256 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



FKB. 10, IS4I. 



MISCELLANEOUS 



BOB FLETCHER AND HIS WIFE. 



I once knew a ploughman, Boh Flelcher liis name, 

 Who was old and was ugly, and so was his dame, 

 Yet they lived quite contented and fiee from all strife, 

 Bob Fletcher, the ploughman, and Judy liis wife. 

 As the morn streak'd the east, and the night fled away. 

 They would rise up to labor, refresh'd f( r the day, 

 And the song of (he larU as it rose on the gale. 

 Found Bob at the plough and his wife at the pail. 



A neat little cottage in front of a grove, 



Where in youth they gave their young hearts up to 



love. 

 Was the solace of age, and to them doubly dear, 

 As it called up the past with a smile or a. tear. 

 Each tree had its thought, and the vow could impart. 

 That mingled in youth the warm wish of the heart ; 

 The thorn was still there and the blossom it bore, 

 And the song from its top seemed the same as before. 



When the curtain of night over nature was spread. 

 And Bob had returned from the plough to his shed, 

 Like a dove on her nest he reposed from all care. 

 If his wife and his youngsters contented were there. 



I have passed by the door when the evening was gray. 

 And the hill and the landscape were fading away. 

 And heard from the cottage with grateful surprise. 

 The voice of thanksgiving, like incense arise. 



And I thought of the proud who would look down with 



scorn, 

 On the neat little cottage, the grove and the thorn, 

 And fell that the riches and follies of life. 

 Were dross to contentment, like Bob and his wife. 



THE OLD FARM GATE. 



Where, where is the gate that once used to divide 



The old shaded lane from the grassy road side ? 



I like not this gate so gay and .so bright. 



With its glittering latch and its trellis of white. 



It is pretty 1 own, yet oh dearer by far, 



Was the red rusted hinge, and the weather warped bar. 



Here are fashion md form of a moderized date, 



But I 'd rather have looked on that old farm gate. 



'Twas there, where my sisters would gather to play 



In the shadows of twilight, or sunny mid-day. 



How we 'd laugh and run wild mid those hillocks of 



sand. 

 Where temptations existed no child could withstand ; 

 But to swing on the gate rails, to clamber and ride, 

 Was the utmost of pleasure, of glory and pride, 

 And the car of the victor or carriage of state. 

 Never carried such hearts as the old farm gate. 



Oh fair is the barrier taking its place. 



But it darkens a picture my soul longed to trace. 



I sigh to behold the rough staple and hasp. 



And the rails that my glowing hand scarcely could clasp. 



Oh how strangely the warm spirit grudges to part 



With iho commcmcst relic once linked to the heart! 



And the brightest of fortune, the kindliest fate. 



Would not banish my love for the old farm gate ! 



rnense quantity of testaceous animals, or those who 

 have shells, intermixed with sand and grain. The 

 bnttoin of the Adriatic sea is composed of a com- 

 pact bed of shells, sevrral hundred feet in thick- 

 ness. A celebrated diver, employed to descend 

 into the Straits of Messina, saw there, with horror, 

 enortnoiis polypi attached to the rocks, the arms of 

 wliich, being several feet long, were more than suf- 

 ficient to strangle a man. In inany seas, the eye 

 perceives nothing but a briglit sandy, plain bottom, 

 extending for several hundred miles without an in- 

 tervening object. But in others, particularly the 

 Red sea, it is very different. The whole body of 

 tliis extensive bed of water is, literally speaking, a 

 forest of submarine plants and corals, formed by 

 insects for their habitation, sometimes branching 

 out to a great extent. Here are seen the madre- 

 pores, sponges, mosses, sea mushroom, and various 

 other things, covering every part of the bottom. — 

 The bed of many part of the sea, nctir America, 

 presents a very different, though a very beautiful 

 appearance. This is covered with vegetables, 

 which make it look as green as a meadow ; and be- 

 neath are seen thousands of turtle, and other sea 

 animals feeding thereon. There are some places 

 of the sea where no bottom has yet been found ; 

 still it is not bottomless. The mountains of conti- 

 nents seem to correspond with what are called 

 abysses of the sea. The highest mountains do not 

 rise above 2,),000 feet; and, allowing for the ele- 

 ments, some suppose that the sea is not beyond 

 .30,000 feet deep. Lord Mulgrave used, in the 

 Northern Ocean, a very heavy sounding lead, and 

 gave out along with it, cable rope to the length of 

 4,(580 feet without finding bottom. Hut the great- 

 est depth hitherto sounded was by Captain Scoresby, 

 who, in the Greenland seas, could find no bot- 

 tom with 1200 fathoms or 7,200 feet of line. Ac- 

 cording to Laplace, its mean depth is about two 

 miles, which supposing the generally received esti- 

 mates to be correct, as to the proportion the extent 

 of the water bears lo the dry land on the earth's 

 surface, would make 290 millions of cubic feet of 

 water. — Rev. C. Williams's Works. 



through the United States with 5000 men," was a 

 " regular built soldier," but after the revolution a 

 farmer. VV'arren, the martyr of Bunker Hill, was 

 a physician, and hesitated not to exhibit to his 

 countrymen a splendid example of the manner in 

 which American physicians should practice, when 

 called on by their country. Marion, tlie " Old 

 Fox " of the South, was a cow-boy. Sumpter, the 

 " fighting cock" of South Carolina, was a shepherd's 

 boy. Let it he forever remembered that the men 

 of the revolution were workinginen, those of New 

 England especially : — Green, (as we have stated) 

 was a blacksmith ; Franklin a printer ; Roger Sher- 

 man a shoemaker, and Putnam, Stark anu Allen 

 were farmers: not a man of them all above his busi- 

 ness or ashamed of his calling. 



