1858. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



109 



disturbance. If from curiosity, or anxiety, or 

 other cause you disturb the half-formed new flesh, 

 a sore will be the consequence. 



We repeat, for all kinds of burns or scalds, 

 however severe, put on only a thick coat of flour. 

 If a hard crusty mass be formed so as to produce 

 irritation, after a day or two wash off" the surface 

 carefully with blood-warm water, dry partially, 

 and put on more flour, but never disturb the ac- 

 tual surface of the sore until, when entirely 

 healed, the scab falls off" of its own accord. Our 

 word for it, this treatment will best promote the 

 cure of burns. But a shoi't time since a child 

 upset a dish of boiling water into its bosom, pro- 

 ducing a fearful scald upon the M'hole front of 

 its body. The mother chanced to be a reader 

 of the Agriculturist, and noted our remarksxjn 

 this topic some two years ago. She immediately 

 applied flour, and flour only, binding it on with a 

 cloth loosely so as not to produce irritation. — 

 The child was soon soothed, and in a very few 

 •weeks was entirely healed, with scarcely a scar 

 remaining. This is but one of manj' similar in- 

 stances that have come to our knowledge from 

 time to time. — Amer. Agriculturist. 



LETTER FKOM MR. BROWN". 



Washington, Jan. 15, 1858. 



My Dear Sir : — I left Boston at 3 o'clock on 

 Monday in the midst of a drenching rain, and ar- 

 rived in New York at midnight. During much 

 of the way the rain fell in torrents, so that the 

 track in some places was covered with water. 

 There was no snow beyond New York. After 

 leaving Philadelphia, I observed men engaged in 

 farm work, such as removing stones, ditching, 

 &c. The weather is more like that of a day dur- 

 ing the Indian Summer, or one of those soft, 

 balmy days that sometimes come like a good an- 

 gel in the last of March. In tioenty -eight hours 

 from the time of leaving Boston I reached Wash- 

 ington, and during that time enjoyed five hours 

 of quiet sleep at New York. There certainly was 

 a contrast between this and my first visit to the 

 federal city, when about eight days were occupied, 

 and they were days of hard work and fatigue. 

 This difference is merely the result of science, that 

 man-helper, which some persons affect so hearti- 

 ly to condemn. That science, or head-work, I 

 confess, has been abundantly aided bj hand-work, 

 but the latter only follows the former. 



Y'esterday I attended the first session of the 

 annual meeting of the U. S. Agricultural Society. 

 It took place at the Smithsonian Institution, and 

 was attended by gentlemen representing twenty- 

 one States and two ten-itories. President Wild- 

 er pronounced his annual address to the Society, 

 congratulating it on its continued progress and 

 success, and peremptorily declined a re-election. 

 It touched on the important transactions of the 

 Society during the last year, and made a feeling 

 illusion to the removal by death of two promi- 



nent and valued officers. Vice President Thomas 

 J. Rusk, of Texas, and G. W. Parke Custls, of 

 Virginia. He concluded with a brief review of 

 the valuable influences on national and social ad- 

 vancement excited by the Association, and an en- 

 thusiastic exhortation to its members to "carry 

 foi'ward its objects, till from East to West, from 

 North to South, our country, our whole country, 

 shall rejoice in the triumph of perfected husband- 

 ry, in the blessings of universal peace and pros- 

 perity ;" 



"Till plenty, rising from the encouraged plow, 

 Shall fill, enrich, adorn our happy land." 



After the adoption of several resolutions in 

 furtherance of business, Judge French, Vice 

 President of the Society from N. H.,was invited 

 to address the meeting upon agricultural affairs 

 in England, as he had obs ^rved them during his 

 late visit to that country. He promptly honored 

 the call, and spoke eloquently, for nearly an hour, 

 upon the subject of steam ploics ; he stated that 

 he saw abroad three diff'erent steam plows in op- 

 eration, and was of the opinion that in large tracts 

 of land they will become available, by doing a 

 great amount of work in a short time, and thus, 

 in effect, lengthening the season and giving crops 

 a better opportunity to mature. His remarks 

 elicited many inquiries, and seemed to wake a 

 lively interest in the subject. In the plowing he 

 witnessed, the work was well done at the rate of 

 an acre an hour. Mr. Johnson, Secretary of 

 the New York State Agricultural Society, Mr. 

 By^ngton, M. C. from Iowa, and others, engaged 

 in the discussion. 



Dr. Antisel, of this city, then read a paper 

 upon "the necessity of having a more perfect 

 knowledge of the mineral necessities of our crops 

 developed." He brought to the notice of the so- 

 ciety some observations regarding the proper ap- 

 1 plication of chemistry to agriculture, remarking 

 j that the last fifteen or eighteen years had opened 

 to us varying views of the value of chemical 

 science. I cannot now even give you the leading 

 topics of his learned paper, but was glad to find 

 a scientific man condemning the theory that 

 a common five dollar analysis of the soil is of 

 importance to the farmer. That delusion has had 

 its day, I hope never to be revived. I have been 

 informed by one of the ablest chemists of the 

 country, that a thorough analysis of any soil 

 could not be made at a less cost than twenty dol- 

 lars to the chemist himself! What, then, should 

 be the judgment pronounced upon those who 

 have advocated these analyses at one-fourth the 

 cost of a genuine investigation, and thus impose 

 upon a confiding and credulous people ? 



After the reading of this paper. Dr. LoRING, of 

 Salem, Mass., addressed the meeting in feeling 

 and eloquent terms in reference to the loss of its 



