VOL. XV. NO. 33. 



AND GARDE NEB'S JOURNAL 



261 



iForlhe.Vew En;jland Farmer.] 

 ORIGIV OP TfeMPERANCE SOCIETIES. 



.^Ir Fessenden, — Oliserving in your papei' of 

 tlie Stli inst., u call fur iiifoi-iiiatioii relative to the 

 enrly iiislory of the Massacliiisetts Society for the 

 Suppression of lutempeiance, I am iiuliired to 

 offer you an account of the origin of the h'ooiefy, 

 which appeared in the Es!?ex Register in January, 

 1830, and which may be relied upon as perfectly 

 correct. 



" its origin was this. — In 1811, the General 

 Association of Massachusetts Proper, at^an annual 

 meeting of delegates from the district associaiions, 

 appointed a Committee of eight ))prsoiis to draft 

 the Constitution of a Society, whose ohject should 

 be to check the progress of Intemperance, which 

 was viewed liy the .\ssociation as an alarming and 

 growing evil. Of this (Committee four were cler- 

 gymen, an<l four were laymen. The clergymen 

 were Rev. Dr Worcester of Salem, who, it is be 

 lieved, originated the measure ; Rev. Dr Morse, of 

 Charlestown, Rev. Dr Wadsworlh, of Danvers, and 

 Rev. Dr Abbott, of Beverly. The Laymen were 

 Drs Torrey and Wiissey, of Salem, and Messrs 

 Evarts and Thurston, of Boston. At the third 

 meeting of this Committee, which was at DrTor- 

 rey's in Salem, a sub-conjmittee was appointed to 

 draw up the contemplated Constitution. This 

 committee consisted of Dr Worcester, Dr Torrey, 

 and Dr Wadsvvorth. They ])roposcd u constitu- 

 tion, which was presented at a full meeting in 

 Boston, at which Rev. Dr Chaniiing, Hon. Sanmel 

 De,\ter, and other distinguished Unitarians, took a 

 leading part, and which, after some amendment 

 was adopted. 



" The following is a list of the first officers, cho- 

 sen in Jidy, 1813, two years after the origin of 

 the Society as above stated ; viz : 



"■President, Hon. Samuel Dexter; Vice Presi- 

 dents, Gen. John Brooks, Dr John Warren, Hon. 

 Benjamin Pickman ; Corresponding Secretary, 

 Re\ . Abiel Abbot ; Recording Secretary, Rev. Josh- 

 ua Huntingdon ; Treasurer, Samuel H. Walley ; 

 Counsellors, Rev. Dr Kirkland, Rev. Dr Lathrop, 

 Rev. Dr Worcester, Rev. Mr Peirce, Hon. Nathan 

 Dane, Hon. Timothy Bigelow, Richard Sullivan, 

 Esq., Jeremiah Evarts, Esq." 



Having extracted from the columns of the Reg- 

 ister, the facts iji rislation to the formation of the 

 Society, it may be well to state, (which I can upon 

 equally good authority) that to the Hon. Nathan 

 Dane, of Beverly, is due, more than to any other 

 man, the credit of keeping the Society alive, when 

 its existence was precarious. For a number of 

 years, the meetings of the council were but thinly 

 attended ; and when, as often happened, there 

 were only three or four members present, Mr Dane 

 was generally one of them ; and he not only gave 

 liis personal labors, and the influence of liis char- 

 acter, but contributed, in a pecimiary way, more 

 largely, perhaps, than any other individual. 



Veritas. 



FEEDING CATTLE. 



It has been ascertained that 1 lb. of oil cake, is 

 as two pounds of hay. 



200 lbs. of good straw of peas and vetches are 

 equal to 100 lbs. of hay. 



300 lbs. of barley and oat straw are equal to a 

 100 lbs. of hay. 



400 lbs. of wheat straw are equal to a 100 lbs. 

 of hay. 



Wheat produces the greatest increase in the 



flesh of the living animal, though but little greater 

 than oats, peas, wheat, rye, and hay mixed with 

 straw, produce the greatest increase of wool ; nar- 

 ley and wheat cause the greatest increase of tal- 

 low. As an average, grain generally gives about 

 three times the increase in the flesh, that roots and 

 hay do, wh >n in equal weight ; grain produces 

 about twice as much wool as is caused by an 

 equal weight of roots, and several times the amount 

 of tallow, that is produced either by roots or hay. 

 But as an «qual weight of mangel wurtzel may be 

 raised at an expense of less than one tenth of 

 what is required for the production of most kinds 

 of grain, the vastly superior economy of its use as 

 food for sheep for every thing except fattening, 

 will be at once perceived. 



De Raumer found, that sheep ate with avidity, 

 eight pounds per head of mangel wurtzel a day, 

 intermixed with straw ; during which time they 

 drank one quart of water, and remained in good 

 and healthy condition. 



That of raw sliced potatoes, they ate with good 

 appetite, at the rate of seven pounds per day, al- 

 so with straw, and drank three pints of water in 

 24 hours. Also, remained healthy. 



'J'hat they ate two pounds of peas per head dai- 

 ly, drank from two to three quarts of water, and 

 remained fine and healthy. It was necessary to 

 soak the peas to prevent injury to their teeth. 



That wheat produced nearly the same resists as 

 peas. 



That they do not oat rye readily, and it appuars 

 not well adafited for their food. 



