NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



163 



For the New England Farmer. 



INTELLECTUAL AND RURAL DE- 

 LIGHTS. 



Messrs. Editors : — I have for some time past 

 perused your paper with much interest, and I 

 must say that I deem it the best paper with which 

 I am acquainted for the farmer and his family. 



But it was not so much to eulogize your labors 

 that I commenced this brief epistle, as to write 

 out a few thoughts on the agricultural profession, 

 and to give you some brief details of my experience 

 in practical farming. Of course it would be su- 

 perfluous to attempt to instruct — my object being 

 to gain information — as I am merely a juvenis, 

 having just been admitted to the privileges of the 

 toga virilis. 



• I have, during nearly all of my short life, resided 

 on a farm ; and since I have arrived at sufficient 

 age and strength, I have been employed a great 

 part of my time in the practical business of farm- 

 ing ; but as I have long made it my rule to be al- 

 most always engaged in something useful, not 

 wasting my time in idleness or in unprofitable 

 sports, I have been able to read and study to a 

 considerable extent. Indeed, I have employed a 

 large part of the winters, rainy days and a small 

 portion of nearly every day, in acquiring knowledge. 



Thus it may be inferred that as I have been en- 

 gaged pretty extensively in both corporeal and in- 

 tellectual pursuits, so I am able to judge in regard 

 to the pleasure produced from each occupation. 

 I speak of this because it is a favorite assertion 

 with yourselves, as well as your correspondents, 

 that there is no other pursuit or business produc- 

 tive of an equal amount of real pleasure as practi- 

 cal farming and gardening. Now I respectfully 

 dissent from this opinion as regards my humble 

 self; for I can truly affirm that while farming has 

 very few enticements for me, intellectual pursuits 

 afford me the greatest delight. And, indeed, for 

 my part, I cannot really see how it can be other- 

 wise with any one who has been engaged in both 

 employments, and who has a true conception of 

 the almost infinite value of intellectual culture. 



I certainly would like to know in what the secret 

 consists of finding any real substantial pleasure 

 while engaged in the monotonous business of holding 

 the plow from "early in the morning to late in the 

 evening ;" or in continually "digging in the dirt," 

 propping up corn and exterminating tares ; or the 

 somewhat less monotonous and filthy, but more 

 wearisome labor, of haying; or in fact, in any of 

 the manual operations appertaining to the farm. 



But who can fail to derive enjoyment while pe- 

 rusing the works of the greatest and noblest 

 minds ; while studying the character and mode of 

 thought and action of men of genius and wisdom ; 

 in fine, while engaged in any of those literary or 

 scientific pursuits which seem to expand the mind 

 and make one a man, in the true sense of the 

 term 1 



The one pursuit is almost entirely sublunary, 

 providing merely for the terrestrial wants of man, 

 while the other is heavenly, divine — not only cal- 

 culated to make one wiser and better, and enjoy 

 those pleasures which he would otherwise be una- 

 ble to attain in time, but also "when time shall be 

 no more" and eternity shall roll on in its everlast- 

 ing revolutions. 



Fearing your patience will be exhausted with too 

 long a communication, I will postpone my remarks 



which I intended to make in the present letter on 

 my experience in farming, as well as some inquir- 

 ies on a subject in which I am much interested. 

 Northfield, N. II. , Jan., 1852. Antony. 



REMARKS BY F. IIOLBROOK. 



To Antony : — 



Your communication to the New England 

 Farmer has been sent to me by my friend Brown, 

 with a request from him that I answer it, which I 

 comply with cheerfully, addressing myself directly 

 to you. 



I infer from your remarks that you have just en- 

 tered upon the career of manhood, and that too, 

 propitiously, with a taste for reading and a desire 

 for the acquisition of knowledge. I trust you are 

 apprised of the importance of a judicious selection 

 of books to be read, books that expand, elevate, 

 and refine, rather than simply divert, or amuse, the 

 mind ; and that so selected, you read them care- 

 fully, thoroughly sifting them by your own delib- 

 erate reflections. A few well-selected books, thus 

 read, will prove of more solid advantage to you, 

 than a whole library, read in a desultory manner. 



But to be "a man, in the true sense of the term," 

 as you style it, something more is necessary than 

 even the proper reading of the best books ; one 

 must not only be extensively acquainted with other 

 men's thoughts, but must also have the power of 

 originating ideas himself — must be a deep original 

 thinker, as well as a general reader. One may be 

 a walking encyclopaedia of other men's thoughts,, 

 may be able to tell something about almost all 

 kinds of knowledge, and yet be quite deficient in 

 power to originate noble thoughts, and to turn 

 knowledge to useful practical account. If you 

 would be a strong man mentally, then, in addition 

 to your reading, invigorate your mind by draughts 

 from the great fountain-head, by a close and pro- 

 found study of nature . The poet tells us that — 



" Books are not seldom talismans and spells, 

 By which the magic art of shrewder wits 

 Holds an unthinking multitude enthralled;" 



but that "nature deceives no student;" that here, 

 the eye, the ear, the touch, 



"May give a useful lesson lo the head, 



And learning wiser grow without his books." 



There are no pleasures, in the acquisition of 

 knowledge, superior to those we enjoy while study- 

 ing nature. Her endless variety and beauty of an- 

 imal and vegetable life ; the wonderful principle of 

 life, so variously organized ; the landscape of moun- 

 tain and valley, of lake and river; the phenomena 

 of storms and tempests, which science is now illus- 

 trating, and reducing to exact laws ; — indeed, every 

 thing, above, beneath, and around us, is full of 

 pleasurable instruction. There are the changing 

 seasons, in all their sublimity and beauty, a con- 

 templation of which is full of delightful instruction, 

 of deeply useful lessons, to both head and heart; 

 and which has called from the pen of AVashington 

 Irving one of the finest passages I have anywhere 

 seen. Speaking of the vicissitudes of our Ameri- 

 can seasons, he says: — " If they annoy us occa- 

 sionally by changes from hot to cold, from wet to 

 dry, they give us one of the most beautiful climates 

 in the world. They give us the brilliant sunshines 

 of the south of Europe, with the fresh verdure of 

 the north. They float our skies with gorgeous 

 tints of fleecy whiteness, and send down cooling 

 showers to refresh the panting earth and keep it 



