306 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER 



MARCH 2 



TENTH (AND LAST) AGRICULTURAL 



MEETING AT THE STATE HOUSE. 



(Concluded ) 



Subject — " Poultry." 



Col. Tlinyer said he had omitted to spenk about 

 the diseases r>t' the hen. He said the gapes was 

 the worst disease arnonjj fowls: it ori^nnated from 

 a small worm, al)out 1-4 of an inch loner, which 

 gets into the windpipe, and works its way down 

 into the che.^t, choking up the wind-pipe. He has 

 made use of a feather moistened with one drop of 

 spirits of turpentine, and then applied to the inside 

 of the windpipe. Sumctimes it would effect a cure, 

 but not always. If too mud; spirits of turpentine 

 is used, it would destroy the fowl at once. 



In regard to turkeys, they are very tender while 

 young. Tliey love to wander. If they can be 

 kept on a farm where they can have a large range, 

 they may be made profitable. He saw on Mr 

 Webster's farm a hundred or more in one flock : 

 they had a range upon an extensive marsh, and a 

 chance to feed on grasshoppers, and were in fine 

 condition and profitable, as they required no other 

 feed than what they picked up, except in the fall. 



He thought the Dorking breed of fowls mure 

 liable to the gapes than many other varieties. 



Mr Knowles, of Eastham, said that a townsman 

 of his was of opinion that a bushel of corn when 

 fed to hens, was worth $1 25 ; but owing to rail- 

 roads, the price of eggs would be so diminislied as 

 to make poultry keeping a poor business. 



Mr Gardner, of Seekonk, said the subject was 

 of much interest to him. He found that hens did 

 not do so well when confined. He formerly kept 

 them in a yard, with a plenty of corn and water ; 

 but they produced but few eggs. Since then he 

 has increased his flock, and suffers them to run 

 with his farm stock, and he has been very success- 

 ful. They are benefited by ranging on a salt 

 marsh. Turkeys, as has been remarked, are deli- 

 cate, and difficult to raise. Last year he increased 

 his slock, and had from 100 to l.iO young ones: 

 he fed them on curd, and kept thp:ii shut up a few 

 weeks, and they did well ; but after they were 

 permitted to run at large and ramble in the grass 

 in wet weather, they began to die, and but very 

 few were saved. He wished to know of some 

 good method to raise them. 



Mr Cook made some remarks about lurkies. 

 They appeared to be very delicate at an early age, 

 but much hardier when older. If young turkeys 

 can pass through a (ew weeks of their first exis- 

 tence : they would most likely do well ; but they 

 require much care. Confinement was highly inju- 

 rious to them — they seemed created to rove about. 

 He spoke of the injurious effects of their being 

 wet, which was apt to destroy them. They re- 

 quire a great variety of food. If fed on meal 

 alone, they would die. At an early age they show 

 a wonderful dexterity, in catching insects, and 

 when allowed their liberty would grow fat on flies, 

 grasshoppers, &c. In season^ when they swarm, 

 they devour myriads of insects, and they afforded 

 a very stimulating food. 



Mr Cole said a friend in Uangor confined his 

 hens, except for about an hour before sunset every 

 day, and in the month of January h.id 1900 engs 

 from 150 hciis. 



Mr Dndge, Senator from Essex, said one neces. 

 sary expedifnt in making hens lay in winter was 

 in feeding them with meat. It wiis iinmalerial 

 whether it was c^jokcd or not ; but u .'hould be 



chopped up; in summer they could procure worms 

 and other insects; it was not so important at that 

 season to give meat to them Ho thought salt 

 fond injurious. He considered it doubtful whether 

 when salt was laying about the barn after salting 

 hay, the hens would eat it ; though it was the 

 commonly received opinion that they would. He 

 said it was a prevailing opinion that boiled peas 

 when given to lurkeys produced injurious effects, 

 but he considered tins fanciful. A turkey would 

 swallow a grasshopper whole and it must be strange 

 if it cannot digest a pea without injury or incon- 

 venience. 



He was not particular about keeping his hens 

 warm, but let them take care of themselves, tho' 

 he thought it desirable to have a good lien house. 



His hens in the hot weather of June, were ex- 

 ceeding troubled with lice, and one third died off, 

 a hen which had hatched out a brood of chickens, 

 was found dead on her nest, literally destroyed by 

 the lice. 



Col. Thayer said it was necessary to have a hen 

 house tight and warm, if eggs were expected in the 

 winter. Lice in hen houses might be destroyed by 

 burning a pot of charcoal in the house, closing it 

 tight: whitewashing was sometimes resorted to 

 but was not always efficacious. 



