62 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER, 



AND HORTICULTUKAL RE6I3TKR. 



■ Boston, Wednesday, August 24, 1842. 



TO THE EDITOR OF THE BOSTON CULTI- 

 VATOR. 



Reply — Some Explanations, and a Confession nf IVrong 

 We were prepared for an article of strong reproiif 

 from the eililor of the Dosloti Cultivator ; — our remarks 

 last week we supposed would draw such an one from 

 him. This article is severe upon us. But it was not 

 unproked. Before his ariicle appeared, we regretted 

 what we had done. 



At the head of the article is quoted this ttwt of scrip- 

 ture — "God, I thank thee lliat 1 am not as other men 

 are,"&c.; — and then after alluding tn our former pi o- 

 fession — that of the ministry — the editor says that our 

 article reminds him of the self-righteous Pharisee. To 

 the implied chargo of hypocricy, we have merely to say, 

 thfit it is difficult for man to know certainly the charac- 

 ter of the motive which influences a fellow man to per- 

 form a particular deed or to utter a particular sentiment. 

 Such questions can be determined with unerring ju.vtice, 

 only at the bar of the Searcher of Hoaris. And not- 

 withstanding the implied charge of insinri-rity in our 

 call upon the God of Truth, we humbly thought whtn 

 we made it, that we were sincere. And we strive lo 

 remember h.ibitually, that we must appear and answer 

 for our deeds at the dread tribunal of one who will not 

 be mocked. If we are charged with failing to come up 

 to the rsjquirements of the perfect laws of our Moral 

 Governor and Judge, we niu.-t humbly plead guilty to 

 that charge. 



Our article last week was written, as we said, in a 

 sorrowful spirit. It bore hard upon che editor of the 

 Cultivator; — we now know, too hard. We will not say 

 that we took a wise or a kind cour.-e — but we can say 

 that we had no wish to harm the writer of that article, 

 but only to put a stop to charges against us which we 

 felt to be unjust and uncalled for; — wo were unwi^e, 

 unkind and unjust in our mode of trying lo accomplish 

 our purpose. V^e can say to the writer of that article, 

 that we have never regarded our position in reference to 

 him as thiii of" an opponent" — and that while we read 

 portions of his paper, it has never been our habit to look 

 through the paper with caro. Many of its articles we 

 do not read, and we have not the slightest remembrance 

 of having seen there the one to which he alludes. That 

 he has given some valuable statistical articles that would 

 be useful to politicians and lawmakers, we have never 

 doubted ; but our leading purpose as editor is, lo give in- 

 struction lo [he farmer that will be useful lo him in the 

 field, and not as a politician or statesman. Tliis latter 

 work more properly belongs to ilie conductors of politi- 

 Ciil journals. We, however, have occasionally slept 

 aside from our usual course. If at such limrs we have 

 never taken any article fro n the Cultivator, it has been 

 because such ot them as we happened lo read, have not 

 suited our purpose. If charged vvilh being prejudiced in 

 our judgment, we shall ttol claim exemption from the 

 common frailly of prejudice, and shall not deny that 

 prejudice may be among tlio causes why we do not set 

 as high a value upon the contents of the Cultivator as 

 many others do. 



While we allow the value of some statistical articles 

 to lawmakers, we honestly have dili'ered in opinion 

 from the editor in very many of his positions and in 

 much of his reasoning. We called them baneful, and 

 have thought ihem s". Such a st:iteiiieiil implies no 



AI' 6. 94,1843 



impeachment of motive, and no charge upon the charac 

 ler, but only a difference of opinion. 



" Why did you commence a controversy with us two 

 or three months after we took charge of the Cultivator, 

 and accuse us of holding mercenary opinions?" This 

 question is put to us. In reply, we say, we wrote an 

 article upon plows, in which we stated, as nearly as we 

 remember, that the New England Farmer was owned 

 by the agents for selling Howard's plows, and that 

 Messrs. Prouty & Mears, it was understood, had been, 

 or were interested in the Boston Cultivator. We stated 

 this for the express purpose of letting the public know 

 the simple facts, so that they might, if there was reason 

 for it, let the facts influence them in forming a judgment 

 of the worth of our opinion, and of the opinions of oth- 

 ejs in regard to the several plows. We no more brought 

 a charge of mercenary motives against the editor of the 

 Cultivator than we did against ourself, and to bring an 

 injurious charge against ourself, certainly we had no de- 

 sign. The article bore as hard upon ourself ns any one ; 

 and we were never more surprised by any communica- 

 tion in print, than by the Cultivator's reply to our arti- 

 cle then. We neither designed nor expected controver- 

 sy. And when we saw the article in the Cultivator, 

 ihough it contained charges or implications against us 

 which a few facts might have shown to be unfounded ; 

 yet such was our unwillingness to enter into controver- 

 sy, that we chose lo bear the charges in silence, hoping 

 Ihat there would be an end of every thing like conflict. 

 In regard to the editor's call upon us to come on with 

 our proofs, we have had a struggle. It is hard to back 

 out where any thing like a threat is off"ered. But we 

 are in the wrong. 



