NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



341 



breaking. The lengths tested were ten feet. The 

 wire called " common " was the ordinary wire of 

 commerce, and is said to be made mostly from the 

 coarser sorts of iron. The " prepared " wire is made 

 from a tincr description of iron, is more carefully 

 manufactured, and is superior in quality to the 

 former. " Charcoal " wire is considered the best and 

 strongest of any of the qualities made. It is drawn 

 from iron which is worked chiefly by wood charcoal. 

 The " annealed " wire is considered " tlie very wor.st 

 that can be put into a fence. From its being soft, it 

 is readily stretched by any weight or pressure that 

 may be brought to bear against it ; and, as a conse- 

 quence, is thrown from one side to the other, as 

 stock may happen to touch it." It is said also to 

 oxidize or rust more easilj- than any other kinds. 



Common Wire. 



No. 8 broke with 590 lbs. ) -.tr-^v ^ ^-ui 



,, „ ., ,. o.i .< f Without perceptibly 



.. 4 .. .. 1269 " 5 stretching. 



Annealed Wire. 



605 lbs. — stretched about 4.^ inch. 



No. 8 broke with 

 " 6 " " 832 

 •' 4 " " 1282 



Prepared Wi)-e. 



No. 8 broke with 955 lbs. — stretched about 1 inch 



•• 6 " " 13cS0 " — " "I " 



•< 4 K « 2163 " — " "I " 



Charcoal Wi7-e. 

 No. 8 broke with 1264 lbs. 



" 6 " " 1762 '• 



" 4 " " 2656 " 



— Albany Cultivator. 



Stretched about the 

 same as prepared wire. 



IMPORTANCE OF AGRICULTURE. 



Agriculture has been aptly styled " the nursing 

 mother of all the arts." It is the basis, the soul of 

 our national prosperity. Commerce and manufac- 

 tures conduce, in a great measure, to wealth ; but the 

 cultivation of the soil ever has been, and ever will 

 continue to be, the fountain-head of all the streams 

 of a country's resources. 



There can be no strength in a state, and no moral 

 health among the peo])le, when the tillage of the 

 land is neglected. Wo can date the decay of power 

 and \irtue of many nations from the decline of their 

 agricultural industry. In Home, for instance, when 

 the wise ])oIicy of fostering agriculture was pursued, 

 a healthful spirit jicrvaded the whole state. Then 

 the laws were imiuirtially administered, and justice 

 done to all. Then labor was accounted honorable, 

 and statesmen, and generals, and philosophers cul- 

 tivated their farms with their own hands. It was 

 then that from among the tillers of the soil arose a 

 Rcgulus, a Cincinnatus, and an invincible soldiery. 

 It was then that the " seven-hilled city " breathed 

 defiance to her enemies, and caused nation after na- 

 tion to yield to the resistless power of her legions, 

 until the Roman eagle waved over the known world. 

 But when largesses of corn wore bestowed upon an 

 idle populace, when agriculture was neglected, and 

 war laid waste the fertile fields of Italy, then Roman 

 virtue and Roman vigor fled. Soon intrigue, vice, 

 and venality took firm hold in the state, until finally 

 the '• pale mother of empires " was abandoned to her 

 enemies, and the j)alaces of the Cicsars echoed the 

 tread of the victorious barbarian. History abounds 

 ;n examples illustrative of the important "fact, that 

 the enduring greatness of a nation is mainly foumled 

 upon its agriculture, and rulers will do well to in- 



crease the prosperity of those who swing the scj'the 

 and hold the plough. 



That country whicli does not possess Mithin itself 

 the means of affording subsistence to its own inhab- 

 itants, is, if we may trust the voice of experience, 

 destined to sink to early ruin. National power based 

 upon commerce alone, unsup])orted by a flourishing 

 industry, which ministers to human wants and grat- 

 ifications, must fall to the ground. Merely commer- 

 cial states, dependent upon contingcneic.-; for their 

 very life-blood, and imbued with that spirit of spec- 

 ulation which tends to enervate the body and corrupt 

 the mind, contain within their own bosoms the seeds 

 of dissolution. Phoenica, Carthago, Genoa, Venice, 

 and Holland of the sixteenth and seventeenth cen- 

 turies, all bear witness to this fact. There is much 

 truth in these verses of Goldsmith : — 



" Trade's proud empire hastes to swift decay, 

 As ocean sweeps the labored mole away; 

 "WTiile self-dependent power can time defy. 

 As rocks resist the billows and the sky." 



To her unsurpassed agriculture England is most 

 indebted for her support in the midst of those tre- 

 mendous pressures which so often have threatened 

 to crush her. It is the unparalleled cultivation of 

 her soil that has enabled the Uritish people, placed 

 upon a rock-bound i.sland, to excel the world in every 

 article of fabric, to maintain an unrivalled navy, and 

 l)lant their power in every quarter of the globe. 

 Firm are the foundations of the strength of that na- 

 tion, which in time of peace is nourished from the 

 resources of its own industry, and in war can rely 

 upon the strong arms and undaunted hearts of its 

 yeomanry, to sustain its rights in the din of strife or 

 in the roar of battle ! 



Upon agriculture, in addition to the necessaries 

 and common comforts of life, depends the success of 

 every other employment. It is agriculture that 

 builds up our crowded cities, covers our fields with 

 yellow grain, and diffuses life and vigor throughout 

 the land. It is agriculture that supjjorts our gigan- 

 tic manufactories, ringing from their basement to 

 their attic with the music of free labor, and causes 

 our ten thousand ships to dance upon every rolling 

 billow, and spread their sails to every propitious 

 gale. Says Lord Erskine, in his political romance 

 called Ajmata, " You might as well hope to see the 

 human body in active motion when palsy had 

 reached the heart, or a tree flourishing after its roots 

 were decayed, as expect to see manufactures, or arts, 

 or industry of any description, progressive, wlicn 

 agriculture has decUned." Paralyze it, and you 

 weaken the pulse of enterprise, stiffen the fingers of 

 machinery, and clip the wings of commerce. De- 

 stroy it, and you bury in one common grave national 

 power and individual prosperity. — Martin's Address 

 in ISinonian tSociety, Yale Collcje. 



DURABILITY AND DECAY OF PLANK 

 ROADS. 



A plank road may reejuire a removal, either because 

 it has worn out at top t)y the travel ujjon it, or be- 

 cause it has been destroyed at the bottom by rot. 

 But if the road has travel enough to make it profit- 

 able to its builders, it will wear out first, and if it 

 docs, it will have earned abundantly enough to re- 

 place it twice over, as we shall see presently. The 

 liability to decay is therefore a secondary considera- 

 tion on roads of importance. As to natural decay, 

 no hemlock road has been in use long enough to de- 

 termine how long the plank can be preserved from 

 rot. Seven years is perhaps a fair average. Differ- 

 ent species of hemlock vary greatly, and upland 



