penbemnaseneeinasse 
= x 


nt 
Mi 


| 
il ' I 
ru nit 


SS 


nn 


ALinttit) 


————— 
SS 


l 
A 


cc 


hy 


‘eeu 


"il 


tit { platihe 
PULLER ESL 


TUTE 
HH 


i 


| 


A 


"hi 


| 
i | 
VELLA EPEAT EU 
pubes : | r] 


Hd 


lit 


HAAUALAPINVHADELA Ande 
te : 
itt 


PARTELLUS ET ETL OP EELS TLRS IE COTO E EES LO ORIEL 


a ——— 
Pe aansin  RPS NTETIS a aa 


te eae ene epee me St IN EE IDR wate sme -— oni wares as ah a 
= aT, x eet le 
<= win Peeinen So ans nen nants ee omnes es ; 

na nee ats jo ne 8 
ar 


- - 
ae 


ore 
¢ ¥ ~~ 
a ; 
et 
a ‘ 
x 
iq 
f , 
~ PL 


; 
ay Py 1 Sea 


hon sen Ain ; 
“N ers 7 hae o. Le i Are at as sat os ae ae 


“‘WBq puoveg 0} sovyjoid vag 
‘sey ‘IaAOpuy WON ‘ue Yormoyorqoog “bsq ‘HONGT ‘MA ‘Gd ‘¢ 4q poumo ‘ep ‘a'H oarqsiky 
« TSO ,. 
Alar as <= == 
SFOS MOLT N = 


SS = 


TWENTY-THIRD ANNUAL REPORT 


SECRETARY 


OF THE 


Hassachusetts Hoard of Aoricutture: 


WIT AN APPENDIX, 


CONTAINING 


REPORTS OF DELEGATES APPOINTED TO VISIT THE 
COUNTY EXHIBITIONS, 


AND ALSO 


RETURNS OF THE FINANCES OF THE AGRICULTURAL SOCIETIES, 


FOR 


ee oe LIBRARY 
NEW YORK 
BOTANICAL 
GARDEN 
BOSTON: 


WRIGHT & POTTER, STATE PRINTERS, 


79 MiLK STREET (CORNER OF FEDERAL). 


1876. 


‘ SALE: ao it 


STATE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE—1876. 


MEMBERS EX OFFICIIS. 


His Excettency ALEXANDER H. RICE. 

Hon. HENRY B. PEIRCE, Secretary of the Commonwealth. 

WILLIAM S. CLARK, President Mass. Agricultural College. 
‘CHARLES A. GOESSMANN, State Agricultural Chemist. 


APPOINTED BY THE GOVERNOR AND COUNCIL. 


Term Expires. 


MARSHALL P. WILDER, of Boston, . : ‘ ‘ : : 1877 

LEVERETT SALTONSTALL, of Newton, . ‘ : : j 1878 

PAUL A. CHADBOURNE, of Williamstown, : : : : 1879 
CHOSEN BY THE COUNTY SOCIETIES. 

Massachusetts, . CHARLES S. SARGENT, of Brookline, . 1877 
Essex, . GEORGE B. LORING, of Salem, . ; . 1878 
_ Middlesex, . JOHN B. MOORE, of Concord, . ; . 1879 
Middlesex North, . JONATHAN LADD, of Lowell, . : . 1877 
Middlesex South, . ELIJAH PERRY, of Natick, . A : . 1878 
Worcester, . 0. B. HADWEN, of Worcester, .. - . 1878 
Worcester West, . ADDISON H. HOLLAND, of Barre, . . 1878 
Worcester North, . STEPHEN SHEPLEY, of Fitchburg, . . 1878 
Worcester North-West, . . COURTLON SANDERSON, of Phillipston, 1877 
Worcester South, - DANIEL DWIGHT, of Dudley, . C . 1877 
Worcester South-East, . WILLIAM KNOWLTON, of Upton, . . 1879 
Hampshire, Franklin & Hampden, MILO J. SMITH, of Northampton, .  . 1879 
Hampshire, - . LEVI P. WARNER, of Sunderland, . . 1877 
Highland, . METCALF J. SMITH, of Middlefield, . . 1878 
Hampden, .J. N. BAGG, of West Springfield, . c . 1879 
Hampden East, . HORACE P. WAKEFIELD, of Monson,  . 1879 
Union, . FRANKLIN C. KNOX, of Blandford, . . 1877 
Franklin, és . WHITNEY L. WARNER, of Sunderland, . 1877 
Deerfield Valley, .E. C. HAWKS, of Charlemont, . : . 1878 
Berkshire, . JOHN E. MERRILL, of Pittsfield, ‘ . 1879 
Hoosac Valley, —— , of : Ae 
Housatonic, . . DANIEL B. FENN, of Stock neldee! 6 . 1879 
Norfolk, ELIPHALET STONE, of Dedham, . . 1877 
Hingham, . SOLOMON LINCOLN, of Hingham, . . 1879 
Bristol, . . EDMUND H. BENNETT, of Taunton, s 1878 
Bristol Central, . JOHN A. HAWES, of Fairhaven, . : : 1879 
Plymouth, . CHARLES G. DAVIS, of Plymouth, . . 1878 
Marshfield, . GEORGE M. BAKER, of Marshfield, . . 1879 
Barnstable, . 8S. B. PHINNEY, of Barnstable, . : . 1877 
Nantucket, . ALEXANDER MACY, Jr., of Nantucket, . 1879 
Martha’s Iona, . HEBRON VINCENT, of Edgartown, . . 1877 


CHARLES L. FLINT, Secretary. 


ae PATTY. A AEC Aa iM aoe ue 
BORO OPK Gioia ae Ep ay, 
RRS GH EHicryyh ceo ihe Hat: et Na 

4 ATV ALY 38 i} \ 1 ‘ : (Ot) van im) bike ioe 
* BE IGHGOIH I< fuy0 Any 2 Cat een i 7 


a wrika b an) * ant a 
MY 


iO ion 


i Ae | CCT) ARS oe 
oe ny ' ; ’ tb “ay 1Aatt on LATMS a ss hs 


Wil ete 


| | , » ee 
4 


= oie 
Ne } { aT Lad hd 
h, Le Byii u i As) cre | ay i 
“et ; a 
“(SN 
d ‘4 Ha! 
Ay Glen ‘ i 
: AY) v7 fps 
Bei 
_ 4 
ayy , % 
if. J We | i OTE ALA \ th 
7 (iat Ate 
‘ 45 i. } ¢ i 
ce aT tap: tht 1. a 4 OM eee ee ee CG 
ES MM oof) oan’ MAE AE 
J ry —_ 4 Pt 
ir . it, ah wie 34! ee uils,: “ 
oS aia hi ner a ee, 
4 so oe hel Lt Ae Lis to)h 


: as | as tie) Pt. ee Nway : Pp i 
ui sit a Yola : Ch Pon PACT Og ‘ ‘ = 
= MP yam cecil pit eur hy Oa PB RCT RAD Loh ea tan 
cc) De lls tay ts i DP ea a a . 
A* TAR ree NY beg Vk ih 2 eb RP LG te pe ont 
on Oe WWktihes pe Mi a Atk ATA Dyes th eit Abas) We 
ay’ UA) se ot REMC NIE SND) PRs ee re a ae 
one \\ ie 2 Sea TVET Wy AUPE PUTEL NTP cere | ya oe BA alas :, 
: pert: hs. Ae at VU Ah Ott, heme fa yy mw ; ict ori AWalem ‘a 
AE a ike te Lia see MO ni : Oi aa yee 
Sahih ; Pa. a 7 


ys - 
F af . i be 


TWENTY-THIRD ANNUAL REPORT 


OF THE 


SECRETARY 


OF THE 


BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 


To the Senate and House of Representatives of the Commonwealth of 
Massachusetts. 


The year has been prosperous and favorable for most 
branches of farming industry. While a continued depression 
has hung like a pall over mercantile, manufacturing, and 
mechanical pursuits, paralyzing trade and creating a general 
want of confidence, a spirit of courage and hopefulness may 
be said to have pervaded the agricultural community. The 
presence of heat and moisture, distributed with some degree 
of uniformity throughout the season of most active vegetation, 
furnishes the conditions favorable to a productive year on the 
farm. In this respect the season has been more than usually 
propitious, no drought of any severity having occurred to 
injure the crops or cut short the period of vegetable growth. 

Among the enterprises of an agricultural character that are 
especially worthy of mention, is that of the diking-in and 
reclaiming extensive tracts of salt marshes along the sea- 
shore. Green Harbor Marsh, situated in the town of Marsh- 
field, has been shut off from the tides of the ocean, at an 
expense exceeding thirty thousand dollars, and over fourteen 
hundred acres have thus been put into a condition to add 
materially to the productive wealth of the State. Hxtensive 
and careful scientific investigations have been instituted under 


6 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 


the direction of the State Board of Agriculture, to ascertain 
the changes which take place in the soils of reclaimed marshes, 
with the hope of rendering efficient aid to those who have 
undertaken this great public work. These investigations, 
though not yet completed, were partially developed in my 
last Annual Report, and a continuation of the able paper then 
presented will be found on a subsequent page of this Report. 

The results of this enterprise are already apparent, in the 
increased interest in similar undertakings at various points 
upon our coast, and the time will undoubtedly come when 
many broad acres will be added to the productive area of the 
Commonwealth. 

The operations of the Board have been continued as hereto- 
fore, and they will be fully presented. in the following pages. 
The plan of holding public meetings every year in various 
parts of the State, has commended itself to popular favor, and 
the meetings have been largely attended by intelligent and 
appreciative audiences. The country meeting, this year, was 
held in the city of Haverhill. 


PUBLIC MEETING OF THE BOARD, 
Art HAVERHILL. 


The usual country meeting of the Board was held at 
Tilton’s Hall, in Haverhill, on the 30th of November and the 
first and second days of December. The meeting was called 
to order on Tuesday, November 30, by Hon. Grorex B. 
Lorine. 


OPENING REMARKS OF DR. LORING. 


Gentlemen of the State Board of Agriculture:—As the 
delegate from the Essex County Agricultural Society to the 
Massachusetts Board of Agriculture, it becomes my duty to 
call this meeting to order, having’ been selected as chairman 
of the committee on organization, on account of my official 
position in this section of the State. This is the twelfth 
meeting which the Board has held for the purpose of compar- 
ing notes, and of discussing the practical questions which 
come naturally and always before the agricultural meetings 


MEETING AT HAVERHILL. 7 


that are held in various parts of the country. It was an 
experiment on the part of the Board at the time the institution 
was organized, and I remember, too, that it was an experi- 
ment which, in the minds of many of the Board, did not 
promise much. But the success which has attended these 
meetings has encouraged us to continue them, until at last 
they have become a part of the agricultural educational system 
of the Commonwealth. 

It is manifest that the Board of Agriculture of this State, 
founded now more than twenty years ago, has become at 
last, as it were, a Farmer’s College, and the members of the 
Board, representing as they do the practical farmers of the 
State, bring together in these meetings the results of the prac- 
tical operations of the farmers in this State. They represent 
the practical agriculture of the Commonwealth exactly as the 
Agricultural College represents the endeavors to develop the 
scientific culture here for the benefit of the farmer. The 
Board is the natural outgrowth of the agricultural societies of 
the Commonwealth. These institutions, founded early in the 
history of agricultural investigations, have become at last the 
Agricultural Institutes in our land. They were guided and 
controlled and perfected by the ablest men among us. In 
this State and in other States, the learned men and statesmen 
gathered about these associations for the purpose of con- 
trolling and developing what to them was the great funda- 
mental interest of the country. It was an occupation which 
attracted the attention of the founders of the Republic; and 
among the most earnest advocates of agricultural societies 
were Washington—“ the father of his country,” the first presi- 
dent,—and Jefferson, the author of the Declaration of Inde- 
pendence. Here in Essex County, the leading and powerful 
men took their stand in this direction. The founder of the 
Essex Agricultural Society, Timothy Pickering, was among 
the ablest men of his time, and after he had performed great 
service in the field, as a colonel in the Revolutionary War, in 
the cabinet, as secretary of state and of war, and as sena- 
tor from Massachusetts, he felt proud to retire to his farm 
and establish the Essex Agricultural Society as the best mode 
in which he could impart his information to the people, and 
the best mode in which they could learn those processes by 


8 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 


which they could pursue agriculture profitably and well. The 
agricultural societies of the State, thus founded, spread every- 
where, not only in New England, but in New York, Pennsyl- 
vania and other States. They became the allies of similar 
institutions abroad,—of the Royal Agricultural Society of 
England, whose business it was, in its early days, to intro- 
duce the great scientists of that time into the business 
of developing agricultural information, and of ameliorating 
agricultural labor. It was a custom which at last was fol- 
lowed everywhere; and as the Board of Agriculture abroad 
brought out Sir Humphry Davy, and introduced him, with 
his scientific investigations, into the practical business of 
cultivating the soil of England, and introduced other scien- 
tists for the purpose of developing the great crops there, and 
ascertaining the best modes of breeding and feeding cattle, 
so exactly have the agricultural societies of this country 
grown and developed at last into organizations like this, 
representing not only the toil upon the land, but the honest 
and earnest endeavors of the farmers at their own firesides to 
study the laws by which they can be best guided in their 
business. The Board of Agriculture of Massachusetts to-day 
presents the attitude which I have stated to you,—that of 
endeavoring in every way to rouse the agricultural mind of 
the Commonwealth and guide the farmer in his calling. It 
is, therefore, the Farmer’s College, in which all men are pro- 
fessors and teachers, and all men are learners. 

Now, it becomes my duty to weleome an association like 
this, on this occasion, to Essex County, which has done much 
for the development of agriculture in time past, and which, 
to a certain extent, has set the law of farming, which I con- 
sider will ultimately be the general law ‘established and 
accepted throughout this entire country. The town in which 
we are assembled has long been distinguished for the care 
and system with which the land has been cultivated and the 
business of manufacturing has been conducted. Settled, as 
it was, two hundred and thirty-five years ago, in precisely 
the same manner in which so many New England towns were 
settled, by an honest, faithful, and earnest clergyman leading 
his little flock into the wilderness for the purpose of enjoying 
what our fathers demanded and insisted on here, “ freedom to 


GROWTH OF HAVERHILL. 9 


worship God,” it became at last one of those towns in the 
county which were distinguished for the skill and prosperity 
of the agricultural community which was settled here. It 
was finely located on the banks of this swift-running river, 
which came flashing along from the mountains of New Hamp- 
shire and the lakes above, with no alluvial soil, but with 
those rich and fertile and heavy clay banks which are so 
superior, under the long-continued toil of the farmer, for the 
purposes of various crops. Here the fathers established a 
prosperous agricultural community, and year after year, for 
more than two centuries, Haverhill performed her part as one 
of the leading towns in this Commonwealth. When the busi- 
ness of agriculture began to decline, and the attention of our 
people was turned to other branches of business, how she 
sprang forth to accept the work which was then laid before 
us, advancing in a few years from a little town of 3,500 peo- 
ple, prosperous in their agricultural pursuits, to a city of 
almost 15,000 people, with more than 150 firms engaged 
in the manufacture of leather and its products, and with an 
annual production of ten millions of dollars from her industry 
alone! It is in a town like this that we have gathered to-day, 
one of the significant towns of the State of Massachusetts ; 
one of those towns which, having grown out of the simple 
and’ primitive agriculture of our fathers, has developed, by 
its industry and skill, not only the agriculture of the section 
in which it is located, but its own inherent power and wealth, 
and has fixed here the great law of American farming, which 
is, that local markets shall be the sources of profit to the 
farmer. 

Now, in welcoming you to this spot, I congratulate you 
that you have fallen upon so hospitable a community, and I 
am sure you will agree with me before this meeting closes, 
that you have also fallen into an attentive and intelligent 
assembly. 

The agriculture of this county—which is now a matter of 
interest to us, having assembled here—has passed through all 
the various phases of agricultural necessity and experience in 
this country. The coast line here was early inhabited. Salem 
was settled two years before Boston, and from that day down 
to the early part of this century, agriculture was the main 

2 


10 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 


business of the people; and under the influence of such minds 
as I have alluded to, and, more than that, under the stimu- 
lating influence of agricultural prosperity here, the primitive 
farming of Essex County became one of the most advanced 
and prosperous branches of agriculture in the whole Com- 
monwealth. -The soil here was filled with virgin fertility ; it 
was not necessary, then, to resort to those artificial modes 
of agriculture which are now so necessary in order to grow a 
crop. The whole business was simple, and the great crops 
were brought forth here almost spontaneously by a bountiful 
nature. I remember one of the records kept in this county, 
less than a century ago, in which it was stated that under the » 
ordinary cultivation of the soil, 750 bushels of potatoes had 
been raised upon one acre of land, and 650 bushels of carrots, 
850 bushels of ruta-bagas (Swedish turnips) and 1,050 bush- 
els of mangold-wurzels; and upon ten acres of land, for 
thirty years, there had been produced an average of three 
tons of hay to the acre,—land that had not been broken by 
the plough in all that time, but had received at the hand of the 
cultivator a fair and proper top-dressing from year to year. 
That was the agriculture of those times. It was simple, 
economical, primitive, prosperous, profitable ; and the market 
of those farmers was of such a description throughout this 
county and the neighboring counties of Suffolk and Middle- 
sex, that prosperity attended the agriculture of this part of 
the State with more constancy and reliability than prosperity 
now attends any more active and vigorous branch of busi- 
ness or any commercial occupation now known in this Com- 
monwealth. It was primitive, as I say, because there was no 
necessity for the application of that skill and care which we 
now depend upon. Why, gentlemen, you know well, that 
the condition of pasture-lands here in the early days was 
such that any man who fed his cattle upon those pastures 
could absolutely defy all the laws of breeding and all those 
physiological laws which are now considered so important to 
the cattle-breeder. It was in this county, for instance, that 
the famous Oakes cow, known in the early annals of agri- 
culture, reached her distinction. The Oakes cow, the queen 
of all cows in those early days, was fed and made her record 
within the limits of this county. She made a great record 


THE OLD OAKES COW. 11 


for herself, it is true. It is told of her that she gave seven- 
teen quarts of milk a day, and made fifteen pounds of butter 
in a week, and that she continued to discharge her service in 
this fashion month after month, beginning early in the spring 
and going on until early in the following winter. She was 
considered a remarkable cow, and her record was kept because 
she was remarkable. ‘It seems she was an animal that could 
be easily and profitably fed upon those primitive pastures, 
under the uneconomical methods which prevailed in the early 
time. But you who are now compelled to select with the 
utmost care your animals for the production of beef, and 
‘ must learn ‘what can be fed most profitably upon your pas- 
tures and in your barns for that purpose, and who are ready 
to avail yourselves continually of the skill of the English 
breeder, who has produced for you the Shorthorn; you who 
have learned that it is no accident that will enable a man to 
feed an animal for beef profitably now, but that it must be 
done in accordance with the most accurate rules most skil- 
fully applied,—you will learn with astonishment what the 
structure of this cow was, which in those early days was con- 
sidered so profitable. And you who are compelled, in your 
production of milk for the milk market here and in every 
other city in the Commonwealth, to select animals which 
can be fed most profitably for that purpose, and know per- 
fectly well that a cow will produce her milk profitably or 
unprofitably according to her physiological and anatomical 
structure, and that you must select with care a heavy, well- 
made, easy-feeding, milk-producing animal if you want a cow 
that will be profitable for dairy purposes,—you, too, will be 
astonished when you learn of the structure of this remark- 
able cow. She had no quality which a breeder of these days 
would value. Her countenance was gloomy, dull and sour. 
Her head was ill-shaped. She had none of those fine lines 
which, to the English or to the American breeder, would sig- 
nify thrift, easy feeding and a rapid production of either beef 
or milk. Her neck was ill-shaped; it was not properly put 
upon her body; and her shoulders were so rough that they 
seemed to stand above her chine, so that you would imagine 
they must have been two inches higher than her backbone. 
Her back was rough, uneven and irregular; her -hind- 


12 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 


quarters and shoulders very small and light, just sufficient to 
carry her about; and her carcass was a vehicle of enormous 
capacity, capable of taking in a vast amount of food and 
drink for the production of milk and butter, but of consum- 
ing more food and more water, even, than any farmer can 
afford to supply in these days, when we depend on hay at 
twenty-five dollars a ton, and for water are at the mercy of 
the water-board of a city. That was her structure. What 
the feel of this animal was I will not undertake to say, because 
I never put my hand upon her; but, judging from her gen- 
eral construction and outline, I should say that her feel was 
hard ; that her hair was wiry; and that her general condition | 
was such that, in these days of accurate and economical agri- 
culture, a strict and accurate judge would have said, “I can- 
not possibly feed such an animal on my short pastures and in 
my expensive barns.” It was only in those primitive days 
that animals like the Oakes cow could be fed with any profit. 

That was the way our fathers carried on their business. 
They had very simple appliances. The shovels of the old 
times, with which they did their work, would be rejected in 
an instant in these days, and their farm implements of every 
description were rude, rough and irregular. In only one 
single implement known here, were the farmers of Essex 
County, in the early days, supplied in such a way that they 
could win triumphs in any agricultural field; and that was 
the plough. In this connection it may be curious and inter- 
esting to you to know that there is to-day in this county the 
triumphant plough of the olden time,—the wooden mould- 
board plough which won all the early prizes at the Essex 
fairs. That old wooden mould-board plough, shod with iron, 
with an upright share, which has ploughed its way satisfacto- 
rily season after season here, and now reposes in the elegant 
and well-ordered tool-room of the recent president of the 
Essex County Society, General Sutton, is a sample of what the 
skill of the Essex County farmer, in the olden time, did for 
that simple implement of husbandry. That plough was curi- 
ous in its construction, and I desire to call your attention to 
it, in order that you may say to every plough-maker in this 
land that this plough has certain principles in it that may be 
followed everywhere. This plough, which was a favorite 


EARLY FARM IMPLEMENTS. 13 


here, and which in the early days stood out as superior to all 
agricultural implements of its kind, is constructed, in the 
first place, with a very long and very solid land-side. I 
think it would run alone anywhere, and it has been said of it 
that it has often been set into the furrow and left to pursue 
its course alone, the team drawing it over the field. It would 
stand like a sled-shoe; and if you were to look at it to-day, 
it would remind you of the old-fashioned wooden sled, such 
as our fathers used in hauling their wood to their door-yards. 
T have always insisted upon it that a land-side is of the first 
importance in a plough; that a plough without a land-side is 
like a sled without a sled-shoe,—it can only be held in place 
by main strength. A strong man may hold it, but a feeble 
man can no more handle it than a child ten years old can steer 
a clipper-ship round Cape Horn. A plough without any sort 
of balance between the mould-board and the land-side is far 
from perfect. That plough of which I am speaking, has laid 
down this one law,—that a good land-side to a plough is a 
good thing; and I commend it to the inventors of ploughs in 
this State and elsewhere as a law which they had better adopt. 

In all the implements of farming, with the exception of this 
one plough, our ancestors were in that rude and primitive 
condition. Their business was a simple one. They had fer- 
tile lands, they had rich pastures, they had rude implements 
of husbandry ; but they had strong arms, had good markets, 
economical modes of life; they got a good living, and they 
constituted, in the early times, a sturdy, substantial, honorable 
and honest class in the Commonwealth, who laid the foundation 
of those virtues which, I am happy to say, have given to Essex 
County her power in time past in this Commonwealth. 

I have gone over the condition of affairs in this county, 
which in the early day stood at the head of farming in this 
Commonwealth, not only in her practical business, but in the 
intellectual endeavors made here. We have gone on from 
that condition, but advancing still. The agriculture of the 
county has indeed changed, and it may be interesting to some 
of you to know how. My attention was attracted, two or 
three years ago, to the repeated attacks which were made 
upon the prosperity of Massachusetts farming. I was told 
that the agricultural towns were decaying, that town after 


14 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 


town was dying out, farm after farm being deserted, and that 
the agricultural products of the Commonwealth were being 
reduced in quantity and value year after year. It occurred 
to me that as Essex County had been in the olden time a rep- 
resentative county in agricultural matters, perhaps it might 
be a representative county still, and I would examine its sta- 
tistics and see if I could not learn the lesson which has been 
taught here, year after year, perhaps to encourage me in my 
belief, which somehow I insisted upon maintaining, that Mas- 
sachusetts farming was not on the decline; that it was chang- 
ing its relations, changing its processes, but advancing still. 
I found that in this county, since the days which I have been 
describing, there had grown up large manufacturing centres ; 
that Lawrence had sprung out of nothing, within twenty-five 
years, into a town of more than 30,000 people, with mills, 
shops, congregations of people, the aggregation of a busy 
population ; that Lynn had increased from 3,000 to 30,000 ; 
that Gloucester had grown in proportion; that Haverhill had 
sprung up from 3,500 to 15,000 people; that Salem had 
increased from 15,000 to 25,000; that everywhere there 
were growing towns such as these, which were constantly 
drawing away people from the land, but at the same time 
furnishing good markets for all those who chose to remain 
there. And I ascertained, moreover, that while the cattle of 
this county were decreasing, the cows were diminishing in 
number, and the oxen, year after year, were growing less and 
less, until at last it seemed as if the existence of a good ox- 
team here had become an impossibility ; while the grain-crop 
was being reduced from 125,000 bushels down to 50,000 
annually ; while the hay-crop, even, was being diminished, and 
the products of the dairy—butter and cheese—were running 
down year after year,—I found that in one thing the farmers 
of Essex County had learned their lesson, and the figures 
told me, that in five years they increased their products of 
market-garden crops from $150,000 to more than $400,000 ; 
and I said to myself, while Essex County is increasing in her 
manufactures, and new cities are growing up here; while her 
commercial sections are improving, her farmers have by no 
means forgotten their business ; and so I accounted to myself 
for this admirable view which was constantly before me, that 


ESSEX COUNTY FARMERS. 15 


everywhere the farmhouses looked well, were well painted, 
that the farm barns were kept in good condition, the cattle 
well fed, that the farmers themselves, going to market with 
their crops, always looked solid and substantial, and had a 
good pair of horses with which to do their work. That I 
found was the condition of affairs; and so I learned that the 
Essex County farmer had found out for himself how to culti- 
vate the soil; had passed away from that primitive mode to 
which I alluded in the beginning, and accepting the situation, 
had turned market-gardener, to occupy the local markets 
which were constantly growing up here. 

Now, not only has Essex County done this for herself, but 
she has indicated, gentlemen, the law of American farming. 
You may look with envy upon the Western farmers who are 
filling the markets with their grain-crops, with their cattle and 
their hogs,—who supply the provisions that are used in the 
Eastern States, and all the exports of grain and provisions 
that are sent abroad,—you may look with envy upon them, 
and you may say that the man in the Western States, with a 
thousand or twelve hundred acres of land, engaged in this 
wholesale business of producing a supply of articles for the 
market, has really discovered the secret of prosperous farming. 
But not so. He is continually subject to the great commer- 
cial changes that are going on around him. He is at the 
mercy of foreign competitors. When he sends his wheat 
abroad he meets the wheat of the Black Sea, raised by men 
who receive no reward for their toil, who have no civil obli- 
gations, who have no expenses, who have no rights, have 
no status either in the state or in society. They meet 
grain raised by labor that costs next to nothing, and they, 
as citizens of the United States, with all their obligations, 
their duties, their desires, their ambitions, are compelled to 
compete with them. If they send their wool to market from 
Ohio, they meet Australian wool, grown almost spontaneously ; 
they meet wool from the Cape of Good Hope, raised by men 
who can hardly be distinguished from the sheep on whose 
backs the wool is grown; they meet wool raised in California, 
where sheep are never housed. And so the great wool-pro- 
ducers of the West are continually staggered and tormented 
by the production of foreign wool with which they are to 


16 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 


compete. If they send their beef to market, if they pack it 
and ship it to Europe, before the fine Shorthorn steers of 
Illinois find their way into the market they are offset by the 
coarse, long-horned cattle from Hungary, perhaps, or Brazil, 
or Texas. These are the trials to which they are compelled 
to submit in their business; but when the law of American 
society becomes fixed here, and the centres of trade are estab- 
lished throughout the West and the South, as they are through- 
out the East, then the American farmer will learn exactly that 
lesson which the Essex County farmer has learned,—that it is 
the growth of products for the local markets which constitutes 
the prosperity of American farming. Then our farmers every- 
where will sit down in that uniform and steady prosperity 
which marks alt those men who know how to cultivate the 
soil lying around the great centres of trade. There are no 
men more prosperous than they, when they conduct their 
business as it should be conducted. It cannot be done in a 
careless, haphazard way, I grant. You cannot plant pear- 
trees where you ought to raise potatoes, perhaps. You can- 
not raise corn where you may raise mangold-wurzels. You 
must discriminate, and accept the law that the supply of 
local markets is the first thing, and then ascertain what crop 
is best adapted to the soil on which you live. Then farming 
becomes not only filled with the triumphant prosperity which 
marked it in the beginning, but it becomes part of the busi- 
ness of an intelligent, careful, ambitious, spirited and self- 
reliant people, who are unwilling to take their stand longer 
by the side of the semi-barbarians of a ruder farming on the 
frontier, but are determined to stand by the side of those who, 
by care and sleepless diligence, have organized our manufact- 
ures and commerce for the prosperity of the country. That, 
I conceive, to be American farming; that, I know, is the 
farming of Essex County; and there is not a farmer in this 
room who does not know that all I say of his calling here is 
true; that all I say of his opportunity is continually before 
his eyes. I believe the farmers around Haverhill know it. I 
know the farmers around Salem do. But if you will point me 
to a more prosperous body of men than those who in these 
localities devote themselves to the soil, I am perfectly willing 
to surrender my argument to you, but not till then. 


PLANT-NUTRITION. 17 


Now, gentlemen, I have introduced to you Essex County, 
as I think, fairly. I welcome you within her borders, and 
trust and believe, and doubt not, that when you separate, you 
will leave behind some new law, some new fact, or some new 
statement, which the Essex County farmers, seizing, will use 
and pass on to still greater prosperity. 


The meeting then adjourned to two o’clock in the afternoon. 


AFTERNOON SESSION. 


The meeting was called to order at two o’clock by Dr. 
Lorine, who introduced, as the first speaker, Professor 
STOCKBRIDGE of the Agricultural College. 


EXPERIMENTS IN FEEDING PLANTS. 


BY HON. LEVI STOCKBRIDGE. 


Mr. Chairman and Gentlemen of the Board of Agricult- 
ure,—Farmers of Massachusetts :—It will be recollected by 
the gentlemen of the Board that, at your last public or coun- 
try meeting, which was held in Westfield, I had the honor of 
“speaking to you upon the subject of feeding plants, and of 
giving some account of a series of experiments which’ had 
been tried at the Agricultural College in this direction. 
Speaking upon the same subject to-day, little remains for me 
to say, except to continue the narrative of those experiments 
at the College, giving the results of 1875, and drawing there- 
from some rules for practice. 

This subject of plant-nutrition is one which has attracted 
the attention of the scientific men both of Europe and Am- 
erica, has led to investigation and to experiment, and, as a 
matter of pure scientific investigation, is one of the very 
highest interest. But to the practical man, to the farmer, to 
him whose business it is to make plants as a means of liveli- 
hood, to him whose success or failure depends upon under- 
standing the principles of plant-nutrition and upon being able 
successfully to apply them, the question is one of more than 

3 


18 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 


ordinary interest; it is vital; a proper understanding or a 
misunderstanding of the principles, making all the difference 
between success and failure in his life-work. We must admit 
that the investigation of this subject of plant-nutrition, by 
scientific men, is one of modern date. In fact, it is true that 
for more than forty years scientific belief on this subject has 
been in a sort of transition state. Many of the theories 
which have been openly advocated have been found, by dis- 
covery and experiment, to have been without foundation. 
Scientific men have vacillated for forty years in relation to 
this matter of the principle of plant-nutrition. 

At one time it was believed and openly advocated that 
plants depend for their nutrition upon the organic matter, or 
humus, in the soil. The humus theory had its day; and yet, 
when the touch of chemistry was put to it, it was found that 
certain soils were extremely fertile with only two or three per 
cent. of humus in their composition, and certain other soils 
were sterile with twenty, thirty or forty per cent. of humus 
in their composition. Then the humus theory went to the 
wall. Afterwards it was advocated, and even by the great 
Liebig, that, for their nutrition, plants needed only the ap- 
plication of the mineral elements; but he was met by the 
nitrogen theory men, and the contest went on, year after 
year, between the advocates of nitrogen and the advocates of 
minerals, until at length it was discovered that in some of 
their assumptions both the nitrogen men and the mineral men 
were wrong, and in some of their assumptions both the nitro- 
gen men and the mineral men were right. 

Then, in due course of time, came the theory, that in order 
to ascertain the wants of plants, that we might provide them 
with proper nutrition, it was simply necessary to analyze the 
soil, determine its wants and the structure or the composi- 
tion of plants, and then the farmer might apply to his soil 
the elements in which it was deficient, and the plant would 
have an abundant supply of nutriment. But it was soon 
found that the acids of the chemist could wring from a sam- 
ple of soil in the laboratory certain elements, which were sup- 
posed to be elements of nutrition, which the plant never 
could find in the soil; and that although the acid of the 
chemist might determine positively that there was an abun- 


CONDITIONS OF PLANT-GROWTH. 19 


dance of phosphoric acid, for instance, in the soil, yet the 
plant might starve for want of phosphoric acid, because it 
was utterly unavailable. And thus for forty years have 
scientific men been moving backward and forward in relation 
to the principles of plant-nutrition,—experimenting, investi- 
gating, discovering gradually fact after fact,—until to-day it 
can probably be said with truth that there is almost universal 
harmony and unanimity of opinion among scientists in rela- 
tion to the subject of plant-nutrition, and that that opinion 
has been sustained and upheld by the natural fact and law of 
the case. 

It may not, therefore, be out of place if I speak for a mo- 
ment of this belief of scientists in relation to plant-nutrition. 
In the first place, it is agreed,—and, gentlemen, I wish you 
would mark the language I use,—it is agreed among scientists 
that, so far as the plant is concerned, there is no difference in 
the importance and value of either of the two great classes 
of matter,—organic and inorganic. No plant can grow and 
make a perfect growth unless it has a supply, in such propor- 
tions as it needs, of both elements of matter,—organic and 
inorganic. That is, if the plant has access to all the mineral 
elements of nutrition it needs, those mineral elements of 
nutrition are utterly valueless in the production of the plant 
unless in some way the plant can obtain at the same time all 
it requires of the inorganic elements of nutrition. Again, 
that so far as the organic elements themselves are con- 
cerned, neither one of these elements, so far as the plant 
is concerned, is of more importance than any other. For 
instance: carbon is just as important to the plant as nitro- 
gen; nitrogen is just as important to the plant as carbon. 
Nitrogen, however abundant in form calculated to give the 
plant nourishment, is worthless to the plant unless the plant 
can in some manner obtain the needed carbon. And so with 
the other two elements of organic nutrition. So, too, with 
the mineral elements of plant-food. Lime being abundant 
in the soil, is of no account to the plant unless at the same 
time it can get its required quantity of soda, of iron, of pot- 
ash, or any other of the inorganic elements of nutrition. 
All, so far as the plant is concerned, are of equal importance. 
Another belief is, that the maximum quantity of crop to be 


20 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 


produced on any land is measured by the minimum quantity 
of the elements of nutrition contained within the soil. That 
is, that if in the soil there is a very small per cent., for 
instance, of lime, the quantity of crop which that land can 
produce will be measured by that minimum quantity, or 
the quantity of lime in the soil; and so with all the other 
elements of nutrition. 

The next point of agreement in belief is in relation to the 
condition in which all the elements of nutrition must exist in 
the soil, and the manner in which the plant obtains that nutri- 
tion. It is the universal belief of scientific men who have 
examined this subject, that mere quantity is of no account ; that 
coarse, crude, enormous bulk is of no account; but that the 
right proportion of the elements in a solvent condition is the 
standard of the amount of crop production in any given soil ; 
not bulk, not mass, not enormous quantity, but certain ele- 
ments of plant-nutrition in a solvent form, and in no other 
form. These alone can nourish plants. 

Then they are agreed in relation to the manner in which 
plants obtain their food. And first in relation to the manner 
in which plants obtain their organic food,—the four elements, 
carbon, oxygen, hydrogen and nitrogen,—all absolutely essen- 
tial to the plant. Take carbon first, if you please. Carbon in 
the plant is never obtained in the form of carbon, but in the 
form of a compound of carbon and oxygen—carbonic acid. 
In this form and this alone: carbonic acid taken from the air, 
or washed from soil-water in precipitation,—carbonic acid in 
the soil either formed by the action of oxygen on the carbon- 
aceous material of the soil, absorbed by the water, and 
thrown by the vital force to the leaves, or carbonic acid taken 
from the air by absorption in the leaves, there to be decom- 
posed, the carbon retained, united with the elements of water, 
passing now down the plant and going through the chemical 
changes in its passage to the tissues and to the inner bark of 
the plant, thrown out in different parts of the plant, from the 
inner tissues of the bark, forming the vegetable oils, the 
acids, the gum, the starch, the sugar, and the woody fibre of 
the plant-cellulose—the cellular tissue. This is the way in 
which the plant obtains its carbon; in this way, and by these 
organs of the plant. The nitrogen and the hydrogen of the 


SUPPLY OF NITROGEN. 21 


plant; that is, these elements of nutrition obtained from the 
elements of water which the roots are constantly throwing to 
the leaves, and from some of the retained oxygen in the 
decomposition of the carbonic acid. 

Now, we come to the nitrogen, and, perhaps, in the whole 
round of the elements of plant-nutrition, here is the only one 
where there may be a diversity of opinion. Nitrogen in the 
form of ammonia, nitrogen in the form of nitric acid, is 
washed down to the soil by water, the nitrates formed in the 
soil and carried in the water to the roots of the plants, and, 
perhaps,—nay more, probably, from the elemental nitrogen of 
the air absorbed by the leaves,—perhaps in the form of car- 
bonate of ammonia or the elemental nitrogen; and thus the 
plant is supplied with its element of plant-food,—nitrogen. 

If we turn now to the mineral elements of plant-nutrition, 
these are obtained from the soil. Not the crude, coarse mate- 
rial of the soil itself. The plant does not live on soil, as soil, - 
but the potash, the lime, the magnesia, the soda, the phos- 
phoric acid, where acted on by certain natural agencies and 
reduced to a soluble condition, are taken in soil-water and 
carried by this root-action to the plant, and there distrib- 
uted, almost—as far as physiological examination goes—as a 
foreign, useless and not needed material; yet, as we know, 
absolutely essential for the production of the plant. 

Thus, gentlemen, we agree in relation to what. plant-nutri- 
tion is, and we agree in relation to the manner in which the 
plant obtains its food. 

Turning now to the other side,—to the practical men, to the 
farmers who till the soil and grow the crops,—we find that 
during all these forty years or more, there has been no advance 
in opinion or in belief, and no change among practical men in 
relation to the subject of feeding plants, or plant-nutrition. 
I mean the average farmer measures everything by barn-yard 
manure as the type. He estimates everything by the pile, by 
the bulk, by the quantity, by the cord, by the load, or by the 
ton; and to him it is utterly preposterous, it is enigmatical, 
it is beyond all belief, when you tell him that two or three 
hundred pounds of certain elements, placed within reach 
of the plant, will produce a larger crop than many tons 
of raw, crude, unchanged, undecomposed material, whether 


22 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 


you call it muck, or peat, or barn-yard manure, or compost. 
I say he measures everything by the quantity, the pile, the 
cord, or the load, and to him it is incomprehensible, it is 
humbug, to say that smaller quantities, in a different and in a 
better condition, can produce equal quantities of crops as a 
large mass of crude, unformed, unfitted material; and yet the 
same farmer complains, and is in a constant storm, because 
his business is a business above all other industries surrounded 
by doubt, and uncertain in relation to results. ,He will tell 
you that, obeying the injunction of Scripture, he “sows by 
all waters,” but he cannot tell whether his crops will prosper, 
or whether they will prove all alike good ; that the results are 
uncertain; that he knows not what his income may be; that 
he has done his duty ; and he implies, although he does not 
say it, that he leaves the result with God. But, he says, after 
all, it depends entirely on the weather whether he shall have 
a crop or whether he shall not. No man can tell, he says, 
when he manures his land, when he ploughs it, and when he 
prepares it for the seed, whether he is to have a crop or not. 
It depends upon the weather; one season gives him abun- 
dant crops, another season gives a deficiency of crops. And 
when he says this, he does not allude, nor do I, to those 
exceptional seasons when we have a frost in July, or when 
we have those severe droughts, when the earth itself is fairly 
burned up, or when we have frosts which destroy all our 
crops in an immature condition. He simply refers to those 
variations of the seasons which do not allow the growth and 
perfection of maximum crops on the farm. 

Now, right here, I want to ask and answer this question, 
as applicable to this subject of feeding plants, or of plant- 
nutrition: What have the ordinary variations of our seasons 
to do with the nutrition of plants, or with the development of 
plant-food in the soil? The farmer says he has done his duty 
when he has given the land a certain quantity of coarse, crude, 
raw material in mass; but what have the seasons to do with 
the development of plant-nutrition? Much, every way. In 
the first place, the chemical condition of the air remains 
about the same year after year, generation after generation. 
There are slight variations between the air of the town or the 
city and the open country ; but, on the whole, the air always 


INFLUENCE OF SEASONS. 23 


contains about the same per cent. of oxygen, nitrogen, car- 
bonie acid, nitric acid, ozone and ammonia. ‘These are what 
we call atmospheric manures, or atmospheric elements of 
nutrition. Now, then, the influence of the seasons upon 
plant-nutrition must be this: its variable temperature, the 
amount of water which falls, and the amount of sunshine 
which acts upon the plant and upon the soil. Those are the 
three conditions of the seasons which vary the amount of 
plant-food that will be developed out of the soil itself or out 
of the material which the farmer has given to the soil artifi- 
cially. Thus, if we have a wet season, an extra quantity of 
water-fall, which fills the interspaces of the soil so that the air 
is excluded, so that warmth is excluded, the soil does not 
become heated. Then the coarse, raw, undecomposed, unfer- 
mented mass of barn-yard manure, compost, muck, straw, 
clover, or grain-crops ploughed in, remain dormant and dead, 
and no nutriment is formed, and your plant starves for want 
of food. If, on the other hand, your season is one of exces- 
sive drought, little rain-fall, and the soil becomes dry, so that 
decomposition stops, then your raw, crude material, your 
barn-yard manure, and your muck, remain unchanged; no 
food is formed, and your plant starves for want of nutrition. 
Now, then, the seasons have to do with the plant-nutrition in 
just this way, and the farmer should have known that if he 
would feed his plants, and do it thoroughly, with the varia- 
tions of the seasons, he could not afford to trust them to make 
plant-food out of raw or crude materials, but that it was a 
part of his duty to prepare the food for his plants ere he com- 
mitted it to the soil, and then the action of the season of 
which he complains would have been entirely obviated, and 
he could have produced crops yearly without regard to these 
variations of the seasons which make maximum or minimum 
crops. 

Now, gentlemen, having said this much, I am prepared to 
say that it was to prove just this thing, among other subjects 
connected and related to it, that a certain series of experi- 
ments was entered upon at the Agricultural College some six 
or seven years ago; to prove that one thing,—whether cer- 
tain elements of plant-food, prepared in the condition of 
plant-food ready to nourish the plant, would not nourish 


24 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 


and produce plants almost in any quantity desired, without 
regard to the ordinary variations of the seasons. This was 
one of the subjects to be investigated, among others of kin- 
dred nature. This brings me properly to the subject of my 
address to-day,—experiments in feeding plants. 

I see a few faces here that I did not see a year ago in West- 
field, and that you may understand the work that has been 
performed in the College, it is necessary that I should, in as 
few words as possible, say something of these experiments 
prior to the year 1875. These experiments began in 1869. 
The first point to be ascertained was, whether certain ele- 
ments of plant-nutrition—prepared in a certain way and 
given to the plants—would produce plants. Those experi- 
ments were tried four years, and it was found by using the 
ordinary materials known to everybody,—nitrogen, potash, 
phosphoric acid, soda, magnesia, etc., in certain forms, on 
soils that were absolutely sterile,—plants could be produced 
perfect in all their parts. That was the first point to be 
ascertained. Then to ascertain whether it was needful for 
the farmer, with such soils as were within our reach, to use 
all the elements of plant-nutrition, or whether the soil could 
be relied upon certainly to provide certain elements in sufli- 
cient abundance so that the farmer need not apply them. 

The experiments for four years seem to indicate that, with 
such soils as we were using, gathering them on the College 
farm and for miles around, we need not apply to the plant 
carbon in any form, state or condition; that that was pro- 
vided by nature, and always would be; that we need not feed 
any other organic element of nutrition but nitrogen; that 
nature had not provided nitrogen in sufficient abundance, and 
that we must apply it. Among the mineral elements of the 
soil, it was found that we need only use potash and phosphoric 
acid for our vegetable crops. There were one or two crops 
where we decided that we should use, not only potash and 
phosphoric acid, but magnesia. Tobacco was one, oats was 
another, where we decided that it was necessary to use mag- 
nesia; but for the ordinary crops on such soils, mark you, 
as we had to experiment with, nitrogen, potash and phos- 
phoric acid were the only elements needed to be used. And 
we also noticed that there was a remarkable relation existing 


EXPERIMENTS WITH CORN. 25 


between the amount of crop produced and the quantity of 
the elements applied, which led to the thought that, perhaps, 
with a certain quantity of nitrogen, potash and phosphoric 
acid given to the plant, in the form of absolute food, a plant 
might be produced which should contain as much nitrogen, 
potash and phosphoric acid as we gave artificially to the plant 
we cultivated. The results of open field-culture in 1873-74, 
which we reported at the last country meeting of your Board, 
seemed to sustain that belief. 

Now I go on with the experiments of this year. The crops 
experimented with this year have been corn, oats, hay, beans, 
and the general garden vegetables. 

And, first, if you please, I will take the experiments with 
corn. I hope I have so stated the principle that it is clearly 
understood. Two plots of land were taken this year, so far 
as we could determine, exactly alike in their quality. It was 
proposed to make, over and above the natural product of the 
land, fifty bushels of corn to the acre. Elements containing 
as much nitrogen, potash and phosphoric acid as would be 
contained in fifty bushels of Indian corn, and the natural pro- 
duction of stalks for fifty bushels of Indian corn, were 
therefore applied to the land. The result of that experiment 
was this: the land without the manure yielded twenty-five 
bushels of corn, in round numbers; the land with the manure 
yielded seventy-four bushels. That is, the crop was one 
bushel less than the statement, being forty-nine bushels, 
nstead of fifty bushels. 

For potatoes, two plots were taken. These two plots were 
the plots which were planted with potatoes last year; the 
same plot without manure, the same plot with manure, as in 
1874. The statement was, the materials should be applied to 
make one hundred bushels to the acre more than the natural 
production of the land. 

Now, do not be surprised at this result. I see Dr. Nichols 
here, and some other scientific gentlemen, and perhaps they 
can explain it. The land without the manure made one hun- 
dred and twenty-eight bushels of potatoes to the acre; the 
land with the manure made two hundred and seventy-nine 
bushels to the acre, or fifty-one bushels more than the state- 

4 


26 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 


ment. I will not stop to answer the question why. Dr. 
Sturtevant can answer that. 

Now, I will give another experiment with corn, which will 
perhaps answer this query, why the land yielded fifty-one bush- 
els more of potatoes than the statement called for, and I will 
answer another question which by and by will be asked me. 
You will pardon me for this interruption of the direct course 
of the experiments. Some men will say, “Ah, but supposing 
you did do it, how does it leave the land? Haven’t you ruined 
your land? Supposing you did doctor this land up with some 
chemical hocus-pocus material, haven’t you ruined your land?” 
Now, then, to explain the discrepancy in the potato experi- 
ment, and answer this question at the same time, I will tell 
you the result of another experiment with corn. In 1874 
we were trying the experiment of growing corn according to 
this principle, and we raised one hundred and four bushels to 
the acre. In 1875 we took that same plot and planted it with 
corn again, und did not give it any manure at all, the object 
being to see if the land was ruined, or whether the manure of 
1874 reached over into 1875, and affected advantageously the 
crop of 1875. On that plot, this year, we harvested sixty- 
four bushels to the acre, without any manure. The normal 
bearing of the land in 1874—that is, on the plot where 
no manure was applied—was thirty-four bushels to the 
acre. 

Now, then (if it will be accepted as such), the manure of 
1874, after producing its one hundred and four bushels to the 
acre, reached over into 1875, and gave us twenty-nine bushels 
and a fraction of corn to the acre this year, as the effect of last 
year’s manuring. | 

Oats.—A presumptuous statement was made in relation to 
the growing of oats. The statement was made, that we would 
grow fifty bushels to the acre, over and above the natural 
product of the land. I ought to stop here to say to gentle- 
men who have never been at the College, and do not know 
anything about the land selected for these experiments, that 
we have got the poorest land, apparently,—rocky, drift soil, 
discouraging in every way,—on which to try our experiments. 
The plot without manure gave us fifteen bushels of oats to 
the acre. The statement was fifty bushels more than the 


HOW ABOUT BEANS? 27 


land would naturally produce. The yield of the manured 
plot was sixty-two bushels to the acre, or three bushels less 
than the statement ; the land with manure producing sixty-two 
bushels, the land without manure producing fifteen bushels. 

Hay.—Two plots of land were selected for the experiment 
with hay. The land had not been manured or ploughed for 
many years. The statement was, that there should be made 
on that land one ton of hay to the acre more than its 
natural product. The elements were accordingly applied, 
by top-dressing in the spring, which was wrong perhaps. 
The yield of the unmanured land for both crops was one 
thousand seven hundred pounds to the acre; the yield of 
the manured land was three thousand six hundred pounds to 
the acre, or one thousand one hundred pounds to the acre 
less than the statement. 

Brans.—The statement with regard to beans was, that we 
would make twenty bushels to the acre more than the natural 
product of the land. Twenty bushels of white beans is a 
pretty good crop to the acre; but that was the statement,— 
twenty bushels to the acre over and above the natural product 
of the land, which it was supposed was nothing, the land 
being about as poor as could be. The result was, that the 
land without manure yielded four bushels; the land with 
manure yielded twenty-five bushels. We got one bushel to 
the acre more than the statement. 

I believe that completes the record in relation to the exact 
experiments that have been tried on the farm. Now, I sup- 
pose, very likely some farmer may say, “This may all be 
true; it may be all very well to take a few small plots of 
land” (and our plots are either quarter acres or one-eighths) 
“and with the chemist of the Board of Agriculture to watch 
the kinds of material that you use, and a professor of agri- 
culture who hasn’t anything to do but try experiments,— 
with all these things combined, you might probably succeed 
in doing something in this little, silly, boyish way; but if 
you should go out on the land, and take an acre, and apply 
the materials in the ordinary way of farming, you would 
miserably fail.” 

Now, to meet that objection, we have been out on the land, 
and tried it in the ordinary way; and I will give you the 


28 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 


result. I selected, within half a mile of the College, two 
pieces of land that were thrown away, because they were not 
fit for any farming purpose. We took them simply as com- 
mon lands, because nobody claimed them as farm-lands. One 
piece contained one hundred and fifty-four rods, and the other 
one hundred and ninety-two rods. The materials were applied 
on each of them according to the quantity of land to make 
fifty bushels of corn to the acre, in precisely the ordinary way 
of farming; no plot was selected to test what the land would 
naturally bear. The plot which had one hundred and fifty- 
four rods of land yielded sixty-four bushels of shelled corn, 
or ninety-eight bushels to the acre. The plot which had one 
hundred and ninety-two rods in it yielded ninety bushels of 
shelled corn, or within a fraction of seventy-five bushels of 
corn to the acre. The land was worked, as I say, in the way 
in which farmers ordinarily farm it,—simply taking the land 
and taking the material to make a certain amount of corn, and 
throwing it on, without any regard to what the land would do, 
—and that was the yield. 

Now, gentlemen, indulge me in saying this one thing: the 
plot which produced seventy-five bushels of corn to the acre, 
and the plot which last year (1874) produced sixty-two bush- 
els of corn to the acre, with no barn-yard manure,—it has not 
had any since the memory of man runneth,—this same plot— 
poor, cold, sandy as it could be—produced last year sixty-two 
bushels, and this year it produced seventy-five bushels to the 
acre. That land has not been hurt any by the process. 

Now, some gentlemen will say, “All this was done under 
your own eye, and you had Dr. Goessmann, the professor of 
chemistry, right by those fields, and he could analyze the 
materials you used, and you knew just what you were doing ; 
but we could not do it on our farms.” Very likely. But 
indulge me, gentlemen, in saying this: that what has been 
done on the College Farm has been done on more than two 
hundred farms this year, scattered all the way from Vermont 
to North Carolina. 

After the publication of those experiments at Westfield, a 
year ago, numerous applications were made to me for the 
formulas of the materials. Ido not know who has bought 
the materials, and used them, but the formulas were sent to a 


PRACTICAL FIELD EXPERIMENTS. 29 


great many farmers in Eastern Massachusetts. People applied 
for the formulas, and received them. Whether they obtained 
the materials, and used them, I know not, except in one 
instance. I see Dr. Sturtevant, of Framingham, here; he 
received the formula; and although I have not said anything 
to him about it, nor he to me, I am told that he used the 
formula, and got a crop of corn. After I have done, you may 
have the pleasure of hearing the result of his experiments. I 
do not know but others in Eastern Massachusetts have done 
the same thing. 

Now, that this thing might be settled, and without my 
knowing where they got the material, or how they used it, or 
anything about it, I furnished the formula, and I have written 
to a few farmers in different sections of the country whom I 
knew or had heard were trying the material, and I will give 
you the result. I give it to you, of course, just exactly in 
farm fashion. I know nothing of where they obtained the 
material, or anything about it, only they wrote me the 
results. 

Charles F. Fowler, of Westfield, says :— 


** We sent and got the material, and put it on to a ‘pine plain 
land, for five acres of corn, and thought the land would naturally 
grow about ten bushels to the acre.” 


He applied the material,—so many pounds, about enough, 
he says, for fifty bushels to the acre,—and harvested on the 
five acres forty-five bushels to the acre of shelled corn. 

Mr. Henry N. Phelps, of Southampton, says :— 


‘*T made an application, on three acres of land, of what I sup- 
posed, according to your formula, would produce forty bushels of 
corn. It yielded fifty-two bushels to the acre of shelled corn on the 
three acres. I applied on an acre of land in grass, which had not 
been ploughed for twenty years, or manured for three years, enough 
of that material to produce two tons of hay to the acre. It did pro- 
duce me, by weight, three and a half tons.” 


Hon. Hinsdale Smith, of Feeding Hills, West Springfield, 
says :— 


**T sent to New York and got the materials, as you told me, and 
applied them to twenty acres of land for corn. The land—one-half 
of it—was good corn-land ; the other half was solid clay, very much 


30 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 


broken. I harvested, on the average, from the twenty acres, forty- 
five bushels of shelled corn to the acre. That was estimating 
seventy-five pounds to the bushel.” 


Hon. A. C. Parsons, of Northfield, writes :— 


““T bought $30 worth of the material, as recommended, and put it 
upon a sand bank that was a bar on the Connecticut River, where 
the freshets washed repeatedly across, leaving a bar of coarse sand. 
It yielded one hundred and three baskets of corn, which I call 
fifty-five bushels, to the acre, which was more than my best meadow- 
land produced, freely manured with unleached ashes.” 


Another farmer in Northfield says :— 


‘‘T obtained from New York the material for three acres of corn. 
I estimated the land would not bear anything; I don’t think it 
would.” 


He says :— , 


**T put on enough for fifty bushels of corn to the acre, and from 
the three acres I took sixty-five and a half bushels to the acre.” 


He reports nearly the same result in relation to potatoes, 
and further says :— 


‘“*T have a magnificent crop of tobacco now hanging on the poles. 
Of course I cannot tell what it will weigh.” 


H. C. Comins, of Hadley, president of the Hampshire 
County Agricultural Society, says :— 


‘*T took one measured acre in my meadow, of good alluvial soil, 
which, however, had not been ploughed or manured for six years. 
I put upon it $20 worth of materials, and I have harvested from 
that acre ninety-three bushels of shelled corn.” 


Let that suffice, gentlemen, for the experiments. Now, 
allow me to draw some conclusions; and I would draw no 
conclusion any further than my experiments have gone. I 
would stand exactly on them; I would be taught by them; I 
would advance no theory that the facts do not sustain. For 
in these matters I have gone to nature with questions, and I 
have tried to interpret the answer, and to interpret it in such 
a way that we may make it practically available to all the 


NATURAL CONCLUSIONS. 31 


farmers of the community. Now, the first conclusion at 
which I arrive, as the result of these experiments, is this: 
that it is possible to make these poor, worn-out fields of old 
Massachusetts flourish with waving grain, corn and grass, 
by the use of the chemical elements of plant-nutrition. Does 
anybody dare, after these experiments, to dispute the state- 
ment? It is possible, I say, to make these old, worn-out 
fields of Massachusetts flourish with grain and with grass, by 
the use of the chemical elements of plant-nutrition. My 
next conclusion is this: that in order to do this, it is not 
absolutely necessary ,—and I want to put it stronger than that, 
—it is not destrable to keep cattle for the sake of making barn- 
yard manure to do that work with. Now, some men will 
dissent from this. I say that it is not desirable to keep 
cattle for the express purpose—mark the language—cof mak- 
ing barn-yard manure to renovate these fields with. I know 
some of my brother farmers will say, “ Well, you are going 
back on barn-yard manure, ain’t you? You are going to say 
barn-yard manure isn’t worth having; that you wouldn’t cart 
barn-yard manure a mile, if anybody would give it to you.” 
Not at all, gentlemen. I tell you this: barn-yard manure is 
the waste product of certain industries. There is horn waste 
and bone waste, the waste of the woollen manufactories, and 
the waste of every kind of manufacturing, that have elements 
of fertility in them. Never waste them. Barn-yard manure 
is simply a waste product, for we must keep cattle or horses 
to do our work on our farms. We must make milk and 
butter and cheese; and in this business of making butter 
and cheese, and in keeping stock of any kind to run our 
farms, we must make barn-yard manure. Then you commit 
asin if you waste it. Husband your resources of every kind ; 
husband your waste material, whether barn-yard manure, 
wool, waste horn, waste hair, or whatever it is, because they 
all contain elements of nutrition; but I venture to prophecy, 
that the commercial value of barn-yard manure in future is to 
be determined by the commercial value of the chemical ele- 
ments of plant-nutrition. But do not understand me as say- 
ing that barn-yard manure is not valuable, and should not be 
saved, or that all your resources of this kind should not be 
husbanded the same as ever. 


32 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 


Now, I have not told you anything new, gentlemen. Dr. 
Nichols of this town proved, long ago, that a farm can be 
renovated without the use of barn-yard manure; and these 
experiments have only gone to substantiate the fact which 
was brought to the notice of the Board at the meeting in 
Framingham. 

My next conclusion, as the result of these experiments, is, 
that this method of feeding plants is the cheapest of all known 
methods of producing them; the cheapest in the world,— 
cheaper than barn-yard manure, cheaper than anything known. 
Of course, Iam met by the question, “ What does it cost?” 
I have tried to put it into figures, gentlemen, so that it could 
be understood. I should say, before reading this,—if you 
will excuse me,—that in order to bring this matter to a rule, 
a most extensive series of experiments and investigations have 
been carried on at the College in the years prior to this year, 
to ascertain the natural and healthy relations between the 
straw of all our grains and the grain itself; between the tops 
and tubers of all our root crops, ete., going round the entire 
range of our crops; and the present year the whole ground 
has all been gone over again, that it might be verified, and all 
mistakes corrected. In this estimate we put, of course, the 
cost, not only of the grain, but of the stalks; and, therefore, 
in estimating the value, we estimate, not only the value of the 
grain, but the value of the stalks. The nitrogen, potash and 
phosphoric acid to make a bushel of corn, with its natural 
proportion of stalks, costs forty-one cents. ‘That is about the 
price of the materials this year. Of course, these are com- 
mercial products, and may fluctuate slightly. Now, if you 
call a bushel of corn worth seventy-five cents, and allow 
ninety pounds of stalks to the bushel (and, I suppose, Dr. 
Sturtevant will say it is more), in marketable condition, and 
call the stalks worth $8 a ton, the stalks are worth thirty-six 
cents; so that the corn and stalks are worth $1.11, and the 
materials for their production being worth forty-one cents, a 
balance of seventy cents is left for your labor, for your taxes, 
and the interest of your money invested in the land. Now, 
gentlemen, don’t get heated over that excessive profit ! 

One thing more, and I will relieve you. Take the state- 
ment, now, and apply it to the result of the experiments which 


THE INDIAN CORN CROP. 33 


I have already given you. I applied the material for fifty 
bushels of corn to a piece of land, and my crop was ninety- 
four bushels. This is the other side of it. Now the corn on 
that piece of land, at seventy-five cents a bushel, amounts to 
$102.52, and the stalks to $32, on that acre of land. Now 
the cost of the material is to be taken from the value of the 
crop. The cost of the material for the fifty bushels of corn 
was $20.50. I got ninety-four bushels of corn for $20.50, 
and I have got $82.02 on my crop to pay for my labor, my 
taxes and my interest,—it being supposed that in Massachu- 
setts, ordinarily, the natural yield of the land will pay for the 
labor, its taxes and its interest; and if it will not do it, you 
had better sell it and buy land that will,—this question being 
simply a question of feeding plants above what the natural 
production of the land is. 

I thank you, gentlemen, for your attention and your 
patience. 


Dr. WaKkEFIELD, of Monson (who was called to the chair 
in consequence of Dr. Lorine being obliged to leave). You 
have heard the interesting experiments of Prof. SrocksRIpGE, 
and the conclusions drawn therefrom. The next subject is a 
discussion upon Indian Corn and the Grain-crops. Mr. Hap- 
Goon, of Shrewsbury, is understood to be ready to open this 
discussion. 


Mr. Haprcoop said :— 


The grain-crop always was, and always will be, the great 
staple of the civilized world, the very foundation of agri- 
eulture, and the most important of all crops. 

There has been much said and published the last three or 
four years to discourage New England farmers from cultivat- 
ing grain-crops, especially Indian corn, which has succeeded 
too well in persuading many to discontinue raising any kind 
of grain; but they have learnt by the experience of two or 
three years that it is cheaper to raise grain than to buy it, and 
many of them have gone back to the old mode of raising 
grain and general farm crops, which is the only profitable way 
of pees 

I shall address you pr siapaily on the corn-crop, to which I 

5 


34 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 


have given considerable attention, and am to some extent a 
corn-fancier. 

I think it is the richest, the most beautiful, and the most 
stylish of all the cultivated crops. When the blade first 
shoots out of the ground, it pricks up like the ears of a race- 
horse, and in every stage of growth it is beautiful. What is 
more beautiful than a well-cultivated field of corn, stretching 
away in straight rows till they become blended in one waving 
mass of luxuriant foliage? 

I have a mode of cultivation which will produce a yield of 
eighty bushels or more of shelled corn to the acre; also a 
rule for estimating the yield of a field of corn, which I will 
describe to the meeting, and then show samples of the corn. 

I prefer sod-land for corn, ploughed in autumn, six inches 
deep and no more, and ploughed with a swivel-plough. When 
T commenced farming, I bought a Holbrook and an Ames Plow 
Company swivel-plough, and have never used, and never intend 
to use, any other kind of plough. I would not have my land 
ploughed into dead furrows and ridges with a land-side plough, 
if it were done for nothing. These swivel-ploughs were not so 
good as I wanted, and so I made a new one, which will do one- 
quarter more work than the old swivel-ploughs with the same 
power of draught, and do the work better, too. 

The field on which the samples were raised, which I have 
here and shall show, was ploughed last autumn. In the spring 
I spread on five cords, or fifteen two-horse loads, of stable 
manure to the acre, which I worked in with a Boston horse- 
hoe and a Geddes harrow. I then furrowed the field three and 
a half feet apart each way, and laid a moderate shovelful of 
stable manure in the hill, which takes about ten two-horse 
loads to the acre, making twenty-five two-horse loads of 
manure to the acre of corn, which is as much manure as I 
think is economy to use. From my experience, I am con- 
fident that for every additional load of manure the yield of 
any kind of grain is not increased more than one bushel to 
the load, and the yield of hay not more than one hundred 
pounds to the additional load of manure. In seeding, I plant 
five kernels to the hill, no more, nor less; this is pretty 
sure to make four stalks to the hill, which is as much as I 
intend shall grow. When six to eight inches high, I hoe it. 


RULE FOR ESTIMATING THE YIELD. 35 


Once hoeing is enough, if the field is free from weeds. My 
corn this year was hoed but once. The style of cultivating 
corn is very various. Some farmers spread manure on grass- 
land and plough it under six inches or more ; some never lay 
manure in the hill; some hoe when it is no more than three 
inches out of the ground, and hoe two or three times, and so 
on; but the proof of the pudding is in the eating of it, and 
the test of excellence in farming is always in the yield of the 
crop. I never adopt any new mode of cultivation, however 
simple or however elaborate, which yields a smaller crop 
than I now raise, or that does not produce definite results in 
bushels or pounds. There was a recent communication in an 
agricultural paper, reporting a yield on one field, with chemical 
fertilizers, of eighty-two bushels of corn to the acre, at a cost 
of twenty-seven cents a bushel, and another field of one 
hundred and fifteen bushels, at a cost of twenty-two cents ; 
that is all; no details in the mode of preparing or applying 
the fertilizers, or manner of cultivating the crop. Now, I 
will show samples of the corn. This is a sample of the three 
largest ears of my crop this year, 1875. These ears were 
fourteen inches long when harvested. They may have short- 
ened some, for an ear of corn that measures fourteen inches 
at harvest, will shrink one-half an inch or more in drying. 
There are sixty kernels in a row on these ears, and four hun- 
dred and eighty on an ear, or four hundred and eighty kernels 
of yield for one kernel of seed. The weight of these ears is 
two and a half pounds, ninety-six ears of which will make a 
bushel of corn at seventy-two pounds of ears to the bushel. 
Here is a sample of the average length of ears of my crop. 
These ears measure eleven inches long. The weight of these 
average ears is one pound and fourteen ounces, requiring one 
hundred and twenty-five ears to make a bushel of corn. The 
yield of my crop, from which these samples are taken, is 
eighty-one bushels and a fraction to the acre. My estimate 
of the yield was eighty bushels to the acre, before the corn 
was harvested. My rule for estimating the yield of corn is 
principally from the length of the longest ears. For example: 
show me ten of the longest ears from an acre of corn, on 
which the crop is of even growth on the whole yield, and the 
average length of ears will be three inches shorter than the 


36 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 


longest ears. This difference in the longest and the average 
length I have found to exist almost to a certainty in all my 
observations on the yield of the corn-crop. 

If the rows in the field are three and a half feet apart each 
way, we have about twenty-three hills of corn to the rod of 
land, and, with four good ears to the hill, we have ninety-two 
ears. But the large varieties of corn will not average four 
ears of corn to the hill; three ears of corn to the hill, eleven 
inches long, will make a bushel of corn to two rods of land, 
or eighty bushels to the acre. 

Here are three of the largest ears from a field of two acres 
in my neighborhood. These measure ten inches long, and 
the average length of ears in this field will certainly be about 
three inches shorter, which will make the yield one-third 
less than if the longest ears were fourteen inches long, or fifty 
to fifty-five bushels to the acre. 

This sample was grown on sod-land, ploughed in the 
spring, on which was spread about twenty-five two-horse loads 
of stable manure, and ploughed under six inches deep or 
more; then it was dressed with a compost of hen-manure in 
the hill. I disapprove, decidedly, of spreading manure on 
grass-land, and ploughing it under. I have never seen, ina 
single instance, a large crop of corn raised by that mode of 
tillage. The variety of seed-corn planted is a very important 
consideration. It is not possible to raise a large yield of corn 
from a small variety of seed; and yet many New England 
farmers persist in raising these small varieties, which, with 
high cultivation, will produce scarcely more than fifty bushels 
to the acre; when, with a large variety of corn, and at the 
same cost, they might raise eighty bushels or more to the 
acre. They claim that their corn has many stalks with double 
ears; but the proportion of stalks with two good ears is not 
very large that I have ever seen. Then they argue that small 
corn has a small cob, and is filled out well; it makes good 
meal, and they like it; that big, coarse corn has a great 
cob, and they do not like it. Some farmers stick at the cob, 
as if that was the first object, without regard to the corn. 
After all, there is but little difference in the weight of cob to 
a bushel of corn, in the large or small varieties. 

Seventy-two pounds of ears of my corn will make a bushel, 


HARVESTING INDIAN CORN. 37 


or seventy pounds when it is well dried ; so there is not much 
weight in the cob argument, after all. With one dressing of 
twenty-five loads of manure to the acre, I raise eighty bushels 
of corn. Then I sow to barley, and seed down to grass ; the 
next year after, corn. Ihave thirty to forty bushels of bar- 
ley to the acre; then, the two following years, about two 
tons of hay to the acre; after that, one and a half tons; then 
one and a quarter tons,—so I raise five or six crops with one 
dressing of manure. 

I will now describe my method of harvesting corn. I never 
cut off the top stalks; it is labor lost. When the corn is 
ripened so that the husk begins to loosen from the ears, I cut 
it down to the ground, and lay it in bunches of six to eight 
hills each; then lay rye-straw for single bands, and bind 
it in bundles. Then, with a pole and cross-pin, I stook it, 
putting eight to ten bundles to a stook, and bind the stook 
with one band only. When the corn is well cured, I take the 
band off the stook, and put the bundles on to a wagon with a 
pitchfork, and unload the wagon also with a pitchfork. When 
I husk the corn, I unbind two bundles, and tie the two single 
bands together. When husked, I bind what was two bundles 
of corn into one bundle of husks. Then I can move the husks 
conveniently with a pitchfork to any place I wish to put them. 
I have found this the most economical and the most con- 
venient way to harvest corn. The first year of my farming I 
stooked my corn without binding, but found it ugly stuff to 
handle, to put on or take off the wagon, or to move about in 
the barn. 

I have found corn-stover valuable feed for cattle. If cut up 
with a machine, it is worth as much as English hay, ton for 
ton. The stover of my corn is large; it grows ten or eleven 
feet high, and will weigh two and a half tons or more to the 
acre. It will more than pay the labor of raising the crop. 

I have kept cows from the first of November to the first of 
April on cut corn-stover, wet, with one quart of shorts for a 
flavoring, and one feed morning and night, and dry stover at 
noon, and no other feed of any kind. Cows will keep in as 
good condition, and give as much milk, as if fed on English hay. 
I feed in tubs made of flour-barrels, cut in two. For a cow 
of size to make six hundred pounds of beef, I feed one tub- 


38 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 


ful, well tamped in, morning and night, and the same quan- 
tity at noon, dry. With my mode of cultivating corn and 
feeding the stover, I have found it the most profitable crop 
raised on the farm. 


Dr. E. L. Srurtevant. Last spring, the Sturtevant 
brothers found themselves in the condition of very many other 
farmers. They desired to put in quite a large area of corn, 
and they only had the manure for a small portion. Accord- 
ingly, I, with one of my neighbors, went up to Amherst and 
had a conversation with Professor Stockbridge in regard’ to 
his corn-crops ; and the Professor very shortly convinced us 
that we could use chemical fertilizers with advantage on our 
farms. In speaking of chemical fertilizers, I do not wish to 
be understood as comparing manure and fertilizers. That is 
not the question that Iam talking about. The question which 
occurs to most farmers, is, as Professor Stockbridge has very 
well put it, “After all our other manure is used up, what are 
we to do? Can we use chemical fertilizers with any profit?” 
We returned from Amherst immediately, and laid in our stock 
of chemical fertilizers. We tried two experiments. The first 
in order was an experiment with the manures; the second with 
fertilizers; and the study of these corn-crops this year has 
opened up many interesting features. The first field con- 
tained in the aggregate 2,7, acres. It was planted in the 
ordinary way, at the proper season, before the drought of 
this year, and was manured with 5,2, cords per acre of the best 
cow-dung. The field had been in grass previously, and was 
only bearing perhaps from one-third to one-half of a ton of 
hay per acre. It had only borne about one-half a ton the 
preceding year, and we had thought that the field was 
exhausted. We planted two varieties of seed. Of the first 
and best variety we had but eight quarts. We could not get 
any more of the same seed, and, therefore, we got elsewhere 
our supply of seed for the rest of the field. The corn was 
cultivated in the usual way, and, at harvest-time, a por-. 
tion of it was topped, and a portion was stooked, as was 
dictated by convenience. The committee of the Middlesex 
South Agricultural Society viewed it, and recorded a yield of 
one hundred bushels to the acre. One portion of this field, 


CHEMICAL FERTILIZERS ON CORN. 39 


containing eleven rows, had received no manure. This por- 
tion gave us sixty-eight bushels to the acre. The yield of 
the whole field I cannot give you yet, because it is not yet all 
husked ; but the upper portion of the field, where we planted 
the best seed, has certainly given a large increase of yield 
over the lower portion, where the other seed was planted. 
Off of three-quarters of an acre and one-sixteenth, we har- 
vested, by actual count, one hundred and sixty-five piled 
baskets of ears. 

The second field to which I refer contained exactly 8,85 
acres, and it was manured with the chemical fertilizers, 
according to Professor Stockbridge’s formula. We applied 
to the field enough fertilizers to give us 604 baskets of 
increase. It was cultivated similarly to the manured field, 
although it was planted later, and the seed did not germinate 
for a long time, on account of the drought. It was some 
three weeks before the rows could be seen through the 
germinating of the corn. It was, therefore, later than the 
manured field throughout the whole season, so that we felt 
very solicitous in regard to the yield. The same committee 
of the Middlesex South reported the yield of this field at 
821 bushels to the acre. Two unmanured rows, seventy-two 
rods long, gave a yield of twenty-two bushels, leaving an 
increase of 60,5, bushels per acre,—differing two-tenths from 
what Professor Stockbridge stated. These, however, are cattle- 
show measures; that is, the product of a square rod, multi- 
plied by 160, and divided by 72. We have, however, har- 
vested this eight-acre field, and have the corn all in bins; 
and, by measuring the bins, we are enabled to get at the 
exact bulk of corn. The actual yield in bulk—calling two 
bushels of ears equal to one bushel of corn—is 67} bushels 
per acre. 

Having given these statements in a brief manner, I will 
proceed to analyze the crop in reference to what we learned 
from it. The first and most marked observation is the 
influence of seed. I have no question in my mind but that if 
all the seed had been of the first quality, the yield would 
have been from ten to fifteen, and perhaps twenty bushels 
more to the acre. The second observation that I refer to, is 
the influence of the nearness of planting and the number of 


40 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 


stalks in the hill. It is obvious, that if every stalk bears an 
ear of corn, the more stalks that can be obtained upon an 
acre, the more ears, and if the ears are of the proper size, 
and in proper condition, the greater the yield. Therefore it 
is desirable to get as many stalks upon an acre as your land 
and good culture will allow you. Our corn was planted in 
hills thirty-eight inches apart, and we dropped from three to 
five kernels in a hill. In the condition of our land the larger 
number of kernels furnished better results than the smaller, 
and in most of the hills almost every stalk produced an ear, 
and many two ears. 

The next thing to which I will refer as being taught, is the 
influence of cultivation; and this brings me to the must 
important lesson which can be drawn from the whole culture, 
—the influence of cultivation. And now, if you will excuse 
me, and bear this statement in mind, I will go back a little, 
and take up the fertilizer. When we apply our fertilizer to 
the field, we know absolutely that that fertilizer is capable of 
raising a crop. The Professor has stated it here very 
strongly. I might add strength to his statement by referring 
to the experiments of Stohman, in Germany, who cultivated 
corn by water-culture. The corn was first germinated, and 
after the roots had obtained all the nutriment from the seed, 
they were transferred to water containing the ash of the corn- 
plant, and double the amount of nitrogen that there was of 
phosphoric acid in the ash. The ammonia was applied in 
sufficient quantities to give three parts of solid substance to a 
thousand parts of water. These plants were grown to the 
height of seven feet, and ripened their crop, which shows con- 
clusively, beyond argument, that these materials—the ash 
element of the crop, and nitrogen—are capable of yielding a 
crop; and it also brings out another point: that if the ele- 
ments are brought in contact with the roots, the crop can be 
grown from those elements. There can be no question about 
that. Here the Professor’s theory and my statements agree ; 
but the great question in raising all our crops is, how to bring 
the elements of fertility into contact with the roots. There 
is the practical question which underlies chemical farming, 
and if the Professor had taken more time, and had given you 
more careful details of the culture which he proposes, I 


APPLICATION OF PLANT-FOOD. 41 


should have been glad. I think his system is capable of 
bringing fertility into Massachusetts, enabling us to raise corn 
profitably by the purchase of our manures. But how must 
we apply those chemicals? We know more about chemistry 
than we do about almost any other subject connected with 
agriculture. I will speak now of these agricultural chemicals 
in a soluble form. We know that when these chemicals 
become soluble in the soil, the soil exercises a decomposing 
action upon them; that they are separated into their com- 
ponent parts, and while a portion escapes through drainage, 
another portion remains fixed in the soil; and we can say 
with regard to the phosphoric acid fixed in the soil, that there 
is no escape through leaching. It remains absolutely fixed. 
The potash is more diffusible, and some of it does leach 
through the soil, but only to a very small extent. The 
nitrogen, in the form of nitric acid, escapes very rapidly; in 
the form of ammonia, it is fixed to a large extent. I also 
_ know, from the record of certain experiments with turnips, 
and also from my own observation of the influence of chemi- 
cals upon corn roots, that the presence of certain chemicals 
' develops the fibrous matter of the roots. 

Let me quote an experiment where plants grew in cylinders 
filled with very poor clay earth, in which the chemicals were 
placed in a symmetrical manner in the soil,—one cylinder 
had the fertilizers in the centre, another had them arranged 
around the circumference, etc. It was found that the roots 
extended without many fibrous branches until they reached 
the fertilizers, and then they distributed themselves with their 
innumerable mouths to take up these fertilizers. Now, in 
growing the corn-crop this year, we placed all our fertilizers 
upon the surface of the land. What was the result? The 
result was that we had a greater root-growth near the surface 
than at lower depths. The moisture of the season probabiy 
saved us from a total loss, because, when the short drought 
came this fall, our corn wilted so that the ears hung down. 
Now, if those roots had received that nutriment in a lower 
portion of the soil, they would have been out of the reach of 
the drought. How, then, can we apply these chemicals, in 
order to get the best effect from them? Evidently, reason 
answers, “Study the nature of the elements, and apply them 

6 


42 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 


rationally.” Phosphoric acid is very little diffusible in the 
soil. If you apply it to the surface-soil, and pour water upon 
it, it will pass down only a very short distance before it 
becomes fixed, and the roots have to approach the surface to 
come in contact with it. To apply phosphoric acid rightly, 
it should be put in deep,—ploughed in three, four, five or six 
inches deep. The potash, being more diffusible, might be 
spread nearer the surface. The nitrogen, in whatever form 
you apply it, being rather diffusible, should be applied upon 
the surface. In that way, we have taken the best precautions 
for giving our crop its food during the period of growth. 
Now, having planted our corn upon a chemically fertilized 
field, the only question with the crop is to have these chemi- 
cals in contact with the roots during the whole period of 
growth. There can be no question, if there is enough fertil- 
ity in the land, if that fertility is in a soluble form, and if the 
roots come properly in contact with that fertility, that the 
result will be a good crop. But what is the fact about roots? 
The roots occupy but a comparatively small area of soil. They 
feed from the extremities. They pick up their nutriment 
through the rootlets which are upon the small fibrous roots. 
Plants differ in the depth to which their roots penetrate. 
You can dig down into the soil where corn is growing, and 
you will be able to trace the corn-root down as far as you can 
ordinarily go. In one experiment as to the depth of roots, 
I found, upon land which had not been manured for fifteen 
years certainly, and probably for a longer period, and which 
yielded about one-third of a ton of hay to the acre, the 
grass-roots extended down twenty-five inches. These differ- 
ent roots extend to different depths, and they have different 
habits of growth, and the nature of the soil stimulates the 
growth of these roots to a different extent, according to the 
different kinds of plants. But confining myself to the corn- 
plant, I will state that the corn-roots extend laterally as well 
as downward; that they cover the whole space upon which 
they grow with immense rapidity. It is hardly conceivable 
how fast the roots of the corn-plant are formed; but they 
extend out laterally. Starting from the plant, they put out 
a few fibres throughout their length, and in a short time the 
tough coating of all the rvots is incapable of taking up any 


EFFECT OF ROOT-PRUNING. 43 


food, and the extremities of the roots, through their exten- 
sion, seek their food from a distance. Now, if there were 
any way whereby we could bring these fibrous roots back 
again, and make them occupy the whole of the soil; keep 
them from striking off in random directions, and make them 
fill the soil more completely, so that a large portion of the 
soil will be filled, then we can extract the utmost amount of 
the fertilizing power contained in that soil which the plant is 
capable of appropriating. This, I think, can be done. 
Pomologists have known for a long time that root-pruning 
increases the yield of apple-trees, and increases the area 
covered by the roots. I have here the roots of two apple- 
trees,—one root pruned this last spring, the other not pruned. 
In my left hand I hold a root showing the effect of root- 
pruning; in my right hand, a root which shows the natural 
growth. When you cut off the root of a tree, immediately 
from the cut surface are put off small fibrous roots, and when 
you remember that it is only the small, young roots which 
take nutriment, you can see how immensely you add to the 
power of the plant to take nutriment from the soil by prun- 
ing, and thus increasing the number of the fibrous roots. 
You take a corn-plant and divide the root, and what happens ? 
In less than twelve hours you will find that that root has 
commenced to throw out small roots which are almost 
innumerable. These roots seek out the nutriment in the 
land, and grow rapidly. The growth of the leaf of the corn- 
plant is stated to be about five inches in twenty-four hours, 
and it is probable that for each inch of the growth of the leaf 
there is a growth of several inches of these small fibrous 
feeding roots, which occupy so many of the interspaces of 
the soil, and take so much nutriment from it. Now, if we 
can change the roots nearest the plant from those coarse roots 
into innumerable small roots, we are giving that plant greater 
command over the fertility of the soil near the plant. In 
other words, we carry the roots to the chemicals, as well as 
carry the chemicals to the roots. Then, in a short time, if we 
cut the roots at a further distance from the plant, other fibrous 
roots are caused to develop, and these send out fresh fibres, and 
the plant has still greater control over the fertility in the soil. 
Now, there is another point here, which is a physiological 


44 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 


law. You can puta plant upon an extremely fertile field,— 
a field too fertile for it,—and the result is that the powers of 
the plant are expended in the growth of leaf, not in the devel- 
opment of fruit. You all know that. Now, if you can 
induce a check to that plant, without injuring the vitality 
of the plant, you have changed the forces which are being 
expended in too luxuriant growth of leaf, into forces of fruit- 
fulness. Therefore, by this check which you get in root- 
pruning without destroying the vitality of the plant, you are 
changing the forces of the plant itself to the production of 
fruit instead of the production of leaf. The result is, that 
root-pruning will tend to increase the number of ears to 
the stalk of the corn; and, in fact, we all know in practice, 
that the better farmers cultivate their corn the most, and those 
farmers who cultivate their corn the most usually get better 
results,—that the results are larger in proportion to the 
cultivation. I don’t know the largest number of bushels of 
corn that have been produced to the acre, but we have a 
record of one field in Ohio which is reported to have given 
two hundred and sixty-three bushels of shelled corn per acre, 
and another field in South Carolina is reported to have yielded 
two hundred bushels of shelled corn to the acre. Now, if by 
means of a preparatory study of the fertilizers to be used, the 
proper distance of planting, and the proper culture, we can 
give the corn-plant an increased advantage over the soil as it 
exists, we have increased our crop, and increased it very 
largely indeed. 

Another thing. By checking the luxuriance of the leaf, 
you can plant your corn nearer together, and can get better 
results, because you get more stalks and more ears on the 
same area of land; at the same time you increase the ten- 
dency of the plant to bear more ears to the stalk. This idea, 
which I call a new theory in agriculture, because it thus far 
appears to have been overlooked, has been developed, I think, 
through the study of the corn-plant growing this year; and 
if chemical fertilizers are to be used with advantage, this 
theory is a very important one to be considered ; for it enables 
the farmer to take advantage of the capital which he applies, 
in the form of fertilizers to his land, and to get from it its 
most advantageous results before it has time to be wasted 


USE OF WOOL-WASTE. 45 


from the land. But in applying chemical fertilizers to the 
corn-crop, we must be very careful to understand the con- 
ditions, as I said before, under which we apply them. The 
chemical fertilizer, rationally applied, I have no doubt will 
bring the desired results to whoever uses it; but there is no 
quicker way for a farmer to lose money than to buy chemical 
fertilizers and apply them without understanding the applica- 
tion. Iam tempted to give an illustration as proving this 
point, and it may be of interest in itself. I will answer for 
the truth of it, although I do not care to give names. A 
gentleman, who is a manufacturer, but who is interested in 
farming, has quite a large farm, and cares more for results 
than he does for the expense of getting them. He has, among 
the waste product of his mill, the refuse of the burring- 
machine, which takes the burrs from the wool. It is almost 
clear wool-fibre. An analysis of that shows that it contains 
some fifteen per cent. of nitrogen, some two per cent. of pot- 
ash, and but very little, if any, phosphoric acid. This wool- 
waste, one inch in depth, was placed under the soil seven 
inches deep. He had a man go along and push this wool- 
waste under the furrow as it was turned over. He planted 
grass-seed, and this year he harvested from that field twenty- 
five tons of hay from five acres. I saw the hay myself, and 
it was a noble sight for a farmer to look on. He was so suc- 
cessful in this experiment that he thought he would apply this 
manure to other crops and see how it would act. 

He ploughed up quite a large field, and, except on a strip 
perhaps four rods wide and twenty rods long, he put this wool- 
waste, until the soil was quite heavy with it. He sowed upon 
that field the ordinary flat turnip. I saw this field during the 
last days of October, and on that part where the wool-waste 
had not been applied, the leaves were of a very dark green, 
very short, indeed, and the plants looked sickly. But beyond 
this was a field of turnip-tops, which came up four inches 
above my knee, so thick you could not see the land, and the 
leaves of a bright, turnip green. As I was walking to the 
fields, and as the gentleman explained what he was doing, I 
said, “You will get no crop commensurate with the manure 
you have applied, but you will get leaf.” The result was as 
I stated. Where there was no manure, there was a fair crop 


46 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 


of roots, and very little leaf; but on that part of the field 
where the wool-waste had been applied, the plants had gone 
almost entirely to leaf, rather than root. The lesson to be 
derived from this is, that these chemical fertilizers, applied 
wrongly, can bring no profit. As applied to grass, the wool- 
waste had produced a profit, but as applied to turnips, it had 
produced no profit; in fact, it had resulted in loss, because 
the turnips were not so good for it. 


Mr. Suave, of Somerset. Did I understand the Doctor to 
say that he applied the nitrogen to the surface for the corn-crop ? 

Dr. Sturtevant. I would recommend applying nitrogen 
to the surface. 

Question. How much corn can Professor Stockbridge 
grow with seventy-five dollars, which he admits he paid for 
his manure ? 

Prof. Srockspripce. I do not know. I can only answer 
the question by referring to the experiments reported. Mr. 
H. C. Comins says, “I bought twenty dollars’ worth of 
materials. I applied it to one acre of land, and got ninety- 
three bushels of shelled corn.” Give me land enough, and 
with seventy-five dollars I can grow four times that amount 
in value of corn. 

Mr. Stave. I suppose there is not a gentleman here who 
does not intend to ask Professor Stockbridge for his formula, 
and I ask him if he will give it now. 

Prof. StockpripGe. I see by Mr. Slade’s manner of 
remark, that there is a feeling here that there is some secrecy 
about this matter. There is no secrecy whatever about it. 
It is all just as plain and open and as common, to a large pro- 
portion of men, as it is to know of the use of barn-yard 
manure or muck. ‘There is nothing secret, there is nothing 
behind it. The inquiry is made for the formula. I did not 
expect that I should be asked to give the formula here, but to 
meet this want of the farmers of New England, all the formulas 
from which I have worked will be published in the report of 
the Agricultural College to the legislature, and go broadcast 
throughout the Commonwealth. Iam willing to give to this 
audience my formulas, but I am not willing that the reporters 
should put them down, or that they should be published in 


STOCKBRIDGE’S FORMULAS. 47 


the papers of the day, because, as a loyal man to the Agri- 
cultural College, I think the public should get this information 
through the official channel of publication. That is all there 
is about it. I think if anything of value has been discovered 
in connection with this matter, it is their property ; but if we 
have learned anything at the College, the farmers of the Com- 
monwealth should get it through the College report. That 
seems to be the proper channel. There is no secret about it. 
I am willing that my friends should have every one of my 
formulas, but I am not willing that they should go out to the 
public in this way. 

The form in which I have obtained nitrogen, potash and 
phosphoric acid to compound for the nutrition of plants in 
these experiments, has been in that of a neutral salt for the 
nitrogen and potash, and a superphosphate for the phosphoric 
acid. For root-crops and beans, I have used the potash in 
the form of sulphate; for grain and forage crops, in the 
muriate form. No specific rule can be given as to the quan- 
tity of the compounds to be used in preparing any of my 
formulas, because the percentage of nitrogen, potash and 
soluble phosphoric acid they contain is quite variable; but 
having learned the per cents. of the compounds, the required 
quantity is easily ascertained. 


INDIAN—CORN FODDER. 


To produce two tons of corn-fodder per acre more than the 
natural produce of land without manure, I should apply, of— 


Nitrogen, . 20 ths., in form of sulph. ammonia, 24 per cent., 100 tbs. 
Potash, . mobi Ss * of muriate potash, 80 gs 132°. * 
Phosphoric acid, 16 “ “ of superphos., 18 per ct. sol.acid, 128 “ 


INDIAN CORN. 


The natural proportion between the grain of Indian corn 
and its roots, cobs, leaves and stalks, is, for fifty bushels of 
the former, at fifty-six pounds per bushel, four thousand one 
hundred pounds of the latter, and to produce the entire mass 
more than the natural product of the land, I use,— 


Nitrogen, . 64 Ibs., in form of sulph. ammonia, 24 per cent., 320 Ibs. 
Potash, . eat iad ee “ of muriate potash, 80 ae ie, 
Phosphoric acid, 31 “ * of superphos., 13 per ct. sol. acid, 248 “ 


AST), BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 


POTATOES. 


The average proportion between tops and tubers has been 
found to be three hundred and sixty pounds of the former to 
one hundred bushels of the latter, and to produce that mass 
more than the natural product of the land, I use,— 


Nitrogen, . 21 tbs., in form of sulph. ammonia, 24 per cent., 105 tbs. 

Potash, . rie ake “ of sulph. potash, 32 se 235“ 

Phosphoric acid, 11 “ ‘© of superphos., 13 per ct. sol. acid, 85°) 
HAY. 


This formula is an average of my formulas for red clover, 
white clover, English hay and timothy. To produce one 
ton of hay per acre more than the natural product of the land, 
ii tuse;—— 


Nitrogen, . 936 Ibs., in form of sulph. ammonia, 24 per cent., 180 Ibs. 
Potash, . were me * of muriate potash, 80 “ fOr 
Phosphoric acid, 12 “ “of superphos., 13 perct: sol. acid, 95 “ 


RYE STRAW. 
In producing the straw of winter rye as a market crop, and 
without the growth of grain, and to produce two tons per 
acre more than the natural yield of the land, I use,— 


Nitrogen, . 10 ths., in form of sulph. ammonia, 24 per cent., 50 Ibs. 
otashens. ie Ss “ of muriate potash, 80 es (ope 30 
Phosphoric acid, 8 “ “of superphos., 13 per ct. sol. acid, 64 “ 


‘WINTER RYE. 

The natural proportion between the straw, roots, leaves, 
etc., and the grain, is two thousand three hundred pounds of 
the former to twenty bushels of the latter, and to produce 
this mass per acre more than the natural yield of the land, 
I use,— 


Nitrogen, . 25 tbs., in form of sulph. ammonia, 24 per cent., 125 Ibs. 
Potash, . pape s° “of muriate potash, 80 ES AS Tet 
Phosphoric acid, 16 “ “of superphos., 13 per ct. sol. acid, 128 “ 


Mr. Goopate. I think every one here would be extremely 
glad to hear from Dr. Nichols upon this interesting subject. 


ALL DEPENDS ON APPLICATION. 49 


Dr. James R. Nicuots, of Haverhill. I have been very 
much gratified by the statements made by Prof. Stockbridge, 
because they fully corroborate the experiments I have made 
during the past twelve years. I think the gentlemen of the 
Board will bear me out when I say that it is now very nearly, 
if not quite, eight years since I presented to the Board state- 
ments corresponding with those made by the Professor to- 
day. And as it regards these new methods, as they are called, 
of raising corn, I think they indicate one very promising 
feature of the farming industry, because they indicate that 
progress is making in the raising of cereal crops. 

Now, there seems to be a mystery about this to some of 
our friends. I can very well understand how they feel about 
these statements; but, after all, there is no mystery. The 
application of the principles of chemistry to the growing of 
crops is just as accurate as the application of the principles 
of chemistry to any of the industrial arts. We, to be sure, 
have many things to contend with, but we are from year to 
year getting nearer and nearer to a knowledge of the nature 
of these obstacles with which we have to contend; and in 
that, to my view, lies one of the most important principles 
connected with agriculture. 

Now, in relation to the statéments made here of the appli- 
cation of manures to crops, I have found in my experiments 
that that is of great consequence. I have every year, in the 
“Journal of Chemistry,” under my charge, endeavored to 
enforce, and enforce repeatedly, the importance of the proper 
application of manures to crops; and I find that farmers will 
read these statements and forget all about them; they will 
make mistakes in the application of what are called chemical 
fertilizers, and lose their crops. I cannot quite understand 
why it is so. In the application of chemical fertilizers, it 
seems to me that it is—in fact, I know it is—a fundamental 
principle, that you must place your fertilizer beyond the 
place you deposit your seed. Any one who makes use of 
chemical fertilizers in the hill, as I have usually done, and 
places his seed in connection with the fertilizer, will be 
sure to lose his crop. Now, I have raised corn on one field 
for nine consecutive years, and my crop has never fallen below 
eighty bushels to the acre, and two years in succession I 

7 


50 ) BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 


raised two hundred and four bushel baskets full of ears from 
an acre. Ido not say that that gave me a hundred bushels 
of shelled corn, but I think it came very near it. It was 
the most splendid crop I ever saw, and presented to the 
eye one of the most beautiful of objects; and I believe that 
by raising corn, we can not only obtain a profitable crop, 
but we diversify our fields with one of the most beautiful 
crops we can possibly raise. I happened to have a Lon- 
don physician visiting me in August, who had never seen 
a field of Indian corn. I took him over my farm, and when 
we came to a patch of corn, he was so delighted with the 
appearance of the crop, that he fairly clapped his hands 
with joy. It certainly is a beautiful crop. I cannot con- 
ceive why it is so neglected. In riding fifteen miles into 
the country the past season, I counted only three fields of 
corn. For some reason or other, our farmers neglect to 
raise this crop. Ihave kept an accurate account of the cost 
of corn raised by chemical fertilizers on my own premises. 
I believe I have no desire to cheat myself or my neighbors, 
and I estimate the cost of that corn at forty-one cents a 
bushel. I did not put so high a value upon the fodder as 
I think I ought to. 

Now, the secret of raising corn profitably, is this. In the 
first place, you want a proper fertilizer; you want to make a 
proper application of the fertilizer; and then you want to 
spare yourself all the expense possible in the cultivation of the 
crop. Iintend next year—but perhaps I may be obliged to 
defer it until the following one—to plant a field of corn on 
about eight acres of pasture which I have upon one of these 
lakes, and I do not mean to allow a hoe to be applied to it. 
I believe we can raise corn without the application of the hoe. 
It is the labor which is bestowed upon corn which makes it 
cost so high. We cannot afford to expend so large sums in 
paying our workmen, and then sell our corn at a low price. 
Then, again, we must raise large crops upon small pieces of 
ground. I remember my father used to think he got a good 
crop of corn if he got twenty bushels to the acre. Now, 
twenty, thirty, or forty bushels of corn to the acre will not 
pay; but eighty or a hundred bushels will pay. 

I do not think that I could go quite as far as some of my 


HOME-MADE SUPERPHOSPHATE. 51 


friends have gone in the statements that they have made in 
relation to the influence of soil.. I think the original 
character of the soil does influence the corn-crop. I believe 
there are some tracts of land upon which you cannot raise 
corn successfully,—I have evidence which satisfies me of that 
fact,—and if a farmer has any of that land, of course it is 
the height of folly for him to plant corn upon that soil. It 
seems to me that you cannot raise corn profitably upon a dry, 
silicious plain. I do not know but that, by the use of these 
chemical fertilizers, you might raise a tolerable crop of corn, 
but my experience goes to show that you could not. You 
want a good fair soil, and you may use chemical fertilizers 
entirely ; and in every case, if the season is moderately favor- 
able, you can raise at least eighty bushels to the acre. Let 
me say here, that you may use for corn quite a variety ot 
materials. For instance, a mixture of wood-ashes and very 
finely ground bone-dust. In that mixture, we get potash 
and we get phosphoric acid, and we get them in such a com- 
bination that I found in every caeiwd I tried it upon quite 
a number of fields—that I brought a most astonishing yield. 
But the material that I have used has been home-made phos- 
phates, which I have made upon my own premises. I know 
that a great many farmers shrink from the attempt to make 
their own fertilizers; some have tried it, and failed; yet I 
think there is not a farmer in New England, of ordinary 
intelligence, who cannot manufacture his own superphosphate, 
and make a very good article. I know that this is denied by 
some agriculturists, but I have modified my methods of 
making; and taking into account all the difficulties which a 
farmer would meet rik under the most unfavorable cireum- 
stances, I have come to the conclusion that there are but very 
few, if any, farmers who cannot make their superphosphates at 
home upon their own premises. Perhaps now there is not 
so much necessity for doing it in this Commonwealth as there 
has been. I believe the action of our legislature has been 
such that we ought to have a reliable superphosphate. I 
believe all that are made in this State are examined by Pro- 
fessor Goessmann, at the Agricultural College. Is it not so, 
Professor Stockbridge ? 
Prof. STOCKBRIDGE. Yes, sir. 


52 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 


Dr. Nicuots. So that it seems to me that in the use of 
superphosphates, there ought not to be as many failures as 
previously. In fact, superphosphates, as a whole, are improv- 
ing. The commercial phosphates found for sale in the stores 
are better than they were three or four years ago. I have 
used, in making phosphates, refuse bone obtained from the 
sugar-refineries, for which I have paid about ten dollars a 
ton. I have now six or eight tons of that bone at my farm, 
which I shall use between now and the time that I shall 
require it on my fields. I find that to be a very cheap source 
for the procurement of the phosphoric acid element. Some- 
times, when the sugar-refiners have a very large quantity of 
spent bone-dust, they sell it very cheap. I have bought it as 
low as five or six dollars a ton; and it would be well, per- 
haps, for farmers who propose to make their own superphos- 
phates to keep an eye in that direction. Sulphuric acid at 
the present time is very cheap, and with a little experience, 
the two materials can be handled without injury to the cloth- 
ing, and all the different processes can be gone through with 
quite satisfactorily on the premises. 

I hope, gentlemen, that the influence of our deliberations 
here will be to induce farmers to resume the cultivation of 
Indian corn. I am certain, from a pretty large experience, 
that it can be produced at less than one-half what it costs us 
to bring it here from the West. I believe we can raise 
Indian corn at a cost of about forty cents a bushel. I am 
told that it has been raised at one-half that sum. I have 
never quite succeeded in doing that, but there can be no ques- 
tion that Indian corn can be raised upon fair land, with 
suitable fertilizers, at about forty cents a bushel. 

Question. Do you use your bone just as you receive it 
from the sugar-refinery, or do you pulverize it? 

Dr. Nicuots. I generally add the acid to it just as I 
receive it. It may be done either way. 

Mr. Harcoop. I think corn can be raised for less than 
forty cents a bushel, by the use of barn-yard manure. 


Adjourned to evening. 


COOPERATIVE FARMING. 53 


EVENING SESSION. 


The evening meeting was called to order at seven o’clock. 
Dr. WAKEFIELD, of Monson, in the chair. 


COOPERATION AMONG FARMERS. 
BY HON. PAUL A. CHADBOURNE. 


We have had this afternoon, gentlemen of the Board, some 
very interesting experiments recounted here,—experiments 
for the purpose of causing an acre of ground to produce more 
than it had produced under the old methods of cultivation, 
and I know that those experiments have been very successful. 
I called upon my friend Stockbridge for his formula, and he 
did not tell me that I must wait until it came out in the Col- 
lege report, but gave it to me at once! The experiment suc- 
ceeded admirably. I am satisfied that he is working out 
successfully that valuable problem of making two blades of 
grass grow where one grew before. But in all these discus- 
sions there is one thing comes home to me: What is the use 
of all this production? Why are we so anxious to cause these 
acres of ground to produce so much more than they produced 
in former years? Evidently, the thing we are all aiming at, 
is the great problem of living. How are we to make life 
more pleasant, more desirable, than it has ever yet been, and 
especially, how are we to make farm-life more desirable? 
For we are constantly saying, “The young men are running 
away from the farm; they are turning aside to other pur- 
suits”; and the great thing we have before us is, not only to ° 
make our farms productive, but to make them the most 
attractive plaees in the world. Now, I propose to address 
myself this evening to one simple phase of this problem of 
living,—one of the phases which, I believe, presses itself 
home upon the attention of the farmers of this broad land. 

The problem of living becomes more and more,complex as 
civilization advances and population becomes more compact. 
Savages, in their low plane of life, can live on the chance 
products of the earth,—owning all such products in common, 


54 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 


or having the common right of taking them. The pioneer, who 
is willing to forsake his kind, can find places where he can 
supply his animal wants with almost as little forethought as 
the fowls and wild beasts require. An old Jerseyman, whom 
I found on the western coast of Newfoundland, told me that was 
the best place in the world to live in. “Why,” said he, “here is 
wood for the cutting. A little patch of ground produces all the 
potatoes and cabbages I want. In the spring, when the her- 
ring come in, I can take enough of them to send to Halifax 
in the fall for all my flour and supplies. In the winter there 
is plenty of game for eating and to give me a good bit of 
money for their skins.” Another Englishman, who owned a 
little trading schooner, gave me nearly the same account, and 
then added, “here we have no taxes to pay,” and then he 
recounted with intense expressions of disgust the taxes which 
they had to pay in Halifax for roads, for schools and churches ! 
He paid taxes for no such things, and he was content to have 
none of them. And such men you find all up the coast of 
Labrador and on our western frontiers, scattered all up and 
down among the Rocky Mountains,—men who live mainly 
on the natural products of the earth,—a mode of living 
impossible when population so increases, as to give the 
benefits of civilized life. While it is easy for men to live 
under such conditions, and comparatively easy for men who 
have fortunes left to them, to start in the world in any busi- 
ness, it behooves the American people to consider the prob- 
lem how every one of their citizens may secure a home, and 
secure to himself and his children at once, the advantages of 
civilized life. We can, any of us, start off and find a home 
of our own; land is waiting for us. I have spent a good 
deal of time, where, if I liked a piece of land to live upon, all 
I had to do was to measure it off and take possession; and it 
was mine; land rich, surrounded by grand. scenery, and 
abounding in mineral wealth. We can start for such places 
to-morrow. But who wants to go as a pioneer? ‘To take 
the chances of the neighbors that may settle near him, shut 
himself out from the refinements of civilized life, and bring 
his children up amid the surroundings that may be a curse to 
them? Especially if he is poor,—has but just means enough 
to reach his plot of ground, he has the risk of sickness and 


CHEERFUL, PLEASANT HOMES. 55 


want before him, with, perhaps, no one to lend a helping 
hand. But now suppose twelve or twenty young men should 
go together, could not they form a community of their own, 
and carry with them all that is best in New England home- 
life, and stand by and aid each other, and bring up their 
_ children with good examples before them? If I shall seem 
to you to-night to say some things that belong to a social 
science gathering, I speak because I have thought much on 
these things; and while I am anxious to do all in my power 
to guide men in cultivating the soil, I want this knowledge of 
agriculture to be subservient to this one idea of increasing 
the number of cheerful, pleasant homes in our land. I do. not 
want agriculture to take such a form that men shall be induced 
to dwell in cities, nor to look to trade and manufacturing as a 
means of buying farm products, except when they are com- 
pelled to. I want agriculture to take such a form as to call 
the largest number possible away from these pursuits where 
too many are now crowding to live lives of dependence with 
uncertain incomes. I want to see the thousands of little home- 
steads all over our land, giving to their owners the substan- 
tials of life from the soil itself, giving them the means of 
rational living always, as a reward for industry and homely 
economy. 

This is a time of general complaint in business ; and in this 
disturbed condition, we see the danger that hangs over some 
great communities, that productions of certain kinds shall be 
stopped, and whole masses be thrown out of employment,— 
whole masses that are in the main unprepared for idleness, 
because they have no reserve of property, and yet live under 
such conditions that every day demands pay for shelter, food, 
fuel and raiment. Now, itis not simply a problem for our 
country to solve that we shall become great producers, but 
it is that all our people shall have the conditions of living ; 
that property shall be well distributed; or that the largest 
number possible shall have homes of their own, and the means 
of plain living, to say the least. Our cheap land has thus far 
been our safeguard. But we do not want our cheap lands 
and system of agriculture to lead to great estates. We want, 
instead, a sub-division of land, so that we shall have the 
largest possible number of independent homes; yet we want 


56 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 


the advantages that come only through extensive business 
arrangements. Can we secure these two desirable ends? It 
is very difficult to do so, but-it is worth while to try,—at 
least to discuss the possible principles of action, so that while 
we learn how to cultivate an acre to the best advantage, we 
shall also be learning the best manner in which to make that 
acre subservient to the life of man, securing for him comfort 
and independence at the same time. It seems to me, that 
much can yet be done to draw people from the over-producing 
forms of industry on the farm. Many of the schemes that 
have failed, and many now in operation, are worthy of study, 
as having in them some element of good,—some element that 
can be woven into a better system yet to be worked out. 

There are certain principles of human nature that are so 
strong and so essential to the full development of the human 
race, that any system of labor or government that ignores or 
represses them, must, in the end, fail. It sometimes hap- 
pens that schemes that have in them much that is good, fail 
partially or completely, because they are pressed too far; 
because they ignore principles that are just as essential as 
those upon which they themselves rest. 

1. I take it for granted that any system of codperation that 
ignores, or tends to break down the family relation, will fail 
utterly, or will be confined to small and peculiar communities 
that can be gathered from the people, and assembled in a 
particular place. Such a system can never be accepted by 
any ordinary community; that is, it can never become 
universal. 

2. I also take it for granted that codperation must be of 
such a nature that each man, or head of family, shall have a 
voice in the management of the property concerned, and a 
return in proportion to his agency in promoting its increase. 
Any coéperation that ignores the family, or seeks to merge 
the family in the community, and all profits into a common 
stock, can never have more than a temporary or limited 
success. | 

We make these remarks here, because we know that 
cobperative schemes have been attempted, and have failed ; 
schemes that had in them many excellent ideas; schemes 
that, in theory, promised well, failed because they were not 


PRINCIPLES OF COOPERATION. 57 


built on the strongest instincts of the race. It may be well 
to glance at two or three coéperative experiments by way of 
illustration, and this I propose to do, after considering more 
fully the general bearing of the question on every-day life, or 
the principles of codperation that society has found to be 
essential to its life, and enforces by civil law or custom. 

It is plainly impossible for men to live, and have the ben- . 
efits of civilized life, without codperation in some form. The 
question to be considered in the end by us is, how far volun- 
tary codperation can be carried to advantage, especially 
among farmers. We shall attempt to discuss the general 
principles of codperation, illustrate the subject by examples 
of successful codperation, and point out the possible extent to 
which this principle can be carried in New England agricult- 
ural districts and in new settlements. 

The necessity for codperation is so great, that, as we have 
intimated, society, as a whole, demands it, and the laws 
enforce it, not upon any class, but upon the people as a whole. 
The demands change according to the conditions of the com- 
munity. All our public roads are examples of coéperation. 
The law compels every man to do his part in building and 
maintaining these highways, because they are essential to 
civilized life ; they are such common benefits, that, as all would 
not voluntarily do their part to secure them, society compels 
each man to join with his neighbors in the work,—a work 
essential to progress, essential to the enjoyment and profit of 
all. Public schools are a second example of enforced coédpera- 
tion. Such schools are declared to be essential to our civili- 
zation, and so society demands that each man shall do his 
part in sustaining them. In both these instances, the prin- 
ciple of codperation is carried farther than it could be carried 
voluntarily in the community at large, until the world is much 
better than it now is. 

The principle enforced in these cases is, that men must 
contribute according to their property, while all have an equal 
right to the advantages. The man who pays but a poll-tax 
has the same right in the public highway and to the public 
school as the one who pays a hundred times as much. In 
fact, up to a certain point, society acts upon the communistic 
principle. We go to the ballot-box and vote away money. 

8 


58 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 


We do not vote away our own money in every case, nor the 
money of this man or that man; we vote away a certain part 
of all the property in the town or State for the public uses. 
In our State, the man without a penny may have as potent a 
voice in taking that money, and in determining its use, as the 
man who claims a million. We say, in any town, “ We want 
fifty thousand dollars this year to keep good roads for all, 
good schools for all, and to give food and raiment and shelter 
to those who cannot obtain them for themselves.” We send 
out a man—the tax-collector—to take so much property wher- 
ever he can find it. Up to this point every good citizen is a 
communist. And it is a fact, that the more civilized a society, 
the farther does this principle of communism prevail. Witness 
the advance of public schools, the provision made for thé poor 
and unfortunate. Although the operation of this principle, 
up to a certain point, is good,—even essential to society in 
its best forms,—there are only a few in the world who claim 
that it is possible or desirable for this principle to prevail 
universally. 

But there is also much voluntary coéperation that has in it 
the element of the communistic principle. In most of our 
churches the expense is voluntarily borne by comparatively a 
few. In almost every Christian church the hearer is wel- 
comed, whether able to pay or not. In our colleges, the 
money given is for the perpetual use of young men or women. 
Those who pay most, pay but a mere fraction of what is spent 
for them. 

In other cases the benefit, or possible benefit, is as the 
amount contributed,—as in mutual insurance companies,—a 
most beneficial form of coéperation. 

The growth of all these is understood, and their principles 
are recognized as wholly beneficial. 

As we have remarked, codperation, under the communistic 
system, can prevail wholly only in limited communities ; that 
is, where some form of intense religious life, or abnormal 
philanthropic views, are more powerful than the instinct of 
separate ownership in property. This state of things can 
never, we believe, control any community, except it be a 
community drawn together by taking here and there one from 
the great mass. But from such communities we can learn 


THE WAGES SYSTEM. 59 


much of the possible advantages of voluntary coéperation 
among those who would divide profits. 

It is a dream of some that wages should disappear, and that 
all should become partners in business. This would be 
desirable, were it feasible. I should be glad to see the whole 
community raised to that standard, that working for wages 
should be confined to the young; that every man should aim 
to become an owner,—and, at last, become an owner, sole or 
in part, in business. The thing that now renders this impos- 
sible for all,—and, perhaps, always will render it impossible, 
—is the want of thrift. A home of one’s own; a business of 
one’s own, means laying up money. So long as men so plan 
their lives, and so live, that their wages are spent as soon as 
they are earned, or before, a home and a separate business 
are impossible. So the escape from the wages system can 
come only through hard work, economy and wise living. 
When will the whole community come to that? 

The first scheme of codperative farming that I shall 
mention, was one founded on generous views of human 
nature, on the supposition that the common farm-laborers of 
England, if supplied with capital, land and appliances of the 
best kind, would, at least, be able to supply their own wants, 
and keep the property good by their united labor. In other 
words, it was an attempt to see if men who had been accus- 
tomed to the wages system could not be brought into a better 
condition on the principle of coéperation, provided they had 
every needful advantage supplied to them. 

Mr. William Lawson, from 1862 to 1872, at Blennerhasset, 
in Cumberland County, England, tried the experiment of 
codperation by buying and stocking a large farm, going into 
extensive improvements, buying expensive implements, and 
providing all the appliances of scientific farming. The 
defects of the experiments seem to have been,— 

1. Leaving the work to incompetent hands. His parlia- 
ment, in which all had a right to speak and vote on the man- 
ner of conducting the business, was a failure. Decisions 
were made by those ignorant of the work. 

2. It was known that there was a deep purse to draw upon, 


and so individual responsibility for success was in a measure 
lost. 


60 BOARD. OF AGRICULTURE. 


3. The persons concerned had never planned and made 
property for themselves. They were in the condition of paid 
laborers, who must depend upon others to plan and carry on 
business. And no set of paid laborers that I ever saw will 
go on a farm and earn their wages for a year, unless they are 
under the leadership of some master-mind who directs. 

4, Mr. Lawson had other hobbies that took up time and 
attention. 

As a result, he found a loss in ten years, on farm and | 
buildings, of over thirty thousand dollars, in farm accounts of 
over thirty-five thousand dollars,—about sixty-seven thousand 
dollars in all. 

Ilis experiment was founded on a kindly view of human 
nature. Ie found the difficulties which meet every reformer, 
laziness, viciousness, and incapacity. He found, as every 
man must find, that business can be carried on successfully only 
when all employed work to advantage. If you would have 
coéperation, all must have the ability and will to do their part, 
or else the willingness to put themselves under the control of 
competent leaders, as workmen are controlled in the service or 
wages system. The necessity for such control and direction 
for the mass of men, is one of the reasons why the wages 
system prevails so extensively as it does. 

The second example of coédperation I shall cite is that of 
the Mormons in Utah. This is peculiar, as connected with a 
religious organization. I do not propose to consider at all 
the peculiarities of the case, but to point out the benefits that 
have come to that people through codperation. 

Twenty-cight years ago, they came into Salt Lake Valley 
so poor, that they kept themselves from starvation with roots 
and berries; but they were so numerous, that they had 
among them the elements of all industries. They moved 
under the direction of their leaders, who divided the ground 
and directed the labor in general. They had a country that 
must be irrigated, and that system of irrigation binds together 
every community in that whole territory in a system of 
coéperation and mutual dependence. Water must be dis- 
tributed, and the rights of all to it be secured. They are 
compelled to pay one-tenth of their income to the church. 
And yet that people have become rich; their accumulations 


ZION’S COOPERATIVE UNION. 61 


have been wonderful, if you reckon the public improvements 
as well as their private property, and private property the 
church respects and encourages. There is no commuuistic 
system. Their codperation is such as might prevail in any 
community with different religious beliefs. 

Their trade is on the same plan. “Zion's Codperative 
Union” does the trading for all the Mormons of the Terri- 
tory. It buys in immense quantities, and distributes to each 
settlement, and in each settlement just help enough is taken 
to distribute the goods. There is no waste from useless 
stores and unemployed clerks. Any one who wishes a part 
of the profits of this trade, has but to put in his money 
and draw his proportion. When we see one hundred thou- 
sand of the poorest people in the world carried across the 
wilderness and made comparatively rich in a few years, we 
see the possibilities of codperation, and long for a principle 
of wisdom and wise forethought that shall secure what blind 
faith and obedience to church officials have here wrought. 

The third instance is that of Anaheim, in Los Angeles 
County, Southern California. For this account I am indebted 
mainly to Mr. Charles Nordhoff’s valuable work on “Com- 
munistic Societies.” 

In 1857, fifty Germans of San Francisco, California, 
bought, by an agent, Mr. Hansen, eleven hundred and sixty- 
two acres of land at two dollars an acre. : 

None of them were farmers; but there were carpenters, 
blacksmiths, a teacher, a miller, a hatter, merchants, team- 
sters, etc. They were, with one or two exceptions, poor. 
They continued to work for wages, and Mr. Hansen cared 
for the land, improving and planting it by hired labor. 

It was divided into fifty twenty-acre lots and fifty village- 
lots, of one acre each. In three years, the distribution was 
made to the owners, and by that time each shareholder had 
paid in twelve hundred dollars. Those who could not raise 
all the money were helped by the others. The farms were 
divided by lots, some paying more and some less, according 
to the appraised value of each estate. 

Here was a settlement of fifty families,—codperation for 
three years. Then codperation ceased. Not one failed. In 
1872, the property that had cost each of them, on an average, 


62 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 


one thousand and eighty dollars, was worth from five thousand 
to ten thousand dollars,—say an average of seven thousand five 
hundred. They had lived well, and had enjoyed all the 
advantages of society. 

They grumbled! And Mr. Hansen said he would rather 
starve than conduct such another enterprise! I think there 
are places in New England where such communities would do 
well. 

But the advantages of codperation may be reached to a 
much greater extent than they now are. The Granger move- 
ment—so far as it secured concert of action among farmers 
for their work and profit—was a move in the right direc- 
tion. We have made progress in farming and in farm-life 
in many respects, but many of the pleasant incidentals of 
farm-life have passed away. 

Poverty made our fathers mutual helpers. And the want 
of facilities for travel made them apt to seek social enjoyment 
in the neighborhood. They borrowed and lent. They 
“changed works,” and the young men of one farm hired out 
with neighbors for haying or hoeing or harvesting, and the 
daughters went to work in other families where there were 
sons instead of daughters, and often remained there as wives. 
The good farmer could not husk his corn without calling 
together all his neighbors, old and young, to fill his barn 
with merry laughter and eat the baked beans and pumpkin 
pies of the good housewife. And she, in turn, must have 
her “apple-bee,” where work and fun and frolic made scenes 
that we old fellows remember as the poetry of the rough 
farm-life of forty years ago. There was at that time a vast 
deal of rustic codperation that was helpful, and which, best 
of all, favored social life,—pleasure in the neighborhood,— 
which none of the parties and calls of fashionable life can 
compensate for. 

Much of all this has passed away, perhaps no more to 
return, though I hope to see some of it again, as open fire- 
places are once more sending up their cheerful blaze for 
family gatherings, and the old brass candlesticks are once 
more finding their place on the mantel-piece. 

But there are more important matters now in which coéper- 
ation might be carried much farther than it is. 


PRACTICAL ILLUSTRATIONS. 63 


1. In the matter of introducing improved machinery. It 
is not too much to hope that steam-ploughs may yet become 
of service to us in the West, and in parts of New England. 
These and other expensive machines might well be owned in 
common by a community of farmers. 

2, Farmers and mechanics might combine to aid each other 
more efficiently than they now do. We want to see our 
manufacturing industries distributed as rapidly as possible, to 
prevent great accumulation of people at single points, and to 
save transportation of food and stock for manufacturers and 
manufactured materials to consumers. 

3. Codperation might develop new kinds of industry. I 
see no reason why the problem of beet-sugar might not be 
worked out successfully, if twenty good farmers would com- 
bine for this purpose. Cheese-factories are a successful illus- 
tration of what coédperation can accomplish for profit, and the 
comfort of the household which is now freed from the labor 
of cheese-making. | 

4. Fences. Money enough might be saved among the 
farmers of New England to nearly pay the farm-taxes of New 
England, if they would wisely coéperate in this matter of 
fences. As it is now, every man has to fence around every- 
thing he has, to keep cattle owt, whereas fences should be 
built only to keep cattle zn. 

These are mere hints as to the lines of codperation that 
might be extended to the profit of every community. 

In one other respect, there is the greatest improvement to 
be gained, and that is, in beautifying grounds. If all the 
farmers in every neighborhood would join in road-making ; 
seeing that all their roadways and roadsides were made 
pleasant to the eye; that every tree cut, and every one 
planted, should have reference to the beauty of the place,— 
the homes in such a neighborhood would soon become beauti- 
ful, and if thrown into the market, would bring fifty per cent. 
more than the same property surrounded by the tokens of 
neglect. The improvement on every farm helps the neighbor. 
In some villages this coéperation has wrought wonders. The 
effects of the Laurel Hill Association, of Stockbridge, and 
the Fern Cliff, of Lee, are examples of the pleasure and profit 
drawn from such coédperation. We in Williamstown have 


64 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 


done something in the same direction. When all work 
together in the same line, and for a given purpose, it is 
marvelious to see the results. 

We want to see every New England town permeated by 
this spirit of union which aids in the accumulation of prop- 
erty, aud in beautifying our homes. It is in accordance with 
the spirit of farming, which is, to aid others. For what 
purpose do we have our agricultural exhibitions? For what 
purpose do we meet, and our Secretary work, but to coéper- 
ate with each other, to make known everything we discover 
to aid our fellows? Let this principle be carried as far as it 
can possibly be carried, and leave the home and independent 
business for the head of each family intact. 

Every change that promises good-fellowship in neighbor- 
hoods, and in the work of life, and, above all, anything that 
promises to take multitudes from those methods of living 
that are unstable, and tend to continued poverty, and brings 
men into modes of living that promise permanent plenty, 
independence and healthful, happy homes, should receive our 
careful consideration and hearty God-speed. We do not 
believe in communism, nor in communities isolated by peculiar 
religious or social views. We believe in no system that can- 
not embrace an entire community, with all its peculiar opinions 
and social theories. We believe in no plan that is not 
adapted to the people as a whole. The principle of coépera- 
tion prevails from necessity up to a certain point. Can it not 
prevail much farther than it has ever yet done,—saving labor 
and promoting intercourse and the innocent pleasures of life? 
If it can, it is worth our while to bring its benefits before the 
community, and aid those who are willing to do their part to 
avail themselves of its benefits in our settled New England 
life, or in those new States that are waiting for thousands of 
new communities, such as might be formed under wise leader- 
ship from the young men of our farming districts, or from the 
overburdened population of some of our large towns and 
cities. It is a good thing for us to cause two blades of grass 
to grow where only one grew before; but the most glorious 
thing an American citizen can do for his country and his kind, 
is to cause two happy homes to arise where only one was 
found before. For the great crop of the world—that toward 


THE MORMONS IN UTAITI. 65 


which all others are but the means—is a generation of noble 
men and women, filling and adorning thousands of simple 
rural homes. 


The CuHartrMan then called upon Hon. Marsnary P. 
Wiper to address the meeting. 

Col. WitpER. I am called upon so unexpectedly, that it 
is impossible for me to address you in a satisfactory manner, 
after a gentleman who is so sound in all his views as Presi- 
dent Chadbourne, has addressed you as he has this evening. 
I cannot refrain, however, from expressing the gratification I 
_ feel in seeing so large an audience of the gentlemen who com- 
pose the Board, and others who are distinguished in the arts 
of culture. I have been extremely gratified with President 
Chadbourne’s lecture, and although at first my views did not 
quite coincide with his (I have not quite understood this prin- 
ciple of coédperation and Grangerism), he has converted me. 
Now the question is, Where can we find the sinews of war to 
earry out this principle? I believe it is perfectly sound, 
physically and morally ; but the question is, whether we can 
find twenty-five or fifty young men in New England to go to 
Kansas,—and I believe they could not do a better thing,—or 
to California, where there are unoccupied lands which, if they 
could be possessed, would almost feed the whole nation. But 
the point is, as I have said, whether we can get our young 
men in New England to turn their enterprise in that direc- 
tion. 

Having expressed my views, I think it is the duty of some 
other gentleman to come to the relief of the assembly. 

Mr. Furr. I was very glad to hear President Chadbourne 
allude to the results of the labor of the Mormons in Utah. I 
have visited that Territory two or three times. I spent a few 
days there this summer, and had been there previously, and 
it seems to me that, setting aside the question of their pecul- 
iar social system, there are many things for our community 
to learn from the last thirty years of the experience of the 
Mormons in Utah. They went there, as has been eloquently 
stated, a poor, oppressed and despised people. They were 
led over the plains under every possible disadvantage that 
you can conceive of. They found the country around Salt 

9 


66 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 


Lake a desert. They subjected themselves to hardships of 
every description, and endured all manner of deprivations for 
the sake of their faith. If you go there now, you will pass 
through miles upon miles of a barren, ashen-looking desert, 
until, having passed through the magnificent Echo and Weber 
cajfions, you are ushered into what you might almost calla 
garden. It gives one a most delightful sensation, after riding 
day after day and night after night, over a thousand miles of 
barren plain, to come into that great Territory, which he 
knows was once as barren as that over which he had been 
passing, and find all the fruits of the temperate zone and all 
our grains growing with the utmost luxuriance, everybody at 
work, everybody busy, everybody comparatively rich, and 
everybody apparently happy. I say it is a thing which we 
ought to set down to their credit, that they have been able to 
show the practicability of reclaiming what was practically a 
desert, because the whole Territory was covered with sage- 
brush and sand. The very spot where Salt Lake City is now 
located was once a great sage-brush plain, almost a desert, 
covered with sand. Now, the city is one of the prettiest in 
the country. The streets are broad and straight, the houses 
are surrounded by fruit-trees and. gardens, in which you will 
see flowers of every description. I saw there one of the 
most luxuriant gardens that I have seen this summer, full of 
every variety of fruit, growing with the utmost perfection. 
Cherries—I never saw such cherries. Scores of trees, every 
branch loaded almost to the ground with most magnificent 
cherries, and among the most luscious I ever tasted. There 
were gooseberries, currants, raspberries, strawberries, many 
kinds of fruit, growing in that garden in the utmost profu- 
sion. This garden was perhaps a little better located than 
some others for irrigation; but the whole city is irrigated, 
and this garden, of course, was cultivated by irrigation; it 
could not have been done without; but it shows what can be 
done by codperation. There was a large body of people, 
under a central will, which could guide and direct them. 
There was industry, application, and little loss of time; and 
there they have built up that large community, under a great 
many adverse circumstances, until they have become a pros- 
perous and growing community. Of course, I do not refer 


A NEW ENGLAND VILLAGE. 67 


to the peculiarities of their social life. I merely allude to it 
as evidence of the prosperity resulting from coéperation. 

I have seen some other examples of the same kind, per- 
haps not quite so striking, but Iam satisfied, that if a small 
number of New Englanders were intending to locate in the 
West,—in Iowa, Kansas, Nebraska, Texas, or in California,— 
the best possible method of doing it would be for ten, twenty 
or thirty families to combine together, and locate in the same 
neighborhood. It could easily be done. They could depute 
one or two of their number to go out and select a suitable 
location, and in a very short time,—in California, in a wonder- 
fully short time,—they would have a section to themselves very 
easily tilled, very easily brought under cultivation, and in less 
than half the time in which it could be accomplished here, 
they would have a prosperous village of happy homes; and 
there they could have every facility for education and culture, 
which they would not be likely to find if they went simply as 
individuals and independent. I am somewhat familiar with 
the example which was mentioned in Southern California, 
Anaheim. It is a perfect success. The whole community has 
prospered, and will prosper more and more hereafter. It 
is very difficult for a man in California, who has the right 
grit in him,—who has application, honesty, and a high-toned 
purpose,—it is difficult for such a man to fail. Success is 
sure. The cases of failure are cases which you may attribute 
almost solely to negligence, to laziness, to inefficiency, or to 
some want of proper care. 

But I simply rose to state that Prof. Stockbridge has given 
more thought to this particular subject than I have, and I am 
very sure the audience will be very glad to hear him. 

Prof. StockspripcGe. I have occupied so much of the time 
of the Board to-day, that it seems to me that it would be out 
of character for me now to make any extended remarks. I 
cannot, however, sit down without expressing the great grati- 
fication which I have felt in listening to the lecture of Presi- 
dent Chadbourne, and more especially I would express the 
gratification I have felt at hearing our venerable friend, Mar- 
shall P. Wilder, say that he has now become converted to the 
doctrines of the Grangers. 

The Cnarrman. We have had a very pleasant speech from 


68 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 


the Secretary of the Massachusetts Board. The Secretary of 
the Board of Agriculture of New Hampshire is present, and 
I hope we shall hear from him. 

Mr. J. O. Apams, of Manchester, N. H. I have nothing 
to say except this: that however pleasant it may be to talk 
about twenty-five or fifty intelligent, respectable and sensible 
young men going from New Eng'and to the West or South- 
west to make for themselves prosperous and happy homes, I 
can but look upon the other side, and see with how much 
regret we should turn our faces to them as they turned their 
backs upon us. We cannot spare twenty-five men from any 
of our country towns. We might spare them from the cities, 
but the men in our cities are the men who will not go, for 
they have been so long accustomed to live upon the plans of 
others, that they have lost all self-reliant power, and if they 
emigrated to the West, they would meet with the same 
disaster that has been portrayed by President Chadbourne 
in a certain community. If communities were to be formed 
of this kind, for the sake of improving the soil, there are 
places open for their occupation all over New England. If 
they will come up into our rocky State, I will show them 
plenty of good land that has been abandoned because the 
fathers grew old and the sons became discontented and left 
their homes, the daughters married city merchants or city 
lawyers, and the homes are left desolate. Many of these 
farms have gone back to woods, as many ought to go. But 
if there are people who desire to form a community, they can 
find, within five miles of a flourishing town, and within one 
mile of a railway, an abundance of land, that I will guarantee 
will, with proper cultivation, give them a rich compensation 
for all the labor that is expended upon it. 

It occurred to me this morning, while we were discussing 
the practicability of growing corn by the use of chemical 
fertilizers, that perhaps our deserted farms would by and by 
be reoccupied. It seems to me that one reason why they 
have been abandoned is because, as I said before, the fathers 
were growing old, the sons had left, and there were none to 
till the soil. The growing of corn has been abandoned, in 
great measure, and we are buying two or three millions of 
bushels for our little State every year. The growing of wheat 


NEW HAMPSITIRE STATE BOARD. 69 


has been abandoned, and we are buying nine-tenths of our 
flour. And so with a great many other products of our soil. 
But recently there seems to be an inclination to cultivate 
these old crops again, and it seems to me that if, by the adop- 
tion of the formulas of Prof. Stockbridge, we can make our 
hills bloom again with luxuriant fields of wheat and rich crops 
of waving corn, the old times which we now cherish so much 
in our memories may come back again; for, as was said here, 
there is nothing more attractive to him who loves a rural life 
than waving fields of wheat, or the long rows, standing like a 
marshalied host, of a cornfield. 

But I merely rose in order to show that I am ready at all 
times to manifest my interest in the prosperity of the farmer. 
I am happy to meet the gentlemen of the Board of Agri- 
culture of Massachusetts. In our Board, we have adopted a 
different plan in regard to public meetings from yours, and 
we think that for our State it is better; it might not answer 
so well here. Your people have been educated to a higher 
degree of agricultural knowledge than ours. They have had 
the benefits of a Board of Agriculture for a long series of 
years. Ours is a new Board, having been in existence but 
five years; we could not induce our people to give tliree days 
to a meeting of this kind, and therefore, instead of holding a 
three days’ meeting in one city or large village, we commence 
to-morrow to hold three meetings, of one day each, in Rock- 
ingham County,—at Hampton, at Kingston, and at Exeter. 
By so doing, we reach a very much larger number of people, 
and believe we are doing very much more good than we could 
in any other way. 


Adjourned to Wednesday, at ten o’clock. 


St, COUN, Diy DeAcY; 
WEDNESDAY, December 1, 1875. 


The Board was called to order at ten o’clock by Dr. Lorine, 
and Hon. Marsnauy P. Witper elected Chairman for the day. 
Col. WitpEr, on taking the chair, said: I am happy to 
show my face once more among you, although I do not intend 


70 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 


to enter upon any very arduous service, but merely to let you 
know that I am not delinquent in duty. Ithank you for your 
cordial approval of my taking the chair. 

I have now the unfeigned pleasure of introducing to you, 
as the orator of this occasion, the Rev. Wm. H. H. Murray, 
—a gentleman who is widely known, not only for his zeal 
and energy in the culture of the soul, but for his interest in 
the development and improvement of agriculture, upon which 
the whole community must depend. 


ON THE BREEDING AND MANAGEMENT OF HORSES. 
BY REV. WM. H. H. MURRAY. 


The subject which you have advertised as the one to be 
discussed by me at this time, is the “ Breeding and Manage- 
ment of Horses.” Of the management of the horse, I have 
not the time, neither have I the inclination to-day, to speak ; 
and I presume that among those who are here, there could 
barely be found five who would agree touching what is the 
best fashion of management: as every man has his own idea, 
and every man who owns a horse thinks his own idea is better 
than his neighbor’s, touching the question of his management. 
I have found no greater divergence of opinion in reference to 
horse matters, than just this question: How should a colt be 
managed? In reference to his education, in reference to the 
discipline of his powers, in reference to his diet, in reference 
even to the surroundings of his stables, and how he should be 
managed when driven in those great contests of speed which — 
decide the quality in him, I find few men to agree. So we 
will lay that aside. Ihave thought that, in reference to the 
matter of breeding, there might be some young men here, 
and if not here, there would be young men in the country 
before whom this report, when published,—as I understand 
it will be,—will be laid, who would be interested in knowing 
what a young man who has been actively engaged in breeding, 
and who has made his studies touching the literature of the 
horse tend in that direction, had settled upon in respect to 
two or three of the dozen points involved in the general 
problem. 


BREEDING OF HORSES. | 71 


I would say, then, in the first place, that there is but one 
way to approach this problem of breeding the horse. It is 
the way in which we should approach the discussion of propa- 
gating any form of life that has been made of God, and is inti- 
mately connected with human happiness and the welfare of 
society. The greatest coarseness that can be manifested by 
a human being is the coarseness manifested in the presence of 
a woman, and especially in the presence of a woman who is a 
mother. A man who can derive any element of juke, any 
material for squibs, or the least substance for irreverential 
remark, as he looks into the face of the mother as she holds 
her child in her lap, or on her bosom, has stamped himself so 
base, so ignoble, and so utterly rude, that he has ruled him- 
self out of the presence of respectable and cleanly thinking 
men. 

Whoever can approach the problem of propagating life so 
that it may fulfil the high, and I may say, the serene uses 
that the Creator intended it to fulfil; whoever can look even 
upon a young lamb in the farm-yard, and not see in its exist- 
ence one of the divinest mysteries in the universe ; whoever 
can look into a nest of little robins, and see the care of the 
old birds for their young, and not feel that he is touching the 
margin of the greatest mystery we have to explore, is a 
marvel of coarse insensibility,—and going up to the higher 
forms of life, until we come next to the highest, perhaps, the 
propagation of the horse,—for I place higher than the prop- 
agation of the horse, the propagation of the dog,—when he sees 
what God intended in his creation, sees what he was designed 
to be when God created him—for you know that all animal 
forms existed first in some mood of God; before ever they 
had structure, they existed in his benevolent designs; they 
had an eternity of conception, as it were, in him, and they 
truly have come out of him, as out of his own substance,— 
whoever, then, comes up to a problem like this: How can we 
reproduce the horse, in its old original type, and does not 
feel grave and sober; feel that he has touched one of the 
gravest matters of studentship, he is,—I will not say what he 
is, I will say what he is not,—he is not a sensitive and rever- 
ential student of divine causes and effects. 

Now, young man, if I have arrived at any truth, if I have 


72 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 


arrived at any correct understanding of this matter of breed- 
ing the horse, Iam quite sure that I owe it, more largely than 
to any other one thing, to the fact that I took it up reveren- 
tially. “A brutish man knoweth not God,” said the old 
Psalmist. He neither knows him in his essential nature, as 
he is unexpressed, as spirit, nor does he know him as he is 
expressed in organism and structure. There is a certain fine- 
ness of fibre required in the mind to understand these things, 
which lie so closely to the edge and verge of Deity. If I 
have arrived at any truth in this matter, I say, I believe 
I owe it more to the fact that I took the first knowledge that I 
discovered out of the Bible, and with it was associated in my 
mind all the traditional reverence, if you please, in which 
I had been trained touching the Word of God. I remember 
well how long I floundered about in the mire of discussion 
and antagonism, and difference of opinion on the part of wise 
men as they would be called, in reference to this matter, and 
I remember well, how, one evening, in looking upon the pages 
of the open Bible, I struck the bottom fact which underlies, 
as I conceive, the whole subject; and it was in that plain, 
ordinary sentence, which all of you know, but which few of 
you, perhaps, have ever felt in its full significance, that 
“every seed should bring forth after its kind.” I said, “Find 
the highest type to perform the parental act, and you can 
repeat the typical creation. Find two parents that represent 
the original idea in any organism or structure, and I can 
repeat the original idea.” Find the typical rose of all the 
world, and you can repeat the first rose that ever was made. 
Find the representative daisy, and you can repeat the original 
daisy form. Find the original perfection of horse sttucture, 
horse temperament, horse form, and you have got back face 
to face with the original idea that was in God’s mind before 
ever he stamped it into the physical structure of the noble 
animal. 

I will pass over the history of the breeding and manage- 
ment of the horse, one of the most unique and wonderful 
which the literature of the world records, pausing simply: to 
say we are only discovering and learning over again the lost 
wisdom of the world. The Egyptians, for instance, three 
thousand years ago, bred five or six different styles of horse, 


HORSE-BREEDING A FAILURE. 73 


in order to meet the demands of their festivals and royal 
entertainments. The highest form of beauty,—the royal form 
of beauty in horses,—as many of you know, was the horse 
which had such high action in front that his knees, when 
brought up in stepping, nearly touched his lower lip, as he 
marched with his nose curbed in. The royal chariot horses 
of Egypt had this superabounding high knee action in front, 
as we admire it in the parade horse of to-day. They not 
only admired it, but reduced it into one of the facts of their 
breeding. In other words, the royal horse of the old Egyp- 
. tians,—the horse which drew the king in his chariot, when his 
captives followed in chains at the rear,—that horse was, as it 
were, spring-halted in front; and they bred him so for over a 
thousand years, a distinct breed, a stock that never intermitted 
its peculiar royal and kingly characteristics. The gradations 
of rank, from the Egyptian king down to the soldier in the 
common cavalry, might have been measured, by one gazing 
upon their triumphant processions, by looking at the height 
of the knees of the horse, when brought up, as he was passed 
in the long review. 

I will pass over all these suggestive reminiscences of litera- 
ture which would make a pleasant evening’s entertainment, if 
we were seated together around a genial fire, and I could dwell 
upon them; but I must come directly to the heart of this 
question, and the heart of it, from the commercial point of 
view, is, that breeding is a failure. I maintain that breeding 
in New England, or breeding in America, is a failure, com- 
mercially considered. I take it that any business whose laws 
are so little known, and whose workings as to results are so 
little ascertained, that you cannot figure out your result until 
you come to it, and then, in five cases out of ten, find the 
result just what you did not wish, and what you were not 
striving to have,—I say, a business that is no better known 
than that, not only is, but must be, a failure. A business 


. 


that is known in its modes of operation, in its methods, and » 


in its results, is the only business that has in it the chance of 

success. Weighed in this scale, breeding in this country is 

a failure. There is not a breeder that I know of to-day who 

can tell me what he is going to have in the colt that will be 

foaled on his farm next May; tell me surely, tell me as you 
10 


74 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 


- 


can tell me what interest you will receive on the United States 
bonds you may have,—so much, ordered by law. But natural 
results are as strictly under natural laws as commercial or 
financial results are under the command of statute; and if we 
could only ascertain the law out of which comes the force that 
makes the result, we should know just how to repeat the 
result every time. The trouble in New England with all of 
us, Is, we are superficial students ; we are objective students ; 
we look at the colt as an object; we do not look at the colt 
as a creation, and analyze the causes which underlie that 
creation. How did he get his color? How did he come by. 
his temperament? Whence did he receive that peculiar con- 
formation of structure? Was it from his immediate parents, 
or from his remote parents, or is there the original type in that 
colt,—a new creation, as it were, independent of his parentage ? 
For God, in order to preserve the finest specimens of every 
race or tribe, occasionally repeats the original type of it. 
You have all, no doubt, known children that were so much 

more brilliant than either father or mother, that you could not 
say they came out of either father or mother. You have known 
sons so much more talented and able than father or mother, 
that they could not be called the children of either father or 
mother. God intervened for his own wise purposes, and 
made a new creation in that boy, and the result was a poet, or 
musician, or orator; a being made of so much finer stuff than 
ever could be reassured out of the parentage that preceded, 
that thoughtful men say, God went back to the beginning of 
the world for that man. Well, men are puzzled in meeting a 
great horse bred from a dam and sire of no peculiar note; 
they undertake to account for that wonderful creation, as if he 
were the result of his sire and his dam. I look at it differ- 
ently. I give that sire no credit at all, because it is such an 
exceptional case that it is ruled outside of the law of descent. 
We cannot afford to trust to it by way of reasoning from it. 
A result that is so exceptional as to be unsupported by any 
law, you cannot make the basis of any business, or rule of 
any studentship. You bring me a fine horse, of so much 
greater value than sire or dam that you cannot account for 
that horse on the ground of parentage, and I do not try to 
account for him in that way. I do not give the sire or dam 


WANT OF CAPITAL. 75 
~ 
any credit for him whatever. I take it as one of those mys- 


teries I cannot fathom. I can mention the names of half a 
dozen Americans, known in literature and state craft, whose 
names are familiar to you, whose fathers and mothers, grand- 
fathers and grandmothers, could not, if I may so speak, pro- 
duce them. They were, as I hold, new creations, magnificent 
original types of men and women. 

Well, from such causes, New England breeding of horse 
stock is a failure, because it cannot predict what the result of 
breeding will be. Let us look for a moment to discover, if 
we can, the cause of this result. My idea is that it is, briefly 
put, zgnorance. I think at the core of almost all failures 
you will find ignorance as the cause. I think at the core of 
this failure that we are making in breeding you will find 
lack of knowledge as the real cause. For instance, how 
rarely you find any practical studentship brought to this mat- 
ter of breeding! How can you expect an ordinary farmer, 
who never thought a moment on this matter, who never read 
a book upon this subject, who never looked upon it even as a 
matter which he had need to study,—nay, how can you take a 
man who has never studied anything, who never thought 
about anything, as students think upon matters,—and by 
such men the majority of our colts are being bred in New 
England,—how, I say, can you take such a man, and expect 
that he will make a success in breeding, when breeding means 
the finest and most painstaking studentship that we have to 
engage in to-day? That interrogation answers itself. 

So we pass on to the next point, that, in addition to igno- 
rance, lack of means has acted as a cause of failure. Breed- 
ing requires money. What right have you to rule this great 
industry out of the companionship of kindred industries? | 
What right have you to make, as the essential of all success in 
every other branch of industry, capital, and not make capital 
essential to all success in breeding? If a man goes into the 
dry-goods business, to make a success of it, he must have 
capital, must he not? If he goes into the onion-raising busi- 
ness, he must have capital, must he not? If he goes into the 
grocery business, he must have capital, must he not? But 
here are men taking up this business of breeding with no 
capital whatever. A dam that is worth fifty dollars, perhaps, 


76 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 


—and if you are a moral man, you would not dare to sell her 
at that price,—bred to a horse that is not worth fifty cents, 
with the hope of getting a “Dexter” or a “Goldsmith Maid”! 
Just such wild dreams as that, I know from correspondence I 
am receiving from all over New England, are being entertained 
by young men. 

Now, the question is often asked me, “ Which marks the 
colt, the dam or the sire?” The Arabs have a maxim, that 
“the foal follows the sire.” It is fashionable, I see, to laugh 
at the Arabs. We caught the fashion through the egotism of 
the English thoroughbred breeders, who dislike to own that 
their favorites originally sprung from, or could be potentially 
bettered by, an infusion of Arabian blood, to any extent. it 
is easy to laugh at the Arabs, to say that their horses are not 
equal to the modern English thoroughbreds, and all that sort 
of nonsense, which you see now floating through horse litera- 
ture; but, friends, I find on the old Egyptian tablets, that are 
three thousand years of age, the image of the horse that is now 
called the Kocklani in Arabia, the princeliest of breeds there ; 
the same horse, I say, that you see in Arabia, to-day, you find 
engraved on Egyptian sculptures more than three thousand 
years ago; which means, that, for thirty-two hundred years, 
the laws of breeding have not only been known, but kept; 
not only were discovered, but have been actually taught and 
obeyed to the letter. Now, then, a people, whether literate 
or illiterate, must be wise in horse lore that can trace back 
along a line of three thousand years of breeding so exact that 
a strangely-colored hair has never come into the hide of one 
of their horses; so that a different-shaped nostril, a different 
curvature of the eyebrow, has never yet been known in that 
princely breed. When you go among a tribe of men who can 
look back thirty centuries and not find a distinction in the 
color of a hair, or in the arch-shape of the eyebrows, I tell 
you you may sit down at the feet of those men as the wisest 
teachers in the breeding of the horse the world knows. There- 
fore, when I find that Arab proverb, “The foal follows the 
sire,” and find that my foals do not always follow the sire, I 
say I must look deeper into this matter. Those men knew a 
thousand times more than I do; the knowledge out of which 
that maxim came is not for me to question; it is for me to 


“THE ARAB RULE. U7 


account for it, and I go to work to account for it. My opin- 
ion is,—I may change it to-morrow; I would not give a cent 
for a man who would not change his opinion on horse matters 
as easily as he turns over in bed at night, but, to-day, I am 
inclined to swing back to the Arabian principle of breeding, 
—that the foal always follows the sire. 

To account for it, in the first place, the Arabs always 
select their dams with great care. Now, it may be, that the 
word “best,” as applied to their dams, you do not apply to 
yours. That is, the dam that you would consider the best, 
may not be the best in the eye of the Arab breeder. What 
is the best dam in the eye of the Arab breeder? May it not 
be the one that will allow its foal to bear the stamp of the 
horse? I think so. I have two dams on my farm that could 
not be sold by a religious man for over three hundred dollars, 
in a matter of trade, and yet three thousand dollars could not 
buy either of them. Why? Three colts have come out of 
each, and every colt has looked precisely like its sire ; has put 
its feet, when eating its oats, precisely like its sire; has smelt 
of the water, and muzzled round it before drinking, precisely 
like its sire; has done everything like its sire. The dam 
simply carried it, as a mother holds her baby in her lap, and 
never marked it at all. Now, may not the old Arabs have 
such facts in mind? May they not, when they laid down the . 
maxim, “The foal always follows the sire,” have had this in 
mind, that there should be no dam bred to a sire that would 
interrupt the sire in propagating himself. I know a man that 
has a mare that has foaled two colts. He bought her for $87. 
And yet she is invaluable. Why? Because each of the colts 
that came from her are not only like the sire in a general 
sense, but they are the sire in miniature. In interior habits 
of the stable, in the way they move about in the stall, the 
way they toss their heads, and the way they feed and drink, 
they are the sire over again. 

You may take all my fashionable, high-bred mares out of 
my stable, if you will leave in their places such mares as 
that, for you have eliminated for me in doing it, half the dif- 
ficulty out of the problem of breeding ; namely, the difficulty 
which the temperament, structure and habits of dams bring 
to the breeder. For instance, I could select an animal that is 


78 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 


perfect,—one I know is perfect,—one that can transmit himself, 
if he is not bothered and interrupted in doing it, by the dam. 
I know I can, I say, select such a stallion in New York, in 
New England, and in six or eight stables in the Middle States ; 
and if I can find a dam that will not trouble that sire in the 
offspring, I can repeat the sire in every colt. The Arabs may 
have selected their dams in that way. 

Now, then, will you see the possibility of this old Arab 
maxim being true in our practice? First, select a dam that 
will simply carry the foal, feeding it with its blood and milk, 
but not affecting it at all, and then select a horse that has, 
first, the general excellence you want, then the special excel- 
lence, and then the power to transmit both the general and 
special excellence, and would not the maxim be true, that 
“the foal follows the sire”? 

Vicious ones should never be bred to. Men raise sinners 
enough; we do not need to imitate them in raising equine 
imps. It is a crime to breed an ugly dam either to an ugly 
horse, or a good-natured horse. No mare that bites, leers 
or kicks can be bred in my stables. There is not money 
enough in Haverhill to get one of those vicious mares into my 
stalls. It is not business to do it. Iam not actuated by any 
higher motive than the old Yankee wooden-nutmeg sense 
that is born in us down in Connecticut. It is not business to 
do it; for I know that the colt would kill somebody in the 
attempt to break him, and the sire would get a reputation for 

_being ugly, when the real cause is in the dam, and the result 
would be, that “viciousness” would be written in popular 
characters over my stable. 

