218 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER 



JAN. 13, I-4I' 



reach of every one; and the whole genius of our 

 insliUitiiins, the history of our most distinguishnd 

 men, and the undisputed advantages of Ijnowledge, 

 invite to a perusal. The demand is made upon 

 the fanner as well a" others, and none can be uicjre 

 interested in the acquisition than ho. The success- 



support himself and liin family, wilh the necessaries 

 aud comforts of life, is not a whit below the one 

 who measures tape behind the counter, mystifies 

 the law at the bar, or presides at tlm councils of a 

 nation. There is a vulvar an<l most pernicious 

 feelinjj abroad in the community on tliia subject. 



ful prosecution of his business ; the duty owed to Fathers must educate their sons for one of what is 

 hin.sclf and his country ; the necessity of intelli- 1 called 'the learned professions.' Mothers, must 

 gence to the continuance of our institutions; all i marry their daughters, to a lawyer, a doctor, a 

 require and force upon the farmer the propriety of clergyman, or a merchant. Horror! the good la- 

 employing every leisure hour in strengthening and^dy would as soon think or marrying her beautiful 

 improving the mind. daughter to a Winnebago, as to a homely, industri- 



There are many who seem to suppose that where ous, and honorable mechanic. Why, the family 

 the man or woman has learned to read and write, | would be disgraced, the name dishonored. — No! 



no! The business of a carpenler, a blachsmith or 



or mastered perfectly the rudiments of education, 

 the work is done, and he has notlnug more to thinU 

 of in the way of learning. This is a serious mis- 

 take ; and it is KS fatal to the liberally educated, 

 and as common to them, as to him whose learning 

 has been gained at the district school. When the 

 boy or the man leaves the school or the college, 

 they are not educated, however great may have 

 been their acquirements. The means only have 

 been gained of obtaining an education, and with- 

 out their continued use and unwearied application, 

 a man may live many years very learned, and die 

 at last little better than a fool. It is this educa- 

 tion of the mind, the turning of knowledge to prac- 

 tical uses, which has marked the rise of the great- 

 est men in this or any other country. Read, then, 

 acquire knowledge, use it faithfully, and be an 

 honor to your country. On the use you make of 

 your winters much is depending, and the work of 

 educating tiie mind is one ttiat cannot be neglect- 

 ed with impunity. 



As every farmer should keep a record of his 

 farming operations, the account of His receipts and 

 expenditures, and the manner in which his course 

 of cropping has been conducted, the close of the 

 year or the winter forms an excellent time for ex- 

 amining it carefully, and correcting any errors in 

 practice that may be discovered. Especially look 

 over your list of purchases (it is to be hoped you 

 did not run in debt for any thing,) and see whether 

 any useless articles were purchased — a course to 

 be strictly guanlfd against in future. Never buy 

 a thing you do not want, however cheap it may be, 

 for if this is done, you will soon find yourself una- 

 ble to obtain the articles you need. The Farmer's 

 Book is an essential part of every farming estab- 

 lishment, useful in many res[)ects, and by no means 

 to be overlooked. One half of the failures and 

 mishaps of life, arise from a neglect of the past 

 and the lessons it teaches. It is the part of the 

 wise to profit by these, to know and shun past er- 

 rors in a future course ; and to do this, such a re- 

 cord is indispensable. Years are the monuments 

 that mark our course ; their lapse should show the 

 lessons each one must have taught, have not been 

 in vain. 



From th.- S;;irit of the .\g 

 OCCUPATIONS. 



a farm'Pr, is not so nspeclnble os that of shaving 

 notes, dm wling stolidity from the desk, peddling 

 rotten wood for pills, or selling sniifTand tobacco. 

 And yet, the duties of all the learned prol'essions, 

 as well as those of a mercantile life, are performed 

 for the same reason that the shoemaker waxes his 

 thread, and the farmer plants his potatoes, viz. to 

 obtain a livim! ! Still, a set of miserable, upstart 

 fools, who are almost universally low. bred people 

 themselves, people who have begun life in the 

 ditch, endeavor to establish in society artificial dis- 

 tinctions, distinctions which they vainly hope will 

 elevate them above the common mass from which 

 they were taken, and give to them, an importance 

 which innate worth and honesty could not com- 

 mand for them. Labor is labor. Honest labor is 

 honest labor. Honest and honorable labor are the 

 same, whether performed by the king or tne beggar, 

 and \i just a.s honorable in one as the other. It is 

 true, that all men, by habit and by taste are not fitted 

 to pursue the same vocations, and that there are 

 natural divisions, not ilistini:tions, as the word is 

 commonly used, created by habit and taste. This 

 is as it should be, and fits us for a discharge of all 

 the peculiar duties that devolve upon us as members 

 of society. But to say, that because a man per- 

 forms any given duty, however humble, though 

 necessary that duty may be, necessarily degrades 

 him, or renders him less meritorious, than his 

 neighbor, who performs another duly, yet not more 

 faithfully ; is to say that we still adhere to the mo- 

 narchicnl principles of the old world. 



