SAMPLE OF A DEBATE IN A FARMERS’ CLUB.-EXPERIMENTAL FARMS. 
117 
dispatched, and sitting a little while to digest it, off 
we started for the seaport village, of some twenty 
or thirty buildings, about half a mile further on. 
Uncle Sim , unexpectedly , Lights upon a Yellow 
Tom Turkey. —Without saying anything to Uncle 
Sim, it was here I hoped to surprise him by the 
sight of a superb flock of buff turkies; as I had un¬ 
derstood Captain Truck had recently arrived in his 
little schooner from a trading voyage with Yankee 
notions to Virginia, and had brought home some of 
the choicest birds to be found in that turkey-breed¬ 
ing region. And sure enough, as we drove up, 
there they were, superb great eighteen and twenty- 
four-pounders, just let loose from their coops, gob¬ 
bling and strutting away in great force, joyous 
enough at obtaining their liberty once more. 
How his Heart is Comforted at this Discovery .— 
Uncle Sim instantly hopped out of the sleigh, and 
instinctively caught up the biggest yellow gobbler 
in both hands with unspeakable delight. Holding 
him out at arlTis , length in order to take in his whole 
noble proportions, he gazed at him with intense 
satisfaction: then bringing him up closely to his 
bosom, affectionately patted his head, stroked his 
neck, and at last, as I supposed, stooped down to rub 
his face against him. The turkey not relishing quite 
so much familiarity, seized Mr. Doolittle by the 
nose, and gave it such a grip in his powerful bill, 
as to cause him suddenly to let go of the bird, and 
drop his hands by his side. This example how¬ 
ever, the belligerent gobbler did not seem inclined 
to follow, but only held on the tighter; and by way 
of additional exercise of his pugnacious powers, 
commenced beating Uncle Sim over the head and 
shoulders with his formidable wings with all his 
might. This was rather too much for Mr. Doolit¬ 
tle’s affectionate patience to bear; so without further 
preliminary, he seized master Tom by the neck with 
both hands, and gave him such a vice-like grip, as 
to make him open his mouth with a choking spasm, 
and release the nasal organ of my excellent neigh¬ 
bor, without further ceremony, from its durance vile. 
Here Captain Truck, a good natured, hearty, bluff 
fellow, came running out of his house nearly burst¬ 
ing with laughter. “ A regular man-o-Wars-man is 
old Longbeard, Mr. Doolittle; but had you belayed 
a bit, I could ha’ told you that afore putting your 
grapling irons aboard of him.” 
Uncle Sim’s nose bled slightly, and turned from 
its usual fiery red to nearly black and blue, where 
the turkey had gripped it; but to our surprise, he 
took the matter uncommonly good naturedly; and 
the very first he chose to head his new stock, was 
the identical belligerent that made the savage and 
unlooked-for attack upon his fiery proboscis. The 
only satisfaction we could get out of him for this 
selection, was, the shrewd remark, that “if hard 
upon fightin’, he was sartin to be powerful at breed- 
in’, and the chicks would be despert strong, and take 
care o’ themselves.” I thought there was philoso¬ 
phy in this, and of course, did not attempt to gain¬ 
say it. 
His selection over, we took to the sleigh again, 
and turning my hardy Canadian to the right about, 
he trotted us home under a hard pull, a distance of 
eleven miles, in a trifle less than an hour. Pretty 
fair work, I thought, when we consider the load at 
his heels. He did not appear to be tired nor blown 
in the least at his performance, but upon unhitching, 
walked into the stable, gave a snort and three long 
puffs, and then fell to eating like a hungry pig just 
roused from a comfortable snooze in a warm pen. 
Sergeant Teltrue. 
SAMPLE OF A DEBATEIN A FARMERS’ CLUB 
—EXPERIMENTAL FARMS. 
The course, which discussions in a Farmers’ 
Club often takes, renders it evident that the experi¬ 
ments made are generally conducted on no fixed 
principles, but are for the most part under the guid¬ 
ance of chance. For instance, let the subject un¬ 
der consideration be the use and application of 
liquid manure, or of the nitrates of soda and pot¬ 
ash, or of plaster and ground bones, the debate 
will almost invariably take a course similar to the 
following:— 
Mr. Hope has tried the manure in question, and 
derived no benefit from it. Mr. Playfair, on the 
other hand, announces the brilliant success of his 
experiments with it; while Mr. Drawback declares 
his experience to be the very reverse of this, and 
to coincide with that of Mr. Hope. “ Liquid ma¬ 
nure,” he says, u is liquid nonsense; and a few 
loads of rotten dung are worth more than all the 
nitrates of soda and potash in creation.” This Mr. 
Goodluck as stoutly denies, and so the discussion 
proceeds to the extent of at least a dozen speakers, 
until Mr. Fairweather, the chairman, wisely sums 
up with becoming impartiality, by declaring that, 
“ there is a great deal to be said on both sides.” 
Should the subject before them, however, be the 
merits of marl, as a fertilizer, the course of the de¬ 
bate may be so far different, that it will be con¬ 
demned in toto , by acclamation, save one, or at most 
two farmers, who may have the boldness to defend 
it ; and on inquiry, it will be found that these are 
not residents of the district, but have come from a 
section of the country, where, from the nature of 
the soil, marl is applied with the greatest benefits. 
Now, in regard to the discordant results announc¬ 
ed by these different individuals, they may be traced 
to a difference in the conditions under which the ex¬ 
periments were made. The soil, in one case, was 
deficient in the elements contained in the substance 
employed as a manure; in the other, it contained 
them in as large quantities as the crop raised could 
take up ; or the crop, in the one case, consisted of a 
plant, into the composition of which, those ele¬ 
ments sparingly enter, while in the other, they were 
largely required; or in the manure applied, two 
substances required by the crops were present, 
while two more were deficient. Experiments of 
this kind, therefore, in order to be conducted pro¬ 
perly, require both a knowledge of the chemical in¬ 
gredients of the soil, and of the plants to be raised 
in it; also, a knowledge of what portion of those 
ingredients they derive from the soil, and what por¬ 
tion from the atmosphere. 
Experiments in farming, may be said to consist 
of two kinds; namely, those which have for their 
object the adoption of new modes of cultivation, 
based on scientific principles, but which, have not 
yet anywhere been reduced to practice ; and those 
which have for their object the extension of supe¬ 
rior systems that have long been attended with 
success in other states, or in countries existing un- 
