208 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER, 



APRIL 2. 1P34. 



effected under the encouragements presented in 

 the act which we now desire renewed. Are we 

 asked what has heen done to justify the continu- 

 ance of the bounty heretofore given, what im- 

 provements have been made ? We first respond 

 in the yaukee style, and inquire where improve- 

 ment has not been made? Has not the face of 

 the whole country been changed within the fifteen 

 years that bounties have been offered for agricul- 

 tural excellence ? I know there are yet some men 

 who can sneer at the idea of connecting science 

 with an ordinary business of life. I5ut even these 

 men, against their professed principles, are often 

 seen following in the track of theorists, and adopt- 

 ing methods suggested by them. 



Like other wise measures of government, this 

 encouragement has reached and influenced every 

 man in the community who cultivates a held. 

 This will be doubted by no man, who wiU'com- 

 pare the manner in Which his labor is now per- 

 formed, and the amount of crops, with what he did 

 anil what he received twenty years ago. Your 

 encouragements have called into action the inven- 

 tive genius of mechanists ; the implements of far- 

 mers have assumed a new and highly improved 

 character, they begin to look like the new invent- 

 ed instruments of the surgeon for the extraction 

 of teeth, they begin to invite work. 



To the fostering hand of Government which 

 has been extended to Fanners, we justly ascribe 

 the conti nice for nearly twelve years of a pe- 

 riodical paper, devoted to the instruction and wel- 

 fare of this class of men. For before men were 

 awakened to the importance of this occupation, its 

 importance in the estimation of the Legislature, 

 every attempt to establish a journal for the benefit 

 of tlie farmer bad proved an entire failure. Now 

 he has before him eleven volumes of the New 

 England Fanner, forming a valuable text book, 

 and no man iii any profession should be without Ins 

 text bonk. Reading only a single hour in a week 

 every farmer can receive light anil guidance in his 

 path". We may begin to hope, and do hope, it will 

 soon become as ridiculous for farmers to neglect 

 their books as it was once considered for them to 

 read. 



It has already been suggested that the soil of 

 the enmity, from which 1 came, is not the most 

 favorable for agricultural pursuits. The expense 

 of cultivation there is thought by some to exceed 



t l 1K an it to be derived from it. This was a 



prevalent opinion before the introduction of mod- 

 ern improvements. The operations of an agricul- 

 tural Society have proved that labor and skill can 

 make ev«tl despised soils productive. I suppose 

 ten bushels of rye to the acre, twenty of Indian 

 corn, one ton of English hay, ami two hundred 

 busln-ls of potatoes were formerly considered as 

 average crops. Since premiums have been offer- 

 ed, we hue claims I'm- from forty to fifty bushels 

 of rye, from one hundred and fifteen to an hun- 

 dred and twenty-tw f Indian corn, from three 



to four tons of English hay, and from four to five 

 hundred and fifty bushels of potatoes. Our im- 

 provements have not been em, fined to single acre s, 

 in several instances the products of entire farms 



have hern 'c than quadrupled. There has 



been reclai (I from a useless stale, land covered 



with briers and hushes, about one hundred acres, 

 for which improvements premiums have been 

 given, besides many operations on a smaller scale, 

 for which no claims were made. This single 

 branch of improvement is worthy of some atten- 



tion. The conversion of one or two hundred 

 acres from a state in which it was worth little 

 more than five dollars the acre, to a state in which 

 it is worth seventy-five, makes some difference in 

 the wealth of-a county. It would, sir, make some 

 difference in your Treasury, should you ever again 

 have occasion to draw a tax from us. • 



The attention of the Society has not been ex- 

 clusively confined to improvements directly affect- 

 ing the present generation ; lint they have labored 

 to provide for the convenience and comfort of 

 those who will hereafter occupy their places. En- 

 couragements have been held out and considerable 

 has heen done in the work of sowing forest seeds, 

 and thus preparing extensive barren lots to pro- 

 duce a future supply of wood and timber. 



Iu compliance with the law of 1829, we have 

 encouraged the raising of mulberry trees, and 

 some progress has been made in that work. Pre- 

 miums have been paid for between seven and 

 eight thousand trees, and probably as many more 

 are in preparation to form subjects of future claims. 

 Something has been accomplished in the work of 

 raising silk ; at the last annual meeting one person 

 exhibited more than three pounds of well wrought 

 sewing silk, and several persons smaller quantities. 

 The little, but useful manufactures of the family, 

 have heen noticed and recorded to an extent that 

 has revived female industry, which had lung been 

 languishing under the shadow of large manufac- 

 turing establisl ints. 



Speaking of improvements that have been ef- 

 fected in the county of Plymouth, I am aware, 

 they must be regarded as inconsiderable in com- 

 parison with those of more favored sections of the 

 Commonwealth. You will not, sir, this house 



cultivating the earth, if they regard il as the hast 

 honorable employment, I would remind them that 

 what is said of the natural body may also be true 

 in the community; the most feeble members are 

 necessary and the less honorable claim special to- 

 kens of care and kindness. 



