1860. 



NEW ENGLAND FAEMER. 



121 



THE WHITE SPKITCE FIB. 



The Fir, Pme and Larch trees ought not to be 

 entirely dispensed -with about any of our farm- 

 houses, or the houses in our villages or cities, 

 wherever there is anything like a liberal surround- 

 ing of ground. They "constitute a perfectly nat- 

 ural genus or family, and next to the oak, are the 

 most valuable of Our timber trees but indepen- 

 dently of theu' value in this resjiect, their beauti- 

 ful foliage and magnificent appearance have at all 

 times rendered them objects of admiration and at- 

 tention." 



Nothing relieves and beautifies the landscape 

 in the Avinter like evergreens. They refresh the 

 eye, protect the buildings and small shrubbery, and 

 give the homestead a snug, social aspect. Then- 

 presence also brings up pleasant memories of 

 summer and gi'cen fields, and all unconsciously, 

 perhaps, to the beholder, promote healthful imag- 

 inations and a refreshing quiet and repose. 



Those persons -who have visited the enter- 

 prising and beautiful town of Greenfield, in this 

 State, will at once appreciate our views. On pass- 

 ing through that village, the attention of the trav- 

 eller, or visitor, is at once arrested by the lai-ge 

 amount of ornamental shrubbery that is so taste- 

 fully arranged around the dwellings, and especial- 

 ly by the numerous fresh and symmetrical white 

 pines that make nearly every dwelling he passes 

 so inviting, that he feels as though he must go in- 

 to the house itself, and have a chat with its intel- 

 ligent inmates. 



The Wliite Sjvuce Fir, here represented, is a 

 fine specimen of its class, and we hope will be suf- 

 ficiently attractive to cause many persons to em- 

 bellish their homestead with a few evergi-een trees. 



For the New England Farmer. 



AGRICULTUIIAIj EDUCATION". 



Resolved, That a system of agricultural education should be 

 adopted and form a part of the educational system of the State 

 — Proceedings of Massachusetts Board of Agriculture. 



Massachusetts has always ])ursued a liberal pol- 

 icy with regard to agriculture, and her societies 

 for its promotion, her board for its supervision, 

 are strong memorials of her zeal in its advance- 

 ment. These arc very good pioneers in their way, 

 but after all, they do not reach the greatest re- 

 quirement existing, to secure the object of this leg- 

 islative duty. In all enterprises, knowledge is the 

 first or moving power, the lever necessary to suc- 

 cess. The more and weightier the obstacles in 

 the way of advancement, the more necessary the 

 application of this power becomes. 



When the forests of our State bowed before the 

 tokens of civilization, it required no great skill to 

 cause the unworn earth to produce alnuidant har- 

 vests. A running fire over the newly cleared fields, 

 a little scattering of seed and scratching among 

 the stumps, ended the farmer's toil until the wavy 

 grain was ready for the harvest. There was no 

 draining, no subsoiling, no composting of ma- 

 nures to be done then. The labor to secure a crop 

 from a cleared field was light, soon over, and the 

 remaining time would be appropriated to remov- 

 ijig another strip of timber from the forest, to in- 

 troduce anew field for the next year following. It 

 did not require much mental eftbrt to do this. 

 Nature had ground down the rocks, and mingled 

 their debris with mould that had been accumulat- 

 ing for ages, in proportion to meet her own wants, 

 without the aid of the chemist. Time had opened 

 water-courses, so that the surplus tribute of the 

 clouds was borne away, giving no detriment to 

 the plain or the hill-side. In fact, everything had 

 been adapted to make the earth fertile in yielding 

 supplies for the necessities of man. 



Time and the continued droppings to which the 

 soil has been subject, has worn down the capaci- 

 ties that the soil then possessed. How many 

 loads of its former fertility have been carried to 

 market in the grain, beef, pork, butter, cheese and 

 wood that have been sold, would be the solution 

 of a curious and startling problem, whose result 

 would show that more fertility has been sold from 

 every farm, in these articles, than the present 

 value of the farms. It is very true, that in keep- 

 ing a flock of sheep, or fattening a yoke of oxen, 

 the farmer retains much that if judiciously ap- 

 plied, will enrich his land. But not all. If he sells 

 a thousand pounds of wool, the wool is not all 

 made of air and water. Or if a hundred sheep are 

 fattened and taken to Boston or New York, it 

 cannot but be supposfd that the farmer who fat- 

 tens them, disposes of a part of the fertility of his 

 farm with them. So with grain and hay, if we 

 sell them, we sell a portion of our grain fields or 

 meadows with them. 



Here, then, we see one cause, why the lands of 

 some portions of Massachusetts do not i)roduce, as 

 tradition tells us they formerly did. The fertility 



