No. 5. 



Reading. — Winter Provender. 



139 



try — the arts of selling as well as buying — 

 been enabled to rebuild his house and barn, 

 besides constructing and improving every 

 other erection on his premises, which were 

 proverbially bad when he came to the farm, 

 as also to purchase some lots of land in the 

 marshes in the neighbourhood ! but the last 

 time I called on him, I found him pulling with 

 his own hands the weeds that had sprung up 

 in a field of potatoes adjoining the farm-house; 

 while his wife had just returned from market, 

 bringing with her *a^0, received for vegeta- 

 bles, fruit, &c., which she had taken herself 

 to market tiiat morning and sold ; and that 

 accounts for all. Now, it is quite a mistake 

 to say, these men began the world without 

 capital ; but it is equally erroneous to suppose 

 that farming, any more than any other busi- 

 ness, can ever succeed without capital of some 

 sort — it is not in the nature of things, and 

 ought not to be expected; but with it, I con- 

 tend that if the business of agriculture be as 

 well managed, it will pay as good a return 

 for capital invested, as any legitimate busi- 

 ness whatever, besides insuring a peace of 

 mind which "passeth all understanding." 



ViR. 



l3t Nov. 1841. 



Reading. 



Of all the amusements which can possibly 

 be imagined for a hard-working man, after 

 his daily toil, or in its intervals, there is no- 

 thing like reading an interesting book, sup- 

 posing him to have a taste for it, and suppos- 

 ing him to have the book to read. It calls 

 for no bodily exertion, of which he has alrea- 

 dy had enough, or, perhaps, too much. It re- 

 lieves his home of its dullness and sameness. 

 It transports him into a livelier, and gayer, 

 and more diversified and interesting scene ; 

 and while he enjoys himself there, he may 

 forget the evils of the present moment, fully 

 as much as if he were ever so drunk, with 

 the great advantage of finding himself the 

 next day with his money in his pocket, or, at 

 least, laid out in real necessaries and com- 

 forts for himself and his family, — and without 

 a head-ache. Nay, it accompanies him to his 

 next day's work ; and, if the book he has 

 been reading be anything above the very 

 idlest and lightest, gives him something to 

 think of, besides the mere mechanical drudge- 

 ry of his every-day occupation — something 

 he can enjoy while absent, and look forward 

 with pleasure to. If I were to pray for a 

 taste which should stand me in stead under 

 every variety of circumstances, and be a 

 source of happiness and cheerfulness to me 

 through life, and a shield against its ills, how- 

 ever things might go amiss, and the world 

 frown upon me, it would be, a taste for read- 

 ing. — Sir J. Herschel. 



Winter Provender. 



We think it very probable that owing lo 

 the length of the last winter, and the drought 

 which occurred during the summer, that there 

 will be in many parts of our country a scarci- 

 ty of provender ibr cattle, and consequently, 

 that much suffering is in store for those poor 

 creatures. Impressed with this belief, we 

 deem it due to our readers to admonish them 

 thus early, to take measures to cut and pre- 

 serve their corn-stalks so soon as they shall 

 have pulled the ears ofl; If it be objected to 

 the stalks as food, that their nutritive proper- 

 ties have been greatly exhausted, we are 

 willing to admit the truth of the objection, to 

 a considerable extent; but while we make 

 this admission, we maintain, that there is still 

 a sufficient quantity of aliment remaining in 

 them to render their being cut and taken care 

 of an object. Stalks cut at the time when 

 the corn has just passed through the process 

 of glazing, if put away carefully, and cut into 

 feed of suitable lengths, and steamed, are, in 

 our opinion, equal to most kinds of hay for 

 farm or milch cattle. If not cut until the ear 

 is dried upon the stalk, we are aware that 

 much of its properties of nutrition are trans- 

 ferred from the stalk to the grain. Still, 

 however, there is enough left to emphatically 

 entitle them to be ranked, in seasons of scarci- 

 ty, among the provender of the farm, and we 

 boldly venture upon the assertion, that if a 

 bushel of the stalks cut into pieces of an inch 

 in length, either soaked in boiling water, or 

 steamed, with a slight sprinkling of salt, were 

 given three times a day to each head of cat- 

 tle, that they would maintain the animals in 

 good keeping condition. 



We know a gentleman who tried the ex- 

 periment upon a herd of 50 or 60 head of cat- 

 tle a few years ago, and brought them through 

 the winter upon steamed corn-stalks and ruta 

 baga, fully as well as he had done years there- 

 tofore, upon the best timothy hay and ruta 

 baga, his usual winter food. 



In recommending corn-stalks for food, we 

 do not wish to be misunderstood. It is not 

 our object to point them out as a main reli- 

 ance, but merely as a resource within the 

 possession of all farmers, which they should 

 not omit in a case of necessity to avail them- 

 selves of. 



To milch cows we would add something 

 to the stalks, in the shape of chop, meal, or 

 roots, believing that the process of secreting 

 milk cannot be carried on, unless their food 

 be generous. — Am. Far. 



Few could possibly give themselves up to 

 sleep, if they had no hope of waking again ; 

 a night to which there should be no morning, 

 would be a thought of unmingled terror. 



