206 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER 



AND HORTICULTURAL REGISTER. 



Boston, Wednesday, December 28, 1842. 



{Cf-jYOTICE. 



Tliose indehtedfor one and more years' suhstHplion 

 to this paper, are earnestly requested to remit the amount 

 of their dues forlhvnih, and greatly oblige 



Bee- 28. The Publishers. 



THE CLOSK OF THE TEAR. 



With (h'lB number we close our labors for the calen- 

 dar year, and complete the second year of our editorial 

 services. We have come to one of those resting pla- 

 ces in life's journey, where tiic impulse is to look hack 

 upon the pasi, and to turn the mental eye also toward 

 the misty and uncertain future. 



Between us and our readers, n? far as wc know, the 

 year has passed pleasantly and happily. Our labors 

 have been pleasant to ns, and we have had many grati- 

 fying evidences that they have been satiffaclory to many 

 whom it gives us much pleasure to please. We have 

 aimed more to meet the approbation of the discreet, 

 moderate, and reflecting, the temperate and devout, than 

 to gain favor and suhsoripiions from the lovers of novel- 

 ty and excitement, and those of unhealthy moral crav- 

 ings. It would have been an easier way than the one 

 we have taken, to fill our pages weekly with exnggera- 

 ted and bonib.-islic accounts of the pleasures and profits 

 of agricultural labor, with more ornate but less true se- 

 lections; with stories of more startling interest, but of 

 less healthy moral action. More spice could have been 

 put into our weekly dish, had we not feared that the 

 condiment, though grateful to the palate, would prove 

 harmful to the health. We might have given zest to 

 our pages by fault-finding and detraction — but such 

 things, however exhiliarating for the moment, would be 

 permanently more or less poisonous both to ourselves 

 and to our readers. With few exceptions, (and we wish 

 there were none,) we think now, as we look back, that 

 we have kept within the bounds of facts, of truth, 

 of sound morals and of kindness and good will to 

 all men. Sober reflection always tells us to keep there. 



The past, in our editorial course, has been mostly 

 pleasant and gratifying. Thorns, it is true, have grown 

 beneath and around tho roses we plucked, and we have 

 ■ometinies been annoyed by their points— but not often 

 or much. In future we hope to be diligent, and true to 

 ourviews of duty to those who shall read our writings; 

 true to them as farmers, as those devoted to ihe niosi 

 extensive and the most irapoitant of worldly pursuits, 

 and true to them as moral beings. Such are our hopes — 

 but our power to do, is in the hands o ; j » ho covers 

 the future with an impenetrable veil. 



AGRICULTURAL MEETINGS OF OUR LEGIS- 

 LATORS. 

 Before we issue another number, the representatives 

 of the people will assemble licre to do their work. 

 Whether the meeting weekly for agricultural discus- 

 sions will he revived by them, we know not. Such 

 meetings have been, lo many farmers, highly instructive 

 and gratifying. Many interesting and valuable facts 

 have been disclosed there, and valuable opinions have 

 fallen from the lips of many men of wisdom and expe- 

 rience. Good has come from the meetings — but here, as 

 is the case in most assemblies of men, the good has with 

 it admixtures of evil. Questions theoretical — questions 

 that awaken party feelings — are apt to work in, more(ir 

 less distinctly, and interrupt a direct progress toward the 

 elucidation of questions of fact that bear directly upon 

 practical farming. Another drawback to the interest 

 and benefit of these meetings Is, the vagueness and want 

 of point in many epeakeis. Occasionnlly, too, we have 

 heard ridicule and sarcasm, and from lips not wiser than 

 the heads at which they were directed. But the evil 

 we have thought greatest, though possibly it has no ex- 

 istence out of our own imagination, comes of the fact 

 that Gen. A., Cul. B., Maj. C, and Esq. D., are not al- 

 ways as good farmers and as wise men as their high 

 sounding titles lead distant readers to suppo.se. A hear- 

 er of the remarks may see through the speaker, and be 

 able 10 make qualifications; but the reader of an impar- 

 tial report, who knows none of the speakers, must sup- 

 pose them all equally cnmpelent to give good advice — 

 or at least he has no sufficient means of judging who are 

 the best advisers. 



Appearances are that our representatives this year 

 may find it no easy matter lo make a government, and 

 to settle cases of contested elections. We apprehend 

 that their legislative duties at the first of the session 

 will confine them to the house and the caucus rooms so 

 closely, that farming will be but little thought of. Should 

 any of the members start the meetingB, we are ready to 

 assist them as far as our other engagements will permit. 



In the preface to the new emission, Dr. Dana > 

 " It may be observed that this edition is enlarju' 

 hoped enriched, by several pages of new matter. A 

 the principal additions are several articles on ma 

 and a sketch of the celebrated Mulder's researcl 

 geine. The whole has been carefully revised." 

 Bixby & Whiting, Lowell, publishers. 



THE FARMER'S ALMANAC FOR 184.3. 



BY ROBERT B. THOMAS. 



