246 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER, 



FEB. 1,1843. 



AND HORTICULTURAL REGISTER. 



Boston, Wednesday, February 1, 1843. 



SECOND AGRICULTURAL MEETING AT THE 

 STATE HOUSE. 



Mr Merri;im, committee to infi)rm Mr King of his 

 election as President, announced that that gentleman 

 accepted tlie office. Mr Merriam was gralififid that at 

 these farmers' meetings we had gentlemen to preside 

 over us, of so much eminence and respectability. He 

 paid a compliment to each. 



Mr King, upon taking the chair, thanked the gentle- 

 men for tlie honor they had done him. His ordinary 

 duties in that chair [he is Speaker of the House. — Re- 

 porter.^ placed him, in the language wf one of his most 

 distinguished predecessors, upon "a thorny eminence." 

 But when there surrounded hy farmcTS, his duties would 

 be pleasafit. The profession of agriculture needs no eu- 

 logy : if it did, this was not the time to pronounce it. 

 Our object is to confer together for promoting the inte- 

 rests of agriculture. We have come to compare notes. 

 The wisdom of the world is the experience of the world. 

 The farmers here had Started the plow in a wide field — 

 (he wished they had a better driver.) Ho would say, 

 " Speed the Plow." 



Mr Merri.im said, that we as a body of farmers, here 

 hold an ex.''lled position, and it is very desirable tliat the 

 " reports" of our doings which are sent abroad through 

 the press, should be of a grave practical character. But 

 the reports of the last meeting, as given in some of the 

 papers, were calculated to bring us into disrepute or ex- 

 pose us to ridicule. In the Boston Cultivator, the re- 

 port holds us up as any thing but respectable. The re- 

 port in the Boston Traveller, (and these two are all that 

 he had seen,) is tolerably good. He did not bring any 

 charge against the official reporters. But he tlioughl it 

 might be well to have some one experienced reporter, 

 and named Mr Porter, Editor of the Traveller, as a good 

 man for the purpose. He made no motion. 



Mr Buckminster said that his chief business at the 

 meetings is to report ; — he does not come to talk. If his 

 main object were to talk, he might like to have some 

 one else to repurt what he said. He hoped he should 

 not be debarred the privilege of reporting in his o«n pa- 

 per. 



Then the regular subject for the evening—" The 

 Raising of Farm Stock" — viras taken up. 



Col. Jaques was invited by the chair to speak. He 

 came, he said, to hear and not to talk, and was unwilling 

 to commence the discussion. 



Mr Buckminster did not mean to say much, for ho 

 was talking every week through his paper, and his 

 thoughts would be but a repetitinn of wliat ho was con- 

 stantly giving elsewhere. He would, however, "ive 

 gome of his wild, odd notions, thinking they might 

 bring on debate. He is in favor of native stock for the 

 dairy. They are better than the Durhams. He does 

 not think it well for common farmers to p.ny high prices 

 for foreign breeds. The Furhams mny do for beef, and 

 for the West, but for the dairy here in Massachusetts, 

 they are not good. 



Mr Merriam would comply with n request from the 

 committee that hu should say something. Every far- 

 mer should have some one distinct breed. This is im- 

 portant witli liim who raises stock for market — espe- 

 cially for him who rai.ses oxen f U' sale. In this way 

 only can hv. cvpect to have his iinimals well mated — and 

 a well mated p;iir of oxen will bring 2." per cent, more 



than ill-matched ones. This is an important considera- 

 tion. 



We can at 'pleasure breed animals that are alike in 

 most or all points of form, color, temper, &c., if we will 

 only faithfully try. But to succeed, we must know the 

 blood of the animals that we breed from ; we must have 

 that blond pure. As the painter wants that paints 

 should ke pure, before he is ready to mix them for the 

 forming of some given color, so the breeder requires that 

 bloods should be pur'-," before he can mix or cross them 

 so as to obtJiin foreseen results. If your breeding ani- 

 mals have different bloods mixed up in them, you can- 

 not calculate with ally correctness as to the results. In 

 blood, like produces like — not in external appearance al- 

 ways — but in blood. 



The breeder of stock should have a distinct breed — 

 but xchich breed, may depend upon the use to which the 

 stock is destined, or upon the quality of his feed. If he 

 wishes to raise walking oxen, let him take a breed that 

 has good horns, good form, aud that are good walkers 

 with high tempers, or high-spirited. If his feed is short, 

 he should take a small breed. If his pastures are rich, a 

 larger one. But in either case he should have a distinct 

 breed, in order to get with any certainty those that will 

 be well mated. 



The sheep have been altered at will, by crossing, and 

 so it may be with cattle. The creeper sheep, with its 

 short, crooked legs — has by crossing with the long, 

 straight legged, been made to wear the straight leg. 

 And in other points it has been altered and suited to the 

 wishes of the breeder. 



If one wishes to get a race of short horns, let him, as 

 others hare done, breed from a long horn and no horn. 

