1855. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



407 



the day time, thus virtually saying to him : " my 

 dear little fellow, I value your ser\ices, and will do 

 all I can for your comfort." 



With a proper appreciation for his ser\ices, and 

 care for his preservation, the toad will become quite 



amounts of rent are payable in wheat, or a cash 

 equivalent, on the first of January each year ; and 

 as two parties are deeply interested in the price, it 

 is probably the most reliably correct of any record 



domesticated, and will continue his valuable work, that can be obtained. The list commences in 1793, 

 for years, simply for his "board and lodging." Uvhen the price was 75 cents a bushel — only five 

 Those who wantonly destroy the toad, should bel^jj^^^j, jj^ the sixtv-one vears wheat has been $2 or 

 classed with those who kill harmless and ^^^^^^.^y^,^^ ^,,, i,^,^,i^ ,,i;ii^ it ^vas .cxenteon 



'some years ago a family in Brace^•ille, Trumbull ^1 oi" under— twice at seventy-five cents. Only 

 county, observed one day, "in the hall of the house, a once in thirty-seven years, that is since 1817, to wit 

 • large toad, leaping along in an orderly and moder- in 1837, has it reached $2. The average price for 

 ate way towards the dimng-room door. It entered Lj^g ^^.h^lg e^joj j^ ^^ 33^ Poj. the last 30 vears 

 the room and took a circuit around, then sUxtioned . . ^^ „. 

 itself between the door and a window, and sat there I ** 

 all day ; Avhenever a fiy came near enough he would 

 catch it, and as this was quite often, the work of ex- 

 termination went on bravelv ; sometimes he would 



ECONOMIC CULTIVATION. 



We htr\-e repeatedly seated ourselves with the in- 

 spring up a foot or more for a fiy upon the wall. I tent of writing upon' the best mode of cultivating 

 At sundown he went out to enjoy the refreshing the various crops, and almost as often have we aetu 



coolness of the evening, and ])rol)al)ly the society of 

 his kindred. The next day, to the surjirise of the 

 family, he came in and took the same place by the 



ally had our attention tm-ncd to and written upon 

 some other topic. The reason is this : No one, 

 except the fovored few who have all the means at 



door, and so continued to do during the whole sum- command needful in carrying out their pluns of 



mer. The family whose premises were so uncere- 

 moniously occujiied, l)eing aware of the useful and 

 harmless nature of their \'isitor, and being cuiious 

 to learn its habits, allow'ed it to remain. Thus the 



farm operations, can do half as well as they know 

 how to do. Their land is poor, and they have not 

 the means of enriching it. Tell a man that a purse 

 full of gold is only an inch beyond his utmost reach, 



toad carried on the war against the ilies, until au- and you do him no good but to excite feelings of 

 tumn, when they, having become greatlv reduced in discontent and envv, and even lead him to forego 



numbers, and it being ditficult for him any longer 

 to obtain supplies by forage, he concluded to go into 

 " winter quarters." Immediately on the ojjening of 

 the spring campaign, however, he was at his old j)ost. 

 His message to the files, as near as can be ascertain- 

 ed, was, " Come, and I'll take you ;" they came, 

 were seen, and were swallowed. The enemy being 

 immensely numerous, the war was carried on in the 

 same way, and in the same place, for six years, the 

 toad meanwhile having grown strong and increased 

 in stiiture, and having regularly spent every night 

 in skylarking. 



He was cool and ])rompt in action, and moreover 

 a very slippery antagonist ; whenever anj^loing was 

 said to him by any person passing his stand, his 

 eyes would twinkle in a very pleasant way. The 

 only weapon he ever used Avas his tongue, which 

 was very long and rough. The human tongue is 

 known to be an exceedingly formidable weapon, but 

 no one has been known to be swallowed outright by 

 its means, though a great many have been taken in. 



Sometimes a fly would light within a foot of 

 toady, and sit rubl)ing its miraculous little feet witli 

 great delight a])])arently, when the toad, imitating 

 the notorious Jeilreys, would " give him a lick with 

 the rough side of his tongue," and the [joor Hy 

 would be condemned and executed instantly. 



In one respect, however, the immortal Jeffreys 

 had the advantage of the toad, for he could " smell 

 a ])uritan a mile off," he said, while the toad had no 

 sense of smell ai)j)arently, but was in point of prac- 

 tice all tonsue. — Ohio Farmtr. 



Tiiic Price of Wheat.— //iin<V Merchants' 

 Ma<razine publishes a t^ble of the price of wheat at 

 Albany, on the first day of January for sixty-one 

 years. It is Irom tlie miiuites ke])t at the otHce of 

 the Van Rensselaer Manor, at Albany, where large 



certain improvements wliich are within his roach, 

 because thev pay so little compared with what he is 

 really anxious but unable to do. Poverty is a terri- 

 lile Ijurden, and nowhere is it felt more than among 

 intelligent farmers. 



Notwithstanding these difficulties, we would now 

 urge tliis class of farmers, first, to expend their 

 labor and their fertilizers upon a much smaller 

 quantity of land than is usually done. Instead of 

 planting five acres of corn, plant two, or even one ; 

 and plow and cultivate this small field to the entire 

 neglect, if need be, of other acres. If those He fal- 

 low it will be useful to the soil, and at least no 

 money will be wasted u])on them. 



We say to such farmers, in the second ])lace, you 

 can do more than you have done in the j)reparation 

 of various conij)Osts. There are very few farmers 

 who can not double and treble the (ju intity and value 

 of these necessary means of restoring vigor to worn- 

 out and barren soils. By diminishing the extent 

 of sm-face under cultivation, and \)\ proper industry 

 in jjreparing composts, there is scareeh' a farm in 

 the country that can not l)e made to jjroduce its 

 sixtv, and seventy, and eighty bushels of corn to the 

 acre. And even thougli one acre only is brought 

 up to this desiral)le condition, a series of years will 

 suffice to bring the wiiole firm to a high state of 

 cultivation. If only small fields are made thus ])ro- 

 ductive, the hojjos and courage of the farmer will 

 l)e thereby excited, and he will stand uji manfully 

 among men, and tell of his success as well as they. 



We would NOT adnse farmers of /i'Hi!7c(/ means to 

 l)uy guano nor phosphates at anything like their 

 present jjriccs. Pay your jjoorer neighbor liis six 

 or eight shillings a (lay (if you cannot exchange 

 work with him) to help you collect leaves fnnn the 

 forest, mud from the meadow, carting the latter only 

 after it is tolerably dry, jieat or marl from the bog; 

 and if }ou can buy barn-yard manures, mix them 

 with tui-fs, sods, roots, weeds, dirty straw, spoilt hay. 



