fessor Whitcher in an hour's talk, divided between stock feeding and creameries. The questions from the audience at the close manifested a deep interest in the subjects. Mr. Walker made a brief address, subject, "The Agriculture of New Hampshire," and Chairman Humphrey followed in general remarks. Owing to the severity of the storm no evening session was held.

CORNISH.

On the following day an institute was held at Cornish Flat. A good audience assembled and were apparently deeply interested in the subjects discussed. Chairman Humphrey opened the meeting with general remarks, and introduced Mr. Charles McDaniel, of Springfield, member of the Board from Sullivan county, and master of the New Hampshire State Grange, who proceeded to speak upon the advantages of general over special farming. He advocated raising all crops that are needed upon the farm as far as possible, and a surplus of those products best adapted to the soil, market, and natural tastes of the farmer. The speaker referred to the late improvements for the advantage of the farmer, and spoke earnestly for the Grange as one of the important factors for the improvement of our agriculture. The chairman then spoke upon the subject of corn culture, which closed the afternoon session.

The seating capacity of the hall was hardly sufficient to accommodate those who came to the evening session. The subject of dairying was discussed by the secretary, more especially in regard to butter-making and in urging the establishment of more creameries, while private dairying was more profitable in some instances. The creamery system, generally adopted, would largely increase the income from the dairy cows of the State. Dr. G. W. Hunt, of Cornish, followed, urging the necessity of warm stables for dairy animals. Mr. Gerrish spoke upon sheep husbandry, referring to the origin of the various breeds and of the profit to the farmer when care was used in their selection and breeding. The meeting was closed with an address by Chairman Humphrey upon the blessings of work, in

which he earnestly advocated the necessity of labor in some form or other for the development and success of the young men of the State. His sensible and practical remarks pleased and interested the audience. This closed the institutes for Sullivan county, which we have every reason to believe were interesting and profitable.

MERRIMACK COUNTY.

CONCORD.

The farmers' institute for Merrimack county was held at the court room, Concord, on January 11 and 12, 1888, President Humphrey presiding. At the opening of the first session, at 2 o'clock Wednesday afternoon, the audience was composed mainly of farmers of Concord and vicinity, who listened with a marked degree of interest to the exercises. The following address of welcome, prepared by Hon. J. B. Walker, of Concord, was read by Chairman Humphrey, Mr. Walker being unavoidably absent.

ADDRESS OF WELCOME BY HON. J. B. WALKER.

Mr. President, Ladies, and Gentlemen:

I am requested, in behalf of the farmers of Concord, to extend to you a hearty welcome to our town, and say to you all that we are glad to see you, and sincerely hope that your little visit to us may prove a pleasant and a profitable one.

Our farms which lie upon the interval and the uplands overlooking it have felt the breast of the plow for one hundred and sixty or seventy years. During this time they have yielded a comfortable support to some five or six generations, and the titles to some of them have always remained in the families of their original occupants. I could show you a dozen such, all of which lie within three or four miles of the place of our assembling. These farms are no longer new, but their soil is by no means

exhausted. The Divine Power who made it did not make it to wear out. It will last as long as man lasts, and, under skillful treatment, continue fruitful forever.

We have had in Concord three pretty distinctly marked agricultural periods.

The first may appropriately enough be called the Indian period. It antedated the advent of the white man to this locality and ended with that event. The first settlers found here primeval forests upon the uplands, and upon the intervals a few clearings, upon some of which the squaws raised a little corn, while upon others grew a coarse grass, which has never entirely disappeared from our poorest soils. It is known with us as the "old interval grass," elsewhere as "broom grass," and by the botanists as "andropogon," a poor grass which animals will eat only under the desperate alternative of starvation.

