Prof. Nash. In the region of Northampton, Mass., broom corn has been grown for over half a century. I remember the time when $30 an acre rent was first offered for land near Amherst to raise broom corn, and it was thought a very extravagant price. I have since seen land rent for $100 an acre to grow tobacco. This, however, included a small supply of manure. I remember, too, that broom corn was a very profitable crop about Northampton, fifty years before the farmers not fifty miles off found it out, so little is known of the cultivation of one town in one adjoining. Farmers are excessively cautious about adopting any new crop, or new mode of farming.

LOCUSTS-HOW THEY AFFECT FRUIT.

The Chairman stated that a person who has the records of a cider mill in New Jersey for ninety years, assures him that the seventeen-year locusts have more effect upon fruit trees than is generally ascribed to them. He says that it is fully proved that apples are more abundant for seven or eight or nine years after the locusts appear, than they are in the seven or eight years previous to their appearance.

Dr. Trimble. This is an interesting fact, and is easily accounted for. The locusts in their perfect state, like butterflies of destructive caterpillars, eat nothing. They come out of the ground to deposit their eggs, which they do in the bark of fruit trees in preference to any other. These eggs hatch perfectly-formed locusts, of extremely diminutive size, drop to the earth immediately, and burrow in its crevices, and attach themselves to the roots of trees, and undergo their slow growth in the earth, and of course suck the juices of the tree from the roots and injure its vigor, so that towards the end of the seventeen years it does not produce as much fruit as when the insects are very minute. When they come out of the earth they are full-grown and fat, and eat nothing above ground, and only injure trees by perforating the limbs to deposit eggs. By this the limbs of some slow-growing oaks are killed.

The regular subject of the day, "Profits of Keeping Poultry," was then

taken up.

Mr. Robinson. Mr. S. C. Kenard, of South Newmarket, N. H., sends us the following statement: On the 12th of December I bought twelve hens, paying therefor $3. I went to work and made a coop, four by eight feet, and six feet high, with slats on the larger portion of the side facing the sun, the other portion being closed to protect the fowls from the storms, when they chose to occupy it. At the closed end I attached a box on the outside, four feet by one and a half, and one and a half feet deep, and connected to the main coop by holes of sufficient size to allow the fowls to enter the box to deposit their eggs, the box being furnished with straw and kept clean and dry, and having a lid to open, which I found very convenient, as there was no necessity of entering the coop for the eggs. A box was arranged for feed, which was always kept supplied with corn, and this, with a supply of clean water, and an occasional feeding of refuse meat or offal, and a supply of pounded oyster shells, constituted their feed. At the end of the year I footed up the account, and found my twelve hens had eaten just twelve bushels of corn, which had cost me $9.60, which, added to cost of fowls ($3), made $12.60.

The credit footed up thus: Eighty-five and a half dozen eggs, at the weekly market price, and that, too, in a country village....

$14 40

By eleven hens (one having died during the year), at twenty-five cts. 2 75

Total.

.....

which gave me a profit of.

So much for my first year's experiment.

$17 15 4 55

The second year I continued the same treatment as the first, with the single exception of feeding a small allowance of chopped grass and weeds, which I found an improvement; but, to please the children, consented to try the experiment of raising poultry, keeping a strict account of debt and credit as before. But I found at the end of the year that the poultry-raising had turned the balance to the other side of the sheet to the amount of $2.35.

The third year I pursued the same course as the first, and my twelve hens gave a profit of $5.16.

Now, suppose your lady inquirer could keep twelve hundred hens (which she could easily attend to), her income, according to my experiment No. 1, would be....

Or, according to experiment No. 3..

She can judge whether it would be remunerative.

!$455 516

Again, my experiment was made in a country village, where the price of eggs is probably less than in the cities-say one or two cents per dozen, while the price of corn here is usually from twelve to fifteen cents per bushel higher than at New York. It is now (April 21) seventy-five cents per bushel.

