372 



THE MORALE OF RURAL LIFE. 



when taken from thence to the parched-up 

 atmosphere of a room, heated with anthra- 

 cite, they feel almost like a " fish out of 

 water." To prevent this shock to the 

 health of the plants, they ought, for a fort- 



nig-ht or more after they are brought home, 

 to be turned on their sides, (so as to pre- 

 vent saturating the soil in the pots,) and 

 thoroughly sprinkled or syringed with luke- 

 warm water every other day. Ed.] 



THE MORALE OF RX7RAI. LIFE. 



BY GEO. JAQUES, WORCESTER, MASS 



The idea of modem patriotism seems doom- 

 ed to an association with the gleam of 

 bayonets and the sullen trundling of can- 

 non wheels. 



It is a sad thought that patriotism, one 

 of the noblest sentiments of the human 

 heart, must ever wear her garments drip- 

 ping with blood. And deeper yet the shade 

 of sadness, to see the noblest of all earthly 

 employments almost banished from the paths 

 of learning and refinement, spurned by "ex- 

 clusives," and compelled to an obscure toil- 

 ing for the supply of mere animal wants, 

 until the earth claims back her own again. 

 Is there nothing of the patriotic in the hard, 

 honest hand that guides the peace-loving 

 plough, cultivating and improving the soil 

 of that country which chivalry boasts her- 

 self so ready to defend? What insignifi- 

 cancy or indignity attaches to this kind of 

 labor, which, if discontinued only a few 

 months, would stop the whole machine of 

 civilized life ? And what element of the 

 contemptible does the eye of modern Chris- 

 tianity discover in the task which the Al- 

 mighty himself assigned to his own first 

 created image. 



The opinions of men may be wrong. 

 Patriotism may yet weary in the search for 

 a more genial home elsewhere, than in the 

 breast of him who wears his own blue frock, 

 and not another's broadcloth ; who chooses 

 hobbling cowhide, with honesty, rather 



than French calfskin, and cheating ; and 

 the sweat of digging, rather than the shame 

 of begging ! 



Indeed ! And is agricultural life a fit 

 emploj^ment only for him who has no tact — 

 heaven save the meaning — no tact for other 

 pursuits ? Why, the successful conducting 

 of a large farm requires more honest tact 

 than all other kinds of business combined ! 

 It applies itself to the management of men.^ 

 and of animals, and of the soil supporting 

 them. One kind of treatment is for this 

 field, this crop, this forest, this animal, this 

 garden, or orchard, or tree, while an alto- 

 gether different regimen is requisite else- 

 where. And difficult questions must be 

 solved. What product will repay the toil- 

 ing hand of labor with best reward 1 What 

 may be safelv invested in improvements ? 

 What may be indulged to fancy or to 

 taste 1 



Agriculture, in its comprehensive ac- 

 ceptation, is, also, the name of a science, 

 whose vast fields of research are still almost 

 an unknown wilderness. Wise men are 

 still groping their way along its borders. 

 Within a few years, indeed, they have just 

 began to learn something of the simpler 

 elements of the science, the improvement 

 of breeds of animals, the causes of vegeta- 

 ble growth and disease, the chemistry of 

 manures, and something also of the effects 

 of different soils and subsoils, of climate 



