878 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER, 



JTTNE 4, 1S34. 



vorite of Ceres and Pomona, l>ut lie cares little for 

 Bacchus, Phoebus and other idlers. 



He puts his hand, and a huge one it is, to the 

 plough, and if he looks hack, it is in a furrow 

 like the wake of a boat. In May he puts a pota- 

 to or two in the earth, and in October he digs in 

 the same place and finds a peck of them. In 

 spring he covers with earth three or four kernels 

 of maize, and in autumn he finds ears enough on 

 the spot to furnish the materials for many loaves. 

 He hides in the soil u seeil no digger than a large 

 bed-bug, and in a few weeks a vine appears with 

 several pumpkins attached to it of the rapacity of 

 four gallons. If the merchant secures to himsell 

 a gain of ten dollars in the hundred, happy man 

 is his dole ; if the firmer get not an increase of 

 some hundred per centum, it is a had season and 

 an unfrHquent occurrence. 



" O fortunatos nimium" &c. as Virgil has it, or 

 " he would he too happy a dog, if he only knew 

 how to estimate his good fortune." But this man 

 favored of fortune, this cultivator, whose reward 

 is a direct consequence of his labor, this christian, 

 who never trusted Providence in vain, this farmer 

 who has a deed recorded of a portion of the earth 

 — a part of the solar system — a particle of the uni- 

 verse, from which no ejector hut death can oust 

 him, and even Small-hack cannot injure the title 

 of the heirs — this ungrateful farmer himself is apt 

 to forget his blessings, and to complain of hard- 

 ship and the times. The times! what are the 

 times to him, unless the seasons mentioned by the 

 preacher, "a time to plant, and a time to pluck 

 up that which is planted." 



He should have no money to borrow and no 

 notes to pay. Now and then a bee may sting him, 

 hut he avoids Jack Cade's peril from tbe bee's wax. 

 •'Some say," says this popular reformer, " that it 

 is the bee that slings, but I say it is the bee's wax, 

 for I did hut seal a bit of paper, and I have not 

 been mine own man ever since." 



If tbe farmer lias not milch thought, the exemp- 

 tion frees him from much care. His countenance 

 is never "sicklied over by the pale cast of thought," 

 but it is round streaked and ruddy as the sunny 

 side of a pearmaiii. His hand is bard, but his 

 heart is soft. He has simplicity of character, and 

 that preserves all his virtues — pickles all his good 

 qualities. 



Robinson Crusoe excites notour envy; we sigh 

 not for " a lodge in some vast wilderness," our 

 aspirations are lor a bouse with a gable end, a 

 well with a sweep, and a moss grown bucket, a 

 dobbin, a dog that answers to the name of Tow- 

 zer, a garden, a farm, a farmer's employment, and 

 a farmer's appetite. 



wherever they spread. Tbe only benefit of bill 

 manuring is to give the plant a vigorous start, and 

 afterwards it is of little value. Another disadvan- 

 tage is that if the warm weather he long, and the 

 season dry, it is liable to fire-fang, as it is called, 

 i. e. it does not rot, anil of course does no good. — 

 Greenfield Gazette. 



RAIN WATER. 

 I.v our country there falls rain, including mehed 

 snow, to the average depth of thirty-five inches. 

 On a surface forty feel square, there falls yearly 

 34,909 wine gallons; and if all this were secured 

 in cisterns, there would be nearly one hundred 

 gallons for every day's consumption, or about three 

 barrels. This water, if well preserved, would he 

 the very purest and best for most domestic pur- 

 poses. Tbe horse and the cow prefer rain water 

 to pump or well water ; and though it would not 

 be entirely governed by their decision, yet great 

 respect is due to their judgment in such matters. 

 The water of many wells is tinctured in such a 

 way as to make it less fit for a solvent; and it 

 does not so perfectly combine with nutritious 

 substances to form chyle and nourish the human 

 system. They who live in situations where wa- 

 ter is not easily procured from the ground, may be 

 told that the purest water is descending around 

 them ; and if they will only be at the necessary. 

 expense to secure this gift of heaven, they inaj 

 provide an abundant supply. On such reservoirs 

 the inhabitants of Palestine placed inueJl depen- 

 dence; and it is a merciful appointment of God, 

 that in warm countries, where the greatest supply 

 of water is needed, the most rain descends. We 

 may yet find good capacious cisterns of brick or 

 stone, and Roman cement, economical additions to 

 our domestic convenience. A cistern ten feet 

 square and ten feet deep, would contain one hun- 

 dred and eighteen hogsheads of sixty-three wine 

 allons each, and would secure to most families a 

 distant supply of water. — Scientific Tracts. 



farm in Dorchester. — 1 still own most of this Slock. 

 The cow Chesnut Beauty, I sold together with a 

 bull calf of hers, in June last, to Mr. Sumner Bix- 

 by, of Nnrridgewock. They carried the first pre- 

 miums at the Somerset Show, last fall. — Daffy is 

 the mother of Young Sir Isaac. I think I shall 

 exhibit her at our next Cattle Show. I will not 

 say of her what one of your correspondents has 

 said of one of his cows, viz: that "her form is 

 equal to that of any other cow," because 1 should 

 not think such an assertion would receive inuc-li 

 confidence, (for how does any man know what 

 there is in the world that he has not seen ?) hut I 

 should be pleased to have any one produce at the 

 I lie Show, a cow larger, handsomer or bitter. 



