34 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



Jan. 



A FARMER IN THE CHAIR OF STATE. 



Below we give an article from the Providence 

 Journal, speaking in very complimentary terms 

 of onr friend and associate editor, Farmer HoL- 

 BROOK, of Brattleboro', Vt. The title, "His Ex- 

 cellency," will confer no honor upon him, that he 

 will not reflect back upon the title, by Iris manly 

 virtues and genuine worth AS A MAX ; for in 

 whatever position he has been tried, he has been 

 I found true to the convictions Mhich he has avowed. 

 Long and loug ago, he undoubtedly might have 

 occupied the Chaii- of State, had he stooped to 

 "barter" a little for the gilded bait ; but if the 

 thought ever occurred to him, it was only to be in- 

 stantly spurned. But when a common calamity 

 befel us, and political trading gave place to a pa- 

 triotic enthusiasm, he was first in the hearts of the 

 pbopie, who elected him at once to the highest 

 political position in their gift. He will honor that 

 position, and prove that the State may come to 

 his class more frequently for those who have the 

 ability to secure her interests and extend her re- 

 nown. 



THE NEW GOVERNOR OF VERMONT. 



marked abihties for legislation. His report upon 

 the subject of an Agricultural Bureau, made to 

 the Senate in 1849, was a paper of marked value; 

 and had not our politicians at Wasliington been 

 too busy with paity measures to act on its wise 

 suggestions, it would now be pouring treasures 

 intothe granaries of the country and greatly en- 

 riching our formers. 



Gov. Holbrook's recent Inaugural Address is 

 characteristic of the man : modest, simple, terse, 

 direct, patriotic, Christian ; its whole tone and 

 spirit show that its author appreciates the impor- 

 tance and bearing of the exigency in which he has 

 been called to bear the responsi])ilities of ofRce, 

 and that he will prove liimsclf the worthy stand- 

 ard-bearer of a State that now, as of old, is well 

 sustaining her ovrn and the nation's honor, alike 

 at home and in the field. 



For the New England Farmer. 

 WATURAL SCIENCE FOR FARMERS. 



Vermont has honored herself in the choice o: 

 her new Governor — Hon. Frederick Holbrook, of 

 Brattleboro'. His election Avas not brought about 

 by political maneuvering, but was the people's 

 spontaneous tribute to true worth and manly hon- 

 esty of character in one of their own number. 



Mr. Holbrook is not far from forty-five years of 

 age ; had the ordinary common school and aca- 

 demic advantages in early life ; fitted for business 

 with bright prospects which were suddenly dark- 

 ened by the disastrous failure of the concern in 

 which his father's large property was involved. 

 Thus, in his opening manhood, he Avas not only 

 thrown upon his own resources, but sorely ham- 

 pered in the pursuit of any gainful calling. 



Left with the care of an aged Avido'wed mother, 

 he undertook the culture of the few acres which 

 were her dower. To the severe labor and thought 

 required to wrest from these a subsistence for his 

 growing family, Vermont, New England, and in- 

 deed the agricultural world, owe the advantages 

 they have reaped from his great improvements in 

 agricultural implements, and the numerous valua- 

 ble articles on practical farming which have made 

 his name widely known. 



The improved plows of Ruggles, Nourse & Ma- 

 son, adapted to every variety of soil and work, are 

 largely the product of his experiments, observation 

 and study, as are many farming imi)lements that 

 bear the names of other men, but owe their exis- 

 tence to his practical and observing mind. 



He was one of the founders of the Vermont Ag- 

 ricultural Society, and for the first eight years its 

 President. In "that capacity he probably did as 

 much by speech and pen as any man has done to 

 develop the internal resources of the State. It is 

 but just that she should recognize the obhgation 

 by this high nuirk of her confidence. 



Governor Holbrook has no taste for politics "as 

 a trade," and has generally avoided political life. 

 In the Vermont Senate, however, he showed 



Mr. Editor : — An ai-ticle in your last number 

 calling attention to the advantage of a knowledge 

 of natural science to farmers, touches the right 

 key, and I hope those farmers' boys and young 

 farmers, Avho have not already acquired a pretty 

 good knoAvledge of chemistry, philosophy and 

 botany, Avill take up at least one of these this 

 winter. The long evenings Avill aff"ord ample op- 

 portunity for an intelligent young man to obtain 

 considerable knoAvledge of one or tAvo, or even all 

 three of these branches, so intimately connected 

 Avith practical farming. The "hard Avords," or 

 "technical terms," Avhich are so apt to frighten the 

 "uninitiated," Avill quickly disappear Avhcn one ob- 

 tains a little knoAvledge of their derivation and the 

 reasons for their use. 



Aside from its application to the composition of 

 manures, an item of no little consequence in the 

 present state of agriculture, a knoAvledge of chem- 

 istry is almost indispensable in every branch of 

 farm operations. Is it necessary to give medicines 

 to a sick animal, it aids us greatly in exhibiting 

 the nature and probable effect of such medicines ; 

 do Ave Avish to preserve the products of the farm, 

 it tells us the nature and process of decomposi- 

 tion, and Avhat is likely to arrest it ; it tells us, ' 

 too, in the operations of the kitchen, Avhat jjrepa- 

 rations are deleterious or otherAvise, and in its ap- 

 plication to vegetable groAvth, it enables us to un- 

 derstand and act in accordance Avith the laAvs of 

 growth. 



Philosophy, too, must be understood by every 

 farmer Avho Avould keep up Avith his profession, 

 especially if he Avould reap any advantage from 

 the improved machines and implements which so 

 much facilitate the labors of the farm at the pres- 

 ent day, and even if he uses no implement more 

 complicated than a common lever, some knoAvl- 

 edge of philoso])hical principles Avill often save 

 half the labor otherwise expended. 



Both these branches can be pursued to advan- 

 tage during Avinter, and so long as man's principal 

 aim is "the jjursuit of happiness," it is my firm 

 belief that independent of their practical apphca- 

 tion to business, any iutelligent man Avould be am- 

 ply repaid for the time and labor requisite to ob- 

 i tain a knoAvlcdge of them, by the insight Avhich 



