1855. 



NEW ENGLAND F.iRMER. 



495 



of these dear little members of our own household 

 had passed without a -witness. And then came that 

 oft-recurring- question, What is instinct ? Here Mas 

 an exhibition, not only of moral sentiment, but of 

 mental action, of mental suffuring, of memory, 'of 

 reflection, of deductions and conclusions, quite dis- 

 tmct from the received opinions of instinct. The 

 consciousness of death mii^ht well be instinctive, 

 but could tliat just appreciation of its influence upon 

 the condition of others, or those wise ])rovisions 

 against its eflects ? A new light dawned upon me. 

 The meaning of that mysterious sympathy which 

 had ever dra^vn me to them stood revealed. A new 

 charm attached to their innocent lives a moral 

 beauty to their dear selves, for beyond gayety of 

 plume or melody of song. L. P. 



East Wohurn, Sept., 1855. 



THE OLD HOMESTEAD. 



Whene'er the happiest time is come 



That to the year belongs, 

 Of uplands bright with harvest gold, 



And meadows full of songs — 

 When fields of yet unripen corn, 



And daily garnering stores, 

 Remind the thrifty husbandman 



Of ampler thrashing floors — 

 How pleasant from the din and dust 



Of the thoroughfare aloof, 

 Seems the old-fashioned homestead, 



With steep and mossy roof! 



When home the woodman plods, with axe 



Upon his shoulder swung, 

 And, in the knotted apple-tree 



Are scythe and sickle hung ; 

 When light the swallows twitter 



'Neath the rafters of the shed, 

 And the table on the ivied porch 



With decent care is spread — 

 The heart is light and freer 



Than beats in populous town. 

 In the old-fashioned homestead. 



With gables sharp and brown ! 



When the flowers of summer perish 



In the cold and bitter rain. 

 And the little birds with weary wings 



Have gone across the main ; 

 When curls the blue smoke upward — 



irp towards the bluer sky. 

 And cold along the naked hills. 



And white the snow-drifts lie — 

 In tales of love and glory. 



Is forgot the cloud and storm, 

 In the old-fashioned homestead. 



With hearth-stone large and warm. 



For the New England Farmer. 



A PLOW THAT DON'T CLOG. 



Is there any plow made that will not clog in clay 

 soil ? The soil of the farm on which I am located, 

 is a clay loam ; in many places the clay predomi- 

 nates. The plows used in tliis country soon l)ecome 

 loaded, so that it is necess;iry to clean the mold- 

 board every furrow ; and for this purpose the plow- 

 man always carries a small spade or wooden sliovel, 

 somewhat after the nxumcr of the Egyjjtians. This 

 takes a good deal of lime, and increases the labor 

 very much. If there is a \)\o\v that will clean 

 itself, I should like to know it, and the price. 



Aquila. 



F(/r the A'etr England Farmer. 



ADVANCEMENT OF AGKICULTURE. 



Statistics show that while our cities have in- 

 creased rapidly in ])opulation for the last few years, 

 oin- country towns have many of them decreased in 

 jiopulation. The rush for the city has been so great, 

 that the tillers of the soil have become few, hence 

 the general complaint of dear bread in the land. 

 While monopolists and speculators have to bear 

 their share of blame, the farmer is receiving good 

 pay for his labor, and is beginning to be considered 

 a useful and even indispensable member of society. 



Whatever public opinion may have been, it is 

 now generally acknowledged, that the j)ros])erity oj 

 agriculture is indispensable to the future j)rosperi- 

 ty of our country. The political and miscellaneous 

 press, all over our land, are rejoicing at the abun- 

 dant crops, and the present indications of prosperi- 

 ty. The young farmer has the promise of a life of 

 usefulness and happiness to encourage him in Iris 

 labors; and if usefulness and happiness are the 

 grand objects of life, Avhat occupation off'ers greater 

 rewards than that of the farmer ? There is a class 

 of farmers, that believe in progression and improve- 

 ment in every thing but farming. They follow in 

 the footsteps of antiquity, and if any one suggests 

 a different way of proceeding, they tliinlv him 7?0Ji 

 compos mentis. They continue to drain their barn- 

 yards into the road — twice a year, all the bones and 

 beeves' feet are collected and thrown into the brook 

 or millpond. They despise new fashioned corn- 

 shellers, and say that the old waj' of slielling corn, 

 with the fire shovel and bread trough, is Ijcst. They 

 advise their sons to look to some other business 

 than farming, for a lidng, if thej- ever want to be- 

 come anything, and even go so far as to predict 

 that farming will be abandoned in Massaclmsetts as 

 soon as the fertile regions of the West are all set- 

 tled. 



In view of these facts, is it so much wonder that 

 farmers have lived for fifty years and brought up 

 families of children on good farms that ]n-oduce lit- 

 tle or no fruit ? Their trees, that Mould grow in 

 spite of cattle and neglect, bear very inferior fruit, 

 — their trunks are entMined M'ith ivy, and dead 

 limbs are alloM-ed to remain for years, M-ithout be- 

 ing removed. It is evident such formers have had 

 their day; the M-ork of revolution is already com- 

 menced ; it is beginning to be asserted that agri- 

 culture is governed by the same laMS of improve- 

 ment, as other occupations. This fact has been 

 most emphatically asserted by the mechanic for the 

 past fcM- years in the invaluable macliincs and im- 

 proved tools for the use of the farmer. Many of 

 these imjn-ovcmcnts are so evident, tliat they have 

 been generally introduced, although strenuously op- 

 posed at first by the class, for Miiose benefit they 

 were invented. Among this class of inventions, 

 may be mentioned the horse-rake, M-hich, although 

 used but a fcM' Mceks in the year, is a saving to our 

 farmers of thousands of dollars annually. Yet there 

 arc inventions thought l)y a few to lie of far greater 

 value than the one just "mentioned, Mliich are en- 

 gaged in a seemingly d()ul)tful struggle for fovor, 

 among tlieir sliould-be friends. This struggle for 

 favor Mould not only 1)C doubtful but ahnost hope- 

 less, if tliey had not "the aid of a powerful ally, that 

 insists in liaving tlieir merits fairly, and iiupartially 

 tested. This powerfid ally of tlie" nu't-hanic, which 

 is no other than the agricultural press, is gradually 



