1«69. 



NEW ENGLAND FARRIER. 



81 



their growth, and they will be no longer 

 wanted. 



Cannot something be done in this way to in 

 crease our manurial capital, and enable us to 

 obtain from it a larger return ? 



The compost heap is the farmer's bank, and 

 it is every year becoming more important that 

 we should make our investments in the most 

 productive stock. 



A compost heap, well fermented and worked 

 over until it is fine and of uniform consistence, 

 is a basis to which we may apply the results of 

 science and observation. Shall we not, then, 

 make experiments in this direction and ob- 

 serve carefully the results ? We are too apt 

 to drive in the beaten path and confine our- 

 selves to the ruts in which we are accustomed 

 to travel. If we would break out of the old 

 path, and make experiments with freedom and 

 boldnes?, we might sometimes achieve results 

 that would surprise us, and learn how to use 

 to the best advantage our scanty capital. 



He is not the most successful merchant or 

 manufacturer who commands the largest capi- 

 tal, but he who uses to the best advantage the 

 capital he does command. 



HAMPDEl>r COUNTY", MASS. 

 The annual meeting of the Hampden Coun- 

 ty Agricultural Society, was held in Springfield, 

 December 16. The matter of the debt of the 

 Society was referred to the directors. The 

 following is the result of the election of offi- 

 cers : — 



President — George Dwight of Springfield. 



Secretary — J. N. Bagg, West Springfield. 



Treasurer — James E. Russell, Springfield. 



Vice Presidents — T. W. Wasson of Springfield ; 

 N. T. Smith of West Springfield ; V. N. Taylor of 

 Chicopee; George Taylor of Westfield; Sardis 

 Gillett of Soutliwick ; L. H. Ball of Holyoke ; Wil- 

 liam Lyman of Wiroraham; C. S. Newell of Long- 

 meadow; Frank Morgan of Palmer; Gilbert li. 

 Fuller of Ludlow ; S. L. Reynohl of Monson ; 

 Enos W. Boise of Blandford ; J. W. Holcomb of 

 Chester; J. W. Gibbs of Russell; R. H. Barlow 

 of Granville ; Wilber Wilson of Agawara ; Alurcd 

 Homer of Brimfield ; and F."T. Moors of Tolland. 



Directors — L. J. Powers, Tim Henry, H. Alexan- 

 der, J. H. Demmond, and William Pynchon of 

 Springfield; R. Brooks of West Springfield; C. L. 

 Buell of Ludlow ; William R. Sessions of South 

 WilbraDam, and Phineas Stedman of Chicopee. 



— Mr. R. Murray, who raised potatoes the past 

 season at the rate of 350 bushels to the acre, and 

 onions at the rate of 622 bushels to the acre, stated 

 at a late meeting of the Waltham, (Mass.,) Far- 

 mers' Club, that he had found air-slacked lime to 

 be a sure cure for the onion maggot. 



AGRICULTUHAL HONOHS. 



A committee appointed by the State Agri- 

 cultural Society of Virginia, to ofiTer in behalf 

 of the Society honorary testimonials to each 

 individual of Virginia who, previous to 1853, 

 had discovered, or introduced, or brought into 

 use, any principle, process or facility, or gen- 

 erally any invention or improvement by which 

 important value had been gained for the agri- 

 cultural interests of Virginia, have published 

 their report. From a synopsis of this report 

 by the editor of the American Farmer, we 

 copy the following : — 



General Washington in addition to his writings 

 and the exemplification of all the maxims of good 

 husbandry on his farms, most materially advanced 

 the agricultural interests of the State as "the fa- 

 ther of the system of internal improvement in Vir- 

 ginia." 



The services of Chief Justice Marshall as the 

 first president of the first agricultural society of 

 Virginia are properly recognized. 



President Madison, while a member of Congress, 

 sent from Philadelphia to his farm, in Orange 

 county, a small parcel of timothy seed. 



Mr. Abraham B. Venable, while a Senator in 

 Congress, likewise sent from Philadelphia to his 

 farm, in Prince Edward, a small parcel of red top 

 or herds grass. 



To Mr. Pv,yland Rhodes, of Albermarle, is given 

 the credit of the first hill-side plough. 



To Commodore Thomas Ap. Catesby Jones of 

 Fairfax, the introduction, as early as 1822, of the 

 substratum or subsoil plough. 



To Mr. John Murphy, of Westmoreland, the in- 

 troduction of a threshing machine. 



To Mr. Cyrus H. McCormick, of Rockbridge, 

 the invention of the reaper. 



Mr. John Harness, of Hardy county, was the 

 first to practice the cutting down of Indian corn 

 with its stalk entire, to be shocked in the field, and 

 thus used as the food of cattle. 



These are but a few of the names of which 

 honorable mention is made in this report. 

 Would it not be well for the Agricultural So- 

 cieties and Boards of other States to appoint 

 a committee to perform a similar duty to the 

 memory of those men who have in various 

 ways contributed to the improvement of the 

 husbandry of their respective localities ? 



We said duty. Is it not policy as well? 

 The Old Dominion has always honored far- 

 mers. The business is respectable there. 

 We talk of its being so in New England. 

 But somehow we fail to convince our sons and 

 daughters of the fact. We try to make home 

 pleasant, by furnishing our families with a va- 

 riety of reading matter. We buy biographies 

 of men who have made their mark in the pro- 

 fessions, in arts, manufactures, commerce, &c., 

 and then wonder that the boys and the girls, 

 too, who read them, are dissatisfied wi'h home 

 life. Men have made their mark in agricul- 