To designate the second period, I borrow an architectural term and call it the early English, for our forefathers here were good old English stock, removed but two or three generations from original immigrations to the colony of Massachusetts Bay. They introduced cattle and sheep, the plow, the scythe, the harrow, and the hand-hoe. They removed more or less of the forests, and raised grass, rye, oats, barley, Indian corn, and the potato, which their nearest neighbors, the Scotch-Irish people, of Londonderry, had brought with them from Ireland. This was a trying period. During the French and Indian wars our ancestors were constantly exposed to the atrocities of the frontier, living at times in garrisons, and, like God's people when rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem, almost literally doing their work with one hand and holding a musket in the other. Nor was this their only trial. As soon as they had cleared for themselves comfortable farms, the settlement of the boundary line between the two provinces transferred them from Massachusetts, to which they had before belonged, to New Hampshire, and emboldened a company of speculators at the provincial capital to lay claim to their township. This claim, which was as wicked as it proved illegal, led to litigation, which began in 1750, in the common pleas court of New Hampshire, and was ultimately carried before the king in council, who decided in 1762 that it

was untenable. Then followed a contest with the Masonian proprietors, and soon after, the Revolution, during which New Hampshire lost more soldiers in the army than she had male children born at home. It would be unreasonable to suppose that this could have been a period of much agricultural progress, for it was one continual struggle, first, against French and Indian barbarities, second, against influential pecuniary greed, and, last, against the selfish stupidity of George the Third. During this period, however, our fathers established the titles of their farms, and saw the back of the last royal governor of New Hampshire. It may be said to have ended upon the ratification of the constitution of the United States.

The third period is the one into which we of to-day have been born, and which is just now closing. It has witnessed the advent of the iron and steel plow, of the horse-rake, mowing-machine, and, in short, of nearly all the best implements now used in husbandry. During this period our cattle, farming and dairying, our grass, root, and grain culture, have not only been improved, but by advanced farmers these have been reduced to approximate certainties. This period has shown more agricultural progress than the last two centuries and a half can boast.

We stand just here and now upon the threshold of a new and fourth period. The last witnessed great mechanical and physiological progress in our farming. Scientific and intellectual advances may be expected in this. Agriculture is to gradually rise to a higher plane than any upon which it has heretofore moved. Science is to take the place of a careless empiricism, and the practice of agriculture is to be reduced to an exactness attained in manufactures. The farmer is to become a manufacturer, manipulating living instead of dead material.

What I have instanced as true in this locality is true to a greater or less extent in those which you severally represent. The object of this meeting is to take on new courage as farmers, and to look a new future boldly in the face; to make this day a starting point towards a more exact knowledge of the great principles which underlie agricultural success; to gain a fuller appreciation of our own importance as factors of society, and here and now resolve to rise to a fuller estimate of our capabili

ties and to a better use of our opportunities. Permit me to repeat, in closing, my first remark, and assure you that the farmers of Concord are glad to see you, and anticipate great pleasure from your presence.

Response was made by the secretary, acknowledging, in behalf of the Board, the kindly sentiments so eloquently expressed by Mr. Walker. A brief history of the work of the Board of Agriculture was given, noticing the large number of meetings. held during the seventeen years of its existence, nearly every town of the State having been visited. Reference was made to the harmony existing between the various agricultural organizations, and deep satisfaction expressed at their representation at this session. In closing, the secretary outlined the work of the institute.

President Humphrey was advertised to speak at 3 o'clock, upon "The General Improvements in the Agriculture of the State," but surrendered the time to his old acquaintance, Edmund Hersey, of Hingham, Mass., a member of the Massachusetts Board of Agriculture, who delivered an address upon "Potato Culture," which will be found in this report. Mr. Hersey was vigorously questioned at the close of the address, showing a deep interest in the subject.

The next speaker was Mr. J. M. Connor, of Hopkinton, president of the State Dairymen's Association, upon the subject of dairying, and his address also appears in the proper place in this report.

Mr. Connor was followed by Mr. Daniel Wyman, of Concord, who suggested the inquiry, When shall the cow become fresh in milk? His opinion was that it should be in the autumn months, letting the cow go dry on cheap pasturage, instead of in winter when butter brought the best prices. He thought a cow would give more milk by ten per cent managed in this way. This, he said, would make a vast difference in the dairy product, and a betterment of the cow's condition. A point was also made against large cows for dairy purposes. If she eats more for the same product we do not want her. If it costs ten dollars a year more to keep her, in four years we are forty dollars out. The differ