478 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



Oct. 



that he shall not want for means to satisfy both 

 his physical and mental wants? Is this the youth 

 who is to come off' victorious in the strife ibr 

 collegiate honors among his fellows? liy no 

 means. Ten chances to one if it is not somej 

 humble farmer's son or some charity student who i 

 during the Avhole course of his studies has had: 

 to stru^'le against almost every difficulty; whoi 

 has been pinched for means to satisfy his neces-j 

 sary wants, both physical and mental. He stud-j 

 ied because he loved to study, because he felt' 

 the value of learning; while the son of luxury 

 studied because he was driven to his books, be-{ 

 cause the pride of his parents required that he 

 should receive the form of an education, if noth- 

 ing more. 



And the difference does not end here ; if the 

 son of luxury cannot sustain himself even in 

 college, as he advances in life we behold a still 

 greater disparity between him and the son of 

 toil ; the former having received his diploma, 

 uses it as a passport to success and as a letter of 

 introduction to refined and intellectual society. 

 The luxurious and effeminate habits which he 

 acquired during his youth are rarely to be shaken 

 off; they, on the contrary, increase in strength 

 and intensity, and incapacitate him for usefulness 

 of any kind whatever, and the succeeding gener- 

 ation buries him and his deeds beneath the wave 

 of oblivion. 



The son of toil lays his diploma aside, and 

 goes to work as though he had it not, and is 

 judged according to his merits by the ages yet 

 to come. 



I hope the day may come when our farmers 

 and laborers shall rank first in point of educa- 

 tion among the people of the land ; when every 

 farmer shall not be afraid to compare his educa- 

 tion with any college graduate. Then will labor 

 really be honored, and our laborers be truly our 

 nation's strength, the safeguard of our liberties 

 and our country's pride. EULEK NoRCROSS. 



South Hadley, 1858. 



vrare county, into whose hands some of the re- 

 pudiated mineral accidentally fell. He tried the 

 coal, caused it to burn freely with an intense 

 heat, and was so pleased with it that he proclaim- 

 ed the fact in the newspapers. This led others 

 to try, and they also succeeded, the prejudice xvas 

 removed, and consumption went on from this 

 disastrous beginning, until it last year reached 

 the enormous quantity of 3,476,862 tons. But 

 up to this date the dejnession of manufacturing 

 has caused a reduction of 300,000 tons to be sent 

 to market, and the whole year undoubtedly shows 

 a fallkig off of full 600,000 tons.— ilfmer's Jow- 

 nal. 



THE ANTHRACITE COAL TEADE. 

 Thirty-one years ago the first coal went to 

 Philadelphia, being ten wagon loads hauled over 

 the mountains by George Shoemaker, of Potts- 

 ville., Very few persons could be induced to pur- 

 chase it, and most of these were wholly unsuc- 

 cessful in their attempt to make it burn. Every- 

 body considered it a mere stone, Mr. Shoe- 

 n\,aker was denounced in all quarters as a cheat, 

 and measures Avere being taken to arrest him for' 

 swindling; but he escaped arrest by leaving the 

 city by a circuitous road, and did not stop until! 

 he had got thirty miles on his homeward journey. 

 The most remarkable feature in this extraordi-j 

 nary speculation was, that Mr. Shoemaker did 

 not himself know how to make the coal burn. 

 He was therefore unable to convince the public 

 that it really would ignite. Had he experimented 

 at home, and brought with him a grate or stove 

 in which to kindle a successful fire, the exhibition 

 would have, no doubt, hastened full ten years 

 the development of the coal business. He reach- 

 ed home disgusted at the belligerent temper of 

 the citizens, and heart-sick at the ill success of 

 his adventure. His reputation as an honest man 

 was rescued, however, by an iron master inDela- 



I<'or the New England Farmer. 

 OLD FASHIONED BUTTER STOCS:. 



Forty years ago, a cow that yielded two pounds 

 of butter a day, with a little cream for the table, 

 was looked upon by such men as L*owell, Derby 

 and Parsons, as extraordinary, and worthy of 

 special admiration. From six to eight quarts 

 of her milk were said to have produced a pound 

 of butter. Now we hear of animals being bred 

 to order, that will produce double the quantity 

 of butter, from the same quantity of milk. I have 

 never met with such animals, nor have I ever 

 met any well attested statements of such pro- 

 ducts. 



As the season for shows is near at hand, it is 

 well to recur to first principles, and to guard 

 against being misled, by cunningly devised fables 

 of any kind. When I meet with a cow that does 

 as well as the one first mentioned, I am satisfied 

 she is a good cow, whatever may be her breed, 

 and I doubt whether any of the fancy stocks will 

 do better. *. 



LETTER PROM MR, BROWN. 



A BAY ON THE STATE FARM. 



Westboro', Mass., Sept. 1, 1858. 



Dear Sir : — Business, as well as inclination, 

 leads me to various portions of our good State, 

 and occasionally into other States, where I min- 

 gle freely with the farmers, observe their prac- 

 tices, stock, crops, modes of living, &c., and get 

 new facts and new courage myself as co-workers 

 in the progress of rural art. I have passed to- 

 day on the State Farm, in this town, and it is an 

 interesting day's work to look at the improve- 

 ments which have been made upon it, at the 

 stock and crops, and the school of reformation 

 which is established upon its grounds. 



The farm is managed by the State Board of 

 Agriculture, under the superintendence of Dea. 

 Samuel N. White, a gentleman of large expe- 

 rience in agricultural matters, of sound judg- 

 ment, and strongly imbued with the spirit of 

 progress and improvement. 



The farm consists of 285 acres, divided into 80 

 acres of plowable or tillage land, 36 of natural 

 mowing, or meadow, 40 of woodland, including 

 19 acres of swamp, and about 129 acres of pas- 

 ture land. The soil is varied, some of it being 

 light and sandy, probably once covered with a 



