VOL. XVI. NO. 10. 



AND GARDENER'S JOURNAL, 



123 



By Rev Air Frost. It is saiil that the tree is 

 cnown hy its fruit; he wouhi therefore give, the 



Farmers of Middlesex ; IMay their merits he 

 udged of Iiy tlje fruits this day exhibited. 



% Col. Shattiiek. The Orator of the day : 

 The subjects of his discourse this day are highly 

 mportant and should he regarded by every inem- 

 )er of the coriitnouwcalth. 



By Mr William Keurick. The independent 

 'eomanry of Mi(hllesex. 



By Hon. Nathan Brooks, "Chairman of the 

 iog committee." Desperate land speculators; 

 )anking mania, and rinancial experiments ; al- 

 hough they have " gone tlie whole hog, " and 

 dunged the government and people into a sad 

 tickle, and all proved great bores, is it to be hoped 

 liat in the present extraordinary crisis, they will 

 o ring and yoke the leaders, that the nation may, 

 'et save its own bacon ! 



By Hon. L. M. Parker, of Shirley. The Hus- 

 iaiidmen and Manufacturers of Middlesex: They 

 ^il ami they spin, — they feed the hungry and 

 lothe the naked ; and the end thereof is plenty 

 nd peace. 



By Hon. John Keyes. The great leading in- 

 srest; of New England: May they go on har- 

 loniously and prosper, for the day may come 

 fben they must live together, or live not at all. 



By B. Dix, Esq. of Littleton. The counly of 

 liddlesex : Her soil, farming and manufacturing 

 kill, have |)laced her in the front rank : may she 

 ever lose her place. 



Some other toasts were given which we do 

 ot recollect. We are glad to be able to say, that 

 far " old Middlesex" has held her place, and 

 ^hile the industry, .skill and perseverance of her 

 itizens continue to be exercised, she will hold 

 er place in the front of the front rank ! 



The following gentlemen were chosen the of- 

 cers of the Society, for the ensuing year. 



Eli Rice, Es(]. of Marlboro, President. 



Dr. Jo'n Nelson, of Lexington, Isl Vice Pres- 

 lent, 



Hon. Nathan Brooks, of Concord, 2d do. 



TLoiothy Pr^scott, Esq. of Concord, Recording 

 leeretary. 



John AL Cheney, Esq. of Cincord, Correspon- 

 ing Secretary. 



Phineas How, of Concord, Treasurer. 



The Cattle Show in this town, Monday, 

 ;as, perhaps, the best exhibition that has yet 

 een holden here since Municipal Cattle Shows 

 ?ere introduced. The day was very propitious. 

 )ne hundred and fourteen yokes of oxen and 

 eers were exhibited. The two largest yokes of 

 rhich belonged to .Mr Deputy Sheriff Bacon — 

 ne weighed 4S3.5, and the other 3910. The 

 xen generally made a fine appearance, both as 

 ) f irmation an<l fatness, and convinceil the be- 

 olders that our farmers are not indifferent with 

 egard to the breed of their stock. Mr Lemuel 

 Lice's team of six yoke of oxen were worthy of 

 otice, and the gentleman who reported on them 

 iras quite ingenious in his description of the 

 jveniie teamsters. The boys should return the 

 ompliment by testing the strength of tire team 

 :n a load of pumpkins to help make up the lux- 

 Iries of the reporter's Thanksgiving fea.st. It 

 annot reasonably be expected by our readers 

 aat we should obtain the names of the owners, 

 nd particularize every animal and vegetable pre- 

 ented for exhibition. The greatest curiosities in 



the vegetable show were twin f)Mm[ikins united, 

 by Samuel Si')ley, Jr , and six lurge and nice blue 

 pearmains on one stem, by Mr Ethan lIoMeii, 

 the eating of which was reserved exchisiuely to 

 the Parson of the oM parish — 6 monster piim|)- 

 kins, by Harrison Harvvood, and a pair lioth 

 raised from one vine, weighing 78 pounds, by J. 

 Martin — a large cabbage-head, in full blossotii 

 and a|>parently going to seed, by Josiah Bacon. 



Some very sounil and bright looking corn was 

 exhibited by G. Warden, which grew this year 

 on Dana plains, without manure, — in considera- 

 tion of this last fact, the committee awarded to 

 Mr W. all the manure in the treasury. 



The dinner, provided by Mr Wheelock, was 

 excellent — every body who knows Wheelock, 

 expected on the occasion, a feast of fat things, an 

 ample number of attendants, and all the other 

 paraphanalia which renders such stasons agree- 

 able and satisfactory. They were not disap- 

 pointed. Most of the Reports were got up witli 

 ingenuity and pertinency. The wines were good 

 and many of the toas s pithy. Each individual 

 ate and drank what he pleased, and abstained 

 from what he pleased ; in short it was an occa- 

 sion of no very little fun, frolic and enjoyment 

 from beginning to end. — Barre Gazette. 



