bor, and his guess leads him to a certain loss at each successive trial. In the matter of hay, profit and loss is just reversed in the cases supposed; the latter can produce hay at six dollars per ton, while the same crop costs the former, fourteen dollars. Yet neither of them know this wide difference, and each one jogs on in the same old ruts, losing by one crop what he gains upon the other; grumbling, all the while, to himself and to those about him that "farming is a hard business." Now were these two farmers to calculate the cost by keeping an account with their crops, each one would soon learn where his true profit lies. So in many other branches of farm industry; what may be done with profit by one, is, by force of his surroundings, attended by loss to another; and the point can be correctly and definitely ascertained only by some system of accounts; and each farmer must settle the matter for himself alone.

Of what a Farm Account should consist, has been pretty clearly indicated in what has already been written, but it will bear a recapitulation.

First, there should be a general account with the whole farm. Each item paid out should be charged to debit, and each item received should be placed to credit.

Second, there should be a separate, special account kept with each field, each crop, and each animal. There should also be a tool account, a fence account, a manure account, a compost account, an account of repairs upon buildings, and as many other accounts as there are points upon which knowledge is needed, for it is the only sure way of ascertaining the profit and loss in any and every department.

How a Farm Account should be kept. Premiums have been offered by several of the agricultural societies in the State for the best formula of book keeping, adapted to the farmer's use. These premiums have called out many efforts to supply the want; and some of the systems presented have much real merit in them. But an objection which lies against nearly all of them is this they are too complicated to be generally adopted; a term or two would be required under a tutor to render one, not an adept at book keeping, familiar with them. It is not proposed, in this paper, to present any specific system or manner, in which such accounts should be kept, but only to suggest and insist that each farmer should adopt such a system as he himself can understand, and which will give him the desired results. One who has sufficient leisure, and the requisite knowledge, can adopt all the formulæ and machinery of "double entry book keeping," undoubtedly, for an extensive business, the best system. Another, having less time to devote to it, can make a simple journal of all the daily transactions upon the farm, and from this journal, at the close of the year, draw out all the items of expense or credit which pertain to any particular subject, thus ascertaining the profit or loss in every department.

Another, who may have still less time, or ability to write, may with a piece of chalk upon the barn door, or some place else, mark down from week to week, the running expense of one crop at least. This last, it is true, is a small beginning, but if carefully kept it will give a result just as valuable, so far as it goes, as one kept in a more scientific manner. No farmer can rightfully plead in excuse for his neglect in this particular, that he has no time to devote to such a purpose; just as well, or rather, foolishly, might the merchant say he has no time to write his charges, post his books and balance his accounts; it is a necessary part of the farmer's occupation, and cannot be dispensed with. In any other pursuit than farming, bankruptcy would overtake the party thus negligent in less than a twelve-month, and the same would be the farmer's fate were it not that our good mother, the earth, yields her increase so bountifully that even the most thoughtless and improvident can glean up a subsistence, after having committed unwarrantable negligence and

waste.

It is believed by the writer that in no one thing are the farmers of Maine,

more culpably deficient than in this one particular, of keeping "Farm Accounts;" and as an expression of this Board to the farmers of our State, the following resolution is presented :

Resolved, That no person is entitled to the appellation of "a systematic and good farmer," who fails to keep such accounts as will enable him to know, with a good degree of certainty, the cost of his productions, and secure to himself the greatest profits from his labors.

An animated discussion followed the reading of the report and resolve, some objections being offered to the adoption of the latter, and its object having been accomplished by thus directing attention to the subject, it was withdrawn and the report placed at the disposal of the secretary.

In pursuance of a resolve passed at the last session, Mr. Perley submitted to the Board the result of some experiments made by him during the past year:

First experiment in making veal. Cow Peggy, 11 years old, weighing 900 lbs. after calving, dropped a bull calf Feb. 7th. Calf was killed March 19th, at 40 days old. The cow, in seven days following the killing of the calf, gave 171 lbs. of milk, (equal to 78 wine qts.,) which yielded 6 lbs. of butter, 28 1-2 lbs., or 13 qts. milk to the lb. butter. Good table butter at that time was worth 20 cents per lb. ; deduct 4 cents for milking and making same, leaves 16 cents net. From the above, milk is worth, for butter puiposes, 1 1-4 cents, and skimmed milk for pork making is estimated at 1-4th cent, making milk worth 1 1-2 cents per quart.

It should be borne in mind that the quantity of milk consumed by the calf in the above experiment is estimated from the yield of the cow after the calf was killed; that he did not take all the milk the cow gave, consequently not an average of its quality, the first drawn being poorest; that early veal is worth more per pound than late killed; that this was better than an average of veal calves (in this vicinity;) and that the worth of skimmed milk is a matter of estimation, and we shall not place undue reliance upon such an experiment.

