o.4. 



JV. Biddk's Address. 



133 



inciple that no one's cattle have a right 

 intrude on his neighbour's land. Here 

 3 seem to think that it is not the owner's 

 siness to keep his cattle in, but the neigh- 

 ur's business to keep them out. Accord- 

 r\y all the highways and lanes are infested 

 cattle turned out to graze on the public 

 ids, which were made for travelling, not 

 • pasturage — a set of land pirates, who go 

 ying about for any weak place in some 

 ice, and not only invite themselves in, but 

 nerously introduce all their associates, 

 le necessity of keeping out a bad cow, 

 us subjects the neighbours to an expense 

 ual to a thousand cows. 

 What is of vital importance, too — scarcely 

 Jay passes without our hearing of serious 

 cidents on our rail-roads, caused by cattle. 

 ie law is, I believe, quite sufficient to pro- 

 ct enclosed lands, if the farmers will only 

 e that it is executed; and if the State will 

 otect our citizens when travelling on its 

 il-roads, by prohibiting this roaming about 

 cattle, I have no doubt that millions might 

 i saved to the farmers, and all these rick- 

 ty, misshapen sticks of dead timber disap- 

 Er, regretted only by the politicians, who 

 ould lose that finest attitude for calcula- 

 )n — sitting on the fence. 

 Having spoken of the improvement of our 

 rms, let us not omit a much more import- 

 it subject — the improvement of our farm- 

 s. In the stirring competition of all 

 asses around them — in the increased dif- 

 sion of knowledge, and the general ac- 

 uity of mind which now pervades all so- 

 ety, the farmers must maintain their stand- 

 g by the same means. Unless they culti- 

 ite their minds — unless in the intervals of 

 leir labours they pursue the studies which 

 lalify men for public usefulness, they will 

 3 distanced in the race of honourable am- 

 nion, and lose that high place in the public 

 stimation and the public councils, to which 

 ley have a right to aspire. And certainly, 

 ever was the advantage of their position 

 lore conspicuous than . at the present hour. 

 i the general desolation which has swept 

 per the country, the only interest which 

 as not been visited by the sternest reverses, 

 i that of agriculture. Undoubtedly, the 

 eople who have suffered least, are the farm- 

 rs, whose deep roots in the soil have en- 

 bled them to withstand the tempest. 



The same gentle vicissitudes of the sea- 

 rms have passed over them — the same abun- 

 ance has blessed their harvests — and their 

 adustry has been rewarded by gains scarce- 

 y less in name, and really greater than be- 

 bre. If they have not enjoyed the feverish 

 :xcitements, or the luxurious amusements 

 )f the dwellers on pavements — they have 



been spared many an anxious thought and 

 many a heart-ache, not heard, but not the 

 less felt in the din of cities — let these things 

 reconcile farmers to their station ; let them 

 enjoy in peace the repose, the abundance, 

 the thoughtfulness, the sobriety of their own 

 healthy existence, without wasting an anx- 

 ious thought on their more active and osten- 

 tatious, but not more happy brethren — for 

 we may now repeat with even more truth 

 than the Poet Farmer of antiquity did nearly 

 two thousand years ago : — " Happy — too hap- 

 py farmers — if they only knew their own 

 blessings." 



To Cook Cucumbers. — The Editor of the 

 American Farmer furnishes the following re- 

 ceipt, which he says gives one of the most 

 " palatable vegetable dishes, with which the 

 table can be garnished." Pare off the rind, 

 then cut the cucumber into slices length- 

 wise, dust either side of those slices with 

 corn meal or wheat flour, pepper and salt 

 them to please your taste ; this done, fry 

 them brown, and you will have one of the 

 most delicious dishes that you can imagine, 

 combining in their flavour those of the oys- 

 ter-plant and egg-plant. Of their healthful- 

 ness, thus cooked, there can be no question, 

 and of their palatableness, it is only neces- 

 sary that you try them, to say with us that 

 they are exquisite. 



A Late number of the Quarterly Journal 

 of Agriculture contains some interesting ex- 

 periments in manuring potatoes, carried on 

 by Mr. Fleming, of Barouchan. The weight 

 of produce of 18 yards of potatoe drill, to 

 which farmyard manure was applied in the 

 usual manner in each case, was as follows, 

 j according to the mode of top dressing: — 1st. 

 No top dressing, 77 pounds ; 2d. Sulphate of 

 Soda, 86 pounds ; 3d. Nitrate of Soda, 93 

 pounds; 4th. Sulphate and Nitrate of Soda, 

 mixed, in equal quantities, 124 pounds. — 

 The quantity of Sulphate and Nitrate used 

 altogether by Mr. Fleming was 150 pounds, 

 costing 21s. 6d, the return for which was 

 upwards of 8 tons of potatoes. 



The "Cultivator" says that Claudius Al- 

 len, Esq., of Cheshire, Connecticut, last year 

 sheared from one sheep, one year old, 14 

 pounds, and from three sheep of the same 

 age, 33^ pounds of wool. This year, from 

 eleven ewes and one buck, he cut 88 pounds : 

 we are not told of what breed they were. 

 It is also said, that J. L. Dean, of Union 

 Springs, N. Y., has a Leicester lamb, which 

 at eight weeks old, weighed 75 pounds, and 

 at twelve weeks, 93 pounds. 



