422 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER, 



JtLY 9, 1S34. 



NEW EXIiLAX'D FARMER. 



BOSTON, WEDNESDAY EVENING, JULY 9, \S3i. 



MASSACHUSETTS AORICIXTURAL SOCIETY. 



At tlie annual meeting of the Massachusetts Society 

 for Promoting Agriculture held 11th June last, tlie fol- 

 lowing gentlemen were elected : 



Hon. Thomas L. Winthrop, President ; 



Hon,. John Welles, let Vice President; 



I ton. Peter C. Brooks, 2d Vice President; 



Hon. Richard Sullivan. Corresponding Secretary; 



John Heard, jr. Esq. Treasurer; 



linn. John C. Gray, Recording Secretary; 



K"iij. Guild, Esq. Assistant do. ; 



Trustees — E. Horsey Derby, Esq., Hon. William Pres- 

 , ott, Hon. Daniel Webster, Israel Thorndike, Esq., Hen- 

 ry Codman, Esq., Josiah Quincy, jr Esq. 



CLOSE OP THE TWELFTH VOLUME. 



The present number closes the third volume of 

 the Dew series, and the twelfth volume since the 

 commencement of the New England Farmer. Tlie 

 termination of each volume presents a stage in our 

 progress, in which we have been accustomed to 

 look about us, and intimate what the view affords 

 relative to the interests of the community of culti- 

 vators as well as to our own situation and pros- 

 pects as regards the work in which we are engaged. 



Many causes, since the establishment of our pa- 

 per in 1322, havfi co-operated to encourage the 

 hearts and strengthen the hands of the numerous 

 and respectable class of mankind engaged in culti- 

 vating the earth. The progress of improvement 

 in other arts has a tendency not only to augment 

 the demand for the productions of agriculture, but 

 to excite, enlighten and reward every efibrt to in- 

 crease the quantity, enhance the quality and facili- 

 tate the means of obtaining those commodities 

 which are indispensable to the existence of a great, 

 active and intelligent population. Canals, rail 

 roads, the multifarious methods and devices* for 

 employing steam, waterfalls, and other agents of 

 super-human strength — laborers, which require no 

 supplies of food or raiment, never suffer from fa- 

 tigue, and never fail if skilfully employed to ac- 

 complish their tasks, have been set to work by me- 

 chanical ingenuity, in the service of agriculture ; 

 and made to reciprocate benefits with the great 

 art, which is the source, support and indispensa- 

 ble requisite of all other arts. Agricultural imple- 

 ments, and the intelligence which renders them 

 most effective have, also, since the period above 

 mentioned been invented and brought into action 

 in numbers and efficacy exceeding the most san- 

 guine anticipations of the friends to improvement. 



Uy the operation of the above mentioned and 

 other agents in the train of causes and effects, con- 

 nected with the progress of cultivation, lands in 

 tillage have, in many instances, been made to dou- 

 ble their products with the same amount of human 

 labor. Improved breeds of animals, new articles 

 and modes of husbandry, have also contributed to 

 make the pursuits of the cultivator less laborious 

 as well as more profitable. When Science speeds 

 the Plough, Wealth and Honour are awarded to 

 the Ploughman. With these considerations to 

 cheer and encourage us, we propose to persevere in 

 our attempts to render our journal still more use- 

 ful and acceptable to the public. We solicit the 

 aid of friendly and patriotic correspondents to en- 

 able us to accomplish those objects above mentioned. 

 We should be thankful to receive for publication, 



descriptions of improved implements, machines, 

 &<\ new and useful plants, improved breeds ol 

 animals, and all other articles useful or ornamental, 

 which promise to give interest to the fanner, and 

 profit to its patrons and perusers. 



Volumes of the >\"ew England Farmer for Agri- 

 cultural Premiums. In the List of Premiums 

 to be awarded by [he Agricultural Society ill Wash- 

 ington, Peim. in October next, we were much 

 gratified to observe that sundry volumes of the 

 New England Farmer are included. The most 

 successful cultivators are to be rewarded by those 

 most appropriate of all donations which not only 

 afford encouragement and compensation for past, 

 but contribute means for future improvement. 

 We hope our New England Agricultural Societies 

 will do likewise, and not suffer lis to send all our 

 good works to the other end of the Union, instead 

 of distributing a part among our good neighbors. 



N. 15. Volumes of the New England Farmer. 

 commencing on the 10th of July, 1S34, will be 

 furnished to Agricultural Societies, to be distrib- 

 uted for premiums in any number. 



While speaking of encouragement afforded us 

 by Agricultural Societies we cannot forbear to 

 tender our thanks to the Rhode Island Society for 

 the Encouragement of Domestic Industry, for their 

 continued and liberal patronage of the New Eng- 

 land Farmer. 



(CP'The Index - to the present Volume will be 

 issued with the next Number if practicable, but if 

 not, with the succeeding one. 



From the Maine Farmer. 

 GARGET. 



