1853. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



181 



a^apfc them to our soils, that we may furnish to 

 our soils the elements needed in raising any given 

 crops. This then, is a matter of practical utility. 

 We want to know the comparative value of ma- 

 nures. In order to do this we must know the 

 component elements of different manures, and to 

 know how to combine and to preserve manures. 

 How to fix their volatile elements. There is hard- 

 ly a farming process carried on by the farmer or 

 his wife that is not a chemical process, and they 

 can be carried on better when they are understood. 

 Butter-making is an example of a purely chemical 

 process. Butter is oil which in cream is contained 

 in little bags, covered with caseine or cheese ; at a 

 low temperature, you cannot break tliese bags to 

 get at the oil, by any mechanical force. But at 

 C0° Farenheit by constant stirring and thus 

 bringing them into contact with the oxygen of the 

 air, these little bags will burst, and their particles 

 of oil will run together and accumulate into lumps. 

 Butter must be worked as long as the caseine comes 

 out. The object of workingjls, to get clear of this 

 caseine, which will soon putrify and become ran- 

 cid. Must not be worked too much or you will 

 work out the sugar, which gives its sweet flavor 

 to butter. 



His second proposition was, that every farmer 

 can understand the science of his profession. A 

 few years ago this could not be said. But the 

 science of agriculture has been simplified like the 

 science of geography, so that every one can under- 

 stand all that is essential, in a few months. He 

 would advise every young farmer to go to studying, 

 and to i^ersevere until he masters the subject, so 

 that when he reads in the Farmer about phos- 

 phates, and carbonates, he may understand what 

 he reads. He spoke of the Progressive Farmer, a 

 book that costs but 50 cents, and has been pre- 

 pared with great care for the use of those who de- 

 sire simple, practical information upon these sub- 

 ects. He advised young men to form themselves 

 into classes, and pursue the study. The whole 

 lecture was intelligible, instructive, and highly in- 

 teresting, and we want a hundred such in the 

 State the present year. 



The subject of root crops was then called up. 

 Wm. D. Brown spoke of carrots, turnips, &c., 

 raising, storing and feeding them. He stated that 

 when, a few years ago, the landlords in Scotland 

 raised the rents, the farmers went into the rais- 

 ing of root crops, and paid their rents with the 

 avails of their crops easier than before. 



Maj. Wheeler said it costs but little more to 

 raise carrots than corn, if we manage right. The 

 ground should be plowed deep, and sowed about 

 the middle of June. As soon as the carrots show 

 themselves, they should be hoed, and then fre- 

 quently hoed, and they will require but little 

 weeding. 



Mr. Sprague said turnips are a great crop in 

 England. They sometimes get 40 tuns to the acre. 

 The climate and soil suit them. We cannot raise 

 them in such abundance in this climate — six or 

 eight hundred bushels is as much as we can ex- 

 pect. He has raised IGOO to the acre. We pro- 

 bably expect too much from them. The English 

 do not expect so much from them. He thinks 

 ruta-baga the best kind of turnips — more easily 

 raised than carrots. Salt hay alone is poor food 

 for cows, and turnips are poor food for cows ; but 

 give them both together, and they are very good 

 food. He is fattening two cows upon them at 

 this time. We can raise turnips at from six to 

 eight cents per bushel ; at this rate they are good 

 food. Cattle feeding upon dry hay, do better for 

 some succulent vegetables. 



Mr. Comings, of Mason, N. H., followed in some 

 interesting remarks upon feeding stock. 



Hon. J. W. Proctor did not arrive until after 

 5 o'clock, P. M. He closed the afternoon session 

 with some interesting remarks. 



At the close of Mr. Proctor's remarks, the 

 meeting adjourned till 7 o'clock. 



At 7 o'clock returned to the hall and met a 

 brilliant assembly of farmer's wives and daughters, 

 blooming and intelligent. At half-past 7, Mr. II. 

 F. French, of Exeter, N. II., commenced a lecture 

 which continued one hour, and fixed the attention 

 of the audience to the last. He spoke in a plain, 

 simple and easy style, of the importance of science 

 to the agriculturist, and of the embarrassments at- 

 tending the pursuit of scientific researches ; we 

 must not expect too much of science, nor must we 

 be deceived by the promises of those who are mere 

 pretenders to science. We cannot dojustice to this 

 lecture without reporting the whole — one must 

 have heard it, properly to appreciate it. 



Mr. French was followed by a lecture from 

 Prof. Nash, of Amherst, upon the most impor- 

 tant elements of manures. He exhibited speci- 

 mens of Hydrogen, Oxygen, Chlorine, Carbonic 

 acid, Ammonia, Carbon, Carbonate of Potash, Po- 

 tassa, Potassium, Lime, Magnesia, and described 

 them and showed their properties. He then spoke 

 of the elements in animal manures, their action up- 

 on the soil and upon plants; how to improve man- 

 ures and to fix their volatile elements, and various 

 matters of great interest to the farmer. His remarks 

 were very correct, and proved him to be thorough- 

 ly master of the subject which he undertook to 

 discuss. The audience manifested much interest 

 in all his remarks, notwithstanding the lateness of 

 the hour. 



Thus ended the experiment of a Farmers' Mass 

 Meeting, and considering that it was an experi- 

 ment and the first time it has ever been tried, it 

 may be considered perfectly successful. 



