California Agriculturist and Live Stock Journal 



People ^Vill Talk. 



rE may get through the world, but 'twill 

 be very Blow, 

 If wc litjteu to all that is said as we go, 

 We'll bo worried aad fretted, and kept 

 in a stew, 

 ' For lueddlesome tongues must have 

 something to do, 

 For people will talk. 



If quiet and modest, you'll have it presumed 

 That your humble position Is only assumed; 

 You're a wolf in sheep's clothing, or else you're 



a fool. 

 But don't get excited, keep perfectly cool. 

 For people will talk. 



If generous and noble, they'll vent out their 



spleen. 

 You'll hear some loud hints that you're selfish 



and mean; 

 If upright and honest, and fair as the day, 

 They'll call you a rogue, in a sly, sneaking way. 

 For people will talk. 



And then if you show the least boldness of 



heart, 

 Or a slight inclination to take your o^^ti part, 

 They will call you an upstart, conceited and 



vain. 

 But keep straight ahead, don't stop to explain, 

 For people will talk. 



If threadbare your coat, or old-fashioned your 



bat, 

 Some one, of course, will take notice of that, 

 And hint rather strong that you can't pay your 



way, 

 But don't get excited, whatever they say, 

 For people will talk. 



If you drees in the fashion, don't think to es- 

 cape, 



For they criticise then, in a different shape; 



You're ahead of your means, or the tailor's not 

 paid; 



But mind your own business, there's naught to 

 be made. 



For people will talk. 



If a fellow but chance to wink at a girl. 



How the gossips will talk and their scandal un- 

 furl. 



They'll canvass your wants, and talk of your 

 means, 



And declare you*re engaged to a chic in her teens 

 For people will talk. 



They'll talk fine before, but then at your back 

 Of venom and slander there's never a lack; 

 How kind and polite in all that they say, 

 But bitter as gall when you're out uf the way, 

 For people will talk. 



The best way to do, is to do as yon please. 



For your mind, if you have one, will then be at 



ease; 

 Of coure, you will meet with all sorts of abuse. 

 But don't think to stop them, it ain't any use, 

 For people will talk. 



Better Than Gold. 



Better than gold is a conscience clear. 

 Though toiling for bread in an humble sphere, 

 Doubly blest with content and health. 

 Untired by the lust of cares of wealth. 

 Lowly living and lofty thought 

 Adorn and ennoble a poor man's cot— 

 For man and morals, on nature's plan, 

 Are the genuine test of a gentleman. 



Better than gold is the sweet repose 



Of the sons of toil, when their labors close; 



Better than gold is a poor man's sleep, 



And the balm that drops on his slumbers deep. 



Eriug sleepy draughts to the downy bed, 



Where luxury pillows his aching head; 



His simpler opiate labor deems 



A shorter road to the laud of dreams. 



Iletter than gold is a thinking mind. 

 That in the realm of books can find 

 A treasure surpassing Australian ore. 

 And live with the great and good of yore. 

 A hpart that can feel for a neighbor's woe, 

 And phare his joys with a genial glow; 

 With Hympathies large enough to enfold 

 All men as brothers— is better than gold. 



Better than gold is a peaceful home. 

 Where all the fireside charities come— 

 The shrine of love and the heaven of life. 

 Hallowed by mother, or sister, or wife. 

 However humble the suul may be, 

 Or tired by sorrow with heaven's decree. 

 The blessings that never were bought or sold, 

 And centre there, are better than gold. 



The Song^ of 1876. 



BY BATABD TAYLOR. 



"Wakea, voice of the land's devotion ! 

 Spirit of Freedom, awaken all! 

 Ring, ve phores, to the Song of Ocean, 



Rivers, answer, and mountains, call! 



Tho golden day has come; 



Let every tongue be dumb, 

 That sounded its malice, or murumred its fears; 



She hath wou her story; 



She wears her glory; 

 We crown her the Laud of a Hundred Years. 



Out of darkness and toil and danger 

 Into the light of Victory's day. 

 Help to the weak and home to the stianger. 

 Freedom to all, she hath held her way. 

 Now Europe's orphans rest 

 Upon her mother- breast; 

 The voices of nations are heard iu the cheers 

 That shall cast upon her 

 Ne%v love and honor. 

 And crown her the Queen of a Hundred Years. 



North and South, we are met as brothers; 



East and West, we are wedded as one! 

 Right of each ehall secure our mother's; 

 Child of each is her faithful son! 



We give thee heart and hand. 



Our glorious native land. 

 For battle has tried thee and time endears; 



We will write thy story, 



And keep thy glory 

 .\s pure as of old for a Thousand Years. 



Advice to Voung TUten. 



BY ANNA LINDEN. 



Stand nobly up and face life's work 



With brave and honest soul. 

 And let no false and foolish pride 



Your manly heart control. 

 Stfi.nd out iu honest, bold relief — 



A worker and a man; 

 Something ol use in tiiis great world. 



After your Maker's plan. 



'TiB good to Bee the honest face 



And stalwart, manly frame. 

 With muscles that btsjieak-of strength. 



And hands to match the same — 

 Hands that look competent to grasp 



And grapple with life's foes. 

 And cause the bai-ren wihlerness 



To blossom as the rose. 



Ashamed of labor! No, not you, 



Since that was God's decree; 

 For honest and industrious toil 



Brings glad prosperity. 

