Litchfield enquirer., 1866-01-25
aarilultural Dfpartnerlt.

! Aarilultural . Departmer,t. if-~s-7-sr PREPARED sxPREssLY fcR TIE ! EsorIaER" s1 r T.s. GOLD. West Cornwall. Ct. ] To vAss al, 1bsmsm;eatiens sAestd1s addrsssed MEETING OF HE CONN AGRIcuL.
 sas7 yURAL SOCIETY ,eeEs sss.-7 h l tas aI..5} 9ai ~s.fs-----i4N 5Sfslsys41 eass The iesL apnaa! meeting et ;be Uonnecticut Slate Agricultural Society was held in tue City Hal! building, Hartford. on thel0th inst, at 10 o'clock. E H Hyde, Esq of Stafford, pres den. of ihs society called the meeting to order, depressing the hope that st some future day the society would, by having q successful show be in better inansial condition, and do more than ever before for the agrieullrai interests of the state.
 i The secretary, Bardett. Loomfs. Esq. of ] Windsor Locks, read the report >ef the doipgs :, of the last annual meeting. which was accepted 1 TS Gold. of Cornwall, corresponding sec retary of the society, ia behalf of the executive i committee, read the following Interesting re
 port, which was accepted and ordered printed i: i Report ef tAe Eascutive Committee of the ] Coanecticat State Agricuyural lsoe:ety:
 :! The society has passed another year without undertaking au7 active operations The small debt which rested against it was relieved by the liberality of a few members at our last an- l nual meeting. 8 ] A meeting of the executive committed was held at Hartford ins May. to take into consid- era.on the propriety- of holding in October, q complete OF partial exhibition of the industrial 1 products of the State. At this meeting com mittee was appointed to arrange for holding a 1, show of agricultural and horticultural products # they should think it best. The general failure of the apple crop throughout the State, prevented any action on the subject by this 1 committee. is@N's s sf@13 'ss*' 1 It is gratifying to us again to report that the agricultural interests of the stats stll continue in highly fourishing condition. We specify 1 the corn and hay crop, our two chief staples as particularly satisfactory. Our pastures have given rich return in fair amount of dairy products, and fat cattl. and sheep. while the prices have been highly remunerativs. notwith- standing the high price of labor. s'..@ Whether these prices are to be maintained is most important question to the farmer. 4 brief inquiry into thescauses of the advance of meat and dairy products will aid ia its solution. ziah ratsa .nf sxchanes stimaiatinG export. expanded currency, lessening tho value of money, and the high wages of laborers, inereas- ing the cost, have united in raising the price of these articles. but other causes less Auctuating have aided in producing this result. We find by the report of the Department Of Agriculturs for April and May thsttthe number Of COWS in the loyal states in January 1864. was 6.066,- 74s, and of other neat cattle 7,e65,43s. making total of neat stock of IA 032,2S7. e
 There were in January, 1865. 5.76s l30 COWS. 7,o72,59l other cattle. making a total of l2.. i s40,.2l. Thus we find the COWS had dscreas- ed 29s SIS, and the others 892,s4s, making a total decrease of l.l9l 466 head of neat cat tle s sa-fa. .sqa!zs., agpj-aa.s s.-.4 s..r .a, ., I Sheep had increased 4,3o0, s55, but this was balanced in meat producing capacity by de- crease of 3,077 ,825 swine. t,ss "a, ,.,. a.t ,-
 This great diminution: of nearly three hun dred thousand in q dairy stock end nearly one million in other cattle, must cer- tainly afford good reason for ,sems, advance in dairy products and beef. Add to this the large demaad to repleufsh the devastated fields of the border states, and the great amount of these products required to supply our popula- tion, increasing go rapidly both by birth and immigration. and lastly the increased foreign demand in Eneland, from the prevalence of the cattleplague, and if cattle and the products were not dear, it would be contrary to the com mon laws of supply and demand. As these causes are no, Ill of them temporary in their nature, they must continue to operate at least for some years in greater or less degree. The deficiency has beep partially made up by i'm. portations from Canada; bur this source is well nigb exhausted, and for the present entirely cut of by recent act of Congress A panic or other causes may operate to depress prices l for brief periods, but we canpot see how 1t can be otherwise than that they must rule high iu proportion to other products for many years. o' | One of the causes we have named, merits more than a passing Dotice.. the Rinderpest' or Russian Cattle Plague This disease has laDug been known as indigenous to the steppes of Russia. We condense from the reports of the department of agriculture a brief account of the disease and it's progress in Europe. h
 1856, through the exportation of Russian cat tie into Austria Prussia and other German na- tions, the disease was introduced into these countries and attracted the attention of Europe The Royal Agric 1ltarai societies of England, Scotland and Ireland united in sending Prof. simonds of the Royal vetinary College of England to investigate this disease and the means of it's prevention and cure. ,''. ..f--s
 From his report we leara that the disease affects the blood, showing it's action upon the mucous membrane of the intestinal canal, that