f;l•;N^:sKE fakmrp.. 



3t)3 



from yon, how nor when to jjive my order-g, either in 

 tlie field Of 111 tl:e homei^tead ; nor did I know when 

 they liud l)een properly and sufficiently oheye.d. 

 Your diploinji lias been wonliless to me. My con- 

 fidence in it lia^s resulted in all this loss and waste. 

 My son shall seek his qujdifi<'ations as an aEtricnltn- 

 rist at the hands of a working farmer. He shall 

 never blame ine for sending him where only tiie 

 sciences are taught, where practical instruction is 

 considered comparatively unimportant, or in any 

 degree inferior in rank or value, where the result 

 on every student's future farm at harvest time is 

 not kept in view as the end and test of his instruc- 

 tions, by every teacher in the place." And this is 

 not the hmguage of angry disappointment. Itis, 

 we firmly believe, the language of true and sober 

 judgment. 



The man M^hose agricultural instructions we 

 should seek must \>Q first an enerjxetic and success- 

 ful fanner. And next, he mu.st have such a know 

 ledge of the sciences as enables liim to reco^'uise in 

 every fact he witnesses upon his farm the illustra- 

 tion of a general law. What a magnificent agency 

 for agricultural education must that institution be 

 where every phase and side of this man's profes- 

 3ional ability and character is especially exhibited 

 by a separate professor; where every item of the 

 qualifications he posesses is represented by a 

 teacher who has directed his life-long attention to 

 just that particular point; and where, over all these, 

 is the commanding harmonising influence of the 

 Christian gentleman. In such an institution agri- 

 cultural students are sure in every way to prosper, 

 and genuine agricultural education is certain to be 

 ^iven and received. 



But this will npver be unless here, as in the in- 

 stance of our repre.sentative teacher, practical ag- 

 riculture shall occu|)y tlie leading place, and suc- 

 sessfnl farm in inagement shall prove the efficiency 

 af the practical in-ifruction given. 



If ii!.stiuctio.!i in the scieiioes in sueh an institu- 

 tion be regarded as the end for which it was estab- 

 lished— it proficiency in them alone gives rank, 

 jonsideration and position — if sound practical in- 

 telligence and ability in the field (the leading qual- 

 ification of our representative teaclier) shall come 

 to be regarded as conferring only second-rate posi-, 

 tion and inferior rank — if the farm and farming 

 shall ever come to occupy the second place in the 

 estimation of the teachers and the pupils— if the 

 place shall ever thus degenerate^ as we should say, 

 to be either a lounge or a gymnasium, as it may 

 liappen, for mere students of the sciences, then itsag- 

 [•icultural influence and value will have gone — it 

 will certainly and quickly fall. And in the inter- 

 2St3 of Eiigiish agriculture, which will want some- 

 thing u^^etul in its place, we confidently say — the 

 iooner the hetter. — London O'lrdeners'' Chronicle. 



Law Aoainst Weeds. — In Denmark the farmers 

 are bound by law to destroy the corn maripold, 

 ind in France a tanner may sue his neighbor who 

 Qegltcts to eradicate the thistles upon his land at 

 the 1 1 roper season. In Austria a similir regulation 

 las been im[)ose<l by legislative antlHU'ity, with, it 

 s said, the most beneficial l■esul^s. In this country 

 we have laws against allowing tliistles to ripen on 

 ;he roadsides and exposed situatiuus — but how often 

 U'e they eu forced ? 



SHELTER FOR ANIMALS. 



Animals differ in no degree from ourselv-'S in 

 the apiircciation of a dry bed and a dry skin — a 

 w.-irm corner in winter and a cool one in siimnier. 

 How imploiingly will cattle and sheep stand at 

 the field gate in bad weather, when they know 

 that there is better shelter for them elsewhere. 

 How quickly sheep will avail themselves of a wooden 

 hurdle, a hard road, or even a wheelbarrow or 

 piece ot hoard to lay ujion, so as to avoid contact 

 with the wet tiround (damp sheets). It is a well 

 known and admitted fact, that a saving of one- 

 thii'd in food results from providing shelter when 

 required. 



Exposure, even in dry weather, to a sharp wind, 

 abstracts aii iinmense amount of caloric from the 

 body, which must be made good by the fuel or fat 

 of the food. P]ven with well-wooled sheep, tliis 

 takes place in a degree, and it nin.st interfere with 

 their repose, for ice can not rest well when cold. 



It is surprising how easily one may extemporise 

 effective shelter. I find it desirable to house ani- 

 mals at night, and turn th^em out in the day ; the 

 extreme variation gives them cold. I therefore, 

 after threshing my first wheat, stack the straw, 

 thatch it ready for next harvest, place it f>n a pas- 

 ture, surround it at .some distance with hurdles, 

 throw down a liltle straw close to tlie stai k and 

 make this the night-fold yard for my cattle. Here 

 they get their cake, bran or dry food. Bnllucks 

 soon establish, by rubbing and grooming themselves, 

 a comfortable arcade of straw on either side or at 

 each end — according to the wind. Under this they 

 lie comfortably ensconced, free from driving rains 

 or strong cold winds, and in the day-time, weather 

 permitting, go to the feeding ground. 



The act of groomiiitr themselves gives cleanliness, 

 and stimulates circidation in the skin, and p.iys 

 well in the health and condition of the animals. 

 They know, if their owners do not, that wheat 

 straw is a non-conductor of heat or damp, .'md 

 they choose it for their bed with unerring sagacity. 

 J. J. Meohi, in London Gardeners'" Chronicle. 



Salmon. — The Boston Cultivator states that a 

 salmon, registered and identified, was known to 

 gain eleven pounds and a quarter in five weeks and 

 two days, being but ten pounds first and twenty- 

 one pounds and a quarter when finally taken ! The 

 singular thing is that nothing is ever found in the 

 stomach of the captured salmon, but, like mullet, 

 which the ancients used to regard as the type of 

 all starvelings and fasters, ordinary dissection can 

 never show what it feeds upon. But the truth 

 seems to be that It has a remarkably rapid diges- 

 tion of the minute crustaceans, which it devours 

 in immense numbers. 



A Seven Years' Bean. — The Maine Farintyr 

 says : 



" California is great on agricultural productions. 

 The latest thing we have noticed is a; bean which 

 lives and fruits for seven years. It was imported 

 from the SandA'ich Islands." 



