1868. 



NEW ENGLAND FAEIVIER. 



185 



experience in the matter, not omitting the 

 most expensive and profitless. — Buralist, in 

 Country Oent. 



GOODHUE, MINN., FAKMERS' CLUB. 



A correspondent informs us that on a prairie 

 10 to 14 miles south of Red Wing, Minnesota, 

 which a few years ago belonged to the Sioux 

 Indians, there is now a "Farmers' Club" of 

 over 100 members, with a library of over 200 

 volumes, furnished also with the leading agri- 

 cultural and some other papers, where the 

 "New England Farmer, among others, is 

 read by many a rough, but industrious and in- 

 tellectual farmer of Eastern extraction, on 

 Tuesday evening of each week." 



The New England family that locates on a 

 Western prairie needs advice and sympathy. 

 Everything is new — the climate, the soil, the 

 vegetables and the animals. The sun, moon 

 and stars have a Western look. Even the 

 wind that whistles around the cabin has its pe- 

 culiarities. The neighbors may greet such a 

 family with much cordiality, but still how lone- 

 some they often feel ! 



Here is a grand field for a farmers' club, and 

 we are glad to know that at least one such as- 

 sociation improves it well. Our correspon- 

 dent informs us that the Goodhue Farmers' 

 Club furnishes each new settler with garden 

 seeds, currant and gooseberry bushes, straw- 

 berry plants for a large garden bed, one vine 

 each of the Concord and Hartford prolific 

 grapes, with a lot of grape wood of several 

 varieties. If unable to procure his seed wheat, 

 potatoes, corn, oats, &c., he is furnished with 

 them and then pays for them from the pro- 

 ceeds of his second crop. He has access to 

 the library and reading room. 



From statistics collected by this club, it ap- 

 pears that while the average yield of wheat 

 for the whole State is put at thirteen bushels 

 per acre, the average of this settlement, which 

 has 7640 acres under cultivation, was 19.8 

 bushels per acre, the past year, on old ground. 

 They raised 143,040 bushels of grain this last 

 season. With harvest hands at $4.00 per 

 day, $3.50 for team work, $2.00 per bushel 

 for seed wheat, 12c per bushel for hauling to 

 market, 7c per bushel for threshing, besides 

 "finding" or keeping teams and men, and our 

 own work at $2 per day, our Field Account, 

 says our correspondent, shows a net profit of 

 $14 per acre. Large farm houses, commodi- 



ous barns, cattle sheds, substantial granaries 

 and out buildings, well cultivated field?, good 

 fences, well built school houses, three churches, 

 tell of the fruitfulness of our soil. During 

 the last season a large number of new farms 

 were opened, some of 40 and some of 160 

 acres in extent. 



We hope to hear again from our correspon- 

 dent, who is also Secretary of the Goodhue 

 Farmers' Club. 



SUFFOLK HOGS. 



Henry Cobb, Esq., of Amherst, Mass., fur- 

 nishes the following statement of the weights 

 of five hogs of this breed fed upon his farm 

 the past season : — 



Live weight. Live weight. ^^ght 

 Hog No. 1, Oct. 16, 354 lbs. Jan. 7, 519 lbs. 45t tba. 

 " " 2. Oct. 16, 34S " Jan. 7, 492 " 432 " 

 " " 3. Nov. 13, 211 " Jan. 14, 352 " 300 " 

 Two Pigs Oct. 16, 146 " Jan. 14, 355 " 3C4 " 

 One of these pigs, cut up for home use, weighed 147 

 lbs; head, without cheeks, 6X fcs; feet 1% lbs. 



Mr. Cobb obtained his stock originally of 



Mr. Stickney, and has taken much pains to 



keep it pure. Instead of deteriorating in his 



hands, he believes it has gradually improved 



until fully up to the Prince Albert standard. 



He fully endorses the commendation of the 



Suffolk in a late number of the Stock Journal, 



which says : — 



"On the whole, there is no better breed in the 

 country than the improved 'Suffolk.' They are 

 a well-formed, compact, short-legged, hardy ani- 

 mal, equal iu point of value to the best of the 'Es- 

 sex' and superior in condition, and consequently 

 better adapted for general keep, and especially for 

 the cottager. Mr. Stickney, of Massachusetts, 

 one of the first importers, deserves the credit of 

 assisting the 'Suffolk' to the reputation which they 

 have attained in this country." 



Mr. Cobb alludes to a favorable account in 

 the Amherst Express, copied from an Illinois 

 paper, of the Suffolk breed in that State, but 

 objects to the recommendation of the writer 

 to cross them with the Berkshire. He thinks 

 that the crossing of thorough bred swine re- 

 sults as unfavorably as in the case of horses 

 and cattle. He is fully satisfied with his im- 

 proved Suffolk, and is not willing to risk the 

 loss of any of its good qualities by mixing 

 with any other race. 



His figures certainly show that he has a su- 

 perior breed, as well as a most "excellent 

 pail." 



— The receipts of the N. Y. State Agricultural 

 Society, during the past year, were ^40,587-99, and 

 the expenditures $27,637.48. 



