1862, 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



235 



tree of eight or ten years' growth can be saved in 

 tliis way, it is well worth the trouble to do it. Mr. 

 John Gordon, of Brighton, informs us that he 

 has taken this course with some of his fine pear 

 trees that were injured by mice, aiid with entire 

 success. If they are gnawed quite low down, a 

 banking of earth about the stem after the plaster 

 is applied, may be sufficient. 



LEGISLATIVE AGBICDLTURAL SOCIETY. 



Repoeted for the Farmer by D. W. Lothrop. 



The thirteenth meeting of the series was held 

 on Monday CN'ening last, at the State House, the 

 subject for discussion being — How can our Agri- 

 cultural Exhibitions be made most beneficial to 

 th-e industrial interests of the Commonwealth'} 

 Mr. Flint, Secretary of the State Agricultural 

 Board, was appointed to the chair. 



He said the question in substance inquired, how 

 we can make our agricultural societies more use- 

 ful. He had observed that they are inclined to 

 fall into a common routine in conducting their 

 affairs ; though when new they were more active, 

 more interest was felt in them, and they did more 

 good. They were doing much good now, howev- 

 er, but not so much as they might. He thought 

 there should be one or two members of the County 

 Societies in each town, whose duty it should be to 

 report to the society any new facts or ideas that 

 might be worthy of its consideration, as affecting 

 its exhibitions. It would excite a wider and more 

 general interest. Heretofore, complaints had 

 been made that persons in the same town had 

 taken certain premiums from year to year, and it 

 was a matter worthy of attention and correction. 

 The publications of the transactions of the County 

 Societies, the chairman thought, should be more 

 general — not merely published in a ncAvspaper, 

 but carefully prepared in a pamphlet form, and 

 distributed among farmers, to an extent, who were 

 not members. Some of the societies had done 

 well in this respect — witness the Essex, the Wor- 

 cester North, and some others. !Mere display and 

 amusement for a day should not be their prime 

 object. The speaker would also throw out as a 

 suggestion that the County Societies should have a 

 fund for the purchase of agricultural implements, 

 to be distributed among its members for trial, as 

 many farmers have not much knowledge of them. 

 They should also own some grounds, he thought, 

 for experiments — the raising of seeds, for instance, 

 as great loss is sustained by those which are worth- 

 less. Yet he did not know that it could be satis- 

 factorily done. Another point, was their purchase 

 and keeping of stock. He alluded particularly to 

 the County of Dukes, Martha's Vineyard, of three 

 towns, whose society received $600 State bounty. 

 If some good Soutli Down bucks were purchased, 



giving two or three to a town, the best ewes saved 

 and the grade males castrated, in five years the 

 value of sheep would be increased fifty per cent. 

 So of Ayrshire bulls. In five or ten years the whole 

 stock of the County Avould be remodelled. The 

 Island of Jersey has so bred from its own 

 stock, and kept it pure. The plan was feasible, 

 he thought, but he presented these ideas, not as 

 authoritative, but merely as suggestive. 



Mr. Sheldon, of Wilmington, thought that 

 premiums should be given to the best cattle of 

 mixed herds, and not to those of particular breeds. 

 Unless all cattle were allowed to compete togeth- 

 er, he did not see how we could get at a true idea 

 of their worth. More good, he thought, could be 

 done so in five years than in twenty on the usual 

 plan of separation. If crossing is not worth a pre- 

 mium, then we should not cross. He also spoke 

 of premiums for plowing, and thought that the use 

 of four oxen should be encouraged, as they could 

 be trained to work well together. 



Dr. LoRiNG, of Salem, thought the County So- 

 cieties were doing much good, as they occupy the 

 place of agricultural schools. The best knowledge 

 is from the farmers of real practice. They know 

 all about cattle, sheep, horses, fruit, crops, &c., 

 and are the men who constitute our agricultural 

 societies — all of which are educational institutions. 

 They give a stimulus and ambition which reaches 

 the farmers' M'ives and daughters. Our exhibi- 

 tions are not mere holiday affairs, but a means of 

 imparting real knowledge. Those countries which 

 have done the most for agriculture have the most 

 important exhibitions. The school at Cirencester, 

 in England, was found too dear for the common 

 farmer, and it Avas the Royal Agricultural Society 

 which gave the stimulus, and was in fact more im- 

 portant than all the schools of the kingdom. So, 

 of the State Society of New York, and also of 

 ours, with its numerous branches. In our agri- 

 cultural reports the farmer finds the best literature 

 extant on the subjects treated. The writers do 

 not proceed upon theory, but give figures and 

 facts. He alluded to the broad, fundamental ba- 

 sis of agriculture in the progress of civilization, 

 and passed to consider the State Agricultural So- 

 ciety, which he defended from its aspersers, and 

 said that as it kept watch of the interests of the 

 farmer, it was an organization of which Massa- 

 chusetts should be proud, and he was glad it had 

 friends enough to keep its course clear. 



Mr. Wetherell alluded to the exhibition of 

 a fine ram by Mr. Watson, of Pittsfield. He 

 placed him under a tree, and invited his neighbors 

 to come and see him. Afterward he exhibited 

 other stock. This Avas before the formation of 

 the old INIassachusctts Society, and was the germ 

 of agricultural exhibitions in this country. In re- 

 gard to theii- utility and to their reports, he 



