148 



NEW FNGLANO FARMER, 



NOVEMBER 19, 



From the Korthamjiton Courier 

 1,ETTER OP JUDGE BCEL. 

 Extract of a kUcr to the Secretary of the Hampshire, 

 Franklin and Hampden Agrkultural Socidiy. 

 Albany, April 16, 1832. 

 Sii-— It is now some years since our CoMiity 

 Acrricultiiral Society became extinct. Uunnj: .t.s 

 existence preniiums were lil.erally awarded on 

 Farm., Crops, Stock and Household prodncuons. 

 Tlie same objections were raised agamst givm^ 

 bounties npon great crops and great cattle that you 

 m.eak of; but these objections came irom those 

 who were either unsuccessfnl competitors, or who 

 having predicted evil were anxious to see their pre- 

 dictions verified. Now that those feehngs have 

 subsided nil seem to appreciate and acknovvledge 

 the advantages which have grown out of the la- 

 borsofthe Society. Onr implements have been 

 greatly in.proved-snperior stock has been mtro- 

 duced-alternation of crop is better understood, 

 and more generally adopted-manures are n.ore 

 carefully saved and better applied-a general sp.r- 

 it of inquiry and of commendable con.petttmn has 

 been awakened, and I think the same a.notu.t ol 

 labor now, is 20 or 25 per cent, more productive, 

 in consequence of agricultural societies than it was 

 before their formation. Farmers are tenacious of 

 old habits, and are apt to be tira.d m all experi- 

 ments that involve uncertainty. But when they 

 have seen their neighbors produce better crops, or 

 finer cattle, ami display greater industry and neat- 

 ness, the example becomes contagious. They 

 then begin to acquire the first requisites for iin- 

 provement, a consciousness that they vvantkimwl- 

 ed«e It is from this conviction that mechanics 

 often make the best farmers. They/eeJ that ihey 

 have all to learn, and with habits ol .ndiistry and 

 frugality, and without prejudice to bmd them to 

 to any particular system, they seek information 

 from ihe best farmers, and adopt the course which 

 experience teaches to be the best. , . „ . 



The county of Jefferson has sustamed its Soci- 

 ety to .his day. Its horses are decidedly superi- j 

 or and its neat cattle no wise inferior lo those ol 

 an'v other county in the Stale. The improvement 

 i3 ;,qually apparent in every other department of 



husliandry. , 



Our premiums in two instances were perhaps 

 singular. We awarded for the most profitable 

 cro%, deducting from the value of the product 

 the expense of producing it. This was calculated 

 to blend skill with economy. Again, we gave pre- 

 miums for the most profitable rotation of crops of 

 three or four years. This was intended to show 

 the importance of alternating crops of dissimilar 

 habits, and of demonstrating the bad policy of 

 keeping under the plough, or in grass in perpetui- 

 ty. Live fences in districts destitute of stonB, is 

 one of the most desirable improvements thai can 

 be introduced ; and the culture of roots as affield 

 crop, as food for cattle and particularly for s)ieep 

 in the winter, promises great advantages. "Iheir 

 culture, except that of the potato, is an innov«tion 

 upon old habits ; and it will be yet sometime ere 

 the proper implements are introduced to raise 

 them to full advantage. Take for instance ruta 



baga with ordinary farm implements, it would 



require some days labor to sow an acre properly 

 in drills — with a drill burrow a man will sow 

 four or five acres in a day — and with a c.ukivBtor 

 and kimboe, four fifths of the labor of cultivation 

 or what is termed after culture, is saved. I ke|)l 

 an accurate account of the expense of three acres, 



and charged the crop with fifty loads of manure, 

 at 75 cents the load. On footing up after the 

 crop was pitted f<u- the winter, 1 found the cost to 

 exceed a fraction 2 1-2 cents (ler bushel. I fed 

 four bullocks with them, .,t the rate of two bush- 

 ,.is each per <lay. Tliey ate very little else, and 

 tlirive remarkably. I have uniformly, for years 

 fed them to my cows and oxen, daily, from March 

 to May or June. J^sse Buel. 



Fiom the Franklin Herald. 

 THE ANNUAL CATTLE SHOW AND PAIR 



Of the Hampshire, Franklin and Hampden .figri- 



cultural Society, was held'at West SpringfichI, on 

 ihe 23d nit. 



We give the following extracts from the report 

 of the committee. 



The Executive Committee had anticipated the 

 largest exhibition of Cattle ever collected within 

 ilie old County of Hampshire. In this they were 

 disappointed ; although the Cattle exhibited were 

 of good quality and some very superior. 



Articles of Domestic Manufacture were less nu- 

 merous than usual. The Committee cannot be- 

 lieve that there is any diminution of female indus- 

 try or enterprise, but that even the la.lies did not 

 fully understand the objects of the Society, or we 

 should have seen more specimens from the wheel, 

 the loom and the needle. Only one piece of wool- 

 len dressed cloth, one of flannel and one of sheet- 

 ing, were presented for premium. No cassimeres, 

 dressed flannel, Scotch plaid, stair carpets, woollen 

 counterpanes, men's half hose, mittens, linen shirt- 

 ing, cassimere shawls, rose blankets, bonnets, soh- 

 lealher, harness and saddlery work, dressed .'alf 

 ^kins, or cabinet work, was presented, allhougli 

 premiums were ofl'ered for each. 



