DEVOTED TO AGRICULTURE AND ALL ITS VARIOUS KINDRED ARTS AND SCIENCES 



Honor waits, o'er all the earth, The art that calls her harvests forth. — Bryant. 



VOL. I, 



SATURDAY, DECEMBER 9, 1848, 



NO. 1. 



S. W. COLE, Editor. 



QUINCY HALL, BOSTOX. 



J. NOURSE, PUBLISHEK. 



CONGRATULATORY. 



"We recently offered a valedictory, in another 

 jottrnal, and we are now happy vsx greeting the agri- 

 culttiral community, under circumstances so auspi- 

 cious, in anew and more acceptable manner, in which 

 the labors of ourself and our many kind friends, who 

 aid us in the cause of improvement, will be in a 

 compact and durable form, circulating on their own 

 intrinsic merit, unencumbered and unaided by extra- 

 neous matter. 



The Publisher will spare no expense in furnishing 

 a work in good taste and style, and the Editor and 

 Correspondents will endeavor to make it worthy a 

 place among the most respectable journals of other 

 classes, though it will be the exponent of a profes- 

 sion that is still in its infancy, both in art and science, 

 and has not, until recently, assumed an importance 

 even in the minds of the millions that pursue it, 

 much less in the opinion of a still larger number 

 who must live or starve, as this art flourishes or 

 fades. 



Within a short period, great improvements have 

 been made in agriculture ; yet we arc just beginning 

 to ascend the mount of knowledge, — 



" Hills peep o'er hills, and Alps on Alps arise," — 



and a wide field opens before us, amply sufficient 

 for the range of greatest acumen and profoundest 

 philosophy. The most skilful in practice and the 

 most thorough in science will find more subjects for 

 investigation and experiment, than they can possibly 

 explore even in a long life. 



Every branch, throughout the whole routine of 

 cultivation and economy, is suceptible of improve- 

 ment, from our operations against the minutest insect 

 that spoils the crops of the farmer, to the management 

 of the noblest animal that aids in his labors ; from the 

 humblest plant that flourishes in the meadow, to the 

 majestic monarch that waves in the forest. Every 

 mode of culture and management must be tried by 

 the hand of renovation ; all the various productions 



of the earth must undergo a most rigid scrutiny and 

 the severe ordeal of exact comparison ; implements 

 and machines, the astonishing product of the greatest 

 skill, science, and practice, must be improved, or 

 the spirit of the age will write Teliel upon them. 



"We depend greatly on valuable communications, 

 and the contributions of important matter, to give 

 variety, interest, and value to the New England 

 Farmer, and we invite the cordial aid of the friends 

 of this great cause, which is also the cause of fiatriot- 

 ism and philanthropj'. 



On that magnanimous spirit, so conspicuous among 

 farmers, of diffusing widely their discoveries and 

 improvements for the general welfare, we confidently 

 rely for assistance, as it is a source from which we 

 may draw, and yet the fountain overflow and expand 

 more and more, in consequence of the liberal drafts 

 upon it. Such is the human mind, that the gener- 

 ous and benevolent acquire knowledge from its 

 diffusion, and the liberal soul expands by its own 

 munificence, and lives in the prosperity which it 

 creates around it. 



We are but a co-laborer with thousands of others 

 in the vast field of improvement ; and let xis aU 

 strive to excel, and disseminate, broadcast, over the 

 land, excellence in the art of culture, nor rest satis- 

 fied with what we have done until the wilderness 

 shall blossom as a rose, and there is not a waste or 

 barren spot in our favored countrj', nor a single 

 cultivator ignorant of his profession. If there be an 

 individual too short-sighted to read, or too tcise to 

 learn, the generous and intelligent should aid in 

 giving him light ; and we will most cheerfully and 

 liberally contribute to so laudable a purpose. 



MANAGEMENT OF WOOD LANDS. 



The best way of managing wood lands, as to the 

 mode of cutting, is to take all the wood clean offal 

 once. Then new trees will start up under good 

 management, and all have an equal chance, and 



