NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



J 65 



or 'i| per lb. may be assumed as the ave- 

 rice at present. — .Vccording to this, which 

 e denominated the first terra in the se- 

 utcher meat should be 45^d. and butter 9d 

 our and the butter are relatively to each 

 in their just ratio, while the middle term 

 )rms, and has always formed, every fall, 

 cception. There is nothing clearer, 1 

 in the whole circle of practical arithme 

 in that beef at Ijd. per lb. entails a dead 

 the produce ; and that in order to recom 

 even moderately, his labor and outlay, he 

 require double the price for it, that he 

 es for flour; or in other words, that a 

 of tlour can be raised at half the e 

 needed for a pound of beet". — Whence 

 appens it, that the cattle in Nova Scotia 

 escended much lower than the rule above 

 to would seem to justify ? The solu- 

 this problem is quite simple, and calls for 

 rious nor painful search. Flour and but- 

 articles, which can easily be retained 

 1 till the demand takes them oif in the 

 5S of consumption; whereas cattle with 

 farmers, who labor under a scarcity of 

 rops and almost totall} neglect turnips, 

 be kept, after the grass is over, in a fit 

 r the butcher, far less improved in their 

 in. and on this account they must be hur- 

 market, though at a great and inevita- 

 — and with the certainty that beef will 

 he sprinjr to 6d. — a price as much above 

 ther is below the proper level. This 

 our agriculture while it lasts, holds out 

 temptino- occasion for commercial spec- 

 cattle should now be briskly bought up 

 ed by several of our merchants ; and a 

 idorafe capital thus employed would re- 

 p market of that s:lut with which it has 

 undated every fall to the great and se- 

 ury of the farming interest. At Bos- 

 mmense quantity of beef and pork isan- 

 alted during the winter, and in this way, 

 (re there kept from the extraordinary 

 ODS which we have witnessed. The 

 w published will, 1 trust, awaken a spir- 

 4terprise and tempt others to engage 

 and vigorously in this line. 



JOHN YOUNG, Sec'y. 

 vpark, JVoT). 14. 



f the several Committees of the Worceste? 

 Agricultural Society. 



REPORT No. 11. 

 Committee on Worki7ig Oxen. 

 iubbard, of Worcester, Chairman ; William 



■ Northborough ; Abel Warren, of do. ; Wil- 

 ster, of Sturbridge ; Stephen Hastings, of 



ommittee on Working Oxen respect- 

 gratulate their fellow-citizens of the 

 f Worcester, on the additional and con- 

 roof this day exhibited of the superior- 



■ County in this important part of an 

 iral exhibition. 



Committee do not inconsiderately deem 

 to which their attention has been di- 

 1 important part of our Show. Placed 

 : in a part of the world where the 

 -tile indeed, but must be compelled to 

 lb its abundance ; — where we enjoy 

 lies of nature, as the fruits of victory, 

 j oluntar^ gift, our Laboring Oxen con- 



stitute the sinews of our Agricultural strength. 

 Without them, our implements of husbandry 

 would be comparatively inefficient, and the la- 

 bor of the husbandman endless and intolerable. 

