9, 1859. 



SEA KALE. 



Why is it there is such an aversion to adopt 

 any new article for culture ? How slow were 

 most cultivators for years in raising the tomato, 

 spinach or rhubarb. Some of these were culti- 

 vated in the gardens of the amateur some twenty 

 years before they came into favor by our market 

 raisers ; the salsify is still hardly known as a 

 marketable vegetable, Avhile the sea kale can 

 rarely be found even in the markets of our large 

 cities. Farmers and gardeners are not, however, 

 the only ones that are thus slow to receive valu- 

 able novelties. The medical faculty of Paris, it 

 is said, proscribed as poisonous, the potato, one 

 hundred years after that plant had raised mil- 

 lions of vigorous troops, who, under Marlboro', 

 had again and again beaten the finest armies of 

 France. 



The sea kale is said, by Dr. CuRTIs, to "centre 

 within itself all the good qualities of the cab- 

 bage tribe, and as a purifier of the blood in the 

 spring, it cannot be too highly recommended." 

 This plant, when first introduced into cultivation 

 in England, w^as said to be one of the most valu- 

 able acquisitions made to their culinary vegeta- 

 bles for fifty years previous. 



