1868. 



NEW ENGLAND FAR:MER. 



409 



ing their machinery galvano-electric conduc- 

 tors, or magnetics. Now all this has ever 

 looked like humbug ! If it is not, let the peo- 

 ple get some facts, on which to found an opin- 

 ion. Are there a thousand buildings in a 

 country with rods, pair them off with a thou- 

 sand with none. Let No. 1, with a conductor 

 be paired with the nearest building to it with 

 none, and continue till the odd and even num- 

 bers count up enough to give us a little history 

 of lightning work for a few years, in the rural 

 districts. 



Extremes are said to meet. They some- 

 times follow each other. The lightning rod 

 man in his covered carriage, was followed by 

 the "Fumigator" man in his top buggy. I am 

 so fortunate as to live on the summit of a high 

 hill ; consequently many a weary horse and 

 hungry traveller, crave rest and refreshment 

 when they get to my poor tip-top house. The 

 fumigator, I had got in the spring from one of 

 these benevolent patent-pilgrims for a dinner 

 and sheep's pelt. The sheep breeders of Ver- 

 mont had "examined and approved." Ah, 

 yes ! But these men don't breed the things 

 that eat up sheep. By my own negligence, I 

 had a few sheep with ticks. I applied the fu- 

 migator and it killed every tick that got 

 smoked ; and I went over my lamb in some 

 twenty or twenty-five minutes , with a man to hold 

 it. Better expend three dollars to clear ticks 

 from the flock, than pay that for the machine 

 and break your back smoking them out. 



But the wonderful instrument that gets It- 

 self pictured and painted in so many papers, 

 is death on mosquitoes. Well, I charged upon 

 them the other evening, very much as Uncle 

 Toby did on his sod forts. I marched and 

 counter-marched through the house. The 

 smoke of the attack waxed thick. The mos- 

 quitoes went up, and all the females of the fam- 

 ily went to bed narcotized, swooning with to- 

 bacco tremens. It Is true, a little sugar on 

 live coals will do just as well, but there Is no 

 patent on that method. 



The virtues of the fumigator are too numer- 

 ous to mention. Only one more can be named 

 here. It is death on bedbugs. A near neigh- 

 bor wished to try it on them. Although ac- 

 cording to the bond I am not allowed to lend or 

 use the instrument off my, own premises, yet 

 I dared to break it just this one time. To 

 make assurance doubly sure. Miss Nabor got 

 one of the enemy prisoner and set him up as 

 a target. She first assaulted him in rear. In- 

 stead of surrendering, he at once commenced 

 a masterly retreat. She then made a flank 

 movement, and fired both on his right and left, 

 but with no better success. Finally, our val- 

 iant friend filed to the front and poured dis- 

 charges point blank into the enemy's face and 

 eyes. It was all in vain, so far as Mr. Bed- 

 bug was concerned. But to the fumigatress 

 by this time the world and the things therein 

 contained, began to gyrate very rapidly, and 

 she had only time to give the villain the coup 



de grace with her shoe, before giving herself 

 into the hands of her friends, "smoked out." 



Mercury about 86 degrees above, and the 

 summer has made up already for spring's de- 

 linquencies. 



C. N. Andrews. 



Chelsea, Vt., July 4, 1868. 



KEV. CHAUNCEY E. GOODRICH. 



The name of this gentleman has become so 

 familiar to the readers of agricultural papers 

 and especially to those who cultivate any of the 

 many varieties which he originated, that the 

 following tribute to his memory by Alex. Hyde, 

 Esq., will prove generally interesting. For 

 some sixteen years Mr. Goodrich studied the 

 subject carefully, and has left us a rich legacy 

 in the results of his investigations and experi- 

 ments. We copy from an article in the Ameri- 

 can Journal of 'Horticulture : — 



From some constitutional idiosyncrasy, Mr. 

 Goodricli was unable to eat potatoes himself; 

 which fact makes his persevering labors in study- 

 ing the habits of the plant, and originating new 

 varieties, all the more remarkable. As early as 

 1846, his attention was called to the potato-disease. 

 The result of his investigations was the conclusion, 

 that the causes of the diseaso of this semi-tropical 

 plant were the changes and intensities of the weath- 

 er, the character of the soil, and the artificial mode 

 of culture. The constitution of the potato thus be- 

 came impaired, and transmitted its Avant of vigor 

 to succeeding generations, each becoming more 

 and more enfeebled. In 1848, he began importing 

 from South America, the original home of the po- 

 tato, some of the native tubers, and, from the seed 

 of these, began reproducing new vai^jeties. In all, 

 he originated some fifteen thousand seedlings. 

 These he divided into seventy-four distinct families. 

 After four or five years' trial of the difierent seed- 

 lings, he rejected those whose health, yield, and 

 habits he did not like. Mr. G. died in the midst of 

 his experiments, but not until he had established 

 in public favor the Garnet Chili, Early Goodrich, 

 Calico, Gleason, and Harrison varieties, which 

 now stand at the head of the list with all well- 

 posted and successful cultivators. These varieties 

 can be planted with the expectation, that, under 

 ordinary circumstances, they will escape disease, 

 and yield remunerative crops of excellent quality. 

 They Avill doubtless degenerate in the course of 

 time, and an occasional reproduction from seed of 

 a healthy parentage will be necessary. The de- 

 generacy may be 4.-etarded, if not prevented, by a 

 judicious selection of soil, and a cultivation in ac- 

 cordance with the principles of vegetable pa- 

 thology. 



We notice that some of our horticultural 

 writers have suggested the idea of extending 

 to the labors, or rather productions, of such 

 men as Mr. Goodrich the protection afforded 

 to authors by the law of copy-right, and to in- 

 ventors by the patent law, and that very 

 plausible arguments are advanced for such a 

 provision. But as yet we think that fanners 

 are hardly prepared for "patent potatoes," 



