50 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER, 



AUGUST 14, 1839. 



AND HORTICULTURAL REGISTER. 



Boston, Wednesday, August U, 1839. 



MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY 



PRE.MJUMS. 



The list of premiums offered by the Massachusett* vro- 

 ciety for Promoling Aj:ricuilure, have been given lo the 

 (lublic in the columns of the N. E. Farmer, and circulat- 

 ed on a separate BJieet through the .Stale. We liope 

 they will excite the attention which tliey justly demand, 

 and lead to an animated competition. Tliey are drawn 

 up with good judgment; the subjects of premium arc 

 well selected ; anil the conditions in every respect liber- 

 al to an e.xtreme. Onr only regret is that their appear- 

 ance was unavoidably delayed to so late a period in the 

 season. On this account ihey may not be seen by some 

 who would otherwise have been competitors j and oth- 

 ers may not have cultivated crops which they would 

 have cultivated or in the manner they would have done, 

 had they known wliat would have been the subjects ol 

 premium. In respect to most matters the notice is suf- 

 ficiently early to do all that is required to be done. 



It will be seen that the Massachusetts Society have 

 placed a portion of their premiums amounting to nearly 

 four iiundred dollars, at the disposition, in conjunction 

 with a committee of their own body, of the VVoicesier 

 and BerUshire Agricultural Sccieties ; and to be bestow- 

 ed upon articles or subjects suggested by the Trustees 

 of these societies, and at their respective cattle shows. 

 These premiums are open to competitors from any part 

 of the Commonwealth, who will conform to the regula- 

 tions of the local societies. This is an excellent arrange- 

 ment. It ought to conciliate the favor of the farmers of 

 the Commonwealth towards the State Society, whose 

 proceedings from its foundation have been exceedingly 

 liberal and munificent ; and in a degree it is a good sub- 

 stitute lor the Show at Brighton, which the Society has 

 judged It best to intermit now for three or four years. 



It will be seen in the next place, that the very liberal 

 premiums oft'ered for dairy produce, amounting in four 

 jjremiums to two hundred and sixty dollars, are open to 

 competition from any !»tate in the Union ; and the large 

 preiniiuns of one hundred dollars for a perfect remedy 

 against the locu'^t borer, and the premium of fifty doll.irs 

 tor a remedy again.st the apple tree borer, and tlie pre- 

 mium of fifty dollars for the best treatise on the cultiva- 

 tion <ift!ie. mulberry, and of thirty dollars for tne best 

 subsoil plough, and of twenty dollars for the invention 

 of any valuable agricultural machine, are open to any 

 and to all persons. This evinces gieat libeiality; and 

 will, we hope, attract the atlenticm of the ingenious, 

 sliilful, and practical throughout the country. We hope 

 that agricultural papei^s at least throughout Now Encr- 

 land, New York, New Jersey aiM Peiinsvlvania, .wfll 

 publish these general and unrestricted premiums and 

 invite competitors from among their own subscribers in 

 tlieir own neighborhoods. 



It is to the highest honor of .Massachusetts that she 

 has made from an early period, the most liberal provis- 

 ion for the encouragement of agricullure ; and it .is be, 

 lieved tliat, with the e.xception of the S..eiety for pro- 

 moting agriculture and domestic indiistiv in Rhade Is- 

 land, that there is not another State nor another Society 

 in a-iy State, bestows a single doll.ir in any direct 

 form for the encouragement of agiiiiiltuie. We must 

 except the bounty offered on silk in (;onneciiout, and 

 on wheat and corn in .llaine, which are suHiciemly lib- 

 eial, but are hardly to be regarded as the result ol';i re- 

 flecting and settled deieriniiration to encounore ^i:;rieol- 

 ture in the ^tate and to lend to scieniific aiid'e.\.xt e.v 

 peiiinent with a view to the advancement of this grout 

 art. New York some years since apprdnted a bo'i"rd of 

 agricullure and made a verv liberal appropriation for the 

 promotion ol agriculturi: which nisiilted in the publica- 

 tion of >evoial volumesof valuable agricultural papers, 

 which B'ere distributed through the State. They have 

 made likewise two or three attempts at getting lip Cat- 

 ile Shows, and ploughing matches, hut there" \sere no 



premiums ol}ered, a^id they became nearly abortive. 



■fill.- Legislature of .\ew Y^ork of late years, notwith- 

 siaoding she has been rr'poaledly urgedby some of her 

 most enlightened and able citizens,' has refused lo do 

 any thing, though her resources are most abundant, and 

 agriculture must constitute he.- great inlei-est. 