The raw silk exhibited by Misses S. & B. Brew- 

 er, of Springfield, and the manufactured silk by 

 Miss Nancy Stowell, of Norwich, were miicli ad- 

 mired, and gave evidence of what may be expect- 

 ed in a few years, from the culture of the mulber- 

 ry, especially the Chinese or Morns Multiraulis. 

 I The Committee on Mulberry ami Hedges, spoke 

 with confidence of the practicability and utility of 

 cultivating the mulberry, and (iroducing silk more 

 extensively within the limits of the Society, as 

 meriting the attention of every person in the com- 

 munity. ^ 



They regret that there were no more applica- 

 tions for premiums on the White and Chinese Mul- 

 berry. It is well known there are many individu- 

 als, especially in the middle and northern parls of 

 the old County of Hampshire, who have gone large- 

 ly into the culture of the Mulberry, who might have 

 presented valuable communications on the subject 

 of Mulberry and Silk and have elicited the atten- 

 tion of the meeting to a more vigorous action upon 

 an object so worthy the attention of every farmer 

 in New England. 



From Loudon's Oardener's Magazine. 

 IN THE MARKET AT GHENT 



I SAW but few flowers or plants fbr sale, and 



nothing among vegetables deserving particular no- 

 lice ; but some fine apples in the fruit market merit 

 a few words. At my hotel 1 saw every day a few 

 plates of these ap|)les, quite flat and streaked with 

 red, which were preferred to the strawberries and 

 cherries ; surprised at this 1 tasted and found llieni 

 delicious, quite plump, juicy, and fine-flavored. 

 They were called the Cour pendu. [1 think known 

 in England as the Court pendu plat.] 



ON ESTIMATING GKEaT HEIGHTS, t^u. 

 BY THE i:RoNAUT DURANT. 



Being at Paris in July 1828, I applied lo some 

 of the most reputable philosophical insin.iiient 

 makers for a cyanometer, but not one of (him had 

 any knowledge of it, or even knew there «. -■ such 

 an instrument. I then calbul on Messrs. Ga\ Lus- 

 sac,Cuvier and Biot, for information respnung it. 

 The last named genllenian was absent fi'io the 

 capital, which deprived nie of the pleasure i.nd in- 

 formation I should have derived from a conversa- 

 tion with him. Mr. Gay Liissac told me, "ihat 

 he considered the instrument of very little inility, 

 and that it was found only in the works il Mr. 

 Saussnre, a young gentleman of extensive scinilific 

 acquirements, who with an inventive genius, com- 

 bined an untiring zeal for knowledge. He travel- 

 led extensively, and it was during his passage over 

 the Alps, where from the blue color of ihe lo-ivenf, 

 an idea occurred to him of constructing an instru- 

 ment with degrees and altitudes marke<l to • ;.cli of 

 the blue shades, which should correspond I'l iliose 

 in the heavens. And," continued this sag. pliilos- 

 opher, " Saussnre is dead, and those only vvIp. have 

 been at great heights, and retain a recolliciioii ol 

 the color, are capable of making a cyanoioricr." 



With the information I derived from biio ant! 

 my subsequent experience of these cohus, I con- 

 structed such an instrument; and after n peatet 

 trials, cnm|iaring it with the barometer, at varioui 

 ahitniles, 1 fi)und it could not be relied on lor ac 

 curacy. 



Many men who have devoted their ainiiiHin V 

 the subject, I believe, are convinced that l.cili th' 

 cold and darkness increase as we recede li-r.i ih 

 earih ; and I have no hesilation in saying, .lw,t be 

 yoiid the earth's atmosphere, it is as niuili .laike 

 than night as any thing that we can conceive ; »a 

 allhongh this darkness may increase in renilr.r pre 

 gression from the earth, still from causes befon- re 

 lilted, 1 do not believe that any instrumeiil i an b 

 found, as a sulislitnte for the barometer in imasui 

 iiig high altitudes. 



At my fifth ascent with a balloon from New 

 York, ill May 1833, I was compelled, in conse 



quenceofa high wind which prevailed, lo u oo 



without any philosophical iiislrumeiits, exceptin 



the cyanometer, which I had fortunately plaicd i 



my pocket book. From causes which were state 



in the public journals, the balloon was uncontrolU 



ble for some minutes, (a part of which time, it w« 



ascending with nearly the rapidity of an arrovv 



although immediately on leaving the earth, I opei 



ed the valve, which is near the top, and ihroug; 



which the gas would soon have escaped, but f(i 



the rapid upward motion, which cause<l so inuo 



resistance or pressure from the atmosphere, as ; 



retard the escape of the gas, until ihiriy or for 



minutes, when the a'rostat was poised in air, and 



had reached a greater altitude than I have befo 



or since attained. Here for the last time, J lri( 



the cyanometer, which for any utility, 1 n.iglit 



well have hit beUiw with the barometer. Tl 



heavens were many shades darker than ihe bii 



tints to which 1 bad affixed an approximate degr 



and altitude on my cyanometer, and so nncerta 



is sight, thill when I had selected a correspondil 



shade on the cyanometer, in one instant ib. hea 



ens would appear too light and the next moine 



too dark. I residved then to nbandon all t'urth 



experiments, wiili an instrumeut which |iioniis 



to be of so Inile use ; and if it was not to >' nfil 



Mr. Gay Lussac's remarks, and prove the supe^ 



