1868. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



287 



For the New England Farmer. 

 THE BLUEBIRD. 



BT THE PEASANT BARD. 



When -warm rains fall and soft -winds sweep 



Away the wintry drift, 

 When swollen brooks roar down the Eteep, 



And gray with mist the lift ; 

 When through the vale the floods outpour 



And crashing i^,y floes, 

 With swash, and dash, and wild uproar, 



Trtnd with the melted snows; 

 When all the plain with snow-broth swims, 



And teams, on half bare road, 

 With swinging he;,ds and cordy limbs, 



Drag the resistant load; — 

 A twitter from the tree we hear, 



Some bars of music sweet, 

 And gloomy though' s give place to cheer 



As we the minstrel greet. 



Bwcet little harbinger of Spring, 



Green fields, and punbright days I 

 O, welcome 1 -with thy azure wing 



And softly warbled lays. 

 While other songsters loiter still 



In regions of the sun, 

 I bless thy hardy little will 



To t' 11 of Winter done. 

 Its dark, cold days and bitter skies, 



Its wild and gusty n'ghts; — 

 Of Spring, unfolding to our eyes 



Her mantle of delights. 



The farmer hears thee, and he knows 



Of earth's awaking life ; 

 Tells of thy advent as he goes 



Homeward, to "weans and wife;" 

 And eyes grow bright, and smiles steal o'er 



The sober face of care. 

 And crowded grows the cottage doer 



To catch the vision rare. 

 The swart boy in the sugar-bush. 



Who loves his gun to try, 

 The crow's discordant croak will hush 



With "murder-aiming" eye; 

 But when thy liquid numbers fall 



On his delighted ear. 

 He welcomes thee with answering call, 



Nor harms thee, hovering near. 



Sweet bluebird, type of winged Hope! 



When darkness like the tomb 

 Begirts earth's pilgrims, and they grope 



In sadness and in gloom ; 

 Hope whispers soft a word of cheer 



O'er the dismaying scene. 

 Till through the folds of blackness peer 



Bright skies and living green. 

 Gill, Mass., March 14, 1868. 



Exploding Woodchucks. — A gentleman 

 recently informed us that he had been entirely 

 successful in destroying these pests on his 

 farm by an invention of own, which he said 

 was simply a "small earthquake." This he 

 produces in the following manner: a good 

 handful of gunpowder is put into a cloth bag, 



to which a fuse is attached. The bag is then 

 put into the woodchuck's hole some two or 

 three feet, with the other end of fuse project- 

 ing from the hole, which is then filled in and 

 carefully tamped with earth. If the burrow 

 has other openings these must also be closed. 

 The fuse is then lighted, a dull explosion fol- 

 lows, and poor chucky is never heard from 

 again, being probably unable to breathe the 

 air in his narrow house after the burning of 

 the powder. 



CoNTOOCOOK, N. H. — The agricultural and 

 mechanical association of the Contoocook val- 

 ley has voted to hold its next annual eshibi- 

 at Hillsboro' Bridge on the 16th and 17th of 

 September. Its newly elected officers for 1868 

 are as follows : — President, Horace Gove ; 

 Vice Presidents, Cornelius Coolidge and C. E. 

 Potter ; Secretary, John F. Chase ; Assistant 

 Secretary, Daniel Johnson ; Treasurer, J. C. 

 Campbell. 



SOWING GBAIN. 



Seed can only be distributed evenly from 

 the hand in a semi-circle, and to do this while 

 walking at one end of the semi-circle and cast- 

 ing it all on one side is impossible. 



Let the sower walk in the middle of the 

 cast and throw it equally on both sides, and 

 shift his track one half the width of the cast at 

 each end of the lot, and the most slovenly hand 

 will make fair work. Thus each line of track 

 will have the edge of two casts and the middle 

 of one. But still a careful examination will 

 reveal a difference between the right and left 

 sides, which would be unnoticed by a casual 

 observer. This arises from the head or first 

 part of the cast being apt to be the thickest, 

 and the tail, or last part, flying the farthest, 

 and with this way of walking the head falls ou 

 the same place, both going and returning. 

 This, however, is effectually remedied by sow- 

 ing with the right hand one way and the left 

 when returning, which will become an easy and 

 agreeable habit with an hour's practice 



All this could be made plain on paper by a 

 drawing, but still plainer by a trial on the 

 field, and the experimenter will be surprised 

 at its ease and success. But in the sowing of 

 small seeds, such as clover or ruta-baga seed, 

 the best plan is to carry the seed in front and 

 sow with both hands, swinging the arms as in 

 walking, the right hand advancing with the left 

 foot, and vice persa. This is particularly 

 needful with ruta-baga seed, of which a quart 

 should cover an acre, and remarkably even 

 distribution is required to facilitate the hoeing 

 and insure a crop. — W. H. Mabbs, in Western 

 Rural. 



