20 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



were killed, and those that survived, put forth 

 their leaves late in the season. The apple and 

 pear trees did not appear, the following summer, 

 to be much injured, although the putting forth of 

 their leaves, was somewhat retarded in the spring. 

 The plum trees were apparently benefited by the 

 salt water. Several kinds of currant bushes were 

 badly washed by the water ; one of them, the 

 Missouri large fruited, had put forth its leaves, 

 but they did not appear to suifer. A number of 

 native shrubs and plants were submerged, but two 

 only were destroyed, the Staphylea, and Vibur- 

 num lantana. A fine Kolreuteria, a Chinese 

 tree, was not injured. The Strawberry plants did 

 not suffer, but a bed of Spearmint, that by its 

 spreading had become troublesome, was destroy- 

 ed, whereas a bed of Peppermint escaped. The 

 Crown Imperials and Narcisuses were six inches 

 in height, when overtaken by the water. They 

 never grew after this period, and exhibited weak 

 flowers. All the weeds and grasses sustained no 

 injury whatever. The Apple trees, washed by 

 the tide, did not suffer so much from the canker 

 worm as those not reached by the water. I could 

 see no effect of the salt water upon the curcu- 

 lios. The earth worms were all destroyed, 

 leaving their holes in the ground, as they were 

 reached by the tide, and were driven by the waves 

 to high water mark, where they laid dead in great 

 numbers. The sea overflowed a garden in Eng- 

 land, in November, 1824, and remained upon it for 

 24 hours. The result was, the improvement of 

 the asparagus beds, and the cherry trees, in the 

 following year, produced a numerous crop of 

 cherries, which tasted, however, so very salt, they 

 could not be eaten, although very fine in appear- 

 ance. These trees all died the following year. 

 An inundation of the sea occurred in Europe in 

 1825, when the oak, the mulberry, pear and some 

 other trees did not suffer, neither did the aspara- 

 gus, onions, celery, &c, for they were neverfiner, 

 or more luxuriant. But the vines and gooseberries 

 contracted a salt taste, and the apples, cherries, 

 elms, poplars, willows, &c, pushed out a few 

 leaves and soon died. s. p. f. 



Danvers, New Mills, Nov. 28th, 1851. 



THE FARMER. 



It does one's heart real good to see a merry, 

 round faced farmer. So independent and yet so 

 free from vanity and pride. So rich, and yet so 

 industrious — so patient and persevering in his call- 

 ing and yet so kind, sociable and obliging. There 

 are a thousand noble traits about his character. 

 He is generally hospitable — eat and drink with 

 him, and he won't set a mark on you, and sweat it 

 out of you with double compound interest, as some 

 people I know will — you are welcome. He will 

 do you a kindness without expecting a return by 

 way of compensation — it is not so with every body. 

 He is usually more honest and sincere, less dis- 

 posed to deal in underhand cunning than many I 

 could name. He gives society its best support; 

 its firmest pillars that support the edifice of gov- 

 ernment ; is the lord of nature. Look at him in 

 his homespun and grey, laugh at him if you will, 

 but believe me, he can laugh back again if he 

 pleases. 



1J3P Those who speak without reflection often 

 remember their own words afterwards with sorrow. 



PRESERVE THE MUNICIPALITIES. 



The permanency and stability of our Union de- 

 pends, in a great measure, upon the independence 

 and purity of our municipalities — our town and 

 city governments. When these are corrupted, and 

 become matters of "bargain and sale" by unprin- 

 cipled men, seeking to elevate themselves by tramp- 

 ling upon the rights of the people, then, and not 

 until then, shall we despair of the perpetuity of 

 this glorious Union. 



Their safety and purity are mainly in the hands 

 of the rural population. It is to them that we are 

 to look as the guardians of the public peace. While 

 the ambitious in crowded cities, regardless of prin- 

 ciple and good order, are swaying to and fro in an- 

 gry surges for posts of honor or profit, the occupants 

 of the rural districts will sit in calm judgment upon 

 their actions, and hold a conservative power which 

 will carry us safely through the storms of passion 

 which must occasionally agitate our peaceful at- 

 mosphere. Princes and potentates shall rise and 

 fall — despots and tyrants shall condemn, banish and 

 execute their subjects, while whole nations shall 

 be subjugated, lose their dearest rights, and labor 

 in the unyielding chains of arbitrary rule, helpless 

 and doomed to perpetual toil. But here shall our 

 thousands of little Republics flourish. They are 

 our bulwarks of safety. The tongue that would 

 tamper with them should be palsied, and the hand 

 withered that should aim the first blow at their 

 foundations. 



"Princes and lords may flourish and may fade; 

 A breath can make them, hs a breath has made; 

 But a bold yedmanry, their country's pride, 

 When once destroyed, can never be supplied." 



Fixed in the principles of the Pilgrim Fathers — 

 constantly preserving at all hazard the inherent, nat- 

 ural rights with which we are endowed — bowing 

 neither the head or knee to any but Him "who 

 made us upright," let us watch with unceasing 

 care, these little republics, these Hearts of the 

 Union, our town governments, or municipalities. 

 Keep them pure, suffer no prejudice to pervert 

 them from the principles of justice and truth, — let 

 them rest so easily upon each citizen that he shall 

 scarcely be cognizant of their existence, and they 

 will prove an effectual remedy for all internal dis- 

 sension, and a better shield against all foieign ag- 

 gression, than a Gibralter of fortresses extending 

 the whole length of our Atlantic coast. 



We have been led into these thoughts from read- 

 ing one of Kossuth's speeches — that wonderful 

 man — raised up, as it seems clearly to us, to strike 

 a blow at the despotisms of Europe which shall 

 make them tremble from centre to circumference, — 

 and may God help the right. 



Austria attempted to interfere with the internal 

 regulations of the Hungarian people, that is, what 

 would be equivalent to an interference with our 

 town and city regulations. The Hungarians re- 

 sisted, knowing that if this outpost was surren- 