 The horse, though a noble and useful animal, 

 would be, to us, a poor substitute lor the ox — 

 in disencumbering our soil of |)on(lerous rocks 

 and deep and spreading roots; in tho cumbrous 

 draft over a broken and rugged surface, and in 

 working the plough, which must be impelled 

 with vigorous but steady force, slowly and 

 through continual obstructions The Ox which 

 patiently bows his neck to the yoke, and cheer- 

 fully shares and alleviates the primeval curse, 

 being thus especially important to us, it was to 

 be expected that an enterprising and intelligent 

 yeomanry would successfully exert themselves 

 to improve the race in their possession. This 

 day has shewn such on expectation well ground 

 cd. It may hereafter be reasonably doubted 

 whether any section of this country or any oth- 

 er country can shew better Working Oxen, as 

 patient, docile, hardy and efficient laborers, 

 than the County of Worcester. However, the 

 distinguished breeders of other countries may 

 have surpassed us in improving cattle for the 

 'itall and for the dairy, yet for the yoke, your 

 Committee confidently believe that we need no 

 foreign blood : it would rather adulterate than 

 improve. We would not be understood to be- 

 lieve or assert, that our oxen have arrived to 

 a degree of perfection beyond the capability of 

 improvement — but only tha( there exists no bet- 

 ter breed lo improve upon. Comparing the pres- 

 ent with the preceding Shows, under the pat- 

 ronage of the Society, and reflecting how obvi- 

 ously each has exceeded its immediate prede- 

 cessor, we have not only a striking evidence ol 

 Ihe beneficial influence of the Society on the 

 agriculture of the County, but are also encour- 

 aged to hope that the time will arrive, when 

 the common and ordinary animals of the Coun- 

 ty will equal the best exhibited for premium 

 to day. Knowing the nsual competition in 

 Working Oxen at our Shows, and the unusual 

 number of entries this year, your committee 

 anticipated much difficulty in awarding the pre- 

 miums at their disposal ; and they have been 

 in no degree disappointed. They must despair 

 of having come to a result satisfactory to the 

 competitors, or even to all intelligent and im- 

 partial spectators, for they have but barely sat- 

 isfied themselves. They have, however, judged 

 impartially, and they hope correctly, in award- 

 ing 



The 1st Premium of gl5 lo Isaac Hathaway, 

 of Sutton. 2ddo. ofgl2 to Fregrace Marble, 

 of do. 3d do. of ^10 to John Sherman, of do. 

 *4th do. of jj5 to Seth Wyman, of Shrewsbury. 



Besides other obvious considerations, a re- 

 ard to the age of the cattle tried, contributed 

 to direct the judgment of the Committee. Mr. 

 Hathaway's Mr. Marble's, and Mr. Sherman's 

 were all of them four years old only. There 

 were others among the rivals much heavier and 

 somewhat stronger, Mr. Brigham's, Messrs. 

 Ward & Rice's, and Mr Fessenden's, all from 

 Worcester, were very fine and rich looking 



* Col. Wyinan having last year obtained the 2d pre- 

 mium for Working Oxen with the same cattle, accord- 

 ing to the Rules of the Society cannot this year re- 

 ceive a premium of an ni/erior grade — the 4th Premium 

 has therefore betn awarded to Stephen Marsh, jr. of 

 Sutton. 



cattle ; but their age and hard service had car- 

 ried them past the combined vigor and activity 

 of some of the younger comi>ctitor?. Their do- 

 cility also was loss perfect, and they manifestly 

 possessed less of that careful education which 

 the farmers of Sutton are so juslly noted for be- 

 stowing on their Working Oxen. The Commit- 

 tee had great difficulty in deciding between the 

 Oxen of Mr. Wyman, to whom they assigned 

 the fourth premium, and those of Mr. Marsh. 

 It was pretty obvious however that Mr. Wyman's 

 were better mated, and a little handier than Jlr. 

 Marsh's. 



The Committee were highly gratified in being 

 called on to view a fine display of Working Oxen 

 consisting of nearly sixty yokes, from the enter- 

 prising town of Shrewsbury. It served to main^ 

 tain and justify the deservedly high agricultural 

 character of that town. None but an excellent 

 farming town can have it in its power to pro- 

 duce such A number of superior Oxen. A farm- 

 ing district may be judged of by its Working 

 Oxen as safely as by its Barns or its Cornfields. 



The Committee are very happy to have it 

 in their power, by a vote of the Society, to 

 award to the proprietors of this team the trifling 

 sum of 10 dollars, merely as an expression of 

 our favorable opinion, and of the gratitude of 

 the Society for this interesting addition to our 

 Show. For the Committee, 



JOHN W. HUBBARD, Chairman. 



Support your Mechanics. — A practice is very 

 prevalent, in many towns of neglecting too 

 much the mechanics of the place. Next to the 

 farmers they are the most useful class of citizens, 

 and yet a disposition is often felt to avoid em- 

 ploying them, if possible, and to withhold from 

 them such encouragement as would enable them 

 to be as useful as they might be, and as they 

 ought to be. If a coat or other garment is to 

 be made : if a pair of boots or shoes, or a sad- 

 dle, bridle, or other article is to be procured, 

 which the mechanic in the place ought to fur- 

 nish, it is no unusual thing to employ a mechan- 

 ic at a distance, to perform the work ; or to pro- 

 cure the article in some way which may be nom- 

 inally less expensive, but which, in reality, con- 

 sidering the quality of the article is considera- 

 bly more so than it would be if a mechanic of 

 the place had been called upon to manufac- 

 ture it. 



This practice is productive of various evils. 

 It sends from a place the money which should 

 be kept in circulation at home ; it introduces a 

 silly dependence upon the fashions of other 

 places, or leads to the use of inferior articles, 

 and a corresponding increase of expense ; and 

 l)y withholding such encouragements to me- 

 chanics of different kinds, and of proper quali- 

 fications, as they ought 'o receive, there is not 

 a sufficient number induced to settle in a place 

 to do its necessary mending, and consequently 

 articles are frequently thrown away as useless, 

 where a very small sum expended upon them 

 would render them as serviceable as those that 

 are new. . 



Great price of Tobacco. — Asingle hogshead of 

 Tobacco, trom the plantation of Mr. Johnson, of 

 Frederick county, Md. was sold in Georgetown on 

 Thursday last, at the enormous price of jpoO per 

 hundred weight ! Five or six hogsheads of a qual- 

 ty somewhat inferior sold at aa average of about 

 j30 per cwt. 



