1854. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



29 



purpose. AVe have made the flaming fire draw our 

 chariots, the vild torrent of the hills turn our 

 spindles, and let the weary steed and the oppressed 

 captive go free. Labor is now raised to the digni- 

 ty of an intellectual pursuit. The engineer, and 

 even the factory girl tending her looms, are raised 

 to the position and emolument of overseers. 



The mechanic Arts have conferred vast benefits 

 upon agricultural pursuits ; they are also elevated 

 in the elegance and abundance of their products. 

 Contrast the elegant cutlery and glass which now 

 grace the tables of all classes, with the wooden 

 and pewter plates and spoons of even forty years 

 ago — the carpets and papered walls, even of the 

 poorest now, with the sanded floors and smoky 

 wainscotting of the most wealthy then ! Compare 

 the busy housewife, drawing out her solitary 

 thread month after month, to clothe her family, 

 with the modern factory — its polished machinery 

 moving like the planetary system, and with almost 

 as much silence and velocity ! Compare the qual- 

 ity, variety, and elegance of fabrics now, and 

 their prices fifty years ago. 



The efiect of these improvements cannot be 

 otherwise than beneficial. A great increase of 

 comforts, and a great diminution of coarse, hard 

 labor, must tend to raise and refine society. It 

 will be felt more by the poorer classes ; for the 

 wealthy never were condemned to want and drudg- 

 ery. Released from the more wearing labor, and 

 one person being able to do the work of forty, 

 they must necessarily have more time for social 

 and mental enjoyment and improvement. 



We have thus enumerated a few of the blessings 

 which demand our gratitude and thanksgiving ; 

 others, without number, are constantly flowing in 

 upon us. The-possession of this beautiful heritage 

 which God has given us, with its healthful moun- 

 tains and fertilizing streams ; its variety of climate 

 and varied productions of soil in different latitudes; 

 the Union and harmony of the States, our noble 

 institutions, and the independent and wholesome 

 municipal regulations of the towns. These are 

 blessings known by no other people in^the degree 

 which we enjoy them. 



May they find a lively response in every heart, 

 and influence us all to be anxious for ourselves 

 less, and seek the happiness of others mure. 



4. The roots, where cut, heal better, and are 

 prepared to send out fresh ones even before the 

 frost is out of the ground. 



5. The winter and spring rain settles the earth 

 around the roots. 



6. The trees are well established before warm 

 weather overtakes them. 



Autumn Transplanting of Fruit Trees. — Hot 

 eifs Magizine gives the following reasons why 

 autumn transplanting is prcfera1)le to that of 

 spring, on all soils in good condition for the growth 

 of fruit-trees, and they should be planted in no 

 other : 



Autumn planting is better than spring for th> 

 following reasons : 



1. The time is longer than spring. 



2. The ground is in better condition. 



3. The trees are then in the most dormant 

 state. 



For the New England Farmer. 

 RAILROAD STOCKHOLDERS BENEFAC- 

 TORS TO THE COUNTRY. 



Messrs. Editors;— It is a fact that the original 

 stockholders of Turnpike roads, Canals and Rail- 

 roads, as a general thing, have benefited the pub- 

 lic and injured themselves, that is, if we consider 

 the money spent by individuals for the good of the 

 public, a loss. ' Very few of the enterprising men 

 who have gone ahead in making new discoveries 

 and public improvements have been rewarded with 

 anything like an equivalent for their services ex- 

 cept the gratification every benevolent man feels 

 at doing good. From before the days of Elijah 

 the prophet down to the days of Columbus, and 

 then to the present time, the prophets, astrono- 

 mers, inventors of printing and numerous other 

 public benefactors, have not been treated with 

 marks of esteem or extrinsic politeness by the 

 greater mass of mankind. 



At the commencement of railroad making in 

 this country erroneous opinions were formed by 

 many people who were suspicious that some kind 

 of a monster monopoly was about to take place to 

 trespass upon individual interest and deprive them 

 of their rights, and that railroad corporations 

 would enrich themselves on the " spoils" of the 

 travelling public. It is true that the railroad 

 mania commenced among v.-ealthy men of an en- 

 terprising description, who were willing to hazard 

 in a game which promised novelty if not riches, 

 and it is also true that other rich men, differently 

 organized, would not vest a dollar in any direction 

 unless in stocks where they were sure of being the 

 better by 9 or 12 per cent, interest. Many of the 

 landholders in the country, influenced by the 

 clamor of interested persons, obstinately refused 

 to sell their land at any rational price when a 

 railroad would enhance the value of their property 

 to more than double its former value. That same 

 bigotry which has in all ages been the annoyance 

 of every enterprise, seemed to revive and show its 

 hideous figures as late as the 19th century. The 

 stockholders in railroads acting from the motives 

 of gain, novelty, public benevolence or from what- 

 ever influences have been among the greatest bene- 

 factors to the farming interest as well as every 

 other interest, e^rcept their own, in the coun- 

 try. The original stockholders have "beat the 

 bush" and the farmers, speculators and non-stock- 

 holding business public, have caught the bird 

 The stockholders are accountable for every expense, 

 liable for every damage through carelessness of 

 officers, and accidents, are prosecuted for every 

 little injury of person or property, and fined with- 

 out mercy by an unfeeling jury for frightening 

 " distressed damsels," including other mishaps to 

 the end of the chapter of mi.sfortunos. On the 

 other hand, the non-stockholding, riding public, 

 have no risk to run only the risk of bruises, broken 

 bones, broken necks, and strangulation and sufib- 

 cation under drawbridges and in muddy streams, 