 It frames and builds up all the good 



\ nation's life can know — 

 Science, and art, and fame, and wealth; 



From work and efl'ort grow. 



Spurn indolence, whose weakening grasp 



Blights manliness and worth; 

 Be something to yourself and friends; 



An honest old farmer, on being in- 

 formed the other day that one of his 

 neighbors owed him a grudge, growled 

 out, No matter; he never pays anything. 



AQUAEIUM AND STAND. 



Care for All. 



BY FREDERICK T. CLAKK. 



There never has been a life 

 But has had its share of strife; — 

 Finding thorns among lifo's flowers. 

 Branches in its strongest towers, 

 Cruel stones around the feet. 

 And bitterness with all the sweet. 



There has never been a heart 

 But has felt pain's cruel dart 

 Through its choicest treasures cleave. 

 Sure and quick, and only leave 

 Of our fond and clinging trust 

 Heaps of faded, lifeless dust. 



Every life must have its care; 

 Every heart must have its share 

 Of the bitterness of earth 

 To api.treciate God's worth. 

 Through thewinter's cruel blight 

 Come the blossoms, pure and white. 



Men cousiime too much food and too 

 little pure air. They take too much med- 

 icine and too little exercise. 



Be useful to the e.arth. 

 Make labor noble in itself 



By being nobly done. 

 And make fair Nature's heart rejoice 



To own you as her son. 



Work is most noble, good and grand. 



Since God ordained it so; 

 It keeps the heart from cankering rust 



.\nd makes the nation grow. * 

 The workers are the nation's wealth. 



And not the idle drones. 

 Work makes the country prosperous. 



Makes happy hearts and homes. 



It matters not if hands and brains 



Are all your stock of wealth; 

 With steady, patient industry. 



And energy and health, 

 Y*ou yet may rise to lofty hights. 



As others have before. 

 And crown the throne of wealth and fame 



With one brave victor more. 



Dissolved Salt foe the Tablk. — The 

 best way to use table salt is said to be to 

 dissolve it in water and keejj it in a bot- 

 tle in a fluid state, using it as you would 

 pepper sauce through a quill in the cork. 

 The Chinese use it in that manner. 



THE PHTLLOXERA. 



■VE have written nothing about this 

 J insect before for the very reason 

 that we knew very little about it. 

 We were aware of the destruction 

 it had caused to grapeWnes in Eu- 

 rope, and also that its ajipearance in 

 California had filled viniculturists with 

 much alarm, and that speculation is rife 

 as to the possibilities of its ravages and 

 the methods for exterminating the pest, 

 pre\'enting its spread, etc. We have 

 carefully read everything we could find 

 bearing upon the question. 



It seems that these minute insects in- 

 fest the roots of the grape plant, some- 

 thing as do the woolly aphis the roots of 

 apple trees, only the phylloxera cover the 

 entire bark of the roots as a scale, even 

 to the far-reaching and smallest fibrous 

 roots. This inse<;t injures the vine by 

 feeding upon the juices of the plant 

 which it sucks through the bark. Hence 

 the roots covered with the tenderest bark 

 arc preferred by them, and it is impossi- 

 ble to destroy them by the application of 

 any poison that docs not reach to the 

 very ends of the roots. This being the 

 case, and it being impracticable to so 

 apply poisons, all efforts to destroy them 

 by poisoning have failed. Immense 

 sums of money have been offered for the 

 discovery of some potent remedy, but 

 without the desired result. However, it 

 has been found that the pest can be 

 drowned by flooding the vineyards for 

 several weeks at a time with water. This 

 process is not injurious to the vines if 

 applied any time during the winter 

 mouths when the vines are not in leaf. 

 This remedy is probably the only effec- 

 tual one, and is good enough where wa- 

 ter can be so used. Vines gi-owing upon 

 hillsides of course cannot be so flooded, 

 unless it be found that ditches flUed 

 with water between the rows and about 

 the vines will answer the same purpose. 

 It appears tliat the phylloxera works 

 worse ravages iu dry soils than in wet, 

 so that in California it -will, unless 

 checked in some way, prove very de- 

 structive on all soils that are not occa- 

 sionally flooded. Persons who contem- 

 plate planting vineyards should bear in 

 mind the necessity of selecting ground 

 that can be flooded, or of bringing water 

 upon it for that purpose. 



It is said that the phylloxera is indig- 

 enous to the United States, and has been 

 known upon the native grapevines in the 

 East for many years, and that the insect 

 is not destructive to the native varieties. 

 Grapes that grow along streams and the 

 banks of ponds, where the roots are be- 

 low the ■n'ater level, are not troubled with 

 the pest. It is in such places that 

 wild grapes grow in the greatest profu- 

 sion. The following, from the Ohio 

 Farmer, is a summing up of about all 

 that is of practical utility as far as is at 

 present known: 



Our French correspondent, in his last 

 letter, thus speaks of the phylloxera, its 

 ravages and the remedy proposed: 



The importance of the vine-bug or 

 phylloxera question to France may be 

 estimated by the fact that the insect, 

 which covers the roots like a bark, has 

 already destroyed nearly half a million 

 acres of vineyard, and threatens with 

 ruin two millions of acres more. Since 

 three years a government commission 

 has been occupied at Slontpelier in ex- 

 perimenting with all suggested remedies 

 on an aftected vineyard several acres in 

 extent. It may be safely said that the 

 commission, composed of practical and 

 cientific men, has discovered no cure. 



'j'atga 



