PRACTICAL FARMER 



37 



Extract from the Message of Governor Hill to the Legis 

 lature of New Hampshire. 

 '' There is no pursuit that tends more directly 

 to the independence and happiness of tlie people 

 than agriculture. More productive 'as it is more 

 necessary than any other, it is a matter of gratifi- 

 cation and pride that it is a calling scarcely less 

 reputable than that requiring the highest order 

 and severest ap|ilication of intellect. The most 

 intelligent and most meritorious citizens are of 

 those who labor witli their own hands in agricul- 

 tural pursuits. Of such men it is safe to make 

 not only legislators to frame our laws, but mag'is- 

 rates to execute them. As agriculture has risen 

 in estimation, so have our farmers increased iu 

 wealth and all the means of independence. In 

 the westerly part of the State especially, of late 

 years, the rearing of sheep and the production of 

 wool has come in aid of other objects yielding 

 ready money and often an unexpected profit. — 

 One new subj;ct of enterprise succeeds another ; 

 although in a rougher soil and a severer climate, 

 the time may arrive when wool to New England 

 shall be as im])ortiint a staple as the wheat of the 

 Middle, or the cotton of the Southern States. 



The public attention has recently been drawn 

 to the culture of the mull erry, the raising of silk 

 -worms, and the production of silk. That this im- 

 portant item of consumption and of traflic maybe 

 produced in tlie United States as extensively as in 

 anycountry of the woi'ld, will not be disputed. 

 The late changes of the tariff bring the bulk of ar- 

 ticles of which silk is composed or is a compo- 

 nent part, into the country free of duty ; and from 

 tins cause it is extensively taking the place of the 

 finer cottons and woollens. The value of import- 

 ed silks into the United States for home consump- 

 tion during the year 1835, according to the custom 

 house returns, was nearly sixteen millions of dol- 

 lars. The introduction of the article free of duty, 

 instead of discouraging, seems to have given an 

 increased impetus to preiiarations for planting the 

 mulberry and hereafter extending the production 

 and manufacture of silk. It remains to be tested 

 whether tlie soil of our State shall be well adapted 

 to the mulberry cultivation. Nothing yet ap])ears 

 to discourage the undertaking ; and as the mul- 

 berry orchards may be planted without the invest- 

 ment of a large capital, it might be useful to afford 

 legislative countenance to such towns from the 

 State as already, or may hereafter possess farms 

 employed in support of the poor, in the cultiva- 

 tion of the mulberry, as would fully test the fact 

 of the adaptation of this climate to the jiroduction 

 of silk. As silk is deprived of what has been 

 called the protection of the general government, 

 it might not be invidious if the State should ex- 

 ceptsuch land as is actually employed in raising 

 the mulberry from taxation until the orchard shall 

 become productive." 



The Wheat Crop. — Some of the Southern 

 papers make loud complaints of the failure of the 

 wheat crop. The Richmond Whig of the 15th 

 instant, says of the crop of wheat throughout the 

 State, that, — 



'' What the hard winter left, the fly had nearly 

 extirpated. The small remainder spared by the 

 Hessians, is now consumed by the rust, the effect 

 of near tliree weeks unintermitted rain. In addi- 

 tion to the assaults of the frost, the fly, the cheat, 

 the rust, the strut, and Heaven knows what foes 

 besides, James River and other streams have been 

 visited by a fresh, the greatest for twentytwo years. 

 This has left the wheat fields within its influence 



uuworlh^ of lilt; si:^tlit;. The fuiliue uf tlie 



wheat 'crop has become so common, so invariable 

 indeed, in middle Virginia, that it is probable ag- 

 riculture in that region will undergo another 

 revolution." 



The Newark Daily Advertiser says that in the 

 lower part of Sussex county in New Jersey, the 

 Fly has nearly destroyed what little prospect of 

 grain was left by the severity of the winter. Sim- 

 ilar complaints were received from the county of 

 Warren. But in Essex, Bergen, Monmouth and 

 Somerset counties, the fields look "passably well." 



Table Covers. — The Shakers of Lebanon, N. 

 H. are engaged in the manufacture of an article 

 for table covers which resembles oil-cloth, but 

 has many advantages over it, inasmuch as it is 

 perfectly pliable, and will double as readily as 

 linen cloth. It is made of common sheeting, 

 painted with gum elastic and other ingredients, 

 in a very tasteful manner, with borders of gar- 

 hinds, wreaths and vines, presenting an unique 

 and very handsome appearance. — Times. 



Bunker Hill Monument. — A writer for the 

 Salem Landmark suggests the -following plan for 

 completing that edifice: "I propose, at each cel- 

 ebration in New England, on the approaching an- 

 niversary, when the usual toast is given ' to the 

 heroes of Bunker Hill,' that a plate should be 

 handed round after it is drank in pure sparkling 

 spring water, and' that collections be made for the 

 monument which' Stands on this hill, and that all 

 be incited to contribute to it, but in no instance, 

 over one dollar. The suras so collected to be trans- 

 mitted by the Presidents of the day to the Presi- 

 dent of the Bunker Hill Monument Association, in 

 Boston, who will acknowledge the sums in his 

 paper. Thus shall we know that we are the wor- 

 thy descendants of the noble band who dared to 

 resist the tyrants, and who r.re worthy of the lib- 

 erty whicii was bequeathed to them by their 

 fathers, and even by themselves, over a. degrading 

 and debasing appetite." 