Observe, also, that the foal partakes of the physical and 
nervous condition of the sire and the dam, not as they are by 
nature, but as they are at the time when the foal is conceived. 
These are rudimental principles; but, gentlemen, they lie at 
the base of success in breeding. I doubt whether our arbi- 
trary fashion of managing the sire and dam at the time of 
conception is not one of the prime causes of our failure in 
breeding, when you are talking about success in the really 
high and fine sense. I notice that the principles of selection, 
of favoritism and affinity, God has not left out of the horse 
structure ; I notice that there are some dams that do not take 


OVERFEEDING THE STOCK HORSE. 79 


kindly to some sires; and it is a rule, a rule reverentially 
obeyed in my head groom’s management, that unless nature 
plainly, by sympathy, affinity and expression, points to the 
result, the result shall never be obtained by us. I must 
allude to this in passing, because it is one of those things that, 
in our minds, account for so much that is mysterious and 
inexplicable in any other way: it accounts for so much in the 
propagation of the human species, in the perpetuation of dis- 
ordered minds, tendencies and appetites, wants and craving, 
that can be accounted for in no other manner. He whose 
name is Love never intended that there should be any prop- 
agation outside of it. Wherever you find an organization 
fine enough to follow affinity, there you find an organization 
that must be jealously and sacredly guarded down at the very 
root and germ of its propagating connection. The man who 
thinks of this thing rudely, coarsely, who looks at a horse as 
merely a brute, merely an animal, devoid of sense, devoid of 
a fine nerve structure, devoid of fine habits, can never be, in 
my judgment, a candid student of this subject. An excited 
nervous condition should be avoided at this delicate period. 

A horse should never be treated as a hog is, as most New 
England breeders treat him. I can go into stable after stable, 
and find every horse as fat as if God had not made him for 
activity, but sluggishness. He made him strung with strong, 
lively, fibrous muscles, not to be covered with layer upon 
layer of adipose tissue. One of the great sins of breeding in 
New England has been the overfeeding of the stock horse, 
from which cause many have died. My judgment is that 
“Fearnaught” died because he had been kept like a swine, not 
like a horse. My judgment is that “Taggart’s Abdallah” has 
been in danger of death for three or four years, because, in 
order to make a horse that did not weigh a thousand pounds 
tip ten hundred and fifty, Mr. Taggart has kept him 
hog fat. I instance these, not in invidious comparison, 
because, where the rule is the same with all, there can be no 
invidious comparison. JI impeach the rule and fashion from 
bottom to top. 

There are two extremes of condition in which you should 
never breed,—where the horse has little exercise, and is kept 
fat, and where the horse is drawn fine for some great nervous 


80 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 


feat. Either condition is fatal to breeding. The reason 
“Ethan Allen” got so many weak-kneed, nervous colts, was 
because he was kept in a nervous condition by constant trials 
of speed. The two horses that, by a combination of their 
qualities, would have given us the perfect horse, in my opinion, 
were old “George M. Patchen” and “Ethan Allen.” In 
those two horses, you had about all an,American could 
desire ina horse. In one you had size, in the other you had 
beauty. In both you had speed; in both, a splendid tem- 
perament. In one, plenty of bone structure; in the other, 
the finest bone structure. The intercrossing of their respect- 
ive descendants would have given us, as I think, pretty nearly 
the perfect horse. Both were wasted, both were absolutely 
spilled, as you spill a barrel of liquid when you pull out the 
tap and let it run out on the cellar floor. No conservatism 
was exercised, no guard was put around them. “Justin 
Morgan” was killed, was wasted, just as “George M. Patchen” 
and “Ethan Allen” were wasted,—the three horses that stand 
as stock horses ahead of all the horses America has ever 
known. 

Here are the essentials in a stock horse: First, size. <A 
stock horse should be sizable,—about 15.2 in height, and 
1,050 in weight. I would, as a rule, never breed from a 
horse that did not weigh 1,000 pounds, or that did not stand ~ 
15.2. There are exceptions, of course. There are many horses 
that are excellent stock horses that do not stand 15.2 One of 
the best stock horses I have in my stable stands about an 
inch and a half under that; yet, by proper crossing, I can 
make a great success at the first cross, but it requires proper 
crossing to remedy his defect. Let another man manage him ; 
let a man, for instance, buy him, pay a high figure for him, 
and try to get that money back as quick as he can; take 
dams of all sizes and all temperaments, and the result would 
inevitably be failure, as it has been under like conditions 
with more than half the stock horses of New England. 
“Tom Jefferson” is under size; “Ethan Allen” is under size: 
this is the one great defect of his life as a stock horse ; 
* Lambert” is under size. These horses, if properly managed, 
would have been extraordinary stock horses; but under no 
management, and held by their owners only to make the 


THE POINTS TO CONSIDER. 81 


most money out of them, instead of bettering, they have 
rather injured, the average stock of the country. “Lambert,” 
one of the great New England horses, in many respects,—a 
horse that will almost invariably transmit his outward form 
and gait,—and both are perfect,—is absolutely being wasted, 
so far as the perfection of New England breeding goes, by the 
excessive use made of him, and by the lack of discrimination 
in the dams chosen for him. The same, to some extent, was 
true of “Fearnaught”; the same is true of “ Taggart’s 
Abdallah”; the same is true of “Tom Jefferson.” As stock 
horses they stand nowhere, compared with where they might 
have stood, if there had been some other genius besides the 
money-making genius presiding over their stables. 

I briefly enumerate the points to consider. The first great 
point to be considered, is, pedigree; second, size; third, color ; 
fourth, health; fifth, temperament; sixth, speed. The order 
in which [ breed in my stable, is, first, beauty. The Ameri- 
can temperament is a beauty-loving temperament. The 
American eye, more and more, is getting to be an eye that 
delights in size, in clearness of outlines, in the fulness of 
those points that make symmetry and beauty. There is, 
probably, outside of Italy, no country on the globe where, 
considering the roughness of our surroundings at the start, 
the artistic element has been more profoundly developed, than 
it isamong us. A beautiful horse will always find a buyer. 
Therefore, breed for beauty. I say to you, that, in my judg- 
ment, talking as a breeder with money in view, no horse 
that is bred should be bred purely for speed. Taken as a 
whole, breeding for speed does not pay. Twenty years ago, 
a horse might have had a head like a tub, a gait like a camel, 
and yet could be sold at a large price, because he had go to 
him. He might be vicious, a cameleopard in style, and a 
mule in gait; yet, if he would go, that was all the American 
asked. We have left that period behind us. It is the period 
through which all youth pass,—the period of push and go, 
hurry and hurrah,—and all nations, like boys, pass through 
it. But, by and by, there comes to the boy a time when he 
begins to look at the fineness of things, and delights in them 
because they are fine, until at last he comes to rejoice in 
beauty for its own sake; and we in America have come to 

1 


oee BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 


that time when the fineness of things appears charming to 

us, when the beauty of loveliness is being apprehended and 

craved. The first thing, therefore, for- which I breed, is 
beauty. I can always get five hundred dollars for a colt that 

has a beautiful color, a beautiful neck, beautiful limbs, and a 

beautiful carriage. The second thing I breed for is docility. 

The third thing is speed. Beauty, first; docility, next; 

speed, last. If I can get the first two in a large degree, and 

the third in a fair degree, I know I can make a sale, and I 

know I can get my money back, and get it back early, too, 

which is a great point with a breeder. If I have a speedy 

colt, on the other hand, I have to keep him until he is devel- 

oped, and then I have to put him into a gambler’s hands, 

perhaps, to get my money back. I must wait two, three or 

five years; and one of the secrets of making money in breed- 

ing, as in other business, is in getting rid of things. Some of 
you have found that out, I guess! 

In regard to this matter of crossing, many ask, “Is thor- 
oughbred running stock necessary for a cross, in order to get 
beauty and docility?” Well, friends, there is a popular 
error touching this matter of beauty in thoroughbred running 
stock. Thoroughbreds are not all beautiful. Take “ Mes- 
senger.” He was a great 16}-hand, round-shouldered, big- 
necked, coarse-headed, thick-legged horse. That was your 
imported “ Messenger”! His son “Mambrino” was a thick- 
necked, strong-legged horse. His son “Abdallah” had a 
head as big as a small flour-barrel; was a dirty roan as to 
color, with a rat’s tail, which he stuck straight out! That 
was “ Abdallah.” The tremendous ugliness of some of our 
Abdallah and Hambletonian stock is accounted for by the fact 
that they have come through “ Abdallah,” “ Mambrino,” and 
imported “ Messenger.” The idea that the English thorough- 
bred and the American thoroughbred have always small 
limbs, small feet, a fine head, and small, arched neck, clean- 
cut jowls, and a coat like satin, is a fallacy. While these 
things are the law, there are noted exceptions. I have stood 
and looked at thirty brood mares, in the veins of many of 
which not a taint of low blood ran, and I give you my 
opinion, as an eye-witness of their merits, and rejoicing in 
their merits, that I could have gone into Vermont, twenty 


THE ORTHODOX HEIGHT. 83 


years ago, and selected, easily, twenty daughters of the old 
Green Mountain Morgan horse, that, at. any agricultural fair 
in the country, where horsemen were the judges, would have 
taken the palm for beauty from any twenty out of that collec- 
tion of thirty mares. Many of them were quite coarse-look- 
ing; some of them had hair on the fetlocks, much to my 
astonishment,—so much so, that I questioned the breeding, 
until it was clearly proved; many had rather heavy jowls. 
There were many things about form and motion that did not 
affect one pleasantly, as I stood and ranged my eye over 
them, for the ideal horse as to beauty. I do not think that 
we need go to the thoroughbred running stock for beauty, if 
we will be careful of our selections among our own breeders. 
“Tom Jefferson,” “Lambert,” “Taggart’s Abdallah,” are as 
handsome horses as I have ever seen in the thoroughbred 
family. I am not saying anything about the imagined 
beauty that the artist loves,—that beauty that you have 
hung in pictures upon your walls, but never see any- 
where else, but the beauty of shapeliness of limb and 
fairness of look in the stable and in public,—the beauty 
of the actual, not the ideal, horse. The sheen of the coat, 
for instance, is supposed to be peculiar to thoroughbreds. 
It is not so. The horses I have just mentioned have 
a gloss as fine, a tinting as brilliant, and a glow as deep, 
when led into the sunshine from their stables, as any thorough- 
bred I have ever seen; and I do not hesitate to say, that, for 
beauty, we have in New England as handsome horses in all 
respects, save one, as are to be found on the face of the earth. 
I said, with one exception. There is one thing our horses 
lack. It is that style and kingliness of curvature, that sort 
of curled look and appearance which a horse can put on in 
public, which is associated only with a horse that stagds 15.3 
in height. Most of our handsome horses are too small to be 
imposing in their beauty. You must have a horse stand 
about 15.3, if you are to get the finest expression of horse 
beauty, in my judgment ; you must have him measure about 
such a length from his ears to the sweep of his tail; you 
must have him stand in the pasture with a certain look of 
height, breadth and length, in order to have him perfectly fill 
your eye. To obtain some of these minor points, if you 


84 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 


please to call them so, we should do well to cross with the 
racing thoroughbred. And for docility and gentleness of 
behavior until the moment of supreme action comes, we have 
nothing that equals a first-class thoroughbred of the running 
family. Take “Joe Daniels,” for instance. A child can lead 
him up and-down before the judges’ stand. He seems to be 
conscious of a latent power that he can exert at any moment, 
and does not choose to exercise until the proper time comes. 
I have seen a thoroughbred led out, with no defiance in his 
eye, no glory in his appearance, none of that fire and thunder 
which we associate with fine breeding and a first-class horse ; 
but when the saddle was put upon him, the rider mounted, 
and the exercise had warmed him so that the moisture began 
to start, then see how the veins begin to swell; how the 
jockey begins to feel the play of the muscles under the sad- 
dle as the latent power begins to reveal itself; see how the 
nostrils begin to show their lining of fiery red, and then— 
how that horse begins to go! And the farther he goes, the 
faster he goes, and the harder he pulls. 

I have ridden the magnificent creature to which I have 
referred under the saddle. She would take the first four 
miles as every respectable man ought to take a horse the first 
four miles, easily, merely jogging ; but when she had reached 
that point, fixed by good judgment and her own good sense, 
I could feel her muscles begin to work under me, and she 
would begin to move up on the bit and settle herself to her 
gait, and the faster she went, the better she felt. I could 
feel the swell of the great muscles under the saddle as she 
gathered nervously for her leaps; her neck would stretch out 
and become lowered more to the line of her body ; her nostrils 
open and expand at every jump; her ears would come 
back cl@ser and closer to her neck, like those of a cat when 
vexed, and then how she would spin! But when she had 
spun her spin out, she would amble back to her stall so 
gently, that were it not for the unquiet mouth and the linger- 
ing fire in the eye, you would not suspect that she had such 
lightning in her. 

I will detain you only to speak upon one other point. The 
question has been asked me, and I will answer it, “ What 
makes a horse trot?” Well, it is not the whip,—that is one 


DAN MACE ON THE SADDLE. 85 


thing settled ; and it is not your driving, friend, either, which 
makes your horse trot,—that is settled. I wish there could 
a fashion come up among us men who drive trotters of driving 
without reins, until we know more than we do, or until we 
will admit that we do not know much. A horse cannot talk, 
and it is very difficult to understand the nature of any being 
that cannot express its meaning in speech to you. Should 
you come across a species of human beings that had never 
uttered a word, and you wanted to master the secrets of their 
being, how would you begin to master them? What is just 
the right pull to make on a horse’s mouth to save him when 
he breaks? When is the proper instant to move that bit in 
his mouth? What is the right way to handle a horse to get 
him through the air a second faster tothe mile? You cannot, 
all of you, find out these secrets, friends. A few gifted ones 
who have the prophetic instinct that can see into the horse 
nature, like Charley Green, Dan Mace, Budd Doble and the 
Elder Woodruff,—in many respects better than either, in my 
judgment,—a few men like those instinctively sense it; but we 
ignorant and bungling chaps better let it alone. That is my 
judgment. My maxim in driving, young man, is, let the 
horse alone. I presume I do not take the reins in both hands 
once in three months, so far as need of strength goes, when 
I am driving on the road. Of course there are some horses 
that we must make trot, if they ever trot at all; I, for one, 
do not desire to have anything to do with that sort of horses. 
But give me a horse that is a natural trotter, and I am sure 
he will never go except in a trot, unless by reason of some 
pain in his foot or somewhere else, that may cause him to 
break. In that case the best way is to let him alone. Iam 
driving a five-year-old colt that is fast. If he breaks, I let 
him run. After he has been running six or eight rods, I hint 
to him that it is just as fashionable for him to strike his trot, 
and if he does not take that hint in a little while, I give him 
another. But I don’t yank him, or jerk him, “pull him 
back,” “settle him down,” “square him,” as they say, 
and all those other excellent phrases that do not mean any- 
thing. The colt means to trot, and I know it; and if for 
some unaccountable cause he breaks, I know the habit 
naturally implanted in him will get him back to his trot 


86 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 


just as quick as he can. A horse cannot run awhile and 
catch himself suddenly without hurting himself, so he will 
take another jump or two. When he has jumped two or 
three times, I give a little touch to the reins, suggesting to 
him that he may as well trot. He generally knows what I 
mean; but if he don’t, I tell him again, and pretty soon I find 
him going along with his tail as straight as a spirit-level. I 
never on such a horse use a check-rein, never put on martin- 
gales; but let him go, head up and tail streaming. These are 
the rudders intended to keep the horse true in his gait, and 
you have no right to deprive him of his steering apparatus. 
So, gentlemen, the rule is, that the horse, if he is a sensible, 
level-headed horse, knows a great deal more than you do 
about trotting, and you should let him have his own way. 
That is my best advice, briefly put, in regard to driving. 


Col. WixpEer. I have no doubt that you have all been 
highly interested in the frank, ingenious, philosophical and 
instructive address which you have had from Mr. Murray, in 
regard to one of the most important departments of farm hus- 
bandry, and one which contributes so largely to the despatch 
of business, to the comfort and welfare of mankind, and the 
progress of civilization. What is your pleasure, gentlemen? 

Rev. Mr. Lyrorp, of Haverhill, was called upon, but 
excused himself from speaking, and called upon Dr. Loring, 
who rose to speak upon the floor, but was interrupted by the 
Chairman, who said, “ Doctor, will you approach the rostrum ? 
You are not accustomed to stand elsewhere, and this is the 
appropriate place for you.” 

Dr. Lorine. If I had not known Mr. Lyford as a good 
judge of horses, and had entire confidence in his ability to 
judge of what I was going to say, and felt perfectly sure he 
would indorse it, I would not have been called out by him in 
the way I have, and responded. But he and I have met on 
the same field before, in Vermont, and we know all about it; 
and I know that what he knows, I know, and what I know, 
he knows; so that I speak for him just exactly as he would 
have spoken for me, if he had a little less modesty and a little 
more confidence in his own superior wisdom. But he was 
ingenious, and I suppose he thought he knew where he could 


THE AMERICAN HORSE. 87 


go to select a speaker for himself. He is a good judge of 
men, and, I assure you, he is just as good a judge of horses ; 
so that he and I stand exactly on the same platform on those 
two points. 

Now, I am going to make, to a certain extent, Mr. Lyford’s 
speech. He and I are Americans, and we believe in a good, 
old-fashioned, square-gaited, straight-driving, marching Amer- 
ican horse that will take the road and go on about his busi- 
ness, and know as well what he has to do as his driver does ; 
which will begin in the morning bravely, and end bravely at 
night; that wonderful structure which we have here in New 
England, the outgrowth, not of one breed of horses or 
another, but the result of the peculiar institutions of this 
country, which require that a horse should discharge his duty 
here faithfully and well, not waste it by cantering for a morn- 
ing’s drive, not scampering over a field like a greyhound, or 
like a coward running away from danger, but holding himself 
firm and level in every crisis, doing his duty well at the 
plough and well on the road. That horse has grown out of 
this uniform social level here, which renders it necessary that 
the man who is going to meeting to hear Mr. Murray preach 
should get there as quickly as possible, and, after Mr. Murray 
has got through, should get home and look after his domestic 
affairs as quickly as possible; a horse that can carry you 
about and maintain his equilibrium and his force, and dis- 
charge his duty well, not for one man or another, not for the 
jockey on the track, alone, but for the business-man in his busi- 
ness, for the doctor on the road visiting his patients, for the 
farmer, when he is desirous of doing good work in his field, 
for the man who goes out for an afternoon drive, and for the 
gentleman who does not want to be passed on the road. 

This is the American horse,—the best horse in the world ; 
there is no doubt about it at all. Not, as I say, the product 
of any one given breed, but the natural product of generations 
of intelligent driving, and driving done with that wonderful 
skill which the American driver has, and which has not been 
equalled by any other nationality on the earth ; by that assump- 
tion of our drivers here, that in order to make a horse work 
well, you must become a part of that horse, and he a part of 
you; that between his bit and your hand there must be a cer- 


88 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 


tain sort of magnetic force running, which he recognizes just 
as quickly as you do, and which will keep him about his busi- 
ness exactly in accordance with the wants of his driver. 

Now, I say, this horse, which has grown up here, and which 
you find everywhere in New England, alike in Vermont and 
New Hampshire, in Maine and Massachusetts,—the American 
horse of all work,—has been produced here until he has all 
the spirit of American institutions. He has inherited a cer- 
tain sort of common-sense, and knows what he is about. You 
can harness him when he is a yearling, and he will behave 
pretty well. He has not only inherited the form which makes 
him a good-shaped horse, but he has also inherited this moral 
sense, so to speak, which makes hima good horse, so that you 
can harness him and ‘set him at work upon his inherited in- 
stincts almost. He is superior to a thoroughbred, because he 
has been born to a business life. He is a good business-horse, 
superior to all others, because he has inherited from his father 
and mother a capacity to draw at the plough, and knows 
what the plough is; to pull on the wagon, and knows what 
the wagon is; and when the harness is put upon him, he feels 
as much at home in that harness as the American boy does 
when he puts on his first pair of pantaloons; and this horse 
knows this as much better than the thoroughbred does, as this 
American boy starting out for school knows and feels his duty 
and responsibility better than does the son of an Indian. He 
has inherited all those qualities which are useful and valuable 
in every-day life. I draw that distinction because you do not 
find these qualities in a thoroughbred horse. The most impa- 
tient, wild, unreasonable, stilted, daisy-cutting animal in the 
world is the English thoroughbred. I should as soon expect 
to get a good house-dog from a family of wolves, as a good, 
substantial family horse from a family of thoroughbreds. This 
thing has not yet been done, because the business of a thor- 
oughbred is to contend, and not to submit. There is no pa- 
tience in him. His ancestors had none, and he has none. 
The whole business of life with horses known as thorough- 
bred is to be brought up to the stand by twice as many boys 
as there are horses, held firmly by the head, while they are 
rushing and kicking and struggling so that the riders can hardly 
keep their seats, until the word is given, when off they go, 


THE MORGAN HORSE. 89 


helter-skelter, pell-mell, winning with a sudden dash, the 
result, rather of strength, than skill. Now, in all this there is 
no exercise of deliberation, or of that self-poise which a thor- 
oughly good business-horse requires. And yet it is what the 
English thoroughbred horse has inherited; in addition, good 
looks and good color and a good coat, the three prominent 
points upon which his advocates dwell most eloquently. 

Now, let us examine the horse which we possess in this 
country. Where did we get him? Mr. Murray has told you 
where. That American horse, for instance, known as “Justin 
Morgan,” was the ancestor of one of the finest families of 
horses ever known in the world. He transmitted his own 
qualities, which mixed well with the dam’s, and created a 
family of horses, native to the State of Vermont, which was 
almost unequalled. Ido not know as I should like one to- 
day, as their speed was hardly up to modern requirements. 
They could travel about eight or nine miles an hour, in a style 
which cheered the driver and charmed the beholder. There 
was a good deal of fine finish about this horse, and he was 
really a good horse; he had not speed enough ; he was a little 
tied-up in his gait, had not quite knee action enough, did not 
send himself as he ought to; but still he was a good horse, 
and in all matters of hard work almost unequalled. So 
remarkable was he in this respect, that, when the proprietors 
of the great stage route, running from Washington west, were 
in search of teams of the best horses that could possibly be 
found, they purchased them in Vermont of the Morgan family, 
horses standing fifteen hands high, and weighing about a thou- 
sand pounds apiece ; and those medium-sized Vermont horses 
wore out more than ten times their number of the ordinary 
long-legged, sixteen hand Pennsylvania horses that had been 
used for years on that line. They were solid, compact, wiry, 
short-legged, hardy little animals, did their work well, were 
good for the stage-coach, good for all service in those early 
years when our fathers required endurance, rather than speed. 
But when you rise into a higher range of horses, and demand 
more speed and propelling power, then you turn to another 
family, the Messenger horse, not perfectly distinguished in 
variety to-day, I grant, but a most untiring, invaluable and 
swift-moving horse on the road. There has hardly been any 

12 


90 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 


such piece of animal machinery as was made up by the old 
“Messenger” horse of Maine, lying at the foundation as he 
does of a certain power on the road and on the track that has 
not yet been excelled. Those two families of horses, the 
“Justin Morgan” and the “Messenger,” really lie at the foun- 
dation of our best breeds here. 

Now, there is another strain of blood which comes in to 
make up what I cail the perfect American horse, which some 
of you may be surprised at. Everybody, you are aware, 
looks upon a French horse with great contempt. With most 
of us on the road, a French horse is very much like what 
Cesar says of the Gauls, who were the Frenchmen of his day, 
that they began a fight more than men, and ended it weaker 
than women; and so, as I say, we all dislike a French horse. 
But here is a remarkable fact. Wherever “Justin Morgan,” 
with his tied-up gait, succeeded in getting a trotter, he had 
a mare with French blood for the dam; and in that way 
secured that free action, that open gait, that measured stride, 
that enabled him to do his work. Now, the imported “ Mes- 
senger” horse was used chiefly for breeding purposes in the 
northern latitudes of the United States. The “Mambrino” 
horse went South, and he, on the southern mares, got run- 
ners; the “Messenger” horse, that remained North, and 
mingled his blood with the French brood-mares, got trotters ; 
and that is the difference. And wherever you find a strain of 
blood that has speed in it, you will find there a French infu- 
sion. That is where this great “ Unknown,” that you hear so 
much about, comes from. If you take the pedigree of the 
best trotting horses, you will find it, “sire, so-and-so; dam, 
unknown;” and that unknown dam has a little infusion of 
that French blood in her, that sends stock of the trotting 
horse along when he breeds upon her. It is a most curious 
and remarkable fact. The famous trotting horse, “Pilot,” 
one of the most tremendous horses ever raised in Kentucky, 
was out of a French mare; “Cassius M. Clay’s” dam was a 
French mare. In that way, and that way alone, can you 
account for the roundness of “Cassius Clay’s” ankles, for that 
roughness of his legs, for that peculiar thickness of his jowls. 
These peculiarities are due to his French dam, from whom the 
whole family derived their speed ; and from whom, also, I am 


”? 


—— ——— 


A LITTLE FRENCH BLOOD. SH 


sorry to say, came that cold blood, that made so many of 
*Clay’s” colts failures on the track. They were faint-hearted, 
because they had a little too much of this French blood in 
them. They have secured the speed, but it took another 
cross of the “Cassius Clay” blood upon a more hardy animal 
to make a good, lasting, enduring, powerful trotter. 

In support of this view, you will find the best trotters all 
along the northern sections of our country. You do not go to 
Pennsylvania to find trotting horses. You goto Maine, New 
Hampshire, Vermont and the northern part of New York ; and 
Michigan to-day is busily engaged in breeding some of the 
best trotters we have. We have learned that along the north- 
ern latitudes, where the French blood is creeping in more or 
less, we are pretty sure to get our trotting horses. 

I have been speaking about a horse of a superior description, 
that brilliant animal which has just as much activity as it is 
possible for a well-organized animal to have. That such a horse 
can be produced here systematically, I have no more doubt 
than I have that the thoroughbred can be systematically pro- 
duced in England. I will agree that you cannot “gather 
grapes from thorns, nor figs from thistles.” I will go as far 
as that; but beyond that, I am not willing to go. Ido not 
want to accept the idea that man has no power over the ani- 
mal kingdom, which he undertakes to improve by cultivation. 
I think he has, and that if we will trace the failures of breed- 
ers to their legitimate source, we shall find that it is because 
the breeders themselves have violated the best laws of breed- 
ing. I think we can raise these horses with perfect success 
here, that we do raise them continually, and that they form a 
part of the most profitable branches of agriculture known. I 
have in the course of my life paid to farmers in Maine and 
New Hampshire, for four or five year old colts (and not paid 
extravagantly, either), enough to have purchased a desirable 
farm. And those prizes were not accidents, but they were 
secured because those breeders had sense enough to know 
that they could breed a good horse just as well as they could a 
poor one. Andsowecan. All those moral qualities, of fine, 
substantial, quiet, cool nerve, that level-headedness which 
makes a good trotting horse, that power of endurance which 
makes a horse lasting on the road, can all be bred ; and, more 


92 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 


than that, that amiability of temper, without which a horse is 
the meanest beast known on earth. Iagree with Mr. Murray, 
that a kicking, ill-natured mare ought never to be used in 
breeding. That is perfectly true. You do not want to trans- 
mit any such disposition. But that we have established right 
principles of breeding here, and can maintain them, I have 
not the slightest doubt in the world; and I think if you would 
go to Mr. Murray’s stable, you would find that he himself is 
applying exactly those rules which I have designated to the 
production of a good, level-going, square-gaited, sound, sen- 
sible American horse. I should not agree with him entirely, 
that he is going to beat the world driving his colt as he says 
he does. I know, if he has a colt that will do what he says 
he will, with that kind of driving, it is because he put into the 
business of raising the colt what most of us have to put into 
the business of driving; viz., wisdom and good judg- 
ment. I have no doubt that horses are injured by pulling, 
and are so disturbed by it that they lose seconds of speed, 
whereas, if they could with advantage be left more to them- 
selves, they would do better, which suggests that, to a certain 
extent, we should let the horse alone, and not trouble him, 
if you would bring him to the height of his speed. The 
qualities of which Mr. Murray speaks as so valuable in a 
horse, are really the result of wise and judicious breeding, 
and if you have these qualities you may drive as he does. 
This amiable and sagacious animal is the American horse, and 
this is the point at which he and I were aiming in the realm 
of horses when we united in the authorship of “The Perfect 
Horse”; probably, you will allow me to say, the best book on 
the horse ever written ! 

And now, in conclusion, I have told you what are the 
qualities of the American horse, and how we can produce them ; 
now I propose to come to the commercial value of the horse, 
as a part of the general product of the farm, and entering 
into the trade of the world as do cattle and sheep and swine ; 
because that, after all, is the solid business of the whole 
matter. You may breed, if you have good fortune, a few 
horses that are worth six hundred, seven hundred or a thou- 
sand dollars apiece for home consumption ; but where are the 
horse-raisers, growers and breeders of this country to find 


SHIPMENT OF HORSES. 93 


their general markets for the average product? How can 
they so produce horses on their farms as to encourage them- 
selves to go into it as a branch of business? I have a very 
interesting letter here, which illustrates, not only the English- 
_ man’s keen eye for trade, but the Englishman’s knowledge of 
how trade is to be conducted, and that wonderful grasp of 
the English mind which in all matters of commerce never 
loses sight of the best opportunity. This letter will indicate 
what ought to be the idea of the cultivation of the horse in 
the great horse-producing sections of our country :— 


*“Lonpon, 13 November, 1875. 


“Sir:— . . . I have taken the liberty of forwarding 
to you a printed programme of a scheme (the importation of 
horses into England) I have been elaborating, together with 
my friends here, who are old established and well-known 
steamship agents of the highest respectability. My object in 
writing is to procure the candid opinion of yourself on this 
matter. The scheme has already been attempted on a small 
scale, and utterly failed. A company was formed and started 
with slender capital. They chartered and sent a six-hundred- 
ton steamer, ill-adapted for carrying stock, to Galveston, where 
their manager bought the first animals that came to hand, 
some of them proving to be mares in foal. Such as reached 
Liverpool, however, though in a wretched condition, realized 
very good prices. At Galveston, the vessel could ‘not cross 
the bar, and the stock had to be brought off in a schooner, 
many of the animals first on board having been ten days with 
only a very little water, and a starvation allowance of hay. 
The vessel then went round to Norfolk to coal,—a voyage which 
occupied some twenty-two days. On being coaled, and having 
sent ashore the worst of the stock, she started for Liverpool, 
which, after continuous rough weather, she reached in six 
weeks. The vessel is essentially a wet one, and I am informed 
that some of the animals, though between decks, had to have 
their heads tied up to prevent drowning. The owners of the 
vessel made a forced sale at Liverpool, and many of the sadly- 
abused animals, bought originally for £5 to £7 per head, real- 
ized over £20, and one £30. We, you will observe, propose 
starting very differently. With the experience of the Crimean, 


94 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 


Persian, and China wars, and with that of the steady Austral-* 
ian and Indian and Persian Gulf and Bombay horse-traders, 
we know that horses can be carried safely and without loss of 
condition at sea. 

“From India we took the 10th Hussars and the 12th Lan- 
cers to the Crimea, with six hundred and eighty sabres, and 
their horses landed in splendid condition. The 14th Dra- 
goons, Poona Horse, Scinde Horse, and my own regiment, 
the Southern Mahratta Horse, went from Bombay to Bu- 
shire, at the head of the Persian Gulf, in sailing-vessels,—a 
six weeks’ voyage,—and landed without hardly any loss; 
saddled upon the beach, under the guns of the squadron, and 
went immediately into action. We must have numbered 
about two thousand horses, exclusive of artillery horses. 
The same was done in Abyssinia, and can and will be done 
again. IJ have allowed for twenty-five grooms, exclusive of 
the crews, for the sole purpose of looking after the horses at 
sea. It is upon the subject of the horses of America, and the 
price we should have to pay for big, powerful, well-bred ani- 
mals, suited for our purposes; viz., carriage, light van, rid- 
ing, cavalry and artillery, that I desire knowledge. Weare 
now paying £42 for our cavalry animals (colts), and £50 is 
a very common price for a common cab-horse. From letters 
I have received from America, I have in my own mind no 
doubt that the trade can be carried out on a vast scale, very 
much to the benefit of both countries. Here the demand is _ 
great, and, with your 7,145,270 horses, the drain to this side 
should not, a3 is anticipated by certain carpers here, increase 
the first cost of the animals, so as to drive us from the market. 
We propose, at first, confining ourselves to the Northern and 
Western States, only going to New Orleans and Galveston 
when driven there by prices being raised on us. 

‘ An extensive breeder in Illinois writes : ‘Good, 
sound horses can be had, of from fifteen to fifteen and a half 
hands, at from £15 to £20, and from fifteen and a half to 
sixteen and a half hands, from £18 to £25.’ He considers my 
estimate of £5 expenses to Norfolk should be reduced to £2. 
You will probably be against my proposition of breeding our 
most powerful thoroughbreds, with good, fair, square-trotting 
action, to your mares ; but it must be remembered that we have 


A FOREIGN MARKET. 95 


to suit the English taste. I know of some travelling sires, 
boasting the best blood in the world, who can manufacture 
stock ‘after their kind,’ which would work wonders with 
your best mares. I should like to see ‘* Vanderdecken,’ 
‘Make Haste,’ ‘Knight of the Garter,’ and others, mated 
with such mares as ‘Lulu,’ and their produce offered at 
Mattersai’s. << . .« 


“Your ob@lient servant, 
“WwW. A. Kerr, 


“ Captain, and formerly Commandant Southern Mahratta Horse. 


“ Hon. Gro. B. Lorine, Salem, Mass.” 


I have read this letter to show that there is a new mar- 
ket to be opened, and that the American horse is to enter 
into the commerce of the world. Good, strong American 
horses are coming into demand everywhere, and the English 
are looking to this country for their horses. We can, then, 
step forward, if we will, and enter into the commerce of the 
world, and supply England with her best cavalry and best 
driving horses. I read that simply as a tribute from an 
English breeder, and a man who knows something of what 
we are doing here. Your Morgans, and Messengers, and 
Hambletonians, and Patchens, and Morrills, are unequalled 
for general use, and the best experts throughout the world 
know it; and I am of opinion that nowhere in the United 
Kingdom can a supply of horses for all work be purchased 
with so much ease as they can be in many parts of the United 
States. 

Now, gentlemen, this is my opinion about the horse. I 
have bred my own horses, and drive them, and like them ; 
and I think it is in our power to raise what we want, if we 
will exercise good judgment, and that we are not compelled 
to rely upon accident or chance to reach a satisfactory con- 
clusion. We have it in our own hands. 


Adjourned to two o’clock. 


96 ‘BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 


AFTERNOON SESSION. 


The Board was called to order at two o’clock. Mr. Baker, 
of Marshfield, in the chair. 


BOWLDER ROCKS: THEIR PRQ@BABLE ORIGIN AND HISTORY, 
AND THEIR USE IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF DWELLINGS. 


BY DR. JAMES R. NICHOLS. 


GENTLEMEN :—I wish to say a word in a preliminary way 
regarding this lecture. I have to speak to you this after- 
noon under disadvantages which, I fear, will render the 
service unsatisfactory to you and to myself. I have not fully 
recovered from recent indisposition, and I have not been able 
to give the subject that careful consideration which one in- 
volving scientific statements and facts demands; and also, I 
have been prevented from writing out the lecture, as it was 
my intention to. do. Therefore, the hour must be spent 
in a familiar “talk” (for I can call it nothing else) upon 
bowlder rocks, their probable origin and history, and their 
use in the construction of dwellings. 

I have selected this subject because I am certain there 
exists among husbandmen a desire to know something of the 
history and nature of the rocky masses with which they are 
brought daily and hourly in contact in the cultivation of their 
fields ; and further, I desire to call attention to the desirability 
of using the bowlder rocks in the construction of buildings in 
the place of wood, which has been almost universally used in 
all parts of the country ever since its first settlement. 

Now, in relation to the origin of rocks, a consideration of 
this subject, of course, carries us back to a very remote 
period of time. It is sufficient for me to say, that rocks, like 
other inorganic substances upon our planet, have been at 
some time in their history in a volatilized condition. In 
fact, we may say that every rock and every mineral sub- 
stance upon our earth has existed in the form of vapor; and 
I think we may go still further, and say of rocks and all ele- 
mentary substances, that they have once existed in still more 


ORIGIN OF ROCKS. 97 


attenuated forms; for the new laws discovered by chemists 
recently as regards the doctrine of dissociation of bodies by 
heat, leads to the belief that these rocks have been evolved 
from some common primal matter, which pervades the whole 
vast universe, and of the nature of which we have no knowl- 
edge. It is singular that this view approximates those held 
by Lavoisier, the father of chemistry, nearly a century ago. 
This most sagacious philosopher and experimenter stated that 
it was possible that all matter might be resolved into only 
three forms,—oxygen, hydrogen and nitrogen ; and, certainly, 
I find the idea of great simplicity in the constitution of 
matter is gaining ground among modern chemists every day. 
The results of spectrum analysis go to prove the correctness . 
of this view. And here, let me say, that quite all we know 
of celestial chemistry results from researches made with 
that marvellous instrument, the spectroscope. We find from 
its revelations, that, in the chromosphere of the sun, there 
exist materials like those which exist upon our planet. But, 
in addition to the iron, calcium, magnesium, and a dozen 
other elements in the sun, we find there is another shown in 
the spectrum which is not recognized as belonging to any of 
the terrestrial elements. This is shown by a green line in the 
spectrum. When the spectroscope is directed to the fixed 
stars, we get some very interesting results; and the same 
may be said in regard to the nebule. It appears that the 
‘nebulous matter which is floating through space, is made up 
of only two elementary forms of matter, and those the most 
attenuated,—nitrogen and hydrogen. Now, if it is true that 
these nebulous masses which are floating in the interstellar 
spaces are the first beginnings of worlds, a difficulty presents 
itself, unless the large number of our terrestrial elements are 
capable of being evolved from the two or more revealed to us. 
A world, according to our notions, could not be perfect unless 
it held our sixty-five elements. If we apply the spectroscope 
to the fixed stars of different colors,—the white, the yellow, 
and the red,—we there find the history of worlds in their for- 
mative stage revealed in a most remarkable manner. The 
spectroscope applied to the light which comes from the dog- 
star, Sirius, which is a white star, proves that all elementary 
forms of matter existing there are the most attenuated. We 
13 


98 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 


find hydrogen predominating, and there are traces afforded of 
thirteen of the other elements known to us. Now, we want 
to carry our observations a little further, and apply the spec- 
troscope to the rays which come from Aldebaran, one of 
the yellow stars. In this star there exists a considerable 
amount of hydrogen, but we also find that the forms of matter 
have undergone a striking modification, and the number of 
metallic elements is largely increased. An advance is made 
in the stupendous progress which is to end in the formation 
of a world. If we carry the investigation another stage, and 
apply the spectroscope to the light of the red stars, still 
further progress is observable. We find an entire absence of 
hydrogen, nitrogen, and all those attenuated forms of matter 
in red stars and the metalloids appear, and also their com- 
pounds. It would appear that by a process of celestial 
chemistry, the complex is evolved from the simple forms of 
matter. First, the nebule, which is matter in a state of 
extreme attenuation; then the white stars, which have pro- 
gressed a single stage, and are the hottest; then the yellow 
stars, which are cooler and more progressed ; and, finally, the 
red stars, which are the coolest, and approximate nearer to 
the condition of our planet, than any of the others. I present 
these views very briefly, that you may obtain some idea of 
how, by successive steps, from matter in gaseous condition, 
under the influence of heat, solid bodies like rocks result 
from loss of temperature and condensation. 

Bowlder rocks are but the representatives of the mountain- 
rock masses ; and let me here define what is meant by “bowlder 
rocks.” The term used to be applied to that class of stones 
which are found in running streams and in the beds of rivers, 
rounded and polished by attrition; but it is more proper to 
apply the term to all rocks which are resting upon our farms 
“out of position,” no matter what may be the form or size. 
Almost every farm in New England has more or less of these 
bowlders, these detached masses of rock, torn from their beds, 
and resting out of their places. Over large tracts of country, 
where there are no bed rocks, no ledges or quarries, bowlder 
rocks are thickly strewn, and they are of various kinds, colors 
and forms, hardly any two masses being alike. 

Now, the question arises, From whence came these rocks, 


BOWLDERS AND METEORITES. 99 


and what is their history? Chemical examination discloses 
the fact that all rocks are remarkably simple in their composi- 
tion, and, in fact, simplicity is stamped upon everything in 
the air, the waters, and the solid framework of our planet. 

Half of the earth’s crust is formed of one single element, 
and a quarter of the remaining half is formed of one other 
element. There appears to our superficial observation great 
complexity in rocks as regards nature and composition, but 
in this we are mistaken. There are three distinct kinds of 
granite, but they are formed by holding in excess some one 
single ingredient. But I cannot dwell upon the chemistry of 
rocks. 

To return, we find, as I have said, these bowlders upon 
our farms, and we are forced to conclude that they belong to 
a class of rocks not indigenous to our localities ; and hence 
a natural desire is awakened to know something of their prob- 
able history. 

In some sections, intelligent farmers have traced bowlder 
rocks long distances, and found in situ the bed-rock from 
which they were taken. Geologists have often done this, 
and proved the identity of specimens transported many miles. 

We must admit, I think, that these loose rocks found upon 
our farms have been left in their present positions by some 
transporting agency exerting great force. They are a long 
way from home; they are strangers in our fields. How came 
they there? In the view of some farmers, they must have 
come from above,—rained down from the spaces over us. 
This cannot be so. It is true, there are rocks having a 
celestial origin; they are called meteorites. 

It is probable that accessions to the rock masses upon our 
earth have been made to the amount of several million tons 
of meteorites during the past ages, but they all have a distinct 
and peculiar character and composition. They are unlike our 
field rocks, and cannot be mistaken for them. I have in my 
hand a portion of a meteorite which is exceedingly interesting 
to us all, I trust. It is peculiar in its nature and history, and 
will well repay examination. In looking upon it, it is impos- 
sible to help asking, From whence came this rock? It isa 
fragment from the great Iowa meteor, which fell on the twelfth 
day of February last, and was sent to me by Prof. Irish of 


100 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 


Iowa City. There is so great interest attached to these celes- 
tial visitants, I know you will pardon me if I diverge a little | 
from the path I have marked out, to call your attention for a 
moment to this class of rocks. They may be designated as 
bowlder rocks, for they come to us in fragments, and they 
certainly are “out of position.” 

The meteorite from which this came was of immense size. 
It illuminated the whole State of Iowa, and part of the 
adjoining States of Missouri, Illinois and Wisconsin. In 
April and May last, while the farmers of Iowa County were 
cultivating their fields, about four hundred pounds of the 
fragments of this great stone were picked up, and they have 
been carefully studied. The weight of the entire mass prob- 
ably exceeded five thousand pounds; and it rushed through 
the atmosphere with great velocity, causing a rumbling sound 
like distant thunder. The number of fragments recovered, 
up to within a few weeks, is a little rising one hundred. The 
question arises, From whence came this stone, what is its his- 
tory, and what is its origin? The matter of which it is made 
up, corresponds to the elementary forms of matter which we 
find existing upon our earth. We do not find in a meteoric 
mass any new element; but their chemical constitution is 
peculiar, inasmuch as they always contain certain metals, as 
iron and nickel. It is highly probable that meteorites are 
fragments of exploded planets, although I know different 
views are held by scientific men upon the subject. It is also 
highly probable that the interplanetary spaces are filled with 
these fragments, most of which ultimately fall into the sun, 
and serve as fuel for that great central orb. 

These fragments hold regular orbits around the sun, in pre- 
cisely the same way as does our earth; and it is only when 
they come in contact with the upper strata of our atmosphere 
that they are made visible to us, and are attracted towards 
our planet. 

Now, in order that we may get some idea of the movements 
of these strange bodies, allow me to suppose that our own 
earth, by some great convulsion, should become disintegrated, 
—that it should burst into a very large number of pieces,— 
what would be the result? The fragments of our planet 
would move on, becoming more or less erratic in their 


THE EARTH IN FRAGMENTS. 101 


orbits; they would continue in their course around the sun, 
although subjected to the action of disturbing agencies greater 
than is our planet. The smaller portions would feel the dis- 
turbing influence first, and, moving inward, become entangled 
in that attenuated form of matter which exists in the inter- 
planetary spaces; for I suppose we must admit that, in the 
immense abyss above, there is a resisting medium. It used 
to be supposed that there was no resisting medium in space, 
but there is good evidence to the contrary. Modern science 
has shed much light upon this interesting question. 

Now, if fragments of our earth, of the least density, in 
their movements around the sun, should meet with resistance, 
their orbit would become changed, and the lighter particles 
would begin to form an orbit more erratic than the heavier 
ones,—those composed of the dense metals; consequently, 
the first specimens of our earth falling upon the planets 
would be made up of the lighter kinds of minerals, the 
substances forming the upper crust of our earth, and they 
would fall upon those planetary bodies which are inside of 
our orbit. They would gravitate towards Venus, that body 
having its orbit inside of that of our earth. If there are 
inhabitants upon that planet having mineralogical cabinets, 
a considerable number of years would elapse before they 
could place on exhibition specimens of our exploded earth 
representing its complete chemical and physical character. 
First would come to them the lighter fragments ; and then, in 
process of years, the heavier particles, the metalloids and 
metals. The gold and the platinum would be the last to 
reach them. We have received from exploded planets out- 
side of our orbit but comparatively few of the elementary 
principles known to us, and it is probable the list may not be 
much further increased for centuries. 

You will find in the Smithsonian Institute, at Washington, 
a very large and peculiarly-shaped meteorite; and a very 
remarkable collection is found in the British Museum, all 
arranged in perfect order, and by a perfect system. — 

The chemical analysis of the meteorite which I hold in my 
hand differs from that of others which have been examined, and 
it indicates that it belongs to the first instalment of those stones 
which may be expected to reach us in process of time from 


102 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 


the same source. It belongs to the “upper crust,” the lighter 
portion of the parent mass. It contains seven per cent. of 
iron, one-tenth of one per cent. of nickel, seventeen per cent. 
of calcium, forty-seven per cent. of silicon, and twenty-seven 
per cent. of ferrous oxide, or oxide of iron. It has been 
found that some of these celestial bodies contain as much as 
sixty per cent. of iron, showing that they belong to the denser 
portions of the planetary masses, which have become disrupted 
from some cause. 

It is an interesting fact that we do not find these meteorites 
to contain any new elements or forms of matter; that is, no 
elements not common to our earth are held by them, and this 
fact leads to the conclusion that throughout the universe there 
is unity of design in physical constitution, as well as in 
mechanical arrangement. Spectroscopic observation, it is 
true, in the green line of the spectrum of the sun’s light, indi- 
cates the existence of an unknown element; but it is probable, 
as has been intimated, that it may be the primary form of 
matter, from which all other forms are by some unknown 
celestial chemistry evolved. 

Of course, gentlemen, there is much of what I have said in 
relation to meteorites that is perhaps to be regarded as still 
within the domain of hypothesis; but there are strong evi- 
dences of the correctness of the statements notwithstanding. 
Pardon this diversion from the strict line of my topic in 
bringing the interesting subject briefly to your attention. 

I have already observed that the constitution of bowlder 
and all other rocks is very simple. There is a vast number 
of different minerals found in our cabinets, but they differ only 
in the proportions of a few elements, and in crystalline struct- 
ure. Granite predominates in the rocky framework of our 
globe, and consequently in the bowlders we find this class of 
rocks by far the most numerous. In the drift or bowlder 
rocks of this State, more than half are granitic in structure. 

Before passing to consider kinds of rocks, let me ask and 
briefly answer the question, What is the nature of a rock? 
Rock is dead inorganic matter,—burnt out material which is 
incapable of any change other than disintegration by chemical 
or physical causes. It is the coke remaining from the com- 
bustion of a world, to use another and perhaps not quite scien- 


ROCKS AS PLANT-FOOD. 103 


tific comparison. Rocks are bodies saturated with oxygen; 
and therefore are at rest. 

Plants differ from rocks in a wide degree; they are com- 
posed of matter in a state of unrest. They possess a princi- 
ple which is called vital force, and which leads to constant 
change until a state of maturity is reached, when, owing to 
the waning of the vital forces, the antagonistic chemical forces 
step in and produce decomposition and decay. A plant is 
under the protection of vital forces during the term of its life, 
and it has powers of resistance sufficient to keep at bay all 
oxidizing or chemical agencies, until the time comes when it 
must be resolved back to earth and air from which it came. 
Rocks by disintegration and chemical change become the food 
of plants; that is, the mineral elements are lifted as it were 
by the aid of vital force into the structure of plants, and they 
become integral portions of plants. They thus subserve a 
most important office,—dead, inert, and useless as they seem 
to be. They encumber our farms, mar the beauty of our 
fields, break our ploughs and harrows, and cover soils which 
might be devoted to wheat and corn; and we scold at their 
presence, but let us remember that it is from their hated 
masses that the very pabulum of our cereals is derived, that it 
is due to them that there is anything to cultivate in our fields. 

The kinds of rocks found in our fields in Massachusetts 
which belong to the drift period, are, as I have said, not 
numerous. Granite of different kinds and colors prevails 
most extensively; next come quartz, tale, gneiss, and the 
iron-stones. The latter are found to be quite numerous 
in the northern counties of the State. In these stones, sul- 
phide of iron forms a prominent ingredient, and when taken 
from the ground and exposed to the action of the air, chemi- 
eal change ensues, and oxide of iron is found upon the 
surface, giving to the stones a reddish hue. This form of 
rock is very undesirable for building purposes, and should be 
ayoided. The stone, when split open, affords to the inex- 
perienced no special evidence of the presence of iron, and in 
spite of the care exercised in the construction of my build- 
ings, several of these stones got in place in the walls, and 
already are covered with rust. Paint will be needed to pro- 
tect them from further action. 


104 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 


* In illustration of the singular variety and juxtaposition of 
rocks found upon my farm, I desire to call your attention to 
the two varieties which I hold in my hands. One is a frag- 
ment split from a bowlder weighing, perhaps, five tons, and 
is very nearly pure quartz; it is white and beautiful. The 
other is a granitic iron-stone, broken from another bowlder of 
equal weight, lying, perhaps, about two rods distant from the 
quartz bowlder. How different are those specimens physi- 
cally and chemically? I have here other specimens which 
more fully illustrate the dissimilarity in the bowlder rocks 
found at my farm. These rocks serve to impress upon our 
minds the conviction that they do not belong to any one 
locality, but have been brought from different, and in some 
cases distant, points, by an agency the nature of which we 
have no positive knowledge. Finding, as I have, specimens 
of talcose slate at the farm of a variety which is supposed 
to be peculiar to the mountains in northern New Hampshire, 
Iam led to ask, By what agency was this rock transported 
from those distant localities? It certainly could not have 
come by human hands. The same question may be asked of 
the granites, the quartz rocks, ete. From whence came they, 
and how? 

I have said that we have no positive knowledge of the 
method by which these rocks have been deposited upon 
our farms; but we do have very plausible and reasonable 
theories which, in a measure, satisfy our inquiries. These 
rocks afford evidence, not only that they have been broken 
from bed-rock at distant points, but also that they have been 
subjected to some grinding, polishing force, long continued. 
You observe upon this rock which I have in my hands grooy- 
ings and striations which could only be caused by its having 
been forced over another and harder rock, in some movement 
to which it has evidently been subjected. This stone I picked 
up on my hill, as it was thrown out of a trench by workmen, 
and is only one of hundreds I have found bearing similar 
markings. In the larger bowlders which are imbedded in the 
soil, I find these groovings to have determinate positions ; that 
is, the lines run for the most part in fixed directions, usually 
north and south, or perhaps north-east and south-west, show- 
ing that the movement in which the rocks were involved was 
from the north towards the south in general. 


THE GLACIER THEORY. 105 


You observe, further, that these bowlders have been nicely 
polished upon their surfaces, and the edges so ground down 
and rounded, that they resemble the stones we find upon sea- 
beaches which have been under the action of the waves for 
long periods of time. All these facts and appearances point 
to the action of water, or, more distinctly, to the action of 
ice and water. Now, as I find these rocks upon a hill one 
hundred and twenty-five feet high, or that height above the 
surface of Lake Kenoza, the question arises, How could water 
and ice reach that point to exert such extensive influences 
upon the hard surfaces of rocks? This inquiry leads to a 
brief consideration of a period in the history of our planet 
known as the great Ice Age, which is supposed to have existed 
during a portion of the post-tertiary period. 

Assuming that the bowlder rocks upon my farm, and upon 
your farms, gentlemen, haye been brought by the agency of 
ice to their present positions, let us inquire as to the area 
over which this movement extended. 

If we look over the map of the United States, and survey 
all that immense extent of country north of the line of 40°, 
we obtain some idea of the magnitude of this movement, so 
far as North America is concerned. The area covered by 
drift includes the whole of New England, New York, Penn- 
sylvania, Ohio, and some of the Western States. All over 
this section we find these bowlder rocks, and in association, 
we find immense deposits of gravel, slate, sand and clay, 
all mingled in a homogeneous mixture, with the exception of 
the blue clay, which usually forms a distinct layer. A theory 
formerly prevailed, and is even now entertained by some 
geologists, that this portion of our country has been sub- 
merged; that the sea, or salt water, covered the whole of 
this vast area in a comparatively recent geological period ; 
and that floating icebergs, coming from the north, were 
the carriers of these stones, gravel, etc. It is undoubtedly 
true that icebergs are capable of transporting stones, and do 
transport them long distances in our own period, but this the- 
ory does not account for all the observed facts. There are 
certainly a great number of difficulties in the way of the 
adoption of this hypothesis. In the first place, there is not 
evidence sufficient to prove that the New England States, or 

14 


106 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 


any of the Northern States, have been covered with salt: water 
since their upheaval, or certainly not since the post-tertiary 
period. We find no marine shells, or ancient beaches, no 
evidence of the existence of cretaceous deposits, in any of the 
northern sections of our country. If seas had prevailed here, 
these evidences of the fact would most certainly appear. 
What is known as the glacial theory, much more satisfactorily 
clears up the mystery, and sheds light upon the interesting 
problem. It is supposed that in a remote epoch of the earth’s 
history, the whole northern section of our country was covered 
with a vast sheet of ice; that this icy covering moved down 
from the north in accordance with the laws governing the 
movements of glaciers, and brought along with it the vast 
accumulations of bowlders and drift material which we find 
everywhere deposited. 

If this be true, curiosity may lead you to inquire how far 
these materials have been transported, and how long the ice 
continued. The first question can be answered approximately, 
the second rests upon hypothesis. Observed facts show that 
some of these materials have been transported ten, twenty, 
fifty, and in some cases, one hundred and fifty miles. I have 
before alluded to this point, and will not dwell upon it longer. 
It is supposed the ice-covering continued through a period of 
at least one hundred thousand years, and that it commenced 
about two hundred thousand years ago. This is, however, 
pure speculation. Now, this sheet of ice must have been of 
immense thickness, for it has left evidence upon the sides of 
our mountains of this fact. 

Prof. Dana says that it could not have been less than 
five thousand feet in thickness in the more northern portions 
of New England; and in the southern portions, it was prob- 
ably two thousand feet. There are certain facts which lead 
us to believe that this view is correct, for the ice must have 
covered very nearly the whole of the mountain regions of New 
Hampshire. Only about one thousand feet of Mount Wash- 
ington was left uncovered ; and the whole of Monadnock, and 
the Green Mountains of Vermont, were hidden by the ice. 
The same may be said of the mountains in the western part 
of Massachusetts, and those in the Adirondack region. 

Whenever, gentlemen, you visit Monadnock, a mountain 


MOVEMENT OF GLACIERS. 107 


which is quite within the field of vision from these hills 
around this city, you will find, upon the northern and north- 
eastern sides of it, evidence that it has been subject to very 
severe ice action. It has been torn, and bruised, and scored 
by the action of moving ice; and you will find the same thing 
true, to a considerable extent, in the New Hampshire range 
of mountains. You will find that their rocky sides, at eleva- 
tions of a thousand, two thousand, and five thousand feet 
above the valleys, afford evidence of rough usage from this 
descending mass of ice. At this stage of our remarks, you 
very naturally inquire, How came this frigid condition to pre- 
vail at this particular epoch in the history of our planet? To 
attempt to answer this question, would lead me into a field of 
speculation, in which we might wander for a great length of 
time. Some most ingenious and plausible theories have been 
advanced to account for the great reign of ice, but I have not 
time to present them for your consideration this afternoon. 
I will simply remark that evidence is afforded that there has 
been more than one glacial period, and that another is not 
improbable ; but the time for it to commence is so remote, I 
think we may venture to plant our corn as usual, without 
fear of having to dig for the crop through a covering of ice. 
The moving of glaciers is a puzzle to many, and therefore 
I will briefly allude to this point The motion of the great 
northern glacier which brought to us the bowlder rocks was 
probably exceedingly slow. It moved down from the north, 
taking our valleys and river-courses in its path, and so great 
was the propulsive force, that it glided over the hills and 
lesser mountains without difficulty ; nothing could obstruct its 
onward flow. We get avery correct idea of the movements 
of ice from a study of the glaciers which exist in Switzerland 
at the present time. I suppose it may be a novel statement 
to some, when I tell you, that at the present time, more than 
1,500 square miles of Swiss territory are covered perpetually 
with ice, and the whole of the land north of the lower quarter- 
section of Greenland is also covered continually with solid ice 
masses. The same conditions exists in Greenland to-day, as 
far as glacial action is concerned, that existed here thousands 
sof years ago. Now, if we have glaciers existing at the present 
day, and if we study their action, we must obtain some facts, 


108 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 


some knowledge as to their movements and laws, which will 
throw much light upon the subject. | 

But it is not necessary for us to go to Greenland or Swit- 
zerland to study glacial action, for we have glaciers in our 
own country. They are found in the northern part of Cali- 
fornia; we have them existing upon the sides of Mount 
Shasta, which rises to the great altitude of 14,000 feet. We 
also have them in Colorado; and there we find one of the 
most remarkable exhibitions of the erosive action of ice 
which can be found upon our globe. According to the 
report of the United States Surveying Expedition, under 
Lieut. Davis, he discovered a vast channel in the side of 
one of the Colorado mountains, which the ice had cut down 
through solid rock. The walls upon either side are more 
than one thousand feet deep, and they extend down nine 
thousand feet into the valley below. 

It is, however, in Switzerland that ice movement has been 
systematically and fully studied. Prior to 1827, there was 
but very little known regarding the motions of glaciers. 
During this year, observations were made in Switzerland 
which proved conclusively that these masses of ice which 
extend up from the valleys on to the mountains were in a 
state of constant motion. If you start from the little town of 
Meyringen and go up the Hassli Valley, following the Aar 
River, you soon come to the Handeck Falls. At this point, 
by turning to the right, you will reach a glacier which pos- 
sesses very great interest. It is the one upon which the first 
observations were made by any competent observer. Three 
years ago, I followed this route to reach the glacier. In 
1827, a French savant visited this glacier, and erected upon 
it a little hamlet, and resided there and made observations 
continuing through several months; and when he left it, it 
was not visited again until ¥830. When Prof. Agassiz first 
began his studies, he went up through this valley and reached 
the glacier, in 1830. He found that, from 1827 to 1830, the 
little hamlet had moved 327 feet down towards the valley. 
Ten years later, in 1840, the same structure had moved 4,000 
feet. This proved conclusively that glaciers moved, and 
experiments were undertaken, by Agassiz and others, te 
ascertain the rate of motion; and the devices for obtaining 


GLACIERS OF SWITZERLAND. 109 


this knowledge are now so perfect and delicate that it is not 
necessary to wait a year to prove that a glacier moves. By 
the use of a theodolite, and other modern appliances, you can 
ascertain the distance which a glacier moves in a single day, 
—yes, in a single hour. They move with different degrees 
of rapidity ; they move as a river moves in its channel. 

In two visits to the glaciers of Switzerland, I have had 
opportunities of observing this most interesting phenomenon 
of ice movement, and I know of nothing upon our earth that 
awakens in the mind a greater degree of awe and solemnity 
than these great glaciers.. As you walk upon the sea of ice, 
the cold, the solitude, the absence of all life and vegetation, 
the deep silence which reigns,—only when those deep, deto- 
nating noises are heard echoing among the rocks, which pro- 
ceed from falling masses of ice, or from the cracking of the 
main body,—all these awaken in the mind a high degree of 
awe, and almost of terror. The motion of a glacier is greater 
in the centre than it is upon the sides. If a line of stakes is. 
placed across a glacier, we find that the rate of travel in the 
centre is more than double that upon either side. The ice- 
stream obeys the same laws in descending from a high alti- 
tude to a plain that water does, and it is held in check and 
diverted from its course in the same way. Vast quantities of 
rocks, pebbles, sand, ete., are brought along and piled up by 
the sides of the glacier, or at the point where it terminates in 
the valley. These deposits are called moraines, and are often 
of great extent, forming high hills and ridges. It is probable 
that some of you have visited the great glacier which descends 
from Mont Blanc into the Valley of Chamouni, in Switzer- 
land, and observed the terminal moraine formed at the point 
where the ice melts as fast as it descends. ‘This is an inter- 
esting object, and illustrates forcibly the great power of ice 
action. Embedded in this moraine are seen huge bowlder 
rocks, which have been detached from the surface of the 
mountain thousands of feet above the valley, and slowly 
brought down and deposited by the melting of the ice. In 
this way it is probable the bowlder rocks upon our farms 
have been transported from distant points. Slowly, through 
the long ages of the post-tertiary period, they moved down 
from the north, embedded in the thick ice, and, by being 


110 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 


forced over other rocks, and ultimately coming under the 
action of water, as the ice melted, they have been rounded 
and polished, many of them, in a remarkable manner. We 
find ancient moraines existing all over the Northern States ; 
and there is good reason for believing that the long ridge of 
hills, upon one of which I have placed my stone buildings, in 
the rear of this city, is an ancient moraine. The nature of the 
deposits, and the formation and arrangement of the hills, 
leads to this conclusion. There were no lateral or medial 
moraines formed during the glacial epoch,—only terminal 
moraines ; and such, of course, is the one to which I have 
alluded. 

Now, gentlemen, from the statements and facts which I have 
most imperfectly and briefly presented, some idea may be 
obtained of the probable origin and history of our bowlder 
rocks. There is no other theory which will satisfactorily 
account for their presence but the one presented, and we 
may regard it as true until a better one is brought to notice, 
—one more in consonance with observed facts around us. 
This knowledge cannot but help to increase our interest in 
these stranger rocks, and lead, not only to their further study, 
but also to the study of our soils, so intimately connected 
with them. 

Now, allow me to call your attention to another point ; and 
that is, the utilization of these rocks in the construction of 
buildings. I have long felt that they could be more generally 
used, without involving too much cost, especially by farmers, 
who have them in so great abundance within easy reach. So 
confident had I become, that in neglecting the use of these 
rocks for building purposes we were committing a grave 
mistake, I determined to test the matter by practical experi- 
ment. As I have before said, the structures which I erected, 
consisting of a large dwelling-house and stable, designed for 
a summer residence, involved the employment of more than 
thirty-five thousand cubic feet of bowlders, all of which were 
taken from the surface of the hill upon which the buildings 
stand. The area covered by the rocks, before their removal, 
is about four acres, and so sparsely were they dispersed over 
the field, that they were not regarded as a serious detriment to 
its uses as a pasture. The quantity of rocks which a field will 


CONSTRUCTION OF STONE BUILDINGS. 111 


supply can only be understood by those who engage in their 
removal. No one having land, moderately rocky, need fear 
a want of supply in any uses for which he may need them, if 
the undertaking is of reasonable magnitude. I am fully satis- 
fied with my experiment, both as “ae the elegance and the 
cost of the structures. As fe ee arial, I know of none 
more beautiful or desirable, and when we take into account 
durability and exemption from repairs, we are forced to 
regard these rocks with favor. It is, indeed, a pity our fore- 
fathers, in erecting farm-buildings, treated them with neglect. 
If stone had been used instead of perishable wood, how many 
antique and interesting cottages and barns would line the 
roadways throughout New England. The country, instead of 
presenting a desolate and uninviting appearance, would be 
full of ancestral homes, most of which would be warm and 
habitable. Old England is dotted all over with these stone 
buildings, many of which are, of course, most humble and 
unpretentious, but still, they are interesting from their 
antiquity and family histories. Every structure here in the 
country is perishable; our buildings of wood are built for 
to-day, and scarcely last through one generation. What 
sight is more melancholy and dispiriting than the old tumble- 
down, wooden farm-houses which are seen by every road- 
side in the country? No wonder the sons of our husbandmen 
flee from them to the cities; they convey to the mind of youth 
no emotions of home, no symbols of thrift or permanency. 
It is natural to flee from dilapidation, decay and ruin. It 
seems to me that in the erection of more permanent homes 
lies the hope of New England husbandry. What we need to 
retain our boys upon the farm is, more attractive surround- 
ings; indubitable evidences that there is something solid and 
enduring and comfortable in farm life; and also, it is impor- 
tant that there should be evidence afforded to the minds of 
youth, that expenses for repairs of homestead buildings will 
not eat up the prospective profits of the farms. Why, if a 
son succeeds his father upon a farm, and the buildings are of 
wood, and kept tidy and attractive with paint, the cost of 
painting, once in four or five years, will exceed the amount 
of taxes, state, town and county. This is an item not lost 
sight of when a young man decides to abandon the paternal 


112 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 


estates. The risk from fire is also to be considered, and also 
the rates of insurance. 

As regards cost of construction, I may say that any farmer 
in Massachusetts can build of bowlder stones cheaper than of 
wood, provided he has the stones convenient of access, and 
possesses a fair share of perseverance and skill. In case 
any of you, gentlemen, desire to replace your wooden build- 
ings with stone, I would advise you to move in the matter 
leisurely. Take time for the work, and do a large share of it 
yourselves. The expense of the mason-work proper is but a 
small proportion of the cost, and this, with the inside finish 
of wood, which may be as plain as is desired, is about all 
that will require a direct outlay of money. The outside 
material costs you nothing; the lime and cement are not 
expensive at the present time ; and, so I say, for a less expend- 
iture of money, more comfortable and tasty dwellings and out- 
buildings of stone can be erected than of any other material. 
The labor can be performed in the winter months, and it 
should be understood that it is not necessary to hammer or 
form faces upon the bowlders, in order to secure beauty of 
design or finish. The stones taken from the fields and placed 
in walls, with very little hammering, give most pleasing 
results. Of this description is the new and beautiful dwell- 
ing erected recently by Mr. Mitchell (Ike Marvel) at New 
Haven. The round bowlders are placed in the walls without 
a hammer being allowed to touch them, and the effect is very 
fine. If split bowlders are desired, you can do your own 
splitting, and not only that, but you can make your own tools, 
drills, wedges, etc. 

For about twenty-five dollars you can buy a portable forge, 
—and, by the way, it is an implement which every farmer 
should have,—and with this you can make the steel tools 
required, and temper and sharpen them when dull. I speak 
in this matter from experience, and therefore I speak confi- 
dently. 

There exists a prejudice with some against stone structures, 
on the ground that they are cold and damp. This objection I 
have found to be groundless. I left my buildings last winter, 
freshly constructed as they were, without artificial heat, and 
I found no evidence of moisture, not a single door in the 


BOWLDERS ALONG THE COAST. 113 


buildings or any of the finish was affected by moisture, and 
during the past summer’s residence there the objection was 
not observed. 

In the construction of stone buildings, it is important that 
an air-space at least four inches in depth should be arranged 
between the wall and the ceiling, and with this the air within 
is uniformly dry and comfortable. 

I hope, gentlemen, I have not wearied you with this topic. 
I have endeavored to group together in popular form, some 
of the facts and principles of modern geological and chemical 
science which have a bearing upon the history of bowlder 
rocks, and if I have excited so much interest in the subject 
as to lead you to make further investigations, one of the 
objects had in view will be attained. Perhaps we may learn, 
from what has been stated, that the most common objects 
found upon our farms have a history full of interest, and 
that no substance with which we are brought in contact in 
our daily labor is unworthy of our attention and study. 


Mr. Vincent, of Edgartown. More than a half century 
since, I heard it stated that there was a bowlder on the north- 
westerly side of Martha’s Vineyard, which, it was said, had 
its counterpart on the main land. It was affirmed, that, 
having evidently been split off from some other portion of 
rock, no such portion was to be found in the vicinity ; but 
that, upon examination, the split side corresponded exactly 
with one side of the rock referred to on the main land, both 
as to size and shape. I heard it from very respectable gentle- 
men; but, never having seen and compared the two myself, 
of course I cannot vouch for the reality. Science might 
profit from a substantiation of the alleged fact, as it would 
furnish an unmistakable evidence of the glacial theory, taken 
in eonnection with supposed as well as known changes along 
the coast of Massachusetts, caused by the wear of the ocean 
by force of winds and tides. 

I assume that this island, with some smaller neighboring 
islands, was a part of the main Jand; that it probably became 
separated from it first by the water obtaining a narrow run 
through some of the lower parts of the land, which run of 
water in time grew by the action of the known powerful tide 

15 


114 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 


and the waves setting through there, to its present width of 
about four miles, bearing on its bosom a large part of the 
freights of the nation. In evidence of the reasonableness of 
this theory, are the facts, first, that on either side of this 
Sound the shore-line is bordered by high cliffs, peering up at 
an angle of forty-five degrees, and which, on the Vineyard 
side, I am sure, have been very considerably worn and washed 
away within the memory of man, insomuch that lighthouses 
on those highlands have had to be removed further inland 
from the frittering edges of those cliffs. Then, the large 
shoals, far down east from the Sound, show where much of 
the sand washed out may have gone. 

All this being so, it is easy to concede that, in some great 
glacial movement two hundred thousand years ago, or more, 
which would naturally be from a northward to a southerly direc- 
tion, this portion of rock,—split off by the movement when full 
of frost,—being attached to the immense mass of drift, was car- 
ried to its alleged location. It may be objected, that this 
part of the rock being on quite elevated land, it would not be 
likely to be deposited there. But the part was declared to be 
a bowlder, and as such, the question is, How did it come 
there? Besides, the land itself on that part of the island 
may have been, and probably was, in the long past, an 
upheaval, to some extent. This view is, at least, inferable 
from the fact, that, in the cliffs of Gay Head, which are on the 
same side of the island at the extreme west, and but a few 
miles from the alleged location of the bowlder, are marine 
fossils frequently making their appearance far up,—say from 
fifty to a hundred feet above the sea,—showing unmistakably 
those headlands to have been an upheaval. Finally, even 
though this rock has not its other part, as held, anywhere, it 
is said to be a bowlder, and, as such, the question recurs, 
How did it come there? 


The Board then took up the subject of Vegetable Culture 
and Market-Gardening, and Mr. Hapwen, of Worcester, was 
called upon to open the discussion. 


ASPARAGUS FOR MARKET. 115 


VEGETABLE CULTURE AND MARKET-GARDENING. 


Mr. O. B. Hapwen, of Worcester. I am entirely unpre- 
pared to open so important a subject. If any gentleman will 
name any vegetable for cultivation, I will give what facts I 
know in relation to its cultivation in a very concise way. 

Asparagus.—The cultivation of asparagus, which, perhaps, 
those living in the immediate vicinity of cities and large towns 
are more or less engaged in, is one of well-known importance. 
There are many ways in which asparagus has been success- 
fully grown. I have grown it for about thirty years as a. 
market vegetable. I have raised it from the seed, and it still 
remains in the bed where it was originally planted. Perhaps 
it is unnecessary to state that the ground should be made rich 
in the commencement, and continued rich throughout the 
after-years of its growth. My practice formerly was to sow 
asparagus in rows, some two feet and a half apart, after 
enriching the ground, thinning out the plants to about eight 
inches in the row. It has been my practice to top-dress the 
bed with well-decomposed manure every spring, and the con- 
stant accumulation by the top-dressing (sometimes putting 
on sand, if on clay soil) is congenial to the growth of the 
‘ asparagus, and you will get good returns. Asparagus is a 
crop which remains in the ground for a long time. My bed, 
which has been planted for about thirty years, was never 
more productive than the last season. I have younger beds, 
but I find I get the largest stalks from the old ones. Itisa 
vegetable which we all know something of. As an old farmer 
once said, “It is like pork in the cellar to have a good bed of 
asparagus.” It is the earliest vegetable we have, and always 
satisfactory on the table. I would state further, that the bug, 
which is found very troublesome in some sections, I have had 
no experience with. 

Mr. CHEEvER. I would like to ask the best way of treat- 
ing asparagus in the fall, before the tops naturally die, while 
it is maturing its seed? Whether to mow early, before the 
crop is matured, and remove the tops, or let it take its natural 
-course,—let the seeds drop and come up the next year as 
weeds? What is the practice of the best cultivators? I 
would like to have that question unswered, if it can be. 


116 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 


Mr. SuapE. The gentleman puts his question in such a 
way as would prevent me from answering. He wants the 
opinion of “the best cultivators.” I do not profess to be 
among the best cultivators of asparagus, or anything else, 
as to that matter. I grow some asparagus, and in regard to 
the question, what is the best disposition to make of it in the 
fall, I would say, that I mow mine and burn the tops on the 
beds, and when it is convenient, I top-dress, and work in the 
manure with the cultivator or plough. 

Mr. CuEEver. At what time in its growth, if you please? 

Mr. Stave. About the time that it gets through growing ; 
about the time of the appearance of frost. In cultivating 
asparagus, I have been troubled more or less, as we all are 
in our section of the State, with the beetle, or fly, or whatever 
it is, that eats the tops, and we have to keep it off. “Ido 
it in various ways. I.usually, at the season of the year 
when they are most prevalent, have a little broom, with a 
handle about three feet long, and go along between the rows, 
and just brush the tops (I can go over an acre in about an 
hour), and then follow with the cultivator immediately. I 
do not claim that this destroys the injurious insects, but I do 
claim that it obstructs them in their work very much; it keeps 
them back for a long while. And at the same time that you 
are doing this, you will find that there are slugs on the 
branches of the asparagus, all ready to hatch and eat, and 
you knock those off, and of course destroy that coming pest. 
In that way I manage to keep them off. I did so this season, 
until about the last of August or first of September, when 
they rather got the advantage of me, as I thought. I brushed 
them a few times, but still the tops died. They ate them 
down. And to be certain to get rid of them, about the 
middle of September I mowed the bed, cut it close to the 
ground, the whole of it, put the tops in winrows, and as 
soon as they were dry enough, burned them and destroyed 
everything. That I have done heretofore, but never so late 
in the season. I have done it about the last of July, for two 
years certainly, which I think had a very beneficial effect in 
destroying the insect. I did it in the year 1873, and in the 
year 1874, I was not troubled at all with them. The next year, 
this last year, I was troubled to this extent of which I speak. 


SALT FOR ASPARAGUS. 18 by 


I do not claim to be among the best cultivators of aspara- 
gus, but I know there are gentlemen present who raise it 
very successfully, and I would like to hear from them on one 
or two points. I would like to know how they treat the > 
insect; and I would like to know if they are troubled with 
this sort of spiral growth, which, although not very common, 
prevails to a certain extent. It is something that I cannot 
account for. At one time, I supposed that it was owing to a 
grub eating the shoot under the surface of the soil, when it 
first started; but, on examination, I never could find any- 
thing that satisfied me that that was the cause. I did not 
know but it might be owing to the nature of the manure, or 
to the fact that there was too much clay in the soil, as I sup- 
pose there is in the soil which I use to grow asparagus ; but 
I find, by talking with other cultivators in our vicinity (Mr. 
Paul, of Dighton, for instance, who is here), that they were 
somewhat troubled in the same way, on sandy soil. If any 
one present can answer these questions, he shall receive my 
thanks. 

Mr. Harcoop. I have a bed of asparagus in my garden, 
and I have noticed, occasionally, a shoot coming up in the 
spiral form to which Mr. Slade refers. I have always sup- 
posed that that was caused by want of care in dressing the 
bed. Mine is a small bed, and I use a fork to work in the 
manure; and when I do it myself, I do it as carefully as I 
can. But I find that a prong of the fork frequently strikes 
the crown of a plant (which, as you know, is of considerable 
breadth, under ground), and I always thought that was the 
cause of its growing in that form. 

Mr. Dwieut, of Dudley. I would like to inquire of Mr. 
Slade if he ever puts any salt or brine on the bed? 

Mr. Suave. Yes, sir, I have done so. I have used forty 
bushels, I think, on a quarter of an acre this last year. I 
put it on in August. Not that I really supposed that the 
health or growth of the plant needed it; but I used it because 
I supposed it would have a tendency to keep down the weeds, 
which I think it does. I am not certain in regard to the 
application of salt to asparagus. It is usually considered a 
marine plant, because it has been found on salt-water beaches, 
where it is washed by the water, growing in a natural state. 


118 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 


But it is also found inland, growing in a natural state, 
wherever the seeds may be carried and dropped by birds. 
So that it would seem that there is no truth in the theory 
that it is a marine plant, or that it requires salt. I have 
made three applications of salt to my asparagus since I began 
to grow it, and I have never been able to discover that it 
made any difference in its growth—whether it made it any 
larger, or whether it retarded its growth at all. I think, and 
have always thought, that, on the whole, it was as well not 
to use it. It may be beneficial in killing weeds, but of course 
the temperature of the soil is reduced by the application of 
salt (at least, so it seems to me), and consequently it makes 
the plants later. The early asparagus is what we are after, 
and I would not recommend anything that will lower the 
temperature of the soil or keep the plant back, which I think 
the application of salt will do. 

Mr. Cuerver. If this asparagus question is settled, I 
. would like to ask one other. I intended to have brought 
some potatoes here to show; but in the temperature in which 
we came they would have been frozen potatoes when they got 
here. There is a great deal of complaint all through the 
country, as far as I know, of scabby potatoes, which is 
attributed to various causes; but I have never yet found 
many intelligent people who were sure that they knew what 
caused it. But if any one can tell the cause, or give any 
clue by which we can learn it, and the preventive, I think 
it will be a great help. I presume this is something that 
potato-growers all understand without specimens being shown 
them. 

Dr. Nicuots. I want to ask Mr. Slade if there is more 
than one variety of asparagus? 

Mr. Suave. I give only my opinion, from having culti- 
vated what was said to be a second variety. My idea is that 
there is only one variety. The difference is made by culture. 

Dr. Nicnots. You get those large specimens by cultiva- 
tion? 

Mr. SuapDE. Yes, sir. 

Mr. Paut. I would say one word in regard to that. 
When I set out my first bed of asparagus, I had two va- 
rieties ; that is, I purchased one variety in Boston, raised in 


MOWING OF ASPARAGUS. 119 


Townsend, I think, and the other came from Connecticut, 
which professedly was “Conover’s Colossal.” I sowed them 
in the same field, and gave them the same cultivation. I 
don’t know whether the “Colossal” was larger or smaller 
than the other, but it has not produced plants half the size 
of the other, purchased in Boston. 

A question was asked by Mr. Cheever in regard to mow- 
ing asparagus. That is a point upon which I wished to get 
information when I came here. I have inquired, and have not 
been able to learn all I wished to in regard to that. The 
second year after the plants were set, I let the seed mature, 
having gathered the impression from some source that it 
would be an injury to mow the plant. The seed remained 
upon the branches and finally dropped, and the next year 
they vegetated and grew; and, for myself, I should about as 
lief take a piece of sward land and attempt to hoe it with- 
out ploughing as to hoe my asparagus field the year follow- 
ing. It certainly would not pay me to cultivate asparagus 
if I must let the seed mature. A man who raised asparagus 
years ago, and successfully, I suppose, having seen my field 
mowed every year succeeding that, told me I missed it by 
doing that, because there would be bleeding of the stalks in 
consequence of the mowing. I replied that I could wait until 
after the frost had killed the stalks and prevent any injury. 
But he referred to a fact in his own experience, and said there 
was an injury, because in one instance he mowed one portion 
of his field, and the following year there was a small crop on 
that part, while on the other part the crop was as large as 
usual. I wish to know, from those who have had experience, 
whether it is safe and proper to mow the tops. 

Mr. WETHERELL. In regard to the question asked by Mr. 
Cheever, I will state that a farmer in Kingston, in this State, 
sent me, in the month of September, a potato in the condition 
which he describes, saying that it had long been a mystery 
what the cause of that condition of the potato was. The 
person sending it in that “scabby condition,” presented with 
it an angle-worm or earth-worm, that was in the potato at 
the time he discovered it, and was still in the potato at work 
when it was received. It had been to this person who sent 
the potato, as to the gentleman who made the inquiry, and 


120 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 


as he says, with others, a query what produced this condition 
of the potato; and the conclusion arrived at was, that it was 
the earth-worm, which, it has often been said, is perfectly 
harmless to the farmer, and not only harmless, but beneficial, 
as a means by which the aeration of the soil is promoted. It 
seems, however, that the earth-worm is one cause—whether it 
is the only cause or not, I cannot say—of the scabbiness of 
the potato. Iam sure it was in this case; and it was a good 
specimen of the scabbiness to which our friend has referred. 
Whether there are other agencies producing similar effects, 
Iam not able to say. Perhaps others have had observation 
and experience on that point. I should not have stated this 
fact, had it not come under my own observation. I do not 
doubt that the potato is more or less perfect according to the 
conditions under which it is grown. An unfavorable condi- 
tion may be favorable to the working of these worms upon the 
surface ; but the condition of the soil being good and adapted 
to the growth of the tuber, I do not doubt is favorable to the 
propagation of healthy tubers, such as every farmer seeks to 
grow. 

While alluding to this subject, I will add one other word. 
A farmer said a few days ago, “One great defect of farmers 
in growing the potato, is, that they do not take care to get 
choice varieties, and then to apply the best culture, and hav- 
ing done that, then to seek the right market to sell those 
potatoes.” He told me he had no difficulty in selling all the 
potatoes he had to spare for a dollar a bushel, and those who 
purchased them would willingly continue to pay that price, if 
he could have continued the supply. He said to me that 
one defect among our farmers, was, that they did not take 
care to grow good things under favorable conditions. If he 
could sell all the potatoes he could furnish for a dollar a bushel, 
from a town in Middlesex County, he said he did not see why 
other farmers should be selling theirs for forty, forty-five and 
fifty cents a bushel. 

Mr. CueEever. About how long was this angle-worm? 

Mr. WETHERELL. Not very large. It was rather small; 
but evidently, from examination, in the growing state of the 
earth-worm. 

Mr. CHEEvER. One, two, three or four inches? 


SCABBINESS OF POTATOES. 121 


Mr. WerTHERELL. I did not measure it, but I should 
judge about two or three inches. 

Mr. CueEver. How deep in the potato was the worm? 

Mr. WeTHERELL. Not very deep; partly upon the sur- 
face. About the depth of the thickness of the worm, which 
was, perhaps, nearly a sixteenth of an inch. 

Mr. CurEver. How could an angle-worm, three inches 
long and of proportionate size, keep inside of a potato in a 
hole only an eighth of an inch deep? 

Mr. WETHERELL. It was working along under the skin 
of the potato. I do not know how it kept itself there. I did 
not examine particularly to ascertain how it kept itself there, 
but the fact was before my eyes. President Allen, of the 
Agricultural College of Maine, says that lime put in the hill 
is a very good specific. 

Mr. Paut. On one occasion, in examining carefully some 
potatoes that were in the condition spoken of, I discovered 
a very small white maggot, closely resembling the maggot of 
the common house-fly, but so minute as to be scarcely visible 
to the naked eye. From the position of this worm, I became 
satisfied that it was the cause of the scabby appearance. In 
conversation with several persons since, I have not found any 
one who has observed the same thing. I feel confident that 
the cause of this trouble is not the angle-worm. My impres- 
sion is, that during the period of growth, this worm punctures 
the skin, and, in its growth, the skin opens, leaving that 
appearance of scabbiness upon the surface. Probably an 
examination by the microscope at the time of growth would 
show that fact, if it is so. In regard to the remedy, I am 
quite confident that the use of fish-manure, fish-pomace or 
fish-refuse in the hill—used carefully, so as not to injure the 
germination of the potato—would be a remedy. At least, 
whenever I have used it, as I have done several times during 
a period of eight or ten years, I have never known my pota- 
toes to be affected in the way that has been described; and 
feeling confident that it was a remedy, I have inquired of 
a number who have used it, and I have never heard of any 
one who used it who had this scabbiness on his potatoes. It 
is my impression, therefore, that it is a specific. 

President ALLEN, of Orono, Me. I merely made the sug- 

15 


122 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 


gestion that down in Maine we use lime with good effect as 
a remedy for scabbiness. We do not cultivate sufficiently 
or manure sufficiently, oftentimes, to cause scabbiness, but 
when we undertake to raise potatoes in our gardens, which 
are thoroughly manured and dressed, it is frequently the case 
that they become scabby; and from personal observation in 
my own garden, I have found the best remedy is to put a 
little unslacked lime into the hill when they are planted, and 
its effect is good. It does not hurt the seed. If it slacks 
there, it warms up the potato, and causes it to sprout quicker. 
I suppose this destroys the insects in the hill. I do not know 
that the angle-worm has anything to do with occasioning this 
scabbiness. Ifa potato is scabby, the angle-worm might find 
its refuge in that scabby locality, but I think it is smaller 
insects, not worms, which occasion the scabbiness. 

Mr. Brown. I do not know that I can offer anything that 
will enlighten or instruct any one here. I have tried my hand 
at growing potatoes; I have raised all the kinds I could find, 
have paid big prices, and was willing to do it; have tried all 
modes of cultivation I could hear of; and I must say, that I 
have made very little progress in the matter. I can throw 
but very little light upon the subject. 

In regard to this matter of scabbiness, I am pretty much 
convinced that it is caused by an insect, but I cannot point it 
out. The worst case I ever saw was this year, in some pota- 
toes grown on the spot where an old building stood in front 
of my barns, which was torn down more than thirty years 
since. There was not a decent-looking potato ia the lot. 
They were the most perfect specimens of scabby potatoes I 
ever saw. There was very little manure used, and the pota- 
toes were small also. I could not lay it to the angle-worm 
at all. Angle-worms may bite the potato a little; but it is 
not a very tempting morsel to any sort of worm, I take it. 
I doubt if angle-worms could produce the scabby potatoes. 
I have been troubled with them only where the land is culti- 
vated a great many years. In my field-land I have never 
seen any scabby potatoes. 

Near my buildings, I ploughed a piece, and planted it with 
potatoes,—it was near where an old house stood,—and I got 
twenty or thirty bushels, and there was not a respectable- 


ENEMIES OF THE POTATO. 123 


looking potato among them. But if you will plant them 
away from buildings, you will have no trouble from scabby 
potatoes. Whatever may be the cause, it is easy enough to 
get rid of it. There are many worse things than scabbi- 
ness, I have no doubt. Probably no végetable is so foully 
dealt with as the potato. It is planted in swamps, among 
rocks, and everywhere. It is manured with all manner of 
foul compounds. As to this fish-guano, if it were a good 
remedy, I would not use it. It is not treating the potato 
respectably to feed it with such manure. I doubt if the 
potatoes would not partake of the nastiness. I had some of 
the wretched stuff, and the neighbors complained of it more 
than half a mile off. I would not put that upon any field. 

There is a little hard-shell worm that has troubled me more 
than anything else in raising potatoes, and that is the wire- 
worm. I have never found anything that would prevent his 
work. Ihave been troubled every year, more on low land 
than on high, and sometimes they have nearly spoiled my crop. 
If any one can throw any light on that creature’s habits, 
I would like very much to hear him. I have tried salt 
and ashes and lime, and many other things, and nothing will 
drive that fellow away. He is a hard-shelled, pernicious 
fellow, and stands all manner of hardship and ill-treatment. 
Some people have recommended picking them out of the 
potatoes and pulling their heads off. That is a good process, 
if people have nothing else to do, but rather tedious. If any- 
body will tell me how to get rid of this wire-worm, I will tell 
him everything I know about potatoes in return. 

Mr. Currever. I won't undertake to tell the gentleman 
how he can get rid of all the wire-worms on his farm, even if 
he will tell me all he knows, which might be a good bargain ; 
but he has suggested aremedy. Drain your land until it is not 
too wet, and the wire-worm cannot live there, to any extent. 

Mr. Brown. Ihave done just that. He is on the best-drained 
land I have. He stands any manner of treatment with me. 

Dr. Nicnots. I am inclined to think that in the cultiva- 
tion of potatoes we overlook the importance of the use of 
plaster. I have been in the habit of using plaster on my 
potatoes for a number of years, and it seems to me that 
it is a most excellent fertilizer to use in connection with 


124 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 


that crop. I would like to state the results of the use of 
plaster in a single case, two years ago. I do not know that I 
can give you the reason of the results, but I will make the 
statement, and leave you to form your own conclusions in 
relation to it. 

I planted an acre of potatoes two years ago, upon a piece 
of land that had never been cultivated before. I allowed 
one-half of it to be cultivated by one of the workmen on my 
farm, and the other half I cultivated myself. Upon the half 
that I cultivated I used plaster in the hill, and nothing else. 
My workman employed manure upon his side of the field. 
The difference in the time of planting was about one week. 
I used the Early Rose potatoes for seed, and he did the same, 
but the seed was not obtained from the same source. The 
sources from which the seed was obtained were different; the 
method of manuring was different, and there was one week’s 
difference in the time of planting. Now for the result. 
When we came to dig those potatoes in the field, I found that 
every one of mine was perfectly sound, and of very nice 
quality. Upon the other side of the lot, in the same plot of 
ground, all of those potatoes were diseased. It was a per- 
fect failure—a dead loss. I thought it was an interesting 
fact. I have reflected upon it a great deal. The rot came 
and struck those potatoes in August. I allowed him to cul- 
tivate just one-half of the field. I took one side, he the 
other, of the line, right through the middle of the field. The 
rot came, as I say, and struck his potatoes about the middle 
of August, and they became as brown as you can imagine; 
while the vines upon the other side of the line were perfectly 
green. The potatoes upon that side matured, as I have said— 
were excellent ; and they were a total failure upon the other. 
I think that is an interesting fact. I do not know how it 
should happen to be so; but I give you the facts in the case, 
and leave you to form your own opinions about it. 

Mr. WETHERELL, I want to ask the Doctor this question : 
Do you, as a chemist, regard plaster, which you recommend, 
as a universal fertilizer, like barn-yard manure, to be used on 
every farm, irrespective of conditions? 

Dr. Nicoots. That opens up a very broad subject. I 
really do not feel like going into a discussion of the subject 


USE OF GYPSUM. 125 


of gypsum, which has been the stumbling-block of chemists 
for a great many years. I do not know exactly how it acts, 
and cannot give directions how it should be applied. I only 
know that gypsum, under very nearly all the circumstances 
in which I have used it, I have found to be very valuable. 
I think that gypsum needs a pretty large amount of water. 
I think if we sow gypsum on our fields in a very dry season, 
we do not get any very beneficial result from it; but I think 
if we sow it upon the same field, in a moist season, we do get 
very good results. 

Another thing: I think that gypsum very nearly always 
does well upon the north and north-east sides of hills. I 
think it very seldom does much good upon the southern 
slopes of hills. I have introduced that subject in conversa- 
tion with a great number of farmers, and I found that that 
seemed to be the view quite universally entertained by those 
who have used it. Why it is so, I do not know; only 
I do know this: that the northern slope of hills is, of course, 
longer in the shade than the southern slope, and there is 
usually a heavier deposition of dew upon the northern slope 
of hills. There is more moisture, usually, upon that slope 
than there is upon the southern slope. 

I do not know that I can add anything to the stock of 
knowledge regarding gypsum. I always keep it on hand; I 
always use it; I have sent to Maine for it. I think there is 
a difference in gypsum, and that some of it is of very little 
value. I have examined two specimens of gypsum that were 
very nearly half carbonate of lime, which is a form of sul- 
phate of lime. Whether this was accidentally or designedly 
mixed, Ido not know. I have procured very fine gypsum 
from Maine, and have found it to be very useful upon my 
farm. I use it every year. I always use it in laying down 
to grass. The amount we want to use is not large, because 
you know that very little of it is soluble. It requires a very 
large amount of water to render a very small amount of gyp- 
sum soluble. Therefore, it is not necessary for us to sow it 
thickly, but thinly, and sow it fine. These are all the facts 
that I think are pertinent to this subject. 

Dr. Cocswr, of Bradford. The potato-crop is a crop 
which interests, not only the farmer, but the whole com- 


126 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 


munity, and whatever light can be thrown upon the question 
is very important to all; but I must confess that with my 
experience with the potato-crop, I have been unable to arrive 
at the conclusions which several appear to have reached dur- 
ing the discussion. I have raised good crops of potatoes ; 
and under the same circumstances—almost precisely the same, 
as far as I could discover—I have raised a poor crop, treating 
them in the same way. Take my crop of potatoes year 
before last, for instance. They were planted upon new land, 
and I expected a large crop of fine quality ; I had a poor crop 
of potatoes, and the quality not good. 

Last year, on precisely the same kind of ground adjoining 
(there were two swells, of about an acre each, and I know of 
nothing by which I can state any difference in the character- 
istics of the soil), with the same treatment, as far as manure 
was concerned, applying it at the same time, and planting at 
the same time, I had a most excellent crop of potatoes, and 
the quality very superior. They were of as good quality as 
potatoes used to be when I was a boy, which was very differ- 
ent from what it has been of late years. This year, upon 
another farm of mine, a mile distant from the one to which I 
have referred,—it was pasture-land, and I don’t suppose it 
had been ploughed for thirty years,—somewhat of a hill, with 
all the characteristics for a fine crop of potatoes,—I used pre- 
cisely the same kind of manure which I used two years before, 
which was not the very best way, [admit, but the potatoes were 
manured in the hill with barn-yard manure. I expected a very 
fine crop, but instead of that I yot only an average one. The 
quality, as far as eating is concerned, is very fair,—perhaps I 
ought to say good; but not as good as that of last year, though 
the conditions were better than those last year. But they 
are scabby; they are about as scabby a lot of potatoes as I 
have ever had. There was never any house there; there is 
not a-house, except my own, within half a mile. Iam by 
myself, and the field is up some thirty or forty feet higher 
than my house, and away from it. The land has been used 
for pasture; it was, in fact, covered with oak timber some 
thirty-five years ago,—heavy ship-timber; and since that, I 
suppose, it has been ploughed once. From this land I have 
this year got scabby potatoes, for about the first time in my 


HOW TO RAISE POTATOES. 127 


life, of any consequence. Now, year before last, at Bradford 
Academy, which is on a hill (it is moist land, very different 
from my land), they had, on the back of the hill, a poor crop 
of potatoes, and of miserable quality. This year, using the 
same manure, which was spread on from the pig-yard, they 
had a large crop of potatoes of most excellent quality. 
Neither the scab nor anything else affected them. The men 
there told me, within a few days, that they had never had 
better potatoes upon their table than grew upon that land. 
The land itself is not of a character to produce a good crop 
of potatoes; it is very moist land; it has been under cultiva- 
tion certainly seven or eight years, and was dressed simply 
with this pig manure, with some coarse soil mixed with it. 

I think, therefore, that there is something else besides 
manures; there is something else besides angle-worms ; and 
something else besides cut-worms, that enters into the con- 
ditions which affect potatoes. I ought to say here that the 
seed used in my own ground was the Early Rose. The seed 
of last year, which gave an excellent crop, the seed of the 
year before when I got a poor crop, and the seed of this year 
from which I got the scabby potatoes, was the same, with the 
exception of three bushels which came from the State of 
Maine,—fine Early Rose potatoes, planted side by side, and 
I could see no difference. 

Now, I am satisfied of one thing, which has not been 
alluded to here; and that is, that a sufficiency of rain coming 
at the right time to produce the proper setting of the potatoes 
and the proper growth, until they get to a certain stage, is 
more important than anything else that has been named here 
this afternoon. I have watched it for a great many years, 
and I have got so that I think I can predict the quality of the 
crop by the amount of moisture at the time that the potatoes 
are not only setting, but growing. I think that has a vast 
deal to do with it. 

Mr. Bartxett, of Kingston, N. H. I have watched very 
closely, and very few have mentioned how they apply their 
manure,—whether barn-yard manure or other fertilizers. 
What little experience I have had in farming has brought me 
so far as this: that in order to get potatoes, the soil should be 
about right, and that, I claim, should be good corn soil, which 


128 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 


is about as near right, as far as I have observed, as any soil can 
be. Then, the manure should be applied broadcast, —whether 
harrowed in or ploughed in, I do not undertake to say ; but I 
do say that I cannot raise good potatoes, as a rule, with 
manure applied immediately in the hill. And another thing: 
if applied so, it should by all means be made as fine as pos- 
sible; I think that has more to do with scabby potatoes than 
any one thing. 

Some gentlemen think the degree of moisture has the most 
to do with it; but I have on my farm all kinds of soil, vary- 
ing from sand to semi-clay, and I have found, where I have 
thoroughly underdrained with tiles, I can govern the moist- 
ure of the soil to a great extent. That is, I have never found 
it too dry to grow a crop successfully. But on such soil, if 
I put fermented manure into the hill, it spoils the crop. 

Question. Did you ever have scabby potatoes when the 
vines were green ? 

Mr. Bartierr. I never saw any potatoes that were scabby 
when the vines were green; but when we get done going to 
market, we leave a few potatoes in the hill, and the vines 
become rusty; perhaps we leave them one or two months, 
and when we come to dig them, if the land is very rich, we 
find them scabby. 

Question. I wish to inquire if potatoes ever become 
scabby that are raised in a pure clay soil; if they do not grow 
fair and free from this trouble which has been discussed here ? 

Mr. Bartutetr. As a rule, potatoes are more generally 
free from the scab where the tops are green; but it prevails 
to some extent, especially where they are grown upon land 
excessively rich. In such cases, where there is a rank, strong 
growth, I find the scab when they are not entirely matured. 

We have to thank the doctors and scientific men for what 
they have done for us. They are great helpers to the hard- 
working, practical farmer; but they make many mistakes, and 
so do we, who do not profess so much. We make mistakes 
every day, but we are not in a position to havethem advertised 
to the world, because we do not very often get up and say any- 
thing. But they are making suggestions for us to act upon ; 
they are using their money for our benefit, to a certain 
extent ; but I have to use my own judgment, after I have heard 


COVERING WITH THE PLOUGH. 129 


or read what they have to say ; and so every man must judge 
for himself, to a great extent, on his own farm. Yet, as a 
rule, as I have said, I think they are our helpers, and need to 
be encouraged. 

I know upon my own farm plaster works admirably, in 
many cases. As arule, I use it upon the higher portions of 
my farm. I have never made any observations whether its 
use on the northern or southern slope of a hill was the most 
beneficial, but I shall take notice of it hereafter. I would 
advise everybody to try it upon his farm, and not take any 
man’s word for it. Try it for yourselves. It is cheap, and 
if it will work, I think it is one of the best fertilizers that 
can be used on a farm. It can be had at any point. Living 
in New Hampshire, I get mine from West Epping. It can 
be ordered and come by rail, and it comes very much cheaper 
than from the Massachusetts markets generally. 

Mr. Hapwen. The important position which the potato 
holds in the market-garden, the kitchen-garden, and also as a 
farm crop, is apparent to all. I have heard described in the 
discussion the manner of growing, but not the most econ- 
omical way of growing, the potato. There is a great deal 
of labor expended in the growing of the potato. It is a 
practice among’ farmers to spread their manure broadcast, 
and there is no doubt that that is the best practice that can be 
pursued. Dressing coming in immediate contact with the 
potato, has been found for many years injurious. The better 
way is to spread the dressing and plough it in, and then to 
plough it out, or plough the second time, and incorporate the 
dressing with the soil. . Then make your furrows, and drop 
the potatoes in the furrows, some ten inches apart, and cover 
with the plough. That is the cheapest way to plant potatoes 
that I have ever pursued. That leaves the ground in a very 
uneven condition, where the potato is covered with the plough, 
and when the first crop of weeds comes forward, the best 
way is to cross that ground with a harrow, which brings it 
into a level condition, and breaks up the immense crop ot 
weeds which is about that time starting into growth. Those 
of you who have not pursued that course will find that that is 
more than equal to one hoeing. Then my practice has been 
to go through the rows with the cultivator and to keep the 

17 


130 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 


ground entirely level. Ihave never hilled my potatoes at all. 
The consequence is, that I get good crops of large, merchant- 
able potatoes, and very few small ones. ; 

Mr. SauronsraLuL, of Newton. The cultivation of the 
potato is one of the most interesting subjects to the farmer, 
as it is to the “doctors and scientific men,” just alluded to, 
and to the men of no science who dabble with farming ; men 
who have a love for the land, and like to live in the country. 
I am one of the latter. It is a subject of great interest to all, 
and I have listened with the greatest pleasure to what has 
been said. J have had great luck with the cultivation of this 
crop, and therefore my experience may be of some value. Ihave 
very few things to say, and will say them in the briefest words. 

In the first place, I think it is of the greatest consequence 
that the seed should come from a distance, and, if possible, 
from a district where the rot and kindred diseases have never 
been known. My seed is always brought from Maine, and is 
always fair and of even size. In the next place, I think it is 
very important that only one eye should be planted by itself. 
I do not plant in hills, but in drills, and am very careful that 
the potato shall be so cut that one eye shall be cut out fairly, 
and only one. I think the result has always showed the 
wisdom of that course. In the next place, the ground should 
be thoroughly pulverized for that as for every crop. The 
manure is dropped in the drill. The land should be in 
such a state of cultivation that the seed can be covered with 
the plough, which is a great saving of trouble. Then, when 
the potato shows itself above ground two or three inches, I 
send the plough along the rows, and turn the earth from the 
potato on the sunny side of the drill. That, I think, is very 
important ; it allows the heat of the sun to get into the roots, 
and it destroys the weeds that are growing at the same time. 
That is better than any other course I have ever adopted. 
After the potatoes have obtained sufficient strength,—I cannot 
say the exact. height, I judge by my eye,—the plough is used 
again and throws the earth back upon the row, and, return- 
ing, throws it upon the other side. I seldom use the cultiva- 
tor, but the plough, for the potato. I must say that I take no 
credit to myself for this mode of cultivation, because I learned 
it from the Irish. We all know that the Irish have excellent 


THE COLORADO POTATO-BEETLE. 131 


judgment in the matter of potatoes. They know how to dig 
them. I never had a Yankee who could dig potatoes with a 
hoe as an Irishman will with a spade. It is a very pretty 
sight to see two or three of them go through a potato-field 
with their spades, digging the potatoes, and throwing them, 
even the smallest, in a clean row; levelling the ground; 
taking up every weed and every bit of witch-grass, and throw- 
ing all that is foul in the land on the surface. The field is 
thus left in a beautiful condition. You pick up your fine 
potatoes and put them by themselves, and the small potatoes 
are taken up afterwards for the stock. Then you can go over 
the land,. raking the witch-grass and weeds into heaps, and 
have them taken up and carried off, leaving nothing on the 
land to prevent its easy culture the next spring. 

There is one point which I hope will be referred to while 
we are on this subject; and that is, the sure approach of the 
Colorado beetle. I look upon it with dread, and feel sadly 
to think that, in connection with the other troubles which we 
have with the potato-crop, this pest is to visit our shores. 
I hope that before it reaches the eastern coast of Massachu- 
setts, something besides that fatal poison, Paris green, will 
be found to stop and destroy the creature, and I hope that we 
shall have a discussion here which may throw light upon it 
while we are on this subject. I should like to know if there 
has been anything discovered by the farmers of New England, 
or of New York State, where this creature has committed its 
devastations, except Paris green, for its destruction ; whether 
anything is being done; whether our Board of Agriculture 
has caused the subject to be investigated, because, I suppose, 
we may have the beetle here next year along the whole of our 
seaboard. 

President ALLEN. I will merely state the mode of pro- 
cedure which we follow in the State of Maine in raising 
potatoes. After the ground is well ploughed and in good 
condition, we.take True’s potato planter, which cuts and plants 
and covers the potato. It is so gauged that we can plant 
them at any distance apart. We gauge it so as to cut the 
potato as fine as we wish. It is generally gauged so as to cut 
a medium-sized potato into three pieces, and then it drops one 
of those pieces eighteen inches from the other in rows three 


132 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 


feet apart. It hills them slightly, or leaves the drill slightly 
raised. They are then treated with the cultivator after the 
weeds begin to spring up, and trimmed up by hand with the 
hoe. 

Mr. Hapwern. Ido not believe that I can either instruct 
or entertain this meeting with any remarks in regard to the 
growth of garden vegetables, it is so long since I have pur- 
sued the business of market-gardening; but I know very 
well the importance of beets, corn and squashes ; I know 
they are important to the whole community. 

As to the cultivation of beets, my course has been, in the 
first place, to take old and well cultivated land, free from 
stones and from anything that will obstruct the growth of the 
vegetable, and after giving it a good dressing, if I attempted 
to grow them on a large scale, I should grow them in rows 
twenty-two inches apart. That would enable me to pursue 
their after-cultivation with the horse, which of course would 
economize the labor of their production. In growing the 
beet, the seed should be soaked twenty-four or thirty-six 
hours previous to planting. That gives the seed the power 
of germinating and coming forward in advance of the weeds. 
It is very important in the growth of garden vegetables to 
have them come up and grow to sufficient size to hoe before 
the weeds come forward. Whoever lets the weeds get the 
start of any vegetable, gets into great difficulty and very 
great expense. There is no difficulty in the after-growth of 
the beet, if it is well manured and well cared for. The main 
point is in thinning, and thinning at the proper time. Thin 
about the time the beet is making its sixth leaf. That is of 
great importance. If thinned at the proper time, there is no 
check to the growth of the root. If delayed, they will lap 
over, and there is a loss. Nobody who grows beets, or any 
vegetable, can afford the loss of the crop in any season. 

In the cultivation of squashes, which we know is a very 
important and desirable vegetable, my manner is to take 
sward ground (if you choose, you may take ground that has 
had one crop the previous season), plough in a good dressing’ 
of manure, make the rows eight feet apart each way, dig out 
holes sufficient to hold three good shovelfuls of well decom- 
posed and rotted manure, and put it into those holes. Then 


HOW TO RAISE SQUASHES. 133 


I drop in seed enough to give the bugs an opportunity 
to take a part and leave sufficient remaining for the crop, 
which should be about three plants in a hill. By pursuing 
this course, if your ground has been well prepared, if your 
manure is of the right kind, and the season is favorable, you 
will get a good crop of squashes. 

Mr. Paut. At what time would you plant for winter 
squashes ? 

Mr. Hapwen. About the tenth of June, in our climate, 
for winter squashes, so that when they come up there will be 
no check. 

Question. Are you troubled with the maggot? 

Mr. Hapwen. I have never been troubled with the mag- 
got, but I have been troubled with the black squash-bug, and 
also with the striped bug. The best way I have ever tried to 
destroy the black bug is to lay shingles on the hills at night. 
These black bugs will get underneath the shingles, and in the 
morning, if you take up the shingles, you will find the bugs 
on the under side, and you can take another shingle and give 
them a rub together, and that destroys them at once. The 
striped bug is very numerous after the squash has made its 
second or fourth leaf. The most effective way I have found 
to destroy them is to take air-slacked lime, put it into a 
dredging-box, and go along and dredge a little on each hill, 
when the dew is on in the morning, and the bugs will go to 
other places. 

Mr. Paut. Do you put the seed directly on the manure? 

Mr. Hapwen. I do. The manure is well rotted and 
decomposed, so that it will be in just the right state for the 
roots to take hold of it. 

Mr. Warner, of Sunderland. In growing squashes, I find 
that the first requisite, and the most important thing to do, 
is to procure good seed. I do not believe there is one farmer’ 
in forty in Massachusetts who has had a decent garden the 
past season; and there is no farmer, or no person who knows, 
unless by experience, how much value he can gather from a 
small spot of land. I gathered, this year, from a piece less 
than four rods long and two rods wide, over forty dollars’ 
worth of vegetables, including squashes, corn, tomatoes, 
cucumbers, cabbages and turnips. Mr. Hadwen says, put 


134 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 


three shovelfuls of manure, that has been thoroughly rotted, 
into a hill, and drop the seed on the manure. The best 
squashes that I have ever scen were grown upon a large heap 
of manure that had been thoroughly pulverized. Last sea- 
son, in our town, a man grew two hundred and forty-six 
pounds of Marblehead squashes from one vine, which came up 
in his tobacco-bed. Two hundred pounds of those squashes 
were in good condition, well-ripened, and would average 
twelve pounds apiece. That shows, to my mind, that the 
land wants to be rich, and the manure wants to be well 
pulverized. 

I can grow almost every kind of vegetable, except pease. 
Pease I cannot grow. Beans, whenever I plant them, I know 
nearly what I am going to get. The most profitable bean, 
and the hardest bean to grow of any, is the Lima bean. I 
have never had a failure, and never expect to have; but I am 
sure to get good seed. I never save a seed from any squashes 
which I grow for the next year. You will hear some farmers 
say that they have planted squashes for the last ten or fifteen 
years, and they have gathered their squash-seeds and saved 
them. The result is, they have a kind.of pumpkin,—a little 
Boston squash, a little Turban, and a little Hubbard mixed 
together. It is not as good as a nice, sweet pumpkin. Be 
sure that you get pure seed, and you will have good squashes. 

The question has been asked, what to do with the maggot. 
I have been troubled with it for the last three or four years. 
The last season I applied tobacco. I left in my hills some 
four or five plants, calculating that the maggot would eat at 
least half of those, and perhaps more; but I found that 
almost all my plants lived, and afterwards I had to go around 
and trim out the vines. I had no trouble whatever from the 
maggot this year. I applied the tobacco very freely. 

QuEsTION. Please state the manner of applying it. 

Mr. Warner. We grow tobacco with us to a considerable 
extent. I applied the leaf, which I gathered around the 
tobacco-vines, and then I took out of my store some fine-cut 
chewing-tobacco, and placed a little of it around every squash- 
plant, and every black bug that made its appearance was 
killed. They did not stay a great while upon my squashes. 
For the yellow bug, I applied plaster and black pepper, 


MORE ABOUT POTATOES. 135 


sprinkling it upon the vines when they were wet. They 
never troubled me at all. 

Question. What is your mode of raising Lima beans? 

Mr. Warner. Well, sir, I generally take every bean and 
place it in the ground with my fingers, with the eye down. 
I generally put in two layers. If the season is wet, they are 
sure to rot, and if there is a dry time they are sure not to 
come up. So that I put one layer a little lower than the 
other, and I am sure to hit it. 

Question. How do you manure them? 

Mr. Warner. With thoroughly rotted manure, and then 
I apply some fertilizer also. I have applied the Boston fertil- 
izer with good effect, and it has done well with me on pota- 
toes; and wherever I[ have tried it, the result has been good. 

Mr. Corrine, of Hudson. In respect to rust or scab upon 
the potato, I have heard it said this afternoon that if the 
potatoes are dug when they are green, you will not find any 
scab or rust upon them. Last spring I had considerable 
leisure, and with my own hands I planted and cultivated a 
certain piece of ground in four different lots. That is, I 
divided it into four lots. The. first lot I manured in the 
hill, putting one shovelful of well-rotted horse-manure in 
the hill, and planted the seed. The rows were forty-eight 
feet long. There were six rows of them. I planted two 
whole potatoes, about the size of a hen’s egg, in each hill of 
those rows, and covered them. Then I planted the same 
extent of ground with the same number of hills, the same 
distance apart, using no manure whatever; but I covered 
them well with ashes. The next lot I planted with the same 
number of hills, using Reed’s Compound,—a composition 
made by Mr. Reed, of Boston, said to prevent the potato-rot. 
I used no other manure on that lot. The next parcel of 
ground, with the same number of hills, I manured in the hill, 
and also put on Reed’s Compound. The ground was hoed 
with the hoe. There was no plough put in; but I hoed it 
mornings before the sun was up very high, and kept the 
weeds out. J may have gone over it half a dozen times dur- 
ing the season. Now, I come to the result. In the first lot, 
where they were manured in the hill, I pulled one of the 
rows very early, and I found in that row a great many pota- 


136 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 


toes that were scabby. I waited a fortnight, and dug the 
next row, and I found them still more scabby. I dug at the 
same time the first row right through of the four lots, and 
when I came to the lot where I used Reed’s Compound alone, 
I did not find a particle of rust, or any scab, or defect. 
When I came to the parcel where I used Reed’s Compound 
and manure, there I found some scabby potatoes, but not so 
many as I did where the manure was used alone. I found 
more potatoes in the hills where I used the compost,—that is, 
the No. 1 lot. I found more pounds of potatoes to those 
rows than I did to either one of the others; but the best 
potatoes were where I used Reed’s Compound alone. 

In respect to the rot, at the last digging, I found among 
the potatoes, where I had manured in the hill with compost, 
about one-third of them rotten. In lot No. 2, I found some 
rotten ones, but few, however; and where there was no 
manure, I found some. Where I used Reed’s Compound, I 
found not a particle of rot. 

Now, in respect to squashes. In the same parcel of 
ground, I planted twenty-four hills with Boston squash. I 
took great care to get seeds from three different places. I 
got one lot of seeds from the farm where I was brought up, 
where they had very good success last year, and also the 
year b fore. I took two years’ seeds and mixed them 
together, and the other seeds I got from two other places. I 
put rather more than three good shovelfuls of manure into 
each hill, covered it lightly, and then dropped the seeds and 
covered them. When they came up, I took a little dredging- 
box and dredged them every morning. I never saw a black 
bug or a striped bug about them, and I had the best lot of 
squashes I ever had. So much you are welcome to from my 
experience of this year. 

Mr. Paunt. What did you dredge with? 

Mr. Corrine. After they came up, I dredged them every 
morning with Reed’s Compound. I have used black pepper 
and plaster. I have used plaster alone, and have lost my 
squashes. I have generally made a loss of two crops out of 
three. 


Adjourned to Thursday. 


THE GREAT CENTENNIAL. 137 


Eee AY 


The Board met at ten o’clock, and was called to order by 
Dr. Lorine. Dr. WaxkerreLp, of Monson, was elected 
Chairman for the day. 


Hon. Leverett SaLronsTaLu. I wish, before the regular 
proceedings of the morning, as there may be no other oppor- 
tunity, to say a word which is of some consequence to the 
farmers of Massachusetts, in regard to the approaching Cen- 
tennial. Having the honor to be a commissioner of Massa- 
chusetts, and also a member of this Board, I take advantage 
of my double position to do some Centennial work. It will 
take but a very few moments to say all I wish to. Among 
the important exhibits which ought to be made at the Cen- 
tennial is an exhibit of the agricultural interests of Massachu- 
setts. It is a matter of great importance to the State, of 
great concern to us, in point of state pride, as well as of 
patriotic feeling, that Massachusetts should be well repre- 
sented. I know that the farmers of Massachusetts do not 
wish to see this great celebration of our nation’s hundredth 
birthday pass without some manifestation on their part of 
their interest in it. It will be a celebration exceeding in 
erandeur anything of its kind that has ever occurred in the 
world, commemorating, as it does, an occasion which is, per- 
haps, the greatest epoch in history—the hundredth birthday 
of the Republic—proving that we, the people of the United 
States, are able to govern ourselves without the aid of 
princes or kings. Now, gentlemen, I come to this point— 
the agricultural exhibit of Massachusetts. We do not pre- 
tend that Massachusetts, as a State, can vie with the Western 
States, or with the Pacific States, in agricultural products ; 
but we have certain valuable agricultural interests here. If 
not, why are we taking part in these proceedings? Why is 
the State maintaining a Board of Agriculture at some expense 
every year, if it is not for the purpose of advancing the agri- 
cultural interests of Massachusetts? Have we nothing to 
exhibit in Philadelphia? Are we going to permit the manu- 


facturers, the mechanics and artisans of Massachusetts to 
18 


138 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 


exhibit their work, and the agriculturists, the men who get 
their living by agriculture in Massachusetts, not to make any 
exhibit at all? It seems to me that this is all wrong. We 
can depend, of course, upon individual enterprise in the 
matter of exhibiting agricultural machinery. That takes care 
of itself. Every inventor, every manufacturer of those 
implements and of all the matters pertaining thereto, will 
take care of himself by making an exhibit there. There are 
already applications for space from a number of artisans of 
that class. In regard to the exhibition of cattle, too, every 
breeder will probably take care of himself; if he takes pride 
in being a breeder of Ayrshires, Jerseys or Shorthorns, he 
will want to maintain his reputation during the fortnight that 
that class is to be exhibited. If he is a breeder of horses, 
he will want to be represented during the fortnight that 
horses are to be exhibited. I do not consider that the state 
commission is bound to urge those to make an exhibition of 
their stock, though the commission will encourage, advise 
and afford all the facilities possible to the gentlemen who 
make exhibits in those departments. But, for the Common- 
wealth itself, there is an exhibit that ought to be made in one 
of the state departments ; and that is, what the agriculture 
of Massachusetts consists in,—its dairy-farming, its market- 
gardening, and everything that we deal in as farmers in 
Massachusetts, ought to be represented,—so that by the side of 
those enormous displays of large crops from the prairie-lands 
of the West, we can make a neat, pretty, attractive exhibit 
of the different roots, grains, grasses, fruits, woods, and 
everything that concerns the interests of agriculture in Massa- 
chusetts. It should be presented in good taste, so that every 
one who passes by will say, “ Well, after all, Massachusetts 
succeeds, not only in manufacturing cotton and wool, she not 
only devotes her energies to educating her people, but she 
reaps in her fields.” By the side of the exhibit of our great 
educational department, which I hope will be as ample and as 
handsome as we can possibly make it, should be this agricult- 
ural presentation of Massachusetts. | 

Now, gentlemen, not to take up any more of the valuable 
time which is allotted to other purposes here, I hope I have 
excited your interest in this matter. The towns where you 


MASSACHUSETTS IN THE EXHIBITION. 139 


live have all had a circular sent to them by the Massachu- 
setts commission, urging them to make as valuable and 
interesting an exhibit as possible. I beg you, when you 
return to your homes, if you are selectmen, or have any influ- 
ence with the selectmen of your town, to take hold of this 
matter, and push it forward. It will be the starting-point for 
all time, so that when the Centennial has passed, and years 
have gone by, the people of this State will look back to the 
historical collections illustrating your public buildings, the 
products of your farms, the laying out of your farms and 
highways, and everything else, as a starting-point, which we 
have not now, of what the gountry was a hundred years ago, 
and which posterity will most thankfully refer to should the 
work be properly done. 

I hope that when this meeting dissolves every gentleman 
here will go home determined to do his share in adding to this 
very important exhibit of the agriculture of Massachusetts ; 
that if he has it in his power to send any information to the 
commission, he will do so; if he has made any valuable 
experiments upon his farm, which are reliable, that he will 
return the statistics of those experiments, with illustrations of 
the crops which he has raised. If it is corn, let him send a 
sample of that corn. If it is a root-crop,—potatoes, beets, 
carrots, turnips, or anything else,—let him send samples of 
them. They shall be carefully preserved in alcohol, if neces- 
sary, or something else that will be sufficient to keep them 
throughout the summer. I am very anxious to make an elab- 
orate and careful collection of all the grasses of Massachusetts, 
and shall be extremely thankful to gentlemen, if they have it 
in their power, should they furnish the commission with such 
specimens of that very important crop of Massachusetts,—the 
hay-crop. 

Having made these remarks, gentlemen, as briefly as 
possible, I wish to urge upon all the importance of this 
exhibition ; and I know that when you return to your homes, 
you will most gladly aid the commission in every way in 
your power; so that when you visit Philadelphia, as you all 
will, every one of you, with your wives and children, you 
will be able to point with pride to the agricultural exhibit of 
Massachusetts as an important and most interesting one. I 


140 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 


am very sorry to say that I have failed to elicit the earnest 
attention of the Agricultural College in this matter, although 
I have sought to do so. Col. Clark is an intimate friend of 
mine; the professors of the college are my friends; but, for 
some reason or other, my appeals to them to aid the commis- 
sion in making this very important agricultural exhibit of the 
State have failed to meet with a response. I hope that the 
Board here will instruct its Secretary to aid the commission 
in every way in his power, and that they will take such action 
as will give their own individual attention to the commission. 

Dr. Lorine. It is not necessary for me to enlarge upon 
this question here, because the Board all know that I have 
been occupied for the last two or three years in endeavoring 
to organize and sustain the Centennial interest and spirit of 
Massachusetts. The movement in an agricultural direction 
I have long been cognizant of, and I am very glad that Col. 
Saltonstall has made this appeal here this morning. As 
a response to that appeal, I desire to offer the following 
motion :— 


Voted, That the members of this Board cordially indorse 
the efforts made to secure a full representation of the agri- 
cultural industries of the Commonwealth, and pledge their 
individual influence to promote the objects of the commis- 
sioners. 


I do this in a concise way, knowing that the time of the 
meeting is short, and that we have other business. I merely 
desire to present the matter, and do it in that form. 


The motion of Dr. Loring was carried unanimously. 


RESTORATION OF THE FORESTS. 


BY GEORGE B. EMERSON, LL.D. 


Mr. Chairman and Gentlemen of the Board:—We have a 
most important subject before us,—a subject which has been 
growing in importance, in my mind, ever since, more than 
forty years ago, I began to investigate it. The great ques- 
tion is, What can we do, each of us, all of us, to restore the 


DESTRUCTION OF FORESTS. 141 


forests to the condition, or some approach to the condition, 
in which they were when this country was first settled? The 
whole of New England, the whole of Canada, all the Middle 
States, almost the whole slope towards the Atlantic, was 
covered, when our ancestors first came here, with great forests, 
—most of them the most magnificent forests in the whole 
world. Those forests have been gradually disappearing ever 
since; and it is known—it is as certain as any fact can be— 
that in fifteen years from this time, unless something is done 
to restore the forests, all the large forests in New England, 
all the forests in the British dominions on this continent, all 
the forests in America, will be cut down. Great pains have 
been taken to ascertain the amount of wood of every kind that 
is cut down and carried off every year; and a year ago, when 
I was in Washington, I said there was no sort of doubt that, 
in twelve years and a half, at the rate that the forests have 
been cut down for a great many years past, they would be 
all gone. I say now, gentlemen, that in eleven or twelve 
years, unless something can be done to retard that destruc- 
tion, all the forests will be gone. 

Now, gentlemen, I say that every one of you can do some- 
thing to retard this ruin. No person in this country has the 
sole charge of the forests; but every man who has a farm has 
the charge, or may have the charge, of some portion of the 
forests. Every man, certainly every farmer, may do some- 
thing to restore the forests. Why should the farmer do what 
belongs to the whole country? Why should he do anything 
to restore the forests on his own domain? I say, first, to 
make it more beautiful, more healthy and more pleasant ; next, 
to make it more valuable. How can any man do anything to 
make the forest in his little domain more valuable? What 
can he do to make his home more pleasant? I do not know 
what any person living in the country can do better than to 
surround his home with the most beautiful trees. Gentle- 
men, we have the most beautiful trees in the world. I went 
to Europe three or four years ago for the purpose of studying 
the forests there, and to see what was doing, and I found 
that there are more valuable trees in the forests of Massachu- 
setts, growing naturally,—lI said so a great many years ago, 
and I found by inspection that it was true,—than in any part 


142 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 


of Middle or Northern Europe,—many more. Many of these 
are among the most beautiful and valuable trees in the world. 
A man can do nothing for the improvement of his home so 
cheaply as to plant around his house, at a proper distance, 
the best and finest trees. Whatare the best? Every person 
must be the judge of that. I think, taking all things into 
consideration, the sugar-maple is the finest and the most valu- 
able tree that a man can plant on his domain. The sugar- 
maple is, perhaps, the most beautiful tree while it is young, 
and it grows more and more beautiful with age. It grows to 
a magnificent height, and it has the advantage of being very 
unlike all others. I pass very often, in the summer, over a 
road, by the side of which there is a row of fifty or sixty 
sugar-maples. They are changing every day. In the autumn 
they assume the richest colors; and, what is remarkable,— 
what is not true of any other tree that I know of,—every indi- 
vidual tree has its own colors. You cannot find two out of 
the sixty on that road, quite alike. All of them have patches 
of the same colors, a few of the richest colors, but no two 
are alike. Now, variety is one of the elements of beauty. 
If you want the greatest possible variety of beauty in your 
trees, plant rock-maples. Not about your house; plant them 
along the road; plant them along avenues; anywhere. They 
will grow larger and grander and more beautiful for forty 
years; and, before that time, they will begin to be pecuniarily 
valuable, so that every tree will yield from three or four 
gallons to a barrel of sugar-making juice. They will be a 
perpetual benefit, and of perpetual value. 

As to the trees that you plant near your house to make it 
more healthy and pleasant, I think that one of the very best 
is the beech. And the reason is, that it is a perfectly clean 
tree. It has a clean stem, none is finer, a beautiful bark, 
and no bushes flourish under it; it keeps everything off. It 
is clean, exquisitely clean. I saw in England, near the house 
of a friend, three noble beeches, and the European beech is 
so much like ours, that while they are young, they are not 
easily distinguished. It is only by examining their leaves 
closely that one can see the difference ; and I told him that they 
made his house to me more pleasant than any other house I 
had seen. And it was so, and they constantly felt it to be so, 


TREES ABOUT THE HOUSE. 143 


There are many other trees of great beauty. Such are all 
the oaks, but they are not very desirable to have near one’s 
house. They must be planted at some distance, where they 
may have ample space. All the birches are beautiful. We 
have four or five of them among the finest trees of the world. 
“You have one growing on the banks of your charming Merri- 
mack, that I never found in Massachusetts except on the banks 
of that river or its tributaries,—the red birch. It is an ordi- 
nary, often a shabby looking, tree, as you see it on the banks, 
but, carefully cultivated, it makes one of the most graceful 
trees I have ever seen. I saw one not long ago, and stopped 
to look at it, it was so attractive. Usually, it is found only 
near water, but that one was growing, perfectly well, miles 
away from any stream or collection of water, and was per- 
fectly healthy. 

There are multitudes of trees, any one of which you will 
find an ornament to your house. <A single tree growing near 
a house gives a beauty and appearance of cemfort that nothing 
else can. Go into the country and find a house standing by 
itself, without anything about it, and you pity the owner, 
especially on such a cold, bleak day as this, obliged to dwell 
in such a bare, unprotected home ! 

Now, I say, gentlemen, for yourselves and for your neigh- 
bors, see to the planting, at proper distances from your house, 
of some of those most beautiful trees,—beeches, ashes, 
maples, oaks, tupelos, hickories, buttonwoods. Very near 
the house, I would not have any of the pines; but at a 
distance, as many as you please, and I would have a mixture 
of pines and the other trees. Here is a remarkable fact, 
which is now perfectly well known, and yet many people are 
not aware of it. Most of our forest-trees flourish better 
when there are other trees, very widely differing in character, 
mixed with them. Why should it be so? Why should a 
forest of oaks flourish better because pines are mixed with 
them, or a forest of maples? It is difficult to say, but prob- 
ably the reason is that the food of each tree is, in some 
measure, peculiar to it. All the trees have to gather from 
the soil certain elements, and each tree needs some elements 
which no other tree wants. If, therefore, you want to hus- 
band all the resources of your soil, you must have a consider- 


144 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 


able variety of trees. How shall you create them? Plant 
them, gentlemen. I doubt very much whether there is a 
farmer in Massachusetts (I really have never seen one) who 
has not one or more acres of land under cultivation which it 
is a waste of time and money and manure to cultivate. Why 
not take such a piece of land, of one acre or several, and 
devote it to forest? Plant all kinds of trees that will grow 
in it,—pines will grow everywhere,—the maples, the ashes, 
the beeches, the hickories. The hickory is one of the finest 
trees, the cultivation of which it is desirable on every account 
to encourage. Why not devote these acres, which are now 
of very little value probably, or no value at all,—why not 
devote them to trees? Find out how to plant the different 
kinds of trees; find out what are the most valuable. I 
have mentioned some of them. The hickory, for all pur- 
poses, is one of the most valuable trees that grow. It is 
extremely beautiful. Of course it is not necessary to say 
anything about their growth; everybody knows how well they 
grow. We have three pines growing naturally in Massachu- 
setts,—the white pine, the pitch-pine, and the red, or Nor- 
way. pine. Wherever the pitch-pine grows,—and its prings 
up everywhere,—the white pine and the red pine, and the 
very valuable European pine,—Scotch fir, they call it in Eng- 
land,—will flourish. They are not so readily diffused ; they 
do not plant themselves so surely as the pitch-pine; but 
wherever the pitch-pine flourishes, better pines will flourish 
too, and not only pines, but the firs, spruces, cedars, and the 
richest and most ornamental of the pines,—the hemlock. 

I say that any one of you may add to the value of his farm 
by taking those poor lots, which are cultivated to disadvantage, 
and planting them with trees of every kind, or such kinds as 
he finds in the neighborhood. Wherever one of the oaks will 
grow, all the other oaks will grow. Wherever the pignut or 
bitternut hickory grows, the mockernut and the shagbark 
will grow just as well. All the hickories, as I said, are 
extremely beautiful trees, and they are peculiar to this 
country. When Prof. Agassiz came to this country, some 
time ago, he called on me, because, he said, he wanted to 
find a person who could point out to him the hickories, for 
there were no such trees in Europe. There had been, some 


TREES PURIFY THE AIR. 145 


hundreds of thousands of years ago, various kinds of hickory 
on what became the Jura Mountains, for in the quarries of 
those mountains the leaves and fruit of the tree had been 
found, but since the historical period had begun, the hickory 
had not been found in Europe. Here we have four species, 
perfectly well characterized, and all of them very beautiful 
trees. I showed him all of them, and pointed out the differ- 
ences. He recognized with delight'the characters of all. 

I could easily enlarge upon this subject, but there are other 
things about which I wish to speak. I say that by planting 
your own fields with trees, you not only make your homes 
more pleasant, but you make them healthier, and you make 
your own domain more valuable. Here, gentlemen, is a fact 
which every individual ought to know. It is a most important 
fact in the relations of the vegetable world to mankind. 
Every tree is a purifier of the atmosphere. There are on 
the leaves of every tree literally millions of little openings, 
large enough for the particles of air to enter, and into which 
they do enter. When a breeze passes over a forest, or over a 
single tree, the particles of air enter these little openings in 
the leaves, and there the leaves part with their carbonic acid, 
which is so unwholesome to breathe; they part with their 
nitrogen, and with everything else, really, which is not per- 
fectly wholesome, and they pour into the air pure oxygen. The 
forest thus completely purifies the air that blows through it ; it 
takes from it everything that is poisonous or even injurious 
to man, and throws out to us pure oxygen, or that mixture 
of oxygen which is best for us to breathe. I say, gentlemen, 
that this fact ought to be generally known, because it is a 
fact of vast importance. It has not been long known; and I 
have visited places where the recent knowledge of that fact 
has done a great deal of good. There are regions in Italy 
which anciently were very wholesome and pleasant places to 
live in, but which, for the last one or two hundred years, 
have been growing more and more unhealthy, until, a few 
years ago, they were considered pestiferous and unsafe for 
anybody to live in, and those who dwelt there took care to go 
away at certain seasons of the year. This was in a part of 
Italy nearest the sea, which is thence called Maremma, 
Within a few years, trees have been planted in various places 

19 


146 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 


in that region, and the effect has been to restore the original 
purity of the atmosphere. Large forests have been planted 
in some places, and the region has in consequence become 
perfectly healthy, so that the ancient towns and villages 
which had been deserted are again repeopled. The same 
thing has been found in various other parts of Europe, and 
also in this country. In Washington, a gentleman who had 
paid some attention to this subject, said: “Here is a region 
which the soldiery have occupied, and found very unhealthy. 
If you will give me leave, I will plant it with sunflowers.” 
He planted a great number, several rows, and the effect was 
immediate. The very next season, that region, protected by 
the sunflowers, became healthy. The sunflowers have been 
continued, or something else put in their places—trees and 
plants of various kinds; and that region is now one of the 
most healthy in Washington. The lives of hundreds of our 
soldiers and others who are obliged to live in Washington, 
have undoubtedly been saved by that device of the sunflowers. 
So, I say, you may render every farm in Massachusetts more 
healthy, as well as more pleasant, by planting trees. 

There is another thing. I have no doubt that many of you, 
gentlemen, are aware of cases where streams which, in your 
early boyhood, were large and constant, have dried up. In 
my native town, two little streams at a distance of two or 
three miles from the sea, passed directly across the road along 
which I often went to see some of my relatives, and over 
which I went on my way to college. Those streams, when 
I first knew them, ran throughout the year; on both of them 
there were mills,—on one asaw and a grist mill; on the other 
a saw-mill, with good substantial dams. These mills were 
serviceable throughout the year,—even in July and August. 
Year after year I saw these streams becoming smaller and 
smaller, as the forests about their sources and on their banks 
were cut away. The water, which had originally flowed 
equally every day in the year, came down in a great torrent 
in the spring, and in midsummer almost ceased to run. 
The last time I passed by, the mills had been long carried 
away, even the ruins of the mills and of every thing about 
them were gone, and the two beautiful streams which I 
had seen flowing so charmingly for so many years, had 


FORESTS RETAIN MOISTURE. 147 


become, one of them a little trickling rill, which I could step 
across, and the other a series of mud-holes. The difficulty 
was, that the forests, the sources of those streams, had been 
cut down. The rain which falls in a forest penetrates the 
earth, which, protected by the roots of the trees, keeps a 
portion of it there for the whole year. Thus in a forest the 
water is laid up, kept as though it were a treasure, and it con- 
tinues to trickle away from that forest every day in the 
year. Cut down the trees, and all the rain that falls in 
the spring, all the water that is produced by the melting of 
the snow of winter, pours down in great floods. It was the 
great floods that carried away those mills and those dams. 
They all come down at once, and there is nothing left. But 
that is not the only loss. Where the trees have been cut down, 
the leaves, and that substance made of leaves, the most 
valuable of manures, are dried up, and the first flood carries 
this off; next after that, the earth that has been formed by 
the leaves; and after that is gone, the fine sand; then the 
coarse sand. Having watched the operation of these causes 
in our little rivers, I went to Europe some years ago, for the 
purpose of studying that among other things; and I found, 
in the south of France and the north of Italy, hundreds of 
thousands of acres where exactly this process had taken place. 
A poor man living on the branch of the Po, for example (and 
this process had been going on longer and more terribly on 
the Po than any other river known), having a little farm, 
and wanting some wood to burn, or to send to market, cuts 
down his trees. 

Apparently, he has done no harm; but the winter’s snow 
and the spring rains come, and as I have said, the leaves 
having been dried up, the next rains carry their- substance 
away, and gradually the increasing torrents carry heavier and 
heavier substances, until, at last, on the steep sides of hills, 
they carry off great stones. This destruction has been going 
on for hundreds of years in the valley of the Po. The Po, 
when first spoken of in history, was a charming river from 
its innumerable sources in the Alps on the north side, and 
the Appenines on the south side; one of the most charming 
rivers in the world, and a blessing to all who dwelt on its 
banks. Its channel is now filled up. It has extended its 


148 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 


mouth several miles into the sea, by the earth, stones, and 
ruins that have been carried along; it has made a wall on 
each side, so that now there are miles and miles of its course 
where its bed is literally higher than the neighboring grounds. 
Sometimes this wall gives way, and the farms on one side 
or the other, or both, are overwhelmed. It was only last 
year that one of these terrible accidents occurred on the river, 
and ten thousand people were made beggars. Their little 
farms, which they had been cultivating by the side of the 
Po, were overwhelmed by the overflowing of the river, and 
will never be cultivated again. In France, I saw what was 
being done, more satisfactorily than anywhere else. The 
great rivers of France have been acting in the same way. 
None of them are so large, or so long, at least not so long 
from the mountains, and therefore, the overflows have not 
been so terrible; but thousands of acres, in the south-east of 
France, have been carried away, year after year, by the 
causes I have pointed out. Sometimes a whole village will 
be carried away at once; the soil, and everything that kept 
the earth in its place, carried away by a great deluge. Thou- 
sands of acres are sometimes swept away at once. Agents 
of the government are taking the most efficacious measures to 
remedy this evil; and so important do they consider it in all 
the countries of Europe, that there are forest schools now, 
which I visited in Italy, France and Germany, where young 
men are educated, after they have been through the other 
schools, to take care of the forests, for the forests, in every 
country of Europe, are a national concern. It is not done in 
Great Britain, because every gentleman is a lover of trees, 
and takes the best measures possible to keep them in good 
condition, and, if possible, to make them better. Go through 
all the countries of Europe, and you will find that the greatest 
pains are taken to remedy the evil that has already been 
done, and to prevent its recurrence in other cases. Now, I 
say, gentlemen, every one of you can do something to prevent 
this evil. You can do something to have the hills in your 
neighborhood planted to the summit with trees. That will 
remedy it entirely. You all know, undoubtedly, what has 
been done in that direction by one of your neighbors over 
here in Byfield. .I went to see him a few weeks ago. He 


FORESTS MODIFY CLIMATE. 149 


has taken for his experiment a hill of twenty-five acres, the 
top of which is higher than any of the land in the neigh- 
borhood. Undoubtedly, you can see that hill in Byfield from 
here. It wasa bare hill from top to bottom. He has covered 
it with trees from the bottom to the top, and has done a 
thing on the top which I was surprised and delighted to see. 
He had planted it with various trees that he wanted to grow 
there, but they could not grow. The question then was, 
What should he do? He got pine trees from abroad, and 
from the north, and the hardiest of them, those that will 
grow anywhere, he planted there: pines, spruces and hem- 
locks, which will grow anywhere. He planted them, and 
when they had made a good growth, he put down close by 
the side of each, under its shelter, an oak or a hickory, or a 
maple, and that oak, or hickory, or maple flourished perfectly 
under the protection of the pines. I would advise every one 
of you who has not been there, to go and see what a beautiful 
work has been done. . I say such a good work has not been 
done to my knowledge anywhere else in Massachusetts. 

Now, I repeat, it is very important to cover all the hills 
with trees. By doing it you will improve the climate. The 
loss of trees in Massachusetts has injured the climate very 
much. It has been growing worse and worse for over a hun- 
dred years. I was told by an old gentleman in Worcester, 
forty years ago: “There are a great many plants we cannot 
cultivate in our gardens now,—nice, delicate things,—which, 
when I was a boy (he was fifty or sixty years old then), 
grew perfectly well; but, since then, all these hills have been 
denuded, the forests on them have been cut down, and the 
winds from every quarter come in without being impeded at 
all, and that makes our climate so bad here in the centre of 
Worcester that many of the delicate plants which flourished 
perfectly well thirty or forty years ago cannot be raised 
now.” 

Gentlemen, you can all do something towards remedying 
this evil. Take care that the tops and the sides of all the 
hills shall be covered with forests. By so doing, you are not 
only protecting your own gardens so that you may cultivate 
delicate plants in them, but you are rendering your homes 
more comfortable and more healthy. The great difficulties 


150 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 


with us, in our climate,—every one of you feels it on such a 
day as to-day, and in the hottest days in summer,—the great 
difficulties are the excessive cold and the excessive heat. The 
more we can do to cover the hills with trees, the more we do 
to diminish that excessiveness of the climate. On such a day 
as day before yesterday, if you had a great hill directly 
north-west of you, covered with trees, the wind would have 
been less violent in every street in this pleasant town; 
and so it will always be. You cannot cover a hill with 
trees without diminishing the violence of the winds that 
sweep over it. 

I do not know, gentlemen, that I need say anything more 
to you. These are among the things that I wanted to say. I 
wish you would take an interest in this matter. It is of very 
great importance. It is really of national importance. I 
went last year, as I told you, to Washington, to see what 
could be done. I have been studying this subject for many 
years, and know something of the evil and the remedy. I 
wanted the general government to do something for the pro- 
tection of the forests and for the prevention of this enormous 
evil. I studied it out, and came to the conclusion, as I have 
stated to you, that in ten or twelve years the forests on the 
Atlantic slope would be cut down, unless something was done. 
I went to the leading men in Washington; I went to the 
President. He said it was a most important subject ; he was 
very much obliged to me for coming there, for no private 
object, but for a public improvement of that kind. I went, 
as I have said, to all the leading men, and they all expressed 
themselves in the same way. The President did exactly what 
Iasked him to do. He said he approved of my memorial, 
and would act upon it immediately. That was Friday morn- 
ing. On the next Monday, he sent in the memorial, and 
requested that it should be referred to a committee. Every- 
body to whom I spoke on the subject did everything I asked 
them to do. They said it was a very important question ; that 
I deserved the thanks of the community for calling attention 
to it; but nothing was done. It was referred to a committee, 
and the committee found that it would cost eight thousand or 
ten thousand dollars a year to have a man to take charge of 
the whole matter, go everywhere, and find out about it; and 


FORESTS AND RAINFALL. 151 


to save that eight thousand a year they declined, or at any 
rate, failed, to do anything. Thousands and millions of dol- 
lars were at that time squandered for the support of men 
who were doing nothing. 

Now, gentlemen, you can do, every one of you, a great 
deal about this. I say you can not only render your farms 
more pleasant and more healthy, but you can render them 
more valuable. If anybody wants to know how to manage 
the forest-trees, I can give him suggestions. If there is any 
question that any gentlemen would like to have answered, I 
shall be glad, as far as I can, to answer it. 


Question. I should like to ask if we have had less rain 
since the forests were cut down? I have seen statistics of the 
rainfall in the last two years, and if I recollect right, it was 
stated that, in two storms last year, more water fell than 
during the whole year before. Out in California, where they 
formerly had no rain, since they have been cutting down those 
large trees, they are beginning to have rains. 

Mr. Emerson. Some of those facts are overstated; but 
I have no doubt that, in a period of twenty years, about the 
same amount of rain falls, whatever the condition of the 
forests. But here is the question: Will you let that rain 
pass off and fall into the sea, or upon the plains, or will 
you arrest some of it, and make it fall upon your land? 
This you can do by preserving the trees that still remain, and 
planting others where they have been cut off. Trees are 
electrical; they draw off the electricity, and they bring down 
a portion of the rain. They stop the clouds that are going 
over, and make them discharge a portion of their water. I 
believe that the gentleman is right in saying that there is 
as much rain in a series of years, in the same section of 
country, irrespective of the forests; but this I am sure of, 
that you may stop some of it, if you take pains to do so, and 
make it produce a good effect. 

Question. I should like to ask whether you consider it 
healthy to have trees so near a dwelling-house that they 
shade it? 

Mr. Emerson. I am very glad that you have asked me 
that question. That is a very important subject. I say that 


152 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 


the most precious thing to a house is sunshine, and no tree 
ought ever to be planted so near a house as to diminish the 
sunshine upon that house. Plant your trees, but at such a 
distance that the house shall never be thrown: into the shade. 
The air, on the whole, will be purer around a house if there 
are no trees close by; but, then, you must have trees at a 
little distance to purify the air, if you want to be sure of 
having it pure. I say no tree ought to diminish the sunshine 
ona house. The sunshine, in our cold climate, is the most 
valuable thing we have. Sometimes we get it in larger doses 
than we want; but it is the most blessed thing in the world, 
and we ought never to allow the sunshine to be taken away 
from our houses at any season of the year. From the sun’s 
rays come directly ingredients which are essential to the per- 
fect growth of plants. Plant trees, as many as you can,—the 
more, and the more beautiful, the better,—but not too near 
your homes. 

There is one point that I wanted to insist upon, which I 
forgot. In our pastures, there ought to be trees; not single 
trees only, but little groups of trees, so that the cattle can go 
there in the heat of the day and cool themselves, and keep, 
as long as they please, away from the sunshine. The sun- 
shine is as important to them as to us; but they are incom- 
moded and injured as much by the excessive heat, in July and 
August, aswe are. They ought always to be protected. The 
best kinds of trees that you can get for that purpose are those 
which have the most leaves. Here is one fact, gentlemen, 
which I do not know that you will be pleased to learn, but it 
is a fact. Ihave been planting trees now for the last twenty 
years, and over, and I have planted the best European trees 
side. by side with American trees, of the same kinds, and 
watched the difference. 

There is one very remarkable difference. The European 
trees, of the same kind, have a great deal more foliage, and 
they hold their foliage much longer. I have been watching 
for the last forty years the elms on Boston Common. There 
are a few European elms there, and the leaves of those 
“English elms,” as they are called, are six weeks longer on 
the trees than the leaves of the American elms around them. 
That is really a very important thing—to add to the shade of 


FOREIGN AND NATIVE TREES. 153 


summer six weeks, and to retain for that time the beauty 
of the forests. I find that that is true of nearly all the trees. 
I find one other thing, which I ought to state, which may be 
interesting to some of you. I have planted European trees 
upon one of the poorest lots of land that I know of, down close 
by the ocean ; one of those promontories that run into Boston 
Bay ; poor as poor can be. I have planted all the European 
trees, side by side with our American trees, and I have found, 
in every instance except one, that the European trees grow 
better and more rapidly than. the American. Take the 
English oak. I have every variety of the English oak,—° 
twenty or more trees; and all of them are growing better 
than the hardiest of our oaks, even the red oak, which is the 
finest and quickest grower. So it is with the beech; so it is 
with the ash, most preéminently. There is one exception, 
—it is not apparently an exception, though it is really an 
exception,—the European birch, which they consider the 
most beautiful tree in Europe; and it is. Our little gray, 
commonly called white birch, which grows everywhere here, 
is so like it that I cannot tell them apart at the distance of 
fifteen feet; that is, until they get to some height. Our 
little birch never grows to any considerable height, but I have 
several of those European birches that have grown fifty or 
sixty feet high within the last twenty-three years. Our largest 
birch, the canoe-birch, grows very rapidly,—certainly quite 
as rapidly as the European birch. It does not grow so large 
at the stem, but it keeps up its size very much higher, so 
that, when they are of just about the same height, if you cut 
them off at ten feet from the ground, the diameter would be 
greater in the European than in the American ; but if you cut 
them off at thirty feet from the ground, it would be greater 
in the American. So it is with the maples. They have two 
maples in England of great value, and only two. I have them 
growing perfectly well. They grow a great deal better, I am 
sorry to say (I do not know why), than our corresponding 
trees. In the place which I chose, I say because it is so 
bad a place, because it is so unfavorable to the growth of 
trees that I might give them all the disadvantages possible, 
the rock-maple would not grow; I could not persuade it to 
grow ; it refused to grow in such poor land; but the English 
20 


154 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 


miuples grew a great deal better than any of the maples of our 
country, except the white maple. The English elm grows 
better than the American elm, and it has a great deal more 
foliage. So it is with all the others. It is almost universally 
true that the European trees have a great deal more foliage, 
cast a very much deeper shade, and hold their leaves a great 
deal longer, bringing them out earlier in the spring and 
holding them much longer in the autumn, than our American 
trees. 

Mr. Brown. I look upon this subject as a very important 
and interesting one. I was querying which is the best way 
of propagating these various kinds of trees, whether by trans- 
planting, or whether any of them can be raised from seed— 
the sugar-maple, for instance. I think a few hints in that 
“ame will be interesting and instructive. 

‘Mr. Emerson. I shall be very glad to speak about that. 
In the first place, I say that every one of our native trees may 
be propagated by seed. I have tried so many of them that I 
have no hesitation in saying that every one of our native trees 
may be propagated with perfect certainty, if you only know 
how to take care of them. A tree speaks for itself, generally, 
as to the time the seed should be planted. When a seed falls 
to the ground, it falls to produce another tree. When, there- 
fore, the seeds are ripe and fall to the ground, that is the 
time to sow them. As to the mode of sowing them, you can 
sow them in the field, just as you do a crop of corn, taking 
care not to cover them too deep, and taking care to have them 
protected. I have heard of a man (and I was very sorry not 
to go and see him) who had sown a quantity of seeds in a 
field of rye, and the rye protected those little trees that 
sprang up perfectly, and the owner let the rye stay till the 
next spring, to protect them. Here is a hint that the trees 
give us of how they ought to be planted. The oak-tree lets 
its acorns fall on the ground, and there they take root. The 
same thing is true of almost all our trees; not all; they grow 
best under their mother’s care, under her protection. In 
Germany I went to a great forest school, thirty miles from 
Berlin, and the superintendent carried me around and showed 
me how they planted their oaks. I found a magnificent 
forest of several hundred acres that has been given up to this 


PROTECT YOUNG SEEDLINGS. 155 


forest school, that the young men may have an opportunity 
to study the tree in every position and in every condition. I 
found the place that he had selected to plant oaks was a little 
opening among oak trees,—a noble forest, with high trees on 
every side. The seed is planted in this spot, where the trees 
protect them from the sun, except for half an hour or an hour 
in the hottest part of the day; they are partially protected 
almost the whole time. That is a matter of very great impor- 
tance, very much greater than it is commonly considered. If 
you are going to plant seeds, the fruit of trees, in a place 
which is not protected, it will be always advisable to have a 
hedge or a fence built up between them and the sun, so that 
they shall not be exposed to the full heat of summer. 

