276 



NEW ENGLAND FAKMER. 



June 



earliest griiins have alwaj-s been reserved for prop- 

 agation, and our neighbors can testify tliat our 

 practice has been attended with good results. — 

 American A sirkuTturist. 



THE TWO AEMIES-MUSKETS AND 

 SPADES. 



Time-honored customs, that do not possess the 

 inherent elements of substantial utility, must give 

 way before the general improvement among man- 

 kind. Tlie practice of keeping costly standing ar- 

 mies, where education and moral influence should 

 form the great safeguard of society, is becoming a 

 matter of less importance now than in the wretch- 

 ed days of feudalism. The following remarks from 

 the New York Economist, present a strong contrast 

 between tlie United States war-army, and one of 

 the peace-armies in our Western States : 



The United States army numbers about 10,000 

 men, and they cost the country last year, $8,525,- 

 240 for pay, subsistence, clothing, etc. That is to 

 say, §820 per man, or if we deduct the militia 

 expenses, $200 per man. It would puzzle any one 

 to tell of what service were those men, living use- 

 lessly in barracks and old forts, eating three meals 

 per day, and turning out occasionally to touch 

 their caps to their olHccrs. 



The Illinois Central Railroad army numbers 

 10,000 men also, and they receive from the com- 

 pany .$3,700,000 per annum, in return for Avhich 

 they labor ten hours per day upon a work, that 

 gradually stretches itself through the most fertile 

 plains, connecting the great lakes with the Ohio 

 and Mississippi rivers.and ultimately with theGulf 

 of Mexico. 



The relative advantages of these two armies to 

 society present an interesting matter for study, 

 and are graphically sketched by the New York 

 Post. 



The prospective building of the great Central 

 Railroad of Illinois alone, has added to the wealth 

 of that State, in the appropriation of real lands, 

 the sum of forty millions, within a strip of but 

 twelve miles in width, and the actual construction 

 of the road will bring to a ready market millions 

 of aci'cs of land now owned by tlie general govern 

 ment, which, were the road not constructed, would 

 lay waste for years to come. The Federal govern- 

 ment employs ti;n thousand men at an expense of 

 > eight millions of dollars to carry muskets. The 

 Central Railroad Company, employing ten thous- 

 and men at less than four millions, confers a vast 

 property on the State, upon the Federal govern- 

 ment, and upon thousandsof farmers. Year after 

 year the government spends millions of dollars, ef- 

 fecting nothing, and resulting in nothing but the 

 turning loose of superannuated 8oldiers,made pau- 

 pers by a life of idleness, to prey upon the indus- 

 trious the remainder of their existence, 



The Illinois Company, by three years expendi- 

 tures, establishes 700 miles of rails through proli- 

 tic farms, many of them owned by the persons 

 whom they employed to build the road — men of 

 industry, vigor, wealth and intelligence. The 

 United States, in thirty years, have spent .$200,- 

 000,000, enough to build a double track to the 

 Pacific, and they have nothing to show for the 

 money but some old forts, guns, tattered uniforms, 

 and demoralized veterans. 



AGRICULTURE IX NOVA SCOTIA. 



We arc under obligations to Mr. Brown, of the 

 firm of BcBsonett & Brown, Halifax, for a printed 

 account of the "Agricultural Exhibition of Nova 

 Scotia" in October last, by which it appears that 

 the occasion was one of great interest — Some 7 to 

 10,000 persons attended the show, and the stock, 

 grain, vegetables and articles of home manufac- 

 ture were numerous. The spirit manifested muse 

 work out important results in the agricultural op- 

 erations of the Nova Scotians. The words below 

 are from the "Speaker's Addi'ess," whose name 

 is not given. Beside this, however, several excellent 

 speeches were made on the occasion. 



Look around upon those tables, and see what Nova 

 Scotia can do to reward the industry of her sons — 

 here are proofs of luxurious vegetation, of which 

 any country might justly be proud ; here is a field 

 for generous rivalry which will advance the inter- 

 ests and elevate the character of our common coun- 

 try. Agriculture is no mean or vulgar pursuit — 

 it taxes the highest efforts of the intellect and 

 brings into play all the knowledge which science 

 has revealed to man. Cross the Atlantic, and you 

 will find the farmers of the Mother country not 

 inferior in point of intelligence to any people in 

 the world. There you v/ill find the noblest and 

 most cultivated minds turning from the pursuits 

 of the Statesmen — or law — or physic — and devo- 

 ting themselves to husbandry ; and it is a Avell 

 known fact that all tlie American Presidents who 

 have survived the toils and dangers of that eminent 

 station,and many of the other distinguished public 

 men in America have passed the evening of their 

 days in superintending the operations of the 

 plough. In our own country Farming is getting 

 more and more to be a favorite pursuit, and is 

 attracting the regards of men of opulence and leis- 

 ure. 



FARMERS. 



Adam was a farmer while yet in Paradise, and 

 after his fiill, commanded to eai-n his bread by the 

 sweat of his brow. 



Job, the honest, upright and patient, was a 

 farmer, and his endurance has passed into prov- 

 erbs. 



Socrates was a farmer, and yet wedded to his 

 calling the glory of his immortal philosophy. 



St. Luke was a farmer, and divides with Pro- 

 metheus the honor of subjecting the ox for the 

 use of man. 



Cincinnatus was a farmer, and the noblest Ro- 

 man of them all. 



Burns was a farmer, and the Muse found him 

 at the plow, and filled his soul with poetry. 



Washington was a farmer, and retired from 

 the highest eai-thly station to enjoy the quiet of 

 rural life, and present to the world a spectacle 

 of human greatness. 



To these names may be added a host of others 

 who sought peace and repose in the cultivation of 

 their mother earth ; the enthusiastic Lafayette ; 

 the steadfast Pickering, the scholastic Jeflerson, 

 the fiery Randolph, all found an Eldorado of con- 

 solation from life's cares and troulilcs, in the 

 green and verdant lawns that surrounded their 

 homesteads. 