Let the faihcr educate his son to some honorable 

 calling, and if he have a predilection for any par- 

 ticular business, as is often the case, U?t him follow 

 it, if it be possible — it is the man that enobles the 

 business, not the business that ennobles the man — 

 and not spend a thought irpnn the distinctions in 

 occupations, honorable and honest, that fools have 

 attempted to build up. Let children be taught to 

 be honorable, honest, and upright, to set a proper 

 value upon the riches of a world which is only, at 

 best, a bubble, blown into existence to-day to 

 burst to-morrow, and to understand that the only 

 true and real distinctions in society are those of 

 virtue and vice, and that the only true and endur- 

 ing riches are an intellect duly cultivated, affec- 

 tions schooled, and a heart that knows no guile. 



MR COLMAN'S ADDRESSES. 



There is not a more foolish notion afloat in the 

 world, than the one that it is the orcupalion that; Last week we acknowledged the receipt of an 

 gives character to the man. One occupation, as , address fro.n the Agricultural Commissioner. — 

 the means of ' getting a living,' as the jihrase goes, ! Upon opening the book, we find it containing three 

 is precisely as high and creditable as another, pro- ; distinct addresses — one delivered at New Haven — 

 vided that it be honorable, and in accordance with one at Norwich — and the third at Hartford. From 

 the laws of God and man The man who holds j^he first, which is pleasant and appropriate, we make 

 the plough, hammers his iron, or drives his peg, to ,he following extracts. 



FALSE BFLICACY. 



The nature of soils has been long a subject 

 of philosophical investigation ; and that, with the- 

 applicati.m and operation of manures, seems now 

 to be bedding in reserve for chemistry its most 

 brilliant triumphs. Do I ofTeild a fasiidious ear by 

 a reference to a topic so humble ? In looking at the 

 masterpiece of human genius in sculpture, the Venus 

 de Medicis, the vulgar mind brings away from the 

 contemplation no higher .sentiment than that it is 

 naked. The pure and disciplined mind hardly 

 conscious of this fact, and feeling the responsive 

 movements of the divinity within itself, admires 

 with adoring wonder the triumphs of genius in this 

 sensi'ile imhodiment of the highest beauties of 

 form in the works of the Creator. So it is wilh 

 other objects in nature, so much depends upon the 

 eye with which we look at them. The vulgar 

 mind, ill the heap of manure by the road side, 

 thinks only of its offeiisiveness and corruption. 

 The well disciplined mind regards it as an element 

 in one of the most afiecting miracles of tlie divine 

 power, and adores that beneficent agency, which, 

 in its mysterious operations, converts this refuse 

 into fruits and flowers. 



CITY AND COUNTRY MA^NERS. 



Agriculture, as a pursuit, commends itself to 

 persons of refined taste and sentiment. I know 

 how I shall startle the ear of city fastidiousness by 

 such an assertion ; but I rely upon your candor that 

 I shall not offend by the expression of my honest 

 convictions. There is much in the country that is 

 vulgar, rude, and ofl'ensive. There is no occasion 

 for this. This is not the fault of the country. 

 But is there more of this in the country than is 

 to be found in cities ? These things depend much 

 upon ourselves. The artificial forms of social in- 

 tercourse do not prevail in the country as in the 

 town — at lest they are not the same ; but it is 

 often delightful to lay aside, at least for a while, 

 the buckram and the starch. I have been through 

 life familiar with all classes of people. I have 

 been many years a citizen in the cities, and a far- 

 mer among the farmers. I have been a frequent 

 visiter in city palaces, and many a time an indwel- 

 ler of the humblest mansions in the secluded parts 

 of the country ; and I must say, without derogating 

 from the refinements of the most approved society 

 in the cities, that the comparison in respect to 

 courtesy and civility would not ti rn out to the dis- 

 advantage of the country. True politeness is not 

 matter of mere form or manner, but of sentiment 

 and heart. There are rude and vulgar people 

 everywhere ; but will not a sober judgment pro- 

 nounce it as great a rudeness to be sent knowingly 

 away from the door of one who calls lierself a 

 friend by a servant with a lie put in his mouth, as 

 to be received hy the kind woman who welcomes 

 us heartily to her wash-tub or her spinning-wheel, 

 and sweeps a place for us without apology to sit 

 down at her kitchen fire ? You will pardon the 

 h<mioliness of my illustrations. Yi.u may thread 

 your beautiful valley from the ocean to the moun- 

 tains ; you may, as I have done, follow the silver 

 stream, whose honored name is borne by your 

 Commonwealth, from the place where it deposits its 

 contributions in the mighty treasury of the sea, to 

 its gushing sources under the snow. clad summits 

 of the north, and traverse every State whose bor- 

 ders are laved by its gentle waters, and good man- 

 ners on your part will be invariably met with a 

 corresponding civility. Excepting among the vi- 

 cious and depraved, you will find no rudeness un- 