These are the most important, things that I have to say in 
regard to that. I could talk longer if you were willing to 
listen, because this is a matter in which I feel the greatest 
interest—which I have felt for many years: 

Col. SatronsTaLL. Would you not advise the obtaining 
of small trees from nurseries, where the planting is not to be 
done on a very large scale, as a matter of economy ? 

Mr. Emerson. Certainly I would. Plant the trees in 
your nurseries. But this essential thing has commonly been 
disregarded in many nurseries,—that the plant, when it comes 
up, should be very much protected from the sun. 

Mr. WETHERELL. It is often said that the leaves are 
colored by the frost. Is that true? 

Mr. Emerson. That is a matter I have been observing 
for forty years or more. The only effect of the frost upon 
all leaves is to injure very much, and presently destroy, their 
beauty. The frost never produces the beauty of any leaf. It 
is something else. I cannot tell why the trees of Massa- 
chusetts are incomparably more beautiful in the fall of the 
year than the trees of Europe. It is something in our soil, 
or in our atmosphere, which produces that change. The frost 
has nothing to do with it, except that when the frost comes, it 
puts an end to all the beauty of the trees. 

Question. I would like to know the best method of trans- 
planting trees. 

Mr. Emerson. One thing is essential. Do not transplant 
any tree, except a pine, as long as the leaves are on it. Then 


156 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 


I think it is very important, in transplanting a tree, to take 
great pains in taking it up. Dig a hole all around it, so as 
not to cut off the ends of the little radicles; these are the 
things that give life to the tree; it is not the great roots. 
The great roots merely support these ‘little radicles, and send 
them out, Take care to dig the hole so far from the trunk 
of the tree that you may preserve all these little radicles. 
Then take up as large a body of earth as you can, to keep the 
little rootlets together. . 

Col. SALTONSTALL. Perhaps my experience in transplanting 
will give an answer to the question which has been asked. 
As you know, sir, I have transplanted a great many trees. 

Mr. Emerson. Yes, sir; and I know with what perfect 
success. 

Col. SatronsTALL. I took a hillside, without a tree upon 
it, except a few old apple-trees. I not only transplanted 
trees from the forest, but I imported from England, seven- 
teen years ago, at a cost of two cents apiece, a large number 
of trees, American as well as European. They were little 
things, a few inches high. I put them in a nursery, not 
larger than that platform. My hillside is now almost a forest. 
I cut down every year firewood enough for consumption in 
my open fireplace, in the necessary thinning out of those 
trees. I have transplanted trees at all seasons,—winter, 
summer, autumn and spring. 

Mr. Emerson. Could you transplant trees with large 
leaves in summer? 

Col. SatronsTaLty. A tree cannot be transplanted with 
the leaves upon it, unless it has been transplanted at the 
proper season for three successive years. The main roots 
having been trimmed closely, and the tap-root having been 
removed, it will have a mass of little roots, like a plant in 
a flower-pot. Ihave transplanted hickories with success,— 
perhaps the most difficult of any of our forest trees to trans- 
plant. It is a very sensitive tree, and makes very few 
radicle roots. It sends down a strong, sturdy tap-root, so 
that, unless it has been taken very young from the forest, and 
this tap-root taken off, and is transplanted at the proper time, 
I think it is impossible to transplant it successfully. I have 
gone into the woods on the other side of my hill, where they 


TRANSPLANTING FOREST TREES. 157 


grow in abundance, and taken up the little trees, two years 
old, with the greatest care, taken off the tap-root, and placed 
them in the positions where I wished them to grow, where 
they were protected by other trees around them or by artificia] 
protection, and they grew beautifully. If you cut off the tap- 
root, and let the tree stand for a couple of years, you can 
remove it, and it will grow better, perhaps, than if left in its 
native forest, and you can remove it with perfect safety and 
success to any part of your grounds. It seldom fails, if 
removed at the right time and with proper care, and makes 
one of the most beautiful trees. 

There are one or two other matters in which I have had a great 
deal of experience. I must differ from Mr. Emerson in regard 
to one, and that is with respect to European and native trees. 
I imported, as I say, a large number of European trees, and 
planted them. It may be that location makes a difference, 
but I am strongly of the opinion that it is dangerous to plant 
European trees instead of American. If one wishes to have 
a variety of trees about his place, by all means let him plant 
European trees. I agree with what Mr. Emerson says in 
regard to the beauty of their foliage as compared with ours ; 
but when he plants a European tree, let him plant an American 
tree of the same kind sufficiently near to take the place of the 
other. The late Peter C. Brooks, I have been informed, 
imported a large number of English oaks, or planted them 
from the seed, in his grounds, and they grew to large size 
and great beauty. They were in as beautiful a place as could 
be; but all of a sudden, in one or two years, every one of 
them, which were large and splendid trees, died, for no 
apparent reason. 

Now, in regard to other foreign trees. Mr. George W. 
Lyman has upon his place a magnificent old English elm, 
planted by his father. By the side of it he has a superb 
American elm, planted at the same time, and very likely for 
the purpose of making that experiment, by old Mr. Lyman. 
They grew there for perhaps three-quarters of a century with 
equal beauty, the American and the English,—two beautiful 
trees. But if you go there to-day, you will see that the 
American elm is in perfect condition, while the English elm 


has lost much of its head. 


sa ee 


158 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 


Almost everybody in our country is planting the Norway 
spruce, and giving up our beautiful native spruces,—our 
black and white spruces, the most beautiful trees of their 
kind, I think, in the world. The Norway spruces grow, 
some of them, very handsomely, and especially so until they 
are twenty years old. They are objects of great beauty. 
They seem to grow faster than the American. But I go and 
look every day at my American spruces, creeping along surely 
and beautifully, with smaller foliage, it is true, than the 
foreign trees, but in their form I think they are more beauti- 
ful. There is a native spruce in Mr. Lee’s grounds, near me, 
which I will venture to say is a more beautiful tree than any 
Norway spruce you ever saw. These Norway spruces often 
die after a time, from no cause, so far as can be seen, not 
being in exposed positions, but standing just as the others do. 
They fade out; they begin to lose their foliage and dry up at 
the ends, make a great many cones (which is always a sign 
of premature death), and finally die. 

So with the English elms on my own place. I have a large 
number of English elms, which I most unfortunately planted 
upon my avenue, at regular intervals, and depended upon 
them for my permanent trees, to be objects of beauty to me 
and the generations after me. These trees have their foliage 
upon them, as Mr. Emerson says, five or six weeks longer 
than the American elms, but I have lost two of the finest of 
them; they died for no reason, that I could discover; and if 
you look at the others, they present more or less the appear- 
ance of our buttonwoods at the present day in our forests, of 
decaying at the ends. Here and there you find dead twigs 
and occasionally a whole limb on every tree that is affected. 

I am very earnest about this fashion of importing and buy- 
ing at nurseries foreign trees, in preference to our own beau- 
tiful trees. The red pine of Maine, to which reference has 
been made, is more beautiful than the Austrian pine,—far 
more beautiful. It is of the same color and habit, only it has 
longer spines, and it is a more beautiful and surer tree to 
plant. Our own hemlock is the most beautiful evergreen in 
existence, and our own spruces, as I said before, I think can 
be better depended on, in the long run, than the Norway 
spruce. 


DECIDUOUS TREES AND EVERGREENS. 159 


In regard to maples, there is one marked exception to the 
general rule respecting foreign trees. The Norway maple, 
I believe, is a perfectly hardy and sure grower, and it is as 
beautiful a maple as we can plant, except that in the autumn, 
its leaves assume a yellow color, instead of the various colors 
of the rock-maple. 

The canoe-birch of Maine is a far more beautiful tree in 
every respect than the gray birch of Massachusetts. All the 
birches are beautiful trees. You can have a forest of them in 
_ your own life-time which will be of immense value as timber, 
for they are rapid growers. 

It has been stated that deciduous trees will grow better 
if planted with pines, and that is true. I attempted to grow 
deciduous trees on a side-hill, exposed to the wind, and lost 
them, because I did not protect them with pines and other 
evergreens. The moment I planted pines with them, they 
protected them from the northern blasts, and they grew with 
the utmost rapidity. I planted my trees seventeen years ago. 
It was a very windy place. My children suffered with croup, 
and other diseases of the throat. My house was on high 
ground, and I never supposed for a moment that the location 
had anything to do with the prevalence of this disease ; but 
it was very much exposed; there was not a tree near enough 
to keep the wind away from it. Now it is perfectly protected 
by trees, and I have not had a case of croup since I secured 
that protection, though there are still young children in the 
house. This is an illustration of the influence of trees upon 
the atmosphere and upon health, by the protection which they 
afford against winds. 

As regards the drying up of streams, I had a most interest- 
ing illustration of that when I was travelling in Spain, many 
years ago. I was riding on horseback through Andalusia, 
with a very intelligent peasant, who had been Washington 
Irving’s guide, when he was writing his books, “The Alham- 
bra,” and the “Conquest of Grenada.” He was an old man, 
and as we were riding along the bed of a brook, which was 
perfectly dry, I said, “Does water ever flow here, Manuel?” 
“No,” he said, “except in winter, and then it is a torrent. It 
used to be a river in old times, as long ago as when the 
Romans were here.” “How do you know that?” Said he, 


160 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 


“I will show you.” In a few minutes we came to a precipi- 
tous rock, where there was a large bronze hook or bolt in the 
rock. Said he, “There is where the Romans made fast their 
galleys in the old times.” That is an illustration of the effect 
upon rivers of cutting down the forests, as they have been in 
Spain, where the hills have been denuded of them. 

Mr. Emerson. I confirm entirely everything the gentle- 
man has said. I see the earnestness with which he speaks, 
and I see, at the same time, that such a speech does not need 
confirmation. It is a delight to me to pass over the hill to 
which he has referred, and ride among his trees, as I do two 
or three times a week all summer long, on my way to visit 
my daughters and grand-children. Every word he says is 
true, and he might say a great many things of the same kind. 

Mr. Mannine, of Reading. I have many facts to confirm 
what has been said by preceding speakers in regard to grow- 
ing and transplanting our native trees. 

The seeds can be sown, and if the surroundings are favor- 
able, the result will be quite generally a success. Our native 
trees perfect their seeds at quite different seasons, and they 
drop at perfection; and, with comparatively few exceptions, 
our native forests have continued to grow with but little help 
from man. We can take our tree seeds, and by proper sur- 
roundings, can perpetuate them and control them to some 
extent. Such surroundings are only learned by close obser- 
vation and long experience. 

The seeds of the larch, for instance, which have dropped 
along the sidewalks in our grounds, are growing in the 
gutters, of two years’ growth, ready for transplanting. Nature 
produced seed enough from the parent tree to have grown, 
with reasonable human aid, and produced many thousands of 
its kind. 

We have sown the seeds of evergreens of various kinds in 
open ground; but such treatment is often a failure, in conse- 
quence of a lack of shelter for the young trees. Under a hot 
sun, they are too often killed just as they appear above the 
surface of the soil. 

I learned something of the management of seedling ever- 
greens and other forest trees by a visit to Robert Douglas, 
of Illinois, who grows untold millions of evergreen trees, and 


GROWING TREES FROM SEED. 161 


scatters them all over the West. He sowed the seeds in 
beds, about four feet wide, raised slightly, with a foot-path 
between them. These seeds are not buried deeply. Most 
seeds require only a slight covering; the most important 
conditions are shelter from extreme dryness and the direct 
rays of the sun. 

Strips of board, six to eight inches wide and four feet long, 
are placed the length of a lath four feet apart. Laths are 
nailed on, the width of a lath, one and a half inches apart. 
These screens are multiplied to cover acres of those seed-beds, 
and they assist in protecting the tender seedling. The screens 
are kept on for a year, or longer. Some seeds are more 
successful with a more continuous shelter. He used various 
devices. ‘Thin white cotton-cloth was suspended about a foot 
from the ground, open at the sides. Then posts, seven to 
eight feet high, with rails across the tops, and over all a thick 
covering of oak branches, cut while in full leaf, and so securely 
confined on that a man could walk on them. This was con- 
tinued over acres of prairie-ground. He uses these shelters 
till the trees become well established. Dry summer heat 
and a lack of rain, is often very destructive the first summer, 
and sometimes the second, and make shelter necessary for 
the preservation of the uncounted thousands of seedling 
trees. 

All the maples, elms and birches grow freely from seed, 
and can be transplanted successfully. Oaks can be trans- 
planted from forests, if taken when small, the tops to be cut 
back severely nearly to the ground, about the time of the 
swelling of the buds; shelter the first season with boughs. 

In planting the acorns as they ripen in autumn, in a moist, 
porous soil, with a covering of hard-wood leaves, they push 
out the radicle root before winter. The following spring 
and summer a growth of four to twelve inches may be looked 
for. The second spring, take up and cut back the tap-root 
six inches below the point where the seedling came out of the 
ground, and plant two inches deeper than the tree grew. 
The lateral roots then start readily, and we find success quite 
sure, if the seedlings have been well protected between the 
time of digging and transplanting. If, without this root- 
pruning while young, you undertake to transplant the oak, 

21 


162 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 


- hickory, or chestnut at three to five years’ growth, with the 
tops all on, the loss will be large. 

I have a shellbark hickory, raised by the late Francis Dana, 
of Roxbury. He selected the largest nuts he could from 
bushels, and planted them in Dorchester. He dug with a 
trowel under them in July, when they were six to eight 
inches high, and cut the tap-root six inches below the sur- 
face. At two or three years of age they were transplanted 
and grew up five to eight feet, when various parties bought 
them. They are bearing fruit now. Their age is about fifteen 
years. One of mine is eight inches in diameter and twenty 
feet high. It bore half a bushel of nuts the past season, and 
has fruited for five years past. 

Dr. Gro. B. Emerson. What is the character of the nut? 

Mr. Mannina. It is a shellbark nut, very thin-shelled. 
I think Mr. Dana root-pruned or transplanted the tree more 
than once. They were transplanted from his ground very 
successfully, for I have seen them growing in several places. 

If I could remove the whole class of nut-bearing trees, also 
the soft-rooted trees, such as the magnolia, tulip, butternut, 
black walnut, virgilia lutea, ete., my choice would be to do 
it rather late in the season, say about the middle of May in 
this latitude, or just as the buds are swelling, and reduce the 
tops at the.time of planting. Those are all hardy trees when 
once established. 

There is something peculiar about the evergreens. If I were 
to name a particular month for transplanting them, it would be 
May. The general opinion is that June is the month to plant all 
evergreens; but June is too late to begin. It is better to be 
done planting all evergreens by June 1. It often depends 
much upon who does the work. Along our boundary lines, 
by several house lots, some six hundred feet in length was 
planted with arbor-vite trees, six to ten feet high. They 
were planted, as time favored, from June 4 to June 25. Some 
were watered, and some were not, as the soil and water 
varied. Sometimes the weather was very warm. We were 
personally at the work. The tops and many of the side 
branches were cut back severely to the height of five or six 
feet. The result is, not one dead tree in the six hundred feet 
of hedge, or nearly four hundred trees. It is all now visible 


THE ENGLISH OAK. 163 


to any who may examine it. The season was quite favorable 
after June 7. 

We kept on with the transplanting of evergreens,—Norway 
spruce, white and blue spruce, hemlock, etc., until into July. 
Most of these were taken from beds two to four years trans- 
planted ; many thousands were moved. A close examination 
will show scarcely any dead ones. 

As arule, it would have been preferable to have done this 
planting in May, but a favorable state of the soil and frequent 
rains made it much more successful than it would have been 
in the rather dry time we had in May. Quite a percentage 
of trees set in that dry season were less successful. A 
soaking rain directly after transplanting any trees insures 
success, even if a long dry term follows, if the trees were in 
good condition at planting. 

Most of the European trees that I know of have a denser 
foliage than the American, and it holds on later in autumn. 
IT have found a difficulty in regard to the permanence of the 
English oak. Perhaps they do not succeed so well in my soil 
as in heavier, stronger soil. Not one in fifty will make a 
good stem with regular top. The American red oak will 
grow with the utmost facility. The Norway maple is a hardy 
tree, and makes a very symmetrical, round head, but people are 
disposed to choose the rock-maple more than all other shade- 
trees combined, which almost invariably grows handsome, and 
can be transplanted with safety, and grows more conical than 
the Norway maple. The tops, or branches, of most of these 
shade-trees can be trimmed to any extent. I can show youa 
specimen of the canoe-birch, closely pruned, that is only a few 
feet high. That tree will bear trimming just as well as a 
buckthorn. For an evergreen, there is nothing more beauti- 
ful than the hemlock. It will bear pruning closely, and may 
be formed to any shape, and it is really one of the most 
beautiful trees we have. The only trouble is, it is too com- 
mon to be appreciated. They will bear pruning so close, 
that you can make them appear like a mass of leaves, with 
not a single branch to be seen. You can trim the spruces, 
also, very close. Speaking of the beauty of American ever- 
greens, it is curious what a variety of colors they assume, of 
the same species. You will find some of the white spruce 


164 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 


with a greenish color, but they generally assume a silvery 
look; then another specimen close by will have a bluish hue, 
so much so that I denominate them blue spruce. I saw last 
summer in Maine and in Canada, also along the St. John’s 
River in New Brunswick, some of the finest spruces I ever 
saw, with limbs close down to the ground. I never saw a 
Norway spruce so symmetrical and perfect as were those white 
and blue spruces. I think they belong to one class, but they 
assume that different-colored foliage. A week ago last Satur- 
day I set out twelve hundred white spruces that came from 
Prince Edward Island. November 20, they had been six 
weeks in a box. We will know of success next July. 

The covering of our hills and waste lands with native forest 
trees is not a difficult thing at all. Mr. John A. Hall, of Rayn- 
ham, Mass., more than thirty years ago, set out a great many 
acres of white pines, and they are growing now large enough 
for board logs. I had a conversation with him in regard to. 
the matter, and he said he could plant them out for ten dollars 
an acre, setting them ten feet each way. 

The Cuarrman. I suppose we are suffering to-day from 
the loss of our forests. When I left home on Monday, the 
weather was moderate, but I saw by the papers that there was 
a cold wave coming from the mountains, and I began to shiver. 
I knew that it would reach us before long, and in twenty-four 
hours we were in the midst of a Russian winter here. Why 
was this? I do not believe the climate has changed; but the 
difficulty is, that instead of there being forests to intercept 
and absorb the cold wave, or a portion of it, it all pours 
right over upon us. If the old forests had not been cut down, 
we should not have had that cold wave until this time, and it 
would have been so modified that we should not have felt it. 
But now, in the absence of those forests, it comes pouring 
down upon us, and never says, “By your leave.” Now, if we 
will attend to what we have heard to-day, in twenty-five 
years we shall not have these cold waves coming over us. 


The Board then took up the next subject upon the pro- 
gramme, Cattle Husbandry, and Dr. Lorine was called upon 
to open the discussion. 


THE ANIMAL KINGDOM. 165 


CATTLE HUSBANDRY. 


Dr. Lorine. On the subject of cattle husbandry I suppose 
there is now but little difference of opinion. But if you 
desire me to open the debate, I am happy to do so. 

IT am glad to say, Mr. President and gentlemen, that there 
is one branch of agricultural industry remaining in this 
country which has not been affected, so far as I know, by the 
cutting of the forests; the cattle still flourish “on a thousand 
hills,” and your call upon me to present this matter of discus- 
sion, before the meeting, deprives me of the opportunity 
which I desired, when the former debate was going on, of 
saying that I was hardly ready to accept, to its fullest extent, 
the declaration that the forests controlled our climate. You 
will pardon me one moment while I dwell upon this matter, 
because it is one of such serious moment to man and beast, 
that I have no courage to deal with the animal kingdom, until 
I have given you and them the assurance that we can stand 
it a little longer without covering our land with an unbroken 
forest. 

I accept, generally, the statements made by a gentleman 
more profound and older than I, in regard to this matter, and 
I do it because there is no sight more delightful to my eyes 
than that of a man passing down the declining years of life, 
with the old enthusiasm for nature burning in his veins still ; 
and I assure you, one and all, farmers and scholars alike, that 
while everything else passes away, you will find, that what- 
ever natural object you have cherished in your youth, be it a 
tree or an animal, that will remain by you in your declining 
days; and after your eyes have become so dim that your 
books have no further charm for you, and your ears so deaf 
that music has no joy for your soul, your cattle and your 
hills and your trees, which you have cherished all your life, 
will remain a source of happiness still. 

I like this enthusiasm for the forest and trees, and those 
who cherish it I know will pardon me if I differ from them. 
Mr. Emerson accepted, in a kindly and courteous way, differ- 
ences of opinion that were advanced by one gentleman here 
much younger than himself, and I know that he will be patient 


166 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 


if I do not agree with him, and that he will be perfectly 
willing to accept the theory of an inexperienced young agri- 
cultural orator, unused to expressing his opinion, and perhaps 
unused to properly forming one. 

I think, sir, that the winters were just as cold, the streams 
just as dry, and the changes of temperature just as great, 
when the Pilgrims landed on these shores, as they are to-day. 
I have not the slightest doubt of it. I know that there are 
periods of years in which the rainfall is so great as to actually 
impede the progress of agricultural labor. That has occurred 
in my day. From 1856 to 1864 we were absolutely drowned 
out here in Massachusetts. There were not, in Essex County, 
twenty-five thousand tons of well-cured hay made annually 
during all these years. The rainfall was so great that it was 
impossible for the farmers to secure their crops, and it did 
seem as if the day had come when the windows of heaven 
were open and the floods were again upon us. Since that 
time, we have suffered in another direction; we have not had 
half rain enough. The changes of heat and cold moreover 
were as great, in the olden time as they are now. Think of 
that cold, hard, intense winter of 1816,—where were your 
forests then? The driving, piercing cold of 1620,—where 
were your forests then? Why, we are told that— 


“ The rocking pines of the forest waved: 
This was their welcome home.” 


The land was one great forest. What is this story of 
drought in the olden times, when the corn-crops were all cut 
off ? What is that record of the Pilgrim History of Plymouth, 
when their crops failed them, because “no water fell from 
heaven” ? 

Is it entirely true that we depend upon the continuance of 
our forests for our rainfall? Do you really believe,—let me 
ask you, Mr. Chairman, in all sincerity,—do you really 
believe that it would have been one degree warmer, day 
before yesterday, or yesterday, if there had been one inter- 
minable forest from Minnesota to Haverhill? 

Dr. WAKEFIELD. I do, most assuredly. 

Dr. Lorine. Well, sir, I do not. I do not believe it 
could have affected the temperature here even half a degree. 


INCREASE OF FORESTS. 167 


If it were so, why in the world did our ancestors find them- 
selves compelled to record so many cold winters? The 
climate was as variable, and the cold as great then as it is 
now. 

Now, one word with regard to the drying up of the streams 
in these modern days. The Connecticut is as large a river 
to-day as when the country was discovered. The Merrimack 
is as large a river now as it was then. I think the Mississippi 
is as great a river as it was in olden times. There is no 
doubt about it. More than all that,—for these dire fore- 
bodings of cold and drought are terrible, and I wish to 
encourage the gentlemen a little who are sitting around here 
pallid with fear at the thought that they are to be frozen to 
death or dried up,—more than all that, I say, there are more 
forests to-day in Massachusetts than there were twenty years 
ago. There is more woodland in Massachusetts to-day than 
there was twenty years ago; and (I am sorry on account of 
the cattle to say it) there is not half as much pasture left. 
That is a fact. The trees are increasing everywhere. They are 
increasing, as a matter of taste, everywhere. They are being 
planted by everybody. The gentlemen who have preceded 
me have all told us what an increasing taste there is for plant- 
ing trees here, so that the day has come when every farmer 
is ornamenting his estate. Iam sorry to say, however, that 
the time seems to have gone by when there was an ambition 
to plant that one solitary monumental tree, the old American 
elm, standing now beside the decaying homes of our ances- 
tors ;—that tree which, when those homes have passed away, 
will be looked upon by the investigator of after generations, 
as the monument of men unequalled for their sturdy independ- 
ence and their strong arms and determined zeal in defending 
their rights and their opinions,—that American elm, un- 
equalled in its magnificence, and unequalled in all its historic 
associations ! 

The planting of trees has become a national duty here, a 
national business, and a taste among the people. There is 
no necessity, therefore, for encouraging that, for it is every- 
where; and when we have discovered the law by which trees 
can be planted, and planted well and profitably, we shall then 
have learned another branch of agriculture, as well as culti- 


168 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 


vate a new branch of taste. As to the profit of cultivating 
trees, let me mention a single instance, before I close this 
accidental portion of my remarks. There is a piece of land 
in Lancaster, in this State, which was purchased in the early 
part of this century, and was suffered to stand until the pur- 
chaser died, a period of about half a century. It was a piece 
of “sprout land.” The pines had been cut off. The tall 
masts of many a stately ship had stood there, I doubt not. 
The trees were cut down, and the land was bought for perhaps 
a dollar an acre, which was about the price in those days. 
This land remained undisturbed for half a century or more, 
and when the owner died, and his sons settled his estate, they 
found that that land had increased in value in larger ratio 
than land on State Street during the same time. 

So much for the profit of tree-growing. That forests can 
be cut down judiciously, and raised judiciously, there is no 
manner of doubt; but let me suggest to you that there is 
no more propriety in insisting upon it that an old forest shall 
be allowed to stand, in spite of its falling branches and its 
decaying heads, than there is in insisting that a farmer shall 
not touch an old decayed orchard that his great-grandfather 
planted before the battle of Bunker Hill—not the slightest. 
The time always comes when an old forest should be cut down, 
just exactly as you would remove any other old obstacle in 
the way of progress. Remove it, and give nature another 
chance. Do not insist upon it, that because a forest is old, it 
must not be touched. Cut it down, if the proper time has 
come, and wait for nature to take the next step in that branch 
of business. Then plant your trees, or devote your land to 
the growing of trees, just exactly as you plant corn and 
potatoes, or sow barley and wheat, or turn to the raising of 
grass. It is just as much a branch of business as either of 
these, if you propose to pursue it profitably and well. 

In regard to the planting of trees, let me say one word. 
I have planted a great many trees, and have lost a great 
many, as everybody has. You cannot plant a Norway spruce 
successfully upon an elevation exposed to the violent north- 
west or north-east winds. It will not stand it. I have tried 
it over and over again. If you want the handsomest tree that 
grows, put the white pine there. If you want the next hand- 


NOT A SHORTHORN FARM. 169 


somest, put the Scotch pine there, and the harder the winds 
blow, and the more the sea-fogs drive in, the faster it will grow. 
Tf you want the next best tree, get the Austrian pine,—one of 
the sturdiest, one of the most splendid and reliable of all 
European trees. If you wish to transplant evergreens, 
whether white pines, Norway pines, Austrian pines, or Scotch 
pines, transplant early in August. That is my experience. I 
can make more white pine trees grow if transplanted the first 
week in August than at any other time, simply because the 
wood is formed, and they will go to work and take root for 
the next season. I cannot transplant white pines in May or 
June or July; I cannot transplant them in autumn; but I 
can in August, and have them live; and so of all the trees of 
that character that I have ever undertaken to set out. 

So much for trees; now for the cattle—the cattle that live 
under the trees. That reminds me of another point that was 
made. You see how much I have to do, if I clean up as I go 
along. Mr. Emerson, who knows about trees and loves trees, 
says, if you want your cattle to enjoy themselves, and to 
thrive, let your trees stand in the pastures, so that they can 
find shelter from the hot noon-tide sun. Now, the experiment 
on this point has been carefully tried. Half a dozen oxen 
were put in a pasture where there was an abundance of shade, 
and it was found that they passed their time under the trees, 
when they ought to have been feeding, and their thrift was 
small; but when their pasture was changed, and they were 
put where they had no opportunity to seek this shade, they 
throve much better. I have never seen the slightest benefit 
from trees in a pasture. 

Now, I come to the subject before us—Cattle Husbandry. 
The first question is to find out exactly what kind of cattle 
your farm is suited to. We have at various times introduced 
Shorthorn cattle into Essex County, and they have not suc- 
ceeded well. Essex County has not in it to-day a single 
Shorthorn farm. And when I talk about a Shorthorn farm, 
T mean a farm that is so luxuriant in its pastures, so abundant 
in its hay-crop, that.Shorthorns can do as well here as in 
Ohio, Illinois and Kentucky, and in some parts of the Con- 
necticut Valley. Here and there in New England there is a 
Shorthorn farm,—a farm adapted to the growth of large beef- 

22 


170 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 


producing animals. There is one in Connecticut, owned by 
Mr. Benj. Sumner, which is really a farm of that description. 
There is one in Vermont, owned by Mr. Winslow, of Putney, 
which is another of that description. Up and down the Con- 
necticut Valley there are a few more; but as a general thing, 
the large, heavy-growing cattle, known as Shorthorns, are 
not adapted to our farms here, either for the dairy or for beef. 
In the State of Maine, in some fortunate localities; as in the 
valleys of the Sandy and Kennebec rivers, heavy cattle 
thrive and do well. We must look upon those farmers there 
as fortunate exceptions. With our shorter pastures, we must, 
as arule, devote ourselves to the productions of the dairy, 
rather than to the productions of the stall; and so I would 
recommend to the farmers here in Essex County, and throughout 
New England generally, that they should select cattle of such 
moderate proportions that the short pastures here will feed 
them well, and of such large capacity for giving milk that 
they will find ample remuneration in the great milk markets 
that are continually growing up here on every hand. That, 
it seems to me, is the first law of cattle husbandry. And so, 
when you are selecting animals for the dairy as a business, 
do not select those which gratify your eye on account of their 
large proportions, but select those which, by their size, and 
their general anatomical structure, and the physiological law 
that lies within them, can produce the largest amount of milk 
on the smallest amount of food. 

Now, Iam laying down this law for the best of reasons. 
Have you not been asked, over and over again, “How much 
does your milk cost a quart?” How can you tell? One 
cow will make fifteen quarts of milk a day upon the same 
amount of hay and meal and shorts that another cow will con- 
sume in making four quarts. How are you going to tell what 
your milk costs? One cow is producing her milk at a cost of 
perhaps ten cents a quart, and another is producing her milk 
at a cost of perhaps two cents a quart. How are you going 
to tell how much your milk costs? You cannot tell. It is 
one of those questions that no man can definitely answer. 
You can tell how much you have spent in raising the milk your 
herd of cows has produced, taking into account the amount 
of hay consumed and the amount of grain you have bought. 


RESEMBLES AN AYRSHIRE. 171 


But when you are asked, how much your milk costs in the 
general run, you cannot select cow after cow and estimate 
properly. The only law you can possibly adopt is the one I 
have laid down here: Select that animal which, on the smallest 
amount of food, will produce the largest amount of milk. That 
is the law which lies at the basis of cattle husbandry. 

Now, in order to attend to this properly, we must learn 
our lesson from those people who have accomplished the. 
object. I am perfectly free to confess to you here, gentle- 
men, that I have adopted, bred, fed and used what are usually 
called Ayrshire gows for nearly twenty years. I began early to 
import them and encourage their importation into this country, 
into this State, especially ; and I have often found that when- 
ever I have discovered in a herd of coarse, heavy cattle, a 
cow that was particularly profitable, I have been told “she 
resembles an Ayrshire.” I wish that Mr. Holland, of Barre, 
were here, that I might call him up to testify to the vast service 
that he performed to his own herd by the introduction of an 
Ayrshire bull twelve years ago, to reduce the size and con- 
solidate the forms of his cattle; and I would say to him, that 
the half-dozen grade calves, Ayrshire and Durham, that had 
been bred in that way, which I purchased of him in 1869, 
were half a dozen of the best cows I ever had in my dairy 
herd. They had the loose texture of the old-fashioned Dur- 
ham, and they had the compact form, the level hip, the fine 
shoulder, the flat rib, the admirable strong head, the wide 
mouth, capable of taking in food with great rapidity, the com- 
pact stomach, the great milk-veins, and all the characteristics 
which go to make up a first-class dairy cow. Every one of 
them had these indications of a good milking animal, and they 
have gone on from that time to this, doing their duty in my 
herd faithfully and profitably. I say, therefore, I am not an 
advocate of this class of animals because they are Ayrshires, 
or because they grow in Scotland, or because they are on my 
own farm, but because they answer the great rule which I 
have laid down for the best dairy cow. These calves that I 
purchased were grades, created by an Ayrshire bull upon a 
broad, coarse-hipped Durham cow. I call it the Durham cow 
of Barre, because the dairy cows of Worcester County are not 
the modern improved Shorthorns; they are the old-fashioned 


172 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 


Durham which was in vogue in the days of Governor Lincoln, 
and were bred from the large dairy cow, imported by him 
into that section of the State; the same cow that Mr. Derby 
imported here in 1801, and which broke down here; the same 
cow that was taken into the Connecticut River valley by Mr. 
Williams, and which laid the foundation for the great dairy 
herds in the rich pastures of that valley,—a coarse, rough- 
hipped cow, but an admirable one, and a great feeder. 

Mr. Wernerett. Were they thoroughbreds? 

Dr. Lorine. There is no such thing as a thoroughbred, I 
am happy to say, in any animal, except a horse, unless it is 
that the Shorthorn breeders, having kept their herdbook per- 
fect for so many years, will insist upon calling their animals 
thoroughbred Shorthorns. I am willing that they should 
have that privilege. We call our Ayrshires pure-bred Ayr- 
shires; and that is a good name enough. They are animals 
that have bred a great many years in the same family and 
have fixed their type. I am happy to say that pure-bred 
Ayrshires are as good as grades. Grades are cheaper and 
easier to get, but you can find just as good pure-bred Ayr- 
shires as grade Ayrshires. There is no doubt about it. The 
capacity for milk is preserved in the family. If you have a 
herd of grade cows, the advantage you have is, that you can 
use an Ayrshire bull in such a way that the investment is a 
small one, and you can raise grades by a smaller investment 
than you can raise pure-bred animals. 

If you ask me, “ What is this animal called an Ayrshire ?” 
I say, it is a good cow; but the law will apply to any other 
class of cows as it will to Ayrshire cows. I mean a cow of 
such moderate size that she will not interfere with anybody, 
to begin with; a cow that manages herself handily, easily ; 
a cow that possesses that vigorous, elastic, powerful constitu- 
tion which never belongs to a coarse-boned, overgrown frame. 

An Ayrshire cow, then, is a cow made up, anatomically, 
physiologically upon the best model for a cow; that is, a 
good cow, generally. She has that structure of the head 
which indicates a contented, placid disposition and a powerful 
constitution ; a calm and steady eye; a face that is as expres- 
sive as acow’s face can be ; as much of an intelligent look as an 
animal of that deseription can have. A horn not too large at 


POINTS OF A GOOD COW. 173 


the base, but large enough to indicate that there is a strong 
constitution there ; a head wide between the eyes, and pretty 
high above the eyes to the root of the horns. I think a cow 
that has a broad base to her head is the best. Andif she has 
a large, luxurious mouth, that looks as if she was made for 
business, and can fill her stomach rapidly, so that she can lie 
down and digest and repose, she will be all the better fitted 
for the business of the dairy. I would have a cow’s neck 
small enough to be graceful, but not too small; not an ewe 
neck,—that is not necessary,—but gracefully, delicately and 
elegantly set on, without a waste muscle in it, but with muscle 
enough to make it a strong, vigorous and powerful part of 
the animal’s body. The shoulder of an animal of this descrip- 
tion should be as near like the shoulder of a good trotting- 
horse as it can be; not straight up and down like a thorough- 
bred’s. The shoulder of a good dairy cow should be a little 
loose, with the blades not rising above the backbone, with 
strong, powerful muscles, and a good substantial base, with 
a fore-quarter under it as straight as a plumb-line. Crooked- 
legged, knock-kneed cattle are never graceful, and seldom 
profitable. The legs should be strong and well defined, and 
the cords and muscles should stand out clean and prominent. 
The milk-vein should indicate a good superficial vascular 
system, which means simply this: it is an organization in 
which the superficial circulation of the blood indicates that 
what are called the secretory organs are active in the interior. 
The next sign of a good cow is an open, bony structure; not 
a coarse or loose-fibred, bony structure, but a bony structure 
that is so articulated or hung together that there is elasticity 
and ease of motion about it. Now, where are you going to 
find the indicative point that will tell this story? Put your 
finger into the point of the shoulder, and see if the cow has 
& cup-like cavity there. If she has, ten chances to one she 
will be a good milker; but if not,—if her shoulder is hard 
and compact, even if she is milking well to-day she will be 
likely to fail to-morrow. 

Now, when you get past the shoulders, what do you come 
to next? Youcome to the ribs. Upon a good chest develop- 
ment depends almost everything else iy a dairy cow. She 
must have a finely-shaped chine, and the spring of her ribs, 


174 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 


from the spine down through her heart, must indicate that 
she has a strong circulation ; but you do not want her brisket 
as deep as a steer’s, or like a Shorthorn bullock; you want 
the shape I speak of, and you want with it a.certain delicacy 
of organization which indicates that the circulatory system 
is a strong one, and that neither the heart nor the lungs are 
impaired. But to go back to the ribs. You want a rib, not 
round, like your finger, but flat and wide. When you put 
your hand on it, it should feel as flat as a lath; and if you 
can get at the edge, you should find the edge sharp, and not a 
round bone, like the rib of swine. A round rib will answer 
for a beef animal, but not for a good dairy cow. Her back- 
bone, moreover, should be open and loose, so that if you run 
your hand along it, you will feel these little cup-like cavities. 
Let her hips be strong, not too wide, and her hind-quarters 
upright, substantial, vigorous. Let her have a long hind- 
foot. I never saw a short-toed cow in my life that would 
perform the work of the dairy well. A long hind-foot, and a 
good, broad, ample fore-foot. Then if, in addition to all this, 
you can get a hide that is elastic and soft, covered with a 
warm, substantial coat of hair, with a good milk-vein and an 
udder which is packed up well between the thighs, and so 
organized that there is no danger of inflammation, there you 
have got a cow that will produce all the milk you ought 
reasonably to ask, and which, when she has completed her 
dairy-work, can be so fattened as to produce in an economical 
way your five hundred and fifty pounds of as good beef as 
can be fed on a mountain pasture or in stall. 

That is all I know about cows. There is a great deal more 
to be said about feeding them, and taking care of them; but 
all that I refer to the meeting. 

J. D. W. Frencu, of North Andover. Dr. Loring, in the 
remarks which he made here yesterday, referred to the Oake8 
cow. Ever since I began to breed cattle, the Oakes cow has 
been thrown in my face. Only two or three years ago, in my 
own town, a man stood up and read an essay before our 
county society, in which he proved, to his own satisfaction, 
that for twenty years, in Essex County, and in our town, 
there had been no improvement in milch cattle. I said to 
myself, “Can this be true, that in Essex County, and in our 


THE OAKES COW. 175 


town, there has been no improvement in milch cattle?” 
Well, sir, at the end of his essay, to clinch the argument, he 
brought up the Oakes cow. I find that is generally the way 
with gentlemen. After having exhausted the subject, as they 
think, they bring in the Oakes cow to clinch the argument. 
That Oakes cow has been to me, I may say, a bugbear. I 
have suffered from that cow. I have had what you might 
call “the night cow,” which is a species of nightmare, and 
after reading the report of Dr. Loring’s remarks, I said to 
myself, “I will look into this matter and see what the Oakes 
cow has done, and the next man who says anything to me 
about that cow, I will ask him, ‘ Have you ever heard what the 
Oakes cow did?’” I looked the matter up, and wrote an 
essay in which, I think, I proved that there were cows in this 
county as good, if not better, than the Oakes cow. 

Now, I want to read just what the Oakes cow did, because 
it is not always stated. Men will say, “There are no cows 
at the present day equal to the Oakes cow,” but they do not 
state what she did, nor do they state how she was fed. The 
greatest amount of butter the Oakes cow ever produced in one 
year was 4841 pounds, in 1816. That has been held up asa 
great yield. She produced 19} pounds in one week, and an 
average of more than 16 pounds a week for three months in 
succession. The largest amount of milk given in any one day 
was 444 pounds. Now as to her feed. She was allowed 
from thirty to thirty-five bushels of Indian meal per year, all 
her skim-milk, and most of her buttermilk. At one time her 
owner gave her potatoes, and in the autumn he gave her 
about six bushels of carrots. I compared this with the yield of 
“Sibyl,” an Ayrshire cow. She gave in one year 1,365 pounds 
of milk, or about 6,000 quarts, on poor feed, too. ‘The value 
of the milk of “Sibyl,” at five cents a quart, would be $300. 
The butter of the Oakes cow, at fifty cents a pound (which 
would be a high price), would be only $242 and some cents. 
This would not make the Oakes cow as profitable a cow as 
* Sibyl,” because “Sibyl” was kept at less expense, and her 
_yield in dollars was greater. 


Adjourned to two o’clock. 


176 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 


AFTERNOON SESSION. 


The Board reassembled at two o’clock, and took up the last 
subject upon the programme. 


THE CULTIVATION OF FRUITS. 


The discussion was opened by Mr. A. P. Suaps, of Somer- 
set, who spoke as follows :— 


The subject of conversation this afternoon is Fruit-Culture, 
and the task of opening the discussion has very unexpectedly 
been assigned to me. 

When I see gentlemen present who have made this subject 
a life-study, the light of whose experience has ever been our 
guide, I am really at a loss to determine the reason why one 
was not selected from their number to advise and instruct you 
on this occasion. I have heard of an old gentleman, living in 
the town of Barrington, R. I., the father of a large family, 
who was renowned for the sumptuousness of his Thanksgiving 
dinners. But he required each of his guests to eat a green 
quince for the first course, in order, as he alleged, that they 
might the better appreciate the rich repast which was to fol- 
low. The committee who arranged the bill of fare for this 
meeting, and appointed me to open the discussion, were, 
undoubtedly, governed by a policy involving the same 
principle. 

However, as opening a discussion is somewhat vague in its 
meaning, I shall take the liberty to put my own construction 
upon it, and endeavor to provoke discussion on this interest- 
ing and important subject. And if I am fortunate enough to 
succeed, I shall flatter myself that I have accomplished the 
end and aim of my appointment. 

I do not propose to select any particular kind of fruit, and 
follow out in detail its culture from the simple seed to its 
luscious maturity, but, on the contrary, I propose to consider 
very briefly, the possibilities of fruit-culture in Massachu- 
setts. 


CULTIVATION OF FRUIT. 177 


I think I am safe in assuming that there is no State in the 
Union which, in proportion to her population, spends so much 
money for fruit, or that consumes so great a quantity as the 
old Bay State. If the fruits which we consume are adapted 
to our soil and climate, and can be profitably cultivated by 
our farmers and gardeners, it would seem that no ordinary 
obstacles should prevent their cultivation. Our cities and 
large towns are unsurpassed as fruit markets, the demand 
being generally brisk and the prices remunerative. The 
Western fruit-grower being aware of this fact, sends his 
apples to the Eastern market, and you will scarcely find a 
grocery-store in the State, at the present time, that has not on 
hand a few barrels of Western apples. They are large, fair, 
and handsome, I admit, but the question is, Ought we to 
depend on other States for them, or should we produce them 
ourselves? I shall be told, I am aware, that we cannot com- 
pete with the West in raising apples, and it is useless to make 
the attempt. This matter can be best determined by a fair 
trial,—an experiment, I apprehend, that has not been frequently 
made of late years. 

Formerly an orchard was considered a good investment ; 
trees were freely set, and the fruit was fair and abundant. 
But this old-fashioned practice, I regret to say, has been 
brought into disrepute, and in travelling through the State, 
we rarely meet with a newly-set orchard. Now, I pretend to 
say that we can raise apples of superior flavor, and as large 
and handsome as they can in New York or Michigan, and 
there is no good and sufficient reason why it should not be 
done. It is done, to some extent, in Bristol, Middlesex, and 
Hampden counties, and, for aught I know, in other parts of 
the State. 

True, we have obstacles to overcome and enemies to 
subdue, with which the Western fruit-grower is just beginning 
to be made acquainted. The borer, curculio and canker- 
worm are indeed formidable enemies; but are we to quietly 
submit to their ravages and acknowledge their supremacy ? 
No man who cultivates the soil of Massachusetts, I care not 
what may be his crop, unless it be a crop of weeds, must 
expect to succeed, without waging an unceasing war against 
the hosts of insects injurious to vegetation. All the small 

23 


178 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 


fruits and cereals, and every vegetable in the kingdom, has, 
and always had, its own peculiar insect enemy, whose 
depredations commence with its existence, and if suffered to 
go on, end only with the complete destruction of the crop. 
And the erroneous notion is entertained by some people, that - 
this is something new, or of quite recent origin, and confined 
to particular localities. The canker-worm and caterpillar 
have a historical notoriety ; and more than thirty-five hundred 
years ago the people of Palestine were annoyed by these pests, 
as one of the curses of disobedience. The historian says: 
“Thou shalt carry much seed into the field and shalt gather 
but little in, for the locust shall consume it; thou shalt plant 
vineyards, but shalt neither drink of the wine, nor gather the 
grapes, for the worms shall eat them; thou shalt have olive- 
trees throughout thy coasts, but thou shalt not anoint thy- 
self with the oil, for the olive shall cast his fruit.” The 
onion-maggot was undoubtedly a pest to the ancient Egyp- 
tians, and the rosebug annoyed him who planted the first 
vineyard. 

Now, Iam going to recommend the setting of apple-trees,— 
restoring the orchards. I am aware that this advice savors 
of heresy, but nevertheless I shall urge it;. but I do it on 
one condition only, and that is, that it be well cared for. A 
man would not think of setting a vineyard and expect to raise 
a profitable crop of grapes without bestowing upon it all the 
attention that it required. Those of you, gentlemen, who 
listened to Dr. Fisher’s admirable lecture, at Fitchburg, two 
years ago, must have discovered that his success depended 
wholly on his knowledge of the wants of the vine, and the 
promptness with which he supplied those wants. A neglected 
orchard is one of the most melancholy sights on the farm. 
It is suggestive of poverty, laziness and bad husbandry ; 
and it is safe to judge of the character of its owner by the 
condition in which you find his orchard. 

Having decided, then, to do the work thoroughly and faith- 
fully, select a suitable lot, on the highway if possible,—it need 
not be the best on the farm, or very near the house, nor 
entirely free from rocks and stones ; but it should be one that 
is neither wet nor dry, and that has not been exhausted by 
continual cropping. New land that has been recently cleared 


RULES FOR ORCHARDISTS. 179 


of bushes or wood, or a swale that has been thoroughly 
underdrained, is, perhaps, preferable. 

Plough it deep, and manure it well. Go to a reliable 
nursery-man and select not more than five or six of the most 
popular varieties,—embracing summer, fall and winter apples. 
The proportion of each may be a matter of taste, or may 
depend on the market they are intended for. The cube of 
some one of the nine digits makes a very good proportion. 
And in setting an orchard of eighty trees, for instance, I 
would set four of the summer, sixteen of the fall, and sixty- 
four of the winter varieties. Whatever may be the propor- 
tion, be sure to get the very best stock that the market affords. 
Never set an inferior tree, shrub, plant, or vine, because it is 
cheap ; it will be dear in the end. Set the trees thirty-five 
feet apart, and, following the advice of my friend Moore, 
you will set them in straight rows. Grow a crop of straw- 
berries, or a big crop of vegetables every year among them 
until the trees shade two-thirds of the ground. Prune them at 
no particular time, but just as often as you see that they need 
it. Examine the butts with a sharp or pointed knife just 
below the surface, twice a year, about the first of June and 
the first of August, and take out the borers; at these times 
they are young, and will be readily found just beneath the 
outer bark. Dissolve some potash, at the rate of one pound 
to a gallon of water, and wash the trunk and limbs, up as 
high as the leaves, once a year. This will destroy the lice 
and eggs of insects, and will give a shiny appearance to the 
bark, which will attract the attention of your neighbors; and 
if you keep the ox-cart and pigpen out of your front yard, 
people, as they pass your premises, will admire your trees, 
and call you a neat farmer; you will soon begin to relish 
the compliment, and feel proud of them. And where a man 
has an orchard, or anything else of which he is proud, he 
will take care of it, and proper care and treatment will insure 
success. Keep off the caterpillars, not only from your 
apple-trees, but from your wild cherry-trees, and from all 
other trees on the farm and by the roadside. If you anticipate 
trouble from canker-worms, encircle the trunks of your trees 
with a trough, filled with kerosene oil; it will form an impas- 
sable barrier, and keep them at bay. 


180 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 


For the first twelve or fifteen years they will require no 
other cultivation than what they will get in common with the 
crop that is grown among them. About this time they will 
begin to bear, and the crop will annually increase with their 
growth until they come to maturity, which they do when from 
thirty-five to forty years of age. 

After you cease ploughing and planting your orchard, it 
should be manured once in three years, at the rate of thirty 
horse-loads of manure to the acre, spread broadcast, but not 
very near to the trunks of the trees; and once in three years 
two bushels of ashes to the tree should be applied in the 
same way; and once in three years substitute twenty pounds 
of crushed bone to the tree, and if you find it convenient to 
mulch them in the fall, all the better. Turn in your breeding 
sows about the first of May, and keep them in till the first 
of September ; and if they do not keep the ground thoroughly 
pulverized, you may conclude that you have not the right 
breed. 

The above details, briefly given, constitute the modus oper- 
andi by which handsome and salable apples can be raised 
in Massachusetts, and as profitably raised as almost any other 
crop. 

IT am fully convinced that the prevailing prejudice existing 
against orchards has grown out of the gross negligence of 
those who have had them in charge. They have been treated 
as a wood lot, and regarded as something that could take care 
of itself, and was expected to yield a crop year after year as 
though the soil contained an inexhaustible amount of material 
of which fruit is made. 

One grave charge frequently brought against apple-trees 
is, that they bear only every other year, and I once knew a 
man to cut down a thrifty orchard, not because it did not 
bear, but because it did not bear when fruit was very scarce. 

In 1850, I set a small orchard. I bought my trees of an 
old gentleman who had kept a nursery for fifty years on land 
on which a part of the city of Fall River now stands. In 
selecting my Baldwins, he asked me if I would have such as 
would bear the odd years. Not exactly comprehending him, 
I told him that I would take such as would bear every year. 
He replied, that “if you take them from this row, they will bear 


SCIONS FOLLOW THE PARENT STOCK. 181 


the odd years, but if you take them from that, they will bear 
the even years.” If I remember rightly, my faith in his creed 
at that time was very weak, but I decided to take half from | 
each row. The result, however, verified his assertion until 
last year, when every tree in the orchard seemed bent on doing 
its level best. Those whose fruit was due this year produced 
about one-half barrel each. I asked the old gentleman how 
so remarkable a phenomenon was produced. He replied, “If 
you want to make an apple-tree bear next year, you must 
pick the blossoms off this year, and in that way you can 
change the bearing year, and the scions of the tree will inherit 
the tendencies of the parent stock.” 

I had thought of examining this subject in the light of an 
investment, and comparing its net profits with that of other 
crops. But realizing that our time is precious this afternoon, 
and that there are many gentlemen present who are anxious 
to take up the matter of small-fruit culture, I will just say 
that I have a small vineyard which has never failed to ripen 
its fruit till this year. I raise a few currants and some straw- 
berries, and I cut some asparagus. I manage these crops 
according to the best of my ability, and yet none of them 
return so great a net profit as the small orchard before 
alluded to. 

The labor of setting an orchard and taking care of it for 
the first ten or fifteen years is light and trifling, compared 
with that bestowed on some of the small fruits. One hour 
spent daily for ten days in the year, will afford ample time for 
pruning, washing, looking after the borer, and removing the 
caterpillars in an orchard of fifty trees. This work is not 
laborious, and can be done by boys or old men. 

The apple is one of the oldest and best of fruits. Its con- 
sumption is more universal than any other grown in this 
latitude; in fact, the man, woman or child who was not 
fond of apples, would be a curiosity well worthy the acquisi- 
tion of the great showman. It can be kept a long time with- 
out losing its flavor, or material loss from decay, and it is 
really a matter of serious regret, that the current of popular 
prejudice in Massachusetts is setting so strong against its cul- 
tivation. 

Let me say, then, to the young men who have decided to 


182 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 


make farming the business of life, and to those who have 
inherited the ancestral estate, as you reverence the old home- 
stead, and as you value the reputation of Massachusetts 
husbandry, be not dissuaded from setting an orchard. 


Mr. L. P. Warner, of Sunderland. I would like to know 
what varieties Mr. Slade would advise us to set. Ihave sup- 
posed that only a few varieties would grow to perfection on 
the Connecticut River. The Northern Spy I have never seen, 
the Snow Apple I have never seen well ripened, and I could 
mention several other well-known varieties which will grow 
in New York and other States, which I have never seen in 
our State. My idea is, that it is not necessary that we should 
grow all the varieties of apples that are called good in Mas- 
sachusetts. Let us grow those that we can ripen to perfection. 
We have as good varieties of summer, fall and winter apples, 
that will ripen in Massachusetts, as they have in any other 
State in the Union. I know that the varieties differ some- 
what in different localities; but in the latitude where I live, 
the Baldwin, Rhode Island Greening, Hubbardston, and what 
we call the August Sweeting, are apples that grow large, fair 
and handsome, and ripen in their season. 

Question. Does the Russet grow well in your vicinity ? 

Mr. Warner. It does tolerably well. I think it does not 
grow so well with us as it does in Essex County. I may as 
well say here, that I am familiar with an orchard of forty 
trees, set out seventy years ago last spring, and it bore last 
year two hundred bushels of handsome apples, and this year, 
one hundred bushels. That is a fact which I think is some- 
what remarkable. I will further state, that that orchard has 
been kept constantly under culture. That is, the ground has 
been stirred every year, and generally it has been planted to 
potatoes, but of course it did not produce much. It was 
planted more for the purpose of keeping the ground in good 
condition than it was for the crop. But I was surprised when 
I saw the fruit that came from it last year. There were two 
hundred bushels of very handsome Russets. I did not see 
them this year, but I was told that it bore one hundred 
bushels. 

Question. Will not hogs injure the roots of the trees? 


ODD YEAR BALDWINS. 183 


Mr. Stave. Not at all. 

Mr. CuHEEvEer. Won’t you describe the August Sweeting? 
Is there any other name for it? 

Mr. Warner. I do not think there is any other name. 
At least, I have never found any other apple that answered 
that description. It is an apple that grows about as large as 
the Hubbardston. It is cream color on one side, with a pale 
red stripe up and down on the other. About half of it is 
colored. It is very juicy, and of excellent flavor. It is an 
apple that lasts about a month, and sells very readily for an 
eating apple. 

Question. Superior to the Sweet Bough? 

Mr. Warner. Yes, sir; I think so. 

Question. Have you known anybody to change the bearing 
year by picking off the blossoms? 

Mr. Suave. Not of my personal knowledge; but some 
years ago, a gentleman from Mansfield, who was visiting my 
place, wanted to know how it happened that my trees bore 
that year, and I simply told him, just as I have told you. 
* Well,” said he, “I have tried it, and I have changed the 
bearing year by doing that.” I saw him not more than three 
weeks ago, and he told me that he got more apples this year 
than all his neighbors put together, for his neighbors did not 
have any, and he had a fair crop. 

Mr. Perry. There is one orchard in our neighborhood 
which bore this year bountifully ; I do not know of another. 
There is one in the town of Sherborn, but that is the only 
other one I know within sixteen miles of us. I went to 
the orchard in our village to get some Porters, and, look- 
ing around, I saw that there were a good many Greenings 
and Baldwins in the orchard, and JI asked the man how it 
happened that his trees bore the odd year. He said that he 
had brought it to that state by picking off the apples when 
they were young, and picking off the blossoms, and keeping 
the orchard under good cultivation all the time. He had in 
his orchard, which was not a large one, three hundred and 
fifty bushels of Porters, which he sold for two dollars a 
bushel as fast as he could pick them. Ithink he had as many 
Baldwins and Greenings, and all of them good; and hardly 
any worms, or anything of the kind. I thought then that it 


184 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 


ought to be known, if it was not, that picking off the blossoms 
and small apples would change the bearing year. 

Mr. WETHERELL. I will state a fact in connection with 
this subject. A farmer in Groton, when I was there a few 
weeks ago, riding with me by some orchards that were well 
loaded with apples, especially with Baldwins, said: “ Those 
trees show the benefit of the canker-worm. Those trees used 
to bear upon the even years, but they have been defoliated by 
the canker-worm the bearing year, so that they just escaped 
being killed, and the next year, the odd year, they bore 
luxuriantly. So much we have to thank the canker-worm 
for.” This shows that the change has been made without the 
labor of picking off the blossoms by hand. 

Mr. Corrine, of Hudson. On our ancestral farm, some 
twenty-five years ago, we made a nursery, and from a Baldwin 
tree, planted before I can remember, I selected some scions, 
which I cut in February or the first of March, and put them 
in a cool place. The early part of the next April, I grafted 
with my own hands a row of trees in the nursery, and from 
the same bunch of scions I grafted two other rows, from the 
20th to the 25th of June. When those trees grew to the 
proper size to be set out, they were taken up and put in the 
orchard, without any choice of trees, taking them indiscrim- 
inately from the two engraftments. We have trees that bear 
every other year. There are apples every year. Last year 
they were a drug. This year we had more Baldwin apples 
than perhaps the whole town of Berlin put together. The 
farm is in Berlin, Worcester County. The apples are exceed- 
ingly fine. And let me say here, that since I was.a small boy, 
there has never been a canker-worm on the two thousand trees 
on that farm. We have never been troubled with the canker- 
worm, but have been troubled by caterpillars. 

The CuarrMAN. We have with us the Secretary of the 
Board of Agriculture of Connecticut. He is well posted on 
the subject of fruits. Will Mr. Gold come forward and give 
us some of his views? 

T. S. Goup, of Connecticut. This is a subject in which I 
am too much interested, to allow this opportunity to pass 
without saying a few words in behalf of fruit-culture in 
New England. 


HOME-GROWN STRAWBERRIES. 185 


IT am one of those who have full faith in the importance of 
the culture of fruits as a branch of our husbandry, especially 
in this transition period through which our agriculture is now 
passing. Just as manufactures, here in New England, have 
passed, in good degree, through their transition period, until 
they have gained their high supremacy, during which they 
have been gathered from every little streamlet and every 
hamlet in New England into these great centres of manufact- 
ure, so agriculture is passing through a transition stage here, 
and we find ourselves obliged to relinquish to the great and 
fertile West many of the staple crops of the farm. We 
must, therefore, turn our attention to those crops which, from 
our location and proximity to market,—the nature of the crops 
themselves not allowing of distant transportation,—give us 
high vantage-ground, compared with our Western competitors. 
I claim that that is especially the case with the culture of 
fruits; not only of the small fruits, preéminently, but also of 
the larger fruits, the products of our orchards; and I say that 
we should look to them for one large source of relief in the 
present condition of New England agriculture. 

It has so often been said that Jersey is the place to raise 
strawberries, and so on, that it has almost been admitted as a 
foregone conclusion that we in Connecticut, or you in Massa- 
chusetts, cannot compete with Jersey. But how is the fact? 
I visited the strawberry plantations in Connecticut again and 
again last summer, and my attention was called to the fact - 
that the amount and quality of their products vastly surpassed 
any of the boasted fields of Jersey. I suppose the same 
thing is true of the strawberry plantations of Massachusetts. 
The thing has been done, is being done, every year, and can 
be done continually. There is no need of your paying out, here 
in Massachusetts, as you do, such enormous sums for the 
miserable products of the Jersey and other Southern gardens 
in the way of strawberries, just because they come a few days 
before your better Massachusetts product. So with regard to 
the whole line of small fruits. The raspberry can be cultivated 
most successfully here, and every farmer can have, for the 
supply of his table, and for market, a succession of this fruit 
that will last, in its three or four leading varieties, every day 
fora month. There is no difficulty about it. I have accom- 

24 


186 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 


plished it myself, in my own garden. A little patch devoted 
to three or four kinds of raspberries has given us an abundant 
supply for a family of from a dozen to twenty for over a 
month,—taking the various kinds, the red, the black, and the 
yellow varieties. 

Then there is the currant. Owing to the ravages of the 
currant-worm, many of the smaller cultivators have been 
deterred from its culture, so that it is now one of the most 
profitable fruits to be cultivated for market on the whole 
list. It cannot be grown anywhere with more success than 
upon the strong soils and in the clear cool air of our New 
England hills. I commend that fruit, and I think the most 
successful examples of its culture I have ever seen, I witnessed 
last season in some of our fields. 

With regard to the grape, last season was somewhat too 
short. Very few vineyards, comparatively, succeeded in 
ripening their product; yet still, the results of the last few 
years have been very encouraging, and perfectly satisfactory 
to the cultivators of the vine. And the fact that our forests 
here are so full of the native vines, growing in such luxuriance, 
and producing their wild fruit so abundantly, indicates that 
our soil, in its varied aspects and material substance, is well 
adapted to the growth of that fruit. 

With regard to the plum, that is one of the fruits that it was 
supposed we must give up, on account of the curculio, which 
was thought to be more than a match for us, and that fruit has 
generally disappeared from our tables. There are but a few 
places in New England where it is successfully cultivated ; 
but with very little trouble, say two hours’ trouble in a year, 
in caring for my trees, I have been able to obtain a full supply 
for my family for the last ten or fifteen years, of some dozen 
varieties of plums in succession, lasting two months. It has 
been said that you cannot scare away the curculio; that you 
must catch him and kill him. But if I have not scared him 
away, I have deceived him away from my place, by inducing 
him to believe that there was no place for him to lay his egg 
in the young plum. 

The secret of success in avoiding the curculio, is merely to 
apply to your trees, soon after the calyx falls, or about the 
time the fruit-blossom falls, some mixture, or some substance, 


CIRCUMVENT THE CURCULIO. 187 


it may be either in the form of powder or liquid, that shall so 
affect the curculio that he will avoid the tree. These mixtures 
are of various kinds. There are two that I have used suc- 
cessfully, and you may have your choice. Take the drainings 
of the barn-yard, the liquid manure, place it in an old barrel 
or cask, mix with a few pailfuls of it a pound of sulphur and 
a quarter of salt, and let it stand awaiting the time for your 
application. When the flower has just fallen, and the curculio 
begins his work, take a few quarts of that liquid and reduce 
it with water to a moderate degree of strength, add to it a 
quantity of ashes that will make it about the consistency of 
cream, and with an old wash-basin or a broom, drench the 
top of the tree. If that is not washed off by a succeeding 
shower, one application is sufficient for the season. If 
showers succeed, repeat the operation two or three or four 
times, and your trees that have lost every specimen of fruit 
before will come to the harvest loaded with plums. 

Mr. Furnr. How about the black knot on the plum? 

Mr. Goutp. That is worse than the curculio. I will give 
my other prescription for the curculio, and then I will tell 
you how I have been able to get along about the black knot, 
although it is a very serious matter with me. The other 
prescription is this: mix some tar with soap, and boil it up 
in an old kettle; dissolve that in water, and use the liquid, if 
you please, with a garden syringe upon your tree. That 
is a perfectly effectual remedy. It is an improvement upon 
my plan, suggested and acted upon by Dr. Howe, of Con- 
necticut, the inventor of the pin-machine, a gentleman who 
may be known to some of you as an enthusiastic cultivator 
of fruit, as he was a successful inventor in machinery. 

Question. What kind of tar do you use? 

Mr. Goxp. I use pine tar; I mean the product of the 
pine-tree,—common tar, not coal tar. 

With regard to the black knot, my only remedy has been to 
cut it off wherever it appeared, even if it resulted in destroy- 
ing the whole tree. Often I have had to cut down trees; 
sometimes to cut off half the top. But do it thoroughly. 
Do it on the first appearance of the disease, and do it 
regularly. But to show that it has not been altogether 


188 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 


destructive to my plum-trees, I will state that I have one 
still standing that I planted when I first began fruit-culture, 
thirty years ago, that I bought of the lamented A. J. Down- 
ing, the nurseryman, at Newberg. It is still left upon my 
grounds, although large limbs had to be cut off on account of 
the black knot. But by planting others, from year to year, 
in place of those I have been obliged to destroy entirely, i 
have been enabled to secure a full apple 

With the peach, I have met with no measure of success 
upon our hills; but I have shown my faith, in the hope that 
I may yet be successful, as some have been in other localities, 
by planting two hundred trees last spring, to test the question 
pretty thoroughly, upon a locality that I thought as likely to 
escape the effects of our severe winters as any other that I 
possess. 

Question. High or low land? 

Mr. Gotp. High land, sir. My elevation is twelve hun- 
dred feet above the level of the sea. 

Question. North or south inclination ? 

Mr. Goup. It has a south-west inclination, sheltered from 
the east and north winds by woodland, but a high elevation. 

Question. How about the yellows? 

Mr. Goutp. Well, sir, I said I have had no success with 
the peach. I have known some orchards to be abundantly 
successful. But that is a disease that is beyond our knowl- 
edge, I think, as to the manner in which it spreads, and our 
power to avoid it. Iam unable to give any advice upon that 
subject, having had little practical experience. 

With regard to the apple, I have planted several orchards, 
and have sought to place them in different locations upon my 
farm, and under different conditions, that I might have fruit 
every year. I have not resorted to removing the blossoms or 
the fruit-buds, as it is a somewhat recent suggestion of our 
fruit-cultivators that that will give us fruit every year; but I 
have resorted more to a liberal feeding of the trees, and to 
planting a considerable number of varieties in different 
exposures. With trees planted in that way, I have secured 
a very fair and uniform crop of fruit from year to year. I 
am called to account for it, to know how it is done. I have 
no secret at all in the matter. I do not know myself, except 


WASH FOR TREES. 189 


in so far as pursuing that course, such has been my success. 
This year, a few varieties were uncommonly beautiful and 
perfect,—remarkably so,—and yielded abundantly. The old 
Westfield Seek-no-Further, upon such trees as I had, gave 
me one of the finest crops I have ever seen of the fruit, in 
its most perfect form. The Hurlbut, which is a new variety, 
that is cultivated extensively in Berkshire County and in 
Litchfield County, originating in Litchfield County, is a tree, 
also, that bears abundantly every year, but especially has it 
favored us in the odd years; and it is a fruit that we com- 
mend for planting, from the rigorous growth and hardihood 
of the tree, its abundant bearing, and the quality of the fruit. 
I think it must become one of the favorite fruits of New 
England. 

Mr. Furnt. Do you ever wash your trees with potash? 

Mr. Goup. I use a solution of soda to wash the trees, in 
preference to potash. You cannot get it too strong; but I 
have been afraid that I might get a solution of potash too 
strong. For the scale-bark insect, I have put it on in the 
spring, just before the leaves put out, just as the scale-bark 
insect is beginning to start on his travels for the purpose of 
propagation. He seems to be particularly susceptible to its 
influences at that time. With regard to the borer, the 
directions were to dig him out with a wire. Washing the 
trunks of the trees with some mixture that will discourage 
the insect from laying its eggs I have found easier, and per- 
haps better. 

A word with regard to this curculio remedy. You should 
not put the ashes in until you get ready to apply the 
ammoniacal or nitrogenous liquor to the branches of the 
trees. That immediately develops the ammoniacal odor, and 
it is that that we wish to disseminate through the tops of the 
trees. Therefore, do not add your alkali until you are ready 
to apply it. 

With regard to a wash for the trunks of the trees, one 
made of soap, tobacco-water and fresh cow manure, mingled 
to the consistency of cream, and put on early with an old 
broom, and allowed to trickle down about the roots of the 
tree, has proved with me a very excellent preventive of the 
ravages of the borer, and a healthful wash for the trunk 


190 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 


of the tree, much to be preferred to the application of lime 
or whitewash, which I have often seen applied, but which I 
am inclined to think is not as desirable an application as the 
potash, or the soda, or this mixture of soft-soap and manure. 

With regard to the height at which trees should branch 
out, we were taught, a few years ago,—and it was considered 
to be a heresy to say anything else,—to let them branch very 
low indeed, and I have seen the practice carried to the 
extreme of letting them branch within a foot or so from 
the surface, spreading out their limbs. What has been the 
result? The result has been, that the fruit produced by 
those lower limbs has been wanting in color; there has been 
additional difficulty in gathering the fruit; and I believe now 
that our cultivators unitedly would say, “ Give your trees a 
reasonable height to the head, depending upon the variety 
very much, to allow of culture beneath the branches, and of 
free circulation of air beneath the tree.” Some trees very 
soon spread over, and the limbs will reach the ground. The 
Rhode Island Greening, for instance, if you branch it as high 
as your shoulder or your head, in fifteen years the limbs will 
reach the ground. That is low enough, certainly; you do 
not want them any lower than that; and if you allow it to 
branch out still lower than that, you have no opportunity for 
the circulation of air below the tree, and your fruit, growing 
so close to the ground, will be spotted, or will be of imperfect 
color. There is nothing to be gained by allowing them to 
branch out too low. Other varieties, like the Northern Spy, 
which send their branches straight up, will bear to branch out 
lower. The Northern Spy has shown, within a year or two, 
that it is not quite so bad a tree for New England as we 
thought. It comes very slowly into bearing. They were 
planted among our orchards about fifteen or twenty years ago, 
and did not answer our expectations; but a year ago, and 
this year, I have seen trees with their ladder-like tops leaning 
over in the most graceful and willow-like form from the loads 
of fruit they were producing. I am inclined to think that, 
as the tree gains a reasonable amount of maturity here, with 
good culture, the Northern Spy will reward us with those 
abundant crops for which we have been looking. 

Question. In what locality is that? 


AFTER THE BORER. 191 


Mr. Gotp. Well, sir, a year ago I saw some of those trees 
loaded with handsomely colored fruit in Fairfield County, 
Connecticut. It was most elegant, the way they had spread 
over. 

Mr. I was in hopes you could locate it near this 
county. Ihave got a lot of them, and they do not bear. 

Mr. Goutp. Well, sir, different varieties of trees are emi- 
nently suited to different sections of country. It would not 
do to get up here and recommend an apple because it thrives 
in one section of the State. That may be so, and yet the 
tree not do at all we'l in another location. I think I have 
heard the Fameuse or Snow-apple spoken of as not maturing 
in Massachusetts. It is the apple which, in my family, is 
placed at the head of the list as a desirab’e dessert apple. 
Nothing can surpass it in its delicacy, flavor, tenderness, and 
all those qualities which make it a pleasant apple for the 
family ; and still, I have eaten specimens brought from the 
West, that were so wanting in delicacy that I could hardly 
recognize the fruit. The Roxbury Russet, with me, and 
generally in Connecticut, is being discarded ; it is so attacked 
by the apple-worm that its planting is not now encouraged. 
I have succeeded in keeping out the borer, in a reasonable 
degree, in driving away the curculio, and destroying the 
caterpillar, and my next attempt will be after the apple-worm, 
an insect that eats into the core of our apples; and from the 

‘accounts that are given of the opportunities for circumventing 
it, I believe it will not be difficult. Bands of straw or hay 
placed about the tree, and taken down and burned or destroyed 
at intervals, are said to be effectual in destroying thousands 
of the millers that lay the eggs, of course protecting the fruit. 
But the only success that I have had against that insect has 
been in pasturing an orchard. My orcharding is done upon 
hilly land; that is, not sufficiently level to admit of continuous 
culture for a series of years. It is not sufficiently inclined to 
prevent culture as long as the soil is full of vegetable matter. 
As long as the turf holds the particles of the soil together, I 
may cultivate safely for a few years; but if I continue the 
culture after that matter has ceased to hold the particles of 
the soil together, the washing will be such as to seriously 
affect the value of the land, and remove the fertility from the 


192 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 


higher lying portions of the field. Therefore I am of neces- 
sity obliged to keep my orchards more or less in grass, and 
if in grass land, how are they to be treated? Top-dressing, 
if in meadow, is a necessity; but pasturing scems to be a 
better application for keeping up the fertility of the soil, and 
also for destroying the apple-worm, in one stage of its prog- 
ress. An orchard which had arrived at maturity and was 
going to decay, was turned by me into a cow-pasture, and 
my herd of cows resorted to it as a favorite place to spend 
those leisure hours of the day which Dr. Loring has so beau- 
tifully described as better spent in busying themselves in 
gathering herbage; but nevertheless, they have sought to 
spend their days ‘beneath the shade of those apple-trees, and 
they have picked up every early dropping apple, from the 
smallest size, until they attained maturity in September, when 
we have been obliged to close the orchard. The result has 
been an increased vigor in those trees, and a wonderful im- 
provement in the quality of the fruit produced by them. The 
operation has now been continued about ten years, and this 
year my men remarked with regard to that orchard, that they 
had the most beautiful Greenings there they had ever seen ; 
they were perfect. Another orchard I devote to the pasturing 
of sheep, which I consider preferable to cattle to put in an 
orchard, and would recommend them. With regard to swine, 
I have tried those in my orchard, and they did very well, but 
they did a little too much, sometimes. They went a little too ° 
deep, and in default of something else, laid hold of the roots, 
and it is a little dangerous sometimes to turn many swine 
into an orchard. It should be allowed with caution. But I 
believe with the help of these, our country friends,—our 
cattle, our sheep, and our swine,—and with a little of that 
prudence and care and skill that we must exercise to farm it 
successfully here and in Connecticut, we can raise fruits suc- 
cessfully ; and then look at our advantages in transportation 
over the Western farmers! Have you ever thought what it 
costs those Western men to get their crops to market? I 
bought a car-load of bran that cost me twenty dollars, and I 
knew how much the Western miller got for his share. How 

much the farmer got for the grain, I never knew, but the 
miller got eight dollars a ton for that car-load ; the bran cost 


PROTECTION AGAINST MICE. 193 


twenty dollars here, and I imagine the farmer’s share was 
pretty small. Now, when they send their apples here to 
compete with us, do they get a very large share of the cost 
at which they are sold? I think that the man who handles 
them, and the railroad that transports them, lay so heavy 
tariff upon them, that we can well afford to fight these our 
insect enemies, and to apply the necessary fertilizers to keep 
up the vigor and fertility of our orchards, and that we need 
not fear the competition of the West. . 

Question. How can we prevent the ravages of mice? 
We suffer more from mice among young trees than from all 
the other things you have named. What is your remedy? 

Mr. Gop. I planted an orchard of eight acres last spring, 
and this fall I have built a mound of earth, about the size of 
a half-bushel, around each tree, directing the man to stamp 
it down with his feet and smooth it off a little in the shape of 
a flap. That will serve to protect the tender roots of the 
tree, and keep it from being swayed about in the winter and 
spring; and I expect it will be a perfect preventive of the 
ravages of mice. It has hitherto proved so, whenever I have 
had young trees enough to make it an object to bank them up 
in that way. 

Question. I would like to inquire in regard to the most 
favorable season to prune apple-trees ? 

Mr. Gotp. We are advised to prune in June, but as that 
is a time when a farmer never will prune his trees, we accept 
what is considered to be the next best time, which is the mild 
weather in winter. Any time from this time onward during 
the mild days of winter is considered the best time for pruning 
an apple-tree. But the pruning should be so frequent that 
very little pruning will be needed. Careful foresight in 
pruning will prevent the necessity of cutting off large limbs, 
which is always injurious in its effects upon trees. 

Question. Will it do any hurt to prune them on a cold 
day ? 

Mr. Goup. I don’t suppose it will hurt them particularly 
to do it in a cold, but pruning is an operation that a man 
cannot perform unless he is perfectly comfortable. If he is 
uncomfortable, from cold or otherwise, he is not to be trusted 
ina tree. He must take his work easy, and if he can get up 

25 


194 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 


into an apple-tree when the weather is very comfortable about 
him, he will do his work very nicely. I know it is said that 
we must not cut a tree when the wood is frozen. I have 
noticed that if you cut scions when they are frozen, you will 
break a little of the wood, and that will turn brown after- 
wards; but still, I have not laid sufficient stress upon that to 
avoid pruning at that time, if the men could be perfectly 
comfortable. 

With regard to pruning, all the suckers about the roots 
should be cut off the first time you see them,—the sooner the 
better. They should not be tolerated at all. With young 
trees, pruning may be practised at almost any season of the 
year with advantage ; but when trees have attained some con- 
siderable size, you must have a time for it, and I know no 
better time than the mild days of January and February. 

Question. What variety of plum do you consider the best 
and most profitable ? ; 

Mr. Gotp. The Green Gage is the favorite with me, as 
being unsurpassed in quality. The Imperial Gage is a better 
bearer and a larger plum. 

Question. Are there not some varieties of plum more 
exempt from black knot than others ? 

Mr. Goup. I think there are. The Green Gage seems to 
be as exempt as any other, although not perfectly so. I have 
had a good many varieties. 

Question. Do not trees in a bearing state appear to have 
more of it than before they bear? 

Mr. Gotp. I know that idea has been advanced, but it has 
not been borne out by my experience. Young shoots that 
spring up from the roots are affected by it, that never have 
blossomed. 

Question. Will the Green Gages reproduce without 
budding ? 

Mr. Gotp. I have usually budded my trees, or propagated 
them, from the suckers that come up from the roots. Some 
varieties that I have send up a great many suckers, and I 
graft or bud upon those. 

Mr. ———. There is a species of Green Gage in this 
vicinity that reproduces, and is very free from the curculio 
and the black knot. 


TIME TO PRUNE. 195 


Mr. Orpway. I wish to take issue with the gentleman on 
pruning trees. He says June is the best time, and I agree 
with him there. He says that farmers never trim at that time 
of year, and he is generally correct in that idea. But when 
he says trim at this time of year, or any time during the 
winter, he is decidedly wrong in that respect. If you trim a 
tree in the fall of the year, at this time, or any time during 
December, January or February, and go to it in May or 
June of the year following, and take your thumb and scratch 
upon the bark where you have taken a limb off, you will 
invariably scratch off dead bark of the thickness of an eighth 
or quarter of an inch. All the bark would have grown, if you 
had cut it off in April, May or June. I tried that in my 
orchard in 1856. There were some places where I cut off a 
limb that the bark died back a quarter of an inch, which had 
never been known when the trees had been pruned in the 
spring or in the summer. It is a mistake to trim your trees 
in the winter, and it is a mistake to head in your trees in the 
fall; they will die back just as surely as you doit. If you 
cut off a limb as big as your finger with your shears, that limb 
will die out. I never saw a case where it failed to do that. 

Something has been said about apple-trees bearing the odd 
year. What time of year does a tree throw out its fruit-buds, 
to make the blossoms? Can any man say that he can tell? 
When does the fruit-bud form? It forms during the growth 
of the tree. Where the canker-worm gets on it, he leaves 
about the 18th or 20th of June, and your tree hardly ever 
grows much after the first of July,—hardly ever, it does 
sometimes ; and the canker-worm will take the growth of the 
tree, destroy its foliage, and destroy every particle of fruit, 
if you have the canker-worm as thick as I have them; but 
the moment he is gone, the tree starts a new life, it makes a 
growth, if you have good ground, and you get your bud. 
Therefore you change the bearing of your tree, if this happens 
to occur upon an even year. As long ago as I can remember, 
my father had a Baldwin tree that sent out two branches 
from the bottom, and one side bore one year and the other 
the other, just as regularly as the years came round. That 
was in West Newbury. The fact became known, and trees 
were grafted with scions cut from those two branches, and 


196 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 


one side of those grafted trees bears one year and the other 
the other. There are hundreds and thousands of trees that 
have been grafted from that old tree. Almost every man in 
Bradford and Haverhill, and all through Essex County, has 
got them; and they have gone beyond Essex County. It is a 
fact that some Baldwins will bear one year and some another, 
and you can change the bearing year by picking off the fruit- 
buds, I have no doubt. 

I take issue with the statement that we can do as well by 
setting out the Northern Spy as we can with other varieties. 
In 1849 I set out six out of a hundred and thirty Northern 
Spy trees that came from New York. I have cultivated those 
trees on good land. I have grafted even five of them, leaving 
one, in hopes that it might do something. It spreads forty 
feet, with an upright form, but I never saw the time when I 
had a barrel of app'es on that tree in one year, and those I 
did have were so knurly that you could hardly put them in 
your pocket without wearing it out. It is no use to try to 
raise such kind of fruit in Essex County. They have them 
in Connecticut, no doubt. The gentleman says, “Hold on!” 
I have been holding on since 1849, and I do not get any 
fruit. You may trim it every year, and take splendid care 
of it, as I did, but you will not get any fruit. What am I 
going to dv? I say, graft them over, or dig them up. 

We have an apple here that does first-rate in this locality. 
Some call it the Hubbardston Nonsuch, but it is not so big as 
the Hubbardston Nonsuch. It is what is known by farmers, 
more particularly down in the eas‘erly part of Essex County, 
as the Ribstone Pippin. It is a splendid apple, and, raised 
anywhere in Essex County, it has a better flavor than the 
Hubbardston Nonsuch. It is one of the best apples I raise, 
and it will grow thicker than any other tree, almost, and 
throw out more fruit-buds; and if you do not have fruit-buds, 
you will not be likely to get many apples,—that is, here. 

As far as the Rhode Island Greening is concerned, we 
cannot do anything in this locality with that, or with the 
Russet, either. I have got nice Rhode Island Greening trees 
standing in good land, and I have never got from them more 
than a tenth part what they ought to bear. You cannot grow 
the Rhode Island Greening in Newbury, or Beverly, or any- 


SOIL FOR APPLE-TREES, 197 


where that way. You cannot get Russets, either. There 
are exceptions, I know; but that is the general fact. I have 
dug up sixteen or twenty nice Russet tr.es, as good as any- 
body grows. I have got lots more of them. I guess I have 
got four or five barrels that I picked from five or six trees, 
and I made out to get one barrel for my own family. I could 
not sell the rest to anybody. They were not worth putting 
into the cider-mill. 

Joun B. Moore, of Concord. It is a ma'ter of importance 
to raise seedling fruits adapted to our several localities. I 
have noticed, in what has been said here with regard to 
apples, that Mr. Gold, of Connecticut, has spoken of certain 
varieties that do well out there. The gentleman from Essex 
says they will not do anything with him. Now, that is 
perfectly true. An apple that will grow well here in Eastern 
Massachusetts, will not do anything, for instance, in Berkshire 
County. And here is another fact wh’ch you will find to be 
true, if you examine into the matter carefully : that an apple 
which originated on a cold, wet soil, will be very sure to do 
well on any soil that you have a mind to plant it on; but an 
apple that originated and comes to perfection on a warm 
soil, you may be just as certain as that you sit in those seats, 
will not produce anything better than carrots in a cold, wet 
soil. That is known to be a fact, from very careful observation. 

Now, in regard to the Hubbardston Nonsuch: I have had the 
curiosity, among other things, to go and see the original tree, 
which is standing about four miles from the centre of Hub- 
bardston, on the western slope of a piece of very cold pasture- 
land, in an orchard of about half an acre of natural fruit-trees. 
That tree is some sixty-five or seventy years old. The top is 
decayed and broken off, but branches are starting out, and 
two years ago, it bore two or three barrels of very good apples. 
That is one instance. That tree originated on a cold soil. 
You may put a Hubbardston Nonsuch tree on any soil where 
an apple-tree will grow, and it will bear apples. You may 
put the Baldwin in that cold soil, and it will not produce any 
apples, or but very few. You may take as another illustra- 
tion the American Golden Russet, about Boston, which is not 
the true American Golden Russet. The conical-shaped apple, 
with a red cheek, which is sometimes called the American 


198 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 


Golden Russet, is really the Hunt Russet. The American 
Golden Russet is an apple that should ripen, if the descriptions 
in the book are correct, in December, and the Hunt Russet is 
certainly as late as February or March. That apple originated, 
undoubtedly, in the town in which I live, some 200 years 
ago. There are trees in that town now, that an old gentleman, 
who would have been 102 or 103 years old had he lived until 
now, told me, some twenty years ago, his grandfather planted, 
which are still bearing apples. That originated on a warm 
soil, and the trees will not produce anything on cold, wet 
soil. That is the Hunt Russet. There has been a good deal of 
confusion in regard to the Russets. The Hunt Russet is a 
conical apple. The Roxbury Russet is flat, and, unless it 
grows in the sun, with no brown color, and it is usually 
covered with a greenish russet, and holds on very late in the 
spring. Except for its late keeping, it is a very poor apple. 
It keeps late, and that is the only desirable point it has, in 
my judgment. 

Now, I say, speaking of the desirability of raising fruits 
adapted to your climate here, Ido not think you can find a 
New York apple or a Western apple that is really a success 
in Massachusetts. I do not know of one. I have a few 
trees of the Northern Spy, and like the apple very much. 
After it has attained the age of twenty or twenty-five years, 
it will set fruit enough, but the coddling moths like that 
apple so well that they will destroy a large portion of the 
fruit. When I get a tree full of apples, the fruit is compara- 
tively poor in quality. That remark in regard to Western 
apples applies to all their other fruits. Take a strawberry 
originated at the West, and you will find (I do not know an 
exception) that while they grow large, they will be, many of 
them, poor in quality. They look at size at the West, rather 
than quality. Their strawberries do not succeed well here ; 
perhaps ours do not at the West. 

Now, I have made some experiments which have been 
interesting to me, and experiments, too, in regard to growing 
strawberries. I have, within the last fifteen years, fruited 
somewhere from twenty to thirty thousand seedling straw- 
berries, and tested them. That is, I found a large portion of 
them so poor that they would be condemned at once, and 


HYBRIDIZING STRAWBERRIES. 199 


others would be tested further. I have tried hybridization, 
and with all the talk you had about hybridization, you will 
find it a very uncertain thing, if you attempt to hybridize the 
strawberry. When you have taken out the anthers and 
impregnated the strawberry, and covered it with muslin, you 
will find that it has been impregnated, in spite of all you 
could do, with some other pollen that you did not mean to 
have there. Realizing all these difficulties, I at first went to 
raising strawberries from seeds, selecting the best berries of 
the best varieties I could find. The result was, that I grew 
seedlings for six or eight years without any success whatever. 
Then it came to my mind what a stupid man I had been, 
knowing all that time all about the botanical formation of the 
blossom, knowing the pistillate and staminate varieties per- 
fectly well, not to take advantage of that. Instead of hybrid- 
izing, if I had taken a purely pistillate variety, and put it 
away from other plants, and taken a plant of a staminate 
variety and planted near it, a cross would have been just as 
certain as the cross from an Ayrshire bull and a native cow. 
It could not have been otherwise, because there are no male 
organs to the pistillate varieties. I got that through my head 
(only showing you that I was rather thick-headed) after 
repeated failures in growing seedling strawberries. I will 
mention one other thing. I took some fine berries of “ River’s 
Eliza,” which grows very large and handsome fruit, which 
were growing in the same strips where there were fifteen or 
twenty other kinds all about it. I supposed it would be 
crossed by some of the other varieties. I raised three hun- 
dred seedlings, kept them separate and distinct from the 
others, and to my surprise, I got fruit very much like the 
parent berry, only not so good. After that non-success, I 
adopted the other plan which I have just described to you, 
and I found I had just as many varieties as I had plants. Of 
course, a large portion were poor, but I have raised some 
varieties that have been very satisfactory to myself, and that 
have made their mark, undoubtedly. 

As I said before, that applies to the apple, to the pear, and 
to all other fruits. Take, for instance, the pear. Thirty 
years ago, say, there was hardly a first-rate pear grown here, 
with the exception of the Seckle, save the imported varieties, 


200 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 


which then were not nearly as numerous as now. To-day, if 
a person purposed planting fifteen varieties, and relied on the 
judgment of the best cultivators of pears in making his selec- 
tion, at least ten of them would be American varieties, all of 
which have been originated since that time. For instance, 
take that pear originated by Mr. Francis Dana, of Roxbury, 
“ Dana’s Hovey,” probably one of the highest flavored, if not 
the highest flavored, pears in cultivation, and equal to the 
very best early winter pear. Then take “Clapp’s Favorite,” 
which is certainly a good pear, although it has the failing of 
rotting at the core. Mr. Clapp has one or two other seed- 
lings which have not been put out yet, which are very 
promising. 

You see, therefore, that it is not a hopeless job to under- 
take to raise seedling fruits, and a person who does it has the 
satisfaction of doing something for himself, and conferring 
some benefit in return for what he has received from other 
cultivators, and he has the satisfaction of knowing that he has 
done something to aid horticulture. 

Now, something has been said with regard to the washing 
of trees for the borer. I have found, I think, that whale-oil 
soap can be used successfully for the destruction of that 
insect. It is a very simple thing; it will not hurt the tree if 
you put it on its full strength. You can take whale-oil soap 
and dilute it until it is about as thick as paint, and puta 
coating of it on the tree where the holes are, and I will bet 
you will never see a borer on that tree until the new crop 
comes. I feel certain of it, because I have done it. I think 
whale-oil soap, mixed in the same way, is one of the best 
washes ; it will not injure the bark. There is danger in the 
use of potash. We consider one pound to a gallon of water 
the proper proportions, but I have seen the bark of tender 
trees injured by using potash water of that strength. 

Now, another thing which has come under my observation 
in regard to the planting of trees. And by the way, let me 
tell you I have been a nursery-man once, and had a large lot 
of trees, and if any of you gentlemen propose to plant an 
orchard of pear or apple trees, I think I can tell you one little 
thing that will make a great difference to your orchard. If, 
instead of buying trees of those peddlers who ccme around, 


SELECTION OF TREES. 201 


and whose business it is to cheat the public, as a general 
thing, you can go to some responsible nursery-man and go 
into a row of trees from which none have been removed, and 
take the first pick of those trees, you will get an orchard that 
will be far superior to any trees after they have been picked 
over, although you may find just as good-looking trees the 
second or third year afterwards, in the same rows. The 
difference is this: If you go into a block of trees from which 
none have been selected, you get the most vigorous stock, 
and they become trees quicker than the others, and this vigor 
lasts through life. It is the vigor they have at their roots, 
and they are much superior to the others. In fact, after a 
row of trees has been picked over, I do not think the others 
are worth much. They would not be to me. They answer 
to sel]. These refuse trees are the ones that are sold by those 
people who send out agents to get orders from the Massachu- 
setts people. 

I do not think of anything else, unless you ask me some 
questions. 

Mr. Orpway. In reference to the apple-worm: what lays 
the egg that produces the worm, and where is it laid ? 

Mr. Moore. It is a miller that lays the egg, usually in 
the calyx of the blossom, or the little apple, when it is just 
formed. j 

Mr. Orpway. Ido not understand it to be a grub? 

Mr. Moorr. No, sir. The egg hatches there, and, as I 
understand it, the worm goes into the apple, perfects itself, 
and then drops and enters the ground, or crawls under the 
dead bark. One of my friends used to destroy a good many 
of them by placing old cloths in the forks of his trees. 
Towards fall, he would find the cloths perfectly covered with 
worms, that had crawled out of the apples, and destroyed 
them. It amounts to the same thing if you pick up the 
apples and give them to your pigs, or if you grind them into 
cider, as some people do, and drink it. 

Question. I would like to inquire in regard to quince- 
culture, if it is profitable ? 

Mr. Moorr. I used to raise quinces very successfully ; 
but a few years ago something happened to the trees, and 
they died on my hands, and I have not succeeded in growing 

26 


202 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 


them since. I have grown peaches pretty successfully the 
last few years, having about five hundred bushels last year, 
in a small orchard of about two hundred trees. Of course, 
you will not get a crop every year, but you will get a crop 
two or three years out of five. The only difficulty is the 
yellows, and, as Mr. Gold says, that is a disease which has 
never been accounted for yet, but I think it is gradually 
wearing itself out. The peaches that we grow here are much 
finer than those that come from the south, because they are 
allowed to ripen on the trees. 

Question. What can we do to hasten the running out of 
the yellows? 

Mr. Moore. I don’t know. About 1845, I used to raise 
peaches, and dump a ecartload of refuse and poor ones into 
the pigpens at once; but the yellows destroyed all the trees 
I had. Finally, after waiting awhile, with some of my 
neighbors, I planted a few, and lost them. Iam informed 
that this disease started in Delaware, and travelled north at 
the rate of about fifty miles a year, until it got up here. I 
found that it was going out, to some extent there, and 
supposed it was working itself out. I therefore planted two 
hundred trees more, five or six years ago. Year before last, 
I got a small crop of peaches; last year, I got a very large 
crop. I guess we picked off twice as many as we left on the 
trees, and we left all the trees could stand under. This year, 
I should have had a good crop, if it had not been for the 
yellows. That orchard is going up, but I have got my pay 
for it, so I shall be tempted to plant another next year. 

Jacop B. Sweet. It was stated very positively in some 
of the agricultural papers that wood ashes were a preventive. 
Have you ever experimented in that direction? 

- Mr. Moore. Yes, sir; I have put two or three bushels of 
leached ashes around a tree at one time. I have also used 
Stassfurt potash salts, and I don’t know what I have not 
tried, but I have never found anything that would stop it. I 
think that when a tree is once struck by it, the best thing you 
can do is to pull it up. 

Mr. WETHERELL. I will state a fact given me by Capt. 
Pierce of Arlington, which agrees with the statement of Mr. 
Ordway. He has been more successful in cultivating apples 


PRUNING APPLE-TREES. 203 


than any man I know of in Eastern Massachusetts. Capt. 
Pierce says, “My time for pruning is the first two weeks in 
June, in ordinary seasons; it may vary a little from that. 
But,” he says (and this is rather a compromise between the 
views expressed by Mr. Ordway and Mr. Gold), “farmers 
find it hard to get their wood over the ground in June, and 
so I have my orchard pruned in this way: I cut off a limb 
any time I have leisure after harvest, a foot or more from the 
tree, and Jet it remain on the ground until I am ready to 
remove it. Then, in June, I take a fine-cut saw and go 
through my orchard and cut off all the stumps close to the 
tree.” The final pruning is thus done in June, at the time 
he considers most desirable, and the wound, he says, heals 
over smooth and sound, leaving none of that canker to which 
my friend has referred as likely to follow from cutting off a 
limb in winter. That is the statement of Capt. Pierce, who, 
from the success which he has had in the cultivation of the 
apple, has been called the “King of Orchardists”; and I 
think his success in regard to pruning has done more than 
anything else to confirm me in the opinion that June is the 
best time for pruning the apple-tree. 

Mr. Stape. I perhaps ought to state what I know to be a 
very cheap and efficient remedy for the curculio. I got it 
from old Mr. Buckminster, and it has proved successful every 
time I have tried it. Take a tin pan that will hold three 
quarts, put two or three quarts of leather chips in it, set fire 
to them, and let the smoke go up through the tree. It will 
prove an efficient remedy for the curculio. I give that as my 
experience. 

Mr. Fuinr. How long is it necessary to have the smoke 
go up? 

Mr. Suave. I let the chips burn out. They will burn an 
hour or two. One application is sufficient. I never tried 
anything but that. It did very well when I tried it. 

I will say one word in regard to pruning. It is important 
that trees should be pruned. It is better to prune them at 
any time than not to prune at all. It will be a misfortune if 
the result of this discussion should be to induce any man to 
neglect to prune his trees. As I said in the remarks that I 
made from the platform, I have never had any particular time 


204 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 


for pruning an orchard. In walking through it, if I saw two 
or three limbs that needed to be removed, the next time I 
went out, I took the shears and saw, and took them out. 
But still the orchard has never had a severe pruning, and 
perhaps will never need it. 

Mr. Orpway. One word in reference to pruning in gen- 
eral. The gentleman on the right says, “Trim at any time, 
and in June take off the stub.” I have no doubt every 
nursery-man will agree with me, that there is no time in the 
yeur when you have got to trim with such caution as in June. 
If you are not very careful in pruning, you are just as sure’ 
to start the bark at the lower part of your stub as you live. 
June is a good time, but July is better. I have had experi- 
ence all my life in trimming trees, and in grafting and bud- 
ding all kinds of fruit, and I never saw but one year when I 
could not trim in April and the first of May. After you get 
your trees trimmed, mix a bucket of clay and hair, just the 
same as a man would mix mortar, and rub the mixture over 
the place where you have cut off a limb, and you will have no 
trouble. I did that, after 1856, to prevent the sap running 
down and turning black and killing the bark, and I have 
never had any trouble since. Therefore, if you trim in June, 
you must be very careful that you do not start the bark. You 
cannot put it back and make it stay, and there will be a dead 
place where you leave it. 

Mr. WeETHERELL. I should have said, use a very sharp 
saw. That will avoid the evil you speak of. 

Mr. Orpway. Here is the point: if your limb turns one 
way or the other, you are sure to start the bark, which is just 
as slippery as it can possibly be at that season of the year. 

Mr. His, of Plaistow, N. H. Iam not a Massachusetts 
man, but I have had a little experience in the management of 
trees, and there are one or two points which have not been 
covered by the suggestions which have been made, to which 
I beg leave to allude. Iam perfectly satisfied, that if trees 
are trimmed carefully, June is the best season of the year to 
perform the operation, and for this reason: if you trim 
early enough, before the tree has made its growth, the wound, 
as I have repeatedly observed in my own experience, will 
heal over almost completely the first year. I have preferred 


APPLICATION TO CUT SURFACES. 205 


this season on that accouut. It may be said that you may 
trim earlier than that—in April or May. Well, the disadvan- 
tage or danger of trimming in that season is, that a tree 
trimmed in April or May, before the growth has commenced, 
will bleed almost as surely as a grape-vine pruned in spring, 
and the sap will run down the trunk of the tree, and it seems 
to me that for some cause, I do not know what, that is as poi- 
sonous to the tree as anything can be; and when you have 
got the sap running, you cannot stop it by any application 
that I have found. It will run, not only that season, but the 
next, and your tree is liable to be ruined. To prevent this, I 
have pruned at this season of the year, and I have made an 
application, not of clay, as suggested by Mr. Ordway, but of 
gum-shellac, dissolved in alcohol, to about the consistency of 
molasses. 

Mr. Orpway. Will that absorb the wet ? 

Mr. Hitts. No, sir. It will harden in half an hour as 
hard as glass. It will keep out wet and keep in wet. 

Mr. Orpway. If your tree bleeds from the wound, when 
you cut off a limb, your preparation don’t stop the sap running 
down on the bark of the tree and killing it. Clay will do 
that. 

Mr. Hitts. I see now what the idea is. You might as 
well say that the best application to make after a limb has 
been taken off by the surgeon, is clay. I do not intend that 
the wound shall ever bleed at all; I mean to tie it up at 
once. For that reason, I should never think of pruning 
a tree on a wet day, and I would caution everybody against 
it. Take a good bright day, and a mild day, when the tree 
is dry, and everything is dry. The most convenient way I 
have found of using the preparation is to fix a sponge on a 
piece of wire and put it into the stopple of a large-mouthed 
bottle, which you can fill with the preparation, and when 
you have cut off a limb, take out the stopple and brush the 
sponge over the wound, just as you would use sponge-black- 
ing. If it is a bright day, in half an hour it will harden so 
that you cannot make any impression upon it with your 
thumb-nail. The sap cannot get out, and it will exclude the 
wet from the outside. That is the way I would stop its run- 
ning. I would not recommend that season except for that 


206 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 


one reason. But there is a disadvantage which has not been 
alluded to here in pruning in June. A tree has then made 
part of its growth. Everything about it is then in the most 
tender condition. The wood that has grown has not ripened 
at all, and if you saw a limb off in the top of the tree and 
slip it down through, you injure the tree itself; you strip off 
the foliage of the tree, which you do not wish to injure at all. 
It is injurious to pull limbs down through a tree when it is 
making its tender growth, and June is therefore a bad time 
of year on that account. There is another suggestion, and 
that is, that a season of the year when the foliage is not on 
the tree is preferable to any other to cut the limbs, because 
you can see where to prune better than you can when the tree 
is full of leaves. You can see what limbs to cut out. You 
can see what branches are starting from one side of the tree 
and pushing over to the other, where they are very sure to 
come in contact with some other branch. A tree should be 
pruned so that the branches will radiate from the centre, not 
spread from one side to the other; those are sure to cross 
after a time. 

My idea about pruning is, that it is an unnatural operation. 
I would never cut off a limb of a tree, if I could possibly help 
it, any more than I would cut off one of my children’s fingers, 
unless it was diseased. It is all unnatural; but if you find a 
limb going where it ought not to go, it is better to take it 
out, and thus prevent its throwing itself across another limb 
and producing a wound which will result in the destruction 
of both. 

Now, as to the matter of changing the bearing year of the 
tree. That, Iam satisfied, can be done, and in a different way 
from what has been suggested here. I accidentally learned 
how that could be accomplished when clearing a piece of 
nursery ground which had standard trees set in it, late in the 
season. The nursery had been pretty well sold, and at the 
end, there were so few trees standing, that I thought it advis- 
able to clear the ground, put it in condition, and let the 
standards take up the whole ground. I did so, scon after the 
spring sales were over, and the trees that remained were 
nearly worthless, and most of them, I presume, were put into 
the brush-pile. Then I cultivated the ground, and applied 


CHANGE THE BEARING YEAR. 207 


my manures as late as June. Any one who has had any expe- 
rience in this matter of fertilizing trees will know without my 
telling him that manures applied at that season of the year 
will not produce any immediate effect upon growth. If you 
apply manures in the fall, you will see the effect upon growth 
the earliest day in the spring; but if you apply manure in 
May or June, or the first part of the season, you will see no 
effect of it at all that year. I saw no effect from that manure 
until the time when the trees would ordinarily commence 
their second growth. Then I could see the effect of the 
manure and cultivation; but the season was so far advanced 
that they only made a small growth. The next year happened 
to be the odd year, and then I got a good crop from the 
Baldwins. 

With regard to the Colorado beetle, one plan that has been 
recommended for getting rid of them is, by picking them off 
with the fingers. If anybody has nothing better to do they 
can attend to that; but I prefer the form I have suggested. 

Pres. CHADBOURNE. I have experimented for three years, 
with all the means at my command, in various ways, and I 
found that picking by hand was the cheapest way of conquer- 
ing the Colorado potato-beetle. You can do it for five dollars 
an acre, out in Wisconsin, where there are millions and 
millions of them. So that it is not always safe to argue 
theoretically. 

Now, I want to inquire in reference to this matter of the 
alteration of the year of bearing. I see there are a good 
many gentlemen here who have studied apples carefully, and 
I hope they will be able to enlighten me in regard to some- 
thing which I do not understand. I used to think that the 
bearing year might be changed by some of those processes 
which have been described, before I observed this fact, that 
the effect of the “odd year,” as we call it, is universal. That 
is what troubles me. Take last year, for instance. All the 
apple-trees, wherever I went in New England, all through 
our region, no matter when they were set out, or how 
cultivated, were loaded down with apples. This year, those 
same orchards, no matter when they were set out, or how 
cultivated, were almost entirely barren of fruit. What I 
want to inquire is, if there is not something in the year itself 


208 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 


which affects the apple-trees, as there is something which 
affects the potatoes and makes them scabby, certain years? 

Mr. Hapwen. Having had some little experience with the 
odd-year-bearing apples, perhaps I may be able to answer the 
question. In the year 1843, when I was at Newton, I noticed 
that some of the Baldwin trees, more particularly, were not 
in bearing, and some of them were. I inquired of the 
proprietor of the grounds, and he informed me that the trees 
which were then in bearing were the odd-year Baldwins, and 
the next year the other trees would be in full bearing. After 
that, I planted some seed for the purpose of raising my own 
apple-trees, and went to that place and gathered buds from 
the odd-year-bearing trees. That was in the year 1843, and 
since then I have had ample time and opportunity to test the 
result. The result is, that those trees still continue to bear 
the odd years. But a gentleman inquired in regard to other 
varieties bearing the odd year. I have on my farm a tree 
which has two large branches, branching off in different direc- 
tions, and I have had an opportunity of noticing that tree 
since 1844. The odd year, one of those branches is invariably 
full of fruit; the even year, the other branch is full. I have 
also other varieties of apples that bear the odd year. Some 
of my Hubbardston Nonsuch trees always bear the odd year, 
and others bear the even year. The tree I just spoke of, that 
had two branches, is a natural fruit, but a very good one. 
The cause of this difference is of course beyond my knowledge. 
I simply know the fact, that where a tree gets into the habit 
of bearing the odd year, it will continue to do so. 

Mr. Sweer. I think this matter of pruning trees is an 
important one. I have had a little experience in that direc- 
tion, and for convenience’ sake, perhaps, more than any other 
reason, I have done what pruning I have done from the 
middle of April to the middle of May. In years past, 
being rather pressed by business, and perhaps a little slack 
withal, I let my trees grow a little out of shape,—let them | 
make large limbs, so that when I did see fit to trim, I had to 
give them what you call a severe pruning; and I did that at 
the time named,—anywhere from the middle of April to the 
middle of May,—and I have never detected any such bad 
results as those described by the gentleman on the right. I 


DOWN ON RUSSETS. 209 


was told at the time by some one that it was not a good time 
to trim, and so I took particular notice to see whether there 
were any injurious effects. As far as I have observed, they 
have yielded as well as any trees I have seen. 

There are a good many reasons why we should trim earlier 
than June. If you undertake to trim in the middle of June, 
your grass is coming to maturity, and the wood you cut off 
will trouble your mowing-machine. As far as time is con- 
cerned, no farmer can do it better than at the time I have 
suggested. The sap is just starting, and the wound begins 
to heal over soon. 

In regard to the varieties of apples, I think my opinion and 
that of Mr. Ordway are a little different in regard to the 
Northern Spy. My judgment is, that a bushel of Northern 
Spies is worth more than a bushel of any other apple that 
grows. I think they are the most splendid flavor of any 
apple I ever tasted. I set out only two trees, with some 
others, in my little orchard, not knowing anything about 
them, but they have done very well, and are doing very well 
now, for trees of their size and age. 

Another thing I want to say: I repudiate the whole family 
of Russets, from beginning to end. I would not give a 
picayune for all the Russets in New England. Talk about 
your “Hunt’s Russet,” and your “Black Russet”! A man 
set out some trees he called the “Black Russet,” a number of 
years ago, and he never has had a bushel of apples from 
them since they were set out. 

Mr. ———. Last year, I had nearly a barrel of Hunt’s 
Russets, which were the handsomest and best apples I ever 
put into my cellar. I had them this year as late as August. 
They were full flavored, and some of the best fruit I ever ate 
at that season of the year. I would rather have one of those 
trees than any Northern Spy I ever saw. 

Mr. Orpway. I cannot let this matter of pruning go by 
without saying a little more. I say that any man who applies 
anything to a tree where a limb is cut off, if it adheres to the 
tree so that the sap shall not flow, it must kill the tree to stop 
it. For instance, I have grafted as many trees, probably, as 
any man, and I have had great experience in that matter. I 
have used what they call wax in grafting. I say no man can 

27 


210 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 


make a preparation to put around a graft, to keep the weather 
from it, through which the sap will not run, if the tree has 
any vigor to it that will keep it alive, and make the bark look 
black around the limb. If you have a preparation to apply 
to the place where you cut your limb off, you have got to 
destroy the life of the wood somewhat. Now, sir, oil, or any 
preparation of grease of any kind is injurious to live wood. 
There is no man here who will not say that any kind of oil or 
grease is injurious. Your preparation for grafting is made of 
beeswax, tallow and rosin, and when the hot weather comes, 
it is exposed to the sun, and the bark around the top of the 
stub in which you set your graft the next year will be partially 
dead, «nd it will scale off like the bark on the butt of the 
tree. I have seen hundreds of thousands of stocks in the 
same way. I have followed this for years, and most of my 
grafting has been done in the neighborhood of West New- 
bury, where they raise as much fruit as anywhere, and I say 
no man can put anything upon live wood that will stop the 
flowing of sap, unless he puts on clay to absorb it. That is 
what you have got to do. Clay with hair mixed with it will 
take up the sap pretty well. Rub it right on, and the sap 
that comes out is absorbed. I can get more growth in one 
year from grafted trees by the use of clay than you can get in 
two by the use of wax. I used wax for years before I found 
out that it was a mistake to use it, and that I had better use 
clay. I was up in Brentwood about «a fortnight or three 
weeks ago, and a man showed me an apple-tree that he had 
pruned some two years ago, and he said it bled, and he applied 
red paint to it. I took out my knife and scraped the bark 
right off where the paint had killed it. You will see, if you 
look around among the orchards, that some men apply red 
paint after pruning, or, if they happen to have white paint, 
they will put that on. It is injurious to live wood, anywhere 
and everywhere. 

Mr. Hitts. I rise simply to say that I do not wish to be 
responsible for anything that I have not said. I have not 
advocated the use of wax, or paint, or anything of the kind, 
to the wound on a tree. I do not know whether the gentle- 
man intended his remarks for me or not. The preparation I 
recommended was a preparation of gum-shellac and alcohol, 


A GRAFTING WAX. 211 


mixed to the consistency of molasses, and put on with a 
sponge. I understand the gentleman to say that you cannot 
put on anything that will stop the flow of the sap, but you 
must absorb it. The preparation I use is precisely the prep- 
aration that a painter would use in coating over the knots in 
the wood, before painting, to prevent the sap from coming 
out of the knot and showing through the paint. Now, I beg 
the gentleman’s pardon when I say, that you can apply that 
preparation to the wound of a tree and prevent the flow of 
the sap, without any injurious consequences. The result will 
be precisely this: when the tree commences to make its 
growth, of course the new growth will push between the bark 
and the wood, and begin to heal over the wound. If you 
saw off a limb of a tree in June, and put on this preparation 
of shellac and alcohol, it will harden in half an hour, and the 
new growth will commence to push out and form over this 
wound, and you can see this preparation on the part of the 
wood that is not coated over just so long as it remains 
uncoated. It keeps out the wet and keeps in the sap, for the 
time being. 

Now, some do not understand the effect of pruning in the 
spring. Prof. J. G. Hyde, of Exeter, invited me out, some 
years ago, to look at his orchard. He had selected the trees 
with the best judgment and greatest care, and paid an extra 
price for the first pick of a nursery that I knew well. I went 
out and looked at it,-and found it had been pruned in the 
spring before the leaves started, and the sap was running 
down from every wound. He said, “Can you tell me the 
cause of this?” “Yes,” I said, “you pruned the trees at the 
wrong season of the year. You pruned them before there 
was any foliage to absorb the sap as it was flowing up.” I 
saw that orchard five or ten years afterwards, and it was 
literally ruined, only a few of the trees remaining. It was 
absolutely ruined by pruning at the wrong season of the year. 

I do not know as I was understood in regard to the time 
of pruning. Ido not recommend pruning in April; I do not 
recommend pruning in June. That is, I do not recommend 
that as the time to take out large limbs. But the method 
suggested by Mr. Wetherell, as the one practised by Mr. 
Pierce, I do approve of and practice. That is, in the fall, 


212 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 


after the leaves have fallen, or on pleasant days in the winter, 
I go through my orchard with my saw; see what limbs ought 
to come out, and saw them off eight or ten inches from the 
tree, and carry them to the brush-heap. I can then see just 
what wants to come out. Then the next June I go round 
with a sharp saw, and carefully saw off the stumps, and coat 
them over in the manner I have described. 


Adjourned, sne die. 


CATTLE COMMISSIONERS’ REPORT. 


To the Honorable Senate and House of Representatives of the Common- 
wealth of Massachusetts. 


The facts concerning the condition of the cattle of the State, 
and the prosperity of our interest in stock husbandry, as 
reported by the Commissioners on Contagious Diseases among 
Cattle, for the year 1874, are substantially true respecting 
those interests for the year 1875. Although severe losses 
have been suffered by stock-owners in other States and coun- 
tries, by the prevalence of contagious disease in their herds, 
we have been, in a great measure, exempt. The Spanish 
fever, or “Texas cattle disease,” which, in 1874, created great 
alarm and much loss in some sections of the State, has been 
again imported to us, in the same manner as in that year, and 
with similar results. About the first of September, the Com- 
missioners were notified by the selectmen of the town of 
Cheshire, in Berkshire County, of the prevalence of an appar- 
ently contagious and fatal disease among the stock of that and 
the adjoining town of Lanesborough. Soon after, like inform- 
ation was received from the town officers of Plainfield, in 
Hampshire County, and of Hawley, in the county of Frank- 
lin. As the case appeared to be of sufficient importance to 
justify some action on the part of the Board, Dr. E. F. 
Thayer, of the Commission, visited the town of Cheshire on 
the 7th of that month, for the purpose of making an investi- 
gation of the case. In company with the selectmen of the 
town, he examined a herd of cattle belonging to William 
Ingalls, and found several of them severely sick, and quite a 
number had already died. By the examination of both the 


CATTLE COMMISSIONERS’ RERORT. 213 


sick and the dead, it was conclusively ascertained that the 
disease was Spanish fever. A subsequent examination of 
two herds in Lanesborough, one of which belonged to Mr. 
H. A. Noble, and one on the farm of Mr. Cannon, of Tyring- 
ham, the same disease was found, with symptoms and results 
identically like those of this disease described in our last 
report. In that report we called the attention of the legis- 
lature to the character of that disease, its origin, and the 
manner in which it reached and was disseminated among our 
home stock. The examination we have made of the case the 
present year, discloses the fact that some of our stock-dealers, 
influenced only by motives of cupidity, and regardless of the 
general good, have disregarded the teachings of our former 
experience, and deliberately brought to and scattered through 
certain sections of the State, that class of cattle which alone 
communicates this disease. It was found that, in all the towns 
named, the disease was contracted by their home stock from 
Texas cattle, recently from the South-West, bought in Albany 
by drovers, and driven in various directions through our 
western towns, to be sold to butchers. If such animals were 
transported by rail to Brighton, and were taken directly to 
the abattoir for slaughter, little harm would result. But 
when driven from town to town, or when brought in contact 
with cattle kept on our farms for dairy purposes, to fatten, 
or for work, the most serious results are sure to follow. As 
we, in our last report, called the attention of dealers in stock 
to this important matter, and urged upon them the propriety 
of refusing to deal in such cattle during the warm season, and 
without preventing a recurrence of the acts complained of, 
we deem it our duty to recommend measures which shall be 
effectual in protecting our cattle and their owners from a 
repetition of the calamity. As was recommended by the 
national convention, held in Springfield, Ill., in 1868, to 
consider this subject, all of the Western Border States have 
enacted laws which are rigidly enforced, and which forbid, 
under heavy penalties, the bringing of Texas cattle into their 
territory during the warm months. These laws have given 
them effectual protection from the disease. But the exten- 
sion of railroad transportation to the far West enables West- 
ern drovers to shun those States, and to put that class of 


214 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 


cattle down here, making Massachusetts virtually a border 
State, and entailing upon us the disastrous results. In this 
emergency, as a measure of self-interest and protection, the 
Commissioners would earnestly recommend to the legislature 
the enactment of a law forbidding all persons to bring into 
this State any Texas or Cherokee cattle, between the first day 
of June and the first day of October, and. with such pro- 
visions that the same may be effectually enforced. 


Levi STOCKBRIDGE, 
i. LaAvVER, 


Commissioners on Contagious Diseases among Cattle. 


Boston, January 6, 1876. 


ANNUAL MEETING OF THE BOARD. 


The Board met at the office of the Secretary, in Boston, on 
Tuesday, the first of February, 1876, at twelve o’clock, His 
Excellency, Governor Ric8, in the chair. 


Present: Messrs. Baker, Bates, Bennett, Dwight, Graves, 
Goessmann, Hadwen, Hawes, Holland, Kellogg, Knox, Ladd, 
Loring, Moore, Perry, Peirce, Phinney, Rice, Saltonstall, 
Sargent, Sessions, Shepley, Stone, Vincent, Wakefield, L. P. 
Warner, W. L. Warner and Wilder. 


The reading of the records having been dispensed with, a 
committee, consisting of Messrs. Wilder, Kellogg and Salton- 
stall, was appointed to consider and report upon the order of 
business. 


The committee subsequently submitted the following re- 
port :.-— 


1. Reports of Delegates. 

Report of Committee on Agricultural College. 
Reports on Subjects assigned for Essays. 
Miscellaneous Business. 

Appointment of Delegates. 


Or Pe Oo bo 


MarsHautt P. WILDER. 
LEVERETT SALTONSTALL. 
E. H. Ketnoee. 


AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE EXAMINATION. 215 


The report was accepted ; when, reports of delegates being 
in order, Mr. Hawes reported upon the Middlesex Society ; 
Mr. Vincent upon the Worcester; Col. Wilder upon the 
Worcester West; Mr. Perry upon the Worcester South-East ; 
Mr. Kellogg upon the Highland; Mr. Holland upon the 
Hampden; Mr. Shepley upon the Union; Mr. Dwight upon 
the Franklin; Mr. Stone upon the Deerfield Valley; Mr. 
Bates upon the Berkshire; Mr. Graves upon the Hoosae 
Valley; Mr. L. P. Warner upon the Marshfield, and Mr. 
Sessions upon the Worcester North-West and the Hampden 
East. 


Col. Stone was appointed a committee to examine and 
report upon the credentials of new members. 


The report of the Examining Committee of the Agricultural 
College was then presented and read by Judge BENNETT. 


REPORT ON THE AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE. 


The undersigned, Committee to examine the Agricultural 
College, have attended to that duty, and made two official 
visits to that institution during the past year, one at the annual 
public exercises in June, and another in January just past. 
On each occasion they were deeply impressed with the value 
and importance of a scientific agricultural school, and an 
experimental farm, such as we there possess, and of the gen- 
eral success with which the same has been managed. They 
desire also to express their high appreciation of the scientific 
experiments made there, and its importance as a permanent 
scientific station. 

The reports of former committees have sometimes dwelt at 
length upon the annual operations of the institution, but as 
these are given so fully in the recent report of the president, 
already promulgated, it seems unnecessary to repeat the story 
here. 

One important fact stated in that report had already attracted 
the attention of your Committee, and seems to call for careful 
consideration ; and that is, the financial question. It appears 
that the income of the institution, from all sources, does not 
equal the annual expenses by several thousand dollars, and 


216 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 


that the trustees have already incurred a debt of $20,000, to 
meet the deficit. The longer the present system continues, of 
course the greater this deficit will become ; and apparently it 
can be extinguished only by a new legislative appropriation, 
or by private munificence. The present time does not give 
much encouragement to confidently expect either. The Com- 
mittee therefore thought it not unworthy of consideration how 
the expenses of the institution can be safely diminished and 
the receipts increased. 

The “leading object” of the College is, as its charter 
declares, “to teach such branches of learning as are related 
to agriculture and the mechanic arts, in order to promote the 
liberal and practical education of the industrial classes, in the 
several pursuits and professions of life.” From this it seems 
that the primary purpose was to give to farmers’ sons and 
others of the industrial class such useful and practical train- 
ing as would best fit them for their contemplated pursuits in 
life. Other branches of scientific and even classical study 
might also be pursued, but apparently they were, in the mind 
of the legislature, but auxiliary to the main purpose of this 
particular school. Without saying whether one course of 
study is more or less important as a general rule in society, 
this institution was not founded as a classical, a medical, or a 
theological school, but simply as an agricultural college. 

If retrenchment, therefore, is necessary in any particular 
department of the institution, it seemed to your Committee 
deserving of consideration whether it should not commence 
with the less vital parts of the system, and whether the pro- 
fessorship of mental, moral and social science, and that of 
veterinary science, could not be temporarily dispensed with, 
at least until the institution was on a stronger foundation. 

The Committee make this suggestion the less reluctantly, 
since in their opinion the studies pursued under these instruct- 
ors are not absolutely necessary to the practical education of 
the agriculturist, and the time thus spent could be profitably 
devoted to other pursuits. 


AGRICULTURAL SCHOLARSHIP. 


2. How can the income be increased? One method would 
be to require every agricultural society in the State, which 


COLLEGE CHEESE FACTORY. . 217 


receives the bounty of the Commonwealth, to maintain at 
least one scholarship at the College. This would at once 
secure more funds and more scholars, both of which are 
absolutely essential to a school. The present buildings will 
accommodate many more pupils, and no additional expenses 
need be incurred by such an addition to its inmates. Another 
great benefit might be fairly expected to follow; and that is 
by bringing the institution so much closer to the farming com- 
munity of the Commonwealth, and interesting them in its 
success. The State Board has heretofore unanimously recom- 
mended and urged such a step, but it is in their power, 
through the legislature, to compel so wise a course, and in 
our judgment it would be competent to require from students 
so educated by the State, some guaranty that they would 
become practical agriculturists. We cordially recommend its 
trial. Perhaps some other changes may also be advantageous, 
both financially and practically. 


DAIRYING. 


It seems very important that some practical instruction 
should be given in the art of dairying, which is now entirely 
neglected, inasmuch as all the surplus milk is at once sold 
from the farm, affording the students little opportunity to 
learn its care or future treatment. The establishment of a 
butter and cheese factory might obviate this deficiency. This 
would not only permit and call for a large increase of stock 
on the farm, thus materially increasing home-made fertilizers, 
but would also open up a certain and steady market to the 
farmers of that section for this produce of their herds, and 
would probably induce a decided increase in the quantity of 
stock kept in the neighborhood. Such an establishment, if 
properly managed, ought to be more than self-supporting. 


CULTIVATION OF SMALL FRUITS. 


With a view of giving a more extended scope to the prac- 
tical education of the young men, the majority of whom, it is 
hoped, intend to be Massachusetts farmers, it is recommended 
to greatly extend the cultivation of small fruits, and such 
other market crops as require a.special culture, and are par- 
ticularly suited to our climate. In Massachusetts, as all agree, 

28 


218 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 


such branches of agriculture are becoming more and more 
important, and a faithful attention to these might be made to 
increase the resources of the farm. 


AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENTS. 


It seems, also, that practical experiments might be constant- 
ly made with different fertilizers, crops and soils, and their 
results generally published in popular form in our newspapers 
and journals for the benefit of our whole farming community. 
Such experiments, if reliable, would be a source of great 
satisfaction to the farmer and often save him much disappoint- 
ment and loss. 


RAISING FOREST-TREES. 


It is also recommended that some instruction be given in 
forestry, both theoretically and practically, and that special 
attention be paid to the raising of forest-trees from seed, their 
care and treatment in the nursery, their permanent planting 
in various portions of the farm, and the subsequent care of 
the plantations. 

The time is not far distant when every farmer in the country 
will, in his own interest, be obliged to give some attention to 
the subject of tree-planting, and such a course as is here 
recommended will be of advantage to the students, and to the 
State at large. Similar considerations apply to the raising of 
fruit-trees. ifuls 

A nursery of reliable standard fruit-trees, adapted to one 
section, ought to be a source of some income to the insti- 
tution. 

GARDEN SEEDS. 

It seems, also, that the raising of pure and reliable seed for 
farm and garden crops might be added to the products of the 
farm, without materially increasing its expenses. When the 
Massachusetts Agricultural College has acquired the reputa- 
tion of sending out the best and purest seed in the market, 
she will add to the many obligations which the farmers of 
Massachusetts ought to feel for her, and still more interest 
them in her welfare. 

Another minor item of expense ‘may perhaps be worthy of 
attention, whether the present rate of compensation to the 


, 


A SHINING LIGHT. 219 


students for their labor on the farm, might not be reduced in 
accordance with the spirit of the times. 

Your Committee are aware that this Board has no authority 
to introduce any changes in the instruction or management of 
the College, but that the sole control thereof is by Jaw vested 
in the trustees; but understanding that the legislature, by 
making the Board of Agriculture overseers of the College, 
intended that they should in some way give expression to 
their views in regard to the institution, it seemed to them not 
out of place to introduce them in this report. 

These suggestions are made by your Committee, not to 
criticise the present management of the institution, with 
which as a whole they are highly gratified, but because they 
feel interested in increasing and extending its influence. 

It may not be practicable or wise to attempt to give ita 
preéminent position among the colleges of the country for a 
general literary or miscellaneous education, but it is practicable 
to make it, par excellence, the Agricultural College of the land. 

With its splendid endowment, its large and noble farm, its 

healthful and admirable situation, its convenient and ample 
buildings, its admirable and salutary military discipline, its 
corps of accomplished, scientific and enthusiastic instructors, 
it ought to occupy a high position in the agricultural world ; 
it ought to be “a burning and a shining light,” attracting the 
attention and becoming the pride aad admiration of every 
son of Massachusetts, throughout the land. 


Epmunp H. BENNETT. 
Boston, February 1, 1876. C. S. SARGENT. 


The Report was fully discussed, and finally accepted. 


Mr. Sessions presented the following essay upon 


DEVON CATTLE. 


I have had an experience of over twenty-six years with this 
breed of cattle. Iam not disposed to criticise other breeds, 
but will simply state some facts that have been collected in 
my own observation, and in an extensive correspondence with 
Devon breeders all over the country. Some of the facts here 
presented may come in place on this subject. 


220 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 


9 
I would state that, when a boy, my father kept Shorthorn 
grades and natives, and that upon coming into possession of 
the farm, I looked about for something better adapted to our 
mountain farm, and the production of butter. I soon made 
up my mind that, all things considered, the Devons were the 
breed for our locality; that is, for a mountain farm, where 
the raising of stock for butter-cows and working-oxen was 
extensively followed, as well as the production of young cattle 
for grass-fed beef. Considering the three points of milk, 
work and beef, the Devons seemed to take the first place for 
the average New England farm. 
Allow me to refer to a brief history of the Devon race in 
this country and in Europe. 


HISTORY. 


That the Devons are an ancient race of cattle, there can be 
no doubt. They bear all the characteristic marks of resem- 
blance to the ancient races of the south of England and 
Wales; even the color, red, is traced in the Devon, Sussex, 
and Hereford. There is no race in England that can claim 
such undisputed antiquity. 

The distinction between a “breed” and “race,” Goodale 
defines as follows: “By breeds are understood such varieties 
as were originally produced by a cross or mixture, and subse- 
quently established by selecting for breeding purposes only 
the best specimens, and rejecting all others. In process of 
time deviations become less frequent, and greater uniformity 
is secured, and this is in proportion to the time which elapses 
and the skill employed in selecting. Races are varieties 
moulded to their peculiar type by natural causes, with no 
interference of man, and no intermixture of other varieties ; 
that have continued substantially the same, for a period 
beyond which the memory and knowledge of man does not 
reach.” Such are the North Devon cattle. 

There seems to have been three distinct races of these 
ancient cattle: the Long Horns, the Middle Horns, and 
Hornless or Polled Cattle. The Middle Horns represented 
the cattle of the region of Devonshire. Those races of cattle 
were bred by the ancient Celtic inhabitants, and constituted 
their chief subsistence. Youatt says: “The native inhabitants 


NORTH DEVON CATTLE. 221 


were proud of their country, and prouder of their cattle, their 
choicest possession.” “When their country was invaded by 
their enemies, they fled to the mountains for safety and pro- 
tection, and took with them their cattle, upon which to subsist ; 
and thus were preserved both themselves and their cattle ; so 
that the races of cattle in these districts have been the same 
from time immemorial.” In a few instances, the wild forest 
cattle have been kept distinct, in a wild state, to this day ; 
as in the parks of Chillingham and Chartley ; and are said to 
be similar to those that existed in the tenth century ; and also 
bear a strong resemblance to the present domestic breeds of 
that region. 
COLOR. 

“Tt seems the people had a superstitious reverence attached 
to the red color (in Scotland and Wales) in the tradition of 
the country ; the milk of the red cow was considered a remedy 
for every disease, and a preservative from every evil.” The 
breeders of the improved Devons adhere scrupulously to the 
deep red color of the hair, and reject individuals that have a 
tendency to produce white. And it seems that in this way, 
if no other, the color of the Devons has been established and 
perpetuated. The deep red color of the pure-bred Devon is 
implanted so strongly, that there is no race in which an 
admixture of foreign blood is so easily traced ; nor is there a 
race that has remained so free from foreign intermixture. 
Their color is generally stamped on the progeny, in a cross 
with any other breed; so much so, that when the Devon 
bull is crossed on the native and grade cows, of whatever 
color, the progeny are almost invariably red like the sire. 


ENGLISH IMPROVED DEVONS. 


The improvement of these ancient races of cattle, which 
has resulted in the present perfected breed, was commenced 
about one hundred and fifty years ago. 

Mr. Shillabear, the agent for the present Earl of Leicester, 
states that it was towards the close of the last century, that 
the late Lord Leicester (who was a very good judge of stock) 
became a purchaser, not only of Devon steers for working, 
but also of the best males and females for breeding purposes, 
and, as is well known, he soon established a valuable herd. 


222 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 


John Tanner Davy, of Rose Ash, England, the editor of 
the English Devon Herd-book, inherited the herd of his 
father, who had carefully bred the Devons for fifty years. 
Mr. Francis Quartly, whose engraving adorns the first volume 
of Davy’s Devon Herd-book, endeavored, by a long course of 
selection, and by an intimate knowledge of the principles of 
breeding, to combine the various elements in the different 
herds, so as to attain the great object of the Devon breeder, 
the lessening of the parts of the animal frame least useful to 
man, as the bone and offal, and at the same time, the increase 
of such other parts, as fat and flesh, that furnish food, and to 
do this at the earliest possible age, and with the least con- 
sumption of food. That Mr. Quartly succeeded in fully 
establishing these characteristics of the breed, we need no 
better evidence than that, nine-tenths of the pedigrees of the 
present herds, in Davy’s Herd-book, go directly back to the 
old Quartly stock ; twenty-seven out of twenty-nine of the 
prize bulls mentioned in that work, are descendants from the 
bull Forester (46) ; and twenty-nine out of thirty-four prize 
cows mentioned there, descended from the cow Curly (92). 
Hundred Guinea (56), another noted ancestor of the Quartly 
tribe, stands in the pedigrees of this breed, as Hubback among 
the Shorthorns. Among others who have done much to 
improve their herds, and bring the breed to its present state 
of perfection, may be mentioned the Earl of Leicester, 
James Davy, Mr. Richard Merson, James and John Quartly, 
who also inherited the herds of their fathers, and continued 
their well-begun improvement. Mr. George Turner of Bar- 
ton, whose herd was made up from other breeders, Mr. Samuel 
Farthing of Somerset, Mr. John Halse of Moland, Mr. Wm. 
Hole of Somerset, Mr. T. B. Morle of Cummington, Mr. 
George Shapland of Oakford, and Mr. John Ayre Thomas of 
Rose Ash, Devon, with many others, have caught the spirit 
of improvement, and continued to progress towards perfec- 
tion. 

We quote the following from the preface of John T. Davy’s 
_ third volume of English Devon Herd-book :— 

“Mr. R. Smith’s Report on the Exhibition of Live-Stock 
at Chester, England, ‘Royal Agricultural Journal,’ Vol. IX., 
Part II. (Mr. Smith was a celebrated breeder of Shorthorns). 


DEVONS FOR BEEF. 223 


At page 370, he says: ‘The Devons were justly designated 
the élite of the yard.’ He further says: ‘I conclude these 
remarks with the words of a Shorthorn friend who accom- 
panied me through the Devon classes. He exclaimed, “I am 
delighted! I find we Shorthorn men have yet much to learn 
of the true formation of animals; their beautiful contour, and 
extreme quantity of flesh, surprise me.”’ Again Mr. Smith 
writes: ‘As converters of vegetable into animal food—breed 
against breed—they are found to return as much per acre, or 
for weight of food consumed, as any other breed.’ He might 
have added, and are well adapted to live in poor pastures, in 
exposed situations.” 

Mr. Bloomfield, the manager of the late Earl of Leicester’s 
estate, at Holkham Hall, Norfolk, England, has, by careful 
attention, greatly improved the size and quality of the Devons, 
and increased their milking properties, so that he obtained a 
prize for having produced an average annual yield of two 
hundred pounds of butter per cow, in a dairy of twenty cows, 
or equal to four pounds per week the year round; and he 
offered to milk forty pure Devons from his own herd, against 
an equal number of cows in any one herd, of any breed found 
in England, without finding a competitor. At the Smithfield 
show of fat cattle, held at the London market-place, in 1858, 
the gold medal for the best ox or steer of any breed in the 
show-yard, was awarded to a Devon, bred and owned by the 
Earl of Leicester. They are highly esteemed in the Smith- 
field market, not only for the excellence of the meat, but 
because its size is more agreeable, on most tables, than the 
huge joints of some other breeds. In weight, they are much 
excelled, but the opinion of the Devon breeder is, that more 
meat can be made from them, with a given amount of food, 
than from any other breed. The quality of the Devon beef is 
unsurpassed, even rivalling the little black West Highland ox, 
in the estimation of the London west-end butcher, whose 
fastidious customers oblige him to kill mone but beef of the 
finest quality and flavor. In the New York market, the “red 
oxen of Connecticut” most generally bring the highest price, 
they being Devon grades. The Devons have the preference of 
all other breeds for the yoke, being strong, active, and of great 
endurance ; and are remarkable for docility and good temper. 


224 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 


The native cattle in many sections of New England resem- 
ble the Devons in many respects, and the fact that most of 
the early settlers were from the south of England, renders it 
quite probable that they selected their cattle from that region. 
The first account that we have of the importation of cattle 
into New England, was in the ship Charity, in the spring of 
1623, in the care of Mr. Winslow, then agent of the colony 
of Plymouth. Their descendants show by their color that 
they were Devons, or Devon grades. 


AMERICAN IMPROVED DEVONS. 


The first importation of improved North Devons into this 
country was in 1817. Mr. Coke, afterwards Earl of Leices- 
ter, presented to Mr. Robert Patterson, of Baltimore, Mary- 
land, six heifers and one bull, Taurus (320). Taurus was 
bred by Mr. Denny, a tenant of Mr. Coke, afterwards Earl 
of Leicester, who paid fifty guineas for him. His dam, in 
1820, made thirteen pounds of butter per week. Three of 
these heifers Mr. Patterson gave to his father-in-law, Mr. 
Richard Caton; the other three he gave to his father, Mr. 
William Patterson; they were all bred to Taurus. In 1835, 
Mr. George Patterson came in possession of the herd of his 
father, Mr. William Patterson, and, in 1836, imported the bull 
Anchises (140), fora cross, from one of the best dairies in 
Devonshire. He afterward imported Eclipse (191) ; in 1846, 
Herod (214); and in 1852, Norfolk (266). By comparing 
the records, the fact is apparent, that the pedigree of Devon 
animals dates further back in this country than in England. 
Thus the bull Taurus (320) was calved in 1816, and imported 
in 1817, when a yearling, by Mr. Robert Patterson, of Mary- 
land; Holkham (215), calved 1819; the cow Fancy (709) 
calved 1818, and Strawberry Ist (1,062), calved 1819; 
while the oldest record of English pedigrees is the bull For- 
ester (46), calved in 1827, and Hundred Guineas (56), 
ealved in 1837, the cows Flower (187), calved in 1820, 
Countess (77), in 1828, Curly (92), and Pretty Maid (364), 
were calved in 1830. Messrs. S. & L. Hurlburt, of Win- 
chester, Conn., commenced their herd in 1819, from a pair 
procured of Mr. Patterson, Holkham (115), and Fancy (709), 
with additions from the same source every few years. In 


o 


IMPORTATIONS OF DEVONS. 225 


1850, they imported Albert (2), whose progeny has stood high 
in the country, and received more premiums than the progeny 
of any other bull lately imported. Beauty (523), bred by 
Mr. Hurlburt, in 1836, from Fancy (709), and Exchange 
(197), produced sixteen pounds of butter per week in June, 
1850, when she was fifteen years old. Mr. Coleman says, in his 
“European Agriculture,” “The most productive cow in butter 
which I have found in England was a North Devon, which, 
for several weeks in succession, without extra feed, produced 
twenty-one pounds of butter per week. The character of the 
owner places the fact beyond a doubt.” 

Mr. L. F. Allen, of Black Rock, N. Y., commenced breeding 
in 1835, from stock obtained from the Hon. James L. King, 
of New York, whose father imported them about the year 
1819, from the herd of the Earl of Leicester; in 1842, he 
added to his herd from Mr. Patterson’s stock. In 1844, 
the Massachusetts Society for the Promotion of Agriculture 
imported four cows and one bull, Bloomfield (872), from the 
Earl of Leicester. They were boarded and bred for the 
society on the farm of Elias Phinney, of Lexington, till his 
death, the object being to present a pair to each of the county 
societies in the State. In 1848, Mr. C. S. Wainwright, of 
Rhinebeck, N. Y., commenced importing and breeding his 
herd. His first importation was the bull Megunticook (251), 
and the cows Nonpareil (924) and Helena (774). Helena 
gave as high as twenty-two quarts of milk per day, and made 
fitteen pounds of butter per week. In 1851, he imported May 
Boy (71), whose granddam, Old May Flower, made over 
seventeen pounds of butter per week. In 1853, Mr. George 
Vail, of Troy, N. Y., imported one bull and two heifers from 
the herds of Mr. Davy and the Earl of Leicester. In 1850 
and 1852, Col. L. G. Morris, of New York, imported animals 
from the herds of the Earl of Leicester, the Messrs. Quartly, 
and John Ayer Thomas. Abijah Catlin, of Connecticut, 
imported, in 1851, Rubens (116), and two heifers. Many 
others have imported animals equally meritorious, among 
whom may be mentioned, Ambrose Stevens, of Batavia, N.Y., 
KE. G. Faile, West Farms, N. Y., R. Linsley, West Meriden, 
Conn., R. W. Sanford, Orwell, Vt., E. P. Beck, Sheldon, 
N. Y., and R. H. Van Rensselaer, of Morris, N. Y. These 

29 


226 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 


importations, with many others not mentioned, are sufficient 
to form the basis of a race of Devons in America not excelled 
by those in any other country. 

As for their milk and butter qualities, we mention a few 
among the many examples we find on record, that have been 
famous for milk and butter, in addition to those already 
referred to above. 

Mr. F. P. Holcomb, of New Castle, Del., made nineteen 
and a half pounds of butter per week from Lady. Hon. 
Horace Capron, Commissioner of Agriculture, formerly of 
Robin’s Nest, Ill., made twenty-one pounds of butter in nine 
days from Flora 2d (120). C. P. Holcomb, of Delaware, in 
the summer of 1843, in twelve weeks, made from one cow 
one hundred seventy-four and three-quarters pounds of butter, 
or an average of fourteen pounds nine ounces per week; 
during one week she made nineteen pounds, and in three 
days nine and a half pounds. James Buckingham, of Duncan 
Falls, Ohio, in three months, in the summer of 1856, made 
from four cows an average of forty-four and a half pounds 
per week, besides using the cream and milk in a family of 
seven persons. L. G. Collins, of Newark, Mo., made from 
the dam of Red Jacket (98), sixteen and three-quarter pounds 
of butter per week. 

Mr. Wm. Mattoon, of Springfield, has had great success in 
raising Devons, both for milk and beef. He slaughtered his 
bull, Springfield (342), whose dressed weight was one thou- 
sand one hundred and seventy-nine pounds, after hanging sixty 
hours; also his cow, Rose 6th (693), whose live weight in 
full feed was one thousand two hundred and fifteen pounds, 
and dressed weight nine hundred and eleven pounds, shrink- 
ing less than twenty-five per cent. His bull, Duke of Hamp- 
den (499), weighed, when sixteen months old, one thousand 
two hundred and ten pounds, having gained in the seventy- 
five days previous, two hundred and ten pounds, or two and 
four-fifth pounds per day. The feed given him was hay, 
shorts, and one quart of meal per day. At three years old he 
weighed two thousand and thirty pounds. His herd of cows, 
varying in age from four to seventeen years, weighed in the 
fall of 1874, on an average, one thousand two hundred thirty- 
three and three-fourths pounds each. 


DEVONS AT THE PAIL. 227 


Mr. Ward Parker, of Merrimack, N. H., made from five 
Devon cows, in one year, $780, or an average of $156 per 
cow, in addition to the milk and butter used in the family. 
His cow Jessie (1052), made fifty pounds of butter in the 
month of February, 1874, or twelve and a half pounds per 
week, having calved January 18, 1874. In October, 1873, 
he tested the milk of his Devon cows with the lactometer, 
with the following result :— 


Jessie (1052), . : : : : : : . 25 per cent. cream. 
Nelly Bly 5th (1168),°.. . : . ; Sy <<“ is 
Rose 2d (1247), : : 4 : ; ; bi ae as ss 
Gem 4th, . : : ; ‘ : F : 40% BE! “ ce 
Venus (1300), . : 7 “ ‘ : 3 Ae ei ve s 
Jessie Fremont (1057), . : : . : PADD Stee tia is 


From five quarts of milk taken from Venus (1300), one 
pound of butter was made. The above-mentioned six cows 
yielded one pound of butter for every six quarts of milk. 

The Devon cow Beauty, owned by Benjamin Blakeslee, of 
Thomaston, Conn., at the age of seven years, averaged eleven 
pounds of butter per week for four months, from January 1 to 
May 1, 1868. 

Our system or plan of operations is, perhaps, different from 
most of those who keep stock for dairy purposes only. We 
have a grass, fruit and stock farm, and raise stock to sell. 
Our stock consumes what the farm produces, and we go 
abroad for none of the food for cattle. In keeping stock for 
breeding purposes, we have paid particular attention to the 
development of milk. 

In the year 1873, we had ten cows giving milk, and two of 
those were milked by calves that were being raised on them, 
two onacow. Not over eight cows were milked at any one 
time during the season for the production of butter. We 
made one thousand five hundred pounds of butter through 
the season, and sold it from the first of June to the first of 
October for forty cents per pound, and from forty-five to fifty 
cents per pound the rest of the year. Only three cows on 
the farm at that time were over three years old, and seven of 
the cows milked that year were with their first calf, two and 


228 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 


three year old heifers. Thirteen calves were raised last year, 
and nine this year. 

The above may seem a small product for that number of 
cows, but when it is considered that they are all young, two 
and three year old heifers, it is a fair yield. 

The importation of Devons of late into this country has 
been quite limited. This has resulted in consequence of the 
prohibition by the government of the importation of cattle, to 
prevent the spread of contagious diseases; and also from the 
fact that there is nothing to be gained by importing, except 
as across. The testimony of those who have visited the best 
herds in England, with the design of selecting animals with 
which to improve our own herds, has been, that “we need not 
go abroad to obtain animals equal in every point of excellence 
to the best that can be found in England.” 

The late experience of the breeders of Devons, only con- 
firms their former opinion of the excellent qualities of the 
breed, for the three grand objects for which all neat stock are 
kept, namely, milk, work, or beef, and of their adaptation to 
many sections of our country, in preference to any other 
breed ; also, that they will produce as much milk, work or 
beef, from the food consumed, or on a given quantity of land, 
as any other breed; their milk yielding a large amount of 
the first quality of cheese and cream, and the cream yielding 
a large amount of superior butter. The only objection ever 
presented to the breed, is, “they are too small”; but we can 
keep more of them, and that on shorter pastures and coarser 
food. In short, as many pounds of beef, and of a superior 
quality, can be produced with the Devons, on a given amount 
of food, as with any other breed, though it will require more 
animals to accomplish it. 

In the northern portion of our country, and in mountainous 
sections, and on the sterile soils of many farms, the Devons 


will always be in demand. 
H. M. SEssIons. 


The report was accepted. 


SUMMERED AND WINTERED IT. 229 
The following essay was then submitted upon 


AGRICULTURE AS A LIFE WORK. 


The opinions of mankind at large concerning agriculture, 
are exceedingly diverse and contradictory. Scarcely two 
men out of a score, taken from the various ranks and pursuits 
of life, will agree as to its value. Up to a certain point, 
indeed, there is no diversity of opinion. As a calling of 
absolute necessity, vitally fundamental to all other industries, 
and in itself the immediate means of support to a large pro- 
portion of the human race, its importance is self-evident, and 
cannot be ignored. But when we go higher, and drop the 
general good to consider the individual; when we ask what 
agriculture demands of the man, and what it has to give him, 
and seek to compare its aims and rewards with the aims and 
rewards of other vocations in life, we shall find any assertion 
of its higher claims met with all shades of incredulity, denial, 
and even ridicule. We who know agriculture as a life work, 
experimentally, having summered and wintered upon the 
farm, ought to be able to help to find out and to establish 
what is the just estimation in which our calling should be 
held. 

In our busy, new country, with its boundless work waiting 
to be done, the popular type of man has always been the man 
of affairs, an active man in some sphere. There is scarcely 
room, with all our broad land, for men to live studious 
and contemplative lives. The age and the public demand 
results, and have not much respect for anything that is not 
tangible and positive. 

The “merchant prince” has been a great favorite with the 
American public. A great merchant, a man of comprehensive 
plans and executive force, having in hand large schemes of 
profitable enterprise, and bringing them to successful issue, 
commands fortune, with all its seductive luxuries and positive 
power; and to many, especially to many an eager lad, this 
material success seems worth all that it costs—a life; and 
the cost is not one life alone.. To the intense strain upon 
mind and body, the anxieties, the self-denials (denials too 
often of one’s best self), the hardening and sharpening of the 
whole nature, bent to one set of faculties,—one line of acute 


230 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 


and aggrandizing thought,—must be superadded the sum 
total of the great number of lives, which, striving for this 
prize, this success, have failed, and in bitterness of spirit 
accept the humble positions and inadequate rewards of sub- 
ordinates or menials. For the great prosperity is a shining 
possibility in commercial circles, to which few, very few 
_ attain. 

Sometimes the popular idol is the “public man,” the man 
who professes to devote his time and talents to “serving his 
country.” Statesmanship, the art of government, indeed, to 
men of fine talents, and above any necessity for pecuniary 
gain, may open the way to noble study and a fruitful life. It 
is a just reproach to us that politicians, men who seek only 
self-aggrandizement, have so prostituted great opportunities 
to vile ends, that men of purity and honor shrink from the 
inevitable contact which public life imposes. 

The so-called learned professions have a time-honored claim 
upon our ambitious youth. They have such fine opportunities 
of work. A trained intellect, armed-at all points by knowl- 
edge, and well fitted for wartare, may vindicate justice, and 
see equity done between man and man. Research and 
sagacity may do their utmost to relieve and preserve poor 
humanity; higher still, the gifted and sympathetic nature 
may spend and be spent in those works and words of tender 
helpfulness which have the power that no theology can take 
away. All these—the merchant, statesman, lawyer, doctor, 
priest—have their work and their wages, sufficient food for 
enthusiasm, and obstacles enough to call out all their strength. 
Can less be said of agriculture ? 

In the hurry and excitement of the cities, men are exceed- 
ingly liable to underrate the importance of agriculture to the 
national prosperity. If farming does not “ pay,” then nothing 
ought to pay. If any man has an indisputable right to a 
fair share of the good things of life, it is he who devotes 
himself to the production of those necessaries which are to 
support human existence, both on the farm itself and also 
wherever men are gathered together for other pursuits. But 
we must keep in mind the just and exact relations of cause, 
and effect, and look for no returns disproportionate to our 


AVERAGE NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 231 


expenditures. If a man labors with his muscles alone, he 
must not expect the earnings of trained intellectual faculties. 
In the scale of varying labors and rewards, every man will be 
paid according to the use he makes of those gifts and powers 
with which he isendowed. If he has a clear judgment and a 
sagacity that detects the subtle indications of supply and 
demand, so as to forestall the fluctuations of the markets; if 
he has a keen eye for animal anatomy and economy, and a 
quick insight into the laws of breeding, all these several 
capacities and talents will bring their legitimate return, if 
employed on the farm. Since agriculture must be the basis 
of all other prosperity, no success in any country is safe, if 
agriculture is not itself prosperous. Perhaps no calling is so 
broad, has room for so many varieties of men, as agriculture ; 
not only in the obvious sense of furnishing work in unlimited 
quantity, but also in its capability of furnishing every quality 
‘of work. Our demand for unskilled labor absorbs countless 
thousands of the workers of other lands. We have room for 
them; we have also room for every grade of work, from low 
to high, from mere muscular toil to the original investigations 
of science. 

But we must frankly admit, that the actual life of the aver- 
age farmer—even of the average New England farmer—is far 
from being the highest or noblest. Let us see it in its true 
colors, denying none of its asperities. There is certainly very 
much in it that is coarse, harsh and sordid. Who does not 
recognize the constant grind which yet keeps a man poor all 
his life.; the perpetual and degrading round of drudgery to 
which so many farmers tie down their lives? What is the 

-range of thought of the average farmer? What is the lot in 
life, the sources of pleasure and improvement, which fall to 
- his wife? What chances does he put before his sons and 
daughters ? 

To many, this will call up a dark picture; but admitting 
its blackest features, the question arises, Js the fault in the men 

in the calling? . Do not the most intelligent, the most enter- 
prising and thoroughly educated farmers, bring their farming 
up to their own level? Do not higher ambitions suggest 
higher possibilities in their work ? 


