DEVOTED TO AGRICULTUEE, HOKTICULTURE, AND KINDRED ARTS. 



NEW SERIES. Boston, Pfovember, 1868. VOL. II.— NO. 11. 



R. P. EATON & CO., Publishers, 

 Office, Si Merchants' Kow. 



MONTHLY. 



SIMON" BRO"\V]Sr, 

 S. FLETCHEK, 



Editors. 



agricuxjTural premiums. 



OGGING along 

 in our onward 

 course through 

 the year, we 

 now find our- 

 'I selves entering 

 upon one of the 

 dreariest of the 

 autumn months. 

 Even the cattle 

 themselves 

 seem dissatis- 

 fied with the 

 out- door pros- 

 pect, and turn- 

 ing from the 

 field, look to 

 their masters 

 for food and 

 shelter, and at 

 no season in the 

 year, perhaps, does farm stock suffer more 

 from neglect than during that period which 

 intervenes between heavy frosts and the 

 snows which finally drive them to the barn. 

 But after attending to all their wanta and to 

 all our other field duties, November affords 

 the thoughtful farmer time for study and re- 

 flection. Among many other subjects which 

 claim our attention the proper management of 

 agricultural fairs is one that should not be for- 

 gotten. 



In looking over the various reports of Agri- 

 cultural Societies, several reflections have 

 occurred to us. The question has been 

 raised in our mind, whether agricultural pre- 

 miums awarded as they now are, and for the 

 objects for which they are now given, ^ave 

 not done about all the good which they are 

 capable of doing. 



They were originally offered to encourage 

 the production of better varieties of animals, 

 fruits and vegetables ; better methods of farm 

 and garden culture, and to ttimulate the in- 

 vention and introduction of better mechanical 

 aids on the farm. Doubtless they have con- 

 tributed in no inconsiderable degree to accom- 

 plish the ends for which they were intended. 

 But we have now reached that point at which 

 it becomes a question, whether many of the 

 objects for which premiums have oeen granted 

 year after year, need any further encourage- 

 ment. As the demand for them renders their 

 cultivation sufficiently profitable to stimulate 

 to a large production, and that of the best 

 varieties, why should premiums any longer be 

 offered ? 



Does the production of apples or garden 

 vegetables require to be stimulated by the 

 offer of premiums ? Does not the price in 

 the market afford a sufficient inducement to 

 cultivate them, and are not the more profitable 

 varieties determined by the demand ? 



The cultivators now understand the best 

 methods of culture, and have ready access to 



