140 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



March 



the very finest pair of oxen that he ever saw at the 

 penitentiary in that State. But, said he, candor 

 compels me at the same time to say, that they were 

 raised in Massachusetts ! 



On motion of Mr. Ward, of Oraijge,the subject 

 was continued for the discussion of the next eve- 

 ning, and then, at hah''-past nine o'clock, the meet- 

 ing adjourned. 



[If those persons who deny the utility of these 

 meetings would attend them and hear all that is 

 said, we have no doubt their opinions would soon 

 be changed. See the benefit that might be derived 

 from a single experiment like that tried by Mr. 

 Sheldon, where he churned cream separately from 

 fifteen heifers, and found it nearly impossible to 

 get butter at all from three or four of them. Such 

 experiments would enable us to put each cow in 

 her appropriate place, either for butter, cheese or 

 milk. — Editor.] 



For the New England Fanner. 



A SHIFTLESS FARMER. 



Mr. Editor : — It is a cold, dreary, rainy evening ; 

 and I seat myself to give a short sketch of a 

 neighbor, who is a slack, shiftless fellow. 



The family of Mr. J. Slack consists of himself, a 

 man of middle age, his feeble mother, and two sis- 

 ters ; both the latter are past thirty. 



In all matters pertaining to the farm Mr. S. fully 

 verifies his name ; he never hoes his corn or potatoes 

 more than once, and sometimes not that ; he sells 

 his manure, and erniches his land with cidtr pom- 

 ace, consequently his crops are always inferior, and 

 sometimes almost nothing. If I am not mistaken 

 he has some potatoes that are not dug even now. 

 He had one field of corn that he did not harvest at 

 all, and he could not have had more than eight 

 bushels of corn that he raised this year. Since I 

 can recollect, he has not had more than one cord 

 of wood at his door at one time. In the summer 

 season he gets one load on his sled and then lets it 

 stand until it is all gone, and some of the fence, also, 

 before he gets any more. 



His farm is so run out that he does not cut any 

 number-one hay, but lets it stand until it is so 

 matured that it is very poor hay. He has the ad- 

 vantage of most farmers, for he feeds his mowings 

 eleven months in a year, and cuts a crop of hay too. 

 There are no sheds or other shelter, except his 

 barn, around his yard, in which his cattle frequently 

 stay several hour's in a cold winter's day, looking 

 as though they never knew what comfort was. 

 This master never houses his wagons or vehicles 

 of any kind, but they stand out, exposed to the ef- 

 fects of heat and cold, and soaking, and drying, al- 

 ternately. 



I can assure you, Mr. Editor, that all I have said 

 respecting this man is truth, and much more might 

 be said of him. S N. 



Jlshby, Dec. 11, 1856. 



ization was effected under a recent statute, and a 

 Constitution and i5y-Laws were adopted. The of- 

 ficers elected were, Frederick Holbrook, Presi- 

 dent ; Edwin Hammond, J. W. Colburx, Henry 

 S. Morse, and Hexry Keyes, Vice Presidents ; 

 R, B. Chase, H. H. Baxter, Jacob Scott, Jona. R. 

 Potter, Nathan Gushing, David Hill, John Grego- 

 ry, John Jackson, J. W. Vail, Directors ; J. A. 

 Beckwith, Middlebury, Corresponding Secretary ; 

 Charles Cummings, Brattleboro', Recording Secre- 

 tary ; Edward Seymour, Vergennes, Treasurer. 



Vermont State Agricultural Society. — 

 The Annual meeting of this Society took place at 

 Middlebury on the 8th of January. A new organ- 



INDIAN CORN. 



We have ofte;i expressed our sense of obligation 

 to the Old Massachusetts Society for the Promo- 

 tion of Agricidture, for the noble work which she 

 effected as the pioneer of the cause in this State. 

 She not only labored, primarily, herself, laying her 

 own hands hold of the work, but she started other 

 associations into being, encouraging and sustaining 

 them in the days of their weakness. Thus, as ear- 

 ly as 1793, she issued a circular to men in Middle- 

 sex county distinguished for their acquirements ia 

 the art, and whose zeal was happily blended with 

 their knowledge, which resulted in the establish- 

 ment of iho first County society in the State. This 

 led to the organization of other associations, and 

 has, in part, placed Massachusetts in a prominent 

 position as the fostering mother of agricultural sci- 

 ence and art. 



But the old society did not stop liere. When 

 through the application of skill, of carefully tried 

 experiments, sometimes of an expensive character, 

 it had acquired facts which would be serviceable to 

 the people at large, it gave them to the world in a 

 series of publications making in all some dozen vol- 

 umes. These volumes, to this daj', are not ex- 

 celled by any similar publications, in the value of 

 their contents ; and we should find it difficult now, 

 to refer the inquiring farmer to more practical, lu- 

 cid and instructive papers, on all the common top- 

 ics of the farm, than may be found among the pa- 

 pers of Lowell, Russell, Pickering, Dexter, 

 WiNTHROP, Ames, Cabot, Lyman, Tyng, War- 

 ren, Adams and others, contained in the volumes 

 under the title of the "Massachusetts Agricultural 

 Repository," 



In addition to these, they contain ample pages 

 from the best English and French writers, such as 

 Somertille's history of Merino Sheep, the art of 

 destroying Moles, by M. Dralet, keeper of the 

 forest, Toulouse ; and scientific papers on the sap 

 of plants, by Vauquelin, Dr. Hales, Ivnight, 

 Grew, Malpighi and Duiiamel. Indeed, the 

 writings of most of the leading scientific men of 

 about that time, such as Sennebier, Priestly, 

 Saussure, Chaptal, Hassenfratz, and others, 

 are freely quoted and commented upon. No great- 