232 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 


Agriculture is capable of infinite development. Both brains 
and money can be freely spent on these rugged and most 
beautiful hills and valleys of Massachusetts, and they will bring 
returns which shall abundantly reward our confidence in nature. 
Who that loves his native land is willing to see these farms 
falling into decay, impoverished and abandoned in «some 
instances ; in others, becoming the heritage of the stout chil- 
dren of emigrant parents, whose sturdy muscles and unde- 
veloped minds make little demand of the soil, save as healthy 
animals, and whose savings are accumulated by the lack of 
all the higher wants? Yet this seems to be the inevitable 
tendency of the disposition which seeks to degrade farming, 
and by the cheerless and dispiriting aspect in which it exhibits 
itself to the young, to repel them and drive them from the 
farm. 

If the future of agriculture in New England is to be a 
bright one; if farmers are to reap better returns for their 
labors, while constantly increasing the productive capacity of 
the soil—,and this is what we demand, if agriculture is to keep 
up with the progress of the age,—it must be by raising the 
standard of man on the farm. 

This, chiefly, must exalt agriculture. With a body of men 
earnestly engaged in farming, of high culture and public 
spirit,—men trained to exact observation and intelligent com- 
parison of data,—we may hope to reach a solution of some of 
the vexed questions which now retard the progress of scientific 
farming. To men of this class, financial success, as leading one 
of the great industries of life, should surely be open, as well 
as the delights and immunities of rural life. What those 
attractions and rewards are, we who enjoy them best know, 
and surely they are not to be underrated. There is a mys- 
terious sympathy inherent in mankind which draws men to 
the soil. From Adam down, the tillers of the soil have ever 
found their toil good. 

What can a man learn of nature? In her processes we see 
the inexorable power of law, the mystery of life. In her 
varying aspects we find solace, encouragement, inspiration, 
rest. In working with her we join our thread to the web of 
fate, and God himself keeps the shuttle flying. If any man 
would see his work prosper in his hands, shall he not guide it 


MEMBERS OF THE BOARD. 233 


by those immutable laws of seed-time and harvest, the dial 
of heaven itself, and if he fails at this noble work, his 
machinery must be regulated till the results are right. 


Henry S. GoOopALE. 


The essay was read and accepted, when the Board ad- 
journed. 


Setconp Day. 


The Board met at ten o’clock A. M. Hon. MarsHaLi 
P. WILpDER in the chair. 


Present: Messrs. Baker, Bennett, Davis, Dwight, Fenn, 
Goessmann, Hadwen, Hawes, Holland, Knowlton, Knox, 
Ladd, Loring, Macy, Moore, Perry, Phinney, Saltonstall, 
Sanderson, Shepley, Metcalf J. Smith, Milo J. Smith, Vin- 
cent, Wakefield, L. P. Warner, W. L. Warner and Wilder. 


Col. Stonr, Committee on Credent‘als, submitted the fol- 
lowing 
REPORT: 
The Committee on Credentials respectfully report that the 
credentials of new members have been examined, and the 
following delegates are duly elected :—By the 


Middlesex, : : : : 5 . . JOHN B. Moore. 
Marshfield, . : : . GEORGE M. BAKER. 
Hampshire, Franklin & Havipien Mito J. SMITH. 
Berkshire, : : : ; : : . JOHN E. MERRILL. 
Hampden East, H. P. WAKEFIELD. 
Nantucket, é ; : : : : . ALEXANDER Macy, Jr. 
Hampden, : : A : ‘ : . J. N. BaGe. j 
Housatonic, . : : F F ; . DANIEL B. FENN. 


Bristol Central, 

Worcester South-East, 
Hingham, 

Appointed by the Weta tise 


(Signed ) 


The report was accepted. 


JOHN A. HAWES, 
WILLIAM KNOWLTON. 
SoLtomon LINCOLN. 
PAauL A, CHADBOURNE. 


ELIPHALET STONE, 


Committee. 


The Reports of Delegates being in order, Judge Bennett 
reported upon the Norfolk Society ; Dr. Wakefield upon the 


30 


234 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 


Bristol; Mr. W. L. Warner upon the Martha’s Vineyard; Mr. 
Metcalf J. Smith upon the Middlesex South; Mr. Ladd upon 
the Worcester South; Mr. Hadwen upon the Housatonic ; 
Mr. Baker upon the Hampshire; Mr. Sanderson upon the 
Essex; Mr. Davis upon the Middlesex North, and Mr. Chad- 
bourne (read by the Secretary) upon the Worcester North. 


Committees were announced by the chair, as follows :— 


ay 


. On the Assignment of Delegates—Messrs. W. L. Warner, Stone 
and Vincent. 


2. On the Assignment of Subjects for Essays.—Messrs. Davis, Sar- 
gent and Shepley. — 


3. On the Time and Place of Holding the Country Meeting.—Messrs. 
Moore, Hawes and Hadwen. 


4. On the Nomination of the Examining Committee of the Massachu- 
setts Agricultural College—Messrs. Phinney, Saltonstall and 
Bennett. 


On motion of Capt. Moors, it was 


Voted, That the country meeting be held on the 14th, 15th 
and 16th of November. 


Col. WILDER then submitted the following essay upon the 


METHODS FOR THE IMPROVEMENT OF FRUITS. 


In conformity to the duty assigned, your Committee submit 
the following suggestions as pertinent to the inquiry, What 
methods can be adopted to secure improved varieties of fruits ? 

The great loss sustained in the importation and trial of 
trees from foreign shores, and even from different quarters of 
our own country, which are not adapted to our own location, 
suggests the answer, 7’hat new varieties must be produced from 
seed, and be to the manor born, to remedy this evil. 

The adaptation of plants to various climates, and their dis- 
tribution over thee arth, involve a study so profound, that few 
have any definite knowledge on the subject. Why some are 
suited, by their constitution, to a wide extent of territory, and 


IMPROVEMENT OF FRUITS. 235 


are able to adapt themselves to almost any altitude or latitude 
or temperature without material change, while others are con- 
fined to a narrow limit, and will not prosper elsewhere; or 
why a fruit may succeed in one location, and a few miles 
distant fail entirely, are mysteries which mankind has not yet 
been able to solve. The human constitution will frequently 
endure the change of country and climate, but the extent to 
which plants can bear these changes is fixed by an immutable 
law; therefore, all attempts to acclimate such as are not 
naturally congenial will fail in the end, except it be within 
very narrow limits,—not, however, that a tree or plant may 
not sometimes endure greater degrees of cold or heat than it 
is subject to in its native climate; but no one should suppose 
that time will produce a physiological or constitutional change 
in them. 

It is, however, sufficient for us to know, that we can pro- 
duce from seed, fruits, which, by their constitution and habits, 
are capable of enduring the cold and heat, the drought and 
moisture, and other vicissitudes of the region we inhabit ; but 
the idea that we can accustom a tree or plant to conditions 
not consistent with its laws of being, is a chimera of the 
imagination. The only acclimation that we can rely on for 
obtaining trees and plants of stronger constitution is the pro- 
duction of new varieties from seed hybridized by the hand 
of man, or naturally cross-fertilized by insects or the air. 
Whatever opinions may have been entertained, to this we 
must come at last: that, for the acquisition of hardy, valuable 
fruits, adapted to our various locations, we must depend 
mainly on the production from seed. 

These are the only means placed in our hands by Provi- 
dence, and on these we must ever depend, if we except proper 
location and treatment, for the improvement of our fruits. 

Much has already been accomplished by the production of 
new varieties of American fruits from seed; but how little, 
compared with the results obtained in other lands by the art 
of hybridization in the vegetable kingdom. To this art we 
are mainly indebted for the numerous fine varieties of grains, 
vegetables and flowers introduced in our own time, and the 
same success will reward similar efforts to produce new and 
valuable fruits suited to our own clime. Says Prof. Gray, 


236 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 


in his admirable essay before the American Pomological 
Society, “Most of our esteemed and important fruits have 
not so much been given to man, as made by him; and man’s 
work in this respect is mainly to direct the course, or ten- 
dency, of nature.” The success which has attended the 
American cultivator in the production of new and fine varie- 
ties of fruits, vegetables and plants, which rival the choicest 
varieties of the Old World, is indeed remarkable, and it will 
be far greater when the same scientific knowledge is applied 
to the production of native fruits. 

The laws which govern the procreation of species by cross- 
impregnation are now so well understood by those who have 
scientific knowledge, as to leave no doubt of success. Thus, 
the fruitist, the farmer and the florist, are producing results 
which, as to form, habit, color, proportion and beauty, sur- 
prise the operator himself, when he sees how kindly nature 
coéperates with his efforts to bring forth the object of his 
desires. There may be disappointments,—these are the lot 
of humanity,—but the philosophical principle is correct, and 
the results of practice are now universally acknowledged ; 
and although the improvement sought for may not be realized 
in every instance, experience has taught us that it will come 
at last. 

When we look back to the original types of many of our 
fruits,—small, inferior, hard, and of acrid, disagreeable flavor, 
—and compare them with our large, magnificent apples, melt- 
ing pears, luscious peaches, delicious grapes and strawberries, 
we realize the improvement which has already taken place. It 
is not unreasonable to suppose that there are rich stores still 
reserved in the arcana of nature which may be developed by 
the hand of man. We may not produce more beautiful 
apples or luscious pears than we now possess, but we may 
gain numerous new kinds, of equal value, and better adapted 
to our various locations, seasons and markets, and we believe 
the time is not distant when we shall produce varieties equally 
well adapted to extensive location, as the Bartlett and Beurre 
d’ Anjou pear, the Concord grape and the Wilson strawberry, 
and of much better quality than the last named. 

Your Committee would therefore encourage our cultivators 
in the belief that, by the sowing of the seeds of our best 


COMMITTEE ON THE COLLEGE. 237 


varieties, and by cross-impregnation, there is a wide field open 
for improvement, and that all attempts at acclimation are 
fruitless. Nor would we discourage the planting and proving 
of the new varieties from other regions, holding fast such as 
are suited; and where they do not succeed in one location, it 
is possible they may be adapted to another. This is especially 
true with regard to the varieties of the strawberry. While 
one cultivator cannot grow the President Wilder, another 
declares he will grow no other; and thus with the Hovey’s 
Seedling, which, after forty-two years of existence, has this 
year carried off the highest prize offered by the Massachusetts 
Horticultural Society for the strawberry. 


MarsHatzt P. WILDER. 
Joun B. Moore. 


O. B. Hapwen. 
The essay was accepted. 


After some discussion upon the Agricultural College, during 
which Judge Bennetr suggested that the Examining Com- 
mittee be enlarged to five members, on motion of Mr. Sauron- 
STALL, it was— 


Voted, That the Committee of Visitation to the Agricultural 
College be a Standing Committee, to consist of five, of whom 
the first two on the list shall, at the end of each year, retire, 
their places to be filled by two new members, who shall be 
added to the end of the list, by which method the Chairman 
will always have three years’ service. 


The Committee on Examination was constituted by the 
appointment of Messrs. Bennett, Sargent, Hadwen, Moore 
and Chadbourne. 


Voted, To appoint a committee of three to suggest what 
action should be taken with reference to the death of Hon. 
ALBERT Feartne. Messrs. Saltonstall, Knowlton and Baker. 


The committee subsequently reported the following resolu- 
tions :— 


Resolved, That in the death of Hon. ALBERT FEARING this 
Board has sustained a great loss. Mr. Fearing, in his inter- 


238 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 


course with the Board, always evinced such gentle, Christian 
courtesy and marked zeal in advancing the agricultural inter- 
ests of the Commonwealth, that his place cannot easily be 
filled. His character was, in all ways, so beautiful, his 
generosity so abounding, his charities conducted with such 
modesty, the simplicity and loveliness of his nature were so 
attractive, that the hearts of all men, in every walk in life, 
who have known this excellent man, are filled with grief at 
their bereavement. 

ftesolved, That a copy of this resolution be communicated 
to the family of the deceased. 


The resolutions were adopted unanimously by a rising 
vote. 


Prof. GOESSMANN then submitted and read the 


SECOND REPORT ON THE SALT MARSHES ABOVE THE MOUTH 
OF GREEN HARBOR RIVER, IN THE TOWNSHIP OF MARSH- 
FIELD, PLYMOUTH COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 


In a previous report I stated the origin, the general 
character and the agricultural history of a few successfully 
reclaimed sea marshes of Europe, for the purpose of render- 
ing more prominent some striking features of similarity which 
exist between them and the recently diked marshes above the 
mouth of the Green Harbor River in the township of Marsh- 
field, Plymouth County, Massachusetts. I attempted, also, to 
show somewhat in detail the gradual changes which the original 
spontaneous vegetation was undergoing since the water of the 
ocean has been excluded, in consequence of the construction 
of an efficient dike, pointing out on the same occasion some 
of the causes which seemed to control the still varying or 
broken-up aspect of the present natural growth in the differ- 
ent sections of the salt marshes. 

Several analyses of soil, taken from different portions of 
the latter, served to demonstrate quite conclusively that a 
lack of any essential article of soil plant-food, in the present 
stage of the salt meadows, could not be considered the real 
cause of the unusual differences quite frequently noticeable 
in the character and the value of plants growing in close 


CHANGES IN DIKED MARSHES. 239 


proximity to each other: for instance, a patch of samphire 
(Salicornia herbacea) in the midst of a luxuriant spontaneous 
growth of valuable fresh-meadow grasses. This unsatisfactory 
condition was assumed to be due to a still inefficient mode of 
drainage, aggravated here and there by locally confined imper- 
vious layers of a clayish nature within the succeeding stratifi- 
cations of the soil. Knowing from personal observation 
elsewhere that the fitness, even of the best of soils once 
thoroughly impregnated with salt water, for a successful cul- 
tivation of most farm crops, would largely depend on the 
degree of drainage which that soil chanced to enjoy after the 
excess of the salt water had been prevented, I have continued 
to inquire, for two succeeding seasons, by means of chemical 
analyses, into the degree of the changes which the subsoil 
water undergoes in consequence of a gradual replacement of 
the saline oceanic water by the fresh water of the creek, which 
flows through the marshes. 

As intervening impervious strata of soil would quite natu- 
rally retard for years the removal of the accumulated saline 
matter of the surface-soil by means of atmospheric precipitations 
of moisture, it became of the utmost importance to ascertain 
the peculiar character of the various successive layers of soil, 
which exist within the different parts of the marsh lands, as 
far as their quality and their extent are concerned. The 
chances of getting some more definite information regarding 
these points have been somewhat improved during the past 
years, in consequence of a more extensive and thorough con- 
struction of drain ditches within the central part of the marsh 
lands. 

Within the few succeeding pages, I propose to report my 
analytical results, and to discuss shortly : first, the late changes 
in the composition of the subsoil water, as compared with the 
previous years; second, the quality of the soil in the central 
portion of the marshes, with regard to its chemical and phys- 
ical conditions; third, the general character of the natural 
vegetation upon the reclaimed lands during the past year, in 
connection with the results of experiments carried on during 
the same period. 

Various analytical examinations of the subsoil water, taken 
from the centre of the marshes during the summer of 1874, 


240 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 


proved that its general saline character had changed but 
little as compared with that of the ocean; whilst in some 
instances, on account of a state of stagnation, the chlorides of 
the water of the ocean had beeu increased by nearly one-third 
in quantity. ; 
Resuts of Analyses “n 1874. 

Water of the Atlantic Ocean contain 1.9407 per cent. of chlorine.—Kerl. 
Subsotl w ter from the central portion 

of the marshes contained . : . 1.702 per cent. of chlorine. 
Subsotl water from the lower marshes, 

showing strong indications of local 

stagnation and evaporation, con- 

tained . ‘ : - : . 2.3195 per cent. of chlorine. 


Resulis of Avalyses in 1875. 
Water from a large ditch, four feet 
deep in the central part of the 
marshes, contained . : . . 0.8282 per cent. of chlorine. 
0.1016 we of sulphuric acid. 
Water from a ditch three feet deep, 
and about one hundred rods distant 
from the previously-mentioned local- 
ity, contained , . 2 : . 0.1386 per cent. of chlorine. 
0.0934 3 of sulphuric acid. 


_ The first-mentioned sample of water of 1875—being col- 
lected from a depth which corresponded with the temporary 
level of the subsoil water—represents quite likely the general 
degree of alteration which the original soil water has suffered 
under favorable conditions, in consequence of the excess of 
the fresh water from the creek, as far as that particular cen- 
tral section of the marsh is concerned. The water consisted 
of three-fifths of fresh water and two-fifths of genuine salt 
water; both the absolute and relative amount of chlorine 
and sulphuric acid found, point in that direction. G. Forch- 
hammer, who has made the composition of the water of 
the Atlantic Ocean a special subject of investigation, con- 
siders 100 parts of chlorine to 11.89 parts of sulphuric 
acid the mean relative proportion of these substances in that 
liquid. 

The second sample of water tested, 1875, whith was taken 
from a level one foot higher than the first one, represents 
evidently a kind of soil water which will quite frequently 


PLANTS ON SALT MARSHES. 241 


result from the mere washing of that portion of soil, which is 
more or less permanently above the usual level of the subsoil 
water of the marshes. The low percentage of chlorine, and 
the relatively high percentage of sulphuric acid, indicate quite 
plainly that a resolution of previously separated saline con- 
stituents of the ocean,—containing for obvious reasons a 
higher percentage of sulphate of lime,—could only have 
caused its peculiar composition. These analytical results are 
quite encouraging; for they prove, that in some localities at 
least, a decidedly favorable change has been going on regard- 
ing the composition of the subsoil water, and also that the 
level of the latter has been actually and permanently lowered. 

Stagnant water prevents a rapid disintegration of mineral 
and vegetable matter, by excluding the air; salt water in- 
creases that effect, particularly as far as the latter is concerned. 
The beneficial influences of the freshening of the soil water, 
and the permanent lowering of the water level within the 
marshes, showed themselves during the past year in two con- 
spicuous ways; namely, first in a frequent change of the color 
of the soil, wherever it had been brought above the former 
general level of the water, and thereby under the unrestricted 
influence of air and light. Second, in a more rapid decom- 
position of the accumulated vegetable matter, which under- 
laid the present sod, and had served as its immediate 
support. 

The frequent disappearance of grasses—as the native 
“goose grass” and the seeded-down redtop and timothy— 
from localities where they had prospered during the preceding 
year, could be almost invariably traced to an exposure of 
their roots in consequence of the decomposition of the 
vegetable matter of preceding periods of vegetation, which 
previously protected them against the extremes of the season. 
The severe winter of 1874-75, and the drought during 
the spring of 1875, had both favored their early extinction. 
A luxuriant spontaneous growth of annual upland plants, 
particularly of everlasting ( Gnaphalium polycephalum, Mich.), 
was gradually taking their place. 

The change in the color of the soil was quite noticeable 
everywhere along the recently exposed portion of the banks 
of the creek; it became, however, very conspicuous within 

31 


242 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 


several ditches in the central section of the marshes, near the 
locality where my samples of subsoil water had been collected. 

These ditches had been dug quite recently upon the prop- 
erty of Mr. Williams, of Boston, for improved drainage. 
They consisted of several parallel sections, and amounted to 
from four hundred and sixty to four hundred and seventy 
rods in total length; they were from three to five feet deep. 

The soil, when first removed, was more or less of a uniform 
bluish-gray color; after being exposed to the influence of the 
air, it turned usually more yellowish ; in some places It became 
red. This change was mainly due to an oxidation of the 
protoxide of iron into sesquioxide. As the protoxide of iron 
is known to be injurious to plant-life, good airing of the soil 
in the marshes, by draining and subsequent ploughing, be- 
comes indispensable for its successful cultivation in the interest 
of a general system of mixed farming. 

The side-walls of the ditches furnished an excellent chance 
to ascertain the peculiar character of the various layers which 
constitute the soil within the central position of the marshes. 

The opinion expressed in my first report,—that the marsh- 
lands would prove to be formed by numerous layers of 
mineral matter, varying quite frequently, even within a com- 
paratively confined area, widely in regard to the relative pro- 
portion of the essential constituents,—was fully confirmed. - 

A vertical section of the soil, to a depth of five feet, showed 
also more or less extensive accumulations of vegetable matter, 
resulting from different successive levels of growth, which 
formed distinct layers, separated, not infrequently, by quite 
different kinds of soil. 

The latter showed, in many instances, local accumulations 
of sesquioxide of iron, which rendered the color of the soil, 
within a limited area, bright red. The entire bulk of soil as 
removed from the ditches, if properly mixed, deserved in 
most instances to be called a good sandy ferruginous loam, 
which, in its present state, is unusually rich in organic matter. 

In other localities, for instance, upon some of the cultivated 
islands in the creek, the soil is of a black-brown color, and of 
a fine pulverulent texture. 

The color in the latter case is mainly due to half-decom- 
posed or humified organic matter. The various strata of soil 


SOIL OF SALT MARSHES. 243 


differ also here and there in regard to the relative proportion 
of sand, and of clayish silt. The admixture of sand renders 
the clayish silt permeable, and thus fit for successful drainage. 
The degree of fitness in that respect depends on the relative 
proportion in which they constitute the soil. There are evi- 
dently unusual differences in regard to that point; for whilst 
the soil in some cases, in consequence of the size and the 
quantity of the sand, proves to be very favorable for drainage, 
in other instances, on account of opposite conditions, it 
becomes very impervious to water. 

The existence of a layer of that kind in close proximity to 
the surface-growth, particularly in case the locality is some- 
what depressed as compared with the surrounding level of the 
soil, and thereby favors the accumulation of the drainage 
waters of the surface-layers in its vicinity, causes, quite 
frequently, barren spots in the midst of a healthy new vegeta- 
tion. 

The rain water, after having abstracted more or less of the 
residual saline matter of the salt water which formerly over- 
flowed the marshes, collects usually in more or less large 
quantities in these depressions, where it may evaporate at any 
time during the season in consequence of an inefficient drain- 
age, leaving the saline constituents behind. Although these 
washings of the surface-soil in their diluted state may not 
affect the new growth in the early spring, they will surely 
prove highly injurious to most of our farm plants as soon as 
they reach a high degree of concentration by evaporation. 

Localities which suffer from these influences are quite 
frequently covered during the first part of the season with a 
new, valuable vegetation, similar to that of the surrounding 
lands; yet become barren as soon as the natural rate of 
evaporation of water exceeds the access of the latter by 
atmospheric precipitations. 

These spots appear, in the latter part of the season, as 
if the torch had passed over them, for nothing but a few 
genuine salt-plants are usually left. 

As the final result in these cases is quite naturally a matter 
of degree, every stage of injurious reaction may be noticed. 
A close examination of the dry surface mass within these 
depressions revealed the presence of common salt, with some 


244 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 


of its essential associated constituents in the ocean, besides 
an unusually large percentage of phosphoric acid. The latter 
appeared to be present mainly as a phosphate of proto-ses- 
quioxide of iron. 

A few subsequent analytieal statements may convey some 
definite idea regarding that surface mass, which in most: 
instances is of bluish-green color, and only here and there 
yellowish red, in consequence of a large excess of hydrated 
sesquioxide of iron; it appeared usually in form of scales 
separated from the underlying mass. 


I. One hundred parts of the air-dry 


mass lost, at 100°-110C.,_ . : 10 per cent. of moisture. 
One hundred parts of the same sam- 

ple, left by calcination, 3 . 989.5 parts of ash constituents. 
One hundred parts of the air-dry 

mass contained . : 3 . 0.5630 per cent. of phosphoric acid. 


II. One hundred parts of an air-dry 
sample, taken from a different 
locality, contained : : . 0.8510 per cent. of sulphuric acid. 


The qtantity of phosphoric acid noticed in these two 
instances is very large, and exceeds in the second case—in 
percentage, twice the amount of that acid—found in the ash 
constituents of the entire organic and inorganic soil mass of 
the central portion of the marshes (see Secretary’s report for 
1874, page 339). 

As the main portion of the phosphoric acid had been left 
behind by the evaporation of the surface-soil water, it becomes 
quite evident, that the latter is unusually rich in one of the 
most valuable soil constituents; but we are told, also, in an 
unmistakable manner, how essential it is for future agricult- 
ural success, as far as time is concerned, that the drainage of 
the marshes should be attended to without delay, and, at the 
same time, with a view to a system which would bring the 
discharge of the drainage water as far as practicable under a 
satisfactory control. 

It is a well-known fact, that both carbonic acid and chloride 
of sodium (common salt) favor in a remarkable degree— 
accompanied with water—the solubility of neutral phosphate 
of lime. One per cent. of salt secures its full reaction. The 


COMPOSITION OF MARSH SOIL. 245 


amount of phosphoric acid found, as above stated, is the result 
of their united influence. 

The combination of phosphoric acid with the oxide of iron, 
the form in which I observed it, is due to a secondary reaction : 
namely, that of soluble iron compounds on soluble phosphates. 
This process is highly favored by the reducing action of the 
decaying vegetable matter on the sesquioxide of iron within 
the soil, as well as by the continual production of carbonic 
acid from the same source. 

The latter renders the phosphate of protoxide of iron sol- 
uble, and thereby promotes its successful diffusion through- 
out that body of the soil which is permeated by the soil 
water. As the conditions for the solution of insoluble 
phosphates, as phosphate of lime, are favored in an unusual 
degree by the presence of salt, it becomes a matter of economy 
to check the reaction of the saline water on the natural 
resources of the soil as long as the excess of decaying vege- 
table matter can furnish carbonic acid enough to render an 
efficient amount of that plant-food available. 

To leave the marsh lands, therefore, for any length of 
time under the unrestricted influence of both agencies for the 
distribution of the ready plant-food, is, from an agricultural 
stand-point, to say the least, a bad economy. The loss of their 
natural soil resources will increase in magnitude in the same 
degree as the present accumulated vegetable matter will be 
permitted to waste away without securing its soluble essential 
plant constituents by getting control of the drainage. 

The close relation which evidently exists between the soil 
in the marshes and the beach-sand on their eastern outskirts, 
rendered it very desirable that some more definite information 
regarding its chemical character should be secured. 

My analytical inquiries are not far enough advanced to pre- 
sent here exact quantitative results, yet they are already suffi- 
ciently decisive to assert that the sand—being apparently in 
its main bulk of granitic origin, consisting, therefore, of a 
series of valuable mineral species, and not merely of fragments 
of quartz—must be regarded, on account of its chemical 
qualities, as far as it has entered by natural causes the soil of 
the marshes, as a very valuable constituent ; and for the same 


246 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 


reason, may serve advantageously in many instances for the 
amelioration of its turfy sections. 

An abstract of the sand with diluted nitric acid gave quite 
strong indications of the presence of available lime, magnesia 
and phosphoric acid. I hope to be able, on some future ocea- 
sion, to present more definite figures. 

Having attempted, within the previous pages, to describe 
shortly some of the important physical and chemical changes 
which the marshes are at present undergoing, it remains for. 
me to report briefly the late history of the reclaimed lands, 
with particular reference to the character of the present 
natural vegetation, and the results of some agricultural im- 
provements and experiments carried on during the past season. 
For many of the subsequent statements I feel under particular 
obligation to George M. Baker, Esq., member of this Board 
from the Marshfield Agricultural Society, whose kind assist- 
ance and liberal hospitality I have always enjoyed during my 
visits to the marshes. 

The dike has done its business well during the past season ; 
considerable work has been carried on in regard to strength- 
ening, raising and sodding it. 

The water of the creek has always been kept from four to 
six feet below the surface. The past year has been unfavor- 
able to improved crops; the severity of the winter of 1874 
killed some of the English grasses that had promised well 
during the previous season; and the drought of the late 
spring affected seriously the grasses which had been seeded 
down during the preceding autumn, as well as those which 
grew spontaneously during the spring. Some two hundred 
acres of grass were sown last autumn, and many acres during 
the spring. 

The season was late and cold in its earlier stage, and turned 
into a drought soon after, which lasted until the second week 
in June. 

The salt grasses had almost entirely disappeared, and the 
more valuable “goose grass” (Gilyceria maritima) had made 
its appearance more generally in many localities. 

Although less vigorous than in the previous season, many 
acres gave promise of good crops. The lateness of the season 
delayed the harvesting, and only a few acres were saved from 


FERTILIZERS ON SALT MARSH. 247 


utter destruction by countless numbers of grasshoppers, which 
made their appearance during the latter part of June. 

Wherever the salt grasses had disappeared, in consequence 
of the removal of the salt water, and a subsequent rapid 
decay had destroyed the compact vegetable matter which 
served as immediate support of the sod, an unusually vigorous 
crop of “everlasting” sprung up spontaneously. But in 
spite of many adverse circumstances, tons of good English 
hay were secured as the results of previous seeding. 

Vegetables of various kinds were planted along the banks 
of the creek, and upon some islands in the latter; they prom- 
ised an abundant yield before the grasshoppers disposed of 
them. <A few squash-vines, that escaped an entire destruc- 
tion, produced half a ton or more of fine specimens. The 
vigorous character of the plants which here and there were 
saved from the greediness of the invaders, showed conclusively 
the high fertility of the soil, and that good crops will be 
secured as soon as the ordinary conditions are complied with, 
and the general circumstances are favorable. 

A series of experiments with special fertilizers, at my 
direction, kindly instituted by Dr. Henry, of Marshfield, 
failed also on account of the grasshoppers. Unlike the ex- 
perience of the previous year, the grass-seed did better when 
the ground was harrowed, instead of being simply scattered 
over the existing sod. Successful attempts at ploughing have 
also been made in various parts of the marshes. One acre on 
the south side of the creek was ploughed by Mr. White, 
and seeded down with oats, which looked remarkably well; 
he also ploughed and harrowed about one acre upon an island 
in the creek, near the middle of the marshes. The soil was 
‘of a dark color, very mellow and deep; evidently very valu- 
able for the cultivation of garden crops. Upon that soil were 
raised the squashes above mentioned. The ploughed sod 
remained in a few instances too dry and tough to permit at 
once a successful cultivation. 

During the last autumn, about forty acres of marshes have 
been ploughed. Some have been sown to grain and grass ; 
but the larger part has been harrowed and prepared for 
seeding in the spring. 

These trials of a systematic cultivation are still mainly con- 


248 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 


fined to the central part of the marshes, near the creek where 
the drainage is most advanced. 

Some ditches, from three to five feet deep, and in all four 
hundred and sixty-four feet long, have been dug during the 
earlier part of the season for the drainage of the “ Parsonage 
Meadow,” which is situated in the centre of the marshes, and 
had suffered much from want of drainage. The ditches are 
running several rods apart, and are connected by shallow 
cross-drains made by a drain-plough. Also a barn, one hun- 
dred feet by eighty, has been built upon “Fox Island,” a 
natural elevation in the marsh meadows; it belongs to the 
same party who has inaugurated a more efficient system of 
drainage. The number of the proprietors of the marshes has 
been reduced to about one-third (52) of that of the original 
owners; they propose to organize under the law of general 
fields, and an application for that purpose to the superior 
court has already been made. 

After considering carefully the nature and extent of the 
physical and chemical changes which of late are going on in 
the marshes, in connection with the present character and 
condition of the natural vegetation, as well as actual experi- 
mental results of the past season, I feel as if nothing need be 
added for the present to my last year’s recommendation 
regarding the best mode of a successful cultivation of the 
reclaimed lands; namely, one well-devised general plan for 
the drainage of the entire area of the marshes, and an effectual 
use of the plough wherever the present sod becomes too 
spongy and disconnected to protect a healthy crop of good 
fresh-meadow grass against the extremes of the season. 

The question of manuring remains of secondary importance 
as long as large quantities of vegetable matter are still unde- 
composed in the soil, and the system of drainage remains in 
the present deficient condition. 

Cu. A. GOESSMANN. 
S. B. PHINNEY. 
The report was accepted. 


Dr. WAKEFIELD, for the committee appointed to consider 
and report upou the days for beginning the fairs of the several 
societies, submitted the following report :— 


TIMES OF HOLDING FAIRS. 249 


The committee appointed by the Board of Agriculture at 
the last annual meeting, for the purpose of revising the times 
of holding the “fairs” of all the societies, have attended to 
the duty assigned them, and report, that the time of reckon- 
ing for each meeting shall be from the first Monday of Sep- 
tember, so that the meeting of each society shall stand rela- 
tively the same from year to year, as follows: Bristol Central, 
the second Wednesday after the first Monday of September. 


Bristol Central, . é ; : , : ; . 2d Wednesday. 
Highland, . : : : 3 : - : . 2d ) Thursday. 
Worcester South, . 2 ‘ : : : F . 2d Thursday. 
Middlesex South, . - : : - 2 : . 938d, Tuesday. 
Hoosac Valley, : - . : 4 ; : . 3d Tuesday. 
Barnstable, . : , : : : : : .) de Tuesdays 
Plymouth, . ; ; : : ( ; : . 3d Wednesday. 
Union, . : : . - : : : : . 38d Wednesday. 
Worcester, . 3 : : 2 - F ‘ . 8d Thursday. 
Hampden East, . : : : - : : . od Thursday. 
Deerfield Valley, . : . : - : ; . 8d Thursday. 
HISSED, > : : . : 5 ; : - . 4th Tuesday. 
Middlesex, . 7 . : : : : : . 4th Thursday. 
ag eee Sk os | ante con Pca); AI | tiny liam (aeons Pesan, 
Bristol, . . : : : - . F : . 4th Tuesday. 
Worcester North, . ; ° : : ; : . 4th Tuesday. 

' Worcester South-East, . : : : - ; . 4th Tuesday. 
Middlesex North, . : : : : : : . 4th Tuesday. 
Housatonic, . . : ‘ : - d : . 4th Wednesday. 
Hingham, : : : . : - - - . 4th Wednesday. 
Nantucket, . : : i : : : : . Ist Wednesday. 
Worcester West, . : - : : ; ; . 4th Thursday. 
Norfolk, . : : ; : é : . : . 4th Thursday. 
Franklin, . . : : : : : . 4th Thursday. 
Martha's anaes ° ; 5 : . - . 5th Tuesday. 
Hampden, . : é . : : ; : . Oth Tuesday. 
Berkshire, . : : ; : : : . Oth Tuesday. 
Worcester North-West, . : : - : : . Oth Tuesday. 
Marshfield, . : : : 2 . Sth Wednesday. 
Hampshire, Franklin & Baga ; : : . Oth Wednesday. 


Horace P. WAKEFIELD, 
Boston, February 2, 1876. Committee, 


The report was accepted and adopted. 
32 


250 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 
Prof. SARGENT then submitted a report upon 


A FEW SUGGESTIONS ON TREE-PLANTING IN MASSACHU- 
SETTS. 


BY C. S. SARGENT, 


Director of the Botanic Garden and Arboretum of Harvard University. 


Every year the destruction of the American forests threat- 
ens us with new dangers. Every year renders it more imper- 
ative to provide some measures to check the evils which our 
predecessors in their ignorance have left us as a legacy with 
which to begin the second century of the Republic. 

It may not, then, be entirely without interest to examine 
briefly what the dangers are which follow the destruction of 
the forests, and the methods of counteracting them, which, 
so far as Massachusetts is concerned, are fully within our 
reach. 

Our agricultural population is not easily convinced of the 
necessity of tree-planting. The benefits are too vague, the - 
profits too prospective, to cause them to look with enthusiasm 
on what seems a doubtful undertaking. 

Still, in this respect, public opinion is gradually changing, 
and already in many of the States of the Union experiments 
in sylviculture are being made on a sufficient scale to promise 
the most gratifying results, and it is not improbable that at no 
distant day, when its benefits are more clearly understood, 
this branch of agriculture will receive at the hands of our 
farmers the attention its importance demands. 

Proof is wanting that the total average rainfall has been re- 
duced either in this country or Europe by cutting off the forests. 
But examples are often cited in proof that forests play an im- 
portant part in regulating and attracting summer rains and 
local showers ; and it is not improbable, were more data in 
the form of carefully conducted observations available, that 
some theory on this subject might be deduced. Certainly, as 
Mr. Marsh remarks in his admirable book on physical geog- 
raphy,* “it is impossible to suppose that a dense cloud, a sea 
of vapor, can pass over miles of surface, bristling with good 


* The Earth as modified by Human Action. George P. Marsh. New York, 
1874. 


FORESTS AND RAINFALL. 251 


conductors, without undergoing and producing some change of 
electrical condition.” 

The following interesting illustrations are not without value 
as vaguely indicating in what direction we must turn for an 
explanation of the summer droughts, which in certain portions 
of the country have increased of late to an alarming extent. 
In Massachusetts, however, some cause outside the destruc- 
tion of the forests must be sought for; as in the earliest 
history of the Colony, and long before land enough had been 
cleared to induce any climatic change, the country was nearly 
devastated by severe summer droughts, which, if less frequent, 
were no less violent than those of the present day. 

Mr. Calvin Chamberlain, in an able memorial on the subject 
of forests,* presented to the house of representatives of the 
State of Maine in 1869, says: “There is a portion of Hancock 
County (Maine), along the coast, that is now nearly denuded 
of trees. During the heat of summer, the radiation from the 
parched surface affects the atmosphere to excessive dryness. 
The electrical and rain-bearing clouds that approach from the 
westward, as they come within this dry atmosphere, are 
absorbed and dissipated before their watery contents can 
reach the earth; while the clouds just north of them fioat on 
over a better wooded district and yield a copious rainfall; and, 
on the other hand, the showers continue abundant in the more 
humid atmosphere of the contiguous bays and ocean.” 

Dr. Lapham; observes that “in the hot and dry plains of 
our South-western Territories we often see clouds passing 
overhead that reserve their contents until they have passed 
from these almost desert regions. These clouds frequently 
present all the actual appearance of rain in the higher region 
of the atmosphere, and the fertile-giving drops are seen to fall 
far down towards the earth, only to be dissolved and dissi- 
pated in the lower strata of air, heated by the reflection from 
the parched earth, which these raindrops do not reach.” 

As moderators of the extremes of heat and cold, the bene- 
fits derived from extensive forests are undoubted, and that 
our climate is gradually changing through their destruction is 


* Agriculture of Maine. Second Series. 1869. 
+ Report of the Disastrous Effects of the Destruction of Forest Trees now going 
on so rapidly in the State of Wisconsin. 1867. 


252 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 


apparent to the most casual observer. Our springs are later ; 
our summers are drier, and every year becoming more so; our 
autumns are carried forward into winter, while our winter 
climate is subject to far greater changes of temperature than 
formerly. The total average snowfall is perhaps as great as 
ever, but it is certainly less regular, and covers the ground 
for a shorter period than formerly. It is interesting to note 
in this connection the conclusion which Noah Webster* drew 
three-quarters of a century ago, showing that, even at that 
time, before the cutting off the forests had assumed the impor- 
tance which it does to-day, similar climatic changes were at 
work. “From a careful comparison of these facts,” he says, 
“it appears that the weather in modern winters in the United 
States is more inconstant than when the earth was covered 
with woods, at the first settlement of Europeans in this coun-: 
try; that the warm weather of autumn extends further into 
the winter months, and the cold weather of winter and spring 
encroaches upon the summer; that the wind being more vari- 
able, snow is less permanent; and perhaps the same remark 
may be applicable to the ice of the rivers.” Mr. Marsh 
arrives at nearly the same conclusion. “So far as we are 
able to sum up the results,” he says, “it would appear that 
in countries in the temperate zone, still chiefly covered with 
woods, the summers would be cooler, shorter; the winters 
milder, drier, longer than in the same regions after the removal 
of the forests; and: the condensation and precipitation of 
atmospheric moisture would be, if not greater in total quan- 
tity, more frequent and less violent in discharge.” 

Such changes of climate are everywhere noticed, in coun- 
tries from which the forests have been extensively removed ; 
and if they are not more apparent in Massachusetts, it is 
owing to its propinquity to the ocean, which exerts an impor- 
tant, and, of course, perpetual control over the temperature 
of all regions within its influence, preventing the excessive 
and sudden changes which often mark an inland climate. 
But even here there are certain changed conditions which 
can only find a solution in climatic deterioration traceable to 
the destruction of the forests. 


* A Collection of Papers on Political, Literary and Moral Subjects. New York. 
1843. 


CLIMATIC CHANGES. 253 


Twenty years ago peaches were a profitable crop; now we 
must depend on New Jersey and Delaware for our supply, 
and our apples and other orchard fruits now come from 
beyond the limits of New England. The failure of these 
and other crops in the older States is generally ascribed to 
exhaustion of the ‘soil; but with greater reason it can be 
referred to the destruction of the forests which sheltered us 
from the cold winds of the north and west, and which, keep- 
ing the soil under their shade cool in summer and warm in 
winter, acted at once as material barriers and reservoirs of 
moisture. It is not necessary to go beyond the limits of the 
United States for examples of the climatic changes which 
follow the destruction of the forests. Mr. Chamberlain, in 
the memorial to which I have already referred, says: “A 
decline in fruit products in Maine has been apparent for a 
considerable time; other farm crops are seemingly in a de- 
cline also. Potatoes, oats and wheat, now rarely give such 
crops as they did thirty or forty years ago. Fruit-trees take 
on disease, apples become scabbed and distorted, pears 
_ knotty, cracked, and extremely perverse, plum and cherry- 
trees forget former habits and old friendships; blight and 
rust and insect-destrouyers are everywhere. The farmer’s 
crops are invaded from all sides. The ery of local exhaustion 
of the elements of the soil, negligent culture, and a long 
chapter of local complaints, fail to account for any portion of 
the difficulty.” According to Lapham, the winter in the 
State of Michigan has greatly increased in severity during 
the last twenty years, and this severity seems to keep pace 
with the cutting off of the forests. “Thirty years ago,” he 
says, “the peach was one of the most abundant fruits of 
that State; at that time frost injurious to corn, at any time 
from May to October, was a thing unknown. Now the peach 
is an uncertain crop, and frost often injures the corn.” It 
has been estimated that the same State has lost during four 
years, twenty millions of dollars from the failure of the winter 
wheat, a crop which, in the early history of the State, was 
never injured. , 

Forests, by preventing the escape of moisture by rapid 
superficial flow and evaporation, insure, it is now generally 
acknowledged, the permanence of springs, which in their turn 


254 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 


supply the rivulets from which the great water-courses draw 
their supply. The water falling on a tract of land stripped 
of its covering of woods is rapidly evaporated by the summer 
sun, or in winter rushes off over the surface of the frozen 
ground to the nearest water-course, converting this for the 
time being into a roaring torrent. In a country properly 
- wooded, the result would be exactly opposite. The summer 
rain, falling on the ground, protected by the forest from 
evaporation, is held as in a sponge, slowly but surely find- 
ing its way to the water-courses, while the melting snows and 
winter rains gradually soak into the soil which in the forests 
is never so deeply frozen as in the open ground. This is 
no mere theory, but a fact of which the proof is, alas! too 
easily found, and too convincing. It is a subject of common 
remark in the country, that brooks which formerly ran 
throughout the year, are now dry save after the autumn rains, 
or the melting of the snows in spring, when they become 
raging torrents, carrying off to the sea in a few days the 
water which formerly supplied them with a moderate but 
constant flow throughout the summer. Unfortunately, no 
observations of the flow of the great rivers in the United 
States have been made, covering a period of time of sufficient 
length, to enable us to draw any conclusions in regard to it. 
But in Europe this subject has received more careful investi- 
gation. Herr Wex, at the recent yearly meeting of the Geo- 
graphical Society of Vienna, demonstrated that the average 
level of the river Elbe had fallen seventeen inches ; that of the 
Rhine, over twenty-four inches; that of the Vistula, twenty- 
six inches; and that of the Danube at Orsova, as much as 
fifty-five inches during the past fifty years. Accompanying 
this fall in level, there was also shown to be a constantly 
increasing diminution of the discharge from springs. In- 
stances, though of less general importance, are not wanting 
near home. “There * is a good illustration of the effects of the 
destruction and reproduction of forests in drying up and 
restoring ponds in my immediate neighborhood. Within 
about one-half mile of my residence*there is a pond upon 
which mills have been standing for a long time, dating back, 
I believe, to the first settlement of the town. These have 


* Trees of America. R. U. Piper, Boston, 1855. 


TREES AFFECT SPRINGS. 255 


been kept in constant operation until within about twenty or 
thirty years, when the supply of water began to fail. The 
pond owes its existence to a stream which has its source in 
the hills which stretch some miles to the south. Within the 
time mentioned, these hills, which were clothed with a dense 
forest, have been almost entirely stripped of trees; and to 
the wonder and loss of the mill-owners, the water in the pond 
has failed, except in the season of freshets, and what was 
never heard of before, the stream itself has been entirely dry. 
Within the last ten years a new growth of wood has sprung 
up on most of the land formerly occupied by the old forest ; 
and now the water runs through the year, notwithstanding 
the great droughts of the last few years, going back from 
1856.” 

Lapham mentions that “such has been the changes in the 
flow of the Milwaukee River, even while the area from which 
it receives its supply is but partially cleared, that the pro- 
prietors of most of the mills and factories have found it 
necessary to resort to the use of steam, at a largely increased 
yearly cost, to supply the deficiency of water-power in dry 
seasons of the year. The floods of spring are increased until 
they are sufficient to carry away bridges and dams before 
deemed secure against their ravages. What has happened to 
the Milwaukee River has happened to all other water-courses 
in the State from whose banks the forests have been removed, 
and many farmers who selected land upon which there was a 
living brook of clear, pure water, now find the brooks dried 
up during a considerable portion of the year.” 

Many such examples might be instanced to prove that 
cutting off the forests has a direct influence in diminishing 
the flow of springs, but I will confine myself to one other. 

Marschand, as quoted by Mr. Marsh, cites the following : 
“The Wolf Spring, in the commune of Soubey (France), 
furnishes a remarkable example of the influence of woods 
upon fountains. A few years ago this spring did not exist. 
At the place where it now rises a small thread of water was 
observed after very long rains, but the stream disappeared 
with the rain. The spot is in the middle of a very steep 
pasture, inclining to the south. Eighty years ago the owner 
of the land, perceiving that young firs were shooting up in 


/ 


256 . BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 


the upper part of it, determined to let them grow, and they 
soon formed a flourishing grove. 

“As soon as they were well grown, a fine spring appeared in 
place of the occasional rill, and furnished abundant water in 
the longest droughts. For forty or fifty years the spring was 
considered the best in the Clos du Doubs. A few years since 
the grove was felled, and the ground turned again to a 
pasture. The spring disappeared, path the wood, and is now 
as dry as it was ninety years ago.’ 

The influence of belts of trees, Feels of spiked-leaved 
species, on local climate is important. Such plantations 
serve as a material check to the natural force of the cold 
winds from the north, which rapidly lower the temperature, 
hasten evaporation, and blow into drifts the snow, which 
would otherwise protect the ground with an even covering. 
There is probably no way in which the farmers of this State 
could more easily or more rapidly increase its agricultural 
product than by planting such screens from the north-east to the 
north-west of their farms; and their attention is particularly 
directed to the importance of this subject. Such plantations 
would be too limited in extent and too widely scattered to 
have any general influence on our climate, or the flow of our 
water-courses; but, as a means of direct profit, it does not 
seem unreasonable to predict that such protection to our 
fields would increase the profits of their cultivation fully twenty 
per cent. 

Orchards thus protected are still productive, and all 
gardeners know that plants generally supposed too tender to 
support our climate, will thrive when planted under the pro- 
tection of a garden wall, or among evergreen trees. What 
garden walls are to the horticulturist, these broad evergreen 
plantations should be to the farmer. 

Mr. J. J. Thomas, as quoted by Lapham, says: “Isaac 
Pullen, a well-known nurseryman at Hightown, New Jersey, 
showed me, last summer (1864), several belts of evergreen 
trees which had sprung up from his nursery rows to a 
height of twenty-five or thirty feet in ten years, and he stated 
that within the shelter of these screens his nursery-trees, as 
well as farm crops, averaged fifty per cent. more than in 
blank or exposed places.” 


THE SHELTER OF FORESTS. 257 


Becquerel, as quoted by Mr. Marsh, says: “In the valley 
of the Rhone a simple hedge, two metres in height, is suffi- 
cient protection for a distance of twenty-two metres.” “The 
mechanical shelter” says Mr. Marsh, “acts, no doubt, chiefly 
as a defence against the mechanical force of the wind; but 
its uses are by no means limited to that effect. If the cur- 
rent of air which it resists moves horizontally, it would pre- 
vent the access of cold or parching blasts to the ground for a 
great distance.” “Becquerel’s views,” says the same author, 
“have been amply confirmed by recent extensive experiments 
on the bleak, stony, and desolate plain of the Crau in the 
department of the Bouches du Rhone, which had remained a 
naked waste from the earliest ages of history. Belts of trees 
prove a secure protection even against the piercing and chilly 
blasts of the Mistral, and in their shelter plantations of fruit- 
trees and vegetables thrive with the greatest luxuriance.” 
Experiments of a similar nature, and on a large scale, have 
been made in Holland, and lands, which were formerly con-' 
sidered unimprovable, such was the force of the winds blow- 
_ing from the North Sea, have been rendered almost the most 
productive in Europe, simply by sheltering them with rows 
of trees placed at regular intervals, and at right angles to the 
direction of the wind. 

It appears, then, that in a country in which a due proportion 
of forest was maintained, it might be expected that local sum- 
mer showers would probably be attracted; that extremes of 
temperature both in summer and winter would be prevented 
to such an extent that additional crops would be made pos- 
sible; and that the annual rainfall, instead of being rapidly 
wasted by evaporation, or still more rapidly poured into the 
sea, would be held in the forest-clad ground, from which it 
would gradually find its way to the water-courses, which 
would flow regularly throughout the year, bringing summer 
verdure to pastures, and assured power to the manufactories 
along their banks. 

But these are national questions, and can only be treated 
in a broad, comprehensive manner. Let us consider, how- 
ever, whether Massachusetts is furnishing her quota to the 
national forest system which would return to our country 
much of its lost fertility. It has been estimated, and I think 

33 


258 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 


with correctness, that forests, in order to maintain normal 
physical conditions, and to supply the material so essential to 
every branch of human industry, should occupy about twenty- 
five per cent. of the area of the country to be influenced and 
supplied by them. 

By the census of 1870, of the 4,992,000 acres which con- 
stitute the State of Massachusetts, only 766,714 were reported 
as woodlands, or nearly 550,000 acres less than the proper 
amount. A comparison of Mr. Bigelow’s Report on the 
Industry of Massachusetts for 1837 with the United States 
census of 1870, shows a decrease in the amount of Mas- 
sachusetts woodlands of some 23,000 acres. The methods 
used, however, in preparing the statistics of these two 
reports were so widely different, that I am inclined to 
doubt the value of such a comparison, and to coincide 
with the opinion of many intelligent observers, that the 
Massachusetts woodlands are at least holding their own in 
extent; and if we consider the very encouraging attention 
which has been, for some years, paid to tree-planting for 
ornamental purposes, it must be conceded, I think, that 
there is now as large a proportion of Massachusetts covered 
with arborial growth as at any time during the past fifty 
years. 

As compared with most of the other States of the Union, 
this condition of things would be extremely gratifying were 
it due to a desire on the part of our people to maintain a 
proper proportion of forest within the limits of the State, and 
not to the forced abandonment of much improved land; the 
result in no small measure of the folly of those who stripped 
the land of its protection, and subjected their descendants to 
the evils I have tried to point out. 

Granting that the area covered with forest growth in Mas- 
sachusetts has not diminished during the last fifty years, we 
are still short, by over half a million acres, of the amount sup- 
posed essential to maintain proper physical conditions ; while, 
if we examine the actual state of the woodlands, it will be 
found that they are very far from being able to supply suffi- 
cient forest products for the requirements of the inhabitants 
of the State. 

The abandoned lands have generally grown up with trees, 


FORESTS IN MASSACHUSETTS. 259 


comparatively worthless for employment in the arts, and 
which only supply, after years of struggling growth, an 
inferior fuel. 

The most valuable trees have always been cut, often before 
they reached maturity, and as no steps have been taken to 
replace them, it is not astonishing that the poverty of our 
woodlands has reached a point which compels the inhabitants 
of the State to draw nearly their whole supply of lumber from 
portions of the country more recently settled. This is 
attended with so much expense and inconvenience that many 
valuable industries have already moved from Massachusetts, 
and it is not improbable that at no distant day many others 
depending on the forests for their existence will be compelled 
to do likewise. By the census of 1870, there were in Mas- 
sachusetts, besides the woodlands, nearly two million (1,988,- 
164) acres of unimproved land. Of these, at least 1,200,000 
are admirably suited for forest growth, and if planted with 
trees adapted to the various soils and situations, they would 
produce at the end of fifty years a crop, the actual value 

-of which in dollars can only be reckoned by hundreds of 
millions. 

It is impossible to estimate the indirect profit of such plan- 
tations in improved climate and water-power; but that it 
would equal or excel the actual value of the timber produced 
seems not improbable, while the benefits arising from so large 
an additional area of forest would be felt far beyond the limits 
of the State. There are in Massachusetts, according to the last 
returns, 26,500 farms (a falling off of 7,500 since 1850), which 
average one hundred and three acres in extent. There is not 
a farm of this size in the State which could not be rendered 
more valuable if a strip of land, equal to at least one-tenth 
of its whole area and on its northern boundary, was devoted 
to a belt of trees, which would serve to protect the remainder 
from the cold winds of winter, and render its cultivation more 
profitable and its occupation more agreeable. Such timber- 
belts would, in the aggregate, give the State 340,000 additional 
acres covered with trees. 

It is true that if the existing woodlands were increased to 
the extent I suggest, their area would cover not twenty-five, 
but nearly fifty, per cent. of the whole State. But it must be 


260 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 


remembered that the poverty of the soil and the severity of the 
climate preclude profitable agriculture from a large portion of 
Massachusetts, and that the waste lands at least can only be 
made profitable through sylviculture. 

Any fears that the production of such plantations will be 
greater than the demand, are groundless, as Massachusetts, 
from her geographical position, can always secure a market 
for any excess of lumber she can produce beyond the wants 
of her inhabitants. There is no soil within the State too 
poor or too exposed, it must be remembered also, to resist the 
fertilizing effects of fifty years of forest covering; and the 
fact that properly managed forests, especially when formed of 
certain trees, have so great an influence in enriching the soil 
beneath them, should always enter largely into any considera- 
tion of the expediency of forest culture. 

But few experiments in arboriculture, except on the most 
limited scale, have been attempted in Massachusetts, but I 
will briefly describe the two most important which are of 
special interest, as showing what our unimproved lands are 
capable of, if judiciously managed. Mr. Richard 8. Fay 
commenced, in 1846, planting on his estate near Lynn, in 
Essex County, and in that and the two succeeding years, 
planted two hundred thousand imported trees, to which were 
afterwards added nearly as many more, raised directly from 
the seed, nearly two hundred acres being covered in all. The 
sites of these plantations were stony hillsides, fully exposed 
to the wind, destitute of loam, their only covering a few 
struggling barberry bushes and junipers, with an abundant 
undergrowth of wood-wax (Genista tinctoria, L.), always a 
certain indication in Essex County of sterile soil. He em- 
ployed in his plantations, oaks, ashes, maples, the Norway 
spruce, Scotch and Austrian pines; but the principal tree 
planted was the European larch. No labor was expended on 
the land previous to planting, the trees, about one foot high, 
being simply inserted with a spade, and no protection has 
been at any time given them, save against fire and browsing 
animals. I recently visited these plantations, twenty-nine 
years after their formation, and took occasion to measure 
several of the trees, but more especiaily the larches. Some 
of these are now over fifty feet in height, and fifteen inches 


INSTANCES OF FOREST CULTURE. 261 


in diameter three feet from the ground, and the average of 
many trees examined is over forty feet in height and twelve 
inches in diameter. The broad-leaved trees have also made 
a most satisfactory growth, and many of them, on the margins 
of the plantation, are fully forty feet high. During the past 
ten years, about seven hundred cords of firewood have been 
cut from the plantations, besides all the fencing required for 
a large estate. Firewood, fence-posts and railroad sleepers, 
to the value of thousands of dollars, could be cut to-day, to 
the great advantage of the remaining trees. The profit of 
such an operation is apparent, especially when we consider 
that the land used for these plantations did not cost more 
than ten dollars an acre, and probably not half that amount. 

The second experiment was made by Mr. J. S. Fay, a 
brother of Mr. Fay, of Essex County, on his estate at Wood’s 
Holl, in Barnstable County, on the extreme south-western 
point of Cape Cod. A tract of land, one hundred and twenty- 
five acres in extent, which is now densely covered with Mr. 
Fay’s plantations, was, in 1853, seemingly as little fitted for 
the purpose of tree-culture as can well be imagined. It was 
fully exposed to the cold north-west winds of winter, sweeping 
down across Buzzard’s Bay, and to the no less baneful south- 
west winds of summer, which come from the Atlantic loaded 
with saline moisture. 

In answer to an inquiry as to the nature of the soil on 
which his plantations are made, Mr. Fay writes me: “My 
land is made up mainly of abrupt hills and deep hollows, 
sprinkled over with bowlders of granite. The soil is dry and 
worn-out, and what there is of it, is a gravelly loam. The 
larger part consisted of old pastures, and on the one hundred 
and twenty-five acres not a tree of any kind, unless an oak, 
that sprang out of the huckleberry bushes here and there, 
barely lifting its head above them for the wind, and when 
attempting to grow, browsed down by the cattle ranging in 
winter, could be called a tree.” 

Thirty-five thousand trees were imported and set out, 
besides a large number of native trees procured in this coun- 
try ; but fully three-fourths of the whole plantation was made 
by sowing the seed directly on the ground where the trees 
were to stand. A large variety of trees, both native and 


262 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 


foreign, were employed, and while few have failed entirely, 
the foreign species, as was to be expected from the situation, 
have been the most successful. The Scotch pine has made 
the most rapid growth, and then the European larch. 

The Corsican pine (Pinus Laricio, Poir.), although not 
planted as early as the others, promises to be a valuable and 
fast-growing tree for planting under such circumstances. 

Larch and Scotch pine, transplanted from the nursery in 
1853, are now forty feet high, and from ten to twelve inches 
in diameter at one foot from the ground. Trees of the Scotch 
pine, raised from seed planted in 1861, where the trees have 
grown, but in favorable situations, and which have been 
properly thinned, have been cut this winter, and measured 
thirty feet in height and ten inches in diameter one foot from 
the ground, while the average of the trees in a large planta- 
tion of Scotch pine, made in the same manner in 1862, and 
which has received no special care, is twenty feet high and 
six inches in diameter. Plants of the Corsican pine are now 
eight feet high in only eight years from seed, the growth of 
the last three years being over five feet. 

When we consider the success which has attended the 
experiments of these gentlemen in reclothing their property 
with forest growth, under circumstances, too, as disadvan- 
tageous as it is possible for Massachusetts to offer, it must be 
acknowledged that the attempt to replant our unimproved 
lands is a perfectly feasible one, and the only wonder is that 
the inhabitants of Essex and Barnstable counties, with such 
examples before them, have not already planted their worth- 
less, worn-out lands with a crop which would yield a larger 
profit than any they have produced since the first clearing of 
the forest. 

Enormously as the price of all forest products has advanced 
during the last twenty-five years, their future increase in 
value must be more rapid as the supply becomes more and 
more inadequate to the demand. The great timber districts 
of the northern hemisphere have now all been called on to 
supply the always increasing wants of the civilized world, 
while no provision has as yet been made, except in limited 
areas, or on an entirely insufficient scale, to provide artificially 
the wood on which our descendants must depend. 


DESTRUCTION OF FORESTS. 263 


In Europe, Norway and Sweden, Russia, Germany, and 
possibly Belgium are the only countries which yield more 
forest products than they consume; while the other European 
countries, especially Great Britain and the extreme southern 
nations, are enormous consumers of imported wood. In 
the United States, according to Mr. Marsh’s estimate, Oregon 
is the only State in which there is an excess of forest. New 
York and Maine, which were formerly the chief lumber-pro- 
ducing States of the East, now do not cut enough for the use 
of their own inhabitants, and depend on Canada for a large 
portion of their supply. And this seems to be true of all the 
States of the Union, with the exception of Pennsylvania, Col- 
orado, Oregon, Florida, Michigan, Wisconsin and Minnesota. 

The annual forest destruction in the three last States is 
enormous, and they must soon depend on extraneous sources 
for their domestic supply. According to an article in the “ St. 
Louis Republican,” quoted by Mr. Marsh, 3,311,372,225 feet 
of lumber were cut in 1869 in these three States, from 883,- 
132 acres; and the same article estimated that there were 
only about 15,500,000 acres of forest left in these States to 
be cut off, or only fifteen or twenty years’ supply. When 
this is gone, the world will be deprived of one of its richest 
stores of lumber. 

How long the supply in the British Possessions in North 
America will last, it is impossible to estimate. Heavy drains 
are already being made on it. During the three years ending 
June 30, 1871, the Dominion of Canada exported lumber to 
the value of $63,131,608, gold; the trade increasing during 
that time about $1,000,000 each year. 

In spite of the substitution in many parts of the country 
of coal as fuel, both for domestic purposes and for the genera- 
tion of steam; in spite of the increasing employment of other 
material, both in the construction of buildings and various 
implements, and for ship-building, the demand for wood in 
the United States has stimulated the supply until the figures 
which mark its increase seem almost incredible. 

The railroads are enormous consumers, both in fuel, in the 
construction of cars and buildings, and for sleepers. “The 
Monthly Report of the Bureau of Agriculture” for November 
and December, 1869, estimated that the annual expenditure 


264 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 


of the railroads at that time for wood for buildings, repairs and 
ears, was $38,000,000, and that the locomotives of the United 
States consumed $56,000,000 worth for fuel annually. Sup- 
posing this is correct, and that the wood is worth four dollars 
a cord (a very small estimate), this yearly consumption of 
fuel by the railroads would represent twenty-five years’ growth 
on 350,000 acres. 

By the last returns there are in the United States 72,633 
miles of railroad in operation, and the addition of double 
tracks and sidings will probably increase this amount to 
85,000 miles. 

Supposing the life of a sleeper is seven years, the 85,000 
miles of track consume annually 34,000,000 sleepers, or 
thirty years’ growth on 68,000 acres of the best natural wood- 
lands; or if the sleepers are raised artificially, some 700,000 
acres would be required, planted with trees best adapted for 
the purpose, regularly cropped and scientifically managed, to 
supply the railroads already constructed. At Jeast 125,000 
miles of fencing are required to inclose the railroads of the 
country, which could not have cost on an average less than 
$700 a mile. One-half of this would barely represent the 
cost of the wood employed, or $43,000,000 ; while it must 
take annually lumber to the value of not less than $40,000,000 
to keep these fences in repair. 

By the last return I have seen (1872), there were in oper- 
ation in the United States 65,000 miles of telegraph, which 
destroyed in their construction 2,600,000 trees for poles, 
while the annual repairs must call for some 250,000 more.’ 

The 20,000,000,000 matches manufactured in the United 
States annually require, according to Mr. Marsh, 230,000 
cubic feet of the best pine lumber. 

At least 1,450,000 cords of wood, principally pine, were 
required to bake the 2,899,382 thousand bricks which the 
census of 1870 gives as the number made in that year, requir- 
ing the cutting off the trees from 36,000 acres. 

The manufacture of shoe-pegs (a Massachusetts industry, 
but now carried on beyond the limits of the State for want of 
material here) consumes annually 100,000 cords of white birch 
worth $1,000,000. 

In 1850, the value of the pine packing-boxes made in the 


THE LUMBER TRADE. 265 


United States was one million dollars; in 1870, they were 
valued at $8,200,000. The value of the material made into 
woodenware in the United States increased from $436,000 in 
1850, to $1,600,000 in 1870. The value of the material 
converted into agricultural implements in the United States 
in 1850 was only $8,000,000, while in 1870 it had reached 
the enormous sum of $73,000,000, of which the forests must 
have furnished twenty millions’ worth. The enormous con- 
sumption of wood in this country will, however, be sufficiently 
shown by the following figures. 

In 1860, the value of logs sawed into lumber was $43,000,000 ; 
in 1870, it was over $103,000,000,—an increase which neither 
the growth of population or the general advance in all prices 
can account for, and which can only be explained by the sup- 
position that the uses to which forest products are applied 
are being rapidly extended, and that the foreign demands on 
American forests are increasing. But the statistics of the 
lumber trade do not show the entire destruction which is 
going on in our forests. Mr. Frederic Starr, Jr.,* in an 
interesting paper on the American forests, estimated that 
during the ten years between 1850 and 1860, 30,000,000 
acres of forest-covered land were cleared in the United States 
for agricultural purposes, or ten thousand a day for each 
working day during that time. Of the trees thus cut, prob- 
ably the largest portion never found their way to market, 
but were destroyed by fire for the sake of getting them off 
the land as rapidly as possible; and although lumber is now 
too valuable to justify any such mode of clearing, it is not 
improbable that trees capable of producing millions of feet 
are annually sacrificed in this manner. 

These facts and figures prove, whatever other objections 
there may be to re-covering a portion of this State with forest 
growth, that the farmers will not want a market for all the 
lumber they can produce, and at prices far above those of 
the present time. 

In order that any system of arboriculture may be success- 
fully carried out, it is necessary to consider what trees, both 
native and foreign, can be grown in this State to the greatest 


* Report of Department of Agriculture, 1865: American Forests; their Destruction 
and Preservation. By the Rey. Frederic Starr, Jr., St. Louis.” 
34 


266 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 


advantage; and the profits of such an undertaking as I 
advocate will be immensely increased, if suitable selections 
for the various situations of soil and climate are made. 

The sugar-maple, the white elm, and the white ash reach 
their greatest perfection in this and the neighboring States, 
and should be generally planted wherever the soil will permit. 
The product of the white oak and the hickories is of such 
value that they should also be generally planted, although 
they require a more genial climate and deeper soil than 
Massachusetts can now offer to develop their best qualities. 

The white cedar (Cupressus thyoides, L.), although we are 
here on its northern limit, where it only attains a moderate size, 
should be planted on account of the value of its wood for 
fencing and other rural purposes, boat-building, shingle- 
making, etc., but more especially on account of its natural 
place of growth, which is always in deep, cold swamps, often 
near the sea, and overflowed by high tides, a situation in 
which no othcr tree of an equal commercial value could 
possibly thrive. 

The value of the white pine is so thoroughly understood, 
and this beautiful tree grows so rapidly wherever it finds a 
certain amount of shelter and protection, that it is needless to 
advance its claims on the planter. 

In consideration of its market value at all ages, the rapidity 
of its growth, and the length of time it continues to throw up 
suckers, the white ash (Praxinus Americana, L.) is the 
most valuable of all our native trees for planting in this State. 
Valuable as Massachusetts-grown white oak is, it can never 
compete with that produced in other sections of the country 
for purposes which call out its highest qualities; while the 
slowness of its growth, and the difficulties which attend the 
early years of its cultivation, seem still further to reduce its 
value for the general planter as compared with the ash. 
Already there is a rapidly increasing export trade of ash 
lumber to Europe, Australia and the Pacific coast, from 
Boston and New York, and the possibilities of this business 
ean only be limited by the supply. The American is generally 
acknowledged to be superior to the European ash in the 
qualities for which it is specially valued, toughness and elas- 
ticity, and in which no other wood can equal it. Australia 


THE ASH TREE. 267 


possesses no other tree which is at all its equal for carriage- 
building, while west of the Rocky Mountains there is but a 
single one which can supply its place; an ash (F’raxinus 
Oregana, Nutt.) which, developing into a large and valuable 
timber tree in Oregon, is less frequent and less valuable south 
of the California line. Of the economic value of several 
ashes which grow on the Eastern Asiatic seaboard, nothing 
is as yet known. It seems, then, that the New England 
States could command the markets of the world for one of 
the most useful and valuable of all woods, had they but a 
sufficient supply to offer. 

According to Mr. Thomas Laslett,* Timber Inspector to 
the British Admiralty, the specific gravity of American ash 
is 480, while that of the European is 736. The former is, 
therefore, on account of its greater lightness, far more valu- 
able for the handles of shovels, spades, hoes, rakes and other 
hand implements. 

According to the United States census of 1870, the number 
of spades, shovels, rakes, hoes, and hay-forks made in that 
year was 8,347,478, and as our exportation of such imple- 
ments is rapidly increasing, although still in its infancy, it is 
evident that the value of ash will be greatly enhanced at no 
distant day. It is also used in making ships’ blocks, in 
turnery, and for making the oars of boats. In speaking of 
the white ash, Laslett says: “It stands well after seasoning, 
and hence we get from this tree the best material for oars for 
boats that can be produced. They are much and eagerly 
sought after by foreign governments as well as our own, and 
also by the great private steamship companies and the mer- 
cantile marine of this country ; consequently there is often a 
very keen competition for the possession of them.” The manu- 
factory of oars (surely a seaboard industry), in pursuit of 
material, moved from Massachusetts first to Maine, and then 
‘to Ohio and other Western States. 

Ash is coming into extensive use for expensive furniture 
and for the interior finish of houses, while an immense number 
of the young saplings are annually consumed in the coopers’ 


* Timber and Timber Trees, Native and Foreign. By Thomas Laslett, Timber 
Inspector to the Admiralty. London, 1875. 


268 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 


trade. Its value for firewood, according to Bull,* is 77, the 
standard hickory being 100, while only four other American 
woods are its superior in heat-giving qualities. 

In view of its many uses for purposes for which no other 
wood can supply its place, it is not astonishing that the value 
of ash lumber has largely increased of late years. The present 
price in the Boston market of the best New England ash is 
eighty-five dollars the one thousand feet, or about fifteen dol- 
lars higher than that grown in the West. 

To develop its best qualities, the white ash should be 
planted in a cool, deep, moist, but well-drained soil, where it 
will make a rapid growth. That the plantation may be as early 
profitable as possible, the young trees should be inserted in 
rows three feet apart, the plants being two feet apart in the 
rows. This would give 7,260 plants to the acre, which 
should be gradually thinned until 108 trees are left standing, 
twenty feet apart each way. The first thinning, which 
might be made at the end of ten years, would give four 
thousand hoop-poles, which at present. price would be worth 
four hundred dollars. 

The remaining thinnings, made at different periods up to 
twenty-five or thirty years, would produce some three thousand 
trees more, worth at least three times as much as the first 
thinnings. Such cuttings would pay all the expenses of 
planting, the care of the plantation and the interest on the 
capital invested, and would leave the land covered with trees 
capable of being turned into money at a moment’s notice, or 
whose value would increase for a hundred years, making no 
mean inheritance for the descendants of a Massachusetts 
farmer. The planting of the white ash as a shade and road- 
side tree is especially recommended, and for that purpose it 
ranks, among our native trees, next to the sugar-maple. 

The best hickories are not produced in Massachusetts, 
although in the western part of the State, especially in the 
valley of the Connecticut, and in other favorable situations, the 
natural growth of this tree is fine enough to warrant its exten- 
sive cultivation. The hickories should be cultivated in the same 
manner as recommended for the ash, the young plants being 


* Experiments to determine the Comparative Value of the principal Varieties of 
Fuel. T. Bull. Philadelphia. 


THE HICKORY AND ELM. . 269 


equally valuable for hoop-poles, walking-sticks, and similar 

purposes; while the lumber cut from the large trees brings 
a higher price than any other produced in the Northern States. 
It is used extensively in carriage-building and for axe handles, 
in which form it is carried all over the world. Hickory 
makes better fuel than any other wood with which we are 
acquainted, and is always the standard by which the value of 
other woods for this purpose is estimated. The best hickory 
is worth, in the Boston market at the present time, one hun- 
dred dollars the one thousand feet. In the form of firewood 
it now seldom comes to the Boston market, where it readily 
commands, however, sixteen dollars the cord, and in nearly 
every part of the State it is worth from eight to ten dollars a 
cord for curing hams and bacon, for which purpose no other 
wood supplies its place. The shagbark hickory (Carya alba, 
Nutt.), which also produces the finest fruit, and the pignut 
hickory (Carya porcina, Nutt.), are the most valuable species 
for cultivation in Massachusetts. 

In the valley of the Connecticut the American elm develops 
its noblest proportions, and there possibly earns the title of 
the “most magnificent vegetable of the temperate zone,” 
bestowed on it by the younger Michaux. Except, however, 
in very favorable situations, where its roots can find their 
way in deep, cool soil, supplied with abundant moisture, the 
American elm is far from a beautiful tree. In the situations 
I have described as being favorable to it, the American elm 
should be largely planted, not only on account of its beauty, 
rapid growth, and long life, but for the value of its wood, 
which has many uses, the most important being its employ- 
ment for the hubs of carriage-wheels. 

The sugar-maple (Acer saccharinum) nowhere becomes a 
finer tree than in the western portions of Massachusetts ; and 
when we consider the value of its wood in the arts, and for 
fuel, the value of its sap when converted into sugar, its rapid 
growth, long life, immunity from the attacks of insects, and its 
beauty and fitness for street and ornamental planting, it must 
be acknowledged that no tree deserves more general cultivation 
in this State. The wood of the sugar-maple, which is hard, 
close-grained and smooth, is largely used in furniture-making, 
cooperage, and in making shoe-lasts, for which it is preferred 


270 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 


to that of any other tree. Two million five hundred thousand 
pairs of lasts are consumed annually in Massachusetts alone ; 
and if we can judge of the future of this business by its past 
history, it will, before many years, consume all the sugar- 
maple lumber the country can produce. For fuel, the wood 
of this tree is generally considered superior to that of any 
other, with the exception of the hickory. Mr. Bull estimates 
its value at only 60, hickory being 100, and places before it, 
in heat-giving qualities, no less than twenty-two species of 
North American trees and shrubs. 

The destruction of the sugar-maple has been so general in 
this State, that sugar-making, which formerly held an impor- 
tant place in Massachusetts industry, has, during the last 
thirty years, diminished fully one-half, and that, too, in the 
face of an enormously increased natural production, and of 
prices which have considerably more than doubled during the 
last forty years. 

There are, especially in the western part of the State, 
many unproductive pastures, now almost worthless, which 
would, if converted into sugar-orchards, yield in a few years 
a handsome income. 

In regard to the age at which it is profitable to commence 
drawing the sap for sugar, authorities differ; but a tree 
twenty-five years old will yield, on the average, ten pounds 
of sugar, and will continue to be productive to this extent for 
fifty or sixty years longer. One hundred and sixty trees 
being allowed to the acre, the sugar-crop, from an orchard of 
that size, would yield, at present prices, $273 annually ; and 
it must be remembered that, owing to the season of the year 
at which sugar is made, no operation of the farm can be 
carried on with so small an outlay for labor. The trees, 
uninjured by the drawing off the sap, would increase in value 
for a hundred years, and, at any age, find a ready sale, either 
for fuel or for use in the arts. Its adaptability to all soils, 
except where stagnant water stands, the rapidity of its 
growth, its general thriftiness and undoubted beauty at all 
seasons of the year, render the sugar-maple the most valuable 
of all the North American trees for street and roadside plant- 
ing, and it should be more generally used instead of the 
American elm, which has been planted for this purpose in 


THE ENGLISH ELM. 271 


Massachusetts almost to the exclusion of other trees, although 
rarely thriving in such dry, dusty situations. 

As I have before remarked, the value of the white oak 
(Quercus alba, L.), for all purposes requiring durability, 
toughness and hardness, is so great, that it must always be in 
demand, no other North American wood equalling it in these 
qualities. And although I do not believe that its cultivation 
in Massachusetts can ever be as profitable as that of the ash 
or the hickory, it should always form a part of mixed planta- 
tions, and should be spared, in thinning woodlands, in prefer- 
ence to all other trees, on account of the slow growth of its 
early years, and its value at maturity. The value of the white 
oak for fuel is very great, being, according to Bull, 81 to 
hickory’s 100, the hickories and the swamp white oak alone 
surpassing it in this quality. 

There are a few European trees which have now been sufii- 
ciently tested here to show that they are suited to the soil 
and climate of Massachusetts, and that the qualities for which 
they are held in high esteem in other countries would make 
their cultivation equally valuable here. 

The common European elm (Ulmus campestris, L.) was 
introduced into Massachusetts more than a century ago. 
According to Dr. Shurtleff,* Major Paddock, a carriage- 
builder by trade, and therefore probably fully aware of the 
economic value of the tree, planted the row of English elms 
in front of the Granary burying-ground in Boston about the 
year 1762, and as the trees had. been grown in a nursery at 
Milton fm some time previous to their being planted in Bos- 
ton, it is not improbable that they were imported fully a hun- 
dred and twenty-five years ago. In spite of the hard treat- 
ment which seems the destiny of all trees intrusted to the 
care of our city fathers, one of the row had in 1860 reached, 
according to Dr. Shurtleff’s measurement, the respectable 
size of twelve feet eight inches in circumference at three feet 
from the sidewalk. Other trees of this importation were 
doubtless planted in the neighorhood of Boston, and I have 
recently measured two growing in Jamaica Plain which could. 
not have been planted much later. One of these, at four feet 


* Topographical and Historical Description of Boston. Nathaniel B. Shurtleff. 
Boston, 1872. 


272 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 


from the ground, measures seventeen feet two inches in cir- 
cumference, and the other sixteen feet ten inches at three feet. 

Several trees in Brookline, which were planted in 1805, 
when they might have been ten years old, are now eighty feet 
high, and average from eight feet to eight feet six inches in 
circumference at three feet from the ground. It would, from 
these examples, seem that the European elm not only grows 
rapidly in the eastern part of the State, but promises to 
attain its largest dimensions and full span of life. I have 
been unable to compare satisfactorily the rapidity of its growth 
with that of the American elm, but probably in its best con- 
dition the latter is of far more rapid growth, although in the 
ordinary situations where the elm is planted, and where it 
generally suffers from insufficiency of root-moisture, the 
European elm is immeasurably its superior in rapidity of 
growth, length of life, and general thriftiness. The fact that 
the European is fully a month longer in leaf than the Ameri- 
can elm, that its tougher leaves would seem to offer a less 
appetizing food to the canker-worm, the greatest enemy of 
the American elm in New England, and its adaptability to all 
situations, are strong arguments in favor of giving the prefer- 
ence to the former for general cultivation. 

Its thriftiness in smoky situations, makes the European 
elm the most valuable tree our climate will allow for city 
street and square planting, and as a shade-tree by roadsides, 
no American tree is its equal. 

The economic value of the wood of the European, which is 
hard and fine, has always been generally acknowledged to be 
superior to that of the American elm, and in Europe it is 
devoted to many important uses. For the hubs of carriage- 
wheels, it is used almost to the exclusion of all other wood. If 
employed in situations where it is constantly under water, 
or kept perfectly dry, it excels almost every other wood in 
durability. It is considered the best timber for ships’ keels. 
It is largely used for ships’ blocks, and for pumps, piles and 
water-pipes, and by the turner and cabinet-maker, and by the 
coffin-maker it is preferred to all other woods. The general 
cultivation of the European elm would add a valuable timber- 
tree to the products of Massachusetts. 

As timber-trees, some of the willows deserve more atten- 


USES OF THE WILLOW. 273 


tion than they have hitherto received in this country, for, 
although the white willow (Salix alba, ZL.) has for many 
years been planted in Massachusetts for ornamental purposes, 
its economic value has been entirely overlooked. It grows 
rapidly here, reaching its largest size and developing its best 
qualities. By the side of the highway, leading from Stock- 
bridge to Great Barrington, in Berkshire County, there is a 
willow which, at four feet from the ground, girts twenty-one 
feet eight inches, and which, according to a popular tradition 
of the neighborhood, was brought in the form of a riding- 
switch by a person travelling from Connecticut, and planted 
where it now stands, in the year 1807. According to New- 
lands,* Salix fragilis, L., or as it was more commonly 
known, Salix Russelliana, Smith (the Duke of Bedford’s 
willow), produces the most valuable timber of any of the 
family, the common white willow coming next. I am not 
aware that the Duke of Bedford’s willow has ever been 
introduced into this State; but as the two species have the 
same geographical range, and grow naturally under precisely 
similar conditions, there is no doubt that it can be successfully 
cultivated in any part of Massachusetts. Few trees grow 
more rapidly than the willow, or adapt themselves to a greater 
variety of soil. It has been general in this State to select 
low, undrained situations, beside streams or stagnant ditches, 
for planting this tree, but it is equally suited to high, exposed 
places, and poor soil; where, however, its growth will be 
naturally less rapid. In Europe, the timber of the willow I 
have referred to is used for many purposes. Newlands says 
it is “sawn into boards for flooring, and into scantlings for 
rafters; and in the latter capacity, when kept dry and venti- 
lated, it has been known to last one hundred years. But the 
purposes more peculiarly its own are such as require light- 
ness, pliancy, elasticity and toughness, all of which qualities 
it possesses in an eminent degree. It also endures long in 
water, and therefore is in request for paddle-wheel floats, and 
for the shrouding of water-wheels. It is used in lining carts 
for conveying stores or other heavy material, as it does not 
splinter, and the same quality renders it fit for guard-posts 
or fenders.” Turners and tray-makers find many uses for 


* Carpenter’s and Joiner’s Assistant. James Newlands. London, 1867. 
35 


274 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 


willow-wood, and it is employed in making shoe-lasts, light 
ladders and the handles of light agricultural implements. Its 
incombustibility is so great that it is peculiarly suited for the 
flooring of buildings intended to be fire-proof, and attention 
has been recently called to its value for such purposes. 

As willow timber could be produced far more cheaply than 
that of any of our native trees, it would soon come into 
general use here for the purposes for which it seems par- 
ticularly fitted, and for which more valuable woods are now 
employed. Less than one-third of the willow used in the 
United States in basket-making is produced here, the re- 
mainder being imported from Great Britain, France and 
Belgium, at an annual cost of $5,000,000. 

The osier proper, the product of Salix viminalis, Z. and 
its allies, can be grown without trouble in any wet, undrained 
soil, capable of producing little else of value; but the better 
sorts of basket-willow are only successfully produced. with 
careful cultivation on rich, well-drained soil. Under such 
conditions it is a profitable crop, capable of netting at least 
$150 a year to the acre, and well worth the attention of our 
farmers. Further experiments, which might be made under 
the auspices of the county societies, are, however, required to 
determine which of the many basket-willows is best adapted 
to our climate, and to devise some method for protecting 
this crop against the attacks of many insects which have of 
late years seriously interfered with its cultivation in various 
parts of the United States. 

In spite of the beauty and great economic value of the 
white pine, there are many situations in this State where its 
cultivation is almost impossible, and where it should be 
replaced by its relative the Scotch pine (Pinus sylvestris, L. ) 
of the north of Europe. It is many years since this tree was 
first introduced for ornamental purposes in Massachusetts, 
where it finds itself perfectly at home, and grows rapidly, 
soon becoming a large tree on poor soil and in exposed situa- 
tions. Under such conditions, we usually find the ground 
covered with a spontaneous growth of the pitch pine, and 
wherever this tree grows naturally, it is certain that the 
infinitely more valuable and beautiful Scotch pine will flourish. 
If Mr. Fay’s success with this tree can be taken as a criterion, 


THE SCOTCH PINE. 275 


the whole of Cape Cod, to its eastern extremities, could be 
covered with sufficiently large tracts of the Scotch pine to 
render the remaining portions better suited for agricultural 
purposes; while the product of such plantations in Barnstable 
and the other eastern counties in the shape of fuel for brick- 
baking, would always find a ready market, taking the place 
of the imported firewood from the shores of the Bay of 
Fundy, already nearly stripped of its forest growth to supply 
the increasing demand of Boston and the other New England 
seaports. 

But fuel is the least valuable use to which the wood of the 
Scotch pine can be turned. In Europe the lumber from this 
pine is considered more valuable than that of any other 
coniferous tree, the larch excepted, and for all economic pur- 
poses it is rated far above American white pine. 

The nature of these two woods, and the uses to which they 
are each specially adapted, are so dissimilar, that any com- 
parison between them is not particularly interesting. <A 
number of experiments* made at the Royal Woolwich Dock- 
yard have shown that the wood of the Scotch pine will resist 
a transverse strain .11 greater than that of the white pine; 
that its resistance to a tensile strain is about twice as great, 
and its resistance to a vertical strain is .56 greater; while its 
specific gravity is 541 to 513 for the white pine. All 
European writers on timber, from Duhamel to Laslett, agree 
that the wood of the Scotch pine is the most durable pine wood. 

Newlands says “the lightness and stiffness of the Scotch 
pine render it superior to any other kinds of timber for beams, 
girders, joists, rafters, and indeed for framing in general.” 

From its greater strength, spars, top-masts, and the masts 
of small vessels which are often subjected to violent and sud- 
den shocks, are made from the Scotch pine, in preference to 
any other wood, although, on account of its greater lightness, 
the white pine is preferred for heavy masts and large spars. 
Since the supply of larch has become entirely inadequate to 
the demand, the Scotch pine is used in Europe for railroad 
sleepers more generally than any other tree, enormous 
quantities even being shipped from the northern ports to India 
for this purpose. 


* Timber and Timber Trees. Laslett. London, 1875. 


276 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 


Although the wood of the white pine is undoubtedly supe- 
rior to the Scotch for all purposes where a soft, light, easily 
worked, clear wood is demanded, the latter has qualities so 
desirable that its cultivation for economic purposes would be 
of great value in this State, especially when it is remembered, 
as I have before remarked, that it will grow rapidly in situa- 
tions where the white pine cannot flourish. 

The rapidity of its growth in all situations, and its economic 
value, make the Scotch pine the most valuable tree farmers 
can plant for screens and wind-breaks about their fields and 
buildings, and for this purpose it is recommended in place of 
the more generally planted Norway spruce, which, although 
of rapid growth, in its young state, does not promise, in our 
climate at least, to fulfil the hopes which were formed in 
regard to it. The Scotch pine is being so extensively planted 
in Europe that it is propagated in immense quantities, and at 
low rates. Plants one foot high can be delivered in any part 
of this State for from forty to fifty dollars the ten thousand. 

There is no tree capable of producing so large an amount 
of such valuable timber in so short a time as the European 
larch (Larix Europea, DC.), in countries where its culti- 
vation is possible. A native of high elevations in Northern 
and Central Europe, and always growing on poor, gravelly 
and well-drained soil, it is not surprising that when planted 
under exactly opposite conditions, as is often the case, it does 
not become a valuable tree. The rocky, well-drained hill- 
sides so common in Massachusetts, are admirably suited to the 
cultivation of the larch; and there is but little land within 
the limits of the State too poor or too exposed to produce a 
valuable crop of timber, if planted with this tree. ; 

The European larch has always been a favorite for orna- 
mental planting here, and has shown itself well adapted to 
our climate. I cannot discover when this tree was first planted 
in Massachusetts, but in the eastern part of the State speci- 
mens, in open situations, are abundant, sixty feet high and 
five feet in girth three feet from the ground. The largest 
specimen of the European larch in Bartram’s Botanic Garden, 
near Philadelphia, probably the first ever sent to America, 
when examined by Mr. Meehan,* over twenty years ago, 


* The American Hand-book of Ornamental Trees. Thomas Meehan. 


THE EUROPEAN LARCH. 277 


measured 108 feet high and 5 feet 4 inches in circum- 
ference. 

The economic uses of the larch are numerous and impor- 
tant. According to Newlands, the strength of larch timber 
is to that of British oak as 103 to 100; its stiffness as 
79 to 100; while its toughness is as 134 to 100. In the 
most trying circumstances in which timber can be employed, 
where it is alternately subjected to the influence of air and’ 
water, it is the most durable wood known. Laslett states 
on what he considers good authority that “many of the 
houses in Venice are but on larch piles, particularly 
those of which the supports are alternately exposed to wet 
and dry, and that many of these piles, after being in place 
for ages, are said not to have the least appearance of 
decay.” 

At the request of the Duke of Athol, experiments with a 
view of testing the durability of the larch, were made many 
years ago in the River Thames. The result of these experi- 
ments is found in Sir Thomas Dick Lauder’s* edition of 
Gilpin. ‘“ Posts,” he says, “of equal thickness and strength, 
one of larch and the other of oak, were driven down facing 
the river wall, where they were alternately covered by water 
by the flow of the tide and left dry by its fall. This species 
of alternation is the most trying of all circumstances for the 
endurance of timber, and accordingly the oaken posts were 
decayed, and were twice replaced in the course of a very few 
years, while those that were made of larch remained altogether 
uninjured.” 

In Europe, larch is preferred to all other woods for railroad 
sleepers, and it is probably superior for this purpose to the 
wood of any North American tree. Larch fence-posts are 
also in great demand at high prices, and instances are abund- 
ant of its great durability when thus employed. A practical 
forester, speaking of this tree, says: “ For out-door work it 
is considered the most durable of all descriptions of wood. 
The lengthened period that some larch posts have stood is 
quite surprising, some of which are known to the writer to 


* Gilpin’s Forest Scenery. Edinburgh, 1834. 
+ Christopher Young Michie, in Transactions of the Scottish Arboricultural 
Society. Vol. V., part II. Edinburgh. 
4 


278 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 


have stood nearly fifty years, than which there can be no 
better proof of its durability.” For posts, it will probably 
equal in durability our red cedar, while in the power to hold 
nails it is greatly its superior. 

The European must not be confounded with the American 
larch, which, although a valuable tree for many purposes, does 
not make durable fence-posts. Timber of the European larch 
is admirably adapted for rafters, joists, and the main timbers 
in large buildings. When sawn into boards, however, it has 
the serious drawback of excessive shrinkage, and a tendency 
to warp in seasoning, and is therefore rarely used in this 
form. Its principal uses in this country would be for railroad 
sleepers, fence-posts, telegraph posts, hop and bean poles 
and other rustic work, and for piles in bridges, wharves, and 
similar structures, where the rising and falling of the tide 
requires the employment of the most durable timber possible. 
White oak is generally thus employed, but it is probably less 
durable than larch, and far too expensive. The fertilizing 
effects of a plantation of larch on poor, almost barren ground, 
is remarkable, and now universally acknowledged. 

According to a writer in the Highland Society’s Transac- 
tions, quoted by Loudon, the pasturage under a plantation of 
larches thirty years old, and which had been thinned to four 
hundred trees to the acre, produced in Scotland an annual 
rental of eight or ten shillings the acre, while the same land, 
previous to the introduction of the larch, was let for one shil- 
ling the acre. Grigor* calls attention to the same good result 
of planting the larch. “No tree,” he says, “is so valuable as 
the larch in its fertilizing effects, arising from the richness of 
the foliage which it sheds annually. In a healthy wood the 
yearly deposit is very great; the leaves remain, and are con- 
sumed on the spot where they drop, and when the influence 
of the air is admitted, the space becomes clothed in a vivid 
green, with many of the finest kinds of natural grasses, the 
pasture of which is highly reputed in dairy management. 
And in cases where woodland has been brought under grain- 
crops, the roots have been found less difficult to remove than 
those of other trees, and the soil has been rendered more 
fertile than that which follows any other description of timber. 


* Arboriculture. John Grigor. Edinburgh, 1868. 


2 


PROFITS OF THE LARCH. 279 


Already in some of the Western States great interest is taken 
in the cultivation of the European larch, owing principally, I 
believe, to the efforts of Mr. Robert Douglas, of Waukegan, 
Illinois, and large numbers are planted annually, with every 
prospect of success. In his wholesale catalogue for 1876, 
Mr. Douglas calls attention to the fact, that the president of 
the Illinois Central Railroad, after an examination of the larch 
forests of Europe, and the growth and quality of this timber 
produced in Illinois, has without solicitation offered to trans- 
port European larch free of charge to any point on his lines 
in Illinois and Iowa, provided they are to be planted in the 
vicinity of the road. 

Judging from the growth made by the larches in Mr. Fay’s 
plantation, which are the only ones I know in this State 
offering any valuable statistics in regard to the rapidity of 
growth of this tree, I think we can feel confident that on 
the ordinary soil suited to their culture, larch, planted when 
about one foot high, and three years old, will in twenty years 
average twenty-two feet in height, and seven inches in dia- 
meter, three feet from the ground; and that in thirty years 
they will be from thirty-five to forty feet high, and twelve 
inches in diameter; and if the plantations are thinned to four 
hundred trees to the acre, that at the end of twenty years 
more, or fifty years from the time of planting, the trees will 
reach from sixty to seventy feet in height, and at least twenty 
inches in diameter. This is also the average growth of this 
tree in the Highlands of Scotland, under nearly similar 
conditions. 

Let us consider what profits a plantation of larch, ten acres 
in extent, and intended to stand for fifty years, would give. 
The labor of cutting the trees will be more than paid for by 
the sale at different periods of a large amount of small wood 
suited to many rustic purposes, but for which no credit is 
made. It must also be remarked that the following account 
is charged with a permanent wire-fence, although it is more 
than probable that any land suited to this purpose, is already 
surrounded by stone-walls, which would require but little 
subsequent care. Present prices for forest products are taken, 
without allowance being made for their probable future in- 
crease in value. 


280 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 


ESTIMATED PROFITS OF A PLANTATION OF EUROPEAN LARCH OF TEN 
ACRES, TO LAsT Firry YEARS, 


Dr. 
Ten acres of land, @ $20, ‘ : 3 : P p - $200 00 
Wire fence, : P é : : : : 3 = 2000800 
Plants, 27,% 200, @ $5, . : F ; 5 ‘ F : - : 136 25 
Labor of planting, . : ; ‘ : : : : - 600 00 
$1,836 25 
Interest on investment, as above, 50 years, @ 6 per cent., » 96,499 00 
Taxes, 50 years, @ 1.5 per cent., : 5 ‘ 4 : 150 00 
Interest on taxes equal 25 years, @ 6 per Esk ; 5 5 225 00 
$7,710 25 

Cr. 


Product of first cutting at the end of 20 years: 
13,000 trees, less 20 per cent. for casualties; 
10,400 trees, or 20,800 fence-posts, @ 20 cts., . $4,160 00 
Product of second cutting at the end of 30 years: 
100,200 trees, less 10 per cent. for casualties ; 
9,180 trees, or 18,360 sleepers, @ 50 cts., . . $9,180 00 
And 9,180 fence-posts, @ 25 cts., . ‘ ‘ » a2 90000 
———— $11,475 00 
Product of third cutting at the end of 50 years: 
4,000 trees, less 5 per cent. for casualties; 3,800 


piles, worth $5 each, . ° . ° - $19,000 00 
And 7,600 sleepers, worth 50 Hes : ; ‘ . 8,800 00 
—— 22,800 00 
Land at cost, . A : ‘ : d : : 200 00 


$38,635 00 
Thirty years’ interest on $4,160, @6 per cent., . $7,488 00 
Twenty “ * on $11,475, @ 6 per cent., . 13,770 00 
——_ 21,258 00 
$59,993 00 
IProtity | 7 ; : é : : : : se D282 Mioe 


There are within the limits of the State fully 200,000 acres 
of unimproved land which could with advantage be at once 
covered with larch plantations. 

_ For the sake of keeping these estimates within reasonable 
bounds, let us suppose that these 200,000 acres will, in the 


* Equal to about 18 per cent. per annum for the entire fifty years, after retaining 
the original capital invested. 
* 


MILLIONS IN IT. 281 


natural course of events, produce during the next fifty years 
one hundred cords of firewood to the acre, worth six dollars 
acord. This would make their total yield for the fifty years 
$120,000,000. If they were planted with larch, their net 
yield, according to my estimate, during the same time, would 
be $1,045,660,000; but that we may judge how much such 
an operation would add to the wealth of the community, we 
must deduct from this amount the value of the wood which 
we suppose would be produced naturally, or $120,000,000. 
That sum being subtracted, we have left as created wealth 
the respectable sum of $925,000,000. 

There is no branch of agriculture at once so pleasant and 
so productive of possible gains, as farming on paper. It is 
a dangerous pastime, however, and often leads into grave 
errors, and great dangers, as the agricultural population has 
learned to its cost. In this case it will be well to be on the 
safe side. The larch, in common with other plants, is liable 
to disease ; it is preyed on by many insects, and our plantations 
may be often injured by fire, bad management, and other 
dangers now unforeseen. 

In view of such chances, let us reduce the total yield of 
our ten acres of larch a little more than one-half, and be 
content with a profit of only six per cent. per annum on the 
capital invested. 

Such a diminution of yield would reduce the amount I 
suppose would spring, in the course of fifty years, from the 
200,000 acres of larch, to $402,830,000. 

If we we can add eight millions of dollars annually to the 
net product of the agriculture of Massachusetts by replanting 
a small portion of our nearly worthless lands with trees, the 
mere material gain to our wealth is worth striving for, But 
when we consider that this is an operation which will bring 
benefits to the State far beyond any direct material gain, it 
becomes the moral duty of every citizen to continue his efforts 
in this direction, until every land-owner shall be convinced 
that tree planting is a patriotic act, and that we owe it to our 
descendants to leave the land at least as productive and pleasant 
as we received it. It is within the power of many to give 
direct assistance to such an undertaking. The wealthy and 
powerful corporations depending on a supply of water for 

36 


282 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 


their existence, will do well to reflect on the dangers which 
threaten them through the destruction of the forests, and 
consider what steps they can take to avert them. 

The railroads, the most dependent of all our corporations 
on a supply of wood for their daily consumption and increased 
traffic, must soon, in self-defence, turn their attention to 
arboriculture. But, in this community, we must look to 
individual enterprise and individual intelligence if we expect 
to see any considerable portion of this State re-covered with 
forest growth; and to the farmers, more than to any other 
class, must be left the solution of the difficulties and dangers, 
which the forest question presents. 

To-day, I can offer them no better advice than that of the 
dying old Scotchman to his son—“ Ye may be aye sticking in 
a tree, Jock; it will be growin’ when ye’re sleepin’.” 


The report was accepted, when the Board adjourned. 


Marre Dp, Dias 


The Board met at ten o’elock, A.M. Major S. B. Poinney 
in the chair. 


Present: Messrs. Baker, Bennett, Davis, Dwight, Fenn, 
Goessmann, Hadwen, Holland, Knowlton, Knox, Ladd, Lor- 
ing, Merrill, Moore, Perry, Phinney, Saltonstall, Sargent, 
Shepley, Metcalf J. Smith, Milo J. Smith, Stone, Vincent, 
L. P. Warner, W. L. Warner, and Wilder. 


Mr. W. L. Warner submitted a report upon the assign- 
ment of delegates, as follows :—To the 


Essex, 4 ‘ F : : : ‘ . GEORGE M. BAKER. 
Middlesex, : ; : ; : ‘ . LEVERETT SALTONSTALL. 
Middlesex North, . ‘ : A z . ELIPHALET STONE. 
Middlesex South, . s : ; F . SOLOMON LINCOLN. 
Worcester, : : : ‘ 4 P . ALEXANDER Macy, Jr. 
Worcester West, ; é ; ‘ ; . ELigan PERRY. 
Worcester North, . ‘ ; ‘ F . E. C. HAwKs. 

Worcester North-West, . ‘ : ‘ . WILLIAM KNOWLTON. 
Worcester South, . : 5 ‘ : . Horace P. WAKEFIELD. 


Worcester South-East, . ; é A . COURTLON SANDERSON. 


MENTAL FACULTIES OF ANIMALS. 283 


Hampshire, Franklin and Hampden, 
Hampshire, 


DANIEL DWIGHT. 
JOHN A. HAWES. 


Highland, STEPHEN SHEPLEY. 
Hampden, JOHN B. Moore. 
Hampden East, L. P. WARNER. 

Union, : MARSHALL P. WILDER. 
Franklin, O. B. HADWEN. 
Deerfield Valley, . ADDISON H. HOLLAND. 
Berkshire, . W. L. Warner. 
Housatonic, PauL A. CHADBOURNE. 
Hoosac Valley, EpMUND H. BENNETT. 
Norfolk, . GEORGE B. LORING. 
Bristol, HEBRON VINCENT. 
Bristol Central, J. N. BaGe. 

Plymouth, Mito J. SMITH. 
Hingham, S. B. PHINNEY. 
Marshfield, METCALF J. SMITH. 
Barnstable, DANIEL B. FENN. 
Nantucket, JOHN E. MERRILL, 


Martha's Vineyard, FRANKLIN ©. KNOx. 


The report was accepted, and the assignment made accord- 
ingly. 


Mr. Vincent submitted an essay upon the 


MENTAL FACULTIES OF DOMESTIC ANIMALS. 


A treatise on the Mental Faculties of Domestic Animals 
may properly be denominated comparative mental philosophy, 
analogous to comparative anatomy and physiology. There is 
a similarity between such animals and human beings in the 
cerebral organism. But a more striking proof of correspond- 
ing elements in animals is seen in the outward manifestations 
of those qualities, going to show, as I think, mental faculties 
to some extent, and in some degree, similar to such powers in 
the human species. 

In any examination of this subject, it would be proper first 
to state what the acknowledged mental faculties of man are, 
and then to show by known facts, as exhibited by the animals 
themselves, the evidences of the existence of such correspond- 
ing faculties in them, and, as far as might be, their extent. 
The human mind is our conscious existence, and its powers 
we denominate its faculties. The senses of touch, vision, 
hearing, smell] and taste are commonly regarded as the 


284 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 


main channels through which impressions are made upon our 
consciousness. But ideas are not received through these 
alone. The mind, by its innate powers, profiting by what it 
already knows, evolves new thoughts, new ideas. Nor is this 
all. Our minds are the receptacles of impressions stamped 
directly upon them by the Spirit of the Great Supreme, 
independently of the senses, and also of their own cognitions. 

One has said that “mental philosophy has for its object to 
ascertain the facts and laws of mental operation.” The mind 
is not in parts, it is one. “For this,” says Leibnitz, “there 
is no necessity that there should be different parts in the soul, 
as it is not necessary that there should be different parts in 
the point on which various angles rest.” Aristotle is repre- 
sented as remarking, “But it is necessary that that which 
judges should be one and the same, and that should even 
apprehend by the same the objects which are judged.” And 
Addison is thus quoted by Stewart: “Although we divide 
the whole soul into several powers and faculties, there is no 
such division in the soul itself, since it is the whole soul that 
remembers, understands, wills, or imagines. Our manner of 
considering the memory, understanding, will, imagination, 
and the like faculties, is for the better enabling us to express 
ourselves on such abstracted subjects of speculation, not that 
there is any such division in the soul itself.” Again he says, 
* What we call the faculties of the soul are only the different 
ways or modes in which the soul can exert itself.” 

The late Joseph Haven, D. D., formerly a professor in 
Amherst College, defines a faculty of the mind to be “simply 
the mind’s power of acting, of doing something, of putting 
forth some energy and performing some operation.” He 
claims that “the mind has as many distinct faculties as it has 
distinct powers of action, distinct functions, distinct modes 
and spheres of activity. As its capabilities of action and 
operation differ, so its faculties differ.” He holds, as before 
expressed, that the mind is not complex, nor divided, but one 
in all its acts, which varied acts indicate its varied powers, 
called faculties. And Sir William Hamilton says: “A faculty 
is nothing more than a general term for the causality the mind 
has of originating a certain class of energies; a capacity, 
only a general term for the susceptibility the mind has of 


INSTINCT AND REASON. 285 


being affected by a particular kind of emotions. All meutal 
powers are thus, in short, nothing more than names deter- 
mined by the various orders of mental phenomena.” Again 
he says, “The end of philosophy is the detection of unity.” 
And again, “ The faculties are special modifications under which 
consciousness is manifested.” 

Such, in brief, are some of the views held by several 
writers on mental science, relative to the oneness or unity of 
the mind itself, and the nature of what are called the faculties 
of the mind. Not altogether unlike these in the human being, 
is the mind with its manifestations in domestic animals, as 
shown by the animals themselves. But here I am met by 
contrary views. Mr. Hubbard Winslow, whose text-book on 
mental philosophy is well known, advances the idea that 
animals have no reason, but only instinct; that reason and 
instinct are set off against each other in the animal and human 
races; that man has rational powers to guide him, while 
animals have those of instinct. He traces some of the differ- 
ences between reason and instinct, thus: “1. Instinct is 
mature at once; reason matures gradually. 2. Instinct is a 
blind impulse; reason is a reflective power. 3. Instinct is 
limited; reason is universal. Indeed, that the entire range 
of instinct embraces only four objects,—nutrition, protection, 
motion, propagation”; while “reason, on the contrary, is 
applied in all directions, and embraces all subjects.” 

Now, I contend, that however correct the foregoing defini- 
tions of the two words may be, and however true it is that all 
that is accorded to man is properly done, full justice is not 
meted out to the mere animal tribes. This author does 
indeed hold that man has something in him in the nature of 
instinct,” and I shall endeavor to show, as intimated, that, 
on the other hand, the animal creation possess elements of 
nature which, in character, if not in number or degree, answer 
to some, at least, of what are styled faculties of the human mind. 

Professor Haven, before referred to, in his work on mental 
science, advances views quite similar to those of the last- 
named writer. While on the subject of “ instinct,” he at first 
admits the idea of intelligence of some kind in brutes, as well 
as in the human species. He says, “ How far the two resem- 
ble each other, and how far they differ, it is not easy to 


286 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 


determine, not easy to draw the dividing line, and say where 
the brute intelligence stops and human intelligence begins.” 
And yet he afterwards denies to animals intelligence in the 
true acceptation of the term. He claims that many of the 
acts of animals and insects develop even greater skill than 
can be seen in man, and yet he contends that they do not 
perform them by the light of intelligence. He maintains that 
instinct is a law of action put into the animal at its creation, 
which works in him, not by reason or reflection, but by a blind 
impulse ; that bird or bee does nothing by the force of educa- 
tion or progress in knowledge; that the one builds her hive 
alone, and at first, as well as ever she will afterwards, and 
the other her nest the same. The intelligence is not that of 
the creature, he says, but of the Creator, and that it is given 
as a law of the animal’s being, by which he blindly acts. 

This author raises the question as to whether the differences 
between man and the brute are those of kind or degree. 
After some discussion of the question, he arrives at the con- 
clusion that the intelligence of the brute differs in kind, and 
not in degree merely, from that of man. The use of the word 
“merely” seems to be quite an admission; and yet he labors 
to show that the beast does not possess any of the higher 
faculties, but only those of sense. 

He begins his detail of denials by saying that the brute is 
not “a moral and religious being.” With this I presume we 
all agree. For to be a moral and religious being one must 
be a moral agent, which neither domestic animals nor any 
others of the lower species are supposed to be. -Says the late 
Rey. Richard Watson, of England, one of the most profound 
writers, “ He is a moral agent who is capable of moral actions ; 
and an action is rendered moral by two circumstances—that 
it is voluntary, and that it has respect to some rule which 
determines it to be good or evil.” And Sir William Hamilton 
tells us “ wherein the moral agency of man consists. Man 
is a moral agent only as he is accountable for his actions; in 
other words, as he is the object of praise or blame; and this 
he is only inasmuch as he has prescribed to him a rule of 
duty, and as he is able to act, or not to act, in conformity 
with its precepts.” And thus we say, that while on the one 
hand a law, or rule, has been made known to man, and power 


FACULTIES OF THE MIND. 287 


and liberty to act under it given, the mere animals in question, 
on the other hand, having no such revelation, that we know 
of, cannot be supposed to have moral faculties, which would 
imply moral accountability, and the awards of approval for 
obedience, and condemnation for sin, or disobedience. 

There is another thing these animals do not possess, and 
the lack of which does not seem to be computed by these 
writers, and that is the power of speech. Did they have this, 
it would be much easier for those who now merely theorize 
upon the subject, to tell how much real intelligence these 
creatures possess. Some of them do almost talk, and so far 
as we can understand their language, indicate much more of 
real intelligence than the two writers from whose opinions we 
dissent concede to them. 

Without pretending to follow the most approved order in 
the arrangement (and I find others differ as to this), I will 
here name some of the more prominent manifestations or 
activities of the human mind denominated faculties. Take 
the following: perception, conception, imagination, reason or 
the reasoning power, reflection, memory, judgment, will 
(which includes desire), attention (accompanied by medita- 
tion), intuition. I will begin with the last named. 

One has said that “reason is instinct in man.” At this I 
demur. But it is admitted, I think, on all hands, that man 
has something in his mechanism properly called instinct, 
although it is said to be in some respects weak. And yet in 
the craving for food by the child, and in that which tells him 
how to obtain it, it is certainly quite apparent. But I would 
say that that faculty of our mind which bears the greatest 
resemblance to instinct in the animal is intuition. Intuition, 
or the intuitive power, is that which calls into use first pres- 
entations and primary ideas. It is the first thought or 
principle which the mind grasps without reflection or reason- 
ing of any kind. And, as an intellectual element, does it not 
answer to “instinct” in the mere animal, taking Professor 
Haven’s definition for our guide? He maintains that instinct 
is a law of action in the brute, which comes to him without 
reflection, without his own agency, and yet that it is that - 
upon which he acts. So we, after receiving them, act upon 
our own intuitions. But I must just here take exception 


288 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 


to another of his positions, which I can but regard as an 
unwarranted assumption; namely, that the brute does not 
“think” in the proper acceptation of that term. Taking the 
expression, as he evidently meant it, to comprehend all dumb 
animals—domestie ones included—I would ask how the ox 
would ever come to his fodder, the bee construct her hive, 
or the bird build her nest, without thinking of the object 
aimed at? 

The five senses are all possessed by the mere animal, as we 
denominate him. These, by means of nerves, as in man, 
communicate with the brain, the seat of mental activities, 
and thus the animal makes up judgment as to his own course 
of action to be pursued, and often, also, as to what will be 
that of others. If he sees danger, he will avoid it. If he 
tastes food which he does not like, he will reject it. He 
manifests his pleasure or displeasure at the different sounds 
he hears, accordingly as they are agreeable or disagreeable to 
him. So of the other senses. His brain, although relatively 
small, compared with that of man, is subject to all this variety 
of impressions, as the seat of consciousness. Does he not, 
then, think, in the proper acceptation of the term? 

Let us take some actually known facts as demonstrating 
the existence of faculties in animals, corresponding in nature 
to some of those enjoyed by men. They are indeed abun- 
dant, but we can here present only a few. Some years since 
lived a friend of mine in the town of Nantucket, who kept a 
cow. The animal was much of the time in a small lot inclosed 
by a high board fence, the outlet being a gate with a large 
wooden latch. Just under the latch was a hole through the 
board. in the door, so that a person on the opposite side could 
put a finger through and raise the latch. Outside of the lot 
was good grazing. That cow, having had access there, 
learned the art of putting one of her horns through that finger- 
hole and raising the latch, and of thus making her egress to the 
place of feeding. Finally, after trying other means to break 
up this habit of the animal, the owner closed up the aperture. 
The cow, not to be outwitted, then accomplished her object 
by putting her horns under the gate and raising it from its 
hinges. Now, are there not manifest in the conduct of that 
cow, first, perception? she perceived the way in which her 


PROGRESS OF ANIMALS. 289 


owner passed; secondly, conception? she conceived her plan 
of operation; thirdly, will? she willed to put her plan in 

execution; fourthly, when she had done it once, her memory 
was brought into requisition, and she remembered how to do 
it again ; and fifthly, when foiled in her first method of accom- 
plishing her object, her ¢magination, or, perhaps, we should 
better say her inventive genius, was put to the test, and she 
attained it in another way. Professor Haven insists that the 
brute never learns anything ; he is mature at birth. A chicken 
is a hen when first hatched; the spider spins her lines, the 
bird builds her nest, the bee constructs her cells, the beaver 
his dam, and the ant its subterranean arch just as well the 
first time as ever afterwards. But did not that cow progress 
somewhat in knowledge after she was a calf? And does not 
the ox learn to follow the cartway and the furrow, and to 
obey his owner or driver? 

Take the everywhere-known examples of the horse. He 
shies the place where he has been affrighted or injured; he 
plays the “old soldier” with a timid or inexperienced driver 
(as I have occasion to recollect), knowing he is not his 
master. In these he shows both memory and reason. He 
remembers the scene of danger, and his reason teaches him 
to avoid it. And also in the latter case he knows he need not 
go fast unless he is pleased to do so, and he wills that he will 
not. Then, too, the too-heavily loaded animal, either ox or 
horse. He tries to take the load along, at the bidding and 
whip of his “taskmaster,” and failing tries again and again, 
by turns turning his head and trying to make his driver 
understand that the load is too large, using every persuasive 
in his power, and would speak if he could, while his Jess 
rational master persists. 

Take an illustration from the lamb. It may be a sheep 
when born, and would ordinarily keep with the wild sheep; 
but let the parent sheep die, and some matron or maiden of 
the household take the little bleater to the door-yard, and 
nurse and feed it: does it not learn something which it did 
not know at first about the manner of life and the voice and 
ways of its friend and protector? And why did a certain cat 
I once knew take her kittens away up behind a chimney and 
beyond the ceiling, where no mortal could reach them, and 

37 


290 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 


keep them there till they were quite large, if it were not to 
prevent their being dealt by as other kittens had been? Call 
that instinct, if you please. That was present; but were there , 
not manifest, also, both reason and will? Another, the prop- 
erty of my nearest neighbor, found a comfortable home with 
us from winter to winter, while, her house being closed, the 
good lady was making her annual visit with her friends in 
Boston. After a year or two, “black-nose,” who was in the 
interim neighborly, became, in some way, so cognizant of 
the near approach of the time at which her mistress was to 
leave, that she would come of her own accord and take up 
her abode with us a little in advance of the event. Were 
there not in the act, evidences of a retentive memory, and of 
keen powers of observation ? 

The late Hon. Thomas Bradley, of Vineyard Haven, was 
aroused from his slumbers in the night, by the intense scratch- 
ing and other boisterous noises of his cat at his lodging-room 
door. At first he did not heed it, but the persistent noise of 
the cat induced him to arise and open the door, when he was 
met by a volume of smoke. He rushed down stairs and 
found the woodwork in his sitting-room ablaze. He was just 
in time to save his house from entire conflagration. What 
intelligence less than human prompted that act in the cat? 

But of all animals, perhaps there is none which illustrates 
our position so well as the dog. The other domestic animals 
named evidently understand many of our words, having 
learned to understand them. ‘This animal would seem to be 
more intelligent and more tractable than they. A highly 
respectable gentleman, who lived near me, now deceased, had 
some years since a dog which he had petted and set by, but 
which had become old and undesirable in the house, and he 
said to his family one day in the hearing of the animal, “I 
shall have to get some one to shoot this dog.” “Bose” 
immediately went out of the house, and never returned. Did 
not that dog understand the full import of the words of his 
master, and did he not reason, and base his conduct upon 
that understanding and that process of reasoning, with a view 
to the saving of his own life? Another man, my neighbor, 
from whom I have the story direct, living in town, and 
owning a wood-lot near, was accustomed to cut the wood in 


INTELLIGENCE OF THE DOG. 291 


the forest, and to employ another man living about a third of 
a mile off, to cart it. The dog, as other dogs do, usually 
accompanied his owner in those walks. Having occasion one 
morning to have some wood carted, but being called another 
way, and thus unable to go and inform the other man of his 
wants, he spoke of the matter and of his regrets in the case, 
the dog being within hearing. He went to his day’s work, 
but what was his surprise when he came home to his dinner, 
at noon, to find his load of wood tipped down in his yard. 
The wife knew that Mr. R brought it. On inquiry, his 
friend reported that the dog came up to his barn, to the stable 
where his horse was, then went out around his truck-wagon, 
repeating these movements, and apparently intent on making 
him understand what was wanted, insomuch that he harnessed 
in his horse, and went to the woods and brought the load. 
How cculd a human being have done the errand more intelli- 
gently, execpt to utter the words of his master, which the 
dog understood, but could not express. 

Another gentleman in the town where I reside now, has a 
dog that at the bidding of his master will place either one or 
both of :his fore-paws, as told to do, upon his master’s knee, 
or stand erect upon his hind-feet, and perform various other 
feats. When one of the family sits at the piano-forte and 
plays, he often comes in and takes a position in front of it, 
and makes a noise evidently the nearest he can to that of 
singing. Is there no exercise of mental faculties such as we © 
possess in all that? Is there no understanding of language? 

One of the mental faculties is called by writers “ attention,” 
which is the power to concentrate and continue thought upon 
a single subject or object for a long time. This is sometimes 
evinced by long-continued action for the accomplishing of a 
specific purpose. We have in history some very remarkable 
instances of this kind,—such as that of Socrates while accom- 
panying Alcibiades in a military expedition; that of Archi- 
medes at the storming of Syracuse; that of Joseph Scaliger 
while a Protestant student in Paris at the time of the St. 
Bartholomew massacre ; and that of Napoleon Bonaparte, who, 
when at the military school in Paris, having a very difficult 
problem given him for solution, shut himself up seventy-two 
consecutive hours, and mastered it. We have something of 


292 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 


this kind in the dog that will dig the earth for hours together 
to secure a musk-rat which he knows to be there, far up in 
his recess, or watch for a long time an article left in his charge, 
and even long days and nights, the living cripple or the dead 
remains of his cherished master or mistress. 

A reliable gentleman of my acquaintance, when at the age 
of eight years, lived in the town of Chilmark. One day, 
during a blinding snow-storm, having occasion to go some 
rods from the house, on attempting to return, he could not see 
it, and knew not which way to go; but starting in the direc- 
tion which he thought was right, the little Spanish house-dog 
soon appeared and caught him by his clothes, and urged him 
in the opposite direction, which proved to be the right one, 
the dog ever and anon pressing down the snow, then quite 
deep, to make him a path. The other course was a dangerous 
one, and, but for the dog, he would in all probability have 
perished. What, perhaps, is the most remarkable feature of 
the story, was, that the animal, being in the house when the 
little boy went out, seemed presently to become alarmed, 
went to the door, jumped up to the latch, and made every 
possible demonstration of his anxiety to get out, and on being 
let out by one of the inmates, sprung away to the rescue of 
his young friend. 

I refer, not to uncertain stories, but to authentic accounts. 
And I presume every one present knows facts similar to those 
I have given. But I must relate one more. A near relative 
of mine recently lost a lovely daughter, who had wasted away 
by consumption. He has a large dog. When, at the funeral, 
the casket containing the remains was carried out to the hearse, 
the dog followed out and went under the hearse, moaning ; 
and, accompanying the procession, when the box was let down 
into the grave the animal went up to the open grave, pawing 
the sand near it and making a mournful noise. Call that 
“instinct” if you will, but how could an act be more expres- 
sive of intelligence such as is in man, or how could human 
grief be more reasonably shown? Instances might be multi- 
plied; but my limits will not allow of this. It must be 
apparent, that, with the exception of the moral and religious 
faculties in man, such as hold him to a high accountability, 
and any marked resemblance to which we do not claim for 


INSPECTION OF FERTILIZERS. 293 


even domestic animals, these do possess many of the attributes 
of mind corresponding to those enjoyed and exercised by 
members of the human race. In what degree, we will not 
pretend to say. But had such animals the power of speech, 
I doubt not they would quite astonish us by the exhibition of 
those faculties in a degree of which we do not now even 
dream; and thus showing that their likeness to the human, 
in addition to other considerations, entitles them to humane 
treatment and the protection of the law. 
HEBRON VINCENT. 
The report was accepted. 


Prof. GoESSMANN then submitted his 


THIRD ANNUAL REPORT ON FERTILIZERS. 
To the State Board of Agriculture. 


GENTLEMEN :—The history of the fertilizer trade during 
the past year presents many features of general interest. 

Much progress has been made towards the adoption of a 
more satisfactory basis for the sale of fertilizers. The 
proposition for selling the latter by chemical analysis, with 
guarantee of a stated definite composition, has met with gen- 
eral indorsement. The propriety of distinguishing between the 
commercial and the agricultural value of a fertilizing material, 
is well recognized as a naturally satisfactory basis for business 
transactions between manufacturer and farmer. 

The former begins to realize that the fertilizer law does not 
make his position an exceptional one; for he enjoys in the 
general market the full benefit of his personal business 
resources; he feels encouraged in making improvements in 
the production of his article, because its true merits are 
rendered more conspicuous by a comparative analytical state- 
ment, which the law requires, regarding the chemical com- 
position and the general character of the various fertilizers 
offered for sale. As the comparative cheapness of the differ- 
ent brands of so-called standard fertilizers will be decided 
in the future, not by their respective price per ton, but more 
generally, as it ought to be, by their relative amount and 
the peculiar condition of the phosphoric acid, potassium oxide 


294 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 


and nitrogen, he knows that his commercial success will 
depend in a controlling degree on the readiness with which he 
satisfies the special wants of the farmer. The latter does 
not fail to notice that the chances for securing his fertilizers at 
their real market prices are greatly improved. 

A commendable exertion could be noticed on the part of 
many manufacturers to improve their fertilizers. The price 
of many leading brands has been reduced from 20 to 25 per 
cent. as compared with previous years. This reduction has 
been so general, that a change in the valuation of the fertilizer 
becomes quite justifiable. In adopting a new scale for a com- 
parative valuation of the fertilizers which have been tested 
during the past year, I have stated, for obvious reasons, such 
figures as will be conceded by dealers to be liberal.* 


a 


1874-75. | 1875-76. 
Per Pound. Per Pound. 
Soluble phosphoric acid, . : : ; . | 16.25 cts.| 12.5 cts. 
Reduced, . : : : ‘ ; : : 5 lh als oi aU) US 
Insoluble phos. acid in mineral phosphates, . eae . 4 a 
“ “ in bones, fish and animal dust, 6 oe 6 oc 
Nitrogen, : : : : ; ; : . | 30 far re 
Potassium oxide in muriate, . . ‘ “ ‘ 8 «s 6 £ 
bs “in sulphate, . . 5 , lees ee 8 & 


‘When advocating for the first time, in a report (January, 
1873) to the trustees of the Massachusetts Agricultural Col- 
lege, the adoption of certain regulations regarding the sale 
of commercial fertilizers, I felt quite confident that a judicious 
supervision of the fertilizer trade, accompanied by a proper 
periodical official discussion of the mutual interests of the 
manufacturers of fertilizers and the farming community, would 
furnish a very efficient means to communicate to the former 
the particular wants of the latter; whilst at the same time a 
suitable chance would present itself to engage the attention of 
a large class of practical farmers for the exposition of rational 
principles of agriculture by practical illustration touching their 
pecuniary interest, who quite frequently would not feel dis- 
posed to listen to an abstract enumeration of the principles 
which control the success of their industry. It is gratifying 


* See price-list at the end of report. 


ABOUT POTASH SALTS. 295 


to feel entitled to state at this early date, judging from 
numerous communications received, and from the character of 
the questions proposed, that the fertilizer law promises to prove 
a valuable instrument for the promotion of agricultural edu- 
cation among that class of farmers in particular, who, on 
account of their practical engagements, are beyond the direct 
influence of our agricultural educational institutions and 
scientific agricultural literature. 

Encouraged by your kind indulgence on former occasions, 
I take the liberty to present within the following pages,— 
besides the results of a large number of actual analyses of 
fertilizers offered for sale,—some statements regarding the 
condition of our important home resources of substances used 
for the manufacture of concentrated commercial fertilizers. 


I].—PorasH Satts. 

The German potash salts are already a recognized promi- 
nent feature in our fertilizer trade. 

The consumption of these compounds in our agricultural 
industry has again been much larger during the past season 
than during the preceding one. 

The supply of the lower grades—natural and _ artificial 
kainit—has been apparently equal to the demand; whilst that 
of the higher grades, sulphate of potassa in particular, © 
although imported in much larger quantity than during the 
previous year, became exhausted at a comparatively early date. 

The following chemical analyses give a fair representa- 
tion of the articles met with of late in our markets. The 
samples were taken from various lots extensively sold by 
Boston and New York dealers : 


MURIATE OF POTASH. 


Found. Represented. 

I. Ir. ie II. 
Potassium oxide, . : P : : . | 52.44} 53.07 || 53.0 | 52-58 
Sodium oxide, j ; : : . - 5.30 - - 
Calcium oxide (lime), . : . : --| — | trace. = = 
Magnesium oxide, j : é , = 0.30 - - 
Insoluble matter cin water), . ‘ - | 0.80) 0.25 = = 
Moisture, . Z 5 silieed.00 - ~ - 


296 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 


The composition of both samples corresponded well with 
their represented percentage of potassium oxide. 

Their main constituents were chloride of potassium from 
83 to 84 per cent.; and chloride of sodium or common salt 
from 10 to 12 per cent. 

The ton of 2,000 pounds, sold in small lots at 60 dollars 
currency, which amounts to 5.8 cents per pound of potassium 
oxide. 

This high grade muriate of potash is one of the cheapest 
potash sources we have at present at our disposal. 


ARTIFICIAL KAINIT. 


Found, Represented. 

I. 1a. I. In. 
Potassium oxide, . ‘ - ; . | 12.78} 14.50 |} 11.8-13.0 16.20 
Sodium oxide, . : 5 4 . | 14.42] 18.10 - | = 
Calcium oxide (lime), . : ; 1H PHOT TS - - 
Magnesium oxide, : . : . | 9.66) 7,57 = = 
Sulphuric acid, . : . : . | 16.99) 15.90 - ~ 
Insoluble matter, . ; é ; - 1.95 - - 
Moisture, . ‘ : : ; ; 3.80 - - - 


The analytical results of sample No. I. confirm the amount 
of potassium oxide represented, whilst in sample No. II. 
there is a deficiency of from one to two per cent. of that 
substance. : 

The difference between the actual amount noticed and the 
one represented, is, however, so small, that variations in 
moisture may account for the result. : 

Dealers in fertilizers ought to state the guaranteed compost- 
tion with reference to the particular percentage of moisture to 
which the statement applies. 

Farmers do well to insist on specifications of this kind; for 
it is the only safe way to secure a mutually satisfactory 
understanding in case of complaints. 

A careful consideration of the various constituents of the 
above compounds and their mutual chemical relations to each 
other leaves no doubt about the fact that the potassium is here 
present in two different forms ; namely, as potassium sulphate 
and as potassium chloride. 


POTASH SALTS. 297 


No. I. is alow grade of its kind; No. IJ. a medium quality ; 
they sold in the market, respectively, at $20 and $25 per ton 
of 2,000 pounds. 

The pound of potassium oxide costs, therefore, from eight 
tonine cents. Some reasonable allowance for the agricultural 
value of the remaining constituents of the kainit renders its 
cost fair, when compared with that of the muriate of potash. 


SULPHATE OF POTASSA. 


Found. Represented, 
ik Hi; || = II. 
Potassium oxide, . : ; : . | 20.44) 44.39 21.60) 44-45 
Sodium oxide, . ‘ ‘ : ? : 5.36 3.29) 4) - - 
Magnesium oxide, 2.63 | trace. = - 
Calcium oxide (lime), — | trace. - - 
Sulphuric acid, ; : : ; . | 10.86] 43.52 a= - 
Insoluble matter (in water), . : . | 31.55 | not det. | = - 
Sand, oxide of iron, ete., . - 3.60 = — 
| 


Both samples are evidently refuse material from another 
branch of industry than that carried on at the Stassfurt mines. 
No. I. was sold by a dealer in Boston, the other by a dealer 
in New York; in case of No. I., but part of the potassium 
oxide is present as sulphate; in No. II. there is a small 
excess of sulphuric acid. The saline mass, in this case, had 
a decided acid reaction, yet not sufficient to cause any injury 
to plants, as long as the rule, which applies to all concentrated 
fertilizers, the salines in particular, is adhered to; namely, to 
mix them with at least three or four times their weight of soil 
before sowing them broadcast. 

There is one feature, however, which deserves the serious 
attention of farmers when using potash salts, like the above 
ones, which contain none, or but a small percentage of either 
chloride of sodium or sulphate of magnesia; for it requires in 
the latter cases a longer period of time to diffuse the potassa 
through the entire body of the soil, which serves in the pro- 
duction of our various crops. 

Those plants which root mainly within the surface portion 
of the cultivated soil, will be benefited sooner than the deep- 
rooting ones. Root crops and leguminous plants, as clover, 

38 


298 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 


will show in the majority of cases but little effect during the 
first season of their application. 

Chloride of sodium and sulphate of magnesia are known to 
increase in an unusual degree the distribution of the potassa. 

Either one or the other, or frequently both compounds, are 
present in all of the most reputed brands of Stassfurt potash 
fertilizers. 

Their presence controls their action as far as time is con- 
cerned, and imparts to them in most instances a higher 
peculiar agricultural value as compared with the two last- 
noted samples. 

Besides the previously described different qualities of potash 
salts, there have been also offered for sale two other articles, 
which were represented to contain from 33 to 35 per cent., 
and from 50 to 52 per cent., of sulphate of potassa. The 
former was offered for sale by a New York dealer, the latter 
by a firm in Boston. 

Complaints of several importers, regarding a loose manage- 
ment on the part of commercial agents at the German ports, 
Bremen and Hamburg, have been not infrequent during the 
past year. 

Whatever importance may be attached to this impression, 
there is apparently no better step advisable for our extensive 
dealers in potash fertilizers, than to open direct communica- 
tion and business transactions with reliable and responsible 
manufactories at the potash mines in Germany. 

Judging by the frequent applications received from fertil- 
izer dealers in all parts of the country, it is but reasonable 
to expect for the coming season a more thorough organization. 
of our home interests, regarding a suitable supply sufficient 
to meet our steadily increasing demand. 

Nothing in my opinion seems to favor more the realization 
of these desirable results, than to confine ourselves as much 
as possible to the importation and the consumption of only a 
few of the most desirable standard articles. 

Both first cost and special adaptation to our agricultural 
industry ought to be carefully considered, when contemplating 
measures which need the support of dealers and consumers, 
to work mutually satisfactorily. 

For reasons already explained in “detail in my last year’s 


GRADES OF GERMAN SALTS. 299 | 


report (II.), I have recommended to all who have asked my 
opinion, concerning the qualities of German potash salts, 
which are most desirable for our special agricultural interests, 
to confine themselves mainly to the importation of the three 
following grades :— 

(1.) Muriate of potash, containing from 80 to 84 per cent. 
of that compound, which is equal to from 50 to 52 per cent. 
of potassium oxide. 

(2.) Sulphate of potassa, containing from 52 to 56 per 
cent. of that compound, which is equal to from 28 to 29 per 
cent. of potassium oxide; it also contains usually from 30 to 
35 per cent. sulphate of magnesia, equal to from 10 to 12 per 
cent. of magnesium oxide. 

(3.) High grade artificial kainit, containing from 30 to 32 
per cent. of sulphate of potassa, which is equal to from 14.5 
to 17.3 per cent. of potassium oxide. The remaining con- 
stituents of this class of kainits, consist usually in the main 
of from 35 to 45 per cent. of chloride of sodium (common 
salt), and from 8 to 12 per cent. of sulphate of magnesia, 
with but a small per cent. of chloride of magnesia, on account 
of a previous calcination. 

The importation of lower grades of these compounds needs 
apparently no farther encouragement, because the demand has 
been supplied thus far satisfactorily and in ample quantities 
by the genuine Leopoldshall natural kainit, which is sold at 
Baltimore, New York and Boston, by its sole agent for the 
United States, W. Dunan, Esq., of Baltimore. 

As every additional development of the almost inexhaust- 
ible resources of potash fertilizers at Stassfurt will sooner or 
later affect our home trade in that commodity, it may not be 
without some interest here to relate shortly some changes 
which of late have taken place in that locality and its vicinity 
in Germany. 

Until quite recently the mining of the salines, which serve 
for the production of the potash fertilizers in Germany has 
been conducted by the governments of Prussia and the duchy 
of Anhalt-Saxony. The products of their mining operations 
at Stassfurt and Leopoldshall have been sold to private 
parties, who turned them, at their own wish, into articles of 
a more definite character, and of a higher commercial value. 


300 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 


The unusual importance of this new industry created quite 
naturally a lively spirit of speculation on the part of capital- 
ists, which manifested itself at first by the formation of large 
stock companies for the erection of factories to convert the 
crude material into salable potash compounds. 

The number of factories increased from 1861, when the 
first one was built by Dr. Frank, to thirty-three in 1872. 

The consumption of the crude salines, which, in 1862, 
amounted to 20,400 tons, rose within an interval of ten years 
to not less than 514,200 tons. 

Of late, some successful attempts have been made by private 
parties to open new mining shafts independent of government 
control. 

The most successful enterprise in this direction promises to 
engage our attention within the coming season, on account of 
the reported establishment of a direct agency in New York 
City on the part of the owners of the mines and their comple- 
ment of factories. 

The products of these new works will be introduced to us 
as the Douglashall mining products, muriate and sulphate of 
potash, etc., of Western-Egeln, Germany. 

Western-Egeln is a small Prussian village about nine or ten 
miles to the north-west from Stassfurt. 

The chief manager of the enterprise, Mr. Douglas, is a 
former reputed Stassfurt potash manufacturer; the natural 
resources at his command are stated as superior compared 
with those at Stassfurt and Leopoldshall. 

F. Bishof, one of the foremost investigators and scientific 
exponents of the extent and the nature of the peculiar local 
geological formation, known as the Stassfurt salt deposit, 
states, in a recent semi-oflicial report, that the crude salines 
at Egeln average 18 per cent. of muriate of potash (the 
average at Stassfurt is stated to be about 17 per cent.) ; and 
that in regard to quantity, the Douglas mines fully equal the 
old ones. .. 

During a late visit, at my office, of one of the gentlemen 
connected with the agency of the Douglashall mines estab- 
lished at New York, I learned that the following brands will 
be introduced at an early date into our fertilizer market :— 


EXTENSION OF GERMAN MINES. 301 


Douglas Potash Fertilizer, No. I.—It is a sulphate of 
potassa of 95 to 99 per cent., equal t» from 51.4 to 53.5 per 
cent. of potassium oxide. 

Douglas Potash Fertilizer, No. II.—It is a muriate of 
potash, which differs from most articles of that name; for 
it contains besides from 70 to 75 per cent. of chloride of 
potassium, from 20 to 25 per cent. of sulphate of magnesia. 

These valuable articles, it is stated, will be sold with a full 
guarantee of their represented composition, and at prices 
which I do not doubt will secure a good patronage. 

The plan, carried out as mentioned, cannot dc otherwise 
than exert a beneficial influence on the present condition of 
the entire trade in potash fertilizers. 


CRUDE CARNALLITE. 


This substance represents the main bulk of the raw material 
which serves for the manufacture of the German concentrated 
potash salts. 

A handsome specimen of a superior quality of crude carnal- 
lite from the Douglashall mines, which has been kindly pre- 
sented to me, gave, on a careful examination, the subsequent 
analytical results :— 


Potassium oxide, . : ; é é ; : ; ? : 13.68 
Sodium oxide, : : F ; : : : ‘ F 7.66 
Magnesium oxide, - - : A : - - : ; 13.19 
Calcium oxide (lime), . - : - - : : . - none. 
Sesquioxide ofiron, . : : ; . : 7 7 : 0.04 
Chlorine, : - : ‘ ‘ : : : ‘ : : 41.56 
Sulphuric acid, . : ; ; ; ; . 5 : ; 0.56 


The saline mass consisted, therefore, mainly of,— 


Chloride of potassium, . - : : : : : 21.65 per cent. 
« of magnesium, . : - : : . SULGG 85 5 
= ofsodium, . ‘ : : : : ; 113 oto) weet 
Sulphate of magnesia, . : 2 , : : e 0.845 2 


and contained thus 80 to 81 per cent. of genuine carnallite. 
The average of the crude carnallite at present sold to the 
factories is stated to contain but 66 per cent. of that com- 
pound. 


302 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 


Ashes of the Hulls of Cotton-Seed. 


Potassium oxide, . : ‘ ; ‘ : é 3 ; 5 Dou 
Phosphoric acid, . : 9 3 : : - 4 : é 7.88 
Calcium oxide (lime), . : : : . : j . : 5.60 
Magnesia, . , : : 5 ‘ ‘ : ; : ° 4.43 
Insoluble matter, . : : ‘ F : ; . j F 7.10 
Moisture, : ; ‘ ; : A : ; ; j 26.81 
Carbonic acid, oxide of iron, ete., : ; ; , : : - 


The sample of ashes which furnished the material for the 
above-stated analytical results, was sent me by a farmer in 
our vicinity, with the request to give my opinion in regard to 
its commercial value. My analytical results do not corre- 
spond with those published by good authority with reference 
to the composition of the ashes of the hulls of cotton-seed. 

Prof. H. C. White, of Georgia, who has given us during 
the past year a valuable report “On the complete analysis of 
the cotton-plant,” states that the ashes of the hulls of the 
cotton-seed contained 14 per cent. of potassium oxide, and 7 
per cent. of phosphoric acid. My results correspond more 
closely with those obtained from the ash of the roots of that 
plant. 

The commercial value of ashes of the above-stated com- 
position, would be, in the retail trade with us, from $40 to 
$42 per ton of 2,000 pounds, allowing five cents per 
pound of phosphoric acid and eight cents per pound of potas- 
sium oxide. 

Fertilizer dealers, as a rule, do not yet furnish for less 
money the constituents of the ash, phosphoric acid and potash 
in particular, in an equally valuable form. 

The farmer who buys this ash as a special fertilizer for his 
fields, shows better judgment than the one who sends it habit- 
ually into the general market, as a product of his special 
agricultural industry, without feeling sure that he can replace 
in a more economical way its main constituents. 

The waste material of any farm crop, as a general rule, 
pays best when turned to account upon the same field which 
served for its production. 

This is still more true in case of industrial crops, where a 
frequent reproduction of the same crop becomes a leading 
feature of the entire farm management. 


THE GUANO OF COMMERCE. ° 303 


PERUVIAN GUANO. 


The samples of Peruvian guano which have been subjected 
to an examination during the past year, were taken at differ- 
ent periods of the season, and in different sections of the 
State. Nos. I. and II. were offered for sale in the month of 
April by dealers in Boston, and Nos. II. and IV. in June by 
parties in Worcester. 


Raw PERUVIAN GUANO. 


I. 1 
Phosphoric acid, . : : “ 5 F 16.40 16.39 
Nitrogen, ; 5 : : . : . 9.52 9.39 
Potassium Oxide,  < . : : 2.38 2.32 
Insoluble matter (sand, ete.), : : 5 1.60 2.20 


The analytical results prove that both specimens are of a 
good quality, and apparently from one and the same cargo— 
Guanape guano. 


No. I. 
iy Valuation. 
328.0 pounds of phosphoric acid, . 5 : - | ,. $32 80 per ton. 
190.4 SS OLmiino tens ee : : 47 60 
47.6 & of potassium oxide, : . : . eto] 0) ee ke 
Total, ; : ; : : 3 : } oye 210) Co 


No. If. 

| Valua ion. 
327.8 pounds of phosphoric acid, . 4 : : $32 78 per ton. 
187.8 “ of nitrogen, : ; : : : AG 95 ise 
46.4 che tO) potassium oxitle, ‘ : ‘ Sealy ee 
Total, . : , : ‘ i e 4 ” $83 44 % & 


304 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 


IEE. Iv. 
Total phosphoric acid, . : : : : 15.50 16.40 
Nitrogen, : ; : : : - 9.22 5.61 
Potassium oxide, . : 1.60 1.75 
Insoluble matter (sand, ete. ye 7.64 9.20 


a EE SD 


No. Kit. 

Valuation. 
310.0 pounds of phosphoric acid, . ; ; 5 $31 00 per ton. 
104.4 “of nitrogen, . : : : é ; PA OG 
32.0 “of potassium oxide, . : : : 2) BO) Sa oes 
otal ys. : ; p : ‘ ‘ ; 5 ey a 


eS EE A CE A EE SE ERE TEE DE 


No. IV. 

Valuation. 
328.0 pounds of phosphoric acid, . : - ¢ $32 80 per ton. 
112.2 “ of nitrogen,. 5 : k . 2 PAs} (V5) oe 
35.0 “ of potassium oxide, . : : . 2 80.7 re 
Hotals ; : : . : : : : $63 65 “ * 


——_————— 


The samples Nos. III. and IV. contain about 4 per cent. 
of nitrogen less than the preceding ones (I. and II.) ; they 
differ, consequently, in regard to their commercial value, from 
$20 to $24 per ton from the former. 

The frequent occurrence of similar results, in reference to 
the chemical composition of the raw Peruvian guano in many 
other countries, has been stated on a former occasion. 

In my last report I discussed, as I believe with fairness, 
the unsatisfactory condition of our trade regarding this re- 
puted standard fertilizer ; pointing out at the same time some 
of the means, by which the just wishes of the farming com- 
munity might be satisfied. 


SALE OF PERUVIAN GUANO. 305 


It is gratifying to be able to state here, that during the past 
year quite important changes have been inaugurated, on the 
part of the consignees of the Peruvian government for the 
United States,—Messrs. Hobson, Hurtado & Co., of New 
York City,—which promise, if intelligently carried out as far 
as practicable, to meet better the requirements of rational 
agriculture, and to reéstablish on a firmer basis the claim of 
the Peruvian guano as being the leading standard fertilizer, 
in regard to the ammoniated phosphates. In consequence of 
these changes, there will be the following distinction hence- 
forth in our guano trade :— 


A. Raw genuine Peruvian guano; and 
B. Rectified genuine Peruvian guano. 


Both kinds will be sold at the general office in New York, 
and, through agents, I presume elsewhere. 


A.—RawWw GENUINE PERUVIAN GUANO. 

The price of this article, which refers to the crude imported 
fertilizer, will be, until further notice is given, $60 currency 
per ton of 2,240 pounds gross weight, with a guarantee of 
8.24 per cent. of nitrogen, or 10 per cent. of actual and 
potential ammonia. 

I am informed that the consignees intend to raise the value 
of all inferior guanos, by mixing them with superior ones, 
before they enter our market. 

The following circular, which has been issued during the 
past season, for the information of dealers, gives some definite 
notion regarding the rate of discount given to the trade. 


New York, May 1, 1875. 
Sirs :—We beg to inform you, that until farther notice is given, 
Peruvian guano will be sold at the following prices, in currency per 
ton of 2,240 pounds, gross weight, at the time of delivery :— 


From 10 tons to 25 tons, at . : : : : $60 00 per ton. 
$6 25 © "50 a : ; : : - 59 50 as 
¢ 50 ato ff : A : : : 59 00 gs 
a 75 * 100 ss ; , : : : 58 50 $¢ 
«100 > 150 as ! : : : : 58 00 ‘ 
aire) ee 1200 : ; 5 : - 57 50 « 
se 200 ae 25) cs : : - : , 57 00 se 


39 


306 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 


From 275 tons to 350 tons, at : : é : $56 50 per ton. 
ae 350 “450 Se ys - 4 5 5 56 25 oG 
ee 450 an (3) ee, : : : 5 56 00 ee 
y 575 se TOO) oar. 5 : 5 : 55 75 « 
iu 700 “850 SAY : : : : 55 50 "5 
3 850 * 1,000 sad tie : ' : : 55 25 & 
For 1,000 tons, ; , ‘ ; : : ; 55 00 oe 


The same return will be made to purchasers at the end of the 
season (that is to say, in June and December) on the quantity pur- 
chased by each party during the preceding six months, as if the 
entire amount bought had been taken at one and the same time. 

Trusting that so great a reduction in the price of guano, and the 
advantageous terms upon which it is now offered for sale, will enable 
you to increase your orders, 


We remain, etc., etc., 


‘ Hosgson, Hurrapvo & Co. 


To sell raw Peruvian guano, with a guarantee of 10 per 
cent. of ammonia, or 8.24 per cent. of nitrogen, and from 15 
to 16 per cent. of phosphoric acid, at the above price, would 
make it again one of the cheapest and best imported fertilizers. 


B.—RECTIFIED GENUINE PERUVIAN GUANO. 


A ‘still more important change in our fertilizer trade, 
however, is the introduction of the rectified Peruvian guano, 
which is essentially the same article spoken of in my last 
report as the soluble Peruvian guano of Ohlendorff & Co., of 
Hamburg, Germany. 

A few facts regarding the origin of this new fertilizer may 
serve as an introduction to: the subsequent discussions con- 
cerning the rectified Peruvian guano of Messrs. Hobson, 
‘Hurtado & Co., of New York City. 

The Peruvian guano was noticed, for several years after its 
first introduction into the markets of Europe (1840 to 1845), 
to be of a quite uniform quality ; in the course of time, how- 
ever, variations in composition became more frequent. 
Admixtures of stones, pieces of granite from the underlying 
rocks, and sand from beach washings, pointing towards an 
exhaustion of some of the guano deposits then worked, 


RECTIFIED PERUVIAN GUANO. 307 


increased to such an extent at times, as to seriously depre- 
ciate the commercial value of the material. On the other 
hand, not unfrequently, entire cargoes, or parts of them, 
became damaged by sea-water. Both circumstances worked 
towards the same end; they furnished, although screening 
and drying as far as practicable had been resorted to, the 
trade with inferior qualities of genuine Peruvian guano. To 
save the reputation of their business, the agents of the Peru- 
vian Government, in Germany (Messrs. G. D. Mutzenbach & 
Sons), were induced in 1864, to cease selling these inferior 
guanos at a general auction to the highest bidder, which had 
been their previous mode of disposing of them, for it offered 
unusual chances for fraudulent practices, and affected thereby 
seriously their interests. 

These guanos were, henceforth, only to be sold at lower 
‘ates, with a full statement of their character, either directly 
to farmers or to those dealers, who had no privilege to sell 
the genuine Peruvian guano; they served in the latter case 
usually as.stock for the manufacture of artificial fertilizers of 
various descriptions. 

Messrs. Ohlendorff & Co., of Hamburg, who at this stage 
in the history of the guano trade were largely engaged in 
drying the guanos damaged by sea-water, decided to adopt 
the course recommended to them by Dr. Meyn and other 
agricultural chemists ; namely, to treat the damaged material 
with sulphuric acid, and to produce thereby an efficient new 
fertilizer. 

The results of their experiments were subsequently intro- 
duced to the farmers of Germany by the name of Ohlendorf?’s 
soluble Peruvian guano. 

The process of its manufacture, as at first carried out, may 
be described as follows: the moist Peruvian guano is dried at 
from 75° to 100° (Centigrade) in suitable stoves, and the 
dried mass, after grinding and screening, treated, in large 
cemented brick tanks, with concentrated sulphuric acid 
(66° B.), taking for every one hundred pounds of Peruvian 
guano, from twenty to twenty-two pounds of the acid. 

The well-mixed mass was subsequently discharged upon a 
tight floor to dry; and after weeks of curing, ground into a 


oho) 
fine powder, to allow a uniform distribution within the soil. 


308 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 


The main reactions of the sulphuric acid consist in the 
following :— 

(a.) The free ammonia and the volatile ammonia compounds 
are changed into non-volatile sulphate of ammonia. The 
active ammonia is also somewhat increased at the expense 
of the urates, ete. 

(6.) The insoluble bone phosphate is turned into a soluble 
phosphate ; and ; 

(c.) The chlorides present are changed into sulphates. 

The new fertilizer, in consequence of the good care be- 
stowed upon its manufacture, met with unusual favor. As 
soon as the damaged articles were disposed of, genuine good 
guanos were subjected to the same treatment. F 

The changeable character of the Guanape and other kinds 
of guanos, which at that period began to take the place of the 
reputed Chincha Islands guano of an earlier date, rendered 
this proceeding still more judicious. 

The annual consumption of the soluble Peruvian guano 
soon increased rapidly, at the expense of the raw material. 

It is a generally conceded fact, that the large annual con- 
sumption of Peruvian guano in Germany, which amounted to 
80,000 tons in 1870, is mainly due to the introduction of the 
soluble article. Our home consumption is reported to be 
from 25,000 to 30,000 tons per year, and to have, of late, 
fallen off, rather than increased. 

There are two circumstances in particular, which render 
advisable the substitution of the new form of the Peruvian 
guano in place of the raw material. 

First. The chemical composition of the new fertilizer can 
be readily brought to a uniform one, and the guarantee of a 
definite percentage of nitrogen protected against evaporation 
and of phosphoric acid soluble in water, renders its use more 
“safe as compared with the raw genuine but changeable 
article ; and 

Second. The superior mechanical condition of the soluble 
or rectified guano, on account of the repeated grinding and 
screening in course of its manufacture, favors in an unusual 
degree its uniform distribution throughout the soil. 

Judging from the experience of the past, it is quite safe to 
assume that the introduction of a reliable soluble or rectified 


COMPOSITION OF RECTIFIED GUANO. — 309 


Peruvian guano into our markets, will eventually not only 
pecuniarily benefit both the manufacturers and the consumers, 
but for obvious reasons also exert a beneficial influence on the 
character of the entire trade in fertilizers. 

I visited the works of Messrs. Hobson, Hurtado & Co., in 
Brooklyn, during the month of August, and saw their arrange- 
ments for the manufacture of the rectified Peruvian guano. 

The entire management is under the direction of an ex- 
perienced chemical engineer. 

The following analytical results were obtained from a 
sample taken from a ton ordered by Pres. W. 8. Clark of the 
Massachusetts Agricultural College for experimental purposes 
on his private grounds. It is but fair to state, that it came 
from one of the first lots manufactured. 