Sanford Howard. 



MAM' KING COilN. 



A writer in the Genesee Farmer, considers 

 the practice of manuring our lands in the lull, in- 

 judicious and unprofitable. As this practice pre- 

 vails almost universally in this region, it may not 

 he amiss to give the reasons for ibis opinion. 

 Plants derive their nourishment from the small 

 fibres of their roots. Tbe extremities of these 

 fibres are the mouths of the plant. Now the roots 

 of corn extend to a great distance beyond the hill 

 — as far below the ground, it is said, as the stalks 

 grow above. Hence it is obvious that tbe manure 

 will not benefit tbe plant, after tbe roots have ex- 

 tended beyond the circle where it is! deposited. 

 Whereas if it were equally distributed over the 

 soil, the fibres would find nourishment from it 



t rum Hit A.aine Farmer. 

 CATTLE. 



I have thought it proper to follow the history, 

 &.c. of Mr. Vaiighan's cattle, with a brief notice of 

 ibose which 1 have brought here from Massachu- 

 setts. In some future communication I propose to 

 give their pedigree, more particularly accom- 

 panied with some observations on the value of 

 pedigree. — Before mentioning my own stock, I 

 wish to sav that tbe cow concerning which Mi. 

 Vangban lias given you the details of an ex- 

 periment in making butter, was exhibited as a fat 

 cow in 1S23, at Brighton, where I saw her. She 

 was considered one of the most extraordinary ani- 

 mals for symmetry of form and fine quality of 

 flesh, which had then everbee.li seen at that Show, 

 — weighed 8 cwt. and sold her for near 55 dollars. 



The following are tbe periods at which III) 

 Stock arrived at Hallowell : — April, 1S30, bulls 

 Hercules and the Young Sir Isaac, and cow Twin 

 Mother; June, 1830, heifer Chesuut Beauty, am. 

 two hull calves; November, 1832, bull Norfolk ; 

 November, 1833, cow Daffy. — The first mention- 

 ed bull, Hercules, was five eighths Improved Slum 

 Horn, one eighth Bakewell, and one quarter com- 

 mon or native blood. One of the bull calves line 

 also a quarter of the common blood in him. All 

 llie rest of the above Stuck are ENTIRE!,! of tin 

 Improved imported breeds, viz: Improved Short 

 Horn, Herefordshire, and Bakewell. They wen 

 all hied by Hun. John Welles, of Boslun, at lii.- 



SPONTAKEOl'S COMBUSTION OP DRUNKARDS. 



The spontaneous combustion of drunkards is a 

 fact well established in Medical science. The fol- 

 lowing is among numerous instances which have 

 been related by eminent physicians and others. 



Dr. Peter Schofield, at a late address delivered 

 at the formation of a Temperance Society in the 

 township of Bastard, in the district of Johnstown, 

 in i he province of Upper Canada, states a case of 

 spontaneous combustion which occurred in his 

 practice. " It is well authenticated," says the Doc- 

 tor, " that many habitual drinkers of ardent spirits 

 are brought to their end by what is called sponta- 

 neous combustion. By spontaneous combustion, 1 

 mean when a person takes fire by an electric 

 shack, and burns up without any external applica- 

 tion. It was the case of a young man about twetity- 

 fivAyears old : he had been an habitual drinker lor 

 ninny years. I saw him about nine o'clock in the 

 evening on which it happened. He w-as then as 

 usual, not drunk but full of liquor. About 11 the 

 same evening I was called to see him. I found 

 him literally roasted from the crown of his head to 

 i he soles of his feet. lie was found in a black- 

 smith's shop, just across the way from where he 

 hail been. The owner, all of a sudden, discovered 

 an extensive light in bis shop, as though the 

 whole building was in one general flame. He ran 

 with the greatest precipitancy, and on flinging 

 open the door, discovered a man standing erect in 

 the midst of a widely extended silver colored blaze, 

 I. earing as he described it, exactly tbe appearance 

 nf the wick of a burning candle in the midst of its 

 awn flame. He seized hint by the shoulder and 

 jerked him to the door, upon which the flume was 

 instantly extinguished. 



"There was no fire in the shop, neither was 

 here any possibility of fire having be. n eomniimi- 

 t-ated to him from any external source. It was 

 aire lv a case nf spontaneous ignition. A general 

 sloughing soon came on, and his flesh was con- 

 sumed, Or removed in the dressing, leaving the 

 es and a few of the larger blood vessels stand- 

 ing. The blood nevertheless rallied around the 

 heart I maintained the \iial spark until the thir- 

 teenth day, when he died, not only the most loath- 

 some, ill-featured and dreadful piclure that was 

 . ver presented to human view, but his shrieks, his 

 cries, and lamentations, were enough to rend a 

 heart of adamant. He complained of no pain of 

 iody; his flesh was. all gone. lie said he was 

 suffering the torments of hell ; that he was just 

 upon its threshold, and soon should enter ils dis- 

 mal ravel lis ; in this frame of mind he gave up the 

 Jiosl. O, the death of the drunkard ! Well may 

 it be suid to beggar all description, 1 have seen 



