178 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



April 



it; says it ripens late autumn and early winter, 

 for about three months, and is^ne on quince stocks. 

 Its neat and uniform productiveness, its fine qual- 

 ities for cooking, and the long period of its con- 

 tinuance, render it eminently valuable. 



B.\RRy, in his Fruit Garden, says the tree is a 

 most vigorous grower on both pear and quince, and 

 on the latter makes a beautiful and productive py- 

 ramid ; and that it is one of the most valuable of 

 all late pears. Ripens well in the cellar. 



Cole, in his Fruit Book, says, as it is hardy; a 

 great grower and enormous bearer, the fruit large, 

 fair, and it comes in when pears are scarce, it is 

 one of the most profitable for the market or home 

 consumption. Requires a warm location, and a 

 long warm season. 



Very large, long pyriform; pale yellow-brown, 

 full in the sun ; stem 1^ inches long, slender, 

 obliquely set without cavity; slight basin; flesh 

 greenish white, juicy. Excellent for cooking. 



AGRICULTURAL MASS MEETING. 



The mass meeting of the farmers of Middlesex 

 came off on the 10th, to the entire satisfection of 

 all concerned. We went to bed on the evening 

 of the 9th, with a cold, drizzling rainfiilling around 

 us, and feeling that our prospect for the next 

 day was dark and dubious. But Providence was 

 better to us than our fears. The morning sun 

 rose fair and bright, and his cheering beams 

 warmed all our hearts. At the appointed hour, 

 the active, stout-hearted and intelligent farmers 

 of Concord and the neighboring towns began to 

 assemble, and took hold of the business of the day 

 as though they had come for a day's work, and 

 meant to do it, too. They were cheered by the 

 presence of several distinguished friends of agri- 

 culture from different sections of the State and 

 from other States. All tlie services of the day 

 were of a highly interesting character. Indeed, 

 the interest was not only sustained, but increased 

 from hour to hour, until 10 o'clock in the eve- 

 ning, when the meeting broke up, amidst the 

 universal regrets that we had not another day to 

 spend in the same way. Not an unpleasant cir- 

 cumstance occurred to mar the pleasure of the 

 day. Universal good feeling prevailed. We had 

 a good dinner and it is not enough to say that we 

 had a pleasant time. We had a good time — 

 a grand time. It was a proud day for the Con- 

 cord farmers and a proud day for old Concord. 

 And we trust that many of the towns in our 

 State will have just such a time this very spring, 

 and every spring for years to come, and when 

 they do, "may we be there to see." 



The meeting was called to order by Elijah 

 Wood, Jr., Esq., and organized by the choice of 

 Simon Brown, President ; Maj. B. Wheeler, Fra- 

 mingham, and Col. He.\rd, of Wayland, Vice 



Presidents, and Dr. Jos. Reynolds, Secretary. 

 The doings of the Concord Farmers' Club, at their 

 two last meetings in which this Convention origi- 

 nated, were then read by the Secretary. 



The throne of grace was then addressed in a 

 very appropriate manner by Rev. L. Angier, of 

 Concord. The President made some remarks ex- 

 planatory of the objects of the meeting. Letters 

 were then read from A. W. Dodge, of Essex, W. 

 S. King, of Providence, Editor of the Journal of Ag" 

 ricuUure, Prof. J. G. Hoyt, and J.T. Gilman, Ex- 

 eter, and from C . Jj. Flint, Secretary of the Board 

 of Agriculture, expressing their regret at being 

 unable to be with us, and giving us words of 

 cheering and encouragement. 



The subject of farm buildings was then taken 

 up. Wii. D. Brown, of Concord, read an essay 

 full of wit, humor and instruction, in which he de- 

 scribed minutely the size, construction and ar- 

 rangements of Farmer Goodman's barn. The essay 

 was full of useful hints and suggestions. 



The subject of neat stock was then taken up, and 

 occupied the remainder of the morning session. 

 Setii Sprague, of Duxbury, President of tlie Ply- 

 mouth County Agricultural Society, made some 

 very interesting statements upon this subject. 

 He said that a great difficulty with us is that if 

 we have a good animal, w'eare not sure of getting 

 another. The English farmers regard the milking 

 and flesh-gaining properties of their stock. They 

 use horses principally for the draft, so that work- 

 ing oxen are of less importance. They have suc- 

 ceeded admirably, and they are certain of success 

 in getting the kind of stock they desire. Our na- 

 tive cattle have mixed blood in their veins, and 

 we know not how to cross and mix them. 



We need to purify their blood. We must pay 

 great attention to the character of the males if we 

 wish to improve the quality of our stock. We 

 must have pure-blooded males. A stain in, the 

 blood from any strong-blooded, vigorous race, will 

 shew itself for many generations, and oftentimes 

 will be strongly marked, after its origin is forgot- 

 ten. As an illustration of this, he said that the 

 Galloways or hornless cattle were introduced many 

 years ago into this country, and now we occasion- 

 ally find a no-horned animal in our herds, when 

 its parents, grand-parents and gi-eat-grand-pa- 

 rents all had horns. Mr. S. thinks the Durhams 

 the best for milk and beef, where the feed is rich 

 and abundant. Alderneys or Jerseys are now 

 being imported. Their milk is very rich and they 

 make an abundance of fine butter. But they are 

 small, and not very hardy ; what the result will 

 be from them is uncertain. lie has found that 

 the Durhams, the Ayrshires and the Devons all 

 take flesh much better than our native stock. He 

 thinks that the same keeping that will make 

 three lbs. of flesh in native stock, will make four in 

 any of the above kinds, 