' They were tinkers, and tailors and cobblers, what then ? 

 Were they not patriots .■' were they not men i' 



POUDRETTl''. 



This valuable manure may be had on application to the 

 suhscriTier, at the ofllce ol tlie " New York Pnudrelte Com- 

 painj," No. 120 Nassau street, New Vork. It is in-odoi-ous, 

 anil may be transported in barrels, on board of any vessel 

 or sti'aniboal, without oflence— and it will be iound an ex- 

 ceedingly valuable article as afertitizer on anij soil, and for 

 aivj crops; hut more especially for gardens and flowers, as 

 there are no loul seeds in it. Poudrette has been used for 

 three seasons with entire success on Long Island, by many 

 practical farmers, as may be ascnrtained from letters and 

 statements made by them, and published at this office in a 

 pamphlet containinijalso the '■ act of incorporation," granted 

 10 the Company liy the Legislature of the Stale of New 

 York ; and other facts in relation to the subject. Price 35 

 cents per buslicl. Barrels cost 25 cents each, and hold 4 

 bushels. Persons wishing to make an experiment on a 

 small scale can obtain one barrel by enclosing a two dollar 

 current bank lull— or tlirec barrels by enclosing/cc dollars, 

 free of postage. On receipt of tke -money the atUcle will ho 

 put up and forwarded as directed. 



*^+ Price of shares, one hundred dollars — which entitles 

 the holder to one hundred busheis of poudrette Linnually, 

 during Ibe termolllie charier; fifty bushels in time for spring 

 use, and fifty bushels in time for fall use. Shares taken 

 soon, will be entitled to the spring uividend— and, if desired 

 for experiment, a few bushels may be had this fall. 



All orders, or applications in relation lo the business, 

 must be made to tbo subscriber, 120 Nassau street. New 

 York. D. K. .MINOR. 



Jj" I wish it distinctly underslood that the " New York 

 Poudrette Company" is in no way connected with the 

 " Lodi Manufaciunng Company," of which Anthony Dey 

 and Peter Barthelemy are, or were, the managers. 



Dec. 9, 1840. 3m. D. K. M. 



THE SEA'S BOTTOM. 



The bottom of the sea seems to have inequali 



ties like those of the surface of continents. Were 



it dried up, it would present mountains, valleys and 



plains. It is covered, almost throughout by an im- 



OUR REVOLUTIONARY SIRES. 

 Alexander Hamilton was hardly of age when he 

 began to play his part in the awful drama of the 

 Revolution, being only 20 when he was taken into 

 the family of the Commander-in-Chief, with the 

 rank of licut. colonel ; Benjamin Franklin was 59 

 before he began to be heard of; Samuel Adams 

 44; James Otis 38 ; John Adams 35; Josiah Quin- 

 cy 40 ; John Hancock 38 ; and Thomas Jefferson 

 32, before they were greatly distinguished. And 

 so with all the actors of that age. They were full 

 grown men — workingmen — ripened with toil and 

 strengthened by long habits of endurance and self- 

 dependence. Washington was a surveyor, and 

 in after life a farmer. ("Expressive silence muse 

 his praise!") Knox was a book-binder and sta- 

 tioner. Morgan, (he of the Cowpens,) was a dro- 

 ver, Tarlton got from him a lecture on that sulj- 



ject. Green was a blacksmith and withal a Qua- 

 ker, albeit through all his southern campaigns, and 

 particularly at the ICutaw Springs, lie put off the 

 outward man. Arnold — (I ask pardon for naming 

 him in such company) — was a grocer and provision 

 store-keeper in New Haven, where his sign is still 

 to be seen — the same that decorated his shop door 

 before the revolution. Gates, who opened Bur- 

 goyne's eyes to the fact that he could not "march 



POIDRETTE. 



The subscribers reside in the stale of New Jersey, many 

 of us in the vicinity of the works erected by Anthony Dey, 

 of the city of New York, on the llackensack river, in New 

 .lersev, for the manufactory ol Urate and Poudrette, called 

 " /he Lodi Manufacturing Company." We have used the 

 poudrette on the Spring Crops this year, I8.I11. We find it 

 II valuable manure, superior to any otlier kind that we hacc 

 ever iised, and considering the facility of its transportation 

 to the field, the small quantity required in the application to 

 the crops, (he quick-ncss of its operation on resectable mittct , 

 and the ease with which it can be applied, —aU tend ;o recom- 

 mend its use to the farmer and gardener as the cheapest and 

 beU manure, and we recommend it accordingly. 



Those of us who have applied it to corn and potatoes think 

 that it ripens those vegetables quicker than any other ma- 

 nure bv several weeks. 



Dated New Jersey, October, 1S40. 



P. F. Welsh. 

 G. C. Van Riper. 



George Tisr. 

 William Wood. 

 John Duryee. 

 George Newkirk. 

 Garret Newkirk. 

 Daniel Vreeland. 



Jacob D. Van Winkle. 



John J: Neickirk. 



John Tise. 



Daniel Van Riper. 



George Demott. 



Henry Drayton. 



Josiah Uor'nblmecr. 



Corns. Van Winkle. 



Shares in the above company are Si 00 each, and may he 

 had by applying to Anthony Dey No. 73 Cedar Si. New 

 York. — Tlie owner will receive 20 per cent, per annum, 

 payable in money, or .">0 bushels of Pouilrette. The price to 

 those who buy Poudrette is 40 cents a bushel, it costs ihe 

 Stockholders'l2 cents a bushel. One cents worth, that is, 

 20 Gills, will manure 20 hills of corn, and the like quantity 

 li hills of Potatoes. 



Newspapers friendly to agriculture will confer a favor on 

 ;ho Farmers and Oard'eners by publishing •.';e above. 



Dee. 22. 



