316 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER, 



The 

 rewarded, 



no fiuit tlitit I would sooner cultivate iu a garden 

 than these, except the apijle. These are Iriiits that 

 you can have almost of course, for six weeks in the 

 season, provided you have water; this the straw- 

 berry demands ; it will not bear drought 

 expense of raising these fruits is we 

 compared with that bestowed on other fruits. As 

 to the strawberry, I much prefer the bed to the 

 hills. In England, this plant is very nmch culti- 

 vated in hills, and they sometimes practise the re- 

 finement of suffering only a single plant in a hill, 

 and this plant to stand one year oidy. I now 

 speak of u.v own experience. The fruit is mud 

 larger in the hills, but not so fine ; and I thin„ 

 the reason is, that our sun is too hot ; I am aware 

 that many will deny this. Those iu beds give me 

 ten times as much fruit as the same ground in 

 hills. I have now six beds, two and a half feet 

 wide, twentyfour feet long ; these beds were form- 

 ed thufe : young plants were taken up with a trow- 

 el or spade, generally four or five together, and 

 so put down in the intended bed, about one foot 

 apart each way. This was done partly late last 

 fall and partly last spring. The runners spread 

 in all directions. Those that at first spread out ot 

 the limits of the intended bed were turned in, so 

 that by the first of August, the whole ground was 

 nearly covered ; now the plants cover the ground 

 entirely. There is but one difficulty in getting 

 forward these beds of strawberries, that is, weeds ; 

 and here there is occasion for constant attention. 

 But this is all— a strawberry plat full of weeds is 

 a trial almost beyond human endurance. On the 

 other hand, the strawberry if permitted to run, 

 makes so perfect a mat, that if the gi-ound be at- 

 tended to the first three months, the difiicnlty is 

 over. And how much time is necessary for my 

 six beds? Seventyfive cents would pay all the 

 expense of keeping these beds clean the whole 

 summer ; not a weed is to be seen in them now. 

 Half of the work has been done by a female child 

 not seven years old. 1 do not speak of hoeing the 

 alleys ; that, however, is not female work. There 

 is now no more labor to be performed upon my 

 beds this season, but to cover them whh litter from 

 tbe horse stable. 1 do not cut the vines before 

 covering. 



Having water in my garden, I am as sure ol 

 strawberries enough to Jill my house the next sea- 

 son, (as Cobbett would say of pork at Christmas,) 

 as I am of corn and potatoes ; and I will have 

 these strawberries for half of the iirice that will 

 obtain the same quantity from the field. My crop 

 is certain, the other is not. 



I fear, Mr Editor, that half of what I have 

 written will not be read. I had intended to touch 

 upon some other topics, but I will not, farther than 

 to conclude with a few general observations. 



When people hear a horticulturist talk of fork- 

 ing up grape vines four or five times in the season, 

 they say to themselves, this is monstrously expen- 

 sive, and we cannot aflbrd to have grapes upon 

 such terms. Now, Sir, there is no doubt that to 

 possess a good garden is unquestionable economy, 

 -with or without grapes. Again— look at the la- 

 mentable want of fruit in this country ; neither 

 Bahimore nor Albany are supplied, even with gar- 

 den raspberries or strawberries. I speak of these 

 cities because I know the fact. A man may travel 

 from Boston to Buffalo, and it is a chance if he 

 gets a dish of good fruit at an inn ; whereas the 

 intermediate villages ought all to be supplied with 

 fruits. There is no doubt, that even garden rasp- 



d strawberries nyght be sold in every 

 considerable village. The demand is limited ; so 

 it is for onions and everything else. Abundant 

 fruits would be a new creation of property, greater 

 than v.e are now aware of. To produce them, 

 would give a new occupation to many old and in- 

 firm people, in light labor ; to many children who 

 are now more or less idle in every family, and 

 who might do three fourths of the labor of the 

 ganlen ; to many delicate females, also, whose 

 narrow circumstances are a sore evil. To find 

 proper and profitable occupations for this class is 

 a great difficulty ; certainly I do not recommend 

 hoeing and digging for them, this must be done 

 by men and boys. If gardening was put ujion a 

 proper footing, it would change the face of our 

 villages greatly and give a new impulse to the 

 whole society — nothing more so. Our children in 

 the coimtry ought to be educated foi the garden ; 

 nine out often are wild with pleasure in a garden, 

 they fly from flower to flower like the bees. In 

 our villages, at present, there are too many idle 

 people, there is too much of w hat Cobbett would 

 call " dawdling about." This idle time alone, 



April 18, 1832. 



CATTLE SHOW, 



Exhihition of Manufactures, Ploughh^g Match, and . 

 public sale of Animals and Manvfactures, at 

 Pawluckd, R. I. on Wednesdaij, Oct. 10, 1837. 

 Ofiictrs of Rhode Island Socieiy for Encour- 

 agement of Domtslic Industry, elected September, 

 ISM :— 



James Rhodes, . 

