382 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



Aug. 



the necessaries of life, thereby compelling the many 

 to pay exorbitant prices for the benefit of a few. 

 Every person must see how much better it is that 

 steady anil remunerative prices should rule, and 

 that tlie money should be paid to our own people, 

 than it is for Uuctuating prices to prevail, and 

 the money sent out in tlic country. We trust 

 that we have reached a point where the necessity 

 of relying upon others for flour has ceased. — 

 CaUforma Exchange. 



For the New England Farnur. 



AGEICULTURE IN SCHOOLS. 



!Mr. Editou ; — Among all the schools that so 

 abound in our land, is it not strange that we have 

 no well supported agricultural school? Law and 

 medi^^iue, theology, and science, have abundant 

 provision made for thorn, but the business upon 

 which all the rest depend, and which employ's the 

 vast majority of our people, has no school. Some 

 have been started and have failed. Our agricul- 

 tural departments in our colleges accomplish bat 

 little, and in our scientific scliools, less. Either ag- 

 griculture does not need schools, or the right kind 

 have not yet l^een devised. 



F.iruiing is an art, and the demand is for practi- 

 cal instruction in the art. IMost have attemjited 

 to make a science of it, and teach only that. Tlie 

 sciences lie at the basis of the art, as they do at 

 the basis of medicine, and much in the same way. 



Besides, such schools ought not to be connected 

 with colleges. Tlierecanat present be little sym- 

 jiathy between the students; and the student of 

 Latin and Greek looks with disdain on farming. 

 Jledical schools do ilot flourish as well when con- 

 nected with colleges as when by themselves, for 

 the same reasons. An agricultural school-should 

 be by itself. 



Young men cannot yet spend years in going 

 through courses of practical cliemistry. They will 

 not use it on the farm ; nor can the medical stu- 

 dent. Both wan ty'flc/s audp/v'/z(//)/c5 that they can 

 apply every day. 



Nor can they spend years on a model farm, 

 though this would be of much more benefit. Such 

 a course miglit be necessary for city-bred young 

 men, who should take a fancy to farming, and 

 who, with the good lady, might suppose a man 

 could plow with a cart in default of a plow ; but 

 young men who have the good fortune to be born 

 and brougiit up on a farm, as I have had, and a 

 good fortune I deem it, too, and who have been 

 made as familiar witli the hoe and rake as with 

 A,B, C, feel as if they could apply facts and 

 principics if they had them. 



And now what schools do they want? Perhaps 

 just such schools as medical men wanted fifty 

 years ago, and which tliey now liavc. A course 

 of lectures from practical men, in a practical form, 

 on the principles and facts of the sciences which 

 lie at ttie basis of farming. Facts and principles 

 which the young man could gather up and carry 

 home and apply to his own farm, just as tlie phy- 

 sician would apply wliat he learned to his pa- 

 tients. Such a course uiii^hl (miout. remember) 

 consist lectures upon chemistry in its bearings on 

 farming — entomology and botaiw, do., animal and 

 vegetable physiology, do., the diseases of domestic 

 animals — ^just think how they are abused wlien 

 sick ! — or practical agriculture. J^ow if these could 



be put up in the course of two or three months, 

 would it not pay a young farmer to obtain them? 



Now it is doubtful whether such a plan can be 

 adopted at once. But a beginning ought to be 

 made. 



We have an Academy builtona laige scale with 

 the necessary apparatus for a part of this course. 

 It was got \\\s hy the farmers in hopes sometin>e 

 to reap some benefit from it for their business. 

 There is some disposition on the part of the found- 

 ers of it, to press the matter forward, and hy way 

 for al)eginning, we shall secure as full a course on 

 the above topJtsas we can duriug the ensuing fall 

 term, beginning the last part of August. A course 

 of lectures covering a part of the ground v.ill be 

 given by the principal at any rate, and if encour- 

 agement enough is given an attempt will be made 

 to obtain the assistance of other men of skill in 

 the several departments. If this effort is prop- 

 erly encouraged, preparation will be made for a 

 fuller course in the spring. The course this fall 

 will be in connection with the usual academic 

 course. 



Now, Mr. Editor, wc feel like claiming a liLtle 

 encouragement from farmers for this undertaking. 

 We also think we can invite farmers, and those 

 who are not,wIiether they wish to make their cliil- 

 dren farmers or not, to patronize our school, since 

 we liave everytliing — a beautiful, (and if j'ou have 

 been here.) you know how beautiful and quiet a 

 village, new, large and commodious Iniildings, am- 

 ple board of teachers and thorough instruction, 

 and at as low price as can bo found elsewhere. 

 Yours truly, 



L N. Nutting, A. M., M. D. 



Orford, N. H., July 5, 1851. 



Remarks. — We have been at Orford, and found 

 the village among the pleasantest in Nev.- Hamp- 

 shire. It is encouraging to find here and there a 

 proper appreciation of the wants of the great 

 art, and a determination to supply them. We 

 hope your exertions will be crowned with the 

 most abundant success. 



For the New England Farmer. 



MAKING AND PEESERVING BUTTER. 



Every thing should be kept clean tliat has any- 

 thing to do about making butter- The cows (if 

 tied in the barn) may be put on a floor over a cel- 

 lar. The floor should have three planks from ten 

 inches to a foot wide, so laid, that the middle 

 plank may be where the cow's hind feet naturally 

 stand. These plank should be fastened one inch 

 apart so that all the liquid may pass down 

 through the cracks into the cellar. That is, just 

 a single floor with cracks wide enough to let the 

 wafer all pass directly into the cellar. Then clean 

 the floor in the morning, and (in the summer) it 

 will be dry at night. I have practised this a 

 number of years, and my cows are cleaner than 

 wlien tliey used to lie in the yard. With clean 

 pails take tlie milk, set it in pans in a cool airy- 

 place where it can stand forty-eight hours with- 

 out being sour. Then take off the cream, and 

 when a sufficient quantity is gathered, churn it, 

 which should be as often as once a week. When 

 ib is brought to butter, draw off the butter-milk ; 

 then pour cold water with the butter, and stir the 



