1860. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



99 



of making money, and the lawyer, doctor and 

 clergyman were leaders in the professions by tacit 

 acquiescence, but now mechanical and scientific 

 improvements have lent their aid to the farmer to 

 that extent that he is at the head of profession- 

 al men. There is no occupation in life to which 

 so much of science can be applied, and the speak- 

 er expressed his gratification in seeing that a bill 

 had been introduced into the Legislature for a 

 horticultural or agricultural garden in tlie vicinity 

 of Boston. He concluded by speaking of vegeta- 

 ble physiology, and the attention given to the food 

 of plants, asserting that the mechanical mixture 

 of the soils is making a progress which will give 

 to agriculture that social and political standing in 

 the Commonwealth that science will always give. 



Rev. Mr. Sanger expressed the pleasure it gave 

 him in seeing the countenance given to the cause. 

 The last speaker had spoken of science as requi- 

 site for the profit and pleasure of the agricultu- 

 rist, but he thought knowledge should be diffused, 

 and this he thought would be the true way of 

 bringing pleasure. We must have knowledge of 

 the soil, and the ingredients composing it, and 

 then Ave want to know what vegetation requires 

 iu the soil. Mr. Sanger said that in the part of 

 the country where he had lived, 20 or 30 years 

 ago, 20 to 2-5 bushels of corn to the acre was con- 

 sidered rather above an average crop, while within 

 the past 10 years premiums have been given for 

 from 80 to 100 bushels to the acre on the same 

 land. He spoke of the yield of wheat in the 

 same section, and said that now it nearly doubled 

 the produce per acre of the land in Ohio, and this 

 was, in a large number of cases, the result of an 

 acquaintance with the soil. 



The speaker urged on farmers the encourage- 

 ment of a love of the beautiful as producing a 

 contented mind, and recommended the planting 

 of trees and flowers around their dwellings, thus 

 connecting beauty with the necessaries of life. 



Hon. JosiAn Quincy, Jr., being called on, said 

 he thought the great question in relation to agri- 

 culture was, "Will it pay ?" and he thought the 

 purpose should be to show that it will. He spoke 

 of farming in England and France, and said that 

 in these countries men invested very large amounts 

 of capital in cultivating small farms, thus making 

 it a very profitable investment, and getting the 

 most from the land, while here our farmers arc 

 too desirous of extending their labors over too 

 much territory, and not half cultivating any of it. 

 He said that there was nothing that paid better 

 than money judiciously expended on the soil, and 

 in proof of this he spoke of pet pieces of ground 

 that yielded at the rate of $50 to the acre, and he 

 asked why this might not be extended to 100 acres ? 

 He had 10 acres of ground on which the hay was 

 not worth cutting ; finding this, he broke it up, 



fertilized it, harrowed and seeded it, at an expense 

 of .$50 per acre, and the first year he got 2-} tons 

 of hay from it, which he could sell at tlie barn for 

 $20 per ton, thus paying in one year for the en- 

 tire expense. He had last year raised 300 tons 

 of hay, which cost him $700, which he harvested 

 for $2 50 per acre, while his neighbor could not do 

 it for $5 ; but the speaker said he had the advan- 

 tage of the best macliines, mowing, raking, 8:c., 

 and it is in not having these that farmers lose 

 money. He thought farmers were the most ex- 

 travagant men in the world, and he showed this 

 by their neglect in sa\'ing manure. Mr. Quincy 

 then showed that a cow kept up during the year 

 will produce more value in manure than the value 

 of her milk, relying on the estimate of Dr. Sam- 

 uel L. Dana, that she produces 21 cords. He al- 

 luded to the care which is taken in Europe in this 

 matter, and spoke of the result in bountiful har- 

 vests. 



The great element of farming, said he, is sav- 

 ing, with a liberal and judicious expenditure, and 

 we must cither invest more capital, or reduce the 

 area of our farms to make the land yield what it 

 will do, and he considered that it would be far 

 better if farmers invested their profit in their land 

 than in bank or railroad stodis. 



Mr. BuCKMiNSTER spoke of the mental and bod- 

 ily health a farmer enjoys, and urged on the meet- 

 ing the importance of instilling the pleasures and 

 profits of agriculture as well as the importance 

 of health, on the minds of the rising generation. 

 He also advocated the importance of farmers who 

 know how to make farming profitable, assigning 

 to then- children a small piece of gi'ound, and 

 teaching them how to cultivate it, so as to incite 

 a desire to acquii-e more, and this he contended 

 would be the best course by which to forward the 

 cause of agriculture. 



Mr. Howard, editor of the Cultivator, related 

 an incident which came to his knowledge last year, 

 of a Dutch farmer, in New York State, who, from 

 a squatter on seven acres of land, and one cow, 

 had become the owner of a farm of 50 acres, with 

 15 cows, and a good house and farm buildings, 

 and all acquired from the careful saving of ma- 

 nure. He attributed the dissatisfaction of farm- 

 ers to the waste of this valuable assistant, and 

 contended that, until more care was bestowed on 

 this, farmers could not expect to realize large re- 

 turns. He also spoke of English farmers, and 

 urged on the farmers here the necessity of keep- 

 ing book accounts of the oost of all produce. 



Mr. Gardner, of Swansey, thought a man 

 should have an aptness for his calling, and this 

 more particularly applied in the case of the farm- 

 ers, as if a man liked Iiis business he would be 

 industrious in proportion. Ho thought the argu- 

 ment that a man must have a capital to conimenco 



