vox,. X\K. NO. isa. 



AND GARDENER'S JOURNAL 



173 



first prp|mrefl was found insufficient, and recour.se 

 was liad for a part to the adjacent land of Mr Hale. 

 The detailed Report of that Comniinee wll be 

 found particularly interesting. The fields were 

 literally surrounded during the liour of the con- 

 test, with an assembly of people of both sexes, 

 and all ages, and on their return to the Villago, the 

 road presented an almost unbroken line of vehi- 

 cles for the whole distance. 



At 11 o'idock, the procession was formed fro:ii 

 Field's Coffee House, inider the direction of the 



and faithful manner in which he has dis diarged 

 the duties of President for the last two years. 



Great credit is due to Col. Weston, chief mar- 

 shal, and the assistant marshals, as well as the 

 sheritr of the county, for the firm, prudent and 

 spirited inann^r in which all their duties were 

 performed. The report of the Various committees 

 on agricidture and manufactures, animals, plough- 

 ing-matches, on ngrlcnltnral implements and ma- 

 chinery, on butter, cheese, and the ladies fair, were 

 all extremely interesting, and evince the maturitv 



Marshals, anti escorted by the fine company of "^ '''" society, and its salutary measuies for many 



the audience. It was 

 bis large experience. 



Watson, one of the 



Berkshire Greys, under the command of Captain 

 West, to the Congregational Meeting-house. 



Tli6 pulpit services were jierfornied by the pres- 

 dent of Williams College. The choir of singers, 

 )eloiigiug to that congregation was led by that ex- 

 lerienced instructer in sacred music, Mr Lucus, 

 ;nd their performance gave entire satisfaction. — 

 rhe church was ciowded, and yet but a part could 

 ind even a place to stand. This is a subject of 

 ■reat regret, but is unavoidable. The annual ad- 

 Iress was delivered by that well known agricul- 

 urist and patron of agricultural improvement, 

 udge Buel, of Albany. It is needless to say that 

 t deserved the profound and unwearied attention 

 lith which it was lieard by 

 nil of the practical fruits of 

 t will soon he [)ublished. 



The venerable Elkannah 

 rincipal fjunders of this society, was then reques 

 ;d by the President, to favor the audijuce with 

 Jme remarks ; and his brief address, spoken from 

 le fulness of his heart, will lie published in con- 

 exion wi:b the reports. 



The reports of the committees were then read, 

 id the premiums, c(msisting almost entirely of 

 ■ts of Silver Spoons, were delivered by the trea- 

 irer and n)arshalls, to the successful competitors 

 I the reading of the reports proceeded. 



The Society dined on the first day at Warriner 

 . Ru.s.sell's Hotel, and on the second at Field's 

 ofl^ee House, and universal satisfaction was ex- 

 •essed at the dinners on both days, which were 

 •epared and served up in a manner which left 

 Hhing to desire. 



At the table after dinner, on the second day, 

 r Henry Colman the Commissioner for the State 

 gricnitural Survey, now in the active perform- 

 cce of bis duties in this county, made a clear 

 id concise statement relative to the objects and 

 anner and progress of the survey, which was 

 fteued to with great interest. It is earnestly 

 ^ped that every proper facility will be aflx^rded 

 jni by the farmers in this county, at this time 

 |d at all times, in the progress of this important 

 prk, from which a very great benefit is confi- 

 jntly expected to the fanning interest. 

 iThe exhibition of domestic mannfactm-es, and 



agricultural products, in the Town Hall, under 

 5 care of Mr Levi Bcebe, and Mr Jabez Colt, 

 racted great and deserved attention. 

 A resolution, presenting the thanks of the soci- 



to the Hon. Jesso l?uel for his address, and 



pectfully requesting a copy for publicatioii,was 

 animously adopted. 



The secretary was directed to express to the 

 Elkannah Watson the gratification of the 



upon 



years — as they occupy four columns m minute 



detail, we forbear the publication at present 



Hampshire Gazette. 



SIZE AND 



OF VEGETA- 



Oibers of the society for his attendance 



s occasion. 



riie thanks of the society were i)rcsented to 



FECUNDITY 

 J5LES. 