We have no reason to suppose that we could estab- 

 lish any overt acts agrnnst the editor of the Cultivator, 

 or that he has been guilty of any such acts as would fix 

 a deep and indelible slain upon him, if all his deeds 

 were brought to light. And yet we see now that we 

 reason for the inference among those who knew 

 him not, that sucli might be the case. We did not de- 

 ■gn any thing approaching that. We have done him 

 wrong. We did design to express our want of sympa- 

 thy wiih his course, our want of confidence, and our 

 unwillingness to be intimately associated with him. 

 But even this was wrong. We should have kept it pri- 

 vate, or liave communicated it in a less public way. 

 We felt hurt at his article, and in our sorrow spoke as 

 we ought not to have spoken. Could we recal the pub- 

 hciiy of our feelings, we would gladly do it. And on 

 this point, we beg our readers lo think, with the Editor 

 of Ihe Cultivator, thai our opinions are not worth a straw. 

 We bog Mr Merriam's forgiveness for the wrong we 

 have done him-and hope, also, that we sincerely ask 

 forgiveness of heaven for the yielding so blindly to our 

 feelings o( sorrow, perhaps mingled with sinful resent- 

 ment of which we were not conscious. 



Our readers, we trust, will pardon us for taking fo 

 much space in trying to right the wrong w.e have done 

 In future we hope to be able lo avoid occasion for any 

 tliingof the kind. 



ANOTHER LABORER. 

 We find on our table the first number of the Beik- 

 shn-e farmer, published at Pitisfield, Mass. William 

 Bacon is ihe editor. We presume that he is the W. B., 

 of Mount Osceola, whose communications were once 

 frequent m the columns of the New England Fanner. 

 We wish him success The paper is to appear monthly. 

 Price 50 cts per year. 



MEMORANDA. 



The week before last, we spent a pleasant hour wit. 

 Hon. Daniel P. King, of Danvers, in walking over hi 

 farm. On his premises we met with various crops an 

 operations that are not common in this vicinity. Mille 

 sowed in the spring failed to grow : sowed in June i 

 became luxuriant : sowed July 12, on land from whici 

 a crop of hay was taken this season, it looks vigorous 

 and gives promise of a good result. The fads indicat 

 that it is decidedly a summer plant, and will not grov 

 well if sowed in the spring. 



Oats and peas together, 1 1.2 bush, of oats and 2 bush 

 of peas per acre of seed, for a crop when seeding dowi 

 to grass, though common in the interior, is iinusua 

 along the sea-board. Mr King has tried it, with appa 

 rently profitable results. The crop he describes as liav 

 ing been large, and the grass speaks for itself, and muct 

 in its own praise. 



His winter rye he fed down in May and June, and yei 

 obtained a good crop. Nor is this all— for he sowet 

 grass seed upon the, rye field in March, and let naturt 

 cover it. This grass also looks well, though on lighl 

 land, and this not much enriched by cultivation. 



The manure used upon the farm this season, contain 

 ed a large admixture (three or four hundred per cent.; 

 of muck from the swamp, and yet the crops are very 

 green and flourishing. 



On one piece of land, however, " the fish have eaten 

 up his corn." We have forgotlen what variety of fish 

 he charges with this unseemly deed; but a salted fish 

 and an half, of some kind, in each hill, has certainly 

 made the corn much smaller than it is where no fish 

 have had a chance to feed. These things, and some 

 others which we have not space to notice now, are 

 ' memoranda," because we wish to ask our friend to 

 watch his trials faithfully, and at the proper lime favor 

 us with the results. 



The capital employed in the manufacture of cotton 

 ;oods in Ihe U Stales, is $51,000,000. 



MASS. HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



EXHIBITION OF FRUITS. 



Saturday, Aug. 20, 1842. 



From Samuel Pond — Twentyfive boxr-sof Plums, viz : 

 Isabella, Apricot, While Gage, Bingham, Washinoton 

 Prince's Imperial, and Royal de Tours. The Washing^ 

 ton plums were very large and fine. 



From A. Bowditch— Sweelwaler, Black Hamburg 

 and fronlignac Grapes; Bartlett Pears ; Dwarf Apples. 



From Win. Thomas, Boston — Bolmer's Washington 

 and Italian Damask Plums. 



From Henry Vandine — Cloth of Gold .' and Early 

 Black .' Plums. ' 



From Samuel Walker — Summer Francreal Pear. 



From S. R. Johnson — fine Washington Plum; very 

 superior. 



From Robert Manning — Pears : Muscat of August, 

 Bezi blanc, Elizabeth, Passans du Portugal, Rostiezer, 

 Hoyersworde ; Dodge's Early Red Afiple. 



From J. F. Allen— Black Fig of St. Michael's; Gross 

 Mignonne and Early Royal George Peaches — most su- 

 perbly colored. 



From Mr Bigelow^— fine Rareripe Peaches, open cul- 

 ture. 



From John Low, Chelsea — Prince's Imperial G.-eu 

 Plum, " 



From Otis Johnson — very fine specimens of Early 

 Bough and Red Asiracan Apples. The former of much 

 larger size than what is figured in the Magazine. Pre- 

 sident Peaches. 



From John C. Howard — Yellow Siberian Crab Ap- 

 ple ; Summer Bon Chretien and Callen Pears. 



From George Brown — Bezi blanc Pear. 



From the Public Garden— A dish of ilie fruit of Passi- 

 flora edulis. 



For the Committee, 



JOSEPH BRECK. 



A letter from Meniz says that whole villages, rich as 

 well as poor, are emigrating from Germany to North 

 America. 



