1853. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



51 



For the New England Farmer. 

 STATE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



Editor of tiik N. E. Farmer : — Gentlemen — As 

 your paper lias noted with more distinctness, than 

 any other, the action of the jMassachusetts Board 

 of Ao;riculture ; and as the important question of 

 selecting a permanent Secretary of the Board, re- 

 mains to he considered ; I beg leave to give you a 

 few brief minutes of a conversation that I Iiadwith 

 an intelligent friend to the cause as to the qualifi- 

 cations (h'liiandcd in the office. 



He remarked, that the persim selected sliould 

 have much knowledge of the details of a farmer's 

 life, in order to secure the confidence and good 

 will of the farmers themselves. He sliould be a 

 scientific agriculturist, to some extent, at least, in 

 order to raise and elevate the farming community ; 

 not by any parade of science, which would soon 

 bring' him into contempt; but by combining and 

 speaking intelligently of the vast amount of facts, 

 which would naturally come to his knowledge. 



He should be easy and approachable in his man- 

 ners. He ought to possess great facility, both in 

 writing and speaking, to meet the demand of an 

 extensive correspondence, and to respond to the 

 numerous societies now coming into being, in which 

 opportunities for dning good are constantly afford- 

 ed, lie ought to be able to act as a mediator to 

 conciliate the prejudices which still exist to some 

 extent, in the minds of the fanners in relation to 

 their more weidthy neighliors ; and in the minds 

 of men of wealth, in relation to the operative farm- 

 ers. 



He should be willing to devote himself, body and 

 mind, assiduously to the work ; and divest himself 

 entirely of all the obnoxious isins of the day — either 

 in politics or religion. The question is, where can 

 such a man be found? If a young man is to be 

 selected, he must have time for preparation, time 

 to visit Europe,* and other States in our own coun- 

 try, before he enters upon the duties of the office. 

 In the opinion of this gentleman, it would be more 

 creditable to the State to select such a man and 

 give him this privilege ; than to attempt to mould 

 one into form who has not now these qualifications ; 

 and is too far gone to acquire them. If these sug- 

 gestions shall be deemed by you pertinent to the 

 season of the New Year, they are at your service. 



January 1, 1853. 



SPLENDID FRUIT. 



We have received from Mr. G. W. Lake, of 

 Topsfield, a box of the most perfectly shaped and 

 beautiful Northern Spy apples that we ever saw. 

 Mr. Lake will please accept our hearty thanks for 

 producing such valuable fruit. We also have be- 

 fore us a box of the same apples sent us from 

 Rochester, N. Y. These specimens, one grown 

 where the apple originated in western New York, 

 and the other in the cold New England climate, 

 will satisfy all, we think, tliat the Northern Spy 

 may be successfully raised here. INIr. Lake's are 

 larger, fairer, and much higher colored than the 

 western apples. 



The Northern Spy keeps better than the Bald- 

 win, and its flavor is equally as good. 



Will Mr. Lake inform us whetlier these apples 

 grew from scions set in (ild trees, or from budded 

 or grafted nursery trees, and what his opinion is 

 as to its bearing properties, hardiness, &c. 



*If I (Jo not mistake, the late Prof. Norton of Yale College 

 was selected and sent abroad for ruialificatioii. Several of the 

 most einiiieiit professors in our colleges have been thus cho- 

 sen. Such is the st^te of society among us, and such are the 

 limited means of most young men, that every one feels it an 

 incumheni duty to prepare for some definite purpose. As this 

 is a new object, it is not to be expected that men will be 

 found ready made. To be sure, President Hitchcock was 

 thought to lie such a man. It is ever to lie regretted, that he 

 did not accent ihe office,— at least, until someone could be 

 found, "worthy and well qualified.'' 



TO ADVERTISERS. 



It will be seen by a paragraph in another column 

 that we have distributed, during the year 1852, 

 more than six hundred thousand copies of the New 

 England Farmer-. This fact will show that as an 

 advertising medium for farms, stock, implements, 

 or any of the wants of the farmer or gardener, or 

 for those scehng agricultural employment, it offers 

 advantages unsurpassed by any other medium in 

 the country. For terms see advertising columns. 



For the New England Farmer. 



CULTURE OF INDIAN CORN. 



Often have we heard the remark made by expe- 

 rienced practical farmers, that they did not be- 

 lieve in the growing of one hundred bushels of 

 sound Indian corn, upon an acre of land, when 

 fairly measured. And sometimes we have been 

 more than half inclined to give heed to these as- 

 sertions in relation to our Massachusetts land. 

 Because we have often grown corn on land of su- 

 perior quality, highly manured, with best of care, 

 and not raised so much as one hundred bushels to 

 the acre. In flict, we do not remember to have 

 seen this amount of crop, when fairly dried and 

 measured. Our attention is called to this fiict, by 

 the extraordinary crops reported the present sea- 

 son from the county of Plymouth, where the land 

 is not superior to that of other counties of the 

 State. The supervisor reports the following crops: 



Calvin Leavitt 122 10-85 bushels. 



George Wood 102 10-85 " 



Richard Sampson 96 40-85 " 



Martin Leonard 94 70-85 " 



Philander Wood 92 80-85 " 



William Wood 92 60-85 " 



Here are six acres, averaging more than one 

 hundred bushels each, "according to the measure- 

 ment,'' if our computation is right. That the gen- 

 tlemen, who viewed these crops, reported truly 

 according to their knowledge, there is no reason 

 to question; — but that they have the same rule 

 of raeasurem3nt, as is adopted in Suffilk, Middle- 

 sex and Essex, we should like to be fully advised. 

 We have seen the fields of corn, when growing in 

 Plymouth county, and thought they did not prom- 

 ise more than we have met elsewhere. But we 

 arc free to say, that we do%ot believe there is any 

 other county in the commonwealth where six acres 

 of corn will be found to have yielded over six hun- 

 dred bushels the last season. If there be any va- 

 riance in the rule of measurement ; this is a fair 

 subject to be examined and made uniform by the 

 Board of Agriculture. ^' 



Dec. 13, 1852. 



