576 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



Dec. 



ed in Berkshire prior to 1810, for it had a novelty 

 m that part of the ivorld. It is only as a matter of 

 history, perhaps, that this is of consequence. 



The first agricultural exhibition, however, in 

 Berkshire, took place as follows : we quote Mr. 

 Watson's language : 



"In the fall of 1807, I procured the first pair of 

 Merino sheep that had appeared in Berkshire, if 

 not in the State. They were the first I had ever 

 seen ; although defective in the grade I was led to 

 expect, yet as all who examined their wool, were de- 

 lighted with its texture and fineness, / loas induced 

 to notifij an exhibition under the great elm tree in 

 the public square in Pitlsfield, of these two sheep on 

 a certain day. Many farmers, and even women, 

 were excited by curiosity to attend this first novel 

 and humble exhibition. It was by this lucky acci- 

 dent, I reasoned thus, — If two animals are capable 

 of exciting so much attention, ichat would be the ef- 

 fect on a larger scale with larger animals ?" 



but does not always break, and bring our thoughts 

 and aspirations into harmony with a condition of 

 things, constituted with change written upon them 

 as a primeval law. All these changes, as well as 

 the light of revelation itself, are sufficient eviden- 

 ces that this is not our abiding place ; that God 

 has intended to give the human mind, its desire 

 and aff"ection8, a wider scope, under a condition of 

 things more permanent and perfect. 



Shall we not strive, then, to catch the spirit of 

 our great Exemplar, and become fitted for that high- 

 er and holier life ? more of the strong faith of Paul, 

 and the earnest, abiding love of John, so that when 

 all these changes have faded from before our eyes, 

 and our last change has come, we may welcome it 

 as we have the heralds of spring, and our souls 

 expand with joy as we pass to that new creation 

 where righteousness only dwells ? 



In the field of labor with you, kind reader, our 

 duties have been delightful ; they have been ]it6r- 

 ally often in green pastures and beside still waters; 

 they have frequently led us to your homes and 



CLOSE OF THE NINTH VOLUME. 



Another year has rolled away — another of those 

 distinctly marked periods by which we measure our 'hearthstones, where the warm affections and genial 

 existence and chronicle events, is numbered with influences of your household have greatly encour- 

 those that have preceded it since the commence- ^ged our pursuits ; those duties may have been o. 



ment of time. In the future, these years appear 

 to us lusty and long, full of promises, and freighted 

 with enjoyments ; but when gone, away they sink 

 into the dim past, and are soon lost in the night of 

 with which they have mingled. 

 The perjod now just closed has been one in which 



benefit to you, while your appreciation of the ob- 

 jects of this journal, and your constant and hearty 

 support in every way that can give a journal vitality 

 and value, have always cheered and sustained us. 

 Thus it is that we can turn over the last leaf of this 

 volume with the consciousness of co-operating with 



transactions have taken place of great importance you to make labor lighter; to diffuse valuable infor- 



to all, — of wars and rumors of wars, of great 

 changes in the condition of the people of our own 

 favored land, and of startling financial embarrass- 

 ment, revulsion and ruin, over a large portion of 

 the civilized globe. In the natural world, too, those 

 gradual changes which have probably always been 

 going on, have occasionally taken place ; earth- 

 quakes shake portions of the solid continent, a me- 

 teor dashes itself at our doors, a visitor, perhaps, 

 from some other planet, or an island sinks from 

 our view, while others in distant seas shake the 

 watery crest from their heads and become dry lands, 

 soon teeming with food for man and beast. Cities, 

 ffith once commodious harbors at their feet, are 

 now far inland, with avenues of trees and populated 

 streets where once each influx of the ocean tide 

 brought the dolphin to play and the sea-gull to 

 seek his food ; while in another direction, the ut- 

 most skill of man, with all the appliances of sci- 

 ence and art, scarcely suffice to keep the approach- 

 ing and impending wave from sweeping the labors 

 of unnumbered years and unnumbered souls to the 

 besom of destruction. 



So change is written upon the foundations of the 

 world itselfj as well as upon human affairs, and up- 

 on our physical condition. It is wise in us, then, 

 to bow in filial submission to the blast that bends, 



mation ; to place before the sons and daughters of 

 the farmer some glimpses of a true life ; to show that 

 your calling, in dignity and importance, is not ex- 

 celled by any other occupation of man ; to make 

 the farmer's home tasteful and attractive, the abode 

 of warm attachments, and the true place for use- 

 fulness and rational enjoyment in the declining years 

 of life. 



It cannot be that these labors have been in vain. 

 The suggestions of your pens have prompted new 

 efforts in every department of the farm ; the de- 

 tails of experiments in your fields, have caused 

 other fields to bloom in perennial beauty, and in 

 the management of stock, the construction of build- 

 ings, in draining, subsoiling, and the introduction 

 of labor-saving implements, your experience and 

 examples as set forth in these pages, must have 

 had a widely-extended influence upon your fellow- 

 laborers. 



Let us part with the Old Year, then, with re- 

 grets only for wasted time or talents ; it has gone 

 where it was bidden to go by the fiat of its Creator, 

 has discharged its mission, and can never be recalled. 

 Our prayer is for your individual prosperity and 

 true happiness here, which will ensure that of here- 

 after, and that we may ourself hereafter more faith- 

 fully and ably discharge the trust reposed in us. 



