84 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



Makch 



flour and mouldy dirt. Apples are often put in 

 to be cut and bruised against a dozen or more of 

 nails. A purchaser of such will be shy of trading 

 with you again ; while your clean, nice barrel, 

 good to the bottom, will recommend your next 

 loads. 



It is so easy to pack off everything to Boston, 

 that some dreadful poor stuff has to be sold there 

 sometimes. Fairer fruit should be cultivated, and 

 \ all the ordinary used at home. While so much 

 ■unwholesome vinegar is manufactured, it seems a 

 /pity that cider enough should not be made from 

 ■ordinary apples to supply the demand for pure 

 vinegar. 



It sliould be remembered that the market is 

 not easily glutted with fair, elegant fruit. 



At the close of the year I can look back and 

 see where I have " missed it," and also where I 

 have gained by judicious labor. I trimmed apple 

 trees all through the month of June, whenever I 

 could leave other work. On such trees I had 

 faii'er, and higher colored fruit than on other trees 

 near by, not so treated. If I live till another 

 summer, I shall endeavor to let more sunshine 

 into my thick tree-tops, satisfied that in this way 

 only can I raise handsome apples. \v. D. B. 



Concord, Mass., Nov., 1862. 



For the New England Farmer. 

 ROTARY FARMERS' CLUB. 



Mr. Editor : — The formation of a " Rotary 

 County Farmers' Club," at which the leading 

 farmers may come together and discuss farming 

 subjects, is creating a new interest in regard to 

 the real wants of the agriculturists of Hampden 

 county. At the first meeting held here, some 

 thi-ee weeks since, the subject of agriculture, and 

 its comparative progress throughout this section, 

 was brought up, and the entire discussion went to 

 show, that, so far as real advancement was con- 

 cerned, the farming interests of Hampden county 

 were sadly neglected, and that a general awaken- 

 ing was needed. To remedy this, and to inspire 

 our farmers with a new interest in the work, those 

 present proposed that frequent meetings be held 

 m different parts of the county, at which they 

 might meet and compare notes, and if possible, 

 arrive at some definite results, the explanation of 

 which might not only be useful here, but else- 

 where. 



At the second meeting, on the week following, 

 the subject of farm stock was proposed, and ably 

 discussed. Col. Phixeas Steuman, of Chicopee, 

 (a member of the State Board of Agriculture,) 

 read a paper upon the neat stock of the county, 

 which succeeded in bringing out the advocates of 

 the different breeds of cattle, and their peculiar 

 adaptation to the wants of different sections of the 

 county. The farmers of the Connecticut Valley, 

 in most instances, preferred the Short Horns, 

 where a good milking stream of blood could be 

 traced, while in the more remote parts, the Devon 

 and Hereford, or crosses of these breeds with the 

 Natives, were preferred. The theme was by no 

 means exhausted, when the meeting closed, and a 

 very general desire was expressed to continue it 

 on the following week. In accordance with this 

 expression, the argument was again resumed, and 

 the general manner of feeding, &c., together with 



its results, in the experience of those engaged in 

 the manufacture of butter and cheese, and the 

 production of milk for the market, were given at 

 some length. Now, while it is not possible to fix 

 upon any one breed, which is perfectly adapted to 

 every locality, much benefit and many valuable 

 hints may be derived from the given experience 

 of those engaged in raising the different breeds. 

 The farmers' club has therefore taken hold of a 

 subject which will induce much careful study, and 

 a thorough investigation, and which will, we hope, 

 turn the attention of the farmers of Ham])den 

 county to the immediate improvement of their 

 stock, by the introduction of thorough-bred ani- 

 mals of the breed they may best prefer. 



We have at present among us quite a number 

 who breed with care, ana whose herds are well 

 worth attention. Col. Stedman, of Chicopee, 

 William Birme, of Springfield, and Justin Ely, 

 of West Springfield, are breeders of Short Horns, 

 more particularly ; D. B. Merrick and William 

 Sessions, of Wilbraham, the Devons, and Hor- 

 ace Chapin, of Springfield, the Alderneys. Mr. 

 Birnie has also a fine herd of Ayrshires. There 

 have also been introduced into the county during 

 the past year, some pure bred Herefords, by A. 

 N. Merrick, of Springfield. They are from the 

 imported stock of G. Clark, of Otsego county. 

 New York. Mr. ^lerrick is also engaged in breed- 

 ing the Short Horn and Devon cattle. South 

 Down and Oxford Down sheep, Berkshire and 

 Chester county swine, and many of the improved 

 breeds of fowls. 



At some future time I will endeavor to give 

 you a description of the Herefords owned by Mr. 

 Merrick, and set forth, as far as I am able to do 

 so, the merits of this truly valuable breed of cat- 

 tle, which is as yet comparatively unknown among 

 the farmers of Western Massachusetts. a. 



Sprimjfield, Jan., 1863. 



Remarks. — The plan sketched above is an ad- 

 mirable one. The best agricultural results we 

 have ever known attained, on an extended scale, 

 were through the efforts of a " Rotary Couuty 

 Farmers' Club," and Cheshire county, in the State 

 of New Hampshire, is entitled to the credit of 

 taking the lead. Several years ago, it appropri- 

 ated about one-third of its current funds to defray 

 the expenses of a series of meetings, one of which 

 was held in each of the largest towns of the coun- 

 ty. These meetings were announced by handbill, 

 and in the newspapers of the county, and were 

 continued through the entire day and evening in 

 some cases, and in every case, in the afternoon 

 and evening. They attracted not only the farm- 

 ers, but clei"g}-men, lawyers, mechanics, physicians 

 and women, sometimes a third part of a large au- 

 dience being of the latter class. In three years 

 after these meetings had closed, an observing 

 fiirmer of the county informed us that as much 

 wheat as was consumed by the population of the 

 county, had been raised that year within its own 

 borders ! The attention of the people was called, 

 dm-ing these meetings, to nearly every interest of 

 the farm, the garden and the domestic aflairs of 



