32 



New I^NGLANi) FARMEH. 



4. Premiums might bo offered for the most able 

 essays and the most satisfactory experiments to elu- 

 cidate vexed questions and undeveloped principles 

 in agriculture, — if deemed proper and desirable. 



5. Extensive inquiries might be instituted mto the 

 habits of insects troublesome to cultivation, and the 

 best methods to exterminate them, or prevent their 

 ravages. As the nation " advances in population, and 

 other circumstances of maturity," it becomes more 

 and more an object, pecuniarily, with our cultivators, 

 to raise many sorts of fruits, and tender phuits, com- 

 paratively unimportant at an earlier period. Now, it 

 is a fair estimate, that one half the productions of 

 man, of this description, go to feed the insect world. 

 Indeed, of some kinds, in some seasons, they take the 

 •whole. Their depredations upon the various field 

 crops are oftentimes extensive, also. The subject of 

 entomology is vast and inexhaustible ; it requires 

 such extensive, and yet particularly minute, and 

 often microscopic, investigations, that the efforts of 

 ordinary associations of men can avail but little. But 

 it is believed that a National Board of Agriculture 

 "would have resources, peculiar to itself, that might 

 effect important results. Its inquiries might be very 

 extensive, drawing in contributions from individuals 

 and societies, in every quarter, the sum total of which 

 ■would be highly useful. 



6. The various state and county societies through- 

 out the land, might be in correspondence with the 

 Department, — thus receiving and imparting infor- 

 mation upon these and other subjects. 



In short, in a hundred ways, such an organization 

 might forward the great interests of agriculture. 

 Indeed, we ma)' conclude that no other establishment 

 could parallel this, as a promoter of the interests, not 

 exclusively of either section, but of the whole 

 country. 



The advocates for subh a movement may, by some, 

 be called enthusiasts. They are so ; for the magni- 

 tude and importance of the thing very properly 

 awaken them to enthusiasm. It is right that our own 

 state of Vermont should be a foremost, a zealous pio- 

 neer in this business. Our people are an agricultural 

 people ; and they are awake to those measures which 

 "will foster and promote this commanding interest. 

 Other states will join us in endeavoring to form an 

 organization so desirable ; — and thus the great sen- 

 timent of Washington, that " the power of the nation 

 alone can carry out their high thought," avDI be 

 realized. 



In view of these considerations, your committee 

 recommend the adoption of the accompanying Reso- 

 lutions. 



1. Resolved, That the General Assembly of Ver- 

 mont earnestly recommend the establishment of a 

 Bureau of Agriculture, in the " Department of the 

 Interior" at SVashington, whose province it shall be 

 to superintend and promote the great interest of agri- 

 cultural improvement in the nation. 



2. liesolved, That the governor is requested to 

 transmit a copy of the foregoing Resolution, and of 

 tlic accompanying Report, to the President of the 

 United States, to the Secretary of the Department of 

 the Interior, to the Governor of each state of the 

 Union, and to each of our senators and representa- 

 tives in Congress, to the end that the attention of 

 Congress, and of the several state legislatures, may 

 be properly invited to the propositions embraced 

 therein. 



3. Eesolved, That the senators and representatives 

 of this state, in the Congress of the United States, 

 are hereby requested to use their influence to procure 

 the necessary legislation, by Congress, for the speedy 

 establishment, on a firm and permanent basis, of a 

 Bureau of Agriculture, as suggested in the first fore- 

 going Resolution. 



MANURING. 



It is a beautifully wise and sublimely grand pro- 

 vision of Providence, that the decomposition and 

 decay of all matter, both animal and vegetable, is so 

 closely connected with reproduction, thus forming a 

 continual transmigration of matter, and verifvin°' 

 practically that great truth in philosophy, that not a 

 particle of matter can be lost, although it exists at 

 different times in different forms. This transforma- 

 tion is going on 'constantly before our eyes, in the 

 growth and decay of vegetables, trees, &c. ; as, for 

 instance, the plant that is growing luxuriantly in 

 genial summer, imbibing nutriment from decomposing 

 materials, will itself, in turn, mature, die, decay, de- 

 compose, and its elements contribute to the gi-owth 

 of successive vegetation in its vicinity. 



These truths involve principles no less important 

 or advantageous to the farmer than the moralist and 

 the philosopher, as it comprehends manuring in all its 

 variety ; the only object of manure being to furnish 

 nourishment to the growing plant, and whatever un- 

 dergoes decomposition, whether animal, vegetable, 

 or mineral, does that. Every farmer should be aware 

 of the fact, that carbonic acid gas is actually neces- 

 sary to the health and growth of vegetation, and that 

 whatever furnishes this gas should be applied as 

 manure as far as practicable. With this view of ma- 

 nures, I make it an object, when preparing new 

 ground for cultivation, not to draw off any rotten or 

 decayed wood that can be ploughed in, but rather to 

 draw it on land where there is none, believing it to 

 be as good manure as any other, although its effects 

 may not be seen immediately. Every one who has 

 cultivated a farm, must have observed that grain 



— Indian corn in particular — will grow much 

 larger than usual near an old fence, or a rotten stump, 

 or log, if there are any in the field. Now, it is evi- 

 dent that it is not owing to superior cultivation, that 

 such is the case ; but, on the contrary, land is seldom 

 ploughed as good close to a fence, or around a stump 

 or a log, as other places ; and we are left to the con- 

 clusion that it is the nourishment they impart that 

 produces such effects ; and when we have arrived at 

 such a conclusion, we cannot fail to see how much 

 better it would bo to apply such things as fallen 

 leaves, rotten wood, and all other substances that 

 emit carbonic acid gas during decay, as manure, than 

 to leave them to waste their richness in an unculti- 

 vated place. J. H. G. 



Romulus, N. Y., 1849. 



— Philadelphia Dollar Newspaper. 



PLOUGHING THE PLAIN LANDS OF LONG 

 ISLAND. 



Dr. Peck states, that with the Worcester Eagle D 

 plough, with three yoke of cattle attachetl, he has 

 succeeded in ploughing these lands well, immediately 

 after the wood was cut off, and without the previous 

 operation of grubbing. This he has done at an ex- 

 pense of three dollars per acre, while the old grub- 

 bing process alone would have cost from twelve to 

 sixteen dollars per acre. The trees and bushes cut 

 off previous to ploughing, stood very thick on the 

 land ; and their roots, when he put the plough in, 

 were not only of ordinary size, but green and tough. 

 Many farmers came from his immediate neighborhood 

 to see his ploughing, having little faith in removing 

 scrub oak and pine stumps and roots in this sixmmary 

 way. We have only to add, that the manufacturers 

 of these ploughs are now at work on a model which 

 will be decidedly more efficient than the one used by 

 Dr. Peck. As soon as some are finished, they will 

 be sent to our warehouse, whore we shall be glad to 

 have the Long Island farmers, and any others inter- 

 ested in such matters, call and look at them.. — Amer- 

 ican Agriculturists 