The highest duty of every enlightened government is 

 lo encourage agricultural imliistry. Without ao-ricul- 



ture, commerce, manufactures, and every important 

 interest in thecommunily must languish. The prodm^ts 

 of agricultural industry constitute substantial wealth. 

 In proportion as the products of the eartii are multiplied 

 tlie comforts of the great mass ef the conimunitv are in- 

 creased. It is infinitely better for a man, for his lieallh, 

 comfort, and morals to be compelled ti» resort to a good 

 farm fo. his subsistence than to a mine of gold — to pro- 

 duce bread and potatoes by his labor, than to heap up 

 the precious metals at his pleasure. 



A hard soil, which demands inueh laboi, a climate 

 which calls fir the constant exerci^e of prudence and 

 care, and a condition of things wliieh makes activity 

 and industry indispensable habits of hie, are far more 

 favorable to morals, to physical health and to mental vig- 

 or and improvement, than a soil which yields sponta- 

 neously all that human subsistence requires, and a cli- 

 mate and condition which render all loresiglit and prov- 

 idence useless. All that seems requisite is that the cli- 

 mate with ordinary and reasonable precautions should be 

 f'avm-able to health and activity; that the soil ^ll"uld 

 yield an ample compensation to well directed labor, and 

 especially that the political arrangements of society 

 should be such as lo leave lo labor the quiet and pcrfecl 

 enjoyment of the fruits of honest industry. 



In all the.se respects Massachusetts presents advanta- 

 ges which should attach to her most strongly the affec- 

 tions of her children. Notwithstanding all tliat has 

 been .said against her climate, the staiidanl of health 

 among her people is as high as in any portion of the 

 world. Her soil, though in jnany parts hard and f .ibid- 

 ding, makes every where ample returns to those who 

 faithfully perform their duty towards it. Every step wo 

 take in the progress of our examination, more and mote 

 satisfies us ofthi.-;. We know thousands of acres of" land 

 in Mas.sachusctts, which produce two, three and even 

 more tons ofhay to the acre. We know many an acre 

 of land which has been redeemed at an expense of one, 

 two and even three hundred dollars per acre, wiiich 

 even at the last sum, pays an interest of twelve per cen- 

 tum per annum clear of all expenses, and may be kejit 

 in this productive slate at an expense of the crops of one 

 year in six. We know thousands of acres of land in the 

 State, which might be redeemed and rendered produc- 

 tive at an expense of thirty or fifty dollars per acre, the 

 whole expense of whose improvement would be paid by 

 the first or the two first years' crops, which would 

 prove as productive as any lands in the country. Why 

 then should we complain .' ah I there is the labor— there 

 is Ihe labor! This is always the complaint of indolence 

 and self-indulgence — of physical and mental imbecility. 

 But we shall never accomplish any thing truly great, 

 useful and valuable, until we come to the deep convic- 

 tion that that wliicli costs nothing is, generally speaking, 

 worth nothing; that [lerseveriiig labor will surmount 

 all difficulties and effect all that human power can do ; 

 that in the present condtion of human nature, it is a 

 blessing and not a curse that man is dorrned to get his 

 living by the sweat of his brow ; and that when all its 

 influences are considered, labor is the necessary founda- 

 tion and source of all that is truly good in the character 

 and condition of man. H. C 



forestallois are laid flat upon their backs. There may 

 they lie till doomsday. Yet perhaps they are not 3i> 

 blameable as ihe government, which creates and permits 

 the abuse of such facilities to the enriching of a few 

 favored ones al the e.xpeiise of the many, who cannot 

 get into the sunshine. But i'rovidence suffers no evil 

 lo come unmitigated ; and renders sometimes the most 

 severe evils productive of good. The high prices of 

 flour for a few years past has greatly stimulated the cul- 

 tivation of wheat; and abundance now floods the land. 



11. C. 



DlSTRESSIiNG CALAMITY! 



When will man be satisfied ! The papers and letteis 

 from the West represent the crops of wheat as abundant 

 as they have ever been known to be. The farmers are 

 beginning to complain that they cannot sell their wheat 

 but at a much reduced price. They seem to be in hopes 

 that their corn, which promises as well as their wheat, 

 may be cut off by the drought that is now coming on, 

 and this may render tl],eir wheat the more saleable^ Un- 

 f iliinale men ! flow often does it seem to be necessa- 

 ry in the dispensations of the Divine Providence, that 

 man's ungrateliil complaints should bo cured by what 

 the poet calls the " wholesuniie draughts of unaffected 

 pain." 



