1854. 



NEW ENGLAND FAKMEIR. 



415 



them adhered to the stalks, and healed up andad- 

 peared green, and remained stationary through 

 the first and second seasons and the present sea- 

 son have sent out some very feeble shoots, show- 

 ing that the bark will peel before the buds are old 

 enough to terminate. A Subscriber. 



ATTEND THE FAIRS. 



The order of these anniversaries is as follows : 



Rockingham County, at Exeter September 13 and 14. 



Grafton County, at Lyme September 21 and 22. 



Sullivan County Not determined. 



Cheshire County, at Keene September 26 and 27. ' 



Merrimack County, at Fisherville.... September 27 and 28. 



Hillsboro' County, at Nashua September 23 and 29. 



State, at Kecne .....October 3 and G. 



Now we have a few words to say in this connec- 

 tion relative to attending these anniversaries. One 

 object of Fairs, and perhaps we may say the great 

 object, is to afford an opportunity for all present 

 to witness the product of the farmer's skill and 

 toil — to see what cattle he rears, what grain he 

 produces, what fabrics are manufactured beneath 

 his roofs — that all may learn his method of man- 

 agement and Ije benefited thereby. The exhibitor 

 himself is not the only one to be profited by pre- 

 senting his stock, his dairy products and his do- 

 mestic manufactures. To be sure, competition 

 may arouse his ambition and induce him to make 

 more vigorous efix)rts. But the real benefit to be 

 gained is l)y comparing his own with similar arti- 

 cles presented by others. 



But I have nothing to present, says one ; why 

 need I attend? For the very reason which you 

 would assign for not attending. When you have 

 made up your mind to attend the Fair for the sake 

 of learning, you have already done much — you 

 have "conquered your prejudices." You go with 

 an honest motive. You pi\ss around from yard to 

 yard among the cattle — ^you examine the horses, 

 the sheep, the swine — you pass through the dairy 

 hall — see the butter and cheese ; near by you find 

 an abundance of fruit and of garden vegetables ; 

 you cannot pass over the countless articles con- 

 tributed from the female portion of the farmer's 

 household. You see more than you imagined joux 

 little county produced. Y^ou find much to admire 

 — much to inspire you with a determination to ex- 

 ert more power and apply yourself more earnestly 

 to your products in future. But as you pass 

 along you behold manifold objects far less deserv- 

 ing than those i^roduced by your own hands ; you 

 are satisfied that it is so, and your modesty will 

 not prevent you from declaring it. The next year 

 you too are a competitor, and most likely a suc- 

 cessful one. Your whole family are interested in 

 the Fair, 



You have reaped a benefit unexpectedly. But 

 this is not all, you make fifty acquaintances, you 

 talk of your common products, you learn new 

 methods of cultivation, you acquire more new 

 thoughts than you before supposed your mind ca- 

 pable of containing, and if you are wise, you will 

 put some of them into practical operation as soon 

 as you have an opportunity. From these you 

 will make new ac([uisitions, and in time you will 

 gain another benefit, where you anticipated noth- 

 ing at the beginning. , . .,, 



'^^ , ° ? .^. «..„ ,,oin;uis wnich will 



arise to yourself and your children — attend your 

 County Fairs ; and when a farmer has spent one 



day in examining the best stock in his own coun- 

 ty, and found, as he unquestionably will, better 

 animals than he expected, he has prepared his 

 mind to extend his observations still further. He 

 desires to know if other counties can do as well. 

 The information he has gained at one exhibition 

 will be doubled at a second, and increased in a 

 three- fold ratio at a third or a fourth. It is im- 

 possible for a man to go with open eyes, to a 

 County exhibition, away from his own neigbor- 

 hood, without acquiring new facts, and gaining 

 some information in relation to his daily labors. 



The same is true, only in a greater degree, in 

 regard to the State shows. Here he will obtain a 

 sort of summary of the whole, a condensation and 

 review of the subject matter which has been before 

 him . 



We would therefore advise farmers to attend 

 all the Fairs in the State, so far as it is possible. 

 Go and make comparisons for your own good and 

 for the common benefit of those who labor with you. 



Societies should take pains to send delegates, 

 and have reports published concerning kindred 

 associations, and we hope this fall, as our Fairs 

 are so well arranged, to see delegates sent from 

 every society to every other, and to read from 

 those delegates full reports of what they witnessed 

 at these exhibitions. — Granite Farmer. 



MACHINERY IN FARMING-ITS AB- 

 SOLUTE NECESSITY. 



It is not enough that farmers avail themselves 

 of all the advantages which chemistry affords in 

 its application to their art ; it is not enough that 

 they learn how to save as much as possiljle of the 

 manures made on their premises, and the best 

 methods of applying these and also purchased 

 specific manures ; it is not enough that they 

 know at what seasons and to what depths their 

 soils should be cultivated. They must perform 

 as many of the operations of farming by machin- 

 ery, as machinery can be made to perform to ad- 

 vantage. 



There is no other way in which agriculture 

 can keep pace in respectability, pleasure and 

 pi-ofit, with other arts. Without this expedient 

 it will be outstripped by them, and sink steadily 

 in comparative rank. 



By machinery, as we use the word here, we 

 mean all mechanical contrivances which can be 

 substituted for manual labor, and combined with 

 manual labor so as greatly to increase its produc- 

 tiveness. 



And the policy which we recommend includes 

 also animal labor, and as a more powerful co- 

 operator with it. 



So far as a horse or an ox can be made to do 

 the work of five men, the horse ttr the ox earns 

 the net product of five men's labor for tlie em- 

 ployer. If one mm cultivates as unieli corn, and 

 cultivates it well, witli one horse, attacliod to a 

 cultivator, as his ncighlnjr cultivates with ten 

 lioes in tlie hands of toi» men, it is easy to see 

 vvhicli of the two i.s travelling the fastest on the 

 road to wealth. 



So in cutting^graBs,.in ..\lh}»*H';Jrib'iis 'other op- 

 erations of the farm, machines can do the work 

 for a small per centago of the cost of manual la- 

 bor. — M'Makins Courier. 



