130 



NKW ENGLAND FARMER, 



November 7, 1832. 



soon as he l>ecoines senseless and motionless, the 

 feathers are snipped from his hroad breast, and he 

 is placed in a large nest \vith as many cg^gs in it 

 as his liody can eover, in ilie position taken hy the 

 hen herself while hateliing. When he recovers 

 fiom the stupor, the pressure of the warm eggs 

 against liis naked breact, seems to occasion an 

 agreeable sensation, which detaijis hiin on the 

 nest the full period of iiunibation. Why he con- 

 (iaucs liis care to the chickens after they cscajJO 

 from the shell, is best known to hinisrlf, — hnt you 

 sae the fact before you, and the practice of thus 

 substituting the male for the female is general in 

 this country." 



Now, Mr Editor, all I ask of you and your 

 readers is to try before vou deny the truth of this 

 siory. " HENRY PERRINE. 



SepUmber, 1833. 



VILLAGE LYCEUM. 



First Floor. 



Every year and almost every day is placing 

 these social and republican institutions upon a 

 luore permanent foundation. Experience is con- 

 stantly bringing up now measures to increase their 

 interest and extend their usefulness. And no two 

 steps are probably more important, than the erec- 

 tion of commodious buildings, and a system of cir- 

 cuit teaching, eaeh eminently calculated to aid the 

 other, and both united capable of insuring com- 

 plete success in any town or village iu the United 



States, where the tv\o measures shall be adopted 

 A Lyceimi building, furnished with apparatus, 

 collections in natural and artificial production 

 books, &c, coidd not fail to give interest to the inj 

 struptions of a circuit teacher, who should u 

 them in 6 or 12 towns in succession ; and the ai 

 of an experienced teacher, even if it was but onci 

 a fortnight, mustrender the personal and mutual e 

 forts of his pupils in the use of their intellectual 

 tools, doubly efficient and intcrcsLing. 



Subjoined will be seen the plan of a'Village Ly 

 ccum, representing the rooms in the first and seconi 

 stories. On the lower floor, is the hall, or public 

 leclure-rooni, the laboratory, and the cabinet; on 

 the second floor, are two class-rooms, two recita- 

 tion rooms, and a closet for dei)Ositiiig such aiijjar- 

 atus, books, &c, as may be needed from time to 

 time in the upjier rooms. 



Suppose that a circuit teacher was to spend half 

 a day in giving instruction to a Lyceum, and es- 

 pecially in aiding tlie members to instruct each 

 other. The first exercise might he a lecture on 

 Astronomy,Geology, Geography, Geometry, Gram 

 mar. Arithmetic, or any other useful subject, to 

 both sexes, and all classes and ages, who might 

 be disposed to hear it. After this general lecture, 

 the Lyceum might be dispersed into the several 

 rooms, according to their classes, and |)ursue such 

 subjects as they might severally think most expe- 

 pedient. Thus, Writing, Composition, Geometry, 

 and Arithmetic, might be going on at the same 

 time in the difll>rent rooms, the teacher having a 

 general oversight of the whole. 



Suppose that fiftytwo half days in a year for 

 ten years be spent in that way by a young l;idy or 

 gentleman, commencing at ten years of age ; and 

 who can doubt but that in nine times out of ten 

 they would procure a far better education, than 

 they could in three years at an academy, at one 

 quarter of the expense ? 



If the citizens of any town or village shoiiid 

 doubt their ability to procure these accommodi- 

 tions for social and practical knowledge, they a c 

 requested to turn to the fourth nuuibcr of the I"iu;i- 

 ilv Lyceum, or otherwise to examine the econony 

 of such institutions, and they will find, that momy 

 thus invested will jiay two hundred per cent in 

 gold and silver, to say nothing about the profit, tli; 

 pleasure, and tlie dignity of well cultivated miiicis 

 and hearts. 



A moment's examination must convince an;' 

 one, that there is not a town or village in the Uni- 

 ted States, where a commodious Lyceum buildiiij 

 would not be good property. In our older settle- 

 inents, they are imjiorlant, and ca.sily procured ; in 

 newly settled countries, they are nearly indispen- 

 sable, as some ])laces for educatiou and religious 

 worship are necessary, and as it is diflicult at the 

 outset to procure all the public buildings which 

 might be desirable. 



