1863. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



891 



ally been done very satisfactorily. The same 

 course has also been pursued in regard to a])i)los, 

 and all other fruit, until the present year, when 

 the following plan was ado])ted: 



There were to be six classes of competitors. 

 Those having the icfil specimois of one, five, ten, 

 fifteen, twenty or twenty-live varieties, there being 

 not less than five ai)ples or jiears on a plate, were 

 to receive s first, second and third j)vemiuni ; mak- 

 ing eighteen for ap])les, and the same number for 

 pears and other fruii. Now suppose the nund^er 

 of contributors to be but forty, and it will be seen 

 that less than one-half receive all the premiums, 

 while the others take their lime (which in the har- 

 vest season is certainly the same as money,) to 

 pick their fruit, convey it to the show and home 

 again — for what? why ail I'ro bono publico. Let 

 us take a case (and a real one) to show the ef- 

 fect or woriung of this plan. Here is a farmer 

 living in the outskirts of the town who has taken 

 particular piiins to preserve enough of !ns best 

 Bartlett pairs for a plateful, and with three oth- 

 er varieties carries them over to the show ; but 

 receives no premium, nor is any notice taken of 

 his pears by tiie committee in their report.) for 

 ■which they are not to blame.) but another person 

 residing within a short distance of the place of 

 exhibition carries in a plane r full of seckel pears, 

 and is awarded one dollar for his pains, or rather 

 for his platter of pears, which were picked and 

 placed upon the table without any pains. 



Now is this quite fair and just ? Will the farm- 

 er be likely another year to preserve his pears for 

 the ])urpose of carrying tiicm to the show ? I 

 can say pretty positively that he will not do it. 



Some years since I attended a show in an ad- 

 joining town, and it was a vei-y good one for a 

 town exhibition, but I should think about half the 

 fruit upon the tables belonged to one individual, 

 and he of cour.se received a large, if not a "lion's 

 share" of the premiums. And does not the pres- 

 ent practice have a direct tendency to put an un- 

 due proportion of the money into the pockets of 

 those who already possess so much ])roporty that 

 they can do as they please in regard to' the rais- 

 ing of stock and fruit, thus making it almost im- 

 possible for farmers of small, or even moderate 

 means to compete with them successfully ? 



It seems to me this subject of awarding premi- 

 ums is an important one, and what I have said has 

 been done partly for the purpose of drawing out 

 or obtaining a public expression of other persons 

 who may have had a larger experience, and more 

 extended opportunity for observation. 



Leominster, Oct., 18(53. A. C. \v. 



P. S. — Since writing the above I have read the 

 re])ort in the Fitchburg Iteveille, of the Horse 

 Fair and Cattle Show held in that town the last 

 of September, and was somewhat surprised at tlie 

 unusually large number of gratuities, and the 

 amount of money thus granted to competitor.'^ or 

 contributors. May we not consider this as an in- 

 dication that committees begin to have some com- 

 punctions of conscience, ami feel that it is hardly 

 fair and just to award all the money to a few in- 

 dividuals, while perhaps forty or fifty may have 

 done whnt they could for the good appearance of 

 an exhibition. A. c. w. 



For the New England Fanner. 

 HOW TO KAISE RYE. 



A friend of mine, in Franklin county, informs 

 me that he has sown r3e upon the same ground, 

 more than ten years in succession, without the ap- 

 plication of anything in the way of manure, and 

 that the crop has been gradually improving dur- 

 ing the whole time. 



The latter portion of the time the average yield 

 has been about twelve bushels per acre. This, 

 witii the straw, now worth ten dollars per ton, is 

 a good crop. 



The stubble is ploughed under the last of Au- 

 gust, and the first or second week in September it 

 is seeded and thoroughly harrowed, and nothing 

 more is done to it till another crop is ready to be 

 taken oft'. 



There seems to ine to be involved in this fact 

 an important principle, which farmers need to 

 study. 



From this soil — a light sandy loam — there has 

 been taken, in ten successive seasons, ten crops of 

 rye, each better than the one preceding, and that 

 without the application of any manure. 



The skinning process has been adopted and 

 followed up, yet without exhaustion or apparent 

 injury to the land. The populai'idea of rotation 

 in crops, as essential to a healthy condition of the 

 "land," seems to be at fault here. There has been 

 no rotation, no cessation, no change, no attempts 

 to resuscitate or im])rove, but a uniform, steady 

 process of draining, skinning and exhausting. 

 I Unlike the horse, who learned to live without 

 eating, and then "up and died," it learned to live 

 without eating, and continues to thrive all the bet- 

 ter. And I see no re.ison to doubt that this pro- 

 cess may be continued indefinitely. 



This same land, if left to itself, would, in a few 

 years, l)e covered with forest trees, which would 

 jearly draw heavily upon the soil for support — 

 the land meanwhile becoming richer. Now why 

 is this? we know of but two sources from which 

 plants can draw nourishment — the soil and the at- 

 mosphere. The former we know may and must 

 be exhausted by constant depletion. The latter, 

 as aff"ecting vegetation, we know very little about. 



Hoping that some of your correspondents will 

 shed some light upon this subject, 1 leave it here. 



li. B. II. 



A SiNGULAU Case. — I have a fine-looking cow, 

 seven years old, which had a calf on Monday, the 

 L'Oth of July. She appeared all right, and we 

 milked her regularly, (but did not get as much 

 milk as we expected.) On Sunday, the 2Gth, she 

 had anotlier calf. 13oth were males, and of large 

 size. I have had cows vary twelve hours in hav- 

 ing twins, but do not recollect of reading or hear- 

 ing of a cow going six days apart. This is for the 

 querist and stockmen. — S. C Smith, in liiuul 

 New Yorker. 



Most of the shadows that cross our path through 

 life are caused by standing in our own light. 



ScuATCiiiis IX Houses. — C. G. Siewers, Camp- 

 bell, Co., ()., gives his experience as follows : "The 

 l)est remedy I have ever tried is to walk the horse 

 up and down in running water two or three times 

 a day, for a few days ; this always cures my horse. 

 The cause I ascribe to a filthy stable, as my horse 

 never gets the scratches, unless I emjiloy a cer- 

 tain lazy farm hand in the neitihborhuod for a 

 makeshift; he and the scr..t,-li<.;o '""tther." 