RECTIFIED PERUVIAN GUANO. 
Manufactured by Messrs. Hobson, Hurtado & Co., of New York City. 


Found. Represented. 
Total phosphoric acid, . , . : : : 12.60 ~ 
Soluble “ : : : : F 10.55 10.50 
Reduced <“ cc 2() = 
Insoluble * ck 85 ~ 


1 

0 

Total nitrogen, - . 9 

Being found present as ‘actual ammonia, : ‘{ 6.80 '} 10.50 
And ‘potential ammonia, ‘ é é -\l 406 | : 
Potassium oxide, . ; : ‘ ‘ é 1 

Moisture, . F ; ; F 2 : ; 14. 


RECTIFIED PERUVIAN GUANO. 


[Valuation per ton of 2,000 pounds. | 


211.0 pounds soluble phosphoric acid, . ‘ p F - $26 34 
24.0 « reduced “ os : ‘ ; ; : 2 40 
17.0 * insoluble “ “ : A : A : 0 85 

187.2 <= ‘nitrogen,  : . 7 : ; : : : 46 75 
39.8 * potassium oxide, . 2 : ; : 5 : 3 14 

Total, . : 5 : : : ; : , ‘ $79 48 


One ton of 2,000 pounds of this fertilizer is offered for sale 
at $60 currency. The mechanical condition of the article 
was good,—being of a dry, pulverulent form, it was fit for 
immediate application. + 


310 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 


The rectified Peruvian guano, like all other concentrated 
soluble fertilizers, ought to be mixed with three or four times 
its bulk of earth before being applied to plants. 

It is the intention of the manufacturers of this new fertilizer 
to place, before long, a second kind of rectified Peruvian 
guano in our markets, which shall be guaranteed with 15 
per cent. of soluble phosphoric acid, and but 5 per cent. of 
nitrogen. 

Raw guanos, like those described above as Nos. III. or IV., 
furnished suitable material for that contemplated brand, 
which evidently is calculated to enter into a closer competition 
with the largest bulk of our commercial fertilizers, the 
ammoniated superphosphates. 

None familiar with the subject under discussion can fail to 
recognize that Messrs. Hobson, Hurtado & Co., in establish- 
ing their trade on a more satisfactory basis by guaranteeing a 
definite composition, and thus rendering ascertainable the exact 
commercial value of their fertilizer, are presenting an unusu- 
ally strong claim for a fair share of future patronage on the 
part of our farming community. 

In calling attention to this fact, I intended, by no means, 
to state, that the rectified Peruvian guano may be considered 
a universal manure; @. €., & manure which furnishes all the 
essential elements for plant-growth. To secure the full 
benefit of both kinds of Peruvian guano, requires, not unfre- 
quently, the addition of other fertilizing materials to supple- 
ment the natural resources of the soil, and thereby render the 
latter capable of supplying efficiently the periodical special 
wants of the plants under cultivation. Both contain, mainly, 
nitrogen, phosphoric acid and lime, besides some small pér- 
centage of potassa and magnesia. 

The rectified guano contains the main portion of the phos- 
phoric acid in a very soluble form; and most of its lime, in 
consequence of the addition of sulphuric acid it received for 
its production from the raw material, is present as sulphate 
of lime or gypsum; otherwise, there is but little difference 
between the two, as far as the essential features of fertilizers 
are concerned. ‘The rectified guano, being the more soluble 
of the two, acts quicker, and may therefore be more safely 
applied for spring manuring and top-dressing. 


APPLICATION FOR SPECIAL CROPS. 311 


Prof. A. Stockhardt, the distinguished agricultural chemist 
of Tharandt, kingdom of Saxony, who, for years, has studied 
the agricultural experiments with the new guano fertilizers, 
recommends the following admixtures for various farm crops : 


B Sree On a 2 As So 
& - (ya) lee || Re is eS 
: S Rasa So aw | Og ome 
ee = Smee 28. | oe eae 
as : Ba & re SO Se ces 
35 g Sac a a | | eee 
8 8 shea |le oS) |. a ames 
For rape and wintercereals, 100 100 - = 20 
Summer cereals, ete., : 100 - 40 = 20 
Potatoes, cabbage, etc., . 100 - 50 40 40 
Turnips, fodder, beets, . 100 = 75 - 50 
Sugar-beets, hops and to- 
bacco, . ‘ é . 100 - 3) 50 = 
Leguminous plants, grass, 
clover, ete., . : : 100 - 100 ~ 40 


From 300 to 400 pounds of the mixtures is usually applied 
per acre. Any additional amount of lime, which may be 
very desirable, for instance, in case of tobacco, beans, pease, 
clover, etc., ought to be applied at a time remote from that 
of the application of the guano. 

Manuring with burnt Ime or marl, as a general rule, 
produces the best results, when carried on during the fall 
preceding the cultivation of the crops, which feed largely 
upon lime; for the special wants of lime and magnesia are, 
in consequence of a favorable distribution, more effectually 
furnished ; the latent resources of the soil are rendered avail- 
able sooner, in consequence of an increased disintegration of 
various organic and inorganic soil-constituents during the 
winter season; and finally the lime becomes thoroughly incor- 
porated into the soil, which prevents its powerful reaction, 
on the ammoniacal compounds in guano and similar fertilizers, 
causing the ammonia to escape into the air. 

The rectified guano deserves the particular attention of 
gardeners and florists, on account of its fitness for liquid 
manuring. 

The following composition is highly indorsed as an efficient, 
complete liquid manure: 100 quarts of water, 2 pounds of 


312 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 


. 
rectified guano, 4 pounds of a pure bone superphosphate, 
containing from 9 to 10 per cent. of soluble phosphoric acid ; 
and 2 pounds of muriate of potash, containing 80 per cent. ; 
this mixture is, soon after,a good stirring, fit for use. 


FisH GUANO. 


The statistical statements in my previous reports, regarding 
the extent of the business transactions of the Menhaden Oil 
and Guano Association, which represents most of the fish-ren- 
dering establishments along the Atlantic Coast, from New 
Jersey to Canada, cannot fail to demonstrate the unusual 
importance of the fish refuse from that source for agricultural 
purposes. 

Their official report of 1874 stated the production of fish 
guano to be somewhat above 50,900 tons; during the past 
year it amounted to 53,625 tons. These figures, I presume, 
refer to the crude stock, containing from 50 to 55 per cent. of 
moisture. Adding to this amount the large quantity of fresh 
fish used by farmers near the sea-shore, which, as a general 
rule, is not referred to in our market records, it becomes 
evident that the money value represented in our fish ferti- 
lizers, even at the ordinary commercial rates, is second to 
none of the crude stock of our leading commercial fertilizers. 

The comparative cheapness of the fish pomace in its crude 
state, as it comes from the press, has caused its present 
extensive application as nitrogenous animal matter for the 
manufacture of the main bulk of our home-made fertilizers— 
the ammoniated superphosphates. 

An exceptional low price of nitrogen- furnishing substances, * 
as well as the high premium on gold during the past season, 
has favored various attempts to export the menhaden fish refuse 
in bulk to England. The material being carefully packed, 
arrived in good condition, and brought, it is stated, in case 
of a guarantee of 6 to 6.5 per cent. of ammonia (= from 5 to 
5.35 per cent. of nitrogen), fourteen dollars per ton. 

Whatever credit we may feel obliged to accord to that 


* Sulphate of ammonia, which not long ago sold at 54 to 5 cents per pound, has 
been of late offered at from 44 to 4 cents per pound, in quantities not less than a ton; 
and with a guarantee of 25 per cent. of ammonia (= 20.6 per cent. of nitrogen), making 
the price of nitrogen 20.6 cents per pound. 


GRADES OF FISH REFUSE. 313 


enterprise from a general commercial stand-point, we can but 
deplore, in the interest of the development of our agricultural 
industry, the exportation of one of our most valuable home 
resources of nitrogenous-phosphatic fertilizers, as long as we 
import Peruvian guano, Chili saltpetre and rock phosphates, 
at comparatively much higher rates for agricultural purposes. * 

Recognizing the serious consequences of this tendency in 
our fertilizer trade, it seems but proper for agriculturists to 
inquire into the cause or causes which threaten to deprive us 
of a valuable and cheap home fertilizing material like fish. 

Asa short discussion of the present condition of the fish 
fertilizers at home and abroad may aid in rendering more 
prominent the agricultural interests involved in the manufact- 
ure of a good fish guano, I propose to present subsequently 
a few statements bearing upon that question. 

The fish refuse enters our market in three different condi- 
tions: jirst, as crude stock, with about 50 to 55 per cent. of 
moisture, which during late years has sold at the works from 
$9 to $12 per ton; second, as fish scraps in a partly dried 
state, varying in moisture from 20 to 40 per cent., selling 
from $15 to $18 per ton; and ¢hzrd, as fish guano, containing 
from 8 to 20 per cent. of moisture, selling from $35 to $40 
per ton. 

For illustrations regarding these figures, I refer to my first 
official report,—of 1873-4. I stated on that occasion that 
the line of distinction between fish scraps and fish guano is 
not unfrequently too loosely drawn to prove equally accepta- 
ble to dealers and consumers. 

The unusual variations in moisture, and the generally infe- 
rior mechanical conditions of our fish guano, are no doubt 
some of the main objectionable features which have prevented 
thus far a more extensive call for our fish refuse as an inde- 
pendent fertilizer, and compelled dealers, it appears, to look 
for foreign markets. 

My attention during the past season has been directed 
mainly to the condition of the fish guano ; for fresh fish scraps, 


* Counting the nitrogen (5 per cent.) at 20 cents per pound, it alone would be worth 
to us $20 per ton of fish refuse. The latter also contains from 4 to 5 per cent. of 
valuable phosphoric acid, thus giving it an additional value of from #4 to $d per 
ton, at present rates. 


40 


314 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 


on account of their low price, do not come under the control 
of the law for the inspection of fertilizers. 


I.—FIsH GUANO. 
(Geo. W. Miles’s Company, Milford, Conn.) 
Moisture at 100°-110° C., . : : : : : 17.50 per cent. 


Organic matter, . : , : : . : », 753.20 7: 
Ash-constituents, . : , ‘ ‘ ; a * 29.30 ue 
Phosphoric acid in ash, : . : , : 5 1.02 re 
Nitrogen in organic matter, : . 3 : ° 6.46 = 


Valuation per ton of 2,000 pounds. 


154.4 pounds of phosphoric acid, . ‘ 5 : : : $9 26 
129.2 o of nitrogen, . ‘ : : F : : : 3230 
$41 56 


This sample of dry, ground fish guano was of a finer mechan- 
ical condition than commonly noticed. This mass was, how- 
ever, of an unusual dark brown color, and of a strong, peculiar 
odor, apparently due to some overheating during its drying. 


II.—Dry Pure Fisu. 
(Sold by the Quinnipiac Fertilizer Co., New Haven, Conn.) 


Moisture at 100°-110° C., . : ; ; - 3 13.38 per cent. 
Organic matter, . 5 ; : : : . . 65.96 - 
Ash-constituents, . 4 : t 2 : : : 20.66 » 
Phosphoric acid in ash, : . ; ; : é 7 82 es 
Nitrogen in organic matter, : : - : ; 7.04 2 


Valuation per ton of 2,000 pounds. 


156.4 pounds phosphoric acid, . Phe : : ; ; $9 39 
140.8 “« . nitrogen, : : : . : : : - 30 20 
$44 59 


The article compared very well, as far as its mechanical con- 
dition and its chemical composition are concerned, with the 
better quality of that fertilizer offered for sale in our vicinity. 


Ill.—FineE GROUND FISH SCRAPS. 


Moisture at 100°-110° C., . : : 3 ‘ : 10.14 per cent. 
Organic matter, . F < A 2 ? . ; 69.01 ee 
Ash-constituents, . ‘ . ; : ; ; : 20.85 ae 


Phosphorit acid in ash, . he oy Mer : . 7.63 “ 
Nitrogen in organic matter, : . . : : 8.35 3 


VALUE OF FISH SCRAPS. 315 


Valuation per ton of 2,000 pounds. 


152.6 pounds phosphoric acid, . ; : . ; : 2 $9 16 
167.0 i nitrogen in organic matter, : : : : 41 75 
$50 91 


This material was handed to me for a special examination 
regarding its per cent. of nitrogen. The color, mechanical 
condition and chemical composition of the samples tested left 
no doubt about its superior fitness for fertilization. Mr. 
D. A. Horton, of North Hadley, had produced this guano by 
drying fish scraps sufficiently to enable their thorough grind- 
ing in a common mill to a fine, uniform powder of a light 
brown color. 


IV.—DriEp FIsH SCRAPS FROM BooTtH Bay, MAINE. 


Moisture at 100°-110° C., .. : : : : : 1).00 per cent. 
Organic matter, . P ; : ; : j 5 70.75 oe 
Ash-constituents, . A : ‘ S , ; ; 18.25 c 
Phosphoric acid in ash, ; : : ; : : 8.46 ee 
Nitrogen in organic matter, . : : 2 : : 8.14 uC 


Valuation per ton of 2,000 pounds. 


169.20 pounds of phosphoric acid, . ; - ; : : $10 15 
162.80 “of nitrogen, . ; . : : . : : 40 70 
$50 85 


The fish mass which served for this analysis had been col- 
lected by me ona late excursion to Booth Bay Harbor, Maine, 
for the purpose of studying the fish-rendering business in that 
locality. The adjoining towns, Booth Bay and Bristol, alone 
produced, according to the statements of Hon. S. L. Goodale, 
of Saco, during the year 1873, not less than 1,000,000 gal- 
lons of oil and 20,000 tons of fish scraps. The sample pre- 
viously reported was obtained at the chemical works under 
control of Mr. Goodale, where at that period large quantities 
of fresh scraps were delivered direct from the press of an ad- 
joining fish-rendering establishment. Jn adopting this conrse, 
I felt confident of having secured a fair chance to ascertain 
. ona reliable material the composition of well-rendered and 
carefully-dried menhaden fish. About one-third (3.3 parts) 
of the entire amount of phosphoric acid proved to be soluble 


316 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 


in citrate of ammonia. Ether abstracted at ordinary tempera- 
ture 18 per cent. more of a thick, highly-colored, oily mass. 
The following rules of rendering the fish were stated as being 
customary in the establishment above mentioned : the fish were 
boiled for about one-half to three-quarters of an hour, by 
means of steam of from 70 to 80 pounds’ pressure, in large 
wooden tanks with false bottoms; and subsequently, after the 
soup had been withdrawn, subjected to a pressure of about 
115 to 120 pounds per square inch. The fish mass, in conse- 
quence of its gelatinous condition, retains usually still from 
50 to 55 per cent. of moisture. In a large fish-rendering 
establishment near New York City, I noticed that the boiling 
of the fish was continued only 25 minutes, with steam of 50 
pounds’ pressure, and the rendered fish mass subsequently 
treated with 160 pounds’ pressure per square inch. 

The soup, which contains besides the oil more or less of the 
glue-producing, soluble nitrogenous matter of the flesh and 
the bones, is at present discharged after, by means of settling- 
tanks, the oil has been carefully removed. This practice 
causes a considerable waste of nitrogen. The yield of oil 
differs, often widely, even during the same season, being, it 
was stated, usually highest during autumn. The rendering 
begins usually in May or June, and closes late in the fall. 
The quality of the fish refuse in general, independent of its 
moisture and mechanical condition, depends quite naturally 
to a large extent on the fol:owing circumstances :— 


First. On the kind used, and whether entire or in part. 

Second. On the peculiar mode of rendering. 

Third. On the time when the fish are caught. 

Fourth. The course pursued in keeping and preparing the 
refuse for the general market. 


Each of these circumstances exerts an influence of its own 
on the composition of the fish guano. 

Judging from general appearances, but little attention is 
paid thus far to the first three conditions ; the influence of the 
last one is, more or less, fully understood, yet not satisfactorily 
controlled. A main difficulty, no doubt, arises from the 
irregular arrival of large quantities of fish at one time during 


REAL FISH GUANO. 317 


the season; and the means, which are at present usually 
employed to meet this difficulty, are, quite frequently, inade- 
quate to the demand. Many manufacturers of fish oil con- 
sider it, therefore, apparently a safer proceeding to dispose at 
once of their crude stock at low rates, than to run the risk 
any longer. Without questioning the soundness of their 
course of action, in case of limited pecuniary means, there 
seems to be no valid reason why improvements should cease 
here as long as it is daily demonstrated that it pays well to 
collect animal refuse matters from all over the country and to 
work them into valuable concentrated fertilizers. 

Nobody familiar with the nature of a good fish guano con- 
siders it less efficient for agricultural purposes, than any other 
animal refuse matter of a corresponding percentage of phos- 
phoric acid and nitrogen. In fact, all true guanos, the Peru- 
vian not excepted, owe their most valuable constituents, in a 
controlling degree, directly or indirectly to the fish. 

Our fish guano consists of the entire body of the man- 
haden fish, which has been deprived purposely, of its main 
portion of fat, and incidently, more or less completely of its 
soluble nitrogenous matter. The more the flesh predominates, 
the more the fat has been abstracted without the application 
of an excessive heat, as far as time and degree are concerned, 
the higher will be the commercial value of the residue of the 
press in case of an equal percentage of moisture. The flesh 
of the fish, like that of our domesticated animals, contains on 
an average 15 per cent. of nitrogen. The same close approx- 
imate relation exists between the bones and the textures of 
these otherwise widely differing classes of animals; for the 
fish-bones and the scales consist, mainly, of a varying quantity 
of cartilaginous (nitrogenous) matter and of (tricalcic phos- 
phate) bone phosphate. 

To produce a fish guano which contains in a given quantity 
the largest possible amount of nitrogen, must be the principal 
aim of the manufacturer. It brings the highest pecuniary 
compensation ; for one percentage of nitrogen is commercially 
equal to four per cent. of phosphoric acid. 

During the past, it is true, there has been little inducement 
for considerations of this kind on the part of the manufact- 
urer, because practically there has been scarcely any serious 


318 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 


discrimination on the part of the consumers regarding the 
exact relative chemical composition of the various fish guanos 
offered for sale. 

The future prospect of this branch of home industry 
depends, in an unusual degree, on the exertions which here- 
after shall be made, on the part of the manufacturers, to meet 
the present more exacting conditions of the trade in fertilizers. 

To derive any full benefit from the capital invested, renders 


it advisable, for all parties pecuniarily interested in the fish_ 


guano manufacture, to favor a closer scientific investigation 
into the changes, which the menhaden fish undergoes during 
the customary mode of rendering. 

Loss of nitrogenous matter, in consequence of misapplica- 
tion of heat, seems to be not always compensated for by an 
increase of the yield in oil. 

The latter, when left in the fish mass in an undue propor- 
tion, reduces, to say the least, the commercial value of the 
guano by adding a worthless matter, which may affect seriously 
the analytical results, as far as its percentage of nitrogen is 
concerned. To heat the fish to a higher temperature, or for 


a longer period of time than is required to secure the largest: 


possible amount of oil, reduces, invariably, the commercial 
value of the fish mass for agricultural purposes. A few sub- 
sequent analytical statements, regarding the composition of 
fish, and the degree of the changes which they may suffer by 
steaming and rendering, may serve as a practical illustration 
of my previous remarks. 

A well-dried and finely-ground fish guano is one of our 
best substitutes for Peruvian guano, and ranks equally high 
with the best quality of animal dust from our butcher refuse 
establishments. It deserves the liberal patronage of farmers 
wherever a rich nitrogenous phosphate is called for. 

I have shown in a previous report, that, as a general rule, 
the high grades of superphosphates are cheaper than our low 
grades ; the same rule applies to nitrogenous materials. 

The recent changes in our fertilizer trade tend to stimulate 
improvements in the modes of their manufacture, by rendering 
true merits prominent, which, as a natural consequence, secures 
a reliable patronage only to the best quality. We are not 
yet suffering from an overstocking of our fertilizer markets 


FISH GUANO IN EUROPE. 319 


on account of overproduction of home-made fertilizers ob- 
tained from suitable home resources. 

Millions of dollars are annually sent abroad still, for the 
importation of materials, which, in their crude form, are by no 
means better than what we have in abundance at home. 

The manufacture of fertilizers has become in the same 
degree an art, as agriculture itself has justly assumed the 
claim of being a science. 

The production of fish guano, although respectable already, 
as far as quantity is concerned, is thus far but incidental to 
the menhaden fish-rendering industry. 

It remains still an open question whether our resources for 
the manufacture of fish guano do not extend beyond that 
branch of industry. 

To furnish some material for consideration regarding that 
important topic, I propose to close this statement with a short 
sketch of the history and the present condition of the manu- 
facture of fish guano in Europe. 

At certain periods of the year, there are noticed along the 
coast of Sussex, Kent and Essex counties, in England, large 
quantities of little herrings ( Clupea sprattus) which for genera- 
tions have been used by farmers in that vicinity for fertilizing 
purposes. Messrs. Pettit and Green secured, in 1851-52, 
patents for the manufacture of fish guano from these fishes. 
Thompson and Way, who analyzed their product at different 
times, state the percentage of nitrogen respectively at 11.5 
per cent. and 13.83 per cent. 

The following course, it is stated, was adopted to produce 
that guano: the fishes are cut fine by suitable machines, 
after which they are treated with a few percentages of sul- 
phuric acid, and subsequently subjected to the efficient action 
of centrifugal apparatus for the removal of moisture. The pul- 
verulent mass resulting was subsequently dried under stirring 
with rakes upon a heated surface, and afterwards ground into 
a uniform fine powder. A. Stéckhardt, in whose labora- 
tory the changes which fresh fish undergoes by steaming— 
the usual treatment applied in our fish-rendering establish- 
ments—have been carefully studied, found that 100 parts of 
common herrings, subjected for one hour to the action of 
steam, furnished ultimately 24.6 parts of perfectly dry guano. 


320 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 


This guano contained 7.75 per cent. of nitrogen, whilst 4.18 
per cent. of the nitrogen of the fish was found in the soup. 
The fat in the soup amounted only to 1.10 per cent. ; 4 parts 
of the fish had produced 3.3 parts of soup. 

Our fish-rendering establishments discharge the soup. 
Manufacturers in Norway turn the latter to account for the 
manufacture of a low quality of glue, after the fat has been 
collected. 

The glue obtained contained from 7 to 8 percent. of nitrogen, 
and, after grinding, can be applied with advantage for fertil- 
izing purposes. 

Messrs. Demolen & Thurmeyssen introduced the fish guano 
manufacture into France about the same time, or shortly 
afterwards, as Pettit in England. Their establishments were 
situated at-Concarneau, in France, where a species of sardines 
is worked into guano. The composition of their articles is 
noted by Payen as containing 11.6 per cent. in nitrogen and 
10.3 per cent. of phosphoric acid. The fat in the guano 
amounted only to 2.5 per cent. Germany receives of late a 
large supply of excellent fish guano from establishments along 
the Baltic Sea, and also from the more northerly located 
Norwegian fisheries upon the Lofoten Islands. The Nor- 
wegian fish guano is derived from two sources: the head and 
the backs of the codfish (stockfish), and also from the flesh 
and the bones of the polar fish. The guano from the first- 
named source is at present so highly improved that the manu- 
facturers are enabled to guarantee from 11 to 12 per cent. of 
nitrogen, and from 5 to 6 per cent. of phosphoric acid. In 
1870 the average composition did not differ much, as a general 
rule, from 8 per cent. of nitrogen and 12.8 per cent. of phos- 
phoric acid ; commercially considered, a difference of $10 per 
ton in favor of the former. The polar fish or whale guano is 
obtained from the rendered flesh and bones of the entire 
whale. 

The composition of the whale guano is guaranteed to be 8 
per cent. of nitrogen and 12 per cent. of phosphoric acid. 

The following analytical results of A. Stéckhardt, regarding 
the composition of the flesh and the bones of the whale, may 
not be without interest in this connection :— 


GUANO FROM THE WHALE. 321 


J.—FLESH OF THE WHALE. 


as Ae = i 
a bB ae 
R | 3s2z| 8a 
Water, . ‘ ; : ; : : : 44.50 - - 
Fat, . : : : : : : : 22.81 40.70 - 
Flesh, : ’ : : - 32.10 | 57.44 96.80 
Mineral constituents s (ash), : : : ; 1.04 1.86 3.20 
Nitrogen, : : j : ; 4.86 8.68 14.60 
IJ].—STEAMED BONES OF THE WHALE. 
Water, ; ; . 93.84 percent. 
Cartilaginous mass (glue) 34.60 “ =(3.5 per cent nitrogen.) 
Fat, . - esa 7S 
Bone phosphate of lime, -. 57.66 ~ “ (25.66 perct. phosphoric acid.) 
Carbonate of lime, . eto eee 


The most remarkable enterprise in this direction, of a quite 
recent date (1870-1873), is the establishment of fish guano 
works on the Norwegian-Russian border,—70° north latitude, 
—by Captain Svend Foyn. The latter is working the refuse 
from his whale rendering establishments into a fertilizer ; his 
calculation is based on the material annually obtained from 
40 to 50 whales. 

The entire result of his guano operations have been secured 
by Mr. Meinert, of Saxony, who has been for years success- 
fully engaged in improving the quality of the fish guano from 
the extensive fisheries of northern Europe. A whale, accord- 
ing to Captain Svend Foyn, weighs on an average 230,000 
pounds (115 tons) ; each fish furnishes about 80,000 pounds 
of fat, several hundred pounds of whalebone, and 100,000 
pounds raw stock for fish guano; fifty whales are expected to 
produce 2,500 tons of the latter, containing 8 per cent. of 
nitrogen and 12 per cent. of phosphoric acid. 

In view of the various sources of fish refuse turned to 
account elsewhere, and knowing that almost every kind of 
fish will furnish suitable material for the manufacture of guano, 
it seems but proper to ask whether our resources for the 

41 


322 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 


manufacture of a valuable fish guano, have been already 
turned to account to their full extent. 

The interesting statistical statements regarding this question, 
contained in an excellent report of Hon. S. L. Goodale, of 
Saco, Maine,—* Our Fish Fertilizers,” 1863,—and the valua- 
«ble communications of an earlier date of Prof. S. W. Johnson, 
of New Haven, Conn., on the manufacture and quality of fish 
guano in Europe, have not yet received that careful consider- 
ation which they deserve. 


Abstract from the Annual Report of the 12th of January, 1876, of the 
United Stales Menhaden Oil and Guano Association for the year 1874 
to 1875. 


Number fish caught in 1874,* . : : ; ; ‘ 492,878,000 
a: % cs bm key, oe Z ; : : ‘ 563,327,000 


Increase in fish in 1875, : ‘ ‘ ‘ ; : 70,449,000 


Amount of fish guano made in 1874, . : : é . 60,976 tons. 
£ és re Sy : ‘ : a bRYRYS. 
Oil manufactured in 1874, . 5 ‘ ; ‘ . 98,372,847 gallons. 
ss « ral, They, 2 : ; ; ‘ SEO OIRaS Cee 
Decrease in oil made in 1875, ‘ ‘ : - 691,360 gallons. 
Oil on hand at the close of 1874, E : : . 640,000 gallons. 


6c ce 6 6 of 1875, : . 6 . 125,000 = 


Guano on hand at the close of 1874, . ‘ j ‘ : 5,200 tons, 


5 ft ae sO SOL ABT Ds note , : A 1,850 *“ 
Number of men employed in 1874, _ . : : : : : 2,438 
“ . is in 1875, . ; ‘ : P ‘ 2,633 
Number of sailing vessels employed in 1874, . : : - 283 
ce % et se in LS 9 Og ae : ; , 304 
Number of steam vessels employed in 1874, __.. 5 . . 25 
ee cg es « in 1875, . : : - 39 
Number of factories in 1874, ‘ ‘ : ‘ : . : 64 
oe @ in 1875, : . - - - - ; 60 


Amount of capital invested in 1874, . é : : - $2,500,000 00 
“ & « in lib. - : ‘ ‘ . 2,650,000 00 


* 1874,—1,642,927 barrels of fish; 1875,—1,877,676 barrels of fish. 


THE BRIGHTON FERTILIZER. 823 


‘The stock on hand is much less than has been known at this 
season for several years, the demand being beyond the supply. 
Within the past month some 4,000 tons of guano have been shipped 
to England, where a large demand is springing up, as the result of 
some small experimental shipments made last year. The West 
India trade is also increasing. The stock on hand is so small, and 
the demand for oil and guano has increased so much, that an advance 
in the price of both products is confidently looked for the coming 
season.” 


J.—ANm™AL Dust. 
(Manufactured by Messrs. Chas. H. North & Co., Boston, Mass.) 


Volatile and animal organic matter, . : : : 79.10 per cent. 
Ash-constituents, .~ . : : : ; : : 20.90 ee 
Total phosphoric acid in ash, . 5 : : : : Seas” BME 
Total nitrogen in animal matter, . : : F d ak 
Moisture, ; - c F ‘ ‘ A ; 28.09 “c 


Valuation per ton of 2,000 pounds. 


164 00 pounds of phosphoric acid in ash, : e : ‘ - $9 84 
121.80 “ of nitrogen in animal matter, . 5 : : . 380 45 
$40 29 


The mechanical condition of the material was very good, 
and its relative proportion of nitrogen and phosphoric acid 
that of a rich nitrogenous phosphate. 

Animal dust, like all animal matter, requires a certain state 
of dryness to retain its composition unimpaired ; for it soon 
begins to mould and to lose nitrogen in the form of ammonia. 

The sole objection which could be justly raised against the 
above stated article consists in the fact that it will be very apt 
in case of keeping to depreciate seriously in composition on 
account of its unusually large percentage of moisture,—from 
8 to 10 per cent. of the latter is a safer condition. 


IJ.—ACIDULATED BRIGHTON ANIMAL DUST. 


(Messrs. Jackson & Bowker, Boston, Mass.) 


Total phosphoric acid, ; : : 7 . - 7.24 per cent. 
Soluble és ss stints : : - - 6.08 ee 
Reduced “ ee 3 ° : eee 3 0.84 ae 
Insoluble <«“ a é ; : : : : 0.32 se 
Nitrogen, . : : : : : - 5 . 4.93 « 


Moisture, ; : ; x - A 4 ; H 20.83 « 


324 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 


Valuation per ton of 2,000 pounds. 


121.6 pounds of solubie phosphoric acid, . : ; ; . $15 20 

16.8 “ of reduced $6 ot aaa . ; 5 : 1 68 

6.4 “ of insoluble ,_, ‘ Cath 3 : 5 : 39 

98.6 “of nitrogen a tes : : : : 24 65 
$41 92 * 


This article was in a good mechanical condition; it had 
been manufactured ‘for the special use of those who desired a 
more speedy action, than the animal dust, in its genuine or 
original condition, would accomplish. 

On a previous occasion, I pointed out the valuable proper- 
ties of this class of animal fertilizers when carefully prepared ; 
yet it appears, from communications received, that here and 
there complaints have been raised regarding their merits as 
manures. Many of these unsatisfactory results may be 
traced, no doubt, to a faulty mode of application. It is quite 
frequently the practice among our farmers to apply their 
fertilizers too late in the season to render possible any decisive 
influence on the crops of the first year. 

The spring, in this section of the country is, comparatively 
speaking, very short. 

Coarse, and, for the larger part, insoluble manurial matters, 
cannot disintegrate sufficiently within a few weeks to permit 
an advantageous diffusion throughout that body of the soil 
upon which the coming crops are to feed. Animal dust, as a 
general rule, if not applied late in the fall, ought to be com- 
posted at least a few weeks before it is incorporated in the 
soil. A second cause of unsatisfactory results is apparently 
due to the quite common practice of placing more or less of 
the fertilizer in bulk, without any other further preparation, 
near the seeds. This mode of using fertilizers is only safe 
when the fertilizer is sufficiently diluted to prevent a serious 
reaction on the young plant. Our old-fashioned, diluted com- 
mercial fertilizers could be used without any farther manipula- 
tion, in many instances, with but little risk; the better class 
of our concentrated soluble commercial fertilizers of the 
present day, ought never to be applied in their genuine con- 
dition directly to the seed; it is essential for success that 
they be mixed previously with at least three or four times 


OBJECT OF MANURING. 325 


their weights of common soil; in case of saline fertilizers, as 
German potash salts, larger quantities of soil are recom- 
mendable. 

The main object of manuring ought to be to diffuse the 
soluble plant-food throughout the entire body of the soil upon 
which the crops shall feed. The physical condition of the 
soil, the kind of crop to be raised, and the character of the 
fertilizer to be applied, ought to be carefully consulted 
regarding the most suitable time for manuring. We aim 
manifestly at the manuring of the soil, and not that of the 
seed; to accomplish the first purpose is essential for success ; 
to attempt the latter, requires, to say the least, a careful 
management. 

Decaying animal and vegetable matters are rather the home 
of the parasites than of farm plants ; the latter will only 
benefit from their presence in the same degree as they are 
resolved again into those simple compounds which are known 
as essential elements of plant-food; namely, carbonic acid, 
phosphoric acid, potassa, ete. 

There can be no doubt but that a little better attention to 
the points previously discussed will soon reéstablish in our 
mixed system of farming the well-deserved reputation of 
animal fertilizers like animal dust. 

A more liberal patronage would indirectly benefit our agri- 
cultural interests by counteracting a late commercial move- 
ment, which seems rather increasing than decreasing ; namely, 
to export our butcher refuse material as crude stock to 
England at a lower price, if I am correctly informed, than 
our farmers could afford and would be willing to pay. 


NITRATE OF Sopa (Chili Saltpetre). 


I In. 
Nitrie acid, . : P ; : : , ; . | 61.60 | 61.60 
Sodium oxide, F ; F F é : s : 35.50 ~ 
Chlorine, j : : ; ‘ ‘ ; : : 0.33 0.360 
Sulphuric acid, . - : ; - 3 - 0.17 0.082 
Magnesia, . : : “erp ; ; ; ' 0.01 - 
Lime, . ; : E ‘ F ‘ : , ; 0.11 - 
Moisture, : : : : : : : 4 : 2.28 2.50 


326 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 


Sample No. I. was collected from a Boston dealer, and 
No. II. from a farmer in Mansfield, Massachusetts; both 
proved, according to the above-stated analyses, to be of a very 
good kind. A good average quality of Chili saltpetre con- 
tains 95 per cent. of pure nitrate of soda, and sold during 
the past year for from 44 to 4 cents per pound. The price 
of nitrogen in the form of Chili saltpetre has been about 25 
cents per pound during the past year. The reputation of the 
Chili saltpetre as an efficient source of nitrogen for top-dress- 
ing, or for late spring application, in case of soils rich in 
phosphates, is steadily gaining ground. It acts, as a general 
rule, best in dry seasons, which is partly ascribable to the fact 
that it increases the hydroscopic qualities of the soil. 


DRIED BLoop. 


Moisture, : ; 6 : ; : ‘ : ‘ : ; 15.89 
Nitrogen, ; : : ; : : ° : 5 ; . 7.80 
(Equal to 9.5 per cent. of ammonia.) 


The sample tested had apparently suffered from an excessive 
heat during the process of drying. A carefully dried pure 
blood contains from 14 to 15 per cent. of nitrogen. One 
hundred parts of good blood, varying from 1.045 to 1.075 
specific gravity, furnish about 20 parts of dry mass. 

Dry blood is a superior source of nitrogen for fertilizing 
purposes, and therefore is frequently used as a concentrated 
stock for “the manufacture of our common nitrogenous or 
ammoniated superphosphates. 

There are two grades of dry blood in our markets, contain- 
ing respectively from 10 to 12 per cent. and 6.5 to 8.5 per 
cent. of nitrogen. 

The differences in moisture of various articles may also be 
sufficiently large to affect seriously their relative commercial 
value. The price of dried blood may thus differ per ton from 
$20 to $40 without being necessarily too high or too low in 
either case. 

Consumers do well to buy always with a special reference to 
the percentage of nitrogen of the article offered for sale; the 
latter sells at from 21 to 22 cents per pound. 

The manufacture of dry blood for fertilizing purposes is 


HORNS AND HOOFS. 327 


usually carried on in the following way: large quantities of 
fresh blood—from two to three tons at the time—are filled 
into wooden or iron tanks of suitable size, containing double 
bottoms several inches apart. The upper (or false) bottom 
is thoroughly perforated by numerous small holes, and coy- 
ered over with coarse sacking to serve as a filter. 

The two bottoms have also one larger communicating hole, 
which is closed with a well-fitting stick reaching to the surface 
of the vessel. The latter is used for the discharge of the 
liquid which has passed through the filter after the treatment 
of the blood has ceased. 

A suitable steam-pipe passes directly down to the filter. 
The excess of the steam is controlled by a wheel-valve fas- 
tened in the pipe somewhere near the boiling vessel. As 
soon as the latter is charged with blood, the steam is turned 
on for about one hour. During this time the liquid is contin- 
ually agitated. The nitrogenous or albuminous mass of the 
_ blood, which in consequence of that operation has become 
coagulated and has formed a flocculent mass, is collected upon 
the filter, after the liquid has been discharged, and subse- 
quently dried by steam. The amount of nitrogen lost by dis- 
charging the liquid portion does not exceed one-half of one 
per cent. of the entire quantity present. 


GrounD Horn anp Hoor. 


The substance submitted to an analysis was of a grayish 
yellow color, and in a fine pulverulent condition ; it contained 
15.49 per cent. of nitrogen. This highly nitrogenous fertil- 
izer, which but recently has been introduced into our markets, 
is usually prepared in the following way: the pieces of horn 
and hoof are filled into a cylinder similar to those used for 
steaming bones, and subjected for several hours to the action 
of steam of from two to three pounds’ pressure. According 
to the size of the material treated, the time is extended or 
shortened. 

The horn, after being properly treated, is soft, like rubber ; 
dried by hot-air it becomes brittle, and is easily ground into 
a fine powder, which decays quite readily in moist soil. Hair, 
refuse wool, feathers and whalebone are of a similar composi- 


328 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 


tion, and may be prepared in the same way. They are in 
fact only fit for an economical application as nitrogenous fer- 
tilizers, when reduced to a fine powder. 

These substances contain in their pure condition from 11 to 
13 per cent. of nitrogen; yet, coming as refuse mass from 
various industrial branches, it is well for farmers to count 
only on about half that amount. Woollen refuse has been 
noticed to contain even as low as from three to four per cent. 
of nitrogen. Among the various refuse materials resulting 
from the working of different kinds of animal textures, the 
leather refuse is probably most prominent. 

Ground refuse leather, even after steaming, is of but little 
value for agricultural purposes; although its percentage of 
nitrogen may be from 5 to 9 per cent., the presence of the 
tannic acid retards greatly its disintegration and subsequent 
action. 

To secure the full benefit of the nitrogen in the leather 
refuse requires a destruction of the leather; a result which 
may be secured by dissolving the leather mass in boiling con- 
centrated sulphuric acid of 50° to 60° Baume specific gravity. 
The operation is usually carried on in leaden or cast-iron 
vessels, and the sulphuric acid being thus charged with the 
nitrogenous mass is subsequently turned to account for the 
manufacture of superphosphates. 


SULPHATE OF AMMONIA. 


I. | In. MEd. 
Nitrogen, : 4 : é . F ; 19.70 20.18 20.60 
Ammonia, . ; - é : : : 24.00 24.50 25.00 
Sulphuric acid, : 5 , : 5 - | 60:67 | 57.58 59.78 


Samples Nos. I. and III. were taken from articles sold by 
dealers of New York City ; Sample No. II. was collected of a 
Boston dealer. All three samples were of bluish white color, 
and of a slightly acid reaction; they represented in every 
respect a good quality of their kind. Besides this light-col- 
ored and good quality of sulphate of ammonia, there has 


DEATH ON PLANTS. 329 


been noticed a crude article of a reddish or brown color, which 
in several instances has been traced back to an English estab- 
lishment. This crude sulphate of ammonia contains quite fre- 
quently varying quantities of a poisonous ammonia compound, 
which is known to chemists by the name of rhodan or sul- 
phocyan ammonium. 

The presence of this injurious compound is due either to a 
faulty process of manufacture, or to a direct evaporation to 
dryness of the mother liquor from which the crystallized sul- 
phate of ammonia has been gathered, instead of separating 
the ammonia from the residual solution by means of lime. 
In one instance the entire crude compound consisted mainly 
of 73.94 per cent. of crude ammonia and 14.87 per cent. of 
sulphate of ammonia. 

Sixty pounds of that article applied to one acre of meadow 
land in Germany destroyed the entire grass crop. Thirty- 
eight pounds of that same material added to a superphosphate 
used upon one acre of land turned to account for the produc- 
tion of potatoes, reduced the yield to one-third as compared 
with the effect of the same amount of superphosphate without 
that spurious ammonium sulphate. Of still later date is an 
interesting observation regarding its effect on barley. Seventy- 
five pounds of an English ammoniated superphosphate contain- 
ing 10 pounds of soluble phosphoric acid and 7 to 8 pounds 
of nitrogen was applied per acre at this low rate, for the cul- 
tivation of barley. 

The seed germinated very slowly; the young germs were 
of a yellowish white color; the entire young plants were 
very feeble and the majority of them soon died out. The 
presence of rhodan ammonium in the sulphate of ammonia 
may be easily proved by dissolving a small quantity of that 
substance in water and adding a few drops of sesquichloride 
of iron, which produces in that case a deep red color. 

The price of a good sulphate of ammonia has been from 
4? to 44 cents per pound in case of 25 per cent. of ammonia 
or 20.6 per cent. of nitrogen. 

42 


330 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 


MINERAL PHOSPHATES. 


I.—ORCHILLA GUANO. 


Found. Represented. 
I 1 I. i 

Phosphoric acid, . : ; . rian) et Si Ly 28.91 25.5 | 27.5 
Lime, . ; : : : : eeilaeao 45.00 - - 
Magnesia, . . " : : . 2.46 | not det. - - 
Sulphuric acid, . : : : . | not det. 2.06 - - 
Moisture, é : 4 A A ; 4.70 5.00 - - 


This mineral phosphate is named after the Island Orchilla 
(in the Caribbean Sea), which belongs to Venezuela. 

The amount of this phosphate is still large according to 
the statements of Messrs. B. M. Rhodes & Co., of Balti- 
more, who act as importers’ agents. The material consists 
mainly of tricalcic or bone phosphate (55 to 65 per cent.) 
and of carbonate of lime. In its natural state it forms a soft, 
pulverulent mass, of a yellowish white color, and contains but 
traces of organic matter. 

The samples tested have been secured from different parties. 


II.—ESsTRELLA GUANO. 


a SS 


Found. Represented. 
Phosphoric acid, . : : : : : : 28.8 26.0 to 27.5 
Lime, . : : : ; : ; : : 43.49 - 
Sulphuric acid, . 5 : 5 , ; . 2.03 | - 
Moisture, ; é : : j ‘ : : 6.50 - 


This article resembled, in its fine mechanical condition, the 
former; yet contained a somewhat larger percentage of 
organic matter. 


PHOSPHATIC GUANOS. 331 


IlJ.—NaturaL CARIBBEAN GUANO. 


Found. Represented. 
Phosphoric acid, . ; : : : 6 - | 25.20 | 25.5 to 26.5 
Lime, . : : : < : : : . | 37.88 
Sulphuric acid, : : : : : 7 1.80 - 
Moisture, : : : : . 4 : F 8.90 - 


It was a pulverulent mass, like the two preceding samples, 
containing less carbonate of lime. 


ITV.—NATURAL SERRANO ISLAND GUANO. 


Phosphoric acid, . : 5 : : : 5 : ; ; 12.16 
Lime, . ; ; ‘ : ;: , ; : ; : ; 49.25 
Sulphuric acid, . : : : : - : - : ‘ 0.58 
Organic matter, . ; 5 : ; . : - 5 . 3.00 
Moisture, : : ‘ : : : : ; : ; : 10.30 


The bone phosphate in this article amounted only to from 
26 to 27 per cent., whilst the carbonate of lime reaches from 
62 to 63 per cent. The natural mechanical condition of this 
material, like that of the preceding samples, is very favorable 
for speedy reaction. 

These four samples of mineral phosphates represent a 
numerous class of so-called phospho-guanos, which, on 
account of their richness in phosphoric acid and their excel- 
lent natural mechanical condition deserve in a particular 
degree the attention of all agriculturists. 

As the majority of these mineral guanos contain, usually, 
more or less carbonate of lime, they are unprofitable for the 
manufacture of superphosphates; their competition in the 
general market is thereby limited, and they sell consequently 
at a comparatively low price; from $18 to $20 per ton, by a 
guarantee of from 24 to 25 per cent. of phosphoric acid. In 
my previous report I have referred already to the value of 
these phosphates for direct application in general farming. 

To incorporate daily a certain amount into the fresh barn- 
yard manure by scattering it over the manure pile, or to 
compost them for some months previous to their designed 


332 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 


application, is a universally indorsed practice. The good 
economy of applying these phosphates in a finely divided state 
to the compost heap, has been illustrated again quite recently 
by Prof. H. C. White, of Georgia. 

The experiments were made with a finely ground South 
Carolina phosphate. The compost heap was prepared of 40 
parts of earths, 34 parts of fine ground phosphate, and 31 
parts of cotton-seed cake, and the mixture kept moist with 
water. 

The compound was made in June, and tested in February. 
A careful estimation proved that one-third of the phosphoric 
acid had been rendered soluble in soil-water; the commercial 
value of the phosphoric acid had been increased not less than 
46.4 per cent. It is quite safe to assume that any of the 
above stated phosphates treated in a similar way with fresh 
horse-manure or turf, and kept moist with urinary excretions, 
would have given even still higher pecuniary results. 


BonE-ASH FROM SOUTH AMERICA. 


Phosphorie acid, . ; : 2 ; : . : : : 35.89 
Lime, . : : : F 2 ; ‘ P : : 44.89 
Sand, etc., ; : : - : : é 3 2 5 : 4.50 
Moisture, 5 ‘ ; 4 : : F ; : : : 7.00 


This material was guaranteed to contain 75 per cent. of 
bone phosphate; it contained 78.2 per cent. of that com- 
pound. The price was stated to be $28 gold, which is rather 
higher than we are usually asked to pay for phosphoric acid in 
other equally valuable phosphates. The bone-ash of South 
America, although produced in unusually large quantities, is 
only of incidental occurrence in our markets; for the main 
bulk, it seems, is carried to Europe. It comes as a ballast 
to some of our seaport towns, and furnishes an excellent mate- 
rial for the manufacture of superphosphate. The above 
described article consisted largely of coarse fragments of cal- 
cined bones, and of a fine grayish white powder; the latter 
contains usually besides bone-ash some wood-ash and some 
sand in varying proportions. 


Valuation per ton of South American Bone- Ash. 
717.8 tbs. of phosphoric acid, at 4 cts. per th... - $28 61, currency. 


BONE-MEAL FERTILIZERS. 333 


Grounp BoNngEs. 


I.—FINE BONES FOR FERTILIZERS. 


(Collected by Messrs. Oscar Foote & Co., Boston, Mass.) 


Moisture and organic matter, : ; ° : - : : 29.66 
Ash constituents, . : : 2 : Z < ‘ . : 70.34 
Phosphoric acid in ash, . ; : : - : : : : 20.30 
Nitrogen in animal matter, . : : - : . : : 1.50 


Valuation per ton of 2,000 pounds. 


406 pounds of phosphoric acid, . , : : : : - $24 36 
30 “ of nitrogen, - : . : . 3 : 5 7 50 
$31 86 


The mechanical condition of this substance was quite ad- 
vantageous for speedy disintegration. Its friable texture and 
low percentage of nitrogen point towards a thorough render- 
ing process. A peculiar feature of this bone fertilizer con- 
sisted in having received an addition of from 10 to 12 per 
cent. of common salt. The latter substance is used here and 
there by manufacturers for the purpose of keeping the ground 
bones from rotting or smelling. Well-dried bones need no 
such preparation. The article was offered at $35 per ton of 
2,000 pounds, which is less than the usual retail price of 
ground bones—in their genuine state. 


I1.—BONEMEAL FOR FERTILIZER. 


(Messrs. L. B. Darling & Co., Pawtucket, R. I. The sample was secured at the store 
of Messrs. J. Breck & Co., Boston.) 


Moisture and organic matter, 2 - ‘ : ‘ 40.30 per cent. 
Ash constituents, . A z ‘ F 3 SOLO ace 
Phosphoric acid in ash, . : ; A Ao IE : 29.26 * 
Nitrogen in animal matter, .  . 5 ve ©: - 3.02 “ 


Valuation per ton of 2,000 pounds. 


505.20 pounds of phosphorie acid, . : : 5 . ; . $30 30 
70.40 ‘“ of nitrogen, . : : : - c : >; iG 
$48 20 


This article was of a good mechanical condition, and its 
composition of a very fair average quality of moderately 
rendered bones. 


334 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 


TII.— FINE AND COARSE GROUND BONES. 


(Manufactured by Mr. J. B. Root, of Northborough, Mass., and collected at the store 
of Mr. J. D. Lovell, Worcester, Mass.) 


Fine Bones. Coarse Bones. 

Per Cent. Per Cent. 
Moisture and organic matter, : : 5 48.38 48.66 
Ash-constituents, . ; 3 : é 4 51.62 51.34 
Phosphoric acid in ash, . : 5 4 . 21.62 20.34 
Nitrogen and animal matter, . i : : 4,07 4.12 
Moisture (at 100° C.), . : : : A 9.60 10.63 


Valuation per ton of 2,000 pounds of Fine Bones. 


432.40 pounds of phosphoric acid, ; . : : : . $25 94 
81.40 “ of nitrogen, . ° 5 - . St . 20 35 
$46 29 


Valuation per ton of 2,000 pounds of coarsely-ground Bones. 


406.8 pounds of phosphoric acid, . 3 < : : ! . $20 34 
82.4 “ of nitrogen, . i 5 4 f 5 , - 16 48 
$36 82 


The first specimen was of the usual size of its kind, and 
thus better fitted for speedy action than the second or coarse 
one. Both samples are manufactured, according to the ana- 
lytical results, from good bones; yet they differ widely in 
their respective agricultural values. 

It is not a good practice to offer coarsely-ground bones for 
sale, even at reduced rates, as calculated above; for their 
action is quite slow, and thus too uncertain to secure a partic- 
ular patronage. 

The fertilizing value of ground bones of corresponding 
compositions stands in a direct relation to their degree of 
fineness. Coarsely-ground bones should never be directly 
applied to the soil; they ought to be composted for a few 
weeks with barn-yard manures before they are incorporated 
into the soil. 

A good bone-meal penetrates more readily into the soil 
without suffering any serious absorption than most other phos- 


BONES IN THE MANURE HEAP. 335 


phates, provided its organic nitrogenous matter is in a state 
of some putrefaction. A good bone-meal in a partly decom- 
posed state has for this reason been found safer upon a calca- 
reous or ferruginous soil than superphosphates of lime, par- 
ticularly in case of the deeper-rooting crops. 

The organic nitrogenous mass, which accompanies the bone 
phosphate (tricalcic phosphate) in the bones, is identical with 
glue. A fresh solution of glue does not dissolve the bone 
phosphate ; whilst decaying glue dissolves it largely, and car- 
ries it without any serious interference to the lower layers of 
the soil. 

To scatter ground bones daily in small quantities over the 
fresh barn-yard manure, designed for the cultivation of grain 
or root crops, is for several reasons very recommendable ; it 
adds some of the most essential articles of plant-food—phos- 
phorie acid and nitrogen—in a very available form, to the 
barn-yard manure resulting from scanty feeding ; and prevents 
also in a large degree the escape of ammonia, which is con- 
tinually produced in decaying animal excretions. A very 
efficient article of steamed bones for agricultural purposes is 
of late manufactured, by first rendering the bones for the 
removal of the fat; and subsequently evaporating bones and 
soup to dryness ; it contains a larger percentage of nitrogenous 
matter than ordinary steamed bones. This preparation, in 
a finely pulverized condition, is claimed to exceed all other 
bone-fertilizers in efficiency, being equally well adapted to all 
kinds of soil. 


I—-AMMONIATED SUPERPHOSPHATES, AND SUPERPHOSPHATES. 


(Messrs. W. L. Bradley & Co’s XI. Collected of Messrs. Bagg & Batchelder, of 
Springfield, Mass.) 


Total phosphoric acid, . ‘ j : : - ; : 11.62 
Soluble - ae : ; : ; ; : . 7.74 
Reduced “ re 4 : é 5 : : : 1.06 
Insoluble ‘“ i 2.82 
Nitrogen, 2.88 


336 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 


Valuation per ton of 2,000 pounds. 


154.8 pounds of soluble phosphoric acid, : 2i\)| ol) eee aes 
212 * of reduced : ; : : : 2 12 
56.4 “© of insoluble me ol 5 “ : : 2 82 
57.6 “ of nitrogen, . : : , , : : ; 14 40 

$38 69 


Il.—SEA-FOwL GUANO. 


(Messrs. W. L. Bradley & Co. Collected of Messrs. Bagg & Batchelder, of Spring- 
field, Mass.) 


Found. 

Per Cent. 

Total phosphoric acid, . : - - - - ; ; 11.86 

Soluble ee : : 5 : : : : : 5.60 

Reduced “ oui P - : : : ; 3 : 1.61 

Insoluble ‘“ ER : - 5 : : : : 4.65 

Nitrogen, . : ° : : 3 : ° : : 3.13 

Potassium oxide, . 5 : ; ‘ ; : 4 i 123 

Valuation per ton of 2,000 pounds. 

112.0 pounds of soluble phosphoric acid, ; . . ‘ . $14 00 
g2.2 * of reduced sé ES ‘ ; : : A eS 
93.0 “ of insoluble * ES : : . 5 . 465 
62.6 “ of nitrogen, i : : F A ; : Ey eelonGe 
25.0 “ of potassium oxide, . ; . < : : : V2MO8 
$39 52 


IIl.—SoLusBLE NITROGENOUS PHOSPHATE. 


(Quinnipiac Fertilizer Company, Connecticut. Collected of Charles Smith, Amherst, 


Mass.) 
Total phosphoric avid, 5 : 5 - 5 ; 5 7.70 per cent. 
Soluble s 5 . ; : : 5 : 6.52 . 
Reduced “ a : : ; ; : : 5 ~ se 
Insoluble “ & : : 4 ; 5 : : 1.18 ss 
Nitrogen, ° F : , ; : : 5 5 3.65 es 
Moisture, . ; ; : : ; : 5 5 re eee Lr ke 


Valuation per ton of 2,000 pounds. 


130.4 pounds of soluble phosphoric acid, : ; : : . $16 30 
23.6 “ of insoluble ss A : : : of 


73.0 “ of nitrogen, é ; : : ; ; ‘ sdse5 


VALUE OF SUPERPHOSPHATES. 337 


ITV.—AMMONIATED DISSOLVED BONES. 


(Sternfels Bone Fertilizing Company, New York. Collected at Amherst Railroad 


Depot.) 
Total phosphoric aoe: : ‘ : : ; . : 6.45 per cent. 
Soluble me : : : 5 ; : : 2.70 eS 
Reduced “ fs : 5 : aes : : 2.89 ss 
Insoluble “ se : 5 : 5 - 5 : 0.86 « 
Nitrogen, : . é : - : : : : Ae Wh . 


Moisture. ‘ ; ; : ; ; : : 5 BMNgE So 


Valuation per ton of 2,000 pounds. 


54.0 pounds of soluble phosphoric zai 5 : : : - $6 75 
57.5" “© ‘of reduced e - 5 : : . UES 
iv2. * 1 of insoluble ss Saale : : : : . 86 
35.4 “ of nitrogen, . 5 4 5 : . . » 8 85 

$22 24 


V.—AMMONIATED SUPERPHOSPHATES. 


(Russel Coe’s. Collected of James Hastings, Amherst, Mass.) 


Total phosphoric and: : ; : : : : -) ||, 11.76 per cent 
Soluble ; : : 5 ; 5 5 9.54 es 
Reduced “ ve : : . : : ; 4 0.52 
Insoluble “ se 5 5 : : 5 : 5. EA) < 
Nitrogen, 5 . : : . . , : ; 2.80 = 
Moisture, : F : ‘ : ; j : 5 PRO oe 


Valuation per ton of 2,000 pounds. 


190.8 pounds of soluble phosphoric acid, : F . 5 . $23 85 
10.4 “ of reduced 2 : : : - +, ay Oe 
34.00 ‘“ of insoluble “ . - 2 : : sy 1, ae 
56.0 “ of nitrogen, : : . . - . : . 14 00 

$40 59 


VI.—AMMONIATED SUPERPHOSPHATE. 


(Messrs. Oscar Foote & Co., Boston, Mass.) 


Total phosphoric acid, . 6 Be 5 ; . 13.94 per cent. 
Soluble Ms “ é : . : ; : cl Ro) S 
Reduced “ : : - ; j : : 3.71 €é 
Insoluble “ is - : . . . - . 0.70 a 
Nitrogen, - . : : : . : : . 1.60 ge 
Moisture, ; 6 : : : : 3 6 0 iat ce 


338 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 


Valuation per ton of 2,000 pounds. 


190.0 pounds of soluble phosphoric acid, 
742 “ . of reduced ‘u 
140 ‘“ of insoluble 7 Pe 
32.0  “ of nitrogen, 


VII.—AMMONIATED SUPERPHOSPHATE. 


$39 87 


(G. F. Wilson’s, Providence, R.I. Collected of Messrs. Breck & Co., Boston, Mass.) 


Total phosphoric acid, . , : A : : . 10.82 per cent. 
Soluble se Oe : j . : ; : 3.20 ee 
Reduced “* cr. ; : 4 4 ; F 4.74 
Insoluble “ a: : : : : : j 2.88 e 
Nitrogen, ‘ ; : ; x ; x : ; 2.70 Se 
Moisture, : : ; ; : F : : ; 28.11 s 


Valuation per ton of 2,000 pounds. 


64.0 pounds of soluble phosphoric acid, 
94.8 “ of reduced ‘f as 
ovo “ of insoluble « “ ce 
54.0 “ of nitrogen, 


VIII.—PATENT AMMONIATED SUPERPHOSPHATE. 


(Messrs. W. L. Bradley & Co., Boston, Mass. Collected of Mr. J. D. Lovell, 


Worcester, Mass.) 


Total phosphoric acid, . : : Ata, 5 : 12.60 per cent. 
Soluble es A i bes 5 3 ; . : 5 7.04 se 
Reduced “ Cag: 5 ; 5 5 : : 0.54 eC 
Insoluble “ cosh : 5 5 : ; : 5.02 a 
Nitrogen, : : : 5 . : 5 . . 2.50 xu 
Moisture, -. . ‘ ‘ ; : : ‘ A 19.94 a 


Valuation per ton of 2,000 pounds. 


140.8 pounds of soluble phosphoric serie 
10.8 “ of reduced ee 3 . ; : : 
100.4 “ ofinsoluble “ a : : : . . 
50.0 “ of nitrogen ‘“ ee 


AN ENGLISH ARTICLE. 339 


IX.—UNION FERTILIZER PHOSPHATE. 


(Messrs. Henry F. Davis & Co., New Bedford, Massachusetts. Collected of Mr. 
Heman Copeland, Campello, Mass.) 


Organic volatile matter, 5 : : - : : 44.55 per cent. 
Ash constituents, . ; ; ‘ : : ; : 55.45 ce 
Total phosphoric acid, . : 6 : : : : 11.37 ae 
Nitrogen, F F ‘ j i ‘ : : : 2.32 ce 
Potassium oxide, . 5 ; : A ‘ ; : 5.36 « 
Moisture, : : ; ; : ; ‘ : ‘ 13.38 se 


Valuation per ton of 2,000 pounds. 


227.4 pounds of phosphoric acid, . : : 3 3 ‘ - $13 64 
ayia of nitrogen, . : ; : : ‘ ‘ 5 11 60 
107.2 “ of potassium oxide, " ; a 5 . : 8 58 

$33 82 


X.—ENGLISH SUPERPHOSPHATE. 


(Messrs. Jacksons & Bowker, Boston, Mass.) 


Total phosphoric acid, . : - , . - : 34.54 per cent. 
Soluble “ Set - - : ‘ : : 30.00 fe 
Reduced “ Sey’ - : : : - 5 4.54 ss 
Insoluble “ oo oes ; 4 . : ; : trace a 
Sulphuric acid, . : - : 5 é : - 23.52 “ 
Calcium oxide (lime) . 7 : , : : . 26.72 « 


Moisture, C “ j : : : ; ; : 6.10 s 


Valuation per ton of 2,000 pounds. 


600.0 pounds of soluble phosphoric acid, . - : 3 . $75 00 
90.8 “ of reduced be s é 3 : é 3 9 08 
$84 08 


This article was represented to analyze 60 to 65 per cent. 
of soluble and precipitated phosphate of lime; price, $65 
per ton. 


340 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 


SH St | ! 
‘oyeydsoydiodns ysijsuq Do GO 6 rs) 
‘ayMog 2. suosyou~—*K Pe = =i £ 
‘ayeyqdsoyd = | | ( = = 
wezyyIay wouQ “op = nN 3 
% sjavq ‘a 41ueH—"KE| 
*ayeydsoydiedns So sH sH aN S i] 
ve) = wD cS Yen} 
peyeuomume juojed SoD a es So 1S nN 
 o[pVIG “I'M—"KEKA| 
‘azeyd AN S sH (o,@) i) ! 
on Fe DO Ff 
-soydiadns pa}euomus S 6 <i Nn a 
sms “I “‘O—"EEA| 
‘ayeyd Ht =) an (=) co) l 
OO 190) Ris) co 
-soydiedns pa}eruomme co a 63 So “4 
“O95 7 0]00q IvOSO—"IA we 
<Oet N S ! 
*sojeydsoydiodns po}eru i ren} Yen) ee) 
-omme s,2009 pssny—"a | TF OC MN 
*som0q POATOSSIP pa}e a Es S SS ES ! 
-uomume “Op SUZ a ES OS oS. a 
-10,J ou0g S[ajuisjg—*AT 
‘ayeydsoyd snou N | ao Yo) | 
~ wo nc) 
-as0I}IU Bqnjos **OD 1aZI roueco eRe 
-THieq ovidjuumh— aE 
o = camel tYen} ine) 1d 
‘OuvnS [AOJ-vas ea) © Ko) oo bal “A 
Sop» Aelux TA Aee |S ee ee ae 
Oh ah Gey Ra) i] 
“OPK: co Se Ge ee 
rm tt rm N N 
8,0) 9 Ao[PRIG *T*M—*E _ 
n 
is ° - e - ° 5 
A 
a 
= - 
B co — = 
cA aS 3 3S 
° = 3S (>) . ° 
iS) 5 (5) “4 
Siow 1S 
c ORB, Ural Au as 
E eaeese Oy at oS 
A fo} 2, n rs) 4 
& A=) mM fo) a K 
2 aS °° =. 3, a ° 
Z an S&S i=) 
1 ° a, o a g 
= 1S} D =} 
a 238 & @ 
= 2 Ss 4 ° 72) 
Ss 5 os o S 
[o) 3 o ce on S 
io) e) 
Bn me a 


COMING DOWN IN PRICE. 341 


The general character of this large class of fertilizers has 
changed but little, so far as the total amount of essential con- 
stituents, phosphoric acid and nitrogen are concerned. 

The relative amount of soluble phosphoric acid has, how- 
ever, been increased in some instances at the expense of the 
insoluble acid. Two samples were noticeable for their large 
amount of moisture (Nos. IV. and VII.), a circumstance 
which favored a rapid formation of mould, and thereby 
tended to reduce their actual commercial value. The price 
of the latter class of ammoniated superphosphates in view of 
the present ruling market valuations of phosphoric acid and 
nitrogen ought not to exceed from $35 to $40 per ton, which 
is $10 to $15 less than in preceding years. 

A closer investigation proves almost invariably that the 
best quality is also the cheapest; a fact which I asserted in 
my last report. A fair illustration of this statement is fur- 
nished again in No. X., the imported English superphos- 
phate, in which the soluble phosphoric acid is ‘sold at ten cents 
per pound. Some of our home manufacturers are by no 
means behind in offering for sale their valuable articles at low 
rates; in some instances at more than thirty per cent. below 
my last year’s valuation. 

As the dealers in fertilizers are quite naturally at liberty to 
put any kind of material at their own price in the market, 
provided they state the guaranteed percentage of phosphoric 
acid, nitrogen and potassium oxide as specified by our law 
for the regulation of the sale of fertilizers, it becomes the 
important duty of every farmer to see to it that the specification 
regarding the quality and quantity of these essential constitu- 
ents is fastened in a readable form to every package offered 
for sale at a price of more than $15 per ton. 

To secure to themselves the full benefit of the fertilizer 
law, renders it also very advisable that they should make 
themselves, as far as practicable, familiar with the general 
properties of a good fertilizer of each particular class. 

It is one of the aims of these reports to serve, in the absence 
of better sources, as a reference regarding these points. 


Cu. A. GOESSMANN, 


State Inspector of Commercial Fertilizers. 


342 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 


APP EDA Kea 


MARKET PRICE OF COMMERCIAL FERTILIZERS DURING THE PAST YEAR. 


German potash salt, 23-25 per cent. sulphate of potash, $20-22 per ton. 


Ke as ah 30 per cent. i “s ae (x00 ° 

2% a as 54 per cent. ef cs atk LOD e 
Muriate of potash, 80 per cent. (= 50 potassium oxide), 50 oy 
Nitrate of potash (potash saltpetre), 95 per cent., Sy peo ie 
Nitrate of soda (Chili saltpetre), 95 per cent., . : 80 ‘ 
Sulphate of ammonia, 25 per cent. ammonia, A ; 85-90 * 
Dried blood, 10 per cent. ammonia, : ; : 4 35 
Fish pomace, 4-5 per cent. nitrogen, . : ; : 12 ce 
Ground bones, 20-24 per cent. bone phosphate, . : 40 
Superphosphate of lime, 10 per cent. sol. phosphoric acid, 25 ‘ 
“© 30-34 per ct. “ ee li ee 65) 
Boneblack, ground, 70-74 per cent. bone phosphate, . 25 ce 
So. Carolina phosphate, 54-56 perct. “ x : 138-14 * 


Navassa phosphate, ground, 62-64 per ct. bone “ : 15-16 “ 


CHEMICAL COMPOUNDS. 343 


Pe eNe DET. 


COMPOSITION OF SOME COMPOUNDS IN FERTILIZERS. 


100 parts of nitric acid contain 26.0 parts nitrogen. 


Veo 


“6 


< 


“ 


“6 


“ec 


ammonia cot yuck OA ASE st 
nitrate of potassa contain 46.6 parts potassium oxide. 
“ se (or saltpetre) contain 53.4 parts nitric acid. 
nitrate of soda contain 36.75 parts sodium oxide. 
és “ (Chili saltpetre) contain 63.25 parts nitric acid. 
sulphate of potassa contain 54.9 parts potassium oxide. 
«“ se *« 46.0 “ sulphuric acid. 
sulphate of lime (free of water) contain 41.0 parts calcium 
oxide (lime). 
sulphate of lime (free of water) contain 59.0 parts sulphuric 
acid. 
sulphate of lime (with water, gypsum) contain 32.5 parts 
calcium oxide (lime). 
sulphate of lime (with water, gypsum) contain 46.5 parts 
sulphuric acid. 
sulphate of lime (with water, gypsum) contain 21.0 parts 
water. 
bone phosphate (or tricalcic phosphate) contain 54.0 parts 
calcium oxide (lime). 
bone phosphate (or tricalcic phosphate) contain 46.0 parts 
phosphoric acid. 
carbonate of lime contain 56.0 parts calcium oxide (lime), 
cs ee “44.0 “ carbonic acid. 
chloride of potassium contain 52.4 parts potassium. 
‘e << « 63.1 “ potassium oxide. 
« is toure¢one — chlorine, 


344 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 


The report was accepted. 


Mr. Davis, from the committee on the assignment of sub- 
jects for essays, submitted the following report :— 


1. Cheap Transportation and Marketing of Farm Products.— 
Messrs. Hawes, Sanderson and Davis. 


2. Saving and Preparation of Manures on the Farm.—Messrs. 
Wakefield, Fenn and Ladd. 


3. On the Size and Conduct of Farms in Massachusetts.—Messrs. 
Dwight, Shepley and Hawks. 


4. The Improvement of Salt Marshes.—Messrs. Goessmann, 
Baker and Phinney. 


5. Field and Garden Seeds.—Messrs. Moore, W. L. Warner and 
Holland. 


6. The Best Methods of Bringing the Importance of Arboriculture 
before the Agricultural Community.—Messrs. Sargent, Hadwen and 
Shepley. ; 


7. Does it Pay to Raise Corn in Massachusetts ?—Messrs., Davis, 
L. P. Warner and Shepley. 


8. The Sources of Agricultural Improvement.—Messrs. Loring, 
Bennett and Metcalf J. Smith. 


9. The Claims of Ornamental Gardening upon Farmers.— 
Messrs. Saltonstall, Perry and Moore. 


10. Buds.—Messrs. Chadbourne, Wilder and Clark. 


11. Experiments in Potato-Culture.—Messrs. Sanderson, Knox 
and Vincent. 


12. What has Chemistry done for Agriculture?—Messrs. Chad- 
bourne, Goessmann and Saltonstall. 


13. The Legal Rights and Obligations of Farmers.—Messrs. Ben- 
nett, Davis and Ladd. 


The report was accepted. 


A PURE-BRED ANIMAL. 345 


The Committee on Printing was constituted by the appoint- 
ment of Messrs. Stone, Moore, and the Secretary. 


The several essays and the reports of delegates were then 
taken from the table, read a second time, and adopted. 


The importance of securing some uniformity in the reports 
of delegates having been suggested by Judge BrEnnert, 
it was— 


Voted, That a committee of three be appointed to make 
up a list of questions to be answered by each delegate, one 
of such questions to be as to whether the general manage- 
ment of the society is worthy to receive the bounty and 
encouragement of the State. Messrs. Bennett, Moore and 
Saltonstall. 


Voted, That all unfinished business be referred to the 


Committee on Printing, with full power. 


The report upon the Agricultural College having been 
taken from the table, it was— 


Voted, That a committee of five be appointed to memorialize 
the legislature in aid of the Trustees of the Agricultural 
College in their petition for an appropriation in aid of the 
college. Messrs. Wilder, Davis, Stone, Moore and Salton- 
stall. 


Dr. Lorine submitted the following communication from 
the Essex Agricultural Society :-— 


At a meeting of the Trustees of the Essex Agricultural 
Society, held at Plummer Hall, Salem, November 16th,— 


Voted, That the delegate to the State Board of Agriculture 
from this Society be instructed to ask the Board for answers 
to the following questions, which answers shall be printed in 
the order of arrangements for the next cattle show, for the 
guidance of committees :— 


First. “What constitutes a pure-bred animal?” 


Second. “How shall an animal be proved to be pure 


bred?” 
44 


346 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 


Voted, To appoint a committee to consider and report upon 
the reply to be made to to the questions. Messrs. Holland, 
Milo J. Smith and Hadwen. 


Mr. Houuanp subsequently submitted the following re- 
port :-— 


Concerning the questions submitted by the Essex Agricult- 
ural Society to this Board, the Committee would say, that in 
their opinion the term pure bred is regarded by intelligent 
breeders and the public generally as applying to such animals 
only as have been so bred that they can transmit with certainty 
their peculiar qualities to their offspring. 

The proof that an animal is so bred should be a record of 
the animal, or its ancestors, as recorded in some herd-book, 
recognized by leading breeders and the public generally as 
complete and authentic. 


The report was accepted, when the Board adjourned. 


It seems proper to allude briefly, in this connection, to the 
origin and growth of associated effort for the promotion and 
development of the agricultural industries of this Common- 
wealth. Starting from comparatively small beginnings in 
the organization of the Massachusetts Society for promoting 
Agriculture, in 1792; the Association of Middlesex Husband- 
men, formed in 1794, and incorporated in 1803, under the 
name of the Western Society of Middlesex Husbandmen ; the 
Kennebeck Agricultural Society, instituted at Augusta, then 
a part of Massachusetts, in 1800, and incorporated in 1801 ; 
the Berkshire County Society, in 1811; the Essex, the 
Worcester, the old Hampshire and the Plymouth, in 1818 and 
1819; the number of these societies has rapidly increased 
till they exceed thirty, receiving a bounty from the Common- 
wealth. 

The State Board of Agriculture was the natural outgrowth 
of these societies. It is not a corporate body or society, but 
a department of the government, organized like any other 
department, with His Excellency the governor, for the time 
being, as its head. It is composed mainly of farmers, and 
wholly of men chosen by and to represent farmers, with the 


ORGANIZATION OF THE BOARD. 347 


exception of the governor, lieutenant-governor, secretary 
of the Commonwealth, the president of the Massachusetts 
Agricultural College, and state inspector of fertilizers, who 
are members by virtue of their office, and three others, ap- 
pointed by the governor and council, whose terms of service 
continue three years, one of the three being changed or re- 
appointed each year. Each of regularly incorporated agri- 
cultural societies receiving the bounty of the State, has the 
power of choosing one member of the Board, whose term 
of service also continues three years. At present there are 
thirty-one of these societies, and, of course, when the Board 
is full, there are thirty-one members chosen by the farmers 
themselves, three holding offices by appointment, and five 
ex officio. 

From the manner in which the Board is constituted, it is 
apparent that it must naturally form a pretty fair representa- 
tion of all varieties of agricultural knowledge in the State. 
A majority of the members selected by the societies, made up 
as these associations are, of the most intelligent practical 
farmers and friends of the farming interest among us, will 
always be likely to be practical, intelligent farmers; while it 
would be strange if there were not a larger or smaller number 
of those who would commonly, though undeservedly, be called 
fancy or amateur farmers, and some men of scientific attain- 
ment. This, it seems to me, is just as it should be. All these 
classes actually exist, and they should all be represented in the 
Board, that their various opinions may be compared with each 
other and subjected to the test of the common-sense and sound 
judgment which we may reasonably expect to find in a body 
chosen in the manner described. In this way we may gather 
information from every source. 

In a convention of farmers which met at the State House in 
1851, and out of which the Board of Agriculture originally 
grew, it was resolved: “That inasmuch as agriculture is the 
chief occupation of her citizens, the Commonwealth in the 
organization of its government, should be provided with a 
department of agriculture, with offices commensurate with the 
importance of the duties to be discharged, of the abilities to 
be required, and of the labors to be performed.” 

The Act establishing the Board was passed in 1852, and 


348 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 


the present Secretary entered upon the duties of his office on 
the 14th of February, 1853. It may seem hardly proper for 
him to speak of the manner in which these duties have been 
performed, yet every farmer should know their nature and 
extent, and on this account I trust I may be allowed to speak 
freely, without incurring the imputation of arrogating to myself 
more credit than fairly belongs to me. I should add here, 
that whatever I have done, has been done by the advice and 
with the approbation and concurrence of the Board after care- 
ful deliberation both on their part and mine; and if any good 
shall be found to have resulted from our united efforts, the mem- 
bers of the Board should receive their full meed of approba- 
tion for it. 

In the first place, the law which establishes the Board requires 
that “all the duties of the secretary of the Commonwealth relat- 
ing to the returns of the agricultural societies shall be performed 
by the secretary of the Board of Agriculture.” In the year 
1845, a law was passed requiring the secretary of the Com- 
monwealth to prepare an annual Abstract of the Returns of the 
County Societies. But the secretary of State was very rarely 
a man specially interested in the subject, besides which innu- 
merable other duties made it impossible for him to do the 
work himself. Hence it was done out of his office, and the 
Commonwealth was charged with the extra service, and this 
arrangement continued down to the time of the establishment 
of the Board. The volume was substantially a reprint of the 
county transactions, the different reports being but little con- 
densed. When the Board of Agriculture undertook the 
preparation of the volume for 1853, an entirely new system 
was adopted, the material was arranged according to subjects, 
thus bringing together all the statements and experiments in 
all parts of the State, making the whole far more convenient 
for reference and more interesting and useful, while a complete 
index was added at the end, increasing the value and useful- 
ness of the volume manifold. A new feature was added to 
the volumes with but little expense to the State, in the shape 
of illustrations of animals and farm buildings, and I might 
quote innumerable letters from farmers in other States, and 
appeal to the almost universal testimony of the agricultural 


REPORTS OF THE BOARD. 349 


press to show that the report is inferior in interest and 
value to no similar state publication in the country. 

But, in addition to this Abstract, the law requires an 
annual report of the Board of Agriculture, and these reports 
are to be prepared by the Secretary. I have labored to make 
them of interest, and of immediate practical value to the 
farmers of the State. It is but justice to myself to say, that 
though the expectations of the community, at the time of the 
establishment of the Board, had been raised to such an unrea- 
sonable height that no human efforts could be likely to satisfy 
them, the plan adopted in the reports has commended itself 
to the good judgment of those who understand best the wants 
of the farming community. This plan was to take up some 
particular topic on which the community desired information, 
and discuss it in the most complete and thorough manner, 
bringing together a mass of information which was not else- 
where available to the farmer. 

In my first report, for example, among many other topics 
of general interest, including a sketch of the past history of 
our agriculture down to the present time, and a vast amount 
of statistical information in regard to its present condition, I 
entered upon the subject of the cultivation of cranberries, 
which, at that time, was beginning to excite considerable 
interest in some parts of the State. On account of the little 
attention which had previously been paid to the subject, 
information as to the natural history of the plant was difficult 
of access to those who wished for it. In the preparation of 
that part of the report, I visited many plantations, in all more 
than a hundred acres of cultivated cranberries, in different 
parts of the State, seeking information from every source. I 
thus brought together a greater amount of scientific and prac- 
tical information, in regard to that particular crop, than had 
ever before been collected. I feel that I may make this state- 
ment with some degree of confidence, since I gave the subject 
a most thorough and searching investigation. That part of 
the report, and many others, were copied and quoted and 
circulated through the country, from Maine to Georgia, some- 
times with credit to the farmers of Massachusetts, but often 
without. I learned soon after, from reliable sources of inform- 
ation, that many acres were cultivated with cranberries in 


350 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 


this State, which would not have been so treated but for the 
stimulus given by that report, and the cultivators are now 
receiving the most liberal rewards for their labor. | 

I mention this only as an example of the plan, which, after 
very mature consideration, and with a full knowledge of the 
whole field of labor, it was thought best at first to adopt, and 
of the good effects which have followed from it. 

In a similar manner I took up the subject of grasses 
and forage-plants, in my fourth report, giving all the inform- 
ation that was available at that time, with very numerous 
illustrations of different-species, devoting about two hundred 
and thirty pages to this special topic. That report awakened 
a new interest in that special line of investigation, and it has 
borne fruit since in increased attention to this subject. 

The Board of Agriculture also labored to systematize the 
returns of the county societies, and so far succeeded as to be 
able to show at a glance the financial condition of each, to 
what objects its encouragement was extended, how much 
was paid for any specific object throughout the State, how 
generally the bounty was distributed, and how much was 
paid in each town in the society’s limits; or, in other words, 
how far the influence of each society extended, and whether it 
had become localized, thus failing to meet the objects the 
legislature had in view, or was doing its work well and 
profitably. 

Thus the Board obtains the most minute details in regard 
to the distribution of the bounty of the Commonwealth, a 
a thing which was never done, nor even attempted, to such 
an extent before the adoption of the present system. When 
it is recollected that this bounty now exceeds the sum of 
seventeen thousand dollars every year, no one can fail to see 
the importance of what has already been done in this respect, 
and the great good which may be anticipated from the per- 
fection of the system. All these details appear in the 
annual reports already alluded to, and are within reach of 
every farmer in the State. 

Another and a very important part of the labors of the 
office, is the judicious distribution of the agricultural publica- 
tions of the State. This work has been performed with far 
greater care than ever before. One who has had no experi- 


DISTRIBUTION OF DOCUMENTS. 351 


ence in similar cases, would think this to be a very simple 
and easy matter, and it would, indeed, require but very little 
time or attention merely to send them broadcast over the 
Commonwealth ; but to distribute them judiciously, to put 
them everywhere into hands where they will accomplish a 
good purpose, and stimulate those who have hitherto taken 
but little interest in the improvement of their lands, and thus 
to make their good effects felt and seen in the whole aspect 
of the State, is a very different thing, and requires no little 
care and anxious thought. Many hundred volumes go each 
year into the distant towns which often have no representative 
in the legislature, and are put directly into the hands of those 
who will use them as a means of improvement. I might 
give extracts from many letters, received from different parts 
of the State, to show what good has come from this part of 
the labors of the Board; but it is enough for me to say that 
the object proposed in the distribution of these works was to 
put them where they would do most good, and to disseminate 
useful and reliable information among the farmers and others 
who desired it, all over the State. Nor can it be said, as it 
sometimes has been, with any justice or truth, that the dis- 
tribution is partial or incomplete; for any farmer in the 
Commonwealth, who is interested enough in the subject to 
send to my office, through his representative to the legisla- 
ture, or otherwise, can procure a copy of these publications, 
the only question asked being whether he is a farmer, and 
resides in this State. 

The Board of Agriculture also distributed many hundred 
volumes of the Patent Office Report on Agriculture, subse- 
quently known as the Reports of the Department of Agricult- 
ure, and many thousand packages of seeds, of which some 
were received through the Department at Washington, 
and others imported directly from abroad. I need not 
enlarge on the good which was accomplished in this way, 
both by the diffusion of useful knowledge, and_ the 
introduction of superior varieties of vegetables, fruits and 
grains. Much attention has also been paid to the establish- 
ment of an exchange of agricultural documents with other 
States of the Union which publish volumes similar to our 
own. Copies.of their reports have been and are thus 


352 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 


regularly procured for town libraries, and thousands of 
volumes placed within the reach of our people. An ex- 
change of documents with the governments of foreign 
countries was also instituted. At the same time, great labor 
was devoted to the formation of an agricultural museum, in 
connection with the office of the Secretary of the Board, at 
the State House, and some hundreds of specimens of grasses, 
minerals, birds, insects, and other objects of natural history, 
etc., were collected. It was designed, also, to procure models 
of all our fruits, each to be labelled with its proper name, and 
the local names by which-it was known in various parts of the 
State, the soil in which it flourished best, and other items of 
interest and value. In short, it was designed to make a 
collection which should afford a perfect representation of all 
the agricultural products of the State, and be of direct 
practical value to all who desired to avail themselves of it. A 
very considerable collection was made, but on account of 
want of space in the State House, the whole was removed 
to the Agricultural College some years ago. 

The office correspondence necessary for the attainment of all 
these objects grew to be very extensive, and it has continued 
so to the present time. Thus, the Board labored quietly and 
unostentatiously, but hard and constantly, confident that the 
farmers of the State would appreciate well-meant and well- 
directed efforts to promote the progress of agriculture. The 
members of the Board do not receive any pay for their time 
or their services. These are freely given to the public, and 
for this reason, if for no other, they deserve the generous 
coéperation and confidence of every farmer in the State. 

The course which has been explained was, in my judgment, 
the best and most efficient that could be adopted. It has been 
the means of accomplishing more good, and has secured the 
confidence and respect of the people to a far greater extent 
than any other could have done. I leave the decision upon 
its merits to the good judgment of sensible men. 

The Board of Agriculture, from 1854 to 1859, had charge 
of the State Farm at Westborough. This is a farm of two 
hundred and eighty-five acres, lying contiguous to the State 
Reform School. It was under the management of the trustees 
of that institution previous to its transfer to the Board in 


THE STATE FARM. 353 


1854. The trustees desired that this transfer should take 
place. Being appointed mainly with reference to their fitness to 
take the guardianship of the large number of boys at the insti- 
tution under their charge, and not from any peculiar knowledge 
of farming possessed by them, they found that the proper 
management of so large a farm required far more attention 
than ought to be expected from any unpaid board of trus- 
tees. 

The Board of Agriculture, on the other hand, desired 
facilities for conducting experiments ona small scale, by which 
they hoped to add something to the present stock of knowledge 
of farming, and to meet, in some degree, the wants of the 
farming community. It was not intended to turn the whole 
place into an experimental farm, or a model farm, or anything 
of the kind. The design was to manage the property in a 
plain, practical, farmer-like manner, and to subject only a 
small part of it to experiments of various kinds, which could 
be conducted there without expense to the Commonwealth, 
though some of them were of such a nature as to be beyond 
the means of individual enterprise. Under the influence of 
these considerations, both the trustees and the Board of Agri- 
culture signed a petition to the legislature of 1854, to transfer 
the farm into the hands of the Board, and to appropriate the 
sum of six thousand dollars for permanent improvements and 
to meet the current expenses of the farm. This was the sum 
which in the opinion of the trustees would be required to 
make what permanent improvements were then greatly needed, 
and of this sum over four thousand dollars were devoted to 
such improvements. 

This occupation of the farm, entered into after some deliber- 
ation, was, perhaps, a mistake. It made it necessary to apply 
to the legislature for appropriations outside of the legitimate 
objects of the Board in its organization, and as is always the 
case, subjected it to unjust criticism. The Board had to 
contend with prejudice, misrepresentation and falsehood, 
which seriously embarrassed the successful prosecution of a 
truly noble, practicable and judicious public enterprise. 

The arrangement was one of true economy to the Com- 
monwealth in every point of view, though it is always the 
case that property under the control of a number of persons, 

45 


354 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 


even if they are sincerely anxious to make the most of it, is 
generally more expensive, and less productive, than where the 
whole power is lodged in a single individual, who is the sole 
owner, and on the economical management of which his pros- 
perity depends. There is not so much feeling of personal 
responsibility, nor so much freedom and readiness of action. 
If there is to be consultation, conference and comparing of 
opinions before any step is taken, as there must be where the 
decision is to be made by a body of men and not by a single 
individual, time will be lost and delay will follow frequently, 
until the favorable moment has passed, and the thing to be 
done has either become impossible or can only be done at 
greater expense and to less advantage than at first. 

But the object of the State, when it made arrangements for 
the management of the farm, were not precisely the same as 
an individual proposes to himself in a similar case. When a 
farmer buys a piece of land and undertakes to cultivate it, he 
starts with the determination, generally, of making it as 
profitable as possible in a pecuniary point of view. If he be 
a man of large and liberal ideas, if he be truly economical, he 
will not grudge some expenditure on his fields which may at 
first be unproductive, if it will afterwards make:a good return. 

Nor was the reasoning with reference to the general manage- 
ment of corporate property of any force, since in no case 
would the State Farm be managed by an individual owner, it 
having been purchased, in part at least, by the fund established 
by the benevolent founder of the State Reform School. 

An extensive series of experiments was undertaken through 
competent committees, with various breeds of cattle, with a 
great variety of fertilizers and many different crops, and these 
experiments were continued during the five years’ lease of the 
farm, when the arrangement was discontinued by the mutual 
consent of the Board and the trustees. 

In 1859 the cattle disease known as the contagious pleuro- 
pneumonia was imported from abroad and introduced among 
our stock, at a time when its fatal and contagious character 
was little known, and if it had done nothing else for the State 
and the country beside the complete extirpation of that dread- 
ful scourge to agriculture, wherever it exists, it would have 
paid all the expense of its organization many times over. 


THE COUNTRY MEETINGS. 355 


That the farmers of this Commonwealth are not to-day suffer- 
ing from the constant dread and the actual visitation of this 
worst of all forms of contagious diseases among cattle, be- 
cause the most insidious, is due almost wholly to the existence 
and persistent efforts of the Board at the time of its outbreak 
in this and subsequent years. And if it had not been for such 
efforts, we should now in all probability be subjected to a loss 
of many thousand dollars a year, with no reasonable hope of 
permanent relief from a tax upon our resources and our pa- 
tience, the most severe and most difficult to be borne of any 
that could be imposed upon an agricultural community. The 
present existence and terrible ravages of this disease in Eng- 
land and other civilized countries, where it has become a fix- 
ture, causing immense losses every year, and increasing the 
hazards of stock-farming manifold, is a sufficient proof of 
the truth of this assertion. 

The plan of holding country meetings for popular and sci- 
entific lectures and discussions was adopted by the Board in 
1864, and met with so much favor among the people that it 
has been continued ever since, and is believed to have been 
productive of much good. In accordance with this plan most 
parts of the State have been visited in turn, while the meet- 
ings have been largely attended, and the lectures and discus- 
sions have constituted a leading and important feature of the 
reports, where they have been extensively read. 

It was through the efforts of the State Board, also, that an 
inspection of fertilizers was established, and the present 
efficient inspector was appointed by the Board, at first as state 
agricultural chemist. The legislature of Massachusetts, in 
1874, enacted a law which requires every manufacturer or 
importer of commercial fertilizers to take out a license at the 
office of the Secretary of the Commonwealth, paying therefor 
fifty dollars annually for each kind of fertilizer offered for sale, 
at the same time filing with the Secretary of the State Board 
of Agriculture, a paper giving the names of his principal 
agents, and the name and composition of the fertilizer made 
or imported by him. This law has already effected a great 
change in the general character of fertilizers offered in our 
markets, and greatly increased the confidence of the farming 


356 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 


community in the value of these substances, and the honesty 
with which they are made. 

That the record of this department, during the past twenty- 
four years of its existence, has been alike honorable and 
useful to the Commonwealth, no one who has any intelligence 
of its operations, and the service it has rendered to the 
farming community, can for a moment entertain a reasonable 
doubt. It has awakened a wide-spread spirit of inquiry and 
a desire for improvement never. known before among our 
people ; it has collected and distributed a vast body of inform- 
ation which has come to be appreciated and universally 
sought for, and has issued twenty-three volumes of reports 
which are everywhere admitted to bear comparison with. the 
best reports of the kind published in the country. 


CHARLES L. FLINT, 
Secretary of the State Board of Agriculture. 


Boston, January, 1876. 


CAN Ur ELNIN BK 


ii REPORTS OF DELEGATES. 


REPORTS OF DELEGATES 


APPOINTED TO VISIT THE 


AGRICULTURAL EXHIBITIONS. 


ESSEX. 


The Essex Agricultural Society held its fifty-fifth annual fair, 
September 28 and 29, in the good old town of Danvers. 

The programme was so well arranged and divided, as to give 
nearly equal interest to each day, and prove attractive to every 
class of citizens. 

The cattle-show was on the Riding Park, which is owned by 
another society, in another interest than the Essex Agricultural 
Society, but its use was courteously extended for the occasion, and 
afforded ample space and facility. 

The exhibition of neat-stock was large and of good quality, with 
a good admixture of pure blood; in all, 118 head. There were 
awarded for these, including premiums for town teams, $455. A 
few sheep were on exhibition, and 19 swine of good quality. Fifty- 
nine coops of poultry were displayed in a large tent, which also 
contained a good assortment of tools, carriages, etc. 

There was a much larger display of horses than I expected. to see 
in this part of the State, especially brood mares and colts. Ninety- 
four were on exhibition in the various classes, and $309 were 
awarded in premiums, which included $45 paid for horses in town 
teams. 

Danvers exhibited 22 yokes of oxen as a town team, Topsfield 
20, and North Andover 12. There were two-horse teams, one of 
four, and one of eight spans. 

The trial of draught animals was in the afternoon of the first day, 
on the highway outside the park. There were 16 entries of oxen 
and steers, 16 of single horses, and 10 pairs of horses. The hard, 


APPENDIX. iil 


smooth road was well calculated to exhibit the strength of the 
teams and the skill of the drivers. A good degree of interest was 
manifested by a large crowd of spectators. 

The ploughing-match on Wednesday, the second day, was also 
outside the park, on ground admirably adapted to the purpose of 
ploughing. It was on a beautiful hillside slope, affording a fine 
view of the operation to the great crowd of spectators. Five double 
and four single teams, nine of horses, four with swivel-ploughs, and 
four driven by boys, took part in the contest. There was awarded 
in all for ploughing the noble sum of $186. Fifty dollars of this sum 
was awarded in three premiums for boy-ploughing, understood to be 
presented by the President, General Sutton. 

The annual address was by Rev. E. C. Bolles, of Salem. Subject: 
“The farmer’s control of the forces of nature which work for him. 
Science and the practical are not in conflict.” 

The dinner, and short speeches after it, were enjoyed by nearly 
500 persons, all the more sociable and enjoyable for the chilly fog 
and rain outside. 

The noble building and grounds of the Peabody Institute were 
occupied by a busy crowd. The large hall was well filled with 
fruits, flowers and fancy articles. A large tent, which was con- 
nected with the hall by a rear entrance, contained a splendid 
collection of seeds and other garden and farm products. 

I wish here to speak of the courtesy and efficiency of the officers 
of the Society. Large experience and ability are brought to bear, 
and the hearty cooperation of all, united in affording an entertain- 
ment of a high order, and insuring, it may be too much to say 
complete, but at least great success. 

The remark was often made during the fair, ‘‘ This is the best we 
have ever had.” It was indeed a great success, and a credit to all 
concerned. 

In closing this report, we would say that much attention was 
given to a portrait of Hon. Timothy Pickering, which was con- 
spicuous in the hall. He was one of the founders of the 
Essex Agricultural Society, in 1818, and was its first, and for ten 
consecutive years, its President. As we looked upon the venerable 
form, and saw the people and the smiling faces of old Essex, we were 
constrained to say in the language of another, “If you seek their 
monuments, look around you.” 

C. SANDERSON. 


iv REPORTS OF DELEGATES. 


MIDDLESEX. 


Your delegate arrived upon the grounds of the Society to which 
he had been assigned at an early hour on the first day of the exhi- 
bition, or, perhaps, it would be preferable to say, when the Society 
was getting matters arranged, and he was surprised to find so much 
interest manifested that the fair should be a success. With its finely 
laid-out grounds, and buildings so admirably adapted for the various 
uses, there seemed to be no reason why the exhibition should not 
compare favorably with that of other societies, and be a source of 
pleasure and benefit to all its members and visitors. Having the 
pleasure of a personal acquaintance with the president, Mr. Cum- 
mings, and Mr. Moore, he had no difficulty in finding the proper 
persons with whom to communicate. Had it not been so, he would 
have been at a loss, for here, as at some other fairs he has attended, 
there was no visible sign as to the official status of anybody, and 
whom to talk to, a fault which simple badges could remedy. 

The view in the exhibition-hall was perfectly magnificent. Now, 
this word is used with a full knowledge of its meaning. We speak of 
the magnificence of a Roman triumph, or the greatness and splendor 
of some parade; but what more beautiful sight can there be than 
man’s victory in the agricultural field? Compare the vegetables, con- 
tributed by President Cummings and others to the Middlesex exhibi-. 
tion with the spontaneous productions of the field, and then I think 
any one will say the show was magnificent. And your delegate 
wishes that time and space would allow him to name all those who, 
by their productions, gave so much pleasure to his eye. It was 
evident there were no ‘‘small potatoes” among the vegetable raisers 
of Middlesex. 

But man cannot live by vegetables alone. While food for the body 
is good, there is equal necessity for nutriment for the mind, con- 
veyed through the eye, and here, too, were we fed ; for throughout the 
hall, flowers gratified your delegate with their beauties of form and 
color, and while the more gaudy of the cultivated plants held 
up their heads under the admiring gaze of lookers-on, the simple 
flowers that ‘‘adorn our roadsides, meadows and woodlands” were 
not passed by, but held their own with their society neighbors. 
Your delegate was so enraptured with the ‘“‘show” in the hall, that 
his time only allowed him to give a hasty look at the pens filled with 
admirable stock ; and he left the grounds with the thought that Mid- 
dlesex was not a whit behind other societies in zeal for success, which, 
had the elements been propitious, would have rewarded the efforts of 


its members. 
Joun A. HAWES. 


APPENDIX. Vv 


MIDDLESEX NORTH. 


I attended the fair of this Society on its first day, but was unex- 
pectedly detained in Boston by professional calls upon the second 
and grand day of the exhibition. The first day was, unfortunately, 
very rainy, so that little could be done or exhibited out of doors; 
and the expected crowd was almost entirely detained from the 
show. Here were fine grounds, a very fair assemblage of cattle, 
and apparently every preparation made for a show suflicient to 
accommodate the New England Society. But the stock were shut 
up in their sheds and stalls, and the grounds exhibited a dreary 
show of empty benches. 

But the spirit of the officers and members of the Society was not 
dampened ; and within the building was the finest show of vege- 
tables, with one exception, that I ever witnessed. 

The annual meeting of the Society disclosed the fact that by some 
misunderstanding or mistake the fair of this Society, and that of 
the Middlesex, at Concord, came on the same week, and even 
happened upon the same days. 

It was stated that much inconvenience was thereby experienced ; 
and also that the Middlesex Society held the fair upon a day not 
allowed by law. Your delegate gives no opinion upon this question, 
because the facts are not known to him, but deems it his duty to 
report the facts, so far as knowm and the complaints, for the con- 
sideration of this Board. 

On Thursday, the second day, the weather was fine, and your 
delegate is informed that the fair was largely attended. More than 
three hundred persons attended the dinner, at which Hon. John A. 
Goodwin, president-elect of the Society, delivered an address, and 
was followed by other distinguished speakers, who greatly con- 
tributed to the final success of a most interesting show. 


Cuas. G. Davis. 


MIDDLESEX SOUTH. 


I attended the exhibition of the Middlesex South Society, held 
on the 21st: and 22d of September, and was present during the 
greater part of the two days. 

A rapid survey showed me commodious grounds, well laid out, 
and convenient for the purpose of an agricultural show. One 
noticeable feature was the ample provision made for the care of 
stock while on exhibition. 


vi REPORTS OF DELEGATES. ; 


A long line of covered stalls extended the entire length of one 
end of the grounds, and these were all occupied, either by cattle, 
mostly grades, or by horses, exhibited otherwise than on the track. 

At right angles with these, and near one side of the grounds, 
extended another line of double stalls, facing each other, with roomy 
lofts well filled with hay. These stalls were filled with pure-bred 
stock, most of which belonged to the Ayrshire and Jersey breeds, 
with a sprinkling of Dutch and Guernsey. Judging from the entries 
and the stock present, pure-breeds take the lead in this Society, 
thus showing that its individual members see the wisdom of avail- 
ing themselves of knowledge and skill that generations of experience 
have concentrated in our pure-breeds. 

Directly opposite these double stalls, and quite to the other side 
of the field, a line of low sheds, several hundred feet in length, 
accommodated the swine, and a hundred feet of hastily constructed 
new pens showed an unusual number of entries, much beyond the 
expectation of tlie officers of the Society. At the other end of the 
grounds, opposite the first-mentioned cattle-pens, are stalls for all 
the horses exhibited upon the track, and for roominess, comfort and 
convenience, I have not seen them excelled. I mention thus par- 
ticularly the arrangements for the comfortable accommodation and 
feeding of stock brought for exhibition, because it seems worthy of 
mention, and indicates the character of the men who manage the 
interests of this Society. 

T will add, in this connection, that in consideration of this provi- 
sion for the care and feeding of animals, this Society very properly 
requires all stock to remain upon the grounds during the two days 
of exhibition. Thus the substantial part of the show can be seen 
upon either day of the fair. 

By this arrangement the Society, so far as its action is concerned, 
seems to have placed the cattle and horse interest upon an absolute 
equality, and in the progress of the show this attitude seems to be 
well maintained. 

The basement of the hall was devoted to the show of poultry. 
The light Brahmas were the favorite breed, judging from the com- 
parative number presented, and certainly one could not look upon 
those magnificent chickens without astonishment at their wonderful 
growth. 

The show in the hall was admirably arranged, not deficient in 
quantity, but excellent in quality. I could but notice the care in 
selecting perfect specimens, especially among the vegetables. Few 
abnormal growths were seen, but there was a very satisfactory 
exhibition, in all the departments of the hall, of carefully cultivated 
and selected specimens, showing that the growers had a perfect 


APPENDIX. Vii 


type in mind, and were cultivating in reference to this type. There- 
fore, though I may have seen at our local fairs larger collections of 
the produce of garden and field, I have not seen a better one than 
was on exhibition by this Society. I was also exceedingly inter- 
ested in a basket of corn which the Sturtevant Brothers presented 
as a specimen of a crop of seven acres raised by them according to 
the formula of Prof. Stockbridge of the Agricultural College. 

As I understand, this experiment, with several others, is to be 
carefully elaborated and published in the Transactions of this Society, 
I will add nothing more, save the statement, that a Society which 
becomes the medium of publishing the results of experiments so 
carefully, accurately and scientifically conducted from first to last, 
as I am sure these have been, becomes thereby a public benefactor. 

The ploughing-match took place on the second day, at nine in the 
morning. Two classes of ploughs were used, the single and the 
double plough, and fine work was done by both, though the prefer- 
ence seemed to be in favor of the double plough. The motto, ‘not 
how much, but how well,” seemed to govern the award of premiums. 
The exhibition of family horses, matched horses, roadsters and 
colts upon the track, occupied the time till dinner, which was hand- 
somely served at half-past twelve o’clock, by a caterer from Worces- 
ter. Over three hundred persons occupied seats at the tables, and 
made themselves merry in disposing of the ample supply of edibles 
which had been provided. 

After all were satisfied, President Johnson called the company to 
order, and introduced the speaking of the occasion by remarking 
upon the substantial success of the twenty-second annual exhibi- 
tion of the Society, and alluding to the causes, mainly the hearty 
cooperation of members and officers. The speaking was continued 
by those present, in response to the call of the president, until half- 
past two, when the closing races of the fair commenced. This was 
the signal for leaving the tables, and they were as quickly abandoned 
as they had been filled two hours before. The general management 
of the affairs of this Society, as manifested in the show, seems 
worthy of special commendation, and the things suggesting criticism 
are not peculiar to the Middlesex South. The usual side-shows, 
whip and candy vendors, were in full force; tolerated only, I sup- 
pose, because they increase the revenue, which is a matter of no 
little importance to societies, which, like this, are still in debt. 


Mercarr J. Smita. 


Viii REPORTS OF DELEGATES. 


WORCESTER. 


It was fair to presume that at such an inland centre of business, 
where farming was in the ascendant, there would be found, at the 
proper time, a first-class agricultural show, and such the fifty-seventh 
of the series here proved to be. An aged resident, whose acquaint- 
ance I made on my way, was of the opinion that the show in Worces- 
ter, of late years, was not so good as when, in by-gone years, it was 
-held in the town on the open common. When I came to see for 
myself, I could but think the gentleman was mistaken. 

Worcester and vicinity are noted for cattle-raising, and notwith- 
standing the slight scare of the Texas cattle disease, there was an 
immense gathering together of neat hoofs, consisting of herds, and 
of less numbers, of all kinds, classes, and ages; and they were, in 
about all cases, fine specimens. The following are the names of the 
principal exhibitors, with the kinds and numbers shown by them: 
Of Ayrshires, B. F. and H. A. Harrington, of Worcester, had 25 
head, and Bela J. Stone, of Westborough, had 13 head. Of Devons, 
Harvey Dodge, of Sutton, 12 head. Of Jerseys, W. T. Merrifield, 
of Worcester, had 29 head, and O. B. Hadwen, of Worcester, 20 
head. Of Swiss cattle, Hall and Aldrich, of Worcester, had 16 
head, Of Du'ch, Luther G. Moore, of Worcester, had six head. Of 
native stock, E. G. Hewett, of Worcester, had five head. Of grade 
Devons, William Eames, of Worcester, had eight head. Of grade 
Shorthorns, John T. Ellsworth, of Barre, had five head; H. Barnes, 
of Worcester, five; and Luther Crawford, of New Braintree, had 
twelve head. Of course there were very many persons exhibiting 
in less numbers than those named. I was particularly pleased with 
the symmetrical form and uniform color of one of the herds of 
Jerseys,—O. B. Hadwen’s,—consisting mainly of cows and heifers. 

Among the cattle there were some thirty or forty yoke of splendid 
oxen, twenty pairs of which entered the contest in the ploughing- 
match. ‘his work took place on the Society’s grounds, at an early 
hour, on the first day, and was spiritedly and well performed. There 
were three horse teams engaged in it. There were on exhibition 
several pairs of trained steers, performing feats which, besides fur- 
nishing amusement, gave manifest evidence of intelligence in dumb 
animals. ‘This was eminently a cattle-show. 

There was a considerable show of swine, as to numbers, and they 
were of select breeds. Of sheep there were but few. Of poultry 
there was a good variety. 

In the hall, the display of apples and pears was very fine, but 


APPENDIX. ix 


there was but little of other kinds of fruit. I learned that the Hor- 
ticultural Fair, which was to come off in the city the following week, 
was the cause of a great withholding from this. The tables for 
vegetables were well loaded, and the household work and manufact- 
ured articles were in good proportions, showing taste and skill. 

The public dinner was on the first day. The well-furnished tables 
in the upper hall, the able address of Col. Daniel Needham, orator 
of the day, and the presence of Governor Gaston, with his aids, 
and his timely and excellent address, were the noticeable features of 
the occasion. 

The second was the great day for the display of horses, and the 
farmers from far and near availed themselves of their opportunity. 
Animals of this species, of almost all classes, were there: the brood 
mares with their colts, in great array, the progenitors, and the kings 
and queens of the race-course. Among the numerous spans in 
carriages was one of Clydesdale horses, brought from Canada, 
owned and driven by John Barry. They were of a peculiarly com- 
pact mould, extra fine for farmers’ uses. The afternoon was the 
time of special excitement; people of the city and neighboring 
towns turning out in large numbers to witness the races. The 
weather on both days was chilly, but fine, which last contributed 
not only to the pleasure of the people in attendanee, but also to the 
financial success of the Society. The interest taken in this fair and | 
show was great. President Fayerweather, Secretary Eastabrook, 
the committee of arrangements, including our friend Hadwen of 
this Board, and the chief marshal, Shumway, and his aids, were all 
indefutigable in their various departments of work, and extended 
every courtesy to your delegate. Awarding committees were very 
prompt, and indeed the members in general took a lively interest in 
the objects of the gathering. After dinner the second day, the 
reports of awarding committees in readiness, were read and acted 
upon by the Society. A few were referred to the trustees for con- 
sideration and final action. 

What adds greatly to the interest of the Worcester fair is, that 
many persons, members of other societies in the county, still retain 
their membership here, and attend, and compete for premiums and 
awards in the mother institution. It is doubtful if there be another 
county in the country in which there are so many agricultural fairs 
as in that of Worcester. For besides the five societies grown from 
the Worcester, recognized by and receiving the bounty of the State, 
there are ten town fairs, making sixteen in all, and richly entitling 

he mother of all the rest, at Worcester, to sit as queen. 


HEBRON VINCENT. 


4 REPORTS OF DELEGATES. 


WORCESTER WEST. 


The annual exhibition of the Worcester West Agricultural Society 
was held at Barre on September 30 and October 1, 1875. The 
weather on the first day was cold and rainy, which prevented many 
from sending their usual contributions of stock and produets to the 
show. But during the night the weather cleared, and early in the 
morning the roads were thronged with people and cattle on their 
way to the fair-grounds, so that by noon they presented an interest- 
ing and lively spectacle. 

This Society has been famous for its good exhibitions, and 
although your delegate did not witness that of the first day, he has 
no hesitation in pronouncing the whole exhibition as creditable to 
the Society and honorable to the State. The Worcester West 
Society, as is well known, is situated in one of the most favored 
farming locations in the Commonwealth. It is renowned, also, for 
the enterprise and intelligence of its leaders and members, whereby 
it has achieved a well-earned reputation, not only in the State, but 
throughout New England. 

We were, therefore, not surprised at the exeellence of its exhibi- 
tion. The president, Hon. Ginery Twichell, to whom the Society 
is greatly indebted for services and contributions, was early on the 
ground with his officers and marshals, determined that whatever ‘Old 
Probabilities” might state in the weather report, this Society, and 
the people who came to visit it, should have a good exhibition, and 
a pleasant and profitable occasion. 

The exercises of the second day opened with the plonghing-match, 
on the inclosure inside the horse-track. ‘There were nine ox and 
eight horse teams which entered the lists for competition. The 
work was well done, considering that the land was underlaid with 
cobble-stones and coarse gravel, and what added much to the excel- 
lence of‘the work was the quiet, gentle manner in which the plough- 
men managed their teams. And right here, in the language of 
another, let me say, ‘* As ploughing lies at the very foundation of all 
successful culture, is it not a great mistake that the reports of com- 
mittees on ploughing are generally so meagre?” 

This thought is suggested from the fact that these reports, unless 
they are accompanied with some description of the kind of ploughs 
used, and their effect on the soil, can be of little use except asa 
memorandum of the names of successful competitors. 

The cattle on exhibition were numerous, especially those for dairy 
purposes. This region has been distinguished for its dairy products 
for the last half of a century, and of course prominent in the stock 


APPENDIX. xi 


department were to be seen many of the finest cows for dairy pur- 
poses that can be found in the country. One herd from New Brain- 
tree consisted of eleven cows of the Ayrshire breed, the mother or 
grandmother of which is now twenty years old, and was yielding 
in the month of September, four months from calving, forty pounds 
of milk per day. 

There were about 20 head of fat cattle, embracing oxen, steers 
and cows, all of good character. 

There were more than 90 milch cows on exhibition. Many of 
these were pure-bred animals, and most of them appeared to have 
been selected with careful reference to the production of milk, and 
their adaptation to that region of the State. Among those who had 
valuable herds of dairy or breeding stock may be named Messrs. 
John T. Ellsworth, A. H. Holland, Robinson & Lane, T. S. Hamble- 
ton, J. W. Mowry, and Peter Harwood, of Barre; N. B. Reed and 
John Brooks, of Princeton ; L. E. Hill of North Brookfield ; and Luther 
Crawford and W. A. Childs of New Braintree. But what interested 
me especially was Mr. Ellsworth’s extensive herd of Shorthorns, as 
he started them on the road to the exhibition, and led to the remark 
that they would make a good ‘Cattle Show” of themselves. 

The trial of working oxen and horses on loaded carts was said to 
have been highly creditable both to the animals and their drivers. 

The exhibition of horses, in their various classes, was creditable 
to the Society. There were 13 entries in the class of colts; for 
single work-horses 14, and many at the trials of speed and races. 
The latter were not to come off until the next day. Mr. S. P. 
Twichell, of Framingham, exhibited his promising young stallion 
**Goldfinder,” and there were several other noted horses that were 
to take the track in course. 

There were some good sheep of the Cotswold and Leicester breed, 
and a good collection of breeding and fat hogs, and a fine litter of 
pigs, and a fair show of poultry. 

Of butter and cheese there were a dozen boxes of the former 
and about fifty of the latter, including one weighing fifty pounds, 
presented to Governor Gaston, which the president, Mr. Twichell, 
wittily remarked, was on behalf of the ninety cows in the pens, and 
the hundred ladies at the tables. The samples of cheese were very 
handsome, and your delegate was happy to notice that the custom 
of former days in making cheese on the farm had not entirely gone 
by, even in the midst of the cheese factories so numerous in this 
region, about 75 cheeses having been seen in the room of Mr. 
Ellsworth who has all the modern appliances and conveniences for 
making good butter and cheese without regard to the changes of 
outside temperature. [Item.—For the purpose of record, the 


xii REPORTS OF DELEGATES. 


writer may be permitted to state, that fifty years ago he was accus- 
tomed to exchange goods with the merchants of this region for new 
milk cheese at six cents per pound and two cents for skim milk. ] 

The show of vegetables was inferior to those offered at our exhibi- 
tions near Boston, but the display of fruit was excellent. The 
apples for which Barre and this section is so noted, were of extraor- 
dinary fine character, and although this was the non-bearing year, 
generally, yet here the trees were fully laden with their golden and 
ruddy fruit. The Gravensteins, Baldwins, Hubbardstons, Porters and 
others would compare favorably with any exhibition in the State. 
Some of the pears were also of marked excellence. 

The flowers, ladies’ work and the usual articles in the exhibition- 
hall, your delegate had not time to examine, being called from 
his labors to refreshment at the dinner-table in the upper hall. 
Here about four hundred ladies and gentlemen partook of an excel- 
lent repast. President Twichell presided, with marked ability and 
great humor, calling out Governor Gaston and other guests in a 
very playful manner. His Excellency made a most effective speech 
in advocacy of the cause of agriculture. Responses were made by 
Hon. F. F. Fay, ex-member of this Board, Col. Charles W. Wilder, 
of the governor’s staff, and a poem, ‘‘ Does Farming Pay ?” by Henry 
S. Goodale, member of this Board, and your delegate, whom the presi- 
dent introduced as the orator invited twenty-five years ago to deliver 
the first address before the Society, but whom he had not been able 
to catch until the present time, and then and there demanded the 
service from him. This was complied with in a short and summary 
manner, expressing his obligations for the courtesies and respect 
shown him and his satisfaction with what he had seen and the pleasure 
he had experienced in his visit to the Society, and to this county, the 
home of his ancestors. He desires also to acknowledge with 
gratitude the attentions which he received from President Twichell 
and other friends, and especially from Mr. Ellsworth, for the oppor- 
tunity of examining his model farm, and to his good lady, under 
whose hospitable roof he was so kindly cared for. 


MarsHatut P. WILDER. 


WORCESTER NORTH. 


The duty of attending as delegate to the Worcester North was 
avery pleasant one. The weather was all that could be desired, 
and the exhibition in the various departments was well worthy of the 
study of the unusually large crowd that swarmed upon the grounds. 


APPENDIX. xiii 


Among the noteworthy objects were fine Ayrshire, Jersey and 
Shorthorn cattle. Where so many fine specimens were to be seen, 
perhaps it is invidious to mention the beautiful Jersey stock of 
J. F. Brown, of Lunenburg. 

An especial interest was manifested in the exhibition of poultry, 
and the show in this department was exceedingly fine. In the hall, 
the display of fruit was creditable, considering the year; that of 
vegetables was all that could be desired. 

Perhaps the greatest attraction of the day was His Excellency, 
Governor Gaston, who made a good speech, which added much to 
the profit and pleasure of the occasion. 

The officers seemed, under the influence of the bright day and 
multitudes of visitors, to take new courage in their work; so that 
your delegate could not help feeling that the exhibition was not 
only highly creditable to all concerned, but that it gave promise of 
great future success to the Worcester North. 


P. A. CHADBOURNE. 


WORCESTER NORTH-WEST. 


The ninth annual cattle show and fair of the Society occurred 
at Athol, October 5 and 6. The Hampden Agricultural Society 
holding its exhibition in Springfield on the same days, your delegate 
was at a loss to manage to be in both places at the same time. The 
only compromise that seemed possible to make, under the circum- 
stances, was to divide the time; I therefore attended our own fair on 
the first day, and that at Athol on the second day. From what I 
saw and learned, the fair was truly a grand success, notwithstanding 
the cold north-easter that raged all through the second day. The 
secretary reports the largest number of entries of any year; and the 
large attendance of from 3,000 to 4,000 people. 

There was an exceedingly large show of poultry, over 50 coops, 
from 20 or more contributors. The show of sheep and swine 
was good, though not a large competition. The show in the hall 
was said to surpass the one a year ago. There certainly was an 
excellent display of fruit, considering that this was not the bear- 
ing year. 

The spacious hall was literally crowded, though tastefully arranged, 
with the products of the farm and garden and dairy ; with mechanic 
arts and fine arts and domestic manufacture. 

The ploughing-match was participated in by three horse and one 
ox team. 


X1V REPORTS OF DELEGATES. 


Phillipston received the premium for the town team of 42 yoke, 
the only one entered. 

The show of cattle, taken all in all, was one of the largest and 
best the Society ever had. The department of pure-breds seems 
to be on the increase. Shorthorns were entered by nine exhibitors ; 
Ayrshires, none; Jerseys by seven competitors. N. B. Reed 
exhibited the only Devons,—three very fine animals, of perfect 
pedigree. The committee on pure-breds say, in their report, ‘‘ While 
your committee were pleased to see so good a turnout in the 
Shorthorn class, they must say, that very few of the animals were’ 
up to the standard of what a Shorthorn should be.” The breeders 
of Shorthorns in this section, and the committee from whom we 
quote the above, are probably aware that the Shorthorns cannot be 
raised to perfection on such sterile lands as generally abound in this 
part of the country, without receiving an extra amount of feed and 
care, such as but very few are willing, if able, to give them. The 
Shorthorns, to grow to perfection, require a large amount of rich 
food, and must have it handy. They will grow poor ranging for food 
in the pastures of most of our New England farms. Smaller breeds, 
with small bones, and compact forms, will thrive and grow fat on 
such lands, without this extra feed, when the Shorthorns, if left to 
themselves, would starve. 

The kind of stock we consider best for the average New England 
farmer, are the Morgan horses, Devon cattle, Southdown sheep, 
Suffolk pigs and Dorking hens. The Society has divided the 
premium on milch cows into a class of cows for milk, and a class of 
cows for butter; this is as it should be. The supply of cows for 
our large towns comes from abroad, and their quality is depreciat- 
ing, and for this reason it is best to encourage the raising of more 
and better cows, by enlarging the premiums and increasing the 


classes of cows and heifers. 
H. M. Segssions. 


WORCESTER SOUTH. 


The annual fair of the Worcester South Agricultural Society, to 
which I was appointed delegate by this Board, was holden on the 
9th and 10th of September. 

On my arrival at the grounds, I was met by Daniel Dwight, Esq., 
member of this Board from that Society, who introduced me to the 
officers,—President, Nathaniel Upham, and A. C. Morse, Esq., 
Secretary,—by whom I was shown through the building and over 
the grounds of the Society. 


APPENDIX: XV 


I found the Society possessed of ample grounds, with a commo- 
dious building, the basement or first story of which is well fitted up 
with cooking-range, tables, chairs and other conveniences, for 
providing dinners for all, during each day of the exhibition. In 
the next story is the exhibition-hall, which was well filled with 
various articles, and above this a hall where all repaired after the 
dinner of the first day, and listened to short addresses from different 
members of the Society, and other gentlemen present, prominent 
among whom was our friend, Henry 8. Goodale, Esq., who delivered 
a poem. 

The exercises in the hall having been concluded, we took a more 
extended view of what was to be seen of the fair. There were 
sixteen teams of oxen and horses entered for the ploughing-match, 
which was the first thing on the programme, and which attracted a 
large crowd of interested persons. The ploughing was good; the 
horses and cattle were looking well. There was a good number of 
working oxen and steers, and some fine fat cattle. The Jersey, 
Ayrshire, Devon and Shorthorn were on exhibition in fair numbers, 
and some very good specimens of each breed. 

Some very good sheep were exhibited. The show of poultry was 
small. Owing to the lateness of the season, and the early period of 
holding the fair, the display of garden vegetables, cereals, and the 
products of the farm, was not what it would have been some weeks 
later, although there was a fair showing of vegetables, including 
potatoes, turnips, squashes and melons, and some fine samples of 
grain. 

There was a good show of bread, butter and cheese. The display 
of fruit was all that could be expected, it not being a ‘“ fruit year.” 
The show of flowers and plants was very creditable. 

In the department of needle and ornamental work was seen the 
usual display of skill and taste. One important feature of the fair 
on the first day was the exhibition of trained steers, which I think 
can be described in no more fitting language than that employed by 
one who, possessing in himself those qualities of mind and heart 
which distinguish ‘‘ nature’s nobleman,” is ever quick to recognize 
and acknowledge these attributes whether shown in man or beast. 
I quote the words of the delegate to this Society in 1873, who 
says: ‘To one who never witnessed this beautiful sight, no true 
conception could be formed. It is simply an exhibition of the won- 
derful power of the human mind in sympathy with animal instinct, 
or in other words, the wonderful power of kindness. There can be 
no doubt that man has the power to impress his own character on 
that of his domestic animals ; that he can inspire them with love and 
confidence, or with hatred and revenge, and it reacts on himself as 


a REPORTS OF DELEGATES. 


certainly as it does on the animal. To educate our domestic animals 
through the agency of love instead of fear, is the great lesson of the 
hour, and this was the lesson taught by the training of these 
steers.” 

The second day opened inauspiciously, and the rain greatly dimin- 
ished the attendance. This was unfortunate, as the day had been 
set apart for the exhibition of the horse, that faithful servant whom 
the poet Cowper has called, ‘‘ The noblest of the train that wait on 
man.” There was the usual exhibition of carriage-horses, stallions, 
breeding-mares and colts. A large number of horses on the grounds 
possessed superior qualities, but the weather prevented a full exhi- 
bition of the same. 

This Society has a debt of $5,000. Its debt was much larger, 
but is being reduced yearly. 

I can but say that I found myself in the midst of a company of 
earnest workers, who seemed to have a true idea of the progress of 
agriculture, and to be doing their part to forward it; their kind 
attentions toward me prove that the graces of hospitality are as 
carefully cultivated as the products of the soil. 

The Worcester South is a live, flourishing Society, doing credit to 
the State as well as to itself. 

J. Lapp. 


WORCESTER SOUTH-EAST. 


The Worcester South-East Agricultural Society held its sixteenth 
exhibition at Milford, September 29 and 30, and October 1. I did 
not attend on the first day, and arrived a little too late on the 
second to see the ploughing-match, which was hotly contested by 
30 teams—21 pairs of oxen, and nine pairs of horses. All who saw it 
pronounced it a splendid sight, and acknowledged that the work was 
admirably done. On returning to the fair grounds, the trial of 
working oxen and steers commenced, and was kept up nearly 
throughout the day. The trials were first made with a load on a cart, 
and were contested by 15 pairs eight-year-olds, and 12 pairs four- 
year-olds, all of which handled their load well, and a good number 
did it very handsomely, and apparently with perfect ease. We 
noticed that where the lash was least used, the work was done best ; 
but as a rule we must give the teamsters credit for kindness to their 
oxen. Among the teamsters we noticed one man seventy-two years 
old, who drove his own team, a pair of fine five-year-old oxen, and 
we doubt if any oxen did their work better. On being questioned, 
he stated that he had attended every fair, except one, of the Worcester 


APPENDIX. XVil 


County Society (56), and every fair of the Worcester South- 
East (16). 

The trial of walking oxen was an interesting feature of the 
exhibition, and one worthy of imitation by other societies. Thirteen 
pairs were entered, and they showed themselves to good advantage ; 
a pair of oxen that will walk quickly and upright are valuable, and 
we think that the improvement of the walking qualities in oxen and 
horses should have more attention. The town teams were very fine, 
attracting the attention of large numbers of spectators, and were a 
credit to the owners and the towns from whence they came. 

A number of pairs of oxen and steers were so completely matched 
that it would be diflicult for a person unused to them to tell them 
apart. 

The exhibition of trained oxen and steers was the most interesting 
feature of the ox show, and one that attracted a large crowd. They 
were exhibited without a yoke, changing sides, one walking back- 
wards and the other forwards in the same direction, at the same time 
getting on to their knees and walking, lying down, and getting up, 
resting their forward feet on a saw-horse, carrying their driver on 
their back, and putting their forward feet into a cart. A son of Mr. 
Perry Wood, of Mendon, thirteen years old, manifested great skill 
in the management of a pair of steers twenty-seven months old. 

Mr. F. L. Stockwell, of Sutton, exhibited two pairs of steers six 
months and sixteen months old, which went handsomely through the 
changes, backing and walking on their knees like oxen. 

H. M. Taft, of Uxbridge, Ely and Lewis Bates, of Mendon, and 
other young men, whose names I did not learn, manifested great 
skill in the management of oxen and steers. 

Farmers and all managers of dumb animals, especially the man- 
agers of the horse, might learn a lesson from these steers. It was 
plain to be seen, that while they were made to obey, they were not 
abused, or made afraid of their masters. All the oxen and steers 
seemed perfectly at ease surrounded with a crowd of strangers. 

It was a pleasant sight, worthy of note, to see the farmers with 
from one to three sons assisting in the management of the oxen and 
steers, showing that all farmers’ sons do not leave the farm for the 
store or office ; and we do not see any better countenances for honesty, 
health, uprightness and energy, than we saw among these young 
farmers. 

The exhibition of horses was good, and justly drew a large crowd. 

The pens were well filled with the varieties of stock, and the 
society and the owners may feel justly proud of the dairy stock 
contained in their pens. 

The spacious hall contained a good display of vegetables, fruits, 

3 


XVlii REPORTS OF DELEGATES. 


manufactured articles, and machinery of various kinds, and with the 
handiwork of the ladies, beautifully arranged and beautifully made; 
there were also some very fine specimens of wax and needle work 
covering the entire sides of the hall. 

My visit will long be remembered with gratitude to the officers 
and members of the society, for their kind attentions, and especially 
to Mr. Wm. Knowlton, of Upton, who took me to his pleasant 
home, and made me doubly welcome. He not only took me, but bade 
the farmers who passed his place with their teams returning home, 
a hearty welcome to his boarding-house and stables. 


EvigAu Perry. 


HAMPSHIRE. 


As it is the custom to remove the stock at the close of the first day, 
We were unable to witness this interesting feature of the exhibition. 
We are pleased to learn, however, that it was one of the best the 
society has ever made. In a very full report which appeared in the 
** Springfield Republican,” we find the following :— 

‘“The Hampshire Agricultural Society began its twenty-sixth 
annual festival at Amlierst, yesterday, with remarkable success. 
Everything seemed propitious, the weather and the Agricultural 
College included, and they had a first-class show. There were 60 
entries of cows, and a large array of bulls and thorough bred cattle. 
About 30 yoke of oxen formed the town teams of Amherst and 
Hadley. They were mostly grade Durham, and some of the heavier 
pairs reached 38,800 pounds. The Agricultural College fairly 
unbosomed itself, sending as its contribution: 18 Shorthorns, 13 
Ayrshires, five Jerseys, two Dutch, and two Brittanies—40 head 
in all; besides seven Cotswold sheep, four hogs of the Berkshire, 
Chester, or Yorkshire breeds, rabbits, ducks, turkeys, peacocks, hens, 
pigeons, vegetables, and 90 varieties of potatoes.” 

Dr. Edward Hitchcock, delivered the annual address on ‘‘ Some of 
the Poisons of the Farmer’s Life” ; among which he classed ‘ pork, 
the diseased adipose matter of the American hog.” This he 
characterized as ‘*‘ the happy nest of trichina and tape-worm,” and 
believed the best use of pork would be, ‘‘ to cut it into inch pieces 
and feed it to grape-vines, currant and gooseberry bushes,” and 
have more fruit and less pork. His address was said to be ‘“ sharp, 
sensible and suggestive.” 

The morning of the second day opened lowery, and soon the rain 
fell in copious effusions, continuing during the forenoon. We 
arrived at the hall at 11 a. m., and found a very good display of 


APPENDIX. xix 


useful and fancy articles, fruits, flowers, vegetables, etc. Very few 
persons were present. 

At noon, dinner was furnished in the upper hall at about half the 
price of cattle-show dinners in the eastern part of the State. We 
queried how so good a meal could be furnished at so low a price. 

In the afternoon the several trials of horses took place, although 
the condition of the track and the surroundings were very unfavor- 
able for such exhibition. We are pleased to learn that, despite the 
adverse circumstances, the receipts of the fair were nearly sufficient 


to cover the expense. 
Gro. W. Baker. 


HIGHLAND. 


T had the pleasure of attending the annual cattle-show and fair of 
the Middlefield Society. It is surprising to a valley man to see all 
the usual triumphs of the husbandman displayed on the mountains. 
The show of cattle was good; and there were some fine specimens 
of breeding stock. Few herds can show animals equal to Mr. 
William Blush’s Alderney bull. The ploughing-match exhibited great 
skill and success in this important branch of agriculture. There 
was a very exciting contest to test the strength of working-oxen. 
The Horticultural Hall was amply furnished. The specimens of 
vegetables proved that the gardens are well attended to on these 
hills. Apples, pears, and other fruits reminded one of the great 
fruit exhibitions of the eastern counties. Careful observation of 
the various features of the fair satisfies one that the society accom- 
plishes much good for this very interesting locality. The visitor 
need never weary, for when he has looked upon the show till his 
eye tires, he has but to survey the wonderful panorama of natural 
scenery around him, and he will be abundantly refreshed. 


E. H. Kettoae. 


HAMPDEN. 


The annual fair of this Society was held at Hampden Park, 
Springfield, October 5 and 6. The attendance on the first day, the 
‘‘ cattle-show,” was quite small, as it seemed to me, considering the 
favorable day, the place, and the fact that the Society make no 
charge for admission to their grounds on the first day of their 
exhibition. A regular attendant characterizes the occasion as an 
‘* unpretentious, pleasant time.” 


xe REPORTS OF DELEGATES. 


There was a fair exhibit of dairy-stock of all ages, as to numbers, 
much of it very good, a large proportion being pure-breds, and 
representing most of the different breeds. 

It was noticeable that most of the stock was offered by a few 
well-known breeders. Among the noted herds were the Shorthorns 
of P. Stedman & Son, of Chicopee, and Wm. R. Sessions, of 
Wilbraham; the condition of both herds indicating that their 
owners regarded usefulness more than pampered beauty. The 
Ayrshires of Wm. Birnie, of Springfield, the Jerseys of J. L. 
McKinstry, of Chicopee, and the Devons of H. M. Sessions, of 
Wilbraham, attracted much attention. Much regret was expressed 
that the fine herd of Devons of Wm. Mattoon, of Springfield, was 
not on exhibition. 

The show of bulls was not large, but there were a few very good 
animals. J. L. Shepard, S. W. Mosely and Ethan Brooks, had some 
grade cows which were evidently deep milkers. Mr. Wm. Pynchon, 
president of the society, set an example, worthy of imitation by 
officers of all agricultural societies, by offering the best cow upon 
the ground, tested by the pail. Her owner stated that she gave thirty 
quarts of milk per day, from May 12 to July 1 and from that time 
to October 1, twenty-three quarts per day, on the average. This cow 
was a grade. 

The show of fat cattle and working-oxen was not large, nor 
remarkable for quality, and the same remark is especially applicable 
to that of sheep and swine. 

A pair of trained steers by G. W. Morgan, of Belchertown, 
attracted much attention. Such exhibitions should be more common 
at our fairs, and deserve all the encouragement that can be given. 
The trainer and the animals are each improved by the discipline 
they mutually receive, and the spectators cannot fail to get a higher 
and better appreciation of the nature and intelligence of the brute. 

Of poultry there was a fair show, the largest exhibitor being 
Alfred Birnie, of Springfield. 

There was about the usual display of agricultural implements. 
Messrs. B. & J. W. Belcher exhibited a new swivel-plough, a 
novelty of which consisted in the mould-board being in two parts. 
In changing from one side to the other, the point end went under in 
the old way, and the other part went over the beam. By this 
arrangement a more perfect mould-board is secured, but it neces- 
sitates a considerable increase in the weight of the plough. It was 
a matter of regret that there was no p'oughing-match, by which the 
merits of this or any other plough could be determined. 

The display of fruit at the city hall was large and attractive, 
embracing most of the kinds and varieties grown in this section. 


APPENDIX. XKI 


This part of the exhibition appeared to be the most complete of 
any. There was also an abundance of vegetables, and of good 
quality. 

Of butter there were eleven entries, some of it choice. The few 
cheeses shown were fair, though not equal to those offered at some 
other exhibitions. 

Among the “fancy and domestic” articles were many things 
indicating taste and skill; though, perhaps, hardly enough to fairly 
represent a community so favored in wealth, culture and refinement 
as this. 

Your delegate did not stay to witness the ‘‘ horse-show” on the 
second day, taking it for granted that the Board would believe that 
this part of the exhibition would be satisfactory to all concerned. 

In conclusion, we desire to refer to one matter which would seem 
to be worth consideration by this society and others; viz., the 
limited time that animals are kept on exhibition. We noticed that 
many were not on the grounds until after ten o’clock, and that some 
were driven away before two o’clock. The State, and public-spirited 
persons in establishing agricultural societies, undoubtedly intended 
not only to encourage effort by offering premiums, but to furnish 
also a favorable and sufficient opportunity for all to make careful 
and critical examinations and comparisons of whatever might be 
presented. To Mr. Pynchon, and Mr. Bagg, president and secretary 
of the society, and to Hon. Henry Alexander, Jr., your delegate is 
under many obligations for courteous attention. 


A. H. HoLuanp. 


EASTERN HAMPDEN. 


The twenty-third annual exhibition of the Eastern Hampden 
Agricultural Society occurred on Thursday and Friday, September 
23 and 24, two as cold mornings as were ever experienced in this 
section so early in the season, the frost being so severe in many 
sections, that tons of grapes and bushels of peaches were entirely . 
destroyed. On Saturday morning, your delegate found in his own 
young peach-orchard of three hundred trees, what would have filled 
over fifty crates, of worthless, frost-bitten peaches. 

Mr. A. M. Myrick, the delegate appointed, not being present, I 
was. requested by the president, Dr. Wakefield, to report to this 
Board. 

Having taken no notes of the first day’s exhibition for this 
purpose, I am obliged to refer to the society’s books for facts and 


xxii REPORTS OF DELEGATES. 


figures. I have a general impression of the success of the show, 
from having been present as an interested competitor, with twenty 
head of Devon cattle, Morrill colts, Cotswold sheep and Dorking 
chicks, and a large collection of apples in the hall. 

In all departments this was the best show the society has had for 
several years. There was a lively competition at the ploughing- 
match, which came first on the programme, with twelve entries,— 
seven ox and five horse teams. The ploughing was creditable, con- 
sidering the nature of the subsoil, which was very stony. 

There were over 250 animals on the park. The State Primary 
School was represented by 63 head, mostly cows, including 25 head 
of pure-bred Ayrshires. Among the ten cows entered as a herd of 
milch cows from this institution, was one twelve years old, that has 
given 7,980 pounds of milk the past year, und over 25 tons of milk 
in seven years. There were eight entries of herds of neat-stock, and 
59 of cows and heifers, the show of cows being unusually fine. Also 
large representation of oxen and steers, with a few flocks of sheep, 
and pens of swine, and coops of poultry. The show of thorough-bred 
stock is increasing in the society. 

Besides the 55 head of Devons and Ayrshires, the Shorthorns 
and Alderneys had a few representatives. Among the grades, the 
Durhams predominated. 

The hall was well filled with an unusually fine display of fancy 
goods, fruits, flowers and vegetables. 

Horace Wallis, Jr., of Holland, one of the society’s directors, 
exhibited a 121 pound squash, grown since August 1, from the seed 
of President Clark’s Mammoth Lifter, at the rate of over 2} pounds 
per day. Every department in the hall was represented. The show 
of bread, butter and cheese, though small, was of excellent quality. 
The exhibition of fruit was very fine considering the short crop. 

Besides the ploughing-match the first day, there was the exhi- 
bition of working-oxen attached to a loaded cart, of walking-oxen 
around the track, and trained steers. 

The committee on milch cows came to the subscriber with the 
inquiry, ‘‘ What constitutes the best milch cow?” We told them at 
once, that the class should be divided, into, ‘‘ cows for butter,” and 
“cows for milk.” We think the societies generally should increase 
the classes and premiums on milch cows and heifers, to encourage 
the raising of more and better cows. The exhibition of horses the 
second day was of about the usual interest and display. 


H. M. Sessions. 


APPENDIX. XXiil 


UNION. 


The tenth annual exhibition of the Union Agricultural Society 
was held at Blandford, on the 22d and 23d of September last. 

The country in and about Blandford is rough, high and moun- 
tainous, but nevertheless is rich in grazing and grass-growing 
lands. 

The farmers, aware of this fact, make the most of their situation, 
by devoting a great deal of attention to raising and fitting cattle for 
the markets, which they find in the towns on the Connecticut River. 

The exhibition was literally a cattle-show. Early on _ the 
22d, the cattle began to come into the fair-ground. There were 
Alderneys, Ayrshires, Devons, Durhams, Herefords and natives,— 
some two hundred in all. A very large proportion of these cattle 
were young, growing, thrifty, well-trained oxen, and promising 
steers. In the first class, the oxen of the Nyes were prominent. 
In the latter, W. H. Hawley, of Sandisfield, and Messrs J. D. Ripley 
& Son, of Granville, presented steers which would be a credit to 
any state exhibition. 

The animal which attracted the most attention was the Alderney 
bull ‘‘ Emperor,” a large, well-formed, sleek-haired, bright eyed, 
representative of his race, apparently as active and as lithesome as 
a tiger. It was the property of II. E. Knox. 

In the afternoon there was a trial of working-oxen, in which the 
spectators were exceedingly interested. The drivers and the cattle 
performed the work assigned them in a satisfactory manner. 

After the exhibition of the oxen, the Rev. A. L. Loveland, of 
Connecticut, delivered in the Congregational Church, a sensible, 
practical address to the farmer, his main subject, ‘* The Soils, and 
How Improved.” The speaker was complimented by the very close 
attention he received. 

In the evening there was a gathering of the members of the 
Society in the church, and various subjects of interest to the 
farming community were discussed by the orator of the day, E. W. 
Boise, Dr. Stratton, of Lee, and others. 

The second day was devoted to the exhibition of horses. At an 
early hour the track was well filled with horses of all descriptions ; 
work-horses, driving-horses, family-horses, and fast horses were 
represented ; conspicuous among all was a fine dark bay stallion, 
owned by F. C. Knox. 

The horses as well as the oxen appeared to be well cared for, and 
it is with pleasure I am able to state that I saw no animal abused 
while at the fair. 


XXlV REPORTS OF DELEGATES. 


Inside the hall the exhibition of fruit, flowers, and vegetables, 
was fair, some specimens of apples being remarkably good. There 
were huge squashes which the spectator readily believed must 
early have attained to such vigorous growth as to defy any harness 
the ingenuity of President Clark might apply. 

Articles of needle-work, knitting-work, wax-work, products of . 
the dairy, jellies, preserves, etc., were abundant, and showed 
plainly that the women of Blandford ‘ate not the bread of 
idleness.” 

This society is gradually reducing its small debt, and, at the 
same time, improving its grounds and buildings, and it deserves 
and appreciates the encouragement which the State affords. 


STEPHEN SHEPLEY. 


FRANKLIN. 


The twenty-sixth annual fair of the Franklin County Agricult- 
ural Society was held at Greenfield, September 30 and October 1; 
1875. It was one of the best fairs your delegate ever attended. 

Thursday morning the weather was very unfavorable. A cold 
north-east storm set in, and promised to hold good for a week. 

But about 9 o’clock, the clouds which overcast the sky cleared a 
little, and there were indications of a pleasant day. But by this 
time the people had formed their plans, and had decided to postpone 
their visit to the fair until the next day ; consequently, the number 
in attendance was smaller than it otherwise would have been. 

There was, however, no backing out among the exhibitors of 
stock. 

The cattle, sheep and swine, that were brought to the grounds in 
spite of the weather, were a sight to behold. 

Old men, young men, and boys, all seemed interested to get their 
stock ready for exhibition. 

There were twelve herds of stock entered, comprising some of the 
best neat-stock in the State. 

The herd of Shorthorns exhibited by John S. Anderson, of 
Shelburne, was worthy of particular notice. There were twenty- 
six head entered by him, including one pair of four-year-old oxen, 
that weighed 4,700 pounds, the heaviest yoke of cattle on the 
ground. Another yoke of 4,200 pounds, another of 3,700 pounds, 
and still another 3,670 pounds. 

Two pairs of two-year-old steers, 3,200 and 3,300 pounds, 
respectively: two two-year-old heifers, weighing 1,250 and 1,350 


APPENDIX. XXV 


pounds; four yearling heifers, averaging 1,100 pounds each; and 
six magnificent cows entered as milk and stock cows were exhibited. 

But the king of the herd was ‘“‘ Scotchman, 2d,” a pure-bred bull 
which Mr. Anderson imported recently from Canada. ‘‘Scotchman” 
tipped the scales at 2,400 pounds. He is a model animal. He also 
exhibited another fine animal, a three-year-old heifer, weighing 
1,400 pounds, which he purchased in Canada. 

One cow was exhibited with this herd descended from ‘ Roan 
Duke,” now owned by W. H. Bardwell, that makes twenty pounds 
of butter a week. 

Lowell S. Brown, of Shelburne, exhibited a fine herd of 14 head, 
11 of which were pure-bred Shorthorns, including his bull ‘* Massa- 
chusetts,” weighing 2,150 pounds. 

G. W. Truesdell exhibited a herd of 20 superior animals, especially 
for the dairy. 

Levi Smith, of Deerfield, exhibited a herd of 18, including his 
bull, ‘* Young Prince,’—a model of beauty. <A statement of the 
income from a dairy of nine cows, since the first of January last, 
contains the following :— 


Butter sold,—1,575 pounds, ; 2 : : ; : . $566 64 
Estimated amount used in family, . : : 5 : : 44 46 
Milk fed to calves, .. : ‘ : ; , 5 A ; 75 00 
Milk fed to hogs, . . : . . : . . ° 50 00 


Total, - ; é F : : ; ; ; 5 tntiata 1 


D. O. Fiske’s herd of 20 made a very creditable show. 

The exhibitors of Jerseys, and grade Jerseys, were H. C. Haskell, 
N. Farren, C. H. Child, Fred and Frank Kelly, all showing fine 
cattle. Several other herds did great credit to the show. 

The number of Herefords, Ayrshires, and Devons on exhibition 
was small, though good in quality. 

The farmers seem to be divided between the Shorthorns or large 
Durhams, and the butter-making Jerseys. 

Two town teams of 17 yoke each were entered; viz., Shelburne 
and Deerfield. The average weight of the 34 yoke was nearly 
4,000 pounds each yoke. 

The trial of working-oxen was very good. Although the oxen did 
not seem to be so well trained as I have seen at other fairs, yet by 
their enormous weight, they were seemingly able to move any load 
they were attached to. 

A large number of mammoth oxen were on exhibition, weighing 
from 3,500 to 4,700 pounds per yoke. 

Besides these, there were steers three years old, two years old, 

4 


XXVi REPORTS OF DELEGATES. 


one year old, and steer calves, some twins, others not so nearly 
connected, yet equally well matched. 

The number of cattle on exhibition was about 200 head. 

Sheep made the best show, I was informed, ever seen upon the 
ground ; every pen set apart for this class was filled. Among them 
were fine wool, middie wool, long wool, and sheep for the shambles, 
all very fine specimens. The greatest attraction among the sheep 
were those exhibited by S. H. Moody, of Northfield, purchased by 
his brother, D. L. Moody, the evangelist, in Birmingham, England. 
They were Shropshire Downs, one buck and two ewes, 18 months 
old. The ram was estimated to weigh 350 pounds, the ewes 125 
pounds each. ‘They were landed in Northfield one day previous to 
the exhibition. It was the opinion of your delegate, that better 
sheep than these never stood in Massachusetts. 

Swine were also well represented. There were Chester Whites, 
Essex, and Poland China. All were superior in quality. One litter 
of seven, a cross between Poland China and Chester Whites, was a 
little ahead, averaging 45 pounds, six weeks old. A better display 
of swine is seldom seen at any fair in the State. 

M. L. Hubbard, of Sunderland, showed nine pigs, half Suffolk, 
that ranked in the first class, average weight 45 pounds each. 

The show of poultry was extensive, and good in quality. Fifty- 
six coops were on exhibition. Light Brahmas, Golden and Silver 
Hamburgs, Leghorns, and Plymouth Rocks, were the most numerous, 
while geese, turkeys, ducks and doves were not wanting to complete 
the department. 

The exhibition in the hall, I was informed, has never been excelled 
on any former occasion. Nearly every department was fully 
represented. Certainly it was a grand display. 

Great credit is due W. L. Warner, Esq., an efficient member of 
this Board, for his good taste in arranging the articles for exhibition, 
in such good order, that every article showed to the best advantage. 

W. L. Warner was the leading exhibitor of garden vegetables, 
he entering 93 varieties. His seed-corn, enormous beets, potatoes, 
and 23 varieties of beans were particularly fine. 

Among his collections was a corn-stalk fourteen feet eight inches in 
height; and Bela Kellogg, of Greenfield, presented one equally 
as high, if not higher, than the one exhibited by Mr. Warner. 

An enormous stalk of hemp graced the corner, exhibited by 
George W. Mark, of Greenfield. 

Louis Bane, of Deerfield, exhibited four squashes of tremendous 
growth; the weight was given. II. C. Haskell, exhibited one of 74 
pounds; he had also sweet potatoes, and a variety of garden vege- 
tables, that would be difficult to excel. 


APPENDIX. XXVil 


Hon. A. C. Parsons, of Northfield, had on exhibition samples cf 
corn, raised on unproductive sol, ising a fertilizer made on Prof. 
Stockbridge’s formula for corn. If the Professor’s production 
can do this every time, the fertilizer will be a good thing for more 
of our farmers to have. 

Eighty-three varieties of fruit were exhibited by W. L. Warner, 
and a very fine 'ot they were. 

The best display of grapes was that of Jacob Steigleder, com- 
prising ten entries. Lewis Farrell and J. P. Howard were large 
contributors to th s department. 

Plums and pears were in abundance, and the varieties were 
numerous. 

There were thirteen entr’es of collections of apples, showing some 
splendid specimens from the farmers’ orchards. Mr. Buddington’s 
statement of his orchard, containing ten acres, yielded,— 


InpsiO5  - : 4 : : : : 5 - , 400 barrels. 


Sto : ‘ : : : : : ; : 300 ee 
USio.e : : ; A : : : : : 225 « 
1374," ; : 225 ee 
1875 (estimated), . 275 cf 
Motaleyy. ‘ : ‘ : F F é ~ 13225 barrels: 


There were 24 entries of wheat bread, four of rye, seven of 
brown, and four of graham. 

There were 21 entries of butter, and statements of the method of 
making the same, which were creditable to the ladies of this 
county. 

The show of cheese was not extensive, but very fine in quality. 

Of fancy articles, there were some 200 entries. Of domestic 
manufactures, 43 entries. Miss Mary Tighe exhibited a beautiful 
worsted picture, in which, as was stated, there were set 144,555 
stitches. I did not count them, but no doubt the statement was 
correct. 

The hall was opened Thursday evening, and was thronged with 
visitors. The Greenfield band furnished the music, and the occasion 
was greatly enjoyed by all. 

Friday, the second and last day of the fair, was expected to be 
the great day of the occasion. ‘But the clouds, that had dispersed 
to permit the success of Thursday, gathered again during the 
night, and on Friday morning there was a cold north-east rain- 
storm, which steadily increased during the whole day. This was 
certainly very discouraging to the friends of the Franklin County 
Society. But at about eight o’clock the horsemen began to gather 


XXVIii REPORTS OF DELEGATES. 


on the park with their stock horses, brood mares and colts, of all 
ages, until the pens and sheds were all full, and a better show of 
horses and colts is seldom seen. There was no especial exhibition 
of speed, as their park is not convenient for a track. 

A large number of good hree-year-old colts, weighing from 900 
pounds to 1,200 pounds, were on exhibition. Two-year-old colts, 
of good points, were also there; also yearling colts of great promise. 
Of suckling colts, there were 20 entries, and a better show of colts 
your delegate never saw. 

The programme announced the time of dinner to be at half-past 
12, but on account of the storm it was thought best to put through 
the committees on the different classes of horses, and take dinner 
afterwards. The dinner was furnished by the ladies of the Second 
Congregational Church. The tables were well spread, the food 
abundant, and particularly well served. After full justice had been 
done, President Brown made some congratulatory remarks, and 
introduced distinguished guests from abroad, who made short, 
practical speeches. This was a very interesting feature of the fair, 
and, on the whole, it was a very enjoyable occasion. 

Financially this society is “ndependent, free from debt, and 
owning a beautiful park, consisting 0. about ten acres. It is one of 
the oldest societies in the State. 

Being thus situated, they are not easily embarrassed, although 
their receipts at the gate this year mus necessarily have been very 
small. I am informed that they realized both days, only about six 
hundred dollars. 

Your delegate extends his thanks to the officers of this society 
for their attentions during his stay with them. 


DANIEL DwiGut. 


DEERFIELD VALLEY. 


The morning of the 23d of September opened fair and bright 
for the exhibition of this young and energetic society. The 
bracing air, holding its full share of oxygen, nerved alike the 
old and young to speed their way to the fair-grounds at Charlemont. 
These grounds are situated on a broad plateau, amid the hills, 
hundreds of feet above the river, and command one of the most 
beautiful and picturesque views of hill and valley to be found in 
this or any other country. 

The farmers of the surrounding towns were here in good numbers, 
and it did not take long to establish in my mind that this was truly 


APPENDIX. XXIZ 


an agricultural exhibition. The grounds were well filled with herds 
of all the approved breeds, and among them were many superior 
animals. There were a large number of fine working-oxen. Cole- 
raine sent a town team of fifteen yoke, weighing in the aggregate 
47,030 pounds. One yoke from Hawley weighed 4,190 pounds, and 
there were many others that crowded hard on to 4,000 pounds. The 
great feature of the exhibition was the sheep department. There 
were thirty-one entries in the various classes, numbering about four 
hundred. They were principally of the fine and middle w ol varie- 
ties, and were arare exhibition for Massachusetts. 