 Perseverance in this will fix a short horn upon the 

 breed. 



Is color within the breeder's control .' It has been 

 changed again and again in the human family. The In- 

 dian and the negro blood have been run out of some of 

 our families in which it was found in past generations. 

 Is the temper or disposiiion under his control.' The 

 Durhams are very much alike in disposition — and so 

 are the pure Devons. In the human race, dispositions 

 and tendencies to particular diseases, are hereditary. So 

 in the animal races. 



Hon. J. Welles (continued Mr M.) began his opera- 

 tions in breeding long ago. He obtained from Bake- 

 well's stock, but soon found that his stock was get- 

 ting to be nearly wliile. This is not a favorite color 

 here, and tlierefnie Mr W. used two bulls of good blood, 

 but of a more fashionable cidor, and by this means 

 brought his stock to nearly a mahogany color. 



The great point is purity of blood. You want a 

 pair of red steers, and you have a red bull of pure 

 blood and two red cows of the common mixed up race. 

 Is there any certainty, even if you get male calves, that 

 they will be red.' No. To get this certainty you must 

 have the cows too of pure blood. 



There is in the State of Alaine n farm on which the 

 no liorned cattle were kept many years ago. By cro.«s- 

 ing, that blood was so far run out, that for 40 years no 

 hornless animal appeared; but at the end of 40 years, a 

 no horned heifer eaniH from that stock. This shows 

 how long tlie blood may have its influences. .'Similar 

 action of blood is often seen in pigs; for the young arc 

 ficqneiilly unlike either parent, and yet closely resem- 

 ble some ancestor of several generations' remove. If 

 the blood is not pure, you cannot anticipate results. 



Mr M. li.is some of Mr Welles' slock. They are all 

 remarkalde as walkers ; their limbs and legs are straight 

 — they are high spirited. He hasalso another race, very 

 docih", that can hardly be stirred up to vigorous action. 



In England, a farmer would not go out of his own 

 county to purchase stuck — that is, he wishes for stock 

 that has been used to feed similar to what his own farm 

 produces. When taken from richer to poorer pastures, 

 animals seldom do as well as those that arc sulijected to 

 no such change. Tliis is one reason wliy cows that 

 have done remarkably well and gained a great reputa- 

 tion in some favored spot in the country, so often fail to 

 answer the expectations of those who puichase and 

 bring them near to the city. 



Col. Jaques, of Charlestown, spoke upon the subject, 

 and answered the questions of various gentlemen. Col. 

 Sheldon, of Wilmington, also spoke. The remarks of 

 these gentlemen we have no space for this week, but 

 shall give them in our next. 



Subject for discussion next Monday evening — Root 

 Culture. 



HARRIS ON INSECTS. 



We ate glad that Dr. Harris has put out an edition of 

 his work for sale. The extracts we made from his re- 

 port soon after its appearance, have already shown our 

 subscribers the nature and worth of his labors in this 

 important department of science. All firrners are inte- 

 rested in knowing tlie habits of insects injurious to vege- 

 tation, and from Dr. Harris's work they ean get more 

 knowledge on this subject than from any other work. 

 We hope that it will meet with a ready sale, not for the 

 author's srike alone, liut because we think that every 

 cultivator who shall use it, will thence derive highly 

 valuable instruction. 



CARROTS. 



On another page will be found the statement of a crop 

 of carrots raised by a Rliode Island farmer, at the rate of 

 734 bushels an acre. \Vhen we copied the reports of 

 the Worcester .Agricultural Society, a weel; or two ago, 

 we thought the crops small for previium crops in that 

 rich county, and hoped to draw out statements like the 

 one furnished us by our Rhode Island correspondent. 

 In Essex county, we call 500 bushels of carrots per acre, 

 only a fair crop. Why is it that in Plymouth they offer 

 a premium for 300 or 400 only .' 



TO SUBSCRIBERS. 



We have received complaints from subscribers south 

 of Providence, of irregularity in the time of arrival ofi 

 their papers. The fault is not with us. Our paper isi 

 mailed at the same hour each week. 



For the purpose of giving an early report of the dis- -l 

 cussions at the farmers' meetings at the Stale House, 

 we have concluded to delay the mailing of the Farmer' 

 about one day beyond the usual time. The meetings' 

 being held on Monday evenings, renders this course ne- 

 cessary in order that the report may appear in the paper 

 of the same week. 



THE PIONEER. 



We have received the 2d number of this new literaryi 

 periodical. It is edited by J. R. Lowell ruid R. Carter. 

 Its execution is good, and the literary finish of its arti- 

 cles is better than we often see in the periodicals of thei 

 day. 



Ploving in Maine. — The Bangor Whig says that Ezra 

 Ihitchirigs, Esq , of that place, who is in the 7Gth year 

 of his age, held a plow all day on the 14th ult., in plow 

 ing his field with a span of horses; and that a large 

 amount of plowing was done last week in Hermon hwi 

 other towns in that vicinity. 