"

In conclusion let me add, that the surest way of knowing is to try the experiment yourself.

A word more to your inquirer: Don't meddle with "golden plumage"

"Shanghaes," or any other of the thousand-and-one humbugs of fancy breeders. Get the old-fashioned, common, medium-sized fowls, and when you have made a satisfactory experiment let us hear the result.

The Chairman.-I think poultry-keeping is like strawberry-growing. Twelve hens may be profitable, but twelve hundred would not be, nor fifty either. I have often grown strawberries at the rate of four hundred bushels per acre, but I never grew one hundred bushels upon one acre.

Solon Robinson.-A friend told me to-day that seven hens produced this spring one hundred and twenty-six chickens; one hundred and twenty-five of them are now alive and healthy. Last year eleven hens hatched one hundred and ninety-two eggs and raised one hundred and eighty-six chickens, the others being destroyed by the crows.

Rev. Mr. Weaver.-I have known three hens to raise one hundred and fifty chickens, though not all of them of their own hatching. Such hens were profitable.

GAPES IN CHICKENS.

Rev. Mr. Weaver.-As the subject of raising poultry is under discussion, I would say that I never find any trouble about curing the gapes by the horse-hair remedy-a horse-hair formed into a bow and inserted in the windpipe of a chicken, and twisted about to loosen the worms. I never

have been troubled with this disease; I allow the chickens to remain two or three days in the nest, feeding them with hard-boiled eggs, and then never allow them on the damp or cold ground. Many chickens are killed by lice. The remedy for that complaint is grease. The main thing in poultry-raising is to keep your chickens dry, warm and clean, and well fed. "Surface Culture and Profits of Raising Poultry" was continued as the subject of the next meeting.

Adjourned.

JOHN W. CHAMBERS, Secretary.

May 26, 1862.

Mr. Edward Doughty, of Newark, N. J., in the chair.

Mr. Robinson read a letter from Henry C. Wright, Pekin, N. Y., showing what Paulina Roberts and her family of daughters have done on the farm during the past year, from which we extract the following:

"Their spring work was begun on the 19th of April, since which time four of the daughters, aged respectively 19, 15, 13 and 11, assisted by a niece aged 17, and by their mother, have accomplished the following labor, i. e.: Plowed 75 acres; dragged 100 acres three times over; sowed broadcast 100, and rolled 100. More plowing has been done, but above amount of labor has been done exclusively by the mother and the young daughters. They have now growing 45 acres of wheat, 15 of winter and 30 of spring; 50 acres of oats; 30 acres of flax, and are to put in 10 acres of corn; 10 of beans; three of carrots; three-quarters of an acre of onions, and 10 acres of potatoes.

"To-day I saw one of the daughters plowing, aged 13, holding the plow and driving her own team. During the day she plowed one acre and a

half, and this is the usual labor of the day in plowing. Last Saturday I saw two of the young girls, one aged 17, the other 15, sowing wheat broadcast, and their sowing was done as well as any one would do it. I saw another, aged 13, dragging, and another, aged 19, rolling, and another piling and burning brush with her father. These daughters have each the care of their own teams. One of the daughters, who is 17, is detailed to do the housework this season. She is good at plowing, sowing, dragging and rolling as any of them. The housework is considered by them the hardest and most difficult to perform. They all prefer the out-door farm work.

"During the two years they have been on this farm they have labored mainly to get the land in a state to raise good crops. They have succeeded. They have spent $1,400 the past year in draining. This work has been done by men. During the two years over fifty acres have been cleared of bushes, stumps and roots, and this has been done mainly by the mother and daughters.

'Mrs. Roberts and her daughters, as I have stated above, have put in thirty acres of flax. They reasonably expect a ton and a half per acre. There is an establishment in Lockport, ten miles from their farm by railroad, to convert flax into cotton. The company offer them $8 per ton in advance for all the flax they can raise, and they are offered $1 per bushel for the seed. If the company in Lockport succeed in their efforts to cottonize flax, as it is confidently believed they will, untold quantities of flax will be produced in this region. It is a pretty sure crop, seldom failing, as does wheat."

