670 



NEW ENGLAND FAEMER. 



Dec 



Here, then, is a work for the farmers' clubs, 

 so to illustrate the principles involved in it, and 

 so to enforce its importance as to lead every 

 one to investigate for himself, and to examine 

 lands drained and undrained, Ijing side by 

 side, and learn the comparative profits which 

 they yield. 



If this simple sifbject could be more under- 

 stood, and lead to a corresponding practice by 

 the members of a f arau r's club, it would af- 

 ford more profit to each member, perhaps, 

 than any other arising from the winter's work. 

 The subject, considered in all its bearings, 

 might well occupy the attention of the club for 

 several evenings and we have no doubt with 

 increasing interest, as its importance should be 

 developed. 



There are numerous other topics which 

 might be discussed, and a better understand- 

 ing of which are essential to a profitable pros- 

 ecution of the business of farming. 



The club should be a thoroughly systematic 

 organization. It shoiild be an association for 

 discussion, not for mere conversation. Mem- 

 bers should prepare themselves for its duties. 

 They must not be excused because they are 

 not familiar with the subject proposed ; but re- 

 quired to investigate it by reading, experiment 

 and inquiry. It is these which will increase 

 their knowledge, and qualify them for good 

 farmers. 



In many places farmers' clubs are among 

 the best educational institutions in the towns 

 where they are established. Their influences 

 reach far beyond the mere cultivation of the 

 soil, into the recesses of the family, schools, 

 politics, religion and all the social relations of 

 life. They tend to elevate and refine, and 

 create a bond of sympathy and regard in the 

 community ; and this is true Christian progress. 

 Below we give a form for the 



Organization of a Farmers' Club. 



Article 1. This Associatiou shall be styled 



the 



Art. 2. Its object shall be to promote the inter- 

 ests of agriculture, and the welfare of the farmer, 

 to disseminate such knowledge, practical and scien- 

 tific, as shall conduce to tliat end. 



Art. 3. Its officers sliall be a President, Vice- 

 President, Sccretaiy, and Treasurer, who shall be 

 chosen annually by ballot. 



Art. 4. The president shall preside at all meet- 

 ings of the Clul), with power to preserve order and 

 appoint speakers and committees. 



Art. 5. In the absence of the president all his 

 power may be exercised by the vice-president. 



Art. G. The secretary shall keep a record of 

 the proceedings of each meeting, which shall be 

 read by him at the opening of the next meeting. 



He shall preserve all essays read by members, re- 

 ports of Committees, and conduct whatever corres- 

 pondence is directed by the Club. 



Art. 7. The treasurer shall keep a correct ac- 

 count of all moneys received, shall disbui'se the 

 8an)e as directed by the Club, and at each annual 

 meeting present a clear and correct statement oi 

 the same. 



Art. 8. There shall be at each meeting a discus- 

 sion upon a tojiic previously ainiouiiecd ; a member 

 liciug apixiintrd to rend an essay uyivn it, and two 

 otlier members to commence the discussion as lead- 

 ers. 



Art. 9. New members may be elected at any 

 regular meeting of the Club Ijy signing the consti- 

 tution and paying the sum of — 



Art. 10. the annual meeting of the Club shall 



be holden on of each year, for the election 



of officers; and all officers so elected shall hold 

 their ofHce one year, or until a new election is 

 made. 



This constitution has been in force in a club 

 for twenty years, and with two or three simple 

 rules, has been found all that was needed. 



The success and usefulness of the club will 

 greatly depend upon the observance of strict 

 parliamentary rules. There will be a con- 

 stant tendency to mn into conversation, which 

 if allowed, would soon destroy the distinctive 

 features of the club, and reduce it to a mere 

 fireside conversation. All that we achieve is 

 by labor. And it will only be by earnest, in- 

 terested application, that the farmers' club 

 will become one of the educational institutions 

 of the State. 



NE^W PUBLICATIOM"S. 



War Department Cinci lar. The Practical use oi 

 tlie Meteorological llfiiOrtH and Wenther Maps. Of- 

 fice of the Chief Signal Uflicer, Division of Telegrams 

 and Reports for the benehl of Commerce. Washing- 

 ton. 1871. 



Middle-aged men can remember when the first 

 telegraph wires in this country were put up be- 

 tween Washington and Baltimore, and when for 

 the first time men forty miles apart could sit down 

 and "talk" with each other. Such communication 

 now exists between the people of all the large 

 towns in this country, and even between us and 

 cities of the old world. Among the advantages or 

 such instantaneous communication, is the possi- 

 bility of predicting for a brief time the probabili- 

 ties of the weather and the progress of changes in 

 the atmosphere. 



This pamphlet details the means by which the 

 "Chief Signal Ofticer" at Washington has been 

 able to foretell coming storms, the approach of fair 

 weather, &c., with an accuracj^ that has smprised 

 those who have read his report of "probabilities" 

 as published in the daily papers of late, and its ob- 

 ject is "to put it in the power of the largest num- 

 ber to make use of, and to profit by, the labors of 

 this Office ; to enable them to test, and to avail 

 themselves of some of the laws and generalizations 

 by which meteorologists are guided ; and to afford 



