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CORRESPONDENCE. 



lar, wliich has been entirely successful. My cellar is 

 on a side-hill, one side of the wall entirely out of the 

 ground. The floor let in the cold, which could not 

 be kept out. I ceiled the lower part of the beams 

 tvith common boards, took up the floor, and filled the 

 place between the beams with leaves. I have had 

 no frost in the cellar for two winters. It is light, 

 cheap, and easily made. A. B. 



FisHKiLL Landing, N. Y. 



AGEICTJITURAL SOCIETIES. 



Mr. Editor: — The writer of this article is a plain, 

 home-.spun farmer, and better qualified to guide the 

 plow than wield an implement of such mighty influ- 

 ence as the pen. But although farmers are not 

 proverbial as writers, they are sometimes out of 

 courtesy allowed to think; and as we have of 

 late years paid some attention to the practical 

 working of Agricultural Societies, under the Act 16th 

 Vict., Chap .\i., we have come to the conclusion that 

 said Act might be amended (in so far as County and 

 Township Societies are interested), greatly to facilitate 

 the object for which such societies are organized. 



Perhaps we had better glance for a moment at the 

 practical working of some of our Agricultural Soci- 

 eties, in order that any improvements that we may 

 suggest may appear the more plausible. According 

 to the present Act, fifty persons, all in or near the 

 county town, may organize a County Society by 

 subscribing fifty dollars, elect their officers from 

 among themselves, and, although they cannot exclude 

 any person within the county from becoming a mem- 

 of said Society, yet the advantages of being conven- 

 ient to the county town gives them a local influence, 

 together with two-fifths of the government grant, (by- 

 tlie-by, Mr. Editor, we have heard of societies in the 

 eastern part of Canada West, possessing only a local 

 interest, claiming the whole government grant, and 

 dealing out such pittances to township societies as 

 they, in their wisdom, saw fit); and although the 

 presidents of township societies are ex-oCficio direc- 

 tors of county societies, their members are usually 

 so few, and at such a distance from the county town, 

 that their voice is seldom heard, certainly not suffi- 

 cient to prevent the local interest of interested parties. 

 It is not uncommon under the present act, to see town- 

 ship societies possessing a more extensive influence and 

 holding better shows than their so-called parent society. 



Now, sir, if the act might or could be so amended 

 as to exclude all local interest, that incubus to gene- 

 ral improvement, the object of our legislature might 

 in some good degree be realized. As we have taken 



the liberty to find fault with the present act, the same 

 presumption, that farmers have a right to think, 

 prompts us to offer a few suggestions, which if acted 

 upon by our legislature, we think would remedy the 

 evil complained of, and county societies might be re- 

 organized so as to become the centralization society 

 to the several township societies, by doing away with 

 the membership in county societies by subscription; 

 then make it imperative on each township society to 

 appropriate a certain percentage of its subscription 

 funds, and that, together with a certain percentage of 

 the government grant, to form the fund of the county 

 society. Let each member of the general township so- 

 cieties be a member of the county society by virtue of 

 his subscription to the township society, and let certain 

 oSiccrs of the township societies, say the presidents, 

 secretaries, and treasurers, form the board of direc- 

 tors for the county society ; such board to elect a 

 president, vice presidents, secretary and treasurer 

 from among their number, and transact all the busi- 

 ness of the society. 



Societies thus organized would work in harmony, 

 and each township society would feel that they had 

 an interest in their respective county societies, and 

 would also feel that the county society was their own. 

 Each township society would be fully represented, 

 and would rest satisfied that no private or local in- 

 terest would clash with the general good. 



And to conclude, we would barely hint that as our 

 government is becoming more wealthy, as our pub- 

 lic improvements are becoming more extensive, as 

 railroads are penetrating the heart of our country, 

 thereby making the export of our produce more 

 reasonable, as the mercantile and mechanical interest 

 are identified with our own — in a word, as the inter- 

 est of agriculture is the great interest of the Prov- 

 ince, it would be well if government would increase 

 its aid to our agricultural societies, that its resources 

 might be the sooner developed. 



A Canadian Farmer. 



TO KEEP CrOEE. 



Mr. Editor : — Having been a subscriber to your 

 paper for some years, and not having seen in it any 

 receipt for preserving or keeping cider sweet, I will 

 give you one : Scald the barrel out with a decoction 

 of sassafras; then fill the barrel with cider, and into 

 it put twelve and a half cents worth of isinglass or 

 fish-glue, and half a pound of mustard seed — if ground 

 the better — then bung and put away for future use. 

 It will keep as sweet as when first made. S. D. 



New Bedford, Lawrence Co., Pa. 



