regard to the names of a few varieties, but the greater number of specimens sent in to be named remained nameless still.

MISCELLANEOUS TALK.

Mr. Walker of Concord asked for a succession of three pears that would cover the most months in the year.

Mr. Gilman of Nashua named the Bartlett, Louise bonne de Jersey and the Beurre Diel.

Other parties named others, such as the Lawrence, for winter; the Flemish Beauty, but that cracks; the Winter Nelis, which we can't grow here; the Belle Lucrative, the Seckel and many others.

Mr. Holt of Epping said he had ascertained that his town, after appropriating all the apples and cider its people wanted this year, had sold enough to pay the entire tax of over $10,000, and they never sold the best.

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MR. LEARNARD'S REMARKS.

Capt. S. F. Learnard of Chester saw a profit in orcharding, not only in the fruit grown, but in the increased value of the farm as a whole in consequence of the orchards. He knew people crowded their trees too close together. He had set them twenty feet apart, and then thirty, and found that too close. He recommended thirty by forty feet. This gave light and air to the fruit and improved the quality. He held to fall pruning, rather high. When he harvested his apples he put them in a bin and not in barrels, and felt sure it was the best way. It cost about sixtyseven cents a barrel to get his fruit to market, and the price now is from two dollars and fifty cents upward. He held to scraping the trunk of the tree and about the roots to get rid of canker worms and borers. Would do it in September. There was ten thousand dollars worth' of surplus apples and cider in Chester this year. Clean culture was better than manure.

MISCELLANEOUS REMARKS.

B. F. Hutchinson of Milford related a fact about an orchard in his town on a rye field which would produce but little, and was set with apple trees contrary to good judgment and the principles of fruit growing. The subsoil was gravelly, and then came cobble stones. On seven acres, two years ago, the crop brought one

thousand dollars; this year it counted up to seven hundred barrels. The orchard had little culture and took care of itself.

Mr. Gilman of Nashua knew the locality to which Mr. H. referred, and acknowledged it to be good for fruit. Other orchards did well. There was a natural condition of the soil, or of some elements, for fruit.

Mr. Walker of Concord told the meeting how he had tried to grow the apple and failed, while his neighbors opposite him succeeded. He had learned that they had a clay subsoil, while he, though near, had none.

At this point the meeting adjourned until evening.

EVENING SESSION.

The eccentric Dr. Flagg entertained the company for a few minutes in relating his experience. He don't plow his orchard, but mows and keeps grass down around trees by mulching.

SENATOR BROWN'S REMARKS.

Warren Brown of Hampton Falls, Senator from No. 1, remarked that some years ago there was a rage in his vicinity for apple growing, and thousands of trees were set, but the canker worm had taken possession, and fruit was no more. There are two kinds of the pest. The largest kind goes up in the fall and produces a striped worm; the other kind in the spring, and produces a black worm. Even when the insect spares the trees, the crop is not very profitable. It costs too much to harvest. In 1855 full two thousand six hundred barrels were gathered from three farms; now there are none. A farm without orcharding will bring more in his section than one of equal merit that has trees, provided only there is enough for home use.

MANY OTHER SPEAKERS.

Mr. Manning urged high cultivation for pears, and the use of ashes. He again expressed a preference for pruning in June, and on being asked why, said he could then shape a tree better, the wound would quickly heal; the shoots stand out prominently in June, and we can see what to cut. It will heal over quicker, and not dry back into the wood.

Mr. Lawrence inquired if the soil in some sections had not been overtaxed by the growth of trees, and if the mistake is not made of keeping trees on the same soil. The conclusion was that this

had been done in some cases. Mr. L. thought if the experience of the Epping people in fruit growing was worth anything, and Chester's was a similar example,- it would pay to grow fruit. He compared this product with potato growing in point of profit. He argued that trees should be differently managed on different soils; believed in applying ashes.

Mr. Warren Brown further discussed pear culture, and thought if we could get good trees, it would do to encourage the culture. Dr. Kingsbury of Lyme, member of the Board for Grafton County, said for every effect there must be a cause, especially for success in fruit growing. He urged that the farmer learn the character of the soil he cultivates, and plant his trees in such soil as the tree required, or else supply the deficiency. He then gave his experience in planting trees, where it was said none would grow. He succeeded on the third trial, having taken trees from a latitude more northern than his own, and planted outside of former growths, around the border of his lot. He favored cutting off the top severely, leaving but little at first. It was important to get the tree well rooted.

