434 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



Sept 



per is a capital implement to be used in levelling 

 such places ; so it is for excavations in digging cel- 

 lars , or levelling in the fields. It is strong, but 

 light; one of them ought to be in every neighbor- 

 hood, and may be owned jointly, by several neigh- 

 bora. 



For the Tfeto England Farmer. 

 TRANSACTIONS OF THE AGRICULTUR- 

 Ali SOCIETIES.— NO. 2. 



The next article is the Report of the Esses So- 

 ciety. This is a very interesting report, and con- 

 tains many important suggestions. Although the 

 Secretary is not remarkable for a condensed and 

 laconic style, he has much experience in making 

 reports, and does them up in a workman-like man- 

 ner. This Society has from the first, reckoned 

 among its members a large number of the most in- 

 telligent and efficient men in the county. Pick- 

 ering, Saltonstall, Nichols and King, among those 

 who have passed away, and Perry, Proctor, New- 

 hall and Dodge, among those who remain, are men 

 who do not occupy themselves in works of no value, 

 and who do not trifle with their work. They are 

 earnest men ; men who build their own monu- 

 ments ; who leave behind them, in the moulding 

 influence which their opinions and examples exert 

 on the community la whicli tliey live, iueflliceable 

 marks of their diligence, fidelity and power. When 

 such men engage in the noble work of developing 

 and extending the science and improving the prac- 

 tice of agriculture, not merely from love to the 

 work itself, but from the higher motive of doing 

 good to their neighborhood, to their State and to 

 their counti'y, we may reasonably expect important 

 results from their labors. Of such results, the re- 

 port before us affords abundant evidence. For the 

 first time in its history, the Society continued its 

 exhibition during two days, and if we may judge 

 from the report, the result was highly satisfactory 

 to all concerned. 



We notice that a majority of the County Socie- 

 ties in the State have agreed to make the experi- 

 ment of holding their anniversaries during two 

 days. This will give opportunity for a more thor- 

 ough examination of the stock and articles pre- 

 sented, and also for the discussion of important 

 agricultural questions. The evening of the first 

 day may be appropriated to this purpose, in such 

 manner as the trustees may direct, and cannot 

 fail to give increased interest to these farmers' fes- 

 tivals. 



This county has adopted the laudable practice 

 of awarding a premium for the best essay which 

 may be presented, on some subject immediately 

 connected with agriculture. A committee is ap- 

 pointed for this purpose. There can be no doubt 

 that this practice has led to much intellectual ef- 

 fort, and has contributed to produce many of the 

 excellent essays that have emanated from the mem- 

 bers of that Society. The premium for 1852 was 

 awarded to David Choate, Esq., of Essex, for an 

 essay upon sheep culture, which, with a very in- 

 teresting letter from Nathan Page, brings the 

 whole subject before us. There wer$ formerly 

 many fine flocks of sheep in Essex County. Sev- 

 eral of its towns are well suited to the raising of 

 them. The granite ledges and rocky pastures of 

 Cape Ann ,vere, not many years ago, whitened 



with flocks of sheep. The farm of the late Samuel 

 Riggs contained several hundred. But I think 

 every sheep has disappeared from the Cape ; even 

 the flock that used to luxuriate upon Thatcher's 

 Island, as a perquisite to the keeper of the Light 

 Houses, has all gone to the " tomb of the 

 Capulets." Sheep raising has almost ceased in 

 Eastern Massachusetts. I suppose it is every year 

 becoming more and more difficult for New England 

 to compete with the wool growers of ]\Iichigan and 

 Wisconsin, and even in the raising of mutton for 

 the eastern markets ; the increasing facilities of 

 transportation are rendering the competition every 

 year more difiicult for New England farmers. "We 

 much fear that the accurate statements and logical 

 reasonings of the essayist, even were they backed 

 by the eloquence of his gifted brother, will fail to 

 restore the culture of sheep in old Esses, except 

 so far as a few of superior quality may be raised 

 for the shambles, by those who have peculiar fa- 

 cilities or a peculiar flmcy for their culture. An- 

 other circumstance we notice with approbation, 

 and that is, the accurate, concise and definite 

 statements accompanying all articles to which 

 premiums were awarded. Many of these state- 

 ments are models of their kind, and Ave commend 

 them to the imitation of farmers in other parts of 

 the State. 



We should infer from the report that the show 

 of poultry, vegetables and stock, did not quite 

 come up to the standard of some former years. 

 But Ave have reason to know that the standard in 

 these respects is high in Esses, and that some ar- 

 ticles that Avould take a premium in some other 

 counties, would fail to do so in this. There are no 

 better gardeners in Massachusetts than are to be 

 found in Essex. But they do not seem to have 

 made much effort to display the productions of 

 their grounds on this occasion. Perhaps this was 

 owing to the flict that the exhibition Avas held at 

 one of the extremities of the county. 



The culture of root crops is receiving much at- 

 tention in Essex. There are no crops that are 

 surer, or that yield better returns. We believe 

 that fiirmers throughout the State are becoming 

 more fully convinced of their value and importance. 



The exhibition of fruits must have been very fine. 

 Nearly a thousand dishes and baskets, filled with 

 the finest specimens of fruit, of all the varieties 

 raised in Essex, must have been a sight well Avorth 

 a visit to Lawrence. But Ave confess Ave pity the 

 gentlemen who composed the Committee, lo de- 

 cide which were best among such a great variety, 

 where all were good, must have been as difficult as 

 it is for some bachelors to select a wife from all the 

 girls in the country ; and what makes it still hard- 

 er for the Committee is, that they Avere bound to 

 decide at once, whereas the bachelors often take 

 years in making up their minds, and some even 

 never decide at all. We have been much interest- 

 ed in the remarks of Mr. Jves, the Chairman of the 

 Fruit Committee, upon the culture of the different 

 kinds of fruit which he specifies. They show a 

 thorough understanding of the subject and a sound 

 judgment, and we commend them to the attention 

 of fruit growers throughout the country. 



Only one farm was presented for a premium, a 

 circumstance at which we are not a little surprised. 

 It must be owing, we think, to the excessive mod- 

 esty of many of tlie young farmers in that county. 

 Were farmers aware of the advantages that they 



