102 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



Feb. 



HAS THE MOON AN ATMOSPHERE ? 



Tlic ut;trunomical world has been a lung time in 

 doubt wliuthm- the moon has an atmosphere or 

 not, though tlic most accredited opinion is that it 

 has not, ;i.t least, none of sufficient density to con- 

 form to our optical laws and the demands of any 

 animal life known to us. The New York Courier 

 announces, on the authority of " one of the most 

 eminent mathematicians and astronomers of the 

 world," tiiat the side of the moon nearest this 

 world is sixteen miles higher than the other. If, 

 therefore, we sujjpose that the moon has an at- 

 mosphere sucli as ours, it would be of such ex- 

 treme rarity on the only side exposed to our ob- 

 seryatiou, that fur optical effect and animal life it 

 might as well nut exist. For 'mountains upon 

 the earth, none of which are over five miles al)ove 

 the level of tliesea, iiave been ascended to a height 

 at which life could not be supported for any 

 length of time, and still mountains have stretched 

 above the panting traveller, \yhat, then, must 

 be the atmosphere at four times such an eleva- 

 tion. The conclusion seems inevitable that, al- 

 though the hither side of the moon is uninhabita- 

 ble for want of an atmosphere, the remote side 

 may be perfectly adapted to animal life. It is 

 at least certain that the mere want of an atmos- 

 phere perceptiljle to us is no longer conclusive as 

 to the uninhabitableness of the planet that rules 

 the night. — Phil. Ledger. 



HON. MARSHALL P. WILDER. 



Under the head of " Mercantile Biography," 

 Hunt's Merchants^ Magazine for January contains 

 a rapid sketch of the life and various pursuits of 

 the gentleman named above, together with a most 

 life-like portrait. In the Courier we find a con- 

 densed notice from the article in the Magazine 

 which we subjoin. 



" Mr. Wilder has been a successful merchant 

 in Boston, for thirty years, and is now of the re- 

 spectable and well-known firm of Parker, Wilder 

 & Co., 5 Pearl Street. Mr. AVilder is a Director 

 in the Hamilton Bank, the National Insurance 

 Company, the New England Life Insurance Com- 

 pany, and other like institutions — in the first two 

 of which he has held office for more than twenty 

 years. Although trade has been his chief busi- 

 ness, and to which he has made all other pursuits 

 subordinate, 3'et by a rigid economy of time, and 

 a strict adherence to system, he has been enabled 

 to contribute extensively for the promotion of the 

 agriculture and horticulture of our country. At 

 the present time he holds the offices of Pi-esident 

 of the United States Agricultural Society, of the 

 American Pomological Society, and of the Norfolk 

 Agricultural Society. lie is also a member of the 

 State Board of Agriculture, and was eight years 

 President of the Massachusetts Horticultural So- 

 ciety. He has filled other important offices, both 

 civil and military ; has been President of the 

 Senate, and nu'inber of the Executive Council. 

 Few men have done so much for the cause of rural 

 improvement, and to elevate the profession of the 

 farmer. Well does his biographer remark : "His 

 valuable services in the cause of agriculture and 

 of horticulture have made him extensively known 

 on both sides of the Atlantic, especially to the 



yeomanry of the United State. His virtues have 

 a practical existence, l^enefiting and ennobling the 

 whole community ; and his name will fill a page 

 in history that will suffer no detriment by the 

 lapse of years, and which will have its interpreter 

 on every hillside and in every valley where rural 

 taste aud refinement are found." 



We know Col. Wilder well, and have long be- 

 lieved that few men " magnify tlieir office " with 

 more untiring fidelity, or with more practical 

 benefit to the world. His labors, aside from his 

 legitimate pursuits, as a horticulturist, and in 

 fact every kind of culture of the earth, have been 

 constant and earnest, and have promoted the 

 cause in many ways. We have room at present 

 for only a few of the paragraphs of the very in- 

 teresting biography. 



" A more familiar acquaintance with Mr. 

 Wilder's natural endowments and private habits, 

 discloses the manner in which he has been enabled 

 to make so extensive attainments, and to pursue 

 objects so various. Blessed by nature with quick 

 perceptive faculties, and unusual versatility of 

 mind, he acquires with ease and rapidity, and 

 readily applies his acquisitions to his numerous 

 and varied employments. Besides, he is a rigid 

 economist of time, a close adherent to system. 

 Every hour has its appropriate business, which is 

 attended to in its appointed season. In the even- 

 ing and at early dawn, he is in his well-selected 

 and valuable library, either investigating subjects 

 which the labors and scenes of the past day have 

 suggested, or planning the business of the ap- 

 proaching day. 



" In 1840, he was elected President of the 

 Massachusetts Horticultural Society, an office 

 which he filled with honor to himself and that 

 association for eight years. During his adminis- 

 tration, it greatly increased in the number of its 

 members, in its resources, usefulness and respect- 

 ability. It erected its beautiful hall in School 

 Street, at the laying of the cornei'-stone, and the 

 dedication of which he delivered appropriate 

 speeches. It held two triennial festivals in Fan- 

 euil Hall, occasions which congregated the elite 

 of city and country, and which will long be re- 

 membered for their luxurious entertainments, and 

 for their soul-stirring speeches from Webster, 

 Everett, and other chief masters of eloquence. 

 When he retired from the office, ihe society ac- 

 companied its resolutions of thanks with a silver 

 service, as a substantial testimonial of its grati- 

 tude for his valuable labors. 



"In 1851, Mr. Wilder, with others, called a 

 convention of delegates from local agricultural 

 in the State to meet them in the State House, in 

 Boston, and of that body he was chosen presi- 

 dent. This, with the preceding action, led to the 

 creation of a permanent Board of Agriculture by 

 the Legislature, sustaining a similar relation to j| 

 this industrial art as the Board of Education does T 

 to the system of common instruction — having its 

 own laws and secretary, and constituting a co-or- 

 dinate branch of State government. Of this 

 Board, Mr. Wilder has been a member from the 

 beginning, and has taken a prominent part in all 

 its deliberations and actions. It has a depart- 

 ment in the capitol, with a secretary who super- 

 intends the farm connected with the State Reform 