He suggested that it used to be the case that pear trees exposed to winds were productive, and he asked if there was not too much tenderness shown the tree nowadays.

Henry W. Herrick of Manchester discussed the character of the soil for fruit trees, instancing the limestone formation as preferable to granite, but maintained that the deficiency could be supplied by proper applications. He said it took labor to bring success. The soil right, and good trees growing vigorously, will not make a sure crop. There are hordes of insects to fight. But they may be mastered, as the vine-growers of France overcome the grapedestroying insects. He thought it took near twenty years in our State to get the growth that eight would give in the rich West, but high cultivation would make up the deficiency.

In the South trees bear every year. He thought we might secure the same result partially, by proper culture.

Mr. C. C. Shaw of Milford referred to some suggestions which had been made, and specified those that he approved and which were sustained by his own practice. He gave an interesting account of his own efforts and his success in fruit growing.

Remarks were made by many others, and the meeting at length assumed a conversational turn, and many practical remarks were made which we cannot report.

The meeting and the presentation of the samples of fruit were an entire success, and though not fully reported here, it furnished material which will be applied from time to time in the culture of fruit.

A few of the speeches made on this occasion have been written out more fully and will appear in connection with the further consideration of the subject of fruit growing.

THE BOARD AT COLEBROOK.

The Board, in accordance with an expressed desire on the part of the citizens of Upper Coos, held a meeting on Tuesday, December 3, at Colebrook. Messrs. Buffum, Lawrence and Adams of the Board were present, and Mr. Kidder of Manchester lent his assistance as a volunteer. The meeting was held in the Court House, a good number of citizens being present notwithstanding a heavy fall of snow during the day. Hon. Ethan Colby called to order, and expressed the gratification of his neighbors at the compliment paid by the visit, and introduced Dea. Buffum, member of the Board from Cheshire County, as the Chairman.

OPENING REMARKS.

On assuming the duties of the chair, Dea. Buffum referred to the benefit which discussions gave those who engaged in them, to the favorable character of the soil in that section, and to the encouragement which the Board received in going to that locality. The meeting might seem small, but it was not discouraging. Farmers were not apt to talk enough, though they have thoughts. These meetings teach men to talk. The young men are here, and that is a matter of encouragement. God made a majority of us to be farmers, and placed us here to labor and not to be drones. Mr. Buffum then went on to show that farming would pay, to say nothing of the pleasure of the pursuit.

SHEEP AND CATTLE.

He explained that Dr. Kingsbury of the Board was appointed to read a paper on "Wool Producing," but had been prevented from attending the meeting. He discussed the importance of the

sheep business, referred to the time when many sold out their flocks for lack of profit, but the sudden advance and the present profit in sheep breeding show how great was their mistake.

From this point he proceeded to discuss cattle breeding, and took strong positive ground in favor of breeding from thoroughbreds on the male side, with the view of breeding up. He cited examples of the great value of well-bred animals, and of the product of milk and butter from single cows. A cow that will produce one hundred or one hundred and fifty dollars income in a year may be kept as cheaply as one that yields only half or a fourth as much. A cow that is worth keeping will return more than a hundred dollars a year. Character in a cow is worth more than color. Knock scrub bulls in the head, said he, purchase pure bloods and double the value of the stock on the farm in ten years. Alderney cows are the best for butter; Short Horns for cheese and beef. Short Horns will bring a cent a pound more than any other kinds, and on the whole are most profitable to raise.

Thomas P. Judd, Esq., of Canaan, Vermont, being pressed, endorsed the doctrine of the chairman and gave his experience on the farm. He keeps a large herd of grade cows, and has a farm with seventy-five acres in one field, not a foot of which cannot be turned by the plow and will not readily yield to the hoe.

Mr. S. P. Whittemore of Colebrook gave a statement of his success in the sheep business. He had eighty-seven Leicester and South-Down grades. These animals consumed a ton of hay in seven days without grain. He then gave a pint a day of a mixture of corn, oats and buckwheat to each sheep; omitting the buckwheat in March. He raised seventy-six lambs. These lambs and the fleeces of the sheep brought him over five hundred dollars.

Mr. J. E. Lombard sustained Mr. Whittemore in advocating sheep husbandry. He had just bought one of the Cochrane bucks at Compton, Canada, with the view to improve his flock.

Mr. Lawrence showed that Mr. Whittemore, by his manner of feeding, sold his hay for nearly twenty dollars a ton at his farm, when the local price was only twelve dollars.

After general remarks by the Secretary the morning session closed.