Once more our trusted and valued chronicler of what 

 has been or is to be, in the risings and settings of the 

 BUn, in the waxings and wanings, and the cmnings up 

 and goings down of the moon, in the ebbings and floiv. 

 ings of tides, &c. &c., — once more he has sent out his 

 work, and we wish him an extensive sale. 



THE FARMER'S REGISTER, 



We lenrn, with regret, from the last No. of this ex- 

 ceedingly valuable periodical, that Edmund Rnffin, Esq., 

 its able editor and proprietor, has disposed of his interest 

 jn the publication to Mr Thns. S. Pleasams, who will 

 after the close of the present year, conduct the work. 



DANA'S MUCK MANUAL-NEW EDITION, 

 WITH ADDITIONS. 



Last year we noticed with approbation the first edi- 

 tion of this work. We continue to hold it in aa much 

 regard as immediately upon its first perusal. Whether 

 it shall be sustained as a wurk of authoiily by future la- 

 borer.s in the field of agricultural chemistry, is a ques- 

 tion which no one can venture to answer without more 

 acquaintance wilh the subject than we claim to possess. 

 But what cotemporary and future chemists shall ihink 

 of the work, is of little consequence to the practical far- 

 mer. Dr. Dana lias attempted more definitely and sing- 

 ly to shed the light of the chemistry <if agriculture upon 

 Its practical operations than any other American writer. 

 In this he has done a good work, lie has given many 

 valuable directions which every one can understand. 



Tho work will awaken thought and lead to many val- 

 uable experiments. Those parts which treat of the 

 properties, value and modes of preparing peat and 

 swamp mud, (our hobby, muck,) we legard as of great 

 value. These vegetable deposites in the lowlands, much 

 of which is but the wash fr(un more elevated grounds, 

 are nature's manures, and man is wise when he employs 

 liiinself in putting them back upon the spots where they 

 had their growth.' They there will increase the soil's 

 fertility. The Muck -Manual will be of use in guiding 

 many a farmer in the processes of prejiaring this muck. 

 The present edition is, if we may judge fiom its ap- 

 pearance, to be sold for less than a dollar, which was 

 the price of the former one. 



STOVES. 



Mr Potnam — All judicious persons must fuliy c 

 with you, in your paper if Dec. 14, as to the grea 

 chief done by " the unhealthy air and great he 

 stoves ; but is not the fault less in tho stoves the 

 people.' If they will burn, as 1 do, only one cc 

 wood a year, and keep a 3 or 4 inch ventilator al 

 open during bed time, as I do, directly into the chii 

 near the floor, I will insure them little heat enough 

 an atmosphere at least as pure as the air of suii 



But opinions and theories are the bond-lsaves of 

 For about four years I have been struggling agai 

 complaint of ihe lungs, which has confined me t 

 house much of the time in summer, and almost 

 in winter. During that time, I have used in wintt 

 " Air-light Wood Stove," strictly by the accomp.ii 

 directions, and have gained in health incoinparahl 

 in winter than in summer, and enjoyed more coi 

 My physicians now say that I am not in consuii:( 

 and that wilh care I am likely to escape it. 



I have now ihe " Air-tight Coal Stove" beside m 

 sheet iron except grate and damper, with no lining, 

 most never goes out, nor gels red hot. During this Dt 

 ber, it has kept the thermometer on tho back side o 

 room, (15 feet square,) at an average of more than 

 day and night, with an average of not more than el 

 pounds of anthracite coal per 24 hours. The air o 

 room is far moister and softer than with an opan 

 but somewhat drier than with the Air-tight Wood S 

 which usually keeps tho windows overspread with 

 Yours, very respectfully, 



WEDGEWOO 



We thank the author of ihe above for his commu 

 lion, and will say to our readers that his name is h 

 our office, and that he avows his willingness lo i 

 oath to the correctness of his statements. 



A large number of sheep have been lately slaughi 

 in the neighborhood of Rochester, N. Y., for their j 

 and tallow. Upwards of twelve hundred have I 

 slaughtered by one firm. The process is this 

 sheep afier being stripped of their skins, are hung up 

 fore large fires, in rows of 20 or 25, and roasted 

 the tallow begins to run freely. They then put t 

 into large presses, where all the tallow is expelled, 

 pells fetch 38 cents on an average, and the tallow i 

 at 5 cents per pound. Tho remains of the sheep are 

 to swine. — Selected. 



The " hog season" has commenced in earnest in 

 Tlie Cincinnati Gazette of the 12th, says that for 

 week preceding, upwards of one thousand hogs w 

 packed daily — about tweniy establishments being in 

 blast. The number packed at each house varien fil 

 one hundred to one thousand daily, great caic hel 

 taken this year in the business, on account of the fi 

 which has heretofore been found with the cotnliimr 

 American pork after a voyage across the Atlantic. ( 

 establishment has an imported Irish pork-packer. 



The intcgriiy that lives only on opinion, would st« 

 without it. — Laeon. 