 Samuel Slater, 

 James T). Wolf, 

 Charles Eldridge, 

 WiLLiAji Rhodes, 



President ; 

 1st Vice Pre 

 2d " 

 3d " 

 Treasurer ; 



^idcut ; 



well applied, would give an additional value of 

 twenty per cent to the land, in nine out often of 

 all the villages of the country. How then shall 

 we make fruit common .' There is but one way ; 

 there can be plenty in no article uidess it is bought 

 and sold. The rich may partially supply them- 

 selves, but then there is nothing for the poor or 

 middling classes. The gentlemen of Boston have 

 set the country an example ; their surplus {I speak 

 of many) is sent to market. In a republican coun- 

 try, to be ashamed of buying and selling, is really 

 a silly aristocratic air. To make fruit properly, 

 like other things, is the only means of breaking up 

 garden thieving — this will do it effectually. Let 

 gentlemen consider how nuich good they cau do 

 in rendering fine fruit as common as good veget- 

 ables — this is the merit of making two spears of 

 orass grow where there was one before. 



Mr Editor, in respect to cultivation, I am but a 

 learner and have but a limited ex|)erience ; there- 

 fore, what I have said is with a just deference to 

 the judgment of others. While others are doing 

 so much for society, we horticulturists owe some- 

 thing!* though as members of a great comnumity 

 we are far apart, let there be hut one soul perva- 

 ding our bodies ! Let a man be ever so poor, if 

 he wears our badge, we will take him by the hand, 

 he shall have a free ticket in our republic. As 

 we are enjoying the bounties, let us dispense the 

 blessings of heaven. Such is the order of Provi- 

 dence ; while a man is toiling honestly for himself, 

 he labors also for his neighbor. 



None can do more for the cause of temperance 

 than we can. Our delicious fruits are a natural 

 safeguard against the brutifying j)assion for intox- 

 icating liquors. Our calm pleasures tranquillize 

 the mind and secure it against the desire for ex- 

 traordinary excitements. To children we can 

 give motives to increased industry ; to the other 

 sex, to the poor, the aged, the infirm, appropriate 

 and profitable occupations ; to our country, im- 

 proved tastes, more health, enlarged enjoyments, 

 and a neio source of wealth. 



THEODORE SEDGWICK. 

 West Stockbridge, Dec. 1831. 



Richard Ward Greene, Secretary. 



The Standing Committee of the Rhode Island 

 Society for the Encouragement of Domestic In- 

 dustry, ofl'er the following premiums : — 



FOR STOCK. 



For the best Bidl, to be kept in the State one 

 year after the lair, not to exceed three years of 

 age, $10 ; for the next best, same conditions, 8 ; 

 for the next best, same conditions, 6. 



For the best Bull Calf, $6 ; for the next best, 4 ; 

 for the next best, 3 ; for the next best, 2. 



For the best cows, not less than six in number, 

 which shall have yielded the best quantity of milk 

 in any thirty days previous to the 28th of Septem- 

 ber, a certificate thereof, didy sworn to, will be 

 required, and the cows nmst be exhibited at the 

 fan-, $15 ; for the next best cows, not less than 

 four in number, same conditions, 5. 



For the best two year old Heifer, having had a 

 calf, same conditions, $C ; for the next best, do. 

 do. do. 4. 



For the best heifer yearling, $i ; for the next 

 best, 2. 



For the best pair of working cattle, to have been 

 owned in this State at least three months, not ex- 

 ceeding six years old, $8 ; for the next best, 6 ; 

 for the next best, 4 ; for the next best, 2. 



For the best pair three years old steers, $6 ; for 

 the next best, 4 ; for the next best, 2. 



For the best pair of two year old steers, $5 ; for 

 the next best, 4 ; for the next best, 3. 



For tlie best Boar, to he kept in this State until 

 the 1st of April, 1832, $G ; next best, do. do. do. 

 4 ; next best, do. do. do. 2. 



For the best Pigs, not less than six in number, 

 not less than four nor more than eight months old, 

 to have been raised in this State, $8 ; for the next 

 best, do. G ; for the next best, do. 3. 



For the best Stud Horse, not less than three 

 years old, owned in this State, and having been 

 wholly kept for Mares in this State the season 

 previous, and to be kept for Mares the year suc- 

 ceeding the fair, $20. 



For the best breed Mare (owned in this State) 

 and colt by a horse that may be deemed of the 

 best blood, $8 ; next best, same conditions, 6. 



No slock (roin ilislillerie« or breweries will be entitled 

 to any prennum. No aniaial on wliicb a premium has 

 beretolore been awarded shall be entitled to a second 

 premium, exrept it be for an entirely disliiiet premium, 

 iind for qualities different from those for which tlie form- 

 er premium was awarded. 



The eye of a master will do more work than 

 both his hands. Not to oversee workmen is to 

 leave them your purse o])en. 



FOR GRAIN, VEGETABLE CROPS, AND AGRICULTURAL 

 EXPERIMENTS. 



To the person who shall raise the greatest quan- 

 tity of Indian Corn, on not less than four acres in 

 one piece of ground, and not less than seventy 

 bushels to the acre, $20. 



To the person who shall raise the greatest quan- 

 tity of corn, on not less than one acre of land, and 



