298 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



July 



John Barley-corn got up again, 

 And sore surprised them all." 



A curious custom prevailed, and for aught we 

 know, does still, in Scotland, of doing their har- 

 vesting in couples — every Jack having his Jill. 

 It must have been in reference to this usage that 

 "Gin a body meet a body" was written — for only 

 imagine it applied to two of our harvesters in red 

 flannel shirts "a comin' through the rye." Burns 

 tells us that his yoke-fellow at the gathering in 

 of the harvest, was his first love. He describes 

 her as a "bonnie, sweet sonsie lassie." For the 

 benefit of those who doubt the poet's ability to 

 select his "first love" from the numerous train' 

 to whom he paid his addresses, we will say that 

 he was at this time only fifteen years of age, and 

 the lassie a year younger. We can easily sup- 

 pose that this was before he had become ac- 

 quainted with the Nannies and Marys and Peg- 

 gies who figured in his poems. It must strike 

 every one that Burns was remarkably fortunate 

 in his female friends, if we may trust to his own 

 description of their charms ; but we fear that a 

 less romantic explanation of the circumstance is 

 the true one, and that the graces which he threw 

 around them existed only in his imagination. 



The fantasy of the poet was a Midas' wand 

 that tinged the earthliest thing with gold. We 

 learn that his brother, a more common-place per- 

 sonage, "looked upon some of the ladies of these 

 early verses as so many moving broom-sticks, 

 on which fancy hung her garlands ! Not a very 

 flattering description, but such is the power of 

 genius that it may throw a halo around the most 

 common objects, not only for itself, but for the 

 whole world. Who does not think with tender 

 interest of "Highland Mary" — an interest so 

 great that even a spear of her hair which found 

 its way to the Burns' festival in Boston, was re- 

 garded with enthusiasm, — yet who, for her own 

 sake, would have given a thought to the dairy- 

 maid of the Castle of Montgomery ? 



Having reached our editorial limits, we make 

 our exit, wishing all a good "mess" of green 

 peas for the Fourth, and to our young friends in 

 .particular, we would say, that although it may 

 not accord with our Yankee notions of gallantry 

 to see our girls bearing sheaves at the Harvest 

 — may each find some "bonnie sweet sonsie lass," 

 to help him bear the burdens of life. 



The Tyson Pear. — This pear, it is well known, 

 is long in coming into bearing when grown on 

 pear stocks, and this quality is regarded as a se- 

 rious drawback on its value. But the objection 

 vanishes when it is cultivated as a dwarf. The 

 most beautiful object we ever saw in the form of 

 a bearing tree, was a four year Tyson a few years 

 since, on the grounds of Ellwanger & Barry, of 



Rochester, of symmetrical form, and loaded with 

 ruddy-cheeked pears. The present unfavorable 

 year, a small tree five feet high, set three years, 

 in the garden of David Thomas, of Union Springs, 

 is bending under its crop of Tyson. This vari- 

 ety grows well on the quince, and promises to 

 be one of the most profitable dwarfs. — Country 

 Gentleman. 



TUBNIPS AMONG COBN. 



Mr. Editor : — I wish to call the attention of 

 my brother farmers to the fact that turnips can 

 be grown among corn with very little trouble or 

 expense. I have raised them for several years in 

 the following manner : After the cultivator went 

 through the corn the last time for the season, I 

 followed that with the turnip seed, sowing broad- 

 cast; a boy follows dragging a hand-rake, and 

 it is don©. Last year I used a drill with better 

 success than broadcast. Two boys can keep up 

 with the cultivator — one to pull, the other at the 

 handles. Put one row of turnips between each 

 row of corn. I, of course, am alluding to ground 

 that will bring a good crop of corn ; in poor 

 ground it is useless to put turnip seed or any- 

 thing else among corn. I have tried several dif- 

 ferent kinds of turnips, and find the Yellow Ab- 

 erdeen and White Norfolk to produce the best. 

 The latter I think is most productive. The seed 

 can be procured at almost any of the seed stores 

 in Philadelphia, at one dollar a pound, and a 

 pound I think sufficient for a five-acre field. It 

 will most likely produce two or three hundred 

 bushels. Now I consider the cost and trouble 

 nothing in comparison to that amount of turnips 

 fed during winter and spring. I do not consider 

 the corn injured in the least by the turnips, as 

 they grow principally after the corn is cut off". — 

 Oermantown 2'eleyraph. 



Money in English Elections. — In spite of 

 the outcry of the London Times about IVlr. Bu- 

 chanan's Duquesne letter, it seems that we must 

 go to the mother country, after all, if we want to 

 learn how to spend money in elections. The 

 London correspondent of the New York Tribune 

 writes in his last letter : 



"As to the internal aff"airs, the conservatives 

 have gained about twenty seats, and are still in 

 a minority of about sixty votes in full Parlia- 

 ment. Still, they have consolidated their party 

 by stupendous* bribery. Lord Derby subscribed 

 £20,000 for the election, the Duke of Northum- 

 berland £25,000, each of the three new peers 

 £10,000, and Gome £30,000 more were furnished 

 by the other members of the Carlton Club." 



Grass Under Trees. — By sowing nitrate of 

 soda in small quantites in showery weather, un- 

 der trees, a most beautiful verdure will be ob- 

 tained. I have used it under beech trees in my 

 ground, and the grass always looks green. — 

 Having succeeded so well on a small scale, I 

 have now sown nitrate of soda among the long 

 grass in the plantations, which cattle could never 

 eat. I now find that the herbage is preferred to 

 the other parts of the field. — Prairie Farmer. 