The meeting was then adjourned to the first 

 week in January next, when it is presumed the 

 members of the Legislature, who may then repre- 

 sent the State, will come prepared to make the 

 meetings still more iustniclive than they have been 

 the present session. This is the first season we 

 have had the privilege of attending these dis- 

 cussions — but from observations made by gentle- 

 men who have been present a number of succes- 

 sive years, we infer timt those of the past winter 

 hove been of a more interesting character, than of 

 any other season, i^luch practical information has 

 been elicited from experienced gentlemen, while 

 the patience of the assembly has sometimes been 

 tried by long prosy speeches by those who had ap- 

 parently but little practical acquaintance with the 

 subject under discussion. We do not consider an 

 agricultural meeting of this character a suitable 

 place for display of oratory, or that it adds much 

 to the honor or consequence of the speaker, who- 

 ever he may be, (except in his own estimation,) to 

 make a long harangue when he has nothing of 

 consequence to say upon the subject. It is, how- 

 ever, interesting to hear the experience related by 

 those who have all their life-time been engaged in 

 agriculture ; to be made acquainted with their suc- 

 cess and their failures, their modes of operation, 

 &c., ami to have a free interchange of views upon 

 all the topics which are brought successively be- 

 fore the meeting. 



The geiitlemeti who have composed the meetings 

 are very much indebted to the Hon. Josiah Quin- 

 cyi j'-, who has so ably presided at these meetings 

 during the winter, having been ab.-ient only one 

 evening, and that through necessity. When the 

 discussions were animated, he was not disposed to 

 lake part in them ; but if there appeared to be any 

 thing like dullness approaching, he was sure to 

 electrify the assembly by a flash of his wit, pro- 

 ducing new life and vigor in the minds of all. 



Thi.i mode of spending one evening in the week 

 during the session of the Legislature, commends 

 Itself to all, especially to those interested in the 

 great subject of agriculture, and we sincerely hope 

 they will be rt'sumed another year, and sustained' 

 in a manner vvhicli will prove beneficial to all who I 



shall take part in the discussions, as well 

 thousands who read an account of them. 



MASS. SOCIETY FOR PROMOTING: 



CULTURE. 

 Report oj the Committre on the Premium to i 



ed "for the best account, founded on ei 



of draining and reclaiming wet or meat 



There were this year four application 

 premium. 



One of the applicants, who shows most 

 advantages which he has himself deri 

 draining and reclaiming his low lands, 

 lected to give us such an account of his n 

 would assist others in following his exai 

 can consequently have no claim to a preii 



He appears to have fallen into an erro I 

 common among the applicants for premi 

 this Society, that a reward is offered to 

 the skill and industry he has displayed ii^ 

 ing his own property. 



But he, as well as other applicants for 

 niium, have, in their increased crops, alreai 

 a rich rewrird for the labor and expense of 

 and reclaiming their wet lands, as most 

 pears by their own accounts. 



Your committee considered that your 

 ject in offering this premium was, to ind 

 of those who had been most successful in 

 and reclaiming wet lands, to give such ar 

 of their operations as would enable mei 

 your Society, and other farmers throng 

 State, to follow their example profitably. 



We are happy to say that two such 

 have been sent in to us. 



Mr Benj. Poore, of Newburyport, hai 

 short but clear and distinct account of hi 

 of draining lands. This same gentleman 

 in his account of his farm, which is this y 

 ed for premium, given somo further parti 

 his success in draining. 



Mr Samuel Goodrich, of Stockbridge, I 

 a more full and elaborate account of his n 

 draining, sccompanied by a plan of a piei 

 acres which he has drained. 



Both of these gentlemen understand th 

 tage of covered drains, and the necessitj 

 structing drains where the upland tcrmin 

 the meadow begins, deep enough to cu 

 springs which are fed from the land above 



Tho committee consider that proper att 

 these two points is of essential importance 

 ing. 



Mr Goodrich throws his lands into beds 

 has drained it. This was very necessai 

 old method of reclaiming wet lands, but 

 mittee, judging from their own experience, 

 this practice useless and even pernicious a 

 has been drained in this thorough manner. 



The committee recommend that the prf 

 fifty dollars be given to ftlr Samuel, Goo 

 Stockbridge. 



And as they consider the subject of the 

 importance to the agriculture of the St 

 would likewise recommend that a gratuity 

 dollars should be given to Mr Benj. Poore, 

 buryport, for his account of his method of 

 his lands for the last 20 years. 



Which report is respectful submitted. 



FRANCIS C. LOWEI 

 fur the Comii 



Boston, Feb. 10, 1844. 



