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I used common, coarse barnyard manure-about two-thirds of a shovel-full in the hill. Planted last day of May. Used 7 bushels of seed, one-third lady-fingers, the remainder pink-eyes and whites. Harvested Oct. 3d and 4th.

The cost of growing was $12; value at my residence, $57.66.

FRUIT.

The Committee on Fruit report, that the exhibition of fruits was not so extensive as we had hoped to witness. Yet, when we consider the unfavorableness of the past season, we feel highly gratified with the success with which patient toil in this department has been crowned. And, though from the coldness of our climate, the character of the soil in many places, with other disadvantages under which Providence has placed us, precludes the hope of the degree of success realized in other portions of our country, yet your committee fully believe that great improvements may and should be made in this direction. They believe that more time, care, and pecuniary expenditure devoted to this branch of industry, would not only be highly remunerative, but would furnish increasing social enjoyments, and render home, as the Creator has designed it, more like an original Paradise.

And they furthermore believe that the greater the effort made in this direction, the richer will be the enjoyment when a kind Providence shall have crowned that effort with success. May we not hope then, that from year to year, new life and vigor will be infused into this interesting branch of industry, by new experiments in the culture of the various kinds of fruit capable of being raised in this climate, together with the various products of the kitchen and flower garden; and also, the cultivation of the various kinds of garden seeds, for home use, at least, together with fruit trees and shrubs of choice varieties, enough to meet our wants, without relying upon those brought from abroad, which, too often, only disappoint our hopes. Let the trial be fully and promptly made, and we have but little fear for the result.

DAIRY.

Statement of Mrs. Stickney, on Butter, who took first premium. My dairy consists of four cows, (two farrow and two heifers.) Their average period of giving milk is nine months; the average yield of milk for the whole term is 10 pounds per day. During the month of greatest flow the yield is 17 pounds per day, and its quality is such that 27 pounds of it will yield a pound of butter. They are kept in winter on hay, and a little meal in the spring, and in summer on grass. My mode of manufacture is as follows: The milk is strained and set into a kettle of cold water, put on the stove until it boils; it is then carried into the cellar from 24 to 36 hours, then skimmed; the cream is put into a tin kettle, and churned the fifth day in the Gault churn. The butter is from twenty to thirty minutes coming. It is then taken from the churn and worked with the hand until free from milk. It is salted with one ounce of salt to one pound of butter. After standing 24 hours, it is worked over, and packed down in stone pots and covered to exclude the air, by putting white paper on top of the butter, then melted butter poured on to the paper. It is then put away in a cool cellar. Our method of churning is to commence slowly for about seven or eight minutes, then increase the speed until near coming, then slowly again, which we find to be better than to churn slow or fast through the whole churning.

Fall butter-mode of manufacture the same as above described for the June butter, and the addition of one ounce of salt to nine pounds of butter.

Statement of Mrs. V. R. Stickney, on Premium Cheese.

My dairy consists of four cows, of the native breed. Their average period of giving milk is nine months; the average yield of milk for the whole term is five quarts per day. During the month of greatest flow the yield is seventeen pounds per day—and its quality is such that ten pounds of it will yield a pound of cheese. The cows are kept in winter on hay and a little meal in the spring, and on grass in the summer. My mode of manufacture is as follows: The milk is strained in a large tin pan made for the purpose. Having soaked one rennet in one quart of water, put one table spoonful of the liquid to ten quarts of milk. While the milk is warm let it stand 30 minutes, then cross into eight parts; then let it stand one hour; then break it a little more, and let it stand till morning; then dip it off on to a cloth in the cheese basket; then wash the pan and put the morning's milk into it, and the same proportion of rennet; let it stand half an hour, then cross it off; then let it stand one hour then dip it in with the other curd, and after standing half an hour, cut the curd, then during one and a half hours cut it occasionally; then pour on two quarts of water a little warmer than milk; then let it stand one hour, cut into pieces about an inch through; add 4 oz. salt to 25 lbs. curd, produced from 90 qts. of milk; put into the press with a light weight; next day prepare curd by same process, which, after having scratched the top of that

in the hoop, add, and press as before, and the third day fill the hoop, and press till the next day; take from the hoop and put a bandage around the cheese, put in the screen, then turn and rub twice a day.

MAPLE SUGAR.

