1857. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



221 



a great variety of fruits. The printed report con- 

 tains the excellent Address of the President, the 

 Hon. Marshall P. Wilper, in which are dia- 

 grams for a summer fruit room and ice house, then 

 a list of officers elected for the ensuing year, the 

 report of the Committee on the Downing Monu- 

 ment, containing an engraving of the monument, 

 and giving the inscriptions in the panels, and 

 then the Reports from the several States, and the 

 discussions which ensued upon them. 



This Society is accomplishing a good work — the 

 skill which leads to such thorough examinations of 

 fruits will purge our gardens, fields and forcing 

 houses of unprofitable and worthless varieties, and 

 replace them with those of a healthful and delicious 

 character. This reformation is greatly needed, as 

 a large portion of the fruit on most of our farms 

 is of a second or third rate quality, so that when 

 it is marketed the farmer gets only a quarter to a 

 third of the money he ought to obtain for the same 

 number of bushels or barrels. 



The public has a common interest in this matter ; 

 it is not confined to the gardener or orchardist. 

 Good fruits are essential to the health of all, to say 

 nothing of them as economical parts of diet, and 

 therefore, all should do something to encourage 

 and promote the objects of this and similar asso- 

 ciations. There are no men more zealous or self- 

 sacrificing than many of those whose names we see 

 attached to the rolls of this society, some of whom 

 have long been distinguished for ihek untiring ef- 

 forts to introduce throughout our land the choicest 

 fruits and flowers, and spread the blessings of Po- 

 mona around the habitations of the children of men. 

 If these efforts are sustained, fruits of excellent 

 quality will soon become cheap and accessible to 

 all. 



For the New England Farmer. 



STATE OF MAINE POTATOES. 



Mr. Editor : — It is an old but trite saying that 

 all is not gold that glitters, and with equal justness 

 I may say, so far as my experience goes, that all 

 are not ])otatoes that are "cracked up" to be. Let 

 me explain. Nearly a year ago, a good deal was 

 said in the papers, and more by advertisements, in 

 praise of the potato going by the above name. I 

 purchased a few, and had them tested from the ta- 

 ble. They were fair, not more than middling as to 

 their eating qualities, 8zc. I stated my opinion to 

 the gentleman of whom I purchased them, and was 

 told they must be first-rate, as "every body" told 

 him. so ; and besides, though, they had been exposed 

 to the light, air, <S:c., and had been several times 

 packed and repacked in their sale. As they were a 

 very handsome looking potato, had the reputation 

 of being free from the rot, when planting time 

 came, I concluded to give them a trial. I went to 

 Boston, and purchased at the Quincy Hall seed 

 store a barrel of the State of Maines. I have no 

 doubt of their being the genuine article. The piece 

 of land planted measures fifty-five rods. It was well 

 plowed and thoroughly manured ; the latter taken 



from my barn cellar, and composed of the droppings 

 of the horse, cow, pigs, hens, sink and coal ashes. 

 Sec. The crop was well taken care of. They were 

 dug at the ])roper time. A month before being dug, 

 the tops or vines had been dead. The amount was 

 thirty bushels. Not over three bushels of saleable 

 potatoes, as to size ; the larger share of them being 

 under the size of a hen's egg, down to a pea. As 

 for their eating qualities, they do not begin with 

 those I purchased. They are salvey, and nearly all of 

 them are smutty. I do not know how better to ex- 

 press it. It is not rot, but it gives them a dirty, un- 

 wholesome appearance. We have discarded them 

 altogether from the table, and my wife says that 

 she don't believe they are fit for a hog to eat, and in 

 this I most heartily join. If any one doubts this 

 statement, I will most cheerfully send them a mess, 

 "at their expense as to postage." If there are others 

 whose experience corresponds with mine, either bet- 

 ter or worse, I hope they will do the State of Maine 

 justice, which is the only desire of Norfolk. 

 February, 1857. 



LEGISLATIVE AGEICULTURAL MEET- 

 ING. 



[Reported for the Farmer bt H. E. Rockwell.] 



The Legislative Agricultural Society held its 

 Tenth meeting Tuesday evening. 



General Newhall, of Lynnfield, was intro- 

 duced by the President as the Chairman of the 

 evening. He expressed his pleasure at the oppor- 

 tunity of meeting the members of this society, con- 

 vened for the consideration of agricultural topics, 

 and especially the one which was to be the subject 

 of discussion this evening. He stated that it was 

 expected that His Excellency, Gov. Gardner, would 

 preside, but a severe domestic affliction had fallen 

 upon him, and rendered it inconsistent for him to 

 be present. General Newhall then referred to the 

 great change that have taken place within his own 

 recollection, in the science of agriculture. It now 

 lies at the foundation of our pi'osperity as a people. 

 Though commerce is regarded by many as of the 

 first importance, he was of the opinion that more 

 of value is annually expended for fertilizers to be 

 put upon the soil, than is expended in the com- 

 merce of the country. 



The subject for consideration was then an- 

 nounced to be "Fruits and Fruit Trees." 



Mr. W. J. Buckminster, of the Ploughman, 

 had much to say on the subject. He had seen, 

 within two days past, calls on the people of the 

 commonwealth to increase the number of fruit 

 trees. He had seen such calls in papers in Essex 

 County, and in those of the West. Our latitude is 

 as good as any other for the production of fruit — 

 of apples, especially ; and those raised in Massa- 

 chusetts and Maine are better than those raised at 

 the West. To be sure, they raise large apples, 

 but there is a solidity in ours which does not exist 

 in apples raised South and West. Fruits, both 

 large and small, please at least three of our senses, 



