AND HORTICULTURAL REGISTER. 



^ 



PUULISHED BY JOSEPH BRECK & CO., NO. 52 NORTH MARKET STREET, (AaRicuLTORAt Wabehouse.j-ALLEN PUTNAM, EDltOU. 



VOI..X.\I.] 



BOSTON, WEDNESDAY EVENING, DECEMBER 21, 1842. 



[NO. 8S. 



N. E. FARMER. 



HOUSEHOLD PRODUCTS. 



At tlie Rensselaer County (N. V.) Aofricultnral 

 •"air, the cnniniittee on Household Products made 

 he tbllmving report: 



The undersigned committee to whom was re- 

 brrcd the subject of household products, report 

 hat tlioy have given this important subject all due 

 :onsidoration. Highlj' gratified by the many neat, 

 iseful and substantial articles submitted to their 

 nspcction, they have been led to desire more 

 tron^ly ^'''"' ever, that domestic manufactures may 

 le increased and presented at the next Fair, in 

 till greater niimber and variety. 



Tlie farmer who would enjoy comfort and plenty, 

 nust have more to sell than he needs to buy ; in- 

 lulgiug in lu.xuries only when they can be pur- 

 liascil by t!ie surplus produce of the farm after his 

 lecessary wants have been supplied. That this 

 xtra siipplv can be secured to him by moderate 

 ndustry skilfully applied, ought not to be doubted. 



Water power was first applied to the spinning 

 f cotton in 1S04. Prior to that time, a large part 

 four cloli.es were household manufactures. Many 

 hen thought the nation would be ruined by so se- 

 ioui an interruption of spinning and weaving, but 

 he s[iirit of invention and enterprise which distin- 

 ■uish our country and the age, has originated other 

 pheres for the exertion of skill and the display of 

 ndustry in the doinestic circle. And even in re- 

 ard to producttf much cheapened by improvements 

 n machinery and by " divison of labor," in connex- 

 jn with the application of water and steam power 

 herever domestic industry finds no other objects 

 task its skill and energy, it may yet continue to 

 lOVc in its wonted paths, under the full conviction 

 hat every exercise of skill will be duly noticed 

 nd appreciated. 



The manufacture of palm leaf hats and straw 

 lOnnets (even though steatn in its wide-spread ap- 

 dicatinn has reached to them,) yet deserves the at- 

 ention of housewives and their families; and in 

 ther methods which their own ingenuity and good 

 ense will from time to time suggest, they can 

 how their fondness for domestic industry. But 

 ilk culture, in particular, opens before them an ex- 

 ended field for the profitable exercise of their skill 

 ind ti.!ent. The committee were gratified to have 

 vidence that in Rensselaer county this department 

 if domestic labor is receiving attention, and it 

 'ives them pleasure to speak in commendation of 

 he specimens of silk in this branch of industry 

 Thich came under their notice. 



They would fain hope the time is not very far 

 listant when this subject will receive general at- 

 ention — when we shall have orchards of mulberry 

 rees as we now have of apple trees, and when our 

 adies will be dressed in silks of their own manu- 

 acture. It can scarcely be questioned that our 



I and cliinate are both most propitious for the 

 Trowlli of the mulberry — we certainly have skill 

 and industry equal to the enterprise of cultivating 

 the tree, growing the worm, and manufacturing the 



silk. And it is hoped those will soon bo regarded 

 as necessary appendages of a well regulated farm. 

 On this subject the ladies will give us the liberty 

 of addressing to them a few words of special coun- 

 sel. It is in our power to become a great silk 

 growing community, and that such a cunsuuuna- 

 tion is exceedingly desirable, cannot reasonably 

 be doubted. But for seeing this result, we must 

 call to our aid female itijliience—lhe lever that is 

 wielded with such potency lor the, accomplishment 

 of benevolent and useful enterprise. To us it 

 seems the duty and privilege of every mother in 

 the nation to endeavor to call forth and guide the 

 ingenuity of her daughters— giving it such a di- 

 rection that it shall elevate our national character, 

 and by diminishing our dependence on foreign na- 

 tions, form the independence of our own. Are the 

 females of our country inferior in point of taste and 

 invention to those of France? They certainly are 

 not, though tliey vie with each other in their ser- 

 vile dependence on French fashions and finery, to 

 the positive injury of the nation in the consequent 

 extravagant importations of French silks and fancy 

 articles for their use. But would it not be far 

 more independent, noble, and in every respect more 

 becoming, for our fair countrywomen to employ 

 their leisure hours in preparing dresses from mate- 

 rials of domestic growth and manufacture, after 

 patterns harmonizing with their own refined tastes, 

 and better suited to our climate than those of the 

 French ? 



