32S 



THE FARMERS CABINET. 



VOL. ly 



" When first young zephyr iiiells the niouiitaiii snow, 

 And S[iriiiit uiihiiuls the, inollowing mould below, 

 Press the titep plough, and urge tljc groanins team. 

 Where the worn shares, iii opening furrows gleam." 



It is now the patient earth endures the rake 

 and the harrow ; and in return for the deep 

 wounds inflicted on her broad and furrowed 

 visage, promises an ample remuneration in 

 those precious fruits tiiat constitute the life 

 of man and beast, it is now that the hand 

 of industry deposits among the clods the 

 dry and withered seeds, which would remain 

 as unproductive as the salt sown by Ulysses 

 on the sea shore, but for the kindly blessings 

 of Heaven, 



The true secret of Agriculture, as Cato has 

 long since taught us, to "/epf/ well.'^ The 

 neglect of tliis rule will be fiitalto all success 

 in the matter, will bring disappointments in- 

 stead of harvests, and poverty instead of abun- 

 dance. It will be found universally, that 

 husbandry may be pronounced good or bad 

 according to the observance or disregard of 

 this rule. Let the faithful beasts of burden 

 be consigned to leanness, let the lowing herds 

 pine away for want of sufficient pasturage, 

 let all the creatures for man's use be left in 

 meagre, ill-fed forms, and no great penetration 

 will be requisite to pourtray the character of 

 such husbandry. But reverse the picture, 

 and the most captious and fastidious taste 

 would admit the merit of the management that 

 could so bless and beautify the beasts of the 

 tield. 



<jiOosebcrries. 



In all cases, the gooseberry should be kept 

 free from suckers, and trained near the ground 

 to a single stem, this mode of training them 

 being found to cause a far greater product in 

 quantity, as well as an increase in the size. 

 They need much attention in other respects, 

 and one-third of the old wood must be regu- 

 larly trimmed out every autumn, by which 

 means a succession of thrifty bearing wood 

 will be kept up ; as the finest fruit is produced 

 on the young shoots of the previous year's 

 growth, it is also necessary every autumn to 

 dig in a plenty of old well-rotted manure 

 around them. This treatment will cause 

 them to grow strong, and the fruit to be large 

 and fair. Where the summers are very hot, 

 a northern aspect is preferable, and the fruit 

 will be twice the size if they are planted 

 against a north fence, or in any other situa- 

 tion where they are sheltered from the in- 

 tense heat of noon-day, which, when differ- 

 ently situated, often scorches the fruit to such 

 a degree as to entirely stop its growth. — 

 Prince. 



Potatoes for Food. 



Their uses for man or beast are too wel? 

 understood to require any remarks of mine 

 on the subject. This most valuable of plants 

 in the whole vegetable kingdom, undoubtedly 

 affords more healthy nourishment to that por- 

 tion of the human family residing in Europe 

 and America, than that of any other vege- 

 table; perhaps it is safe to say double the 

 amount, and at less than half the expense. 



Orcliards and Gardeus of Dainas«U8< 



The city is entirely surrounded by orchards, 

 or rather by forests of fruit trees, with which 

 the vines are entwined as at Naples, and hang 

 in festoons among fig, apricot, pear and cherry 

 trees. Under these trees, the earth, which 

 is rich, fertile, and always well watered, is 

 carpeted with barley, corn, maize, and all the 

 leguminous plants which this soil produces. 

 Little white houses peep out here and there, 

 from amidst the verdure of the forests ; they 

 are either the gardners' houses, or little sum- 

 mer houses belonging to the family who own 

 the ground. These cultivated enclosures are 

 peopled with horses, sheep, camels and doves, 

 and every thing that can impart animation to 

 the scenery of nature ; they are on an aver- 

 age, two or three acres in extent, and are 

 separated one from another by mud walks 

 baked in the sun, and by fine quickset hedges. 

 Numerous shady paths, refreshed by fountains, 

 intersect these gardens, leading from one 

 suburb to another, or to the different gates of 

 the city. The gardens form a boundary 

 twenty or thirty leagues in circumference 

 round Damascus. — Lamartine' s Pilgrimage. 



He who knows the world will not be too 

 bashful. He who knows himself will not be 

 jmpudent. 



TIic Farms oi Faigland. 



The farms are regularly laid out in squares 

 and parallelograms of from two to forty acres, 

 and in general they are laid down as smooth 

 and level as the roller can make them. Here 

 is a luxuriant wheat field, and there a fine 

 meadow, and next a rich pasture, and there 

 busy preparations for ])utting in potatoes or 

 tilrneps; and there barley or oats just shoot- 

 ing up from the dark and rich soil. But 

 scarcely a rod of_/f^rirp, such as we meet with 

 every where in tlie United States of America, 

 do you see in your two hundred miles ride 

 from Liverpool to the metropolis. All is haw- 

 thorn ; and these hcdocp, wiiich are, for the 

 most part, kepil neatly trimmed about tlie 

 gardens aind fami-houses, and by the road 

 side, add more to the beauty of the country 

 than any description had pictured ujion any 

 mind. The common method of making the 

 hedges istliis; firt^t a ridge is throv\n up, per- 

 haps a foot from the level of the fields which 

 are to he fenced o^\ then the young thorn is 

 planted in two parallel rows, about a foot or 



