66 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



March 



A Good Start. — It is a good thing to get an 

 early start in the spring ; to have all plans for the 

 summer crops matured, and all seeds, machinery 

 and teams, in preparation to commence work the 

 moment the soil is in a condition to permit it. 

 All labor of importance is uncertain and drags 

 heavily without such preparation. Many things 

 are attended to too late, or postponed until the 

 next year, that could have been conveniently done 

 under a good system. 



We have recently suggested the importance of 

 getting in early potatoes, onions, and other vege- 

 tables, and we urge more attention to the garden 

 as the means of great convenience, health and 

 comfort, to the family, as well as a work of great 

 economy. 



Clover Seed may be sown any time this 

 month, on fields laid to grass in August or Sep- 

 tember last. 



Hot Bed. — Take an old window-sash and a 

 few rough boards, and start some early cabbages, 

 radishes, lettuce, tomatoes, &c. It will cost little 

 and but a few hours' time, and will furnish many 

 valuable plants. 



Stock. — Carefully examine all the stock, and 

 see that every animal is clean and free from ver- 

 min, and that all cows about to drop their calves 

 have liberty in pens or yards for some days be- 

 fore calving. 



Implements. — Are the plows, harrows, garden 

 rakes, cultivators, and seed-sowers, in order, — and 

 so of all the yokes, chains and harnesses that will 

 be needed some time in April? 



March is a month of preparation. The length- 

 ened days, the bright suns, the south winds, and 

 the new stir and energy of nature all about us, all 

 call to us to prepare for summer work in the fields. 

 Will you heed the call ? 



AGRICULTURAL MOVEMENTS. 

 New England Agricultural Association. 



At a late meeting of the State Board of Agri- 

 culture, a movement was made for the organiza- 

 tion of a New England Agricultural Association, 

 and a convention was appointed to call on the 

 several agricultural societies of the State to send 

 delegates to a meeting to be held in Worcester 

 on the 2d of March next, for such a purpose. 



Several years ago, when the U. S. Agricultural 

 Society was in its full vigor, but when we saw 

 plain indications of its early decay, through the 

 want of a sincere co-operation on the part of the 

 South, and some other causes, we proposed to 

 Col. Wilder, and some other leading gentlemen, 

 to form a New England Agricultural Society. All 

 agreed that the proposition was a good one, but 

 the pressure of other duties prevented action upon 

 it, and the matter, though often alluded to, was 

 not agitated. 



It seems to us, that if tbe county and State so- 

 cieties are not accomplishing all that is desirable 

 in this direction, nothing can be more appropriate 

 than to form a New England Association. The> 

 territory is sufficiently large, and could not be 

 contemplated as in any way a sectional or exclu- 

 sive movement, as us good influence, if it had 

 any, couuld be enjoyed by all. 



The Agricultural College. 



The Board of Trustees met at the State House 

 on Wednesday, Feb. 3, and received a report from 

 the committee appointed to examine the "Cary 

 farm," at Lexington, which was favorable. Mr. 

 Erastus Hopkins, of Northampton, stated to 

 the Board that he was satisfied the sum of $75,- 

 000 would be raised by subscription, and he offer- 

 ed that sum on the behalf of the citizens of the 

 town. He also said that ultimately nearly ten 

 times that sum would be realized by the institu- 

 tion from the "Smith fund," in case the college 

 were established there. Hon. Cn\RLES G. Da- 

 vis, of Plymouth, submitted to the Board propo- 

 sitions, conveyed by Prof. William S. Clark, of 

 Amherst College, including votes of the town of 

 Amherst appropriating and offering $50,000 ; also 

 votes of the Trustees of Amherst College giving 

 to the Agricultural College for ten years the free 

 use of many facilities, and of much valuable 

 property, severally on condition that the Agricul- 

 tural College is located in that town. Mr. PlllN- 

 eas Stedman, of Chicopee, addressed the Board 

 in favor of establishing the college at Springfield, 

 and pledged $50,000 from that city in case the 

 institution shall be located in that place or in 

 Chicopee. He gave facts tending to show the ad- 

 vantages of that locality. 



Massachusetts Horticultural Society. 



At a meeting of this society on Saturday, Feb. 

 6, 1864, the report of the Building Committee re- 

 commended the erection of a permanent building 

 on the Montgomery House estate, in accordance 

 with a plan submitted by Messrs. Bryant & Gil- 

 man, Architects, the estimated cost of which will 

 be $102,500. The building proposed will com- 

 prise committee rooms, a large and small exhibi- 

 tion hall, and on the lower floor there will be sev- 

 eral stores. The large hall will comprise an area 

 of 4000 square feet, with a gallery at one end and 

 a stage at the other. 



The income of the building, it is thought, will 

 be equal to six per cent, per annum upon the 

 amount invested. 



The report was adopted, and the whole matter 

 relating to the erection of the building referred to 

 the Building Committee, with full powers to make 

 contracts and construct the building in connec- 

 tion with the present architects, providing it can 

 be done at a cost not exceeding $105,000. 



