NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



179 



aching hearts are there now, amid the wild sierras 

 of that land of gold, pining to hear the loved 

 voices, that make every New England home the 

 abode of contentment and bliss. You have labor, 

 indeed, upon these rugged acres, but it is not of 

 that kind which despoils the body of its strength. 

 It is the toil of Eden, blessing both the soil and 

 its owner. 



And this leads us to notice that the working 

 of our placers cultivates and invigorates the mind 

 much more than California mining. A little 

 knowledge of geology and a little experience in the 

 business are the chief mental qualities of the miner. 

 The rest is mainly a business of brawn and mus- 

 cle. Scientific husbandry is one of the best fields 

 of mental culture. It trenches more or less upon 

 every field of science, and taxes every faculty of 

 the intellect. Geology, Botany, Chemistry and 

 every branch of Natural Philosophy have a bear- 

 ing upon the farmer's work. It cultivates the 

 memory, the reason and the taste, to grow such 

 articles as shall meet our numerous wants. For 

 it is as much our privilege as it was Adam's to 

 grow things "pleasant to the sight" as well as 

 those "good for food." Horticulture and garden- 

 ing — beautiful trees and fair flowers are legitimate 

 objects of interest to the husbandman. They 

 ought to be a part of every New Englander's ru- 

 ral home. 



Then there is this additional advantage, that 

 the man who mines the soil for bread, instead of 

 gold, gains at once the ends, which the adven- 

 turer proposes as the object of his toils. The 



to forsake these good old acres of New England, 

 on a perilous and uncertain adventure, to the El- 

 dorado of the Pacific 1 



Then, last and best, our Placers are inexhausti- 

 ble. It may be, the gulches and cayotes of Cali- 

 fornia will never give out ; but, if so, they will 

 prove the first gold mines of this character. How- 

 ever that may be, our placers will always yield 

 bread, and will yield it, in increasing abundance, 

 as they are wrought. Every rock is a store-house 

 of food, for man and beast, wisely locked up by 

 Almighty power against the too prodigal use of 

 man. Our granite soils are rich in the food of 

 plants. The potash that enters so largely into all 

 trees, fruits and grains, is there in great abund- 

 ance. It only needs science to unlock the store- 

 house, and teach us its economical use. New 

 England, instead of being so large a market for 

 the flour, the corn, beef and pork of the West, 

 may feed her own population, and thrice its pre- 

 sent number, with perfect ease. Let California 

 then take care of her gold. We have richer mines 

 at home. Ho ! for the golden placers of New 

 England. Who will work them ? 



For the Neiv England Farmer. 

 RACES AND VARIETIES OF ANIMALS. 



BY JOSIAH STEVENS. 



Mr. Brown : — A writer in a late N. E. Far- 

 mer, under the foregoing caption, in alluding to a 

 new variety of sheep, referred to in the communi- 

 cation of Col. David Humphrey, to the Philosoph- 

 ical Society of London, in 1811, and called by him 

 thousands who have gone to the shores of the 'the "Otter or Ancon Breed," puts forth the fol- 

 Pacific are seeking, mainly, a happy home. This lowing interrogatory. "Are there races of sheep 

 is the end of their toils. They mean to amass | of tlie form and description here given, now exist- 



wealth and return to the well-ordered and peace- 

 ful homes of the East. They want a home and 

 its comforts — good neighbors, good society, and 

 good privileges for their rising familes. All these, 

 any industrious farmer may have, in almost any 

 corner of New England. All that the miner gets, 

 beyond a happy home, will not be likely to add 

 much to his happiness. Money or a fortune has 

 very little to do with human happiness. The de- 

 sires must be controlled so that they shall not con- 

 stantly stretch away after riches beyond a compe- 

 tency. 



Mining for bread is the most certain business a 

 man can follow for a livelihood, while mining for 

 gold is the most uncertain. Nine farmers out of 

 ten, probably, succeed in business and gain a com- 

 petency. Their failures are generally owing to 

 speculations out of their line of business. In 

 mining for gold, probably nine out of ten fail. A 

 large per cent, die on the passage to or from the 

 mines — more lose their health amid the imprudence 

 and hardships of a new mode of life — and the 

 great majority never, get gold enough to cover their 

 expenses, and pay for their time. Is it wise, then, 



ing in New England 1 ' 



In answer, I would say, that upon the farm of 

 the late Col. John Head, of Hooksett, N. II., there 

 is a flock of sheep of about twelve in number, an- 

 swering in every respect the description given by 

 Col. Humphrey — of their origin I have no infor- 

 mation. 



I have often tried (but without success) to pur- 

 chase them, for the reason that they can neither 

 run nor jump. The present owner, Nathaniel 

 Head, gives them the name of Creepers. J. s. 



Monument Hill, Concord, N. H., March 1, 1852. 



P. S. I learn by a member of the family that 

 they were informed by those from whom they were 

 obtained that they were of the "Otter Breed." 



j. s. 



How to Judge Cattle. — In all domestic ani- 

 mals, the skin, or hide, forms one of the best means 

 by which to estimate their fattening properties. 

 In the sandling of oxen, if the hide be found soft 

 and silky to the touch, it affords a proof of tenden- 

 cy to take meat. A beast having a perfect touch, 

 will have a thick, loose skin, floating, as it were, 

 on a layer of soft fat, yielding to the slightest pres- 

 sure, and springing back towards the finger like a 

 piece of soft leather. Such a skin will be usually 

 covered with an abundance of soft, glossy hair, 