Swine were not very numerous, the Chester Whites predomi- 
nating. 

Poultry—Brahmas, Cochins, Leghorns, Houdans, and the beauti- 
ful gold and silver Hamburgs—laid claim to notice. 

The show of fruit was respectable for the season. In passing 
along the river road from Shelburne Falls to Charlemont, J could 
but notice that in many places where the trees are protected from 
the cold-bearing north-west winds, they hung full of red-cheeked 
beauties, and I could but wonder at their not giving more attention 
to the raising of fruit. The virgin soil, washing down from the 
hills, gives the nutriment they most require. 

Farm crops were most excellent, the bread, butter and cheese 
attesting to the fact. 

Canned fruits in great variety were shown. 

Of flowers, there was a very pretty collection, and the needle and 
pencil showed skill and industry. 

After the dinner a novel sight presented itself. Several hundreds 
of people seated themselves on the grass, opposite to the speaker’s 
stand, and listened attentively to the address given by Richard 
Lathers, Esq., of Pittsfield. It was an able effort, containing much 
valuable information for the farmers and hearers generally. 

In the evening one of the vice-presidents gave a reception to the 
orator and members, and two hours were happily spent in speaking 
and social converse. 

The second day seemed to vie with the first in its endeavors to 
make every one happy. The crowd was there to witness the exhibi- 
tion of horses, and they were not disappointed. The grounds were 
filled with people, and stallions, and breeding-mares, and their 
progeny, of all ages and sizes, showing that the farmers are giving 
their attention to the more careful breeding of the horse. There 
were a large number of carriage-horses, single and in pairs, and 
none more worthy of notice than the noble blacks, belonging to our 
worthy associate on this Board. . 

That this Society is doing a good work, that it is meeting the 


XXX REPORTS OF DELEGATES. 


requirements of the State, and that its success is all its founders 
could reasonably expect, I cannot doubt. I should do injustice to 
this Board and my own feelings did I no’ acknowledge the universal 
respect shown them, through their delegate. Words cannot express 
my obligations to our associate and his devoted wife, for the true 


home comforts enjoyed at his fireside. 
ELIPHALET STONE. 


BERKSHIRE. 


The sixty-sixth annual exhibition of the Berkshire Agricultural 
Society was held at Pittsfield, the 5th, 6th and 7th of Octo- 
ber. It was late in he afternoon o” the first day when I arrived, 
yet there was an opportunity for seeing some of the stock before it 
was removed from the grounds, it being their custom to exhibit neat- 
stock the first day only. 

The weather was cool, but the attendance was good notwithstand- 
ing, and the exhibition was fully up to that of former years. 

There were 48 entries of pure-bred nea-s ock, consisting of 
bulls, 14; bull-calves, 5; breeding-cows, 14; heifers, 8; and 
other calves, 7. These consisted of Devons, Jerseys, Durhams, 
Ayrshires and Dutch. 

Of grade animals there were 99 entries; viz., Fat cattle, on 
working oxen, 15; steers, 7; dairies, 5; milch cows, 21: breed- 
ing cows, 11; heifers, 18; calves, 7; herds, 10 ;—aggregating 147 
entries of neat-stock, and numbering 256 animals. Noticeable 
among these was the Dutch cow, be onging to the West Pittsfield 
Shakers, which is milked three times a day. Owing to her great 
productiveness, $1,200 has already been refused for her. 

There were 52 entries of sheep, consisting of rams, 19; ewes, 
15; lambs, 11; fat sheep, 2; and 5 flocks; the whole numbering 
230. 

Fourteen entries of swine: Boars, 4; sows with pigs, 10; num- 
bering 80 in all. 

Of poultry there were 47 en'ries, as follows: Fow!s, 85; ducks, 
2; turkeys, 4; and geese, 6. 

The second day was cold and damp, which, without doubt, kept 
many away who otherwise would have attended the exhibition of 
horses, which was unusually fine. There were 117 entries, consist- 
ing of matched horses, 18; single horses, 21 ; stallions and studs, 
12; mares with colts, 17; colts, 46; and trotters, 3. 


APPENDIX. XXxl 


The exhibition-hall was well filled with the usual variety of 
household, mechanical and field productions, there being 484 entries 
of household manufactures, consisting of carpets, rugs, hosiery, 
embroidery, crochet-work, and many other articles both useful and 
ornamental. 

Of paintings and works of art, there were 116 entries, among 
which were many fine specimens of oil and water-color paintings, 
crayon and pencil drawings, photographs, wreaths, wax-work, 
marble statuary, ete. 

The display of agricultural implements and mechanical produc- 
tions consisted of 41 entries, embracing not only articles necessary 
for farming operations, but also for lessening the labor of household 
duties. 

In the department of manufactures, there were 22 entries, 
among which were cloths from Hinsdale Brothers, harnesses by A. 
D. Gale, flour by R. A. Teeling, and a case of sewing-silk by the 
Saunders Silk Company, which attracted much attention. 

The exhibition of field and garden vegetables consisted of 145 
entries—Thomas Allen contributing 96 varieties, and James Burk 80. 

Sixty entries of seeds, consisting of corn, rye, barley, oats, buck- 
wheat, beans, potatoes, spring wheat, pop-corn and timothy seed, 
were shown in packages of one bushel each. 

Of fruits, there were 152 entries. Twenty-six varieties of apples 
were contributed by George P. Briggs of Pittsfield; 31 of pears by 
William G. Backus, 35 by C. T. Rathburne, 31 by S. W. Dow, of 
Lanesboro’ ; peaches by Zaccheus Cande; quinces by T.S. Baldwin, 
of Egremont; hot-house grapes by Mrs. 8. L. Pollock and Edward 
Pomeroy ; out-door grapes by Oren Curtis, of Sheflield, ete. 

Maple-sugar was shown by Mrs. Lester Gorton; honey by F. A. 
Martin, and plums by W. H. Nichols, of Richmond. There also 
was a fine display of canned fruit, jellies and preserves. 

Bread, 100 entries, consisting of wheat, rye, brown, graham and 
biscuit. 

There were 46 entries of butter, and 15 of cheese. 

The floral department received 37 entries, and contained many 
beautiful and rare varieties. 

The number of entries in the hall was 1,161; on the ground, 377 ; 
making in all, 1,538 entries. 

I learned from the committee on agricultural products that they 
received application for the examination of about 180 entries of 
summer crops, from residents in 17 towns, extending from the 
extreme north to the south of the county, also from east to 
west, which they visited in July. For fall crops there were about 
280 entries examined in September. 


XXXil REPORTS OF DELEGATES. 


The committee on farms visited six orchards of apples, two of 
pears, twelve collections of fruit-trees, three pieces of reclaimed 
land, and thirty-three farms. 

Thus it appears that the Society is doing a good work in offering 
premiums for summer and fall crops, as well as for articles exhibited 
at the annual exhibition. 

Other engagements prevented my remaining to witness the pro- 
ceedings of the third day, which comprised the delivery of an 
address by Prof. Sanborn Tenney, of Williams College, and 
the awarding and distributing of premiums, principally of silver 
plate. The day’s fair concluded with an exhibition of trotting- 
horses. 

I found that the members and oflicers of the association were 
live men and women, who have the best interest of the society in 
view, and I know of no organization where the state bounty is 
better applied than it is with this. I shall ever remember the cor- 
dial reception and generous hospitality and courtesy received from 
them, for which they have my sincere thanks. 

Amos Bates. 


HOOSAC VALLEY. 


I attended the Hoosac Valley Society at North Adams on the 
16th and 17th of September. 

The officers of the Society had taken particular pains to have the 
show of cattle a success, and had had the promise from the farmers 
of more and better stock than at any previous show, but the fears 
of the cattle disease kept away at lcast two-thirds of the cattle 
expected. But there was quite a respectable showing as it was. 

Van Buren Mallory, of Pittsfield, exhibited twin steers, two years 
old, weighing 2,426 pounds; L. J. Follett, of South Adams, a fine 
Jersey bull, and two heifers of the same breed; Amasa Richardson 
a fine herd of Jerseys; John M. Cole, the president, two pairs of 
fat oxen, weighing together 8,500 pounds. There was a very good 
show of milch cows. 

The show of sheep was the best of any that I have seen at any 
of our fairs; the most in number and the best in quality. 

The show of swine was not large. Bradford Harrison exhibited 
some nice sows and pigs, which attracted considerable attention. 

The poultry was very fully represented, embracing nearly all 
varieties, and was a credit to the society. 

Exhibitors of all kinds of household manufactures, agricultural 


APPENDIX. XXxlil 


implements, fruits, vegetables, and works of art, were very fully 
represented in the hall. I think this department was truly a success. 

It was thought by many that the exhibition of horses, on the 
second day, was the best that was ever seen on the Society’s grounds. 
Breeding-mares, with colts by their sides, showed that the farmers 
of Northern Berkshire were paying particular attention to raising 
good horses. Of gentlemen’s driving-horses, some were very good, 
as were also some family-horses. 

The Society have labored under many difficulties since their com- 
mencement. The October flood of 1871 injured their grounds to 
the extent of several hundred dollars. But they have a live set of 
officers, who are determined to make the Society a success. Their 
receipts this year were larger than their expenses, which I think 
cannot be said of any other society in Western Massachusetts. 


ELNATHAN GRAVES. 


HOUSATONIC. 


The fair of this Society was held at Great Barrington, September 
29 and 30 and October 1. 

This being our first visit to this section of the State, we were at 
once interested and delighted with the romantic country from Pitts- 
field to the fair-grounds. 

Before entering the grounds we had a view of them from the 
highway, and witnessed the usual preparations preceding the open- 
ing. Cattle were arriving, and were also quietly grazing on the 
grounds. The products of the farm and household, of every descrip- 
tion, were brought in. ‘The officers and committees were busy with 
the duties preliminary to the opening, and the people weré out in 
force to witness the doings. 

Official duties in connection with another society limited our time 
here to a few hours, and we entered upon the examination of the 
display in the Society’s hall, a large building, which seemed ample 
for the accommodation of exhibitors. 

The vegetable department, occupying the basement of the build- 
ing, was well filled with contributions, comprising the usual variety 
grown in this climate, and it was a very creditable exhibition. The 
varieties exhibited skill and care in their cultivation, but apparently 
the want of it in using impure seed, and by showing the largest 
specimens, instead of those representing the true type of their sort. 
The best results are not obtained by a show of the largest specimens, 
but the truest of their respective sorts. 

5 


XXXiv REPORTS OF DELEGATES. 


The display of tools and implements was good, and instructive 
to those giving them careful examination; and we were informed 
that the farmers hereabout have not been slow in adopting and 
using the most improved implements in their husbandry. In the 
upper hall were displayed the butter and cheese, bread, fruit, house- 
hold manufactures, fancy-work, drawings, paintings, flowers, and 
everything which contributes to the comfort and refinement of the 
farmer’s home. The fruits were shown, or were attempted to be 
shown, under glazed sash, raised to such an angle that no mortal 
could distinguish their kinds, or discern their virtues or defects. An 
attempt to display fruit under such circumstances is neither attract- 
ive, instructive, or advisable. 

The exhibition of butter was large, and denoted, as a whole, good 
dairy management, good cows, and good pastures, each and all 
indispensable for the best results. Some of the butter was of 
marked excellence, and the competition seemed spirited for the 
prizes. 

The display of household manufactures was in a high degree 
meritorious, and in great variety; that of domestic carpeting, the 
largest and best we have ever seen, indicating durability as well as 
good taste and domestic industry. 

There were other articles of domestic industry in great profusion, 
which contributed largely to the exhibition. 

The show of flowers was fine, considering the lateness of the 
season, and the hall exhibition, as a whole, was very creditable to 
all contributors. 

We now turned our attention to the live-stock. The fat cattle 
were well grown and well fattened, had received good care and good 
pasture, had been handled well, and were well fitted for the shambles. 

The working oxen and steers were there in goodly numbers, were 
well grown and matched, and appeared well trained for all purposes 
required of oxen. 

With even a superficial examination of the dairy-stock we were 
much pleased ; nearly all breeds and their grades were represented, 
each owner feeling that his own stock was best adapted to his 
circumstances. As we like all breeds, and are prejudiced against 
none, not even the natives, we tried to appreciate the exhibition as 
it was then and there presented, and we have seldom seen stock 
that looked so well as a whole; we saw but few ordinary animals, 
and none that were poor, and many whose intelligent breeding and 
care were creditable to the owners, who by commendable skill, and 
by persistent efforts, contributed so largely to the interest of 
the fair. 

The breeders who, by good foresight and care, can show a strain 


APPENDIX. XXXV 


of any breed of uniform type and fixed characteristics, that have 
the inherent force to transmit their virtues to their progeny with 
reliable certainty, may justly term their strain pure-bred, and their 
pedigree self-evident and undoubted. 

After looking at the poultry, and all departments of the fair, we 
were impressed with the conclusion that the Society was surely and 
steadily doing its legitimate work, and doing it well. 


O. B. Hapwen. 


NORFOLK. 


The undersigned, appointed to visit the Norfolk County Society, 
respectfully reports that paramount official duties prevented him 
from attending but one day of the twenty-seventh annual exhibi- 
tion of the Society, held on the 30th of September and Ist of 
October last. The day was a pleasant one, and your delegate was 
kindly received and cared for by Col. Stone, Mr. Hildreth the sec- 
retary, and other officers of the Society. 

The exhibition was a very creditable one to the Society, and in 
many departments it was truly excellent, especially the show of 
fruit, and preeminently of pears. This was indeed very superior, 
in variety, size and quality ; many specimens were not only large, 
but remarkably fair and perfect, qualities in which the fruit shown 
at the fairs of this Society always excels. The show of 114 choice 
varieties by Col. Wilder, attracted, as it deserved, very great atten- 
tion. Others, also, exhibited fewer varieties, but in single plates, 
sometimes equalling, if not surpassing, the standard samples of the 
king of pears. 

The exhibition of neat-cattle was also remarkable, among which 
our attention was especially called to the beautiful Jersey herd of 
Hon. Henry L. Pierce, of Canton, and also to a very superior animal 
owned by Charles Faulkner, of Brookline, with a calf by her side, 
which were truly remarkable. 

The horses owned by the president, Col. Henry S. Russell, of 
Milton, were beautiful animals, and he may well ‘‘fear naught” in 
comparison with them. 

The undersigned deeply regretted his inability to be present on 
Friday, ‘the great day of the feast,” when the address of Col. Theo- 
dore Lyman was delivered, and the annual dinner eaten; but he 
was assured that everything passed off pleasantly, and that this 
Society is increasing in usefulness and vigor. 


Epmunp H. BENNETT. 


ae.» REPORTS OF DELEGATES. 


BRISTOL: 


The duty of attending and reporting on the fifty-second exhibition 
of the Bristol County Fair was assigned to me by the Board of 
Agriculture. The fair was holden at the agricultural grounds in the 
city of Taunton, on the 29th and 30th of September and on the 
first day of October last. The weather, although not so delightful 
for an agricultural fair as could be desired, was more pleasant than 
the average, and decidedly more desirable than fell to the lot of 
many other societies at their annual meetings this year. 

The morning of the second day was obscured by clouds, to the 
great annoyance of many who were eagerly watching for a glimpse 
of the sun, but it was discernible only through the smallest rifts in 
the clouds. 

There was a smaller number of entries for ploughing with oxen 
than usual, but there were eighteen entries in ploughing with spans 
of horses. Your delegate was not on the grounds, and so cannot 
speak of the comparative merits of each contestant, but from the 
appearance of the land after it was ploughed the conclusion was 
reached that the ploughmen were not novices, and the teams were 
able-bodied. 

After the ploughing-match came the exhibition of family-horses 
on the track. A number of animals were on the grounds doing 
credit to themselves, their owners, and the county, and premiums 
were awarded, according to their merits, by the committees. 

Next came the procession of town teams,—17 yoke of oxen 
from Raynham, 15 from Rehoboth, ten from Norton,—and they 
marched around the track, preceded by the Providence Band, *‘ keep- 
ing step to the music of the Union,” under the yoke, and in chains, 

In the afternoon came on the trial of gentlemen’s horses. Sub- 
sequently, the draught-horses were subjected to their trials, and 
finally was inaugurated for the day trotting by the four-year-old 
colts of the county. These several classes had their day and gen- 
eration for an hour, were subjected to their trials, enjoyed the 
plaudits of the admiring crowds, and passed from their distinguished 
positions to mingle again on a common level with the less favored 
members of the bovine and equine races. 

The races were exciting, and the trotting fair would not have 
been regarded as slow by the sporting community. 

The horse is a noble as well as a useful animal to man. Every 
one enjoys a sharply-contested trial of speed between horses equally 
matched, squarely trotted and fairly driven; but the jockey who 
whips, runs, pulls and scores his steed for the sake of gaining some 


APPENDIX. XXXVil 


undue advantage over his competitor, does much to render an honest 
agricultural horse-trot unpopular, and tends, so far as he can, to 
degrade manhood below horsehood. 

The entries in the several departments of working cattle, fat 
cattle, bulls, cows, heifers, etc.,—pure breds, grades and natives,— 
were in large numbers. Many of the specimens were fine, and pre- 
miums were awarded by the committees as seemed good in their 
sight. Of thoroughbred stock, Ayrshires were the most numerous, 
while grades and natives outnumbered all the rest. 

The exhibition in the hall of bread and butter, cheese and honey, 
fruits, vegetables, flowers, greenhouse plants, bouquets, domestic 
manufactures and specimens of the handiwork of the ladies, was, to 
use the language of one of their own number, “ perfectly splendid.” 
This language will convey a truer idea of the reality than can be 
formed from any old Saxon at my command. 

The specimens of fruit were good, although the season had not 
been as propitious for this kind of products as many others. This 
was not the bearing year for apples, although many specimens were 
on exhibition that would have done honor to any contributor and 
any year. The severe winter, the cold spring and the untimely 
frosts of autumn rendered the grape crop a failure, except in warm 
soils and sheltered localities, yet Mr. Forrister, of Somerset, showed 
» some superb specimens. 

Pears were displayed in profusion,—pleasant to the eye, tempting 
to the hand, and doubtless luscious to the taste of those whose duty 
required them to report on their comparative merits. 

The silver ware from Reed & Barton, the elegant machines from 
the Mason Machine Works, the large show of agricultural products, 
of one hundred and fifty varieties, of Charles Albro, of Taunton, were 
peculiarly attractive and interesting. 

A grocery-store was on exhibition, equipped with every article 
the school-boy would call for, from a jackknife to a jew’s-harp; the 
school-girl select, from chewing-gum to a mint-drop; the farmer 
want, from a cow-bell to a plug of tobacco; and the good matron 
need, from a quarter of tea to a yeast-cake. 

The committee on hay have awarded the premiums on that article 
to W. F. Woodward, of Taunton, $12, for five tons 800 pounds, 
grown on one-half acre of land; to B. D. Snow of Raynham, $8, 
for ten tons 1,280 pounds, grown on one acre. This was not on 
exhibition at the fair, but common farmers would call 102 tons to 
an acre a pretty tall, stout, heavy crop of grass, and shows that 
manures, in most cases, are spread over much too large a surface. 

The most unique feature of the occasion was the poultry exhibi- 
tion. The new structure, erected the last year for its accommoda- 


XXXViil REPORTS OF DELEGATES. 


tion, was filled to overflowing. The display of the domestic fowls 
would do credit to a poultry show par excellence, and was ona 
much grander scale than I have ever seen at any agricultural fair, 
there being over two hundred contributors to this department. I 
am not an adept of sufficient skill to decide on the comparative 
merits of the different breeds, but can only say it must be a worthy 
prototype of the poultry exhibition of the centennial year, one thou- 
sand eight hundred and seventy-six. 

The dinner was served at the Society’s hall, on the second day. 
The president of the Society, Mr. Mason, being detained on account 
of sickness, the Hon. Judge Bennett welcomed the guests in a short 
speech, and presided at the table. After partaking of a bountiful 
repast, spread for more than four hundred, and enjoying the music 
from the band, Hon. Samuel B. Noyes delivered an address on Bristol 
County farmers, the *‘ embattled farmers,” the bone and muscle of the 
colonies of 1776. It was estimated that over twelve thousand persons 
were on the grounds during the fair. The Society is in a prosperous 
condition, has ample grounds, a large hall, and a praiseworthy esprit 
du corps among its members. A feeling seemed to pervade the 
community that this holiday of the farmers was one of the gala days 
of the year, and a determination to get their share of pleasure, so 
abounding and so accessible to all, seemed to be omnipresent. 

During my stay in Taunton, and while on the agricultural grounds, 
I was and still am under obligations to Judge Bennett, Avery P. 
Slade, Esq., and Col. W. D. Tripp and his lady, for kindness and 


courtesy shown me on the occasion. 
Horace P. WAKEFIELD. 


MARSHFIELD. 


Although the protracted storm kept away thousands from the 
show-ground, yet the exhibition of animals in the several classes 
was extremely good, and the number of entries was above an 
average of previous years. 

There was a large number of entries in the different classes of 
horses, and about twenty premiums were awarded. 

Of cows there were 15 entries, and seven premiums were paid, 
amounting in all to about $36. Of heifers, under three years old, 
there were seven entries; under two,18. Among these the Jerseys 
predominated. There was a very fine exhibition of calves, 22 
entries, and all fine stock. A 

The sheep exhibited were very respectable in quality, but few in 
numbers. 


APPENDIX. XXXIX 


The show of poultry is seldom equalled at a county fair, and $60 
were distributed among 35 competitors. 

The products of the field and garden were admirable, 150 entries 
being made and $120 distributed among contributors by the com- 
mittee. 

The display of fruits showed that great pains had been taken to 
perfect the various kinds. 

Thirty-eight varieties of pears were entered by one person, and 
40 others entered from three to 10 each; 28 received premiums or 
gratuities. 

Apples, peaches, quinces, grapes and cranberries also found a 
place upon the fruit-tables. 

Grapes were abundant, there being 37 entries, all good collec- 
tions, worthy of premiums, yet there were prizes for only 25. 

The ladies, too, came in for their full share of agricultural dis- 
tinction. The different kinds of domestic manufactures and fancy 
articles exhibited by them, the work of their own hands, gave the 
best evidence of their qualifications to discharge the various duties 
appertaining to housewifery ; 244 premiums were awarded to own- 
ers of articles under the head of home department. Canned fruits, 
preserves, butter and cheese were quite abundant ; also all the differ- 
ent kinds of bread. 

L. P. WaRNER. 


PLY MUU TH. 


The exhibition of the Plymouth County Agricultural Society was 
held at Bridgewater, on September 22d, 23d and 24th. As usual 
with this society, the concourse of people was large, and the exhibi- 
tion was conducted with exactness and energy. The entries for 
premiums on produce were large, and included rye, carrots, onions, 
beets, turnips, cabbages, parsnips, potatoes, Indian corn and beans. 
The amount of rye produced to the acre was reported to be, in one 
case, 371 bushels, and in another, 3042 bushels per acre. The 
former crop was raised at a cost of $32 an acre, and the latter at a 
cost of $57.01. Another crop of rye was presented, which amounted 
to 2218 per acre, and cost $55. Each of these crops seems to have 
been made profitable by the straw, which finds a ready and liberal 
market in this county. Of the onion crops, one amounted to 4043 
bushels per acre, and another 346} bushels. One cultivator recom- 
mends, as a remedy against the maggot, covering the seed-vessels, 
before the blossoms open, with gauze, to protect them from the fly 
which lays in the blossom the egg from which the maggot is after- 
ward produced. Of mangolds, a crop of 386 bushels on 50 square 


xe REPORTS OF DELEGATES. 


rods, or 1,23532 bushels per acre, a very creditable yield. Of 
Swedish turnips, 798 bushels per acre were reported. A return was 
made of 3474 bushels of potatoes per acre, the manure applied being 
plaster and hen manure, in equal parts. A corn crop of 9512 bushels 
per acre was reported; another of 8942; and a crop of beans esti- 
mated at 3024 bushels per acre. Much attention was manifested to 
the cultivation of fruit, cranberries, and forest trees. 

The show of cattle was large and interesting; the collection of 
cows and heifers especially indicating care and good judgment in 
the breeding and feeding of this class of animals, upon which so 
much of the agricultural prosperity of Massachusetts depends. The 
number of working-oxen was large, and in it were found many valu- 
able animals; and the skill displayed in driving the cattle was 
highly creditable. There was a good exhibition of stallions, and of 
farm and family horses and colts. Sheep, swine and poultry were 
well represented, and the products of the orchard, garden and dairy 
were abundant; the quality being as good as a somewhat hard soil 
and an unpropitious climate would promise. 

From the attention of the committees, the care and exactness 
with which they conducted their examinations, and the general 
management of affairs on the grounds, your delegate received the 
assurance that the Plymouth County Society still exercises the good 
influence which it has for so many years exercised over the agricult- 
ure of this section of the State. The judicious recommendations 
of the president, and the elaborate character of the reports, all give 
evidence of the determination of those engaged in managing the 
Society to retain for it the reputation it has so long enjoyed as one 
of the most useful of these industrial organizations in our State. 


Geo. B. Lorine. 


BARNSTABLE. 


The two days’ fair of the Barnstable County Agricultural Society, 
which was held this year, September 22 and 23. had favorable weather, 
and was, all things considered, a success. To your delegate, fresh 
from the mountains of Berkshire, the beautiful old seaside town of 
Barnstable itself rivalled the attractions of the show. 

The annual meeting of the Society took place, on the morning of 
the first day, in the custom-house, being the first since the change 
was made in the time for holding it. The report of the treasurer 
showed that the expenditures for premiums last year were $628, and 
for expenses of the fair $461. Among the receipts were nearly $800 


APPENDIX. xli 


at the gate and hall. The Society is still somewhat in debt, but it 
is hoped, and with good reason, that it will soon be extinguished. 

The hall exhibition, I understood, was not so full as usual, but 
still was an excellent one. The show of vegetables, especially, was 
surprisingly large and fine. There was the inevitable big squash. Mr. 
~ Cobb showed sugar-beets weighing eighteen pounds each, and nearly 
all of the new and famous seedling potatos were attractively pre- 
sented. And this leads me to say that while light, sandy soils, like 
that of Barnstable, will produce potatoes of fine appearance and of 
excellent table quality, repeated experiments have shown that they 
are by no means so valuable for planting as those grown upon 
heavier and higher ground, and in a colder climate. If, then, the 
Cape farmers, and others similarly situated in respect of soils, will 
be at the trouble and slight additional expense of getting their 
planting-potatoes, say from the hills of Maine or Vermont, I have 
not the least doubt that the increase in yield to them will be from 
one-fourth to one-half greater than from the home-grown ‘“ seed.” 

Of fruit, there was a good display of grapes, and a few fine speci- 
mens of pears. Bread showed twenty entries; fancy goods thrice 
as many. 

In the exhibition of animals, the show of horses was small, but - 
the trials of speed in the afternoon brought in another class, some 
of them fine animals. The time made, however, did not seem to be 
specially exhilarating to the owners, and many maledictions were 
heard on the condition of the track,—improved, it is said, since last 
year ; but still, it must be admitted, sufliciently undulating to form an 
attractive excuse to a disappointed jockey for making a losing race. 

In the cattle-pens were some sixty head,—fat oxen, good steers 
and heifers, several Jersey cows, about one hundred swine, but only 
ten sheep, of which seven were Southdowns from the Bacon farm. 

As usual at Barnstable, there were present on the second day sey- 
eral distinguished guests, including the Governor; the hall tables 
were bountifully spread for some three hundred diners, and the after- 
dinner speeches were numerous and entertaining. 

The fair closed with a grand ball in Agricultural Hall. 


Henry S. Goopate. 


NANTUCKET: 


The twentieth annual exhibition of the Nantucket Agricultural 
Society was held on the 29th and 30th of September. I attended 
the exhibition as directed by this Board, and upon my arrival was 

6 


xlii REPORTS OF DELEGATES. 


met at the steamboat landing, on the afternoon of the first day, by 
the president of the Society, Andrew M. Myrick, Esq., who at once 
accompanied me to the fair-grounds, situated about one mile from 
the town. 

As one of the local institutions of the island, the cattle-show and 
fair forms an interesting feature, and to a considerable extent the 
business of the place ¥s suspended during a portion of the time. 
One of the best evidences of the continued interest in the welfare of 
this Society is manifested in the large number of entries that are 
made in all the departments. | 

I found in the stalls a good show of stock, which compared favor- 
ably with any of the previous years. The farmers of Nantucket 
pride themselves in raising the best quality of milch cows, and the 
exhibition of a large number of very fine Alderney, Durham, Ayrshire, 
Jersey and native cows was highly creditable to them. 

There were seven entries of working-oxen, and a very good show 
of horses, sheep, swine and poultry. The ploughing-match, with 
both oxen and horses, took place on the first day. There were nine 
entries. After the ploughing-matches followed the sports of the 
apple race and the wheelbarrow feat. 

The trotting-match had attracted a large number, but there were 
but two entries, and as the time made was not very satisfactory, a 
good deal of disappointment was manifested by the crowd. 

I will take occasion here to refer to the advantages which the 
farmer of Nantucket has within his reach, in that of the ‘‘ kelp of 
the sea,” found so abundantly upon her shores. This is made mani- 
fest by the experiment recently made upon the model Spottswood 
farm of F.C. Sanford, Esq. During the winter of 1874-5, the 
laborers upon his farm carted from the seashore 650 loads of kelp, 
which was spread upon about 12 acres. It was spread six inches 
thick, and when ploughed in the spring, one man followed the coul- 
ter to clear it from the kelp. Eight acres and three-quarters were 
planted with corn; the balance with turnips, beets, potatoes and 
carrots. Pumpkin seeds were put in the corn hills. Upon this land 
was produced 600 bushels of handsome shell corn, 1,200 bushels of 
turnips, 500 bushels of carrots, and 300 bushels of beets. Some of 
the carrots measured 14 inches in circumference. In addition to this 
were harvested 50 heavy loads of pumpkins. 

Mr. Sanford laid down 15 acres the last season to oats and grass 
seed, where crops were cultivated the year previous. The oats were 
cut in the milk and produced 20 tons! He has made since January 
1, 1875, 2,000 pounds of the best quality of butter, which he has 
sold for 50 cents per pound. In addition to this he made 300 


APPENDIX. xliii 


pounds which was used in his own family. His crop of hay the last 
season was not so large as on some former occasions, yet he has 
cut enough to winter 35 head of cattle, with a prospect of having a 
surplus for the market. It is evident that there are thousands of 
acres of land about the New England shores, now comparatively of 
but little value, that may be made rich and remunerative by following 
the example of Mr. Sanford in using the ‘‘kelp of the sea,” which 
is found in great abundance upon the sea-coast. 

During the two days of the exhibition, the Athenzeum Hall, in the 
central part of the town, formed the great centre of attraction, and 
was made unusually interesting by the zeal manifested by the ladies. 
It was tastefully decorated with evergreens and flowers, and hung 
with appropriate mottoes, from which I read, ‘‘ Manufactures and 
Commerce welcome Agriculture as the eldest sister.” The fancy- 
work was very fine, and the large number of superior articles of 
curiosity and taste added largely to the interest of the occasion. 
The display of needle-work, embroidery, etc., contained many arti- 
cles of exquisite taste. 

The display of fruits was not so large as on some former occa- 
sions. It is not unfrequent that this Society in this department will 
equal, if not exceed, any agricultural society in the State in rais- 
ing pears and grapes. Several contributors showed from six to 
eight beautiful varieties of pears, while there was a great variety of 
single dishes. The display of hot-house grapes was good. Those 
exhibited by E. H. Alley were deserving of especial attention. 
Prominent in this line were those shown by Samuel King, Charles 
G. Coffin and Henry Coffin. 

In the lower hall were exhibited vegetables, bread, butter, etc. 
The show of vegetables was large, and all the specimens of an 
excellent quality. ‘There were eight entries of butter. 

The entertainments on both evenings were largely attended, and 
the vocal and instrumental music delighted the audience. The 
‘**Song of the Farm,” written by Prof. A. B. Whipple, of the High 
School, was highly applauded. Speeches were made by the presi- 
dent, who tendered his thanks to all who had so generously contrib- 
uted to the success of the exhibition; by your delegate, who saw 
evidences that the people of Nantucket might profitably give more 
attention to farming; and by Prof. Whipple, who thought that to 
make farms more productive, as in France, Switzerland and Austria, 
they must be fed with all possible enrichments, including brains. 

In closing my report, it is with pleasure I mention the cordial 
reception I received through the gentlemanly attentions of the pres- 
ident of the Society and his family, and from the secretary, Alex- 


xliv REPORTS OF DELEGATES. 


ander Macy, Jr., Esq. The hospitality, so universal, rendered my 
visit one of unusual pleasure. 

It is enough to say that the affairs of this Society are in the hands 
of faithful, competent officers, and cannot fail to lead to success. 


S. B. PHINNEY. 


MARTHA’S VINEYARD. 


The eighteenth annual cattle-show and fair of the Martha’s 
Vineyard Agricultural Society began October 5. The grounds and 
buildings are small, yet they may be large enough for the purpose 
for which they are designed. The hall was too full to look well, 
particularly the vegetable department, which would have displayed 
to much better advantage had it occupied more space. 

The officers were alive, and deeply interested in its success, yet 
like all fairs, not all the best fruit or vegetables appeared on 
exhibition. 

There are in almost every society some little jealousies which 
are not always particularly pleasant while soliciting articles for 
exhibition. No one knows but the officers themselves, how far a 
kind word and willing heart go towards making the fair pleasant 
as well as successful. Too much blame is often bestowed upon its 
officers in the case of failure. All does not depend on its officers ; 
officers and people are to work together. 

The largest contributors generally find the least fault, and the 
persons furnishing little or nothing are the ones that generally do 
the fault-finding, and are never satisfied with its officers, or any- 
thing. The people of the island are hospitable and generous, but 
appear to enjoy and attend to the fishing and shipping interest more 
than agriculture, but while at home in vacation spend a little time 
in tilling the soil. The soil appears light and sandy, yet yields a 
good and bountiful crop when thoroughly cultivated. Corn can be 
grown with good success at the rate of 80 bushels to the acre, and 
as good vegetables can be grown there as can be produced in the 
State. It is plain to be seen that if the people would give attention, 
and prepare the soil as well as they do in other parts of the State, 
farming would pay. 

The neat-stock of the island is far behind other counties of the 
State. What there is, appears to be a poor grade of Ayrshire. 
There was not a bull upon exhibition, and I was told there was not 
a blooded animal upon the island ; they will be obliged to improve the 
stock, or else will have no cattle to exhibit. There were 23 entries 
of cattle,—125 head; among them there was quite a fair lot of 


APPENDIX. xlv 


cows, and five or six yokes of oxen, the cows and oxen forming 
the best part of their stock. 

The exhibition of sheep and poultry compared well with any 
other exhibition, both in quantity and quality. 

The vegetables made quite an extensive display, some of which 
were good and some poor. The seed from which they were grown 
evidently was not pure, squashes in particular. One of the first 
and most important items in growing good vegetables, is to procure 
well-ripened, pure seed; then you can gather vegetables which will 
be good, and find a ready market. I would grow less, and have them 
better. No farmer can afford to prepare land and plant poor seed. 

There was a good display of fruit. Grapes, as in most places, 
were not quite ripe; however, fruit can be grown and ripened in 
Dukes County. 

The ladies’ department was full, and many articles on exhibition 
should have received more premiums, and others should have 
received nothing. ‘There were some seventy tidies exhibited, some 
receiving Only five cents premium. I believe in giving premiums to 
the best only, and no premium should be less than twenty-five cents. 
The butter was good enough. Bread, cake and canned fruits were 
excellent, and exhibited in large quantities. The native wine, I think, 
must have been superior, judging from the time occupied by the 
committee in awarding the first premium. 

According to the books of the secretary, the number of entries 
was one-fourth larger than ever before, which shows plainly that the 
Society is alive and in a prosperous condition, taking quite an 
interest in its fairs ; and when the people introduce better stock, and 
give the land better cultivation, they will be able to give exhibitions 
that will rank among the best of the State. But, “‘ with all thy 
faults, I love thee still,” and when we take into account that there 
is upon the island a population of only four or five thousand, and 
less than one-fourth of that number take any part, or have any 
interest whatever in its success, I must say they did nobly, and 
deserve the sympathy and aid of the State. 

Thanks to the delegate, Mr. Hebron Vincent, and to the officers, 
for their kind and generous hospitality to me while among them. 


W. L. WARNER. 


PREMIUMS AND GRATUITIES. 


_ 
_— 
— 


xlv 


00 000‘0T 
9% IS1‘¢ 
00 008°6 
00 Sst 
00 000°¢ 
00 00098 
00 OOL‘F 
00 000‘9 
00 008‘9 


se ges'p 
00 006‘8 
G9 LL6‘L 
00 00¢‘F 
ZO 668‘0L 
00 00¢‘L8 
00 OOT‘L 
00 008‘8T 
00 0088 
ZO 120'L8 
LP 786919 


‘puny yuouvuteg 


00 00¢ 00 000‘0T | 00 OOL‘T | 12 Sas‘s 
00 SL 00 0210'S FL 866'S | 09 69'S 
00 008‘T 00 000°8 8¢ 808 GS 160° 
00 OTL 00 009'F 00 ear't | oF S2L'T 
= 00 000‘¢ 16 6LL 19 Sol‘ 
ZS 89% 00 000'09 | 00 000'F% | ¢6 LFO‘S 
00 OOLT 00 000‘S 00 &% 46 628'T 
00 008 00 000°9 00 OOL'E | 86 ecP'T 
00 008 00 000‘FT = GL SbF 
00 000‘T 00 000'FE | 00 OFFOT | Se O¢0'S 
00 00FT 00 00¢‘ZE | 00 000'S | GL L6a‘S 
00 00L‘T 00 000'9E | 2h coL‘6 | IL o8t‘s 
00 0¢ 00 000'9E | 00 O06IT | 96 SZL*FL 
00 009 00 000‘SE | 86 00° | 12 ZFL‘S 
00 000‘T 00 000‘¢zE | 00 00S‘ | LL 889‘9 
= 00 000‘8E | 00 006‘0L = 
00 008 00 00°02 | 00 000's | ZL SIS 
00 008 00 000°¢Z | 00 00S‘9I$| So Lea°F 
Z0 LZ0°6E | 00 000°8$ = Gg OF0'S 
LP 786914 = > GL 796'9% 
uc] 5 Ss 5 a = F 
GS, g & 3 
Sg “ 8 75 
ce 5, B 5 
g A os 
2, z 5 


IZ FLL'S | 00 ete's | 00 ZOO'S | LH TG | Lh LID | 00 GOL 00 Ste | 00 009 ys * OnysyOg 
OL 188'F | 06 LSL 06 L&L IP OF9'S | 66 608‘ | ZF 0% = 00 009 * ‘KaTIBA Pleyoad 
68 186 00 esi‘t | GL Gos'E | 19 9c‘T | Tg Ss 00 IST 00 OZ | 00 009 es Soe 
ZS 6FO'L | 0G 919 GI FLL | 0% TLL | 06 S80°L | 00 98 = 00 009 SSR: ‘olay, 
GL 19% 66 PLL GL 6ST | 98 LLO‘L | 98 SIP 00 ¢9 = 00 009 : qseq uepdueyy 
1S 9FZ‘S | 8E T08 00 LLL'L | LF oTe‘e | 16 819°C | 0G ZF = 00 009 sss Suapduunyy 
FL 929 08 SOL 08 628 69 oss‘T | 69 109 00 18 00 ZF | 00 009 sss Sue ys 
86 918 00 189 0S S16 69 I8P‘L | 0G LOL 6L FLL - 00 009 - + Sarysduey 
#0 886°E | 69 TOL GL GLE | 96 S28°F | 96 696'E | 00 92% = 00 009 * — fuapdury pur 
ulpyaray o.urysduu yy 
89 TOFS =| 19 SFO 00 S6z'L | SL IZt's | G2 FLmS | 00 LP = 00 009 Yseq_ ‘OG 10489010 AA 
ez 1ee‘t | 0g Lert | 09 96L‘T | #9 G0s'h | Fo OFS | 00 SOT 00 000‘L| 00 009 * {GAMO 104890.10 AA. 
Gg 100% | OL 6LZ‘T | 00 8z9L | 09 TF2‘s | 09 12¢°% | 00 Oa = 00 009 * 489 AA “N. 10}899.10 AA 
19 668°EL | GS 9Z4 GL 146 0¢ 9ZL‘FL | 00 TES‘ | OF C6z = 00 009 * YAO NT 109809.10 AA 
OL 99'L | 2g GigE | $3 G0z‘s | 1S G6c‘% | Tg LEBT | 00 8¢ = 00 009 * 480, AA 10489010 AA 
oF 2to‘r | 1 960° | GL 289° | LT OL0°L | LT gss‘9 | 00 ¢8 = 00 009 ‘Son £109800.10 AA. 
= CZ ZBL | GL 61z'S | 6 6c8‘°Z | 64 L9L°% | 00 29 = 00 009 *  fygnog xose|PPHT 
ZL EIS‘L | &% 629 00 g9¢‘T | 99 LI0‘e | 99 S98‘ | 00 6F 00 00 | 00 009 * "YON XOSO1PPTIA © 
#8 szr‘L | es ele | 00 928's | 20 LEFF | GO F90'S | 00 E28 = 00 009 <a *xo80[PPHV 
eg ocs'z | 00 ogt'z | 00 ozt‘es | 00 zor’ | ze 9ce't | 00 911% | 89 696‘L| 00 009% ees ‘xossiy 
GL FOL‘sS | 00 008‘ss = 6% 9Fe‘ss | 98 9z6'sd = Le oLPt$| * + ‘sqjasnpoesse yy 
nee: ic fe y e y E > 
SESSs Si 5 ect = ® 5 m 5 
egeca| & & = Fo 8 s2 |e8 |3e5 
BOs oe: ir ao * 5 3 = s i=} co 
l=) ic i= rs > o oO =] 
plot a 5 5 a ° a2 0 ic} 4 o 
VIET 5 ig @ a be o 5 Ste eh A Ss *SaILaINOg 
era f =f 5 ms D a = acl (S) ee ta 
aq 'S S's Ss ER 5 2 cant Soe > 8 
tov g 7 S 5 a a Q &, 
Soy a a8 3° Ss a) 2 ee o 4 
EES 8 o B a a 7 Fe 


"SHILHIOOS HHL AO SHONVNIA 


xlix - 


APPENDIX. 


*BIOGMOUL JO sojOU ply [Puy [RAIN pOAsV ‘purl UJ—"AAVAANTA S, VALU] 

"Ysvo puv aangrudny ‘pey ‘scurpying puve spunord jRangpnouse UT—LAMOOLNVN 
“SBUIpiIng PuL purl UT —"aTAVISNUV ET 

“OANIUANY [[VY PUL SSUTPTING-yno ‘sy[eYy OM ‘puLyL Jo satoV Wd) XIS U[—'aTAIMHSUV 
“OINJLUINS PUB SdINIXY *9}BISO [LAA UJ —HLAOWAT 

‘O}UISO [VAT UL —"IVULNA,) TOLSEI 

‘oyRIso [VAT U[—"TOLSTI | 

“spuno.s pur ][Vy UT— WVHONTIT 

*faIDNG 9q1 Aq poldndd0 91vYsa [VOI U[—M1TOANON 

“SLOG(UIOU JO S9jOU PUR 9}VIS9 [VAI UT—OINOLVSNO]T 

*AJaIOY ay} AQ potdnooo oyvJso [vaI U[—AATIVA OVSOOTT 

*O}NISO [LO UL" THS MU 

*O)VIS89 [VAL UT ANTIVA GTATAMACT 

*SOANIXY puw Yooys yurg ‘ojvIso [voa UT—'NITMN VU 

“Vy UT aINyTUANy pure yey ‘ureq ‘spuno0.5-ucOntqryxe U[— NOINA, 

SUIPING WONIQIyxe puv sudd-o[}}v9 ‘saouay ‘syvas ‘yous ‘spunois-aVy UJ—" SV NACANVIT 
‘OJ RISO [VOI UT —"NAdAKVI]T 


*yuvq SSUTAVS UT pure dnIS9 [vat UO OFRA}I0U UT INV TUDSTTL 
‘ory ‘soanyxy ‘your ‘ssurpling ‘purl Uj—aNIHSaNWv ET 
*O}VYSO [VOT UT—"NAGINVET ONV NIIMNVU A ‘ANIHSAWV ET 
*Ayodoad yeuossod puy ojvisoa [vat UT—"LSVq-neEaAog us 
*SOINJXY puv atujrurny ‘ypey ‘suod ‘yor ‘pur, uj—'wLaA0eg W494 OUO MA. 
"ysvo puv ‘4yo190g 9} JO aSsn dt} AOJ AV.0 
-doid [vuossod ‘Ayofo0g oy} Jo sFurpying pur spunoAs oy UT—ISTM-HINON UALSAOMO AL 
“SSUIPLING UONIGIYXo Puv oyeqso [val U[—"HIMON UALSAONO AL 
*Ayodord [BuOsAod puv 9}V}s9 [VAI UT—"1ST A, Ud OUO AL 
*0}B}SO [VOL UT —"NALSATOUO AA 
*suad-oUIMS 
puv spoys-of}}vo ‘yova} o[lu-Jrey ‘s[peys-asaoy ‘sSurpying pur purl ul—"uLaACg xasa1aaryy 
“Ayodoad jeuossod puv ayyysoa [vol U[—"HIMON XASATAATIT 
*Aytodoad [euosazod puv 93v}s0 [vot U[—'XASaTAaaIPL 
“oy ‘suod 
-a]}}v0 ‘s}U9} puv ‘yoojs “OD svy mMo[vg ‘spuog proayer ‘yoo}s yuRq ‘uaYy u;—xaAssy 
“yseo puv “op ‘suy osry yeqdsozy ‘ssuy 
UL saorjod puv sasvaj1our ‘spuoq puv yooys prosper ‘yoo0}s yuRq U[—'SLLASQHOVSSVIL 


‘CALSHANI MOH—-GNNHY LINENVNUAd 


*AJOOOY oy} JO sloquaut Jo sojou Jo systsuoo puny JUoUVUAIA, SITY} JO OOO'LTS x 


08 oce'szes#] 96 cgs‘ozI$] 76 9LF‘6Z99) 16 0126029) 6L ZE8‘FFIS] FL TEsF1$) eh oztcrh 
00 00¢‘¢ 00 006° 00 000‘ 00 OSF SF Ig0‘L | 89 O0F eg ogg 
LL 149% LL FZ 00 008% = CO LL6 66 &68 OL 18¢ 
00 0ss'F 00 002% 00 0009 00 0¢o.E | #9 ZTE | 00 at #9 O19 
OF ZeL‘h 8L SL0'L 26 908'IL | OL 180°C | €8 TELS | To 922'% | 06 #16 
00 000‘ | 00 000‘ 00 000‘0F | Te Sgc‘OL | 8% SaL‘9T | 16 8c6'% | TO 0868's 
00 O¢8‘IL | 00 00¢ 00 00008 | 00 OcO‘SE | 0G LFG°e | oF Ize‘ | 29 Z60'% 
00 0028S | 00 002% 00 000°¢9 | 00 000'CL | GF FFG‘6L | GT T1z‘F | 00 Soa‘F 
09 00962 | 00 009F 00 o09FS | 00 000°C | OL 998'F | ZF FLI'E | OT $98 
00 008*¢ 00 008 00 000‘¢e 00 000%08 | 28 ct‘ | 20 o¢s’e | oc e22'T 
00 000'0%* | 00 00T 00 000‘ #8 GLP 6¢ $z9'¢ | 63 SFE‘s | 09 82's 
86 165°L$ | 00 sIsd 00 00S‘zr$ | co o2L‘s$ | oF coord | ox sér‘sé | oe g1z's 


OL 


00 


00 
0S 


FZO‘LES!) Bo LESGFIS| 1G 9061S] 16 Sts FH] co OG0'SS) LF ezoLTH] * 9° ~~ Ss TwIOT, 

#88 OL SLIT | 6F LEP 19 0% 00 0ZE | 00 009 * pavdoutA §.UqVeyy 
890‘L | 6% 296 28 StS 00 TLL 00 ¥% LP Sze * F ahs oyonqav xy 
928 FF 19FL | FF G88 00 8% = 00 009 Se olquysuIieg 
cost | SL #os‘e | 6L 22S's | ¥6 TST = 00 009 o AS *PPPYSeyy 
PEGE | 8 SZL‘9L | 86 ZOL‘ST | OF CEs | 00 O8T$! 00 009 “5 * qynoudATg 
268° | 80 FI9‘S = 00 09T = 00 009 * + {eaqUaD [OSL 
8c9'F | LG SLL‘6L | LG 1ZP‘St | 00 2ST = 00 009 ae > forse, 
cect | 68 Is8‘h | FF OSs" | SF Zr = 00 009 se * SoBe Ts OT EL 
Loo‘e | 68 682'°¢ | 68 ZLc‘P | 00 19 = 60 009 oS SOntonn 
007s | GL PSL°¢ | GL OFF | 00 FET = 00 009 RE) LLCOP LLLULO) & § 
cos‘zs | so aes‘s$ | so caL‘e$ | 00 ost$ = 00 009s «=| * + ShaTeA OvsoORT 


PREMIUMS AND GRATUITIES. 


00 IL 00 IT 00 ST - - 00 9% - - - - 00 ¢ - - - 
0S I 0s T 0¢ I -* |oet - - - ~ - - - - 
- 00 OF - - - - ~ - - - - - - 
00 88 00 88 00 9ST - - - - - - - - 00 88 - - 
- 00 Ss - - cL T - - - ~ - < 00 99 - - 
00 8 00 8 00 6 = - - - - - - 00 6 - - 
00 00 9L 00 91 = - - - - ~ - - 00 9L - - 
00 901 00 90E | 00 82k | 00 SL - - - - - 00 9$ - 00 28 - - 
09 06 09 06 00 18 - - } = - - - - - 00 18 - - 
00 Tg 00 1¢ 00 LIT - 00 L - - - . - - 00 0¢ - - 
0g 8 0s g¢ 00 08 00 02% | 0¢ 8$ = - = - = = = = 00 ¢z$ 
- 00 £9 00 ¢s - - - - - - - - 00 +9 - - 
00 01z$ 00 1g3$ | 00 oFsd = - = 00 sT$| - = = 00 S1$ | 00 98t$ | 00 s1¥ = 
4 Sj. iS 3 | s = m3 | = = | x | 
Reoteaitees a igus veg g ies Sane alieeaeen lo one ior | ae eS 32/98 
a 3S 3D <2 = ORE Ss | = | 4 an 
Sere omeos Sg | Sel 8g Bmore See (REN a era 1 Eig Gry cheese, lee ree 
3 ar ee ee a || dé & 2 no felt, i I ae hs) a 56 en) es! rk of) 
BSUS ade eono ede ce || Be = Prater asl reine. || 3 Cea meee Berg | © Hos Beene os 
a2 ° Other | © OE Oo = a mi 3 & = 0 Sis So 0 Sco a 5 
SCI dle Shc per |e sia I eae BP ee fal ems eeaemetee “1h et ero (Ps aetanlp rage Sioa Gee allen 
Sica | he ce al aoe iy Bile nnecalae eae. RSE oles prandllate a aeons 
ee m 2 B®» hae @ (Pel DP aaa o 
Bee (eee eee eee Soi lesee wet ena Sel ea B Pere: 


| 
| 
| 


ee ee ‘puclysry 
: D : *  Sarysdue yy 
‘uapdueyy pur uyyuerg Soarysdueyzy 
* 4seq-yINog .10}800.10 AA 
O C . *  *QINOg 10}890.10 AA 
~ . * 980 A\-YJLON, 109890.10 AA 
0 ° : * "TION 10989010 AA 


: : : * 98d AA 19989010 AA 


5 : : : *10]80010 Ag 
3 : : * ‘QnOg XosoTpPPIL 
“8 8 * “GION, XOS91PPHV 
F . ¥ 4 *xoso[PPUAL 
. . . 5 . :  ‘xassor 


‘s}Josntpousse pl 


“SALLAIOOS 


= = 


‘CUGdaV MV SHILIOLVYD GNV SNOWNGHd AO SISA TVNV 


ie 
— 
=) 
iS 
a 
a 
= 


0¢ 009'TS| 0G LLOFS 


00 &L 
00 LE 
00 0€ 
0c ¢9 
00 T8 


00 &¢ 
00 861 
00 ISL 
00 11Z 
00 LOE 


00 €8¢ 
00 9S 
00 GSP 
00 FST 
00 O3L 
00 G&L 


00 16S 


cS BLS 


00 L 


00 T = 


00 OL 
00 #18 


00 683 


00 6 
00 Ors 


00 F1251S 


00 ¢ 
00 LE 


00 0zh 


00 cFIs 


a) ALON 
‘pavAOUuTA §,LyyIeyy 
9 ‘oxyonqjue Ny 
*  9Tquysuieg 
: ‘plPyystepy 
‘qqnowds[g 


‘(eajyuoayD [OIslIig 


[os 


‘meq sary 
: * LOFTON 
*  SraoyesnoyT 
‘Kal[VA oVsooyy 
G ‘QaTqsy1a gq, 
‘OVA. Playsaooq 


5 * SOEUR AL 
. . ‘aor, 
Gseq uopduey 


0 ‘copdur yA 


PREMIUMS AND GRATUITIES. 


lii 


c% LEP 
00 082 
0g 9g¢ 
ZI SIs 
0¢ ZOL'L 
99 LLP 
0G FL 
ZS 909‘T 
00 680‘T 
0G 06F 
00 o¢s 
SF LEP 
00 06 
18 LLB$x 


&% LOS 
00 61g 
00 TF8 
00 TGP 
0G SFZ‘T 
00 OTL 
0S FE8 
00 8¢9‘T 
00 906‘T 
00 98P‘T 
00 ZFS 
00 LL0‘L 
00 SLoT$ 


00 
00 
00 
00 
00 
00 
0S 
00 
00 
00 
00 
00 
00 


0G O&f | 00 SE | 0G SZ 


00 LIL | 0082 | OO L 
00 G6 00 8 00 6F 
00 71L | OOFS | 00 TS 
00 S&L | 00 F& | 00 OF 
00 68 00 Sf | OS F 
00 &@& | 00 TG | 00 8g 
00 8S | 00 G8 } 00 TL 
00 S9L | 00 GL > 
00 126 | 008 00 9T 
00 L8~L | 00 & = 
00 992% | 00 se$ | 00 ea¥ 


pus sia 


s . * Sangsduvyy 


* ‘uapdwey pue 
ulpyurag ‘oarysduue Fy 


Qsuq-YINOg 199890.10 AA 
G ‘TNOg 10389010 AA 


"489 AA -U10 N 109800.10 AA 


iy "YO NT 10480010 AA 
- * 480 AQ 109890.10 AA 
. $ * *194890.10 AA 
: ‘qqnog Xeso1PPHL 
*  *10.N XoS0[PPLT 
: 5 * ‘xeso [PPO 


. e . ° ‘xossq 


D *  ‘qjosnovssvyy 


“2019 
qno 


I0J 
| pied yunowre [eyo 


| OAV 


"yo01g 
pe 


Of 
-PAVAV 4,WUE [C}OJ, 


aAry 


"y0019 


DAYT OJ pa.aaz 
Jo yunowr [vjoO7, 


“AuyMog 10, 


"007g 10490 ITV 


‘daayg 10.7 


*SOSIOH] 107 
“s00}g 10 


aTIVO Iw 10F 


"uaxO 


SUIYIOAA, OT 
*SOATeO IOT 
*s][Ng 10.7 


*s1ojloy] 10,7 


"SAM.00 GOLD 104, 


‘SALLAIOOS 


“MOOLS NUva 


‘ponuyuog — daauvMY SAMLIALVNY INV sWAIWayg JO SISKIVNY 


APPENDIX. 


*ayeyg om JO Yoo}s oy} SurAosaduar so osodand oy toy poonpoayur ‘apyqua 
Aosutony jo paoy v Jo ‘ayes uorjone Aq foyej}g 94} FHoYSsno1y] Suynqiystp puv ‘vo ouo Aoj Surdooy puv Suyasodurr ‘suyjoopes Jo ‘eygy puv FLT ut ‘AyoI00g oy} 019800 » 


80 9L0‘61$ 


0G OL 
00 TL2Z 


00 223 
0¢ 81s 
99 c00'T 


00 00S‘T 
&% OLP 
00 $18 
00 F16 
00 ¢z¢ 
00 990‘T 
00 90F 
&% £08 
GL OLP 
0g Tes 
og Tech 


08 014 
00 TL 
00 Zz 
0S SI 


99 S00'T 


00 89‘T 
&% OP 
00 0&6 
00 #16 
00 8z¢ 
00 990‘T 
00 90F 
00 128 
GL OFF 
00 689 
00 L6c¢ 


6% $90'F2S) 00 O2F TS 


GL 10P 
0S 009 
00 L183 
0g 90S 


00 192‘T 


00 GOLT 
c% 8eL 
00 TL0T 
00 766 
00 682 
00 802‘T 
00 TLS 
00 $66 
00 LES 
00 981 


00 216% 


a 


00 IL 


0¢ 9¢0'TS| €s SLo‘TS 


00 F 

00 22 
00 8& 
00 6 
00 S 
00 S0T 
00 6S 
00 $¢ 
00 GL 
00 GE 
00 &L 
00 9F 
00 FL 
00 63 
00 8 

00 SE 


00 sis 


CG FS 
00 FZ 
00 FI 
00 F 
09 19 


00 $8 
0° #6 


00 SIL 
00 F9T 
00 68 
00 e¢ 
00 TOL 
00 LT 
00 1% 
00 ez% 


00 61L°6$) ¢z F6L9| OF STLS] 00 OLE‘TS) cz HFS! 02 gos'TS] cL scL'zd 


GG GP GG VG 
00 9 00 2- 
00 &% 00 88 
GZ 18 00 9% 
00 G8L | 00 ¢8 
00 96L | 00 cF 
00 003 | 00 66 
00 &8 00 FL 
00 88¢ = 

00 936 | 00 08 
00 LLE | 00 ¢ 
00 968 | 00 &% 
00 FEL a 

00 0&% | 00 8T 
00 LIL | 00 9F 
00 £63 | 00 9% 


00 StI$! 00 ga 


0¢ GL 
00 § 
00 IL 
00 9 
00 1g 


00 & 
00 FI 
00 SL 
00 12 
00 94 
00 &L 
00 O&T 
00 ST 
00 LL 
00 LF 
00 02 
00 8% 
00 9¢ 
00 SL 
00 SF 
00 0F 
00 oF 


UG G 


{Z 9% 
00 1S 
00 16 
00 98 
OL 09 
00 OIL 
00 G8L 
0¢ §% 
00 8% 
00 Sg 
00 IL 
00 82 
00 GL 
00 8- 
GL. IL 


GL GE 
00 89 


98 |esz‘T$ 


00 9¢$ 


*  ‘s1e40J, 


‘parvAourA §.eqyivyy 


* “ayonjue jy 
* Solquysuieg 
* “ppyysreyy 
*  ‘qqynoudA,g 
\eaquog [OSM 
0 * Toystag 
*  uRqsuny 
f “HLOJ1ON 
* ‘gt0yesnoyT 
‘Ka|[BA OVSOOTT 
°  QIIYSy1og 


‘KaT[VA. play.wooqg 


: Supa. 
G * ‘coll 
“seq uopdury 
° ‘aopduey 


PREMIUMS AND GRATUITIES. 


liv 


00 OL 00% 00 ¢ 00% = 00 ¢ 00 9 00 6 = = = 00 ¢ 00 G = 00 § 0¢ ZI - : ‘ . * ‘pars 
00 ¢ 00 ¢ os T 0g T 0s T oc T 0g T 00 4 00 ¢ = 00 € 00 Z = 00 € 00 ¢ 00 9 i 5 : . *  Sarysdue yy 
‘ . . . . . ‘aap 
00 ST = - 1 = = = oS T | 00 1$ a = a . 00 I 2 00 T -dueyy pue wypyterg ‘oarysduuyy 
0¢ 2 = = 00 F = = 00 F = - = ~ - - 00 ¢ - - . . ‘\svuq_-YINOG 10}s9010 AA 
00 +1 = = a = id = 00 ¥% = = oe 00 9 = 00 ZI = 00 FZ . . * “YING -109899.10 AA 
00 ¢ 00 T = = = 00 T = 00 & = = 00 T 00 € 00 € 00 ¢ 00 ¢ 00 + : *489 AA “UII NT 109809.10 AA 
0¢ 9 CL = - = - - Gc) - - - - - - - CLS . 0 2 * AON 10989910 AA 
0S FL = - - - - - - - - - ~ - - - - = : : * so AA 10489010 AA 
00 9 00 T 00 T 00 T 00 T 00% 00 T 00 9 = a 00 T 00 € 00 3G 00 9 00 € 00 ¢ S : zs *  §194899.10 AA 
00 8- 00 T = 00 € = oc I 5 00 9 = = 0c T 0g T 0g T 0¢ T 0g & 00 GF | * re 4 * ‘qynog xeso[PPIN 
008t |00%2 |00% |00% |008 |00% | 00T | 008 = = 009 | 008 = 009 | 00 e$ | 002 7 9  *%  * “JON XOS9[PPHA 
00 SI |o001r |00¢ | 008% | 00¢$ | 00¢ | 009 | 00 0c8} - <. 00 1$ | 00 2% | 00 z$ | 00 s$ = 00 ¢ so ee Sxosa1 DPT 
00 G9T$ | 00 02$ | 00 OI} - = 00 O1$ | 00 OTS} - = = = = = = = OOLOWP a a * A eS eee 
= x o = = = = — = - = o = = - - ° . d * — §sqqgosnyoussvyy 
¢ Ke 
eo S = = ie i 3 2 & a £ Z es 2 5 E 
6 3 Ss : n =A . St S 1 2 * <q = B 
eae is = a 3 2 g o 9 - x fe) 
© 3 ag 4 e . s 3S ro) ‘SALLUIOOS 
Giese in g a a 5 
ry : 3 ; : : 
° = = 
a us) 
ys 


a TEESE 
“sSLONGOUd NAVA 


‘ponuyguoyn — GaduVAY SAMINLVaAt) GNV SWOINGYY JO SISXTVNY 


lv 


APPENDIX. 


G0 86% 
00 8 
&% 8 
OL FF 
09 29 
00 #9 
0S Le 
00 #9 
SO te 
00 SOL 
00 6 
00 69 
00 801 
00 F 
00 $I 
Go 8 
00 FI 
00 OLS 


o¢ s6$ 


0g ¢ 


&% $Ld 
00 T 


¢% st$ | 00 119 


cLY = 


S 

Co 

re) 

a 
! 


26 769 


66 T 


e% FS$ 


66 LEz$ 


cP 6L 


09 6IT# 


00 LIi$ 


eg T9$ | 09 TOTS) 02 ait | 08 Laz) CF t8$ 


0€ 8 


00 OL 


cf 1$ 


00 L 


cP 


0¢ 


ZL 68t$ 


GL IL 
00 IT 


* ‘{sreqoiy; 


‘prvhourA 8, VyATpy 


*  oxyonque NT 

* S9lquysuieg 
*  ppyysie Wy 
*  ‘qqnoud] yt 
*(eaqaaD [os 
a * [owe 
© Scuvy SUT ET 
: * STLOJLON 
* ‘1U0}vsnoyL 
‘KaT[BA soo], 
* IIs y.og 
‘KOTIVA Ployloog 
q ‘UIP yUBALL 
0 * ‘aorug. 
“sug uopdweyy 
*  ‘‘aepduryy 


PREMIUMS AND GRATUITIES. 


lvi 


¢o TIT 03 3 02 T OF I GLP oc 0g 9 0¢ 8 00 L 0¢ SL 0g £9 0g 89 0¢ SOL Yo es Sy a8) See BT Ce 
0S 681 og ¢ 0g 9 0g & 00 OL 00 OL 00 OL 0S 6 00 61 00 1S 0G OF 0G OF 0S 6F ss Sexson 
Pi ae es . . . . . ‘uap 
0¢ 68 0¢ T 0g L 00 6 00 OL 00 LL 0g 8g 0S 2 00 &% 00 SL -duvy pur uypyuerg ‘oarysdaey 
00 ¢OT = 02 00 0¢ 6 = 00 FL = C6 gg ce 00 3F 00 LF 00 ZOL ‘5 * {sunT-qINOg 10389010 AA 
GZ SSL - 00 9 00 6 - 00 1 00 6 = 00 8 G3 Ze 00 FL 00 08 00 ZOT * 8 + * G4NOg 10382010 AA 
SE 88 00 & S 00 9 = 00 8 00 6 00 9 00 6 00 $2 99 I 00 12 00 68 *  * 489 AA“YIONT 10989910 AA 
G3 OST = 0g 09 GL 13 00 & 0S SL 2 Gh LT 09 TL = = 00 0g ciple 8 ‘GION 109800.10 AA 
0 90% = 00 9 00 9 = 00 6 00 6 = 00 02 00 09 = = 00 2g * 8 8 #489 AA 10989910 AA 
GZ 86 = 00% Gh 9 = 00 StS | 00 £3 = 00 L 00 19 0g Lg 0g 1g 0g 19 SD  RCNEE RRC 
CL OS - 0g ¢ 0¢ IL 00 8z - 00 8% 0¢ 98 00 &T eZ $9 c% SIL GS GIL CL 923 7 5 8 + {qynog XosoTPPH 
00 00% 00 SI$ | 006 00 #1 00 9L = 00 9 = 00 8¢ 0S 9ST 00 0S 00 98 00 #ST ‘ + * * “4AIONT XOS0TPPH 
00 91g = 00 8 00 9% 00 12 = 00 8 00 G1$ 0G 90L 00 S83 00 S3~ 00 98 00 6LT se ee Xoso DO 
00 009% = 00 9$ 0¢ 11$ =| 00 ¢$ = 00 2% = 0¢ #98 | 00 zees | 00 Goss | 00 Goss | OO OLS |* *° ° *° *° * ‘xosseT 
= - = > = = = sas = = = = = : Q * * — syJosnousseyy 
in] © Ea Q es a 4 24 ry <| 4 tq S a fo} a ° 3 th o 
op o et lat oO 3 oO oO + co mn A Q | wW as Bo 
pairs B Fs g & 8 $ & = bat ag ieotee | Seen. | aa 
ore ee | Flee ag ee gee eee | oe 
‘ : : = eS B z 8 
a: 3 a be eon g 4 & »%/2ak |oe8 *SHLLAIOOS 
2 i i) oO I : i=} oF erm Oo 
& pt fe 5 $ = Qa a a's |3 8 » r= 
Bes = = ae a : B|/2334|)E8oa8 
Ss Bg : ; =¢ 3 we fae = 
Pace. 5 g & 2 BecellpBen totere 
os aes : a5 EN io SEN Ge 


‘popnpuoop— BS LONGOUd NAVA 


*ponuyqu0g —daduvVMYV SAMIOLVay AGNV SWOINGYd AO SISXTVNY 


lvii 


APPENDIX. 


Lh cHe*n$ | oz z9$ 


FL F0% 0G @ 
“0S IZL = 
9¢ 9FL 00 9 
GZ 9SE = 
00 STS 3 


CL Z6L 0g F 
00 69% 00 ¢ 
00 168 = 
00 62g 0g ¢ 
00 899 = 
OL 8ZL 0¢ F 
GL 626 0c 6 
OL LOL = 
00 Ss 00 e$ 
88 81d - 


ce FO1$ 


0G & 


cL 1823 


00 ¢ 
00 T 
00 9 
GLb 
00 &@ 
0g € 
0G 61 
G8 G 
00 ¢ 
00 9 
00 OL 
00 LL 


cg ogses 


0G OL 
00 1 
00 6 
0¢ 12 
00 SB 
& FL 
0G OL 
00 OL 


00 @ 


o¢ sges 


00 ZL 
00 OL 
00 6 
00 ST 
00 68 
0G LZ 
00 8S 


GL sic$ 


GL LT 


00 € 


00 9 
CLP 
00 o1$ 


CO Faz 


GG 
& 
98 
00 
0¢ 
00 


19 ses$ 


8 
G 
96 


GL Z9F‘ZS) OL 690'ES 


cL 19 
00 98 
00 68 
0G 61 
0S 96 


0¢ S&L 


69 GL 


00 IL 
OL FF 
GL CPL 
00 ISL 


69 GL 
00 IL 
OL TF 
GL SPL 
00 ISL 


6% G2L‘es} 00 zgs‘tS 


00 $12 
00 €8 
00 SIZ 
00 609 
00 F18 
00 9FF 
00 16 
0G 3 
0S £6 
ch 68 
00 cor 


‘s[ejO.T, 


‘pavAOULA §,Lq4Ie AL 


. 


. 


‘yaxOnJUB NT 
‘a[quisuIvg 
*plPepysieyy 

‘ygnow AT 


{eiquap [OIsIg 


* To sig 
wey sully 
* “Y[OJ.1O NE 


‘9ruojesnoy, 


‘fale A oVsooyT 


‘OATYS III 


‘KoT[VA pPleys0od 


UT YURAL 


* ‘org 


\seq uopdury 


‘uopdury 


lvili 


PREMIUMS AND GRATUITIES. 


ANALYSIS OF PREMIUMS AND GRATUITIES AWARDED — Concluded. 


MISCELLANEOUS. 


SOCIETIES. 


Massachusetts, 
Essex, . ° 
Middlesex, - 
Middlesex North, 
Middlesex South, 
Worcester, 
Worcester West, 


Worcester North, 


Worcester North-West, . 


Worcester South, 


Worcester South-East, 
Hampshire, Franklin & 


Hampden, . 
Hampshire, . 


Highland, 5 
Hampden, > 
Hampden East, 
Union, : 5 
Franklin, . ~ 
Deerfield Valley, 
Berkshire, 
Hoosae Valley, 
Housatonic, . 
Norfolk, . 
Hingham, . 5 
Bristol, . 5 
Bristol Central, 
Plymouth, 5 
Marshfield, 5 
Barnstable, 


Nantucket, a 


Martha’s Vineyard,. 


Totals, é 


‘ nl eee at 4b oo 
Se |2 | & | eee) be | 23 oie 
ie oS mn co) oH Ss 5 & 
4 3 = ope 4 aa | wae 
=I a 3 Esa eh alk Ga ao8 
eS 4 & & S25 aa g RES 2 Ae 
22) 82| 82 | Geko! Fee | 22 slo 
ee s 250) Sao S=2zo6|05 2] avs 
ay 7 ros eZig -=) () Or © 9 bars 
m 5 me] ‘As EOS 2° Soe on | eee 
q8)/e38) ° 8 | 2228) 2S #| 0083 | 4ec 
wale e| $8 | soot| BAS] sees| oka 
ss ° ic < 4 J Z 
= -  /|$1,500 00 |$2,300 00 = z= = 
. | $55 00 | $30 00 25 00 = 2 $298 00 346 
. | 600} 5000 = 70 00 | $950 00 | 189 25 238 
12 00 = = = = 41 62 332 
. | 1900} 60 00 E: 2500! 80000 | 11150 176 
. | 5000] 22 00 = = 590 00 28 00 163 
. | 4000] 30 00 10 00 * 645 00 68 75 258 
j = 25 00 = 2300 | 10100 | 112 50 170 
13 50 | 30 00 = = 595 00 | 133 75 209 
; = 35 00 = = 555 00 | 115 00 133 
. | 1000] 30 00 = = = 48 65 336 
| 23 00 | 20 00 ts 2 935 00 60 00 141 
. | 4650! 16 00 = = 24500 | 119 50 175 
. | 700 = = = 53 00 74 50 205 
. | 4600] 15 00 = = 85 00 25 75 89 
. | 825] 25 00 86 00 = 150 00 56 35 100 
calle dys = = 30 75 74 00 38 50 157 
. | 600] 1000 5 00 = = 120 25 245 
. | 10 50 = s = 100 00 65 35 262 
. | 47 00 5 = = = 643 00 650 
. | 19 00 = 14 00 2200} 82560 | 264 25 318 
. | 1200 = 24 00 = 54400 | 345 50 412 
: = 40 00 6 00 600] 300 00 75 00 212 
- = 50 00 = 7 05 = 231 25 238 
. | 3500] 3000 60 00 - | 1,72000 | 487 00 557 
: = ss —- | 1,370 73 | 1,271 00 | 250 27 268 
. | 400! 6000 = 20 00 | 1,035 00 | 259 35 970 
.| 1975] 5000! « - 20 00 = 175 65 637 
3 = 7 00 12 00 13 25 50 00 | 148 83 282 
: = 21 00 16 00 5 00 ws 107 60 101 
3 = 17 00 S 1 00 14.50 | 127 96 233 
. |$49125 $673 00 |$1,758 00 |$13,013 78 $11,637 50 |g4,722 88 | 8,607 


SUMMARY. lix 


SUMMARY. 


In the report for 1874, I gave a brief réswmé of the financial condition 
of the various societies, together with an analysis of the various opera- 
tions of the year, as presented in the returns made to this office. The 
figures proved so interesting and suggestive, that I venture to present a 
similar summary for 1875. 

It is a curious fact, that although the weather was bad on most of the 
days of exhibition of the societies, throughout the State, and, conse- 
quently, unfavorable for a large attendance from the crowds who usually 
flock to the agricultural shows, as a recreation, and who are generally 
supposed to be the reliance of managers for filling their treasuries, the 
total receipts of the societies were, in 1875, considerably in excess of those 
for 1874, the aggregate being, for 1875, $149,837.58, while, in the year 
before, they were $132,842 60. 

If we remember that the amount received from the state treasury, in 
the way of bounties, was about the same in both years, that the income 
from the permanent fund was greater in 1874 than in 1875, that the 
receipts from new members and donations were also greater in that year, 
we conclude that the difference in the aggregate receipts must have been, 
almost entirely, from what is knownas “ gate-money” or admission fees. 

The exact difference in figures between these fees, allowing for the dif- 
ference in the other items of receipts, is $12,135.35. That the societies 
should, under such unfavorable circumstances, have so favorable a show- 
ing, is, indeed, a matter of congratulation. 

The weather was certainly not the kind most likely to have drawn out 
a “horse crowd,” and this fact furnishes another point to those who do 
not believe that the horse-trot is at all requisite to the success of the agri- 
cultural fair. 

The “ premiums offered” were in about the same proportion to “ pre- 
miums paid,” in both years. 

The current expenses of 1874 were less than in 1875 by $13,967.84, but 
this difference is accounted for by the unusually large expenditure, by 
the Worcester North Society, of $13,399.61, above the premiums and 
gratuities. 

The total disbursements for the year were $144,892.79, or less than the 
total receipts by $4,944.79, while, in 1874, they were less than the receipts 
by $6,533.43. 

The indebtedness of the societies has increased within the year 
$23,682.35, but the value of the real and personal property belonging to 
them has increased in a much greater ratio, being valued at $749,862.88, 
while, in 1874, its valuation was $546,753.03, a difference of $203,109.85. 

The above facts and figures certainly show that our county societies are 
in a flourishing condition, and that they are judiciously managed. 

T append a table of figures, comparing the financial status of the socie- 
ties in 1865 and 1875: — 


mam = «S 
Om. 
*“Ayaadord N Yon} 
ise) wD 
Teuosiad jo oan[vA Oo sO 
Je) S 
ca N 
b= a LI 
H N 
‘all Sp) 
2 8 
*a}¥}S89 [BAI JO an[B a ~ 
78489 [BIT J IBA So 
~~ lor) 
a aA 
= es) 
SS 
or) aml 
~~ & 
oy S&S) 
*ssoupajqopuy ~~ oo 
Oo GQ 
sy SS 
we =) 
LF N 
~~ lor) 
baa | lt 
"IvaA JY} IO, 7) N 
1} 10s SS 
$}UIULIS.ANGSIp [B10], COMmEEOO! 
S a0) 
=H =H 
fe mc 
oc 
Oo ss 
“pred sory oo e 
-Bid PUB SULNIUIOI Oo TH 
CO 
i ao 
Ff 
ise) (oe) 
(=) we 
"reat ay} 1D tt 
gs) ) 
Toy sjdfaoa1 [Bj}OJ, Coy eo) 
i=) (or) 
oO H 
HS mr 
i=) t= 
Ss 
“inva. MuOTIMO So © 
oe Y oO N 
WO, PaAtaal },ULy ao cs 
ia) tb 
om me 
= =a 
S 
< 2 . 
x 
b4 
io 1d 
GS (S 
wa (oe) 
oe or 


SUMMARY. 


“Sor 
i) tt 
-N}V1d puv stan vor) S) 
ee SS 
-a1d PpaAlooaat OM <4 wo 
| suosiod jo Joquny 
, 
d oa 
§}d199a1 [B}0} ae a 
0} pied sumntur 5 S 
-o1d jo uonsodoid 2 = 
<r 
i) 
cys or 
paleo asoy} 0} ae fd 
pied suinruead so a 5 
yume jo uonazodorg 2 25) 
<Gi<t 
2 8 
~ 
*‘TeInj}[NoL3e 4 
[BIN}[NOI3B AT 5} a 
-J011}S8 jou s}dalqo N N 
oO f- 
AdY}O [[B 1OJ JUNOWLY ar + 
BS =a 
(ora) — 
al H 
*sjonpoid N Yen) 
v= ~sH 
UWIvy Ioj pred 4,my an & 
ce cbt 
= a 
> ice) 
te) i=) 
*y90}s a © 
490} AS 
-oAT] Jo predymy; rt oO 
cx iS} 
FS re 
S io) 
1D es 
*sjuamTa AOId war col tt 
com le) 
Ulivy Joy pred },uy Se 
=! ! 
FS 
aa 
< . . 
<>) 
a 
Nef) Ue) 
Ton) tt 
(ee) e2) 
mt ol 


ABSTRACT OF RETURNS 


OF THE 


AGRICULTURAL SOCIETIES 


OF 


MASSACHUSETTS. 


Reef Oy. 


EDITED BY 
CHAKLES L. FLINT, 


SEGRETARY OF THE STATE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 


BOSTON: 
WRIGHT & POTTER, STATE PRINTERS, 


79 MILK STREET (CORNER OF FEDERAL). 


1876. 


ais 
ae 


_ - . << 

om (eee | P< 

3 1, i ‘- ne , ; nite 4G a ae 
RS * A 7 

7 ‘ ; 


ae 
Aaa 
a 
—— 
me 
Cail 
a 
— 
= 
om 
Ss 
— 
, acai 


fa a rd : ic 
‘" 
3 Bar ‘CME ih AM 
a ~~ -_ ' 
San. Go bE. fi f 
Z ay bP 
f . ’ 
' 
# = ; 
c , ’ 
¥ Sb Hae : ai ead bit 


wii vy 


MED Y ch Bee KN 1b Ra 
in fe GEA AO al inl ANY 26 Py a 
i ; ; oy Ly fy “ es 


nd es ie ei | oe _ 
a i) yy a a Ga eee ae 
1 : s 


Res 


; sad er, a 
eh he AY. 


ie FOE) vs, VED} 
| as att Rar 


PREFACE. 


The returns of many of the societies receiving the bounty of the 
Commonwealth continue to be far below a reasonable standard 
of value and usefulness. Instead of an honest effort to make an 
adequate return, in the shape of information that would be of great 
service to farmers in all parts of the State, one would infer from a 
careful examination of the ‘‘ Transactions,” that the chief effort was 
to see how close a bargain could be driven with the State, just 
grazing within the letter of the law, and totally disregarding its 
spirit. This is not the kind of service the Commonwealth expects 
the societies torender. It is not what could be called “ fair” among 
business-men. The State Board of Agriculture, in requiring the 
societies to make their returns in print, contemplated something 
more than a bald list of premiums awarded, and the offers of prizes 
for the coming year. Such a return is of no earthly use or interest 
beyond the limits of the society, and is of the least possible value 
even there. 

Attention has been called to this deficiency many times, but my 
suggestions appear to have been entirely disregarded by a large 
number of the societies, for, instead of any improvement in the value 
and quality of the annual volume, there is a manifest deterioration ; 
no effort being apparent to furnish any information to the farming 
community ; no statements of experiments, or of processes, or of the 
reasons for awards by the committees, being presented. No set 
effort to see how little of valuable information could be furnished, 
could be more successful. As long as this spirit prevails, the repu- 
tation of the societies must suffer, since it indicates a low-toned 
sense of duty ; I might almost say, of common honesty. The bounty 
of the State is given, not to be frittered away in twenty-five-cent 
premiums, but to call out and diffuse information, and to add to our 
present stock of knowledge. 


lv PREFACE. 


I am indebted to J. D. W. Frencu, Esq., of North Andover, for 
the illustration of his Ayrshire cow, ‘‘ Rose,” which appears as the 
frontispiece of the Report. She is numbered 743 in the Ayrshire 
Herd-book ; in color, dark and white. Calved, May 7, 1864. Sire, 
‘“‘ Souter Johnnie” (71); dam, ‘ Tulip 2d” (210), by ‘* Rob Roy” 
(58); grandam, “ Tulip” (209), by ‘*Oswald” (51); great-gran- 
dam, “ Tulip ” (imported, 1855). 

“Souter Johnnie” (71); sire, ‘‘ Blossom 2d” (11); dam, 
“ Kitty 4th” (117), by ‘‘Dundee 5th”; grandam, ‘“‘Tibby 2d,” 
by ‘‘ Wallace” (imported) ; ‘* Tibby,” by ‘‘ Rob Roy” (imported) ; 
by “ Daisy,” by ‘“* Rob Roy” (imported) ; by ‘‘ Daisy” (imported, 
1839). 

Statement of milk for 1874-75. The record begins October 5th, 
and continues for three hundred and twenty days, the whole time 
in milk. Total yield in pounds, 8,409. Total yield in quarts, 
3,911.16. Average yield in pounds per day, 26.27. Average yield 
in quarts per day, 12.21-+-. 


CHARLES L. FLINT. 


OFFICERS OF THE AGRICULTURAL SOCIETIES —1876. 


MASSACHUSETTS. 
President —THOMAS MOTLEY, of West Roxbury. 
Secretary—EDWARD N. PERKINS, of Boston. 


ESSEX. 
President—BENJAMIN P. WARE, of Marblehead. 
Secretary—CHARLES P. PRESTON, of Danvers. 


MIDDLESEX, 
President—JOHN CUMMINGS, of Woburn. 
Secretary—RICHARD F. BARRETT, of Concord. 


MIDDLESEX SOUTH. 
President—JOHN JOHNSON, of Framingham. 
Secretary—JAMES W. BROWN, of Framingham, 


MIDDLESEX NORTH. 
President—JOHN A. GOODWIN, of Lowell. 
Secretary—E, T. ROWELL, of Lowell. 


WORCESTER. 
President—CHAS. B. PRATT, of Worcester. 
Secretary—GEORGE H. EASTABROOK, of Worcester. 


WORCESTER WEST. 
President —GINERY TWICHELL, of Brookline. 
Secretary—HENRY J. SHATTUCK, of Barre. 


WORCESTER NORTH. 
President—JOHN B. PROCTOR, of Fitchburg. 
Secretary—EDWARD B. SAWTELL, of Fitchburg. 


WORCESTER NORTH-WEST. 
President—JEROME JONES, of Boston. 
Secretary—E. T. LEWIS, of Athol. 


WORCESTER SOUTH. 
President—NATHANIEL UPHAM, of Sturbridge. 
Secretary—NOAH D. LADD, of Sturbridge. 


vi 


OFFICERS OF THE SOCIETIES. 


WORCESTER SOUTH-FAST. 
President—WILLIAM KNOWLTON, of Upton. 
Secretary—CHAS. J. THOMPSON, of Milford. 


HAMPSHIRE, FRANKLIN AND HAMPDEN, 
President —J. H. STEBBINS, of Deerfield. 
Secretary—L, C. FERRY, of Northampton. 


HAMPSHIRE. 
President—FLAVEL GAYLORD, of Amherst. 
Secretary—J. L. SKINNER, of Amherst. 


HIGHLAND. 
President—WILLIAM S. BOWEN, of Peru. 
Secretary—JONATHAN McELWAIN, of Middlefield. 


HAMPDEN. 
President —WILLIAM PYNCHON, of Springfield. 
Secretary—J. N. BAGG, of West Springfield. 


HAMPDEN EAST. 
President—HORACE P. WAKEFIELD, of Palmer. 
Secretary—GEORGE ROBINSON, of Palmer. 


UNION. 
President —HENRY K. HERRICK, of Blandford. 
Secretary—ENOS W. BOISE, of Blandford. 


FRANKLIN. 
President—D. O. FISK, of Shelburne. 
Secretary—F. M. THOMPSON, of Greenfield. 


DEERFIELD VALLEY. 
President—DAVID L. SMITH, of Coleraine, 
Secretary—M. M. MANTON, of Charlemont. 


BERKSHIRE, 
President—THERON L. FOOTE, of Lee. 
Secretary—WM. H. MURRAY, of Pittsfield, 


HOUSATONIC. 
President—J. L. MILLER, of Sheffield. 
Secretary—HENRY T. ROBBINS, of Great Barrington. 


HOOSAC VALLEY. 
President—JOHN M. COLE, of Williamstown. 
Secretary—H. CLAY BLISS, of North Adams. 


OFFICERS OF THE SOCIETIES. 


NORFOLK, 
President—HENRY S. RUSSELL, of Milton. 
Secretary—HENRY O. HILDRETH, of Dedham. 


BRISTOL. 
President —WILLIAM MASON, of Taunton. 
Secretary—GEORGE H. RHODES, of Taunton. 


BRISTOL CENTRAL. 
President—JOHN A. HAWES, of Fairhaven. 
Secretary—CHARLES DURFEE, of Fall River. 


PLYMOUTH. 
President—B. W. HARRIS, of East Bridgewater. 
Secretary—LAFAYETTE KEITH, of Bridgewater 


HINGHAM. 
President—SOLOMON LINCOLN, of Hingham. 
Secretary—FEARING BURR, of Hingham. 


MARSHFIELD. 
President—GEORGE M. BAKER, of Marshfield. 
Secretary—FRANCIS COLLAMORE, of Pembroke. 


BARNSTABLE. 
President—AUGUSTUS T. PERKINS, of Cotuit Por 


Secretary—CHARLES THACHER, 2D, of Barnstable. 


NANTUCKET. 
President—ANDREW M. MYRICK, of Nantucket. 


Secretary—ALEXANDER MACY, Jr., of Nantucket. 


MARTHA’S VINEYARD. 
President—HENRY L. WHITING, of Tisbury. 
Secretary—B. T. HILLMAN, of Chilmark. 


Vii 


AGRICULTURAL EXHIBITIONS—1876. 


Essex, at Danvers, . : 
MIDDLESEX, at Concord, . : ‘ 
MIDDLESEX NORTH, at Lowell, 
MIDDLESEX SOUTH, at Framingham, 
WORCESTER, at Worcester, . 
WORCESTER WEST, at Parre,. 
WORCESTER NorTH, at Fitchburg, . 
WORCESTER NORTH-WEST, at Athol, 
WORCESTER SOUTH, at Sturbridge, 
WORCESTER SOUTH-EAST, at Milford, 


. September 26 and 27. 
. September 28, 29 and 30. 
. September 26 and 27. 
. September 19 and 20. 
September 21 and 22. 


. September 28 and 29. 

. September 26. 

. October 3 and 4. 

. September 14 and 15. 

. September 26, 27 and 28. 


HAMPSHIRE, FRANKLIN AND HAMPDEN, at 


Northampton, - : . 
HAMPSHIRE, at Amherst, 4 
HIGHLAND, at Middlefield, . ci 
HAMPDEN, at Springfield, 
HAMPDEN East, at Palmer, . 
Union, at Blandford, . ) . 
FRANKLIN, at Greenjield, A 
DEERFIELD VALLEY, at Charlemont, 
BERKSHIRE, at Pittsfield, : ° 
HOUSATONIC, at Great Barrington, 
Hoosac VALLEY, at North Adams, 
NORFOLK, at Readville, . : ; 
BRISTOL, at Taunton, : j é 
BRISTOL CENTRAL, at Myrick’s, 
PLYMOUTH, at Bridgewater, . ; 
HINGHAM, at Hingham, . : - 
MARSHFIELD, at Marshfield, . 
BARNSTABLE, at Barnstable, . ; 
NANTUCKET, at Nantucket, . 


MartTHA’s VINEYARD, at West Tisbury, . 


. October 5, 6 and 7. 

. September 26 and 27. 

. September 14 and 15. | 

. October 3 and 4. 

. September 21 and 22. 

. September 20 and 21. 
September 28 and 29. 
September 21 and 22. 
October 3, 4 and 5. 

. September 27, 28 and 29. 
. September 19, 20 and 21. 
. September 28 and 29. 
September 26, 27 and 28. 
September 13, 14 and 15. 
. September 20, 21 and 22. 
September 27 and 28, 

. October 5, 6 and 7. 

. September 19 and 20. 

. September 6 and 7. 

. October 3 and 4. 


AGRICULTURE OF MASSACHUSETTS. 


STABILITY OF AGRICULTURE. 


From an Address before the Worcester Agricultural Society. 


BY DANIEL NEEDHAM, 


Looking around you to-day, you see your lands almost as 
verdant as in the month of June; the fruits of your harvest 
filling barn and store; your cattle thrifty and in excellent 
condition ; and your homes happy and abundantly supplied, 
not only with the necessaries, but the luxuries, of civilized 
life. 

But as you cast your eyes from your agricultural to the 
manufacturing districts, you find the water low in the rivers 
and streams that turn the wheels in the heretofore busy mills, 
and the owners making no complaint; they are willing, in 
fact glad, that it is so, for it gives them an opportunity to 
diminish the supply of manufactured goods, which already 
are piled high in the warehouse and the factory, and for 
which there is no demand. 

You find an uprising of hundreds and thousands of idlers,— 
men, women and children; some almost on the verge of 
starvation,—either unable to get work, or refusing to work 
on reduced time or at reduced wages. 

Looking still farther, you find merchants in New York, 
Chicago, Boston, Baltimore —everywhere throughout the 
country — feeling the depression of business to an extent not 
experienced before by men of this generation, with salaried 
clerks who are earning them no money, with large rents 
which are eating rapidly into their capital, with debts due 

1* 


2 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE. 


them difficult to collect, and due from them equally difficult 
to pay; some on the verge of bankruptcy; many already 
having, either voluntarily or involuntarily, taken the fatal 
plunge; a multitude anxious day and night, fearing that an 
honored name and an honored life will terminate in this long- 
dreaded disaster; and not five in a hundred who are to-day 
in as good financial condition as they were two years ago. 

This is no overdrawn picture. Repulsive as it may be, 
unencouraging as it is, the facts making this record stand 
forth so boldly and clearly, that they are easily read of all 
men. 

While this great tidal wave is still rising and continues to 
devastate the Jand,—although you as farmers are not engulfed 
by it, and perhaps feel it only by the awakening sympathy 
which distress in others always creates in the human breast,— 
yet, as citizens of this great and heretofcre prosperous 
country, interested in all its weal and woe, it is your privilege 
and duty to inquire and know the cause, that a repetition of 
the disaster may not come from an ignorant repetition of the 
causes which have created this. 

It is a satisfaction to know that this condition of trade, 
manufacturing and general business, has been in no degree 
aided, stimulated or provoked by the legitimate farmers of 
the country. They have had no share in the causes which 
have conspired to produce this storm, which commenced with 
the failure of the great banking-house of Jay Cooke & Co., 
and has continued to increase and augment in spite of 
repeated fair-weather predictions, and to-day, so far as 
human observation can discern, is quite distant from the 
culminating period of its history. 

In fact, it is not saying too much when it is claimed 
that the only impassable wall which this tidal wave cannot 
overleap, is the barrier which the business of legitimate 
agriculture has erected; and whatever may be saved to the 
manufacturer and to the merchant, will be preserved largely 
by the industry, the skill, the intelligence and the frugality 
of the men and women who have been devoted to the varied 
pursuits of agriculture. 

In the early history of the Rebellion, there was great 
depression in business. Men throughout the country were 


STABILITY OF AGRICULTURE. 3 


everywhere taken by surprise. An event, though occasionally 
predicted, was actually upon us, and a stagnation and paralysis, 
as the result of the general alarm and consternation, succeeded. 

The intelligence of our people, however, speedily enabled 
them to adapt themselves to the necessities of the case. 
Thousands, and tens of thousands, and hundreds of thousands 
of men were called from the productive industries of life to 
engage in the duties of the soldier. Two immense armies 
were gathered upon American soil, each struggling for the 
mastery ; one determined to destroy, and the other equally 
determined to preserve, the government. The producers, 
South as well as North, had been largely drawn upon to 
make up the antagonistic forces. 

The products of labor at once fell off, simply because the 
producers were so few and the consumers so many. Prices 
advanced and continued to advance, until at one time it 
seemed as though no limit could be put upon the price of 
merchandise. Manufacturers realized fortunes ; ordered new 
machinery ; increased the number of their mills with marvellous 
rapidity ; and yet the price of cottons and woollens, and the 
other necessaries of life, continued to advance. The merchants, 
in like manner, doubled and trebled the price of goods on 
hand, but the demand was apparently inexhaustible. Orders 
succeeded orders by express and telegraph, until an actual 
frenzy pervaded the business community, and mills were 
built and goods manufactured as though the war was to 
continue forever, and as though a million of men engaged in 
its prosecution were forever to be consumers, and never again 
producers. p 

So excited was trade, and so universally were prices 
sustained and increased, that no dealer could buy a pound 
of cotton or wool, or a yard of cloth, or a wooden pail or 
chair, a cheese or a tub of butter, or any other article which 

yas the product of labor or skill, without realizing a large 
and illegitimate compensation for the capital employed, or the 
time occupied in the transaction. 

During a great portion of this time the existence of the 
government was so greatly imperilled, that its promises to 
pay dropped to a fearful discount.. Gold, the world-accepted 
standard of values, was at a fabulous premium, reaching, in 


4 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE. 


the height of the financial excitement, to more than one 
hundred and eighty per centum premium. 

Among these wonderful changes and fluctuations, however, 
farms shared but little. A farm in the average Massachusetts 
towns represented in its sale no more paper money than it 
did when paper money was not at a discount, and gold and 
silver commanded no premium. 

From that day to this, saving and excepting the actual 
increased value of farms by improvements made on the lands, 
the fences and the buildings, there has been little change in 
their market value. When one hundred dollars in gold was 
worth two hundred and eighty dollars in paper money, no 
perceptible increased price was either given or offered for 
your lands; they held the even tenor of their way, while the 
products of your skill and industry as farmers shared to 
an extent in the general rise. 

This sharmg in the general rise was a clear net gain 
without a drawback, as your lands to-day are as valuable as 
before the days to which I have alluded. All other kinds of 
business have had blows so severe as to absolutely paralyze 
them ; yours goes on in the old way. 

So far as this gain was made in the farming towns, it 
represented the absolute net gain which the industry, thrift 
and frugality of the people had enabled them to make, and a 
large portion of which they will be able to maintain under 
the most adverse conditions of trade. 

During this period, the immense stimulus given to manu- 
facturing and trade was like a train of cars under full 
headway on a down grade, with full steam working, and the 
descent of the grade constantly increasing. When the 
Rebellion ceased, and the men who had so nobly fought for 
the government, or so vainly and foolishly fought to bring 
about its ruin, returned to their homes, the mills kept on 
going; trade continued; not even the brakes were applied ; 
neither was the steam shut off. New mills that were in 
process of building were finished and put to work, and other 
new ones were built and set in operation, until, if possible, 
the business of the country magnified and grew as though no 
limit could be reached in the supply, and the demand could 
never be met. 


STABILITY OF AGRICULTURE. 5 


As the regiments disbanded, many of the men who were 
formerly workers and producers entered into trade and 
speculation, increasing the great army of non-producing men 
to a wonderful extent. 

All at once business, like a train of cars under full speed, 
reached a rotten bridge, and the train was ditched. Jay 
Cooke’s failure brought the business community to a realizing 
sense of its condition. It was not Jay Cooke’s failure that 
ruined the country, or that brought ruin upon the country ; 
but it was that failure that stopped this mad career of 
speculative enterprise, and turned the current of thought in 
a healthier direction. 

While the manufacturers had been amassing fortunes, and 
the merchants had surrounded themselves with princely 
luxury by their speedily-made gains, an element of life, 
always found in every community, had been developed to a 
most unhealthy and portentous extent. 

Every man’s pocket was overflowing with money. The 
mechanic had trebled his price of labor; the operative in the 
mill and the shop had approximated the mechanic, and the ordi- 
nary laborer, who toiled from day to day without thought or 
skill was commanding two or three times his legitimate earn- 
ings. 

Great leaders in finance started new lines of railroads 
through unpopulated districts of country, bought coal lands, 
sunk oil wells, established and opened copper mines; and 
men who were never heard of in finance imitated their 
example, by incorporating companies for the manufacture 
and sale of patent articles and patent rights, until, in fact, 
the only class of producers left, whose labor was really 
needed and absolutely useful, was that of the farmer, miner, 
artisan and mechanic. 

The press, by its wide-spread influence, carried this spirit 
far and wide, until it permeated every town and school 
district in the country. The religious press, with its great 
influence, published the advertisements of these great leaders 
in scheming finance, and thousands whose legitimate gains 
might have been a blessing to themselves and their children, 
were influenced to part with their money and accept therefor 
worthless pieces of paper. 


6 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE. 


Jay Cooke’s name, which had been so honorably connected 
with the sale of the government bonds, and which had 
enabled him, on the reéstablishment of confidence, to secure 
a great hold on the people, was used to found schemes which 
were more visionary than bubbles, and as unreal as the 
wildest dream. 

The press not only published these alluring advertisements, 
but, from the most mercenary motives, called attention to 
them in their editorial columns, and under the guise of 
honest opinion, represented Northern Pacific and other 
worthless bonds as safe investments, until thousands of 
innocent readers, not thinking that base purposes inspired 
these finely-written articles upon “Northern Pacific Bonds 
secure as Governments, and yielding a much larger income,” 
put their hard-earned savings into these pieces of handsomely 
printed paper, and discovered no fraud until the great bubble 
became so extended and thin that it burst from its inside 
pressure. | 

Though railroad bonds are worthless; though the legion 
of copper and oil companies have passed so far into history 
that their names are scarcely remembered; though manu- 
facturing stocks have greatly depreciated and many of the 
companies become bankrupt, your farms have not depreciated, 
and the quiet of your homes, if you adhere to your agricultural 
industries, has not been disturbed. 

Among the evils yet remaining of this wild infatuation, is the 
enormous debt which has been created, and which still remains. 

I do not refer to the government debt. That was a 
necessity, is well cared for, perfectly secure, and in process 
of gradual and certain payment. 

I do not refer to debts created by States and towns, in 
providing bounties to encourage men to enlist, and to provide 
for the families of enlisted men. This was sound political 
economy, as it rapidly increased the strength of the govern- 
ment, and lessened both the slaughter of men and the period 
of the war. 

But to the rapid growth and increase of town, county, State 
and corporation obligations, in the prosecution of improve- 
ments which have been fostered or hastened by a spirit of 
speculation, emulation or pride, which has fastened upon a 


STABILITY OF AGRICULTURE. 7 


future generation liabilities which should not have been made, 
or if made, should have been promptly met. School dis- 
tricts and fire districts, religious societies, railroads, and 
almost every other corporation, have shared in these acts, 
which have too largely anticipated future necessities, and too 
largely ignored the lack of ability which a future generation 
may have to cancel obligations which we have assumed for 
them, in addition to those which will develop as necessary for 
their own comfort and security. 

But the public mind is called off from the real to an 
imaginary cause of the present great disturbance. Instead of 
finding the cause in these large sums borrowed,—in these 
wild speculations already culminated, or rapidly culminating ; 
in expenses beyond means, and in receipts for /abor which 
labor never earned, and never could legitimately earn; in a 
continuation to create a supply for a demand which long since 
ceased to exist; in an exaggeration of values, and in a total 
disregard of the natural relation between labor and value,— 
it has been found in the administration of the national and 
state governments ; in an excessive issue of paper money ; 
in the establishment of national banks; in the high price of 
gold ; in the tyrannization of capital over labor ; in everything 
except the one and only cause of the trouble,—the extravagant 
indulgence in the use of money which only an extraordinary 
and abnormal condition of the country enabled the people to 
obtain. 

The trouble must continue until the equilibrium is restored, 
and the unnatural price of labor reduced to its normal con- 
dition, by a demand which will in is turn call for a supply, 
and which, in the creation of that supply, will reéstablish 
legitimate compensation for labor. 

But we have two great evils produced by this abnormal 
condition of the country, which the people may well regard 
with deep anxiety. One is the general extravagance which a 
very large portion of our countrymen at the North have and 
still continue to indulge in. The very air is poisoned by 
wastefulness. It has crept into homes where heretofore 
there has been the most rigid New England prudence ; it has 
entered towns where extravagant buildings have been erected ; 
it has entered legislatures where offices have been multiplied 


8 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE. 


and salaries increased; it has gone with the young man and 
maiden to the school and to the academy; and the mark of 
the Puritan character, as made by examples of strict prudence, 
which in our ancestors entered into every department of 
domestic, social and public life, has been almost obliterated. 
While, in turn, the former wasteful and extravagant South, 
from sheer necessity, has been taught a lesson of great 
economy. This generation of young men and women there 
has been inured to hardships, to severe trials, and to continual 
dependence upon their own efforts. In fact, the original 
habits of the New Englanders have to a large extent been 
lost sight of, and have been adopted unwillingly by our 
brethren in the Southern States. That this change will work 
favorably to them, there can be no doubt. That with their 
rich soil and kindlier climate, it will soon supplant poverty 
by plenty, and scarcity by abundance, there can be no doubt. 
If we cannot get back to the old ways, we may well fear for 
the old thrift. : 

The second great evil is in our enormous indebtedness, —the 
creation of debts which we have little disposition to pay, and 
which nothing but a want of New England prudence would 
have allured us into creating. 

The largest government indebtedness was reached in 1866, 
when no less an amount than twenty-seven hundred and 
seventy-three millions of dollars constituted the indebtedness 
of the nation. More than six hundred millions of that debt 
has already been cancelled. Looking from this national debt 
to state and corporation indebtedness, we find that in 1875, 
these liabilities are ten times as great as they were nine 
years previous, and that, instead of diminishing, these 
liabilities have been rapidly augmenting. It is not certain 
that these liabilities are not still on the increase. Until they 
cease to augment, and until the people, from their legitimate 
industry, begin their cancellation, all hope of a vigorous pros- 
perity must be abandoned. 

It is a fallacy to suppose that you can pay one debt by 
creating another, or that you can satisfy a first promise to 
pay by substituting a second. 

Congress long since closed up the construction account of 
the national government; let the people, in their civil and 


STABILITY OF AGRICULTURE. 9 


individual capacity, establish the limit of all minor corporation 
indebtedness. 

Debt may not be regarded as a positive evil until it becomes 
a burden; and then, unless circumstances are fortuitous, it 
will ultimately break down the party or the corporation 
struggling to carry it. 

In the United States, during a period of ten years, nominal 
property, representing thousands of millions, printed in the 
form of stock certificates, faded out of sight; and more than 
five hundred millions of railroad bonds have failed to pay the 
interest on the debt they represent, and could be bought in 
the open market at a fifth of their nominal cost. 

Looking back upon this shameful waste and prodigality, is 
it a matter of wonder that business is dull? Looking back 
upon this speculation in oil wells that never were sunk; 
in copper mines that were never explored; in railroads 
that never were half built, or if built could secure no 
legitimate business; in towns and counties laid out on 
expensive maps, but which had no inhabitants; in western 
school-house and court-house bonds, when neither school- 
houses or court-houses were ever constructed; in coal 
mines that were never opened; in silver mines that were 
never found; in inventions and patent rights which were 
the products of an ill-balanced mind ;—it is a marvel that 
when the shock came it did not produce complete revolution 
and ruin. 

The explanation can only be found in the vast army of 
farmers occupying their two hundred millions of acres of 
improved land, and producing not only bread and meat 
sufficient for home consumption, but a surplus to aid in 
employing the merchantmen on the high seas, and to secure 
an influx of foreign gold to aid in increasing the value of the 
currency, and in the mechanics, artisans and miners whose 
constant and steady industry created vast wealth to aid in 
preventing an absolute depletion of the national treasury. 

The national government has set the first example for 
reform. Cutting down salaries, and investigating with the 
most rigid scrutiny every department; at the same time 
providing means for diminishing its debt. Had the national 
government continued, as did the people in their private and 

2* 


10 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE. 


corporate capacity, to swell the volume of indebtedness up to 
the time of the crisis produced by the failure of Jay Cooke & 
Co., it is difficult to judge of the immensity of the ruin. 

But here are the agriculturists of the country, with their 
capital invested in their lands and barns and houses, unim- 
paired, and with prices for all the products of the soil, and 
the farm fully up to an average of any ten consecutive years, 
excepting always years of an abnormal character. Men 
dealing in merchandise, who perhaps at times have been 
envied in their apparent prosperity, now compromise with 
their creditors by paying a fractional part of their liabilities. 
Manufacturers, whose wealth rapidly increased by sudden 
and great demand for their goods, now find the high price of 
labor which the unusual demand established, the high rates of 
insurance and interest money on a large stock of made up, 
unsalable goods, and on a large investment in buildings and 
machinery, eating up, not only the profits of former days, but 
the capital invested in the original business, and are obliged 
to borrow money to bridge over an uncertain period of time, 
which without an ability to borrow would precipitate ruin. 

Dealers in city and town lots have also shared in this great 
depreciation, and in New York City the shrinkage in real 
estate has been from thirty to thirty-three per centum. 

During all this time, the agriculturists of the country have 
not only stood their ground, without failures, without bank- 
ruptey, but with an absolute net gain. They have heard the 
noise of the shock of the great contest; they have seen 
speculators, bankers, merchants, manufacturers falling to 
the right and the left, as reason was restored and the ability 
of men to pay their promises was scrutinized; and they, 
almost alone, as a class, have escaped injury, and, I might 
add, inconvenience. 

It was so in the long depression of business from 1837 to 
1842. It was so in the great depression which preceded the 
famine in Ireland, when the surplus products of American 
agriculture gave employment not only to American but 
foreign vessels, and brought back in return from Europe the 
gold and silver which the extravagance of the American 
people had sent abroad in exchange for silks, laces and fine 
cloths. It is no new thing for a nation to be saved by its 
intelligent, industrious agriculture. 


STABILITY OF AGRICULTURE. It 


In spite of our unwillingness to accept books, schools and 
colleges as aids, we have largely accepted them; and in 
reviewing the past, we can see how many wild lands have 
been reclaimed, how many swamps have been made _ pro- 
ductive and healthy, and how many barren hillsides made to 
blossom as the rose, through the means forced upon us by 
men of deep scientific research. 

The time has already come when the keenest intellect, the 
most varied learning, and the greatest mechanical skill are 
recognized as absolutely necessary for the attainment of the 
highest type of American farming. 

If the country recovers from the shock of this depression, 
it will be indebted to its agriculture, North, South and West, 
If it recovers speedily, it will be indebted to the strong latent 
power of these same influences. 

Already the eastern horizon glimmers with the light of 
improvement. The United Kingdom, from a combination of 
causes, will have cereals enough of its own production for 
less than half a year’s supply; the balance of the supply 
must come largely from the United States, for the great 
cereal lands of the Baltic have produced no surplus product 
for exportation. 

In the year 1874, one hundred and fifty-nine cargoes of 
grain were exported to foreign shores; this year, already, 
we have forwarded nearly three hundred ; and this is less than 
half of what will be demanded; yet America is fully equal 
to supply the wants of half-starved Europe. 

What answer, then, shall we make to the anxious merchant, 
manufacturer or operative? Go to THe Lanp. It is the 
source of original supply; it is the place of last resort. 

As the father welcomed the prodigal son, who, not content 
with home, wandered off to do better, and fared worse, so 
the land welcomes all these sons and daughters who have 
wandered off to the crowded city and the mill, back to its 
kindly protection. 

How the manufacturers who have established mills and 
furnished them, in excess of a natural demand, are to adjust 
the balances so as again to employ all their machinery, is a 
problem which time alone will work out. Some foreign 
demand will, undoubtedly, spring up, and American genius 


12 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE. 


will find its ability equal to successful competition in a new 
field. 

The lesson of prudence and frugality which the life of a 
farmer always teaches, is the one which the panic has brought 
home with great force to the American merchants and manu- 
facturers. 

Well may the farmers gather at these annual festivals, and 
look over the productions of nature which their intelligence 
and skill have greatly improved and made useful. Well may 
they rejoice that the products of their industries supply the 
wants of millions at home, and give employment to commerce 
in transporting surplus products to the hungry and needy on 
a foreign shore. Well may they feel that while the soldiers 
who so nobly and fearlessly fought for the old flag, saved the 
political life of the nation in the time of the great Rebellion, 
they have, by close attention to their business, and by the 
frugality and prudence of their lives, in no small degree 
inspired confidence in the government, and saved it from 
financial ruin. 


POISONS OF THE FARMER’S LIFE. 13 


SOME OF THE POISONS OF THE 
FARMER’S LIFE. 


From an Address before the Hampshire Agricultural Society. 


BY EDWARD HITCHCOCK. 


In our cold and variable climate, specially acting upon 
our acutely nervous temperaments, we are quite sure to secure 
animal and artificial heat enough, even if we do it at the 
expense of purity of the air. If we sleep cold, we are sure to 
wake and pull on an extra blanket. If we are too cool when 
we sit down in our houses, the first thing is to shut the win- 
dow. And the patient lungs will endure a wonderful amount 
of this abuse. Though they fill and empty better when the 
air has its proper amount of pure oxygen, yet they will pump 
on harder and harder when the purity of the air is more or 
less diminished, for they must do their part to supply the 
necessary waste. In this centennial year it is proper to 
praise anything that isold. Then, I say, Hurrah for the old- 
fashioned fireplace, with its big blaze of flame and coals ! 
Hurrah for the plenty of fresh air which it compelled in every 
house! Are we to suppose that the young or old people in 
1775 suffered any more in their persons from the cold, or 
were obliged to dress any warmer, than we do now? For 
the purer and more plentiful the air, the greater the animal 
heat. 

Not farmers only, but most other people, nowadays, make 
their houses as close from air as possible, build smaller chim- 
neys, put a red-hot furnace in the cellar, stop up every hole, 
and have now got to the Yale lock, where there is not even a 
key-hole for the air to escape or enter; and with a little 
effeminacy, the result of increasing luxury everywhere, and 


14 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE. 


too often the delicate habits of the female portion of the 
family, but precious little fresh air is admitted to the house 
from November to April—about one-half of the year. 

And how about the sleeping-rooms of many of our farmers ? 
Is it not fair to say that the average New England farmer 
and his wife sleep in a bedroom on the lower floor of the 
house, fifteen feet one way, twelve another, and seven or 
eight feet “between joists,” and opening into the kitchen? 
Perfect ventilation requires that 3,000 cubic feet of fresh air 
should be supplied to each person per hour, and sleeping- 
rooms should allow 1,000 cubic feet of space to each occu- 
pant. Now the bedroom just mentioned contains less than 
1,500 cubic feet of space, and how is this for breath capacity 
for two persons? To be sure this room opens into the 
kitchen, and thus gives some more air, but what kind of air 
would you expect to find in a room at the end of an evening 
where the whole family has been gathered, and where possi- 
bly some cooking has been going on at the same time? And 
does the farmer, or she, the good wife, usually take pains to 
ventilate the room just before going to bed? 

But now, in spite of this dreadful state of things, some, yes, 
many people, do raise a family, rear the children to manhood 
and womanhood, and how is this about ventilation, if you do 
violate a law of nature? So the Esquimaux eat and relish 
for a dessert a pound or so of tallow candles. Some Chinese 
feed on worms, not quite so fut and large as our tobacco 
worms ; and still I believe there is better food even for them 
than are these. 

And on the other hand, sometimes the wife begins to go 
down hill with consumption, a child dies in convulsions, by 
pneumonia, cholera morbus or infantum, and then at the 
funeral there is a wonderful submission to the will of the 
Lord at this most mysterious dispensation of Providence, 
when the real thing submitted to has been the foul air of the 
sleeping and living room or past months or years. 

There are some gases almost instantly fatal to life. Car- 
bonic acid is one. But physiology tells us that there is no 
poison so fatal to the human race as the exhalations of the 
human body itself. Carbonic acid probably kis by keep- 
ing away the oxygen from bodily tissues; but the decayed, 


POISONS OF THE FARMER’S LIFE. 15 


impure and poisonous vapors cast off by our own bodies, not 
only crowd the pure air cut, but convey directly back into 
our bodies this fermenting poison of decay and death. 

Another point of interest concerning the purity of the air 
is the location of it. I mean its position nearer or farther 
from or under the surface of the ground. Analysis of the air, 
chemical and otherwise, shows most conclusively that near 
and under the surface of the ground it is much more injurious 
to the health of man than that several feet above it. Hence 
the lower story of most of our dwelling-houses, and especially 
that of our old-fashioned houses, which merely “squat” on 
the ground, is not a suitable one for sleeping-rooms. I fully 
believe that not an inconsiderable amount of rheumatism, the 
disease of farmers, would be done away with if people would 
sleep in the second story of the house. But hear what a 
sensible woman says on this point. 

“If every farmer in the land could be made to see that the 
miasma which floats invisible in the upholding sunlight of 
noonday is precipitated by the chill of night, just as the 
earth in a glass of muddy water goes to the bottom when at 
rest, and that he, sleeping on the ground floor is aptly 
represented by a pin lying in that layer of mud, he would 
conquer his aversion to going up-stairs, and once having 
tasted the superior charms of a fresh, airy bedroom, away 
from the smoke and the smells of the roasting and broiling 
and frying and baking which must be done in every kitchen, 
he would never be induced again to sleep below stairs.” 

Another of the poisons of the farmer’s life is pork— 
P-O-R-K! Webster defines pork as “the flesh of the hog, 
fresh or salted, and used as a food.” Perhaps a definition of 
pork ought to read something like this: Pork is the diseased 
adipose tissue or fat of the American hog. It is the more 
and more diseased, and hence richer in flavor for food to 
men, as the animal is allowed to live on the rotten and 
filthy excrements of man and beast, and to eat all the 
indigestible and refuse food which no other animal will eat, 
or smell of but once. If the food called swill is fermented 
by putrefactive decomposition, the hog is more greedy to get 
it, and envelops himself all the more deeply in the luscious 
and delicious fat. Exercise, sunlight, fresh air, cleanliness 


16 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE. 


and healthy diet, are not the proper food for fat stuffs. The 
confinement in barn cellars, darkness, close pens, filth, the 
refuse of slaughter-houses, glue factories, and dirty manu- 
factories, give a richness and dainty flavor to the articles of 
human food known as bacon, ham, lard, sausages, salt pork, 
head cheese, liver, and so on. The hog is the nest or 
generating place of the trichina and the elegant tape-worm, 
which ultimately take up their residence in the bodies of men 
and women. He is also the source of lard, or the diseased 
fat reduced to a soft solid and used extensively in cookery 
to prepare the common but innutritious piecrust. Lard is 
also of constant use in the frying-pan—an American delight. 
Its great value here is that it boils at so high a temperature 
when food is cooked in it that the tender and juicy albumen is 
dried up and greatly injured, but at the same time the delicate 
flavor of the diseased fat is all the more brought forward. 

Tf, now, any one complains that this is no photograph, but 
an artistic sketch and highly colored in some respects, it is 
certainly safe to say that fully one-half the hogs in New Eng- 
land are no better off than in the character just given them. 

But the farmer says: “ What shallI do? It costs but little 
to raise hogs; they help greatly to work over manure, and 
furnish food for my family for a large part of the year. I 
can’t afford to live unless I raise hogs.” The answer to this 
is somewhat radical, with present information on the subject, 
but it points to an end which the laws of God compel us to con- 
sider ; and this is, to use none of this “unclean ” animal for food, 
but in place of it use much more the natural ripe cooked and 
uncooked fruits of the earth. Perhaps you must have one or 
two hogs to use up certain kinds of refuse and to turn over 
the excrements of the barn-yard. Very well, do it. But 
make your pigpen at least three times the distance from the 
top of your well of drinking water that it is from the top to 
the bottom of the well. Then make or have a shed near by, 
where a quantity of dry loam can be constantly kept, and 
daily (during summer and early autumn) let enough of this 
loam be “cast before the swine” to absorb everything like 
liquid or moist manure or filth. This, with an occasional 
removal of all the contents of the pigpen to the compost 
heap, and you have the best antidote to one of the farmer's 


POISONS OF THE FARMER'S LIFE. 17 


poisons. “But what shall be done with the pig”? Why, at 
any time you please, kill him. “And what then”? Don’t 
carefully scrape, scald, clean, and put inside of salt in barrels, 
down in your cellar, his worthless carcass, but cut him into 
inch pieces, bones and all, and put a large bucketful of them 
down deep among the roots of your grape-vines. Give every 
pear and apple tree a good dinner of the same. Feed cur- 
rants and gooseberries also, and if you get more than you can 
use in this way, prepare holes in your ground with this 
fertilizer, where you can plant next year some more fruit- 
trees. 

Oh, if we only would increase the use of home-raised fruit 
in our food! Use it ripe, cooked and uncooked, a great deal 
more than we now do! If we only would substitute for fried 
salt pork, sopped bread, boiled pork, doughnuts, and the 
everlasting piecrust of lard! If we only would take in their 
place potatoes, with milk, cream or butter, cooked apples, 
stewed, dried and fresh fruits! If we only would begin the 
season with, and use much more largely, fresh and uncooked 
fruits at every meal, beginning in June with strawberries, and 
ending in November with grapes! Could not all this be 
done with precious little outlay to you, gentlemen and ladies ? 
If it were very generally done, then we could predict the 
- farmer’s millenium as not far distant. 

And how would the mothers and sisters meet the change in 
their daily work? Would they not prefer to go into the gar- 
den and pick, and even on some farms help to cultivate many 
of the fruits, rather than roast themselves over a kitchen stove 
in the stench of the frying-pan? And the raising of more 
fruit of all kinds, which I am sure almost every farmer can 
double in quantity, is not of interest simply for your own 
food. Our mechanics, trades-people, school-teachers, and 
other professional folk, will most happily exchange much of 
the pork and salt meat for fruit, when you can afford it to 
them at reasonable rates. 

Ladies and gentlemen of this time-honored society, I be- 
seech of you to turn your attention to raising more fruit, not 
only that which must be cooked, but the delicious fruit which 
only needs to be picked and eaten. Then our physiologists 

3* 


18 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE. 


will insure you less dysentery, less cholera’ infantum and 
majorum, fewer fevers, and, in fine, better bowels the year 
round. 

A most reliable and sure poison for farmers is the miasma, 
or poisonous vapor, generated in the refuse matter about the 
house and the barn. And this is amore common and destruc- 
tive poison than either of the others just mentioned. And 
most of our fevers are caused by the noxious exhalations, or 
germs, rising from decaying organic matter. Till within a 
few years, the air contained in the upper few feet of soil has 
never been brought to notice. And this does not mean sim- 
ply that air is cold and damp on the ground, but that the 
upper few feet of soil—say six—contains much carbonic acid 
and other poisonous gases. A writer who is probably the 
first living authority on this subject, says: “A few feet under 
the surface there is already as much carbonic acid as there is in 
the worst ventilated human dwellings.” Now those gases are 
not only out in the fields, and at a distance from the house, 
but they may be, and are, more or less under our dwellings, 
their abundance depending on the nature of the soil and the 
proximity of their source. And though there may be no 
production of them in our own yards, yet these exhalations 
may travel a long distance underground. In other words, 
there are currents and winds underground as well as above it. 
One proof of this is seen in the fact that in cities and large 
towns where coal gas is burned for illumination, it may often 
be perceived in a cellar where the pipes are not laid, and even 
where there is not a main for a long distance. Another proof 
is found in frozen wells, which are not uncommon. How far 
underground these gases may travel and enter our cellars, 
like demons of destruction, research has not yet informed us, 
since so much depends on location, the nature of the soil, and 
the prevalent winds above the ground; but the fact remains, 
that deadly gases do course rapidly through the soil, making 
what Pettenkofer calls “ ground air,” and these gases do come 
up under our dwellings, and produce certain diseases. These 
gases travel much more slowly in cold than in warm weather, 
since sunlight and cultivation render the soil porous and easily 
permeable by them. And hence we see why fall fevers pre- 


POISONS OF THE FARMER’S LIFE. ig 


vail, as the air during the summer months has been silently 
but continually permeating our houses, until the body is so 
loaded that the low, lingering fever sets in as a necessary 
result of accumulating poisoning. 

In view of this fact, is it not a hopeless task to try to relieve 
ourselves of this evil, unless we adopt the Chinese custom of 
living in a boat, or else of going up in a balloon? 

The first common-sense antidote is to carefully absorb all 
the animal manure or filth on our own premises by dry earth, 
loam or ashes. When this is done, ventilate the cellar. The 
first day in spring or late winter, when the cellar windows 
can be opened, then let the air course freely through it. And 
never, till the next early winter chill threatens to freeze the 
succulents, allow them to be closed. Allow the air to stir 
and be most thoroughly stirred in the lower stories of the 
house, cellar and all; and then, saving the tin-roofed garret, 
the other stories will be quite sure to be ventilated also. Or 
if the housekeeper ventilates her cellar and first stories, she 
will be quite apt to ventilate the chambers. “Take care of 
the pence, and the pounds will take care of themselves.” 

After you have got a good current of air regularly going 
through the cellar, then give it some light. Oh, what an 
enemy to immorality, to deadly influences of all sorts, spirit- 
ual and physical, is the pure sunlight! Let the sunlight 
in and through the cellar, if you would have the best protec- 
tion to the wife and children at home. If typhoid fever and 
dysentery are preferred, then keep right on, and let alone a 
dark, damp and dangerous cellar. When you have let the air 
and light into your cellar, then aid the sun to make it lighter 
and sweeter by thoroughly washing the ceiling and sides with 
limewash (whitewash). The lime will not only protect the 
timbers from decay and fire, but it will destroy some of the 
virulence of many deadly gases. It will help, also, to find the 
rat-holes, the decaying timber, block of wood, vegetable, or 
meat—those powerful farmer’s poisons. 

But a more visible and odorous farmer’s poison is to be 
found back of the shed and the kitchen, and in the barn-yard. 
Around how many farmers’ buildings—clear round, I mean— 
can you go, this afternoon, within ten feet of them, without 


20 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE. 


holding your nose, or stepping into filth, over shoes? And 
yet these very sights and smells are preparing, perhaps, some 
of this audience for the typhoid fever, which may take a life, 
certainly will take all the strength of the family to care for, 
and possibly all the earnings for a year. A farmer, mechanic, 
or any other man or woman controlling a homestead in New 
England, is culpable, negligently culpable, if they allow a 
stinking cesspool, barn-yard, or anything of the sort on their 
premises. Such a thing is not a necessity, or even an excus- 
able negligence. For but a small quantity of coal or wood 
ashes, or loam, if only perfectly dry, is a complete disinfect- 
ant for this poison; it will absorb incredible amounts. 

And the absolute money profits of saving the drainage of 
the house is wonderful. For in most of our houses it is safe 
to say that, during the year, two barrels of soft soap are used 
and a number of pounds of hard soap. Here, then, are per- 
haps fifty pounds of soluble potash which are only of use to 
enrich the coarse weeds about the sink drain. Why not keep 
a barrel, or box or two, of dry earth close by the sink drain, 
and every morning and night let a few quarts be thrown in 
to absorb this most common and enriching food of plants. 
For I think Prof. Goessmann will tell us that all land-plants 
contain potash as one ingredient of their structure. 

When one visits any of the older countries of the world, 
he is always struck with the careful saving of the drainage 
and waste of the house. And as it is carried about the streets 
in pails, as if most valuable, he is sure of a precious stench, 
and presumes that it will be precious food to the crops. He 
there sees scavengers who more carefully save every bit of 
excrement than does a thrifty Yankee preserve his scraps of 
lead, brass and iron. 

But a word for the barn-yard and pigpen in this direction. 
If farmers fully appreciated the value of liquid manures, and 
the best methods of utilizing them, this matter would take 
care of itself. At any rate, my limited time allows me to 
presume this amount of information on your part. But I 
must do my best to enforce upon you that it is of the utmost 
importance to the health of the household that, during the 
months of July, August and September, a barn-yard with 


POISONS OF THE FARMER'S LIFE. 91 


pools of filthy liquid, and even moist contents, is one of the 
very best materials with which to generate autumnal fevers, 
diarrhcea, dysentery, and this class of diseases. And if the 
farmer could be sure to see to it that, once each day, all the 
barn-yard and pigpen waste is thoroughly covered with dry 
earth during the dangerous months, we are willing to insure 
much less of paying the doctor, and a cleaner bill of health 
all around. And could I also impress the fact of the money 
advantage in thus saving the ammonia of his manure, I 
am sure the physician and the physiologist have done their 
duty. 


22 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE. 


RELATIONS OF SCIENCE TO AGRI- 
CULTURE. 


From an Address before the Essex Agricultural Society. 


BY E. C. BOLLES. 


To begin at a point not often touched, it must be in the 
power of science to render substantial benefit to agriculture, 
because agriculture enters nature as, in some sense, a disturb- 
ing force. The cultivation of a country is the destruction of 
its old balance of conditions,—the harmony established, it 
may be, by uncounted centuries. 

When our forefathers first sailed into sight of these familiar 
shores, Nahant was a wooded promontory; and the Salem 
hills, which are so bleak and bare to-day, were rounded with 
the deep verdure of their ancient trees. Where dry pasture 
is, the damp forest mosses carpeted the ground ; and streams, 
long since vanished or dwindled to a thread, sought the sea. 
The climate was less capricious ; the beautiful Indian summer 
flung its week of misty gold into November’s lap ; and even 
the winter snows were true to their appointment of advent 
or departure. The pioneer’s axe opened the soil to the sun, 
and his plough prepared the way among the stumps for the 
grasses and grains of the Old World. It was inevitable that 
all should change, as it had done in Europe and Asia so long 
before. The farmer here, as everywhere, was to pursue his 
toil in the face of difficulties of his own creating. Thoreau, 
in his rough Walden bean-field, expressed the general fact of 
agriculture: “This was my curious labor all summer: to 
make this portion of the earth’s surface which had yielded 
only cinque-foil, blackberries, johnswort and the like before, — 
sweet wild fruits and pleasant flowers,—produce instead this 


RELATIONS OF SCIENCE TO AGRICULTURE. 23 


pulse ; to make the earth say beans instead of grass.” This 
struggle was complicated for our predecessors and for us by 
the unsparing drafts which nature had to meet. 

No science can give back the past. That would be to 
surrender the land to be the Indian’s hunting-grounds again. 
But it can and it must improve our agriculture by reviving 
such of the old conditions as will put nature more in alliance 
with the farmer’s work. New England husbandry will never 
be exactly the same as that of the rich plains behind the 
dikes of Holland, or that whose leaves are dewy with the 
warm vapors of an English sky. But it will be the hus- 
bandry of a soil less sterile and more hospitable in just the 
proportion that the farm goes to school to science, and learns 
that even after years of neglect, nature may still be recovered 
asa friend. A wise combination of intelligence, under the 
direction of only what is certainly’ established by science 
now, for the purpose of recovering some of the lost values 
of the climate and growth, would make any district—even 
your own, so proud of its advanced culture—vastly more 
productive as well as beautiful. Economy would follow in 
the track of wealth and grace. The age of labor-saving 
machines would come to understand that the best of these 
are natural influences themselves. 

You can see, from the special turn I give this theme, that 
T do not believe that the destiny of New England is to cede 
the hands that guide the plough to manufacturers, and to 
reckon, in another century, her agriculture as a lost art. I 
love the joy of her country-side too much; I honor too 
profoundly her moral and political strength in her rural 
communities, to think approvingly of such a change. I 
prefer to look for an age when sweeter compensations of 
rustic life shall surround the feverish excitement of our 
cities ; when stronger attractions shall retain our youth upon 
the soil; when, amid richer acres and fairer homes, our 
farmers, who have most of all given pledges to loyalty by 
joining their fortunes to their mother earth, shall hold with 
stronger hands the tradition of liberty; but I only dare to 
speak of this as possible through that wide culture in which 
science bears its part. 

Again, I specify the help which science renders to the farmer 


24 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE. 


by enabling him to meet successfully the pests and scourges 
let loose by the animal or vegetable world upon his crops. 

The husbandman has indeed many races to run with the 
hosts of nature in harvesting his season’s work. A myriad 
of unbidden guests are hungry for it; green or dry, in the 
bud or fruit, it never comes amiss to their ravenous jaws. 
Insect armies migrate across a continent, leaving a desert as 
they go. The air is dusty with disease to the growing grain, 
as sometimes with pestilence to men. Ever since the day 
when sacred prophecy interpreted the locust swarms as the 
wrath of God, agriculture has had to fight for its own. And 
it is here that the eager curiosity which loves to explore the 
forms and laws of every life, though that life may only be a 
microscopic point, or a noxious and loathsome thing, does 
good service to the cultivator of the ground. It teaches him 
to crush the evil in the cradle or the egg. It puts it in his 
power to pit one enemy against another, fighting fire with 
fire. It hangs upon some slender thread of habits in the 
movements of a depredator—the foil to his attack. Some of 
the classics of science, like the well-known volume of Dr. 
Harris here in Massachusetts, have been written in ihe inter- 
ests of agricultural success. 

Endowments from a State or nation to promote such studies 
—the work of individual investigators or agricultural depart- 
ments—are all liable to a double misapprehension. Upon 
one side it seems so absurd to pension entomology ! a science 
which may be fascinating to a few harmless zealots, with net 
in hand to capture, and Latin and Greek lexicons within 
reach to name, their victims ; but which, even more than any 
other pursuit, impairs the popular respect for a person’s 
sanity. It is so easy to ridicule such things, and wail for 
money wasted on this sand. It is not here alone that men 
are blind to the enlargements of their own interests. Within 
the last dozen years, a prominent member of our American 
Congress, mentioned more than once for the highest office 
in the people’s gift, labored in his place to oppose our 
national coast survey, because he was a Western represent- 
ative, and Illinois and Minnesota were out of hearing of 
Atlantic waves. Asif the great West had any other high- 
way for the exportation of her products than the sea, whose 


RELATIONS OF SCIENCE TO AGRICULTURE. 25 


gates were watched and guarded by the very institution which 
he scorned! Meanwhile the grasshopper devours a dozen 
agricultural departments every month, and the beetle asserts 
the honor of the striped uniform, by spreading terror from 
Colorado to Massachusetts. Surely science is worth a larger 
endowment than she has ever dared to beg, if she can help us 
here. 

Another misconception comes from the old impatience of 
the world at the tardiness of results. To borrow a figure of 
a vigorous writer, we are too fond of digging up our hopes 
to see if they grow. We expect too much, and that too 
soon, from our few experiments in the cultivation of economic 
science. Such expectations are apt to end in the putting 
forward of ill-considered theories and hasty suggestions, 
alike dishonorable to science and injurious to the popular 
verdict upon its worth. 

By a publication made in England while this address was 
in preparation, I can illustrate this branch of my subject by 
a noteworthy instance of a most delicate and abstruse method 
of research in botany, yielding the practical results which 
have long been sought for in the agriculture of two conti- 
nents. The microscope, in its most modern and powerful 
form, is now in constant use for the minute examination of the 
invisible structure of animals and plants. Many things which 
live, and are powerful by their numbers, are individually 
only to be recognized or described under the lens. Their 
- germs, which are smaller still, contain in their structure and 
development the secret of their bane or blessing to the world. 
It is a chamber most obscure and far removed from practical 
life, as your first thought might say, which is here unlocked 
by the optician’s art. Yet the microscope has just achieved 
an honorable fame from the value of one of its revelations. 

The potato murrain, as English authors call it, has for some 
time been a most dreaded, pest in Europe and America. 
Dark spots upon the leaves ; foliage and stems blackening and 
decaying ; the tuber corrupted by the same hidden cause, and 
dissolving in a fetid slime; these are the well-known symp- 
toms of the disease. The evil has been found to be a 
delicate white mould, whose threads mine and exhaust the 
plant. Such moulds are among the worst precursors of 

4* 


26 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE. 


pestilence or famine. They are more fearful than the devour- 
ing fire. They belong to a class of plants called fungi, 
parasitic destroyers all, the scavengers of the vegetable 
world. It is such a mould as you may see in autumn, at 
once the murderer and shroud of the flies dead upon the 
window-pane. Other fungi, not indeed of the special forms 
of mould, are the “rust” or smut of cereal crops. The 
remaining difficulty, after the discovery of the potato-mould, 
the Peronospora, was to understand the full process of its 
reproduction. Winter, in theory fatal to the life of any 
ordinary form or germ of the potato-fungus, only laid the 
chill of a brief interruption on its devastating work. There 
must be, so botanists say, some secret retreat of vitality, some 
conserving organ or seed, out of which the spring called the 
evil powers into activity again. The riddle has just been read * 
by Mr. Smith, an English botanist of some repute. 

In the stems and corrupting fragments of blighted potato- 
plants, and under the dissolving influence of the autumn 
rains, very small brown grains or spheres have been found, 
developed on the mould-threads, just as these are ready to die 
by frost. This is the preparation of the parasite for winter. 
Everything else perishes. The mould and its dead host, the 
potato, crumble away. ‘The little spheres, only the thou- 
sandth of an inch in diameter, survive, waiting patiently in 
the frozen ground. In the spring they thaw and sprout, 
taking possession of other plants in the same soil. The 
microscopist I have named is the first to detect and expose 
this wonderful resource of the short-lived but destructive 
mould. It now becomes possible intelligently to press to 
extermination this pest, as others, like the vine-mould and 
the wheat-rust, have had their ravages curbed before. 

This instance may stand for many, all teaching the same 
lesson. Even the most refined investigations of science may 
have their practical value. The steel-maker has found a help 
in the “bright lines” of the spectroscope, and a jury, search- 
ing for blood-stains, have learned to interpret its “absorption 
bands.” So the farmer of the future will, in common with 
all earth’s workers, subsidize science for protection and 
defence. 

Your patient attention to what I have said deserves its 


RELATIONS OF SCIENCE TO AGRICULTURE. 27 


reward in the termination of these remarks. I observe, in 
the last place, that science promises to agriculture benefits 
in the development of the noblest crop which any soil pro- 
duces,—the manhood upon which the State builds its best, 
and on which, in our own land, the intelligent preservation of 
our liberties depends. 

You do not care, I presume, to listen to any extravagant 
eulogies of the farmer’s place in the social world. Your 
work is hard, your gains slow, in comparison with other 
occupations, whose charms, often delusive, keep the tide 
from country to city ever on the flow. Some of you have 
felt a vague discontent with fortune, which has bound you to 
the homestead acres. Ah, well! there are many more, and 
successful ones too, as the world goes, who envy you the 
narrow compass of your cares; the cooler and serener air in 
‘which you toil. But aside from feeling, it is a solid fact, the 
State has learned to expect much of you. For common-sense 
to balance mad theorists ; for economy to rebuke luxury and 
extravagance ; for the wise conservatism of property in land, 
as the needed counterpoise to reckless revolutionaries, you 
are held responsible. The simple institutions which lie at 
the foundations of the fathers’ government survive best 
among you. More earnestly, perhaps, than any other class, 
you discuss and settle for yourselves, with no lack of inde- 
pendence, the great questions of the day. More than the 
vagrant dwellers in cities, you urged to its decision the 
national verdict against social wrong, and when the call came, 
you filled the army’s ranks. Strong, liberty-loving men it is 
your duty, as your tendency, to be. It is not likely that the 
youngest child of to-day will ever see the time when the 
Republic will not totter to its fall, if you are less than this. 

It seems equally certain that the education of the coming 
age will be largely scientific. This influence will reach the 
agricultural world in many ways. Through the common 
school, through the modification of farm implements and 
methods, through the public press. It will act, with its 
unsettling power, here good, here evil, on forms and institu- 
tions. The intelligence which it will develop may not 
always be a blessing; it may even strike savagely at the 
very restraints which are needed to make it a blessing. Our 


28 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE. 


hope must lie in a great part with you,—with the agricultural 
communities which invest the great centres of industry with 
the verdure of fertile soil and the homes of cheerful labor. 
Science will aid you who come nearest to nature to come 
nearer still. A wholesome pride in your profession, a more 
thorough knowledge of the laws among which it works, 
continually increasing skill to alleviate its hardships and 
increase its comforts, all this you may expect it to give. In 
short, it will give more power of being independent, happy, 
wise. You will not be the dwindling estate of the realm, 
whose golden age is over, but treasury, bench, executive, will 
more and more respect and honor you. It is only necessary 
that you cherish that self-respect which is ever ready to 
incorporate with the elements of daily life all that increasing 
knowledge shall suggest to make it better. 


PRACTICAL HINTS ON FARMING. 29 


PRACTICAL HINTS ON FARMING. 


From an Address before the Deerfield Valley Agricultural Society. 


BY RICHARD LATHERS. 


Agriculture embraces a knowledge of all conditions of 
vegetable life; the origin and growth of plants, and the 
source from whence they derive their nourishment; the 
constituent elements of the soil, and the chemical changes 
necessary to fertility. From this knowledge fixed rules 
are derived for the practice of the art. Careful and exact 
observation of the science, and the industrious application 
of the art, constitute the highest type of farming, and 
will insure the greatest amount of success. Many instances 
can be adduced where active industry has produced satisfact- 
ory crops and profitable farming without special knowledge 
of science; but it will be found, with rare exceptions, that 
such success resulted from partial application of the teachings 
of science, and that greater success would have followed a 
more exact conformity. 

The so-called “book farmer” fails by not conforming to 
the practice which scientific farming requires in bestowing 
the necessary labor and proper economy in the management 
of his farm. The successful farmer must not only plant and 
fertilize on scientific principles, but he must plough and hoe 
on practical principles. The neglect of either of these condi- 
tions, by either class of farmers, will end in partial or total 
failure. The successful mariner must not only be practically 
a good sailor, and capable of performing every duty in sailing 
his ship, but he must also be a skilful and scientific navigator 
for conducting her safely and speedily to her port of destina- 
tion. Voyages have been and may be accomplished without 


30 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE. 


fulfilling these conditions, but prudent passengers prefer to 
base their safety on both. 

The theory and the practice of art are necessary to each 
other, and must be united in all pursuits of human industry 
and enterprise. 

Agriculture is not an exact science, like mathematics ; its 
facts and theories, although derived from observation, are 
subject to so many exceptions and contingencies, by reason 
of the variety of soil, changeable nature of climate and 
weather, and the failure of chemical action itself under so 
many conditions, as to defy absolute demonstration in any 
case, while the still more uncertain effect of electricity—that 
mysterious and all-prevading element which enters into every 
combination of soil or vegetable product, modifying, and at 
times suspending chemical action, and eluding the most 
searching investigations of the chemist—renders our best 
researches in agricultural chemistry uncertain. Still the most 
successful results are to be had by following the light it 
affords, and it will be found that success or failure in the 
long run will be in the ratio of conformity or disregard of its 
principles and theories. 

Law and medicine do not insure absolute justice and health 
by the practice of their theories in the community, but with- 
out them our property and our lives would be subject to 
quacks and pettifoggers, in whose estimation practice alone is 
valuable. Agriculture is the great producer of our country. 
Even the products of our enterprising and thrifty manufact- 
ures depend mainly for their apparent importance on the value 
of wool, cotton and other raw agricultural productions which 
enter into and constitute so large a portion of the value of 
their products. . 

Not less than two thousand four hundred millions of dollars 
is our annual contribution to the national wealth, constituting 
the main support of its commerce and manufactures ; and yet 
we cultivate but one-twelfth of our national territory, now 
embracing about three million square miles. The contem- 
plation of the future power and influence of agriculture, when 
our whole territory shall be utilized and its whole productive 
energy directed to the development of our national industry 
and enterprise, ought to impress us with becoming zeal for 


PRACTICAL HINTS ON FARMING. 3l 


participating in the great march which agricultural develop- 
ment promises to the rising generation. 

Already we have engaged in this occupation eight millions 
of horses, one million of mules, and nearly twenty millions of 
horned cattle; and including the value of farm implements 
and machinery, we have a money investment of not less than 
one thousand millions of dollars as a working capital, outside 
of the value of the lands and the buildings devoted to farming, 
which involve so large an aggregate of capital as to call for 
the utmost activity and enterprise of our people to produce 
an adequate income on an investment of so much consequence. 

It is, however, to be deplored that by reason of our 
extended territory and sparse labor, and a want of a proper 
ambition on the part of our young men for agricultural 
occupations, that we fall far behind the productive energy of 
other forms of industry in our country, and still farther 
behind the agriculture of Europe. Our cities are growing 
prematurely at the expense of the rural districts, because our 
young men have become restless on farms, and seek that 
excitement in overcrowded trades and professions, and the 
more hazardous business of speculation, which at this time is 
so fearfully developing general bankruptcy and poverty in 
the cities and towns of our country. 

New England has more particularly suffered in this way, 
as well as by emigration to the West, and it seems hard that 
the enterprise and intelligence of her sons should be utilized 
everywhere else at the expense of their old homesteads. The 
fact cannot be disguised that we have so undervalued the 
occupation of the farmer, regarding him as a mere laborer in 
a field devoid of progress, and requiring no intellectual effort 
to insure success, that an intelligent young man, with aspi- 
rations above such an occupation, finding little field for his 
ambition, quits the occupation as soon as he finds opportunity. 

In 1850, the census shows that the manufacturers of Massa- 
chusetts produced annually but $158,000,000, while the census 
of 1870 shows a product of $554,000,000, an increase of over 
three hundred per cent. in twenty years. This evidence of 
enterprise and thrift is not only worthy of the genius and 
industry of our people, but it furnishes an important accession 
to our home market, by the increased demand for farm 


32 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE. 


products from the increase of the manufacturing population, 
and should have encouraged a corresponding increase in farm 
products to supply the demand. But we find that while by the 
census of 1850, Massachusetts had under cultivation 2,130,000 
acres of land, that of 1870 shows but 1,736,000 acres, and 
while the production in 1850 of wheat, rye, corn and buck- 
wheat aggregated 4,000,000 bushels, the census of 1870 
shows a product of but a quarter of a million of bushels. The 
product of butter and cheese, in 1850, amounted to fifteen 
millions of pounds, and in 1870 it fell off to less than seven 
millions of pounds ; and the census also shows a corresponding 
decadence in acreage cultivated, in persons engaged in farm- 
ing, and in the depreciation of the value of the land. 

This falling off is only apparent, and so far from being an 
evidence of the decline of our agricultural industries, is only 
a striking evidence of the notoriously defective census. The 
area of Massachusetts is 4,992,000 acres, while the number 
of acres covered by or embraced in the census of 1870, 
including woodland, and all improved and unimproved land 
of every kind, is only 2,730,283, or a little more than half 
the actual acreage of the State. More than nine thousand 
farms are left out of the returns entirely, and with them all the 
statistics that they involve, so that the census of 1870 does 
not give us even an approximation to the truth as to the 
present condition of our farm industry, as compared with 
that of 1850 or 1860. For this we must look to the statistics 
of industry, as returned to the State in 1875, and now nearly 
ready for use. 

I am constrained to adduce the discouraging figures, because 
if they were true, the remedy is in our own power, and I have 
confidence in our young farmers—a race of the best type of 
American manhood and culture, having qualities the most ver- 
satile, strength joined with dexterity, and a facility to acquire 
practical and intellectual knowledge which fits them for any 
occupation which we can induce them to undertake. We must 
inspire them with confidence in agriculture as a progressive 
occupation, requiring the closest investigation of science and 
the best application of art, and, with proper industry and 
economy, as sure a road to independence as any other occupa- 
tion so free from hazard and misfortune. 


PRACTICAL HINTS ON FARMING. 33 


We must, by precept and example, teach them to ignore 
prejudice, however sanctified by habit, and to avail them- 
selves of every improvement which this progressive age 
invents or discovers. 

How destructive to manufacturing progress would be that 
spirit which ignores the inventions and discoveries of the day, 
and how fatal to the manufacturer who should persist in using 
old and exploded machinery and reject new processes and 
textures in cotton and woollen fabrics. 

To compete, the manufacturer must not only be in the 
market with new fabrics in style and material to suit the 
necessities and even the whims of his customers, but he must 
be on the alert to avail himself of every improvement which 
science and invention discover or invent to cheapen oy 
facilitate production; and the failure of nine-tenths of these 
does not discourage him from trying the next which offers. 
Formerly, large herds of cattle were essential appendages to 
a manufactory for producing the necessary amount of cow- 
dung to be used for the bleaching and dyeing processes of 
cotton cloth. The fortunate discovery of a chemical salt 
which performed the same functions cheaper and in a more 
cleanly manner, enables the manufacturer to dispense with 
the cows. The non-progressive spirit of agriculture would 
have used the cow-dung to this day, on the same principle as 
it ignores the application of cheap and condensed fertilizers, 
and persists in carting out forty loads of crude manure from 
the barn-yard, which modern agricultural chemistry shows to 
be equivalent to but one load of fertilizing material. Chemists 
all agree that in a ton of barn-yard manure all but ninety 
pounds is water, so that we cart out and handle nineteen 
hundred and ten pounds of water to get ninety pounds of 
fertilizer, as a tribute to the practice of our agricultural 
ancestors, a reverence for antiquity not shared by our manu- 
facturers. 

The great want of our agricultural interests is schools for 
practical education, directed to the special cultivation of 
farmers. The schools of design elevated the manufactures 
of England, and have measurably made them rivals in taste 
and cheapness of their French competitors in the markets of 
the world, and our own progressive manufacturers have 

5* 


34 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE. 


profited by the example. Our public schools practically 
ignore agriculture, even in the rural districts ; and while our 
colleges are creditable to our national reputation for literary 
acquirements and professional scholarship, we need a system 
of popular instruction devoted to the farming interest. We 
need institutions, not to cram our young men with the dead 
languages and the revolting mysteries of heathen mythology, 
nor to make fine writers or eloquent declaimers, but devoted 
to teaching only such knowledge as shall be of scientific and 
practical value on the farm. Instead of Homer, Aristophanes, 
Horace and Terrence, let our young farmer be made familiar 
with Newton, Lyell, Playfair, Liebig, Silliman and Agassiz. 
Instead of being learned in the intrigues of the goddesses and 
the wars of the gods of ancient times, let them acquire 
mathematics, chemistry, geology, mineralogy, grafting, bud- 
ding, fertilizing, and the history and practice of everything 
connected with the pursuit which affords occupation to so 
large a part of our working-classes, and on whom rests the 
responsibility and dignity of producing the basis of our 
national subsistence, wealth and power. 

Mr. Fleischman, who was commissioned by the United 
States, in 1845, to visit Europe to obtain agricultural inform- 
ation, informs us in his instructive report, that some three 
hundred and fifty schools exist in Hungary and other parts of 
Europe, where boys from twelve to fourteen years are taught 
practical knowledge of the whole business of farming, and 
also so much mechanism as to be able to make or mend every 
machine or implement used in farming. The teachings tend 
to make them thorough economists, so that the farm shall 
always continue to improve. They are not taught abstract 
science, but positive knowledge,—soils, manures, rotation of 
crops, the kind of work, number of men, horses and cattle 
required to cultivate a given number of acres. Mr. Fleisch- 
man remarks that the perfection of European farming is due 
to these institutions. 

We are fortunate in this State in having the nucleus of 
this much-needed education. The Agricultural College bids 
fair to meet every requirement expected from the able 
administration which now directs its affairs. But we want 
such institutions in every county of the State, and more 


PRACTICAL HINTS ON FARMING. 35 


attention in our public schools to such primary education as 
shall fit our boys to enter and graduate there; and while on 
this subject, permit me to recommend the perusal by every 
farmer of the able and interesting reports of Mr. Flint, the 
Secretary of the Massachusetts Board of Agriculture. These 
reports are collated, with singular judgment and wise discrim- 
ination, from various practical and professional sources, and 
embody a perfect repertory of agricultural information, the 
result, in many cases, of direct experiment in soils. 

The wonderful proficiency of the Greek mathematicians over 
modern professors has been accounted for by the fact that the 
Greek masters instructed their pupils by rule and compass, 
and demonstrated their problems on real magnitudes which 
they could feel and see, while problems of our modern 
teachers are less obvious to the scholar, because solved by 
algebraical process only. 

