1869. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



139 



South Hadley Falls, Mass., the sister heifers 

 Tarico bbth and bOitli, by Marmion, 18-43, out 

 of Yarico 19th, and Romance by Autocrat 2d, 

 5335, out of Yarico 55th; also of Henry M. 

 Arms, Springfield, Vt., the bull calf Richelieu, 

 by 4th Lord Oxford, out of Victoria. 



Mr. J. O. Sheldon, Geneva, N. Y., has 

 sold the Short-Jiorn bull oth Duke of Geneva, 

 to Mr. Edwin G. Bedford, Houston, Ky., for 

 $3000, and ten animals to Col. W. S. King, 

 Minneapolis, Ind. 



Mr. John D. Wing, Duchess County, has 

 sold to H. S. Parke, Bay Side, the Jersey 

 heifers Fleda and Frolic and bull calf Saratoga, 

 Jr. ; and to Geo. I. Seney, New York, the 

 cows Kathleen and Hattie. 



Berkshire County, Mass. — The Agricul- 

 tural Society of this county was incorporated 

 in 1811, and is still one of the best managed 

 in New England. It pays all premiums offered, 

 and has between two and three thousand dol- 

 lars in cash in the locker. At the annual 

 meeting at PIttsfield officers were elected for 

 1869, as follows :— 



President — Richard Goodman of Lenox. 

 Vice P residents— George, T. Plunkett of Hinsdale, 

 J. H. Crooke of Pittstield. 

 Secretary— 3. 'E. Merrill of PIttsfield. 

 Treasurer — H. M. Peirson. 

 Auditor— VhindSiS Allen. 



We alluded recently to the vote of the So- 

 ciety abolishing all premiums on horse-racing 

 under the name of trials of speed, and also to 

 its action for the protection of farmers against 

 imposition in the purchase of commercial 

 manures. 



Windsor County, Vt. — We learn by the 

 Vermont Standard that at an unusually large 

 meeting of the members of the Agricultural So- 

 ciety of this county, Jan. 19, the following offi- 

 cers were elected for 1869 : — 



President — Henry SafFord, of Springfield. 

 Vice Presidents— I. T. Tucker of iioyalton, Justin 

 F. McKenzie of Quecliee. 



Treasurer — Lorenzo Richmond of Woodstock. 

 Secretary — Lorenzo Kent of Woodstock. 



The Potato Mania. — The New York Sun 

 says "we have had tulip mania, morus multi- 

 caulis mania, but who ever heard of a potato 

 mania ?" We supposed that everybody except 

 very young folks remembered the Rohan pota- 

 to mania, to which the present disease is very 

 similar. It says, "Last Spring the Early Rose 

 Potato sold readily in New York at $3 per 

 pound or $120 per bushel ; but this is nothing 



in comparison to the price at which a new com- 

 petitor for potato fame is now Vjeing sold to 

 some of our speculators in this esculent. 

 Here are the prices of a few bona fide sales 

 in the past week, and we assure our readsrs 

 that there was no discount for cash or cow in 

 this transaction ; sixteen potatoes brought 

 $825 ; twelve potatoes brought $615 ; onepo- 

 tato brought $50 ; one was traded for a good 

 cow valued at $60. 



MISTAKES OF SHEEP FARMERS. 



A large class of sheep farmers have made 

 two or three mistakes, and now threaten to 

 make another. Thej had not firmness enough 

 to go through a pinching time in the wool 

 business without becoming discouraged, and 

 to a greater or lesser degi'ee sacrificing their 

 flocks. Sheep that would have before long 

 been in good demand, and brought a remu- 

 nerating price to those disposed to sell, have 

 been recklessly crowded off at less than the 

 value of a single fleece, to be killed for their 

 pelts with less than half a year's growth of 

 wool on them. Secondly, many that have re- 

 tained flocks have abandoned improvements on 

 them ; bred them, the past fall, to rams of in- 

 ferior quality, or made the most irrational 

 crosses. Third, not a few farmers, we are 

 told. In certain portions of the country, are 

 preparing to make another egregious mistake 

 — namely, to give their sheep an excessively 

 poor wintering, feeding them very scantily and 

 compelling them in a great measure to shift 

 for themselves. 



The folly of this last procedure is fully 

 equal to that of either of the others ; and it 

 is barbarous as well as foolish. If sheep are 

 worth wintering, it Is certainly more profita- 

 ble to give them a full supply of food, and thus 

 preserve their lives and obtain their full amount 

 of wool and lambs next spring, than It is to go 

 to half the same cost for keep and have half 

 or more of the sheep perish in March — lose 

 half the value of the wool and nearly the en- 

 tire drop of lambs. We question the moral 

 right of any man thus purposely and without 

 actual necessity, to subject to slow starvation 

 and long protracted suffering any animal, and 

 especially any domestic animal. And what 

 shall we say of Its humanity ? Whoever has 

 seen a flock perishing in March, from starved 

 wintering, can bear witness to the utter mis- 

 ery of the spectacle. Human beings seem to 

 suffer no more. Does the prayer, "that mer- 

 cy I to others show, that mercy show to me," 

 Include nothing In its scope Jjut men and 

 women ? — Rural New Yorker. 



Sa\t[ng Flower Seeds. — The seeds of 

 such flowers as are liable to be scattered and 

 lost to the i-alser, as the pansy, for instance, 

 may be kept for use by tying a bit of muslin 

 around the seed-bud before it ripens and opens. 



