1857. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



351 



partment. The feelings of interest and admiration 

 with which all, not in the least excepting the fair 

 sex, regard an exhibition of the noble qualities of 

 the well-trained horse, are not the result of a sickly 

 conventionalism, but the natural action of a healthy 

 mind that likes to see nature and art combined and 

 exhibited in the greatest perfection. The counte- 

 nance given to the exhibition of horses under the 

 management of the various agricultural societies, 

 by the presence of ladies of the first distinction, and 

 of most unexceptionable delicacy and modesty 

 shows the confidence which the best of the commu' 

 nity repose in these societies, that every thing will 

 be conducted with justice and decorum. Let us 

 hope that their confidence may never prove mis- 

 placed, and that this branch may ever be favored 

 with their smiles and presence. As to the matter 

 of female equestrianism in connexion with these 

 exhibitions, I think that we may safely leave the 

 subject with the ladies themselves. If they think 

 it proper, we gentlemen ought not to be modest 

 above measure, but let them have their way. We 

 need have little fear that our shovi's will depreciate 

 in consequence of either their countenance or assist- 

 ance. A little more equestrianism among the ladies 

 of New England would be a most excellent idea, 

 and a little healthy encouragement is what is very 

 much needed. 



Let the responsibility of the character of agricul- 

 tural fairs rest where it belongs, on the society 

 which originates them. The power to correct al- 

 most all the abuses complained of, lies with the va^ 

 rious agricultural societies in a great measure ; and 

 let them feel that the mass of the people know this, 

 and hold them amenable. The success of these so- 

 cieties depends on their integrity and fairness in all 

 matters connected with agricultural interests, and 

 I would hope to see them such as the best wishes 

 of the best men M'ould have them, and what their 

 originatcrs at first intended they should be, the ne 

 plus ultra of all societies for the improvement of 

 man phjsically, mentally and morally. J. S. S. 



Grecnjiekl, Mass., Jlpril, 1857. 



For the !iew England Farmer. 



BOYS' WAGES. 



Mr. Editor : — In the Farmer of April 11, your 

 correspondent aske* the question, ought not good 

 working boys of 14 or 15 years of age to receive 

 from 37 to 45 cents a day? Perhaps while a far 

 mer is engaged in weeding his carrots, or onions, 

 he may aHbrd to pay a good boy from 37 to 45 

 cents a day, from the fact that he may weed near- 

 ly as fast as a man. 



"Experience is the best schoolmaster," in school- 

 teaching we all admit, so it is in farming business; 

 a man of experience, strength, judgment and abili- 

 ty is the one to whom the farmer can afford to pay 

 three or four times the wages that he can to a boy ; 

 for he can then see his work done with dispatch, 

 and steadily progressing, while a hired boy not pos- 

 sessing these qualities can do but a little without 

 being constantly watched by his employer. There- 

 fore ought not bo}s' wages to be small in propor- 

 tion to the wages of a man? * 



What mechanic, (for instance a machinist,) would 

 think of giving an apprentice boy as much as he 

 would a journeyman, a man of experience ? Cer- 

 tainly no one would; the reason is obviou'. Farm-| 



ing is as much of a trade as any other occupation, 

 then why should an apprentice boy at farming be 

 better paid than an apprentice at any other trade ? 



Farmers, from the nature of their business, have 

 many kinds of work to perform. Tell a man who 

 has had experience, what to do, and he knows how 

 to do it ; but not so with a boy ; his employer must 

 spend much precious time in telling him what to 

 do, how to do it, and then in most cases see that it 

 is done. 



Boys will be boys, and as a general thing, they 

 love play rather than work ; however, occasionally 

 we find an exception. Hence ought boys' wages 

 to approximate so nearly to the wages of a man, 

 as suggested by your correspondent ? 



Yours, truly. Experience. 



Hamilton, Jlpril 20, 1857. 



For the New England Farmer 



HAIR SNAKES. 



In the Spiritual Telegraph, bearing date of April 

 11th, I noticed some remarks from the pen of Mr. 

 Gage, of Michigan, relative to the origin and char- 

 acter of hair snakes. The account which Mr. Gage 

 has given of his observation and experiments has 

 probably given complete satisfaction to many upon 

 this subject. Friend Gage appears to discard the 

 idea that hair snakes are, in any instance, animated 

 hairs of animals ; he also appears to think that they 

 are entirely the product of crickets ; but I think we 

 cannot arrive at a correct conclusion, or be enabled 

 to give a judicious verdict in this, or in any other 

 intricate case, until the evidence on both sides of 

 the question is presented. I shall not attempt to 

 prove that crickets never bring forth, or by some 

 unaccohnted for means produce a kind of hair 

 snake ; both by my own observation and experi- 

 ments, I have demonstrative evidence, that the 

 hairs of animals and of men, if put into a standing 

 pool of water, exposed to the rays of the sun for a 

 few days in warm weather, will animate, and be- 

 come hair snakes. 



It is now about forty years since I, in several in- 

 stances, took some particular observation of these 

 singular animal beings called hair snakes. Two of 

 those then examined were, (according to my best 

 recollection,) about 12 or 15 inches long; one of 

 them, which was nearly or quite the diameter of a 

 fine knitting needle, I broke in two; in the cavity of 

 its body was a thick, ropy substance, which was 

 white. From the appearance of these snakes, and 

 other circumstances, I had reason to believe that 

 they were vivified hairs ; and to prove the matter, 

 plucked several (say 5 or 6) hairs from my own 

 person, and placed them in a standing pool of shal- 

 low water; the hairs were in a somewhat curled 

 and entangled condition. A few days afterwards, 

 I visited the place to see the condition and progress 

 of the snakes, and found that they had all animated,, 

 and become hair snakes. They were precisely in 

 the same place where they were deposited, and in 

 the same relative connection ; they were all writh- 

 ing and squirming as though they were trying to 

 extricate themselves from their entangled state. 

 That experiment was to me demonstrative evidence 

 that hair snakes were really animated hairs. Sev- 

 eral other jiersons of my acquaintance have tritd 

 the same experiment, with the like results. Two 

 of my acquaintance plucked hairs from the tail of a 