Second experiment in making real. Cow Kate. 2 years old, weighing 605 lbs. after calving; dropped a bull calf April 25th. The calf was killed June 4th, at forty days old. During the time of nursing the calf, the feed of the cow was changed from hay and meal, to grass. In nine days following the killing of the calf, the cow gave 135 lbs. milk, equal to 62 wine qts., from which milk was made, 6 1-2 lbs. butter; 9 1-2 qts. or 21 lbs. milk to the pound of butter. This milk, though of better quality than that used in the first experiment, is worth only a cent and a half per quart, the price of butter having fallen to summer rates.

Two experiments showing the advantage and disadvantage of good and poor preparation of the soil, in growing turnips.

The ground in each experiment is, naturally, of like character, a good gravelly loam. The experiments were tried in one case upon sixty-seven square rods, and in the other upon forty square rods of ground; but in order to set them more clearly in opposition, the cast is made for one acre of each.

The first experiment was made upon ground which had been in roots for three years preceding, and had been moderately dressed each of those years. It had been worked ten inches deep, and was well pulverized for the present crop. On May 21st it was twice plowed, and sown with sugar beets. The seed failing to germinate, on the 13th of June it was twice cultivated, and sown with carrots. The carrots failing to come, it was again seeded with the strap leaf turnip on the 11th of July.

The account stands thus:

May 21. To plowing and cultivating,

555 lbs. Coe's sup. phos. 2 1-2 cts., one-half to this crop,
733 lbs. Peruvian guano, 3 1 2 cts., one-half to this crop,
labor applying dressing, one-half to this crop,

Crop, Dr. $4.77

6 83

12 82

42 2.98

66 21.

labor and seed, (sugar beet)

June 13. 66 13.

labor cultivating, .

seed and labor sowing carrots,

seed and labor sowing strap leaf turnips,

July 14.

66 24.

Aug. 24.
Oct. 24.

250 lbs. Coe's sup. phos., 2 1-2 cts., one-half to this crop,
labor thinning and weeding,

labor harvesting,

66 24.

manure from former dressings, 1-4th,

1 79

2.98

1 91

3 12

8 48

11 61

955

955

$76 81

The produce was 830 bushels per acre; cost per bushel, 9 3-10ths cent. The second piece was newly inverted green sward, from an old worn out grass field. It was well turned, and the surface thoroughly cultivated and made fine.

630 lbs. Coe's sup. phos., 2 1-2 cts., one-half to this crop,
labor applying same, one-half to this crop,

$13 68 11 06 7.90 73

Yield per acre, 498 bushels; cost per bushel, 17 cts.

In the first experiment, the cost of turnips per bushel, 9 3 10th cts. In the second experiment, the cost of turnips per bushel, 17 cts.

Experiment testing the comparative value of Peruvian Guano and Coe's Super Phosphate of Lime in the production of Strap Leaved Turnips.

The ground upon which this experiment was tried, is a gravelly loam, about cighteen inches deep; lying nearly level, underlaid by a compact hard pan, and having no artificial drainage, it is rather heavy though not very wet. It has been in beets, carrots and turnips three years. The whole piece was treated precisely the same, except in the application of fertilizers. The experiment was tried upon 67 square, rods of ground, but for the purpose of making the result more readily appreciated, the cast is for one acre of each kind of fertilizer.

One acre dressed with 555 lbs. Coe's super phosphate, at 2 1-2 cts. per lb., or total cost of $13.87, producing 835 bush. turnips, at a cost for this fertilizer of 1 4-7ths per bushel of turnips.

One acre dressed with 733 lbs. guano, at 3 1-2 cts. per lb., or total cost of $25.65, produced 826 bushel of turnips; at a cost, for this fertilizer, of 3 1-10th cts. per bushel of turnips.

The guano produced a luxuriant growth of top, and a good crop of bulbs of large size. The phosphate gave less top with a greater yield of very fair roots. Mr. Chamberlain submitted the following report of experiments in the use of Fertilizers :

May 30th, 1861. Planted western flat corn, one and a half bushels on a half acre, in drills five to a rod. Manured lightly with stable manure, evenly spread and harrowed. Put Coc's super phosphate in the drills at the rate of 200 lbs. per acre.

Marked four rows 22 yards long, two of them having the super phosphate, one having in it a half bushel of granite, burned and broken, the remaining row with no dressing in the furrow. Shown thus, with the result:

Row with phosphate, 250 lbs. ; row with granite, 214 lbs. ; row with no manure, 185 lbs. ; row with phosphate, 261 lbs.

