166 



NEW ENGLAND FARISIER. 



April 



For the JS^ew England Farmer, 



FAKMEKS' CLUBS— A FORWARD MOVE- 

 MENT. 



Friend Farmer : — I have recently been much 

 interested in a forward movement by a Farmers' 

 Chib that I wot of, and which I think will greatly 

 increase its usefulness. The Club was organized 

 about ten years ago, and its members are wide- 

 awake men, deeply interested in the improvement 

 of themselves in knowledge of their business, and 

 of their farms in productiveness ; many of them 

 hardly missing a meeting for the whole season, 

 though obliged in some cases to travel, in inclem- 

 ent weather, from three to four miles from home. 

 It has been the custom of this Club at the begin- 

 ning of each winter to select questions for discus- 

 sion and fix places for the meetings for every week 

 during the season, and the programme is printed 

 and a copy given to each member. The meetings 

 are held at the houses of the members ; the mem- 

 ber at whose house they meet being expected to 

 ■write an essay to be read as an introduction of the 

 subject up for discussion that evening. These es- 

 says are supposed to embody the best thoughts 

 and the ripest knowledge of the writers, the re- 

 sult of practical experience, and the study of books 

 and of nature ; and the discussions that have fol- 

 lowed them have always been interesting, and of- 

 ten intensely so. The topics discussed are usually 

 of a practical character, directly relating to the 

 business of the farm ; with occasionally one of a 

 broader interest, whose practical bearings on farm 

 management are not at fii'st sight so direct and 

 palpable. 



It has recently been suggested that it was time 

 for the Club to take a step forward ; that it might 

 be more profitable sometimes to introduce sub- 

 jects that were not familiar to all — topics that Avill 

 reward as well as require special investigation by 

 the members — instead of permitting them to de- 

 pend on their previous knowledge or experience 

 for what they shall say. It was believed that all 

 wanted to learn sometlnng that they did not al- 

 ready know ; considering the Club a sort of school 

 for mutual instruction, where every one is able to 

 teach a little and learn a great deal. It has also 

 been suggested that the interest in, and the fruits 

 of our discussions would be greatly increased if 

 the subjects to be talked and written about were 

 selected and assigned a year beforehand, as op- 

 portunity would thus be given for special and 

 more thorough investigation, by examination of 

 common practices, and looking into the reasons 

 for them, while performing the labor, by experi- 

 ment in the fitting season, by a study of the ex- 

 periences and theories of other men as recorded 

 in books, and by careful study of the pages of Na- 

 ture's great book as they ai'e turned over for our 

 perusal. Every member is supposed to be a think- 

 ing man, and to be desirous to come at facts and 

 true theories ; and is expected to be at all times 

 wide-awake to observe, and free to criticise, in a 

 kind and truth-seeking spirit, the opinions and 

 practices of his neighbors as well as his own, be- 

 lieving that truth, though standing alone and un- 

 recognized, is more Avorthy of regard than error, 

 however venerable for age, or however highly or 

 numerously patronised. By using this longer 

 time for more thorough and exact investigation, 

 the members expect to be enabled to winnow out 



some chaff from among their opinions, leaving the 

 good and reliable grain in a better condition to 

 sow for another crop of valuable knowledge. It 

 would seem that a company of men earnestly in- 

 terested in questions having an important bearing 

 on the general welfare, with these topics specially 

 before them for thought and inquiry during a whole 

 year, can hardly fail to bring out something that 

 would be new to each individual, as well as estab- 

 lish on a firmer basis such of the old notions as 

 may be found good. If in no other way useful, 

 this plan, faithfully carried out, will surely tend 

 to develop the spirit of inquiry, to give increased 

 mental activity, promote the love of knowledge, 

 and to some extent furnish the means of gratify- 

 ing that love. 



I have been induced, Mr. Editor, to offer you 

 this statement, in the hope that other clubs may 

 adopt the plan proposed, unless they already have 

 one as good or better. m. p. 



Concord, Jan. 30, 1862. 



Fvr the New England Farmer, 

 AMERICAN GUANO. 



Mr. Editor : — "Patent" or "foreign" fertilizers 

 have become quite an "institution" in the pursuit 

 of agriculture. And when it is considered that the 

 greatest problem which the farmer has been called 

 upon to solve, has been, and still is, how shall the 

 fertility of the farm be improved, or even kept up, 

 without keeping a stock of cattle sufficiently large 

 to consume all, or nearly all the hay and grain 

 raised upon the farm, we shall readily understand 

 why "extra" or "foreign" fertilizers have become 

 as much a necessity, as the improved implements 

 of husbandry, which enable us to accomplish dou- 

 ble the amount of labor in less than halt' the time 

 consumed in the use of the ruder implements of 

 the past. 



A large share of the farmer's resources have 

 long been expended in producing means to keep 

 as large a stock as possible through the winter, in 

 order to make Ins manure heap as large as possi- 

 ble in the spring, whether the making of flesh or 

 the products of the dairy gave an adequate return 

 for the expenditure of the hay and grain, or not. 

 Fields distant from the barn, and old pastures, 

 have had to remain in their worn out condition, 

 because the faamer has felt constrained to apply 

 liis manure to fields more convenient, requiring, as 

 it Avould, even if he had barn manure to spare, a 

 large outlay in labor to transport such heavy and 

 bulky materials to more distant localities. But 

 the introduction of "foreign" fertilizers has done 

 much, and is destined to do far more, in the fu- 

 ture, to advance tliis important interest of the 

 farm. 



The intelligent farmer finds that by a judicious 

 application of some of these fertilizers, he can 

 keep up, not only the fertility of liis oft cultivated 

 fields, but he can render fertile and productive 

 lands which have long been of little value. With 

 him, the question whether farmers can afford to 

 purchase such manures, has been settled aflirma- 

 tively. liis only concern is to know zohich special 

 fertilizer, among the many urged upon his atten- 

 tentioii, is most worthy of his patronage and con- 

 fidence. 



In the hope of aiding in the solution of this 