Sugar is one of the luxuries, if not one of the necessaries of life. That extracted from the maple is superior to any other, and its manufacture has become quite an important branch of domestic industry, therefore your committee would make a few suggestions in regard to the process. First, the sap should be caught in well cleaned vessels, free from decayed leaves, bark, or any other substance which will change its color. Second, it should be boiled to syrup as soon as practicable. Third, care should be used that it may not be scorched. For this purpose the boiler should be so arranged that the fire cannot come in contact with the vessel much above the liquid within. By an observance of these rules we cannot fail to produce clean, white, well granulated sugar, while inattention and carelessness produces quite the reverse.

NEEDLE WORK AND FANCY ARTICLES.

The following suggestions were embodied in the report of the Committee on Needle Work and Fancy Articles:

Your committee would further claim the indulgence of the Society, while we endeavor to call attention to some items connected with this department, and in our crude way, throwing out some ideas which had suggested themselves to our mind.

In taking a cursory view of the subject it would seem that this department was a very trivial affair, scarcely worth the serious attention of any one and altogether beneath the notice of the sterner sex. Yet when we take into account the zest with which skill aids affection in ministering to their physical and spiritual requirements, and the importance attached thereto even by the higher officers of this institution, to the onerous duties of which they have appointed a greater number than to all other household manufactures, it loses its insignificance and assumes a really responsible aspect.

We think, too, there is a specific utility in works of art, and in the exercise of taste, even in the ordinary avocations of domestic life. We most devoutly believe that in the rearing and training of families, that it is bad economy to have in view no higher object than catering to their merest animal necessities, clothing them in apparel that involves the least possible outlay of time and money.

Which child is most averse to damaging or soiling its garments, the one clad in ill-fitting and unbecoming costume, notwithstanding it may be a good defence against the inclemencies of the weather, even of costly material, or the one whose cheap but fashionably cut garments are decorated with a bordering of another shade or color, though of no better material than the garment itself?

How many a little girl has avoided a mud-puddle on her way from school, and consequently a chiding at home, perhaps castigation, by an innate desire to preserve the purity of a bit of embroidery, or tape trimming, and surely this is a cheaper, as well as more agreeable mode of fencing, than railing and withing.

And is not a trifling outlay in fancy needle work more satisfactory to a cultivated mind, than scrubbing and botching? or the very botching performed in such a scientific and artistic manner, as to become a source of pride instead of shame, to say nothing of its effect on characters being formed under its influence. To be sure, some vain and frivolous lady, who makes the embellishment of herself and family the business instead of the pastime of life, may torture our remarks into a vindication of her misapplication of time which should be devoted to higher and better purposes; but your committee are not pledged to furnish brains, we only appeal to them, and "a word to the wise is sufficient."

Our rugs and mats, also,-manufactured from the remnants of dilapidated and cast off garments, or the odds and ends of new, are by some considered superfluous articles, but which the prudent and ingenious fabricators assure us is a great saving of dirt, (as indeed they are, in more respects than one.)

Many a slovenly son and brother has left on the grass plot, or scraper, the fertilizing particles of the compost heap which adhered to his boots, at thought of "mother's new door mat," or, as that is usually of less delicate tint and construction than the carpet and hearth rug, and therefore of less importance in his eyes, bethinks

himself, as he sets foot thereon, of the gaudy boquets that bloom on "sister's new rug," and the soil he has brought all the way from the farm yard is received into its intricate folds, making a literal saving of dirt which had else been tracked to the remotest corner of the house.

Even these specimens of virtue which appeal to the senses alone, if they are wholly useless, why have the best and wisest of all ages been their greatest patrons?

When we find it not beneath the dignity of the Creator of the universe, to paint the fragrant lily, rose, and the gorgeous tulip, shall we consider it an insignificant performance of art, to reproduce such exact imitations as to deceive the eye of the practiced connoisseur? Or from the curious seed-receptacles of the coniferous forest evergreen, to fashion furniture outvieing the cunning carvers' art?

When he daguerreotypes upon the lakelet's silvery surface, the blue and gold of heaven's type, and wooded landscapes all along its margin, shall we despise the art which links to crystal the images of those we love?

When nature paints the forest, and the mountain's brow in rainbow hues, may not art transfer to crayon-board and canvas, landscapes that we admire or love, to grace our walls and cheer our indoor life?

Let us not shrink from competition, but strive for the perseverance to do our best, the courage to compare our work with others, and the generosity to rejoice at seeing ourselves outdone. Then, and not till then, will the chief obstacles be removed from the path of improvement, and our journey to perfection be really commenced. E. E. FLY, Chairman.

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