64 



NEW ENGLAND FARIVIER. 



Feb. 



aware of the immense benefits to be derived 

 from the use of bones upon their soils. They 

 have carried tens of thousands of tons from 

 our shores, swept over the broad pampas of 

 South America, and even gleaned the battle 

 field of Waterloo for the bones of every dead 

 man and beast that could be found upon it ! 

 Under a judicious system of preparing and ap- 

 plying bones, their crops — instead of falling 

 off, as they usually have in other countries — 

 have actually increased in a material degree. 

 It has become proverbial there, that "one ton 

 of German bone dust, saves the importation 

 of ten tons of German grain,'''' and that agri- 

 culture is thus rendered, in a considerable 

 degree, practicable without cattle breeding, 

 grazing, &c. Let us not, however, become so 

 attracted by the bones as to forsake any of 

 our good old practices of having a barn full of 

 stock to feed in the winter, and to graze upon 

 our beautiful hills in the summer. 



Many persons have undoubtedly been disap- 

 pointed in the use of bones as a fertilizer, 

 from a want of experience in using them. 

 They ought not to be applied to the crop in a 

 crude condition. Even when converted into 

 what is called sttperphosphate, or when the 

 bones are softened by steam, dried, and ground 

 to a powder, they ought to be mixed with 

 muclr or loam and slightly fermented before 

 being applied to the soil. Add five or six 

 times their bulk of soil or muck, and then 

 turn over the mass and thoroughly mix it some 

 v/eeks before using it. This is especially ne- 

 cessary where it is to be used in the hill, and 

 we have no doubt that wheat, barley and oat 

 crops would receive much more benefit from a 

 given amount of bone applied in this way, 

 than if it were used without such preparation. 



THE OLD MIDDLESEX SOCIETY. 

 The Trustees of this time-honored and in- 

 fluential Society held their annual meeting at 

 the Middlesex Hotel, in Concord, on Friday 

 last. Nearly all the Trustees were present, 

 and manifested a most lively interest in the 

 business before them. The President of the 

 Society, John Cummings, Esq., of Woburn, 

 presided. A vote was passed directing a 

 building committee to proceed at once and 

 erect a substantial building according to a 

 plan adopted last year. It is to be one hun- 

 dred and thirty feet long and seventy feet 



wide. Its form will be unlike any building we 

 have ever seen devoted to such objects ; and 

 we think will admirably subserve the pur- 

 poses for which it is designed. 



Before taking up the various branches of 

 the premium list, several committees were ap- 

 pointed to report what changes it seemed de-^ 

 sirable to make in them. On going through 

 the items, seriatim, animated discussions fre- 

 quently sprung up, and some of them were 

 pretty thoroughly sifted. In most cases, at 

 least on the more important items, the pre- 

 miums were considerably increased, and some 

 of them nearly doubled. 



Some new premiums were added, one of 

 which offers a premium of $20 for the best 

 example in thorough drainage on not less 

 than one acre of ground. Another is a pre- 

 mium of $15, and one of $10, for the best 

 vegetable and fruit garden on any farm of not 

 less than twenty acres. This is an admirable 

 movement. It will tend to the care and cul- 

 tivation of better gardens on the farms, where 

 they have been greatly neglected, and to the 

 introduction of fresh and healthful fruits and 

 vegetables on the tables of the farmer, where 

 a meagre supply only has been enjoyed. The 

 President made some excellent remarks while 

 the motion was pending, clearly showing that 

 the moral influence of this movement would 

 be still more valuable than the physical, and 

 that it would gradually lead to that neatness, 

 order and embellishment about the farm, that 

 would give a new aspect and tone to rural life. 



Many of the Trustees are still short of 

 middle life, and are full of zeal and activity, 

 and possess ample means to aid on the grand 

 work. 



The society now is in its seventy-fifty year, 

 and promises, to-day, to exert an influence in 

 the coming year greater than it has ever ex- 

 erted before. The spirit manifested in this 

 meeting is encouraging, and will work out 

 valuable results. 



— At the annual meeting of the Hampshire^ 

 Franklin and Hampden, Mass., Agricultural So- 

 ciety, Milo J. Smith, Northampton, was elected 

 President; Elnathan Graves, of Williamsburg; 

 Andrew T. Judd, of South Hadley ; Isaac Parsons, 

 of Southampton ; Samuel L. Parsons, of North- 

 ampton, Vice Pi-esidents ; A. Perry Peck, of North- 

 ampton, Secretary ; H. K. Starkweather, of North- 

 ampton, Treasurer; Oscar Edwai'ds, of North- 

 ampton, Auditor. 



