198 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER 



DEC. 11, 18.19. 



the days of its youth and feebleness," says the 

 Quarterly Journal I have just quoted, "the High- 

 land Society sent the leaven of the turnip husband- 

 ry into all the glens and straths of the north, by 

 offers of small prizes to certain Highland parislies, 

 and the same may be said as to the growth of clo- 

 ver and the finer grasses. As it advanced in 

 strength, as to numbers, and to cash, attention was 

 turned to premiums for stock ; then came offers of 

 reward to men of science to discover better imple- 

 ments and machines, to diminish friction, and con- 

 sequently draught, such as in the threshing mill, 

 and other parts of agricultural machinery. Still 

 advancing in the scale of intellect and of science, 

 premiums were offered for essays to faring to light 

 the facts connected with chemistry and natural phi- 

 losophy ; and, under the auspices of the society, 

 was set up the Quarterly Journal of Agriculture, a 

 work which has been tlie vehicle of conveying so 

 much useful information to the agriculturist, that 

 we humbly venture to say, it ought to appear on the 

 book-shelf and table of every farmer's parlor. Af- 

 ter this, the great stock shows were resolved upon." 

 At the Glasgow show in 18.38, there were exhibited 

 for prizes, 461 neat cattle, 121 horses, 274 sheep, 

 and 47 swine ; total, 903 domestic animals, in 634 

 lots. Of the other kinds of competitors, the num- 

 bers were as follows : 



For Butter, 18 



» Full iMilk Cheese, 15 



" Skim MUk Cheese, 6 



" Wool, 8 



" Roots and Seeds, 13 



" Implements, 28 



In 88 lots. 



The number of persons present at the exhibition 

 was estimated at over 17,000, besides workmen and 

 official people, — not one thousand of whom proba- 

 bly left the exhibition without carrying home with 

 hiui some newly acquired knowledge i-n his busi- 

 ness, or some now stimulus to improvement and in- 

 dustry. Not only has Scotland profited by the la- 

 bors of her agricultural society, but Great Britain 

 generally, and even the United States have been 

 highly benefited by tliem. The information which 

 that society has promulgated, has been widely dis- 

 seminated among us by our agricultural journals, 

 and has contributed not a little to the improvement 

 of the agriculture of our country. And in England, 

 which had been thrown into the back-ground by 

 the superior improvement of Scotch husbandry, it 

 has within the last ytar, induced the formation of 

 the English Agricultural Society, on a broad and 

 liberal scale, which promises important advantages 

 to English husbandry and to agriculture generally 



As evidence of the utility of horticultural socie- 

 ties in multiplying and improving the products of 

 our gardens, and in promoting rural embellishments, 

 I would refer to the neighborhoods of Boston and 

 Philadelphia, where societies of this kind have long 

 exi.'Jted, and to the Horticultural Society of London. 

 In the first named cities, and their environs, tlie 

 progress ofhorticultural improvement li.is been man- 

 ifestly great. Many new and choice fruits, culina- 

 ry vegetables and ornamental plant.-?, have been 

 introduced, culture has been much improved, the 

 markets better supplied, .ind prices cheapened. — 

 The London Society, although its garden has been 

 established but about twenty years, has concentra- 

 ted in it from both continents, and from the islands 

 of the sea, embracing every clime, more than five 



thousand varieties of edible fruits, including four- 

 teen hundred varieties of the apple, and seven ! 

 hundred of the pear, and an innumerable number of! 

 ornamental plants, many of them before unknown I 

 in our catalogues. Its collections of pears, which 

 embrace hundreds of recent origin, from Flanders 

 and from France, have been already broadly spread 

 over these 'States, and supply our dessert with a 

 succession of this delicious fruit. As a correspond- 

 ing member of this society, I have participated, and 

 have enabled others to participate, in the good 

 which it has been generously diffusing abroad. In 

 182.5, and at subsequent periods, I have been sup- 

 plied liberally with grafts of the choicest fruits 

 which it had collected. 



1 he great obstacles to horticultural improvement 

 are ignorance of the relative merits of different 

 kinds of fruits and culinary vegetables, and of the 

 proper modes of cultivating and preparing them for 

 the table. The generality of country gardens ex- 

 hibit but a scanty assortment of vegetable produc- 

 tions, and these are but badly cultivated, and often 

 of inferior quality. The tendency of horticultural 

 exhibitions is, to show the good and bad in contrast, 

 or rather to promulgate a knowledge of the better 

 sorts, of their culture and use — to excite useful 

 competition, and to demonstrate the utility of gar- 

 den culture, as a source of health, pleasure, and 

 profit. I have had many fruits presented to me, 

 which the donors considered of the first quality, 

 but which I found, on comparison, to be of secon- 

 dary, or inferior grade. The man who has seen or 

 tasted only inferior fruits, may well mistake them 

 for good ones. It is as easy to cultivate good 

 fruits as bad ones; and no one eats so good fruits 

 as he who cultivates them himself. It is as easy 

 to cultivate the vergaleu as it is the choke pear ; 

 the green gage as the horse plum ; and yet the dif- 

 ference between them, in all the qualities which 

 we most esteem, is incomparably great. But till 

 we can show our neighbor belter fruits, he will con- 

 tinue to cultivate and rest content with his choke 

 pear and horse plum. 



