NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



jjant and useful, were noticed by your Com- 

 tee, for ivliich no premium is odered ; mnny 

 hem deserve attention, viz. A number nl 

 client and highly finished n;its, ty John T. 

 tell St Co. — some handsome Window-Blind*. 

 Miss Fvittcridge — an eleijant Trunlc, hy Jlan- 

 VVnlker, of Hrookliold— an ingenious Ma- 

 le, by .lohn C. Jenckes, of Providence, for 

 lovin? sick and lame people, with ease to 

 >atient, and convenience to the assistant — 

 perior pair of Tailors' Shears, by Elia? 

 ver, of Lancaster — an elegant box ot Nee- 

 Work and Painting, by Misses, in Miss 

 ny"s school in Worcester — some fine Tur- 

 Qnill Fans, Feathers, Plumes, Wreaths, kc. 

 Mrs. Daniel G. Wheeler, of Worcester — a 

 and improved patent Straw-Cntter, by Mr. 

 rd, of \ ermont — a great variety ofbtraiv 

 Grass Bonnets, many finely wrought, and 

 vering taste and judgment — a lot of tine 

 toes, which had been greatly improved in 

 vears, by proper attention, by Isaac Bow- 

 of Lancaster — one well turned and com- 

 ly finished Nail-Hammer, by Mr. Woodbury 

 itton — one Cast-Iron Plough, much improv- 

 iby W. A. Wheeler — and Mr. Howivid's 

 gh and Harrow for weeding Corn and Veg- 



!S. 



Which is respectfully submitted. » 

 STEPHEN P. GARDNER,/)£r ort/er. 



RFPORT No. VII. ♦^ 



Committee on the Ploughing Match. 

 Thayer, of Uxbridge, Chnirman \ Joseph Sum- 

 jr. of Shrewsbury ; Paul Dudley, of Douglas ; 

 a Whitney, of Princeton ; Rufus Porter, of Wor- 

 er. 



e Committee on the Ploughing Match 



been highly gratified to find an increased 



ler of competitors for premiums, in this in- 



;ing and very important part of the Exhi- 



1, this day witnessed. And although gratify- 



t has very much increased the difticully 



nbor of those who are called upon to dis- 



nale and reward those who excel, agreea- 



1 the rules and regulations of this Society. 



Committee regret, very much, that the 



d selected for ploughing proved different 



what had been anticipated. Instead of 



a deep loamy soil, as the surface indica- 



: was so full of gravelly loam and round 



>i;, (such as Farmers usually call cobble- 



J) that it was with some difficulty that the 



hman could keep his plough in the ground, 



t a proper distance from the foregoing 



Agreeable to notice, the ground had 



previously divided iuto lots of an eighth of 



■e each; twelve competitors were present 



earns, consisting of ene yoke of oxen each, 



ew lots as follows ; 



No. 1. Nathan Heard, jr. of Worcester, 

 Williams, ploughman, John Armstrong, 

 — work performed in 23 minutes 30 se- 



No. 2. John Sherman, 2d. of Sutton, him- 

 loughman,Daniel Marble, jr. driver — work 



med in 22 minutes. 



No. 3. William Eaton, jr. of Worcester, 

 11 ploughman, no driver — work performed 

 minutes. 



No. 4. Benjamin Woodbury, of Sutton, 

 aain Woodbury, 3d. ploughman, no driver 



k performed in 21 minutes 30 seconds. 



No. 5. Stephen Marsh, jr. of Button, 



Hiram White, ploughman, Stephen Marsh, dri- 

 ver — work performed in 21 minutes. 



Lot No. li. Holloway Baily, of Northbor 

 ongh, himself ploughman, Paul Nowton, driver 

 — work performed in 2(1 minutes .'^o seconds. 



Lot No. 7. Luther Whiting, of Sutton, him 

 self ploughman. Royal T. Marble, driver- 

 work performed iu 18 minutes 40 seconds. 



Lot No. 8. Joseph Dudley, of Sutton, him- 

 self i)loughman, John .-^dams, driver — work 

 performed in 24 minutes 20 seconds. 



Lot No. 9. Ward &, Ixicc, of Worcester, 

 Newell Rice, ploughm;m, no driver — work per- 

 formed in 19 mintilos. 



Lot No. 10. William llenshnw, of Leicester, 

 Benjamin Watson, jr. plonghman. William Hen- 

 sliaw, driver, — work performed in 20 minutes. 



Lot No. II. Silas Dudley, of Sutton, himself 

 ploughman, Samuel Taylor, driver — work per- 

 formed in 28 minutes. 



Lot No. 12. Freegrace Marbl-e, of Sutton, 

 Samuel Sibley, ploughman, Freegrace Marble, 

 driver — work performed in 23 minutes. 



Your Committee, in the discharge of their 

 duly, have been extremely desirous to do jus 

 tice to all the competitors, and to all the other 

 members of this Society. And notwithstanding 

 the competitors were unfortunate in their 

 ground, the Committee are of o|>inion that there 

 was not that improvement in the work which 

 they and the public had reason to expect : and 

 8s the great and professed object of Ploughing 

 Matches is improvement, and to extend a prac- 

 tical knowledge of the art, the Committee 

 could not, with justice to their own judgments, 

 and the duty they owe to this Sodety, recom- 

 mend the full amount of premiums ro those who 

 they considered to excel, that the Trustees had 

 empowered them to do, but have recommend- 

 ed ene half that sum. 