Mr. Carpenter. The effort of Mrs. Roberts and her family was very meritorious, although he thought that in this enlightened age it was not the place for women to do this kind of work. He understood, however, that a woman in his neighborhood had taken a farm of seventy acres, which had been so run down that the former occupant could not make a living upon it. Her intention is to educate young girls to the labor and duties of farmers' wives, and to raise small fruits for market.

Prof. Renwick.—I am old enough to remember when it was common in this part of the country for women to work out a portion of the time, and their general health was much better than it is now. In Europe, where women work out very commonly, they are robust and healthier than American women in the same ranks of life. Some women think it is a degradation to do any out-door work, even so much as to trim a rose bush. I noticed, on a visit to a great dairy region in Herkimer county, N. Y., that nearly all the labor of the dairy was done by Irish hired men. In Cheshire, England, I never saw a man do anything of the sort. I do not understand what has produced the existing notion among American women that outdoor labor is not as respectable as any employment in-doors. I am sure it is equally honorable and far healthier.

Mr. Robinson. With me there is no question whether it is not more respectable for the daughters of Mrs. Roberts to go into the field and labor than it would be to idly spend their time in the house, living upon the toil of their parents.

Prof. Nash.—It is not uncommon in England and Scotland for women to take charge of a farm and conduct it successfully. In England, women

take pride in a knowledge of agricultural matters, and attend meetings and shows, and are respected highly, for their influence is very beneficial.

I have, however, not come to the conclusion that this is the best way to employ females.

There is work upon a farm that women can do, such as making butter and cheese, raising poultry, &c.

I think it very meritorious when women can take charge of a farm, in case of the death of the husband; but, as a general thing, our women are opposed to anything that relates to the labor of the farm.

CURCULIO REMEDIES.

Mr. Carpenter.-I understand that Mr. Henry Cox, of Manhasset, L, I., has raised several crops of plums by pursuing the following method. Before the fruit has set he makes a trench around the tree, cements its sides and bottom, and keeps it filled with water.

Mr. Pardee.—This plan I know was tried at Palmyra, N. Y., and failed. Dr. Trimble. The curculio is a flying insect. I cannot see the use of encircling the tree with water. These pests are now at work upon the pears; I caught a bottle full yesterday.

Mr. John G. Bergen. Mr. Cox undoubtedly gets good crops of plums, whether the water keeps the curculio off or not.

THE CURL IN THE LEAVES OF PEACH TREES.

Mr. Peter G. Bergen, of Long Island, exhibited specimens of this disease, which is now very prevalent, and asked for the cause and a remedy.

Mr. John G. Bergen.-I am glad that Mr. Peter G. Bergen has introduced this subject, because his theory always has been that the disease was caused by cold easterly storms. Now, as we have had no such storms this spring, and the curl is as bad as ever, that theory must fail. With me the storm theory never was tenable, because the disease is a new one, that has only been very troublesome about twenty years, while easterly storms are considerably older, and I can remember when we used to have storms and peach crops the same year. Currant leaves curl too, sometimes, and upon them I have often observed a green insect, and I suspect that it is an insect that causes the peach curl, notwithstanding we are told that a large magnifying glass fails to discover any.

Mr. Solon Robinson.-I am of opinion that the leaves have been stung by some insect.

PROTECTING FRUIT FROM INSECTS.

Mr. Carpenter.—I see on the table some ornamental wren houses. They are made by Mr. John H. Mead, in Ann street. I think we should encourage the raising of wrens; they are great insect consumers.

Mr. Robinson.-When I was a boy we used to make wren houses out of gourds. A cheap house is made by taking a piece of two inch drain tile, stop one end up with clay, and place them up in the trees. These boxes are very pretty, and would be more ornamental to a gentleman's place