1855. 



NEW ENGLAND lAKMER. 



325 



For the New England Farmer. 



Mr. Editor : — My husband has for several 

 years been a subscriber to the New Enc/land Far- 

 mer, and I am a constant render of its pages. I 

 have taken the liberty to send you a copy of my 

 scribbling on "Spring." It is a homely produc- 

 tion, I am well aware ; but if you think it is not 

 too late in the season, and is any way worth a 

 place in the corner of your paper, I shall be glad 

 to see it published. 



Yours respectfully, Myra Mvrtle. 



SPRING. 



The psets they sing of the beauty of Spring, 



But they don't sing you half of the story ; 

 The poets they tell of the flowers in the dell, 



Uut they don't tell j-ou half of Spring's glory. 



Why ! each old granny goose and the hens on the roost 

 Know full well when the Spring time is coming ; 



So each builds her a nest, and then lays like "possessed," 

 Sits, and soon with her young is seen running. 



There's the Utters of pigs, dancing gallopade jiga 



To music of their own creating ; 

 There's the old turkey gob, strutting round like a "snob," 



On hia flocks of young long-legs is waiting. 



Then the calTes in the stable, fat and plump for the table. 



Are a part of the beauties of Spring ; 

 And the flocks of young Iambs, frisking after their dams. 



Ah ! their bleatings make music again. 



Tlie wild geese flying o'er to some far northern shore. 



Crying on, on, as onward they fly ; 

 The old mother hen's clucks and the quacking of ducks 



Is music to both you and I. 



Vcs, the poets they sing of the beauties of Spring, 



But they don't sing you half of the story ; 

 The poets they tell of the flowers in the dell. 



But tliey don't tell you half of Spring's glory. 

 Somerset, Mass. 



For the Aew England Farmer. 



THINGS IN WISCONSIN. 



Mr. Editor : — A communication from my pen 

 appeared in the columns of a late number of your 

 paper, the result of which is that the last two 

 mails have brought me about _^Vy letters of in- 

 quiry, all requesting information of a cliaracter 

 so similar, that, with your permission, I will give 

 a general reply through the medium of your pa- 

 per. I design to be as brief as possible in reply- 

 ing to the questions proposed, and my communi- 

 cation must necessarily appear somewhat inco- 

 herent, except to those particularly interested. 



Laud for sale here is government land, and can 

 be purchased at a distance of from 2 to 10 miles 

 from the river at $1.00 an acre. No credit is 

 given on land, and yo/J only taken in payment. 

 Tlie most that one purchaser can take up at that 

 price is 320 acres, and lie must then make oath 

 that be wants it for actual occupation. Persons 

 who have not cash to pay down, can pre-empt 

 160 acres, or less, and ))y commencing improve- 

 ments upon it within 30 days, can secure it for 

 one year. If not paid for at the end of the year, 

 it is sul)jcct to entry by any other person. Oak 

 openings are tracts of land sparsely covered with 

 timber, and free from under brush. Prairie and 

 timber land, in juxtaposition, can be found in 

 large quantities. There is plenty of wood for 

 fuel and iences. No coal has yet been discovered 

 in this vicinity. The soil is a dark loam, per- 



fectly free from stones, easy of cultivation, and 

 adapted to wlieat, corn, rye, oats, barley, potatoes, 

 &c. Fruit, of all kinds, will grow here as well 

 as in any part of New England, if we except the 

 peach, which has not yet, to my knowledge, been 

 tried. 



All the surplus produce raised by the farmer 

 can be sold at his door, and is consumed by im- 

 migrants and laborers in the pineries. There arc 

 no houses ready for the reception of immigrants. 

 Two men, in two or three days, will tiirow up a 

 log cabin, or a board shanty, that will he tolera- 

 bly comfortable, and such are in general use in 

 all new countries. Lumber can be obtained at 

 $22 a $25 in the yard, and for $1-1 a $16 at 

 the pineries on the Black and Chippewa rivers. 

 The country is generally healthy. Most of the 

 diseases are connected, more or less, with biliary 

 derangement — some cases of fever and ague, but 

 healthy immigrants are seldom troubled with it. 

 There is no wet, marshy land in this vicinity, or 

 in this part of the State. We have no parks or 

 commons laid out in our town. He who piled 

 up the hills and scooped out the valleys of this 

 locality, has forever rendered all such places un- 

 necessary. The current of the river, at this 

 place, is about four knots an hour. 



Without particularizing the prices of provis- 

 ions, it may be safely calculated that the price of 

 living here is 50 per cent cheaper than in New 

 England. Stoves can be purchased here at about 

 eastern prices, adding cost of transportation. 



Oxen, measuring 6^ feet, are worth from $110 

 to $125; cows, $25 to $40; horses, $100 to 

 $200. Carpenters and masons, good workmen, 

 get $1.75 to $2.00. Persons coming from New 

 England should purchase tickets through to Ga- 

 lena. There are several routes at about the same 

 expense, and persons can make their own selec- 

 tion. From Galena, by steam to our landing. 

 It is on the direct route to Minnesota, and per- 

 sons wishing to visit that country, can do so by 

 taking Winneshiek on the route. Fare from 

 Boston to this place about $33. 



Hoping the infoi-mation herein communicated 

 satisfactory to all inquiries, I close. 



Yours truly, James Osgood. 



Winneshiek, Bad Ax Co., Wis., April 18, 1855. 



For the New England Farmer. 



CALVES MASKED BY FIRST SIRE. 



Mr. Editor : — On looking over the well-ar- 

 ranged pages of the Agriculture of Massachu- 

 setts, page 273, it is said, to be "an established 

 fact, that calves possess the distinctive traits of 

 character which prevailed in the animal that 

 first impregnated the heifer that bure them." 

 By which, I understand that all the oilspring of 

 the same mother will be more or less marked Avith 

 the peculiarities of the sire of the first calf. As- 

 sertions of this kind I have more than once seen, 

 but never before in a form so authoritative. Can 

 :this be a law of generation, among animals? If 

 true in animals, why not true in other classes of 

 beings? The principle is too important to be as- 

 sumed without ample jjroof. It was long ago 

 , said that "one swallow docs not make a sum- 

 mer." I confess, that I was a little started at 

 the assertion, without any note cxplanatoi'y. I 

 think the cautious editor of the volume would 



