96 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



Fee. 



into tlio grave by newspaper advertisements, and 

 unlindable certifiers. — Dr. Hall. 



TRANSACTIONS OF THE NEW YORK 

 AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



Tliroiigh the jjulite attention of the Secretary, 

 B. P. JouNsox, Esq., we have before us theTran 

 sactions of this Society, for the year 1853. It is 

 enlarged and printed in a style deserving much 

 praise. In its paper, typographical execution, 

 illustrations and binding, it surpasses its prede- 

 cessors, showing that the arts connected with 

 book-making are improving, pari passu, with the 

 science and art of agriculture. Massachusetts 

 must look well to her laurels in these respects. 



This fine volume of 780 pages is filled with va- 

 ried and valuable information, showing not only 

 the actual state of agriculture at the present 

 time, and the advance that has been made on the 

 past, but also a steady purpose to incorporate in- 

 to the mass of knowledge available to the culti- 

 vators of the State, the discoveries in science and 

 art, that are made in other countries and cli- 

 mates. 



The first thing we notice is a copious and well- 

 arranged index, adding much to the value of the 

 volume. 



We next, have Mr. Secretary Johnson's report 

 to the legislature, showing briefly what has been 

 accompIislie<i, and making important suggestions 

 for the future. 



We then have the address qf William C 

 Rives, of Virginia, delivered at Saratoga in 1853 

 This address contains some broad national views 

 of the paramount influence of agriculture to this 

 country. Then follows a highly valuable lecture 

 upon Jlax, delivered at the same place, by John 

 Wilson, of Edinburgh. This is a suliject of great 

 importance to this country, especially when con- 

 sidered in connection with the improved methods 

 of preparing the fibre for the use of the manufac- 

 turer. The statistics of the flax industry which 

 Mr. Wilson presents are of a startling character 

 to one wholly unacquainted with the subject. 

 Great Britain is jjaying annually twenty-five 

 millions of dollars for the flax and hemp which 

 she manufactures, and seven and a half millions 

 for flaxseed, and two-and-a-half millions fur lin- 

 seed cake, and requires 600,000 acres to produce 

 the supply which she needs, while her demand is 

 annually increasing. One million, sixty-eight 

 thousand, nix hundred and ninety-three spindles 

 are employt-d in the United Kingdom in spinning 

 linen, and six hundred and forty thousand in 

 other countries. 



In 1850, Great Britain manufactui-ed 110,- 

 000,000 yards of linen. In 1852 she exported 

 linen goods to the amount of about $26,784,355, 

 fifteen millions of which came to the United 



States. These statistics are of the most sugges- 

 tive character. Why should not the United 

 States at least supply the raw material suflicient 

 to furnish the quantity in a manufactured state 

 which she demands for her own consumption] 



The committee upon flax and its culture state 

 that there is in the State about 8,000 acres under 

 flax culture, yielding about $15 profit per acre, 

 over the expense of cultivation. 



Mr. Wilson's lecture is followed by a con- 

 densed description of the characteristic and dis- 

 tinctive points of several of the breeds of import- 

 ed stock. The next subject of importance is the 

 report on farm implements. We have not space 

 for the remarks we should be glad to make on 

 this subject. Yankee inventors must look to 

 their laurels in this matter, or the New Yorkers 

 will bear away the crown. The next report is 

 upon cooking-stoves and furnaces, showing the 

 wide range of observation taken by the Society. 



Then we have descriptions oi thirty-five new va- 

 rieties of Pears, l)y a nursery firm at Rochester. 

 We cannot but admire the perseverance of nurs- 

 sery-mon in producing new varieties of this deli- 

 cious fruit. We have sometimes admired their in- 

 genuity also, in pointing out distinctions where 

 but the shade of a shadow of diSerence existed. 

 We should be glad to know how many and which 

 among the varieties of pears already produced, 

 are really valuable and worth cultivation. Pro- 

 fessor Wilson appears before us again in the next 

 article, and gives us an account of the sugar-beet, 

 and various statistics from Continental Europe 

 relating to the subject. 



The salt manufacture is one of great importance 

 in the State of New York. The production has 

 increased in little more than fifty years from 

 25,000 bushels, to about five-and-a-half millions 

 This business the Agricultural Society has taken 

 under its fostering care. 



The next article of general interest relates to 

 a species of weevil, the Ithycerus Noveboracensis, 

 an insect that has committed extensive ravages 

 upon fruit and forest trees in various parts of the 

 Northern States, from Dr. Fitch, of Salem, N. 

 Y., and Dr. Harris, of Cambridge, Massachu- 

 setts, with some remarks upon the Palmer worm, 

 by Dr. Harris. 



Then comes the account of the annual meeting 

 qf the State Agricultural Society, with the re- 

 ports of the several committees. IMany of these 

 reports are upon subjects of the highest impor- 

 tance to the fiirmer. Several of them were pre- 

 pared with great care and lal)or, and contain 

 facts and suggestions of much interest. An arti- 

 cle upon the origin, culture and uses of Indian 

 corn, will amply repay the careful attention, not 

 only of the cultivator, but of every housewife in 

 the country. 



