10 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



Jan. 



One great reason why farming is so uncertain 

 in its results, is because men profit so little by 

 their experience, — because they can make so few 

 observations, — because they observe with so little 

 accuracy, — and fail to record the results of their 

 observations. Thus the experience of the past 

 affords but little aid in the future. 



The chemist has the records of the past before 

 him. He records his own experiments, and their 

 results, with the nicest accuracy, and can repeat 

 them at his pleasure. 



The astronomer records not only the results of 

 his measurements and calculations, but every step 

 of the calculations themselves, that they may be 

 verified by others. 



The physician records his observations upon 

 diseases and remedies, and thus the physician of 

 to-day has at his command, not only his own ex- 

 perience, but the experience of those who have 

 lived before him. Man is the only being upon 

 earth that profits by the experience of others. 

 Animals of the present generation are no wiser 

 than those of the past. They exhibit no more 

 skill, no more sagacity, but blindly follow the same 

 instincts that guided their predecessors. 



Since the art of printing was invented, and the 

 records of experience have been thereby greatly 

 multiplied, men have rapidly improved in the 

 Knowledge of material things, and in the ability 

 to use them for their advantage and conve- 

 nience. What makes the difference between the 

 educated and the uneducated man ? The for- 

 mer adds to the knowledge acquired by the ex- 

 ercise of his own faculties, the knowledge pos- 

 sessed by those Avho lived before him, while the 

 latter relies chiefly upon his own observations. 

 But the educated man has not accomplished his 

 whole mission until he has added his mite to the 

 accumulated treasures of knowledge. Every good 

 thought, every well-defined fact, adds something 

 to the common stock, from which every one may 

 draw according to his necessities and convenience. 



If all the farm experience of the past season 

 could be collected, and collated, and all that is 

 valuable could be recorded, it would make a book 

 of reference of great value. If the same thing 

 could be done for a series of years, we should ar- 

 rive at facts of inestimable value. The experience 

 of years and generations past would be converted 

 into guides and aids for the present. This would 

 be a work of great labor and perseverance. But we 

 will not despau" — something is done towards its 

 completion every year. 



When Lieut. Maury wished to determine the 

 winds prevailing at any season in any direction 

 of the ocean, he collated the log-books of hun- 

 Ireds of navigators, who, during a succession of 

 years, had sailed over that section, and thus by 

 immense labor, learned in what dii-cction the winds 



blew, and on what days in the year, and thus, at 

 length, arrived at the result, that certain winds 

 prevailed in certain sections at certain seasons of 

 the year. Thus facts were established of essential 

 importance to commerce. The experience of the 

 past was made to contribute to the advantage of 

 the present. But if navigators had traversed the 

 ocean without recording the course of the winds, 

 the present generation of seamen would be no 

 wiser in this respect than their predecessors, and 

 would have continued to encounter the storms, 

 and beat against the head winds at unfavorable 

 seasons, as they did, all of which they are now 

 able to avoid. 



When the log-books of our farmers for a suc- 

 cession of years and seasons shall be carefully 

 collated, and facts, established by the experience 

 of hundreds, be placed on record, future agricultu- 

 rists will be able to lay out their course with more 

 confidence, and with more certainty of reaching 

 the results at which they aim. Our agricultural 

 papers, the books of our coimty and State socie- 

 ties, and our boards of agriculture, afford the means 

 of making the record, and Ave may hope that some 

 Maury will one day arise, and condense from the 

 experience of the past a book of wisdom, that 

 shall be of as much value to agriculture as the 

 charts of the Avinds are to navigation. 



Something like this, it seems to us, should oc- 

 casionally be the current of the farmer's thoughts 

 during the month of January. And if it is so, 

 it will not fail to be of more substantial benefit 

 to him, and to secure more favorable results in 

 the item of profits, than many daj's of anxious 

 toil, guided less by wisdom and the light of ex- 

 perience. 



AW EXPERIMENT FOR THE COUNTY SO- 

 CIETIES. 



COMMONAVEAI.TH OF MASSACHUSETTS— AGRICUI^ 

 TURAL DEPAUTJIKNT. 



Boston, December 5, 1859. 



At a meeting of the State Board of Agriculture, 

 held on the 1st inst., it Avas 



" Voted, That the several Agricultural Societies 

 receiving the bounty of the State be required to 

 offer three premiums for the most thorovigh, exact 

 and reliable experiments upon the ])roper depth of 

 applying manures, payable in the fall of 1862, as 

 folloAvs : — 



"Select a level piece of land of any convenient 

 size, from tAventy square rods up to as many acres 

 or more, Avhich should be as nearly equal in its 

 character and conditions as possible. Divide it 

 into five equal parts, numbering them 1, 2, 3, 4 

 and 5, for a rotation of three years. 



"Divide the manure Avhich it is proposed to ap- 

 ply, and AA'hich should be of a uniform character, 

 into four equal parts. At the time of first plow- 

 ing in the spring, spread evenly one-fourth of the 

 manure upon ])lot No. 1, and then plow the AA'hole 

 field of an equal depth. Apply another fourth 

 part of the manure to plot No. 2, and then cross 



