-^34 



NEW ENGLAND FAJIMER. 



Aug. 



Kay, when I have had better opportunity for inves- 

 tigation. 1 have a strong suspicion that my coun- 

 lr}men may add several new crops to their present 

 list with great profit : but it were premature to 

 give more than a first impression. 



I kept in company with my new friends about 

 three days; during which we talked diligently 

 about the agriculture of the old and new world, 

 and I feel that my education in British husbandry 

 made a good beginning with them. Perhaps lean- 

 not give our friends at home a better idea of the 

 mode of farming in general in this country, than 

 by stating what I learned of one of these gentle- 

 men about his own operations on his farm. 



Nearly all the land in England is owned by a few 

 large proprietors, mostly the nobility of the coun- 

 try. These lands are farmed, as it is called here, 

 that is, leased to persons who are called farmers, 

 usually at a fixed price per acre. Generally, they 

 who cultivate the land are not the owners of it, as 

 in our country, though the leases usually are for 

 long terms, frequently twenty-one years. Of this 

 matter, it may, perhaps, be convenient to write 

 more particularly at some future day. The gentle- 

 man named is what is here called an English far- 

 mer ; one of a class who live in good style, and do 

 not labor very hard with their own hands — men of 

 good, practical education, though not usually schol- 

 ars, or students. He rents about one thousand acres 

 of land, and pays for it annually about twenty-two 

 shillings, equal to five dollars and a half per acre, 

 besides taxes. What would a New England far- 

 mer think of himself, to undertake to pay five 

 thousand five hundred dollars a year in cash, for 

 the use of a thousafid acres of land ? Yet many 

 English farmers pay twice, and some four times as 

 much rent per acre, and make money in the op- 

 eration, I have long known the fact, and to ascer- 

 tain how it is done was a main object with me in 

 my ^■isit to Europe. My friend has this year two 

 hundred and fifty acres in wheat, two hundred acres 

 in turnips, and about one hundred and ninety in 

 barley. He says he ought to have one sheep to 

 every acre of his farm, but does not always come 

 up to that number. I will not undertake now to 

 give mere particulars of his statement, because I 

 have accepted a very urgent invitation to spend 

 some days with him at his home, during the sum- 

 mer, when 1 shall have an opportunity to solve 

 some of the mysteries of paying these enormous 

 rents. A single item will indicate that there is 

 some money circulating in such hands. 



He says his v/heat crops should yield about thir- 

 ty bushels per acre. This would give on the two 

 hundred and fifty acres, seven thousand five hundred 

 bushels, worth about one dollar seventy-five cents 

 per bushel, or $13,125 in all. I am drawing near 

 ^the end of my sheet, though I have hardly begun 

 my story of my first week. I will say in brief,] 



that I rode thirty-five miles by horses, and some 

 sixty by rail, in Wales, visited the famous bridges 

 across tlie Menai Straits, called on the "king-mak- 

 er," at old Warwick Castle, on Shakespeare, at Strat- 

 ford-on-Avon, and on his Anne Hathaway, at Shat- 

 tery, saw "Peeping Tom" at Coventry, sat under 

 an old arch at Kenil worth Castle, while the heavens 

 wept in a plentiful shower over its departed glo- 

 ries, and then came to this great Babylon ; of all 

 which matters I have many things to say, when I 

 have op])ortunity. 



London, England, May 29, 1857. 



BE ACTIVE. 



BY B. C. COLESWOETHY. 



Be active— be active — 



Find something to do. 

 Id digging a clam-bank, 



Or tapping a shoe. 

 Don't stop at the corners, 



To drag out the day — 

 Be active — be active — 



And worli while you may, 



'Tis foolish to falter. 



Or lag in the street — 

 Or walk as if chain- shot 



Were bound to your feet. 

 Be active — be active — 



And do what you can ; 

 'Tis industry only 



That maketh the man. 



'Tis industry makes you — 



Remember — be wise — 

 From sloth and from stupor 



Awake and arise. 

 You'll live and be happy 



And never complain 

 Of the blues or the dumps, 



Or a dull heavy brain. 



THE DEAD SEA. 



The old story, that no creature can live on or 

 near the Dead Sea, is exploded. The last traveller 

 in that region, a French savant, writes as follows : 

 "From the summit of the mountain which we have 

 just described, this strange sea, which all writers 

 describe as presenting the most dismal aspect, ap- 

 peared to us like a splendid lake, glittering in the 

 sunshine, with its blue waves gently breaking on 

 the sands of the softest beach. Through the trans- 

 parent water appeared a white tint, which enlivened 

 the shore. We guessed at once that this appear- 

 ance was owing to the salt crystalized under the 

 water, and, when near, we find that our conjecture 

 is right. Are we now to be convinced that no liv- 

 ing thing can exist on the shores of the Dead Sea, 

 as has been so often repeated ? We ascertain the 

 contrary fact the very moment we touch the shore. 

 A flock of wild ducks rises before us and settles on 

 the water out of gunshot, where they begin sport- 

 ing and diving with perfect unconcern. As we ad- 

 vance, beautiful insects show themselves on the 

 gravelly beach ; rooks are flying and screaming 

 among the rent cliffs of the steep hills which bor- 

 der the lake. Where, then, are all those poisonous 

 vapors which carry death to all who venture to ap- 

 proach them ? Where ? In the writings of the 