A Lyceum would not only furnish accommoda- 

 tions for a system of circuit teaching, to be given 

 once in one or two weeks, but it might be used 

 for a daily school, and for religious worship on the 

 sabbath ; and through most of the western states 

 furnish better acoommodations than are at present 

 provided. 



It may be asked how these Lyceums can be 

 erected ? To this question the answer is short. 

 Let fifty persons each take a share of twentyfive 

 dollars ; or a smaller number take fifty shares of 

 twentyfive dollars each, and it would raise $1,250, 



wliich in a large majority of cases, would be suf- 

 ficient. In the most newly settled places, where 

 it might be diflicult to raise even that sum of 

 money, the labor, timber, and other stock, con- 

 iiitcd by the citizens, might answer as a sub- 

 stitute. Ill one Way or another, such a building 

 le procured without inconvenience in each 

 of the five thousand towns in the northern States, 

 and one at least in every county in all the states 

 at the west and south. And however it maybe 

 procured, the history of every eoiunuinity since the 

 first city was built hy Enoch and called by his 

 own name, jiroves that it would be for the pecun- 

 iary, no less than the intellectual and moral pros- 

 perity of those who might provide it for lliem- 

 sclves and their posterity. 



What portion of a community need fail of re- 

 ceiving instruction and enterttiinment from such a 

 ])lace of social and intellectual resort? Could 

 not the farmer resort to it fur special instruction iu 

 agriculture from his fellow laborers, as well as for 

 a knowledge of general science by professional 

 teachers.' Might not mechanics also hold there 

 sjH'cial meetings? And might not each Lyceum he 

 a Teachers' Seminary, where those living in the 

 vicinity might meet, and aid each other in their 

 responsible and dignified lu'ofession ? Might not 

 ladies resort thither once a week during the sum- 

 mer, and receive the water of life from the same 

 fountain ? And J\Tothers, too ; where could they 

 go, to receive so much benefit from each other, in 

 tliiir dignified charge, their holy office, as at the 

 Village Lyceum, where everything might be found 

 calculated to enlarge and gratify those deathless 

 pirits to wbii'li they gave existence, as they were 

 St budding for immortality? What man, what 



scr, bet- 

 ledge ? 

 Of what town, village or neighboihood, will the 

 citizens withhold their hands li'om a work, which 

 will insure to themselves and their posterity the 

 blessings of wealth, and the dignity and happiness 

 of enlightened minds, and pure and elevated 

 heaj'ts. — Family Lyceum. 



V — • "^ — — ,-......., 



list budding for immortality? Whatman, 

 yonian, what chilil, might not be made wisci 

 ttr, niid happier, by such a fountain of knowh 



SILK IN NEW-HAMPSHIRE. 



[Extract of a letter from James Walkkr, Esq. of Frye- 

 burg, Me. to the Editor of the New England Farmer.] 



By the information I have received in your pa- 

 ])er, I ha\e begun the cultivation of silk. 1 have 

 reeled and njade one small skein of sewing silk 

 this season, and hope to iTiake a few ounces the 

 next. I do not claim to be the first in the state, 

 but I am the first, 1 believe, in tliis vicinity. How 

 profitable it will he, time only must determine. I 

 find no insurmountable ilifl^icnllies in the business. 



I was the first that ever cultivated hops to any 

 considerable amount iu ?dassachusetts or New 

 Hampshire, and there were as many observations 

 made about the growing of hops when I began it 

 on the firm where I now live, thirtythree years 

 since, as there are now about silk. One of my 

 neighhois frankly told me that he thought it was 

 like mailing cornstalk molasses in the time of the 

 old Revolutionary war, to stop the West India 

 trade inthat article. If I succeed as well in the 

 silk hostess as I have in hops, I shall think my 

 labor net lust. 



[Extractbf a letter from Henry Corse, Esq, oI Mon- 

 treal,(o the Editor of the New England Farmer.] 

 " I an much gratified at the continued attention 



that hoticultural afi'airs appear to receive in your 



