390 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



AGRICULTURE. 



In few, if any, of the pursuits of life have there 

 been more improvements made, or a deeper inter- 

 est awakened, within the past few years, thtm in 

 that of agrii'ulture. It is well known that, until with- 

 in a very recent period, the employment of farming 

 was looked upon almost with contempt by nearly 

 every person who had any ambition to attain an ele- 

 vated position in the community. It was considered 

 as a fittini^ employment rather for the dull and stu- 

 pid, than for the ambitious man, or the man of taste 

 and science ; and, as is well known, in consequence 

 of this feeling, it was almost impossible for farmers' 

 sons, young men of energy and enterprise, to be re- 

 tained upon the old homestead, to pursue the plod- 

 ding course which their fathers had trodden before 

 them. 



But within the last dozen years, a great change in 

 public opinion has been made in regard to this mat- 

 ter. It has been discovered that agriculture is in 

 itself a science worthy the attention of the ablest 

 minds ; a science the thorough and practical under- 

 standing of which calls into operation more of the 

 physical and mental powers of man than most any 

 other, and which, rightly understood and practised, 

 is one of the most ennobling to the mind and heart 

 in which man can engage. It has also been made 

 clearly manifest that the " farming " of by-gone 

 days was not " agriculture," understood in its proper 

 sense ; that it was a perversion of the sense and 

 meaning of the term, and that the principles of the 

 science were almost unknown to those who called 

 themselves farmers. To be sure, farmers then, as 

 now, ploughed, planted, sowed, and reaped. If they 

 got an abundant harvest, it was good luck ; if their 

 harvest failed, it was bad luck. Besides a few old 

 women's whims, they had no reason to give, either 

 for success in the one case, or failure in the other. 

 The analysis of soils for the purpose of ascertaining 

 their adaptation to a particular crop was unthought 

 of. Chemistry, geology, botany, entomology, and 

 zoology, with other sciences, were as sealed books 

 to the farmer, and for the want of a knowledge of 

 them the earth withheld her richest stores. But 

 now these "sister sciences" have lent their aid to 

 agriculture. The hidden treasures of the earth have 

 been wrung from her sterile bosom, and the reward 

 of the toils of the husbandman has been increased 

 a hundi'cd fold. 



The contrast between the present and the past is 

 indeed striking. The farmer of the present day who 

 understands not the science of his calling, and can- 

 not account for the different phenomena in the various 

 departments, which in his every-day experience he en- 

 counters, is behind the age. The reasons Avhich, a doz- 

 en years ago, husbandmen would have advanced and 

 stoutly maintained for this success or that failure, thej- 

 would now blush to own. Instead of being carried on 

 in the dark, hap-hazard, the business is now conducted 

 by the light of science, and in accordance with well- 

 known principles. This is it which has raised the 

 calling so much and so rapidly in public estimation — 

 has caused it to be considered as an emplojTnent 

 worthy the attention of the most cultivated and en- 

 lightened of the human race — and has made it so 

 popular, that there is hardly a class in the community, 

 ii-om the highest to the lowest, the members of which 

 are not often heard wishing most earnestly for the 

 time to come when they can lay aside the vexatious 

 cares of " business," and retire to their beau ideal of 

 oarthly happiness — "a smiff little farm." 



A gratifying feature of this awakened interest in 

 the impi-nvcment of agriculture i« tlic fact that it is 

 not conliufd to one state, or one section of the country, 

 t.wt extends in a greater or less degree to nearly all 

 stitions of our land. In the New England States, 



any one who has had occasion to travel for any dis- 

 tance cannot have failed to have discovered this im- 

 provement. In other sections of the country, it is 

 doubtless as clearly perceptible. In New York, wc 

 know that much has been accomplished — that the 

 state, with a praiseworthy liberality, has contributed 

 liberally from her resources to improve and advance 

 the cause of agriculture. Other states have done the 

 same, and the good effect can be easily seen. 



A writer truly remarks, that, " notwithstanding 

 what has been accomplished, we are yet but in our 

 infancy as to improvement." The work is yet to go 

 on, until results will be attained, at which the faith 

 of the most sanguine of the present day would 

 waver. That this will be the case, we have no doubt ; 

 that it may be, and that with it the noble yeomanry 

 of our land may be elevated to that position to which 

 their calling entitles them, is a wish in which every 

 class in the community ought most heartily to join. 

 — Boston Journal. 



REFINING SUGAR- NEW DISCOVERY. 



A discovery has been made in the refining of sugar, 

 of as much importance to domestic economy as any 

 improvement that has been introduced during the 

 last fifty years. 



The sirup, or common brown sugar, is taken from 

 the boilers, and again mixed with molasses, till it as- 

 sumes a semi-fluid consistence, and in two minutes, 

 without the use of heat or any drug, is refined into 

 the state of the finest crusted loaf sugar. In the old 

 process, the refining took nearly three weeks, to- 

 gether with a great expense of labor, fuel, machinery, 

 and buildings. 



This process, as we understand it, is simply admit- 

 ting the sirup into a cylindrical sieve containing 

 about two hundred pounds, the meshes of which are 

 so fine that the crystalline particles cannot pass, and, 

 giving it a rotary motion of about two thousand revo- 

 lutions per minute ; the centrifugal force drives off 

 the liquid, and leaves the sugar pure, and, what is 

 still more singular, dry enough for market. 



The annual consumption of refined sugar in this 

 country is more than a hundred millions of pounds. 

 A saving of one penny per pound to the consumer 

 would be a million of dollars per year. 



The o^^^lers of this discovery, which has been pat- 

 ented, are Messrs. Aspinwall and Woolsey, of New 

 York. The action of the discovery has been fully 

 tested at Mr. Hartson's works, Vcsey Street, New 

 York, before a large number of practical and scien- 

 tific gentlemen, when two hundred pounds of very 

 impure sirup were perfectly converted into pure crys- 

 tals of sugar in two minutes. These facts are con- 

 densed from the New York Sun. — Biiral New- 

 Yorker. 



SHOEING HORSES. 



It appears that the practice of shoeing horses was 

 brought into England about the time of William the 

 Conqueror. It is said that Welbeck, in Nottingham- 

 shire, belonged to a Saxon chief named Gamelbere, 

 who held it on condition of shoeing the king's pal- 

 frey, whenever he should lie at the manor of Mans- 

 field, and that, if he should lame the palfrey, he 

 should give the king another worth four marks. 

 William the Conqueror is said also to have given the 

 town of Northampton, as a fief, to a certain person, in 

 consideration of his paying a certain sum yearly for 

 the shoeing of his horses ; and it is generally believed 

 that Henry do Ferrers, who came over with William, 

 and whose descendants still bear on their arms six 

 horseshoes, received that surname because he was 



