24 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



Jan. 



good horses, sufficiently profitable without taxing 

 the whole community to pay a premium to those 

 engaged in it? 



There may be some things that need temporary 

 encouragement in this State. Possibly the culti- 

 vation of wheat, and sheep culture, are among 

 them. There may be certain facts with respect 

 to the preparation and use of manures, that need 

 to be ascertained by extended' experiments. Per- 

 haps we need to ascertain by more frequent ex- 

 periments, whether it is not more profitable to 

 raise a hundred bushels of corn or four tons of 

 hay, on one acre, than on two. Do we sufficiently 

 understand the capabilities of land, and the pow- 

 ers of manures ? Many such questions will sug- 

 gest themselves to thoughtful men. Now, if the 

 funds of agricultural societies could be so em- 

 ployed as to elicit correct answers to such ques- 

 tions, would they not much better accomplish the 

 purpose for which they were intended ? In this 

 connection it occurs to me that the course pursued 

 by the trustees of the Massachusetts Agricultural 

 Society is worthy of all commendation. They 

 have aimed to diffuse information, and to suggest 

 important experiments. They have imported slock 

 that had a high reputation abroad, that our farm- 

 ers might test its value in our climate and on our 

 soil. They gave attention to plowing, to fruit- 

 raising and various other objects, so long as these 

 could be promoted by premiums, and then turned 

 their labors in other directions. They seem to 

 me to have much better understood the philoso- 

 phy of the whole subject, and to have done much 

 more to .promote the permanent improvement of 

 agriculture than any of the district Societies. The 

 state of society has greatly changed since agricul- 

 tural societies were first established. Information 

 on all subjects is more generally diffused, agricul- 

 tural papers and periodicals have become an es- 

 tablished institution. Their editors and corres- 

 pondents are on the watch for facts, and it is their 

 daily business to spread them before the cultiva- 

 tors of the soil. They have taken the place, in 

 this respect, which was expected to be occupied 

 by the gatherings and discussions of the members 

 of agricultural societies. 



Certain departments of agriculture, as fruit- 

 growing, milk-raufag, sheep-culture, stock-rais- 

 ing, horse-raising have, assumed a sufficient mag- 

 nitude to warrant those engaged in them to form 

 special associations for their promotion. It seems 

 to me that our friends in Vermont and the West 

 are on the right track in this respect. The ques- 

 tion again occurs, what will become of the agri- 

 cultural societies ? Have they not accomplished 

 their mission ? Are they not about played out ? 



QUERE. 



The Western Vineyards. — The vineyards 

 near Cincinnati this year are blasted by the "rot," 

 which is said to have destroyed more than half the 

 crop. The vineyards of the late Mr. Longworth 

 will not produce more than one-fourth of a crop. 

 The Isabella and Catawba grapes have suffered 

 most, and in several vineyards will hardly pa^har- 

 vesting. The Delaware, Concord and Marion 

 grape have been less touched by the rot, and the 

 Delaware vine will yield from ten to fifteen pounds. 

 The vineyards on Lake Erie, of which compara- 

 tively little has been said, are described as looking 

 uncommonly well. 



For tlie New England Farmer. 

 CORN COBS. 



Mr. Editor : — By some agricultural writers, 

 corn-cob meal has been compared to saw dust, as 

 an article of food. Admitting the cob possesses 

 but little value of itself, it does not necessarily fol- 

 low that it is worthless when ground together with 

 the corn. Corn-and-cob meal makes lighter food 

 than meal from corn alone ; and stock fed with the 

 former is not liable to become cloyed, as it is when 

 the latter is used altogether. Clear corn meal is 

 too heavy in its nature for stock that is not pretty 

 well fatted ; and the same grain used in connection 

 with the cob, well ground together, I consider 

 worth more than it is without the cob. I think 

 this is true, especially with cattle and hogs. If 

 very fat, the corn may be more profitably used 

 alone. 



I make these suggestions upon the supposition 

 that the cob possesses no virtue of itself. But 

 facts are recorded where animals have been kept 

 on cob meal alone — thus proving its possession of 

 some life-sustaining properties. 41 



I. W. Sanborn. 



"The Meadows," Lyndon, Vt, 1863. 



For the New England Farmer. 

 SHALL WE RAISE TOBACCO? 



Short-sighted self-interest says yes ; it will bring 

 quick returns and unparalleled profits. It is an 

 article that the people ivilliise, and Massachusetts 

 farmers may as well enjoy the benefits of the crop 

 as any one. Its cultivation will insure us a snug 

 income every year. It will furnish us the means 

 of paying all our vexatious bills for labor, black- 

 smithing, taxes, &c, and leave a clever surplus 

 for permanent improvements besides. We can 

 buy fertilizers, implements and machines. We 

 can live better and make our farms look better 

 than we possibly could if we did not raise it. 



Ah ! Look again. Moral sentiment says No ; 

 produce nothing that is not beneficial. Tobacco 

 neither strengthens the arm for labor nor imparts 

 vitality to the system. The brute creation repud- 

 iate tobacco universally. Man is the only animal 

 that will masticate it. Physiologists are unani- 

 mous in the opinion that it does not nourish the 

 body, but enfeebles it. It also stupefies the mind. 

 If this is true we ought not use it ; and if we 

 ought not to consume it, we certainly ought not 

 produce it. 



. Take an economical view of the matter. This 

 nation expends $50,000,000 for tobacco annually. 

 This is an enormous waste. That sum, if saved 

 for a single year, would be sufficient to establish 

 Agricultural Colleges in every State in the Union, 

 and endow them magnificently. It is folly to sup- 

 pose that it can be relied upon for a long period 

 of years as a profitable farm crop. 



What is the testimony of tobacco growing 

 States ? The soil of Maryland has literally turn- 

 ed red — blushing for shame — in consequence of 

 the exhausting crops which have been repeatedly 

 taken from it. And can it ever be wise economy 

 to rob the broail mown fields of the nourishment 

 which they need for the sake of giving an acre of 

 tobacco a prodigious manuring ? It is claimed 

 that by constantly changing the plot used for to- 

 bacco the entire farm may ultimately be brought 

 under a high 6tate of cultivation. But suppose 

 that on a farm of one hundred acres five acres be 



