302 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



July 



paragus, where two could be had — unless the two 

 cost more than they came to. 



Now, Mr. Editor, what say you ? I have looked 

 over twenty-four numbers of the Farmer and only 

 found one article on asparagus, and that not 

 much more than an allusion to its cultivation. 

 Shall we, gardeners on a small scale, trench over 

 our ground, bury our manure, after the fashion 

 of Bridgeman, Fessenden, Agricultural Reports 

 of Congress, &c., or pursure my neighbor's sim- 

 ple, easy, comparatively economical method — and 

 durable, too, for he says such a bed will last "any 

 length of time?" A Subsckiber. 



Lincoln, Mass., 1858. 



Remarks. — The result of your "energetic, 

 practical farmer's" experiment would lead us to 

 travel in his path. Hundreds of people have 

 been frightened away from raising asparagus be- 

 cause the common opinion has been that it re- 

 quires nice and expensive operations to produce 

 it. But it is not so ; asparagus is a hardy plant, 

 and will grow well, with little care, on a moder- 

 ately rich soil. If manure is placed at the bot- 

 tom of a trench two feet below the surface, the 

 roots of the plant will find it ; but even then it is 

 doubtful whether that manure would be as valu- 

 able to the plant as manure placed upon the sur- 

 face and dug under two or three inches in the 

 autumn. 



An idea that it is difficult to raise small fruits, 

 such as currants, strawberries, raspberries, black- 

 berries, &c., also prevails, and deters many from 

 making the attempt, when they might easily 

 have their tables spread with these wholesome 

 fruits during the hot weather, when the system 

 needs them in order to keep it in healthy action. 

 There is scarcely any plant so easy to produce as 

 asparagus. 



THE PLANETARY SYSTEM. 



According to M. Ilelmholtz, a number of sin- 

 gular peculiarities in the structure of our plane- 

 tary system indicate that it was once a connected 

 mass, with a uniform motion of rotation. With- 

 out such an assumption, it is believed impossible 

 to explain why all the planets move in the same 

 direction round the sun ; why they all rotate in 

 the same direction round their axes ; why the 

 planes of their orbits, and those of their satellites 

 and rings, nearly all coincide ; why all their or- 

 bits differ but little from circles, and much be- 

 sides. From these remaining indications of a for- 

 mer state, astronomers have shaped a hypothesis 

 regarding the formation of our planetary system, 

 which, although from the nature of the case, it 

 must ever remain a hypothesis, deserves special 

 attention. The commencement of our planetary 

 system, including the sun, must, according to 

 this, be regarded as an immense nebulous mass, 

 which filled the portion of space which is now oc- 

 cupied by our system, far beyond the limits of 

 Neptune, the most distant planet. Even now we, 

 perhaps, see similar masses in the distant regions 

 of the firmament, as patches of nebulae and neb- 



ulous stars. Within our system, also, comets, 

 the zodiacal light, the corona of the sun, during 

 a total eclipse, exhibit remnants of a nebulous 

 substance, which is so thin that the light of the 

 stars passes through it unenfeebled and unrefract- 

 ed. If the density of the mass of our planetary 

 system be calculated, according to the assumption 

 in question, for the time when it was a nebulous 

 sphere, which reached to the path of the outmost 

 planet, it would be found to require several cubic 

 miles of such matter to weigh a single grain. 



HOBSE TAMING. 



This subject does not appear to be fully under- 

 stood even by professional horsemen. The ma- 

 jority of horses which are denominated vicious, 

 are on the contrary extremely docile and pos- 

 sessed of gentle natures, but as these admirable 

 qualities are always associated with boldness and 

 courage, such animals will not infrequently re- 

 taliate by kicking or biting their abusers. They 

 never exhibit antagonism unless punished, or 

 when made to perform some painful exertion, 

 taxing them beyond their powers. 



The horse inherits a greater degree of intelli- 

 gence than any other useful animal of the brute 

 kind. His instincts, in many instances, compare 

 favorably with those of the nobler animal, man. 

 If, therefore, ahorse is obdurate and incorrigible, 

 it is because he has not been understood ; be- 

 cause his genius is superior to the person to 

 whom his early education and training have been 

 confided. Ignorant grooms, in breaking colts, 

 use coercive measures, where kindness and gen- 

 tle treatment are only appropriate. The first 

 impressions of a young horse deprived of his lib- 

 erty and the unrestrained following of his own 

 inclinations, are almost certain to mark indelibly 

 his future career, and make him either oljstinate 

 and intractable or submissive and affectionate. 

 Thus, if he has been frightened and his nervous 

 system excited beyond control, fiogging or any 

 harsh practice would confirm what originally was 

 but an impulse, and make it a permanent habit. 



Horses, like men, are more susceptible to flat- 

 tery than chastisement. I will r?late a case in point 

 which occurred last spring, by which a promising 

 thorough-bred, three years old, was entirely ru- 

 ined in disposition. The animal in question was 

 unusually intelligent, possessed remarkably elas- 

 tic limbs and temperament, and was perpetually 

 throwing up his heels and gamboling when not 

 restrained by lack of space. A professional 

 horse-trainer had contracted the job of reducing 

 him to servitude. The first difficulty of catching 

 the colt in an adjoining pasture was only accom- 

 plished after half a day's coaxing, and the utter 

 demolition of the patience of the trainer. This 

 individual, thoroughly exasperated, initiated the 

 mettlesome animal into the virtues of a black 

 whip. His efforts at resistance were terrific ; he 

 kicked and plunged, and made fearful plunges 

 at his executioner ; he was in the most intense 

 state of excitement ; the neck-veins became 

 gorged with blood, and his eyes were projected 

 far from their sockets. So ungovernable did he 

 become, and so much was his indignation aroused 

 by this surprising treatment, that after a period 

 of a week had elapsed, the opening of the stable 



