1859. 



NEW ENGLAND FARRIER. 



455 



the extending roots. I offex- these suggestions 

 by way of theory. If the theory be correct, the 

 proper practice will naturally suggest itself to 

 the reader. Sandy River. 



Remakks. — We give the opinions of our cor- 

 respondent as he has written them, not because 

 we assent to all of them, as regards pruning, but 

 because he seems to have given attention to the 

 subject, and it is fair to lay these different views 

 before the reader. 



For the New England Farmer. 

 LABOE AS A CUBSE. 



Messrs. Editors : — Man is so constituted, 

 that labor enough to supply himself with food, 

 by his own hands, is a condition which is ben- 

 eficial to his health. We read in Genesis, that 

 the "Lord God took the man and put him into the 

 garden of Eden, to dress it and keep it." Does 

 not dressing and keeping the garden imply labor ? 

 It does not seem that Adam was formed to live an 

 idle life, as those who "place bliss in ease" un 

 derstand it, but to take care of his gardeii like a 

 good horticulturist. This took place before his 

 fall, and of course there was no curse implied in 

 his being located in Paradise to labor lor his liv- 

 ing. 



There appears to be a palpable misunderstand- 

 ing among theologians and others, about labor 

 being inflicted on man as a curse for disobe- 

 dience ; I can put no such construction upon the 

 verdict of the Almighty pronounced against Adam 

 for his sin. God said, "Cursed is the ground for 

 thy sake ;" "in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the 

 days of thy life." "In the sweat of thy face shall 

 thou eat bread till thou return unto the ground." 

 Now, if any living man, with all his sophistry, 

 can make it appear without doing violence to lan- 

 guage, that labor was inflicted on man as a curse, 

 let him shew himself with his evidence. All men 

 are laborers, or ought to be. What is an idle 

 man, rich or poor, more than a clam or snail ? 

 Mankind were designed for action, to fill differ- 

 ent stations and woik at different occupations ; 

 some are fitted to labor mentally, and others 

 physically ; there is as much necessity for the for- 

 mer as the latter ; one class may be deficient in 

 muscular power and endurance, and be well qual- 

 ified for planning, while another class, with strong 

 bones and muscular frames that defy fatigue, can 

 execute what was not in the power of the other 

 to perform. In New England, there are two 

 classes of manual laborers ; one class design and 

 execute, which embrace a greater portion of our 

 agricultural population, the other class are pro- 

 fessed laborers who depend upon the income of 

 their labor for a support. This latter class are 

 practically the sinews of the country. What 

 could old folks, lazy folks, sick folks, rich folks 

 and other folks do, without this sturdy class of 

 our practical population? It contains males and 

 females of as good minds as any in the commu- 

 nity, and their circumstances are often owing to 

 causes which would not have disgraced any hon- 

 est man. 



The lucky aristocratic gambler, and conceited 

 foppish student, may sneer at the laboring man, 



who is in reality of more value to the world than 

 a cart-load of such coxcombs. Labor, as a health- 

 improving exercise, is of more importance to the 

 sedentary dyspeptic than all the medicine in the 

 world. Three hours of manual labor a day would 

 be a good as well as economical substitute for a 

 voyage to Europe, or the West Indies, for se- 

 dentary gentlemen, who are troubled with bron- 

 chitis and ill health for the v/ant of exercise. It 

 appears that Saint Paul was an industrious man 

 who "labored with his own hands." We read of 

 his perils by sea, and perils by land, but do not 

 read of his voyages to foreign lands as a remedy 

 for inaction, his object being to enlighten the ig- 

 norant, reform the vicious and spread the gos- 

 pel. Paul said in one of his epistles, "This we 

 command you, that if any would not work, neith- 

 er should he eat ;" so it appears that he showed 

 as little favor to idlers in any situation as any of 

 our modern teachers. Silas Brov^n. 



North Wilmington, 1859. 



For the New England Farmer. 

 ■WHY" DON'T THAT OKCHAKD BEAH? 



A correspondent of the Farmer inquires why 

 his orchard, the trees of which have attained a 

 large size, will not bear fruit ? I do not presume 

 to know the rea,«on, but wish to suggest a fact or 

 two which may bear upon the question. Trees 

 bear soonest, and bear best, where the branches 

 are nearest horizontal in their position. Lean- 

 ing trees and crooked trees, I think, will be 

 found to be the earliest and best bearers. The 

 reason is, the directly upward flow of sap favors 

 growth of wood and leaves, but not the secretion 

 of matured material for the germ of the fruit bud. 

 The flow of sap is an electrical phenom-cnon, and 

 those who are familiar with galvanic experiments 

 will see at once why the secretions from the sap 

 are thus affected by position. There is generally 

 a correspondence between roots and branches 

 in point o position. Trees set too deep in the 

 soil, produce a watery, unmatured sap, and t'-ees 

 set in a soil where the roots strike deep, will be 

 likely to have tops with nearly perpendicular 

 branches, and consequently prove unfruitful, till 

 the size of the tree compels the branches to as- 

 sume a more nearly horizontal position. Let 

 our friend try the experiment practised by Euro- 

 pean orchardists, of bending down, and confining 

 in a drooping position, some of the branches of 

 his unbearing trees. J. S. Swift. 



Farmivgton, Me., Aug., 1859. 



Chafing Under the Collar. — A gentle- 

 man who has tried the plan successfully for five 

 years, communicates the annexed method of pre- 

 venting horses from chafing under the collar. 

 He says, he gets a piece of leather and has what 

 he terms a false collar made, which is simply a 

 piece of leather cut in such a shape as to lie, 

 singly, between the shoulders of the horse and 

 the collar. This fends off all the friction, as the 

 collar slips and moves on the leather, and not on 

 the shoulders of the horse. Chafing is caused by 

 friction, hence, you see, the thing is entirely 

 plausible. Some persons put pads or sheep-skins 

 under the collar ; these, they say, do as much 

 hurt as good, for they augment the heat. A sin- 