First premium to Freegrace Marble — Plough 

 ^5; Ploughman §2,50; Driver gl, 50. 



Second premium to William Eaton, jr. — 

 Plough %\ ; Ploughman ^3; being no Driver. 



Third premium to Nathan Heard, jr. — 

 Plough ^3; Ploughman §1,50: Driver 50 els. 



Fourth premium to Silas Dudley-^Plough 

 §2; Ploughman §1. 



N. B. The Trustees afterwards awarded 

 full premiums, instead of half premiums, as 

 recommended by the Committee. 

 Per order. 



JOSEPH THAYER, Chairman. 



From the American Farmer. 

 Mr. Orton, surgeon, 34th regiment, has ex- 

 plained the cause of fowls dying so often on 

 ship-board. It is want of sharp cornered grav- 

 el to triturate corn in the gizzard. This he 

 discovered by dissecting one of the dead fowls. 

 — " The noxt step was to take advantage of the 

 information thus gained ; but the maxim that 

 ' knowledge is power,' seemed likely to meet 

 with an excej)tion in this instance ; for we 

 were many hundred miles from land, and there 

 appeared little chance of finding any substitute 

 lor proper gravel on board the ship. Inquiries 

 were made for a stone, by which the experi- 

 ment might be made with a few of the fowls; 

 and it was soon found that abundance of a rock, 

 resembling granite, had been taken on board as 

 ballast at St. Helena. A quantity of this was 

 immediately broken up into pieces, about the 

 size pf split peas, and given to the poultry- 



ic: 



They swallowed it eagerly. The sick birds 

 were collected, and a r|nanlily of the sperif.'. 

 placed before each; and Ibnir.'h m(>sf of ihein 

 were unable to stand, they devound it wilh 

 eagerness, several in quantities of a table-spoon 

 ful each. They all recovered oxcopt one. In 

 short the ninrlality from that (itne cnlirely 

 ceased, and the remainin^r poultry (by far llie 

 principal part,) instead of dying, became exces- 

 sively fat. Fowl«, when allowed to run about, 

 are observed to be very nice in selecting tho 

 pieces of stone v Iiich they swallow. In many 

 of those which I dissected, I found pieces of 

 broken earthenware, chosen doubtless on account 

 of their sharp edges. 1 would recommend hiU'l 

 stonea to be laid in for fowls on board shiji, and 

 broken up, instead of natural gravel, which is 

 commonly more or less rounded. River or sea 

 sand, or gravel, is evidently useless." 



A Bear Story. — Lemuel Martin, Esq. of Sulli- 

 van county, informs me, that on the 27fh ul!. 

 Mr. William Fisk and his son, while hunting, in 

 the town of Rockland, in that county, discover- 

 ed the track of three bears. i\hichthey pursuer! 

 about three miles to a don. They urged their 

 dog, but in vain, to enter and attack the t'cro- 

 cious beasts. It being near night a fire, was 

 built up and they watched until next morning, 

 when they collected a number of their neigh- 

 bors, and about twenty dogs, three only of which 

 had courage to enter and attack the bears ; and 

 after a serious fight, two cubs presented them- 

 selves at the mouth of the den and were shot, 

 while the old bear kept possession of her fastness. 

 The dog? satisfied with their partial conquest, 

 could not be prevailed on to renew the fight, 

 Mr. Fisk got his Green Blountain spunk up, and 

 determined not to give up the victory. He ac- 

 cordingly assisted by Blr. William Gray, with a 

 light, entered the cave crawling more than dfly 

 feet, discovered the glaring eyes, and heard 

 the threatening and gnashing of the teeth of 

 his potent adversary — he discharged two rifles, 

 the smoke drove them from the cave. On 

 entering afterwards, they discovered that 

 their adversary had expired, and they drew 

 from the cave {sixty feet) an enormous she bear. 



Tlie Himlaya Ridge. — A long paper in the 

 Asiatic Researches, vol. 15(h. by Messrs. Hud- 

 geon and Herbert, gives the height of a num- 

 ber of the snowy peaks of the Himlaya ridge 

 of mountains, from a survey — from which it ap- 

 pears that the highest of these peaks has an ele- 

 vation of 35,589 feet, or 4 m. and 3 qrs. This 

 is 3 qrs. of a mile greater than the height ofChim- 

 borazo, the most elevated of the Andes. 



The following curious circumstance is stated in the 

 Farmer's Journal : — A farmer bought about thirty pigs, 

 and immediately put them all up toget pork. Their 

 food was boiled potatoes. In a short time a distemper 

 appeared among them, and about twenty died. 1 he 

 potatoes given to the pigs belonged to a crop of ten a- 

 cres on light land ; and in harvesting them, a great 

 many which had been long exposed to the sun, and 

 weather, were of course, thrown aside for pig food. — 

 Potatoes so exposed acquire a poisonous quality, the 

 upper side turning green, and having all the appear- 

 ance and taste of greeri copperas — that is, the oxide of 

 iron ; the potatoe contaius a portion of iron in solution, 

 which attracts the oxygen of the atmosphere. The 

 potatoes in the retail shops in London are much injur- 

 ed by lying long in the light air : so that where tlie 

 sale is slow, they are at least unpalatable and um- 

 wUolesome. 