With regard to what is termed ornamental gar- 

 dening, or the cultivation of flowering shrubs and 

 plants, there is an objection, real or affected, often 

 made by very many people, on the ground that it 

 yields no profit. If the great object of life was to 

 accumulate money, without enjoying any of the 

 comforts which it confers, save the gratification of 

 animal appetite, the objection would be conclusive. 

 But we are endowed with other and higher appe- 

 tites than the mere brute ; and Providence has ev- 

 ery where surrounded us with suitable objects for 

 their development, and innocent gratification. And 

 shall we reject the proffered benefaction so kindly 

 tendered for our benefit, because it adds nothing to 

 our pelf? And what is there in the natural crea- 

 tion, better calculated to soften down the rough as- 

 perities of our nature, to awaken kind feelings to- 

 wards each other, and excite reverence and love for 

 the Most High, than a familiar acquaintance witli 

 the wonder.*! and beauties of His vegetable king- 

 dom ? Did you ever know a misanthrope, or a mi- 

 ser, who was an admirer of flowers ? I would not 

 recommend the neglect of more important duties 

 for tlie culture of a flower gardan : yet when tl cir 

 is ability or leisure, and these may be found to a 

 greater or less extant in almost every family, a 

 taste for floral beauties should be inculcated in the 

 young, not only as a source of rational pleasure, 

 but as a salutary precaution against bad compan- 

 ions and bad habits. The mind must be employed 



and must have recreation. It is better to direct it 

 to the works of the Creator than to the works of 

 man. Lord Bacon has said of the garden, " it af- 

 fords the purest of human pleasures — the greatest 

 refreshment to the spirits of man — without which, 

 buildings and palaces are but gross handiworks." 



But I am forgetting myself. In my ardor to 

 commend horticulture, for its useful, elevating, and 

 purifying inHuence upon the habits and manners of 

 society, I did not recollect that I am addressing 

 the highly polished inhabitants of a classic city, 

 who have long since demonstrated, in practice, the 

 truth of the lessons I would inculcate. I will there- 

 fore dismiss this branch of my subject, and turn to 

 the more rugged, though not less important topic 

 of agriculture ; barely adding, — 



That in all endeavors to improve the condition of 

 society, whether religious, moral, or industrial, in- 

 dividual efforts and example can affect hut little ; 

 and hence, that in every great work of reform oi 

 hnprovement, the concentrated strength of many 

 has been resorted to, and brought to a focus bj 

 means of associations ; and that the great objects 

 of society are not likely to be promoted in a more 

 eminent degree, by any, than by associations form- 

 ed for like purposes with those which I have now 

 the honor to address. 



Being a native of this State, and having spen 

 my early days within its borders, I can well remem 

 ber the farming practices that were wont to prevaU 

 The farm was, to use the commendatory languagi 

 of that day, "suitably divided into meadow, pasture 

 and plough land," and each division was exclusive 

 ly devoted to its object, until most of the nutritiou 

 grasses had " run out," in the meadow, and th 

 plough land had become too much impoverished t 

 bear a remunerating crop. Many an acre wa 

 turned into '-old field," or commons, destitute alik 

 of natural or artificial herbage, affording scant 

 gleanings to half famished cattle. I beg not to b" 

 ngisunderstood. I am describing what was a baji 

 feature in Yankee husbandry. Farming has n 

 doubt recently undergone great improvements i 

 Connecticut, as it has elsewhere. Yet on a fa; 

 comparison with higlily cultivated agricultural dis 

 tricts, I believe that it will be found that the hus 

 bandry of this State, in the main, is susceptible c 

 great in.provement. The lands of Connecticut wer 

 originally rich and productive. The earthy ele 

 menta remain in a great measure unchanged ; th 

 seasons are about as propitious as they were wor 

 to be ; and the lessons in improvement that hav 

 been taught elsewhere, leave little reason to doub 

 that under proper management, they may again b 

 restored to their original fertility. 



[Concluded next week] 



From the Genesee Farmer. 



HINTS TO FARMERS. 



Mr Tuckkk —The time is near at hand that r€ 



quires *he attention of every faj-mer in our country 



respecting the protection of their domestic animal 



through the inclemencies of the coming winter 



It is higlily necessary that we should have our out 

 buildings in good repair for winter, and see that ev 

 ery t'llng is taken care of, and put in their respec 

 tivo places ready for use in the spring. The pre 

 sent time is a very important one for doing all o 

 these various euiployments, so that when cold win 

 lercoines, we sliall be ready to sit down by on 

 own firesides, and enjoy all the plea-ures that ca- 

 be derived from a di uiestic life. No season in th' 