It cannot be otherwise than gratifying to the 

 feelings of everyone who is interested in the pros- 

 perity of our State, to view the general excitement 

 which appears to be waking up in relation to the 

 improvement of the breed of stock. But in pro- 

 portion as our improvements progress, it becomes 

 a matter of importance for us to acquire and dis- 

 seminate every item of information within our 

 reach for the prevention and cure of those disor- 

 ders to which our cattle are mostly subject. 



It is well known that the Garget prevails 

 among cows in this State to a very serious degree ; 

 and I believe in general the best cows are the 

 most liable to have it, wdiieh often renders them 

 as to milk, partially or wholly valueless. A friend 

 of mine suggests the propriety and utility of rais- 

 ing Garget, (Phytolacca decandra.) His plan is 

 to box up a small corner of the barn-yard and fill 

 it with rich earth ; in this the berries may be plant- 

 ed or the roots or plants set, so that the cattle may 

 have free access to it through the season, lie 

 says that in the incipient stages of the disorder 

 the cows will instinctively crop the leaves of the 

 plant, and thus become their own physicians. 



His cows have never been troubled with the 

 garget since he has adopted this method, although 

 lie suffered considerably prior to it; and he very 

 justly observes, that in those States where this 

 plant grows in abundance, the garget among cows 

 is unknown. 



The Phytolacca decandra, or garget, is common 

 in almost all countries. In Europe, it is found in 

 Switzerland, Milan, Florence, Portugal, and Pied- 

 mont. I believe it is also a native of Japan. In 

 America it inhabits a very extensive tract of coun- 



try from New Hampshire to .Mexico, and perhaps 

 farther south. It gem rally grows along road- 

 sides, along hedges, ami ill old fields. This is the 

 proper season for selling the plants. The ber- 

 r.e.-. are at first of a green color, then red, and 

 when fully ripe they are black : and the proper 

 season for gathering them is in October, when 

 they become soft and ripe. The root of the plant 

 is to be gathered in November when the stalk is 

 perfectly dead, and a bunch of berries may I e 

 planted in its stead at the same season of the year,. 



Its medicinal quulities.have heell held in high 

 estimation by some, in Fe\crs, Cancers, Serolu- 

 la, Rheumatism, Gout, Dysentery, Eruptions, ,kc. 

 It operates both as an emetic and cathartic, in its 

 dit'.i rent preparations and application. 



If a variety of names applied to a plant is in any 

 way indicative of its usefulness, then surely this 

 must be eminently so; for we find that in differ 

 ent places it is known by one or more of the fol- 

 lowing names : Garget, Cunicum, Cokecum, Ju- 

 lap, Poke, Poke-weed, Pork-weed, Pork-physic, 

 Red weed of Virginia, Virginian Poke, Branching 

 Phytolacca, Skoke Cancer-root, American night- 

 shade, and Red nightshade. But in New Eng- 

 land, 1 believe it is mostly known by the name of 

 Garget. Carolus. 



June 21, 1S3-!. 



ITEMS OP UVTELLIUEXCE. 



The Locust. These noisy visiters have been with us 

 about a month, and the extinction of tlie present genera- 

 tion of them is apparent from the numbers that are found 

 dead, and the feeble tones of the remainder. The pow^r 

 applied to their incisors in penetrating the young branch- 

 es of trees, wherein to deposit their eggs, is almost in- 

 credible. We have twigs of last year's growth, upwards 

 of a quarter of an inch in thickness, penetrated to tlie 

 heart by these insects. — Harrisburg Chronicle. 



Northern Adventure. Among the adventurous excur- 

 sions planned by Englishmen for the present summer is 

 one to visit a mountain between tlie 60th and 07th de- 

 gree of north latitude, not far distant from Tornca, at the 

 extremity of the Gulf of Bothnia, from which point, dur- 

 ing the latter part of the next month the sun may be 

 seen at midnight. The facilities for this undertaking 

 are, however, greater than is generally imagined. By 

 the steamboats from Hull, Stockholm may be reached in 

 eight days, and the river may be ascended in boats to 

 nearly the point desired ; while to those who prefer trav- 

 elling by land, relays o( horses, which are abundant in 

 that country, are to be obtained on moderate terms. The 

 natives go from great distances to visit the spot mention- 

 ed, and to pass Midsummer-eve on the mountain, of 

 which a species of festival is made, (from the varieties 

 of costume and rustic finery,) said to be of a very strik- 

 ing and picturesque effect. 



Cut and Ruhbits. On a journey recently, while stop- 

 ping for a short time at the house of a gentleman in Or- 

 ange, Vermont, we were somewhat interested and amused 

 at seeing a lot of young rabbits nursed by a cat. — The 

 owner of the cat had destroyed two of her kittens, pre- 

 serving only one. — Thenight after she took to tlie woods, 

 returning in tlie morning with two young rabbits, and 

 the next night, repeating her visit, brought home a third, 

 all of which she has adopted, and the kitten and three 

 rabbits are thriving together, under the impartial and af- 

 fectionate attention of Grimalkin.— Portsmouth Jour. 



The present number of members of Temperance Soci- 

 eties in England and Wales in 80,198, showing an in- 

 crease during the last month of 3,021, of whom 783 are 

 the produce of 14 new societies. 



