THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



331 



farther north than this home county. Your country readers, 

 Mr. Editor, will wish to know who this Argus also is, whose 

 name the Essex farmer has assumed, and of course of whose 

 exploits he approves and would imitate, as is always the case 

 when one man assumes the name or would imitate the actions 

 of auother. 



This Argus, then, once lived somewhere ; but where I am 

 not able to state, nor when am T able to state ; but the time 

 was wheu men were very queer creatures, and performed 

 very strange exploits. Some of them were visible and some 

 invisible ; some had one eye, and some two, and some none ; 

 but this Argus was endowed with exactly 100, two of which 

 were always to keep awake and wide open, whilst the other 

 ninety-eight might fall asleep. 



It so happened that in those days, whenever they were, 

 there was a very beautiful young priestess of the name of To, 

 of whom an old lady called Juno, who had a very faithless old 

 husband, was racked with jealousy. On this account she en- 

 gaged this Argus with his hundred eyes, two of which being 

 always awake, to keep watch over the priestess against the de- 

 signs of the old husband. But in the mean time, the husband, 

 whose name was Jupiter, as he could do anything, changed the 

 young priestess into a young cow ; and he employed another 

 worthy, of the same fraternity as himself, to lull the two eyes 

 of Argus, the young cow's keeper, to sleep with the other 

 ninety-eight, and then he put him to death for his faithlessness. 

 Juno, the wife, being a thrifty old lady, and not willing to lose 

 the 100 eyes of her faithless servant, transferred them to the 

 tail of a peacock, where we read they have remained to the 

 present day. 



Now what there should be in this Arj;u3 that an Essex 

 farmer should assume his name and identify himself 

 with, I am scarcely able to guess ; but the natural 

 conclusion is, that instead of the young priestess having 

 been metamorphosed into a young cow, she was changed into 

 an Essex calf, some of which, we know, both as to size and 

 weight, are larger and heavier than very many cows. And 

 this opinion, I think, is strengthened by the fact that many 

 writers, who have recorded this fact, state clearly that it was 

 a heifer, and not a full-grown cow, into which the young lady 

 was trausformed ; and as the difference between a heifer and 

 an Essex calf is so trifling, the mistake might very easily have 

 been made ; for even at this day, one is often sold for the 

 other. 



It is astonishing how associations of this kind occupy some 

 men's minds, and what a train of thought they raise up iu them. 

 Here a calf was elevated to the honour aud dignity of a 

 priestess; that is, both were made one and the same thing in 

 different shapes. The monster, Argus, was elevated to the 

 honour and dignity of being the calf's-keeper ; aud an Essex 

 farmer dreaming upon these things, so fills his mind with them, 

 that he at length in his imagination fancies himself to be 

 Argus, as many men fancy themselves to be kings. Nor are 

 these romantic fancies altogether new ; but one of the very 

 wisest of the sons of men possessed them. Pythagoras 

 affirmed that he bad ouce been Euphorbus, and that he recol- 

 lected many exploits which Euphorbus did ; and that he was 

 at the siege of Troy, though that remarkable siege at which Eu- 

 phorbus was present took place some 700 or 800 years before 

 Pythai^oras was born. 



Hence, these reveries are common to the wisest as well as 

 the most crazed of mortals ; and, hence, as many men, as we 

 know they do, who are near Brentwood, fancy themselves to 

 be kings, and many women believe tliemselves to be queens, we 

 may easily conceive how an Essex farmer may have fancied one 

 of his fine calves to be lo, and himself her hundred-eyed 

 keeper. The associations were natural, and thus easily 

 explained. 



But, Mr. Editor, it is time, and more than time, that I exa- 

 mine the self-metamorphosed Argus's letter ; but as I have 

 already written, I fear, as much as you can find room for, I will 

 only to-day give you one specimen of the modern demigod 

 hero's statements ; but I promise to go through his Tornado, 

 as he chooses to designate my humble self, on the very first op- 

 portunity, leaving him to chuckle over his exploit at least for 

 another week. For a specimen then of the veracity of bis 

 Etatemeats, I take this, which is nearly his first : 



" Mr. Wilkins," he writes, " neglected the cultivation of his 

 bit of glebe in such a manner that at length, with thin seed 

 or no seed, it was equally the same in result— the crop was not 



worth shearing. I am now speaking of facts ; and those facts, 

 as well as others equally startling, are notorious throughout 

 the district in which he resides." 



