DEVOTED TO AGRICULTURE AND ITS KINDRED ARTS AND SCIENCES. 



VOL. VI. 



BOSTON, FEBRUARY, 1854. 



NO. 2. 



RA.YNOI,DS & NODRSE, Proprietoks. 

 Office. .. .UfiNCY Hall. 



SIMON BROWN, Editor. 



FRED'K HOLBROOK, 1 AssociATB 

 HENRY F. FRENCH,) Editoes. 



are 

 in 



^,^V»^l*A" u^ 



CALENDAH FOE FKBEUARY. 



s THE fields 

 now locked 

 frost, and 

 earth is reposing 

 and gathering en- 

 ergies for another 

 ; season, suppose 

 we close the shut- 

 ters, stir up the fire, and in this 

 warm precinct, map out the 

 heart, as it were, and see what 

 are its objects, motives and de- 

 sires for the future I But particularly in reference 

 to rural life. 



If wo were allowod to invade the dominions of 

 the clergyman, select a text and draw deductions 

 from it, we should, of all others, select the words 

 — "-Magnify thine office.'" Failing to observe the 

 injunctions of this short and simple precept, thou- 

 sands are ever afloat upon the sea of life, as the 

 tempest-tossed and sliattered barque upon the 

 ocean, with rudder gone and reckoning lost 

 Without a love for the occupation in which we 

 arc engaged, combined with a steady aim and ef- 

 fort, few enterprises will be successful, and lea.st 

 of all, perliapa, that of the farmer. That his 

 motives and desires are the liappiness of himself 

 and those dependent upon him, together with that 

 of the race, we have studied his character and as- 

 sociated with him too long to entert;iin a doubt. 

 That self-aggrandizement, an inordinate desire for 

 distinction, and a reckless expenditure of means 

 to attain them, cannot be justly charged to tlie 

 farmer, must be clear to all. Yet with these most 

 laudable intentions, he is in too many instances 

 dificouttmted with his condition in being obliged to 

 •uitivatc the earth for his support. 



Tn tracing the lines upon this map of the heart 

 which lies so fairly before us in the mellow light, 

 w« find no evidence of culpable ambition, no deep 



laid schemes for gaining political power, no pro- 

 pensity for litigation with a ntyghbor, or low cun- 

 ning to defraud him of his honest due ; but on 

 the contrary, most of its various fields are fair, 

 ._ glowing with Ijenevolence and love, and speaking 

 ^ Peace on earth, and good ivill to men.'" Still, he is 

 discontented. That which we speak is no idle fan- 

 cy of ours. Hundreds of visits to their homes, 

 and free conversations with the inmates of the 

 farmer's household, have indelibly impressed the 

 unwelcome truth upon our heart, that in number- 

 less cases he is dissatisfied with his occupation. 

 If the assertion needs sustaining, proof, undenia- 

 ble, may be found in all the cities ; thry arc glutted 

 with a surplus population, deluded 1)y their tinsel 

 and glare, too lazy to work, too proud to beg, but, 

 alas, oftentimes not too moral to steal. These 

 "ragged regiments," scattered in the country and 

 "subduing the earth," might .stand among the pil- 

 lars of the nation instead of becoming a burden to 

 it, and rotting in idleness and luxury and subse- 

 quent poverty and disease, a plague-spot on the 

 body politic. 



As the good physician seeks to find the caust) 

 of the disease he is called to cure by ascertaining 

 the particular organ a8"ected, so must we seek 

 hire, the cause of such wide-spread dissiitisfoction 

 an 1 discontent, and in order t> do thi.«, must again 

 recur to the map still on tlie table before us. Here 

 we find a field possessing all the natural qualifica- 

 tions of soil, variety, aspect, &c., and capal)le of 

 readily receiving the genial suns and fertilizing 

 rains, when properly cultivated, — and tliis is ita 

 name — "T/jc Intellectttal Field." But what an 

 appearance d»es it present ! Tlie fences of stone, 

 or rails, or brush, straggle away into tlie pasture! 

 and wood-lot ; stumps and rocks project upon its 

 surface while burdocks and brambles and count- 

 less baneful weeds scatter themselves in wild lux 

 uriance through all its length. Here gush up 

 chillin" spring waters, which flowing over the sur- 

 face ,encourago the growth of rank plants unfitted 



