1853, 



NEW ENGBAND lARMER. 



265 



"Influence of Neivspapers.^^ — Mr. Brown gives 

 us a lecture liere, that ought not to bo forgotten. 

 "Can a man take fire in his bosom and his 

 clotlies not be bumt." Can the family read some 

 papers weekly, and correct notions of life not be 

 destroyed? Wlien ftu-mers complain that their 

 sons leave for the city, and that their daughters 

 prefer the factory or shop to a good home, I feel 

 curious to learn the character of the newspaper 

 they have provided for their children. 



'^Farmers'' Lihraries,^^ recommended for neigh- 

 borhoods. I like the suggestion of the editor that 

 toAvn libraries be supplied with agricultural books. 

 So far as possible the established and endowed in- 

 stitutions for education , and all the usual means 

 of improvement at command, should be made avail- 

 able for the advancement (jf the agricultural inter- 

 est, instead of looking for new and untried schemes. 



" Legislative Agricultural Meetings.'''' — With 

 this number of the Farmer in our hands, we can 

 sit by our own fire-side, and "hear" the discus- 

 sions at four of these ineetings ; when "Farmers' 

 Institutes," "Fruit Trees," and "Manures," were 

 debated. Few of us can go to Boston and attend 

 these assemblies ; the editor therefore gives us full 

 reports of the sayings of our wise men. 



'■'■Agricultural Mass Meeting.'''' — The discussions 

 and speeches on this occasion, judging from the 

 reports here given, were of rare variety, and abil- 

 ity— the man of science and the rigid practical 

 man, met face to face, where 



"Mind with mind did blend and brighten," 



on such topics as farm buildings, stock, education, 

 root crops, manures, &c., &c. The remark that] 

 we cannot "re-produce stocks [of cattle] imported, ■ 

 anymore than we can breed Englishmen," and 

 the reply of Mr. French, furnish texts for thought, 

 and, I would suggest, for dissertations. "Al- 

 though we are from the same stock, we are not 

 Englishmen." Is not the difference alarming? 

 AVhat mean the sunken cheeks, depressed chest, 

 round shoulders, projecting head, decayed teeth, 

 pre-ternatural bright eyes, and sickly countenance, 

 that distinguish the American everywhere ? 



^'■The farmer with tioo ideas,^'' by the author of 

 "Eating their bodies iip," articles on "Grifting," 

 •on "Forcing Vegetables," "Benefits of Associated 

 Efforts," "Ornamental Trees," "Experiments with 

 potatoes, as to manure, time of planting, seed," 

 Ac., and a great variety of other instructive and 

 interesting articles, that fill up this number, have 

 as little need of my recommendation as I have 

 space in which to give it. I wish, however, just 

 to ask the boys if they read the last article in 

 their department. Who will read it again, and 

 look out for "number one," by heeding its sug- 

 gestions. A Reader. 



Winchester, April, 1853. 



securing the blade of the scythe to the snath, by 

 passing its shank through the end of a stationary 

 metal cap, and securing it by means of the upward 

 pressure of a screw. This invention is by Mr. Al- 

 PHEDS KiMB.\LL, of Fitchburg, Mass., and it seems 

 to us to be a decided improvement over any other 

 mode we have seen. 



For the New England Farmtr. 

 INQUIRIES AND CENSURES. 



Mr. Brown : — I notice in the New England 

 Farmer an advertisement for super-phosphate of 

 lime — a chemical compound, said to be very use- 

 ful as an application to crops of different kinds, on 

 light, loamy soils. It is offered for sale in bags or 

 barrels. Its price is not stated, by the pound or 

 hundred weight, v/hich is a great defect in the ad- 

 vertisement, (a.) 



No common farmer can with safety purchase 

 this, without knowing its price, and its fertilizing 

 qualities, and hovv' to apply it, and in what quan- 

 tities. If he should, without any experimental 

 knowledge of his own, or directions from others 

 who might know, he would suffer a loss in propor- 

 tion to his outlay ; and thus his prejudice against 

 book farming and agricultural papers be in- 

 creased, (b.) 



Is it not the duly oj an editor of an agricultural 

 paper, when he inserts a notice of a new fertilizing 

 substance, to state its price and what he knows 

 about it, and how it is to be applied? (c.) 



Farmers ought to know the truth, as far as pos- 

 sible. If deceived by those to whom they look 

 for correct information, they are under strong temp- 

 tations to withdraw their patronage, (d.) The 

 truth should be told and all known facts stated, 

 and if the farmer suffers loss, he has no one to 

 blame excepting himself. 



There are humbugs in agriculture, as well as iu 

 politics -, and if editors of agricultural papers give 

 them their sanction, they do an essential injury to 

 the cause they profess to aid. (e.) 



It is not intimated that the Neio England Farm- 

 er is of this character ; its editorial, and other ar- 

 ticles, are of practical utility, bat its advertise- 

 ment in relation to super-phosphate of lime needs 

 explanation. Is this as good as that manufactured 

 at New Haven,' L'onn., styled improved super-phos- 

 phate of lime, and sold at two and a half cents per 

 pound by the quantity? John Wilcox. 



Newport, N. H., April, 1853. 



Scythe Fastenings. — Every thing that tends to 

 facilitate the business of haying, if it does not come 

 at an extravagant cost, is desirable. Labor is al- 

 ways high during that busy period, and the crop is 

 of such a nature as to depreciate rapidly if not 

 gathered at the proper moment. We want not only 

 good tools, but those that are not easily liable to 

 get out of order. The scythe is the important im- 

 plement at that time. We notice a new way of 



Remarks. — AVe give all concerned, readers and 

 advertiser, the benefit of friend Wilcox's com- 

 munication, as well as to afford us opportunity to 

 say a word of the relation which exists between 

 the publisher and advertiser. 



(a.) It seems to us that advertisers, as a gener- 

 al thing, would find customers more readily and 

 save themselves unnecessary vexation and expense, 

 by stating the price in plain terms, of the commod- 

 ity they Avish to sell. And in regard to special 

 manures, no fixrmer in the possession of his sen- 

 ses would think of ordering them before knowing 

 their cost. He is, in the first place, obliged to 

 write and ascertain what the price is, and then, if 