WO.VIEN MILKING 



Thirty years ago it would have been almost as diffi- 

 cult to lind a man milking as to find a woman mowing, 

 excepting in cases of very large d liiies. In this respect 

 matlei.-i are greatly changed ; and any hope, for aught 

 we see, of getting hack to the old practice, would be 

 vain. Half of the young girls now-a-days hardly know, 

 al least they would pretend that il would be immodest 

 and not at all lady-like to be presumed lo know, wheth- 

 er the milk comes from the udder or the liorns. " The 

 rosy milk-maid, " the title iifa song which we remember 

 to have often heard when a boy, is an animal not known 

 in modern natural history ; and as to a young lady with 

 thick shoes, a chequered apron, her sleeves turned up, 

 and a handkerchief tied over her head, though the apron 

 should be as clean and the handkerchief as white as snow, 

 nd never so pretty a pair of black eyes and ruddy 

 Iieeks peeping out from under it, it would be an idea 

 too shocking for one of your modern exquisites even to 

 dream of ; and if presented to her abruptly, while look- 

 ng in the glass in her muvslin de luincs, with her satin 

 shoes, her gilt hair comb, her paste earings and her in- 

 sect waist, us crooked as the limb of n scrub oak, she 

 would probably not recover fiom the fright for a week. 

 We say we have no hope of lecovering the good old 

 habiis of former days. Revolutions never go back. Yet 

 in this respect we have lost a great deal. Men are sel- 

 dom neat enough in their habits tube trusted with milk- 

 ing. They have not the patience to wash their hands 

 or to wash the udder before milking. Tliey are not 

 gentle, and often abuse the animal by their kicks and 

 thumps. They are in a hurry in ihe morning to get 

 through a business which they dislike ; and they come 

 borne tired lit night ; the cows are necessarily milked 

 at an unseasonable hour; and the business is very often 

 very badly perfoimed. Wormn, on the other hand, are 

 luore patient, more gentle, more faithlul, nioie neat; and 

 we were about to say — they ought to do the milking. — 

 The morning air Would be bracing to their muscles, (if 

 the modern girls have any musclCs, for there begins to 

 be a reasonable doubt in this matter;) and the odrr of 

 the cow has been long known lo be, and is often recom- 

 mended by physicians as iiiedicinnl. But we will not 

 say what we were disposed to say, because it would be 

 useless. It is utterly vain lo attempt a contest with 

 f isliion ; for according to Franklin's proverb, " he that 

 spits against the wind spits in his own face." We must 

 however, be just : and in riding through Dedhara last 

 week at the close of lh(.' day, it » as quite refreshing to 

 see in at lea.^t four covv yards, woman in her appropriate 

 sphere ; and by hei pleasant looks and her gentle con- 

 duct as she -■■al al the side of the bountiful cow, evinc- 

 ing her gratilufle to I'rovidence for this richest of all the 

 benefactors which Heaven has given to man inihe form 



MONOPOLY. 



It 1 



of flo 



iild seem from various accounts that the price 

 for a few years past, has been kept up by spe 

 ulutors in western New Yoik and other places, who ha 

 iiig the most abundant facilities ill the rmilrol of larr 

 banking establishineots, liave bought up all the whe 

 which tliey could re.ir-h by their agents distributed over 

 the coUMlry, and then have fixed the prices at ihei 

 pleasure. This is one of the beautiful and beneficial 

 operations of an excessive bank capical. The abundance 

 of ihe crops and various other circumstances have made 

 such changes in the price of flour, that many of these 



if a quadruped. 



H.C. 



Horticultural Society. 



Saturday, £vg. 3d, 1839. 



Black Hamburgh and Zinfendel Gra,.es, from Mr Otis 

 Johnson, of Lynn ; large bunches and finely colored. 



Apricots, from Mr C. H. Jcmes, No 14 Friend street, 

 Boston — fine specimens. 



A|>ricots, frwin .Air lliindle, Bo.ston — a fine specimen. 



Gooseberries, from Ml John Candler, Marblehcad. — 

 RoarinirLion and oiiier-;, bandsome. 



Old JuncatingPear, from Mr J. L. L.F.Warren, 

 Brighton. 



Pied and white Currants— fine specimens, from Mr 

 Aaron D. Weld, Koxbuiy. 



Early Apples, from Mr E. M. Richards, Dedliam, viz. ; 

 Early Harvest, Curiis' Early Striped, William's Favor- 

 ite, Sopsavine, Red Juneatiug and Red Astracan— a 

 fair specimen for early fruits. 

 For the Committee, 



B. V. FRENCH. 



