1871. 



KEW ENGLAND FARMER, 



21 



QUESTIONS TO FAKMBRS. 



For several years past New Hampshire has had 

 no board of agriculture, and consequently there 

 has been no official report on the progress of this 

 important interest of the State. Last year a Board 

 was organized, and it has entered vigorously upon 

 the discharge of its duties. The Secretary, J. 0. 

 Adams, has issued a circular designed to call out 

 the information necessary to enable him to make 

 a report that will be valuable to farmers, and 

 creditable to the State. Statements of facts are 

 requested on the following specified topics, with 

 such suggestions as may occur to the minds of 

 ~ those who reply. 



1. Give the names of some of the agricultural 

 men in your town, with the specialties to which 

 they give attention. 



2. Report the harvest of the various crops, com- 

 pared with ordinary years, naming each crop 

 specially. 



3. What are the chief sources of income to far- 

 mers and other classes in your town ? 



4. Have you a Farmers' Club in the town or 

 neighborhood ? If so, report names of officers. 

 If not, will you take steps to organize one, con- 

 sult'ing, if you wish, the member of the Board in 

 your county, in regard to it ? 



5. Give the names of such insects as are in- 

 jurious to vegetation in your section, and state what 

 means are used to destroy them or prevent their 

 depredations. 



6. What commercial manures are used in your 

 vicinity ? How are they applied, and with what 

 advantages ? 



7. What new or improved implements for farm- 

 ing have been introduced within, a period of 

 twenty years, and what advantages have resulted 

 therefrom ? 



8. Are any kinds of blood-stock found among 

 your farmers ? If so, what owners and what 

 breeds can you name ? Also, inform us as to the 

 advance in the price of horses, neat stock, &c., 

 within twenty years. Give the names and resi- 

 dences of the owners of stock horses. 



9. Is the product of corn, potatoes, and other 

 farm products greater or less, per acre, than it was 

 ten years ago ? If either, how much ? 



10. Do your farmers attend the State and County 

 Fairs, c^r other fairs, and make exhibition of stuck 

 or farm products ? If not, why ? 



11. Do the farmers in your section take agricul- 

 tural papers, read agricultural books, and study 

 to improvd their methods of cultivation ? 



12. Do your farmers keep farm accounts, make 

 experiments-.and profit from the results ? 



The secretary says he was authorized at a re- 

 cent meeting of the Board to "issue a circular to 

 such men as he has reason to believe are interested 

 in the agricultural prosperity of the State." And 

 we note the fact that the circular of Secretary 

 Adams appears to be addressed to those who are 

 "interested" in agriculture, rather than those who 

 are engaged in that branch of industry, not in a 

 spirit of verbal criticism, but from a conviction 

 that just here we discover the missing link in the 

 chain of sympathy which should bind our Boards 

 of agriculture with the hordes of agriculturists. 

 That there is a break somewhere in this chain has 

 been acknowledged and regretted by nearly all 

 the managers of State Boards v/herever such or- 

 ganizations exist. The complaint is ' almost uni- 



versal that those who are actually engaged in ag- 

 riculture do not co-opeKate wittt those who are 

 "interested" in that pursuit. Meetings are held 

 by the latter, but the former fail to attend. Dis- 

 cussions are appointed, but those actually engaged 

 in farming fail to respond to the arguments of 

 those "interested in agriculture." 



It is much easier to confess the unpleasant fact 

 of this want of co-operation between State Boards 

 and State farmers than it is to prescribe a remedy. 

 But we would suggest that as far as possible all 

 communication between them should be direct 

 and personal, without the intervention of any 

 middlemen, however eloquent, active or "inter- 

 ested" they may be. Instead of asking "Do your 

 farmers," or "Do the farmers in your section ?" 

 "why not inquire, directly, Do you. Sir, or Do 

 those carrying on the farms adjoining yours ? 



When farmers were not in the habit of reading 

 and writing, but depended on their minister and 

 the Squire for the performance of these exercises, a 

 more roundabout course might have been advisable 

 to obtain information, but now we do not think it 

 is necessary. At present, the men who are prac- 

 tically engaged in agriculture are able to speak 

 and write when they feel themselves called upon 

 to do so, and where they think it is proper for 

 them to make the attempt. Why are not the meet- 

 ings of Boards of Agriculture regarded by farmers 

 as such time and place ? And why should not ofiS- 

 cial circulars be addressed to them directly and 

 personally ? 



For the New England Farmer, 



THE SHARP STICKS — BEAVERS AND 

 MUCK BEDS. 



The sticks found uncier a muck bed in New 

 Hampshire, ■which were mentioned in a late 

 number of the Farmer were undoubtedly 

 sharpened by the teeth of beavers. There 

 are in many localities iu the Eastern States, 

 and especially in New England, traces of the 

 works of the beaver. Many of their dams 

 which I have seen in Vermont are still in a 

 good state of preservation ; and by digging 

 into them plenty of the isLarpened Kticks men- 

 tioned by your correspondent can be found. 



A marshy place through which a small 

 stream runs, and which is covered with a 

 growth of alders and willows, is generally se- 

 lected by the beavers for their operations. 

 A dam is thrown across the stream, often in 

 zigzag form, and a shallow pond made which 

 serves as a receptacle for their food, cheap 

 transportation, and shelter from their enemies, 

 also, a fish preserve of the best kind. 



These ponds gradually till, in the course of 

 time, with a vegetable deposit brought in by 

 the stream and other agencies, and the sticks 

 are thus covered, sometimes many feet, if the 

 pond had considerable depth. 



Hating seen the operations of many colo- 

 nies of beavers in the Rocky Mountains, on 



