Proceedixgs of the Farmers' Club. 381 



Seth Boyden and nis Strawberries. 

 Mr. D. B. Brueii. — While the taste of this delicious fruit lingers 

 in our mouths I would say a word in praise of the orignator of the 

 largest of these berries, Mr. Seth Boyden, of Newark. He is an 

 old man, as I am and we cannot have many more years alloted to 

 us in which to study nature and revere the God who made us in the 

 works of his fingers. He is old, and the years of a long life have 

 been devoted to diligent study, of every art and every method by 

 which the dominion of man over nature may be extended, and 

 all matter brought to subserve human uses and promote human 

 comfort. No one man in New Jersey has done as much as Seth 

 Boyden to develop the useful arts by which the great manufactu- 

 rers of Newark have grown rich. He made many improvements in 

 the steam engine. Patent leather is, in an important sense, an 

 invention of his. Of late his genius has been exercised upon prob- 

 lems in horticulture, and he has done more than any other man to 

 perfect the strawberry. He studies the plant, observes and experi- 

 ments, combining size with high flavor, and uniting shape, taste, and 

 color in one berry. Could he live and push these discoveries, he 

 thinks he might give the world a far better and much larger berry 

 than "tiny here to-day. The bigness of an e^g he does not by any 

 means regard as the limit of development in the strawberry. This 

 noble old man is by no means rich, yet so free is he of false wants, 

 so independent in spirit, that neither his city and State, nor this 

 Institute, could present any substantial mark of their esteem which 

 he could be. induced to accept. A heart free of guile, a spirit above 

 envy, and a soul made light by a springing interest in God's choicest 

 works, these are his ample fund, his unfailing annuity. 



Advice to Persons Emigrating to Iowa. 

 Mr. E. B. GrofF, Marengo, Iowa. — Don't buy a farm the first year 

 you come to Iowa, unless you have an abundance of means, say 

 $3,000, after you have paid for all your horses and farming imple- 

 ments. Rent a farm of about 150 acres; it can be had for about as many 

 dollars, cash, paid in advance. Sow about twenty-five acres in oats, 

 and the same number in Hungarian grass. On the remaining 100 

 acres plant the best variety of corn. Two span of horses will cost 

 less west than east. That will be enough power for cultivation^ 

 The most improved farming implements of all kinds can be had as 

 clieap west as east. 