The importance of agricultural training will be seen at 
once by comparing the disparity of our productions with 
those of France or England. France, with but one-fifteenth 
of our territory, and not as large as three of our medium 
States, produces fifty per cent. more wheat than we do on our 
fresh and fertile lands, and after subsisting a population not 
much less than our own, exports from the product of its soil 
double the quantity we do; and the English farmer manages, 
by superior productive economy, to extract profitable returns. 
from lands burdened with an amount of annual rental and taxes 
which equal the value of the same acreage here in fee simple. 

Much of our unproductive farming arises, I think, from a 
lack of capital. Too large a portion of the farmer’s means 
is in the land. If a manufacturer should have three mills, 
with working capital only sufficient for one, it would be but 
a question of time when his embarrassments would ruin him. 
In England, where taxes and the rent of land compel the 
most rigid economy as well as the utmost skill and industry 
to make it pay, the farmer must have a sum of ready money 
quite equal to the cost-of the same number of acres here 
with which to stock, fertilize and cultivate it. Iam confident 
that if many of our farmers would dispose of half their 
acreage to procure ready money to cultivate the other half 
to the full extent of its productive power, availing themselves 


36 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE. 


of the use of modern appliances and fertilizers, that the profit 
on the half would far exceed their former operations on the 
whole. 

It is the surplus production of each acre over the cost of 
producing any crop which constitutes the real profit of farm- 
ing. If lands are highly cultivated and richly fertilized, they 
will produce double the usual crops, compared with ordinary 
farming, and yet at very little additional cost of labor. An 
improved reaping or mowing machine, while cutting twice 
the quantity of grass or‘grain, uses but the one pair of horses 
and the one man, and invests but the price of one machine. 
Market-gardening exemplifies the profit and value of limited 
acreage and liberal cultivation, and many of our progressive 
farmers have followed the example near cities and large 
towns, where lands are high and must be made productive 
or abandoned altogether. In such cases it has been found 
profitable and convenient to soil cattle by keeping them up in 
spacious barn-yards and feeding them on cut grass and other 
green crops instead of pasturage. I have tried this plan 
myself with great satisfaction, in Westchester, and would 
continue the practice on my Berkshire farm, but I have 
rough hillside lands, only fit for pasture. 

This practice saves land,—as one acre soiled will produce 
as much as three pastured,—saves fencing, economizes food, 
keeps the cattle with more convenience and in better con- 
dition, produces more milk, increases the quantity and quality 
of the manure, and if universally practised here, as I have 
seen it in Belgium, where there are no fences to the farms, 
we should be greatly relieved of the wasteful and expensive 
necessity of fencing our lands. We are informed that the 
annual cost of fencing in the State of New York is not less 
than eight millions of dollars, and that the aggregate invest- 
ment in fences will not fall short of one hundred millions. 
It requires an annual average expenditure of seventy-five to 
one hundred per cent. to make and maintain the necessary 
line and division fences of a farm of one hundred acres in 
our State. I have long doubted the policy of keeping large 
herds of cattle on our northern farms during our cold and 
protracted winters, especially if we can profitably dispose of 
our hay-crops. 


PRACTICAL HINTS ON FARMING. 37 


No cow consumes less than two and one-half tons of hay 
or its equivalent in other forage, during the winter, and 
certainly the produce of the manure will not equal in money 
value one-quarter of her consumption of food. To formulate _ 
it: say two and one-half tons of hay is worth at least $30, and 
the manure of the cow not exceeding $8, showing a loss of 
$22 for the winter; and it is doubtful whether the milk of 
ordinary farm stock will more than compensate the pasture 
of summer and the care and expense of the year. Of course 
cows must be kept the year round for the production of milk 
and butter for the use of the family, and thoroughbred, well- 
kept stock may form an exception; but it will be found that 
the barn-yard is too expensive a manufactory of fertilizers 
for profitable agriculture, although a judicious and economical 
farmer will not fail to utilize the barn-yard manure which is 
derived from the stock he does keep for use or pleasure. 
Yet, when purchased by our farmers at $15 per load in a 
neighboring town or village, it is an expensive mode of 
fertilizing land which the profits of the crop do not justify. 
I would have our farmers purchase inspected mercantile 
fertilizers of well tested purity from manufacturers of repu- 
tation, to supply the deficiency of their barn-yards, enabling 
them to cultivate every acre of their land which can be spared 
for the plough, and to enrich every meadow by a judicious 
top-dressing, where the stocking will justify the application. 
The farmer that produces the largest yield to the acre will 
reap the largest relative profit, as it costs but little more to 
harvest two tons of hay to the acre than to harvest one 
ton on the same field. Hence, the second ton is a gain of 
ten to twenty dollars to the acre, surely. A farmer can well 
afford to spend a few extra dollars for such a result, and 
keep his land well fertilized and productive. 

A few short rules will compass nearly all that is valuable 
for the application of fertilizers in practical farming. Manure 
must be soluble, ready to be absorbed by the roots of plants. 
A ton of dry charcoal or phosphate of lime on an acre of 
land would be useless, unless submitted to chemical decom- 
position by artificial process or by the slower, natural process 
of the atmosphere. Porous, sandy soil will not be benefited 
by the application of a larger quantity of fertilizers than the 


38 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE. 


coming crop requires, unless the fertilizers be mixed with 
pulverized clay, prepared peat, charcoal, or some other 
medium which will retain the surplus for future crops. 

Land must be thoroughly pulverized, and the fertilizers 
fully reduced for their greatest solubility, so that particles of 
the soil and of the fertilizer are brought in closest contact. 
The use of a land-roller materially aids the process. In 
short, there must be careful cultivation of the soil, and exact 
chemical manipulation of the fertilizer, because all plants 
derive their nutriment from solution of gases, and all manures 
are valuable in the ratio of their actual solubility or the 
nature of the soil to make them so. This is true of every 
kind of fertilizer, whether derived from your barn-yards or 
the mercantile substitutes which you can supplement them 
with. 

Air, water and change of temperature disintegrate rocks 
and render their alkali soluble, by which, in time, our most 
fruitful soil is produced. The fruitful lands around Naples, 
constituted chiefly of lava, have produced corn for a thousand 
years without manures. This soil is fertilized by the air by 
means of some chemical affinity with the lava every third 
year, when it is allowed to lie fallow for the purpose. This 
lava does not contain a particle of vegetable matter, proving 
that vegetable mould or humus, so highly valued by old 
farmers, is not a fertilizer, but is merely the medium by 
which fertilizers are retained, and valuable only as the decayed 
vegetation composing it happened to be more or less impreg- 
nated with fertilizing ingredients. The utility of ploughing 
in green crops, therefore, must be subject to the same 
conditions, depending on the fertilizing nature and quantity 
of the crop ploughed under, and in my opinion, is as expensive 
a mode of fertilizing the land as keeping a cow in winter 
to manufacture eight dollars’ worth of manures by feediug 
thirty dollars’ worth of hay. 

Air is perhaps the most active and efficient aid of the 
farmer, furnishing not only the larger part of the fertilizing 
ingredients of our soil, but is the prime means of utilizing 
the fertilizers which we apply to our lands. Its chemical 
action disintegrates the hardest rocks, producing new com- 
binations of productive energy, as well for the farmer as for 


PRACTICAL HINTS ON FARMING. 39 


the miner. Mr. Boyle informs us that exhausted ores of tin 
and iron, being exposed to the air, become again impregnated 
with their respective metals. The air is no distinct element, 
but a mass of heterogeneous things, very much etherialized. 
Therefore, a well-hoed crop derives the advantage of contact 
with this wonderful medium and rich storehouse of nature ; 
and a top-dressing of plaster of Paris draws in the same 
manner a supply of ammonia more reliable than the promises 
of many of the patent fertilizers sold by travelling agents. 

The old English practice of laying lands to fallow was 
intended to get the fertilizing effect of the atmosphere. But 
the present English practice of a rotation of crops is far more 
speedy and profitable, by which the fertilizing qualities of 
the soil may be distributed by cultivating, in rotation, crops 
which respectively absorb different ingredients. Indian corn 
and wheat draw largely on phosphates; turnips and _ beets 
on potash and soda; and after these crops there will still 
be enough of lime, etc., to produce a good crop of hay, and 
this result, too, from one application of manure. The land, 
by this process, also derives the further advantage of certain 
fertilizing qualities which each crop produces of itself by the 
chemical action of such portion of the crop as may be left in 
the land, or drawn from the atmosphere. 

The educated and observing farmer can mark out the 
system of cropping and the application of such fertilizers as 
are best adapted to the combined nature of the soil and the 
requirements of his crops. Of course, a still better and more 
scientific way would be a careful analysis of the soil; but I 
confess there are practical difficulties in the way which I hope 
time and culture will remove. 

Many years ago, a farmer in New Jersey failing to procure 
a crop of corn from a field which he had taken much pains to 
cultivate, had the soil analyzed by Prof. Mapes, who found it 
deficient in chlorine, soda, phosphoric acid, lime, potash and 
ammonia. He supplied the missing fertilizers ; a compost of 
common salt restored the chlorine and soda, spent boneblack 
(a waste from the sugar-refinery) restored the phosphoric 
acid, Peruvian guano restored potash and ammonia, and a 
small portion of charcoal-dust and plaster to retain the volatile 
portions. These chemical fertilizers cost but one dollar and 


40 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE. 


a half per acre, which produced sixty bushels of shelled corn 
per acre that very year. 

It is well known that the silicate of potash is a leading 
constituent of the hay-crop, and is derived chiefly from 
irrigation. This was practically demonstrated some years 
since by an incident, as related by Liebig- During a thunder- 
storm near Manheim, in Germany, a bolt of lightning struck 
a hay-stack and reduced it to melted ashes, which became a 
vitreous stone of the silicate of potash, many people supposing 
it was an aerolite which had fallen from the heavens; and it 
would have been very difficult for the farmer who suffered 
the loss of his hay to convince his unlettered neighbors that 
that stone embodied the principal chemical ingredient of a 
hay-stack. 

No practical farmer will undervalue barn-yard manure. It 
has kept its place as a fertilizer from the earliest ages of 
agriculture, and embodying as it does such a variety of 
qualities, will always furnish a ready and potent means 
of enriching the soil. But the question of cost and supply, 
and for use in distant fields, the expense of drawing it out 
and applying it must be considered by the economical and 
enterprizing farmer in this age of competition. Nearly the 
entire cotton crop of our country, and a large portion of the 
agricultural products of Europe, are made without it, and 
the use of artificial manures has become almost vital to 
production, because they are cheap as compared with their 
fertilizing value, light, and easily transported to our fields 
and economically applied. They are peculiarly suitable for 
the use of small farmers who cannot afford to keep large 
stocks of animals to produce manure, or the labor of manip- 
ulating it after it is produced, as’ compared with advan- 
tages of applying the exact chemical ingredient which his 
crop requires. In view of this necessity, it becomes the 
duty of the legislature to protect the farmer against the 
frauds in the manufacture and sale of this commodity. Laws 
making the adulteration of fertilizers a crime punishable as 
counterfeiting, would do much to protect us by sending the 
culprits to the penitentiary. The forger who counterfeits a 
bank-note, merchant’s draft, or raises a check to a larger 
amount than it was originally drawn for, commits precisely the 


PRACTICAL HINTS ON FARMING. 41 


same fraud as the manufacturer who misrepresents the con- 
stituents of his fertilizer. I have recently heard of a 
counterfeit of this kind where 1,500 pounds of coal-dust and 
ashes were found in one ton of a substance sold for bone-dust. 

Much discrimination is necessary in the use of fertilizers, 
even when honestly prepared. Many of them, like ,patent 
medicines, are represented as embodying all the qualities 
necessary for any crop, and applicable to any soil, when, 
indeed, many of them are useless because of incongruous chem- 
ical composition, or the prevalence of ingredients not needed, 
or oversupplied in the soil for the crops to be produced. 

At Bingen on the Rhine, where the produce and develop- 
ment of the vine were highly increased by manuring them 
with shavings of horn, it became evident, after a few years, 
that the wood and leaves were decreasing rapidly, the special 
fertilizer having too much hastened the growth of the vines, 
and had exhausted the potash in the formation of the first 
supply of leaves and wood, so that none remained for 
future crops, because while horn-shavings highly fertilize the 
grape, they supply no potash to produce the vines. A dressing 
of cow-dung supplied the want, and the vine flourished as 
before. If the nitrogen had been exhausted instead of the 
potash, the cow-dung would not have succeeded. And if you 
find your old pastures exhausted and the flow of milk falling 
off, the application of a couple of barrels of bone-dust to the 
acre will restore fertility to the soil, because bone-dust 
furnishes the phosphate of lime which the pasture needs. 
More than half of the weight of bone-dust is pure phosphate 
of lime and magnesia. Sixteen pounds of bone-dust will 
supply enough of phosphate to produce a ton of the best hay. 
But it requires moisture to make it active in dry seasons, and 
therefore on a sandy soil, it oftens fails the first year. 

Hair, horn and woollen rags are still more valuable as 
fertilizers, being nearly pure in the chemical qualities required 
by the soil, but they must be rendered soluble by artificial 
means for immediate use as a fertilizer. Blood and flesh, so 
highly valued by many farmers, contain ninety per cent. of 
water, and it requires ten tons of them to equal, in fertilizing 
power, one ton of hair, horn or woollen rags, when dissolved 
by time or artificial process. Bear in mind, no manure or 

6* 


42 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE. 


fertilizer can be active till absolutely dissolved, and hence so 
many apparent or real failures in the use of mineral fertilizers. 

It is estimated that the supply of ten pounds to the acre 
of phosphate is imparted to the soil during the five summer 
months of average rainfall (about two thousand tons to the 
acre) «Which furnishes, perhaps, a sufficient supply for an 
annual crop of wheat, but would be insufficient for most other 
crops. Hence the general usefulness and utility of bone-dust, 
furnishing as it does so large a supply of phosphate and 
magnesia, so essential to all crops, and being less adulterated 
than most of the commercial manures. 

The soil of the earth is shallow, as a general rule. The 
average depth does not exceed one foot over the entire globe. 
It is, therefore, just fitted for the convenience of the plough 
and the spade. Beyond this depth, without special cultiva- 
tion, plants find no nourishment. Arable soil is the result of 
a process of chemical action which disintegrates rocks by the 
influence of water and atmospheric action. The earth thus 
formed, having nourished vegetables and animals, which in 
turn perish and decay, producing what we call soil, is mure 
or less productive as it becomes charged with the gases of the 
atmosphere. The principal elements are silica or sand, 
alumina or clay and lime, making a composition of nearly 
ninety-five per cent. of the whole soil; magnesia, soda and 
oxide of iron with manganese, sulphur, phosphorus and 
chlorine making up the other five per cent. You will there- 
fore perceive how small a portion of the soil is constituted 
of these chemical elements, and yet the land would be unpro- 
ductive without the relative quantity of each of them. Nor 
will nature, as a general rule, permit the abundance or excess 
of one to supply the deficiency of another. Hence the 
importance to the practical farmer of a well-defined analysis 
of the soil, as well as the chemical qualities and quantities of 
the fertilizers to the proposed crop. 

It cannot be expected, in the present low state of practical 
agriculture, that these investigations will be brought to bear 
to any great extent on our farms, but we must approximate 
to them as zealously as the nature of the case will admit. 
The ambitious archer will not hit the sun, but his arrow will 
reach a greater altitude by trying to do so. 


THE FARMER’S RELATIONS TO THE STATE. 43 


THH FARMER, AND HIS RELATIONS TO 
THEY STATE: 


From an Address before the Berkshire Agricultural Society. 


BY SANBORN TENNEY. 


What wonderful achievements and improvements in every 
department of industry have the last hundred years witnessed ! 
Time and memory would fail us if we were to undertake 
‘merely to mention them. It is enough for our present purpose 
merely to mention the steamboat, the railroad, the telegraph, 
the cotton-gin, the modern ploughs, the cultivators, the mow- 
ing-machine, and the reaper. These, and such as these, 
suggest the wonderful progress of the past; and they should 
inspire every one with the highest hopes for the future. 

And now is a fit time for the farmer, and for the mechanic, 
to consider what are the next steps which they can take to 
most advance their own interests, the interests of the com- 
munity and of the State. 

Admitting, as we all do, the vast importance of the farmer’s 
profession, it behooves us to see to it that we not only sow 
the best seed, and use the best fertilizers and the most 
improved ploughs and other agricultural appliances, but that 
we also keep the farmers’ ranks full, and on the increase, of 
the best blood in the nation. 

It will be a sad day for the community and for the State if 
the time ever comes when the best young men and women 
almost universally regard agriculture as an ignoble calling, or 
one which has few or no attractions for them. 

We must see to it that we not only make agriculture a 
profitable pursuit, but we must invest it with such attrac- 
tions that the best young men and women will not wish 


44 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE. 


to leave the country and the farm for the city and the yard- 
stick. 

The farmer’s home is indeed one of plenty. Comfortable 
houses, spacious barns, broad acres of meadow and field and 
woodland; good horses, cows and oxen, and sheep loaded 
with finest of wool; store-rooms filled with milk, and cream, 
and butter, and cheese, and newly-laid eggs ; cellars stored with 
pork and beef, and all the products of the field, the orchard, 
and the garden,—are the almost constant surroundings of the 
farmer, and it would seem they leave little to be desired. 
And yet, the young men and young women of to-day find too 
little attraction, in the farmer’s home and in the farmer’s pur- 
suits; and too many of them leave the quict homestead, and 
cast their lot with the crowded populations of the cities—_ 
where some, indeed, succeed, but where many, after a long 
struggle, utterly fail. 

Now, if there be anything that we can do to make the 
attractions of the farm and farm-life greater than they now are, 
and thus retain more of the best young men and women in 
the farmers’ ranks, surely we are ready, I know, to consider 
candidly any suggestions which tend to secure this great 
result. 

Since there is so much of plenty and of physical comfort in 
the farmer’s home and in the farmer's life, it would seem that 
hardly more is needed to make that life desirable by the 
young than that the homes should be made still more beauti- 
ful and attractive, and that the idea of drudgery should be 
still more separated from the duties of the farmer’s wife. 

I am not unmindful that I am here stepping on delicate 
ground ; but this shall not deter me from saying that it is my 
conviction that farmers will greatly advance their own interests, 
and greatly contribute to the welfare of the community and of 
the State, if they will give still more attention to adorning 
and beautifying their homes, and thus making them as attract- 
ive as possible to those whom they would win to the noble 
work in which they themselves are engaged. 

A conveniently planned, and architecturally beautiful, and 
neatly painted farm-house,—no matter how humble, if it only 
serve its purpose,—and this, surrounded by a well-kept lawn, 
will do much to make the ambitious boy and girl contented 


THE FARMER’S RELATIONS TO THE STATE. 45 


with the country and the farm. Especially if, with these, aid 
in the household be as freely furnished to the wife and mother 
as to the farmer himself on the meadows and in the fields. 

And these things, which I now suggest as worthy of your 
attention, are not in the line of useless expenditure and 
extravagance, but are strictly in the line of that economy and 
thrift which pertain to the highest interests of the home 
and of the State. 

If there be any home that should be attractive in its 
exterior appointments; if there be any lawn which is broad 
and green and smoothly mown and beautifully adorned with 
shrubs and flowers—that home and that lawn should be in the 
country and on the farm, where there is ample space and 
ample time to secure these things, even without withholding 
labor from the ploughing, the sowing, or the reaping. And 
I am sure that no investment of time and labor in the work of 
the farm would, in the end, yield a more satisfactory return 
than this investment which I have now suggested. 

Another thing worthy of still more attention than it now 
receives, is the hay-crop. Farmers, as a general thing, mow 
too much ground, and as a whole they cut too little hay. 

The hay-crop is the second great crop of our country, and 
might easily be the first. But its great importance is not 
even now fully appreciated, as the means for its increase are 
comparatively little used. 

It appears that the hay-fields of Massachusetts to-day yield 
something less than a ton to the acre. Now, within five years, 
this yield should be fully doubled, thus greatly adding to the 
income of the farmers and the wealth of the State. And the 
farmer has the means at his own command to secure the great 
result. He needs but to drain his swamps and his bogs, and 
raise clover and timothy where he now grows alders and bull- 
rushes. He needs but save with strictest economy all the 
fertilizers from the house and from the barn; to bring to his 
yards at the close of each day all his cattle from the pastures 
and the fields; to keep the floors of his stalls well supplied 
with loam, and his yards with muck from the bog; and then 
to apply all to the lands with the greatest judgment and care. 

Oh, when shall we learn the value of fertilizers to the farm 
and to the nation! There is no waste on the farm nor in the 


46 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE. 


country, to-day, greater than that of fertilizing materials— 
the very gold of the nation. These materials, for which our 
lands suffer, and for the want of which may at length wear 
out, are allowed to pass away in the winds, to flow off in the 
drains and in the sewers, and to be washed away by the 
streams. And thus there are lost in our country tens, nay 
hundreds, of millions of dollars every year! And on many a 
farm where farming does not seem to pay, the fertilizers 
which are wasted, would, if saved, more than pay for the 
clothing of the entire household. When we know and fully 
appreciate these facts, we shall realize how much there is for 
the farmer yet to do for the advancement of his own interests, 
and those of the State. 

Farmers can greatly benefit themselves, and confer lasting 
benefits upon the State, by preserving and increasing the 
forests. This is a subject in which every person in our 
country should have the deepest interest. Farmers, mechanics, 
manufacturers, merchants, builders of railroads and ware- 
houses, capitalists and statesmen—all classes and all com- 
munities in the State and in the nation—have their welfare 
linked with the forests; and as the forests are preserved or 
destroyed, so their dearest worldly interests will flourish or 
decay. What havoc has been made among the forests of 
this country! What useless havoc! And still the work of 
destruction goes on. Whole forests are felled; hills and 
mountain-sides are laid bare; and all apparently without one 
thought of the ruin that is sure to follow. 

We are cutting our forests to-day faster than they grow ; 
and if this process continues, not only will the fire on the 
hearth be a luxury which few or none can enjoy, and lumber 
and timber be difficult to obtain, but the streams from the 
mountain-sides will disappear; barrenness will take the place 
of fertility on our mountains and on our slopes ; and the wheels 
along our streams will cease to turn, and the spindles and the 
shuttles will cease their motion—unless driven by some other 
power than water. 

There is no doubt as to the results which are sure to 
follow the destruction of the forests of a country. The 
examples are too many and too sad, to make it necessary 
that they should be multiplied. 


THE FARMER’S RELATIONS TO THE STATE. 47 


Italy, Switzerland, France and Spain, and other countries, 
furnish us with plenty of examples to show us the sad results 
which are sure to follow a too great destruction of the forests. 
Not only have vast areas in these countries been washed bare 
of their soil, and the slopes cut and gullied by the rushing 
torrents, thus rendering particular regions next to worthless, 
but the resources, and prosperity, and power of the whole 
State have also been most seriously reduced and crippled by 
the reduction of the forest areas below what the laws of 
nature allow. 

A little more than a century ago France had, by estimate, 
about 42,000,000 acres of forests—an amount not greater 
than should have been permanently retained; but in 1860, 
so great had been the destruction, that the forest areas of 
France were reduced to 20,000,000 acres ; thus greatly 
enfeebling the empire, and well causing anxious forebodings 
in regard to the century to come. 

Russia is already beginning to suffer because she has not 
properly cared for her forests. Not only is wood beginning 
to be scarce and dear, but her great rivers, the Volga, and 
others, the great thoroughfares of commerce, are drying up 
on account of the removal of the forests from their sources. 

Spain, once so flourishing and powerful, allowed her 
forests to be destroyed; and when she would rebuild her 
fleets and enlarge and perfect her navy, the price of timber 
was so high that the treasury had not sufficient means to 
purchase the needful supply; and so she lost her prestige 
upon the sea, and her power and dominion in the world. 

I said that we are cutting our forests faster than they grow. 
And if measures be not taken to inform and interest and 
instruct the whole people, in regard to the relation which the 
forests sustain to our material interests; if there be no check 
to the destruction now going on in nearly all parts of our 
country where forests still remain, we, like the nations of the 
East, shall soon begin to reap the bitter fruits of our waste- 
fulness, short-sightedness and neglect. Nay, in the scarcity 
and consequently high prices of wood, lumber and timber, 
we have already begun to reap. 

Not less than a fifth or a quarter of every country or State 
should be occupied with forests. To-day, hardly a State in 


48 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE. 


the Union has more of forest areca than it should permanently 
preserve; and most are sadly deficient in this respect. It is 
true that we have wonderful forests in Michigan, Wisconsin, 
Minnesota, in the Sierra Nevada, and in Washington and 
Oregon; but we have also hundreds of thousands of square 
miles in the great central portions of our vast domain, and 
other hundreds of thousands of square miles on the great 
Western plateau, between the Rocky Mountains proper and 
the Sierra Nevada and Cascade ranges, where there is scarcely 
a forest or a grove. And nowhere in our country west of 
the 100th meridian is there a forest of tough, hard wood, 
suitable for wheelwright and other similar purposes. 

When we consider these facts, and when we see how 
rapidly the timber of Oregon and Washington is cut and 
shipped to South America, to the Sandwich Islands, to China, 
to France and to England; and when we see how rapidly 
the forests are felled in Minnesota, Wisconsin and Michigan, 
to supply the wants of the central and eastern portions of our 
country, we shall see that there is ample cause for anxiety in 
regard to the future of this nation. 

In this connection, just consider for a moment the fact, 
that, as extensive as were the forests of California when the 
gold-seckers went there in 1849, one-third of the timber and 
lumber of that vast area has already been consumed. Yes, 
California has used about one-third of her forests in a quarter 
of a century! What will be her condition a century hence, 
as regards wood, timber and lumber, unless the wisest and 
best of counsels prevail? To ask the question is enough; we 
need not stay to answer it. 

It is true that it is not fully established that forests increase 
the rainfall of a region or a country: but it is sure that they 
are the great conservators of the rain which does fall. They 
shade the ground, and thus prevent a too rapid evaporation. 
The spongy soil beneath the trees hold the rain that falls, and 
gives it up, little by little, and thus the springs are ever full, 
and they feed the clear mountain-streams which unite to fill 
the broad river. 

Strip the hills of the forests, and the rains which fall there 
quickly form torrents, which rush down the water-courses, 
bearing the soil, and the sand, and the gravel, and the bowl- 


THE FARMER’S RELATIONS TO THE STATE. 49 


ders, and everything before them, and swelling the rivers so 
that they, in turn, carry destruction along their course. Thus 
the water soon disappears from the hills, and these are soon 
dry and mostly barren, and the water-courses are soon only a 
dry and rocky bed, so to remain till there comes another 
rainfall. 

In this great work of the preservation and increase of the 
forests, none have a greater opportunity, or a greater respon- 
sibility, than the farmer. If he would do what is best for his 
own interests, and best for the State, he would not allow 
another forest to be destroyed, where he has the power to 
preserve it. 

Yes, we must all interest ourselves in this great matter of 
the preservation and increase of the forests. The time has 
come when no more forests should be destroyed, and when 
many that have been destroyed should be replaced. ; 

In every forest, trees should be judiciously selected for 
cutting; and, as fast as one is removed, another should be 
planted in its place. And all the areas in our State, and in 
other States, not suited or needed for agricultural purposes or 
for grazing, should be planted with such trees as they are best 
adapted to nourish and mature. 

There are vast areas in almost every State, which are of 
little or no value, except for forests. Massachusetts has, 
to-day, tens of thousands of acres of just such areas, every 
rod of which should be planted with trees during the next two 
years. And yet, while we have such a scarcity of woodland, 
we are not only not planting forests to any considerable 
extent, but we are cutting down whole forests, and laying 
bare our hillsides and our mountains, as though there would 
be no need of forests in the future. 

And here let me say, gentlemen, that the destruction of 
forests now going on in Berkshire County will be sure to 
bring sad results in the not far distant future. Not only will 
our streams be dry the greater part of the year, but the soil 
will be washed from the mountains and the hillsides. And 
when these forests are gone, and the clear mountain streams 
are dry, Berkshire will not only have lost much of her mate- 
rial wealth, but she will have lost much of the magnificence and 
beauty which have made her so attractive and so renowned. 

71* 


50. MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE. 


And, gentlemen, it may become desirable, nay, necessary, 
for the public welfare that the preservation and increase of 
the forests of this country be made a subject of national legis- 
lation, as it is in France to-day. 

Farmers can greatly advance their own interests, and the 
interests of the State, by becoming still better acquainted with 
the real nature of our government, and the means by which it 
may be maintained in strength and in purity. 

Farmers, you hold the balance of power in this country 
to-day, and you will ever hold it. What responsibilities, 
therefore, rest upon you! According as you vote, so, mainly, 
will our government be weak or strong, corrupt or pure. 

Inform yourselves perfectly in regard to the nature of our 
government, and to all that pertains to its highest interests ; 
train yourselves to independent thought and intelligent action, 
cutting loose from party leaders whenever the interests of the 
State require it; and educate your sons and your daughters 
in the same spirit, and our government will be maintained in 
theory and in purity. 

And finally, if the farmer would secure the highest benefits 
which it is possible for man to attain, he must labor to become 
all that it is possible for him to become, not only physically, 
but also intellectually and spiritually. He must cultivate, not 
the land only, but he must also cultivate his social nature, his 
mind, and his heart. 


THE AGRICULTURAL OUTLOOK, 51 


THE AGRICULTURAL OUTLOOK. 


From an Address before the Hoosac Valley Agricultural Society. 


BY GEORGE B. LORING. 


While agriculture stands at the head of all our industries, 
and is the occupation of the large mass of our people, its laws 
are still vague, and even its position requires constant and 
active defenders. Man has mapped out the heavens and 
sounded the seas and explored the mineral wealth of the earth, 
and understands all knowledge, but he is still groping for 
definite agricultural rules—the fixed laws by which he can 
cultivate the earth and increase his flocks and herds. Man, 
moreover, has a natural love of land and of the harvest which 
goes with it. It is not easy to tempt people away from a 
fertile soil into manufactures or commerce. He who counts 
his cattle by thousands and surveys a broad landscape of. his 
own acres, will not voluntarily leave all this and confine him- 
self to a mill or a machine-shop. The associations of the 
farm, too, are so attractive that man naturally tends thither 
as to his home. And yet no occupation requires such defence 
and eulogy as this. The work of the orator and writer are 
in constant demand in its behalf. The ingenuity of the press 
is taxed in its support. The most energetic societies are 
established for its benefit. And all this appears to be neces- 
sary, in order to develop all its capacity and to prevent a fatal 
neglect of its interests. All men praise farming, but not all like 
its toil. All Americans believe in the ownership of land, but 
all do not believe in cultivating it as a means of subsistence. 
And next to establishing the laws of the occupation in this 
country, comes in the problem how to make agriculture so 
uniformly profitable and so systematically easy as to attract 


52 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE. 


the owner of land to devote himself to the business. The 
independent ownership of the soil here stands in the way of 
farming, inasmuch as the natural desire of a land-owner is to 
employ others to do that which he might and ought to do 
himself. 

Still, farming is now, as it was in the early days of the 
Republic, a leading industry ; and whether agreeable or not, 
it will always be the support of by far the largest part of the 
human race. That it may be the leading occupation of a 
prosperous and powerful people, there is no doubt. When 
our country was settled, when it was endowed with nationality, 
agriculture was almost the only occupation known among us. 
It was an agricultural people who founded every colony; it 
was “the embattled farmers” who fought the battles of the 
Revolution ; and it was from the resources of a people thus 
occupied that the financial honor of the country in that early 
critical period was maintained. Farming then was compar- 
atively easy. Our ancestors lived on a virgin soil, and they 
raised great crops with but little difficulty and without any 
great expense of fertilizers. The pastures were luxuriant, 
and cattle of any proportions and structure were easily fed on 
them. Col. Pickering gives a record of crops in Essex County 
in his day which astonishes us now,—700 bushels of potatoes, 
800 bushels of Swedes, 1,000 bushels of mangel-wurzels to an 
acre, and thirty tons of hay on ten acres year after year, and 
all this without great difficulty or expense. The farmer of 
those days found it easy to supply his family, and always had 
a surplus for the neighboring market, and found something to 
add to the exports of the country. Farming was easy, 
profitable and substantial. It lay at the foundation of the 
State and of society. 

Nor has this relation changed in our day. From the 
products of the soil we still derive the largest amount of 
that export which must, in a measure, secure our financial 
success. It is a good thing for a people to have the balance 
of trade with foreign nations in their favor. The payment of 
foreign indebtedness by the products of a nation’s industry, 
means national prosperity. And I am always confident of the 
financial success of a people when their exports exceed their 
imports. It was so in the early days of our Republic; it is so 


THE AGRICULTURAL OUTLOOK. 53 


now. If we look at the returns of our exports during ten 
months ending April 30, 1875, we shall find that our exports 
largely exceeded our imports. And if we examine that record 
carefully, we shall also find that of all our exports, a very 
large proportion was the product of the soil. Not in cotton 
or woollen goods, or in machinery, or in any of the products 
of the labor of the artisan and the mechanic, did our exports 
abound. Of the $565,000,000 exported, we find $167,000,000 
in cotton, $10,000,000 in wheat, $15,000,000 in flour, $7,500,- 
000 in cheese, $10,000,000 in beef, a vast sum also in pork, 
lard, hams, corn, tobacco, and all the various products of 
agriculture. So that out of $565,000,000, nearly $400,000,000 
were raised on the land, or worked up by the agricultural 
population. This fact should never be lost sight of. And 
we cannot too deeply congratulate ourselves that our farms are 
still enabled to add so much to our national wealth, and 
constitute so large a portion of our national industry. 

The connection of agriculture and the ownership of land 
with our social and civil system, also forms an interesting 
part of its history. The division of landed estates among a 
people indicates more than almost anything else the character 
of its institutions. The first thought of a powerful conqueror, 
or an aspiring monarch, or a ruling aristocracy, has always 
been to get possession of the land. The title of great landed 
estates in England springs from the crown, and all the laws 
of England relating to land favor not only a feudal tenure, 
but also the retaining of land in large masses by one individual. 
This was the law of all Europe previous to the code Napoleon, 
which divided France into small estates. When the tenure 
of land was fixed in this country, such a system was set aside, 
and the division of the land into small farms by the Plymouth 
colony became, at last, the universal law here,—a custom 
which, since the war, has been fixed even in those States 
which previously were occupied by landed proprietors on the 
one hand and a servile class on the other. When De Tocque- 
ville visited this country, he pronounced this to be the funda- 
mental genius of our institutions, and he thought he discovered 
in our people and their love of land, and in our civil system 
and this easy division of land, the secret of our national 
power. He considered, it is true, the civil rights which go 


54 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE. 


with it, the opportunity which every man enjoys in taking 
part in the working of the State, and the chances held out for 
civil distinction in large and small degree to all who enjoy the 
confidence and respect of the community, as also conducive to 
popular virtue and intelligence. But it was the land which 
really lay at the foundation. 

The importance of this easy tenure of land is recognized 
even in countries where it does not prevail. John Bright 
promised this to the people of Ireland after the disestablish- 
ment of the church there, knowing as he did that this alone 
was needed to make the Irish nation prosperous and happy. 
But Mr. Bright’s promises were not fulfilled. Such a privilege 
was found to be impossible, in the face of the landlords of 
England; and so strong was the prejudice. against it, that an 
attempt to introduce it did more to break down Mr. Glad- 
stone’s administration than any other act of all his liberal 
policy. Even Lord Derby eulogized the system; and not 
long since, in an agricultural address, boasted that the existence 
of 30,000 landholders in Great Britain was sufficient to 
show that even there the principle of a liberal division and 
subdivision of land was required. But Lord Derby forgot 
what landholding under what. is called the American system 
is. Of the 35,000,000 of people in the United Kingdom, he 
found, according to the census, 30,000 persons possessed of 
landed estates, and‘he thought the division a liberal one. 

But had Lord Derby examined the condition of Massachu- 
setts, he would have found that in our 1,500,000 of people, 
we have nearly 50,000 recognized farmers, and that of our 
entire population probably more than 300,000 are owners of 
large or small parcels of real estate. The ease with which 
land is acquired here, and the substantial character of its pos- 
session, has always made it especially desirable. Our early 
merchants all bought farms, when their fortunes would allow 
it. Merchants in olden times, as now, looked upon the land 
as most desirable property. The members of all the learned 
professions desired land and received it. The colonial clergy 
were settled for life on small salaries and the donation of a 
farm. Lawyers rapidly became landholders. Physicians, as 
they advanced in their professions, made rapid accumulations 


THE AGRICULTURAL OUTLOOK. 55 


of property of this description. And the ownership of land 
became universal. 

That this system is everywhere conducive to good agricult- 
ure, does not naturally and necessarily follow. The division 
of a farm‘among a multitude of heirs breaks up the cultiva- 
tion of that farm at least. The dispersion of property of this 
description necessarily weakens its capacity to support its 
occupants, and prevents the long-continued application of an 
expensive and elaborate system of cultivation. It tends, 
moreover, to encourage that abandonment of the land which 
has at last become characteristic of our people. And the great 
problem now is how we shall attach to this system of landed 
division and subdivision a mode of farming attractive and 
profitable. 

That this can be done there is no doubt. The farming 
which is remunerative in the older States, and will, ere-long, 
be remunerative also in the new ones, is that farming which 
can be applied by the individual owner to a small tract of 
Jand in the neighborhood of a good market. This is profitable 
everywhere, even in England, where, by the side of the whole- 
_sale agriculture of the great estates, special farming is carried 
on to such a profit that a rent of $500 a year per acre is paid 
for the land, and a profit of $300 per acre is reaped from its 
cultivation. So it is in our own country. The prosperous 
farmers are those who cluster around our great cities and sup- 
ply their markets. And while the remote regions are being 
somewhat deserted, the popular centres are becoming the 
seat of an active, prosperous farming. That our people will 
return to the land, and adopt this system, is most desirable. 
With it go not only the uniform prosperity and undisturbed 
thrift of agriculture, but also the habits of systematic industry 
and active mental energy which attend other branches of busi- 
ness. When we transfer the original industry of our mills to 
our farms, our agricultural prosperity is secure. . 


56 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE. 


TEXAS CATTLE-DISEASE. 


From an Address before the Housatonic Agricultural Society. 


BY NOAH CRESSY. 


This affection was comparatively unknown to pathologists 
until within the last ten years; and though mysterious in 
many respects, yet it may be defined as a specific fever that 
is very malignant in this section of the country, and one 
which is propagated by contagious effluvia. The alvine dis- 
charges are the probable source of infection. This disease 
usually occurs but once in an individual, and only in bovine 
animals. It is attended with congestion of the liver, spleen, 
kidneys, and portions of the bowels. The urine is somewhat 
scanty and high colored in proportion to the severity of the 
attack. In fatal cases, the bladder is usually found distended 
with dark sanguineous fluid when not previously ruptured 
from the accumulation of bloody water. 

The native haunts of this malady are the tide-waters of the 
Gulf. It never occurs spontaneously in a region of frost, 
and when carried beyond this limit, in summer, soon dies out 
on the return of cold weather. In the Northern States it is 
not contagious from one native or acclimated creature to 
another, and can only be induced by exposure to Southern 
cattle that have not been wintered in our rigorous clime or 
beyond the line of snow. Hence there is little or no fear of 
the disease being communicated to our stock by the native 
cattle from Ohio, Dlinois or Kansas, even while sick and 
dying in the same inclosure. The contagion comes from 
another source, and that direct from the plains. This 
through traffic is the source of all the mischief, and the 
government should interfere for home protection. The annual 


TEXAS CATTLE-DISEASE. 57 


loss in Western beef-stock is now immense, and it will con- 
tinue to remain so until the whole matter is under active 
veterinary inspection. 

The period of incubation in which the disease is awakened 
into activity has not been accurately determined by experi- 
mental cases, but according to our observations last year, 
from ten to forty days may elapse from the time of exposure, 
before the creature shows signs of being affected. There is, 
evidently, a great difference in the susceptibility of our 
Northern cattle. Some may escape it altogether, while others 
may fall victims to it ina very short time. The temperature 
and the time of the year have much to do with its early mani- 
festations. The infection is the most virulent during the 
warm, sultry weather, and in a cold, wet season it is very 
inactive. Hence the appearance of this malady, after a given 
exposure, is very uncertain. In the early part of summer, 
most of the exposures are affective, with the disease soon 
following, and that with very fatal consequences. But later 
in the season the invasion is less marked, very irregular in 
occurrence, and the mortality much reduced. But usually, 
from general exposure where native cattle have been turned 
into a lot in which Texans have been recently pastured, it 
will require from four to six weeks to develop the malady. 
In this respect Secretary Gold and I observed some curious 
facts last fall, in Connecticut, which need to be explained. 
Either natives may give this disease, contrary to universal 
testimony, or the period of incubation must be extended to 
three months in certain individual cases that occurred under 
our inspection. The early symptoms are often quite obscure, 
and the manner in which the disease appears is quite variable, 
owing to the age and general condition of the animal. In 
cows you will notice, perhaps, a sudden diminution in the 
quantity of milk as the first indication of the approaching 
trouble. The ears droop, the gait is sluggish and tottering, 
and more or less trembling will be seen about the flanks. 
There is a disinclination to move, and the creature stands for 
some time with depressed head in one position. The back is 
arched, the abdominal walls are shrunken, and the patient 
looks poor and hollow. The skin is dry and hot, especially 
about the head, and is seldom or never moistened by per- 

8* 


58 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE. 


spiration. The bowels are usually very costive at the 
commencement, but in a few cases I have noticed a looseness 
in the last stages. The feeces are frequently retained for 
several days, and thus discharged with difficulty, being very 
hard and dry, clothed in mucous with stains of blood. The 
urine hecomes an important symptom to observe. At first it 
is scanty and high colored, and there are frequent attempts to 
pass it; but later the bladder becomes distended, its walls 
paralyzed, and the power of micturition lost. After death 
the kidneys appear swollen from the effusion and transudation 
of the blood within the tissues. They are much enlarged at 
times, and somewhat distorted in form, as though they were 
twisted. On section they appear very dark and unnatural 
within. The urine is bloody, and when the disease is viewed 
from this pathological point, it might well be called the “ Red 
Water” of Europe, which it so much resembles. The blad- 
der, after death, is usually distended with dark, wine-colored 
liquid, and, with its contents, will frequently weigh twelve 
pounds. Such a condition is but the consequence of the 
congested state of the capillaries in these eliminating organs. 
The respiration is but little affected, and the heart and lungs 
show no signs of disease, unless complicated. Hence the 
great difference in symptoms between this and pleuro- 
pneumonia. 

In some obscure cases there is oftentimes great doubt 
entertained during life as to the nature of the malady, but the 
appearance of the morbid anatomy of the internal organs 
upon post-mortem examination is so marked that we are 
enabled to decide the matter at once. The spleen is found 
invariably much enlarged. In this respect it closely resembles 
splenic apoplexy. It is often increased to five times its 
normal weight, and sometimes even more. This organ is 
completely engorged with blood that is undergoing chemical 
changes towards putrefaction. The tissues become soft, and 
the viscus is not unfrequently ruptured, even before death. 
I saw a case a few weeks ago, at Brattleborough, Vt., where the 
spleen was thirty inches in length, eight in. breadth, and three 
inches thick, and weighed twelve pounds. Such an organ 
cannot be easily overlooked. In Chicago, a few years ago, 
this condition was regarded as a sure indication of the disease, 


TEXAS CATTLE-DISEASE. 59 


and hence all such meat condemned, as it truly should be in 
every case of this kind. The liver is also much congested 
and enlarged, often twice its normal size, weighing from 
twenty to thirty pounds. There is more or less softening, 
and it is sometimes waxy. It is very yellow in color, and 
occasionally a tinge of greenish black. The gall-bladder is 
usually full of dark, viscid and flocculent bile. It contains 
an abundance of granular flakes, which present a brilliant 
appearance of transmuted light, and are characteristic of the 
disease in question. 

There is more or less inflammation and erosion about the 
stomach, especially in the fourth apartment, known as the 
abomasum. This, with the upper portion of the bowel, is 
often congested and softened. The effects of this congestion 
appear in a marked degree in all the Texan and Cherokee 
cattle when slaughtered for beef in our Northern markets. 
Hence it might be inferred that the meat was diseased also. 
Yet we have no proof that any harm ever came from eating it. 
But when we remember that the spleens of all the Southern 
cattle are larger than those in our native stock, we should well 
consider this whole matter in a sanitary point of view, before 
adopting this class of cheap beef from such malarial districts 
for our daily use. I would not condemn such meat as unfit 
for food, yet I much prefer to have a home-made article. 
The blood in this disease undergoes very important changes, 
and there is even abundant evidence of the dissolution of its 
proximate elements. The red corpuscles are perceptibly 
modified in form and size, as well as wonderfully diminished 
in quantity in the last stages of the malady. Hence the color- 
ing matter is diffused all over the body, and appears in the 
excretion from the kidneys. This constitutes the Hematuria, 
“Red or Black Water,” as the case may be, according to the 
length of time the urine has been retained in the bladder. 
Bile is always to be detected in the blood, and thus acts as the 
solvent to these anatomical elements. Cholsemia, therefore, 
exists, as is shown by the yellowish coloring matter found in 
all the exudations that have taken place. This is well shown 
beneath the skin, and in nearly all the internal organs. 

To diagnose this disease, the thermometer is universally 
acknowledged to be the most valuable instrument that we 


60 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE. 


possess. It enables us to determine the exact degree of internal 
heat, which is an important symptom at an early stage of the 
malady. The elevation of temperature indicates the severity 
of an attack, and this will vary from 100°, the normal standard, 
to 108° in fatal cases. And the ticks, which are zodlogically 
known as the Jxodes bovis, are also important in doubtful cases. 
Their presence seems as a label to tell us either from whence 
the creatures came or the exposure they have encountered. 
Hence, when we find a sick animal that shows a high fever- 
heat, and is infected with ticks, we can be almost sure, even 
though in the incipient stage, that it is the Texan plague. 
And this will soon be corroborated by the appearance of 
bloody water and other characteristic symptoms. 

As this affection is so very fatal in the majority of cases, it 
would seem that little could be done in the way of treatment 
to save an animal in the active stage of the disease. Various 
plans of medication have been resorted to, but thus far with 
questionable results. No specific medicines, however ardently 
claimed or faithfully administered, have yet been found to stay 
its ravages in every case, and as this is a constitutional malady, 
eliminatives and antiseptics would naturally seem to be called 
for, and such medicines, like carbolic acid and its various 
salts, have been used in all stages, and it is worthy of further 
experimentation. * Common salt is believed to exert a favor- 
able effect, when given freely to all cattle that have been 
exposed in the line of transportation, especially when they 
have been deprived of drink for several days, as is often the 
case in the shipment of Western stock to our market. In the 
majority of cases cathartics are specially indicated, and when 
given early have operated favorably, and here it should be 
remembered that salts are the most appropriate physic for 
cattle in this and other febrile affections, and should be given 
in large doses of a pound or more. No use to give a saline 
cathartic to cattle sparingly ; you will always be disappointed 
with the results, even though a valuable agent in this respect. 
As soon, therefore, as you observe an animal to be affected, 
you should open the bowels at once by the free use of epsom 
salts, and continue this until all costiveness is overcome. 

The diuretics are a very important class of remedies to be 
used, and should be givenearly. Saltpetre, acetate of potash, 


TEXAS CATTLE-DISEASE. 61 


and sweet spirits of nitre are among the best, and an ounce of 
each of them at a dose, several times per day, will soon pro- 
duce the desired effect. Half an ounce of turpentine for a 
few times works admirably at a critical stage when the bladder 
has become distended with high-colored urine. In such cases 
IT have used gin and a strong tincture of the oil of juniper, 
and have seen much relief afforded to a creature in a dying 
state. Hence I would advise the free use of such remedies to 
evacuate the bladder, and thus aid in the work of elimination. 
Bleeding has been strongly advocated, but it must be resorted 
to early, to get any perceptible effects. When the spleen 
has become congested, there is little chance of affording 
amelioration by venesection. But at the commencement of an 
attack, if the animal is strong and fleshy, it is well to bleed, 
and no doubt many cases have been saved by so doing, yet I 
have no faith in the universal practice of the abstraction of 
this vital fluid. 

Thus, from no meagre experience in the treatment of this 
disease in Connecticut and at Brattleborough, Vt., as well 
as more recently in our own State, I am fully persuaded 
that a large proportion of these cases may be saved under the 
watchful eye of a skilful practitioner. But the veterinarian 
must be called at an early moment, and give his undivided 
attention to an outbreak of this kind, for there is no time to 
be lost after the jirst appearance of the disease in any case. 


62 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE. 


RISE OF AGRICULTURE. 
From an Address before the Norfolk Agricultural Society. 


BY THEODORE LYMAN. 


In the very nature of things, it seems as if digging the earth 
ought to bring something good to pass. The Greeks, who 
seldom went wrong in a name, called earth mother; the 
mother from whom all come and to whom all return; the 
mother who teaches her children this lesson, that food follows 
work, and without work there is no food; the mother who 
tames her wild offspring by long and steady discipline of toil. 
For man is by nature a destroyer and a waster. The savage 
kills fish and game, and snatches wild berries and roots, 
thoughtless of their decrease. In the ancient shell-heaps of 
Denmark, or in the river gravels of France, we find the mute 
record of such savages who once peopled the larger part of 
Central Europe. It is a dreary record—everything for waste, 
and nothing for renewal. The flint hatchets, knives and 
arrow-heads, the piles of shells, the bones of deer and wild 
oxen, split to get out the marrow,—all denote a race that took 
what they could from nature, and returned her nothing. They 
had no ear for the lessons of Mother Earth. There are some 
children nowadays who will not mind their mothers, and 
who get sent to the State Reform School. The reform of 
those old oyster-eaters and bone-splitters was very gradual. 
Archeologists tell us that they first became pastoral in their 
habits, and took to keeping horses. Now I am not going to 
assert, in the presence of our honored president, that horse- 
raising is a semi-barbaric practice; but the archeological 
succession does go to prove that wheat-growing is a step 
beyond it. Nor do I maintain that the men of the ancient 


RISE OF AGRICULTURE. 63 


stone period raised horses artistically, as they are to-day 
raised at the Home Farm. On the contrary, the numerous 
skeletons found on the sites of those long-forgotten villages, 
show us that the prehistoric horse had too big a head. I 
might say he was all head; and, as a Hungarian officer once 
remarked, “A horse does not trot with his head.” In our 
day we have improved. We try to have the driver all head, 
and the horse all legs. Again, our horse-breeders are 
advanced in respect that they use trotting-wagons, albeit we 
must not boast of them too much; for, in the museum at 
Florence, you may see a trotting-sulky that was found in a 
pyramid of Egypt. You are told it is a Scythian war-chariot 
—Scythian it may be, but a clearer trotting-sulky I never 
met. Not certainly a sulky of our manufacture. It is made, 
axles and all, of wood and leather. Shall we laugh at it for 
that? Remember it is 3,000 or 4,000 years old, and still is 
in running order. What kind of order do you think one of 
Brewster’s best 500-pound wagons will be in when it is 3,000 
or 4,000 years old? Not even the “deacon’s one-hoss shay ” 
lasted 3,000 or 4,000 years. All honor, then, to that Scythian 
sulky, and to its unknown maker, who, were he now alive, 
would have a rare reputation for durable work ! 

Those big-headed horses lived before men had invented 
vehicles. Nevertheless they were useful animals ; their masters 
ate them, and doubtless killed for their friends the fatted colt. 
If we no longer eat horseflesh, it is because we are such good 
Christians. Like the unknown savages of the stone age, our 
pagan Scandinavian ancestors, eight hundred years ago, 
thought it the best of nfeat, and served it at the feasts of 
Odin. Hence it became an abomination to the early Christian 
converts, who transmitted to us their religious prejudices ; 
and only of late years, and in certain parts of Europe, has it 
been added to the list of foods. 

The lesson goes slowly on. One after another, animals are 
domesticated, and, at last, comes the discovery of agriculture 
proper,—the idea that a seed well planted and tended will 
yield many fold, whereof a part may be kept for next season 
and the rest may be eaten. The ruins of so-called lake dwell- 
ings, covered for long ages with water, have revealed the 
beginning of such culture in Europe. Among the charred 


64 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE. 


piles which once supported wooden cabins built in a lake, have 
been found bones of oxen, dogs, and goats ; and, beside them, 
heaps of wheat and barley. No writing, monument or tradi- 
tion remains to tell us who were these primitive tillers of the 
soil who thus sought safety from enemies amid the waters. 
By their implements, fished up in quantities from the bottom, 
we know that some of them still maintained the good old 
fashion of stone tools; while others more ambitious were able 
to cast instruments of bronze; another lesson from Mother 
Earth who yielded her copper and tin for the melting-pot. 
They were barbarians, with the manners of barbarians ; and 
it is safe to infer that women did all the field-work, and held 
undisputed possession of what the French call “the sacred 
right to labor.” The man goes into the Swiss forest, intent, 
with flint-headed arrow, to slay a red deer; the woman must 
till the field, and be back in good season with a bundle of 
firewood to boil the venison which her lord may eat while she 
dresses the hide with a stone scraper. To her the duty of 
gathering, quartering and drying the wild apples for winter 
use ; their fragments have been found, prototypes of apple- 
sauce! She must bring in the grain from the small clearings 
and store it safely in the lake dwelling, under the eye of its 
master, who sits lazily chipping a pebble, whereof he will 
fashion, by some weeks of labor, a spear-head. That woman 
wrought better than she knew! While, perchance, her thoughts 
were only on her barbarian finery—her bronze bracelets and 
hair-pins—she was founding an ever-glorious reputation as the 
discoverer of agriculture. It passes my comprehension that 
writers on woman’s rights and woman’s superiority have not 
earlier hit on this capital fact—woman was the discoverer of 
agriculture. The classic nations recognized it. Ceres of the 
Romans, Mysia of the Greeks, was not a god, but a goddess, 
who taught the uses of corn. On the eve of her festival the 
women drove out of the temple men and dogs, shut the 
doors, and had a good time by themselves. Alas, genius 
lives on unconscious of itself! Woman planted and garnered 
all through the last of the stone period and beginning of that 
of bronze, unconscious that her praises would be sung, ages 
afterwards, by the Norfolk County Agricultural Society. 
When she quartered and dried those sour wild apples, did she 


THE RISE OF AGRICULTURE. 65 


dream of pomological clubs? Did she suppose it would ever 
be possible to propagate three hundred varieties of pears? 
There is encouragement to be drawn from such late recogni- 
tion of genius. Perhaps we, without knowing it, are doing 
something very remarkable, which will only be found out 
several thousand years hence. How delightful to feel that 
several thousand years hence we shall be fully appreciated ! 
And thus mankind had fairly learned something from the 
earth: how to put in the seed, and to gather the increase ; 
how to seek the hidden metals, copper, tin, and afterwards 
iron. But, like the country lad who thinks he can learn 
enough in two quarters’ schooling, mankind thought that 
wheat and game and wild fruits were enough to find out, and 
sat down for an indefinite rest. Thus, at least, did our an- 
cestors ; and why should we trouble ourselves about those of 
other people? We might as well confess now, as later, that 
our ancestors,—the Jutes, or Saxons, or Germanni, or what 
not,—were the slow boys, the dunces of the family. For years 
and years they fought and idled until good Mother Earth 
thought they never would learn anything. Down to the time 
of the Christian era they had not even a history, and then 
their history was written by two foreigners, Cesar and Taci- 
tus. It is a wholesome discipline to our vanity to reflect that 
when the inhabitants of Greece and Italy were at the height 
of their civilization, our progenitors went half-naked, and 
were scarcely more tamed than American Indians. They 
lived on game and on the milk and cheese of their domesti- 
cated animals. Agriculture they scorned, as a trade that took 
away a man’s mind from the only noble exercises, war and 
hunting. Were we to meet one of those Germans, with his 
rough spear and shield, an untanned deer’s hide flung across 
his shoulder, and his long red hair tied in a knot on top of his 
head, it would stick in our throats to exclaim reverentially : 
“Thou art my grandfather, fifty-four times removed.” And 
had he been thus addressed he would not have understood. 
His rude tongue had a small list of short, pointed words, like 
“good,” “bad,” “kill,” “blood.” In their altered forms they 
still exist with us; and it is a notable fact that when a man 
is in a towering rage he betakes himself to the short, fierce 
words of that grandfather, fifty-four times removed ; whereas, 
Q* 


66 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE. 


if he be calm and gentle, and especially if he be addressing a 
young ladies’ Sunday school, he is sure to use the French, 
Latin and Greek derivatives wherewith he has painted and 
padded the gnarled old stock. Not forever were those tall 
barbarians to stalk through the dark forests of beech and fir. 
Their destiny was written on a golden tablet, and a power 
stronger than the sword—the power of Christianity—was to 
bring their proud knee to the neglected earth. From the 
Catholic missionaries and monks of those remote times came 
the first lesson in agriculture to their savage neophytes. It 
was a little spark, but the wood of the beacon lay ready and 
blazed with a clear and increasing flame. In this and in all 
other arts they have ever since gone rapidly on with labori- 
ous study and untiring toil. These slow boys bent at last to 
their task, and after eighteen hundred years of schooling, 
they have beaten the spry, quick boys, and stand at the head 
of their class. Not alone in their native plains of Germany, 
or among the sand dunes of Jutland, or by the fiords of Nor- 
way, are these Northmen now found. They are everywhere, 
from Iceland to Australia; from England, through America 
to Hindostan. 

And now let us ask how, from such mean beginnings, they 
have come to results so grand. Plainly the power lay coiled 
within them like a spring, which begins to push when the 
clamp is taken off. But what special working had that spring 
by which it came to beat other springs? The answer is, that 
the Germanic mind is a scientific mind, and has always been 
so from the day when its form grew to be recognizable. 
What is scientific, and what is science? They are words on 
every tongue, yet not one tongue in twenty will answer the 
question aright. The nineteen wrong tongues will hasten to 
say that science first may be defined as the opposite or the 
complement of practice; and, secondly, as abstract theory 
based on thought, and distinguished from working based on 
experience. Why run so far for a reply and put it in so 
many words when a short one is at hand? “Science” is 
knowledge, and “scientific” is knowing ; just that, and 
nothing less or more. The mind of the Northmen has grown 
great and strong, because it is knowing, and still seeks 
knowledge. 


THE RISE OF AGRICULTURE. 67 


To descend from generals to specials, and from greater 
things to smaller, we cannot hope to thrive in agriculture 
except by holding to the working method of our race; we 
must be scientific, having and eagerly seeking knowledge. 
There are too many men who fall away from this method, and 
prop themselves against one of the stupidest sayings ever 
invented by an idler: “ What was good enough for my father, 
is good enough for me.” They are like those lake people we 
were talking of, who thought that wheat, dried apples and a 
bronze hatchet were sufficient for any family, and who, so far 
as we know, never got beyond these simple supplies. 

You tumble against such folks at every turn; and a deal 
of hauling and pushing it takes to get them out of the way. 
Last winter, a number of learned men asked the legislature 
for an annual grant for making a proper survey of ais Com- 
monwealth. Our friends of the bronze period awoke at once 
from their customary doze. “ What, what, what! <A survey! 
Have we not town, county and state maps already? Did our 
fathers complain of them? No, no! This is a device to pay 
a parcel of scientists who want to wander over the earth with 
muck-rakes!” So the petitioners had leave to withdraw. 
As a fact, there is no such thing in existence as a map of 
Massachusetts. There is a sheet of paper, painted with divers 
colors, and covered with lines which mean roads, and with 
dots which signify towns. But that is not a map; it is rather 
a perfecting of the shingle with chalk-marks wherewith the 
countryman indicates to you the way to his father’s wood-lot. 
When we consider that, for every important problem of drain- 
age, road-making, mining, manufacturing, water-supply and 
agriculture, an exact topoer apie map is essential, the peti- 
tioners would seem to have been in the right. There is no 
country of Central Europe, however small and poor, that does 
not possess a topographical survey. Our sister republic, 
Switzerland, has a topographic map which is a model in its 
way. She has mountains fourteen thousand feet high, whose 
every crest and ravine is there minutely laid down; while 
we, with no hills that a child cannot climb, stay content 
with our improved shingle and chalk-marks. All this comes 
of want of knowledge or science. And thereby we are led 
to ask, What is a scientific man, and how may we know him? 


68 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE. 


A scientific man, like a gentleman, is rare, but may be looked. 
for in any station or class. I know that all males are in this 
country called gentlemen. Call them what you please; my 
experience is that a gentleman is rare in this and in any other 
country. So our man of knowledge, of science, may be 
looked for anywhere. Does a man’s lettuce head better than 
his neighbor’s—he is scientific, knowing. When you examine 
him, you find he knows just how many inches to open the 
frames at such and such a temperature; when to water and 
when to leave them dry; how to keep lice and mould away ; 
and how to maintain a long, steady heat. Does a man have 
the best cows,—he, too, is scientific; for a good cow is no 
matter of chance. He has stared at cattle till he knows their 
points by a sort of instinct; he can rise above the limits of 
breed or grade, and can tell an animal on her own merits ; 
can say whether she runs too much to beef, or has not the con- 
stitution to keep up her milk, or is too closely bred. The 
two men have one trait in common,—they are one-sided ; they 
are specialists. The lettuce-grower could not tell a fifteen- 
quart cow if he died for it; and the cattle-breeder would 
scald his lettuce before February was out. Knowledge is 
great, and one student, though he be talented, can master 
only a bit. Every scientist, therefore, is one-sided. He is all 
lettuce, or all cow. With this preface, we are prepared to 
place and to appreciate what are called, with improper ex- 
clusiveness, “scientific men”; to wit, those who follow a 
subject, not for the profit of it, not even that they may teach 
it, but that they may know it. Such men must of course be 
specialists, and one specialty is scientific agriculture. We 
must not expect too much of scientific agriculturists. They 
are human and can know a part only. If they work all day 
with test-tube and reagent, they cannot be expected to “ point 
out” a swarth as well as a country lad who never got beyond 
the rule of three. This advantage, however, is theirs: that 
they arrive at a result more rapidly and reliably than men of 
slight education, because they do not try problems already 
solved, and because they compare thousands of facts where 
the others compare tens. 

We have noted how ancient is the tilling of the soil, and 
how slow has been its improvement. Nevertheless, each 


THE RISE OF AGRICULTURE. 69 


improvement was the act of somebody who refused to be 
contented with things as they were, and who studied to find 
something new and better. How long mankind delved with 
sharp sticks, we know not. At any rate, the day came, the 
day when a grand genius was born. He gave his mind to the 
study of sharp sticks ; and at last (perhaps when he was gray- 
haired) hit on this discovery: that if you held a sharp stick 
upright and fastened it to a horizontal blunt stick, you could 
drag the sharp upright by the blunt horizontal, and thus 
scratch the ground—in fact, you could plough. There are 
nations, like the Persians, who have never ceased to gaze 
with awe on this invention, and who still use it. Others 
there are, who have improved it until they have reached 
steam-ploughs and gang-ploughs. Let us side with the latter 
nations, and never say of any tool, it is good enough. Let 
us encourage all sorts of research; but especially that of 
highly educated men, for of them is our best hope. Good 
examples are not far to seek. Look at Germany. Perhaps 
somebody will object to looking at Germany, on the plea that 
it is the land of privileged classes and of military rule. True; 
but remember, we are talking of crops, and not of nobles and 
soldiers. A man may have a bad temper, and yet raise 
excellent string-beans. We do not scorn to drink tea because 
there is a Tai-ping rebellion in China. Therefore, we look 
into Germany, and, after getting through the stratum of 
nobles and soldiers (who, it may be said in parenthesis, 
have thoroughly studied their trade of killing and have brought 
it to the fine point of perfection), we shall find a people who 
have perhaps more knowledge than all the rest of the world 
together. Not that they are a fine-grained or a well-to-do 
people; on the contrary, one is struck by a certain coarseness, 
and by a general lack of means; but in knowledge and 
research, they are to-day the world’s leaders. Their govern- 
ments are well known as exceptionally thrifty and economical, 
insomuch that when a man is said to “work for the king of 
Prussia,” it means that he works for nothing. If, then, these 
governments support certain establishments, we may be sure 
they expect much advantage from them. And now look at their 
establishments for the study of agriculture. The last statistics 
tell us that Prussia proper has ninety colleges, academies 


70 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE. 


and schools of agriculture in which every branch is taught 
with extreme detail, including crop-raising, grape-growing, 
horse and cattle breeding, fish-culture, drainage, forestry, and 
the care of bees; all these in addition to original researches 
in chemistry and in other pertinent sciences. Of these 
colleges the four highest have eighty professorships, and 
those of lower degree are proportionately supplied. One 
academy, that of Proskau, has attached to it seventeen 
thousand acres of tillage and forest. The little duchy of 
Baden, with a population less than that of Massachusetts, has 
twenty agricultural establishments ; and, in the entire German 
empire, the people are taught nearly on this scale. Perhaps 
some one will ask, What has this vast network of scientific 
schools brought to pass? What has this army of highly 
educated and spectacled professors to show, in exchange for 
their apparatus and salaries? Already I have said that 
German officials keep a sharp eye on their penny’s-worth. 
Being themselves well scrimped, they are determined that 
nobody else shall grow too fat, or get pay without full return. 
A Prussian employé who should leave his post and run to 
Berlin to look after politics and offices, would first be dis- 
charged and afterwards clapped in prison. Sometimes I think 
that a little of such tyranny might have a wholesome effect in 
our country. ' 
The case before us makes no exception to the rule of thrift. 
These professors have earned their wages. They found a 
country that produced scanty crops of oats, barley and white 
wine. To-day they show you an abundant yield of everything 
their soil and climate will allow. Cultures that were feeble, 
such as those of wheat and sugar-beets, have grown to grand 
proportions ; waste lands have been reclaimed ; forests planted, 
grown, and cut according to rule. Nobody there dares sell a 
false manure with the Argus-eyes of a professor of chemistry 
ever on him. It will not avail him to publish a ten-dollar 
analysis from a private assayer. The government chemist 
says: “Empty out your bags here, and let us examine their 
contents. If you have been swindling the farmers, to jail 
you go!” | . 
Are we speaking of a land naturally fertile and of a favoring 
climate? Notso. North Germany is a dreary plain,—the 


THE RISE OF AGRICULTURE. 71 


gravelly, sandy bottom of an ancient lake. South Germany 
is rugged with mountains. The climate, over a good part of 
the entire region, is damp, chilly and tormented by bleak 
winds. Buta persevering and intellectual people have kept 
on learning that lesson of Mother Earth; and she has plente- 
ously rewarded them according to their deserts. Here are 
guide and encouragement to us poor occupants of a country 
that long ages ago was subsoiled by the glaciers; and a 
glacier, let me tell you, is a plough that subsoils a little too 
deep and brings all the gravel and rocks to the top. Our 
German cousins, however, are every whit as ill off; and yet 
they make the crops grow. We will not sneer at our own 
efforts. It will not do to sneer at such shows of fruit and 
vegetables as we to-day have seen. But let us all in all 
honesty confess that we are partial farmers, working much by 
rule of thumb, doing some things extremely well, and failing 
childishly in others. Our agriculture is nowhere thorough 
and well proportioned. Here isa man who will raise prize 
strawberries, and his apple-trees, hard by, will be full of cat- 
erpillar webs. Another excels in onions, while his starved 
potato-field is buried with weeds. In these respects our 
transatlantic friends do better. You may start from Florence, 
in Italy, and walk for miles along the valley of the Arno, with- 
out seeing a fruit-tree cut by insects, or a weed in a vegetable 
bed, or a square yard of arable soil without some crop on it. 
It may be that the peasants are driven to careful husbandry 
by poverty, and that they work with antiquated tools. At 
all events, they give a lesson to us who have money and fine 
implements. : 


72 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE. 


REFORM IN THE MANAGEMENT OF AGRI- 
CULTURAL SOCIETIBS. 


ESSEX. 
From an Essay by Francis H. APPLETON. 


Where is reform needed, and how shall it be brought 
about? I think I can safely say there are comparatively few 
members of the Essex Agricultural Society who do not need 
reform in their conduct as members. 

According to the by-laws, a committee is appointed at the 
annual meeting, by nomination from the floor, consisting of 
one member from each city or town, whose duty it is to meet 
before the first of the following July, and nominate a list of 
officers and trustees to be voted for at the next annual meet- 
ing. ‘ Each member of the society should therefore take the 
greatest care to have a public-spirited man, of unquestionable 
character, to represent him on this committee. 

With a committee thus carefully appointed, none but the 
best officers could be nominated, and it would be better for 
us always to vote the society’s regular ticket. 

It must be remembered that the trustees have power to do 
what they please with the funds of the society; so it will be 
seen at once that should an incompetent or selfishly disposed 
board of trustees ever be elected, they could immediately 
squander the society’s funds in whatever way they chose. 
Thus the present excellent financial condition of the society, 
the result of years of care, might be destroyed in an hour. 

It is fashionable at the present time to cry reform. While 
reform is unquestionably much needed in the country at large, 
it might also be advantageously applied to some customs of 
our society; but it is of the utmost importance to be sure 
that the people who cry for reform are honest in their inten- 


REFORM IN AGRICULTURAL SOCIETIES. 73 


tions, and are not, at the same time, aiming to gain some 
selfish end for themselves or their friends at the expense of 
the public. There exist too many persons of this kind, just 
at present, and the eyes of unsuspecting people should be 
upon them. 

It is not well always to trust to the opinions of. the loudest 
and most fluent talkers. It is much better to study and form 
one’s own opinions from what we can read and hear. 

Do not let personal animosities or prejudices influence us, 
for often a personal enemy may be one who could best serve 
us in an official capacity. 

Many members take no pains to attend the annual election, 
and so withhold their counsel in appointing the nominating 
committee. Every member should make such arrangements 
as will enable him to attend the annual meeting, and then we 
should have all parts of the county well represented, which, 
while it would add greatly to the usefulness of the meeting, 
would add much to the pleasure of the day. 

The most needed improvement at our shows seems to be 
covered pens for the unfortunate animals that now favor the 
shows with their presence, and have been exposed to the 
severe storms that have at times taken place. Farmers can- 
not readily find outside shelter in case of rain or cold, and 
more often would not care to be put to that expense; con- 
sequently, many valuable animals, which would afford excel- 
lent instruction, are not exhibited to our farmers. Ayrshires, 
Shorthorns, Jerseys, etc., will be exhibited only in small 
numbers until their owners can be assured that proper pro- 
tection from the weather will be provided. 

Iam convinced that the society ought not to locate. To 
locate would simply be suicidal. I would urge all members 
who have its best interests at heart, strongly to oppose all 
attempts to locate. 

It is impossible for the society to own portable covered 
pens, or the lumber necessary to make them, on account of 
the expense of transporting them. 

The New York State Society has, until the last four or five 
years, held its shows at different places each year, and has had 
pens, built by contract, of rough boards, which were sold after 
the show. The boards were but little cut or injured and the 

10* 


74 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE. 


society sustained only a small loss on them. The labor and 
nails were the chief expense. I do not think it would be 
advisable, however, for our society to adopt this plan. 

The New York Society having attained an excellent finan- 
cial condition, knowing that their annual show brought many 
benefits to the city or town where it was held, and desiring 
better covered pens, and buildings of their own planning, 
decided to visit certain places regularly every few years where 
the inhabitants should erect suitable buildings. 

These buildings have already been erected in several places, 
so situated that they are easily accessible from the country 
around them. By visiting them in turn the good influence of 
the society is scattered all over the State. 

I believe that some such plan might be tried to advantage 
in this county, and I would respectfully suggest that it be 
carefully considered at an early meeting of the trustees, in 
order that their views may be again declared for the benefit 
of the members. I think that three places could be selected 
for holding the annual shows, each of which would be central 
to a third of the county, and at the same time easily reached 
from any part of it. 

Would it be advisable for the society to propose to the city 
and town authorities of Lawrence, Newburyport and Danvers 
to visit in rotation said places, provided the citizens would 
agree to furnish covered pens for all live-stock exhibited, in 
addition to such arrangements as are now made? Both Law- 
rence and Danvers have their trotting-parks, where the society 
would find excellent accommodations, with the addition of 
covered pens; and I doubt not that Newburyport could pro- 
vide equally good accommodations should they be willing to 
attempt it. 

Another matter of great importance was brought prom- 
inently to my notice this year, when serving on the committee 
on bulls. All county societies, receiving the state bounty 
of $600, are compelled to award premiums only to thorough- 
bred bulls. I found that few of the owners of cattle know 
rightly what a thoroughbred animal is. Several grade bulls 
were entered this year as thoroughbreds, their owners con- 
fidently believing them to be such. I know of cases where 
our committee in the past, have awarded prizes to grade 


REFORM IN AGRICULTURAL SOCIETIES. 75 


animals in the thoroughbred classes. Such cases should not 
occur, and our committee should be instructed, in accordance 
with printed authority from the State Board of Agriculture, 
exactly how it shall be ascertained whether an animal is 
thoroughbred. 

When ail the ancestors of an animal can be proved to have 
been imported from Ayrshire, or to be descended from 
animals imported from Ayrshire, such animal is a thoroughbred 
Ayrshire. When in this case an ancestor cannot be proved 
to be a thoroughbred, such animal is a grade. The same rule 
applies to all important breeds of cattle. 

Imported stock has been of the greatest value to this 
country, and the Massachusetts State Board of Agriculture, as 
I have said, encourage the use of thoroughbred bulls only, 
and it is best that only such should be used, that their ancestry 
may be readily traceable and the quality of their descend- 
ants be assured. 

The only thoroughbred stock that we have in this country is 
imported from abroad. The imported breeds should be kept 
pure; but must we always be advised by the highest agricult- 
ural authority in the State to use none but thoroughbred bulls 
from imported stock? Cannot the Board recommend some 
carefully matured plan by which we can gradually arrive at a 
breed of cattle, which shall combine, for example, the richer 
milk of the Jersey and the greater quantity of the Ayrshire 
and at the same time be purely Massachusetts, or New 
England, in its origin? 

Why should we not some day in the future be able to 
export to England a breed that shall prove invaluable there, 
and be an improvement on their home breeds, thus doing 
better by them in return for their having done well 
by us? 

It would take time to accomplish this, and as all such results 
must have a beginning, the longer that beginning is postponed 
the farther off is the time when success would crown our 
efforts. 

The importance of that noble and companionable animal, 
the horse, should be kept prominently before the managers of 
our society, and every possible opportunity should be afforded 
for showing his capacities to the best advantage. He should 


76 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE. 


not be allowed to be degraded or cruelly treated, so far as 
this society has influence to prevent it. 

Horse-racing should never be allowed at the shows of this 
society, and the society should never meddle in any way with 
it. When properly conducted, horse-racing is a sport entirely 
separate and distinct from agricultural shows, and in no sense 
a branch of agriculture. If any member of this society inter- 
ests himself in horse-racing, let him get all the profit and pleas- 
ure he can from it at the proper time and place. Let him 
select those horses that are sufficiently sound to compete for 
our prizes, and we shall be only too glad to have them entered 
for competition at our shows. 

Our enterprising farmers, with others, should take such 
necessary action as will allow this county to be properly 
represented in the agricultural department of the coming Cen- 
tennial Exhibition at Philadelphia. They must remember 
that Essex County, although a small portion of the vast terri- 
tory of this Republic, occupies a place of no small importance 
in the affairs of this Commonwealth, and should be made to 
hold its proper position before the eyes of visitors from all parts 
of the world. Let the visitors from the more eastern nations, 
in viewing the show at Philadelphia, see in as many classes as 
possible that Essex County, with which they traded much in 
the days of our fathers and grandfathers, is a thriving place, 
and able to be largely represented. Many articles that may 
seem trivial to us at home, might be of great interest to 
foreigners from remote countries, and this fact should be 
clearly borne in mind. Large quantities of any one article 
should be avoided, like the huge monument of quack medicine 
bottles that was exhibited at Vienna in 1873; but many arti- 
cles of different kinds are wanted. 


CHEMICAL CORN-GROWING. 17 


CHEMICAL CORN-GROWING. 


MIDDLESEX SOUTH SOCIETY. 


From an Essay by E. Lewis STURTEVANT. 


In an essay contributed in 1872 to the Transactions of the 
Middlesex South Agricultural Society, I investigated the cost 
of a premium crop of corn to the Massachusetts farmer, and 
among the items of expense, calculated the fertility removed 
by the crop from the soil. At the present time I propose to 
report an experiment which will supplement this past method 
of mine, by showing what may be expected from the application 
to the land of the fertility which we expect the crop to remove. 

We know from the chemical analyses that certain elements 
are removed by our crop, and a long experience on our New 
England farms has shown that of the elements removed, but 
three need concern us, as all the rest are usually contained in 
the soil in quantities abundantly sufficient for vegetation. 
Thus, although the corn-crop may remove the following 
elements of fertility, yet the nitrogen, phosphoric acid and 
potash are the only materials whose exhaustion from the land 
is probable under ordinary culture, and are therefore the only 
elements we need supply. 


PROFESSOR Emit WOLrFr’s TABLE. 


Percentages, 
Corn 

(Grain). Cob. Stalks. 
Water, . : : : : : : 5 || alee TAS 14.00 
Nitrogen, 1.6 P 0.40 
Total ash, 1:23 0.50 4.72 
Potash, 0.33 0.24 1.66 
Soda, 0.02 0.01 0.05 
Magnesia, 0.18 0.02 0.26 
Lime, . ‘ 0.03 0.02 0.50 
Phosphoric acid, 0.55 0.02 0.38 
Sulphuric acid, (O01) | \| =) 0:01 0.25 
Silica, 0.03 0.13 1.79 
Sulphur, . 0.12 0.15 0.39 


78 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE. 


A careful examination of the proportion usually existing 
between the cob and the grain, gives the extreme percentages 
in 28 trials as 12 and 25, with an average of 184 per cent. of 
cob in the total weight of corn in the ear, or about 23 per 
cent. of the weight of shelled corn. The proportion between 
the grain and the fodder varies within large limits. A careful 
examination of experiments reported in the volumes of 
“Agriculture of Massachusetts,” furnishes the following 
results, arranged according to a series, but calculated to the 
bushel of crop :— 


13 trials gave as an average 1 bushel to 83 pounds of stover. 


65 “ “ce 66 “cs 1 cc to 85 “ce “cc 
88 3 “cc 6 ‘c 1 “ec to 73 (73 66 
These 116 .“ “s % = LS Eto SOLS ines ce 


Selecting from this number what I may call the reliable 
extremes, we have for the least proportion one bushel of corn 
to forty-one pounds of stover; and for the greatest propor- 
tion, one bushel of corn to one hundred and twenty pounds of 
stover, both results being for the month of October. 

In one experiment, made under the direction of the trustees 
of the Massachusetts Society for the Promotion of Agriculture, 
Mr. B. P. Ware, of Marblehead, reports the proportion on 
five different lots as below :— 


1 bushel corn in ear (72 pounds), 124 +- pounds stover. 

: ae © (72 pounds), 110 + ee : 

ay, 55 ce “(72 pounds), 90 + “ < 

de * (72 pounds), 83 + se a 

ala FE te “ (73 pounds), 85 sf ce 
Average on 40,000 square feet, 1 bushel, 101 4 ee 


As, however, we do not know the date of harvesting, and 
therefore the state of dryness, we cannot use this table com- 
paratively with any other one statement, but it serves a useful 
purpose, as indicating the extremes which may be expected 
between different crops. 

The average proportion may be considered, then, as about 
80 pounds of air-dried fodder to the bushel of grain, for 
Northern corn, or about one pound of grain to one and a half 
pounds of fodder. 


CHEMICAL CORN-GROWING. 79 


A bushel of grain, with its corresponding cob and stover 
5 ? D ’ 

would therefore remove from the soil, according to the 

analyses and proportions given above, on an average * :— 


Grain, Cob, Stover, Total 
pounds. pounds. pounds. pounds. 
! 
Nitrogen, ; 5 : . ; 89 p 38 1:27 
Phosphoric acid, . : ; - 1 02 30 63 
Potash, . : : : : ; 18 03 Oo 1.54 


The conclusion is therefore irresistible, that 7f this table 
represents the amount of these constituents removed from the 
soil by our crop, then this table represents the actual exhaus- 
tion of the soil by the removal of our crop; and the inquiry 
may well be pressed further, and the question broadly put, 
Why will not the application of these amounts of these 
constituents on any land favored by temperature and moisture, 
produce a bushel of grain? 

Before answering this query in the affirmative, as does 
Professor Stockbridge, of the Massachusetts Agricultural 
College at Amherst, aud whose success in practical experi- 
ments, carried out under this theory, for the past two or three 
years, entitles it to respectful consideration, let us consider 
whether there is any loss of material during the growth of 
the crop, or in other words, whether a greater quantity of 
fertile elements must needs be applied, during the growth 
of the crop, than is to be found in the crop at maturity. 

The first essential of an agricultural experiment is, that it 
shall be so carried out as to eliminate all possible sources of 
error, and that the result may be given in terms which are 
unmistakable,—a definite reply to a definite interrogation of 
nature. Fortunately for our purpose, we have in water- 
culture a means for arriving at a knowledge of the elements 
and proportions requisite for maturing a corn-plant. 

According to the experiments of Stohmann, the maize-plant 
grows to full maturity, if, in the beginning of May, the seed 


* As the analyses of the roots, and the quantity of root is unknown to me, I omit 
this portion of the plant from consideration; and this is of less consequence, as the 
roots are never remoyed with the crop. 


80 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE. 


which has germinated in water, and has shot forth roots, is 
placed in a solution containing the food of the maize in the pro- 
portions in which they exist in the ashes of the plant, if at the 
same time there has been added to it, so much nitrate of 
ammonia, that to every part of phosphoric acid in the solution 
there are two parts of nitrogen, and if finally it has been 
diluted with distilled water to a concentration of three parts 
of solid matter per 1,000 parts. In this manner may be 
matured fully formed plants which attain a height of seven feet. 

We are therefore justified in believing that the corn-plant 
will grow and mature its crop, when supplied with food of 
the character and proportion as found in the plant. 

Again, if we examine with care the experiments of Knap, 
another reliable German experimenter, not only is our con- 
clusion justified, but we have an additional fact of interest ; 
viz., that throughout the period of growth, the phosphoric 
acid supplied, was all absorbed by the plant, while the amount 
of potash assimilated was far more variable. This would 
lead us to suspect that more of the potash is as accidental 
ingredient of the plant, than of the phosphoric acid. In other 
words, that circumstances might determine the plant to absorb 
more potash, in excess of its real requirements for grain 
growing, than of phosphoric acid, and if this were so, to 
indicate this change, by a greater or less amount of foddering. 


RESULT OF KNAP’S EXPERIMENT WITH THE MAIzE PLANT. 


In column A is given the quantity of the material received 
by the plant at a particular period. In column B is given the 
material found in the solution at another determinate period. 
In column C the difference, or the amount absorbed by the 


plant. 
Phosphoric Acid. 


A. B. c. 

PUBIC. Gramme. | Gramme. | Gramme. 

1. May 12 to June 12,. 4 : 5 . | 0.0750 - 0.0750 

2. June 12 to July 20, . : : 5 . | 0.0625 - 0.0625 

3. July 20 to July 27, . . : - - | 0.1250 - 0.1250 

4, July 27 to Aug. 1,. 5 . 5 yi 0.1250 - 0.1250 

5. Aug. 1 to Aug. 10, . : : : - | 0.1875 | 0.0020 | 0.1855 
6. Aug. 6 to Aug. 16,. : : - : P 0.0010 p 


CHEMICAL CORN-GROWING. 81 


Potash. 

PERIOD oe B: is 
r Gramme, Gramme,. | Gramme, 
1. May 12 to June 12,. 0.6131 | 0.2280 | 0.3851 
2. June 12 to July 20, . 0.5110 | 0.3120 | 0.1990 
3. July 20 to July 27, . 0.5518 | 0.2160 | 03358 
4, July 27 to Aug. 1,. 0.5518 | 0.1296 | 0.4222 
5. Aug. 1 to Aug. 10, . 0.5927 | 0.1894 | 0.4033 

6. Aug. 10 to Aug. 16, . ? 0.0160 ? 


We would call attention to the interesting fact, that more 
potash was absorbed in the earlier periods of growth, than 
phosphoric acid ; as potash is a large constituent of the foliage, 
this is as we should expect. Note the following table :— 


Ratio of Phosphoric Acid to Potash. 


Period 1, Letows 
6s ae if ee 3 
“cc 3y © 1 13 23 
“ AEP 7 rs 
Aan lear f : : : - LV eeZ 
Ratio for whole period of observation as . beSS 


Let us follow up this hint, by observing the proportions of 
our chemicals that are removed by differently foddered crops. 


Removed per Bushel of Grain, in Various Fodder Ratios. 
(1.) 1 pound grain to 2.54 tbs. fodder.—1.58 tbs. nitrogen, 84 Ibs. phos. 
acid, 2.56 tbs. potash. Relation of phos. acid to potash, 1 to 3. 
(2.) 1 pound grain to 1.4 tbs. fodder.—1.27 tbs. nitrogen, .63 Ib. phos. 


acid, 1.54 tbs. potash. Relation of phos. acid to potash, 1 to 2.4. 


(3.) 1 pound grain to 7 tbs. fodder.—1.08 ibs. nitrogen, .48 tb. phos. 
acid, .88 tb. potash. Relation of phos. acid to potash, 1 to 1.8. 


It will be observed that (1) in the table, represents the 
results (approximately) as derived from the experiment of 
Stohmann; (2) represents what we have given here as the 
average result; while (3) represents the reliable minimum 
result as given above. We would also call attention to the 
fact that while the increased foddering of the crop increased 
the nitrogen but from 1.08 to 1.58 pounds, and the phosphoric 
acid from .48 to .84 pound, or less than double (accurately, 
ut 


82 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE. 


13), the potash is increased from .88 to 2.56 pounds, or nearly 
three times. 

These experiments of Knap’s are of interest, as they indicate 
that there is no loss of fertile elements during growth, at least 
so far as phosphoric acid is concerned; while compared with 
our results, as given in fodder ratios, the same fact is not only 
indicated with reference to potash, but the additional fact, 
that potash may be absorbed largely in excess of the needs of 
the plant, under given conditions. 

We thus see, that if the plant can be grown to maturity in 
water-culture, by means of chemicals alone, as established by 
Stohmann, and that there is no loss of chemicals from the plant 
during growth, as indicated by Knap, our proposition is theo- 
retically established, that if the chemical elements of the crop 
are supplied in proper form to the plant, we may obtain them 
again in an organized form through the agency of cultivation 
and care. 

We may also add another proposition: that if we should 
apply the chemicals for our crop, we should look for our 
results in the entire crop, and not in a portion alone. We 
cannot prophesy the amount of grain that a given amount of 
chemicals may grow, because so much depends on the variety 
of seed, and the season. If a given portion of the fertilizer, 
beyond what is essential to the plant as a grain grower, is 
determined through the agency of season or heredity to the 
leaf and stalk, then that portion is lost to the grain. Hence 
the uncertainty in practice of predicating results which must 
follow from unknown conditions. 

This seeming solution of the question, however, is very far 
from being a practical one. It is easy to supply our chemical 
elements to the soz’, but can we supply them to our plant? 
The question of the economical use of commercial fertilizers 
depends upon the answer to this question. If we may so 
supply them, chemical farming becomes a possibility, and 
may well compete with dung-heap farming, and with a greater 
probability of successful results to be derived from the appli- 
cation of the fertilizer. 

If we should make a solution of our chemical, and apply it 
to our soil, we would find an action of the soil taking place, 
of great interest towards the solving of our problem. The 


CHEMICAL CORN-GROWING. 83 


alkaline salt* would be decomposed, and the base would 
be seized upon and held by the soil as it came into contact 
with its particles. Thus, if our solution contains sulphate of 
ammonia and muriate of potash, then the soil decomposes 
these salts, retains within its pores the ammonia and potash, 
and allows the acids to pass through with the water, in new 
combinations. Each soil has, however, a certain retaining 
power, and while one might fix the ammonia or the potassa 
within a distance of one inch of filtration, another soil, with 
less affinity towards these bases, might allow the bases to be 
carried down two inches or more. On account of this pecul- 
iarity of action, we cannot feel assured that our chemicals 
are evenly distributed throughout the layers of the soil, and 
we Anow that in order to obtain a theoretically perfect crop 
from a theoretical field, the earth of that field must contain 
all the elements of fertility in a soluble form, distributed 
evenly throughout the whole root pasturage. 

If a field be barren, therefore, of all the useful constituents, 
we might apply to that soil the elements removed by a bushel 
of corn, with its stover, and yet not receive back our bushel 
of corn. For the bases being retained by that portion of the 
soil in contact with them when they came into solution, are 
not evenly distributed through the land, and there must 
necessarily be places from which the plant would derive no 
nutriment ; and we cannot imagine the roots of the plant in 
contact with every particle of the soil, or coming within reach 
of all the chemicals; moreover, the applied salts may have 
become in part insoluble through chemical actions originating 
from within the soil. 

To obtain a theoretically perfect crop, the roots of our 
plant must, at all times during the period of its growth, be in 
contact with soluble food, and this in the quantity sufficient 
for its purpose. If, therefore, a soil should contain enough 
nitrogen or potassa or phosphoric acid to yield fifty crops of 
grain, and yet so scattered through the soil that at no time 
would the roots be in contact with enough soluble matter to 
satisfy the needs of the plant, then the plant is less flourish- 

* A chemical salt is the material formed by the union of an acid and a base. Thus 


muriate of potash is a salt, and is formed by the chemical union of muriatic acid and 
the alkaline base, potassa. 


84 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE. 


ing, and the crop is diminished over what it might be were 
the conditions reversed. Indeed, Baron Liebig asserts, that 
a soil must contain at least twenty-five times as much phos- 
phoric acid as is required by the plant, before we apply the 
extra amount as a manure for the plant. The nitrogen of 
barn-yard manure seems to be far less effectual, according to 
the Rothamsted experiments, than the nitrogen furnished by 
pure chemicals, and even chemical nitrogen must be applied 
for at least three times the necessities of the plant; 7. e., the 
plant removes but one-third of the applied nitrogen. 

We can usually find more phosphoric acid and more potash 
in our soils than can possibly be required for the use of one 
crop, yet despite this, the crops fail. This is, perhaps, the 
normal condition of our New England cultivated fields. The 
soluble constituents of fertility are present in the soil in 
absolutely large amount, but as absolutely in quantities so 
small compared with the bulk of inert matter, that in a given 
root-area not enough is afforded to the plant for continuous 
growth. That the soil should contain fertile elements in large 
abundance, is necessary for the continuance of a succession of 
crops, and these considerations may explain why it is more 
expensive to bring up a “run down” field, than it is to con- 
tinue it under good culture after it has received condition. 

If, therefore, we should add to a field whose fertile constit- 
uents are present, yet too widely distributed for the roots of 
our plant to collect, the elements necessary for a full crop, 
and all these elements in such a form and in such a condition 
that they may be within reach of the plant throughout the 
season of growth, we should expect results, not accurately 
representing a balance between fertility supplied and removed, 
but proportionate to the amount supplied and the fertility 
already existent, but just below the minimum requisite 
amount in the soil; this result only, be it understood, being 
predicated on known conditions of plant-habit and plant-yield. 
To illustrate: In the corn plant, the size of ear and the num- 
ber of ears on a stalk, are largely determined by variety of 
seed. No matter how much fertility be supplied to a given 
crop, the yield cannot be proportionately increased beyond 
this limitation of variety; for the number of ears cannot be 
increased, and their size but very slightly, if at all, by an 


CHEMICAL CORN-GROWING. 85 


excess of nutriment over what is sufficient nutriment. Hence, 
if our seed be planted at too great distance, or too few stalks 
in the hill, no matter what the manuring, the yield may be 
inferior to the capacity of the soil. Suppose our plants are of 
a one-ear-to-a-stalk variety, and are planted three feet apart, 
and three stalks in a hill, and that each stalk bears its one ear, 
or the whole acre 14,520 ears of corn, no matter what manure 
we apply ; then, if these 14,520 ears are small ones, our yield 
will be forty-eight bushels to the acre. Suppose, now, we 
have manured so that each of these ears is of medium size, 
then our crop is eighty-one bushels. If we manure suffi- 
ciently, so that each of these ears is of large size, then our 
crop is 114 bushels per acre; and we may pile on our manure 
after this point is reached without increasing the yield. If 
but two stalks had been planted to a hill, instead of three, 
our results would have differed by about one-third, and if the 
number of stalks in the hill had been doubled, our indicated 
crop is doubled. 

We have now seen that, working backward, the yield of a 
given area is determined in part by the variety of seed, in 
part by the conditions of planting, in part by the condition of 
the land before the fertilizer is applied, in part by the fer- 
tilizer, in part by the chemical relations between the soil and 
fertilizer. Under this condition of things a prophecy of yield 
predicated on but one of these elements, must, even if, in 
some cases, by chance correct, in the majority of instances 
be futile, especially if yields larger than ordinary are antici- 
pated. 

Peculiarities of condition have, however, led Prof. Stock- 
bridge into broad enunciations of practical formule for practical 
men, and in claiming that the fertility removed by a crop, being 
applied for a crop, will produce the crop, he has perhaps struck 
the key-note to as much practical truth as he could crystallize 
into one sentence, where limitations must be overlooked, as 
tending to weaken the effect upon those to whom he talks. 

It is part of my plan to furnish the details of an experiment 
carried out in the growth of corn upon fertilizer, applied in 
the manner and in the quantity recommended by the professor. 
Although confining my remarks to the details, and the lessons 
derived from this field, it may be well to mention that we 


86 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE. 


have concordant results in a field of nine and a half acres, on 
the more retentive natural grass-land of Mr. E. F. Bowditch, 
and also equivalent results on two fields,—in all, seven and a 
half acres,—planted in like manner by Mr. Edward Burnett, 
of Southborough. Perhaps these twenty-five acres, cultivated 
as an experimental crop, in fields of the area given, represent 
the largest area ever devoted to an experimental crop in New 
England, and the results must possess value as being thus 
freed from local circumstances and circumscribed conditions, 
which in small plots are so apt—nay so certain—to obscure 
the results. 

The field in experimental corn on Waushakum Farm, this 
year of grace 1875, occupies a plain, with a depression run- 
ning through the centre, and is bounded on the west.side by 
a stone wall, on the north by the highway, on the east by 
woodland, muck-land and mowing in about equal lengths, 
and on the south by woodland. The area is eight acres. 
The soil a gravelly loam on gravel, for the most of the field, 
but runs to a limited area of muck-land in the depression. A 
considerable length along the bounds is sapped by the roots 
of neighboring trees, and the wood on the south side affords 
shade over a considerable space, at certain hours of the day. 
The field has been in sod since 1872; and previous to this 
date, crops of corn, fodder-corn and oats had been taken 
from dunged portions of the field. The 1874 crop of hay was 
light, scarcely half a ton per acre being harvested, while an 
adjoining piece of this field, apparently in similar condition, 
and left in grass, yielded this year a scant one-third of a ton 
by estimate. 

In May we commenced operations on the land, by plough- 
ing a broad furrow seven inches deep, with a Holbrook swivel- 
plough; using our horses for this labor in the mornings only, 
and in the afternoons easing them by lighter farm-work. A 
careful record has been kept in hours of the time of men and 
horses employed on, or in connection with; this field, and it 
has been our intention to take no account of “spunt work” 
but to try and obtain for our own informa ion, for future use, 
the actual cost to us of working the crops. 

We purchased our fertilizer of Messrs. Jackson and 
Bowker, No. 53 North Market Street, Boston, gentlemen on 


CHEMICAL CORN-GROWING. 87 


whom we could rely: receiving the article we purchased, and 
of the composition as stated by them. 

Three thousand two hundred and thirty-two pounds of sul- 
phate of ammonia, containing 18 per cent. of nitrogen, at 2? 
cents a pound, = 262 cents a pound for the nitrogen. 

One thousand two hundred and eleven pounds of muriate 
of potash, containing 554 per cent. of potassa, at 3 cents a 
pound, = 52 cents a pound for the potassa. 

Four hundred and forty-two pounds of sulphate of potash, 
containing 23-25 per cent. of potassa, at 24 cents a pound, 
= 10,8, cents a pound for the potassa. 

We “would here call attention to the difference between 
purchasing high and low grades potash salts. As the supply 
of muriate of potash, or the high grade kainit was exhausted 
from our market, we had to fill out our potash with the lower 
grade sulphate. We had, by doing this, to pay nearly double 
per pound for the 102 pounds of potash contained in the 442 
pounds of sulphate, than we did per pound for the 645.8, 
pounds of potash in the 1,211 pounds of muriate. 

We then purchased 1,061 pounds of bone-black, at $25 per 
ton; 530 pounds of sulphuric acid, at 2} cents per pound; 
paid $1.60 freight. We now mixed our bone and acid, and 
produced 1,591 pounds of superphosphate, containing 18 per 
cent. of soluble phosphoric acid, as Prof. Stockbridge assures 
us, and as is also indicated by the analysis of a similarly made 
article by Prof. Storer at Roxbury. The total expense of 
our superphosphate was at the rate of $35.22 per ton, or 
slightly under 9,8, cents a pound for our phosphoric acid. 

In 1874 the Oe in Germany and abroad for the materials 
we have used as below :— 


y 
oO 


cents per Ib. 


Nitrogen in form of ammonia, ; : 29585 

Phosphoric acid, in higher Bere aiperuhesphare: F eS “ 
Potash in high grade kainit, “ : : 3 43, « “ 
Potash in low grade kainit, . ‘ Z ~ dy to93, “c 


Of course the difference between the prices here and in 
Germany for the potash salt, is largely dependent on the 
cost of transportation and handling, and a low grade salt will 
have its price per pound for the potassium oxide which it con- 
tains, more enhanced through costs of moving, than will the 
potassium oxide in a high-grade salt. 


88 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE. 


These fertilizers were thoroughly sereened and mixed on a 
smooth floor, and applied to the land after it was harrowed, 
in two portions; the first, consisting of twelve barrels, 
through the agency of a broadcast seed-sower moved by two 
horses. The second portion, of twenty barrels, was strewn by 
hand across the hills, as determined by the marker, which was 
previously used. 

The corn was planted the first of May, in hills thirty-eight 
inches apart, and either four or five kernels in the hill. On 
account of the drought then prevailing, the seed germinated 
very unequally and very slowly, and about three weeks 
elapsed before the rows could be determined through the 
sprouting of the grain. The variety was an eight-rowed corn, 
with small cob and large yellow grain. There were two hoe- 
ings of the field, and the cultivator was run one way through 
the rows, previous to each hoeing. 

The following notes may be made of the growing crop: 
June 20, the corn-plants short, but healthy-looking; July . 
20, corn very much foddered, almost too thick and luxuriant 
a growth, as we fear the plant will run to leaf, rather than 
grain; August 8, the field shows very much more fodder, 
nearly double that of the manured field at the other end of the 
farm, but the ears do not appear as numerous. Average 
height about nine feet, or possibly a trifle more ; September 
17, commenced cutting and stooking the corn. 

The season has been on the whole propitious for corn, and 
all the corn-fields in our neighborhood are looking far better 
than usual. Since the early drought, the rains have been 
frequent, and although the nights have not been as warm, 
for the most part, as farmers would consider desirable, yet 
the maize-plant has abundantly prospered in growth, and 
the only drawback has been the delay in ripening, which 
compels a rather earlier harvesting than is desirable. On 
the night of September 21, there was a heavy frost, the 
thermometer marking twenty-nine degrees under the house 
piazza. 

October 11, we harvested and husked the two unmanured 
rows on the west border of the field. These rows were 
72 rods long, and, being 38 inches apart, represent an area 
of 27.6 square rods, or 12 acre. 


CHEMICAL CORN-GROWING. 


a 


Merchantable corn, 


Unsound corn, 


89 


3.77 bush. of 72 Ibs. 


ENG ah ee 


ot Yap & 


Or a yield per acre of 21.8 bushels merchantable, and 14.2 
bushels unsound corn. 
October 23, the committee viewed the field and report 
the yield as 825 bushels of 72 pounds per acre. 
That is, we have the following statements of fact :— 


We applied sufficient nitrogen for 


6s eo 


potash “ 


& phosphoric acid “ 
According to Professor Stockbridge. 


60% bush. corn per acre. 


74 
66 


We obtained 824 bushels of corn per acre. 


sc “ec 


“cc 


We have for natural yield of the field, 21.8 bushels per acre. 


Difference, 60.7 bushels per acre. 


And this difference is 


claimed by Prof. Stockbridge as representing the efficiency of 
the fertilizer applied. 

The total expenditure in labor and cost to date, October 
12, has been as follows, estimating the labor of a man at 
18 cents and of a horse at 9 cents an hour :— 


Breaking up, 
Harrowing, 
Fertilizer bill, 
Freight bill, 
Mixing fertilizer, 


Applying fertilizer,* . 


Planting, 
Two hoeings 


Cutting and stooking, 


‘Rotale. 


ee EO Ore UepOr Total Cost. | Cost per Acre. 
Hours. Hours. 
33 66 $11.88 | $1 49 
20 40 G20 90 
~ - 228 93 28 62 
- ~ 4 60 57 
27 - 4 86 Gf s 
7 15 2 70 34 
124 103 23027, 2 91- 
151 37 30 51 3 81 
LB - 28 26 5) oul 
519} 1683 | $342 21 | $42 76 


* Applying fertilizer in hill was included in labor of planting. 


The charge for the labor of a man cannot be questioned, as 
18 cents an hour is $1.80 a day, or $46.80 a month of 26 days; 
as this is somewhat more than we pay for a month of 30 days, 
our reckoning here is slightly in excess of the truth. 

The cost of horse labor to the farmer may well receive dis- 
cussion here, as I can find scarcely two farmers who agree 


12* 


90 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE. 


upon the exact amount which should be charged. If we 
should call this labor 20 cents per horse per hour, as some 
claim we should, it would add but $2.31 an acre to our cost 
as given. Were it not for the principle underlying the ques- 
tion of how to report a crop, I should leave the matter here 
with the larger figure, for there is no disposition to lower the 
cost of our crop, but rather to obtain for ourselves the exact 
cost, and if we must err we would prefer to err in charging 
the crop more in preference to less than its deserts. 

I hold the cost to the farmer is not the letting price of a 
horse, but the cost of keeping a horse. It is not his business 
to take the risks of a livery stable, and let his animals, and 
therefore he should not charge his horse labor to himself at 
those rates which are regulated by principles which are far 
from those which govern the use of a horse on a farm. The 
farmer looks to his farm for his profit, and uses the horse. 
The livery man gains his living from the letting of his horses, 
and the principles which would regulate the charges are unlike. 
The true cost of horse labor to the farmer is the interest on 
the first cost of his horse, an annual depreciation account, wear 
and tear of harnesses, teams, implements, etc., depreciation 
account of the same, care, and the cost of the food consumed. 
The credit to this account is the manure made and the services 
rendered. 

If we take the army ration of the United States in 1861 as 
a standard for the food consumed, we have 14 pounds of hay 

,and 9 pounds of oats, corn, or barley. With hay at $25 
per ton, and corn at 84 cents a bushel, this represents a cost 
of $2.17 a week. Although this is a war ration, I am dis- 
posed to believe that it is rather below the cost of keeping 
large team-horses during the hardest of farm-work, as during 
the ploughing season, harvest, ete.; yet perhaps this sum 
would represent a true average cost for the keeping of the 
average farm-horse during an average year. For convenience 
of computation, and in order to not underestimate, we will 
call the cost $2.25 per week. 

Let us assume that the horse cost originally $300, and 
that the interest account is $21 per year; that the horse 
will last ten years, and the depreciation account to be $30 
yearly. We will also suppose that the cost of the harnesses, 


CHEMICAL CORN-GROWING. 91 


teams and horse-tools is about the cost of a horse; viz., 
$300, and that the interest and depreciation account is 
twenty-five per cent. We then foot up the following result :— 


Total cost of keeping a horse as above, for one year, . ; . $228 00 
Value of horse labor, at 9 cents an hour, per year, _.. ; . 2ek 70 
Surplus, . ; : 7 - - 2 . : ; . $53 70 


And this surplus, and two cords of manure, will be left for 
the care and shoeing. 

In the presence of this preposterously large and waster 
calculated assumption, nine cents an hour for horse labor is 
not an undercharge for the present year. 

Accepting, then, our charges for labor, and our estimated 
yield, derived from the ee ne of one square rod by a 
committee, and estimating the amount of stover at twenty- 
five per cent. more than an ordinary crop; ¢@. é., one hundred 
pounds of stover to a bushel of shelled corn, instead of eighty 
pounds, the average, we present for consideration the follow- 
ing provisional account :—* 


Total cost of crop stooked in field, : ‘ : : F . $42 76 
Estimated cost of harvesting, . : : : : . : 7 20 
Husking at 5 cents a bushel, 8 25 
Total cost, . : 4 é ‘ ‘ . i * . $58 21 
Credit with 4,12, tons stover, at $8, . : : : : . 33 00 
Cost of 824 bushels shelled corn, . : : : ‘ : . $25 21 
Cost per bushel, . . - : ; ; : : : 7 .306 


Whether chemical farming is orthodox or not, we feel this 
year as if we, on Waushakum Farm, had been paid by it; and 
we know that our two neighbors—Mr. Bowditch, with his 
nine and a half acres, and Mr. Burnett, with his seven and a 
half acres—also feel repaid for their trial of the formula this 
year. 

In connection with, and to supplement, this experiment, we 
kept an account with a smaller field, of naturally better land, 
and fertilized from the dung-heap. The field contains 2.7 
acres, and is situated on the east side of the highway leading 


* After the above was in type, an actual weighing showed one hundred and 
eighteen pounds of air-dried fodder to the bushel of grain. 


92 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE. 


to Holliston, between the highway and the Milford Branch of 
the Boston & Albany Railroad. The soil is a gravelly loam, 
and although in sod for several years, and having been liber- 
ally top-dressed, yet the grass had become bound out, and 
the field, through diminished crops, scarcely worth mowing, 
showed that tillage was required. 

After being ploughed in May, the field received ninety 
loads of dung. The dung was of high quality, being pure 
cow-dung, slightly dusted with dirt, and from grain-fed and 
carefully-attended cattle, and taken from a cellar with a 
water-tight bottom. As our horse-cart body is five feet long, 
three and a half feet wide, and fourteen inches deep, and was 
carried as full as was possible at each trip, the field received 
20 cubic feet x 90 loads = 1,800 cubic feet — 128 feet = 
14 cords, or 5.2 cords per acre. 

The corn planted was a very fine eight-rowed variety, small 
in diameter, but long; the grain good-sized, bright yellow, 
hard and compact, with a small cob. A portion of this seed, 
presented us by Mr. S. B. Bird, of Framingham, it seems to 
us can scarcely be excelled. The field was planted May 20, 
and the corn came up in due time, and looked finely through- 
out the season of growth, showing less fodder and a greater 
maturity over the chemical fertilized field above described. 
The field received the amount of labor as given below, the 
labor rates being calculated on the same basis as before :— 


Man Labor. | Horse Labor, 


Haas Tones, Total Cost. | Cost per Acre. 

Breaking up, . : 5 12} 25 4 50 $1 67 
Harrowing, ; 8 16 2 88 1 06 
Half of dung, $8 per cord, é - ~ 56 00 20 74 
Hauling andapplying dung, 60 60 16 20 6 00 
Planting, . 5 : 284 3 5 40 2 00 
Two hoeings, E : : 117 32 23 94 8 86 
Stooking,* . . . 5 : iY) - 9 54 3 538 
Harvesting, ° : : 81 o4 19 44 7 20 
Husking, . : : 4 = = 27 00 10 00 

Total, . : 3 : 360 190 $164 90 $61 06 
Seed, . : A , ; _ - - 310) 


* Asa matter of convenience, a part of this field was topped at irregular times, as the cows 
required fodder. We therefore assume the labor of stooking as being the same per acre as 
with the fertilized field. Harvesting is also estimated the same as with the other crop. 


CHEMICAL CORN-GROWING. 93 


According to the report of the committee, the yield of this 
field is at the rate of one hundred bushels per acre. Hence 
we present the following account :— 


Total cost of crop per acre, . : : : : : : . $61 36 

Credit with 5 tons stover, at $8, . : ; ‘ ; . . 40 00 
Total cost of 100 bushels shelled corn, . 3 : , 7 O26 

Cost per bushel, . : : - - : : : : - O 214 


One strip of eleven rows of this field was left unmanured. 
The yield on this portion was at the rate of 68? bushels per 
acre, as below :— 


Merchantable corn, : : : : x : : . 68 bushels. 
Unsound corn, ; F : : ; : F pi ; $ bushel. 


Reasoning as with the fertilizer crop, Prof. Stockbridge 
would say that the 5.2 cords of manure applied to the field 
produced thirty-two bushels of corn, as this is the difference 
between the yields of the manured and the unmanured por- 
tions of the field. 

The question need not concern us, as farmers, whether the 
fertilized crop is cheaper than the manured crop, or vice versa; 
as farmers, we cannot obtain all the manure we would desire, 
but we can obtain fertilizers in unlimited quantity. Can we 
use these fertilizers to a profit, after we have used all the 
manure that we have. Although I propose to compare the 
items of expense of these two crops, I wish to discard the 
notion that any attempt is being made to show one system 
either superior or worse than the other. 


Expense per Acre. 


Manured | Fertilizer 
Crop. Crop. 

Breaking up, . . : - ; . . 3 | ($l) 670i) (Shag 
Harrowing, . - : - - 5 - : : 1 06 0 90 
Manure, . : : ; : : é ; : - 20 74 | 29 80 
Applying manure, ; ° : - : : : 6 00 0 34 
Planting, - 7 : . : 5 : : : 2,00 |) 2538 
Hoeing, . - : - : : : - - - 8 86 3 81 
Cutting and Stooking, . : : - : : : 3 53 3 53 
Total, . : : - - : . : - | $43 86 | $42 78 


94 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE. 


We first note that the cost of ploughing was greatest in 
the manured field. This difference was probably caused by 
the shorter length of furrow, which necessitated a greater 
number of turns, and which consumed time. The harrowing 
is as nearly alike as would be expected from the two fields. 
The cost of manure represents absolute amounts charged in 
the case of the fertilizer, in assumed amount in case of 
manure; of course there is a great difference of expense 
between broadcasting six hundred and sixty-five cubic feet of 
manure and three cubic feet of fertilizer. The planting of 
the fertilizer lot was increased over the manured lot by the 
use of fertilizer in the hill. The great difference between the 
cost of hoeings is a real difference. The manure contained 
seeds of weeds, and furnished them to the land. The fer- 
tilizer, on the contrary, was clean. Stooking, harvesting and 
husking is calculated on the same basis for both fields. 

The question will immediately occur to the practical farmer, 
How will the crop, after chemical fertilizer, leave the land? 
z. e., will not the condition of the land, through the use of 
chemicals, constantly deteriorate, until finally no crop can be 
profitably raised. 

A careful examination of the first portion of our essay will 
reply to this question on theoretical grounds. Provided you 
apply to the field, each year, the chemicals removed by your 
crop, your land is ever increasing in fertility ; in theory, the 
longer chemicals are understandingly used, the larger should 
be each recurring crop, after the chemicals have been used 
long enough to fairly provide each portion of the soil with 
soluble ingredients. The explanation, it will be remembered, 
is simple. In the processes of nature, disintegrations and 
oxidations are continually taking place in the soil, and minute 
particles from the stones are becoming thereby soluble. The 
rains bring down nitric acid and ammonia from the air; vege- 
table matter is continually in a state of decay; in a word, a 
field lying fallow grows fertile. Now, if you remove from 
your land no more than you apply, the balance is undisturbed, 
and your field is practically fallow. In practice, however, as 
we have shown, there can be no ratio between chemicals 
applied to the land in large quantity, and crops removed 
irrespective of variety and method of procedure. We have 


CHEMICAL CORN-GROWING. 95 


also pointed out that the crop cannot remove from the soil all 
the fertilizer applied. Therefore, in practice, in applying to 
the soil what we expect a large crop to remove, we do not 
obtain necessarily the large crop that we expect, and the 
balance of fertile element is retained in the soil; or should 
the large crop be obtained, it is not produced from, although 
it may be caused by, the chemicals we apply. 

However, we can answer this question for the practical 
farmer, in a practical way. If we look over the experiments 
at Rothamsted in England, we find on record one experiment 
in growing wheat on the same land for twenty years without 
manure. We present the yields in full, as indicating how 
much fertility may be depended upon to be furnished by 
climatic and natural influences in each year, from some 


soils :— 
Winter Wheat. 


YEARS. Bushels. Pecks. YEARS. Bushels. Pecks. 
1843-4, i : 15 @) 1853-4, .. : 21 o4 
1844-5, - - 23 032 1854-5, : F lf 0 
1845-6, 3 é il? 33 1855-6, : : 14 2 
1846-7, : . 16 34 1S5C=—ta aes : 19 aa 
1847-8, = - 14 3 1857-8, : ° 18 0) 
1848-9, : : 19 1 1858-9, . ; 18 1} 
1849-50,  . : 15 34 1859-60, . : 12 34 
1850-1, : 5 15 34 1860-1, Z : 11 11 
1851-2, 5 : 13 34 1861-2, . ‘ 16 i) 
1852-3, - : 5) 3} 1862-3, - : 17 1 


Average for first ten years, 15 bushels 3 pecks; for second ten years, 
16 bushels 2 pecks. Average for the 20 years, 16.2 bushels. 


The land is what may be called in England, fair average 
wheat land, and under ordinary management in the district 
may be rated at from twenty-five to twenty-seven bushels per 
acre. The soil is a somewhat heavy loam, with a subsoil of 
raw yellowish clay resting upon chalk, which furnishes good 
natural drainage. 

In another plot, marked 16a in Mr. Lawes’ tables, portion 
of the same experimental field given above, we have the yearly 
crops, for twenty years, as given below, the manure used being 
entirely chemical. In transcribing, I give the result approxi- 


96 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE. 


mately in bushels, instead of in bushels and pecks and fractions 


of pecks :— 
Yield of Wheat per Acre. 


YEARS. Bushels. YEARS. Bushels, 
18454 PV en Mayo i)», oi 98 4 All (SS ed ue nines as ee 
1844-5, . 5 ‘a hater te 328 1854-5, . : : : 334 
1845-6, . 5 : ; 23% 1855-6, . 4 : ‘ 38 
1846-7 tec ge. «5 y co fe OE » 1) SO Go toad | akan ee een ee 
1ed728,) eae Se. BOR TN TSb7 eek ey ee eee ete 
(SR =O eM OAR ob S88 E(t Biol Uy CaUNe fe tee ienl amaee 
1849-50, . : ; : 332 1859-60, . ; : : 32 
1850-1, . : : e 364 1860-1, . : : ; 364 
1851-2, . , c ‘ 28% 1861-2, . : F ; 364 
1852-3, . 4 : : 244 1862-3, . : é ; 56 


Average for first 10 years, 29.2 bushels ; for second 10 years, 40.8 bushels. 
Average for 20 years, 35 bushels. 


Does this table seem to indicate that chemical farming 
exhausts the soil? However, we will give another instance 
of a gentleman in England, who purchased rather a poor farm 
in 1861, and who, since that date, has sold off his standing 
crops at auction, and purchased chemical manure. The gen- 
tleman is Mr. Prout, and his farm is Blount’s Farm, 450 
acres, in Sawbridgeworth, Herts; and a full report thereon 
may be found in the last report of the Journal of the Royal 
Agricultural Society of England. [1875, xi. p. 38.] 

The following table will explain itself :— 


2 k Value of Manure | Reduced to Total of Crops Reduced to 

SIN OE SCAND EE USED. Applied to Crops. | Dollars. Sold. Dollars. 
VGN ae |G - - - - 
1862, Chemical £640 Os. Od.| $3,200 |£1,640 Os. Od. $8,200 
1863, and - - PET AW 0) 12,385 
1864, | London dung. - - 2,369 0 O | 11,845 
1865.4). GeO.) i. - =). | 2,465) 000) esas 
1866, Chemical, . . 434 19 11 2,170 | 3,330 5 9 | 16,650 
iS Oiee we S 5 : He) Ss 2,645 | 2.423 0 9 12,115 
186855. s . ».| 1473+ 69 7,065 | 4,726 0.8 | 28,630 
SOO Smee et : 5 |S Bd 6,410 | 3,742 0 O | 18,710 
W(V5.6 ¢ . ; 5 aye ey I 7,755 | 5,232 7 4 | 26,160 
Saleen es ee : el 254 GTS 6,270 | 4,625 14 11 | 23,125 
STZ) Md : o I ILOR eee 5,110 | 4,743 11 10 | 28,715 
Soe sf : | dja05) (O10 6,765 | 4,570 4 10 | 22,850 
sys 5 oe : . 950 15 6 4,750 | 4,628 0 O | 23,140 
USB" sc ee : : - - 4,630 19 6 | 23,150 


* Value not yet known. 


CHEMICAL CORN-GROWING. 9% 


I think a careful examination of what appears here, and I 
know of no contradictory evidence elsewhere, will satisfy any 
eandid mind, that the use of chemical fertilizers need not 
necessarily be destructive to land. 

After this presentation of our experiment, it may be useful 
to consider each element of our fertilizer separately, and 
applying such knowledge as we possess, indicate the manner 
in which they are supposed to have acted in the soil. 

Sulphate of ammonia.* When first applied, it remained 
inert until it became dissolved either by the moisture of the 
soil or by rains; as soon as dissolved, the soil commenced to 
act upon it, separating it into its component parts, sulphuric 
acid and ammonia. The ammonia became somewhat fixed 
within the soil, for most soils have some retaining power over 
ammonia, and even on highly-farmed land, but a third escapes 
with the drainage. The sulphuric acid, after its separation 
from the ammonia, passed downward with the water, and 
probably in combination with lime passed into the subsoil. 

It is a curious fact that, although ammonia is largely 
retained by the soil, thus furnishing a supply of nitrogen for 
the growing crop, yet if the nitrogen be supplied in the form 
of nitric acid, this passes readily through the soil, and escapes. 
Thus, if nitrate of soda be applied in solution to a soil, both ° 
the acid and the base penetrate the soil, and pass downward 
with the water of filtration. If nitrate of potash be in like 
manner applied, the potash is in large measure retained, but 
the nitrogen pursues its path downward with the water. We 
thus see, that when nitrogen is supplied to the soil through 
an acid, rather than a base, the progress downward with the 
water is free, and consequently it can be in a position to afford 
nutriment to the plant for but comparatively a short time. 
Nitric acid may, however, be retained longer in some soils 
than others; but in a light soil, such as ours, theory bids us 
avoid nitrogen in the form of an acid, and seek it in the form 
of a base. Hence the sulphate of ammonia is the preferable 
source of supply over nitrate of soda. 


* Sulphate of ammonia is not entirely retained by soils, but only largely : nitrate 
of soda but little. Under conditions as they occur in England, chemical nitrogen is 
disposed of as follows: One-third to the crop, one-third remains inert in soil, and one- 
third is lost through drainage. 


13* 


98 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE. 


In muriate of potash, we are applying not only chlorine and 
potash, two essential constituents of plant-growth, but also 
variable quantities of soda, magnesia and lime. In like 
manner with the sulphate of ammonia, the separation of acid 
and base takes place here, and the potash is retained in the 
soil to almost a complete extent, while the muriatic acid 
passes readily downward with the water. Hence, whatever 
potash is left over from this year’s crop is available for the 
uses of vegetation another year. In applying kainit, we 
calculated, therefore, for the potash to be carried within 
reach of the growing roots, before becoming entirely fixed by 
the soil, and it is probable that we were also greatly aided 
here by the moist season encouraging root-growth nearer the 
surface than ordinary. 

In sulphate of potash we have similar actions, as above 
referred to, but in our phosphoric acid we have an instance 
of an acid being retained by the soil: so completely does the 
soil retain this material, that even in soils containing soluble 
phosphoric acid in great abundance, but the faintest traces 
even appear in the waters of drainage. Hence, once applied, 
it remains in the soil until removed by crops or vegetation. 
Superphosphate of lime may be applied at a greater depth 
from the surface, than in our case, with advantage. 

In a few words let me call attention, in concluding, to a few 
lessons learned from this experiment of ours, although some 
of this information has been merely hinted at in the preced- 
ing pages. 

First, the importance of the proper variety of seed. If 
possible, seed of a variety which under high culture will bear 
two ears to the stalk should be selected. This is a most 
essential point for a large crop. Then the variety should be 
a small-foddered one. In a heavy-foddered crop, there is a 
certain loss, as the fertility removed is of far more value in 
the form of grain, than in the form of stover. 

Second, the importance of a correct system of planting. 
The essential here is to place the hills as near together as the 
habit of growth of the variety used, will allow; and to leave 
as many stalks in the hill as is possible. A field which will 
mature ears on each stalk, six to a hill, will about double the 
yield over the same ora similar field with three stalks. 


THE CULTURE OF THE APPLE. 99 


THE CULTURE OF THE APPLE. 
MIDDLESEX SOUTH. 


From an Essay by ABEL F. STEVENS. 


There are certain things that are requisite, in the successful 
cultivation of the apple, in order to secure the best results. 
We shall briefly notice them under soils, situation, shelter, 
pruning and management of trees, and the selection of vari- 
eties. The soil and location selected must be such as will be 
adapted to the growth of the tree and the production of fruit. 
We regard a good, rich, mellow loam, on a strong, clayey sub- 
soil, the very best for an apple-orchard; on such soils we 
find the greatest and most enduring vigor and fertility, the 
healthiest and hardiest trees, and the finest and _ best-flavored 
fruits. Apples grown on a clayey soil keep better and longer 
than those grown on light soils. If the location can be had 
on the south-eastern or south-western slope of a hill, so much 
the better. If the site chosen for the orchard is not protected 
naturally, then a good belt of hardy evergreen trees—the 
Norway spruce or white pine, set out in hedge-form—will 
make an excellent protection. 

We consider the matter of shelter and protection of the 
greatest importance. Its necessities are twofold: to guard 
against excessive aridity during summer, and severe cold 
during winter; in other words, to modify the debilitating 
effects of the injurious evaporation produced by the extremes 
of heat and cold. Our natural forests are rapidly being 
destroyed, and their destruction tends to lessen the moisture 
both of the atmosphere and the soil. Thus we must protect 
our fruit-gardens from both extremes, for perfect maturity of 
growth is the great object of all cultivation. This very impor- 
tant fact should always be uppermost in the mind of the fruit- 
grower,—cultivation and pruning of the tree. 


100 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE. 


Having chosen our location, we are ready for transplanting 
the trees. In our latitude, the spring is preferable, owing to 
the trying winds of fall and winter. The trees should be — 
three to five years from the bud, of good vigorous growth, 
well-ripened wood, straight stems, medium to low-headed ; a 
good thrifty top indicates good roots. Such trees should 
be selected for the orchard. Before planting, prune out 
all superfluous shoots of slender growth in the head, leay- 
ing three or four main branches to form a head; let in the 
light and air for the perfection of growth; the top must be in 
proportion to the roots; if there is a loss of many roots, cut 
back the tops so as to secure a proper balance between the 
two; the ends of all roots must be cut off smoothly, so as to 
heal sooner and throw out young fibres,—the life of the new 
tree. Always secure the most roots possible on the trees you 
purchase, and in the best order, for on these depend the life 
and aftergrowth of the trees. 

As to the arrangement of the trees, the best form is a 
square, the right distance thirty feet apart, the rows being 
straight each way. After thoroughly ploughing and mark- 
ing out the lot, dig the holes large enough to receive all the 
roots, the subsoil to be loosened up. Some surface-soil hav- 
ing been thrown into the holes, have the tree about as deep 
as it is set in the nursery, place around the roots carefully the 
rich soil, but no rank manure whatever should be allowed 
near the roots, but firmly place the loam around all the little 
roots, gently shaking the tree, then fill up and tread down 
firmly. If the roots are still wet, as they should be, no water 
should be turned on the tree after transplanting. To keep 
the ground moist, put a good mulch of straw, old hay, etc., 
all over the surface, or stir the surface of the soil by frequent 
cultivating or hoeing, for there is no better preventive of 
drought than constant and deep cultivation of the surface. The 
trees will require more or less pruning during their growth ; 
let the heads be shaped right whi'e young, by being kept 
open, removing all weak-growing shoots so as to give vigor 
to the tree. While young, the only instrument required will 
be the pruning-knife. Always cut clean and smooth, that the 
wound may heal soon, From the seedling tree, through all 


THE CULTURE OF THE APPLE. 101 


stages of growth to maturity, pruning, to some extent and 
for some purposes, is necessary. 

Pruning is one of the most important operations connected 
with the management of trees: it is a surgical operation and 
should be performed with care and judgment. The advice of 
many is, prune “at any time or place.” ‘To this slovenly, in- 
judicious and outrageous advice, we say no, most emphatically 
No; to prune intelligently requires a knowledge of the struct- 
ure of the tree. 

The season of pruning is very important, as the true theory 
is based on the condition of the sap. For the removal of 
large limbs from the trees, the best time is just after the fall 
of the leaves in November, for it is the proper time as regards 
the science of life, health and action in the trees. There is 
no thin sap, the very life-blood of the tree, to flow out now, 
but the coursing sap has been elaborated by the leaves during 
July, August and September, and returned directly under 
the bark to form alburnum or sap-wood, which annually in- 
creases the diameter of the branches. The objects of prun- 
ing are threefold; viz., form, vigor and fruitfulness. 

First, the form. We consider the best shape for our apple- 
trees is the “round head” or “umbrella” shape, not only for 
symmetry, but for the free circulation of the air and light, 
and the convenient gathering of the fruit; this form also is 
self-protecting, as it shades the trunk from the sun in summer 
and breaks the wind in winter. Pruning for vigor: We should 
ever remember that the leaves are the lungs of the tree, that 
vitalize the sap; and if the branches and roots are in due 
ratio to each other, a loss of them must impair the vitality. In 
removing side branches or suckers—they are rightly named, 
as they suck the life-sap from the tree, and divert the sap 
from its proper functions in promoting vigor and fruitfulness, 
—we give new vigor and stimulate the growth. Pruning to 
induce fruitfulness is less understood and less practised than 
the other two methods; the principle is just the reverse of 
that upon which we prune for vigor. It is the Banting sys- 
tem applied to vegetation. A very fat animal is proverbially 
a poor breeder; so an overluxuriant tree is a poor bearer ; 
we must check this wisely, or injury will follow; “pinching” 


102 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE. 


back the most rampant growing shoots will check the free 
circulation of the sap, and thus promote fruitfulness. Root- 
pruning is a very effectual method, yet its permanent effects 
on the life and vigor of the tree are somewhat questionable. 
Two maxims are to be observed in pruning: first, never prune 
while the sap is thin, as it will injure the tree ; second, always 
cut close and clean, and cover large wounds with wax or gum- 
shellac dissolved in alcohol. 

Yet, no matter how scientifically we study to prune or form 
the top, if we neglect the roots, our trees fail ; a vigorous grow- 
ing tree is a rank feeder on the soil; therefore we must fur- 
nish it with the requisite elements of food ; all growth of grass 
or grain must be stopped around young growing fruit-trees. 
The soil may be looked upon as the laboratory of nature, 
where her great decomposing agencies, air and water, prepare 
the food for plants, and the object of culture is to facilitate 
the chemical operations. Experience shows that frequent 
stirring of the surface stratum of the soil, thus allowing the 
air and moisture to penetrate to the growing roots, is the 
most essential item in cultivation. An annual dressing of 
ashes or bone-dust spread on as far as the limbs extend, and 
Sorked under, will greatly assist the growth. All the rough 
bark should be carefully scraped off, and in early spring a 
solution of soft-soap, or better still, whale-oil soap (and if 
inclined to be mossy, dissolve a pound of potash in water), 
applied to the limbs and trunks, which will rid them of all 
insects’ eggs that harbor there. Borers can be killed by a 
sharp wire: follow up in the holes made by them; be sure and 
keep off the caterpillars, web-worms, etc. 

A very important question is, What varieties shall we grow ? 
As it costs no more to have the best than the poorest sorts, 
be careful to select the very best, and those that are adapted 
to your locality. Old Massachusetts is eminently the home 
of the apple! And in no place, from the State that first greets 
the rising sun on the east, to the golden slope of the Pacific 
Coast, does better flavored fruit grow than in our own State. 
Had not our soil been congenial to the apple, how could we 
have produced such varieties as the Porter, Hubbardston, 
Williams, Baldwin, Pippin, Russet, etc.? And all but two 


THE CULTURE OF THE APPLE. 103 


of these originated in Middlesex County, the Roxbury Rus- 
set in Norfolk, and the Hubbardston in Worcester County. 
Here is a fact worthy of note: that these varieties, that are so 
popular in all the New England States, are the very leading 
sorts throughout the far West, where millions of bushels are 
grown every year. For a list of twelve sorts extending 
through the seasons of summer, fall and winter, we would 
recommend for summer, Red Astrachan, Williams, Sweet 
Bough and Golden Sweet ; for fall, Gravenstein, Porter, Pip- 
pin and Hubbardston; for winter, Rhode Island Greening, 
Baldwin, Roxbury Russet and Tolman’s Sweet. We might 
extend this list, but we believe that the above covers all that 
are worthy of growing for the market or home use. There 
are several varieties of crab-apples that are very profitable 
to grow. 

For the local market very early sorts are the best, but for 
a distant market late sorts command the most remunerative 
prices. Large, handsome red sorts sell more readily than 
light-colored ones, which show the slightest bruise. For home 
use the highest flavored should be chosen. As a rule, early 
apples seldom retain long their flavor or beauty after being 
picked. A word about keeping apples: they will keep better 
if picked a little before they ripen, so as to fall from the stem 
in autumn, and they should be kept in as cool a temperature 
as possible, just above freezing-point, and subject to a little 
variation. They will thus retain their flavor and form. Imme- 
diately after gathering, spread in a dry, cool apartment, with 
a free circulation of air. They should not be covered up or 
headed up tight in boxes or barrels for two or three weeks 
after being gathered, as they must sweat or throw off their 
natural moisture to keep well. 

Fruit-culture, whether considered as a branch of profitable 
industry, or as exercising a most beneficial influence upon the 
health, habits and tastes of the people, becomes a great 
national interest ; and whatever may assist in making it better 
understood, more interesting and better adapted to the various 
wants and circumstances of the community, cannot fail to pro- 
mote the public good. And at the very head of fruits stands 
the apple. When we consider its value as an article of food, 


104 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE. 


its commercial worth, its adaptation to varied climes and 
soils, we are unable to account for the comparative apathy of 
our people in not growing more of the vast quantities of this 
fruit that are used in our State, and thus save the millions of 
dollars that are paid out of this State annually for apples 
grown in the Middle and Western States. It is proverbial 
that the apples of Massachusetts are not equalled in flavor by 
any grown in the Union. And at the great markets of Bos- 
ton, of the apples offered for sale, the “ fairest and the best” 
are grown in Middlesex County. This county has ever borne 
the banner for her fine fruit. 

In coming years may the hillsides of this county be adorned 
with young, vigorous, fruitful orchards, and we again have 
this standard fruit in the same abundance as in its pristine 
days. To accomplish this we must begin anew, by starting 
our future orchards with hardy, native seedling-stocks, budded 
or grafted to the very best hardy new varieties known to the 
orchardist, and only those that have met the approval of author- 
ities in horticulture. We have much, I think, to expect from 
the many new and improved varieties ; also from choice seed- 
lings that are now being tested, and will soon be given to the 
public. 


FARM IMPROVEMENTS. 105 


FARM IMPROVEMENTS. 
ESSEX. 
From the Report of the Committee. 


Imerovine Swamp-Lanps.—The members of the Com- 
mittee met July 5, to view a piece of meadow or swamp- 
land entered by Mr. Samuel Dane of Hamilton. The piece, 
containing about six acres in all, is divided by an open ditch 
into two lots, measuring respectively about four and ene-half 
and one and one-half acres. The land before being improved 
was a wet, soft muck, ten to fifteen feet deep, about one-half 
wooded with old maple and pine stumps, the remainder 
covered with bushes and brambles. It emitted an offensive 
and miasmatic odor, and was entirely worthless. The main 
ditch through the piece above spoken of, as well as some 
other ditches leading into it, were dug before Mr. Dane 
bought the place; but these ditches were rendered almost 
useless by obstructions at the outlet, subsequently removed 
by a change in the adjoining highway. 

On the small piece Mr. Dane commenced work in 1869, by 
cutting down the hassocks and digging cross-ditches to the 
main drain, at intervals of twenty-five feet. Having thus 
levelled and drained the surface, he covered it with gravel 
from the adjoining high lands to the depth of three or four 
inches and sowed grass-seed. With only this treatment, and 
no manure of any kind, the crop is stated to have been two 
tons per acre for each of the last five years. The crop of 
this year was standing, and was estimated by the Committee 
to come fully up to this standard. Mr. Dane gives the cost 
of ditching, levelling, etc., as $25; the cost of gravelling as 
$45; cost of seed $4; and of cutting and saving the hay as 
$5 per ton, or.$75—a tetal cost of $149. 

; 14* 


106 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE. 


A crop of two tons per acre, on one and one-half acres for five 
years, would be fifteen tons in all, which at twenty- 
five dollars per ton amounts to, . : : 2 . $375 00 
Leaving a profit of : ; : : : : .  226°00 


Work on the large piece was commenced in 1870, and has 
been continued to the present time as opportunity offered. 
The deep, wet footing, the almost impervious bramble 
thickets, and the size and toughness of the stumps and buried 
logs made the task as difficult as could be found anywhere. 
Ditches were to be dug, bushes and brambles to be cut out 
and destroyed, hassocks levelled, stumps and tree-trunks to 
be uncovered, cut to pieces, raised and hauled off, and the 
piece converted from a worthless jungle to a productive field. 
This has taken time and money, and is not yet completed—the 
four and one-half acres being in all stages, from work just 
begun on one side to the growing crops on the other. Much 
of the wood and roots had to be burned with the brush, but a 
good deal has been saved and sold or used. 

On the side of the piece first cleared, gravel from the bank 
near by was carted on to the depth of three or four inches, 
over the space of about one acre, a small quantity of fish- 
compost spread and harrowed in, and grass-seed sown. Mr. 
Dane states the produce of this acre to have fully equalled for 
the past five years what it was when the Committee saw it, 
and estimated it to be two and one-half tons of hay, some of 
the stalks being over five feet in height. Grass-seed has 
been sown on other parts of the piece, which have been 
drained, cleared, and levelled, but not gravelled or manured, 
but the crop is sickly and of small value. Corn and vegetables 
nave also been cultivated, but without much success. The 
soil of such a place is too sour and cold to grow crops without 
the application of some amendment. 

Mr. Dane gives his outlay and returns on this four and 
one-half acres as follows :— 


Labor of ditching, getting off wood and stumps, grub- 


bing up and Elling, harrowing, and seeding, . . $230 00 
Cost of seed, ; 5 ' ; : ‘ 9 00 
Compost, and ieee of Applvin ab akeds Ve : : : ; 8 50 
Cutting and harvesting hay, . 5 ; : : : 75 00 


Total ys. - Ah ee ° ° A . $3822 50 


FARM IMPROVEMENTS. 107 


Value of maple wood at $6 per cord, : . . $200 00 
«“ pine « SA UR >. 3 no S000 
123 tons of hay at $25 perton, . : : ‘ . 3812 50 


Tally. a cee oc oc PR OU 


Net profit, : : : : é ‘ : . $240 00 
Total net profit on the six acres, . : : - 466 00 


The Committee saw enough to enable them to judge that 
the crops were not overestimated; but for the amount of 
work which must have been done they think Mr. Dane’s 
estimate of cost is too low. Mr. Dane kept no account at the 
time, not expecting to enter his land for premium, and he 
depends much on memory for the details. He states, how- 
ever, that a large part of the labor was done in the winter, 
and at very cheap rates. But the excess of profit shown by 
the above statement is large enough to cover a much higher 
estimate of cost, and even if we should allow the expenses to 
be as great as the return, which cannot possibly be the case, 
the increased value of the land, and the removal of the former 
offensive and unwholesome exhalations are sufficient to make 
the work remunerative. 

The Committee, however, cannot withhold their belief that 
open ditches, such as Mr. Dane has dug, are the poorest way 
of draining wet lands. They soon become obstructed by the 
caving in of the soil and the accumulation of vegetable mat- 
ter, so as to prevent the free passage of the water, and the 
work has to be done over again, or the land and crops relapse 
into the poor and valueless condition from which they were 
temporarily reclaimed. Good, permanent work is almost 
always the cheapest in the end, and a drain of tile or stones 
properly laid will far outlast the open ditches, be more effect- 
ive, allow the passage of teams, make cultivation easier, and 
be finally the most economical. 

Already parts of the ditches on this meadow are so choked 
as to be unequal to the work they ought to do, and in such 
places the cultivated grass is giving way to the coarse and 
reedy herbage natural to wet localities. Still, so far as it has 
been completed, the Committee judge Mr. Dane’s experiment 


108 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE. 


in great measure a success, and an encouragement and 
example to others in the county who possess such lands. 


Henry SALTONSTALL, Chairman. 


UNDERDRAINING LAND. 
ESSEX. 


From the Report of the Comiittee. 


The Committee take pleasure in calling attention to the 
annexed statement of Mr. Gregory, and they suggest that the 
farmers of the county might learn much, by a visit to his 
farm, which cannot readily be put into this statement. <Al- 
though the work of underdraining is necessarily buried, still 
its effects are plainly visible on the surface, and must be seen 
to be fully appreciated. 

The Committee visited Mr. Gregory’s farm on the 11th of 

October, after heavy rains, when they found the low muck- 
lands so well drained, that they were in good condition for 
any treatment—some of this land, wth crops of cabbages still 
standing, and other parts covered with lately-pulled onions left 
to be dried, where, probably, without drainage, they would 
have been flooded. 
_ As will be seen by his statement, Mr. Gregory did not 
enter a single piece of land of uniform character, but the 
entire tillage-land on the farm, which comprises nearly every 
variety of soil, the most of which he has underdrained with 
nearly equal benefit to all. 

Underdraining may be classified as follows :— 

1. Thorough drainage. 
2. Partial drainage. 
3. Sufficient drainage. 

The first, as the word implies, affects equally every part of 
the land,—has no open ditches, and but one “ outlet.” It 
usually requires the services of an engineer, and is a very 
nice and somewhat expensive piece of work,—as, for instance, 


UNDERDRAINING LAND. 109 


a large field of clay land, whether lying low or not, and 
without regard to its condition as to wetness from springs, 
may be more profitably treated by thorough drainage than by 
any other system. The rule usually prescribed for this kind 
of drainage is, tile laid not more than thirty-three feet apart, 
and as nearly three feet deep as the nature of the ground and 
the drop of the outlet will admit. Its cost, at prices of labor 
since the war, is not far from $100 per acre. 

2. “ Partial drainage ” is such as only partly or imperfectly 
secures the object aimed at, although it often does much good, 
as when one drain is placed through the middle of a piece of 
land, leaving parts on either side that may be full of springs 
—or where no suflicient fall can be had to secure a proper 
outlet. This kind is to be tolerated only when the exigencies 
of the case permit of nothing better. 

3. “Sufficient drainage” may be described as that which 
completely secures the object without any unnecessary ex- 
pense. For example: a field of sandy loam, upon a subsoil 
of gravel, would ordinarily be considered as sufficiently 
drained by nature, and yet it may be kept too wet by a spring 
of water in its higher part. To tap this spring, and draw its 
water in the most direct line to the nearest available outlet, 
would be sufficient. Sufficient drainage is the kind which 
Mr. Gregory has applied, with admirable judgment and com- 
plete success. 

As for the kind of tile to be used, the Committee are of 
opinion that round tiles, with collars, are preferable to those 
used by Mr. Gregory. ' The first cost of these tiles is but 
little more, and much less expense for labor and materials is 
required to fix them in place and hold them in line. The 
collars serve the double purpose of holding the joints immov- 
ably in line and protecting them against the passage of sand 
or other matter. These points are of the greatest importance 
in work which is to be buried from sight, and which is 
intended to endure for many years. 


D. F. Aprprteton, Chairman. 


110 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE. 


Statement of J. J. H. Gregory. 


The underdrained land I enter is located on the Glover 
Farm, Marblehead, near the junction of the roads to Salem 
and Lynn. The portions drained embrace several tracts ; 
viz., gravelly loam, underlaid by hardpan; muck meadow, 
underlaid by clay; and a strong clay soil, increasing in stiff- 
ness, until, at a depth of about three feet, a good brick clay is 
reached. An open ditch runs through the middle of the farm, 
and the various drains open into this. The draining has been 
done almost wholly by tile, a part the horseshoe, but mostly 
the sole tile, as those having a bottom are called; these 
having been laid at depths from the surface varying from 
- three to four feet. In draining the gravelly portion near the 
barn, I began about three hundred feet above the lowest 
place, opening my drains about thirty-two feet apart, and 
laying two-inch tile, which emptied at-right angles into five- 
inch, the latter into the main ditch; with this one excep- 
tion, all the tile opened directly into the main ditch. The 
entire length of tile laid was about four miles. 

Following directions given by theoretical writers, who drain 
more on paper than on soil, I procured a lot of English drain- 
ing implements, which proved utterly worthless in our hard- 
pan, however well they might be made to work in the clays of 
England. I found one of the greatest wastes of labor, which 
greatly augmented the cost, in the habit my men had acquired 
of digging wide ditches. The ditches having been excavated 
at the required depth, a half of a hard brick was firmly set 
where the ditch ended, and against this one end of the tile 
was closely set to prevent the soil working in with the water. 
The tile (those well baked having been carefully selected) 
were placed end to end, as closely fitted as possible, until the 
open ditch was reached. Small stones were firmly wedged 
between each side of each tile, and the side of the ditch, to 
keep them in line, and a forkful of eel-grass, which is almost 
indestructible, dropped over each joint. When the quantity 
of water to be carried off was very large, small stones, to the 
depth of three or four inches, were carefully placed over the 
tile, and these were covered with eel-grass. The soil was put 


UNDERDRAINING LAND. 111 


on with great care to prevent any breaking of the tile, and so 
consequently destroying the drain. In putting on this first 
layer of soil, I had a man stand in the ditch, and taking the 
earth from the sides, carefully place it. On the muck-meadow, 
where the bottom of the ditch did not reach the clay, I laid 
hemlock boards about six inches in width. 

The ditches on the clay soil were dug to a depth of over 
three feet. I am satisfied that this was a mistake, and if they 
had been dug to a depth of two feet and a half, and been put 
as near again together, they really would have been more 
satisfactory. In reclaiming some of the tracts, I found that 
ditches conveying the water from the springs which drained 
them directly into the main open ditch were all that was 
necessary. Some acres of muck-meadow were by this means 
drained sufficiently dry without the systematic placing of tiles 
every two rods. In one instance where a ditch came near a 
wall where plenty of small, loose stones had accumulated in 
the course of many years’ dumping, I had the experiment tried 
of using these in place of tile, with reference to determining 
the comparative cost. The result was decidedly in favor of 
the tile; the great deal of handling of the stone made neces- 
sary in collecting them and selecting the smaller ones for the 
water-course, and the sluw care necessary in placing and 
covering these, required extra time, the value was far more 
than an offset for the cost of the tile. 

The general result of this extensive tile-draining has been 
to bring under successful cultivation many acres that had 
never before been cultivated, and to so drain drowned areas 
of their superfluous water that some of the best tillage-land 
now on the farm embraces tracts that previously could not be 
relied upon for a crop oftener than one year in two. Tosum 
up briefly the whole matter, it brought into excellent tillage 
condition a farm previously notoriously wet and cold. I 
close with a suggestion to my brother farmers: don’t expect 
too much from your underdraining the first one or two years ; 
it will take that time for most of the water in the saturated 
earth to find routes to the tile, and so complete the under- 
ground system of drainage. 


112 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE. 


FRUIT-CULTURE. 
ESSEX. 


From the Report of the Committee. 


The apple has of late years received much abuse among us, 
and the planting and care of apple-trees has been ridiculed by 
those even who would be our teachers. 

Even the subject of the “permanent decline of the apple 
orchards of New England” has been suggested by the highest 
authority, and it becomes us all (all at least who intend to 
raise our own apples, and follow it as a profitable business) to 
look into those things and see if they are really so. 

Our own opinion is simply this: that there is a “per- 
manent decline” in many and most of the apple-orchards in 
this part of New England, and that it arises from sheer 
neglect or an undue zeal in the wrong direction. Who that 
has travelled through any of the towns in this county, during 
the last summer, has not noticed with sadness and humiliation 
the effects of the tent caterpillar, or seen the trees “burnt as 
with fire” by the persistent canker-worm, thus marring the 
beauty of our otherwise beautiful scenery? Can trees in such 
a condition be reasonably expected to bear regular crops of 
good marketable fruit? Or, if left wholly to the ravages of 
these and other insects for five, ten or fifteen years, is it a 
wonder that many of our orchards should show symptoms of 
a “permanent decline”? 

We notice in the “Transactions of the Massachusetts Hor- 
ticultural Society” for 1874, that the subject of “legislative 
enactments to prevent the multiplication of injurious insects 
in neglected orchards” was fully discussed, and a bill to that 
effect strongly urged by some of the members. In fact, such 
a bill was presented some six years ago to the agricultural 


FRUIT CULTURE. 113 


committee of the legislature, but for some unexplained reason 
was never reported. Your Committee, in behalf of the Essex 
Society, would go heart and hand for such a law, provided it 
could be passed and carried into successful operation. 

At present, in lieu of such a law by the legislature, your 
Committee cannot too strongly urge upon farmers and fruit- 
growers everywhere, to cut down old and neglected apple- 
trees, not only in pastures and by road-sides, but in fields and 
gardens; those that your good judgment and common-sense 
would lead you to think are past recovery or not worth pro- 
tecting, we would say, emphatically, cué down. The same 
would apply to the wild cherry-tree, which is a pest and a 
nuisance everywhere. Those of our apple-trees which are 
worth anything, we would say proéect and cultivate as any other 
farm crop, which treatment we have found, both by observa- 
tion and experience, will recover the trees, causing them to 
make a strong, vigorous growth, and bear abundant crops of 
fruit, thus in themselves ridiculing the idea of a “permanent 
decline.” 

This society has for several years past offered very liberal 
premiums for the “ best-conducted experiment for preventing 
the ravages of the canker-worm,” and although experiments 
have been made and patents applied for, and in one or two 
instances premiums awarded, we regret to say that in many 
sections of this county the canker-worms still have it pretty 
much their own way. Probably, if carefully attended, these 
new-fashioned troughs for oil or coal tar would be effectual ; 
but how often do we see them neglected for a whole season ! 
How often do we see the oil overflowing or oozing out and 
covering a large portion of the trunk below, thus injuring the 
tree as much as do the worms themselves! These troughs 
are expensive, and ought to be attended to when applied, and 
for a few trees, in garden or orchard, are probably the best 
thing; but we believe the whole thing to be a failure, and 
that the old method of applying printers’ ink is still the best. 
One member of your Committee protects a thousand trees 
every year with this “grub ink” so effectually, that only 
worms enough are left to keep the seed good, and at an 
expense, reckoning both labor and material, of only about 
four cents to a tree annually. This protection would be still 

15* 


114 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE. 


more effectual were it not that many of the orchards in the 
immediate neighborhood are not protected at all. 

The best method is to commence in good season in the fall, 
about October first, and tack narrow strips of tarred paper, 
some five or six inches wide, tightly around the tree, just 
below the limbs; upon this apply the ink (when warm, in the 
middle of the day,), a good coat at first, afterwards a mere 
touching will answer; apply once or twice a week till cold 
weather sets in, and should there be a long-continued warm 
spell in winter, an application or two might be well. Com- ° 
mence in the spring as soon as the frost is out four or five 
inches, and continue as long as the grubs run, generally about 
a month. Remove the bandages every spring. Procure a 
good article, and follow it up carefully for one or two years, 
and very few worms will be left. 

For destroying the caterpillars, commence when they are 
quite small; take them when they are at home, generally 
early in the morning, or by ten or eleven o’clock in the fore- 
noon. The “handiest ” way to kill them is the best, though 
a stiff, conical brush attached to a pole, is very convenient. 
If all would take hold in earnest, these pests might easily be 
got rid of, as they are much more controllable than the canker- 
worm. The apple-tree borer is troublesome at times, but can 
easily be destroyed. The curculio appears at times, as though 
determined to destroy all our fruit; but one thing is certain, 
they are not more plenty than they were twenty years ago, 
and with the destruction of our plums and many of our sweet 
cherries, they appear to be partially satisfied, and with nothing 
left but the apple and pear to prey upon, they will probably 
diminish, rather than increase. 


