516 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



Nov. 



and winds. Tliere has been much written in favor 

 of high manuring, and little, if any, the reverse. It 

 is as easy to manure too high for profit as not high 

 enough. A good crop pays better than an extra 

 one. I think too much manure has been spread, 

 of late, and not enough put in the hill. Manure 

 spread on grass land that is dry enough to ])low, is 

 one-half wasted. Thorough plowing pays well. 

 Princeton, 1856. L. C. 



THE CO^T OF LUXURIES. 



We have lately set uj) a statue of Franklin in 

 our city, and we think wr have therein done a good 

 thing ; but what would "Poor Richard" think of us, 

 could he actually return to the body, and vi^alk 

 through the streets of New York, Philadelphia and 

 Boston, as of old ? All of the honors these cities 

 have done to him would not avail, we fear, to save 

 us from some of those homely l^ut keen-edged 

 sayings for which the old philosopher was famous, 

 as he glanced around him, and marked on every 

 side the evidences of the extravagant habits of the 

 age. The era of modest simplicity and prudence 

 seems to have completely passed away, and the 

 reign of show and extravagance is fully inaugura- 

 ted. Our imports tell the story. Every week, for 

 months in succession, from a million and a half to 

 two millions of dollars' worth of dry goods of a 

 costly description have been thrown upon the New 

 York market. For the year ending in September, 

 the sum total of dry goods imports in that city 

 alone was $78,311,878! A dry goods dealer ad- 

 vertises a lace scarf, for which he demands fifteen 

 hundred dollars. Lace at twenty dollars a yard — 

 and that but one-tenth of a yard wide — finds ready 

 purchasers ; so do capes at two hundred dollars 

 apiece, and jets at one hundred. Another dealer 

 offers a bridal dress for twelve hundred dollars. 

 Shawls at one and two hundred dollars apiece are 

 not uncommon. Cashmeres from three hundred 

 dollars upwards are seen by dozens in a walk along 

 Broadway. A hundred dollars is quite a common 

 price for a silk gown. Bonnets at two hundred 

 dollars are not unfrequently sold. A set of Rus- 

 sia sable furs costs about fifteen hundred dollars, 

 and yet w^e have ladies who think they can aSbrd 

 to wear them. The importation of fancy furs at 

 New York this year already amounts to two mil- 

 lion dollars, to which nearly another million must 

 be added, for duties and profits of importers. 



A fashionable lady spends annually on her millin- 

 er, mantua-maker and lace-dealer, a sum that would 

 have supported an entire household, even in her 

 own rank in life, in the days of Mrs. Washington. 

 A thousand dollars a year is considered, we are told, 

 quite a narrow income for such purposes among 

 those pretending to be "in society" in some of our 

 cities. To this must be added the expenditure for 

 opera tickets, for a summer trip to the springs, and 

 for a score of little inevitable d cderas. There are 



few, it is true, who are able to indulge in this reck- 

 less scale of extravagance ; but, unfortunately, these 

 few vain and foolish women are recognized as lead- 

 ers in fashionable society, and the pernicious influ- 

 ence of their example is felt in every rank, and in 

 every section of the country. In how many fami- 

 lies, even in our sober New England towns and re- 

 tired villages, is it considered of more moment to 

 be showily dressed, than to be graceful, amiable 

 and intelligent ! 



Ladies, are not these things so ? If they cannot 

 be denied, then we ask, might not a selection of 

 Poor Richard's maxims be profitably introduced as 

 a study into our schools, especially those for young 

 ladies ? 



For the New England Farmer. 



STABLING CATTLE AND HORSES. 



Mr. Editor: — One word of comfort to those 

 farmers, who have no barn-cellar. I was invited, 

 recently to visit the barn of Mr. Austin Eastman, 

 in the north part of this town. His stables are on 

 a plan of his own. He has no plank flooring. His 

 horses and cattle stand upon the ground. His prin- 

 cipal stable is, I should judge, about eighty feet 

 long and twenty-two wide. At each end is a sliding 

 door suspended at top, of sufficient width to admit an 

 ox-team. Into this, he hauls from 20 to 40 cart-loads 

 of mud, earth or sand. After his cattle have lain 

 upon it awhile, he goes in with his plow and turns 

 it all over, then smooths it with a harrow, and leaves 

 it till sufficiently composted, when it is removed, 

 and tis place supplied by fresh earth. 



In this way, all the solid and liquid manure is 

 preserved. When he wishes to manure upland, he 

 carries in muck or loam. When a piece of mucky 

 meadow, sand, instead. 



The stall will contain enough to give a good 

 dressing to an acre. And it has this advantage 

 among others, it can be worked all winter, and 

 the manure can be carried out ujicn soft meadow 

 land, while the ground is frozen and covered over 

 with snow. 



That it is as well for cattle to stand upon a plank 

 floor, if properly cared for, I have no doubt. Nor 

 have I, that more than twice as much manure wil' 

 be saved. ii. 



Amherst, Sept. 15, 1856. 



FiTCHBURG Cattle Show. — We have already 

 given some account of this Show, but did not say, 

 as we intended to, that the Address was delivered 

 by CllARi.ES L. Flint, Esq., Secretary of the State 

 Board of Agriculture, and that his subject was the 

 organization, objects and operations of that Board. 

 He gave a lucid statement of its labors, the oppo- 

 sition manifested last winter by some of the mem- 

 bers of the Legislature, and the importance of sus- 

 taining the Board. It was listened to with atten- 

 tion, and cordially received by an intelligent audi- 

 ence. 



1^° A suspension bridge is to be built from Cin- 

 cinnati to Covington, sixty feet in height. 