Let the ladies then adopt the position that grow- 

 ing and reeling of silk must become a prominent 

 object of household industry. Let them employ 

 their influence with their husbands and brothers, to 

 procure and set out the mulberry before the next 

 county Fair, and themselves, as soon as possible, 

 begin the work of growing the silk. No work 

 could be more appropriate for them than this, as it 

 is periodical, and allows of long intervals of rest, 

 and the reeliug is an employment at once easy, so- 

 cial, and accordant with feminine fingers and habits. 

 If information be needed as to the required process, 

 procure "Dennis's Silk Manual," and it will be ob- 

 tained. 



Labor bestowed on the silk culture certainly will 

 not be in vain, for no department of agricultural 

 labor yields more ample remuneration than this. 

 And now will not the ladies take this department 

 of useful effort and ingenuity under their own spe- 

 cial patronage and supervision ? Could your com- 

 mittee obtain from them a pledge of their general 

 and hearty co-operation, theirs would be the pleas- 

 ing confidence that the business of silk growing 

 would at once receive an impulse that must secure 

 its extended and successful prosecution, and the 

 ladies would weave for themselves fresh chaplets 

 of honor by thus contributing to place our beloved 

 country upon a loftier eminence of national inde- 

 pendence and glory. 



All which is respectfully submitted. 



ALEXANDER WALSH, 

 Chairman of CommUtee, 



" A death.bed is a detector of the heart." 



SCIENTIFIC PLOWING MATCHES. 



The various professions and occupations in life 

 take rank from their intellectual, rather than their 

 physical chnrnctcr. The most menial employment 

 becomes interesting and honorable in proportion to 

 the science and intellectual etfort required for ifc 

 prosecution. Hence tho.^e professions which, by 

 reason of their intellectual nature, are called learn- 

 ed, have been esteemed the most honorable. The 

 estimation in which agriculture has been held, and 

 the manner in which it has been pursued in this 

 country, have characterized it as a pursuit that re- 

 quired neither science nor intelligence. And the 

 idea of educating or disciplining the mind of a 

 youth to qualify him for that employment, is con- 

 sidered as preposterous, as time and money lost, as 

 worse than useless. The consequence is, that ag- 

 riculturists have not sustained their due share of 

 influence in legislation or other concerns of the 

 country. But the late advancements in science ap- 

 plicable to this pursuit, and the numerous and 

 cheap publications constantly issuing from the press, 

 filled with the most interesting communications, 

 and with every useful improvement, seem to indi- 

 cate a speedy restoration to its appropriate work 

 in our country. 



Wc have been led to these reflections from no- 

 ticing the deep interest e.xcited, and the spirit of 

 improvement which has been awakened, by the nu- 

 merous Plowing Matches which have just been 

 held throughout the Northern, some of the Middle, 

 and the Western States. However interesting 

 these Fairs, Cattle Shows, and other agricultural 

 exhibitions have been, no part of them has fur- 

 nished higher gratification, or excited deeper inte- 

 rest, than the Plowing Match. It has uniformly 

 constituted the centre of attraction ; and in many 

 instances its influence has reached the drawing 

 rooms ofthe fair sex, thousands of whom have man- 

 ifested their cheering approbation by their presence. 

 The well-disciplined teams — the athletic and skill- 

 ful plowmen — the greatly improved scientific for- 

 mation of the plow itself, and the elegant process 

 which altogether performed, was an exhibition of 

 physical, mechanical, and intellectual eflx)rt, in com- 

 petition, in which the most refined and delicate 

 minds, even of the fair, find much to attract and 

 delight. It is the application of science, the trial 

 of skill, and the effurt of physical power, combined 

 in honor of that employment which gives suste- 

 nance to the world, that makes the whole operation 

 so deeply interesting. And when our Southern 

 brethren shall have literally entered the field in this 

 noble employment, and taken the plow in hand, 

 then, and not till then, may they have ftles of skill 

 that will throw around the plow and the plowman, 

 attractions which even their fair ones cannot resist. 

 Then will their emigration receive a check, and 

 then will agriculture be honored and have its ap- 

 propriate rank and influence throughout our Repub- 

 lic. — Conn. Far. Gaz. 



If a woman would have the world respect her 

 husband, she must set the example. 



