NO. 2. 



THE FAKMKUS CAIUNET 



27 



poor land, and reaped about 1(X) bushels of 

 buckwlieat. 



Dr. Forman states, that two or three years 

 ago he broke up a small piece of land, which 

 he for 40 years had considered too poor to 

 plough, an acre ; the land, 100 bnsjicls of 

 marl per acre; the land produced a irood crop 

 of rye and has cut a Ion of clover hay per 

 acre every year since, lie also stales liiat 

 Squancum AJarl was first used about liO years 

 ago by Derick Chamberlain, under the name 

 of creek mud ; it caused the piece of 1 nd 

 thus manured, to produce double tl)e quantity 

 it had done before, and the ell'ect on the jand 

 is still visible. — Franklin Mercury. 



Fariiiiug. 



BY THE REV. TIMOTHY FLINT. 



If one half the zeal, energy and expense 

 that blots so many gazettes with low and 

 coarse abuse, setting the community by the 

 ears for the sole gain and the paltry purposes 

 of a few demagogues and office-keepers, were 

 bestowed on the advancement of agriculture 

 — if the people were half as ambitious to 

 improve and beautify their fields, as tliey are 

 to settle the nation ; and half as angry with 

 thistles, thorns, and poor fences, as they are 

 with their political opponents, who probably 

 wish as well to the country as themselves, we 

 should have more productive fields, less com- 

 plaints of poverty, more ability to be charita- 

 ble and munificent, and abundantly more 

 good feeling. From Pittsburg to New Or- 

 leans the son ploughs as his father did before 

 him, and the great mass of farmers are as 

 stationary in theory as they are in practice. 

 Nine in ten of them believe, at this moment, 

 that book farming is the mere useless, vis- 

 ionary dreaming of men that know nothing 

 about practical agriculture. 



We would tell them that England is the 

 garden of Europe, simply because almost 

 every acre of the ground is cultivated scien- 

 tifically, and on principles which have been 

 brought to the test of the most rigid and ex- 

 act experiment — We would tell them that 

 New England, of whose soil and climate they 

 are accustomed to think, as consigned by 

 providence to sterility and inclemency, is the 

 garden of the United States, only because 

 the industrious and calculating people do not 

 throw away their efforts in the exertion of 

 mere bru*.e strength — but bring mind, plan, 

 system and experience to bear upon their na- 

 turally hard and thankless soil. 



On every side the passing traveler sees 

 verdure, grass and orchards in the small and 

 frequent enclosures of imperishable rock, and 

 remarks fertility won from the opposition of 

 the elements and nature. After an absence 



of ten years, on our return to that country, 

 we wore struck with this proud and noble tri- 

 umph conspicuous over the whole region. 



The real benefactors of mankind, as St. 

 Pierre so bcuulilully said, are those, who 

 cause two blades of wheat to mature where 

 one did before. The fields ought to be the 

 morning and evening theme of Americans 

 that love their country. To fertilize and im- 

 prove his furm, ought to be the prime tem- 

 poral object of every owner of the substan- 

 tial soil. All national aggrandizement, power 

 and wealth may bo traced to agriculture, as 

 its ultimate source. Commerce and manu- 

 factuies are only subordinate results of this 

 main spring. 



We consider agriculture as every way sub- 

 sidiary not only to abundance, industry, com- 

 fort and health, but to good morals, and ulti- 

 mately to religion. — We shall always say 

 and sing "Speed the plough." We shall al- 

 ways regard the American farmer, stripped 

 to his employment, and tilling his grounds, as 

 belonging to the first order of noblemen 

 among us. W^e shall always wish him boun- 

 tiful harvest.s, good beer, and moderate use 

 of cider; and, if he will rear it himself, of 

 the grape, but none of the pernicious gladness 

 of whiskey; and we shall only invoke upon 

 his labors the blessing of God, and say of him 

 "peace be within thy walls." 



Rhubarb Pies. — Gather a bundle of the 

 leaf-stocks, sufficient quantity — cut off the 

 leaf and peal the stock of the thin epidermis 

 — cut in quarter inch pieces, and lay them in- 

 to the crust — cover well with sugar, and add 

 nutmeg, orange peal and spice to taste. The 

 flavor is equal, and many deem it preferable 

 to gooseberries. The pie-plant is perennial, 

 herbaceous and very hardy. A dozen plants 

 will afford a family a constant supply. 



To make Yankee Bread. — Take two mea- 

 sures of Indian and one of Rye meal, mix 

 with milk or water, to the consistency of 

 stiff hasty pudding, and add yeast — bake in 

 iron pans or iron kettles four or five hours. 

 Eat with fre«:h butter, or other food, and if 

 while warm the better. Yankee bread is ve- 

 ry good or very bad, according to the man- 

 ner in which it is made. We commend it 

 to dyspeptics. The Indian meal should be 

 either bottled or sifted. 



Spruce Beer. — Take three gallons of water, 

 of blood warmth, 3 half pints of molasses, a 

 table spoon full of essence of spruce, and the 

 like quantity of ginger — mix well together, 

 with a gill of yeast; let stand over night, 

 and bottle in the morning. It will be in good 

 condition to drink in twenty-four hours. It 

 is a palatable, wholesome beverage. 



