494 



NEW ENGLAND FAEIMER. 



Nov. 



abundant means of information, and regard to 

 their own interest will do all that is needed in 

 this direction ; and even if this were not true, 

 the statements of the premium-takers would 

 alford them but little aid. The oflfer of a 

 premium may induce the fruit- raiser, or vege- 

 table raiser, to pick out the finest specimens 

 of his crop, and exhibit them on the tables, 

 thus adding to the richness and beauty of the 

 show, but it is not so easy to see how it will 

 increase the quantity or improve the quality 

 of his crops. 



If an individual offers a new and promising 

 variety, it may be proper to encourage him by 

 a premium to test still further the value of his 

 article, and to reward him for his enterprise. 

 But does an article whose value has been 

 satisfactorily proved, and for the cultivation 

 of which the demand is a sufficient induce- 

 ment, require a premium ? 



It has occurred to us that the premium 

 lists of our Societies require a complete re- 

 vision, and that premiums should not continue 

 to be given from habit, merely because they 

 have been given in years past. With regard 

 to D»any articles, circumstances have en- 

 tirely chmged. For example, our ploughing 

 matches have become little more than oppor- 

 tunities for advertising the ploughs of different 

 manufacturers, and the manufacturers can 

 well afford to pay the awards to successful 

 competitors. There should be much greater 

 discrimination in the objects for which pre- 

 miums are offered. Those especially should 

 be selected that will lead to careful experi- 

 ments, and bring out such practical informa- 

 tion as the farmer needs, and they should be 

 changed from year to year, as circumstances 

 require. W« would suggest as subjects for 

 premiums at the present time, the restoring to 

 fertility of exhausted soils, by ploughing in 

 successive green crops, the culture of wlnt(r 

 wheat, by ploughing in the seed three and 

 four inches deep, before the loth of Septem- 

 ber, and also the drilling in of wheat, both 

 winter and spring wheat, the amount of land 

 and of seed being specified, and a careful 

 statement of the whole process being given. 



Let premiums be offered for the entire crop 

 of vegetables raised, on a given amount of 

 land, including the small as well as the large 

 vegetables, with a statement of the cost of 

 raising them. If a farmer selects the best 



specimens from a hundred bushels of potatoes , 

 and exhibits them, what useful information is 

 given by it ? It would be a wretched crop in- 

 deed, from which a basket of good ones could 

 not be selected. 



The same remark may be made with regard 

 to all other vegetables. But if the entire crop 

 is shown, either to the committee, or at the ex- 

 hibition, with a statement of the cost, and the 

 present value and the method of cultivation, 

 a fair comparison may be made, and some 

 useful information gained. 



Most crops are cultivated for profit, and the 

 farmer wishes to know the cost of cultivating 

 them. 



If a crop costs twice or three times its value 

 in the market, why should a premium be paid 

 for it ? If it cannot be raised within its mar- 

 ket value, so as to allow a margin for profit, 

 neither farmer nor gardener will engage in its 

 cultivation. 



More careful statements of the cost of rais- 

 ing articles should be required. We have of- 

 ten noticed that premiums are awarded for 

 fruits and vegetables to amateurs, who ex- 

 pend, upon their one or two acres, as much for 

 manure and labor as the farmer expends upon 

 his fifty or eighty acres. The premium arti- 

 cles may be a little more perfect, or may be 

 got up for the show in a neater manner ; but 

 if they have cost twice or three times as much 

 per bushel or pound, this fact ought to be 

 known and taken into the account in making 

 the award. 



If one man raises a crop at half the sum 

 which it costs his neighbor to raise a similar 

 crop, why should not he have the benefit of 

 it, especially if, by his statement, he can teacli 

 his neighbor how to do the same thing at the 

 same cost.'' 



We know a gentleman who cultivates two or 

 three acres of ground in potatoes, corn, beans, 

 tomatoes, cabbages, beets, turnips, &c. He 

 keeps a man all the year at the highest wages, 

 and employs another man at least half the 

 growing season, and hires all his ploughing 

 and teaming besides, and labors a good deal 

 himself. His vegetables make a fine show at 

 the exhibition. But if he would exhibit an 

 account current with his vegetables, the far- 

 mer who looks upon them with admiration 

 would have no feelings of envy towards him.^ 

 Not the man who makes the best show is en- 



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