218 



KEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



Mat 



process is more expensive, and in some cases 

 would prevent the operation of sinking. 



When stones are removed from the field, one 

 of two things must be done — earth hauled in to 

 fill the holes, or they must be filled by plowing in 

 the surrounding soil. When the latter practice 

 is resorted to, the whole surface is lowered, and 

 the field is apt to be left in an uneven condition. 

 If the former course is adopted, carting in so much 

 earth to fill the holes would probably be alone 

 as expensive as the entire cost of sinking and 

 covering them. 



A few evening since, we met a large collection 

 of the people at Stirling, when the time, from a 

 little past seven until ten o'clock, was occupied in 

 a review of the topics which had been under dis- 

 cussion by the Farmers' Club during several of 

 their former meetings. An unusual number of 

 young men were present, and a deep interest was 

 manifested to progress in the noble art in which 

 they are engaged. The farmers here sustain a 

 Toion Exhibition, which we have been told by those 

 •who witnessed it last fall, exceeded the county 

 show in nearly all its departments. This spirit 

 will soon give a new face to the country, as well 

 as to the domestic condition and intelligence of 

 the family. 



liEQISIiATIVB AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



[Reported foe the N. E. Farmer, by Thomas Brablet.] 

 The tenth meeting of the Legislative Agricul- 

 tural Society was held in the Representatives' 

 Hall, on Monday evening. The attendance was 

 good, and there was considerable interest mani- 

 fested in the discussion, the subject being "Fiiiits 

 and Fruit Culttire." 



Col. Marshall P. Wilder presided, and an- 

 nouncing the subject for discussion, said that he 

 bad so often spoken in the Representatives' Hall 

 and other places on the same subject as was pro- 

 posed, that he had very little of what would be 

 considered new to ofi'er. His health was not so 

 good as usual, and he must, therefore, be excus- 

 ed from saying much. He stated that in the se- 

 lection of fruit trees in our climate particular at- 

 tention should be paid to those vai-ieties that 

 were hardy, and would withstand the changes 

 and extremes to which we were liable in our lati- 

 tude. In the Middle the States climate was not so 

 variable, and there some varieties might be culti- 

 vated to advantage that wc cannot expect to do 

 well with. A great number of foreign varieties 

 have been imported from abroad, but in conse- 

 quence of this variableness in our climate the 

 greater portion of them have failed, and to show 

 how many are unsuited to our climate, Mr. Wild- 

 er said that within thirty years, of over 800 vari- 

 eties he liad tested, it Avould be hard to select 100 

 that were desirable for us. This, said he, is not 



alone peculiar to our own region, as with all the 

 wisdom of the National Association, comprised 

 of men from all parts of the country, of the thir- 

 ty-six varieties of apples recommended for gen- 

 er.il cultivation, all but five are native, while of 

 the fourteen varieties of plums, all but four are 

 native, and all the varieties of strawberries are of 

 native origin. 



The speaker gave it as his firm conviction that 

 for our greatest pomological success we must 

 look to native seedlings raised on our own soil 

 and specially adapted to it. He then spoke of 

 the efforts made to disseminate the knowledge of 

 the various kinds of good fruit, and particularly 

 of those of the National Society and our own 

 State Board of Agriculture, both of which were 

 preparing catalogues containing the best varie- 

 ties, with the soil and location each requires, 

 and these he considered would be of great value 

 to all. He then mentioned several varieties of 

 native apples and pears of superior quality and 

 flavor, gi-eatly excelling the foreign kinds, and 

 spoke of the efforts in cultivating the native va- 

 rieties made by Mr. Dana, of Roxbury, who had 

 raised six or eight varieties of pears, and had 

 raised one variety nearly equal to the Seckel. 

 Mr. Richardson, of Dorchester, had also been 

 particularly active in this direction, as had also 

 Mr. Clapp, of the same town, the latter having 

 raised twenty-five varieties of seedling pears, all 

 very good, some excellent, and one, the Bartlett, 

 which rivalled, and he thought excelled the old 

 pear in beauty and quality. 



He had spoken so often and said so much of 

 the importance of thorough draining to the suc- 

 cessful pursuit of fruit-raising that he thought he 

 ought not to allude to it now, but as he consid- 

 ered this, and the complete preparation of the 

 soil, the two points on which success almost en- 

 tirely depended, it would be well to dwell a mo- 

 ment on them. The land for the orchard should 

 always be well worked and thoroughly drained 

 before a tree is planted, and as this was an infal- 

 lible rule, no new orchard should be commenced 

 without it was done. He knew the difficulty of 

 convincing an inexperienced farmer that a side 

 hill needed draining, but this was the coldest 

 soil we had. The surface water, said the speak- 

 er, is not what makes the land cold, as this will 

 evaporate or can be easily conducted off", but it is 

 the cold water, from the springs originating on 

 the hills, that permeates the soil and keeps it cold 

 and wet, thus checking the growth of trees and 

 preventing the ripening of fruit, and to this he 

 attributed the spotting of the leaves, the crack- 

 ing of the fruit and bark, and the difficulty in 

 ])ropcrly ripening the fruit. 



The influence of the soil, he thought, should 

 be particularly considered by all who purpose 



