318 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



JciY 



school on Wednesday the first of June, and devo- 

 ted the day to such examinations and inquiries as 

 they were able to make. They found the farm as 

 has been already suggested, possessing every nat- 

 ural capaliiUty that is desirable; the soil not only 

 varying in quality, but lying so as to render every 

 facility in the various operations of cultivation. 

 Many improvements have been made, such as the 

 removal of old buildings and the erection of a house 

 for the farmer, an excellent bsim, 152 by 42 feet, 

 grading about the institution, making roads, dig- 

 ging wells and trenches to lay 'water pipes, setting 

 fruit trees, &c., &c. A thousand other things, in- 

 cident to a new place, have also been done, which 

 would scarcely be noticed by an unpractised eye. 

 In common, we believe, with all the committee, 

 •we were disappointed in not finding the farm in a 

 higher state of cultivation, — a more perfect system 

 of cropping, — better fences and gates, and that 

 general air of neatness and order which indicates 

 skill and thrift. There were certainly some nui- 

 sances which ought never to have been allowed to 

 exist, and which ought to be at once abated; and 

 there is room, we are confident, for the exercise 

 of a degree of skill and energy which has not yet 

 been brought to bear upon it. 



Upon a careful examination of the reports, how- 

 ever, we find there has been a gradual increase in 

 the income of the form, as will be seen by the fol- 

 lowing statement condensed from the annual re- 

 ports for the last four years : — 



The estimated value of the produce of the farm for the year 



ending Nov. 30. 1849, was $3,181 04 



Do. do. do. 1850 3,97.5 21 



Do. do. do. 16.51 .....'...'.'..5,163 15 



Do. do do. 1852 6,032 14 



We have no disposition to find fault with what 

 has been done, or neglected to be done. Our own 

 experience, both in building and in reclaiming im- 

 poverished lands, has been sufficient to convince 

 us that it requires a great expenditure of money, 

 and the lapse of years of energetic application, to 

 change the face of 300 acres and render it attrac- 

 tive to the critical visitor. 



Tlie committee were of opinion that the fiirm af- 

 fords every facility for making such experiments 

 as are considered important, and with pecuniary 

 profit to the State ; and that the farm ought, and 

 under skilful management, may, become the Mod- 

 el Farm of the Commonwealth. 



The Trustees, in tlieir annual reports, speak, 

 throughout, in the highest terms of the faithful- 

 ness and ability of all the officers in the institution. 

 We infer, therefore, that whatever the Trustees 

 have (lircclrd, has been faithfully accomplished. 

 That some important matters have been over- 

 looked, and that, with tlie means at hand, a 

 more rapid progress might have been made, would 

 be evident to the eye of every skilful farmer. 



It is to be hoped that the present Board of Trus- 

 tees will scrutinize every department, and give it 



all the energy of which it is susceptible, and that 

 if unacquainted with any of the operations neces- 

 sary to be conducted, they will call to their aid 

 the enlightend wisdom of those conversant with 

 the details of every branch of improved husbandry. 

 We saw enough in this Ijrief visit to contradict 

 the sentiment of the poet, that 



"Men's evil manners live in brass, their virtues 

 We write in water." 



The memory of the founder of this noble insti- 

 tution shall be fresh in the hearts of the people, 

 when monuments of brass and marble shall have 

 crumbled to their native dust. It shall dwell in the 

 hearts of the redeemed from youthful error, when 

 they stand in the purity of manhood before the 

 world, saving and restoring in their turn, the way- 

 ward and the sinning. Let it, then, be our care to 

 watch over its interests, and see that the objects 

 of its founder are fully atkxined. 



LUNAR AND STELLAR INFLUENCE. 



We were under the impression that sensible 

 people no longer consulted the "Man in the Alma- 

 nac" as to when crops were to be planted, hogs 

 killed, and children weaned ; and in all serious- 

 ness, placed the alleged influenceof lunar changes 

 on the animal and vegetable kingdoms, in the same 

 category with those which set Friday down as an 

 unlucky day. In this, if we are to credit the fol- 

 lowing, we have been; and in quite a large and re- 

 spectable company, unlearning too fast. 



Mrs. Lydia Jane Pierson, in a controversy with 

 a correspondent of the Farm Journal, on the sub- 

 ject of lunar influences, after some earnest argu- 

 ments, invites him to a trial of the following ex- 

 periments. She says : — "Firs't, we test the influ- 

 ence of the moon in her nodes. If Medicus will 

 lay a board on young growing grass, when the 

 moon is in her descending node, he will find, on 

 taking it up after a week or so, that it has smoth- 

 ered the grass under it, and settled close to the 

 earth. A similar board similarly placed, in the 

 time of the moon's ascension, will not do so. He 

 will find, on taking it up, after the same interval, 

 that the grass has continued to grow under it, ap- 

 parently lifting the board with its growth. Next 

 for the phases, he shall select a head of the large 

 double French marigold ; he shall have no seed 

 but what grows in this head. He shall plant some 

 near the full of the moon, when the sign is in Gem- 

 ini or Libra ; they will produce large double flow- 

 ers, lie shall plant the same head of seeds near 

 the change of the moon, and the flowers will be 

 single ; and if the sign be at Leo or Scorpio, they 

 will not dovelope even one full row of petals. 

 j "He shall sow, plant, or transplant herb, vine 

 or tree, when the moon is near the full, and the 

 sign of Virgo, and he will have abundance of blos- 

 soms, and of long succession, but great paucity of 

 seed or fruit, lie shall transplant trees, or cut 

 down weeds, briars or thistles, when the moon is 

 old, and in the sign of the Heart, and if they do 

 not die at once, they will never thrive, but dwin- 

 dle away and perish. 



"When Medicus shall have made these experi- 

 ments, and witnessed their results, year after year, 

 he will become a convert to the theory of lunar 



