1862. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



493 



saved daily from the haunts of idleness and use- 

 less pleasure being sufficient to make any man of 

 medium talents rich in mental wealth. In Napo- 

 leon's early days, while in the military academy, 

 some of his fellow-pupils wasted much of their 

 time in a neighboring shop, which he, however, 

 seldom visited. Afterwards — I think it was when 

 appointed to the command of the army of Italy — 

 he called at the shop and was recognized by its 

 mistress as the young soldier who had spent so 

 little of his time there. "Ah, Madam," said Na- 

 poleon, "had I done so I should not now be in 

 command of the army of Italy." It was the same 

 great man who afterwards expressed the idea that 

 it was the extra five minutes that saved victories. 

 Take care of the pence, said Franklin, and the 

 pounds will take care of themselves. Take care 

 of the spare moments, and you thus save to your' 

 selves years of time otherwise unoccupied. Save 

 up to yourself daily a few of those propositions of 

 whose aggregate comjjosed the sum total of all 

 knowledge, and you will at length possess a large 

 share of imperishable wealth of the most produc- 

 tive kind, — productive of hapi)iness and usefulness 

 to yourself and others, in this world and in the 

 future. 



If acceptable, I should be happy to write anoth- 

 er article on this subject during some of the spare 

 moments. Monthly Reader. 



September, 1862. 



Remarks. — Write on. These are just the doc- 

 trines we all need — truths that cannot be success- 

 fully controverted. 



MIDDLESEX CATTLE SHCW. 



The annual exhibition of the Old Middlesex 

 Society took place at Concord, on Thursday last, 

 Sept. 18th. The weather was perfect. There 

 was a clear sun and a slight breeze, just enough 

 to make a little exercise agreeable. The show of 

 cattle, horses, swine and poultry was unusually 

 small, — smaller, indeed, than we have ever wit- 

 nessed before on a similar occasion. There were 

 but few articles of machinery on the ground — a 

 Wood's mowing machine and a hay-tedder being 

 all that we saw, — and no implements of husband- 

 ry, save one or two of trifling importance, with the 

 exception of some beautiful samples of Nourse's 

 iron plows. At the plowing match some dozen 

 teams were engaged, and from the implements 

 used, and the rej^utation for skill of the plowmen 

 using them, we have no doubt that the work was 

 •well done. The attendance upon the field was 

 much smaller than usual. The show of fruit in 

 Exhibition Hall was of a very superior character, 

 — equal to that of the Massachusetts Horticultu- 

 ral Society, which was on exhibition at the same 

 time. Nothing, it seems to us, could be finer 

 than the apples and pears presented. There were 

 a few excellent vegetables, one bag of wheat, two 

 of barley and a few traces of seed corn. The ex- 

 ercises at the table were eating the dinner, a few 

 words from the President, an address by Dr. Lo- 



UING, of Salem, an hour long, upon national top- 

 ics, beautifully written and delivered, and remarks 

 by Dr. FisHEii, the delegate from the North 

 Worcester Society. The usual spicy after dinner 

 speeches were wholly omitted, as well as the read- 

 ing the awards of premiums and the reports of 

 Committees ! In the business meeting, the old 

 board of oflScers was re-elected. 



■WOOL-QIlO"WrERS' CONVENTION". 



By a resolution of the Directors of the Vermont 

 State Agricultural Society last winter, a Wool- 

 Growers' Convention was called for the first day 

 of the fair at Rutland. This was an experiment, 

 to see if wool-growers could not find something of 

 interest to talk about, as well as horse-breeders, 

 and those engaged in other branches of agricul- 

 ture. It was thought to be an interest which Ver- 

 mont farmers should talk about. Still it was 

 feared that enough of them to make a meeting in- 

 teresting could not be got together, or that the 

 meeting might fail to be sufficiently interesting to 

 make it worthy of repetition. In all this, fears have 

 proved grouudless. It was held Sept. 9 ; it vv'as 

 well attended ; it was exceedingly interesting ; 

 and it was unanimously agreed to be continued. 



The President of the society, Edwin Ham- 

 mond, of Middlebury, who is a large breeder of 

 valuable fine-wooled sheep, such as he sells from 

 $25 to $500 each, opened the meeting by a few 

 pertinent remarks upon the great interest Vermont 

 has in the wool business, and the importance of 

 wool-growers meeting together to discuss that in- 

 terest, and' then introduced the Secretary of the 

 society, Daniel Neediiam, of Hartford, Vt., who 

 gave a very interesting address, containing some 

 valuable statistical matter, among which we noted 

 the following, lie said, in substance : 



We not only clothe ourselves neatly and com- 

 fortably, but in doing it, we use up all the wool 

 that the country produces, and large quantities of 

 imported wool, beside imported fabrics. Farmers 

 for want of information disposed of much of their 

 wool at ruinous sacrifices, when the war broke out 

 — in this State below the cost of production. 



In 18(51 we imported $5,000,000 value of avooI 

 and $28,000,000 value of woollen fabrics, and that 

 was $10,000,000 less than in 1860. The range 

 for three years has been $35,000,000, to $45,000,- 

 000. We import the products of 13,000,000 of 

 sheep, which we had better keep in this country. 

 This proves that we are in no immediate danger 

 of getting too many sheep. 



The increase of population in the United States 

 would require the wool of 3,000,000 of sheep. 



No animals are so well adapted to Vermont 

 pastures as sheep, and none so productive. 



In 1850 the number of sheep in the State was a 

 little over a million, and the yield of wool a trifle 

 over three pounds a head. By improved care this 

 yield has been largely increased. 



In 1850 the total of sheep in the United States 

 was 21,723,000, averaging 2h. pounds of wool per 

 annum. 



We read of the great care bestowed upon some 

 of the fine-wool flocks of Europe, without seeming 

 to be aware that equal care is bestowed upon some 

 flocks in Vermont. 