That of oats and barley, they ate about two and 

 a half pounds per head daily, with avidity, did ex- 

 tremely well on it, and drank about 3 quarts of 

 water in 24 hours. 



That buckwheat produced excellent effects up 

 on them, which they eat with avidity. 



And that of good hay they ate four and. a half 

 pounds .laily, and drank from two and a half to 

 three quarts of water. 



As a large number of fine-wooled sheep have 

 been introduced into the oountry within a few 

 years, it is absolutely necessary, in order to ren- 

 der. them most profitable, that they be well shel- 

 tered during winter. In those countries in Eu- 

 rope wliichare mo>t famous for the growth of fine 

 wool, strict attention is given to this subject, and 

 sheep are not only sheltered in the night, but 

 whenever the weather demands it during the day. 

 It is said that on this depends in a great degree, 

 the fineness and quality of the wool. Shreds, at 

 least, should always be providei! for the most har- 

 dy breeds of sheep ; much more so then, ought 

 they to be for the more tender, fine-wooled varie- 

 ties. Henry D. Grove, of Hoosick, Rensselaer 

 county, who has been uncommonly successful in 

 raising and wintering fiiie-woo!ed sheep, says that 

 shelter against the inclemency of the weather, 

 " is almost as necessary to the health and good 

 condition of sheep, as food itself, and for this rea- 

 son stables for that purpose are of great benefit. 

 Not only do sheep do iimch better, but it is also 

 a saving of fodder and manure, Tlie latter is as 

 important as the former ; for manure, properly 

 applied, is money to the farmer ; and it is well 



known that sheep manure is of the best kind 



These stables ought to be so constructed, as to 

 admit of a great quantity of hay being put over 

 head ; and for this reason 1 would recommend a 

 side hill facing the south, and a dry spot around 

 it, for their location. E;ich full grown sheep re- 



quires six square feet including racks. These 

 ought to be so constructed as to have a manger 

 attached to each, for the jiurpoae of feeding grain 

 and roots, and to catch the hay the sheep draw 

 through the racks. 'I'he stable ought lo be eight 

 feet high at least, nim; feet is preferable, and suf- 

 ficiently ventilated. It is also necessary to have 

 windows tor the piirpo.se of light, 'i he difter- 

 ence between wool grown in a dark and lightsta- 

 ble, is really surprising. Jn a dark one, wool does 

 not get the brightness it has in a light one. Of 

 this fact, I have witnessed the most surprising 

 proof. Over head, the stable ought to be tight, 

 that no fodder, chaff, &c., may fall into the wool, 

 which reduces its value, 'i'he stables ought to 

 be littered with straw from time to time, to keep 

 the wool clean and add to the comfort and health 

 of the animals." 



We conclude tlie.se observations with the re- 

 marks relative to the importance of water and 

 succulent (bod to sheep during winter, of J. Bar- 

 ney, Esq. of Philadelphia, whose experience and 

 skill on this subject arj well known. To a gen- 

 tleman who visited him, he showed from 50 ewes, 

 upwards of sixty lambs, all lively and brisk, with 

 a loss of perhaps three or four. The gentleman 

 observed to him that he had his shed covered 

 with dead Iambs, and asked wherein the secret of 

 breeding lay. He answered, "you stuff your 

 sheep with dry food ?" " Yes, as much good clo- 

 ver and hay as they will eat," was the reply. — 

 " You give them no water, but suffer them to go 

 out in time of snow, and eat it as they are dis- 

 posed to ilo ?" " Yes." " Then their lies the se- 

 cret. Your sheep fill themselves with hay ; they 

 get no water ; and they have not a supply of gas- 

 tric juice to promote the digestion of the hay in 

 the stomach ; they cannot raise it to chew the 

 cud ; they lose their appetite; are thrown into a 

 fever ; and cannot bring forth their young, or they 

 bring forth a feeble, starved lamb that falls off 

 and dies on the first exposure to the cold and rain. 

 On the contrary, I take care to provide my sheep 

 with good clear water in summer and winter. I 

 feed them regularly with hay through the winter, 

 and give them ruta baga and mangel wurtzel ev- 

 ery day. The ewes produce me one hundred and 

 twenty per cent, in lambs. You cannot get along 

 witnout ruta baga and mangel wurtzel. — Genesee 

 Farmer. 



Cakada Corn. — We consider it proper at this 

 time to call the attention of the farmers in gen- 

 eral — and particularly those who have suffered 

 a loss of their crops from the iinfavorableness of 

 the past season, — to the yellow early Canada 

 corn, v\'hich has been cultivated here with such 

 success, as to leave little room for doubt as to its 

 superiority in overcoming the difltculties to be 

 encountered in our ever-varying climate. Five 

 acres of this corn was raised the past season, by 

 Mr Hatch of the Poughkeepsie Hotel, on his farm 

 two miles below the village. It was jilanted the 

 first of June last, has yielded sixty bushels to the 

 acre, perfectly sound and in as fine condition as 

 any we have ever seen. We understand that it 

 was perfectly ripe by the 10th of Sept. and will 

 generally come to maturity in about ninety days. 

 The land on which it was raised was in good con- 

 dition. Mr Hatch has already been applied to by 

 54 of our first farmers, for one himdred and fifty 

 seven bushels of this corn for seed next year. — 

 Poughkeepsie Eagle. 



