20 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



Jan. 



is onal)led to minister to human suffering ; by 

 •which the manufacturer imparts the tints of 

 beauty to his fabrics ; by which the cutler tempers 

 the edge of the implements of labor. They direct 

 the engineer as he drives his car careering over 

 the land — or propels his ship against wind and 

 current. 



IXFLUENCE OF RAILROADS ON AGRICULTURE. 



One of the most striking manifestations of the 

 industrial enterprise of the age is in the struo-crle 

 man is now engaged in, with the obstacles pre- 

 sented by nature — in opening channels of commu- 

 nication, in laying down the pathways of trade 

 and commerce, in pioneering the way for the iron 

 rail and steam-engine. The vast stores of the In- 

 cas of Peru dwindle into insignificance compared 

 with the hundreds of millions that have been ex- 

 pended in these monuments of human industry in 

 the United States, in England in France; and 

 their march is onward towards the steppes of 

 Asia. In their construction man has achieved 

 victories over the elements, of which Archimedes 

 never dreamt. It was the boast of Napoleon, that 

 whilst Hannibal had scaled the Alps he had 

 turned them — but the engineer has done more 

 than either of these great conquerors ; he has 

 tunnelled them, not for the march of desolating 

 armies, but for the transit of the products of the 

 pursuits of peace— for the conveyance of the trav- 

 eller in comfort and safety beneath the roaring 

 avalanche above his head. And what are rail- 

 roads, but the veins and arteries, through which 

 the products of agriculture, either in their crude 

 state, or as fashioned in the workshop, circulate, 

 in seeking the market of commerce ? Whilst rail- 

 roads are dependent upon the products of agricul- 

 ture, yet the two are inseparably identified in in- 

 terest. They act and react on each other. It is 

 upon the productions of the field and the work- 

 shop that the railroad must rely for the materials 

 of freight, the very means of subsistence — but 

 then again, the construction of the railroad, by 

 the benefits conferred, in contiguity to market, 

 cheapening the cost of transportation, increased 

 convenience in procuring the comforts and luxu- 

 ries of life, affords a stimulus to the land-owner, 

 to improve his land to its highest capability of 

 production ; and as the jDroducts of the land are 

 increased, the railroad finds increased employ- 

 ment, and enhanced profits. 



CHANGE OF FOOD. 

 There appears to be, in all animals, a propen- 

 sity frequently to change their food, the periodi- 

 cal indulgence of which, within reasonable limits, 

 is highly conducive not only to the gratification 

 of the appetite, but to the promotion of health. 

 In our own species, this propensity is strikingly 

 displayed, and the necessity for its gratification is 

 incontestably demonstrated by th? fact that indi- 

 viduals confined for any considerable length of 

 time to the same diet, are much more liable to 

 disease and loss of health, than those who indulge 

 in a variety. This is evinced by the extreme prev- 

 alence of those fatal maladies attending long voy- 

 ages, where the seamen are necessarily restricted 

 for months to the same rations. Dogs, cats, and' 



other domesticated animals, confined for an an- 

 undue period to one sort of food, though it be of 

 a character naturally adapted to their wants, 

 have been known to sicken and die. The only ex- 

 ception to this rule, perhaps, is found in those 

 anomalous cases where the food is of the simplest 

 and most humble kinds ; as, for instance, the po- 

 tatoes of the Irish, and the no less simple aliment 

 of the people under the tropics. 



A consideration of this fact is of the greatest 

 consideration to farmers, who, though frequently 

 guided in the treatment of their domestic animals 

 by the most benevolent sympathies, are yet liable 

 to err, and commit involuntary mistakes on na- 

 ture, purely through a misconception of the ne- 

 cessities imposed by an irreversibie natural law. 

 In feeding cattle of all kinds, it will be found that 

 a variety of food ia always better than an unva- 

 ried course. The same article falls, by repetition, 

 upon the palate, and a dislike is engendered for 

 food, which, though nutritive and sapid enough 

 in itself, when craved by the appetite, long and 

 compulsory habituation deprived of all its natural 

 attractions, and invests with attributes that cause 

 it to be contemplated, even in hunger, with loath- 

 ing and disgust. 



FRENCH GARDEN IMPLEMENTS- 

 STONE-LABOR. 



I sometimes wonder that anything grows in 

 France, the tools used in gardening and in agri- 

 culture are so uncouth and unhandy. The hoe, 

 an instrument of constant use, has a handle but 

 two feet long, so that the hoer is obliged to bend 

 into the very earth, in order to reach the object 

 of his care. He thus has his back continually 

 horizontal — a position as laborious and painful 

 as it is degrading, for it gives to a man the ap- 

 pearance of a beast of the field, crawling on all 

 fours. The French spade is even worse. The 

 handle is straight, like the American hoe ; it is 

 not furnished with a hand-piece at the end, which 

 at home is thought to increase its efficiency two- 

 fold. This tool is a monstrous misapplication of 

 strength to labor, and, as might be supposed, per- 

 forms very small days' work. In fact, the spade 

 and the shovel are both one, whereas they ouglit 

 to be as distinct as poker and tongs. The rake, 

 an ornamental instrument at best, is furnished 

 with nails in the place of teeth ; but as it is often 

 double, being a rake on both sides, it is a tolera- 

 bly vigorous utensil. The watering-pot, on the 

 other hand, is a superior artiel.,'. It is constructed 

 on mechanical prineiplt'S. The two handles — the 

 carrying and the watering handles — form but one 

 handle, passing along the top to the side. The 

 gardener thus slides his hand from the one posi- 

 tion to the otlier, and may iiold a watering-pot 

 in each. The wheelbarrow is an ill-built affair, 

 and usually creaks. The mortar used in the con- 

 struction of stone walls is the best in the world. 

 In two hours it is harder than the stones it ce- 

 ments, and never, at any age, dues it crumble to 

 pieces. It is expensive, and even the wealthiest 

 proprietors resbrt to the following expedient to di- 

 minish their consumption of it. At every twenty 



