168 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER 



NOVKNBIClt ',8. I<>ax. 



AND gardener's JOURNAL. 



BOSTOS, WtUNEBUAY, NoVEMBEB 23, 



AGRICULTURAL SOCIETIES AND PRExMIUMS. 



No. V. 

 Wc liiive spoken of tlie conditions, wliicli in our opin- 

 ion, sjiouia lie prescribed in regard to a dairy or a sliccp 

 farm. Anotli<!r diss of farms embraces particulary llio 

 raising of stock. In some parts of the slate, cold and 

 mountainous and wliolly inaccessible to the" plough, this 

 or the raisingof wool arc the only -.bjects to which the | 

 farmer, with any hope of advantage can direct his atten- 

 tion. The towns of Mount Washington at the south 

 western extremity of the state, and of Florida, Clarks- 

 burg, Monroe and otheis at the north-western part, are of 

 this" description, and olheis differently situated would 

 come under the same description. I'erhaps it ia seldom 

 to be expected that farmers placed in these inhospitable 

 locations would become competitors for t .e premiums of 

 the *ciciies, yet they should have the opportunity, if they 

 desired to avail themselven of it ; and farmers placed in 

 more favorable situations, who by pursuing the same sys- 

 tem of husbandry succeeed in obtaining them, by giving 

 a full and detailed account of their success and impiovo- 

 ments, would confer the highest advantage upon these 

 mountain slock raisers by showing them, where the best 

 stock IS raised, and how it may be obtained and improved, 

 and thus enabling them to make the best use of the re- 

 stricted means afl'orded by their situation. 



It has been questioned by many persons, whether Mas- 

 sachusetts can ever be with advantage, or to any extent, 

 a stock-raising state. Compared with the Western States, 

 whose boundless prairies give them an unlimited range of 

 pastitrage, and compared with those parts of the country, 

 where the ground is not locked up for any length of time 

 by an inexoiabic frost, nor wrapped up for four and five 

 months in an unbroken covering of snow, her advantasres 

 soein very limited indeed. Yet in spite of all these 

 hardships and restrictions Massachusetts may laise t\v eiity, 

 wc are almest rcidy to say fifty times as much live slock, 

 we speak of neat cattle particularly, to advantage ; and, 

 at such prices as the farmers have had to pay the pre-ent 

 season, to a great profit. An increase of tlie supply 

 would of course reduce the price ; but by putting into 

 requisition all the means of sustaining stock, which our 

 farmers aft'oid, and many of which are neglected, and by 

 extending our moans by the cultivation of vegetable 

 crops, the increased amount of stock raised without a 

 proportionate increase of expense wou'.d aflbrd the far- 

 mer a bountiful return. 



It must at the same time be remembered that little 

 attention has been paid among us to the improvement of 

 our breeds by judicious selection and crossing ; and that 

 the introduction or rearing, or improvement of a race 

 adapted to our particular means and situation, would- 

 prove a great benefit to the agricultural community. 



Wc should deem a stock-raising farm an object worthy 

 of a specific premium of the Massachusetts Society or of 

 other societies in the stale. It is not easy to slate with 

 great precision the conditions on which such a premium 

 should be granted or claimed, but the claimant should be 

 leqnited to produce the evidence of judicious an<l suin- 

 cicntly long continued attempts at iin|vrovement and' their 

 successful results. The number of animals should be 

 prescribed ; their sex and a-e; whether bulls, cows, oxen, 

 steers, heifers or calves; the objects attempted to be ac- 

 complished, whether it be the raising of an improved 

 stock for labor, beef, or milk; the hislory of the animals 

 from whom the stoek is derived; the mode of raising the 



calves ; the time when the heiferg come in ; and the best 

 time for the purjjose ascertained by observation and expe- 

 rience, as far as it can be determined ; the time and mode 

 of breaking and training animals to the yoke; the time 

 of coming to maturity for beef; the mode of feeding, if 

 fed in tl.e .stall ; the average cost ol'raising an animal, 

 giving fully the quantity of hay consumed in any. given i 

 time by an animal, and the kind and age of the animal ; ! 

 the numbi^r of acres required for the pasturage of an an- 

 imal ; and the value of hay and of land used for pastu- 

 rage ; and the f.omparative value of the breed or kind of 

 animals thus raised in reference to other known breeds. 

 In the same class of preminms might be included like- 

 wise the stall-feeding of catllc for beef; the kind of ani- 

 mal ; the age; the mode of feeding; the hve weight 

 when put up; the gain per week, or month; the feed 

 consumed or required per day or week ; the mode of its 

 preparation ; experiments upon cooked or uncooked food ; 

 upon grain, or meal, or esculent vegetables ; the value of 

 an animal when put up to be fattened ; his value when 

 fattened ; and in tine a full and detailed history of the 

 whole matter of breeding, raising, and fattening stock. 



Another important subject of premium should be a 

 tillage farm. This should cmbiace the whole subject of 

 cultivation; the nature of the soils; the manures used 

 and how apjdicd ; the crops raised ; the mode of plough- 

 in- ; the plough used; a comparison of fall and spring 

 ploughing; the time and manner of planting ; quantity 

 and preparation of seed ; the after-cultivation ; the har- 

 vesting ; the mode of saving and using the stover, stalks, 

 or straw ; the getting out of the grain and its preparation 

 for market ; the .whole cost of the crop, and its market- 

 able value. 



