.33G 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



Mai/ Flow?.)' through the surges of the Atlantic, 

 and had sustained the quaker, the catholic and 

 the cavalier, in their struggles witli the wilderness 

 and the wild man — when that principle was invad- 

 ed — when that inalienable attribute of a man — 

 which distinguishes him from a biped, was assailed 

 — every heart was stout, every hand was nerved, 

 and every noble eye was fixed upon the point of 

 attack. 



The ox stood still in the furrow, and the plow- 

 share slept in its place — the young wife received 

 the burning kiss of her stout-hearted husband and 

 freely poured out her heart's life to secure that, 

 without which the widowed wife and the child- 

 less mother were to be envied ; for she could not 

 look down through a long succession of posterity 

 bearing the badge of bondmen and bondwomen. 

 From the moment that the heel of the tyrant's 

 mercenary foot marred the farthest verge of our 

 soil, the electric spark culminated at the peaceful 

 fire-side of the most distant and secluded hamlet. 

 Every farmer became a soldier. The battle was 

 fought — and when the smoke had risen in dense 

 masses from the bloody field, not a trace of the 

 insolent foe in an remained. Freedom was vindi- 

 cated, and her heroic sons eagerly exchanged the 

 field of glory for the field of wheat and barley — the 

 sword and musket for the sickle and plowhandle — 

 and the " pride and circumstance of glorious war," 

 for the charms and cheers of rural paradise. — 

 Such was the race from which we have descended. 

 Mighty and invincible on the field of battle, but 

 still mightier and the heroes of more glorious con- 

 quests upon the fields of nature. Every man was 

 a s wereign "by the grace of God," and no human 

 power presumed to demand fealty from the weak- 

 est among them. 



But I beg many pardons for this wide and wholly 

 unpremeditated digression. I took up my pen for 

 the simple purpose of expressing my acknowledg- 

 ments for the pleasure I enjoyed during my visit to 

 your beautiful "domain," and to avail myself of 

 your kind offer to introduce me to your numerous 

 readers ; and if they shall deem me worthy of their 

 acquaintance, I will endeavor, in some future com- 

 munications, to give them an account of my ob- 

 servations on the state of the science and practice 

 of the great art of agriculture in these regions. 

 For although I am not, at this time, immediately 

 engaged in "tilling the ground," it is the profes- 

 sion to which I was raised, for which I still retain 

 the strongest attachment, and to which I shall 

 eagerly return whenever I can see my way clear 

 to do so. My love and admiration of its dignified 

 independence has not abated in consequence of my 

 experience or observation in connection with other 

 pursuits. Cincinnatus and Washington acted 

 from the dictates of elevated wisdom when they 

 relinquished the marshal's baton and the robes of 

 state for the implements of husbandry. No other 

 condition in life combines so many requisites to 

 true and manly enjoyment, and at the same time 

 so effectually avoids the annoyances and anxieties 

 that attend, to a greater or less degree, nearly 

 every other pursuit. The farmer is not depen- 

 dent upon the fluctuations of trade, the rise and 

 fall of stocks, or the smiles and frowns of power, 

 lie sits under his own roof, and his oion fig-tree. 

 lie eats the fruits of his oivn soil and his own 

 labor. His only superior, before whom he bows 

 in dignified and grateful homage, is that great and 



beneficient Being, who "causes his sun to shine 

 upon the good and upon the evil, and sendeth rain 

 upon the just and the unjust." Whatever changes 

 may come over the face of the earth, in the pro- 

 gress of ages and centuries — sweeping away the 

 vestiges of human grandeur, obliterating the land- 

 marks of states and empires and mingling with the 

 common earth, the proudest monuments erected 

 to memorialize the worst of deeds, "seed time and 

 harvest shall never fail." He, who "replenisheth 

 the earth," shall not fail of a successor to occupy 

 his place .and to enjoy and perpetuate his honors 

 and his virtues. 



Yours, very truly, x. c. t. 



Washington City, March 30, 1852. 



For the New England Fanner. 



MULCH— MULCHING. 



Editor N. E. Farmer : — In your paper of June 

 5, after remarking "that the only definition of the 

 word mulch in Webster's Dictionary is half rotten 

 straw," you say that "in Worcester's Dictionary 

 we do not find the word." 



We do not see why you did not find it, for on 

 page 470 of the Universal Dictionary of Dr. Wor- 

 cester, you will find, "Mulch, noun, straw, leaves, 

 litter, <fc, half rotten;" and again, "Mulch, verb 

 active, to cover with litter or half rotten straw, or 

 ivith manure ,•" so on page 2G1 of Worcester's Com- 

 prehensive Dictionary, edition of 1851-2, you will 

 find substantially the same definitions. 



As your paper circulates extensively in New 

 England, and the article will be read, being a val- 

 uable one, we will thank you to insert this in your 

 next. Yours respectfully, 



Jenks, Hickling & Swan, 

 Publishers of Worcester's Series of Dictionaries. 



Remarks. — The edition of Worcester's Diction- 

 ary which we happened to take up, in looking for 

 the word mulch, was of 1846. There it was not 

 to be found ; but Dr. Worcester and his enter- 

 prising publishers having none of the Rip Van Win- 

 kle tendencies, have progressed with the age as it 

 rolls along, and have not only given the term mulch 

 a "local habitation," but we believe a large num- 

 ber of other words and phrases not to be found in 

 similar works. We supposed the word had not 

 been generally introduced into the dictionaries. 



A NEW LAMP. 



The following extract is from a private letter. — 

 We give it in order to open the way for this new 

 light, believing that great improvements may and 

 ought to be made in lighting our rooms. 



" You have so often mentioned the great danger 

 arising from the use of fluid in lamps, that it will 

 be of some interest to you to learn that after an 

 incessant study of eight years I have succeeded in 

 constructing a lamp which is, I think, superior to 

 all now in use. It is based on the application of 

 two philosophical principles, and having no kind 

 of machinery about it, it is very easy to manage 

 and is not liable to getting out of repair. Last 

 winter I made a great many experiments with it 

 in the presence of a number of scientific men ; its 

 light was measured with a photometer, and com- 