Mr. Editor, if you or any other gentleman will call upon me 

 and if you or he should not find that every word of this pas- 

 aage is an unprincipled falsehood, I will pay your or his 

 expenses to and from my house. 



The real fact is, that my bit of glebe, as the demigod 

 hundred-eyed hero calls it, has improved every year since 

 1 have been in possession of it ; every succeeding crop has ex- 

 celled the preceding one, aud the last crop has been the best, 

 I may say very much the best, iu weight, quality, aud quantity, 

 that my glebe in my remembrance ever before grew. Ho much 

 for the veracity of a writer who shrinks from appending 

 his name to his statements ; not because he trembles at 

 au aged man like Mr. Wilkins, but because he knows what he 

 states will not bear the light, aud that he can traduce under a 

 veil, and with impunity. 



The man who writes or speaks the truth needs no shield : 

 he fears no man : he has a shield which no man can penetrate: 

 he has a breast-plate which no man can injure : he has a Friend 

 who sticks closer to him than a brother, and who will 

 never leave nor forsake him, but be his shield and buckler for 

 ever. 



Some years ago I raised up hundreds of the anonymous 

 scribes against me also ; but the world was with me, as was 

 and has bteii proved by the friendships shown me ; and these 

 friendships will not be weakened by gross aud malicious anony- 

 mous writings. Geo. Wilkins. 



TO THE EDITOR, 



Sir, — Having read two letters in the Mark-lane Express, 

 written by a clergyman from Wix, who appears not only 

 to rest content with the welfare of his flock in administer- 

 ing his understanding for the Almightj', but also leaves his 

 profession, and attempts to teach the agricultural commu- 

 nity generally of the advantages which would accrue from 

 the adoption of his system of thin-seeding. However, sir, 

 before I proceed with a reply to our learned friend's advice, 

 allow me to bring before your and the public's notice what 

 is already being the result with me in regard to the advoca- 

 ted system of a few isolated individuals. 



About a j'ear ago — having read in the Express two or 

 three letters emanating from the pens of the Messrs. 

 Hardys on the subject — I was led to try the experiment ; 

 and for this purpose I selected three acres of the very best 

 land belonging to my farm. I manured and tilled it, as I 

 thought, with the nicest skill, then deposited a bushel and 

 a-half of seed per acre (the usual quantity being three 

 bushels per acre). The young wheats came up nice and 

 even, but of course very thin when contrasted with the 

 rest of mine and that of my neighbours. I watched its pro- 

 gress almost daily during the spring, and the time when 

 nature was causing it to tiller. Each time I did this, j 

 scrutinized the adjoining part of ten acres ; and the ver- 

 dict I gave on each occasion was tliat thick sowing was far 

 preferable to that of thin. I could not say that any differ- 

 ence existed in the difference of tillering between that of 

 thin and that of thick-sown. Now, while I am writing, I 

 can tell the Messrs. Hardy and our reverend gentleman that 

 I greatly regret of my ever trying their sj'stem. I firmly 

 believe that '2\ qrs. will be the maximum produce per acre, 

 whereas the adjoining ten acres 1 dare almost guarantee to 

 average 4 qrs. to the acre. 



To be sure, what a contrast this is, Mr. Wilkins, and 

 what, or how, do you account for this ':' 1 don't wish to say 

 that the plan will not answer upon some soils ; but it must 

 be a mixed one, and thoroughly cultivated, kept in good 

 heart, freed from all weeds, and, if wet, well drained— such 

 as I presume his and those who advocate it to be. How- 

 ever, the purport of my letter is to rise caution in the minds 

 of my brother farmers, and, if they will try it, let them do it 

 on a small scale. Let Mr. Wilkins, or any other scientific 

 and practical farmer, farm upon the wolds of Yorkshire and 

 Lincolnshire, and I am certain he will fail in his undertaking 

 in respect to making the most of his farm, if he should begin 

 as a thin seedsman. 



I am, sir, yours trulj', 



FockliiKjlon. Agricola. 



A A 2 



