806 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



Nov 



its glory on its own field, and firemen on theirs. 

 It would be no more ridiculous for us to escort 

 the military to a sham fight with hoes, scythes, 

 pitchforks, mowing machines and potato-dig- 

 gers, than for them to escort Pomona and Ceres 

 to their festival halls with cocked hats and guns ! 

 We can only keep these exhibitions pure and 

 useful by rejecting all meretricious display, and 

 by confining them to the specific objects for 

 which they were established. 



THE CONNECTICUT RIVER VALLT FAIR 



was held at Charlestown, on the 21st, 22d and 

 23d, and, we understand, was a decided success. 

 Henry Hubbard, Esq., President. Hon. Caleb 

 Gushing was expected to deliver the Address, 

 but was prevented in consequence of sickness. 

 We have a spirited account of this Exhibition by 

 a lady who was present, which we shall give next 

 week. 



THE aiAINE state FAIR 



commenced on the 21st, and was continued three 

 days, at Augusta; the papers give glowing ac- 

 counts of its inception and progress. Hon. 

 •Jefferson Davis, of Mississippi, gave the Ad- 

 dress, which is also spoken of in high terms 

 the portions of it which we have seen we like, 

 Some practices were introduced into the exhi- 

 bition which will prove the entering wedges of 

 its destruction if they are continued. We de 

 precate that course of management which seems 

 to imply a doubt of success, unless other matters 

 are introduced which are entirely foreign to the 

 objects of the association. If we need riding 

 schools, or any other useful accomplishment, let 

 us have them in their own proper time and 

 places, and let them stand or fall on their own 

 merits, and not divert the attention of gathered 

 multitudes from the legitimate object of an ex- 

 hibition. It is a distrust of the power of those 

 associations which may have a disastrous result, 

 — it has already proved so in several instances. 



BUTTEB MAKING. 



"Can we make more Butter by churning all the Milk than the 

 Cream only?" 



Most assuredly we can. Almost every one who 

 has had experience in butter-making in hot 

 weather knows that before the cream all rises the 

 milk will be loppered, and sometimes it is found 

 mouldy. How, in this case, are we to get all the 

 butter that is in the milk, unless we churn milk 

 cream and all ? One of my neighbors churns his 

 milk and cream all together, and after the but 

 termilk has stood awhile he churns it over again, 

 and finds enough butter in the buttermilk to sup- 

 ply his family with what they want to eat. If 

 you could compel the cream to rise all up before 

 the milk is loppered, you could then get nearly 

 all the cream of the milk, so as to have the whole 

 of the butter by churning the cream only. — A 

 L. Smith, in Genesee Farmer. 



For the New England Farmer, 



LETTER FROM THE SANDWICH 

 ISLANDS. 



Honolulu, July 12, 1858. 



Joel Nourse, Esq. -. — Dear Sir, — I find in the 

 May number of your very valuable journal, some 

 quotations from letters to my brother, which were 

 not designed for publication, and were not written 

 in a manner to give a correct idea of gardening 

 or farming in this tropical land ; a little explana- 

 tion, then, may not be unacceptable. 



First, in regard to the Chinese sugar cane 

 seed ; it came to hand in as fine condition as 

 could be wished, and was very perfect seed. I 

 planted all the ground I had to spare, about one- 

 twentieth of an acre, on the 21st of May, 1857. 

 It grew finely, and reached a height of 11 feet, 

 on an average, and produced a heavy crop of 

 seed. Before the seed was fully grown, I cut a 

 part of the crop for my cow and horse, and 

 weighed it for experiment ; the yield was at the 

 rate of 11^ tons to the acre, of green fodder ; the 

 second crop was larger, and the third crop was 

 double the first. I cut six crops of fodder dur- 

 ing the year, from the same planting, and seven 

 crops on a part of the ground. I supposed I 

 should have to dig it up on account of the ex- 

 haustion of the soil, but having manured the 

 ground between the rows (it is planted in drills 

 3 feet apart), it still produces a good crop. I am 

 now cutting the eighth crop, 15 months from 

 planting. I have planted more since, as I think 

 it the very best crop for green fodder that I ever 

 saw. 



In regard to the sugar cane of the Islands, it 

 must not be supposed that "three tons of sugar 

 to the acre" is an average crop, although that 

 has been produced on some very rich spots. One 

 and a half tons is a good average here, and two 

 tons to the acre for a field is considered a re- 

 markably fine crop. 1 wish I could send you a 

 little of our A. 1, Island sugar ; it is the finest I 

 ever saw. It is of the lightest straw color, and 

 every minute particle is a beautiful crystal. This 

 sugar, when shipped to San Francisco this sea- 

 son, netted the owners 10:| cents per pound. 

 Several new plantations have been commenced 

 this year. A careful calculation made by two of 

 our practical planters, based upon the experience 

 of several years past, gives a net profit of about 

 33 per cent, on a capital of $40,000 to $50,000 in- 

 vested in a well managed sugar plantation on 

 these Islands. There are many good locations 

 for plantations, but capital is wanting to develope 

 the wealth of the soil. 



My sweet potatoes, alluded to in your extracts, 

 gave me over 40 barrels for a second crop, dur- 

 ing the year, making 100 barrels, or 300 barrels 

 to an acre for one year — about one-third of the 

 vines remain for a third crop from the same plant- 

 ing, and are doing well. I have three varieties 

 of the sweet potato, in separate patches, on a new 

 piece of ground, which attract much attention on 

 account of their luxuriant growth, and from ex- 

 amination of some hills, I anticipate a splendid 

 crop, 



1 have two kinds of millet, now ripe, yielding 

 very heavy crops — the Chinese and the Egyptian, 

 so called here — the former a round, white seed, 

 and the latter the shape of maize, and deep yel- 



