4G8 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



the English road horses, has produced a stock 

 better than either of the originals for the practical 

 uses which Ave make of thein. 



The introduction of this splendid animal into 

 our columns affords us an opportunity to refer to 

 an anecdote or two, showing the strong love which 

 the Arabs have for their noble steeds. They have 

 exhausted all the wealth of their fine language and 

 rich imaginations in descriptions of the beauty, 

 spirit and pride of the noble animal. The mare of 

 Shedad, called Jirwet, is thus mentioned: — 



Shedad's mare was called Jirwet, whose like was 

 unknown. Kings negotiated with him for her, but 

 he would not part with her, and would accept no 

 offer or bribe for her ; and thus he used to talk of 

 her in his verses : — "Seek not to purchase my 

 horse, for Jirwet is not to be bought or borrowed. 

 I am a strong castle on her back ; and in her 

 bound are glory and greatness. I would not part 

 with her were strings of camels to come to me, 

 with their drivers following them. She flies with 

 the wind without wings, and tears up the waste 

 and the desert. I will keep her for the day of ca- 

 lamities, and she will rescue me when the battle 

 dust rises." 



What energy and power there is in the follow- 

 ing description : — 



"But at the clash of arms, his ears afar 

 Drinks the deep sound and vibrates to the war; 

 Flames from each nostril roll in gathered stream; 

 His quivering limbs with restless motion gleam; 

 O'er his right shoulder, floating full and fair, 

 Sweeps his thick mane and spreads his pomp of hair; 

 Swift works his double spine; and earth around 

 Rings to the solid hoof that wears the ground." 



The Bible has several passages of surpassing 

 grandeur in relation to the horse, showing that 

 his speed and power were appreciated in those re- 

 mote times. A description bordering upon sub- 

 limity may be found in Job, chapter 39, to which 

 the reader is referred. 



HINTS FOR SEPTEMBER. 



September is a sort of preparatory month for 

 bringing to a close the operations of summer and 

 commencing on autumn. The farmer will there- 

 fore find a benefit in having his eyes open to both 

 ends of the season. If the drought has left you 

 anything of the herbage kind in the shape of sec- 

 ond growth, or rowen, a careful collection and 

 saving of it will demand your attention, and as the 

 hay crop was a light one, anything that can 

 be saved for that purpose will come into good ser- 

 vice next winter. 



The root crops require some attention in the 

 way of being freed from weeds, and thinning 

 out ; "provided, nevertheless, the grasshoppers have 

 not already done the latter for you. They will 

 now begin to swell out their roots and increase in 

 size in this respect, until cold weather checks 

 their growth. 



If you have not already sowed your winter 

 wheat, and the drought has probably kept you 

 back, it would be well to get it in now as soon as 

 possible. Don't be frightened because the drought 

 last fall, and the severe winter past, destroyed so 



many fields. Such a concurrence of seasons may 

 not happen again for many years. 



There have been a good many thousand bushels 

 of first-rate winter wheat raised in Maine this 

 year ; besides, the weevil has done but very little 

 damage indeed to spring wheat. So thank God ; 

 take courage and put in the wheat in faith and 

 with a liberal hand. 



Early fruit requires your care ; whatever of ear- 

 ly apples cannot be sold in the market, should be 

 given to your hogs or to your cattle, or pared and 

 dried, and not be suffered to rot and go to waste. 



Look over your flock of sheep and cull out those 

 which will be too old to winter, and see, if they are 

 not now fit for the butcher, that they be put in a 

 situation where they will become so before hous- 

 ing time. Start your hogs to fatting, and if you 

 propose to fatten a cow, or steer, for your own 

 home consumption, it would be well now to give 

 them a little extra feed. 



If you have a muck mine, and have not already 

 improved the late dry weather in getting into the 

 "diggings," seize the first opportunity to open it 

 for the benefit of your compost heap. 



If rightly managed it will make your crops 

 laugh next year, and laughing crops make com- 

 fortable people. 



Beans, when the leaves have begun to turn yel- 

 low, and the bean is in a dough state, may now be 

 gathered and stacked between two stakes, where 

 they will ripen and dry well. You should be care- 

 ful not let them touch the ground at the bottom, as 

 they will be likely to rot if they do. — Maine Far- 



BOB>S NOTION OF BOOK FARMING. 



Bob, the farmer's son, thus expresses himself of 

 an improved system of farming, in the Indiana 

 Farmer : 



Editors Farmer : — I have only to say to you 

 that I wish you would keep your agricultural pa- 

 per to yourselves, and away from our house. — 

 Since the old man has been taking it, there is " no 

 rest for the wicked," certain. He keeps us hauling 

 muck (as he calls it,) manure, old ashes, and even 

 makes us clean out the pig pen and put the filth 

 on the fields. Formerly there was some mercy 

 shown the horses, for we plowed only three in- 

 ches deep, but now, nothing less than ten inches 

 will do, and the corn ground is to be plowed be- 

 low that with a new plow he has just bought. 



The next thing, I presume, will be to take the 

 bottom out of the well ! We used to take the 

 Palladium, and he would suck down the politics 

 contained in it as gospel truths, and had plenty 

 of time to spend half a day, and time to talk about 

 who should be elected, and who should not. But 

 he don't read that paper now, and he is as anxious 

 to get the Farmer, as he was formerly to have 

 election day come round. He is all the time talk- 

 ing about new " fertilizers," &c. He don't only 

 talk either, but he makes us boys hoe it from morn- 

 ing till night. We have had to tear down all the 

 fences, and re-set them, and he has got the old la- 

 dy in the notion of white-washing the garden 

 fence. What foolishness ! and the plague of it is, 

 we boys will have it to do — just wasting the time 

 we might spend in fishing. So keep your paper to 

 yourselves, and we will have some rest again. 



Bob. 