We have recorded in the Farmer of this year a 

 great number of extraordinary instances of vege- 

 table proiluctiveness, not so much for the purpose 

 of gratifying an idle curiosity, as to show what 

 nature under favorable circumstances is capable 

 of performing, and to stimidate inquiry as to the 

 manner in which such instances tnay most suc- 

 cessfully and frequently be repeated. If 1000 

 bushels of potatoes have been produced from an 

 acre, and 1500 of the ruta haga, as we have the 

 most unquestionable data to assert has been done, 

 then it is shown that our crops may be doubled, 

 or that there is nothing in the laws of nature to 

 prevent such a result. If three or four hundred 

 weight of pumpkins has been raised from a single 

 vine, it shows that this valuable esculent ujay be 

 greatly imi)roved, and made a profitable article of 

 cultivation, in conjimction perhaps with some 

 other crop, which would not retard or aflfect its 

 growth materially. If two or three thousand 

 grains of oats can be produced from a single seed, 

 as we have recorded in this volume, then it is 

 shown that by a method of cultivation which 

 should plac(! the requisite quantity of seed in the 

 earth at the proper distance, and in soil prepared 

 to yield its abundance, not only might the cro[)s be 

 doubled in most cases, but two-thiids of the seed 

 used in sowing be saved. The greatest crop of 

 corn on record in this state was raised in Madi- 

 son, and exceeded one hundred and sixty bushels 

 to an acre; and there are millions of acres in this 

 state capable of producing as much, if treated in 

 the same manner, and with a favorable season 

 The great aim and end of a farmer's hibors should 

 be, not to cultivate the greatest number of acres 

 but to realize the greatest profit from the snjallest 

 number, and in no way can this be more effectu- 

 ally done than by following out the hints which 

 such extraordinary instances of productiveness af- 

 ford. Notwithstanding the general low tempera- 

 ture of the season, we very much question wheth- 

 er in any former year there has been so great 

 an amount of vegetables generally used for food 

 for man and beast [)roduced as in the present. 

 The horticulturist and gardener have found their 

 labors in most instances j)rofusely rewarded, and 

 their roots and plants have not only been magnifi- 

 cent in size but of excellent quality. We have 

 seen notices of potatoes that weighed nearly three 

 pounds, and numbers have been shown weighing 

 more than two. 



But our object in thus calling the attention of 

 the readers of the Farmer to this subject was in 

 part to lay before them the following extract we 



rmgthe past season, a single grain of potato oatf. 

 on the lands of the Rev. Mr Mills, near Coler.,ine' 

 Ireland, produced thirty-two .stalks, all growing 

 from the same root, and containing in all nearly 

 five thousand grains of corn." If each of these 

 five thousand grains were, in the ensuing season, 

 to be endowed with the same power .d fecundity 

 as their i)arent seed, twenty-live millions of grain's 

 would be produced; and these midiiplying once 

 again, in the same ratio, would yield a iiarvest of 

 oats which would amomit to nearly thirty thou- 

 sand quarters (three hundred and fifty thousand 

 bushels. 1 



But though this be a remarkable instance of 

 fruitfulncss, there are cases on record which af- 

 ford still greater evidence of the prolific properties 

 of the grain-bearing plants. Of these several 

 examples may be found in the volume on "Vege- 

 table substances used for the foo<l of Man." Sir 

 Kenelon Digby asserts that in 166C, there was in 

 the possession of the Jesuit fathers at Paris a 

 plant of barley, which they at that time kept as a 

 great curiosity, and which consisted of two hun- 

 dred and lorty-nine stalks, springing from one 

 root or grain, and in which migiit he counted 

 more than eleven thousand grains of barley. 



In the same volume is .Another well-attesteil 

 instance of the power of increase re.-^idin" in 

 wheat. The result, however, in this case,''was 

 obtained by careful cultivation. As the plant til- 

 lered or sent up stalks, it was divided and subdi- 

 vided, till at length the original root was multi- 

 plied into five hundred plants, each of which pro- 

 duced n)ore than forty ears. 'Jbe wheat when 

 separated from the straw weighed forty-seven 

 poimds and seven eunces, and measured three 

 pecks and three quarters, the estimated number of 

 grains being 576,840. 



The seeds of many kinds of vegetables are so 

 numerous, that if the whole j)ro(iuce of a single 

 plant were put into the earth, and again this sec- 

 ond [iroduce were made to yield a harvest, and so 

 on, in a very few years the surface of the earth 

 would be too limited for the sowing of seed thus 

 abundantly supplied. The plant hyoscynmus or 

 henbane, which of all known plants produces the 

 greatest number of seeds, would for this purpose 

 require no more than four years. According to 

 some experiments the hyoscyamus has more than 

 50,000 seeds ; but assuming the number to be only 

 10,000, the seeds amount at the foirrth crop to 

 10,000,000,000,050,000, and as the quantity of solid 

 land on t,he su -face of the globe is calculated to be 

 about 1,400,350,599,014,400 square feet, it follows 

 that each square foot nnist contain seven plants, 

 an<l therefore the whole earth would be insuffi- 

 cient to contain the produce of a single hyoscyamus 

 at the end of the fourth year. So tlie produce of 

 a single kernel of wheat, cultivated as the one 

 previously noticed, would in a limited succession 

 of years amount to a mass larger than the solid 

 globe we now inhabit..^-Gencsee Farmer. 



nry \V . Bishop, Esq., for the able, attentive I have lately noticed in a foreign magazine. " Du- 



A curious cabbage is described in the Frederick 

 (Md) Citizen. The summit, or head, is composed 

 of four different heads, surrounded upon the 

 outside with large leaves similar to a cabbage of 

 the ordinary growth ; immediately from beneath 

 these leaves are four smaller heads; and the whole 

 stalk below is studded with sprouts, each sprout 

 being a perfect miniature cabbage. From the 

 main stem of each of the outer leaves of these pro- 

 ceeds a shoot of some length, resembling ■ vine. 



