1856. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



115 



mistake. He ])asses, by that step, from independ- 

 ence to vassalage. He barters a natural for an 

 artificial pursuit, and he must be the slave of the 

 caprice of customers and the chicane of trade, 

 either to sup])ort himself or to acquire fortune. 

 The more artificial a man's pursuit, the more debas- 

 ing is it morally and physically. To test it, con- 

 trast the merchant's clerk with the plowboy. The 

 former may have the most exterior polish, but the 

 latter, undej- his rough outside, possesses the truer 

 stamina. He is the freer, franker, happier, and 

 nobler man. Would that young men might judge 

 of the dignity of labor by its usefulness and manli- 

 ness, rather than by the superficial glosses it wears. 

 Therefore, we never see a man's nobility in his kid 

 gloves and toilet adornments, but in that sinewy 

 arm, whose outline, browned by the sun, betoken a 

 hardy, honest toilet, under whose farmer's or me- 

 chanic's vest a kinghest heart may beat. — Hunt's 

 Magazine. 



HARVEST HOME. 



Proud ships may hold both silver and gold, 



The wealth of a distant strand ; 

 But ships would rot, and be valued not, 



Were there none to till the land. 



The wildest heath and the wildest brake 



Are rich as the richest fleet, 

 For they gladden the wild birds when they wake. 



And give them food to eat. 



And with willing hands and spade and plow, 



The glad'ning hour shall come, 

 When that which is called the "waste land" now. 



Shall ring with the "Harvest Home." 



PAESmPS FOR MILCH COWS. 



Will you inform me, through the columns of the 

 Country Gentleman, respecting the quahties of pars- 

 nips as feed for dairy cows through the winter. I 

 have a quantity, and would like to know if you 

 think them good feed for miking cows. 



Lexington, Ky. Thomas Jinks. 



Parsnips are very highly esteemed as food for 

 milch cows, as well as for pigs and poultry, in the 

 Island of Jersey, where they are extensively grown 

 for this ])urpose. We quote from the Cyclopedia 

 of .'Igricultnre : "When parsnips are given to 

 milk cows with a little hay, in the winter season, 

 the butter is found to be of as fine a color and ex- 

 cellent flavor as when the animals are feeding in the 

 best pastures. As parsnips contain six per cent, 

 more mucilage than carrots, the difference may be 

 sufficient to account for the superior fattening, as 

 well as buiter-making quality of the parsnip. l)on 

 observes, that 'in the fattening of cattle the parsnip 

 is found equal if not superior to the carrot, perform- 

 ing the business with as much expedition, and af- 

 fording meat of exquisite flavor, and of a highly jui- 

 cy quality ; the animals eat it with much greediness. 

 The parsnips are given in the ])roportion of about 

 30 Ib'^. weight, morning, noon and night ; the large 

 ones being split into three or four pieces, and a lit- 

 tle hay supplied in the intervals of these periods. 

 The result of experiment has shown, that not only 

 in neat cattle, but in the fattening of hogs and poul- 

 try, the animals become fat much sooner, and are 

 more healthy than when fed with any other root or 

 vegetable ; and that, besides, the meat is more sweet 

 and delicious.'" — Country Gentleman. 



NORTHFIELD, MASS. 



This town is one of the most beautiful in New 

 England. It is the Indian Squekeag, and was set- 

 tled in 1673. It suffered severely from Indian 

 depredations, and was laid waste by them a few 

 years after its settlement. In 1G85 the people re- 

 turned and commenced to build and cultivate the 

 land, but in a few years fresh inroads from the In- 

 dians destroyed their crops, burnt their log-houses 

 and scattered the inhabitants, so that for many 

 years it was left alone, but with the unmistakable 

 marks of an attempted civiHzation scattered over 

 the dismal plain. In 1713, after the erection of 

 Fort Dummer, in its vicinity, the hardy pioneers 

 once more returned and rebuilt the town. A large 

 portion of the land is of an excellent quality. 

 Near the river are two distinct plateaus or plains ; 

 one. on the bank of the river, and called interval, 

 or meadow, and the other some third of a mile 

 back, and fifty or sixty feet higher than the mead- 

 ow. This plain extends about a mile in two direc- 

 tions, and on it stands the thickly-settled portion 

 of the town. The main street continues nearly a 

 mile, parallel with the river, is, we should judge, 

 some twelve or fifteen rods M'ide, and is ornamented 

 by four rows of the most beautiful trees, mostly of 

 the American elm, but interspersed, occasionally, 

 with the rock maple. Standing about two rods 

 apart, and extending three-fourths of a mile at 

 least, they must number some five hundred trees 

 in all. 



It was our good fortune to be called hito this 

 beautiful town on the evening of the 22d inst., to 

 have an agricultural tallv with the good people at 

 their Lyceum, and in passing through the street 

 our attention was instantly arrested by the noble 

 trees which adorn it, and of which it is our purpose 

 now to give a brief account. 



In the year 1811, a young man, born in Boslon, 

 and there educated to practice law, found himself 

 surrounded by many already possessing "nine 

 points" in the essentials of practice, if not in the 

 substantial acquirements of the mysterious pro- 

 fession. So he cast about to see where he should 

 go to carve out his fortune, and his good genius di- 

 rected him to Northfield, Mass. There he found 

 the Connecticut, with its green and fertile meadows, 

 higher up a plain about a mile in length and half 

 that distance in width, bounded at each termina- 

 tion of the mile by a limpid brook, sparkling and 

 fresh from the hills which boldly rise from the edge 

 of the plain. 



In this lovely valley was once, undoubtedly, a 

 lake, and this plain was made up of the debris of 

 the hills and the alluvion of the river, gathered 

 and deposited through long ages of passing time. 

 In form, nothing could be better adapted for plant- 

 ing a town than this spot. Stretching along on the 

 bank of the river, it gave access to it to a large 



