1855, 



NEW ENGLAND PAKMER. 



275 



meant was used for washing the feet, and that it 

 was imbibed, and had an intoxicating influence. 

 It is well known that marcs' milk, when sour, 

 has a similar effect. Those acquainted with the 

 authorized version of the Bible would infer, on 

 reading the 30th chapter of Proverbs, that butter 

 was prepared by sliaking or beating ; the original, 

 however, signihes pressing or squeezing, evidcntlj 

 meaning milking, and not the making of butter. 

 Herodotus, in his account of the Scythians, makes 

 obscure mention of butter. This is the oldest 

 reference known. 



those agricultural papers which are sent by way of 

 exchange to the ofhce of the Board of Agricul- 

 ture. 



AGHICULTURE OF MASSACHUSITTS 



The volume of Agricultural Transactions of 

 Massachusetts, for 1854, has just been issued, and 

 will compare favorably with those of any pre- 

 ceding years, and with volumes of the same char- 

 acter from any other State. The character of 

 the New York Transactions is diiierent from this, 

 inasmi^h as they contain elaborate and careful 

 surveys of some of the counties, including their 

 early settlement, geography, topography, geologi- 

 cal formations, and natural history, together with 

 whatever there is in them of a curious or re- 

 markable nature. We trust the day is not far 

 distant when Massachusetts will find it for her 

 interest to develop the agricultural resources of 

 this Commonwealth, something after the example 

 given us by our New York friends. She has 

 done nobly, already, we confess, in the numerous 

 works which have been produced from time to 

 time by order of the Legislature, and among 

 which are the Four Reports on Agriculture, by 

 Mr. Colman, Reports on Geology, by Dr. Hitch- 

 cock, on the Ichthyology and Herpetology, by D. 

 H. Storer, on Ornithology, by W. B. 0. Peabody, 

 on the Herbaceous Flowering Plants of Mass., 

 •by C. Dewey, on the Quadrupeds, by E. Emmons, 

 on Insects Injurious to Vegetation, by T. W. Har- 

 ris, on the Invertebrata, comprising the Mollusca, 

 Crustacea, Arnelida,and Radiata, by A. A. Gould, 

 also something upon Zoology and Botany, and the 

 Report on the Trees and Shruljs growing nat- 

 urally in the Forests of Massachusetts, by G. B. 

 Emerson. 



This volume, as well as that of last year on the 

 general agriculture of the State, has been col- 

 lected and compiled with great care and ability 

 by Charles L. Flint, Esq., the Secretary of the 

 Board, and is not only a credit to the State, to 

 the Board, and the Secretary, but will prove of 

 eminent service to the farmers themselves. We 

 hope at some future time to speak more in de- 

 tail, and present some of the contents of the vol- 

 ume. The Secretaries of Farmers' Clubs in 

 any towns in this State, who wish to procure 

 copies of this work for distribution to. members, 

 should address the Secretary of tlie Board of Ag- 

 riculture at the State House. Tliese volumes, as 

 well as the reports of the Secretary, are sent to 



LrjiBERixG. — A correspondent at Holderness 

 informs us that Messrs. Fisk and Noreross are 

 coming down the Merrimac with a drive of fifteen 

 million feet of lumber. They are now passing 

 Holderness and Plymouth, and so far have had an 

 excellent run. For a motive power they have 

 sixty oxen and one hundred and seventy-five men, 

 besides the river, which is now in good navigable 

 order — for logs. 



It is a very exciting and interesting sight to see 

 the great logs rushing down the river, now piling 

 up in unshapely masses against the rocks in the 

 rapids, and now drifting in immense rafts into the 

 eddies. The men and oxen have as much to do as 

 they can well attend to. The lumbermen of 

 Messrs. Fisk and Noreross are all temperate men 

 and fine athletic fellows. The far-famed New Eng- 

 land dish of baked beans constitutes one of their 

 chief articles of food while descending the river, 

 and it is cooked and served up in the lumbermen's 

 camp in a style which would do credit to the 

 most accomplished cuisinier. Their process of 

 cooking is this : In the evening they build a huge 

 fire upon the ground, and as soon as there is a 

 plentiful supply of coals, tliey fill a huge earthen 

 pot with half a bushel or a bushel of I>eans, and 

 a few pounds of pork, and cover it over with a 

 great pile of embers and ashes ; and when it is 

 opened at breakfast time the next morning, it is 

 found to contain a hot and savory mess, which, 

 with a good supply of strong cofl'ee and other ac- 

 cessories, furnishes a meal fit for a President. — 

 Boston Journal. 



TuE CuEAPEST Food. — One hundred pounds of 

 good wheat flour contain 90 pounds of pure nu- 

 tritive matter and 10 pounds of water. One 

 hundred pounds of potatoes contain from 20 to 

 25 pounds of nutritive matter depending upon 

 the cjuality of the potatoes, say 22^ pounds, upon 

 an average, consisting almost entirely of starch, 

 and 77i pounds of water and inert matter. It 

 requires, therefore, exactly four hundred pounds 

 of potatoes to supply the same amount of nutri- 

 ment that one hundred pounds of wheat flour 

 supply. The best potatoes weigh about 04 lbs. 

 to the bushel, and a bushel contains 15 1-5 lbs. 

 of nutriment. At two dollars per bushel, or fif- 

 ty cents a peck, the retail price lately in our 

 markets, the nutritive portion of potatoes costs a 

 fraction over thirteen cents a poitncl, whiuh is 

 equivalent to twenty-three dollars and fifty cents 

 for a barrel of good flour. While flour has 

 doubled in price only, potatoes have increased at 

 four-fold rate. — Philadelphia Ledger. 



J^" We have received from Mr. Jedediah Kil- 

 BORN, South Straflbrd, Vt., a fine specimen of 

 Maple Sugar, of his own manufacture. We are 

 thankful to our friends for remembering us so 

 liberally, and can assure them that their favors 

 are always appreciated. 



([[^ After protracted droughts, copious rains have 

 at last fallen through Georgia, South Carolina and 

 Alabama. 



