1857. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



141 



er service, in our opinion, could be rendered the 

 farmer of to-day, than to select from these rich 

 publications sufficient matter for two or three vol- 

 umes, handsomely reprint, and with a copious in- 

 dex, scatter them among the rural population of 

 the Commonwealth. No memorial is so perma- 

 nent and valuable to posterity, as a faithful record 

 and publication of the transactions of the associa- 

 tions of men. If the old society is not as active as 

 she once was, though still watchful and faithful to 

 her trust, she may well rest upon her laurels, while 

 her intelligent and sturdy children through her 

 beneficent influence gather greatly increased har- 

 vests from their enlightened labor and skill. 



But we took up the pen merely to introduce 

 from the first volume of the society's publications 

 the following table of the growth of Indian Corn, 

 and the number of days from planting for each pe- 

 riod of growth : — 



2 m o -3 2. 00 r.-S' 



o 2 a c 3 M ^ p 

 rr g^K - s- ° " S 



t^ 2. o oj _— 



<= re o ^3 g^-55 

 p. ^ "" ... o g S 

 gc OB "-ttS-o 



8- 5 o" 



CO CO 



CD CO 



to 1-5*^ 



•53 C >. s -3 ■a -3 ti s- 

 to ^3^ h-i to K> ^o'^ 



-~lr—W 



\ Oi ( 



M K5 h- to w 



CJ' 00 Cn to 00 00 Oi to :>3 



•^ g ■•< V:; >< '<J VJ -^ a 



I to -^ w to CO OO 



K" to to to to w to CO 



^ rD *B S* ^ 



I Ifk t-* CO 



c c c c = c 



Op" = £ E g- s. 



cr »■ 3- ffi o cr? a 3 

 g g o „c<! 3- a J 



-3 a tp "= O o 



o pB "^-p & 

 "' c 3 ?i p o ' 



— O T> TQ p 



B =r' 0-: ■ 



^ m f" L 



*» crD cr - e» 

 5» B ~.^. o ° " 



"S 5. £ 3 FT »• ? 



&i-Bggs 



!?; n B- J5 (K -, j; 



. ^t CJi O Oi t** rf 1 



to I-- l-'i-' 



'CO to 



5-1 i> l-( Oi C-l 5-( 



C - C <P c c_ 



o *^ 



CC <*« -1 CTi C5 -1 - 

 OO CO O H- CO o c 





►-tq 



!p i:>) 



p-a 



a a 



•1 Qt 



"All Flesh is Grass."— A writer for one of 

 our southern agricultural exchanges, who seriously 

 commends the "sorgho sucre" or Chinese sugar 

 cane as a most invaluable plant, and from his own 

 experience, honestly advises all to try it before 

 they cry out humbug, makes the following attempt 

 "to write as funny as he can" of its many virtues : 

 "Out at last ! Something new under the sun has 

 been discovered. Something worth talking about 

 — the real saccharine, and no mistake. It will 

 grow on any sort of land, and make sugar and 

 syrup. Three hundred gallons of syrup per acre; 

 'think of that. Master I3rook.' The seed, too, a 



capital substitute for rice — and a hundred bushels 

 to the acre ! 'T went j-- five tons of most excellent 

 fodder, every bit of which is most greedily eaten 

 by animals' — farewell to all lean kine, and to all 

 squealing pigs ! The brush after the seed is taken 

 out makes an excellent broom ; the husk dyes a 

 beautiful pink, and after everything is squeezed out, 

 the refuse makes an excellent paper." 



For the New England Fanner, 



TROTTING AT AGRICULTURAL FAIRS. 



Mr. Editor : — The discussion of this topic has 

 become quite animated among our agricultural jour- 

 nals, and even the political and literary press seems 

 to manifest an interest in the controversy. 



Having become somewhat interested from read- 

 ing the articles that have appeared in the JV. E. 

 Farmer, and occasionally from other sources, I sub- 

 mit a few remarks for your consideration, although 

 they may differ slightly from your own opinion, or 

 that of a majority of your correspondents, who seem 

 to have an undue repugnance to all "trials of speed," 

 which they denounce as horse-racing, and look up- 

 on its introduction as a bomb thrown in by an ene 

 my which will soon burst and carry destruction to 

 all our fairs and cattle shows. 



There are others, at the other extreme, who con- 

 sider it the only f* tractive feature, and therefore 

 advocate it to its full extent. Having bestowed 

 some thought upon it, I am led to the conclusion 

 that neither the abolition nor special favoritism will 

 satisfy the patrons of our fairs, but that there is iu 

 termediate ground upon which the two extremes 

 may meet with success. 



I think it is not the wish of the majority that the 

 horse, the noblest animal of the brute creation, 

 should be excluded from our cattle-shows and fairs. 

 Two or three years ago it was a matter of public 

 regret that farmers and owners of fine horses did 

 not contribute more liberally to this department of 

 the exhibition, and efforts were made to bring out 

 a more extensive show of our fine horses. I think 

 you were sensible of this, for by turning to the issue 

 of Nov. 4, 1854, I find the following : 



"Why is so little attention paid to horses by our 

 agricultural societies, and why are so few seen at 

 our cattle-shows, while the horse is selling in the 

 market at a higher price than any other animal? 

 We seldom see more than half a dozen horses at 

 any of our shows and frequently there is not one 

 on exhibition. This shows a deficiency somewhere. 

 Either sufficient encouragement is not given for 

 good horses, or there are but few animals worthy 

 of being shown for premium." 



It being desirable then that the horse should be 

 on exhibition, the question arises — How shall he be 

 exhibited so as to do justice to himself, his owner, 

 and the society for whose benefit he is introduced ? 



The owner of a fine animal claims the highest 

 premium in his class, but the claim is of no avail. 

 The committee must award according to their own 

 judgment, and no committee ought to award a pre- 

 mium on a horse without examining him in all the 

 prominent characteristics which go to make up his 

 value, and among them must be classed speed. 



This should be done under the supervision of the 

 committee, and for this purpose only. A single 