Let another subject of preminm be that of mixed hus- 

 bandry, whether on a large or small scale. This is the 

 kind of farming on which premiums are now oflered; 

 and the conditions prescribed by the society are already 

 so full and pertinent that it might be difficult to improve 

 the form of them. 



Another class of premiums might include particularly 

 marke; farms; or farms cultivated so near to a quick 

 market that the produce is at once disposed of in the form 

 of milk, or vegetables, or fruits. These farms are numer- 

 ous and hi 'lily productive; and it would be interesting 

 and useful to the agricultural community to know their 

 management and modes of cultivation, especially in the 

 ftiYWardiiig of vegetables and the cultivation of the finer 

 •finds of fruits. It might be diliicult to obtain this infor- 

 mation, as few perhaps,would be found willing to go into 

 a full detail of their farming. To obviate this objection, 

 however, it should not perhaps be required of them to 

 "ive an account of their actual sales and expenditures; 

 but only of the amounts produced ; and the yield per 

 acre ; with the mrides of manuring and culture. 



We liave gone thus fully into this subject of premiums 

 cer:,dnly not with any view of dictating to the gentle- 

 men to whom it properly belongs to bestow these funds; 

 and whose honest and earnest desire to lender them most 

 useful and effectual, we properly appreciate ; but in the 

 hope that our suggestions, if they avail to no other ends, 

 may at least Ica-l to the inquiry, whether tl'.e modes of 

 their present appropriation are the most eligible, or olhers 

 may be discovered of greater efficiency and utility 



\s there are few thin;;s which attract more attention 

 or are read with more interest by the agricultural com- 

 munitv than a full and detailed account of an enterpri- 

 sinn^ and intelligent farmer's own personal experience and 

 operations, so there is no f .rm in which valuable infor- 

 mation can be communicated so intelligibly, or more 

 usefullv. F.very encouragement should be given the far- 

 mers to come forward with these details. Small experi- 

 ments, tried by common farmers and within the means of 



the most humble, may be equally decisive in respect 

 many important matters as experiments on the most e 

 tended scale ; and, as wc have often had occasion 

 remark, experiments, which fail, may as often be usefi 

 in determining what can or cannot be done as exper 

 inents which succeed. What is .mainly iinp')rtant ar 

 the trial, the operation, and the results, patiently, exactl; 

 fully, and intelligibly observed and recorded. H. 



THE WEATIIKil. 



Since the first part of October more rain lias fallen lb; 



is perhaps remembered by any one, in the same Icng 



of time On the ni-ht of the first of November we h 



a light snow, which fell to the depth of two inches ; b 



soon disappeared. On Sunday the 16th inst. a N 



snow storm commenced in the afternoon ; and in ma 



parts of the country eight inches, in soiue places a lii 



of snow fell ; and from present appearances is dcslin 



for aught we can see, to remain until next spring stretch 



its gentle wand over the land and commands it to reti 



On Saturday evening thc24th iii.<t. the wind blew stroi 



ly from the North West; anri brought with it a terril 



blast In several places iii the city the mercury in Fr 



renheit stood at S' on Suinlay morning ; and on the M 



Dam it fell to zero. We should not be surprised, if 



the Green Mountains it took it into its head to sink s 



lower than this. This is a hard pinch for so e:irly in I 



season ; and what is to become of us if the gripe is i 



soon relaxed, it is not easy to predict, unless it be to 



still with the flies, until we are resuscitated with the 



when the dog-days come on. That would be, howe\ 



rather a kuig nap ; and there is not the same cerlaintj 



our waking up when they do. liut then h.iw much 



should save and avoid by such a suspension ; cold fing. 



frozen ears, and feet of ice ; the terrible operatioi 



getiing out of bed when the mercury is at zero ; all p 



lie and private quarrels and contentions ; the fifteen gal 



jug war, the congressional squabbles and cxcitcmei 



the partisan battles in and out cf Government; all th 



logical disputes and fisticuffs; all the pain of tliink 



and all the plague of writing ; the printer's ^fleil, 1 



imp of a thousand terrors, would not even appear to 



in our dieams; we should escape too the din and clar 



of Mormon wars, and Canadian wars, and Texas rev 



tions, and Abolition riots, and fierce eleciions. T 



also think of the ecstacy of the return— to hear the n 



of by -gone days and to find piles and piles of fresh ir 



lioence, fresh at least to us, at which we might sit di 



day after day, before and after breakfast, with no fet 



the slock failing until, in this; Esquimaux climate, 



must go into winter quarters again, and with only 



peril of a surfeit. This too without any " detrimet 



the republic," for humbling as the reflection may bi 



our self esteem, no man is of so much importance 



that the world will go on just as well without as i 



him. The tides will still ebb and flow ; the moons 



and wane ; the earth roll round in its diurnal and am 



circles; and the glorious and mighty orb of day s, 



daily his bri^'htening and vivifying face, unruliledby 



terrestrial changes or commotions, and looking d' 



upon busy, buslling, anxious, conceited men, proiidl 



they tread liw earth and presumptuously and haugi 



!Ui they lord it over each other, as more motes flultt 



and tossing in his own glorious and quenchless beam 



Tkuk Pleasure.— The pleasure resulting from ha 

 done something useful, is withtut alloy. Who has d 

 observed with satisfaction, the cheerful, pleasant coi • 

 nances of children, beaming with delight after hai| 

 executed some little duty, or vrork of utility. 