Experiment with Potatoes. — Mr William 

 Clark, Jr. of this town, obtained a couple of po- 

 tatoes at the Savings Bank, Boston, — not as a 

 loan, but as gratuity, — last winter, from a few 

 just imported from England, which were sup- 

 posed 10 be an excellent kind of potatoes. They 

 were laid away and forgotten till they had sprout- 

 ed, and the sprouts had grown perhaps two 

 inches. To obtain the greatest possible number 

 from them for seed, Rlr Clark disposed of them 

 in the following manner, in his garden. The 

 sprouts, seven in number, were broken from one 

 potato, and set out, about sixteen inches apart, 

 with the tops just above the surface, and the po- 

 tato itself planted ; the other potato was planted 

 with the sprouts on, allowing- the tops of them to 

 remain uncovered. After the sprouts from the 

 latter potato liad grown somewhat, they were 

 spread apart each way, and covered up with soil 

 from their insertion at the hill to near the end of 

 the vines, to make them spread. lu doing this, 

 three of the vines were broken off, which were 

 set out, and grew. These potatoes were not lull- 

 ed at all ; mi^rely keeping down the weeds was 

 all that was done to them. 



Mr Clark dug the pioduct of these two po- 

 tatoes last week, in our presence, and they yielded 

 as follows: — F'rom the hill in which was jilanted 

 the potatoe from which the sprouts were taken 

 was dug 100 potatoes, large and small, many of 

 them very large, and weighing 17 lbs. or over a 

 peck in measure ; as the fruit of the seven sproiit.s, 

 were dug iSC potatoes, weighing 35 pounds, 

 making a total of ,52 pounds, or nearly n bushel, 

 as the product of one potato. One of the sprouts 

 produced 36 potatoes, weighing 8 3-4 pounds. 

 The other potato produced but 90 potatoes, weigh- 

 ing 14 pounds, the broken vines which were set 

 out producing twenty potatoes, weighing three 

 pounds. 



This experiment will afford useful information 

 to those who may wish to pro|iagate rapidly from 

 a few seed ; or even when potatoes are scarce for 

 planting. — Hampshire Gazette, 



Swamp Mun — Mr Sayward : The tillage land 

 at iMt. Mope was dressed \ns-t sprifig, principally 

 with a compo.st, two thirds, or more, of which, 

 was swamp mud. The articles cultivated, mangel 

 wurtzel, ruta baga, white turnips, beets, cirrots, 

 parsnips, cabbage, &c. Plants, which it will be 

 observed, require strong manure. The compost 

 having failed, a part of the l.ind for i>otatocs was 

 dressed with mud alone. A friend of mine, who, 

 since the Cattle Show, exhibits strong syniptoms 

 of an agricultural fever, called on me to-day, and 

 in order to show him that ahnost every farmer in 

 the slate possesses a gold mine, far superior in 

 richness to any yet discovered on 'Uncle Sam's 

 Farm,' of the 'real yellow,' I removed the depos- 

 ites from under the potato vines dressed with mud 

 alone, and satisfied us both, they would yield 480 

 bushels the acre, and that the product from the 

 carrots would be more than twenty tons. You 

 may expect to hear frotn me again on the subject 

 of stvamp mud, via., the report of the committee 

 on crops, and I make this communication now, 

 that farmers may take advantage of the dry wea- 

 ther, and cart into their yards a liberal quantity 

 of the gold dust, provided they believe this state- 

 ment entitled to credit. You see I have written 

 sivamp mud in capitals or italics, and mean to do 

 so, until satisfied my eyes deceive me in nmotmt 

 of crops raiseil from it. It may be proper to state 

 that other |ilants grown with the compo.st, look 

 equally promising with those named ; and hut for 

 the insects in the spring, the crops woulil all ha\« 

 been bountiful. J. B. 



M. Hope, Sept. 30, 1837. [Bangor Far. 



Specimen of the " Dow.v East Women." — 

 At the late fair at Boston, was presented a very 

 large carpet, manufactured from odds and ends, 

 bits of old cloths, flannels and stockings, in short 

 from every thing in the shape of woolen rags, 

 from a ravelled thread up to a bed blanket, the 

 work of Mrs Abigail Welsh, of Newhuryport. — 

 At the distance of five feet, which is near enough 

 for well sized people to look, it has the appear- 

 ance of a rich Turkey carpet, of a handsome i)at- 

 tern, and it will Inst for years a beautiful carpet. 

 The valae of this kind of work may be perceived 

 by the following estimate of cost, which we find 

 in the Transcript: 

 Cost of tow cloth for foundation, * $2,67 



Dying the rags and old stockings, 2,00 



Thrums placed at Lowell for border, 2,00 



$6,67 

 The carpet was iwa'de during odd hours, after 

 the labor of the fanwly was performed, in four 

 months, and forthe trifling sum above stated, with 

 the toil saved from hours of idleness, an elegant 

 and almost everlasting carpet produced.-^A'an- 

 tucket Inq. 



Some sheep of the Bakewell breed, raised by 

 Mr Daniel Adcock, of Gilbertsville, Otsego coun- 

 ty, New York, were weighed on the 17th Se|> 

 tember, 1837, at his barn. Their weight was as 

 follows : a three year olil wether, 2:^9 pounds ; — . 

 do. ewe 125 pounds ; two year old buck, 234 

 pounds. The average weight of the fleece was 8 

 pounds. 



A person who cannot relish absurdity and wit, 

 and must, moreover, have a satisfactory reason for 

 whatever is said or done, is a philosophipal block" 

 head, 



