484 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER 



Oct. 



LETTER FROM MR. BROWN". 



Loicell, Sept. 15, 1858. 



Dear Sir : — I came here this morning to at- 

 tend the annual Exhibition of the North Middle- 

 sex Agricultural Society. It is the elder daugh- 

 ter of the old Middlesex Society, whose meetings 

 are holden at Concord. She has another bounc- 

 ing child in the south part of the county, who 

 calls her admirers around her annually at Fra- 

 mingham. They are both healthy, active, well- 

 bred and useful children, and are a credit to the 

 stock from which they sprang. 



This society has ample and pleasant grounds- 

 enclosed with a substantial fence, near the city, 

 where the stock is exhibited, and the horses are 

 put upon their paces. The plowing match took 

 place near by, and was contested by three double 

 teams, four horse teams and five single teams, — 

 twelve in all. The ground was a sandy loam, 

 with a thin sward, and did not call for [the exer- 

 cise of any special skill to produce good work. 

 A variety of plows were used, and among them 

 an iron plow, manufactured at South Boston, 

 which I had not seen before. It appeared to be 

 symmetrical and handy, and did good work. 

 There was also a new implement on the ground 

 which I should call a plow-liarrow, because the 

 frame is shaped like a harrow, while the teeth 

 are a combination of a double-mould board plow 

 and the common iron tooth of the harrow. A 

 tooth comes to an edge in front, and as it re- 

 cedes, the sides flare out, making a sort of 

 mould-board. I should have been glad to see it 

 in use, and judge of it by its work, but it was 

 not put in operation while I remained upon the 

 ground. The show of cattle, horses, swine, poul- 

 try and sheep was not large, but contained some 

 fine specimens in each department. 



The exhibition of Fruits, Vegetables, and 

 Household work, took place in Huntington Hall, 

 in the city, and was very fine. There was an ex- 

 cellent display of peaches, plums, grapes, among 

 them some fine samples of the Concord, apples, 

 pears, &c. The show of vegetables was large, nu- 

 merous in variety, and they were of the first or- 

 der. There was little machinery, and no farm im- 

 plements but a horse-rake. ^Ir. O. Nichols had 

 his portable cider-mill, and I thought it a good 

 time to have fifty bushels of apples present and 

 the operation of cider-making going on. 



A procession was formed at; this place and 

 marched to French's Hall, where a good dinner 

 awaited the hungry throng, and where they were 

 soon inducted into a new series of ceremonies. 

 The hall was clean, cheerful and attractive, as 

 was the dinner itself, and everybody seemed to 

 be in good nature with himself and all the rest 

 of the world. A brief welcome from the Presi- 

 dent of the Society, Hon. Tappan Wentworth, 



and an appropriate blessing invoked by the Rev. 

 Mr. Sargent, of Lowell, were all the ceremonies 

 that kept nervous hands from the numerous 

 weapons that lay in repose by the sides of long 

 lines of shining plates. The next twenty minutes 

 was a period of apparently great gastronomical 

 enjoyment, and there followed a gradual ces- 

 sation of the sounds conmion on such occasions, 

 and the President announced the Rev. Freder- 

 ick Hinckley, of Lowell, as the orator of the 

 day. He occupied forty or fifty minutes, and 

 was listened to by a most attentive and gratified 

 audience. His subject was — The Farmer and the 

 Man — or Agriculture in its Ministry to Manhood. 



The subdivisions of this branch of his subject 

 were, upon the Ends of Labor ; Means of Liv- 

 ing ; Success in Avocation ; and Development of 

 Manhood. 



The next general division was upon the Ele- 

 ments of Manhood, fostered or involved in the 

 Farmer^s Life, and the topics discussed were, — 

 Physical Vigor ; Mental Activity ; Social Sym- 

 pathy ; Love and Apjyreciation of the Beautiful; 

 Moral Integrity and Religious Faith. All these 

 points were skilfully touched, and enforced in a 

 clear, earnest and persuasive manner, showing 

 that the speaker had given the wants in agricul- 

 tural life considerable thought and investigation. 

 What he uttered fell from his lips as though 

 every thought had just been nestling warmly 

 around his own heart, and thus it fell upon sym- 

 pathetic hearts where it will take root and bear 

 fruit abundantly. It was an address abounding 

 in valuable suggestions on the poetic, or home 

 side of agricultural life. We have precepts with- 

 out end on improvement in turning furrows and 

 making manures ; now we need them on the as- 

 sociations and sympathies of rural life ; on the 

 value of varied and extended knowledge to the 

 farmer, as well as to those engaged in any other 

 avocation. 



As farmers, Ave are indebted to the clergy for 

 the introduction of many valuable fruits and 

 flowers, and examples in practical horticulture 

 and agriculture, and for several of the best 

 works on these subjects. They have education, 

 disposition and opportunity, and when they have 

 discovered or experimented, possess the ability 

 to relate to the world the results of their labors. 



After the address, Wm. G. Lewis, Esq., a del- 

 egate from the State Board of Agriculture, dele- 

 gates from other societies, and several other gen- 

 tlemen addressed the audience. The grave de- 

 signs of the occasion were enlivened by anecdote 

 and pleasant illustration, so that "the table was 

 often in a roar," and no one present seemed to 

 know that there was such a thing as "dull care" 

 in the wide world. 



Reports were then read, premiums awarded, 