T. C. Tuurtow, Chairman. 


FRUITS. 115 


f RUD Ps. 
ESSEX. 


From the Report of the Committee on Grapes. 


Looking back upon the record of our society, as published, 
in the reports of committees on fruit, we find, year after year, 
premiums and gratuities awarded for choice fruit that was a 
gratification to those interested, and a pleasing sight to the 
looker-on at the hall. But what lasting information to the 
society was gained by it? None. If Mr. A. had better fruit 
than Mr. B., and Mr. C. had unhealthy and unproductive 
trees and vines, so that he could not exhibit at all, how was he 
to get information to help him unless he visited or wrote to 
Mr. A. to know how he did it, which he would not be likely to 
get in as good a way as from the report of a committee who 
pass judgment on the merits of the fruits exhibited, and who - 
are entitled by the rules of our society to receive such informa- 
tion, and which, if not furnished, they should seek after for 
their own information and the information of hundreds and 
thousands who read the annual report of the society’s doings, 
many of whom are unable to attend the exhibition. 

Feeling such a lack of information on a subject which deeply 
interests a great many, and finding myself, much to my sur- 
prise, from my imperfect knowledge of the subject, Chairman 
of this Committee, I felt that this year, at least, the Com- 
mittee ought to take a new departure from the old rut, and 
therefore, to do it, called upon the principal exhibitors to put 
their shoulders to the wheels and help them out by answering 
the following questions: How were your vines started,—by 
single eye, cuttings or layers? How old are they? How 
old were they when planted? What was the soil? How 
enriched since planting, and when? What exposure have 


116 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE. 


your vines? How trained? How trimmed, and when? Do 
your grapes ripen well every year? How many vines have 
you, and the kinds? What kinds do you recommend as best 
adapted for Essex County soil, freest of disease and surest of 
ripening ? 

How many peach-trees have you, and the kinds? How old 
are they? How old when set out for bearing? What was 
your soil? How and when enriched since planting? How 
trimmed? What kinds do you recommend for cultivation in 
Essex County for eating ?—for preserving? 

Have your grape-vines or peach-trees had any disease? If 
so, what have you done for it, and the effect? Give any other 
information relating to grapes or peaches and their culture, 
that you think might benefit our society. 

The response has been such that it has taken us out of the 
old rut, with a good push ahead, and will be found in the 
shape of statements appended to this report, which to myself 
have proved interesting and instructive, and I feel assured 
that they will prove so to others. They are submitted with- 
out criticism or recommendation, for all interested to read 
carefully and then form their own judgment of what is best 
to plant and how to cultivate it, from the actual experience of 
those right about them, ever remembering that no one is too 
old to plant seed with the expectation of eating the fruit. I 
have in mind Mrs. Riggs, residing not far from me, who, 
when cighty-eight years of age, planted two peach-stones 
from the fruit of the same tree, which made two trees, on one 
of which the fruit is smaller and a fortnight earlier than the 
other. Both have been in bearing three years. The first year 
in bearing she sold a half-peck for eighty-seven cents, and 
this fall, being ninety-five years of age, and smart at that, 
after supplying her own family, sold a half-bushel of nice 
peaches from the trees. 

Daviv W. Low, Chairman. 


Statement of T. C. Thurlow, West Newbury. 


We have been in the business of raising vines, etc., for 
many years; have generally started our grape-vines from 
two or three eye cuttings, wholly in open ground without 


FRUITS. ap 


glass ; have sometimes layered vines, but think one way about 
as good as the other, though it is much the quickest and cheap- 
est way to grow vines from a one or two eye cutting. I 
should recommend planting them when two or three years 
old. Ishould always prefer a light, dry soil for the grape, 
with a south or south-east exposure, and should never manure 
the soil with any animal manure, but with potash in the shape 
of dry wood ashes or dissolved potash, lime, bone-dust, ete. 
For vineyard planting I should prefer two stakes of cedar, or 
some other durable wood, set say three feet apart, and the 
vine planted between them and trained around both. I should 
always trim in the fall, during pleasant weather, just after the 
fall of the leaf. 

We have not many bearing vines now, as the past two 
or three seasons have not been favorable to their ripening. 
Grapes to ripen well in this vicinity require a dry, warm sea- 
son, without frost till very late. I do not think the climate 
here as good to ripen grapes in as it is farther west in the same 
latitude, say in New York or northern Ohio. For my own 
planting I should prefer our very best natives, as Concord, 
Hartford Prolific, ete. Those that have foreign blood in them, 
as the Rogers’ Hybrids and a host of others, may do well for 
a few years, but are short-lived at the best; this has been my 
experience. We all hope for a good native early grape, say 
two or three weeks earlier than the Concord and of as good 
quality as that variety, but we have not found it yet. Of 
course these remarks apply wholly to out-door cultivation, 
without any protection or glass. 

I should recommend for this county the Concord, Hartford 
Prolific, Clinton and Isabella in very warm, protected local- 
ities; the same for Diana, Delaware, Adirondack, etc. We 
hope something from the new varieties, as Cambridge, Croton, 
Moore’s Early, and some of Bull’s new seedlings ; but my own 
experience with all the Rogers’, Eumelan, Delaware, Rebecca, 
Allen’s Hybrid, Iona, Israella, Crevelling, etc., has not been 
such as would warrant me in recommending them for general 
cultivation in Essex County. 

I believe we can raise peaches in this county as well as 
ever, unless something unforeseen should happen to the trees, 
for they now look perfectly healthy, at least in this vicinity, 


118 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE. 


except where they were killed at the roots last winter as they 
were in very many instances where the roots were not protected 
as they should be. I have some two hundred peach-trees 
planted three to five years which look well considering that 
they were planted on a northern hillside in a very unfavorable 
location. Quite a number were killed in the root last winter, 
which gives them a sickly, dying look which some people 
would take for the “ yellows,” but that is a disease I have not 
seen at all for several years. These bore pretty well this 
season, some of the trees bearing one-half to one bushel each. 

Last spring we planted five hundred and fifty peach-trees 
in a good location, on a southerly hillside, the soil a good 
sandy loam. No manure of any kind has been, or will be, 
applied except a good handful of wood ashes to each tree. 
They look splendidly, and I never saw a better lot. I should 
recommend for this county Early Crawford, Large Red Rare- 
ripe, Coolidge’s Favorite, Old Mixon Freestone, Mountain 
Rose, Hale’s Early, where it does not rot, and that would be 
on high, dry soil, where it would be good and the most 
hardy and productive peach of the whole lot; also Stump the 
World, Late Crawford, George 4th, Yellow Rareripe, etc., 
the varieties preferred in the order named. 

I should set peach-trees at one year from the bud in early 
spring, for orchard planting, say sixteen or eighteen feet apart, 
or on very good land twenty feet, and should trim at any time 
in summer when young, but when old and in bearing, just 
after the fruit has set in the spring. I have not for several 
years seen any “yellows” or borers in any of our peach-trees. 
The “curl of the leaf” I think is caused by climatic influence, 
as it occurs nearly every spring. We should be happy to have 
you or any one interested see our place, and think you would 
be pleased with our peach orchard. We have a nursery of 
twelve thousand peaches -budded this season. 


Statement of Joseph W. —opes, Danvers. 


I have been engaged in the cultivation of the grape about 
thirteen years, commencing with small vines purchased at 
different nurseries, some of which were probably raised from 
unripe cuttings, requiring several years of careful nursing 


FRUITS. 119 


before getting a return from them. I think the surest and 
quickest way to obtain strong and healthy vines is to raise 
them from layers. If I were to select six varieties for garden 
culture, it would be as follows: Delaware, Iona, Black 
Hawk, Massasoit, Hartford, and Martha. I mention the Black 
Hawk instead of the Concord, as it possesses all the good 
qualities of the latter, and is at least ten days earlier in ripen- 
ing. I should have added the Crevelling instead of the Mar- 
tha, but as most cultivators like the different colors, I substi- 
tute this as the only white grape I have yet succeeded in 
obtaining an average crop of, but the Iona is my favorite for 
a table grape,—sugary, rich, vinous and spicy, with a melting 
tenderness, and ripening evenly from the centre. With me 
it is a healthy and vigorous grower, the bunches and berries 
large and well shouldered, and were it two weeks earlier in 
ripening I should place it in the front rank for general culti- 
vation. I always succeed in ripening them, as during the 
early frosts they may be protected by throwing over them a 
light mat. 

My vines have not heen troubled with disease except that 
in an occasional wet season they have suffered some from mil- 
dew, but the greatest drawback to the cultivation of the grape 
I find to be the depredation of the robins. They always 
know where to find the best grapes. My system of training 
is by what is called the Fuller plan, with horizontal arms from 
four to six feet each way, allowing the canes to reach the top 
of the trellis, which is five feet in height. I prune back in 
the fall to two buds, with the exception of those of a rank 
growth, which I prefer to prune on the renewal system. My 
land is light with a gravelly subsoil. I use no manure except 
ashes, but in planting always place a quantity of bones around 
the roots. The soil for grape-vines should not be enriched 
with animal manure, although some vines, like the Delaware, 
seem to thrive in arich soil, but I think they soon deteriorate. 
Most of my vines have a southerly aspect, some a westerly. 
I can perceive no difference. I have raised hundreds of seed- 
lings but as yet have not found one better than those already 
in the market. I have recommended a few vines for garden 
culture only, for I think that all having room for them should 
have at least that number. My experience in the cultivation 


120 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE. 


of the grape has convinced me that it cannot be made a profit- 
able business for the farmers of Essex County. 


Statement of Franklin Upton, Danvers. 


Grapes can be raised as easily as pears, apples or plums, 
and much more easily than currants, and I know of no reason 
why they should not be more generally cultivated. In cities, 
where the gardens are more compact, how easy to add the 
ornamental to the useful by training more or less vines to the 
fences or on the walls of the buildings. The grape is a favorite 
fruit, and why not have it more plentiful when it can be 
successfully and easily fruited ? 

After an experience of eleven years, I am willing to give 
what information I possess, and will most cheerfully comply 
with your request and answer your questions to the best of 
my ability. 

Commencing my grapery with half a dozen vines, two 
years old, I soon increased to one hundred and twenty-five 
vines, mostly by layers which make the most rapid growth, 
bearing on the third year of planting. My soil is a light rich 
loam, with a fine gravelly subsoil. In the spring I top-dress 
with ashes. A large part of my vines face the south. I trim 
and train by Fuller’s system of horizontal arms to the right 
and left, on wires five feet high, the vines fruiting eighteen 
to twenty-four inches from the ground. Every fall, as soon 
as the leaves are off, I prune to three buds for the winter 
and allow only two of these to push in the spring. 

I have ripened my grapes every year, with some exceptions 
of particular varieties, which lost their foliage by mildew and 
disease of the leaf. I can successfully contend against mildew 
by the free use of sulphur applied to the vine. The rose- 
bugs have been the greatest enemy to contend with, as they 
had to be picked from the vines. I have thirty-three varicties 
of grapes, including two seedlings. The six best with me 
are the Iona, Delaware, Eumelan, Crevelling, Israella and 
Massasoit. For the best dozen I would add Croton, Adiron- 
dack, Walter, Brant, Agawam and the Rebecca. The fruit of 
the Rebecca is very handsome, and when fully ripe is of good 
character. The vine should be near some high fence, or in a 


FRUITS. . 121 


well-sheltered position, and requires winter protection. I 
have in my garden now one hundred and twenty vines, and 
this season I have fruited one hundred and ten of them. All 
vines do much better if they are laid down and covered 
with earth, for our cold winter is destructive to tender 
varieties. 

My garden has eight apple, four plum, twenty-three pear 
and forty-nine peach trees, with one quince and thirty currant 
bushes, and plenty of room left for flowers, shrubs, ete., on 
half an acre, including what my house and barn oceupy. 

You will bear witness that at our recent exhibition we had 
avery fine show of fruit, grapes and peaches being uncom- 
monly good, and there were two plates of plums that attracted 
much attention. Some years ago this fine and delicious fruit 
grew most abundantly, but of late years it has been almost 
impossible to ripen it, principally on account of the depreda- 
tions of the curculio. To rid the tree of this pest requires 
both patience and perseverance. Perseverance, by rising 
with the sun and spreading beneath the tree a large piece of 
white cloth, and then by a sudden jar of the tree the curculio, 
or little Turk, as he is called by some, will fall, apparently 
lifeless, upon the cloth, and can be easily killed. Patience, 
by repeating this operation three or four weeks in succession, 
commencing as soon as the fruit is set. In this manner I 
have succeeded in fruiting my trees several years in succes- 
sion. Another and a more formidable enemy is the black wart. 
I know of no sure way to stop its spreading, although I am 
trying several remedies recommended. Could some sure 
remedy be suggested for this, I know of no reason why plums 
could not be as plentiful as they were years ago. I have 
recently added to my collection a few trees of the “ Wild 
Goose Plum,” which is said to resist all attacks of the eur- 
culio ; if so, it will prove a valuable acquisition. Light and 
well-drained soil is best adapted for the plum. 


Statement of Thomas Capers, Newburyport. 


As regards peaches, we have a very favorable place for a 
few trees, being sheltered from the north and north-west. 
We have in all twelve trees, some of which are over twenty 

16* 


122 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE. ~ 


years old. I find the best way is to plant but one or two 
every year to keep up the stock. 

Our trees suffer more from overcropping and September 
gales than from any disease. We have lost several large trees 
within a few years from that cause. Trees one year from the 
bud are better for transplanting than larger ones. Light, 
sandy or gravelly soil is better than damp, heavy soil, as the 
trees do not make so much growth, and the wood ripens 
better and produces more fruit-buds. Prune away half their 
growth every spring. 

I have not manured the trees at all since they were planted. 
The Susquehanna, exhibited at the fair, is planted in a nar- 
row flower-bed about eighteen inches wide, with a gravel walk 
ten feet in width by the side of it, so that it is nearly all 
gravel. I planted the Susquehanna and Hale’s Early in 1869. 
Up to this year the former has been a very shy bearer ; this 
year it had a full crop. MHale’s Early has fruited well every 
year since planted, and only one year did the rot, which is 
common to that variety, affect them. 

I should recommend Hale’s Early, Early Crawford, Stump 
the World, Early York, Yellow Rareripe and Susquehanna 
as best for Essex County. There may be others, but those I 
have proved to be first-class. 

The seedling exhibited (Essex County) was raised from 
stones sent from South America five years ago. I have two 
others, but they are not so good in size or quality. The 
Early Crawfords which I exhibited were planted in 1872, then 
one year from the bud. Some specimens I measured were 
nine and three-fourths inches in circumference. 

Of grape-vines we have about a dozen, comprising Hart- 
ford Prolific, Concord, Adirondack, Diana and Isabella. The 
Hartford I consider the best early grape, but the Concord is 
best for general cultivation. I have two vines of Concord 
which are trained on a trellis over a steep bank, facing the 
south-west, which a great many gardeners think is different 
from all others they have tasted, but I believe it is owing to 
its favorable situation, which ripens them better. The Diana 
is a favorite variety with me, but it is rather late. My grape- 
vines are raised from layers, spur-pruned in part and part 
renewal. Last year my grapes were badly diseased, as were 


FRUITS. : 123 


all in this region; this year there is no sign of any. Good 
drainage and high culture are very essential for grape-vines, 
and wood ashes are good. I cover the border every fall with 
six inches or more of manure, and dig it in the spring. 


Statement of D. H. Stickney, Groveland. 


I wish I could answer your questions in relation to the 
cultivation of the grape in a manner at all satisfactory to 
myself, for I have had abundant crops some years and nearly 
failures in other years with the same treatment—indeed, 
perhaps I ought not to use the word treatment, for I have 
never followed any particular method. 

I have perhaps one hundred and fifty vines, mostly from 
layers. They are upon a variety of soils, and were I to give 
an opinion I should say that my best success had been upon 
the poorest soil. Iam of the opinion that land can be made 
so rich that you get a monstrous growth of wood at the 
expense of the fruit. I have noticed that the best fruit has 
always been found upon vines from two to four years old. I 
ean account for this in no other way than that the top has 
been allowed to make all the wood that desired to grow, and, 
as sometimes is the case, the vine will start out with a heavy 
crop and every prospect of success, till the grape gets about 
its full size, when it remains and hangs upon the vines until 
the leaves are all off, and never comes to anything at all. I 
know of no remedy unless it be to thin or reduce the crop 
one-half, or even more, and this we are loth to do, for if done 
at all it must be done in June or July, when we are not sure 
but the conditions will be favorable for a full crop. 

You ask what kinds I recommend. I hardly know what to 
say, for I have had failures some years of all varieties ; still I 
would not part with any of them. I am quite sure the Con- 
cord will perfect its fruit more years in ten than any other 
variety now known. 

I am also well satisfied that a high, dry, sandy soil, or a 
soil full of cobble-stones is the most desirable for the grape. 
Such a soil Mr. Gage, of Metheun, has, which enabled him to 
show a number of kinds of ripe fruit at the New England 
Show at Manchester, N. H., upon the first of September. I 


124 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE. 


have to-day many bushels of grapes of full size hanging upon 
the vines, trying to color, which will be worthless. I think 
had my soil been similar to the above, I should have had half 
as much wood, half as full crop, which I think would have 
matured and been gone two weeks ago, and been of the first 
quality. 

My scedling I hope much from. It is a sure bearer, 
perfectly hardy, and early enough to avoid frosts. My large 
Concord grapes were obtained by selecting the most vigorous 
canes early in the spring, allowing only one bunch of blooms 
to remain on each, and constantly heading in as fast as wood 
was inclined to make. 

I think this matter of grape-growing is something one must 
learn by experience, for it is a fact not to be denied, that we 
are in a section of the country that will produce a crop only 
once in a while, and this I am not sure should not be called a 
chance crop. 


Statement of George W. Taylor, Peabody. 


Although I have not achieved much success, perhaps a 
recital of my experience may be of some use to those who are 
about to commence the business of grape-growing. At the 
start, let me say to any one who expects to make the cultiva- 
tion of the grape in Essex County a paying business, that it 
will be a vain attempt, and will end in mortification and dis- 
gust. 

The grape when fully ripened is truly one of the most lus- 
cious of fruits and as such will ever be sought by the public, 
but it is a lamentable fact that our northern home is not the 
home of the vine. It is where the mild rays of the summer sun 
love to linger, and the genial breezes of the tropics, with the 
deep and warm soils incident to the “sunny south.” There is 
its home, and there will it give forth the rich harvests so 
delightful to man. 

If we do succeed here in raising a few of inferior quality, it 
is only by constant care and toilsome labor. A man would 
make more money raising potatoes at fifty cents a bushel than 
grapes at ten cents a pound, which is about as much as one 
can obtain for first clusters we are able to get into market. 


FRUITS. 125 


Long before our earliest ones are ripe, our markets are filled 
with grapes from the South, and the people have had their 
fill, or at least the time of high prices has passed and ours 
have to be sold at lower rates. I have been trying to raise 
grapes for the past twenty years, and have not as yet pro- 
duced anything very satisfactory. Either my berries or 
bunches are small, or, if I highly manure the ground, the 
vines make such rampant growth that the wood ripens poorly, 
and the grapes seldom become fit for use. 

In starting the vines, I have used single eyes, cuttings, and 
also layers. I have never had much trouble with either 
method, but think that I should prefer layers of one year’s 
growth to cither of the other methods. In my experience I 
have found that a good strong one-year-old vine is the best to 
set, surest to grow, and is at just the right age to train in any 
manner preferred by the cultivator. Some of my vines are 
twenty years old, and others have been set only a year. I 
have set out vines, more or less, every year except the four 
years of the Rebellion, when I was away from home. 

My location is one which I consider to be the best for this 
climate—a southern slope, with ledges and pine-trees in the 
rear to break off the cold northern winds and also the dis- 
agreeable blasts that come from the east. The rays of the 
September sun striking on the ledges heat them up and thus 
prolong the warmth far into the night, and consequently the 
frosts of early autumn are less liable to nip the foliage, and 
thus retard the ripening. My soil is a gravelly loam mixed 
with broken fragments of stone, and is in and of itself rather 
poor; so rough and inaccessible that I cannot cultivate much 
with a team, and asI cannot raise cultivated crops there, 1 
have planted grapes. If anything is done to my vines after 
well setting out, and an occasional top-dressing of tan-ashes, 
it is a light hoeing and top-covering or mulch of old meadow 
hay, weeds or wood-wax. 

As it is. customary to cut and prune the vine, I used to fol- 
low in the beaten track marked out by theorists. Of late 
years I have not used the knife so freely, and am well assured 
that I have been more successful as to good, well-ripened 
wood, and also in fruit. My vines are trained in various 
methods; some are on ceder-pole trellises, others are trained 


126 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE. 


to wires stretched to stout locust-posts set firmly in the 
ground, while some are allowed to run over an old stone wall 
just as nature taught them. 

The way that most of my vines are managed is this: I cut 
red-cedar posts about ten feet long, and trim off the branches 
from six inches to three feet from the main stem. These 
posts I set from two and a half to three feet into the ground, 
and about six by ten feet apart. To each post I set one vine. 
I have learned that vines trained in this way are less trouble 
to manage and seem to do better in every way, being less 
liable to mildew and disease, the air circulates freely among 
them and the sun’s rays will strike nearly every part. The 
consequence is that better fruit and larger clusters are 
obtained. 

If I trim my vines, I generally do the most of it in the fall, 
sometime at the last of October or November; but I always 
cut off any offending branch when I feel disposed at any sea- 
son of the year, and have never seen any bad effects from 
bleeding after severing a branch. 

There are some two hundred vines on my premises, and as 
fast as one dies out or is pulled up I generally set out another, 
usually a year old layer. I have now in bearing condition, 
the Concord, Ives’ seedling, Iona, Dracut Amber, Clinton, 
Hartford Prolific, Delaware, Taylor’s Bullet, Elsingburg, 
Black Hawk, Allen’s Hybrid, and the following of Rogers’ 
Hybrids Nos. 1, 3, 9, 13, 15, 19, 22, 39, 41, 43, 44, 33, 
besides several seedlings of native grapes, which are rather 
poor and foxy, having only the desirable qualities of early 
ripening and the hardiness and vigor of an oak. 

It is hard to decide which of the varieties is best suited 
for our climate ; some years one kind will lead all others, while 
in other years it will fall far in the rear. Generally speaking, 
those varieties which are the hardiest in wood and best to 
ripen up the buds early in the fall, and the fruit also, have 
this fatal habit of giving only very poor flavored berries ; 
while those of the rich perfume and sugary flavor are apt to 
be tender in wood and liable to be attacked by mildew, and 
are so late in ripening their fruit that it is almost impossible 
to get any fit for the table. 

Rogers’ seedlings are, I am sorry to say, rather too tender 


FRUITS. 127 


for our county, and are so subject to mildew and disease that 
only few should be attempted. It is a pity that such splendid 
fruit should be hampered with a parent stem so weak and 
liable to disease. Of all the grapes ever grown on my 
grounds I should prefer Rogers’ seedlings, if they were earlier 
and more hardy, particularly Nos. 3, 9, 15, 19, 22, 30, 39. 
Persons who plant Rogers’ vines should never neglect to cover 
them in the fall, for if they are left without protection through 
the winter they are almost sure to be killed. 

For all locations and all soils I should prefer the Concord 
above all others, taking all its points into consideration. 
While I know there are many that are far its superior in 
flavor and richness of fruit, it has no rival in hardiness or pro- 
ductiveness under all circumstances and in all localities. 

A few vines of the Iona, Delaware, Hartford and Crevelling 
should be planted, and if one has a warm, sunny nook near 
his buildings, let him plant the Allen’s Hybrids, or if he pre- 
fers it, the Rebecca. Both are white grapes and excellent in 
flavor. 

Of all the diseases to which the vine is subject, mildew 
seems to be the most fatal; vines that are attacked soon lose 
their foliage, and the berries stop growing and never ripen, 
but hang, an unsightly spectacle in the vineyard. Flower of 
sulphur is the best known remedy for mildew. It is applied 
to the parts attacked as soon as the disease makes its appear- 
ance, and is best put on while the vines are wet with dew. 
Some use bellows to apply it, but I think a good-sized pepper- 
box about the best thing to use while doctoring the plant. 
Constant care and watching is necessary, for the disease must 
not be allowed to spread. If it is to be checked at all, one 
must begin early to combat it. If allowed to have its course, 
the result will be no crop of grapes for that year. 

Rose-bugs sometimes come in myriads and destroy both 
fruit and foliage. I know of no way except to kill as many 
as possible by hand-picking. I have tried tobacco-water, 
whale-oil soap and lime, all to no purpose; the bugs seem to 
be proof against all the poisons usually adopted to destroy 
insects. 

After twenty years of study and labor among trees and 
plants, I would not recommend any one to set out a vineyard 


128 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE. 


in Essex County in the hope of ever making it a remunera- 
tive employment, much less would I suggest the possibility 
of ever procuring a first-class grape by planting the seeds of 
any of our wild native sorts. While they have hardiness and 
earliness, they are all of them foxy and lack nearly all the 
essential qualities accorded good fruit. Besides, out of a hun- 
dred seedlings, perhaps not more than two or three will ever 
bear at all, and these seldom come up toa higher standard than 
the parent. Jet every man who has a few rods of spare room 
in his garden set out a few vines of those varictics best suited 
to his taste. Don’t try to get every new sort you see adver- 
tised, and don’t place too much eredit in the high-sounding 
story told by the printed circulars you will from time to time 
receive just as soon as you begin to plant grapes and your 
name becomes known to the vendors of nursery stock. Set 
out a Concord or two for your stand-by, and you may put in 
as many of Rogers’ Hybrids as you have time and patience to 
take care of. Never forget to cover all of your Rogers’ vines 
every winter. I throw mine down on the ground and cover 
with hay or earth about three or four inches deep and remove 
before the vines start in the spring. Vines should be uncovered 
and tied up to the stakes before the buds swell, as they are 
very tender and easily broken off in handling. 

In conclusion let me add, that it has been of much pleasure 
to me to be among my vines, and if I have not made it pay 
in dollars, I have had enough fruit for my family and some 
for my friends, and besides, there is a solid satisfaction in 
gathering the fruit that has been produced by the labor of 
one’s own hands. If it does require constant care, it takes up 
the spare moments that are usually lost, or spent in some 
other employment that amounts to no more in the end than 
growing grapes. 


Statement of George W. Gage, Methuen. 


My vineyard is located on a southern slope about one-third 
the way up and one hundred feet from the valley below. The 
soil is friable, with gravelly bottom, naturally drained. It con- 
tains three hundred vines, the oldest of which is fifteen years, 
the youngest five years. My first planting was fifty vines, on 


FRUITS. 129 


a patch from which I had taken two crops of apple-trees (one 
too many), the residue of the vines on nursery ground, from 
which one crop of trees had been taken. Fertilized at plant- 
ing with animal manure, afterwards an annual dressing with 
ashes or potash and bone. 

I sometimes start with cuttings and layers, but the best 
method is with single eyes. After several years of slip-shod 
training, I believe the following to be the best. Commence 
with one or two year old vines, cut down to two eyes, allow- 
ing them to grow about as they will, except training them to 
stakes. In November cut down to two eyes. Second year 
train same as first. Third year erect a trellis about like those 
recommended by Mr. Fuller, Dr. Fisher and others, with 
posts eight feet long, set two and one-half feet into the ground, 
the end post to be at the first vine, the next post nine feet 
therefrom and the others six feet apart, bracing the outside 
post. Rows eight feet apart, vines six feet apart in the rows. 
Stretch No. 15 or 16 of galvanized wire upon these posts, 
the lower wire twenty inches from the ground, the next wire 
fifteen inches above the first, the third fourteen inches above 
the second, and the fourth fifteen inches above the third, end- 
ing the trellis with the fourth wire. Beginning with the third 
year, allow one shoot to grow from each vine. The end vine 
of the row train to and along the third wire, the arm turning 
from the post. Next vine carry to the first wire, the next to 
the third, and so on alternately through the row, all the vines 
turning the same way. As they grow, nip the laterals at the 
second leaf, and when the shoots have grown six feet nip the 
ends off. The autumn pruning consists in cutting off the lat- 
erals and cutting back the main shoot to good, strong wood. 

At the fourth year, as buds push a shoot each,—if two, rub 
out one,—and show their clusters of grape-buds, and have 
made two or three leaves beyond the last cluster, the end of 
these shoots should be nipped off as soon as they have made 
sufficient growth and are strong enough not to break, tie them 
to the second or fourth wire, as the case may be. Avs laterals 
start on the upright shoots, pinch in at second the leaf and 
continue to do this the entire season. Now, the question 
comes, How much fruit shall I let remain on the vines? Shall 
I allow each shoot to start with three or four clusters, and at 

hg 


130 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE. 


the close of the season have a very large crop of half-grown, 
unripe grapes with which to crowd the market with Concords 
at one dollar per bushel, as has been the case the present 
year, or shall I aim for a harvest of large, well-ripened ber- 
ries, upon clusters weighing from half a pound to one pound 
each, selling at remunerative prices, the purchasers saying 
these grapes did not grow out of doors, how is it that you 
grow better grapes than any one else? I can show you aman 
to whom a dealer has within a month offered twenty cents a 
pound for Concord grapes. Quality rules. At the same time 
we are caring for this year’s crop we must have a good look- 
out for the next one. Upon the vines where a strong bud 
starts, the shoot from it should be trained up and along the 
wire in an opposite direction from the bearing arm, except the 
vine planted at the end of the row. This vine’s fruiting arm, 
as also its arm for next year’s fruiting, is to be turned the 
same way. Take good care of the young arms, for from them 
comes your next year’s crop. Pinch out the laterals at second 
leaf, and if they start again repeat the operation; stop the 
shoot when six feet in length. 

The fifth year we do as we did the fourth, excepting the 
first vine in the row, the bearing arms grow one way and the 
growing arms the other; thus the vines are renewed year by 
year. 

A vineyard, properly cared for, is surely good for this gen- 
eration and the next, and I bel’eve for a longer period. 

The varieties | should recommend for Essex County are the 
Concord, a few Delawares, and try Worden’s seedling, and 
John B. Moore’s Early Black when he will let you have them. 

A word about peach-culture. My soil is the same as for 
grapes, fertilizing also same as for grapes, substituting salt 
for bone. I have about one hundred and fifty trees in bear- 
ing, planted eight yearsago. In 1872 I had fifty bushels of 
good fruit, in 1874 one hundred and thirty bushels of first- 
rate fruit. In 1873, in an orchard of about one hundred trees, 
the yellows appeared and a e spreading through the orchard. 
The rule should be, if a tree is affected by it, to immediately 
remove and destroy it, root and branch. A liberal use of salt 
and unleached ashes may be a preventive. 


FRUITS. 131 


HAMPSHIRE, FRANKLIN AND HAMPDEN. 


From the Report of the Committee. 


A few years since, the Hon. William Clark, of Northampton 
(since deceased), presented a Concord grape-vine to each 
and every family in the town. It would be pleasant to know 
how many of these vines are alive to-day, and have produced 
fruit for the planters. Judging from the quantities brought 
into town from the West and South, we must infer that but 
few yield anything. We venture to say not ten per cent. are 
alive. Ten or twelve years have passed away, the vines are 
dead and gone, and many of the planters of them have gone, 
too. New planters have taken their places. The field is 
open for our report. We say Northampton, but mean all the 
county and territory that this society covers. 

The new man asks, “What kind shall I grow?” Our 
answer would be, plant some kind to begin with. There is 
no kind of an ordinary grape which cannot be made an article 
of luxury in the common economy of a family. Pickles, 
preserves, wines, vinegar and table fruit are all needed. In 
Europe, even the twigs and buds are mashed, juice extracted 
and made into vinegar. “Corn, wine and oil” symbolize 
plenty, and no part of the grape is useless. Well-ripened 
bunches never pall upon the appetite. 

We would further answer, plant several kinds. We know 
we are treading upon the toes of epicures and exquisites in 
grape-culture. It is not for them that we are reporting. 

For an agricultural society, the position we would ‘take is, 
get grapes of some kind, bring them to the fair, compare 
them with those of your neighbors, and your taste will grow 
with what it feeds upon. Therefore, we recommend no one 
kind. Were we to plant our garden anew, in its present 
location and exposure, we should put out Northern Muscadine, 
Dracut Amber, Hartford Prolific, Salem, Delaware, Concord, 
Diana, and Crevelling, and, perhaps, be experimenting mean- 
while with some others. If we had a very warm corner upon 
the south-west side of a building, we might put down an 
Isabella. Ifa family wants grapes for all the purposes which 
we have’ heretofore named, one Concord vine won’t answer. 


132 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE. 


There must be a variety. To have all of the above varieties 
would not require a large space of ground. A garden and 
yard are always “open at the top.” A piazza, a trellis, the 
side of the house, the side of the barn, will accomodate 
several vines. They are as ornamental as honey-suckles or 
wistarias, and don’t take up any more room. The nearer to 
the house one gets a vine, the more food it gets from the 
wash-tub. The perfume of the flowers and of the fruit is 
always pleasant and exhilarating. 

It is not necessary in this report to give our opinion which 
and where is the best place. We are writing for family use, 
not for a vineyard, writing for younger members of the 
society and their friends. Hence we have said, plant some- 
where on the homestead. If possible, plant on warm, dry 
soil, and in a place sheltered from the early morning sun, and 
the cold north and west winds. We have grown them upon 
all sides and exposures,—east, west, north, and south sides of 
buildings; on trellises, trees, and stakes; in gravel, sand, 
loam, and muck, and have come to the conclusion that one- 
half of the growth depends upon the grower, the other, the 
variety planted. 

About pruning. “First catch your hare, then dress him.” 
Three or four years’ attention to growth, and the experience 
therein acquired, will teach one about what to do. Weare of 
the opinion, however, that few people prune too much. 

“I wish I could grow such grapes on my place as you have 
here on this table,” said a member of this society to one of 
your Committee, three or four years ago. “Why not?” was 
the reply. “Oh, my place is so elevated and cold, and the 
winters so long, that they won’t grow andripen.” “Will you 
take some vines and try?” He took some vines and tried. 
Last year the man took to one of our county fairs the fairest 
and best grapes on exhibition. They were grown upon the 
south side of a barn-yard wall. It is proper here to say 
that he was proud of his success, and he believes in grape- 
growing for family use. Is there another farm in that town 
where some spot could not be found equally favorable to the 
growth of the grape? Are there ten more farmers in that 
town who could be stimulated by his success to do likewise? 
It is of little importance to us, members of this society, what 


FRUITS. 133 


would be best for vineyard culture. It is for home use that 
we labor. Climate and soil have been conquered by the skill 
of the laborer. No country in the world grows such beautiful 
exotic grapes as Scotland. No country in Europe is seem- 
ingly more unfit. 

So far as our climate is concerned, we have examples of 
vineyard culture, and of good success. That success, in a 
single instance, should incite us to grow enough for home con- 
sumption in our families. Now, how many grapes ought a 
family to consume? Some of your Committee believe, from 
actual experiment, that a family liberally provided for can use 
a good many pounds. With a good assortment of varieties, 
the supply can easily extend over several months. And a 
box of grapes is convenient at any season. We don’t know 
of anything more relishable before breakfast. They are cer- 
tainly enjoyable at dinner, and if you happen to see a bunch 
or two after supper, one can manage to dispose of them in the 
usual way. Where a whole family of six or eight comes in 
for each a share, several thrifty vines will be needed to grow 
the supply. 

The beautiful specimens of hot-house and exotic grapes on 
exhibition should elicit a sentence of comment from your 
Committee. There is no mystery about raising grapes under 
glass any more than out of doors. Different persons possess 
different qualities of skill and experience, and there will be as 
much difference in grape-growing as in tobacco or corn grow- 
ing. There are certain conditions of soil, exposure, manure 
and pruning in both cases. The two prime conditions are: 
first, a good, dry border for the roots of the vines; second, a 
covering of glass, to secure the requisite moisture of the 
atmosphere, and, more particularly, to protect from the early 
frosts in the spring and late frosts in the fall. The practice 
of one of your Committee in the matter of ventilation has been 
never to close the ventilators and doors of his cold grapery 
from the 10th of June till danger of frosts in autumn. The 
annual exhibitions at our fairs must be the test of his 
success. 

The general summing up of your Committee would be: 
raise grapes, raise the best you know, raise plenty of them 
for the whole family, raise some for the neighbors, and 


134 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE. 


encourage them to plant and raise for themselves by giving 
them roots and cuttings. 

The past season in many respects has been an unfavorable 
one for grape ripening. Many people lost their crops before 
fairly ripe. Yet others were successful enough to make a 
good show at our fair, and keep up their courage for another 


season. 
H. K. STaRKWEATHER, Chairman. 


PLYMOUTH. 


From the Report of the Committee. 


With few exceptions all are benefited by the use of apples 
daily, either cooked or uncooked. ‘They should be eaten just 
before, and form a part of the meal, rather than as is too 
commonly the case, a sort of adjunct after the stomach is 
already well filled. This may seem a trifling matter, but it is 
mostly attention to just such trifles that makes us happy or 
miserable in this life. The value of the apple, physiologically 
considered, cannot be overestimated. The general failure of 
this crop for quite a number of years almost, at least for a 
time, discouraged the universal planting of this noble fruit. 
The conditions seem to be gradually changing, and it is to be 
hoped that with care we may yet grow all our own apples, 
and not depend on other States for our supply. More than four 
thousand barrels of Western apples have been disposed of in 
one town in this county, in some seasons when our own apple 
crop was a failure. The average price could not have been 
less than $3.50 per barrel, making the sum of over $14,000 
paid in one town. One-half this amount distributed among 
the producers of this same town would have made many a 
hearthstone happy. I am quite certain that in a season of 
scarcity, more than $50,000, after deducting the commissions 
to the seller, are paid in Plymouth County for apples. 

In the cultivation of apples, as well as other fruits, more 
attention should be given to general principles, and not all the 
thought and labor spent in a particular direction, or on some 


FRUITS. 135 


technical point. For instance, if the soil is so poor, that all 
the efforts of the tree are expended in the production of leaves, 
it is useless, for the production of fruit in that instance, to 
dabble with nostrums for the extermination of insects. In- 
sects are a legitimate result of careless cultivation; weakness 
invites disease: hence trees, on poor soil or uncared for, will 
always be afflicted, and suffer more than the vigorous tree in 
a generous soil. Strong, retentive soils are the best adapted 
of any in Massachusetts for apple-orchards. <A fact, men- 
tioned by Mr. Barry, of Rochester, N. Y., about a quarter of 
a century ago, in regard to selecting localities for the apple, 
seems to be lost sight of. In substance it is this: The ashes 
of the bark and wood of the apple-tree show that of one 
hundred parts about fifty are of lime; hence the inference is 
drawn that soils abounding in lime, the other conditions being 
present, would be the best adapted to the production of the 
fairest and best-flavored fruits. Such we find to be actually 
the case, and all the regions of Western New York, Vermont, 
and some portions of Maine, that are rich in lime, give us the 
best fruits that we consume, for this applies to the pear to 
nearly the same extent as to the apple. 

Lest some may suspect that this vigor and beauty is due to 
strong, new soil, which I know from personal appearance has 
a powerful influence in this direction, I will observe that, 
seventy years after planting, in New York, the trees and their 
fruits show these same well-marked characteristics, proving 
conclusively to the writer that the application of lime in some 
form,—for this so far as I know is experimental,—would 
result in a permanent invigoration of our orchards. To make 
them permanently valuable, it has been suggested for years to 
remove a part of the fruit in even years. It does not appear, 
however, that this has been practised to an extent sufficient 
to satisfy fruit-growers of the value of the plan proposed. 
Every amateur practises this every year, but for a different 
purpose ; viz., to get more perfect specimens the same year. 
Now I am of the opinion, from personal experience in this 
last direction, that if, commencing with an apple-tree as soon . 
as it is large enough to set fruit, we every year, until the tree 
gets its normal growth, remove two-thirds of the fruit, we 
should thereby induce a habit of regular bearing that would 


136 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE. 


render the tree of double value. As the fruit-buds are formed 
the preceding year, the removal of one-half the specimens 
would not, I think, have the desired result. It would be a 
labor of magnitude to do this with large trees in a large 
orchard, but if commenced when the trees were young, the 
labor would be less every year. Let all having orchards, 
whether large or small, give this matter a fair trial for several 
years, on one tree at least, and note the result. The fruit will 
certainly be of enough additional value to pay for the labor 
expended. The most effectual method of exterminating 
insects,—cheap, and in the largest way effectual,—is accom- 
plished by inclosing the orchard with a suitable fence, and 
giving poultry the range of the premises. In these days 
when it is fashionable to rear poultry, and the profits are 
somewhat questionable, it is quite certain they would all have 
an increased value if used in this connection. 

The main crop should be of few varieties, and in selecting 
them attention should be paid to those that are the most 
vigorous and productive in our own locality. An apple may 
be beautiful in appearanee and of the first quality, and yet 
quite unprofitable to cultivate. Asa rule, the more varieties 
the less profit. The following list we do not think can be 
improved, although locality may add or diminish one or two 
varieties: Red Astrachan, Porter, Hubbardston, Gravenstein, 
Baldwin, Rhode Island Greening, Roxbury Russet. 


Loring W. Purrer, for the Committee. 


RENOVATION OF ORCHARDS. 137 


RENOVATION OF FRUIT-TREES. 
BRISTOL. 


Statement of H. P. Crocker. 


The orchard was set out about thirty years ago. It made 
a good growth for about thirteen years; about that time it 
passed into another person’s hands. This party desiring grass 
more than fruit, laid it down to grass. It remained in this 
condition some five years. This treatment stopped all growth ; 
it was completely perforated with borers. The number set 
out was forty; ten were dead, leaving thirty, which is the 
number that I enter. 

At this time, and in this condition, I bought it, which was 
some twelve years since. The orchard was considered 
worthless by the owner, and the previous one, but not so 
by me, as I had some experience with orchards, although it 
looked like a “sore job.” 

Process of renovation: First, I destroyed all borers by 
probing with a wire, cutting out with a knife, and scraping 
up that year’s deposit of eggs. Next, I ploughed the soil of 
the orchard, and manured it. The first year the orchard did 
not make much growth, of course. The next year it made 
some growth, and the cavities made by the borers commenced 
to heal. The third year I manured and ploughed again. 
This year the whole orchard made a good growth; most of 
the trees did not produce desirable fruit. The fourth year it 
was in growing condition, suitable to commence to graft. 
Those who are acquainted with the process of grafting, know 
it requires three years to graft a tree perfectly. At the 
expiration of that time it was completed. My system of 
managing an orchard is to plough and manure every other 
year. This I have done, and, of course, kept it free from all 
insects, and properly pruned. 

18* 


138 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE. 


The result, or present condition: Last year it was well 
loaded with the choicest fruit, of all varieties, that can be 
produced in New England. This season it is bearing mod- 
erately. There are many improvements to which I shall call 
the attention of the committee when they visit the orchard. 

The orchard is situated on a southern slope. The upper 
half is a light and sandy soil, but as you go down it becomes 
more heavy. The first two rows of trees stand on rather 
damp and heavy soil, and do not bear as well as those on the 
upper and middle of the orchard. 


GRAIN CROPS. 139 


GRAIN CROPS. 


ESSEX. 


Statement of Oliver P. Killam. 


Inpran Corn.—The crop of 1873 was English grass; that 
of 1874 Indian corn. Twenty-one cords of long manure from 
the barn cellar were used on four and a half acres, as nearly 
equal as could be. The soil is a dark, gravelly loam. The 
ground was ploughed once eight inches deep, and afterwards 
harrowed and furrowed three and a half feet apart each way. 
The cost of harrowing and furrowing was $2.50 per acre; cost 
of ploughing $3.50 per acre. Fifteen loads of manure were 
used on each acre, three loads being equal to one cord. The 
value of the manure on the ground was $9 per cord. Three 
hundred pounds of Cumberland superphosphate was used, at 
a cost of $7.50 per acre, planted from the 15th to the 20th of 
May, three and a half feet apart each way, using about six 
quarts of eight-rowed corn to the acre. Cost of seed and 
planting, $5 per acre. The crop was cultivated three times 
each way and hoed well once, and after harrowing, the weeds 
were thoroughly cleaned out. The cost of cultivating, hoeing 
and thinning, was $5 per acre. The corn was cut close to 
the ground the last week of September, four hills laid together 
and six bunches put in each stook, using a stooking-horse 
and birch withes drawn around each one to hold it together. 
The corn was drawn to the barn from the 15th of October to 
the 8th of November and husked, the fodder bound in bundles 
and set, butts up, to cure. The cost of harvesting, husk- 
ing and storing, was $12.50 per acre. There were on four 
acres 6261 bushels of sound corn, averaging forty pounds 
to the bushel. The amount on one acre, 1764 bushels of 
sound ears, forty pounds to the bushel; also eight bushels 
of green corn, half of which would be fair corn when dry. 
After carefully weighing a portion of the fodder, my esti- 


140 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE. 


mate of the amount is not far from six tons per acre at 
the time of husking; when thoroughly dry, it would weigh 
much less. I consider the fodder twenty- -four tons, oan 
worth $8 per ton. I sold at home about eight bushels of 
the corn after it was husked, $1.40 per bushel, seventy-five 
pounds to the bushel. About thirty bushels of green corn 
in all, worth about half price. Twelve hundred pounds of 
Cumberland superphosphate were used on the four acres, which 
cost $30. 


MIDDLESEX SOUTH. 


Statement of HE. F. Bowditch. 


InpDIAN Corn.—My corn-field measures about nine and a 
half acres, and was in grass in 1874, and has had no manure 
for three years. The nature of the soil is dark loam, with a 
sandy clay subsoil; the field was ploughed once, seven inches 
deep, in October, 1874, and harrowed twice in May, 1875. 


Cost of ploughing and harrowing, . : $42 00 
I applied 4,389 pounds sulphate ammonia; 1 681 pons 

muriate potash; 1,5432 pounds boneblack, treated 

with 7712 pounds sulphuric acid. One-half the above 

amount was spread broadcast, and the other half 

strewn in the drill and covered with the foot before 

dropping the seed. Cost of manure, . ; ; . 310 77 
Cost of mixing, carting and spreading the same, . . 12 87 
The field was planted by hand, May 26, 1875, using 

about two bushels of seed (northern eight-rowed). 

Cost of seed and planting, : : : 15 25 
The crop was harrowed with a angola hanron once, 

horse-hoed both ways twice, and hand-hoed at three 


different times, at the expense of - : : : 43 75 
$424 64 

The crop was cut and stooked September 17, 18, and 20, 
at an expense of : ; 28 50 

The estimated cost of husking 1 O9TE 1 peenels: corn, si 10 
cents, 5 109 72 
The estimated poe of Eaaine over! at $7. 50 per acre, 71. 25 
Interest on land and taxes, . 5 : , A ; 50 24 


Total expense, 5 a : : d : - $684 35 


GRAIN CROPS. 141 


Credit by 54 tons 1,726 Ibs. stover (estimated at 100 
pounds stover to 1 bushel shelled corn), at $8 per ton, $438 90 


Cost of 1,0974 bushels corn, . : - ; : . $264 45 
Cost of 1 bushel shelled corn, : : 22-4, cents. 


Statement of P. McMahon. 


Inpian Corn.—The two fields of corn which I enter for 
premiums, contain about four and a quarter acres. One three- 
acre field I have withdrawn, as the worms cut off a great 
deal of it in June. I mention this in order that you, and all 
who may read this, will not think that I went in for a small 
field and doubled the manure on it in order to get a premium. 
I have planted six acres a year for the last seven years, and 
have manured from the barn cellar and hog-pens. My rule 
is, eight cords to the acre of number one manure. From the 
barn-yard I top-dress four acres of grass-land, which I think 
is thoroughly manuring; ten acres a year from twenty-five 
head of cattle and from leur to eight swine, as it may happen ; 
that gives me five years to get over the ploughed land, which 
contains fifty acres. 

Number two field, which I have entered for premium, con- 
tains about one and a quarter acres. In 1873, one part of it 
was pasture land, and the other part run-out mowing land. 
The soil is a deep blackish, with a yellow clay subsoil, 
manured in 1874 with eight cords to the acre, planted part 
with corn and part with potatoes. In 1875 it was manured 
with eight cords to the acre, ploughed in and planted May 
18, cultivated three times both ways, hoed three times, and 
weeded and sprouted. 


Expense of ploughing and harrowing, . - : $4 00 
Value of three cords manure in cellar, at $8 per epral : 24 00 
Carting and spreading, . : : - : ° ° 10 00 
Seed, furrowing and planting, . : - : : 2 00 
Cultivating and hoeing three times, : : A 9 00 
Sprouting, . : : : : : : 1 50 
Cutting and Maoking Bales’ 2 00 
Harvesting and husking 278 bushels Gaiicts is the num- 

ber of bushels I had on one acre), . . : ° 22 00 
Interest and taxes, : : ° C : - : 2 50 


Total expense, . 2 : - . - - $67 00 


142 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE. 


Mr. Newton, surveyor, with the committee, measured one 
rod, harvested and weighed the same, which weighed 63% Ibs. 
This, multiplied by 160, and divided by 72, only makes 1413 
bushels of shelled corn. 


One hundred and forty-one and three quarters bushels 


shelled corn, at $1 per bushel, . : $141 75 
Three hundred and thirty-three bundles of stakes a 
_ twelve and a half cents per bundle, . : - : 5 00 
About two tons of husks, . 5 : : f : 20 00 
Value of crop, : ‘ é ; : : . $166 75 
Deduct expenses, . : : : - 4 : é 67 00 
iNet; ()/. A : : 3 ; : : : $99 75 


HAMPDEN EAST. 


Statement of J. HK. Know. 


Inpian Corn.—The field of corn which I have entered 
for the society’s premium, contains about three acres of a 
sandy loam soil, and was cropped in 1874, about one-half 
with corn and the other half with potatoes, with no other 
fertilizer than a little salt and plaster. This year the land 
was ploughed the first week in May. Manure ploughed in at 
the rate of thirty-five cart-loads, of thirty bushels’ capacity 
each, and planted on the 19th and 20th of May; and in one- 
third of the field I put into the hill about one cord of a com- 
post of earth and rotten chip-manure and night-soil, and in 
one-third a similar amount of compost, with hen-manure 
instead of night-soil, and in the last third I used two hundred 
pounds of Bosworth & Bugbee’s superphosphate, mixed with 
an equal quantity of plaster. The consequence was a very 
quick start of the crop and rapid growth, which ripened early, 
and is decidedly the soundest and cleanest crop of corn that 
I have ever raised. It was difficult to know which of the first 
two fertilizers made the most corn, but they were both ahead 
of the phosphate. The corn was so ripe and dry that I had 
some of it ground into fine bread meal the 20th of September. 
The crop was cut up the first week in September, putting five 
rows in one, setting it up around one hill on the centre row, 
one man following the two cutters and tying the tops with 


GRAIN CROPS. 143 


two bands above the ears. I also planted beans among the 
corn one way, and raised twenty-six bushels, that sold at $2.25 
per bushel; and at the second and last hoeing, I sowed grass- 
seed, and hoed flat, or rather used garden-rakes to do this 
hoeing. 

The following is the measure and weight of crop of corn 
which I took from just three acres, having husked a little of 
the field before I measured off any. On the three acres 
there were 332 baskets of forty-one pounds each, or 13,612 
pounds, while 69} pounds gave fifty-six pounds shelled corn, 
and an average of 6511% bushels per acre for the three acres. 
Now as to the fodder, there is too much of that; I have no 
room for more in my barns. If I am to raise any more, I 
want a kind that will produce more corn and smaller fodder. 


DEERFIELD VALLEY. 
Statement of A. R. White. 


Inpran Corn.—The field of corn which I enter for premium 
contains one acre. The soil is a heavy loam, clay subsoil, 
and quite stony. Most of the piece was never ploughed until 
I ploughed in 1873, it being very rough, covered with banks 
and stones. The crop of 1873 was potatoes, with no manure 
except tobacco stalks in the hill, except a small part of the 
piece which had been ploughed years before; the crop on 
this part was tobacco, manured with cattle droppings from 
vault under stable at the rate of forty loads of thirty bushels 
each. The crop of 1874 was Hungarian grass, with no 
manure. The ground for the present crop was ploughed the 
27th day of May six inches deep, and harrowed only suffi- 
ciently to level the furrows. One-half of the piece was fur- 
rowed about six inches deep, 34 feet apart, and manured in 
the hill with hog manure made from muck loam and waste 
from the kitchen, at the rate of eighteen loads to the acre; 
the remainder had, at the rate of thirty-five loads to the acre, 
of stable manure ploughed under. The rows were 3} feet 
apart, hills three feet. One gill of wood-ashes was put in 
each hill. The piece was planted the 1st of June by hand; 
I planted twelve quarts of seed, the eight-rowed variety. 
The field was cultivated twice during the season, and hoed 


144 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE. 


once. Harvested the 12th of September by cutting up at the 
roots. The corn was shelled and weighed the 13th day of 
November. On the piece where the manure was spread and 
ploughed in I had 2,340 pounds sound corn, or at the rate 
of 834 bushels per acre, and 5,400 pounds of fodder per acre. 
On the part manured in the hill I had 2,060 pounds of sound 
corn, or 3611 bushels, being 734 bushels to the acre, and 
2,200 dds or 4,400 nee to die acre. I make no men- 
tion of soft corn, as there was but little, not more than five 
baskets on the piece. In statements of debit and credit I 
make two statements, and make them as though each part 
contained one acre, more easily to show the profits of each. 
Where the corn was manured in the hill, it was more forward 
than where it was spread on; but the yield of corn and of 
fodder was much the largest where spread on. 

I consider that in this experiment each bushel of ashes 
gave me one bushel of corn; and the land where manure is 
spread and ploughed in is in much better condition for future 
crops, besides less labor to apply and plant the crop. 


STATEMENT OF EXPENSE AND VALUE OF Crorp or Corn.—PIECE 
WHERE MANURE WAS SPREAD ON. 


Expense of Crop. 


Cost of ploughing, . : 5 : : ; . $4 00 
One-half value of manure, 835, ‘ F ; ; he) 
Drawing and spreading manure, : 5 : : ° 5 00 
Cost of seed and planting, 5 : : : : ; 4 00 
cs cultivation, . ; : : + - = “ 2 00 
md ashes, . : 3 5 : : ; : ; 3 00 
«harvesting, . : ° : - : : s» LOO 
$48 50 
Interest on land, . ; : ‘ ; ; ‘ P 6 00 
$54 50 

Value of Crop. 
834 bushels corn at $1, _ . ; ; : A . $83 57 
5,400 pounds fodder at $10 per chee ; ; : 4 27.00 
$110 57 
Deduct expense, . ; : 5 j ° ‘ . (54 50 


Net income, . ; : 5 ; : , : - $56 07 


GRAIN CROPS. 145 


STATEMENT OF EXPENSE AND VALUE OF Crop oF CoRN.—PIECE 
MANURED IN THE HILL. 


Expense of Crop. 


Cost of ploughing, . - : . : : . . $4 00 
One-half value of manure, ? : é : : : 9 00 
Drawing and putting in hill, . F - - : - 5 00 
Cost of seed and planting, : . - ; ; : 6 00 
“ cultivation, . . : : 2 : : . 5 00 

“¢ harvesting, . . . . : é : ; w Loca 
Interest on land, ‘ . : : : - : : 6 00 
$45 00 

Value of Crop. 

734 bushels corn, . : ; : F 2 Sion 
4,400 pounds fodder, at $10 per vie : : ; : . 22 00 
$95 57 

Deduct expense, . 2 : ; : : : . 45 00 
Net income, . : : 2 : ! : : - $50 57 


Statement of C. EH. Cooley. 


Inpran Corn.—The piece contains two acres, lying on the 
bank of the Deerfield River. The soil is a sandy loam, sand 
predominating. The crop of 1873 was hay, 1,500 pounds to 
the acre. No manure was used that year. The crop of 1874 
was corn. Used seven cords of stable-manure to the acre. 
The corn was badly eaten by cut-worms, consequently I har- 
vested a small crop. For the present crop, ploughed the 
15th of May, six inches deep; applied seven cords of 
stable and sheep manure per acre in the furrow; worked it 
in with a pulverizer, and smoothed with fine harrow; marked 
both ways, distance 4 by 34; planted May 22 and 24 with 
Canada cap corn; used Bradley’s phosphate in the hill; 150 
pounds per acre; cultivated both ways, and hoed the first 
time the middle of June; at the same time applied ten 
bushels of wood-ashes per acre by putting a handful upon 
each hill. Hoed the second time July 2, cultivated one way 
and thinned to four stalks in each hill. No other cultivation 

19* 


146 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE. 


except cutting up the weeds among it about the first of 
August with the hoe; harvested the middle of September, 
and husked the last of October. The yield was 1024 bushels 
per acre, shelled corn; stover weighed eight tons. 


Cost of Crop. 


Two acres, ploughing and preparation for planting, . - $8 00 
Planting, . ; : : ; : : 8 00 
Cultivating, hoeing end earns: : : 5 : -) tLosOe 
Harvesting and husking, . : : 5 : : - 20:00 
Seed, a 4 é 5 ‘ : 1750 
Applying ashes and phosphate, : : : : : 3 00 
Cost of same, . 4 : : ; : J) Ae 
Manure removed by crop, : : : : : . 26700 

Total, ‘ : ; A F : : : . $128 50 

EGY Our 


Statement of John Sample. 


Inpian Corn.—The land I planted with corn had been in 
grass some ten years, without manure, and, for the last five 
years, had yielded but about ten or twelve hundred pounds 
of hay per acre. The soil is a sandy loam. Upon the acre I 
entered for premium, forty loads of manure, of thirty bushels 
each, was. spread and ploughed in, seven inches deep, May 
18, 1875, the ground harrowed three times, and furrowed one 
way; planted May 22, in rows three and a half feet apart, 
and in hills two feet apart in the rows, using twelve quarts of 
smutty white corn; a handful of hen-manure, mixed with 
three times its bulk of soil, was put in each hill, and eighty 
bushels of leached ashes spread upon the tops of the hills 
after planting; cultivated twice with a cultivator, and hoed 
twice; the stalks were cut September 16, and the corn har- 
vested October 20. The seed came up slowly, owing to the 
dry weather; but after it came up, the growth was rapid, and 
the corn ripened off well, being but very slightly injured by 
the early frost. The ashes put upon the hills I should have 
spread broadcast, before planting, but for delays in getting 
them. The product was 934° bushels of corn and about three 
tons of stover. 


GRAIN CROPS. | 147 


Expense of Crop. 


Ploughing and harrowing, : - “ : , -, $5 00 
Manure, . J ‘ - ‘ ‘ : 3 : . 7400 
Seed and planting, . ; - ; : - : : 5 00 
Cultivation, . . ; ‘ ¢ : : ; , 6 00 
Harvesting, . : : . - : . : : 9 00 

Total, é - , ; : : A , - $99 00 


From which a reasonable deduction should be made for the 
value of the manure and ashes remaining in the land, and 
chargeable to future crops. 


Statement of Albert Thomas. 


The acre of corn I entered for premium is a strong sandy 
loam, having a northerly exposure; it was mowed in 1873 
and 1874, no manure being applied; ploughed May 11, 1875, 
eight inches deep, turning in forty loads, of thirty bushels 
each, of barn-cellar manure ; harrowed and furrowed ; planted 
May 25, in rows three and a half by three feet apart, putting 
in the hills fifteen bushels of a mixture of equal parts of ashes, 
plaster and hen-manure, and using twelve quarts of Whitman 
corn; cultivated both ways twice, and hoed twice. Product: 
8942 bushels of corn and three tons of fodder. The corn was 
very good, though not quite as heavy as it would have been 
had it been fully ripe before being touched by the frost. I 
think one-half the manure remains in the ground for future 


crops. 
Expense of Crop. 


Ploughing and harrowing, : - : : : - $8 00 
Manure, . : : : : : ; : ; -. 36 00 
Seed and planting, . : - . “ - : : 4 50 
Hoeing, . 5 - : - : : : . : 8 00 
Harvesting, . - : - . : - : - 6 00 

Total, : : : : : ; ; ; . $82 50 
My corn I consider worth $1 per bushel, . - : ant ORS 
And fodder, $12 per ton, . - : 5 . : - 386 00 


Total, } : ‘ ; : : : ; . $125 87 


148 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE. 


DEERFIELD VALLEY. 


Statement of S. W. Hall. 


WueEaAt.—The quantity of land sowed, 13 acres. The 
crop upon the land in the year 1873 was grass, without man- 
ure. In 1874, the crop was corn; four cords of manure was 
used per acre; yield, fifty bushels per acre. The land was in 
good condition; in the spring of 1875 it was ploughed six 
inches in depth; was sowed May 1 with wheat, and well har- 
rowed. Harvested in August; yield, forty-one bushels ; value 
of same, $61.50; 14 tons straw; value, $15; total value of 


crop, $76.50. 
Cost of Crop. 


Ploughing and sowing, . : ; : : : . $6 00 
Three bushels seed-wheat, ae has : : : : 4 50 
Harvesting and threshing, : : - : . . 8 00 
Use of storage, : : : : : see . 20°00 
Total, , ‘ : 2 5 5 : : . $38 50 
Net profit, y : : : : : 3 . 388 00 


I practise soaking my seed in strong brine before sowing, 
to prevent smut, which is an effectual remedy. 


Statement of A. R. White. 


Fretp Wueat.—The field of wheat which I enter for 
premium contains one acre. The soil is a clayey loam, with 
heavy clay subsoil. The crop of 1873 was barley, with no 
manure. The crop of 1874 was corn, with thirty loads of 
thirty bushels each of cattle-manure, ploughed in. For the 
present crop it was ploughed but once; no manure was used, 
and it was sowed to wheat the seventeenth day of May; two 
bushels to the acre of seed,—China-tea and red-club mixed. 
The sixth day of August cradled and bound the piece, the 
straw standing perfectly erect. The acre yielded 1,845 
pounds of wheat, 30% bushels, and 2,185 pounds of straw. 
Not more than two-thirds of the straw is included in the 
weight, for, it being weedy at the bottom, and as I was to 
plough and seed it this fall, I cut it high, wishing to plough 
in as much of the straw asI could. I charge ten dollars to 


GRAIN CROPS. 149 


expense of crop for manure taken from soil by present crop, 
which I think is a full amount. 


Expense of Crop. 


Cost of ploughing, . ‘ : 3 : : : - $3 00 
erseed. . : : : : : 5 ; 4 50 

“ harrowing, . : : : : : 1 00 

‘¢ harvesting and firéatiiag! - : - : : 4 00 
Interest on land, . 2 : : - 6 00 
Manure previously applied wed bce crop, . : : Hy LOR CG 
Total, - : 3 : : : : : . $28 50 

Value of Crop. 

303 bushels wheat at $2,  .. : : 7 : . $61 50 
2,185 pounds straw at $10 per ton, . : ‘ : 5, gl Oy 92, 
Total, . : : ; : , : ‘ . $72 42 
Deduct expense, : - : : - : : - 207 50 
Profit, : : 7 é : : : ‘ - $43 92 


Statement of C. EH. Cooley. 


Ryr.—The amount of ground sown was 150 rods, the soil 
(in the main) was a light, sandy loam. The crop of 1873 
was corn, manured with six cords of stable-manure, spread 
on turf, and ploughed under seven inches in depth; then put 
two cords ef compost from barn-yard on the furrow and har- 
rowed it in, the land being in somewhat exhausted condition. 
The crop of corn was light, perhaps 40 bushels to the acre. 
The crop of 1874 was corn; used six cords of stable-manure, 
with a small quantity of phosphate in the hill; crop much 
better than the first yield, 60 or 70 bushels to the acre. For 
the crop of rye, ploughed the ground the 20th of September, 
1874, six inches deep; sowed one bushel and one peck of rye 
on the furrow; worked it in thoroughly with pulverizer, then 
sowed 10 pounds herdsgrass-seed, and harrowed lightly and 
smoothed down with loaded stone-boat. The middle of April, 
1875, sowed six pounds of clover-seed and twenty bushels of 
ashes on top of a light snow. Harvested the 25th of July; 
mowed the stubble and grass the middle of September ; yield, 
per acre, 34 bushels 33 pounds; straw, 2,215 pounds ; stubbl 
and hay, 1,960 pounds. 


150 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE. 


Cost of Crop. 


Ploughing and sowing, . : : Z : : : $4 50 
Seed rye, : : : : : : : : : 1 25 
Grass-seed, . ; : ; : . ; ; : 1 75 
Cutting and stacking, . 3 ; . ; 5 : 6 00 
Threshing, . - : : . : : - : 4 00 
Ashes, . : : : 3 , : : 5 ‘ 5 00 

Total cost, . ; oe ; ; : . $23 50 

PLYMOUTH: 


Statement of James Howard. 


Ryr.—My rye field, measuring one acre, has a rolling 
surface, and the soil is hard, gravelly and very stony. The 
crop of 1873 was potatoes, with five cords of barn-manure 
ploughed in. That of 1874 was, on one-half Hungarian 
grass, without manure, and on the other half, corn, with a 
dressing of barn-manure ploughed in, and a small quantity 
of bone and ashes in the hills. October 2, 1874, manure to 
the amount of seventeen loads of thirty bushels each, was 
ploughed in six inches deep, and five pecks of rye sowed and 
harrowed in, and rolled, October 5. In April, 1875, 350 
pounds of low grade German potash was spread upon two- 
thirds of the piece, and seventeen bushels of unleached ashes 
upon the other third. A difference in favor of the potash 
became apparent in the growth of the rye, within two weeks, 
and continued to be so until harvest, and there is now, 
November 1, an equally perceptible difference in the clover, 
from the seed sown upon the surface in April. The rye was 
mowed, bound and shocked July 19, and threshed August 
7-10. Product: 1,695 pounds, or 301% bushels of rye, and 
2,700 pounds of straw, which sold for $33.75. 


Expense of Crop. 


Ploughing and other preparation, . : . 3 . $7.00 
Manure, . . : : ; . 5 - - do 63 
Seed and sowing, . - : : : : : j 2 38 
Harvesting, . tue ; - : . C - 14 00 


Total, . A ; 3 ; ; : : . $57 01 


GRAIN CROPS. 151 


Statement of Charles A. Latham. 


The acre of land on which I raised my rye was in grass, 
unmanured, during the previous eight or ten years. August 
1, 1874, I ploughed half an acre seven inches deep; August 
29, harrowed it once, spread on three cords of good compost 
and three barrels of unleached ashes, and sowed 19 quarts of 
rye, harrowing it in and bushing it. September 4 ploughed 
90 rods adjoining, making in all 170 rods ; harrowed it once, 
and put on three cords of weak compost and 200 pounds of 
sea-fowl guano; September 7, sowed 21 quarts of rye, and 
harrowed and bushed it in. The soil is a dark loam, some- 
what rocky, but pretty free from small stones. The rye came 
up well and grew well during the fall, but the long and cold 
winter killed it in spots, especially on one side of the lot 
where there is a depression in which the water collected and 
froze solid to the ground, remaining so, I should think, about 
two months. When the spring, which was quite late, finally 
opened, I found the rye so badly killed on about ten rods in 
the lowest part, that I ploughed it up and planted potatoes 
upon it, leaving barely one acre of the rye, and that some- 
what winter-killed in spots. The uninjured part grew rapidly 
and ripened well. July 20 it was harvested by cradling and 
mowing, and was threshed by hand August 19-24. I 
think the crop was better upon that part of the lot where the 
ashes were put, than upon the part where the guano was 
applied, but as there was a difference in the compost, and 
also in the land, I am unable to say which I derived the 
greatest benefit from. The product was 1,250 pounds, or 
2218 bushels of rye, at $1.10 per bushel, $24.50, and 2,923 
pounds of straw, for which I received $35.40; total, $59.90. 


Expense of Crop. 


Ploughing and harrowing, : : : P : - $6 00 
Manure, . ; : ; : - : : : «| epee 
Seed and sowing, . - - : : ° : : 2 00 
Harvesting, . : : : ° : ° - «, 10°00 

Total, j : : , , ‘ : : 2 $5500 


I think the land is now in much better condition than before 
it was ploughed. 


152 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE. 


GRAIN AND GRASS SEED. 
DEERFIELD VALLEY. 


From the Report of the Committee. 


Your Committee were struck with the fact that no traces 
of seed-corn, of ten or more rows, were on exhibition; while 
a few years since these flint-corns were raised extensively. 
The farmers, it seems, have returned to the old eight-rowed 
corn, with its improvement: in quality, and we think it a wise 
return, for the following reasons: The flint-corns are more 
indigestible, and contain less animal nutriment per one hun- 
dred pounds, than eight-rowed corn. The mice and squirrels 
always knew this. They let flint-corn alone, if they find eight- 
rowed corn enough. The chit contains a large percentage of 
the nutriment of corn. This, too, the mice and squirrels always 
knew. With animals that can gnaw through a plank, the 
reason for eating only the chit is not a want of power to mas- 
ticate the harder portion of the kernel, but a reason, we 
think, allied to the reason why they eat the meat of the 
walnut, and reject the shell. The chit of the eight-rowed corn 
is much larger than in the flint varieties. Hence we and the 
squirrels give it the preference. The want of plant-nutriment 
is another objection. The chit contains the germ of the 
future plant, and the nourishment which feeds it for a season. 
The chit of the flint varieties is exceedingly small. Hence 
the slender, sickly appearance of the blade. Therefore, we 
recommend the large-chitted, eight-rowed corn, which has the 
germ of a robust, vigorous blade, and nutriment, for the 
vigorous growth of that blade, till its leaves expand to the 
atmosphere, and its roots strike into the earth, and it draws 
its nourishment from the elements. Again, the large stems 
in husking and moulding in the bin, as also the hard, woody 


GRAIN AND GRASS SEED. 153 


constitution of the cob, which makes it so harsh and indigesti- 
ble as feed, make these varieties objectionable; and this 
leads us to prefer the eight-rowed corn, with its small stem, 
easily husked and dried, and its small cob, which grinds into 
comparatively soft meal, while its large store of alkali meets 
in a measure the wants of the milch cow, and all animals 
whose bones are growing, or need sustaining, from a lack of 
phosphate of lime in their feed. 

Cultivation has much to do with the quality of seed-corn. 
As well think of raising healthy, robust offspring from sickly, 
debilitated parents, as to look for seed of full vitality on sickly, 
stunted stalks, reared on ground illy prepared and illy culti- 
vated. Let the land be well ploughed and pulverized; let 
your manure not be covered up at the bottom of a deep fur- 
row, at a depth where your fence-post would remain sound 
for twenty years; but let it be well mixed with the soil in the 
pulverizing process, near the surface, where your stakes and 
posts so soon rot. There you have all the elements,—God’s 
skilful agents at work preparing your manure for plant-food. 
But these agents do not go down deep in the earth to rot 
your fence-posts. Why should they to work over your 
manure ? 

Planting has much to do with the vitality of the seed. No 
farmer expects to raise seed-corn in a field sowed for fodder. 
Why not? It is too thick. Well, when there are many 
stalks in the field, with no ears, or when there is but one ear 
upon a stalk, and that not filled out, the corn is still too 
thick ; or there are too many stalks in a hill. Our opinion 
is, that three feet between the rows, and four feet between 
the hills, and three and four stalks in a hill, will exhaust the 
land less, for the number of bushels raised per acre, than 
to stock heavier. One good, well-capped ear on every stalk, 
and two and three on many, should be the standard aimed at 
by every farmer, and he should vary his planting and improve 
his cultivation till he attains to it. No field of corn, choked 
and shaded and robbed of nutriment by a swamp of weeds, 
can yield the first quality of seed. Corn should be timely 
and well hoed, and we think corn well hoed when the weeds 
are all killed, and the ground made light and as near level as 


possible. When the soil is level, the roots instinctively spread 
20* 


154 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE. 


over the whole surface of the ground. Hill the corn and you 
remove the soil from between the hills and rows, and the corn- 
roots as instinctively reject these soilless places, as the potato- 
sprouts reject the dark portions of the cellar and reach out 
for the light. As the soil is heaped up around the stalks, in 
about a compass of a half-bushel, the corn-roots may be found 
mostly there, gnarled and knotted up, doing the best they 
can. Again, if the soil is level, the showers wet the whole 
surface of the ground, and the roots everywhere find drink. 
On the other hand, the hills shed all the showers down into 
the troughs and furrows, where there is no soil to tempt the 
instinct of the rootlet to run. Nothing but a prolonged rain 
can essentially benefit the gnarled roots, bound up in these 
mounds of earth. One word more. If the last hoeing is 
delayed till the corn has tasselled out, the roots at this stage 
of growth spread everywhere where there is soil to invite 
them, in search of food to strengthen for their work, and, as 
if conscious of their inability, under the most favorable cir- 
cumstances, they call for help, and the brave roots start forth 
and plunge into the soil to aid. Both sets of roots now work 
as near the surface as they can, as if to invoke the most ready 
and powerful aid of the sun and atmosphere and dews and 
rains, to aid them in their work of elaborating juice for the 
stalk, juice to be distilled from the stalk into the kernel and 
germ and vitality of the seed. The considerate farmer will 
take his hoe and skim over the surface of his field as lightly 
as he can, and kill the weeds and break the surface-crust. 
Thus the roots are undisturbed and uninjured, and the hus- 
bandman becomes an accordant helper in this work. By 
destroying the vampire weeds, and opening the pores of the 
soil, he has made it possible for the sun and atmosphere and 
dews and rains to render a more direct and powerful aid in 
maturing his crop and vitalizing his seed. 

Your Committee were gratified to see on exhibition a good 
specimen of seed-wheat, raised in the Deerfield River Valley, 
where our fathers reaped such golden fields of this best and 
most healthful cereal. Every farmer should know that wheat 
craves lime and ashes in the soil, and that the stalk will be 
weak, and crinkle and lodge down, and the seed will be 
shrunk and blighted, where there is a lack of these. Now 


GRAIN AND GRASS SEED. 155 


our railroads run into all of our lime regions. At our bidding 
lime in bulk could be delivered at our depots at such prices, 
we hope to show, that farmers can afford to buy. First, lime 
is all the good tobacco-grower needs to raise good wheat. 
His ground is prepared, and in good seasons his crop will 
be harvested by the 20th of August. Let him sow his 
wheat the next day, and give his field a good dressing with 
lime, and he is all right. Secondly, let the farmers who 
depend upon the process of raising corn and potatoes to 
rejuvenate their soil, as soon as the season will permit in the 
following spring, plough and sow these fields with corn. Let 
the corn grow till the first of July, then plough it well under. 
Let it lie, and the elements act on the soil till the middle of 
August. Then let the field be well pulverized and prepared 
for the seed. The twentieth day of August, let this class of 
farmers, and also the tobacco-growers, both soak their seed 
in brine, and roll it in plaster, or plaster and ashes; then sow 
and harrow it in well. Then sow a liberal quantity of good 
grass-seed, and roll itin. Then give the soil a good dressing 
of lime, and in nine years out of ten your golden harvest is 
sure, every stalk standing erect, every head laden with the 
choicest seed-wheat. Let those who raise spring wheat not 
forget the lime and ashes and salt. Now, let no farmer 
charge all the cost of that time to his field of wheat, rich as it 
may be, and able to pay. Man craves for the constitution of 
his body what the animal craves. He has bones to grow and 
sustain, in common with them. Now wheat, of all the cereals, 
is charged most heavily with elements which the animal 
elaborates into phosphate of lime for the growth and suste- 
nance of the bone. Many persons wilt and become sickly on 
the diet of fine flour, who become healthy on graham and 
cracked wheat. Such are ready to ascribe all this benefit to 
the virtues stored in the hull; whereas, they should take into 
the account the fact that much of the flour is made from 
blighted wheat, grown on soil much exhausted of lime, while 
for graham and cracked wheat, the most plump and robust 
wheat in the market is selected. Wheat grown on soils not 
yet exhausted of their lime quality, just such wheat as we 
propose the farmers of New England shall raise, full of nutri- 
ment and phosphates and vitality ; wheat that will not only 


156 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE. 


restore the partial invalids, but prevent the farmers’ wives 
and children from becoming invalids. Now, what is that 
worth? Item1. Then, there are the following crops of hay, 
much finer in quality and larger in quantity. What is its 
enhanced value? Item 2. Then what is the enhanced value- 
of your stock, fed on that better quality of hay? Item 3. 
Now, add these three items, and subtract the sum from the cost 
of the lime, and charge the balance to your rich field of wheat. 

The question of affording the cost of the lime, ashes, plaster 
and bone-meal for the wheat, resolves itself into the question 
whether a farmer can better afford to raise a field of straw 
alone, or what is about a maximum yield, on lime-exhausted 
soils, ten or fifteen bushels per acre; or raise thirty and forty 
- bushels to the acre, on robust straw, standing erect till har- 
vested? Fed on the latter, his wife and children will be 
robust and healthy, so far as bone feed is necessary to health 
and vigor ; fed on the ten bushels of poverty wheat, they will 
as certainly wilt, as the cow wilts fed on June grass; and as 
the calf wilts borne by that cow, and fed with her milk. 
As to grass, the question is, Can the farmer better afford to 
raise a half-ton per acre of June grass, or kindred poverty 
grasses ; or even his two tons to the acre, on newly seeded 
grounds, if these two tons are deficient in elements the animal 
constitution demands? The feeding is the test. Fed on 
June grass, cows wilt bearing as well as feeding their young. 
The calves have a sickly appearance; though nature in her 
efforts to supply the lack of phosphates in the feed, will go 
to the extent of reducing the mother’s bones to phosphatic 
elements, to feed her young, till her bones become honey- 
combed and without strength; and the mother so weak as to’ 
fall down, unable to rise. After all this painfully affecting 
effort of nature to transfer the life and health and happiness 
of the mother to the offspring, to supply the lack in her feed 
from which to elaborate proper nutriment for her young, still 
the sight of that calf reveals the fact that there is a lack in 
his feed; and there is as great a lack in that milk, for the 
farmer’s children, as for his calves; while the newly seeded 
grasses, grown on soils exhausted of lime, will scarcely do 
more for his stock than to enable them to hold their own. Is 
the cow that simply holds her own, yielding her maximum 


GRAIN AND GRASS SEED. 157 


profit or her best quality of milk for her calves and the 
farmer’s household? Can the farmer afford to raise any 
quality of grasses inferior to those we propose they should 
raise after their golden harvest of wheat?—rich, succulent 
grasses, charged with all the elements the animal constitution 
imperatively demands; grasses from which the cow can 
elaborate the proper nutriment for her young and have a 
surplus on which to thrive herself. When grasses will thus 
enable the cow to thrive and yield her daily store for the life 
of others, fed on the same grasses, the beauty of the God of 
nature will be upon the rest of his herd, in health and vigor 
and in growth and continued improvement; while the house- 
holds are blessed who feed on the goodly products of the 
dairy and the flesh of these goodly animals. 

The families and herds of New England have not suffered 
as yet, as they would have suffered, had not the flour and 
cracked wheat and graham and shorts and corn from unex- 
hausted soils poured in upon them as a flood. But will this 
flood of life always flow? The same greed that has exhausted 
State after State will soon exhaust the rest. Then, if not in 
wisdom before, there must be earnest work in feeding the 
soil, in laying the hand upon everything that can be converted 
into plant-food. And soils exhausted by wheat and grasses 
must be fed with lime till milch cows no longer pine away 
and eat old bones. 

When the bummers in farming have exhausted the last 
State, then the lack felt by animals on worn-out soils can no 
longer be supplied from abroad. The mighty nations that 
have been destroyed by some insignificant barbarous tribe, 
the historian tells you, had become effeminate on high living. 
Whereas, had he told you it was low living, living on the 
products of exhausted soils, it would have been nearer the 
truth. Their effeminacy was akin to what the cow feels fed 
on June grass. A land flowing with milk and honey is no 
rhetorical flourish, no poetic effusion, but fact. The two God 
joined together. The soil that yields the choicest feed for the 
dairy blossoms abundantly, yielding its sweets to the busy 
bee. The glory of the flowering field, the perfection of 
beauty in the families and flocks and herds; these things of 
beauty, above all others, Heaven designed should be a joy 


158 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE. 


forever. But where the soil-skinner is found, alas! they 
together soon pass away. 

But, with the storehouse of Providence open to all, with 
its rich stores of clays and marl and muck and lime and 
plaster and marine exuvia, and its rich treasures from the 
animal and vegetable kingdoms, the high calling of the farmer 
is to restore this pristine beauty, this Canaan type of a goodly 
heritage, as a beauty and joy forever; a joy of health and 
long life; a joy of delight in fields of beauty surpassing 
Solomon in his glory, and in the robust beauty of the family 
and the herds; a joy of the rich harvest of milk and honey 
aud the jubilant joy of harvest home, of his luxuriant fields 
of the choicest quality of seed-wheat. 

Rye, so long as brown bread is held as a luxury, and the 
straw is held so valuable, will commend itself to the attention 
of the farmer. . 

Oats are one of the most exhilarating and muscle-developing 
of grains. They should be sowed early, and in no case 
should grass-seed be sown with them. Oats draw from the 
soil the same quality that grass feeds upon, and in most cases 
they will starve and smother the young grasses to death. 
Harvest the oats and immediately plough in the stubble and° 
seed to grass. Lime or ashes, or even a coating of manure, . 
well mixed with the soil, will not injure the crop of grass. 
The sample of hulless oats we cannot speak advisedly upon. 
We awarded a premium, the rather to call the attention of the 
farmers to it that they might test it for themselves. 

Barley seems to have been known in the days of Gideon. 
One of the host of Midian and Amalek, encamped against 
Israel, dreamed that a loaf of barley bread tumbled into their 
camp and smote a tent that it fell. The dream was interpreted 
to mean the sword of Gideon, and that the Lord had delivered 
their hdst into his hands. Now we are at a loss to know why 
this interpretation of the dream, unless they had kept captive 
Israel on barley bread, and, knowing its virtues, they knew 
that the men who were rising under Gideon to regain their 
liberty, men who had been fed on barley-cake and ali lap 
water as dogs, would endure well and fight well. If barley 
retains its vighie as an article of food, it is well worth while 
for farmers to raise it and give it a fair trial. Remember, it 


GRAIN AND GRASS SEED. 159 


is barley-cake and cold water that gives the Gideon vim, so 
frightening to the imagination of the host of Midian. 

I think it was an oversight in the Committee that there was 
no premium awarded to the goodly specimens of grass-seed 
on exhibition. Facts demonstrate that there are seeds in the 
market that, from age or from some other causes, are worth- 
less. I once had two acres to seed. I found at one store 
about seed enough for one acre. I took it and sowed it on 
one-half of the field. At noon I procured at another store 
enough to seed the other half. Both parcels were sowed the 
same day, on the same kind of soil, equally well prepared. 
Result, one-half well stocked; the other—TI had no evidence 
that a seed sprouted. Now this worthless seed was what was 
left of a lot that had been sold to the farmers. What a severe 
loss to those farmers. Now, supposing I had gone direct to 
the other store and procured the rest, and had mixed the two 
parcels together, and then sowed. The result would have 
been expressed in the very language of hundreds of farmers 
every year: “I sowed a liberal quantity of seed, but somehow 
my ground is not more than half seeded.” Suppose, again, 
that I had found enough to seed the two acres at the first store. 
I should have expressed the result in the very language of 
perhaps threescore farmers that had bought of that lot of seed : 
“T never sowed a larger quantity of seed to the acre; but the 
dry weather came on, and I don’t know that there is a seed 
come; I shall have to plough it again; I am sorry; I had 
taken great pains to enrich and prepare the ground for grass ; 
it frustrates all my plans for a hay-crop for another year.” 
In our opinion there never was, and never will be, a worthless 
pound of seed lost till it comes into the hands of the farmer, 
entailing its hundred-fold loss to him. Remedy : every farmer 
raise his own seed; harvest and preserve with care. 


For the committee, 


D. Topp, Chairman. 


160 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE. 


hk OOT CROPS: 
ESSEX. 


Statement of S. A. Merrill. 


Carrots.—I enter for premium one-half acre of carrots. 
The land on which they were grown was an old, worn-out 
pasture three years ago. It was ploughed and planted one 
year ago with potatoes, with green barn-manure spread 
broadcast and cultivated in drills, using 300 pounds of guano 
to the acre. Last year it was planted with carrots, using 
about six cords of waste manure to the acre. This year I 
ploughed and planted about the middle of June, using six 
cords of manure to the acre. I think this time the best for 
planting carrots, for two reasons. In the first place, we save 
one weeding; second, I think carrots, that are not too ripe, 
keep much better in winter, and they grow better in the 
autumn than they do in the hot weather. I raised from this 
half-acre, twelve tons of good marketable carrots, of the long 
orange variety, worth more for marketing in the spring than 
the medium or shorthorn carrot, at least this has been my 
experience for several years. The cost of this crop is as 
follows :— 


Ploughing, : : ; : : j : 5 . $1 50 
Harrowing and cultivating, : . . : ; . 1 50 
Value of manure, . ‘ : ; : ; ; ~2 Leo OD 
Applying manure, . : : : 4 : : - 5 00 
Seed, : ; ; : ; ; ; ; é : 50 
Hoeing and weeding, ° : : : 5 . : 8 00 
Harvesting, . : : 3 : ; ; 5 : 7 00° 
Land rent, . : ; : : 5 : : . 000 

Total, : : : : 3 5 : . . $58 50 


Value of crop, 12 tons, . 5 : 3 : : . $120 00 


ROOT CROPS. 161 


Statement of J. J. H. Gregory. 


Onions.—The lot of onions offered for premium are of the 
early red globe variety, and were grown on a piece of 
reclaimed meadow-land. This land, after having been suit- 
ably drained, was covered with sand and gravelly loam at the 
rate of about a hundred two-horse loads per acre. The land on 
which the onions grew had onions also the year previous, and 
the year before that we cultivated it to cabbages and pota- 
toes. The manure used this season was mostly a compost of 
well-rotted glue-manure and muck, which had absorbed the 
drainings from a manure pile of the same material located on 
a slope above. It was applied at a rate of about nine cords 
to the acre. The land was brushed and planted in rows four- 
teen inches apart at the rate of four pounds of seed to the 
acre, great care being taken to get the seed at a uniform 
depth. Throughout the season the ground was kept clear of 
weeds, receiving, in short, first-rate care. The crop ripened 
down very early. The piece selected contained exactly half. 
an acre, and the crop weighed 18,484 pounds, which, at the 
legal weight of fifty-two pounds to the bushel, would make 
355 bushels. The following statement shows the cost of the 
crop :— 


Manure and spreading on half an acre, . : - . $45 00 
Ploughing half an acre, . : : : ; 2 ; 2 50 
Harrowing, raking, and planting, . : . : : 6 00 
Seed, ‘ ‘ A : : t : : i 4 210 00 
Three slidings, . : : . - : : : ; 4 00 
Three weedings, : . - . : : - «) (12000 
Pulling and turning, . : : : - 5 : : 5 50 
Harvesting, . - 5 : : - : : : 8 00 
Topping, . : ; : : - : ‘ : : 9 50 
Use of land, . d ; A : , ‘ ; : 6 00 

Total, : 3 : : ‘ ; f : . $108 50 


Onions raised on reclaimed meadow cost less per acre than 
on upland, the difference being felt mostly in the preparing of 
the ground and the weeding. As I use a large proportion of 
each of the crops entered by me; viz., onions, squashes, and 
beets, as seed stock, I make no estimate of market value. 

21* 


162 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE. 


Statement of Ira F’. Burnham. 


Onions.—The land on which my onions grew, as measured 
by your committee, contains one-half acre. In the spring of 
1874 it was dressed with three cords of barn-manure, and 
planted with a variety of vegetables for family use. Last 
spring I ploughed in four cords of barn-yard manure, harrowed 
it till fine, and sowed, on the 26th of April, two pounds of 
Danvers onion-seed, in rows fourteen inches apart. The seed 
came up very evenly. In June I sowed on two barrels of the 
Brighton blood fertilizer, which had a very marked effect, the 
young plants growing very rapidly. The following is the 
cost of the crop :— 


Ploughing and preparing land, . ; 3 : ‘ . $4 00 
Seed, ; ‘ : ‘ 5 : ; : 4 - 10,00 
Manure, 4 cords, : 2 ; : : é ; ~ 128n0u 
Weeding 3 times, . : : ‘ ‘ : ; 24206 
Two barrels Brighton fertilizer, ‘ : ; : - 10°08 
‘Harv esting, . - : ; : ° : : . 10 00 
$86 00 


By 3830 bushels of nice, well-ripened onions, at 75 cents per 
bushel, . : 3 4 : “ : A A . $247 50 


Statement of J. J. H. Gregory. 


Berts.—The soil on which these grew is a strong loam 
manured with an admixture of sea, barn, and glue manure at 
the rate of five cords to the acre. This was thoroughly mixed 
with the soil, and after harrowing and raking, the seed was 
planted at intervals between the 18th of June and the 3d of 
July, in rows sixteen inches apart. In the plot were four 
varieties of the turnip beet; viz., early blood, Simon’s early, 
Dewing, and Egyptian. The beets were thinned to six inches 
apart in the rows, had clean cultivation, and were pulled and 
topped from October 15 to October 25 when of an average 
diameter of about three and one-half inches, a good size for 
table use. The area of the plot was 22.346 feet, and the 
number of pounds of the yield was 19,754, a little short of 
ten tons, which, at sixty pounds to the bushel, would make 


ROOT CROPS. 163 


329 bushels. As will be seen, the crop is not presented as a 
crop for fodder purposes, for in that case they would have 
been planted as early as frost left the ground, and have been 
thinned to a distance of eight or ten inches apart in the rows. 
By planting them very early on a rich soil, I have grown the 
early blood turnip beet to weigh from ten to twenty pounds 
and reach the size of a half-bushel measure. This crop is 
presented as an excellent yield for beets of a size suitable for 
table use. The following shows the cost :— 


Manure and spreading, . . : , ; : . $25 00 
Ploughing, harrowing, and raking, . : : : . * 8 30 
Seed and planting, . : : : ; : : : 3 00 


Three slidings, . - : - 3 : : : : 4 00 
Three weedings, , : : yee . : = ott 06 
Pulling and topping, : : : é : ‘ « 10-00 
Harvesting, . : : : : : . ° : 2 50 
Use of land, . ‘ : A : é A : s 3 00 


Total, ; ; : : : ‘ . : . $70 00 


DEERFIELD VALLEY. 


Statement of H. L. Mason. 


Porators.—The piece of potatoes which I enter for pre- 
mium consisted of three acres of meadow-land. The crop 
grown upon it in the years 1873-4 was hay. One-half of it 
was ploughed in the fall of 1874, the remainder in the spring 
of 1875. That ploughed in the fall was manured in the spring 
and the manure harrowed in. On the remainder the manure 
was spread broadcast and ploughed under about eight inches 
in depth. The soil was heavy loam. I experimented with 
Bradley’s phosphate, lime-ashes and wood-ashes, using these 
separately and in the hill, and on another part used no fer- 
tilizer in the hill. I planted my potatoes on the 25th of May, 
and furrowed for the rows 2} feet apart, distance of hills fif- 
teen inches; cut my potatoes (which were Early Rose) in 
pieces, using two and three eyes to the hill. I would state 
that where I used phosphate the yield was best, lime-ashes 
next. The potatoes were better upon the land that was 
ploughed in the spring, than upon that ploughed in the fall. 


164 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE. 


Cost of Crop. 


20 cords of manure, . : ; : ; : : . $90 00 
One-half removed by crop, ; : . d » 45 00 
Cost of ploughing and preparing haa : 5 ; - JOeOG 
2 seed and planting, : : 3 : - - , 2g 
‘cultivating, . : : 10 00 


The yield was at the rate of 472 bushels to the acre. 


PLY MOU LE: 


Statement of James Howard. 


Brets.—The land on which my beets grew measures 50 
square rods, and is a low, stiff, gravelly loam; it was in corn 
in 1873, manured with stable-manure, at the rate of four cords 
to the acre, with a small quantity of bone and ashes in the 
hills ; in potatoes in 1874, manured nearly the same as in the 
previous year ; ploughed once in April, 1875, six inches deep, 
smoothed down with cultivator and rakes, and one pound of 
long red mangold seed sowed with a machine; cultivated 
twice with a horse, and hoed three times; harvested the last 
of October. Product: 23,160 pounds, or 886 bushels of 
beets, being at the rate of 1,23512 bushels per acre, and tops 
worth, perhaps, $3, which is much less than they would have 
been worth but for the early frost, which injured them as food 
for stock (for which I think them quite valuable when 
uninjured), and also checked the growth of the roots pre- 
maturely. Weeds have grown with unusual rapidity the past 
season, and the cost of cultivation has been thereby increased. 
I think beets should be planted as early as the season and the 
condition of the land will permit. The manure applied this 
year consisted of 13 cords of barn-manure, 166 pounds of low- 
grade German potash, 140 pounds of Davis’s phosphate and six 
bushels of hen-manure. 


Cost of Crop. 


Ploughing, etc., 5 : . 5 : - : - $2 00 
Manure, . : 5 3 : : ; : : 2) 20ave 
Seed and planting, . ; : : - : . : 1 75 
Cultivation, . : 4 5 . : ‘ ie 1200 
Harvesting, . : 5 . - . 5 : : 7 50 


Total, 5 : : : . ; ‘ : . $44 00 


ROOT CROPS. 165 


Statement of Lewis Leonard. 


Turnirs.—My turnips grew on forty square rods of dark 
loam, somewhat sandy, which was in grass in 1873, top- 
dressed lightly with compost, at the rate of about three cords to 
the acre; in grass without manure in 1874 ; ploughed once six 
inches deep in the spring of 1875, turning under three cords of 
coarse manure; harrowed four times and raked down smooth ; 
planted between the 25th and 28th of June, with a machine, 
in rows about two feet apart, using nearly a half a pound of 
the yellow Swedish turnip seed, many of which were wasted 
through a derangement of the machine; thinned to about a 
foot apart in the rows, and hoed four times. Product: 1994 
bushels of turnips, or at the rate of 798 bushels per acre, and 
a large quantity of tops, which, I think, are of considerable 
value as food for stock, especially for milch cows, if fed 
immediately after milking. 


Eapense of Crop. 


Ploughing, ete, : ‘ f ‘ j : ; . $4 00 
Manure, : ‘ F ; : P j : . «| 24.00 
Seed and sowing, . : : : : : ; 5 1 50 
Cultivation, . ‘ ; , ; ‘ ‘ ; F 6 00 
Harvesting, . : : : : : - é , 8 00 

Total, i : ‘ f : é : ; . $43 50 


Statement of Spencer Leonard. 


SwepisH Turnips.—The land on which my turnips grew, 
containing forty square rods of sandy loam, was mowed in 
1873, and also in 1874, in June, after which it was ploughed, 
manured with 150 pounds of the Brighton fertilizer, and 
sowed with Hungarian grass, from which a good crop was 
obtained. This year it was ploughed the last of May, har- 
rowed and bushed; and, just before sowing, was well bushed 
a second time, thus. killing a large proportion of the weeds 
and much lessening the cost of weeding and subsequent 
cultivation. Planted, June 25, with a seed-sower, in drills 
about thirty-four inches apart, using one-fourth of a pound of 
seed of the yellow Swedish turnip. The seed came up very 


166 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE. 


irregularly, but’ finally in sufficient numbers to insure a fair 
crop; cultivated three times, and hoed twice with hand-hoes ; 
harvested from November Ist to 5th. Product: 8,520 pounds, 
or 142 bushels of turnips, being at the rate of 568 bushels 
per acre, and five tons of tops, by estimation. — 


Expense of Crop. 


Ploughingysi rit) sti lie mete bleu bo WV RHEE a eee 

Manure, . : ; : i : ‘ ; ; ai) ae 

Seed and sowing, . : d é ; : : : 50 

Cultivation, 3) 00 

Harvesting, 5 50 

Total, : : ; : : ; : . . $27 50 
ESSEX. 


From the Report of the Committee. 


Sucar-BEET.—What is a sugar-beet? By the agricultural 
public, and even by the agricultural papers which profess to 
be teachers of the public, the term sugar-beet is almost 
always misapplied. One of our agricultural papers recently, 
in a long editorial, written with the avowed object of making 
clear to the uninstructed mind the difference between a beet 
and a mangold-wurzel, asserted that the sugar-beet grew to 
the length of about fifteen inches! The term sugar-beet is 
an unfortunate one, as the word sugar had already been 
appropriated to express the sweet flavor of the varicties of 
beets raised for table-use, while the word beet is strictly a 
misnomer, the vegetable sugar-beet being in reality a mangold- 
wurzel. A generation ago our fathers used the term sugar 
as a familiar designation for any sweet variety of beet raised 
for table-use, and at the present time by the great majority 
of the public the term is still so used. As the new industry 
of manufacturing sugar from the beet grew on the continent 
of Europe, seedsmen were called upon to supply for com- 
merce seed of the best variety for this purpose. It was 
necessary that this variety should be as free as possible from 
all coloring substance, as all this would as a matter of course 
give a stain to the juice, and impose on the manufacturer the 


ROOT CROPS. “ee 


labor of purifying it. The one at first selected was the long, 
white mangold-wurzel, and this was called the sugar-beet in 
commercial parlance. This white mangold was not entirely 
white, the portion of it that grew above-ground being usually 
colored a light green by exposure to the sun’s rays. It 
became, therefore, an object for the manufacturer to still im- 
prove on this mangold, to the end that all the coloring matter 
in the root should be eliminated. The intelligence and enter- 
prise of the seedsmen of Europe responded to this want, and 
in the course of a few years two prominent varieties of man- 
gold were produced that have nearly completely satisfied it— 
one of these were sent out by the estimable house of Vilmorin, 
Andrews & Co., of Paris, and is named “ Vilmorin’s new 
Improved White”; and the other, “White Imperial Extra,” by 
the distinguished German house of Ernest Benary. 

These improved sugar-beets of commerce grow nearly 
entirely under-ground. They are called beets, but are so only 
in a generic sense, just as the green-fleshed melons are 
included in the word muskmelon when that word is used in a 
generic sense, though at the same time we know that by the 
muskmelon in the familiar language of the family we mean 
only the mealy, yellow-fleshed variety. When grown, these 
beets define themselves to be the mangold variety by the 
coarser structure of the root, the stouter ribs of the leaves 
and the greater coarseness of the leaves, which spring in 
larger masses directly from the crown than is the case with 
the beets for the table. 

The moral of all this for you, my farmer friend, is, that if 
you want a beet for table-use, do not order seed of the sugar- 
beet, or you will be very likely to find a mangold growing in 
your garden, a return, but not a recompense, for the sweat and 
toil of the husbandman. 

J.J. H. Grecory, Chairman. 


168 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE. 


MANURES. 


ESSEX. 


From a Report by J. J. H. Gregory. 


There is an idea, very generally prevalent in the commu- 
nity, that, though other substitutes may do for an emergency, 
yet to keep up the fertility of the farm through a long series 
of years, barn-yard manure, by which is specially meant that 
of horses’ and neat-stock, is, after all, the only reliance. I 
believe that this idea can be shown to belong to the popular 
class of errors, though countenanced very generally by the 
agricultural press, and by the agricultural writers of the 
popular type. To demonstrate that the agriculture of the 
farmers of an entire community is carried on, and that 
most successfully, too, with but little dependence on the 
manure of the barn-yard as a fertilizer, I will instance the prac- 
tice of the farmers of Marblehead, extending over a period of 
more than twenty years. Their crops are mostly early pota- 
toes, cabbages, squashes and onions, vegetables whicli require 
the very highest feeding to give first-class crops; and these 
enterprising tillers of the soil are well known to fame as a 
class who are contented with nothing less than first-class 
crops, and when they fail in growing these the cases are 
exceptional. As a body, beyond one, or perhaps two cows 
for family use, they keep almost no stock in addition to that 
needed to carry on the work of the farm. These consist of 
from two to four horses, or in the place of two of the horses, 
a yoke of oxen. From such resources it will be seen that 
there can average but about half a dozen cords of home-made 
barn-manure annually. Of barn-yard manure from other 
sources, some of them on an average purchase three or four 
cords a year, while half of them do not purchase any at all. 


MANURES. 169 


Now these farmers will average as many as five acres each 
in vegetable crops, and their average application of manure 
is certainly as high as from eight to ten cords to the acre. 

It will be seen, then, that while the average use of barn- 
yard manure is less than ten cords each by the farmers of 
Marblehead, the average quantity of manure used by them is 
forty cords or more. We find here, then, a community which, 
in refutation of the old axiom, that barn-yard manure lies at 
‘the basis of successful agriculture, have for twenty years kept 
their soil in the highest state of fertility with but little depend- 
ence upon it, while they are known by their crops far and 
wide as successful farmers. How they have accomplished 
this, what plant-food they use as a substitute, and how they 
prepare it for the soil, does not come within the sphere of my 
article, and I will therefore pass on to give a single illustra- 
tion from my own experience of how a large crop of cabbages 
were successfully raised without any help from barn-manure. 

In the spring of 1874, I broke up in an old pasture, wher- 
ever I could find sufficient depth of soil among the ledges, 
about three acres of rough hilltop and sides. As the road 
up the hill was very steep, making the teaming of common 
compost a very difficult matter, while six hundred cords on 
various fields of tillage had about exhausted all resources in 
that direction, I was more than half compelled to use concen- 
trated fertilizers as a substitute. I chose hen-manure, ground 
bone, and German potash salts. The hen-manure was col- 
lected in town at a dollar.a barrel, the bone was a part of 
about thirty tons of bones that had laid together until about 
rotten, and were then ground in a bark mill. These I pur- 
chased at from $20 to $25 per ton. They had been offered 
in neighboring towns in large or small lots, and yet there 
were found but two purchasers sufficiently intelligent or 
enterprising to invest in them at this low figure! Dr. Loring 
was one of these; the name of the other gentleman I have 
forgotten. The condition of the bones was so coarse, that 
probably the word crushed would best define it. The potash 
salts used were of the cheapest variety, known by the name 
of kainite, which contained but a minimum of potash to a 
maximum of chloride of sodium, or common salt; a subse- 
quent analysis proving that the composition as given was 

22% 


170 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE. 


incorrect, the proportion of potash present being not nearly 
so great as the original analysis set forth. Thanks to our 
Agricultural College, this deception was duly detected and 
duly exposed, so that the public is not so likely again to pay 
for a good article and get a poor one. In these three articles 
were the three substances which make up about all that vege- 
tation needs; viz., nitrogen, phosphate of lime and potash. 
The hen-manure and bone were each rich in nitrogen and phos- 
phates, while the kainite gave the potash. The hen-manure 
was especially rich in nitrogen and the bone in phosphates. 
To manure the three acres I used twenty-five barrels of hen- 
manure, twelve barrels of bone and three of kainite. These 
were composted with about an equal quantity of fine loam— 
a square heap being made by spreading layer on layer of each 
to a height of about three feet. The mass was allowed to 
remain for three days, until well heated by fermentation, 
when it was pitched over and very thoroughly mixed together 
and allowed to stand about twenty-four hours longer, when 
heat having again been developed, it was again pitched over, 
and the process was a third time repeated. The entire mass 
had now become very thoroughly mixed together, and was 
mechanically in very fine condition. The ground having 
been thoroughly prepared, about a quart of this compost was 
applied to each hill, covered with soil, and the seed planted 
upon it. The result showed that the kainite was too strong 
of common salt, for but few of the seed vegetated. The 
trouble could not have arisen from the hen-manure being too 
concentrated, for I have often used it as strong, and even 
stronger, and yet had no difficulty in getting healthy plants. 
The result was, we were compelled to transplant into many 
vacant hills. The crop received the usual cultivation, and, 
though a part of the growing season was very dry, and this 
crop was on a high, steep hill, yet ultimately I had one of the 
finest crops of Essex, Wakefield, Winegstadt, Wyman and 
Schweinfurt Quintal cabbages it was ever my fortune to raise ; 
indeed of the Schweinfurt, I think of the many years I have 
raised them, I never had so fine a crop. 


The cost of the manure was as follows :— 


MANURES. — UGE 


Twenty-five barrels of hen-manure, at $1 per barrel, . ~ $25 00 
Twelve barrels of bone, 180 pounds each, at $22.50 perton, 24 30 
Kainite, about . 2 4 3 ; “| é = 2000 
Expense of composting, .. - : : - : : 5 00 
Cost of teaming manure, . - - : ; : . 5 00 


gti le at US Rae rn 27) 


It will be seen that the cost of the manure on the ground, 
and mixed, was about $24 for each acre of cabbage. Any 
farmer of experience knows that, as a rule, to insure a first- 
rate crop of each of these varieties of cabbage, at least six 
cords of good stable-manure to the acre would be required ; 
and as every farmer of experience also knows, such manure, 
landed in the field, costs on the average $10 to the cord, 
which would make the cost for each acre of cabbages, $60, on 
the side of barn-manure, and for the three acres, $180, against 
$71.30 on the side of the mixture. 

But the common farmer may say that the six cords will 
leave residue in the ground which the grass-erop will find 
when the land is laid down. True; but so will the mixture 
leave considerable of phosphate of lime, potash and salt behind 
it. But raising cabbages on such a scale belongs to market- 
farming rather than to common farming, and those who follow 
it only at long intervals, lay land down (grass is the poorest 
return they get), and meanwhile for many years every acre 
receives just about as much manure one year as another, but 
little or no account being taken of what might be left in the 
soil by the preceding crop. 


172 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE. 


DAL RY oO CK 


ESSEX. 


From the Report of the Committee. 


We suppose there is a twofold object in offering this pre- 
mium. First, to induce owners of good herds to exhibit their 
stock, and thus add to the interest of our annual show; and, 
second, to elicit, by the required statements, reliable inform- 
ation respecting the manner and cost of keeping, and the 
income obtained. We think the latter a matter of very great 
importance. There has been much written of late regarding 
the profit of this branch of farming, and this question is 
frequently discussed among farmers. It is pretty generally 
conceded by practical farmers in this region, that the margin 
of profit in the dairy is small, although a person is occasion- 
ally found who thinks the production of milk for the market 
a money-making business. We do not propose to discuss 
this question, but would call attention to the need of more 
definite and exact information respecting this branch of farm- 
ing. Very few persons really know how much value their 
cows produce in a year, or how much value in food and labor 
is expended on them. 

The dairy forms one part of the farm operations, and they 
may, perhaps, be able to tell at the end of the year whether, 
on the whole, they have gained anything from the farm; but 
they cannot tell whether or not it would have paid better to 
have sold the produce consumed by the cows and bought a 
quantity of manure equal in value to that produced by the 
cows. Every farmer who keeps a herd of cows, or who thinks 
of doing it, would like to know how much money return he 
can reasonably expect to receive from such a herd of cows as 
is practicable for him to obtain. If our milk producers, who 


DAIRY STOCK. 173 


make this one of the means of living, would take the trouble 
to keep an exact account for a year or two of the yield of 
their herds, the amount received for dairy products and the 
manner and cost of keeping, it would be of the greatest value 
to many young farmers, and not a little benefit to themselves. 
The vast difference in the income of different cows, without 
any perceptible difference in cost of keeping, would surprise 
us, and the result of careful observation would very likely 
show that, in a herd of twenty cows, a large portion do not 
pay expenses, while the remainder yield a good profit. 

It may be objected, that keeping an exact account of the 
production of each individual in a large herd, would involve 
such an amount of labor as to be practically impossible. But 
we think not. Let the milk of each cow be measured or 
weighed one day in each week for a year, and the amount 
produced by each one in that time could be very easily calcu- 
lated. The knowledge gained by trying this experiment is 
worth, to the person trying it, all the trouble it costs. 

It would, doubtless, be found that a large proportion of 
cows do not pay expenses. But is not the first step to pecun- 
iary success in dairy farming to ascertain how much a cow 
must yield to pay a fair profit, and the next to find out which 
individuals of the stock are not doing it. 

We want information, too, respecting the income farmers 
of good judgment in the selection of stock actually do receive 
from such cattle as they can obtain, for it is utterly imprac- 
ticable for a milk producer to buy a herd of cows which will 
all prove to be extra. And then the farmer, in deciding 
whether or not it is profitable for him to continue in this 
branch of his business, must extend his observations over a 
term of years. He must buy his cows and sell them before 
he can tell exactly how the account stands. If he buys extra 
stock for milk, he must pay for that quality in the cow, 
and when her usefulness is ended, he must expect to sell her 
for the sum she is worth for beef. If he has a large stock, 
he must expect to lose an animal occasionally, and must con- 
stantly expect more or less loss from swelled udder, or “ gar- 
get,” and he must bear in mind that a large milker is more 
liable to diseases of this nature than a cow yielding a mod- 
erate quantity. 


174 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE. 


Another point on which more definite knowledge is wanted, 
is the feeding. Milk producers are not agreed as to the food 
best calculated for making milk. It is agreed that something 
must be fed besides hay, but whether shorts, fine feed, cotton- 
seed, oil-cake, corn-meal or roots, is by no means settled. 
The comparative value of these different kinds of food for the 
production of milk, is a matter on which few farmers have a 
well-grounded opinion. It is claimed on good authority that 
cows can be kept much more economically, with equally good 
results, by giving “chopped feed,” instead of feeding the 
same kinds of provender dry. We know farmers practising 
this mode of feeding, who think one-fourth of the hay can be 
saved in this way, and the cows kept equally well. If this is 
true, it is a fact well worth knowing and practising. On all 
these points farmers need more definite and precise knowledge, 
which can only be obtained by careful experiment. The sum 
of it all is, that in this, as in all other operations of the farmer, 
it may not be very easy to ascertain exact financial results. 
But such a knowledge is essential to success, especially in a 
business where the margin of profit cannot be large. 


Jos. S. Hown, Chairman. 


Statement of George B. Dodge. 


I enter for premium for best milch cow, my grade Ayrshire 
cow, “Star,” calved March, 1867. She dropped her last calf 
February 6, 1875, and is due to calve again December 31, 
1875. Her feed, until turned to pasture, was the best of 
English hay and rowen, with two quarts of Indian meal and 
about a peck of roots per day; since the 20th of May, good 
pasturage. Commenced August 1 feeding one armful of 
corn-fodder in the evening, and one quart of Indian meal in 
the morning. Commenced March 1 weighing her milk, and 
weighed it until September 1; her average during March was 
38.8 pounds; for April, 40.2 pounds; for May, 38.2 pounds ; 
for July, 34.1 pounds. Her record for the months of June 
and August, as required by the rules of the society, is as 
follows :— 


DAIRY STOCK. 175 


June I to 10, inclusive. 


Morning, . ° : : . . . - 180 pounds. 
Evening, . ° ° : ° : ° - 2224 . ae 


Total, . ; : : ° ; ; 4023.) 8 
Average weight in pounds, ° : ° 2 £025 ee 


August 22 to 31, inclusive. 


Morning, . - : : . : ; . 142 pounds. 
Evening, Totes 7 
Total . : : : ; . ; aoe ae 
Average weight in pounds, : : : iar cib33 ON 


Statement of Benjamin P. Ware. 


I offer for premium my thorough-bred Ayrshire cow, 
*Rose 2d,” born March 5, 1870, whose dam was “ Rose,” 
grandam “ Marjary,” imported by Joseph S. Cabot. “ Mar- 
jary” was bred by John Kilgore, of Notmine, Scotland, 
great-grandam “ Lillias,” bred by Mr. Kilgore, great-great- 
grandam was bred by Captain Martin. “Marjary’s” sire 
was “Jamie,” bred by Alex. Arnold, of Aucheneunie; the - 
sire of “ Rose 2d” was bred by E. S. Poor, from a bull im- 
ported by him. “Rose 2d” dropped her calf June 2, there- 
fore could not account for her milk the first ten days of June. 
The weight of her milk for the last ten days of August was 
three hundred and ninety-nine pounds. 

Allowing 2.15 pounds as the standard weight of one quart 
of milk, the yield would equal 185.12 quarts, averaging 18.5 
quarts per day. Her feed has been as much green corn-fod- 
der as she would eat in the forenoon, and turned out to pasture 
and water in the afternoon, with two quarts of shorts and one 
quart of meal morning and evening. Her milk, by the lac- 
tometer, shows eleven and one-half per cent. cream. 


Statement of George W. Russell. 

I enter my Jersey cow, “Nellie Blen, 2d,” 1148, A. H. B., 
calved August 17, 1870, making her five years of age, and 
bred by me, for the premium of the best milch cow of any 
breed, with satisfactory evidence as to her milk, manner of 


176 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE. 


feeding, etc. “Nellie Blen 2d” dropped heifer-calf December 
22,1874. January 1, 1875, I commenced to measure her 
milk, and have measured it daily up to September 1, 1875. 
During the winter she was fed on good hay, with one quart 
corn-meal and one quart cotton-seed meal twice a day until 
the 20th of May, after which she had nothing but pasture feed 
until August 1, 1875; since then, two quarts meal daily. 
Due to calve November 6, 1875. 


Record of her Milk. 


Gave in January, 627 quarts—20} quarts per day=1,348} pounds. 
ae February 532“ 19 a aS 1,143 ‘ 
a8 March, 558 ‘“ 18 ss gh 1,199.5 *“ 
vs April,’ 480" ~~ ** 16 eS a 1,032 % 


ee May, 465“ 15 he es 9992 « 
“« June, 450 “ 15 & “ 9672 « 
a July, 379% * 12h” os sé 817 
sa August, 274 ‘ 9 af rs 5897 * 

3,765 S058%37 ee 


The above record shows a yield of 15.50 quarts daily for 
eight months. 


DAIRY PRODUCTS: 


HAMPSHIRE, FRANKLIN AND HAMPDEN. 


From the Report of the Committee. 


Burrer.—All concede that, to make first-class goods in the 
varied departments of manufacturing, the raw material must 
be good, the machinery or appliances adequate, with skilled 
labor, and, in addition, a remunerative market. 

First. The dairyman knows that different breeds of milch 
cows differ in the producing properties for butter; and cows 
of the same breed, likewise, differ in the quality of their milk. 
Hence, in buying a cow exclusively for a butter dairy, the 
milk should be examined by means of a microscope, or some 
other reliable test. Again, the cream rises quicker on the 
milk of some breeds of cows than on others. We should not 


DAIRY PRODUCTS. 177 


buy milk from a Dutch herd for butter, in preference to Jer- 
seys. To have the highest success, the stalls of the butter 
herdsman should not contain mixed breeds of cattle. As the 
cow is only.a “vitalized manufactory” to change the elements 
of grasses, grains and roots into milk, so her feed should be 
abundant and nutritious. To gain this end, the pastures 
should be improved. It is desirable that pastures should 
have a variety of fine, sweet grasses, of succulent properties, 
with a succession of growth; that noxious weeds, sedge- 
grasses, bushes and brambles be eradicated. It is capital 
well invested to fertilize pastures, particularly with the wood- 
ash and gypsum. The water, too, should be pure, abundant, 
and not in stagnant pools. The grass for winter-feed of the 
milch cow should be-cut early, before or as soon as the seed 
is soft and pulpy, nor should it be over sun-dried. During 
the dry months of summer, some forage-crops for soiling 
ought to be cultivated to maintain the flow of milk. In 
winter-feeding, roots and grain should be given, with hay. 
As the quality of the milk is affected by the feed of the cow, 
we prefer, for roots, the carrot, parsnip, or sugar-beet. Sup- 
plying milch cows with water in winter demands no small 
attention from the herdsman. The patient cow, that contrib- 
utes so much to the necessities as well as the luxuries of 
living, should be treated tenderly. In driving or miiking, 
gentleness, kindness and quiet are preferable to blows, milk- 
ing-stools, boots or stones. Talking, especially when loud, 
ought not to be allowed while milking. A little hay before 
the cow, when being milked, tends to quietude. Not the 
least consideration to prevent “barny taste” in cream and 
butter, is cleanliness. 

Second. The milk-room should have a northerly aspect, 
removed from the odors of filthy yards or pigsties, nor be over 
a damp or vegetable cellar. Registers should be so arranged 
in the walls as to admit pure, dry air when wanted; also the 
exit of impure air. Charcoal, in boxes, in different parts of 
the creamery, is a good disinfectant. A subdued light is pref- 
erable. Heat can be introduced through steam-pipes attached 
to the kitchen-range stove. The temperature of the room 
should be about 60 degrees, Fahrenheit. All milk and 
butter appliances should be washed thoroughly, scalded with 

23* 


178 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE. 


water that will “ dance, as well as sing.” No department in 
the farm-house requires the “carking care” and scrupulous 
cleanliness of butter-making. The milk-vat, or stationary 
pan, to say the least, is labor-saving, not naming other excel- 
lences. The cream ought to be removed as soon as the milk 
becomes slightly sour. (Cream is deteriorated when the pan 
of milk is loppered.) Sweeter butter is made from milk that 
has set but twelve hours, than that at twenty-four. Cream, 
while collecting, should be stirred in the pail when additions 
are made, and the pail slightly covered. Churning should 
be done frequently ; the stroke of the floats should be slow 
and uniform. The temperature of the cream, when put in 
the churn, should be from 60 to 62 degrees. Ice and water 
ought to be used sparingly about butter, and the buttermilk 
well extracted. About three-fourths of an ounce of salt, to 
one pound of butter, is requisite to give it a relish, leaving 
the peculiar fragrant smell that marks “ gilt-edged” butter. 
In this stage of butter-making, judgment is necessary not to 
overwork it, so as to destroy the firmness or grain. When 
cooled, remove the brine, and mould it to suit the market. 

Third. Butter-rolls designed for a city market, or country 
store, ought to be wrapped in strips of thin cotton cloth, 
packed into a convenient sized tin box, and this inclosed in a 
larger wooden box, ample ‘or ice. Butter, how well soever 
manufactured at the farm-house, may become inferior in 
quality by improper packing and careless transportation ; but 
more frequently by being put into the merchant’s tub or 
refrigerator not overclean, or by contact with poorer qualities 
of butter. Too frequently the butter-tub is left open in the 
proximity of codfish, tobacco, kerosene, and various odors of 
the back store. Many consumers, as well as merchants, are 
not aware how soon uncovered butter becomes air-slacked, or 
how rapidly it absorbs surrounding odors. 

When the consumer is more willing to pay for butter 
according to its quality—as he does for different qualities of 
cloth—then there would be an incentive to furnish a better 
article, and the painstaking, skilled butter-maker would 


receive her full reward. 


Mrs. H. C. Haske tz, for the Committee. 


Jievle sa ia fal sD. 


TO THE SECRETARY’S REPORT. 


Page 
Agricultural college, committee of visitation appointed, . . . ' - > 237 
Agricultural college, how its income and usefulness may be increased, . . : . 216, 217 
Agricultural college, report of committee on, . - Ss : : 5 . - 215 
Agricultural condition of Massachusetts, . 6 . 6 . ° : 5 : aq et, wp 


Agricultural scholarships and their utility, - . . . : < ° © . 216, 217 
Agriculture as a life-work, essay upon, . 5 ° . : . . ° . . 229, 233 
Americal elm, value of the, . . 5 . : - : 6 - < - 154, 158, 269 
American horses, characteristics of, . c 5 . : = ° 5 5 5 ee Osa 
American horses, demand for, in England, . rc é - e . > 5 - . 94,95 
American improved Devons, c 5 - c 5 - - c ° : 224 
Analysis of water on marshes, . . . c . ° ° ¢ . ° < : 240 
Analysis of soil on marshes, . P ° 5 - 5 5 ° . 5 . 242, 243, 244, 245 
Anaheim, Cal., communistic society in, 6 : 5 4 > 5 : - 5 - 61, 62 
Annual meeting of the Board, é 5 fz F e - . 5 P - 214, 233, 282 
Apple-crops in odd years, . e . ° 5 e = = . 188, 195, 206, 207, 208 
Apple-orchards, are they profitable? . 5 : ° 5 C - 177, 181, 182, 188, 189, 197 
Application of fertilizers, methods of, = : - é ; 25, 30, 33, 35, 40, 41, 50, 329 
Arabian horses and their characteristics, . : : C C - c . P en lOsnan 


Artificial kainit, analysis of, . 2 A C c - - . 6 C = a = 296 
Ash-trees, value of, 5 C C c rn = , = c 5 a a - co 267 
Asparagus, cultivation of, . zy - 2 - . : 5 : 3 : . . 115, 116 
Atmosphere improved by trees, . - . . ° . : : ° A ° ; 145 


Ayrshires and their value, . : : c - ° = c c - 0 Salas abe. 


Barn-yard manure, value of, . -, c C 5 2 2 . . 5 . 981,32 
Beans, experiments with chemical RerHnnees 1 in growing, . . 0 = 2 c ° 27 
Beech-trees and their value, . c 2 : > é - é ° 5 C : - 142, 143 
Beets, how cultivated, . 2 ci 5 o c = 5 E 9 5 6 5 - 132 


Black-knot, treatment of, 5 c G 4 5 ‘ . ci + C 5 - : 187 
Bone-meal as a fertilizer, e - - : - 5 ° ° c : . 332, 333, 3384 
Bowlders, definition of, . 5 ; A : e A 6 5 : 7 5 . : 98 
Bowlders, origin and history of, . : c : : 6 : 6 - 96, 101, 103, 104, 113 
Breeding and management of horses, lecture on, . C c 5 5 6 0 70, 80, 86 


Breed horses not for speed alone, 0 E - . ‘ 0 6 c 5 3 81 
Brighton fertilizer, analysis of, and facts rotating to, . ° : . . ° 323 
Capital required in horse-breeding, . ° . ° . ° 5 . . : ° 75 
Cattle commissioners, report of, . - = a A . A : c ; a - 212, 214 
Cattle husbandry, importance of, . e : : . ° 5 6 165 


Centennial Exposition, farmers should eantitinte to the, 6 = 4 - 187, 188, 139, 140 
Chadbourne, Prof. Paul A., lecture by, é A c C 3 a - 3 . 53, 60, 65 


Character of salt marshes changed by diking, . . 239 
Chemical fertilizers, experiments with in plant- anteition, . 17, “24, 28, 33, "38, 39, 40, 45, 50, 53, 329 
Chemical fertilizers, formula for preparation of, ° . . : ° . . « 4T48 


Chemistry of the stars, . c : . . > ° F ° ° . ° . » 97,98 


180 INDEX TO THE REPORT. 


Climate influenced by forests, . . 
Colorado potato-beetles, destruction eS 
Color of Devon cattle, . 


Color of the foliage of trees Gapped in Neeiinc 


Conditions of plant-growth, . : 
Cobperation among farmers advisable, 


Corn-growing, experiments in, with commercial feriileners; 


Corn, yield of, to the acre, 
Corn-stover, value of, for feeding stonk, 
Cost of chemical manures, . 5 A 
Cost of raising a bushel of corn, . . 
Cotton-seed hulls, analysis of, . 
Cow, intelligence of the, 5 5 . 
Crude carnallite, analysis of, 5 : 


Deciduous trees, and their value, . 
Delegates, assignment of, for 1876, 
Delegates, new, credentials of, . : 
Destruction of forests, extent of, . 
Devon cattle, essay upon, 

Deyon cattle for beef, . 5 5 : 
Devon cattle for dairy purposes, . 
Devon cattle, history of, . ° ° 
Dog, intelligence of the, . ° . 
Dried blood as a fertilizer, . 2 


Elements essential to plant-growth, 
Elm-trees, and their value, . 5 5 
Emerson, Geo. B., lecture by, . 
English improved Devons, . 5 
Essays, subjects for, for 1876, : 
Essex County, farmingin, . ° 5 
European elms, and their value, . 
Evergreen trees, value of, . A . 


. 


Exhibitions of societies in 1876, times for holding, 
Experiments in feeding plants, lecture on, . 


Fairs of the societies, times for holding, in 1876, 


Fertilizers, experiments with, in plant-nutrition, cC 


Fertilizers, report of state chemist on, 
Fish guano, sale and value of, 
Formulas for chemical fertilizers, 
Forests, influence of, on the rainfall, . 
Forests, lecture on the restoration of, . 
Forest schools in Europe, . . - 
Forest-trees, and their cultivation, - 
Fruit-culture profitable, . : ° 
Fruits, cultivation of, discussion on, . 


Fruits, methods for the improvement of, 


Functions of roots, . 6 9 . 


Glaciers, and their action, . 5 . 


. 


. 


17, 20, 24, 28, 30, 38, 45, 50, 53, 311, 329 


Page 


. 146, 150, 166, 250, 253, 256 


. 131, 207 
ie 
aides 


- 18, 19, 24, 33 


58, 60, 65 


25, 28, 29, "30, 38, 39, 40, 45, 50, 53 


30, 


34, 38, 50, 53 
: 38 


32, 38, 46, 47, 48, 342 
30, 32, 33, 35, 38, 50, 52 


141, 144, 146, 263, 264 


«oe 
. 288, 289 
.- aoe 
oO Nae 
. 282, 283 

238 


219, 224, 228 
. 224, 226 
- 2 
20 ipa 
. 290, 291 
3) eae 


20, 21, 38, 39, 40, 50, 58 
. 154, 158, 269, 271 


. 


140, 146, 151 
. 228 
sage 

6, 10, 14, 15 


. 152, 154, 157, 271, 272 


149, 158, 160, 262, 263, 274 


. ° 


17, 20, 24, 28, 30, 33 


249 


249 


. 298, 343 


312, 313, 314, 315, 316, 320 


47, 48 


146, 141, 150, 151, 166, 250, 251 


. ° 


140, 146, 151 
. 148 


140, 145, 151, 151, 160, 164, 168, 218, 250, 270, 283 


Goessmann, Prof, C. A., report on fertilizers by, . 
Goessmann, Prof. C. A., report on salt marshes by, . 


Goodale, H.§., essay by, . 5 


Grass-growing, experiments with chemical fertilizerae in, 


Green Harbor marshes, 5 . 


Guano, analyses of, and facts Polatinip to, 


Gypsum, value of, as a fertilizer, 


. . 


. 


303, 305, 306, 309, 310, 330, 351, 336 


. 177, 185 


176, 177, 190, 201, 211 


. 234, 237 


42, 43, 156, 161 


5, 


105, 106, 107 
298, 330, 343 
238, 240, 248 
. 219, 233 
27, 48 

238, 240, 248 


. 124, 125, 126 


a 


INDEX TO THE REPORT. 


Harvesting corn, method of, . C “ 5 . 
Haverhill, history and growth of, ° : ° 
Haverhill, public meeting of the Board at,. é 
Hickory-trees, and their value, . A 6 . 
Hills should be covered with trees, . 5 ‘ 
Horse-breeding, uncertainties of, . c - ' 
Horses, breeding and management of, . ° 

How to set out an orchard, . 6 c 5 ' 
Horns and hoofs, refuse of, as a fertilizer, . 5 
Humus, and its properties, . ‘ . . . 
Hybridizing strawberries, . ° 5 . ° 


Indian corn, cultivation of, . : C f : 


Indian corn, experiments with commercial fertilizers on,. 5 


Indian corn, yield of to the acre, . C 5 5 
Influence of forests on the rainfall, . 5 > 
Influence of the seasons on plant-growth, . 5 
Insects injurious to vegetation, . c ' . 
Intelligence of the cow, . . : s ‘ > 
Intelligence of the dog, . ; ° ° . ° 


Larch-trees, value of, . 4 5 : 
Lawson, Wm., communistic experiment of, 

Like breeds like, . . 3 . . . 
Loring, George B., address ea ° ‘ . 
Lumber-trade, extent of the, 0 o : : 


181 


Page 

° . 37 

. 3 hy dub) 
6, 69, 137 

. 144, 156, 268, 269 
. 148, 149 

74, 75 

70, 80, 86, 90, 92 
. “ 179 

. 827, 328 

. 5 aah NY) 

. A 199 


. 25, 29, 38, 34 


, 28, 29, 30, 38, 38, 45, 50, 53 


30, 34, 38, 50, 53 
. 146, 147, 166 


121, 131, 180, 181, 186, 191, 200, 203 


Manufacturing towns of Massachusetts, and their prosperity, . 


Maple-trees, and their value, = C - c 
Market-gardening, importance of, 5 6 ° 
Market-price of commercial manures, . . ° 
Massachusetts, importance of fruit-culture in, . 
Mental faculties of domestic animal]s, essay upon, 
Methods for the improvement of fruits, : 
Meteorites, description of, . ° . . 
Method of harvesting corn, . ° : 
Milch cow, the best and most affable, 5 ~ 
Morgan horses, and their value, . 5 ° ° 
Mormons, success of the, in agriculture, . 5 
Muriate of potash, analysis of, . 7 ° . 
Murray, Rey. W. H. H., lecture by, . 5 : 


Nichols, Dr. J. R., lecture by, . 3 4 
Nitrate of soda, analysis of, . : 0 C 5 
Nitrogen, supply and value of, to plant-growth, 
Nutrition of plants, c . : ° ° : 


Oakes cow, history and record of the, ‘ 
Oats, experiments with chemical fertilizers with, 
Orchards, and their management, é 5 

Overfeeding the horse to be avoided, . : 


Pasturing orchards to be recommended, . . 
Peaches, can they be grown in New England? . 
Pears, and their cultivation, . : - . 

Peruvian guano, facts relating to, 5 : 
Pines valuable for a variety of uses, . . . 
Plant-nutrition, importance of a knowledge of, . 
Plants, lecture on experiments in feeding, . . 
Plants on reclaimed salt marshes, A . 


> 


17, 20, 24, 


ee aan 
. 288, 289 

. 290, 291 

276, 277, 278, 279 
sititbe 4 1 BORCO 

A Wire 72 


ob (6pf, aS. oor 
. 264, 265, 266 


14, 15 
. 142, 163, 270 
14, 15 

. 32, 38, 342 
177 

. 283, 288, 293 
. «284, 237 
. 99, 100 
east 37 
13, 14, 171, 172 
82, 83 

- 60, 65, 66 
295 


. 70, 80, 86 


. 96, 100, 113 
sie acy game 25 
20, 21, 24, 27 


30, 38, 58, 45, 50, 53, 311, 329 


5 AKG ayes 


5 5 26 

17, 179, 188, 189, 197, 198 
° 0 79 

e A 192 

5 . 188, 202 

. 199, 200 


303, 305, 307, 309, 310 
14, 149, 158, 168, 260, 262, 264, 265, 275 
17, 18, 19, 38, 45, 50, 58 


. 17, 24, 30, 38 
. 241, 246 


182 INDEX TO THE REPORT. 


Page 
Pasture, value of, as a fertilizer, . : : 3 5 : : E - - 124, 125, 128, 129 
Plum-trees, care of, “ : = 3 5 < 5 : 2 5 : - . 186, 187, 194 
Points of a good cow, . 6 - 2 . ; . ° . . . . 18; 14, Ta ae 


Potash salts, . : - + = 2 - = = = 5 5 . 285, 206 
Potatoes, experiments in growing with Ghamived fertilizers: . . 26, 27, 126, 127, 130, 135 
Profits of forest-culture, : . c 5 ; - 2 : : , H - 280, 281 


Proportion of forests to other lands in Muceasineites = . = - * . 258, 259, 260 


Rainfall affected by destruction of forests, . 5 ° . 146, 147, 150, 151, 166, 250, 251, 254 


Restoration of the forests, lecture on, . - 4 x = = . 140, 146, 151 
Retrenchment in the Agricultural College, how to < fteeted: ° 2 . . 216, 217 
Root-pruning, effect of, . 5 . : 5 : 2 E : ° 5 > 2 c 43 


Roots, functions of, A : 4 5 . : : 5 = é : . 42, 43, 156, 161 


Salt Lake Valley, agriculture in, . : - = é : : - 5 5 : 60, 65, 66 
Salt marshes, report on, : : - . : . - : A = < . 238, 240, 248 
Sargent, C. S., essay by, ~ >: S > . : 5 5 5 6 A . . 250, 270, 282 


Scabby potatoes, . = - : . . * > 5 5 . 120, 121, 123, 135 
Seasons influence Bo es 5 . A - 5 ° - - 4 5 5 23 
Sessions, H. M., essay by, .- . : : yen . . . . . 219, 228 
Shade-trees should not be too near the dyelling-house, . 5 4 > ° E 5 152 
Shorthorns, and their characteristics, . . . : . : 2 : 2 . 169, 170 
Soiling, utility of, . . : . . . ° . . ° ° ° 5 . 11 
Soils of salt marshes, character of, « a A A A ~ . 5 . 242, 248, 244, 245 
Soils, influence of character of, on our crops, - e ° : . 18, 23, 29, 30, 36, 38, 51 


Squash-bugs, how destroyed, . . . ° . ° . 6 . fs 2 - 133 
Squashes, and their cultivation, . . - : 5 = = - ~ 4 . 132, 134, 186 
Stars, chemistry of the, . 5 = 5 - - 6 = Z = F . 2 -. 9G a8 
Stockbridge, Prof. Levi, formulas of, for preparation of chemical fertilizers, 2 - 47,48 
Stockbridge, Prof. Levi, lecture by, . - ° . “ > 7m 5 = . 17, 24, 30, 33 
Strawberries, and their culture, . . ° . : ° 5 . - . . . 185, 198 
Sturtevant, E. L., experiments of, = . ; . 5 . ° 5 5 5 38, 39, 40 
Sugar-maple, value ofthe, . - ° . . 5 cd < = s 5 - 142, 163, 270 


Sulphate of ammonia, analysis of, 5 . A ° e 3 . 5 5 5 3 328 
Sulphate of potassa, analysis of, . 5 . “ . : - 5 . : - 297 
Sunflowers purify the air, . - . . ° . . . . . . . 146 


Superphosphates, value of, . 5 5 . 5 ° ° ° . : 4 387, 338, 339, 340 


Thorough-bred, definition of the term, 5 5 5 < = - 4 ‘ S 172 
Time for planting and transplanting trees, . : ° ° . ° : : 154, 160, 162, 163 
Tree-planting in Massachusetts, essay upon, . . ° : . 250, 270, 282 


Trees add to the value of the farm, . - : : c 143, 144, 153, 166, 168, 270, 274, 281 
Trees, and their cultivation, . - 5 ° . 140, 145, 151, 157, 160, 166, 168, 250, 270, 282 
Trees purify the atmosphere, : : . * 5 - : 5 5 : . 145, 153 


Utah, condition of agriculture in, . Q 5 : > : = 5 = 6 . 60, 61, 65, 66 
Vincent, H., essay by, - ° 5 - e e 3 ° = - = - . 288, 288, 293 


Whale’s flesh as a fertilizer, . . = . > 5 “ 4 : . : 5 - 321 


Willow-tree, value of, . é - 5 : : 6 A = - : = 5 . 273, 274 
Woodlands of Massachusetts, : : . : é 2 FE - : . 250, 258, 270, 282 
Wool-waste, value of, . 6 5 - = . 5 5 - a 5 5 : 45 
Yellows, in peaches, incurable, . : : : 5 d . ° > 0 c F 202 


Yield of Indian corn, . : . - - = : = 30, 32, 38, 34, 35, 36, 38, 45, 50, 53 


~ Zion’s Codperative Union, . C 2 3 ° . ° : ° : abe ite 61 


—< 


INDEX TO ABSTRACT, OR PART SECOND. 


Page 
Agricultural societies, reform in the management of, 5 * : 5 C 5 se 12,406 
Agriculture, rise of, 5 : ' : . . c ° a 5 : 62, 65, 71 
Agriculture, stability of, : a! : 6 . 5 6 2 : 5 i 12 os 


Air, effects of, on the soil, . 5 . : : : 5 : . fs C 33, 38, 39 
Apple-culture, essay on, z 2 - . . : . : - . * » 99, 104 
Apples, best varieties of, 6 6 : 5 7 : ; 6 C C F . Z 103 
Appleton, Francis H., essay by, . ° . . . ° ° ° 2 A . SWAG 
Area of forest-lands should be increased, . - 5 : - : I c : . 47, 48 
Barn-manure expensive, 5 : 4 : : = : i c . fe é - 987,40 
Beets, statements on, . . ° . . 5 = 5 é ¢ : : . 162, 164, 166 
Bolles, E. C., address by, . 6 : - - 5 5 ; : 0 . : 22, 25, 28 
Bowditch, E. F., statement of, . ‘ ' - 5 . 3 ; 6 5 140 


Bulls, pure bred only should receive premiums, ° . . < . . ° - 74, 75 
Burnham, Ira F., statement of, . 5 : 0 c 5 0 C - A 5 5 162 
Butter, statements on, . 5 s 6 : 3 ° mes es a c : : 176 
Capers, T., statement of, 5 f : 4 : : ie ae 4 4 : A 5 121 
Carrots, statement on, . : A A 4 c : c : : = ; 4 ° 160 
Chemical corn-growing, : : ¢ 6 5 2 - ° 5 - TT, 79, 90, 97, 98 
Chemical fertilizers, and their alae : : C ~ C . 87, 40, 41, 70, 90, 98 
Cooley, C. E., statement of, . 2 : cS - * é . 145, 146, 149 
Corn, cost of raising, . c 6 5 sieudics “90, 98, 139, 140, 141, 142, 143, 144, 145, 147 
Corn-stover, average yield a c ‘ . c . ° B ° ° 7 - - 78 
Cow, average yield of, and expense of ecu! c 6 C O > . . . c . 37 
Cressy, Noah, address by, . 5 C 3 - 5 : ; c . 5 , 56, 58, 61 
Crocker, H. P., statement of, : 5 : - é ; : : : 5 C - 137 
Dairy products, report of committee on, . c 5 5 : 4 5 5 > > 176 
Dairy stock, report of committee on, . * . 9 : 2 5 = : : 172 
Dairy stock, statements on, . : 3 a A A - 2 : é 6 . 174, 175, 176 
Destructive gases, < 6 : : 5 5 5 6 5 17, 18, 19 


Difficulties which hesel the Ganer : 6 4 : = ° c : : =) (245725 
Drainage of the house should be cared for, . ° ° 5 - é A 5 OO 
Expense of keeping acow, . : : 5 5 . . . ° ° . : * 37 
Fallowing lands, importance of, . A A : 5 5 5 4 : A . 388, 39 
Farm improvements, reports on, . : . . A . ° : 5 : 5 . 105, 108 
Farming, practical hints on, . : ; : < : 0 C : - 2 25, 36, 42 
Fertilizers, value of different, : C 5 * E 33, 37, 40, 41, 46, 77, 79, 90, 97, 98 
Yorests should be grown, . - - A : : . * 3 : = : 46, 47, 49 


Fruit-culture, reportson, . : : 5 I 5 : F 5 abbpahlb aah aby! 
Fruit-culture, statements on, ° ° 116, 118, 120, 121, 128, 124, 128, 137 
Fruit should be used more eS teneively as a rua fences . - . . . ree lal! 
Gage, G. W., statementof, . . . . . Be Phe . . 6 on hsp 128 
Grains and grass seed, report of committee on, . c 2 ; c : : : c 152 


Grain crops, statements on, . : : C < ° 5 ti . 189, 140, 141, 142, 143, 144 
Gregory, J. J. H., report by, 2 c 6 : > : - 5 : . 166, 167, 168 
Gregory, J. J. H., statements of, . : - c - ° . ° . - . 110, 161, 162 
Hall, 8. W., statement of, . : ¢ : ' ‘ a 5 : 5 5 . 148 
Haskell, Mrs. H. C., statement of, ° 3 C : ° C 5 5 . : - 176, 178 
Hay crop, importance of the, . C ° 3 : 3 - 5 ° ° ° 5 45 


184 INDEX TO THE ABSTRACT. 


History of the Texas cattle disease, . 5 
Hitchcock, Edward, address by, .- : : 
Howard, James, statements of, . . 
Howe, Jos. 8., reportby, .- ° > 
Humus, and its value, . < . ° 5 . 
Importance of forest-culture, : 4 C 
Improving swamp lands, report ony . : 
Indian corn grown with chemical fertilizers, 


Page 

. : 56, 57, 61 
> 18, 18, 21 
. 5 . 164, 150 
° ° - 172, 174 
: ° C 38 
° 2 . 46, 47 
F - 105 

. 70, 78, 90, 98 


Indian corn, yield of, to the acre,. : - 88, 89, 91, 95, 139, 140, 141, 142, 143, 144, 145, 147 


Keep the cellar ventilated, . 2 C 

Killam, O. P., statement of, . 5 : fs = 
Knox, J. K., statement of, . 6 : . 
Lathers, Richard, address by, . 3 5 
Latham, C. A., statement of, A A 3 
Leonard, Lewis, statement of, > 4 A 
Leonard, Spencer, statement of, . 

Loring, Geo. B., address by, 
Lyman, Theodore, address by, : 
Management of agricultural societies, betotii in, 
Manures, reports of committees on, 

Mason, E. L., statement of, . 5 - 


McMahon, P., statement of, . 4 2 5 5 


Merrill, S. A., statement of, 


Microscope, use of the, as an ‘aid to ageteetnreh 


Onions, statements on, . A 5 : b 
Orchards, and their management, . - 
Origin of Texas cattle disease. - 
Period of incubation of Texas cattle acanes 
Poisons of the farmer’s life, . 5 5 
Pork unhealthy asa food, . . . S 


Potatoes, statements on, ° - . ° a 
Practical hints on farming, . . ° 

Profit of farming, . : - - 5 
Pruning trees, how and —— it should be and, 
Pure-bred animals characterized, . ° C . 


Rainfall, influence of the, on agriculture, . 


Reform in the management of agricultural societies, . 


Relations of science to agriculture, 


Renovation of fruit-trees, statement on, 5 5 
Ropes, J. W., statement of, . C - 3 c 
Rye, statements on, ‘ 2 : c - 


Science, relations of, to ageinaleare; : 


Scientific farming, . - - 5 ° f 


Soils adapted to apple- Scnarae: 5 : 3 


Stability of agriculture, . A fo) Pa Rn SE Se 
Stevens, Abel F., essay by, - : 5 ° ° 


Stickney, D. H., statement of, 5 A 
Sturtevant, E. L., essay by, - : A : 


Sugar-beet, report of committee on, . = 5 
Swedish turnips, statement on, . é : 3 


Tenney, Sanborn, address by, . G : . 


Texas cattle disease, history of, . ‘ . ° 
Texas cattle disease, treatment of, a ' 5 


Thomas, Albert, statement of, . : p A 


Thurlow, T. C., statement of, : : > ° 


Todd, D., report by, : - 


Turnips, statement on, . : : = - - 
Underdraining land, report on, . ‘ . . 


Underdraining land, statement on, - 5 ° 
Upton, F., statement of, 5 5 ci 5 . 
Use of the microscope, value of, to farmers, 


Wheat, statements on, . 3 6 5 5 e 


White, A. R., statement of, . 5 c e : 


. 


. . 
. . 
. 
. . 
. 
. 
. . 
. 
. 
. 
. 
. 
. 
. 
° . 
. 
. 
. 
. 
. . 


. . 


by Foe . 19 
. ° 139 
. 142 


|. 22onseqae 
ey 151 

, 165 
LONE 5 Gs 
PDA abe 151 (515 
. | G2 erent 
Pao te a 


- 168, 170 

: 163 

. . . 141 
. 160 


ea 
AES TG tena 
ne eel Sarees 


lr tee | 50 
cee 57 
J is S18 ae 
7 ES eee 
wit ys emates 


Se OORS GMs 
Pe Rae OM 


. 101 

° ° » 14,.%5 
. . - 42, 48 
72, 76 


. « 22, 25, 28, 67, 68, 70, 90, 98 


. . . 187 
. . . 118 
. - 149, 150, 151 


29, 95, 28, 66, 67, 68, 70, 77, 90, 98 


. oe: 
. ° 
. 
. . 
. . 
. 
° . 
. 
. . 
. 
. . 
. . 
. . 
. . 
. . 
. 
. . 
e . 


68, 69, 70, 77, 90, 98 
Apc 99 
eames assay ic 
Se at or Ee 
nm 2 eS 
ee As 
peurhoay Oi eT! 


Sc oke 165 
kee.) SAB AT 
ees Hye 

2 a GORGE 

arti 147 


san) ance ent 
. 6) we AS Tag 
OS alee 
ee fe eee 
| co Sane 
ee ony) ee 
. « 25, 26, 28 
Ss eae 
. . 148, 144, 148 


— ee ee ee ee 


nical Garden Lib 


a UT 


9185, 00259 14 


Se coeeenonen ae et — 
7 = + Sl 
= ll 
at =: el = 
—— ————————— = 
- <=: ee aaa 
——— oo 
sat poorveneeenes SS — 
~ SSS ———— 
ve = a0 — SS 
ws = — = 
— ———— ———— = 
Staatetefoetensdoneneaiean = SS = 
=== - “ _W”#5!{:.—:—-——(— OOOO ee 
. SS 2 _ ooo Sea SS 
iri peasrenans ceeemmemeeooey = = a rs — eee eee OES 
SS ee ET am pt = = —— = — = lS SSS 
SS nn — —- = —— = _ SSS Seas SS 
Re ee ee! eee aceee — = — a —— ae EE ESS 
SSS SS SSS ba Pe ——— — = = = : —_ Se ee SSS S 
eid caveats sree enna meme eg serena socencnveguesernensoareaeseneat Onno nee en ener aang = oa <= ooo So - nanan a ar rr 
est nian neuen menor reece teers ence cee — =< Se =< ——— —— 
RS: SSS eee scaresneernenpenesan enatensteee erence = ee ——— eSeSeSeSeoaeaeoeoeoaeoq=>=$>$@ooomomamaoamaomaoaoaoaoaoooee = — SS — — ll ee SE 
es ae cme op meee eres cnnonnrereneene nce een SS a a Set SF OO lll aS 
{Sa — ———_ SOOO ———— ————— ee = ~._ HEH OOO SS — = 
Peathinee Sere, Seen ergo paneer et See enna — = aeons SSS 
PS a a a So oo = er a 
see ees menage ns nameenenea meena ena peesesenenenens nee gen anna — SS oo —— SSS = —— — ”~>.——————aaa=_ ES SS 
on SS — = = SSS 4 ——— oo 
Taye Deemer —| ne i = ——S == —SS —-4 
SS eel = = —————eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeSeaeeeee—eeeeeeeeeeoeeeoeyeqeqqoeaqs=®«<«<~qoom SSS SSS ooo 
= ————— : ————— ————— ———————— ———— ee oat 
ee ooo SS ee > —— —a —— SS 
Fane a raeeeeneomenes ———————— oo —— = a —————— ee te 
Se sbae peomppscmnepmnnm ren an —eeeeaoaoaoeoeoeaeeeeeeseeee— oS ee oo SESS 
aaa a a re se ———— rN rat = tS 
aS —eeeeeaaaeeeeeeeeeeeee——e—eeEET——e—=—EoETETEee a oo -- oS == a ee 
SSeS —O—EeEeee=eleleSS See eee ——_———— . ean news eee : 
= ————— ————————— ee Ss 
SSS eee ———— aaa ——————— —————— — == —— lO soe 
2 hscaaceeeneeencenene eae nese —— = = ———— a eo “SSS cee eS SS 
SS Se oo a ———————— —————————— — — —————— _—* —S oo ooo aes eS 
a ————— zy = ee ——— = ———————————————aeaeaee SSS 
eet i en eo eer = = ee —————— = — ——— 
SS —— Sr oa ct eS eS 
= Se i ga oe SS a SEES SSS 
a cin eee epee nee ne ee oa gees enone = = As = — —on"na(j’.”>~-~->--——QQQQoooooooa—— eS = OSS == 
SS ae —— he SSS > ee SS Se 
ont emerson = oS oo SS es SSS. ———— — —————+ 
ay oc eonsrroceten 3 oo - — ooo ————— —— ——$_——— lll wy 
eeens Ts = — —- —— ———————— — oo 
22S tig aa owes eoteene nncoeenmeemmnnees ———— — — oe ——— => ee == 
SS SS SS SS OO a _ ———— ——————— ———— — = a es eee ees SS 
re a pf - == = a SSS OOOO eee 
= lf — a = —oo ee —. = erro een ae ec ne Ta 
repeat anon ay lo ee eaeooeooeeeeeeeeeeesqs=sas@as=aoomamaa eee ee SSS SS ee peered 
=e SS eSeSeSSS oe a << SSS SS ——S—>—S = 
tam cement ——_—_——— ——— eee = SSeS 
Ta saab iteemoeae beet ee — — — = — 
airertersere riers —— ——— = —— = 
= ae —— se = 
commeeeeee sere iereset x. ———— 
— = = a 
cocoa scmeereremnen iy ST - 
= a = _ 
Speleemteren rent —— = 
<< i 
— - 
>. 


i 
| 
i 
HH 


Co eee ene 
= San ee 


ff 
With 
iN 


|