10 



may result in the ordinary course of their lives and which 

 seem at first of no value to others, might by a thoughtful peru- 

 sal as to the circumstances attending their creation, be shown 

 to afford subjects for a number of interesting and useful Essays 

 or Reports. Would that this suggestion might be an induce- 

 ment to more numerous members, selected as chairmen of our 

 Committees, to write Reports for our annual Transactions upon 

 the subjects committed to their charge, as well as to enter the 

 lists as competitors for Essay prizes, letting a patriotic love for 

 our Society spur them to make an effort in this direction, if 

 such is necessary. 



farmers' trials. 



While remembering the many attractions of country life 

 during the several months of the year and the bountiful gifts 

 that Mother earth yields to us, we are reminded of some of 

 the trials that beset us in our lives, and vocation, as farmers, 

 and as prominently as anything, perhaps, are our excessive 

 droughts during parts of July and August. With tlie best 

 preparation, manuring and care in our management, we are 

 doomed to much and in some cases almost total loss, from this 

 great evil, and the hardships it forces upon the farmer are in- 

 deed cause for depression of spirits, were not the farmers' 

 temperaments generally such as to lead them to hope for better 

 results the next year. 



Seasons of drought, we are told, encourage the increase of 

 insects injurious to vegetation, and this should be reduced to 

 the least possible limit that we, with the help of intelligence 

 and information, can effect. Can we prevent a naturally moist 

 soil from becoming a dry one, can we conduct water on to our 

 lands to help us. Can not farmers adopt the prevailing am- 



