PRACTICAL FAME 11 



105 



(From the Plymoiitli County ReyMblican ) 

 REPORT. 

 Mr President and Gentlemcji Trustees, 



The Committee on Improvements appreciate 

 voiir kiiicUies's in placing tiiem in a situation to see 

 the results of experitnont made by our most judi- 



1 enteri'.rising farmers. lr> discharging 



the duty assii^i,,,i ,,p^ we find ourselves ui a school 

 where numerous lessons ran he profitahly review- 

 ed, and where some new ones are present -d, which 

 should not he neglected with that easy and spe- 

 cious apology under which we endeavor to exten- 

 uate the guilt of a multitude of sins, tiiat we are 

 wearing lioary heads and new lesson* lielong not 

 to us, Jt is incumhent on us to receive lessons 

 and present them for the consideration and appli- 

 cation of others. This branch of our duty, it is 

 obvious, cannot easily be as impressively perform- 

 ed as the duty assigned committees in some other 

 departments, wlipirp: tho reeults of c.\{/t:rtmeiiTs are 

 seen. Your pens filled with fattened, beautiful 

 and useful anitnals, shew the skill of farmers in 

 feeding and their judgment in selection. Yonder 

 field, where one of our morning hours passed, 

 I roved how nuich ct're and kindness ctm effect in 

 training oxen to all that is useful in their labor, 

 'j'he curious im|)lements produced by mechanic 

 ingenuity strengthen your hopes that labors will 

 be lightened and facilitated to an extent that will 

 remove all reasonable foundations of avoiding 

 I hem as irksome. The pleasant impressions pro- 

 duced in the hall of the manufactures, are renew- 

 ed as oft'3n as you look up and see many of the 

 delicate hands which wrought those curious arti- 

 cles. 



Our department embraces objects of first im- 

 [)ortance, but we can come before you only with 

 a report of cold descrijitions drawn by a cold ge- 

 nius. Could we give a clear view of the rich grass 

 fields we have traversed and all the prepara- 

 tions we have seen to nourish useful plants, you, 

 Gentlemen, would hope the progress of improve- 

 ment will soon deliver us from the repetition ot 

 an occurrence so disgraceful to an agricultural 

 community and so mortifying to every enlightened 

 citizen as was witnessed the last year in the iiii- 

 |)ortation of English hay from France, ("ould we 

 bring before you the stone walls made for the pro- 

 tection of fie'ds, you would suppos's no animal 

 would attempt to leap them, uiiless you should 

 think of the political aspirant, against whose in- 

 roads there can be no effectual defence but in the 

 presence and vigilance of faithful watchmen. Be- 

 Kides leaping all sorts of fences, the ardent pursuer 

 of place and power not unfrequently contracts 

 another even more vicious habit, one more dan- 

 ger )us to the welfare of society ; they acquire the 

 habit of standing on the fence, gazing into all the 

 fields around them, with the purpose of |>resently 



leajtine where the richest pasture is found. Some 

 of our vvtill migiit great'y endanger their legs ; 

 however, let them make the atrempt if X'.j'V ciH.csf . 

 for the co:iimuuity can very well afford tiie loss 

 of some such legs. 



Several objects proposed by the 'I'rustees have 

 not attracted enough of the attention of om- farm- 

 ers to intluce them to enter claims to the premi- 

 ums offered. Wo hope this neglect is to be ac- 

 counted for by some peculiar circumstances em- 

 barrassing to farmers the past season, rather than 

 to any growing indifference to the agricultural 

 inf^rest. For, if this be suffered to decline, every 

 other interest in society must be injurious'y affect- 

 ed Farmers have experienced much difficulty 



in obtaining the necessary laborers to carry for- 

 ward improvements. We are annually importing 

 thousands of them, yet few are etnployed on farms : 

 public works and populous towns take np most of 

 tliom, ofimiiv« ctilzens, a pretty numerous class, 

 who might have honored themselves and added 

 something to the general stock of wealth in the 

 cultivation of paternal or acquired farms, have been 

 induced to abandon in a great measure 'O hund)Ie 

 interests, and engaged m the ardent (tursuit of sud- 

 den riches in moon-light speculations. Knowing 

 that the wealth of individuals never can mike am- 

 ple amends for the injuries the community always 

 sustains in rash pursuits, we hope an early return 

 of these citizens, to what they may now think less 

 invit ng employment, but where moderate gains 

 are much more certain. 



The Trustees in the year 1834, offered a premi- 

 um of $40 claimable the present year, for the best, 

 plantation of forest trees raised from the seed. 

 This premium is claimed by El)enezer Copeland 

 of West Bridgewater. He sowed more than an 

 acre with white pine seed in the Sjiring of 1827. 

 He has now about 1400 trees on the acre, most of 

 which are in flourishing condition. Mr ('. has 

 sowed several other kinds of s eds on the same 

 field, bii-ch, button wood, white ash, maple, oak, 

 walnut, with which he has hitherto had very little 

 success. On this statement of facts and the ab- 

 sence of other claims, it may be siipposKfl that Mr 

 C will be considered entit'od to the premium. 

 But the committee have thought it their duty to 

 inquire whether the |;urpose of the i riistees have 

 been accomplished in the character of the soil and 

 the situation where the forest has been |)lanted. 

 They certainly did not intend to encourage the 

 convei-sion of fields cap dde of yielding a succes- 

 sion of good crops of grain into |)ine forests. We 

 think that in nine ye.irs engagement in cx])eriment 

 Mr C. should have qualified himself to communi- 

 cate something more of information. He would 

 have performed a useful service in planting pine 

 seed in different years, in spring and in autumn, 

 placing the seed at different depths in the earth 



