398 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



Sept. 



never complain thit our lots are not "cast in pleas- 

 ant places," and that we have "not a goodly heri- 

 tage." H. F. F. 

 Chester, JV. K, July, 1855. 



A WORD ABOUT STUMPS. 



Some tilings, according to King Solomon, are 

 enough to make "a ivise man mad." I know not 

 whether it be wise or unwise, but I have often been 

 vexed ^\^th stumps, with whole fields of stumps, 

 and sometimes Avith even one, which has stood lilie 

 a lubber, right in my way, to bruise toes or hiu'l my 

 wheel aside. I have a grudge against these defor- 

 mities, which I may carry too tar. I was riding 

 years ago m Ohio, a stump capsized the stage and 

 crippled me for months, and there my grudge be- 

 gan. Riding awhile after in a stormy night, the 

 stiigeman planted his axle flat on the top of a huge 

 pine stump, which stood then, and I dare say, stands 

 now right in the centre of a Western road ; this 

 led to hard words between driver and "all hands," 

 and my grudge was confirmed. We are an amaz- 

 ing free people, we love and hate what we please. 

 Some men love their deformities, and some farmers 

 seem to love their stumps, and bequeath them as 

 heir looms to their cliildren. De giLst'ibus non est 

 disputandum. I marvel, however, at their taste. 

 It reminds me of the young lady, Avho on a wami 

 night in August, said she could "not see for her life 

 why people so much object to the smell of a 

 skuioli !" Some wonder why I object to stumps, whilst 

 others, I am happy to say, are in full sympathy 

 with me. 



I am glad to see evidence, that here and there a 

 farmer is "stirring his stumps." I have just seen 

 the exploits of Mr. Willis' Stump Extractor, at 

 Orange, Mass., where he has began to manufacture 

 the article on a large scale. 



I am satisfied this machine has prodigious power. 

 One of common size, it is computed, has a purchase 

 of 336 tons, and tliis it seems may be increased al 

 most beyond computation, so as to Imrl out the 

 biggest monster imbedded in the soil ! 



I am satisfied, it can be worked very rapidly 

 Three men can do as much Avork with it, as fifty or 

 perhaps a hundred can do without it. Well work 

 ed, I am told, it will turn out a lusty stump each 

 ten minutes, hour by hour. I am satisfied tliis ma- 

 chine is much needed, even in New England, and 

 still more in the jMiddle, Southern and Western 

 States. It has made many fields laAAii-hke and beau- 

 tiful, in and around Orange, and if brought into re- 

 quisition, it can do the same from Maine to Georgia. 

 The cost is something, but not frightful. A good 

 machine, with the exclusive right to use it in any 

 one toAvii in the union, costs $150 or $200, no more. 

 This is less than the price of a I'iano, less than the 

 price of the gold watch, with "fixins," which dangle 

 from the pocket of many a fop ! One machine may 

 serve a whole town ; and a tax of $200 levied on a 

 score of enterprising farmers, would be no killing 

 affiir. One young man in a town hard by me, has 

 made piu'chase, and is now Morking the machine day 

 by day at a clean jn-ofit, of from $3 to $5. What 

 work, what sport is more lively and amusing than 

 "ousting" stumps P What agricultural work will 

 pay half as well ? 



A man is liliud, he needs a candle at noon-day, 

 who does ilot see that he had better pay for a ma- 



chine from his own purse, and give the use of it to 

 his neighbors, than have a half a dozen acres of his 

 best fields occupied and defaced with stumps all the 

 days of his life. $200 will place this machine and 

 town right within the reach of every group of re- 

 spectable farmers, hence stumps have now no such 

 right to mar "fair creation," as in past times. 



I thinlv Mr. Willis, the patentee, a benefactor ; 

 his patent will make rough places smooth, make 

 two, yes, ten thousand spears of gi-ass gi"ow where 

 but one grew before, and jjrove an element in the 

 great progress of cirilization. 



A gentleman from Valparaiso, deputed by the 

 Chilian government, has purchased four machines, 

 which are now on their way to those semi-barbarous 

 regions ; it is to be hoped our excellent fanners 

 will take the hint, apply this machine to some mil- 

 lions of stumps which pain our eyes on the right 

 and left, wherever Ave travel. Geatlemen, "up and 

 at um." — JVoi-thern Sentinel. 



For the Netr England Farmer. 



"LUNAR INFLUENCES." 



Mr. Editor : — Though not a subscriber to your 

 very valuable paper, nor even being permitted to 

 peruse its columns regularly, my eye rests occa- 

 sionally on an article Avhich attracts my attention. 

 And among others, that series of articles w'hich have 

 ajipeared from the pens of diflerent contributors, 

 for a fcAV Aveeks past, on "Lunar Influences," struck 

 me as a question Avliich may yet be one of mterest 

 and imjiortance to the agriculturist. From actual 

 experience I camiot say anything, and some may 

 reject my remarks as of little value, citing the old 

 adage : "Experience is the best master." Very 

 Avell. But from the known fact of the "mfluence" 

 of the moon on the tides, may we not reason from 

 analogy that further investigations may bring to 

 light influences operating on other substances ? I 

 am of the opinion that tins Avay of treating an)'- 

 thing new Avith ridicule, is, to say the least, a poor 

 means for gaining one's point. " *," who writes in the 

 Farmer, (July 7,) resorts to this means. He is 

 most assuredly entitled to his "opinions heretofore 

 entertained ;" but his reference to the influence of 

 the Pleiades, or of Oi-kui, on the groAAing of Indian 

 corn, is in my humble vIcav supremely ridiculous. 

 I think if " * " Avill have patience, that AAith the 

 ])rogrcss of the sciences something Avill be produced 

 in connection with this tojnc Avhich AAill be, if not 

 demonstrative, yet convincing. We ought to use 

 reason in all our researches after truth, and not be 

 too bold in expressing our oi)inion till sufficient 

 facts have been adduced to Avarrant an imjjartlal 

 decision. Let us w'alt, tlicn, a "little longer," and 

 see Avhat further develojnnents Avill do. 



Mr. Editor, by inserting this you avIII greatly 

 favor one interested in the cause of science and ag- 

 riculture. "Delta." 



Chelsea, Mass., July 10, 1855. 



Remarks. — Does the moon affect the tides ? 

 We are more inclined to the belief that the tides 

 are occasioned by the revolutions of the earth, emp- 

 tying the contents of caverns into each other at 

 stated periods, and of Avhich Boston harbor is one. 

 We have several articles imder the same head as 

 this, but doubt Avhether any of them Avould be pro- 

 fitable to the reader. 