Taking the average of the product of the two rows having the phosphate, and the excess over the row with no manure, shows a result of seven tons in green fodder per acre for the use of two cwt. of phosphate.

But little reliance should be placed upon the result of one experiment with granite as a fertilizer. In this case, the amount of fodder in a row 22 yards long, chanced to be 29 lbs. more than that of a row on one side without manure, and 36 lbs. less than a row on the other side having super phosphate. With the best phase of the case, the benefit to the crop from the application of 100 bushels of pulverized granite per acre, is the product of 5800 lbs. of green fodder. But if beneficial in a degree for the first year, it may be continuously so, when, as in this case, it is not reduced to fineness, but was mostly in the form of very coarse sand.

In the last week in May, 1861, I planted a piece to Jackson potatoes, putting in the hill Coe's super phosphate of lime, mixed with half its quantity of gypsum. Left one row without any application, and put in another row a half bushel of granite, burned and broken to the condition of coarse sand. Result. The row with nothing applied in the hill, produced 4 3-4th bushels; row with granite, 5 1-4th bush.; row with phosphate, 6 1 2 bush.

Dr. J. C. Weston read the following paper on the topic assigned at the session in 1861, viz :

THE DISEASES OF VEGETATION.

Numerous as are the maladies which afflict mankind, they are doubtless almost equalled by those morbid affections which prey upon the vegetable

part of creation and prove so destructive to the prosperity of the agriculturist. Scarcely a class of diseases can be mentioned among animals of which a parallel example cannot be found among plants. As far back as we can penetrate the dim vista of the past we see age after age that whenever blight and mildew destroyed the crops of the field, then famine, plague and pestilence followed quickly in their course, and only stayed their deadly ravages among mankind when the population had been so much reduced that the scanty food could support the survivors.

Diseases in grain, esculent vegetables and roots, poison and diminish that food to which we are so largely indebted for health and life. And in our own gardens and fields, a year never passes during which more or less injury is not inflicted upon our cultivated crops; yet until recently this subject has not been investigated with that diligence and zeal commensurate with its importance.

For many years, the keenest intellects have studied human disease. They have accumulated a vast magazine of facts, both those that really occur in health, and those that occur in disease, and from these facts they have established the principles of that science that treats of the functions of life, or physiology; and the principles of the doctrine of diseases, with their causes, effects and differences, or pathology, and then they have proceeded to their rational treatment by the use of remedial agents, preventive and curative. Thus scientific men, by the judicious use of medicine, have materially shortened the duration of disease and prolonged human life, and may reasonably be expected to make still further progress in future. They already possess the ability to cure nearly every kind of active inflammation, which, without treatment would tend to destroy life. Even in chronic diseases, for which no cure has been discovered, they can mitigate the anguish of the patient, and prolong his existence. The small-pox, which once decimated all ranks, from the monarch to the beggar, by vaccination and a more judicious management, has been deprived of its terrors, and now rarely proves fatal.

During the existence of the Roman Empire, when the practice of medicine by quacks was based on isolated facts, the majority of which were fallacious, the average duration of human life was ten years less than at the present time. This shows what has been accomplished by careful research, more accurate knowledge, more practical skill. The same careful study of all the laws which regulate the functions of vegetables in health; the same attentive observation of those changes and modifications which result in disease and death; the same persevering endeavor to trace effects and differences to their producing causes, will conduce to the same rational and successful treatment. For there is a close similarity between the vital structures and phenomena of plants and animals. Both have the same chemical constituents. "The same acids, alkalies, earths and metals are components of both. They contain in common, sugar, mucus, jelly, coloring and other principles, gluten or albumen, fibrin, oils, resins and extractives."

The functions of animals are also closely analogous. Only in the one class they are more complicated, in the other more simple. Animals take their food by the agency of the mouth, digest, select and retain what is suitable for their nourishment. This in a liquid form, is mingled with the blood which constitutes the very fountain of life. The vital fluid travels on to the lungs, where it comes in contact with the air, the oxygen of which unites with it, it gives out carbonic acid gas and vapor, and its color is changed from dark purple to bright vermillion. By this chemical union the blood is heated and purified, and prepared to supply warmth and nourishment to all parts of the body. By the heart it is then sent by one set of tubes, the arteries and capillaries, and returned by the veins. As it circulates it takes up the worn-out material to be afterwards eliminated from the system, and at the same time repairs the waste.

In health no mistake is ever made. From one complex fluid, each and every part has the power to make selection, according to its wants, and construct substances the most dissimilar in properties and characteristics.