1862. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



485 



reckoned as important that no man can afford to 

 keep indifferent stock, or to keep good stock poor- 

 ly. He did not mean to touch the rival merits of 

 certain herds of cattle, for some bloods are <i;ood 

 in certain localities and some in others. He fa- 

 vored ten or twenty generations of careful breed- 

 ing and generous feeding, and also good shelter. 

 It is a sound general rule, with few exceptions, 

 that no man can afford to groio poor crops, and 

 all farmers that do grow them invariably grow 

 poor themselres. Neither can a man afford to bring 

 up his children in ignorance of the principles and 

 facts which underlie successful fiu'ming. Mr. G. 

 thought our popular erlucation defective in plan 

 and scope, although the idea might not be locally 

 applicable. All branches of education he consid- 

 ered worth having, but insisted that there were 

 some not taught that would be better than some 

 that are. He would change this by choosing for the 

 ]n'incipal reading-book in every common school, a 

 condensed statement of primary truths bearing on 

 agriculture, like that recently compiled for Massa- 

 chusetts by Messrs. Flint and Emerson. 



Draining and manuring land was dwelt upon at 

 considerable length and with much enthusisam, 

 although the farmers were cautioned not to fail 

 through excesses. Farmers should produce their 

 own manure, and avoid sending to the cities for 

 phosphates. He told them to save bones of every 

 kind, and apj^sly them speedily to the farm ; grind 

 them in a mill if you can, dissolve them in diluted 

 sulphuric acid, mash them with the beetle on a 

 rock or barn floor, if that is the best you can do, 

 but let not a bone be lost. 



In the evening of this day, Mr. Greeley ad- 

 di'essed the people upon political matters. He 

 was urgently requested to do so in connection 

 with his address, but very wisely refused to do so. 



Fourth Day— Sept. 12. 

 The premiums, which were announced to be 

 awarded yesterday, were necessarily postponed 

 until to-day. The amount usually paid in premi- 

 ums in former years has been about $3000 ; but 

 this year scarcely $2000 was appropriated for that 

 purpose. The delay in awarding yesterday was 

 occasioned by the slackness of the committees in 

 handing in their reports, and the imperfect man- 

 ner in which they were made out, many of them 

 omitting the names and residences of competitors, 

 ^:c. The leading premiums in the important de- 

 partments are : on Sherman Morgan horses, F. 

 Griswold, of Randolph ; three year old colts, E. F. 

 Jackson, of Pittsfield ; one year old colts, Lester 

 Fish, of Ira ; live year old stallions, Lionel Udall, 

 of Hartford ; mares, C. H. Stov.ell, of Cornwall; 

 fillies, G. B. Cannon, of Burlington. There was 

 no sweepstakes premium awarded to cattle, but on 

 Devons the first went to C. B. Cook, of Wnl- 

 cott ; mixed and native bloods, two j"ear old bull, 

 James A. Shedd, of Burlington ; bull calf, James 

 Ray, of Bennington ; cows, James A. Shedd, of 

 Burlington ; two year old heifers, John Ingraham, 

 of Rutland ; breeding cows, Lorenzo R.ay, of Ben- 

 nington ; working oxen, W. H. H. Barker, of 

 Shrewsbury ; steers, three year old, J. M. Wins- 

 low, of R.utland ; two year old, William S. Allen, 

 of Panton ; one year old, Bradley Gorham, of 

 Putney ; milch cows, Daniel Kimball, of Claren- 

 don. Sheep — Spanish merino ewes, five in pen, 



George Campbell, of Westminster West, to whom 

 was also awarded the sweepstakes premium of $25 

 for the best buck ; yearlings and lambs, A. A. 

 Saxton, of Walpole ; three year old and one year 

 old bucks, George Campbell, of Westminster. 

 Swine — boar, J. M. Hall, of Rutland ; litter of 

 pigs, H. W. Lester, of Rutland ; breeding sow, 

 Thomas Stewart, of Clarendon. 



Circumstances prevented our accepting the in- 

 vitation of the officers of the Society to be present 

 on this occasion, and this account of the show is 

 compiled principally from the quite full reports to 

 the Boston Journal. 



For the New England Farmer. 

 THE FETTERED MIND. 



Messrs. Editors : — Fetters are applied to the 

 corporeal appendages of criminals, unruly ani- 

 mals and maniacs, as restrictions against trespass 

 and mischief. The intellects or minds of men 

 may wear fetters as Avell as the corporeal parts. 

 When the reflecting man takes a view of his fel- 

 low-mortals spread over the earth, and sees the 

 huge proportion of fettered minds, fastened by 

 ignorance and prejudice to old customs and creeds, 

 he Avill be filled with Avonder. There are many 

 farmers in this country, who already possess am- 

 ple knowledge, in their own estimation, and have 

 no room for more, very good men in their way, 

 but are fettered against progress and improve- 

 nient ; they are as certain that they are right as a 

 sectarian minister ; such farmers may raise a great 

 deal of produce, and be good men in society, but 

 still wear the fetters of prejudice against any va- 

 riations from their former customs. 



Physicians are liable to do a great deal of mis- 

 chief from the same cause ; they are fettered to 

 medical writers of the most profound nonsense 

 and absurdities imaginable. Young physicians, 

 of little experience, are apt to trust in books, 

 written by superficial theorists, who have no prac- 

 tical knowledge of the subjects they write upon, 

 any further than to make an attractive, saleable 

 book which will command a good price. When 

 I commenced the practice of medicine I was fet- 

 tered to n^- medical books ; they disappointed me. 

 I broke my fetters and cast them away, and took 

 the privilege of thinking for myself, to what pur- 

 pose, I leave to my ciistomers to decide. I do 

 not mean to include all medical books in the cat- 

 egory of deceptive trash, for, thanks to God, we 

 have medical writers of true probity, experience, 

 science and ability to write a good book. An- 

 cient medical writers were fettered to their prede- 

 cessors, whoever they might be ; and therefore 

 the fettered minds of medical writers copied the 

 works of their "illustrious predecessors," down to 

 a late century, as infallible, before unfettered, in- 

 dependent minds began to take the lead. 



Another class of fettered minds are those who 

 are bound to support a creed. Why will rational 

 men bind themselves to a creed, right or \M-ong, 

 and shut the bars to all progress or improvement ? 

 Such ones are doubly fettered, if they live to see 

 errors and fallacies in the creed to which they 

 have subscribed, and have honesty and independ- 

 ence enough to reveal the fact ; ten to one if they 

 do not lose their places, whether in the pulpit or 



