NEW ENGLAND FARMEE. 



April 



««.., 



state that as long as animal remains are in a frozen 

 state, there will be no decomposition. In whatever 

 way the animal remains are returned to the soil, 

 provided the gases are not permitted to escape, we 

 assure our brother farmer that if he has not wit- 

 nessed their stimulating power, the effects will sur- 

 prise him. A seedling tree standing near others of 

 the same kind, which, well manured, grew but a foot 

 in height, feeding on animal remains, made agroAvth 

 of over four times that height in the same period. 



Clement Hoar, in his valuable work on the cul- 

 tivation of the grape vine, page 58, makes the fol- 

 lowing remarks : "The entire carcases of animals, 

 or any portion of them, dead birds, S:c. &c., indepen- 

 dently of their bones, yield after decomposition an 

 extraordinary supply of food for the roots of vines, 

 impregnating the soil all around with a great varie- 

 ty of nutritious matter. Dead animals of every de- 

 scription, such as dogs, cats, pigs, &c., may be thus 

 disposed of in a most advantageous manner, by de- 

 positing them in their entire state in the vine bor- 

 der." J. J. H. G 



Marblehead, Feb., 1857. 



LEGISLATIVE AGRICULTURAL MEET- 

 ING. 



[Reported fob the Farmer by H. E. Rockwell.] 



The Seventh of the series of Legislative Agricul- 

 tural Meetings was held Tuesday evening, and the 

 attendance was very good. The subjects discussed 

 were, "Fruit and Fruit Trees— Forest and 

 Shade Trees." 



At the appointed hour of opening the meeting, 

 Hon. Charles W. Upham was called on to pre- 

 side, who, on taking the chair, said : 



Gentlemen, I thank the Executive Committee 

 for the honor they have done me in asking me to 

 preside over the deliberations of this meeting. Of- 

 ficially and personally, I am deeply interested in 

 the objects for which you are assembled. Although 

 not a farmer, and having no personal experience in 

 the line of the interests which bring you together, 

 I speak simply the truth when I say that no sub- 

 ject has more engaged my imagination, my spec- 

 ulations and my interest as a citizen, than that in 

 which you are engaged. 



The people of Massachusetts, in their jjast histo- 

 ry, have developed, in a style that has excited the 

 admiration of the world, an eminent genius in 

 commerce, in manufactures and in the mechanic 

 arts. That same genius, in my belief, remains to 

 be developed, and is about to be developed in the 

 department of agriculture. In the earlier periods 

 of the country, the comparative sterility of the soil, 

 the severity of the climate, and the privations 

 which the early settlers were subjected to, of every 

 kind — want of capital and want of means of com- 

 munication — naturally turned their thoughts to 

 the sea, to the fisheries, to navigation and com- 

 merce. Gradually commerce brought in manu- 

 factures and the mechanic arts ; internal improve- 

 ments and ;?reat works of inter-communication 



have been the result. But these results have crea- 

 ted a density of population and a multiplication of 

 wealth within the limits of our State, which are al- 

 ready beginning to produce a most visible effect 

 upon the department of agriculture. The State is 

 covered over with large towns which are continu- 

 ally expanding into the constitutional dimensions 

 of populous cities ; and thereby a market, as it were, 

 is carried to the door of every farmer, and the 

 whole interior of the State is partaking of the char- 

 acter and the advantages of a suburban territory. 



At the same time a system of education has been 

 developed in Massachusetts, through the agency of 

 our public schools, which is calling out all the la- 

 tent genius of the people ; and as agriculture is 

 absorbing the energy and the talent of the people, 

 this development of the intellect is arming the la- 

 bors of the agriculturist with a power to produce 

 results, such as only inteUigence and science can 

 impart. I believe, gentlemen, that we are entering 

 upon an era that will result in converting this 

 Commonwealth of Massachusetts into one wide- 

 spread garden ; I believe that the people, having 

 their thoughts turned to such subjects as are to oc- 

 cupy you to-night, will be led to conclusions, the re- 

 sult of which will be seen in the diffusion of a uni- 

 versal culture over all our hills and over all our 

 meadows. The time will come when those great 

 salt-marshes which line our sea-coast will be diked 

 in and protected from the inroads of the sea, and 

 thus converted into blooming prairies as fertile as 

 any in our own great West. The time is coming, 

 it is beginning already to be seen, when taste and 

 art will festoon our rugged hill-sides with flowers 

 and fruits, and when on the barren and denuded 

 ridges of the southern cape, and on the shores of 

 Eisex county, such a forest, as the pilgrims beheld 

 when they first made the land, will again appear. 

 That, gentlemen, I understand is one of the objects 

 upon which you are to consult this evening — the 

 introduction and culture of forest trees. 



Before entering upon the discussion of the sub- 

 ject an opportunity was given to Mr. Fay, as the 

 Secretary of the Massachusetts Agricultural Socie- 

 ty, to announce the following vote of that Society : 



"Voted, That a premium of $250 be offered for 

 the best practical essay on the comparative econo- 

 my of horses and oxen for farming purposes in 

 Massachusetts ; — the offer of said premium to re- 

 main open until the first of January, 1858, and the 

 premium not to be awarded for any essay which 

 shall not be considered by the Trustees of sufficient 

 practical value to be worthy of publication in the 

 transactions of the Society." 



Mr. Fay said the Society desire to get the result 

 of a series of practical experiments, testing the 

 economy of labor by horses and oxen, as to cost of 

 keeping, the products of their labor in plowing, 

 mowing, carting or drawing, in any of the opera- 

 tuvr.? r^ the farm. The subject assumes considera- 



