1870. 



KEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



165 



FARMEH'3 CONVENTIONS. 



In MaBsr.chueelU — New Hampehirc — Maine— Effects of 

 — A rew gpiiit arouftd — Mm find new powers in 

 themselves — How lusting inapressions are made on 

 the mind — Value of a New Hamp.<\hiie meeting — 

 New practice in hay making approved — Capt. Tay- 

 lor'e btatement. 



The winter meetings among farmers which 

 have been held in most of the New England 

 States, for several years past, have met with 

 general favor, and are producing excellent re- 

 sults. Nothing that has yet transpired, hav- 

 ing for its object the promotion of our agri- 

 cultural interests, has accomplished so much 

 in so short a space of time. The meeting of 

 the Massachusetts Board at Amherst last win- 

 ter, and at Pittsfield the present season, 

 brought out an amount of talent and interest 

 in the cause that proved the existence of an 

 under current of thought, comparison and ex- 

 periment, which surprised the most sanguine. 



The meetings of this season and of last 

 winter, at Manchester, N. H., under the man- 

 agement of the officers of the Slate Agricul- 

 tural Society, were distinguished by the at- 

 tendance of large numbers of people, who 

 manifested a deep interest in the objects 

 which were brought under consideration. All 

 the sessions had attentive audiences, and many 

 farmers who had rarely, or never, perhaps, 

 spoken in public, took part in the discussions, 

 and gave them great force by their practical 

 illustrations and statement of experiences. 



This single point accomplished, and no 

 other benefits derived from the gathering, 

 would have been one of signal success. Our 

 interest is usually in matters in which we are 

 personally engaged. We may listen atten- 

 tively to the eloquent teachings of others, 

 and be gratified and instructed, and bear 

 away in the memory many pleasing and useful 

 facts, but they have little weight compared 

 with what they would have, were we in turn, 

 to enter the lists ourselves, express our own 

 views and press their truthfulness and import- 

 ance upon others. This is what will excite 

 new thought, enliven the imagination and fit 

 the mind to be impressed by facts presented 

 to it. 



Many a man has returned to his home from 

 these winter meetings with the consciousness 

 that he possesses powers unknown to himself 

 before, and this consciousness elevates him in 

 his own estimation, as well as in that of his 



friends. They are, to him, new powers. Of 

 what use would the most important thought be 

 to the world, if there were no power of ex- 

 pressing it, or the most ingenious device for 

 saving labor, building houses, or ships, or 

 railroads, or anything else? We have no 

 doubt that the late meeting at Manchester will 

 be worth more than the gift of $50,000 in 

 gold deposited with the Treasurer of the State. 



The meeting of the Maine State Board of 

 Agriculture, at Augusta, last winter, that at 

 Bangor in the autumn, and the recent meeting 

 at Lewiston, are all of the same character, 

 and will have an immense influence upon ag- 

 ricultural interests. 



At Lewiston it was pleasant to observe how 

 every department of the f^rm found some able 

 advocate, and how thoroughly many theories 

 had been tested, and were approved or con- 

 demned. For two or three years past occa- 

 sional paragraphs have appeared in the papers, 

 stating that grass which is merely wilted may 

 be housed and preserved in good condition, 

 and that, so cured, it retains its grass qualities, 

 and is some ten to twenty-five per cent, bet- 

 ter than when cured in the old way. 



It was not generally supposed that this new 

 process bad been thoroughly tested by any 

 New England farmer, or that the practice 

 would ever become general. But in the meet- 

 ing at Lewiston, a dozen persons expressed 

 their belief that this process was the true one, 

 and stated their experiences in curing grass 

 in this way. Some of them had been in the 

 practice of curing their grass so for years. 

 One of them Capt. Taylor, of Winthrop, as 

 may be seen by our report of the meeting, 

 gave minute details of his hay-making for ten 

 years in succession, and after all this experi- 

 ence, stated that grass cured by wilting only, 

 and then stowed in large quantities in tight 

 barns, is worth twenty five per cent, more 

 than grass made into hay in the old way. 



In a similar manner the modes of managing 

 several other crops passed under review, and 

 old and new practices were compared, and ap- 

 proved or condemned according to the con- 

 victions of the speaker. 



We trust these meetings will be continued. 

 They have not yet reached the class that needs 

 their influences most. Progressive men, those 

 who make the same number of acres support 

 one more animal each succeeding year, who 



