1855. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



85 



a fair trial, and shall in due time, with your per- 

 mission, rejjort the result. Will not others do 

 the same ? E. IIeksey. 



Hingham, Mass., 1855. 



Remarks. — This subject is one of much impor- 

 tance, and ought to receive more attention. We 

 have not the statistics at hand to show what the 

 amount is, but the sums are very large which are 

 annually sent out of the country for willow. We 

 more than suspect that the idea that willow can- 

 not be raised with profit in this country, has 

 been industriou,sly circulated by interested par- 

 ties. We hope to hear from our obliging corres- 

 pondent on this subject again. We have speci- 

 mens of his growth of willows now before us, 

 very smooth and even, and about nine feet in 

 length. 



For the New Enf^land Farmer. 



AN AGRICULTURAL GLIMPSE OF 

 WASHINGTON CITY. 



U Y HENRY F . FRENCH. 



My Dear Brown : — " This is a great country," 

 as the orators all say, and one is not obliged to 

 go out of it to see sights quite unfamiliar to 

 many who read the Farmer. 



A glance at so much of the agriculture of this 

 region as may be seen on Pennsylvania Avenue, 

 the great thoroughfare between the Capitol and 

 the Presidential mansion, would illustrate a favor- 

 ita idea of your own that " there are different 

 fasliions in different places," in a manner that 

 would amuse a jMassachusetts or New Hampshire 

 farmer. I have just taken a walk through the city, 

 and on my way passed through the market, which 

 is more crowded than usual on account of approach- 

 ing Christmas, which is regarded, with the remain- 

 ing days of the month and New Year's day, as a 

 festival season, not only by members of Congress, 

 but by the miscellaneous crowd, of all colors, 

 who inhabit this groat city. And let me say, in 

 passing, if we New England people would set 

 apart more time for social amusement, instead of 

 devoting it all to working and sleeping, we should 

 find it for our advantage. 



Let me try my daguerreotype upon a few ob- 

 jects presented by the great avenue on a market 

 morning. There comes a load of hay, drawn by 

 an ox-team. There are four animals, called oxen ; 

 two of them are of a grizzly white, witliout liorns, 

 and the others of dark colors, with long horns. 

 Tliey all look of different ages, ranging from 

 three to ten, and, from some principle of taste 

 that prevails here in such matters, each yoke is 

 made up of a white and a dark-colored ox, a 

 horned and a hornless one. They are all small, 

 and poor as skeletons. The yokes are nearly 

 straight, about such as you could hew out of a 

 four inch joist with a broad axe, and look as if 



they would answer just as well either side up. 

 The bows are small sticks, with the hark on, and 

 one end of each is nearly a foot longer than the 

 other, with the slanting cut of the axe on each, 

 showing that the length is just as the stick was 

 originally cut. A rope is attached to the horn of 

 the near ox of the forward yoke, wherewith to 

 pull them round, so that the team need not in- 

 dulge their constant propensity to run away from 

 the driver, when they ought to haw. The cart 

 has small, narrow wheels, Avith two sticks of 

 round timber for sills, and two sets of hoops on 

 each side, bent into the form of half circles, and 

 the ends thrust into the sills, to form the sides 

 of the cart. 



The load consists of not more than half a ton 

 of hay, on the top of which sits " a gentleman 

 from Africa," with a pole about twelve or fifteen 

 feet long, with the bark on, and a line of no par- 

 ticular length on the end of it for a lash. This 

 is the driver, and he whips the oxen most of the 

 time, while two other darkies, a small and a big 

 one, seem to act as an advance guard, sometimes 

 riding on the load, but, in case of emergency, 

 running to the off side, to scare the team round, 

 Avhen a pull on the rope is not sufficient. Riding 

 at a short distance behind, on horseback, is a 

 white man, who probably owns the entire set of 

 quadrupeds and bipeds above described, and who 

 finds it necessary to be near enough to take the 

 pay for the hay when sold. The hay is worth 

 " a dollar and a lev)/" a hundred, or twenty-two 

 and a half dollars a ton. And so this tasteful 

 procession moves up the spacious street, amid 

 gilded coaches with splendid horses, and servants 

 in livery, while the paved walks on either side are 

 crowded with " fair Avomen and brave men," in 

 rich attire of laces and furs and velvets, in- 

 terspersed with negroes and occasional pigs, to 

 correspond with the variety of the carriage ways. 



There is a load of wood, of about half a cord, 

 on a wagon drawn by two mules and two horses — 

 not a pair of mules and a pair of horses, but a 

 mule and a horse in each span. The pole of the 

 wagon is very long and nearly touches the pave- 

 ment, while the forward animals are so far off of 

 the hinder ones, that they hardly appear to be- 

 long to the same establishment. Upon tho near 

 wheel beast, on an old saddle, rides the driver, 

 Avith a short cart whip. lie is a negro or mu- 

 latto, and keeps up a contiiuial discoiirso Avith 

 his cattle, Avhich they understand better than I. 



Tho collars, like most of those used for mere 

 labor, are of braided straAV, and the hamcs of 

 Avood. The reins of most of the horses about the 

 market are of hempen cord. Indeed, the Avhole 

 fitting out of a negro servant for market — man, 

 beast, cart and harness, is of tho jworest that 



