136 



^l)c jTarinci's iilontl)i« llisitov. 



Ills course — a land of cultivated and fertile fields, 

 an ocean white witli canvass. Wo owe to tlieiii 

 the annual Sjjectaclc of polderi haivests, which 

 carry ])lenty and happiness alike to the palace 

 and the cottage. We owe lo them the fortresses 

 that guard our coasts — the ships that have home 

 our flag to every clime, and carried the thunder 

 of our cannon triumphant over the waters of the 

 deep. 



Scab iu Sheep. 



This, says the Genesee Farmer, is one of the 

 most tio'ihlesonie diseases to which sheep are 

 subject. Its prevalence at times, is the cause of 

 severe losses, particularly to those who keep 

 large numhers of the animals, and to whom an 

 efficient and speedy remedy is unknown. The 

 following article on the prevention of this |;est, 

 contains sound advice, and as it is |iublished over 

 the gentleman's own signature, is probably enti- 

 tled to regard : 



"This being the proper time to give the infor- 

 mation, 1 send you an account of the manner in 

 which I treat sheep affected with the scab. I re- 



about thirry-nine lunidrcd njiles above St. Louis, 

 and live tlioiisaiid tl'om New Orleans. 



Reluriiiiig, you would of course wish lo see 

 some of the triluilaries of the iMissouii, for this 

 purpose yiui wuuld make a little excursion of 

 eleven himdred miles up the Yellow Stone, or 

 sixteen hundred up the Platte, and of twelve 

 hundred up the Konzas, and so hack lo St. Louis, 

 oil the Mississippi river, twelve himdred miles 

 from New Orleans. There you l.-ike a boat for 

 the beautiful Ohio, and rem up that river to Piits- 

 biu-gh, one thousand miles from the month of the 

 Ohio, and two thousand from New Orleans. 

 You would sec the flourishing towns of Louis- 

 ville, Cincinnati, and Pittshiu-gh ; the most luxu- 

 riant crops of all grains and grasses; tiue and 

 numerous flocks and herds of every kind ; you 

 would smile to see the |)rimitive contrivances 

 uafted on the bosom of the Ohio, bearing the 

 products of the Ohi,) valley to its distant uiarket 

 in New Orleans, and more than all, you would 

 rejoice to see the healthy, happy, smiling faces of 

 the people. 



haps 



, , , - , I "^'^ i""'' ^^■■'V downward von would he promi 



commend that sheep be put ui a newly burned ted to shoot fifteen hundred or two thousaii 

 fallow as soon as possible after shearing. Peo- miles up :he Arkansas river, just to see where .1 



pie are careful to avoid the blacking of sheep. 

 but I think it is a sure remedy I'oi- the scab, and 

 also for the foot rot. Let them have access to a 

 piece of burnt ground, as fresh as possible. 

 Leave down the fence from the pasture, and they 

 will invariably go a mile to get it for their lodg- 

 ing. Like patent medicines, it cures all diseases. 

 It is an almost certain remedy Ibi the fly that 

 produces the worm iu the hea<l. If sheep can 

 have access to a piece of burnt ground, they are 

 sure to make it their resting place day and night. 

 It promotes the health of sheep, aiid does no 

 damage to the wool. Until late in the fall, I gen- 

 erally keep from .seven to ten hundred sheep, 

 and have tried the above experiment, and of late 

 years let my sheep have access to fiesh burnt 

 ground, and they are remarkably healthy. 



JOHN SPICER." 



Valley of the Mississippi. 



A writer in the National Intelligeiu'er, who has 

 presented some very interesting and imposing 

 views of the magnitude and resources of this 

 vast internal empire, thus refers to the extent and 

 capacity of its navigable rivers: 



" The Mississippi is known by such crude and 

 indefinite names as the West, the Western coun- 

 try, the Lake coimtry, the Southwest, the Far 

 West ; by some it is called the Laud of Piers, and 

 sjnce the election of 1840, it is sometimes^.dled 

 Coon-skni regions. Its boundaries on the west 

 are the Rocky Mountains, Mexico, and Texas- 

 on the south the Gulf of Mexico ; 011 the east 

 the Alleghany Mountains ; and on the north the 

 Lakes and British possessions. It contains nearly 

 as many square miles as continental Europe, and 

 It populated as densely as England, would sus- 

 tain a population of five hundred millions of hu- 

 man beings— more than half the |,resent pojin- 

 ua" °^ ''"^ *""''^''- Stretching from the 29th to 

 the 49th degree of lalitute, it possesses ^reat va- 

 'c'^ir^';'''"""^- ^" '■i'^'"'css of soil and extent 

 of tilliable land, it is not surpassed by any coun- 

 try of the same extent. Its snrfiice is almost un- 

 broken by a nioiintain or hill of sufficient size to 

 impede cultivation. Geographically viewed, it is 

 pre-eminently a commercial coimtry, and is par- 

 ticularly eligible for foreign commerce. To see, 

 reader, for yourself what the Mississippi valley 

 IS, suppose you go on board one of those steam- 

 boats lying at the wharf iu New Orleans and a- 

 bout to start for the Upper Mississippi river. 

