1857. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



103 



MURIATE OF LIME. 



We have received to-day three communications 

 on this subject, each speaking in terms of commen- 

 dation of this article as a fertilizer. The number 

 of communications, on various topics, now waiting 

 for a place, prevents us from giving them in full. 

 Mr. W. F. Wheeler, of Grafton, says : — 



"I consider the experiments made with this fer- 

 tilizer quite successful and satisfactory as far as 

 they go ; they are by no means complete. Anoth- 

 er season will prove more conclusively whether 

 it is a good investment to purchase the muriate of 

 lime. Till then I shall continue to use it. I send 

 enclosed samples of oats grown with and without 

 the muriate, and one of spring wheat with it." 



The oats stimulated by the muriate showed to 

 great advantage over the others. Mr. B., of Mel- 

 rose, says : — "I have no doubt, if Mr, Lothrop 

 should procure a larger quantity of the lime and 

 use it more extensively, he would find the same re- 

 sults that thousands of others have, that it is the 

 best and deepest manure that can be procured." 



A Maiden gentleman, "H. M.," thinks "that 

 Gould's muriate of lime is as near what it claims to 

 be, as any article of fertilizing properties which has 

 been introduced to the public, there can be no 

 question. Myself and neighbors are intending to 

 use it quite extensively during the coming season." 



These communications speak of experiments, &c., 

 but the quotations we have made give the opinions 

 of the writers as to he merits of the fertilizer. 



WHAT A MAH COSTS-VALUE OF ED- 

 UCATION. 



In a recent number of Hunt's Merchants' Mag- 

 azine, there is an interesting calculation on the 

 subject of raising and educating men. It presents 

 a new and striking argument in favor of education. 

 It is to be regretted that there should be any neces- 

 sity for using such an argument ; but as there are 

 in the world a great many men who measure all 

 things — even their professed religion — by the "al- 

 mighty dollar," the article will do good. Aside 

 from that, it is one of interest — from its calculation 

 — and will be read with pleasure. We have only 

 room for a brief extract, which goes to show how 

 much a man costs — what he is worth — w-hat is his 

 real money or commercial value — and what per 

 centage an education, if given him, pays on the 

 original investment. Mr. Hunt says : 



"The average cost, with interest, of raising any 

 person to the age of 21, Mill equal $1,000. "This 

 is invested — what is the investment worth? It will 

 cost $100 a year to support him. To this add a 

 mind, and in what an extraordinary ratio has the 

 person's value been raised ! He can novv- earn, suji- 

 pose $300 a year — that equals $400 above the val- 

 ue of the idiot, which is to be set down to the cred- 

 it of mind. 



"Now, add education, perfecting him from birth 

 to maturity, and what can he earn ? Is $1,000 a 

 year too much to allow ? That is $600 more than 

 the uneducated man is allowed ; and how hi"li)v 



must we rate the expense of education ? It could 

 not average $700, which therefore yields 100 per 

 cent. People usually count the cost of growth 

 and sustenance of the body as part of the expense 

 of education ; but this should never be done ; a 

 clean distinction should always be made between 

 the expenses to be charged to the body and those 

 to be charged to the mind; and as clear a distinc- 

 tion should be made in case of the credits, for at 

 once some very practical truths would be at once 

 exhibited. Perhaps the following table will pre- 

 sent the truth in a consj)icuous manner : 



Body costs up to 21 years $1,000 



Miuii costs up to 21 years 1,COO 



Education up to 21 years 700 



Body costs !>.fter that (ptr year) 100 



Mind gains after that (per year) 800 



Education gains after that (per year) 1,000 



"It is also to be noticed, that the uneducated 

 man is more valuable in middle age than in ad- 

 vanced years ; but the educated man grows more 

 valuable as years increase, so that if he begin life 

 with a sum representing the interest of $10,000, 

 he will find his hicome to double quite as soon as 

 if his capital were in gold. 



"These figures are not fanciful; they are, of 

 course, a certainty given for an uncertainty, and 

 merely for illustration : they may be exchanged 

 for any other to please any caviller : but any fair 

 test of the truth \vill prove that education will pay 

 more than 100 per cent, upon its cost. 



"It would appear, then, that any man who 

 would reckon up his investments, must, to what he 

 has in lands, cattle, implements, &c., add at least 

 $1,000 for every mature child he has raised ; and 

 if he has added to the child a good education, he 

 has changed this otherwise unprofital)le investment 

 into a fortune of not less than $10,000. Now, every 

 principle of commercial economy would dictate that 

 we should add a little investment if v.e can there- 

 by save the whole, and much more readily should 

 we do it if we can turn the whole into the most 

 profitable of all investments. And what invest- 

 ment is there which will pay as will brain, mind, 

 and education combined ?" 



I^or the New Eiigland Farmer. 



THE WHITE BELLIED SWALLOW. 



In the Monthly Farmer for Nov., Mr. S. L. White 

 says, "A pair of swallows with white breasts, and 

 black shining backs, built their nest in the dead 

 limb of a tree near his house, and asks to what class 

 of swallows these birds belong. They are undoubt- 

 edly the white bellied kyiSillow {Hinmdo viridis i) 

 they are the first of the swallow tribe to make their 

 appearance spring; after their arrival they repair 

 to the box put up for the martin, wren, or blue bird, 

 sometimes to a hole in the coving of an old building, 

 or to a hollow tree, usually preferring that box or 

 cavity the bottom of which is level with its entrance : 

 their nest consists of grass, and lined with feathers. 

 The female lays 4 or 5, and sometimes 6 eggs, 

 which are pure white. They are exceedingly quar- 

 relsome, two pairs are seldom known to breed in 

 the same box. This species of the swallow is o| in- 

 ches in length, and twelve inches in extent; whole 

 upper parts a glossy greenish blue ; bill and eye jet 

 black, wings dull greenish black, tail slightly forked, 

 the two exterior feathers being about a ^ of an inch 

 longer than the tvo middle ores, and of the sam.e 



