DEVOTED TO AGRICULTURE IND 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, FEBRUARY 3, 1849, 



NO. 4. 



S. W. COLE, Editor. 



QUINCY HALL, BOSTON. 



J. NOURSE, Proprietor. 



QUALITIES OF INDIAN CORN. 



Chemists have furnished analyses of Indian corn ; 

 but these, in the usual way in which wc have them, 

 are very indefinite, and far from giving the informa- 

 tion which the farmer desires in order to enable him 

 to determine on the value and proper purposes of 

 corn for feeding, and to ascertain what elements it 

 takes from the soil, that he may supply them in 

 manures. 



Different varieties of corn differ widely. Some 

 contain a large portion of oil, others are composed 

 mostly of starch. The Tuscarora, the Calico, and 

 Knight's Tall Flour corn, contain a very large portion 

 of starch and very little oil. On the contrary, the 

 various kinds of pop corn, and those heavy varieties 

 usually cultivated in New England, contain a large 

 portion of oil, and are valuable for their fattening 

 properties. 



Corn composed mostly of starch, makes a light, 

 pleasant, wholesome food, and it is excellent to mix 

 with wheat flour, which is rather tenacious and rich 

 in nutrition. The Calico corn is considered the best 

 for this purpose, and, excepting the hull, it is remark- 

 ably white, and does away with the objection of mix- 

 ing corn flour with that of wheat, on account of its 

 darker color. The inner part of Calico corn is as 

 white as wheat. 



We hope that in future, chemists will be more 

 definite, and when they give us the results of their 

 experiments and investigations, that they will give 

 those circumstances that are so essential to their 

 utility. They should name the variety of which 

 they give an analysis, and state its predominant 

 qualities as to oil or starch. 



AGRICULTURAL MEETING 



AT THE STATE HOUSE. 



Agreeably to adjournment at the close of the last 

 session of the Legislature, the first meeting was held 

 January 16, and the following officers were chosen: 

 Hon. Marshall P. Wilder, (of the Council,) President ; 

 Lieutenant-Governor Reed, and Hon. J. C. Leonard, 

 of Norton, Vice-Presidents ; William Buckminster, 

 of the Ploughman, S. W. Cole, of the New England 

 Farmer, and L. Bartlett, of the Cultivator, Secre- 



taries ; Hons. William B. Calhoun, (Secretary of 

 State,) Brooks, of Princeton, Wilder, of Leominster, 

 Walker, of Brookfield, and J. S. Sleeper, Editor of 

 the Boston Journal, a committee to propose subjects 

 for discussion, engage gentlemen to open the discus- 

 sion, and to deliver essays on agriculture. 



Toted, Tliat the speaker who opens the discussion 

 be limited to haK an hour, and those that follow to 

 fifteen minutes. 



Remarks were made by several gentlemen on the 

 mode of conducting the meetings, particularly on 

 ha-\-ing subjects more limited than usual, on report- 

 ing, &c. 



We have generally had broad subjects for discus- 

 sion at these meetings, and we have scattered our 

 labors over various parts of a wide field, without 

 efl'ecting much in any one branch. Our choice has 

 been to have definite subjects, and discuss them thor- 

 oughly. For instance, take apples for one evening, 

 or more if necessary, and not take the broad subject 

 of " Fruits and Fruit Trees," and discuss it six even- 

 ings, as has been the case. As an instance of the im- 

 propriety of extensive subjects, after the organization, 

 at the first meeting, the subject of Farm Stock was 

 taken up for discussion, and nothing of consequence 

 was said, excepting on swine, and not half of the 

 different breeds of this class of animals was named ; 

 and scarcely any thing was said on management, 

 feeding, &c. We name these things, hoping that 

 those who read these remai-ks will use their influence 

 in making an improvement in having more definite 

 subjects, that they may not be so broad that we 

 must have the same subjects year after year. 



These meetings are interesting and highly instruc- 

 tive, and we are pleased to see exhibited an un\i3ual 

 interest in them the present season. There seems to 

 be a determination to make them more useful and 

 efficient, and give them an importance that shall 

 command not only the respect and attention of agri- 

 culturists, but of gentlemen of science and general 

 intelligence. 



We shall give reports of the meetings, containing 

 the substance of the most important facts elicited 

 by these useful discussions. They will be arranged 

 under the head of the subjects, instead of the gen- 

 eral sameness of meetings, only varied in number and 