 JLeaving the orange groves and sugar plantations 

 of the South, 111 about ten days the boat will land 

 you at the Falls of St. Anthony, twenty-five hun- 

 dred miles up the Mississippi i-iver; if yon think 

 you are not far enough north, you can walk round 

 the*alls, and taking another boat, ascend ehdit 

 iiundied or a thousand miles farther. On your 

 way up you will have passed through many cli- 

 mates, and seen the productions of each under 

 cultivation, and over a vast mining region, abound- 

 ing in coal, lead, iron, and copper ore, all found 

 in veins of ^vonder|•nl richness. As you return, 

 should you wish to take a peep at the West, you 

 will take a boat at St. Louis bound up the Mis- 

 souri river. After a couple of weeks or so of 

 «ood bard runniug, she will land you at the Great 

 trls, m the country of the Blackfoot Indians, 



those hides and furs come from. You would 110 

 doubt run two or three hundred miles up the 

 Yazoo, and two hundred or so up the Big Black, 

 both in the State of iMississippi. to see the coun- 

 tries that send out those stupendous loads of cot- 

 ton that you met 011 your way up ; and just be- 

 fore you reached New Orleans you would be 

 sorely tempted to pop a thousand or fifteen hun- 

 dred miles up Red river, to see the splendid cot- 

 ton plantations of Louisiana, and give a finish 

 to your excursion. 



When you get hack to New Orleans, you would 

 have a tolerably accurate idea of what the Mis- 

 sissippi valley is; and by piitliiig the distances 

 together you will find you have travelled very 

 comfortably by steamboat sixteen Ihnustind mile.s, 

 and iu going and reluming, double that distance. 

 Should curiosity lead you "to investigate, you will 

 find that the Slississippi river and its "tributa- 

 ries of the Mississippi valley possess a slenmhoni 

 navigation of from Iwenly-Jive lo thirtij thousand 

 miles. Such is a brief but true geographical 

 glance at llie valley. To the mind of an Atlan- 

 tic or European reader it may appear more of a 

 "fancy sketch "than a true description. Let them 

 not suppose that the truth is violated because our 

 rivers are htr^e \ we did not make llietii and are 

 not responsible fm- iluit. We have, however, 

 plenty of such little streams as the Hudson, the 

 Delaware, the Potomac, the Santee, the Thames, 

 the Severn, the Mersey, the Hiimher, but we do 

 not dignify them with the name o\' river ; we call 

 them creeks or bayous. With us it takes a river 

 to make a river." 



Kor the Fanner's Monthly Vu^itor. 

 How TO SHARPEN A RAzoit.— Wlio tilut lias 

 had his voice change fi-oni the tenor pipe of a- 

 dolescence to the bass tone of manhood — who 

 that has reaped weekly or oftener his chin for 

 a twelvemoiilh,that does not know, or thinks that 

 he does, how to sharpen a razor.' It is a very 

 simple matter : only give it a good, keen, smooib, 

 easy cutting edge, and it is accomplished ; and 

 any one may, but can every one do this.' How 

 does it happen that new razors are generally 

 keen, cut the beard at first smooth and easy, anil 

 that three foinths of them never after the first 

 edge is spoiled are brought to their primitive 

 goodness of edge? Can this he in the makins? 

 Is it possible to have the very edge of any better 

 stuff' than that which lies close behind "it ; and 

 yet would not this seem to be the (%-ise, for as we 

 all understand as we believe, that the fault is in 

 the metal rather than ourselves. Burin spite of 

 this, I cannot help believing that there was much 

 wholesome, and agreeable truth in the remark of 

 an elderly man, who heard a stripling cry out 

 against his razor, as be winced before the glass; 

 "My boy," said he, "the good razors are in more 

 abundance than the good sharpeners." In con- 

 firmation of this, do we not find iu every con- 

 siderable town and city, persons who deal iu the 

 exchanse of razors, always ready upon the pay- 

 ment of a trifling difference, to give a second 

 hand article with a keen hair cutting edge, for 

 one that has tried the temper and patience of an 

 excellentself esteemed sharpener; and this same 

 good for nothing article the following dav per- 



is equal to any ever tried — "part of the 

 stock of a deceased barber, Ihe very best judire 

 of razors in the whole cily." " 



