No. 12. 



Mt. Airy Agricultural College. — The Daisy. 



377 



amount of fluid saliva to render it more di 

 lute. 



The importance of the proper grinding of 

 the food, and of rendering it as soluble as 

 possible, can be well appreciated by such 

 individuals as have been the subjects of in- 

 digestion, from the eructation of morsels of 

 food, of gases, and of acid liquors. It is 

 scarcely necessary to remark, that similar 

 rules are applicable to the inferior animals, 

 and more particularly in the state of con- 

 finement to which most of them are more 

 or less subjected, when they are made to 

 minister to the wants of the human species. 

 — Thomson's Researches on the Food of 

 Animals. 



Mt. Airy Agricultural College. 



To the Editor of the Farmers' Cabinet : 



Dear Sir, — As my circular in reference 

 to an Agricultural College appeared first in 

 the Cabinet, I deem it but proper that the 

 response, or success it met with from the 

 public, should also be first communicated 

 through the same channel. 



It will be recollected, that my zeal for the 

 promotion of agriculture, led me to propose, 

 in February last, the founding of an Agri- 

 cultural College, on a liberal scale, at Mt. 

 Airy, provided the public would encourage 

 the effort so far, as to furnish for certain, 

 eighty students, by the 1st of July, to begin 

 with. 



The patronage required was very mode- 

 rate, in view of the expense to be incurred 

 in carrying on an Institution such as I had 

 contemplated — yet I was willing to risk the 

 outlay in material. Professors' salaries, &c , 

 to be met by an increase in students, or from 

 my own private purse. I am, however, re- 

 lieved from further speculation on this head, 

 as the students offering to enter, up to the 

 time limited, fall far short of the number 

 required by the terms of my circular — and 

 I am therefore constrained to announce to the 

 public, that the College cannot go into ope- 

 ration. Thus my darling scheme of pro- 

 moting the interests of agriculture and hor- 

 ticulture, is for the present suspended, if not 

 altogether abandoned. 



To you, and the gentlemen conducting 

 the Agricultural press, and Editors in gene- 

 ral, who entered into my views with such 

 disinterested zeal, and manifested such per- 

 sonal kindness to myself, I return my grate- 

 ful acknowledgments; and should they copy 

 this, or inform their readers that my humble 

 attempt has thus far proved abortive, they 

 would add to the obligation their courtesies 

 have already imposed upon me. 



To the gentlemen who forwarded the 

 names of their sons, to be enrolled as stu- 

 dents, and others, whose spirited and patri- 

 otic sympathies were enlisted in the cause, 

 I cannot but express my most unfeigned 

 friendship and profound respect — tendering 

 to them in the same spirit their offering was 

 made, my best assistance, should any of 

 them essay, as I have done, to promote and 

 elevate the character of the agriculture of 

 the country. 



Respectfully yours, 



James Gowen. 



Mt. Airy, Philadelphia, July 5th, 1847. 



The Daisy. 



BY JOHN MASON OOOD. 



Not worlds on worlds, in phalanx deep. 



Need we to tell a God is here: 

 The daisy, fresh from winter's sleep, 



Tells of his hand in lines as clear. 



What power, but His who arched the skies. 

 And poured the day-spring's purple flood. 



Wondrous alike in all it tries, 

 Could rear the daisy's curious bud ; 



Mould its preen cup, its wiry stem, 



Its fringed border nicely spin. 

 And cut the gold embossed gem, 



That set in silver, gleams within ; 



And fling it with a hand so free. 

 O'er hill, and dale, and desert sod. 



That man, where'er he walks, may see. 

 In every step, the stamp of God I 



Productive Orchard. — A correspondenl 

 of the Prairie Farmer, says that an orchard 

 of 300 apple trees, owned by Elijah Capps, 

 of Fulton Co., Illinois, nineteen or twenty 

 years old from the seed, produces now from 

 twenty to forty bushels per tree. Much of 

 this success may doubtless be ascribed to the 

 new and fertile soil of that country; but it 

 might be nearly approximated further east, 

 by deep, rich, highly manured soil, and con- 

 stant and mellow cultivation. 



Plough Making. — It is curious to trace 

 the progress of plough making in England. 

 Those of the early cultivators, were of ne- 

 cessity rude and imperfect, for in those days 

 the ploughman made his own plough. A 

 law of the early Britons in fact, directed 

 that no one should guide a plough until he 

 was able to make one. The driver was by 

 the same law, to rnake the traces by which 

 it was drawn, and these were to be formed 

 of withes of twifted willow. The earlj 

 Saxons used wheels to their ploughs. 