MASS . HORTICULTURA L SOCIETY. 



EXHIBITION OP FLOWERS. 



Horticultural Hall, March 29, 1833. 



Thomas Mason, Charlestown Vineyard, Rhodo- 

 dendron hybridnm, Celsia crelica, Pceony, Verbe- 

 na stocks of kinds, Geraniums, and other fine 

 specimens. 



S. Walker, Roxbury, Viola grandiflora, Carter's 

 Prince of Orange. Jona. Winship. 



The following letter was presented and read by 

 Gen. H. A. S. Dearborn, President of the Society, 

 who observed that it had miscarried and had re- 

 cently come to baud, which prevented its having 

 been sooner communicated. 



Cincinnati, Nov. 30th, 1833. 



Dear Sir, The favor of the 31st ult. was duly 

 received. I was gratified by the favorable opinion 

 you expressed, of the wine I sent you, for your 

 Horticultural fair ; the more so, as I was appre- 

 hensive of the wine sustaining injury, from trans- 

 portation in the heat of summer, no spirit having 

 been added to it, which I believe is the case with 

 till the Rhenish wines sent to this country. Even 

 the Boker Cabinet wines, 1 am confident have over 



The r« 



five per cent, of spirit added. The reason sb 

 many of our manufacturers of wine from the grape 



will not he restrained in their views of the exteut, have tailed, is this: Instead of making an Amen- 

 . . , ., • . , ;..„ =,,,-!, nn one as the must will under a 



of improvements in agriculture and the propriety 

 of continuing encouragements by what has been 

 accomplished in a county where a large portion ol 

 the inhabitants are continually diverted from agri- 

 cultural pursuits. You witness far better results of 

 scientific exertion and more astonishing products 

 id" the earth than any of which 1 have spoken. 

 But, sir, you do not, yon cannot believe this art in 

 a state of perfection. Would you now withdraw 

 your assisting hand and abandon a work when tin 

 glory of it has not yet risen half the distance Jo- 

 wards its meridian height ? Would it not be with- 

 holding more than is meet, tending to poverty r 

 I am persuaded you would so judge, persuaded 

 the. enlightened minds' of this house cannot be 

 carried away by the vague notion that every sorl 

 of business will find its proper level. The gentle- 

 men have heard of the effects, the saving effects 

 in other countries of bounties from government to 

 encourage the prime art of human life. They see 

 in ibis country the Slate of New York travelling 

 before every other Slate in the Union, in its agri- 

 cultural products. And why? Is it because its 

 territory is extensive and yet comparatively new? 

 Is there not another reason for the result; have 

 not the ten thousand dollars, which the Legisla- 

 ture so early distributed there for the encourage- 

 ment of agriculture, had much influence? 



Are gentlemen afraid of holding out any special 

 encouragements; can they point to any country 

 where those extended lo agriculture have occa- 

 sioned any harm; have they not on the contrary 

 proved blessings to the whole people ? 



Jf there be gentlemen satisfied with the more 

 ample rewards of their chosen occupations, who 

 feel disposed to overlook the humble business of 



can wine, sucli an one as. the must will under a 

 skilful management during the process of fermen- 

 tation produce, they medicate their wines, and at- 

 tempt an imitation of foreign wines, in repute 



ong us. On my suggesting to Major Adlum this 



objection to his wine, he readily admitted it, but 

 told me he was compelled to pursue that course, 

 to insure a sale for his wine. As selling is a secon- 

 dary consideration with me, it will not influence 

 my course. The wine sent you was the nalural 

 product of the must, without racking, fining, or 

 any of the processes of sulphuring, &c. to prevent 

 injury by a renewal of the fermentation. 



From another native grape, a year since, I made 

 a wine, greatly resembling Madeira, ami with age 

 and the, addition of brandy, would not readily be 

 told from it. This fall, I fermented the same 

 grape on the skin, and the product resembles the 

 Triete Madeira. Of this I will send you a sample 

 next summer, though I by no means consider it a 

 fair sample of what the grape will produce, having 

 had so few of the grapes both seasons, as to make 

 one gallon of wine only, and all vintners know the 

 difficulty of making good wine on so small a scale. 

 The grape is a fine hearer, and superior as a table 

 grape, to any native grape with which I am ac- 

 quainted. My wine this season, from the same 

 grape with that I sent you, should exceed it in qual- 

 ity, as the grapes were better matured. It is; I 

 think, a mistaken impression that our grapes are 

 -really deficient in tl e saccharine principle. In _ 

 France, sugar is frequently used, and in France 

 and Madeira a system is pursued equivalent to it. 

 The grapes are' allowed to hang till too ripe for 

 eating'. The old rule in Madeira was, not to 

 gather the grapes, till you could gather a bunch of 