If these surmises show us the Iriitli, and that 

 the fault is rather in ourselves than in the cutlers, 

 have we not somethiuir 10 learn in the way of 

 putting a good edge upon this by no means nn- 

 iniportant instmnieiit that we use so often.' 1 

 have thought that the subject is of sufficient im- 

 porlance to receive sjiecial attention, and tliat jn 

 our academies, and if not there, iu our colleees, 

 a Professorship in the art of sharpHiiins razor,-* 

 would add more to the durable happiness of the 

 scholars, than some that are sustained. Temper, 

 time and money would be saved by it. 



We may smile at this idea, as hardly worth a 

 .second thought, and yet is there not "much that 

 is taught ill these places, which mainlains a big 

 little man of consequence, that is never after used 

 iu life, and while the fashion holds, do we not all 

 require shaving and that often too.' We may 

 know the Hebrew, as well as it can be, which 

 few will understand if we use it, and vet be io- 

 norant of the foundation of the daily practice of 

 shaving. "* 



Methinks we are spending too inucli iu the 

 preface, and ihat it is getting time to come to the 

 edge of the matter. Be it so then— the affair on- 

 ly requires a litlle time, considerable judirmenl, 

 and some care. Most razors then are badly shar- 

 pened fiom using a strop of leather to put the 

 final eflge on, or a soft, or stuffed strop purchas- 

 ed for the purpose, either of which renders the 

 edge what is called round, or so thick near the 

 real edge that it will |)ull the beard, but not cut 

 it off". We farmers all know that a sc\the or axe 

 with a round edge will not go, and call for the 

 grindsione: and can we expect a razor to work 

 with a round edge? Yet a soft strop, or strop 

 by way of refinement, prmhices this edge as cer- 

 tainly as if it were sharpened iipiui the insirle of 

 a ring. .\ razor strop then slioiild be of thin 

 leather upon a perfectly level, aiul |ierfectlv hard 

 surface; this will keep the edge sufficiently thin, 

 and not wear it round. Tlie'next thing is al- 

 ways 10 draw from heel to point ; and when it 

 is sharp, leave off, for too much is as great an er- 

 ror as too little. 



Ill moist weather the beard cuts easier than in 

 dry: hence take more time in lathering the face 

 in the latter case. The Egy[)iiaiis rub the chin 

 with soap for a considerable time beliue shaviii", 

 and in this preparation do prelty easy work witfi' 

 a dull tool : hut both in good order aie best. Ac- 

 custom yourself to lay the razor as flat npcui the 

 fiice as possible, for this puts the edu'e at right 

 angles wilh the beard ; a slope is rather <liguin» 

 than cutting. When the job is over, dip it urhol 

 water— wipe it dry— touch it twice or three 

 times lightly on the strop, and either wrap the 

 razor up, or put it in a case lo exclude the air, 

 for as the air will rusi, so it will soon spoil the 

 edge of a razor. 



With these precautions we may do our own sha- 

 ving, with ease, and always with more advantage 

 of lime and money than when done by others. " 

 A Fauhfr who shaves himself. 



Farmers' Clubs. 



Of th-e various methods lliat have been adopt- 

 ed to awaken inquiry among farmers, promote 

 inyesligation, furnish the means of interchaime 

 of thought, and creale social harmony and good 

 feeling, few have been more successful tlian the 

 associations known by the name of farmers' 

 clubs. What the agricultural society is to the 

 county, these are in many respecis lothe neigh- 

 borhood ; aiul the good "results, wherever they 

 have been instiluted and sustained, are not less 

 apparent. The efl^ecl of such associations does 

 not so much depend on ihe numbers, as on the 

 spirit, zeal and iiiielligence of the menibers, al- 

 though where tlie right feeling prevails, the more 

 that combine ihe better. There are kw a"ri- 

 ciiltural neighborhoods where a dozen men can- 

 not be found willing to meet once a month to 

 compare opinions, .-iiid comnvimicale the results 

 of their experience and observations. Even li:ilf 

 a dozen, if they are men of the right slani|), will 

 make the meetings of such a cinb'most interest- 

 ing and instructive. Such meetings are the 

 places to discuss and setlle all points of a prac- 

 tical character in agriculture; soils, their quali- 

 ties, and the crops best adapted to each kind; 

 agricultural iniplemeius and ihcir improvement ; 



